To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly. – Henri Bergson

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Zen Stories: the Staff and Shout of the Venerable Ones

What is Zen? 不立文学，教外别传，直指人心，见性成佛。 Not reliant on written word A special transmission separate from the scriptures Direct pointing at one’s mind, seeing one’s nature, becoming the Buddha Fish forget that they live in lakes and rivers; people forget that they live in the magic of the Dao. – Confucius If one engages in self-cultivation with [...]

We need sometimes to escape into open solitudes into aimlessness, into the moral holiday of running some pure hazard in order to sharpen the edge of life, to taste hardship, and to be compelled to work desperately for a moment at no matter what. ― George Santayana

I distrust all dead and mechanical formulas for expressing anything connected with human affairs and human personalities. Putting human affairs in exact formulas shows in itself a lack of the sense of humor and therefore a lack of wisdom. – 林語堂 Lin Yutang

We must let go of the life that we have planned so as to accept the one that is waiting for us. – Joseph Campbell

The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens. – Rainer Maria Rilke

Practicing Peace in Times of War by Pema Chodron

War and peace start in the hearts of individuals. Strangely enough…we seek peace and happiness by going to war. As long as we justify our own hard-heartedness and our own self-righteousness, joy and peace will always elude us. The Courage to Wait If we want suffering to lessen, the first step is learning that keeping [...]

The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times by Pema Chodron

In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few. – Suzuki Roshi (on keeping an open mind) Live your life as an experiment. – Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. – Antoine de [...]

Anatomy of the Spirit by Carline Myss, PH.D.

Every judgment we make is noted. Every attitude we hold is a source of positive or negative power for which we are accountable. Emotional and spiritual stresses or dis-eases are the root causes of all physical illness. Mystics’ perceptions about reality and power are different from those of ordinary people. The world “behind their eyes” [...]