Please give new life to our Ancient Wisdom by retweeting our old tweets. Click on date for the original tweet.
496
Nov 1 2010: An oft-neglected factor in any decision is the will and intentions of the other party to it. 497
Nov 1 2010: A decision delayed could be an opportunity lost... or a chance to gain better information and let the problem resolve itself. 498
Nov 1 2010: For each decision, there is an optimal time for resolution. Some require swift action while others are best deferred. 499
Nov 1 2010: A story is an outward projection of an inner journey. 500
Nov 1 2010: The main challenge of both fiction and real life is overcoming ones own inertia. The protagonist has to change his pattern of behavior. 501
Nov 1 2010: We might not buy the things we do if we amortized them over time and found out how much they actually cost us per use. 502
Nov 1 2010: Belief follows emotional necessity. Evidence is backfilled later to support the belief. 503
Nov 1 2010: Most of what passes for creativity is merely interior decoration—adorning ones walls without attempting to change them. 504
Nov 1 2010: To us, there is nothing natural about our body. It is merely the life support system we find ourselves inexplicably trapped in. 505
Nov 1 2010: Isn't it amazing how the religion you were born into just happens to be the right one? That's the magic of faith! 506
Nov 1 2010: Nothing restores ones ego to balance like a healthy dose of failure. 507
Nov 1 2010: RT @gswsyndicate: Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, few in pursuit of the goal.- Einstein 508
Nov 2 2010: Evil is when you detect a flaw in yourself but project it onto the outside world. 509
Nov 2 2010: The most secure prison is one without bars or locks, that exists only in the mind of the prisoner because he has invested in it. 510
Nov 2 2010: The pillars of religion are narcissism and paranoia—that an all-powerful being cherishes me personally and is watching my every move. 511
Nov 2 2010: "Boom and Bust" is the cycle of life. Boom is when you think you can do anything and overcommit yourself. Bust is when you pay the price. 512
Nov 2 2010: People are usually paid according to how much damage they can cause not how much good they do. 513
Nov 2 2010: The most valuable friend is one to whom you can speak your mind without fear of repercussions. 514
Nov 2 2010: The usual solution to a crisis is giving up things that aren't important but that you once thought you couldn't live without. 515
Nov 2 2010: When you become a professional musician, the first thing you lose is your hearing. 516
Nov 2 2010: Love is purest from a distance. 517
Nov 2 2010: People do their best work without a safety net, because when a net is present they tend to use it to avoid making hard decisions. 518
Nov 3 2010: Do not dwell on what you have lost. Rejoice in what remains to you. 519
Nov 3 2010: "Opportunity dances with those on the dance floor." —Anon. 520
Nov 3 2010: RT @ederguillermo: @BadDalaiLama thanks master, you have the truth of life. I really Can't belive so few people follows you. 521
Nov 3 2010: RT @DalaiLama: I am convinced that everyone can develop a good heart and a sense of universal responsibility with or without religion. 522
Nov 3 2010: Life is an exercise in risk management. 523
Nov 3 2010: Better than any X-ray vision is the ability to clearly see what is right in front of you. 524
Nov 3 2010: Humanity is governed by inertia—the tendency to repeat the same behavior regardless of whether it is effective. 525
Nov 3 2010: Many of the problems we create for ourselves can only be resolved by catastrophe, which graciously obliges from time to time. 526
Nov 3 2010: To have real negotiating power, you must retain the ability to say "no"—which must be exercised from time to time to prove your point. 527
Nov 3 2010: Sex is a delusional system that leads you to believe you are compatible with someone you would have nothing to do with otherwise. 528
Nov 3 2010: Intelligence begins with skepticism—the willingness to question the assumptions you were born into. 529
Nov 3 2010: If we make life too comfortable for our children, we only increase their trauma when they have to deal with the world on their own. 530
Nov 4 2010: The function of entertainment is to generate profit and absorb people's time without actually accomplishing anything. 531
Nov 4 2010: The main thing people are hiding when they jealously guard their privacy is how uninteresting their lives really are. 532
