Learning to be silent is far more difficult and far more important than learning to recite prayers.
Interpretation
True wisdom comes from listening and being silent rather than just speaking or reciting words.
This quote emphasizes the profound value of silence and contemplation in spiritual and personal development. It suggests that while reciting prayers or words can be easy and superficial, the deeper understanding and connection found in silence is much more challenging yet essential for true growth and communication with the divine or oneself.
In practice
During a meditation retreat, this quote can inspire participants to embrace the power of silence.
... the ecological problem of our times demands a radical reevaluation of how we see the entire world; it demands a different interpretation of matter and the world, a new attitude of humankind toward nature, and a new understanding of how we acquire and make use of our material goods.
Arrogance and fanaticism cause the hardening of positions taken and entrenchment can only lead to a dead end.
Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results … We understand this law in the natural world, and work with it; but few understand it in the mental and moral world—although its operation there is just as simple and undeviating— and they, therefore, do not cooperate with it.
The next message you need is always right where you are.
Let go into the mystery_x000D_ Let yourself go_x000D_ You've got to open up your heart_x000D_ That's all I know_x000D_ Trust what I say and do what you're told_x000D_ Baby, and all your dirt will turn_x000D_ Into gold.
Whatever authority I may have rests solely on knowing how little I know.
Charting is a little like surfing. You dont have to know a lot about the physics of tides, resonance, and fluid dynamics in order to catch a good wave. You just have to be able to sense when its happening and then have the drive to act at the right time.
I had a long talk with Bruce Springsteen on a rooftop during the Vote for Change tour (in 2004). And it boiled down to this: That guy you used to be, he’s still in the car. He’ll always be in the car. Just don’t let him drive. He might be shouting out directions. But whatever you do, don’t let him get behind the wheel.
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