“We are Capable of So Much More”
“It was not the thought that I was so unloved that froze me. I had taught myself to do without love.
It was not the thought that God was cruel that froze me. I had taught myself never to expect anything from Him.
What froze me was the fact that I had absolutely no reason to move in any direction. What had made me move through so many dead and pointless years was curiosity.
Now even that had flickered out.
How long I stood frozen there, I cannot say. If I was ever going to move again, someone else was going to have to furnish the reason for moving.
Somebody did.
A policeman watched me for a while, and then he came over to me, and he said, ‘You alright?’
‘Yes,’ I said.
‘You’ve been standing here a long time,” he said.
‘I know,’ I said.
‘You waiting for somebody?’ he said.
‘No,’ I said.
‘Better move on, don’t you think?’ he said.
‘Yes, sir,’ I said.
And I moved on.” (Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night)
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“I think it’s just as likely that someone could say that this place, right here, is heaven, hell and earth all at the same time. And we still wouldn’t know what to do differently. Everyone just muddles through, trying not to make too many mistakes.” (David Wroblewski, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle)
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“Sometimes we give up a dream to play a larger role in someone else’s dream.” (Robert Brault)
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“Most people create a destiny of minutiae, of the mundane. They create their own limitations. When the moment comes for them to stretch and leap, they find themselves boxed in, locked down by their own fears.” (Bill Blais, No Good Deed)
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“If you have a belief and you come against an experience which the belief says is not possible, or, the experience is such that you have to drop the belief, what are you going to choose — the belief or the experience? The tendency of the mind is to choose the belief, to forget about the experience. That’s how you have been missing many opportunities when God has knocked at your door.” (Osho)
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“So often we only do what we think is expected of us, when we are capable of so much more.” (Cynthia Hand, Unearthly)
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