# I don't know, I guess because its Thursday



## Xue Sheng (Apr 3, 2008)

Just felt like posting these



> *The Path With The Heart*
> 
> From Carlos Castaneda: "Don Juan's Teaching"
> 
> ...


 


> The clouds above us join and separate,
> The breeze in the courtyard leaves and returns.
> Life is like that, so why not relax?
> Who can stop us from celebrating?
> -Lu Yu


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## Sukerkin (Apr 3, 2008)

Many thanks for those words, *Xue*.  Given the stressful week I've had, it was very beneficial to read and reflect on such a philosophical mirror of walking a life.


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## Kingindian (Apr 3, 2008)

nice article for me


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## Fiendlover (Apr 4, 2008)

Kingindian said:


> nice article for me


 
yeah i agree.  it made me think.


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## Xue Sheng (Apr 11, 2008)

What is it about me and Thursdays:idunno:



> To be nobody-but-yourself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
> --- E. E. Cummings





> If you find yourself railing against the absurdities of a particular game field, or that a lot of your energy is likely to be consumed in protesting the game rules, you should probably choose another field
> ---Laurence G. Boldt





> Its life that matters, nothing but lifethe process of discovering, the everlasting and perpetual process, not the discovery itself, at all.
> -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky





> The greater part of all mischief in the world arises from the fact that men do not sufficiently understand their own aims.
> ---Wolfgang von Goethe


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## MA-Caver (Apr 11, 2008)

Holy crap! I remember those words from Don Juan. I recall reading it years ago. I'd dare say that it helped shaped my outlook on life at the time (and probably still does on a subconscious level). Wow, gonna have to find that book and read it again. 
Lots of wisdom and insights by that sorcerer. 
Thank you Xue for that wonderful reminder. Great selection of passages too. 
:asian:


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## kidswarrior (Apr 18, 2008)

Missed this the first time around. Excellent material. Thanks X-S. :asian:


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## Xue Sheng (Apr 25, 2008)

Ok, so its not Thursday.

I like this saying and I actually did read it on Thursday night (so I am still wondering what the deal is with Thursdays). What I found more interesting is who said it



> many people stumble through life to the very edge of the abyss without knowing where they are going. At times, this happens because those whose vocation it is to give cultural expression to their thinking no longer look to the truth, preferring quick success to the toil of patient inquiry into what makes life worth living
> --- Pope John Paul II


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## kidswarrior (Apr 25, 2008)

Xue Sheng said:


> Ok, so its not Thursday.
> 
> I like this saying and I actually did read it on Thursday night (so I am still wondering what the deal is with Thursdays). What I found more interesting is who said it


Yes, the vocation vs. success conundrum. Having 'settled' long ago with being *just a teacher*, I have long struggled with my decision--even when the tipping point came and went, and it was no longer even possible to change back to the success paradigm. Now I'm old and what's done is done. On good days, I realize how fortunate I was to have taken the vocation path. On bad days or weeks, I admit sometimes cynically thinking my tiny contribution might be totally pointless in the grand scheme.

For me, it's Fridays and Sundays, as maybe you noticed. 

Great quotes, BTW. Hope you continue to add more. :asian:


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## Xue Sheng (May 8, 2008)

> The sage looks at the inevitable and decides it is not inevitable.
> The common man looks at what is not inevitable and decides that it is inevitable
> ---Chuang Tzu





> If we come from nothingness and will return to nothingness, I say lets spend the time we have celebrating the very somethingness of life. Our time here is precious  literally irreplaceable. So live authentically. The catch there is that you have to figure out what living authentically means to you, but one thing it surely implies is engagement with  not withdrawal from  life itself. Use your free will to choose renewed appreciation of every moment rather then despair.
> -- Lou Marinoff



OK I admit it the first one was from Wednesday.


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## Xue Sheng (May 13, 2008)

OK I admit this is a Monday



> &#8220;It is better to do one&#8217;s own duty, however defective it may be, than to follow the duty of another, however well one may perform it
> ---Bhagavad Gita


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## OnlyAnEgg (May 13, 2008)

Thanks, Xue.  This is quite an uplifting thread.


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## kidswarrior (May 13, 2008)

Xue Sheng said:


> OK I admit this is a Monday


Would I be doing my duty or yours if I told you it wasn't Monday but Tuesday? :rofl:


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## Xue Sheng (May 13, 2008)

kidswarrior said:


> Would I be doing my duty or yours if I told you it wasn't Monday but Tuesday? :rofl:


 
:uhoh:

HEY!!!, It's the FIRST day I am back at work this week and it FEELS like a Monday... SHEEEESH :miffer:... GIVE A GUY A BREAK :uhyeah:

And if you don't buy that excuse I will fall back to.. HEY... I read it on Monday :uhyeah:

And if none of those work.... thanks for the correction.

