This may be helpful to keep in mind if at times we find ourselves progressing more slowly than we had hoped. Once we realize that our personalities are not fixed and that we can decide to actively change them, we might become inspired and expect to be able to push ourselves to change rapidly. But compassion and other inner qualities are not solid things that we can just decide to acquire, install, and power on. They do not exist as discrete or unrelated entities but rather need to be cultivated gradually, over time, and in concert with other qualities.
17th Karmapa
from the book Interconnected: Embracing Life in Our Global Society
Read a random quote or see all quotes by the 17th Karmapa.
Further quotes from the book Interconnected:
- The deeper common ground all living being share
- Collective actions and attitudes
- Delight in positive thoughts
- Our intimate dependence on the natural environment
- Interdependent individuals
- Opening up to the view of interconnectedness
- A main condition for our selfishness
- Outer and inner world
- Self-reliance
- The best way to love oneself
- Everything and everyone is benefiting you
- Limitless aspirations
- When we ignore our interdependence
- Freedom
- We hold nothing back
- Keeping the door to improvement open
- Thinking about the consequences of our collective actions
- Naturalness
- The workings of interdependence