“Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider.” Quote by Francis Bacon
“If you come across an insane person who's talking gibberish, you can't make any sense of it at all and that would be one way that enlightenment is different. If you read Dogen, a lot of his stuff is very strange and is coming from a different place than what we're used to, but at the same time, it's not senseless ramblings and that's part of what attracted me to Dogen. I didn't get it, but it was sane. It's not some guy raving about UFO's or Moses living in his bathtub, it's was actually something sane that I just didn't get, if that makes sense?” IfsWayPersonsDifferentWould BeUsedGuyStuffTalkingStrangeEnlightenmentInsaneOne WayMake SenseSaneMosesUfoDifferent PlaceBathtubsRamblingInsane Person Author:Brad Warner
“I think the understanding of oneness and interconnectivity of the whole Universe is something we have innately, something we're born with. We are however very skillful at ignoring and pretending we don't have or know it.” ThinkingKnowsWholeUniverseUnderstandingBornOnenessPretendingSkillful Author:Brad Warner
“So when we come across somebody who does understand this and makes an effort to try and explain it to us, some people freak out and turn that person into either an object of worship or, some people freak out and want to kill that person. I think it's because they know what's true but they don't want to know, they don't want to face up to what that actually means. So they're going to kill the messenger and hope that by doing so they'll destroy the message so they can go back to living their ordinary life again.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWantTryingMeanPersonsDoeFacesTurnsEffortObjectsWorshipMessagesOrdinaryFreakMessengersOrdinary Life Author:Brad Warner
“The obvious example would be Jesus. Jesus is an object of fascination for me. He's an interesting historical character because we don't know much about him. He seems to be a guy who was in touch with something deeper than most people around him were and someone who was very concerned with trying to communicate that.” PeopleKnowsTryingCharacterSeemsWould BeGuyJesusInterestingExampleObjectsConcernedHistoricalObviousCommunicateDeeperFascination Author:Brad Warner
“Jesus was probably a guy who thought, "This thing that I've discovered can save the world and everybody is miserable without it." So he was probably a very kind and giving person and thought he had to give it to people, even if it killed him. He had to make sure they got the message, and he paid the ultimate price as they say due to his insistence.” PeopleIfsWorldGivingKindPersonsGuyJesusMessagesUltimatePaidDuesMiserableSave The WorldInsistence Author:Brad Warner
“If he'd [Jesus] been a little more concerned for his own safety and well being he may have toned things down a little bit and probably at best he'd be remembered as a Rabbi who said some cool things but that nobody really reads anymore. There's tons of them.” IfsWellsMayLittlesSaidJesusBitsLittle BitConcernedSafetyWell BeingRememberedCool ThingsRabbi Author:Brad Warner
“So it's a dangerous thing and conversely, the other thing I mentioned in that post was that people see guys who are kind of in touch with that and become famous for it and then think maybe they can get in on it. Maybe they're not quite as cynical as that and there's some sincerity about them, but they don't really get it so they just imitate what they've seen from people who've done it before and of course you can make big money that way.” PeopleThinkingWayKindDoneBigsGuyCoursesDangerousPostsSincerityCynicalDangerous Things Author:Brad Warner
“The thing with the question of oneness or non-oneness is that you can literally discuss it forever. You can go into the philosophy section of any library and you'll see people have been discussing it forever and will continue to do so.” PeopleHas BeensPhilosophyForeverLibraryOnenessSectionsDiscussing Author:Brad Warner
“The fact is that there is a contradiction going on but our brains don't like contradiction. So when Moe hits Curly on the head with a sledgehammer and Curly says, "ow" and Moe says, "Serves you right Numbskull", you can say that's because they're separate beings, and that's true.” FactsBrainContradiction Author:Brad Warner
“There's also an aspect which I tried to express yesterday by saying the same "something" that looks out through Curlys eyes is also the same exact thing which looks out of Moe's eyes, and that's harder for people to grasp. So the thing is, you have to find a way to ultimately embrace both sides or else you can't function. If you only embrace the side of pure oneness then you end up sort of spacing out and sitting under a blanket.” PeopleIfsWayLooksEndsEyeSidesPureSittingAspectFunctionHarderEmbraceYesterdayOnenessBoth SidesBlanketSpacing Author:Brad Warner