The Three Choices.
Trying to improve the physical world (technology);
Trying to improve man (religion & political-theories);
Trying to improve yourself (exercise, education, cosmetic surgery and religion again).
   (There is a fourth [of interest to only a few] which consists of actually changing yourself.)

One of the great avenues open to those who don’t know what to do with their lives
is writing books and giving lectures to tell others what to do with their lives.

How To Distinguish Between Things That Are Simply Your
Subjective Opinion Vs. Objective Insight: A Spotter’s Guide.
When it is the former, you can be bothered by its rejection or denial (in other words):
You take criticism of your ideas personally.

A guy muttered: “People who brag about being old are pathetic.”

An Overlooked Thermodynamic Feature Of Interpersonal Relationships.
A man stabbed by his girlfriend who will respond when asked what they were arguing about that led to the incident  --  deserves a good cuttin’.
(Aka #1: Those who pick words over actions are beggin' to be recipients of unsavory actions.
Aka #2: An intellectual without a shiv ain't a real intellectual.)

When you’ve awakened enough to be free of the past  –  you’ll never get homesick.

Thanks to there being vocal opposition to everything man does and proposes,
people are relentless about hearing “the truth” about mortal affairs,
but it does not “set-them-free,”  nor even upset them as much as it does
those who presume to present same;
overall, Life has men’s nervous-systems wired so that they simply are not very interested in this matter.
When you live comfortably in the city  –  appearances are JUST fine (thank you!).

On one world, hearing people describe their philosophy-of-life took second place;
the grand prize was garnered by a 2006 recording of whale farts.

The Law, Medicine & An Excruciating Yet Exhilarating Allegory
For The Advanced Inner Rebel (But Certainly Not For The Neophyte
Or Squeamish) .
Consider the dread you can feel going to the courthouse which (if you are on trial)
can prove to be the source of great trouble (like sending you to prison or your execution); compare this to going to the hospital, a place which (if you are in pain)
can be the source of great relief (simple enough so far –  but wait, picture this): If you are not hurting, but you are suffering from a non-symptomatic ill (as is common with many cancers), then going to the hospital for up-date tests to track its inexorable progress can fill you with dread thus: Though you are presently feeling fine, you are faced with the impending possibility of receiving extremely bad news as a result of your tests, ergo making medicine (whose purpose it is to help) seem almost like a source of your troubles.
    If (to your inner sight) this shines light on a certain feature of the mind’s
    normal workings, there is hope yet that you can be privately treated.

Words do have great power  –  over the mentally weak & inept.

One chap was again reminded (or again reminded his self) that waking-up is not a sport
for the weak, the timid, or those who (by ordinary men’s definition) are sensitive.
   (And from the uncommon coop you could hear ‘em sing:
    “There ain't nobody here but us colossus chickens!”)

Only the dead (even if they’re still walking & talking) are interested in the past.

You feel and you think;
if you're ordinary, how you feel determines what you think;
if this is your condition, then you’re asleep and will never experience real thinking.
Otherwise put: If how you are feeling determines what you are thinking,
you are not awake, enlightened nor liberated.

How To Be Taken For Intelligent In The City.
Repeat things that someone everyone considers intelligent has said.

Said a father to a son: “Just as a guy who plays guitar is not really a guitar player unless he loves it so much that he even takes it to bed with him,
a man who wants to awaken must have the urge so deep down in his cells
and molecules that it’s never out of his thoughts for more than a few seconds;
have you got it that bad, boy?  –  have you?”
  “You should know old man  –  you gave me my cells and molecules.”

One More Thing To Remember (If You're Only Having A Few,
Or You're Today’s Designated Driver).
So-called “new information” that originates in the city doesn’t ever change things  –
it will merely rename them.
(Or, in the oft ignored words of one commonly overlooked philosopher:
“Many things mean many different things to many different people.”)

Those who believe that man now is but a “sham-of-his-former-self” --
are speaking for themselves.

There is an unanalyzed, persistent frustration men experience in their involvement with second-reality activities which could properly be labeled: “The impotent climax.”
     (This could also constitute an update of an old adage which would now read:
    “There is no rest for city-ites.”)