Ram Dass

The resistance to the unpleasant situation is the root of suffering.

When you go out into the woods, and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. And you look at the tree and you allow it. You see why it is the way it is. You sort of understand that it didn__ get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don__ get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree.The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying __ou are too this, or I__ too this._ That judgment mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are.

We're fascinated by the words--but where we meet is in the silence behind them.