Desiring Nothing & Everything

When I stood in my first cause, I then had no "God", and then I was my own cause. I wanted nothing, I longed for nothing, for I was an empty being, and the only truth in which I rejoiced was in the knowledge of myself. Then it was myself I wanted and nothing else. What I wanted I was, and what I was I wanted; and so I stood, empty of God and of everything.  Meister Eckhart

As long as I will nothing, ... I am alone in Him without myself, completely unencumbered. And if I should will something... I am with myself, and ... I have lost freeness.  Marguerite Porete

True wisdom is learning to wish that each thing should come to pass as it does.  Epictetus

Behold, I am the ground of thy beseeching.  Julian of Norwich

God wills not to deprive us of desire; He wills that we desire All that is, He wills to give us all desire.  Suso

Non-attachment is not the elimination of desire. It is the spaciousness to allow any quality of mind, any thought or feeling, to arise without closing around it, without eliminating the pure witness of being. It is an active receptivity to life.  Stephen Levine

Observers of the Tao do not seek fulfilment. Not seeking fulfilment, they are not swayed by desire for change.  Lao-tzu

Work performed with attachment is a shackle, whereas work performed with detachment does not affect the doer.  Ramana Maharshi

If ... thy Will ... could break off itself for one Hour, or even but for one half Hour, from all Creatures, and plunge itself into That where no Creature is, or can be, presently it would be penetrated and clothed upon with the supreme Splendour of the Divine Glory, would taste in itself the most sweet Love of Jesus, the Sweetness whereof no Tongue can express, and would find in itself the unspeakable Words of our Lord concerning His Great Mercy.  Jacob Boehme

You must become the enemy of yourself so that the Friend may show His Face.  Rumi

To know the always-so is to be illumined;
Not to know it, means to go blindly to disaster.
He who knows the always-so has room in him for everything;
He who has room in him for everything is without prejudice.  Lao-tzu

God is all and things have only a nominal value.  Attar

The fitting disposition for union with God is not that the soul should understand, feel, taste or imagine anything on the subject of the nature of God, or any other thing whatever, but should remain in that pureness and love which is perfect resignation and complete detachment from all things for God alone.  St. John of the Cross

The soul that is attached to anything, however much good there may be in it, will not arrive at the liberty of divine union.  St. John of the Cross

The single motive (of the simple heart) is to please God, and hence arises total indifference as to what others say and think, so that words and actions are perfectly simple and natural, as in his sight only. Such Christian simplicity is the very perfection of interior life -- God, his will and pleasure, its sole object.  John Nichols Grou

My thought should be indifferent to all ideas without exception, including for instance materialism and atheism; it must be equally welcoming and equally reserved with regard to every one of them.  Simone Weil

The wise man who is serene within, ever perceives the absolute Self, and is neither pleased nor angry when abused and tormented.  Ashtavakra Gita

The wise man who has known the truth about the Self plays the game of life, and there is no similarity between his way of living, and the deluded who live in the world as mere beasts of burden.  Ashtavakra Gita

The liberated man has no aversion for sense-objects, nor does he crave for them. With his mind ever detached, he is unconcerned with what is attained and with what remains unattained.  Ashtavakra Gita

The proof and sign of the death of all that is external is a sort of indifference, or rather of insensibility with regard to exterior goods, pleasures, reputation, relations, friends, etc. This insensibility becomes, by the help of grace, so complete, and so profound that one is tempted to imagine it purely natural; and God permits this to prevent the artifices of self-complacency, and to make us in all things, walk in the obscurity of faith, and in a great abandonment.  Jean Pierre de Caussade

All I'm saying is that there's no life that frees anyone so completely from unhappiness as does the mystic life. If you give up possession, if you give up trying to possess what attracts you, a lovely thrilling happiness flows through you and you feel you're in touch with the secret of everything.  J.C. Powys, "A Glastonbury Romance"

His will is our peace.  Dante

The will is the principle that lies at the root of all existences and unites them all in the oneness of being. There is absolutely nothing in this world that has not its will. The one great will from which all these wills, infinitely varied, flow is what I call the Cosmic Unconsciousness.  D.T. Suzuki

What is not stable and permanent, let go.
There is only one thing left.
Worlds and gods will disappear, but This will not.
When you are reminded of this keep your eye on it,
not with the intention of having it, but just to BE it!
All the things you want are in the "let go" category:
House, wife, body, parents, gods, let go.
What is left? What cannot go? That you ARE!
You cannot go because you have never come
and anything that comes must go.
Find out what it is.  Papaji

This story is told about the Buddha, who one day was sought out by an ardent follower who had brought presents to the master to show his devotion. The Buddha gave him audience. The man stepped forward and held out his right hand, offering a priceless ivory ornament. "Drop it", said Buddha. The man, surprised, stepped back. Then he stepped forward again, this time offering in his left hand a precious jewel. "Drop it", said Buddha. Again the disciple, surprised, obeyed and stepped back. Then, smiling as if catching the Buddha's meaning, he held out both hands empty and stepped forward. "Drop it", said Buddha.  M.C. Richards, "Centering" in "Pottery, Poetry and the Person"

Loosing and dropping off body and mind, your Original Face is clear before you.  Sazen-Gi

The whole man is the Whole: nothing less is viable. However you look at him, then, whether from inside or outside, he is (in the last resort) that all-inclusive One which organizes the diverse wills of all its members into One will which we call God's will -- which is none other than your will when you know Who you really are and what you really want, when you are all there and wholly yourself. Seeming to yourself and others to be a part of the Universe, you intend that part; being all of it, you intend it all.  D.E. Harding

I want not to want except what He wants. Al-Bistami 

God, of thy goodness, give me Thyself;
for Thou art enough for me,
and I can ask for nothing less
that can be full honour to Thee.
And if I ask anything that is less,
ever Shall I be in want,
for only in Thee have I all.
Julian of Norwich

When I pray for aught my prayer goes for naught; when I pray for naught I pray as I ought. Meister Eckhart 

back to top