If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought,
pain follows him,
as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.

The Dhammapada - Chapter 1, Verse 1
(Translated by Friedrich Max Müller)
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Buddhism was the second religion that spoke to me, perhaps because it didn’t have a deity and I was agnostic at the time I found it (though now a believer in God). It seemed there were more practical applications to improve your time here on earth, rather than rules and traditions that might allow you to avoid burning in a fiery afterlife.

I’ve had an on-again, off-again relationship with meditation over the years, but a recent discovery of the sensory deprivation tank has taken that practice to a new level. I would highly recommend trying it. Don’t draw the cart of pain as an ox burdened with evil thoughts.