By way of specially illustrating this perverse and exuberant respect for other people’s opinion, let me take passage from the Times of March 31st, 1846, giving a detailed account of the execution of one Thomas Wix, an apprentice who, from motives of vengeance, had murdered...
In 1784, Kant referred to the 'unsociable sociability' of men that leads them to enter into society even though they find the company of others repugnant. Chemists, Goethe remarked, used to be called 'separators' or analysts. They took the elements apart in order to form new...
Living demands that we alternate between the states of being and doing. Some of us spend more in one than the other. Most of us do more than be. It’s what the modern world expects of us. We wake up every morning and rush through...
The sun is burning on your back, and the air shimmers like glass above the sand. Your gums feel like sandpaper. You drank your last drop of water two days ago and you’ve been on all fours ever since, crawling toward an oasis on the...
I don't know if on your walks you have noticed a long, narrow pool beside the river. Some fishermen must have dug it, and it is not connected with the river. The river is flowing steadily, deep and wide, but this pool is heavy with...
"Do you know what love is, that you are afraid that love will be lost?" People go on imagining things...
Buddha was making a pilgrimage around the world so that he might meet those who called themselves his disciples and talk to them about the truth. Throughout the course of his journey, those people who believed his words came in droves to hear him speak, touch...
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. A good artist lets his intuition lead him wherever it wants. A good scientist has freed himself of concepts and keeps his mind open to what is. Thus the Master is available to all people and doesn't reject anyone. He...
I’d like to introduce you to two people you know very well, although not by name: your experiencing self and your remembering self. Your experiencing self is the part of your conscious mind that experiences the present moment. In your case, it’s reading these words right...
Every one of us has beliefs, values, and thoughts that are fundamental to us and that we cannot imagine compromising on. We believe these are irrefutably right and that everyone would agree if they came to their senses. But every once in a while we...
