"Every civilization is a 'package deal,'... and that configuration means that it necessarily follows a particular trajectory determined by the constraints of that deal, which are both positive and negative, and which typically crystallize in a specific pattern or direction very early on. It also means that every civilization is dialectically structured - that is to say, the particular factors that made its rise to power possible prove to be, in the fullness of time, the very factors that do it in. This is because in its rise to power, the civilization in question had to repress those factors that pointed in a different (and often opposite) direction: it had to be, in a word, lopsided, and this lopsidedness provided it with an enormous amount of energy. But the phenomenon of lopsidedness also leads any such system to become increasingly out of kilter, and at some point the rejected pathways or lifeways come back to haunt it, because they represent tendencies that are necessary for balance, for overall health of the organism. But by then, it is usually too late to shift gears (if I may be permitted to mix metaphors); collapse or decline can be avoided only if the repressed alternatives, the "roads not taken," are substantively incorporated into the dominant paradigm. Since this constitutes what might be called "shadow" material, the resistance to it is fierce, and so decay is, historically speaking, the rule."
~ Morris Berman, Dark Ages America: the Final Phase of Empire, pp. 236
When the author of this work (Why America Failed: The Roots of Emperial Decline), Morris Berman, was once asked how he could go on living knowing what he did about the state of the United States, he responded that the truth makes him high. ~Pat Fitz
Language is often regarded as something you use to get by in your life. But language should fulfill your individual existence as a wholesome human being who knows how to speak as well as how to communicate with others. I think we have to draw a line between these two approaches: either you use words just to jumble things together or you speak so that you declare yourself as an individual. Language should be more than just getting by. ~Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
Our problems can’t be solved by eliminating each and every outer cause. Nevertheless, people everywhere take this approach: “It’s the world’s fault; it’s too rough, too sharp, too alien. If I could get rid of these outer woes, I’d be happy.” Shantideva says: If you want to protect your feet, wear shoes; and if you want to protect yourself from the world’s provocations, tame your mind. The antidote to misery is to stay present. ~Pema Chodron
"Every war results from the struggle for markets and spheres of influence, and every war is sold to the public by professional liars and totally sincere religious maniacs, as a Holy Crusade to save God and Goodness from Satan and Evil."
- "The worst that can happen under monarchy is rule by a single imbecile, but democracy often means the rule by an assembly of three or four hundred imbeciles."
- "Everybody who has ever worked for a corporation knows that corporations conspire all the time. Politicians conspire all the time, pot-dealers conspire not to get caught by the narcs, the world is full of conspiracies. Conspiracy is natural primate behavior."
~Robert Anton Wilson
“There's a tribe in West Africa whose members count the birthday of a child from the day the child is first a thought in its mother's mind. On that day, a woman goes out and sits under a tree and quietly listens and waits until she can hear the song of her child. When she has heard the song, she returns to her village and teaches it to the man whom [is] the child's father so that he can sing the song when they make love, inviting their child to join them. The expectant mother then sings this song to the child in her womb and teaches it to the midwives, who sing it when the child is born. And the villagers all learn the child's song, so that whenever the child cries or hurts itself, they pick it up, hold it in their arms, and sing the song. The song is also sung when the young man or woman goes through a rite of passage, or when he or she marries, and then, for the last time, when he or she is about to die. What a beautiful way for humans to listen to and comfort other human beings." ~Jack Kornfield
The church says: The body is a sin.
Science says: The body is a machine.
Adverstising says: The body is a business.
The Body says: I am a fiesta.
~ Eduardo Galeano
“What made me run away was doubtless not so much the fear of settling down, but of settling down permanently in something ugly.”
~ Albert Camus
“What I'm sure of is that you can't be happy without money. That's all. I don't like superficiality and I don't like romanticism. I like to be conscious. And what I've noticed is that there's a kind of spiritual snobbism in certain 'superior beings' who think that money isn't necessary for happiness. Which is stupid, which is false, and to a certain degree cowardly.... For a man who is well born, being happy is never complicated... Only it takes time to be happy. A lot of time. Happiness, too, is a long patience. And in almost every case, we use up our lives making money, when we should be using our money to gain time. That's the only problem that's ever interested me.... To have money is to have time. That's my main point. Time can be bought. Everything can be bought. To be or to become rich is to have time to be happy, if you deserve it.... Everything for happiness, against the world which surrounds us with its violence and its stupidity.... All the cruelty of our civilization can be measured by this one axiom: happy nations have no history.”
~ Camus
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous,
leading to the most amazing view.
~ this first line of Edward Abbey's poem "Benedicto"
"At least once a year, I imagine that I am about to die. Looking back as truthfully as I can at my entire life, I give full attention to the things I wish hadn’t occurred. Recognizing these mistakes honestly but without self-recrimination, I try to rejoice in the innate wisdom that allows me to see so bravely, and I feel compassion for how I so frequently messed up. Then I can go forward. The future is wide open, and what I do with it is up to me." ~Pema Chodron
