“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone." A corollary: don't do anything today you can put off and do tomorrow; tomorrow may never come, so why have regrets of having wasted your time in life doing something that didn't need to be done; this is wisdom, not laziness. Taken together, Picasso's proposition and the corollary guide us to live without regrets....
Those who live in a city and view others who live in the suburbs as provincial are themselves provincial, viewing the world through simple categories....
Between the drum beats of the pulse between the motion of breathing there is an empty space where all is still. When young, I anxiously waited in the empty space for the next beat or breath to engage my attention. Now, I rest in the empty space where nothingness reigns. From here, I can appreciate the wonder of creation....
"You have to die a few times before you can really live." Every evening we die, every morning we are born again; some resemblance to the person we were yesterday. Other than the similar to yesterday's circumstances in which we find ourselves when we are reborn in the morning, everything is completely new today, unique. This newness stirs us and we can awaken to really live the only life we ever have which is today. When we identify with the person we were in past lives (passed days of our lives as it's conventionally known) and believe that person never died (that we are that same person today), we experience today in the context of our past; a life based on stories our mind has created. Unless we recognize we died heretofore, we cannot really live....
When we purchase an artwork, we are in fact purchasing two things, the thing and its price. The discerning buyer knows that. The sophisticated buyer does not. The discerning buyer, by definition, has good judgement; can see the quality of something and it's relative price. The sophisticated buyer knows much about fashion and culture. However, they are often a sucker for sophism, a specious argument used for deception. They look at an artwork with their ears, not their eyes....
"The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind." When the mind is calm it doesn't engage us in a wrestling match. We can then deploy it to observe the infinite manifestations of the universe and create an order of things that make temporary sense of it all. In the preceding sentence, the second "it" is ambiguous; unclear if "it" refers to mind or universe or both or neither. Maybe all that can be said is that it is what it is whatever it is....
Best we keep our eyes open if we want to follow our dreams. If we're passionate about a career but lack the talent to make dollars, it doesn't make sense. But a singer with a lot of passion and no talent can be successful as a comedian....
"Be open to everything and attached to nothing." This concept didn't sit well with my wife, until I explained it. Being open to everything means we realize the universe is endless realities and possibilities. When we are attached to nothing, we don't take any reality or possibility too seriously or confuse any as the sole expression of reality. This is the essence of wisdom. Nothing is what everything is before it is what it is whatever it is. Nothing is the essence of reality. When we are attached to nothing we are one with everything. This leads to compassion as we thus treat everything as we treat ourselves. It is wisdom (realizing infinite perspectives and possibilities) and compassion (oneness with the infinite expressions of reality) that open the door to enlightenment....
The phrase "it's all downhill from here" can be interpreted variously: going forward things will get easier or things will worsen. It's meaning reflects our attitude. For example, through much of our lives we have more time than money and we trade our time for money. However, at some point we crossover, we have more money than time. It's all downhill from here as our lives are now relatively easy as we are financially free to do as we wish or it's all downhill from here if we think our life will progressively worsen as we run out of time....
After all the time and effort spent on the meditations, the retreats, the rituals, the costumes, the holidays, etc. and especially embracing the abstract concepts explaining our destiny after death, hopefully we awaken with the sound of our hysterically laughing at the absurdity of it all. If not, our time and efforts have been for little but maintaining the obstacles others face on the path to enlightenment....