Thursday, March 19, 2009

Carlos Castenada: The Path with Heart

Taken from Philospher's Notes, but I, like the author, have read this passage many many times and have always kept it in my heart and mind.

“Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore, a warrior must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if he feels that he should not follow it, he must not stay with it under any conditions. His decision to keep on that path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition. He must look at every path closely and deliberately. There is a question that a warrior has to ask, mandatorily: ‘Does this path have a heart?’” ~ Carlos Castaneda from The Wheel of Time

I’ve read this passage dozens and dozens of times. I can vividly remember reading it out loud 5+ years ago to a mentor of mine who was recruiting me to run his new venture. I was trying to explain to him that, although the opportunity was fantastic, it just didn’t feel right. (I literally woke up in the middle of the night before our meeting and threw up.) I thought this passage captured the intention of my decision well so I (literally! :) read it out loud to him. Too funny.

So, how about you? Got any big things on your mind? Any big decisions?!? Ask yourself this simple question: Does this path have a heart?

From Zen Habits, Passion and Purpose in life, a short article. I highly recommend giving this one a read. "Sometimes, the best way to find a purpose in life is to go out there and take action, even if we don’t know what we are doing!"
"Once momentum begins, sometimes the difficulty comes in stopping!"

Another Zen Habits post, Move Beyond the Limits That Are Holding You Back, another excellent read for the day. "What all of these limits really come down to is the difference between surviving and living. Going through the motions instead of moving through life deliberately."

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