The Official Website of Michael Corthell

The more that you begin to understand that you alone create the world you experience, the more critical it becomes for you to discover just what kind of person is doing the creating.

“Just like there's always time for pain, there's always time for healing.” ― Jennifer Brown Looking at the bigger picture. During the course of the year 2020 I finally realized(and accepted) that the entire human race is functionally insane...nuts...the cheese has always been sliding off our crackers.  But I also observed, and understood that many people have come to the same conclusion. That brings me hope, because to recognize our own insanity is, of course, the very beginning of sanity. It is the beginning of healing and transcendence. “As soon as healing takes place, go out and heal somebody else.” ― Maya Angelou

“The Simple Path” Silence is Prayer Prayer is Faith Faith is Love Love is Service The Fruit of Service is Peace ― Mother Teresa When the journey you're on lights up your soul, there's no standing still. Your feet touch the ground, but not for long. ''Do not follow where the path may lead.  Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.''   ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind,  because oneness is the secret of everything.” ― Swami Vivekananda A s a practical matter, if we want to preserve our planet's ability to provide a viable, life sustaining ecosystem, we all must come to understand that all lives are connected, and interrelated. We must understand that what we think, what we say, what we do, and what we believe has a corresponding effect on others, and the entire universe. “Technology is destructive only in the hands of people  who do not realize that they are one and the same process as the universe. ” ― Alan Watts

If we want positive things to happen, we should do positive things to make them happen. Voting for good, positive, empathic people is part of ensuring a better country, and a better world.  Bad people don't give a damn about good people  —  they care about themselves  —  they care about turning good people into bad people  —  they enjoy the pain caused in doing so.  Nothing comes from nothing and evil doesn't birth good.

“To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.” ― Marilyn vos Savant As the saying goes, we will believe it when we see it, or what we believe is what we see. If we take those idioms at face value, we had damn well look closely. AND take note: the act of observation changes the thing that was observed as well as the observer.  [That is quantum-ness !] “To see is to forget the name of the thing one sees.” ― Paul Valéry

 

“Your life must now run the course that's been set for it.” ― Kazuo Ishiguro The lucky few(in my view) who are fully woken and self-actualized just know what they're doing is the only thing to be doing. They believe that the world is conspiring all around them to make it happen, and not just giving them permission, but driving them in the direction they need to go, even giving them secret nods, winks and clear hand signals. Yes, these folks believe that fate is getting everything out of the way so they have the clearest path possible toward their destiny. “We are forced to fall back on fatalism as an explanation of irrational events (that is to say, events the reasonableness of which we do not understand).” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

Be the reason someone smiles. Be the reason someone feels loved,  and believes in the goodness in people. What people want, what they really need is kindness shown to them when they feel they don't deserve it. That simple act, of seemingly undeserved consideration, can start a chain reaction of kindness. Nothing so rewarding and important as to make people realize that they are worthwhile. That's how one act of charity can change the world, and put us on the path to peace. “You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson Kindness has no religion. Religions are narrow, but kindness is like a wide open sky.

Mindless fear is greater than mindful fear. “You can't possibly be afraid of death, really, you can only be afraid of life.” ― Carl R. Rogers Looking at graveyards is good. I think about all those lives that are recorded in eternity. It gives me perspective, I think about what's important in life. Thinking about all those lives and eternity is where I get most of my inspiration for wisdom and life. So, it would be wise to remember that everyone dies a day at a time. I think there's some equality in that truth. “Though we are terrorized by death, it's not different from birth, it just happens” ― Bangambiki Habyarimana

“Miracles surround us at every turn, if we but sharpen our perceptions to them.” ― Willa Cather I have to stop right here and inject some realism into the miracle discussion I'm presenting this morning. Let's consider this: When we read in the news that someone was saved from certain death by a strange set of circumstances, most will say, ''It was a miracle he wasn't killed.'' But, if someone is killed by some weird chain of events ― say oil was carelessly spilled, the safety device was turned off or broken ― that must also be a miracle. Just because it's a negative event doesn't mean it's not a miracle too. “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” ― Albert Einstein

“Intimacy is the capacity to be rather weird with someone - and finding that that's ok with them.” ― Alain de Botton In a committed, loving and intimate relationship two hearts grow together and wrap themselves around each other, so that they spiritually make one heart with one common thought. That's why separation is is so painful. “The opposite of Loneliness is not Togetherness , It's Intimacy” ― Richard Bach