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Words Of Wisdom: The Simple And Humble Aphorisms Of Marty Rubin

Jason Cooper — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:24:55 +0000

The great American poet Walt Whitman was a shining influence for Marty Rubin, who now produces great wisdom of his own in the form of aphorisms

My like-minded friend, Marty Rubin who is also known as nothingprofound on BlogCatalog, is a man of pure wisdom and creator of thought-provoking aphorisms which are, despite his alias, nothing but profound.

So without further ado, here I shall present you with a select few of Marty’s words of wisdom:

Whenever I do nothing I feel I’ve accomplished a lot.

What variety is to life, contradiction is to the mind.

The flea that doubts doesn’t jump nearly as high.

Water flows because it’s willing.

Looking in the mirror is seeing what other people see.

If it’s work you’re trying too hard.

To hate everything is to be wounded by everything.

The old philosophers knew so little; that’s why they were so wise.

The air lets the arrow pass right through.

In the wind, more leaves tremble than any theory can account for.

If the light’s not in you, you’re in the dark.

Someone told me the world is round, but I’m checking it out for myself.

Please take the time to visit Marty’s blogs Out Of Context: pieces of a life and Aphorism of the Day to sample more of his delightful aphorisms.

Spare a Thought For Those Who Suffer in the World

Jason Cooper — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:41:29 +0000

For those who wish to complain for every little thing in their lives, please spare a thought for those who are less well off than yourself.

Do you have a roof over your head?

Do you get to eat three square meals a day?

Do you have a nice warm bed to sleep in?

Are you in constant danger from being killed violently because of war or internal conflict in your country?

Are you in danger of losing everything you possess, including your family, because of a natural disaster?

If you can answer favourably to all the above questions, what right do you have to complain?

There are people, as you should all know by now, who have recently lost their home, possessions, and much more importantly, family in the Haiti earthquake.

Don’t you think they have a right to complain?

Let us also put the Haiti disaster in perspective and forget the media circus, false shows of sorrow and charitable events held by celebrities looking to be flavour of the month.

Have we forgotten that before the disaster Haiti was considered the poorest nation on earth, where people were living in abject poverty for all to see?

Where were the people and developed nations to help, and who are now, in aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, scrambling to get on TV to win the ‘Best Philanthropist of the Year Award 2010′?

Probably too busy complaining about: not being able to buy that car they have always wanted; not being able to go on holiday three times a year instead of the one; or even not being able to find a country they can invade and steal profitable resources from.

Then again, maybe I’m being a tad unfair in my criticisms of the people who are actually trying to help while I sit on my butt writing down my thoughts.

But in any case, let us also not forget the other disasters dispensed by the hands of nature and Man in other parts of the world.

Have you forgotten the continuous famine and civil wars that ravage the once mighty continent of Africa?

Every minute a baby dies in their mother’s weakened arms because of malnutrition or other preventable diseases.

What about the avoidable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Innocent people being slaughtered like cattle by supposed men of reason who use the folly of war to make a profit.

Don’t also forget the long and often deadly occupation of Palestine by the Israelis, where again, innocent men, women and children are either shot or blown to bits by inhuman acts of violence from both sides; Countless homes are bulldozed like a stack of cards by Israeli tanks who couldn’t care less for property much less the shattered lives of the owners themselves.

And the suffering and hardship goes on, and it’s the same the world over, no matter where you may choose to look.

But you will never choose to look, will you?

Why should you even pay any mind to other people’s misfortunes whilst you are safe in your precious and safe little bubble of superficiality.

Let me remind you that despite these people’s suffering they continue living the best way they can, displaying their hearts of courage to us privileged souls as an example on how to rise above devastating adversity – those of which that we can only but imagine.

The amazing thing about these people who continue to suffer daily are that most of them continue smiling with joy and rarely complain about what fate has chosen to give to them in their lives.

What great inspiration we can all take from these magnanimous human beings!

So always keep in mind on how fortunate you really are before you complain about every petty thing that happens in your life.

