To thine own self be true

“Happiness can only exist in acceptance.”–George Orwell

“Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.”–Chuang-Tzu

“Whatever is–is best.”–Ella Wheeler Wilcox, “Whatever Is–Is Best”

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Despite our basic beliefs and values, there is much we cannot, finally, control. In acceptance, there is far less anxiety, needless pain, and suffering. We ultimately need to accept our own limits and limitations as well as those of others. We also need to accept whatever we are given in good faith by others.

(One of the top Canadian riskers of all-time: Terry Fox; his actual tee-shirt above)

“The fullness of life is in the hazards of life.”–Edith Hamilton, The Great Age of Greek Literature

“Everything is sweetened by risk.”–Alexander Smith, “The Fear of Dying”

“Only those who dare, truly live.”–Ruth P. Freedman

“If you risk nothing, then you risk everything.”–Geena Davis

“It is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we live at all.”–William James, The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy, 1897

“What you risk reveals what you value.”–Jeanette Winterson, “Written on the Body”

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In my experience, nothing great or fantastic–including success, self-actualization, love, and transcendence–happens without risk.

“No one can trust for us.”–Sue Halpern, “Migrations of Solitude”

“Trust one who has proved it.”–Virgil

“To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.”–George MacDonald, The Marquis of Lossie, 1877

“Those who trust us, educate us.”–George Eliot, Daniel Deronda

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The exchange and sharing of the best gifts of self–the very best of the best–cannot occur without trust. Trust is basic or core to any successful relationship.

(the great Johnny Clegg letting go by the ocean)

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. When I let go of what I have, I receive what I need to be.”–Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

“The greatest step towards a life of simplicity is to learn to let go.”–S. Maraboli, Life, The Truth, and Being Free

“The day I knew peace was the day I let everything go.”–JoyBell C., “Life Realized”

“Whatever comes let it come, whatever stays let it stay, what goes let go.”–Papaji

Letting go, especially of ego and body, are especially difficult for most people–to open oneself up to others completely and freely. And to accept whatever gifts others and the world may have for us.

“It might be reasonably maintained that the true object of all human life is play.”–G.K. Chesteron, All Things Considered, 1908

“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.”–Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

“The supreme happiness of life consists in the conviction that one is loved–loved for one’s own sake–let us say or rather loved in spite of one’s self.”–Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

“if you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased.”–Katharine Hepburn

“My advice to you is not to inquire why or wither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it’s on your plate.”–Thornton Wilder, The Skin of Our Teeth

“Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed.”–Storm Jameson

“Happiness lies in the fulfillment of the spirit through the body.”–Cyril Connolly, The Unquiet Grave, 1945

“A multitude of small delights constitutes happiness.”–Charles Baudelaire

“The most exquisite pleasure is giving pleasure to others.”–Jean de La Bruyere

in the sharing, exhange, and bestowing of the mutual gifts of self, that both giver and receiver found the best of freedom and love. The right prevailing conditions being presence, openness of heart, trust, risk, acceptance, and letting go. Everything else that was beautiful, true, and maximally free followed.”

“Man never rises to great truths without enthusiasm.”–Marquis de Vauvenargues, Reflections and Maxims

“The difference between one man and another is not mere ability…it is energy.”–Thomas Arnold

“I prefer the folly of enthusiasm to the wisdom of indifference.”–Anatole France, The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard

“All vigor is contagious.”–Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Progress of Culture”, Letters

“Enthusiasm is life.”–Paul Scofield

“Enthusiasm is the most important thing in life.”–Tennessee Williams

“There is nothing greater than enthusiasm.”–Henry Moore

“Exuberance is beauty.”–William Blake, “Proverbs of Hell”

“All we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”–Charles Kingsley

“Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things.”–Denis Diderot, Philosophical Thoughts

“To burn always with this hard gem-like flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life.”–Walter Pater, The Renaissance

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Unquestionably, it is the enthusiasm and energy of self and others that produces the most memorable, powerful experiences and connections.

