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Post by Adona Mara on Feb 7, 2007 13:49:59 GMT -5
Originally posted by Icarus
"The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them.
"But why should you keep your head over your shoulder? Why drag about this corpse of your memory, lest you contradict somewhat you have stated in this or that public place? Suppose you should contradict yourself; what then? It seems to be a rule of wisdom never to rely on your memory alone, scarcely even in acts of pure memory, but to bring the past for judgement into the thousand-eyed present, and live ever in a new day."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson from "Self -Reliance"
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Post by Adona Mara on Feb 7, 2007 13:50:46 GMT -5
Originally posted by Hecate
I like Emerson
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Post by Adona Mara on Feb 7, 2007 13:51:47 GMT -5
I love Emerson. He seems to fit right in here with the Jedi/Sith Paths. He had a remarkable understanding of personal responsibility, as well as a truly perceptive view on the nature of the Universe. Here's another section of something that he had to say on mindfulness and acceptance of the self:
"Man is timid and apologetic; he is no longer upright; he dares not say 'I think,' 'I am,' but quotes some saint or sage. He is ashamed before the blade of grass or the blowing rose. These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God today. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence. Before a leaf-bud has burst, its whole life acts; in the full blown flower there is no more; in the leafless root there is no less. Its nature is satisfied and it satisfies nature in all moments alike. But man postpones or remembers; he does not live in the present, but with reverted eye laments the past, or heedless of the riches that surround him, stands on tiptoe to foresee the future. He cannot be happy and strong until he too lives with nature in the present, above time."
This guy was good..........
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Post by Adona Mara on Feb 7, 2007 13:52:44 GMT -5
Originally posted by Tom
That is a great way of putting it.
Tom W
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