Today marks the anniversary of the death of Anwar el-Sadat who was President of Egypt from 1970, until radical extremists assassinated him during the Armed Forces Day parade.
Here are a few quotes from this Nobel Peace Prize winner (He shared the prize with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.)
I was brought up to believe that how I saw myself was more important than how others saw me.
Fear is, I believe, a most effective tool in destroying the soul of an individual - and the soul of a people.
There is no happiness for people at the expense of other people.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
St. Francis of Assisi
Today is the anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi, my favorite Christian mystic. In his honor, I would like to share some of my favorite quotes from St. Francis:
It is not fitting, when one is in God's service, to have a gloomy face or a chilling look.
No one is to be called an enemy, all are your benefactors, and no one does you harm. You have no enemy except yourselves.
Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance.
While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.
All the darkness in the world can't extinguish the light from a single candle.
He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.
A real friend is someone who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.
Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that have received--only what you have given.
I am especially fond of the first quote, I think you can tell a lot about a person's spiritual development by how easily and frequently they laugh.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Constitution Day
Today we celebrate the signing of the Constitution of the United States, and the beginning of the greatest experiment in democracy the world had ever seen. So I would like to post some quotes from Thomas Jefferson, one of my favorites among the Founding Fathers.
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.
Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.
He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.
History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is.
I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind.
I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own.
It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God.
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.
Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.
That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part.
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.
Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.
I think the state of the country would be much improved if we had a government and society based more on these ideas. Think about what you can do to make a difference. Speak up, let your Senators and Representatives know how you feel. Too many people sit by and allow the loud minorities to control all the discussions. Time for all good people to speak up. Become a part of the government by raising your voice!
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.
Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.
He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.
History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is.
I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind.
I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own.
It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God.
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.
Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.
That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part.
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.
Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.
I think the state of the country would be much improved if we had a government and society based more on these ideas. Think about what you can do to make a difference. Speak up, let your Senators and Representatives know how you feel. Too many people sit by and allow the loud minorities to control all the discussions. Time for all good people to speak up. Become a part of the government by raising your voice!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Some Quotes from One of My Favorite Thinkers
When I was in college, I was required to take an English class, which for the most part, I hated. Too much of the class was taken up in reading authors who were boring (to be kind) and irrelevant. The one bright part of the class was a book we were required to purchase, and read excerpts from, which was the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Included in the volume were selections from his journals, which were not required for the class, but I found them fascinating, and still have a notebook filled with quotes copied from that book. (If you have never read his essay Compensation, it is worth the time to read it, the style is a bit archaic, but it is well worth reading in its entirety, you can find it here.)
Here are some of my favorite quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson:
A man is what he thinks about all day long.
All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
Always do what you are afraid to do.
An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.
As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way.
As a cure for worrying, work is better than whiskey.
Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.
Every artist was first an amateur.
Every experiment, by multitudes or by individuals, that has a sensual and selfish aim, will fail.
Every man is a consumer, and ought to be a producer. He is by constitution expensive, and needs to be rich.
Every man I meet is in some way my superior.
Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.
For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.
If you would lift me up you must be on higher ground.
Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.
Make yourself necessary to somebody.
Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of science.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson:
A man is what he thinks about all day long.
All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
Always do what you are afraid to do.
An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.
As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way.
As a cure for worrying, work is better than whiskey.
Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.
Every artist was first an amateur.
Every experiment, by multitudes or by individuals, that has a sensual and selfish aim, will fail.
Every man is a consumer, and ought to be a producer. He is by constitution expensive, and needs to be rich.
Every man I meet is in some way my superior.
Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.
For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.
If you would lift me up you must be on higher ground.
Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.
Make yourself necessary to somebody.
Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of science.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Some of My Favorite Quotes About Love
Tomorrow is February 14, Valentine's Day, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite quotes about love.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery:
Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.
Carl Jung:
Where love rules, there is no will to power; and where power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.
Elbert Hubbard:
The love we give away is the only love we keep.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning:
I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out.
Euripides:
He is not a lover who does not love forever.
Felix Adler:
Love is the expansion of two natures in such fashion that each include the other, each is enriched by the other.
Gary Zukav:
Eventually you will come to understand that love heals everything, and love is all there is.
George Sand:
There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.
Henry David Thoreau:
Love must be as much a light as it is a flame.
There is no remedy for love but to love more.
