I just finished reading "The Sibling Society" and "Iron John" by Robert Bly. I loved how he stretched my abstract mind while combing it with intellect. I thought I would share this quote with you that comes from William James. I think he is next for me because this is the most profound statement I have read about my classic saying, "Follow what gives you energy" - not in hopes that it will ALWAYS lead you to joy and happiness but rather that it will take you to places beyond your present ability to know what you need to know in order to continue being guided into your authentic self (vs. "Happy", "Right Path", "Purpose") - especially, if you tune out some of the buzz. A lot of my most life changing decisions made no sense but later lead me deeper into whichever emotion, or experience needed to be had to bring me further into authenticity. I think too often we strive for happiness, comfort, consistency, the right path and knowing. In that mindset, our internal compass is shoved away and societal, family, religious norms rung by logic alone take us into a life we know - not love.
"Man's chief difference from the brutes lies in the exuberant excess of his subjective propensities, - his pre-eminence over them simply and solely in the number and in the fantastic and unnecessary character of his wants, physical, moral, aesthetic, and intellectual. Had his whole life not been a quest for the superfluous, he would never have established himself as inexpugnably as he has done in the necessary. And from the consciousness of this he should draw the lesson that his wants are to be trusted; that even when their gratification seems farthest off, the uneasiness they occasion is still the best guide of his life, and will lead him to issues entirely beyond his present powers of reckoning. Prune down his extravagance, sober him, and you undo him." - William James
"The ecstasy comes after thought, after discipline imposed on ourselves, after grief." -Robert Bly
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