3.9.26

The unexamined life is not worth living. By questioning and examining our thoughts, actions, and beliefs, we gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and can strive for personal growth and a more fulfilling existence. Regularly reflecting on our lives, values, and goals is crucial for personal development, allowing us to find purpose and meaning in life.

– Plato, The Apology of Socrates

3.2.26

If we do not elaborate the idea of impersonal experience in some such way, there is a problem of how we can even understand what it means for someone else to have an experience. I learn that 'There is a pain' is true when (as we should normally say) I have a pain. And because this is what the sentence means to me, I may interpret it in that way even when the pain is in another body. As Saul Kripke puts it, 'In sum, any attempt to imagine a direct connection between a sensation and a physical object without mentioning a "self" or "mind" leads me simply to imagine that I have a sensation located elsewhere.'

― I: the Philosophy and Psychology of Personal Identity, Jonathan Glover

2.23.26

“True words aren't eloquent;

eloquent words aren't true.

Wise men don't need to prove their point;

men who need to prove their point aren't wise.

The Master has no possessions.

The more he does for others,

the happier he is.

The more he gives to others,

the wealthier he is.”

― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

2.16.26

The trance of unworthiness is a pervasive belief that something is fundamentally wrong with us. This trance keeps us trapped in self-judgment, shame, and fear, limiting our ability to live authentically and connect deeply with others. Radical acceptance involves recognizing the trance and its impact on our lives, challenging our negative self-beliefs with compassionate inquiry, and embracing all aspects of ourselves, including our imperfections.

– Tara Brach, Radical Compassion

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