Told as a Story

So I walk away from this bewildered that I am not dead, and bummed that while I hung onto the car for awhile that I didn't get it back under control. Thankful, of course, to be alive, but bewildered, too. It has the chance to become one of those "don't f*** up your second chance" incidents, but probably won't, for which I am quite sorry. I hope, too, that you'll forgive me for admittedly drinking to excess (and having a couple of cigarettes) on Wednesday, once I'd gotten the essentials out of the way - followup on the crash and the last couple of Christmas presents bought - to block out the looping that had started on the "I should be dead" thing, because really, that wasn't going to be good.
-Tales of Christmas

Truth

Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God's eyes. If only they could see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time, there would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed... I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other.
- Thomas Merton

Awareness

Awareness is our true self; it's what we are. So we don't have to try to develop awareness; we simply need to notice how we block awareness with our thoughts, our fantasies, our opinions, and our judgments. We're either in awareness, which is our natural state, or we're doing something else.
- Joko Beck