EDIT

In my world... believe me.... its Monday no matter what the calender says :uhyeah:


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## terryl965 (May 13, 2008)

Xue Sheng said:


> :uhohh:
> 
> HEY!!!, It's the FIRST day I am back at work this week and it FEELS like a Monday... SHEEEESH :ticked:... GIVE A GUY A BREAK :uhyeah:
> 
> ...


 
It is OK it is Monday to you and that is all that matters


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## Xue Sheng (May 13, 2008)

Well since everyone is so certain it's Tuesday



> You yourself must make the effort. The Buddhas can only point the way


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## kidswarrior (May 13, 2008)

Xue Sheng said:


> Well since everyone is so certain it's Tuesday


Hey, I was just joshin' with ya.  But that's a great quote, too. They all are. :asian:


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## OnlyAnEgg (May 13, 2008)

Donald Shimoda' Book said:
			
		

> In order to live free and happily, you must sacrifice boredom. It is not always an easy sacrifice.


 
Actually, Richard Bach; but, Donald's book said it.


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## Xue Sheng (May 15, 2008)

Hey, it is actually Thursday... I think... I am sure KW will be by soon to let me know 



> When we do not expect anything we can be ourselves. That is our way, to live fully in each moment of time. This practice continues forever
> -- Shunryu Suzuki


 


> Failure is the key to success;
> Each mistake teaches us something.
> --Ueshiba Morihei


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## kidswarrior (May 15, 2008)

Xue Sheng said:


> Hey, it is actually Thursday... I think... I am sure KW will be by soon to let me know


You've been waiting all week to say that, haven't ya? :bangahead::bangahead::bangahead::bangahead:


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## Xue Sheng (May 17, 2008)

kidswarrior said:


> You've been waiting all week to say that, haven't ya? :bangahead::bangahead::bangahead::bangahead:


 
Yes, yes I have. 

And now for something completely different... ok so it's not completely different... actually it is pretty much the same.... another quote I read that I wanted to post...... but it was the only transition I could come up with on such sort notice



> The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation... But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things
> ---Henry David Thoreau


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## kidswarrior (May 18, 2008)

Xue Sheng said:


> Yes, yes I have.
> 
> And now for something completely different... ok so it's not completely different... actually it is pretty much the same.... another quote I read that I wanted to post...... but it was the only transition I could come up with on such sort notice


Oh, man, I needed that right now. Thanks.


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## Xue Sheng (May 27, 2008)

It is not Thursday I know but it is Tuesday I checked 

I read the first quote and it is scary how much that applies to me right now and I have been thinking about it a lot since. I can easily see where it applies to my career but I also believe I am seeing were it applies to my CMA and many other things in my life as well. 



> We are not made to do one thing. We are made to do one thing at a time. Dont cling to anyone thing, stretching it beyond its time. If you have fulfilled a purpose, no one can take it away from you. But it wont last forever. Nothing does. You can relish it, and relive it, but you must be willing to relinquish it. You might not find another one if you cant let go of the purpose you have. --- Lou Marnoff





> Hold every moment sacred. Give each clarity and meaning, each the weight of thine awareness, each its true and due fulfillment --- Thomas Mann


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## Xue Sheng (Jun 2, 2008)

I found this statement interesting so I put it here and I am most certain that it is in fact Monday, not Thursday



> We spend so much time experimenting with foods, with different ways to organize our house, and so little time experimenting with all the ways to act as a person
> 
> McGowan, K. (2008, April) Second Nature
> Psychology Today, 73, Vol. 41, No. 2


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## Xue Sheng (Jun 23, 2008)

I know it was already dead but for me it is time to wrap this thread up... and on a Monday no less

I have been reading a lot of philosophy lately and one book in particular &#8220;Plato not Prozac&#8221; has lead me to a lot of those readings it also made me read it very slowly, basically read it see something interesting, go read that and then come back to this. I read something the author (Lou Marinoff) wrote that reminded me of something I said several years ago while discussing living in the moment in (believe it or not) a Philosophy in Religion course in college..

&#8220;People are to busy remembering the past and thinking of the future and forgetting the now&#8221; -- Me (XS)

What I read was not much different just said a bit better



> Many people use the present to serve the past or the future. They are busy either ruminating over last week or manipulation tomorrow, they are never in the now. History is past; you can&#8217;t alter it. The future is uncertain; you can&#8217;t count on it. What you have for sure is the present. Love being alive right now, and you&#8217;ll minimize regret when your moment runs out &#8211; Lou Marinoff



And lastly



> Most of us are at some time or other impelled, even if the impulse is brief, to take a hand in solving the problems of society, and most of us know in our hearts that it is our business to leave the world a little better that we found it&#8221; &#8211; Cyril Joad



Thanks for indulging me with the whole philosophical post. It was, I feel, necessary for me at this time to go through a lot of this stuff, write it down, think about it and move on.


