I carry around a book that I use for jotting down snippets of notes and ideas that occur to me throughout the day. In an effort to organize them I decided to digitize some of the shorter, more random thoughts. These were taken from a weeks worth of entries. And here they are:
Embrace suffering: it is the impetus of growth
To suffer is to endure, the genesis of strength.
Suffering indicates disequilibrium, internal or external; therein lies the requisite for adaptation
Gauge a person’s wisdom by the humility of their ignorance
The humility of ignorance best determines wisdom
The greatest priority of perception is to perceive our ignorance
Life is but a waking dream,
Neither more nor less than what it seems
Most people would prefer self-preservation to flourishing.
Thoughts are but dreams till their effects be tried.
You cannot be risk averse and creative.
I am a fan of multiple personalities.
I tend to favor those with multiple personalities; consistency/predictability is death and variegation is life.
The only worthwhile ignorance lies in the acknowledgement of our limited ability to know.
Creativity requires risk.
Risk requires ignorance (of past or future or present)
Impulse requires risk.
Impulse acts in the moment/ present
Self-discovery is our/man’s greatest vocation
I am an explorer; self-discovery is my vocation.
The most abysmal unknowns lie within us.
To speak in tongues is to speak wisdom
Misery: the consequence of remaining unknown to yourself
To lose yourself is a creative; to remain lost is a mindless; to find yourself is wisdom.
One must step into oblivion–suspended in the abysmal depths of darkness– if one wishes to find oneself: there we find no light or footing, but learn to create it within ourselves.
One must step into oblivion-suspended in the abysmal depths of darkness- if one wishes to find oneself: finding no light or footing we are forced to create it within ourselves.
The source of wisdom lies in self-knowledge/ discovery
Wisdom and misery stand opposed to one another: where there is self-knowledge there is tranquility, where it is absent, chaos.
Philosophy is a fever, a sickness-unto-death.
The reigning mark of love is selfless devotion.
If the prevailing characteristic of life is evolution, where does that leave logical systems?
A system which is prone to preserve rather to adapt is a system destined to fail.
Pursue darkness with fiery passion and you will set the world on fire.
Seek out darkness with the flame of reason; plunging into the dark with only the senses will bruise the will to wisdom.
Plunging into darkness with only the senses yields painful half-truths
Fear lives in the shadows we’re oft too timid to explore.
Behind every object of knowledge lies a shadow of ignorance: reason allows us to burn more brightly, shrinking the shadow; wisdom allows us to venture behind the object, eradicating the unknown altogether.
Wisdom is perspective
Recognizing that knowledge is a product of perspective, we should seek to acquire perspective rather than knowledge: here we find the instrument of divine wisdom.
Self-loathing is the product of irresponsible living.
Self-loathing is the deficit of responsibility
We begin with reality: We wake so that we may sleep; we live so that we may die.
We end with illusion: We sleep so that we may wake; we die so that we may live.
We wake to find the birth of a new day/life
We should feign sleep as we feign death: the unknown were possibility blooms
Most sleep so that they may dream; I dream so that I may wake.
Knowledge without action is an engine without fuel: passion ignites the power within.
Nostalgia is the scent of old feelings still pregnant with fragrance.
Remain humble and the length of your shadow will grow in proportion to the depth of your mystery
The ability to ask questions and remain disinterested in conclusions is the mark of genius
What you think about when you don’t have to determines the person you are when you don’t need to be.
What a mean does not think about is more telling than what he thinks
The beginning of self-knowledge is stillness and solitude;
only then can we concentrate our light within.
Men would rather bask in anticipation than harness the energy
Anticipation is more rewarding than achievement.
Anticipation is more appealing than achievement; thus we talk of lofty endeavors more often than we endeavor after lofty achievements.
Anticipation is the feeling of unrealized achievement
Self-deception is self-illusion; ignorance being this manifestation.
There are no obstacles, only illusions.
Obstacles germinate and flower in the mind just as the lily of the valley’s pleasant fragrance paralyzes progress. Hack deep.
Does doubt require justification?
If doubt is not: Do positives yield negatives? Truths, falsehoods?
Ignorance is not an obstacle, but an illusion.
The most adaptable survives: diverge from the herd: seek new prey and unknown pastures.
It’s what you think when you don’t have to that determines who you are when you don’t need to be.
To know yourself is to assert yourself, not without, but within
Knowledge allows you to do; wisdom allows you to be.
To love sickness, in all it’s fever and ills, is the beginning of wisdom. (For suffering yields growth)
We understand what we are saying only when we learn what we are not saying.
If that is a light you see, go no further: turn your eye inward if you-so seek its source.
Is that a light you see? Do not run after the worldly illuminations but retreat inward: there begins self-illumination
Police: the pestilent hand of the ruling politik
Most people in the dark prefer to stay there, for it is easier to sleep.
More often than not, the believer is not a thinker and the thinker is not a believer. It is difficult to grow in knowledge when you believe you have it figured out.
Music never started or ended a war; it only made people feel worse or better about it.
Passive stimulus: metaphoric opiates
Music is the opiate of the masses.
There were five great and respected roman emperors all came from out of the people, not the nobility. Think on this as you consider current politics and power.
Change is guaranteed. Whether that change is for better or worse is up to you.
Permanency is a matter of mind
Most people prefer to believe what they prefer to be true.
Those who learn last die first.
People don’t act with their head; they act with their hearts. If you want to move people, speak to their heart, not their mind.
The question is: can you possess without being possessed?
Love is narcissistic.
We love those whom appeal to us.
Empathy is the ability to gain a subjective perspective
Trying is a pathetic excuse for being.
Those who can’t seem to find a way always manage to find an excuse.
People resent perfection; they identify with imperfection. Communicate your imperfections with subtly and people will relate and love you.
You are both an observer and a participant. How you choose to participate changes what you will observe.
Mystery makes life magical. Don’t destroy the mystery.
How you spend your time defines who you are. Examine: your thoughts for they bear your actions; your actions, for they bear your habits.
Everything is absurd. Make sure your absurdity is at least original.
Our civilization barely breathes anymore; we are slowly strangling ourselves, and we love it.
William Dare 