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Chased By an Alligator
It (ego) functions as an instrument of the Self and periodically ceases to function, i.e. it appears and disappears as birth and death.
- Ramana Maharshi
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The whole universe is a masquerade ball pretending to be a tragedy…and then realizing it’s a ball.
— Alan Watts
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The eyes of the young and the old watch with the calm candor of those who have not yet entered the masked ball or have already left it.
— Marguerite Yourcenar — North Archives (1977)
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As far as meaning goes, I think Joseph Campbell was on to something when he said what we are looking for is not so much the meaning of life in some abstracted sense, but to have the experience of being meaningfully alive. An Indian guru said, “We never ask the meaning of life when we are in love.” I also think that no one asks the meaning of life when being chased by an alligator. In my own life, I have usually asked about the meaning of life when I was feeling disconnected and disengaged.
— Jim Rigby
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What does it feel like to be able to influence so many people? She asks me a typically masculine question.