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## Xue Sheng (Oct 9, 2008)

Well I have not posted here for awhile and what do you know it is actually Thursday.

For some reason this was running through my noggin this morning



> Judge not, lest ye be judged yourself.



Which lead me to these



> Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
> Carl Gustav Jung
> 
> You can't depend on your judgment when your imagination is out of focus
> ...



And I just had to throw this in one since it does directly applies to my first marriage 



> I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.
> Groucho Marx


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## Xue Sheng (Oct 23, 2008)

Well since this is MT after all and it is Thursday



> Inwardly alert, open, calm.
> Outwardly upright, extended, filled with spirit.
> This is the foundation of stillness.
> Add the hard and the soft, the powerful and the relaxed,
> ...


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## Xue Sheng (Jan 22, 2009)

From Socrates



> - Be as you wish to seem.
> 
> - I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing.
> 
> ...


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## Drac (Jan 22, 2009)

From Drac:

"Quit attacking those trees with your head."


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## Xue Sheng (Jan 29, 2009)

The path doesnt save all its pleasure for the end. You can enjoy it now. - Thanissaro Bhikkhu


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## David Weatherly (Jan 29, 2009)

Thanks for posting.  I just started rereading the Don Juan books since it had been many years.


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## Xue Sheng (Feb 4, 2009)

Well it's Wednesday here but it is Thursday in China so...



> Smile, breathe and go slowly. - Thich Nhat Hanh


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## Xue Sheng (Feb 26, 2009)

> Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
> --- Mark Twain


 


> Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.
> --- Dr. Seuss


 
:asian:

And this one seems to apply a lot as of late



> Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
> --- Mark Twain


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## Xue Sheng (Mar 4, 2009)

Just because at this moment in my life it is how I need to think...or I could also choose not think this way and stagnate.



> You only need to get on the path and walk and you will create your own path
> -Chan Master Sheng-yen


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## Xue Sheng (Apr 16, 2009)

Well it is actually Thursday this time... 



> "You may think that happiness is possible only in the future, but if you learn to stop running, you will see that there are more than enough conditions for you to be happy right now. The only moment for us to be alive in is the present moment. The past is already gone and the future is not yet here. Only in the present moment can we touch life and be deeply alive." &#8211; Thich Nhat Hanh


 


> We need to master our own anger before we can help others do the same. When the flames of anger flare up, we tend to lash out at those who have watered our seeds of anger. It is like finding our house on fire, and instead of putting out the flames, chasing those we think started it. Arguing with others only waters the seeds of anger in us. When anger rises, return to yourself and use the energy of mindfulness to embrace, soothe, and illuminate it. Do not think you will feel better if you can make the other person suffer, too. &#8211; Thich Nhat Hanh


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## kidswarrior (Apr 16, 2009)

Xue Sheng said:


> Well it is actually Thursday this time...


Good stuff XS.


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## Xue Sheng (Apr 22, 2009)

OK so I'm a day early



> We often react as if life is attacking us. Im not going to be able to stand this, we fret as life pushes us beyond our snug little ego comfort zone. But we have no evidence of not being able to handle anything life brings us. How do we know that? Weve handled everything so far.
> 
> Cheri Huber, from When Youre Falling, Dive


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## Xue Sheng (Apr 28, 2009)

Definitely not Thursday



> Your time is limited, so dont waste it living someone elses life. Dont be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other peoples thinking. Dont let the noise of others opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. - Steve Jobs


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## Xue Sheng (May 18, 2009)

Yes, I am aware its not Thursday



> All success, great and small, whether in spiritual or temporal affairs, derives from your stock of merit. So never neglect even the slightest positive deed. Just do it. -- Dudjom Rinpoche


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## Xue Sheng (Jul 1, 2009)

I know it is not Thursday but I might not be here on Thursday to post this and I want to post this. 

