Tag: Buddha

At the beginning of endeavors, evolution is paired with pleasure.  Then we get to that familiar crossroads—where we must choose between evolution or wallowing in comfort.  The choice that’s made at those moments determines whether or not we build character.  I’ve made a lot of bad choices during those moments, but the cool part is I’m faced with…

One of my ego’s most insidious tactics is to be accepting of others’ weaknesses and in turn, unthinkingly accept my own weakness (not an excuse for self-flagellation, btw).  But it has always been the case that I must forgive others (as much as is practically acceptable) while mercilessly driving myself to greater heights. In fact,…

I want to die admiring the effort I directed towards achieving my goals.   And because I could die today, I will direct effort towards achieving my goal TODAY.

Given what the evidence seems to be telling us—that we are brief dots in an incalculably vast canvas—the idea of “practicality” seems to fall away.  But to me this is not an excuse to wallow in wide-eyed wonder, because there are still bills to pay, still goals to accomplish.  To me this simply means that…

It becomes stunningly obvious how malleable reality is when artists begin using words/brushstrokes/code/sculpture to instantiate entire universes and lifetimes.  Some of those ideas become story, others become cars/houses/every manufactured thing our eyes take for the dullness of everyday life.   If you are ever bored, all you have to do is look around with an unveiled…

I feel like if you ponder “truth” long enough, you should be able to see it everywhere, in everything, and be able to iterate it into whatever you need.  There is no need for condemnation or worship; there is only what fits best at any given moment.

If it were simply a matter of willpower, there would be no need for strategy.  Chest-thumping and magnificent effort are romantic and eye-catching, but unless they get the job done, they remain ostentatious and impotent.

I suspect that the reason for being trapped in a body, and for only being able to perceive a one-way flow of time, are the same reasons I sit in class or a movie theater:   To learn and to be entertained.  

Upon closer inspection, it seems that everyone’s life is divided into instances of discipline and laziness, of nobility and cowardice, of heroism and villainy…why try and create some completely subjective scale where I can measure my life against another’s?   I have come to the conclusion that all that matters is putting my best foot forward, and enjoying…