Life

Defining Identity

Zahava Sherez, Israel

(Submitted by the author)

Labels, identities and criteria used to define us are helpful for administrative and social purposes, yet I believe they also feed division, tension and oppressions. When I’m asked to check a square in a multiple-choice official form, I scroll down to 'Other', adding the word 'Human' next to it. See, I have a problem: I am Latina, Israeli/Middle Eastern, American, Jewish, white but not really; I speak with an accent that people can’t identify - I am an enigma, an odd bird.

Who we are

Simon Sinek, England

(Submitted by the Art of Living Team)

Who we are is the sum total of what we do, why we do what we do and how we do it. If any piece is missing, others will struggle to know who we are.

The radical mystery

Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Spain

(Submitted by the author)

Sleep and rest just the amount of time you need, in order to experience the radical mystery of being alive as intensely as possible.

This luminous moment

Laura Weaver, USA

(Submitted by the author)

It was a day in February - a day like any other day. Cold, clear skies blazing behind the Rocky Mountains. People sipping coffee in cafés. Toddlers laughing on park swings. And an MRI film on a screen before me, showing a large tumor in my pituitary gland. Benign, the doctor said. But the tumor was pushing against my pituitary stalk, driving upwards towards my optic nerves, and edging towards my carotid arteries. Something shifted in me. I was facing a major health crisis, and I was only 35 years old.

Playing the game

Oleguer Sarsanedas, Spain

(Submitted by the author)

Life is action. So, inaction - not wanting to play the game - is not an option. It is contrary to life.

As if

Mahatma Gandhi, India

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

To watch

Arundhati Roy, India

To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget.

One's real life

Oscar Wilde, Ireland

One’s real life is often the life that one doesn’t lead.

Life is Beautiful

Alice Herz-Sommer, Czech Republic

(Submitted by The Art of Living Team)

When you know history - wars and wars and wars … it begins with this: that we are born half-good and half-bad - everybody, everybody. And there are situations where the bad comes out and situations where the good comes out. This is the reason why people invented religion, I believe. I had a twin sister - same mother, same father, same upbringing. She was extremely gifted, but a terrible pessimist, but I was the contrary. This is the reason I am so old, even now, I am sure.