Agnosticism is no excuse for indecision. If anything, it is a catalyst for action; for in shifting concern away from a future… — Stephen Batchelor Action Copy Share Image
In taking the everyday details of life for granted, we fail to appreciate the extraordinary fact that we are conscious at all. — Stephen Batchelor Appreciate Copy Share Image
“Loneliness is not only positively characterized by a certain degree of isolation, but is negatively characterized by a deficiency of participation.” — Stephen Batchelor Isolation Copy Share Image
“I was more concerned with refining my sense of the sheer mysteriousness of life so that it infused each moment of my… — Stephen Batchelor Buddhism Copy Share Image
In varying degrees, the authority of the dharma was replaced by the authority of the guru, who came, in some traditions, to… — Stephen Batchelor Assuming Copy Share Image
The idea that there will be something spiritual or subtle, some sort of consciousness that can escape the collapse of the body… — Stephen Batchelor Body Copy Share Image
[Mindfulness] is not concerned with anything transcendent or divine. It serves as an antidote to theism, a cure for sentimental piety, a… — Stephen Batchelor Antidote Copy Share Image
Our conceptions of the world affect our perceptions of the world which, in turn, condition the way we subsequently conceive the world. — Stephen Batchelor Conceptions Copy Share Image
“When my self is no longer the all-consuming preoccupation it once was, when I see it as one narrative thread among myriad… — Stephen Batchelor Atheism Copy Share Image
“Mindful awareness is not presented as a passive concentration on a single, steady object, but as a refined engagement with a shifting,… — Stephen Batchelor Awareness Copy Share Image
The denial of "self" challenges only the notion of a static self independent of body and mind-not the ordinary sense of ourself… — Stephen Batchelor Ambiguity Copy Share Image
“Our religion, with its beliefs, rituals, and dogmas becomes another segment among all the other segments that constitute our linear and fragmented… — Stephen Batchelor Buddhism Copy Share Image
“When there is great doubt,” says a Zen aphorism that Kusan Sunim kept repeating, “then there is great awakening.” This is the… — Stephen Batchelor Doubt Copy Share Image
I reject karma and rebirth not only because I find them unintelligible, but because I believe they obscure and distort what the… — Stephen Batchelor Believe Copy Share Image
Each time the dharma moved into a different civilization or historical period, it faced a twofold challenge: to maintain its integrity as… — Stephen Batchelor Buddhism Copy Share Image
The art of dharma practice requires commitment, technical accomplishment, and imagination. As with all arts, we will fail to realize its full… — Stephen Batchelor Accomplishment Copy Share Image
“What is it that makes a person insist passionately on the existence of metaphysical realities that can be neither demonstrated nor refuted?… — Stephen Batchelor Atheism Copy Share Image
“Being-in-the-world means that I am inextricably knit into the fabric of this fluid, indivisible, and contingent reality I share with others. There… — Stephen Batchelor Another life Copy Share Image
“For others, however, the significance of anxiety in disclosing a fundamental insight into human existence is grasped. At this point their consciences… — Stephen Batchelor Existence Copy Share Image
“I was encouraged to ask in all seriousness what this life is for, what matters most for myself and others, what non-negotiable… — Stephen Batchelor Buddhism Copy Share Image
“The self does not exist “from its own side,” [...] as an object that can be isolated and defined. The more you… — Stephen Batchelor Buddhism Copy Share Image
“Did I live? The human world is like a vast musical instrument on which we play our individual part while simultaneously listening… — Stephen Batchelor Buddhism Copy Share Image
A compassionate heart still feels anger, greed, jealousy, and other such emotions. But it accepts them for what they are with equanimity,… — Stephen Batchelor Accepting Copy Share Image
“What lies ahead is revealed to us through our being confronted with possibilities. Our possibilities, however, are not unconditional and infinite but… — Stephen Batchelor Existence Copy Share Image
A secular approach is not a dumbing down, it's not reductively identifying Buddhism with one or two particular techniques of meditation, but… — Stephen Batchelor Approach Copy Share Image
“We perceive the world in a particular way and confidently expect it to conform to its appearance. But we fail to recognize… — Stephen Batchelor Reality Copy Share Image
How extraordinary it is to be here at all. Awareness of death can jolt us awake to the sensuality of existence. Breath… — Stephen Batchelor Air Copy Share Image
“Ignorance is not merely a deficiency of knowledge but, in addition, it positively apprehends reality in a distinctive way. And being a… — Stephen Batchelor Ignorance Copy Share Image
“The astronaut in his technical and complex machine, effortlessly orbiting the earth, alone and weightless in the emptiness of space, is the… — Stephen Batchelor Astronaut Copy Share Image
“No matter how hard I tried, I was incapable of giving more importance to a hypothetical, post-mortem existence than to this very… — Stephen Batchelor Atheism Copy Share Image
“I am empty only in the sense that there is nothing fixed or intrinsically real at the core of my identity as… — Stephen Batchelor Atheism Copy Share Image
“Nowadays, the tendency to be preoccupied with having, at the expense of losing touch with the dimension of being, is becoming ever… — Stephen Batchelor Life Copy Share Image
Evasion of the unadorned immediacy of life is as deep-seated as it is relentless. Even with the ardent desire to be aware… — Stephen Batchelor Aftershock Copy Share Image
To preserve the integrity of the tradition, we have to distinguish between what is central to that integrity and what is peripheral.… — Stephen Batchelor Aliens Copy Share Image
“Habitually, as we anxiously flee from the responsibility of our existence as a whole, we place our hope in the particular objects… — Stephen Batchelor Fear Copy Share Image
Awakening is not a state but a process: an ethical way of life and commitment that enables human flourishing. As such, it… — Stephen Batchelor Accomplished Copy Share Image
We can be consicous of how we tend to ignore or escape anguish rather than understand and accept it. We can be… — Stephen Batchelor Accepting Copy Share Image
“The inner aim of thought is never fully realized until it ripens into vocal utterances through which others can have access- albeit… — Stephen Batchelor Introspective Copy Share Image
“Wisdom that neglects method leads to excessive introversion and an inability to effectively communicate with others. Method without wisdom can produce well-intentioned… — Stephen Batchelor Root cause Copy Share Image
We cannot choose whether to engage with the world, only how to. — Stephen Batchelor Choose Copy Share Image
![“[Mindfulness] is not concerned with anything transcendent or divine. It serves as an antidote to theism, a cure for sentimental piety, a scalpel for excising the tumor of metaphysical belief. (130)” quote by Stephen Batchelor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/04b/stephen-batchelor-5328_antidote_mindfulness-is-not-concerned-with-anythi_151409.jpg)
![“The self does not exist “from its own side,” [...] as an object that can be isolated and defined. The more you search for it, whether through meditation, philosophical inquiry, psychological analysis, or dissection of the brain, you will not, in the end, discover any “thing” that corresponds to…” quote by Stephen Batchelor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/00d/stephen-batchelor-5328_buddhism_the-self-does-not-exist-from-its-own-sid_2408637.jpg)
