A: Yet when you are called stupid, it makes you angry. Because something within you entertains the possibility that you might, in fact, be. Then something else within you grows irritated by the idea that you might be. This internal conflict manifests itself as anger. (Location 119)
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Q: I see your point. If the discomfort doesn’t arrive from the difficult person, then please help me understand where it arises from. A: The discomfort that arises from being in the presence of a difficult person arises from your insistence that they not be difficult. (Location 138)
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Q: Why do you say it would not benefit me to depend upon a god? A: When one wish is granted, you will beg for another. When it is not, you will either wait in hope, or curse out of spite. Dependency will rob you of your freedom. (Location 157)
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Q: Why might someone choose to become a success? A: Because he enjoys it. Because he is skillful at it. Because he feels alive in pursuing his craft at the highest level. (Location 186)
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Q: Do I not care for the child? A: Care for the child in every way. But if you believe that he belongs to you, you will interfere. And this interference will cost you in ways that you cannot imagine. (Location 203)
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The Truth is that attachment is the greatest bondage in the life of man. The problem that you are experiencing is not that you do not know how to be unattached. The problem is that you do not realize the consequences of attachment. (Location 226)
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Q: How is it that attachment has produced all of these problems between me and my children? A: Attachment gives birth to hope and need. If you are attached to them, you will need them to do certain things, achieve certain things, be a certain way, and behave toward you in a certain way. When they do not, it will cause you (Location 229)
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pain. When you experience pain, you will behave toward them in a way that pain compels you to behave. And they will behave toward you in a way that their need for freedom compels them to behave. And this will continue for the rest of your lives. (Location 232)
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Q: Why, if I may ask? A: Responsibility is a societal creation. No one is truly responsible for another. You do not owe your children anything. They do not owe you anything. If you wish to do, then do. If they wish to do, they may also do. That which comes from the heart is natural and satisfying. That which comes from the idea of responsibility is forced, artificial, and often produces resentment and the expectation for reciprocation. (Location 253)
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A part of you relishes getting angry. For when you do, you are able to exercise your right to become angry. You enjoy this right. For you feel that you have been wronged, and thus your anger is justified. You do not wish to pass (Location 295)
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up on exercising this right. But another part of you feels remorse for having been angry. And this remorse is to some degree, disingenuous. The remorse makes you feel better and morally correct. For if you had felt good about getting angry, you would have a difficult time accepting yourself. (Location 297)
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Understand that you are the architect of this relationship. And, in many ways, the architect of your son’s fate. Become the person he would seek to embrace. Provide a place of peace that he is looking for in the wrong places. As he recognizes that you have transformed from a place of need, into a source of quiet comfort, he will come. And he will listen. (Location 329)
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The mind peddles in desire. It has an unending appetite for desire. It is a wanting machine. It cannot get enough of that which it enjoys. This is the seed of addiction. (Location 336)
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Pleasure is ubiquitous in the lives of humans. As the mind is ubiquitous in the lives of humans. From morning until night, a human seeks nothing other than pleasure. In the smallest thing. And the largest thing. All addictions stem from this one characteristic of mind. (Location 349)
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What would be the nature of a person’s life if he did not seek pleasure? A: He would live a life of equanimity. He would be content and complete in each moment. Though he may involve himself in lofty pursuits, his contentedness and completeness would go with him. He would have abandoned the ceaseless chase. And when a man no longer feels the need to chase, life begins to chase him. (Location 353)
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Q: Please tell me the source of the guilt. A: The guilt is protective. It serves as a buffer between you and your feelings of superiority. If you do not allow yourself to feel guilty about being wealthy, your mind tells you that you are insensitive. It tells you that you consider yourself special for having wealth. It tells you that you are gluttonous, in a world that suffers from famine and thirst. And your mind is impressioned by a society that points fingers at you and blames you for being wealthy. (Location 367)
unravel. If by “unabashedly wealthy” you mean that he neither feels guilty for being wealthy, nor does he lord his wealth or show it off, he is unlikely to suffer ill consequences from his wealth. As his behavior arises from a place of equanimity. (Location 395)
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Then what is the difference between the wealthy man who gives and the one who doesn’t? A: Each has his own reasons for doing so. If one wishes to give, whatever his reason may be, he may give. If one wishes not to give, whatever his reason may be, he may choose not to give. It is his choice. He is not good for having done so. He is not bad for not having done so. Each man acts according to his own personal motivations. And whatever his motivations are is a matter for him to resolve within himself. The government that forces him to give is a criminal enterprise. The people who shame him into giving are outside their right do so. If a man chooses to give, he may give. But whether he chooses to give or not, he surely does not “owe.” (Location 405)
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Each person must examine the source of the want. The why’s and wherefores of the want. In doing so one is able to separate the wants that are reactive and baseless from the wants that are genuine and innocent. It is often the case, that as the reactive wants are removed, the sincere wants are shared between the two individuals. (Location 425)