Henry Miller:
The one thing we can never get enough of is love. And the one thing we can never give enough of is love.
Incredible String Band:
You get brighter every day, and every time I see you, scattered brightness in your way, and you taught me how to love you.
Kahlil Gibran:
Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.
Oscar Wilde:
Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring.
Rainer Maria Rilke:
For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.
Rumi: (Rumi is one of my favorite sources for inspiration.)
Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
Come out of the circle of time
And into the circle of love.
Let the lover be disgraceful, crazy, absent-minded.
Someone sober will worry about events going badly.
Let the lover be.
Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.
Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama:
We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection.
Ursula K. Le Guin:
Love doesn't sit there like a stone. It has to made like bread; remade all the time, made new.
William Shakespeare:
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery:
Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.
Carl Jung:
Where love rules, there is no will to power; and where power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.
Elbert Hubbard:
The love we give away is the only love we keep.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning:
I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out.
Euripides:
He is not a lover who does not love forever.
Felix Adler:
Love is the expansion of two natures in such fashion that each include the other, each is enriched by the other.
Gary Zukav:
Eventually you will come to understand that love heals everything, and love is all there is.
George Sand:
There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.
Henry David Thoreau:
Love must be as much a light as it is a flame.
There is no remedy for love but to love more.
Henry Miller:
The one thing we can never get enough of is love. And the one thing we can never give enough of is love.
Incredible String Band:
You get brighter every day, and every time I see you, scattered brightness in your way, and you taught me how to love you.
Kahlil Gibran:
Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.
Oscar Wilde:
Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring.
Rainer Maria Rilke:
For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.
Rumi: (Rumi is one of my favorite sources for inspiration.)
Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
Come out of the circle of time
And into the circle of love.
Let the lover be disgraceful, crazy, absent-minded.
Someone sober will worry about events going badly.
Let the lover be.
Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.
Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama:
We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection.
Ursula K. Le Guin:
Love doesn't sit there like a stone. It has to made like bread; remade all the time, made new.
William Shakespeare:
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Lewis Carrol's Birthday
In 1832, in Daresbury, Cheshire, England, Lewis Carroll was born. (His real name was Charles Dodgson, Lewis Carroll was his pen name.)
He is perhaps best known for writing Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
, but he was also an accomplished mathematician and photographer.
His poem "Jabberwocky", which appeared in Through the Looking Glass (and What Alice Found There), is one of my personal favorites, and always makes me smile.
Tim Burton is about to release a film version of Alice in Wonderland, you can see the official trailer here. It's due for release March 5, 2010, and stars Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. I saw a preview of the Imax 3-D version, and plan to see it in Imax 3-D when it comes out. I will post a review here after I see it.
He is perhaps best known for writing Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
, but he was also an accomplished mathematician and photographer.His poem "Jabberwocky", which appeared in Through the Looking Glass (and What Alice Found There), is one of my personal favorites, and always makes me smile.
Tim Burton is about to release a film version of Alice in Wonderland, you can see the official trailer here. It's due for release March 5, 2010, and stars Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. I saw a preview of the Imax 3-D version, and plan to see it in Imax 3-D when it comes out. I will post a review here after I see it.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Perfect Kindness
I was reading Bob Burg's blog today, he wrote a post about thoughtfulness. One of the comments reminded me of one of my favorite sayings, "Perfect kindness acts without thinking of kindness."
I added a comment to Bob's blog, but wanted to talk a little more about thoughtfulness and kindness. There is such a pervasive sense of doom and gloom everywhere I go, at least partly caused by all the bad news in the traditional media.
This blog is one of my responses to the pervasive darkness, one small thing I do to try and add some brightness to the world. Hopefully, it helps brighten your day a little, and brings you a smile or a laugh when you need it.
Out in the "real" world, being thoughtful of other people, even in small ways, can make a big difference. Just a kind word, or a smile, can often make the difference between someone having a good day or a bad day. (I also read about some research that demonstrated that people witnessing an act of kindness, without any active participation on their part, are positively affected, and their brains produce more feel good endorphins, as do the people actively
involved .) So, if you act kindly towards another person, not only will you feel better, and make them feel better, everyone who sees the act will also benefit. A small act of kindness can have a very large ripple effect.
So, be extra nice to someone today. And smile!
I added a comment to Bob's blog, but wanted to talk a little more about thoughtfulness and kindness. There is such a pervasive sense of doom and gloom everywhere I go, at least partly caused by all the bad news in the traditional media.
