Tag: Buddha

IMHO, the hours that turn into days into months into years…that time isn’t meant to be nickel-and-dimed, spent in the service of reinforcing our comfort zones, always hoping to be buoyed by fortune (that ONE burst of effort that will ensure you never have to strive again).  That time is meant to be used audaciously,…

IMHO, acceptance of limitations allows me to strategically navigate through and past them.  Denial of limitations (the road most often taken from what I’ve seen) MAY allow me to surpass them, but will quash my ability to navigate.  We’re BORN with limitations—clues, if you will—that serve as rough guides telling us where to place our focus and spend our…

Human nature seems to dictate that we try to express our core philosophies in the most convincing way possible.  But to write effectively, one must go beyond that—one must be able to effectively express multiple viewpoints on the same subject through different sets of eyes.  A writer must see that opposing philosophies are not staunch lines drawn…

How much novelty must we thirst and lust after, how much novelty must we claw our way towards, how much novelty must we experience…before our perception deepens to the point where we recognize EVERYTHING as novel?

The more you recognize how much of you is just programming, the easier it is to rewrite yourself.

IMHO, the point of tradition is to create a roughshod path that eases the way so that travelers can see where NEW paths can be paved…it is NOT meant to be evoke blind adherence/veneration.  If that is ever the case, then tradition no longer facilitates discovery… Because it has turned from a path into a…

I believe the point of emphasizing “external structure” (and by that I mean the outer things; environment, clothing, schedule, systems) is to work your way inward…to impose that outer discipline on your inner thoughts and habits.  Once you are inwardly disciplined, that’s when you can riff on the outer stuff.  The inwardly structured trust themselves…

I’ve heard a lot of people push the philosophy of only writing when they feel like it—when inspiration hits them.  Hey, if you can use that method to produce quality material as often and as reliably as you want, then great.  But I favor the opposite approach: I like to apply myself on a mind-numbingly regular basis,…

Demonstrating that you can safely navigate the most powerful addictions/aversions means demonstrating DISCIPLINE. In simpler words:  Big boy rules are earned by big boy conduct.

Society will make pressing arguments:  Settle.  Conform.  Avoid risk like it’s the plague.   But if you’re a writer (or any kind of artist), the arguments you make will be AGAINST inertia.  Your cover, your opening line…everything up to the last character on the last page will be an invitation to dream, to cheer, and to travel…