A man does not really begin to be alive until he has lost himself. Until he has released the anxious grasp which he normally holds upon his life, his property, his reputation and position.
updated 6mo ago
A man does not really begin to be alive until he has lost himself. Until he has released the anxious grasp which he normally holds upon his life, his property, his reputation and position.
It is simply the expression of the universal discovery that a man does not really begin to be alive until he has lost himself, until he has released the anxious grasp which he normally holds upon his life, his property, his reputation and position.
from Become What You Are: Expanded Edition by Alan W. Watts
- almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not ... See more
from "2005 Stanford Commencement Address" by JamesClear.com
Prashanth Narayan and added
- Man lives by time. Inventing the future has been his favorite game of escape. We think that changes in ourselves can come about in time, that order in ourselves can be built up little by little, added to day by day. But time doesn’t bring order or peace, so we must stop thinking in terms of gradualness. This means that there is no tomorrow for us t... See more
from Growth Without Goals | Editorials
lili and added
the explicit feeling of selfless minds may be tacitly accompanied by the implicit feeling of unlimited body, as two sides of the same coin. To put it provocatively: the only and unique occasion when one truly loses one’s self is when one’s body becomes a corpse (i.e. death).
Mary Martin added
Seen from the other side, this despair bursts into joy and creative power, on the principle that to lose one’s life is to find it–to find freedom of action unimpeded by self-frustration and the anxiety inherent in trying to save and control the Self.
from The Way of Zen by Alan W. Watts
When we are no longer identified with the idea of ourselves, the entire relationship between subject and object, knower and known, undergoes a sudden and revolutionary change. It becomes a real relationship, a mutuality in which the subject creates the object just as much as the object creates the subject. The knower no longer feels himself to be i
... See morefrom The Way of Zen by Alan W. Watts