I've recently begun reading a book entitled "For the Love of God," (ed.
Benjamin Shield & Richard Carlson) which is basically a collection of
essays from people about spirituality and God.  It's got some really
great ones: the first one in the book (intended as the "hook," I'm sure)
was from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and was great, of course.  So I'm
going to share some quotes from the book.

"God is a verb."  -- Buckminster Fuller

"There are two ways to enter into Buddhism: one through faith and one
through reasoning.  Faith alone may not be sufficient."  --HHDL

Matthew Fox:

"The mystical aspect [of prayer] is the falling in love with life."

"That combination of pleasure (mysticism) and struggle (the prophetic)
[Kazantzakis, anyone?!] is the dialectic that creates my spirituality
and my experiences with God."

"The second path, the Via Negativa, is that of darkness, emptiness,
nothingness, absence.  This is a very important experience -- when we
suffer or experience the suffering of others, when we doubt or let go. 
In the process of letting go, there is always a sinking; and in sinking
we never know when we're going to bottom out.  But as Jesus said, "I am
the Way"; the way of sinking is itself a divine experience.  It takes a
lot of trust.  The darkness is also a kind of revelation of divinity,
but it can't be put into words.  Ultimately, it's silence.  With that
silence comes a union with God."

"I think there's a danger in the "personal" [relationship with God], for
the American psyche especially.  It has something to do with being stuck
in our adolescence, when friendship -- Am I liked? -- meant everything. 
This idea can be projected into religion, as in "Jesus loves me."  This
is not adult mysticism.  For one thing, it is not *child-like* enough. 
Children are citizens playing in the universe.  True mystical adults
recover that child inside and play in that personalized universe, but
don't create out of God some kind of partner or mate who is missing in
their lives."

Reverend Michael Beckwith:

"Rather than change ourselves, we want to change the world and other
people.  But spiritual growth is just the opposite.  It's about letting
go of opinion, false thought, and erroneous perceptions so this other
dimension can emerge.  It is about totally shifting our identity.  The
pain comes because the ego doesn't know the difference between
annihilation and transformation."

"I believe the average person is sleepwalking.  In their dream state
they try to control their world and be comfortable.  Then, when they
wake up, they discover that they've literally surrounded by God's
presence.  They're in God's grace, and God's grace is in them." (Anyone
remember T. S. Eliot: "surrounded by a grace of sense"?)

"There's an old saying that God made us in His image, and we've been
trying to return the favor ever since."

(This one was especially powerful for me... those of you who know my
background know why.)

"Those of us trying to live a life we are proud of still make mistakes. 
It's natural and human.  And we have to learn how to forgive ourselves. 
Often, we hang onto the guilt.  That's really focusing on our ego,
another way of trying to control our life (!!).  We feel that God will
judge us, so we say to ourselves, "I might as well do the job myself. 
God will see how much I'm hating myself already and will lighten up on
me." . . . "Self-forgiveness is a discipline."

(Something that's especially important for the baby sangha at Tech):
"Joining a group by itself can sometimes become a form of addiction, if
you're not also doing your own work.  If you're riding the coattails of
someone else's spiritual leadership, but you're not doing your own
spiritual work, then you become a groupie rather than someone empowered
by the energy of God."

Barbara de Angelis:

"The fellowship of like-minded people is a magnet that attracts grace. 
When you're around people who are committed to spiritual awakening, you
begin resonating at the same level."

Andrew Harvey:

"There is no quick fix, no quick way to the relationship with God. . . .
But the relationship with God requires the active and passionate
participation of you, yourself.  You have to risk it.  You have to
abandon yourself to it.  You have to leap into the fire."

"Any transformation in nature costs a lot; every resurrection is
preceded by a crucifixion."

(This happened to me, too):
"I had a profound mystical experience, which opened my being but also
gave me an overly grandiose and glamorous impression of myself to
myself.  I was lucky: a great shattering occurred that started to
divorce me from everything I had pursued, all my visions of myself. 
This purification resulted in a much more realistic relationship with
God; it is a much closer union, in which awe and humility and profound
gratitude play a constant part."

"Many people are driven toward religion seeking solace.  This isn't a
true relationship with God.  You're essentially asking God to serve as a
drug pusher to provide you with the bliss and consolation you need to
get through.  God is love, but a love that creates and serves.  If you
come into authentic connection with that love, your whole being
undergoes a painful revolution.  Very few people want to go through
that.  They want all the glory without the grit, all the gold without
the sweat and blood.  It's simply not possible.  The divine will not
sell itself cheaply.  The way to realize divine love and action is
through the cross.  The way is through annihilation."

And a funny story by Stephen Levine to finish:

"Some years ago, while I was involved in an arduous Buddhist meditation
practice, the door opened to the room in my mind in which I was sitting
and in walked the luminescent figure of Jesus.  I was dismayed.  "You
must have the wrong guy.  I'm a Buddhist.  Maybe you're looking for the
fellow down the hall!"