choose understanding over comfort

“When troubled, we have our choice of either surface comfort or psychic understanding. If the choice is for comfort, such as associating with those who sympathize, we cannot have understanding. The demand for comfort blocks psychic insight. But if the choice is for understanding, which forces you to stand all alone without comfort, understanding breaks through. Every time we choose understanding over comfort, we walk a greater distance away from troubles, for such are caused by misunderstanding.”

— Vernon Howard

“When you are deluded and full of doubt, even a thousand books of scripture are not enough. When you have realized understanding, even one word is too much.”

— Fen-Yang

“Once I began a book, I couldn’t put it down. It was like an addiction; I read while I ate, on the train, in bed until late at night, in school, where I’d keep the book hidden so I could read during class. But I had almost no desire to talk with anyone about the experience I gained through books and music. I felt happy just being me and no one else.”

— Haruki Murakami 

“Don’t feel stupid if you do not like what everyone else pretends to love.”

— Patrick Mimran 

i feel really strange

Singing intimate songs is 'kind of embarrassing.  I'm still not comfortable with what I do. Every time I get home after a show, I feel really strange -- like when you wake up in the morning and you realize that you went out the night before, got high, and told some stranger all the most intimate details of your life. It's kind of embarrassing.

Buzz Magazine, 1994