Never Born, Never Died (2002)
Context: Tao mystics never talk about God, reincarnation, heaven, hell. No, they don't talk about these things. These are all creations of human mind: explanations for something which can never be explained, explanations for the mystery. In fact, all explanations are against God because explanation de-mystifies existence. Existence is a mystery, and one should accept it as a mystery and not pretend to have any explanation. No, explanation is not needed — only exclamation, a wondering heart, awakened, surprised, feeling the mystery of life each moment. Then, and only then, you know what truth is. And truth liberates.
“We know the truth, not only by the reason, but by the heart.”
“He thought about that for a moment, wondered what he should say. The truth or nothing. The truth.”
Part IV “Home” chapter 5 (p. 501)
Adulthood Rites (1988)
The Wan Ling Record of Xiu Pei, quoted in Why Lazarus Laughed: The Essential Doctrine, Zen — Advaita — Tantra (2003) by Wei Wu Wei
“Live your life as an Exclamation rather than an Explanation”
Notes on Life and Letters (1921), Part II,, "Tradition"
Source: What is Property? (1840), Ch. I: "Method Pursued in this Work. The Idea of a Revolution"
Context: To name a thing is easy: the difficulty is to discern it before its appearance. In giving expression to the last stage of an idea, — an idea which permeates all minds, which to-morrow will be proclaimed by another if I fail to announce it to-day, — I can claim no merit save that of priority of utterance. Do we eulogize the man who first perceives the dawn?
Yes: all men believe and repeat that equality of conditions is identical with equality of rights; that property and robbery are synonymous terms; that every social advantage accorded, or rather usurped, in the name of superior talent or service, is iniquity and extortion. All men in their hearts, I say, bear witness to these truths; they need only to be made to understand it.
