And they say: 'None shall enter Paradise unless he be a Jew or a Christian.' Those are their vain desires. Say: 'Produce your proof if ye are truthful.'
Nay, whoever submits his whole self to God and is a doer of a good, he will get his reward with his Lord; on such shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.

{Al-Qur'an, 2:111-2:112)

------------------------------------------------

On ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

{Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Le Petit Prince}

------------------------------------------------

Tum meray ho jao, Me tera ho jaounga.
(tr: Become Mine, and I will become yours.)
{God}

------------------------------------------------

Do not assume that she who seeks to comfort you now, lives untroubled among the simple and quiet words that sometimes do you good. Her life may also have much sadness and difficulty, that remains far beyond yours. Were it otherwise, she would never have been able to find these words.

{Rainer Maria Rilke}

------------------------------------------------

The Autumn Willow knew what the Storm did not; that the power to endure harm outlives the power to inflict it.
{Anon}

————————————————

They said the birds refused to sing and the thermometer fell suddenly as if God Himself had His breath stolen away. No one there dared speak aloud, as much in shame as in sorrow. They uncovered the bodies one by one. The eyes of the dead were closed as if waiting for permission to open them. Were they still dreaming of ice cream and monkey bars? Of birthday cake and no future but the afternoon? Or had their innocence been taken along with their lives buried in the cold earth so long ago? These fates seemed too cruel, even for God to allow. Or are the tragic young born again when the world's not looking? I want to believe so badly; in a truth beyond our own hidden and obscured from all but the most sensitive eyes...

In the endless procession of souls... in what cannot and will not be destroyed. I want to believe we are unaware of God's eternal recompense and sadness. That we cannot see His truth. That that which is born still lives and cannot be buried in the cold earth. But only waits to be born again at God's behest... where in ancient starlight we lay in repose.

{Fox Mulder, The X-Files}

------------------------------------------------

Look at everything as if you were seeing it for the first or last time.

{Betty Smith}

------------------------------------------------

Time passes in moments. Moments which, rushing past, define the path of a life, just as surely as they lead towards its end. How rarely do we stop to examine that path, to see the reasons why all things happen? To consider whether the path we take in life is our own making, or simply one into which we drift with eyes closed?
But what if we could stop, pause to take stock of each precious moment before it passes? Might we then see the endless forks in the road that have shaped a life? And, seeing those choices, choose another path?

{Dana Scully, The X-Files}

------------------------------------------------

I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.

{Jorge Luis Borges, El Hacedor}

------------------------------------------------

If the eyes shed no tears, the soul would have no rainbow.

{Anon}

------------------------------------------------

The final mystery is oneself.

{Oscar Wilde}

------------------------------------------------

He drew a circle that shut me out: Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in.

{Edward Markham, 'Outwitted'}

------------------------------------------------

God hides things by putting them all around us.

{Anon}

------------------------------------------------

We are not human beings on a spiritual journey; we are spiritual beings on a human journey.

{Stephen Covey}

------------------------------------------------ 

Inside my empty bottle I was constructing a lighthouse, while all the others were making ships.
{Charles Simic}

------------------------------------------------

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
{Plato}

————————————————

Whatever happened to playing a hunch, Scully? The element of surprise, random acts of unpredictability? If we fail to anticipate the unforeseen or expect the unexpected in a universe of infinite possibilites, we may find ourselves at the mercy of anyone or anything that cannot be programmed, categorized or easily referenced.

{Fox Mulder, The X-Files}

------------------------------------------------

Scully: Mulder, it's such a gorgeous day outside. Have you ever entertained the idea of trying to find life on this planet?
Mulder: I've seen the life on this planet, Scully, and that is exactly why I'm looking elsewhere.

{The X-Files}

------------------------------------------------

Go to the edge of the cliff and jump off. Build your wings on the way down.

{Ray Bradbury}

------------------------------------------------

Like the wind crying endlessly through the universe, Time carries away the names and the deeds of conquerors and commoners alike. And all that we are, all that remains, is in the memories of those who cared we came this way for a brief moment.

{Harlan Ellison}

------------------------------------------------

Alone on a train, aimless in wander
An outdated map crumpled in my pocket
But I didn't care where I was going
Because they're all different names for the same place

The coast disappeared when the sea drowned the sun
And I knew no words to share it with anyone
The boundaries of language I quietly cursed
And all the different names for the same thing

{Ben Gibbard}

------------------------------------------------

Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost.

{Milan Kundera}

------------------------------------------------

There is neither happiness nor misery in the world;
there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more.
He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness.
We must have felt what it is to die
that we may appreciate the enjoyments of living.
Never forget that until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man,
all human wisdom is summed up in these two words--
`wait and hope.'

{Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo}

------------------------------------------------

We are told from childhood onward that everything we want to do is impossible. We grow up with this idea, and as the years accumulate, so too do the layers of prejudice, fear and guilt. There comes a time when our personal calling is so deeply buried in our soul as to be invisible. But it’s still there.

{Paolo Coelho, The Alchemist}

------------------------------------------------

If I never meet you in this life, let me feel the loss.

{Anon}

------------------------------------------------

Let the beauty you love be what you do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

{Rumi}

------------------------------------------------

"So shines a good deed in a weary world..."

{Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice}

------------------------------------------------

To live is rare indeed; most people merely exist.

{Anon}

------------------------------------------------

One kind word can warm three winter months.

{Japanese proverb}

------------------------------------------------

The Shell
by Molly Drake

Living grows round us like a skin
To shut away the outer desolation
For if we clearly mark the furthest deep
We should be dead long years before the grave
But turning around within the homely shell
Of worry, discontent, and narrow joy
We grow and flourish
And rarely see the outside dark that would confound our eyes

Some break the shell
I think that there are those that push their fingers through the brittle walls
And make a hole
And through this cruel slit
Stare out across the cinders of the world with naked eyes
They look both out and in
Knowing them selves and too much else beside.

------------------------------------------------

The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: a human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To them, a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death.
Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create -- so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, their very breath is cut off...
They must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency, they are not really alive unless they are creating.

{Pearl S. Buck}

------------------------------------------------

Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.
{John Lennon}

———————————————— 

If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.
{Albert Einstein}

————————————————

If men can run the world, why can’t they stop wearing neckties? How intelligent is it to start the day by tying a little noose around your neck?
{Linda Ellerbee}

———————————————-

For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.
{Vincent van Gogh}

————————————————

I will not serve God as a laborer, in expectation of my wages.
{Rabia al-Adawiyyah}

————————————————

Your task is not to seek love,
but to seek out the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
{Rumi}

————————————————

Not all who wander are lost.
{JRR Tolkein}

————————————————

Don’t use the phone. People are never ready to answer it. Use poetry.
{Jack Kerouac}

————————————————

Masjid Dha De, Mandir Dha De
Dha De Jo Kujh Disda
Par Kissay Da Dil Na Dhawee(n)
Rub Dilaa(n) Wich Wasda

tr: Break the masjid, break the temple
Break whatever you want
But never break anyone’s heart;
the heart is where God lives
{Bulleh Shah}

————————————————

Finding answers is forgetting all of the questions we called home; passing the graves of the unknown.

{TY}

------------------------------------------------

Sometimes the only sane answer to an insane world is insanity.

{Fox Mulder, The X-Files}

------------------------------------------------

From now on I hope always to educate myself as best I can. But lacking this, in future I will relaxedly turn back to my secret mind to see what it has observed when I thought I was sitting this one out. We never sit anything out. We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.

{Ray Bradbury}

------------------------------------------------

In a lifetime of empty rooms, this was another.

 {Dorothy Dunnett, The Game of Kings}

------------------------------------------------

The shadows of our own desires stand between us and our better angels, and thus their brightness is eclipsed.

{Charles Dickinson, Barnaby Rudge}

------------------------------------------------

We are all so much together, but we are all dying of loneliness.

{Albert Schweitzer}

------------------------------------------------

Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace.

{Oscar Wilde}

------------------------------------------------

I want to live where soul meets body

And let the sun wrap its arms around me
And bathe my skin in water cool and cleansing
And feel, feel what it's like to be new

Because in my head there's a Greyhound station
Where I send my thoughts to far-off destinations
So they may have a chance of finding a place
Where they're far more suited than here

{Ben Gibbard}

------------------------------------------------

I sometimes think that people’s hearts are like deep wells. Nobody knows what’s at the bottom. All you can do is imagine by what comes floating to the surface every once in a while.

{Haruki Murakami}

------------------------------------------------

If you can't read and write you can't think. Your thoughts are dispersed if you don't know how to read and write. You've got to be able to look at your thoughts on paper and discover what a fool you were.

