We MUST Choose “This above all: to thine own self be true.” – Shakespeare, “Hamlet” Yes, but what part of thine own self to be true to? What’s best in oneself? Or what’s less—sometimes even much much less—than best in one’s self? “For human beings, there is a possibility of making a choice of influences; [...]
The following story is adapted from Pema Chödrön, “The Wisdom of No Escape,” pg. 29. Once upon a time there was a woman who was arrogant and proud. She decided she wanted to attain enlightenment, so she asked all the experts how to do that. Finally one told her, “Well, if you climb to the [...]
In attempting this psychological presentation and a psychopathological explanation of the typical characteristics of a concentration camp inmate, I may give the impression that the human being is completely and unavoidably influenced by his surroundings. (In this case the surroundings being the unique structure of camp life, which forced the prisoner to conform his conduct [...]
[E]very time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into [...]
