The priority we give to material goods in our life is up to each of us to determine. This is also part of deciding how we want to define ourselves. If we are looking to our jobs and to material things to tell us how we are, what we are worth, and where we fit in the world, this is a sign that we have become profoundly confused about the order of things. It shows we have missed the point about how we human beings stand in relation to the material world.
17th Karmapa
from the book The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out
translated by Ngodup Tsering Burkhar & Damchö Diana Finnegan
Read a random quote or see all quotes by the 17th Karmapa.
Further quotes from the book The Heart Is Noble:
- Taking delight in your inner nature
- Reality is your teacher
- We need space to grow and learn from our own mistakes
- Interdependent reality
- Protective Inner Wisdom
- The Wealth of Contentment
- Social action
- Life in Balance
- Boxing Love with Our Expectations
- Just Love
- There are no fixed starting points
- Nothing is intrinsically bad
- Difference without Division
- Breaking barriers
- Healthy relationships
- Take joy in your sincere intentions
- Finding our nobility of heart
- Authentic love toward others
- There are no fixed starting points
- Expanding our sense of ourselves