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The purpose of a spiritual discipline is to give us a way to stop the war, not by our force of will, but organically, through understanding an gradual training.

Jack Kornfield

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Jack Kornfield
Age: 79
Born: 1945
Born: July 16
Author
Psychologist
Writer
the United States of America
Spiritual
Force
Organically
War
Gradual
Give
Discipline
Giving
Training
Way
Stop
Understanding
Purpose

More quotes by Jack Kornfield

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For most of us, generosity is a quality that must be developed. We have to respect that it will grow gradually otherwise our spirituality can become idealistic and imitative, acting out the image of generosity before it has become genuine.
Jack Kornfield
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In the crystal of the awakened consciousness, one facet is love.
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Peace requires us to surrender our illusions of control.
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Yet I knew that spiritual practice is impossible without great dedication, energy, and commitment.
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It is not enough to know that love and forgiveness are possible. We have to find ways to bring them to life.
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Love creates a communion with life. Love expands us, connects us, sweetens us, ennobles us. Love springs up in tender concern, it blossoms into caring action. It makes beauty out of all we touch. In any moment we can step beyond our small self and embrace each other as beloved parts of a whole.
Jack Kornfield
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Wherever you are is the perfect place to awaken. This moment is the exact place to practice compassion and loving awareness. You have all the ingredients to breathe and find freedom just where you are.
Jack Kornfield
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How did we get into this funny-looking body that has a hole at one end in which we regularly stuff dead plants and animals? It's bizarre that we got here, incarnated into this world with these bodies.
Jack Kornfield
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The basic principle of spiritual life is that our problems become the very place to discover wisdom and love.
Jack Kornfield
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The emotional wisdom of the heart is simple. When we accept our human feelings, a remarkable transformation occurs. Tenderness and wisdom arise naturally and spontaneously. Where we once sought strength over others, now our strength becomes our own where we once sought to defend ourselves, we laugh.
Jack Kornfield
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The first level of practice is illuminated by the qualities of courage and renunciation.
Jack Kornfield
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Indifference is a misguided way of defending ourselves.
Jack Kornfield
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Yes, there are troubles in the world. There's war and hatred, there's sickness and difficulty. And there is also an undying spirit, an inviolable consciousness that is born in each of us. It is who we are, and it's everything and it's nothing.
Jack Kornfield
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In this there is no judgment and no blame, for we seek not to perfect the world but to perfect our love for what is on this earth.
Jack Kornfield
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It is hard to imagine a world without forgiveness. Without forgiveness life would be unbearable. Without forgiveness our lives are chained, forced to carry the sufferings of the past and repeat them with no release.
Jack Kornfield
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To undertake a genuine spiritual path is not to avoid difficulties but to learn the art of making mistakes wakefully, to bring them to the transformative power of our heart.
Jack Kornfield
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Taking the one seat describes two related aspects of spiritual work. Outwardly, it means selecting one practice and teacher among all the possibilities, and inwardly, it means having the determination to stick with that practice through whatever difficulties and doubts arise until you have come to true clarity and understanding.
Jack Kornfield
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In any moment we can learn to let go of hatred and fear. We can rest in peace, love, and forgiveness. It is never too late. Yet to sustain love we need to develop practices that cultivate and strengthen the natural compassion within us.
Jack Kornfield
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Through practice, gently and gradually we can collect ourselves and learn how to be more fully with what we do.
Jack Kornfield
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Life is so hard, how can we be anything but kind?
Jack Kornfield