{Ray Bradbury}

------------------------------------------------

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

{Oscar Wilde}

------------------------------------------------

These are the times of dreamy quietude, when beholding the tranquil beauty and brilliancy of the ocean's skin, one forgets the tiger heart that pants beneath it; and would not willingly remember, that this velvet paw but conceals a remorseless fang.

{Herman Melville, Moby Dick}

------------------------------------------------

I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny to Harold Skimpole what it concedes to the butterflies.

{Charles Dickens, Bleak House}

------------------------------------------------

Your task is not to seek love,

but to seek out the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

{Rumi}

------------------------------------------------

Time is fleeting; art is eternal.

{Hippocrates}

------------------------------------------------

"You touch the dream within my soul."

{Anon}

------------------------------------------------

The Atlantic was born today and I'll tell you how
The clouds above opened up and let it out
I was standing on the surface of a perforated sphere
When the water filled every hole
And thousands upon thousands made an ocean
Making islands where no island should go
Most people were overjoyed; they took to their boats
I thought it less like a lake and more like a moat
The rhythm of my footsteps crossing flatlands to your door
Have been silenced forevermore
The distance is quite simply much too far for me to row
It seems farther than ever before

Oh no... I need you so much closer, I need you so much closer.

{Ben Gibbard}

------------------------------------------------

There are four questions of value in life… What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for, and what is worth dying for? The answer to each is the same. Only love.

{Johnny Depp}

------------------------------------------------

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

{Howard Thurman}

------------------------------------------------

I know not if this earth on which I stand is the core of the universe or if it is but a speck of dust lost in eternity. I know not and I care not. For I know what happiness is possible to me on earth.

{Ayn Rand, Anthem}

------------------------------------------------

Run your fingers through my soul. For once, just once, feel exactly what I feel, believe what I believe, perceive as I perceive, look, experience, examine, and for once, just once, understand.

 {Sarah Otto}

------------------------------------------------

Love is a flame, burning away all that is not God.

{Rumi}

------------------------------------------------

She better liked to see him free and happy, even than to have him near her, because she loved him better than herself.

{Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge}

------------------------------------------------

That quiet mutual gaze of a trusting husband and wife is like the first moment of rest or refuge from a great weariness or a great danger--not to be interfered with by speech or action which would distract the sensations from the fresh enjoyment of repose.

{George Eliot, Silas Marner}

----------------------------------------------

A human being is part of a whole, called by us the 'Universe,' a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us.

Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

{Albert Einstein}

----------------------------------------------

Men can never be free because they're weak , corrupt, worthless and restless. The people believe in authority. They've grown tired of waiting for miracle and mystery. Science is their religion. No greater explanation exists for them. They must never believe any differently if the Project is to go forward.

{Cigarette Smoking Man, The X-Files}

------------------------------------------------

We live, as we dream-- alone. . . .

{Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness}

------------------------------------------------

"The human heart," he murmured, "is the tomb of many feelings."

{John Galsworthy, Fraternity}

------------------------------------------------

Now is the time to understand that all your ideas of right and wrong were just a child's training wheels to be laid aside when you could finally live with veracity and love.

{Hafiz, transl. by Daniel Ladinsky}

------------------------------------------------

No mockery in this world ever sounds to me so hollow as that of being told to cultivate happiness. What does such advice mean? Happiness is not a potato.

{Charlotte Bronte, Villette}

------------------------------------------------

If I must die, I will encounter darkness as a bride and hug it in mine arms.

{Shakespeare, Measure for Measure}

------------------------------------------------

I was not afraid to die;
but to die without being enlightened.

{Comte de Saint-Germain, La Tres Sainte-Trinisophie}

------------------------------------------------

There are only two ways to live life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.

{Albert Einstein}

------------------------------------------------

You've asked if I'm OK eleven times now,
I've told you I feel fine.
Yes, I like the table you've chosen.
Yes, I'm having a good time.
No, I don't want a sip of your beer.
No, the music is not too loud.
Yes, I'm happy to be sitting here,
I just like to watch the crowd.

You could call me antisocial, I've called myself that sometimes too,
but I just prefer to be alone, and that's nothing against you.

You could call and there's no answer,
chances are I'm not home.
You could call and there's no answer,
chances are I'm just not answering my phone.

You could call me antisocial, I've called myself that a time or two,
but I just prefer to be alone, and that's nothing against you.

Today's a sweet day to get away.
Perhaps I might go for a walk.
I can hear those corn fields calling me.
Funny, but I didn't think a corn field could talk.
I don't think that I will bathe today, I think I smell alright to me.
I think Ill find a forest and take off all my clothes and lie down naked in the leaves.

You could call me antisocial, I've called myself that sometimes too,
but I just prefer to be alone, and that's nothing against you.
No, no, that's nothing against you.

{Dawud Wharnsby Ali, The Antisocial Song}

------------------------------------------------

there'll be a fire burning in the temple of our peace
there'll be a soaring voice for our silent pleas
we will hold our broken circle and begin to pray
we will find a black and white in the gray

and we will be as one god
and we will be as one people

we will find illumination in unnatural light
you will travel a thousand miles without leaving my sight
we will find we never knew hatred ran so deep
such a wide, wide chasm of faith to leap

but we will be as one god
and we will be as one people

there will be an evolution of the human soul
we will know that to be a part is to be truly whole
we will know the pattern of centuries rise and fall
we will know that the fate of one is the fate of all

and we will be as one god
and we will be as one people

{Vienna Teng}

------------------------------------------------

Joy and grief were mingled in the cup; but there were no bitter tears: for even grief itself arose so softened, and clothed in such sweet and tender recollections, that it became a solemn pleasure, and lost all character of pain.

{Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist}

------------------------------------------------

Arms outstretched and we're ready to soar, terrestrial nightmares don't hurt anymore, leave all our troubles behind as we climb, safe in the knowledge that we've escaped time.

{Perfume Tree}

------------------------------------------------

Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.

{Mary Shelley, Frankenstein}

------------------------------------------------

We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.

{Johann Wolfgang von Goethe}

------------------------------------------------

Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.

{Shakespeare, Julius Caesar}

------------------------------------------------

There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man.

{Edgar Allen Poe, The Black Cat}

------------------------------------------------

Greatness is always built upon this foundation: the ability to appear, speak, and act as the most common man.

{Hafiz}

------------------------------------------------

The chief proof of man's real greatness lies in his perception of his own smallness.

{Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of the Four}

------------------------------------------------

If you could say, with truth, to your own solitary heart, to-night, 'I have secured to myself the love and attachment, the gratitude or respect, of no human creature; I have won myself a tender place in no regard; I have done nothing good or serviceable to be remembered by!' your seventy-eight years would be seventy-eight heavy curses; would they not?

{Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities}

------------------------------------------------

People keep telling me that I fall in love too easily- that I should protect my heart, that I shouldn’t wear my heart on my sleeve… I fall in love at least 20 times a day. I fall in love with the sky and the sun and the flowers and my children. I fall in love with smiles, with music on the radio and with french fries and Dr. Pepper. I fall in love with the sound of laughter, blue jeans, accents…

Sometimes I fall in love with complete strangers, especially the ones holding hands and kissing in public. The ones who aren’t afraid to be in love with the idea of being in love either. I don’t mind the pain of unrequited love so much, because I think they’re wrong. Love looks good on me.

{Natalie Anne Erlanson}

------------------------------------------------

"I carry my own church about under my own hat," said I. "Bricks and mortar won't make a staircase to heaven. I believe with your Master that the human heart is the best temple."

{Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Stark Munro Letters}

------------------------------------------------

When you start to know someone, all their physical characteristics start to disappear.  You begin to dwell in their energy, recognize the scent of their skin.  You see only the essence of the person, not the shell.  That’s why you can’t fall in love with beauty.  You can lust after it, be infatuated by it, want to own it.  You can love it with your eyes and your body but not your heart.  And that’s why, when you really connect with a person’s inner self, any physical imperfections disappear, become irrelevant.

{Lisa Unger, Beautiful Lies}

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------

Stillness will meet you for tea or a walk by the ocean. You must be gentle when you approach her. She is more sensitive than we can even imagine and she does not explain herself much. Sometimes I bring her flowers- not because she needs them (she tends several gardens)- but because I am better able to meet her when I am carrying flowers. Her favorite time is dawn.

-----------------

Suffering teaches philosophy on a part-time basis. She likes the icy days in February when she can stay home from school, make thick soups, and catch up on her reading. With her white skin and dark hair she even looks like winter. She has a slender face and dramatic cheekbones.

Suffering's reputation troubles her. Certain people adore her and talk about her as if knowing her gives them a special status. Other people despise her; when they see her across the aisle at the supermarket, they look the other way. Even though Suffering is considered a formidable instructor, she is actually quite compassionate. She feels lonely around students who dislike her. It is even more painful to be around those who idealize her. She is proud only because she recognizes the value of her lessons.

