Deanna

“Acting out of obligation, form or tradition is deadly, because giving up one's ability to act out of free choice is equivalent to giving up life itself.”
― Robert W. Firestone, The Fantasy Bond : Structure of Psychological Defenses

“We acquire a sense of worth either by realizing our talents, or by keeping busy, or by identifying ourselves with something apart from us--be it a cause, a leader, a group, possessions and the like. Of the three, the path of self-realization is the most difficult. It is taken only when other avenues to a sense of worth are more or less blocked. Men of talent have to be encouraged and goaded to engage in creative work. Their groans and laments echo through the ages. Action is a highroad to self-confidence and esteem.”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms

“Fundamental security comes from realizing that you have broken through something. You reflect back and realize that you used to be extraordinarily paranoid and neurotic, watching each step you made, thinking you might lose your sanity, that situations were always threatening in some way. Now you are free of all those fears and preconceptions. You discover that you have something to give rather than having to demand from others, having to grasp all the time. For the first time, you are a rich person, you contain basic sanity. You have something to offer, you are able to work with your fellow sentient beings, you do not have to reassure yourself anymore. Reassurance implies a mentality of poverty--you are checking yourself, "Do I have it? How could I do it?" But the bodhisattva's delight in his richness is based upon experience rather than theory or wishful thinking. It is so, directly, fundamentally. He is fundamentally rich and so can delight in generosity.”
― Chögyam Trungpa

“People who are self-denying and selfless have little to offer to others.”
― Robert W. Firestone, The Fantasy Bond : Structure of Psychological Defenses