As you know, the best way to solve a problem is to identify the core belief that causes the problem; then mock that belief until the people who hold it insist that you heard them wrong.
I never wanted to come off as self-important.
You can only really judge yourself in comparison to other people. How bad you are, but you're not as bad as someone else. So it's degrees of losing.
I was raised Irish Catholic, but I don't consider myself Irish Catholic: I consider myself me, an American.
A lot of people are not meant to be together.
I was raised Catholic until I was old enough to say no.
Hopefully as you get older you get more selfless. That would be probably a good goal. I don't know if we do, though.
The point of meditation is not merely to be an honest or good person in the conventional sense, trying only to maintain our security. We must begin to become compassionate and wise in the fundamental sense, open and relating to the world as it is.
It does seem like if you're an interesting person and you have endless amounts of money to indulge your fantasies, then those fantasies will be plagued with guilt about that level of indulgence. It really becomes a self-defeating exercise in pursuing hedonistic desires in any sort of normal or guiltless fashion.
The reason for our success is no secret. It comes down to one single principle that transcends time and geography, religion and culture. It’s the Golden Rule – the simple idea that if you treat people well, the way you would like to be treated, they will do the same.
What an encouragement to realize that God has reserved you and me for a special task in His great work. In His hands we're not only useful, but priceless.