#if

The teaching of the sexual tantras all come down to one point. Although desire, of whatever shape or form, seeks completion, there is another kind of union than the one we imagine. In this union, achieved when the egocentric model of dualistic thinking is no longer dominant, we are not united with it, nor am I united with you, but we all just are. The movement from object to subject, as described in both Eastern meditation and modern psychotherapy, is training for this union, but its perception usually comes as a surprise, even when this shift is well under way. It is a kind of grace. The emphasis on sexual relations in the tantric teachings make it clear that the ecstatic surprise of orgasm is the best approximation of this grace. ↗

— Mark Epstein

#desire #dualistic-thinking #grace #meditation #objectification

I didn’t know how much I could love until you were gone. Until your laughter no longer filled my home, your wicked high jinks no longer made me crazy. Until I stood in that damned club and knew, without you by side, my life was as empty as my bed was without you in it. I didn’t know what love was, until I saw my refusal to admit it drown all the sweet innocence in your eyes. I love you. ↗

— Lora Leigh

#love #life

...he remembered his uncle saying once how little vocabulary man really needed to get comfortably and even efficiently through his life, how not only in the individual but within his whole type and race and kind a few simple cliches served his few simple passions and needs and lusts. ↗

— William Faulkner

#vocabulary #life

I believe that every human has a finite number of heart-beats. I don't intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises. ↗

— Buzz Aldrin

#life #life

If you want to fight hell and the power of darkness that seek to destroy the hearts of our daughters, I know a type of spiritual warfare that creates value in a daughter's spirit. It is called "Taking your Daughter out for tea" or "Going to Her Soccer Game", and it works in direct opposition to the agenda of hell and darkness that wants to destroy their lives. ↗

— Jim Anderson

#daughter #fight #heart #hell #life

All simple souls must admire and respect one another, saying: 'Let us proceed each one along our path to the same goal, united in purpose and by means of God's order which, in its great variety, is in us all. ↗

— Jean-Pierre de Caussade

#life #p #life

Daily I live with [one] fear--a healthy fear if there is such a thing. [It is] that I will miss something God has for me in this life. And it is mind-expanding to contemplate all that He wants me to have. I don't want to be robbed of even one of God's riches by not taking time to let Him invade my life. By not listening to what He is telling me. ↗

— Carole Mayhall

#life

When you're in college you haven't had that much life. Parents, school, assorted youth activities—that's about it. ↗

— Martha Moody

#life

Love, I think, is a gateway to the world, not an escape from it. ↗

— Mark Doty

#life #living #love #philosophy #life

Suddenly Ka realized he was in love with İpek. And realizing that this love would determine the rest of his life, he was filled with dread. ↗

— Orhan Pamuk

#love #pamuk #snow #life