Desire, again

Our desires are narrow, specific, repetitive and opportunistic. We conform to them, not they to us. There’s no benignity in a desire. After a while we start to look like what we want.

Conditioned behaviour

In an adulterated and inadvertent sort of life, there’s a tendency for a man’s past to make his decisions for him. Actually, it’s amazing (not too strong a word!) when this doesn’t happen.

The wisdom of an empty mind

The majority of men who come for counselling aren’t ready to be counselled.

By striking contrast, the exceptional few, rudely awakened to what they don’t know.

The most difficult to work with? Intellectuals.

Surprise!

Life is a series of surprises. They wake us up, surprises do. If it weren’t for surprises, we’d be cocooned in our own conditioning, wrapped in our habits, mummified in memory, made dull and robotic through endless repetition. See, we measure our liveliness by what we shed, in moments of realizing, ‘I’m done with that.’

Bullocks

If a man uses his freedom to pursue more pleasures and accumulate more possessions, then he is not really free. He is as conditioned, as enslaved and compliant, as the miller’s ox.