Purification Quotes

“Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering.... The love of God did not protect His own Son.... He will not necessarily protect us - not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process.”
― Elisabeth Elliot

“Suffering often draws us closer to God. Instead of being a sign of God's punishment or distance, suffering can purify us, lead us into the heart of God, and transform our souls.”
― Allen R. Hunt, Confessions of a Mega Church Pastor: How I Discovered the Hidden Treasures of the Catholic Church

“Lobbing hand grenades on the bride of Christ takes zero talent or effort. I also think this really ticks God off. My five-year-old child complains and whines when things aren't the way she wants them, but courageous men and women roll up their sleeves and get busy. I want to be an active participant in putting back together the broken pieces.”
― Mike Foster

“[T]he concern of man is not his future but his present, not the world but his soul. We must be just, we must strive, we must engage ourselves with the business of the world for our own sake, because through that, and through contemplation in equal measure, our soul is purified and brought closer to the divine. ... Thought and deed conjoined are crucial. ... The attempt must be made; the outcome is irrelevant. Right action is a pale material reflection of the divine, but reflection it is, nonetheless. Define your goal and exert reason to accomplish it by virtuous action; successs or failure is secondary.”
― Iain Pears, The Dream of Scipio

“I never feel so much myself as when I'm in a hot bath.

I lay in that tub on the seventeenth floor of this hotel for-women-only, high up over the jazz and push of New York, for near onto an hour, and I felt myself growing pure again. I don't believe in baptism or the waters of Jordan or anything like that, but I guess I feel about a hot bath the way those religious people feel about holy water.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

“There is no greater enemy outside than inside (ego), self mastery is a lifelong discipline to be followed and mastered.”
― Aiyaz Uddin

“Purification before revelation.”
― Sharif Khan, Brave Fortune

“In Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, Pabongka Rinpoche explains how the great Atisha would purify any negativity, no matter how small, immediately. Even in public or when riding his horse, as soon as he noticed a breach of his ethics, he would stop what he was doing, drop to one knee and then and there, purify it with the four opponent powers—the powers of dependence, regret, remedy and restraint. Of course, compared to us, Atisha may not have had that much to purify. Still, he would say, “I never break my pratimoksha vows; I rarely break my bodhisattva vows; but my tantric vows—I transgress those like falling rain.” Atisha practiced purification in this way because of his deep realization of the psycho-mechanics of negative karma, especially its four fundamentals: negative karma is certain to bring suffering; it multiplies exponentially; if eradicated, it cannot bring its suffering result; and once created, it never simply disappears. Through the study and practice of Dharma, we should try to attain Atisha’s level of understanding. In the meantime, we should try to practice as he did.”
― Thubten Zopa, Daily Purification: A Short Vajrasattva Practice

“The bad self is prepared to suffer but not to obey until the two selves are friends and obedience has become reasonably easy or at least amusing. In reality the good self is very small indeed, and most of what appears good is not. The truly good is not a friendly tyrant to the bad, it is its deadly foe. Even suffering can play a demonic role here, and the ideas of guilt and punishment can be the most subtle tool of the ingenious self. The idea of suffering confuses the mind and in certain contexts (the context of ‘sincere self-examination’ for instance) can masquerade as a purification.”
― Iris Murdoch, The Sovereignty of Good

“The earth has a way of purifying itself.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Perhaps to burn is the most basic
Purification there is.
Time said: You must transform to survive.
We said: Not over our dead body.
What can we call a country that destroys
Itself just because it can?
A nation that would char
Rather than change?
Our only word for this is
Home.”
― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry

“We understand from revelation that humans are capable of both good and evil. The soul is not inherently evil, but it has the potential for evil, just as it has the potential for goodness. Goodness, in fact, is probably more prevalent due to the presence of the fitrah. The evil must be controlled, and the self freed from its influence, through the process of purification,”
― Aisha Utz, Psychology from the Islamic Perspective

“I want to be a cleaner,
A person cleaner of his own heart,
I want to be a bodyguard,
A person guarding his own heart,
I want to be a farmer,
A farmer farming his own heart,
I want to be a carpenter,
A person crafting his own heart,
I want to be a doctor,
A person treating his own heart,
I want to be a seeker,
A person seeking his own heart,
I want to be a perfect human,
A person perfecting his own heart.”
― Aiyaz Uddin, The Inward Journey

“Every tears I have shed, purifies my soul.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Prayer leads to purification.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Without purification, there is no perfection.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Prayer is neccesary for purification.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Having these negative imprints on my mental continuum is unbearable. “It’s as if I’ve swallowed a lethal poison. I must practice the antidote right away and purify all this negative karma immediately, without a second’s delay.” In this way, generate strong feelings of urgency and regret.”
― Thubten Zopa, Daily Purification: A Short Vajrasattva Practice

“Praying is a perpetual purification.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“From the bathroom came an unpleasant and characteristic sound.

