Strive to Ask More Insightful Questions

 

A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.
- Francis Bacon

There are no right answers to wrong questions.
- Ursula K. Le Guin

To raise new questions, new possibilities,
to regard old problems from a new angle,
requires creative imagination.
- Albert Einstein

The True Insight is in the Choice of Questions.
When you keep getting the wrong answers,
try asking better questions.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
[For example, instead of asking "how can I win this battle," consider asking "how can I avoid this battle."]

A good question is never answered.
It is not a bolt to be tightened into place
but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed
toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea.
- John Ciardi

When we have arrived at the question,
the answer is already near.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Well, you ask a silly question, and you get a silly answer.
- Tom Lehrer

We thought that we had the answers,
it was the questions we had wrong.
- Bono

Today's affirmation: I question my questions.

Further reading:  Profound Questions

Many Answers

A Better Plan

What You See

Learn to Listen

Seek the Truth
      

Try a new way of looking at things

 

One's destination is never a place but rather a new
way of looking at things.
- Henry Miller

Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life.
- Burton Hills

Life is a continuity always and always.
There is no final destination it is going towards.
Just the pilgrimage, just the journey in itself is life,
not reaching to some point,
no goal - just dancing and being in pilgrimage,
moving joyously, without bothering about any destination.
- Osho

I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life
as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.
- Joseph Campbell

What I am looking for is not out there, it is in me.
- Helen Keller

Further reading: Purpose and Direction

Through the Eyes of Another

Where You're Going
    

Stop Deceiving Yourself

 

 You can't know your real mind as long as you deceive yourself.
- Bodhidharma

He who knows others is wise.
He who knows himself is enlightened.
- Lao Tzu

Find out what you don't want to know about yourself,
what you're afraid of.
- Linda Evans

How strange that, although we dwell within ourselves,
we seldom know what we truly want
or what we truly believe about important matters.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.
- Benjamin Spock

Further reading: At the center of your being you have the answer

Be Simply Yourself

Know Thyself

Follow Your Bliss
      

Contemplate Existence...

 

I remind you, as I often do, that these daily emails are intended to inspire deep thinking about the subject matter, and not to dictate answers intended to satisfy everyone's individual needs and perspectives.

The world is perfect.
It's a mess. It has always been a mess.
We are not going to change it.
Our job is to straighten out our own lives.
- Joseph Campbell

The world is perfect.
As you question your mind, this becomes more and more obvious.
Mind changes, and as a result, the world changes.
A clear mind heals everything that needs to be healed.
It can never be fooled into believing that there is one speck out of order.
- Byron Katie

Your life within God's arms,
Your dance within God's arms,
Is already Perfect!
- Hafiz

If you want something to be different than it is,
you might as well teach a cat to bark.
Wanting something to be different than it is, is hopeless.
- Byron Katie

It is not our place to know the mind of God.
Spirit knows what is best in the long run -
best for each of us individually,
and best for humanity as a whole.
This is often very difficult to accept
when we see war and disease in the world
and experience physical and emotional suffering
in ourselves, our family, and our friends.
I consider this belief in God's infinite power
and ultimate wisdom to be the true test of faith.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

What does it mean to say "the world is perfect" when clearly the world is full of suffering?
For someone who believes that God is both omnipotent (infinitely powerful) and omnibenevolent (infinitely good), the world MUST be perfect because an omnipotent omnibenevolent God would by definition create a perfect world -- and if we mortals do not see this world as perfect, it must be our own failure of perception (for example, accomplishing God's longer term goal for the world). See the Wikipedia article on the "Problem of Evil" for more on this.

For those who don't believe there is a God (or believe in multiple gods), the world is "perfect" simply because this is the way it is. We can change the world over time, but at this exact instant, the world is as it is, and the "perfect" way for it to be right now. This viewpoint eliminates the suffering associated with demanding that the world be different than it is. Read more at Byron Katie - No one can give you freedom but you.
     

Cultivate Perspective

Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Perspective is a Prerequisite to Wisdom.
One cannot have wisdom without perspective,
but once gaining perspective, one attains wisdom.
Wisdom is the ability to view every situation
as each person who is in any way affected
by that situation might view it.
Wisdom benefits from having a knowledge of history,
and therefore a historical perspective,
as well from as having the perspective of imagination -
the realm of the what-might-be
inhabited by futurists and science-fiction writers.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading:
Martin Luther King, Jr. - Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

Martin Luther King, Jr. - If a man is called to be a street sweeper...

