it this way as she was washing the lunch dishes: “Isn’t it strange that we prefer the quicksand of somethingness to the firm ground of emptiness?”
Jack Kornfield • Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation (Shambhala Classics)
Bodies have skin; cells have membranes; water droplets have surface tension. These containing, enveloping boundaries allow a thing to exist. Without them, there is no “thing,” just an undifferentiated mass of stuff. With them, whatever it is can grow, flourish, and explore its unique way of being.
Pamela Kristan • Awakening in Time
In a lot of ways people can be split into aimless and not-aimless like this. I think humans are at their best when they are reaching towards something. It doesn't have to be practical or noble necessarily, but something about the reaching itself seems to be required for people to flourish.