Tag: Alexandre Jollien

The “DIscreet Heroism of Everyday Life”

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In “The Principles of Uncertainty”, the illustrator, artist, and writer, Maira Kalman, writes of  the bravery needed to “take step after step” taking care “not to trip and yet” trip sometimes, “and then get up.”

In “The Fall”, Albert Camus writes that “in this world….Sometimes, carrying on, just carrying on, is the superhuman achievement.”

Alexandre Jollien observes (“In Search of Wisdom”) that

There is a discreet heroism of everyday life: getting up in the morning, being generous, facing difficulties without losing one’s joy.

Swami Vivekananda (“The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda”) tells us that if we “really want to judge of the character of a man”, we are better off looking not at “his great performances” but rather at his life every day. “Watch a man do his most common actions; those are indeed the things which will tell you the real character of a great man.”

Peace 🙂

Every moment could be a New Beginning

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Juan Mascaro ends the introduction to his translation of “The Bhagavad Gita” with words that are enshrined in my heart: “Every moment of our life can be the beginning of great things.”

As one reads Joy Harjo, the first Native American to be named the United States Poet Laureate, sing (in her poem “Praise the Rain”) “Praise beginnings….” , one hears her whisper between words that every moment is another opportunity to begin anew. 

The Irish poet-philosopher, John O’Donohue, writes in “Benedictus: A Book Of Blessings” that “our very life depends directly on continuous acts of beginning.” 

Photo by JOHN TOWNERon Unsplash

“There is nothing to fear in the act of beginning”, John joyfully goes on, because “the art of harvesting the secret riches of our lives is best achieved when we place profound trust in the act of beginning.”

In “In Search of Wisdom”, a solid-gold conversation between a  psychiatrist, philosopher, and monk, we read Alexandre Jollien observe that “every moment of life can become the occasion for liberation….”

Peace 🙂