self-determination

Set your soul to greatness. You will be great.

Love is in your heart. If you search deeply you will find it.

The ongoing struggle to achieve a profound harmony between the deepest and most conflicting impulses of human beings instates the murkiness of my soul. The battle against the amorphousness of sin and depravity, and seeking unity and clarity, trace their origins to the primeval fire that launched humanity. This ancient warfare for control of the soul allows me to create myself. Because of the primordial inconsistences between ecstasy and reason, I am the repentant artist of my being. I am a beardless, sensuous, and androgynous sculptor, the redeemer and the transformer of my naked self.

Inside us there is something that has no name, that something is what we are.

Enjoy the times of plentiful and endure the times of scarcity.

Oh, Lizzy! do anything rather than marry without affection.

Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.

Moments later, I was climbing nervously into the back of the car. The driver wore the archetypal expression of an antagonist. No words were exchanged beyond the brief lines uttered to this nameless stranger, whose inclinations remained unclear. The car sped along empty roads and traversed dingy alleyways. Music blared from its speakers. I did not remember exhaling throughout the entire journey.

You yearn to stay in this in-between place, where the beauty of the times you have freshly bade farewell to is still alive and vivid in your mind _ almost real _ and the reality of your new circumstances has yet to fully sink in. You listen to the familiar melodies that had accompanied you on your journey, and allow the music to evoke landscapes and scenes in your mind. The songs caress your sub-consciousness and fill your being with an airy joy. You are both here and elsewhere. Or perhaps you are everywhere and nowhere.

Change is disturbing when it is done to us, exhilarating when it is done by us.

The ego might resist change until a person__ level of discomfort becomes unbearable. A person can employ logic to overcome the ego__ defense mechanism and intentionally integrate needed revisions in a person__ obsolete or ineffective beliefs and behavior patterns. The subtle sense that something is amiss in a person__ life can lead to a gradual or quick alteration in a person__ conscious thoughts and outlook on life. Resisting change can prolong unhappiness whereas implementing change can establish internal harmony and instate joy in a person__ life.

It is a different world today from what it was then. It will be a different world tomorrow from what it is today.

We are the product of our past. We start each day where we left off the day before. Changing the way we dress, where we work and live, or even changing a name does not alter our basic constitution. Transformation of the self requires a radical alteration in the way that we perceive the world and derive meaning.

Change is essential for survival. All life forms must adapt to their fluctuating circumstances. All form of life result from the process of variation, mutation, competition, and inheritance. The universe is in a constant state of chaos. We each have chaos implanted into our bones. Nature wires all of us for change.

Enlightenment _ whether defined as spiritual awakening, liberation, or other form of illumination and attentiveness _ requires inner transformation brokered by study of our limitations and application of a welcoming spirit of conscious appreciation. Self-knowledge commences by looking for the sacred light of awareness essential to spawn profound change in a person__ character.

There are times in life that we ascribe qualities or traits to other people that are inaccurate or fail to recognize other aspects of their being because we are emotionally invested in that person fulfilling a specific role in our life. When we claim that the other person changed it is not so much that they altered their core composition, but we now must admit to ourselves that our original perception of them was imprecise.

Let him who would move the world first move himself.

I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow, than a man swear he loves me.