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1,001 Pearls of
Spiritual Wisdom
Skyhorse Publishing
Table of Contents
What It Means to Be Spiritual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
Ways in Which We Are Spiritual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
Finding Your Spirituality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
Sustaining Your Spirituality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
Sharing Your Spirituality With Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
The Nature of Spirituality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
Spirituality and the World Around You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
Expanding Your Spirituality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
iii
CHAPTER1
WHAT IT MEANS TO
BE SPIRITUAL
1,001 Pearls of Spiritual Wisdom
“Spiritual relationship is far more precious than
physical. Physical relationship divorced from
spiritual is body without soul.”
—Mahatma Gandhi
“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire,
men cannot live without a spiritual life.”
—Buddha
“To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit
of Truth Face to Face, one must be able to love
the meanest of all creation as oneself”
—Mahatma Gandhi
2
What It Means to Be Spiritual
“However many holy words you read, however
many you speak, what good will they do you if
you do not act on upon them?”
—Buddha
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you
will find; knock and the door will be opened to
you”
—Jesus
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do
not condemn, and you will not be condemned.
Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
—Jesus
3
1,001 Pearls of Spiritual Wisdom
“Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet
have believed.”
—Jesus
“Be faithful in small things because it is in
them that your strength lies.”
—Mother Teresa
“I know God will not give me anything I can’t
handle. I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.”
—Mother Teresa
4
What It Means to Be Spiritual
“We need to find God, and he cannot be found
in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of
silence. See how nature- trees, flowers, grassgrows in silence; see the stars, the moon and
the sun, how they move in silence . . . We
need silence to be able to touch souls”
—Mother Teresa
“My religion is very simple. My religion is
kindness”
—Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
5
1,001 Pearls of Spiritual Wisdom
“The very purpose of religion is to control
yourself, not to criticize others. Rather, we
must criticize ourselves. How much am I doing
about my anger? About my attachment, about
my hatred, about my pride, my jealousy? These
are the things which we must check in daily
life”
—Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
6
What It Means to Be Spiritual
“Each person comes into this world with a
specific destiny—He has something to fulfill,
some message has to be delivered, some
work has to be completed. You are not here
accidentally –you are here meaningfully. There
is a purpose behind you. The whole intends to
do something through you.”
—Osho, Indian spiritual teacher
“If a man wishes to be sure of the road he
treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in
the dark.”
— St. John of the Cross
7
1,001 Pearls of Spiritual Wisdom
“Whoever knows himself knows God.”
— Muhammad
“The nature of God is a circle of which the
center is everywhere and the circumference is
nowhere.”
— Empedocles, ancient politician,
philosopher, and poet
“They who aspire to reform the morals of
others lose their time and their pains, by
not preaching by example, in correcting
themselves first.”
—St. Ignatius of Loyola,
patron of the Jesuit Order
8
What It Means to Be Spiritual
“There is nothing the devil fears so much, or
so much tries to hinder, as prayer.”
—St. Philip Neri, patron saint of joy
“Most people assume that meditation is
all about stopping thoughts, getting rid of
emotions, somehow controlling the mind. But
actually it’s . . . about stepping back, seeing
the thought clearly, witnessing it coming and
going.”
— Andy Puddicombe, Buddhist monk and
cofounder of Headspace
9
1,001 Pearls of Spiritual Wisdom
“My religion consists of a humble admiration
of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals
himself in the slight details we are able to
perceive with our frail and feeble mind.”
—Albert Einstein
“Faith means living with uncertainty- feeling
your way through life, letting your heart guide
you like a lantern in the dark.”
—Dan Millman, author of The Way of the
Peaceful Warrior
10
What It Means to Be Spiritual
“Those who have not found their true wealth,
which is the radiant joy of Being and the
deep, unshakable peace that comes with it,
are beggars, even if they have great material
wealth. They are looking outside for scraps of
pleasure or fulfillment, for validation, security,
or love, while they have a treasure within
that not only includes all those things but it
infinitely greater than anything the world can
offer.”
— Eckhart Tolle, contemporary spiritual teacher
11
1,001 Pearls of Spiritual Wisdom
“Lay not up for yourself treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves break through and steal: But lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves
do not break through nor steal: For where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
—Jesus
“The only devils in this world are those running
around inside our own hearts, and that is
where all out battles should be fought.”
—Mahatma Gandhi
12
What It Means to Be Spiritual
“ We are the same as plants, as trees, as other
people, as the rain that falls. We consist of
that which is around us, we are the same as
everything.”
—Buddha
“There is no way to happiness, happiness is
the way.”
—Buddha, ancient Indian spiritual teacher
“On life’s journey faith is nourishment, virtuous
deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by
day and right mindfulness is the protection by
night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can
destroy him.”
—Buddha, ancient Indian spiritual teacher
13
1,001 Pearls of Spiritual Wisdom
“Live in the world as if only God and your soul
were in it; then your heart will never be made
captive by any earthly thing”
— St. John of the Cross
“The new spirituality is that it will produce an
experience in human encounters in which we
become a living demonstration of the basic
spiritual teaching; We are all one.”
— Neale Donald Walsch,
American author of Conversations with God
“Heaven on Earth is a choice you must make,
not a place you must find.”
— Wayne Dyer, American self-help adviocate
14