I have had enough of the arguing and silliness currently going on here on MT at the moment and I need a break, I should have stayed out of the study, politics and global warming junk and all posts that have anything to do with the old tired RSMD or MMA vs. TMA threads because it is always the same posts every single time just done by different people or in some cases the same people

I&#8217;m fed up and need a break, maybe one night will do it, maybe more, I don&#8217;t know. To quote my favorite philosopher &#8220;I&#8217;ve had all I can stands and I can't stands no more"


But here is what I wanted to post and it just seems so appropriate

Except from "*Letters To A Young Poet", from Letter #8 by Rainer Maria Rilke*



> We have been put into life as into the element we most accord with, and we have, moreover, through thousands of years of adaptation, come to resemble this life so greatly that when we hold still, through a fortunate mimicry we can hardly be differentiated from everything around us. We have no reason to harbor any mistrust against our world, for it is not against us. If it has terrors, they are our terrors; if it has abysses, these abysses belong to us; if there are dangers, we must try to love them. And if only we arrange our life in accordance with the principle which tells us that we must always trust in the difficult, then what now appears to us as the most alien will become our most intimate and trusted experience. How could we forget those ancient myths that stand at the beginning of all races, the myths about dragons that at the last moment are transformed into princesses? Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.


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## Xue Sheng (Oct 1, 2009)

And it actually is Thursday... :uhohh:  I think 



> It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle


 


> The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become. - Charles DuBois


 


> If at first you don't succeed, before you try again, stop to figure out what you did wrong. - Leo Rosten


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## Flea (Oct 3, 2009)

> Tragedy is just a joke we haven't figured out yet.



- Garrison Keillor


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## Xue Sheng (Oct 27, 2009)

OK I admit, its Tuesday



> The five colors blind the eye.
> The five tones deafen the ear.
> The five flavors dull the taste.
> Racing and hunting madden the mind.
> ...


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## Xue Sheng (Nov 2, 2009)

First this is most certainly NOT Thursday

I was reading something the other day and it was talking about Consciousness and it was basically saying that most science is based on inanimate objects getting together by accident and producing life and that life evolving and later developing consciousness and it saying that without consciousness there could be no life and no evolution. 

Whether or not this makes any sense at all it got me thinking about René Descartes and thinking about René Descartes usually gets me about the Philosophers Song but this time it didnt and I found myself really thinking about  



> Cogito ergo sum (I am thinking, therefore I exist) - René Descartes


 
Which I seem to be thinking about slightly differently based on the whole there can be no life without consciousness thing


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## Xue Sheng (Nov 13, 2009)

I know its not Thursday but for some reason this one is really hitting home with me this past week.



> There's no excuse to be bored. Sad, yes. Angry, yes. Depressed, yes. Crazy, yes. But there's no excuse for boredom, ever. - Viggo Mortensen


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## Xue Sheng (Nov 24, 2009)

Strange day I guess, but this is running through my noggin today



> The Road Not Taken
> 
> Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
> And sorry I could not travel both
> ...


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## Xue Sheng (Nov 25, 2009)

Interesting day today, at least for me;

After a year of not much luck with my personal health, gastroenteritis, sleep apnea, broken foot, stretched ligaments in my knee, etc. I am not all that happy with my job and I am most certainly not all that happy with the health bits and DAMN IT I cant train like I would like. Not that the year has been all bad, found a great house after all. 

But I was flipping through a book (Chuck Norris book The secret power within) I have read before (at least twice) and something hit me pretty hard, that I have read before with little of no effect, that was the very first line of the very first chapter of the book



> If we dont change the direction we are going, we will likely end up where we are heading  Chinese saying



I just wanted to post this
:asian:


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## Xue Sheng (Dec 1, 2009)

Well my demented little noggin has returned to where it began with this and since I am back where I started it is time for me to end it where it began



> *The Path With The Heart*
> 
> From Carlos Castaneda: "Don Juan's Teaching"
> 
> ...


 
Thanks for putting up with my occasional trips philosophical :asian:


THE END


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## xJOHNx (Dec 1, 2009)

Xue Sheng said:


> Descartes


His cognito ergo sum is one of the most misused ones there is.
Not to nitpick, or sound supirior.

What he actually said was:
"I doubt, therefor I think, therefor I am"
As his whole philosophy was based around doubting everything. Something that can still be found in modernWestern Medicine. By differential diagnosis.

good thread sir! Loved reading every bit of it!


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## Xue Sheng (Dec 2, 2010)

OK...I lied..its not the end... I saw this and it hit a nerve so I felt I had to post it


And HEY!!! Whaddaya know... It&#8217;s actually Thursday




> I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. ~Gilda Radner


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## Xue Sheng (Dec 9, 2010)

Everything seems to happen on Thursday&#8230; well except for those things that don&#8217;t 

Going to take some time off, train some CMA, play my Classical Guitar again, relax, take it easy and just not post for a bit&#8230; it is time for a break :asian:



> I'm thinking of retiring from all my dirty deals
> I'll see you in the next life, wake me up for meals


 







Oh and *Happy Holidays* to all&#8230; or as I generally say *Happy Christmas* and a *Merry New Year*


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## Xue Sheng (Feb 7, 2011)

Told ya I'd be back

No reason for the following other than I like it


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