Where there is love

© Hector Lee, 2010

Where there is love, there is pain.

--Spanish Proverb

the truth that many people never understand

The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt.

Thomas Merton.

I think that taking life seriously

I think that taking life seriously means something such as this: that whatever man does on this planet has to be done in the lived truth of the terror of creation, of the grotesque, of the rumble of panic underneath everything. Otherwise it is false. Whatever is achieved must be achieved with the full exercise of passion, of vision, of pain, of fear, and of sorrow. How do we know ... that our part of the meaning of the universe might not be a rhythm in sorrow.

--Ernest Becker.

When it is dark enough

© Hector Lee, 2010

When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.

--Persian proverb

You desire to know the art of living

You desire to know the art of living, my friend? It is contained in one phrase: make use of suffering.

--Henri-Frédéric Amiel.

In the depth of winter

© Hector Lee, 2010

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was within me an invincible summer.

--Albert Camus.

As I struggle professionally to find my teaching niche, to feel that my work is generative, and ponder changes, this quote spoke to me. I want to struggle and gnaw with this problem. I want my strength to come from failure and flailing. I want to be courageous in facing my challenges even as my body recoils and my heart falters and my mind darkens with helplessness. I wish to leave my suffering but not at the expense of fleeing it.

People have a hard time

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.

--Thich Nhat Hanh.

Man has to suffer

Man has to suffer. When he has no real afflictions, he invents some.

--Jose Martí

We stand

© Hector Lee, 2010

We stand, as it were, on the shore, and see multitudes of our fellow beings struggling in the water, stretching forth their arms, sinking, drowning, and we are powerless to assist them.

--Felix Adler.