Keep searching, reading, thinking, pontificating, with all your strength. The more intense your effort the more devastating and freeing will be your defeat when you realize it was all futile.
If your inner life is rich and satisfying you will treat the world with the contempt it deserves.
Do not allow the external world to become your internal world.
All spiritual and philosophical pretensions evaporate when we see someone run a key down the side of our new motor car.
The world is infinite - our inner world and outer world. There is no end to the fun and the horror.
Knowing how to live is not a problem for most people - work, sex, family, entertainment, social life ... But for some people knowing how to live is not at all obvious. The only solution is to invent a life that suits our own needs and temperament.
The day you first said “isn’t it beautiful“ was the day beauty disappeared from your life, only to be replaced by a desperate need for a sickly sweet gratification.
Sadness, anger, melancholy, and the other hundred emotions that we experience are only problematical if we resist them. To move beyond them we need only experience them fully without resistance.
Strange how we live and more or less thrive with no understanding of this strange situation we find ourselves in. It points to an obvious fact: the body has a full grasp of the nature of our existence whereas the intellect has none.
If you still think that there is some experience that can transform your life from its miserable state of affairs into some bright new shiny thing; I’ve got some news for you.
Just in case you need permission. I give you permission to be unhappy.
For God's sake don't join all the unhappy people and pretend that you are happy, Savor your unhappiness, your misery, your pain. Be honest with yourself - life has no mechanism for or need of happiness.
Here is a shortcut. You've just read a book, watched a YouTube video and you've become fired up by the latest trick you've learned - meditation, gratitude, nihilism, optimism. Kill it now and save yourself the trouble in a week, a month, or whatever.
The rational mind can never satisfy and tends to bring dissatisfaction because it limits actions to its own scheme.
It’s a temptation to get carried away by thought. But at such times I remember that just an inch or so below the ribs on my chest is a muscle, a bit bigger than my fist that spasms every second or so. If it stops I stop, and that always brings a sense of perspective.
Religion and spiritual traditions are the greatest causes of misery in the history of mankind. They are the bringers of dissatisfaction with ourselves and the world.
It is folly to even suggest that we should rely on the honesty and goodwill of others. This is why we have laws and punishments for transgressing the law.
What will bring greater composure and peace of mind? Cessation of any attempts to gain greater composure or peace of mind.
The pursuit of pleasure always brings melancholy.
All systems of thought are burdensome and unnecessary.
The real holy man is the man who has accepted, and is at ease, with all the things that others find unholy.
Life - there are no formulas. Make it up as you go along.
There is no one more deserving of your pity than the person who believes in life.
What is the difference between Hollywood and spiritual traditions? Hollywood is more honest.
While humanity as a whole has no understanding of its brutal nature, all attempts to make things better will only make things worse.
Health warning: Thinking is addictive and always makes things worse than they are.