Ten Consciousness Raising Quotations

by Gregory Allen Butler

Here are ten consciousness raising quotations that have made an impact in my life that you might find useful in your contemplation meditations.

1. Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
--Rumi
The power of this quote resides in the fact that although we have full consciousness, capable of self-realization, we miss the mark due to the identification with our false self. It’s the same as Michelangelo saying that David already existed in the marble, he just needed to remove what was extraneous.

2. Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
If we take it as our responsibility to make the most out of who we are, then we have no need to compare ourselves with others, or feel superior or inferior. We are just following the blueprint we have been handed. Our job is to build the house as faithful to the architect’s vision as possible.

3. Being is Dying by Loving
--Meher Baba
I remember giving a speech on the subject of this quote at the Beverly Hills Toastmasters. I don’t think they knew what to make of me. I love this quote because it sums up the mystical path in five words, telling us that our false self dies when the real self continually expresses itself through love. And that is being in the highest sense of the word.

4. Thought is creating divisions out of itself and then saying that they are there naturally.
--David Bohm
Bohm was a quantum physicist and theorist who was dedicated to wholeness and oneness and one of the great thinkers of the 20th century. Here he is telling us that it is our minds that make up the divisions that we see in the world, when in reality, there is nothing but wholeness.

5. One gradually attains tranquility of mind by keeping the mind fully absorbed in the Self by means of a well-trained intellect, and thinking of nothing else.
--Bhagavid Gita
This is the way to be free from worry. When the focus is on the eternal nature of the soul, then there is nothing to worry about. Rather, the inner bliss erases all concerns of worldly loss or gain.

6. If you don't break your ropes while you're alive do you think ghosts will do it after?
--Kabir
This is a reminder that we have a purpose in life, to free ourselves from bindings and limitations, to discover the divine within. Kabir is basically saying, "If not now, when?"

7. Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
--The Buddha
Living in the present moment is the only way to experience the unfoldment of the divine.

8. Love one another.
--Jesus of Nazareth
The surest way to erase divisions and create a heaven on Earth. An exquisite divine expression.

9. Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.
--Mother Theresa
A smile can uplift a person to the extent that it changes the course of his or her life, and that life can change the course of the world. Such is the power of love.

10. We have come into this exquisite world to experience ever and ever more deeply our divine courage, freedom and light!"
--Hafiz
When we can remember our purpose in life, we can make progress towards the goal of life -- self-realization. Forgetting our purpose we become like a lost child separated from its mother in a busy market.