Stephen Levine Quotes

[D]etachment means letting go and nonattachment means simply letting be. (95)

Letting ourselves be forgiven is one of the most difficult healings we will undertake. And one of the most fruitful. (79)

Simply touching a difficult memory with some slight willingness to heal begins to soften the holding and tension around it. (74)

[D]on’t cling to your self-righteous suffering, let it go. . . . Nothing is too good to be true, let yourself be forgiven. To the degree you insist that you must suffer, you insist on the suffering of others as well. (90)

If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?

If there is a single definition of healing it is to enter with mercy and awareness those pains, mental and physical, from which we have withdrawn in judgment and dismay. (48)

As Stephen Levine says: “When your fear touches someone’s pain it becomes pity; when your love touches someone’s pain, it becomes compassion.”4

[T]hose who insist they've got their 'shit together' are usually standing in it at the time. (16)

When your fear touches someone’s pain, it becomes pity, when your love touches someone’s pain, it become compassion.

We are motivated more by aversion to the unpleasant than by a will toward truth, freedom, or healing. We are constantly attempting to escape our life, to avoid rather than enter our pain we, and we wonder why it is so difficult to be fully alive. (43)

How soon will we accept this opportunity to be fully alive before we die? (88)

Clearly, all fear has an element of resistance and a leaning away from the moment. Its dynamic is not unlike that of strong desire except that fear leans backward into the last safe moment while desire leans forward toward the next possibility of satisfaction. Each lacks presence. (29)

That which is impermanent attracts compassion. That which is not provides wisdom. (116)

I have seen many die, surrounded by loved ones, and their last words were ‘I love you.’ There were some who could no longer speak yet with their eyes and soft smile left behind that same healing message. I have been in rooms where those who were dying made it feel like sacred ground. (26)

You have to remember one life, one death–this one! To enter fully the day, the hour, the moment whether it appears as life or death, whether we catch it on the inbreath or outbreath, requires only a moment, this moment. And along with it all the mindfulness we can muster, and each stage of our ongoing birth, and the confident joy of our inherent luminosity. (24)

Quoting son, Noah Levine: Once you see what the heart really needs, it doesn’t matter if you’re going to live or die, the work is always the same. (25)

To heal is to touch with love that which was previously touched by fear.

Death is perfectly safe. (55)

God is not someone or something separate but is the suchness in each moment, the underlying reality.

In Chinese, the word for heart and mind is the same -- Hsin. For when the heart is open and the mind is clear they are of one substance, of one essence.

[C]oncepts of dying in to a heaven or hell seem a good deal more political than spiritual. (124)

There is nothing noble about suffering except the love and forgiveness with which we meet it. Many believe that if they are suffering they are closer to God, but I have met very few who could keep their heart open to their suffering enough for that to be true. (124)

I have seem even those who have long since abjured God die in grace. . . . Atheists don't use their drying to bargain for a better seat at the table; indeed they may not even believe supper is being served. They are not storing up 'merit.'; They just smile because their heart is ripe. They are kind for no particular reason; they just love.

Until we find out who was born this time around, it seems irrelevant to seek earlier identities. I have heard many people speak of who they believe they were in previous incarnations, but they seem to have very little idea of who they are in this one. . . . Let’s take one life at a time. Perhaps the best way to do that is to live as though there were no afterlife or reincarnation. To live as though this moment was all that was allotted. (132)

I have never lived a life so much larger than death. (93)

...forgiveness is not a condoning of the unskillful act which has caused injury, but a touching of the actor with mercy and loving kindness.

Relate to the fear, not just from it. (50)

Our life is composed of events and states of mind. How ewe appraise our life from our deathbed will be predicated not only on what came to us in life but how we lived with it. It will not be simply illness or health, riches or poverty, good luck or bad, which ultimately define whether we believe we have had a good life or not, but the quality of our relationship to these situations: the attitudes of our states of mind. (34)

If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? Stephen Levine

Aging teaches us to follow our life force inward. It is an object lesson in how awareness is gradually drawn towards the center...

The basis of the practice is to directly participate in each moment as it occurs with as much awareness and understanding as possible.

The mind is a useful tool but not a very good friend.

... the secret of chanting is in the listening, not the voicing, and a circuit is completed between mind and heart that opens intuition and gently increases the volume of "the still small voice within.

