"The night before the Buddha attained final enlightenment, Mara was there to tempt him. Buddha was tempted by Mara. Mara is the tempter. He always wanted the Buddha to be a politician, to be a king, or a president, or a foreign minister, or running a business, having a lot of money, a lot of beautiful women; and he was always trying to tempt the Buddha so that Buddha would go into these directions. That is Mara.

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth"

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure."

"Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one."

- Saint John the Apostle

***

"if powers fail there shall be praise for daring, and in great undertaking to have willed is enough”

- anonymous philosopher

***

Jesus says ~ "Be passers by."

"To remember what needs to be remembered is the secret of success" - Nisargadatta Maharaj

"I cannot show you God or enable you to see God because God is not an object that can be seen. God is the subject. He is the seer. Don't concern yourself with objects that can be seen. Find out who the seer is." - Ramana Maharshi

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away." And he who sat upon the throne said, "Behold I make all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true." And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the fountain of the water of life without payment. He who conquers shall have this heritage, and I will be his God and he shall be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death."

More go down than ever come up

Thanks for sharing that, FranLover. It reminded me of this song, which sounds like it was inspired by the verse you quoted...

Thank you for the nice reggae music, mi brethren 🕺

“God makes no mistakes, and he didn’t start with us.”

As I accepted my death and dissolution into God's love, the insectoids began feeding on my heart, devouring the feelings of love and surrender. They were interested in emotion. As I was holding on to my last thought - that God is love - they asked, "Even here? Even here?
- Rick Strassman, Inner Paths to Outer Space: Journeys to Alien Worlds through Psychedelics & Other Spiritual Technologies

(Try a little higher than God's love next time for better luck Rick? Hehe jk who knows what he meant by "God" there)

In my mind, MDMA is a mild drug. People who prefer it to the typical psychedelics tend not to do well when stressed, either by life or by taking more potent mind-bending drugs. MDMA is what I like to call a “love and light” drug, one that accentuates the positive and minimizes the negative. If only life were so simple.
- Rick Strassman, DMT: The Spirit Molecule

Psychedelics are not a substitute for faith. They are a door to authentic faith, born of encountering directly the sacred dimension of everyday experience. This is not the only gate to that discovery, but it is the most ancient and universal, and potentially the most accessible to the majority of the human race.
- Rick Doblin, Manifesting Minds: A Review of Psychedelics in Science, Medicine, Sex, and Spirituality

Oh gosh I could keep going just search the appropriate tags on Goodreads quote database for a humongous, gorgeously laid out selection been doing it for years now my fav quote place links them from the texts they are from too.

My life map says vacate the premises adiós amigos.

Godspeed (talking about Brahmaloka on Mount Meru God hahaha jk just a phrase!) Namo Sakyamuni Buddha

Read some Sufi masters quotes for me. I was recently and wow even though I don't believe in a Supreme Creator deity and they talk about God a lot the insight was pretty universal I also listen to Buddhadharma pretty religiously and yes my name was inspired by Plutarch.