Everyone post some favorite quotes!

[9th]

“A frog in a well cannot discuss the ocean, because he is limited by the size of his well. A summer insect cannot discuss ice, because it knows only its own season. A narrow-minded scholar cannot discuss the Tao, because he is constrained by his teachings. Now you have come out of your banks and seen the Great Ocean. You now know your own inferiority, so it is now possible to discuss great principles with you.

 

井蛙不可以語於海者，拘於虛也；夏蟲不可以語於冰者，篤於時也；曲士不可以語於道者，束於教也。今爾出於崖涘，觀於大海，乃知爾醜，爾將可與語大理矣。” 

 

― Zhuangzi

[9th]

The development of these possibilities is not a law. The law for man is existence in the circle of mechanical influences, the state of 'man-machine.' The way of the development of hidden possibilities is a way against nature, against God. This explains the difficulties and the exclusiveness of the ways. The ways are narrow and straight. But at the same time only by them can anything be attained.

 

In the general mass of everyday life, especially modern life, the ways are a small, quite imperceptible phenomenon which, from the point of view of life, need not exist at all. But this small phenomenon contains in itself all that man has for the development of his hidden possibilities. The ways are opposed to everyday life, based upon other principles and subject to other laws. In this consists their power and their significance.

 

- G.G., aka "The Tiger of Turkestan"

[sagebrush]

why is 6 afraid of 7?"

because 7 eight nine."...

 

is that the number nine? or is it NIN like in German!

 

 

...even Jacques Cousteau could not really explain the oceans.....

although I think he tried.

 

 

ok on a more serious note:

 

out of the new bird wetland book...

 

there are no

  letters, there is no

                    telegraph

between poet and bird:

there is secret music,

only hidden wings,

plumage and power.   

 

Pablo Neruda, from "the stones and the Birds"

Edited October 29, 2016 by sagebrush

[C T]

It is the radical transience of the world that makes it both tragic and beautiful, like the cherry blossom in Japanese aesthetics. The tragedy is that nothing actually exists; it is all passing away the instant it forms. The beauty is that we have the means to be aware of this, a moment to know the profound poignancy of this tiny corner of reality. ~ Andrew Olendzki

 

[redcairo]

The only religious opinion I feel sure of is this: self-awareness is not just a bunch of amino acids bumping together.

 

 

The first principle of freedom is the right to go to hell in your own handbasket.

 

 

I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.

 

 

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

 

 

-- All by Robert Heinlein

[zerostao]

Remember, remember the fifth of November

[Marblehead]

Remember, remember the fifth of November

I forgot.  I apologize for that.

[thelerner]

Mary Oliver poet:-

 

 

“Instructions for living a life.

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it.” ― Mary Oliver

 

 

“When it’s over, I want to say: all my life

I was a bride married to amazement.

I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. When it is over, I don’t want to wonder

if I have made of my life something particular, and real.

I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,

or full of argument. I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.” ― Mary Oliver

 

 

“The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.” ― Mary Oliver

 

 

 

“I believe in kindness. Also in mischief. Also in singing, especially when singing is not necessarily prescribed.” ― Mary Oliver

 

 

 

 

 

“You must not ever stop being whimsical. And you must not, ever, give anyone else the responsibility for your life.” ― Mary Oliver,

Wild Geese

 

 

“I want to think again of dangerous and noble things.

I want to be light and frolicsome.

I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing,

as though I had wings.” Mary Oliver

[9th]

 

"This aspect of the question is clear. The crowd neither wants nor seeks knowledge, and the leaders of the crowd, in their own interests, try to strengthen its fear and dislike of everything new and unknown. The slavery in which mankind lives is based upon this fear. It is even difficult to imagine all the horror of this slavery. We do not understand what people are losing. But in order to understand the cause of this slavery it is enough to see how people live, what constitutes the aim of their existence, the object of their desires, passions, and aspirations, of what they think, of what they talk, what they serve and what they worship.

 

Consider what the cultured humanity of our time spends money on; even leaving the war out, what commands the highest price; where the biggest crowds are. If we think for a moment about these questions it becomes clear that humanity, as it is now, with the interests it lives by, cannot expect to have anything different from what it has."

 

- G.G.

[redcairo]

[silent thunder]

Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity.  ~ George Carlin

[9th]

[9th]

[rex]

"Before you diagnoise yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes."

William Gibson

[blue eyed snake]

"Before you diagnoise yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes."

William Gibson

 

worthy of repeating

[sagebrush]

dear lerner-

mary oliver said no such thing in her wild geese poem.

but then again-

one may interpret what they interpret.

 

“You must not ever stop being whimsical.

 

And you must not, ever, give anyone else the responsibility for your life.” ― Mary Oliver, Wild Geese

 

?????

 

.......I know, let me guess? still learning :-)

Edited November 21, 2016 by sagebrush

[Marblehead]

Yep, w each are fully responsible for our own life.  Or at least we should be.

[Papayapple]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CsGgmknUEAE7ScR.jpg

[RiverSnake]

"Power is not revealed by striking hard or often, but by striking true." Honore de Balzac

[C T]

“Trying to suppress delusion is delusion too. Delusions have no original existence; they’re only things you create yourself by indulging in discrimination.” ~ Bankei

 

 

[Marblehead]

I wish the quote would have stopped at:  "... existence."

 

But still, a very powerful statement.

[zerostao]

there ya go man, keep as cool as you can---

face piles of trials with smiles.

it riles them to believe that you perceive the web they weave.

keep on thinking/being free.

Edited December 6, 2016 by zerostao

[Papayapple]

" Alchemy doesn't work if you are inconsistent. If you work
on it when you are in the mood, but then get distracted by
things and slack off when this mood wanes, then your spirit
is influenced and your energy taken away when you are not
practicing, just like someone with no accomplishment at all.
Even if you get into the mood to work again, it will be like
lacing with too many missing strings—it won't be effective
at all."

Thomas Cleary(?)

I like this one, it's pretty direct.

 

BTW, for those who read Practical Taoism: how should I understand the following paragraph?
"Taoist study cannot have any externals burdening the
mind. If you are preoccupied with family affairs, political or
professional affairs, social intercourse, charms and spells,
curing and divining, literature, riding, music, martial arts,
gambling, or handicrafts, all of this will inhibit your mind
and confuse your essential nature, so you should be very
wary of it."
Is that a general thing, or does it refer to the time when you choose to practice?

 

[Marblehead]

 

BTW, for those who read Practical Taoism: how should I understand the following paragraph?

.....

Is that a general thing, or does it refer to the time when you choose to practice?

 

 

Interesting question.  Ideally, I think it should be understood as a general condition.  Note that it does not say that we  should not have these attachments, just that they should not be a burden to us. 

[Pilgrim]

"Guru Lineage Students, We do precision guess work based on unreliable data provided by those of questionable knowledge."

 

Original source of Quote unknown, just heard it the other day and it fits.