SOUL~The Book With Spiritual Quotes: Books With Inspiring Quotes, #2

By Tajiri Fulani

The book with spiritual quotes is a spiritual, motivational, self help book that contains a list of 10 most outstanding spiritual teachers to have ever walked this earth; it has their brief biographies and teachings in form of quotes which the author has made bold attempts to interpret in his own words. If you are looking for depth, a unique perspective to see things, or a compass in your spiritual seeking journey then I would highly recommend that you grab yourself a copy. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Moses Omindo
• Release date: May 7, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224298600

Tajiri Fulani

Tajiri Fulani is a spiritual seeker, Yoga enthusiast, and philanthropist.  He is also a counselling psychologist, mental health wellness coach, and transformative speaker. 

Book preview

The Book of Spiritual Quotes

1. Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ is the central divine figure behind the Christian faith. Christian doctrines state that he was conceived supernaturally through the power of the Holy Spirit and born by the Virgin Mary. Virtually every credible source of religious information including modern scholars of antiquity agree on the fact that Jesus existed between the period(s) of 4 BC- AD 30. 

Ethnically, Jesus was an Aramaic speaking Jew from Galilee. The New Testament which is a key source of information on the life and times of Jesus Christ portrays Him from two basic interpretative angles; Jesus as a spiritual teacher or teacher of spiritual law; and Jesus as a prophet of apocalypse whose primary mission here on earth was to re-direct people back to the Kingdom of God. A common belief among Christian adherents is that Jesus was crucified as part of his divine mission to atone for the sins of the world which in effect is meant to reconcile every soul in this world with the love of God.

Biblical scriptures reveal that Jesus was the Messiah promised by God to the Israelites that he would come to deliver them from the bondage of this world. A statement refuted by a section of the Jewish people who maintain that Jesus was not the Messiah promised. Nevertheless, the New Testament scriptures portray Jesus as a super-natural being with tremendous power over worldly forces. Several verses in the New Testament give detailed accounts of Jesus performing supernatural deeds in various ways; he healed the sick, exorcised demons, raised the dead, fed the hungry, walked on water and so on. He is also portrayed as a topmost spiritual teacher often referred to as Rabbi who engaged religious teachers and scholars in heated debates and conversations over interpretation of the Jewish law. Still as a Rabbi, Jesus was a darling of the people who attracted large gatherings whom He mostly taught in parables.

Jesus Christ is also worshipped as a significant aspect of the Holy Trinity, made up of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit where Jesus in this case is seen as an incarnation of God the son. As a child, Jesus was vibrant and outspoken, and who according to scriptural sources was way ahead of His time. One passage reveals that at one time during the festival of Passover; a period during which His entire family visited the temple in Jerusalem, He went conspicuously missing which forced his Father (Joseph) and Mother (Mary) to look all over the temple, worried and anxious that perhaps they had lost their son, only to find Him after three days seated among religious scholars in the temple courts in a deep debate. When Mary frantically asked Him why He had tortured them in this manner, He boldly asked Mary and Joseph why they were looking for Him in the first place and that they should have known He was in his Father’s house; an answer which carried a lot of meaning for his age.

There is practically no information on the life of Jesus in his teenage years. This has left room for a lot of speculation from different sources. There are sources which indicate that Jesus’ missing years is as a result that by virtue of being Jew, implies only important events in one’s life are formally documented. This essentially means that what has been formally documented about Jesus’ life are segments of his life that are deemed important; his birth, parts of his childhood years, his mission, and his ultimate death through crucifixion which summarizes the need for his incarnation and existence here on earth.

Other sources however, indicate that Jesus travelled to Asia during his teenage years where He was on some sort of retreat aimed at preparing for his mission and life purpose. He is said to have first visited a host of spiritual masters living in the Himalayas following which He retreated to a monastery also located in the Himalayas where He spent most of His time meditating, praying, studying, and sharing God’s word. After his lengthy stay at the monastery Jesus is said to have left the confines of the monastery and mingled freely with the community living around the said monastery where He taught and preached on God’s word, performed miracles and gave hope. These same sources finally state that Jesus travelled back to Palestine healing and preaching to communities that he encountered along the way.

