This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Paul Tillich, fully Paul Johannes Tillich
Loneliness expresses the pain of being alone and solitude expresses the glory of being alone.
Paul Tillich, fully Paul Johannes Tillich
Our language has wisely sensed these two sides of man are being alone. It has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word solitude to express the glory of being alone. Although, in daily life, we do not always distinguish these words, we should do so consistently and thus deepen our understanding of our human predicament.
Distinguish | Glory | Language | Loneliness | Man | Pain | Solitude | Understanding |
Tis not where we lie but whence we fell; the loss of Heaven's the greatest pain in Hell.
Love is much like a dam; if you allow a tiny crack to form through which only a trickle of water can pass, that trickle will quickly bring down the whole structure and soon no one will be able to control the force of the current… Certain things in life simply have to be experienced -and never explained. Love is such a thing. Love is the most powerful love can manifest its weakness. Anyway, if my love is real (and not just how to distract themselves, deceive themselves, and so for the time-something that always seems to stand still in the city-well lapse) , then freedom will conquer jealousy and any pain that it caused me, because pain is a natural part of the process. Anyone who has played sports knows this: if you want to achieve your goals, you must be prepared to undergo the discomfort every day, that is the pain and discomfort. Initially, it can be devastating and gradually fade motivated action, but at the same time you find it again is a receptor during the good things, and when that time comes, if you do not feel pain, you will have a feeling that the exercise does not work as expected.
Control | Force | Freedom | Good | Jealousy | Life | Life | Love | Pain | Time | Will | Work |
Pema Chödrön, born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown
To lead a life that goes beyond pettiness and prejudice and always wanting to make sure that everything turns out on our own terms, to lead a more passionate, full, and delightful life than that, we must realize we can endure a lot of pain and pleasure for the sake of finding out who we are and what this world is.
Pema Chödrön, born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown
When we start out on a spiritual path we often have ideals we think we're supposed to live up to. We feel we're supposed to be better than we are in some way. But with this practice you take yourself completely as you are. Then ironically, taking in pain - breathing it in for yourself and all others in the same boat as you are - heightens your awareness of exactly where you're stuck.
Awareness | Better | Ideals | Pain | Practice | Awareness | Think |
If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it is lethal… If you understand life you need a reality check… If you want to achieve your objectives, you have to be prepared for a daily dose of pain or discomfort. At first, it's unpleasant and demotivating, but in time you come to realize that it’s part of the process of feeling good, and the moment arrives when, if you don't feel pain, you have a sense that the exercises aren't having the desired effect… In order to have faith in his own path, a warrior does not need to prove that someone else's path is wrong… In order for us to liberate the energy of our strength, our weakness must first have a chance to reveal itself.
Adventure | Chance | Energy | Faith | Life | Life | Need | Order | Pain | Reality | Sense | Time | Weakness | Think | Understand |
Do not get used to it because it is easy to become a habit, it is a powerful drug. It is in the everyday life of us, in the suffering that we try to cover it, the sacrifices we make, blaming love for the breakup of their dreams. The pain was terrible when it displays its true face, but it temptation, appealing as it is disguised as a sacrifice or self-denial or cowardice. However, the more denial, as we found a way to exist with it, with the courtship of it and turn it into a part of our lives. I do not believe it. No one wants to suffer at all. If I think I could live without pain, that would be a big step, but do not imagine that others will understand me. Yes, the truth is that no one wants to suffer, even those who are still looking for pain and sacrifice there, but they feel they are reasonable, clearly there, and they are receiving the respect of human so, husbands, neighbors, and even God. Now we do not think about it anymore; everything you need to know is how to control this world spinning, not a journey in search of pleasure, but forget their sacrifice for all, that's important. There must a soldier participating in war is to kill the enemy or not? No, he left to sacrifice for the fatherland. Having a wife wants her husband to find himself not happy how? No, she wants her husband saw how sincere she endured as to how to make him happy. There must be a husband to do because they think he will find the fully meet individual needs in the workplace? No, he's brought the sweat and tears of the fine in exchange for peace to the family. And so life there are boys abandon their dreams to please their parents, parents give their lives for their children; pain and suffering are used to justify a bring only joy: love.
Boys | Control | Dreams | Enemy | Happy | Husband | Individual | Journey | Justify | Kill | Life | Life | Love | Need | Pain | Parents | Peace | Respect | Sacrifice | Search | Self-denial | Suffering | Tears | Truth | Wants | War | Wife | Will | World | Respect | Think | Understand |
The Marquis De Sade said that the most important experiences a man can have are those that take him to the very limit; that is the only way we learn, because it requires all our courage. When a boss humiliates an employee, or a man humiliates his wife, he is merely being cowardly or taking his revenge on life, they are people who have never dared to look into the depths of their soul, never attempted to know the origin of that desire to unleash the wild beast, or to understand that sex, pain and love are all extreme experiences. Only those who know those frontiers know life; everything else is just passing the time, repeating the same tasks, growing old and dying without ever having discovered what we are doing here.
Desire | Extreme | Important | Love | Man | Pain | People | Revenge | Old | Understand |
We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. It's one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it's another to think that yours is the only path.
Pema Chödrön, born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown
There is a common misunderstanding among the human beings who have ever been born on earth that the best way to live is to try to avoid pain and just try to get comfortable. You see this even in insects and animals and birds. All of us are the same. A much more interesting, kind and joyful approach to life is to begin to develop our curiosity, not caring whether the object of our curiosity is bitter or sweet. To lead to a life that goes beyond pettiness and prejudice and always wanting to make sure that everything turns out on our own terms, to lead a more passionate, full, and delightful life than that, we must realize that we can endure a lot of pain and pleasure for the sake of finding out who we are and what this world is, how we tick and how our world ticks, how the whole thing just is. If we are committed to comfort at any cost, as soon as we come up against the least edge of pain, we’re going to run; we’ll never know what’s beyond that particular barrier or wall or fearful thing.
Comfort | Curiosity | Earth | Life | Life | Object | Pain | Pleasure | Prejudice | World |
Pema Chödrön, born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown
Well, it starts with being willing to feel what we are going through. It starts with being willing to have a compassionate relationship with the parts of ourselves that we feel are not worthy of existing on the planet. If we are willing through meditation to be mindful not only of what feels comfortable, but also of what pain feels like, if we even aspire to stay awake and open to what we're feeling, to recognize and acknowledge it as best we can in each moment, then something begins to change.
Meditation | Pain | Relationship |
God knows that we are all artists of life. One day, he gives us a hammer with which to make sculptures, another day he gives us brushes and paints with which to make a picture, or paper and a pencil to write with. But you cannot make a painting with a hammer, or a sculpture with a paintbrush. Therefore, however difficult it may be, I must accept today's small blessings, even if they seem like curses because I am suffering and it's a beautiful day, the sun is shining, and the children are singing in the street. This is the only way I will manage to leave my pain behind and rebuild my life.
Pema Chödrön, born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown
It is only when we begin to relax with ourselves that meditation becomes a transformative process. Only when we relate with ourselves without moralizing, without harshness, without deception, can we let go of harmful patterns.
Pema Chödrön, born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown
A much more interesting, kind, adventurous, and joyful approach to life is to begin to develop our curiosity, not caring whether the object of our inquisitiveness is bitter or sweet. To lead a life that goes beyond pettiness and prejudice and always wanting to make sure that everything turns out on our own terms, to lead a more passionate, full, and delightful life than that, we must realize that we can endure a lot of pain and pleasure for the sake of finding out who we are and what this world is, how we tick and how our world ticks, how the whole thing just is.
Inquisitiveness | Life | Life | Object | Pain | Pleasure | Prejudice | World |
Pema Chödrön, born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown
Buddhist words such as compassion and emptiness don't mean much until we start cultivating our innate ability simply to be there with pain with an open heart and the willingness not to instantly try to get ground under our feet. For instance, if what we're feeling is rage, we usually assume that there are only two ways to relate to it. One is to blame others. Lay it all on somebody else; drive all blames into everyone else. The other alternative is to feel guilty about our rage and blame ourselves.
Ability | Blame | Compassion | Heart | Pain | Rage | Words | Guilty |
We refuse to look at life as a great adventure that has no limits… We pretend to be strong because we are weak… We show our strength, so that no one can see our frailty. That is why, whenever you judge your brother, be aware that it is you who is in the dock… We should never condemn the lives of others, because everyone knows how great the pain and sacrifice him. One has to think you found the right path, quite another to think your way is the only option… There is no tragedy, only the unavoidable. Everything has its reason for being: you only need to distinguish what is temporary from what is lasting… There is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It's your mission on earth.
Adventure | Desire | Distinguish | Life | Life | Mission | Need | Pain | Reason | Right | Sacrifice | Soul | Truth | Think |
Pema Chödrön, born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown
What's encouraging about meditation is that even if we shut down, we can no longer shut down in ignorance. We see very clearly that we're closing off. That in itself begins to illuminate the darkness of ignorance.
Darkness | Meditation |
Pema Chödrön, born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown
We feel we're supposed to be better than we are in some way. But with this practice you take yourself completely as you are. Then ironically, taking in pain - breathing it in for yourself and all others in the same boat as you are - heightens your awareness of exactly where you're stuck.
Pema Chödrön, born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown
There's a common misunderstanding among all the human beings who have ever been born on the earth that the best way to live is to try to avoid pain and just try to get comfortable. You can see this even in insects and animals and birds. All of us are the same.