I am only responsible for my own heart, you offered yours up for the smashing my darling. Only a fool would give out such a vital organ.
— Anais Nin
(Source: dirtyprettything)
Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
— Rumi
Environmental Activists, Anger & Meditation
Is working with environmental activists different from working with mainstream institutions and corporations?
From activists of all kinds—environmentalists as well as lawyers—and even some of the journalists we’ve worked with, we hear the same questions: If I give up my anger, what will motivate me to work for change? If I practice “acceptance,” how will the good work get done? The answer is that there are deeper sources to draw from. But people don’t really get that until they experience it. They get confused about the idea of acceptance, as if acceptance is giving support to an injustice or being resigned. But acceptance is just being there. So that is always confusing.
Anger burns you out. And among social activists, burnout is rampant. When people learn meditation practices for the first time, this idea of accepting things as they are is very confusing. But it’s simply that: that they are. Not accepting circumstances as they are isn’t going to change them, and in fact, not accepting them keeps you from seeing things as-they-are. And that prevents you from being able to do the most effective action to change them.
Posted May 26, 2011 at 3:52pm
The moment you think only of yourself, the focus of your whole reality narrows, and because of this narrow focus, uncomfortable things can appear huge and bring you fear and discomfort and a sense of feeling overwhelmed by misery. The moment you think of others with a sense of caring, however, your view widens. Within that wider perspective, your own problems appear to be of little significance, and this makes a big difference.
— Dalai Lama
Posted April 17, 2011 at 9:39am
My foes will become nothing.
My friends will become nothing.
I too will become nothing.
Likewise all will become nothing.
Just like a dream experience,
Whatever things I enjoy
Will become a memory.
Whatever has passed will not be seen again.
— Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra:
Posted April 17, 2011 at 9:38am
Neutrality aids the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
— Elie Wiesel
Posted April 12, 2011 at 10:08pm
The consumerist society is a kind of soft police state. We think we have a choice, but everything is compulsory. We have to keep buying or we fail as citizens. The danger is that consumerism will need something close to fascism in order to keep growing.
— Thom Yorke (via maxistentialist)
Eric Clapton performs “When Somebody Thinks Your Wonderful” by Fats Waller on Later with Jools Holland.
