Week 2026-07: On Harmony

"Having collected an army and concentrated his forces, he must blend and harmonize the different elements thereof before pitching his camp." (Sun Tzu, "The Art of War", 5th century BC)

"The peace of God is with them whose mind and soul are in harmony, who are free from desire and wrath, who know their own soul." (Bhagavad Gita)

"The soul that moves in the world of senses and yet keeps the senses in harmony ... finds rest in quietness." (Bhagavad Gita)

"There's no wisdom from a man without harmony, and without harmony there is no contemplation. Without contemplation there cannot be peace, and without peace there can be no joy..." (Bhagavad Gita) 

"If there is righteousness in the heart,
there will be beauty in the character.
If there is beauty in the character,
there will be harmony in the home.
If there is harmony in the home,
there will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation,
there will be peace in the world." (Confucius)

"Easy gives rise to difficult ... resonance

harmonizes sound, after follows before." (Lao Tzu)

"Figure out the rhythm of life and live in harmony with it." (Lao Tzu) 

"In the series of things those which follow are always aptly fitted to those which have gone before; for this series is not like a mere enumeration of disjointed things, which has only a necessary sequence, but it is a rational connection: and as all existing things are arranged together harmoniously, so the things which come into existence exhibit no mere succession, but a certain wonderful relationship." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations", cca. 180 AD)

“In the same way as regards the soul, when that kind of thing in us which mirrors the images of thought and intellect is undisturbed, we see them and know them in a way parallel to sense-perception, along with the prior knowledge that it is intellect and thought that are active. But when this is broken because the harmony of the body is upset, thought and intellect operate without an image, and then intellectual activity takes place without a mind-picture.” (Plotinus, “Enneads”, cca. 270 AD)

"There is timing in the whole life of the warrior, in his thriving and declining, in his harmony and discord. Similarly, there is timing in the Way of the merchant, in the rise and fall of capital. All things entail rising and falling timing. You must be able to discern this. In strategy there are various timing considerations. From the outset you must know the applicable timing and the inapplicable timing, and from among the large and small things and the fast and slow timings find the relevant timing, first seeing the distance timing and the background timing. This is the main thing in strategy. It is especially important to know the background timing, otherwise your strategy will become uncertain." (Miyamoto Musashi, "Go Rin No Sho" ["The Book of Five Rings"], 1645)

"Students should always be conscious to the advantages of fundamental principles, which are: practicing the movements slowly and evenly, inhaling and exhaling naturally so as to accumulate qi and concentrate the shen [spirit], and never employing muscular strength [li] too excessively. It is through softness and gentleness that you achieve mastery. This softness and gentleness means soft and continuous movements in conjunction with harmonious breathing." (Yearning K Chen, "T’ai Chi Ch’uan: Sword, Saber, Staff, and Dispersing-Hands Combined", 1943)

"Through slowness you can later be soft; through evenness you can later be gentle. The capability of being soft and gentle will cause the muscle and bone to be opened. The qi and blood will circulate harmoniously. From this the breath will become deep and long and the spirit of vitality can be stimulated and brought forth." (Yearning K Chen, "T’ai Chi Ch’uan: Sword, Saber, Staff, and Dispersing-Hands Combined", 1943)

"The very name Aikido indicates its dependence on the laws of nature, which we term ki. Aikido means the way to harmony with ki. That is to say, Aikido is a discipline to make the heart of nature our own heart, to understand love for all things, and to become one with nature. Techniques and physical strength have limits; the great way of the universe stretches to infinity." (Koichi Tohei, "Book of Ki: Co-ordinating Mind and Body in Daily Life", 1976)

"Simply stated, aikido is a budo open to all people who aspire to unify the ki of the universe with the ki of oneself. For all members of the human race, it is the path to attaining harmony with all beings. The gates of aikido are open to people of all ages, classes, sexes, nationalities and races. Non-discrimination and non-exclusiveness are basic characteristics of aikido." (Kisshomaru Ueshiba, "The Spirit of Aikido", 1981)

"The burning desire of the Founder in establishing aikido was to keep the most valuable legacy of budo alive in the modern world. In order to accomplish his goal he went beyond differences in outward form to grasp the essence of each martial art and to bring it to life in a new form. The motivating force was his intense spiritual quest to discover a life-giving and life-affirming philosophy in budo. The result was the transformation of the heart of budo into the heart of aikido, the way of harmony and love."  (Kisshomaru Ueshiba, "The Spirit of Aikido", 1981)

"The subtle working of ki is the maternal source that affects changes in breath. It is also the source of martial art as love. When one unifies mind and body by virtue of ki and manifests ai-ki (harmony of ki), delicate changes in breath-power occur spontaneously and 'waza' (proper technique) flows freely." (Kisshomaru Ueshiba, "The Spirit of Aikido", 1981)

"The burning desire of the Founder in establishing aikido was to keep the most valuable legacy of budo alive in the modern world. In order to accomplish his goal he went beyond differences in outward form to grasp the essence of each martial art and to bring it to life in a new form. The motivating force was his intense spiritual quest to discover a life-giving and life-affirming philosophy in budo. The result was the transformation of the heart of budo into the heart of aikido, the way of harmony and love."  (Kisshomaru Ueshiba, "The Spirit of Aikido", 1981)

"The real Art of Peace is not to sacrifice a single one of your warriors to defeat an enemy. Vanquish your foes by always keeping yourself in a safe and unassailable position; then no one will suffer any losses. The Way of a Warrior, the Art of Politics, is to stop trouble before it starts. It consists in defeating your adversaries spiritually by making them realize the folly of their actions. The Way of a Warrior is to establish harmony." (Morihei Ueshiba, "The Art of Peace", 1992)

"But you cannot have harmony without a commitment to ethical behavior. It's the fence that keeps out the goats that will eat all the young shoots in your garden." (Jon Kabat-Zinn, "Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness meditation for everyday life", 1994)

"No price is too great to pay for inner peace. Peace is the harmonious control of life. It is vibrant with life-energy. It is a power that easily transcends all our worldly knowledge. Yet it is not separate from our earthly existence. If we open the right avenues within, this peace can be felt here and now." (Sri Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, "The Jewels of Happiness: Inspiration and Wisdom to Guide Your Life-Journey", 2015)

"Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well." (Gandhi)

"Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony." (Thomas Merton)

"Harmonizing opposites by going back to their source is the distinctive quality of the Zen attitude, the Middle Way: embracing contradictions, making a synthesis of them, achieving balance." (Taisen Deshimaru)

"It is in virtue that happiness consists, for virtue is the state of mind which tends to make the whole of life harmonious." (Zeno)

"Meditation is, first of all, a tool for surveying our territory so we can know what is going on. With the energy of mindfulness, we can calm things down, understand them, and bring harmony back to the conflicting elements inside us." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

"It is a grave mistake to think that budo is about being stronger than your partner or opponent and that you have to defeat him. In true budo, there is no partner. Th ere is no enemy. True budo is to become one with the universe. It is to be united with the universe’s center. In aikido, we do not train to become strong or to defeat opponents, but to make even a small contribution to peace for all people in the world. To that purpose we must strive to harmonize with the center of the universe."  (Morihei Ueshiba)

"Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony." (Heraclitus of Ephesus)

"Out of chaos, find simplicity, From discord, find harmony." (Bruce Lee)

"The Great Harmony is called the Way (Tao, Moral Law). It embraces the nature which underlies all counter processes of floating and sinking, rising and falling, and motion and rest. It is the origin of the process of fusion and intermingling, of overcoming and being overcome, and of expansion and contraction. At the commencement, these processes are incipient, subtle, obscure, easy, and simple, but at the end they are extensive, great, strong, and firm. It is ch'ien (Heaven) that begins with the knowledge of Change, and k'un (Earth) that models after simplicity. That which is dispersed, differentiated, and capable of assuming form becomes material force (ch'i), and that which is pure, penetrating, and capable of assuming form becomes spirit. Unless the whole universe is in the process of fusion and intermingling like fleeting forces moving in all directions, it may not be called Great Harmony." (Chang Tsai)

"The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence." (Rabindranath Tagore)

"There is harmony in our activity, and where there is harmony there is calmness." (Daisetzu T Suzuki)

"Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence." (Alan Watts)

"To define Buddhism without a lot of words and phrases, we can simply say, 'Don't cling or hold on to anything. Harmonize with actuality, with things as they are.'" (Ajahn Chah)

"When we in prayer seek only the glorification of the name of God, then we are in complete harmony with the spirit of prayer. Then our hearts are at rest both while we pray and after we have prayed. Then we can wait for the Lord." (Ole Hallesby)

"When we succeed in truly thanking God, we feel good at heart. The reason is that we have been created to give glory to God, now and forever-more. And every time we do so, we feel that we are in harmony with His plans and purposes for our lives. Then we are truly in our element. That is why it is so blessed." (Ole Hallesby)

"Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe." (Anatole France)

"When you walking along naturally, you're walking in the harmony of the Unborn." (Bankei Yōtaku)

Week 2026-06: On Growth

"He that would make a real progress in knowledge must dedicate his age as well as first fruits - the latter growth as well as the first-fruits - at the altar of truth." (Bishop George Berkeley, "Siris", 1744)

"Growth is limited by that necessity which is present in the least amount. And, naturally, the least favorable condition controls the growth rate." (Frank Herbert, "Dune", 1965)

"Pouncing on an idea as soon as it appears kills the idea. Too early and too enthusiastic logical attention either freezes the idea or forces it into the old moulds. Concentration on an idea isolates it from its surroundings and arrests its growth. The glare of attention inhibits the fertile semi-conscious processes that go to develop an idea." (Edward de Bono, "New Think: The Use of Lateral Thinking in the Generation of New Ideas", 1967)

 "It's the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top. Here's where things grow." (Robert Pirsig, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", 1974)

"Magic is hidden in the language we speak. The webs that you can tie and untie are at your command if only you pay attention to what you already have (language) and the structure of the incantations for growth." (Richard Bandler & John Grinder, "The Structure of Magic", 1975)

"The most pervasive paradox of the human condition which we see is that the processes which allow us to survive, grow, change, and experience joy are the same processes which allow us to maintain an impoverished model of the world - our ability to manipulate symbols, that is, to create models. So the processes which allow us to accomplish the most extraordinary and unique human activities are the same processes which block our further growth if we commit the error of mistaking the model of the world for reality." (Richard Bandler & John Grinder, "The Structure of Magic", 1975)

"Each day of human life contains joy and anger, pain and pleasure, darkness and light, growth and decay. Each moment is etched with nature's grand design - do not try to deny or oppose the cosmic order of things." (Morihei Ueshiba, "The Art of Peace", 1991)

"We live on an island surrounded by a sea of ignorance. As our island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance." (John A Wheeler, Scientific American Vol. 267, 1992)

"[...] all problems can be reperceived as challenges, or 'opportunities' to change, grow or learn." (Robert B Dilts, "Sleight of Mouth: The Magic of Conversational Belief Change", 1999)

"Change is the end result of all true learning. Change involves three things: First, a dissatisfaction with self - a felt void or need; second, a decision to change to fill the void or need; and third, a conscious dedication to the process of growth and change - the willful act of making the change, doing something." (Leo Buscaglia)

"Chaos in the world brings uneasiness, but it also allows the opportunity for creativity and growth." (Tom Barrett)

"Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water." (Bruce Lee)

"Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it." (Andy Rooney)

"Fundamentally mindfulness is a simple concept. Its power lies in its practice and its applications. Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally. This kind of attention nurtures greater awareness, clarity, and acceptance of present-moment reality. It wakes us up to the fact that our lives unfold only in moments. If we are not fully present for many of those moments, we may not only miss what is most valuable in our lives but also fail to realize the richness and the depth of our possibilities for growth, and transformation." (Jon Kabat-Zinn)

"Happiness is having a sense of self, not a feeling of being perfect, but of being good enough and knowing that you are in the process of growth, of being, of achieving levels of joy. It’s a wonderful contentment and acceptance of who and what you are and a knowledge that the world and life are full of wondrous adventures and possibilities." (Leo Buscaglia)

