Five powerful quotes from the most extraordinary thinkers.
Zhuangzi, one of the most prominent philosophers of eastern culture, said something like,
“Having a fishing net is good until you catch the fish, then you forget about it. Having a rabbit trap is only good until you catch your prey and then forget about it. The same thing happens with words; once you absorb the meaning of the words, you keep the idea and forget the words”.
This parable is robust and accurate.
Words are vehicles by which we convey information to each other. But it is information; once its essence is extracted, we can internalize it and apply it to our daily lives without needing to remember the explanations, the words.
And this has happened to me recently with five phrases of 5 different spiritual masters. I have extracted their essence, and I no longer need their words.
That is why I want to share them with you. So that you extract the essence and it stays within you, even if you eventually forget the phrases that led you to these powerful life lessons.
Let’s begin.
1. On The spiritual path
“Spirituality eventually is all about dealing with yourself instead of hiding from yourself.”— Michael A. Singer. (Interview)
Mickey speaks from experience. He knows that, in reality, every spiritual path leads to the same destination; in the end, there is only one truth.
That is why he founded a place of recollection with symbols of multiple religions.
In the end, all paths try to lead you to yourself. And for that, you have to 1) know yourself, 2) realize yourself, 3) learn to get along with yourself, and 4) accept yourself as you are.
Lesson: Hiding yourself won’t keep you from finding yourself. It will only make the journey more painful and difficult. The spiritual world is a journey into ourselves.
2. On Friendship
“A good friend is one with whom you sit and share your problems, and when you walk away from them, you would feel very light. You thought the problem was so big, but it’s not big anymore. And a bad friend is one you come to him with a problem, and then when you walk away, you say, “I didn’t realize it is much bigger than what I thought.”— Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Lewis Howes interview.)
Friendship is like life. Good intentions are not enough; you must know how to do things right. And not everyone is a good friend, even if they think they are.
The worst thing in the world is not evil but ignorance because the evil one looks for a benefit; therefore, he needs you. However, the ignorant can destroy you thinking he was doing you good.
Lesson: Gurudev wants to tell us something similar. A good friend is not the one who is with you always and supports you and bla bla bla because they may be encouraging your victimhood. A good friend makes you see life from a more positive perspective to find solutions and not make your problems bigger.
3. On the importance of Forgiveness
“To forgive is to offer no resistance to life, to allow life to live through you.”— Eckhart Tolle (Book: The Power of Now.)
Life is like a torrent of water capable of wearing away any stone or obstacle it finds on its way to the sea.
And you have two options, flow in the direction of the current, or try to oppose it.
If you choose to oppose it, you will end up wearing yourself out or breaking. Conversely, if you flow, you will avoid unnecessary pain.
Lesson: Eckhart Tolle recommends that we forgive others, not only for others but for ourselves. So that we travel lighter on the path of life.
4. About the change
“We cannot change anything unless we first accept it. Condemnation does not liberate but oppresses. And then I become the oppressor of the person I condemn and not his friend and fellow sufferer.”— Alan Watts (Book: Out of the Trap.)
When we criticize something, we give it power because we give it too much attention. And as we already know, what we focus on grows.
Furthermore, by condemning, we oppress instead of liberating. And this is disturbing because we condemn not only those we dislike but also ourselves.
Sometimes we are our own biggest critics and even haters.
And as Alan says, we oppress ourselves and resist change by condemning ourselves. And that only causes us resistance and pain.
Lesson: listen to Alan Watts and stop being so critical of yourself. That perfection you are looking for will not set you free; on the contrary, you will oppress yourself a little more each time instead of freeing yourself. To change, you need to accept yourself, not condemn yourself.
5. On the perception of the passage of time
“Happiness and sadness influence the passage of external time. The greater the sadness, the slower the hands of the clock go. When you are very happy, the clock’s hands turn so fast that you don’t see them moving.”— Osho (Book: The Search for Peace)
This phrase of Osho that seems such obvious hides a not-so-obvious truth.
While it is true that when things go badly for us, time is endless, and when things go well for us, it seems to last a breath. It is also true that both good and bad things have a specific duration.
And although the perception of that time is different, the important thing is that it is not permanent.
Lesson: enjoy the good moments because they will not last forever, and rejoice in the bad moments, thinking that even if they seem eternal, they will not last forever.
A virtual hug
AG