Nov 4 2010: "Progess means replacing something wrong with something more subtly wrong." —Unknown 533
Nov 4 2010: "You can never get enough of what you don't really need." —Eric Hoffe 534
Nov 4 2010: Humans are natural hoarders, jealously guarding their possessions and stockpiling resources. It was functional for the cave but not today. 535
Nov 4 2010: As the brain deteriorates, humans revert to their natural animal behavior of saving old containers and bits of string for future use. 536
Nov 4 2010: When you die, your heirs will hold a garage sale to unload all your useless stuff. Why not do it yourself while still alive and be free? 537
Nov 4 2010: Here is a new archive of all the @BadDalaiLama's tweets on a single page: http://kilroycafe.com/twitter/baddalailama 538
Nov 4 2010: Scenery is meaningless without human context. 539
Nov 4 2010: Knowing the right thing to do and actually doing it are two different things, separated by habit and fear. 540
Nov 4 2010: Choose your parents wisely, and if you can't do that just grin and bear it. 541
Nov 4 2010: RT @dhinojosaxtreme: @wsteffie@BadDalaiLama is awesome! I am not sure he's bad either, those are some powerful words of wisdom! 542
Nov 4 2010: Love is harmless. The obligations that follow on its heels are not. 543
Nov 4 2010: Share the love! Retweet @BadDalaiLama's past tweets and you will be rewarded in Heaven!* Archive: http://j.mp/blbW0e (*if there is one) 544
Nov 4 2010: It is a form of child abuse to raise a child in wealth and priviledge he can never hope to attain on his own. 545
Nov 4 2010: The @BadDalaiLama has a new welcome page at http://BadDalaiLama.com - A spiritual awakening is close at hand! 546
Nov 5 2010: Lessons of Rome: Success leads to overconfidence leads to overcommitment. Overcommitment leads to the Fall leads to the Dark Ages. 547
Nov 5 2010: Dogs and children, when treated as kings, quickly come to believe it. 548
Nov 5 2010: Responsibility means taking charge of the things you fear. 549
Nov 5 2010: "Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose." —Bill Gates 550
Nov 5 2010: The dangers of stimulants in any system are the risk of addiction and the crash when they are removed. 551
Nov 5 2010: RT @RSVPLani: Now you tell me @BadDalaiLama where have you been the last 30 years? 552
Nov 5 2010: RT @shimols: @BadDalaiLama so I am on twitter all the time now. Only coz of you. You are so good. I dont know what to do. 553
Nov 5 2010: There are people you can speak freely to and others you have to tiptoe around. Those are the dangerous ones! 554
Nov 5 2010: You can't protect people from their own decisions. Any system that tries will fail, because it enables continued dysfunction. 555
Nov 5 2010: Every attempt to do good also has the potential for causing harm, possibly worse than if you had never intervened. 556
Nov 5 2010: If warning shots across the bow don't work, you have to aim for the ship. 557
Nov 5 2010: "How are you?" is intended as a greeting only. No one wants a truthful answer, only a positive reply to get them off the hook. 558
Nov 5 2010: The score: @DalaiLama: 995,526. @BadDalaiLama: 424. Through compassion and understanding (and aggressive retweeting), we shall overcome! 559
Nov 5 2010: RT @HisHoliness: It is very wrong for people to feel deeply sad when they lose money, yet when they waste the precious moments of their ... 560
Nov 5 2010: Government is a process that starts with passion and idealism but ends in lifeless bureaucracy. 561
Nov 5 2010: The saddest fact of life is how much there is to do and how little we can actually do. 562
Nov 6 2010: We worry about money when we don't have enough, but once that need is solved, time becomes our main concern. You can't buy more of it! 563
Nov 6 2010: People believe mainly what they are told. Few have the strength to trust their own perceptions and form their own opinions. 564
Nov 6 2010: RT @RSVPLani: @BadDalaiLama Finally, I'm getting Zen with you. I question anything that does not feel right. I trust myself. All of them. 565
Nov 6 2010: If you aren't flirting with depression, you should question whether you're really alive. 566
Nov 6 2010: RT @GreatestQuotes: "It's never too late to be what you might have been." - George Eliot 567
Nov 6 2010: The most difficult skill of perception is seeing the world as it really is, not as you want it to be. 568
Nov 6 2010: To those who already have a conscience, law is more an obstruction of morality than an expression of it. 569
