I originally intended to dig even deeper into this book, simply due to the sheer number of people who have read it, but now, as often happens in my life, I have grown bored with such an endeavor and thus will leave the book entirely after publishing the last series of quotes that I found “discussion-worthy,” though I myself will no longer attempt to discuss them here.
p. 137
Didn’t my daughter have a right to be protected? “A child is protected because she is loved, not because she has the right to be protected.”
“Jesus didn’t hold onto any rights; he willingly became a servant and lives out of his relationship to Papa. He gave up everything, so that by his dependent life he opened a door that would allow you to live free enough to give up your rights.”
p. 138
“ This [garden that Mack & Sarayu have been working in] mess is you! Together, you and I, we have been working with a purpose in your heart. And it is wild and beautiful and perfectly in progress. To you it seems like a mess, but to me, I see a perfect pattern emerging and growing and alive- a living fractal!”
p. 162
When Mack is called to be judge,,, to save two of his kids & condemn three, as he believes God will do to the rest of the world. Fights, fights with Wisdom:
“Could I go instead?”
“Now you sound like Jesus… You have judged them worthy of love, even if cost you everything. That is how Jesus loves.”
p. 169
“Judgment is not about destruction, but about setting things right”
p. 182
“Those who love me come from every system that exists. They were Buddhists or Mormons, Baptists or Muslims, Democrats, Republicans… Jews and Palestinians…”
“Does that mean,” asked Mack, “that all roads will lead to you?”
“Not at all,” smiled Jesus as he reached for the door handle to the shop. “Most roads don’t lead anywhere. What it does mean is that I will travel any road to find you.”
p. 191
“All things must unfold, even though it puts all those I love in the midst of a horrible tragedies- even the one closest.”
p. 192
“Like I said, everything is about him. Creation and history are all about Jesus. He is the very center of our purpose and in him we are now fully human, so our purpose and your destiny are forever linked. You might say that we have put all our eggs in the one human basket. There is no plan B.”
“Seems pretty risky,” Mack surmised.
“Maybe for you, but not for me. There has never been a question that what I wanted from the beginning, I will get […] Honey, you asked me what Jesus accomplished on the cross; so now listen to me carefully: through his death and resurrection, I am now fully reconciled to the world […] Reconciliation is a two-way street, and I have done my part, totally, completely, finally”
p. 203
“Is that why we like the law so much- to give us some control?” asked Mack
“It is much worse that that,” resumed Sarayu. “It grants you the power to judge others and feel superior to them. You believe that you are living to a higher standard than those you judge. Enforcing rules, especially in its more subtle expressions like responsibility and expectation, is a vain attempt to create certainty out of uncertainty… Rules cannot bring freedom; they only have the power to accuse”
p. 206-7
“But,” Mack wasn’t convinced. “But don’t you want us to set priorities? You know: God first, then whatever, followed by whatever?”
“The trouble with living by priorities,” Sarayu spoke, “is that it sees everything as a hierarchy, a pyramid, and you and I have already had that discussion. If you put God at the top, what does that really mean and how much is enough? How much time do you give me before you can go on about the rest of your day, the part that interests you so much more?”
Papa again interrupted. “You see, Mackenzie, I don’t just want a piece of you and piece of your life. Even if you were able, which you are not, to give me the biggest piece, that is not what I want. I want all of you and all of every part of you and your day.”
Jesus now spoke again. “Mack, I don’t want to be the first among a list of values; I want to be at the center of everything. When I live in you, then together we can live through everything that happens to you. Rather than a pyramid, I want to be the center of a mobile, where everything in your life- your friends, family, occupation, thoughts, activities- is connected to me but moves with the wind, in and out and back and forth, in an incredible dance of being.”
“And I,” concluded Sarayu, “I am the wind.:
p. 207
repeated elsewhere: “Nothing is ritual.”
p. 235
Sarayu interrupted him. “Mack, if anything matters then everything matters. Because you are important, everything you do is important. Every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life, the world changes; with every kindness and service, seen or unseen, my purposes are accomplished and nothing will ever be the same again.”