This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Only a goal that transcends the self and reaches beyond this world can create a true state of happiness in a person.
The goal itself cannot be the meaning. It might be a potential cause or source of meaning… the cause of happiness is not what happiness consists in.
Vauvenargues, Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues NULL
People find happiness both in wisdom and folly, virtue and vice. Contentment is no index of true worth.
Contentment | Folly | People | Virtue | Virtue | Wisdom | Worth | Happiness |
There is a difference between happiness and enjoyment. Happiness is the result of pursuing a goal. Pursuit of the goal generates an energizing sense of purpose. Enjoyment, on the other hand, is an immediate sensation of pleasure; a person can enjoy a piece of cake, a piece of art, a good joke – it gives pleasure but then passes.
Art | Enjoyment | Good | Pleasure | Purpose | Purpose | Sense | Happiness |
Eckhart Tolle, born Ulrich Leonard Tolle
The Master responds to falsehood and truth, bad news and good news, inexactly the same way: “Is that so?” He allows the form of the moment, good or bad, to be as it is and so does not become a participant in human drama. To him there is only this moment, and this moment is as it is. Events are not personalized. He is nobody’s victim. He is so completely at one with what happens that what happens has no power over him anymore. Only if you resist what happens are you at the mercy of what happens, and the world will determine your happiness and unhappiness.
Events | Falsehood | Good | Mercy | News | Power | Truth | Unhappiness | Will | World | Happiness |
We believe that humanity stands at the threshold of its next great leap. However, our success in making this transition depends on our willingness to develop a greater vision and a clearer sense of responsibility for one another. Understanding and articulating the nature and dynamics of consciousness is key to achieving this new vision.
Consciousness | Humanity | Nature | Responsibility | Sense | Success | Understanding | Vision |
In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard our own self, and should therefore refrain from inflicting upon others such injury as would appear undesirable to us if inflicted upon ourselves.
When you are fearful or frantic, you literally immobilize yourself from your greatest potential, not to mention enjoyment. Any success you do have is despite your fear, not because of it.
John Whitmore, fully Sir John Whitmore
All instruction, all criticism, every reduction in choice, every manifestation of hierarchy, every act of secrecy subtly lowers people’s self-belief. Coaching, trust, openness, respect, authentic praise, freedom of choice and, of course, success raise it.
Belief | Choice | Criticism | Freedom | Openness | People | Praise | Respect | Secrecy | Self | Success | Trust |