No effort is meaningless

On this path, no effort is ever lost, nor can any harm come.

Even a little progress on this path is complete freedom from fear

Bhagavad Gita 2.40

Commentary by Gandhi: Even a little effort at selfless service saves one from the fear of being meaningless or useless.

Past and future

Be alert. Are some of the thoughts that go through your mind the internalized voice of your father or mother, saying perhaps something like, “You are not good enough. You will never amount to anything,” or some other judgment or mental position? If there is awareness within you, you will be able to recognize that voice in your head for what it is: an old thought, conditioned by the past. If there is awareness within you, you no longer need to believe in every thought you think. It’s an old thought, no more. Awareness means Presence, and only Presence can dissolve the unconscious past in you.

Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth

the answer is never the answer

The answer is never the answer. What’s really interesting is the mystery. If you seek the mystery instead of the answer, you’ll always be seeking. I’ve never seen anyone really find the answer — they think they have, so they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer. 

Ken Kesey

essentially clueless

We tend to think life should be the way we want it to be, the way we planned. But often, things don’t turn out that way.

In fact, they rarely do. And there’s wisdom in not expecting life to turn out the way we think or feel it ought to.

There’s wisdom in understanding that we are essentially clueless

Björn Natthiko Lindeblad, I May Be Wrong: And Other Wisdoms From Life as a Forest Monk

Sunday Quote: Not getting hooked

Fudōshin (不動心) is a Japanese word, translated as “the immovable mind” or “unshakable heart.” It refers to an inner stability that remains steady amid pressure, fear, praise, or provocation.

The mind allows emotions to move through without appointing them as decision-makers.

Do not let your mind be altered by circumstances

Linji (Rinzai) Yixuan d. 866

from here to here

See that there is nothing to get. It is already present.

All ideas about progress serve the mind only. 

What progress is required to go from here to here?

Wu Hsin, Chinese sage who lived some time between 403 and 221 BCE.