Wisdom
How Happy Are You?
Mahatma Gandhi on God & Religion
The Dalai Lama
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Have confidence in your own spiritual potentiality, your ability to find your own unique way. Learn from others certainly, and use what you find useful, but also learn to trust your own inner wisdom. Have courage. Be awake and aware. Remember too that Buddhism is not about being a Buddhist; that is, obtaining a new identity tag. Nor is it about collecting head-knowledge, practices and techniques. It is ultimately about letting go of all forms and concepts and becoming free.
– John Snelling, in Elements of Buddhism
from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith
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The color of truth is gray.
–Unknown
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Two farms abutted a large pond, one on either side.
One day a fine cow became mired in the mud. The cow belonged to neither farmer, and each was determined to claim it. One threw a rope around the cow’s neck, to help it out of the pond. Seeing this, the other farmer also threw a noose around its neck.
Each began pulling from his own side of the pond.
…
It is up to you to write the rest of the story…
D Z
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“My call for a spiritual revolution is thus not a call for a religious revolution. Nor is it a reference to a way of life that is somehow other-worldly, still less to something magical or mysterious. Rather, it is a call for a radical re-orientation away from our habitual preoccupation with self towards concern for the wider community of beings with whom we are connected, and for conduct which recognizes others’ interests alongside our own.”
- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
from “The Pocket Dalai Lama” edited by Mary Craig
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Till society is very differently constituted, parents, I fear, will still insist on being obeyed because they will be obeyed, and constantly endeavour to settle that power on a divine right which will not bear the investigation of reason.
– Mary Wollenstonecraft (1759-1797)
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A man said to the universe,
“Sir, I exist!”
“However,” said the universe,
“the fact has not created in me a sense of obligation.”
- Stephen Crane
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Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source, it dies of blindness, errors and betrayals. It dies of illnesses and wounds, it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings, but never of a natural death. Every lover could be brought to trial as the murderer of his own love.
– Anaïs Nin (Aphrodisiac)
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“Entities are not to be multiplied without necessity.”
William, Bishop of Ockham, c. 1330 C.E.
Translation: the obvious answer is most often the right answer.
(Ockham’s Razor)
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Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburger.
Abbie Hoffman
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Student: “Master, how do I know if this stone exists only within my mind, or outside it as well?”
Master: “It is a stone.”
– Zen proverb
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…integrity (is) a virtue that demands of each and every one of us that we discern what is right and what is wrong; that we act on what we have discerned, even at personal cost; and that we say openly that we are acting on our understanding of right from wrong.
- Stephen L. Carter
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The kind man does something, yet something remains undone.
The just man does something, and leaves many things to be done.
The moral man does something,
and when no one responds
he rolls up his sleeves and uses force.
Tao Te Ching, Ch. 38
Stephen Mitchell translation
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Misery…can sometimes be a fine and pleasant thing. A dark drug. The joy least likely to betray its faithful addicts.
- Tom Holland
Lord of the Dead
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The Gods grant us free will, insisting only on consequences. - Euripides
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None of us has lived the life we intended. - Joseph Campbell
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If you will tell me why the fen
appears impassible, I then
will tell you why I think that I
can get across it if I try.
Marianne Moore
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If you realize that all things change,
There is nothing you will try to hold on to.
If you aren’t afraid of dying,
There is nothing you can’t achieve.
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Trying to control the future
Is like trying to take the master carpenter’s place.
When you handle the master carpenter’s tools
Chances are that you will cut your hand.
Tao Te Ching, Ch. 74
(Stephen Mitchell translation)
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A woman once came to Mahatma Ghandi and said, “Mahatma-ji, please tell my little boy here not to eat sugar.”
“Come back in three days,” said Ghandi.
In three days they returned, and Mahatma Ghandi said to the little boy, “Stop eating sugar.”
The woman asked, “Why was it necessary for us to wait three days?”
The Mahatma replied, “Three days ago I had not stopped eating sugar.”
- anecdotal
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You’re only as big as the smallest thing that can piss you off.
Anonymous
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A man may imagine things that are false,
but he can only understand things that are true.
Sir Isaac Newton
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My head monsters are dragging me around by my thoughts.
Sandra E.
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Life is what happens to you
while you’re busy making other plans.
John Lennon
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In the Bullshit Department, a businessman can’t hold a candle to a clergyman. ‘Cause I gotta tell you the truth, folks. When it comes to bullshit, big-time, major league bullshit, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims: religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told.
Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man — living in the sky — who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ’til the end of time!
But He loves you.
He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He’s all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can’t handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good bullshit story. Holy Shit!
— George Carlin Politically Incorrect, May 29, 1997
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To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson
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“Prayers aren’t for the deity,” said Aven. “They’re for you, to recommit yourself to what you believe.”
“Can’t you do that without praying to a dead Greek god?”
“Sure,” said Aven, “But how often would anyone do that, if not in prayer??
~~ James A. Owen, Here There Be Dragons
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“A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally
unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born.”
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Resentment is a poison that we drink ourselves. Then we sit around waiting for the other person to die.
~ Anonymous
“I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don’t have as many people who believe it.” ~ George Carlin
