Tag: Buddha

I once thought I knew who I was…until I realized that locking into a single persona can be a dysfunctional trap.  Once I began exploring different personalities—being who I needed to be when I wanted—identity started revealing itself to be a functional game; infinitely varied and infinitely novel. And oh yeah—I was also able to…

In my quest to achieve quality results, I’ve been hamstrung by poor attention to detail, lack of commitment, and lack of awareness.  On different occasions, those weaknesses have made me a liar, a hypocrite, or a failure.  So as I strive to do this or that, I try to constantly assess the premises/logic I operate…

I’ve learned to be careful with “dark truths.”  If a friend asks, I’ll tell them a hurtful truth, and even then, I’ll precede it with a warning that it won’t be pleasant.  But unless they ask again, I’ll do my best to not bring it up.  Because the reality behind a dark truth is that…

In my experience, voluntarily engaging in a productive regimen of hardship doesn’t just make life more enjoyable, it also tends to make life easier in the long run.  

Our identities keep us tethered to a certain perspective—one that’s composed of certain viewpoints based on certain experiences.  But in order to jump from perspective to perspective, to jump from world to world, it’s necessary to loosen that identity.   That’s where writers come in.

Some acquaintances of mine have asked me how I write.  They get excited when I tell them that I believe in “loosening my identity” so I can see from different characters’ perspectives.  Sounds cool, right?  They ask me how to do that, and I tell them that a simple (but not easy) exercise is to…

I can’t deny that mouthing truisms is pretty damn fun, but in my opinion, it isn’t half as fun as those instances when I stop being a mouthpiece and become a conduit.

When you demonize someone, you blind yourself to the insights they might be able to offer.  So if you’re disciplined and clearheaded, there are no “demons,” only teachers with unsavory polarities.  You may have to fight or undermine them; it doesn’t change the fact you can still learn from them.

No one can provide definitive evidence on what is objectively true (science, our most effective and reliable model of reality, still has fundamental questions about the nature of reality that it is currently trying to solve).  That being the case, a working definition of truth could be:  a paradigm that propagates functionality and fits within…

I don’t think setting out to inspire people is the most effective aim; I think the important thing is to clarify to oneself what it means to behave in an inspirational manner, and then hew to that standard.  I think when people witness that, it encourages them to apply inspiration-worthy behavior to their own unique constraints. …