Man’s greatest dilemma is that he lives in a prison and he believes that he is free. The man who knows that he lives in a prison will find a way to break free of it. But the one who believes that he is free while being imprisoned will remained imprisoned forever. (Location 81)
Tags: orange
Nature lives in a state of equilibrium. It does not consider a storm as bad and sunshine as good. It does not categorize. Or judge. Or take sides. (Location 120)
To understand the fundamental nature of the mind allows one to transcend it. And once the mind is transcended, its powers become available to the human being to use as he pleases. (Location 122)
Tags: blue
The mind can go anywhere it wishes. You need not go With It. The mind can entertain any thoughts that it wishes. They have nothing to do with you. For you are not the mind. (Location 225)
Tags: pink
Man will take any opportunity to avoid that which is most immediate in his life. He will do anything but the task at hand. He will look at anything besides that which stands inches from his face. (Location 247)
Tags: pink
The mind desires, and you believe that it is you who is desiring. The mind craves one success after another. And you believe that it is you who craves. The mind creates your turmoils, and you set off in a frenzy to clean up its messes, believing that it is you who made them. (Location 485)
Tags: pink
This is the problem with us human beings. Receiving something is not enough. Becoming something is not enough. Feeling something is not enough. No matter how grand or majestic that thing may be, we must spoil it with reason. We must graffiti our logic across its sacred presence. (Location 542)
Tags: pink
The greatest freedom that we have is the freedom to walk away from ourselves. (Location 634)
Imagine for a moment what it would feel like to Want For Nothing! To live your days invested completely in that which you love to do. Your art, your passion . . . But Without A Single Iota Of Hope. To live your life as someone who had no need to attain anything else for the remainder of his life. Whatever comes, let it come. And whatever does not, isn’t even noticed. For it was never Hoped For in the first place. (Location 658)
Tags: pink
The human being who sees the sine wave for what it is. And cares for it no more! The human being who sees the strings behind the stage. The human being who understands that the events of his life will bring him nothing of any real value, or any lasting bliss. (Location 679)
Tags: pink
Live your life as a lonely stranger. As a wanderer filled with awe and wonder. Leave everything as you found it. For none of it belongs to you. Let the events happen around you, knowing that none of them are happening TO You. And you will live an equanimous life. You will live a life without the burden of hope. Or the weight of despair. In doing this you will have known life for what it is. And what it is not. And wisdom and equanimity will finally be yours. (Location 691)
Tags: pink
What they cannot create in quality, they must make up for in volume. They are hooked by the occasional reward. And this keeps them bound to the world. (Location 707)
Tags: blue
If there is one truth that I have learned, it is that unless you find it inside of Today, you will never find it inside of Tomorrow. (Location 718)
Tags: pink
A man who pursues his passions and experiences his life with complete boldness has no need to search. He simply lives. (Location 724)
Tags: pink
A mountain breeze has no meaning. A floating cloud has no meaning. A surge of emotion has no meaning. A glorious idea has no meaning. Successes. Accolades. Achievements. Feelings. None of these things have meaning. (Location 743)
Tags: pink
And as strange as it may sound, there is joy in freeing oneself from the attachment to his own creation. For attachment is the greatest bondage in existence. (Location 756)
Tags: pink
Climb the greatest mountain. Achieve all the accolades in the world. Become the greatest in your field. Achieve fame. Earn millions. And you will enjoy every bit of the journey, if and only if you understand that none of it means anything. (Location 757)
Tags: pink
Spending your life exactly the way you wish to spend it is a wonderful liberation. This is what sinks into the heart. This is the true experience. And understand this: life’s nectar lies in experience, rather than reward. Rewards fade from memory. Experiences remain forever. (Location 761)
Tags: pink
Life is as raw as all forces of nature. And what we perhaps must realize is that our suffering comes from expecting it to be that which it can never be. (Location 774)
Tags: pink
My friend, there was a day that you were not here. And there will soon be a day when you are no longer here. And once you realize this, you will understand that all there is left to do is play. (Location 802)
Tags: blue
The man who is in love with his trade is not a worker. He is an artist. Whether he makes a million dollars or a thousand, he is living in accordance with his nature. And thus his days are filled with joy. (Location 874)