{J. Ruth Gendler, The Book of Qualities}

-------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Can the brain transcend itself to explain itself?

{Anon}

------------------------------------------------

For it is the mind which creates the world about us, and, even though we stand side by side in the same meadow, my eyes will never see what is beheld by yours, my heart will never stir to the emotions with which yours is touched.

{George Gissing, The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft}

------------------------------------------------

Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies?

{Erich Fromm}

------------------------------------------------

For the man sound in body and serene of mind there is no such thing as bad weather; every sky has its beauty, and storms which whip the blood do but make it pulse more vigorously.

{George Gissing, The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft}

------------------------------------------------

"Do you know," Peter asked "why swallows build in the eaves of houses? It is to listen to the stories."

{JM Barrie, Peter Pan}

------------------------------------------------

This wounded earth we walk upon
She will endure when we are gone
But still I pray that you may know
How rivers run and rivers flow

{Karine Polwart: Rivers Run}

------------------------------------------------

Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.

{Mark Twain, 'Tom Sawyer'}

------------------------------------------------

All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever present perils of life.

{Herman Melville, Moby Dick}

------------------------------------------------

Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need - a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing.

{Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat}

------------------------------------------------

Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts.

{Charles Dickens, Great Expectations}

------------------------------------------------

In our nature, however, there is a provision, alike marvellous and merciful, that the sufferer should never know the intensity of what he endures by its present torture, but chiefly by the pang that rankles after it.

{Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

------------------------------------------------

If there is no one beside you
When your soul embarks,
I'll follow you into the dark

{Ben Gibbard}

------------------------------------------------

Though the earth was cold and wet, the sky was clear, and the sun rose bright, placid, and beautiful.

{Charles Dickinson, A Tale of Two Cities}

------------------------------------------------

I can live for two months on a good compliment.

{Mark Twain}

------------------------------------------------

There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast it is all a sham.

{Anna Sewell, Black Beauty}

------------------------------------------------

What such people miscall their religion, is a vent for their bad humours and arrogance.

{Charles Dickens, David Copperfield}

------------------------------------------------

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace,
where there is hatred, let me sow love,
where there is injury, pardon,
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned
and it is in dying, that we are born to eternal life.

{Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi}

------------------------------------------------

Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is far worse than the suffering itself - and no heart has ever suffered when it has gone in search of its dreams.

{Paolo Coelho, The Alchemist}

------------------------------------------------

It was always the becoming he dreamed of, never the being.

{F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise}

------------------------------------------------

Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last.

{Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre}

------------------------------------------------

Few people can resist doing what is universally expected of them. This invisible pressure is more difficult to stand against than individual tyranny.

{Charles Dudley Warner, That Fortune}

------------------------------------------------

It began with an act of supreme violence -- a big bang expanding ever outward, cosmos born of matter and gas, matter and gas ten billion years ago. Whose idea was this? Who had the audacity for such invention? And the reason? Were we part of that plan ten billion years ago? Are we born only to die? To be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth before giving way to our generations? If there is a beginning, must there be an end? We burn like fires in our time only to be extinguished. To surrender to the elements' eternal reclaim. Matter and gas... will this all end one day? Life no longer passing to life, the Earth left barren like the stars above, like the cosmos. Will the hand that lit the flame let it burn down? Let it burn out? Could we, too, become extinct? Or if this fire of life living inside us is meant to go on, who decides? Who tends the flames? Can he reignite the spark even as it grows cold and weak?

{Dana Scully, The X-Files}

------------------------------------------------

Women are meant to be loved, not to be understood.

{Oscar Wilde, The Sphinx Without a Secret}

------------------------------------------------

Most persons have died before they expire,--died to all earthly longings, so that the last breath is only, as it were, the locking of the door of the already deserted mansion.

{Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Professor at the Breakfast Table}

------------------------------------------------ 

Laughter which cannot be suppressed is catching. Sooner or later it washes away our defenses, and undermines our dignity, and we join in it -- ashamed of our weakness, and embittered against the cause of its exposure, but no matter, we have to join in, there is no help for it.

{Mark Twain}

------------------------------------------------

"Once upon a time there were three little pigs. They didn't build any houses because pigs lack opposable thumbs.
They lived in the woods and ate fruit and leaves. No wolves ever attacked them. THE END."
-The Brain from 'Arthur'

------------------------------------------------

Everyone, at some point in their lives, wakes up in the middle of the night with the feeling that they are all alone in the world, and that nobody loves them now and that nobody will ever love them, and that they will never have a decent night’s sleep again and will spend their lives wandering blearily around a loveless landscape, hoping desperately that their circumstances will improve, but suspecting, in their heart of hearts, that they will remain unloved forever.

The best thing to do in these circumstances is to wake somebody else up, so that they can feel this way.

{Lemony Snicket}

------------------------------------------------

What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but, scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.

{Joseph Addison}

------------------------------------------------

It is always easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.

{Alfred Adler}

------------------------------------------------

So complex is the human spirit that it can itself scarce discern the deep springs which impel it to action.

{Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The White Company

-----------------------------------------------

The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what's true.

{Carl Sagan}

------------------------------------------------

I’m not the silly romantic you think. I don’t want the heavens or the shooting stars. I don’t want gemstones or gold. I have those things already. I want…a steady hand. A kind soul. I want to fall asleep, and wake, knowing my heart is safe. I want to love, and be loved.

{Shana Abe}

------------------------------------------------

“I’ve crossed these sands many times, “ said one of the camel drivers one night. “But the desert is so huge, and the horizon so distant, that they make a person feel small, and as if he should remain silent.” The boy intuitively knew what he meant, even without having ever set foot in the desert before. Whenever he saw the sea, or a fire, he fell silent, impressed by their elemental force. I’ve learned things from the sheep, and I’ve learned things from crystal, he thought. I can learn something from the desert, too. It seems old and wise.

{Paolo Coelho, The Alchemist}

------------------------------------------------

She was perfectly quiet now, but not asleep--only soothed by sweet porridge and warmth into that wide-gazing calm which makes us older human beings, with our inward turmoil, feel a certain awe in the presence of a little child, such as we feel before some quiet majesty or beauty in the earth or sky--before a steady glowing planet, or a full-flowered eglantine, or the bending trees over a silent pathway.

{George Eliot, Silas Marner}

------------------------------------------------

I was first struck by the absence of time, having depended on it so completely as a measure of myself and my life. Moving backwards into the perpetual night - it consumes purpose, indeed, all passion and will. I come to you, old friend, with the dull clarity of the dead, not to beckon, you but to feel the fire and intensity that still live in you... and the heavy weight of your burdens which I had once borne. There is truth you know, friend, if that's all you seek, but there's no justice or judgment, without which truth is a vast... dead... hollow. Go back. Do not look into the abyss or let the abyss look into you; awaken the sleep of reason and fight the monsters within and without.

{Deep Throat, The X-Files}

------------------------------------------------

It is not length of life, but depth of life.

{Ralph Waldo Emerson}

------------------------------------------------

You are so young, so before all beginning, and so I must beg you as much as I can, dear sir, to be patient towards all that is unsolved in your heart, and to learn to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and books written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the key is this, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answers.

{Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet}

------------------------------------------------

I'm the key figure in an on-going government charade, the plot to conceal the truth about the existence of extraterrestrials. It's a global conspiracy, actually, with key players in the highest levels of power, that reaches down into the lives of every man, woman, and child on this planet. So, of course, no one believes me. I'm an annoyance to my superiors, a joke to my peers. They call me Spooky. Spooky Mulder, whose sister was abducted by aliens when he was just a kid and who now chases after little green men with a badge and a gun, shouting to the heavens or to anyone who will listen that the fix is in, that the sky is falling and when it hits it's gonna be the shit-storm of all time.

{Fox Mulder, The X-Files}

------------------------------------------------

To die will be an awfully big adventure.

{JM Barrie, Peter Pan}

------------------------------------------------

In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.

{Mother Teresa}

------------------------------------------------

We don't see things as they are,
we see things as we are.

{Anais Nin} 

------------------------------------------------

I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will.

{Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre}

------------------------------------------------

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.

{Carl Sagan}

------------------------------------------------

A silent look of affection and regard when all other eyes are turned coldly away--the consciousness that we possess the sympathy and affection of one being when all others have deserted us--is a hold, a stay, a comfort, in the deepest affliction, which no wealth could purchase, or power bestow.

{Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers}

------------------------------------------------

it's the season of grace coming out of the void
where a man is saved by a voice in the distance
it's the season of possible miracle cures
where hope is currency and death is not the last unknown
where time begins to fade
and age is welcome home

it's the season of eyes meeting over the noise
and holding fast with sharp realization
it's the season of cold making warmth a divine intervention
you are safe here you know now

it's the season of scars and of wounds in the heart
of feeling the full weight of our burdens
it's the season of bowing our heads in the wind
and knowing we are not alone in fear
not alone in the dark

{The Atheist Christmas Carol. Vienna Teng}

------------------------------------------------

If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence.