Nov 6 2010: RT @philoquotes: Man can alter his life by altering his thinking. ~ William James http://bit.ly/philq 570
Nov 6 2010: God was invented to serve the ego of man. 571
Nov 6 2010: There are a million things you can do that you never thought you could. You just haven't been motivated to try. 572
Nov 6 2010: There is no sin in having money in the bank, only in spending it frivolously. 573
Nov 6 2010: The main delusion of youth is thinking you have all the time in the world. 574
Nov 6 2010: RT @GreatestQuotes: "He who would travel happily must travel light." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery 575
Nov 7 2010: Rape may be a terrible crime, but if the punishment is close to that of murder, you are only encouraging the rapist to kill the witness. 576
Nov 7 2010: Pain is real and reproducible. Pleasure, however, is in the eye of the beholder and may not work the second time around. 577
Nov 7 2010: Education is for those without the motivation or self-direction to teach themselves. 578
Nov 7 2010: RT @philoquotes: Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune. ~ William James 579
Nov 7 2010: The surest road to catastrophe is trusting the word of proclaimed experts instead of understanding the problem yourself. 580
Nov 7 2010: Quality usually wins in the end. The question is whether you can hang on for that long. 581
Nov 7 2010: Once people get used to prison, you can take away the bars and they'll still stay in their cell. 582
Nov 7 2010: The maintenance of social order depends not on justice, which is unobtainable, but the illusion of it. 583
Nov 7 2010: Great art is so graceful that it flows out of the artist almost effortlessly. His only skill is in recognizing it. 584
Nov 7 2010: Humility is admirable, but it is also important to recognize when your judgment is better than someone else's. 585
Nov 8 2010: The promise of advertising is escape from responsibility. The product will make your decisions for you. 586
Nov 8 2010: In a democracy, the poor have the same power as the rich, but the rich can buy advertising, which the poor are suckers for. 587
Nov 8 2010: The American Dream: marriage, children, house, pets and a secure job to pay for it all—i.e. total imprisonment. 588
Nov 8 2010: Most people want the same things repeated day after day. No risks, no challenges, just safe repetition. 589
Nov 8 2010: The most bizarre and alien organism is our own body. How did we get stuck inside this? 590Nov 8 2010: Our first VIDEO philosophy essay: "The Law of Diminishing Returns" http://youtu.be/iRF3NuLxBic - Filmed yesterday on Miami Beach. ←Our original YouTube video [more] 591
Nov 8 2010: If $1 million makes you happy, that doesn't mean $10 million will make you 10 times as happy. 592
Nov 8 2010: Self-pity is a poor substitute for self-control. 593
Nov 8 2010: WARNING: Any adult regarded as "high maintenance" is someone you don't need in your life. Anything you do for them will be used against you. 594
Nov 8 2010: RT @GreatestQuotes: "What is important is not what happens to us, but how we respond to what happens to us." - Jean-Paul Sartre 595
Nov 8 2010: There is no freedom without risk. 596
Nov 8 2010: There is no safe harbor, only an illusion of safety that could wash to sea on the next storm. 597
Nov 9 2010: The purpose of protests is to allow people to vent and think they're changing something when in fact they're changing nothing. 598
Nov 9 2010: Every swindler, when caught, will act like the victim. 599
Nov 9 2010: Success doesn't make you wise; failure does—as long as you learn something from it every time. 600
Nov 9 2010: The difference between dreams and reality is reality is still there when you wake up. 601
Nov 9 2010: Day and night are two different worlds: one of responsibility and transparency, the other of impulse and anonymity. 602
Nov 9 2010: There is no humiliating task that people aren't willing to do, day after day, year after year, for the illusion of job security. 603
Nov 9 2010: RT @theredsmurf: @BadDalaiLama Your tweets are unnervingly close to the mark 604
Nov 9 2010: The idea of "retirement" is absurd—where you spend your final days accomplishing little. You accumulated a lifetime of wisdom for this? 605
Nov 9 2010: Belief is controlled mainly by investment. Whatever you have already invested in, you must believe in. 606
Nov 9 2010: Once a need is met, exceeding the need doesn't make you any happier. Instead, your attention turns to other unsatisfied needs. 607
