Bede Griffiths Quotes

I Was Being Called To Surrender The Very Citadel Of My Self. I Was Completely In The Dark. I Did Not Really Know What Repentance Was Or What I Was Required To Repent Of. It Was Indeed The Turning Point Of My Life.

I Am Rediscovering The Whole Sexual Dimension Of Life At The Age Of 86, Really. And That Also Means Discovering The Feminine. So The Whole Of This Dimension, Which I Had Been Seeking For A Very Long Time, Is Now Sort Of Opening Itself Up To Me.

I Had Made Myself The Center Of My Own Existence And Had My Back Turned To God.

Obedience Is Detachment From The Self. This Is The Most Radical Detachment Of All. But What Is The Self? The Self Is The Principle Of Reason And Responsibility In Us. It Is The Root Of Freedom, It Is What Makes Us Men.

The One Thing Which You Have To Abandon Unconditionally Is Your Self.

...the Need To Overawe People And Demand Obedience From Them Is Powerful And Seductive. It Is A Part Of That World That The Kingdom Of Heaven Is Not Of.

This Process Of Change Since My Stroke Has Been Very Gradual. It Is Going On All The Time... It Is Partly A Physical Transformation. The Body Itself Is Undergoing Great Changes. My Problem Before Was That I Was Living Largely From The Head; And Then After The Stroke I Got Down Into The Heart.

Atheism And Agnosticism Signify The Rejection Of Certain Images And Concepts Of God Or Of Truth, Which Are Historically Conditioned And Therefore Inadequate. Atheism Is A Challenge To Religion To Purifiy Its Images And Concepts And Come Nearer To The Truth Of Divine Mystery.

You Must Be Ready To Give Up Everything, Not Only Material Attachments But Also Human Attachments - Father, Mother, Wife, Children - Everything That You Have. But The One Thing Which You Have To Abandon Unconditionally Is Your Self.

There Is A Beautiful Expression Of This In The Chandogya Upanishad: 'there Is This City Of Brahman, (that Is The Body), And In This City There Is A Shrine, And In That Shrine There Is A Small Lotus, And In That Lotus There Is A Small Space, (akasa). Now What Exists Within That Small Space, That Is To Be Sought, That Is To Be Understood.' This Is The Great Discovery Of The Upanishads, This Inner Shrine, This Guha, Or Cave Of The Heart, Where The Inner Meaning Of Life, Of All Human Existence, Is To Be Found.

It Is No Longer A Question Of A Christian Going About To Convert Others To The Faith, But Of Each One Being Ready To Listen To The Other And So To Grow Together In Mutual Understanding.

The Main Theme Of The Bible Is The Restoration Of Humanity And, Through Humanity, Of The Whole Of Creation To Its Original Harmony.