“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history based not only on cruelty but also on compassion, sacrifice, courage and kindness.
“What we choose to emphasise in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something.
“If we remember those times and places – and there are so many – where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least, the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
“And if we do act, in however a small way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
~ Social activist, historian and writer Dr. Howard Zinn.
From: Standing At the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet by Joan Halifax
Roshi Joan Halifax PhD is a Buddhist teacher, Zen Monk and Anthropologist who explores the edges of human experience and writes incredibly compelling books about the intersection of spirituality, psychology and human consciousness.
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Wonderful thought, and that looks like a really interesting book too!
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Thank you River, yes I found this passage from the book powerful and timeless and I’m so glad you did too. I hope you get this book, it’s really good xxx
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Reblogged this on Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News.
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