...healing comes not from being loving but from being itself. It is not a case of being clear but of clear being. This healing is not about anything else but being itself. Nothing separate, no edges, nothing to limit healing. Entering, in moments, the realm of pure being, the gateless gate swings open-- beyond life and death, our original face shines back at us.

Open yourself to discomfort. Meet it with mercy, not fear. Recognize that when our pain most calls for our embrace, we are often the least present. Soften, enter, and explore, and continue softening to make room for your life.

Because noting states of mind as they arise keep us present, it allows us to meet difficulties at their inception – before they become more real than we are.

To heal is to touch with love that which was previously touched by fear.

A drop of pond water under the microscope just like in science class but now your are the pond & the microscope is mindfulness

It is not for the concept, but for the experience, that we use the term the Beloved. The experience of this enormity we falteringly label divine is unconditioned love. Absolute openness, unbounded mercy and compassion. We use this concept, not to name the unnameable vastness of being-- our greatest joy-- but to acknowledge and claim as our birthright the wonders and healings within.

Approach illness as an experiment in staying present, in opening your heart in hell. Discuss how we fear our hidden pain even more than death, and how noting and mindfulness brings that pain to the surface where it can be healed.

Once we can see the major shifts from liking to disliking, from opened to close, we will be able to acknowledge them before they gain momentum.

As Stephen Levine says, “When your fear touches someone’s pain it becomes pity; when your love touches someone’s pain, it becomes compassion.

Practice daily forgiveness and gratitude meditations in relationship to both pleasant and unpleasant memories. Listen to your life song among the insights that hum through the mind.

Meditation is for many a foreign concept, somehow distant and foreboding, seemingly impossible to participate in. But another word for meditation is simply awareness. Meditation is awareness.

Stephen Levine, a Buddhist teacher, says that hell is wanting to be somewhere different from where you are. Being one place and wanting to be somewhere else. Being constantly agitated—another word for nonaccepting—about the inevitable. Being in a relationship with someone and refusing to surrender to the love because you don’t want to give yourself to something you will eventually lose.

Often when we hear people speak about meditation, we hear about wisdom, we hear about knowledge. But what, actually, is the effect, what’s the use, of wisdom or knowledge? Understanding. When you understand mind, you’re not at its mercy. When you don’t understand, you’re lost in the midst of it.

An interesting way to practice dying is by opening to illness. Each time you get a cold or the flu use it as an opportunity to soften around the unpleasant and investigate how resistance turns pain into suffering, the unpleasant into the unbearable. Notice how discomfort attracts grief. Watch the shadows gather in the aching body. Hear them mutter in complaint and self-pity.

When we recognize that, just like the glass, our body is already broken, that indeed we are already dead, then life becomes precious, and we open to it just as it is, in the moment it is occurring. When we understand that all our loved ones are already dead — our children, our mates, our friends — how precious they become. How little fear can interpose; how little doubt can estrange us. When you live your life as though you're already dead, life takes on new meaning. Each moment becomes a whole lifetime, a universe unto itself. When we realize we are already dead, our priorities change, our heart opens, and our mind begins to clear of the fog of old holdings and pretendings. We watch all life in transit, and what matters becomes instantly apparent: the transmission of love; the letting go of obstacles to understanding; the relinquishment of our grasping, of our hiding from ourselves. Seeing the mercilessness of our self-strangulation, we begin to come gently into the light we share with all beings. If we take each teaching, each loss, each gain, each fear, each joy as it arises and experience it fully, life becomes workable. We are no longer a "victim of life." And then every experience, even the loss of our dearest one, becomes another opportunity for awakening. If our only spiritual practice were to live as though we were already dead, relating to all we meet, to all we do, as though it were our final moments in the world, what time would there be for old games or falsehoods or posturing? If we lived our life as though we were already dead, as though our children were already dead, how much time would there be for self-protection and the re-creation of ancient mirages? Only love would be appropriate, only the truth.

What we describe as “our life” is not the sum total of what has passed through our hands but what has passed through our minds. Our life isn’t only a collection of people and places, it is a continuum of the ever-changing feelings they engender. It isn’t only what you’ve touched, it’s what you’ve felt of what you touched.

When you can accept discomfort, doing so allows a balance of mind. That surrender, that letting go of wanting anything to be other than it is right in the moment, is what frees us from hell. When we see resistance in the mind, stiffness in the mind, boredom, restlessness … that is the meditation. Often, we think, “I can’t meditate, I’m restless,” “I can’t meditate, I’m bored,” “I can’t meditate, there’s a fly on my nose.” That is the meditation. Meditation isn’t to disappear into the light. Meditation is to see all of what we are.

remember that what will die in a year’s time is not our essential being but our ability to interact physically with those we love and cherish. You

The mind divides the world into a million pieces. The heart makes it whole.

fear leans backward into the last safe moment while desire leans forward toward the next possibility of satisfaction. Each lacks presence.

