Saturday, December 02, 2006

Pearls of Wisdom


Here are a few pearls of wisdom I found at Digital Karma.
"Remember this; that very little is needed to make a happy life."
~Marcus Antonius

"The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another."
~Sir James Matthew Barrie (1860—1937)

"God made my body and if it is dirty, then the imperfection lies with the Manufacturer, not the product."
~Lenny Bruce

"Self-examination is usually a half-hearted, spontaneous thing we do when we're either scared or bored."
~Jonathan Carroll

"Be not afraid of growing slowly. Be afraid only of standing still."
~Chinese proverb

"If I were reincarnated, I'd want to come back a buzzard. Nothing hates him or envies him or wants him or needs him. He is never bothered or in danger, and he can eat anything."
~William Faulkner

"When you are deluded and full of doubt, even a thousand books of scripture are not enough. When you have realized understanding, even one word is too much."
~Fen-Yang

"I don't like obscurity because I consider obscurity to be a form of despotism. One must expose oneself to pronouncing errors. One must expose oneself to possibly saying things which are probably going to be difficult to express, and which obviously are going to make one fumble for words."
~Michel Foucault

"If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us."
~Hermann Hesse

"Great trees are envied by the wind."
~Japanese proverb

"The world needs anger. The world often continues to allow evil because it isn't angry enough."
~Bede Jarrett

"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves."
~Carl Jung, psychologist (1875—1961)

3 comments:

Mike said...

Hi Bill,

That Bede Jarrett one ("The world needs anger. The world often continues to allow evil because it isn't angry enough.") presents an interesting perspective...

william harryman said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
william harryman said...

Hi Mike,

It does -- one that is often looked down upon.

In Spiral Dynamics, the Red meme (egocentric, rebellious, and angry) is the source of the power and energy we need to right wrongs and fight evil. Most often the Red meme is purely egocentric when it is the center of gravity for a person's value system, but when we have transcended that level, we still have access to that power. If we can use it responsibly it can be the power we draw upon to fuel a positive rebellion.

In general, I oppose violence and see anger as a destructive emotion. But there are times, unfortunately, when it is necessary to be angry to correct a wrong. This goes against Buddhist beliefs, but I suspect that is what Jarrett was getting at with that statement.

Still, it makes me uneasy, but I think that has to with me not yet having achieved an integral level of development where I am comfortable using the power of the lower memes.

Peace,
Bill