Tags: pink
Your “job” may indeed earn you a living, but it will not earn you a life. It may put food on your table, but it will not nourish you. It may provide you with drink, but it will not quench your thirst. (Location 881)
Tags: pink
The unbiased honest truth is this: Wealth, success, and luxury do not harm a man. What harms a man is the Attachment to these things. (Location 894)
Tags: blue
Attachment is the antithesis of life. Attachment is the great death. A death greater than death itself. (Location 899)
Tags: pink
Man is a king. But he believes that he is a beggar who must work toward becoming a king. And because he believes this, he lives his entire life as a beggar. (Location 900)
Tags: orange
One day you will die. And when you are in your final days, how you will you feel when you realize that you spent your life as a “worker?” How will you feel when you realize that you have wasted your entire life never having explored the talents that were meant only for You? How will you feel when you discover that you have left your riches on the table? How will you feel when you realize that you sold yourself for a shilling? (Location 929)
Tags: pink
Human beings tend to become the norm that they are exposed to. This is the astonishing power of environment. You become your surroundings! (Location 965)
Tags: pink
When the mind desires winning, its fear of losing far exceeds the desire for winning. As a result, there is intense anxiety. Which, in turn, sabotages the individual’s performance. And often results in the very thing that the mind feared all along: Losing. (Location 972)
Success arises from innocence or from a sort of knowing. It arises from innocence when an individual is so devoted to his craft that he gives himself to it, day and night. Not because he wishes to make himself a success. But because the craft is quite literally a part of him. He simply cannot imagine doing anything else with his life. He feels that he is born to do it. He feels that this is what he was made for. And because of this intimacy with his craft and the innocence with which he approaches it, his skill level soars. And success comes running to him. (Location 1000)
Tags: orange
The man who knows that he will be a success makes “hard work” work for him. To him it is a tool in his arsenal. The man who does not know Works For hard work. He Relies upon hard work as the engine and the vehicle to get him there. And this latter instance rarely works. (Location 1021)
Tags: pink
If you seek to be a legend in your field, it will help you to understand that you will have to be comfortable being an outcast. For you will not fit into this society. And if you do fit neatly into this society, there is no way that you will be a legend. (Location 1032)
Tags: pink
If you seek to be a legend, bring to the world something that it has never before seen. (Location 1036)
Tags: pink
Rather than finding the thing that you can imagine yourself becoming, find the thing that you simply cannot imagine yourself Not Becoming. (Location 1076)
Tags: orange
It is often more productive to first look at the obstacles to a goal than to directly look for a path to that goal. For if you find the obstacles, you find the path. (Location 1210)
Tags: pink
When your thoughts feel like imposters. And your ideas seem like noise. And your preferences fail to move you. And your pride is easily dropped. You will experience the state of No-Mind. (Location 1239)
Tags: pink
The Mind Cannot Be Calmed Or Tamed. It Can Only Be Transcended! And it is transcended Not through activities. It is transcended through Understanding. (Location 1253)
Tags: blue
Man loves nothing more than to avoid the immediate. He loves nothing more than to abandon the practical in exchange for the romantic. He continually flows toward the path of least resistance. And it is for this reason that he achieves nothing worthwhile in his life. (Location 1313)
Unless things are in order in your life, you are in absolutely no position to help another. (Location 1324)
Tags: blue
If you are serious about living a peaceful life, drop all matters pertaining to the world, and pursue all matters pertaining to yourself. The state of the world will do nothing for you. The state of your interiority will do everything for you. Your greatest protection from the world is also your greatest gift to the world: Your Personal Peace. (Location 1330)
Tags: pink
The truth is that you don’t own your children. Parents are owned by their children far more often than their ego and their delusions allow them to accept. Parents are enslaved by their need for their children to do well. And this causes an enormous amount of pain in their lives. (Location 1376)
Tags: pink
Whatever a parent does in the name of his or her child, he is really doing for himself. (Location 1382)
Tags: blue
