Pain cannot be escaped, yet even greater pain lies in the effort to get away from it. You will try to escape from pain or insecurity, so long as the ‘me’ keeps itself separate from experience.

The desire to achieve (which is also the fear of failure) is what makes the mind lose its fluidity through the rigidity induced by inhibition. This then gets translated into faulty execution of all our actions and compounds our inner conflict and neurotic tension.

– Ramesh Balsekar

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence:

From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.” 

Alexander Fraser Tytler

There is no need for war; there is no need for poverty. We have enough money, enough resources, but seventy percent of the whole world’s resources go toward war. If that seventy percent is prevented from going toward bringing death to humanity, there is no need for anybody to become less rich. The living of all poor people can be raised higher. Marx’s idea, Lenin, Stalin, Mao – their whole philosophy is to bring the richer people down to the level of the poor people. That they call communism, I call stupidity. My idea is to raise every poor person higher and higher and bring him to the level of the richest person. There is no need for poverty. I will also have a classless society, but it will be of rich people.

Osho

This is probably obvious, but, CoViD has provided some important lessons – respect your health and the gift of life, respect we are subordinate to nature not the other way round and to find your spiritual way to be at peace with the reality that life is finite. Creating bubbles, prisons of your own making or imposing judgement of others is death or decay in living. Freedom is personal, the spiritual comfort that this life shall end so might as well get on with living it.

CC

Right attitude for Learning and Creativity is to “argue as if you are right and listen as if you are wrong”

Karen Weick

“Balancing Act between Confidence and Doubt”
“Curiosity is the foreplay of Discovery”
Chip Conley

It is often said that youth is wasted on the young. Does that mean wisdom is wasted on the old? It all depends on how we choose to experience the second half of life: Do we practice gratitude, or pursue gratification? Grow into our individuality, or confine ourselves to stereotypes or social norms? Strive to attain and share knowledge, or to accumulate material rewards? “Ancora Imparo”—“I’m still learning”— was written above Michelangelo’s studio door in the ninth decade of his life.

We all need this reminder, don’t we?

– Chip Conley