BF or PF - Which Generation Are You?

It's official. The world is now divided into B.F. & P.F. - Before Facebook and Post Facebook.

I'm watching Tron:Legacy in a dark theatre when the 9-year-old next to me leans over and whispers: "What's a PAGER?"

With Yoda-like wisdom, I nod my head in deep contemplation, reminiscing as I say:
"Aaahhhh, a pager...."

And that my peeps... is how you pass (or fail) the P.F./B.F. test.


PAGER

Once upon a time as popular as mobile phones, a pager is a simple telecommunications device for short messages. A one-way numeric pager can only receive a message consisting of a few digits, typically a phone number that the user is then expected to call. Alphanumeric pagers are available. Wuzzat - did I hear you say it's no longer relevant? Think again.... a pager will still kick your iPhone's arse when stuck in the middle of the desert or jungle interiors.

Read here about Twenty Dying Technologies (including the pager!): http://images.businessweek.com/ss/10/10/1021_dying_tech/11.htm

Live Curious

One of the most inspiring ads this year. A new campaign launched by NatGeo Channel this year that rings so very true. BRAVO to the Live Curious development team for inspiring us all again on the greatness of being alive, human, curious!


Creative Director Patrizio Marini, Art Director Claudia Ganapini, Copywriter Federico Russo.
 
If you are, you breathe
If you breathe, you talk
If you talk, you ask
If you ask, you think
If you think, you search
If you search, you experience
If you experience, you learn
If you learn, you grow
If you grow, you wish
If you wish, you find
If you find, you doubt
If you doubt, you question
If you question, you understand
If you understand, you know
If you know, you want to know more
If you want to know more, you are ALIVE

Conduct Unbecoming

 

Anyone can set up a political party, rally the masses, be sensationalist... but do they carry themselves in a manner worth of respect?

The Seattle WTO riots, LA riots, Mao Tse Tung's prosecution of art, intellectuals and scholars... here's what they have in common with the photo & story in the link below - HOOLIGANS:

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/perkasa-youth-calls-wan-azizah-a-political-prostitute/

Now, I'm not a big political fan (Did you hear the one that said: The problem with politics are the politicians?) But I think leaders prove themselves unfit for ANY office when they begin to act and reflect hooliganism - in mind, actions, words. 

And make no mistake - hooliganism isn't defined by your education, background, status. Lots of people carry paper qualifications, a great family heritage and forget what it is to engage constructively - first sign is when they resort to name-calling rather than policy battles.

The big question is: Where have all our own standards gone? Do we expect so little of our own leaders that the best we have to represent our aspirations... is this...

As Malaysians, we deserve better.

I wonder how this yahoo would feel if someone called his own mother a 'political prostitute' on national news. Is there nothing sacred left?

Everyone has the right to speak their mind, however different, however hurtful the truth, but there are some invisible lines which should not be crossed. We've not just lost our moral compass, we've misplaced the compass altogether.

We should all aspire for higher standards when electing leaders. They do, after all, represent the best of who we are as a nation. It'll be a sad day if people should ever choose to back hooliganism... under any condition. 

Let's not get too attached to the lure of power, that we forget common decency... which is becoming, sadly, less and less common each day. And if we could just a have a bit of class thrown in, well hallelujah - We Got Game!

Tongue of the Invisible

Hafiz, the great Sufi Poet, was also called the Tongue of the Invisible because he captured the ecstatic love song which God dictated to the world. A collection, or bible, of sorts for there are no books used to understand Sufism. Like all meaningful teachings in the world, Lao Tzu, Zen, Sufism is an experience, not dogma.

As with all allegory, the beloved in Sufi literature is God, you and me. But there are many parallels that exist in the modern world that talk about transcending our hum-drum reality. Some have managed to capture it - in art, through words, via music. And the similarities are astonishing.

Take this for example, the uncanny similarities expressed in this painting, Der Sparziergang, by the Belarusian French artist Marc Chagall, known for his defiance and naive portraits of what he felt and knew (a reality that transcended the hum-drum of everyday living) and this poem of Hafiz, that speaks of skies that become oceans.

ONLY ONE RULE


The sky
Is a suspended blue ocean.
The stars are the fish that swim.

The planets are the white whales I sometimes
Hitch a ride
On,

The sun and all light
Have forever fused themselves into my heart
And upon my
Skin.

