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fd1d050
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Why should we place Christ at the top and summit of the human race? Was he kinder, more forgiving, more self-sacrificing than ? Was he wiser, did he meet death with more perfect calmness, than ? Was he more patient, more charitable, than ? Was he a greater philosopher, a deeper thinker, than ? In what respect was he the superior of ? Was he gentler than , more universal than ? Were his ideas of human rights and duties superior to those of ? Did he express grander truths than ? Was his mind subtler than 's? Was his brain equal to 's or 's? Was he grander in death - a sublimer martyr than ? Was he in intelligence, in the force and beauty of expression, in breadth and scope of thought, in wealth of illustration, in aptness of comparison, in knowledge of the human brain and heart, of all passions, hopes and fears, the equal of , the greatest of the human race?
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shakespeare
kindness
wisdom
bruno
epicurus
gautama-buddha
giordano-bruno
laozi
zeno
zeno-of-citium
zoroaster
cicero
baruch-spinoza
epictetus
spinoza
buddha
buddhism
socrates
stoicism
patience
isaac-newton
johannes-kepler
kepler
newton
william-shakespeare
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Robert G. Ingersoll |
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95d1ab5
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Stories are masks of God. That's a story, too, of course. I made it up, in collaborations with Joseph Campbell and Scheherazade, Jesus and the Buddha and the Brother's Grimm. Stories show us how to bear the unbearable, approach the unapproachable, conceive the inconceiveable. Stories provide meaning, texture, layers and layers of truth. Stories can also trivialize. Offered indelicately, taken too literally, stories become reductionist tools, rendering things neat and therefore false. Even as we must revere and cherish the masks we variously create, Campbell reminds us, we must not mistake the masks of God for God. So it seemes to me that one of the most vital things we can teach our children is how to be storytellers. How to tell stories that are rigorously, insistently, beautifully true. And how to believe them.
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jesus
god
truth
buddha
joseph-campbell
masks-of-god
scheherazade
storytellers
the-brothers-grimm
children
stories
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Melanie Tem |
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ce39eb8
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"Which one the right way?" "Huh? You're asking me ? How should I know?" "Mortals call you Buddha." "That is only because they are afflicted with language and ignorance."
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buddha
ignorance
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Roger Zelazny |
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e98c763
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"Fat Charlie went back to his hotel room, the colour of underwater, where his lime sat, like a small green Buddha, on the countertop. "You're no help," he told the lime. This was unfair. It was only a lime; there was nothing special about it at all. It was doing the best it could."
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lime
fat-charlie
gaiman
buddha
green
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Neil Gaiman |
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2db8aa3
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Meravigliosa fu in realta la mia vita, pensava, meravigliose vie ha seguito. Ragazzo, non ho avuto a che fare se non con dei e sacrifici. Giovane, non ho avuto a che fare se non con ascesi, meditazione e contemplazione, sempre in cerca di Brahma, sempre intento a venerare l'eterno nello Atman. Ma quando fui giovanotto mi riunii ai penitenti, vissi nella foresta, soffersi il caldo e il gelo, appresi a sopportare la fame, appresi a far morire il mio corpo. Meravigliosa mi giunse allora la rivelazione attraverso la dottrina del grande Buddha, e sentii la conoscenza dell'unita del mondo circolare in me come il mio stesso sangue. Ma anche da Buddha e dalla grande conoscenza mi dovetti staccare. Me n'andai, e appresi da Kamala la gioia d'amore, appresi da Kamaswami il commercio, accumulai denaro, dissipai denaro, appresi ad amare il mio stomaco, a lusingare i miei sensi. Molti anni dovetti impiegare per perdere lo spirito, disapprendere il pensiero, dimenticare l'unita. Non e forse come se lentamente e per grandi traviamenti io mi fossi rifatto, d'uomo, bambino, di saggio che ero, un uomo puerile? Eppure e stata buona questa via, e l'usignolo non e ancor morto nel mio petto. Ma che via fu questa! Son dovuto passare attraverso tanta sciocchezza, tanta bruttura, tanto errore, tanto disgusto e delusione e dolore, solo per ridiventare bambino e poter ricominciare da capo. Ma e stato giusto, il mio cuore lo approva, gli occhi miei ne ridono. Ho dovuto provare la disperazione, ho dovuto abbassarmi fino al piu stolto di tutti i pensieri, al pensiero del suicidio, per poter rivivere la grazia, per riapprendere l'Om, per poter di nuovo dormire tranquillo e risvegliarmi sereno. Ho dovuto essere un pazzo, per sentire di nuovo l'Atman. Ho dovuto peccare per poter rivivere. Dove puo ancora condurmi il mio cammino? Stolto e questo cammino, va strisciando obliquamente, forse va in cerchio. Ma vada come vuole, io son contento di seguirlo.
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cammino
crescere
frase
ispirazione
orientale
nobel
italiano
buddha
vita
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Hermann Hesse |