A child does not need a parent’s teaching. He needs a parent to create for him a certain environment. And this environment will do all of the teaching necessary. If you create an environment of peace, the child will learn to be relaxed. If you create an environment of understanding, the child will be open with his problems. If you create an environment of silence, the child will become averse to the world’s noise. If you create an environment of freedom, the child will have the courage to find his own way. (Location 1389)
Tags: pink
The parent’s ultimate duty is to not make the child dependent upon him. The parent’s ultimate duty is to allow the child to never lose sight of himself. (Location 1396)
Tags: pink
What they needed was for you to be so madly in love with them, that they would never feel the need to leave you. What they needed was for you to look into their eyes and see creation. What they needed was for you to give your entire self to them, and keep your mind to yourself. (Location 1437)
Tags: pink
The greatest thing you can do for your child is to not interfere. It is the most difficult thing in the world for a parent to do. But it is also the most important. (Location 1470)
Tags: pink
There is a chase in the morning. A chase in the evening. A chase at work. A chase with the children. A chase for achievement. It is only when he or she discovers that the chase is Fruitless . . . It is only when he or she discovers that there is nothing to Find . . . It is only when he or she discovers that, in fact, the chase is not a running Toward something, but a running Away from something . . . That clarity begins to dawn. (Location 1540)
Tags: pink
The mind simply enjoys the game and the drama. The mind enjoys pain, perhaps because it enjoys setting up the guilt and the reconciliation that follows. But if we see the drama as a drama that is independent of ourselves, then we begin to break away from the drama. We begin to quite easily surrender our ego at the door. And this becomes a completely painless and natural phenomenon once we stop functioning from the Place Of Mind. (Location 1600)
Tags: pink
The question is NOT “How do I solve my problems?’ The question is “Why do I have problems in the first place?” (Location 1619)
Tags: pink
Let the flame burn. Let the problems amass. Let the feelings of ill will flow through you. Let the boss yell and the children scream. The very attempt to distinguish the flame will only make it burn brighter. This flame is simply life being life. And the reason we get burned is because we attempt to put our arm around it and call it Ours. (Location 1633)
Tags: blue
Be truthful. Be sincere. Do you really want to be rid of your problems? If so, then understand that why it is that you hold on to them. The reason that you have problems is because you gain something from them. And unless the perceived gain from Peace exceeds the perceived gain from Misery, you will forever live in misery. Man gets what he wants. The reason that he is where he is, is because it is okay for him to be there. (Location 1664)
The only worthwhile watch in the world is not the one which counts Up, but the one which counts Down. Not the watch which tells you what time It Is. But the watch which tells you how much time you Have Left. (Location 1732)
Tags: pink
If we understand that the mind levels undue criticism by its very nature, we will begin to discover the root of the problem. If we come to terms with our own strengths and misgivings, we cannot be bothered by anyone or anything. And imagine what your life would be like if you learned to live in this way. (Location 1826)
Tags: pink
He finds that the greatest luxury that his wealth has afforded him is the luxury to turn inward. To devote his time and his energies toward tasting the nectar of life. (Location 1844)
Tags: pink
The irony is that once a man achieves Atmamun, he is able to enjoy his possessions infinitely more. He is able to perform his craft at an exponential level. He is able to truly enjoy the relationships that are valuable to him, and deftly handle those that are not. (Location 1848)
Tags: pink
Do not pay heed to those who ask you to give it all away and live in poverty. For attachment to poverty is just as imprisoning as an attachment to wealth. (Location 1856)
Tags: pink
Understand that every holy man was once a wretched man. Every man of wisdom was once a man of ignorance. And he lived so consistently with ignorance that one day the ignorance became so unbearable it was time to let it go. (Location 1869)
Tags: blue
To become the human being you’ve always wanted to be, you must be willing to walk away from the human being you’ve become. (Location 1889)
Tags: pink
How can a man be willing to lose everything? When he realizes that all that he has is not what he has truly been seeking. And when he realizes this, it immediately becomes okay to lose it. Just for that one chance to acquire what his heart has always wanted. Just for that one chance to become the human being you’ve always wanted to be. (Location 1896)