"If you were all alone in the universe with no one to talk to, no one with which to share the beauty of the stars, to laugh with, to touch, what would be your purpose in life? It is other life; it is love, which gives your life meaning. This is harmony. We must discover the joy of each other, the joy of challenge, the joy of growth." (Mitsugi Saotome)

"Life is growth, and the more we travel, the more truth we can understand. Understanding the things that surround us is the best preparation to understand the things that lie beyond." (Hypatia of Alexandria)

"Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself." (Lao Tzu)

"Styles tend to not only separate men - because they have their own doctrines and then the doctrine became the gospel truth that you cannot change. But if you do not have a style, if you just say: Well, here I am as a human being, how can I express myself totally and completely? Now, that way you won't create a style, because style is a crystallization. That way, it's a process of continuing growth." (Bruce Lee)

"Suffering is a challenge; when you suffer you are challenged, when there is a problem you are challenged. When you encounter the problem, only then do you grow. More insecurity, more growth; more security, less growth. If everything is secure around you, you are already in your grave, you are no longer alive. Life exists in danger, life always exists in the possibility of going astray. But one who goes astray can come back, one who fails can succeed." (Osho)

"The growth of wisdom may be gauged exactly by the diminution of ill temper." (Friedrich Nietzsche)

"The quality of your growth is a direct reflection of how much discomfort you can comfortably live with" (Anthony Robbins)

"There is a birth and growth of the self. According to his action', the embodied being assumes forms successively in many places; many forms gross and subtle he assumes by force of his own qualities of nature..." (Swetaswatara Upanishad)

"The mind is like a fertile garden. It will grow anything you wish to plant - beautiful flowers or weeds. And so it is with successful, healthy thoughts or with negative ones that will, like weeds, strangle and crowd the others. Do not allow negative thoughts to enter your mind for they are the weeds that strangle confidence." (Bruce Lee)

"Wasting energy to obtain rare objects only impedes one's growth." (Lao Tzu)

"You have to start where people are, because their growth is going to be from there, not from some abstraction or where you are or someone else is." (Myles Horton)

Week 2026-05: On Energy

"By standing alone and unchanging, you will find that everything comes to you and the energy of the cosmos will never be exhausted." (Lao Tsu)

"Wasting energy to obtain rare objects only impedes one's growth." (Lao Tzu)

"For truth is simple and without fuss, whereas error affords opportunity for dissipating time and energy." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1829)

"Meditation is the most effective form of relaxation. It not only relaxes the body and mind but also feeds them with vital energy, peace and happiness." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)

"The heart is the sovereign of the five organs, tea is the chief of the bitter foods, and bitter is the chief of the tastes. For this reason the heart loves bitter things, and when it is doing well all the other organs are properly regulated. [...] When, however, the whole body feels weak, devitalized, and depressed, it is a sign that the heart is ailing. Drink lots of tea, and one 's energy and spirits ww be restored to full strength." (Myōan Eisai, "Drink Tea and Prolong Life", cca 12th century)

"Just concentrate your whole energy into this Mu, and do not allow any discontinuation. When you enter this Mu and there is no discontinuation, your attainment will be as a candle burning and illuminating the whole universe." (Ekai, "The Gateless Gate", cca. 13the century)

"When brute-force is too strong, it cannot exist for long; and likewise intrinsic energy cannot be totally devoid of strength either." (Yearning K Chen, "T’ai Chi Ch’uan: Sword, Saber, Staff, and Dispersing-Hands Combined", 1943)

"Compassion automatically invites you to relate with people because you no longer regard people as a drain on your energy." (Chögyam Trungpa, "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism", 1973)

"When the conscious mind expands to embrace deeper levels of thinking, the thought wave becomes more powerful and results in added energy and intelligence." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)

"Meditation is silence, energising and fulfilling. Silent is the eloquent expression of the inexpressible." (Sri Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, "The Silent Teaching: A Beginner's Guide to Meditation", 1996)

"Train not by thought, but by practice. Learn a wide variety of arts and skills, and do not fix on only one. Know not only your own techniques but also those of many others. Find out rationally what is an advantage and what is a disadvantage. Foster an intuitive ability to judge all things. Feel an essence that you cannot see on the surface. Pay attention to the very smallest of phenomena. (Everything takes its own course, and sometimes we get unexpected results.) Do nothing in vain, for the energy and time we have is limited." (Kazumi Tabata, "Secret Tactics: Lessons From the Great Masters of Martial Arts", 2003)

"Intention is not something you do, but rather a force that exists in the universe as an invisible field of energy, a power that can carry us. (Wayne Dyer, "The Power of Intention", 2004)

"Thoughts are mental energy; they're the currency that you have to attract what you desire. You must learn to stop spending that currency on thoughts you don't want." (Wayne Dyer, "Being in Balance: 9 Principles for Creating Habits to Match Your Desires", 2006)

"Every conscious thought you have, every moment you spend on an idea, is a commitment to be stuck with that idea and with aspects of that level of thinking, for the rest of your life. Spending just 10 seconds focusing on a topic that does not serve your interests is to invest your energy along a path that will continue to draw from you and define you." (Kevin Michel, "Moving Through Parallel Worlds to Achieve Your Dreams", 2013)

"Small shifts in your thinking, and small changes in your energy, can lead to massive alterations of your end result." (Kevin Michel, "Moving Through Parallel Worlds to Achieve Your Dreams", 2013)

"No price is too great to pay for inner peace. Peace is the harmonious control of life. It is vibrant with life-energy. It is a power that easily transcends all our worldly knowledge. Yet it is not separate from our earthly existence. If we open the right avenues within, this peace can be felt here and now." (Sri Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, "The Jewels of Happiness: Inspiration and Wisdom to Guide Your Life-Journey", 2015)

"A good martial artist puts his mind on one thing at a time. He takes each thing as it comes, finishes with it, and passes on to the next. Like a Zen master, he is not concerned with the past or the future, only with what he is doing at that moment. Because his mind is tight, he is calm and able to maintain strength in reserve. And then there will be room for only one thought, which will fill his entire being as water fills a pitcher. You wasted an enormous amount of energy because you did not localize and focus your mind. Always remember: in life as well as on the mat an unfocused or 'loose' mind wastes energy." (Bruce Lee)

