Fellowship of Friends Archives - Page 5 of 15

The Center of True Stillness

What is the center of true stillness? The Fourth Way teaches that a person is a collection of many ‘I’s and that one’s Real ‘I’ is asleep. Because people’s real identity does not participate in their daily activities, people identify with the many ‘I’s. As a result, a person’s identity comes from the ten thousand […]

by Benjamin B

Stillness: Childhood & Maturity in Spiritual Evolution

Higher forces come to dispel our vaporous ordinary state into something extraordinary. This is the battle we must wage in order to attain the stillness of our soul.

by The Editors

Quotations on Stillness

The following quotations on stillness resonate for those seeking to quiet the mind and heart on the quest for higher states of consciousness. “Stillness means the shedding of all thoughts, even those which are divine; otherwise, through giving them our attention because they are good, we will lose what is better.” Gregory of Sinai, Philokalia […]

by The Editors

Quotations on Awakening

The third state of consciousness~ self-remembering, or self-consciousness, consciousness of one’s own being-constitutes the natural right of man as he is, and if a man does not possess it is only because of the wrong conditions of his life. In the fourth state of consciousness, objective consciousness, a man can see things as they are.

by Benjamin B

Awakening: Presence as a Unifying Element

As long as we identify with each fleeting sensation of ‘I’, we cannot awaken. Awakening means a gradual increase of inner unity. At the same time, we must remember that awakening is not only possible, it is within reach.

by David Tuttle and Elisa Eidner

The Eyes of the Teacher

I will always know that the state in which I experience the infinitude within, that depth in the vastness of all, is my soul being present.

by Ernst Newman

Perspectives on Awakening

Identification with our thoughts, emotions, pains and sufferings diminishes as the scope broadens. Acceptance and humility overtake any resentment and self-absorption. The manifestations of the lower self can actually serve as fuel to this state. Transforming these into presence can propel a higher state into even greater heights.

by Natassa Cavalli

Towards Consciousness

We lack attention. Are we asleep or aware of our state? And to what degree? The ability to balance the functions of our five lower energy centers leads to a higher scale of harmony for our body, soul, and spirit.

by Benjamin B

The Tip of the Iceberg

What we see, be it Whitman’s ‘Leaves of Grass’, or Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’, is but the tip of the iceberg. In these two masterpieces of world literature we see but a reflection of what an individual, such as these two authors, may invisibly attain.

by Walther Sell