Check list for an adventurous pilgrimage within

The past few weeks churned me up well. Digging the dirt i realised that the depths i fall into is the distance i want to traverse.So one really never falls into a ditch...one just descends to the heights of ones being. Long walks , ruminations and affirmations did add a lot to my sense of well being, but still there was that faint ,yet powewrful trace of despair that cramped my being intermittently. Usually i do not resort to books during such moments, but this time i felt such an intense urge to read Sheldon B Kopp's "If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him"..i just felt that my psyche needed it...read it all over again, this time at random and one such blind pick led me to that page which gave me a deeper glimpse into the nature of things far clearer than any of my attempts to figure and conjure up the underlying message lurking behind every reality, imperious or otherwise.

I decided to put it on the net hoping that a kindered soul might find it helpful...it might also possibly serve as a sign post to many wandering pilgrims on the information superhighway!


1.This is it!

2.There are no hidden meanings.

3.You can’t get there from here, and besides there is no place else to go.

4.We are already dying , and we will be dead for a long time.

5.Nothing lasts.

6.There is no way of getting all you want.

7.You can’t have anything until you let go of it.

8.You only get to keep what you give away.

9.There is no particular reason why you lost out on some things.

10.The world is not necessarily just. Being good often does not pay off and there is no compensation for misfortune.

11.You have a responsibility to do your best nonetheless.

12.It is a random universe to which we bring meaning.

13.You don’t really control anything.

14.You can’t make anyone love you.

15.No one is any stronger or any weaker than any one else.

16.Everyone is, in his own way, vulnerable.

17.There are no great men.

18.If you have a hero, look again: you have diminished yourself in some way.

19.Everyone lies, cheats, pretends ( yes, you too, and most certainly I myself).

20.All evil is potential vitality in need of transformation.

21.All of you is worth something, if you will only own it.

22.Progress is an illusion.

23.Evil can be displaced but never eradicated, as all solutions breed new problems.

24.Yet, it is necessary to keep struggling toward solution.

25.Childhood is a nightmare.

26.But it is so very hard to be an on-your-own, take-care-of-yourself-because-there-is-no-one-else-to-do-it-for-you-grown-up.

27.Each of us is ultimately alone.

28.The most important things, each man must do for himself.

29.Love is not enough, but it sure helps.

30.We have only ourselves, and one another. That may not be much, but that’s all there is.

31.How strange, that so often, it all seems worth it.

32.We must live within the ambiguity of partial freedom, partial power, and partial knowledge.

33.All important decisions must be made on the basis of insufficient data.

34.Yet we are responsible for everything we do.

35.No excuses will be accepted.

36.You can run, but you can’t hide.

37.It is most important to run out of scapegoats.

38.We must learn the power of living with our helplessness.

39.The only victory lies in surrender to oneself.

40.All of the significant battles are waged within the self.

41.You are free to do whatever you like. You need only to face the consequences.

42.What do you know… for sure…any way?

43.Learn to forgive yourself, again and again and again and again…

Quoted from :" If you meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him!" by Dr.Sheldon B Kopp