Reading Archive (Wisdom)

Business Lessons from A Quiet Gardener

William Rosenzweig

The people who know me best know that at heart I am just a quiet gardener. My garden has probably taught me the most about how things grow - and thrive in a vibrant and sustainable manner. These lesso...

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56K reads, 18 comments

To Separate and Unify

Mark Nepo

The destruction or healing of the world hinges on which way this thought unfolds. Whether we pull things apart or put things together makes all the difference. Indeed, human history has unfolded with ...

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44K reads, 16 comments

The Humility in True Genius

David R. Hawkins

A universal characteristic of genius is humility; after all, those in whom we recognize genius commonly disclaim it, as they’ve always attributed their insights to some higher influence.  [...

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32K reads, 5 comments

Each Thing's Way

Ray Grigg

Trouble is caused by people who think they are smart enough to improve things. First they try. When there is resistance, they push. Then they push harder until their intentions are lost in strugg...

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28K reads, 6 comments

Sitting Aboard Life's Merry-Go-Round

Karl Renz

Welcome! Welcome to the fair! I can see, you’re already sitting on the merry-go-round! It’s great how you are driving! You have a sleek car, with an accelerator and a brake. But most of al...

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27K reads, 10 comments

Be Cool to the Pizza Dude

Sarah Adams

If I have one operating philosophy about life it is this: “Be cool to the pizza delivery dude; it’s good luck.” Four principles guide the pizza dude philosophy. Principle 1: Cooln...

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27K reads, 11 comments

Touching the Earth

Tracy Cochran

In the great myth of the Buddha’s journey, there came a point when he is completely overwhelmed. As he sits meditating under the Bodhi tree, the devil Mara sends temptations to distract him from...

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25K reads, 7 comments

Three Qualities Of Holiness

Anthony De Mello

True happiness is uncaused. You are happy for no reason at all.  And true happiness cannot be experienced. It is not within the realm of consciousness. So it is with holiness.  Holiness i...

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20K reads, 6 comments

Turning Ourselves Toward Stability And Hospitality

David Mckee

The Benedictine-Camaldolese monk, Bruno Barnhart says it very well:  “We humans prefer a manageable complexity to an unmanageable simplicity.” A complex instability is our typical ...

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20K reads, 4 comments

Seeing Is Not Thinking

Jeanne de Salzmann

The question is not what to do but how to see. Seeing is the most important thing—the act of seeing. I need to realize that it is truly an act, an action that brings something entirely new, a ne...

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19K reads, 7 comments

My Word Of The Year

Nancy Gibbs

My word of the year is listen. It’s one of those words whose meaning is in its music. Listen is a quiet word, that half swallowed L and diffident I and softly hissing S. It defies the clamoro...

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18K reads, 6 comments

True Humility: Selfless Respect for Reality

Costica Bradatan

From the potential unique location – the site of devastation that we might become – we understand that we are no grander than the rest of the world. Indeed, we are less than most thin...

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17K reads, 9 comments

The False Duality Between "Job" And "Service"

Zilong Wang

Around the time when I set off for Asia in July, two of my dearest friends/teachers both went from full-time volunteer work to taking full-time jobs. Their decision to return to the "system"...

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17K reads, 22 comments

Humility Really Cannot be Considered a Virtue

Swami Dayananda Saraswati

Ego and pride are closely related, almost synonymous effects born of the same cause, ignorance of the relationship of the individualized sense of I with the world. (...) Although, graced by free will,...

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15K reads, 9 comments

On Humility

Allen Schmeltz

"Humility is a trait that is somewhat of an enigma. For to be humble you must not know you are humble since if you know you are humble and begin to take pride in your humbleness, then you cease to...

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6K reads