Quotes about Commitments

On the other hand, hope is subversive, for it limits the grandiose pretension of the present, daring to announce that the present to which we have all made commitments is now called into question.

A relationship with God simply cannot grow when money, sins, activities, favorite sports teams, addictions, or commitments are piled up on top of it.

Nirvana is right here, in the midst of the turmoil of life. It is the state you find when you are no longer driven to live by compelling desires, fears, and social commitments, when you have found your center of freedom and can act by choice out of that. Voluntary action out of this center is the action of the bodhisattvas -- joyful participation in the sorrows of the world. You are not grabbed, because you have released yourself from the grabbers of fear, lust, and duties.

Sooner or later they start to get more and more exhausted because if they are Christians, they are often taking on church commitments also—and maybe even some commitments that are not Spirit-led. It may be things that they feel they need to do. But if they are not careful, they may end up trying to be everything to everybody, which cannot be done. They may begin to feel that they are being pulled apart because everywhere they look there is someone wanting them to do something. I

Too many commitments will keep us from developing our potential. Letting other people control us will keep us from developing our potential. Not knowing how to say no will keep us from developing our potential. Getting overly involved in someone else's goals and vision or becoming entangled in someone else's problems instead of keeping our eyes on our own goals will keep us from fulfilling our potential.

Hope, on one hand, is an absurdity too embarrassing to speak about, for it flies in the face of all those claims we have been told are facts. Hope is the refusal to accept the reading of reality which is the majority opinion; and one does that only at great political and existential risk. On the other hand, hope is subversive, for it limits the grandiose pretension of the present, daring to announce that the present to which we have all made commitments is now called into question.