Please spare a thought, my friend, spare a thought.

I guarantee that will stop any complaints you may have in its tracks, and you will be instead thankful for the luxuries you have in your life when compared to the forgotten people who suffer and live in total privation.

Never forget – remove your ignorance.

This is your lesson for today and for life: To raise both your consciousness and conscience, so to live a more contented and compassionate life filled with much wisdom.

Will your Journey of Life take you Down the Road to Wisdom or Perdition?

Jason Cooper — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:05:18 +0000

Take the Road to Wisdom to Find a better Life

Wisdom, wisdom and more wisdom! How many more times must I spell out this simple but obscure six letter word that hides a beneficent gift to humankind.

The reason for encouraging you to attain this rare commodity, is because of the seemingly sad state of today’s superficial and ignorant world.

Whilst pursuing the things that we think will make us happy, paradoxically, they eventually serve to make us more miserable as we continue down the path of self-destruction.

Why not get off this ignorant path of perdition, my friend, and instead discover for yourself a pathless trail towards self-knowledge, self-improvement and limitless wisdom.

My Own Journey

I will forever be on this journey of self-discovery towards wisdom; of course I will make mistakes along the way and will stray off course from time to time – I am human after all – as the more I learn to know myself the more I become aware of how ignorant I actually am.

While I still have breath, I am determined that I will never retire from this most difficult of journeys, because every mile that I travel will provide me with a little improvement, bringing me that much closer to wisdom.

We all have opinions, and we are educated to believe that the attainment of knowledge will make all our dreams of so-called success come true. But to be frank with you, we don’t know a goddamn thing – especially of ourselves. This is where the problem lies with humankind – we continuously seek external solutions for inward problems.

We think to make ourselves happy and successful in life, one must have money, power, luxurious possessions, a celebrity image or social status. How wrong we are. Each and every one of those aforementioned man-made creations can eventually become self-defeating and can cause negative behaviour that we wish to avoid in the first place. We can become aggressively competitive, insecure, anxiety-ridden and worst of all, filled with fear of losing every external superficial baggage we have accumulated to make us feel secure.

So why can’t we see what we’ve become so we can then change for the better? You would think that with a bit of awareness and time to contemplate this current situation we find ourselves, we should then obviously see the path that we have presently chosen can lead us to disaster, and for the planet as a whole.

I’m guessing that common sense is not something that we’re all born with, and is as uncommon as seeing today’s world leaders having the wisdom to guide the people to “The Promised Land”.

Unfortunately, the way our society is run leads us to be continually on the run ourselves. Always distracted, without any time to spend with ourselves because we are all supposedly too busy and in too much of a rush to get somewhere – sadly, we go looking for answers to our problems everywhere else but ourselves.

Then again, maybe this is the reason why wisdom is so short in supply and so difficult to attain. As the ancient philosophers would say, “Wisdom is a much vaunted prize from the Gods! Where only a select few of seasoned competitors, who have trained hard in the sport of virtue, can lay claim to it once they pass all the tests of life. Upon receiving their prize their minds are then rewarded by being set free to ascend to the very heavens themselves.” Paradise at last reached – if only.

As for me, all I can do is to continue to learn from past mistakes and try to unravel the misguided thoughts in my mind which can create obstacles to my present growth, relationships and general well-being.

Most of my ignorance is probably self-inflicted or conditioned, but I know despite the root cause, I must aim to liberate my mind completely from “the burdens of yesterday” if I am to ever have the clarity and wisdom to live a peaceful and contented existence.

The following resonant quote has been very motivational for my personal journey towards emancipating my mind of destructive, negative conditioning,

“Truth is a pathless land’. Man cannot come to it through any organization, through any creed, through any dogma, priest or ritual, nor through any philosophical knowledge or psychological technique. He has to find it through the mirror of relationship, through the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation, and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection. Man has built in himself images as a sense of security—religious, political, personal. These manifest as symbols, ideas, beliefs. The burden of these dominates man’s thinking, relationships and his daily life. These are the causes of our problems for they divide man from man in every relationship.”

