Most of us have spent our lives caught up in plans, expectations, ambitions for the future; in regrets, guilt or shame about the past. To come into the present is to stop the war.
Jack KornfieldRead
The questions asked at the end of lie are very simple ones: Did I love well? Did I love the people around me, my community, the earth, in a deep way? And perhaps, Did I live fully? Did I offer myself to life?
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of love and fully engaging with life as key reflections at the end of one's journey.
Jack Kornfield's quote encourages individuals to reflect on their lives by considering the depth of love they extended to others and their active participation in life. It prompts us to evaluate our relationships, our compassion towards our community and the world, and how fully we embraced our experiences, suggesting that true fulfillment comes from the connections we cultivate and the richness with which we live.
Themes
LoveLifeCommunityDeep ConnectionsFulfillment
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of relationships at a community event.
More from Jack Kornfield
All quotes →We need courage and strength, a kind of warrior spirit. But the place for this warrior strength is in the heart. We need energy, commitment, and courage not to run from our life nor to cover it over with any philosophy-mate rial or spiritual. We need a warrior’s heart that lets us face our lives directly, our pains and limitations, our joys and possibilities.
Jack KornfieldRead
We can bring our spiritual practice into the streets, into our communities, when we see each realm as a temple, as a place to discover that which is sacred.
Jack KornfieldRead
According to Buddhist scriptures, compassion is the "quivering of the pure heart" when we have allowed ourselves to be touched by the pain of life.
Jack KornfieldRead
Much of spiritual life is self-acceptance, maybe all of it.
Jack KornfieldRead
When we struggle to change ourselves we, in fact, only continue the patterns of self-judgement and aggression. We keep the war against ourselves alive.
Jack KornfieldRead
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