"Acceptance looks like a passive state, but in reality it brings something entirely new into this world. That peace, a subtle energy vibration, is consciousness." (Eckhart Tolle)

"Be vigorous and full of energy, and make ceaseless efforts. This means that little things do not discourage you and that you approach all things boldly and with an attitude of determination." (Koichi Tohei)

"Budo is not about destroying other human beings with one’s strength or weapons, or annihilating the world by force of arms. True budo is channeling the universal energy (ki) to protect world peace, to engender all things fittingly, nurture them and save them from harm." (Morihei Ueshiba) 

"Beginners should by all means strive for Truth. You must not force yourself to train or do zazen too vigorously before you realize the Truth. If you forcefully let out energy and practice Zen in violent ways, you will become fatigued, lose your energy, and it will all be of no use." (Suzuki Shosan)

"Evil passions, earthly desires, carnal lust, taken all together, are due to two conditions: low vital energy and scattered wits." (Toin)

"If you know how to practice mindfulness you can generate peace and joy right here, right now. And you'll appreciate that and it will change you. In the beginning, you believe that if you cannot become number one, you cannot be happy, but if you practice mindfulness you will readily release that kind of idea. We need not fear that mindfulness might become only a means and not an end because in mindfulness the means and the end are the same thing. There is no way to happiness; happiness is the way." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

"Meditation is, first of all, a tool for surveying our territory so we can know what is going on. With the energy of mindfulness, we can calm things down, understand them, and bring harmony back to the conflicting elements inside us." (Thich Nhat Hanh) 

"Judo helps us to understand that worry is a waste of energy." (Jigoro Kano)

"Just stop your wandering, look penetratingly into your inherent nature, and,
concentrating your spiritual energy, sit in zazen and break through." (Bassui Tokusho)

"On a deeper level you are already complete. When you realize that, there is a joyous energy behind what you do." (Eckhart Tolle)

"Since you cannot do real zazen no matter how much I teach you, I think I’ll show you from now on how to use the vigorous energy you have when you are angry." (Suzuki Shosan)

"The first miracle brought about by mindfulness is your own presence, your real presence. With this energy dwelling in you, you become completely alive. When the energy of mindfulness is dwelling in you, Buddha is dwelling in you. The energy of mindfulness is the energy of Buddha. It is the equivalent of the Holy Spirit. Where the Holy Spirit is, there is also understanding, life, healing, and compassion."  (Thich Nhat Hanh)

"The lamps are different, but the Light is the same. One matter, one energy, one Light, one Light-mind, endlessly emanating all things." (Rumi) 

"The modern West, after the enlightenment, became the first major civilization in the history of humanity to deny almost entirely the existence of the Great Nest (or chain) of Being. In its place was a 'flatland' conception of the universe as composed basically of matter (or matter/energy) and this material universe [...] could be studied by science and science alone." (Ken Wilber)

"The universe is a fractal. Whatever energy signature we carry will be repeated infinitely, again and again...until we change that vibration." (Paige Bartholomew)

"There are many aspects to success; material wealth is only one component. But success also includes good health, energy and enthusiasm for life, fulfilling relationships, creative freedom, emotional and psychological stability, a sense of well-being, and peace of mind." (Deepak Chopra)

"There are many ways to calm a negative energy without suppressing or fighting it. You recognize it, you smile to it, and you invite something nicer to come up and replace it; you read some inspiring words, you listen to a piece of beautiful music, you go somewhere in nature, or you do some walking meditation." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

"There is in the body a current of energy, affection and intelligence, which guides, maintains and energizes the body. Discover that current, and hold onto it unswervingly. Be aware of the spark of life that weaves the tissues of your body and stay with it. It is the only reality that the body has. It is like looking at a burning incense stick; you see the stick and the smoke first; when you notice the fiery point, you realize it has the power to consume mountains of sticks and fill the universe with smoke. Timelessly the Self actualizes itself, without exhausting its infinite possibilities. In the incense stick simile, the stick is the body, and the smoke is the mind. As long as the mind is busy with its contortions, it does not perceive its source. The Guru comes and turns your attention to the spark within."  (Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

"Whenever an answer, a solution, or a creative idea is needed, stop thinking for a moment by focusing attention on your inner energy field. [...] When you resume thinking, it will be fresh and creative." (Eckhart Tolle)

"You must learn to allow patience and stillness to take over from anxiety and frantic activity for the sake of doing something, Between martial artists of the first rank, there is room for only one mistake. Before an exchange of blows, several minutes may be spent in controlled patience and planning while each man respectfully observes his opponent, studying his position or stance, watching, getting ideas, and charging his energy. When one man thinks he is going to attack, his opponent may quickly change his stance. If he has overreacted, his opponent makes a note of it. This is a weakness which he will later attempt to use to his advantage." (Jim Lau)

"You seem to practice 'Empty Shell Zazen' and think that not thinking of anything is 'no-thought, no-mind'. You even start to feel good sitting vacantly. But if you do that kind of zazen you’ll lose your vigorous energy and become sick or go crazy. True 'no-thought, no-mind' zazen is just one thing - to have a dauntless mind." (Suzuki Shosan)

Week 2026-03: On Probability

"That is probable which for the most part usually comes to pass, or which is a part of the ordinary beliefs of mankind, or which contains in itself some resemblance to these qualities, whether such resemblance be true or false." (Marcus T Cicero, "De Inventione", cca. 86–84 BC)

"Take away probability, and you can no longer please the world; give probability, and you can no longer displease it." (Blaise Pascal, "Thoughts", 1670)

"Ignorance gives one a large range of probabilities." (George Eliot, "Daniel Deronda", 1876)

"When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." (Arthur C Doyle, "The Sign of Four", 1890

"Every probability - and most of our common, working beliefs are probabilities - is provided with buffers at both ends, which break the force of opposite opinions clashing against it […]" (Oliver W Holmes, "The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table", 1891) 