~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

I always make a point in saying to myself that “the biggest challenge in life will always be myself”. We are usually taught in everyday life that to be successful we must conquer every external obstacles that stands in our way. But they fail to tell us that the real obstacle in life is really ourselves – the very same self that can stop us from improving, being happy, or even achieving peace.

It may sound funny, but I think that if we really want to improve every facet of our lives we must aim to conquer ourselves first. The only enemy that threatens to imprison our minds is a jailer called ignorance.

With every question that you ask of yourself you will always find a truthful answer

I now continually ask the following philosophical questions to myself, those of which I will endeavour to answer in a future post:

Who am I?

What is the meaning of life?

Why do I get the feeling that there is more to life than we have been told?

Why do I feel that I have been conditioned with a false view of life?

How can I attain happiness in life?

Am I living superficially?

How can I live a more authentic life?

How do I live an honest and truthful life?

How am I to improve my character?

How am I to overcome adversity?

How am I to improve relationships?

How am I to live contentedly?

How am I to attain this wisdom?

What if all else fails what do I do then?

What I am now slowly discovering, as I contemplate where I stand in this mysterious life, is that philosophy and self-knowledge are the probable keys available for us to open both the doors of “the meaning of life” and “wisdom”.

So I suggest that you find some time out of your busy lives to ask the above questions to yourselves, as being aware of your own ignorance and attaining wisdom begins when you start to question how much you actually know about yourself and the life you presently live.

The Search for Meaning and Wisdom

I have read many a book written by the great philosophers who purport wisdom as a priceless thing to attain to guide our lives. I have watched many thought provoking videos and educating talks which discuss liberating the mind so we can live a more conscious life. I have also at the same time observed: the inner workings of my own mind, other human beings and the natural environment in which we all interact with each other.

Am I any closer to wisdom? I don’t know. But what I do know is that the one important lesson I have learned so far is to accept myself for who I am. Security is a much demanded comfort in this fear-ridden society – but external security is just an illusion. Being secure within yourself is the only security you will ever need to live a contented, confident and prosperous life.

It can be an empowering liberating force when one is secure within themselves and accepts all imperfections and weaknesses that they may have despite any outward pressures to conform or become superficial.

Once you embrace independence of mind you can take control of your life and drive it wherever you wish as long as you have a full tank of inspiration and motivation to keep you going. You should then be capable of reaching any destination you wish to visit, be it personal growth, self-knowledge or wisdom.

It is our one and only life to live after all, and nothing should constrict our ambitions of improving and being happy within ourselves once we become aware of who we are.

Always Apply what you have learned

Enough talking from me…time for us to apply the knowledge we have learned about ourselves so that we can make an active, positive and wise contribution to everything in our life.

It’s now time to get tough. We must see through all the bullshit and be real with ourselves and with others. No more false thoughts, or actions. Time to step up to plate and grab life by the reins and take control, because nobody else will live it for you. That is perhaps the wise thing we can all do.

If we are successful in gaining wisdom, and using it when a challenge suddenly arises, we can then leave this life in full knowledge that we lived a good and happy life, as we pass the “lamp of wisdom” onto the next generation so that they can then continue illuminating this planet to dispel the darkness of ignorance forever more…no matter how unlikely that may all sound.

And lastly, to my little boy: “Build your strength up, my son, especially of mind. As I prepare for you this wisdom that I will shortly pass on to you. Make me proud!”

Inspirational Quotes of Wisdom from the Minds of Wise Men

Jason Cooper — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 11:45:21 +0000

The following video contains some inspirational wisdom to reflect upon, so that with application you can change your life for the better.

I would just like to warn you men out there to restrain your lust and try not to get too distracted by the rather attractive female reciting the quotes, or you will miss something of greater value than just satisfying your desires.

If you are a man who is easily distracted by the opposite sex I recommend you to close your eyes and let your ears absorb the enlightening words for your mind and soul…just don’t fall in love with her seductive voice like I did.