This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, native form is Csíkszentmihályi Mihály
We normally allow a whole series of illusions to stand between ourselves and reality. Built out of genetic instructions, cultural rules, and the unbridled desires of the self, these distortions are comforting, yet they need to be seen through for the self to be truly liberated.
Max Weber, formally Maximilian Carl Emil Weber
To attain... self confidence, intense worldly activity is recommended as the most suitable means. It and it alone disperses religious doubts and gives the certainty of grace.. The moral conduct of the average man was thus deprived of its planless and unsystematic character and subjected to a consistent method for conduct as a whole.
Character | Conduct | Confidence | Grace | Man | Means | Method | Self |
Mencius, born Meng Ke or Ko NULL
When our senses of sight and hearing are distracted by the things outside, without the participation of thought, then the material things act upon the material senses and lead them astray. That is the explanation. The function of the mind is thinking: when you think, you keep your mind, and when you don’t think, you lose your mind. This is what heaven has given to us. One who cultivates his higher self will find that his lower self follows in accord. That is how a man becomes a great man.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, native form is Csíkszentmihályi Mihály
The more the self becomes identified with external objects, the more vulnerable it becomes.
Self |
Every one of us is entitled, I believe, to find his or her true self in this life.
Self-control is not worth a farthing unless we build up a great self worth controlling.
Control | Self | Self-control | Worth |
Guru, God, and Self are One.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, native form is Csíkszentmihályi Mihály
It is not a circular motion that returns to where one started, but rather, it resembles an ascending spiral, where concern for the self becomes steadily qualified by less selfish goals and concern for others becomes ore individualistic and personally meaningful.
The greatest obstacle to being heroic is the doubt whether one may not be going to prove one's self a fool; the truest heroism is to resist the doubt; and the profoundest wisdom, to know when it ought to be resisted, and when it be obeyed.
Doubt | Heart | Insincerity | Life | Life | Man | Self | Obstacle |
Panchatantra or The Panchatantra NULL
For the sake of a family an individual may be sacrificed; for the sake of a village a family may be sacrificed; for the sake of a nation a village may be sacrificed; for the sake of one's self the world may be sacrificed.
Family | Individual | Self | World |
None has more frequent conversations with disagreeable self than the man of pleasure; his enthusiasms are but few and transient; his appetites, like angry creditors, are continually making fruitless demands for what he is unable to pay; and the greater his former pleasures, the more strong his regret, the more impatient his expectations. A life of pleasure is, therefore, the most unpleasing life.
Paramahansa Yogananda, born Mukunda Lal Ghosh
Learn to see God in all persons, of whatever race or creed. You will know what divine love is when you begin to feel your oneness with every human being, not before. In mutual service we forget the little self and glimpse the one measureless self, the spirit that unifies all men.
Creed | God | Little | Love | Men | Oneness | Race | Self | Service | Spirit | Will | God |
Paramahansa Yogananda, born Mukunda Lal Ghosh
Truth is no theory, no speculative system of philosophy. Truth is exact correspondence with Reality. For man, truth is unshakable knowledge of his real nature, his Self as soul.
Knowledge | Man | Nature | Philosophy | Reality | Self | Soul | System | Truth |
Paramahansa Yogananda, born Mukunda Lal Ghosh
Happiness lies in making others happy, in forsaking self-interest to bring joy to others... To live for self is the source of all misery.
Happy | Joy | Self | Self-interest |
The first and best victory is to conquer self; to be conquered by self is of all things the most shameful and vile.
Self |
The most satisfying thing in life is to have been able to give a large part of one's self to others.
The self is a social construct, mutually defined with and through other people.