Nov 9 2010: The key to great art, in any medium, is restriction. You don't want "hi-def" but "low-def", painting reality with as few pixels as possible. 608Nov 9 2010: Video philosophy essay: "You Can't Change Personality" http://youtu.be/aPO105q0UVU - Our 2nd video from Miami Beach. ←Our original YouTube video [more] 609
Nov 9 2010: "I like what you're do," is far more meaningful than, "You're beautiful." 610
Nov 10 2010: Even a sheik with a vast harem has his one favorite concubine, and it is her wits more than her looks that got her there. 611
Nov 10 2010: Classical music and jazz are for people who prefer their music devoid of meaning. 612
Nov 10 2010: When you put your faith in God, you stop taking responsibility for your own problems. 613
Nov 10 2010: A selection of the @BadDalaiLama's best tweets, assembled by Input Junkie: http://j.mp/aOj9gR 614
Nov 10 2010: Every "expert" has a conflict of interest: He wants you to buy whatever advice he is selling. 615
Nov 10 2010: Music is the subcarrier of language. Infants instinctively follow the tones and rhythms of words, only later learning their meaning. 616
Nov 10 2010: Language - Meaning = Music 617
Nov 10 2010: Music can be a powerful addictive drug—a brain parasite—occupying the mind and preventing it from doing more useful things. 618
Nov 10 2010: The ultimate goal of any social program is the emancipation of the client. 619
Nov 10 2010: Theory looks at a problem from only a few angles. Reality sees it from every angle. 620
Nov 10 2010: The job of advertising is to sell you a fantasy in which use of the product seems perfectly logical. 621
Nov 10 2010: The risk of curiosity is discovering that the investments you have made are not the best. That's why so few adults have it. 622Nov 10 2010: Video philosophy essay #3: "Triage" http://youtu.be/HGDt3I78CAU - Triage is the management of limited resources to achieve the maximum good. ←Our original YouTube video [more] 623
Nov 10 2010: The most spectacular failures are born in success, when we overestimate our own abilities and commit ourselves to the unsustainable. 624
Nov 11 2010: Any wall we build to protect ourselves also imprisons us inside. 625
Nov 11 2010: Happiness should not be confused with euphoria. Drugs can give you euphoria, but happiness lasts longer. 626
Nov 11 2010: Business is mostly rational in its spending and buys by the numbers. Consumers are mostly emotional and are suckers for a sweet pitch. 627
Nov 11 2010: "Driving is a spectacular form of amnesia. Everything is to be discovered, everything to be obliterated." —Jean Baudrillard 628
Nov 11 2010: .@Stonerpreneur "Creating art/beauty for others who appreciate it is something devoid of meaning?" — Correct. 629
Nov 11 2010: There is no greater waste of time than offering the world your opinion on the news stories of the day. 630
Nov 11 2010: Comedy without meaning is just a laugh track. 631
Nov 11 2010: Intelligence is not a quality of the brain but a personal decision to follow reason over convenience. 632
Nov 11 2010: The @BadDalaiLama's tweet archive has been updated: http://baddalailama.com/archive/ - Give old tweets new life by retweeting them! 633
Nov 11 2010: The aim of marketing is to sell us adjectives, because there is little profit in the simple nouns that get the job done. 634
Nov 11 2010: Misery, to some, is a necessary regulating device. Without it, reckless euphoria would take over and cause even worse damage. 635
Nov 11 2010: There is no sense in arguing with someone who has already invested his life in the opinion he holds. 636Nov 11 2010: VIdeo Essay #4: "The Meaning of Life Explained" http://youtu.be/XONxJEl2fiU - From Miami Beach. The secrets of life revealed at last! ←Our original YouTube video [more] 637
Nov 12 2010: What most people call "boredom" is really the withdrawal symptoms of a stimulation addiction. 638
Nov 12 2010: The hard decisions of life involve accepting some pain now to avoid even greater pain later. 639
Nov 12 2010: The most incompetent boss ever! He has an atrocious record of hiring the worst employees, yet he remains in power. The voter! 640
Nov 12 2010: Why should you "slow down" in your final years? Shouldn't you be "speeding up" since there are so many things left to do? 641
Nov 12 2010: You cannot afford to fight every battle. You must calculate the costs, rewards and risks before committing the troops. 642
