An Ancient Recommendation
Know Thyself! — Socrates Subjective experience is a strange subject. Studying your own experience is a different kind of challenge than is researching subjects such as chemistry or physics. When …
Is it Better to be Gullible or Skeptical?
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. — Bertrand Russell An ancient school …
The Soul Illusion
I think my quarry is illusion. I war against magic. I believe that, though illusion often cheers and comforts, it ultimately and invariably weakens and constricts the spirit. — Irvin …
Ancient Wisdom
Nothing to Excess Know Thyself Certainty Brings Ruin Three recommendations were carved above the entrance to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi: Nothing to Excess Excessive appetites [addictive disorders] …
An Invitation
. . . to choose the path of greatest advantage rather than yield in the direction of least resistance – George Bernard Shaw Addictions [excessive appetites] and relationship problems that …
Studying Your Experience
Who looks outside, dreams Who looks inside, awakens — Carl Jung As remarkable and complex a structure as a neuron is, it does not possess consciousness. Consciousness requires a complex …
Attachment to Outcomes
Do not become attached to the things you like Do not maintain aversion to the things you dislike. Sorrow, fear, and bondage come from one’s likes and dislikes – …
The Karma of Practice
Men are not punished for their sins, but by them. — Elbert Hubbard Performance becomes easier with practice. In fact, with enough practice, performance can become autonomous—that is, it requires …
The Truth Wants to Make You Free
“Today I escaped anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions— not outside.” —-Marcus Aurelius I often try to get pessimistic, self-critical clients …
Loving the Truth
The truth is cruel, but it can be loved and it makes free those who have loved it. — George Santayana The poetic psychiatrist, R. D. Laing, asserted: “There is …