...”There remains much to learn and much literally soul-searching work to be done...We have to apply our observation concerning the afflictions to ourselves. Therefore we need a mirror. So we have to continue our practice of yoga, all aspects of the practice we have learned hitherto. We have to refine what we already can accomplish and add new depth and subtleties in order to penetrate into the final heart of the mystery. We have to keep on questioning ourselves, or else transformation will not take place. Advance with faith, yes, but always call yourself into question. Where there is pride there is always ignorance. Before our consciousness finally gravitates to our Self and our Self is merged in the Infinite, there are many fine threads to be woven together into the shimmering cloth of our practice. We have to weave in a meditation of such selfless purity that the impersonating ego will be unmasked for all time. When the ego is effaced, the afflictions that accompany it will disappear. Another thread that we must weave in is an understanding of how the elements inform our practice...The elements of earth, water, fire, and air...correspond to the first four sheaths of body, energy, mind, and intellect. The final element that corresponds with the final sheath of bliss is called “space” and allows mobility and freedom in all the others.” —B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Life, p. 201-2. .
“Truthfulness, honor, is not something which springs ablaze itself; it has to be created between people.....
Truthfulness anywhere means a heightened complexity. But it’s a movement into evolution.”
—Adrienne Rich
“I want to unfold.
I don’t want to stay folded anywhere,
because where I am folded, there I am a lie.
and I want my grasp of things to be
true before you. I want to describe myself
like a painting that I looked at
closely for a long time,
like a saying that I finally understood,
like the pitcher I use every day,
like the face of my mother,
like a ship
that carried me
through the wildest storm of all.”
—Rainier Maria Rilke