Discernment

All ancient books which have once been called sacred by man, will have their lasting place in the history of mankind, and those who possess the courage, the perseverance, and the self-denial of the true miner, and of the true scholar, will find even in the darkest and dustiest shafts what they are seeking for,--real nuggets of thought, and precious jewels of faith and hope.

One must not attempt to justify them, but rather to sense their nature simply and clearly.

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.

One's first step in wisdom is to question everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything.

Discernment is about learning to separate truth from lies, illusion from reality, fantasy from facts. It is about learning the difference between: emotional truth and Spiritual Truth; emotional impulse and intuitive guidance; being victimized and feeling like a victim. It is about recognizing the difference between a person that can be trusted and one who will betray us - between a soul connection and a emotional attraction to a person who is emotionally unavailable.

There are many shining qualities on the mind of man; but none so useful as discretion. It is this which gives a value to all the rest, and sets them at work in their proper places, and turns them to the advantage of their possessor. Without it, learning is pedantry; wit, impertinence; virtue itself looks like weakness; and the best parts only qualify a man to be more sprightly in errors, and active to his own prejudice. Though a man has all other perfections and wants discretion, he will be of no great consequence in the world; but if he has this single talent in perfection, and but a common share of others, he may do what he pleases in his station of life.

 Asking the proper question is the central act of transformation!