Martin Luther King, Jr. - Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.

Martin Luther King, Jr. quote: Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter

 

Repetition can be a choice, but often it isn't

 

Habit and routine have an unbelievable power to waste and destroy.
- Henri de Lubac

Life is defined more by its risks than by its samenesses.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history
to wait for the train of the future to run over him.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Beware of monotony; it's the mother of all the deadly sins.
- Edith Wharton

Repetition can be a choice, but often it isn't.
The athlete or pianist who practices the same routine
day after day, year after year, has their eye on a goal.
The unending repetition is a conscious choice
in the pursuit of a life dream.
But what about the sameness of most lives?
Observe the morning commute, the after-work drink,
the Sunday football game or religious service -
how many of those people are consciously following their dream,
training their mind, body, and spirit through that daily repetition?
And how many are mindlessly slogging through each day
out of habit and boredom?
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Curious - Adventurous

The Myth of Security

The Power of Courage
           

See the miraculous in the commonplace

 

It is always the simple that produces the marvelous.

- Amelia Barr

The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

See beauty in unexpected places.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.
- Aristotle

Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.
- Bill Moyers

There is beauty and adventure in the commonplace
for those with eyes to see beyond.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Prepare to See Unexpected Beauty

Things Divine

Simple Joys

Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now
  

Be a Master of Patience

 

A person who is a master of patience is master of everything else.
- George Savile [paraphrase]

A tree that is unbending, is easily broken.
- Lao Tzu

When you encounter difficulties and contradictions,
do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time.
- Saint Francis de Sales

Resistance creates suffering. Stress happens when your mind resists what is...
The only problem in your life is your mind's resistance to life as it unfolds.
- Dan Millman

Do not attempt to conquer the world with force,
for force only causes resistance.
- Lao Tzu

Read the Aesop fable The Oak and the Reeds

Further reading: The Secret of Happiness

The River of Life

Enjoy the Journey     

Curiosity is Key to Science

 

Science is a way of thinking
much more than it is a body of knowledge.
- Carl Sagan

The ultimate court of appeal is observation and experiment...
not authority.
- Thomas Huxley

What is a scientist after all?
It is a curious man looking through a keyhole,
the keyhole of nature, trying to know what's going on.
- Jacques Yves Cousteau

The scientist is motivated primarily by curiosity
and a desire for truth.
- Irving Langmuir

All truths are easy to understand
once they are discovered;
the point is to discover them.
- Galileo Galilei

The saddest aspect of life right now
is that science gathers knowledge faster
than society gathers wisdom.
- Isaac Asimov

Further reading: Understand More, Fear Less

Seek the Truth

Analysis AND Emotion

Stroke of Insight - Jill Bolte Taylor
    

Spur for Inquiry

 

What is my purpose in sending these Daily Quotes and Inspirations, as I have been doing since 2008?
Some of these messages are intended to provide a small measure of comfort, but most of these messages are intended to challenge my readers to deeper thinking.

Short quotations/aphorisms are by their nature incomplete, and almost always present only one side of an issue. Long-time readers will also notice that I often present quotations that contradict each other - for example, some exhort the reader to work harder/smarter while others encourage placing a relatively low priority on work.

My hope is that these daily messages will get you thinking about new ideas. Let's take these aphorisms as a spur for inquiry. Let those ideas with which you disagree start you thinking, talking and questioning, but also let the comfortable, familiar, and inspiring quotes become a source of questioning. Remember that our comfortable inspiring quotes are also never 100% true in all situations. Open Minds - Open Hearts. Thank you for reading these daily messages.
Read more about this at Inspirational/Motivational Quotes - Spur for Inquiry

Beware of false knowledge;
it is more dangerous than ignorance.
- George Bernard Shaw

Look for what is,
and not for what you think should be.
- Albert Einstein [paraphrase]

What is a scientist after all?
It is a curious man looking through a keyhole,
the keyhole of nature, trying to know what's going on.
- Jacques Yves Cousteau

