Life is a series of moments. The quality of attention and action that we bring to each moment determines the quality of our lives.
Under the weight of my growing self-knowledge, my self-image was sinking fast.
Stop being so proud of mediocrity; show some spirit!
For example, you have a cold now; its physical symptoms tell you when your body needs to rebalance itself, to restore its proper relationship with sunlight, fresh air, simple food. Just so, stressful thoughts reflect a conflict with reality. Stress happens when the mind resists what is.
He was a thinker, but also a man of action.
The seed of God is in us: Pear seeds grow into pear trees; Hazel seeds into hazel trees; And God seeds into God. – Meister Eckehart.
Life develops what it demands.
Stress happens when the mind resists what is. Most of us tend to either push or resist the river of our lives, to fight circumstance rather than make use of things as they are. Resistance creates turbulence, which you feel as physical, mental, and emotional tension. Tension is a subtle pain, which – like any pain – signals that something is amiss. When we are out of natural balance, we create tension; by listening to our body, we can take responsibility for releasing it.
Learning is a process of refining errors to the point where they no longer prevent our desired goal.
People from all walks of life share an innate drive for meaning, direction, and purpose. This drive to understand our life purpose seems as important to our psychological growth as eating is to our biological survival.
First mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers. Than mountains are no longer mountains and rivers are no longer rivers. Finally mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers.
The world was peopled with minds, whirling faster than any wind, in search of distraction and escape from the predicament of change, the dilemma of life and death – seeking purpose, security, enjoyment, trying to make sense of the mystery. Everyone everywhere lived a confused, bitter search. Reality never matched their dreams; happiness was just around the corner – a corner they never turned. And the source of it all was the human mind.
Finally, I realized the process of real meditation – to expand awareness, to direct attention, to ultimately surrender to the light of consciousness.
Humor, in its highest sense, transcends the momentary tension release of laughter, and expands into a profound sense of ease and a relaxed approach to life’s occasional challenges, large or small. When you view your world through this lens of transcendent humor, as if from a distant peak, you discover that life is a game you can play as if it matters – with a peaceful heart and a warrior’s spirit. You can remain engaged with the world but also rise above it, looking beyond your personal dramas.
Ignorance, as well as wisdom, is handed down from one generation to the next like a precious heirloom.
Never fear the weapon, only the man wielding it. Focus on your opponent while he focuses on his knife or saber or pistol. He invests his power in the weapon but forgets the rest of his body.
And so I awoke to reality, free of any meaning or any search. What could there possibly be to search for? All of Soc’s words had come alive with my death. This was the paradox of it all, the humor of it all, and the great change. All searches, all achievements, all goals, were equally enjoyable, and equally unnecessary.
I closed my eyes to meditate, but realized that I was always meditating now, with my eyes wide open.
Meditating an action is different from doing it. To do, there is a doer, a self-conscious ‘someone’ performing. But when you meditate an action, you’ve already released attachment to outcomes. There’s no ‘you’ left to do it. In forgetting yourself, you become what you do, so your action is free, spontaneous, without ambition, inhibition, or fear.
How do you know you haven’t been asleep your whole life? How do you know you’re not asleep right now?
The rain was a perfectly lawful display of nature. Your ‘upset’ at the ruined picnic and your ‘happiness’ when the sun reappeared were the product of your thoughts. They had nothing to do with the actual events. Haven’t you been ‘unhappy’ at celebrations for example? It is obvious then that your mind, not other people or your surroundings, is the source of your moods. That is the first lesson.