This blog is one of my responses to the pervasive darkness, one small thing I do to try and add some brightness to the world. Hopefully, it helps brighten your day a little, and brings you a smile or a laugh when you need it.
Out in the "real" world, being thoughtful of other people, even in small ways, can make a big difference. Just a kind word, or a smile, can often make the difference between someone having a good day or a bad day. (I also read about some research that demonstrated that people witnessing an act of kindness, without any active participation on their part, are positively affected, and their brains produce more feel good endorphins, as do the people actively
involved .) So, if you act kindly towards another person, not only will you feel better, and make them feel better, everyone who sees the act will also benefit. A small act of kindness can have a very large ripple effect.
So, be extra nice to someone today. And smile!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Where Do My Stories Come From?
A reader recently asked me about where the stories I share in this blog come from. I will tell you what I can about their sources.
They don't come from a single source, I have been collecting stories (especially teaching stories) for most of my life. Many of them come from Sufi sources, some of my favorite teaching stories are about a character named Nasrudin. He is sometimes a fool, sometimes a wise teacher, and the stories are often very funny. You can find many stories about Nasrudin here: Nasrudin Stories Collections by Idries Shah
. (Idries Shah also wrote many other books, one of my favorites is Learning How to Learn
.)
I was initiated into the Sufi Order in the West by Pir Vilayat Khan. Hazrat Inayat Khan,
Pir Vilayat's father founded the Sufi Order in the West, and some of the stories I tell come from their writings, as well as personal encounters with other members of the Order. Pir Vilayat wrote a book The Message in Our Time
about the teachings of his father, it is a good introduction to Hazrat Inayat Khan's teachings.
I have also collected stories at workshops, including Taoist meditation, the Sufi Healing Order, Zen Buddhist meditation and The Omega Institute.
Other stories some from story tellers I have met throughout my life and travels, and my eclectic reading of far too many books to mention here. I average about three books a week, more if they are short. (The Nasrudin stories are usually very short, and make quick reading.)
They don't come from a single source, I have been collecting stories (especially teaching stories) for most of my life. Many of them come from Sufi sources, some of my favorite teaching stories are about a character named Nasrudin. He is sometimes a fool, sometimes a wise teacher, and the stories are often very funny. You can find many stories about Nasrudin here: Nasrudin Stories Collections by Idries Shah
. (Idries Shah also wrote many other books, one of my favorites is Learning How to Learn.)I was initiated into the Sufi Order in the West by Pir Vilayat Khan. Hazrat Inayat Khan,
Pir Vilayat's father founded the Sufi Order in the West, and some of the stories I tell come from their writings, as well as personal encounters with other members of the Order. Pir Vilayat wrote a book The Message in Our Time about the teachings of his father, it is a good introduction to Hazrat Inayat Khan's teachings.I have also collected stories at workshops, including Taoist meditation, the Sufi Healing Order, Zen Buddhist meditation and The Omega Institute.
Other stories some from story tellers I have met throughout my life and travels, and my eclectic reading of far too many books to mention here. I average about three books a week, more if they are short. (The Nasrudin stories are usually very short, and make quick reading.)
Monday, November 30, 2009
Today is Mark Twain's Birthday
Today is Mark Twain's (Samuel Clemens) birthday so I though I would share a few of my favorite quotes:
I will start with a few on government:
It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native criminal class except Congress.
Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
We have the best government that money can buy.
What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin.
(Too bad things have not improved much since his day.)
Some quotes about society in general:
Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.
When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.
All you need is ignorance and confidence and the success is sure.
Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
By trying we can easily endure adversity. Another man's, I mean.
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year.
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits.
If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it happened or not.
And my personal favorite:
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
I will start with a few on government:
It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native criminal class except Congress.
Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
We have the best government that money can buy.
What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin.
(Too bad things have not improved much since his day.)
Some quotes about society in general:
Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.
When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.
All you need is ignorance and confidence and the success is sure.
Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
By trying we can easily endure adversity. Another man's, I mean.
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year.
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits.
If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it happened or not.
And my personal favorite:
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Some Thoughts on the Two Towers and the Aftermath
Today we remember the terrorist attacks which destroyed the World Trade Center, and killed many innocent people.
It was a truly diabolical attack, carried out mercilessly.