(Rivers are metaphors for change and time passing)

“Change is the law of life.”–John F. Kennedy

“Nothing is permanent but change.”–Heraclitus

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Whatever basic notions and understandings of self, life, and others begins with the fundamental, ongoing consciousness of change. This is the most basic backdrop to the processes, contexts, and choices of our lives, whatever they might be. There is always a need for individuals to respond to changes, and an implicit sense of limits and limitations that are embedded in changes.

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Changes

(a song lyric by the great Phil Ochs; top song ever written about change)

Sit by my side, come as close as the air,
Share in a mem’ry of grey,
And wander in my words,
And dream about the pictures that I play of changes.

Green leaves of summer turn red in the fall,
To brown and to yellow they fade;
And then they have to die, trapped within the
Circle time parade of changes.

Scenes of my young years were warm in my mind,
Visions of shadows that shine;
Till one day I returned and they were the
Victims of the vines of changes.

The world’s spinning madly, it drifts in the dark
Swings through a hollow of haze;
A race around the stars, a journey through the
Universe ablaze with changes.

Moments of magic will glow in the night.
All fears of the forest are gone;
But when the morning breaks, they’re swept away by
Golden drops of dawn of changes.

Passions will part to a strange melody
As fires will sometimes burn cold;
Like petals in the wind, we’re puppets to the
Silver strings of souls of changes.

Your tears will be trembling, now we’re somewhere else
One last cup of wine we will pour;
And I’ll kiss you one more time and leave you on the
Rolling river shores of changes.

(from his excellent collected songbook The War Is Over, Barricade Music, 1967)

Phil Ochs–The most overlooked genius of the 1960s folk-music era. The top personal consciousness of his time along with Bob Dylan and Paul Simon. I cannot say enough good things about Phil’s lyrics, songs, albums, and politics. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys a good lyric, or who’s interested in honest social protest and witty social satire.

(One of The Great Books on how to live life)

“The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.”–George Eliot, Daniel Deronda

“You don’t get to choose how you’re going to die, or when. But you can only decide how you’re going to live, now.”–Joan Baez

“We must make the choices that enable us to fulfill the deepest capacities of our real selves.”–Thomas Merton

“Conditions are never just right. People who delay action until all factors are favorable do nothing.”–William Feather

“He who postpones the hour of living is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses.”–Horace

“Man does not simply exist, but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment.”–Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

“The last, if not the greatest, of the human freedoms: to choose their own attitude in any given circumstances.” –Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

“When you have to make a choice and don’t make it, that is in itself a choice.”–William James

“Nothing is so exhausting as indecision, and nothing is so futile.”–Bertrand Russell

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Nothing happens without myriad daily and larger personal decisions and choices. As the Existentialists pointed out, we are defined by and governed by our personal choices.

“Intuition…appears to be the extrasensory perception of reality.”–Dr. Alexis Carrel

“Common sense is instinct. Enough of it is genius.”–George Bernard Shaw

“The conclusions of passion are the only reliable ones.”–Soren Kierkegaard

“Trust your hunches. They’re usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level.”–Dr. Joyce Brothers

“A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something.”–Frank Capra

“Every time I’ve done something that doesn’t feel right, it’s ended up not being right.”–Mario Cuomo, Aug. 2010

“All our reasoning ends in surrender to feeling.”–Blaise Pascal, O World, Thou Chosest Not

“It is wisdom to believe the heart.”–George Santayana

“It is the heart always that sees, before the head can see.”–Thomas Carlyle

“There are no rules. Just follow your heart.”–Robin Williams

“Great thoughts always come from the heart.’–Marquis de Vauvenargues

“The heart has its reasons which reason cannot know.”–Blaise Pascal

“What you intuitively desire, that is possible for you.”–D.H. Lawrence

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Reason and the intellect are helpful in organizing and structuring one’s life and experience, but there are limits and limitations to a life guided mostly/merely by these two aspects. Thus, many of the choices I have ultimately made in my own life have been guided by the feelings of the heart, intuition, instinct, and hunches. In that, a certain truth and faithfulness to my sensibility and who I am, largely.

I have long taken my basic ‘cues’ from the following classic poem:

“since feeling is first/who pays any attention/to the syntax of things/will never wholly kiss you”–E.E. Cummings, “VII, Four”, Is 5 (1926)