Some stuff I needed to hear today,

The Great Way is easy,
yet people prefer the side paths.
Be aware when things are out of balance.
Stay centered within the Tao.

When rich speculators prosper
while farmers lose their land;
When government officials spend money
on weapons instead of cures;

When the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible
while the poor have nowhere to turn ~
All this is robbery and chaos.
It is not in keeping with the Tao.

~ Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching (as interpreted by Stephen Mitchell)

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The soul that with strong and constant calm
takes sorrow and takes joy indifferently,
lives in the life undying!

That which is
can never cease to be;
That which is not
will not exist.
To see this truth of both
is theirs who part essence from accident,
substance from shadow.

Indistructible, learn thou! the life is,
spreading life through all;
It cannot anywhere, by any means,
be anywise diminished, stayed, or changed.

Never the spirit was born;
the spirit shall cease to be never;
Never was time it was not;
End and Beginning are dreams!

Birthless and deathless and changeless
remaineth the spirit forever;
Death hath not touched it at all,
dead though the house of it seems!

~  Bhagavad Gita (Sir Edwin Arnold, in Wisdom of the Orient, p.127)

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Go confidently in the direction of your dreams, 
Live the life you have imagined. 

~ Henry David Thoreau

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Awakening is dynamic, 
Constantly evolving in accordance with life’s realities ~ 
Unfolding from ego-self to compassionate self, 
From enclosed self to open self, 
From foolish self to enlightened self. 

~ Taitetsu Unno

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Nowadays the world is becoming increasingly materialistic, 
and mankind is reaching toward the very zenith of external progress, 
driven by an insatiable desire for power and vast possessions. 
Yet by this vain striving for perfection in a world where everything is relative, 
they wander even further away from inward peace and happiness of the mind. 
This we can all bear witness to, living as we do plagued by unremitting anxiety … 
It becomes more and more imperative that the life of the spirit be avowed 
as the only firm basis upon which to establish happiness and peace. 

~ Dalai Lama

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