When you discard arrogance, complexity, and a few other things that get in the way, sooner or later you will discover that simple, childlike, and mysterious secret known to those of the Uncarved Block: Life is Fun.
BENJAMIN HOFFLike silence after noise, or cool, clear water on a hot, stuffy day, Emptiness cleans out the messy mind and charges up the batteries of spiritual energy. Many people are afraid of Emptiness, however, because it reminds them of Loneliness.
More Benjamin Hoff Quotes
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Whether many people realize it yet or not, man, the Inferior Animal, has by now proved himself incapable of keeping his own species – and others – alive for very much longer. So the earth has begun its own plan to set things right.
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Well, it takes all kinds to make a mess.
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Unfortunately complaining is one thing Eeyores are not afraid to do. They grudgingly carry their thimbles to the Fountain of Life, then mumble and grumble that they weren’t given enough.
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But isn’t the knowledge that comes from experience more valuable than the knowledge that doesn’t? It seems fairly obvious to some of us that a lot of scholars need to go outside and sniff around – walk through the grass, talk to the animals. That sort of thing.
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Knowledge and Experience do not necessarily speak the same language.
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The surest way to become Tense, Awkward, and Confused is to develop a mind that tries too hard – one that thinks too much.
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Through working in harmony with life’s circumstances, Taoist understanding changes what others may percieve as negative into something positive.
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A clever mind is not a heart. Knowledge doesn’t really care, wisdom does.
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“What’s that?” the Unbeliever asked. “Wisdom from the Western Taoist,” I said. “It sounds like something from Winnie-the-Pooh,” he said. “It is,” I said. “That’s not about Taoism,” he said. “Oh, yes it is,” I said.
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Under Confucianism, the use of precisely measured court music, prescribed steps, actions, and phrases all added up to an extremely complex system of rituals, each used for a particular purpose at a particular time.
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The Universe knows what it’s doing. So don’t develop a big ego, and don’t be afraid.
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Things just happen in the right way, at the right time. At least when you let them, when you work with circumstances instead of saying, ‘This isn’t supposed to be happening this way,’ and trying harder to make it happen some other way.
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The masters of life know the way, for they listen to the voice within them, the voice of wisdom and simplicity, the voice that reasons beyond cleverness and knows beyond knowledge.
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Practically everything from hairstyles to lifestyles is endorsed as some sort of drug to be taken Now for Instant Relief.
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A well-frog cannot imagine the ocean, nor can a summer insect conceive of ice. How then can a scholar understand the Tao? He is restricted by his own learning.
BENJAMIN HOFF