“Theoretically there is a perfect possibility of happiness: believing in the indestructible element in oneself and not striving towards it.”

69
The Zürau Aphorisms (1917 - 1918)

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Franz Kafka266

author 1883–1924

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“Be Yourself. Life is precious as it is. All the elements for your happiness are already here. There is no need to run, strive, search, or struggle. Just Be.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

“Man cannot live without a permanent trust in something indestructible in himself, though both the indestructible element and the trust may remain permanently hidden from him.”

Franz Kafka book The Zürau Aphorisms

50
The Zürau Aphorisms (1917 - 1918)
Context: Man cannot live without a permanent trust in something indestructible in himself, though both the indestructible element and the trust may remain permanently hidden from him. One of the ways in which this hiddenness can express itself is through faith in a personal god.

“Two possibilities: making oneself infinitely small or being so. The second is perfection, that is to say, inactivity, the first is beginning, that is to say, action.”

Franz Kafka book The Zürau Aphorisms

90
The Zürau Aphorisms (1917 - 1918)

“A second possible approach to general systems theory is through the arrangement of theoretical systems and constructs in a hierarchy of complexity, roughly corresponding to the complexity of the "individuals" of the various empirical fields… leading towards a "system of systems."… I suggest below a possible arrangement of "levels" of theoretical discourse.”

Kenneth E. Boulding (1910–1993) British-American economist

1950s, General Systems Theory - The Skeleton of Science, 1956