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......at this point the self has obviously outworn its function it is no longer needed or useful, and life can go on without it. we are ready to move on, to go beyond the self, beyond even its most intimate union with God, and this is where we enter yet another new life- a life best categorized, perhaps, as a life without a self.

Bernadette Roberts

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Bernadette Roberts
Born: 1931
Born: January 1
Writer
Point
Obviously
Moving
Function
Outworn
Another
Beyond
Categorized
Best
Perhaps
Enter
Without
Move
Intimate
Self
Needed
Union
Even
Longer
Useful
Life
Ready
Unions

More quotes by Bernadette Roberts

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The onset of this second movement is characterized by the falling away of self and coming upon that which remains when it is gone. But this going-out is an upheaval, a complete turnabout of such proportions it cannot possibly be missed, under-emphasized, or sufficiently stressed as a major landmark in the contemplative life.
Bernadette Roberts
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When there is no longer a cyclone, there is no longer an eye. So the storms, crises and sufferings of life are a way of finding the eye.
Bernadette Roberts
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I went on to discover that in its deepest sense, the will is not primarily the faculty of desire for anything known, but rather, the desire for something unknown, animate desire for something that lies beyond ourselves, a longing for something we know is missing in us.
Bernadette Roberts
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Once beyond the self, however, holiness is no longer possible, because now, there is nothing left to give and no-one left to do the giving.
Bernadette Roberts
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In some ways, all our experiences of God are beyond belief, because all conceptual beliefs pale when compared to the experiential reality.
Bernadette Roberts
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Only God is love, and for this love to be fully realized self must step aside. And not only do we not need a self to love God, but for the same reason we do not need a mind to know him, for that in us which knows God, is God.
Bernadette Roberts
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Since the moment of self-consciousness comes to a permanent end - and a new journey begins- is such a decisive stroke or milestone in the contemplative life, I can only speculate why so little has been said of this breakthrough in fact , I may never get over the silence on the part of writers who say nothing about this second movement.
Bernadette Roberts
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When one is perfectly still-mind and body, silent and alone-there is no personality to speak of, thus personality is one's unique way of expression, it is what others see and know of us, nothing more or deeper than that.
Bernadette Roberts
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Spiritual life is like a moving sidewalk. Whether you go with it or spend your whole life running against it, you're still going to be taken along.
Bernadette Roberts