Pledge for 'Who am I?'
 
 
Pledge is not an idea. It is fortitude and passion, and insatiable thirst.
We entered the Quest with goodwill, knowing that we cannot leave until we resolve it. That time is now.
Pledge is not an idea. It is fortitude and passion, insatiable thirst. We are aiming for new words, new concepts, new identity. Pledge means reconstructing the dilemma we began with, from the inside out, so that it ceases to exist. It means resolving the problem before it is formed. It is the challenge to integrate inner and outer, self and society. It is choiceless awareness. It is becoming a citizen of the world we are forging, Visionary Citizen. Learn more.
 
 
Undertake the cultivation of your soul. Become capable of exquisite sensitivity.

Do not lie to yourself
“Above all, do not lie to yourself. A man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point where he does not discern any truth either in himself or anywhere around him, and thus falls into disrespect towards himself and others. Not respecting anyone, he ceases to love, and having no love, he gives himself up to passions and coarse pleasures, in order to occupy and amuse himself, and in his vices reaches complete bestiality, and it all comes from lying continually to others and to himself.” Feodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, 44

Fight your complacency and lethargy
“I tell you truly that, as I strive more with this strange lethargy and trance in myself, and awake to the meaning and power of life, it seems daily more amazing to me that men such as these – fascists – should dare to lay with the most precious truths.”
The Genius of John Ruskin, 334
“For it’s as if by chance that I have gained This state so hard to find, wherein to help myself. And now, when freedom—power of choice—is mine, If once again I’m led away to hell, I am as if benumbed by sorcery, My mind reduced to total impotence With no perception of the madness overwhelming me. O what is it that has me in its grip?” The Way of the Bodhisattva, Shantideva, chap. 4, 26-27

Foster a careful, actively benevolent love
“Every day and every hour, every minute, walk round yourself and watch yourself, and see that your image is a seemly one. You pass by a little child, you pass by with ugly and spiteful words, with wrathful heart; you may not have noticed the child, but he has seen you, and your image, revolting and godless, may remain in his defenseless heart. You don’t know it, but you may have sown an evil seed in him and it may grow, all because you were not careful before the child, because you did not foster in yourself a careful, actively benevolent love.”
Feodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, Conversations with Father Zossima, 238

Decide what to put into your mind
"The mind can be permanently profaned by the habit of attending to trivial things"
Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience
“When in wild, unruly crowds
We move with care to shield our broken limbs,
Likewise when we live in evil company,
Our wounded minds we should not fail to guard.
For if I carefully protect my wounds
Because I fear the hurt of cuts and bruises,
Why should I not guard my wounded mind,
For fear of being crushed beneath the cliffs of hell?”
The Way of the Bodhisattva, Shantideva, 5.19-20


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