{George Eliot, Middlemarch}

------------------------------------------------

Every person born into this world represents something new, something that never existed before, something original and unique. It is the duty of every person…to know and consider…that there has never been anyone like him in the world, for if there had been someone like him, there would have been no need for him in the world. Every single person is a new thing in the world and is called upon to fill his particularity in this world. Every person’s foremost task is the actualization of his unique, unprecedented and never recurring potentialities, and not the repetition of something that another, be it even the greatest, has already achieved.

The same idea was expressed by Rabbi Zusya when he said a short while before his death: “In the world to come I shall not be asked, “Why were you not Moses?’ I shall be asked, “Why were you not Zusya?”

{Tales of the Hasidim by Martin Buber}

------------------------------------------------

 True love is night jasmine, a diamond in darkness, the heartbeat no cardiologist has ever heard. It is the most common of miracles, fashioned of fleecy clouds — a handful of stars tossed into the night sky.

{Jim Bishop}

------------------------------------------------

Out of the dark we came, into the dark we go. Like a storm-driven bird at night we fly out of the Nowhere; for a moment our wings are seen in the light of the fire, and, lo! we are gone again into the Nowhere.

{H. Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines}

------------------------------------------------

True, the white man brought great change. But the varied fruits of his civilization, though highly colored and inviting, are sickening and deadening. And if it be part of civilization to maim, rob, and thwart, then what is progress?

I am going to venture that the man who sat on the ground in his teepee meditating on life and its meaning, accepting the kinship of all creatures, and acknowledging unity with the universe of things, was infusing into his being the true essence of civilization...

{Chief Luther Standing Bear}

------------------------------------------------

She was more than human to me. She was a Fairy, a Sylph, I don't know what she was - anything that no one ever saw, and everything that everybody ever wanted. I was swallowed up in an abyss of love in an instant. There was no pausing on the brink; no looking down, or looking back; I was gone, headlong, before I had sense to say a word to her.

{Charles Dickens, David Copperfield}

------------------------------------------------

The woods are never solitary--they are full of whispering, beckoning, friendly life. But the sea is a mighty soul, forever moaning of some great, unsharable sorrow, which shuts it up into itself for all eternity.

{Lucy Maud Montgomery, Kilmeny of the Orchard}

------------------------------------------------

Strength is born in the deep silence of long-suffering hearts; not amid joy.

{Sir Arthur Helps}

------------------------------------------------

But then they danced down the streets like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!"

{Jack Kerouac}

------------------------------------------------

And the words, they're everything and nothing.
I want to search for her in the offhand remarks.
Who are you, taking coffee, no sugar?
Who are you, echoing street signs?
Who are you, the stranger in the shell of a lover,
dark curtains drawn by the passage of time?
Oh words, like rain, how sweet the sound...
"Well anyway," she says, "I'll see you around..."

{Vienna Teng}

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The vast distances that separate the stars are providential. Beings and worlds are quarantined from one another. The quarantine is lifted only for those with sufficient self-knowledge and judgment to have safely traveled from star to star.

{Carl Sagan}

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Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase 'each other' doesn't make any sense.

{Rumi}

------------------------------------------------

We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it's forever.

{Carl Sagan}

------------------------------------------------

'I couldn’t have found God in the seminary', he thought, as he looked at the sunrise.

{Paolo Coelho, The Alchemist}

------------------------------------------------

As the sound of the playgrounds faded, the despair set in. Very odd, what happens in a world without children's voices.

{Miriam, Children of Men}

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...Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape.

{Charles Dickens, Great Expectations}

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I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up DOES rejoice. 

 {The Shawshank Redemption}

------------------------------------------------

If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits?

{Carl Sagan}

------------------------------------------------

What is enough?

If I gave unconditional love to my wife and family.
Would that be enough?

If I were the owner of a value-driven company,
And each employee lived the values at work and home.
Would that be enough?

If I co-created a training program on entrepreneurship,
That was transformational for hundreds of people.
Would that be enough?

{Pace Quickens}
Or what if……
I were the leader of a country,
Where no one was in poverty.
Would that be enough?

{Bellowing}
THEN how about if………
I could bring peace to the world,
And my name was mentioned alongside Jesus.
Would that be enough?

{With Reverence}
But if I died right now on this hillside, with God in my heart and a smile on my face.
He and I would know.
I am ----- enough.

{George Johnson}

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My mind," he said, "rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession, or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world."

{Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of the Four}

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All is going on as it was wont. The waves are hoarse with repetition of their mystery; the dust lies piled upon the shore; the sea-birds soar and hover; the winds and clouds go forth upon their trackless flight; the white arms beckon, in the moonlight, to the invisible country far away.

{Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son}

------------------------------------------------

Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us — there is a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation of a distant memory, as if we were falling from a great height. We know we are approaching the greatest of mysteries. 

{Carl Sagan}

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To pray, I think, does not mean to think about God in contrast to thinking about other things, or to spend time with God instead of spending time with other people. Rather, it means to think and live in the presence of God. As soon as we begin to divide our thoughts about God and thoughts about people and events, we remove God from our daily life and put him into a pious little niche where we can think pious thoughts and experience pious feelings. 

... Although it is important and even indispensable for the spiritual life to set apart time for God and God alone, prayer can only become unceasing prayer when all our thoughts -- beautiful or ugly, high or low, proud or shameful, sorrowful or joyful -- can be thought in the presence of God. ... Thus, converting our unceasing thinking into unceasing prayer moves us from a self-centered monologue to a God-centered dialogue.

{Henri Nouwen}

------------------------------------------------

We were put here as witnesses to the miracle of life. We see the stars, and we want them. We are beholden to give back to the universe.... If we make landfall on another star system, we become immortal.

{Ray Bradbury}

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if this were the last snowfall
no more halos on evergreens
if this were my last glimpse of winter
what would these eyes see

if this were the last snow curling
on your fingers in my palm
if this were the last I've felt you breathing
how would I carry on

this is not the last snowfall
not our last embrace
but if I were that kind of grateful
what would I try to say?

{Vienna Teng}

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When you are older you will know that life is a long lesson in humility.

{JM Barrie, The Little Minister}

------------------------------------------------

If the man who observes the myriad stars, and considers that they and their innumerable satellites move in their serene dignity through the heavens, each swinging clear of the other's orbit--if, I say, the man who sees this cannot realise the Creator's attributes without the help of the book of Job, then his view of things is beyond my understanding.

{Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Stark Munro Letters}

------------------------------------------------

This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one.  Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.  I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.  I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live.  I rejoice in life for its own sake.  Life is no "brief candle" to me; it is sort of a splendid torch which I've got to hold up for one moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

{George Bernard Shaw}

------------------------------------------------

The aesthetic event is something as evident, as immediate, as indefinable as love, the taste of fruit, of water. We feel poetry as we feel the closeness of a woman, or as we feel a mountain or a bay. If we feel it immediately, why dilute it with other words, which no doubt will be weaker than our feelings?

{Jorge Luis Borges}

------------------------------------------------

At a single strain of music, the scent of a flower, or even one glimpse of a path of moonlight lying fair upon a Summer sea, the barriers crumble and fall. Through the long corridors the ghosts of the past walk unforbidden, hindered only by broken promises, dead hopes, and dream-dust.

{Myrtle Reed, Old Rose and Silver}

------------------------------------------------

A funeral is not death, any more than baptism is birth or marriage union. All three are the clumsy devices, coming now too late, now too early, by which Society would register the quick motions of man.

{EM Forster, Howard's End}

------------------------------------------------

Every one of us is precious in the cosmic perspective. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.

