Words&Dirt

“‘You’re growing up. Maybe that’s it,’ he said softly. ‘Sometimes I think the world tests us most sharply then, and we turn inward and watch ourselves with horror. But that’s not the worst. We think everybody is seeing into us. Then dirt is very dirty and purity is shining white. Aron, it will be over. Wait only a little while and it will be over. That’s not much relief to you because you don’t believe it, but it’s the best I can do for you. Try to believe that things are neither so good nor so bad as they seem to you now.'”

––East of Eden, by John Steinbeck, pg. 489

“Only during this decade has neuroimaging research shown that attention and Self––seemingly joined at the hip like twins––still represent functions that can pull in opposite directions. In fact, when we normally shift attention toward the external world, what effect does this shift have on our ever-dominant Self-centeredness? It usually diminishes it in an almost reciprocal, seesaw manner.”

––Meditating Selflessly: Practical Neural Zen, by James H. Austin, pg. 6