Naming of things as they are, without embellishment, make approachable those afflictive emotions and heavy states that obscure the heart. We know that we can’t let go of anything we don’t accept, the noting brings us into the presence of that which often distracts us from the present. It allows the healing in. And as we observe the appearance of things, we more easily acknowledge their subsequent disappearance, and some come to an appreciation of impermanence.

To know your life is to know intimately what you are feeling. Or to put it another way: to be aware of what state of mind predominates in consciousness. The noting of mental states encourages a deeper recognition of what is happening while it is happening. It allows us to be more fully alive in the present rather than living our life as an afterthought. It enables us to watch with mercy, if not humor, the uninvited swirl of “mixed emotions” not as something in need of judgment but as a work in progress.

We have allowed ourselves very little space for not-knowing. Very seldom do we have the wisdom not-to-know, to lay the mind open to deeper understanding. When confusion occurs in the mind, we identify with it and say we are confused…Confusion arises because we fight against our not-knowing, which experiences each moment afresh without preconceptions or expectations.

Note which states of mind accompany each moment of like and disliking. When we recall the statement, “Physician, heal thyself,” this is where the healing begins. It is particularly important to notice that this constant liking and disliking that leaves us exhausted at the end of the day. It is from this mechanical response / reaction that our actions and reactions arises.

The mind is in a constant state of flux. No thought, no feeling, no sensation lasts for more than an instant before it is transformed into the next state, next thought, the next sensation. Note those moments... As they pass through, note such states as confidence, bewilderment, effort, trust, distrust, pleasure, discomfort, boredom, devotion, inquiry, pride, anger, desire, etc.

The body takes about seven years to replace all its cells. As we age original factory parts get harder to come by. We accept seconds and rebuilds. Some are even transplanted with recycled parts. We get less miles to the gallon, and eventually, after several towings, we must abandon the body by the side of the road. From there we must go the rest of the way alone with just our heart for guidance.

...the "third eye"... "our sacred Cyclops"... our "good" eye, the only one that can see beyond our conditioned ways of seeing. It is, of course, a knowing eye, not a seeing one. It is the eye through which we look within to experience the universe unfolding. It is the single eye that concentrates duality into the One: the eye of insight, the locus of the point of remembrance on the ascent to death, as well as the point of forgetfulness on the descent into birth.

A Kiss Before Dying is a gritty suspense story told with great élan—rarity enough, but what is even more rare is that the book (written while Levin was in his early twenties) contains surprises which really surprise . . . and it is relatively impervious to that awful, dreadful goblin of a reader, he or she WHO TURNS TO THE LAST THREE PAGES TO SEE HOW IT CAME OUT. Do you do this nasty, unworthy trick? Yes, you! I’m talking to you! Don’t slink away and grin into your hand! Own up to it! Have you ever stood in a bookshop, glanced furtively around, and turned to the end of an Agatha Christie to see who did it, and how? Have you ever turned to the end of a horror novel to see if the hero made it out of the darkness and into the light? If you have ever done this, I have three simple words which I feel it is my duty to convey: SHAME ON YOU! It is low to mark your place in a book by folding down the corner of the page where you left off; TURNING TO THE END TO SEE HOW IT CAME OUT is even lower. If you have this habit, I urge you to break it . . . break it at once!

