There is a criterion by which you can judge whether the thoughts you are thinking and the things you are doing are right for you. The criterion is: Have they brought you inner peace?
Peace PilgrimRead
Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens. If you have them, you have to take care of them! There is great freedom in simplicity of living. It is those who have enough but not too much who are the happiest.
Interpretation
Accumulating unnecessary items can create stress and hinder personal freedom; true happiness comes from simplicity.
This quote by Peace Pilgrim emphasizes the idea that possessions can weigh us down and complicate our lives. It suggests that by embracing a simpler lifestyle and minimizing our material needs, we can achieve greater happiness and freedom. The essence of contentment lies not in having more, but in appreciating what we already possess and maintaining a balance in our lives.
In practice
In a workshop about minimalism, we discussed how 'unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens' and how reducing clutter can lead to a happier life.
There is a criterion by which you can judge whether the thoughts you are thinking and the things you are doing are right for you. The criterion is: Have they brought you inner peace?
Do not suppress it - that would hurt you inside. Do not express it - this would not only hurt you inside, it would cause ripples in your surroundings. What you do is transform it.
Anything you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you, and in this materialistic age a great many of us are possessed by our possessions.
One little person, giving all of her time to peace, makes news. Many people, giving some of their time, can make history.
I am saddened by how people treat one another and how we are so shut off from one another and how we judge one another, when the truth is, we are all one connected thing. We are all from the same exact molecules.
I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.
Only to the extent that men desire peace and brotherhood can the world be made better. No peace even though temporarily obtained, will be permanent, whether to individuals or nations, unless it is built upon the solid foundation of eternal principles.
You don't make peace with friends. You make it with very unsavory enemies.
The most absurd apology for authority and law is that they serve to diminish crime. Aside from the fact that the State is itself the greatest criminal, breaking every written and natural law, stealing in the form of taxes, killing in the form of war and capital punishment, it has come to an absolute standstill in coping with crime. It has failed utterly to destroy or even minimize the horrible scourge of its own creation.
Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And that process is continuing day be day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except the endless present in which the party is always right.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.