Philosophy 04 (Jan 25 - Dec 26)

[winston]

Enjoy What’s in Front of You

When we die, we won’t be saying, “I wish I could have risen higher in the corporate hierarchy. I wish I’d been more popular, made more money.”

In the end, it comes down to intimacy, to your own contentment, your own equanimity, your own ability to enjoy what’s in front of you.

- John Pulleyn, “The Big Man Can’t Shoot”

[winston]

A Simple Method

Sometimes just sitting in silence, enjoying our senses, not following our thoughts, can lead us directly to the state of mind, in which we see the liberating, true nature of reality.

- Anam Thubten, “The Three Fortresses”

[winston]

Illusory Dualisms

Inner peace and world peace, personal prosperity and economic equality, personal health and planetary health—all of these are illusory dualisms in the eyes of the dharma.

- Allan Badiner, “Ecodharma”

[winston]

Empathy for Distant Souls

Empathy grows from the center outward, as the affection you have for family and friends expands, to embrace those many distant souls whom you’ve never met.

- Lin Jensen, “Meeting Heartmind”

[winston]

A Vast Mind

A vast mind moves to the side of the public good.

When we engage in mind study, we begin to realize that the whole is me.

This is to understand that in order for me to live a happy life, others must as well.

- Grace Song, “How You Think Today Is How You Live Your Life”

[winston]

A Mundane Life

The life I am living right here and right now, “mundane” as it often seems, is an inconceivable, improbable, unfathomable, deeply wondrous and mysterious thing.

- Brad Warner, “It’s the Journey, Not the Trip”

[winston]

Mindfulness

Mindfulness supports the moment-to-moment intention to not cause harm, to be kind and to renounce those thoughts and actions that lead to heedlessness.

Without wise intention and wise understanding, mindfulness is aimless.

- Phillip Moffitt

[winston]

Look with Kindness

Love and compassion are particular ways of looking.

When we look with kindness and benevolence at ourselves, others and the world; when we cultivate the way of seeing that is metta, love with no strings attached, we loosen the sense of self and tune our ability to see its fabricated nature.

- Nikki Mirghafori, “Dreaming Together”

[winston]

Prioritizing Self-View

While it’s natural to care about others’ opinions, we don’t have to give undue weight to views that are constantly changing anyway.

As Milarepa once said, “Trying to make others happy is endless.”

- Vanessa Goddard, “The Eight Worldly Winds: Praise and Blame”

[winston]

Death Is a Friend

Every ending is also a beginning and death must lead someplace, perhaps back to life.

And of course, we know that without death for a comparison, there would be no such thing as life.

Death is indeed one of our best friends.

- Wes Nisker, “Making Friends with Death”