Latest Blog Posts — Page 10

Oath

In a state of grace with myself, I do not abandon myself when the going is tough or should others find me antithetical in any way in their frames of reference. Loyalty means care and kindness at all times, and particularly when they are needed to reduce the pain of difficult times. I never, absolutely never, side with anyone who is against my welfare, I aid nobody who detracts from my dignity, who makes me feel less than human either through subhuman onslaughts or superhuman demands. I fight or avoid people whose effect is ultimately destructive to my validity as a person, or who in any way dilute my ability to take myself seriously.
Compassion and Self-Hate, Theodore Issac Rubin

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Domestic Disobedience

You can resolve to live your life with integrity.
Let your credo be this:
Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph.
But not through me.
— Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Lecture (1972)

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Bismillah

You are so weak. Give up to grace.
The ocean takes care of each wave
till it gets to shore.
You need more help than you know.
You’re trying to live your life in open scaffolding.
Say Bismillah, In the name of God,
as the priest does with a knife when he offers an animal.

Bismillah your old self
to find your real name.

– Jalal Al-Din Rumi

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Victory

If you know the enemy and know yourself,
you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
If you know yourself but not the enemy,
for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
If you know neither the enemy or yourself,
you will succumb in every battle.
-Sun Tzu, The Art of War

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