I think we also need to reflect on how we responded, and continue to respond. I have some quotes which I think are relevant:
Thomas Jefferson
The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.
Benjamin Franklin
They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security
John Adams
There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.
Henry David Thoreau
Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Hate and force cannot be in just a part of the world without having an effect on the rest of it.
David Kaczynski
We've got to take back the ideal of justice, we've got to take back this principle of human dignity. We've got to take it back from vengeance, from hatred, we've got to say: look, we're all in this together. We are human beings.
Martin Luther King Jr
We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
Mohandas K Gandhi
What is obtained by love is retained for all time. What is obtained by hatred proves a burden in reality for it increases hatred.
Mohandas K Gandhi
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Mohandas K Gandhi
Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill of self-giving love.
Albert Schweitzer
This is what gives me the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, promoting, and enhancing life, and that destroying, injuring, and limiting life are evil.
Jonathan Swift
We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.
William Blake
The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.
Desmond Tutu
Without forgiveness, there's no future.
Matthew 5:44
But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you...
These might seem like a bunch of random quotes, but they relate to my own thinking about the attacks, and our response. We, as a people responded, our government responded, both here and abroad.
We voluntarily gave the government more power, looking for security. (See the Benjamin Franklin and Franklin Delano Roosevelt quotes above, and think about the risks there.)
I think we need to evaluate what has been done, and decide if we have taken the best road, and if there might be a better way. We have tried hatred and violence, maybe we should try love and forgiveness.
It was a truly diabolical attack, carried out mercilessly.
I think we also need to reflect on how we responded, and continue to respond. I have some quotes which I think are relevant:
Thomas Jefferson
The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.
Benjamin Franklin
They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security
John Adams
There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.
Henry David Thoreau
Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Hate and force cannot be in just a part of the world without having an effect on the rest of it.
David Kaczynski
We've got to take back the ideal of justice, we've got to take back this principle of human dignity. We've got to take it back from vengeance, from hatred, we've got to say: look, we're all in this together. We are human beings.
Martin Luther King Jr
We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
Mohandas K Gandhi
What is obtained by love is retained for all time. What is obtained by hatred proves a burden in reality for it increases hatred.
Mohandas K Gandhi
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Mohandas K Gandhi
Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill of self-giving love.
Albert Schweitzer
This is what gives me the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, promoting, and enhancing life, and that destroying, injuring, and limiting life are evil.
Jonathan Swift
We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.
William Blake
The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.
Desmond Tutu
Without forgiveness, there's no future.
Matthew 5:44
But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you...
These might seem like a bunch of random quotes, but they relate to my own thinking about the attacks, and our response. We, as a people responded, our government responded, both here and abroad.
We voluntarily gave the government more power, looking for security. (See the Benjamin Franklin and Franklin Delano Roosevelt quotes above, and think about the risks there.)
I think we need to evaluate what has been done, and decide if we have taken the best road, and if there might be a better way. We have tried hatred and violence, maybe we should try love and forgiveness.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Struggle Against the Darkness?
I overheard a conversation recently between two people who were discussing all the darkness in the world, and how it was necessary to struggle against the darkness unceasingly.
I spent some time thinking about what I overheard, and concluded that they were mistaken in their basic assumptions.
First of all, it seems they are focused on the darkness in the world, so they see it everywhere. And, they see it as something wrong with the world.
I believe that light and darkness are not two separate things, but two sides of the same coin. There is a saying, from Buddhism, I think: nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so. Which means we put our labels on things, and call them good and bad, or light and dark; what we label something is based on what we can see, not on any absolute truth. It is impossible for any of us to see the whole truth about anything, so our understanding is necessarily limited.
Please understand I am not offering a defense to justify wrong actions, I believe we all have an innate sense of right and wrong, and should strive to live up to our own highest ideals of right action. I am suggesting that we should not be too quick to judge light and dark, or good and evil. I am also suggesting that there is a cycle of light and dark, and that cycle is larger than humanity.
That cycle will continue progressing from light to dark and back again, no matter how we might struggle against it.
I am also not suggesting that we do nothing, and simply stand back and allow things we see as wrong to happen and make no effort to stop them. (This may sound like I am contradicting myself, but keep reading, it will be clearer.)
What I believe is that there is no reason to "struggle against the darkness." If you think about light and dark, there is no struggle. Darkness does not pass because anyone struggled against it. Darkness passes when someone brings a light into the darkness, no struggle is needed. (Better to light one candle than curse the darkness.)
