The philosopher Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king. Said Aristippus, “If you would learn to be subservient to the king, you would not have to live on lentils.” Said Diogenes, “Learn to live on lentils, and you will not have to cultivate the king.”
A rich industrialist from the North was horrified to find the Southern fisherman lying lazily beside his boat, smoking a pipe. “Why aren’t you out fishing?” said the industrialist. “Because I have caught enough fish for the day,” said the fisherman. “Why don’t you catch some more?” “What would I do with it?” “You could earn more money,” was the reply. “With that, you could have a motor fixed to your boat and go into…
It is a sobering thought that the finest act of love you can perform is not an act of service but an act of contemplation, of seeing. When you serve people, you help, support, comfort, and alleviate pain. When you see them in their inner beauty and goodness, you transform and create. Think of some of the people you like and who are drawn to you. Now attempt to look at each of them as…
Love, like sensitivity, either is in all its fullness or it simply is not. You either have it whole or you have it not. So, it is only when attachments disappear that one enters the boundless realm of spiritual freedom called “love.” You can hardly be said to love what you do not even notice. And, if you notice only a few beings to the exclusion of others, that is not love at all. For…
What is love? God’s kingdom is love. It is a sensitivity to every portion of reality within you and without along with a wholehearted response to that reality. It means to be sensitive to life, to things, to persons; it means to feel for everything and everyone to the exclusion of nothing and no one. Sometimes you will embrace that reality, sometimes you will attack it, sometimes you will ignore it, and other times, you…
Away to Approach Thanksgiving Day Set out in search of the source of happiness. Look closely at the life of a happy person who is poor, then talk with him, attempting to discover what makes this person happy. Think of a joyful person in poor health, in physical pain, and talk to them, searching for what it is that makes them joyful. Do the same with a happy person who has lost his reputation. Then…