{Carl Sagan}

The Massive Compendium of Everything I've Ever Learned About Myself:
An Ever-Changing Collection of Things About the Past Two Decades

Use 10 words to describe yourself.
sensitive, free-spirited, lively, contemplative, serene, inquisitive, compassionate, conflicted, wandering, shy

Name 10 personal flaws.
overemotional, self-absorbed, idealistic, socially anxious, indecisive, stubborn, scatter-brained, self-indulgent, clumsy, irresponsible

What 10 emotions do you feel the most often?
wistful, awed, depressed, inspired, pensive, confused, afraid, grateful, conflicted, lost

Name 10 things you can't live without.
solitude, empathy, dreams, hope, love, purpose, art, the written word, imagination, questions

Describe 10 physical traits.
extremely slender, pale olive skin, long dark hair, heart-shaped face, almond-shaped eyes, high cheekbones, soft voice, small wrists, long fingers, headache-prone

Name 10 things in this world you feel are overrated:
notoriety, structure, certainty, status, rhetoric, geographic borders, physical appearance, material wealth, formal education, power

Name your 10 most important priorities.
attaining nearness to God, learning, progressing, becoming humbler, protecting/caring for loved ones, helping where & who i can, becoming a better person, making the world a more livable place, completing my education, contributing positively to humankind

Name 10 careers you dream of having.
diplomat/FSO, writer, human rights activist, lighthouse keeper, psychiatrist, anthropologist, veterinarian, librarian, cafe owner, shepherd

Name 10 things that make you smile.
being smiled at, lovely weather, my cat, good stories, a child's laugh, fulfilling books, fond memories, when the sky looks mesmerizing, feeling at ease, spending time with loved ones

Name 10 things that make you weep.
the depth and scope of human suffering, knowing i've hurt someone, the troubling enormity of my shortcomings, not being able to help, the brevity of life, the cruelty we're capable of, spiritual emptiness, sunrises, soul-stirring masterpieces, loss

Name 10 favorite books.
'the psalms of islam' by imam sajjad (as), 'letters to a young poet' by rainer maria rilke, 'tao te ching' by lao tzu, 'the count of monte cristo' by alexandre dumas, 'notes to myself' by hugh prather, 'tears & tributes' by zakir hussain, 'the little prince' by antoine de-saint exupery, the 'harry potter' series by jk rowling, 'the gift: poems by hafiz' transl. by daniel ladinsky, 'pride & prejudice' by jane austen

Use 10 words to describe the purest/deepest affection you've ever felt.
sweet, preoccupying, innocuous, confusing, foolish, intriguing, unexpressed, butterflies, tunnel vision

Describe your ideal love in 10 words.
spiritual, passionate, deep, unending, self-effacing, all-encompassing, fulfilling, unconventional, requited

Name 10 qualities you seek in a significant other.
intelligent, open-minded, compassionate, humble, intriguing, good chemistry, patient, engaging, affectionate, brave

Define love in 10 words or less.
a shared pathway to spiritual completion

Define death in 10 words or less.
the next great journey

What do you look for in a relationship?
"forever"

How do you behave when infatuated with someone?
impulsive, aloof, unexpressive

How do you behave in general?
playful, easygoing, polite, stubborn, coy, outspoken, shy, inquisitive, easily amused

Are you an open or closed book? Why are you that way?
closed yet perpetually open...
i like giving people the benefit of the doubt, but i have an innate fear of being hurt

What things do you have trouble discussing with others?
my personal problems, sadnesses, and fears

Would say you are more extroverted or introverted?
extremely introverted

If you're being extremely quiet what does it mean?
that i'm simply being myself, or lost in thought

If someone ripped open your heart, what would they find?
solitude, selfishness, compassion, understanding, courage, grief, passion, hope

If there was a recipe to your soul, what would it be comprised of?
sugar, fire, mercury, ice

If someone wanted to understand you, what book could they read that would help?
'what dreams may come'

Write poetic comparisons for the following things:
Your body: a feather in the wind
Your skin: an olive blanket
Your eyes: dark tree bark
Your lips: rose petals
Your smile: a quiet mystery
Your hair: dark silk ribbons
Your voice: a caged bird
Your heart: an unsteady flame
Your soul: a shy whisper in the night

Use 10 words to describe your smile.
peaceful, reserved, genuine, warm, conflicted, frequent, uncertain, automatic, childish, shy

Describe your life at the moment with a few lines of poetry.
"the woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
but I have promises to keep,
and miles to go before I sleep,
and miles to go before I sleep" - robert frost

What is your favorite quote?:
"on ne voit bien qu'avec le couer; l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux" from 'the little prince'...
"it is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eyes." (the little prince, antoine de saint-exupery)

How would you classify yourself religiously?
shi'a muslim with a taoist bent

Do you believe that there is a right religion?:
just a right path and a million good ways to navigate it...  islam accommodates the idea that no faith has an exclusive monopoly over salvation (see Qur'an 2:111-112); this to me is one of the most essential and necessary truths.

If you could ask God one question what would it be?
"am i doing okay?"

What is happiness?
the opposite extreme of sadness... an extremity as imperfect and misunderstood as its counterpart.  i don't think it's something the human soul is meant to actively yearn for any more than we're meant to seek out sadness... maybe the middleground- peace/contentment- is the true ideal, and when we consistently have that, happiness and sadness will both bring us strength and enlightenment

What's the hardest goodbye you've ever had to do?
seeing them in their caskets

What would you hold onto the longest if you had to let go of everything else?
some sense of compassion... even if you think you've got nothing left to live for, feeling that you can still offer something to others is sustenance enough

Why is it so hard to let go?
sometimes the heart stubbornly believes that it knows better than the mind, or better even than reality itself... but 'que sera, sera'.

Why do we feel the need to escape?
we sometimes mistakenly see suffering as a state of being, rather than a state of mind

What are some words you really need to hear right now?
"i understand" "i miss you, too" 

Using only adjectives that might surprise others, how would you describe yourself?
deceptive, patient, reckless, self-conscious, self-destructive, ignorant, selfish, weak, faithless, cruel, temperamental, manic depressive, absurd

Is there anything you want to improve or work on for yourself?
definitely... progress is everything

What does it mean to be human?
to have the capacity to harbor both the deepest of loves and the darkest of hatred

Name one of your key life philosophies.
arrogance is the root of all evil, humility is the peak of all good

Where do you find refuge?
prayer, solitude, words

When do you feel most alive?
when praying on my own

How do you try to live your life?
thoroughly and regretlessly

What is the epitome of beauty in your eyes?
the rising sun

Where can the meaning of life be found?
somewhere in between a good book, a cuddly cat, and a box of starcrunch =)

When you look around at your fellow human beings, what do you see?
infinitely wounded souls

If someone were to look deeply into your eyes, what would they see/feel?
questions, restlessness, passion, idealism, contradiction, perplexity, sorrow, awe

How does the world look through your eyes?
daunting & sad, but full of possibility

What's the best trip you've ever taken? Did it change you?
a trip to saif ul muluk when i was 11...  it was the most beautiful place i've ever seen: an ethereal valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains and glaciers, with this perfect crystal lake in the middle.  for that little breath of time, i believed fervently in pure, indestructible happiness.

Describe your soul as a place.
a small lighthouse near an ocean shore, casting soft light across dark waves

What is your dream home?
a little woodland cottage modeled after a thomas kinkade painting

Where is home to you?
everywhere & nowhere

Is there a city that reminds you of the landscape of your mind?
kaghan valley... remote, isolated, unventured, different

What are your favorite outdoor activities?
going for walks, watching the sun rise, stargazing, mountain climbing, cloud animal finding, swinging in the rain

You are taking a walk in the pouring rain.  How are you feeling?
cold, peaceful, delighted, complete

Sitting alone in a big field, looking at stars, what do you think/feel?
awe and bliss... in a world so troubling, God gives every person a sky full of lanterns to wish by

What do you think when you are staring into the ocean?
so much wonder lies out there, way beyond the troubles of the here and now, it just doesn't make sense to give up

Some say love is a river (according to the old song). What do you say love is?
a divine exhalation

What fascinates you?
differences, motivations, human nature, evolution, philosophy, history, science

What keeps you chained down?
worldly commitments, past scars, self-absorption, a fear of being hurt, pointless anxieties, the compulsion to hide

What can you talk about for hours?
ideas

What are some of your favorite hobbies?
learning, writing, reading, painting, spending time with friends, traveling, getting riled up about political injustices

What makes you want to be someone’s friend?
the feeling that we might help each other

Do you forgive yourself when you make a mistake?
eventually

If you could choose any superpower, which would you take?
healing

What form would your patronus take?
a unicorn, dove, or doe

What is your favorite fragrance and what does it make you feel/think of?
jasmine flowers... purity
'china rain'... a garden in paradise
hazelnut... a warm fire in winter

How do you usually smell?
shampoo/perfume/human

What is your favorite sound?
the soft rush of raindrops on my window during a storm

Describe your voice.
gentle, soft, childish

What does your name mean?
white cloud

Describe your sense of style.
feminine, eclectic, harmonious

What are your favorite animals?
cat, horse, tiger, deer, dove

What animal do you resemble most?
a deer or cat... coy, reserved, quietly powerful

What color represents your soul, and why?
blue... it reminds me of the ocean, which is sort of soul-like; a constant ebbing of feeling and thought

If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be and why?
a willow... it's symbolic of healing and dreams

If you were a shoe, what kind would you be and why?
a glass slipper... it's breakable and impractical, but represents fairytale idealism =)

What is something you want others to know about you?
"in my window, a little light will always keep burning.  all may come in, the arms of a friend are waiting."

