On Quality: An Inquiry into Excellence: Unpublished and Selected Writings

I think that our traditional Western way is to try to capture life in a net of words. But I think one can realize that the net of words is a part of life. The danger is not in using the words; the danger is in clinging to them, clinging to their meaning, and saying, “Oh, now I have spoken a great truth.”

But this is one of the most profound statements he could have made. He was using words but he didn’t want you to cling to them. He simply wanted you to absorb them and make them a part of you, and carry on the dharma, and words could be a useful instrument for this purpose.

This direct perception of pure Dynamic Quality without any intellectual mediation is the same as the goal of Buddhism known as “awakening” or “enlightenment.”

This problem of trying to describe value in terms of substance has been the problem of a smaller container trying to contain a larger one. Value is not a subspecies of substance. Substance is a subspecies of value. When you reverse the containment process and define substance in terms of value the mystery disappears: Substance is a “stable pattern

As far as I know, “Quality” is still the best term, but “meaning” is a term I have thought about often. It’s an excellent synonym

The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.

Within the Hindu tradition dharma is relative and dependent on the conditions of society. It always has a social implication. It is the bond which holds society together. This is fitting to the ancient origins of the term. But within modern Buddhist thought dharma becomes the phenomenal world—the object of perception, thought or understanding.

By not knowing Quality in its “everything-state,” you will only see a part of reality, you will be trapped in a small life. You are likely to be technically and intellectually competent without an overall understanding. The idea is to go beyond intellect and to expand reason, fully to understand the total quality of everything. When you find it, it

Dharma, like ṛta, means “what holds together.” It is the basis of all order. It equals righteousness. It is the ethical code. It is the stable condition which gives man perfect satisfaction.