“Overextending myself is not stretching myself. I had to accept how difficult it is to monitor the difference. Necessary for me as cutting down on sugar. Crucial. Physically. Psychically. Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
Source: [Lorde, Audre, A Burst of Light : Living with Cancer, A burst of light : essays, 125, Firebrand Books, 1988, 0932379400]
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Audre Lorde 72
writer and activist 1934–1992Related quotes
“Me, me, me…myself & I…oh no!!! Trapped in my stupid self!”
From his sketchbook (28 March 1998), reproduced in The R. Crumb Handbook by Robert Crumb and Peter Poplaski (2005), p. 372
Context: What the hell is this?? Who can tell me?? Does anybody know?? How can I find out more about it?? One thing's sure: the human mind can't "know" it... why does one want to "know"?? Is it a quest for "freedom"? One no longer wishes to be a puppet dancing on the strings of... of what? Animal instincts?? Learned reflexes? Programmed behavior?? Ingrained habits of perception?? How limited are we by the experience of our senses, by our physical nature?? To be fully alive is a stupendous struggle! We want the rewards without the struggle--- ---a fatal error!... No such thing as an easy life! Everybody has a hard time... struggle or die! To find out what's really going on it's necessary to get around the ego.. an art requiring persistent and determined effort... Me, me, me... myself & I... oh no!!! Trapped in my stupid self!
Page 101
2000s, (2008)
Part 1: U.G.
The Mystique of Enlightenment (1982)
Context: People call me an enlightened man — I detest that term — they can't find any other word to describe the way I am functioning. At the same time, I point out that there is no such thing as enlightenment at all. I say that because all my life I've searched and wanted to be an enlightened man, and I discovered that there is no such thing as enlightenment at all, and so the question whether a particular person is enlightened or not doesn't arise. I don't give a hoot for a sixth-century-BC Buddha, let alone all the other claimants we have in our midst. They are a bunch of exploiters, thriving on the gullibility of the people. There is no power outside of man. Man has created God out of fear. So the problem is fear and not God.
I discovered for myself and by myself that there is no self to realize. That's the realization I am talking about. It comes as a shattering blow. It hits you like a thunderbolt. You have invested everything in one basket, self-realization, and, in the end, suddenly you discover that there is no self to discover, no self to realize.
Wolf Am I! (And Shadow).
Brother Sun, Sister Moon (2006)
Pages 116-117
2000s, (2008)
