Fear Is Often Humiliating, Because Once…

Fear is often humiliating, because once it is recognized as unfounded, one has to admit to wasting opportunities that will never come again. Then one thinks about how much one does not do because of this feeling which, if it is not cowardice, has an undesirable restrictive effect. No one feels at ease when faced with the image of a worse future; however, the means of glimpsing it are so precarious that it is almost always best not to worry.

It Takes a While to Understand That…

It takes a while to understand that one can only have, or rather, one can only pursue a small part of what one wants. And so it is necessary to prioritize, to choose. Then, curiously, one discovers that to limit oneself is to distinguish oneself, and that to stick to little is to reward oneself with greater satisfaction. It sounds like a small thing, but the difference is enormous between the average man and the one who has stripped himself of the unnecessary, become lighter and allowed himself to concentrate on what he truly wants.

In Fact, Life Would Be Impossible…

In fact, life would be impossible without the certainty of impermanence, which happens every day under the expectation that something can change. If change is possible, action is also possible. And even if awareness sometimes fails, reality soon tries to restore it, shattering what seemed stable and prompting movement once again. No matter how long a man lives, he is always granted the condition to change.

The Best Way for the Student to Retain…

The best way for the student to retain the content he has just learned is to explain it, however partially or imperfectly. Teachers and students know this, which is why it is common practice. However, it is also clear that in doing so, if one doesn’t see it as a mere exercise, one risks arbitrating on knowledge that has not yet been consolidated, and naturally one makes mistakes, and a lot of them. The curious thing is that this seems to be a necessary process, and we often come across the connoisseur who, years before, had wandered far from where knowledge had taken him. Mastering a subject is perhaps no more than intimately gathering the arsenal of errors that surround it.