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A relationship of peace is a relationship that is more parallel than perpendicular. It is two individuals that move side by side. Rather than two individuals that intersect. A maintenance of individuality and freedom results in the prevalence of peace. (Location 444)
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In all things, there is the ideal and there is the bastardized. There is the pure and there is the manipulated. Wholehearted devotion to a god is one thing. Praying to, and depending upon, a god to give one things is something entirely different. It can perhaps be said that at one time religion was pure. But whether it was or not, this is not what it is today. (Location 472)
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Spirituality is a concoction of prescriptions and half-truths. It is a circus of orange robes, incense, and ineffective jargon such as love and mindfulness. It is a maze of silent retreats and men with pony tails and yoga pants spouting spiritual psychobabble to those who enjoy the psychobabble. It is the unserious leading the unserious in concentric circles that lead only to more circles. (Location 493)
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Meditation is an independent activity. Meditativeness is to make your entire life a meditative experience. (Location 543)
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Man is lazy and undisciplined for the things that do not move him. He is motivated and voracious for the things that inspire him. (Location 557)
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It is far more fruitful to evaluate the desires for achievement, than it is to force discipline. If one’s desire for achievement is pure, he will be sufficiently motivated to do all that needs to be done in order to achieve. If it is not, he will play clever and ineffective games such as discipline. (Location 560)
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Forcing oneself is short-lived. As all things that are insincere are short-lived. If one is honest and sincere about his motivations, he will move with himself, instead of against himself. (Location 564)
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The thing is fundamentally the same for all human beings. It is only the name that differs. Regardless of what personality the mind has manufactured for us. Regardless of who we believe ourselves to be. We are first and foremost a piece of life. And this life seeks to live. It seeks to bloom. The way in which man has attempted to make it bloom has not worked. It is for this reason that despite all the things that you have attained, this sense of aimlessness resides within you. (Location 599)
The single most important characteristic of a Journey toward the Ultimate is that upon reaching it, one becomes satisfied for the rest of his life. For he becomes life itself. He arrives at a place in which there is no longer any need to strive, practice, search, or crave. The end of emotional turmoil, the end of conflict, the end of sorrow, the end of anxiety. He has arrived. And now he can live as only a free man can. (Location 609)
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Devote means to surrender. Devote means to allocate in its entirety. One man might devote his life to conquering anger. Another might devote it to becoming totally free. Another might devote it to a sport. Another might devote it to conquering the mind. Another might devote it to god. (Location 628)
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The one who resorts to competing is the one who has not become a Master. Because he and his competitors are of similar skill, they must fight for scraps. Siddha Training prepares one for a life that is beyond competition. So much so that every match is won before it begins. (Location 667)
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One must not be interested in how to “improve” performance. One must be genuinely interested in where it lives, how it moves, and what causes it to emerge. This allows one to become dominant in his field. It allows him to own his performance. It allows him to become a Master. (Location 687)
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The luxury of self-pity. The sympathies of victimhood. Such things are not easily sacrificed. (Location 723)
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Q: Why does man fear himself? A: Man seeks pleasure for himself. He seeks stability for himself. He seeks egoic satisfaction. He seeks many things in order to make himself feel a certain way. Any situation that threatens how he feels about himself will bring fear. (Location 751)
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When he has discovered the cocoon of the present moment, thinking ceases. When he arrives at a state of No-Mind, time comes to an end. (Location 793)
The world consists of nothing but anxiety and misery. The same way that a swimming pool contains only water. It has nothing else to offer you. This does not mean that one must physically leave the world. It means simply that one must see the world for what it is. And if one sees it for what it is, he or she has a true chance of living a life free of constant assault. (Location 858)
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Q: If I have no self, how will I function? A: Perfectly. Q: Why? A: Because where there is no self, there is no interference. Where there is no self, there is no confusion. Where there is no self, there is no complications, upheavals, conflicts, or turmoils. There is nothing. And where there is nothing, one is available to everything. (Location 893)
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Q: So philanthropy and charity have no place? A: If one wishes to give, let him give. His philanthropy will indeed do good in the world. But what is the point of doing things in a fractional manner? If one truly wishes to pursue something, then he will only be content in pursuing it to its ultimate possibility. Give time and money. And give it freely. But before giving it to another, give it to yourself. Spend lavishly, with your time and your money, on perfecting Yourself. Spend lavishly, with your time and money, on conquering Your mind. So that you may become a light to your loved ones, and the world. (Location 929)
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To guide people along the true path without them feeling your hand, is true guidance. To speak to them in such a way that they do not feel instructed, is true speech. To keep them in your orbit so that you may watch over them, without them feeling the slightest loss of freedom, is true caring. To invest in them the Truths that will keep them safe and successful in their journey of life, while surrendering the need to take ownership of these ideas so that they may take ownership of them, is wisdom and dispassion. These, and other secrets like it, is what the Master devotes his life to. It is this that he lives for. (Location 950)
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