It is wisdom that is seeking for wisdom. |
In poetry, technique is another name for morality; it is not a manipulation of words, but a passion and asceticism.
- Octavio Paz (1914-1998) Mexico. Winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Literature |
"Hatred and bitterness can never cure the disease of fear; only love can do that. Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illumines it."
- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) USA. Winner of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize
- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) USA. Winner of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize
A sound mans heart is not shut within itself. But is open to other peoples hearts: I find good people good, And I find bad people good if I am good enough; I trust men of their word, And I trust liars if I am true enough; I feel the heart-beats of others above my own. If I am enough of a father, enough of a son. |
Compassion and non-violence help us to see the enemys point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition. |
"These places & persons as things & spots are all inside any one of us ... the whole world & all experience is, no matter how real, only a system of metaphor for the allegory (Keats called it) a man's life is."
- Charles Olson to Robert Duncan, 24 August 1955 (from Tom Clark's biography)
- Charles Olson to Robert Duncan, 24 August 1955 (from Tom Clark's biography)
|
The confidence of the [spiritual] warrior is not the confidence of the ordinary man. An ordinary man seeks approval in the eyes of the onlooker and calls that self-confidence. A spiritual warrior seeks impeccability in his own acts and calls that humbleness. - Carlos Castaneda (1925/31-1998) Anthropologist & teacher of Mesoamerican shamanism |
The surest sign of health in any ecosystem is in its diversity. "What matters most is the strength of your compassion."
- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, teacher of the Dalai Lama It is our duty, as men and women, to proceed as though the limits of our abilities do not exist. |
"No one today can afford to be innocent, or indulge himself in ignorance of the nature of contemporary governments, politics and social orders. The national polities of the modern world maintain their existence by deliberately fostered craving and fear: monstrous protection rackets. The free world has become economically dependent on a fantastic system of stimulation of greed which cannot be fulfilled, sexual desire which cannot be satiated and hatred which has no outlet except against oneself."
- Gary Snyder, American. Pulitzer Prize winning poet. Earth House Hold p.90-91
- Gary Snyder, American. Pulitzer Prize winning poet. Earth House Hold p.90-91
|
The Creative is the strongest of all things in the world. The expression of its natures is invariably the easy, in order thus to master the dangerous. The Receptive is the most devoted of all things in the world. The expression of its nature is invariably simple, in order thus to master the obstructive. - The I Ching, Ancient China (2800-2100? BC) Wilhelm / Baynes tr. p 353 |
At the root of the problem where our civilization goes wrong is the mistaken belief that nature is something less than authentic, that nature is not as alive as man is, or as intelligent, that in a sense it is dead, and that animals are of so low an order of intelligence and feeling, we need not take their feelings into account. |
"Because of the way individuals are institutionalized as students, The pupil is schooled to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say something new. His imagination is schooled to accept service in place of value. Medical treatment is mistaken for health care, social work for the improvement of community life, police protection for safety, military poise for national security, the rat race for productive work. Not only education but social reality itself has become schooled."
- Ivan Illich, (1926-2002) Austrian philosopher, social critic, ex-Roman Catholic priest and Vatican lawyer.
- Ivan Illich, (1926-2002) Austrian philosopher, social critic, ex-Roman Catholic priest and Vatican lawyer.