Is there anything you have been wanting to tell someone?:
there sort of always is, i guess

What is the one thing you want people to remember you by?
the people i love

What would constitute a “perfect” evening for you?
it's pretty cliche: a walk along a quiet, sandy beach, beneath a full moon and a sky full of brightly burning stars, hand-in-hand with one person in the universe who truly gets me

What's your sense of humor like?
a mix of playful, childlike, cerebral, and sarcastic

What does your heart long for?
peace, reassurance, solitude, completeness, reunion

Describe your soulmate.
a very different human being with a painfully deep yearning to be real.
(wait... did i just describe pinocchio?)

At this moment, are you in love with anyone? Why or why not?
no... i guess i just haven't met exactly the right person amid exactly the right circumstances.

Are you old fashioned?
i pretty much "live by rules no one else believes in"

If Love was a potion, what ingredients would it comprise?
sugar & almonds; "per l'amaro e il dolce"

Describe in 3-5 words what your idea of Love is?
completion, grief, sacrifice, sweetness, fulfillment

How can you tell when you truly love someone?
knowing of their happiness enables/increases your own

How easily do you generally embrace other people?
i like nearly everyone, but i take a while to really open up

What’s the most important part of a relationship in your opinion?
thorough & mutual understanding, willingness to see beyond oneself

What is key in keeping a romantic relationship alive? Why?
assuming it's healthy & entirely mutualistic, to understand the other person's core needs and make it a top priority to meet them, even if it means changing your habits and stepping outside your comfort zone.
it takes a lot of humility to achieve true love in the first place, and even more to keep that love alive.

What could someone do to steal your heart?
intrigue me with an agile mind, seal the deal with a compassionate soul

What's your ideal fairytale & why?
Beauty & the Beast... it has a beautiful message (stockholm syndrome aside)

Have you ever broken someones heart?
no

What have your relationships been like so far?
i don't date... i'll either marry or i won't

What is more difficult for you; looking into some one's eyes when you are telling someone how you feel, or looking into some one's eyes when they are telling you how they feel?
both, emotional confessions make me feel really uneasy in general

Who or what do you feel the deepest responsibility towards?
God, people/creatures who can't defend themselves, my loved ones

What's a guilty habit you have?
i have a tendency to never respond to anything- emails, phone calls, texts, etc.  i frequently run from people, even if i absolutely love them.

What's a quirky habit of yours that others probably find strange?
in gatherings of people of different ages, i usually gravitate toward people a lot younger or a lot older

Do other people see you the way you see yourself?
i truthfully can't understand or imagine how other people see me, have given up trying, etc =)

What embarrasses you most about yourself?
i'm socially awkward to the nth degree sometimes, and it's so blatantly obvious that most people probably end up thinking i've been raised in a cave by socially impaired martians

Are you very precise about what words you use to describe your feelings and thoughts?
definitely... i tend to use a lot of "big words" because i subconsciously feel compelled to find the precise-ist way to express myself, else i think there's no way anyone will ever not misunderstand me

What's something unusual you always keep with you?
my tao te ching... i have a pocket-sized translation i carry around in my bag

Can you describe your life with a six word sentence?
"and every day brings me Closer"

Do you live in reality or inside of your head?:
definitely inside my head, hence the high levels of outward crazy

What has been your greatest struggle?
the fight within my own soul, against my inner demons and all that fun stuff

What makes you happy?
everything does, when i let it =)

What do you do to relieve stress/unwind?:
think, write, take a hot shower, paint, sketch, read, nap, embark on long aimless walks

What is expected of you that you feel is unnatural or not right?
to confine myself to standardized interpretations of morality, intellect, & social protocol

What is the one thing that you love to do so much that you would make sacrifices to be able to do it?
learn... i think i'd go to any length to understand the world better

What is beauty?
i dunno... what isn't?

What is pain?
a blessing that arrives concealed in thorns

What is a smile?
a flicker of divine beauty

What is a friend?
a platonic soulmate

Do you believe that everything happens for a reason?
i certainly try to... tawakaltu'alallah

Is time more like a highway or a meadow to you?
definitely a meadow... it's not linear and doesn't truly lead in a single direction

Do you live in a real or imaginary world?
i guess a mixture; i couldn't tolerate this reality if i couldn't conceive of brighter alternatives =)

Who do you turn to when you are down?
i usually prefer thinking things over alone

How do you see yourself through your own eyes?
honestly... that i'm damaged, self-destructive, and a bit of a mess all around.  but i'm still here, so i'm probably not entirely cosmically worthless!

Do you perceive reality differently from others? How?
definitely... i try to see into the core of things, but i also often miss what's right in front of me

Do you regret?
i don't really believe in regretting, but in the 'the heart wants what it wants' sense, yes

If you had to go back in time and change one thing, if you HAD to, even if you had "no regrets" what would you change?
i'd devote much more time, understanding, persistence, and depth to my relationships with everybody.  and i'd apologize- a lot.

Are you a hard person to get to know?
i guess so... my personality's a very puzzling, irksome mess of contradictions

What do you think people are most ignorant towards?
ourselves

What makes other people interesting to you?
more than anything, a sense of being entirely genuine; free of pretension or imitation or the burden of needing to be liked... it's beautifully rare

What is the ultimate way to connect with another person?
a guileless, genuine, pour-your-heart-out conversation... or the profound, wordless exchange of eyes meeting

What personality trait has gotten you into the most trouble?
my 'free-spiritedness' on the whole, and different aspects of it: i'm childish, stubborn, impulsive, self-absorbed, argumentative, unpredictable, opinionated, flaky, unresponsive, scatter-brained, and irresponsible

What are some things about other people that annoy you?
close-mindedness, cynicism, cruelty, power-hungriness, greed

What are some things about you that might annoy people?
i'm stubborn, opinionated, oversensitive, unresponsive, shy, socially clueless, self-absorbed, etc.

What makes you unique, as an individual?
my memories

Can you think of three adjective that do not apply to you at all?
vindictive, structured, stoic

What is the most difficult emotion to deal with for you?
happiness... it's exquisite in a 'double-edged sword' kind of way

What is one of your biggest fears, how did this come to be?
my loved ones getting hurt... i've experienced a few deaths by this point in my life, and i'm sort of terrified by how fragile human life is

Are you a talker or a listener?
i prefer listening

Would you rather say something you regret, or say nothing and regret it?
based on experience, something regrettable... silence is often worse; there's an infinite number of bad things that could fill it and an infinite number of good that have lost the opportunity to be said

If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven't you told them yet?
i don't think i've ever fully explained to any of my loved ones or even acquaintances how deeply i cherish them or for precisely what reasons...  i guess because i'm uncomfortable vocalizing that sort of thing, the 'right' moment hasn't presented itself, etc.

Are you able to meet the demands of life and function in society?
on a good day, mostly =)

What is your favorite myth?
the story of andromeda

What small act of kindness were you shown that you will never forget?
once, i was really depressed, felt like i'd be better off not alive, etc.  out of the blue, a woman i really respected said some incredibly kind things to me, including "i wish i had a daughter like you."  my life literally turned around hearing that... it was like getting rain after a year's drought. 

Are you usually honest in telling people how you feel about them?
i'm usually only dishonest when my feelings could hurt or complicate things and i'd rather reconsider than profess them... but i do tend to bottle things up.

How many people have fallen for you?
idk... i think we're better off unnoticed than arbitrarily loved

How do you feel about marriage?
i'm more apprehensive of it than of the 'cat lady' alternative =)

Do you believe in love at first sight?
only the kind paolo coelho describes in 'the alchemist'!

Do you believe love itself is enough to make a relationship work?
when true and rightly placed, i think it encompasses everything else that matters

Could you marry outside your race?
absolutely... i can't say my parents would be too pleased, though

Is love sometimes misunderstood for care?
i think they go hand in hand... maybe love is just a really intense extension on care

You can have one of the following two things: trust/love?
love... i think it should inherently contain trust

Honestly, do you see yourself being successful in love?
honestly, no... but here's to hoping =)

Are you reserved around the opposite sex?
typically, yes; i'm just reserved in general

Are you afraid of falling in love?
afraid is an understatement

Which would you choose, true love with a guarantee of a heart break or have never loved at all?
true love... the memories gained might make the heart break worth enduring

What does it mean to you to allow another person to fully love you? Have you ever let someone do this?
i think it means to give yourself to someone completely and walk away without expectation...
i don't think i've ever let anyone in that deeply.