Nov 12 2010: Science can explain our body and brain but not how our consciousness became enmeshed in this machine. 643
Nov 12 2010: The biggest cosmic joke of all would be that there is a God but He doesn't believe in you. 644
Nov 12 2010: There will always be people making bad choices. You cannot save them from themselves, but at least you must not facilitate them. 645Nov 12 2010: Philosophy Video #0: "Explaining the Fall of Rome" http://youtu.be/aR7vE5YEvms - From outside the Roman Forum, May 2010. ←Our original YouTube video [more] 646
Nov 12 2010: Most will run whatever race is presented to them. Others make their own path where there is no competition. 647
Nov 13 2010: Life is like riding a roller coaster backwards. We can see the trend behind us but not the dips and turns ahead. 648
Nov 13 2010: Catastrophes are often blessings in disguise, giving people the kick in the butt they need to change their lives. 649
Nov 13 2010: Catastrophes can often accomplish, very quickly, what years of negotiation and conscious effort can't. 650
Nov 13 2010: There is usually a better way to do things, but you have to be willing to experiment and let go of your preconceptions. 651
Nov 13 2010: You place yourself in moral jeopardy when your livelihood depends on selling people things that aren't good for them. 652
Nov 13 2010: The human body is only the physical avatar of ones virtual personality. 653
Nov 13 2010: True atheists are rare. Even those who profess no faith in God may follow quasi-religious beliefs without proof—like belief in atheism. 654
Nov 13 2010: The agnostic says he doesn't know if there is a God. It is the only rational position given the lack of evidence. 655
Nov 14 2010: In the landscape of the mind, there are vast tracts we dare not visit for fear of exposing our own inconsistencies. 656
Nov 14 2010: Evil, at its base, is a condition of the brain. A mind at war with itself produces reprehensible behavior. 657
Nov 14 2010: There is no such thing as safety, only a balanced portfolio of risk. 658
Nov 14 2010: The best thing about ghosts, gods, UFOs and psychic phenomena is they keep a low profile. They mostly leave us alone to live our own lives. 659
Nov 14 2010: All passions are fleeting. That is what's so scary about them. 660Nov 14 2010: Video Essay #6: "Stream of Consciousness" http://youtu.be/oNGIgiW0mGs - Dragoon, Arizona. You can control the content of your consciousness. ←Our original YouTube video [more] 661Nov 14 2010: Video Essay #5: "Understanding Las Vegas" http://youtu.be/YDyAZaXLS9g - Direct from the Las Vegas Strip (this morning). ←Our original YouTube video [more] 662
Nov 14 2010: You can't reason with the gambler, the addict or someone in love. They may agree with your logic, but it won't change their behavior. 663
Nov 14 2010: The atheist says, with certainty, that there is no God. Only one thing can account for this absolute position: faith! 664
Nov 14 2010: You cannot police the belief systems of others, only your own. 665
Nov 15 2010: The only thing we can demand from others is outward behavior within certain bounds. How they arrive at that behavior is their business. 666
Nov 15 2010: If you need it, you can't have it, but if you want it but don't need it and you watch for opportunities, you just might get it. 667
Nov 15 2010: "A man's errors are his portals of discovery." —James Joyce 668
Nov 15 2010: Not all prostitution is illegal. Most of it is called "business". 669
Nov 15 2010: Life involves moral trade-offs. We work for goals we don't agree with to further more important goals. Just don't let it become comfortable. 670
Nov 15 2010: The main structure of society is provided by commerce. It can be a corrupt and exploitative structure, but it is better than none at all. 671
Nov 15 2010: Your most precious resource is time—not just time to do things but time to think about things you've done. 672
Nov 15 2010: Learning doesn't happen when you experience new things but when you recall and analyze those experiences later. 673
Nov 15 2010: The main trauma of life, experienced by all of us, is learning that the outside world works differently than the one we grew up in. 674
Nov 15 2010: Marriage is most destructive when you have to mute your own growth to match that of your jealous and less competent partner. 675
Nov 16 2010: Objects have value only to the extent that they help you achieve something valuable. 676
Nov 16 2010: People tend to value their possessions and investments based on how much they spent on them, not on true market value or usefulness. 677
