Everything in its own time, in its own place

In its own way.

Trust

“A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because its trust is not on the branch but on its own wings.”

– Charlie Wardle

“I think you can be imprisoned if you think of yourself as a noun.”

A quote by English actor and writer, Stephen Fry:

“Oscar Wilde said that if you know what you want to be, then you inevitably become it — that is your punishment. 

“But if you never know, then you can be anything. We are not nouns, we are verbs. I am not a thing — an actor, a writer. I am a person who does things — I write, I act — and I never know what I am going to do next. 

“I think you can be imprisoned if you think of yourself as a noun.”

Wonder

/’wʌndə/

(noun) a feeling of amazement and admiration, caused by something beautiful, remarkable, or unfamiliar.

(verb) desire to know something; feel curious.

Rationalization

Alice thought to herself, of course she could give up shopping, but – she’s not a quitter.

Wisdom of contemplation

One problem we face in religions these days is that it has become more talkative than contemplative.

But you can’t be told wisdom. You can only discover it yourself, through contemplation.

Delusion

Katsuro is excellent at quitting smoking. In fact he’s so good, he’s quit smoking at least 15 times.

Where is my face?

A handsome man wakes up one morning to look at himself.
He stares at the mirror in shock:
“What’s this? Where did my real face go?”

There is a face in the mirror, but the man has already decided: it’s not his.
It’s just a reflection in the mirror. Not the actual thing.

He then takes out a camera and snaps a selfie.
Looking at the photo, he concludes: it’s not his face too.
It’s only a digital image of lighted pixels. Not the actual thing.

By this time he is in a state of panic.
For he realises what a deluded life he’s been leading all this while, believing that reflections and images are his real face when they are merely illusory representations. He has actually never seen his own real face.

“What is my real face? How is it really like? How can I ever see it?”

What kind of bird is that?

One kid says to me, “See that bird? What kind of bird is that?”

I said, “I haven’t the slightest idea what kind of a bird it is.”

He says, “It’s a brown-throated thrush. Your father doesn’t teach you anything.”

But it was the opposite. My father had already taught me: “See that bird?” my father says. “It’s a Spencer’s warbler.” (I knew he didn’t know the real name.) “Well, in Italian, it’s a Ciutto Lapittida. In Portuguese, it’s a Bom da Peida. In Chinese, it’s a Chung-long-tah, and in Japanese, it’s a Katano Tekeda. You can know the name of that bird in all the languages of the world, but when you’re finished, you’ll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird. You’ll only know about humans in different places, and what they call the bird. So let’s look at the bird and see what it’s doing – that’s what counts.” (I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.)

– by Richard Feynman

Tired

When Linda heard that her 5 year-old son got into a fight again at the childcare centre, one part of her wanted to shake him and yell, “What is your problem!?” Another part of her wanted to hug him and say, “I will protect you!”

Linda did neither. She brought her son home, left him to his internet videos, plonked onto the bed and slept through the whole afternoon.