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
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.
Interpretation
Our attachments to material possessions can dominate our lives, preventing us from true freedom.
Peace Pilgrim's quote emphasizes the idea that holding on to things that no longer serve us can lead to a kind of captivity. In a society that values material wealth, many may find themselves defined or limited by their possessions, rather than valuing the freedom that comes from letting go.
In practice
In a speech about minimalism, one could use this quote to illustrate the importance of simplifying one's 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.
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.
One little person, giving all of her time to peace, makes news. Many people, giving some of their time, can make history.
Suffering is a byproduct of evolution by natural selection, an inevitable consequence that may worry us in our more sympathetic moments but cannot be expected to worry a tiger - even if a tiger can be said to worry about anything at all - and certainly cannot be expected to worry its genes.
it is wrong to chide the novel for being fascinated by mysterious coincidences... but it is right to chide man for being blind to such coincidences in his daily life. For he thereby deprives his life a dimension of beauty.
We are obliged to respect, defend and maintain the common bonds of union and fellowship that exist among all members of the human race.
What do babies dream of? She must be dreaming of the before-life, just as I dream of the afterlife.
The body is a multilingual being. It speaks through its color and its temperature, the flush of recognition, the glow of love, the ash of pain, the heat of arousal, the coldness of nonconviction. . . . It speaks through the leaping of the heart, the falling of the spirits, the pit at the center, and rising hope.
What a country needs to do is be fair to all its citizens - whether people are of a different ethnicity or gender.
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