Interlude: An Internet Retreat "Thought of the Day"

When man awakens, he finds that he is part of the one great Reality and he realizes his union with all things.
Paramananda

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.
Charles Darwin

We build too many walls and not enough bridges.
Isaac Newton

The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.
Tom Bodett

A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the constant pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness.
Albert Einstein

Don′t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
Howard Thurman

Most people we perceive as 'antagonists' are merely struggling individuals trapped in their bounded worldview, desperately trying to pursue their own happiness.
Robert Thurman

You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful.
Marie Curie

It's no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.
Jiddu Krishnamurti

The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.
Albert Camus

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

People's dreams are made out of what they do all day. The same way a dog that runs after rabbits will dream of rabbits. It's what you do that makes your soul, not the other way around.
Barbara Kingsolver

Don't wait for the last judgment—it takes place every day.
Albert Camus

The world isn't just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no? Doesn't that make life a story?
Yann Martel, Life of Pi

What is important in life is life, and not the result of life.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.
George Santayana

Love without conversation is impossible.
Mortimer Adler

The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all. This puts one in accord with nature, in her manner of operation.
John Cage

Art at its most significant is a Distant Early Warning System that can always be relied on to tell the old culture what is beginning to happen to it.
Marshall McLuhan

If you don't change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news?
William Somerset Maugham

A single idea whose time has come can change the world.
Steven Beresford

For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin... But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.
Alfred Souza

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time.
John Lubbock

All intellectual improvement arises from leisure.
Samuel Johnson

Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.
James Baldwin

A man who as a physical being is always turned toward the outside, thinking that his happiness lies outside him, finally turns inward and discovers that the source is within him.
Soren Kierkegaard

Evil (ignorance) is like a shadow. It has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it.
Shakti Gawain

What matters is to live in the present, live now, for every moment is now. It is your thoughts and acts of the moment that create your future. The outline of your future path already exists, for you created its pattern by your past.
Sai Baba

Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.
Gilda Radner

An optimist is someone who gets treed by a lion but enjoys the scenery. A pessimist is one who builds dungeons in the air.
Walter Winchell

Sadness is a natural human feeling. I would be worried if someone never felt sad. We are not looking for constant happiness. Rather we are looking for the sense that life is flowing along the way it should be.
Leslie Gray

To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.
Anatole France

Tell everyone what you want to do and someone will want to help you do it.
W. Clement Stone

Like stones rolling down hills, fair ideas reach their objectives despite all obstacles and barriers. It may be possible to speed or hinder them, but impossible to stop them.
Jose Marti

Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away.
Elvis Presley

Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what it loves.
Blaise Pascal

If we could look into each other's hearts and understand the unique challenges that each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance and care.
Marvin Ashton

What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it.
Krishnamurti

There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

“You don′t need to control emotion,” he said. “Emotions are natural, like passing weather. Sometimes it′s fear, sometimes sorrow or anger. Emotions are not the problem. The key is to transform the energy of emotion into constructive action.”
Dan Millman, Way of the Peaceful Warrior

Past Thoughts of the Day from Interlude: An Internet Retreat

When man awakens, he finds that he is part of the one great Reality and he realizes his union with all things.

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.

We build too many walls and not enough bridges.

The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.

A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the constant pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness.

Don′t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

Most people we perceive as 'antagonists' are merely struggling individuals trapped in their bounded worldview, desperately trying to pursue their own happiness.

You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful.

It's no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.

The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.

People's dreams are made out of what they do all day. The same way a dog that runs after rabbits will dream of rabbits. It's what you do that makes your soul, not the other way around.

Don't wait for the last judgment—it takes place every day.

The world isn't just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no? Doesn't that make life a story?

What is important in life is life, and not the result of life.

To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.

Love without conversation is impossible.

The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all. This puts one in accord with nature, in her manner of operation.

Art at its most significant is a Distant Early Warning System that can always be relied on to tell the old culture what is beginning to happen to it.

If you don't change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news?

A single idea whose time has come can change the world.

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time.

All intellectual improvement arises from leisure.

Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.

A man who as a physical being is always turned toward the outside, thinking that his happiness lies outside him, finally turns inward and discovers that the source is within him.

What matters is to live in the present, live now, for every moment is now. It is your thoughts and acts of the moment that create your future. The outline of your future path already exists, for you created its pattern by your past.

Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.

An optimist is someone who gets treed by a lion but enjoys the scenery. A pessimist is one who builds dungeons in the air.

Sadness is a natural human feeling. I would be worried if someone never felt sad. We are not looking for constant happiness. Rather we are looking for the sense that life is flowing along the way it should be.

To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.

Tell everyone what you want to do and someone will want to help you do it.

Like stones rolling down hills, fair ideas reach their objectives despite all obstacles and barriers. It may be possible to speed or hinder them, but impossible to stop them.

Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away.

Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what it loves.

If we could look into each other's hearts and understand the unique challenges that each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance and care.

What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it.

There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right.

“You don′t need to control emotion,” he said. “Emotions are natural, like passing weather. Sometimes it′s fear, sometimes sorrow or anger. Emotions are not the problem. The key is to transform the energy of emotion into constructive action.”