Life's Operating Manual Quotes

“And so we have come full circle, and return to the essential question: who are you? From a scientific perspective, you are miraculous. You are stardust. You contain the same energy and matter that created the universe 13 billion years ago. You were once that energy—inside the infinitesimally small point of light that began all of life. Everything around you, everything you can see, touch, and taste, is made of this matter, this same universal energy: the water that shines, the tree that reaches, the bird in flight, the grass that grows. The saints and sages across the ages said it this way: you are brothers and sisters with all of creation. If who you are and how things work are one and the same, then who you are is love.”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“TRUTH: When a child believes he must win to be worthy, when young adults define themselves by what they do and not who they are, it is a kind of slavery a slave master would envy.”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“Fear represents our need to hang on to the riverbank, to control outcomes, results, our lives; it swims upstream. Truth is about releasing that hold, letting go of results, and trusting the direction of Life’s current.”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“What matters is who we are, not who we beat.”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“A redwood tree doesn't take all of the soil's nutrients; it just takes what it needs to grow. A lion doesn't kill every gazelle, it just kills one. In fact, when the lion has fed, gazelles will go on grazing right in the lion's midst. Why? Certainly, the lion could pounce again, but it doesn't. Somehow, the lion naturally obeys this life-giving law of limits, a law that keeps nature in balance and keeps the delicate cycle upon which all of life depends intact.”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“TRUTH: Worry has little to do with waking up. It has little to do with anything of value. Yes, entire industries have been created in homage to worry: auto insurance, health insurance, life insurance, 401(k)s, retirement accounts. But do you not see what all of this is? It is making yourself sick in order to lay up something for a sick day. It is you, Fear, trying to control what cannot be controlled. And what is it you want to control so desperately?”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“TRUTH: And yet no scientist today would debate that a single germ could wipe out all human life on the planet. Why then is it so naïve to believe a single toxic ideology could do the same? List the world’s problems and you will find the same theme running underneath. Why was Africa exploited for her resources? Did Westerners see Africans as family members or separate? What about Haiti when she was turned into a slave colony? Was she populated with extended family to be nurtured or laborers to be exploited? What about slaves themselves—today’s slaves and yesterday’s, as well—are they family members or just another means to achieve self-seeking ends? What about the homeless in need of medical care? What about a child who is bullied or even a river that is polluted? Do you not see, Fear, that all of these toxic branches of the human story grow out of a single contaminated root?”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“A new field of science called neurocardiology, which studies the human heart, has discovered that our hearts emit a measurable electromagnetic signal that extends up to 10 to 15 feet from the body. Furthermore, the wavelengths of this heart signal vary according to the emotional state of an individual: if a person is appreciative and happy, one signal is emitted; discontent and sad, a different signal is sent. Incredibly, these electromagnetic signals automatically link up with and affect others in our proximity. Thus, when a man or woman enters a room upset, joyful, happy, or sad, other individuals nearby register his or her emotional state and are instantly affected. •”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“if all the insects were to disappear from the earth, within 50 years, all life on earth would end; if all human beings disappeared from the earth, within 50 years, all forms of life would flourish.”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“No corporation has any power that people don’t give it. No government has any power that people don’t grant it. When people understand that corporations are a reflection of their own energy, and when they assume responsibility for that energy, corporate omnipotence will be seen for what it is, an illusion.”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“Consider this: the word devil in Greek etymology, is rooted in the word, diabollein, meaning to tear apart, or to divide. So the devil,5 beyond any ideas of good and evil, is the force that separates, that divides. In direct contrast, God, according to the mystical traditions, unites; God is indivisible; God is one.”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“Positive psychology, the field that studies contentment, has proven again and again that competitive prowess and happiness have little to do with each other. A”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“we stubbornly cling to a warped ideology, that competition is the ruling order of nature, that it is the highest ideal.”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“There is enough in the world for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed. —FRANK BUCHMAN”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“Definition is the death of discovery,”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“positive emotional states such as joy and gratitude lead to optimal cognitive function and enhanced athletic, artistic, and even job-related performance.”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself . . .”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“There is a famous parable about a man who lived in a cottage by the sea. Every morning, the man went fishing and caught just enough fish for the day. Afterward, he would spend time playing with his son, take a siesta, and enjoy lunch with his family. In the evening, he and his wife would meet friends at a local bar, where they would tell stories, play music, and dance the night away. One day, a tourist saw the fisherman and his meager catch and asked, “Why do you only catch three or four fish?” “That is all my family needs for today,” the fisherman replied. But the tourist had gone to business school and could not help but offer advice: “You know, if you catch a few more fish and sell them at the market, you could make some extra money.” “Why would I want to do that?” the fisherman asked. “With the extra money you could save up and buy a boat. Then, you could catch even more fish, and make even more money, which you could use to buy an entire fleet of boats!” “Why would I need so many boats?” queried the fisherman. “Don’t you see? With a fleet of boats, you could sell more fish, and with the extra money, you could move to New York, run an international business and sell fish all over the world!” “And how long would this take?” the fisherman asked. “Maybe 10 or 20 years,” the businessman said. “Then what?” the fisherman said. “Then you could sell your company for millions, retire, buy a cottage by the sea, go fishing every morning, take a siesta every afternoon, enjoy lunch with your family, and spend the evenings with friends, playing music and dancing!” How many of us today are like this businessman, blindly chasing what has been in front of us all along?”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“What is it the child knows about happiness, passion, and play, that the adult forgets? Eastern”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“the sad fact is that we would rather be distracted than disturbed. But”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“I can’t hear what you’re saying over all that you’re doing,”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“Men such as they are, very naturally seek money or power . . . And why not? for they aspire to the highest, and this, in their sleep-walking, they dream is highest. Wake them and they shall quit the false good and leap to the true . . .”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“name-calling is fear’s first line of defense, and with the name comes the sealed box that reduces human complexity to a checklist of prejudice and convenience. As”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“My point is this: where does your family end and those you can take advantage of, those from whom you can extract a profit, begin?”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“I don’t think there is such a thing as an intelligent mega-rich person. For who with a fine mind can look out upon this world and hoard what can nourish a thousand souls?”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“The world is not to be put in order; the world is in order. It is for us to put ourselves in unison with this order. —HENRY MILLER”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues

“Una dintre poveștile mele preferate este un cunoscut mit amerindian despre doi lupi care trăiesc înăuntrul fi ecăruia dintre noi, doi lupi angajați într-o luptă aprigă pentru controlul vieților noastre.

Unul din lupi, lupul fricos, trăiește în mânie, egoism, invidie, lăcomie, resentimente și minciuni. Celălalt lup, lupul sincer, trăiește în recunoștință,
bunătate, iubire, bucurie, compasiune și empatie.

Mult prea multă vreme am ascultat de lupul meu cel fricos strigându-mi sfatul cel rău: ”Trebuie sa te integrezi! Nu clătina barca! Fă așa cum ți se spune!” Dar, din fericire, de-a lungul timpului, lupul cel sincer l-a înfruntat cu curaj pe geamănul său iluzoriu reducându-i la tăcere urletul întunecat cu simple șoapte pline de înțelepciune: ”Caută adevărul. Urmează-ţi inima. Dă drumul, detaşează-te!”. Este oare surprinzător atunci că mare parte din această carte
mi s-a revelat ca o conversație dintre aceste două voci interioare, care se
războiesc, voci pe care le numesc pur și simplu Frică și Adevăr?

Care lup câștigă în final?
Răspunsul este simplu:
Cel pe care îl hrănești...”
― Tom Shadyac, Life's Operating Manual: With the Fear and Truth Dialogues