Hm. To explain me. See, that's assuming that anyone's able to be summed into a few paragraphs. Which is sort of annoying. And previously I went far too long winded with this section, so I say instead, if you know me then you'll see who I am.
So I think I'll do something here just for me, and if anyone else gets something out of it, good for them.
Emerson instructed us to "Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your reading have been to you like the blast of triumph out of Shakespeare, Seneca, Moses, John and Paul."
Following Emerson's guidance, I offer some of my favorite blasts of triumph:
"The worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with yourself."
"Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul."
"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear--not absence of fear."
--All by Mark Twain
"God is near you, is with you, is inside you."
"It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult."
"Just where death is expecting you is something we cannot know; so, for your part, expect him everywhere."
"Philosophy is good advice, and no one gives good advice at the top of his lungs."
--All by Seneca
"A man goes to knowledge as he goes to war: wide-awake, with fear, with respect, and with absolute assurance. Going to knowledge or going to war in any other manner is a mistake, and whoever makes it might never live to regret it."
"Death is our eternal companion. It is always to our left, an arm's length behind us. Death is the only wise adviser that a warrior has. Whenever he feels that everything is going wrong and he's about to be annihilated, he can turn to his death and ask if that is so. His death will tell him that he is wrong, that nothing really matters outside its touch. His death will tell him, 'I haven't touched you yet.'"
"The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same."
"The world is incomprehensible. We won't ever understand it; we won't ever unravel its secrets. Thus we must treat the world as it is: a sheer mystery."
--All by Carlos Castaneda
