“There is no guarantee that tomorrow at this time we will be here. But still we are working for that purely on the basis of hope. So, we need to make the best use of our time. I believe that the proper utilization of time is this: if you can, serve other people, other sentient beings. If not, at least refrain from harming them. I think that is the whole basis of my philosophy.” ~ Dalai Lama, The Art of Happiness
“Once [our] basic needs are met (food, clothing, shelter, etc), the message is clear: we don’t need more money, we don’t need greater success or fame, we don’t need the perfect body or even the perfect mate – right now, at this very moment, we have a mind, which is all the basic equipment we need to achieve complete happiness.” ~ Dalai Lama, The Art of Happiness
“Today there are societies that are very developed materially, yet among them there are many people who are not very happy. Just underneath the beautiful surface of affluence there is a kind of mental unrest, leading to frustration, unnecessary quarrels, reliance on drugs or alcohol, and in the worst case, suicide. So there is no guarantee that wealth alone can give you the joy or fulfillment that you are seeking.” ~ Dalai Lama, The Art of Happiness
“Where are we trying to get to with our incessant activity? To the stars? But we’re already as among the stars as we will ever be. Better quality of life? The quality we seek is lost in the seeking. Truly we have it backward with our continual striving for what we don’t have and avoidance of what we do. What we crave most deeply we have always had.” ~ Robert Kull, Solitude
“I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.” – Diane Ackerman, via Blog of Jonathan Fields
“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” ~ George Bernard Shaw, via Blog of Jonathan Fields
“People say that what we are all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive.” ~ Joseph Campbell, via Solitude
“Not only is everything I experience part of who I am, Spirit-filled, and not to be rejected, but there is no need to go searching for something special anywhere else. Everything life has to offer is always right here wherever I am right now. There is no place more alive and sacred than this place. No time more alive and sacred than this time.” ~ Robert Kull, Solitude
“To be fully human we need to cultivate a relationship not only with other people but also with our deeper selves and with Spirit. Solitude can be a powerful context and catalyst for this process.” ~ Robert Kull, Solitude
The Art of Living and Dying [Book]
Book Overview: Why are we afraid of death? Should we tell someone they are dying? Is reincarnation true? With depth, clarity, compassion, and even humor, Osho answers the questions we all have about this most sacred of mysteries and offers practical guidance for meditation and support. He reveals not only that our fear of death is based on a misunderstanding, but that dying is an opportunity for inner growth. When life is lived consciously and totally, death is not a catastrophe but a joyous climax.
Post(s) Inspired by this Book:
The fear of death is the fear of time.
Picture Quote Text:
“The fear of death is fear of time. And the fear of time is, deeply down, fear of unlived moments, of an unlived life. So what to do? Live more, and live more intensely. Live dangerously. It is your life. Don’t sacrifice it for any sort of foolishness that has been taught to you. It is your life: Live it! Don’t sacrifice it for words, theories, countries or politics. Don’t sacrifice it for anybody. Live it! Don’t think that it is courageous to die. The only courage is to live life totally; there is no other courage.” ~ Osho, The Art of Living and Dying
“The fear is not of death, the fear is of time, and if you look deeply into it then you find that the fear is of an unlived life – you have not been able to live. If you live, then there is no fear. If life comes to a fulfillment there is no fear. If you have enjoyed, attained the peaks that life can give – if your life has been an orgasmic experience, a deep poetry vibrating within you, a song, a festival, a ceremony, and you lived each moment of it to its totality – then there is no fear of time. Then the fear disappears.” ~ Osho, The Art of Living and Dying
“If you have not lived rightly, you will not be able to die rightly. Death is the final offering. It is the highest; it is the crowning or the peak. Death is the essence and the flowering of life. How can your death be right if you have spent your life wrongly? How can your death be full of meaning if your life has been a waste? How can a tree whose roots are rotten bear sweet fruit? It is impossible.” ~ Osho, The Art of Living and Dying
