Aphorisms presented in this Compendium were not yet written or not found in time to be included in New Extracts. WM

    SURREALISTIC

  1. darkness offers doom or dreams
    and I can't pierce the enigma

    darkness and nothing
    may bring you something
    doom or salvation
    dreams, inspiration

    STRUGGLE

  2. I have rarely seen justice that is not manufactured, victors who are not abusers.

    Attitude
  3. To be successful one has to live with beliefs as much as with facts.
  4. Clue to optimism: accept chaos as territory and struggle as an ally.
  5. Just as crystal takes the shape of its molecule, so you, by taking your own side in most circumstances, contribute to your own evolution.
  6. 'Exercise' -- when effort becomes a goal in itself; boredom annihilates any positive effect. It's better for the mind and body to work than to exercise.
  7. If you want to learn something new and unexpected, like a child, be vulnerable like a child.
  8. "We must cultivate our garden" -- Voltaire. The precise job on the spot is more important than awareness of some broader goal.
  9. Meaningful action is always confined within a defined space. The soldier doesn't win the war but conquers the bridge.

    The Way of the Samurai (Vagabond issue #58)
  10. Uniqueness of the Samurai's Way: 'Spirituality' is a by-product just like Mr. Dupont's prose in 'Le bourgeois gentilhomme.'

    DEFEAT

  11. Winners don't need boosts; losers don't get them.

    LIFE

  12. Nothing comes between necessity and decision. You are on your own; karma governs your life without advising how to live.

    TIME

  13. We believe in progress because we believe that the flow of time takes us somewhere. We think that time progresses, but there is nothing more immutable than space and time.
  14. You measure time by way of your expectations.
  15. How do you measure time? (1) By looking at your watch (2) By dividing your existence into slices.

    CREATIVITY

  16. Inspiration: invisible road preceding the visible tracks.
  17. When the artist's work is achieved, the mystery becomes the most opaque; the magical moment of the breaking point is lost.

    Painting
  18. Hunger for colour as for a vitamin.
  19. The work is good if nothing stops the eye's wandering stroll over the surface.
  20. Give priority to the hand -- to the direct 'reptilian,' faster than brain connection between eye and gesture. Artistic perception probably digs into a reality more ancient than the brain, in which perception and gesture are more directly linked into each other. The modern expert who works from a distance by means of technology will never perceive the 'smell' of the construction site.

    PSYCHOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS

  21. The mind has a tendency to work as an 'oscillator,' a tool of alertness, of not taking anything for granted; safety may turn into danger, friendship to derision, etc.

    PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTIONS

  22. The 'final theory' quantifies everything into mathematical formula. We know from daily experience that quantity can be perceived as quality; what suits us becomes 'quality.'

    Buddha
  23. Is life a 'broader picture?' (Buddhism)
    In life one has to make a choice about some particular detail within the broader picture. In painting each choice is particular. For the painter of a panoramic view his choices are as particular as for the painter of minute detail. In life it's you and your circumstances (Ortega y Gasset). In art, it's you and your senses.

    CAPSULES

    'I'
  24. If in the external world I don't exist, in the interior world I can surpass myself.

    Void
  25. The prisoner cannot integrate the present moment into a wider schema of past and future. The prisoner for life is an eternal newborn, starting life from now on, and on.
  26. Boredom
    What are you doing?
    Consuming a spoonful of life.

    Justice
  27. The Universe is not for you but you are for the Universe -- so, whatever happens to you will be 'justice.'
  28. Sense - static
    Senseless - dynamic
    'Justice': predictable static.
  29. A situation with no logic, no justice, means each moment for itself; a dynamic of the first step.

    MISCELLANY

  30. Eternal Recurrence and the notion of karma
    There is no better expression of eternity than eternal recurrence, which introduces a rhythm into cosmic order and another dimension to causality.
  31. Spirit oscillates around matter because it has no other option.
  32. From an objective point of view, we live distant from ourselves. We are a pathway for our tools/organ's activities.

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