gnosis

“The reason you want to be better is the reason why you aren’t.”

— Allan Watts

“By letting it go it all gets done.
The world is won by those who let it go.
But when you try and try.
The world is beyond the winning”

— Lao Tzu

A Zen student went to a temple and asked how long it would take him to gain enlightenment if he joined the temple.
“10 years.” said the Zen master.
“Well, how about if I really work hard and double my effort?”
“In that case, 20 years."

**Ashtavakra Gita:**

*1. The Nature of the Self (Atman)*
*	The Self is pure consciousness, eternal, unchanging, and beyond birth and death.
*	Liberation (moksha) comes from realizing that one is not the body, mind, or senses, but the infinite, formless Self.

*2. Non-Dualism (Advaita)*
*	The world of duality—pleasure and pain, gain and loss, good and bad—is an illusion (maya).
*	There is only one ultimate reality: Brahman, which is identical to the Self.

*3. Detachment and Renunciation*
*	True freedom comes from complete detachment, not just from material possessions but also from desires, fears, and egoic attachments.
*	A realized being lives effortlessly, unattached to the outcomes of actions.

*4. Effortlessness and Spontaneity*
*	Spiritual liberation is not achieved through rituals, practices, or effort but through direct realization and awareness of one’s true nature.
*	The seeker is encouraged to “drop the mind” and rest in the awareness of the Self.

*5. Illusion of the Ego*
*	The ego (sense of “I” and “mine”) is the root cause of bondage.
*	Liberation comes when one transcends the ego and identifies with the universal Self.

*6. Equanimity*
*	A liberated soul sees all experiences—whether pleasurable or painful—as equal, resting in an unshaken state of inner peace.
*	This equanimity arises from recognizing that all experiences are temporary and unreal.

*7. Freedom from Concepts*
*	The Ashtavakra Gita often challenges reliance on scriptures, rituals, or intellectual concepts.
*	It emphasizes direct experiential knowledge over theoretical understanding.

*8. Inner Stillness*
*	The ultimate state of being is one of inner stillness and peace, where the mind dissolves into pure awareness.
*	This stillness is the natural state of the Self, free from the disturbances of thoughts and emotions.

*9. Immediate Realization*
*	Unlike other spiritual paths that prescribe gradual progress, the Ashtavakra Gita advocates immediate and direct realization of the Self.
*	The text declares that enlightenment is not a future event but the recognition of what already exists.

*10. The Jivanmukta (Liberated Being)*
*	A liberated person, or jivanmukta, lives in the world without being of the world.
*	Such a person is free from desires, fears, and attachments, experiencing life as a play of consciousness.

Your future self is watching you right now through your memories.

"The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he's in prison"

— Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“You will see it, when you believe it”

Think *from* your desire not *of* your desire.

You do not experience the world directly, for reality is filtered through your perception. To hack your reality, alter your perception.

Wu-wei - action through inaction. 
Then action and laziness are no longer
opposite but complementaries. 
A real man will have both the capacities: 
he can act; he can be lazy, he can rest.

— Osho

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

— Albert Einstein

When the outside makes a puppet of you, that is illusion. When the outside is being created by you every moment - that is Truth.

Your present decision alters past and future. 

The ego is impatient because it knows its time is limited. The spirit is patient because it knows it is eternal.

Nature does not hurry, yet all things are accomplished. The tighter we grasp the sand, the more sand falls through the hand.

He who stands on tiptoe doesn't stand firm.
He who rushes ahead doesn't go far.
He who tries to shine dims his own light.
He who defines himself can't know who he really is.
He who has power over others can't empower himself.
He who clings to his work will create nothing that endures.

“You do not fight against your problem; your problem will only live as long as you are conscious of it.
Take your attention away from your problem and the multitude of reasons why you cannot achieve your ideal. Concentrate your attention entirely upon the thing desired.”

— Neville Goddard

No one knows how many times you healed your own heart to become who you are today.

“Love, joy, and peace cannot flourish until you have freed yourself from mind dominance.”

“Faith and fear both demand you believe in something you cannot see. You choose.”

— Bob Proctor

“You are not in the universe, you are the universe, an intrinsic part of it. Ultimately, you are not a person, but a focal point where the universe is becoming conscious of itself. What an amazing miracle.”

— Eckhart Tolle

If I accept the fact that my relationships are here to make me conscious, instead of happy, then my relationships become a wonderful self mastery tool that keeps realigning me with my higher purpose for living.

— Eckhart Tolle

"The more you pursue feeling better all the time, the less satisfied you become, as pursuing something only reinforces the fact that you lack it in the first place."

— Alan Watts

“We are all floating in a tremendous river and the river carries you along. Some of the people in the river are swimming against the current, but they are still being carried along. Others have learned that the art of the thing is to swim with it. You have to flow with the river. There is no other way. You can swim against it, and pretend not to be flowing with it. But you still flow with the river.” — Alan Watts

Silence isn't empty. It's full of answers.

Slowly is the fastest way to get you where you want to be.

You will never be able to experience everything.
So, please, do poetical justice to your soul 
and simply experience yourself.

— Albert Camus

“The world will ask you
who you are,
and if you do not know,
the world will tell you.”

— Carl Jung

For the longest time, it feels like I have been trying to make sense of life but now I see there is no sense to be made, only life to be lived.
There is no set purpose to fulfill, there are no checklists to complete, just an ephemeral moment to breathe, to love, to be kind, to feel. Life is in all the simple, little things that we so often overlook. Uncomplicate your heart.
Be here, be present, embrace your own journey. There is so much beauty and wonder to be found right where you are.

— Mada Hayyas

"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate."

If you see beauty in something, don't wait for others to agree.

“We think we meet someone with our eyes. But we actually meet them with our soul.” ― Mimi Novic

Maybe the journey isn't so much about becoming anything.
Maybe it's about un-becoming everything
that isn't really you so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.

Don't explain your philosophy. 
Embody it.

— Epictetus

All happens by itself. You are asking the question and you are supplying the answer. And you know the answer when you ask the question. All is a play in consciousness. All divisions are illusory.

I am not *in* the universe. I *am* the universe.

When the end arrives, it’s really the beginning.

Everything I know about my light was taught to me by my darkness.

"The world is a mirror, forever reflecting what you are doing, within yourself."

— Neville Goddard