Nov 16 2010: Religiosity is resilient. If one belief system is discredited, people will shift their faith to another. 678
Nov 16 2010: The only thing as frightening as conservatives in power is liberals in power. 679
Nov 16 2010: It is better to be known for your own accomplishments than for exposing flaws in the work of others. 680
Nov 16 2010: Perseverance is the fool's substitute for wisdom. 681
Nov 16 2010: Taste is an illusion. It is the promise of something more than what you actually get. 682
Nov 16 2010: Whenever anyone tempts you to "Be your own boss!" just remember what a jerk that guy can be. 683
Nov 16 2010: Romance is the P.R. department of addiction. 684
Nov 16 2010: Any parasite can be cast as a savior by a good copywriter. 685
Nov 17 2010: Aboard the Titanic, you can't stop the ship from sinking by ordering the band to play a different song. 686
Nov 17 2010: A good heart is worthless without smart strategies to protect it. 687
Nov 17 2010: Dreams, blindly followed, get you nowhere. It is best to have flexible dreams and adapt them to whatever opportunities arise. 688
Nov 17 2010: "We study hard in high school to get into a top college to get into grad school to get a good job to get into a decent nursing home." —RS 689
Nov 17 2010: Those who can't go to sleep without music or television are afraid of their own thoughts. 690
Nov 17 2010: Most of our mistakes—the big ones at least—are the result of allowing emotion to overrule reason. We knew the right choice but didn't obey. 691
Nov 17 2010: Every new law has unintended consequences, sometimes worse than the problem it was supposed to address. 692
Nov 17 2010: The main purpose of public service advertising is to free the advertiser of responsibility. It does little to change behavior. 693
Nov 17 2010: Dire warnings on cigarette packs do not reduce consumption. They only free the manufacturer of liability and give him permission to sell. 694
Nov 17 2010: There is nothing more ineffective in curing addiction than mandated drug treatment. As soon as supervision ends, so does the cure. 695
Nov 17 2010: Slogans, advertising and education do nothing to change impulsive behavior. The only thing that works is enforced consequences. 696Nov 17 2010: Video Essay #7: "The Trauma of Childhood" http://youtu.be/nVg6gW_9rj4 Jackson, Mississippi. Moving out of the fantasyland of childhood. ←Our original YouTube video [more] 697
Nov 18 2010: The concept of drug treatment is inherently flawed. It only frees the addict of responsibility by placing his cure in someone else's hands. 698
Nov 18 2010: Following in the footsteps of another is impossible, because by the time you get there the path will have changed. 699
Nov 18 2010: The fundamental right and responsibility of both countries and individuals is to control their own economy. 700
Nov 18 2010: Whenever someone speaks of an "economic miracle", the listener should prepare for the economic dark ages that follow. 701
Nov 18 2010: Stupidity is the habitual condition of letting emotions overrule facts. 702
Nov 18 2010: It is okay to be polite to stupid people, but keep them at arm's length and never let them have any power over you. 703
Nov 18 2010: Blog entry: "The Crisis of Human Evolution" http://j.mp/aacnrV - While the dumb get dumber, the smart get smarter. 704
Nov 18 2010: The current trend of human evolution favors those of low intelligence and poor impulse control who procreate irresponsibly. 705
Nov 18 2010: Freedom is the ability to change your path based on unexpected information. 706
Nov 19 2010: The nature of freedom is that you don't know in advance what you might need it for. 707
Nov 19 2010: At a fork, you must choose a path. After you have started down it, you must choose again—whether to turn back or make the best of it. 708
Nov 19 2010: "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. [It] is an opportunity to do things you didn't think you could do before." —Rahm Emanuel 709
Nov 19 2010: Clinical effects of popular recreational drugs: http://yfrog.com/61xsjuj (via @PoulsNocturne@motorfingerzach) 710
Nov 19 2010: The most degrading and exploitative form of reality TV is called "news". How do people watch this stuff? 711
Nov 19 2010: Any help you give will be devalued and abused unless the person you are helping decides he wants it and is willing to pay a price for it. 712
Nov 19 2010: Paranoia is what keeps us from recognizing good opportunities when they happen to fall into our lap. 713
