To understand truth one must have a very sharp, precise, clear mind;
not a cunning mind, but a mind that is capable of looking without
any distortion, a mind innocent and vulnerable.
Only such a mind can see what truth is.
Nor can a mind that is filled with knowledge perceive what truth is;
only a mind that is completely capable of learning can do that.
Learning is not the accumulation of knowledge.
Learning is movement from movement to movement.

- Krishnamurti

but you can’t get to any of these truths by sitting in a field smiling beatifically, avoiding your anger and damage and grief. your anger and damage and grief are the way to the truth. we don’t have much truth to express unless we have gone into those rooms and closets and woods and abysses that we were told not go in to. when we have gone in and looked around for a long while, just breathing and finally taking it in – then we will be able to speak in our own voice and to stay in the present moment. and that moment is home. ~anne lamott

without a word, one can know with absolute certainty if the person standing in front of them is genuine. the language of the soul is translated in moments of silence. words become insignificant and the heart transcends to new levels of truth.

images via foundmagazine

(quote by osho / photo via visualize)

(photo via visualize / quote via susanna tamaro)

If you have found your truth within yourself there is nothing more in this whole existence to find. Truth is functioning through you. When you open your eyes, it is truth opening his eyes. When you close your eyes, it is truth who is closing its eyes. This is a tremendous meditation. If you can simply understand the device, you dont have to do anything; whatever you are doing is being done by truth. You are walking, it is truth; you are sleeping, it is truth resting; you are speaking, it is truth speaking; you are silent, it is truth that is silent. This is one of the most simple meditation techniques. Slowly, slowly everything settles by this simple formula, and then there is no need for the technique. When you are cured, you throw away the meditation, you throw away the medicine. Then you live as truth – alive, radiant, contented, blissful, a song unto yourself. Your whole life becomes a prayer without any words, or better to say a prayerfulness, a grace, a beauty which does not belong to our mundane world, a ray of light coming from the beyond into the darkness of our world. – by osho

it doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
i want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

it doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
i want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

it doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon…
i want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

i want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

i want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.

it doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
i want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
if you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
if you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

i want to know if you can see beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
and if you can source your own life
from its presence.

i want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“yes.”

it doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
i want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

it doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
i want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

it doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
i want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

i want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

by oriah

quote by osho

All the true vows
are secret vows
the ones we speak out loud
are the ones we break.

There is only one life
you can call your own
and a thousand others
you can call by any name you want.

Hold to the truth you make
every day with your own body,
don’t turn your face away.

Hold to your own truth
at the center of the image
you were born with.

Those who do not understand
their destiny will never understand
the friends they have made
nor the work they have chosen

nor the one life that waits
beyond all the others.

By the lake in the wood
in the shadows
you can
whisper that truth
to the quiet reflection
you see in the water.

Whatever you hear from
the water, remember,

it wants you to carry
the sound of its truth on your lips.

Remember,
in this place
no one can hear you

and out of the silence
you can make a promise
it will kill you to break,

that way you’ll find
what is real and what is not.

I know what I am saying.
Time almost forsook me
and I looked again.

Seeing my reflection
I broke a promise
and spoke
for the first time
after all these years

in my own voice,

before it was too late
to turn my face again.

~ david whyte

You suppose you are the trouble

but you are the cure.

You suppose that you are the lock on the door

but you are the key that opens it.

It’s too bad that you want to be someone else.

You don’t see your own face, your own beauty.

Yet, no face is more beautiful than yours.

~rumi