To be
truly happy in this
world is a revolutionary act
because true happiness depends
upon a revolution in
ourselves.
To be
truly happy in this
world is a revolutionary act
because true happiness depends
upon a revolution in
ourselves.
One learns to understand
that there is a world in one’s self,
that in one’s mind there is a source of
happiness and unhappiness, the source of
health and illness, the source of light and darkness,
and that it can be awakened, either mechanically or at will,
if only one knew how to do it. Then one does not blame his
ill fortune nor complain of his fellow man. He becomes
more tolerant, more joyful, and more loving toward
his neighbor, because he knows the cause of
every thought and action, and he sees
it all as the effect of a
certain cause.
…Therefore, the work
of the mystic is to be able to read
the language of the mind. As the clerk
in the telegraph office reads letters from the
ticks, so the Sufi gets behind every word spoken to
him and discovers what has prompted the word to come out.
He therefore reads the lines which are behind man’s thought,
speech, and action. He also understands that every kind of
longing and craving in life, good or bad, has its source
in deep impression. By knowing this root of the
disease he is easily able to find out its cure.
No impression is such that it
cannot be erased.
Favor
and disgrace are
equally problematic. Hope
and fear are phantoms
of the body.
What
does it mean that
“favor and disgrace are
equally problematic”? Favor
lifts you up; disgrace knocks you down.
Either one depends on the opinions
of others and causes you to
depart from your
center.
What
does it mean that
“hope and fear are phantoms
of the body”? When you regard your
body as your self, hope and fear have real
power over you. If you abandon the
notion of body as self, hope
and fear cannot
touch you.
Know
the universe as
your self, and you can live
absolutely anywhere in comfort.
Love the world as your self,
and you’ll be able
to care for it
properly.
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Abandonment of self is freedom from desire.
Freedom from desire is freedom from distress.
No this, no that — just exquisite emptiness.
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Without thought,
without mind, without self,
there is only freedom. The direct,
reliable, and perfect means of
achieving this is to become
wholly absorbed in
the breath.
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Wei wu Wei Ching as part of a
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