The Real Work

     This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making me happy.
     I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and, as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.
     I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I've got to hold up for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
— George Bernard Shaw, quoted in Susan Jeffers, Ph.D.,
Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, p. 186.

....I have come to believe there are only two kinds of experiences in life: those that stem from our Higher Self and those that have something to teach us. We recognize the first as pure joy and the latter as struggle. But they are both perfect. Each time we confront some intense difficulty, we know there is something we haven't learned yet, and the Universe is now giving us the opportunity to learn. If we go through the experience with this in mind, all the "victim" is taken out of the situation, and we allow ourselves to say YES.

The challenge is to stay on the Path of the Higher Self .... don't be deceived into thinking that by changing the external, the internal will be changed. It works the other way around.
— Susan Jeffers, Ph.D., Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, p. 215.

On the road of desire, do not gladly dip your fingers
     into the pot just because it happens to be there.
Once you have stuck them in and tasted what is inside,
You will try to put them in ten thousands fathoms deep.
On the road of principle, do not step back even a
     little, hesitating over the difficulties.
Once you have stepprd back in retreat,
You will be separated from your goal by the
     ranges of a thousand mountains.
— Hung Ying-ming, The Roots of Wisdom - Saikontan,
Wm. Scott Wilson (tr.), Book I, #40.

Reading books but not seeing the wisdom and intelligence within
     This is being a slave to paper and print.
Being of high rank and not loving the people:
     This is a thief wearing ceremonial robes.
Lecturing on learned subjects but not giving proper
     respect to putting them in action:
     This is Zen of the mouth alone.
Performing great achievements but giving no thought
     to the seeds of virtue for the future:
     This is but flowers blooming and withering
     before the eyes.
— Hung Ying-ming, Ibid., #56.

The restive horse that has overturned the carriage
     Can, at last, be made to run properly.
The melting metal that leaps out of the mold
     Can, in the end, be returned to the cast.
But the man who lives only in peaceful amusement
     without rousing himself to action
Will, until the end of his life, make no progress at all.
Pai Sha* said, "There are many ailments involved
     in becoming a man, but none are sufficient
     to make him hide his face in shame."
     "I lament only the man who lives his
     life without any ailment at all."
This is truly a solid argument.
— Hung Ying-ming, Ibid, #77.
*Chen Pai Sha (1428-1499)

The peace that comes from peaceful surroundings is not true peace:
     Only in peace obtained in the midst of activity
Is found the true sphere of one's original nature.
The pleasure that comes from pleasureful surroundings
     is not true pleasure:
     Only with the pleasure obtained in the midst of suffering
Can one see the true movements of the mind.
Those things pleasant to the taste
     Are all poisons; they inflame the intestines and rot the bones.
If one will halve his portions of them, he should be
     without divine reproach.
— Hung Ying-ming, Ibid, #88.

Fortune beyond one's status,
Things entrusted to one for no reason:
If these are not snares set by the Creator of Things,
     They are traps laid by the world at large.
In such places, if one does not fix his eyes high,
     He will rarely fail to fall to their tricks.
— Hung Ying-ming, The Roots of Wisdom - Saikontan,
Wm. Scott Wilson (tr.), Book II, #127.