Intense feeling too often obscures the truth.
- Harry S. Truman

All truths are easy to understand
once they are discovered;
the point is to discover them.
- Galileo Galilei

Do not limit yourself to either analysis or emotion.
Look deeply into the DNA of its seeds,
AND appreciate the intoxicating grandeur of the forest.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Be a Seeker

Lifelong Learning

Inquiry

Conscious Learning

Discovery
    

Life is Complex and Filled with Contradictions

 

Willingly accept the complexity and the contradictions of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

You didn't get stamped out of a mold. You aren't a "black person" or a "white person," a "fat person" or a "skinny person," a "bad person" or a "good person." You are a highly complex human being with emotions, beliefs, capabilities. Each day you face challenges to your health, relationships, finances, and world-view -- and every day you respond to those challenges in ways which are unique to you.

Honor and love all of your unique self. Never diminish yourself with self-applied labels or categorizations.

Actions are always more complex and nuanced than they seem.
We have to be willing to wrestle with paradox in pursuing understanding.
- Harold Evans

True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize
how little we understand about life,
ourselves, and the world around us.
- Socrates

For every complex problem,
there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
- H. L. Mencken

I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma,
a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own
mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.
- Umberto Eco

Further reading: All Life is Paradox

Lessons from Life

Stand Rapt in Awe
      

Be Truly Conscious; Don't Make Assumptions

 

Be aware of what is going on around you today - truly conscious.
Don't make assumptions. Focus on looking behind the obvious.
Make a conscious effort to observe life objectively,
and to avoid the natural tendency to see only
what you are expecting to see.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say.
I just watch what they do.
- Andrew Carnegie

Be an Observer of Life.
Gaining wisdom from carefully observing life
is not a substitute for action -
it is a prerequisite for informed action.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Your work is to discover your world
and then with all your heart give yourself to it.
- The Buddha

The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.
- Marcel Proust

Today's Affirmation:
I am a Passionate Observer of Life.
I See the events, feel the emotions,
and recognize the difference.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: New Eyes

What You See

Lifelong Learning
      

The Miraculous in the Common

The enlightened give thanks for what most people take for granted.
- Michael Beckwith

The invariable mark of wisdom is to
see the miraculous in the common.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

A thankful heart is the greatest virtue.
- Cicero

Today's affirmation:
I find joy and inspiration in the commonplace
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Commonplace

Simple Pleasures

Beauty is Everywhere
    

Wisdom via Humor

The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all
is the person who argues with him.
- Stanislaw Jerszy Lec

Always listen to the experts.
They'll tell you what can't be done and why.
Then do it.
- Robert Heinlein

Money won't make you happy...
but everybody wants to find out for themselves.
- Zig Ziglar

The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on.
It is never of any use to oneself.
- Oscar Wilde

A remark generally hurts in proportion to its truth.
- Will Rogers

The most difficult phase of life is not when no one understands you,
it is when you don't understand yourself.
- Anonymous

Further reading: Taking Ourselves Less Seriously

Sense of Humor

The Problem with Advice

Too Serious?

Cute Wisdom
    

Ask More Questions, Ask Deeper Questions

A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.
- Francis Bacon

There are no right answers to wrong questions.
- Ursula K. Le Guin

To raise new questions, new possibilities,
to regard old problems from a new angle,
requires creative imagination.
- Albert Einstein

The True Insight is in the Choice of Questions.
When you keep getting the wrong answers,
try asking better questions.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
[For example, instead of asking "how can I win this battle," consider asking "how can I avoid this battle."]

A good question is never answered.
It is not a bolt to be tightened into place
but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed
toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea.
- John Ciardi

When we have arrived at the question,
the answer is already near.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Well, you ask a silly question, and you get a silly answer.
- Tom Lehrer

We thought that we had the answers,
it was the questions we had wrong.
- Bono

Today's affirmation: I question my questions.