There is only one rule on this Wild Playground,

Every sign Hafiz has ever seen

Reads the same.

They all say,

"Have fun, my dear; my dear have fun,

In the Beloved's divine

Game,

O, in the Beloved's

Wonderful

Game." 

The world is more connected than what it seems. We just need to learn (or unlearn) in order to connect the dots. The essence of our humanity depends it - this ability to explore and enjoy "the Beloved's Wonderful Game."

To All Adults: Get Real!

Was at the hospital visiting a friend and in the host of others who joined later, I suppose everyone being in their 60-ish years (except moi), one gentleman said, "After talking to you, I feel that there's hope for young people after all."

Now, that's a nice compliment... but really? I've always felt that being young (or youthful) was always cause for hope. If the youth of our generation aren't living up to expectations, isn't also because of our elders?

They tell us to not bother about anything else except study. Read your books, get your A's.

Everything else is secondary except getting your degree, graduating summa cum laude, then become an accountant and make money. It's appalling the number of accountants and business graduates we churn who have no perspective except to bean-count.

A few drawbacks here: In the history of mankind, there's not been ONE accountant who's changed the world. Accountants don't make much money and spend most days counting the wealth of others. Accountants also have no imagination.

If you haven't guessed, by "Accountant" I mean all unimaginative, drone-like, suited-up professional who have not yet understood that you have to make your craft an ART.

I love Art.

I create Art each time I find a new math solution. I am Art each time I have a Eureka moment. I am the hidden Art when I balance financials. It's Poetry in Motion every time I close a project on time, on the money, no hitches. Pure elegance. Why don't they teach this in school rather than dish out purile, condescending ideas?

If our young people don't have perspective, no imagination, or lack the spirit of inquiry... perhaps it's because Adults killed it off.


They tell us:

Study, study, study. That's not for you to question, just DO!"

... so is it really justified, to say that you've met the saving grace of youths when you've met me?

That's absolute BOLLOCKS!

From the many hidden, latent, unseen talents of youths, I probably wouldn't even count as a drop in that ocean. Maybe just an evaporated whiff of talent.

In my years, I've seen so many more who have inspired and amazed me with their uniqueness, resourcefulness, creativity. I love my job because it's about helping young people tap into that inner greatness. And this is what I've found...

The biggest stumbling block to the enthusiasms of our youth is in the sheer number of adults. They propagate the myth that greatness can only happen to someone else, not you.

I'll give you everything - your iPod, your Wii, your BMW, just do the right thing i.e. what I tell you to. "Get your head out of the clouds and start working that calculator. Money doesn't grow on trees, so get a job that pays you money."

Because giving a child freedom, to think, to choose, to make their own 'rights' and 'wrongs', to find their own Truth and Path... is far more troublesome and difficult than a covert bribe.

We reap what we sow. Being young has always been an extraordinary experience, full of wonderment and possibility.

Question is: Are adults ready to take the hard route and allow them to fulfill their destinies... or have they already sentenced an entire generation to the gallows?

The Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte imagined The Son of Man (painting) to be faceless yet respectable by society's conventions. As much as adults praise individuality, innovation, creativity - we also insist that creativity, innovation, individuality only be done on our rules. And we wonder why it doesn't work?

God Bless The Fools

They say: Leopards don't lose their spots.

I say: Convicts don't lose their stripes.

A newfound friend asked, with the best of intentions, "How far are you willing to go in order to prove to this two-bit bureaucracy that what they did was wrong?" (Note: For latecomers, our first posting on this David-and-Goliath battle on intellectual property violation by big bullies against small social enterprises A Pound and More...)

Well, if one's dedication is to the truth... why should the outcome matter? Winning or losing is beyond your control. But if one focusses and concentrates on each movement, on taking each step with consciousness, or "laying each brick in the most perfect way in which a brick can be laid,".... the question of outcomes disappears. And so does a lot of worry.

For all the emphasis on cultivating the good, I'll have to say this for 'bad' experiences - they're teachers too. Looking at life in the *bIg PiCtUrE perspective* there are no bad experiences, I suppose, but that's the lesson we were meant to learn in order to evolve into more perfect beings.

It is great to have ideals. Most old people don't believe in the greater heights of things. But age is no indication of Wisdom. I have met young people who are wise, old people who remain depthless - and vice verse.