"It is more than possible; it is probable." (Arthur C Doyle, "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes", 1893)

"If everything, everything were known, statistical estimates would be unnecessary. The science of probability gives mathematical expression to our ignorance, not to our wisdom." (Samuel R Delany, "Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones", 1969)

"People are entirely too disbelieving of coincidence. They are far too ready to dismiss it and to build arcane structures of extremely rickety substance in order to avoid it. I, on the other hand, see coincidence everywhere as an inevitable consequence of the laws of probability, according to which having no unusual coincidence is far more unusual than any coincidence could possibly be." (Isaac Asimov, "The Planet That Wasn't", 1976)

"In the real world irrational things happened, impossible coincidences happened, because probability required that coincidences rarely, but not never, occur." (Orson Scott Card, "Ender’s Game", 1985)

"One of the elementary rules of nature is that, in the absence of a law prohibiting an event or phenomenon, it is bound to occur with some degree of probability. To put it simply and crudely: Anything that can happen does happen." (Kenneth W Ford)

Week 2025-52: On Images

"A mental image that the mind creates when processing only words is verbal delusion." (Patanjali, "Yoga Sutra", cca. 5th c. BC

"The mind has five different names. The first is called the 'activating mind', for, without being aware of it, it breaks the equilibrium of mind by the force of ignorance. The second is called the 'evolving mind', for it emerges contingent upon the agitated mind as the subject that perceives incorrectly. The third is called the 'reproducing mind', for it reproduces the entire world of objects as a bright mirror reproduces all material images. When confronted with the objects of the five senses, it reproduces them at once. It arises spontaneously at all times and exists forever reproducing the world of objects in front of the subject. The fourth is called the 'analytical mind', for it differentiates what is defiled and what is undefiled. The fifth is called the 'continuing mind', for it is united with deluded thoughts and continues uninterrupted." (Ashvaghosha, "The Awakening of Faith", cca. 2nd century)

"Conscious apprehension seems to exist […] as happens in a mirror-image when the smooth and bright surface is peaceful." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

“In the same way as regards the soul, when that kind of thing in us which mirrors the images of thought and intellect is undisturbed, we see them and know them in a way parallel to sense-perception, along with the prior knowledge that it is intellect and thought that are active. But when this is broken because the harmony of the body is upset, thought and intellect operate without an image, and then intellectual activity takes place without a mind-picture.” (Plotinus, “Enneads”, cca. 270 AD)

"On the assumption that all happens by Cause, it is easy to discover the nearest determinants of any particular act or state to trace it plainly to them." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

"[...] so external sensation is the image of this perception of the soul, which is in its essence truer and is a contemplation of forms alone without being affected. From these forms, from which the soul alone receives its lordship over the living being, come reasonings, and opinions and noetic acts; and this is precisely where ‘we’ are." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

"The noetic act is without parts and has not, so to speak, come out into the open, but remains unobserved within, but the verbal expression unfolds its content and brings it out of the noetic act into the image making power, and so shows the noetic act as if in a mirror, and this is how there is conscious apprehension and persistence and memory of it." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

"Oh! Son of Sari! Forms of object as perceived by our mind is no different from emptiness, (and) emptiness is no different from form. Forms perceived are virtual. Virtuality is the reality of forms perceived. Such are the processing of the stimulus of perception, the mental image of the object perceived, the mental activities of analysing this object of perception and the forming of mental conception of this object." ("Heart Sutra", cca. 7th c.) [Akishi’s translation]

"[…] just let your mind be like space, without clinging to a mental image of space, functioning responsively without obstruction, unminding in action and repose." ("The Sutra of Hui-neng", cca. 8th c. )

"If you think you can become enlightened just by worshipping images and relics, this is a mistaken view. This is actually possession by the poisonous serpent of temptation." (Dogen Zenji, cca. 13th century)

"The strangest of the soul's experiences is this, that it finds, when it ceases to care for the image and threat of troubles, then the troubles themselves are nowhere to be found in one's neighbourhood. It is then that we hear from behind those unreal clouds God laughing at us." (Sri Aurobindo, "Thoughts and Aphorisms", 1913

"Change your mental imagery, and the feelings will take care of themselves." (Maxwell Maltz, "Psycho-Cybernetics", 1960)

"The ‘self-image’ is the key to human personality and human behavior. Change the self image and you change the personality and the behavior." (Maxwell Maltz, "Psycho-Cybernetics", 1960)

"The daily world exists because we know how to hold its images; consequently, if one drops the attention needed to maintain those images, the world collapses." (Carlos Castaneda, "Second Ring of Power", 1977)

"Meditation is the emptying of the mind of the known. It cannot be done by thought or by the hidden prompting of thought, nor by desire in the form of prayer, nor through the self-effacing hypnotism of words, images, hopes, and vanities. All these have to come to an end, easily, without effort and choice, in the flame of awareness." (Jiddu Krishnamurti, "Meditations", 1979)

"Everything possible to be believed is an image of the truth." (Orson Scott Card, "The Tales of Alvin Maker: Seventh Son", 1987)

"For most of us, generosity is a quality that must be developed. We have to respect that it will grow gradually; otherwise our spirituality can become idealistic and imitative, acting out the image of generosity before it has become genuine." (Jack Kornfield, "A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life", 1993)

"The use of mental imagery is one of the strongest and most effective strategies for making something happen for you." (Wayne Dyer, "Staying on the Path: Easyread Super Large 18pt Edition", 2009)

"Everyone contributes a word, a sentence, an image, but in the end it all makes sense: the happiness of one becomes the joy of all."(Paulo Coelho, "Aleph", 2011)

"The self-image sets the boundaries of individual accomplishment. It defines what you can and cannot do. Expand the self-image and you expand the “area of the possible.” The development of an adequate, realistic self-image will seem to imbue the individual with new capabilities, new talents, and literally turn failure into success." (Maxwell Maltz, "Psycho-cybernetics: Updated And Expanded", 2015)

"A genuine relationship is one that is not dominated by the ego with its image-making and self-seeking. In a genuine relationship, there is an outward flow of open, alert attention toward the other person in which there is no wanting whatsoever." (Eckhart Tolle)

