“Often our deepest fear is that we might become who we are intended to be, who we already are at our core. For becoming who we truly are requires the greatest amount of change.”
“It is sobering to consider that for nearly two millennia Western culture has defined itself largely in terms of an image of someone being tortured in a particularly gruesome manner.”
“Personal deconditioning IS pro-democracy work because authoritarianism thrives when people are disconnected from their inner authority and follow external programming without question. I also march and protest. The resistance is internal and external.”
“We adore ourselves, even in our own self-loathing, which is an ability unique to us among all creatures. We relish our power to subdue, to arrange, calculate, store up and tear down. But perhaps the most distinctive trait we possess is our ability to blame. Human history reads like a very long petition for divorce that is never adjudicated, is only ever endlessly litigated.
We don’t listen. We just scream and scream and cling to people whose screaming sounds like ours, like tumor cells binding together, stupidly killing the host. We metastasize every time we breathe.”
“Education is distinct from learning. Organized education is a form of indoctrination and certification. Sometimes it leads to learning, but not always. You can win at education by figuring out what’s on the test (or what the boss wants) and parroting it back. In fact, that’s the easiest way to do so. Learning is an argument, a conversation designed to change minds. Learning happens long after we leave organized schooling, and it requires emotional enrollment. We’re more likely to learn when we bring a desire to be transformed and to leave our previous assumptions behind.”
“Productivity and discipline speaks to human shame and human degradation. Creativity and commitment speaks to the human spirit and human dignity. The former preserves enslavement. The latter inspires freedom.”
