I love me some quotes. The best ones in my opinion describe a lifetime of knowledge and experience in no more than a single paragraph and then leaves you reevaluating your thoughts and beliefs about your life and the world around you.
1. “Pain is a relatively objective, physical phenomenon; suffering is our psychological resistance to what happens. Events may create physical pain, but they do not in themselves create suffering. Resistance creates suffering. Stress happens when your mind resists what is...The only problem in your life is your mind's resistance to life as it unfolds.” - Dan Millman
I first read this quote after reading this guys book (The Peaceful Warrior). This quote sums up a lot of what this Dan said in his book. One particular scene in the book stands out. The teacher, the student, and a female friend were having a picnic and it started to rain. The teacher and female friend embraced the rain and laughed about it. The student got angry because he saw the rain as ruining the picnic. Then, he got even angrier because the other two weren't angry... worse (to him), they were enjoying the moment. The student questioned as to why they could be so happy by the ruined picnic and the master responded with:
"Neither your disappoint nor your anger was caused by the rain. The rain was a perfectly lawful display of nature. Your 'upset' at the ruined picnic and your 'happiness' when the sun reappeared were the product of your thoughts. They had nothing to do with the actual events. Haven't you been 'unhappy' at celebrations for example? It is obvious then that your mind, not other people or your surroundings, is the source of your moods."
This passage and quote stuck with me. Many times i've seen myself cursing Mondays simply because they are Mondays. How dumb is that? But honestly, we as human beings will look for everyone and everything to blame for our current state of mind other then ourselves. No answers will be learned that way.
2. "There are stories of people coming to the Buddha and saying, "I am leaving your teaching because you have not told me whether there is a life after death or whether there is another world." The Buddha says, "Did I ever say I would give you the answer to these things?" His follower responds, "No Lord you didn't." The Buddha says, "Why do you think that I never said that I would give you the answers to these things? Because these are not the things you need to know. The thing that you need to know is how to deal with suffering. Because at this very moment what made you ask that question was suffering." - Buddha
The last sentence of this quote slapped me in the face. The Buddha understands that these questions stem from fear, attachment, and desire which lead to suffering. Worrying about these questions will not add a single moment to your life as Matthew said in his Gospel. Worrying about it won't do you any good. Infact, your worrying is the problem. Find out why and fix it.
3. "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his soul?" - Gospels of Matthew & Mark
Simple-stupid is how i see this quote. If you have to step on everyone and everything to get what you want, then you will have lost everything and gained nothing.
4. "Nothing can resist the human will that will stake even its existence on its stated purpose." - Benjamin Disraeli
This is a quote i came across recently. The wording of it is just perfect. I interpret it as... your goals are only as real as your willpower to achieve them. And if that willpower is as strong as your will to live then almost nothing can stop you.
5. “When we're incomplete, we're always searching for somebody to complete us. When, after a few years or a few months of a relationship, we find that we're still unfulfilled, we blame our partners and take up with somebody more promising. This can go on and on--series polygamy--until we admit that while a partner can add sweet dimensions to our lives, we, each of us, are responsible for our own fulfillment. Nobody else can provide it for us, and to believe otherwise is to delude ourselves dangerously and to program for eventual failure every relationship we enter.” - Tom Robbins
This quote really ties in with the first one. We all want happiness and fulfillment but we never seem to give it to ourselves. Yes i said, "give it to ourselves". We all seem conditioned to believe that things and people will give it to us. This is a problem i haven't cracked for myself yet, but i know that it is a major problem. I mean where do you start with this one? Drugs, cars, sex, toys, clothes, parties, money, fame, relationships, and on, and on. Everyone has a vision of how 'badass' there life will be with all of these things... how much more happy/fulfilled they will be, and time after time we are proven wrong. But we're all soooo stubborn. We have been conditioned so much from birth to believe all these things will give us what we want, and when it fails to be true time and again we 'think' that we did it wrong somehow, or bought the wrong thing.
The Bible clearly states that Jesus relied on none of these things. The Buddha relied on none of these things. Yet, most of us would think it to be the end of the world if we didn't have a car, really nice clothes, lots of money, and many other things. We're deluded. Worse, most of us don't even question these obvious delusions.
The quote itself deals with what might be the most severe one. I say that because it seems like it always has the most at risk. You start mixing in kids, family, property, money, strong feelings, and you get some of the ugliest situations ever. In this day and age more then half of all marriages end in divorce. So flip a coin... . Many of us believe that 'special someone' is going to be the solution to all of our problems. That everything that pains us will be just whisked away. Happily ever after right? The problem is your working things the wrong way... just like quote two. The truth is your relationship is most likely just covering everything up. Eventually, that band-aid will fall off, old wounds will fester, and you will suffer.
Enough of that. How about some Bruce Lee inspiration...