So, I think the people I overheard were wrong because they were focused on the "darkness" and they wanted to struggle against it. A better approach would be to look for ways to bring more light into the world; everyone has a light, maybe now is the time to let it shine.
Here are some lines from an old Incredible String Band song:
"One light, light that is one
though the lamps be many..."
I spent some time thinking about what I overheard, and concluded that they were mistaken in their basic assumptions.
First of all, it seems they are focused on the darkness in the world, so they see it everywhere. And, they see it as something wrong with the world.
I believe that light and darkness are not two separate things, but two sides of the same coin. There is a saying, from Buddhism, I think: nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so. Which means we put our labels on things, and call them good and bad, or light and dark; what we label something is based on what we can see, not on any absolute truth. It is impossible for any of us to see the whole truth about anything, so our understanding is necessarily limited.
Please understand I am not offering a defense to justify wrong actions, I believe we all have an innate sense of right and wrong, and should strive to live up to our own highest ideals of right action. I am suggesting that we should not be too quick to judge light and dark, or good and evil. I am also suggesting that there is a cycle of light and dark, and that cycle is larger than humanity.
That cycle will continue progressing from light to dark and back again, no matter how we might struggle against it.
I am also not suggesting that we do nothing, and simply stand back and allow things we see as wrong to happen and make no effort to stop them. (This may sound like I am contradicting myself, but keep reading, it will be clearer.)
What I believe is that there is no reason to "struggle against the darkness." If you think about light and dark, there is no struggle. Darkness does not pass because anyone struggled against it. Darkness passes when someone brings a light into the darkness, no struggle is needed. (Better to light one candle than curse the darkness.)
So, I think the people I overheard were wrong because they were focused on the "darkness" and they wanted to struggle against it. A better approach would be to look for ways to bring more light into the world; everyone has a light, maybe now is the time to let it shine.
Here are some lines from an old Incredible String Band song:
"One light, light that is one
though the lamps be many..."
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Some of My Favorite Quotes
I was looking through an old journal yesterday, and I came upon these quotes which i wanted to share (I wrote down the names of the authors of the quotes, but not the sources where I found them):
"If you switch on the light in a dark room, it makes no difference how long it was dark because the light will still shine. Be teachable. That is the whole secret."
Vernon Howard
"You are created anew every moment."
Sri Aurobindo
"The difficulty is that we do not make a world of our own, but fall into institutions already made."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"A free mind has the power to achieve all things."
Meister Eckhart
"Be free, gay, uncomplicated, a child. But be a strong child, fearing nothing."
Francois Fenelon
For me, these quotes are significant because of the difficulties I was experiencing in my personal life at the time I recorded them in my journal. They helped me get through a very dismal time, and come out a better and happier person, maybe even a little wiser. I offer them to anyone who needs some hope or light.
One last quote for the day:
"For all these years, you've protected the seed. It's time to become the flower."
Stephen C Paul
"If you switch on the light in a dark room, it makes no difference how long it was dark because the light will still shine. Be teachable. That is the whole secret."
Vernon Howard
"You are created anew every moment."
Sri Aurobindo
"The difficulty is that we do not make a world of our own, but fall into institutions already made."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"A free mind has the power to achieve all things."
Meister Eckhart
"Be free, gay, uncomplicated, a child. But be a strong child, fearing nothing."
Francois Fenelon
For me, these quotes are significant because of the difficulties I was experiencing in my personal life at the time I recorded them in my journal. They helped me get through a very dismal time, and come out a better and happier person, maybe even a little wiser. I offer them to anyone who needs some hope or light.
One last quote for the day:
"For all these years, you've protected the seed. It's time to become the flower."
Stephen C Paul
Friday, July 31, 2009
Can You Think and Grow Rich?
I have been talking about goals and success over the last few posts. I wanted to add a book recommendation, Napoleon Hill's classic, Think and Grow Rich.
If you have not read this book, it is a must read for anyone looking to achieve outstanding success.
I read it once a year, and find it a helpful guide to accomplishing my goals.
It is a book that many highly successful people credit as the starting point of everything they have achieved.
Although it is called Think and Grow Rich, and one of its major points is that your results are dependent on your thinking, it is a book about taking action.
