“This is why we must transcend our physical bodies. Because a body is always going to piss you off”

“The idea is to be detached from the fruits of our labors, which means that we do things simply for the act of doing them.”

“That's one of the problems with doing anything for a long time. Staying home, for instance. The longer you stay, the more you believe your identity is wrapped up in the people and things around you. You become trapped. It seems as if you fear change because you can't let go of this illusion of yourself as being what? The good granddaughter? The girlfriend who can't choose between her boyfriend and her family? Seems as if your fear of change is really just the same fear of death you mention in your first class.”

“Walking the spiritual path properly is a very subtle process; it is not something to jump into naively. There are numerous sidetracks which lead to the distorted, ego-centered version of spirituality; we can deceive ourselves into thinking we are developing spiritually when instead we are strengthening our egocentricity through spiritual techniques.”

“I think there's a secret part of me that would like to drop my entire life off a cliff and watch it break into a million pieces”

“It's good to have these stories in our holy books, to remind us that they were written by humans. Filthy-minded, morally ambiguous humans.”

“Being detached means recognizing our emotions as what they are: clouds, sunbursts, weather. They pass. So rather than feed on my anger or sadness, rolling about in it like a pig in its own filth, I see that it is weather, and know that in time it will pass”