secret

And I suppose you know who Magnus_ father is?_ Luke said.__ paid a lot of money once to find it out,_ Raphael said.

The people through which the Tradition of the Sun spoke were people just like anyone else, and who, one morning or one evening, looked at the world and felt the presence of something greater. They had unwittingly plunged into an unknown sea, and, for the most part, they did not do so again. Everyone, at least once in each incarnation, possessed the secret of the Universe.

A secret's only a secret as long as you keep it. Once you tell someone it loses all its power -- for good or ill -- like that, it's just another piece of information. But a real mystery can't be solved, not completely. It's always just out of reach, like a light around the corner; you might catch a glimpse of what it reveals, feel its warmth, but you can't know the heart of it, not really. That's what gives it value: It can't be cracked, it's bigger than you and me, bigger than everything we know.

I would prefer not to.

I think I might have secretly wished for you to exist all my life but never knew how to admit it.

...some secrets beg to be betrayed. The secret of undeclared love is like that.

When your heart becomes the grave of your secret, that desire of your will be gained more quickly.

I am finding myself: it's deadly because only death concludes me. But I bear it until the end. I'll tell you a secret: life is deadly. I'll have to interrupt everything to tell you this: death is the impossible and intangible. Death is just future to such an extent that there are those who cannot bear it and commit suicide. It's as life said the following: and there simply was no following.

The secret to happiness, peace, and self-confidence is to forgive yourself and forgive others.

History isn't all fact--it's just the story the victors tell to keep themselves in power. And it's been a slow revision. The more time passes, the easier it becomes to reinvent the past.

I rest my head on his shoulder, feeling his heart beating against me. I wish I could gather time around us, slowing the minutes, making them last a lifetime.__ was born on the island kingdom of Ghedda,_ I whisper. This is a story I never told even to you, Habiba. I tell it now only because I cannot bear to leave him without the truth, knowing only half of me. I raise my head and meet his eyes. __hat was more than four thousand years ago. I was the eldest daughter of a wise and generous king.__laddin stares at me, his eyes soft and curious, encouraging me to go on.__hen I was seventeen, I became queen of Ghedda. In those days, the jinn were greater in number, and the Shaitan held greater sway over the realms of men. He demanded we offer him twenty maidens and twenty warriors in sacrifice, in return for fair seas and lucrative trade. I was young and proud and desired, above all else, to be a fair ruler. I would not bow to his wishes, so he shook our island until it began to fall into the sea.__ shudder, and Aladdin draws me closer.__ climbed to the alomb at the top of the Mountain of Tongues, and there offered myself to the Shaitan, if he would only save my city from the sea._ My voice falls to a whisper, little more than a ripple on the water. __o he took me and made me jinn and put me in the lamp. And then he caused the Mountain of Tongues to erupt, and Ghedda was lost to fire. For he had sworn only to save my people from the sea, not from flame.

The purpose of life is to live. The meaning of life is whatever you choose. The secret to life is balance in all things_

Any fact becomes important when it__ connected to another. The connection changes the perspective; it leads you to think that every detail of the world, every voice, every word written or spoken has more than its literal meaning, that it tells us a Secret.

During relaxation we drop our guard. Particularly in conversation. Relaxed conversation leads to openness. And in openness we often reveal what should never be revealed.

There's not one good thought in that place. There's nothing but waste and want. I can feel his selfish cravings and an abyss of secrets I hope to never know.

Tell one your thoughts, but beware of two. All know what is known to three

There is no record in Scripture that an angel visited John__ cell to explain the meaning of his persecution. This great, godly man who was the designated forerunner to Jesus went through the same confusing experiences as we. It is comforting to know that John responded in a very human way. He sent a secret message to Jesus from his prison cell, asking __re you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?_ (Matthew 11:3). Have you ever felt like asking that question?

The idea of magic being something that is separate from everyday life _ known to the magicians but not the ordinary people _ still slows down our recognition that it is here, now, of the Earth and Universe, all around us, and perhaps most essentially, in us.