Nov 19 2010: It is good to eat a balanced diet, but the more dietary restrictions we obey, the more barriers we create to our movement and growth. 714
Nov 19 2010: Many speak. Few have anything to say. 715
Nov 19 2010: Investments are future commitments to an object, idea, person or activity. They make us who we are—and are the main block to our growth. 716
Nov 19 2010: "I can fly!" he exclaimed as he jumped off the ledge. Alas, believing in himself was of little benefit. 717
Nov 20 2010: Helping others, while noble in spirit, often has the unintended effect of increasing their dependency. 718
Nov 20 2010: The most destructive drugs are not narcotics but mindless entertainments that squander our mental resources. 719
Nov 20 2010: With relative wealth comes both responsibility and isolation. 720
Nov 20 2010: The dirty little secret of psychiatry is that cognitive therapy doesn't work. You can't change behavior by talking about it. 721
Nov 20 2010: @laurenahayes "Owners are only as smart as their dogs." --> You are only as smart as your dumbest obligations. 722
Nov 20 2010: You are not responsible for the fate of planets, only for the consequences of your own actions while visiting. 723
Nov 20 2010: The score: @BadDalaiLama 501, Good @DalaiLama 1053630. We got that bugger on the run now! Thanks for all your retweets! 724
Nov 20 2010: Paranoia gives people permission to not change, because the threat is externalized. The defect is always "out there" instead of "in here". 725
Nov 20 2010: An actor is someone who can recite a writer's words, follow a director's instructions and then say, "I made this!" 726
Nov 21 2010: When choosing a romantic partner, let it be someone you'll still want on your friends list after the break-up. 727
Nov 21 2010: RT @Bouletcorp: Dans les suggestions Twitter j'avais la page du @DalaiLama alors je suis allé voir. C'est comme bouffer 400 biscuits hor ... 728
Nov 21 2010: If you are walking on eggshells, carefully watching your words so as to not set your partner off, then your relationship is doomed. 729
Nov 21 2010: The acrimony of the divorce is proportional to the passion of the courtship. 730
Nov 21 2010: Divorces are so nasty because the primitive neurological bond remains. Bonded people are still drawn together, if not by love then by hate. 731
Nov 21 2010: Love and addiction are the same. The same pleasure centers are stimulated in courtship and at the other end the same withdrawal symptoms. 732Nov 21 2010: Video Essay #8: "Drug Abuse: What Doesn't Work" http://youtu.be/A1EIIgZD4Fc - From the main courthouse in Las Vegas (two days ago). ←Our original YouTube video [more] 733
Nov 22 2010: Romance is driven not just by sex but by a hunger for meaning that we falsely believe the other person will fulfill. 734
Nov 22 2010: You'll never really know who you married until the honeymoon is over. 735
Nov 22 2010: Romance is the ultimate exercise in wishful thinking. 736
Nov 22 2010: "Not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck." MRT @DalaiLama 737
Nov 22 2010: People search for meaning but usually end up with obligation instead. They can't tell the difference until it's too kate. 738
Nov 22 2010: Just because your life is full of things you have to do doesn't make it meaningful. 739
Nov 22 2010: For most, life is an exercise in digging holes and filling them up again—creating new obligations then struggling to fulfill them. 740
Nov 22 2010: Love is a condiment of life, not a main course. It can't give you a meaningful mission any more than ketchup is a food group. 741
Nov 22 2010: The pursuit of love is often just an escape from responsibility. We want a White Knight to rescue us from ourselves. 742
Nov 22 2010: The downside of relationships is loss of control over ones own life. 743
Nov 22 2010: Those who can take love or leave it, who don't need it to give them identity, are in the best position to benefit from it. 744
Nov 23 2010: In the beginning, love is defined for us by others. We have to fail many times before we learn to define it for ourselves. 745
Nov 23 2010: The art that gets noticed first is usually attached to a moneymaking scheme, but the art that lasts survives on its own merits. 746
Nov 23 2010: Everyone is selling something, not just for monetary gain but to support their own self-esteem. 747
Nov 23 2010: Creativity is looking past conventions and preconceptions to what really works. 748
