“I'd never known that I could feel this broken and whole at once.”
― Rachel L. Schade, Silent Kingdom
― Rachel L. Schade, Silent Kingdom
- Thread starter David Baxter PhD
- Start date
“The stars we yearn not after
delight us with their glory.”
– Goethe
delight us with their glory.”
– Goethe
"Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth."
“Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.”
"You can make any human activity into meditation simply by being completely with it and doing it just to do it."
"A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thought, so he loses touch with reality, and lives in a world of illusions."
“We seldom realize, for example that our most private thoughts and emotions are not actually our own. For we think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society.”
“By replacing fear of the unknown with curiosity we open ourselves up to an infinite stream of possibility. We can let fear rule our lives or we can become childlike with curiosity, pushing our boundaries, leaping out of our comfort zones, and accepting what life puts before us.”
~ Alan Watts
“Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.”
"You can make any human activity into meditation simply by being completely with it and doing it just to do it."
"A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thought, so he loses touch with reality, and lives in a world of illusions."
“We seldom realize, for example that our most private thoughts and emotions are not actually our own. For we think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society.”
“By replacing fear of the unknown with curiosity we open ourselves up to an infinite stream of possibility. We can let fear rule our lives or we can become childlike with curiosity, pushing our boundaries, leaping out of our comfort zones, and accepting what life puts before us.”
~ Alan Watts
“The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless.”
“Other people teach us who we are. Their attitudes to us are the mirror in which we learn to see ourselves, but the mirror is distorted. We are, perhaps, rather dimly aware of the immense power of our social enviornment.”
“A scholar tries to learn something everyday; a student of Buddhism tries to unlearn something daily.”
“Life is like music for its own sake. We are living in an eternal now, and when we listen to music we are not listening to the past, we are not listening to the future, we are listening to an expanded present.”
“Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way.”
~ Alan Watts
“Other people teach us who we are. Their attitudes to us are the mirror in which we learn to see ourselves, but the mirror is distorted. We are, perhaps, rather dimly aware of the immense power of our social enviornment.”
“A scholar tries to learn something everyday; a student of Buddhism tries to unlearn something daily.”
“Life is like music for its own sake. We are living in an eternal now, and when we listen to music we are not listening to the past, we are not listening to the future, we are listening to an expanded present.”
“Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way.”
~ Alan Watts
This, then, is the human problem: there is a price to be paid for every increase in consciousness. We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain. By remembering the past we can plan for the future. But the ability to plan for the future is offset by the "ability" to dread pain and to fear of the unknown. Furthermore, the growth of an acute sense of the past and future gives us a corresponding dim sense of the present. In other words, we seem to reach a point where the advantages of being conscious are outweighed by its disadvantages, where extreme sensitivity makes us unadaptable.
~ Alan Watts
~ Alan Watts
"Imbalance spurs creation. Without asymmetries and imperfections, the universe would be filled with nothing but smooth radiation."
~ A Tear at the Edge of Creation
~ A Tear at the Edge of Creation
“Cosmos is a Greek word for the order of the universe. It is, in a way, the opposite of Chaos. It implies the deep interconnectedness of all things. It conveys awe for the intricate and subtle way in which the universe is put together.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos
"A blade of grass is a commonplace on Earth; it would be a miracle on Mars. Our descendants on Mars will know the value of a patch of green. And if a blade of grass is priceless, what is the value of a human being?"
― Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
― Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
From Wikipedia: "The brand is currently owned by Flowers Foods in the United States."
which reminds me of a tour of a Flowers Foods factory I went to as an elementary school student. They gave us hot dog buns to taste fresh from the factory. And, as a kid, I was shocked how delicious fresh, warm bread could be on its own.
which reminds me of a tour of a Flowers Foods factory I went to as an elementary school student. They gave us hot dog buns to taste fresh from the factory. And, as a kid, I was shocked how delicious fresh, warm bread could be on its own.
“Some beautiful things are more dazzling when they are still imperfect than when they have been too perfectly crafted.”
-- La Rochefoucauld, Collected Maxims and Other Reflections
-- La Rochefoucauld, Collected Maxims and Other Reflections
Rather than continuing to seek the truth, simply let go of your views.
~ Gautama Buddha
~ Gautama Buddha
David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
Pithy. In fact, almost incomprehensible. Perfect, really, since if no one understands what you just said, no one can say you're wrong. 
"It is an ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way."
~ Rollo May
~ Rollo May
"The goal of all meditation and mystery journeys is to go between the pair of opposites."
~ Joseph Campbell
~ Joseph Campbell
"Does everything need an explanation? Some people think so. I wonder how they endure looking at the stars."
~ Roger Ebert
~ Roger Ebert
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