Poppies in Afghanistan: The Taliban and the Heroin Trade Harvesting opium in Afghanistan Ghaffar Baig/ Reuters/Corbis Most Americans knew little about Afghanistan or the Taliban prior to September 11, 2001, but those who follow the heroin trade have focused on Afghanistan for decades. Afghanistan has long been a major area of opium production, but the “golden triangle” of Southeast Asia (Burma, Laos, and Thailand) historically dominated opium production. By 1999, though, Afghanistan had become the undisputed world leader in opium production despite being an Islamic state ruled by the Taliban, which publicly opposed opium use. In 1999, the Taliban representative to the United States, Abdul Hakeem Mujahid, said, “We are against poppy cultivation, narcotics production and drugs, but we cannot fight our own people” (Bartolet & Levine, 2001, p. 85). Even before 9/11, the United States accused the Taliban of profiting from opium and heroin production, and using those profits to fund terrorist activities. Under pressure from the United Nations, the Taliban announced bans on poppy cultivation in 1997, 1998, and 2000, but there was little evidence of any decreased production. In 2001, though, a ban was put into place that apparently really did reduce poppy production. Cynics have pointed out that the Taliban was simply trying to increase prices by temporarily cutting the supply; whatever the reason, when the Taliban lost control of Afghanistan, the poppy made a comeback. In this war-ravaged and economically depressed nation, growing opium is one of the few ways that farmers can make a living. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has urged his people to declare jihad (holy war) on drug production, but opium farming still accounts for nearly half of the domestic economy, and Afghanistan supplies nearly 80% of the world’s heroin (Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2013). In recent years, opium production has declined in Afghanistan, but a close relationship between heroin traffickers and the insurgency continues to create difficulties for that country’s reconstruction process (Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2013).

Pouring mercy into the darkness, Miao Shan becoming the bodhisattva Kuan Yin. She liberated hell, singing: Old stories, legends of creation, won't keep Hades from becoming paradise. Rumi said for the person who loves the truth “Their water is fire.” He made spring out of winter. He learned from his mistakes. There were moments when numb from thinking we forget we pass through hell on our way to heaven. And if that heavenly glow does not distract us too much, dehypnotized by grace, we continue past heaven into the boundless enormity which dwarfs it.

Having written extensively about the practice of mindfulness in A Gradual Awakening I suggest that you refine your practice with this book as well as Jack Kornfield’s excellent A Path with Heart. We

We see not just that which is uninjured, but that within us which is uninjurable.

our birth before we die, becoming truly whole rather than just appearing to “have it together”—is more difficult.

Because we never know whether our next breath may be our last, being prepared for the immediate unknown becomes as practical as applying for a passport while still uncertain of our destination or time of departure.

As we begin to see where we have been absent from life, increasing possibilities audition for our approval.

Pity arises from meeting pain with fear. Compassion comes when you meet it with love.

Barry Soetoro’s declaration of martial law stunned the nation. His reason—the need to protect the nation from terrorism—met with widespread skepticism. After all, at least three of the Saturday jihadists had entered with Soetoro’s blessing, over the objections of many politicians and the outraged cries of all those little people out there in the heartland, all those potential victims no one really gave a damn about. His suspension of the writ of habeas corpus went over the heads of most of the millions of people in his audience, since they didn’t know what the writ was or signified. He didn’t stop there. He adjourned Congress until he called it back into session, and announced an indefinite stay on all cases before the courts in which the government was a defendant. His announcement of press and media censorship “until the crisis is past” met with outrage, especially among the talking heads on television, who went ballistic. Within thirty minutes, the listening audience found out what the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus meant: FBI agents arrested select television personalities, including some who were literally on camera, and took them away. Fox News went off the air. Most of the other networks contented themselves with running the tape of Soetoro behind the podium making his announcement, over and over, without comment. During the day FBI agents arrested dozens of prominent conservative commentators and administration critics across the nation, including Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Michelle Malkin, George Will, Ann Coulter, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, Ralph Peters, Judge Jeanine Pirro, Matt Drudge, Thomas Sowell, Howard Stern, and Charles Krauthammer, among others. They weren’t given a chance to remain silent in the future, but were arrested and taken away to be held in an unknown location until Soetoro decided to release them.

There have been so few moments when life was all it was cracked up to be. So much that might have been different had the heart not been obstructed by fear.

Preparing for death is one of the most profoundly healing acts of a lifetime. For

In almost every spiritual prototype we have to go through hell on our way to pure awareness, indistinguishable from unconditional love, the Pure Land of our illuminated nature. For some, that process of awakening and “enlightening” is the experience the Taoists call “self ablaze.

To become Kuan Yin is to recognize the extreme toil and commitment that brings fruition. Her accomplishment not bestowed on her by some celestial prize committee, Zeus, or the Holy Ghost, but by the hard-earned forgoing of all earthly pleasure, to complete what Buddha called “the work to be done.

Occasionally, in deep introspection, in meditation, or in a moment of quiet, we open beyond our clinging and the mind becomes so unclouded that nothing blocks its inherent joy. Its expanse is so great that waves of energy wash through the body making any satisfaction we’ve ever had, even our profoundest sexual gratification, pale by comparison. The natural energy of the mind is released. Grasping has stilled long enough so that we experience the immensity and intensity of our deepest nature. We experience the joy of what in Zen is called the One Mind, shining through.

