The Genius of Tagore
The Bengali poet Jibanananda Das declared in foretelling the future of Bengali literature after Rabindranath Tagore: As the English poets who, age after age, revolve about the centrality of Shakespeare, constantly extended themselves toward creation of a perfect circle, our poets, too, revolving around Rabindranath, will do the same.
What Matters Most in Your Life
Jack Kornfield reminds in A Path With Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life, In the end, just three things matter: How well we have lived. How well we have loved. How well we have learned to let go.
True Emptiness
Jack Kornfield writes in A Path With Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life: True emptiness is not empty, but contains all things. The mysterious and pregnant void creates and reflects all possibilities. From it arises our individuality, which can be discovered and developed, although never possessed or fixed.
Curiosity and Exploration
Cicero referred to curiosity as a “passion for learning.” Writing about the outstanding brilliance and peculiarity of his subject, historian extraordinaire Walter Isaacson discusses curiosity in his biography of Leonardo da Vinci, In addition to his instinct for discerning patterns across disciplines, Leonardo honed two other traits that aided his scientific pursuits: an omnivorous curiosity, […]
Anything Can Happen Anytime in the Stock Markets
From Warren Buffett’s 50th annual shareholder letter for Berkshire Hathaway: Investors, of course, can, by their own behavior, make stock ownership highly risky. And many do. Active trading, attempts to “time” market movements, inadequate diversification, the payment of high and unnecessary fees to managers and advisors, and the use of borrowed money can destroy the […]
Humility is a Fundamental Relationship of Truth with Ourselves
Wayne Teasdale writes in The Mystic Hours: There is no possibility of a mature spiritual life without humility. Nor is it possible to be a successful human being without it. Humility is also, most fundamentally, a relationship of truth with ourselves. Humility begins with self-honesty about our actions, attitudes, and speech. It compels us to […]
True Work: Karma Yoga
Swami Vivekananda writes in Karma Yoga: The Yoga of Action, Do you not see how everybody works? Nobody can be altogether at rest; ninety-nine per cent of mankind work like slaves, and the result is misery; it is all selfish work. Work through freedom! Work through love! The word “love” is very difficult to understand; […]
No Going Back to Those Simpler Days
Harvey Samuel Firestone, founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, wrote in his biography, Men and Rubber: The Story of Business: Sometimes it seems that it might be better to go back to those simpler days, that one might get more out of a less complex life. But it cannot be done. One changes […]
The Absence of Grasping and Fixation
Chogyam Trungpa in The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness, a part of The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma: The absence of grasping and fixation is like flying in an airplane. When we rise above the clouds, we begin to realize that upstairs there is a blue sky all the time. We realize that […]
Saving Time is Very Simple
From Benjamin Hoff’s The Tao of Pooh, The main problem with this great obsession for saving time is very simple: you can’t save time, you can only spend it. But you can spend it wisely or foolishly. The Bisy Backson has practically no time at all, because he’s too busy wasting it by trying to […]