Shared Wisdom. Thanks Tamar!
If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him! The Pilgrimage of Psychotherapy Patients.
I am so glad I found this little book - small in size, but not in value of content.
I especially adore many entries in the partial register of what Kopp describes as his eternal truths (Page 223):
- This is it!
- There are no hidden meanings.
- You can't get there from here, and besides there's no place else to go.
- We are all already dying, and we will be dead for a long time.
- Nothing lasts.
- There is no way of getting all you want.
- You can't have anything unless you let go of it.
- You only get to keep what you give away.
- There is no particular reason why you lost out on some things.
- The world is not necessarily just. Being good often does not pay off and there is no compensation for misfortune.
- You have a responsibility to do your best nonetheless.
- It is a random universe to which we bring meaning.
- You don't really control anything.
- You can't make anyone love you.
- No one is any stronger or any weaker than anyone else.
- Everyone is, in his [her] own way, vulnerable.
- There are no great men [or women].
- If you have a hero, look again: you have diminished yourself in some way.
- Everyone lies, cheats, pretends (yes, you too, and most certainly I myself).
- All evil is potential vitality in need of transformation.
- All of you is worth something, if you will only own it.
- Progress is an illusion.
- Evil can be displaced but never eradicated, as all solutions breed new problems.
- Yes it is necessary to keep on struggling toward solution.
- Childhood is a nightmare.
- But it is so very hard to be an on-your-own, take-care-of-yourself-cause-there-is-no-one-else-to-do-it-for-you grown-up.
- Each of us is ultimately alone.
- The most important things, each man [or woman] must do for himself.
- Love is not enough, but it sure helps.
- We have only ourselves, and one another. That may not be much, but that's all there is.
- How strange, that so often, it all seems worth it.
- We must live within the ambiguity of partial freedom, partial power, and partial knowledge.
- All important decisions must be made on the basis of insufficient data.
- Yet we are responsible for everything we do.
- No excuses will be accepted.
- You can run but you can't hide.
- It is most important to run out of scapegoats.
- We must learn the power of living with our helplessness.
- The only victory lies in surrender to oneself.
- All of the significant battles are waged within the self.
- You are free to do whatever you like. You need only face the consequences.
- What do you know ... for sure ... anyway?
- Learn to forgive yourself, again and again and again and again ...