“You can’t always get what you want. But if you try, you might just find you get what you need.”
– The Rolling Stones.
Life’s Complexity
“Life is complex.
Each one of us must make his own path through life.
There are no self-help manuals, no formulas, no easy answers.
The right road for one is the wrong road for another.
The journey of life is not paved in blacktop [bitumen]; it is not brightly lit, and it has no road signs.
It is a rocky path through the wilderness.”
M. Scott Peck.
The Blessing of Tears
“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears for they are the rain upon the blinding dust of earth overlying our hard hearts.”
– Charles Dickens (in Great Expectations).
We Give Thanks for Our Friends
“We give thanks for our friends.
Our dear friends.
We anger each other.
We share this sad earth, this tender life, this precious time.
Such richness. Such wildness.
Together we are blown about.
Together we are dragged along.
All this delight.
All this suffering.
All this forgiving life.
We hold it together.
Amen. ”
– Michael Leunig. Australian writer & cartoonist.
A Full Life
“A full life is a life full of pain.
But the only alternative is not to live fully, or not to live at all.”
M. Scott Peck, in The Road Less Travelled.
The Meaning of Life: This Moment
“When you realise that you live in, that indeed you are this moment, now, and no other, you must relax and taste to the full, whether it be pleasure or pain. At once it becomes obvious why this universe exists … The whole problem of justifying nature, of trying to make life mean something in terms of its future, disappears utterly. Obviously it all exists for this moment. It is a dance, and when you are dancing you are not intent on getting somewhere. You go round and round, but not under the illusion that you are pursuing something, or fleeing from the jaws of hell. The meaning and purpose of dancing is the dance.”
– Alan Watts in The Wisdom of Insecurity
God Help Us to Change
“God help us to change.
To change ourselves and to change our world.
To know the need for it.
To deal with the pain of it. To feel the joy of it.
To undertake the journey without understanding the destination.
The art of gentle revolution.”
– Michael Leunig; Australian Writer & Cartoonist.
Listening to Life 