Thursday, July 19, 2012

So what is wrong with you?

So what is wrong with you? Are you a freak? No. You are just human. And you suffer from the same malady that infects every human being. It is a monster in side all of us, and it has many arms: Chronic tension, lack of genuine compassion for others, including the people closest to you, feelings being blocked up, and emotional deadness. Many, many arms. None of us is entirely free from it. We may deny it. We try to suppress it. We build a whole culture around hiding from it, pretending it is not there, and distracting ourselves from it with goals and projects and status. But it never goes away. It is a constant undercurrent in every thought and every perception; a little wordless voice at the back of the head saying, "Not good enough yet. Got to have more. Got to make it better. Got to be better." It is a monster, a monster that manifests everywhere in subtle forms.
- Mindfulness in Plain English by Ven. Henepola Gunaratana

Sunday, July 01, 2012

Who are you?

I—I hardly know, Sir, just at present—at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have changed several times since then.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll