Bits and Pieces

How I feel is never as important as how I choose to feel.

Belief can't be ''tested,'' only trusted, because belief is not the same as knowledge.

Maybe depression is just "the universe's" way of saying ''you are very much loved, appreciated, and important in my eyes, but you don't yet fully understand how pervasively or profoundly this is true." And maybe depression is like a gift from a coconut tree that must first be cracked open; rather than just toting it around, resigning one's self to it as an extra weight. Not with anger or frustration, but with a nonetheless vigorous attitude of action, '''cause we're never gonna survive unless we get a little crazy.''

The specific type of religion doesn't have as much of an effect on you as the way you approach the religion.

The chains of my own mental slavery are nothing more than my own white-knuckle grip on the situation. Love is the only thing that can bring about the cessation of such conflicts because it is, itself the cessation of conflicts—love simply ''is,'' and this ''is-ness,'' is the means by which it accomplishes everything that it does.

Letting my experiences dictate my perception is like trying to make the water calm by punching and kicking at ripples in the water. I am the reason why I suffer, I am the reason I am at peace.


...''imagination triumphs over desire'' - The Power of Your Subconscious Mind

Optimism is a choice, not a result of the environment. Then again, it CAN be a result of the environment. That choice is yours, though.

Discipline is not something forced on you, that you have to obey, ''like it or not.'' Real discipline is an expression/manifestation of what is truly in the heart. Success is nothing beyond the earnest application of your best effort towards that discipline.


''Is 'it' all about diminishing the self, or simply trying to realise the truth? Once you do this, you see that what you tried to diminish before was an illusion. There is no need for the former conflict; it isn't real.''


The quest for knowledge, denying the relevance of faith, is all the while fueled by a faith that faith is invalid.

Things that you never find in real love: feelings of greed, selfishness, fear, jealousy, ruthlessness, desperation, etc., are the voids, like holes in the ground. Acting in accord with emotions that are not in agreement with love will not bring a fulfilling resolution. It's always possible to make the holes bigger, but filling them up can only last so long until they aren't holes anymore.

Revenge only seems right, but hate is like a hole in the ground. If I add another hole, I've increased the problem and subordinated myself to the preservation of what actually wronged me--hate. ''Whosoever diggeth a pit, the same shall fall in.''



***1.) Disregarding ''absolutes'' such as mathematical facts, belief is the cause and creator of perception and reality.

2.) Each person believes a different thing.

3.) Then there is no such thing as a misconception.
a.) ''According to your belief, it is done unto you.''
b.) ''As a man thinks in his heart, so will he be.''
c.) ''the thing I have dreaded has come upon me!''

4.) What we choose to believe is never ''true or false.'' There is a diversified field of goals that one has. Goals traditionally reckoned as ''good'' are closer to accord with the lifeward principle, and the loving nature thereof.

-Seeing has never been believing;
-Faith has never been dependent upon proof
-Faith produces its own proof.
-Belief has nothing to do with an intellectual deduction.
-Beliefs are measured by the merit of the things they elicit.
-Belief/faith is a moral issue, not an intellectual one.

''When you are observing your path, you are far from it. Your path is freedom. Name it, and it vanishes.'' - Mike Bann

''don't pray for an easy life, but pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.'' - Bruce Lee

''you know, I've always wanted to invent something someday. ...but i wouldn't want to like, revolutionise the toilet. Thomas Crapper invented that. i wouldn't want people saying ''maaan, hurry up in there! i gotta take a HUGE helfer like, rite now!''

''be not afraid of growing slowly, only be afraid of standing idle.''

''only in still water can a man see his reflection, but only in turbulence can he become more than he is.'' - me

''you can't walk on water if you don't step out of the boat''

''never test depth of water with both feet''

''as a man thinks in his heart, so he is.'' - Bible

''what you feed thrives, what you starve dies.''

''one person with belief is equal to a force of 99 who only have interest.'' - John Stewart Mill

''Contentment and love can't be chased, they must be ''started.'' Just like 'you don't sing nutrition. You take it in.' ''

''Everyone meditates. People who say they meditate just do it on purpose, for certain goals.''

Karma is not a ''bitch.'' One atom of sodium and one atom of chlorine combine to form salt; not because they're ''vengeful little shits.'' It's just what happens. If you eat some really rotten food, you will get sick. Karma which seems to ''pull no punches'' is essential for a reality in which our free will is 100% free. If there were ''divine bumpers'' all over the ''bowling alley of life,'' how could our choices ever be our own? In order for free will to exist, the choices, as well as the consequences must be completely our own.

People were not made to serve religion; religion was made to serve people. Devotion to religions can be a very dangerous thing because they're built on faith, not solid facts. No religion is correct; it's just not something religions can be. If a religion could be proven, it would be called knowledge, since faith has no room to work in the absence of doubt. Religions are just tools to help us understand the true nature of reality.

I say ''lifeward principle'' a lot, and that's mostly because I don't think any religion can be correct, at all; but they each hit on some important ideas....''principles,'' which are pervasively true. The principles are the important things, but the diverse religions are important, too. I may have nailed down some principles, but to hear the interpretation of those principles from a new angle brings the same understanding in a new light that I needed, and that I already had all the pieces to, but never thought to put them together like that.

There is truth in them, just as there is the divine lifeward principle acting in ALL of us. If I make a mistake, or hurt somebody's feelings, does that mean I'm less of a human than anyone else?

So, if a religion presents ideas that seem totally backward from what I'm used to, does that mean that it is completely useless and devoid of ''the lifeward principle?'' I think the caveats of religions serve an important purpose (probably among many others) that no one religion ought to be praised and exalted above the rest, as though its preservation is more important than the founding doctrines thereof.

A “fool” is still my brother or sister, who simply has been fooled. There is no need, no cause, and no room for condemnation or contempt.

If I'm attached to something, I don't really like the thing, I like the feelings that I choose to associate with that thing. If I don't like someone, it's only my perception of that person that I don't like. Hate is a lie. I cannot condemn/judge/hate someone and understand them at the same time. I always make a choice, either way.