--------------------
You cannot stay on the summit forever. You have to come down again, so why bother in the first place? Just this: what is above knows what is below but what is below does no know what is above. One climbs and one sees; one descends and one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower region by the memory of what one saw higher up. Whence no longer sees, one can at least still know.
---- Mount Analog
(From someone at Kripalu in the '80's -- see more on this below)
----------------------------
The Edge
Come to the Edge;
We might fall.
Come to the Edge;
It's too high.
Come to the Edge;
So he pushed,
And they flew.
This poem, that I believe refers to the mythological Icarus and Dedalus, was a favorite poem of actor Hume Cronyn, first heard on radio around 1992.)
-----------------------------------
Paraphrase from Elder Olson:
Climbing out of a pit is harder than climbing a mountain, and no one ever, ever applauds.
--------------------------------------
A mind, once stretched by a new idea,
never regains it original shape.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
---------------------------------------
Things are more like they are now than they have ever been before! Scott Mattingly
-----------------------------------------------------
W. H. Auden
And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart.
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
(Read the entire poem, Night Mail, here:
And see post on this elsewhere in this blog.
-------------------------------------------------
William of Ockham, also called William Ockham (Ockham also spelled " Occam") (1285-1347/49), a medeival monk Ockham's razor, also spelled "Occam's razor", but also called "law of economy" or "law of parsimony", is a principle stated by William of Ockham, that entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity (non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem).
--------------------------------------
Rene Daumal (Gurdjieff student) in Mount Analog. "You cannot stay on the summit forever. You have to come down again, so why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is above, but what is below does not know what is above. In climbing, always take note of difficulties along the way, for as you go up, you can observe them. Coming down, you can no longer see them, but you'll know they are there if you have observed them well. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up, When one can no longer see, one can at least still know."
--------------------------------------
In 1600, Sir John Harrington wrote these immortal words:
"Treason doth never prosper; what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason."
-----------------------------------------------
Everyone's values are defined by what they will tolerate when it is done to others. William Greider
Read more:
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/william_greider.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Aeschylus: Agamemnon
Wisdom comes through suffering.
Trouble, with its memories of pain,
Drips in our hearts as we try to sleep,
So men against their will
Learn to practice moderation.
Favours come to us from gods.
Variant: He who learns must suffer
And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget
Falls drop by drop upon the heart,
And in our own despite, against our will,
Comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.
Historical Note: This was quoted by Robert F. Kennedy in his speech announcing the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on 4 April 1968. His version:
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart
until, in our own despair, against our will,
comes wisdom through the awful grace of God
---------------------------------------
Maybe from Adam Ringl - -a Viennese analyst:
Happy are they who have repressed,
What may not longer be redressed.
--------------------------------
Four Functions of Arithmetic from Alice in Wonderland's Mock Turtle
Ambition, Distraction, Uglification and Derision
------------------------------------
The bad news is, time flies
The good news is, you're the pilot.
Michael Altshuler (?)
--------------------------------------
Time flies like an Eagle
Fruit flies like a banana.
(Source mercifully unknown)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Muir:
Muir sends a message to the 1908 Governors' Conference on Conservation: "Nothing dollarable is safe, however guarded. Thus the Yosemite Park, the beauty glory of California and the Nation, Nature's own mountain wonderland, has been attacked by spoilers ever since it was established, and this strife I suppose, must go on as part of the eternal battle between right and wrong."
-----------------------------------------
John Wilmot 1647-1680
Earl of Rochester re Death of Charles II
Here lies the Sovereign Lord, the King,
Whose word no man relied on.
Who never said a foolish thing,
Nor ever did a wise one.
---------------------------------------------
"Yoga chitta vritti nirodhah." Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the Mind
(one of many translations I've seen)
----------------------------------------------
People pay for what they do --
And still more,
For what they allow themselves to become.
And they pay for it simply:
By the lives they lead.
Edith Wharton
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-------------------------------------------------
William of Ockham, also called William Ockham (Ockham also spelled " Occam") (1285-1347/49), a medeival monk Ockham's razor, also spelled "Occam's razor", but also called "law of economy" or "law of parsimony", is a principle stated by William of Ockham, that entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity (non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem).
--------------------------------------
Rene Daumal (Gurdjieff student) in Mount Analog. "You cannot stay on the summit forever. You have to come down again, so why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is above, but what is below does not know what is above. In climbing, always take note of difficulties along the way, for as you go up, you can observe them. Coming down, you can no longer see them, but you'll know they are there if you have observed them well. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up, When one can no longer see, one can at least still know."
--------------------------------------
In 1600, Sir John Harrington wrote these immortal words:
"Treason doth never prosper; what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason."
-----------------------------------------------
Everyone's values are defined by what they will tolerate when it is done to others. William Greider
Read more:
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/william_greider.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Aeschylus: Agamemnon
Wisdom comes through suffering.
Trouble, with its memories of pain,
Drips in our hearts as we try to sleep,
So men against their will
Learn to practice moderation.
Favours come to us from gods.
Variant: He who learns must suffer
And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget
Falls drop by drop upon the heart,
And in our own despite, against our will,
Comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.
Historical Note: This was quoted by Robert F. Kennedy in his speech announcing the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on 4 April 1968. His version:
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart
until, in our own despair, against our will,
comes wisdom through the awful grace of God
---------------------------------------
Maybe from Adam Ringl - -a Viennese analyst:
Happy are they who have repressed,
What may not longer be redressed.
--------------------------------
Four Functions of Arithmetic from Alice in Wonderland's Mock Turtle
Ambition, Distraction, Uglification and Derision
------------------------------------
The bad news is, time flies
The good news is, you're the pilot.
Michael Altshuler (?)
--------------------------------------
Time flies like an Eagle
Fruit flies like a banana.
(Source mercifully unknown)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Muir:
Muir sends a message to the 1908 Governors' Conference on Conservation: "Nothing dollarable is safe, however guarded. Thus the Yosemite Park, the beauty glory of California and the Nation, Nature's own mountain wonderland, has been attacked by spoilers ever since it was established, and this strife I suppose, must go on as part of the eternal battle between right and wrong."
-----------------------------------------
John Wilmot 1647-1680
Earl of Rochester re Death of Charles II
Here lies the Sovereign Lord, the King,
Whose word no man relied on.
Who never said a foolish thing,
Nor ever did a wise one.
---------------------------------------------
"Yoga chitta vritti nirodhah." Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the Mind
(one of many translations I've seen)
----------------------------------------------
People pay for what they do --
And still more,
For what they allow themselves to become.
And they pay for it simply:
By the lives they lead.
Edith Wharton
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