And in these encounters, I've noticed this:

Wisdom continues to have faith in truth. God speaks to us through those who believe the impossible - that in a world so consumed by Self, overwhelmed by Things, side-by-side exists Beauty and Goodness and Justice. It says something when even in the most overwhelming negativity, beauty still flourishes naturally.

So for the leopards who never change their spots, the convicts who never lose their stripes - they are no match against the fool who believes in the ultimate, unseen goodness in mankind.

The fool believes that when one speaks from the heart to another, it transmits something of its pain, its suffering, its great injury - caused by life's many Goliaths, convicts and leopards.

This sincere sharing touches people and unwittingly transforms everyone to the cause.

The fool wins the race because in her head, it is already won.

God bless the fools. They represent all that is naive, lovely, good in people. They keep us soft in the gentle sort of way. They keep on rockin', creatin' and lovin' every moment of it!

N.B.: A tribute to Robert Indiana, who gave us his iconic painting "LOVE" at the height of the American Pop Culture, and which graced the US 8cent stamp. Because he didn't want to disrupt his original design by his signature or copyright notice, he had no legal protection against imitators. And though it was his greatest creation, he enjoyed little financial gain. Then 2 years ago, he used the same design for Barack Obama's campaign creating "HOPE". Unveiled outside the Democratic National Convention the image was adopted by the Democratic party and sales of HOPE merchandise raised more than $1 million for the campaign. More importantly, it gave Robert Indiana a renewed faith in LOVE. Read his full story here.

Greatness Is...

"The only thing I see that is distinctly different about me is I'm not afraid to die on a treadmill. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, but if we get on a treadmill together there's two things - you're getting off first, or I'm gonna die. It's really that simple." ~ Will Smith

Greatness is forged in the Journey.

 

A Pound and More

One of the biggest challenges any new enterprise faces is the threat of intellectual property violation.

As a fledgling writer and publisher that works each time to create something new - the odds of being subsumed and having the idea reproduced (i.e. a violation of copyright) is a clear and present danger.

It threatens survival... something I've been having to deal with in the past months.

But moreover, it's the anger of having spent sleepless months and years working to perfect something... only to have a bigger Goliath take it overnight and run with it - that feeling that they are entitled to steal someones works just because they can. No permission requested, a million reproductions spread out across the globe overnight, no acknowledgement, no royalties for use of concept.

These 'paper pushers' have no clue on what it takes to create. They sit in their cushy jobs, wait for their paycheck and blush with pride when complimented on an idea they stole.

Well, perhaps its time to get even.

With this latest development, they've cause this company to be on the brink of survival. Would it be too much to have ones pound of flesh and quart of blood too?

Parties are for politicians. People just want unity.

Well, it's true. Datuk Johari who leads UMNO Titiwangsa branch is correct when he states that Chinese or Indian votes don't count in the big scheme of things. They only need Malay votes. All Malaysians should thus be gracious, accept and grant them their wish.



From the applause our Titiwangsa gets... I would say he's expressing the sentiments of a majority in the crowd. It's an offense to everyone - Malay, Chinese, Indian, Eurasian, Kadazan, Dayak, etc - who believes in humanity instead of racism; unity not division; equality not hegemony.

Malaysians should wake up, perform their duty as citizens and register to vote. Reclaiming our country from divisive, racist sentiments. We are small when choosing to define ourselves by the colour of our skin.

Who cares about political parties? No one except the politician. My vote goes to anyone who works for all Malaysians.

Let's all send a clear message on who's the boss. In a representative democracy, I am the boss. And I say YES to plurality, diversity, unity. We don't need rallies, demonstrations, vigils. Speak your mind at the ballot box on election day.

And to unregistered or abstaining citizens who complain about our country yet do nothing on election day... you've forfeited the right to complain because you've condoned it by doing nothing.


An unregistered voter who talks ill about this country should have their citizenship revoked, and given to those legitimate but stateless Malaysians born post-Independence, desperately waiting outside Putrajaya to get their Mykad. Perhaps compulsory voting like in Singapore isn't too bad an idea after all. Three strikes - you're OUT!

Malaysian Tops Cambridge, heads to S'pore & we announce a 100-Storey Tower

APPALLING. That's the only word to describe the government's latest 100-storey building smack in central KL. in an economy that's not yet recovered, an education system that's failing and students are taught to rote learn rather than think critical, increased crime and safety issues... what was the government thinking? Costing RM5 Billion...

