Raymond Klassen – Ideals and Identities

Thinking

• 20 minutes of quiet solitude lasts longer than a day-long speed-boat tour to a tropical island. It is more interesting too.
• When every thought emphasizes the danger or the problem, it is time to stop thinking.
• When we talk at the person in the room without space for their input, ego rears its ugly head.
• Every moment one encounters embodies the entire universe, and we have access to it if we just pay attention to how it meets us with grace.
• To ask a question with our whole being, and to dwell in it, is the beginning of wonder. To have an answer, and to die for it, is violence. Truth is not a matter of opinion; it is only a matter of right relationship. Right relationship is full of curiosity.
• It is often considered a virtue to be able to hold one thought in an undistracted manner. There is benefit to this. A greater thing may be to hold no thoughts at all.

Violence

• Violence, as Hannah Arendt has said, is the absence of power. Pursuit of power is thus inherently violent.
• One lacks … money, power, a cool drink of water… whatever.  The thought of lack is a violent impulse.
• A locked door is no protection of property; it is a preservation of space. A typical thief does not break into an occupied space.
• Striking another is only the outward expression of a violent spirit that began long before the clenched fist.
• Sexual Violence is a taking of what ought to be given freely.

Human Activity

• When we walk, we walk. When we chat, we chat. When we listen to birds, we listen. When we eat good food, we eat. There is no purpose in these activities besides the activities themselves.
• Hustle culture has been imposed on the human spirit. Hustle culture is alien… and alienating.
• I have done wrong, and I am loved regardless.
• I have been wronged, and I love regardless.
• My body is my way of being in this world. It is a temple.
• What I do impacts the world. More interestingly, what I do is constitutive of who I am.
• People commit violence in the names of religions. Many religions are in business to prolongate themselves. Many religions exist to conceal the deep sinfulness of their leaders. Do not commit to religions, but instead, a) follow Christ, b) have faith in God, and c) do not cause suffering by chasing desires (including our own justification). Violence in the name of religion always takes us away from these three things.
• Of the choice between more activity and less to accomplish an outcome – choose less.

Nature

• Space is extension. When we occupy our space with clutter, we interfere with our being.
• If we allow the climate to dictate its conditions, it will clean our air, maintain livable temperatures, provide enough fresh water and food, and fill us with more beauty than we can desire. In other words, prosperity will be given to us. Violence is to demand of nature what it already gives freely.
• The space we occupy occupies us. A house without plants, animals, or art is chic and full of death.
• Do not trample the grass. Walk barefoot in it and feel the tickle.
• To be stationary while butterflies play around you and dance upon fallen fruit is to find yourself at the center of life.
• A crashing wave, a gust of wind that bends your umbrella, a 30-minute downpour, sand between your toes, feet hardened by walking barefoot outside: these are the stuff of abundance.

Adornments

• Clothing that draws attention to oneself is to be avoided. Voluntarily dressing too shabbily, too ostentatiously, too sexily, is a disruption in the stream of life.
• The Rolex on your wrist is both less valuable and less beautiful than the grey hair on your arm.
• Wear a hat in the sun, not because it is fashionable, but because it is cool.
• A suntan is a by-product of a good vacation; more thoroughly enjoying your life after vacation is success.
• Scars and wrinkles are the types of adornments that tickle the fingertips.
• To walk in public with one who is desirable to others can be considered a success. However, to love the one you walk with is a byproduct of peace.