The universe is
not just as you see it, but as the frog sees it. Your attention
magnifies a breath of August breeze into a hurricane; but for the frog,
all human catastrophes are as weightless clouds in a distant sky. They pass soundlessly overhead.
Why do you assume that your chief concern should be mine? The liberal
wants to convince me, the conservative wants to convert me. Neither
allows me to create myself. But that is one task I can do better than anyone else. Let me follow the wondrous river of my own interest over all its
rocks, through the rough waters of responsibility and consequence, and I will learn my lesson much better than you can teach me.
A Greek philosopher said, 'Be kind: everyone you meet is fighting a great
battle.' A Jewish carpenter said, 'Judge not, lest ye be judged.' Here's
another piece of advice: if you want to see radical transformation in
humanity, stop trying to change each other.
Have you ever walked
the labyrinth? One who seems
closest to the goal may suddenly find their way veering far off. When two pilgrims pass, they don't know who is nearing
the center, and who is drifting further from it. Compassion is
precisely this not knowing. All they can do is bow.
In truth, you are not a pilgrim in a maze. You are
the labyrinth itself. You are the whole entanglement, with room in your lost heart for all who
wander, pathless strangers, ancient friends.
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