Spiritual Nourishment ~ Basil the Great

"When you take food to nourish your body, you can scarcely be induced to leave the table before you have fully satisfied your need and, except for an urgent reason, you will not readily do so. How much more eagerly ought you to linger over spiritual nourishment and strengthen your soul with prayer; for the soul is as far superior to the body as heaven is above the earth and -heavenly things above those of earth."

 -Basil the Great 

More at http://www.theopedia.com/Basil_the_Great

Artwork  Annie Laurie http://www.annielaurieart.com/

What he Wants ~ Bob Dylan

"A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do."

~Bob Dylan

More at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Dylan

Kriyat Shema

"I herewith forgive all those who have angered or taunted me,
all those who have sinned against my person,
my wealth, my possessions or my honour,through compulsion, knowingly with malice, or in ignorance,
by their words or by their deeds.
No one should suffer punishment because of me."

More at  http://halachipedia.com/index.php?title=Kriyat_Shema_Al_HaMitah

Artwork by David Bekker http://www.chicagomodern.org/artists/david_bekker/

Our Task ~ Craig Barnett

"Each one of us has a unique calling, we have been given a life that contains unique gifts and a unique opportunity to bring more of God's love, justice and beauty into the world. Our task is to find that calling and to follow it. We won't find our calling by choosing a set of abstract principles of moral perfection and trying to live up to them. The only way is by paying attention to the inward guide, and allowing it to lead us into the life that is waiting for us, on a path that nourishes our souls."

 ~ Craig Barnett

More at  ~ http://transitionquaker.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/what-is-quakerism-for.html

Artwork by Mary Fadden ~ http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/jun/22/mary-fedden

Revolutionaries Who Have no Gardens― Bill Mollison

“The greatest change we need to make is from consumption to production, even if on a small scale, in our own gardens. If only ten percent of us do this, there is enough for everyone. Hence the futility of revolutionaries who have no gardens, who depend on the very system they attack, and who produce words and bullets, not food and shelter.”

― Bill Mollison

More at http://www.scottlondon.com/interviews/mollison.html

Artwork from Lisa Osborne
https://www.losborne.co.uk/

Poverty without Hope ~ Muhammad Ali

"We must not only control the weapons that can kill us, we must bridge the great disparities of wealth and opportunity among the peoples of the world, the vast majority of whom live in poverty without hope, opportunity or choices in life. These conditions are a breeding ground for division that can cause a desperate people to resort to nuclear weapons as a last resort. Our only hope lies in the power of our love, generosity, tolerance and understanding and our commitment to making the world a better place for all..."

~  Muhammad Ali

More at  http://louisville.edu/aliinstitute/

Divine Life ~ William Law

"For the goodness of a living creature must be its own life; it must arise up in it as its own love or any passion doth; just as the fierceness of the tiger and the meekness of the lamb are the birth of their own life. And if goodness is not our natural birth from our natural parents, we must of all necessity be born again from a principle above nature, or no goodness can be living in us.… And from this birth alone it is, that the free genuine works of goodness flow forth with the freedom of the divine life, wherewith the Spirit of God has made us free."

~  William Law

More at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Law

Artwork by Hugh Ribbans http://www.purplegallery.com/New%20PG%20Website/NewPGSitePrintmakers/HRHome.htm

Barking with the Dog ~ Leonard Cohen

"I never really understood
what he said
but every now and then
I find myself
barking with the dog
or bending with the irises
or helping out
in other little ways"

More at  http://www.leonardcohen.com/us/home

Artwork by Igor Potash  http://www.ipostash.com/

Well Being ~ E.F. Schumacher

"The aim should be to obtain the maximum of well-being with the minimum of consumption.  The cultivation and expansion of needs, is the antithesis of wisdom.  It is also the antithesis of freedom and peace..."

 E.F. Schumacher

More at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._F._Schumacher

Artwork from Valeriane Leblond
https://www.valeriane-leblond.eu/home.html

Be ye Humble ~ Thomas R. Kelly

"Explore the depths of humility, not with your intellects but with your lives, lived in prayer of humble obedience. And there you will find that humility is not merely a human virtue. For there is a humility that is in God Himself. Be ye humble as God is humble. For love and humility walk hand in hand, in God as well as in man."

Thomas R. Kelly

More at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Raymond_Kelly_(Quaker_mystic)

Artwork from the truly outstanding Jan Richardson (I urge you to look at her blog) http://paintedprayerbook.com/

A Mindful Step ~ Elizabeth Bathurst

"Being vegetarian isn't a huge part of my identity, or even my daily life. It doesn't take up a lot of my thoughts. I think about food often, but I rarely think about not-eating-meat. It's certainly not a large part of my faith. My food choices are often a bigger deal to other people than they are to me.

But being a vegetarian is a mindful step that I made towards God. Each change that I make in the way I live my daily life is a change I make in order to be closer to the person He wants me to be. I've got far too low a self-esteem to fully buy into the Quaker idea of perfection, but I am always striving to be a little bit better. And right now, for me, that means not eating meat and not passing judgement on those who do."

~ Elizabeth Bathurst

More at  http://quakingharlot.blogspot.co.uk/

Artwork by Celia Hart http://celiahart.co.uk/index.html

Out of Love ~ Christina Rossetti

"All that we see rejoices in the sunshine
All that we hear makes merry in the Spring:
God grant us such a mind to be glad after our kind,
And to sing
His praises evermore for everything.

Much that we see must vanish with the sunshine,
Sweet Spring must fail, and fail the choir of Spring:
But Wisdom shall burn on when the lesser lights are gone,
And shall sing
God's praises evermore for everything.

What is the beginning? Love. What the course? Love still.
What the goal? The goal is Love on the happy hill.
Is there nothing then but Love, search we sky or earth?
There is nothing out of Love hath perpetual worth:
All things flag but only Love, all things fail or flee;
There is nothing left but Love worthy you and me.

Lord, make me pure:
Only the pure shall see Thee as Thou art
And shall endure.
Lord bring me low;
For Thou wert lowly in Thy blessed heart:
Lord keep me so."

More at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Rossetti