It’s time for a cheeky & perplexing riddle.
Here are five quotes and the five people who said the quotes.
Can you match the quotes with the people who said them?
First, the quotes:
*** Nothing is right or wrong but thinking makes it so
*** There’s no such thing as good money or bad money. There’s
just money
*** Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there
*** Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the
truth
*** In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west. People create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true
Next up, the people who said the quotes:
*** Hamlet, Shakespeare’s very own Prince of Denmark
*** Marcus “the Stoic Sage” Aurelius
*** Gordon Gecko (aka
Michael Douglas in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps)
*** The Sufi mystic Rumi
*** The Buddha
So…
Can you match them up?
While you’re mulling on the quotes, here’s something else to mull on:
It seems to me that there is a place before judgments and evaluations.
And, to my mind, it’s a place well worth exploring.
Even if we’re being told not to.
I recall times in the past where someone has told me to “get off the fence Tom” or “share your opinion Tom”.
But when it comes to being neutral I like to give Switzerland a run for her money.
Of course, there are certain occasions or jobs where having a forthright opinion isn’t just seen as a feather in your cap but is itself the route to riches and success.
After all, no wannabe Prime Minster ever stood at his or her podium and boldly declared “there’s no such thing as right or
wrong!”.
But something gets lost when we move into the realm of judgment and evaluation.
I’ll even stick my neck out (ironically, don’t you think?) and say this:
The way to find more clarity and direction is to look to the place before east & west, before good & bad and before right & wrong.
i.e. by looking to the place before thought.
If you’d like to explore this place yourself, hop on over here for more:
https://waitinglist.followingfulfilment.com
That’s all for today.
- Tom
p.s. what’s that?
You’d like to know if you correctly matched up the quotes?
Well, in the spirit of today’s email, let’s just say the insight is in not knowing.
(and if you're not convinced by that, Google is your friend)