I thought we were promised a People's Budget - hence the massive drive by Najib's administration to obtain direct feedback via his blog... did anyone actually request for a 100 STOREY building? Pump priming at the expense of transparency?

What about pumping that money into fixing our education system? How about improving healthcare in this country? and to add insult to injury, we have ministers who make these statements:

“Everybody wants a tallest tower. Shanghai and Taiwan want more, so why should we hold back?” - Ng Yen Yen.

Who this EVERYONE is I'm not too sure. It would be nice to have a referendum called to identify EVERYONE. I meet citizens of Malaysia everyday and I still haven't met one of these EVERYONE.

Pump prime economics doesn't work in ALL situations... economic stimulus works should be matched to the greater objectives people wish to see in society.

Now HERE's a REAL issue we should discuss: Malaysian Tops Cambridge, Joins Singapore Civil Service.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysian-tops-cambridge-heads-to-singapore/

An excerpt here:

"ANALYSIS, Oct 19 – Malaysian first-class honours law graduate Tan Zhongshan, who won a slew of awards at Cambridge University including the Slaughter and May prize for best overall performance, is heading to Singapore to join its Legal Service commission, it was reported today.

But this is no longer an uncommon case in Malaysia which has been facing a brain drain problem for decades even as previous administrations did little to stem the tide of outgoing talent.

This has led to fears that the country is being hollowed out.

The Najib administration has taken the strongest steps yet to tackle the issue by proposing a Talent Corporation (Talentcorp) to lure talent and overseas Malaysians back as well as resolving the perennial government scholarship debate by awarding scholarships to all students who score 9As and above.

The prime minister has also been on a personal charm offensive abroad the past one year and told
Malaysian communities in Belgium and Luxembourg this month that the Talentcorp will seek overseas Malaysians out and do what it takes to make them consider going home."

I think we should all look deep within ourselves truthfully and ask why we keep losing top talent from the country. Not to cover up with all these macro policies like Talent Corp that give incentives but conveniently sidestep the real issue of why young, bright talented Malaysians leave. Deep down, most people no matter where they go and how far they have travelled, harbour an unspoken love for their country. That's why we debate and fight for it so passionately.

Until we feel betrayed. A People's Budget... a People's 100-storey Tower... Where did all the People go?

Well... sometimes no one says anything anymore because it's just beyond words.  But sighs can be deafening.

wuzzat?

And here's sharing some laughter with the world, courtesy of Hugh Macleod of www.gapingvoid.com. I cracked up when I first read the book.... I still do.

It's the feeling of connecting, having been there and looking back... it was pretty damn funny how we took it all so seriously. Especially the Big Words... Like Empowerment.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great word... but great words are prone to great abuse. It's painful... like watching paint dry.

Today, I'm an avid supporter of small, short words that match my attention span. Datz y textin wrks.

A whack on the side of the head, for days when we taking ourselves too serious.
 

Beauty in the World

Most times, we can't seem to put a face to things. Well, here's what beauty looks like... captured on the face of Jazmint, Ida and Kelly. Enthusiasm, laughter, goofiness, life... Salut!

After a hard day of absolute focus in making sure that everything goes right, that Awake Minds really lives up to its pledge of transforming minds, and keeping things real for everyone... my unwinding sessions over a late lunch (bordering on dinner) with these young ladies is really the reward for the day.

We all know life is change... but here's to the moments which immortalise playfulness!


             And Macy Gray couldn't have put it better... for everyone over the years who I probably could never thank enuf... this one's for you and yours! Thanks to Christine for this.
 

IQRA

Iqra' or READ! is Allah's first revelation to the Holy Prophet Mohammed.

Have we really listened?

"For to anything which We have willed, We but say the word, "Be", and it IS." Surah 16-Al Nahl verse 40

You will find the same sentiments across all cultures - modern and ancient - expressed in equally eloquent terms. Paulo Coelho's By The River Piedra..., gnostic literature, or Vedic scripture.

These words are expressed in the Quran... but truly, they belong to all.

These words are expressed in the Vedas... but truly, they belong to all.

These words are expressed in the Bible... but truly, they belong to all.

These words are expressed in the Zen koans... but truly, they belong to all.


Happy 53rd Merdeka, Malaysia?


