“Being conscious is cutting through your own melodrama and being right here. Exist in no mind, be empty, here now, and trust that as a situation arises, out of you will come what is necessary to deal with that situation including the use of your intellect when appropriate.

Your intellect need not be constantly held on to to keep reassuring you that you know where you’re at, out of fear of loss of control. Ultimately, when you stop identifying so much with your physical body and with your psychological entity, that anxiety starts to disintegrate. And you start to define yourself as in flow with the universe; and whatever comes along – death, life, joy, sadness – is grist for the mill of awakening,

Not this versus that

but whatever.”

                                                                                                  Ram Dass

“… I feel that risk-taking is one of the many things I myself have learned from experience…. Though I do not always live up to it, I have learned that basically there is nothing to be afraid of. When I present myself as I am, when I can just come forth non-defensively, without armour, just me – when I can accept the fact that I have many deficiencies and faults, make many mistakes, and am often ignorant when I should be knowledgeable, often prejudiced when I should be open-minded, often having feelings that are not justified by the circumstances – then I can be much more real.

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