Living alone with tons of money or living with your soul mate in a shelter?
i'd take the soul mate; i hear that love's the surest wealth =)

Is there someone you believe you will always be attached to (whether you love them or not, they will always be in the back of your mind)?
yes

What's something about you people should know?
if i'm being aloof, formal, overly serious, reserved, uncomfortable, or awkward, i don't hate you... i'm probably just feeling shy/socially anxious

What are your favorite baby names?
ahmad, sajjad, noorah, shifa, khadijah

How does being around children make you feel?
a lot happier and more myself, like i can finally breathe easy

What is the most important thing to teach a child?
that coloring the sky green and the grass blue is a virtue, not a vice =)

What kind of parent do you hope to be?
one who seeks to understand first and scold later

Do you smile often?
yes =)

What is your favorite cartoon character & why?
spongebob... he's incredibly kind-hearted and selfless, and his intentions are infinitely sweet and pure.  what a guy!

What are you looking for in life?
truth, peace, completion

If told you had less than 24 hours to live, would you be afraid?
a bit

Do you think you have ever made others feel unwanted without realizing you were doing it?
unfortunately, i really don't know how to make people feel wanted... it's probably my biggest regret

What things are you interested in that you study or read about on your own?
history, politics, human rights, global issues, religion, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, nature, art, paranormal phenomenon, scientific discoveries, conspiracy theories, cultural traditions, literature, medical anomalies, useless trivia... anything and everything, really

What book character can you relate to best?
edmond dantes, lemuel gulliver, lizzie bennett

What character from a movie is most like you?
danielle from 'ever after', edward scissorhands, bruce wayne

How do you think the world views you?
i don't know

Who is your favorite poet of those alive right now?
mary oliver, hugh prather

Who is your favorite visual artist of those alive right now?
walfrido garcia, josephine wall

Who is your favorite musical artist of those alive right now?
vienna teng

When you pass on, what do you hope to leave behind?
a world at least a little bit more peaceful than the one i came into

What is your biggest life issue right now?
time, and my pervasive, neurotic conviction that there's never enough of it

What are your biggest fears in life?
not being able to help, losing my loved ones, never finding fulfillment

What are your most troubling weaknesses?
being close to others is often painful for me... people tend to trust me with their problems, but i sometimes get so upset by their grief that i become totally incapable of dealing with my own... life gets overwhelmingly rough, and i end up angry at myself for not being able to focus and endure it

What's something you simply can't do in general?
understand how other people see me, how i affect them, and what they specifically need from me

Who can you not live without?
my mom, baji, my brothers

What is one thing you live for?
that special twinkle in a person's eyes when they seem a bit happier about life because of something small you did

What do you seek in other people?
some shade of goodness

What is the number one problem you have with yourself?
i see the world and everything in it in too many shades of gray, making me inconsistent, indecisive, and somewhat incomprehensible

When lots of things go wrong at once, how do you react? What goes on in your mind?
i tend to shut down, withdraw, and occupy my mind trying to figure out how to make it through

Describe the person in your life who has hurt you the most.
cold, angry, principled, unpredictable, callous, wise, frightening

Describe your feelings toward this person.
frustration, love, anxiety, gratitude

Has this person taught you anything?
that discipline is no substitute for love & anger is a toxin

What is your favorite way to express yourself and why?
writing... words have this finite, comprehensible magic that helps us make sense of infinity

What is one thing about you people would be surprised to learn?
i was born in SD

What is the difference between settling for things and accepting them?
'settling' means you've resigned yourself and submitted to a fate; 'accepting' means you've conquered that fate and made it submit to you

If something is slightly impure, would you consider it corrupt?
definitely not.  what isn't yet corrupt is infinitely purifiable... and even then, hope for its betterment exists for as long as the thing itself exists

Have you ever felt like just giving up on everything?
definitely... but there's always something i still feel like fighting for... such is the unconquerable nature of the human spirit, y'know?

What do you want to be when you're older? What inspired you to become that?
a diplomat/humanitarian... for as long as i can remember, the suffering of other beings has burned a hole in my heart.  i can't stand the thought of trying to live a normal life or pursue anything else knowing what terrors consume the lives of people just half a world way.

What is your most cherished possession?
my favorite books, gifts, laptop

Where do you look when you pray?
inward, in a sense

How do you make friends?
i reckon the key to making friends is assuming that everyone wants to get along with you as much as you want to get along with them =)

What are you looking for when you communicate with other people?
ultimately, i guess to broaden my horizons & help if i can

Are we the result of our own projection?
as far as the outside world can see, yes... but the projection remains a shell that can never compare to or excuse the reality

Do you frequently find yourself -just to be polite- saying things you don't mean? For example, when you say good-bye to someone who does not interest you, do you act as though you enjoyed their company?
yes

How do you picture your funeral? Is it important for you to have people mourn your death?
i just hope they send me off with prayers and smiles... honestly, not really, but i'll definitely need all the duas i can get

If told you had just a day or a week to live, what would you feel?
probably relief.  i'm grateful to be alive and i'm not suicidal, but inherent in my love of life is a strange attraction toward death... maybe they're not the stark, depressing opposites our fear paints them as; maybe life and death are just two fascinating chapters of a greater masterwork

What are you holding onto that belongs to yesterday, and what do you believe it has to do with today?
yesterday's suffering... it's made me who i am today; in that, i'm glad for it

What's the best tangible gift you've ever given?
a painting of flowers for my mom

If someone gave you an island - What would you name it? Would you live there? What would you do with it?
"idealism"... i'd form an anarchist commune with my loved ones and eventually govern it with townhall-style democratic socialism

Where in the world would you love to travel?
mecca, medina, istanbul, cordoba, ulan bator, alhambra, esfahan, casablanca, karbala, damascus, nablus, gaza, cairo, ithaca, corfu, venice, kigali, the vatican
 
Write about yourself as if you are describing a character in a novel.  What does he/she look like? What is he/she doing? Compose a meaningful story.
a quiet, unremarkable girl trudges through a deep meadow, tattered journal in hand and a worm canvas bag slung over her small frame.  she appears both vulnerable and powerful; her eyes are downcast, her dark hair flows in messy waves down her narrow back.  her soft gaze is at once innocent and guilty, youthful and ancient; she questions the world but wearily guesses its replies.  she appears unsure of her path.  suddenly, in the distance, she spots someone awaiting her... but her coward's heart begs to wander on in solitude, and so endures her self-made purgatory.  she is the architect of her own cage, almost seeming unable to see it as such. 

Describe, in detail, your *ultimate* perfect bedroom.
decorated in calm colors, fresh flowers, large sunlit windows flanked by sheer curtains, dozens of candles tied with ribbons, a bed covered with a flowing tulle canopy & surrounded by wall-mounted bookshelves full of good reads, a warm fireplace, a writing table, meaningful art, a wide shelf filled with stuffed animals, fragrances, & keepsakes, a higher-level loft with an art studio, french doors opening to a wide balcony, a hogwarts-style enchanted ceiling, a cat castle

What is your favorite...
season: autumn
time of day: sunrise
weather: cold, rainy, foggy
animal: cat
color: blue
number: 6
planet: neptune
flower: jasmine
fruit: sweet strawberries
food: lasagna
type of food: italian, south asian, thai
beverage: water
dessert: turtle brownies
holiday: laylatul qadr
sport: hockey
type of humor: satire
type of poetry: spiritual or transcendental
poet: hafez shirazi, rainer maria rilke, khalil gibran
song: lullaby for a stormy night
musician: david nevue, vienna teng
musical genre: classical
literary genre: philosophy, theology, adventure, sci fi, poetry, fantasy
film genre: psych thriller & fairytale romance
romance movie: pride & prejudice, ever after, veer-zaara, kal ho naa ho, the princess bride, the barefoot contessa, the major and the minor
action/thriller: the matrix, the dark knight, minority report, v for vendetta, the prestige, deja vu, american history x
comedy: rush hour, coming to america
adventure/fantasy: harry potter & thbp, 'tcn: the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe', gulliver's travels
family: 'it's the great pumpkin, charlie brown', matilda, horton hears a who, bedtime stories, home alone 2, hocus pocus, halloweentown
actor/actress: johnny depp
tv show: the x-files, the daily show, the colbert report

What do you think other people judge you to be like? Are these judgments accurate, or do they trouble you?
self-assured & innocent...
they're inaccurate, but i don't mind letting people believe them =)

Have you ever descended into pure madness?
i think i'm always teetering on the fine edge

Do you think there's a possibility you might have a mental disorder?
i exhibit every symptom for ADD, chronic depression, and a plethora of others

What bad habit do you have that affects other people as much as it affects you?
i think my bad habits (procrastinating, brooding, bottling things up, etc) are pretty much self-contained

How do you tend to feel when you're liked/loved by someone you don't have feelings for?
guilty, remorseful, preoccupied, conflicted

What do you hate that everyone else seems to like?
chewing gum, blargh

What do you like that others seem to hate?
school & the structure it entails (sometimes)

Is it natural for human beings to fear and distrust each other?
no... i think it's a symptom of us collectively forgetting how we're supposed to be, creating divisions that become harder and harder to heal

What would you really like to do but you don't because you are afraid of getting caught?
experiment with various drugs and document the psychological effects... for science.  jk, DEA.