Which is greater... the revelation or the question?
 The "Zikr Boat" spells out in Arabic calligraphy "La ilaha ilallah," which may be translated as "There is no God but God" or "There is nothing but the Divine." The calligraphy artstically represents seekers rowing together in a boat towards God. The belief that there is nothing but God leads to the paradox that we are seeking the Divine while at the same time we are at one with the Divine; we are the Lover and the Beloved.
 

Tear Down The Wall!

How can we NOT love Roger Waters? 


The Pink Floyd founder gave permission to two Iranian brothers and handed them full rights of their rewritten cover to the ultimate classic Another Brick in The Wall as support for the freedom of Iranian youths against its repressive regime, with these words: I encourage artists to use the song to resist all forms of oppression.


Another Brick in the Wall is VINTAGE... the end of the video with children being churned into minced meat by the massive machinery gave nightmares to kids and a phonia for school. 31 years on, it's still an awesome statement against repression and is rockin' inspirin' stuff.


by John Carucci (AP) NEW YORK - Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters has no qualms about giving a Canadian band permission to tinker with his band's classic "Another Brick in the Wall" for use as an anthem for young Iranians.


Toronto-based band Blurred Vision, fronted by two exiled Iranian brothers, has reworked the lyrics to express the resentment felt by young people toward the government of Iran, where it's illegal to play rock music. One well-known verse was changed to "Hey, Ayatollah, leave those kids alone!"


Waters said he encourages artists to use the song to resist all forms of oppression. He said in a statement that he sees the band as playing a vital part in "the resistance to a regime that is both repressive and brutal."

Relive the Spirit!

And the new inspiration

White Picket Fences

Was asked to participate in an organisation... and I... hesitated.
If there's anything I've learnt, that if there's even a little bit of hesitance... wait.


I sat back and asked myself: Why hesitate? 


And the reason is because I feel that it's an illusion. It's been a long journey to realisation, but for me, today, where I am... any association is like the far off dream of another White Picket Fence.

 What's the White Picket Fence? Literally, it's the neat successes and accomplishments we build in the exterior world that demarcates our existence. 


That neat little trophy by the corner, the new plaque on the wall, the next degree conferred. It validates who we are, what we have earned through blood, sweat and tears. The White Picket Fence gives meaning to why we exist.  It signifies our need to belong to something in order to quantify the usefulness of being here.


The White Picket Fence is an Illusion.


We do not own anything. There is nothing we can give or take away. In the final equation, don't we all die exactly the way we came in... empty-handed? I mean if there was something people could take with them in death... now THAT would be something worth associating with. But what?


Yet, we continue to draw up the Great Master Plans, we divide and rule. We continue building our White Picket Fence in all aspects of life.


Belonging to something validates who we are. However, my experience thus far is that by belonging anywhere, we limit ourselves to what we can possibly be. The price of belonging is independence, because in order to belong... we need to compromise. But if all I know is me, and all I have is me... then the possibilities are endless. 


I am no longer helpless, everything relies on me, and I am free to stand where my conscience dictates I stand. It's taken many years of associating, but I've realised the futility of it... and the infinite possibilities that open once we take that first step into the Unknown alone, without a crutch or the security of having other people's approval. If the intention is to free humanity, in its truest sense, how can that possibly be done by creating more division. When we set people free, we cannot dictate how they will fly.  


And as the world works in patterns and themes, I am reminded again and again that Truth is a Pathless Land. 


As someone once told me: Your good, is good enough. Societies, associations, movements... they all have their function. They also have their politics and evolution (or deviance from its original spirit) But there is something greater, more fulfilling than that. 


Beyond the White Picket Fence... is the Great Beyond. 


The human spirit is greater than what any organisation could possibly represent. We do not need to leverage off the power of associations in order to BECOME that Ultimate Man. We just need an inner transformation. The World will then take take care of itself. 


Having mistakenly placed my faith in external movements, forces and organisations... once that was dropped, I realised that I was the biggest Changemaker in the World. I didn't need any other association except Faith in what I do. 


The verdict thus far? I don't know how... it just works.

Siapa Pendatang...? Saya Pendatang!

 With all the fuss about headmistresses telling students that the Chinese and Indians are 'pendatang', or migrants, to go back to China if they didn't like what was going on in the country... let's all stop from falling into the trap of race based politics. 


Let's stop reacting. 


Let's wake up and stop dancing to someone else's tune.