"Imagine a multidimensional spider's web in the early morning covered with dew drops. And every dewdrop contains the reflection of all the other dewdrops. And, in each reflected dewdrop, the reflections of all the other dew drops in that reflection. And so ad infinitum. That is the Buddhist conception of the universe in an image." (Alan Watts)

"It is because a mirror has no commitment to any image that it can clearly and accurately reflect any image before it.  The mind of a warrior is like a mirror in that it has no commitment to any outcome and is free to let form and purpose result on the spot, according to the situation." (Yagyu Munenori)

"Just as the human soul takes leave of the body... one can truly see in the flying swarm an image of the departing human soul." (Rudolf Steiner)

"Many people dedicate their lives to actualizing a concept of what they should be like, rather than actualizing themselves. This difference between self-actualization and self-image actualization is very important. Most people live only for their image." (Bruce Lee)

"Mind is indeed the Builder [...] what is held in the act of mental vision becomes a reality in the material experience. We are gradually builded to that image created within our own mental being." (Edgar Cayce)

"The whole universe is composed of name and form. Whatever we see is either a compound of name and form, or simply name with form which is a mental image." (Swami Vivekananda)

"Those who wish to break the cycle of rebirth must know the way of becoming a Buddha. The way of becoming a Buddha is the way of enlightenment. Before one’s father and mother were born and before one’s own body was formed, one’s mind existed unchanged until now, as the ground of all sentient beings. This is also called one’s original countenance. This mind is pure from the beginning. When the body is born, it is without the form of life, and when the body dies, it is without the form of death. Neither does it have the form of man or woman, of good or evil. Because there is nothing to which it can be compared, it is called Buddha nature. From this mind there arise ten thousand images, like waves on a vast great sea or forms reflected in a mirror." (Bassui Tokusho)

"We realize - often quite suddenly - that our sense of self, which has been formed and constructed out of our ideas, beliefs and images, is not really who we are. It doesn't define us, it has no center. [...] The way they perceive the world suddenly changes, and they find themselves without any sense of separation between themselves and the rest of the world." (Adyashanti)

"What is opportunity, and when does it knock? It never knocks. You can wait a whole lifetime, listening, hoping, and you will hear no knocking. None at all. You are opportunity, and you must knock on the door leading to your destiny. You prepare yourself to recognize opportunity, to pursue and seize opportunity as you develop the strength of your personality, and build a self-image with which you are able to live with your self-respect alive and growing." (Maxwell Maltz)

"When you rest in quietness and your image of yourself fades, and your image of the world fades, and your ideas of others fade, what's left? A brightness, a radiant emptiness that is simply what you are." (Adyashanti)

Week 2025-51: Orson Scott Card - Collected Quotes

"I learned to separate the story from the writing, probably the most important thing that any storyteller has to learn - that there are a thousand right ways to tell a story, and ten million wrong ones, and you’re a lot more likely to find one of the latter than the former your first time through the tale." (Orson Scott Card, "Ender’s Game", 1985)

"In the real world irrational things happened, impossible coincidences happened, because probability required that coincidences rarely, but not never, occur." (Orson Scott Card, "Ender’s Game", 1985)

"Human beings may be miserable specimens, in the main, but we can learn, and, through learning, become decent people." (Orson Scott Card, "Ender’s Game", 1985)

"There are times when the world is rearranging itself, and at times like that, the right words can change the world." (Orson Scott Card, "Ender’s Game", 1985)

"Welcome to the human race. Nobody controls his own life, Ender. The best you can do is choose to be controlled by good people, by people who love you." (Orson Scott Card, "Ender’s Game", 1985)

"But when it comes to human beings, the only type of cause that matters is final cause, the purpose. What a person had in mind. Once you understand what people really want, you can't hate them anymore. You can fear them, but you can't hate them, because you can always find the same desires in your own heart." (Orson Scott Card, "Speaker for the Dead", 1986)

"Order and disorder', said the speaker, 'they each have their beauty." (Orson Scott Card, "Speaker for the Dead", 1986)

"Some sort of rigid hierarchy always emerged as the conservative force in a community, maintaining its identity despite the constant variations and changes that beset it." (Orson Scott Card, "Speaker for the Dead", 1986)

"This is how humans are: We question all our beliefs, except for the ones we really believe, and those we never think to question." (Orson Scott Card, "Speaker for the Dead", 1986)

"This is the essence of the transaction between storyteller and audience. The "true" story is not the one that exists in my mind; it is certainly not the written words on the bound paper that you hold in your hands. The story in my mind is nothing but a hope; the text of the story is the tool I created in order to try to make that hope a reality. The story itself, the true story, is the one that the audience members create in their minds, guided and shaped by my text, but then transformed, elucidated, expanded, edited, and clarified by their own experience, their own desires, their own hopes and fears." (Orson Scott Card, "Speaker for the Dead", 1986)

"Your dream is a good one. [...] The desire that is the very root of life itself: To grow until all the space you can see is part of you, under your control. It’s the desire for greatness." (Orson Scott Card, "Speaker for the Dead", 1986)

"All the universe is just a dream in God's mind, and as long as he's asleep, he believes in it, and things stay real." (Orson Scott Card, "The Tales of Alvin Maker: Seventh Son", 1987)

"Everything possible to be believed is an image of the truth." (Orson Scott Card, "The Tales of Alvin Maker: Seventh Son", 1987)

"'If human beings are all monsters, why should I sacrifice anything for them?' [...] 'Because they are beautiful monsters', he whispered. 'And when they live in a network of peace and hope, when they trust the world and their deepest hungers are fulfilled, then within that system, that delicate web, there is joy. That is what we live for, to bind the monsters together, to murder their fear and give birth to their beauty.'" (Orson Scott Card, "Wyrms", 1987)

"This is the most important thing the humans have taught me. The thing they're teaching us right now. You see, they are all strangers to each other. They live out their entire lives, never truly understanding one another, only making guesses, making mistakes, distorting, deceiving, misunderstanding each other. And yet, though they're permanently strangers, they choose sometimes to trust each other, care for each other so completely that they gladly die to let the other live - that they gladly change themselves to make the other person happy.” (Orson Scott Card, "The Abyss", 1989)

