Simona's Wisdom Page

Compassion leads to freedom of discovering your voice, your gifts, and your purpose.

A human being is part of the whole called by us 'universe', a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self [ego]. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive.

What cannot be achieved in one lifetime will happen when one lifetime is joined to another.

I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.

If a book be false in its facts, disprove them; if false in its reasoning, refute it. But for God's sake, let us freely hear both sides if we choose.

For happiness one needs security, but joy can spring like a flower even from the cliffs of despair.

from Rev. Christopher Chenoweth: "I have said, many times, there are two types of people in this world, vacuums and sprinklers." from -Tirukkural - "What is virtuous conduct? It is never destroying life, for killing leads to every other sin. Of all virtues summed by ancient sages, the foremost are to share one's food and to protect all living creatures." from Swami Vivekananda - "Whenever darkness comes, assert the reality and everything adverse must vanish. For, after all, it is but a dream. Mountain high though the difficulties appear... they are but maya. Fear not - it is banished. Crush it and it vanishes... Go forward. Assert yourself again and again and light must come." from Plato – "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. " from Jimi Hendrix – “Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens."

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

Self-knowledge is the first step to maturity. ~Pride and Prejudice~

My work has continually brought me back to the notion of compassion. Whichever religious tradition I study, I find at the heart of it is the idea of feeling with the other, experiencing with the other, compassion. And every single one of the major world religions has developed its own version of the Golden Rule. Don't do to others what you would not like them to do to you. . . . Compassion doesn't mean feeling sorry for people. It doesn't mean pity. It means putting yourself in the position of the other, learning about the other. Learning what's motivating the other, learning about their grievances.