“Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone.” – Robert Allen
I picked up Kierkegaard in a second-hand shop for $1, and I am utterly amazed. I have never read him before and I am practically speechless by the beauty of this book.
It is Either/Or.
By Soren Kierkegaard:
“What portends? What will the future bring? I do not know, I have no presentiment. When a spider hurls itself down from some fixed point, consistently with its nature, it always sees before it only an empty space wherein it can find no foothold however much it sprawls. And so it is with me: always before an empty space; what drives me forward is a consistency which lies behind me. This life is topsy-turvy and terrible, not to be endured.”
“My view of life is utterly meaningless. I suppose an evil spirit has set a pair of spectacles upon my nose, of which one lens is a tremendously powerful magnifying glass, the other an equally powerful reducing glass.”
And this:
“Tested Advice for Authors: Set down your reflections carelessly, and let them be printed; in correcting the proof sheets a number of good ideas will gradually suggest themselves. Therefore, take courage, all you who have not yet dared to publish anything, even misprints are not to be despised, and an author who becomes witty by the aid of misprints, must be regarded as having become witty in a perfectly lawful manner.”
-Soren Kierkegaard, 1843
“Find what you love, do that and nothing else.”
- Max
I’ve been watching StarWars on DVD. Wow. It contains great lessons and great quotes.
From Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) to Anakin SkyWalker after he kills the whole tribe of monsters that killed his mother. Anakin is angry, a trait that Jedi Knights are supposed to have overcome, and she says to him:
“Anger is for human beings.”
From Yoda:
“Ready are you? What know you of ready? For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained. A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph. Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh. A Jedi craves not these things. You are reckless.”
And also this:
Great quote from the Gospel of Thomas, verse 2:
Jesus said:
“Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All.
I love it! Here is the answer to all of you who continue to say: “But it’s not working, everything is falling apart, why am I not happy? I’m still troubled.”
Here is the answer! Just keep going a little further. One step beyond troubled is astonished, and then there is certainty. This reminds me that “troubled” is part of the journey. Rejoice! And be exceedingly glad!
To read the entire Gospel of Thomas – be astonished! – click here:
It’s a great read. EJ sent it to me as a birthday gift.
Here’s another great quote from Thomas:
His disciples said to him, “When will the kingdom come?”
<Jesus said,> “It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be a matter of saying ‘here it is’ or ‘there it is.’ Rather, the kingdom of the father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it.”
Ha! I am over here laughing. This is too good. The Kingdom will not come by waiting for it. THERE IS NO PROCESS! It is here and now, spread out upon the earth and men do not see it.
I’m thrilled by this. Wow. Thank you again EJ.
The Lord will stay with you as long as you stay with him! Whenever you seek him, you will find him. But if you abandon him, he will abandon you.” – Chronicles 15, Verse 12.
exclamation point!
The Lord will stay with you as long as you stay with him!
This bible quote is identical to my two favorite sections in A Course in Miracles that were a turning point for me:
ACIM Chapter 16:
Step gently aside and let healing be done for you. Keep but one thought in mind and do not lose sight of it, however tempted you may be to judge any situation, and to determine your response by judging it. Focus your mind only on this:
I am not alone, and I would not intrude the past upon my Guest.
I have invited Him, and He is here.
I need do nothing except not to interfere.
“He will not desert you, but be sure you do not desert Him. You are not sure that He will do His part, because you have never yet done yours completely.”
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow.
And this from Chapter 11:
“You may complain that this course is not sufficiently specific for you to understand and use. Yet perhaps you have not done what it specifically advocates. This is not a course in the play of ideas, but in their practical application.”
And what does Jesus specifically advocate?
That LOVE be your one and only response to everything.
That you drop all your grievances (all of them!)
That you be happy.
“Only appreciation is an appropriate response to a brother.”
This is not a course in the play of ideas, but in their practical application.
”You are not what happens, but the space in which it happens.” – Eckhart Tolle
This 3 minute video is great:
