DIFFICULTIES
A
Addiction
agony
Ambition
anger ::: Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be. ~ Thomas A Kempis
anxiety :::
appearances :::
attachment
automatic
Avoidance
B
bound
C
challenge
circumstances
clinging
conflict
Confusion
cowardice
D
Darkness
death
Defects
defeat
demons
depression ::: A depression is always unreasonable as it leads nowhere. It is the most subtle enemy of the Yoga. ~ The Mother Words Of The Mother - II,
Desires
despair ::: When, in our despair, we cry to the Divine, always He answers to our call. With my blessings. ~ The Mother, Mantras of the Mother
difficulty/difficulties ::: The whole purpose of the Yoga is to gather all the divergent parts together and forge them into an undivided unity. Till then you cannot hope to be without difficulties - difficulties, for example, like doubt or depression or hesitation.
disharmony
distractions ::: If one were truly aware of the value of human life, to waste it blithely on distractions and the pursuit of vulgar ambitions would be the height of confusion. ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
distress
divided/division :::
Doubt
down
dread
dryness ::: Dryness is ordinarily the sign of too great a concern with oneself (whether material or spiritual) and a consequent narrowing of the consciousness, which is no longer sufficiently in communion with the divine forces. The remedy: a completer self-giving to the Divine. With my blessings and all my love.
E
Ego ::: this ego-centrism is our rock of safety against the cosmic and the infinite, our defense.
emotions :::
emptiness/empty :::
enslaved
Escapism :::
evil ::: Always we must repeat to the doubting intellect the promise of the Master, 'I will deliver thee from all sin and evil; do not grieve.' At the end, the flickerings of faith will cease; for we shall see his face and feel always the Divine Presence.
excuse ::: It is no use excusing yourself; you must have the will never to fall back into the faults you have committed.
Expectations :::
external :::
F
failure
fall
falsehood
Fatigue
fear
feeble
forget/forgetfulness
G
Greed (for Food)
grief
H
habits
hard
helpless
hostile forces
I
inequality
inertia
ignorance
illusion
impulses/impulsions ::: 1. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it. 2. Control over the lower impulsions is the first step towards realisation.
incapacity ::: A present incapacity, however heavy may seem its pressure, is only a trial of faith and a temporary difficulty. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Faith and Shakti
Indifference
insincerity/halfheartness
irritation
J
Jealousy
Judging/Judgement
L
lack of concentration
laziness
limited/limitations
loss
lost
Lower movements:
lower nature
M
Mara
Material Desires
masturbation
meaningless
mistakes ::: 1. If even then we make mistakes, yet God makes none. 2. A mistake recognised is a mistake pardoned. 3. A mistake one denies is a mistake one refuses to set right. 4. Repentance: the first step towards rectifying mistakes.
N
Narrowness and One-Sidedness
negative thoughts
neglect
not knowing
O
obscurity/obscure
Obstacles ::: One puts veils, obstacles between oneself and the Divine. That is how one punishes oneself. The Divine does not withdraw; one makes oneself incapable of receiving him. The Divine does not distri bute in this way rewards and punishments..
obstructions
Ordeals ::: Be grateful for all ordeals, they are the shortest way to the Divine.
oscillations
outer
overwhelm (incapacity) ::: Suffering is due only to our weakness and imperfection. When external forces affect us, if we have acquired sufficient strength to assimilate them, we derive joy from them, otherwise they produce pain.
P
pain
Perversion
petty/pettiness
pitfall
Preferences
powers of the Ignorance
Pride
problem
Q
Quarrels
R
resist
S
sadness ::: It is always our weaknesses that make us sad, and we can easily recover by advancing one step more on the way.
self-deceit ::: Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true. ~ Demos thenes, Third Olynthiac, sec. 19
self-deception
Selfishness
separation/separateness
shame ::: Life is short and the time of death is uncertain; so apply yourself to meditation. Avoid doing evil, and acquire merit, to the best of your ability, even at the cost of life itself. In short: Act so that you have no cause to be ashamed of yourselves and hold fast to this rule. ~ Jetsun Milarepa
shortcomings
sin
slave
smallness
sorrow
struggle
suffering ::: 1. Suffering is due only to our weakness and imperfection. When external forces affect us, if we have acquired sufficient strength to assimilate them, we derive joy from them, otherwise they produce pain. 2. Turn towards the Divine, all your sufferings will disappear.
surface
T
tamas
test
the abyss
the Adversary
the Ignorance
the sevenfold ignorance
the void
tired
Tiredness ::: Tiredness shows lack of will for progress. When you feel tired or fatigued that is lack of will for progress. Fire is always burning in you.
Torture
trial
tribulations
troubles
U
undivine
undivine forces
unknowable
unwilling
upset
V
Vanity
W
Waste
weakness/Weaknesses ::: If you have faults and weaknesses, hold them up before the Divine to be changed or abolished.
QUOTES
--- DIFFICULTIES
"Whenever there is any difficulty we must always remember that we are here exclusively to accomplish the Divine's will."
- The Mother
And there is no other remedy. It's the only remedy, for everybody without exception. To all those who suffer, it is the same thing that has to be said: all suffering is the sign that the surrender is not total. Then, when you feel in you a "bang", like that, instead of saying, "Oh, this is bad" or "This circumstance is difficult," you say, "My surrender is not perfect." Then it's all right. And then you feel the Grace that helps you and leads you, and you go on. And one day you emerge into that peace that nothing can trouble. You answer to all the contrary forces, the contrary movements, the attacks, the misunderstandings, the bad wills, with the same smile that comes from full confidence in the Divine Grace. And that is the only way out, there is no other.
"The only way out of your difficulty is to find the psychic being and to live entirely in its consciousness. Life upon earth as it is now is full of miseries and any sensitive heart is full of sorrow because of that. To get in contact with the Divine Consciousness and to live in its mercy, its strength and its light is the only truly effective way to get out of this difficulty and suffering and by uniting with the psychic we can obtain this condition. My help and blessings are with you for this purpose."
- The Mother
It is no doubt as you say, [1] but that is always the difficulty of the physical consciousness until it has been enlightened from within. It is the peace you feel - the peace that is taking little by little hold of the inner being - that has to deepen and streng then itself till it can take hold of the physical also. When it can do that, the externalised physical consciousness will feel it no longer alien to itself. The Peace will enable the Force and Light to enter also into the physical and the true understanding will come there too and remove the sense of distance and difference. That is how the Yoga force always works in principle - but the more the quietude, the more rapidly and surely it will work.
- The Mother
[1] The correspondent wrote that although she wanted to get rid of her desires, confusions and wrong movements, the outward, physical part of her being wanted to hold on to them. - Ed.
"The main difficulty in the sadhana consists in the movements of the lower nature, ideas of the mind, desires and attractions of the vital, habits of the body consciousness that stand in the way of the growth of the higher consciousness - there are other difficulties, but these make the bulk of the opposition"
"The path is long, but self-surrender makes it short; the way is difficult, but perfect trust makes it easy.
The Divine is present among us. When we remember Him always He gives us the strength to face all circumstances with perfect peace and equanimity. Become aware of the Presence and your difficulties will disappear.
It is rare that somebody can surrender entirely to the Divine's Will without having to face one or another of the difficulties.
Shocks and trials always come as a divine grace to show us the
points in our being where we fall short and the movements in
which we turn our back on our soul by listening to the clamour
of our mental being and vital being.
If we know how to accept these spiritual blows with due
humility, we are sure to cover a great distance at a single bound.
- The Mother 22 February 1965
--- THE DIVINE GRACE AND DIFFICULTIES
It is only by remaining perfectly peaceful and calm with an unshakable confidence and faith in the Divine Grace that you will allow circumstances to be as good as they can be. The very best happens always to those who have put their entire trust in the Divine and in the Divine alone.
When, in your life, you meet with a hardship, take it as a Grace from the Lord and, indeed, it will become so.
In any case and whatever happens, always consider events as a gift from the Divine Grace which is leading you by swift paths towards the spiritual goal of your life.
All depends on what you want. If you want Yoga, take all that happens as the expression of the Divine Grace leading you towards your goal, and try to understand the lesson that circumstances give.
People believe that the Grace means making everything smooth for all your life. It is not true.
The Grace works for the realisation of your aspiration and everything is arranged to gain the most prompt, the quickest realisation.
The Grace is something that pushes you towards the goal to be attained. Do not try to judge it by your mind, you will not get anywhere, because it is something formidable which is not explained through human words or feelings. When the Grace acts, the result may or may not be pleasant-it takes no account of any human value, it may even be a catastrophe from the ordinary and superficial point of view. But it is always the best for the individual. It is a blow that the Divine sends so that progress may be made by leaps and bounds. The Grace is that which makes you march swiftly towards the realisation.
Of one thing we must be convinced-all that happens is exactly what must happen in order to lead us and the world as quickly as possible to the goal-the union with the Divine and ultimately the manifestation of the Divine. And this faith-sincere and constant-is at once our help and protection.
see also on suffering, pain and mistakes
up to COLLECTIONS
--- SUFFERING, PAIN AND MISTAKES
Turn towards the Divine, all your sufferings will disappear.
It is good to recognise your mistakes, but you must not torment yourself. You must not suffer, you must correct yourself instead.
Suffering is not a sign of failure .
My word to you is: Do not cherish suffering and suffering will leave you altoge ther. Suffering is far from being indispensable to progress. The greatest progress is made through a steady and cheerful equanimity.
10 May 1932
The world is full of sufferings and sorrows. One should try never to be the cause of any additional suffering.
10 October 1970
- The Mother
Fundamentally, all pain and suffering are the result of an insufficient consciousness-force in the surface being which makes it unable to deal rightly with self and Nature or unable to assimilate and to harmonise itself with the contacts of the universal Energy; they would not exist if in us there were an integral presence of the luminous Consciousness and the divine Force of an integral Being.
- Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine
"O Thou that lovest, strike! If Thou strike me not now, I shall know that Thou lov'st me not."
-Sri Aurobindo, thoughts and aphorisms.
Pain and discomfort come from a physical consciousness not forceful enough to determine
its own reaction to things.
Pain is caused because the physical consciousness in the Ignorance is too limited to bear the touches that come upon it. Otherwise, to cosmic consciousness in its state of complete knowledge and complete experience, all touches come as Ananda.
up to COLLECTIONS
TERMS STARTING WITH
difficulties ::: pl. --> of Difficulty
DIFFICULTIES. ::: All who enter the spiritual path harc to face the difficulties and ordeals of the path, those which rise from their own nature and those which come in from outside.
Difficulties and perplexities can never be got rid of by the mind brooding over them and trying in that way to get out of them*; this habit of the mind only makes them recur without a solu- tion and keeps up by brooding the persistent tangfe. I( is from something above and outside the perplexities that the solution , must come. It is a subtle law of the action of consciousness that if you stress difficulties — you have to observe them, of course, but not stress them, they will quite sufficiently do that for themselves — the difficulties tend to slick or even increase ; on the contrary, if you put your whole stress on faith and aspira-
Difficulties
TERMS ANYWHERE
1. Portable barriers over which contestants must leap in certain running races. 2.* Fig.* Obstacles or difficulties.
ALGOL 68 ::: (language) An extensive revision of ALGOL 60 by Adriaan van Wijngaarden et al. ALGOL 68 was discussed from 1963 by Working Group 2.1 of IFIP. Its definition was accepted in December 1968.ALGOL 68 was complex, and posed difficulties for both implementors and users. It featured structural equivalence; automatic type conversion (coercion) semaphores; generators heap and loc for dynamic allocation. It had no abstract data types or separate compilation. (1995-05-01)
ALGOL X "language" A proposed successor to {ALGOL 60}, a "short-term solution to existing difficulties". Three designs were proposed, by {Wirth}, Seegmuller and van Wijngaarden. [Sammet 1969, p. 194]. (1995-05-07)
ALGOL X ::: (language) A proposed successor to ALGOL 60, a short-term solution to existing difficulties. Three designs were proposed, by Wirth, Seegmuller and van Wijngaarden.[Sammet 1969, p. 194]. (1995-05-07)
appreciation ::: n. --> A just valuation or estimate of merit, worth, weight, etc.; recognition of excellence.
Accurate perception; true estimation; as, an appreciation of the difficulties before us; an appreciation of colors.
A rise in value; -- opposed to depreciation.
Aristotle divides the sciences into the theoretical, the practical and the productive, the aim of the first being disinterested knowledge, of the second the guidance of conduct, and of the third the guidance of the arts. The science now called logic, by him known as "analytic", is a discipline preliminary to all the others, since its purpose is to set forth the conditions that must be observed by all thinking which has truth as its aim. Science, in the strict sense of the word, is demonstrated knowledge of the causes of things. Such demonstrated knowledge is obtained by syllogistic deduction from premises in themselves certain. Thus the procedure of science differs from dialectic, which employs probable premises, and from eristic, which aims not at truth but at victory in disputation. The center, therefore, of Aristotle's logic is the syllogism, or that form of reasoning whereby, given two propositions, a third follows necessarily from them. The basis of syllogistic inference is the presence of a term common to both premises (the middle term) so related as subj ect or predicate to each of the other two terms that a conclusion may be drawn regarding the relation of these two terms to one another. Aristotle was the first to formulate the theory of the syllogism, and his minute analysis of its various forms was definitive, so far as the subject-predicate relation is concerned; so that to this part of deductive logic but little has been added since his day. Alongside of deductive reasoning Aristotle recognizes the necessity of induction, or the process whereby premises, particularly first premises, are established. This involves passing from the particulars of sense experience (the things more knowable to us) to the universal and necessary principles involved in sense experience (the things more knowable in themselves). Aristotle attaches most importance, in this search for premises, to the consideration of prevailing beliefs (endoxa) and the examination of the difficulties (aporiai) that have been encountered in the solution of the problem in hand. At some stage in the survey of the field and the theories previously advanced the universal connection sought for is apprehended; and apprehended, Aristotle eventually says, by the intuitive reason, or nous. Thus knowledge ultimately rests upon an indubitable intellectual apprehension; yet for the proper employment of the intuitive reason a wide empirical acquaintance with the subject-matter is indispensable.
ARRESTS IN SADHANA. ::: A difficulty comes or an arrest in some movement which you have begun or have been carrying on for some time. Such arrests are inevitably frequent enough; one might almost say that every step forward is followed by an arrest. It is to be dealt with by becoming always more quiet, more firm in the will to go through, by opening oneself more and more so that any obstructing non-receptivity in the nature may diminish or disappear, by an affirmation of faith even in the midst of obscurity, faith in the presence of a Power that is working behind the cloud and the veil, in the guidance of the Guru, by an observation of oneself to find any cause of the arrest, not in a spirit of depression or discouragement but with the will to find out and remove it. This is the only right attitude and, if one is persistent in taking it, the periods of arrest are not abolished, - for that cannot be at this stage, - but greatly shortened and lightened in their incidence. Sometimes these arrests are periods, long or short, of assimilation or unseen preparation, their appearance of sterile immobility is deceptive ::: in that case, with the right attitude, one can after a time, by opening, by observation, by accumulated experience, begin to feel, to get some inkling of what is being prepared or done. Sometimes it is a period of true obstruction in which the Power at work has to deal with the obstacles in the way, obstacles in oneself, obstacles of the opposing cosmic forces or any other or of all together, and this kind of arrest may be long or short according to the magnitude or obstinacy or complexity of the impediments that are met. But here, too, the right attitude can alleviate or shorten and, if persistently taken, help to a more radical removal of the difficulties and greatly diminish the necessity of complete arrests hereafter.
On the contrary, an attitude of depression or unfaith in the help or the guidance or in the certitude of the victory of the guiding Power, a shutting up of yourself in the sense of the difficulties, helps the obstructions to recur with force instead of progressively diminishing in their incidence.
difficulties ::: pl. --> of Difficulty
bewildering ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Bewilder ::: a. --> Causing bewilderment or great perplexity; as, bewildering difficulties.
Bhaddekarattasutta. In PAli, "The Ideal Lover of Solitude," the 131st sutra in the MAJJHIMANIKAYA (there is no corresponding version in the Chinese translations of the AGAMAs); spoken at Jeta's Grove in SAvatthi (sRAVASTĪ); several related DHARMAGUPTAKA recensions appear in the Chinese translation of the MADHYAMAGAMA, although none with a corresponding title. The Buddha recites an enigmatic verse, in which he defines ideal solitude as letting go of everything involving the past or the future and dwelling solely in the present moment, discerning phenomena with wisdom as they appear. In his own exposition of the meaning of his verses, the Buddha explains that tracing back the past means not so much remembering the past but rather binding oneself to one's past aggregates (SKANDHA) through delighting in them; similarly, yearning for the future means the desire to have one's aggregates appear a certain way in the future. Instead, the religious should not identify with any of the five skandhas as being oneself; such a one is called an "ideal lover of solitude." The MajjhimanikAya collects subsequent expositions of these same verses by the Buddha's attendant ANANDA, MahAkaccAna (MAHAKATYAYANA), and Lomasakangiya. The term bhaddekaratta has given traditional PAli commentators difficulties and has sometimes been interpreted to mean "one who is happy [viz., auspicious?] for one night" (bhaddakassa ekarattassa) because he possesses insight, an interpretation that has its analogues in the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit title BHADRAKARATRĪ as shanye (a good night).
blo sbyong. (lojong). In Tibetan, "mind training"; a tradition of Tibetan Buddhist practice associated especially with the BKA' GDAMS sect and providing pithy instructions on the cultivation of compassion (KARUnA) and BODHICITTA. The trainings are based primarily on the technique for the equalizing and exchange of self and other, as set forth in the eighth chapter of sANTIDEVA's BODHICARYAVATARA, a poem in ten chapters on the BODHISATTVA path. The practice is to transform the conception of self (ATMAGRAHA), characterized as a self-cherishing attitude (T. rang gces 'dzin) into cherishing others (gzhan gces 'dzin), by contemplating the illusory nature of the self, the faults in self-cherishing, and the benefits that flow from cherishing others. The training seeks to transform difficulties into reasons to reaffirm a commitment to bodhicitta. Dharmaraksita's Blo sbyong mtshon cha'i 'khor lo (sometimes rendered as "Wheel of Sharp Weapons"), translated into Tibetan by ATIsA DĪPAMKARAsRĪJNANA and 'BROM STON, founders of the Bka' gdam sect, in the eleventh century; Glang ri thang pa's (Langri Thangpa) (1054-1123) BLO SBYONG TSHIG BRGYAD MA ("Eight Verses on Mind Training"); 'CHAD KA BA YE SHES RDO RJE's BLO SBYONG DON BDUN MA (Lojong dondünma) ("Seven Points of Mind Training"), and Hor ston Nam mkha'i dpal bzang's (1373-1447) Blo sbyong nyi ma'i 'od zer ("Mind Training like the Rays of the Sun") are four among a large number of widely studied and practiced blo sbyong texts. The Blo sbyong mtshon cha'i 'khor lo, for example, compares the bodhisattva to a hero who can withstand spears and arrows, and to a peacock that eats poison and becomes even more beautiful; it says difficulties faced in day-to-day life are reasons to strengthen resolve because they are like the spears and arrow of karmic results launched by earlier unsalutary actions. From this perspective, circumstances that are ordinarily upsetting or depressing are transformed into reasons for happiness, by thinking that negative KARMAN has been extinguished. The influence of tantric Buddhism is discernable in the training in blo sbyong texts like the Mtshon cha'i 'khor lo that exhorts practitioners to imagine themselves as the deity YAMANTAKA and mentally launch an attack on the conception of self, imagining it as a battle. The conception of self is taken as the primary reason for the earlier unsalutary actions that caused negative results, and for engaging in present unsalutary deeds that harm others and do nothing to advance the practitioner's own welfare.
Body: Here taken in the sense of the material organized substance of man contrasted with the mind, soul or spirit, thus leading to the problem of the relation between body and mind, one of the most persistent problems of philosophy. Of course, any theory which identifies body and mind, or does not adequately distinguish the psychical from the physical, regarding both as aspects of the same reality, eludes some of the difficulties presented by the problem. Both materialism and idealism may be considered as forms of psycho-physical monism. Materialism by denying the real existence of spiritual beings and reducing mind to a function of matter, and spiritualism, or that species called idealism, which regards bodies simply as contents of consciousness, really evade the main issue. All those, however, who frankly acknowledge the empirically given duality of mind and organism, are obliged to struggle with the problem of the relation between them. The two most noted rival theories attempting an answer are interactionism and parallelism. The first considers both body and mind as substantial beings, influencing each other, hence causally related. The second holds that physical processes and mental processes accompany each other without any interaction or interference whatsoever, consequently they cannot be causally related. The Scholastics advance the doctrine of the human composite consisting of body and soul united into one substance and nature, constituting the human person or self, to whom all actions of which man is capable must be ascribed. There can be no interaction, since there is but one agent, formed of two component elements. This theory, like interactionism, makes provision for survival, even immortality, while parallelism definitely precludes it. No known theory can meet all objections and prove entirely satisfactory; the problem still persists. See Descartes, Spinoza, Mind. -- J.J.R.
boggle ::: n. --> To stop or hesitate as if suddenly frightened, or in doubt, or impeded by unforeseen difficulties; to take alarm; to exhibit hesitancy and indecision.
To do anything awkwardly or unskillfully.
To play fast and loose; to dissemble. ::: v. t.
Bradley, Francis Herbert: (1846-1924) Dialectician extraordinary of British philosophy, Bradley sought to purge contemporary thought of the extremely sensationalistic and utilitarian elements embodied in the tradition of empiricism. Though owing much to Hegel, he early repudiated the Hegelian system as such, and his own variety of Absolute Idealism bases itself upon no scheme of categories. His brilliant attack upon the inadequate assumptions of hedonistic ethics (Ethical Studies, 1877) was followed in 1883 by The Principles of Logic in which his dialectic analysis was applied to the problems of inference and judgment. It was, however, his Appearance and Reality (1893) with its famous theory of "the degrees of truth" which first disturbed the somnambulism of modern metaphysics, and led Caird to remark upon "the greatest thing since Kant". In later years Bradley's growing realization of ultimate difficulties in his version of the coherence theory led him to modify his doctrines in the direction of a Platonic mysticism. See Essays on Truth and Reality, the second edition of the Logic Collected Essays, etc. -- W.S.W.
B. Russell, On some difficulties in the theory of transfinite numbers and order types. Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, ser 2. vol. 4 (1906), pp 29-53.
burdened ::: 1. Weighed down; oppressed. 2. Bearing a heavy load of work, difficulties or responsibilities. 3. Laden with; charged with. pleasure-burdened, sign-burdened.
Christmas Christmas Day and its festival are a curious blend of Christian, Jewish, Roman, Western pagan, and perhaps other institutions. It arose as a Christian festival as part of the adaptation of the early Christian Church to the world in which it grew up. The accounts given of the birth of Christ present obvious difficulties against regarding this date as that of his actual birth, and it was looked upon rather as a commemorative festival. Before the 5th century there cannot be said to have been any general consensus as to the date, the choice wavering between that of Epiphany on January 6th, the 25th of March, and the 25th of December.
Clouding of consciousness is a global impairment in higher central nervous functioning. All aspects of cognitive functioning are affected. On mental status examination it is manifest by disorientation in time, place and person, memory difficulties caused by failure to register and recall, aphasia, dyspraxia, and agnosia. Impaired perception functioning leads to illusions and hallucinations often in the visual sensory modality. This then causes agitation and distress and secondary delusions. The term 'confusion state' is sometimes used to mean clouding of consciousness, but should be avoided if at all possible because it is ambiguous.
conquer ::: v. t. --> To gain or acquire by force; to take possession of by violent means; to gain dominion over; to subdue by physical means; to reduce; to overcome by force of arms; to cause to yield; to vanquish.
To subdue or overcome by mental or moral power; to surmount; as, to conquer difficulties, temptation, etc.
To gain or obtain, overcoming obstacles in the way; to win; as, to conquer freedom; to conquer a peace.
contending ::: striving in opposition or against difficulties; struggling.
cope ::: to contend or strive with difficulties and act to overcome them.
counterturn ::: n. --> The critical moment in a play, when, contrary to expectation, the action is embroiled in new difficulties.
courage ::: n. --> The heart; spirit; temper; disposition.
Heart; inclination; desire; will.
That quality of mind which enables one to encounter danger and difficulties with firmness, or without fear, or fainting of heart; valor; boldness; resolution.
Critical Realism: A theory of knowledge which affirms an objective world independent of one's perception or conception of it (hence realistic) but critical in the sense of acknowledging the difficulties in affirming that all in the knowing relation is objective. The theory must be distinguished further as follows:
Daniel (Hebrew) Dāniyyē’l The Book of Daniel in the Old Testament has twelve chapters, the first six a historical narrative, the last six prophetic. According to the former, Daniel flourished about 600 b.c., was taken captive with the other Jews to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, and became a Magus. His skill in interpreting dreams procured him favor and the governorship of the province of Babylon. Later he became the first president of the whole Medo-Persian empire. Scholarship, however, finds difficulties in reconciling biblical data with information from other sources.
DARK PATH. ::: The dark path is there and there are many who make a Gospel of spiritual suffering; many hold it to be the unavoidable price of victory. It may be so under certain circumstances, as it has been in so many lives at the beginning. or one may choose to make it so. But then the price has to be paid with resignation, fortitude or a tenacious resilience. Borne that way, the attacks of the dark forces or the ordeals they impose have a meaning. After each victory gained over them, there is then a sensible advance; often they seem to show us the difficulties in ourselves which we have to overcome. But all the same it is a too dark and difficult way which nobody need follow on whom the necessity does not lie.
Dialectic: (Gr. dia + legein, discourse) The beginning of dialectic Aristotle is said to have attributed to Zeno of Elea. But as the art of debate by question and answer, its beginning is usually associated with the Socrates of the Platonic dialogues. As conceived by Plato himself, dialectic is the science of first principles which differs from other sciences by dispensing with hypotheses and is, consequently, "the copingstone of the sciences" -- the highest, because the clearest and hence the ultimate, sort of knowledge. Aristotle distinguishes between dialectical reasoning, which proceeds syllogistically from opinions generally accepted, and demonstrative reasoning, which begins with primary and true premises; but he holds that dialectical reasoning, in contrast with eristic, is "a process of criticism wherein lies the path to the principles of all inquiries." In modern philosophy, dialectic has two special meanings. Kant uses it as the name of that part of his Kritik der reinen Vernunft which deals critically with the special difficulties (antinomies, paralogisms and Ideas) arising out of the futile attempt (transcendental illusion) to apply the categories of the Understanding beyond the only realm to which they can apply, namely, the realm of objects in space and time (Phenomena). For Hegel, dialectic is primarily the distinguishing characteristic of speculative thought -- thought, that is, which exhibits the structure of its subject-matter (the universal, system) through the construction of synthetic categories (synthesis) which resolve (sublate) the opposition between other conflicting categories (theses and antitheses) of the same subject-matter. -- G.W.C.
DIFFICULTIES. ::: All who enter the spiritual path harc to face the difficulties and ordeals of the path, those which rise from their own nature and those which come in from outside.
Difficulties and perplexities can never be got rid of by the mind brooding over them and trying in that way to get out of them*; this habit of the mind only makes them recur without a solu- tion and keeps up by brooding the persistent tangfe. I( is from something above and outside the perplexities that the solution , must come. It is a subtle law of the action of consciousness that if you stress difficulties — you have to observe them, of course, but not stress them, they will quite sufficiently do that for themselves — the difficulties tend to slick or even increase ; on the contrary, if you put your whole stress on faith and aspira-
Difficulties
difficulty ::: n. --> The state of being difficult, or hard to do; hardness; arduousness; -- opposed to easiness or facility; as, the difficulty of a task or enterprise; a work of difficulty.
Something difficult; a thing hard to do or to understand; that which occasions labor or perplexity, and requires skill and perseverance to overcome, solve, or achieve; a hard enterprise; an obstacle; an impediment; as, the difficulties of a science; difficulties in theology.
disentanglement ::: n. --> The act of disentangling or clearing from difficulties.
Divine, a protection can come which helps or directly guides or mo^es us ; it does not throw aside all difficulties, sufferings or dangers, but it carries us through them and out of them — except where for a special purpose there is need of the opposite.
durga ::: the path beset by manifold dangers and sufferings and difficulties. [Ved.]
Dyadic: (Gr. duas, two) Term meaning duality. Human experience is said to be dyadic, i.e. man's nature is dual in conflicts between good intentions and bad accomplishments, in oppositional strains and stresses. The personality of God is held to be dyadic in the confronting of difficulties or frustrations to his good will. Reality is spoken of as dyadic when it is said to be characteristically dual, e.g. both One and Many, static and dynamic, free and determined, abstract and concrete, universal and particular. -- V.F.
dyslexia: 'developmental dyslexia' is used to explain difficulties with written and spoken language (across differing levels of intellect) that occurs as a result of development, whilst acquired dyslexia?occurs as a result of a stroke or similar injury, whereby language skills are impaired.
embarrass ::: v. t. --> To hinder from freedom of thought, speech, or action by something which impedes or confuses mental action; to perplex; to discompose; to disconcert; as, laughter may embarrass an orator.
To hinder from liberty of movement; to impede; to obstruct; as, business is embarrassed; public affairs are embarrassed.
To involve in difficulties concerning money matters; to incumber with debt; to beset with urgent claims or demands; -- said of a person or his affairs; as, a man or his business is embarrassed
embroil ::: v. t. --> To throw into confusion or commotion by contention or discord; to entangle in a broil or quarrel; to make confused; to distract; to involve in difficulties by dissension or strife.
To implicate in confusion; to complicate; to jumble. ::: n. --> See Embroilment.
emersion ::: n. --> The act of emerging, or of rising out of anything; as, emersion from the sea; emersion from obscurity or difficulties.
The reappearance of a heavenly body after an eclipse or occultation; as, the emersion of the moon from the shadow of the earth; the emersion of a star from behind the moon.
encounter ::: adv. --> To come against face to face; to meet; to confront, either by chance, suddenly, or deliberately; especially, to meet in opposition or with hostile intent; to engage in conflict with; to oppose; to struggle with; as, to encounter a friend in traveling; two armies encounter each other; to encounter obstacles or difficulties, to encounter strong evidence of a truth. ::: v. i.
entrap ::: v. t. --> To catch in a trap; to insnare; hence, to catch, as in a trap, by artifices; to involve in difficulties or distresses; to catch or involve in contradictions; as, to be entrapped by the devices of evil men.
explicate ::: a. --> Evolved; unfolded. ::: v. t. --> To unfold; to expand; to lay open.
To unfold the meaning or sense of; to explain; to clear of difficulties or obscurity; to interpret.
extricate ::: v. t. --> To free, as from difficulties or perplexities; to disentangle; to disembarrass; as, to extricate a person from debt, peril, etc.
To cause to be emitted or evolved; as, to extricate heat or moisture.
Frege meets the same difficulties, without construing descriptions as incomplete symbols, by distinguishing two kinds of meaning, the sense (Sinn) and the denotation (Bedeutung) of an expression (formula, phrase, sentence, etc.). Scott and the author of Waverley have the same denotation, namely the man Scott, but not the same sense. The King of France has a sense but no denotation; so likewise the sentence, The King of France is bald. Two expressions having the same sense must have the same denotation if they have a denotation. When a constituent part of an expression is replaced by another part having the same sense, the sense of the whole is not altered. When a constituent part of an expression is replaced by another having the same denotation, the denotation of the whole (if any) is not altered, but the sense may be. The denotation of an (unasserted) declarative sentence (if any) is a truth-value, whereas the sense is the thought or content of the sentence. But where a sentence is used in indirect discourse (as in saying that so-and-so says that . . ., believes that . . ., is glad that . . ., etc.) the meaning is different in such a context the denotation of the sentence is that which would be its sense in direct discourse. (In quoting some one in indirect discourse, one reproduces neither the literal wording nor the truth-value, but the sense, of what he said.)
Hence in its widest sense Scholasticism embraces all the intellectual activities, artistic, philosophical and theological, carried on in the medieval schools. Any attempt to define its narrower meaning in the field of philosophy raises serious difficulties, for in this case, though the term's comprehension is lessened, it still has to cover many centuries of many-faced thought. However, it is still possible to list several characteristics sufficient to differentiate Scholastic from non-Scholastic philosophy. While ancient philosophy was the philosophy of a people and modern thought that of individuals, Scholasticism was the philosophy of a Christian society which transcended the characteristics of individuals, nations and peoples. It was the corporate product of social thought, and as such its reasoning respected authority in the forms of tradition and revealed religion. Tradition consisted primarily in the systems of Plato and Aristotle as sifted, adapted and absorbed through many centuries. It was natural that religion, which played a paramount role in the culture of the middle ages, should bring influence to bear on the medieval, rational view of life. Revelation was held to be at once a norm and an aid to reason. Since the philosophers of the period were primarily scientific theologians, their rational interests were dominated by religious preoccupations. Hence, while in general they preserved the formal distinctions between reason and faith, and maintained the relatively autonomous character of philosophy, the choice of problems and the resources of science were controlled by theology. The most constant characteristic of Scholasticism was its method. This was formed naturally by a series of historical circumstances, The need of a medium of communication, of a consistent body of technical language tooled to convey the recently revealed meanings of religion, God, man and the material universe led the early Christian thinkers to adopt the means most viable, most widely extant, and nearest at hand, viz. Greek scientific terminology. This, at first purely utilitarian, employment of Greek thought soon developed under Justin, Clement of Alexandria, Origin, and St. Augustine into the "Egyptian-spoils" theory; Greek thought and secular learning were held to be propaedeutic to Christianity on the principle: "Whatever things were rightly said among all men are the property of us Christians." (Justin, Second Apology, ch. XIII). Thus was established the first characteristic of the Scholastic method: philosophy is directly and immediately subordinate to theology. Because of this subordinate position of philosophy and because of the sacred, exclusive and total nature of revealed wisdom, the interest of early Christian thinkers was focused much more on the form of Greek thought than on its content and, it might be added, much less of this content was absorbed by early Christian thought than is generally supposed. As practical consequences of this specialized interest there followed two important factors in the formation of Scholastic philosophy: Greek logic en bloc was taken over by Christians; from the beginning of the Christian era to the end of the XII century, no provision was made in Catholic centers of learning for the formal teaching of philosophy. There was a faculty to teach logic as part of the trivium and a faculty of theology. For these two reasons, what philosophy there was during this long period of twelve centuries, was dominated first, as has been seen, by theology and, second, by logic. In this latter point is found rooted the second characteristic of the Scholastic method: its preoccupation with logic, deduction, system, and its literary form of syllogistic argumentation. The third characteristic of the Scholastic method follows directly from the previous elements already indicated. It adds, however, a property of its own gained from the fact that philosophy during the medieval period became an important instrument of pedogogy. It existed in and for the schools. This new element coupled with the domination of logic, the tradition-mindedness and social-consciousness of the medieval Christians, produced opposition of authorities for or against a given problem and, finally, disputation, where a given doctrine is syllogistically defended against the adversaries' objections. This third element of the Scholastic method is its most original characteristic and accounts more than any other single factor for the forms of the works left us from this period. These are to be found as commentaries on single or collected texts; summae, where the method is dialectical or disputational in character. The main sources of Greek thought are relatively few in number: all that was known of Plato was the Timaeus in the translation and commentary of Chalcidius. Augustine, the pseudo-Areopagite, and the Liber de Causis were the principal fonts of Neoplatonic literature. Parts of Aristotle's logical works (Categoriae and de Interpre.) and the Isagoge of Porphyry were known through the translations of Boethius. Not until 1128 did the Scholastics come to know the rest of Aristotle's logical works. The golden age of Scholasticism was heralded in the late XIIth century by the translations of the rest of his works (Physics, Ethics, Metaphysics, De Anima, etc.) from the Arabic by Gerard of Cremona, John of Spain, Gundisalvi, Michael Scot, and Hermann the German, from the Greek by Robert Grosseteste, William of Moerbeke, and Henry of Brabant. At the same time the Judae-Arabian speculation of Alkindi, Alfarabi, Avencebrol, Avicenna, Averroes, and Maimonides together with the Neoplatonic works of Proclus were made available in translation. At this same period the Scholastic attention to logic was turned to metaphysics, even psychological and ethical problems and the long-discussed question of the universals were approached from this new angle. Philosophy at last achieved a certain degree of autonomy and slowly forced the recently founded universities to accord it a separate faculty.
Hilbert has given a formalization of arithmetic which takes the shape of a logistic system having primitive symbols some of a logical and some of an arithmetical character, so that logic and arithmetic are formalized together without taking logic as prior; similarly also for analysis. This would not of itself be opposed to the Frege-Russell view, since it is to be expected that the choice as to which symbols shall be taken as primitive in the formalization can be made in more than one way. Hilbert, however, took the position that many of the theorems of the system are ideale Aussagen, mere formulas, which are without meaning in themselves but are added to the reale Aussagen or genuinely meaningful formulas in order to avoid formal difficulties otherwise arising. In this respect Hilbert differs sharply from Frege and Russell, who would give a meaning (namely as propositions of logic) to all formulas (sentences) appearing. -- Concerning Hilbert's associated program for a consistency proof see the article Proof theory.
hosed ::: (jargon) A somewhat humorous variant of down, used primarily by Unix hackers. Hosed implies a condition thought to be relatively easy to reverse. being hosed by machine gun fire (date?). Usage in hackerdom dates back to CMU in the 1970s or earlier. expands it as Hardware Or Software Error Detected, though this is probably a back-formation.The Jargon File version 4.1.4 1999-06-17 says that it was probably derived from the Canadian slang hoser (meaning a man, esp. one who works at a job that uses physical rather than mental skills and whose habits are slightly offensive but amusing).One correspondant speculates about an allusion to a hose-like body part.Once upon a time, a Cray that had been experiencing periodic difficulties crashed, and it was announced to have been hosed. It was discovered that the corrected, and users were then assured that everything was OK because the system had been rehosed. See also dehose.See also: hose. (1999-10-28)
hosed "jargon" A somewhat humorous variant of "{down}", used primarily by {Unix} {hackers}. "Hosed" implies a condition thought to be relatively easy to reverse. It is also widely used of people in the mainstream sense of "in an extremely unfortunate situation". The term was popularised by fighter pilots refering to being hosed by machine gun fire (date?). Usage in hackerdom dates back to {CMU} in the 1970s or earlier. {"Acronyms and Abbreviations" from UCC, Ireland (http://ucc.ie/cgi-bin/acronym)} expands it as "Hardware Or Software Error Detected", though this is probably a back-formation. The {Jargon File} version 4.1.4 1999-06-17 says that it was probably derived from the Canadian slang "hoser" (meaning "a man, esp. one who works at a job that uses physical rather than mental skills and whose habits are slightly offensive but amusing"). One correspondant speculates about an allusion to a hose-like body part. Once upon a time, a {Cray} that had been experiencing periodic difficulties crashed, and it was announced to have been hosed. It was discovered that the crash was due to the disconnection of some coolant hoses. The problem was corrected, and users were then assured that everything was OK because the system had been rehosed. See also {dehose}. See also: {hose}. (1999-10-28)
Hostile Forces ::: The hostile forces are there in the world to maintain the Ignorance—they were there in the sadhana because they had the right to test the sincerity of the sadhaks and their power and will to cleave to the Divine and overcome all difficulties.
Ref: CWSA Vol. 35, Page: 640
::: "Humility before the Divine is also a sine qua non of the spiritual life, and spiritual pride, arrogance, or vanity and self-assurance press always downward. But confidence in the Divine and a faith in one"s spiritual destiny (i.e. since my heart and soul seek for the Divine, I cannot fail one day to reach Him) are much needed in view of the difficulties of the Path.” Letters on Yoga
“Humility before the Divine is also a sine qua non of the spiritual life, and spiritual pride, arrogance, or vanity and self-assurance press always downward. But confidence in the Divine and a faith in one’s spiritual destiny (i.e. since my heart and soul seek for the Divine, I cannot fail one day to reach Him) are much needed in view of the difficulties of the Path.” Letters on Yoga
“I am here with thee in thy chariot of battle revealed as the Master of Existence within and without thee and I repeat the absolute assurance, the infallible promise that I will lead thee to myself through and beyond all sorrow and evil. Whatever difficulties and perplexities arise, be sure of this that I am leading thee to a complete divine life in the universal and an immortal existence in the transcendent Spirit.” Essays on the Gita
If difficulties occur, they raise not mental doubts or an inert acquiescence, but the firm belief that, with sincere consecration, the Divine Shakti will remove the difllcultics and with this belief a greater turning to her and dependence on her for that purpose.
Ignorance, They have the right to test the sincerity of the sfidhakas in their power and will to cleave to the Divine and overcome all difficulties. *
insnare ::: v. t. --> To catch in a snare; to entrap; to take by artificial means.
To take by wiles, stratagem, or deceit; to involve in difficulties or perplexities; to seduce by artifice; to inveigle; to allure; to entangle.
insuperable ::: a. --> Incapable of being passed over or surmounted; insurmountable; as, insuperable difficulties.
iron out. *v. To iron or press (an item of clothing or the like). Hence, fig.* to work out, resolve or clear up (difficulties, disagreements, etc.).
It is a wTong attitude to put too much stress either on them or on the difficulties they create, or to distrust the Divine work- ing because of the difficulties one experiences, or to lay too continual an emphasis on the dark side of things. To do this increases the force of the difficulties, gives a heater right of continuance to the imperfections.
James, William: (1842-1910) Unquestionably one of the most influential of American thinkers, William James began his career as a teacher shortly after graduation (MD, 1870) from Harvard University. He became widely known as a brilliant and original lecturer, and his already considerable reputation was greatly enhanced in 1890 when his Principles of Psychology made its appearance. Had James written no other work, his position in American philosophy and psychology would be secure; the vividness and clarity of his style no less than the keenness of his analysis roused the imagination of a public in this country which had long been apathetic to the more abstract problems of technical philosophy. Nor did James allow this rising interest to flag. Turning to religious and moral problems, and later to metaphysics, he produced a large number of writings which gave ample evidence of his amazing ability to cut through the cumbersome terminology of traditional statement and to lay bare the essential character of the matter in hand. In this sense, James was able to revivify philosophical issues long buried from any save the classical scholars. Such oversimplifications as exist, for example, in his own "pragmatism" and "radical empiricism" must be weighed against his great accomplishment in clearing such problems as that of the One and the Many from the dry rot of centuries, and in rendering such problems immediately relevant to practical and personal difficulties. -- W.S.W.
Jo khang. In Tibetan, "House of the Lord"; the earliest Tibetan temple and monastery, located in the capital of LHA SA. The central image is a statue of sĀKYAMUNI Buddha as a youth, said to have been sculpted in India during the Buddha's lifetime. This statue, the most sacred in Tibet, is known simply as the JO BO ("Lord") SHĀKYAMUNI or Jo bo Rin po che ("Precious Lord"). The temple takes its name from this image housed within it. Indeed, the name Lha sa ("Place of the Gods") may have referred originally to the Jo khang, only later becoming by extension to be the name of the city that surrounds it. The Jo khang stands at the heart of the old city, and is the central point for three circumambulation routes. The most famous of these is the BAR BSKOR, or middle circuit, which passes around the outer walls and surrounding structures of the Jo khang. The Jo khang and bar bskor together have long been Lha sa's primary religious space, with pilgrims circling it in a clockwise direction each day. The central market of Lha sa is also located along the bar bskor. Despite its well-known name, Tibetans tend to refer to the Jo khang simply as the Gtsug lag khang (Tsuklakang), the Tibetan term for VIHĀRA, meaning "monastery"; the original structure was likely laid out by Newari artisans following the plan of an Indian Buddhist vihāra. Western sources have rather misleadingly dubbed the Jo khang the "Cathedral of Lhasa." According to traditional Tibetan sources (most importantly, the MAnI BKA' 'BUM) the original structure was established by the Tibetan king SRONG BTSAN SGAM PO and his two queens (one Chinese and one Nepalese), around 640 CE. The statue of sākyamuni, said to have been crafted during the Buddha's lifetime, eventually made its way to China. It is said to have been brought to Tibet from China by the king's Chinese bride, Princess WENCHENG. The many difficulties she encountered en route from China convinced her that the landscape of Tibet was in fact a supine demoness (SRIN MO), who was inimical to the introduction of Buddhism. On her advice, the king (who had recently converted to Buddhism), the Chinese princess, and the king's other wife, the Nepalese princess BHṚKUTĪ, built the Jo khang directly over the heart of the demoness; according to Tibetan legends, the king himself built much of the first-floor structure. Other temples were subsequently built across Tibet, corresponding to other parts of the demoness's vast body, in order essentially to nail her to the earth and prevent her further obstruction of the dharma (see MTHA' 'DUL GTSUG LAG KHANG). When the Jo khang was completed, a different statue than the more famous Jo bo Shākyamuni or Jo bo rin bo che, was the central image; it was a statue of the buddha called JO BO MI BSKYOD RDO RJE brought to Tibet by Bhṛkutī. The statue brought by Wencheng (known as Jo bo rin bo che) was housed in the nearby RA MO CHE temple, founded by Wencheng. After the king's death, the two statues were switched, moving the Jo bo Shākyamuni statue to the Jo khang and the Jo bo mi bskyod rdo rje statue to Ra mo che, where they would remain over the subsequent centuries. Modern scholarship has raised questions about many details of this tale, including the degree of Srong btsan sgam po's devotion to Buddhism and the existence of his Nepalese queen. However, the story of the Jo khang's founding, depicted on murals inside the temple itself, is widely known, and the Jo khang remains central to the sacred geography of the Tibetan Buddhist world. The Jo khang has been the site of many important moments of Tibetan history, including the establishment of the SMON LAM CHEN MO festival in 1409, when TSONG KHA PA offered a crown to the Jo bo statue, giving it the aspect of a SAMBHOGAKĀYA. Over the course of its long history, the Jo khang has been enlarged and renovated many times (although elements of the original structure, such as juniper beams, are still visible) to become a complex of chapels, courtyards, residential quarters (including those for the DALAI LAMA and PAn CHEN LAMA), monastic dormitories, government offices, and storerooms. The temple suffered during the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), when parts of the complex and much of its original statuary and murals were damaged or destroyed, including the central image. During this period, the complex was occupied by Red Guards and People's Liberation Army troops, and the temple was used as a pigsty. The temple has since been restored, beginning in 1972 and again during the early 1990s. In 2000, it was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
Kali ::: (literally "the black") the "dark Mother", a name given in the Kali Hindu tradition to the "supreme Energy . . . beneficent even in the mask of destruction", represented "with her garland of skulls trampling naked in battle", symbolic of "the Nature Force [prakr.ti] in the ignorance surrounded by difficulties, wresting and breaking everything in a blind struggle to get through till she finds herself standing
Liquidity problems - Difficulties that arise because of the lack of assets that can easily be converted into cash to make immediate payments.
lock-in ::: (standard) When an existing standard becomes almost impossible to supersede because of the cost or logistical difficulties involved in convincing all its users to switch something different and, typically, incompatible.The common implication is that the existing standard is notably inferior to other comparable standards developed before or since.Things which have been accused of benefiting from lock-in in the absence of being truly worthwhile include: the QWERTY keyboard; any well-known operating Protocol, 7-bit (or even 8-bit) character sets, analog video or audio broadcast formats and nearly any file format).Because of network effects outside of just computer networks, Real World examples of lock-in include the current spelling conventions for writing English anachronistic aspects of the internal organisation of any government (e.g., the American Electoral College). (1998-01-15)
lock-in "standard" When an existing standard becomes almost impossible to supersede because of the cost or logistical difficulties involved in convincing all its users to switch something different and, typically, {incompatible}. The common implication is that the existing standard is notably inferior to other comparable standards developed before or since. Things which have been accused of benefiting from lock-in in the absence of being truly worthwhile include: the {QWERTY} keyboard; any well-known {operating system} or programming language you don't like (e.g., see "{Unix conspiracy}"); every product ever made by {Microsoft Corporation}; and most currently deployed formats for transmitting or storing data of any kind (especially the {Internet Protocol}, 7-bit (or even 8-bit) {character sets}, analog video or audio broadcast formats and nearly any file format). Because of {network effects} outside of just computer networks, {Real World} examples of lock-in include the current spelling conventions for writing English (or French, Japanese, Hebrew, Arabic, etc.); the design of American money; the imperial (feet, inches, ounces, etc.) system of measurement; and the various and anachronistic aspects of the internal organisation of any government (e.g., the American Electoral College). (1998-01-15)
maccittah sarvadurgani matprasadat tarisyasi ::: by giving yourself in heart and mind to Me, thou shalt cross over all difficulties and perils by My grace. [Gita 18.58]
master of Existence ::: Sri Aurobindo: "I am here with thee in thy chariot of battle revealed as the Master of Existence within and without thee and I repeat the absolute assurance, the infallible promise that I will lead thee to myself through and beyond all sorrow and evil. Whatever difficulties and perplexities arise, be sure of this that I am leading thee to a complete divine life in the universal and an immortal existence in the transcendent Spirit.” Essays on the Gita
murdhan. (T. rtse mo; C. ding; J. cho; K. chong 頂). In Sanskrit, "summit," or "peak," or "climax"; the second of the "aids to penetration" (NIRVEDHABHĀGĪYA); these aids are developed during the PRAYOGAMĀRGA (path of preparation) and mark the transition from the mundane path of cultivation (LAUKIKA-BHĀVANĀMĀRGA) to supramundane vision (viz., DARsANAMĀRGA) on both the HĪNAYĀNA and MAHĀYĀNA paths. Murdhan is defined specifically in terms of faith in the validity of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS (catvāry āryasatāni), a faith that begins to develop at the level of usMAN (heat), the first of the aids to penetration, and reaches its "summit" or "climax" at the level of murdhan. This stage is called "summit," the ABHIDHARMAMAHĀVIBHĀsĀ explains, because it is like the summit of a mountain, where one cannot tarry long: either you continue on to ascend another peak or you retreat back down the mountain. Therefore, if one has no difficulties, one will progress on to KsĀNTI (forbearance); but if one meets with problems, one will retrogress back to usman. Thus, murdhan and usman, the first two of the nirvedhabhāgīyas, are still subject to retrogression and thus belong to the mundane path of cultivation (laukikabhāvanāmārga). Murdhan marks the end of the possibility of the wholesome faculties (KUsALAMuLA) created by past salutary deeds being destroyed by unwholesome mental states, such as anger. The kusalamula are no longer susceptible to destruction from this point on the path forward to the achievement of the state of the ARHAT or buddha.
overpass ::: 1. To pass over or traverse (a region, space, etc.). 2. To go beyond; surpass; transcend. 3. To get over (obstacles, difficulties, etc.); surmount. overpassed, overpassing.
Packard Bell Electronics, Inc. "company" A leading US computer vendor. As recently as 29 November 1995 the Wall Street Journal reported that the company was having financial difficulties and that one of its major suppliers of CPUs, {Intel}, was about to make a large cash loan, so as to prevent loss of a major customer. Packard Bell is a privately held company and the WSJ also reported that {NEC} has been rumored to have bought a large minority block of shares to help the company stay in business. Its computers are sold in major retail outlets in the USA and are available as a bundled package: desktop or {tower} {486} {CPU}, single 3.5 inch {floppy disk drive}, {CD-ROM}, {sound card}, 14 inch colour {monitor}, and 4-8MB of {RAM}. 1995 end-of-year prices in Computer Currents magazine (a California Bay Area bi-monthly giveaway publication) are US$1500 (approx. 1000 pounds) for a 486 desktop, with 8MB RAM, 420MB hard disk drive, single 3.5 inch floppy drive, 14 inch colour monitor, 2-speed CD-ROM, and 16-bit sound card. Headquarters: Sacramento, California, USA. (1996-01-02)
Packard Bell Electronics, Inc. ::: (company) A leading US computer vendor.As recently as 29 November 1995 the Wall Street Journal reported that the company was having financial difficulties and that one of its major suppliers of reported that NEC has been rumored to have bought a large minority block of shares to help the company stay in business.Its computers are sold in major retail outlets in the USA and are available as a bundled package: desktop or tower 486 CPU, single 3.5 inch floppy disk drive, CD-ROM, sound card, 14 inch colour monitor, and 4-8MB of RAM.1995 end-of-year prices in Computer Currents magazine (a California Bay Area bi-monthly giveaway publication) are US$1500 (approx. 1000 pounds) for a 486 desktop, with 8MB RAM, 420MB hard disk drive, single 3.5 inch floppy drive, 14 inch colour monitor, 2-speed CD-ROM, and 16-bit sound card.Headquarters: Sacramento, California, USA. (1996-01-02)
packet driver ::: (networking) IBM PC local area network software that divides data into packets which it routes to the network. It also handles incoming data, reassembling the packets so that application programs can read the data as a continuous stream.FTP Software created the specification for IBM PC packet drivers but Crynwr Software dominate the market and have done the vast majority of the implementations.Packet drivers provide a simple, common programming interface that allows multiple applications to share a network interface at the data link layer. Packet drivers demultiplex incoming packets among the applications by using the network media's standard packet type or service access point field(s).The packet driver provides calls to initiate access to a specific packet type, to end access to it, to send a packet, to get statistics on the network interface and to get information about the interface.Protocol implementations that use the packet driver can coexist and can make use of one another's services, whereas multiple applications which do not use the DECnet, Banyan's, LifeNet's, Novell's or 3Com's without the difficulties associated with pre-empting the network interface.Applications which use the packet driver can also run on new network hardware of the same class without being modified; only a new packet driver need be supplied.There are several levels of packet driver. The first is the basic packet driver, which provides minimal functionality but should be simple to implement and which The third level, the high-performance functions, support performance improvements and tuning. . (1994-12-05)
packet driver "networking" {IBM PC} {local area network} software that divides data into {packets} which it routes to the network. It also handles incoming data, reassembling the packets so that {application programs} can read the data as a continuous stream. {FTP Software} created the specification for {IBM PC} packet drivers but {Crynwr Software} dominate the market and have done the vast majority of the implementations. Packet drivers provide a simple, common programming interface that allows multiple {applications} to share a {network interface} at the {data link} layer. Packet drivers demultiplex incoming packets among the applications by using the network media's {standard packet type} or {service access point} field(s). The packet driver provides calls to initiate access to a specific packet type, to end access to it, to send a packet, to get statistics on the network interface and to get information about the interface. Protocol implementations that use the packet driver can coexist and can make use of one another's services, whereas multiple applications which do not use the driver do not coexist on one machine properly. Through use of the packet driver, a user could run {TCP/IP}, {XNS} and a proprietary protocol implementation such as {DECnet}, {Banyan}'s, {LifeNet}'s, {Novell}'s or {3Com}'s without the difficulties associated with pre-empting the network interface. Applications which use the packet driver can also run on new network hardware of the same class without being modified; only a new packet driver need be supplied. There are several levels of packet driver. The first is the basic packet driver, which provides minimal functionality but should be simple to implement and which uses very few host resources. The basic driver provides operations to broadcast and receive packets. The second driver is the extended packet driver, which is a superset of the basic driver. The extended driver supports less commonly used functions of the network interface such as {multicast}, and also gathers statistics on use of the interface and makes these available to the application. The third level, the high-performance functions, support performance improvements and tuning. {(http://crynwr.com/crynwr/home.html)}. (1994-12-05)
Parkinson's disease: a degenerative neurological disorder, typified by difficulties in movement, for instance a continual rapid tremor in the limbs, a lack of sensory-motor co-ordination and a tendency to be continually tired. The condition is thought to be caused by problems in the production of the neurotransmitter dopamine.
paustika. (T. rgyas pa'i las; C. zengyi; J. zoyaku; K. chŭngik 增益). In Sanskrit, "increase," one of the four types of deeds or powers (caturkarman) described in tantric texts. The others are the pacification of difficulties (sĀNTIKA), the control of negative forces (VAsĪKARAnA), and the destruction of enemies (ABHICĀRA). Tantric texts often contain rituals designed to bestow one of more of these powers. Rituals for paustika typically promise the ability to increase auspicious elements, both physical and spiritual. Thus, one finds rituals for increasing wealth and prosperity (sometimes through finding buried treasure), for increasing one's intelligence, life span, fame, and beauty, and for avoiding famine and disease.
P. E. B. Jourdain, Tales with philosophical morals, The Open Court, vol 27 (1913), pp. 310-315. Parallelism: (philosophiol) A doctrine advanced to explain the relation between mind and body according to which mental processes vary concomitantly with simultineous physiological processes. This general description is applicable to all forms of the theory More strictly it assumes that for every mental change there exists a correlated neural change, and it denies any causal relation between the series of conscious processes and the series of processes of the nervous system, acknowledging, however, causation within each series. It was designed to obviate the difficulties encountered by the diverse interaction theories Moreover, no form of parallelism admits the existence of a spiritual substance of a substantial soul. Some regard consciousness as the only reality, the soul which is but an actuality, as the sum of psychic acts whose unity consists in their coherence. Others accept the teaching of the fundamental identity of mind and body, regarding the two corresponding series of psychical and physical processes as aspects of an unknown series of real processes. Thus mind and body are but appearances of a hidden underlying unity. Finally there are those who hold that the series of conscious states which constitute the mind is but an epiphenomenon, or a sort of by-product of the bodily organism. See Mind-Body Relation. -- J.J.R.
pilot ::: 1. A person qualified to guide ships through difficult waters going into or out of a harbour. 2. Fig. One who acts as a leader or guide through difficulties or challenges.
plug and pray ::: (humour) The Windows 95 equivalent of the Macintosh's plug and play, referring to difficulties encountered when setting up new hardware under Windows 95. (1997-10-11)
plug and pray "humour" The {Windows 95} equivalent of the {Macintosh}'s {plug and play}, referring to difficulties encountered when setting up new {hardware} under Windows 95. (1997-10-11)
power and many difficulties disappear ; but even if they do not, they will get what they seek after in the Divine and through it they will come to realise something, even to pass beyond the limit of the original desire.
Pragmatic Realism: The doctrine that knowledge comes by way of action, that to know is to act by hypotheses which result in successful adaption or resolve practical difficulties. According to pragmatic realism, the mind is not outside the realm of nature; in experience the organism and the world are at one; the theories of knowledge which follow the alleged dualism between the objective and subjective worlds are false. Ideas and knowledge are instruments for activity and not spectators of an outside realm. -- V.F.
resolvable ::: a. --> Admitting of being resolved; admitting separation into constituent parts, or reduction to first principles; admitting solution or explanation; as, resolvable compounds; resolvable ideas or difficulties.
resolvedly ::: adv. --> So as to resolve or clear up difficulties; clearly.
Resolutely; decidedly; firmly.
resolver ::: n. --> That which decomposes, or dissolves.
That which clears up and removes difficulties, and makes the mind certain or determined.
One who resolves, or formal a firm purpose.
respirational ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to respiration; as, respirational difficulties.
Siming shiyi shu. (J. Shimei jugisho; K. Samyong sibŭi so 四明十義書). In Chinese, "Siming's Letters on Ten Issues"; a collection of letters compiled by the TIANTAI monk SIMING ZHILI (960-1028) and edited together in 1006. The Siming shiyi shu is a valuable source of information on the SHANJIA SHANWAI, or "Home-Mountain/Off-Mountain," debate within the Song-dynasty Tiantai school. Two recensions of TIANTAI ZHIYI's commentary on the SUVARnAPRABHĀSOTTAMASuTRA, an expanded and an abridged version, were known to have circulated during the late Tang and early Five Dynasties period. Zhili and the Shanjia faction, which later came to define Tiantai orthodoxy, defended the expanded recension when the monk Ciguang Wu'en (912-986) and others of the so-called Shanwai faction began questioning the authenticity of certain of its passages, particularly the ten modes of contemplation found in the text. The Siming shiyi shu speaks of Zhiyi's teachings on contemplation in ten general points: (1) not discerning the subject of contemplation, (2) not discerning the object of contemplation, (3) not distinguishing between inside and outside, (4) not constructing the duality of principle and phenomena, (5) not elucidating the workings of contemplation, (6) not lingering on the difficulties of the mind, (7) not knowing the levels of contemplation, (8) not collecting the meanings of contemplation, (9) not being skilled at collecting passages, (10) not being skilled at studying principle.
solve ::: v. t. --> To explain; to resolve; to unfold; to clear up (what is obscure or difficult to be understood); to work out to a result or conclusion; as, to solve a doubt; to solve difficulties; to solve a problem. ::: n. --> A solution; an explanation.
Space Usually the universe as perceived by our physical senses. It is disputed whether space exists apart from objects or is a property of objects, and also whether it is objective or subjective. Such difficulties arise from our attempt to abstract extension from the reality of which it is an aspect, just as we attempt to abstract matter and energy. The physical basis of our universe appears under these three aspects, and the attempt to conceive each of the three as separate existences and to construct the universe out of them is to court contradiction and to proceed in the inverse order.
spiny ::: a. --> Full of spines; thorny; as, a spiny tree.
Like a spine in shape; slender.
Fig.: Abounding with difficulties or annoyances. ::: n. --> See Spinny.
tantra. (T. rgyud; C. tanteluo; J. dantokura; K. tant'ŭngna 檀特羅). In Sanskrit, lit. "continuum"; a term derived from the Sanskrit root √tan ("to stretch out," "to weave"), having the sense of an arrangement or a pattern (deployed not only in a ritual, but in military and political contexts as well). The term is thus used to name a manual or handbook that sets forth such arrangements, and is not limited to Buddhism or to Indian religions more broadly. Beyond this, the term is notoriously difficult to define. It can be said, however, that tantra does not carry the connotation of all things esoteric and erotic that it has acquired in the modern West. In Buddhism, the term tantra generally refers to a text that contains esoteric teachings, often ascribed to sĀKYAMUNI or another buddha. Even this, however, is problematic: there are esoteric texts that do not carry the term tantra in their title (such as the VAJRAsEKHARASuTRA), and there are nonesoteric texts in whose title the term tantra appears (such as the UTTARATANTRA). Scholars therefore tend to define tantra (in the textual sense) based on specific sets of elements contained in the texts. These include MANTRA, MAndALA, MUDRĀ, initiations (ABHIsEKA), fire sacrifices (HOMA), and feasts (GAnACAKRA), all set forth with the aim of gaining powers (SIDDHI), both mundane and supramundane. The mundane powers are traditionally enumerated as involving four activities: pacification of difficulties (sĀNTIKA), increase of wealth (PAUstIKA), control of negative forces (VAsĪKARAnA), and destruction of enemies (ABHICĀRA). The supramundane power is enlightenment (BODHI). The texts called tantras began to appear in India in the late seventh and early eighth centuries CE, often written in a nonstandard (some would say "corrupt") Sanskrit that included colloquial elements and regional terms. These anonymous texts (including such famous works as the GUHYASAMĀJATANTRA, the CAKRASAMVARATANTRA, and the HEVAJRATANTRA), typically provided mantras and instructions for drawing mandalas, among a variety of other elements, but their presentation and organization were usually not systematic; these texts came to serve as the "root tantra" for a cycle of related texts. The more systematic of these were the SĀDHANA (lit. "means of achievement"), a ritual manual by a named author, which set forth the specific practices necessary for the attainment of siddhi. The standard form was to create a mandala into which one invited a deity. The meditator would either visualize himself or herself as the deity or visualize the deity as appearing before the meditator. Various offerings would be made, mantras would be recited, and siddhis would be requested. Although scholars continue to explore the relation between the tantras and the MAHĀYĀNA sutras, tantric exegetes viewed the tantras, like the Mahāyāna sutras, as being the word of the Buddha (BUDDHAVACANA) and as setting forth forms of practice consistent with the bodhisattva vow and the quest for buddhahood, albeit more quickly than by the conventional path, via what came to be referred to as the VAJRA vehicle (VAJRAYĀNA). Thus, it was said that the Mahāyāna was divided into the pāramitānaya, the "mode of the perfections" set forth in the Mahāyāna sutras, and the mantranaya, the "mode of the mantras" set forth in the tantras. These two are also, although less commonly, known as the sutrayāna and the TANTRAYĀNA. In this context, then, the term "tantra" is often used by tantric exegetes in contrast to "sutra," which is taken to mean the corpus of exoteric teachings of the Buddha. For those who accept the tantras as the word of the Buddha, the term "sutras and tantras" would thus refer to the entirety of the Buddha's teachings. The corpus of tantras was eventually classified by late Indian Buddhist exegetes into a number of schemata, the most famous of which is the fourfold division into KRIYĀTANTRA, CARYĀTANTRA, YOGATANTRA, and ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA.
The difficulties in the nature alwas-s rise again and again till sou osetcome them ; they most be faced with both strength and patience.
The difficulty of the difficulties is self-created, a knot of the
The more complete y-our faith, sincerity and surrender, the more will grace and protection be with you. And when the grace and protection of the Divine Mother arc with you, what is there lliat can touch you or whom need you fear? A little of it even will carry you through all diiliculties, obstacles and dangers ; surrounded by its full presence you can go securely on your way because it is hers, careless of all menace, unaffected by any hostility however powerful, whether from this world or from worlds invisible. Its touch can turn difficulties into oppor- tunities, failure into success and weakness into unfaltering strength. For the grace of the Divine Mother is the sanction of the Supreme and now or tomorrow its ciTect is sure, a thing decreed. Inevitable and irresistible.
The more complete your faith, sincerity and surrender, the mote will grace and protection be with you. And when the grace and protection of the Divine Mother are with you, what is there that can touch you or whom need you fear? A little of it even will carry you through all difficulties, obstacles and dangers ; surrounded by its full presence you can go securely on your way because it is hers, careless of all menace, unaffected by any hostility however powerful, whether from this world or from worlds invisible. Its touch can turn difficulties into oppor- tunities, failure into success and weakness into unfaltering strength.
therapy: any process that aids understanding and recovery from psychologicaldifficulties. A wide variety of therapies can be divided into psychotherapies(involving discussion or action) and somatic therapies (medical or biological intervention).
There is a Purusha within who can dictate to the nature what it sbail admit or e.vrJude, bur its will is a strong, quiet wjJJ ; if one gets perturbed or a^tated over the difficulties, then the will of the Purusha cannot act effectively as it would otherwise.
The state of grace ” is often prepared by a long tapasyii or purification in which nothing decisive seems to happen, only touches or glimpses or passing experiences at the most, and comes suddenly without warning. When it comes the fundamental difficulties can in a moment and generally do disappear.
"The sunlit path can only be followed if the psychic is constantly or usually in front or if one has a natural spirit of faith and surrender or a face turned habitually towards the sun or psychic predisposition (e.g. a faith in one"s spiritual destiny) or, if one has acquired the psychic turn. That does not mean that the sunlit man has no difficulties; he may have many, but he regards them cheerfully as all in the day's work''. If he gets a bad beating, he is capable of saying,Well, that was a queer go but the Divine is evidently in a queer mood and if that is his way of doing things, it must be the right one; I am surely a still queerer fellow myself and that, I suppose, was the only means of putting me right."" Letters on Yoga
“The sunlit path can only be followed if the psychic is constantly or usually in front or if one has a natural spirit of faith and surrender or a face turned habitually towards the sun or psychic predisposition (e.g. a faith in one’s spiritual destiny) or, if one has acquired the psychic turn. That does not mean that the sunlit man has no difficulties; he may have many, but he regards them cheerfully as all in the day’s work’’. If he gets a bad beating, he is capable of saying,Well, that was a queer go but the Divine is evidently in a queer mood and if that is his way of doing things, it must be the right one; I am surely a still queerer fellow myself and that, I suppose, was the only means of putting me right.’’ Letters on Yoga
The various forms of yoga from the standpoint of theosophy when properly understood are not distinct, separable means of attaining union with the god within; and it is a divergence of the attention into one or several of these forms to the exclusion of others that has brought about so much mental confusion and lack of success even in those who are more or less skilled. Every one of these forms of yoga, with the probable exception of the lower forms of hatha yoga, should be practiced concurrently by the one who has set his heart and mind upon spiritual success. Thus one should carefully watch and control his acts, acting and working unselfishly; he should live so that his daily customs distract attention as little as possible away from the spiritual purpose; his heart coincidentally should be filled with devotion and love for all things; and he should cultivate, all at the same time, his will, his capacity for self-sacrifice and self-devotion to a noble cause, and his ability to stand firm and undaunted in the face of difficulties whatever they may be; and, finally, in addition and perhaps most importantly, he should do everything in his power to cultivate his intuition and intellectual faculties, exercising not merely his ratiocinative mind, but the higher intuitive and nobly intellectual parts. Combining all these he is following the chela path and is using all the forms of yoga in the proper way. Yet the chela will never obtain his objective if his practice of yoga is followed for his own individual advancement. He will never reach higher than the superior planes of the astral world even in consciousness; but when his whole being follows this yoga as thus outlined with a desire to lay his life and all he is on the altar of service to the world, he is then indeed on the path.
This decisive touch comes most easily to the baby cat ” people, those who have at some point between the psychic and the emotional vital a quick and decisive movement of surrender to the Guru or the Divine. I have seen that when that is there and there is the conscious central dependence compelling the mind also and the rest of the vital, then the fundamental diffi- culty disappears. If others remain they are not felt as difficulties, but simply as things that have just to be done and need cause no worry. Sometimes no tapasya is necessary — one just refers things to the Power that one feels guiding or doing the sadhana and assents to its action, rejecting all that is contrary to it, and the Power removes what has to be removed or changes what
This is the true attitude and only those who can take and keep it, preserve a faith unshaken by disappointments and difficulties and shall pass through the ordeal to the supreme vic- tory and the great transmutation.
This yoga is a spiritual battle ; hs sery attempt raises all sorts of adverse forces and one must be ready to face difficulties, suflerinss, reverses of aU sorts in a calm unflinching spirit The difficulties that come are orders and tests and if one meets them in the right spirit one comes out stronar and spirituaUj* pmrer and greater. No misfortui^ can come, the adverse forces cannot touch or be victorioas nnless there is some defect in oneself.
T'ime: The general medium in which all events take place in succession or appear to take place in succession. All specific and finite periods of time, whether past, present or future, constitute merely parts of the entire and single Time. Common-sense interprets Time vaguely as something moving toward the future or as something in which events point in that direction. But the many contradictions contained in this notion have led philosophers to postulate doctrines purporting to eliminate some of the difficulties implied in common-sense ideas. The first famous but unresolved controversy arose in Ancient Greece, between Parmenides, who maintained that change and becoming were irrational illusions, and Heraclitus, who asserted that there was no permanence and that change characterized everything without exception. Another great controversy arose centuries later between disciples of Newton and Leibniz. According to Newton, time was independent of, and prior to, events; in his own words, "absolute time, and mathematical time, of itself, and from its own nature, flows equably without regard to anything external." According to Leibniz, on the other hand, there can be no time independent of events: for time is formed by events and relations among them, and constitutes the universal order of succession. It was this latter doctrine which eventually gave rise to the doctrine of space-time, in which both space and time are regarded as two systems of relations, distinct from a perceptual standpoint, but inseparably bound together in reality. All these controversies led many thinkers to believe that the concept of time cannot be fully accounted for, unless we distinguish between perceptual, or subjective, time, which is confined to the perceptually shifting 'now' of the present, and conceptual, or objective, time, which includes til periods of time and in which the events we call past, present and future can be mutually and fixedly related. See Becoming, Change, Duration, Persistence, Space-Time. -- R.B.W.
To arrive at this condition the important thing is a persistent aspiration, call and self-offering and a will to reject all in oneself or around that stands in the way. Difficulties there will always be at the beginning and for as long a time as is necessary for the change ; but they are bound to disappear if they are met by a settled faith, will and patience.
Torrey, R. A. Difficulties in the Bible. New York:
unclog ::: v. t. --> To disencumber of a clog, or of difficulties and obstructions; to free from encumbrances; to set at liberty.
unembarrassed ::: a. --> Not embarrassed.
Not perplexed in mind; not confused; as, the speaker appeared unembarrassed.
Free from pecuniary difficulties or encumbrances; as, he and his property are unembarrassed.
Free from perplexing connection; as, the question comes into court unembarrassed with irrelevant matter.
Unfortunately, however, physical practices of various kinds seem to be particularly attractive to the average person because apparently within the sphere of easy performance. One does not know the dangers lurking there; but actually, to achieve even the minor results that come from perfect performance, greater effort and larger difficulties have to be encountered than in raising one’s eyes to the nobler forms of yoga. It is always safe and indeed requisite for a disciple to practice the higher branches of yoga: jnana yoga, raja yoga, bhakti yoga, and karma yoga, which means the yoga of unselfish action in daily life. Consequently, when considered apart from the nobler forms of yoga there is not a particle of spirituality in all these hatha yoga practices.
Upāli. (T. Nye bar 'khor; C. Youboli; J. Upari; K. Ubari 優波離). Sanskrit and Pāli proper name of an ARHAT who was foremost among the Buddha's disciples in his knowledge of the monastic code of discipline (VINAYA). According to Pāli accounts, Upāli was a barber from the city of Kapilavatthu (S. KAPILAVASTU) and was in the service of the Sākiya (S. sĀKYA) princes who ruled there. Upāli accompanied Anuruddha (S. ANIRUDDHA) and his cousins when they decided to renounce the world and take ordination from the Buddha in Anupiyā grove. They handed him all their clothes and ornaments in preparation, but Upāli refused the gift, asking instead to be allowed to take ordination with them. Anuruddha and the others requested the Buddha to confer ordination on Upāli first so that their barber would always be senior to them and thus quell their pride in their noble birth. The Buddha refused Upāli's request to be allowed to retire to the forest to practice meditation in solitude, realizing that, while Upāli had the qualities to attain arhatship through that course, he would as a consequence neglect the study of dharma. Following the Buddha's advice, Upāli practiced insight (P. VIPASSANĀ; S. VIPAsYANĀ) and became an arhat without retiring to the forest, thus allowing the Buddha to teach him the entire VINAYAPItAKA. Upāli was frequently sought out to render decisions on matters of discipline, and he is frequently shown discussing with the Buddha the legal details of cases brought before him. Even during the Buddha's lifetime, monks frequently sought training in monastic discipline under Upāli; he was also regarded as a sympathetic guardian to monks facing difficulties. After the Buddha's demise, MAHĀKĀsYAPA chose Upāli to recite the vinaya at the first Buddhist council (SAMGĪTI; see COUNCIL, FIRST); ĀNANDA was chosen to recite the Buddha's sermons (SuTRA). A succession of vinaya masters descended from Upāli, including MOGGALIPUTTATISSA, leader of the third Buddhist council (see COUNCIL, THIRD). Upāli's low status as a barber is often raised as evidence that the Buddha accepted disciples from all classes and castes in society and that all were capable of becoming arhats.
Verification, Confirmation: Verification: the procedure of finding out whether a sentence (or proposition) is true or false. A sentence is verifiable (in principle) if a (positive or negative) verification of it is possible under suitable conditions, leaving aside technical difficulties. Many philosophical doctrines (e.g. Scientific Empiricism, q.v.) hold that a verification is replaced here by the concept of confirmation. A certain hypothesis is said to be confirmed to a certain degree by a certain amount of evidence. The concept of degree of confirmation is closely connected or perhaps identical (Reichenbach) with the statistical concept of probability (q.v.). A sentence is confirmable if suitable (possible, not necessarily actual) experiences could contribute positively or negatively to its confirmation. Many etnpiricists (see e.g. Scientific Empiricism 1C) regard either verifiability (e.g. Wittgenstein, the Vienna Circle in its earlier phase) or confirimability as a criterion of meaningfulness (in the sense of factual meaning, see Meaning, Kinds of, 2). This view leads to a rejection of certain metaphysical doctrines (see Anti-metaphysics, 2)
victory ::: 1. A success or triumph over an enemy in battle or war. 2. Success in a struggle against difficulties or an obstacle. victory"s, victories.
V. Probability as an Operattonal Concept: In this interpretation, which is due particularly to Kemble, probability is discussed in terms of the mental operations involved in determining it numerically. It is pointed out that probability enters the postulates of physical theories as a useful word employed to indicate the manner in which results of theoretical calculations are to be compared with experimental data. But beyond the usefulness of this word, there must be a more fundamental concept justifying it; this is called primary probability which should be reached by an instrumentalist procedure. The analogy of the thermometer, which connects a qualitative sensation with a number, gives an indication for such a procedure. The expectation of the repetition of an event is an elementary form of belief which can be strengthened by additional evidence. In collecting such evidence, a selection is naturally made, by accepting the relevant data and rejecting the others. When the selected data form a pattern which does not involve the event as such or its negative, the event is considered as probable. The rules of collecting the data and of comparing them with the theoretical event and its negative, involve the idea ol correspondence which leads to the use of numbers for its expression. Thus, probability is a number computed from empirical data according to given rules, and used as a metric and a corrective to the sense of expectation, and the ultimate value of the theory of probability is its service as a guide to action. The main interest of this theory lies in its psychological analysis and its attempt to unify the various conceptions of probability. But it is not yet complete; and until its epistemological implications are made clear, its apparent eclecticism may cover many of the difficulties it wishes to avoid. -- T.G.
— was able to overcome all difficulties and secure a lasting life.
Waves imply a medium to convey them — the hypothetical luminiferous ether, and here we encounter difficulties due to the attempt to endow it with the attributes rendered familiar by our experience of physical matter. The existence of waves is demonstrable and they can be measured; but the ether is necessarily neither gas, liquid, nor solid, and we need to wait until we have discovered more about its properties. “Atoms, Ether, or both, modern speculation cannot get out of the circle of ancient thought; and the latter was soaked through with archaic occultism. Undulatory or corpuscular theory — it is all one. It is speculation from the aspects of phenomena, not from the knowledge of the essential nature of the cause and causes” (SD 1:528).
Wencheng. (T. Rgya mo bza' kong jo, C. Wencheng gongzhu 文成公主) (d. 680). The Tang-dynasty Chinese princess who married the Tibetan king SRONG BTSAN SGAM PO. Although she was in fact a person of little historical significance, she figures prominently in competing Tibetan and Chinese versions of the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet and of Sino-Tibetan relations. According to Tibetan sources, she was given in marriage to the Tibetan king under threat of invasion and became one of the king's five wives: three Tibetans, one Nepalese, and one Chinese. The Nepalese and Chinese brides were Buddhists and converted their husband to the faith. Each also brought a buddha image as part of their dowry. Princess Wencheng brought the JO BO SHĀKYAMUNI, eventually housed in the JO KHANG in LHA SA, and considered the most sacred buddha image in Tibet. The Nepalese princess BHṚKUTĪ brought the JO BO MI BSKYOD RDO RJE, housed at RA MO CHE. The journey of the Chinese princess and her statue was fraught with difficulties, as the giant demoness (srin mo), whose supine body is the landscape of Tibet, tried to impede their progress. As a result, the king built a series of temples to pin down her body (MTHA' 'DUL GTSUG LAG KHANG). Later sources would identify the Chinese princess as an incarnation of the bodhisattva TĀRĀ. Chinese sources depict the princess as a kind of cultural ambassador, helping to introduce Han culture into the wilds of Tibet and convincing her husband to abandon a variety of barbaric customs. This view of Princess Wencheng has been promoted in various Chinese media (including martial arts films) since the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950. Contrary to both versions, it appears that Princess Wencheng arrived at the Tibetan court as a twelve-year-old girl, intended as the bride of Srong btsan sgam po's son, who had died by the time that she arrived. Srong btsan sgam po, by then an old man, made her one of his wives, dying himself a few years later. She did not produce a royal heir and does not seem to have played a significant role at court.
Whatever defects there arc would go much sooner, if you did not harp on them too much ; for by dwelling on them so much you lose confidence in yourself and in your power of openness to the Force — which is there all the same — and put unneces- sary difficulties in the way of its working-
With these principles of matter and form, and the parallel distinction between potential and actual existence, Aristotle claims to have solved the difficulties that earlier thinkers had found in the fact of change. The changes in nature are to be interpreted not as the passage from non-being to being, which would make them unintelligible, but as the process by which what is merely potential being passes over, through form, into actual being, or entelechy. The philosophy of nature which results from these basic concepts views nature as a dynamic realm in which change is real, spontaneous, continuous, and in the main directed. Matter, though indeed capable of form, possesses a residual inertia which on occasion produces accidental effects; so that alongside the teological causation of the forms Aristotle recognizes what he calls "necessity" in nature; but the products of the latter, since they are aberrations from form, cannot be made the object of scientific knowledge. Furthermore, the system of nature as developed by Aristotle is a graded series of existences, in which the simpler beings, though in themselves formed matter, function also as matter for higher forms. At the base of the series is prime matter, which as wholly unformed is mere potentiality, not actual being. The simplest formed matter is the so-called primary bodies -- earth, water, air and fire. From these as matter arise by the intervention of successively more complex forms the composite inorganic bodies, organic tissues, and the world of organisms, characterized by varying degrees of complexity in structure and function. In this realization of form in matter Aristotle distinguishes three sorts of change: qualitative change, or alteration; quantitative change, or growth and diminution; and change, of place, or locomotion, the last being primary, since it is presupposed in all the others. But Aristotle is far from suggesting a mechanical explanation of change, for not even locomotion can be explained by impact alone. The motion of the primary bodies is due to the fact that each has its natural place to which it moves when not opposed; earth to the center, then water, air, and fire to successive spheres about the center. The ceaseless motion of these primary bodies results from their ceaseless transformation into one another through the interaction of the forms of hot and cold, wet and dry. Thus qualitative differences of form underlie even the most elemental changes in the world of nature.
yavana. (T. yol ba; C. biandi; J. henji; K. pyonji 邊地). In Sanskrit (from Greek Ionian), "peripheral" or "outlying regions"; referring to the regions beyond the civilizing influences of Buddhism and higher spiritual culture. The term was used to designate Greeks (Ionians) and later even Arab Muslims. In Buddhist cosmology, the term was used to designate regions north and west of India proper, which are inhabited by illiterate, barbaric peoples hostile to Buddhism. The birth into a "peripheral region" is considered to be one of the "insuperable difficulties" (see AKsAnA) to the attainment of enlightenment in the present lifetime. See also BIANDI.
Year 2000 "programming" (Y2K, or "millennium bug") A common name for all the difficulties the turn of the century, or dates in general, bring to computer users. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, the turn of the century looked so remote and memory/disk was so expensive that most programs stored only the last two digits of the year. These produce surprising results when dealing with dates after 1999. They may believe that 1 January 2000 is before 31 December 1999 (00"99), they may miscalculate the day of week, etc. Some programs used the year 99 as a special marker; there are rumours that some car insurance policies were cancelled because a year of 99 was used to mark deleted records. Complete testing of date-dependent code is virtually impossible, especially where the system under test relies on other systems such as customers' or suppliers' computers. Despite this, the predicted "millennium meltdown" never occurred. Various fixes and work-arounds were successfully applied, e.g. {time shifting}. And yes, the year 2000 was a leap year (multiples of 100 aren't leap years unless they're also multiples of 400). {PPR Corp Y2K FAQ (http://pprcorp.com/y2k/y2kfaq_j97.html)}. (2003-08-15)
Year 2000 ::: (programming) (Y2K, or millennium bug) A common name for all the difficulties the turn of the century, or dates in general, bring to computer users.Back in the 1970s and 1980s, the turn of the century looked so remote and memory/disk was so expensive that most programs stored only the last two digits special marker; there are rumours that some car insurance policies were cancelled because a year of 99 was used to mark deleted records.Complete testing of date-dependent code is virtually impossible, especially where the system under test relies on other systems such as customers' or occurred. Various fixes and work-arounds were successfully applied, e.g. time shifting.And yes, the year 2000 was a leap year (multiples of 100 aren't leap years unless they're also multiples of 400). .(2003-08-15)
Ye shes 'od. (Yeshe Ö) (947-1024). A Tibetan king of the western region of GU GE credited with inspiring a revival of Buddhism that initiated the latter dissemination (PHYI DAR) of Buddhism in Tibet. He decried the state of Tibetan Buddhist practice, especially the practice of TANTRA, in a famous ordinance (bka' shog), complaining that people were engaging in murder and illicit sex under the guise of the tantric practices of "liberation" (grol) and "union" (sbyor). According to a famous story, Ye shes 'od was captured by a Gar log Turk chieftain while seeking to raise the capital necessary to invite ATIsA DĪPAMKARAsRĪJNĀNA to Tibet. He then sacrificed his own life by commanding his grandnephew BYANG CHUB 'OD to use whatever gold had been accumulated not as a ransom for his own release, but rather as an offering to the Indian scholar. Atisa was so moved by the king's act of selflessness that, despite his previous declinations, he agreed to make the journey north. Traditional accounts also suggest that Ye shes 'od sponsored a group of twenty-two young scholars to study Indian languages and tantric literature in Kashmir (see KASHMIR-GANDHĀRA), of whom only two survived: the translators RIN CHEN BZANG PO and RNGOG LEGS PA'I SHES RAB. Both the story of his noble death for the sake of Atisa's invitation and the story of his sponsorship of Rin chen bzang po present difficulties in chronology, suggesting that they are embellishments. He is also credited with inspiring the establishment of numerous religious institutions, including THO LING, NYAR MA, and TA PHO. He is also known as Lha bla ma (Lha Lama).
Yoga has always its difficulties, whatever yoga it be. More- over, it acts in a different way on different seekers. Some have to overcome the difficulties of their nature first before they get any experiences to speak of, others get a splendid beginning and all the difficulties afterwards, others go on for a long time having alternate risings to the top of the wave and then a descent into the gulfs and so on till the difficulty is worked out, others have a smooth path which does not mean that they have no diffi- culties — they have plenty, but they do not care a straw for them, because they feel that the Divine will help them to the goal or that he is with them even when they do not feel him
Zongmen huomen. (J. Shumon wakumon; K. Chongmun hongmun 宗門或問). In Chinese, "Some Inquiries into the [Chan] Tradition," composed by the CHAN master ZHANRAN YUANDENG in the CAODONG ZONG. In 1605, Zhanran replied to inquiries he had received from Chan neophytes about the school's distinctive teachings and practices and edited together fifty-two of these exchanges as the Zongmen huomen. (The zongmen of the title is a common designation for the CHAN ZONG, especially in Song-dynasty and later materials.) As Zhanran explains in his preface, he wrote this text because it is difficult for neophytes to understand Chan since there are so many different Chan teachings and practices. For example, to the question of what is most essential in Chan meditation and how one should begin in Chan practice, Zhanran answers that one must aspire to investigate the matter of birth-and-death. As to how to investigate the matter of birth-and-death, he answers that one has to arouse three states of mind: (1) the mind of great faith; (2) the mind of ferocious effort (cf. YONGMAENG CHoNGJIN) and nonretrogression; and (3) the mind of great doubt (see YIQING). (Cf. SANYAO). In the course of his exposition, Zhanran also covers other Buddhist practices, including recitation of the Buddha's name (NIANFO), but he is adamant that Chan is the best and most direct way to enlightenment. In addition to the series of exchanges, Zhanran also appends the following related texts to the Zongmen huomen: the Canchan shinan ("Difficulties in Investigating Chan"), Huomen ("Some Inquiries"), Buyi ("Appended Sayings"), Daming Dingzi men ("Clear Replies to Dingzi's Inquiries"), and the Daguan heshang zhaoyang zhuan ("Tale of the Monk Daguan's Invitation to Disaster"), a fervent defense of the renowned Chan master DAGUAN ZHENKE (a.k.a. ZIBO), who died amid political intrigue at court.
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70 Sri Aurobindo
42 The Mother
3 Swami Vivekananda
2 Patanjali
1 Thomas Keating
1 The Mother
1 Swami Virajananda
1 Swami Saradananda
1 Swami Paramananda
1 Sri Aurobindo
1 Saint Paul of the Cross
1 Saint Maria de Mattias
1 Saint John Bosco
1 Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
1 Patanjali : Aphroisms.II. 12
1 Mother Mirra
1 MOTHER MIRA
1 Mao Zedong
1 Laura Ingalls Wilder
1 Joseph Campbell
1 Dalai Lama
1 Albert Einstein
1 Sri Ramakrishna
1 Saint Augustine of Hippo
1 Hafiz
1 Epictetus
1 Aleister Crowley
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51 Sri Aurobindo
43 The Mother
29 Paulo Coelho
18 Dalai Lama
17 Anonymous
14 Jack Kornfield
11 Norman Vincent Peale
10 Thich Nhat Hanh
10 Pope Francis
10 Mao Zedong
8 Martin Luther King Jr
8 Carl Jung
8 A P J Abdul Kalam
7 Swami Vivekananda
7 Samuel Johnson
7 Ralph Waldo Emerson
7 Paul David Tripp
7 James C Collins
7 Israelmore Ayivor
7 Dalai Lama XIV
1:Patience smooths away lots of difficulties." ~ Saint John Bosco, #KEYS
2:In time of difficulties, we must not lose sight of our achievements. ~ Mao Zedong, #KEYS
3:Difficulties are things that show a person what they are. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
4:With faith in the Divine Grace, all difficulties are solved.
~ The Mother,#KEYS
5:I'll be with you to meet all difficulties-you can be sure of that. ~ The Mother, #KEYS
6:No one ever overcomes difficulties by going at them in a hesitant, doubtful way." ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder, #KEYS
7:The difficulties are for the strong, and help to make them stronger. ~ The Mother, #KEYS
8:Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater." ~ Albert Einstein, #KEYS
9:All difficulties are there to test the endurance of the faith.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
10:Action solves the difficulties which action creates. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin, Facts and Opinions, #KEYS
11:A mistake recognised is a mistake pardoned.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Difficulties, Mistakes,#KEYS
12:Ignorance is the field in which all other difficulties grow. ~ Patanjali, Aphorisms II. 4, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
13:O saki (cupbearer), pass around and offer the bowl, For love at first appeared easy but difficulties have occurred. ~ Hafiz, #KEYS
14:Every work has got to pass through hundreds of difficulties before succeeding. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. V. 104), #KEYS
15:The best way of meeting difficulties is a quiet and calm confidence in the Grace.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
16:Action solves the difficulties which action creates. Inaction can only paralyse and slay.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin,#KEYS
17:A mistake one denies is a mistake one refuses to set right.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Difficulties, Mistakes,#KEYS
18:To each his own difficulties seem enormous and radical. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, The Call and the Capacity, #KEYS
19:Keep courage in spite of all difficulties. You are sure to reach the goal, and the more you keep confidence, the quicker it will come. ~ Mother Mirra, #KEYS
20:The difficulties you cannot overcome today will be overcome tomorrow or later on.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I, [T5],#KEYS
21:What do obstacles matter? We shall always go forward.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Face and Overcome Difficulties, [T5],#KEYS
22:those who rely on the Divine will arrive in spite of all difficulties, stumbles or falls.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - IV,#KEYS
23:The mind is an inveterate divider of the indivisible. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Difficulties of the Mental Being, #KEYS
24:The physical consciousness is constitutionally ignorant. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Difficulties of the Physical Nature, #KEYS
25:Let us love the cross very much, for it is there that we discover our life, our true love, and our strength in our greatest difficulties." ~ Saint Maria de Mattias, #KEYS
26:To get rid of mortal body is not to get rid of mortal mind. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Difficulties of the Mental Being, #KEYS
27:Action solves the difficulties which action creates. Inaction can only paralyse and slay. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin, Facts and Opinions, #KEYS
28:Reason and intellectuality cannot make you see the Divine, it is the soul that sees. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Difficulties of Yoga, #KEYS
29:Try to be spontaneous and simple like a child in your relations with me - it will save you from many difficulties.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I,#KEYS
30:You must learn to be calm and quiet even in the midst of difficulties. This is the way to overcome all obstacles.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
31:We must know how to depend for everything and in everything on the Divine. He alone can surmount all difficulties.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
32:The mind does not record things as they are, but as they appear to it. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Mental Difficulties and the Need of Quietude, #KEYS
33:Be grateful for all ordeals, they are the shortest way to the Divine.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Difficulties, Face and Overcome Difficulties[225],#KEYS
34:The cure from all difficulties can come only when the egoistic concentration upon one's desires and conveniences ceases.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
35:Those who start their practice by uniting with their Guru and chosen deity, fear no reverses or difficulties ... progress will be smooth. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
36:At each moment of our life, in all circumstance the Grace is there helping us to surmount all difficulties. With my blessings
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
37:Even the saint and the sage continue to have difficulties and to be limited by their human nature. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Difficulties of Yoga, #KEYS
38:The psychic change is indeed the indispensable preliminary of any approach to the supramental path ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Difficulties of Yoga, #KEYS
39:Forget your difficulties. Forget yourself... And the Lord will take care of your progress. With love and blessings. 5 March 1968
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
40:Tests come sometimes from the hostile forces, sometimes in the course of Nature. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Hostile Forces and the Difficulties of Yoga, #KEYS
41:If the Lord wills for you a hardship, do not protest. Take it as a blessing and indeed it will become so.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Difficulties of Surrender,#KEYS
42:Look at things from an inner point of view and try to get the benefit of all that happens. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Right Attitude towards Difficulties, #KEYS
43:It is by the process of repeated impressions that consciousness was made to manifest in matter. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Difficulties of the Physical Nature, #KEYS
44:in absolute reliance on the Mother, fearing nothing, sorrowing over nothing ... a glad equanimity even in the face of difficulties... ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - IV, #KEYS
45:The mind is really a reflector and a medium and none of its activities originate in themselves, ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Difficulties of the Mental Being, #KEYS
46:The difficulties of the character persist so long as one yields to them in action when they rise. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Steps towards Overcoming Difficulties, #KEYS
47:It is no use excusing yourself; you must have the will never to fall back into the faults you have committed.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Difficulties, Mistakes, [T5],#KEYS
48:The difficulties which come to birth in the disciple, are ignorance, egoism, desire, aversion and a tenacious will to existence upon the earth. ~ Patanjali, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
49:A certain moderation is needed even in the eagerness for progress—moderation, not indifference or indolence. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Difficulties of the Physical Nature, #KEYS
50:Disquietude and depression create an unhelpful atmosphere for one who is ill or in difficulties. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Interactions with Others and the Practice of Yoga, #KEYS
51:A great progress should only spur one on to a greater progress beside which the first will appear as nothing, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Right Attitude towards Difficulties, #KEYS
52:All difficulties are solved by taking rest in the Divine's arms, for these arms are always opened with love to shelter us.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Face and Overcome Difficulties,#KEYS
53:Our help is there always, it is not given at one time and withheld at another, nor given to some and denied to others. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Difficulties of Human Nature, #KEYS
54:I hope that God will save me through the merits of the passion of Jesus. The more difficulties in life, the more I hope in God. By God's grace, I will not lose my soul, but I hope in his mercy. ~ Saint Paul of the Cross, #KEYS
55:No man ever succeeded in this sadhana by his own merit. To become open and plastic to the Mother is the one thing needed. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, Difficulties of the Path - VII, #KEYS
56:Such difficulties are root and product of both physical and mental workings; they produce their fruits alike in the visible and invisible. ~ Patanjali : Aphroisms.II. 12, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
57:Always remember the Mother. Call upon her. Then the difficulties will go away. Do not be afraid, do not be perturbed by the difficulties. Call upon the Mother steadily. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Annual, Issue 27, #KEYS
58:There is only one aim to be followed, the increase of the Peace, Light, Power and the growth of a new consciousness in the being. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Difficulties of the Physical Nature, #KEYS
59:The tree must bear its own proper fruit, and Nature is always a diligent gardener. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, The Possibility of a First Step towards International Unity - Its Enormous Difficulties, #KEYS
60:The hostile beings, they are always in battle with each other; but they make common cause against the Truth and Light. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Hostile Forces and the Difficulties of Yoga, #KEYS
61:We must not only have the possession of a pure self-existence independent of the world-play, but possess all existence as our ow. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Difficulties of the Mental Being, #KEYS
62:It is by persevering that one conquers difficulties, not by running away from them. One who perseveres is sure to triumph. Victory goes to the most enduring. Always do your best and the Lord will take care of the results. ~ MOTHER MIRA, #KEYS
63:In this last day of the year, let us take the resolution that all our weaknesses and obstinate obscurities will drop from us along with the finishing year.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Difficulties, Mistakes,#KEYS
64:By readiness I did not mean capacity but willingness. If there is the will within to face all difficulties and go through, no matter how long it takes, then the path can be taken. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II, #KEYS
65:That is not right. Throwing away the life does not improve the chances for the next time. It is in this life and body that one must get things done. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, Difficulties of the Path - VII, #KEYS
66:It is not true that physical work is of an inferior value to mental culture, it is the arrogance of the intellect that makes the claim. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Hostile Forces and the Difficulties of Yoga, #KEYS
67:It is rare that somebody can surrender entirely to the Divine's Will without having to face one or another of the difficulties.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Elements of Yoga, Surrender to the Divine Will, Surrender,#KEYS
68:Be sure that the Mother will be always with you to carry you upon the path. Difficulties come and difficulties go, but, she being with you, the victory is sure.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Mother With Letters On The Mother, [T1],#KEYS
69:Death is not a way to succeed in sadhana. If you die in that way, you will only have the same difficulties again with probably less favourable circumstances. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, Difficulties of the Path - VII, #KEYS
70:Mountain-high though the difficulties appear, terrible and gloomy though all things seem, they are but Maya. Fear not — it is banished. Crush it, and it vanishes. Stamp upon it, and it dies. Be not afraid. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
71:When men will understand that the Divine knows better than they do what is the best for them, many of their difficulties will disappear.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Surrender to the Divine Will, Difficulties of Surrender,#KEYS
72:One who has not the courage to face patiently and firmly life and its difficulties will never be able to go through the still greater inner difficulties of the sadhana. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Patience and Perseverance, #KEYS
73:One has only to aspire sincerely and keep oneself as open as possible to the Mother's Force. Then whatever difficulties come, they will be overcome - it may take some time, but the result is sure. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II, #KEYS
74:So long as there is not an unreserved self-giving in both the internal and external, there will always be veilings, dark periods and difficulties. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, The Danger of the Ego and the Need of Purification, #KEYS
75:It is the disadvantage of helping others that one comes into contact with their consciousness and their difficulties and also gets more externalised. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Interactions with Others and the Practice of Yoga, #KEYS
76:Faith, more faith! Faith in your possibilities, faith in the Power that is at work behind the veil, faith in the work that is to be done and the offered guidance. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Steps towards Overcoming Difficulties, #KEYS
77:The Divine is present among us. When we remember Him always He gives us the strength to face all circumstances with perfect peace and equanimity. Become aware of the Presence and your difficulties will disappear.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
78:It is the Divine Presence that gives value to life. This Presence is the source of all peace, all joy, all security. Find this Presence in yourself and all your difficulties will disappear.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, The Divine Is with You,#KEYS
79:The Lord is making you His own. He will not allow even the slightest ego to remain within you. The sufferings and difficulties you are undergoing are intended to make you realize that you have no independent will of you own. It is all given over to the Lord. ~ Swami Saradananda, #KEYS
80:Realised mental being and realised spiritual being are really two different planes in the arrangement of our existence, the one superior and divine, the other inferior and human. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Difficulties of the Mental Being, #KEYS
81:The new Yoga cannot be used as a sort of sauce for old dishes; it must occupy the whole place on peril of serious difficulties in the siddhi & even disasters. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Autobiographical Notes and Other Writings of Historical Interest, To Motilal Roy, #KEYS
82:It is by persevering that one conquers difficulties, not by running away from them. One who perseveres is sure to triumph. Victory goes to the most enduring. Always do your best and the Lord will take care of the results.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
83:Misery and difficulties come at times to strengthen our character. They are like examinations. We must prepare and pass them. Know that they are very good for the formation of character. The more we meet with difficulties, the more we remember our Mother for protection.~ Swami Paramananda, #KEYS
84:It is the light from within that you have to make room for; the light of the outer mind is quite insufficient for the discovery of the inner values or to judge the truth of spiritual experience. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Steps towards Overcoming Difficulties, #KEYS
85:Mountain-high though the difficulties appear, terrible and gloomy though all things seem, they are but Maya. Fear not — it is banished. Crush it, and it vanishes. Stamp upon it, and it dies. Be not afraid. Think not how many times you fail. Never mind. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
86:The real rest is in the inner life founded in peace and silence and absence of desire. There is no other rest—for without that the machine goes on whether one is interested in it or not. The inner mukti is the only remedy. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, Difficulties of the Path - VII, #KEYS
87:The practical mind of the politician which represents the average reason and temperament of the time and effects usually something much nearer the minimum than the maximum of what is possible. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, The Possibility of a First Step towards International Unity - Its Enormous Difficulties, #KEYS
88:Its touch can turn difficulties into opportunities, failure into success and weakness into unfaultering strength. For the grace of the Divine Mother is the sanction of the Supreme and now or tomorrow its effect is sure, a thing decreed, inevitable and irresistible.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Mother With Letters On The Mother,#KEYS
89:Suicide is an absurd solution; he is quite mistaken in thinking that it will give him peace. He will only carry his difficulties with him into a more miserable condition of existence beyond and bring them back to another life on earth. The only remedy is ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, Difficulties of the Path - VII, #KEYS
90:Sadhana has to be done in the body, it cannot be done by the soul without the body. When the body drops, the soul goes wandering in other worlds—and finally it comes back to another life and another body. Then all the difficulties it had not solved meet i ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, Difficulties of the Path - VII, #KEYS
91:That is the inconvenience of going away from a difficulty,—it runs after one,—or rather one carries it with oneself, for the difficulty is truly inside, not outside. Outside circumstances only give it the occasion to manifest itself and so long as the inn ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, Difficulties of the Path - VII, #KEYS
92:It is only by aspiration and prayer that ego can be overcome; a constant and sincere aspiration is always answered by the Divine. Feb 3rd
Ignorance is a human general illness and nobody can escape it until one is united with the Divine. Feb 9th
Let the aspiration and love for the Divine conquer in you all desires and difficulties. Feb 14
~ The Mother#KEYS
93:All was gold and gold and gold, a torrent of golden light pouring down in an uninterrupted flow and bringing with it the consciousness that the path of the gods is a sunlit path in which difficulties lose all reality.
Such is the path open before us if we choose to take it.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, The Path of Yoga, The Path, [T5],#KEYS
94:The main difficulty in the sadhana consists in the movements of the lower nature, ideas of the mind, desires and attractions of the vital, habits of the body consciousness that stand in the way of the growth of the higher consciousness - there are other difficulties, but these make the bulk of the opposition.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - III, Difficulties of the Path,#KEYS
95:Remember that the Mother is always with you.
Address Her as follows and She will pull you out of all difficulties:
"O Mother, Thou art the light of my intelligence, the purity of my soul,
the quiet strength of my vital, the endurance of my body.
I rely on Thee alone and want to be entirely Thine.
Make me surmount all obstacles on the way."
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother III, [T1],#KEYS
96:The Guru cannot make you realize the Truth unless you try hard for it yourself. The Guru can show you the way; can remove your doubts and difficulties, and correct your mistakes; can warn you if you go astray; can put you back on the right track; and can even take you some distance along it, holding you by the hand. But the walking you have to do yourself - he cannot carry you to the goal on his shoulders. ~ Swami Virajananda #KEYS
97:Everyone wants a happy life without difficulties or suffering. We create many of the problems we face. No one intentionally creates problems, but we tend to be slaves to powerful emotions like anger, hatred and attachment that are based on misconceived projections about people and things. We need to find ways of reducing these emotions by eliminating the ignorance that underlies them and applying opposing forces. ~ Dalai Lama, #KEYS
98:Life has a purpose. This purpose is to find and to serve the Divine. The Divine is not far, He is in ourselves, deep inside and above the feelings and the thoughts. With the Divine is peace and certitude and even the solution of all difficulties. Hand over your problems to the Divine and He will pull you out of all difficulties.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Man's relationship with the Divine, The True Aim of Life[T0],#KEYS
99:When we look beyond our first exclusively concentrated vision, we see behind Vishnu all the personality of Shiva and behind Shiva all the personality of Vishnu. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga: The Divine Personality
Shiva-Vishnu
For most the siddhi of the path, whatever it is, must be the end of a long, difficult and persevering endeavour. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Difficulties of Yoga,#KEYS
100:St. Teresa of Avila wrote: 'All difficulties in prayer can be traced to one cause: praying as if God were absent.' This is the conviction that we bring with us from early childhood and apply to everyday life and to our lives in general. It gets stronger as we grow up, unless we are touched by the Gospel and begin the spiritual journey. This journey is a process of dismantling the monumental illusion that God is distant or absent. ~ Thomas Keating, Fruits & Gifts of the Spirit, #KEYS
101:Death is not a way to succeed in sadhana. If you die in that way [suicide], you will only have the same difficulties again with probably less favourable circumstances.
The way to succeed in sadhana is to refuse to be discouraged, to aspire simply and sincerely so that the Mother's force may work in you and bring down what is above. No man ever succeeded in this sadhana by his own merit. To become open and plastic to the Mother is the one thing needed. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - IV,#KEYS
102:To seek the greatest good is to live well, and to live well is nothing other than to love God with the whole heart, the whole soul, and the whole mind: It is therefore obvious that this love must be kept whole and uncorrupt, that is temperance; it should not be overcome with difficulties, that is fortitude, it must not be subservient to anything else, that is justice; it must discriminate among things so as not to be deceived by falsity or fraud, that is prudence. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
103:for in the unseen providence of things our greatest difficulties are our best opportunities. A supreme difficulty is Nature's indication to us of a supreme conquest to be won and an ultimate problem to be solved; it is not a warning of an inextricable snare to be shunned or of an enemy too strong for us from whom we must flee. Equally, the vital and nervous energies in us are there for a great utility; they too demand the divine realisation of their possibilities in our ultimate fulfilment.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga,#KEYS
104:These questionings and depressions are very foolish movements of the mind. If you were not open to the Grace, you would not have had these descents or experiences and there would have been no such progress as you have made. You have not to put such questions but to take it as a settled fact, and with full faith in the Mother and her working in you go on with your sadhana. Whatever difficulties there may be, will be solved in time by the natural progress of the sadhana. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - IV, Dealing with Depression and Despondency, #KEYS
105:Difficulties are sent to us exclusively to make the realisation more perfect. Each time we try to realise something and meet with a resistance or an obstacle or even a failure - what seems to be a failure - we should know, we should never forget that it is exclusively, absolutely, so that the realisation may be more perfect. So this habit of cringing, of getting discouraged or even of feeling uncomfortable, or of abusing yourself and telling yourself: There! Again I have made a mistake - all that is absolute foolishness.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
106:In dangers, in doubts, in difficulties, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let not her name depart from your lips, never suffer it to leave your heart. And that you may obtain the assistance of her prayer, neglect not to walk in her footsteps. With her for guide, you shall never go astray; while invoking her, you shall never lose heart; so long as she is in your mind, you are safe from deception; while she holds your hand, you cannot fall; under her protection you have nothing to fear; if she walks before you, you shall not grow weary; if she shows you favor, you shall reach the goal. ~ Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, #KEYS
107:There are only three fundamental obstacles that can stand in the way: (1) Absence of faith or insufficient faith. (2) Egoism - the mind clinging to its own ideas, the vital preferring its own desires to a true surrender, the physical adhering to its own habits. (3) Some inertia or fundamental resistance in the consciousness, not willing to change because it is too much of an effort or because it does not want to believe in its own capacity or the power of the Divine - or for some other more subconscient reason. You have to see for yourself which of these it is.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - III, Difficulties of the Path,#KEYS
108:It is not from disgust for life and people that one must come to yoga. It is not to run away from difficulties that one must come here. It is not even to find the sweetness of love and protection, for the Divine's love and protection can be enjoyed everywhere if one takes the right attitude. When one wants to give oneself totally in service to the Divine, to consecrate oneself totally to the Divine's work, simply for the joy of giving oneself and of serving, without asking for anything in exchange, except the possibility of consecration and service, then one is ready to come here and will find the doors wide open.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I,#KEYS
109:Vainly the sands of Time have been strewn with the ruins of empires,
Signs that the gods had left, but in vain. For they look for a nation,
One that can conquer itself having conquered the world, but they find none. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems: Ilion
Self-conquest
When one conquers a difficulty or goes forward, it creates a right current in the atmosphere. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV: The Right Attitude towards Difficulties
Self-Conquest
Self-denial is a necessary discipline for the soul of man, because his heart is ignorantly attached. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Renunciation,#KEYS
110:I am again feeling that depression, but I cannot find out its cause. I feel a burning pain inside me and then some part in me becomes very hostile. There is also some inertia in the nature.
These are the two difficulties, one of the vital dissatisfaction and restlessness, the other of the inertia of the physical consciousness which are the chief obstacles to the sadhana. The first thing to do is to keep detached from them, not to identify yourself mentally with these movements - even if you cannot reject them - next to call on the Mother's force quietly but steadily for it to descend and make the obstacles disappear. 31 January 1934 ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Mother With Letters On The Mother,#KEYS
111:I knew all along what He meant for me, for I heard it again and again, always I listened to the voice within; I am guiding, therefore fear not. Turn to your own work for which I have brought you to jail and when you come out, remember never to fear, never to hesitate. Remember that it is I who am doing this, not you nor any other. Therefore whatever clouds may come, whatever dangers and sufferings, whatever difficulties, whatever impossibilities, there is nothing impossible, nothing difficult. I am in the nation and its uprising and I am Vasudeva, I am Narayana, and what I will, shall be, not what others will. What I choose to bring about, no human power can stay.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin,#KEYS
112:The more complete your faith, sincerity and surrender, the more will grace and protection be with you. And when the grace and protection of the Divine Mother are with you, what is there that can touch you or whom need you fear? A little of it even will carry you through all difficulties, obstacles and dangers, surrounded by its full presence you can go securely on your way because it is hers, careless of all menace, unaffected by any hostility however powerful, whether from this world or from worlds invisible. Its touch can turn difficulties into opportunities, failure into success and weakness into unfaltering strength. For the grace of the Divine Mother is the sanction of the Supreme and now or tomorrow its effect is sure, a thing decreed, inevitable and irresistible.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Mother With Letters On The Mother,#KEYS
113:The up and down movement which you speak of is common to all ways of Yoga. It is there in the path of bhakti, but there are equally alternations of states of light and states of darkness, sometimes sheer and prolonged darkness, when one follows the path of knowledge. Those who have occult experiences come to periods when all experiences cease and even seem finished for ever. Even when there have been many and permanent realisations, these seem to go behind the veil and leave nothing in front except a dull blank, filled, if at all, only with recurrent attacks and difficulties. These alternations are the result of the nature of human consciousness and are not a proof of unfitness or of predestined failure. One has to be prepared for them and pass through. They are the day and night of the Vedic mystics.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,#KEYS
114:Please initiate me into a tangible form of Yoga. I make this assurance that I shall follow your instructions to the very letter and refer to you my doubts and difficulties on the way.
There is no method in this Yoga except to concentrate, preferably in the heart, and call the presence and power of the Mother to take up the being and by the workings of her force transform the consciousness; one can concentrate also in the head or between the eyebrows, but for many this is a too difficult opening. When the mind falls quiet and the concentration becomes strong and the aspiration intense, then there is a beginning of experience. The more the faith, the more rapid the result is likely to be. For the rest one must not depend on one's own efforts only, but succeed in establishing a contact with the Divine and a receptivity to the Mother's Power and Presence. 30 November 1934 ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Mother With Letters On The Mother,#KEYS
115: The purpose of creation, is lila. The concept of lila escapes all the traditional difficulties in assigning purpose to the creator. Lila is a purpose-less purpose, a natural outflow, a spontaneous self-manifestation of the Divine. The concept of lila, again, emphasizes the role of delight in creation. The concept of Prakriti and Maya fail to explain the bliss aspect of Divine. If the world is manifestation of the Force of Satcitananda, the deployment of its existence and consciousness, its purpose can be nothing but delight. This is the meaning of delight. Lila, the play, the child's joy, the poet's joy, the actor's joy, the mechanician's joy of the soul of things eternally young, perpetually inexhaustible, creating and recreating Himself in Himself for the sheer bliss of that self-creation, of that self-representation, Himself the play, Himself the player, Himself the playground ~ Sri Aurobindo, Philosophy of Social Development, pp-39-40 #KEYS
116:
Sweet Mother,
Why has the Divine made His path so difficult? He can make it easier if He wants, can't He?
First of all, one should know that the intellect, the mind, can understand nothing of the Divine, neither what He does nor how He does it and still less why He does it. To know something of the Divine, one has to rise above thought and enter into the psychic consciousness, the consciousness of the soul, or into the spiritual consciousness.
Those who have had the experience have always said that the difficulties and sufferings of the path are not real, but a creation of human ignorance, and that as soon as one gets out of this ignorance one also gets out of the difficulties, to say nothing of the inalienable state of bliss in which one dwells as soon as one is in conscious contact with the Divine. So according to them, the question has no real basis and cannot be posed. ~ The Mother, Some Answers From The Mother, 21 September 1959,#KEYS
117:The hostile forces have a certain self-chosen function: it is to test the condition of the individual, of the work, of the earth itself and their readiness for the spiritual descent and fulfilment. At every step of the journey, they are there attacking furiously, criticising, suggesting, imposing despondency or inciting to revolt, raising unbelief, amassing difficulties. No doubt, they put a very exaggerated interpretation on the rights given them by their function, making mountains even out of what seems to us a mole-hill. A little trifling false step or mistake and they appear on the road and clap a whole Himalaya as a barrier across it. But this opposition has been permitted from of old not merely as a test or ordeal, but as a compulsion on us to seek a greater strength, a more perfect self-knowledge, an intenser purity and force of aspiration, a faith that nothing can crush, a more powerful descent of the Divine Grace.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - IV,#KEYS
118:There is nothing unintelligible in what I say about strength and Grace. Strength has a value for spiritual realisation, but to say that it can be done by strength only and by no other means is a violent exaggeration. Grace is not an invention, it is a face of spiritual experience. Many who would be considered as mere nothings by the wise and strong have attained by Grace; illiterate, without mental power or training, without "strength" of character or will, they have yet aspired and suddenly or rapidly grown into spiritual realisation, because they had faith or because they were sincere. ...
Strength, if it is spiritual, is a power for spiritual realisation; a greater power is sincerity; the greatest power of all is Grace. I have said times without number that if a man is sincere, he will go through in spite of long delay and overwhelming difficulties. I have repeatedly spoken of the Divine Grace. I have referred any number of times to the line of the Gita:
"I will deliver thee from all sin and evil, do not grieve." ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,#KEYS
119:It is a fact always known to all yogis and occultists since the beginning of time, in Europe and Africa as in India, that wherever yoga or Yajna is done, there the hostile Forces gather together to stop it by any means. It is known that there is a lower nature and a higher spiritual nature - it is known that they pull different ways and the lower is strongest at first and the higher afterwards. It is known that the hostile Forces take advantage of the movements of the lower nature and try to spoil through them, smash or retard the siddhi. It has been said as long ago as the Upanishads (hard is the path to tread, sharp like a razor's edge); it was said later by Christ 'hard is the way and narrow the gate by which one enters into the kingdom of heaven' and also 'many are called, few chosen' - because of these difficulties. But it has also always been known that those who are sincere and faithful in heart and remain so and those who rely on the Divine will arrive in spite of all difficulties, stumbles or falls.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - III, Opposition of the Hostile Forces - I,#KEYS
120:In the depths of your consciousness is the psychic being, the temple of the Divine within you. This is the centre round which should come about the unification of all these divergent parts, all these contradictory movements of your being. Once you have got the consciousness of the psychic being and its aspiration, these doubts and difficulties can be destroyed. It takes more or less time, but you will surely succeed in the end. Once you have turned to the Divine, saying, "I want to be yours", and the Divine has said, "Yes", the whole world cannot keep you from it. When the central being has made its surrender, the chief difficulty has disappeared. The outer being is like a crust. In ordinary people the crust is so hard and thick that they are not conscious of the Divine within them. If once, even for a moment only, the inner being has said, "I am here and I am yours", then it is as though a bridge has been built and little by little the crust becomes thinner and thinner until the two parts are wholly joined and the inner and the outer become one. ~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1929-1931, #KEYS
121:15. The Crossing of the Return Threshold:The returning hero, to complete his adventure, must survive the impact of the world. Many failures attest to the difficulties of this life-affirmative threshold. The first problem of the returning hero is to accept as real, after an experience of the soul-satisfying vision of fulfillment, the passing joys and sorrows, banalities and noisy obscenities of life. Why re-enter such a world? Why attempt to make plausible, or even interesting, to men and women consumed with passion, the experience of transcendental bliss? As dreams that were momentous by night may seem simply silly in the light of day, so the poet and the prophet can discover themselves playing the idiot before a jury of sober eyes. The easy thing is to commit the whole community to the devil and retire again into the heavenly rock dwelling, close the door, and make it fast. But if some spiritual obstetrician has drawn the shimenawa across the retreat, then the work of representing eternity in time, and perceiving in time eternity, cannot be avoided" The hero returns to the world of common day and must accept it as real. ~ Joseph Campbell, #KEYS
122:One can concentrate in any of the three centres which is easiest to the sadhak or gives most result. The power of the concentration in the heart-centre is to open that centre and by the power of aspiration, love, bhakti, surrender remove the veil which covers and conceals the soul and bring forward the soul or psychic being to govern the mind, life and body and turn and open them all-fully-to the Divine, removing all that is opposed to that turning and opening.
This is what is called in this Yoga the psychic transformation. The power of concentration above the head is to bring peace, silence, liberation from the body sense, the identification with mind and life and open the way for the lower (mental vital-physical) consciousness to rise up to meet the higher Consciousness above and for the powers of the higher (spiritual or divine) Consciousness to descend into mind, life and body. This is what is called in this Yoga the spiritual transformation. If one begins with this movement, then the Power from above has in its descent to open all the centres (including the lowest centre) and to bring out the psychic being; for until that is done there is likely to be much difficulty and struggle of the lower consciousness obstructing, mixing with or even refusing the Divine Action from above. If the psychic being is once active this struggle and these difficulties can be greatly minimised. The power of concentration in the eyebrows is to open the centre there, liberate the inner mind and vision and the inner or Yogic consciousness and its experiences and powers. From here also one can open upwards and act also in the lower centres; but the danger of this process is that one may get shut up in one's mental spiritual formations and not come out of them into the free and integral spiritual experience and knowledge and integral change of the being and nature.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II, [where to concentrate?],#KEYS
123:Many Blows are Needed:
Mother, even when one tries to think that one is powerless, there is something which believes one is powerful. So?
Ah, yes, ah yes! Ah, it is very difficult to be sincere.... That is why blows multiply and sometimes become terrible, because that's the only thing which breaks your stupidity. This is the justification of calamities. Only when you are in an acutely painful situation and indeed before something that affects you deeply, then that makes the stupidity melt away a little. But as you say, even when there is something that melts, there is still a little something which remains inside. And that is why it lasts so long... How many blows are needed in life for one to know to the very depths that one is nothing, that one can do nothing, that one does not exist, that one is nothing, that there is no entity without the divine Consciousness and the Grace. From the moment one knows it, it is over; all difficulties have gone. When one knows it integrally and there is nothing which resists... but till that moment... And it takes very long.
Why doesn't the blow come all at once?
Because that would kill you. For if the blow is strong enough to cure you, it would simply crush you, it would reduce you to pulp. It is only by proceeding little by little, little by little, very gradually, that you can continue to exist. Naturally this depends on the inner strength, the inner sincerity, and on the capacity for progress, for profiting by experience and, as I said a while ago, on not forgetting. If one is lucky enough not to forget, then one goes much faster. One can go very fast. And if at the same time one has that inner moral strength which, when the red-hot iron is at hand, does not extinguish it by trying to pour water over it, but instead goes to the very core of the abscess, then in this case things go very fast also. But not many people are strong enough for this. On the contrary, they very quickly do this (gesture), like this, like this, in order to hide, to hide from themselves. How many pretty little explanations one gives oneself, how many excuses one piles up for all the foolishnesses one has committed.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1954,#KEYS
124:I know perfectly well that pain and suffering and struggle and excesses of despair are natural - though not inevitable - on the way, - not because they are helps, but because they are imposed on us by the darkness of this human nature out of which we have to struggle into the Light. . . .
The dark path is there and there are many who make like the Christians a gospel of spiritual suffering; many hold it to be the unavoidable price of victory. It may be so under certain circumstances, as it has been in so many lives at least at the beginning, or one may choose to make it so. But then the price has to be paid with resignation, fortitude or a tenacious resilience. I admit that if borne in that way the attacks of the Dark Forces or the ordeals they impose have a meaning. After each victory gained over them, there is then a sensible advance; often they seem to show us the difficulties in ourselves which we have to overcome and to say, "Here you must conquer us and here."
But all the same it is a too dark and difficult way which nobody should follow on whom the necessity does not lie.
In any case one thing can never help and that is to despond always and say, "I am unfit; I am not meant for the Yoga." And worse still are these perilous mental formations such as you are always accepting that you must fare like X (one whose difficulty of exaggerated ambition was quite different from yours) and that you have only six years etc. These are clear formations of the Dark Forces seeking not only to sterilise your aspiration but to lead you away and so prevent your sharing in the fruit of the victory hereafter. I do not know what Krishnaprem has said but his injunction, if you have rightly understood it, is one that cannot stand as valid, since so many have done Yoga relying on tapasya or anything else but not confident of any Divine Grace. It is not that, but the soul's demand for a higher Truth or a higher life that is indispensable. Where that is, the Divine Grace whether believed in or not, will intervene. If you believe, that hastens and facilitates things; if you cannot yet believe, still the soul's aspiration will justify itself with whatever difficulty and struggle. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - IV,#KEYS
125:the ways of the Bhakta and man of Knowledge :::
In the ordinary paths of Yoga the method used for dealing with these conflicting materials is direct and simple. One or another of the principal psychological forces in us is selected as our single means for attaining to the Divine; the rest is quieted into inertia or left to starve in its smallness. The Bhakta, seizing on the emotional forces of the being, the intense activities of the heart, abides concentrated in the love of God, gathered up as into a single one-pointed tongue of fire; he is indifferent to the activities of thought, throws behind him the importunities of the reason, cares nothing for the mind's thirst for knowledge. All the knowledge he needs is his faith and the inspirations that well up from a heart in communion with the Divine. He has no use for any will to works that is not turned to the direct worship of the Beloved or the service of the temple. The man of Knowledge, self-confined by a deliberate choice to the force and activities of discriminative thought, finds release in the mind's inward-drawn endeavour. He concentrates on the idea of the self, succeeds by a subtle inner discernment in distinguishing its silent presence amid the veiling activities of Nature, and through the perceptive idea arrives at the concrete spiritual experience. He is indifferent to the play of the emotions, deaf to the hunger-call of passion, closed to the activities of Life, -- the more blessed he, the sooner they fall away from him and leave him free, still and mute, the eternal non-doer. The body is his stumbling-block, the vital functions are his enemies; if their demands can be reduced to a minimum, that is his great good fortune. The endless difficulties that arise from the environing world are dismissed by erecting firmly against them a defence of outer physical and inner spiritual solitude; safe behind a wall of inner silence, he remains impassive and untouched by the world and by others. To be alone with oneself or alone with the Divine, to walk apart with God and his devotees, to entrench oneself in the single self-ward endeavour of the mind or Godward passion of the heart is the trend of these Yogas. The problem is solved by the excision of all but the one central difficulty which pursues the only chosen motive-force; into the midst of the dividing calls of our nature the principle of an exclusive concentration comes sovereignly to our rescue.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Self-Consecration. 76-77,#KEYS
126:A difficulty comes or an arrest in some movement which you have begun or have been carrying on for some time. How is it to be dealt with?—for such arrests are inevitably frequent enough, not only for you, but for everyone who is a seeker; one might almost say that every step forward is followed by an arrest—at least, that is a very common, if not a universal experience. It is to be dealt with by becoming always more quiet, more firm in the will to go through, by opening oneself more and more so that any obstructing non-receptivity in the nature may diminish or disappear, by an affirmation of faith even in the midst of the obscurity, faith in the presence of a Power that is working behind the cloud and the veil, in the guidance of the Guru, by an observation of oneself to find any cause of the arrest, not in a spirit of depression or discouragement but with the will to find out and remove it. This is the only right attitude and, if one is persistent in taking it, the periods of arrest are not abolished,—for that cannot be at this stage,—but greatly shortened and lightened in their incidence. Sometimes these arrests are periods, long or short, of assimilation or unseen preparation, their appearance of sterile immobility is deceptive: in that case, with the right attitude, one can after a time, by opening, by observation, by accumulated experience, begin to feel, to get some inkling of what is being prepared or done. Sometimes it is a period of true obstruction in which the Power at work has to deal with the obstacles in the way, obstacles in oneself, obstacles of the opposing cosmic forces or any other or of all together, and this kind of arrest may be long or short according to the magnitude or obstinacy or complexity of the impediments that are met. But here too the right attitude can alleviate or shorten and, if persistently taken, help to a more radical removal of the difficulties and greatly diminish the necessity of complete arrests hereafter.
On the contrary, an attitude of depression or unfaith in the help or the guidance or in the certitude of the victory of the guiding Power, a shutting up of yourself in the sense of the difficulties impedes the recovery, prolongs the difficulties, helps the obstructions to recur with force instead of progressively diminishing in their incidence. It is an attitude whose persistence or recurrence you must resolutely throw aside if you want to get over the obstruction which you feel so much—which the depressed attitude only makes, while it lasts, more acute. ~ Sri Aurobindo, LOY4, Imperfections and Periods of Arrest,#KEYS
127:If we look at this picture of the Self-Existence and its works as a unitary unlimited whole of vision, it stands together and imposes itself by its convincing totality: but to the analysis of the logical intellect it offers an abundance of difficulties, such as all attempts to erect a logical system out of a perception of an illimitable Existence must necessarily create; for any such endeavour must either effect consistency by an arbitrary sectioning of the complex truth of things or else by its comprehensiveness become logically untenable. For we see that the Indeterminable determines itself as infinite and finite, the Immutable admits a constant mutability and endless differences, the One becomes an innumerable multitude, the Impersonal creates or supports personality, is itself a Person; the Self has a nature and is yet other than its nature; Being turns into becoming and yet it is always itself and other than its becomings; the Universal individualises itself and the Individual universalises himself; Brahman is at once void of qualities and capable of infinite qualities, the Lord and Doer of works, yet a non-doer and a silent witness of the workings of Nature. If we look carefully at these workings of Nature, once we put aside the veil of familiarity and our unthinking acquiescence in the process of things as natural because so they always happen, we discover that all she does in whole or in parts is a miracle, an act of some incomprehensible magic. The being of the Self-existence and the world that has appeared in it are, each of them and both together, a suprarational mystery. There seems to us to be a reason in things because the processes of the physical finite are consistent to our view and their law determinable, but this reason in things, when closely examined, seems to stumble at every moment against the irrational or infrarational and the suprarational: the consistency, the determinability of process seems to lessen rather than increase as we pass from matter to life and from life to mentality; if the finite consents to some extent to look as if it were rational, the infinitesimal refuses to be bound by the same laws and the infinite is unseizable. As for the action of the universe and its significance, it escapes us altogether; if Self, God or Spirit there be, his dealings with the world and us are incomprehensible, offer no clue that we can follow. God and Nature and even ourselves move in a mysterious way which is only partially and at points intelligible, but as a whole escapes our comprehension. All the works of Maya look like the production of a suprarational magical Power which arranges things according to its wisdom or its phantasy, but a wisdom which is not ours and a phantasy which baffles our imagination. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, 2.02, #KEYS
128:Sri Aurobindo tells us that surrender is the first and absolute condition for doing the yoga. Therefore it is not merely one of the required qualities, it is the very first indispensable attitude for commencing the yoga.
If you are not decided to make a total surrender, you cannot begin. But to make your surrender total, all the other qualities are necessary: sincerity, faith, devotion and aspiration.
And I add another one : endurance. Because if you are not able to face difficulties without getting discouraged, without giving up under the pretext that it is too difficult, if you are not able to receive blows and continue all the same, to "pocket" them, as it is said,—you receive blows because of your defects : you put them into your pocket and continue to march on without faltering; if you cannot do that with endurance, you will not go very far; at the first turning, when you lose sight of the little habitual life, you despair and give up the game.
The most material form of endurance is perseverance. Unless you are resolved to begin the same thing over again a thousand times if needed, you will arrive nowhere.
People come to me in despair : "But I thought it had been done, and I have to begin again !" And if they are told, "But it is nothing, you have to begin probably a hundred times, two hundred times, a thousand times", they lose all courage.
You take one step forward and you believe you are solid, but there will be always something that will bring about the same difficulty a little farther ahead.
You believe you have solved the problem, but will have to solve it again, it will present itself with just a little difference in its appearance, but it will be the same problem.
Thus there are people who have a fine experience and they exclaim, "Now, it is done !" Then things settle down, begin to fade, go behind a veil, and all on a sudden, something quite unexpected, a thing absolutely commonplace, that appears to be of no interest at all, comes before them and closes up the road. Then you lament: "Of what use is this progress that I have made, if I am to begin again !
Why is it so? I made an effort, I succeeded, I arrived at something and now it is as if I had done nothing. It is hopeless". This is because there is still the "I" and this "I" has no endurance.
If you have endurance, you say : "All right, I will begin again and again as long as necessary, a thousand times, ten thousand times, a million times, if necessary, but I will go to the end and nothing can stop me on the way".
That is very necessary.
Now, to sum up, we will put at the head of our list surrender. That is to say, we accept the fact that one must, in order to do the integral yoga, take the resolution of surrendering oneself wholly to the Divine. There is no other way, it is the way. ~ The Mother,#KEYS
129:What do you mean by these words: 'When you are in difficulty, widen yourself'?
I am speaking, of course, of difficulties on the path of yoga, incomprehension, limitations, things like obstacles, which prevent you from advancing. And when I say "widen yourself", I mean widen your consciousness.
Difficulties always arise from the ego, that is, from your more or less egoistic personal reaction to circumstances, events and people around you, to the conditions of your life. They also come from that feeling of being closed up in a sort of shell, which prevents your consciousness from uniting with higher and vaster realities.
One may very well think that one wants to be vast, wants to be universal, that all is the expression of the Divine, that one must have no egoism - one may think all sorts of things - but that is not necessarily a cure, for very often one knows what one ought to do, and yet one doesn't do it, for one reason or another.
But if, when you have to face anguish, suffering, revolt, pain or a feeling of helplessness - whatever it may be, all the things that come to you on the path and which precisely are your difficulties-if physically, that is to say, in your body- consciousness, you can have the feeling of widening yourself, one could say of unfolding yourself - you feel as it were all folded up, one fold on another like a piece of cloth which is folded and refolded and folded again - so if you have this feeling that what is holding and strangling you and making you suffer or paralysing your movement, is like a too closely, too tightly folded piece of cloth or like a parcel that is too well-tied, too well-packed, and that slowly, gradually, you undo all the folds and stretch yourself out exactly as one unfolds a piece of cloth or a sheet of paper and spreads it out flat, and you lie flat and make yourself very wide, as wide as possible, spreading yourself out as far as you can, opening yourself and stretching out in an attitude of complete passivity with what I could call "the face to the light": not curling back upon your difficulty, doubling up on it, shutting it in, so to say, into yourself, but, on the contrary, unfurling yourself as much as you can, as perfectly as you can, putting the difficulty before the Light - the Light which comes from above - if you do that in all the domains, and even if mentally you don't succeed in doing it - for it is sometimes difficult - if you can imagine yourself doing this physically, almost materially, well, when you have finished unfolding yourself and stretching yourself out, you will find that more than three-quarters of the difficulty is gone. And then just a little work of receptivity to the Light and the last quarter will disappear.
This is much easier than struggling against a difficulty with one's thought, for if you begin to discuss with yourself, you will find that there are arguments for and against which are so convincing that it is quite impossible to get out of it without a higher light. Here, you do not struggle against the difficulty, you do not try to convince yourself; ah! you simply stretch out in the Light as though you lay stretched on the sands in the sun. And you let the Light do its work. That's all. ~ The Mother, Questions And Answers, Volume-8, page no.286-288),#KEYS
130:THE WAND
THE Magical Will is in its essence twofold, for it presupposes a beginning and an end; to will to be a thing is to admit that you are not that thing.
Hence to will anything but the supreme thing, is to wander still further from it - any will but that to give up the self to the Beloved is Black Magick - yet this surrender is so simple an act that to our complex minds it is the most difficult of all acts; and hence training is necessary. Further, the Self surrendered must not be less than the All-Self; one must not come before the altar of the Most High with an impure or an imperfect offering. As it is written in Liber LXV, "To await Thee is the end, not the beginning."
This training may lead through all sorts of complications, varying according to the nature of the student, and hence it may be necessary for him at any moment to will all sorts of things which to others might seem unconnected with the goal. Thus it is not "a priori" obvious why a billiard player should need a file.
Since, then, we may want "anything," let us see to it that our will is strong enough to obtain anything we want without loss of time.
It is therefore necessary to develop the will to its highest point, even though the last task but one is the total surrender of this will. Partial surrender of an imperfect will is of no account in Magick.
The will being a lever, a fulcrum is necessary; this fulcrum is the main aspiration of the student to attain. All wills which are not dependent upon this principal will are so many leakages; they are like fat to the athlete.
The majority of the people in this world are ataxic; they cannot coordinate their mental muscles to make a purposed movement. They have no real will, only a set of wishes, many of which contradict others. The victim wobbles from one to the other (and it is no less wobbling because the movements may occasionally be very violent) and at the end of life the movements cancel each other out. Nothing has been achieved; except the one thing of which the victim is not conscious: the destruction of his own character, the confirming of indecision. Such an one is torn limb from limb by Choronzon.
How then is the will to be trained? All these wishes, whims, caprices, inclinations, tendencies, appetites, must be detected, examined, judged by the standard of whether they help or hinder the main purpose, and treated accordingly.
Vigilance and courage are obviously required. I was about to add self-denial, in deference to conventional speech; but how could I call that self-denial which is merely denial of those things which hamper the self? It is not suicide to kill the germs of malaria in one's blood.
Now there are very great difficulties to be overcome in the training of the mind. Perhaps the greatest is forgetfulness, which is probably the worst form of what the Buddhists call ignorance. Special practices for training the memory may be of some use as a preliminary for persons whose memory is naturally poor. In any case the Magical Record prescribed for Probationers of the A.'.A.'. is useful and necessary.
Above all the practices of Liber III must be done again and again, for these practices develop not only vigilance but those inhibiting centres in the brain which are, according to some psychologists, the mainspring of the mechanism by which civilized man has raised himself above the savage.
So far it has been spoken, as it were, in the negative. Aaron's rod has become a serpent, and swallowed the serpents of the other Magicians; it is now necessary to turn it once more into a rod.
~ Aleister Crowley, Liber ABA, Book 4, The Wand,#KEYS
131::::
As an inner equality increases and with it the sense of the true vital being waiting for the greater direction it has to serve, as the psychic call too increases in all the members of our nature, That to which the call is addressed begins to reveal itself, descends to take possession of the life and its energies and fills them with the height, intimacy, vastness of its presence and its purpose. In many, if not most, it manifests something of itself even before the equality and the open psychic urge or guidance are there. A call of the veiled psychic element oppressed by the mass of the outer ignorance and crying for deliverance, a stress of eager meditation and seeking for knowledge, a longing of the heart, a passionate will ignorant yet but sincere may break the lid that shuts off that Higher from this Lower Nature and open the floodgates. A little of the Divine Person may reveal itself or some Light, Power, Bliss, Love out of the Infinite. This may be a momentary revelation, a flash or a brief-lived gleam that soon withdraws and waits for the preparation of the nature; but also it may repeat itself, grow, endure. A long and large and comprehensive working will then have begun, sometimes luminous or intense, sometimes slow and obscure. A Divine Power comes in front at times and leads and compels or instructs and enlightens; at others it withdraws into the background and seems to leave the being to its own resources. All that is ignorant, obscure, perverted or simply imperfect and inferior in the being is raised up, perhaps brought to its acme, dealt with, corrected, exhausted, shown its own disastrous results, compelled to call for its own cessation or transformation or expelled as worthless or incorrigible from the nature. This cannot be a smooth and even process; alternations there are of day and night, illumination and darkness, calm and construction or battle and upheaval, the presence of the growing Divine Consciousness and its absence, heights of hope and abysses of despair, the clasp of the Beloved and the anguish of its absence, the overwhelming invasion, the compelling deceit, the fierce opposition, the disabling mockery of hostile Powers or the help and comfort and communion of the Gods and the Divine Messengers. A great and long revolution and churning of the ocean of Life with strong emergences of its nectar and its poison is enforced till all is ready and the increasing Descent finds a being, a nature prepared and conditioned for its complete rule and its all-encompassing presence. But if the equality and the psychic light and will are already there, then this process, though it cannot be dispensed with, can still be much lightened and facilitated: it will be rid of its worst dangers; an inner calm, happiness, confidence will support the steps through all the difficulties and trials of the transformation and the growing Force profiting by the full assent of the nature will rapidly diminish and eliminate the power of the opposing forces. A sure guidance and protection will be present throughout, sometimes standing in front, sometimes working behind the veil, and the power of the end will be already there even in the beginning and in the long middle stages of the great endeavour. For at all times the seeker will be aware of the Divine Guide and Protector or the working of the supreme Mother-Force; he will know that all is done for the best, the progress assured, the victory inevitable. In either case the process is the same and unavoidable, a taking up of the whole nature, of the whole life, of the internal and of the external, to reveal and handle and transform its forces and their movements under the pressure of a diviner Life from above, until all here has been possessed by greater spiritual powers and made an instrumentation of a spiritual action and a divine purpose. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Ascent of the Sacrifice - 2, 179,#KEYS
132:I have never been able to share your constantly recurring doubts about your capacity or the despair that arises in you so violently when there are these attacks, nor is their persistent recurrence a valid ground for believing that they can never be overcome. Such a persistent recurrence has been a feature in the sadhana of many who have finally emerged and reached the goal; even the sadhana of very great Yogis has not been exempt from such violent and constant recurrences; they have sometimes been special objects of such persistent assaults, as I have indeed indicated in Savitri in more places than one - and that was indeed founded on my own experience. In the nature of these recurrences there is usually a constant return of the same adverse experiences, the same adverse resistance, thoughts destructive of all belief and faith and confidence in the future of the sadhana, frustrating doubts of what one has known as the truth, voices of despondency and despair, urgings to abandonment of the Yoga or to suicide or else other disastrous counsels of déchéance. The course taken by the attacks is not indeed the same for all, but still they have strong family resemblance. One can eventually overcome if one begins to realise the nature and source of these assaults and acquires the faculty of observing them, bearing, without being involved or absorbed into their gulf, finally becoming the witness of their phenomena and understanding them and refusing the mind's sanction even when the vital is still tossed in the whirl or the most outward physical mind still reflects the adverse suggestions. In the end these attacks lose their power and fall away from the nature; the recurrence becomes feeble or has no power to last: even, if the detachment is strong enough, they can be cut out very soon or at once. The strongest attitude to take is to regard these things as what they really are, incursions of dark forces from outside taking advantage of certain openings in the physical mind or the vital part, but not a real part of oneself or spontaneous creation in one's own nature. To create a confusion and darkness in the physical mind and throw into it or awake in it mistaken ideas, dark thoughts, false impressions is a favourite method of these assailants, and if they can get the support of this mind from over-confidence in its own correctness or the natural rightness of its impressions and inferences, then they can have a field day until the true mind reasserts itself and blows the clouds away. Another device of theirs is to awake some hurt or rankling sense of grievance in the lower vital parts and keep them hurt or rankling as long as possible. In that case one has to discover these openings in one's nature and learn to close them permanently to such attacks or else to throw out intruders at once or as soon as possible. The recurrence is no proof of a fundamental incapacity; if one takes the right inner attitude, it can and will be overcome. The idea of suicide ought never to be accepted; there is no real ground for it and in any case it cannot be a remedy or a real escape: at most it can only be postponement of difficulties and the necessity for their solution under no better circumstances in another life. One must have faith in the Master of our life and works, even if for a long time he conceals himself, and then in his own right time he will reveal his Presence.
I have tried to dispel all the misconceptions, explain things as they are and meet all the points at issue. It is not that you really cannot make progress or have not made any progress; on the contrary, you yourself have admitted that you have made a good advance in many directions and there is no reason why, if you persevere, the rest should not come. You have always believed in the Guruvada: I would ask you then to put your faith in the Guru and the guidance and rely on the Ishwara for the fulfilment, to have faith in my abiding love and affection, in the affection and divine goodwill and loving kindness of the Mother, stand firm against all attacks and go forward perseveringly towards the spiritual goal and the all-fulfilling and all-satisfying touch of the All-Blissful, the Ishwara.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - IV,#KEYS
133: Sri Aurobindo writes here: "...Few and brief in their visits are the Bright Ones who are willing or permitted to succour." Why?
(1 "The Way", Cent. Vol. 17, p. 40.)
One must go and ask them! But there is a conclusion, the last sentences give a very clear explanation. It is said: "Nay, then, is immortality a plaything to be given lightly to a child, or the divine life a prize without effort or the crown for a weakling?" This comes back to the question why the adverse forces have the right to interfere, to harass you. But this is precisely the test necessary for your sincerity. If the way were very easy, everybody would start on the way, and if one could reach the goal without any obstacle and without any effort, everybody would reach the goal, and when one has come to the end, the situation would be the same as when one started, there would be no change. That is, the new world would be exactly what the old has been. It is truly not worth the trouble! Evidently a process of elimination is necessary so that only what is capable of manifesting the new life remains. This is the reason and there is no other, this is the best of reasons. And, you see, it is a tempering, it is the ordeal of fire, only that which can stand it remains absolutely pure; when everything has burnt down, there remains only the little ingot of pure gold. And it is like that. What puts things out very much in all this is the religious idea of fault, sin, redemption. But there is no arbitrary decision! On the contrary, for each one it is the best and most favourable conditions which are given. We were saying the other day that it is only his friends whom God treats with severity; you thought it was a joke, but it is true. It is only to those who are full of hope, who will pass through this purifying flame, that the conditions for attaining the maximum result are given. And the human mind is made in such a way that you may test this; when something extremely unpleasant happens to you, you may tell yourself, "Well, this proves I am worth the trouble of being given this difficulty, this proves there is something in me which can resist the difficulty", and you will notice that instead of tormenting yourself, you rejoice - you will be so happy and so strong that even the most unpleasant things will seem to you quite charming! This is a very easy experiment to make. Whatever the circumstance, if your mind is accustomed to look at it as something favourable, it will no longer be unpleasant for you. This is quite well known; as long as the mind refuses to accept a thing, struggles against it, tries to obstruct it, there are torments, difficulties, storms, inner struggles and all suffering. But the minute the mind says, "Good, this is what has to come, it is thus that it must happen", whatever happens, you are content. There are people who have acquired such control of their mind over their body that they feel nothing; I told you this the other day about certain mystics: if they think the suffering inflicted upon them is going to help them cross the stages in a moment and give them a sort of stepping stone to attain the Realisation, the goal they have put before them, union with the Divine, they no longer feel the suffering at all. Their body is as it were galvanised by the mental conception. This has happened very often, it is a very common experience among those who truly have enthusiasm. And after all, if one must for some reason or other leave one's body and take a new one, is it not better to make of one's death something magnificent, joyful, enthusiastic, than to make it a disgusting defeat? Those who cling on, who try by every possible means to delay the end even by a minute or two, who give you an example of frightful anguish, show that they are not conscious of their soul.... After all, it is perhaps a means, isn't it? One can change this accident into a means; if one is conscious one can make a beautiful thing of it, a very beautiful thing, as of everything. And note, those who do not fear it, who are not anxious, who can die without any sordidness are those who never think about it, who are not haunted all the time by this "horror" facing them which they must escape and which they try to push as far away from them as they can. These, when the occasion comes, can lift their head, smile and say, "Here I am."
It is they who have the will to make the best possible use of their life, it is they who say, "I shall remain here as long as it is necessary, to the last second, and I shall not lose one moment to realise my goal"; these, when the necessity comes, put up the best show. Why? - It is very simple, because they live in their ideal, the truth of their ideal; because that is the real thing for them, the very reason of their being, and in all things they can see this ideal, this reason of existence, and never do they come down into the sordidness of material life.
So, the conclusion:
One must never wish for death.
One must never will to die.
One must never be afraid to die.
And in all circumstances one must will to exceed oneself. ~ The Mother, Question and Answers, Volume-4, page no.353-355,#KEYS
134:summary of the entire process of psychic awakening :::
You have asked what is the discipline to be followed in order to convert the mental seeking into a living spiritual experience. The first necessity is the practice of concentration of your consciousness within yourself. The ordinary human mind has an activity on the surface which veils the real Self. But there is another, a hidden consciousness within behind the surface one in which we can become aware of the real Self and of a larger deeper truth of nature, can realise the Self and liberate and transform the nature. To quiet the surface mind and begin to live within is the object of this concentration. Of this true consciousness other then the superficial there are two main centres, one in the heart (not the physical heart, but the cardiac centre in the middle of the chest), one in the head. The concentration in the heart opens within and by following this inward opening and going deep one becomes aware of the soul or psychic being, the divine element in the individual. This being unveiled begins to come forward, to govern the nature, to turn it an d all its movements towards the Truth, towards the Divine, and to call down into it all that is above. It brings the consciousness of the Presence, the dedication of the being to the Highest and invites the descent into our nature of a greater Force and Consciousness which is waiting above us. To concentrate in the heart centre with the offering of oneself to the Divine and the aspiration for this inward opening and for the Presence in the heart is the first way and, if it can be done, the natural beginning; for its result once obtained makes the spiritual path far more easy and safe than if one begins the other way.
That other way is the concentration in the head, in the mental centre. This, if it brings about the silence of the surface mind, opens up an inner, larger, deeper mind within which is more capable of receiving spiritual experience and spiritual knowledge. But once concentrated here one must open the silent mental consciousness upward to all that is above mind. After a time one feels the consciousness rising upward and it the end it rises beyond the lid which has so long kept it tied in the body and finds a centre above the head where it is liberated into the Infinite. There it behind to come into contact with the universal Self, the Divine Peace, Light, Power, Knowledge, Bliss, to enter into that and become that, to feel the descent of these things into the nature. To concentrate in the head with the aspiration for quietude in the mind and the realisation of the Self and Divine above is the second way of concentration. It is important, however, to remember that the concentration of the consciousness in the head is only a preparation for its rising to the centre above; otherwise, one may get shut up in one's own mind and its experiences or at best attain only to a reflection of the Truth above instead of rising into the spiritual transcendence to live there. For some the mental consciousness is easier, for some the concentration in the heart centre; some are capable of doing both alternatively - but to begin with the heart centre, if one can do it, is the more desirable.
The other side of the discipline is with regard to the activities of the nature, of the mind, of the life-self or vital, of the physical being. Here the principle is to accord the nature with the inner realisation so that one may not be divided into two discordant parts. There are here several disciplines or processes possible. One is to offer all the activities to the Divine and call for the inner guidance and the taking up of one's nature by a Higher Power. If there is the inward soul-opening, if the psychic being comes forward, then there is no great difficulty - there comes with it a psychic discrimination, a constant intimation, finally a governance which discloses and quietly and patiently removes all imperfections, bring the right mental and vital movements and reshapes the physical consciousness also. Another method is to stand back detached from the movements of the mind, life, physical being, to regard their activities as only a habitual formation of general Nature in the individual imposed on us by past workings, not as any part of our real being; in proportion as one succeeds in this, becomes detached, sees mind and its activities as not oneself, life and its activities as not oneself, the body and its activities as not oneself, one becomes aware of an inner Being within us - inner mental, inner vital, inner physical - silent, calm, unbound, unattached which reflects the true Self above and can be its direct representative; from this inner silent Being proceeds a rejection of all that is to be rejected, an acceptance only of what can be kept and transformed, an inmost Will to perfection or a call to the Divine Power to do at each step what is necessary for the change of the Nature. It can also open mind, life and body to the inmost psychic entity and its guiding influence or its direct guidance. In most cases these two methods emerge and work together and finally fuse into one. But one can being with either, the one that one feels most natural and easy to follow.
Finally, in all difficulties where personal effort is hampered, the help of the Teacher can intervene and bring above what is needed for the realisation or for the immediate step that is necessary.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II, 6, {871},#KEYS
135:The Two Paths Of Yoga :::
14 April 1929 - What are the dangers of Yoga? Is it especially dangerous to the people of the West? Someone has said that Yoga may be suitable for the East, but it has the effect of unbalancing the Western mind.
Yoga is not more dangerous to the people of the West than to those of the East. Everything depends upon the spirit with which you approach it. Yoga does become dangerous if you want it for your own sake, to serve a personal end. It is not dangerous, on the contrary, it is safety and security itself, if you go to it with a sense of its sacredness, always remembering that the aim is to find the Divine.
Dangers and difficulties come in when people take up Yoga not for the sake of the Divine, but because they want to acquire power and under the guise of Yoga seek to satisfy some ambition. if you cannot get rid of ambition, do not touch the thing. It is fire that burns.
There are two paths of Yoga, one of tapasya (discipline), and the other of surrender. The path of tapasya is arduous. Here you rely solely upon yourself, you proceed by your own strength. You ascend and achieve according to the measure of your force. There is always the danger of falling down. And once you fall, you lie broken in the abyss and there is hardly a remedy. The other path, the path of surrender, is safe and sure. It is here, however, that the Western people find their difficulty. They have been taught to fear and avoid all that threatens their personal independence. They have imbibed with their mothers' milk the sense of individuality. And surrender means giving up all that. In other words, you may follow, as Ramakrishna says, either the path of the baby monkey or that of the baby cat. The baby monkey holds to its mother in order to be carried about and it must hold firm, otherwise if it loses its grip, it falls. On the other hand, the baby cat does not hold to its mother, but is held by the mother and has no fear nor responsibility; it has nothing to do but to let the mother hold it and cry ma ma.
If you take up this path of surrender fully and sincerely, there is no more danger or serious difficulty. The question is to be sincere. If you are not sincere, do not begin Yoga. If you were dealing in human affairs, then you could resort to deception; but in dealing with the Divine there is no possibility of deception anywhere. You can go on the Path safely when you are candid and open to the core and when your only end is to realise and attain the Divine and to be moved by the Divine. There is another danger; it is in connection with the sex impulses. Yoga in its process of purification will lay bare and throw up all hidden impulses and desires in you. And you must learn not to hide things nor leave them aside, you have to face them and conquer and remould them. The first effect of Yoga, however, is to take away the mental control, and the hungers that lie dormant are suddenly set free, they rush up and invade the being. So long as this mental control has not been replaced by the Divine control, there is a period of transition when your sincerity and surrender will be put to the test. The strength of such impulses as those of sex lies usually in the fact that people take too much notice of them; they protest too vehemently and endeavour to control them by coercion, hold them within and sit upon them. But the more you think of a thing and say, "I don't want it, I don't want it", the more you are bound to it. What you should do is to keep the thing away from you, to dissociate from it, take as little notice of it as possible and, even if you happen to think of it, remain indifferent and unconcerned. The impulses and desires that come up by the pressure of Yoga should be faced in a spirit of detachment and serenity, as something foreign to yourself or belonging to the outside world. They should be offered to the Divine, so that the Divine may take them up and transmute them. If you have once opened yourself to the Divine, if the power of the Divine has once come down into you and yet you try to keep to the old forces, you prepare troubles and difficulties and dangers for yourself. You must be vigilant and see that you do not use the Divine as a cloak for the satisfaction of your desires. There are many self-appointed Masters, who do nothing but that. And then when you are off the straight path and when you have a little knowledge and not much power, it happens that you are seized by beings or entities of a certain type, you become blind instruments in their hands and are devoured by them in the end. Wherever there is pretence, there is danger; you cannot deceive God. Do you come to God saying, "I want union with you" and in your heart meaning "I want powers and enjoyments"? Beware! You are heading straight towards the brink of the precipice. And yet it is so easy to avoid all catastrophe. Become like a child, give yourself up to the Mother, let her carry you, and there is no more danger for you.
This does not mean that you have not to face other kinds of difficulties or that you have not to fight and conquer any obstacles at all. Surrender does not ensure a smooth and unruffled and continuous progression. The reason is that your being is not yet one, nor your surrender absolute and complete. Only a part of you surrenders; and today it is one part and the next day it is another. The whole purpose of the Yoga is to gather all the divergent parts together and forge them into an undivided unity. Till then you cannot hope to be without difficulties - difficulties, for example, like doubt or depression or hesitation. The whole world is full of the poison. You take it in with every breath. If you exchange a few words with an undesirable man or even if such a man merely passes by you, you may catch the contagion from him. It is sufficient for you to come near a place where there is plague in order to be infected with its poison; you need not know at all that it is there. You can lose in a few minutes what it has taken you months to gain. So long as you belong to humanity and so long as you lead the ordinary life, it does not matter much if you mix with the people of the world; but if you want the divine life, you will have to be exceedingly careful about your company and your environment.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1929-1931,#KEYS
136:Depression, unless one has a strong will, suggests, "This is not worth while, one may have to wait a lifetime." As for enthusiasm, it expects to see the vital transformed overnight: "I am not going to have any difficulty henceforth, I am going to advance rapidly on the path of yoga, I am going to gain the divine consciousness without any difficulty." There are some other difficulties.... One needs a little time, much perseverance. So the vital, after a few hours - perhaps a few days, perhaps a few months - says to itself: "We haven't gone very far with our enthusiasm, has anything been really done? Doesn't this movement leave us just where we were, perhaps worse than we were, a little troubled, a little disturbed? Things are no longer what they were, they are not yet what they ought to be. It is very tiresome, what I am doing." And then, if one pushes a little more, here's this gentleman saying, "Ah, no! I have had enough of it, leave me alone. I don't want to move, I shall stay in my corner, I won't trouble you, but don't bother me!" And so one has not gone very much farther than before.
This is one of the big obstacles which must be carefully avoided. As soon as there is the least sign of discontentment, of annoyance, the vital must be spoken to in this way, "My friend, you are going to keep calm, you are going to do what you are asked to do, otherwise you will have to deal with me." And to the other, the enthusiast who says, "Everything must be done now, immediately", your reply is, "Calm yourself a little, your energy is excellent, but it must not be spent in five minutes. We shall need it for a long time, keep it carefully and, as it is wanted, I shall call upon your goodwill. You will show that you are full of goodwill, you will obey, you won't grumble, you will not protest, you will not revolt, you will say 'yes, yes', you will make a little sacrifice when asked, you will say 'yes' wholeheartedly."
So we get started on the path. But the road is very long. Many things happen on the way. Suddenly one thinks one has overcome an obstacle; I say "thinks", because though one has overcome it, it is not totally overcome. I am going to take a very obvious instance, of a very simple observation. Someone has found that his vital is uncontrollable and uncontrolled, that it gets furious for nothing and about nothing. He starts working to teach it not to get carried away, not to flare up, to remain calm and bear the shocks of life without reacting violently. If one does this cheerfully, it goes quite quickly. (Note this well, it is very important: when you have to deal with your vital take care to remain cheerful, otherwise you will get into trouble.) One remains cheerful, that is, when one sees the fury rise, one begins to laugh. Instead of being depressed and saying, "Ah! In spite of all my effort it is beginning all over again", one begins to laugh and says, "Well, well! One hasn't yet seen the end of it. Look now, aren't you ridiculous, you know quite well that you are being ridiculous! Is it worthwhile getting angry?" One gives it this lesson cheerfully. And really, after a while it doesn't get angry again, it is quiet - and one relaxes one's attention. One thinks the difficulty has been overcome, one thinks a result has at last been reached: "My vital does not trouble me any longer, it does not get angry now, everything is going fine." And the next day, one loses one's temper. It is then one must be careful, it is then one must not say, "Here we are, it's no use, I shall never achieve anything, all my efforts are futile; all this is an illusion, it is impossible." On the contrary, one must say, "I wasn't vigilant enough." One must wait long, very long, before one can say, "Ah! It is done and finished." Sometimes one must wait for years, many years....
I am not saying this to discourage you, but to give you patience and perseverance - for there is a moment when you do arrive. And note that the vital is a small part of your being - a very important part, we have said that it is the dynamism, the realising energy, it is very important; but it is only a small part. And the mind!... which goes wandering, which must be pulled back by all the strings to be kept quiet! You think this can be done overnight? And your body?... You have a weakness, a difficulty, sometimes a small chronic illness, nothing much, but still it is a nuisance, isn't it? You want to get rid of it. You make efforts, you concentrate; you work upon it, establish harmony, and you think it is finished, and then.... Take, for instance, people who have the habit of coughing; they can't control themselves or almost can't. It is not serious but it is bothersome, and there seems to be no reason why it should ever stop. Well, one tells oneself, "I am going to control this." One makes an effort - a yogic effort, not a material one - one brings down consciousness, force, and stops the cough. And one thinks, "The body has forgotten how to cough." And it is a great thing when the body has forgotten, truly one can say, "I am cured." But unfortunately it is not always true, for this goes down into the subconscient and, one day, when the balance of forces is not so well established, when the strength is not the same, it begins again. And one laments, "I believed that it was over! I had succeeded and told myself, 'It is true that spiritual power has an action upon the body, it is true that something can be done', and there! it is not true. And yet it was a small thing, and I who want to conquer immortality! How will I succeed?... For years I have been free from this small thing and here it is beginning anew!" It is then that you must be careful. You must arm yourself with an endless patience and endurance. You do a thing once, ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times if necessary, but you do it till it gets done. And not done only here and there, but everywhere and everywhere at the same time. This is the great problem one sets oneself. That is why, to those who come to tell me very light-heartedly, "I want to do yoga", I reply, "Think it over, one may do the yoga for a number of years without noticing the least result. But if you want to do it, you must persist and persist with such a will that you should be ready to do it for ten lifetimes, a hundred lifetimes if necessary, in order to succeed." I do not say it will be like that, but the attitude must be like that. Nothing must discourage you; for there are all the difficulties of ignorance of the different states of being, to which are added the endless malice and the unbounded cunning of the hostile forces in the world.... They are there, do you know why? They have been.... ~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1950-1951,#KEYS
137:Intuition And The Value Of Concentration :::
Mother, how can the faculty of intuition be developed?
... There are different kinds of intuition, and we carry these capacities within us. They are always active to some extent but we don't notice them because we don't pay enough attention to what is going on in us. Behind the emotions, deep within the being, in a consciousness seated somewhere near the level of the solar plexus, there is a sort of prescience, a kind of capacity for foresight, but not in the form of ideas: rather in the form of feelings, almost a perception of sensations. For instance, when one is going to decide to do something, there is sometimes a kind of uneasiness or inner refusal, and usually, if one listens to this deeper indication, one realises that it was justified. In other cases there is something that urges, indicates, insists - I am not speaking of impulses, you understand, of all the movements which come from the vital and much lower still - indications which are behind the feelings, which come from the affective part of the being; there too one can receive a fairly sure indication of the thing to be done. These are forms of intuition or of a higher instinct which can be cultivated by observation and also by studying the results. Naturally, it must be done very sincerely, objectively, without prejudice. If one wants to see things in a particular way and at the same time practise this observation, it is all useless. One must do it as if one were looking at what is happening from outside oneself, in someone else. It is one form of intuition and perhaps the first one that usually manifests. There is also another form but that one is much more difficult to observe because for those who are accustomed to think, to act by reason - not by impulse but by reason - to reflect before doing anything, there is an extremely swift process from cause to effect in the half-conscious thought which prevents you from seeing the line, the whole line of reasoning and so you don't think that it is a chain of reasoning, and that is quite deceptive. You have the impression of an intuition but it is not an intuition, it is an extremely rapid subconscious reasoning, which takes up a problem and goes straight to the conclusions. This must not be mistaken for intuition. In the ordinary functioning of the brain, intuition is something which suddenly falls like a drop of light. If one has the faculty, the beginning of a faculty of mental vision, it gives the impression of something coming from outside or above, like a little impact of a drop of light in the brain, absolutely independent of all reasoning. This is perceived more easily when one is able to silence one's mind, hold it still and attentive, arresting its usual functioning, as if the mind were changed into a kind of mirror turned towards a higher faculty in a sustained and silent attention. That too one can learn to do. One must learn to do it, it is a necessary discipline.
When you have a question to solve, whatever it may be, usually you concentrate your attention here (pointing between the eyebrows), at the centre just above the eyes, the centre of the conscious will. But then if you do that, you cannot be in contact with intuition. You can be in contact with the source of the will, of effort, even of a certain kind of knowledge, but in the outer, almost material field; whereas, if you want to contact the intuition, you must keep this (Mother indicates the forehead) completely immobile. Active thought must be stopped as far as possible and the entire mental faculty must form - at the top of the head and a little further above if possible - a kind of mirror, very quiet, very still, turned upwards, in silent, very concentrated attention. If you succeed, you can - perhaps not immediately - but you can have the perception of the drops of light falling upon the mirror from a still unknown region and expressing themselves as a conscious thought which has no connection with all the rest of your thought since you have been able to keep it silent. That is the real beginning of the intellectual intuition.
It is a discipline to be followed. For a long time one may try and not succeed, but as soon as one succeeds in making a mirror, still and attentive, one always obtains a result, not necessarily with a precise form of thought but always with the sensations of a light coming from above. And then, if one can receive this light coming from above without entering immediately into a whirl of activity, receive it in calm and silence and let it penetrate deep into the being, then after a while it expresses itself either as a luminous thought or as a very precise indication here (Mother indicates the heart), in this other centre.
Naturally, first these two faculties must be developed; then, as soon as there is any result, one must observe the result, as I said, and see the connection with what is happening, the consequences: see, observe very attentively what has come in, what may have caused a distortion, what one has added by way of more or less conscious reasoning or the intervention of a lower will, also more or less conscious; and it is by a very deep study - indeed, almost of every moment, in any case daily and very frequent - that one succeeds in developing one's intuition. It takes a long time. It takes a long time and there are ambushes: one can deceive oneself, take for intuitions subconscious wills which try to manifest, indications given by impulses one has refused to receive openly, indeed all sorts of difficulties. One must be prepared for that. But if one persists, one is sure to succeed.
And there comes a time when one feels a kind of inner guidance, something which is leading one very perceptibly in all that one does. But then, for the guidance to have its maximum power, one must naturally add to it a conscious surrender: one must be sincerely determined to follow the indication given by the higher force. If one does that, then... one saves years of study, one can seize the result extremely rapidly. If one also does that, the result comes very rapidly. But for that, it must be done with sincerity and... a kind of inner spontaneity. If one wants to try without this surrender, one may succeed - as one can also succeed in developing one's personal will and making it into a very considerable power - but that takes a very long time and one meets many obstacles and the result is very precarious; one must be very persistent, obstinate, persevering, and one is sure to succeed, but only after a great labour.
Make your surrender with a sincere, complete self-giving, and you will go ahead at full speed, you will go much faster - but you must not do this calculatingly, for that spoils everything! (Silence) Moreover, whatever you may want to do in life, one thing is absolutely indispensable and at the basis of everything, the capacity of concentrating the attention. If you are able to gather together the rays of attention and consciousness on one point and can maintain this concentration with a persistent will, nothing can resist it - whatever it may be, from the most material physical development to the highest spiritual one. But this discipline must be followed in a constant and, it may be said, imperturbable way; not that you should always be concentrated on the same thing - that's not what I mean, I mean learning to concentrate.
And materially, for studies, sports, all physical or mental development, it is absolutely indispensable. And the value of an individual is proportionate to the value of his attention.
And from the spiritual point of view it is still more important.
There is no spiritual obstacle which can resist a penetrating power of concentration. For instance, the discovery of the psychic being, union with the inner Divine, opening to the higher spheres, all can be obtained by an intense and obstinate power of concentration - but one must learn how to do it. There is nothing in the human or even in the superhuman field, to which the power of concentration is not the key. You can be the best athlete, you can be the best student, you can be an artistic, literary or scientific genius, you can be the greatest saint with that faculty. And everyone has in himself a tiny little beginning of it - it is given to everybody, but people do not cultivate it.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1957-1958,#KEYS
138:
Can a Yogi attain to a state of consciousness in which he can know all things, answer all questions, relating even to abstruse scientific problems, such as, for example, the theory of relativity?
Theoretically and in principle it is not impossible for a Yogi to know everything; all depends upon the Yogi.
But there is knowledge and knowledge. The Yogi does not know in the way of the mind. He does not know everything in the sense that he has access to all possible information or because he contains all the facts of the universe in his mind or because his consciousness is a sort of miraculous encyclopaedia. He knows by his capacity for a containing or dynamic identity with things and persons and forces. Or he knows because he lives in a plane of consciousness or is in contact with a consciousness in which there is the truth and the knowledge.
If you are in the true consciousness, the knowledge you have will also be of the truth. Then, too, you can know directly, by being one with what you know. If a problem is put before you, if you are asked what is to be done in a particular matter, you can then, by looking with enough attention and concentration, receive spontaneously the required knowledge and the true answer. It is not by any careful application of theory that you reach the knowledge or by working it out through a mental process. The scientific mind needs these methods to come to its conclusions. But the Yogi's knowledge is direct and immediate; it is not deductive. If an engineer has to find out the exact position for the building of an arch, the line of its curve and the size of its opening, he does it by calculation, collating and deducing from his information and data. But a Yogi needs none of these things; he looks, has the vision of the thing, sees that it is to be done in this way and not in another, and this seeing is his knowledge.
Although it may be true in a general way and in a certain sense that a Yogi can know all things and can answer all questions from his own field of vision and consciousness, yet it does not follow that there are no questions whatever of any kind to which he would not or could not answer. A Yogi who has the direct knowledge, the knowledge of the true truth of things, would not care or perhaps would find it difficult to answer questions that belong entirely to the domain of human mental constructions. It may be, he could not or would not wish to solve problems and difficulties you might put to him which touch only the illusion of things and their appearances. The working of his knowledge is not in the mind. If you put him some silly mental query of that character, he probably would not answer. The very common conception that you can put any ignorant question to him as to some super-schoolmaster or demand from him any kind of information past, present or future and that he is bound to answer, is a foolish idea. It is as inept as the expectation from the spiritual man of feats and miracles that would satisfy the vulgar external mind and leave it gaping with wonder.
Moreover, the term "Yogi" is very vague and wide. There are many types of Yogis, many lines or ranges of spiritual or occult endeavour and different heights of achievement, there are some whose powers do not extend beyond the mental level; there are others who have gone beyond it. Everything depends on the field or nature of their effort, the height to which they have arrived, the consciousness with which they have contact or into which they enter.
Do not scientists go sometimes beyond the mental plane? It is said that Einstein found his theory of relativity not through any process of reasoning, but through some kind of sudden inspiration. Has that inspiration anything to do with the Supermind?
The scientist who gets an inspiration revealing to him a new truth, receives it from the intuitive mind. The knowledge comes as a direct perception in the higher mental plane illumined by some other light still farther above. But all that has nothing to do with the action of Supermind and this higher mental level is far removed from the supramental plane. Men are too easily inclined to believe that they have climbed into regions quite divine when they have only gone above the average level. There are many stages between the ordinary human mind and the Supermind, many grades and many intervening planes. If an ordinary man were to get into direct contact even with one of these intermediate planes, he would be dazzled and blinded, would be crushed under the weight of the sense of immensity or would lose his balance; and yet it is not the Supermind.
Behind the common idea that a Yogi can know all things and answer all questions is the actual fact that there is a plane in the mind where the memory of everything is stored and remains always in existence. All mental movements that belong to the life of the earth are memorised and registered in this plane. Those who are capable of going there and care to take the trouble, can read in it and learn anything they choose. But this region must not be mistaken for the supramental levels. And yet to reach even there you must be able to silence the movements of the material or physical mind; you must be able to leave aside all your sensations and put a stop to your ordinary mental movements, whatever they are; you must get out of the vital; you must become free from the slavery of the body. Then only you can enter into that region and see. But if you are sufficiently interested to make this effort, you can arrive there and read what is written in the earth's memory.
Thus, if you go deep into silence, you can reach a level of consciousness on which it is not impossible for you to receive answers to all your questions. And if there is one who is consciously open to the plenary truth of the supermind, in constant contact with it, he can certainly answer any question that is worth an answer from the supramental Light. The queries put must come from some sense of the truth and reality behind things. There are many questions and much debated problems that are cobwebs woven of mere mental abstractions or move on the illusory surface of things. These do not pertain to real knowledge; they are a deformation of knowledge, their very substance is of the ignorance. Certainly the supramental knowledge may give an answer, its own answer, to the problems set by the mind's ignorance; but it is likely that it would not be at all satisfactory or perhaps even intelligible to those who ask from the mental level. You must not expect the supramental to work in the way of the mind or demand that the knowledge in truth should be capable of being pieced together with the half-knowledge in ignorance. The scheme of the mind is one thing, but Supermind is quite another and it would no longer be supramental if it adapted itself to the exigencies of the mental scheme. The two are incommensurable and cannot be put together.
When the consciousness has attained to supramental joys, does it no longer take interest in the things of the mind?
The supramental does not take interest in mental things in the same way as the mind. It takes its own interest in all the movements of the universe, but it is from a different point of view and with a different vision. The world presents to it an entirely different appearance; there is a reversal of outlook and everything is seen from there as other than what it seems to the mind and often even the opposite. Things have another meaning; their aspect, their motion and process, everything about them, are watched with other eyes. Everything here is followed by the supermind; the mind movements and not less the vital, the material movements, all the play of the universe have for it a very deep interest, but of another kind. It is about the same difference as that between the interest taken in a puppet-play by one who holds the strings and knows what the puppets are to do and the will that moves them and that they can do only what it moves them to do, and the interest taken by another who observes the play but sees only what is happening from moment to moment and knows nothing else. The one who follows the play and is outside its secret has a stronger, an eager and passionate interest in what will happen and he gives an excited attention to its unforeseen or dramatic events; the other, who holds the strings and moves the show, is unmoved and tranquil. There is a certain intensity of interest which comes from ignorance and is bound up with illusion, and that must disappear when you are out of the ignorance. The interest that human beings take in things founds itself on the illusion; if that were removed, they would have no interest at all in the play; they would find it dry and dull. That is why all this ignorance, all this illusion has lasted so long; it is because men like it, because they cling to it and its peculiar kind of appeal that it endures.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1929-1931, 93?
,#KEYS
139:The Science of Living
To know oneself and to control oneself
AN AIMLESS life is always a miserable life.
Every one of you should have an aim. But do not forget that on the quality of your aim will depend the quality of your life.
Your aim should be high and wide, generous and disinterested; this will make your life precious to yourself and to others.
But whatever your ideal, it cannot be perfectly realised unless you have realised perfection in yourself.
To work for your perfection, the first step is to become conscious of yourself, of the different parts of your being and their respective activities. You must learn to distinguish these different parts one from another, so that you may become clearly aware of the origin of the movements that occur in you, the many impulses, reactions and conflicting wills that drive you to action. It is an assiduous study which demands much perseverance and sincerity. For man's nature, especially his mental nature, has a spontaneous tendency to give a favourable explanation for everything he thinks, feels, says and does. It is only by observing these movements with great care, by bringing them, as it were, before the tribunal of our highest ideal, with a sincere will to submit to its judgment, that we can hope to form in ourselves a discernment that never errs. For if we truly want to progress and acquire the capacity of knowing the truth of our being, that is to say, what we are truly created for, what we can call our mission upon earth, then we must, in a very regular and constant manner, reject from us or eliminate in us whatever contradicts the truth of our existence, whatever is opposed to it. In this way, little by little, all the parts, all the elements of our being can be organised into a homogeneous whole around our psychic centre. This work of unification requires much time to be brought to some degree of perfection. Therefore, in order to accomplish it, we must arm ourselves with patience and endurance, with a determination to prolong our life as long as necessary for the success of our endeavour.
As you pursue this labour of purification and unification, you must at the same time take great care to perfect the external and instrumental part of your being. When the higher truth manifests, it must find in you a mind that is supple and rich enough to be able to give the idea that seeks to express itself a form of thought which preserves its force and clarity. This thought, again, when it seeks to clothe itself in words, must find in you a sufficient power of expression so that the words reveal the thought and do not deform it. And the formula in which you embody the truth should be manifested in all your feelings, all your acts of will, all your actions, in all the movements of your being. Finally, these movements themselves should, by constant effort, attain their highest perfection.
All this can be realised by means of a fourfold discipline, the general outline of which is given here. The four aspects of the discipline do not exclude each other, and can be followed at the same time; indeed, this is preferable. The starting-point is what can be called the psychic discipline. We give the name "psychic" to the psychological centre of our being, the seat within us of the highest truth of our existence, that which can know this truth and set it in movement. It is therefore of capital importance to become conscious of its presence in us, to concentrate on this presence until it becomes a living fact for us and we can identify ourselves with it.
In various times and places many methods have been prescribed for attaining this perception and ultimately achieving this identification. Some methods are psychological, some religious, some even mechanical. In reality, everyone has to find the one which suits him best, and if one has an ardent and steadfast aspiration, a persistent and dynamic will, one is sure to meet, in one way or another - outwardly through reading and study, inwardly through concentration, meditation, revelation and experience - the help one needs to reach the goal. Only one thing is absolutely indispensable: the will to discover and to realise. This discovery and realisation should be the primary preoccupation of our being, the pearl of great price which we must acquire at any cost. Whatever you do, whatever your occupations and activities, the will to find the truth of your being and to unite with it must be always living and present behind all that you do, all that you feel, all that you think.
To complement this movement of inner discovery, it would be good not to neglect the development of the mind. For the mental instrument can equally be a great help or a great hindrance. In its natural state the human mind is always limited in its vision, narrow in its understanding, rigid in its conceptions, and a constant effort is therefore needed to widen it, to make it more supple and profound. So it is very necessary to consider everything from as many points of view as possible. Towards this end, there is an exercise which gives great suppleness and elevation to the thought. It is as follows: a clearly formulated thesis is set; against it is opposed its antithesis, formulated with the same precision. Then by careful reflection the problem must be widened or transcended until a synthesis is found which unites the two contraries in a larger, higher and more comprehensive idea.
Many other exercises of the same kind can be undertaken; some have a beneficial effect on the character and so possess a double advantage: that of educating the mind and that of establishing control over the feelings and their consequences. For example, you must never allow your mind to judge things and people, for the mind is not an instrument of knowledge; it is incapable of finding knowledge, but it must be moved by knowledge. Knowledge belongs to a much higher domain than that of the human mind, far above the region of pure ideas. The mind has to be silent and attentive to receive knowledge from above and manifest it. For it is an instrument of formation, of organisation and action, and it is in these functions that it attains its full value and real usefulness.
There is another practice which can be very helpful to the progress of the consciousness. Whenever there is a disagreement on any matter, such as a decision to be taken, or an action to be carried out, one must never remain closed up in one's own conception or point of view. On the contrary, one must make an effort to understand the other's point of view, to put oneself in his place and, instead of quarrelling or even fighting, find the solution which can reasonably satisfy both parties; there always is one for men of goodwill.
Here we must mention the discipline of the vital. The vital being in us is the seat of impulses and desires, of enthusiasm and violence, of dynamic energy and desperate depressions, of passions and revolts. It can set everything in motion, build and realise; but it can also destroy and mar everything. Thus it may be the most difficult part to discipline in the human being. It is a long and exacting labour requiring great patience and perfect sincerity, for without sincerity you will deceive yourself from the very outset, and all endeavour for progress will be in vain. With the collaboration of the vital no realisation seems impossible, no transformation impracticable. But the difficulty lies in securing this constant collaboration. The vital is a good worker, but most often it seeks its own satisfaction. If that is refused, totally or even partially, the vital gets vexed, sulks and goes on strike. Its energy disappears more or less completely and in its place leaves disgust for people and things, discouragement or revolt, depression and dissatisfaction. At such moments it is good to remain quiet and refuse to act; for these are the times when one does stupid things and in a few moments one can destroy or spoil the progress that has been made during months of regular effort. These crises are shorter and less dangerous for those who have established a contact with their psychic being which is sufficient to keep alive in them the flame of aspiration and the consciousness of the ideal to be realised. They can, with the help of this consciousness, deal with their vital as one deals with a rebellious child, with patience and perseverance, showing it the truth and light, endeavouring to convince it and awaken in it the goodwill which has been veiled for a time. By means of such patient intervention each crisis can be turned into a new progress, into one more step towards the goal. Progress may be slow, relapses may be frequent, but if a courageous will is maintained, one is sure to triumph one day and see all difficulties melt and vanish before the radiance of the truth-consciousness.
Lastly, by means of a rational and discerning physical education, we must make our body strong and supple enough to become a fit instrument in the material world for the truth-force which wants to manifest through us.
In fact, the body must not rule, it must obey. By its very nature it is a docile and faithful servant. Unfortunately, it rarely has the capacity of discernment it ought to have with regard to its masters, the mind and the vital. It obeys them blindly, at the cost of its own well-being. The mind with its dogmas, its rigid and arbitrary principles, the vital with its passions, its excesses and dissipations soon destroy the natural balance of the body and create in it fatigue, exhaustion and disease. It must be freed from this tyranny and this can be done only through a constant union with the psychic centre of the being. The body has a wonderful capacity of adaptation and endurance. It is able to do so many more things than one usually imagines. If, instead of the ignorant and despotic masters that now govern it, it is ruled by the central truth of the being, you will be amazed at what it is capable of doing. Calm and quiet, strong and poised, at every minute it will be able to put forth the effort that is demanded of it, for it will have learnt to find rest in action and to recuperate, through contact with the universal forces, the energies it expends consciously and usefully. In this sound and balanced life a new harmony will manifest in the body, reflecting the harmony of the higher regions, which will give it perfect proportions and ideal beauty of form. And this harmony will be progressive, for the truth of the being is never static; it is a perpetual unfolding of a growing perfection that is more and more total and comprehensive. As soon as the body has learnt to follow this movement of progressive harmony, it will be possible for it to escape, through a continuous process of transformation, from the necessity of disintegration and destruction. Thus the irrevocable law of death will no longer have any reason to exist.
When we reach this degree of perfection which is our goal, we shall perceive that the truth we seek is made up of four major aspects: Love, Knowledge, Power and Beauty. These four attributes of the Truth will express themselves spontaneously in our being. The psychic will be the vehicle of true and pure love, the mind will be the vehicle of infallible knowledge, the vital will manifest an invincible power and strength and the body will be the expression of a perfect beauty and harmony.
Bulletin, November 1950
~ The Mother, On Education,#KEYS
140:Mental Education
OF ALL lines of education, mental education is the most widely known and practised, yet except in a few rare cases there are gaps which make it something very incomplete and in the end quite insufficient.
Generally speaking, schooling is considered to be all the mental education that is necessary. And when a child has been made to undergo, for a number of years, a methodical training which is more like cramming than true schooling, it is considered that whatever is necessary for his mental development has been done. Nothing of the kind. Even conceding that the training is given with due measure and discrimination and does not permanently damage the brain, it cannot impart to the human mind the faculties it needs to become a good and useful instrument. The schooling that is usually given can, at the most, serve as a system of gymnastics to increase the suppleness of the brain. From this standpoint, each branch of human learning represents a special kind of mental gymnastics, and the verbal formulations given to these various branches each constitute a special and well-defined language.
A true mental education, which will prepare man for a higher life, has five principal phases. Normally these phases follow one after another, but in exceptional individuals they may alternate or even proceed simultaneously. These five phases, in brief, are:
(1) Development of the power of concentration, the capacity of attention.
(2) Development of the capacities of expansion, widening, complexity and richness.
(3) Organisation of one's ideas around a central idea, a higher ideal or a supremely luminous idea that will serve as a guide in life.
(4) Thought-control, rejection of undesirable thoughts, to become able to think only what one wants and when one wants.
(5) Development of mental silence, perfect calm and a more and more total receptivity to inspirations coming from the higher regions of the being.
It is not possible to give here all the details concerning the methods to be employed in the application of these five phases of education to different individuals. Still, a few explanations on points of detail can be given.
Undeniably, what most impedes mental progress in children is the constant dispersion of their thoughts. Their thoughts flutter hither and thither like butterflies and they have to make a great effort to fix them. Yet this capacity is latent in them, for when you succeed in arousing their interest, they are capable of a good deal of attention. By his ingenuity, therefore, the educator will gradually help the child to become capable of a sustained effort of attention and a faculty of more and more complete absorption in the work in hand. All methods that can develop this faculty of attention from games to rewards are good and can all be utilised according to the need and the circumstances. But it is the psychological action that is most important and the sovereign method is to arouse in the child an interest in what you want to teach him, a liking for work, a will to progress. To love to learn is the most precious gift that one can give to a child: to love to learn always and everywhere, so that all circumstances, all happenings in life may be constantly renewed opportunities for learning more and always more.
For that, to attention and concentration should be added observation, precise recording and faithfulness of memory. This faculty of observation can be developed by varied and spontaneous exercises, making use of every opportunity that presents itself to keep the child's thought wakeful, alert and prompt. The growth of the understanding should be stressed much more than that of memory. One knows well only what one has understood. Things learnt by heart, mechanically, fade away little by little and finally disappear; what is understood is never forgotten. Moreover, you must never refuse to explain to a child the how and the why of things. If you cannot do it yourself, you must direct the child to those who are qualified to answer or point out to him some books that deal with the question. In this way you will progressively awaken in the child the taste for true study and the habit of making a persistent effort to know.
This will bring us quite naturally to the second phase of development in which the mind should be widened and enriched.
You will gradually show the child that everything can become an interesting subject for study if it is approached in the right way. The life of every day, of every moment, is the best school of all, varied, complex, full of unexpected experiences, problems to be solved, clear and striking examples and obvious consequences. It is so easy to arouse healthy curiosity in children, if you answer with intelligence and clarity the numerous questions they ask. An interesting reply to one readily brings others in its train and so the attentive child learns without effort much more than he usually does in the classroom. By a choice made with care and insight, you should also teach him to enjoy good reading-matter which is both instructive and attractive. Do not be afraid of anything that awakens and pleases his imagination; imagination develops the creative mental faculty and through it study becomes living and the mind develops in joy.
In order to increase the suppleness and comprehensiveness of his mind, one should see not only that he studies many varied topics, but above all that a single subject is approached in various ways, so that the child understands in a practical manner that there are many ways of facing the same intellectual problem, of considering it and solving it. This will remove all rigidity from his brain and at the same time it will make his thinking richer and more supple and prepare it for a more complex and comprehensive synthesis. In this way also the child will be imbued with the sense of the extreme relativity of mental learning and, little by little, an aspiration for a truer source of knowledge will awaken in him.
Indeed, as the child grows older and progresses in his studies, his mind too ripens and becomes more and more capable of forming general ideas, and with them almost always comes a need for certitude, for a knowledge that is stable enough to form the basis of a mental construction which will permit all the diverse and scattered and often contradictory ideas accumulated in his brain to be organised and put in order. This ordering is indeed very necessary if one is to avoid chaos in one's thoughts. All contradictions can be transformed into complements, but for that one must discover the higher idea that will have the power to bring them harmoniously together. It is always good to consider every problem from all possible standpoints so as to avoid partiality and exclusiveness; but if the thought is to be active and creative, it must, in every case, be the natural and logical synthesis of all the points of view adopted. And if you want to make the totality of your thoughts into a dynamic and constructive force, you must also take great care as to the choice of the central idea of your mental synthesis; for upon that will depend the value of this synthesis. The higher and larger the central idea and the more universal it is, rising above time and space, the more numerous and the more complex will be the ideas, notions and thoughts which it will be able to organise and harmonise.
It goes without saying that this work of organisation cannot be done once and for all. The mind, if it is to keep its vigour and youth, must progress constantly, revise its notions in the light of new knowledge, enlarge its frame-work to include fresh notions and constantly reclassify and reorganise its thoughts, so that each of them may find its true place in relation to the others and the whole remain harmonious and orderly.
All that has just been said concerns the speculative mind, the mind that learns. But learning is only one aspect of mental activity; the other, which is at least equally important, is the constructive faculty, the capacity to form and thus prepare action. This very important part of mental activity has rarely been the subject of any special study or discipline. Only those who want, for some reason, to exercise a strict control over their mental activities think of observing and disciplining this faculty of formation; and as soon as they try it, they have to face difficulties so great that they appear almost insurmountable.
And yet control over this formative activity of the mind is one of the most important aspects of self-education; one can say that without it no mental mastery is possible. As far as study is concerned, all ideas are acceptable and should be included in the synthesis, whose very function is to become more and more rich and complex; but where action is concerned, it is just the opposite. The ideas that are accepted for translation into action should be strictly controlled and only those that agree with the general trend of the central idea forming the basis of the mental synthesis should be permitted to express themselves in action. This means that every thought entering the mental consciousness should be set before the central idea; if it finds a logical place among the thoughts already grouped, it will be admitted into the synthesis; if not, it will be rejected so that it can have no influence on the action. This work of mental purification should be done very regularly in order to secure a complete control over one's actions.
For this purpose, it is good to set apart some time every day when one can quietly go over one's thoughts and put one's synthesis in order. Once the habit is acquired, you can maintain control over your thoughts even during work and action, allowing only those which are useful for what you are doing to come to the surface. Particularly, if you have continued to cultivate the power of concentration and attention, only the thoughts that are needed will be allowed to enter the active external consciousness and they then become all the more dynamic and effective. And if, in the intensity of concentration, it becomes necessary not to think at all, all mental vibration can be stilled and an almost total silence secured. In this silence one can gradually open to the higher regions of the mind and learn to record the inspirations that come from there.
But even before reaching this point, silence in itself is supremely useful, because in most people who have a somewhat developed and active mind, the mind is never at rest. During the day, its activity is kept under a certain control, but at night, during the sleep of the body, the control of the waking state is almost completely removed and the mind indulges in activities which are sometimes excessive and often incoherent. This creates a great stress which leads to fatigue and the diminution of the intellectual faculties.
The fact is that like all the other parts of the human being, the mind too needs rest and it will not have this rest unless we know how to provide it. The art of resting one's mind is something to be acquired. Changing one's mental activity is certainly one way of resting; but the greatest possible rest is silence. And as far as the mental faculties are concerned a few minutes passed in the calm of silence are a more effective rest than hours of sleep.
When one has learned to silence the mind at will and to concentrate it in receptive silence, then there will be no problem that cannot be solved, no mental difficulty whose solution cannot be found. When it is agitated, thought becomes confused and impotent; in an attentive tranquillity, the light can manifest itself and open up new horizons to man's capacity. Bulletin, November 1951
~ The Mother, On Education,#KEYS
*** WISDOM TROVE ***
1:Difficulties melt away under tact. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 2:Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 3:There is no excellence uncoupled with difficulties. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 4:I never fight, except against difficulties. ~ hellen-keller, @wisdomtrove 5:Remember to preserve a calm soul amid difficulties. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 6:History will never accept difficulties as an excuse. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 7:Diligence overcomes difficulties; sloth makes them. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 8:A man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes. ~ aldous-huxley, @wisdomtrove 9:Difficulties increase the nearer we approach the goal. ~ johann-wolfgang-von-goethe, @wisdomtrove 10:Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 11:Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 12:When circumstances don't fit our ideas they become our difficulties. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 13:Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life's difficulties. ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 14:Difficulties elicit talents that in more fortunate circumstances would lie dormant. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 15:Difficulties give us the opportunity to prove our greatness by overcoming them. ~ meher-baba, @wisdomtrove 16:It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly. ~ isaac-asimov, @wisdomtrove 17:Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 18:The greatest difficulties lie where we are not looking for them. ~ johann-wolfgang-von-goethe, @wisdomtrove 19:Things will always go wrong so ride through your difficulties and learn from them. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 20:To overcome difficulties is to experience the full delight of existence. ~ arthur-schopenhauer, @wisdomtrove 21:The difficulties of life do not keep you from greatness. They show you to its door. ~ alan-cohen, @wisdomtrove 22:Jesus came to save us, not just from politics, enemies, challenges, or difficulties. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 23:Deal with difficulties while they are still easy. Handle the great while it is still small. ~ lao-tzu, @wisdomtrove 24:Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater. ~ albert-einstein, @wisdomtrove 25:Don’t rush. Go slowly. Be present. Rushing through our days causes difficulties and extra effort. ~ leo-babauta, @wisdomtrove 26:But difficulties were made to be overcome and if the Supreme Will is there, they will be overcome. ~ sri-aurobindo, @wisdomtrove 27:The cheerful mind perseveres and the strong mind hews its way through a thousand difficulties. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 28:Half the spiritual difficulties that men and women suffer arise from a morbid state of health. ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove 29:Rather than getting more spoilt with age, as difficulties pile up, epiphanies of gratitude abound. ~ alain-de-botton, @wisdomtrove 30:Just as armor protects the soldier, spiritual knowledge protects us from the difficulties of life. ~ mata-amritanandamayi, @wisdomtrove 31:In the midst of difficulties we are always ready to seize an advantage, we may extricate ourselves from misfortune. ~ sun-tzu, @wisdomtrove 32:Your attitude towards problems, difficulties, and adversities is the most important factor in overcoming them. ~ napoleon-hill, @wisdomtrove 33:We should not feel embarrassed by our difficulties, only by our failure to grow anything beautiful from them. ~ alain-de-botton, @wisdomtrove 34:Looking back we see with great clarity, and what once appeared as difficulties now reveal themselves as blessings. ~ dan-millman, @wisdomtrove 35:Men seek rest in a struggle against difficulties; and when they have conquered these, rest becomes insufferable. ~ blaise-pascal, @wisdomtrove 36:Religion is the natural reaction of the imagination when confronted by the difficulties in a truculent world. ~ george-santayana, @wisdomtrove 37:Sometimes you face difficulties not because you're doing something wrong, but because you're doing something right. ~ joel-osteen, @wisdomtrove 38:We were not unmindful of the difficulties involved. So we decided to go through a process of self-purification. ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 39:Difficulties are God's errands; and when we are sent upon them, we should esteem it a proof of God's confidence. ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove 40:May I be given the appropriate difficulties so that my heart can truly open with compassion. Imagine asking for that. ~ jack-kornfield, @wisdomtrove 41:Any great achievement is preceded by many difficulties and many lessons; great achievements are not possible without them. ~ brian-tracy, @wisdomtrove 42:What a blessed truth to understand that, in the middle of all of our difficulties and calamities, we have a refuge. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 43:I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 44:Ive had my share of difficult moments, but whatever difficulties Ive gone through, Ive always gotten a prize at the end. ~ audrey-hepburn, @wisdomtrove 45:Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put up a wall to keep our people in. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 46:Nobody, who has not been in the interior of a family, can say what the difficulties of any individual of that family may be. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 47:The source of our stress isn't really difficulties, circumstances and situations-it's our attitude and approach toward them. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 48:Serving God doesn't mean we'll no longer have difficulties. We're still on the battlefield, but we don't have to fight alone. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 49:Single motherhood is a reality for a lot of women in my age group and the time difficulties in their lives are universal. ~ nicholas-sparks, @wisdomtrove 50:I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 51:When we allow God to be exalted in our difficulties we are in the perfect place to smell the fragrance of His Presence. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 52:I am struck by how sharing our weakness and difficulties is more nourishing to others than sharing our qualities and successes. ~ jean-vanier, @wisdomtrove 53:Love is based on our capacity to trust in a reality beyond fear, to trust a timeless truth bigger than all our difficulties. ~ jack-kornfield, @wisdomtrove 54:Our difficulties of the moment must always be dealt with somehow, but our permanent difficulties are difficulties of every moment. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 55:Persisting through lesser difficulties builds your capacity to persist through greater difficulties, and achieve even greater things. ~ brian-tracy, @wisdomtrove 56:Unwilling am I, in the evening of a life nearly consumed in public cares, to quit a peaceful abode for an Ocean of difficulties ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 57:We can let our past [difficulties and failures] beat us or teach us [to be more knowledgeable, competent and realistic in the future]! ~ zig-ziglar, @wisdomtrove 58:Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties. ~ hellen-keller, @wisdomtrove 59:Faith enables many of us to endure life's difficulties with an equanimity that would be scarcely conceivable in a world lit only by reason. ~ sam-harris, @wisdomtrove 60:Difficulties come not to obstruct, but to instruct. Within every setback or obstacle lie seeds of an equal or greater benefit or opportunity. ~ brian-tracy, @wisdomtrove 61:No matter how many mistakes you've made in the past, or what sort of difficulties you struggle with now, you are destined to live in victory. ~ joel-osteen, @wisdomtrove 62:Every work has got to pass through hundreds of difficulties before succeeding. Those that persevere will see the light, sooner or later. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 63:The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 64:Although my spelling is still sometimes poor, I have managed to overcome the worst of my difficulties through training myself to concentrate. ~ richard-branson, @wisdomtrove 65:And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 66:When all combine in every way to make everything easier, people will want difficulty. I conceived it as my task to make difficulties everywhere. ~ soren-kierkegaard, @wisdomtrove 67:I have been tortured with longing to believe ... and the yearning grows stronger the more cogent the intellectual difficulties stand in the way. ~ fyodor-dostoevsky, @wisdomtrove 68:Anything that is theoretically possible will be achieved in practice, no matter what the technical difficulties are, if it is desired greatly enough. ~ arthur-c-carke, @wisdomtrove 69:Be patient. God is using today's difficulties to strengthen you for tomorrow. He is equipping you. The God who makes things grow will help you bear fruit. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 70:Any one whose disposition leads him to attach more weight to unexplained difficulties than to the explanation of facts will certainly reject my theory. ~ charles-darwin, @wisdomtrove 71:The more powerful the obstacle, the more glory we have in overcoming it; and the difficulties with which we are met are the maids of honor which set off virtue. ~ moliere, @wisdomtrove 72:In war, the general alone can judge of certain arrangements. It depends on him alone to conquer difficulties by his own superior talents and resolution. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 73:I would rather have young people settle on a small income at once, and have to struggle with a few difficulties together, than be involved in a long engagement. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 74:God knows our situation; He will not judge us as if we had no difficulties to overcome. What matters is the sincerity and perseverance of our will to overcome them. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 75:Reincarnation contains a most comforting explanation of reality by means of which Indian thought surmounts difficulties which baffle the thinkers of Europe. ~ albert-schweitzer, @wisdomtrove 76:The master said, & 77:You can become all God created you to be even if you've had difficulties, even if you weren't born into a good, loving family, God still has a plan for your life. ~ joel-osteen, @wisdomtrove 78:Being a Buddhist monk means never losing one's optimism in spite of all difficulties. It also means being harder on yourself than any of your teachers ever were. ~ frederick-lenz, @wisdomtrove 79:Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 80:Happiness is peace after strife, the overcoming of difficulties, the feeling of security and well-being. The only really happy folk are married women and single men. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 81:If you experience chronic difficulties in a particular area of your life, there's a strong chance that the root of the problem is a failure to accept reality as it is. ~ steve-pavlina, @wisdomtrove 82:You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. Please remember that your difficulties do not define you. They simply strengthen your ability to overcome. ~ maya-angelou, @wisdomtrove 83:Difficulties come when you don't pay attention to life's whisper. Life always whispers to you first, but if you ignore the whisper, sooner or later you'll get a scream. ~ oprah-winfrey, @wisdomtrove 84:What have you come to Earth for?' & 85:One doesn't stay in a state of nirvana by hiding from difficulties. You stay in nirvana by lavishing nirvana on everyone you meet, by giving it away as fast as you receive it. ~ adyashanti, @wisdomtrove 86:To undertake a genuine spiritual path is not to avoid difficulties but to learn the art of making mistakes wakefully, to bring them to the transformative power of our heart. ~ jack-kornfield, @wisdomtrove 87:Too often, our lives cease working because we cease working at life, because we are unwilling to take resonsibility for things as they are, and to work with our difficulties. ~ jon-kabat-zinn, @wisdomtrove 88:I had realized in the meantime that action too has its difficulties, and that one can also be led to it by neurosis. We are not saved by politics any more than by literature. ~ jean-paul-sartre, @wisdomtrove 89:There are certain things in war of which the commander alone comprehends the importance. Nothing but his superior firmness and ability can subdue and surmount all difficulties. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 90:Young people need plenty of difficulties to achieve something... . If you receive a little money for this, a little money for that, everything becomes mediocre, and collapses ignominiously. ~ salvador-dali, @wisdomtrove 91:Our difficulties launch us into new states of consciousness where we are inspired to step out of the reality of our smallest thoughts and step into the limitless freedom of our biggest dreams. ~ debbie-ford, @wisdomtrove 92:No amount of meditation, yoga, diet, and reflection will make all of our problems go away, but we can transform our difficulties into our practice until little by little they guide us on our way. ~ jack-kornfield, @wisdomtrove 93:There is a saying in Tibetan, & 94:When repeated difficulties do arise, our first spiritual approach is to acknowledge what is present, naming, softly saying & 95:Even if our every attempt is a failure, and we bleed and are torn asunder, yet, through all this, we have to preserve our heart - we must assert our Godhead in the midst of all these difficulties. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 96:Words saturated with sincerity, conviction, faith, and intuition are like highly explosive vibration bombs, which, when set off, shatter the rocks of difficulties and create the change desired. ~ paramahansa-yogananda, @wisdomtrove 97:As I write, I am struggling with the ghost of someone I loved and lost. I now understand more fully the difficulties you were going through, and I realize how painful it must have been for you to move on. ~ nicholas-sparks, @wisdomtrove 98:Since you cannot control the weather, or the traffic, or the one you love, or your neighbors, or your boss, then you must learn to control you... the one whose response to the difficulties of life REALLY counts. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 99:It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring. ~ dale-carnegie, @wisdomtrove 100:Your decision to be, have and do something out of ordinary entails facing difficulties that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else. ~ brian-tracy, @wisdomtrove 101:Since faith rests upon infallible truth, and since the contrary of a truth can never be demonstrated, it is clear that the arguments brought against faith cannot be demonstrations, but are difficulties that can be answered. ~ denis-diderot, @wisdomtrove 102:Since faith rests upon infallible truth, and since the contrary of a truth can never be demonstrated, it is clear that the arguments brought against faith cannot be demonstrations, but are difficulties that can be answered. ~ thomas-aquinas, @wisdomtrove 103:Those who stand for different causes during different generations often experience the same oppositions and the same difficulties as those of the previous and the next generations. That is the basis of history repeating itself. ~ criss-jami, @wisdomtrove 104:I consider those persons to be my students who come and meditate with me on a regular basis, who, in spite of the hardships and difficulties on the path of knowledge, still continue to try, and who respect me as I respect them. ~ frederick-lenz, @wisdomtrove 105:Let us consider that we are all partially insane. It will explain us to each other; it will unriddle many riddles; it will make clear and simple many things which are involved in haunting and harassing difficulties and obscurities now. ~ mark-twain, @wisdomtrove 106:Personally I do not believe in a national agency devoted only to the negro blind because in spirit and principle I am against all segregation, and the blind already have difficulties enough without being cramped and harassed by social barriers. ~ hellen-keller, @wisdomtrove 107:The following of authority is the denial of intelligence. [It] may help us temporarily to cover up our difficulties and problems; but to avoid a problem is only to intensify it, and in the process, self-knowledge and freedom are abandoned. ~ jiddu-krishnamurti, @wisdomtrove 108:We must never despair; our situation has been compromising before, and it has changed for the better; so I trust it will again. If difficulties arise, we must put forth new exertion and proportion our efforts to the exigencies of the times. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 109:With growing awareness, you can see where you're caught or where you suffer or where you create suffering. You can then turn toward the difficulties that arise in your life with compassion, bow, and say, these too are part of human incarnation. ~ jack-kornfield, @wisdomtrove 110:Joys and sorrows are time born and cannot last. Therefore, do not be perturbed by them. The greater the difficulties and obstructions, the more intense will be your endeavor to cling to His feet and the more will your prayer increase from within. ~ anandamayi-ma, @wisdomtrove 111:The natural formation of the country is the soldier's best ally; but a power of estimating the adversary, of controlling the forces of victory, and of shrewdly calculating difficulties, dangers and distances, constitutes the test of a great general. ~ sun-tzu, @wisdomtrove 112:The more obstacles you face and overcome, the more times you falter and get back on track, the more difficulties you struggle with and conquer, the more resiliency you will naturally develop. There is nothing that can hold you back, if you are resilient. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 113:There is no remedy so powerful against the heat of concupiscence as the remembrance of our Savior's Passion. In all my difficulties I never found anything so efficacious as the wounds of Christ: In them I sleep secure; from them I derive new life. ~ saint-augustine, @wisdomtrove 114:Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life's difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph. ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 115:Man is to himself the most wonderful object in nature; for he cannot conceive what the body is, still less what the mind is, and least of all how a body should be united to a mind. This is the consummation of his difficulties, and yet it is his very being. ~ blaise-pascal, @wisdomtrove 116:To cut out every negative root would simultaneously mean choking off positive elements that might arise from it further up the stem of the plant. We should not feel embarrassed by our difficulties, only by our failure to grow anything beautiful from them. ~ alain-de-botton, @wisdomtrove 117:The proof of the depth and embodiment of your realization will be seen in your love relationship. That's where the proof is in the pudding. If it all collapses in your relationship, you have some work to do. And people do have a lot of difficulties in their relationships. ~ adyashanti, @wisdomtrove 118:Every person who has grown to any degree of usefulness, every person who has grown to distinction, almost without exception has been a person who has risen by overcoming obstacles, by removing difficulties, by resolving that when he met discouragement he would not give up. ~ booker-t-washington, @wisdomtrove 119:When you plan and prepare carefully, you can legitimately expect to have success in your efforts. An optimistic, positive mind is far more likely to come up with creative solutions than a mind that dwells on setbacks and difficulties. Bottom line: expect success and you can achieve it! ~ zig-ziglar, @wisdomtrove 120:A healthy state can exist only when the men and women who make it up lead clean, vigorous, healthy lives; when the children are so trained that they shall endeavor, not to shirk difficulties, but to overcome them; not to seek ease, but to know how to wrest triumph from toil and risk. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 121:Think about all the good things of your life. Never think about your difficulties. Forget yourself, and concentrate on being of service as much as you can in this world, and then, having lost your lower self in a cause greater than yourself, you will find your higher self: your real self. ~ peace-pilgrim, @wisdomtrove 122:Just as a human soul that faces great difficulties also faces great opportunities for spiritual growth, so a human society that faces destruction also faces the opportunity to enter a period of renaissance. I think that, barring an accident, the wish to survive will keep us from a nuclear war. ~ peace-pilgrim, @wisdomtrove 123:Get the most out of everything in your life; the happiness and the sadness, the success and the failure... get a good perspective of what life is all about. Let the orchestra of your life play all the notes, the high notes, the low rumblings of the difficulties and perplexities that all we all face. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 124:Meditation is not meant to help us avoid problems or run away from difficulties. It is meant to allow positive healing to take place. To meditate is to learn how to stop—to stop being carried away by our regrets about the past, our anger or despair in the present, or our worries about the future. ~ thich-nhat-hanh, @wisdomtrove 125:Ours is a kind of struggle designed, I dare say, by Providence to try the patience, fortitude, and virtue of men. None, therefore, who is engaged in it, will suffer himself, I trust, to sink under difficulties, or be discouraged by hardships. If he cannot do as he wishes, he must do what he can. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 126:Wisdom is looking at life from God's point of view. You look at life's difficulties and tests as God looks at them. You look at family life and child rearing as God looks at them. You interpret current events as God would interpret them. You see the truth even though all around you are deception and lies. ~ charles-r-swindoll, @wisdomtrove 127:Joys and sorrows are time-born and cannot last. Therefore, do not be perturbed by these. The greater the difficulties and obstructions, the more intense will be your endeavor to cling to His feet and the more will your prayer increase from within. And when the time is ripe, you will gain mastery over this power. ~ anandamayi-ma, @wisdomtrove 128:Out of love for mankind, and out of despair at my embarrassing situation, seeing that I had accomplished nothing and was unable to make anything easier than it had already been made, and moved by a genuine interest in those who make everything easy, I conceived it as my task to create difficulties everywhere. ~ soren-kierkegaard, @wisdomtrove 129:Each person with his or her history of being accepted or rejected, with his or her past history of inner pain and difficulties in relationships, is different. But in each one there is a yearning for communion and belonging, but at the same time a fear of it. Love is what we most want, yet it is what we fear the most. ~ jean-vanier, @wisdomtrove 130:The nature of Christ is, I grant it, from one end to another, a web of mysteries; but this mysteriousness does not correspond to the difficulties which all existence contains. Let it be rejected, and the whole world is an enigma; let it be accepted, and we possess a wonderful explanation of the history of man. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 131:Divine love makes us true to ourselves and to others... Divine love is the solution to our difficulties and problems. It frees us from every kind of binding. It makes us speak truly, think truly, and act truly. It makes us feel one with the whole universe. Divine love purifies our hearts and glorifies our being. ~ meher-baba, @wisdomtrove 132:At least one indication of unbelief is the tendency to measure life's challenges against our own adequacy instead of God's promises. To enter our Sabbath rest, we must put an end to self-reliance - trusting in our own abilities to overcome difficulties, rise above challenges, escape tragedies, or achieve personal greatness. ~ charles-r-swindoll, @wisdomtrove 133:Taking the one seat describes two related aspects of spiritual work. Outwardly, it means selecting one practice and teacher among all the possibilities, and inwardly, it means having the determination to stick with that practice through whatever difficulties and doubts arise until you have come to true clarity and understanding. ~ jack-kornfield, @wisdomtrove 134:The traveler may feel assured, he will meet with no difficulties or dangers, excepting in rare cases, nearly so bad as he beforehand anticipates. In a moral point of view, the effect ought to be, to teach him good-humored patience, freedom from selfishness, the habit of acting for himself, and of making the best of every occurrence. ~ charles-darwin, @wisdomtrove 135:Now, I say to you today my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: - we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 136:I have noticed that whenever a person gives up his belief in the Word of God because it requires that he should believe a good deal, his unbelief requires him to believe a great deal more. If there be any difficulties in the faith of Christ, they are not one-tenth as great as the absurdities in any system of unbelief which seeks to take its place. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 137:It is astonishing, how many difficulties clear up without any effort when the inner life gets straightened out. If half the time we spend trying to fix up outward things were spent in getting our hearts right, we would be delighted with the result. Strange as it may seem, harmony within our hearts depends mostly upon our getting into harmony with God. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 138:Part of my message is that God never said that we weren't going to have difficulties, but you know what, He said to stay full of joy and I'm going to help you overcome. So I think that is what resonates with people and helps draw so many people. Because it is not a message that you are barely going to make it, you're a victim. We are not victims, we are victors. ~ joel-osteen, @wisdomtrove 139:Mindful sitting meditation is not an attempt to escape from problems or difficulties into some cut-off meditative state of absorption or denial. On the contrary, it is a willingness to go nose to nose with pain, confusion, and loss, if that is what is dominating the present moment, and to stay with the observing over a sustained period of time, beyond thinking. ~ jon-kabat-zinn, @wisdomtrove 140:To strive with difficulties, and to conquer them, is the highest human felicity; the next is, to strive, and deserve to conquer: but he whose life has passed without a contest, and who can boast neither success nor merit, can survey himself only as a useless filler of existence; ad if he is content with his own character, must owe his satisfaction to insensibility. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 141:Is there any man that thinks in chains like the man who calls himself a free-thinker? Is there any man so credulous as the man who will not believe in the Bible? He swallows a ton of difficulties, and yet complains that we have swallowed an ounce of them. He has much more need of faith of a certain sort than we have, for skepticism has far harder problems than faith. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 142:Avarice, the spur of industry, is so obstinate a passion, and works its way through so many real dangers and difficulties, that it is not likely to be scared by an imaginary danger, which is so small, that it scarcely admits of calculation. Commerce, therefore, in my opinion, is apt to decay in absolute governments, not because it is there less secure, but because it is less honourable. ~ david-hume, @wisdomtrove 143:Words, English words, are full of echoes, of memories, of associations. They have been out and about, on people's lips, in their houses, in the streets, in the fields, for so many centuries. And that is one of the chief difficulties in writing them today - that they are stored with other meanings, with other memories, and they have contracted so many famous marriages in the past. ~ virginia-woolf, @wisdomtrove 144:bring to mind the feeling of being with someone who loves you, while calling up heartfelt emotions such as gratitude or fondness. Next, bring empathy to the difficulties of the other person. Opening to his (even subtle) suffering, let sympathy and goodwill naturally arise. (These steps flow together in actual practice.) Then, in your mind, offer explicit wishes, such as May you not suffer. ~ rick-hanson, @wisdomtrove 145:Finally one should add that in spite of the great complexity of protein synthesis and in spite of the considerable technical difficulties in synthesizing polynucleotides with defined sequences it is not unreasonable to hope that all these points will be clarified in the near future, and that the genetic code will be completely established on a sound experimental basis within a few years. ~ francis-crick, @wisdomtrove 146:.. gets an impression that civilization is something which was imposed on a resisting majority by a minority which understood how to obtain possession of the means to power and coercion. It is, of course, natural to assume that these difficulties are not inherent in the nature of civilization itself but are determined by the imperfections of the cultural forms which have so far been developed. ~ sigmund-freud, @wisdomtrove 147:Whatever your difficulties - a devastated heart, financial loss, feeling assaulted by the conflicts around you, or a seemingly hopeless illness - you can always remember that you are free in every moment to set the compass of your heart to your highest intentions. In fact, the two things that you are always free to do - despite your circumstances - are to be present and to be willing to love. ~ jack-kornfield, @wisdomtrove 148:He felt all the torment of his and her position, all the difficulties they were surrounded by in consequence of their station in life, which exposed them to the eyes of the whole world, obliged them to hide their love, to lie and deceive, and again to lie and deceive, to scheme and constantly think about others while the passion that bound them was so strong that they both forgot everything but their love. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 149:There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. We always returned to it no matter who we were or how it was changed or with what difficulties, or ease, it could be reached. Paris was always worth it and you received return for whatever you brought to it. But this is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 150:It is the basic principle of spiritual life that we learn the deepest things in unknown territory. Often it is when we feel most confused inwardly and are in the midst of our greatest difficulties that something new will open. We awaken most easily to the mystery of life through our weakest side. The areas of our greatest strength, where we are the most competent and clearest, tend to keep us away from the mystery. ~ jack-kornfield, @wisdomtrove 151:Not only do I have a great love for the game of golf - no matter how badly I play it - but I have also the belief that through every kind of meeting, through every kind of activity to which we can bring together more often and more intimately peoples of our several countries, by that measure we will do something to solve the difficulties and the tensions that this poor old world seems nowadays to so much endure. ~ dwight-eisenhower, @wisdomtrove 152:The several difficulties here discussed, namely our not finding in the successive formations infinitely numerous transitional links between the many species which now exist or have existed; the sudden manner in which whole groups of species appear in our European formations; the almost entire absence, as at present known, of fossiliferous formations beneath the Silurian strata, are all undoubtedly of the gravest nature. ~ charles-darwin, @wisdomtrove 153:In spiritual life there is no room for compromise. Awakening is not negotiable; we cannot bargain to hold on to things that please us while relinquishing things that do not matter to us. A lukewarm yearning for awakening is not enough to sustain us through the difficulties involved in letting go. It is important to understand that anything that can be lost was never truly ours, anything that we deeply cling to only imprisons us. ~ jack-kornfield, @wisdomtrove 154:The basic cause of all our difficulties is immaturity. That's why I talk so much about peace within ourselves as a step toward peace in our world. If we were mature, war would not be possible and peace would be assured. In our immaturity we do not know the laws of the universe, and we think evil can be overcome by more evil. One symptom of our immaturity is greed, making it difficult for us to learn the simple lesson of sharing... ~ peace-pilgrim, @wisdomtrove 155:Here I come to one of the memoir writer's difficulties - one of the reasons why, though I read so many, so many are failures. They leave out the person to whom things happened. The reason is that it is so difficult to describe any human being. So they say: & 156:Teresa of Avila wrote: & 157:One of the difficulties in bringing about change in an organization is that you must do so through the persons who have been most successful in that organization, no matter how faulty the system or the organization is. To such persons, you see, it is the best of all possible organizations, because look who was selected by it ad look who succeeded most in it. Yet, these are the very people through whom we must bring about improvements. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 158:It is through solving problems correctly that we grow spiritually. We are never given a burden unless we have the capacity to overcome it. If a great problem is set before you, this merely indicates that you have the great inner strength to solve a great problem. There is never really anything to be discouraged about, because difficulties are opportunities for inner growth, and the greater the difficulty the greater the opportunity for growth. ~ peace-pilgrim, @wisdomtrove 159:The faithful man perceives nothing less than opportunity in difficulties. Flowing through his spine, faith and courage work together: Such a man does not fear losing his life, thus he will risk losing it at times in order to empower it. By this he actually values his life more than the man who fears losing his life. It is much like leaping from a window in order to avoid a fire yet in that most crucial moment knowing that God will appear to catch you. ~ criss-jami, @wisdomtrove 160:But we are gravely mistaken to think that Christianity protects us from the pain and agony of mortal existence. Christianity has always insisted that the cross we bear precedes the crown we wear. To be a Christian, one must take up his cross, with all of its difficulties and agonizing and tragedy-packed content, and carry it until that very cross leaves its marks upon us and redeems us to that more excellent way which comes only through suffering. ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 161:Difficulties with material things often come to remind us that our concentration should be on spiritual things instead of material things. Sometimes difficulties of the body come to show that the body is just a transient garment, and that the reality is the indestructible essence which activates the body. But when we can say, & 162:Synchronicity is no more baffling or mysterious than the discontinuities of physics. It is only the ingrained belief in the sovereign power of causality that creates intellectual difficulties and makes it appear unthinkable that causeless events exist or could ever exist. But if they do, then we must regard them as creative acts, as the continuous creation of a pattern that exists from all eternity, repeats itself sporadically, and is not derivable from any known antecedents. ~ carl-jung, @wisdomtrove 163:It’s one thing to make a pronouncement in a moment of inspiration about what you intend to manifest in your life or what kind of person you intend to become. It’s quite another thing to make a commitment to holding that vision regardless of what difficulties or obstacles may surface. Holding the vision involves an unwillingness to compromise what you’re visualizing for yourself. It means being willing to suffer through criticism and what appears to be an uncooperative universe. ~ wayne-dyer, @wisdomtrove 164:When you are a young person, you are like a young creek, and you meet many rocks, many obstacles and difficulties on your way. You hurry to get past these obstacles and get to the ocean. But as the creek moves down through the fields, it becomes larges and calmer and it can enjoy the reflection of the sky. It's wonderful. You will arrive at the sea anyway so enjoy the journey. Enjoy the sunshine, the sunset, the moon, the birds, the trees, and the many beauties along the way. Taste every moment of your daily life. ~ thich-nhat-hanh, @wisdomtrove 165:What I am in search of is not so much the gratification of a curiosity or a passion for worldly life, but something far less conditional. I do not wish to go out into the world with an insurance policy in my pocket guaranteeing my return in the event of a disappointment, like some cautious traveller who would be content with a brief glimpse of the world. On the contrary, I desire that there should be hazards, difficulties and dangers to face; I am hungry for reality, for tasks and deeds, and also for privation and suffering. ~ hermann-hesse, @wisdomtrove 166:Progress has brought us both unbounded opportunities and unbridled difficulties. Thus, the measure of our civilization will not be that we have done much, but what we have done with that much. I believe that the next half century will determine if we will advance the cause of Christian civilization or revert to the horrors of brutal paganism. The thought of modern industry in the hands of Christian charity is a dream worth dreaming. The thought of industry in the hands of paganism is a nightmare beyond imagining. The choice between the two is upon us. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 167:For myself the delay [in assuming the office of the President] may be compared with a reprieve; for in confidence I assure you, with the world it would obtain little credit that my movements to the chair of Government will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution: so unwilling am I, in the evening of a life nearly consumed in public cares, to quit a peaceful abode for an Ocean of difficulties, without that competency of political skill, abilities and inclination which is necessary to manage the helm. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove *** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***
1:desirable difficulties ~ David Epstein, #NFDB
2:My difficulties belong to me! ~ Alfred Adler, #NFDB
3:Sweeter after difficulties’. ~ Alex Ferguson, #NFDB
4:War is an option of difficulties. ~ James Wolfe, #NFDB
5:Train in the three difficulties. ~ Ch gyam Trungpa, #NFDB
6:"Difficulties are necessary for health." ~ Carl Jung, #NFDB
7:Be able to laugh at difficulties. ~ Goswami Kriyananda, #NFDB
8:Difficulties can be overcome by not giving up. ~ Yunho, #NFDB
9:Difficulties melt away under tact. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, #NFDB
10:It is difficulties that show what men are. ~ Epictetus, #NFDB
11:Out of difficulties grow miracles. ~ Jean de la Bruyere, #NFDB
12:To the stars through difficulties. ~ Seneca the Younger, #NFDB
13:Ignorance is the root cause of all difficulties. ~ Plato, #NFDB
14:Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties. ~ Aesop, #NFDB
15:Difficulties exist to be surmounted. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
16:I never fight, except against difficulties. ~ Helen Keller, #NFDB
17:There is no excellence uncoupled with difficulties. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
18:prevent difficulties rather than solve them. ~ Wayne W Dyer, #NFDB
19:Champaklal, smile always, smile in difficulties, ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
20:Remember to preserve a calm soul amid difficulties. ~ Horace, #NFDB
21:Taking things lightly must lead to big difficulties. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
22:Difficulties are just things to overcome. ~ Ernest Shackleton, #NFDB
23:Use the difficulties - if you can't avoid them ~ Michael Caine, #NFDB
24:Apply yourself to thinking through difficulties— ~ Ryan Holiday, #NFDB
25:Everything of worth is found full of difficulties. ~ John Smith, #NFDB
26:There are no difficulties that can’t be overcome, ~ Herman Wouk, #NFDB
27:Difficulties mastered are opportunities won. ~ Winston Churchill, #NFDB
28:Do not mix temporary difficulties with real problems. ~ Valentina, #NFDB
29:It is surmounting difficulties that makes heroes. ~ Louis Pasteur, #NFDB
30:Difficulties mastered are opportunities won. ~ Winston S Churchill, #NFDB
31:Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body. ~ Seneca, #NFDB
32:ignoring difficulties is a poor way of solving them. ~ Gary Taubes, #NFDB
33:In the middle of difficulties lie opportunities. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
34:Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health. ~ Carl Jung, #NFDB
35:Solitude must be accepted with all its difficulties. ~ Albert Camus, #NFDB
36:All difficulties are easy when they are known. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
37:He who accounts all things easy will have many difficulties. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
38:I've always had difficulties with female characters. ~ John le Carre, #NFDB
39:"Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health." ~ Carl Jung, #NFDB
40:Between the difficulties, one hides the opportunity ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
41:Difficulties are things that show a person what they are. ~ Epictetus, #NFDB
42:History will never accept difficulties as an excuse. ~ John F Kennedy, #NFDB
43:A Scout smiles and whistles under all difficulties.’ And ~ Ruskin Bond, #NFDB
44:Difficulties are things that show a person what they are. ~ Epictetus, #NFDB
45:Life's difficulties are merely necessary roughage. ~ Milton H Erickson, #NFDB
46:Diligence overcomes difficulties; sloth makes them. ~ Benjamin Franklin, #NFDB
47:You can't have anything worthwhile without difficulties. ~ Harry Truman, #NFDB
48:Difficulties are just things to overcome, after all. ~ Ernest Shackleton, #NFDB
49:Nature laughs at the difficulties of integration. ~ Pierre Simon Laplace, #NFDB
50:You will get your difficulties with the point electron. ~ Paul Ehrenfest, #NFDB
51:Emotional people always make difficulties for themselves ~ Nancy B Brewer, #NFDB
52:nationalist governments tend to have trade difficulties. ~ Malka Ann Older, #NFDB
53:The extent of your difficulties gives you the measures of ego ~ The Mother, #NFDB
54:The sweetest pleasure arises from difficulties overcome. ~ Publilius Syrus, #NFDB
55:All difficulties are there to test the endurance of the faith. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
56:Sweet is the recollection of difficulties overcome. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
57:The difficulties of peace are better than the agony of war. ~ Menachem Begin, #NFDB
58:With faith in the Divine Grace, all difficulties are solved.
~ The Mother,#NFDB
59:These things are difficulties, not impossibilities. -- Macon ~ Margaret Stohl, #NFDB
60:We can use our difficulties and problems to awaken our hearts. ~ Pema Ch dr n, #NFDB
61:Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body. ~ Seneca the Younger, #NFDB
62:Nature is not embarrassed by difficulties of analysis. ~ Augustin Jean Fresnel, #NFDB
63:"All difficulties are there to test the endurance of the faith." ~ ~ The Mother, #NFDB
64:I do not mind difficulties, as long as they are new difficulties. ~ Ruskin Bond, #NFDB
65:The extent of your difficulties gives you the measure of your ego. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
66:Heaven’s delights will far outweigh earth’s difficulties. ~ Suzanne Woods Fisher, #NFDB
67:I'll be with you to meet all difficulties-you can be sure of that. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
68:one should discuss one's difficulties only when they are over. ~ Elizabeth Bowen, #NFDB
69:We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
70:Difficulties increase the nearer we get to the goal. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #NFDB
71:In time of difficulties, we must not lose sight of our achievements. ~ Mao Zedong, #NFDB
72:The difficulties are for the strong, and help to make them stronger. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
73:Your trials and difficulties are a golden opportunity for joy. ~ Elizabeth George, #NFDB
74:Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and perseverance. ~ Abigail Adams, #NFDB
75:In time of difficulties, we must not lose sight of our achievements. ~ Mao Zedong, #NFDB
76:New things have to experience difficulties and setbacks as they grow. ~ Mao Zedong, #NFDB
77:The difficulties are for the strong, and help to make them stronger. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
78:Triumphing over great difficulties can lead to great happiness. ~ Stephen Richards, #NFDB
79:A life without some faculties is always full of difficulties. ~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana, #NFDB
80:A man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes. ~ Thomas Huxley, #NFDB
81:Facing difficulties is inevitable. Learning from them is optional. ~ John C Maxwell, #NFDB
82:How can I progress on the Way thanks to every day difficulties. ~ Arnaud Desjardins, #NFDB
83:We must generate courage equal to the size of the difficulties we face. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
84:You do not know what life means when all the difficulties are removed! ~ Jane Addams, #NFDB
85:Difficulties are better for good persons and bad for bad persons... ~ Wasif Ali Wasif, #NFDB
86:Man needs his difficulties because they are necessary to enjoy success. ~ Abdul Kalam, #NFDB
87:The French don't seek out alliances except when there are difficulties. ~ Eric Rohmer, #NFDB
88:corpus as with mens, and found the same difficulties with both: a lack ~ Andrew Hodges, #NFDB
89:When we are living our dream, the difficulties we encounter make sense. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
90:Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great. ~ Niccol Machiavelli, #NFDB
91:Great scientists are persevering and never deterred by difficulties ~ A P J Abdul Kalam, #NFDB
92:Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
93:Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
94:The habits of a vigorous mind are born in contending with difficulties. ~ Abigail Adams, #NFDB
95:The real difficulties, in short, come from the transition process. It ~ William Bridges, #NFDB
96:The root of all difficulties is a lack of the sense of the Presence of God. ~ Emmet Fox, #NFDB
97:To conquer the difficulties there is more power in a smile than in a sigh. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
98:Today's difficulties are often a result of yesterday's disobedience. ~ Priscilla Shirer, #NFDB
99:When circumstances don't fit our ideas they become our difficulties ~ Benjamin Franklin, #NFDB
100:Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great. ~ Niccolo Machiavelli, #NFDB
101:I'm trained to difficulties; difficulties can't be eliminated from life. ~ Indira Gandhi, #NFDB
102:In grave difficulties, and with little hope, the boldest measures are the safest. ~ Livy, #NFDB
103:The weak sinews become strong by their conflict with difficulties. ~ Edwin Hubbel Chapin, #NFDB
104:Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be,” she replied, ~ Lisa Kleypas, #NFDB
105:Difficulties should act as a tonic. They should spur us to greater exertion. ~ B C Forbes, #NFDB
106:Ignorance is the field in which all other difficulties grow. ~ Patanjali, Aphorisms II. 4, #NFDB
107:If you have difficulties making a decision, choose the lesser of the two evils. ~ Rajneesh, #NFDB
108:Love carries through many difficulties easily and makes heavy burdens light. ~ John Cotton, #NFDB
109:Our will to live is often much greater than the difficulties of life! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan, #NFDB
110:The path of the gods is a sunlit path in which difficulties lose all reality. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
111:Truth, they say, is but too often in difficulties, but is never finally suppressed. ~ Livy, #NFDB
112:Difficulties are inevitable,” I said. “Major projects require persistence. ~ Graeme Simsion, #NFDB
113:Man needs his difficulties because they are necessary to enjoy success. ~ A P J Abdul Kalam, #NFDB
114:Over the past six years I've had many difficulties. But I never lost my passion. ~ Robin Li, #NFDB
115:Difficulties elicit talents that in more fortunate circumstances would lie dormant. ~ Horace, #NFDB
116:Difficulties give us the opportunity to prove our greatness by overcoming them. ~ Meher Baba, #NFDB
117:Difficulties illuminate existence, but they must be fresh and of high quality. ~ Tom Robbins, #NFDB
118:It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly. ~ Isaac Asimov, #NFDB
119:Life will not always be so hard or cruel. Our difficulties are but a moment. ~ Camron Wright, #NFDB
120:Overcoming difficulties leads to courage, self-respect, and knowing yourself. ~ Alfred Adler, #NFDB
121:Regarding Christianity: Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt. ~ John Henry Newman, #NFDB
122:Turn your mountains into molehills by discussing God more than your difficulties. ~ Bob Goff, #NFDB
123:We must seek ways to solve difficulties such as hatred, envy and jealousy. ~ Sathya Sai Baba, #NFDB
124:Clever people master life; the wise illuminate it and create fresh difficulties. ~ Emil Nolde, #NFDB
125:I devised a somewhat arbitrary way out of my own difficulties that evening. ~ Dorothy Dunnett, #NFDB
126:I have had to learn the simplest things
last. Which made for difficulties. ~ Charles Olson,#NFDB
127:Know how to use evasion. That is how smart people get out of difficulties. ~ Baltasar Gracian, #NFDB
128:Life will not always be so hard and cruel. Our difficulties are but a moment. ~ Camron Wright, #NFDB
129:Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
130:The greatest difficulties lie where we are not looking for them. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #NFDB
131:Things will always go wrong so ride through your difficulties and learn from them. ~ Jim Rohn, #NFDB
132:I am too ardent in execution, and too impatient of difficulties. ~ Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, #NFDB
133:Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life's difficulties. ~ Martin Luther King Jr, #NFDB
134:Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to tremendous difficulties. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
135:Men are always averse to enterprises in which they foresee difficulties. ~ Niccolo Machiavelli, #NFDB
136:The difficulties you cannot overcome today will be overcome tomorrow or later on. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
137:To overcome difficulties is to experience the full delight of existence. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer, #NFDB
138:We have inherited new difficulties because we have inherited more privileges. ~ Abram L Sachar, #NFDB
139:Believe that you are bigger than your difficulties, for you are, indeed. ~ Norman Vincent Peale, #NFDB
140:But if you experience many difficulties in life, you were designed to bear them. ~ Regina Brett, #NFDB
141:It is not my experience that life’s difficulties make people more charitable. ~ Cormac McCarthy, #NFDB
142:"Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health." ~ Carl Jung, The Transcendent Function, #NFDB
143:...the path of the gods is a sunlit path in which difficulties lose all reality. ~ ~ The Mother, #NFDB
144:To strive with difficulties, and to conquer them, is the highest human felicity, ~ David Brooks, #NFDB
145:Difficulties seldom defeat people; lack of faith in themselves usually does it. ~ John C Maxwell, #NFDB
146:The difficulties you cannot overcome today will be overcome tomorrow or later on. ~ ~ The Mother, #NFDB
147:When you are in difficulties, look upon the overcoming of them as a great adventure. ~ Emmet Fox, #NFDB
148:Jesus came to save us, not just from politics, enemies, challenges, or difficulties. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
149:There is such a choice of difficulties that I am myself at a loss how to determine. ~ James Wolfe, #NFDB
150:To strive with difficulties, and to conquer them, is the highest human felicity. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
151:and although it may not seem like it, difficulties and temptations are God’s tools. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
152:Every work has got to pass through hundreds of difficulties before succeeding. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
153:present my story and the difficulties that I have faced. As an entrepreneur, a CEO, ~ Ben Horowitz, #NFDB
154:Regarding Christianity: Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt. ~ Saint John Henry Newman, #NFDB
155:Don't argue about the difficulties. The difficulties will argue for themselves. ~ Winston Churchill, #NFDB
156:God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
157:Man needs difficulties in life because they are necessary to enjoy the success. ~ A P J Abdul Kalam, #NFDB
158:Philosophy's true use - "An operating system for life's difficulties and hardships". ~ Ryan Holiday, #NFDB
159:All the English speakers, or almost all, have difficulties with the gender of words. ~ Bernard Pivot, #NFDB
160:Forget your difficulties.Forget yourself. And the Lord will take care of your progress. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
161:The difficulties of not knowing are always much greater than the effort of learning. ~ Andrew Loomis, #NFDB
162:We are not always properly equipped to face the difficulties life places in our path. ~ Terry Brooks, #NFDB
163:Action solves the difficulties which action creates. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin, Facts and Opinions, #NFDB
164:Difficulties will assail you only when you lack in concentration and persistence. ~ Walter J Phillips, #NFDB
165:My task is becoming more and more delicate, while the difficulties increase constantly. ~ Jean Moulin, #NFDB
166:Simplicity is the highest goal, achievable when you have overcome all difficulties. ~ Frederic Chopin, #NFDB
167:All difficulties are there to test the endurance of the faith.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#NFDB
168:Bolsheviks create their own difficulties which they successfully overcame later. ~ Winston S Churchill, #NFDB
169:Facing the difficulties, I can choose either to be a poor victim or a great adventurer. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
170:The future doesn't frighten me, even if it threatens to be full of other difficulties. ~ Indira Gandhi, #NFDB
171:act before difficulties occur, sense disorder coming your way, and manage it in advance. ~ Wayne W Dyer, #NFDB
172:The individual who knows the score about life sees difficulties as opportunities ~ Norman Vincent Peale, #NFDB
173:As for difficulties," replied Ferguson, in a serious tone, "they were made to be overcome. ~ Jules Verne, #NFDB
174:In spite of difficulties and suffering, you can remain firm and maintain your composure ~ Dalai Lama XIV, #NFDB
175:Love may be the ultimate solution to all man's difficulties, problems and travails. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti, #NFDB
176:There are no difficulties except for those who worry too much about tomorrow. ~ Rose Philippine Duchesne, #NFDB
177:I want to accept all the difficulties that face me in life with perseverance and patience. ~ Ameen Rihani, #NFDB
178:Perfect solutions of our difficulties are not to be looked for in an imperfect world. ~ Winston Churchill, #NFDB
179:The difficulties you face are not there to defeat you. They are there to increase you. Just ~ Joel Osteen, #NFDB
180:When will mankind be convinced and agree to settle their difficulties by arbitration? ~ Benjamin Franklin, #NFDB
181:You never depart from us, but yet, only with difficulties do we return to You. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #NFDB
182:Your trials and difficulties are a golden opportunity to illustrate your faith in God. ~ Elizabeth George, #NFDB
183:You see, if there are no difficulties and you are always relaxed, then you complain more ~ Dalai Lama XIV, #NFDB
184:It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly.” Isaac Asimov ~ William Boyd, #NFDB
185:The Lord always shows you all the difficulties when He is going to do anything through you. ~ Rees Howells, #NFDB
186:A mistake recognised is a mistake pardoned.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Difficulties, Mistakes,#NFDB
187:Prayer alone will overcome the gigantic difficulties which confront the workers in every field. ~ John Mott, #NFDB
188:Stop thinking about your difficulties, whatever they are, and start thinking about God instead. ~ Emmet Fox, #NFDB
189:Everyone faces difficulties; not everyone looks for the opportunities in every difficulty. ~ Tony Alessandra, #NFDB
190:For a true artist, difficulties become opportunities and clouds become solid present. ~ Alejandro Jodorowsky, #NFDB
191:Despite our difficulties, we had become close, and it is hard to leave such things behind. ~ Patrick Rothfuss, #NFDB
192:There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
193:Christians know how to face difficulties, trials and defeat with serenity and hope in the Lord. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
194:Don’t judge people based on how they appear, as they may have difficulties that nobody can see. ~ Haemin Sunim, #NFDB
195:Engineers are sometimes the least practical of men, they may be attracted by difficulties. . . . . ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
196:Every day has its emotional difficulties. I miss my mother whether I'm singing her music or not. ~ Nina Simone, #NFDB
197:Many difficulties which nature throws in our way, may be smoothed away by the exercise of intelligence. ~ Livy, #NFDB
198:Mechanical difficulties with language are the outcome of internal difficulties with thought. ~ Elizabeth Bowen, #NFDB
199:Relish the challenge of overcoming difficulties that would crush ordinary men...learn to suffer. ~ Mark Twight, #NFDB
200:Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties. ~ Helen Keller, #NFDB
201:Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
202:Somehow difficulties are easier to endure when you know your dream is waiting for you at the end. ~ Lisa Mangum, #NFDB
203:What good is in dexterity of playing with logic when your weak soul retreats from difficulties? ~ Conn Iggulden, #NFDB
204:IT, that goes for you too. Any difficulties, tell me, so I can stare at you, baffled and confused. ~ Jodi Taylor, #NFDB
205:Let your courage mount with difficulties. There would be no will if there were no resistance. ~ Nilakanta Sri Ram, #NFDB
206:One possibility for difficulties innovating is that most people really donÕt care about innovation. ~ Peter Senge, #NFDB
207:Perhaps all the difficulties of pregnancy, childbirth, and mothering in the early years wouldn’t ~ Laura Moriarty, #NFDB
208:The exchangeable value of all commodities rises as the difficulties of their production increase. ~ David Ricardo, #NFDB
209:But difficulties were made to be overcome and if the Supreme Will is there, they will be overcome. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
210:Love always brings difficulties, that is true, but the good side of it is that it gives energy. ~ Vincent Van Gogh, #NFDB
211:Snow and reflections were beautiful but transient effects and other difficulties were beyond me. ~ J E H MacDonald, #NFDB
212:The cheerful mind perseveres and the strong mind hews its way through a thousand difficulties. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
213:There are many difficulties inherent in a teleological view of creation,” said Parker placidly. ~ Dorothy L Sayers, #NFDB
214:To live only for the Divine: this means to have overcome all the difficulties of the individual life. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
215:We have no firm hold on any knowledge or philosophy that can lift us out of our difficulties. ~ Anne Sullivan Macy, #NFDB
216:Awakening does not mean a change in difficulty, it means a change in how those difficulties are met. ~ Mark Epstein, #NFDB
217:Half the spiritual difficulties that men and women suffer arise from a morbid state of health. ~ Henry Ward Beecher, #NFDB
218:It is by surmounting difficulties, not by sinking under them that we discover our fortitude. ~ Hannah Webster Foster, #NFDB
219:Rather than getting more spoilt with age, as difficulties pile up, epiphanies of gratitude abound. ~ Alain de Botton, #NFDB
220:For me, survival is the ability to cope with difficulties, with circumstances, and to overcome them. ~ Nelson Mandela, #NFDB
221:If all difficulties were known at the outset of a long journey, most of us would never start out at all. ~ Dan Rather, #NFDB
222:Overcoming the difficulties of an ultramarathon reminds me that I can overcome the difficulties of life ~ Scott Jurek, #NFDB
223:The exchange program is the thing that reconciles me to all the difficulties of political life. ~ J William Fulbright, #NFDB
224:We have to begin giving them the whole truth about premarital sex and the difficulties it can cause. ~ James C Dobson, #NFDB
225:Whatever the future held. Whatever difficulties they might face. They would face it together. Forever. ~ Jody Hedlund, #NFDB
226:Awakening does not mean an end to difficulties; it means a change in the way those difficulties are met ~ Mark Epstein, #NFDB
227:God can bring his people through the greatest difficulties, and force a way where he does not find it. ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
228:It feels good to have Edison hand me this burden, to wallow in someone else’s difficulties for a while. ~ Jodi Picoult, #NFDB
229:One of the difficulties of photography is that it is much better at being explicit than at being reticent. ~ Teju Cole, #NFDB
230:There are grave difficulties on every hand, and more are looming ahead. Therefore, we must go forward. ~ William Carey, #NFDB
231:@tvayi_kimviryam Difficulties come and difficulties go, but, she being with you, the victory is sure. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
232:Even by intellectually recognising the difficulties, we really do not know them until we feel them. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
233:Expect future obstacles and difficulties. Every venture presents risks, problems, and uncertainties. ~ David J Schwartz, #NFDB
234:One of the difficulties in living the lifestyle I lead is that it is hard to get my friends in one place. ~ Sean Parker, #NFDB
235:The virtue of a free man appears equally great in refusing to face difficulties as in overcoming them. ~ Baruch Spinoza, #NFDB
236:Whatever our desires, our difficulties, our wants, we are at liberty to spread all before Him ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
237:When obstacles or difficulties arise, the positive thinker takes them as creative opportunities. ~ Norman Vincent Peale, #NFDB
238:Action solves the difficulties which action creates. Inaction can only paralyse and slay.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin,#NFDB
239:In our marriage,' Zelma continued, ' we can let the difficulties drive us apart or drive us to our knees. ~ Jody Hedlund, #NFDB
240:It is one of man's curious idiosyncrasies to create difficulties for the pleasure of resolving them. ~ Joseph de Maistre, #NFDB
241:Adelaide had anticipated pains and difficulties in her married life, and her anticipations were fulfilled. ~ Iris Murdoch, #NFDB
242:A good laugh overcomes more difficulties and dissipates more dark clouds than any other one thing. ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder, #NFDB
243:At each moment of our life, in all circumstances the Grace is there helping us to surmount all difficulties. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
244:Faith is tested when we are confronted by difficulties. But that's also when our faith grows stronger. ~ Camilla L ckberg, #NFDB
245:Just as armor protects the soldier, spiritual knowledge protects us from the difficulties of life. ~ Mata Amritanandamayi, #NFDB
246:More than half the difficulties of the world would be allayed or removed by the exhibition of good temper. ~ Arthur Helps, #NFDB
247:The best way of meeting difficulties is a quiet and calm confidence in the Grace.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#NFDB
248:To each his own difficulties seem enormous and radical. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, The Call and the Capacity, #NFDB
249:What do you want most to do? That's what I have to keep asking myself, in the face of difficulties. ~ Katherine Mansfield, #NFDB
250:Americans wanted to settle all our difficulties with Russia and then go to the movies and drink Coke. ~ W Averell Harriman, #NFDB
251:Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict. ~ William Ellery Channing, #NFDB
252:Successfully navigating life's difficulties requires that we continually expand our understanding of love. ~ Jed Jurchenko, #NFDB
253:The manifestation will overcome all difficulties, for manifestation means the overcoming of all difficulties. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
254:A mistake one denies is a mistake one refuses to set right.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Difficulties, Mistakes,#NFDB
255:Some men storm imaginary Alps all their lives, and die in the foothills cursing difficulties which do not exist. ~ E W Howe, #NFDB
256:Thank Me for the difficulties in your life, since they provide protection from the idolatry of self-reliance. ~ Sarah Young, #NFDB
257:The difficulties come always to make us progress. The greater the difficulty, the greater can be the progress. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
258:When there were financial difficulties they still managed to provide us with music and art lessons. ~ Jerome Isaac Friedman, #NFDB
259:Difficulties are made to be overcome ~ Miss Felicity Lemon, Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Plymouth Express ~ Agatha Christie, #NFDB
260:Everyone has learning difficulties, because learning to speak French or understanding relativity is difficult. ~ Mark Haddon, #NFDB
261:Hamlet, I will argue, is a play about reading and misreading, about the difficulties of interpretation. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
262:I had to face a lot coming through this journey, a lot of sacrifices, difficulties, challenges, and injuries. ~ Gabby Douglas, #NFDB
263:In the midst of difficulties we are always ready to seize an advantage, we may extricate ourselves from misfortune. ~ Sun Tzu, #NFDB
264:I should have been glad to acquire some sort of idea of Hindu theology, ... but the difficulties were too great. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
265:The difficulties of living in a secular risk culture are compounded by the importance of lifestyle choices. ~ Anthony Giddens, #NFDB
266:You're always welcome, but maybe it would be better if you were with people in the same difficulties as you. ~ Sunjeev Sahota, #NFDB
267:One of the difficulties in understanding the brain is that it is like nothing so much as a lump of porridge. ~ Richard Gregory, #NFDB
268:praising effort encourages people to stretch themselves, work hard, and persist in the face of difficulties. ~ Richard Wiseman, #NFDB
269:The difficulties have taken much away. I get that. But there is one gift your trouble cannot touch: your destiny. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
270:The difficulties you cannot overcome today will be overcome tomorrow or later on.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I, [T5],#NFDB
271:We have a number of difficulties facing our nation, but I believe fatherlessness is right at the top of the list. ~ Tony Dungy, #NFDB
272:Your attitude towards problems, difficulties, and adversities is the most important factor in overcoming them. ~ Napoleon Hill, #NFDB
273:I cannot explain it; but when difficulties arise, I am not perplexed or doubtful. I know how to meet them. ~ Anne Sullivan Macy, #NFDB
274:We should not feel embarrassed by our difficulties, only by our failure to grow anything beautiful from them. ~ Alain de Botton, #NFDB
275:about anything in the past. If you focus on past difficulties, you are bringing more difficult circumstances now. ~ Rhonda Byrne, #NFDB
276:In the face of life’s difficulties, let us ask the Lord for the strength to remain joyful witnesses to our faith. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
277:Men seek rest in a struggle against difficulties; and when they have conquered these, rest becomes insufferable. ~ Blaise Pascal, #NFDB
278:our difficulties need not be condemned but often seen as a rite of passage that opens the doors to greatness. ~ Brendon Burchard, #NFDB
279:Religion is the natural reaction of the imagination when confronted by the difficulties in a truculent world. ~ George Santayana, #NFDB
280:Difficulties indeed sometimes arise; but common sense and honest intentions will generally steer through them. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
281:Having faith does not mean having no difficulties, but having the strength to face them, knowing we are not alone. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
282:If you are in difficulties with a book, try the element of surprise: attack it at an hour when it isn't expecting it. ~ H G Wells, #NFDB
283:Despite much talk in this land about religious freedom, churches and their schools now confront grave difficulties. ~ Russell Kirk, #NFDB
284:those who rely on the Divine will arrive in spite of all difficulties, stumbles or falls.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - IV,#NFDB
285:A new truth always has to conend with many difficulties. If it were not so, it would have been discovered much sooner. ~ Max Planck, #NFDB
286:Conversion is not my intention. Changing religion is not easy. You may develop some kind of confusion or difficulties. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
287:Even the most godly Christians can’t be sure what to ask for when we are enmeshed in difficulties and suffering. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
288:It is sometimes easier to circumvent prevailing difficulties [in science] rather than to attack them. ~ Jacobus Henricus van t Hoff, #NFDB
289:Respond to anger with virtue. Deal with difficulties while they are still easy. Handle the great while it is still small. ~ Lao Tzu, #NFDB
290:The mind is an inveterate divider of the indivisible. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Difficulties of the Mental Being, #NFDB
291:They have not any difficulties on the way up because they fly, but they have many when they reach the summit. ~ Niccolo Machiavelli, #NFDB
292:What do obstacles matter? We shall always go forward.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Face and Overcome Difficulties, [T5],#NFDB
293:When you have two people, separate beings, trying to share one life together. That's always going to have difficulties. ~ Megan Fox, #NFDB
294:I think a major cause of present Asian economic difficulties that mainly come from, you know, lack of market economy. ~ Kim Dae jung, #NFDB
295:Many difficulties which nature throws our way, may be smoothed away by the exercise of intelligence.” — TITUS LIVIUS ~ Steve Pavlina, #NFDB
296:Most of our difficulties come from losing contact with our instincts, with the age-old forgotten wisdom stored up in us. ~ Carl Jung, #NFDB
297:The physical consciousness is constitutionally ignorant. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Difficulties of the Physical Nature, #NFDB
298:Difficulties are God's errands; and when we are sent upon them, we should esteem it a proof of God's confidence. ~ Henry Ward Beecher, #NFDB
299:It occurred to me that I had never seen my mother defeated, even when life presented difficulties and disappointments. ~ Piper Kerman, #NFDB
300:The cure from all difficulties can come only when the egoistic concentration upon one's desires and conveniences ceases. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
301:I lay in the dark thinking about the difficulties of family, how crazy and crooked the stories of a bloodline can be. ~ Patrick deWitt, #NFDB
302:It is well, when in difficulties, to say never a word, neither black nor white. Speech is silver but silence is golden. ~ Muriel Spark, #NFDB
303:May I be given the appropriate difficulties so that my heart can truly open with compassion. Imagine asking for that. ~ Jack Kornfield, #NFDB
304:One of the problems has to do with the speed of light and the difficulties involved in trying to exceed it. You can't. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
305:A conscious fruit fly would have to confront exactly the same difficulties, the same kind of insoluble problems as man. ~ Emil M Cioran, #NFDB
306:I feel like the need to want to create and make something is stronger than the difficulties are going through. ~ Philip Seymour Hoffman, #NFDB
307:I'm a professional fighter and like most professional fighters I have had difficulties with my hands in the past. ~ Floyd Mayweather Jr, #NFDB
308:Look at your trials and see grace. Behind those difficulties is an ever-present Redeemer who is completing his work. ~ Paul David Tripp, #NFDB
309:One of the difficulties with all our institutions is the fact that we've emphasized the reward instead of the service. ~ Harry S Truman, #NFDB
310:The cure from all difficulties can come only when the egoistic concentration upon one's desires and conveniences ceases. ~ ~ The Mother, #NFDB
311:We were not unmindful of the difficulties involved. So we decided to go through a process of self-purification. ~ Martin Luther King Jr, #NFDB
312:When I was at the interview asked how I cope with life's difficulties, I said that saving sense of humor. I'm not lying. ~ Eva Longoria, #NFDB
313:When the world is filled with evil, all mishaps, all difficulties, should be transformed into the path of enlightenment. ~ Pema Ch dr n, #NFDB
314:causing him any difficulties.” “Not that I’m aware of,” said Matron. “If it is, it certainly doesn’t stop him hitting a ~ Jeffrey Archer, #NFDB
315:Dear Forgiveness, you know that recently
we have had our difficulties and there are many things
I want to ask you. ~ Richard Siken,#NFDB
316:For loneliness, worries, difficulties, the unsatisfied need for kindness and sympathy - that is what is hard to bear. ~ Vincent Van Gogh, #NFDB
317:Grandpapa used to say, about difficulties he had gone through, 'It did not kill me, it made me knowledgeable. ~ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, #NFDB
318:It is the cheerful mind that is persevering. It is the strong mind that hews its way through a thousand difficulties ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
319:The basic idea is to shove all fundamental difficulties onto the neutron and to do quantum mechanics in the nucleus. ~ Werner Heisenberg, #NFDB
320:These are difficulties which you must settle for yourself. Choose your own degree of crossness. I shall press you no more. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
321:Ive had my share of difficult moments, but whatever difficulties Ive gone through, Ive always gotten a prize at the end. ~ Audrey Hepburn, #NFDB
322:Maybe we all have the power to turn our lives into significant stories if we start to see our difficulties as opportunities. ~ Jeff Goins, #NFDB
323:To get rid of mortal body is not to get rid of mortal mind. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Difficulties of the Mental Being, #NFDB
324:Action solves the difficulties which action creates. Inaction can only paralyse and slay. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin, Facts and Opinions, #NFDB
325:All difficulties in this life, every moment of difficulty, come from the distance between what is and what we want to be. ~ Roland Merullo, #NFDB
326:Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put up a wall to keep our people in. ~ John F Kennedy, #NFDB
327:Nobody, who has not been in the interior of a family, can say what the difficulties of any individual of that family may be. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
328:Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt, as I understand the subject; difficulty and doubt are incommensurate. ~ John Henry Newman, #NFDB
329:the habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. ~ Doris Kearns Goodwin, #NFDB
330:The mistakes and unresolved difficulties of the past in mathematics have always been the opportunities of its future... ~ Eric Temple Bell, #NFDB
331:The style of life is a unity because it has grown out of the difficulties of early life and out of the striving for a goal. ~ Alfred Adler, #NFDB
332:We have to face difficulties to find out what our true strengths are. How we come back from a failure is a very valuable test. ~ Meg Cabot, #NFDB
333:Canadians know that our difficulties will not be resolved overnight. They are tired of politicians who pretend they will be. ~ Kim Campbell, #NFDB
334:No one is without their difficulties, whether in High, or low Life, & every person knows best where their own shoe pinches. ~ Abigail Adams, #NFDB
335:Single motherhood is a reality for a lot of women in my age group and the time difficulties in their lives are universal. ~ Nicholas Sparks, #NFDB
336:Difficulties are made to be overcome ~ Agatha Christie Miss Felicity Lemon, Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Plymouth Express ~ Agatha Christie, #NFDB
337:Hard long roads create tough men; dangerous hostile paths create powerful people! Great difficulties create giant guys! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan, #NFDB
338:I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. ~ Martin Luther King Jr, #NFDB
339:The difficulties and confusion I feel may just be part of real life. Serenity comes when I accept the mixture that real life is. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
340:We have to face difficulties to find out what our true strengths are. How we come back from failure is a very valuable test. ~ Wendy Higgins, #NFDB
341:I am struck by how sharing our weakness and difficulties is more nourishing to others than sharing our qualities and successes. ~ Jean Vanier, #NFDB
342:Love is based on our capacity to trust in a reality beyond fear, to trust a timeless truth bigger than all our difficulties. ~ Jack Kornfield, #NFDB
343:The difficulties of economics are mainly the difficulties of conceiving clearly and fully the conditions of utility. ~ William Stanley Jevons, #NFDB
344:It is always there for the person who will surrender his life to the Lord and keep on doing so when difficulties arise. ~ Norman Vincent Peale, #NFDB
345:Morality, when vigorously alive, sees farther than intellect, and provides unconsciously for intellectual difficulties. ~ James Anthony Froude, #NFDB
346:Our difficulties of the moment must always be dealt with somehow, but our permanent difficulties are difficulties of every moment. ~ T S Eliot, #NFDB
347:...Then I got divorced and everything changed, and I became a father in a whole new way and found a whole new set of difficulties. ~ Louis C K, #NFDB
348:When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time. ~ Saint Francis de Sales, #NFDB
349:Difficulties existed only to be surmounted, and there was no setback that a little thought and determination could not overcome. ~ Giles Milton, #NFDB
350:I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. ~ Martin Luther King Jr, #NFDB
351:I sometimes suspect that half our difficulties are imaginary and that if we kept quiet about them they would disappear. ~ Robert Staughton Lynd, #NFDB
352:The saint is hilarious when he is crushed with difficulties because the thing is so ludicrously impossible to anyone but God. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
353:Think Thousand times before taking a decision But - After taking decison never turn back even if you get Thousand difficulties!! ~ Adolf Hitler, #NFDB
354:Anyone who sees only the bright side but not the difficulties cannot fight effectively for the accomplishment of the Party's tasks. ~ Mao Zedong, #NFDB
355:Courage promotes leaders; fear demotes them. Most people who have difficulties climbing up success ladders are fans of fear. ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
356:If you concern yourself mainly with others, the broader your thinking becomes, and life’s inevitable difficulties disturb you less. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
357:Robert—who knew quite well that he had the empathic sensitivity of a whelk—did not expect to have any such difficulties himself. ~ Marie Brennan, #NFDB
358:Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt, as I understand the subject; difficulty and doubt are incommensurate. ~ Saint John Henry Newman, #NFDB
359:The person who sees the difficulties so clearly that he does not discern the possibilities cannot inspire a vision in others. ~ J Oswald Sanders, #NFDB
360:A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties. ~ Harry Truman, #NFDB
361:He picked quarrels with his contemporaries, broke off personal relationships, and generally made difficulties out of everything. ~ Sarah Bakewell, #NFDB
362:The roof leaked and the toilet flushed with the kind of diminished enthusiasm that often precedes serious septic difficulties. She ~ David Rhodes, #NFDB
363:What separates people is not the presence or absence of difficulty, but how they deal with the inevitable difficulties of life. ~ James C Collins, #NFDB
364:All of the Eastern contemplative traditions stumbled onto this brilliant principle: When difficulties arise, give yourself to them. ~ Stephen Cope, #NFDB
365:Do not judge a day as devoid of Joy just because it contains difficulties. Instead, concentrate on staying in communication with Me. ~ Sarah Young, #NFDB
366:I do recognise that, where recruitment difficulties persist, teachers can be put under great pressure. ~ Estelle Morris Baroness Morris of Yardley, #NFDB
367:It is only when you try to refine the obvious, and give the distinctions greater precision, that you get into difficulties. For ~ Mortimer J Adler, #NFDB
368:I've been through a lot and I realise the future can't be controlled. I'm not worried. You can always learn to overcome difficulties. ~ Niki Lauda, #NFDB
369:A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties. ~ Harry S Truman, #NFDB
370:If you are seeking to obey the Lord, expect opposition. Expect obstacles. Expect difficulties. But also expect God to see you through ~ Greg Laurie, #NFDB
371:It is raining bombs on the house of the Lord. I go in fear and trembling lest one of these terrible bombers gets into difficulties. ~ Denis Diderot, #NFDB
372:Let go of difficulties from your past, cultural codes, and social beliefs. You are the only one who can create the life you deserve. ~ Rhonda Byrne, #NFDB
373:Sometimes coping with the difficulties success brings is much more difficult than coping with the difficulties failure brings! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan, #NFDB
374:Unwilling am I, in the evening of a life nearly consumed in public cares, to quit a peaceful abode for an Ocean of difficulties ~ George Washington, #NFDB
375:If, on the other hand, in the midst of difficulties we are always ready to seize an advantage, we may extricate ourselves from misfortune. ~ Sun Tzu, #NFDB
376:If we continue to approach problems from the perspective of temporary expediency, future generations will face tremendous difficulties. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
377:People are eternally trying to walk out of difficulties, instead of trying to work out of them. ~ Manly P Hall, Magic: A Treatise on Esoteric Ethics, #NFDB
378:When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure. ~ Peter Marshall, #NFDB
379:Lovely female shapes are terrible complicators of the difficulties and dangers of this earthly life, especially for their owners. ~ George du Maurier, #NFDB
380:Most people, aware of the number of difficulties already present in a thief's life, were kind enough to use the same few hiding places. ~ Brent Weeks, #NFDB
381:Reason and intellectuality cannot make you see the Divine, it is the soul that sees. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Difficulties of Yoga, #NFDB
382:Every great leader of the past, whose record I have examined, was beset by difficulties and met with temporary defeat before 'arriving ~ Napoleon Hill, #NFDB
383:How many attempts, now happy, now unhappy!... He who has not felt the difficulties of his art does nothing that counts. ~ Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin, #NFDB
384:Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties. ~ Helen Keller, #NFDB
385:A work of fiction should be, for its author, a journey into the unknown, and the prose should convey the difficulties of the journey. ~ Anthony Burgess, #NFDB
386:She talks about how she can't exercise because of the ailments-a bad back, sore knees, breathing difficulties-all caused by her weight gain. ~ A S King, #NFDB
387:Stress is caused by our resistance to what already is. Even our difficulties we need to accept. My greatest wish is to do God's will. ~ Dorothy Maclean, #NFDB
388:the difficulties of making temperature experiments [on fully grown alligators] would be great and can be best left to the imagination.”) ~ Brian Switek, #NFDB
389:You're trying to escape from your difficulties, and there never is any escape from difficulties, never. They have to be faced and fought. ~ Enid Blyton, #NFDB
390:Faith enables many of us to endure life's difficulties with an equanimity that would be scarcely conceivable in a world lit only by reason. ~ Sam Harris, #NFDB
391:I wanted to make an album that melodically people can connect to; something that reflects our times and the kinds of difficulties we face. ~ Emeli Sande, #NFDB
392:We judge everything as good or evil and forget that resistance, pain and difficulties are there so we can learn when we leave balance. ~ Dorothy Maclean, #NFDB
393:difficulties only become problems when we separate ourselves from them instead of dealing with them directly and wholeheartedly. ~ John Daishin Buksbazen, #NFDB
394:Do not build up obstacles in your imagination. Difficulties must be studied and dealt with, but they must not be magnfiied by fear ~ Norman Vincent Peale, #NFDB
395:Economists can never be free of from difficulties unless they will distinguish between a theory and the application of a theory. ~ William Stanley Jevons, #NFDB
396:I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the situation. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle, #NFDB
397:Instead of recovering, it seems that addicts keep growing, as does anyone who overcomes their difficulties through deliberation and insight. ~ Marc Lewis, #NFDB
398:There were countless injustices and difficulties in this world, but small points of light too, where the darkness was held back. ~ Alexander McCall Smith, #NFDB
399:To write a novel may be pure pleasure. To live a novel presents certain difficulties. As for reading a novel, I do my best to get out of it. ~ Karl Kraus, #NFDB
400:Try to be spontaneous and simple like a child in your relations with me - it will save you from many difficulties.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I,#NFDB
401:You must learn to be calm and quiet even in the midst of difficulties. This is the way to overcome all obstacles.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#NFDB
402:Has it not occurred to you that, conversely, other people do not have your difficulties because they do not react as you do to what happens? ~ Idries Shah, #NFDB
403:He who regards many things easy will find many difficulties. Therefore the sage regards things difficult, and consequently never has difficulties. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
404:I enjoy photographing. It's always interesting, so I can't say one thing is more fun than another. Everything has it's own difficulties. ~ Garry Winogrand, #NFDB
405:I lived in Complexo do Alemao until I was 12, dealt with domestic violence in my childhood and faced difficulties in life. ~ Maria das Gracas Silva Foster, #NFDB
406:Instead of looking at difficulties as deprivations, we can learn to recognize them as opportunities for deepening and widening our love. ~ Eknath Easwaran, #NFDB
407:Presumption should never make us neglect that which appears easy to us, nor despair make us lose courage at the sight of difficulties. ~ Benjamin Banneker, #NFDB
408:She was a source of love and comfort and friendship and companionship and like-mindedness without any of the difficulties of a girlfriend ~ Anthony Kiedis, #NFDB
409:We must know how to depend for everything and in everything on the Divine. He alone can surmount all difficulties.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#NFDB
410:I hate to complain...No one is without difficulties, whether in high or low life, and every person knows best where their own shoe pinches. ~ Abigail Adams, #NFDB
411:[S]ometimes the fog that hides the future protects us from fretting over difficulties to come--difficulties that we're not ready to face. ~ Patsy Clairmont, #NFDB
412:The difficulties which come to birth in the disciple, are ignorance, egoism, desire, aversion and a tenacious will to existence upon the earth. ~ Patanjali, #NFDB
413:The mind does not record things as they are, but as they appear to it. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Mental Difficulties and the Need of Quietude, #NFDB
414:As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed. ~ Vincent Van Gogh, #NFDB
415:Every work has got to pass through hundreds of difficulties before succeeding. Those that persevere will see the light, sooner or later. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
416:Life is difficult more often that it is not. To live means to face difficulties. It’s what you learn from those difficulties that matters. ~ Sigmund Brouwer, #NFDB
417:Part of growing up spiritually is learning to be grateful for all things, even our difficulties, disappointments, failures and humiliations. ~ Mike Aquilina, #NFDB
418:The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path. ~ Jim Rohn, #NFDB
419:Therefore keep in the midst of life. Do not isolate yourself. Be among men and things, and among troubles, and difficulties, and obstacles. ~ Henry Drummond, #NFDB
420:All the difficulties surrounding the making of Mars et Avril actually fueled its creativity and contributed to its international success! ~ Martin Villeneuve, #NFDB
421:What we do in the crisis always depends on whether we see the difficulties in the light of God, or God in the shadow of the difficulties. ~ G Campbell Morgan, #NFDB
422:One of the great difficulties about being a member of a minority race is that so many kindhearted, well-meaning bores gather around to help. ~ Langston Hughes, #NFDB
423:This may sound a cynical thing to say, but don’t you think men sometimes leave difficulties to be solved by other people or to solve themselves? ~ Barbara Pym, #NFDB
424:Although my spelling is still sometimes poor, I have managed to overcome the worst of my difficulties through training myself to concentrate. ~ Richard Branson, #NFDB
425:Seeing so much poverty everywhere makes me think that God is not rich. He gives the appearance of it, but I suspect some financial difficulties. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
426:sees the Sights, under Perplexing Difficulties. The native borned Gothamite mite have notissed, a short time since, a venerable lookin' ex-Statesman, ~ Various, #NFDB
427:the difficulties, AND at the same time have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. ~ James C Collins, #NFDB
428:The difficulties which I meet with in order to realize my existence are precisely what awaken and mobilize my activities, my capacities. ~ Jose Ortega y Gasset, #NFDB
429:A man of sense is never discouraged by difficulties; he redoubles his industry and his diligence, he perseveres and infallibly prevails at last. ~ William James, #NFDB
430:Be grateful for all ordeals, they are the shortest way to the Divine.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Difficulties, Face and Overcome Difficulties[225],#NFDB
431:I had considered myself some kind of genius and had considerably underestimated the toils and difficulties encountered along the path to an art. ~ Hermann Hesse, #NFDB
432:I have learned a great truth of life. We do not succeed in spite of our challenges and difficulties, but rather, precisely because of them. ~ Richard Paul Evans, #NFDB
433:The cure from all difficulties can come only when the egoistic concentration upon one's desires and conveniences ceases.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#NFDB
434:We have infinite trouble in solving man-made mysteries; it is only when we set out to discover "the secret of God" that our difficulties disappear. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
435:But by fighting the difficulties in which one finds oneself, an inner strength develops from within our heart, which improves in life's fight. ~ Vincent Van Gogh, #NFDB
436:Poverty is no crime; always remember that. After all, why should we despair? Our present difficulties will pass away, and God will right us. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, #NFDB
437:God has chosen to let you live in this fallen world because he plans to employ the difficulties of it to continue and complete his work in you. ~ Paul David Tripp, #NFDB
438:I'm more relaxed. I know I have difficulties with some verbs. But if they get me, they get me. And if they don't understand me, they don't understand me. ~ Thalia, #NFDB
439:It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. ~ Dale Carnegie, #NFDB
440:Numerous studies confirm that low blood glucose levels lead to impaired attention as well as to difficulties regulating emotions and behavior. ~ Olivia Fox Cabane, #NFDB
441:The uplift of a fearless heart will help us over barriers. No one ever overcomes difficulties by going at them in a hesitant, doubtful way. ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder, #NFDB
442:We need to not only recognize the suffering, pain, and difficulties within us, we need to devote time to dealing with them and transforming them ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
443:You have your own difficulties. We watch, with friendly confidence in your capacity to merge differences in the grand dream of Canadian design. ~ Lyndon B Johnson, #NFDB
444:And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. ~ Martin Luther King Jr, #NFDB
445:Even the saint and the sage continue to have difficulties and to be limited by their human nature. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Difficulties of Yoga, #NFDB
446:Failure here is usually associated with underestimating the difficulties in producing change and thus the importance of a strong guiding coalition. ~ John P Kotter, #NFDB
447:Good should be done regardless of the difficulties of the time and regardless of the level of power or importance that one possesses. (Dr. Boro Lazic) ~ Sheri Fink, #NFDB
448:I have learned a great truth of life. We do not succeed in spite of our challenges and
difficulties, but rather, precisely because of them. ~ Richard Paul Evans,#NFDB
449:One of the difficulties of being a writer must be that you create drama that you can't live out. That's one of the wonderful things about acting. ~ Anjelica Huston, #NFDB
450:The psychic change is indeed the indispensable preliminary of any approach to the supramental path ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Difficulties of Yoga, #NFDB
451:This uneven rate of evolution of different properties of an organism is called mosaic evolution , and it may create difficulties for classification. ~ Ernst W Mayr, #NFDB
452:Those physical difficulties which you cannot account for, be very slow to arraign; for he that would be wiser than Nature would be wiser than God. ~ Jeremy Bentham, #NFDB
453:Unused to the situations in which I find myself, and embarassed by the slightest difficulties, I seldom discover, till too late, how I ought to act. ~ Fanny Burney, #NFDB
454:He who nurtures benevolence for all creatures within his heart overcomes all difficulties and will be the recipient of all types of riches at every step. ~ Chanakya, #NFDB
455:If you have any talent, or any occupation that delights you, do it, and do it to the hilt. Don't ask why, or what difficulties you may get into. ~ Richard P Feynman, #NFDB
456:I have been tortured with longing to believe ... and the yearning grows stronger the more cogent the intellectual difficulties stand in the way. ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky, #NFDB
457:In grave difficulties, and with little hope, the boldest measures are the safest. Livy Never make a defense or apology before you be accused. ~ Charles I of England, #NFDB
458:When all combine in every way to make everything easier, people will want difficulty. I conceived it as my task to make difficulties everywhere. ~ Soren Kierkegaard, #NFDB
459:You need never be discouraged or afraid. The way through difficulties has always been prepared for you, and you will find it if you exercise faith. ~ Henry B Eyring, #NFDB
460:At each moment of our life, in all circumstance the Grace is there helping us to surmount all difficulties. With my blessings
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#NFDB
461:In the midst of his great difficulties, Job’s source of delight was seeing God in the next life. He knew that “in the end” heaven is a wonderful place. ~ O S Hawkins, #NFDB
462:It is a pity that people should let themselves be defeated by the problems, cares, and difficulties of human existence, and it is also quite unnecessary. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
463:One who makes a habit of prayer will easily overcome all difficulties and remain calm and unruffled in the midst of the trials of life. ~ Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, #NFDB
464:There is no excuse for this administration shielding information about Iraq and the fact that we have great difficulties there from the American people. ~ Jay Inslee, #NFDB
465:There may be some difficulties during a period of adjustment. Specifically, picking up their life again and making their own truly independent decisions. ~ Rick Ross, #NFDB
466:Ah, no, deployment was delayed after you left. Technical difficulties.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, it was technically difficult to leave a heartbroken Alpha. ~ Gail Carriger,#NFDB
467:Every discovery in science and art, is due to the trained power of seeing things ... Keep your eyes open, your ears open ... Trace difficulties. ~ Orison Swett Marden, #NFDB
468:I decided blacks should not have to experience the difficulties I had faced, so I decided to open a flying school and teach other black women to fly. ~ Bessie Coleman, #NFDB
469:If your attitudes are good, then your world will be better. Difficulties are more likely to recede and diminish with a favorable and hopeful attitude. ~ Bryant McGill, #NFDB
470:Our limited perspective, our hopes and fears become our measure of life, and when circumstances don't fit our ideas, they become our difficulties. ~ Benjamin Franklin, #NFDB
471:Providence leaves the work of conviction and chastisement to us mortals—and the process is often fraught with difficulties. There are no short cuts. ~ Agatha Christie, #NFDB
472:Any difficulties which the world faces today will be as nothing compared to the full effects which global warming will have on the world-wide economy. ~ Prince Charles, #NFDB
473:Anything that is theoretically possible will be achieved in practice, no matter what the technical difficulties are, if it is desired greatly enough. ~ Arthur C Clarke, #NFDB
474:Be patient. God is using today's difficulties to strengthen you for tomorrow. He is equipping you. The God who makes things grow will help you bear fruit. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
475:Expecting difficulties is wise, if that usually gives you the strength to continue, and foolish, if that usually takes away the courage to begin. ~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana, #NFDB
476:Mindful consumption is the way out of our difficulties, not just our personal difficulties, but also the way out of war, poverty, and climate crisis. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
477:One who makes a habit of prayer will easily overcome all difficulties and remain calm and unruffled in the midst of the trials of life. — ~ Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, #NFDB
478:One, who makes a habit of prayer, will easily overcome all difficulties and remain calm and unruffled in the midst of the trials of life. ~ Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, #NFDB
479:The meanest man in the world,” he remarked, “is the man who forgets the old friends that helped him on an early day and over early difficulties. ~ Doris Kearns Goodwin, #NFDB
480:What separates people, Stockdale taught me, is not the presence or absence of difficulty, but how they deal with the inevitable difficulties of life. ~ James C Collins, #NFDB
481:: Alas, poor man, is the celestial glory of so little esteem with him that he counteth it not worth running the hazard of a few difficulties to obtain it? ~ John Bunyan, #NFDB
482:Any one whose disposition leads him to attach more weight to unexplained difficulties than to the explanation of facts will certainly reject my theory. ~ Charles Darwin, #NFDB
483:Everyone needs a spiritual dimension in life. Without a spiritual dimension, it’s very challenging to be with the daily difficulties we all encounter. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
484:Forget your difficulties. Forget yourself... And the Lord will take care of your progress. With love and blessings. 5 March 1968
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#NFDB
485:I even felt a touch of sympathy for the difficulties he had faced in his life, however stupid and repulsive the shape of that life might appear to me. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
486:It’s good to have obstacles and difficulties, and to fail and have things not go the way you want. And then have to figure out how to keep moving forward. ~ Maya Forbes, #NFDB
487:Psalm 27 tells that even in the middle of difficulties that we do not understand nor seem able to escape, we have reason to take heart and have hope. ~ Paul David Tripp, #NFDB
488:Tests come sometimes from the hostile forces, sometimes in the course of Nature. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Hostile Forces and the Difficulties of Yoga, #NFDB
489:The granular discrete structure of space resolves the difficulties of the quantum theory of fields, eliminating the infinities by which it is afflicted. ~ Carlo Rovelli, #NFDB
490:When we face with a steady eye the difficulties which lie before us, we may derive new confidence from remembering those we have already overcome. ~ Winston S Churchill, #NFDB
491:Assurance and intrepidity, under the white banner of seeming modesty, clear the way for merit, that would otherwise be discouraged by difficulties... ~ Lord Chesterfield, #NFDB
492:Such difficulties are root and product of both physical and mental workings; they produce their fruits alike in the visible and invisible. ~ Patanjali : Aphroisms.II. 12, #NFDB
493:The Government of India had imprisoned Mr. Gandhi and they had been sitting outside his cell door begging him to help them out of their difficulties. ~ Winston Churchill, #NFDB
494:Bring on whatever difficulties you like, Zeus; I have resources and a constitution that you gave me by means of which I can do myself credit whatever happens. ~ Epictetus, #NFDB
495:However, this point is crucial: The growth mindset does allow people to love what they're doing -- and to continue to love it in the face of difficulties. ~ Carol S Dweck, #NFDB
496:If anyone saw Monique, a well-dressed woman of quality, dangling from the doorway, they apparently assumed everyone had difficulties in life and moved on. ~ Gail Carriger, #NFDB
497:Made a sketch later on the cabin verandah, but it was impossible to keep up with the changes. Oh the difficulties of mountain art for too little genius. ~ J E H MacDonald, #NFDB
498:Missionaries never give up on their dream of peace, even when they experience difficulties and persecution, which makes their presence strongly felt today. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
499:The difficulties of conducting espionage against the Soviet Union in the Soviet Union were such that historically the Agency had backed away from the task. ~ Aldrich Ames, #NFDB
500:The master said, 'Quietly to store up knowledge in my mind, to learn without flagging, to teach without growing weary, these present me with no difficulties.' ~ Confucius, #NFDB
501:The more powerful the obstacle, the more glory we have in overcoming it; and the difficulties with which we are met are the maids of honor which set off virtue. ~ Moliere, #NFDB
502:Aging is fraught with difficulties, most particularly for women who have been socialized to think of youth as beauty and the female role as reproduction. ~ Margaret M Lock, #NFDB
503:He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure. His every, thought is allied with power, and all difficulties are bravely met and wisely overcome. ~ James Allen, #NFDB
504:It is by the process of repeated impressions that consciousness was made to manifest in matter. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Difficulties of the Physical Nature, #NFDB
505:The solution of the difficulties which formerly surrounded the mathematical infinite is probably the greatest achievement of which our age has to boast. ~ Bertrand Russell, #NFDB
506:The test of a successful person is not an ability to eliminate all problems before they arise, but to meet and work out difficulties when they do arise. ~ David J Schwartz, #NFDB
507:We must hold as an irrefutable maxim that the difficulties we have with our neighbor arise more from our immortified moods than from anything else. ~ Saint Vincent de Paul, #NFDB
508:If the Lord wills for you a hardship, do not protest. Take it as a blessing and indeed it will become so.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Difficulties of Surrender,#NFDB
509:I'm quite sure primitive people have no difficulties surviving in a place like this, and think of all the things we have that our rude forefathers lacked. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
510:in absolute reliance on the Mother, fearing nothing, sorrowing over nothing ... a glad equanimity even in the face of difficulties... ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - IV, #NFDB
511:It is good to be attracted out of ourselves, to be forced to take a near view of the sufferings, the privations, the efforts, the difficulties of others. ~ Charlotte Bronte, #NFDB
512:Since the knowledge is available, why try to struggle along without it? The difficulties of not knowing are always much greater than the effort of learning. ~ Andrew Loomis, #NFDB
513:Those who believe the Author of Nature to be also the Author of Scripture must expect to find in Scripture the same sorts of difficulties that they find in Nature. ~ Origen, #NFDB
514:A couple's first task, it has always seemed to me, is to solve the problem of breakfast; if this can be worked out amicably, most other difficulties can too. ~ Julian Barnes, #NFDB
515:Grandpapa used to say, about difficulties he had gone through, ‘It did not kill me, it made me knowledgeable.’O gburo m egbu, o mee ka m malu ife. ~ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, #NFDB
516:In war, the general alone can judge of certain arrangements. It depends on him alone to conquer difficulties by his own superior talents and resolution. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte, #NFDB
517:that the explosive vibratory power in speech could be wisely directed to free one’s life from difficulties and thus operate without scar or rebuke.12 ~ Paramahansa Yogananda, #NFDB
518:The mind is really a reflector and a medium and none of its activities originate in themselves, ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Difficulties of the Mental Being, #NFDB
519:You have to have a darkness...for the dawn to come. You have to have experienced difficulties and challenges to fully appreciate and be grateful for success. ~ Harrison Ford, #NFDB
520:At six months, 36 percent of patients reported new-onset fatigue, 20 percent reported widespread pain, and 45 percent reported neurocognitive difficulties. ~ Pamela Weintraub, #NFDB
521:Difficulties in your life do not come to destroy you, but to help you realise your hidden potential and power, let difficulties know that you too are difficult. ~ Abdul Kalam, #NFDB
522:I would rather have young people settle on a small income at once, and have to struggle with a few difficulties together, than be involved in a long engagement. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
523:What have you come to Earth for?' 'I'm having difficulties with a flower,' the little prince said. 'Ah!' said the snake. And they were both silent. ~ Antoine de Saint Exupery, #NFDB
524:Nationalization of the economy will not constitute a solution to society’s difficulties; it will merely be a reflexive means of averting immediate meltdown. ~ Richard Heinberg, #NFDB
525:The difficulties of the character persist so long as one yields to them in action when they rise. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Steps towards Overcoming Difficulties, #NFDB
526:Too much is made for us; too much is given to us - even those of us who are underprivileged. The poverty is given to us. The difficulties are given to us. ~ John Edgar Wideman, #NFDB
527:God knows our situation; He will not judge us as if we had no difficulties to overcome. What matters is the sincerity and perseverance of our will to overcome them. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
528:Love and kindness are the very basis of society. If we lose these feelings, society will face tremendous difficulties; the survival of humanity will be endangered. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
529:Reincarnation contains a most comforting explanation of reality by means of which Indian thought surmounts difficulties which baffle the thinkers of Europe. ~ Albert Schweitzer, #NFDB
530:So if North Korea continues present isolation, then with such economic difficulties the North Korean government must meet a very serious situation in the future. ~ Kim Dae jung, #NFDB
531:The male's difficulties in his sexual relations after marriage include a lack of facility, of ease, or of suavity in establishing rapport in a sexual situation. ~ Alfred Kinsey, #NFDB
532:When we leave Mass, we ought to go out the way Moses descended Mt Sinai: with his face shining, with his heart brave and strong to face the world's difficulties. ~ Oscar Romero, #NFDB
533:Allow God to use the difficulties and disappointments in life as polish to transform your faith into a glistening diamond that takes in and reflects His love. ~ Elizabeth George, #NFDB
534:And there is the point exactly, we are all the time blaming difficulties on to something else. Our real trouble is that we are too soft to solve the problem. ~ Charles Kettering, #NFDB
535:But difficulties arise when you acquire states in a land with differing languages, customs, and laws. To keep these states, you need good fortune and much diligence. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
536:Think your way through difficulties: harsh conditions can be softened, restricted ones can be widened, and heavy ones can weigh less on those who know how to bear them. ~ Seneca, #NFDB
537:What has sustained me even in the most grim moments is the knowledge that I am a member of a tried and tested family which has triumphed over many difficulties. ~ Nelson Mandela, #NFDB
538:years. What separates people, Stockdale taught me, is not the presence or absence of difficulty, but how they deal with the inevitable difficulties of life. In ~ James C Collins, #NFDB
539:A little credulity helps one on through life very smoothly — better than always doubting and doubting and seeing difficulties and disagreeables in everything. ~ Elizabeth Gaskell, #NFDB
540:Being a Buddhist monk means never losing one's optimism in spite of all difficulties. It also means being harder on yourself than any of your teachers ever were. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
541:I'm full of fears and I do my best to avoid difficulties and any kind of complications. I like everything around me to be clear as crystal and completely calm. ~ Alfred Hitchcock, #NFDB
542:I’m full of fears and I do my best to avoid difficulties and any kind of complications. I like everything around me to be clear as crystal and completely calm. ~ Alfred Hitchcock, #NFDB
543:James Heywood is an entrepreneur who has a different approach to deal with difficulties linking medical data. He created a website, PatientsLikeMe.com, ~ Seth Stephens Davidowitz, #NFDB
544:Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
545:So far as my experience goes, travelers generally exaggerate the difficulties of the way. Like most evil, the difficulty is imaginary; for what's the hurry? ~ Henry David Thoreau, #NFDB
546:The intellectual life may be kept clean and healthful, if man will live the life of nature, and not import into his mind difficulties which are none of his. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
547:Thus, by an inevitable necessity, as a magnet attracts steel-fillings, so did our man of business draw to himself the difficulties which everybody met with. ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne, #NFDB
548:At our college we were taught a universal approach to find out about a person: what problems the person has, what difficulties, what personal tendencies and likings. ~ Markus Wolf, #NFDB
549:Happiness is peace after strife, the overcoming of difficulties, the feeling of security and well-being. The only really happy folk are married women and single men. ~ H L Mencken, #NFDB
550:It is no use excusing yourself; you must have the will never to fall back into the faults you have committed.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Difficulties, Mistakes, [T5],#NFDB
551:I was grateful for the opportunity to make a difference. The political violence really started in 1970-1971. The political difficulties start a little bit beyond that. ~ John Hume, #NFDB
552:The awareness of a spiritual tradition that reaches through the centuries gives one a certain feeling of security in the face of all transitory difficulties. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
553:Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.’ No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster. ~ Matthew Quick, #NFDB
554:Walt Whitman, who worked as a nurse in the hospital wards, that the harrowing experience made one’s “little cares and difficulties” disappear “into nothing. ~ Doris Kearns Goodwin, #NFDB
555:When you are following dharma, you will be happy, at peace, still inside. There will be a sense of purpose to your life. Difficulties will not seem unconquerable. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
556:Our difficulties in understanding or effectuating
communication with other animals may arise from our reluctance to grasp unfamiliar ways of dealing with the world. ~ Carl Sagan,#NFDB
557:So South Korean ability is very much limited to handle North Korean, you know, difficulties. So we don't want to see an immediate collapse of the North Korea regime. ~ Kim Dae jung, #NFDB
558:Leaving things behind and starting again is a way of coping with difficulties. I learnt very early in my life that I was able to leave a place and still remain myself. ~ Rachel Cusk, #NFDB
559:The person who can freely acknowledge that life is full of difficulties can be free, because they are acknowledging the nature of life - that it can't be much else. ~ Shunryu Suzuki, #NFDB
560:There was a girl, once upon a time and in your time. She embraced her life up to a point, then rejected it, and from that rejection have come all her difficulties. ~ Margo Jefferson, #NFDB
561:This is one of the benefits, as well as one of the difficulties of directing a member of your family. You know where the buttons are. You can push them if you want. ~ Emilio Estevez, #NFDB
562:It would be an existence rife with difficulties... but of a pleasurable kind, difficulties they could take pride in, possess, value, as one would a family heirloom. ~ Khaled Hosseini, #NFDB
563:to avoid the difficulties of teleological language, adaptation must be described as an equilibrium between the action of the organism on the environment and vice versa. ~ Jean Piaget, #NFDB
564:At the beginning of a meditation session your thoughts will be relatively earthbound. You will think about yourself, your world, problems, difficulties and anxieties. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
565:Difficulties come when you don't pay attention to life's whisper. Life always whispers to you first, but if you ignore the whisper, sooner or later you'll get a scream ~ Oprah Winfrey, #NFDB
566:I think everybody had difficulties with that dynamic, turning the family into a band and being constantly together. So everybody, as individuals. had things to sort out. ~ Andrea Corr, #NFDB
567:Nothing whatsoever but the love of Jesus could have made me face these difficulties and others which followed, for I had to purchase my happiness by heavy trials. ~ Saint Therese of Lisieux, #NFDB
568:What have you come to Earth for?'
'I'm having difficulties with a flower,' the little prince said.
'Ah!' said the snake.
And they were both silent. ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,#NFDB
569:When your target is too far away from you, you can make the distance shorter by ignoring the distance! When you ignore the difficulties, you obtain a great power! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan, #NFDB
570:You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. Please remember that your difficulties do not define you. They simply strengthen your ability to overcome. ~ Maya Angelou, #NFDB
571:A certain moderation is needed even in the eagerness for progress—moderation, not indifference or indolence. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Difficulties of the Physical Nature, #NFDB
572:Despite the difficulties of my story, despite discomforts, doubts, despairs, despite impulses to be done with it, I unceasingly affirm love, within myself, as a value. ~ Roland Barthes, #NFDB
573:What sort of difficulties would happen when people of different cultures try to come together to worship? Tiny little things such as let's tell jokes with each other. ~ Michael Emerson, #NFDB
574:10Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with cinsults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
575:Don’t run away from things that are unpleasant in order to embrace things that are pleasant. Put your hands in the earth. Face the difficulties and grow new happiness. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
576:[Statistics are] the only tools by which an opening can be cut through the formidable thicket of difficulties that bars the path of those who pursue the Science of Man. ~ Francis Galton, #NFDB
577:The essence of a vow does not consist in the difficulty of its performance but in the determination behind it unflinchingly to stick to it in the teeth of difficulties. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
578:There was a time that crepuscular was mild,
The hour for tea, acquaintances, and fall
Away of day's difficulties, all
Discouragement. Weep, you are not a child. ~ John Berryman,#NFDB
579:The story of Pakistan, its struggle and its achievement, is the very story of great human ideals, struggling to survive in the face of great odds and difficulties. ~ Muhammad Ali Jinnah, #NFDB
580:We tend to blame the physical media for most of our implementation difficulties; for the media are not "ours" in the way the ideas are, and our pride colors our judgement. ~ Fred Brooks, #NFDB
581:when the thrill of his body fades or changes, and the difficulties of pledging yourself to only one person surface, kindness will be the balm that soothes the wounds of life. ~ P C Cast, #NFDB
582:And financial problems are exactly the same thing. You're humiliated. You're ashamed. You're embarrassed about telling anyone that you are suffering financial difficulties. ~ Neal Gabler, #NFDB
583:At the present time there exist problems beyond our ability to solve, not because of theoretical difficulties, but because of insufficient means of mechanical computation. ~ Howard Aiken, #NFDB
584:Before turning to those moral and mental aspects of the matter which present the greatest difficulties, let the inquirer begin by mastering more elementary problems. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle, #NFDB
585:Disquietude and depression create an unhelpful atmosphere for one who is ill or in difficulties. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Interactions with Others and the Practice of Yoga, #NFDB
586:Difficulties arise whenever a committed relationship is succeeding. Love makes you vulnerable. . . . Your defenses relax and the dark side of your personality arises. . . ~ Thomas Keating, #NFDB
587:If there are any difficulties in the faith of Christ, they are not one-tenth as great as the absurdities in any system of unbelief which seeks to take its place! ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
588:If we can write or sing or create in some way, even when we are dealing with difficulties or pain, then it becomes something bigger than ourselves — and often beautiful. ~ Brenda Peterson, #NFDB
589:Opportunities may surface clearly, but it takes a positive mind to see them. Positive people think and think possibilities even in difficulties and failing situations. ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
590:Science is triumphant with far-ranging success, but its triumph is somehow clouded by growing difficulties in providing for the simple necessities of human life on earth. ~ Barry Commoner, #NFDB
591:"Adjust to changing times but sticking to unchanging principles" - committing me and all Americans to real ideals of justice and truth, no matter what difficulties faced us. ~ Jimmy Carter, #NFDB
592:One doesn't stay in a state of nirvana by hiding from difficulties. You stay in nirvana by lavishing nirvana on everyone you meet, by giving it away as fast as you receive it. ~ Adyashanti, #NFDB
593:One of the difficulties about interviewing people in Rwanda is that the country is trying to get on with ordinary life and some people just don't want to get involved in this. ~ Tony Greig, #NFDB
594:Psychiatric services - that is, the attempt to help a person overcome his emotional difficulties in living - are priceless if successful or worthless if they fail. ~ Frieda Fromm Reichmann, #NFDB
595:You did express a disinterest in involving *nice* people in our current difficulties,” Pal reminded me.
True enough, I thought back. Hallelujah, it’s raining jerks. ~ Lucy A Snyder,#NFDB
596:A great progress should only spur one on to a greater progress beside which the first will appear as nothing, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Right Attitude towards Difficulties, #NFDB
597:for when the thrill of his body fades or changes, and the difficulties of pledging yourself to only one person surface, kindness will be the balm that soothes the wounds of life. ~ P C Cast, #NFDB
598:What is natural depends upon point of view, the choice of metaphor, and therefore, the culture. The design difficulties occur when there is a switch in metaphors. Airplane ~ Donald A Norman, #NFDB
599:All men are by nature free; you have therefore an undoubted liberty to depart whenever you please, but will have many and great difficulties to encounter in passing the frontiers. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
600:There are very few things impossible in themselves; and we do not want means to conquer difficulties so much as application and resolution in the use of means. ~ Francois de La Rochefoucauld, #NFDB
601:To undertake a genuine spiritual path is not to avoid difficulties but to learn the art of making mistakes wakefully, to bring them to the transformative power of our heart. ~ Jack Kornfield, #NFDB
602:In war, while everything is simple, even the simplest thing is difficult. Difficulties accumulate and produce frictions which no one can comprehend who has not seen war. ~ Carl von Clausewitz, #NFDB
603:Life cannot be administered by definite rules and regulations; that wisdom to deal with a man's difficulties comes only through some knowledge of his life and habits as a whole. ~ Jane Addams, #NFDB
604:Our help is there always, it is not given at one time and withheld at another, nor given to some and denied to others. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Difficulties of Human Nature, #NFDB
605:People can surmount what seems to be total defeat, difficulties too great to be borne, but it requires a capacity to readjust endlessly to the changing conditions of life. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt, #NFDB
606:I sincerely hope that the difficulties that are there in Iraq and Iran can be resolved, that Iraq will see a new era of hope in which its people will enjoy a full sovereignty. ~ Manmohan Singh, #NFDB
607:It has been one of my difficulties, in arguing this question out of doors with friends or strangers, that I rarely find any intelligible agreement as to the object of the war. ~ Richard Cobden, #NFDB
608:When faith, hope, and love are vital powers in our lives, then no matter what difficulties may come, we’ll be able to thank our Father in heaven and bring glory to His name. ~ Warren W Wiersbe, #NFDB
609:Discouraged not by difficulties without, or the anguish of ages within, the heart listens to a secret voice that whispers: "Be not dismayed; in the future lies the Promised Land. ~ Helen Keller, #NFDB
610:However, the difficulties and pleasures of the writing itself are similar for a novel with a historical setting and a novel with a contemporary setting, as far as I'm concerned. ~ Helen Dunmore, #NFDB
611:I had realized in the meantime that action too has its difficulties, and that one can also be led to it by neurosis. We are not saved by politics any more than by literature. ~ Jean Paul Sartre, #NFDB
612:It occurred to me that I had never seen my mother defeated, even when life presented difficulties and disappointments. I hoped that our resemblance extended beyond our blue eyes. ~ Piper Kerman, #NFDB
613:No man ever succeeded in this sadhana by his own merit. To become open and plastic to the Mother is the one thing needed. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, Difficulties of the Path - VII, #NFDB
614:Painting with all its technicalities, difficulties, and peculiar ends, is nothing but a noble and expressive language, invaluable as the vehicle of thought, but by itself nothing. ~ John Ruskin, #NFDB
615:They're working hard and persisting through difficulties because of their internal desire to control their lives, learn about their world, and accomplish something that endures. ~ Daniel H Pink, #NFDB
616:All difficulties are solved by taking rest in the Divine's arms, for these arms are always opened with love to shelter us.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Face and Overcome Difficulties,#NFDB
617:Liberalism is essentially the belief that there can be a reconciliation of all difficulties and differences, and since there can't, it is a misleading way to approach politics. ~ Maurice Cowling, #NFDB
618:One of the greatest difficulties in civil war is, that more art is required to know what should be concealed from our friends, than what ought to be done against our enemies. ~ Lord Chesterfield, #NFDB
619:Difficulties are opportunities to better things; they are stepping-stones to greater experience...When one door closes, another always opens; as a natural law it has to, to balance. ~ Bryan Adams, #NFDB
620:Gradually I learned to cease looking upon challenges as difficulties and began to see tense situations as opportunities to put my growing love to use. We can do this everywhere; ~ Eknath Easwaran, #NFDB
621:He enables [his children] to walk before him; he holds their hand in difficulties; he himself carries them along in hardships that he sees as being otherwise unbearable to them. ~ Francis de Sales, #NFDB
622:No one would feel embarrassed about seeking help for a child if they broke their arm - and we really should be equally ready to support a child coping with emotional difficulties. ~ Kate Middleton, #NFDB
623:The first step in working with difficulties in everyday life is developing the understanding that our difficulties are, in fact, an important part in our path of awakening. ~ Ezra Bayda, Zen Heart, #NFDB
624:Benjamin Franklin said it best: “Our limited perspective, our hopes and fears become our measure of life, and when circumstances don’t fit our ideas, they become our difficulties. ~ Richard Carlson, #NFDB
625:God allows us to give rise to the practice of two beautiful virtues: perseverance, which leads us to attain the goal, and constancy, which helps us to overcome difficulties. ~ Saint Vincent de Paul, #NFDB
626:Pray without ceasing, say all you can to God and lay all your difficulties before him. He’ll take away your tears and make a way where there seems to be none. Wake up and do it! ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
627:There are certain things in war of which the commander alone comprehends the importance. Nothing but his superior firmness and ability can subdue and surmount all difficulties. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte, #NFDB
628:Thus strife and anger beget war, avarice stifles benevolence, envy produces hate. But friendship overcoming all these difficulties, finds out the virtuous, and unites them together. For, ~ Xenophon, #NFDB
629:Why do some people, when they want to practice, keep coming against problems and difficulties, and obstacles - inner obstacles and outer obstacles? It's because of the lack of merit. ~ Tenzin Palmo, #NFDB
630:You see, my son, it is not a fact that you will never face dangers. Difficulties always come, but they do not last forever. You will see that they pass away like water under a bridge. ~ Sarada Devi, #NFDB
631:All human beings hang by a thread, an abyss may open under their feet at any moment, and yet they have to go and invent all sortsof difficulties for themselves and spoil their lives. ~ Ivan Turgenev, #NFDB
632:Is it possible to be happy before anything happens, before one’s desires are gratified, in spite of life’s difficulties, in the very midst of physical pain, old age, disease, and death? ~ Sam Harris, #NFDB
633:One of man's deepest habits is keeping alert for dangers and difficulties, refusing to allow himself to explore his own mind because he daren't take his eyes off the world around him. ~ Colin Wilson, #NFDB
634:Our current royal family doesn’t have the difficulties in breeding that pandas do, but pandas and royal persons alike are expensive to conserve and ill-adapted to any modern environment. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
635:Positive thinking relates to an art of reasoning with the quality of hope for a better future either in the face of difficulties or in the presence of abundance of opportunities. ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
636:Then said Good-Will, "Alas, poor Pliable! Is the celestial glory of so little value to him that he considers it unworthy of his hazarding a few difficulties to obtain it?"
Christian ~ John Bunyan,#NFDB
637:Being positive does not mean we deny the existence of difficulty; it means we believe God is greater than our difficulties. Believing in God can cause us to win any battle we face. When ~ Joyce Meyer, #NFDB
638:The source of my difficulties has always been the same: an inability to accept what to others seems natural, and an irresistible tendency to voice opinions no one wants to hear . . . ~ Isabel Allende, #NFDB
639:Any difficulties posed by lack of rooms, space or even beds should never be permitted to interfere with the demands of hospitality to family or friends. Something can always be contrived. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
640:Your candor is worth everything to your cause. It is refreshing to find a person with a new theory who frankly confesses that he finds difficulties, insurmountable, at least for the present. ~ Asa Gray, #NFDB
641:because individualism is giving us real difficulties today. Although it is a guiding ideal for our age, accepted as a main achievement of the Enlightenment, it takes many different forms. ~ Mary Midgley, #NFDB
642:God decided to leave you in this fallen world to live, love, and work, because he intended to use the difficulties you face to do something in you that couldn’t be done any other way. ~ Paul David Tripp, #NFDB
643:He enables [his children] to walk before him; he holds their hand in difficulties; he himself carries them along in hardships that he sees as being otherwise unbearable to them. ~ Saint Francis de Sales, #NFDB
644:I do believe in the old saying 'What does not kill you makes you stronger.' Our experiences, good and bad, make us who we are. By overcoming difficulties, we gain strength and maturity. ~ Angelina Jolie, #NFDB
645:One essential characteristic of modern life is that we all depend on systems—on assemblages of people or technologies or both—and among our most profound difficulties is making them work. ~ Atul Gawande, #NFDB
646:Always remember the Mother. Call upon her. Then the difficulties will go away. Do not be afraid, do not be perturbed by the difficulties. Call upon the Mother steadily. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Annual, Issue 27, #NFDB
647:By freely choosing to believe God's promises, a person's faith may be more strongly embraced and, therefore, less likely to falter in times of struggle, sadness, or other such difficulties. ~ Mary C Neal, #NFDB
648:Military weapons are the means used by the Sage to punish violence and cruelty, to give peace to troublous times, to remove difficulties and dangers, and to succor those who are in peril. Every ~ Sun Tzu, #NFDB
649:Mindfulness can play a big role in transforming our experience with pain & other difficulties; it allows us to recognize the authenticity of the distress & yet not be overwhelmed by it. ~ Sharon Salzberg, #NFDB
650:To take the difficulties, setbacks and sorrows of life as a challenge to overcome makes us stronger, rather than unjust punishment which should not happen to us, requires faith and courage. ~ Erich Fromm, #NFDB
651:Was then not all sorrow in time, all self-torment and fear in time? Were not all difficulties and evil in the world conquered as soon as one conquered time, as soon as one dispelled time? ~ Hermann Hesse, #NFDB
652:When repeated difficulties do arise, our first spiritual approach is to acknowledge what is present, naming, softly saying 'sadness, sadness', or 'remembering, remembering', or whatever. ~ Jack Kornfield, #NFDB
653:Being human is itself difficult, and therefore all kinds of settlements (except dream cities) have problems. Big cities have difficulties in abundance, because they have people in abundance. ~ Jane Jacobs, #NFDB
654:People who are empathic definitely will have some difficulties distinguishing their own feelings from other people's feelings and they tend to take on other people's energies quite easily. ~ Doreen Virtue, #NFDB
655:There are few positions in life in which difficulties have not to be encountered. These difficulties are, however, our best instructors, as our mistakes often form our best experience. ~ Edwin Paxton Hood, #NFDB
656:TO ACCEPT THE DIFFICULTIES,SETBACKS AND TRAGEDIES OF LIFE AS A CHALLENGE WHICH TO OVERCOME MAKES US STRONGER, RATHER THAN AS SOMETHING THAT SHOULD NOT HAPPEN TO US REQUIRES FAITH AND COURAGE ~ Erich Fromm, #NFDB
657:Young people need plenty of difficulties to achieve something.... If you receive a little money for this, a little money for that, everything becomes mediocre, and collapses ignominiously. ~ Salvador Dali, #NFDB
658:Anyone that has a job that takes them away from home, I think, can understand the difficulties in maintaining consistency, not only with your family and those you love but with your friends. ~ Heath Ledger, #NFDB
659:A true biblical eschatology prepares overcomers for the difficulties they must endure and helps them to stand with confidence that the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit is surely coming. ~ Mike Bickle, #NFDB
660:Faith allows an evasion of those difficulties which the atheist confronts honestly. And to crown all, the believer derives a sense of great superiority from this very cowardice itself. ~ Simone de Beauvoir, #NFDB
661:I'm sure you're well aware of the car companies that went out of business in 2008. And you've had other brands that have seen difficulties here and there, even some of the most famous ones. ~ Henrik Fisker, #NFDB
662:It is the Divine Presence that gives value to life. This Presence is the source of all peace, all joy, all security. Find this Presence in yourself and all your difficulties will disappear. ~ Mirra Alfassa, #NFDB
663:I've always admired your rather formidable will, your refusal to back away from difficulties, but sometimes strength isn't about perseverance. Sometimes it's about knowing when to quit. ~ Jennifer Donnelly, #NFDB
664:Modern man's difficulties, dangerous beliefs and feelings of loneliness, spiritual emptiness,and personal weakness are caused by his illusions about, and separation from, the natural world. ~ Benjamin Hoff, #NFDB
665:My parents were divorced when I was a young teenager, and I was raised by a single mother after that. So, I understand the difficulties that families have. I understand single parenting. ~ Michele Bachmann, #NFDB
666:Pessimism doesn't grow your business or even maintain the status quo. The pessimists on your staff make the job harder for everyone around them. They make difficulties out of opportunities. ~ Harvey Mackay, #NFDB
667:The general problem with ambitious systems is complexity. [...] it is important to emphasize the value of simplicity and elegance, for complexity has a way of compounding difficulties. ~ Fernando J Corbato, #NFDB
668:There is only one aim to be followed, the increase of the Peace, Light, Power and the growth of a new consciousness in the being. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Difficulties of the Physical Nature, #NFDB
669:The tree must bear its own proper fruit, and Nature is always a diligent gardener. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, The Possibility of a First Step towards International Unity - Its Enormous Difficulties, #NFDB
670:We avoid the gravest difficulties when, giving up the attempt to frame hypotheses concerning the constitution of matter, we pursue statistical inquiries as a branch of rational mechanics. ~ J Willard Gibbs, #NFDB
671:Be grateful for your difficulties and challenges, for they hold blessings. In fact... Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health personal growth, individuation and self-actualisation. ~ Carl Jung, #NFDB
672:But if every day we become aware of greater and deeper tangles, greater and deeper and more diabolical difficulties, why I can only see the birth of greater and deeper books, that’s all. [. . .] ~ Ana s Nin, #NFDB
673:For women there are, undoubtedly, great difficulties in the path, but so much the more to overcome. First, no woman should say, "I am but a woman!" But a woman! What more can you ask to be? ~ Maria Mitchell, #NFDB
674:Hand over your problems to the Divine and He will pull you out of all difficulties – ~ The MotherHand over your problems to the Divine and He will pull you out of all difficulties – The Mother #sriaurobindo, #NFDB
675:Our difficulties launch us into new states of consciousness where we are inspired to step out of the reality of our smallest thoughts and step into the limitless freedom of our biggest dreams. ~ Debbie Ford, #NFDB
676:Paradoxically, the most constructive thing women can do is to write, for in the act of writing we deny our muteness and begin to eliminate some of the difficulties that have been put upon us. ~ Dale Spender, #NFDB
677:The hostile beings, they are always in battle with each other; but they make common cause against the Truth and Light. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Hostile Forces and the Difficulties of Yoga, #NFDB
678:why be afraid of difficulties, sufferings and problems? When troubles come, try to understand the relevance of your sufferings. Adversity always presents opportunities for introspection. ~ A P J Abdul Kalam, #NFDB
679:Catholics have seldom had the difficulties and embarrassments many Protestants have had about creation vs. evolution. Ever since Augustine, they have interpreted Genesis‘ “days” non-literally. ~ Peter Kreeft, #NFDB
680:If you will have patience in difficulties you know the Holy Spirit is within you, if you will also have the strength to be thankful in troubles than is when the Holy Spirit shines through you. ~ Arsenie Boca, #NFDB
681:There is a saying in Tibetan, 'Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.' No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
682:To fly away from problems may seem the easiest solution. But you gain strength only when you wrestle with a strong opponent. One who doesn’t have difficulties is one who doesn’t grow. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda, #NFDB
683:We must not only have the possession of a pure self-existence independent of the world-play, but possess all existence as our ow. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Difficulties of the Mental Being, #NFDB
684:A small step, in the midst of great human limitations, can be more pleasing to God than a life which appears outwardly in order but moves through the day without confronting great difficulties. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
685:I am grateful for all my problems. After each one was overcome, I became stronger and more able to meet those that were still to come. I grew in all my difficulties. —J. C. Penney businessman ~ Kathryn Petras, #NFDB
686:It is ... marvellous ... to have a period of apparent fanaticism. No obstacle can discourage you. The single vision of your quest obscures defeat and lifts you over mountainous difficulties. ~ Margaret Sanger, #NFDB
687:Real life isn't always going to be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgement of what is working in our lives can help us not only to survive but surmount our difficulties. ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach, #NFDB
688:The left-leaning thinking that dominates the movie business follows a common liberal instinct to deny the spiritual dimension to every problem, thereby profoundly compounding the difficulties. ~ Michael Medved, #NFDB
689:The prudent see only the difficulties, the bold only the advantages, of a great enterprise; the hero sees both; diminishes the former and makes the latter preponderate, and so conquers. ~ Johann Kaspar Lavater, #NFDB
690:"With a little self-criticism one can see through the shadow — so far as its nature is personal. But when it appears as an archetype, one encounters the same difficulties as with anima and animus." ~ Carl Jung, #NFDB
691:You want people to make sure to get the stupid stuff right. Yet you also want to leave room for craft and judgment and the ability to respond to unexpected difficulties that arise along the way. ~ Atul Gawande, #NFDB
692:It is the things we think we know - because they are so elementary or because they surround us - that often present the greatest difficulties when we are actually challenged to explain them. ~ Stephen Jay Gould, #NFDB
693:There is a saying in Tibetan, ‘Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.’ No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster. ~ Matthew Quick, #NFDB
694:'Why me?' rarely produces a positive result, while 'How can I use this?' usually leads us in the direction of turning our difficulties into a driving force to make ourselves and the world better. ~ Tony Robbins, #NFDB
695:A tendency of human groups to “diabolize” the gods of their neighbors seems to be a constant theme throughout history and a cause for continuing difficulties to historians of religious ideas. ~ Stephen E Flowers, #NFDB
696:Don't throw up your hands or abandon your values when you run into political difficulties. Stop, get a sense of the political terrain, and experiment with some ways to move cautiously forward. ~ Joseph Badaracco, #NFDB
697:God always responds if one calls on Him intently with a simple, pure, sincere heart. He always protects His devotees from danger and difficulties. He is graciously affectionate to his devotees. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #NFDB
698:Mindfulness can play a big role in transforming our experience with pain & other difficulties; it allows us to recognize the authenticity of the distress & yet not be overwhelmed by it. ~ Sharon Salzberg, #NFDB
699:My dear lady, in my experience of ill-doing, Providence leaves the work of conviction and chastisement to us mortals—and the process is often fraught with difficulties. There are no short cuts. ~ Agatha Christie, #NFDB
700:To some men it is hard seeing a call of God through difficulties; when if it would but clothe itself with a few carnal advantages, how apparent it is to them! They can see it through a little cranny. ~ John Owen, #NFDB
701:We all face difficulties of our own, and how comforting it is to immerse yourself in a book - my book, any book, any romance. It's entertainment, it's escape, and it can even be an inspiration! ~ Debbie Macomber, #NFDB
702:No amount of meditation, yoga, diet, and reflection will make all of our problems go away, but we can transform our difficulties into our practice until little by little they guide us on our way. ~ Jack Kornfield, #NFDB
703:When a man gets it into his head to do something, and when he exclusively occupies himself in that design, he must succeed, whatever the difficulties. That man will become Grand Vizier or Pope. ~ Giacomo Casanova, #NFDB
704:At the center of the religious life is a peculiar kind of joy, the prospect of a happy ending that blossoms from necessarily painful ordeals, the promise of human difficulties embraced and overcome. ~ Huston Smith, #NFDB
705:Compassion doesn’t mean that you have to love that person who’s so difficult. But if you stop and look deeper, you’ll see that person’s difficulties. If you can accept him, then you can love him. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
706:Every serious novel is, beyond its immediate thematic preoccupations, a discussion of the craft, a conquest of the form, a conflict with its difficulties and a pursuit of its felicities and beauty. ~ Ralph Ellison, #NFDB
707:We bitch about our difficulties along the rough surface of our path, we curse every sharp stone underneath, until at some point in our maturation, we finally look down to see that they are diamonds. ~ Esther Perel, #NFDB
708:Climate change has been immense difficulties of pains or illness or hard life on this planet. So through that way, you have sense of concern of the well being, not sky, not just the environment itself. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
709:No soul that aspires can ever fail to rise; no heart that loves can ever be abandoned. Difficulties exist only that in overcoming them we may grow strong, and they who have suffered are able to save. ~ Annie Besant, #NFDB
710:There is a saying in Tibetan, 'Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.'
No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster. ~ Dalai Lama XIV,#NFDB
711:A perfectly happy marriage? There is no such thing. There are strong marriages that can survive problems, but happiness is such a brief condition, interrupted by difficulties and plain, boring routine. ~ Ursula Hegi, #NFDB
712:Men are not worried by things, but by their ideas about things. When we meet with difficulties, become anxious or troubled, let us not blame others, but rather ourselves. That is: our ideas about things. ~ Epictetus, #NFDB
713:The mathematical difficulties of the theory of rotation arise chiefly from the want of geometrical illustrations and sensible images, by which we might fix the results of analysis in our minds. ~ James Clerk Maxwell, #NFDB
714:We should take as a maxim never to be surprised at current difficulties, no more than at a passing breeze, because with a little patience we shall see them disappear. Time changes everything. ~ Saint Vincent de Paul, #NFDB
715:Even if our every attempt is a failure, and we bleed and are torn asunder, yet, through all this, we have to preserve our heart - we must assert our Godhead in the midst of all these difficulties. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
716:It is good to feel small beneath the sparkling northern lights, small beside the mighty river. Nature is so close to us up here. My troubles and difficulties just shrivel up. I like being insignificant. ~ sa Larsson, #NFDB
717:It can therefore be said that, from the viewpoint of the doctrine of the faith, there are no difficulties in explaining the origin of man in regard to the body, by means of the theory of evolution. ~ Pope John Paul II, #NFDB
718:The difficulties continued but caused them less grief: Life had taken on the task of teaching them that the joy of love was not meant to lull you to sleep, but to keep you struggling together. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez, #NFDB
719:We can also express it like this: the difficulties, which this boy has with himself as well as with his relationship to the world, are the price he has to pay for his special gifts. (Asperger 1938, p.2) ~ Tony Attwood, #NFDB
720:Words saturated with sincerity, conviction, faith, and intuition are like highly explosive vibration bombs, which, when set off, shatter the rocks of difficulties and create the change desired. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda, #NFDB
721:2. Tap into your resilience. Instead of living in overdrive, train your nervous system to bounce back from setbacks. You will naturally reduce stress and thrive in the face of difficulties and challenges. ~ Emma Sepp l, #NFDB
722:By readiness I did not mean capacity but willingness. If there is the will within to face all difficulties and go through, no matter how long it takes, then the path can be taken. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II, #NFDB
723:Finishing a painting demands a heart of steel: everything requires a decision, and I find difficulties where I least expect them... It is at such moments that one fully realizes one's own weaknesses. ~ Eugene Delacroix, #NFDB
724:Have the courage that you will trample over your I'll struggles of the past till all is settled for your celebrations. You will be victorious in the face of difficulties if only give are courageous! ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
725:They who reach down into the depths of life where, in the stillness, the voice of God is heard, have the stabilizing power which carries them poised and serene through the hurricane of difficulties. ~ Spencer W Kimball, #NFDB
726:During weightlessness, many of the letters strayed from the boxes, indicating that pilots might experience difficulties maneuvering their planes and doing crossword puzzles during air battles. The following ~ Mary Roach, #NFDB
727:How will you know the difficulties of being human, if you are always flying off to blue perfection? Where will you plant your grief seeds? Workers need ground to scrape and hoe, not the sky of unspecified desire. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
728:In this last day of the year, let us take the resolution that all our weaknesses and obstinate obscurities will drop from us along with the finishing year.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Difficulties, Mistakes,#NFDB
729:The more we desire for that which is superfluous, the more we meet with difficulties; our strength and possessions are spent in unnecessary things, and are wanting when required for that which is necessary. ~ Maimonides, #NFDB
730:The Stockdale Paradox Retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties. AND at the same time Confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. ~ James C Collins, #NFDB
731:Wanting to change, to improve, a person's situation means offering him, for difficulties in which he is practiced and experienced, other difficulties that will find him perhaps even more bewildered. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke, #NFDB
732:I was surprised by the discovery that Gerard had a child. In the time when I knew him he had been so far from resolving the difficulties of his own childhood that it was hard to believe he was now a father. ~ Rachel Cusk, #NFDB
733:That is not right. Throwing away the life does not improve the chances for the next time. It is in this life and body that one must get things done. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, Difficulties of the Path - VII, #NFDB
734:We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. We all have clouds above us but some see their silver linings. We all face difficulties but some of us are grateful that they aren't worse. ~ Oscar Wilde, #NFDB
735:Amid the greatest difficulties of my Administration, when I could not see any other resort, I would place my whole reliance in God, knowing that all would go well, and that He would decide for the right. ~ Abraham Lincoln, #NFDB
736:Do not be afraid of your difficulties.Do not wish you could be in other circumstances than you are. For when you have made the best of an adversity, it becomes the stepping stone to a splendid opportunity. ~ H P Blavatsky, #NFDB
737:Even with this disaster I had dragged us all into, she was still proud to be my mother. It occurred to me that I had never seen my mother defeated, even when life presented difficulties and disappointments. ~ Piper Kerman, #NFDB
738:Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our failures, discouragements and doubts. We tend to forget the past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping. ~ Ethel Barrymore, #NFDB
739:Why aren’t you happy?” they tend to focus on their current circumstances. Happy people look to Someone so big that by his grace, even great difficulties provide opportunities for a deeper kind of happiness. ~ Randy Alcorn, #NFDB
740:As I write, I am struggling with the ghost of someone I loved and lost. I now understand more fully the difficulties you were going through, and I realize how painful it must have been for you to move on. ~ Nicholas Sparks, #NFDB
741:God doesn’t promise to remove the stones from the path, but He does promise to make them stepping-stones and not stumbling blocks. He promises to help us climb higher because of the difficulties of life. ~ Warren W Wiersbe, #NFDB
742:More than half a century ago, the classic novels of totalitarianism warned of the domination of screens, the suppression of books, the narrowing of vocabularies, and the associated difficulties of thought. ~ Timothy Snyder, #NFDB
743:One of my kids was born in 1968. There were going to be political difficulties, but they were never going to have that level of hatred and contempt that my brothers and my sister and myself were exposed to. ~ Toni Morrison, #NFDB
744:Sometimes the simplest and most obvious distinctions give rise to the profoundest intellectual difficulties, and things most commonplace in our daily experience drive home to us the depths of our ignorance ~ Richard Taylor, #NFDB
745:The cause of our difficulties in southeast Asia is not a deficiency of power but an excess of the wrong kind of power which results in a feeling of impotence when it fails to achieve its desired ends. ~ J William Fulbright, #NFDB
746:It is not true that physical work is of an inferior value to mental culture, it is the arrogance of the intellect that makes the claim. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Hostile Forces and the Difficulties of Yoga, #NFDB
747:Join with those who sing, tell stories, talk pleasure in life, and have joy in their eyes, because joy is contagious, and can prevent others from becoming paralysed by depression, loneliness and difficulties. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
748:Be sure that the Mother will be always with you to carry you upon the path. Difficulties come and difficulties go, but, she being with you, the victory is sure.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Mother With Letters On The Mother, [T1],#NFDB
749:It is a part of English hypocrisy or English reserve, that whilst we are fluent enough in grumbling about small inconveniences, we insist on making light of any great difficulties or grief's that may beset us. ~ Max Beerbohm, #NFDB
750:Our energy is in proportion to the resistance it meets. We attempt nothing great but from a sense of the difficulties we have to encounter, we persevere in nothing great but from a pride in overcoming them. ~ William Hazlitt, #NFDB
751:There is an art, it says, or rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. … Clearly, it is this second part, the missing, which presents the difficulties. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
752:This break is a prelude to war, which should, in light of the low level of USSR military technology and internal political and economic difficulties caused by a war, finish off Bolshevism once and for all.”47 ~ Stephen Kotkin, #NFDB
753:David, on the other hand, may not be so initially alarming, but once decided on a course of action is hard to sway. When his immovable object met Roger’s irresistible force, difficulties were guaranteed to follow. ~ Nick Mason, #NFDB
754:Especially when there are difficulties in our relations, parties and statesmen in China and Japan should look over the situation from a higher point of view and preserve the political foundation of bilateral ties. ~ Wu Bangguo, #NFDB
755:I must protest that I would never seek foreign conflicts just to go over domestic difficulties; that would be frivolous. I was speaking of conflicts that we could not avoid, even though we do not seek them. ~ Otto von Bismarck, #NFDB
756:It is rare that somebody can surrender entirely to the Divine's Will without having to face one or another of the difficulties.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Elements of Yoga, Surrender to the Divine Will, Surrender,#NFDB
757:It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow man who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring ~ Alfred Adler, #NFDB
758:Apply yourself to thinking through difficulties—hard times can be softened, tight squeezes widened, and heavy loads made lighter for those who can apply the right pressure.” —SENECA, ON TRANQUILITY OF MIND, 10.4b ~ Ryan Holiday, #NFDB
759:It is not difficult to stand above the conventions when we leave no hostages among them; men can always be more unconventional than women, and a bachelor of independent means need encounter no difficulties at all. ~ E M Forster, #NFDB
760:There are still many, many uncertainties, challenges and difficulties in Afghanistan. But we have to enable the Afghans to manage those challenges themselves. We cannot solve all the problems for the Afghans. ~ Jens Stoltenberg, #NFDB
761:What I have got a shot at controlling is the way I manage what's happening. And that's what I was in therapy for, not to be fixed, but to facilitate and support me finding some sort of way through my difficulties. ~ Ruby Elliot, #NFDB
762:Evasions are the common shelter of the hard-hearted, the false, and impotent, when called upon to assist; the real great alone plan instantaneous help, even when their looks or words presage difficulties. ~ Johann Kaspar Lavater, #NFDB
763:For me, the moral difficulties lie in the continual pressure brought to bear on my friends and immediate family, pressure which is not directed against me personally but which at the same time is all around me. ~ Andrei Sakharov, #NFDB
764:Heavenly Father has perfect foresight, knows each of us, and knows our future. He knows what difficulties we will pass through. He sent His Son to suffer so that He would know how to succor us in all our trials. ~ Henry B Eyring, #NFDB
765:It is not our difficulties or our suffering alone that makes us wise. It is what we add to them--patience, perseverance, compassion, courage, love. From this combination, our priceless pearls of wisdom grow. ~ Barbara De Angelis, #NFDB
766:It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is fro+m among such individuals that all human failures spring. ~ Alfred Adler, #NFDB
767:It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring. ~ Dale Carnegie, #NFDB
768:It is true I had been successful on a small scale in overcoming one of the main difficulties in the new process, but there was still much to invent, and much that at that period I necessarily knew nothing about. ~ Henry Bessemer, #NFDB
769:Men who can, when they wish to write a document, shut themselves up for days with their thoughts and their books, know little of what difficulties a woman must surmount to get off a tolerable production. ~ Elizabeth Cady Stanton, #NFDB
770:The gospel of licentiousness, of selfishness, of blaming all the difficulties of life on external factors - these are the things that are killing people today in ways that the slave whips and the overseers couldn't. ~ Alan Keyes, #NFDB
771:You will rise above all limitations once you begin to live life with the right attitude. People who fail and fall are the people who see difficulties in every opportunity and call it "impossibility". Rise up! ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
772:All wars are follies, very expensive and very mischievous ones. In my opinion, there never was a good war or a bad peace. When will mankind be convinced and agree to settle their difficulties by arbitration? ~ Benjamin Franklin, #NFDB
773:Carry in your memory, for the rest of your life, the good things that came out of those difficulties. They will serve as a proof of your abilities and will give you confidence when you are faced by other obstacles. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
774:Death is not a way to succeed in sadhana. If you die in that way, you will only have the same difficulties again with probably less favourable circumstances. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, Difficulties of the Path - VII, #NFDB
775:The daylight shouldered its way in like a squad of policemen and did a lot of what’s-all-thising around the room, which, like the bedroom, would have presented anyone of an aesthetic disposition with difficulties. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
776:Whenever you find yourself judging your partner, go back to your in-breath and out-breath, and ask, How can I see this differently? Can I look more deeply to better understand her suffering and her difficulties? ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
777:Wherever our comrades go they must build good relations with the masses, be concerned for them and help them overcome their difficulties. We must unite with the masses, the more of the masses we unite with, the better ~ Mao Zedong, #NFDB
778:When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that three of his fingers are pointing at himself. Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics; I can assure you that mine are still greater. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
779:Humor is the spiciest condiment in the feast of existence. Laugh at your mistakes but learn from them, joke over your troubles but gather strength from them, make a jest of your difficulties but overcome them. ~ Lucy Maud Montgomery, #NFDB
780:If everything is noted, all your emotional difficulties will disappear. When you feel happy, don't get involved in happiness. When you feel sad, don't get involved with it. Whatever comes, don't worry, just be aware of it. ~ Dipa Ma, #NFDB
781:I have not conceived my mission to be that of a knight-errant wandering everywhere to deliver people from difficult situations. My humble occupation has been to show people how they can solve their own difficulties. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
782:Why does God permit difficulties to come to our lives? Sometimes He has to break us before He can make us. Sometimes He has to reveal to us what we’re really like before He can make us into what He wants us to be. ~ Warren W Wiersbe, #NFDB
783:Do not be afraid of your difficulties.Do not wish you could be in other circumstances than you are. For when you have made the best of an adversity, it becomes the stepping stone to a splendid opportunity. ~ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, #NFDB
784:Let is walk ... joyously, dear souls, among the difficulties of this passing life ... These pains will have an end when our life ends, after which there will be only joy, only contentment, only eternal consolation. ~ Francis de Sales, #NFDB
785:One has only to aspire sincerely and keep oneself as open as possible to the Mother's Force. Then whatever difficulties come, they will be overcome-it may take some time, but the result issue.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,#NFDB
786:People want you to produce records. They don't care what it took to make it. When a band is out doing concerts, the fans don't want to know about equipment difficulties. They want their hour-and-a-half release, and that's it. ~ Slash, #NFDB
787:WE WILL MEET many difficulties as we try to dutifully seek the good of our neighbors. We won’t make any headway in this regard unless we lay aside concern for ourselves—indeed, unless we somehow lay aside our very self. ~ John Calvin, #NFDB
788:Whenever I attempt to frame a simple idea of time, abstracted from the succession of ideas in my mind, which flows uniformly, and is participated by all beings, I am lost and embrangled in inextricable difficulties. ~ George Berkeley, #NFDB
789:When men will understand that the Divine knows better than they do what is the best for them, many of their difficulties will disappear.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Surrender to the Divine Will, Difficulties of Surrender,#NFDB
790:One who has not the courage to face patiently and firmly life and its difficulties will never be able to go through the still greater inner difficulties of the sadhana. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Patience and Perseverance, #NFDB
791:Each person makes their own choice, but my spirit is meant to stay in Iran, especially with the work that I do, and with the emotional connection I have with the country - with all its difficulties, this is why I stay. ~ Asghar Farhadi, #NFDB
792:I have not conceived my mission to be that of a knight-errant wandering everywhere to deliver people from difficult situations.
My humble occupation has been to show people how they can solve their own difficulties. ~ Mahatma Gandhi,#NFDB
793:I travel, work, suffer my weak health, meet with a thousand difficulties, but all these are nothing, for this world is so small. To me, space is an imperceptible object, as I am accustomed to dwell in eternity. ~ Frances Xavier Cabrini, #NFDB
794:Nevertheless, amid the greatest difficulties of my Administration, when I could not see any other resort, I would place my whole reliance on God, knowing that all would go well, and that He would decide for the right. ~ Abraham Lincoln, #NFDB
795:What you know must translate into action, and action must translate into knowledge. In this way strategy becomes a lifelong challenge and the source of constant pleasure in surmounting difficulties and solving problems. ~ Robert Greene, #NFDB
796:Working for Spider was difficult. He was reasonable, but only when circumstances permitted; understanding of difficulties, yet completely unaffected by them. And he expected impossible things in an impossible timeframe. ~ Ilona Andrews, #NFDB
797:The Jews are known for their perseverance and this is what helps them achieve their goals. Perseverance means continuous persistence in a course of action, a purpose, in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement. ~ H W Charles, #NFDB
798:Ah, no difficulties can ever daunt me,' replied d'Artagnan: 'my only fear is, of impossibilities.'
'Nothing is impossible,' said the lady, 'to the one who truly loves.'
'Nothing, madame?'
'Nothing' she replied. ~ Alexandre Dumas,#NFDB
799:As a rule, the more difficult things are, the more they can help us. It is worth less if the difficulties arise from your struggle with yourself. But when they come from the increasing resistance of the object, it’s splendid! ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
800:Be grateful for challenges because... Had there been no difficulties and no thorns in the way, then [each woman and] man would have been in his primitive state and no progress made in civilisation and mental culture. ~ Anandi Gopal Joshi, #NFDB
801:As a student, you have to learn what areas are most difficult for you... Those are the same difficulties you'll have as a professional artist, so the school is the place to notice them and to find a way to make them work. ~ Tania Bruguera, #NFDB
802:I don’t really believe I am a hero to the world. But I long ago decided that I must live as if I were a hero—that I must pass through all the difficulties which confront me, because they are only my inevitable circles of fire. ~ Anne Rice, #NFDB
803:If there were two princes in Christendom who had good will and courage, it would be very easy to reconcile the religious difficulties; there is only one Jesus Christ and one faith, and all the rest is a dispute over trifles. ~ Elizabeth I, #NFDB
804:In the last resort it is highly improbable that there could ever be a therapy which got rid of all difficulties. Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health. What concerns us here is only an excessive amount of them. ~ Carl Jung, #NFDB
805:It is a real pleasure to me, who have known the difficulties of such things, to read of so great a success; and when that is due to a man for whom one has feelings of personal friendship, it adds to the happiness of life. ~ Martin Gilbert, #NFDB
806:It is very unfair to judge of any body’s conduct, without an intimate knowledge of their situation. Nobody, who has not been in the interior of a family, can say what the difficulties of any individual of that family may be. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
807:So long as there is not an unreserved self-giving in both the internal and external, there will always be veilings, dark periods and difficulties. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, The Danger of the Ego and the Need of Purification, #NFDB
808:Unfortunately what is little recognized is that the most worthwhile scientific books are those in which the author clearly indicates what he does not know; for an author most hurts his readers by concealing difficulties. ~ Evariste Galois, #NFDB
809:I thought of my difficulties with writing, my struggles to articulate feelings not easily expressed. Of my struggles to find a language for intuition, feelings, instincts which are, in themselves, elusive, subtle, and wordless. ~ Ana s Nin, #NFDB
810:It is the disadvantage of helping others that one comes into contact with their consciousness and their difficulties and also gets more externalised. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Interactions with Others and the Practice of Yoga, #NFDB
811:Let is walk ... joyously, dear souls, among the difficulties of this passing life ... These pains will have an end when our life ends, after which there will be only joy, only contentment, only eternal consolation. ~ Saint Francis de Sales, #NFDB
812:life we have to solve the problems we face. We have to think critically about the situations before us. Your education, your experiences, they are all valuable. They create your tools to overcome the difficulties you will face. ~ G P Ching, #NFDB
813:Sorry. I have technical difficulties making it through a room without bumping into something. Thank God my clumsiness is only restricted to the ground. I’d probably kill myself diving if I was this bad underwater. (Tory) ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon, #NFDB
814:Thus passes away all man's life. Men seek rest in a struggle against difficulties; and when they have conquered these, rest becomes insufferable. For we think either of the misfortunes we have or of those which threaten us. ~ Blaise Pascal, #NFDB
815:Faith, more faith! Faith in your possibilities, faith in the Power that is at work behind the veil, faith in the work that is to be done and the offered guidance. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Steps towards Overcoming Difficulties, #NFDB
816:It is easy to scoff at these ideas, or to point out the difficulties of implementing such schemes when actually running a normal peacetime Government. But Collins was a unique combination of the visionary and the practical. ~ Tim Pat Coogan, #NFDB
817:Stop your worrying, panicking and stressing. Breathe. Remember, you made it this far through difficulties that seemed impossible. Remember how many times you were saved at the very last minute -- this time is no different. ~ Bryant H McGill, #NFDB
818:The spiritual life is a stern choice. It is not a consoling retreat from the difficulties of existence; but an invitation to enter fully into that difficult existence, and there apply the Charity of God and bear the cost. ~ Evelyn Underhill, #NFDB
819:Those who stand for different causes during different generations often experience the same oppositions and the same difficulties as those of the previous and the next generations. That is the basis of history repeating itself. ~ Criss Jami, #NFDB
820:We can only learn to deal with failure by actually experiencing failure, by living through it. The earlier we face difficulties and drawbacks, the better prepared we are to deal with the inevitable obstacles along our path. ~ Tal Ben Shahar, #NFDB
821:Your decision to be, have and do something out of ordinary entails facing
difficulties that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is
simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else. ~ Brian Tracy,#NFDB
822:If you have suffered more than your fair share of difficulties in life, perhaps you are being prepared to serve some greater purpose that will require you to be equipped with the wisdom you have acquired through your trials. ~ Robin S Sharma, #NFDB
823:It was a love that for years had tried to hide from her the difficulties and the corruption that existed in the world, ignoring the fact that one day she would have to find this out, and would then be defenseless against them. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
824:Socialism is overcoming certain difficulties, it is working in order to try to achieve social advances, to really achieve a society where everybody improves, not where just the elite improve and the others get worse. ~ Alejandro Castro Espin, #NFDB
825:The former conviction that these two kingdoms were wholly different in structure, in function, and in kind of life, was not seriously disturbed by the difficulties which the naturalist encountered when he undertook to define them. ~ Asa Gray, #NFDB
826:If you always find yourself numbering your troubles, you will never find time counting your blessings. There is no use becoming frustrated in your difficulties while you have all opportunities hiding in them for a turnover! ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
827:I think the randomness by Donald Trump's governing, by tweeting, sloganeering, attacking, will create great chaos in the entire market. I think people will have difficulties in predicting the future. I think capital will recede. ~ Reid Hoffman, #NFDB
828:It is not a simple matter to differentiate unsuccessful from successful experiments. . . .[Most] work that is finally successful is the result of a series of unsuccessful tests in which difficulties are gradually eliminated. ~ Robert H Goddard, #NFDB
829:The exchange program is the thing that reconciles me to all the difficulties of political life. It's the only activity that gives me some hope that the human race won't commit suicide, though I still wouldn't count on it. ~ J William Fulbright, #NFDB
830:This is my belief: that through difficulties and problems God gives us the opportunity to grow. So when your hopes and dreams and goals are dashed, search among the wreckage, you may find a golden opportunity hidden in the ruins. ~ Abdul Kalam, #NFDB
831:I consider those persons to be my students who come and meditate with me on a regular basis, who, in spite of the hardships and difficulties on the path of knowledge, still continue to try, and who respect me as I respect them. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
832:Meet problems and obstacles as they arise. The test of a successful person is not the ability to eliminate all problems before he takes action, but rather the ability to find solutions to difficulties when he encounters them. ~ David J Schwartz, #NFDB
833:Great leadership does not mean running away from reality. Sometimes the hard truths might just demoralize the company, but at other times sharing difficulties can inspire people to take action that will make the situation better. ~ John P Kotter, #NFDB
834:Now each race is different every time because it's a different journey to get to it - the difficulties you faced getting the car into that position. I manage myself. I chose my team myself. So there's a huge satisfaction for me. ~ Lewis Hamilton, #NFDB
835:Sometimes things which at the moment may be perceived as obstacles-and actually be obstacles, difficulties, or drawbacks-can in the long run result in some good end which would not have occurred if it had not been for the obstacle. ~ Steve Allen, #NFDB
836:The friend who knows a lot more than you do will bring difficulties, and grief, and sickness, as medicine, as happiness, as the essence of the moment when you're beaten when you hear Checkmate, and can finally say, I trust you to kill me. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
837:Your cable television is experiencing difficulties. Please do not panic. Resist the temptation to read or talk to loved ones. Do not attempt sexual relations, as years of TV radiation have left your genitals withered and useless. ~ Matt Groening, #NFDB
838:If everything was in your favor, if you did not have to surmount any great mountains, then you have nothing to be proud of. But if you feel that you have special difficulties, then you must indeed be proud of your achievement. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt, #NFDB
839:Is it sometimes a difficult path? Sure. Does it make for an interesting life? The most. Will the inevitable difficulties and obstacles associated with creativity make you suffer? That part—cross my heart—is entirely up to you. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert, #NFDB
840:Since faith rests upon infallible truth, and since the contrary of a truth can never be demonstrated, it is clear that the arguments brought against faith cannot be demonstrations, but are difficulties that can be answered. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, #NFDB
841:Armchair poverty tourism has been around as long as authors have written about class. As an author, I have struggled myself with the nuances of writing about poverty without reducing any community to a catalog of its difficulties. ~ Leslie Jamison, #NFDB
842:Few parents are aware of the difficulties that beset the minds of the little philosophers and theologians who sit upon their knees or play at their feet; and many a parent could not comprehend the disturbance, if he were aware of it. ~ Lucy Larcom, #NFDB
843:If certain individuals fall in love from motives of convenience, they can be contrasted with plenty of others in whom passion seems principally aroused by the intensity of administrative difficulties in procuring its satisfaction. ~ Anthony Powell, #NFDB
844:Many people have talked to me about God in the middle of difficulties, and after listening to them, I have been struck that, if I believed in the “God” they described, I wouldn’t run to him for help either, and I’d be in a panic ~ Paul David Tripp, #NFDB
845:To THINK BIG and to use our talents doesn't mean we won't have difficulties along the way. We will--we all do. If we choose to see the obstacles in our path as barriers, we stop trying. "We can't win," we moan. "They won't let us win. ~ Ben Carson, #NFDB
846:Destiny isn't something you make as you're told. By overcoming difficulties, life and this whole world can advance forward. That's what destiny is for. A world that has lost the power to advance forward, will be destroyed - Aladdin ~ Shinobu Ohtaka, #NFDB
847:Let us consider that we are all partially insane. It will explain us to each other; it will unriddle many riddles; it will make clear and simple many things which are involved in haunting and harassing difficulties and obscurities now. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
848:Pray earnestly and fast with purpose and devotion. Some difficulties, like devils, do not come out save by fasting and by prayer. Ask in righteousness and you shall receive. Knock with conviction and it shall be opened unto you. ~ Jeffrey R Holland, #NFDB
849:Surely, nothing can be more plain or even more trite common sense than the proposition that innovation [...] is at the center of practically all the phenomena, difficulties, and problems of economic life in capitalist society. ~ Joseph A Schumpeter, #NFDB
850:Why is it so hard to find liberation? Because our own minds are the source of our difficulties. Eliminate desire, accept personal shortcomings, and work toward a patient elimination of the mind's own hunger for outward satisfaction. ~ Ming Dao Deng, #NFDB
851:Basically everything that happens in our life is oir fault and ours alone. A lot of people go through the same difficulties we went through, and they react completely differently. We looked for the easiest way out: a separate reality. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
852:Basically everything that happens in our life is our fault and ours alone. A lot of people go through the same difficulties we went through, and they react completely differently. We looked for the easiest way out: a separate reality. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
853:Basically, everything that happens in our life is our fault and ours alone. A lot of people go through the same difficulties we went through, and they react completely differently. We looked for the easiest way out: a separate reality ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
854:Oh how blessed the young men are who have to struggle for a foundation and a beginning in life. I shall never cease to be grateful for the three and a half years of apprenticeship and the difficulties to be overcome, all the way along. ~ Ron Chernow, #NFDB
855:The main point of the Buddhist teachings is to dissolve the dualistic struggle, our habitual tendency to struggle against what’s happening to us or in us. The teachings instruct us to move toward difficulties rather than backing away. ~ Pema Chodron, #NFDB
856:Think not of the amount to be accomplished, the difficulties to be overcome, or the end to be attained, but set earnestly at the little task at your elbow, letting that be sufficient for the day. —SIR WILLIAM OSLER, physician ~ Elisabeth Tova Bailey, #NFDB
857:Those who unconsciously despair yet put on the mask of optimism are not necessarily wise. But those who have not given up hope can succeed only if they are hardheaded realists, shed all illusions, and fully appreciate the difficulties. ~ Erich Fromm, #NFDB
858:Basically, everything that happens in our life is our fault and ours alone. A lot of people go through the same difficulties we went through, and they react completely differently. We looked for the easiest way out: a separate reality. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
859:Man learns through experience, and the spiritual path is full of different kinds of experiences. He will encounter many difficulties and obstacles, and they are the very experiences he needs to encourage and complete the cleansing process. ~ Sai Baba, #NFDB
860:There are the further difficulties of building a population out of a diversity of races, each at a different stage of cultural evolution, some in need of restraint, many in need of protection; everywhere a bewildering Babel of tongues. ~ Arthur Keith, #NFDB
861:He has learned that silence means the absolute balance of the body, spirit and soul. The man who preserves his unity will never be dominated by the storms of existence; he has the strength to overcome the difficulties and move forwards. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
862:People love to be listened to and represented, and they love it when they feel like you have some of the same problems that they do. Everybody deals with things like romantic difficulties in relationships and death and cancer and abuse. ~ Jason Isbell, #NFDB
863:This is my belief: that through difficulties and problems God gives us the opportunity to grow. So when your hopes and dreams and goals are dashed, search among the wreckage, you may find a golden opportunity hidden in the ruins''. ~ A P J Abdul Kalam, #NFDB
864:Will you explain this to me: Why do women conjure up difficulties where none exist?” “Because women are wise, and they see the future coming down the road long before men see it.” “Oh. I thought it was because they delight in misery. ~ Phyllis T Smith, #NFDB
865:You must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, AND at the same time, have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. ~ James C Collins, #NFDB
866:Faith does not pretend that it is easy to believe what God reveals about Himself. Faith does not push aside or deny the difficulties. Faith simply commits to taking the questions back to Him and believes that He will have the answers. ~ Hannah Anderson, #NFDB
867:The Divine is present among us. When we remember Him always He gives us the strength to face all circumstances with perfect peace and equanimity. Become aware of the Presence and your difficulties will disappear.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#NFDB
868:Europe has found itself confronted with fresh challenges - challenges of a global character, the nature of which is directly connected with changes in the international climate and the difficulties of seeking new models for co-operation. ~ Boris Yeltsin, #NFDB
869:It is the Divine Presence that gives value to life. This Presence is the source of all peace, all joy, all security. Find this Presence in yourself and all your difficulties will disappear.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, The Divine Is with You,#NFDB
870:When we let ourselves feel the fear, the discontent, the difficulties we have always avoided, our heart softens. Just as it is a courageous act to face all the difficulties from which we have always run, it is also an act of compassion. ~ Jack Kornfield, #NFDB
871:The more we desire for that which is superfluous, the more we meet with difficulties; our strength and possessions are spent in unnecessary things, and are wanting when required for that which is necessary. ~ Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), #NFDB
872:you’re wasting your time visiting these unless you know the saga of the homesteaders, the influence of law and religion at different times, the economic problems, the difficulties of communication, and the effects of successive mineral finds. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
873:And you can really see in all of these issues that are priorities for Eleanor Roosevelt, where the compromises are painful, the compromises are hard, and the difficulties between them really begin to loom very large by 1936, by 1938. ~ Blanche Wiesen Cook, #NFDB
874:A “no” does not hide anything, but a yes can very easily become a deception, a self-deception; which of all difficulties is the most difficult to conquer. Ah, it is all too
true that, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions. ~ S ren Kierkegaard,#NFDB
875:I'm not only a writer, but have directed and produced, know the difficulties of the line producer, can deal with the studio, can talk with the director and get his or her vision and help exact that. I think it just gives you more tools. ~ John Lee Hancock, #NFDB
876:Men like Hayek or von Mises seemed doomed to professional and cultural marginality. Only when the welfare states whose failure they had so sedulously predicted began to run into difficulties did they once again find an audience for their views: ~ Tony Judt, #NFDB
877:Realised mental being and realised spiritual being are really two different planes in the arrangement of our existence, the one superior and divine, the other inferior and human. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Difficulties of the Mental Being, #NFDB
878:The root of all our personal and emotional difficulties is a lack of togetherness... I therefore believe that the surest route to overcoming problems and becoming the people we were meant to be is reconnecting with God and with our community. ~ Larry Crabb, #NFDB
879:To THINK BIG and to use our talents doesn't mean we won't have difficulties along the way. We will - we all do... If we choose to see the obstacles in our path as barriers, we stop trying. "We can't win," we moan. "They won't let us win." ~ Benjamin Carson, #NFDB
880:Allowing yourself to be put in such a position that God is exalted is the goal of living the crucified life. When you allow God to be exalted in your difficulties, you will be in the perfect position to smell the sweet fragrance of His presence. ~ A W Tozer, #NFDB
881:A man in my situation, my lords, has not only to encounter the difficulties of fortune. and the force of power over minds which it has corrupted or subjugated. but the difficulties of established prejudice: the man dies, but his memory lives. ~ Robert Emmet, #NFDB
882:Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air. These qualities have ever been displayed in their mightiest perfection, as attendants in the retinue of strong passions. ~ John Quincy Adams, #NFDB
883:The new Yoga cannot be used as a sort of sauce for old dishes; it must occupy the whole place on peril of serious difficulties in the siddhi & even disasters. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Autobiographical Notes and Other Writings of Historical Interest, To Motilal Roy, #NFDB
884:Accompanying the people in their growth through good times and also through their difficulties, accompanying people in their joy and in their bad moments, in their difficulties when there is no work, ill health and the challenge of the Church. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
885:If you say that the China Cat might have lost its ear-tips in battle you are the kind of person who always makes difficulties, and you may be quite sure that the kind of splendid magics that happened to Tavy will never happen to you. ~ E Nesbit, #NFDB
886:In brainstorming the entire approach is to remove obstacles. It is to minimise challenges. People are warned not to criticise each other, or point out the difficulties in each other’s suggestions. Blockages are bad. Negative feedback is a sin. ~ Matthew Syed, #NFDB
887:By inviting God into our difficulties we ground life—even its sad moments—in joy and hope. When we stop grasping our lives we can finally be given more than we could ever grab for ourselves. And we learn the way to a deeper love for others. ~ Henri J M Nouwen, #NFDB
888:Oh, how blessed young men are who have to struggle for a foundation and beginning in life,” he once said. “I shall never cease to be grateful for the three and half years of apprenticeship and the difficulties to be overcome, all along the way. ~ Ryan Holiday, #NFDB
889:Personally I do not believe in a national agency devoted only to the negro blind because in spirit and principle I am against all segregation, and the blind already have difficulties enough without being cramped and harassed by social barriers. ~ Helen Keller, #NFDB
890:Possibly. Basically,everything that happens in our life is our fault and ours alone. A lot of people go through the same difficulties we went through, and they react completely differently. We looked for the easiest way out: a separate reality. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
891:The more physical the activity, the less the difficulties will be. The more the activity becomes intellectual and turns into motives which exercise a determining influence on the commander's will, the more the difficulties will increase. ~ Carl von Clausewitz, #NFDB
892:Curitiba is not a paradise. We have all the problems that most Latin American cities have. We have slums. We have the same difficulties, but the big difference is the respect given by people due to the quality of the services which are provided. ~ Jaime Lerner, #NFDB
893:I can wait” → Being able to plan long-term, play the long game, and not misallocate your resources. “I can fast” → Being able to withstand difficulties and disaster. Training yourself to be uncommonly resilient and have a high pain tolerance. ~ Timothy Ferriss, #NFDB
894:New things always have to experience difficulties and setbacks as they grow. It is sheer fantasy to imagine that the cause of socialism is all plain sailing and easy success, without difficulties and setbacks or the exertion of tremendous efforts. ~ Mao Zedong, #NFDB
895:The following of authority is the denial of intelligence. [It] may help us temporarily to cover up our difficulties and problems; but to avoid a problem is only to intensify it, and in the process, self-knowledge and freedom are abandoned. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti, #NFDB
896:We must never despair; our situation has been compromising before, and it has changed for the better; so I trust it will again. If difficulties arise, we must put forth new exertion and proportion our efforts to the exigencies of the times. ~ George Washington, #NFDB
897:It is by persevering that one conquers difficulties, not by running away from them. One who perseveres is sure to triumph. Victory goes to the most enduring. Always do your best and the Lord will take care of the results.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#NFDB
898:The teacher manages to get along still with the cumbersome algebraic analysis, in spite of its difficulties and imperfections, and avoids the smooth infinitesimal calculus, although the eighteenth century shyness toward it had long lost all point. ~ Felix Klein, #NFDB
899:Think not of the amount to be accomplished, the difficulties to be overcome, or the end to be attained, but set earnestly at the little task at your elbow, letting that be sufficient for the day. —SIR WILLIAM OSLER, physician (1849–1919) ~ Elisabeth Tova Bailey, #NFDB
900:Think not of the amount to be accomplished, the difficulties to be overcome, or the end to be attained, but set earnestly at the little task at your elbow, letting that be sufficient for the day. —SIR WILLIAM OSLER, physician (I849 –I919) ========== ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
901:When you become detached mentally from yourself and concentrate on helping other people with their difficulties, you will be able to cope with your own more effectively. Somehow, the act of self-giving is a personal power-releasing factor ~ Norman Vincent Peale, #NFDB
902:With growing awareness, you can see where you're caught or where you suffer or where you create suffering. You can then turn toward the difficulties that arise in your life with compassion, bow, and say, these too are part of human incarnation. ~ Jack Kornfield, #NFDB
903:I have difficulties with contemporary language. Big difficulties. I counted, you know, something like 160 words have disappeared from the English language because of the use of the word "like." "I'm like, he's like" - not "thought," not "as if ." ~ Toni Morrison, #NFDB
904:I’ll tell them all the good things and some difficulties. The parents may never accept what happened to them and yet accept their child. They’re two separate things, the parental loss, and the actual person they will almost always end up loving. ~ Andrew Solomon, #NFDB
905:Joys and sorrows are time born and cannot last. Therefore, do not be perturbed by them. The greater the difficulties and obstructions, the more intense will be your endeavor to cling to His feet and the more will your prayer increase from within. ~ Anandamayi Ma, #NFDB
906:Loving someone to the threshold of marriage doesn't mean the difficulties of life are suddenly going to disappear. You're both going to do a lot of forgiving and overlooking each other's faults over the years if you truly want a happy marriage. ~ E A Bucchianeri, #NFDB
907:One of the greatest difficulties the left faces in reaching out to masses of people in America is its profound disrespect of spirituality and religious life…people on the left need to acknowledge – we need to grapple with – the question of religion. ~ Bell Hooks, #NFDB
908:One of the greatest difficulties the left faces in reaching out to masses of people in America is its profound disrespect of spirituality and religious life…people on the left need to acknowledge – we need to grapple with – the question of religion. ~ bell hooks, #NFDB
909:Think not of the amount to be accomplished, the difficulties to be overcome, or the end to be attained, but set earnestly at the little task at your elbow, letting that be sufficient for the day. —SIR WILLIAM OSLER, physician (I849 –I919) ~ Elisabeth Tova Bailey, #NFDB
910:This is a wrong course the Chinese comrades are trying to lead us on to, it is an opportunist road of vacillation and concessions to the Khrushchev traitor group which finds itself in grave difficulties, and is intriguing in order to escape defeat. ~ Enver Hoxha, #NFDB
911:We are mistaken when we compare war with “normal life.” Life has never been normal. Even those periods which we think most tranquil, like the nineteenth century, turn out, on closer inspection, to be full of crises, alarms, difficulties, emergencies. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
912:It is almost possible to sum up the whole process of thinking as the occurrence of suggestions for the solution of difficulties and the testing out of those suggestions. The suggestions or suppositions are tested by observation,memory, experiment. ~ Henry Hazlitt, #NFDB
913:One of the reasons the English got through all their falls and the loss of their empire, all their disasters, their strikes, their difficulties, their wars through the years was they had Shakespeare to fall back on. And they speak well in England. ~ Norman Mailer, #NFDB
914:The natural formation of the country is the soldier's best ally; but a power of estimating the adversary, of controlling the forces of victory, and of shrewdly calculating difficulties, dangers and distances, constitutes the test of a great general. ~ Sun Tzu, #NFDB
915:The notion of nothingness is not characteristic of laboring humanity: those who toil have neither time nor inclination to weigh their dust; they resign themselves to the difficulties or the doltishness of fate; they hope: hope is a slave’s virtue. ~ Emil M Cioran, #NFDB
916:The peasant finds no "natural" urgency within himself that will drive him toward Picasso in spite of all difficulties. In the end the peasant will go back to kitsch when he feels like looking at pictures, for he can enjoy kitsch without effort ~ Clement Greenberg, #NFDB
917:There are so many beautiful things that are a part of the world, and Ive always looked at life that way; Ive always tried to put on a smile and a brave front, not just for my kids but in my own life and all the difficulties that Ive gone through. ~ Gloria Estefan, #NFDB
918:Those who solely by good fortune become princes from being private citizens have little trouble in rising, but much in keeping atop; they have not any difficulties on the way up because they fly, but they have many when they reach the summit. ~ Niccol Machiavelli, #NFDB
919:Letting yourself simply experience your difficulties without getting caught up in thoughts about how much you dislike them and in wishes that you didn't have to deal with them in the first place will change your experience of difficulties. ~ John Daishin Buksbazen, #NFDB
920:Maybe. But we all need reassurance, don’t we?’ ‘Of what? That we’re normal?’ ‘Something like that. Not in every way. Just reassurance that our problems aren’t because we’re crazy or weak or stupid – that other people have the same difficulties. ~ William Sutcliffe, #NFDB
921:The atheists are for the most part imprudent and misguided scholars who reason badly who, not being able to understand the Creation, the origin of evil, and other difficulties, have recourse to the hypothesis the eternity of things and of inevitability. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
922:A price has to be paid for success. Almost invariably those who have reached the summits worked harder and longer, studied and planned more assiduously, practiced more self- denial, overcame more difficulties than those of us who have not risen so far. ~ B C Forbes, #NFDB
923:The habit of ubiquitous interventionism, combining pinprick strikes by precision weapons with pious invocations of high principle, would lead us into endless difficulties. Interventions must be limited in number and overwhelming in their impact. ~ Margaret Thatcher, #NFDB
924:The more obstacles you face and overcome, the more times you falter and get back on track, the more difficulties you struggle with and conquer, the more resiliency you will naturally develop. There is nothing that can hold you back, if you are resilient. ~ Jim Rohn, #NFDB
925:There is no remedy so powerful against the heat of concupiscence as the remembrance of our Savior's Passion. In all my difficulties I never found anything so efficacious as the wounds of Christ: In them I sleep secure; from them I derive new life. ~ Saint Augustine, #NFDB
926:A man won't steal, ordinarily, unless that which he steals is something he cannot as easily get without stealing; in liberty the cost of stealing would involve greater difficulties than producing, and consequently he would not be apt to steal. ~ Voltairine de Cleyre, #NFDB
927:Capitalists control the machineries. They create difficulties to the workers. Consequently rationalism, which has to lead the way for peaceful life to all, has resulted in causing poverty and worries to the people because of dominating forces. ~ Periyar E V Ramasamy, #NFDB
928:Regardless of the difficulties we may face individually, in our families, in our communities and in our nation, the old adage is still true - you can make excuses or you can make progress, but you cannot make both! The America I know doesn't make excuses. ~ Mia Love, #NFDB
929:The Romans recognized potential difficulties in advance and always remedied them in time. They never let problems develop just so they could escape a war, for they knew that such wars cannot be avoided, only postponed to the advantage of others. ~ Niccol Machiavelli, #NFDB
930:To endure all things, with an equable and peaceful mind, not only brings with it many blessings to the soul; but it also enables us, in the midst of our difficulties, to have a clear judgment about them, and to minister the fitting remedy for them. ~ Juan de la Cruz, #NFDB
931:When you become detached mentally from yourself and concentrate on helping other people with their difficulties, you will be able to cope with your own more effectively. Somehow, the act of self - giving is a personal power - releasing factor. ~ Norman Vincent Peale, #NFDB
932:How did you ever happen to remember that I might be hungry? But of course you would. Will you mind very much if I run myself into serious difficulties now and again after we are married, just for the pleasure of seeing you rise to the occasion? ~ Elizabeth Marie Pope, #NFDB
933:Ordinary people who know nothing of phonetics or elocution have difficulties in understanding slow speech composed of perfect sounds, while they have no difficulty in comprehending an imperfect gabble if only the accent and rhythm are natural. ~ Alexander Graham Bell, #NFDB
934:And as for small difficulties and worryings, prospects of sudden disaster, peril of life and limb; all these, and death itself, seem to him only sly, good-natured hits, and jolly punches in the side bestowed by the unseen and unaccountable old joker. ~ Herman Melville, #NFDB
935:His Holiness Pope John Paul II was a determined and deeply spiritual minded person for whom I had great respect and admiration. His experience in Poland, then a communist country, and my own difficulties with communists, gave us an immediate common ground ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
936:Modern minds no longer object to the Church because of the way they think, but because of the way they live. They no longer have difficulties with the Creed, but with her Commandments. The heresy of our day is not the heresy of thought, but of action. ~ Fulton J Sheen, #NFDB
937:In Brazil she had read a book about a shepherd who, in searching for his treasure, encounters various difficulties, and these difficulties help him to get what he wants; she was in exactly the same position. She was aware now that the reason she had been ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
938:Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life's difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph. ~ Martin Luther King Jr, #NFDB
939:Most do not fully see this truth that life is difficult. Instead they moan more or less incessantly, noisily or subtly, about the enormity of their problems, their burdens, and their difficulties as if life were generally easy, as if life should be easy. ~ M Scott Peck, #NFDB
940:The first lesson to learn is to resign oneself to the little difficulties in life, not to hit out at everything one comes up against. If one were able to manage this one would not need to cultivate great power; even one's presence would be healing. ~ Hazrat Inayat Khan, #NFDB
941:When Mercury’s transit squares a major planet in one’s natal chart, watch for communication difficulties. If the planet squared is Mars or Venus, one’s patience is pushed to the limit. It can also, however, be a period of great creativity and social energy. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
942:It is difficulties that show what men are. For the future, in case of any difficulty, remember that God, like a gymnastic trainer, has pitted you against a rough antagonist. For what end? That you may be an Olympic conqueror; and this cannot be without toil. ~ Epictetus, #NFDB
943:May we hope that, when we are all dead and gone, leaders will arise who have been personally experienced in the hard, practical work, the difficulties, and the joys of organizing nursing reforms, and who will lead far beyond anything we have done! ~ Florence Nightingale, #NFDB
944:There were times when there were riots in Africa, demonstrations against the IMF because of the policy advice they were giving, the conditionalities they were imposing, and the difficulties that arose out of the implementation of those conditionalities. ~ Jakaya Kikwete, #NFDB
945:We have had so many years of prosperity, we have passed through so many difficulties and dangers without the loss of liberty - that we begin to think that we hold it by divine right from heaven itself ... It is harder to preserve than to obtain liberty. ~ John C Calhoun, #NFDB
946:Reading put perspective to any challenge I was facing and made me see that extraordinary people usually had extraordinary pain, difficulties or injustices. That's part of why they have the drive and hunger to do good in the world, to make something happen. ~ Tony Robbins, #NFDB
947:Can quantum mechanics represent the fact that an electron finds itself approximately in a given place and that it moves approximately with a given velocity, and can we make these approximations so close that they do not cause experimental difficulties? ~ Werner Heisenberg, #NFDB
948:It is the light from within that you have to make room for; the light of the outer mind is quite insufficient for the discovery of the inner values or to judge the truth of spiritual experience. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Steps towards Overcoming Difficulties, #NFDB
949:It seems to me that-at least in our scientific theories of behavior-we have failed to accept the simple fact that human relations are inherently fraught with difficulties and that to make them even relatively harmonious requires much patience and hard work. ~ Thomas Szasz, #NFDB
950:As a person, when I was seven or eight, my dad would try very hard to tutor me through school because I had learning difficulties or whatever. I would wish that they could just plant a chip in my brain so that I would know everything and not have to study. ~ Dichen Lachman, #NFDB
951:The Confederations Cup is interesting. It served Spain very well to take part and then go on to win the 2010 World Cup. We knew the stadiums, the atmosphere, the conditions and also the difficulties of a tournament which simulated the World Cup format. ~ Vicente del Bosque, #NFDB
952:To cut out every negative root would simultaneously mean choking off positive elements that might arise from it further up the stem of the plant. We should not feel embarrassed by our difficulties, only by our failure to grow anything beautiful from them. ~ Alain de Botton, #NFDB
953:What is work? Work is struggle. There are difficulties and problems in those places for us to overcome and solve. We go there to work and struggle to overcome these difficulties. A good comrade is one who is more eager to go where the difficulties are greater. ~ Mao Zedong, #NFDB
954:The raging monster upon the land is population growth. In its presence, sustainability is but a fragile theoretical construct. To say, as many do, that the difficulties of nations are not due to people, but to poor ideology and land-use management is sophistic. ~ Pete Wilson, #NFDB
955:Too often, we decide to follow a path that is not really our own, one that others have set for us. We forget that...in both cases we will pass through both difficult and happy moments. But when we are living our dream, the difficulties we encounter make sense. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
956:He who wants to advance on the path of perfection must never complain about the difficulties on the way, for each is an opportunity for a new progress. To complain is a sign of #weakness and #insincerity. ~ The Mother#stopcomplaining #stopcomplainingstartliving #nevercomplain, #NFDB
957:It is by persevering that one conquers difficulties, not by running away from them. One who perseveres is sure to triumph. Victory goes to the most enduring. Always do your best and the Lord will take care of the results.
Words of The Mother, vol.14, p.173 ~ The Mother,#NFDB
958:Through persistence, self-knowledge, prayer, commitment, optimism, a resolute trust in God and the building of your own personal moral strength, you can enjoy the blessings of a deeper faith and face the difficulties of life with courage and confidence. ~ Norman Vincent Peale, #NFDB
959:Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
960:I had the experience last year of directing my first feature while I had a 1-year-old son and while I was also pregnant, so I am now well aware of the difficulties women who are rearing children face when they're also trying to make headway in mainstream of film. ~ Diablo Cody, #NFDB
961:She wasn't afraid of difficulties, what frightened her was having to choose one particular path. Choosing a path meant missing out on others. She had a whole life to live and she was always thinking that, in the future, she might regret the choices she made now. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
962:The best architects feel it to be their duty to make the path to the hole as free as possible from annoying difficulties for the less skillful golfers, while at the same time presenting to the scratch players a route calling for the best shots at their command. ~ Robert Hunter, #NFDB
963:We tend to forget even the basic fact that all people live in a fallen world—we are sinful creatures living in a corrupt, sin-cursed society. Believers should not be surprised, perplexed, or resentful when they encounter difficulties throughout this life. ~ John F MacArthur Jr, #NFDB
964:But the loneliness of her life had developed in her a sensitiveness which could not endure situations such as the present; difficulties which are of small account to people who take their part in active social life, harassed her to the destruction of all peace. ~ George Gissing, #NFDB
965:Hitherto I have courted Truth with a kind of Romantick Passion, in spite of all Difficulties and Discouragements: for knowledge is thought so unnecessary an Accomplishment for a Woman, that few will give themselves the Trouble to assist us in the Attainment of it. ~ Mary Astell, #NFDB
966:It was entirely due to my mother [a devout Buddhist] and her kindness and perseverance that the family was saved from utter ruin. For a period of 17 years--from the age of 9 until I was 25 years old--my mother never spent a day free from domestic difficulties. ~ Chiang Kai shek, #NFDB
967:Melania [Trump] is terrific. I think that Melania will be outstanding. She just opened up the visitor center, in other words touring of the White House. She, like others that she's working with, feel very, very strongly about women's issues, women's difficulties. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
968:Old age is a lease nature only signs as a particular favor, and it may be, to one, only in the space of two or three ages; and then with a pass to boot, to carry him through, all the traverses and difficulties she has strewed in the way of his long career. ~ Michel de Montaigne, #NFDB
969:There are few moments of clarity more profound than those that follow the emptying of an overcharged bladder. The world slows down, the focus sharpens, the brain comes back on line. Huge nebulous difficulties prove on close calm examination to be merely cloud giants. ~ Tom Holt, #NFDB
970:The rush to books and universities is like the rush to the public house. People want to drown their realization of the difficulties of living properly in this grotesque contemporary world, they want to forget their own deplorable inefficiency as artists in life. ~ Aldous Huxley, #NFDB
971:Whatever course you decide upon there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires....courage. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
972:I would tell most young people that in life you can go through many difficulties, but if you know what you want to do, if you can focus, and work, then in the end, you will end up doing it. No matter what happens, if you don't give up, you will still succeed. ~ William Kamkwamba, #NFDB
973:They loathed the difficulties of earthly struggles and chose physical pleasure as the supreme objective of their purpose on earth. And when death closed their satiated eyelids, they came to know a longer and denser night filled with anguish and terror. ~ Francisco C ndido Xavier, #NFDB
974:If we take care of the means, we are bound to reach the end sooner or later. When once we have grasped this point, final victory is beyond question. Whatever difficulties we encounter, whatever apparent reverses we sustain, we may not give up the quest for truth. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
975:It is said that "long livers are great hopers." If you keep your hope bright in spite of discouragements, and meet all difficulties with a cheerful face, it will be very difficult for age to trace its furrows on your brow. There is longevity in cheerfulness. ~ Orison Swett Marden, #NFDB
976:Self-confidence has ever been the best substitute for friends, pedigree, influence, and money. It is the best capital in the world; it has mastered more obstacles, overcome more difficulties, and carried through more enterprises than any other human quality. ~ Orison Swett Marden, #NFDB
977:So closely interwoven have been our lives, our purposes, and experiences that, separated, we have a feeling of incompleteness--united, such strength of self-association that no ordinary obstacles, difficulties, or dangers ever appear to us insurmountable. ~ Elizabeth Cady Stanton, #NFDB
978:To indulge in fear thoughts constantly and to engage your mind constantly with negative thoughts result in abnormal fear, obsessions, and complexes. To engage the mind with all the difficulties of your problem will only instill more fear until it assumes a size of ~ Joseph Murphy, #NFDB
979:Even with this disaster I had dragged us all into, she was still proud to be my mother. It occurred to me that I had never seen my mother defeated, even when life presented difficulties and disappointments. I hoped that our resemblance extended beyond our blue eyes. ~ Piper Kerman, #NFDB
980:The scientific study of the relationship between brain and mind began in 1861, when Broca, in France, found that specific difficulties in the expressive use of speech, aphasia, consistently followed damage to a particular portion of the left hemisphere of the brain. ~ Oliver Sacks, #NFDB
981:This is not pessimism but rather casting a cold eye on things. It is only one man's story, and I think that things will go better, but difficulties exist and nothing is served by hiding them under a poetic veil or under a lyricism of the past. I am against slogans. ~ Chinua Achebe, #NFDB
982:We live in terribly complex times. We are confronted by very serious problems. Some of us are faced with sickness, with economic difficulties, with worry and concern over many matters. Our refuge, our peace, our well-being lie in walking in the way of the Lord. ~ Gordon B Hinckley, #NFDB
983:A man who dreads trials and difficulties cannot become a revolutionary. If he is to become a revolutionary with an indomitable fighting spirit, he must be tempered in the arduous struggle from his youth. As the saying goes, early training means more than late earning. ~ Kim Jong Il, #NFDB
984:Instead of taking the camp’s difficulties as a test of their inner strength, they did not take their life seriously and despised it as something of no consequence. They preferred to close their eyes and to live in the past. Life for such people became meaningless. ~ Viktor E Frankl, #NFDB
985:In the end, the problem is not so much that people forget, but that they do not always forget the same thing. What still exists as a memory for one person can be irretrievably lost for another, and this creates difficulties, insuperable barriers against understanding. ~ Paul Auster, #NFDB
986:You find us, Copperfield,’ said Mr Micawber, with one eye on Traddles, ‘at present established, on what may be designated as a small and unassuming scale; but, you are aware that I have, in the course of my career, surmounted difficulties, and conquered obstacles. ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
987:But our deepest difficulties cannot be resolved merely on a narrowly intellectual plane. Our deepest difficulty is sin, rebellion against God. We have desires in our hearts that resist the Bible’s views and what God has to say. We want to be our own master. ~ Vern Sheridan Poythress, #NFDB
988:Direct popular government of a state larger than a city state had already failed therefore in Italy, because as yet there was no public education, no press, and no representative system; it had failed though these mere mechanical difficulties, before the first Punic War. ~ H G Wells, #NFDB
989:Nature-deficit disorder describes the human costs of alienation from nature, among them: diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses. The disorder can be detected in individuals, families, and communities. ~ Richard Louv, #NFDB
990:Of all difficulties which impede the progress of thought, and the formation of well-grounded opinions on life and social arrangements, the greatest is now the unspeakable ignorance and inattention of mankind in respect to the influences which form human character. ~ John Stuart Mill, #NFDB
991:Without difficulties, life would be like a stream without rocks and curves – about as interesting as concrete. Without problems, there can be no personal growth, no group achievement, no progress of humanity. But what mattes about problems is what one does with them. ~ Benjamin Hoff, #NFDB
992:Reproduction, in particular, is a wonderful method of getting round the difficulties of manufacturing a really complicated thing. Just build one that manufactures more of itself. The first one may be incredibly difficult – but all the rest come with no added effort. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
993:So for every day that you're on this earth, for every minute that you have, the whole idea is doing nothing less than exactly what you feel you're supposed to do and squeezing every last drop out of life every day, regardless of the difficulties or trials that you face. ~ Ryan Tedder, #NFDB
994:What bothers me is that health professionals give fancy names to conditions or learning difficulties that will irritate the patients; like OCD not being in alphabetical order, putting an ‘S’ in ‘lisp,’ and making dyslexia a word that no one can spell. It’s just mean. ~ Suzanne Wright, #NFDB
995:Alfred Adler, the famous Viennese psychologist, wrote a book entitled What Life Should Mean to You. In that book he says: “It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. ~ Dale Carnegie, #NFDB
996:Difficulties, opposition, criticism-these things are meant to be overcome, and there is a special joy in facing them and in coming out on top. It is only when there is nothing but praise that life loses its charm and I begin to wonder what I should do about it. ~ Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, #NFDB
997:If we are safe today, it is because America has stood with us. If we are to remain safe tomorrow, it will be because America remains powerful and self-confident. When, therefore, the Americans face difficulties, we need to say to them more clearly: We are with you. ~ Margaret Thatcher, #NFDB
998:that accompany this condition—the lack of theory of mind, executive dysfunction, and weak central coherence. There are also a host of other issues like sensory processing difficulties—being hyper or hypo sensitive to outside stimuli like to heat, cold, or pain. ~ Jeannie Davide Rivera, #NFDB
999:The proof of the depth and embodiment of your realization will be seen in your love relationship. That's where the proof is in the pudding. If it all collapses in your relationship, you have some work to do. And people do have a lot of difficulties in their relationships. ~ Adyashanti, #NFDB
1000:The younger generation is essentially idealistic. This applies to the Iranian youth as well. In addition, the youth in Iran face certain difficulties... the Iranian youth need more freedom. They are struggling for more freedom and democracy. This commands great respect. ~ Shirin Ebadi, #NFDB
1001:What we are saying is that we need to consolidate the capacity to lend support. Because, one of the problems that's mentioned with regard to the Black Empowerment process in the case of small and medium business, is shortage of credit or difficulties of accessing credit. ~ Thabo Mbeki, #NFDB
1002:Difficulties can't be eliminated from life. Individuals will always have them, countries will always have them...The only thing is to accept them, if possible overcome them, otherwise to come to terms with them. It's all right to fight, yes, but only when it's possible. ~ Indira Gandhi, #NFDB
1003:I don’t regret the difficulties I experienced; I think they helped me to become the person I am today. I feel the way a warrior must feel after years of training: he doesn’t remember the details of everything he learned, but he knows how to strike when the time is right. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1004:You might be tempted to skip the middleman and just leave this bit of code in Bicycle to begin with, but this push-everything-down-and-then-pull-some-things-up strategy is an important part of this refactoring. Many of the difficulties of inheritance are caused by a failure ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1005:After we got McDonald’s going and built a larger staff, they all called her “Mother Martino.” She kept track of everyone’s family fortunes, whose wife was having a baby, who was having marital difficulties, or whose birthday it was. She helped make the office a happy place. It ~ Ray Kroc, #NFDB
1006:Let Go of the Past If you constantly go back over your life and focus on the difficulties from the past, you are just bringing more difficult circumstances to you now. When you think back over your life, let go of all the things you don’t love about your childhood and keep ~ Rhonda Byrne, #NFDB
1007:There are so many things in the world - in the cities - so much to see. Does art need to represent this variety and contribute to its proliferation? Can art be that free? The difficulties begin when you understand what it is that the soul will not permit the hand to make. ~ Philip Guston, #NFDB
1008:Alternate currents, especially of high frequencies, pass with astonishing freedom through even slightly rarefied gases. The upper strata of the air are rarefied. To reach a number of miles out into space requires the overcoming of difficulties of a merely mechanical nature. ~ Nikola Tesla, #NFDB
1009:Do not be afraid to help one another. The devil is looking for rivalry, division, gangs. Keep working to make progress ... I have seen how pain does not stifle the hope deep within the human heart and how life goes on, finding new strength even in the midst of difficulties. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
1010:i don't regret the difficulties I experienced; I think they help helped me to become the person I am today. i feel the way a warrior must feel after years of traning; he doesn't remember the details of everything he learned, but he knows how to strike when the time is right ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1011:Nothing can astound an American. It has often been asserted that the word "impossible" is not a French one. People have evidently been deceived by the dictionary. In America, all is easy, all is simple; and as for mechanical difficulties, they are overcome before they arise. ~ Jules Verne, #NFDB
1012:Although the way ahead [for immunology] is full of pitfalls and difficulties, this is indeed an exhilarating prospect. There is no danger of a shortage of forthcoming excitement in the subject. Yet, as always, the highlights of tomorrow are the unpredictabilities of today. ~ Cesar Milstein, #NFDB
1013:Few are altogether deaf to the preaching of pine trees. Their sermons on the mountains go to our hearts; and if people in general could be got into the woods, even for once, to hear the trees speak for themselves, all difficulties in the way of forest preservation would vanish. ~ John Muir, #NFDB
1014:human being is a specific element within the whole of the manifest divine Being. So why be afraid of difficulties, sufferings and problems? When troubles come, try to understand the relevance of your sufferings. Adversity always presents opportunities for introspection. ~ A P J Abdul Kalam, #NFDB
1015:Spiritual ardency is the wellspring of a courageous heart. It gives us the strength to continue through all the difficulties of the journey. The question for us is how to practice and cultivate ardency, so that it becomes a powerful and onward-leading force in our lives. ~ Joseph Goldstein, #NFDB
1016:Who's willing to face the unknown- the difficulties, the disappointments, the surprises of the unfamiliar. If you're going to change, you have to face those things, and who's able? Who has the skillful means, the knowhow, the perseverance, the help, the fortitude to keep going? ~ Surya Das, #NFDB
1017:[O]ne of the greatest difficulties encountered in bringing about favorable change is this almost inescapable illusion that there is a perduring, unique, simple existent self, [which is] in some strange fashion, the patient's, or the subject person's, private property. ~ Harry Stack Sullivan, #NFDB
1018:The positive thinker is a hard-headed, tough-minded, and factual realist. He sees all the difficulties clearly... which is more than can be said for the average negative thinker. But he sees more than difficulties - he tries to see the solutions of those difficulties. ~ Norman Vincent Peale, #NFDB
1019:The search for scapegoats is essentially an abnegation of responsibility: it indicates an inability to assess honestly and intelligently the true nature of the problems which lie at the root of social and economic difficulties and a lack of resolve in grappling with them. ~ Aung San Suu Kyi, #NFDB
1020:As a lotus that grows in muddy water and yet not affected by its surroundings, one’s growth parameter should be unruffled against all odds such as bad influence of external situations, disappointments, extreme difficulties, or entrapment of muddy surroundings of life. Lotus ~ Sukhabodhananda, #NFDB
1021:I have been confronted with many difficulties throughout the course of my life, and my country is going through a critical period. But I laugh often, and my laughter is contagious. When people ask me how I find the strength to laugh now, I reply that I am a professional laugher. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
1022:people undertake some new task not because of a challenge, but because of the assumed absence of a challenge because the task looks easy…and then, once they are stuck with it, they have willy-nilly to overcome the unsuspected difficulties—and sometimes they even succeed. ~ Albert O Hirschman, #NFDB
1023:To this day, I remain convinced of this basic philosophy: no matter what quandaries we face—business problems, health issues, relationship difficulties, as well as the great scientific, social, and cultural challenges of our time—there is an idea that can enable us to prevail. ~ Ray Kurzweil, #NFDB
1024:What bothers me is that health professionals give fancy names to conditions or learning difficulties that will irritate the patients; like OCD not being in alphabetical order, putting an ‘S’ in ‘lisp,’ and making dyslexia a word that no one can spell. It’s just mean.” Harper ~ Suzanne Wright, #NFDB
1025:It is of the essence of any party to gain its orientation not from truths but from illusions which usually correspond to the irrational mass structure. Scientific truths only interfered with the habit of the party politicians of avoiding difficulties with the aid of illusions. ~ Wilhelm Reich, #NFDB
1026:It is the best thing to blame ourselves when people cannot get on well with us. Boundless charity necessarily includes all or it ceases to be boundless. We must be strict with ourselves and lenient with our neighbors. For we know not their difficulties and what they overcome. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1027:It is the law that any difficulties that can come to you at any time, must be exactly what you need most at the moment to enable you to take the next step forward by overcoming them. The only real misfortune, the only real tragedy, comes when we suffer without learning the lesson. ~ Emmet Fox, #NFDB
1028:dreaming is very pleasant as long as you are not forced to put your dreams into practice. That way, we avoid all the risks, frustrations and difficulties, and when we are old, we can always blame other people—preferably our parents, our spouses or our children—for our failure to ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1029:No matter what sort of difficulties you must endure and no matter hiw painful your experiences, you must not lose hope. Losing faith is the only thing that can truely distroy you. To conquer yourself and your weaknesses are a greater triumph than to conquer thousands in battle. ~ Colleen Houck, #NFDB
1030:The fortitude which has encountered no dangers, that prudence which has surmounted no difficulties, that integrity which has been attacked by no temptation, can at best be considered but as gold not yet brought to the test, of which therefore the true value cannot be assigned. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
1031:The real rest is in the inner life founded in peace and silence and absence of desire. There is no other rest—for without that the machine goes on whether one is interested in it or not. The inner mukti is the only remedy. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, Difficulties of the Path - VII, #NFDB
1032:Upon the whole, I am inclined to think that the far greater part, if not all, of those difficulties which have hitherto amused philosophers, and blocked up the way to knowledge, are entirely owing to ourselves--that we have first raised a dust and then complain we cannot see. ~ George Berkeley, #NFDB
1033:Every person who has grown to any degree of usefulness, every person who has grown to distinction, almost without exception has been a person who has risen by overcoming obstacles, by removing difficulties, by resolving that when he met discouragement he would not give up. ~ Booker T Washington, #NFDB
1034:every human being is a specific element within the whole of the manifest divine Being. So why be afraid of difficulties, sufferings and problems? When troubles come, try to understand the relevance of your sufferings. Adversity always presents opportunities for introspection. ~ A P J Abdul Kalam, #NFDB
1035:One of the difficulties in getting to the bottom of the poor prospects for retirement is that the policy and intellectual elites, including corporate leadership, who are dealing with this problem, rarely have the same difficulties as the great majority of middle-income Americans. ~ Hedrick Smith, #NFDB
1036:But when states are acquired in a country differing in language, customs, or laws, there are difficulties, and good fortune and great energy are needed to hold them, and one of the greatest and most real helps would be that he who has acquired them should go and reside there. ~ Niccol Machiavelli, #NFDB
1037:That no generally applicable law of the formulation and development of hybrids has yet been successfully formulated can hardly astonish anyone who is acquainted with the extent of the task and who can appreciate the difficulties with which experiments of this kind have to contend. ~ Gregor Mendel, #NFDB
1038:Upon the whole, I am inclined to think that the far greater part, if not all, of those difficulties which have hitherto amused philosophers, and blocked up the way to knowledge, are entirely owing to our selves. That we have first raised a dust, and then complain, we cannot see. ~ George Berkeley, #NFDB
1039:All Jane Austen novels have a common storyline: an attractive and virtuous young woman surmounts difficulties to achieve marriage to the man of her choice. This is the age-long convention of the romantic novel, but with Jane Austen, what we have is Mills & Boon written by a genius. ~ P D James, #NFDB
1040:But I’ve found that when you start talking to people, everybody’s family has something they’ve dealt with. Every family has issues and is a little dysfunctional. It’s not whether you will have problems within your family; it’s how you handle those difficulties when they come your way. ~ Drew Brees, #NFDB
1041:Difficulties It often seems to those in earnest about the right as if all things conspired to prevent their progress. This, of course, is but an appearance, arising in part from this, that the pilgrim must be headed back from the side-paths into which he is constantly wandering. ~ George MacDonald, #NFDB
1042:It would be easy to fantasize that this would have been better. But we can never know what lies at the end of the path not taken. Other difficulties, other heartaches, other complexities would certainly have emerged. But at least we would have been a family traversing them together. ~ Dani Shapiro, #NFDB
1043:Plus, we adults have unhealed hurts from our own childhoods, which sometimes get in the way right when our children need our support. Our own piles of old feelings interfere with parenting playfully. In turn, that makes it hard to help children with their emotional difficulties, ~ Lawrence J Cohen, #NFDB
1044:A key psychology for leading from good to great is the Stockdale Paradox: Retain absolute faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, AND at the same time confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. UNEXPECTED ~ James C Collins, #NFDB
1045:It is at least worth arguing that there is a modicum of the creative novelist in all of us, and that this absorption with how men get out of difficulties, single-handedly and alone if possible, is the stuff of which we weave the warp and woof of our own better dramatic imaginings. ~ Humphrey Bogart, #NFDB
1046:The ideal parent is not anxiously hanging around trying to micromanage everything. The ideal parent makes it feel that problems, difficulties and dangers don’t always have to be avoided: they can be coped with, solved or skilfully overcome. Such a parent makes the child secure. ~ The School of Life, #NFDB
1047:There is no such thing as escape after all, only an exchange of one set of difficulties for another. It wasn't Mark or the farm or marriage I was trying to shake loose from but my own imperfect self, and even if I kept moving, she would dog me all the way around the world, forever. ~ Kristin Kimball, #NFDB
1048:I had great difficulties learning to play initially because I could not think rhythmically properly, although it's an even-paced rhythm, I was not phrasing properly, I was too Western. It took me a while to learn to think in needed form, and the only way I could learn was just by ear. ~ Richard Meale, #NFDB
1049:In the twenty-five years that have passed since the ending of the World War when the people of this country emerged from generations of humiliation under foreign occupation, we have accomplished much to our credit, overcome many difficulties and changed the course of our history. ~ Tunku Abdul Rahman, #NFDB
1050:People who continue in blatant sin whilst exercising spiritual gifts create this ever widening gulf in their personality which results in spiritual failure, emotional collapse, sometimes mental breakdown, physical illness, relational difficulties and quite often a complete moral lapse. ~ Graham Cooke, #NFDB
1051:Thinking gets you nowhere. It may be a fine and noble aid in academic studies, but you can't think your way out of emotional difficulties. That takes something altogether different. You have to make yourself passive then, and just listen. Re-establish contact with a slice of eternity. ~ Etty Hillesum, #NFDB
1052:Frank Jude Boccio, author of Mindfulness Yoga, to think about as he leaves the session: “We bitch about our difficulties along the rough surface of our path, we curse every sharp stone underneath, until at some point in our maturation, we finally look down to see that they are diamonds. ~ Esther Perel, #NFDB
1053:The author says that one of the difficulties of modern parenting is the uncertainty of what parents are preparing children for. In traditional societies this was clear, as parents prepared children for a society and for roles much like their own. She writes, "There is no folk wisdom. ~ Jennifer Senior, #NFDB
1054:...great difficulties are felt at first and these cannot be overcome except by starting from experiments .. and then be conceiving certain hypotheses ... But even so, very much hard work remains to be done and one needs not only great perspicacity but often a degree of good fortune. ~ Christiaan Huygens, #NFDB
1055:I never let the thought of failure enter my mind. My knowledge of my unity with the Universal One and the fact that I must do this thing, and the inspired belief I should do it as a demonstration of my belief in man's unlimited power, made me ignore the difficulties that lay in the way. ~ Walter Russell, #NFDB
1056:Adversity need not interrupt your communion with Me. When things go “wrong,” you tend to react as if you’re being punished. Instead of this negative response, try to view difficulties as blessings in disguise. Make Me your Refuge by pouring out your heart to Me, trusting in Me at all times. ~ Sarah Young, #NFDB
1057:A healthy state can exist only when the men and women who make it up lead clean, vigorous, healthy lives; when the children are so trained that they shall endeavor, not to shirk difficulties, but to overcome them; not to seek ease, but to know how to wrest triumph from toil and risk. ~ Theodore Roosevelt, #NFDB
1058:I miss my grandmother every day. I miss her vitality, her interest in the lives of others, her courage and determination, her perceptive wisdom, her calm in the face of all difficulties, her steadfast belief in the British people and above all her unstoppable sense of mischievous humour. ~ Prince Charles, #NFDB
1059:The most successful people, the evidence shows, often aren’t directly pursuing conventional notions of success. They’re working hard and persisting through difficulties because of their internal desire to control their lives, learn about their world, and accomplish something that endures. ~ Daniel H Pink, #NFDB
1060:The secret of the difficulties of those people who make a great deal of money, and yet are always in want of it, is this-they throw it away as soon as they get it on the first whim or extravagance that strikes them, and have nothing left to meet ordinary expenses or discharge old debts. ~ William Hazlitt, #NFDB
1061:Our greatest battles lie deep within our own psyches as we face fear, insecurity, and self-doubt. These internal adversaries pose a far greater threat to our lives and our well-being than the external difficulties of daily life. Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. Plato ~ Dan Millman, #NFDB
1062:The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has this to say on the subject of flying. There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss ... Clearly, it is this second part, the missing, which presents the difficulties. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
1063:The tragic reality is that there have been occasions when [Mormon] Church leaders, teachers, and writers have not told the truth they knew about difficulties of the Mormon past, but have offered to the Saints instead a mixture of platitudes, half-truths, omissions, and plausible denials. ~ D Michael Quinn, #NFDB
1064:Through its influence upon the unconscious, music can have a specific healing effect. It can help in eliminating repressions and resistances, and it can bring into the field of waking consciousness many drives, emotions and complexes which were creating difficulties in the unconscious. ~ Roberto Assagioli, #NFDB
1065:I have heard from people that the first year of marriage is the toughest. Brie [Bella] and I have definitely had our share of life difficulties with me having neck surgery and that sort of thing, but things are going really well and it is getting better after year one and that is phenomenal. ~ Daniel Bryan, #NFDB
1066:In the realm of the unknown, difficulties must be viewed as a hidden treasure! Usually, the more difficult, the better. It's not as valuable if your difficulties stem from your own inner struggle. But when difficulties arise out of increasing objective resistance, that's marvelous! ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, #NFDB
1067:I submit that style, too, is an answer to a common want; but not so much to formulated problems as to felt difficulties of an emotional kind. . . . Style is fundamentally a pose, a stance, at times a self delusion, by which the people of any period meet the particular dilemmas of their day. ~ Jacques Barzun, #NFDB
1068:No. I had successfully solved the difficulty of finding a description of the electron which was consistent with both relativity and quantum mechanics. Of course, when you solve one difficulty, other new difficulties arise. You then try to sove them. You can never solve all difficulties at once. ~ Paul Dirac, #NFDB
1069:In many cases, we make sleep a lot more complicated than it needs to be. Sleep difficulties can turn into serious medical problems. For the vast majority of us, however, sleep difficulties are a lifestyle problem. Yet we tend to treat all our sleep-related woes the same way: with a pill. ~ Arianna Huffington, #NFDB
1070:It is well for us that our salvation doth not depend upon our being able to solve all these difficulties, nor is the divine authority of the gospels at all weakened by them; for the evangelists are not supposed to write these genealogies either of their own knowledge or by divine inspiration, ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
1071:Meditation is not meant to help us avoid problems or run away from difficulties. It is meant to allow positive healing to take place. To meditate is to learn how to stop—to stop being carried away by our regrets about the past, our anger or despair in the present, or our worries about the future. ~ Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
1072:There was a long period of time when Sam Fuller had a lot of projects fall through and had a lot of difficulties getting a project off the ground. And I was able to observe him during that period, and see his incredible resiliency and courage as he faced this difficulty and just kept working. ~ Curtis Hanson, #NFDB
1073:We are convinced, then, that autistic people have their place in the organism of the social community. They fulfil their role well, perhaps better than anyone else could, and we are talking of people who as children had the greatest difficulties and caused untold worries to their care-givers. ~ Hans Asperger, #NFDB
1074:Do not be discouraged by the resistance you will encounter from your human nature; you must go against your human inclinations. Often, in the beginning, you will think that you are wasting time, but you must go on, be determined and persevere in it until death, despite all the difficulties. ~ Brother Lawrence, #NFDB
1075:Get the most out of everything in your life; the happiness and the sadness, the success and the failure...get a good perspective of what life is all about. Let the orchestra of your life play all the notes, the high notes, the low rumblings of the difficulties and perplexities that all we all face. ~ Jim Rohn, #NFDB
1076:I can take this real world and superimpose upon it the world of illusion (which isn't, really), in order to either fix or prevent many of life's difficulties--or even better, create happiness and well-being for both myself and others. I can do this, and so can you ... if you really want to. ~ Silver RavenWolf, #NFDB
1077:I think of the difficulties which, in various countries, today afflicts the world of work and business; I think of how many, and not just young people, are unemployed, many times due to a purely economic conception of society, which seeks selfish profit, beyond the parameters of social justice. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
1078:I understood at those times what I was leaving behind: the solidarity of a shared biology. Women know what it means to have a body. They understand its difficulties and frailties, its glories and pleasures. Men think their bodies are theirs alone. They tend them in private, even in public. ~ Jeffrey Eugenides, #NFDB
1079:The last thing is simplicity. After having gone through all the difficulties, having played an endless number of notes, it is simplicity that matters, with all its charm. It is the final seal on Art. Anyone who strives for this to begin with will be disappointed. You cannot begin at the end. ~ Frederic Chopin, #NFDB
1080:The life I've had, the difficulties, the hardships, the pain I've suffered since I was a child. It's a great privilege to have led a difficult life, and many people in my generation have had this privilege - I sometimes wonder if young people today aren't deprived of the dramas that shaped us. ~ Indira Gandhi, #NFDB
1081:the peaceful warrior’s greatest battles don’t lie in the external world, but within us. These inner hurdles generate most of the obstacles and difficulties we encounter in daily life. They carry greater danger than outer problems, because they slip, unseen and unnoticed, into our every endeavor. ~ Dan Millman, #NFDB
1082:You must have certain principles in life to ensure that you follow the right path and do not deviate from it at the time of difficulties. Principles are not meant so much for the easy times, as for the difficult times, when you are tempted to follow the easy path to avoid the pressing problem. ~ Awdhesh Singh, #NFDB
1083:Adler’s statement is so rich with meaning that I am going to repeat it in italics: It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring. ~ Dale Carnegie, #NFDB
1084:Children with ASD can grow beyond their limitations and develop into wonderful, productive citizens. All we have to do is see through those limitations to the bright kids they really are, helping them past their difficulties without allowing them to be labeled and restricted by their diagnoses. ~ Karina Poirier, #NFDB
1085:Just look at the problems James dealt with and you can see that each of them is characteristic of little children: • Impatience in difficulties—1:1–4 • Talking but not living the truth—2:14ff. • No control of the tongue—3:1ff. • Fighting and coveting—4:1ff. • Collecting material “toys”—5:1ff. ~ Warren W Wiersbe, #NFDB
1086:cities have marvelous innate abilities for understanding, communicating, contriving and inventing what is required to combat their difficulties,” she wrote. They get their order from below; they are learning machines, pattern recognizers—even when the patterns they respond to are unhealthy ones. ~ Steven Johnson, #NFDB
1087:In the beginning practice is not easy. You may encounter difficulties or experience a loss of enthusiasm. Or perhaps there will be too much enthusiasm – then after a few weeks or months, your enthusiasm may wane. You need to develop a constant persistent approach based on a long-term commitment. ~ Dalai Lama XIV, #NFDB
1088:May my enemies be well, happy, and peaceful; may no difficulties come to them; may no problem come to them; may they always meet with success. May they also have patience, courage, understanding, and determination to meet and overcome inevitable difficulties, problems, and failures in life. ~ Henepola Gunaratana, #NFDB
1089:And yet, surely, Providence had brought Izzy to me, had put us together. In spite of the difficulties, the threat of hunger and danger and even death, couldn't we find joy in being together? What if love was one of the methods God had set into place to ease the pain and suffering this life brought? ~ Jody Hedlund, #NFDB
1090:dreaming is very pleasant as long as you are not forced to put your dreams into practice. That way, we avoid all the risks, frustrations and difficulties, and when we are old, we can always blame other people—preferably our parents, our spouses or our children—for our failure to realize our dreams. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1091:...for twenty years or more, nothing but loving words, and gentle moralities, and motherly loving kindness, had come from that chair;--headaches and heartaches innumerable had been cured there,--difficulties spritual and temporal solved there,--all by one good, loving woman, God bless her! ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe, #NFDB
1092:Children with ASD can grow beyond their limitations and develop into wonderful, productive citizens. All we have to do is see through those limitations to the bright kids they really are, helping them past their difficulties without allowing
them to be labeled and restricted by their diagnoses. ~ Karina Poirier,#NFDB
1093:I'm never really sure what that word means, but however inaccurately I use it, 'classical' was always my ideal, as long as I can remember, and something of that has always stayed with me, to this day. Of course, there were difficulties, because in comparison to my ideal, I didn't even come close. ~ Gerhard Richter, #NFDB
1094:Prayer therapy, according to Dr Parker, is a psychosomatic attempt to attack the causes of these disorders in the subconscious. ‘Four basic personality difficulties are at the root of everything that goes wrong in the subconscious mind,’ Dr Parker said. ‘They are fear, hate, guilt, and inferiority. ~ Joseph Murphy, #NFDB
1095:The practical mind of the politician which represents the average reason and temperament of the time and effects usually something much nearer the minimum than the maximum of what is possible. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, The Possibility of a First Step towards International Unity - Its Enormous Difficulties, #NFDB
1096:I feel that talent means little unless coupled with an insatiable desire to give an excellent personal demonstration of ability...talent must be in company with a capacity for unlimited effort which provides the power that eventually hurdles the difficulties that would frustrate lukewarm enthusiasm. ~ Andrew Loomis, #NFDB
1097:It is only natural that difficulties arise if we must fight day by day in order to survive while another human being, equal to us, is effortlessly living a luxurious life. This is an unhealthy situation; as a result, even the wealthy — the billionaires and millionaires — remain in constant anxiety. ~ Dalai Lama XIV, #NFDB
1098:Ours is a kind of struggle designed, I dare say, by Providence to try the patience, fortitude, and virtue of men. None, therefore, who is engaged in it, will suffer himself, I trust, to sink under difficulties, or be discouraged by hardships. If he cannot do as he wishes, he must do what he can. ~ George Washington, #NFDB
1099:Adversity gives birth to greatness. The greater the challenges and difficulties we face, the greater the opportunity we have to grow and develop as people. A life without adversity, a life of ease and comfort, produces nothing and leaves us with nothing. This is one of the indisputable facts of life. ~ Daisaku Ikeda, #NFDB
1100:If you notice that you are more edgy, easily stressed, have elevated cholesterol, skin irritations, depression, sleep difficulties, indigestion, kidney damage, brain fog, hypothyroidism, chronic fatigue, weight gain, poor memory, PMS, blood sugar imbalances, or allergies, your liver may be to blame. ~ Maria Emmerich, #NFDB
1101:One [idea] was that the Universe started its life a finite time ago in a single huge explosion, and that the present expansion is a relic of the violence of this explosion. This big bang idea seemed to me to be unsatisfactory even before detailed examination showed that it leads to serious difficulties. ~ Fred Hoyle, #NFDB
1102:and dreaming is very pleasant as long as you are not forced to put your dreams into practice. That way, we avoid all the risks, frustrations and difficulties, and when we are old, we can always blame other people-preferably our parents, our spouses or our children-for our failure to realize our dreams. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1103:Difficulties arise when reported observations seem to conflict with 'facts' that the majority of scientists accept as established and immutable. Scientists tend to reject conflicting observations.....Nevertheless, the history of science shows that new observations and theories can eventually prevail. ~ Ian Stevenson, #NFDB
1104:Dreaming is very pleasant as long as you are not forced to put your dreams into practice. That way, we avoid all the risks, frustrations and difficulties, and when we are old, we can always blame other people - preferably our parents, our spouses or our children - for our failure to realise our dreams. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1105:I insist that the question of the future is how best to keep these millions from brooding over the wrongs of the past and difficulties of the present, so that all their energies may be bent toward a cheerful striving and cooperation with their white neighbors toward a larger, juster, and fuller future ~ W E B Du Bois, #NFDB
1106:I like a person who knows his own mind and sticks to it; who sees at once what is to be done in given circumstances and does it. He does not beat about the bush for difficulties or excuses, but goes the shortest and most effectual way to work to attain his own ends, or to accomplish a useful object. ~ William Hazlitt, #NFDB
1107:Well, at the time, we certainly regarded them [Elianor and Franklin Roosevelt] as partners. We did not know what has since come out about the difficulties of their marital life, or the problems that Franklin gave Eleanor and his mother gave Eleanor, in many respects. We didn't know much about that. ~ William A Rusher, #NFDB
1108:When evolution is turned into an All-encompassing Theory explaining absolutely everything we believe, feel, and do as the product of natural selection, then we are not in the arena of science, but of philosophy. Evolution as an All-encompassing Theory has insurmountable difficulties as a worldview. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
1109:By 1993 Murdoch was becoming reluctant to engage in public activities and dreaded giving interviews. These late letters increasingly evidence the language difficulties and amnesia that, in retrospect, suggest the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, although the condition remained undiagnosed until 1997. ~ Iris Murdoch, #NFDB
1110:It is the Law that any difficulties that can come to you at any time, no matter what they are, must be exactly what you need most at the moment, to enable you to take the next step forward by overcoming them. The only real misfortune, the only real tragedy, comes when we suffer without learning the lesson. ~ Emmet Fox, #NFDB
1111:Meditation is a practice that can teach us to enter each moment with wisdom, lightness, and a sense of humor. It is an art of opening and letting go, rather than accumulation or struggle. Then, even within our frustrations and difficulties, a remarkable inner sense of support and perspective can grow. ~ Jack Kornfield, #NFDB
1112:replace it. 7. Please say what you are doing and how you propose to overcome the growing difficulties of sending reinforcements into Singapore. Also, what has been done about reducing number of useless mouths in Singapore Island? What was the reply about supplies? *** It is not possible to pursue ~ Winston S Churchill, #NFDB
1113:To strive with difficulties, and to conquer them, is the highest human felicity,” he wrote in one of his essays. “The next is to strive and deserve to conquer; but he whose life has passed without contest, and who can boast neither success nor merit can survey himself only as a useless filler of existence. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1114:emphasizing cultural differences, making politics about being rather than doing. In the United States, this meant playing to the grievances of whites even though they were a majority whose members held almost all the wealth; in Ukraine it meant exaggerating the difficulties of people who spoke Russian, ~ Timothy Snyder, #NFDB
1115:In fact, everything that emanates from source emanates from a source of well-being. When we take on this ego consciousness, when we take on hate rather than love in our hearts, we create all of this divisiveness, and we create all of the problems, the struggles, the difficulties, the diseases, the poverty. ~ Wayne Dyer, #NFDB
1116:I think that if in your heart, you are seeking out a real puzzle, and you're not looking to frighten anybody, you're not looking to upset anybody, and you're looking to discuss a subject that you yourself went through when you were nine - you just don't remember the difficulties of one's own childhood. ~ Maurice Sendak, #NFDB
1117:My first quarter at Lowood seemed an age; and not the golden age either; it comprised an irksome struggle with difficulties in habituating myself to new rules and unwonted tasks. The fear of failure in these points harassed me worse than the physical hardships of my lot; though these were no trifles. ~ Charlotte Bront, #NFDB
1118:The other day the plane that Barack Obama was on had some mechanical difficulties and was forced to land. Well, the National Transportation Safety Board did an inspection on the plane, and you know what they found? The bolts on the plane were fine, but apparently Jesse Jackson had taken some of the nuts off. ~ Jay Leno, #NFDB
1119:Will-power, he saw, was not a thing one could suddenly decree oneself to possess. It must be built up imperceptibly and laboriously out of a succession of small efforts to meet definite objects, out of the facing of daily difficulties instead of cleverly eluding them, or shifting their burden on others. ~ Edith Wharton, #NFDB
1120:Don’t fall into the habit of bringing work home, Rick. It indicates a lack of planning, and you would eventually find yourself stuck indoors every night. Teaching is like having a bank account. You can happily draw on it while it is well supplied with new funds; otherwise you’re in difficulties. “Every ~ E R Braithwaite, #NFDB
1121:It's very hard to feel the difficulties that the military goes through. It's very hard to feel the difficulties of military families, unless you're in that environment. And sometimes you have to force yourself to try and put yourself in other people's sort of shoes and environment to get the sense of that. ~ Jon Stewart, #NFDB
1122:Yet even the rich have their own kind of suffering, anxiety, doubt, and fear. So in many cases, wealthy people aren't happy! And once those with material wealth encounter small difficulties, their amount of mental suffering is sometimes bigger than it is for those who have faced such difficulties every day. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
1123:No guarantees come with children's liberation. But neither the promise of great benefits to all nor the prediction of great difficulties ahead can serve as the reason for granting or denying rights to children. Rights will be granted because without them children are incapacitated, oppressed, and abused. ~ Richard Farson, #NFDB
1124:Personal responsibility for everything is the hallmark of an enlightened being. If you blame others, bad luck or the Universe/God for your difficulties, you clearly do not understand the Principle of Oneness. You are in charge and responsible for everything. Embrace your power and make no excuses. ~ Russell Anthony Gibbs, #NFDB
1125:It is disgraceful to live at the cost of one's self-respect. Self-respect is the most vital factor in life. Without it, man is a cipher. To live worthily with self-respect, one has to overcome difficulties. It is out of hard and ceaseless struggle alone that one derives strength, confidence and recognition. ~ B R Ambedkar, #NFDB
1126:Its touch can turn difficulties into opportunities, failure into success and weakness into unfaultering strength. For the grace of the Divine Mother is the sanction of the Supreme and now or tomorrow its effect is sure, a thing decreed, inevitable and irresistible.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Mother With Letters On The Mother,#NFDB
1127:I will be capable of loving, regardless of whether I am loved in return, Of giving, when I have nothing, Of working happily, even in the midst of difficulties, Of holding out my hand, even when utterly alone and abandoned, Of drying my tears, even while I weep, Of believing, even when no one believes in me. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1128:She was fully, painfully aware that very rarely did midnight strike in two hearts at once, very rarely did midnight arouse two different equal desires, and that any dislocation in this, any indifference, was an indication of disunity, of the difficulties, the impossibilities of fusion between two human beings. ~ Anais Nin, #NFDB
1129:She was fully, painfully aware that very rarely did midnight strike in two hearts at once, very rarely did midnight arouse two different equal desires, and that any dislocation in this, any indifference, was an indication of disunity, of the difficulties, the impossibilities of fusion between two human beings. ~ Ana s Nin, #NFDB
1130:At times you have to fight. No way around it. At some point, every one of us is confronted with danger or injustice. How we choose to combat that challenge is often life-defining. You can face difficulties head-on, or run from them, or ignore them until they consume you. But no one escapes conflict. No one. ~ Bill O Reilly, #NFDB
1131:Had they known the difficulties that were to befall them, they might not have been so rash in falling in love. But perhaps there was no way of avoiding it. Fate, karma [...] call it what you like, it was surely meant to happen. After all, in all the vastness of the Universe they had been thrown together. ~ Isabel Greenberg, #NFDB
1132:In a review of more than two hundred studies, researchers concluded that the more self-focused we are, the more anxious—and also the more depressed and generally negative—we become.16 Self-focus even makes us more sensitive to physical difficulties, such as stomach upset, nasal congestion, and muscle tension.17 ~ Amy Cuddy, #NFDB
1133:Nature, when she adds difficulties, adds brains. —Emerson. Exigencies create the necessary ability to meet and conquer them. —Wendell Phillips. Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties. —Spurgeon. The rugged metal of the mine Must burn before its surface shine. —Byron. ~ Orison Swett Marden, #NFDB
1134:Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments.” This is the famous study by David Dunning and Justin Kruger of Cornell University in New York mentioned a few chapters ago that launched the new science of what we might call Stupidology. It ~ Bill Bryson, #NFDB
1135:We can do whatever we wish to do provided our wish is strong enough. But the tremendous effort needed- one doesn't always want to make it-does one? ... But what else can be done? What's the alternative? What do you want most to do? That's what I have to keep asking myself, in the face of difficulties. ~ Katherine Mansfield, #NFDB
1136:There certainly can and will be plenty of external difficulties in life; nevertheless, the soul that comes unto Christ dwells within a personal fortress, a veritable palace of perfect peace. ‘Whoso hearkeneth unto me,’ Jehovah says, ‘shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil’ (Prov. 1:33). ~ Jeffrey R Holland, #NFDB
1137:When a man is in a violent hurry to get on, and has a specific object in view, the attainment of which depends on the completion of his journey, the difficulties which interpose themselves in his way appear not only to be innumerable, but to have been called into existence especially for the occasion. The ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
1138:Every one knows that our civilization is in difficulties, and the stupidity of the suggested remedies only indicates the gravity of the disease, for a sick society has to diagnose and cure its own complaint, and the worse the complaint, the wilder the diagnosis is likely to be But no one denies the disease. ~ R G Collingwood, #NFDB
1139:Not only did he teach by accomplishment, but he taught by the inspiration of a marvelous imagination that refused to accept the permanence of what appeared to others to be insuperable difficulties: an imagination of the goals of which, in a number of instances, are still in the realms of speculation. ~ Edwin Howard Armstrong, #NFDB
1140:Suicide is an absurd solution; he is quite mistaken in thinking that it will give him peace. He will only carry his difficulties with him into a more miserable condition of existence beyond and bring them back to another life on earth. The only remedy is ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, Difficulties of the Path - VII, #NFDB
1141:There were a lot of unique challenges in producing the film, such as the logistical issues inherent in producing a long-term verite film in Pakistan, dealing with Urdu and Punjabi dialogue with an English-speaking editor and all the difficulties in recording, editing and clearing so many music tracks. ~ Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, #NFDB
1142:When we are working at a difficult task and strive after a good thing, we are fighting a righteous battle, the direct reward of which is that we are kept from much evil. As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed. ~ Vincent Van Gogh, #NFDB
1143:Sadhana has to be done in the body, it cannot be done by the soul without the body. When the body drops, the soul goes wandering in other worlds—and finally it comes back to another life and another body. Then all the difficulties it had not solved meet i ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, Difficulties of the Path - VII, #NFDB
1144:That is the inconvenience of going away from a difficulty,—it runs after one,—or rather one carries it with oneself, for the difficulty is truly inside, not outside. Outside circumstances only give it the occasion to manifest itself and so long as the inn ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, Difficulties of the Path - VII, #NFDB
1145:There is an urgent need to-day for the citizens of a democracy to think well. It is not enough to have freedom of the Press and parliamentary institutions. Our difficulties are due partly to our own stupidity, partly to the exploitation of that stupidity, and partly to our own prejudices and personal desires. ~ Susan Stebbing, #NFDB
1146:For Trump, as for many showmen or press release entrepreneurs, the enemy of everything is complexity and red tape, and the solution for everything is cutting corners. Bypass or ignore the difficulties; just move in a straight line to the vision, which, if it’s bold enough, or grandiose enough, will sell itself. ~ Michael Wolff, #NFDB
1147:God, I offer myself to Thee—to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!” We ~ Alcoholics Anonymous, #NFDB
1148:Joys and sorrows are time-born and cannot last. Therefore, do not be perturbed by these. The greater the difficulties and obstructions, the more intense will be your endeavor to cling to His feet and the more will your prayer increase from within. And when the time is ripe, you will gain mastery over this power. ~ Anandamayi Ma, #NFDB
1149:The main reason for insisting on the universal Flood as a fact of history and as the primary vehicle for geological interpretation is that God's Word plainly teaches it! No geologic difficulties, real or imagined, can be allowed to take precedence over the clear statements and necessary inferences of Scripture. ~ Henry M Morris, #NFDB
1150:This is the great secret. This is the sacred wisdom. Do unto others as you would have it done unto you. All of your problems, all of your conflicts, all of your difficulties in creating a life on your planet of peace and joy are based in your failure to understand this simple instruction, and to follow it. ~ Neale Donald Walsch, #NFDB
1151:For fortune having hitherto seconded him in his designs, made him resolute and firm in his opinions, and the boldness of his temper raised a sort of passion in him for surmounting difficulties; as if it were not enough to be always victorious in the field, unless places and seasons and nature herself submitted to him. ~ Plutarch, #NFDB
1152:I do not intend to spare myself, not to avoid emotions or difficulties. I don't care much whether I live a longer or shorter time... the world concerns me only in so far as I feel a certain debt toward it, because I have walked on this earth for thirty years, and out of gratitude I want to leave some souvenir. ~ Vincent Van Gogh, #NFDB
1153:If you ask me the image of Latin America, there are sorne countries which oppress their peoples much more, and among the less - least oppressive, among those with which we could have perfectly normal relations without any difficulties - we could have Uruguay, Chile, maybe Costa Rica. But the U.S.. do not permit us. ~ Che Guevara, #NFDB
1154:of his need to assert responsibility for his own life. It may be that Adela does panic in the face of Nothingness, only recovering herself when she takes responsibility by recanting in the witness box. Perhaps it’s all about nothing more than her own self-doubts, her own psychological or spiritual difficulties. ~ Thomas C Foster, #NFDB
1155:Out of love for mankind, and out of despair at my embarrassing situation, seeing that I had accomplished nothing and was unable to make anything easier than it had already been made, and moved by a genuine interest in those who make everything easy, I conceived it as my task to create difficulties everywhere. ~ Soren Kierkegaard, #NFDB
1156:Out of love for mankind, and out of despair at my embarrassing situation, seeing that I had accomplished nothing and was unable to make anything easier than it had already been made, and moved by a genuine interest in those who make everything easy, I conceived it as my task to create difficulties everywhere. ~ S ren Kierkegaard, #NFDB
1157:Perhaps the Lord has called me and preserved me for this service not because I am particularly fit for it, or so that I can govern and rescue the Church from her present difficulties, but so that I can suffer something for the Church, and in that way it will be clear that he, and no other, is her guide and saviour ~ Pope Paul VI, #NFDB
1158:Remember this practical piece of advice: Never come into the theatre with mud on your feet. Leave your dust and dirt outside. Check your little worries, squabbles, petty difficulties with your outside clothing - all the things that ruin your life and draw your attention away from your art - at the door. ~ Constantin Stanislavski, #NFDB
1159:And then there are difficulties. Computers are famous for difficulties. A difficulty is just a blockage from progress. You have to try a lot of things. When you finally find what works, it doesn't tell you a thing. It won't be the same tomorrow. Getting the computer to work is so often dealing with difficulties. ~ Ward Cunningham, #NFDB
1160:God is using the difficulties of the here and now to transform you, that is, to rescue you from you. And because he loves you, he will willingly interrupt or compromise your momentary happiness in order to accomplish one more step in the process of rescue and transformation, which he is unshakably committed to. ~ Paul David Tripp, #NFDB
1161:Each person with his or her history of being accepted or rejected, with his or her past history of inner pain and difficulties in relationships, is different. But in each one there is a yearning for communion and belonging, but at the same time a fear of it. Love is what we most want, yet it is what we fear the most. ~ Jean Vanier, #NFDB
1162:The nature of Christ is, I grant it, from one end to another, a web of mysteries; but this mysteriousness does not correspond to the difficulties which all existence contains. Let it be rejected, and the whole world is an enigma; let it be accepted, and we possess a wonderful explanation of the history of man. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte, #NFDB
1163:Anger is one of the most common and destructive delusions, and it afflicts our mind almost every day. To solve the problem of anger, we first need to recognize the anger within our mind, acknowledge how it harms both ourself and others, and appreciate the benefits of being patient in the face of difficulties. ~ Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, #NFDB
1164:A student’s life is like the desert, examinations are the hot sun, difficulties are like the warm sand and study is like hunger and thirst. As a student you have to travel all alone collecting knowledge and skill the way the boy in the story collected stones. The more you collect the better is the life you lead later. ~ Sudha Murty, #NFDB
1165:I may say that here, as in most cases where the operations of nature interfere with the designs of man, it is not by a direct intervention on our part that we may remedy the difficulties, but rather by a precise knowledge of their causes, which may enable us, if not to check, at least to avoid the evil consequences. ~ Louis Agassiz, #NFDB
1166:Another trouble with poetry - and I'm gonna stop the list at two - is the presence of presumptuousness in poetry, the sense you get in a poem that the poet takes for granted an interest on the reader's part in the poet's autobiographical life, in the poet's memories, problems, difficulties and even minor perceptions. ~ Billy Collins, #NFDB
1167:Do not let difficulties overcome your true purpose; overcome difficulties with your true purpose. Show difficulties what you can do with your life and do something with your life to difficulties. Awake! Arise! Dare to realize who you truly are and what you can truly do! You can do it! Awake and do something! ~ Ernest Agyemang Yeboah, #NFDB
1168:How you experience your life depends on how you look at it. If you look at it as a constant stream of difficulties and challenges, messes and problems, it will show up that way. If, on the other hand, you see it as a continuing flow of good fortune, one good thing after another, that is what you will encounter. ~ Neale Donald Walsch, #NFDB
1169:Most of our difficulties in our daily lives come from being unable to hold our minds in this way. For instance, if a man does evil to us, instantly we want to react evil, and every reaction of evil shows that we are not able to hold the Chitta down; it comes out in waves towards the object, and we lose our power. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
1170:Authors of light pieces have, nobody knows why, a genius for getting into minor difficulties: they walk into the wrong apartments, they drink furniture polish for stomach bitters, they drive their cars into the prize tulip beds of haughty neighbors, they playfully slap gangsters, mistaking them for old school friends. ~ James Thurber, #NFDB
1171:I often think that all the difficulties we encounter only give us the more strength if we keep hold of our work, and we must not now give up while in the prime of life. It is best to keep trying, and by and by the opportunity will come. If we have given up, then we shall not be ready for it when it does come. ~ Ellen Swallow Richards, #NFDB
1172:No relationship is without its difficulties and this is certainly true when one or both of the persons involved has an autistic spectrum disorder. Even so, I believe what is truly essential to the success of any relationship is not so much compatibility, but love. When you love someone, virtually anything is possible. ~ Daniel Tammet, #NFDB
1173:The difficulties in the study of the infinite arise because we attempt, with our finite minds, to discuss the infinite, assigning to it those properties which we give to the finite and limited; but this... is wrong, for we cannot speak of infinite quantities as being the one greater or less than or equal to another. ~ Galileo Galilei, #NFDB
1174:There had been a number of failures but we weren't going out to ride a failure. And we felt they'd corrected all the difficulties with the boosters before that time and the launch problems. And so we had a lot of confidence that there was going to be a successful mission. We weren't off on some suicide effort, certainly. ~ John Glenn, #NFDB
1175:All these feelings are unnecessary suffering caused by an imbalance between our instinctual drive for happiness and our instinctual need for survival. It is also very important to remember that the end of suffering does not mean the end of pain or difficulties, just the end of creating unnecessary suffering in our lives. ~ Noah Levine, #NFDB
1176:I feel anxious for the fate of our monarchy, or democracy, or whatever is to take place. I soon get lost in a labyrinth of perplexities; but, whatever occurs, may justice and righteousness be the stability of our times, and order arise out of confusion. Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and perseverance. ~ Abigail Adams, #NFDB
1177:Many parents love their children. Yet they make them suffer a lot in the name of love. They’re often not capable of understanding their children’s suffering, difficulties, hopes, and aspirations. We have to ask ourselves, “Am I really loving the other person by understanding them or am I just projecting my own needs? ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
1178:Call the roll in your memory of conspicuously successful [business] giants and, if you know anything about their careers, you will be struck by the fact that almost every one of them encountered inordinate difficulties sufficient to crush all but the gamest of spirits. Edison went hungry many times before he became famous. ~ B C Forbes, #NFDB
1179:In my life there were times when dreams have nothing to do with reality, but obviously they were prophetic dreams. And I know that if we look closely and listen carefully, we can see the supernatural signs that determine our future. We all meet with various everyday difficulties and overcoming them, we grow and develop. ~ Russell Crowe, #NFDB
1180:One of the difficulties of politics is that politicians are shocked by those who are really prepared to let their thinking reach any conclusion. Political thinking consists in deciding upon the conclusion first and then finding good arguments for it. An open mind is considered irresponsible- and perhaps it really is. ~ Richard Crossman, #NFDB
1181:They’ll want him to be mad, of course,’ Laszlo mused, not hearing me. ‘The doctors here, the newspapers, the judges; they’d like to think that only a madman would shoot a five-year-old girl in the head. It creates certain … difficulties, if we are forced to accept that our society can produce sane men who commit such acts. ~ Caleb Carr, #NFDB
1182:When conversion takes place, the process of revelation occurs in a very simple way - a person is in need, he suffers, and then somehow the other world opens up. The more you are in suffering and difficulties and are 'desperate' for God, the more He is going to come to your aid, reveal Who He is and show you the way out. ~ Seraphim Rose, #NFDB
1183:Do not let let difficulties overcome your true purpose; overcome difficulties with your true purpose. Show difficulties what you can do with your life and do something with your life to difficulties. Awake! Arise! Dare to realize who you truly are and what you can truly do! You can do it! Awake and do something! ~ Ernest Agyemang Yeboah, #NFDB
1184:Creating the illusion of separation, however, provides us with ample opportunities to learn to express love in the most challenging of circumstances. So experiencing the difficulties of being unconditionally loving serves to expand the love that we are in the higher plane of existence and to understand ourselves more deeply. ~ Ziad Masri, #NFDB
1185:For a teacher to be productive and effective in the process of teaching, compassion, or a kind heart, is explained here as the most crucial quality. There are other defects in teaching, for example being tired of explaining to the students. So being tolerant and patient in the face of such difficulties is also important. ~ Dalai Lama XIV, #NFDB
1186:I will be capable of loving, regardless of whether I am loved in return,
Of giving, when I have nothing,
Of working happily, even in the midst of difficulties,
Of holding out my hand, even when utterly alone and abandoned,
Of drying my tears, even while I weep,
Of believing, even when no one believes in me. ~ Paulo Coelho,#NFDB
1187:Listening is a gift of spiritual significance that you can learn to give to others. When you listen, you give one a sense of importance, hope and love that he or she may not receive any other way. Through listening, we nurture and validate the feelings one has, especially when he or she experiences difficulties in life. ~ H Norman Wright, #NFDB
1188:When conversion takes place, the process of revelation occurs in a very simple way — a person is in need, he suffers, and then somehow the other world opens up. The more you are in suffering and difficulties and are 'desperate' for God, the more He is going to come to your aid, reveal Who He is and show you the way out... ~ Seraphim Rose, #NFDB
1189:For a long time I felt, which is to say I consciously thought, that our difficulties were of my doing, my fault, that I had brought upon my parents some grief to warrant their treatment of me – to warrant the violence. I know now, of course, that self-blame is rather common among children in such circumstances as mine. ~ Zia Haider Rahman, #NFDB
1190:The danger with our commitment to the principle of racial equality is that it leads us to confuse tactics with principles. The principle of gaining equal educational opportunity for black children was and is right. But our difficulties came when we viewed racial balance and busing as the only means of achieving that goal. ~ Derrick A Bell, #NFDB
1191:There is no man who loves a woman that does not desire to come to her for the renewal of his courage, for the cutting asunder of his difficulties. And that will be the mainspring of his desire for her. We are all so afraid, we are all so alone, we all so need from the outside the assurance of our own worthiness to exist. ~ Ford Madox Ford, #NFDB
1192:Had they known the difficulties that were to befall them, they might not have been so rash in falling in love. But perhaps there was no way of avoiding it. Fate, karma, the will of the Gods… call it what you like, it was surely meant to happen. After all, in all the vastness of the Universe they had been thrown together. ~ Isabel Greenberg, #NFDB
1193:In the intricate paths of life when difficulties and hardships confront a man, and the darkness of difficulty and suffering becomes long, it is patience only that acts like a light for a Muslim, that keeps him safe from wandering here and there, and saves him from the muddy marsh of disappointment, desperation and frustration. ~ Al-Ghazali, #NFDB
1194:Self-acceptance comes from meeting life's challenges vigorously. Don't numb yourself to your trials and difficulties, nor build mental walls to exclude pain from your life. You will find peace not by trying to escape your problems, but by confronting them courageously. You will find peace not in denial, but in victory. ~ Goswami Kriyananda, #NFDB
1195:All we ask is to be allowed to remain writers of our own story. That story is ever changing. Over the course of our lives, we may encounter unimaginable difficulties. Our concerns and desires may shift. But whatever happens, we want to retrain the freedom to shape our lives in ways consistent with our character and loyalties. ~ Atul Gawande, #NFDB
1196:Being an entrepreneur I love to help people, and I think through the products that we develop in my company, we will be able to help a lot of people. Whether it's help them to get over the difficulties of a technology and use it. Or helping employees, creating new jobs, new opportunities for people that work in my company. ~ Anousheh Ansari, #NFDB
1197:Know that there are people to whom you are connected who are available to help you find the right job, to solve a puzzling issue that seems irreconcilable, to help you back on your feet, and to resolve financial difficulties. Everyone becomes a compatriot rather than a competitor. This is spiritual awareness as I practice it. ~ Wayne W Dyer, #NFDB
1198:Tom remembered those times, too. Dad could have reacted in anger and frustration to Mom's mood and the difficulties. But instead, Dad had gone to extraordinary efforts to show his love. He'd nurtured and tended to her like a gardener his flowers. As a result of his faithful efforts, his marriage now flourished so beautifully. ~ Jody Hedlund, #NFDB
1199:Gold bringeth unto its possessor responsibility and a changed position with his
fellow men. It bringeth fear lest he lose it or it be tricked away from him. It
bringeth a feeling of power and ability to do good. Likewise, it bringeth
opportunities whereby his very good intentions may bring him into
difficulties. ~ George S Clason,#NFDB
1200:If you have ever opened a can of worms, boxed yourself into a corner, ended up in hot water, or found yourself in a pretty pickle, you already know that life is rarely (if ever) just a bowl of cherries. It is far more likely to be a bowl of problems, worries, and difficulties. This is normal and should not be cause for alarm. ~ Maryrose Wood, #NFDB
1201:I have ever gained the most profit, and the most pleasure also, from the books which have made me think the most: and, when the difficulties have once been overcome, these are the books which have struck the deepest root, not only in my memory and understanding, but likewise in my affections. ~ J. C. and A. W. Hare, Guesses at Truth, p. 458., #NFDB
1202:There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. We always returned to it no matter who we were or how it was changed or with what difficulties, or ease, it could be reached. Paris was always worth it and you received return for whatever you brought to it. ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
1203:But the real difficulties, the real arts of survival, seem to lie in more subtle realms. There, what’s called for is a kind of resilience of the psyche, a readiness to deal with what comes next. These captives lay out in a stark and dramatic way what goes on in every life: the transitions whereby you cease to be who you were. ~ Rebecca Solnit, #NFDB
1204:ECONOMICS IS HAUNTED by more fallacies than any other study known to man. This is no accident. The inherent difficulties of the subject would be great enough in any case, but they are multiplied a thousandfold by a factor that is insignificant in, say, physics, mathematics or medicine—the special pleading of selfish interests. ~ Henry Hazlitt, #NFDB
1205:Every place of arrival should have a booth set up and manned by an ordinary person whose task it is to greet strangers and give them a little trophy of local space-time stuff - tell them of his difficulties in high school and put a pinch of soil in their pockets - in order to insure that the stranger shall not become an Anyone. ~ Walker Percy, #NFDB
1206:In fact, the same difficulties faced by Reagan in the 1980-s are still there [in the beginning of 21 century]: how do you hit a bullet with a bullet? The technology is getting better, but it still is focused on one interceptor knocking down one missile. In war, there would be many more challenges, more chaos, more uncertainty. ~ David Hoffman, #NFDB
1207:People are looking for someone to listen to them. Someone willing to grant them time, to listen to their dramas and difficulties. This is what I call the “apostolate of the ear,” and it is important. Very important. I feel compelled to say to confessors: talk, listen with patience, and above all tell people that God loves them. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
1208:All we ask is to be allowed to remain the writers of our own story. That story is ever changing. Over the course of our lives, we may encounter unimaginable difficulties. Our concerns and desires may shift. But whatever happens, we want to retain the freedom to shape our lives in ways consistent with our character and loyalties. ~ Atul Gawande, #NFDB
1209:As I wander through the dark, encountering difficulties, I am aware of encouraging voices that murmur from the spirit realm. I sense a holy passion pouring down from the springs of Infinity. I thrill to music that beats with the pulses of God. Bound to suns and planets by invisible cords, I feel the flame of eternity in my soul. ~ Helen Keller, #NFDB
1210:For the rest of his life, he realized, he would be torn like this, aware of Phoebe's awkwardness, the difficulties she encountered in the world simply by being different, and ye propelled beyond all this by her direct and guileless love. By her love, yes, and, he realized...by his own new and strangely uncomplicated love for her. ~ Kim Edwards, #NFDB
1211:At least one indication of unbelief is the tendency to measure life's challenges against our own adequacy instead of God's promises. To enter our Sabbath rest, we must put an end to self-reliance - trusting in our own abilities to overcome difficulties, rise above challenges, escape tragedies, or achieve personal greatness. ~ Charles R Swindoll, #NFDB
1212:Economics is haunted by more fallacies than any other study known to man. This is no accident. The inherent difficulties of the subject would be great enough in any case, but they are multiplied a thousandfold by a factor that is insignificant in, say, physics, mathematics or medicine - the special pleading of selfish interests. ~ Henry Hazlitt, #NFDB
1213:Endurance is composed of four attributes: eagerness, fear, piety and anticipation (of death). so whoever is eager for Paradise will ignore temptations; whoever fears the fire of Hell will abstain from sins; whoever practices piety will easily bear the difficulties of life and whoever anticipates death will hasten towards good deeds. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1214:Men capable of governing empires fail to control a small white ball, which presents no difficulties whetever to others with one ounce more brain than a cuckoo clock. I wish to goodness I knew the man who invented this infernal game. I'd strangle him. But I suppose he's been dead for ages. Still, I could go and jump on his grave. ~ P G Wodehouse, #NFDB
1215:...no one should marvel at the ease with which Alexander [the Great] kept possession of Asia, or at the difficulties which others, like Pyrrhus and many more, had in preserving their conquests. The difference does not arise from the greater or lesser ability of the conqueror, but from dissimilarities in the conquered lands. ~ Niccol Machiavelli, #NFDB
1216:Each of you should feel that you have great potential and that, with self-confidence and a little more effort, change really is possible if you want it. If you feel that your present way of life is unpleasant or has some difficulties, then don't look at these negative things. See the positive side, the potential, and make an effort. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
1217:Taking the one seat describes two related aspects of spiritual work. Outwardly, it means selecting one practice and teacher among all the possibilities, and inwardly, it means having the determination to stick with that practice through whatever difficulties and doubts arise until you have come to true clarity and understanding. ~ Jack Kornfield, #NFDB
1218:Progress, in the sense of acquisition, is something; but progress in the sense of being, is a great deal more. To grow higher, deeper, wider, as the years go on; to conquer difficulties, and acquire more and more power; to feel all one's faculties unfolding, and truth descending into the soul,--this makes life worth living. ~ James Freeman Clarke, #NFDB
1219:You see, what is my purpose of performance artist is to stage certain difficulties and stage the fear the primordial fear of pain, of dying, all of which we have in our lives, and then stage them in front of audience and go through them and tell the audience, I'm your mirror; if I can do this in my life, you can do it in yours. ~ Marina Abramovic, #NFDB
1220:If the work of our sanctification presents us with difficulties that appear insurmountable, it is because we do not look at it in the right way. In reality, holiness consists in one thing alone, namely, fidelity to God's plan. And this fidelity is equally within everyone's capacity in both its active and passive exercise. ~ Jean Pierre de Caussade, #NFDB
1221:All was gold and gold and gold, a torrent of golden light pouring down in an uninterrupted flow and bringing with it the consciousness that the path of the gods is a sunlit path in which difficulties lose all reality.
Such is the path open before us if we choose to take it.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, The Path of Yoga, The Path, [T5],#NFDB
1222:A scientific autobiography belongs to a most awkward literary genre. If the difficulties facing a man trying to record his life are great - and few have overcome them successfully - they are compounded in the case of scientists, of whom many lead monotonous and uneventful lives and who, besides, often do not know how to write . . . ~ Erwin Chargaff, #NFDB
1223:If there were a reason for preferring the Christian religion to natural religion, it would be because the former offers us, on the nature of God and man, enlightenment that the latter lacks. Now, this is not at all the case; for Christianity, instead of clarifying, gives rise to an infinite multitude of obscurities and difficulties. ~ Denis Diderot, #NFDB
1224:It's enough just to love him, to be with him in my thoughts and to color this lovely city with his steps, his words, his love. When I leave this country, it will have a face and a name and the memory of a fireplace. Everything else I experienced here, all the difficulties I had to overcome, will be as nothing compared to that memory. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1225:The duty must be done, even if there is a little suffering involved. That is called tapasya, or austerity. Tapasya means that we must proceed with our business of Kṛṣṇa consciousness despite all the dangers and calamities of this world. This is called tapasya, or voluntary acceptance of the difficulties of life. ~ A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhup da, #NFDB
1226:Alfred Adler, the famous Viennese psychologist, wrote a book entitled What Life Should Mean to You. In that book he says: ‘It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring. ~ Dale Carnegie, #NFDB
1227:First of all, a sermon can never grasp the center, but can only itself be grasped by it, by Christ. And then Christ becomes flesh as much in the word of the pietists as in that of the clerics or of the religious socialists, and these empirical connections actually pose difficulties for preaching that are absolute, not merely relative. ~ Eric Metaxas, #NFDB
1228:The traveler may feel assured, he will meet with no difficulties or dangers, excepting in rare cases, nearly so bad as he beforehand anticipates. In a moral point of view, the effect ought to be, to teach him good-humored patience, freedom from selfishness, the habit of acting for himself, and of making the best of every occurrence. ~ Charles Darwin, #NFDB
1229:Metaphysics means nothing but an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly. The fundamental conceptions of psychology are practically very clear to us, but theoretically they are very confused, and one easily makes the obscurest assumptions in this science without realizing, until challenged, what internal difficulties they involve. ~ William James, #NFDB
1230:Mostly, people are looking for someone to listen to them. Someone willing to grant them time, to listen to their dramas and difficulties. This is what I call the “apostolate of the ear,” and it is important. Very important. I feel compelled to say to confessors: talk, listen with patience, and above all tell people that God loves them. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
1231:Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our failures, discouragements and doubts. We tend to forget the past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping. We see our past achievements as the end results of a clean forward thrust, and our present difficulties as signs of decline and decay. ~ Eric Hoffer, #NFDB
1232:The exertions that men find it necessary to make, in order to support themselves or families, frequently awaken faculties that might otherwise have lain for ever dormant, and it has been commonly remarked that new and extraordinary situations generally create minds adequate to grapple with the difficulties in which they are involved. ~ Thomas Malthus, #NFDB
1233:It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed,” Abigail Adams wrote to her son John Quincy Adams in the midst of the American Revolution, suggesting that “the habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. ~ Doris Kearns Goodwin, #NFDB
1234:The wife unsung remains
Sharing his pleasures, taking half his pains
While to dream faces mounts the poet’s song. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems: Euphrosyne
Poet's wife
Look at things from an inner point of view and try to get the benefit of all that happens. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Right Attitude towards Difficulties,#NFDB
1235:Who amongst us had not preferred the comfort of illusion or deceived themselves in order to deal with the difficulties of life – sometimes hoping for the impossible – knowing that even if their aspirations were implausibly far-fetched, it was better to take that risky highway rather than remain on the low road of caution and despair? He ~ James Runcie, #NFDB
1236:Almost all languages change. A rare exception is written Icelandic, which has changed so little that modern Icelanders can read sagas written a thousand years ago, and if Leif Ericson appeared on the streets of Reykjavik he could find his way around, allowing for certain difficulties over terms like airport and quarter-pound cheeseburger. ~ Bill Bryson, #NFDB
1237:To be a spiritual warrior means to develop a special kind of courage, one that is innately intelligent, gentle, and fearless. Spiritual warriors can still be frightened, but even so they are courageous enough to taste suffering, to relate clearly to their fundamental fear, and to draw out without evasion the lessons from difficulties. ~ Sogyal Rinpoche, #NFDB
1238:We have an army for fighting as well as an army for labour. For fighting, we have the Eighth Route and New Fourth Armies but even they do a dual job, warfare and production. With these two kinds of armies, and with a fighting army skilled in these two tasks and in mass work, we can overcome our difficulties and defeat Japanese imperialism. ~ Mao Zedong, #NFDB
1239:Before you begin a thing, remind yourself that difficulties and delays quite impossible to foresee are ahead. If you could see them clearly, naturally you could do a great deal to get rid of them but you can't. You can only see one thing clearly and that is your goal. Form a mental vision of that and cling to it through thick and thin. ~ Kathleen Norris, #NFDB
1240:It is not intuitive ease I am after, but rather a point of view which is sufficiently definite to clear up some difficulties, and to be criticized in rational terms. (Bohr's complementarity cannot be so criticized, I fear; it can only be accepted or denounced - perhaps as being ad hoc, or as being irrational, or as being hopelessly vague.) ~ Karl Popper, #NFDB
1241:You can't really gauge the difficulties of television. There's difficulties and joys that happen with an amazing, great team, when one is working. Television can be a very frustrating job for almost anybody working in television, because you're shooting episodically, and you don't know one scene from the next, and maybe they change around. ~ Melissa Leo, #NFDB
1242:Alfred Adler, the famous Viennese psychologist, wrote a book entitled What Life Should Mean to You. In that book he says: ‘It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring.’ You ~ Dale Carnegie, #NFDB
1243:He that resolves upon any great and good end, has, by that very resolution, scaled the chief barrier to it. He will find such resolution removing difficulties, searching out or making means, giving courage for despondency, and strength for weakness, and like the star to the wise men of old, ever guiding him nearer and nearer to perfection. ~ Tryon Edwards, #NFDB
1244:It is a way to avoid difficulties, but whenever you avoid difficulties and challenges you have avoided growth also. Married people never grow. Lovers grow, because they have to meet the challenge every moment - and with no security. They have to create an inner phenomenon. With security you need not bother to create anything; the society helps. ~ Rajneesh, #NFDB
1245:I was not in any real difficulties yet; my affairs were merely going through a period of stagnation which could certainly have been overcome, at this stage, by the exercise of a little initiative. But I just couldn’t summon up that initiative. I was too depressed by all the mute dislike of myself which I encountered at every twist and turn. ~ Hans Fallada, #NFDB
1246:Recently, the International Monetary Fund published a report which revealed that too much inequality even inhibits economic growth.22 Perhaps the most fascinating finding, however, is that even rich people suffer when inequality becomes too great. They, too, become more prone to depression, suspicion, and myriad other social difficulties. ~ Rutger Bregman, #NFDB
1247:Remember your Plato, Maeve. ‘If a man, fixing his attention on these and the like difficulties, does away with the idea of things and will not admit that every individual thing has its own determinate idea which is always one and the same, he will have nothing on which his mind can rest; and so he will utterly destroy his reasoning… ~ Elizabeth Cunningham, #NFDB
1248:Christianity has always insisted that the cross we bear precedes the crown we wear. To be a Christian one must take up his cross, with all its difficulties and agonizing and tension-packed content, and carry it until that very cross leaves its mark upon us and redeems us to that more excellent way which comes only through suffering. ~ Martin Luther King Jr, #NFDB
1249:God wants us to walk in obedience - not victory. Obedience is oriented toward God; victory is oriented toward self. This may seem to be merely splitting hairs over semantics, but there's a subtle, self-centered attitude at the root of many of our difficulties with sin. Until we deal with this attitude, we won't consistently walk in holiness. ~ Jerry Bridges, #NFDB
1250:Rather than trying to shelter our children from life’s inevitable difficulties, we can help them integrate those experiences into their understanding of the world and learn from them. How our kids make sense of their young lives is not only about what happens to them but also about how their parents, teachers, and other caregivers respond. ~ Daniel J Siegel, #NFDB
1251:Many of the women who benefited from thyroid therapy provided added evidence that it was the thyroid which was responsible. There were the women who, upon being relieved of their {menstrual} problems, stopped taking medication only to return in a few months with their original complaints. Thyroid therapy again overcame their difficulties. ~ Broda Otto Barnes, #NFDB
1252:One of the changes I'm driving within Nokia is to adopt what we call 'the challenger mindset.' Let's understand that we have to fight, we have to fight our way through the difficulties, we have to listen to consumers, we have to both deliver what they need and also have some creativity and insight and deliver what the don't yet know they need. ~ Stephen Elop, #NFDB
1253:at a touch of external difficulties or menace all these fierce internal controversies would disappear for the time being, and we should be brought into line and into tune. But why is it that men are so constituted that they can only lay aside their own domestic quarrels under the impulse of what I will call a higher principle of hatred?… ~ Winston S Churchill, #NFDB
1254:Mr. Morgan,” Mrs. Hornberger said sternly. All eyes automatically swiveled to her, and even Rita stopped talking. Mrs. Hornberger looked at us each individually, to make sure we were all paying attention. Then the smile came back to her face, and everyone breathed again. “We were discussing Cody’s … conceptual difficulties … with socialization. ~ Jeff Lindsay, #NFDB
1255:I don’t mean to deny that men are troublesome in a house. I don’t judge from my own experience, for my father was neatness itself, and wiped his shoes on coming in as carefully as any woman; but still a man has a sort of knowledge of what should be done in difficulties, that it is very pleasant to have one at hand ready to lean upon. Now, ~ Elizabeth Gaskell, #NFDB
1256:God hath work to do in this world; and to desert it because of its difficulties and entanglements, is to cast off His authority. It is not enough that we be just, that we be righteous, and walk with God in holiness; but we must also serve our generation, as David did before he fell asleep. God hath a work to do; and not to help Him is to oppose Him. ~ John Owen, #NFDB
1257:Liberty may be an uncomfortable blessing unless you know what to do with it. That is why so many freed slaves returned to their masters, why so many emancipated women are only too glad to give up the racket and settle down. For between announcing that you will live your own life, and the living of it lie the real difficulties of any awakening. ~ Walter Lippmann, #NFDB
1258:Refrain from discussing subjects that can destroy your awareness of the people around you and the food. If someone is thinking about something other than the good food on the table, such as his difficulties in the office or with friends, it means he is losing the present moment and the food. You can help by returning his attention to the meal. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
1259:She did not understand why women complicated their lives with corsets and petticoats, so she sewed herself a coarse cassock that she simply put over her and without further difficulties resolved the problem of dress, without taking away the feeling of being naked, which according to her lights was the only decent way to be when at home. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez, #NFDB
1260:story. A study of more than seven thousand adults showed that introverts who had moved frequently when they were growing up, compared to those who rarely moved, had more difficulty developing strong personal relationships and maintaining them over time; and those difficulties seemed to undermine their happiness and satisfaction with their lives. ~ Bella DePaulo, #NFDB
1261:There are two kinds of difficulties. Some are clearly problems to solve, situations that call for compassionate action and direct response. Many more are problems we create for ourselves by struggling to make life different than it is or by becoming so caught up in our own point of view that we lose sight of a larger, wiser perspective. Usually ~ Jack Kornfield, #NFDB
1262:We must meditate before, during and after everything we do. The prophet says: "I will pray, and then I will understand." This is the way we can easily overcome the countless difficulties we have to face day after day, which, after all, are part of our work. In meditation we find the strength to bring Christ to birth in ourselves and in others. ~ Carlo Borromeo, #NFDB
1263:imaging has its own formula: 1) the goal, 2) the purpose, 3) prayer activity, 4) thoughtful planning, 5) innovative thinking, 6) enthusiasm, 7) organized hard work, and 8) always holding the image of success firmly in mind. If this formula is faithfully carried out, the desired results will be achieved despite all difficulties or setbacks. ~ Norman Vincent Peale, #NFDB
1264:I understand that there are forms of entertainment that can make people weep or jazz them up so they feel like they have had an experience. But I also know that an hour later that's faded and you are back to the difficult realities of your own life. And we need to help people know how to go beyond those difficulties to a place where God dwells. ~ Parker J Palmer, #NFDB
1265:Memories of traumatic experiences may not be primarily retrieved as narratives. Our own and others’ research has suggested that PTSD traumatized people’s difficulties with putting memories into words are reflected in actual changes in brain activity.
(van der Kolk, Hopper & Osterman, 2001)
Trauma and Cognitive Science, Chapter 1 ~ Bessel A van der Kolk,#NFDB
1266:Repetition and ritual and their good results come in many forms: changing the oil filter, wiping noses, going to meetings, picking up around the house, washing dishes, checking the dipstick . . . such a round of chores is not a set of difficulties we hope to escape from so that we may do our practice, which will put us on the path. It is our path. ~ Gil Fronsdal, #NFDB
1267:Empathy is like a universal solvent. Any problem immersed in empathy becomes soluble. It is effective as a way of anticipating and resolving interpersonal problems, whether this is a marital conflict, an international conflict, a problem at work, difficulties in a friendship, political deadlocks, a family dispute, or a problem with a neighbor. ~ Simon Baron Cohen, #NFDB
1268:Now, I say to you today my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: - 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. ~ Martin Luther King Jr, #NFDB
1269:before attempting to perform any good action, or to encounter some failing, we should look at our own weakness on the one hand, and on the other contemplate the infinite power, wisdom, and goodness of God. Balancing what we fear from ourselves with what we hope from God, we shall courageously undergo the greatest difficulties and severest trials. ~ Lorenzo Scupoli, #NFDB
1270:Yet in these and the like distresses doth the word of God, by its divine power and efficacy, break through all interposing difficulties, all dark and discouraging circumstances, supporting, refreshing, and comforting such poor distressed sufferers, yea, commonly filling them under overwhelming calamities with “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Though ~ John Owen, #NFDB
1271:9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1272:difficulties. He has all kinds of problems—just like anyone. I know it’s impossible for you to see peers this way, but when you’re older, you start to see them—the bad kids and the good kids and all kids—as people. They’re just people, who deserve to be cared for. Varying degrees of sick, varying degrees of neurotic, varying degrees of self-actualized. ~ John Green, #NFDB
1273:I have noticed that whenever a person gives up his belief in the Word of God because it requires that he should believe a good deal, his unbelief requires him to believe a great deal more. If there be any difficulties in the faith of Christ, they are not one-tenth as great as the absurdities in any system of unbelief which seeks to take its place. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
1274:I might believe I had unusual talent if I did not know what good music was; I might enjoy half an hour's practice a day if I were busy and happy the rest of the time. You do not know what life means when all the difficulties are removed! I am simply smothered and sickened with advantages. It is like eating a sweet dessert the first thing in the morning. ~ Jane Addams, #NFDB
1275:Our responsibility is to rally and lead the whole party and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in continuing to liberate our way of thinking, carry on reform and opening, further unleash and develop the productive forces, work hard to resolve the difficulties the people face in both work and life, and steadfastly take the road of prosperity for all. ~ Xi Jinping, #NFDB
1276:TO ME WITH A THANKFUL HEART, so that you can enjoy My Presence. This is the day that I have made. I want you to rejoice today, refusing to worry about tomorrow. Search for all that I have prepared for you, anticipating abundant blessings and accepting difficulties as they come. I can weave miracles into the most mundane day if you keep your focus on Me. ~ Sarah Young, #NFDB
1277:Dealing with our overweight - or with any of our life's difficulties, for that matter - is not a battle to be fought. Instead, we must learn how to make friends with our hardships and challenges. They are there to help us; they are natural opportunities for deeper understanding and transformation, brining us more joy and peace as we learn to work with them. ~ Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
1278:How to teach again what has been taught correctly it incorrectly 1000 thousand times, throughout the millenniums of mankind's prudent folly? That is the hero's ultimate difficult task. How to render back into light-world language the speech-defying pronouncements of the dark? Many failures attest to the difficulties of this life-affirmative threshold. ~ Joseph Campbell, #NFDB
1279:I'm drawn to write about upstate New York in the way in which a dreamer might have recurring dreams. My childhood and girlhood were spent in upstate New York, in the country north of Buffalo and West of Rochester. So this part of New York state is very familiar to me and, with its economic difficulties, has become emblematic of much of American life. ~ Joyce Carol Oates, #NFDB
1280:I say," Llandrindon remarked, "your performance at bowls is exceptional, Miss Bowman. I've never seen a beginner do so well. How o you manage to deliver it perfectly every time?"
"Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be," she replied, and saw the line of Swift's cheek tighten with a sudden grin as he recognized the Machiavelli quote. ~ Lisa Kleypas,#NFDB
1281:It has been just so in all my inventions. The first step is an intuition-and comes with a burst, then difficulties arise. This thing that gives out and then that-"Bugs"as such little faults and difficulties are called show themselves and months of anxious watching, study and labor are requisite before commercial success-or failure-is certainly reached. ~ Thomas A Edison, #NFDB
1282:It is clear, then, that self must stand out of the way, that there may be room for God to be exalted; and this is the reason why He bringeth His people ofttimes into straits and difficulties, that, being made conscious of their own folly and weakness, they may be fitted to behold the majesty of God when He comes forth to work their deliverance. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
1283:I confess myself utterly at a loss in suggesting particular reforms in our ways of teaching. No discretion that can be lodged with a school-committee, with the overseers or visitors of an academy, of a college, can at all avail to reach these difficulties and perplexities, but they solve themselves when we leave institutions and address individuals. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
1284:I say," Llandrindon remarked, "your performance at bowls is exceptional, Miss Bowman. I've never seen a beginner do so well. How do you manage to deliver it perfectly every time?"
"Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be," she replied, and saw the line of Swift's cheek tighten with a sudden grin as he recognized the Machiavelli quote. ~ Lisa Kleypas,#NFDB
1285:This is exactly the message that fairy tales get across to the child in manifold form: that a struggle against severe difficulties in life is unavoidable, is an intrinsic part of human existence -- but that if one does not shy away, but steadfastly meets unexpected and often unjust hardships, one masters all obstacles and at the end emerges victorious. ~ Bruno Bettelheim, #NFDB
1286:Great Power, capable of everything and only temporarily handicapped by economic difficulties. We are not a great power and never will be again. We are a great nation, but if we continue to behave like a Great Power we shall soon cease to be a great nation. Let us take warning from the fate of the Great Powers of the past and not burst ourselves with pride . ~ Henry Tizard, #NFDB
1287:It really is worth the trouble to invent a new symbol if we can thus remove not a few logical difficulties and ensure the rigour of the proofs. But many mathematicians seem to have so little feeling for logical purity and accuracy that they will use a word to mean three or four different things, sooner than make the frightful decision to invent a new word. ~ Gottlob Frege, #NFDB
1288:It seems to me that we’ve been quick to celebrate the achievements of the Civil Rights Movement and slow to recognize the damage done in that era. We have been unwilling to commit to a process of truth and reconciliation in which people are allowed to give voice to the difficulties created by racial segregation, racial subordination, and marginalization. ~ Bryan Stevenson, #NFDB
1289:Confidence is never about you alone; rich confidence also includes believing in the power of we. Total confidence requires a belief in yourself, other people in your life, and in something greater than yourself. When you possess all three of these beliefs, you’ll have a balanced confidence—something that can sustain you through uncertainties and difficulties. ~ Tim Sanders, #NFDB
1290:Cultivating care and concern for others gives rise to a kind of inner strength. No matter what difficulties or problems you face, in this wider context they’ll seem less significant and troubling to you. The inner strength, self-confidence and courage you gain by focussing on others’ needs instead of your own, brings with it a deep, calm sense of satisfaction. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
1291:Gating activity outside of the normal bell-shaped curve for the population of the United States is, generally, considered to be pathological. The more widely open gating channels are, the more likely someone is to be defined as clinically abnormal and to be labeled, one way or another, as having “stimulus filtering difficulties” or “gating deficits. ~ Stephen Harrod Buhner, #NFDB
1292:It’s not going to be easy to proceed. There are going to be barriers, difficulties, hardships, failures - it’s inevitable. But unless the spirit of the last year, here and elsewhere in the country and around the globe, unless that continues to grow and becomes a major force in the social and political world, the chances for a decent future are not very high. ~ Noam Chomsky, #NFDB
1293:Some commentators have drawn such a stark and gloomy picture of the Weimar Republic's early difficulties that the Republic seems foredoomed to failure from the outset... The conditions in which Weimar democracy were born were certainly not such as to help it flourish; and as it unfolded, it was clearly saddled with a burden of problems, in a range of areas. ~ Mary Fulbrook, #NFDB
1294:At (UNHCR's) headquarters, I met extraordinary people, men and women, especially from the emergency team, who shared with me their passion, their dedication and their commitment to this organisation and refugees. They told me about the daily difficulties they have to face and also the joy they felt when they managed to save a person whose life was threatened. ~ Julien Clerc, #NFDB
1295:Leaders have always found it useful to have an enemy at their gates in times of trouble, distracting the public from their difficulties. In using your enemies to rally your troops, polarize them as far as possible: they will fight the more fiercely when they feel a little hatred. So exaggerate the differences between you and the enemy—draw the lines clearly. ~ Robert Greene, #NFDB
1296:An immense and ever-increasing wealth of knowledge is scattered about the world today; knowledge that would probably suffice to solve all the mighty difficulties of our age, but it is dispersed and unorganized. We need a sort of mental clearing house for the mind: a depot where knowledge and ideas are received, sorted, summarized, digested, clarified and compared ~ H G Wells, #NFDB
1297:As the MIT philosopher Kieran Setiya expands in his modern interpretation of the Ethics, if your life consists only of actions whose "worth depends on the existence of problems, difficulties, needs, which these activities aim to solve," you're vulnerable to the existential despair that blooms in response to the inevitable question, Is this all there is to life? ~ Cal Newport, #NFDB
1298:An immense and ever-increasing wealth of knowledge is scattered about the world today; knowledge that would probably suffice to solve all the mighty difficulties of our age, but it is dispersed and unorganized. We need a sort of mental clearing house for the mind: a depot where knowledge and ideas are received, sorted, summarized, digested, clarified and compared. ~ H G Wells, #NFDB
1299:It's not going to be easy to proceed. There are going to be barriers, difficulties, hardships, failures- it's inevitable. But unless the process that is taking place here and elsewhere in the country and around the world, unless that continues to grow and becomes a major force in the social and political world, the chances for a decent future are not very high. ~ Noam Chomsky, #NFDB
1300:Organizations face the challenge of controlling the tendency of executives competing for resources to present overly optimistic plans. A well-run organization will reward planners for precise execution and penalize them for failing to anticipate difficulties, and for failing to allow for difficulties that they could not have anticipated—the unknown unknowns. ~ Daniel Kahneman, #NFDB
1301:The main difficulty in the sadhana consists in the movements of the lower nature, ideas of the mind, desires and attractions of the vital, habits of the body consciousness that stand in the way of the growth of the higher consciousness - there are other difficulties, but these make the bulk of the opposition.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - III, Difficulties of the Path,#NFDB
1302:It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed...the habits of a vigorous mind are formed contending with difficulties. All history will convince you of this, and that wisdom and penetration are the fruit of experience, not the lessons of retirement and leisure. Great necessities call out great virtues. ~ Abigail Adams, #NFDB
1303:Marriage has, for its share, usefulness, justice, honour, and constancy; a stale but more durable pleasure. Love is grounded on pleasure alone, and it is indeed more gratifying to the senses, keener and more acute; a pleasure stirred and kept alive by difficulties. There must be a sting and a smart in it. It ceases to be love if it has no shafts and no fire. ~ Michel de Montaigne, #NFDB
1304:Mindful sitting meditation is not an attempt to escape from problems or difficulties into some cut-off “meditative” state of absorption or denial. On the contrary, it is a willingness to go nose to nose with pain, confusion, and loss, if that is what is dominating the present moment, and to stay with the observing over a sustained period of time, beyond thinking. ~ Jon Kabat Zinn, #NFDB
1305:When you come across difficulties, you have to grow bigger than the problem. You have that capacity within you, but you are not aware of it. If you become bigger, difficulties will look smaller than you, and you can solve them easily. If you become smaller than the difficulties, they will look like mountains and crush you. This is the theory I have followed in life. ~ Sudha Murty, #NFDB
1306:You managed to finish what you began even though you did not foresee all the traps along the way. And when your enthusiasm waned because of the difficulties you encountered, you reached for discipline. And when discipline seemed about to disappear because you were tired, you used your moments of repose to think about what steps you needed to take in the future. You ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1307:The reason is not difficult to see: if we drop out when we hit problems, progress is scuppered, no matter how talented we are. If we interpret difficulties as indictments of who we are, rather than as pathways to progress, we will run a mile from failure. Grit, then, is strongly related to the Growth Mindset; it is about the way we conceptualise success and failure. ~ Matthew Syed, #NFDB
1308:We did our best to do a Fox show, frankly, I don't think the difficulties we had at Fox would be exclusive to Fox. It's tough to be funny, because there's so many eyeballs and there's so much money at stake that I think everything is just kind of over-thought. And it's tough to be daring and do something different, either with regards to content or even structure. ~ Aaron McGruder, #NFDB
1309:To strive with difficulties, and to conquer them, is the highest human felicity; the next is, to strive, and deserve to conquer: but he whose life has passed without a contest, and who can boast neither success nor merit, can survey himself only as a useless filler of existence; ad if he is content with his own character, must owe his satisfaction to insensibility. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
1310:A workable and effective way to meet and overcome difficulties is to take on someone else's problems. It is a strange fact but you can often handle two difficulties-your own and somebody else's-better than you can handle your own alone. That truth is based on a subtle law of self-giving or outgoingness whereby you develop a self-strengthening in the process. ~ Norman Vincent Peale, #NFDB
1311:It is only the man who carries into his pursuits that great quality which Lucan ascribes to Caesar, Nescia virtus stare loco [his energy could never rest]—who first consults wisely, then resolves firmly, and then executes his purpose with inflexible perseverance, undismayed by those petty difficulties which daunt a weaker spirit—that can advance to eminence in any line. ~ Brett McKay, #NFDB
1312:Let the errors and deceits of our very senses be set before us; the insuperable difficulties which attend first principles in all systems; the contradictions which adhere to the very ideas of matter, cause and effect, extension, space, time, motion; and, in a word, quantity of all kinds, the object of the only science that can fairly pretend to any certainty or evidence. ~ David Hume, #NFDB
1313:[On Sophie Germain] When a person of the sex which, according to our customs and prejudices, must encounter infinitely more difficulties than men... succeeds nevertheless in surmounting these obstacles and penetrating the most obscure parts of [number theory], then without doubt she must have the noblest courage, quite extraordinary talents and superior genius. ~ Carl Friedrich Gauss, #NFDB
1314:Between you and every goal that you wish to achieve, there is a series of obstacles, and the bigger the goal, the bigger the obstacles. Your decision to be, have and do something out of the ordinary entails facing difficulties and challenges that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else. ~ Brian Tracy, #NFDB
1315:What most people didn’t realize about that verse was that it came in the midst of other promises—promises from God telling His people that they would also suffer great difficulties. It was what made the Christian life so dynamic. Ultimate hope and peace and joy and redemption, even in a life that would certainly have trials and temptations, tragedies and tough times. ~ Karen Kingsbury, #NFDB
1316:Is there any man that thinks in chains like the man who calls himself a free-thinker? Is there any man so credulous as the man who will not believe in the Bible? He swallows a ton of difficulties, and yet complains that we have swallowed an ounce of them. He has much more need of faith of a certain sort than we have, for skepticism has far harder problems than faith. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
1317:I think the biggest survival instinct that Midwesterners possess is self deprecation, it's almost a Buddha-like sense of humor in anything that is difficult to get through. They would prefer to laugh at difficulties, show their mettle through that, and toughen up and have a beer afterward. That's definitely the characteristic I've carried through me, and hope to never lose. ~ Amy Pietz, #NFDB
1318:Bauer's 'Criticism of the Gospel History' is worth a good dozen Lives of Jesus, because his work, as we are only now coming to recognise, after half a century, is the ablest and most complete collection of the difficulties of the Life of Jesus which is anywhere to be found. ~ Albert Schweitzer, #NFDB
1319:Everything in war is very simple, but the simplest thing is difficult. The difficulties accumulate and end by producing a kind of friction that is inconceivable unless one has experienced war. ... Countless minor incidents - the kind you can never really foresee - combine to lower the general level of performance, so that one always falls short of the intended goal. ~ Carl von Clausewitz, #NFDB
1320:Life is indeed difficult, partly because of the real difficulties we must overcome in order to survive, and partly because of our own innate desire to always do better, to overcome new challenges, to self-actualize. Happiness is experienced largely in striving towards a goal, not in having attained things, because our nature is always to want to go on to the next endeavor. ~ Albert Ellis, #NFDB
1321:In less than eight years "The Origin of Species" has produced conviction in the minds of a majority of the most eminent living men of science. New facts, new problems, new difficulties as they arise are accepted, solved, or removed by this theory; and its principles are illustrated by the progress and conclusions of every well established branch of human knowledge. ~ Alfred Russel Wallace, #NFDB
1322:I have talked with many pastors whose real struggle isn't first with the hardship of ministry, the lack of appreciation and involvement of people, or difficulties with fellow leaders. No, the real struggle they are having, one that is very hard for a pastor to admit, is with God. What has caused ministry to become hard and burdensome is disappointment and anger with God. ~ Paul David Tripp, #NFDB
1323:Individuals possessing moderate-sized brains easily find their proper sphere, and enjoy in it scope for all their energy. In ordinary circumstances they distinguish themselves, but they sink when difficulties accumulate around them. Persons with large brains, on the other hand, do not readily attain their appropriate place; common occurrences do not rouse or call them forth. ~ George Combe, #NFDB
1324:The real troublemakers are anger, jealousy, impatience, and hatred. With them, problems cannot be solved. Though we may have temporary success, ultimately our hatred or anger will create futher difficulties. Anger makes for swift solutions. Yet, when we face problems with compassion, sincerity, and good motivation, our solutions may take longer, but ultimately they are better. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
1325:How far the gentlemen of dark complexion will get with their independence, now that they have declared it, I don’t know. There are serious difficulties in their way. The vast majority of people of their race are but two or three inches removed from gorillas: it will be a sheer impossibility, for a long, long while, to interest them in anything above pork-chops and bootleg gin. ~ H L Mencken, #NFDB
1326:Let us watch against unbelief, pride, and self-confidence. If we go forth in our own strength, we shall faint, and utterly fall; but, waiting on the Lord, out of weakness we shall be made strong. Having our hearts and our hopes in heaven, we shall be carried above all difficulties, and be enabled to press forward and lay hold of the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus. ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
1327:Our Lord has sovereignly ordained that our refining process take place as we go through difficulties, not around them. The Bible is filled with examples of those who overcame as they passed through the desert, the Red Sea, the fiery furnace and ultimately the cross. God doesn’t protect Christians from their problems — he helps them walk victoriously through their problems.”4 ~ Gary L Thomas, #NFDB
1328:For life affords no higher pleasure, than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified. He that labours in any great or laudable undertaking, has his fatigues first supported by hope, and afterwards rewarded by joy... To strive with difficulties, and to conquer them, is the highest human felicity. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
1329:THE DIFFICULTIES AND INDEED PERPLEXITIES which beset us the moment we try to make philosophic sense out of the findings of quantum theory are caused, not just by the complexity and subtlety of the microworld, but first and foremost by an adhesion to certain false metaphysical premises, which have occupied a position of intellectual dominance since the time of René Descartes. ~ Wolfgang Smith, #NFDB
1330:Really living like Christ will not mean reward, social recognition, and an assured income, but difficulties, discrimination, solitude, anxiety. Here, too, the basic experience of the cross applies: the wider we open our hearts to others, the more audibly we intervene against the injustice that rules over us, the more difficult our lives in the rich unjust society will become. ~ Dorothee Solle, #NFDB
1331:Wherefore, I beseech you let the dog and the onions and these people of the strange and godless names work out their several salvations from their piteous and wonderful difficulties without help of mine, for indeed their trouble is sufficient as it is, whereas an I tried to help I should but damage their cause the more and yet mayhap not live myself to see the desolation wrought. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
1332:(...) being right all the time acquires a huge importance in education, and there is this terror of being wrong. The ego is so tied to being right that later on in life you are reluctant to accept that you are ever wrong, because you are defending not the idea but your self-esteem. (...) this terror of being wrong means that people have enormous difficulties in changing ideas. ~ Edward de Bono, #NFDB
1333:I cannot let Christmas pass without speaking to you directly of these difficulties because they are of deep concern to all of us as individuals and as a nation. Different people have different views, deeply and sincerely felt, about our problems and how they should be solved. Let us remember, however, that what we have in common is more important than what divides us.” The ~ Sally Bedell Smith, #NFDB
1334:Up until then, travel and the idea of going far away had just been a dream, and dreaming is very pleasant as long as you are not forced to put your dreams into practice. That way, we avoid all the risks, frustrations and difficulties, and when we are old, we can always blame other people--preferably our parents, our spouses or our children--for our failure to realize our dreams. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1335:In his own time, in his own place, in what he really is, and in the stage he has reached—good or bad—every human being is a specific element within the whole of the manifest divine Being. So why be afraid of difficulties, sufferings and problems? When troubles come, try to understand the relevance of your sufferings. Adversity always presents opportunities for introspection. ~ A P J Abdul Kalam, #NFDB
1336:The soul, like the body, acquires vigor by the exercise of all its faculties. In the midst of the world, in overcoming difficulties, in conquering selfishness, indolence, and fear--in all the occasions of duty, it employs, and reveals by employing, energies that render it efficient and robust--that broaden its scope, adjust its powers, and mature it with a rich experience. ~ Edwin Hubbel Chapin, #NFDB
1337:When conversion takes place, the process of revelation occurs in a very simple way — a person is in need, he suffers, and then somehow the other world opens up. The more you are in suffering and difficulties and are 'desperate' for God, the more He is going to come to your aid, reveal Who He is and show you the way out...”
― Seraphim Rose, God's Revelation to the Human Heart ~ Seraphim Rose,#NFDB
1338:A vocation is a terrible thing. To be called out of nature into the supernatural life is at first (or perhaps not quite at first - the wrench of the parting may be felt later) a costly honour. Even to be called from one natural level to another is loss as well as gain. Man has difficulties and sorrows which the other primates escape. But to be called up higher still costs still more. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1339:Lincoln's appeal to "the better angels of our nature" failed to avert a fratricidal war. But the compassionate wisdom of Lincoln's first and second inaugurals bequeathed to the Union, cemented with blood, a moral heritage which, when drawn upon in times of stress and strife, is sure to find specific ways and means to surmount difficulties that may appear to be insurmountable. ~ Felix Frankfurter, #NFDB
1340:Mindfulness meditation encourages us to become more patient and compassionate with ourselves and to cultivate open-mindedness and gentle persistence. These qualities help free us from the gravitational pull of anxiety, stress and unhappiness by reminding us what science has shown: that it’s OK to stop treating sadness and other difficulties as problems that need to be solved. ~ J Mark G Williams, #NFDB
1341:Words, English words, are full of echoes, of memories, of associations. They have been out and about, on people's lips, in their houses, in the streets, in the fields, for so many centuries. And that is one of the chief difficulties in writing them today -- that they are stored with other meanings, with other memories, and they have contracted so many famous marriages in the past. ~ Virginia Woolf, #NFDB
1342:Is there a happiness that does not depend upon having one’s favorite foods available, or friends and loved ones within arm’s reach, or good books to read, or something to look forward to on the weekend? Is it possible to be happy before anything happens, before one’s desires are gratified, in spite of life’s difficulties, in the very midst of physical pain, old age, disease, and death? ~ Sam Harris, #NFDB
1343:Western thought has changed so rapidly in this century that we are in a state of considerable confusion. Not only are there serious difficulties of communication between the intellectual and the general public, but the course of our thinking and of our very history has seriously undermined the common-sense assumptions which lie at the roots of our social conventions and institutions. ~ Alan W Watts, #NFDB
1344:Avarice, the spur of industry, is so obstinate a passion, and works its way through so many real dangers and difficulties, that it is not likely to be scared by an imaginary danger, which is so small, that it scarcely admits of calculation. Commerce, therefore, in my opinion, is apt to decay in absolute governments, not because it is there less secure, but because it is less honourable. ~ David Hume, #NFDB
1345:Behind all the dark humor, Bill was talking about the same things I’d read in Joseph Campbell. If you look at things, really look, if you lift the veil, you start to recognize that light is love, is infinite, is unconditional. Bill was saying that once you understand the nature of nature, you can let go of difficulties and sign on for the ride—knowing that it’s just a ride. And ~ Maynard James Keenan, #NFDB
1346:If you've got a great crew it's intense, but its quite short. 'The Elephant Man' was longer than most, for an independent film. That was a 14 week film. But it was because of the intrinsic difficulties. We had to invent a different way of filming, because the makeup was so long. A working day for me with a full makeup on was nineteen hours. So obviously you couldn't do that twice running. ~ John Hurt, #NFDB
1347:Remember that the Mother is always with you.
Address Her as follows and She will pull you out of all difficulties:
"O Mother, Thou art the light of my intelligence, the purity of my soul,
the quiet strength of my vital, the endurance of my body.
I rely on Thee alone and want to be entirely Thine.
Make me surmount all obstacles on the way."
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother III, [T1],#NFDB
1348:I don't feel myself that I Know it all, but I have enough conceit to be successful. That observation was made by a businessman in his 30s who was making notable headway, although his path bristled with difficulties. Business places no premiums on shrinking violets. Employers prefer men who have self-assurance, forcefulness, go-aheadness, men who know their jobs and know that they know it. ~ B C Forbes, #NFDB
1349:I've been keeping an eye out for the Charlie Brown Valentine's Day special. I know it will be on soon, and I never miss a Charlie Brown special. The best one is the Halloween show about the Great Pumpkin - which I've only missed one year in my life, due to the local ABC station having technical difficulties - but all the Peanuts shows make me feel like I'm one step closer to Halloween. ~ Damien Echols, #NFDB
1350:We become pitiable and ridiculous when we imbibe an unreasoned mysticism in our life without any natural or substantial basis. People like us, who are proud to be revolutionary in every sense, should always be prepared to bear all the difficulties, anxieties, pain and suffering which we invite upon ourselves by the struggles initiated by us and for which we call ourselves revolutionary. ~ Bhagat Singh, #NFDB
1351:When people fail to follow these bizarre, secret rules, and the machine does the wrong thing, its operators are blamed for not understanding the machine, for not following its rigid specifications. With everyday objects, the result is frustration. With complex devices and commercial and industrial processes, the resulting difficulties can lead to accidents, injuries, and even deaths. ~ Donald A Norman, #NFDB
1352:They will have difficulties to overcome,' I admitted. 'Including the differences in their religions. However, marriage is always a chancy business, Katherine. I have known individuals who appeared perfectly suited, by family background, religion, and nationality, who were thoroughly miserable.'
'So you believe in taking the chance?'
'Certainly. What is life without some risk? ~ Elizabeth Peters,#NFDB
1353:A lack of serotonin impaired one’s capacity to concentrate at work, to sleep, to eat, and to enjoy life’s pleasures. When this substance was completely absent, the person experienced despair, pessimism, a sense of futility, terrible tiredness, anxiety, difficulties in making decisions, and would end up sinking into permanent gloom, which would lead either to complete apathy or to suicide. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1354:As the years accumulate, we form an increasingly somber image of the future. Is this only to console ourselves for being excluded from it? Yes in appearance, no in fact, for the future has always been hideous, man being able to remedy his evils only by aggravating them, so that in each epoch existence, is much more tolerable before the solution is found to the difficulties of the moment. ~ Emil M Cioran, #NFDB
1355:Finally one should add that in spite of the great complexity of protein synthesis and in spite of the considerable technical difficulties in synthesizing polynucleotides with defined sequences it is not unreasonable to hope that all these points will be clarified in the near future, and that the genetic code will be completely established on a sound experimental basis within a few years. ~ Francis Crick, #NFDB
1356:There is scarcely anything when a man is in difficulties that he is more disposed to look upon with abhorrence than a rightabout retrograde movement—a systematic going over of the already trodden ground: and especially if he has a love of adventure, such a course appears indescribably repulsive, so long as there remains the least hope to be derived from braving untried difficulties. It ~ Herman Melville, #NFDB
1357:Darling, let me leave you with a thought: There’s very little in life that doesn’t require a compromise of one kind or another. No matter what you choose, it won’t be perfect.” “So much for happy-ever-after,” Pandora said sourly. Kathleen smiled. “But wouldn’t it be dull if ever-after was always happy, with no difficulties or problems to solve? Ever-after is far more interesting than that. ~ Lisa Kleypas, #NFDB
1358:So ended the tale of Dabasir the camel trader of old Babylon. He found his own soul when he realized a great truth, a truth that had been known and used by wise men long before his time. It has led men of all ages out of difficulties and into success and it will continue to do so for those who have the wisdom to understand its magic power. It is for any man to use who reads these lines. ~ George S Clason, #NFDB
1359:One of the West's singular migrations - from the Azores to California's Great Central Valley - is given faces and voices in Anthony Barcellos's new novel, Land of Milk and Money. Along with its triumphs, the Francisco family embodies the challenges to an immigrant family in a new land, including the often ignored difficulties posed by success and the loss of the old culture. A must read... ~ Gerald Haslam, #NFDB
1360:She wasn’t afraid of difficulties what frightened her was being forced to choose one particular path. Choosing a path meant having to miss out on others. She had a whole life to live and she was thinking that, in future, she might regret the choices she made now.
“I am afraid of committing myself” she thought to herself she wanted to follow all possible paths and ended up following none. ~ Paulo Coelho,#NFDB
1361:The idea that we could have avoided many of life’s difficulties if we had taken things more cautiously is too foolish to be entertained for a moment. As I look back on your past I am so convinced that what has happened hitherto has been right, that I feel that what is happening now is right too. To renounce a full life and its real joys in order to avoid pain is neither Christian nor human. ~ Eric Metaxas, #NFDB
1362:To be honest, I don't really consider myself a prodigy. Learning the piano, I have encountered some difficulties. There are many challenges in playing and I've grown frustrated at times... But because I like to play the piano, I never thought of giving up. I was always able to overcome difficulties in pianistic techniques. Yes, there might be some 'traffic lights', but they all turned 'green'. ~ George Li, #NFDB
1363:In his laborious efforts to attain mountaintops, where the air is lighter and purer, the climber gains new strength of limb. In the endeavor to over come obstacles of the way, the soul trains itself to conquer difficulties; and the spectacle of the vast horizon, which from the highest crest offers itself on all sides to the eyes, raises his spirit to the Divine Author and Soverign of Nature. ~ Pope Pius XI, #NFDB
1364:Draft resisters have had and should continue to have only normal difficulties immigrating [to Canada]. Probably any young American can get in if he is really determined, though all will need adequate information. ... The toughest problem a draft resister faces is not how to immigrate but whether he really wants to. And only you can answer that. For yourself. That's what Nuremberg was all about. ~ Mark Satin, #NFDB
1365:I am exclusively occupied with the problem of gravitation and hope with the help of a local mathematician friend [Marcel Grossman] to overcome all the difficulties. One thing is certain, however, that never in life have I been quite so tormented. A great respect for mathematics has been instilled within me, the subtler aspects of which, in my stupidity, I regarded until now as pure luxury. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
1366:To add to the difficulties and dangers of the time, masses of sea-fog came drifting inland. White, wet clouds, which swept by in ghostly fashion, so dank and damp and cold that it needed but little effort of imagination to think that the spirits of those lost at sea were touching their living brethren with the clammy hands of death, and many a one shuddered at the wreaths of sea-mist swept by. ~ Bram Stoker, #NFDB
1367:My loving children, my children who were created with God's beauty, my wise children, whatever difficulty you may have, do not ever leave His charge. Just as the prophets of God kept their faith firm and were tolerant in spite of the problems they had, no matter what difficulties you may experience, be tolerant, be forbearant and embrace all living things as your own life. ~ Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, #NFDB
1368:And my difficulties were these: I found each plant, each new turn in the road, each new turn in the weather, from cold to hot and then back again, each new set of boulders so absorbing, so new, and the newness so absorbing, and I was so in need of an explanation for each thing, that I was often in tears, troubling myself with questions, such as what am I and what is the thing in front of me. ~ Jamaica Kincaid, #NFDB
1369:Whatever your difficulties - a devastated heart, financial loss, feeling assaulted by the conflicts around you, or a seemingly hopeless illness - you can always remember that you are free in every moment to set the compass of your heart to your highest intentions. In fact, the two things that you are always free to do - despite your circumstances - are to be present and to be willing to love. ~ Jack Kornfield, #NFDB
1370:When God issues a call to us, it is always a holy call. The vocation of dying is a sacred vocation. To understand that is one of the most important lessons a Christian can ever learn. When the summons comes, we can respond in many ways. We can become angry, bitter or terrified. But if we see it as a call from God and not a threat from Satan, we are far more prepared to cope with its difficulties. ~ R C Sproul, #NFDB
1371:I did not truly know M. Masteen,” said the priest. “We were not of the same faith. But we were of the same profession; Voice of the Tree Masteen spent much of his life doing what he understood to be God’s work, pursuing God’s will in the writings of the Muir and the beauties of nature. His was the true faith—tested by difficulties, tempered by obedience, and, in the end, sealed by sacrifice.” Dur ~ Dan Simmons, #NFDB
1372:Teaching is like having a bank account. You can happily draw on it while it is well supplied with new funds; otherwise you're in difficulties.
Every teacher should have a fund of ready information on which to draw; he should keep that fund supplied regularly by new experiences, new thoughts and discoveries, by reading and moving around among people from whom he can acquire such things. ~ E R Braithwaite,#NFDB
1373:There is no telling what a human character is. Until the test comes. To most of us the test comes early in life. A man is confronted quite soon with the necessity to stand on his own feet, to face dangers and difficulties and to take his own line of dealing with them. It may be the straight way, it may be the crooked way --- whichever it is, a man usually learns early just what he is made of. ~ Agatha Christie, #NFDB
1374:Understandably, they didn’t really appreciate that I shared all of my negative childhood experiences with the world. Families, in general, tend to believe certain things should remain private. However, that’s the thing about a life filled with extreme difficulties-if we keep our stories, our feelings and our experiences hidden inside of us, it is much more difficult to heal and find answers. ~ Bryan Hutchinson, #NFDB
1375:It was the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties, and I look back to it now, after so many years, with some complacency and a little wonder that I could have been so earnest and persevering in any pursuit other than for my daily bread. I certainly saw nothing in the conduct of those around to inspire me with such interest: they were all devoted exclusively to what their hands found to do. ~ Frederick Douglass, #NFDB
1376:My experience of working on this show, even though there is so much about sex and sexuality, and we find out a lot of facts and statistics that are very interesting, in their own right, I found that I started talking about relationships more, and the emotions, the difficulties and the challenges. So, I became far more open about that, which I think is probably an indication with the show itself. ~ Michael Sheen, #NFDB
1377:Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
1378:I believe our situation in present-day America is grave, but this book is not meant to be discouraging. In fact, by way of encouragement before we consider what we have forgotten and what we must do, let’s first acknowledge that despite our difficulties and considerable failings, much of America’s promise has already been fulfilled, and spectacularly so, far beyond what anyone might have imagined. ~ Eric Metaxas, #NFDB
1379:One famous Zen master actually described spiritual practice as “one mistake after another,” which is to say, one opportunity after another to learn. It is from “difficulties, mistakes, and errors” that we actually learn. To live life is to make a succession of errors. Understanding this can bring us great ease and forgiveness for ourselves and others—we are at ease with the difficulties of life. ~ Jack Kornfield, #NFDB
1380:The idea that we could have avoided many of life’s difficulties if we had taken things more cautiously is too foolish to be entertained for a moment. As I look back on your past I am so convinced that what has happened hitherto has been right, that I feel that what is happening now is right too. To renounce a full life and its real joys in order to avoid pain is neither Christian nor human. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
1381:In passing, we should here recognize the difficulties presented by the idea of 'fit' and 'unfit.' Who is to decide this question? The grosser, the more obvious, the undeniably feeble-minded should, indeed, not only be discouraged but prevented from propagating their kind. But among the writings of the representative Eugenists [sic], one cannot ignore the distinct middle-class bias that prevails. ~ Margaret Sanger, #NFDB
1382:One... gets an impression that civilization is something which was imposed on a resisting majority by a minority which understood how to obtain possession of the means to power and coercion. It is, of course, natural to assume that these difficulties are not inherent in the nature of civilization itself but are determined by the imperfections of the cultural forms which have so far been developed. ~ Sigmund Freud, #NFDB
1383:I have a great deal of respect for the craft, I don't know how much respect it has for me. But it's a precision process. Doing it on stage would be, I think, terrifying. Doing it on film has its own difficulties, because film is not conducive to spontaneity. You might have a run through and get a few chuckles at eight o'clock in the morning, but you don't keep laughing at the same thing all day long. ~ Colin Firth, #NFDB
1384:We often think that by removing all the difficulties of our life we shall more quickly reach our aim , but on the contrary, my dear sir , it is only in the midst of worldly cares that we can attain our three chief aims: (1) Self-knowledge— for man can only know himself by comparison, (2) Self-perfecting, which can only be attained by conflict, and (3) The attainment of the chief virtue— love of death. ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
1385:When you find yourself in philosophical difficulties, the first line of defense is not to define your problematic terms, but to see whether you can think without using those terms at all. Or any of their short synonyms. And be careful not to let yourself invent a new word to use instead. Describe outward observables and interior mechanisms; don’t use a single handle, whatever that handle may be. ~ Eliezer Yudkowsky, #NFDB
1386:of Bondage At Step Three, many of us said to our Maker, as we understood Him: “God, I offer myself to Thee—to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that my transcendence over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy power, Thy love, and Thy way of life. May I do Thy will always!” We ~ A A World Services Inc, #NFDB
1387:Spirituality is not religion. It is a path for us to generate happiness, understanding, and love, so we can live deeply each moment of our life. Having a spiritual dimension in our lives does not mean escaping life or dwelling in a place of bliss outside this world but discovering ways to handle life’s difficulties and generate peace, joy, and happiness right where we are, on this beautiful planet. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
1388:When we look beyond our first exclusively concentrated vision, we see behind Vishnu all the personality of Shiva and behind Shiva all the personality of Vishnu. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga: The Divine Personality
Shiva-Vishnu
For most the siddhi of the path, whatever it is, must be the end of a long, difficult and persevering endeavour. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, The Difficulties of Yoga,#NFDB
1389:At certain times in the revolutionary struggle, the difficulties outweigh the favorable conditions and so constitute the principal aspect of the contradiction and the favorable conditions constitute the secondary aspect. But through their efforts the revolutionaries can overcome the difficulties step by step and open up a favorable new situation, thus a difficult situation yields place to a favorable one. ~ Mao Zedong, #NFDB
1390:Motherly love is not much use if it expresses itself only as a warm gush of emotion, delicately tinged with pink. It must also be strong, guiding and unselfish. The sweetly sung lullaby; the cool hand on the feverd brow, the Mother's Day smiles and flowers are only a small part of the picture. True mothers have to be made of steel to withstand the difficulties that are sure to beset their children. ~ Rachel Billington, #NFDB
1391:They who lack talent expect things to happen without effort. They ascribe failure to a lack of inspiration or ability, or to misfortune, rather than to insufficient application. At the core of every true talent there is an awareness of the difficulties inherent in any achievement, and the confidence that by persistence and patience something worthwhile will be realized. Thus talent is a species of vigor. ~ Eric Hoffer, #NFDB
1392:A very high fraction of America's economic problems come not from our difficulties with education or globalization or competition with the Chinese or whatever. But they come from the fact that a small number of wealthy and powerful people who run dangerous and/or inefficient companies are able, through the use of money in the political process, to prevent the government from regulating them properly. ~ Charles Ferguson, #NFDB
1393:I have arranged the passages that I have chosen for reflection in roughly chronological order. The book of Jeremiah is not itself arranged chronologically, and there is far more in it than biography. That means that readers not infrequently puzzle over transitions and wrestle to find the appropriate settings for the sayings. I have not attempted to sort out these puzzles or explain the difficulties. ~ Eugene H Peterson, #NFDB
1394:It is true that I create over and over again the same difficulties for myself in order to struggle over and over again to master them [but] to continually struggle against the same problem and to continually fail to dominate it brings a feeling of frustration and a kind of paralysis. What is necessary to life, to livingness, is to move on, in other words to move from one kind of problem to another. ~ Ana s Nin, #NFDB
1395:The more you think about your own self, the more self-centred you are, the more trouble even small problems can create in your mind. The stronger your sense of 'I', the narrower the scope of your thinking becomes; then even small obstacles become unbearable. On the other hand, if you concern yourself mainly with others, the broader your thinking becomes, and life's inevitable difficulties disturb you less. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
1396:He felt all the torment of his and her position, all the difficulties they were surrounded by in consequence of their station in life, which exposed them to the eyes of the whole world, obliged them to hide their love, to lie and deceive, and again to lie and deceive, to scheme and constantly think about others while the passion that bound them was so strong that they both forgot everything but their love. ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
1397:If you have peace of mind, when you meet with problems and difficulties they won’t disturb your inner peace. You’ll be able to employ your human intelligence more effectively. But, if your mental state is disturbed, full of emotion, it is very difficult to cope with problems, because the mind that is full of emotion is biased, unable to see reality. So whatever you do will be unrealistic and naturally fail. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
1398:You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down... So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. In climbing, take careful note of the difficulties along your way; for as you go up , you can observe them. Coming down, you will no longer see them, but you will know they are there if you have observed them well. ~ Joseph Jaworski, #NFDB
1399:But I belong to Teutonic blood; it is little mingled in this part of England to what it is in others; we retain much of their language; we retain more of their spirit; we do not look upon life as a time for enjoyment, but as a time for action and exertion. Our glory and our beauty arise out of our inward strength, which makes us victorious over material resistance, and over greater difficulties still. ~ Elizabeth Gaskell, #NFDB
1400:She could not conceive of a husband better than hers had been, and yet when she recalled their life she found more difficulties than pleasures, too many mutual misunderstandings, useless arguments, unresolved angers. Suddenly she sighed: "It is incredible how one can be happy for so many years in the midst of so many squabbles, so many problems, damn it, and not really know if it was love or not. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez, #NFDB
1401:Common mental illness and unusual occupations aside, the tenants of Lingering Arms seem as typical as any residents of any building in any big city. And if you listened to their stories, you would find out that they do have many of the same difficulties, desires, and dreams as your average American . . . . . . And yet some the occupants of Lingering Arms will prove to be anything but average. ~ Aiden Bates, #NFDB
1402:Everything is a grace, everything is the direct effect of our Father's love - difficulties, contradictions, humiliations, all the soul's miseries, her burdens, her needs - everything, because through them, she learns humility, realizes her weakness. Everything is a grace because everything is God's gift. Whatever be the character of life or its unexpected events - to the heart that loves, all is well. ~ Saint Therese of Lisieux, #NFDB
1403:Mankind has tried the other two roads to peace - the road of political jealousy and the road of religious bigotry - and found them both equally misleading. Perhaps it will now try the third, the road of scientific truth, the only road on which the passenger is not deceived. Science does not, ostrich-like, bury its head amidst perils and difficulties. It tries to see everything exactly as everything is. ~ Garrett P Serviss, #NFDB
1404:Gary and Betsy Ricucci point out, “Our Lord has sovereignly ordained that our refining process take place as we go through difficulties, not around them. The Bible is filled with examples of those who overcame as they passed through the desert, the Red Sea, the fiery furnace and ultimately the cross. God doesn’t protect Christians from their problems—he helps them walk victoriously through their problems.”1 ~ Gary L Thomas, #NFDB
1405:Relational analyst Jody Davies writes: “We assume—indeed, we rely upon—the hope that analyst and patient together will become enmeshed in complicated reenactments of early, unformulated experiences with significant others that can shed light upon the patient's current interpersonal and intrapsychic difficulties by reopening in the analytic relationship prematurely foreclosed areas of experience” (1994, p. 156). ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1406:There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. We always returned to it no matter who we were or how it was changed or with what difficulties, or ease, it could be reached. Paris was always worth it and you received return for whatever you brought to it. But this is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy. ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
1407:Evola’s attempt to influence Nazi doctrine was unsuccessful: the Nazis weren’t interested in Aryan Jews or vice versa, and in any case the difficulties in telling which from which were probably insurmountable. And although he made many German contacts, the pragmatic Himmler finally saw no use for him. Being rejected by Himmler may be a mitigating factor, but it hardly exonerates Evola for his ideas about race. ~ Gary Lachman, #NFDB
1408:If people will be censors, let them weigh their words. I mean that the words were unfair by that disproportionateness of the condemnation, which everybody with some conscience must feel to be one of the great difficulties in denouncing a particular person. Every unpleasant dog is only one of many, but we kick him because he comes in our way, and there is always some want of distributive justice in the kicking. ~ George Eliot, #NFDB
1409:If the underdog were always right, one might quite easily try to defend him. The trouble is that very often he is but obscurely right, sometimes only partially right, and often quite wrong; but perhaps he is never so altogether wrong and pig-headed and utterly reprehensible as he is represented to be by those who add the possession of prejudices to the other almost insuperable difficulties of understanding him. ~ Jane Addams, #NFDB
1410:After some time, Fisher said, “Per aspera ad astra.”
Quincy turned towards him. “What’s that?”
“Latin. It means to the stars through difficulties.”
By natural extension of the conversation, she looked up, viewing the faint points of light fighting down through a soft haze. “Does anyone make it, Fisher? To the stars?”
“I believe we have, Quince. We’ve seen the worst but known the best. ~ Beth Brower,#NFDB
1411:Everyone wants a happy life without difficulties or suffering. We create many of the problems we face. No one intentionally creates problems, but we tend to be slaves to powerful emotions like anger, hatred and attachment that are based on misconceived projections about people and things. We need to find ways of reducing these emotions by eliminating the ignorance that underlies them and applying opposing forces. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
1412:It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman. ~ John Adams, #NFDB
1413:Suffering is rightly called “the school of faith,” for it is only through trouble, difficulties, and setbacks that we are brought to the end of ourselves. The normal human tendency, particularly for strong-willed people, is to rely on our own strength and resources. But when those are not available to us, when everything has failed, when we have to abandon every other hope, we are forced to trust God alone. ~ Charles W Colson, #NFDB
1414:That freedom can never be attained by a nation without suffering and sacrifice has been amply borne out by the recent tragic happenings in this subcontinent. We are in the midst of unparalleled difficulties and untold sufferings; we have been through dark days of apprehension and anguish; but I can say with confidence that with courage and self-reliance and by the Grace of God we shall emerge triumphant. ~ Muhammad Ali Jinnah, #NFDB
1415:What is the use of whining to me about your difficulties? If you are proceeding on the Enemy’s idea of ‘justice’ and suggesting that your opportunities and intentions should be taken into account, then I am not sure that a charge of heresy does not lie against you. At any rate, you will soon find that the justice of Hell is purely realistic, and concerned only with results. Bring us back food, or be food yourself. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1416:We live in a society where we're not taught how to deal with our weaknesses and frailties as human beings. We're not taught how to speak to our difficulties and challenges. We're taught the Pythagorean theorem and chemistry and biology and history. We're not taught anger management. We're not taught dissolution of fear and how to process shame and guilt. I've never in my life ever used the Pythagorean theorem! ~ Iyanla Vanzant, #NFDB
1417:Everything is a grace, everything is the direct effect of our Father's love - difficulties, contradictions, humiliations, all the soul's miseries, her burdens, her needs - everything, because through them, she learns humility, realizes her weakness. Everything is a grace because everything is God's gift. Whatever be the character of life or its unexpected events - to the heart that loves, all is well. ~ Saint Therese of Lisieux, #NFDB
1418:I have tried to teach you to read books for the sake of their form, their visions, their art. I have tried to teach you to feel a shiver of artistic satisfaction, to share not the emotions of the people in the book but the emotions of its author — the joys and difficulties of creation. We did not talk around books, about books; we went to the center of this or that masterpiece, to the live heart of the matter. ~ Vladimir Nabokov, #NFDB
1419:I'm now nearly 79. At 16 I took responsibility for Tibet and lost my freedom. At 24 I lost my country and became a refugee. I've met difficulties, but as the saying goes: 'Wherever you're happy, you can call home, and whoever is kind to you is like your parents.' I've been happy and at home in the world at large. Living a meaningful life isn't just a matter of money; it's about dedicating your life to helping others. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
1420:If the artist does not fling himself, without reflecting, into his work, as Curtis flung himself into the yawning gulf, as the soldier flings himself into the enemy's trenches, and if, once in this crater, he does not work like a miner on whom the walls of his gallery have fallen in; if he contemplates difficulties instead of overcoming them one by one ... he is simply looking on at the suicide of his own talent. ~ Honor de Balzac, #NFDB
1421:Some of my greatest difficulties lie in things that would appear to you comparatively trivial. I find it so hard to repel the rude familiarity of children. I find it so difficult to ask either servants or mistress for anything I want, however much I want it. It is less pain for me to endure the greatest inconvenience than to go into the kitchen to request its removal. I am a fool. Heaven knows I cannot help it! ~ Elizabeth Gaskell, #NFDB
1422:Hildebrand saw in Hitler a profoundly anti-Christian spirit. This was not because of the nationalism and anti-Semitism Hitler promoted. Hildebrand vigorously opposed both, but sadly these attitudes were widespread. Rather, it was Nazism’s belief in power and its promise that the knotted difficulties facing Germany could be simply cut—and cut with a sharp, ruthless blow. This mentality was capable of justifying anything. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1423:If the artist does not fling himself, without reflecting, into his work, as Curtis flung himself into the yawning gulf, as the soldier flings himself into the enemy's trenches, and if, once in this crater, he does not work like a miner on whom the walls of his gallery have fallen in; if he contemplates difficulties instead of overcoming them one by one ... he is simply looking on at the suicide of his own talent. ~ Honore de Balzac, #NFDB
1424:It is the basic principle of spiritual life that we learn the deepest things in unknown territory. Often it is when we feel most confused inwardly and are in the midst of our greatest difficulties that something new will open. We awaken most easily to the mystery of life through our weakest side. The areas of our greatest strength, where we are the most competent and clearest, tend to keep us away from the mystery. ~ Jack Kornfield, #NFDB
1425:There is no one "root of all evil" in software development. Design is hard in many ways. People tend to underestimate the intellectual and practical difficulties involved in building a significant system involving software. It is not and will not be reduced to a simple mechanical "assembly line" process. Creativity, engineering principles, and evolutionary change are needed to create a satisfactory large system. ~ Bjarne Stroustrup, #NFDB
1426:Not every painter has a gift for painting, in fact, many painters are disappointed when they meet with difficulties in art. Painting done under pressure by artists without the necessary talent can only give rise to formlessness, as painting is a profession that requires peace of mind. The painter must always seek the essence of things, always represent the essential characteristics and emotions of the person he is painting. ~ Titian, #NFDB
1427:The more Lord Maccon considered it, the more he grew to like the idea. Certainly his imagination was full of pictures of what he and Alexia might do together once he got her home in a properly wedded state, but now those lusty images were mixing with others: waking up next to her, seeing her across the dining table, discussing science and politics, having her advice on points of pack controversy and BUR difficulties. ~ Gail Carriger, #NFDB
1428:To me there is not only right or wrong but many shades in between...The real tragedies in life are not in choices between right and wrong. Only the most callous of persons choose what they know to be wrong. Real tragedy comes [illegible] in a dilemma of evaluating what is right...Real dilemmas are difficulties of the soul, provoking agonies, which you in your world of black and white can't even begin to comprehend. ~ Henry Kissinger, #NFDB
1429:Unbelief is continually starting objections, magnifying and multiplying difficulties.”20 When we fail to trust God, the difficulties of life loom larger, sting harder, and weigh heavier. The more we try to carry the load we were never called to bear, the more we trod on in unbelief; “we live so far below our privileges, and are so often heavy and sorrowful, when we have in him grounds of continual joy” (2 Cor. 6:10).21 ~ Tony Reinke, #NFDB
1430:Do not go looking for problems to feed your soul. Just let life be your teacher. It will nourish you with its inevitable difficulties. How will you know whether you are letting life teach you and nourish you? If your physical senses become more sensitive to the beauty you see, the words of love you hear, and the life you feel touching your body and soul, then you know you have discovered the great value of misfortune. ~ Bernie Siegel, #NFDB
1431:Not only do I have a great love for the game of golf - no matter how badly I play it - but I have also the belief that through every kind of meeting, through every kind of activity to which we can bring together more often and more intimately peoples of our several countries, by that measure we will do something to solve the difficulties and the tensions that this poor old world seems nowadays to so much endure. ~ Dwight D Eisenhower, #NFDB
1432:Most humans who have been reared with the creature comforts of the spiritually vacuous industrialized Western world will cease their search [for Truth] at the first signs of physical, psychic, or mundane resistance; or as soon as they encounter the difficulties of dissolving deeply entrenched self-delusions. Look at the world around you, and tell me that it appears to be filled with people genuinely in search of Truth! ~ Zeena Schreck, #NFDB
1433:The most radical division that it is possible to make of humanity is that which splits it into two classes of creatures: Those who make great demands on themselves, piling up difficulties and duties; and those who demand nothing special of themselves, but for whom to live is to be every moment what they already are, without imposing on themselves any effort towards perfection, mere buoys that float on the waves. ~ Jose Ortega y Gasset, #NFDB
1434:Difficulties with concentration are correlated with sleep impairment, especially insomnia, arising from hypervigilance. The insomniac person is always on alert, which increases his or her stress-hormone levels and heart rate, and turns on the sympathetic nervous system. One of the roles of histamine, released in response to stress, is to ensure that you’re wide-awake. These processes make relaxation and sleep difficult. ~ Doreen Virtue, #NFDB
1435:The response of the men who were introduced into polygamy between 1841 and 1846 was anything but enthusiastic. The same was true of the women who were offered the chance of becoming plural wives. Apart from the fact that the new system collided with moral assumptions they had grown up with, there were practical difficulties that made polygamy less attractive. For the men to support additional wives was seldom easy. ~ Leonard J Arrington, #NFDB
1436:The several difficulties here discussed, namely our not finding in the successive formations infinitely numerous transitional links between the many species which now exist or have existed; the sudden manner in which whole groups of species appear in our European formations; the almost entire absence, as at present known, of fossiliferous formations beneath the Silurian strata, are all undoubtedly of the gravest nature. ~ Charles Darwin, #NFDB
1437:Here I come to one of the memoir writer's difficulties -- one of the reasons why, though I read so many, so many are failures. They leave out the person to whom things happened. The reason is that it is so difficult to describe any human being. So they say: 'This is what happened'; but they do not say what the person was like to whom it happened. And the events mean very little unless we know first to whom they happened. ~ Virginia Woolf, #NFDB
1438:One of the difficulties in raising public concern over the very severe threats of global warming is that 40 percent of the US population does not see why it is a problem, since Christ is returning in a few decades. About the same percentage believe that the world was created a few thousand years ago. If science conflicts with the Bible, so much the worse for science. It would be hard to find an analogue in other societies. ~ Noam Chomsky, #NFDB
1439:Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriad’s of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever. ~ Jonathan Edwards, #NFDB
1440:The difficulties of statistical thinking contribute to the main theme of Part 3, which describes a puzzling limitation of our mind: our excessive confidence in what we believe we know, and our apparent inability to acknowledge the full extent of our ignorance and the uncertainty of the world we live in. We are prone to overestimate how much we understand about the world and to underestimate the role of chance in events. ~ Daniel Kahneman, #NFDB
1441:Such people forgot that often it is just such an exceptionally difficult external situation which gives man the opportunity to grow spiritually beyond himself. Instead of taking the camp’s difficulties as a test of their inner strength, they did not take their life seriously and despised it as something of no consequence. They preferred to close their eyes and to live in the past. Life for such people became meaningless. ~ Viktor E Frankl, #NFDB
1442:They who lack talent expect things to happen without effort. They ascribe failure to a lack of inspiration or ability, or to misfortune, rather than to insufficient application. At the core of every true talent there is an awareness of the difficulties inherent in any achievement, and the confidence that persistence and patience something worthwhile will be realized. Thus talent is a species of vigor. (Eric Hoffer 1902-1983) ~ Eric Hoffer, #NFDB
1443:I can only think that the book is read because it deals with the difficulties of schooling, which do not change. Please note: the difficulties, not the problems. Problems are solved or disappear with the revolving times. Difficulities remain. It will always be difficult to teach well, to learn accurately; to read, write, and count readily and competently; to acquire a sense of history and start one's education or anothers. ~ Jacques Barzun, #NFDB
1444:My rescue from this kind of existence I considered quite hopeless, and abandoned, as such, altogether. I am solemnly convinced that I never for one hour was reconciled to it, or was otherwise than miserably unhappy; but I bore it; and even to Peggotty, partly for the love of her and partly for shame, never in any letter (though many passed between us) revealed the truth. Mr. Micawber's difficulties were an addition to the ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
1445:Some people hate the very name of statistics, but I find them full of beauty and interest. Whenever they are not brutalized, but delicately handled by the higher methods, and are warily interpreted, their power of dealing with complicated phenomena is extraordinary. They are the only tools by which an opening can be cut through the formidable thicket of difficulties that bars the path of those who pursue the Science of Man. ~ Francis Galton, #NFDB
1446:Henry turned to give Edgar a look—a meaningful look—though Edgar couldn’t be sure exactly what its meaning was. It struck him again how there was something likable about the man’s defeatist sincerity. Henry Lamb saw the world as filled with road blocks and difficulties, or so it seemed. He conveyed, somehow, the impression that no bad news would surprise him, that every situation was a double-bind waiting to be discovered. ~ David Wroblewski, #NFDB
1447:If our opponent believes nothing of divine revelation, there is no longer any means of proving the articles of faith by reasoning, but only of answering his objections--if he has any--against faith. Since faith rests upon infallible truth, and since the contrary of a truth can never be demonstrated, it is clear that the arguments brought against faith cannot be demonstrations, but are difficulties that can be answered. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, #NFDB
1448:I had a veritable rnania for finishing whatever I began, which often got me into difficulties. On one occasion I started to read the works of Voltaire when I learned, to my dismay, that there were close on one hundred large volumes in small print which that monster had written while drinking seventy-two cups of black coffee per diem. It had to be done, but when I laid aside the last book I was very glad, and said, “Never more! ~ Nikola Tesla, #NFDB
1449:Nowadays, anyone who wishes to combat lies and ignorance and to write the truth must overcome at least five difficulties. He must have the courage to write the truth when truth is everywhere opposed; the keenness to recognize it, although it is everywhere concealed; the skill to manipulate it as a weapon; the judgment to select those in whose hands it will be effective; and the running to spread the truth among such persons. ~ Bertolt Brecht, #NFDB
1450:There is another deity who is described as the calumniator of the gods and the contriver of all fraud and mischief. His name is Loki. He is handsome and well made, but of a very fickle mood and most evil disposition. He is of the giant race, but forced himself into the company of the gods, and seems to take pleasure in bringing them into difficulties, and in extricating them out of the danger by his cunning, wit, and skill. ~ Thomas Bulfinch, #NFDB
1451:There is a power called kshanti, or capacity, and we all have it. The capacity to be happy is very precious. Someone who is able to be happy even when confronted with difficulties, has the capacity to offer light and a sense of joy to herself and to those around her. When we are near someone like this, we feel happy, also. Ask yourself, “Am I like that?” At first glance, you might think not. The seed is there. Practice joy. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
1452:For the same reason, we may leave out of consideration those backward states of society in which the race itself may be considered as in its nonage. The early difficulties in the way of spontaneous progress are so great, that there is seldom any choice of means for overcoming them; and a ruler full of the spirit of improvement is warranted in the use of any expedients that will attain an end, perhaps otherwise unattainable. ~ John Stuart Mill, #NFDB
1453:If life – the craving for which is the very essence of our being – were possessed of any positive intrinsic value, there would be no such thing as boredom at all: mere existence would satisfy us in itself, and we should want for nothing. But as it is, we take no delight in existence except when we are struggling for something; and then distance and difficulties to be overcome make our goal look as if it would satisfy us. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer, #NFDB
1454:I’ve learned that possibly the greatest detractor from high performance is fear: fear that you are not prepared, fear that you are in over your head, fear that you are not worthy, and ultimately, fear of failure. If you can eliminate that fear—not through arrogance or just wishing difficulties away, but through hard work and preparation—you will put yourself in an incredibly powerful position to take on the challenges you face. ~ Pete Carroll, #NFDB
1455:Life has a purpose. This purpose is to find and to serve the Divine. The Divine is not far, He is in ourselves, deep inside and above the feelings and the thoughts. With the Divine is peace and certitude and even the solution of all difficulties. Hand over your problems to the Divine and He will pull you out of all difficulties.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Man's relationship with the Divine, The True Aim of Life[T0],#NFDB
1456:One of the major difficulties Trillian experienced in her relationship with Zaphod was learning to distinguish between him pretending to be stupid just to get people off their guard, pretending to be stupid because he couldn’t be bothered to think and wanted someone else to do it for him, pretending to be outrageously stupid to hide the fact that he actually didn’t understand what was going on, and really being genuinely stupid. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
1457:Considering how many fools can calculate, it is surprising that it should be thought either a difficult or a tedious task for any other fool to learn how to master the same tricks... Being myself a remarkably stupid fellow, I have had to unteach myself the difficulties, and now beg to present to my fellow fools the parts that are not hard. Master these thoroughly, and the rest will follow. What one fool can do, another can. ~ Silvanus P Thompson, #NFDB
1458:In spiritual life there is no room for compromise. Awakening is not negotiable; we cannot bargain to hold on to things that please us while relinquishing things that do not matter to us. A lukewarm yearning for awakening is not enough to sustain us through the difficulties involved in letting go. It is important to understand that anything that can be lost was never truly ours, anything that we deeply cling to only imprisons us. ~ Jack Kornfield, #NFDB
1459:My aim is to have easy command of all the pleasures desired by a cultivated man. I want to live among beautiful things, and never to be troubled by a thought of vulgar difficulties. I want to travel and enrich my mind in foreign countries. I want to associate on equal terms with refined and interesting people. I want to be known, to be familiarly referred to, to feel when I enter a room that people regard me with some curiosity. ~ George Gissing, #NFDB
1460:St. Teresa of Avila wrote: 'All difficulties in prayer can be traced to one cause: praying as if God were absent.' This is the conviction that we bring with us from early childhood and apply to everyday life and to our lives in general. It gets stronger as we grow up, unless we are touched by the Gospel and begin the spiritual journey. This journey is a process of dismantling the monumental illusion that God is distant or absent. ~ Thomas Keating, #NFDB
1461:But you don’t have to let your doubt into the cockpit! You can tolerate doubt as a backseat driver, but if you put doubt in the pilot’s seat, defeat is guaranteed. Remembering that you’ve been through difficulties before and have always survived to fight again shifts the conversation in your head. It will allow you to control and manage doubt, and keep you focused on taking each and every step necessary to achieve the task at hand. ~ David Goggins, #NFDB
1462:I had been for some hours extremely pressed by the necessities of nature; which was no wonder, it being almost two days since I had last disburdened myself. I was under great difficulties between urgency and shame. The best expedient I could think of, was to creep into my house, which I accordingly did; and shutting the gate after me, I went as far as the length of my chain would suffer, and discharged my body of that uneasy load. ~ Jonathan Swift, #NFDB
1463:"There are one or two elementary rules to be observed in the way of handling patients," he remarked, seating himself on the table and swinging his legs. "The most obvious is that you must never let them see that you want them. It should be pure condescension on your part seeing them at all; and the more difficulties you throw in the way of it, the more they think of it. Break your patients in early, and keep them well to heel." ~ Arthur Conan Doyle, #NFDB
1464:from the first moment he’d met Claire, through all the difficulties they’d had before getting married, through all the ups and downs in the years after that, he had known she was the only woman he would ever love. He never once doubted it. Never had a single regret. When God gives a man this kind of woman, he knows it deep inside. Almost at once. Like he knows his own soul. A love like that is a gift you can never earn or ever repay. THE ~ Dan Walsh, #NFDB
1465:However difficult the objective, there is always a way of overcoming obstacles. He seeks out alternative paths, he sharpens his sword, he tries to fill his heart with the necessary determination to face the challenge.
But as he advances, the warrior realises that there are difficulties he had not reckoned with.
If he waits for the ideal moment, he will never set of; he requires a touch of madness to take the next step. ~ Paulo Coelho,#NFDB
1466:If an author be supposed to involve his thoughts in voluntary obscurity, and to obstruct, by unnecessary difficulties, a mind eager in the pursuit of truth; if he writes not to make others learned, but to boast the learning which he possesses himself, and wishes to be admired rather than understood, he counteracts the first end of writing, and justly suffers the utmost severity of censure, or the more afflicting severity of neglect. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
1467:IF WE ARE CONTENT just to think that compassion, rationality, and patience are good, that is not actually enough to develop these qualities. Difficulties provide the occasion to put them into practice. Who can make such occasions arise? Certainly not our friends, but rather our enemies, for they are the ones who pose the most problems. So that if we truly want to progress on the path, we must regard our enemies as our best teachers. ~ Dalai Lama XIV, #NFDB
1468:Hardship, in forcing us to exercise greater patience and forbearance in daily life, actually makes us stronger and more robust. From the daily experience of hardship comes a greater capacity to accept difficulties without losing our sense of inner calm. Of course, I do not advocate seeking out hardship as a way of life, but merely wish to suggest that, if you relate to it constructively, it can bring greater inner strength and fortitude. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
1469:The first is to push yourself harder than you believe you’re capable of. You’ll find new depth inside yourself. The second is to put yourself in groups who share difficulties, discomfort. We used to call it ‘shared privation.’ You’ll find that when you have been through that kind of difficult environment, that you feel more strongly about that which you’re committed to. And finally, create some fear and make individuals overcome it. ~ Timothy Ferriss, #NFDB
1470:But I ask again, are there many like Thee? And could thou believe for one moment that men, too, could face such a temptation? Is the nature of men such, that they can reject miracles and at the great moments of their life, the moments of their deepest, most agonizing spiritual difficulties, cling only to the free verdict of their heart? ... and thou didst hope that man, following Thee, would cling to god and not ask for a miracle. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, #NFDB
1471:For in prosperity a man is often puffed up with pride, whereas tribulations chasten and humble him through suffering and sorrow. In the midst of prosperity the mind is elated, and in prosperity a man forgets himself; in hardship he is forced to reflect on himself, even though he be unwilling. In prosperity a man often destroys the good he has done; amidst difficulties he often repairs what he long since did in the way of wickedness. ~ Alfred the Great, #NFDB
1472:The country he had left thirty years ago had been a realistic place. There were political realities there, then and now, that precluded blind faith, that discouraged one from thinking that everything, always, would work out fairly and equitably. But he had come to believe such things in the United States. Things had worked out. Difficulties had been overcome. He had worked hard and achieved success. The machinery of government functioned. ~ Dave Eggers, #NFDB
1473:The man whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations, of which the effects are perhaps always the same, or very nearly the same, has no occasion to exert his understanding or to exercise his invention in finding out expedients for removing difficulties which never occur. He naturally loses, therefore, the habit of such exertion, and generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become. ~ Adam Smith, #NFDB
1474:We have our difficulties, true; but we are a wiser and a tougher nation than we were in 1932. Never have there been six years of such far flung internal preparedness in all of history. And this has been done without any dictator's power to command, without conscription of labor or confiscation of capital, without concentration camps and without a scratch on freedom of speech, freedom of the press or the rest of the Bill of Rights. ~ Franklin D Roosevelt, #NFDB
1475:One of the difficulties in bringing about change in an organization is that you must do so through the persons who have been most successful in that organization, no matter how faulty the system or the organization is. To such persons, you see, it is the best of all possible organizations, because look who was selected by it ad look who succeeded most in it. Yet, these are the very people through whom we must bring about improvements. ~ George Washington, #NFDB
1476:The comrades throughout the Party must take all this fully into account and be prepared to overcome all difficulties with an indomitable will and in a planned way. The reactionary forces and we both have difficulties. But the difficulties of the reactionary forces are insurmountable because they are forces on the verge of death and have no future. Our difficulties can be overcome because we are new and rising forces and have a bright future. ~ Mao Zedong, #NFDB
1477:The seemingly insuperable difficulties of deep-space travel suggest an intention to keep us fixed at home in our own solar system, and the physical nature of our part of the Universe, as well as the basic rules of physics and chemistry, have a warning look about them, like barriers designed to isolate intelligent life. This means that for us, unlike the situation for humble microorganisms, deep-space travel is probably a stark impossibility. ~ Fred Hoyle, #NFDB
1478:No … big … deal.” He wasn’t saying “bad,” and he wasn’t saying “good.” He was saying that these things happen and they can transform your life, but at the same time don’t make too big a deal of them, because that leads to arrogance and pride, or a sense of specialness. On the other hand, making too big a deal about your difficulties takes you in the other direction; it takes you into poverty, self-denigration, and a low opinion of yourself. ~ Pema Ch dr n, #NFDB
1479:The American capitalists are richer and stronger than their counterparts in other lands. They are also younger and more ignorant, and therefore more inclined to seek a rough settlement of difficulties without diplomatic subtlety and finesse. All that does not change the fact that American capitalism operates according to the same laws as the others, is confronted with the same fundamental problems, and is headed toward the same catastrophe. ~ James P Cannon, #NFDB
1480:This makes it clear that intercession is also a daily service we owe to God and our brother. He who denies his neighbour the service of praying for him denies him the service of a Christian. It is clear, furthermore, that intercession is not general and vague but very concrete: a matter of definite persons and definite difficulties and therefore of definite petitions. The more definite my intercession becomes, the more promising it is. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
1481:A mind that is racing over worries about the future or recycling resentments from the past is ill equipped to handle the challenges of the moment. By slowing down, we can train the mind to focus completely in the present. Then we will find that we can function well whatever the difficulties. That is what it means to be stress-proof: not avoiding stress but being at our best under pressure, calm, cool, and creative in the midst of the storm. ~ Eknath Easwaran, #NFDB
1482:One of the difficulties of thinking clearly about anything is that it is almost impossible not to form our ideas in words which have some previous association for us; with the result that our thought is already shaped along certain lines before we have begun to follow it out. Again, a word may have various meanings, and our use of it in one sense may deceive our readers (or even ourselves) into supposing that we were using it in some other sense. ~ A A Milne, #NFDB
1483:The other principle we depended on was “Trust the Process.” We liked this one because it was so reassuring: While there are inevitably difficulties and missteps in any complex creative endeavor, you can trust that “the process” will carry you through. In some ways, this was no different than any optimistic aphorism (“Hang in there, baby!”), except that because our process was so different from other movie studios, we felt that it had real power. ~ Ed Catmull, #NFDB
1484:The actual legacy of Desert Storm was to plunge the United States more deeply into a sea of difficulties for which military power provided no antidote. Yet in post–Cold War Washington, where global leadership and global power projection had become all but interchangeable terms, senior military officers like Sullivan were less interested in assessing what those difficulties might portend than in claiming a suitably large part of the action. ~ Andrew J Bacevich, #NFDB
1485:For there is no doubt that the most radical division that it is possible to make of humanity is that which splits it into two classes of creatures: those who make great demands on themselves, piling up difficulties and duties; and those who demand nothing special of themselves, but for whom to live is to be every moment what they already are, without imposing on themselves any effort towards perfection; mere buoys that float on the waves. ~ Jos Ortega y Gasset, #NFDB
1486:Perhaps the biggest of these unsolved problems is to establish human history as a historical science, on a par with recognized historical sciences such as evolutionary biology, geology, and climatology. The study of human history does pose real difficulties, but those recognized historical sciences encounter some of the same challenges. Hence the methods developed in some of these other fields may also prove useful in the field of human history. ~ Jared Diamond, #NFDB
1487:She looked at them with shining eyes. Her chin went up. She said:
"You regard it as impossible that a sinner should be struck down
by the wrath of God! I do not!"
The judge stroked his chin. He murmured in a slightly ironic voice:
"My dear lady, in my experience of ill-doing, Providence leaves the work
of conviction and chastisement to us mortals-and the process is often
fraught with difficulties. There are no short cuts. ~ Agatha Christie,#NFDB
1488:But the same spirits of analogy will authorise me to assert that ours are the most tender. Man is more robust than woman, but he is not longer-lived; which exactly explains my view of the nature of their attachment. Nay, it would be too hard upon you, if it were otherwise. You have difficulties, and privations, and dangers enough to struggle with... It would be too hard indeed (with a faltering voice) if woman's feelings were to be added to all this! ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
1489:Is not the life of man upon earth all trial? Who wishes for troubles and difficulties? Thou commandest them to be endured, not to be loved. No man loves what he endures, though he love to endure. For though he rejoices that he endures, he had rather there were nothing for him to endure. In adversity I long for prosperity, in prosperity I fear adversity. What middle place is there betwixt these two, where the life of man is not all trial? ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #NFDB
1490:The faithful man perceives nothing less than opportunity in difficulties. Flowing through his spine, faith and courage work together: Such a man does not fear losing his life, thus he will risk losing it at times in order to empower it. By this he actually values his life more than the man who fears losing his life. It is much like leaping from a window in order to avoid a fire yet in that most crucial moment knowing that God will appear to catch you. ~ Criss Jami, #NFDB
1491:Therefore, when a person refuses to come to Christ it is never just because of a lack of evidence or because of intellectual difficulties: at root, he refuses to come because he willingly ignores and rejects the drawing of God's Spirit on his heart. No one in the final analysis fails to become a Christian because of a lack of arguments; he fails to become a Christian because he loves darkness rather than light and wants nothing to do with god. ~ William Lane Craig, #NFDB
1492:When in many dissections, carried out as opportunity offered upon living animals, I first addressed my mind to seeing how I could discover the function and offices of the heart's movement in animals through the use of my own eyes instead of through the books and writings of others, I kept finding the matter so truly hard and beset with difficulties that I all but thought, with Fracastoro, that the heart's movement had been understood by God alone. ~ William Harvey, #NFDB
1493:An undertaking of great magnitude and importance, the successful accomplishment of which, in so comparatively short a period, notwithstanding the unheard of unestimable difficulties and impediments which had to be encountered and surmounted, in an almost unexplored and uninhabited wilderness . . . evinced on your part a moral courage and an undaunted spirit and combination of science and management equally exciting our admiration and deserving our praise. ~ John By, #NFDB
1494:Out of frustrations, out of desperation, out of disappointments, out of mediocrity. out of idleness,out of limited insight, out of difficulties, out of insatiability, out of poverty, out of pain and the vicissitudes of life , so many people shall come to a conclusion that nothing is worth living for; not even what is solemn and sacred but, some shall always turn the woes of life into great land marks and indelible footprints worth emulating ~ Ernest Agyemang Yeboah, #NFDB
1495:Undoubtedly, our path is not of the easiest; but, just as undoubtedly, we are not to be frightened by difficulties. Paraphrasing from the well-known words of Luther, Russia might say: ‘Here I stand on the frontier between the old, capitalist world and the new, socialist world. Here on this frontier I unite the efforts of the proletarians of the West and of the peasantry of the East in order to shatter the old world. May the god of history be my aid! ~ Joseph Stalin, #NFDB
1496:Give me ... a compassionate heart, quickly moved to grieve for the woes of others and to active pity for them, even as our Lord Jesus Christ beheld our poverty and hasted to help us. Give me grace ever to alleviate the crosses and difficulties of those around me, and never to add to them; teach me to be a consoler in sorrow, to take thought for the stranger, the widow, and the orphan; let my charity show itself not in words only but in deed and truth. ~ Johann Arndt, #NFDB
1497:If we assume, however, that the desire to achieve optimal experience is the foremost goal of every human being, the difficulties of interpretation raised by cultural relativism become less severe. Each social system can then be evaluated in terms of how much psychic entropy it causes, measuring that disorder not with reference to the ideal order of one or another belief system, but with reference to the goals of the members of that society. ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, #NFDB
1498:Where do you flee when facing darkness and shadows in life? Find a favorite photo of a mountain or hill. It could be a photograph from a vacation, nearby sites, or even a postcard, magazine cut-out or greeting card. Put it in a place where you will see it whenever you face difficulties. Then envision Jesus carrying you up the mountain of myrrh where He will bring you refreshment and healing so that you can return to bring His fragrance to others. ~ Richard Wurmbrand, #NFDB
1499:Everyone who has achieved exceptional performance has encountered terrible difficulties along the way. There are no exceptions. If you believe that doing the right kind of work can overcome the problems, then you have at least a chance of moving on to ever better performance. But those who see the setbacks as evidence that they lack the necessary gift will give up—quite logically, in light of their beliefs. They will never achieve what they might have. ~ Geoff Colvin, #NFDB
1500:From the first moment I met your grandmother, through all the difficulties we had before we got married, through all the ups and downs in the fifty-seven years after that, I knew she was the only woman I would ever love. I never once doubted that. Never had a single regret. If God gives you that kind of woman, you know it deep inside. Almost at once. Like you know your own soul. A love like that is a gift, Michael. A gift you can never earn or ever repay. ~ Dan Walsh, #NFDB
531 Integral Yoga
30 Occultism
26 Psychology
25 Yoga
25 Christianity
23 Philosophy
6 Integral Theory
6 Fiction
5 Education
4 Poetry
3 Hinduism
2 Theosophy
2 Science
2 Mythology
1 Thelema
1 Cybernetics
1 Buddhism
1 Alchemy
329 The Mother
245 Sri Aurobindo
230 Satprem
31 Nolini Kanta Gupta
27 Carl Jung
14 A B Purani
12 Swami Krishnananda
11 Aleister Crowley
10 Sri Ramakrishna
10 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
9 Nirodbaran
8 Saint Augustine of Hippo
7 Plotinus
7 Plato
6 H P Lovecraft
5 Aldous Huxley
4 Swami Vivekananda
4 Sri Ramana Maharshi
4 Rudolf Steiner
3 Saint Teresa of Avila
2 Joseph Campbell
2 Jorge Luis Borges
2 George Van Vrekhem
2 Friedrich Nietzsche
2 Franz Bardon
73 Record of Yoga
42 Letters On Yoga IV
29 Agenda Vol 01
25 The Synthesis Of Yoga
23 Agenda Vol 02
22 Letters On Yoga II
22 Agenda Vol 10
21 Agenda Vol 03
20 Agenda Vol 04
18 Agenda Vol 11
17 Questions And Answers 1950-1951
16 Questions And Answers 1956
15 Agenda Vol 09
14 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
14 Agenda Vol 05
13 The Life Divine
13 Agenda Vol 08
12 The Study and Practice of Yoga
12 Agenda Vol 13
11 The Practice of Psycho therapy
11 Questions And Answers 1954
11 Agenda Vol 12
11 Agenda Vol 07
11 Agenda Vol 06
10 Questions And Answers 1957-1958
10 Letters On Yoga III
9 Words Of The Mother II
9 Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo
9 The Mother With Letters On The Mother
9 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
9 Questions And Answers 1929-1931
9 Essays In Philosophy And Yoga
8 Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness
8 Some Answers From The Mother
8 Questions And Answers 1955
8 Questions And Answers 1953
8 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04
7 The Human Cycle
7 Prayers And Meditations
7 On Thoughts And Aphorisms
7 Essays On The Gita
6 The Secret Doctrine
6 The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
6 Talks
6 On Education
6 Mysterium Coniunctionis
6 Lovecraft - Poems
6 Letters On Yoga I
6 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03
6 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01
5 Words Of Long Ago
5 The Phenomenon of Man
5 The Perennial Philosophy
5 Magick Without Tears
5 Liber ABA
5 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07
4 The Problems of Philosophy
4 The Confessions of Saint Augustine
4 City of God
4 Aion
3 Words Of The Mother III
3 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 04
3 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 02
3 Knowledge of the Higher Worlds
3 Hymn of the Universe
3 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 08
3 A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah
2 Words Of The Mother I
2 Vedic and Philological Studies
2 The Practice of Magical Evocation
2 The Interior Castle or The Mansions
2 The Hero with a Thousand Faces
2 The Future of Man
2 The Blue Cliff Records
2 Raja-Yoga
2 Preparing for the Miraculous
2 On the Way to Supermanhood
2 Isha Upanishad
2 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02
0 0.02 - Topographical Note, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Algeria and in France or of her current experiences; and gradually, She opened the mind of the rebellious and materialistic Westerner that we were and made us understand the laws of the worlds, the play of forces, the working of past lives - especially this latter, which was an important factor in the difficulties with which we were struggling at that time and which periodically made us abscond.
Mother would be seated in this rather medieval-looking chair with its high, carved back, her feet on a little tabouret, while we sat on the floor, on a slightly faded carpet, conquered and seduced, revolted and never satisfied - but nevertheless, very interested. Treasures, never noted down, were lost until, with the cunning of the Sioux, we succeeded in making Mother consent to the presence of a tape recorder. But even then, and for a long time thereafter, She carefully made us erase or delete in our notes all that concerned Her rather too personally - sometimes we disobeyed Her.
0.00 - The Book of Lies Text, #The Book of Lies, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
prophets encountered similar difficulties in con-
vincing their hearers. (3) Their food was not equal to
0.00 - THE GOSPEL PREFACE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
Sri Ramakrishna was a teacher for both the Orders of mankind, Sannysins and householders. His own life offered an ideal example for both, and he left behind disciples who followed the highest traditions he had set in respect of both these ways of life. M., along with Nag Mahashay, exemplified how a householder can rise to the highest level of sagehood. M. was married to Nikunja Devi, a distant relative of Keshab Chander Sen, even when he was reading at College, and he had four children, two sons and two daughters. The responsibility of the family, no doubt, made him dependent on his professional income, but the great devotee that he was, he never compromised with ideals and principles for this reason. Once when he was working as the headmaster in a school managed by the great Vidysgar, the results of the school at the public examination happened to be rather poor, and Vidysgar attri buted it to M's preoccupation with the Master and his consequent failure to attend adequately to the school work. M. at once resigned his post without any thought of the morrow. Within a fortnight the family was in poverty, and M. was one day pacing up and down the verandah of his house, musing how he would feed his children the next day. Just then a man came with a letter addressed to 'Mahendra Babu', and on opening it, M. found that it was a letter from his friend Sri Surendra Nath Banerjee, asking whether he would like to take up a professorship in the Ripon College. In this way three or four times he gave up the job that gave him the wherewithal to support the family, either for upholding principles or for practising spiritual Sadhanas in holy places, without any consideration of the possible dire worldly consequences; but he was always able to get over these difficulties somehow, and the interests of his family never suffered. In spite of his disregard for worldly goods, he was, towards the latter part of his life, in a fairly flourishing condition as the proprietor of the Morton School which he developed into a noted educational institution in the city. The Lord has said in the Bhagavad Git that in the case of those who think of nothing except Him, He Himself would take up all their material and spiritual responsibilities. M. was an example of the truth of the Lord's promise.
Though his children received proper attention from him, his real family, both during the Master's lifetime and after, consisted of saints, devotees, Sannysins and spiritual aspirants. His life exemplifies the Master's teaching that an ideal householder must be like a good maidservant of a family, loving and caring properly for the children of the house, but knowing always that her real home and children are elsewhere. During the Master's lifetime he spent all his Sundays and other holidays with him and his devotees, and besides listening to the holy talks and devotional music, practised meditation both on the Personal and the Impersonal aspects of God under the direct guidance of the Master. In the pages of the Gospel the reader gets a picture of M.'s spiritual relationship with the Master how from a hazy belief in the Impersonal God of the Brahmos, he was step by step brought to accept both Personality and Impersonality as the two aspects of the same Non-dual Being, how he was convinced of the manifestation of that Being as Gods, Goddesses and as Incarnations, and how he was established in a life that was both of a Jnni and of a Bhakta. This Jnni-Bhakta outlook and way of living became so dominant a feature of his life that Swami Raghavananda, who was very closely associated with him during his last six years, remarks: "Among those who lived with M. in latter days, some felt that he always lived in this constant and conscious union with God even with open eyes (i.e., even in waking consciousness)." (Swami Raghavananda's article on M. in Prabuddha Bharata vol. XXXVII. P. 442.)
0.02 - II - The Home of the Guru, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Guru-griha-vsa staying in the home of the Guru is a very old Indian ideal maintained by seekers through the ages. The Aranyakas the ancient teachings in the forest-groves are perhaps the oldest records of the institution. It was not for education in the modern sense of the term that men went to live with the Guru; for the Guru is not a 'teacher'. The Guru is one who is 'enlightened', who is a seer, a Rishi, one who has the vision of and has lived the Truth. He has, thus, the knowledge of the goal of human life and has learnt true values in life by living the Truth. He can impart both these to the willing seeker. In ancient times seekers went to the Guru with many questions, difficulties and doubts but also with earnestness. Their questions were preliminary to the quest.
The Master, the Guru, set at rest the puzzled human mind by his illuminating answers, perhaps even more by his silent consciousness, so that it might be able to pursue unhampered the path of realisation of the Truth. Those ancient discourses answer the mind of man today even across the ages. They have rightly acquired as everything of the past does a certain sanctity. But sometimes that very reverence prevents men from properly evaluating, and living in, the present. This happens when the mind instead of seeking the Spirit looks at the form. For instance, it is not necessary for such discourses that they take place in forest-groves in order to be highly spiritual. Wherever the Master is, there is Light. And guru-griha the house of the Master can be his private dwelling place. So much was this feeling a part of Sri Aurobindo's nature and so particular was he to maintain the personal character of his work that during the first few years after 1923 he did not like his house to be called an 'Ashram', as the word had acquired the sense of a public institution to the modern mind. But there was no doubt that the flower of Divinity had blossomed in him; and disciples, like bees seeking honey, came to him. It is no exaggeration to say that these Evening Talks were to the small company of disciples what the Aranyakas were to the ancient seekers. Seeking the Light, they came to the dwelling place of their Guru, the greatest seer of the age, and found it their spiritual home the home of their parents, for the Mother, his companion in the great mission, had come. And these spiritual parents bestowed upon the disciples freely of their Light, their Consciousness, their Power and their Grace. The modern reader may find that the form of these discourses differs from those of the past but it was bound to be so for the simple reason that the times have changed and the problems that puzzle the modern mind are so different. Even though the disciples may be very imperfect representations of what he aimed at in them, still they are his creations. It is in order to repay, in however infinitesimal a degree, the debt which we owe to him that the effort is made to partake of the joy of his company the Evening Talks with a larger public.
0.02 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(The sadhak then gave several examples of difficulties
with his workers and work projects.)
--
confusion and increasing the difficulties.
11 December 1936
0.02 - The Three Steps of Nature, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
If, then, this inferior equilibrium is the basis and first means of the higher movements which the universal Power contemplates and if it constitutes the vehicle in which the Divine here seeks to reveal Itself, if the Indian saying is true that the body is the instrument provided for the fulfilment of the right law of our nature, then any final recoil from the physical life must be a turning away from the completeness of the divine Wisdom and a renunciation of its aim in earthly manifestation. Such a refusal may be, owing to some secret law of their development, the right attitude for certain individuals, but never the aim intended for mankind. It can be, therefore, no integral Yoga which ignores the body or makes its annulment or its rejection indispensable to a perfect spirituality. Rather, the perfecting of the body also should be the last triumph of the Spirit and to make the bodily life also divine must be God's final seal upon His work in the universe. The obstacle which the physical presents to the spiritual is no argument for the rejection of the physical; for in the unseen providence of things our greatest difficulties are our best opportunities. A supreme difficulty is Nature's indication to us of a supreme conquest to be won and an ultimate problem to be solved; it is not a warning of an inextricable snare to be shunned or of an enemy too strong for us from whom we must flee.
Equally, the vital and nervous energies in us are there for a great utility; they too demand the divine realisation of their possibilities in our ultimate fulfilment. The great part assigned to this element in the universal scheme is powerfully emphasised by the catholic wisdom of the Upanishads. "As the spokes of a wheel in its nave, so in the Life-Energy is all established, the triple knowledge and the Sacrifice and the power of the strong and the purity of the wise. Under the control of the LifeEnergy is all this that is established in the triple heaven."2 It is therefore no integral Yoga that kills these vital energies, forces them into a nerveless quiescence or roots them out as the source
0.03 - Letters to My little smile, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
- and least of all about their difficulties; it is uncharitable because it does not help them to overcome the difficulties. As
for doctors, the rule is that they should not talk about their
--
and difficulties - it is your smile that will chase them away.
16 December 1932
--
Why this discouragement? Each one has his difficulties, yours
are no more insurmountable than those of others. You have only
--
promise that you will be delivered from all your difficulties and
that your mind will become luminously peaceful and your heart
--
will to help you out of your difficulties.
24 January 1934
--
a promise that your difficulties would give way and that you
would soon be able to emerge into a luminous, free and happy
--
Must go on smiling, smiling still more when the difficulties come. Smiles are like rays of the sun, they dissolve the
clouds... And if you want the radical remedy it lies in this:
0.03 - The Threefold Life, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Mind finds fully its force and action only when it casts itself upon life and accepts equally its possibilities and its resistances as the means of a greater self-perfection. In the struggle with the difficulties of the material world the ethical development of the individual is firmly shaped and the great schools of conduct are formed; by contact with the facts of life Art attains to vitality, Thought assures its abstractions, the generalisations of the philosopher base themselves on a stable foundation of science and experience.
This mixing with life may, however, be pursued for the sake of the individual mind and with an entire indifference to the forms of the material existence or the uplifting of the race. This indifference is seen at its highest in the Epicurean discipline and is not entirely absent from the Stoic; and even altruism does the works of compassion more often for its own sake than for the sake of the world it helps. But this too is a limited fulfilment. The progressive mind is seen at its noblest when it strives to elevate the whole race to its own level whether by sowing broadcast the image of its own thought and fulfilment or by changing the material life of the race into fresh forms, religious, intellectual, social or political, intended to represent more nearly that ideal of truth, beauty, justice, righteousness with which the man's own soul is illumined. Failure in such a field matters little; for the mere attempt is dynamic and creative. The struggle of Mind to elevate life is the promise and condition of the conquest of life by that which is higher even than Mind.
0.05 - Letters to a Child, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
into you to enable you to overcome all difficulties.
Love.
--
not to be given any credence. Certainly there are difficulties on
the path, but with perseverance the victory is sure.
--
courage in spite of all difficulties. You are sure to reach the goal,
and the more you keep confidence, the quicker it will come.
--
resolved to be patient, the difficulties will surely be overcome.
Love from your mother.
--
be? I understand your difficulties and I know your goodwill;
I know that you want to do well, that you want to conquer,
0.05 - The Synthesis of the Systems, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Will-in-Power executive in the universe. It was by learning and applying the intimate secrets of this Will-in-Power, its method, its Tantra, that the Tantric Yogin pursued the aims of his discipline, - mastery, perfection, liberation, beatitude. Instead of drawing back from manifested Nature and its difficulties, he confronted them, seized and conquered. But in the end, as is the general tendency of Prakriti, Tantric Yoga largely lost its principle in its machinery and became a thing of formulae and occult mechanism still powerful when rightly used but fallen from the clarity of their original intention.
We have in this central Tantric conception one side of the truth, the worship of the Energy, the Shakti, as the sole effective force for all attainment. We get the other extreme in the Vedantic conception of the Shakti as a power of Illusion and in the search after the silent inactive Purusha as the means of liberation from the deceptions created by the active Energy. But in the integral conception the Conscious Soul is the Lord, the Nature-Soul is his executive Energy. Purusha is of the nature of Sat, the being of conscious self-existence pure and infinite; Shakti or Prakriti is of the nature of Chit, - it is power of the Purusha's self-conscious existence, pure and infinite. The relation of the two exists between the poles of rest and action. When the Energy is absorbed
0.06 - Letters to a Young Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Only the resolution to face courageously, in the present existence, all the difficulties, and to overcome them, is the sure
means of attaining the union you desire.
--
all these difficulties, I would not even have mentioned them. It
is no good telling someone, "You have such and such a fault",
--
overcome all your difficulties.
Do not worry, only keep in you always the will to do things well.
--
"You will overcome all your difficulties" - I repeat this;
only my whole being does not accept it.
0.07 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
troubles and difficulties; it is entire self-giving and consecration
to the Divine.
--
Nothing can resist the steady action of love. It melts all resistances and triumphs over all difficulties...
Love and blessings to my dear child.
--
me to tell you that there are difficulties of my nature
which make it difficult for me to accept you and your
--
are solved and you will get rid of your difficulties. I never feel
that I am forgiving. Love does not forgive, it understands and
--
Be always true to your love and all difficulties will be conquered.
Love and blessings to my dear child.
--
all problems are solved and you will get rid of your difficulties." Now what exactly is this higher consciousness
and how may I rise or jump into it? And again you have
--
way. Be always true to your love and all difficulties will
be conquered." Is this higher consciousness the same
--
Let this year bring you the power to smile in all circumstances. For, a smile acts upon difficulties as the sun upon the
clouds - it disperses them.
0.08 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
the difficulties and sufferings of the path are not real, but a
creation of human ignorance, and that as soon as one gets out
of this ignorance one also gets out of the difficulties, to say
nothing of the inalienable state of bliss in which one dwells as
01.01 - The One Thing Needful, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
This is a slow and difficult process; the road is long and it is hard to establish even the necessary basis. The old existing nature resists and obstructs and difficulties rise one after another and repeatedly till they are overcome. It is therefore necessary to be sure that this is the path to which one is called before one finally decides to tread it.
01.08 - Walter Hilton: The Scale of Perfection, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
If you are told you are still full of sins and you are not worthy to follow the path, that you must go and work out your sins first, here is your answer: "Go shrive thee better: trow not this saying, for it is false, for thou art shriven. Trust securely that thou art on the way, and thee needeth no ransacking of shrift for that that is passed, hold forth thy way and think on Jerusalem." That is to say, do not be too busy with the difficulties of the moment, but look ahead, as far as possible, fix your attention upon the goal, the intermediate steps will become easy. Jerusalem is another name of the Love of Jesus or the Bliss in Heaven. Grow in this love, your sins will fade away of themselves. "Though thou be thrust in an house with thy body, nevertheless in thine heart, where the stead of love is, thou shouldst be able to have part of that love... " What exquisite utterance, what a deep truth!
Indeed, there are one or two points, notes for the guidance of the aspirant, which I would like to mention here for their striking appositeness and simple "soothfastness." First of all with regard to the restless enthusiasm and eagerness of a novice, here is the advice given: "The fervour is so mickle in outward showing, is not only for mickleness of love that they have; but it is for littleness and weakness of their souls, that they may not bear a little touching of God.. afterward when love hath boiled out all the uncleanliness, then is the love clear and standeth still, and then is both the body and the soul mickle more in peace, and yet hath the self soul mickle more love than it had before, though it shew less outward." And again: "without any fervour outward shewed, and the less it thinketh that it loveth or seeth God, the nearer it nigheth" ('it' naturally refers to the soul). The statement is beautifully self-luminous, no explanation is required. Another hurdle that an aspirant has to face often in the passage through the Dark Night is that you are left all alone, that you are deserted by your God, that the Grace no longer favours you. Here is however the truth of the matter; "when I fall down to my frailty, then Grace withdraweth: for my falling is cause there-of, and not his fleeing." In fact, the Grace never withdraws, it is we who withdraw and think otherwise. One more difficulty that troubles the beginner especially is with regard to the false light. The being of darkness comes in the form of the angel of light, imitates the tone of the still small voice; how to recognise, how to distinguish the two? The false light, the "feigned sun" is always found "atwixt two black rainy clouds" : they are "highing" of oneself and "lowing" of others. When you feel flattered and elated, beware it is the siren voice tempting you. The true light brings you soothing peace and meekness: the other light brings always a trail of darknessf you are soothfast and sincere you will discover it if not near you, somewhere at a distance lurking.
0.10 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
One is aware of one's difficulties only insofar as one can
change them and at the moment when one can make the change.
--
material difficulties are part of the work of transformation and
they should be accepted calmly.
01.11 - The Basis of Unity, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Islam comes with a full-fledged spiritual soul and a mental and vital formation commensurable with that inner being and consciousness. It comes with a dynamic spirit, a warrior mood, that aims at conquering the physical world for the Lord, a temperament which Indian spirituality had not, or had lost long before, if she had anything of it. This was, perhaps, what Vivekananda meant when he spoke graphically of a Hindu soul with a Muslim body. The Islamic dispensation, however, brings with it not only something complementary, but also something contradictory, if not for anything else, at least for the strong individuality which does not easily yield to assimilation. Still, in spite of great odds, the process of assimilation was going on slowly and surely. But of late it appears to have come to a dead halt; difficulties have been presented which seem insuperable.
If religious toleration were enough, if that made up man's highest and largest achievement, then Nature need not have attempted to go beyond cultural fusion; a liberal culture is the surest basis for a catholic religious spirit. But such a spirit of toleration and catholicity, although it bespeaks a widened consciousness, does not always enshrine a profundity of being. Nobody is more tolerant and catholic than a dilettante, but an ardent spiritual soul is different.
0.14 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
then one is ready to gain the strength to surmount all difficulties.
22 November 1971
--
goal of life, many difficulties would find their solution.
The best way to avoid growing old is to make progress the
--
that all the difficulties we meet with in life come from the fact
that we do not rely exclusively on the Divine for the help we
--
trust and gratitude that the difficulties will be overcome.
1 February 1972
--
conscious of our possibilities, but also of our difficulties so that
we may overcome them in order to serve You faithfully."
0 1954-08-25 - what is this personality? and when will she come?, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
But as I said, bit by bit things changed. However, this had one advantage: we were too much outside of life. So there were a number of problems which had never arisen but which would have suddenly surged up the moment we wanted a complete manifestation. We took on all these problems a little prematurely, but it gave us the opportunity to solve them. In this way we learned many things and surmounted many difficulties, only it complicated things considerably. And in the present situation, given such a large number of elements who havent even the slightest idea why theyre here (!) well, it demands a far greater effort on the disciples part than before.
Before, when there were we started with 35 or 36 people but even when it got up to 150, even with 150it was as if they were all nestled in a cocoon in my consciousness: they were so near to me that I could constantly guide ALL their inner or outer movements. Day and night, at each moment, everything was totally under my control. And naturally, I think they made a great deal of progress at that time: it is a fact that I was CONSTANTLY doing the sadhana2 for them. But then, with this baby boom The sadhana cant be done for little sprouts who are 3 or 4 or 5 years old! Its out of the question. The only thing I can do is wrap them in the Consciousness and try to see that they grow up in the best of all possible conditions. However, the one advantage to all this is that instead of there being such a COMPLETE and PASSIVE dependence on the disciples part, each one has to make his own little effort. Truly, thats excellent.
0 1955-04-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I am not so absurdly pretentious as to blame the divine, nor yourself and I remain quite convinced that all this is my own fault. Undoubtedly I have not known how to surrender totally in some part of myself, or I do not aspire enough or know how to open myself as needed. Also, I should rely entirely upon the divine to take care of my progress and not be concerned about the absence of experiences. I have therefore asked myself why I am so far away from the true attitude, the genuine opening, and I see two main reasons: on the one hand, the difficulties inherent in my own nature, and on the other, the outer conditions of this sadhana. These conditions do not seem to be conducive to helping me overcome the difficulties in my own nature.
I feel that I am turning in circles and taking one step backward for each one forward. Furthermore, instead of helping me draw nearer to the divine consciousness, my work in the Ashram (the very fact of working for to change work, even if I felt like it, would not change the overall situation), diverts me from this divine consciousness, or at least keeps me in a superficial consciousness from which I am unable to unglue myself as long as I am busy writing letters, doing translations, corrections or classes.1 I know its my own fault, that I should know how to be detached from my work and do it by relying upon a deeper consciousness, but what can be done? Unless I receive the grace, I cannot remember the essential thing as long as the outer part of my being is active.
When I am not immediately engrossed in work, I have to confront a thousand little temptations and daily difficulties that come from my contact with other beings and a life that does indeed remain in life. Here, even more, there is the feeling of an impossible struggle, and all these little difficulties seem to gnaw away at me; scarcely has one hole been filled when another opens up, or the same one reappears, and there is never any real victoryone has constantly to begin everything again. Finally, it seems to me that I really live only one hour a day, during the evening distribution at the playground.2 It is scarcely a life and scarcely a sadhana!
Consequently, I understand much better now why in the traditional yogas one settled all these difficulties once and for all by escaping from the world, without bothering to transform a life that seems so untransformable.
I am not now going to renounce Sri Aurobindos Yoga, Mother, for my whole life is based upon it, but I believe I should employ other meanswhich is why I am writing you this letter.
--
In all sincerity, I must say that when I was at Brewsters place in Almora, I felt very near to that state in which the Light must surge forth. I quite understand the imperfection of this process, which involves fleeing from difficulties, but this would only be a stage, a strategic retreat, as it were.
Mother, this is not a vital desire seeking to divert me from the sadhana, for my life has no other meaning than to seek the divine, but it seems to be the only solution that could bring about some progress and get me out of this lukewarm slump in which I have been living day after day. I cannot be satisfied living merely one hour a day, when I see you.
0 1956-04-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother, two months ago I had a clear mental perception of what was asked of me: to spend the rest of my life here. This is the source of my difficulties and of the inner hell I have been living through ever since. Each time I try to emerge, there is this image that rises up in me: your-whole-life and this casts me into a violent conflict. When I came here, I thought of staying for two or three years; for me the Ashram was a means of realization, not an end.
I understand now that as long as my whole being has not ACCEPTED that it must finish its life here, there is no way out nor any recovery possible. Through my mental force alone, this acceptance is impossible; I have been turning infernally in circles these past two months, and the mind is in league with the vital. Therefore, a force greater than mine must help me accept that my way is here. I need you, Mother, for without you I am lost. I need you to tell me that the Truth of my being is indeed here and that I am truly ready to follow this path. Mother, I beseech you, help me to see the truth of my being, give me some sign that my way is here and not elsewhere. I beg of you, Mother, help me to know.
0 1956-04-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The difficulties of the past weeks have taught me that as soon as one strays from the true consciousness, in however trifling a way, anything may happen, any excess, any aberration, any imbalance and I have felt very dangerous things prowling about me. Mother, you told me in regard to Patrick1 that the law of the manifestation was a law of freedom, even the freedom to choose wrongly. This evening, it has been my very deep perception that this freedom is virtually always a freedom to choose wrongly. I harbor a great fear of losing the true consciousness once again. I have become aware of how fragile everything in me is and that very little would be enough to carry me away.
Therefore, Sweet Mother, I come to ask a great grace of you, from the depths of my heart: take my freedom into your hands. Prevent me from falling back, far away from you. I place this freedom in your hands. Keep me safe, Mother, protect me. Grant me the grace of watching over me and of taking me in your hands completely, like a child whose steps are unsure. I no longer want this Freedom. It is you I want, the Truth of my being. Mother, as a grace, I implore you to free me from my freedom to choose wrongly.
0 1956-05-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
They ask if their inner difficulties will be easier to overcome.
I would repeat the same thing. What reason and what right have they to ask that things be easier? What have they done on their side? Why should it be easier? To satisfy peoples laziness and slothor what?
--
But really, this attitude this rather overly commercial attitude, is usually not very profitable. If you have difficulties and you sincerely aspire, it is likely that the difficulties will diminish. Let us hope so.
(Turning to the disciple) So you may tell them this: be sincere and you will be helped.
0 1956-08-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
In fact, following the 'Supramental Manifestation' of February 29, 1956, all of Mother's physical difficulties increased, as though all the obscurities in the physical consciousness were surging forth beneath the pressure of the new light. The same observation applies to the disciples who were around Mother and undoubtedly to the world as a whole. A strange 'mysterious acceleration' was beginning to take hold of the world.
***
0 1956-09-14, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
You asked me what I see and whether your difficulties will not reappear upon your return to the Ashram. It may well be. If you return as you still are at present, it may be that after a very short period it will all begin again. That is why I am going to propose something to you but to accept it you will have to be heroic and very determined in your consecration to my work.
This possibility appeared to me while reading what you wrote about your sojourn in Brazil with W, the only good rich man you have known. Here is my proposal, which I express to you quite plainly, spontaneously, as it presented itself to me.
--
Go to Brazil, to this good rich man, make him understand the importance of our work, the extent to which his fortune would be used to the utmost for the good of all and for the earths salvation were he to put it, even partially, at the disposal of our action. Win this victory over the power of money, and by so doing you will be freed from all your personal difficulties. Then you can return here with no apprehension, and you will be ready for the transformation.
Reflect upon this, take your time, tell me very frankly how you feel about it and whether it appears to you, as it does to me, to be a door opening onto a path that will bring you back, free and strong at last to me.
0 1956-10-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother is referring to a strike by the salaried workers of the Ashram, one of the numerous internal and external difficulties constantly assailing Her.
***
0 1956-10-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I am facing the same difficulties as before my departure to Hyderabad, and I have made the same mistakes. The main reason for this state is that, on the one hand, words and ideas seem to have lost all power over me, and on the other, the vital elan which led me thus far is dead. So upon what shall my faith rest? I still have some faith, of course, but it has become totally ABSTRACT. The vital does not cooperate, so I feel all withered, suspended in a void, nothing seems to give me direction anymore. There is no rebelliousness in me, but rather a void.
In this state, I am ceaselessly thinking of my forest in Guiana or of my travels through Africa and the ardor that filled me with life in those days. I seem to need to have my goal before me and to walk towards it. Outer difficulties also seem to help me resolve my inner problems: there is a kind of need in me for the elements the sea, the forest, the desert for a milieu with which I can wrestle and through which I can grow. Here, I seem to lack a dynamic point of leverage. Here, in the everyday routine, everything seems to be falling apart in me. Should I not return to my forest in Guiana?
Mother, I implore you, in the name of whatever led me to you in the first place, give me the strength to do WHAT HAS TO BE DONE. You who see and who can, decide for me. You are my Mother. Whatever my shortcomings, my difficulties, I feel I am so deeply your child.
Signed: Bernard
0 1957-10-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
There is no question of my abandoning the path and I remain convinced that the only goal in life is spiritual. But I need things to help me along the way: I am not yet ripe enough to depend upon inner strength alone. And when I speak of the forest or a boat, it is not only for the sake of adventure or the feeling of space, but also because they mean a discipline. Outer constraints and difficulties help me, they force me to remain concentrated around that which is best in me. In a sense, life here is too easy. Yet it is also too hard, for one must depend on ones own discipline I do not yet have that strength, I need to be helped by outer circumstances. The very difficulty of life in the outside world helps me to be disciplined, for it forces me to concentrate all my vital strength in effort. Here, this vital part is unemployed, so it acts foolishly, it strains at the leash.
I doubt that a new experience outside can really resolve things, but I believe it might help me make it to the next stage and consolidate my inner life. And if you wish, I would return in a year or two.
0 1957-10-18, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This evening, you spoke of the possibility of shortening the path of realization to a few months, days or hours. And yesterday, when you talked to me about the freedom of the body, you spoke of the experience of the Kundalini, of this breaking of the lid that makes you emerge once and for all, above difficulties, into the light.
I need a practical method corresponding to my present possibilities and to results of which I am presently capable. I feel that my efforts are dispersed by concentrating sometimes here, sometimes therea feeling of not knowing exactly what to do to break through and get out of all this. Would you point out some particular concentration to which I could adhere, a particular method that I would stick to?
0 1958-01-01, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I have one thing to add: we must not misinterpret the meaning of this experience and imagine that henceforth everything will take place without difficulties or always in accordance with our personal desires. It is not at this level. It does not mean that when we do not want it to rain, it will not rain! Or when we want some event to take place in the world, it will immediately take place, or that all difficulties will be abolished and everything will be like a fairy tale. It is not like that. It is something more profound. Nature has accepted into her play of forces the newly manifested Force and has included it in her movements. But as always, the movements of Nature take place on a scale infinitely surpassing the human scale and invisible to the ordinary human consciousness. It is more of an inner, psychological possibility that has been born in the world than a spectacular change in earthly events.
I mention this because you might be tempted to believe that fairy tales are going to be realized upon earth. The time has not yet come.
0 1958-05-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
From the negative point of view I mean the difficulties to be overcomeone of the most serious obstacles is that the ignorant and falsifying outer consciousness, the ordinary consciousness legitimizes all the so-called physical laws, causes, effects and consequences, all that science has discovered physically and materially. All this is an unquestionable reality to the consciousness, a reality that remains independent and absolute even in the face of the eternal divine Reality.
And it is so automatic that it is unconscious.
0 1958-07-05, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I have just explained to Z my program for getting out of the present difficulties,1 and I think if he has not concluded that I am totally mad, it is because he has an immense respect for me! But as always in these cases, there is such a joy in me, such an exultation: all the cells are dancing. I understand why people begin singing, dancing, etc. It takes a formidable power to remain like that (gesture of solidity): there is such a desire in the throat to sing!
***
--
In regard to the Ashram's financial difficulties.
***
0 1958-07-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Then the war and all the difficulties came, bringing a tremendous increase of people and expenditure (the war cost a fortuneanything at all cost ten times more than before), and suddenly, finished, nothing more. Not exactly nothing, but a thin little trickle. And when I asked, it didnt come. So one day, I put the question to Ganesh through his image (! ), I asked him, What about your promise?I cant do it, its too much for me; my means are too limited!Ah! I said to myself (laughing), What bad luck! And I no longer counted on him.
Once someone even asked Santa Claus! A young Muslim girl who had a special liking for Father Christmas I dont know why, as it was not part of her religion! Without saying a word to me, she called on Santa Claus and told him, Mother doesnt believe in you; you should give Her a gift to prove to Her that you exist. You can give it to Her for Christmas. And it happened! She was quite proud.
0 1958-09-16 - OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
For me, on the days when I have no special preoccupations or difficulties (days I could call normal, when I am normal), everything I do, all the movements of this body, all, all the words I utter, all the gestures I make, are accompanied and upheld by or lined, as it were, with this mantra:
OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH
0 1958-10-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(The disciple complains of his difficulties)
difficulties are sent to us exclusively to make the realization more perfect.
Each time we try to realize something and we encounter a resistance or an obstacle, or even a failurewhat appears to be a failurewe should know, we should NEVER forget, that it is exclusively, absolutely, to make the realization more perfect.
0 1958-11-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Concerning an experience Mother had on November 13 in regard to the disciple's difficulties)
Truly speaking, perhaps one is never rid of the hostile forces as long as one has not permanently emerged into the Light, above the lower hemisphere. There, the term hostile forces loses its meaning; they become only forces of progress, they force you to progress. But to see things in this way, you have to get out of the lower hemisphere, for below, they are very real in their opposition to the divine plan.
0 1958-11-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Mother tries to find the origin of the disciple's difficulties)
I dont have all the information, otherwise certainly Two things made me see I saw them the other day. First of all, when you didnt understand my letter, for I wrote it to a part of you that without any doubt should have understood; I was referring to something other than what is seen and known by this part of you which is this center, this knot of revolt that seems to resist everything, that really remains knotted, in spite of your experiences and the strides you have made, as well as your openings. And what made me see is especially the fact that it resists experiences, it is not touched by experiences; this was the point that did not understand what I wrote. Because the part of you that had the experience must necessarily understand what I wrote, without the shadow of a doubt.
0 1958-11-22, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
But when here the difficulties returned and because of their obstinacy, their appearance of an inevitable fatality I concluded that it was a karma, although I knew it with certainty only now.
But I always had a presentiment of the true thing: that only a VERY COURAGEOUS act of self-giving could efface the thingnot courageous or difficult from the material point of view, not that There is a certain zone of the vital in you, a mentalized vital but still very material, which is very much under the influence of circumstances and which very much believes in the effectiveness of outer measuresthis is what is resisting.
0 1959-01-21, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Here is what X told me: I have received a message from my guru.1 In my vision, the Mother was there, next to my guru, and she was smiling. My guru told me that your present difficulties are a period of testing, but I could already give you the first stage of tantric initiation and that for you, the three stages of initiation could be done in an accelerated way.
I will therefore give you initiation this Friday or Saturday, on the day of the full moon or the day before. This first stage will last three months during which you will have to repeat 1 lakh2 times the mantra that I will give you. At the end of three months, I will come to see you in Pondicherryor you will come here for a fortnight, and as soon as I have received the message from my guru, I will give you the second stage that will last three months as well. At the end of these three months, you will receive the full initiation. X warned me that the first stage I am to receive provokes attacks and tests but that all this disappears with the second stage. Forewarned is forearmed. For what reason I do not know, but X told me that the particular nature of my initiation should remain secret and that he will say nothing about it to Swami, and he added (in speaking of the speed of the process), But you will not be less than the Swami. (!!) There, I wanted you to knowbesides, you were present in Xs vision. All this happened at a time when I was in the most desperate crisis I have ever known. Sweet Mother, there is no end to expressing my gratitude to you, and yet with the least trial, I am reduced to nothing. Why have you so much grace for me?
0 1959-04-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I read your P.S. and I understand. This too confirms my feeling. I am not happy that you are plagued with work, and especially urgent work that has to be done quicklyit is contrary to the inner calm and concentration so indispensable for getting rid of ones difficulties. I am going to do what is necessary to change this situation. Besides, this is why I have been telling you recently that my work is not urgent. But this work for the Bulletin should stop for the moment.
The other point also has its element of truthwe shall speak of it later.
0 1959-10-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
2) X spoke to me of the Ashrams financial difficulties and said I shall tell you the secret why there are such difficulties. I think he is going to speak to me today or tomorrow. In any case, he told me that he was working (I am preparing) to change these conditions, and he asked me if there had been any improvement as yet. I replied that I did not believe the situation had changed very much. He spoke as well of certain people in the Ashram, but I will tell you about this in person. He had a rather amusing way of speaking about people, people who pretend to worship the Mother but who keep their mind as a dustbin!
7) X wants to send me back to Pondicherry this Sunday (Sunday the 18th, arriving Monday the 19th morning). He says it is useless for me now to remain here any longer since his house is not ready and he can do nothing. But, he said, I will have you come to my house for 3 months and I shall give you a training by which you can know Past, Present and Future, and have the same qualifications as me!
0 1960-01-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
All these repetitions of the mantra, these hours of japa I have to do every day, seem to have increased the difficulties, as if they were raising up or aggravating all the resistances.
To the most stubborn goes the victory.
--
Some difficulties remained, of course, but they stemmed more from what had to change within.
Actually, difficulties come from very small things; they may seem quite commonplace, totally uninteresting, but they block the way. They come for no earthly reasonsome detail, a word that comes rubbing against a sensitive spot, an illness in someone close to me, anything at all, and suddenly something in me contracts. Then all the work has to be started afresh as though nothing had been done.
Of all forms of ego, you might think that the physical ego is the most difficult to conquer (or rather, the body ego, because the work was already done long ago on the physical ego). It might be thought that the form of the body is a point of concentration, and that without this concentration or hardness, physical life would not be possible. But thats not true. The body is really a wonderful instrument; its capable of widening and of becoming vast in such a way that everything, everything the slightest gesture, the least little taskis done in a wonderful harmony and with a remarkable plasticity. Then all of a sudden, for something quite stupid, a draft, a mere nothing, it forgetsit shrinks back into itself, it gets afraid of disappearing, afraid of not being. And everything has to be started again from scratch. So in the yoga of matter you start realizing how much endurance is needed. I calculated it would take 200 years to say ten crore of my japa. Well, Im ready to struggle 200 years if necessary, but the work will be done.
0 1960-05-16, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
X has the power of rendering things very material thats his great power, which is why things get upset when he comes here. Overnight, someone progressing well comes to grips with difficulties; money on the way stops coming; you fall sick, things break downall because he has the power to give materiality to things from above. For, you see, you can go right to the height of your consciousness and from there sweep away the difficulties (at a certain moment of the sadhana, difficulties truly dont exist, its only a matter of nabbing the undesirable vibration and its over, its reduced to dust). And everything is fine up above, but down below its swarming. When X comes, its precisely all this swarming that becomes tangible.
The mastery must be a TRUE mastery, a very humble and austere mastery which starts from the very bottom and, step by step, establishes control. As a matter of fact, it is a battle against small, really tiny things: habits of being, ways of thinking, feeling and reacting.
0 1960-05-24 - supramental flood, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I was reluctant to speak (because of this problem that remains hanging: to make it permanent, even in the active consciousness), and I said to myself that if I speak, it will create difficulties for me in finding the solution But its all right. I shall simply have to make a still greater effort, because something always evaporates when you speak.
Sat-Chit-Ananda: the three Supreme Principles, Existence (Sat), Consciousness (Chit), and Bliss (Ananda).
0 1960-08-10 - questions from center of Education - reading Sri Aurobindo, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
There is no need to react against difficulties; you are immediately pulled out of them, as if you were taken out like this (gesture of pulling someone out of a difficulty with her two fingers).
Original English.
0 1960-11-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
A while ago You know that I have TREMENDOUS financial difficulties. In fact, I have handed the whole matter over to the Lord, telling Him, Its your affair; if you want us to continue this experience, well, you must provide the means. But this upsets some of them, so they come along with all kinds of suggestions to keep me from having to to resort to something so drastic. They suggest all kinds of things; some time ago they said, What about a good cyclone, or a good earthquake? A lot of damage to the Ashram, a public appeal that would bring in some funds! (Mother laughs) Yes, its of this order! And its all quite clear and definitewe have veritable conversations!
I listen, I answer. Its not satisfactory! I told them. But theyve kept to their idea, they like it. When that first storm came some time back (you remember, with those terrible bolts of lightning and that asuric being P.K. saw and sketched): Dont you want us to destroy something? I got angry. But it was This influence was so close and acute that it gave you goose bumps! The whole time the storm lasted, I had to hold on tight in my bed, like this (Mother closes her fists tight as in a trance or deep concentration), and I didnt movedidnt movelike a a rock during the entire storm, until he consented to go a bit further away. Then I moved. And even now, it comesfrom others (theres not just one, you see, there are many): How about a good flood? A roof collapsed the other day with someone underneath, but he was able to escape. So roofs are collapsing, houses Arouse public sympathy, we must help the Ashram! Its no good, I said. But maybe thats whats responsible for this interminable rain. And they offer so many other things oh, what they parade past me! You could write books on all this!
0 1960-11-26, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
That was the wonderful thing when we were together and all these hostile forces were fighting (they tried to kill me any number of times. He always saved me in an absolutely miraculous and marvelous way). But you see, this seemed to create very great BODILY difficulties for him. We discussed this a great deal, and I told him, If one of us must go, I want that it should be me.
It cant be you, he replied, because you alone can do the material thing.3
0 1961-01-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
If one always remained in this state of consciousness, keeping alive the flame of Agni, the flame of purification and progress, then after some time, not only could one prevent these movements from taking an active form in oneself and becoming expressed physically, but one could act upon the very nature of the movement and transform it. Needless to say, however, that unless one has attained a very high degree of realization it is virtually impossible to keep this state of consciousness for long. Almost immediately one falls back into the egoistic consciousness of the separate self, and all the difficulties return: disgust, the revolt against certain things and the horror they create in us, and so on.
It is probableeven certain that until one is completely transformed these movements of disgust and revolt are necessary to make one do WITHIN ONESELF what is needed to slam the door on them. For after all, the point is to not let them manifest.
0 1961-01-31, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I always avoid putting him in contact with the realm of conflicts and contradictions because he is extremely sensitive and it causes him difficulties. Thats why I said, No, dont bother. Afterwards, it was fine!
(silence)
Now I have begun reading those hymns2. Oh, now I understand! All those obstacles were a preparation straight from Sri Aurobindo. Now I understand! (What I mean by understand is that its a help for making progress.) I understand the nature of certain obstructions and certain difficulties, and what allows certain forces to oppose each other I understand it quite clearly.
I have read only two hymns so far. By the time I reach the end I will probably have found something.
--
It was there, it was clear; but its not yet permanent. Something is beginning. I hope its going to become established before too long and that there will be no more translating difficulties.
Meanwhile, I am interested in seeing how it functions in your mind. I think that after some timeperhaps not too long from nowwe will be able to do this work together in an interesting way.
0 1961-02-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But here also, all depends on the sincerity and the endurance with which the chosen path is followed. Because here also, there are difficulties and obstacles to surmount.
So, in life, nothing comes without an effort and a struggle.
--
And its absolutely truetrue at each stage, on all levels. Whatever level you have attained, even the very highest, if you concentrate on that [the body], it is finished! And all the difficulties begin, you know, with that very concentration that tries to draw down Light and Poweryogic concentration itself.
So it would seem that if one wants to use his individuality, his body, to transform the whole that is, if one wants to use his bodily presence to act upon the universal corporeal substance theres no end to it. No end to the difficulties, no end to the battle BATTLE!
(silence)
--
You see, as long as there are currents swirling within youswirling in the mind or the vitalyou tell yourself that these currents are the cause of all the difficulties. But when there is nothing any longer? When there is a serene and immutable peace but still you are relentlessly houndedoh, with such ferocity! You cannot imagine.
(silence)
--
Yes. It is better to speak of victory than (Mother laughs) to speak of difficulties!
(silence)
When we used to discuss all these things and the difficulties of the path, Sri Aurobindo told me (he was comparing his body to mine): I dont have the stuff of such endurance. I was not cut out like thatyour body is solid! (gesture)
What trials it has gone through! And its so docile, so docile, it doesnt complain.
0 1961-02-18, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
If we spoke only of success. And besides, we share these difficulties, more or less.
The day victory is won, all this will become infinitely interesting. But why speak of it if the victory isnt won? It just makes another lengthy description of failures.
--
(After another digression, Mother again speaks of her experience of January 24, which triggered a backlash of subconscious difficulties.)
A great deal has been brought to light since that experience. It has been the starting point for such turmoil, even physically, such strong jolts that I might have wondered, Was I dreaming or was it real?. And more and more I am coming to understand that this is the INDISPENSABLE preparation in the most material world for that experience to become definitively established, to express itself outwardly, constantlythis is obvious.
0 1961-02-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
All this [the world, the Ashram] is held in my consciousness with a kind of essential compassion applying equally to all things, all difficulties, all obstacles. I receive letters by the dozens, as you know, and each person comes to me with his own little misery or problem, inner or outer (a tiny pimple becomes a mountain). When people come to me, my inner consciousness always responds in the same way, with a kind of equality and compassion for all. But when people are talking to me or I am reading a letter and my body grows conscious of what it calls the to-do they make over their miseries, it has a kind of feeling (I mean there is a feeling in the cells): Why do they take things like that! They are making things much more difficult. The body understands. It understands that their way of taking the least little difficulty in such a blind, egotistical and self-centered manner, increases its difficulties furiously!
Its a rather amusing sensation, a combination of sensation and feeling, that the ordinary human attitude towards things multiplies and magnifies the difficulties to FANTASTIC proportions; while if they simply had the true attitudea NORMAL attitude, quite simple, uncomplicatedahh, all life would be much easier. For the body feels the vibrations (those very vibrations which concentrate to form a body), it feels their nature and sees that its normal reaction, a peaceful and confident reaction, makes things so much easier! But as soon as this agitation of anxiety, fear, discontent comes in, the reaction of a will that doesnt want any of it oh, right away it becomes like water boiling: pff! pff! pff! like a machine. While if the difficulty is accepted with confidence and simplicity, its reduced to its minimum, and I mean purely materially, in the material vibration itself.
Almost (I say almost because the body hasnt had every experience), but almost all pains can be reduced to something absolutely negligible. (Of course, some pains it hasnt had, but it has had a sufficient number!) Its this anxiety resulting from a semi-mental vibration (the first stirrings of Mind) that complicates everything, everything! For example, take this difficulty I mentioned of climbing the stairs: in the doctors consciousness or anyone elses, pain causes it. According to their ordinary reasoning, pain is what tenses the nerves and muscles so one can no longer walk but this is absolutely FALSE. Pain does not prevent my body from doing anything at all. Pain isnt a factor, or rather its a factor that can be easily dealt with. Its not that: it is Matter; Matter (probably cellular matter, or) losing its capacity to respond to the will, to will-power. But why? I dont know! It depends upon the particular disorganization; but why is it like that? I dont know. Now each time I climb the stairs, I am trying to find the means of infusing Will in such a way that this lack of response doesnt last but I still havent found it. Although theres all this accumulated force and power and will (a tremendous accumulation, I am BATHED in it, the whole body is bathed in it!), yet for some reason it doesnt respond. Here and there, groups of cells fail to respond, and the Force cannot act. So what must be found is.
0 1961-02-28, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its one of the biggest mental difficulties of this age.
Anyway, in reply to this nonsense, I have said: Your error, to be precise, is that you go to the Theosophical Society, for example, with the same opening as to the Christian religion or to the Buddhist doctrine or with which you read one of Sri Aurobindos booksand as a result, you are plunged into a confusion and a muddle and you dont understand anything about anything.
0 1961-03-21, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Last night I had two consecutive experiences showing with extreme precision that black magic is at the root of all this (Mother is speaking of both general and personal difficulties, in the Ashram and in her body).
First of all, on the mental plane (the physical-mind, the material mind) I saw an individual. I am not entirely certain of his identity (when I saw him last night I didnt associate him with anyone in particular) but from his outer appearance he is evidently a sannyasi. He was pursuing me, blocking my way and trying to stop me from doing my work (it was a long, long affair). But I was very conscious and could foresee everything he was about to do, so it had no effect. After a long while I emerged from this I had something else to do and I leftand on my way home he was everywhere, hiding and trying to catch me; but he didnt succeed in doing anything. And I knew he had been acting in this manner for a long time.
0 1961-03-27, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I dont know, because N. said quite categorically: X told me that on arriving for this mornings meditation he had some difficulties and it took him five minutes to get over it; an adverse force was present. N. was quite positive and I even made him repeat it. Are you sure, I asked him, that it didnt happen when X came to you? No, N. replied, X met that force THERE. He said THERE! Yet that it could have been there, with all the force, light and peace that descended is incomprehensible to me. Because the first thing I do when I sit down is to make a thorough cleaning.
It ruffles me because its like a negation of my power. Till yesterday I had never experienced anything of the kind! On the 29th, you know, it will be forty-seven years since I first came here3thats not exactly yesterday! And ever since I began working with Sri Aurobindo, I have had the sense of this Power, it has never left me; so. It is disconcerting to have this kind of episode come up after such a long time.
--
On other occasions (as I have told you) I had difficulties with X on the mental plane; now all that has cleared up, cleared up very well. But this present situation is on another plane, so lets wait. Perhaps probably it will clear up.
(silence)
--
So, petit, dont brood; whatever your difficulties may be (laughing), you can tell yourself they are only beginning!
And Im not exactly a baby; I have been here forty-seven years, and for something like yes, certainly for sixty years I have been doing a conscious yoga, with all that memories of an immortal life can bring and see where I am! When Sri Aurobindo says you must have endurance, I think he is right!
0 1961-04-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Each time X comes here, all the difficulties rise up to their maximum, they seem to become absolute. And I understand why: his power acts in a domain full of human pettiness. What a domain! Oh, awful! And were not out of it yet: quarrels, divisions, misunderstandings, bad will. I fully understand that it all has to come up in order to be healed. But it gives me a tremendous amount of work!
Anyway.
--
When external difficulties subside, when the body becomes passive and quiet, when it is not constantly demanding attention, then you can LIVE in this supramental consciousness and it does not seem so difficult; you feel it is so victorious in its essence that it will end all difficulties.
But for this to come about, you must remain for a while on those higher reaches and not be constantly, constantly dragged down below where you have to fight each minute simply to LASTto last in all ways: not just personally, but collectively.2 Its a minute-to-minute bout, simply to last. And how long do we have to last for the thing to be done?
0 1961-04-08, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
After more than a month I have resumed my translation [of The Synthesis of Yoga], and I fell exactlyits splendid!exactly on the passage that helped me understand what has happened, why there are all these difficulties. And the Synthesis and the Veda go hand in hand, so reading that passage brought some improvement; its like being able to shift position, you know, so that now its a bit better. Anyway.
***
0 1961-05-02, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
When Sri Aurobindo was here, the work was done in another way; there was such an impression of hovering above difficulties, of acting on them from above. It was so strong that even rebellious elements, even things which were not going well, even they were dominated from above and they could not manifest they stayed like that. And as they could not manifest, they faded quietly away.
I have seen people (people from outside) who were enemiesall their enmity was pacified, pacified, pacified. They were unable to do any harm, even when they wanted to. Everything was made innocuous in that way. And it was the same thing here in the Ashram; as always, people had wrong movements and wrong thoughts, but all this, too, was dominatedit was pacified, pacified.
0 1961-07-15, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And it has become acute since.1 No, I dont read these days, because Ive had a hemorrhage in this eye. There have been too many letters, and its difficult for me to decipher handwriting the result is this hemorrhage. So I have gone on strike. All right, I said, I wont read any letters for a week. People can write as much as they please, its all the same to me Im not reading any more. But just before stopping (I stopped reading for only three days), I read a passage where Sri Aurobindo speaks of his own experience and his own work and explains in full what he means by the supramental transformation. This passage confirmed and made me understand many experiences I had after that experience of the bodys ascent [January 24, 1961] (the ascent of the body-consciousness, followed by the descent of the supramental force into the body); immediately afterwards, everything (how to put it?) outwardly, according to ordinary consciousness, I fell ill; but its stupid to speak this way I did not fall ill! All possible difficulties in the bodys subconscient rose up en masseit had to happen, and it surely happened to Sri Aurobindo, too. How well I understood! How well, indeed. And its no joke, you know! I had wondered why these difficulties had hounded him so ferociouslynow I understand, because I am being attacked in the same relentless fashion.
Actually, it springs from everything in material consciousness that can still be touched by the adverse forces; that is, not exactly the body-consciousness itself but, one could say, material substance as it has been organized by the mind the initial mentalization of matter, the first stirrings of mind in life making the passage from animal to human. (The same complications would probably exist in animals, but as there is no question of trying to supramentalize animals, all goes well for them.) Well, something in there protests, and naturally this protest creates disorder. These past few days I have been seeing. No one has ever followed this path! Sri Aurobindo was the first, and he left without telling us what he was doing. I am literally hewing a path through a virgin forestits worse than a virgin forest.
--
From experience, I know perfectly well that when one is satisfied with being a saint or a sage and constantly maintains the right attitude, all goes well the body doesnt get sick, and even if there are attacks it recovers very easily; all goes very well AS LONG AS THERE IS NOT THIS WILL TO TRANSFORM. All the difficulties arise in protest against the will to transform; while if one says, Very well, its all right, let things be as they are, I dont care, I am perfectly happy, in a blissful state, then the body begins to feel content!
Thats the problem: something totally new is being introduced into Matter, and the body is protesting.
--
Onlythere is an only in all thisif there were a more liberal proportion between the refreshing (if I may say so) freedom of solitude and the necessity for collective work, there would probably be fewer difficulties. Towards the end of the first year after I retired upstairs3 (perhaps even before, but anyway, some time after I began doing japa while walking), I recall having such sessions up there! Had there been a personal goal, this goal was clearly attained; it is indescribable, absolutely beyond all imaginable or expressible splendor.
And that was when I received the Command from the Supreme, who was right here, this close (Mother presses her face). He told me, This is what is promised. Now the Work must be done.
--
Because evidently I cant say that my experiences are the result of a mental aspiration or will or knowledge I dont know, I dont know at all. I dont know how it should be, nor what it should be, nor anything at all. I dont know what should be done, I dont know what should not be donenothing. Its truly a blind march (gesture of groping along), in a desert riddled with all possible traps and difficulties and obstaclesall this heaped together. Eyes blindfolded, knowing nothing (same gesture of groping blindly), one plods on.
The only thing to do is to be like this (Mother turns her hands towards the Heights in a gesture of abandonment). Provided you dont fall asleep! You mustnt enter into a beatific state where you. No, we must keep moving on.
--
Since Mother began reading Sri Aurobindo's letters in On Himself, which seemed to put her into contact with all the difficulties of the Work.
Experience of November 8, 1957. Mother has commented on this experience in 'Questions and Answers' of January 1, 1958. See Agenda I, p. 131.
0 1961-08-02, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
No, receptive is one thing and responsive is another. To respond: Matter will respond to the conscious will. Indeed, this is why there is hopehow else could there be a transformation? Things would always remain as they are! What kind of earth would it be for the supramental race to live on if no Matter gave response, if Matter did not begin to vibrate and respond to the Will? The same difficulties would always be there. And it isnt limited: for instance, even if we imagine a power over the body making corporeal life different, this new corporeal life still has to exist within an environmentit cant remain hanging in thin air! The environment must respond.
Its quite obvious that the Inconscient, the Subconscient and the semi-conscient are accidental; they are not a permanent part of the creation, so are bound to disappear, to be transformed.
0 1961-08-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Three or four years ago I had to make a little effort to meditate or give a meditation to someone in a very bad condition. But now absolutely no more effort. No effort at all. And I dont notice a bit when X is having difficulty, not a bit. I prepare myself as usual before he comes and as soon as he arrives, all I have to do is call (although generally thats not necessary); I call, and then I become blissful. And I havent found more difficulties in certain cases than in others I DONT FEEL THE RESISTANCE, neither in the atmosphere nor in people. The Force is imperative. Thats why I was so astounded those other times when he began to say he needed at least ten minutes to put himself into meditationit seemed fantastic to me! He said so himself, otherwise I would never have believed it.3
Well, we shall see.
0 1961-09-16, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Satprem complains of his difficulties in writing the book on Sri Aurobindo. He says in particular that he has a feeling of being 'blocked'.)
I have asked Sri Aurobindo to help you.
0 1961-09-30, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It greatly interested me when I read your letter. I was looking at why you have so many difficulties; twice in your note you wrote that it [writing] is a suffering. You have very often written this word, very often spoken it, and it seems dominant in one aspect of your beingwhile in the other is the glory of a supreme joy, the very stuff of the future realization.
These are what could be called the two modes, not of your character, but of your soul.1
--
The difficulties all stem from the fact that you think they are there.
Good-bye, mon petit. Do you want to see me a day ahead of time?
--
1. This letter to Mother is, with a few others, the sole survivor of thirteen years of correspondence. All the rest, all Satprem's correspondence with Mother since 1960, was confiscated by the Ashram after the Mother's departure, for its own reasons. His letters of 1960, already published in Volume I, escaped the destruction because Mother herself had kept them. It makes a big hole in this Agenda, not only for himbecause he had poured out his heart, his questions and doubts and difficulties into these letters but also from an historical point of view, for many of these conversations with Mother were invisibly oriented by his own condition. In fact, he was intimately linked with the flow of this Agenda, which thus stands mutilated. Need we add that we had to prepare the first two volumes as fugitives, and it required Mother's miraculous help to avert even more serious mutilations than the auto-da-f of Satprem's correspondence.
***
0 1961-10-02, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Towards the end of the conversation, Satprem once again complains of his difficulties in writing his book. Mother proposes that he try to unblock the way by reading his manuscript to her.)
You know, it [Mothers consciousness] is an immobile mirror that projects things from below upwards and receives things from above to transmit them below. This mirror is two-surfaced, and absolutely immobile, not adding any vibration to what is received or transmitted: a perfect neutrality. In this mirror, therefore, you would be able to see your book a little more impersonally, outside yourself and your own creative power.
0 1961-10-30, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The secret lies in matter. Because Agni is imprisoned in matter and we ourselves are imprisoned there. It is said that Agni is without head or feet, that it conceals its two extremities: above, it disappears into the great heaven of the supraconscient (which the Rishis also called the great ocean), and below, it sinks into the formless ocean of the inconscient (which they also called the rock). We are truncated. But the Rishis were men of a solid realism, a true realism resting upon the Spirit; and since the summits of mind opened out upon a lacuna of lightecstatic, to be sure, but with no hold over the worldthey set upon the downward way.6 Thus begins the quest for the lost sun, the long pilgrimage of descent into the inconscient and the merciless fight against the dark forces, the thieves of the sun, the panis and vritras, pythons and giants, hidden in the dark lair with the whole cohort of usurpers: the dualizers, the confiners, the tearers, the COVERERS. But the divine worker, Agni, is helped by the gods, and in his quest he is led by the intuitive ray, Sarama, the heavenly hound with the subtle sense of smell who sets Agni on the track of the stolen herds (strange, shining herds). Now and again there comes the sudden glimmer of a fugitive dawn then all grows dim. One must advance step by step, digging, digging, fighting every inch of the way against the wolves whose savage fury increases the nearer one draws to their denAgni is a warrior. Agni grows through his difficulties, his flame burns more brilliantly with each blow from the Adversary; for, as the Rishis said, Night and Day both suckled the divine Child; they even said that Night and Day are the two sisters, Immortal, with a common lover [the sun] common they, though different their forms (I.113.2,3). These alternations of night and brightness accelerate until Day breaks at last and the herds of Dawn7 surge upward awakening someone who was dead (I.113.8). The infinite rock of the inconscient is shattered, the seeker uncovers the Sun dwelling in the darkness (III.39.5), the divine consciousness in the heart of Matter. In the very depths of Matter, that is to say, in the body, on earth, the Rishis found themselves cast up into Light that same Light which others sought on the heights, without their bodies and without the earth, in ecstasy. And this is what the Rishis would call the Great Passage. Without abandoning the earth they found the vast dwelling place, that dwelling place of the gods, Swar, the original Sun-world that Sri Aurobindo calls the Supramental World: Human beings [the Rishis emphasize that they are indeed men] slaying the Coverer have crossed beyond both earth and heaven [matter and mind] and made the wide world their dwelling place (I.36.8). They have entered the True, the Right, the Vast, Satyam, Ritam, Brihat, the unbroken light, the fearless light, where there is no longer suffering nor falsehood nor death: it is immortality, amritam.
***
0 1961-11-05, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
According to Mother's wishes, the tape was erased up to this point. But years passed and circumstances changed, and when Satprem found the transcription of this conversation among his papers, he deemed it worthwhile to preserve the major portion of it for its historical interest. Mother's difficulties are always the difficulties of the 'Terrestrial Work'; and this particular Asura, who disturbed the earth in such a particular way, could hardly be passed over in silence.
See conversation of July 28, p. 279.
0 1961-11-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
In January 1925, mother had an inflammation of the knee. On May 25 of the same year, Sri Aurobindo noted in a letter, 'The condition here is not very good. I am at present fighting the difficulties on the physical plane.' (Cited by A.B. Purani, Life of Sri Aurobindo, p. 203.) Note that in 1925 the Nazi Party was founded.
We aren't sure, but this may refer to the experience of July 12, 1960, or to that of November 5, 1958, 'the almighty spring' (in fact, they are probably one and the same experience) which gave rise to the 1959 New Year Message: 'At the very bottom of the Inconscient, most hard and rigid and narrow and stifling, I struck upon an almighty spring that cast me up forthwith into a formless, limitless Vast, vibrating with the seeds of a new world.'
0 1961-11-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have the feeling. You know, Sri Aurobindo is trying to make me understand something, and it gives me a very strong feeling that you are creating unnecessary difficulties for yourself, and if if only you could let go of something (I dont know what), then suddenly it would be: ah! Its done, its all done, there it is!
Maybe in a few minutesin any case not more than a few daysit would be finished. And ORIGINAL. The main impression is that it would be something new, original, unexpected, and thats just whats needed: something unexpected, unlike anything ever done before. Something sudden. At the risk of being a bit bewildering that doesnt matter! It doesnt matter. With all those pictures it will always be accessible to everyone. Especially each time you express this fatigue, this difficulty, what Sri Aurobindo seems to be saying comes back to me: But of course! He is banging up against something that shouldnt even be there!
0 1961-12-20, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Dear Sir I must begin by telling you that although this text is an excellent essay, it is not, in its present form, a book for the Spiritual Masters series. Let us enumerate the reasons for this. First of all, the general impression is of an ABSTRACT text. I can straight-away imagine your reaction to this and I dread misunderstandings! But putting myself in the readers place, since, once again, it does involve a collection intended for a wide public that we are beginning to know well, I can assure you that this public will not be able to follow page after page of reflections upon what one is bound to call a philosophical and spiritual system. Obviously this impression is caused primarily by the fact that you have begun with twenty-one pages where the reader is assumed to already know of Sri Aurobindos historical existence and the content of the Vedas and the Upanishads, plus I dont know how many other notions of rite, truth, divinity, wisdom, etc., etc. In my view, and the solution is going to appear cruel to you, for you certainly value these twenty-one pages [on the Secret of the Veda], they should purely and simply be deleted, for everything you say there, which is very rich in meaning, can only become clear when one has read what follows. There are many books in which readers can be asked to make the effort entailed in not understanding the beginning until they have read the end: but not books of popular culture. One could envisage an introduction of three or four pages to situate the spiritual climate and cultural world in which Sri Aurobindos thought has taken place, provided, however, that it is sufficiently descriptive, and not a pre-synthesis of everything to be expounded upon in what follows. In a general way you are going to smile, finding me quite Cartesian! But the readership we address is more or less permeated by a widespread Cartesianism, and you can help them, if you like, to reverse their methodology, but on the condition that you make yourself understood right from the start. Generally, you dont make enough use of analysis and, even before analysis, of a description of the realities being analyzed. That is why the sections of pure philosophical analysis seem much too long to us, and, even apart from the abstract character of the chapter on evolution (which should certainly be shorter), one feels at a positive standstill! After having waited patiently, and sometimes impatiently, for some light to be thrown on Sri Aurobindos own experience, one reads with genuine amazement that one can draw on energies from above instead of drawing on them from the material nature around oneself, or from an animal sleep, or that one can modify his sleep and render it conscious master illnesses before they enter the body. All of that in less than a page; and you conclude that the spirit that was the slave of matter becomes again the master of evolution. But how Sri Aurobindo was led to think this, the experiences that permitted him to verify it, those that permit other men to consider the method transmittable, the difficulties, the obstacles, the realizationsdoesnt this constitute the essence of what must be said to make the reader understand? Once again, it is the question of a pedagogy intimately tied in with the spirit of the collection. Let me add as well that I always find it deplorable when a thought is not expressed purely for its own sake, but is accompanied by an aggressive irony towards concepts which the author does not share. This is pointless and harms the ideas being presented, all the more so because they are expressed in contrast with caricatured notions: the allusions you make to such concepts as you think yourself capable of evoking the soul, creation, virtue, sin, salvationwould only hold some interest if the reader could find those very concepts within himself. But, as they are caricatured by your pen, the reader is given the impression of an all too easily obtained contrast between certain ideas admired and others despised. Whereas it would be far more to the point if they corresponded to something real in the religious consciousness of the West. I have too much esteem for you and the spiritual world in which you live to avoid saying this through fear of upsetting you.
Amen.
0 1961-12-23, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You know, I can say one thing about this. Theres a type of woman I have met more or less periodically throughout my life. These beings are under the influence, or are incarnations of, or in any case are responsive to forces which Theon called passivenot exactly feminine forces, but on the Prakriti2 side of the universe: the dark Prakriti side (there is an active dark side, the asuric forces, and a passive dark side). And these are terrible beings, terrible! They have wreaked havoc in life. They represent one of the creations biggest difficulties. And they are attracted to me! Mon petit, they adore me, they detest me, they would like to destroy meand individually they CANNOT do without me! They come to me like like fireflies to light. And they hate me! They would like to crush me. Thats how it is.
I have met five women like that, the last two here (they were the most terrible). Its a phenomenon of hate and rage mixed with loves greatest power of attractionno sweetness, of course, no tenderness, nothing like that but NEED, loves greatest power of attraction, mixed with hate. And they cling, you know, and then what fun!
0 1962-01-09, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And that door was opened again only ten years later, in 1960. Even then, it was done with great careit was one of last years major difficulties.
(silence)
--
No one can imagine what it was, those thirty years I had beyond all problems and difficulties; we went through every possible difficulty and it was nothing, NOTHING. It was nothing, it was like a great harmonious orchestra.
(silence)
0 1962-01-12 - supramental ship, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Not that the problem hasnt been partially solved: hatha yogis have solved it, partiallyprovided you do nothing else (thats the trouble). Yet having the knowledge, we should have the power to do whats necessary without making it our exclusive preoccupation. At any rate, this possibility is certainly not altogether unknown; for the first few months after I retired to my room,4 when I had cut all contact with the outside, it was working very well even extraordinarily so! Lots of disorders in my body were surmounted, and I had many fairly precise indications that if I continued like that long enough I would regain everything that had been lost, and with an even better equilibrium. I mean that the functional equilibrium was far superior. Only when I came back into contact with the world did it all come to a halt and begin to deteriorateall the more so as it was aggravated by this discipline of expansion making me constantlyCONSTANTLYabsorb mountains of difficulties to be resolved. And so.
With the mind, its rather easyyou can put things back in order in five minutes, its not difficult. With the vital its already a bit more troublesome, it takes a little longer. But when you come to the material level, well. Theres a CONTAGION of wrong cellular functioning and a kind of internal disorganizationthings not staying in their proper places. Each vibration absorbed from the outside instantly creates a disorder, dislocates everything, creates wrong contacts and disrupts the organization; it sometimes takes HOURS to put it all back in order. Consequently, if I really want to make use of this bodys possibility without having to face the necessity of changing it because it cant follow along, then, materially, I would really need, as much as possible, to stop having to gulp down all sorts of things that drag me years backwards.
0 1962-01-21, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This sort of will in people for purity, for Good (which in ordinary mentality is expressed by a need to be virtuous) is actually the GREAT OBSTACLE to true self-giving. Its the root of Falsehood, the very source of hypocrisy: the refusal to take up ones share of the burden of difficulties. And thats what Sri Aurobindo has touched on in this aphorism, directly and very simply.
Do not try to be virtuous. See to what extent you are united, ONE with all that is antidivine. Take up your share of the burden; accept to be impure and false yourself, and in so doing you will be able to take up the Shadow and offer it. And insofar as you are able to take it and offer it, things will change.3
0 1962-02-03, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(A visitor has written to Mother about her difficulties, saying she is the victim of a "collective karma.")
Those karma stories.
--
In the lower mind there was a whole world of difficulties I was unaware of. In the vital I knew, because Id had to do battle therewhich was fine with me! Just imagine, this time I have been given a warrior as my vital being. A magnificent warrior, neither male nor female, and as tall as this room1he is splendid. I was so happy when I first saw him. Well, I thought, thats worth my while!
Yes, there are battles galore there!
--
For some time now I have been running into difficulties with my morning japa. Its complex. I wont go into details, but certain things seemed to be trying to interfere, either preventing me from going on to the end, or plunging me into a kind of trance that brought everything to a halt. So I began wondering what it was and why. A very, very long curve was involved, but the result of my observations is the following. (All this is purely from the bodys standpoint; I mean it doesnt concern the conscious, living, independent being that would remain the same even without the bodyto be exact, the being whose life, consciousness, freedom and action do not depend on the body. I am speaking here of that which needs the body for its manifestation; that alone was in question.)
There has been a kind of perception of a variety of bodily activities, a whole series of them, having to do exclusively (or so it seems) with the maintenance of the body. Some are on the borderlinesleep, for instance: one portion of it is necessary for good maintenance of the body, and another portion puts it in contact with other parts and activities of the being; but one portion of sleep is exclusively for maintaining the bodys balance. Then there is food, keeping clean, a whole range of things. And according to Sri Aurobindo, spiritual life shouldnt suppress those things; whatever is indispensable for the bodys well-being must be kept up. For ordinary people, all other bodily activities are used for personal pleasure and benefit. The spiritual man, on the other hand, has given his body to serve the Divine, so that the Divine may use it for His work and perhaps, as Sri Aurobindo said, for His joyalthough given the present state of Matter and the body, that seems to me unlikely or at best very intermittent and partial, because this body is much more a field of misery than a field of joy. (None of this is based on speculation, but on personal experience I am relating my personal experience.) But with work, its different: when the body is at work, its in full swing. Thats its joy, its needto exist only to serve Him. To exist only to serve. And of course, to reduce maintenance to a bare minimum while trying to find a way for the Divine to participate in the very restricted, limited and meager possibilities of joy this maintenance may give. To associate the Divine with all those movements and things, like keeping clean, sleeping (although sleep is different, its already a lot more interesting); but especially with personal hygiene, eating and other absolutely indispensable things, the attempt is to associate them with the Divine Presence so that they may be as much an expression of divine joy as possible. (This is realized to a certain extent.)
0 1962-02-13, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But truly, if someone (I dont know who or what this Someone is) if I am given the time, I will know I am convinced of it. For despite all the growing difficulties, there is also a growing knowledge, a constant progress. So from that standpoint, I CANNOT be mistaken; it is impossible. This Presence is becoming so concrete and so (what shall I say?) so helpful, so concrete in its help. But it obviously takes a long time.
This is exactly one month before the first radical turning point in Mother's yoga.
0 1962-02-17, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
That went deep into me, and it returns each time difficulties arise, as if to say, Dont complain.
And there are plenty!
0 1962-02-24, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There was also that attack (it was rather serious and threw the doctor into a fit of anxiety) which took place, I think, the day before sari distribution.6 The next morning, throughout the distribution, someone else seemed to have taken possession of my body and to be doing what had to be done, taking care of all the difficulties; I was comfortable, serene, simply like a carefree spectator. I had nothing to worry about, someone was. (What someone? Someone, something, I dont know, theres no more difference, its not delineated like that any more; but anyway, it was a being, a force, a consciousness perhaps a part of myself, I dont know; none of this is clear-cut; its quite precise, but not divided, very smoothMo ther makes a rounded gestureno breaks.) Something, then, a will or a force or a consciousness plainly a powerhad taken possession of the body and was doing all the work, looking after everything. I was witnessing everything, smiling. But its gone now. It came specifically for that work (I was in pretty bad shape); when the work was over, it dissolvedit didnt leave abruptly but it became inactive. Afterwards, I felt rather confident. Well in any case, I thought, something similar could happen on the 21st, since it just happened now.
The 19th was so-so, and on the 20th I was concentrated all day long: no contacts with anyone, nothing external, only an intense invocation as intense and concentrated as when youre trying to melt into the Lord at death. It was like that. The same movement of identification, but at its core a will for everything to work out in a good way here [on the material plane]. In a good way I mean I said to the Lord, YOUR Good, the true Good, not. The true Good, a victorious Good, a real progress over the way life is usually lived. And I stayed in this unwavering concentration the whole day, all the time, all the time: even when I spoke, it was something very external speaking. And then at night when I went to bed I felt something had changed the body felt completely different. When I got up in the morning, all the pains and disorders and dangers had vanished. Lord, I said, You have given me a gift of health.
0 1962-03-11, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
No, I really dont agree! Objectively speaking, its extremely instructive to see the difficulties you have passed through.
It may be instructive, but it cant be published; its much too personal.
--
No, I prefer not to put these things in the Bulletin; I would rather not speak of occult matters. I understand more and more, now that I am grappling with material difficulties that used to be nonexistent (in the material world, I mean), they didnt exist for me before. The material domain was something happening far below and I didnt bother with it at all. Even when I was practicing occultism in the most material world, I looked on it from above; there was this sort of inner light, this Presence I was born with it, so naturally I had no problems. But now that I am in the thick of this work, I dont want to speak of that, its too dangerous.
That teaching should really be given under the seal of secrecy, and given along with the necessary power and discrimination for going through the experiences without danger. And that means the gurus constant personal care and attention.
0 1962-05-29, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I know what its like in the mountains the body feels fine for a while, but. Z, you know, had the same feeling (she comes from the mountains); she felt that without mountain air she would always be sick. I knew, that wasnt it, that it was certain inner difficulties, but I let her go to the mountains. Her body was exuberant! But she came back sicker than when she left. And yet her body was exuberant. Its very superficial.
No, I dont really feel any need for the mountains. The idea came to me because of this book.
0 1962-06-02, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Last night I spent almost all my time in such a building. And all the people who help the work were symbolized there but its always a material help, either work or money or. I remember being particularly struck by one character last night. (Again, there were a lot of aggravations, but someone or something was always on the scene when I arrived and it all sorted itself outit was the exact opposite of the dreams I was talking about the other day: all the difficulties sorted themselves out when I arrived.) Then I came to a rather difficult place to cross (you had to flounder about on slippery scaffoldings) and suddenly, facing me, there was a man (of course, it was probably a symbol rather than a man, but it might really be someone physical). He was one of the workers, a master mason (when I woke up this morning, I thought of the symbolism of Freemasonry and wondered if it might give a clue to the experience). Nearby, people were coming to supervise, observe, direct, people who thought themselves highly superior but they were never any help in solving practical problems! They were creating more problems than they were helping to solve. Anyway, this master mason appeared to be around fifty, with a beautiful facea workers face, beautiful and concentrated. There was a difficult place to cross, and he had worked the thing out very efficiently, with a lot of care. Then, when it was all done and I was able to go on my way, I felt a great surge of love go out to him, with neither gesture nor word and he received it, he felt and received it. His face lit up and he implored me, with wonderful humility, Never let me forget this moment, the most beautiful moment of my life. (I dont know what language he used because it didnt come to me in words.) It was such an intense experience. His humility, his receptivity, his response were all so beautiful and pure that when I woke upwhen I came out of the experience, at any rate I was left with a most delightful impression.
What he represents might be partly manifested by somebody here. A beautiful face a man around fifty. Or it may be symbolic: such characters are sometimes put together with features from several people, to make it very clear that they represent a state of consciousness and not an individual. Its far more often a state of consciousness than an individual.
--
You remember all the difficulties I encountered in those other visions at night. Well, this was very interesting because it was just the opposite: I was in a very complicated place full of obstacles and difficulties, but someone or something was always there when I arrivedeverything would get sorted out and I would go on my way. It all sorted itself out automatically the feeling of a power putting everything in order. And I remember when the mason arrived, just as I was facing that rather big obstacle, there was someone on my right (someone very official, wearing a dark coat) who thought (the contact was through thought rather than words), Oh! Shes always calling on the workers for help instead of. And I answered, The workers are more efficient and their goodwill (all that business of caste, you know, or of society or social position). The workers have simple hearts, I said, they are efficient in their work and have more goodwill than the people who think theyre so smart! It was funny. So this made two interesting experiences yesterday, one after the other.
The afternoon experience was very intriguing; I was busy working (organizing things for one of the departments, I no longer remember which) and then I said to the person I was with, Now I am going to my cousins place! When I was very young I had a cousin, the eldest son of one of my fathers brothers (he had a large family, such as you seldom see in France). This cousin became some kind of engineera civil engineer, maybe, or a mechanical engineer (he was an outstanding chemist). Anyway, this boy was very attracted to me. He went off to the war as an officer and caught some disease (I forget what) and died around 1915, at the time I returned to France. Well, in my experience yesterday afternoon, a certain family living HERE gave me exactly the same sensation I had had towards those people when I was young. And especially for this cousin (for the rest of the family it was more vague, like a background to the experience). I am going to their place, I said. They have a lovely estate here, just as they had a lovely estate in France before (they had Madame de Sevignes chateau at Sucy, near Parisa beautiful property). And it was all so concrete! It wasnt coming through the head; it wasnt a thought but a sensation. I have to go see him now, I said. And even as I was having my vision I was telling myself, You must be going crazy! Can they really be here in Pondicherry? This uncle with whom I had only rather distant relations and this cousin I never saw much of, but whom I knew to be very nice and very loyalAre they really here?! The sensation was most strange (the head wasnt functioning at all; it was a SENSATION). So off I went to see this cousin, and it was on the way to see him that I had the experience of crossing the river. And on the way back, after the discussion with the spiritual brother (whom I really told off: Get out of here! I dont need you!), after that, when I found myself back on the bank, I started collecting my consciousness again, telling myself, Look here now! Lets try to see clearly. And then I realized that the cousin who died prematurely during the war had reincarnated in someone here. How strange, I thought. And the dates coincided.
0 1962-06-12, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You see, the trouble is hes a man whose principles and education prevent him from believing in progress and transformation. He believes that if you fulfill the conditions you get the siddhi,3 and thats the end of it the goal is reached. He had already attained his goal before meeting us, and then he could have kept his distance, but he became intimately connected with something full of all kinds of difficulties (which we neither ignore nor call for), but its essentially a Power for progressan awesome force for progress. Well, when I saw that, I wondered, How can he possibly bear it? I thought he would keep his distance and not enter the atmosphere, but he did try to enterhe linked up with certain people, and particularly when he started meditating with me (he asked for it, not me), suddenly something responded. And that triggered the conflict in him. One part of his being has gone along with the Movement, while the other is left strandeddoesnt budge. That created a gap.
Of course, one has to be in a terribly superficial consciousness to react the way he did. He had a rather deep contact with you, and there were moments when he understood very well who you arehe knows, he told me so. Consequently, had he truly been in a yogic state, then even if you had done something tactless or wrong, he would have just smiled! He would have said, Oh, hes just impetuous, but I dont mind.
0 1962-07-21, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You write about the Deva Samgha and say, I am not a god, I am only a piece of much hammered and tempered iron. No one is a God but in each man there is a God and to make Him manifest is the aim of divine life. That we can all do. I recognize that there are great and small adharas [vessels]. I do not accept, however, your description of yourself as accurate. Still whatever the nature of the vessel, once the touch of God is upon it, once the spirit is awake, great and small and all that does not make much difference. There may be more difficulties, more time may be taken, there may be a difference in the manifestation, but even about that there is no certainty. The God within takes no account of these hindrances and deficiencies. He breaks his way out. Was the amount of my failings a small one? Were there less obstacles in my mind and heart and vital being and body? Did it not take time? Has God hammered me less? Day after day, minute after minute, I have been fashioned into I know not whether a god or what. But I have become or am becoming something. That is sufficient, since God wanted to build it. It is the same as regards everyone. Not our strength but the Shakti of God is the sadhaka [worker] of this yoga.
Let me tell you in brief one or two things about what I have long seen. My idea is that the chief cause of the weakness of India is not subjection nor poverty, nor the lack of spirituality or dharma [ethics] but the decline of thought-power, the growth of ignorance in the motherl and of Knowledge. Everywhere I see inability or unwillingness to thinkthought-incapacity or thought-phobia. Whatever may have been in the middle ages, this state of things is now the sign of a terrible degeneration. The middle age was the night, the time of the victory of ignorance. The modern world is the age of the victory of Knowledge. Whoever thinks most, seeks most, labors most, can fathom and learn the truth of the world, and gets so much more Shakti. If you look at Europe, you will see two things: a vast sea of thought and the play of a huge and fast-moving and yet disciplined force. The whole Shakti of Europe is in that. And in the strength of that Shakti it has been swallowing up the world, like the tapaswins [ascetics] of our ancient times, by whose power even the gods of the world were terrified, held in suspense and subjection. People say Europe is running into the jaws of destruction. I do not think so. All these revolutions and upsettings are the preconditions of a new creation.
0 1962-07-25, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Then at a very young age (about eight or ten), along with my studies I began to paint. At twelve I was already doing portraits. All aspects of art and beauty, but particularly music and painting, fascinated me. I went through a very intense vital development during that period, with, just like in my early years, the presence of a kind of inner Guide; and all centered on studies: the study of sensations, observations, the study of technique, comparative studies, even a whole spectrum of observations dealing with taste, smell and hearinga kind of classification of experiences. And this extended to all facets of life, all the experiences life can bring, all of themmiseries, joys, difficulties, sufferings, everythingoh, a whole field of studies! And always this presence within, judging, deciding, classifying, organizing and systematizing everything.
Then conscious yoga made a sudden entry into the picture when I met Thon; I must have been about twenty-one. Lifes orientation changed, a whole series of experiences took place, with the development of the vital giving interesting occult results.
0 1962-08-14, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It seems he said that if we could make it to 1964, afterwards the difficulties would disappear. (But this is a very strong formationwhat did he pick up? Is it Sri Aurobindos formation? Is it the boys thought, or what?) But hes a wonderful mind-reader; he must have a marvelous power of vision in the mental world.
It really amused me. If you asked if you asked people here, not too many would have such a clear idea: They have come to do something entirely new and very difficult.
0 1962-09-08, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The body obviously doesnt need any more difficulties than it already has.
(long silence)
0 1962-11-17, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Mother is probably alluding to difficulties in obtaining the dismissal of the Defense Minister, Krishna Menon. It might be recalled that, under Nehru, India's foreign policy was quite pro-Chinese (the slogan of the day was Hindi-Chini-bha-bha: Indians and Chinese are brothers), and when China began to sweep down into India, the Defense Minister calmly left for London on some mission or other, declaring: oh, it's nothing!
See Addendum
This may refer to the death of Liaquat Ali, and the grave economic and political difficulties resulting in the dissolution of the Pakistani Parliament in October 1958, and General Ayub Khan's seizure of power.
In April 1942, when England was struggling against the Nazis and Japan, which was threatening to invade Burma and India, Churchill sent an emissary, Sir Stafford Cripps, to New Delhi with a very generous proposal which he hoped would rally India's goodwill and cooperation in the fight against the worldwide threat. In this proposal, Great Britain offered India Dominion status, as a first step towards an independent government. Sri Aurobindo at once came out of retirement to wire his adhesion to Cripps; he wired all of India's leaders, and even sent a personal messenger to Gandhi and the Indian Congress to convince them to accept this unhoped for proposal without delay. One of Sri Aurobindo's telegrams to Rajagopalachari (the future President of India) spoke of the grave danger, which no one seemed to see, of rejecting Cripps' proposal: "... Some immediate solution urgent face grave peril. Appeal to you to save India formidable danger new foreign domination when old on way to self-elimination." No one understood: "Why is he meddling?" Had it accepted Dominion status, India would have avoided the partition of the country in two, the artificial creation of Pakistan, as well as the three wars that were to follow (and which we haven't heard the last of), and the blood bath that ravaged Bengal and the Punjab in 1947 at the time of the partition. (See in Addendum an extract from Sri Aurobindo's message on the occasion of India's Independence.)
0 1962-11-20, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
All I know is that it was a very bad night, and I woke up this morning completely drained and with plenty of difficultiesand its not over yet.2
***
0 1962-11-23, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its very, very true [one step up, one step down], very true, because its true even for the most material body-consciousness. And you realize the difficulties that represents. As soon as the body becomes more conscious of the divine Presence and Light, its immediately as though you touched the dregs of unconsciousness and yes, of unconsciousness and material inertia. And that makes the work very hard, very hard.
And just last time, when I told you I wasnt very well, it happened during the night, and it was the equivalent of what you write here, but purely material, in the body. In your book you describe it rather psychologically, like a phenomenon of consciousness, that is; but here its a phenomenon of the cells. So hurry to bring me the triumph! (Mother laughs) I was telling myself just this morning how exhausting it was, this perpetual battleoh, what a battle.
0 1962-12-04, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This body is very conscious, it was BORN conscious, and throughout those years its consciousness went on growing, perfecting itself, proliferating, as it were; this was its concern, its joy. And with Sri Aurobindo, there was such peaceful certitude, there were no more problems, no more difficulties: the future was opening up, luminous and peaceful and certain. Nothing, nothing, no words can describe what a collapse it was for the body when Sri Aurobindo left.
Its only because Sri Aurobindos conscious will entered into itleft one body and entered the other. I was standing facing his body, you know, and I materially felt the friction as his will entered into me (his knowledge and his will): You will accomplish my Work. He said to this body: You will accomplish my Work. Its the one thing that kept me alive.
0 1962-12-25, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The seeker of transformation must thus face all the difficulties, even death, not to vanquish but to change themone cannot change things without taking them upon oneself. Thou shalt bear all things, says Savitri, that all things may change. Sri Aurobindo succumbed to this work
Cant you just put thats why, without giving any explanation? Thats why Sri Aurobindo left his body. Thats much more powerful. You said even death, so just put: Thats why Sri Aurobindo left his body.
0 1962-12-28, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This cleansing of the middle ground is the whole story of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother I had been dredging, dredging, dredging the mire of the subconscious. The supramental light was coming down before November,2 but afterwards all the mud arose and it stopped.3 Once again Sri Aurobindo verified, not individually this time but collectively, that if one pulls down too strong a light, the violated darkness below is made to moan. It is noteworthy that each time Sri Aurobindo and the Mother had some new experience marking a progress in the transformation, this progress automatically materialized in the consciousness of the disciples, without their even knowing anything about it, as a period of increased difficulties, sometimes even revolts or illnesses, as though everything were grating and grinding. But then, one begins to understand the mechanism. If a pygmy were abruptly subjected to the simple mental light of a cultivated man, we would probably see the poor fellow traumatized and driven mad by the subterranean revolutions within him. There is still too much jungle beneath the surface. The world is still full of jungle, thats the crux of the matter in a word; our mental colonization is a minuscule crust plastered over a barely dry quaternary. And the battle seems endless; one digs and digs, said the Rishis, and the deeper one digs, the more the bottom seems to recede: I have been digging, digging. Many autumns have I been toiling night and day, the dawns aging me. Age is diminishing the glory of our bodies. Thus, thousands of years ago, lamented Lopamudra, wife of Rishi Agastya, who was also seeking transformation. But Agastya doesnt lose heart, and his reply is magnificently characteristic of the conquerors the Rishis were: Not in vain is the labor which the gods protect. Let us relish all the contesting forces, let us conquer indeed even here, let us run this battle race of a hundred leadings.
(Rig-Veda I.179)
0 1963-01-02, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Some new difficulties?
No, its just that everybody wants to see me!
0 1963-01-09, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The yoga's collective difficulties.
During the last conversation, Mother had broken off abruptly as if about to faint.
0 1963-01-14, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It is ultimately the most powerful means of dissolving difficulties, overcoming grief and getting rid of pain. The first two [ difficulties and grief] are relatively easy (relatively), the last [pain] is more difficult because of our habit of regarding the body and its sensations as extremely concrete and positive but actually it is the same thing, its just that we havent been taught and accustomed to seeing our body as something fluid, plastic, uncertain, malleable. We havent learned to permeate it with this luminous Laughter which dissolves all shadows and difficulties, all discords, all disharmony, all that grates, cries and weeps.
(silence)
--
But its true. The other day I was telling you about some cellular difficulties. I noticed that as soon as they start, I start laughing! But if someone is here and I tell him the difficulty solemnly, it goes from bad to worse; if I start laughing and talk about it laughingly, it vanishes. Really, its dreadful to take life seriously! Dreadful. Those who have given me the most difficulties have always been the people who take life seriously.
Ive had this experience even just recently. All that comes to me from people who have dedicated their lives to spiritual life, people who do a yoga in the traditional way, who are very solemn, who see adversaries everywhere, obstacles everywhere, taboos everywhere, prohibitions everywhere, oh, how they complicate life and how far they are from the Divine! I saw this the other day with someone you know. With that kind of people, you should not do this, should not do that, should not At such and such time you must not do this, on such and such day you must not do that; you should not eat this, you should not And then, for heavens sake, dont you go mixing your daily life with your sacred life!thats how you dig an abyss.
0 1963-01-18, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Satprem suggests to Mother to publish in the next "Bulletin," of February, her entire talk on "God's laughter," and in particular the whole passage in which she said: "It's dreadful to take life seriously! Those who have given me the most difficulties have always been the people who take life seriously.")
Oh, no!
0 1963-03-23, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its the same with people who get cured. That I know, to some extent: the Power acts so forcefully that it is almost miraculousat a distance. The Power I am very conscious of the Power. But, I must say, I find it doesnt act here so well as it does far away. On government or national matters, on the terrestrial atmosphere, on great movements, also as inspirations on the level of thought (in certain people, to realize certain things), the Power is very clear. Also to save people or cure themit acts very strongly. But much more at a distance than here! (Although the receptivity has increased since I withdrew because, necessarily, it gave people the urge to find inside something they no longer had outside.) But here, the response is very erratic. And to distinguish between the proportion that comes from faith, sincerity, simplicity, and what comes from the Power Some people I am able to save (naturally, in my view, its because they COULD be saved), this is something that for a very long time I have been able to foresee. But now I dont try to know: it comes like this (gesture like a flash). If, for instance, I am told, So and so has fallen ill, well, immediately I know if he will recover (first if its nothing, some passing trouble), if he will recover, if it will take some time and struggle and difficulties, or if its fatalautomatically. And without trying to know, without even trying: the two things come together.2 This capacity has developed, first because I have more peace, and because, having more peace, things follow a more normal course. But there were two or three little instances where I said to the Lord (gesture of presenting something, palms open upward), I asked Him to do a certain thing, and then (not very often, it doesnt happen to me often; at times it comes as a necessity, a necessity to present the thing with a commentfrom morning to evening and evening to morning I present everything constantly, thats my movement [same gesture of presenting something] but here, there is a comment, as if I were asking, Couldnt this be done?), and then the result: yes, immediately. But I am not the one who presents the thing, you see: its just the way it is, it just happens that way, like everything else.3 So my conclusion is that its part of the Plan, I mean, a certain vibration is necessary, enters [into Mother], intervenes, and No stories to tell, mon petit! Nothing to fill people with enthusiasm or give them trust, nothing.
Three or four days ago, a very nice man, whom I like a lot, who has been very useful, fell ill. (He has in fact been ill for a long time, and he is struggling; for all sorts of reasons of family, milieu, activities and so on, he isnt taken care of the way he should be, he doesnt take care of his body the way he should.) He had a first attack and I saw him afterwards. But I saw him full of life: his body was full of life and of will to live. So I said, No need to worry. Then after some time, maybe not even a month, another attack, caused not by the same thing but by its consequences. I receive a letter in which I am informed that he has been taken to the hospital. I was surprised, I said, But no! He has in himself the will to live, so why? Why has this happened? The moment I was informed and made the contact, he recovered with fantastic speed! Almost in a few hours. He had been rushed to the hospital, they thought it was most serious, and two days later he was back home. The hospital doctor said, Why, he has received a new life! But thats not correct: I had put him back in contact with his bodys will, which, for some reason or other, he had forgotten. Things like that, yes, theyre very clear, they take place very consciously but anyway, nothing worth talking about!
0 1963-04-06, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Which means the body has got its own difficulties (no aggregate of cells is free from difficulties in the present conditions of life), and I think that its capacity to keep still (to an extent) is its only safeguard but that doesnt reduce the difficulties at all, since the contact doesnt even depend on the physical presence!1 But then what tremendous, prodigious power has to be EMBODIED in the physical cells to withstand all that!
But there too, a shift is taking place (what I told you once: those abrupt experiences that do not settle in but are first contacts2). After the lesson was drawn from this story, suddenly something arose in the body consciousness which isnt ONE bodys consciousness but a general body consciousnessan aspiration, something so pure, so sweet so sweet something like an entreaty that Truth and Light may at last be manifested here, in this. Not here in this (Mother touches her own body): it was everywhere.
0 1963-05-03, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its the perception of a terrestrial movement more than anything else. So the details are unimportant in themselves, but they are symptomatic of the whole. I mean that difficulties, obstacles, battles, victories, advances are in themselves nothing but indications of a general movement: at times, the resistance and opposition are formidable; at other times there are fantastic advances or progress, seemingly miraculous. If you see everything together, you feel, you feel a sort of thrustan overall thrustin which a small cellular concentration seems really unimportant in itself; its importance diminishes with its lack of resistance, in the sense that the more it allows the Work to be done without hindering or distorting the movementwithout hindering it or making it more complicated the more the sense of its importance diminishes. In other words, it appears important only insofar as it hinders.
There is evidently a twofold movement: on one hand, something that tries to draw less and less the attention and concentration of others, that is, to lessen the sense of intermediary necessary for forces and thoughts to spread (more and more there is an attempt to undo that1), and on the other hand, an increaseat times prodigious, staggeringof power. Now and then (seldom, and I must say I dont at all try to make it happen more often), now and then, for a minutenot even a minute: a few secondscomes a sense of absolute Power; but immediately it is covered over, veiled. The effect at a distance is becoming greater and greater, but that is not the result of a conscious will I mean there is no attempt to have more power, none at all. Now and then, theres the observation (a very amusing observation, sometimes) that for a moment (but its a matter of seconds), the Power is absolute, and then the usual hodgepodge takes over again.
0 1963-05-18, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Maybe someone much more intelligent, much smarter than me would find the work easier; but he would probably have more difficulties insideno such difficulties here! But outside For example, the chemical discovery of the structure of Matter would seem to be sufficient to serve as a base for true knowledge to act on Matter.3 And maybe those scientists, those who have discovered and experimented with the structure of Matter, would have no difficulty. But the field of the greatest difficulty is the medical field, the therapeutic field: their science is still ABSOLUTELY contrary to the true knowledge. And when it comes to the bodys equilibrium They know anatomy, they even know a little (not very, very much) a little about the bodys chemistry, they know all kinds of things that the common man doesnt, on the strength of which they make dogmatic assertions and send you packing like an ignorant fool. All this business about the bodys workingshow much do they know? Naturally, when you ask them, But why is it like that? they reply, Oh, why? I have no idea.
And their way of telling you, Thats how things are and they cannot be otherwise! But if you tell them, Your experience is ultimately based on statistics, but your statistics are useless, they cover such a limited field of experience that they are worthless there is also all that you dont know, then they feel sorry for you.
--
Probably its necessary because at times, when everything is in utter confusion, at times I ask for an Assurance and I see very well, very well that if my bodys cells, the body consciousness were told, You are immortal; all those difficulties are experiences; the pain you feel has no importance; this apparent decomposition has no importance; all those things are necessary experiences, and you will go on to the end of the experience, that is, to transformation, if it were told that, obviously it would be mere childs play, just enduring the difficulties thats nothing. So I wonder. But never have I been told that, never, never have I been given the Assurancenow and then the body is in a sort of STATE, a state of immortality, but it isnt constant, its dependent on other things; so the minute its dependent, it is no longer a supreme Assurance. There is at the same time a sort of discernment: very likely there would be a general slackening of the cells effort if they were told, Never mind, none of this is important, because you will last till the work is done. Maybe they would flag. The concentration of will in the battle would disappear. Which means one of the necessary conditions would be missing.
Then again something else comes and says, Oh, you always have very favorable explanations to comfort yourself! You see, I am like a spectator (Mother does the same gesture of great cosmic waves assailing her) at a sort of contest of all the different reactions. (I put it into words to make myself understood, but there are no wordsonly SENSATIONS; the verbal translation is just for explaining, but they are like sensations, or rather states of consciousness. They are all states of consciousness.) And they all run into each other (gesture of waves).
0 1963-06-19, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It must be to reach subconscient and inconscient depths. Thats always what gives difficultiesan abyss.
I havent yet tried to take the plunge. So far, nothing ever pushed me to plunge downseveral times I did find an unexpected way, but there was never the impulsion: Too bad, Ill throw myself off.
--
Its perfectly obvious that people can live, that men can exist and live BECAUSE they are unconscious. If they were conscious, really conscious of the state they live in, it would be intolerable. And I can see that there is a very difficult period when you go from that unconsciousness (unconsciousness of the habit of living in that state) to a conscious vision of the state you live in. When you become totally conscious of things as they areof what you are, of your condition and when you do not yet have the power to get out, like last night, its almost intolerable. And there was a very clear awareness, very precise, that it isnt a question of life or death: it doesnt depend on that sort of thing, which ultimately changes nothing but a wholly superficial appearance thats not it! You know, people who are unhappy think, Ah, a day will come when Ill die, and all my difficulties will be overtheyre simpletons! It wont be over at all, it will go on. It will go on until the time when they get out for good, that is, when they emerge from Ignorance into Knowledge. Its the only way out: to emerge from Ignorance into Knowledge. And you can die a thousand times, it wont get you out, its perfectly uselessit just goes on. Sometimes, on the contrary, it drags you even further down.
Thats the thing.
0 1963-07-20, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Anyway, this time Ive observed, carefully observed Xs arrival, stay and departure. Because there were different opinions: some very unfavorable, that he always brought difficulties; others, that he always brought something positive. Well, to tell you the truth, there is nothing to it, ONLY what people think.
Yes.
Simply what they think. Otherwise, his arrival, his stay, his meditations, his departure: absolutely neutral. In other words, I noticed neither increased difficulties nor improved conditions. Things carry on in their own sweet way without any difference. The two atmospheres mingle without anything changing.
I had decided I would study the thing very carefully, absolutely objectively, in order to be surebecause I had around me all the waves of all the impressions, well-disposed as well as ill-disposed, and I found all that whirl ridiculous. I conducted my observation in a most scientific and objective way: the whole, entire effect is purely mental. The whole whirlmental.
0 1963-08-03, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And it seems to be reflected in circumstances: everyone seems to be, if not at the peak of his difficulties, at least a good way up (!) Disharmony, conflict, chaos appear to have reached their highest (I hope they wont rise any higher, because as it is its hardly bearable). From morning till night, without letup, quarrels, discontent, demands oh, dissatisfaction, grumblings, all the time, all the time, with a sort of simmeringa simmering of disorder and dissatisfaction. (Mother points to a stack of letters): see all thatwhich I am supposed to answer, naturally.
***
0 1963-08-07, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The difficulties are continuing.
Theres a keen struggle against the constant Negation of all inner lifehigher life, rather. That is to say, the general Disbelief [in the body].
--
But outwardly, difficulties are coming back, in the sense that the Chinese seem to be seized again with a zeal to conquer they are massing troops at the border.
Yet it seems quite unlikely they will attack.
--
Ive noticed that phenomenon: always, when great difficulties crop upa violent attack, a disorganization the change isnt progressive: its abrupt, like a reversal.
Just this morning, it was the same thing for me. You see, when the difficulty comes, there is a kind of general disorganization in the body, with intense pains, and (I observe, I want to follow the thing) its not at all a progressive abatement followed by recovery, thats not how it works: its absolutely like the reversal of a prismeverything vanishes at one stroke. There remains only that stupid habit the body has of remembering. And in remembering the remembrance makes you feel tired and out of sorts but the thing is over.
0 1963-09-25, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Last night was less pleasant. There were again those things collapsing. I was below, you see, trying to go back up to my room, and every time I tried to go back up, all the means to do so disappeared or were done away with. Now Ive chased it all away because it was tiring. But one thing I do remember: I was climbing up a sort of not stairs or a ladder, it was a very queer thing, like blocks of dark red stone, and they were all crumbling and coming apart. It ended up annoying me, and I had a movement not of anger, but of self-assertive will and everything vanished. You feel its adverse formations trying to harass you, until I cant say I lose patience, but something gets angry (is it angry? Asserts itself, rather: Ah, no! Enough!) and instantly, pfft! it all goes away. But then I found myself on a road I knew very well, but there was such a crowd! A crowd, a crowd: all the schools of the world were coming there for their holidays. There were troops of kids led by matrons and teachers, myriads and myriads of them! And also children who stopped and played on the ground; but all those children knew me very well, and when I arrived, they would take their things out of the way to let me throughweeny little kids this high. Then I met a symbolic person (not a human person) whom I know very well, she was pale blue (that is to say, a being of the higher mind, a force of Nature in the higher mind), I know her very well, she is very often with me. She explained to me her difficulties and I explained to her what she should do; I told her, Ive already told you several times, its like this and like that. She stayed beside me a very long time, and she asked me, Why do I always have to leave you? I answered her, Dont worry; everything is fine now. It went on for a long time. But it was interesting, a very pleasant, very refined contact: a beautiful girl that is, a beautiful thought or a beautiful idea. A beautiful girl. And she had in her charge an innumerable amount of kids (Mother laughs), so she was somewhat worried at times, and I explained to her what she should do.
I feel a sort of tenderness towards that person.
--
But that experience [of the crumbling stairs], I know what it corresponds to, because I know the experience I had when I went to sleep: its always when I am confronted with the Problem. I could put it this way (but that diminishes it a lot), Why is the world the way it is? Then there comes to me that sort of its an INTENSE state of compassionintense, almost painful for the condition of the world and humanity. When that comes, I have those difficulties at night. And then I ask, I want to know the REAL secretnot all the things people have told (which all seem to me just like a story to to comfort children), but the REAL thing. When I go into deep rest with that tension, its always translated by those things collapsing: I try to climb and crunch! crunch! crunch! all the time, all the time everything crumbles under the weight of my ascent. Until I see that ill will trying to stop me from finding what I want to find, so I get angry and it stops instantlyis angry the word? I dont know: I refuse, I refuse the situation. Then it stops short.
And I awake saying to myself, You see, its all your fault: as long as you accept, you cannot know, you are in the dark; when you really refuse, you will know.
0 1963-10-16, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You understand, I know those things, I have seen thousands of them! Only, as it happens, for more than half a century I have sensed the difference in a most sharp way. I think I told you already that when I returned here from Japan, there were difficulties: once, I was in danger and I called Sri Aurobindo; he appeared, and the danger went away2he appeared, meaning, he came, something from him came, an EMANATION of him came, living, absolutely concrete. The next day (or rather later the same day), I told him my experience and how I saw him; that worried him (it was an unceasing danger, you see), and he very strongly thought that he should concentrate on me to protect me. And the next day, I saw him but it was an image, a mental formation! I told him, Yes, you came in a mental formation, it wasnt the same thing. Then he told me that this capacity of discernment is an extremely rare thing. But I always had it, even when I was small. Its a sensitiveness in the perception. And indeed I believe that very few people can sense the difference. So with X, my first impression was, My goodness, to do this to me! Well, really, I have some experience of the world, I cant be so easily made to believe that the moon is made of green cheese!
And yesterday, it was all very peaceful: X was there all the time with nobody in front of him, not pretending anything. But the first time, as he expected some result, he stayed on for ten minutesprobably he was expecting some reaction (I never told him that Sri Aurobindo is with me all the time, that we talk to each other every night). Anyhow, he was probably expecting some enthusiasm on my part (!) There you are.
0 1963-10-19, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Sri Aurobindo told me that there are three difficulties, and they are the three things that have to be conquered for the earth to be ready (this is from the purely outward point of view, I am not speaking of psychological factors): government, money, health.
Of the three, health is the most directly connected to the inner transformation, but not completely so because it constantly depends on what comes in from outside: influences, vibrations the contagion from the outside. You have to eat: everything you receive along with foodits fantastic! Theres so much that eating represents a considerable work the physical digestion is nothing, but the work of assimilation and adaptation of all the rest is considerable. Consequently, of the three, health is the most directly under the influence of the inner progress, but, as I said, not completely so. Therefore, that too has to be conquered.
--
From the point of view of government, it also seems to be the same thing, as if all the difficulties little by little BROUGHT to power people who are under my influence.2 But its still sporadic I think it is the thing that will give way last. Sri Aurobindo said it would happen in 67 we still have some time, its only 63, four years to go. Its not that well govern ourselves (God knows we dont have the time!), but to be the government means that in the government, there will be people directly under the Influence. And its not enough if its local (God knows! [laughing] I have never seen anything more rotten!), its not enough if its local, its not enough if its Indian, not at all: it has to be global for And clearly, for the moment, we are still very far from iteven in the invisible, even in the Inconscient.
There are some signs. Some signs before which ordinary people would marvel and rejoice but which to me are far from sufficient.
--
The big difficulty is that tamasic stupidity. Yesterday, in this connection, I had the experience of a young couple who came to see me. (It has become a custom nowadays that young people who are going to marry and whose families I know, or who live here, come to receive my blessings before marrying! Thats the new fashion.) So they came. The girl was educated here and the boy stayed here for quite a long time, working here; anyway, they want to marry. The boy went searching for a job; he had trust [in Mother] and found one. He is I cant say conscious because it isnt like consciousness, I would call it rather superstition (!) but its a superstition on the right target! The movement is ignorant, but well directed, so it works; not that he has an enlightened faith, but he has faith. All right. Things are fine and he does very well. So they came yesterday to receive my blessings. Then they went. And they left behind in the room a vital formation, very bubbly, absolutely ignorant, very bubbly with a joie de vivre, a joie de vivre so blissfully ignorant of all possible difficulties, all possible miseries, and not only for oneself but for everyone! You know, that joie de vivre that says, Oh, it doesnt matter to me if we are born and dielife is short, well, let it be good, thats enough. No mental curiosity, no urge to know the why of the worldall that is nonsense, we neednt bother about it! Lets be happy, have some fun, and do as well as we can. Thats all. That formation was so strong, you know, in the room that I saw it and had to find a place for it. It put me in contact with a whole domain of the earth, of mankind, and I had to put it in its proper place, put it in order and organize it. It took me a little time (long enough, maybe three quarters of an hour or an hour), I had to order and organize everything. Then I saw how widespread it is on earth. (Note that these young people belong to the top of society, they are regarded as very intelligent, they are very well educated, in a word, its about the best you can find in mankind! Not the dregs, far from it.) And I wondered if it isnt even more widespread in Western countries than here I think it is. At that moment I came into contact with everywhere, and, well, the everywhere was really quite extensive.
Afterwards, I asked myself, But what the devil can be done with all this? Disturb these people? They are quite incapable of getting out of their condition in this life and will probably need many, many, many lives to awaken to the NEED TO KNOWas long as they can move about, you know (laughing), as long as they can move about and things arent too painful, theyre quite contented! And then, in addition, there is, all the way down, that whole inert mass, you know, of men who are very close to the animalwhat can be done with that? If that too has to be ready, it seems to me impossible. Because that young couple, according to human opinion, are very fine people!
0 1963-11-04, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It is always said that it is desire that creates difficulties (and indeed it is so). Desire may be simply something added on to a vibration of will. It is also said that nothing happens except by the supreme Will, so how can the two things be true at the same time and be combined? And its because this problem was being posed that I found The will (when it is the one Will, the supreme Will expressing itself) is direct, immediate, there cannot be any obstacles; so all that delays, blocks, complicates, or even brings about failure, is NECESSARILY the mixture of desire.
This can be seen for everything. Take, for example, an external field of action, in the outer world and with outer things (naturally, to say it is outer is simply to put yourself in a false position), but, for example, if in the highest consciousness, the Truth-Consciousness, you tell someone, Go (I am giving one example among millions), Go and see so-and-so, tell him this to obtain that. If the person is receptive, inwardly immobile and surrendered, he goes, sees the other person, tells him, and the thing happenswithout the SLIGHTEST complication, just like that. If the person has an active mental consciousness, doesnt have total faith and has all the mixture of ego and ignorance, he sees the difficulties, sees the problems to be resolved, sees all the complicationsnaturally, they all occur! So according to the proportion (everything is a question of proportion, always), according to the proportion, it creates complications, it takes time, the thing is delayed, or, a little worse, it is distorted, it doesnt occur exactly as it should, it is changed, diminished, distorted, or, finally, it doesnt occur at allthere are many, many degrees, but it all belongs to the domain of complications (mental complications) and desire. Whereas the other way is immediate. Examples of those cases (of all cases) are innumerable, so also are the examples of the immediate case. Then people tell you, Oh, youve worked a miracle! No miracle was worked: it should always be that way. Its because the intermediary did not add himself to the action.
I dont know if thats clear, but anyway
0 1963-11-20, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
We are given everythingEVERYTHING. All the difficulties that have to be overcome, all of them (and the more capable we are, that is, the more complex the instrument is, the more numerous the difficulties are), all the difficulties, all the opportunities to overcome them, all the possible experiences, and limited in time and space so they can be innumerable. And it has repercussions and consequences all over the earth (I am not concerned with what goes on in the universe because, for the time being, that isnt my work). But it is certain (because it has been said so and I know it) that what goes on on the earth has repercussions throughout the universe. Sitting there, you live the everyday life with its usual insignificance, its unimportance, its lack of interest and its a WONDERFUL field of experiences, of innumerable experiences, not only innumerable but as varied as can be, from the most subtle to the most material, without leaving your body. Only, you should have RETURNED to it. You cannot have authority over your body without having left it.
Once the body is no longer you at all, once it is something that has been added and TACKED onto you, once it is that way and you look at it from above (a psychological above), then you can come down into it again as its all-powerful master.
--
And one should also look at all those difficulties, all those bad habits (like, for you, that habit of revolt: its something that seems to have been kneaded into the cells of your body), one should look at all that with the smile of someone who says, I am not that. Oh, this was put on me! Oh, that was added. And you know, it was added because its one of the victories you must win.
Ive witnessed the most complete panorama of all the idiotic things in this life,1 they were shown to me as in a complete panorama: passing from one to another, seeing each of them separately and how they combined with each other. And then: Why? Why should one choose this? (A childs question, which one asks immediately.) And immediately, the answer: But the more (lets say central to be clearer) the more central the origin and the more pure in its essence, the greater the ignoble complexity below, as we could call it. Because the lower down you go, the more it takes an essential light to change things.
0 1963-12-03, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Regarding the difficulties of certain disciples)
But anyway, its settling downwe are in the years of settling down. Everyone is caught by his own illusionits always the mirage of an illusion. She [Y.] is convinced, it is her very deep belief, that she is causing the Supermind to descend upon earth. And many, many people among those I know are caught by that illusion; so they go off at a tangent far away from the Truth, towards a fabulous realization.
0 1963-12-07 - supramental ship, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The way to get faith and all things else is to insist on having them and refuse to flag or despair or give up until one has themit is the way by which everything has been got since this difficult earth began to have thinking and aspiring creatures upon it. It is to open always, always to the Light and turn ones back on the Darkness. It is to refuse the voices that say persistently, You cannot, you shall not, you are incapable, you are the puppet of a dream,for these are the enemy voices, they cut one off from the result that was coming, by their strident clamour and then triumphantly point to the barrenness of the result as a proof of their thesis. The difficulty of the endeavour is a known thing, but the difficult is not the impossibleit is the difficult that has always been accomplished and the conquest of difficulties makes up all that is valuable in the earths history. In the spiritual endeavour also it shall be so.
Sri Aurobindo
0 1963-12-14, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
When I noticed Ws difficulties, I put a lot of force on him, a lot, a great concentration to get him out of that tight corner, because I felt a kind of wavering in him, I felt he wasnt so steady on the path any more. Thats what worried me. So I put a very great concentration of force on him to set him on the right road again. And, as I said, the Force circulates; it circulates: it isnt something which goes out like that, like a little beam which you send out, which reaches its goal and stays there thats not it. Its a thing (round gesture) that spreads out with waves of concentration. And Ive noticed this for everybody (I did my first study on myself), but the ego must be completely (gesture of palms upward, immobile) must become nonexistent, must stop interfering, at any rate, in order to feel that great, universal Pulsation.
It is simply the art of putting yourself in the right place in order to be in the path of the Force.
--
But the difficulties are still there, and theyre very subconscious.
Its very interesting.
0 1964-01-29, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have here three quotations on difficulties. They apply so marvelously now! Sri Aurobindo wrote them in 1946, 47, 48the dark hours. And things are repeating themselves now:
The Mothers victory is essentially a victory of each sadhak over himself. It can only be then that any external form of work can come to a harmonious perfection.
--
The extreme acuteness of your difficulties is due to the yoga having come down against the bed-rock of Inconscience which is the fundamental basis of all resistance in the individual and in the world to the victory of the Spirit and the Divine Work that is leading toward that victory. The difficulties themselves are general in the Ashram as well as in the outside world.
The description follows. You would think it was happening now:
--
And yet, difficulties pour in from everywhere, not only with regard to health (which is still linked to moral things: the mood, the state of consciousness, the thoughts and mental formations, etc.), but to money, the paper money which refuses to come! And in this connection, lately I have seen in a fairly interesting way the difference in the material mental atmosphere: there was a sort of certainty that all that was necessary would come somehowit was impossible for it not to come (I am referring to the general atmosphere); then it was replaced by you know, like when you bang your nose against a wall! That sort of very childlike, carefree trustvanished! It just vanished So I had to look deeply at it, at what was behind, and thats how I saw this change in the Inertia (how is it going to express itself? I dont know; in what way?), which I had never seen before.
It is something there, down below. Before, it was here (gesture to the level of the forehead), like this, in the atmosphere; now, its there (gesture at ground level), that is to say, very low.
0 1964-03-11, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
All our endeavour is to make this consciousness and this will govern our lives and action and organise all our activities. It is the way in which the Ashram has been created. Since 1926 when Sri Aurobindo retired and gave me full charge of it (at that time there were only two rented houses and a handful of disciples) all has grown up and developed like the growth of a forest, and each service was created not by any artificial planning but by a living and dynamic need. This is the secret of constant growth and endless progress. The present difficulties come chiefly from psychological resistances in the disciples who have not been able to follow the rather rapid pace of the sadhana and the yielding to the intrusion of mental methods which have corrupted the initial working.
A growth and purification of the consciousness is the only remedy.
0 1964-08-11, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But outwardly, that sort of film its like a thin film of difficulties, of complications, added on by the human consciousness (its much stronger with man than with the animal; the animal doesnt have that, very littleit has it more and more because of man, but very little; its something specific to man and the mental function), its something very thinas thin as an onion skin, as dry as an onion skinyet it spoils everything. It spoils everything ONLY FOR THE HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS. At the time [of the experience], it was unimportant. Unimportant, in the sense that it takes away all the Beauty, all the Power, all the Magnificence of the thing for the human consciousness. For man, it is of paramount importance. But for the Action, its almost negligible. Basically, its rather that it makes it difficult for man to become conscious and PARTICIPATE; otherwise, my feeling is that truly the time has come for things to get done: that experience was a NEW descent, that is, something new entering the terrestrial manifestation; it wasnt that I became conscious of how the world is: I WAS the Lords Will coming into the world to change it. Thats what it was. And that action was only very slightly affected (assuming it was affected at all) by that stupid onion skin of human mentality.
In fact, that was the interesting point: when you come back to the other side (its not even coming back to the other side, its a curious thing that happens..), I remember, when I became conscious again of this body, its gestures had become dry, sterile, thinstupid. And yet it was still in an intense Bliss and a total self-giving: it was at the height of its joy; and yet what it was doing, its appearance, oh, it all seemed so silly!
--
There is a part of your being (not far: it isnt something very far away, its very close), a part of your being which is on the contrary extremely conscious and LUMINOUSLY conscious, and not only conscious but responsive: it receives and respondsit vibrates. I can see very clearly that you arent conscious of itoh, in the first place, you wouldnt be pulling that sour face, youd be laughing all the time if you were conscious of it! Because its very luminous and golden, very joyful. Its just about the opposite of the grumbler! But it isnt far away! It isnt miles away: its there. But there is a sort of thin film. Its an onion skin: all our difficulties are onion skins. An onion skin, you know: its terribly thin, but nothing can get through.
We have to be patient.
0 1964-08-14, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Silence, silence. This is a time for gathering energies and not for wasting them away in useless and meaningless words. Anyone who proclaims loudly his opinions on the present situation of the country, must understand that opinions are of no value and cannot in the least help Mother India to come out of her difficulties. If you want to be useful, first control yourself and keep silentsilence, silence, silence. It is only in silence that anything great can be done.
That was just when the war began; people were criticizing the government as if To one of them I wrote personally: If you were up there, would you know what has to be done? No. So if you dont know, you have no right to say anythingkeep silent.
--
So there are two possibilities: violence, or Transformation. Violence means invasion or revolutionits hanging in the air, it could break out any moment. The government Nehru wasnt worth much, but still for the masses he represented a certain ideal (which he was quite incapable of living up to, but anyway). After him, its finished; the present Prime Minister is a man with great goodwill, who has no character, to such a point that in the presence of difficulties he falls illhes ill! Ill, he cant work! Thats where we are.2
Here, in Pondicherry, its the same muddle.
0 1964-08-22, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Thats how it wasvery strong. The second day, it was a little less strong; the third day But there is something that has changed and isnt coming back. And that something gives the sense of a distance (its the word aloofness) from the natural body consciousness that makes the body automatically do all it has to do. It is as if that consciousness were now at a distance, had almost lost interest in whats happeningnot lost interest, because its laughing! I dont know why, I feel its laughing, as if it were making fun of me, of this body the poor old thing! (laughing) It has a lot of difficulties, it is made to do some strange things.
And that center hasnt returned to its normal place?
--
So the first day, I was almost dazed; I was constantly groping for the way to do things. Yesterday, it was still strong. And this morning, suddenly I began to understand (what I call to understand is to have control), I understood: Ah, thats it! Because I was wondering, But what on earth does all this mean? How can I do my work? I remember, yesterday I had to see a host of people, people who arent close and whose atmosphere isnt good: it was very difficult, I had to keep a hold on myself, and I must have looked strange, very absent I was very far away, in a very deep consciousness, so that my body wouldnt be you know, that gave it discomfort of sortsdiscomfort, yesit was hard to bear. Yesterday the body was still that way the whole morning; towards evening it got better. But the night wasnt good, oh! In the night, I am always given a state of human consciousness to put right, one after another there are millions of them. And there are always all the images and events that illustrate that particular state of consciousness. At times, its very hard going: I wake up tired, as after a long period of work. And last night, thats how it was; its always the various, multiple ways which men have of complicating the original Simplicity: of turning a simple vibration into extremely complicated eventswhere the thing should be simple and flow naturally, there are endless complications, and such difficulties! Unbearable and insuperable difficulties. I dont know if you have experienced that: you want to go somewhere, but there are hindrances everywhere; you want to go out of a room, but there is no way out, or there is one, but you have to crawl on the ground under kinds of rocks and then something in the being refuses, No, I wont do it. And with a sense of insecurity, as if at any moment the thing could topple over and crush you. There are people who want to help you, but they cant do anything at all, they only make the complication still more complicated; you start on a road with the certainty of reaching a particular place, then all of a sudden, in the middle of it the road changes, everything changes, and you have your back to the place you wanted to go. All kinds of things like that. The symbolism of it is extremely clear. But then, it makes for a lot of work.
Anyway, I got up in that state and began to wonder, Wont there be an end to it? Its always, always, always like that. And more and more I have an inner conviction that it isnt a thing you can obtain through effort and progressive transformationit would take millions of years! Its only the Grace. When the Lord decides, Its finished, now its going to be like that, it will be like that. Then you find rest and tranquillity.
I offered Him my whole night and all the difficulties and all the complications, as I always do. Then a sort of Peace came into me, and in that Peace, I saw what it was and said, Thats odd! The center of the body consciousness isnt there anymore.
From that moment on, it got much better. The sort of vague uncertainty this poor body was in went away. Because, naturally, that center was immediately replaced by the clear Consciousness from above, and I hope that little by little it will have complete control over the body.
0 1964-09-16, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It is probably why there are so many difficulties ( difficulties are piling up here: difficulties of character, difficulties of health and difficulties of circumstances), its because the consciousness awakens under the impulse of difficulties.
If everything is easy and peaceful, you fall asleep.
0 1964-09-23, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Nights, for instance, are a long awareness, a great action, a discovery of all kinds of things, a taking stock of the situation as it is but there arent any problems! But the minute the body (I cant say wakes up because it isnt asleep: its only in a state of rest sufficiently complete for its personal difficulties not to interfere), but from time to time, what well call waking up takes place, that is to say, the purely physical consciousness comes back and the whole problem comes back instantly. Instantly the problem is there. And without your remembering it: the problem doesnt come back because you remember it, its that the problem is there, in the very cells.
And in the morning, oh! All mornings are difficult. Its odd: life as a whole goes by with almost dizzying speedweeks and months go by like thatand mornings, about three hours every morning, last like a century! Each minute is won at the cost of an effort. It is the time of the work in the body, for the body, and not just one body: for instance, all the vibrations from sick people, all those problems of life come from everywhere. And for those three hours, there is tension, struggle, acute seeking for what should be done or for the attitude to be taken. Its at that time that I have tested the power of the mantra. For those three hours, I repeat my mantra automatically, without stopping; and every time the difficulty increases, a kind of Power comes into those words and acts on Matter. And thats how I know: without the mantra, that work couldnt be done. But thats why I say it has to be YOUR mantra, not something you received from whomever the mantra that arose spontaneously from your deeper being (gesture to the heart), from your inner guide. Thats what holds out. When you dont know, when you dont understand, when you dont want to let the mind intervene and you are THAT is there; the mantra is there; and it helps you to get through. It helps to get through. It saves the situation at critical moments, its a considerable support, considerable.
0 1964-09-30, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It had rather seemed to me that they should be kept at a distance. With Thon, the adverse forces and hostile beings were often mentioned, they occupied a big place in self-development and in action. As for Sri Aurobindo, he used to say that that notion was useful mostly from the psychological and personal standpoint, because struggling with difficulties is easier when you see them as coming from outside, as an attack from outside, than if you think they are part of your own nature. Not that he denied their existence, far from it, but the path depends a lot on the attitude you take and on the mental construction you have, naturally.
Sri Aurobindo insisted rather on Oneness: he used to say that even what we consider to be the worst adversaries are still a form of the Supreme, which, deliberately or not, consciously or not, helps in the general transformation. This seems to me vaster, deeper, more comprehensive.
--
But if we look at it from another point of view, I had noticedor rather WE [Mother and Satprem] had noticed that Xs presence or contact always brought conflicts, difficulties, a sort of struggle with Nature (personal or surrounding Nature). But judging by the effect of his mantras, that would correspond to his line of action; and because of what he is himself, his line of action is located in a relatively very material domain: the physical, the immediate vital and the physical mindnot the higher, speculative or intellectual mind, no: the physical mind, the one that has an action on Matter, then the vital with all the vitals entities (he always mentions them, and he also gives the ways of mastering them, of overcoming them), and then the physical. And when people around him complained about headaches or difficulties, as he once said to me (he himself said it to me, it was downstairs, I remember), I put them in contact with the nonhabitual Nature. Therefore, its part of his mode of action. And it struck me, I remember, it struck me, because several times when I felt a pressure, a discomfort, something unpleasant, I asked myself, Is it because the bodys cells arent accustomed to the force thats acting? So I would do a work of opening, of broadening, and indeed it always succeeded: the discomfort always stopped.
Sri Aurobindo said that all the Tantrics start from below; they start right down below, and so right down below, thats how things must be, obviously. While with him, you went from above downward, so that you dominated the situation. But if you start right down below, its obvious that, right down below, thats how things are: anything thats a little stronger or a little vaster or a little truer or a little purer than ordinary Nature brings about a reaction, a revolt, a contradiction and a struggle.
--
Previously, the whole action always used to come from here (radiating gesture above the head), in the highest, vastest and purest Light; but for a few days now, whenever something or other goes wrong, when, for instance, people dont do what they should or their reactions are wrong, or when there are difficulties in circumstances, anyway when things grate and Disorder gets worse, now there comes into me a sort of Power, a VERY MATERIAL Power, which goes like this (gesture of pummeling), which goes at things and pushes terribly hardoh, what a pressure it makes! And it comes without my willing it, it goes without my knowing it.
Naturally, the inner Power is put into action (that Power which obviously is always increasing), but it never used to be exerted in that way, in detail, on tiny things of that sort, like someones wrong attitude or an action that doesnt conform to the Truth, anyway lots of things pitiable things, which I used to watch: I would smile, put the Truth-Light on them (gesture from above), and would leave them. But now, its not that way: that comes, and its like something that comes and says to people, things, circumstances and individuals (in an imperative tone): You shall do what the Lord willsyou shall do what He wills. And beware! you shall do what He wills. (Mother laughs)
0 1964-10-07, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Things (not from the ordinary point of view, but from the higher point of view) have clearly taken a turn for the better. But the material consequences are still there: all the difficulties seem to have worsened. Only, the power of the consciousness is greaterclearer, more precise. Also the action on those who have good-will: they are making rather considerable progress. But the material difficulties seem to have worsened, which means its to see whether we bear up!
From the standpoint of money, its serious, the situation is serious. From the standpoint of health, everybody is sick. And from the standpoint of quarrels (!), the quarrels are more bitter, but they are indicative, in the sense that those who quarrel realize that they have made a blunder, that its something serious.
--
The big difficulty, in Matter, is that the material consciousness, that is to say, the mind in Matter, was formed under the pressure of difficulties difficulties, obstacles, suffering, struggle. It was, so to speak, worked out by those things, and that gave it an imprint almost of pessimism and defeatism, which is certainly the greatest obstacle.
This is the thing I am conscious of in my own work.
The most material consciousness, the most material mind, is in the habit of having to be whipped into acting, into making effort and moving forward, otherwise its tames. So then, if it imagines, it always imagines the difficultyalways the obstacle, always the opposition, always the difficulty and that slows down the movement terribly. So it needs very concrete, very tangible and VERY REPEATED experiences to be convinced that behind all its difficulties, there is a Grace; behind all its failures, there is the Victory; behind all its pain and suffering and contradictions, there is Ananda. Of all the efforts, this is the one that has to be repeated most often: you are constantly forced to stop, put an end to, drive away, convert a pessimism, a doubt or a totally defeatist imagination.
I am speaking exclusively of the material consciousness.
--
And then (Mother points to her own body), this seems to be the lesson for these aggregates (bodies, you know, seem to me to be simply aggregates). And as long as there is, behind, a will to keep this together for some reason or other, it stays together, but These last few days (yesterday or the day before), there was this: a sort of completely decentralized consciousness (I am always referring to the physical consciousness, of course, not at all to the higher consciousness), a decentralized consciousness that happened to be here, there, there, in this body, that body (in what people call this person and that person, but that notion doesnt quite exist anymore), and then there was a kind of intervention of a universal consciousness in the cells, as though it were asking these cells what their reason was for wanting to retain this combination (if we may say so) or this aggregate while in fact making them understand or feel the difficulties that come, for example, from the number of years, wear and tear, external difficultiesfrom all the deterioration caused by friction, wear and tear. But they seemed to be perfectly indifferent to that! The response of the cells was interesting enough, in the sense that they seemed to attach importance ONLY TO THE CAPACITY TO REMAIN IN CONSCIOUS CONTACT WITH THE HIGHER FORCE. It was like an aspiration (not formulated in words, naturally), and like a what in English they call yearning, a longing for that Contact with the divine Force, the Force of Harmony, the Force of Truth and the Force of Love, and [the cells response was] that because of that, they valued the present combination.
It was an altogether different point of view.
0 1964-10-10, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I told you last time what had happened: that sense of liberation; yes, a liberation from suffocation, and a kind of opening and well-being that has become established. And the understanding (like the understanding of a detached witness) that everything, all those difficulties that come and pile up are absolutely indispensable so that nothing is forgotten in the march forwardso that EVERYTHING goes together; and that its only the vision of the details that blots out the vision of the whole.
Voil.
0 1964-10-14, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Oh, they are learning their lesson all the time, all the time. Everything, all that happens is ALWAYS a lessonalways. Always, always: all the quarrels, all the difficulties, all the troubles, all the so-called illnesses, everything, all the disorders are to make you learn a lessonas soon as youve learned the lesson, its over! But then, you are so slow and heavy, you take so much time to realize that its a lesson that it drags on and on and on.
And for everything, like that question of money this morning, it was a lesson to be learned. But it isnt an individual lesson, you understand; the trouble is that it doesnt depend on one individual: it depends on groups, or on a certain type of individual, or on a way of being of human life, or Its the WHOLE that has to learn the lesson.
0 1964-10-30, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its very narrow. Do you know mountain roads? All of a sudden, you come to a corner, a sharp turn, and you cant see the other sidebelow is a precipice, behind is the rock and the path it would seem to have grown narrower in order to turn the corner, its become quite narrow. Ive encountered that in the mountainsoften. And now, I feel we are turning the corner; but we are beginning to turn it, in the sense that we are beginning to see the other side, and the consciousness (always the body consciousness) is on the verge of a bedazzlement, like the first glimpses of something marvelousnot positively unexpected because that is what we wanted, but truly marvelous. And at the same time, there is that old habit of meeting difficulties at every step, of receiving blows at every step, the habit of a painful labor, which takes away the spontaneousness of an unalloyed joy; it gives a sort of not a doubt that things will be that way, but you wonder, Has it already come? Have we reached the end? and you dont dare think you have reached the end. That attitude, naturally, isnt favorable, it still belongs to the domain of the old reason; but it receives support from the usual recommendations: You shouldnt give free rein to wild imaginings and hopes, you should be very level-headed, very patient, very slow to get carried away. So there is an alternation of a sort of crouching, timorously moving forward step by step in order not to slide down into the hole, and a glorious sense of wonder: Oh, are things really that way?!
This has been the bodys feeling for three or four days.
But it keeps increasing, and that sort of crouching is greatly lessened by the knowledge and experience that if you are per-fect-ly calm, all goes wellalways, even in the worst difficulties. Very recently, the day before yesterday, there was (always on the physical level; it cant be called health, but its the bodys functioning) a rather serious attack, which found expression in a rather unpleasant pain; it came with unusual brutality. Then, immediately, the body remembered and said, Peace, peace Lord, Your Peace, Lord, Your Peace and it relaxed in Peace. And in an objectively perceptible way, the pain went away.
It tried to come back and then went away, tried to come back and went away. The process lasted the whole night.
--
If the work were limited to a single body, a single mass or quantity, a single aggregate of cells, it would be very easy by comparison, but the interchange, the union, the reciprocity is automatic and spontaneous, and constant. You feel that the effect going on here [in Mothers body] naturally, necessarily and spontaneously has its consequences very far and wide; only, it makes difficulties worse, and thats why it takes a lot of time. There is a correspondence, you see: something new occurs in the body, a new pain, a new disorganization, something unexpected, and after some time, I learn that this person or that person has the very same thing!
That, too, the body knows, and it doesnt protest that goes without saying, its the way things are. But it prolongs the work considerably. Probably there will be a corresponding endurance. Because there is neither regret nor revolt nor fatigue; really, the body is ready to be very happy, all it wants is to be very happyit dare not be yet, thats the only point. Its something it dare not be: Are things are they really as good as that! It dare not. But its very happy: I have no cause for complaint, everything is fine; there are difficulties, but without difficulties there is no progress.
Yes, what it still has is the fear of joynot positively fear, but a timidity in the face of joy. Sometimes waves of an intense Bliss come to it, waves of Ananda, in which all the cells begin to swell with a joyous golden light, and then its as if one dared notone dare not. Thats the difficulty.
--
So that doesnt help, because the mental atmosphere isnt favorable. Mentally, you look at it and smile; but the body feels it a little bit, it feels a little the pressure of defeatist formations around. But it knows why those around are like thatfrom the material point of view, those around are just what is needed, just what is needed; the body needs such an atmosphere so that material difficulties arent made worse. So its perfectly happy, only it dare not be joyous; it immediately says, Oh, its still too beautiful a thing for life as it is!
I dont know how long it will last.
0 1964-11-04, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But one cant say anything, its good. Its good in the sense that there is a great change in people, they are all much more interested in Yoga, much more, and in an unexpected way. But then difficulties are increasing in proportion, and expenses also are increasing in proportion that too snowballs!
I have noticed it since I was quite small, thats how it works. For instance, if I eat something (people are really very nice, they make me taste things, they send me all kinds of preparations they think it interests me very much!but theyre very nice), and if by mischance I happen to say, Oh, its good, instead of one, I get fifty!
0 1964-11-28, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And I saw very clearly: some time ago (a year, or maybe more), I believed that the thought and attitude and convictions of certain people [around Mother] were partially the cause of certain difficulties (with regard to age, especially), but thats not true! What people think and what they feel is exactly whats needed to act on this! All that is USED to teach the body what it must know: where its lack of receptivity is, where its inertia is, where Oh, the slavery to the habit of vibration is a terrible thing, terrible!
From the standpoint of health, its terrible. And health doesnt exist, it means nothing; it no longer means anything. Disease no longer means anything, it really doesnt: its distortions of vibrations and shiftings of vibrations, and (what can I call it?) encrustationsfrom the point of view of movement, its like bottlenecks, and from the point of view of the cell, its like encrustations: its what remains of the old Inertia out of which we came.
--
So you understand how long the way is. All that goes on in the mind is childs play in comparison; all their mental difficulties are to me its theatera drama, you know, a drama to interest the public.
Well, I dont know, but there is a long, long way to goa long wayto change this into a substance plastic enough, receptive enough, strong enough to express the supreme Power. There is a lot to be done, a whole lot.
--
If the action were individual, it would necessarily be extremely poor and limited; even if the individual is very vast and his consciousness is as vast as the earth, the experience is limited. Its still one aggregate of cells, which can only have a limited sum of experiences (maybe not in the course of time, but undeniably in space). But the minute the identification with the rest takes place, the consequences take place, too: the difficulties of the rest come and have to be absorbed, they have to be transformed. So it amounts to the same thing. Its exactly whats going on now: I dont go out, I have limited my activities as much as possible (I see plenty of people, but still infinitely less than beforebefore, I used to see them by the thousand), but this reduction is largely made up for by the widening of the physical, material consciousness, to such a point that I constantly, constantly have sensations that seem like individual sensations, but immediately I can see that they are other individuals sensations, which come because the consciousness is spread out and receives all that in its movement: a movement as if one gathered everything together, then gave it to the Lord.
(silence)
0 1965-03-20, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I dont know, maybe for others it [the ecstasy] is allowed to last, but for this body After a while, all the problems from outside come back, that is to say, all the vibratory difficulties of the world are allowed to reach it again in order to be taken up and transformed in the Light of the Lord. And the whole problem crops up again.
You know, problems of illness, problems of possession (vital and mental possession), problems of egos that refuse to yield (and this results in circumstances which, humanly, are described in the ordinary way: such and such a thing has happened to so-and-so but thats not how it comes into the consciousness), well, if you look at things in a sufficiently general way, those problems REMAIN problems. There is indeed something, but a something that is still elusive (elusive in its essence): it has to do with feeling, with sensation, with perception, also with aspirationit has to do with all that, and it is what we habitually call divine Love (that is, essential Love, that which is expressed by Love and seems to be beyond the Manifestation and Nonmanifestation, which, naturally, becomes Love in the Manifestation). And That would be the ALL-POWERFUL expression. In other words, That is what would have the power to transform into divine consciousness and substance all the chaos we now call world.
0 1965-03-27, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
In reality, I deserve some credit for asking people to eat well. You know that I had difficulties: for two days, it was nearly impossible for me to eatand I am so glad! But I always scold myself: its a weaknessa moral weakness. I am in a very good position to say so, because I have the same difficulty as you with those questions of food, and thats very bad. Its not out of personal taste for food that I am preaching (!), but in order to react against the other tendency. Every time something comes and prevents me from eating, immediately, spontaneously, the body says, Oh, thank you, Lord, I dont have to eat! I catch myself and give myself a slap.
***
0 1965-05-05, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There is a growing sense of a Power thats beginning to be limitless. But that state is in fact linked with those difficulties [heart or circulatory troubles]. And, you know, I dont make any decisions, I dont do anything [to attain that state]: I am like this (immobile gesture, palms open to the Heights), in something that feels as if it could be eternally like that. But within it, I perceive waves, movements (and sometimes concentrations, when it has to do with world events) that have a stupendous power.
We just have to keep still and, well, well see what will happen anyway.
0 1965-05-29, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
"On the other hand however your statement is correct. It is 'natural considering the times' and the occidental mentality prevalent everywhere. It is also probably necessary that this should be faced and overcome before any supramental realisation is possible in the earth-consciousness for it is the attitude of the physical mind to spiritual things and as it is in the physical that the resistance has to be overcome before the mind can be overpassed in the way required for this yoga, the strongest possible representation of its difficulties was indispensable."
Bulletin, August 1965
0 1965-06-23, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Not if there are seaplanes. Its not quite large enough for sailing. But it would be very nice for a seaplane station. But it will depend: if we have an airfield, it wont be necessary; if we dont have an airfield But in the Lake estate project, there was already an airfield. S., who has become a Squadron Leader, also sent me a plan for an airfield, but for small planes, while we want an airfield that can provide a Madras service regularly: an airfield for passengers. There has already been a lot of talk about this, there have been talks between Air India and another company, but then they didnt agreeall sorts of silly little difficulties. But all that will fall off naturally with Aurovilles growthpeople will be only too glad to have an airfield.
No, there are two difficulties. The small sums of money, we have them (as I said, what the government can lend, what people give to have a plotall that is coming), but the problem is the massive sums: because it takes billions to build a city!
The Americans are ruining themselves. There is a queer phenomenon: money seems to have been swallowed up somewhere, to have vanished from circulationin America the dollars value is dropping, they are moaning. Here, people are ruined. Theres an industrialist who had a magnificent industry (it seems it was marvelous), and with that income tax the government has succeeded in ruining himhe closed down. Then he partially reopened and filled in new papers for his new company and new industries; now, he had a dog, he had given a name to his dog, and he signed the papers with the dogs name! And he put the dogs photograph. (Laughing) So, naturally, he got letters asking him if he thought people were idiots. He answered, No, only a dog would accept your conditions. Not bad, eh?
--
There was only one place where things were still easy: it was Africanow its finished; now the Africans (laughing) are worse than anyone! You know how many friends we had there, how many things we used to receive from there its completely finished. And they are ruined. So they come here and meet with all these difficulties.
Human beings really make everything complicated!
0 1965-07-10, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Well, I am convinced thats how it is, thats all. But the physical mind doesnt believe in that. It believes that thats all very well in the higher realms, but when we are in Matter things follow a law of Matter and are material and mechanical, and there is a mechanism, and when the mechanism and so on and so forth (not with these words, but with this thought). And one has to keep forever working on that, forever saying, Oh, put a stop to all your difficulties, keep quiet!
Only, the Flame must be there the Flame within, the flame of aspiration and the flame of faith; and then the something that truly wants it to stop. You understand, whether things are this way or that, there is no need for me to present them to my thought and for my thought to accept them; because thats a very dangerous game: when you seek equanimity, you say to yourself, Well, if this and that happens, what will my reaction be? And you go on with the little game, till you say, Its all the same to me. It is a very dangerous game. Its still a way of circling around the goal instead of heading straight for it.
0 1965-09-25, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And I cant say I am asking the question because thats not true, I am not asking it, but the two possibilities are there (gesture in suspense). Well, there is no answer either to one or to the other. At times I have the vision that its going to be the end (a very practical vision of what I want to do), that comes, but against a backdrop of complete uncertainty; and the next minute, there is the possibility of going right to the end of the transformation, with the clear vision of what must be done, but a backdrop there isnt a backdrop of the Assurance that it will BE that waynei ther in one case nor in the other. And I know this is deliberate, because its necessary for the work of the cells. If, for instance, I received from the Supreme the Order (sometimes I receive it clearly, as clearly as), if I received from Him the certitude that whatever the difficulties, whatever the appearances of the path, this body will go right to the end of the transformation, well, there would be a slackening somewhere, which would be very bad. I know that myself, I know it perfectly well. So, thats how it is: I walk on, without knowing what will happen tomorrow. Yesterday, I could have said, Yes, maybe this is the end (as it seems X3 kindly said to people who had gone to see him: he said I had six months to live, that in six months I would go[laughing] thats typical of his usual predictions), well, with yesterdays experience, I said, Its quite possible. And with that same total indifference, you know: Its quite possible. With a quotation from Sri Aurobindo saying, Nothing can alter the splendor of the Consciousness of Eternity. Thats it. And then when this state has gone and the other one comes, you say, Whatever does dying mean! What does it mean? How can you say that? And its not that the two states alternate with (how can I explain?) oppositionsits not that at all, its almost simultaneous (Mother intertwines the fingers of her two hands), but now you see this, now you see that. And its one and the same totality of something which is the Truth, but which is still a bit cloudyit isnt fully grasped like this (gesture).
This is the normal state, but its obviously being worked out, being built, taking shape.
0 1965-09-29, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
For instance, India is free and her freedom was necessary if the divine work was to be done. The difficulties that surround her now and may increase for a time, especially with regard to the Pakistan imbroglio, were also things that had to come and to be cleared out. Here too there is sure to be a full clearance, though unfortunately, a considerable amount of human suffering in the process is inevitable. Afterwards the work for the Divine will become more possible and it may well be that the dream, if it is a dream, of leading the world towards the spiritual light, may even become a reality. So I am not disposed even now, in these dark conditions to consider my will to help the world as condemned to failure.
Sri Aurobindo
0 1965-12-22, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have a lot of difficulties inwardly. I dont know, I feel I am very inhuman, as if I were far, far, far away. And all human relationships tire me. I am far away.
That doesnt matter.
0 1965-12-25, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But she is sweet, your mother. She is going to have the joy of her soul. You know, there is a joy in being more conscious of ones soul than of the material worldyou may keep yourself busy, you may see clearly, you may understand, you may do what you have to do, all that remains, its very fine, but, behind, there is a Light. A light, something warm, warm with a luminous, golden warmth. Its really the sense of immortality, of something that doesnt depend on a form or on circumstances. Its a consciousness in which one instantly has the feeling that there was no beginning, there is no end. And a sort of very strong sweetness, very strong, behind everything. It takes you through life; even all the difficulties dont matter when you have caught hold of that. Its something very intimate, which expresses itself with difficulty, but which is like a support, something that holds you up always, in any circumstances.
Thats what your mother will have.
0 1965-12-31, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I told you, and I told you neither to make you happy nor to comfort you, I told you because its a fact I have myself observed with curiosity and interest: we are extremely close up above in the profound intellectual understanding and in the Great Light. And this is expressed by an identity of experience in the intellectual consciousness. I am aware of your difficulties, I know them, Ive known them since the first day I saw you (and even before you came here); from that point of view there has been great progress, but it has shaken your physical health, because of that struggle. I know that you can be completely cured, but in order for you to be completely cured, your vital must be converted, and what I call to be converted isnt to surrenderto be converted is to understand. To be converted is to adhere.
(Satprem lays his head on Mothers knees)
0 1966-01-22, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I very well imagine that its not something absolute; it was only ONE way of being, but a charming way of being! Usually, when those who dont have a sufficient intellectual preparation have an experience like this one, they think they have caught the only truth. And then, from it, they dogmatize. But I clearly saw it wasnt that: its ONE way of being, but a wonderful way of being, of course! Infinitely superior to the one we have here. And we CAN have it here: I had it. I had it quite concretely. And there is always something going wrong (a pain here or a pain there, or this or that, and then circumstances going wrong too, always difficulties) the color of it all changes. And it becomes buoyant, you know, lightlight, supple. All the hardness and rigiditygone.
And the feeling that if you choose to be that way, you can go on being that way. And its true. Its all the bad habitshabits that have been on earth for thousands of years, obviouslyits all the bad habits that stop you; but there is no reason why it couldnt be a permanent state. Because it changes everything! Everything changes! You know, I was brushing my teeth, washing my eyes, doing the most material things: their nature changed! And there was a vibration, a conscious vibration in the eye that was being washed, in the toothbrush, in All that, all of it was different. And it is clear that if you become the master of that state, you can change all circumstances around you.
0 1966-01-31, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
At any rate, whats quite certain is that this book can serve you as a rung to rise above the past and overcome certain difficulties in your nature. And then of course, from that point of view I immediately approve.
So theres no problem left at all, it only has to get done.
0 1966-02-16, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its not a miracle that you are your mothers son: its natural (!) It means many things. It means a good atavism. It means that the journey here did not multiply difficulties, on the contrary.
As for me, I chose my parents ([laughing] dont go about repeating what I am saying!), I chose my parents in order to have a solid physical base, because I knew that the work I had to do was very very difficult and a solid base was needed. From that point of view I succeeded. But then, there were difficulties It doesnt matter, because from the physical point of view, it was good. But with you, its not just that: its psychically, you understandshe is your mother psychically, too. So its very good.
***
0 1966-04-16, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But the vibratory quality of that is truly something beyond all imagination. Diseases, difficulties none of it has any reality.
The body constantly used to ask (not a sign or an assurance or a proof: its all of that together), it used to ask for a sort of sensation (sensation, if it can be called that) that it is the Lord that rules (I am putting it in childlike words because they are the truest), that it is the Lord that rules. It asked for that all the time, the way a child could ask: that in all the innumerable nothings one does all the time, which are the very fabric of the bodys existence. It became so intense. Anything perceived as separate from that becomes inert: ashes. Inert without even the power of inertia: the inertia of dust. I mean that a rock has a power in its existence, a power of cohesion, of durationits not even that: its dust. So then, there was constantly, constantly that prayer in the body. And thats what led me to the experience.
0 1966-08-06, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Which means they are still too tamasic not to need the pressure of life and of lifes difficulties. We want to give them a possibility I know, that was the idea I had: to give those who have an aspiration the possibility to be concerned only with thatand they fall asleep.
But you noted the same fact for the body, too! You said that if there werent illnesses, difficulties
(Mother laughs) Yes, probably its the same thing!
0 1966-09-17, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And its not me! Me, where is the me? Its not this, in any case (Mother pinches the skin of her hand), poor thispoor this! It keeps on with its aspiration, and it has the sense all at once of its incapacity, its misery, its powerlessness to express what it should express, and its unworthiness to be an instrument of the Divine. At the same time, it has, first, a sort of increasing certitude of (how can I put it?) the magnanimity of the divine Presence, which is so marvelous in its effects in spite of the almost total imbecility of all this (Mother points to her own body); all this is really cast in, outwardly cast in stupidity, but with the ardor of such an intense and constant aspiration, with something touching in its humility and trust, and with the sense of its powerlessness and at the same time of this marvelous Presence there, ready and willing to actif It is allowed to. All that is translated as a sort of film review of all of the bodys difficulties, all its powerlessness, all its incapacities, all its darknesses, its all shown as if on a screen, in order to be dissolved. And then one is a spectator of the dissolution by the Light. Its fantastic.
And the feeling of hanging from such a slender thread, the thread not of faith, its not faith: its a certitude, but at the same time an aspiration, and it feelsit feels there is something so new, so young, in an absolutely rotten atmosphere of disbelief, stupidity, bad will. So thats how it is, a slender thread, and its a miracle if
0 1966-10-26, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There is a big work of transformation of the material states of consciousness going on: the states of consciousness nearest to the Inconscient, the most material states of consciousness. They come like that [to present themselves to Mother], with one or two examples of their previous manifestation (perhaps even their first emergence from the Inconscient), and then I see the transition (along with what has transformed them, changed them or even simply altered them through successive manifestations), the transition up to the point when they are now presented before the supreme Consciousness for the final transformation. This is a perpetual work, so to speak, because, interestingly, its a work I can go on doing while seeing people. Generally my work was interrupted when I saw people, because I was busy with them and that diminished and limited the work: they represented a small aggregate of difficulties that enormously shrank the Action [of Mother]. But now its no longer like that. And the interesting point is that it places people in this or that curve of transformation of the consciousness. For some time I have been seeing a considerable number of people I had never seen before (with all the old or familiar people there was no difficulty, but with the new ones it generally caused a shrinking of the work), and now with this study of states of consciousness, people are placed: here, there, here (Mother draws different levels in space). And if they are receptive, they must go away [after seeing Mother] with a new impulse to transform themselves. Those who arent receptive just miss it; but they are no longer a disturbance: they come in and go out. And from that I know what state they are in I can even do it with photos, but when I see people its much more complete. Photos are no more than one moment of their being, while here, even what isnt being manifested is there, hidden behind, and can be seen, so I see the person more completely. Its very interesting. It transforms this whole burden of visitors into something interesting.
On October 21.
0 1966-11-19, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its true tenderness: that of the Divine. People dont know, they always think of something very human. But its not human (Mother closes her eyes and remains standing in concentration) Its extremely luminous, rose-colored, slightly golden always smiling. Its a very particular sensation. (After a long silence) Everything is like a beautiful pink rosea beautiful rose. Its better than that, much better (how can I put it?). No difficulties can existthey dont exist [when one is in that Tenderness]. Its the side of life (of life, I mean of the manifestation) which is all beauty, smile, peace and lightspontaneously, effortlessly, with an impossibility for anything else to exist. Its very particular. And its very high up, very high up. Yet, now and then I see a drop of it here. The first time I saw it (Mother wobbles on her feet). I must sit down because Im going away!
(Mother sits down and resumes) It can only be realized in a world devoid of egoism. Which means that when the whole action of individualization is over and there is no more need for the element of egoism, then it will be possible for that to be fully manifested.
We could call it the sweetness of Love, but the word sweet is a little wishy-washy. Its much better than sweet. Its something without difficulties: no difficulties happen, it doesnt know difficulties, it ignores them entirely there are no difficulties, they dont exist. So, when it manifests, there are no difficulties. Then, naturally, it cant stay here because because there are still difficulties!
Anyway
--
I should also say that ever since financial affairs started being none too bright, all manner of things have been reaching my ears. There are big difficulties. I am obliged to tell people that I cant pay and they shouldnt spend needlessly, and on the other hand, I am looking, trying to find where the obstacle is. Because the power to attract money remains as it has always been (and its considerable), so there should be no difficulties. So I wrote this note because I see clearly in peoples thought, they all keep saying, Oh, we should do this, oh, we shouldnt do that, oh, if Mother did this, oh, if Mother didnt do that. Some are bold enough to say it, others arent but think that waythere are very few who dont think that way. And still fewer say to themselves, Id better not be concerned with it because I dont understand the first thing about it. So I was as if compelled to take the pen and write that down: They know what should be done, they know (Mother makes a gesture of hammering the disciples heads). And it has done a lot of good.
Did I tell you last time that in Bihar, the rain started that very evening? I found out how it occurred. Its P. who flew over Bihar, and he saw a desert, devastation: dry, dry, dry, nothing growing, cracked earth. Then he remembered certain experiences here.3 When he reached the airport, he was received officially and said, I would like to see the Chief Minister in private, without anyone else. He saw him and told him an experience he had had and had witnessed here [at Pondicherry]. And he said, Why dont you ask Mother? The other answered quite spontaneously, It would be better if you asked for us! Then he sent his telegram. The same evening it started raining. He wrote, saying, This first rain has been like divine nectar to me. He said that people there were entirely trusting and as well-disposed as could be. And he saw a relation between those droughts, those natural catastrophes, and the forces that stop money from coming; he saw they were affected by that experience of unexpected rain. For example, at the same time (a day or two later), he met some people who arent rich (the husb and has a good position, but they arent rich: they have a family, children). For some reason or other the husb and had been given a compensation of 10,000 rupees by the government, and quite spontaneously and naturally they went and saw P. and said to him, You must give this to Mother. He asked the lady, But why do you give all this? She spontaneously answered, But what would I do with this money? I dont need it. In other words, the true attitude. So it immediately made P. think that something is on the move.
--
And the habit of constantly complaining about difficulties, oh, how futile, useless all that seemeda waste of time. We waste our time protesting against what mustnt bewe just shouldnt think about it! We shouldnt be conscious of it, thats all! It should be outside the consciousness; when we are able to have a purely luminous consciousness, this perfectly harmonious, luminous, benevolent consciousness free, ultimately, from all that we drag along from a difficult past.
Thats it: the power to free oneself from the past, not to drag that behind foreverto surge into the light and stay there.
0 1966-11-26, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There, the problem comes up again. Because there are various detailed experiences (in tiny details), detailed experiences of different attitudes of consciousness to find out which of them is effective. Its a whole field of study. Its microscopic, of course, but extremely interesting. And then, the answer is always the same; its so lovely: When you forget that you are, when there only remains the Lord, all difficulties instantly disappear. Instantly: the previous second, the difficulty was there; the next second, gone. But its not something that can be done artificially; its not some mental or personal will to take this attitude: it must be spontaneous. And when its spontaneous, then all difficulties INSTANTLY disappear.
Stop existing the Lord alone exists.
0 1966-11-30, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Soon afterwards, regarding the difficulties of a blind disciple. The following fragment was noted from memory, the tape recorder having failed.)
In my case, strangely, I seem to see through a thick veil, that is to say, everything is blurred. Then suddenly, for no apparent reason, I see an object, some thing or other, clearly, so clearly, precisely, with a detailed accuracy, as if it were shown to me. Or else when reading a letter, for instance, if I read it without paying attention to anything else, I see perfectly well, but if I start thinking of an answer or concentrate, if the consciousness starts working, everything disappears and I cant see anything anymore the next minute, the words become clear again. Which means it doesnt depend on a defect of the sight or the material organ: its something else something else that one wants me to learn. Because it constantly comes back as if to show me something. But theres so much work and so many people that I dont always have the time to stop and concentrate to see what it is. I would have to catch the exact point when the sight comes and when it goes, and follow the conditions of the consciousness at that moment. I dont have the time.
0 1966-12-14, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Fortunately, they [the people Mother will see tomorrow] come to receive, so that somewhat lessens the (smiling) the kind gift of all their difficulties (but they leave enough of them behind!). They come with the idea of receiving the force, so I am naturally active (gesture of a link between above and below), and thats better, much better. With those who really come with the idea that they are going to receive and be streng thened, it makes the work easier.
***
0 1967-03-15, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
All difficulties I see that, Ive seen it lately with regard to political organizations, relations between nations and all that, all the problems to be solvedits all the same thing: people are like this (same gesture of trepidation), all the time, all the time, all the time one wave of restlessness, then another and yet another wave of restlessness coming on top of itand you dont see anything anymore! You cant see anything anymore! While if one can stay quiet for a while.
Its the same with all the questions I am asked (I receive innumerable questions), its all like this (same gesture), everything is like this and one cant see anything. If one remains quiet the Light goes through, everything becomes limpid, transparent, and it becomes so natural, so simple! So simple, so obvious: there is ONE thing that can be done and its the true thing. All the rest (same gesture of seething).
0 1967-05-06, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And the body is conscious enough to be convinced that it has no right to demand the change (I mean a certain change) in the Whole so as to enable its own change. Because, that it knows very well: Then what use am I? If I am like the others, I am useless I MUST have the capacity to emerge into the Light, whatever the people or difficulties around me. It knows that, its under no illusions. But still, there is a little friction.
(silence)
0 1967-05-24, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Naturally, men create difficulties (I think they must love them, because ), for everything, the SLIGHTEST thing, theres always a world of difficulties. So you spend your time saying, Quiet, quiet, quietbe quiet. Even the body lives in difficulties (it too seems to love them!), but all of a sudden the cells chant their OM spontaneously. Then there is a sort of childlike joy in all those cells, which say (Mother says in a tone of wonder), Oh, really, we can do that? We are allowed to do that? Its touching.
And the result is immediate: that great, peaceful, all-powerful Vibration.
--- Overview of noun difficulty
The noun difficulty has 4 senses (first 4 from tagged texts)
1. (18) trouble, difficulty ::: (an effort that is inconvenient; "I went to a lot of trouble"; "he won without any trouble"; "had difficulty walking"; "finished the test only with great difficulty")
2. (13) difficulty ::: (a factor causing trouble in achieving a positive result or tending to produce a negative result; "serious difficulties were encountered in obtaining a pure reagent")
3. (11) difficulty ::: (a condition or state of affairs almost beyond one's ability to deal with and requiring great effort to bear or overcome; "grappling with financial difficulties")
4. (6) difficulty, difficultness ::: (the quality of being difficult; "they agreed about the difficulty of the climb")
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun difficulty
4 senses of difficulty
Sense 1
trouble, difficulty
=> effort, elbow grease, exertion, travail, sweat
=> labor, labour, toil
=> work
=> activity
=> act, deed, human action, human activity
=> event
=> psychological feature
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
Sense 2
difficulty
=> cognitive factor
=> cognition, knowledge, noesis
=> psychological feature
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
Sense 3
difficulty
=> condition, status
=> state
=> attribute
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
Sense 4
difficulty, difficultness
=> quality
=> attribute
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
--- Hyponyms of noun difficulty
4 senses of difficulty
Sense 1
trouble, difficulty
=> the devil
=> tsuris
Sense 2
difficulty
=> trouble, problem
=> facer
=> killer
=> kink
=> pisser
=> pitfall, booby trap
=> snorter
=> hindrance, hinderance, deterrent, impediment, balk, baulk, check, handicap
=> wrinkle
Sense 3
difficulty
=> bitch
=> predicament, quandary, plight
=> rattrap
=> pinch
=> fix, hole, jam, mess, muddle, pickle, kettle of fish
=> hard time, rough sledding
=> stress, strain
=> mire
=> problem, job
=> situation
=> urinary hesitancy
=> wall
Sense 4
difficulty, difficultness
=> effortfulness
=> asperity, grimness, hardship, rigor, rigour, severity, severeness, rigorousness, rigourousness
=> hardness, ruggedness
=> formidability, toughness
=> burdensomeness, heaviness, onerousness, oppressiveness
=> subtlety, niceness
=> troublesomeness, inconvenience, worriment
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun difficulty
4 senses of difficulty
Sense 1
trouble, difficulty
=> effort, elbow grease, exertion, travail, sweat
Sense 2
difficulty
=> cognitive factor
Sense 3
difficulty
=> condition, status
Sense 4
difficulty, difficultness
=> quality
--- Coordinate Terms (sisters) of noun difficulty
4 senses of difficulty
Sense 1
trouble, difficulty
-> effort, elbow grease, exertion, travail, sweat
=> struggle
=> trouble, difficulty
=> least effort, least resistance
=> strain, straining
=> exercise, exercising, physical exercise, physical exertion, workout
=> pull
=> application, diligence
=> overkill
=> supererogation
=> overexertion
=> friction, detrition, rubbing
Sense 2
difficulty
-> cognitive factor
=> divine guidance, inspiration
=> difficulty
=> determinant, determiner, determinative, determining factor, causal factor
Sense 3
difficulty
-> condition, status
=> diversity
=> anchorage
=> health
=> mode
=> niche, ecological niche
=> noise conditions
=> participation, involvement
=> prepossession
=> regularization, regularisation
=> saturation
=> silence
=> situation, position
=> ski conditions
=> nomination
=> standardization, standardisation
=> stigmatism
=> astigmatism, astigmia
=> way
=> circumstance
=> homelessness
=> reinstatement
=> place
=> celibacy
=> virginity
=> innocence
=> purity, pureness, sinlessness, innocence, whiteness
=> guilt, guiltiness
=> encapsulation
=> polarization, polarisation
=> physical condition, physiological state, physiological condition
=> hyalinization, hyalinisation
=> vacuolization, vacuolisation, vacuolation
=> protuberance
=> curvature
=> psychological state, psychological condition, mental state, mental condition
=> difficulty
=> improvement, melioration
=> decline, declination
=> ennoblement
=> dominance, ascendance, ascendence, ascendancy, ascendency, control
=> comfort, comfortableness
=> discomfort, uncomfortableness
=> need, demand
=> fullness
=> emptiness
=> nakedness, nudity, nudeness
=> hairlessness, depilation
=> dishabille, deshabille
=> hopefulness
=> despair, desperation
=> purity, pureness
=> impurity, impureness
=> financial condition
=> economic condition
=> sanitary condition
=> tilth
=> orderliness, order
=> disorderliness, disorder
=> normality, normalcy
=> lactosuria
=> environmental condition
=> climate, mood
=> atmosphere, ambiance, ambience
=> unsusceptibility, immunity
=> immunity, resistance
=> subservience
=> susceptibility, susceptibleness
=> wetness
=> dryness, waterlessness, xerotes
=> safety
=> danger
=> tension, tensity, tenseness, tautness
=> atonicity, atony, atonia, amyotonia
=> laxness, laxity
=> repair
=> soundness
=> mutism, muteness
=> eye condition
=> unsoundness
=> impropriety
=> iniquity, wickedness, darkness, dark
=> light, illumination
=> malady
=> serration
=> absolution
=> automation
=> brutalization, brutalisation
=> condemnation
=> deification
=> diversification
=> exoneration
=> facilitation
=> frizz
=> fruition
=> hospitalization
=> identification
=> impaction
=> ionization, ionisation
=> irradiation
=> leakiness
=> lubrication
=> mechanization, mechanisation
=> motivation
=> mummification
=> preservation
=> prognathism
=> rustication
=> rustiness
=> scandalization, scandalisation
=> submission
=> urbanization, urbanisation
Sense 4
difficulty, difficultness
-> quality
=> appearance, visual aspect
=> attraction, attractiveness
=> clearness, clarity, uncloudedness
=> opacity, opaqueness
=> divisibility
=> ease, easiness, simplicity, simpleness
=> difficulty, difficultness
=> combustibility, combustibleness, burnability
=> suitability, suitableness
=> arability
=> impressiveness
=> navigability
=> neediness
=> painfulness, distressingness
=> piquancy, piquance, piquantness
=> publicity
=> spinnability
=> unsuitability, unsuitableness, ineptness
=> protectiveness
=> nature
=> humanness, humanity, manhood
=> air, aura, atmosphere
=> excellence
=> ultimate
=> characteristic
=> salability, salableness
=> changeableness, changeability
=> changelessness, unchangeability, unchangeableness, unchangingness
=> sameness
=> difference
=> certainty, sure thing, foregone conclusion
=> probability
=> uncertainty, uncertainness, precariousness
=> factuality, factualness
=> counterfactuality
=> materiality, physicalness, corporeality, corporality
=> immateriality, incorporeality
=> particularity, specialness
=> generality
=> simplicity, simpleness
=> complexity, complexness
=> regularity
=> irregularity, unregularity
=> mobility
=> immobility
=> pleasantness, sweetness
=> unpleasantness
=> credibility, credibleness, believability
=> incredibility, incredibleness
=> logicality, logicalness
=> illogicality, illogicalness, illogic, inconsequence
=> naturalness
=> unnaturalness
=> virtu, vertu
=> wholesomeness
=> unwholesomeness, morbidness, morbidity
=> satisfactoriness
=> unsatisfactoriness
=> ordinariness, mundaneness, mundanity
=> extraordinariness
=> ethnicity
=> foreignness, strangeness, curiousness
=> nativeness
=> originality
=> unoriginality
=> correctness, rightness
=> incorrectness, wrongness
=> accuracy, truth
=> accuracy
=> inaccuracy
=> distinction
=> popularity
=> unpopularity
=> lawfulness
=> unlawfulness
=> elegance
=> elegance
=> inelegance
=> urbanity
=> comprehensibility, understandability
=> expressiveness
=> incomprehensibility
=> humaneness
=> inhumaneness, inhumanity
=> morality
=> immorality
=> amorality
=> divinity
=> holiness, sanctity, sanctitude
=> ideality
=> unholiness
=> parental quality
=> fidelity, faithfulness
=> infidelity, unfaithfulness
=> sophistication, worldliness, mundaneness, mundanity
=> naivete, naivety, naiveness
=> hardness
=> penetrability, perviousness
=> impenetrability, imperviousness
=> soapiness
=> fibrosity, fibrousness
=> directivity, directiveness
=> extremeness
=> stuffiness, closeness
=> sufficiency, adequacy
=> worth
=> worthlessness, ineptitude
=> good, goodness
=> bad, badness
=> fruitfulness, fecundity
=> fruitlessness, aridity, barrenness
=> utility, usefulness
=> inutility, uselessness, unusefulness
=> asset, plus
=> constructiveness
=> destructiveness
=> positivity, positiveness, positivism
=> negativity, negativeness, negativism
=> occidentalism
=> orientalism
=> power, powerfulness
=> ability
=> powerlessness, impotence, impotency
=> inability, unfitness
=> romanticism, romance
=> domesticity
=> infiniteness, infinitude, unboundedness, boundlessness, limitlessness
=> finiteness, finitude, boundedness
=> quantifiability, measurability
=> solubility
=> insolubility
=> stuff
=> hot stuff, voluptuousness
=> humor, humour
=> pathos, poignancy
=> tone
=> brachycephaly, brachycephalism
=> dolichocephaly, dolichocephalism
=> relativity
=> responsiveness
=> unresponsiveness, deadness
=> subjectivism
=> snootiness
=> ulteriority
=> memorability
=> woodiness, woodsiness
=> waxiness
--- Grep of noun difficulty
difficulty
Wikipedia - Autism -- Neurodevelopmental disorder involving social communication difficulties and repetitive behavior
Wikipedia - Protective laws -- Laws enacted to protect women from hazards or difficulties of paid work
Wikipedia - Speechify Text To Speech -- mobile and desktop app which generates text to speech for people with reading difficulties
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12292300-take-control-of-dyslexia-and-other-reading-difficulties
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19034182-on-bearing-difficulties
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2941042-difficulties-in-the-bible
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29937471-experiencing-technical-difficulties
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34317581-take-control-of-dyslexia-and-other-reading-difficulties
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/475021.We_Are_Experiencing_Parental_Difficulties_Please_Stand_by
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49456.Rilke_on_Love_and_Other_Difficulties
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/616116.Light_on_Life_s_Difficulties_Above_Life_s_Turmoil_The_Life_Triumphant
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/899584.The_Wanderer_or__Female_Difficulties
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9623345-how-to-overcome-your-difficulties
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/977605.Pushing_to_the_Front_or_Success_Under_Difficulties
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Bible_Difficulties
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Vajrayana#Difficulties_of_the_academic_study_of_Vajrayana
selforum - successes and difficulties of
dedroidify.blogspot - technical-difficulties-of-course
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WeAreExperiencingTechnicalDifficulties
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Difficulties
Girls Just Want To Have Fun(1985) - Janey Glenn (Sarah Jessica Parker) is an Army Brat who loves to dance. When she moves to a new town, she meets a fellow dance enthusiast named Lynne Stone (Helen Hunt) at the parochial school she attends. Although they have many difficulties with authority figures and other teenage issues, they achi...
A Home of Our Own(1993) - The story is located in Los Angeles in the sixties. A energetic widow, Frances Lacey, with her six children tries to make a dream of her and her children come true: to have a home of their own. Therefore they leave Los Angeles and head for the countryside while facing a kinds of difficulties during...
Family Of Spies(1990) - Navy man John A. Walker Jr. (Powers Boothe) is having financial difficulties, so he decides to put his high-access knowledge to bad use and sell secrets to the Soviets. It greatly impacts his family life.
Just The Way You Are(1984) - Susan is a young, beautiful and successful flute player, but because of her physical handicap, a lame leg, she is having difficulties finding Mr. Right. While on tour in France, she decides to spend a few days on a ski resort wearing a fake cast around her lame leg to make sure her handicap goes unn...
A Long Way Down (2014) ::: 6.4/10 -- R | 1h 36min | Comedy, Drama | 5 June 2014 (USA) -- Four people meet on New Year's Eve, and form a surrogate family to help one another with the difficulties of their lives. Director: Pascal Chaumeil Writers: Nick Hornby (based on the novel by), Jack Thorne (screenplay by)
Big Eyes (2014) ::: 7.0/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 46min | Biography, Crime, Drama | 25 December 2014 (USA) -- A drama about the awakening of painter Margaret Keane, her phenomenal success in the 1950s, and the subsequent legal difficulties she had with her husband, who claimed credit for her works in the 1960s. Director: Tim Burton Writers:
Romeos (2011) ::: 7.0/10 -- Not Rated | 1h 34min | Drama, Romance | 8 December 2011 (Germany) -- A drama centered on the relationship between a two young men, as one of them navigates the difficulties of life as a transgender man. Director: Sabine Bernardi Writer: Sabine Bernardi (screenplay) Stars:
Survivors ::: TV-PG | 1h | Drama, Sci-Fi | TV Series (20082010) -- An unknown virus pandemic kills more than 90% of the world's population. Those immune must strive to survive and overcome the difficulties of this new world order, hoping that the virus will not mutate. Creator:
https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/The_Difficulties_of_Being_Evil
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Relative_Difficulties
Anne Happy♪ -- -- SILVER LINK. -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Comedy School -- Anne Happy♪ Anne Happy♪ -- Tennomifune Academy is an elite institution for the best and the brightest, with the exception of Class 1-7, the so-called "Happiness Class." Each member of the classroom copes with personal misfortunes, and the special class is geared to help them move past their issues and find true happiness. -- -- After being accepted into the academy, An Hanakoizumi, Ruri Hibarigaoka, and Botan Kumegawa find themselves placed into the Happiness Class, plagued by dreadful luck, love problems, and bad health respectively. Alongside their classmates, they do their best to overcome the difficulties they are faced with in pursuit of a life filled with joy. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Crunchyroll -- 63,361 6.97
Appleseed XIII -- -- Production I.G, Welz Animation Studios -- 13 eps -- Original -- Action Mecha Military Police Sci-Fi -- Appleseed XIII Appleseed XIII -- After facing massive destruction from a devastating war, the city Olympus has become the last stronghold as the center of command for the world. In order to protect the city from a group of terrorists known as the Argonauts, former LAPD SWAT member, Deunan Knotts, runs special military forces consisting of Biroids (cloned humans) and her cyborg partner Brialeos. Knotts must protect the city at all costs but is met with difficulties when Al Ceides, the Argonaut leader thought to be dead, resurfaces and causes problems. -- -- (Source: FUNimation) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- OVA - Jun 3, 2011 -- 12,771 6.35
Bakukyuu Hit! Crash B-Daman -- -- SynergySP -- 50 eps -- - -- Game Adventure Kids -- Bakukyuu Hit! Crash B-Daman Bakukyuu Hit! Crash B-Daman -- Hitto Tamaga, an 11-year-old boy, lives in some town in Japan. He is a very unfortunate boy, whose only asset is brightness. He lives only with his father who is a Bedaman researcher, but he left home several months ago, and he's been missing since then. He is living alone in a hut built on a relative’s land. Nobody celebrates his 11th birthday...except his cousin Nana who lives in the same land. One day, Hitto receives a present from the lost father, and he is very grad to know that his father remembers his birthday. It is “Crash Bedaman” that he longed for. After he puts them together to complete Crash Bedaman, he brings it to Bee Park, or a battle field of Beedaman. A battle there shows him a new way he should go. -- -- There is a message from his father with the present. -- -- “Overcome the difficulties”. -- -- Putting this word in his mind, he beats the enemies one after another with his Bedaman. With the encounter of partners and rivals, the mystery of Bedaman, a shadow organization, and the reason of the missing of his father gradually come to light. Defeating various obstacles in his way, he’s growing up. (Source: AnimeNFO) -- 1,562 6.04
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai -- -- AIC Build -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Ecchi Slice of Life Comedy Harem Romance School -- Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai -- When Kodaka Hasegawa finds out that he will be transferring to a new school, he is determined to make a positive impression, and maybe even some friends. However, Kodaka discovers he is out of luck when he immediately gets labeled as a violent delinquent due to his blond hair and intimidating expression. Although a month has passed, Kodaka is still alone thanks to his notorious reputation. However, his life begins to change when he finds fellow loner Yozora Mikazuki talking to her imaginary friend in an empty classroom. -- -- After sharing stories of their lonely high school life, Kodaka and Yozora decide to overcome the difficulties of making friends together by starting the Neighbor's Club. Created for people who don't have friends, daily activities involve learning social skills and how to fit in, which will hopefully allow them to make friends. Joined by the eroge-loving Sena Kashiwazaki, and other eccentric outcasts, Kodaka may finally have managed to find people he can call friends, in this club filled with hilarious oddballs. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 660,581 7.25
Gate: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri 2nd Season -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Military Adventure Fantasy -- Gate: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri 2nd Season Gate: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri 2nd Season -- Several months have passed since the infamous Ginza Incident, with tensions between the Empire and JSDF escalating in the vast and mysterious "Special Region" over peace negotiations. The greed and curiosity of the global powers have also begun to grow, as reports about the technological limitations of the magical realm's archaic civilizations come to light. -- -- Meanwhile, Lieutenant Youji Itami and his merry band of female admirers struggle to navigate the complex political intrigue that plagues the Empire's court. Despite her best efforts, Princess Piña Co Lada faces difficulties attempting to convince her father that the JSDF has no intention of conquering their kingdom. Pressured from both sides of the Gate, Itami must consider even more drastic measures to fulfill his mission. -- -- 428,999 7.76
Gate: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri 2nd Season -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Military Adventure Fantasy -- Gate: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri 2nd Season Gate: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri 2nd Season -- Several months have passed since the infamous Ginza Incident, with tensions between the Empire and JSDF escalating in the vast and mysterious "Special Region" over peace negotiations. The greed and curiosity of the global powers have also begun to grow, as reports about the technological limitations of the magical realm's archaic civilizations come to light. -- -- Meanwhile, Lieutenant Youji Itami and his merry band of female admirers struggle to navigate the complex political intrigue that plagues the Empire's court. Despite her best efforts, Princess Piña Co Lada faces difficulties attempting to convince her father that the JSDF has no intention of conquering their kingdom. Pressured from both sides of the Gate, Itami must consider even more drastic measures to fulfill his mission. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 428,999 7.76
Gintama°: Umai-mono wa Atomawashi ni Suru to Yokodorisareru kara Yappari Saki ni Kue -- -- Bandai Namco Pictures -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Comedy Historical Parody Samurai Shounen -- Gintama°: Umai-mono wa Atomawashi ni Suru to Yokodorisareru kara Yappari Saki ni Kue Gintama°: Umai-mono wa Atomawashi ni Suru to Yokodorisareru kara Yappari Saki ni Kue -- The Gintama crew gets together to present a preview for the upcoming arc, the biggest ever in the anime's history, and also discuss the difficulties involved in producing one mid-season. -- -- (Source: Crunchyroll) -- Special - Nov 3, 2015 -- 25,908 8.11
Hello!! Kiniro Mosaic -- -- Studio Gokumi -- 12 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Slice of Life Comedy School Seinen -- Hello!! Kiniro Mosaic Hello!! Kiniro Mosaic -- Although learning different languages continues to be an interest for Shinobu and her friends, the new school year brings unexpected difficulties. Not only is there always something new and different to distract them from their studies, but Alice and Yoko also are having trouble adjusting to being in a different class from Shinobu and Aya. -- -- Meanwhile, Karen isn't getting along at all with her new homeroom teacher, and it doesn't help that the teacher is having trouble figuring out how to make herself seem friendlier to her students as well. Craziness may ensue, but sometimes, all it takes is the right mutual experience to bring everyone together. -- -- While some of those experiences may not be as well-thought-out as others (like when Alice and Aya act like juvenile delinquents to seem more grown up), the gang's new adventures are certain to warm everyone's heart as the fun and friendships keep growing in HELLO!! KINMOZA! -- -- (Source: Sentai Filmworks) -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 67,078 7.52
Kuusen Madoushi Kouhosei no Kyoukan -- -- Diomedéa -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Drama Fantasy Magic School -- Kuusen Madoushi Kouhosei no Kyoukan Kuusen Madoushi Kouhosei no Kyoukan -- Years ago, humanity almost got wiped out by huge magical armored insects that had become too strong and aggressive to handle. Because of these giant bugs, humans do not live on the earth anymore, but in floating cities instead. However, this does not mean that everything is lost, because the wizards from prestigious floating wizard academies are fighting these monsters. -- -- Kanata Age is a young man now labelled as a traitor even though he was once praised as the "Black Master Swordsman." He gets a chance to repair his reputation by instructing the team E601, which seems to be facing some difficulties. It consists of three girls, Misora Whitale, Lecty Eisenach, and Rico Flamel, each with problems of their own. It appears that Kanata will get in deep waters more than once because of them... -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 204,840 6.38
Mahou Shoujo Madoka� -- Magica -- -- Shaft -- 12 eps -- Original -- Psychological Drama Magic Thriller -- Mahou Shoujo Madoka� -- Magica Mahou Shoujo Madoka� -- Magica -- Madoka Kaname and Sayaka Miki are regular middle school girls with regular lives, but all that changes when they encounter Kyuubey, a cat-like magical familiar, and Homura Akemi, the new transfer student. -- -- Kyuubey offers them a proposition: he will grant any one of their wishes and in exchange, they will each become a magical girl, gaining enough power to fulfill their dreams. However, Homura Akemi, a magical girl herself, urges them not to accept the offer, stating that everything is not what it seems. -- -- A story of hope, despair, and friendship, Mahou Shoujo Madoka� -- Magica deals with the difficulties of being a magical girl and the price one has to pay to make a dream come true. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 1,003,175 8.37
Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse -- -- ixtl, Satelight -- 24 eps -- Visual novel -- Action Military Sci-Fi Mecha -- Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse -- Since 1973, an invasion of aliens upon Earth known as BETA has driven human civilization to destruction. In order to defend themselves from this enormous mass of enemy force, mankind has developed large humanoid arms called Tactical Surface Fighters and deployed them to its defense lines through out the world. However, its efforts could only slow down the impending defeat, and mankind has been forced to abandon the major areas of the Eurasian Continent. For 30 years, they have been caught in an endless war against BETA without any hopes of victory. -- -- Now in 2001, Imperial Japan faces difficulties in the development of the next-generation of Tactical Surface Fighters (TSF) as it defends the front lines of the Far East. The UN has proposed a joint development program between Imperial Japan and the United States as a part of its TSF international mutual development unit, the Prominence Project. -- -- Yui Takamura (a surface pilot of the Imperial Royal Guards of Japan) is given the responsibility of the project and sets off to Alaska. Meanwhile, Yuya Bridges, also a surface pilot of the US Army, heads to the same destination. -- -- They never had any idea just how drastically their encounter would change their fates. -- -- This story of internal dilemma takes place during the development of the new Tactical Surface Fighters, the most crucial and effective weapons against BETA. And this time, the stakes are much higher than a handful of lives and our sanity. -- -- All we can do is fight. -- -- (Source: Muv-Luv Total Eclipse Official English Website, edited) -- 81,759 7.11
Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse -- -- ixtl, Satelight -- 24 eps -- Visual novel -- Action Military Sci-Fi Mecha -- Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse -- Since 1973, an invasion of aliens upon Earth known as BETA has driven human civilization to destruction. In order to defend themselves from this enormous mass of enemy force, mankind has developed large humanoid arms called Tactical Surface Fighters and deployed them to its defense lines through out the world. However, its efforts could only slow down the impending defeat, and mankind has been forced to abandon the major areas of the Eurasian Continent. For 30 years, they have been caught in an endless war against BETA without any hopes of victory. -- -- Now in 2001, Imperial Japan faces difficulties in the development of the next-generation of Tactical Surface Fighters (TSF) as it defends the front lines of the Far East. The UN has proposed a joint development program between Imperial Japan and the United States as a part of its TSF international mutual development unit, the Prominence Project. -- -- Yui Takamura (a surface pilot of the Imperial Royal Guards of Japan) is given the responsibility of the project and sets off to Alaska. Meanwhile, Yuya Bridges, also a surface pilot of the US Army, heads to the same destination. -- -- They never had any idea just how drastically their encounter would change their fates. -- -- This story of internal dilemma takes place during the development of the new Tactical Surface Fighters, the most crucial and effective weapons against BETA. And this time, the stakes are much higher than a handful of lives and our sanity. -- -- All we can do is fight. -- -- (Source: Muv-Luv Total Eclipse Official English Website, edited) -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 81,759 7.11
Rec -- -- Shaft -- 9 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Romance Seinen -- Rec Rec -- After being stood up for a movie date, marketing employee Fumihiko Matsumaru is about to throw away his tickets when he is stopped by a girl who implores him to let her accompany him instead. Thanks to his upbeat and eccentric companion Aka Onda, an aspiring voice actress, Fumihiko enjoys his evening. While walking home together, they find out that they live in the same neighborhood. Mere hours later, Fumihiko wakes up from a nightmare and hears sirens outside his window. Going outside to check the situation, he sees that Aka's apartment has burned down, along with all her possessions. Fumihiko invites the distressed Aka to stay at his place, leading to them sleeping together. -- -- In the aftermath of that fateful night, their personal and professional lives become inextricably intertwined. Not only do they begin living together platonically despite their one-night stand, they also discover that Aka will be voicing the mascot Fumihiko designed for his company's newest product. While trying to keep their live-in relationship under wraps for fear of scrutiny, the two begin to support each other throughout the difficulties in their respective careers. -- -- 100,360 7.33
Tamayura no Yume -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Original -- Psychological Drama -- Tamayura no Yume Tamayura no Yume -- A girl is informed by her doctor that she is pregnant. Surprised by the unexpected announcement, falls into an anguish. The fleeting dream is a despairing dream. -- -- (Source: Geidai Animation) -- Movie - ??? ??, 2011 -- 292 N/A -- -- Byulbyul Iyagi 2 -- -- - -- 6 eps -- - -- Psychological Drama -- Byulbyul Iyagi 2 Byulbyul Iyagi 2 -- This film consists of 6 animated shorts produced by the Human Rights Commission of Korea. Like the previous movie, the stories deal with seeing the world through the eyes of people who are different from social norms. The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature in 2008 from the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. -- -- 1. "The Third Wish” (AN Dong-hui, RYU Jeong-wu). A fairy godmother appears before a visually impaired young woman to grant her three wishes. But this is no fairytale. The irritable middle-aged fairy wants to finish her job as soon as possible. Yet she proves to be helpful as she leads the woman through a busy marketplace, which is delightfully reminiscent of "Amelie". But it's no walk in the park, as busy urbanites show no consideration for our protagonist. Yet she prevails through obstacles. With a walking stick, she taps together the heels of her shiny new shoes and follows the "yellow brick road" (guiding tiles for the visually impaired) around the city. -- -- 2. "Ajukari” (HONG Deok-pyo) is a street-style cartoon. It comically depicts how a certain macho "complex" can cripple men. Male circumcision becomes the ultimate standard for being "manly" and those who have failed to do the deed are forever fearful of going to public baths. -- -- 3. "Baby" (LEE Hong-su, LEE Hong-min) portrays the difficulties a career woman faces in having a child. "I'm not saying you can't have maternity leave, but can you afford to raise a child while working?" asks her boss. This smart story portrays everything from mother and daughter-in-law relationships to a parody of "Tazza: The High Rollers" and hilarious episodes where an "ambulance bus" picks up several patients en route. -- -- 4. "Shine Shine Shining" (KWON Mi-jeong) is drawn like a warm, watercolor storybook for children. Grade schooler Eun-jin is smart and popular, but she has a secret. She hides her curly hair, which she gets from her Filipino mother, in braids. -- -- 5. "Merry Golasmas" is an adorable claymation, or stop motion animation of models constructed from clay, plasticine, etc. It explores physical discrimination or stereotypes. In an open audition to find a Santa Claus, the real Santas ― one who's black, another who's Asian, a female Santa and one in a wheelchair ― lose to a fake Santa, a pot-bellied, Caucasian. -- -- 6. “Lies" explores homosexuality. Drawn in pastel-like sketches with art deco-esque details, it is a stunning digital cut-out animation, A homosexual man is forced by his parents to marry a woman, while others are pressured to fake having a girlfriend or receive "therapy" to become straight. -- -- (Source: The Korean Times) -- Movie - Apr 17, 2008 -- 257 N/A -- -- Hyoutan -- -- - -- 1 ep -- - -- Psychological -- Hyoutan Hyoutan -- Independent animation by Suzuki Shin'ichi. -- Movie - ??? ??, 1976 -- 252 N/A -- -- Pianoman Trailer -- -- Echoes -- 1 ep -- Original -- Music Psychological -- Pianoman Trailer Pianoman Trailer -- Trailer for Echoes' PIANOMAN with original animation that was not reused in the resulting short film. -- ONA - Dec 28, 2017 -- 243 5.41
Ten Little Gall Force -- -- animate Film, Artmic -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Military Sci-Fi Space Comedy Parody Mecha -- Ten Little Gall Force Ten Little Gall Force -- A super deformed parody which depicts the "making of " Eternal Story and Destruction. A very humorous behind-the-scenes look (if "Gall Force" were a live-action series instead of being animated). -- -- Cast and crew members run into severe and embarrassing difficulties as things do not turn out as they should; for example, Lufy totally drowns in embarrassment as she is object of a whole crowd of spectators while in the nude; the director's obsession with realistic filming causes some real high-voltage friction with Catty; and in the end, after the premiere, the girls end up in an ongoing on-stage tussle about which one is the most popular character. -- -- (Source: Wikipedia) -- -- Licensor: -- AnimEigo -- OVA - Jul 3, 1988 -- 1,378 6.21
The iDOLM@STER Movie: Kagayaki no Mukougawa e! -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 1 ep -- Game -- Music Comedy Drama -- The iDOLM@STER Movie: Kagayaki no Mukougawa e! The iDOLM@STER Movie: Kagayaki no Mukougawa e! -- The idols of 765 Production continue on their neverending journey—towards a new stage, towards a bright and shiny future! -- -- The girls and their producer have gone through thick and thin, and have stood face to face with all kinds of difficulties. -- -- It's time again for the girls to foster their friendship, and through great discipline, they step forward to their starry future. -- -- (Source: Official website) -- Movie - Jan 25, 2014 -- 20,731 7.60
A Dinner Under Difficulties
Bolvar, Man of Difficulties
Breastfeeding difficulties
Going to Bed Under Difficulties
Learning difficulties
Life Events and Difficulties Schedule
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire
Technical Difficulties
Technical Difficulties (Hate Dept. album)
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