Examine your past so it doesn’t govern you. The past is dead. Stop living it. Oct 30, 1983

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explains how when you’re happy, sad, pleased, unpleased—it’s all in your periphery. It is not really you. When you’re happy, sad, pleased, displeased—it’s all in your periphery. It is not really you. Do not deceive yourself with your own attitudes. Plastic flowers do not grow. Plastic personas do not grow. But you can. Your appearances give you respectability but they do not give you contentment. Examine your past so it doesn’t govern you. The past is dead. Stop living it. Whenever you taste the ocean, it always tastes like salt. Find your own unity. Your eyes discriminate. You can open them, close them, direct them. But it’s different with our ears—everything comes in. Truth eventually will reveal itself. Oct 30, 1983