When a man no longer confuses himself with the definition of himself that others have given him, he is at once universal and unique. – Alan Watts
Is just to peel the potatoes.
In a certain sense Zen is feeling life instead of feeling something about life: it has no patience with second-hand wisdom. With someone else’s description of a spiritual experience, or with mere conceptions and beliefs. – Alan Watts
The greatest enemy will hide in the last place you would ever look.
There is something about yourself that you don’t know. Something that you will deny even exists until it’s too late to do anything about it. It’s the only reason you get up in the morning, the only reason you suffer the shitty boss, the blood, the sweat and the tears. This is because you want people to know how good, attractive, generous, funny, wild and clever you really are. – Revolver 2005.
The way you live your life should be your number one passion
I break down in gentle and non-dramatic tears at least once a day. Usually this gets triggered by stories about human perseverance, suffering, willingness or goodness of spirit. Sometimes because I see the face of an older person and get a glimpse into their life, or because I see a couple arguing-playing out the inevitable game of the human condition. And sometimes it is because of nothing I can register consciously. – Bentinho Massaro
Anything you do joyfully is always effortless
There’s something going on here in life beyond just a job and a family and career. There’s another side of the coin. It’s the same thing that causes people to want to be poets instead of bankers. I think that same spirit can be put into products, and those products can be manufactured and given to people, and they can sense that spirit. – Steve Jobs, The Man in the Machine
The present moment is the space within which your whole life unfolds
Living in the present moment or “Now” doesn’t mean giving up the past or future at all, it simply means we should acknowledge them for what they are – thoughts being experienced in the mind in the present moment. Time is simply a mental construct that allows us to comprehend our reality and increase our chances of survival. Putting more energy into our thoughts about past or future than is necessary distracts us from experiencing what is real.