Ki Longfellow · 301 pages
Rating: (1.9K votes)
“I ask for nothing. / In return I give All. / There is no earning my Love. / No work needed, no effort / Save to listen to what is already heard, / To see what is already seen. / To know what is already known. / Do I seem to ask too little? / Would you give although I ask not? / Then this you can give me and I will accept. / I will take your heart. / You will find it waiting for you / When you return.”
“... the most important concept ever put forth was that matter, ALL matter, with no exceptions from stone to star to starfish to student to sovereign, is as divine as all else in the cosmos, for all flows from Consciousness, the Word that came before the World - and all, in time, will flow back.”
“A mind may know a thing, the spirit may embrace it, but the voice that chatters in the head clings ever to shameful beliefs. ”
“Ask a man enough questions, and his belief in his understanding fades before him as does a dream upon waking—unless it is a true understanding. ”
“His faith was no game he played. It was not a mantle to put on or be taken off as the need arose. The stories he took so literally he held dearer than his own life and he could not doubt them. Doubt would have destroyed him. I had no desire to destroy a foolish old man who suffered a fatal ignorance.”
“Intelligence requires first the gift of curiosity. Without curiosity, who would ask questions? Second, intelligence is the ability to synthesize. Facts alone signify little. Neither are they to be trusted. Intelligence is the subtle arrangement of that which might or might not be true, the intuitive selection and the weaving of such selections into a pleasing whole that makes for meaning. Third, intelligence has need of laughter. Without laughter so much that is bitter and dark is allowed into being. That which is bitter and dark may be clever, it may even be cunning, but it is never intelligent. As for wisdom, wisdom is simple. The wise are able to recognize, and to accept, that not only is one never intelligent enough, but that when all is said and done, one knows exactly nothing.”
“To control one's own destiny takes a mastermind. To execute the plans takes a fool.”
“Wes wanted to be just like Tony. Tony wanted Wes to be nothing like him.”
“He had always loved to draw and paint, begging to be bought pencils, paint boxes, and paper rather than toys, spending hours wrapped up in worlds of his own creation.”
“Whoever has the power in society determines what can be studied, determines what can be observed, determines what can be thought.”
“I wanted to take a quick look into her head, wanted to see if she felt it, too, but decided against the intrusion. I knew I wouldn’t want somebody invading my most painful and private memories.”
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