"Is there anything the matter?" Helmholtz called. There was no answer. The unpleasant sound was repeated, twice; there was silence. Then, with a click the bathroom door opened and, very pale, the Savage emerged.

"I say," Helmholtz exclaimed solicitously, "you do look ill, John!"

"Did you eat something that didn't agree with you?" asked Bernard.

The Savage nodded. "I ate civilization."

"What?"

"It poisoned me; I was defiled. And then," he added, in a lower tone, "I ate my own wickedness."

"Yes, but what exactly? ... I mean, just now you were ..."

"Now I am purified," said the Savage. "I drank some mustard and warm water.”
― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

“Pain is necessary for purification.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Pain is never a punishment but purification process.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Thou cleaned thyself inside,
Thou sacrificed thy ego inside,
Thou purified thy soul inside,
Thou made thy heart an altar inside,
Thou sacrifice thy identity inside,
Thou shall remain truthful insight inside,
Thou be the temple resides within thyself is you inside!”
― Aiyaz Uddin, The Inward Journey

“The very essence of prayer is to seek purification.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“A man's pain provides a means for his purification.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Through the purification of my thoughts, I process my emotions without unreasonably leaning on others”
― Leo Lourdes

“My Feather Weight Heart!

It wasn’t this way clean and lightweight before,
It all started when I met the spiritual surgeon after,
It was filled with jealousy, greed, lust, stinginess and envy before,
It got cleaned when I started to meditate on the name of beloved after,
It was all dark filled with all black spots before,
It got lighter when the name of God entered after,
It was filled with hate towards oneself and others before,
It’s now filled with love towards oneself and others after,
It was disconnected from the truth of reality,
It’s now connected with reality of truth after,
It was once ignorant and arrogant before,
It is now awakened and mindful after,
It was out of the side of the truth of oneself before,
It is now in truth with insights of oneself after,
It was oppressive, aggressive, and transgressive before,
It is now submissive, merciful and compassionate after,
It was racist, filled with malice and hateful before,
It is now united, filled with love and acceptance after,
It was searching for the truth outside in the mosque, church, synagogues and temples before,
It is now in awareness of the temple inside me after,
It was not aware of God, temple of God (heart) and the soul before,
It is now when I met beloved reviving my dead heart after!”
― Aiyaz Uddin, The Inward Journey

“In spiritual and shamanic traditions, every trial is seen as an opportunity for purification and learning. Stagnating in pain dissipates vital energy that could otherwise be channeled toward personal improvement and service to the community. These moments of pain become rites of passage toward a deeper understanding of our place in the universe.”
― Marie Chieze, Words of the Shaman: 50 Quotes from Paching Hoé Lambaiho

“It's not easy to find the Philosopher's Stone,' said the Englishman. 'The alchemists spent years in their laboratories, observing the fire that purified the metals. They spent so much time close to the fire that gradually they gave up on the vanities of the world. They discovered that the purification of the metals had led to a purification of themselves.'

The boy thought about the crystal merchant. He had said that it was a good thing for the boy to clean the crystal pieces, so that he could free himself from negative thoughts. The boy was becoming more and more convinced that alchemy could be learned in one's daily life.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“Purification prayer to Nyx:
Great Goddess of Night, whose voice I hear in the wind, who breathes the breath of life to Her children. Hear me; I need your strength and wisdom.
Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset that comes before the beauty of your night. Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice. Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught your people.
Help me remain calm and strong in the face of all that comes toward me. Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock. Help me seek pure thoughts and act with the intention of helping others. Help me find compassion without empathy overwhelming me.
I seek strength, not to be greater than others, but to fight my greatest enemy, the doubts within myself.
Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes. So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame.”
― P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast