“A man of understanding, a man who understands himself and others, always feels compassion. Even if somebody is an enemy you have compassion toward him because a man of understanding can understand the viewpoint of the other also. He knows why the other feels as he feels, he knows why the other is angry, because he knows his own self, and in knowing that, he has known all others.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (page 206)
“The desire to rule over others, the will to power, is one of the greatest crimes that man has committed.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (page 177)
“You have to be again innocent, ignorant, not knowing anything, so that the questions can start arising again. Again the inquiry becomes alive, and with the inquiry becoming alive you cannot vegetate. Then life becomes an exploration, an adventure.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (page 79)
“How does humility manifest itself in leadership and in life? A humble person is more concerned about what is right than about being right, about acting on good ideas than having the ideas, about embracing new truth than defending outdated position, about building the team than exalting self, about recognizing contribution than being recognized for making it.” ~ Stephen M. R. Covey, The Speed of Trust
“The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation. For me, I am driven by two main philosophies, know more today about the world than I knew yesterday. And lessen the suffering of others. You’d be surprised how far that gets you.” ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson
If –
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!
~ Rudyard Kipling
The 10 Universal Laws of the Warrior Code by Dawn Callen
1. Pay Attention. Stay in the present. It’s the only place anything real is happening.
2. Take Responsibility. This is your life, take it back. Either you get to own it or you get to blame someone or something else for it. Choose.
3. No Kvetching (to complain persistently). No whining, no sniveling – it takes you out of the present and lets you abdicate responsibility.
4. Don’t Take Any Abuse. It’s very bad for ones self esteem to take any abuse. Stand up to your tyrants, both internal and external. The cost is too great not to.
5. Do It Anyway. Hard choices temper our strength and our integrity; they make the difference between a life of excellence and a life of mediocrity.
6. Don’t Quit. Look at what stops you, at where you give the effort up. That is the edge between becoming a victim or a warrior.
7. Keep Your Agreements. A warrior is only as good as his or her word. The way we build self-trust and trust in others is by making and keeping agreements.
8. Keep Your Sense of Humor. Otherwise what’s the point? Humor helps us to stretch beyond our own limits and ourselves.
9. Love One Another. Otherwise where’s the meaning? It’s the way we remember we’re not alone in the universe.
10. Honor Your Connection To The Source. There is a force in the universe, greater than ourselves that creates us, provides for us, cares for us, guides us, and loves us. It speaks to us from within. Trust it.
“Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet. To make all your friends feel that there is something in them. To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. To think only of the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best. To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile. To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.” ~ Christian D. Larson
The Paradoxical Commandments
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.
~ Dr. Kent M. Keith