Longing is a compass that guides us through life. We may never get what we really want, that's true, but every step along the way will be determined by it.
Joan D. ChittisterRead
To be contemplative we must remove the clutter from our lives, surround ourselves with beauty, and consciously, relentlessly, persistently, give clutter away until the tiny world for which we ourselves are responsible begins to reflect the raw beauty that is God.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of decluttering our lives to appreciate beauty and spirituality.
Joan D. Chittister's quote suggests that in order to truly reflect the divine beauty of God in our lives, we need to eliminate the unnecessary distractions or 'clutter' that entangles us. By consciously choosing to surround ourselves with beauty and persistently giving away what does not serve us, we can create a space that nurtures contemplation and allows the essence of divinity to shine through in our personal world.
Themes
ContemplationBeautyClutterSpiritualitySimplicity
In practice
Example use cases
In a mindfulness workshop, we discussed the importance of decluttering our minds and surroundings.
More from Joan D. Chittister
All quotes →Feminism without spirituality runs the risk of becoming what it rejects: an elitist ideology, arrogant, superficial and separatist, closed to everything but itself. Without a spiritual base that obligates it beyond itself, calls it out of itself for the sake of others, a pedagogical feminism turned in on itself can become just one more intellectual ghetto that the world doesn’t notice and doesn’t need.
Joan D. ChittisterRead
We talk religion in a world that worships the bread but does not distribute it, that practices ritual rather than righteousness, that confesses but does not repent.
Joan D. ChittisterRead
Hospitality means we take people into the space that is our lives and our minds and our hearts and our work and our efforts. Hospitality is the way we come out of ourselves. It is the first step towards dismantling the barriers of the world. Hospitality is the way we turn a prejudiced world around, one heart at a time.
Joan D. ChittisterRead
The question is not, do we go to church; the question is, have we been converted. The crux of Christianity is not whether or not we give donations to popular charities but whether or not we are really committed to the poor.
Joan D. ChittisterRead
It is a pathetic moment in the history of the human condition when the outside world tells us who and what we are - and we start to believe it ourselves. Then, bent over from the weight of the negativity, we start to wither on the outside.
Joan D. ChittisterRead
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