Anybody can look at a pretty girl and see a pretty girl. An artist can look at a pretty girl and see the old woman she will become. A better artist can look at an old woman and see the pretty girl that she used to be. But a great artist-a master-and that is what Auguste Rodin was-can look at an old woman, portray her exactly as she is…and force the viewer to see the pretty girl she used to be…and more than that, he can make anyone with the sensitivity of an armadillo, or even you, see that this lovely young girl is still alive, not old and ugly at all, but simply prisoned inside her ruined body. He can make you feel the quiet, endless tragedy that there was never a girl born who ever grew older than eighteen in her heart…no matter what the merciless hours have done to her. Look at her, Ben. Growing old doesn’t matter to you and me; we were never meant to be admired-but it does to them.
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| — | Robert A. Heinlein (via nuaira) |
An attitude of self acceptance is essential to meditation. This begins with the mind; learning to accept everything that is happening within the mind-all the thoughts, all the feelings, whatever-and coming to terms with it. Any attitude of wanting to change or manipulate the mind, or enforce a different mind state constitutes non-acceptance and will lead to trouble. This makes sense if you think about it. If you had to live with someone who did not accept you as you were, but was always trying to change you, manipulate you, or mold you into their idea of what you should be, you would not like it and would eventually become rebellious. In the end your relationship with that person would be a bad one, full of conflict and tension. Working with the mind is the same, because the mind is what we think of as me or self. If there is no inner acceptance then there is no basis for inner harmony or peace.
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| — | Rob Nairn (via buddhistboer) |
