The mind – tricky customer – is very good at editing out things it would rather not face. This is why it is dangerous to let the mind direct your work – you end up working on only those parts the mind is prepared to allow – basically the easy bits and the fun bits. Instead we recommend just doing what your teacher tells you. No complaints, no regrets.

Think with your whole body.

It is easy for a clever mind to get the better of a good heart. Therein lies the source of all our problems.

To study ourselves is to forget ourselves.

The heart's desire is to simply lift in lightness and light. What prevents this is an impure mind – a mind clotted with self.

The mind is much better at avoiding problems than solving them.

It's too late to be ready.

Real intelligence is acutely aware of its own limitations, and soon becomes far more interested in what it necessarily blocks out in order to function.

Still the mind so the heart can speak to God. The mind doesn't even have to listen because the heart always says the same thing: I need you.

The heart lifts humbly like the hands of a beggar.

Depth of character seems to have a lot to do with how much suffering you've managed to get through.

Intelligence interrupts the heart.

Your connection is not secure. Apparently.

We talk to ourselves to hide from the presence of God.

Self, obviously, is a cultural artifact. But then so is mind, and body too. And so is Nature for that matter – or what she has become – a pathetic picturesque shadow of what she was before humans interfered.

Quietening the mind is just the beginning. Then you have to get naked.

Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.