Just as one spoils the stomach by overfeeding and thereby impairs the whole body, so can one overload and choke the mind by giving it too much nourishment. For the more one reads the fewer are the traces left of what one has read; the mind is like a tablet that has been written over and over. Hence it is impossible to reflect; and it is only by reflection that one can assimilate what one has read. If one reads straight ahead without pondering over it later, what has been read does not take root, but is for the most part lost.
A sketch book freezes time. It is an instantaneous form of meditation focusing us on the worth of every passing moment.
Somewhere we know that without silence, words lose their meaning.
I think prayerful meditation, being still in a space, being still with God, I don't do that enough. It's crazy, because when I do do it, I always walk away from it going, 'Why the hell am I not doing that more?'
We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed.
I think, for me anyway, music and film is where you can really transport yourself to another universe.
Here they learned to Wait. To Watch. To think thoughts and not voice them.
It takes a certain amount of courage to let the field lie fallow until you have something to say.
Sunsets are my escape into the reality I want to continuously live.
Happy is the man who knows or even the man who remembers those silent vigils where silence itself was the sign of the communion of souls!
Looking deeply into the wrong perceptions, ideas, and notions that are at the base of our suffering is the most important practice in Buddhist meditation.
But only art and music have the power to bring peace.
Six years old, and I already knew that my natural home was the world inside the head.
My music must reflect whatever's going on in my mind, and my life needs to evolve for me to discover who it is I'm becoming.
I have a very serious censorship office inside my head; it censors things that I could tell you that you would never forget, and I don't want to be the person to stick that in your brain.
Not only will you be held accountable for the things you do, but you will be held responsible for the very thoughts you think.
During the times we think we’re being “unproductive,” the seeds of new worlds are germinating within us, and they need peace to grow.
Thought once awakened does not again slumber.
Having each some shingles of thought well dried, we sat and whittled them.
Silence is like a cradle holding our endeavors and our will; a silent spaciousness sustains us in our work and at the same time connects us to larger worlds that, in the busyness of our daily struggle to achieve, we have not yet investigated. Silence is the soul's break for freedom.
My real thinking and planning gets done when I'm doing something else like driving or walking or taking the shower.
Imagination only comes when you privilege the subconscious, when you make delay and procrastination work for you.
In silence you hear who you are becoming. You create yourself.
One should be able to control and manipulate experiences with an informed and intelligent mind.
Private place and plenty of time are the life of prayer.