Making room in our heart for our own pain, we make room in our heart for theirs.

When reading this book, Listen to it with your heart. Let it be a mirror of your own great nature. Understanding is the ultimate seduction of the mind. Go to the truth beyond the mind. Love is the bridge. 1

As Stephen Levine says: “When your fear touches someone’s pain it becomes pity; when your love touches someone’s pain, it becomes compassion.

love is the only gift worth giving.

You could look the whole world over and never find anyone more deserving of love than yourself.

When being loving becomes even more important than being loved, true devotion is experienced. A loving that does not depend on getting what we want but on offering what the world and our hearts cry out for.

Healing is to reoccupy those parts of ourselves abandoned to pain; to enter with mercy and awareness those areas withdrawn from in fear.

Schließe die Augen ... Denke einen Augenblick lang einfach darüber nach, was das Wort Vergebung wirklich bedeuten könnte, Was ist Vergebung? Und jetzt- ganz sanft- ohne Zwang - einfach als Experiment mit der Wahrheit - mir einen Moment lang - lasse das Bild eines Menschen in dir aufsteigen, dem du sehr böse bist - jemand, auf den du wütend bist und zu dem du ein distanziertes Verhältnis hast - lass diesen Menschen - sachte - ganz sachte - vor deinem inneren Auge auftauchen - als Bild und als Gefühl. Vielleicht spürst du den Menschen mitten in deiner Brust, als Angst oder als Widerstand. Wie immer er auch in dir erscheint, lade ihn einfach ganz sanft ein - für diesen Moment, für dieses Experiment. Und sage im Herzen still zu ihm: "Ich vergebe dir." "ich vergebe dir alles, was du mir früher angetan hast, mit oder ohne Absicht, und was mir wehgetan hat. Auf welche Weise du mir auch wehgetan hast, ich vergebe dir." Sprich sanft im Herzen zu ihm. mit deinen eigenen Worten - auf deine eigene Weise. Sage in deinem Herzen zu diesem Menschen: "Ich vergebe dir alles, was du in der Vergangenheit getan hast, mit oder ohne Absicht, mit Worten, Handlungen oder Gedanken, was mir wehgetan hat - ich vergebe dir. Ich vergebe dir." Lass es zu ... Lass zu, dass dieser Mensch berührt wird ... zumindest für einen Moment ... berührt von deiner Vergebung. Lass die Vergebung zu. Es tut so weh, jemanden aus seinem Herzen auszuschließen. Wie kannst du diesen Schmerz, diesen Groll auch nur einen Augenblick länger festhalten? Angst, Zweifel ... lass sie los ... und berühre den Menschen, für diesen Augenblick, mit deiner Vergebung. "ich vergebe dir." Jetzt lass ihn sanft gehen, lass ihn still fortgehen. Lass in mit deinem Segen gehen. Stell dir jetzt einen Menschen vor, der sehr böse auf dich ist. Spüre ihn, vielleicht in der Brust, oder sieh ihn vor deinem inneren Auge - spüre sein Wesen. Lade ihn sanft ein. Ein Mensch, der dir grollt, der wütend auf dich ist - jemand, der dir nicht verzeiht. Lass diesen Menschen in dein Herz ein. Und sage in deinem Herzen zu ihm: "Ich bitte dich um Vergebung für alles, was ich dir in der Vergangenheit angetan habe, mit oder ohne Absicht, und was dir wehgetan hat - vergib mir meine Worte, meine Handlungen, meine Gedanken. Auf welche Weise ich dir auch wehgetan habe, ich bitte dich um Vergebung. Ich bitte dich um Vergebung." Lass diese Vergebung herein. Lass dich von der Vergebung dieses Menschen berühren. Wenn Gedanken auftauchen, etwa, dass du dir selbst gegenüber zu nachsichtig seist, oder Zweifel, dann sieh einfach, wie erbarmungslos wir mit uns selbst umgehen, und öffne dich der Vergebung. Lass zu, dass dir vergeben wird. Lass zu, dass dir vergeben wird. "In welcher Weise ich dir auch wehgetan habe, ich bitte dich um Vergebung." Gestatte dir, diese Vergebung zu spüren. Lass die Vergebung zu. "In welcher Weise ich dir auch wehgetan habe, ich bitte dich um Vergebung." Gestatte dir diese Vergebung zu spüren. Lass die Vergebung zu. Und dann lass den Menschen sachte ... ganz sachte ... seinen Weg weitergehen. Er hat dir vergeben. Er segnet dich. Und wende dich nun im Herzen dir selbst zu und sage zu dir selbst: "Ich vergebe dir." Was auch immer dem im Wege stehen will - die Unbarmherzigkeit und die Angst - lass es los. Berühre es mit deiner Vergebung und deiner Barmherzigkeit. Und sprich dich mit deinem Vornamen an und sage im Herzen sanft zu dir: "..., ich vergebe dir." Es tut so weh, sich selbst aus seinem eigenen Herzen auszuschließen. Lass dich ein. Lass dich von dieser Vergebung berühren. Lass die Heilung herein. Sage zu dir selbst: "Ich vergebe dir." Lass diese Vergebung sich über alle Wesen um dich herum ausbreiten.

