Hugh and Gayle Prather

I want to experience you, listen to you – not to myself.  I have already heard everything I have to say.  You are what is novel about this conversation.  Hugh Prather

The heart loves, but moods have no loyalty.  Moods should be heard but never danced to.  -Hugh Prather

I am afraid of your silence because of what it could mean.  Perhaps it means you are getting bored or losing interest or making up your own mind about me without my guidance.  I believe that as long as I keep you talking I can know what you are thinking.  -Hugh Prather

If I feel in need of something from you then I hear your words only as yes, no, maybe, or irritatingly off the subject.  I cannot appreciate you as you are and cannot begin to see the world as you see it.  -Hugh Prather

Hunting,. . . picking flowers, . . .may at times be an attempt to make contact with, even identify with, that which seems free and beautiful and so frightfully unlike us.  -Hugh Prather

Whenever I find myself arguing for something with great passion, I can be certain I’m not convinced.

-         Hugh Prather

I always seem to be feeling either superior or inferior, one up or one down, better off or worse off than everyone else.  The superior moments are elating, but the rare and blessed moments are when I feel equal.  -Hugh Prather

There is no such thing as “best” in a world of individuals.  -Hugh Prather

If the desire to write is not accompanied by actual writing then the desire is not to write.  -Hugh Prather

Fear is neither an intelligence I wish to lead me nor a sin I wish to flee.  It is a great churning of thought caused by the object of thought, and only stillness can see past it.  However, it is not the fearful thoughts themselves that must be stilled, but thoughts containing stillness that must be brought into focus.  -Hugh Prather

To lie is to consciously communicate a false impression, and this can be done with words that are literally correct.  What I want are words that reflect my heart, not my cleverness.  -Hugh Prather

Forgiveness is the willingness to begin.  Guilt is the love of staying stuck.  -Hugh Prather

The thought.  ”you’re lucky, it could have been worse,” is the kind of gratitude I can do without.  It also could have been better, or, actually, it couldn’t have been any other way than the way it was.  -Hugh Prather

I live from one tentative conclusion to the next, thinking each one is final.  The only thing I know for sure is that I’m confused.  -Hugh Prather

What an absurd amount of energy I have been wasting all my life trying to figure out how things “really are,” when all the time they weren’t.  -Hugh Prather

The difference between euphoria and peace is kindness.

-         Hugh and Gayle Prather

Relax into your destiny.

-         Hugh and Gayle Prather

The distance between two positions is bridged through concession.  These can be seen either as personal sacrifices or as gifts that strengthen the bond between us.

-         Hugh and Gayle Prather

If you will give me a little time, a little space, I promise not to use it to love you less.

-         Hugh and Gayle Prather

This popular fear that we can lose our identity in another’s love for us is not only mistaken but upside down.  I know this beyond all doubt when I am with you.  Every time I loosen my grip on my own personal importance and sprawl into this puddle of clarity called devotion, I come out brilliantly myself.

-         Hugh and Gayle Prather

. . . there is something in me that knows you better than my anger.

-         Hugh and Gayle Prather

I will let this day come and bring me peace.

-         Hugh and Gayle Prather