“In fact, anyone who stands on the edge of the unknown, fully in the present without reference point, experiences groundlessness.”

—  Pema Chödron

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times (1997)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update May 30, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "In fact, anyone who stands on the edge of the unknown, fully in the present without reference point, experiences ground…" by Pema Chödron?
Pema Chödron photo
Pema Chödron 30
American philosopher 1936

Related quotes

“The present has its élan because it is always on the edge of the unknown and one misunderstands the past unless one remembers that this unknown was once part of its nature.”

V.S. Pritchett (1900–1997) British writer and critic

"Boris Pasternak: Unsafe Conduct", p. 14
The Myth Makers: European and Latin American Writers (1979)

Parker Palmer photo

“One of the hardest things we must sometimes do is to be present to another person's pain without trying to fix it, to simply stand respectfully at the edge of that person’s mystery and misery.”

Parker Palmer (1939) American theologian

Source: Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation (1999), pp. 61-63

Jeff VanderMeer photo

“Unlike the Cult of the Seven-Edged Star, the Church of the Seven Pointed Star believed that God had seven points rather than seven edges. Therefore, rather than worshipping the journey toward self-realization symbolized by the edges, they worshipped the goals of self-realization as symbolized by the points. […] Adherents to the Church of the Seven-pointed Star used swords with sharp points but no edge, while the Cult of the Seven-Edged Star used swords with sharp edges but no point. Alas, edges proved superior to points in most battles fought in the streets of Nicea. Caroline's followers were forced to either commit sacrilege and switch to edges, or become meals for the ever-present saltwater buzzard. Proving, one could say, the point of the edges.”

Jeff VanderMeer book City of Saints and Madmen

AppendiX, "The Ambergris Glossary", entry for Caroline of the Church of the Seven-Pointed Star
City of Saints and Madmen (2001–2004)

David Brin photo

“Anyone who tries to predict the future is inevitably a fool. Present company included. A prophet without a sense of humor is just stupid.”

David Brin book Earth

Part III (p. 143)
Earth (1990)

“It stands to reason that anyone who learns to live well will die well. The skills are the same: being present in the moment, and humble, and brave, and keeping a sense of humor. (361)”

Victoria Moran (1950) American writer

Source: Younger by the Day: 365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body and Revitalize Your Spirit

“Anyone who rushes toward an unknown peril simply to satisfy a desire for excitement is a fool.”

Roger Zelazny book Today We Choose Faces

Part 2, Chapter 3 (p. 78)
Today We Choose Faces (1973)

Laurie Halse Anderson photo

“You're the one who doesn't understand, I've been standing on the edge with you for years.”

Laurie Halse Anderson (1961) American children's writer

Source: The Impossible Knife of Memory

“When you come to the edge of all the light you know,
and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown,
FAITH is knowing one of two things will happen:
There will be something solid to stand on
or you will be taught how to fly.”

Barbara Winter (1944)

“Out at the horizon, out near the burnished edge of the world, who are these visitors standing… these robed figures —”

Thomas Pynchon book Gravity's Rainbow

Gravity's Rainbow (1973)
Context: Out at the horizon, out near the burnished edge of the world, who are these visitors standing... these robed figures — perhaps, at this distance, hundreds of miles tall — their faces, serene, unattached, like the Buddha's, bending over the sea, impassive, indeed, as the Angel that stood over Lübeck during the Palm Sunday raid, come that day neither to destroy nor to protect, but to bear witness to a game of seduction... What have the watchmen of the world's edge come tonight to look for? Deepening on now, monumental beings stoical, on toward slag, toward ash the colour the night will stabilize at, tonight... what is there grandiose enough to witness?

Lance Armstrong photo

“Anyone who imagines they can work alone winds up surrounded by nothing but rivals, without companions. The fact is, no one ascends alone.”

Lance Armstrong book It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life

Source: It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life

Related topics