Advice then, that applies to now

Read no newspapers.

Try to find a few friends who think as you do;

Read the wonderful writers of earlier times – Kant, Goethe, Lessing – and the classics of other lands;

Enjoy the natural beauties of your surroundings.

Make friends with a few animals.

Then you will become a cheerful man once more, and nothing will be able to trouble you

Bear in mind that those who are finer and nobler are always alone – and necessarily so – and that because of this they can enjoy the purity of their own atmosphere.

Albert Einstein, letter of 5 April 1933 to a troubled, unemployed musician living in Munich who was fearful of the rise of fascism around him.

What Are You Still Holding On To?

The monkey is reaching
For the moon in the water.
Until death overtakes him
He’ll never give up.


If he’d let go the branch and
Disappear in the deep pool,
The whole world would shine
With dazzling pureness.

Hakuin 1686–1769

the security of insecurity

Although she is referring to learning Rolfing and how we must stop seeking a fixed technique while working with a body that is continually changing, the quote can be applied to life in general

If I can get you to a place where

you recognize the security of insecurity,

you will have made the first step forward.

Dr. Ida P. Rolf, American biochemist , Ida Rolf Talks About Rolfing and Physical Reality

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Moments

You may say, “I must do something this afternoon,” but actually there is no “this afternoon.”

We do things one after the other.

That is all.

Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, Breathing

a sense of safety

This is why mindfulness of the Body is the foundation of all

From the body’s viewpoint, safety and danger are neither situational nor based on cognitive feelings.

Rather, they are physical, visceral sensations. The body either has a sense of safety or it doesn’t.

If it doesn’t, it will do almost anything to establish or recover that sense of safety.


Resmaa Manakem, My Grandmother’s Hands

Already clear

Beauty is often overlooked precisely because it is is present in the ordinary. It is not about adding knowledge, but about seeing what already is.

Because it is so clear,
it is hard to see.

Had he known that that the candlelight is fire,
The rice would long since have been cooked

Mumon (Wumen Huikai) 1183–1260, Chinese Chan master

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