I also read somewhere that Think and Grow Rich is responsible for creating more millionaires than any other book in the world. (I don't know if that is true or not, but I have read many biographies of successful individuals, and it is the book more of them mention than any other.)
You can purchase a copy from the link included below, or do a search of the internet, there are many websites offering free digital copies (usually in exchange for your email address); either way, get this book, read it, and most importantly, take action on what you learn.
(If you are reading it for the first time, I suggest that you quickly read it through once to familiarize yourself with its contents, and then read it more slowly, and really digest it, and take action.)
If you have not read this book, it is a must read for anyone looking to achieve outstanding success.
I read it once a year, and find it a helpful guide to accomplishing my goals.
It is a book that many highly successful people credit as the starting point of everything they have achieved.
Although it is called Think and Grow Rich, and one of its major points is that your results are dependent on your thinking, it is a book about taking action.
I also read somewhere that Think and Grow Rich is responsible for creating more millionaires than any other book in the world. (I don't know if that is true or not, but I have read many biographies of successful individuals, and it is the book more of them mention than any other.)
You can purchase a copy from the link included below, or do a search of the internet, there are many websites offering free digital copies (usually in exchange for your email address); either way, get this book, read it, and most importantly, take action on what you learn.
(If you are reading it for the first time, I suggest that you quickly read it through once to familiarize yourself with its contents, and then read it more slowly, and really digest it, and take action.)
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Some Thoughts About Work
My last post was about working towards your goals, and I shared some of my thinking on the subject. Today, I want to share some of my favorite quotes on work.
"Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person."
Og Mandino
"I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
Henry D Thoreau
"The harder I work, the luckier I get."
Samuel Goldwyn
"When I work fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, I get lucky."
Armand Hammer
This next ones are not specifically about work, but I think they are relevant anyway.
"Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another."
Ernest Hemingway
"I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and behold, service was joy."
Rabindranath Tagore
"You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence is not an event - it is a habit."
Aristotle
"Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to make the right things happen."
Peter Marshall
And I want to close with a great quote from Bob Proctor:
"It's a strange thing, you have said it thousands of times I am sure… you will never know what you can do until you try. However the sad truth is, that most people never try anything until they know they can do it."
Bob Proctor
"Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person."
Og Mandino
"I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
Henry D Thoreau
"The harder I work, the luckier I get."
Samuel Goldwyn
"When I work fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, I get lucky."
Armand Hammer
This next ones are not specifically about work, but I think they are relevant anyway.
"Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another."
Ernest Hemingway
"I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and behold, service was joy."
Rabindranath Tagore
"You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence is not an event - it is a habit."
Aristotle
"Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to make the right things happen."
Peter Marshall
And I want to close with a great quote from Bob Proctor:
"It's a strange thing, you have said it thousands of times I am sure… you will never know what you can do until you try. However the sad truth is, that most people never try anything until they know they can do it."
Bob Proctor
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Working Towards Your Goals
I wanted to offer some thoughts about goals, I think that this is the perfect time to begin working towards greater accomplishments, especially if your goals include bringing value into the world. I will post some more thoughts about goals and achievement over the next few weeks. Please feel free to comment.
In order to be successful, you need some goals to work towards.
It has been often said that a person without goals is like a ship without a rudder, you just drift from day to day.
Some of the most successful people I have ever studied insist that it is not only necessary to have goals, but also necessary to have them written down.
That is just the first step, if you never take any action towards your goals, it's a little like sitting in your car with a map, but never starting the engine, or putting the car in gear. You never get out of your driveway.
It is not necessary to know every step you are going to take to get to your goal before you get started, it is much more important to get moving, and build momentum. It is easier to change direction than it is to start moving in the first place. Start from where you are right now, and do whatever seems like it will move you in the direction of your goal. Remember the old cliche about a journey of a thousand miles starting with a single step. You will get much further by taking a small step every day, rather than trying to map out every step perfectly before you start.
Perfectionism is most often an obstacle on the way to achievement, and generally an excuse not to take action. While having a plan is helpful, there is no way to cover every possibility, so be flexible in your planning, and use the plan to be sure you are moving in the direction you wish to go.
It is important to be consistent, and take action every day. At first, it will seem extremely difficult, but every day gets a little easier. As you take more steps towards your goal, the level of satisfaction you feel will grow, making it easier to continue. Repeated efforts will also become habitual, so you will not require as much discipline to continue making progress.
