A good quote should become like a mantra that you can say to yourself in your head to give you power in times of weakness and wisdom in times of confusion. Every time you repeat them they dig deeper and deeper into my subconscious and the words make an increasingly stronger psychic impression.
Remember when reading a quote to reflect on it so it can sink in fully. Repeat it, say it to yourself a few different ways, think about each word, hold it in your mind, analyze it, feel it. Bring up examples from your life that would apply to the quote so the words can become more meaningful to you. A quote is not worth reading if you don't fully digest it. Otherwise it doesn't become a part of your being.
The first time we looked at quotes, we examined the wise words of the men of the east, from Buddhists to Hindus. Now let's look at what the wise men of our own western traditions have to say:
"One can be instructed in society, one is inspired only in solitude"
- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
It seems that we are a society that's always trying to escape any kind of aloneness, with our densely populated cities and technology that keeps us together 24/7. We fear being alone. I don't understand this at all: I love being alone!
The reason why is because I know there is a difference between isolation and solitude. Isolation is longing to have a shared experience with someone but being unable to.When you want to escape isolation but can't you feel alienated from other people and estranged from the world. It's a terrible feeling, and I'm lucky because I know that if I ever wanted to not be alone, I easily could.
But solitude is much different. We get to declutter our minds of work and worries and we get to unplug from the world, so that we can lay down and relax into a more peaceful and wide-open mind. This gives solitude an element of purity, like an untampered forest. For some people it can be life-changing to experience their own minds in this way because they are so used to having a speedy, tight, and stressful mind. Sadly, in an increasingly populated and busy world, some people may never get to experience solitude. Thus, solitude is precious.
Goethe's quote has always rung true for me. Dome of the best things in my life have there origin in my solitude: My best writing ideas (like everything on this blog!), renewed determination to live life to the fullest, inspiration to change my life for the better, moments of meditation, moments of contemplation, and moments of subtle joy.
But there is a hidden lesson in Goethe's quote: As he says, you need to be instructed in society - you obviously need to learn from the world to live in the world. But you are inspired by solitude - you need to be alone with your own spirit to learn from it. Instruction is the world imposing it's ideas on you, and Inspiration is you imposing ideas onto the world. Obviously if we wish to live less robot-like lives, we need to give some time to be alone with ourselves.
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man" - Heraclitus
When I returned to Gampo Abbey about a week or so ago to celebrate the Tibetan New Year, I was looking forward to seeing all the places that were familiar to me from the summer. Gampo Abbey and the surrounding area looked strikingly different in the winter time. I stood on the "same" cliffs that faced towards the "same" Atlantic Ocean, walked through the "same" trails, entered the "same" buildings, only to find that it was like experiencing them all for the very first time.
Then I realized that the reason why I felt that way was because it really was the first time. There really is no continuity at all between this moment and the next. If you walk into your room you won't be paying much attention to it because you'll think it's the same ol' room, but if you really observed it, you would realize it's not. Our mind has imposed the illusion of "sameness" onto something unique, making solid a world that is always fluid.
Because of this, every moment is worth giving your full attention to because it is the first and only time you will ever be in that particular moment. Every time you do something is always the first time you do it.
Most importantly, it isn't just the outer landscape that is always in motion, but our inner landscapes as well. In my life I have been many different people, and I have no doubt that I shall become many more. Sometimes the difference between one person and another that I have been in my life is so large it feels surreal. It's as though the memories I have in my head from when I was six years old or ten years old are the memories of another person that have been transplanted into my head.
The reason why is because there is no "sameness" in our selves, ever, in this moment or another, on any physical or mental level. When we mistake emotions, thoughts, and sensations as a "solid" self we became a slave to that solidity, instead of just being able to let them go.
All of this made me think of the above quote from Heraclitus. The river from that quote is the perfect metaphor for the ineffable flux that is life.
"Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.”
- Joseph Campbell
Your bliss is something that makes you come alive like nothing else does. Its something that you have a special affinity for. Its something that makes you feel satisfied and fulfilled just for having done it.
Joseph Campbell is the first person who ever uttered the phrase, "Follow your bliss". Since he spoke those words they have resonated powerfully with the spiritual and secular public. Why does it strike such a chord with us? Because people are bliss-seekers. We spend every day of our entire lives wanting to avoid suffering, pain, and anguish and desiring to feel pleasure, happiness, and joy.
Why is following your bliss seen as a rare and audacious thing to do? Because of the "Walls" Joseph mentions in his quote. There's the wall of doubt, the wall of fear, the wall of apathy, the wall of obstacles, the wall of limitations, the wall of weaknesses, and the wall of mistakes. There are all sorts of walls and we are all familiar with them.
I know that Joseph Campbell's legendary phrase is true from personal experience. I love to meditate and when I first visited Gampo Abbey I felt a soul-calling to go there. I intuitively felt that taking a month-long retreat would boost my spiritual and personal journey. But at the time I was a 16 year old with no job and no money. How could I get the 1,500$ to go there for a month-long retreat? The wall of doubt and the wall of financial limitation seemed to shut off any possibility of going to Gampo Abbey.
But by selling video games I knew I would never play again, by working very hard to win contests and get prize money from them, and through the generous donations of friends and family - and one particular 400$ donation from a generous man I've never met in my life that came at the last minute and saved the day, I was able to go!
Another example would be my involvement in theater. Through the process of self-reflection I discovered when I was about 15 that I would probably love acting. I knew there was something of a theater scene here in Sydney, but I was greatly discouraged by the fact that I had zero acting experience whatsoever. My self-defeating attitude lead me to believe that you had to have been lucky enough to be involved in theater since you were very young if you wanted to be involved at all (an idea that is ridiculous to me now!). Moreover, even if I did have the confidence to be able to pursue, I didn't know anything about how to get involved. Lack of confidence and lack of opportunities were the walls preventing me from following my bliss.
But when I found out there was a Drama 10 class at Sydney Academy, I had to get involved. I rocked it! That class gave me my highest mark that year and it encouraged me to get involved in the theater scene. I got involved in the after school drama club, co-wrote a play that I starred in, and for the entire week of performance I felt like I was walking on air. It was fulfilling down to my very soul.
Nowadays I am involved in theater all of the time. I just happened to know the right people at this time who gave me the right information, so I was able to pursue my love for the theater! Were before there were only walls, now there were doors!
My life-lesson from this was that when we really decide that we are going to seek after bliss with all of our might, we have the strength to tear down those walls. "Doors" begin to appear in the form of auspicious circumstances that mysteriously come together to assist you such as meeting the right people at the right time at the right place. Sometimes The Universe gives you subtle signs, little hints, that encourage you and guide you on your journey. Best of all, when we follow our bliss we inspire others to do the same - so following our own bliss makes the whole world a blissful place.
All of this increases your inspiration, motivation and strength so that you follow the path to your bliss all the more, and you feel more and more blissful as you do. It's as if when you decide to follow your bliss you are put on an upward track that only gets progressively better and better!
If there is a voice in your head telling you that this quote is too good to be true - that voice is a wall, specifically the wall of doubt. I promise that it's true! Go out there and do what has always made you come alive!!
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