Words I Needed Last Week 6/13

Beware those quick to praise for they need praise in return.

A notebook from Octavia E. Butler’s collection, (1988).

“Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.”
—Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

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“Why do you run around looking for the truth? Be still, and there it is—in the mountain, in the pine, in yourself.”
—Lao Tzu, Conscious Arrival

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“Endings, to be useful, must be inconclusive.”
—Samuel R. Delany

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"Anybody can play. The note is only 20 percent. The attitude of the motherfucker who plays it is 80 percent."
—Miles Davis

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“...beware those quick to praise
for they need praise in return
beware those who are quick to censor
they are afraid of what they do not know
beware those who seek constant crowds for
they are nothing alone
beware the average man the average woman
beware their love, their love is average
seeks average
but there is genius in their hatred
there is enough genius in their hatred to kill you
to kill anybody
not wanting solitude
not understanding solitude
they will attempt to destroy anything
that differs from their own
not being able to create art
they will not understand art
they will consider their failure as creators
only as a failure of the world
not being able to love fully
they will believe your love incomplete
and then they will hate you
and their hatred will be perfect
like a shining diamond
like a knife
like a mountain
like a tiger
like hemlock
their finest art.
— Charles Bukowski, The Genius of the Crowd

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The last exerpt from Charles Bukowski’s poem “The Genius of the Crowd” has lived 1000% rent free in my head for the last week. I keep coming back to it. Different lines, at odd times, seeping into my psyche. I’d love to know what words moved you this week. Feel free to share in the comments or email me directly :)

Have a lovely Sunday!