LM

“When I say “nations,” I mean “armed marketplaces.” Always.”
― Kaveh Akbar, Martyr!

“A great soul like Buddha or Jesus wasn't just a lamp at the door; they were beacons. You and I may feel smaller than Buddha or Jesus, yet that is an opinion formed by out own egos. Spirituality, all the light being expressed through a human begin is equal, at least in terms of quantity. Why? Because light is a metaphor for the power of consciousness. Everyone's consciousness draws from the same underlying reality.”
― Deepak Chopra, Peace Is the Way: Bringing War and Violence to an End

“It feels so American to discount dreams because they’re not built of objects, of things you can hold and catalogue and then put in a safe. Dreams give us voices, visions, ideas, mortal terrors, and departed beloveds. Nothing counts more to an individual, or less to an empire.”
― Kaveh Akbar, Martyr!

“The performance of certainty seemed to be at the root of so much grief. Everyone in America seemed to be afraid and hurting and angry, starving for a fight they could win. And more than that even, they seemed certain their natural state was to be happy, contented, and rich. The genesis of everyone’s pain had to be external, such was their certainty. And so legislators legislated, building border walls, barring citizens of there from entering here. “The pain we feel comes from them, not ourselves,” said the banners, and people cheered, certain of all the certainty. But the next day they’d wake up and find that what had hurt in them still hurt.”
― Kaveh Akbar, Martyr!