Another account states that during this period Jesus was living in the desert with the Essenes (the Jewish sect which he belonged) studying spiritual law.

Mainstream Christian institutions, organizations, and even some scholars have rejected any form of narrative that is not in the bible which claims to have knowledge on the life of Jesus during his missing years. The mainstream Christian community has chosen to keep quiet on the matter choosing instead to rely on two sources from the bible which attempt explain his whereabouts in the missing years. So whether Jesus spent his missing years in Asia preparing for his ministry, or He was in the Judea desert studying spiritual law with the Essenes Remains a subject of speculation.

The only formal account of Jesus’ missing years from the mainstream Christian perspective therefore, are those accounts from the scriptures that somehow give a close explanation. The first one is through a verse in the Book of Luke Chapter 2 verse 42 which states that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. An account that is barely discernible in this context.

The other narrative that can at least said to be discernible from this context, and that is interpreted by most Christians on a more formal aspect to explain the missing years of Jesus can be found in the Book of Mathew Chapter 6 which basically explains how Jesus after performing a series of miracles went back to his hometown in the company of his disciples and began to preach; many people who saw him were perplexed because they had known him in person and were loudly heard exclaiming, When did this man know all these things? From where did he get all this wisdom? Is this not the carpenter’s son? How is he able to perform all these miracles? Isn’t this man the carpenter? Isn’t this the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us? And so they treated him and his sermons with disdain and contempt.

So from the passage above it can be interpreted that the audience listening to Jesus as he preached in his home town had known him personally and that’s why they had referred to him as the carpenter. Nowhere has it been mentioned in the scriptures that Jesus was a carpenter except this one time when he attempts to engage with this audience and they reveal this fact about him. From this passage an assumption can be made that Jesus had probably leant carpentry skills from his father Joseph, and had therefore himself become a carpenter worth his reputation. And this probably explains the missing years as years that had been spent by Jesus learning, refining and applying his carpentry skills to the service of others.  It can be said that the gap in form of the missing years on his formal timeline was a time he spent working and at the same time living quietly enjoying the company of his parents, siblings, and other relatives. In my opinion one of these sources might hold a tangible explanation on His whereabouts but at the same time since they haven’t been expressly verified, they simply remain speculations. I think the scriptures have focused more on his mission leaving out other areas of his life that had nothing to directly do with his mission.

From the scriptural texts and verses highlighted above we see a different Jesus from the pre-teen Jesus who disappeared from his parents at the temple. We see a more mature Jesus who is more purposeful and deliberate on how he carries himself. We see Jesus who is readying himself to begin a ministry aimed at fulfilling his divine purpose here on earth. The book of Mark Chapter 1:10-11 is a statement on how Jesus is getting spiritually prepared for his ministry by John the Baptist through a baptism rite in River Jordan where-after he goes to the desert and fasts for forty days and forty nights. After this point he goes to Galilee and performs his first three miracles as we have established above; he goes back to his hometown to try and make an impact through the word but is met by resistance among his own people. Through the scriptures we then see Jesus proceed from His hometown to other areas speaking God’s word, teaching, healing and performing miracles in God’s name.

In executing his mission Jesus also made enemies, key among them being teachers of the spiritual law whom he disagreed with mostly on interpretation of the scriptures and spiritual law, and who in return accused him of being a fraud imposing himself as a Son of God and the promised Messiah. These disagreements ended with the spiritual teachers accusing Jesus to the authorities for Blasphemy; a serious offence by the standards of that time. The authorities acted on this information, arrested Jesus, tried Him, and found Him guilty of the offence. The penalty for the grievous offence of Blasphemy in those times was death and as such, Jesus was crucified and died on the cross thereby fulfilling his divine mission here on earth. 

The following quotes are attributed to Jesus and meant to inspire us in ways that resonate with us

Jesus