Lass diese Vergebung sich über alle Wesen um dich herum ausbreiten. Mögen alle Wesen sich selbst vergeben. Mögen sie die Freude entdecken. Mögen alle Wesen vom Leiden befreit werden. Mögen alle Wesen in Frieden leben. Mögen alle Wesen geheilt werden. Mögen alle im Einklang mit ihrer wahren Natur leben. Mögen sie frei von Leid sein. Mögen sie in Frieden leben. Lass diese liebevolle Güte sich über den ganzen Planeten ausbreiten - auf alle Ebenen des Lebens, die sichtbaren und die unsichtbaren. Mögen alle Wesen vom Leid befreit werden. Mögen sie die Kraft der Vergebung, der Freiheit und des Friedens erfahren. Mögen alle Wesen, die sichtbaren und die unsichtbaren, auf allen Existenzebenen ihre wahre Natur erfahren. Mögen sie ihre Unermesslichkeit erfahren - ihre unendliche Friedfertigkeit. Mögen alle Wesen frei sein. Mögen alle Wesen frei sein.

Here are the statements made by the CEOs of AOL and Time Warner when they announced their $350 billion (!) merger on January 10, 2000. Stephen Case, the cofounder of AOL, proudly proclaimed, “This is a historic moment when new media has truly come of age.” Not to be left behind, Gerald Levin, the CEO of Time Warner, gushed philosophically that the internet had begun to “create unprecedented and instantaneous access to every form of media and to unleash immense possibilities for economic growth, human understanding and creative expression.” The result of this bromance? The largest failed merger in the history of the corporate world.23 Within two years, AOL took a write-off of $99 billion on the deal. Yes, “billion” with a “b.” The market value of AOL went from $226 billion in 2000 to $20 billion in 2002. In June 2015, it was acquired for a mere $4.4 billion by Verizon.

Death is not the tragedy, but the ten million times we deaden and close our hearts because experience doesn't reflect what we consider acceptable.

Each day become more fully alive. Practice noting gently and nonjudgmentally throughout the day. Add mindfulness practice to soft-belly opening work: fifteen minutes soft-belly and twenty minutes watching the breath, noting the activities of the mind. Approach illness as an experiment in staying present, in opening your heart in hell. Discuss how we fear our hidden pain even more than death, and how noting and mindfulness brings that pain to the surface where it can be healed.

The organization needed an outside game, an infestation of climate in every facet of public life, but it also needed a better inside game, a creature of the swamp with sharp elbows. Foul-mouthed, funny, and occasionally a vitriolic asshole, Tom Levine chomped through a tin of tobacco a day, kept whiskey in his desk, and always seemed to have cocaine on him. He was also a damn smart guy who hated every faction in American politics. This included the entire wingnut Republican establishment and spineless Third Way Democrats, but he reserved his most vicious rancor for the self-righteous progressives he’d spent his career working for.

For all of us there is an approach to the seemingly unapproachable. This is the life-affirming work of learning to stay present even under difficult circumstances, to embrace mental, physical, and spiritual pain using techniques suitable for each particular level of discomfort.

As Nisargadatta said, ’The mind creates the abyss and the heart crosses it.” Often

Human beings, when not stressed, are utterly beautiful. It’s only when we are confused that our hearts shrivel and our minds figure crafty ways out of situations…. When we relate to life from our minds, we take our feet off the ground. It’s like not wanting to touch the floor, fearing that we will be burned. —Stephen Levine

she wept and revived its meaning in the teachings of her way.