To be alone with yourself is to be alone. To be in the company of others is to be alone together.
The only time you are not alone is when you forget yourself and reach out in love -- the lines of self blur, and just for a wild, flickering moment you experience the miracle of other.
And now you know the secret.
Sometimes, it is when you are happiest that you have the least to say, and when you are saddest that you have the most to say. At other times, things reverse.
To add another layer of difficulty, most of us constantly cross the line from one to the other. In the process our words seem to betray us. We feel helpless, at the mercy of our mood-based verbal communication.
To regain control over your inner state… speak not a word.
Sing.
History does not repeat itself. It uses new terms each time -- new shapes, locations, principal actors.
It is our obligation to discern the running motif and recognize the same play, because we are its playwrights.
History is -- and has been always -- under our control.
If anything, may this one thought always empower you.
Don’t look for a soul mate.
Make one -- out of the complex fabric of the human being already with you.
Instructions are never included. They vary with the strength of your ability to see, the measure of your selective blindness, the limits of your mercy, and the intensity of your desire.
Behold -- the birds swim through the sparkling air, and the fish fly in the shimmering water -- all in the depths of this sky ocean.
Where are we?
When hope is fleeting, stop for a moment and visualize, in a sky of silver, the crescent of a lavender moon. Imagine it -- delicate, slim, precise, like a paper-thin slice from a cabochon jewel.
It may not be very useful, but it is beautiful.
And sometimes it is enough.
The Circle, the Spiral, and the Pendulum, all point to the cyclic nature of the universe, things returning on themselves.
There is no proof of course, only patterns. They seem to indicate eternal repetitive movement within the confines of the universal rules, the boundary.
If life is a great circle, then why not hold hands with the one who is closest to you and partake in a circle dance?
Passion and courtesy are two polar opposite traits that serve to balance each other into a full-blooded whole.
Without socialization, passion is a crude barbarian, and without passion, the elegant and polite are dead.
Allow both passion and courtesy into your life in equal measure, and be complete.
They say, "Give of yourself."
Who are they? Well, most everyone, it seems. This notion has become ingrained in many of our human societies -- a mixture of religious, moral, ethical, humanistic, and humanitarian sentiment.
And what does it mean, to give of yourself? Besides, why should you?
Maybe, just possibly, we are all made of the same thing. No matter how "good" or "bad," worthy or unworthy, it is the same living matter, the same building blocks, the same energy.
So when we give of ourselves, we simply add a little bit of this common "self" to the other person who might be in need of a little self-boost.
How do we do this? By communicating.
The neat trick is, no matter how many of our bits and pieces we dole out, we still end up complete and whole. We lose nothing.
Makes it very easy to be generous.
Wisdom is restating the obvious and commonplace in a novel way, so that it makes sudden pertinent sense.
Why do you think there are so many words out there? So many synonyms for the same thing? So many human languages?
It's because we all learn wisdom for ourselves, and in our own words.
And then we go on to teach others.
Life is but detail, the flow of data.
Conclusions based on this data are to be derived, and organized into the Rulebook of the Universe.
The coolest thing is, the Rulebook is an ongoing joint project and we are all freelance contributors.
And, as such, one of these days we are bound to get paid.
Persistence is an amazing thing.
It can be motivated by so many things, or even combinations of things inside you -- pride, competitiveness, desperation, urgency, duty, passion, need, love, hate, self-confidence, desire, curiosity, stubbornness, courage, expediency, money, status, patriotism, loyalty, intensity, job description, boredom…. The list does not end.However, persistence is impossible when the road ahead of you is obscured.
So, clear out that confusing debris and futile garbage and disappointing junk that is getting in the way of your goals, and you will suddenly find it is much easier to persist at your task indefinitely -- for as long as it takes.
There's nothing like a real life problem to take your mind off wallowing in your own self.
The sudden adrenaline rush, the sense of purpose, the focusing of energies to overcome the obstacle, and all your mental faculties sharpened and working hard to deal with the problem.
And the irony is, now is when you wish most that life was back to the boring empty state and you can get back to that existential navel gazing.
Well, there's got to be some middle ground. It does not have to be all laze-and-sleep or fight-or-flee.
A part of the solution is setting up a series of real life goals -- both short-term and long-term -- and not getting sidetracked.
Method acting is a great tool for becoming.
In method acting, an actor immerses himself or herself into the role to the point of living 24/7 as that person, and never stepping out of character.
You and I don’t need to be Laurence Olivier or Katherine Hepburn, but we can certainly try the method acting experiment to change ourselves by trying on another personality, and pretending to be what we are not… yet.
There is nothing stopping us -- think about it. A game of pretend is one of those things we've enjoyed and excelled at since our childhood.
When you come out of your Churches, o people, remember that God is present just as much in the open fields of morning, the wind, the mountains, and the sky, the expanse of the sea, the radiant sun, in the sad eyes of the old dog on the roadside, and in the gaze of your mother upon you, when she thought you were too young to see her love.
For those of us who do not look for religious interludes -- simply go outside and take a deep invigorating breath of air.
With or without faith, oxygen is always a good thing.