Further reading:  Profound Questions

Many Answers

A Better Plan

What You See

Learn to Listen

Seek the Truth
      

Change How You Look at Things

One's destination is never a place but rather a new
way of looking at things.
- Henry Miller

Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life.
- Burton Hills

Life is a continuity always and always.
There is no final destination it is going towards.
Just the pilgrimage, just the journey in itself is life,
not reaching to some point,
no goal - just dancing and being in pilgrimage,
moving joyously, without bothering about any destination.
- Osho

I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life
as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.
- Joseph Campbell

What I am looking for is not out there, it is in me.
- Helen Keller

Further reading: Purpose and Direction

Through the Eyes of Another

Where You're Going
    

He who knows himself is enlightened

 You can't know your real mind as long as you deceive yourself.
- Bodhidharma

He who knows others is wise.
He who knows himself is enlightened.
- Lao Tzu

Find out what you don't want to know about yourself,
what you're afraid of.
- Linda Evans

How strange that, although we dwell within ourselves,
we seldom know what we truly want
or what we truly believe about important matters.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.
- Benjamin Spock

Further reading: At the center of your being you have the answer

Be Simply Yourself

Know Thyself

Follow Your Bliss
      

The Nature and the Meaning of Life...

I remind you, as I often do, that these daily emails are intended to inspire deep thinking about the subject matter, and not to dictate answers intended to satisfy everyone's individual needs and perspectives.

The world is perfect.
It's a mess. It has always been a mess.
We are not going to change it.
Our job is to straighten out our own lives.
- Joseph Campbell

The world is perfect.
As you question your mind, this becomes more and more obvious.
Mind changes, and as a result, the world changes.
A clear mind heals everything that needs to be healed.
It can never be fooled into believing that there is one speck out of order.
- Byron Katie

Your life within God's arms,
Your dance within God's arms,
Is already Perfect!
- Hafiz

If you want something to be different than it is,
you might as well teach a cat to bark.
Wanting something to be different than it is, is hopeless.
- Byron Katie

It is not our place to know the mind of God.
Spirit knows what is best in the long run -
best for each of us individually,
and best for humanity as a whole.
This is often very difficult to accept
when we see war and disease in the world
and experience physical and emotional suffering
in ourselves, our family, and our friends.
I consider this belief in God's infinite power
and ultimate wisdom to be the true test of faith.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

What does it mean to say "the world is perfect" when clearly the world is full of suffering?
For someone who believes that God is both omnipotent (infinitely powerful) and omnibenevolent (infinitely good), the world MUST be perfect because an omnipotent omnibenevolent God would by definition create a perfect world -- and if we mortals do not see this world as perfect, it must be our own failure of perception (for example, accomplishing God's longer term goal for the world). See the Wikipedia article on the "Problem of Evil" for more on this.

For those who don't believe there is a God (or believe in multiple gods), the world is "perfect" simply because this is the way it is. We can change the world over time, but at this exact instant, the world is as it is, and the "perfect" way for it to be right now. This viewpoint eliminates the suffering associated with demanding that the world be different than it is. Read more at Byron Katie - No one can give you freedom but you.
     

Perspective is a Prerequisite to Wisdom

Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Perspective is a Prerequisite to Wisdom.
One cannot have wisdom without perspective,
but once gaining perspective, one attains wisdom.
Wisdom is the ability to view every situation
as each person who is in any way affected
by that situation might view it.
Wisdom benefits from having a knowledge of history,
and therefore a historical perspective,
as well from as having the perspective of imagination -
the realm of the what-might-be
inhabited by futurists and science-fiction writers.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading:
Martin Luther King, Jr. - Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

Martin Luther King, Jr. - If a man is called to be a street sweeper...

Martin Luther King, Jr. - Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.

Martin Luther King, Jr. quote: Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter

Beware of Monotony

Habit and routine have an unbelievable power to waste and destroy.
- Henri de Lubac

Life is defined more by its risks than by its samenesses.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history
to wait for the train of the future to run over him.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Beware of monotony; it's the mother of all the deadly sins.
- Edith Wharton

Repetition can be a choice, but often it isn't.
The athlete or pianist who practices the same routine
day after day, year after year, has their eye on a goal.
The unending repetition is a conscious choice
in the pursuit of a life dream.
But what about the sameness of most lives?
Observe the morning commute, the after-work drink,
the Sunday football game or religious service -
how many of those people are consciously following their dream,
training their mind, body, and spirit through that daily repetition?
And how many are mindlessly slogging through each day
out of habit and boredom?
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Curious - Adventurous

The Myth of Security

The Power of Courage