"A real god doesn’t care about control. A real god already has control of everything that needs controlling. Real gods would want to teach you how to be just like them." (Orson Scott Card, "Xenocide", 1991)

"And you don’t understand how devastating fear and rage can be, and how quickly religion and civilization and human decency are forgotten when a mob forms." (Orson Scott Card, "Xenocide", 1991)

"Human beings do metamorphose. They change their identity constantly. However, each new identity thrives on the delusion that it was always in possession of the body it has just conquered." (Orson Scott Card, "Xenocide", 1991)

"Humans are very proud of their changes, but every imagined transformation turns out to be a new set of excuses for behaving exactly as the individual has always behaved." (Orson Scott Card, "Xenocide", 1991)

"it’s often the ideas that sound most absurd and counterintuitive at first that later cause fundamental shifts in the way we see the world." (Orson Scott Card, "Xenocide", 1991)

"No one likes to find out that the story he always believed about his own identity is false." (Orson Scott Card, "Xenocide", 1991)

"Others find humanity by looking in their own hearts. Only lost souls need to search for it outside themselves." (Orson Scott Card, "Xenocide", 1991)

"Coincidence is just the word we use when we have not yet discovered the cause." (Orson Scott Card, "The Call Of Earth", 1992)

"But the truth is that no person ever understands another, from beginning to end of life, there is no truth that can be known, only the story we imagine to be true, the story they really believe to be true about themselves; and all of them lies."  (Orson Scott Card, "Children of the Mind", 1996)

"Here is the truth. What human life is, what it’s for, what we do, is create communities." (Orson Scott Card, "Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus", 1996)

"History has no laws, and all patterns that we find there are useful illusions." (Orson Scott Card, "Children of the Mind", 1996)

"History is a chaotic system. The details can shift endlessly, but the overall shape remains constant. Make a small change in the past, and it changes enough details in the present that we would not have come together at exactly this place and time to watch exactly this scene. And yet the great movements of history would be largely unchanged." (Orson Scott Card, "Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus", 1996)

"Knowledge is just opinion that you trust enough to act upon." (Orson Scott Card, "Children of the Mind", 1996)

"Faith doesn't mean that you never doubt. It only means that you never act upon your doubts." (Orson Scott Card, "Sarah: Women of Genesis", 2000)

"He had long since learned that when something unusual was going on, he would often find out more information faster by waiting than by asking." (Orson Scott Card, "First Meetings in Ender's Universe", 2002)

"Human evolution is driven by community needs […]. How is that possible, since genetic information is passed only by and to individuals?" (Orson Scott Card, "First Meetings in Ender's Universe", 2002)

"Most human communities demand anti-survival behavior from large numbers of their members." (Orson Scott Card, "First Meetings in Ender's Universe", 2002)

"'My preliminary assessment shows that when a civil society is mature and successful, the citizens become complacent and to satisfy various needs they reinvent tribes that eventually collapse the society from the inside.' 'So both failure and success lead to failure.' 'The only question is whether it’s inevitable.'" (Orson Scott Card, "First Meetings in Ender's Universe", 2002)

"No one but the enemy will ever teach you how to destroy and conquer. I am your enemy, from now on. From now on I am your teacher." (Orson Scott Card, "First Meetings in Ender's Universe", 2002)

"People reach their peak ability as military commanders much earlier than we thought. Most of them in their late teens. The same age when poets do their most passionate and revolutionary work. And mathematicians. They peak, and then it falls off. They coast on what they learned back when they were still young enough to learn." (Orson Scott Card, "First Meetings in Ender's Universe", 2002)

"That would be true […] and indeed is true in the main, except that there are only a few types of human communities that actually survive long enough to improve the chances of individual survival." (Orson Scott Card, "First Meetings in Ender's Universe", 2002)

"The real training ground for leadership is in the game." (Orson Scott Card, "First Meetings in Ender's Universe", 2002)

"There are community traits that promote survival of the individual, and individual traits that promote the survival of the community." (Orson Scott Card, "First Meetings in Ender's Universe", 2002)

"There are many steps on the continuum between controlling something and doing nothing at all." (Orson Scott Card, "First Meetings in Ender's Universe", 2002)

"We make each other think better […]. Together, we’re smarter." (Orson Scott Card, "First Meetings in Ender's Universe", 2002)

"[...] you can’t stay committed to one pattern. It makes you too easy to predict." (Orson Scott Card, "First Meetings in Ender's Universe", 2002)

"In philosophy class I think we finally decided that ‘good’ is an infinitely recursive term—it can’t be defined except in terms of itself. Good is good because it’s better than bad, though why it’s better to be good than bad depends on how you define good, and on and on." (Orson Scott Card, "Ender in Exile", 2008)

"Patience, absolute self-control, learning the capabilities of those under you so you can make up for their deficits through training." (Orson Scott Card, "Ender in Exile", 2008)

"Leading is a strange thing […]. People see it happening, but they don’t have a clue how it works. […] They don’t see what a leader does, they just see how everybody respects a good leader, and they want to have the attention and respect without understanding what you actually have to do to earn it." (Orson Scott Card, "Ender in Exile", 2008)

"Some people are born to lead [...].They just think that way, whether they want to lead or not. While others are born craving authority, but they have no ability to lead." (Orson Scott Card, "Ender in Exile", 2008)

"[…] that’s what science was - the sharing of information, the pooling of knowledge. (Orson Scott Card, "Ender in Exile", 2008)

"The absence of information is information." (Orson Scott Card, "Ender in Exile", 2008)

"[…] the idea was for humans to colonize all their former worlds, so that humanity’s fate would not be tied to that of a single planet. (Orson Scott Card, "Ender in Exile", 2008)

"The leader only has as much power as his followers give him." (Orson Scott Card, "Ender in Exile", 2008)

"The task of the tyrant is not to compel, but to persuade even the unwilling that compliance better serves their interest than resistance." (Orson Scott Card, "Ender in Exile", 2008)