In order to be successful, you need some goals to work towards.
It has been often said that a person without goals is like a ship without a rudder, you just drift from day to day.
Some of the most successful people I have ever studied insist that it is not only necessary to have goals, but also necessary to have them written down.
That is just the first step, if you never take any action towards your goals, it's a little like sitting in your car with a map, but never starting the engine, or putting the car in gear. You never get out of your driveway.
It is not necessary to know every step you are going to take to get to your goal before you get started, it is much more important to get moving, and build momentum. It is easier to change direction than it is to start moving in the first place. Start from where you are right now, and do whatever seems like it will move you in the direction of your goal. Remember the old cliche about a journey of a thousand miles starting with a single step. You will get much further by taking a small step every day, rather than trying to map out every step perfectly before you start.
Perfectionism is most often an obstacle on the way to achievement, and generally an excuse not to take action. While having a plan is helpful, there is no way to cover every possibility, so be flexible in your planning, and use the plan to be sure you are moving in the direction you wish to go.
It is important to be consistent, and take action every day. At first, it will seem extremely difficult, but every day gets a little easier. As you take more steps towards your goal, the level of satisfaction you feel will grow, making it easier to continue. Repeated efforts will also become habitual, so you will not require as much discipline to continue making progress.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Lighten Up!
Those of you who follow me on twitter (look for me under username ecdumchus) know I stopped reading or listening to the news some time ago.
I found that just taking this step made me feel much better psychologically, without the constant input of gloom and doom about the world economy. I have been reading a small local newspaper which has news which directly affects me, things like road closings, local parades and events, but nothing about the economic sky falling.
I strongly urge everyone reading this to do the same. Unplug from the gloom and doom merchants, find something that makes you feel good. Even better, find something that makes you feel good and brings value into the world. Don't worry about getting paid for what you can do as much as what kind of value you can create in the world.
People focusing on bringing value to the economic table is the quickest way to get the economy growing again. It will not happen because of government bailouts, no matter how well intentioned.
Anyway, in the interest of lightening things up, I am making a commitment to begin regularly posting to this blog again, and encourage anyone who has a positive contribution to offer, to leave comments here.
Let's brighten the world! There has been enough darkness.
I found that just taking this step made me feel much better psychologically, without the constant input of gloom and doom about the world economy. I have been reading a small local newspaper which has news which directly affects me, things like road closings, local parades and events, but nothing about the economic sky falling.
I strongly urge everyone reading this to do the same. Unplug from the gloom and doom merchants, find something that makes you feel good. Even better, find something that makes you feel good and brings value into the world. Don't worry about getting paid for what you can do as much as what kind of value you can create in the world.
People focusing on bringing value to the economic table is the quickest way to get the economy growing again. It will not happen because of government bailouts, no matter how well intentioned.
Anyway, in the interest of lightening things up, I am making a commitment to begin regularly posting to this blog again, and encourage anyone who has a positive contribution to offer, to leave comments here.
Let's brighten the world! There has been enough darkness.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Real Friendship
This is a story I first found in a collection of middle eastern stories:
A man and his wife were sitting at home when there was a knock at the door. The man answered the door to find one of his friends standing there, looking very troubled.
"What's wrong?", he asked.
His friend replied, "I am so sorry to trouble you, but if I don't get $5000.00 by tomorrow, I will lose my business and my house. Can you help me?"
The man said, "Please don't worry, I will bring you $5000.00 by this evening."
His friend left, much relieved.
The man gathered up what cash he had, and even took some things of value and sold them, but all he could raise was $3000.00. So he went to all his neighbors and friends, asking to borrow whatever they could lend him.
Eventually, he had $5000.00, and took it to his friend.
His friend thanked him profusely, and said he would be forever grateful. The man told his friend it was nothing, and he should repay the money whenever he could.
The man returned home, sat in a chair, buried his head in his hands and cried.
His wife asked, "Are you crying because you are worried that we will not be able to repay what we have borrowed for your friend?"
The man looked up and said, "No, I am crying because my dearest friend in all the world was in need, and I did not know until he came to my door and told me so."
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all felt this way about our friends?
A man and his wife were sitting at home when there was a knock at the door. The man answered the door to find one of his friends standing there, looking very troubled.
"What's wrong?", he asked.
His friend replied, "I am so sorry to trouble you, but if I don't get $5000.00 by tomorrow, I will lose my business and my house. Can you help me?"
