Perfect conduct is a relation between three terms: the actor, the objects for which he acts, and the recipients of the action. In order that conduct should be abstractly perfect, all three terms, intention, execution, and reception, should be suited to one another. The best intention will fail if it either work by false means or address itself to the wrong recipient. Thus no critic of value of conduct can confine himself to the actors attitude alone, apart from the other elements of performance.

William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience

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Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only dispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.

With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest live a more simple and meager life than the poor.

The ancient philosophers were poor in outside riches but rich with inward riches.

Henry David Thoreau

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“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.”  Lao Tzu

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill

“No one has ever become poor by giving.” Anne Frank

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It would be absurd to maintain one’s own age of the world is beyond correction by the next age.

He who acknowledges the imperfections of his instrument, and makes allowance for it in discussing observations, is in a much better position for gaining truth then if he claimed his instrument to be infallible.

“If we claim only reasonable probability, it will be as much as men who love the truth can ever at any given moment hope to have within their grasp. Pretty surely it will be more than we could have had, if we were unconscious of our liability to err.”

William James, The Varieties of  Religious Experience

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We must acknowledge that our past choices, taken as a whole, represent and define our character.

Our meaning in life comes from our  choices, and when our choices display a certain pattern, then, that is the  person we have chosen to become.

We are what we do. Our choices are the  means of determining our character, and the meaning we have given our lives.

Of course we are always free to become a new person if we so chose to act in the future.

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)

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Keep all events in perspective.

Recognize you have control over your reaction to any event.

Nothing matters unless it matters to you when you are 75 years old.

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Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or a prize in a treasure hunt.

Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your affections and loyalties, out of your talent and understanding, out of things you believe in, out of people you love, out of values for which you are willing to sacrifice.

The ingredients for meaning are there. You are the only one who can put them together into the pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning.

John Gardner

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Lives based on having things are less free then lives based on doing or being. People living at the highest level realize possessions  are meaningless.  Only those who have no interest in gaining wealth for wealth sake can follow an enlightened path. Sloth and cowardice creep in with money we have to guard.

A man possesses of learning only so much as comes out of him in action. A person is a good person only in so far as his deeds demonstrate. For every tree is known by its fruits.

William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (edited by PAT).

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One of the most important themes in existentialism is the fate of the individual in acquiring his or her answer to the meaning of life.

The French philosopher Jean-Paul Sarte declared our “existence precedes our essence.”

We are not born with a pre-established essence (a definition, purpose or goal) provided by some higher power or institution; rather, we must provide our own, freely chosen purpose to life. We exist first, and we then determine our meaning or essence.

Monty Python and Philosophy

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KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO DO AND DO IT

Never Act Out of Compulsion.

Never Act Without Forethought.

PUT OTHERS BEFORE YOURSELF

Never Act Out of Selfishness.

Never Act With Misgivings.

ACTION WITHOUT PRETENSE

Do Not Gussy Up Your Action.

No Surplus or Unnecessary Action.

DEMEANOR

Natural Cheerfulness.

Meditations (Bold Headings- PAT adds)

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