"There are rules to everything, even if nobody made them up, even if nobody calls it a game. And if you want things to work out well, it's best to know the rules and only break them if you're playing a different game and following those rules." (Orson Scott Card, "Ender in Exile", 2008)

"We are only human when we are part of a community." (Orson Scott Card, "Ender in Exile", 2008)

"We arrive at an extremely high level of technology - but with nothing under it to hold it up. If we crash, we crash all the way down." (Orson Scott Card, "Ender in Exile", 2008)

"We humans can be destructive, but the universe’s thirst for creation goes on unslaked." (Orson Scott Card, "Ender in Exile", 2008)

"You can’t lead people you don’t know or at least understand." (Orson Scott Card, "Ender in Exile", 2008)

"You take a step, then another. That’s the journey. But to take a step with your eyes open is not a journey at all, it’s a remaking of your own mind. You see things that you never saw before. Things never seen by the eyes of human beings." (Orson Scott Card, "Ender in Exile", 2008)

"The society whose citizens are willing to stand and fight is the one with the best chance of surviving long enough for history to even notice." (Orson Scott Card, "Empire", 2005)

"A regime that wraps itself in the flag of truth fears truth most of all, for if its story is falsified to the slightest degree, its authority is gone." (Orson Scott Card, "Pathfinder", 2010)

"Humans make a machine, and then fool themselves into believing that their own brains are no better than the machines. This allows them to believe that their creation, the computer, is as brilliant as their own minds. But it’s a ridiculous self-deception. Computers aren’t even in the same league." (Orson Scott Card, "Ruins", 2013)

"Everything has a mind of its own and follows the laws it already understands." (Orson Scott Card, "Gatefather", 2015)

"All history is the same thing over and over [...] The technology may change, but the behavior is still human. We are who we are. Individuals learn, grow up, get better, wiser, stronger, healthier, kinder - or the opposite. As a group, though, we keep inventing the same behaviors. Some work, some don't.” (Orson Scott Card, "Visitors" 2023)

"Perhaps every writer who thoroughly creates a fictional world will inevitably create a mirror of his own time and yet also create a world that no one else but him has ever visited..." (Orson Scott Card) 

"Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any." (Orson Scott Card)

"I tell students that suspense comes, not from knowing almost nothing, but from knowing almost everything and caring very much about the small part still unknown." (Orson Scott Card) 

"Science Fiction has rivets, fantasy has trees." (Orson Scott Card) 

"We care about moral issues, nobility, decency, happiness, goodness - the issues that matter in the real world, but which can only be addressed, in their purity, in fiction." (Orson Scott Card)

"Writers create themselves as they create their work. Or perhaps they create their work in order to create themselves."  (Orson Scott Card)

Week 2025-50: Rumi - Collected Quotes

"I have been a seeker and I still am, but I stopped asking the books and the stars. I started listening to the teaching of my soul." (Rumi)

"Maybe you are searching among the branches, for what only appears in the roots." (Rumi)

"Peaceful is the one who's not concerned with having more or less." (Rumi)

"Patience is not sitting and waiting, it is foreseeing. It is looking at the thorn and seeing the rose, looking at the night and seeing the day. Lovers are patient and know that the moon needs time to become full."(Rumi)

"Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder." (Rumi)

"The lamps are different, but the Light is the same. One matter, one energy, one Light, one Light-mind, endlessly emanating all things." (Rumi)

"When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy." (Rumi)

"With life as short as a half-taken breath, don’t plant anything but love." (Rumi)

"With love you don’t bargain. There, the choice is not yours. Love is a mirror, it reflects only your essence, if you have the courage to look in its face." (Rumi)

Week 2025-35: On Mind (Spiritual Texts)

"A mental image that the mind creates when processing only words is verbal delusion." (Patanjali, "Yoga Sutra", cca. 5th c. BC)

"Here is, in truth, the whole secret of Yoga, the science of the soul. The active turnings, the strident vibrations, of selfishness, lust and hate are to be stilled by meditation, by letting heart and mind dwell in spiritual life, by lifting up the heart to the strong, silent life above, which rests in the stillness of eternal love, and needs no harsh vibration to convince it of true being." (Patañjali,"Yoga Sutra", cca. 5th c. BC)

"Yoga occurs when the machinations, vacillations, perturbations, whirlings, spinning, and agitations (vrtti) of the mind-field (citta) dissolve, cease, and become still (nirodha)" (Patañjali,"Yoga Sutra", cca. 5th c. BC)

"When meditation is mastered, 
the mind is unwavering,  
like the flame of a lamp in a windless place." (Bhagavad Gita, cca. 2nd c. BC) 

"[…] just let your mind be like space, without clinging to a mental image of space, functioning responsively without obstruction, unminding in action and repose." ("The Sutra of Hui-neng", cca. 8th c. )

"Oh! Son of Sari! Forms of object as perceived by our mind is no different from emptiness, (and) emptiness is no different from form. Forms perceived are virtual. Virtuality is the reality of forms perceived. Such are the processing of the stimulus of perception, the mental image of the object perceived, the mental activities of analysing this object of perception and the forming of mental conception of this object." ("Heart Sutra", cca. 7th c.) [Akishi’s translation]

"The mind when sullied, / cannot be purified / in the tirthas where man bathes himself," (Yoga Darshana Upanishad)

"If while speaking of the samadhi of oneness, you fail to practice straightforward mind, you will not be disciples of Buddha. Only practicing straightforward mind, and in all things having no attachments whatsoever, is called the samadhi of oneness. The deluded person clings to the characteristics of things, adheres to the samadhi of oneness, and thinks that straightforward mind is sitting without moving and casting aside delusions without letting things arise in the mind. This they consider to be the samadhi of oneness."

This kind of practice is the same as being insentient like a rock and is the cause of obstruction to the Tao. Tao must be something that circulates freely; why should we impede it? If the mind does not abide in things, the Tao circulates freely; if the mind abides in things, it becomes entangled." (Hui-Neng, "Platform Scripture") 

"The Purusha is Divine, formless, existing inside and outside, unborn, free from Prana and mind, pure, and greater than the great unmanifest." (Swami Krishnananda, on the "Mundaka Upanishad")