Thursday, March 06, 2008

Insights Into Human Greatness

"It was during this period that I realised I had discovered one of the secrets of human existence: if I maintained a high level of inner pressure, and declined to allow my mind to collapse into tiredness or boredom, everything went well. When I didn't, they went badly. The major problem of human beings is a tendency to allow our energies to leak. And as soon as they leak, consciousness is dimmed, and we become subject to accident."

Colin Wilson
Dreaming to Some Purpose
p. 17


“Without struggle, no progress and no result. Every breaking of habit produces a change in the machine.”

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The evolution of man is the evolution of his consciousness, and "consciousness" cannot evolve unconsciously. The evolution of man is the evolution of his will, and "will" cannot evolve involuntarily. The evolution of man is the evolution of his power of doing, and "doing" cannot be the result of things which "happen."

G. I. Gurdjieff


"Divide in yourself the mechanical from the conscious, see how little there is of the conscious, how seldom it works, and how strong is the mechanical - mechanical attitudes, mechanical intentions, mechanical thoughts, mechanical desires."

P. D. Ouspensky


“We fear to know the fearsome and unsavory aspects of ourselves, but we fear even more to know the godlike in ourselves”

Abraham Maslow


"Anyone who fights for the future lives in it today."

“Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values.”

Ayn Rand