2.9.26

All streams flow to the sea because it is lower than they are. Humility gives it its power. If you want to govern the people, you must place yourself below them. If you want to lead the people, you must learn how to follow them.

– Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

2.2.26

The foundation of the system is that the universe - the 'all viewed as one' - has two real constituents: body and void space. The existence of body is proved to us by sensation; if we cannot know by sensation that there are bodies, then we cannot know anything at all. But bodies have location, and they move. That is to say, the universe is not as it might have been - solid, packed tight, immobile. In brief: 'All nature . . . is built of those two things: for there are bodies, and there is the void in which they are placed and where they move' (Lucretius, De rerum natura, Book I). 

– John Gaskin, The Travelers Guide to Classical Philosophy

1.26.26

An Empty sort of mind is valuable for finding pearls and tails and things because it can see what's in front of it. An Overstuffed mind is unable to. While the Clear mind listens to a bird singing, the Stuffed-Full-of-Knowledge-and-Cleverness mind wonders what kind of bird is singing. The more Stuffed Up it is, the less it can hear through its own ears and see through its own eyes. Knowledge and Cleverness tend to concern themselves with the wrong sorts of things, and a mind confused by Knowledge, Cleverness, and Abstract Ideas tends to go chasing off after things that don't matter, or that don't even exist, instead of seeing, appreciating, and making use of what is right in front of it.

– Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh

1.19.26

To put it still more plainly: the desire for security and the feeling of insecurity are the same thing. To hold your breath is to lose your breath. A society based on the quest for security is nothing but a breath-retention contest in which everyone is as taut as a drum and as purple as a beet. We must be completely exposed to the unknown, and yet go on living.

– Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity

1.12.26

Each artist must decide the scope of his nature study, according to his own needs. However, it would be unwise to neglect the external world, from a superabundance of "inner life." We may take warning from the history of India where, out of preoccupation with exalted spiritual fulfillment, mystics forgot that material life, too, demands cultivation and direction. Today, overpopulation and undernourishment are forcing spiritual leaders to concern themselves with the evolution of the family and the economy. 

Nature in its rhythm of the seasons, turning now outward, now inward, might well serve as a model for our individual lives. In spring and summer, the forces of earth press outward in growth and maturation; in fall and winter they turn inward and renew themselves.

– Johannes Itten, The Art of Color

1.5.26

Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not be squeamish about taking a good look. That’s the compassionate thing to do. That’s the brave thing to do. We can look at our negative feelings with curiosity, not as enemies to be destroyed but as friends to be understood. Only then can we begin to let them go.

– Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart

12.29.25

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life. The past has no power over the present moment. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. This will miraculously transform your whole life.

– Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

12.22.25

Across planes of consciousness, we have to live with the paradox that opposite things can be simultaneously true. My guru said that when he suffers, it brings him closer to God. Suffering is grace. The quieter you become, the more you can hear. The heart surrenders everything to the moment. The mind judges and holds back.

– Ram Dass, Be Here Now