Have you ever held someone and appreciated how delicate and fragile all life is and felt that they were even more precious and beautiful because one day they would die?
i feel this way about my cat sometimes, pathetically enough... it's a really strong, bittersweet feeling that sort of makes me want to cry forever

What star sign are you and what is your sign like?
borderline leo/cancer, more the latter... emotional, pensive, moody, empathetic

How do you think that you (or anyone, for that matter) could pray without ceasing?
in the words of henri nouwen... to turn one's self-centered monologue into a god-centered dialogue; to make every thought and every action pure enough to free your conscience entirely

Are you very sensitive to what other people are feeling and how they will react to certain things?
sometimes, but i mess up a lot when it comes to feelings

Do you have any interesting scars?
two faint ones near my eyebrows from falling on the snow & a distinct one on my forehead from getting 20 stitches

What's your cultural background?
pakistani, indian, persian, middle eastern, first-generation american, etc... just your average migrant mishmash =)

What role does culture play in your life?
it plays an appreciable role, but cultural differences are largely illusory and i've never really felt tied to any single part of the world... i believe the human soul is inherently boundless

What are you missing in your life?
peace of mind, self assurance, certainty, independence

Tell me a random or interesting fact about you.:
if i went to hogwarts, i'd probably be in ravenclaw... but i'd ask the sorting hat to put me in gryffindor, because i've always wanted to be braver

Are your relationships mostly passion or conversation?
on my part, passion

If you were given a canvas and watercolors, what would you paint?:
a simple seascape

What are three things you HAVE NOT done that might surprise people?
learned to swim, acquired a driver's license, told anyone how i love them or precisely why

I've come to realize that my heart...
seems very fragile, but is capable of enduring anything

I've come to realize that I need...
to be understood

I've come to realize that I have lost...
a lot, but gained much from it

I've come to realize that I'll always be...
different, different, different

I've come to realize that my mom...
might never 'get' me, but somehow loves me anyway

I've come to realize that last night before I went to sleep....
i was half dreaming already

I've come to realize that tonight...
sleep will be hard to come by

I've come to realize that I really want to...
fix everything and help everybody, but it's an arrogant and unrealistic compulsion

I've come to realize that life...
is an unanchored ship that'll always keep moving, whether you're ready to steer it in a real direction or not

A Deep Gaze Within (Different and Difficult Questions)
Created by distortedcognition and taken 2531 times on Bzoink

1) Describe your personality.: introverted, free-spirited, complex
2) Define what beauty means to you.: whatever awakens the soul
3) Describe your current appearance.: pale, dishevelled, glassy-eyed
4) Describe your appearance overall.: slender, dark-haired, olive-skinned, petite
5) Live with ______ in your heart.: wonder
6) Inner peace comes one step at a time. Name a step.: forget yourself
7) Think about or dream up your significant other. Describe their aura.: peaceful, reassuring, calming, bright
8) Name a pet peeve.: uncomfortable social situations
9) Find your perfect place. Describe it.: a snowy valley nestled between mountains... isolated, refreshing, quiet
10) What is the relationship like with your friends?: understated, meaningful, content
11) What is tragedy to you?: a jolt that compels you to reconsider life
12) What value do you believe in most?: empathy
13) Look into your own eyes for a second. What do you see?: softness, sunshine, pain, warmth
14) What was your first infatuation like?: innocent, silly, lengthy, sweet
15) Describe your smile.: serene, frequent, eye-crinkling
16) Who or what do you live for?: qurbatan'ilallah
17) Describe your family.: different, loving, traditional, proper
18) Define music.: when words become secondary
19) What's your biggest wish?: to live thoroughly, now and always
20) What's the most important lesson you've learned in your life?: that there's always immeasurably more to learn
21) What do you hope for?: healing
22) What virtue do you believe in most?: charity
23) What or who would you give up everything for?: God
24) Live to ______.: enliven
25) What's the most important lesson /anyone/ should learn?: how infinite truth is, how trite the self
26) Name a destination you want to arrive to.: here's okay =)
27) Look up towards the sky. What word comes to your mind?: perfection, infinity, clarity, peace
28) Define love.: a pathway that leads to spiritual completion
29) What's the best advice you can give the generation of tomorrow?: live from the inside out
30) Define life.: a journey paved with questions
31) What's the best way to describe how you love as an individual?: quietly, secretly, passionately
32) Assuming you believe in Destiny, what do you fear your Destiny might be?: distance
33) Assuming you believe in Destiny, what Destiny are you hoping for?: completion
34) Some people plan their future. Have you planned yours out?: not especially
35) If so, what are you planning?: to continue my education pursue my dreams, and see where life takes me
36) What are you striving for?: to be better
37) Do you honestly think you'll accomplish your goal?: God willing, i have a fair shot
38) Define emotion.: a subjective interpretation of the inner condition at a given moment
39) Assuming you are, how are you unique?: i dunno, i guess that's in the eye of the beholder :)
40) What makes you a leader or follower?: i'm not sure i'm either... if you walk your own path and don't want anyone to follow, what are you?
41) Define home.: wherever the soul is most at ease
42) How is your relationship with strangers?: quietly inquisitive
43) Define poetry.: the most fundamentally honest form of expression
44) Define indulgence.: snacktime for the ego
43) Do you have religious faith?: yes
45) Assuming you do, describe it.: subsistence, clarity, truth.
46) Define determination.: the most worthwhile outgrowth of naivete
47) Define fear.: a lack of understanding
48) What do you fear most?: my own shortcomings
49) Why?: they're the greatest dangers to me, yet also my biggest blindspots
50) Define romance.: idealism, rose-colored glasses
51) Define romantic. (Yes, there's a big difference.): letting yourself be immersed in the madness love inspires
52) Learn from ______.: the whisperings of your heart
53) Know that ______.: you don't know much
54) Remind yourself to ________.: keep moving forward
55) What keeps people from appreciating life?: missing out on the bigger picture
56) Mistakes are ________.: learning opportunities, wholly to be expected, etc.
5G) Define peace.: inner clarity
58) Define your past.: buried but present
59) Define courage.: a not-so-simple matter of prioritizing well?
60) What's the biggest fear you've overcome?: the fear of wandering in unfamiliar territory
62) What are you currently feeling?: ambivalent, optimistic
63) Define your life. (Your life specifically.): a relentless search
64) How do you see the world?: in a million shades of gray
65) How do you wish you saw the world?: in a more humanly comprehensible (normal?) manner
66) How would you like to live?: lucidly
67) Define humanity [as in people, not compassion].: favored by God, harmed by each other
68) Why do you think that word has two completely different meanings?: mankind is too self-interested to blend with a notion that belies selflessness
69) Define cecity.: hatred, extremity
70) Are you a controlled person?: very
71) If not, why not? If so, why?: concern for others & sheer habit
72) Do you recognize when you get out of hand?: yeah, albeit sometimes a bit late =)
73) What influences you to get out of hand?: my humanness
74) What do you usually do?: get frustrated, drop the niceties
75) And then what do you do to cope?: apologize, right the wrongs, sulk
76) How do you deal with things generally?: in a somewhat dangerously self-contained manner
77) What angers you most?: other peoples' anger
78) What saddens you most?: other peoples' suffering
79) What gladdens you most?: the simple things
80) Which value of yours keeps you alive?: faith
81) Which goal of yours keeps you alive?: the hope of helping
82) Life is tricky. What's the biggest obstacle you've encountered?: my childhood
83) Have you ever experienced any major tragedy?: yes
84) What was it?: i don't think there's been just one
85) What did it feel like?: soul-crushing, hope-stealing, mind-numbing
86) Are you an introvert or extrovert?: introvert
87) Why?: i spend far too much time in my own mind
88) As silly as it sounds, do you hide from yourself?: no
89) Some people do. Why, do you think?: i can't fault them for it; it's a much easier way to live
90) What's one of the biggest issues you're going through currently?: nothing worth mentioning
91) Do you think Fantasy has anything to do with reality?: it has everything to do with reality!
92) Magic happens every day. What have you seen that's magical?: the guileless trust of a child
93) Overall, what do you believe in?: humility, kindness, good intentions
94) Choose a stereotype that best fits you.: *shrug*
95) Why did you choose it?: /
96) What defines your beauty as an individual?: my capacity to perceive it in others
97) Why do you or don't you believe in equality?: i fundamentally do
98) Who are you biased against? Be honest.: anyone who appears overly driven by selfishness, greed, or egotism
99) Define proof.: inessential but comforting
100) In one word- who are you?: searcher