Category: quote

For there is no divinely ordained authority any more that we have to recognise. There is no anointed messenger of God’s law. In our world today all civil law is conventional. No divine authority is claimed for it: no Sinai; no Mount of Olives. Our laws are enacted and altered by human determination, and within their secular jurisdiction each of us is free to seek his own destiny, his own truth, to quest for this or for that and to find it through his own doing. The mythologies, religions, philosophies, and modes of thought that came into being six thousand years ago and out of which all the monumental cultures both of the Occident and of the Orient — of Europe, the Near and Middle East, the Far East, even early America — derived their truths and lives, are dissolving from around us, and we are left, each on his own to follow the star and spirit of his own life.

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In sum, then: The inward journey of the mythological hero, the shaman, the mystic, and the schizophrenic are in principle the same; and when the return or remission occurs, it is experienced as a rebirth: the birth, that is to say, of a “twice-born” ego, no longer bound in by its daylight-world horizon. It is now known to be but the reflex of a larger self, its proper function being to carry the energies of an archetypal instinct system into fruitful play in a contemporary space-time daylight situation. One is now no longer afraid of nature; nor of nature’s child, society–which is monstrous too, and in fact cannot be otherwise; it would otherwise not survive. The new ego is in accord with all this, in harmony, at peace; and, as those who have returned from the journey tell, life is then richer, stronger, and more joyous.

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Remember the day I set you free
I told you, you could always count on me, darling
And from that day on I made a vow
I’ll be there when you want me some way, some how

Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell — Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

I’ve been living in your cassette
It’s the modern equivalent
Singing up to a Capulet
On a balcony in your mind

In the City the lion sleeps
Pray to Sony my soul to keep
Were you ever so bright and sweet
Did you ever look so nice

Semisonic — Singing In My Sleep

This the same place
No, not the same place
This is the same place, love
No, not the same place we’ve been before

Hey, love
I am a constant satellite
Of your blazing sun
My love
I obey your law of gravity
This is the fate you’ve carved on me
The law of gravity
This is the fate you’ve carved on me

Vienna Teng — Gravity

To that which is born, death is certain; to that which is dead, birth is certain: be not afflicted by the unavoidable. As a noble whose duty is to protect the law, refusing to fight this righteous war you will forfeit both virtue and honour. Your proper concern is alone the action of duty, not the fruits of the action. Cast then away all desire and fear for the fruits, and perform your duty.

Joseph Campbell – Myths to Live By (1961)

Hey, you know they’re all the same
You know you’re doing better on your own
So don’t buy in
Live right now
Yeah, just be yourself
It doesn’t matter if it’s good enough
For someone else

Jimmy Eat World — The Middle