Writing In The Sand by Thomas Moore

Page xii ~ ...he saw in Jesus someone who could transcend the splitting of good and evil and light and shadow, and therefore avoid the pitfall of moralism - the bad habit of making simple judgements of right and wrong.

Page 1 ~ Jesus talks about the kingdom as being within you and in your midst. The passage from Matthew above (Matthew 10:7-8) makes it clear that you reveal the Kingdom by the way you live and act - not that you live morally and virtuously but that you work at healing, wakening, caring for, and calming others.

Page 19 ~ Feeling like an outsider and standing out from the crowd because of your compassionate and forgiving values are signs that you may have found your way into the Kingdom. Conversely, if you fit too snugly in the mass of humanity that has surrendered to narcissistic and paranoid values, you are not part of the father's kingdom.

Page 35 ~ The change of water to wine signifies a much deeper kind of change within the human spirit - from plain unconsciousness to an intoxicating vision. It is the central theme of the Gospels: go through a change of vision and discover life in all its abundance and intensity.

Page 45 ~ ...Jesus places high value on people who are normally rejected. He sees through the surface problems of illness, weakness, and failure to the jewel at the core of the person.
Agape is an alternative to hatred, suspicion, judgement, and paranoia. It is less an emotion and more an orientation toward life. You face the world with an open heart rather than with a suspicious or punitive one. You don't reject and distance the world from you but rather embrace it. In the kingdom you reach out precisely toward those who in ordinary reality are ostracized.

Page 53 ~ Jesus' way is a philosophy of affection, a matter of heart and soul. It is not an abstract love, as merely wanting the best for humankind or striving toward an ideal.....

...If everyone felt and thought this way, we would be living in a radically different world, the kingdom of heaven.

Moore,Thomas. Writing In The Sand. Hay House Publishers: California.2009
ISBN # 1-4019-2413-1

Code of the Samurai by Taira Shigesuke trans. by Thomas Cleary

"One who is supposed to be a warrior considers it his foremost concern to keep death in mind at all times, every day and night, from the morning of New Year's Day through the night of New Year's Eve. As long as you keep death in mind at all times, you will also fulfill the ways of loyalty and familial duty."
- pg. 3 -

"For warriors, taking good care of parents is fundamental. If people do not care for their parents, they are not good, even if they are exceptionally smart, well-spoken, and handsome."
- pg. 7 -

"In the code of warriors there are two kinds of principles with four levels. The two kinds of principles are ordinary principles and emergency principles. The ordinary principles include principles of knighthood and principles of weaponry. The emergency principles include army principles and combat principles."
- pg. 10 -

Shigesuke, Taria. trans by Thomas Cleary. Code of the Samurai. Tuttle Publishing: Rutland, VT. 1999.
ISBN # 0-8048-3190-4 (hc)