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
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Further quotes from the book Interconnected :
- A genuine sense of affection
- Individualism or interdependence
- The power of our senses
- Gratitude
- The full vividness of direct contact
- Self-discipline
- Inner conditions of interdependence
- Dismantling the walls that separate us
- You exist in connection with others
- Extend yourself and connect
- Remaining indifferent to the suffering of animals
- The opportunity to love
- Our life is like a vast net
- Time to act
- The air we breathe
- Extending gratitude in all directions
- An important source of closeness and love
- The imagination to see the other as free and happy
- Self-reliance
- Knowing more is not a substitute for feeling more