December Journal Excerpts

Perhaps everything is exactly as it should be, and the fact that it doesn’t seem so is due to our limited perception.

Out of all activities, reading perhaps best epitomizes the phrase “double-edged sword.”

Scientists tell us what matter does. Artists and athletes show us what we can do with matter.

Why are you so interested in figuring out how you got messed up? Why you have the neuroses that you do? Who cares why you are the way you are? Wouldn’t you rather know how you can become the way you want to be?

The fact that you’re not there yet doesn’t mean you won’t get there eventually. This simple truth can be quite easy to forget, and is also well worth remembering.

So often, scientists have said a feat was impossible, and been wrong. So often, doctors have said a treatment was safe, and been wrong.

It’s a lot more satisfying to tell people about accomplishments than it is to tell them about your plans.

I love it when people have the willingness to say “I don’t know.”

If the the Buddha really did reach enlightenment, he did so without reading a single page of Buddhist literature. And therefore, so can you.

I’ve never been a huge fan of the new age assertion that our beliefs create our realties. But it is abundantly clear that the beliefs we hold will inevitably have a strong influence on the trajectory of our lives.

Instead of wondering, maybe you should just do it and see how it feels.

It doesn’t matter how many mystical spiritual experiences you’ve read about, until you’ve had one for yourself, you will have some doubt of their validity.

How often have you had your mind made up about actions you wanted to take in the future, but ended up changing it when the future arrived?

If you find doing nothing unbearable, it’s probably a sign that doing nothing would do you a lot of good.