If we all trace our roots through history... weren't ALL of us pendatang at one point? 


Siapa orang asal negara ni? Orang asli. That's why they are calledOrang Asli.


So, the next time someone calls you pendatang... stand proud, and say "Yang Arif, SAYA SETUJU!" Everyone who isn't Orang Asli... is historically pendatang. 


Don't do it out of spite, don't do it with an agenda... do it because it's the truth.


If we know who we are... why should we be flustered? If you know who you are... who can take that away from you? (Hint: nowan)


Lain kali, orang suruh pendatang balik China ke, India ke... senyum... dan katalah "TAK NAK". 


Say, "YES, I will NOT go."


That's reclaiming full ownership of what it means to be Malaysian. That and becoming a voter. But that's a story for another day.


Peace.

Truth is a Pathless Land

One of the most understated speeches of the 2oth century. Jiddu Krishnamurti was selected at the age of 13 to be the vehicle for the return of Christ, or Maitreya. But after his enlightenment, he refused his role as The World Teacher, disbanded The Order of the Star, an organisation built around him, returned all the money given to it, and continued to teach on his own for nearly 60 years.  

 In 1929, when dissolving the organisation, he gave a speech titled "Truth is a Pathless Land."

His clarion call rings true till today, to be revisited each time one stands face-to-face with corruption, greed, power, glory. There is no right or wrong... 

TRUTH IS A PATHLESS LAND

By J. Krishnamurti in 1929

“You may remember the story of how the devil and a friend of his were walking down the street, when they saw ahead of them a man stoop down and pick up something from the ground, look at it, and put it away in his pocket. The friend said to the devil, ‘What did that man pick up?’ ‘He picked up a piece of Truth,’ said the devil. ‘That is a very bad business for you, then,’ said his friend. ‘Oh, not at all,’ the devil replied, ‘I am going to let him organize it.’

“I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. That is my point of view, and I adhere to that absolutely and unconditionally. Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or to coerce people along any particular path. If you first understand that, then you will see how impossible it is to organize a belief. 

A belief is purely an individual matter, and you cannot and must not organize it. If you do, it becomes dead, crystallized; it becomes a creed, a sect, a religion, to be imposed on others. This is what everyone throughout the world is attempting to do. Truth is narrowed down and made a plaything for those who are weak, for those who are only momentarily discontented.

Truth cannot be brought down, rather the individual must make the effort to ascend to it. You cannot bring the mountain-top to the valley. If you would attain to the mountain-top you must pass through the valley, climb the steeps, unafraid of the dangerous precipices.”

…

“The moment you follow someone you cease to follow Truth.”

…

“You are accustomed to authority, or to the atmosphere of authority, which you think will lead you to spirituality. You think and hope that another can, by his extraordinary powers — a miracle — transport you to this realm of eternal freedom which is Happiness. Your whole outlook on life is based on that authority.”

…

“When you look for an authority to lead you to spirituality, you are bound automatically to build an organization around that authority. By the very creation of that organization, which, you think, will help this authority to lead you to spirituality, you are held in a cage.”

…

“Organizations cannot make you free. No man from outside can make you free; nor can organized worship, nor the immolation of yourselves for a cause, make you free; nor can forming yourselves into an organization, nor throwing yourselves into works, make you free. You use a typewriter to write letters, but you do not put it on an altar and worship it. But that is what you are doing when organizations become your chief concern.”

…

“Again, you have the idea that only certain people hold the key to the Kingdom of Happiness. No one holds it. No one has the authority to hold that key. That key is your own self, and in the development and the purification and in the incorruptibility of that self alone is the Kingdom of Eternity.”

…

“You are accustomed to being told how far you have advanced, what is your spiritual status. How childish! Who but yourself can tell you if you are beautiful or ugly within?”

…

But those who really desire to understand, who are looking to find that which is eternal, without a beginning and without an end, will walk together with greater intensity, will be a danger to everything that is unessential, to unrealities, to shadows. And they will concentrate, they will become the flame, because they understand. Such a body we must create, and that is my purpose. 

…

For two years I have been thinking about this, slowly, carefully, patiently, and I have now decided to disband the Order, as I happen to be its Head. You can form other organisations and expect someone else. With that I am not concerned, nor with creating new cages, new decorations for those cages. My only concern is to set men absolutely, unconditionally free.