Quotes about Teaching

Frankly, Jesus came to show us how to be human much more than how to be spiritual, and the process still seems to be in its early stages.

A master drives you toward the substance so that you will stop defending and protecting the forms.

Too often, we have substituted the messenger for the message. As a result, we spent a great deal of time worshiping the messenger and trying to get other people to do the same. Too often this obsession became a pious substitute for actually following what he taught—and he did ask us several times to follow him, and never once to worship him.

Final authority in the spiritual world does not tend to come from any kind of agenda success but from some kind of suffering. Insecurity and impermanence are the best spiritual teachers.

Yet historically, the teaching of original sin started us off on the wrong foot—with a no instead of a yes, with a mistrust instead of a trust.

What Richard does is more like what Jesus did when he spoke in parables: He takes you to see from one angle, and then backs up and brings you to see from another angle, and then another, and then another, until a whole new way of seeing begins to dawn on you.

Many of us were taught a vision of God as Tormentor when we were small, impressionable children, and it got deposited in the lowest part of our brain stems, like all traumatic injuries do.

We were largely taught what to believe instead of how to believe.

While it is wise to learn from experience, it is wiser to learn from the experiences of others.

The New testament commanded to love each other, pray for each other, encourage each other, admonish each other, greet each other, serve each other, teach each other, accept each other, honor each other, bear each other's burdens, forgive each other, submit to each other, be devoted each other, and many other mutual tasks. This is biblical membership!

The apostle Paul said, "Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope" (Rom. 15:4).

The difference between punishment and discipline is a powerful child.