The man said, "Please don't worry, I will bring you $5000.00 by this evening."
His friend left, much relieved.
The man gathered up what cash he had, and even took some things of value and sold them, but all he could raise was $3000.00. So he went to all his neighbors and friends, asking to borrow whatever they could lend him.
Eventually, he had $5000.00, and took it to his friend.
His friend thanked him profusely, and said he would be forever grateful. The man told his friend it was nothing, and he should repay the money whenever he could.
The man returned home, sat in a chair, buried his head in his hands and cried.
His wife asked, "Are you crying because you are worried that we will not be able to repay what we have borrowed for your friend?"
The man looked up and said, "No, I am crying because my dearest friend in all the world was in need, and I did not know until he came to my door and told me so."
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all felt this way about our friends?
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Ernest Hemingway's Birthday
Ernest Hemingway was born this day in 1899. I thought a few quotes from this great American writer would be a good way to celebrate and remember him.
"But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated."
"As you get older it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary."
"Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another."
"I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen."
"In Europe we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal as food and also a great giver of happiness and well being and delight. Drinking wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as natural as eating, and to me as necessary."
"The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them."
"The man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without."
"The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it."
"All things truly wicked start from innocence."
"The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists."
"Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime."
"No weapon has ever settled a moral problem. It can impose a solution but it cannot guarantee it to be a just one."
Some interesting thoughts on a wide range of subjects, hopefully, if you have never read Hemingway, this will inspire you to try. A Farewell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises, and For whom the Bell Tolls are good starting places.
Find Hemingway's Books
"But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated."
"As you get older it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary."
"Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another."
"I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen."
"In Europe we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal as food and also a great giver of happiness and well being and delight. Drinking wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as natural as eating, and to me as necessary."
"The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them."
"The man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without."
"The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it."
"All things truly wicked start from innocence."
"The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists."
"Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime."
"No weapon has ever settled a moral problem. It can impose a solution but it cannot guarantee it to be a just one."
Some interesting thoughts on a wide range of subjects, hopefully, if you have never read Hemingway, this will inspire you to try. A Farewell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises, and For whom the Bell Tolls are good starting places.
Find Hemingway's Books
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Independence Day
In honor of July 4, Independence Day here in the USA, I thought I would share some of my favorite success quotes:
"Seventy percent of success in life is showing up." Woody Allen
"Self-trust is the first secret of success." Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed." Henry Ford
"No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings." William Blake
"I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." Thoreau
"The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore."
–Dale Carnegie
"...Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person."
Og Mandino
"Seventy percent of success in life is showing up." Woody Allen
"Self-trust is the first secret of success." Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed." Henry Ford
"No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings." William Blake
"I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." Thoreau
"The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore."
–Dale Carnegie
"...Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person."
Og Mandino
Monday, July 2, 2007
Put Her Down!
This is another story I first encountered in a collection of Zen teaching stories. It takes place in Japan, many, many years ago.
Two monks are walking down the road of a small village.
The road is unpaved, and muddy. They pass a courtesan standing on the side of the street, dressed in a fine silk kimono. She is looking for a way to cross the road without getting muddy. She seems very distressed, as there is no way to cross the road without going through the mud.
The elder of the two monks, seeing her distress, picks her up and carries her across the road, and sets her down on the opposite side.
The monks continue walking through the village and beyond.
Eventually, the younger of the two monks, turns to the other monk and says, "How could you do that? We are monks, we are supposed to keep ourselves pure. We should not even associate with women like that. But you picked her up and carried her."
The older monk looks at the younger monk, and says, "I put her down back at the corner. You are still carrying her."
Two monks are walking down the road of a small village.
The road is unpaved, and muddy. They pass a courtesan standing on the side of the street, dressed in a fine silk kimono. She is looking for a way to cross the road without getting muddy. She seems very distressed, as there is no way to cross the road without going through the mud.
The elder of the two monks, seeing her distress, picks her up and carries her across the road, and sets her down on the opposite side.
The monks continue walking through the village and beyond.
Eventually, the younger of the two monks, turns to the other monk and says, "How could you do that? We are monks, we are supposed to keep ourselves pure. We should not even associate with women like that. But you picked her up and carried her."
The older monk looks at the younger monk, and says, "I put her down back at the corner. You are still carrying her."
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