Nov 23 2010: The amount of makeup used is inversely proportional to ones self-confidence. 749
Nov 23 2010: Creativity isn't playing by the rules; it's rewriting the rules by which the game is played. 750
Nov 23 2010: Beauty strikes the eye only on its first appearance. After that, all that matters is what really works. 751
Nov 23 2010: Misfortune is an essential mechanism to push us out of our comfort zone and into the next stage of our development. 752
Nov 23 2010: Jealousy is a bad sign. It is a hint that the relationship can't sustain itself on its own merits. 753Nov 24 2010: Video Essay #9: Human Feedback Systems: http://youtu.be/tsqHYKqt6ew - From an abandoned roadhouse in the Yukon Territory. Free tour at end! ←Our original YouTube video [more] 754
Nov 24 2010: Success tends to freeze you at whatever developmental state you were in when it occurred. It can rob you of the incentive to move forward. 755
Nov 24 2010: Ego both pushes you to succeed and stands in your way. 756
Nov 24 2010: Ownership is an illusion. You can't permanently own something. You can only rent. 757
Nov 24 2010: The first step toward intelligence is when you're afraid of something, you turn toward it instead of away. 758
Nov 24 2010: To find what makes you happy, you must experiment and test your own limits. No advice from others will suffice. You must seek your own data. 759
Nov 24 2010: All the best stories—in fiction, movies and real life—are about a character facing his fears and overcoming his own inertia. 760
Nov 24 2010: Given the choice between being lonely and losing yourself in a relationship, lonely gives you far more options. 761
Nov 24 2010: It is of little benefit to your self-esteem to be praised for an accomplishment you know is not your own. 762
Nov 24 2010: Romantic love is a value-added service. If you are not receiving value in excess of the price paid, you shouldn't be using the service. 763
Nov 24 2010: His Holiness @BadDalaiLama actively stars tweets he likes. See his Favorites for contemporary wisdom he would like to retweet but can't. 764
Nov 24 2010: "Smart" doesn't always mean "wise". One can be smart in pursuit of ones goals but unwise in the choice of them. 765
Nov 24 2010: Most romantic relationships eventually devolve into parental ones. One partner becomes increasingly childish as the other enables them. 766Nov 25 2010: Video Essay #10: Practice Makes Perfect... Idiocy! http://youtu.be/8ipjgmFACDE - Why rote practice is usually not the best use of your time. ←Our original YouTube video [more] 767
Nov 25 2010: "Love is when you find someone better, yet you stay with the same person you promised to spend forever with." @TheQuoteWhore - Disturbing? 768
Nov 25 2010: When you need something too much, your neediness in itself becomes the biggest barrier to getting what you want. 769
Nov 25 2010: "Life is outsourcing." @danywino - Indeed, everything must be outsourced by the time you're finished. 770
Nov 25 2010: There is no reason you can't become a child prodigy at any age. Just free yourself of all the useless stuff you've accumulated since then. 771
Nov 25 2010: Another term for "dream home" is "self-designed prison". 772
Nov 25 2010: Creativity is when you grab something from your environment and use it for a purpose it was never intended for. 773
Nov 25 2010: Marketing can generate a hit, but only quality creates a classic. 774
Nov 25 2010: Schadenfreude may seem justified when someone's own ego led to their misfortune, but what other kind of misfortune is there? 775
Nov 25 2010: Single people dream of love. Married people dream of being free. 776
Nov 25 2010: The key to mastering any artistic medium is emotional detachment, because once your ego gets involved, you stop seeing what's there. 777
Nov 25 2010: If someone freaks out over life's minor frustrations (traffic jams, lost luggage), you definitely don't want them around for the big crises. 778
Nov 25 2010: Running a race and winning isn't necessarily creative. Creativity is bypassing the race altogether to find what really matters. 779
Nov 26 2010: Each of us is a sexually motivated being, through no fault of our own, but how we express and manage that drive is a matter of choice. 780
Nov 26 2010: "So you're saying homosexuality is a choice?" @Knigel — Arousal isn't a choice. Where you go with it is the choice. 781
Nov 26 2010: The most important right of the individual is to keep secret his intentions. 782
Nov 26 2010: "Music is a safe kind of high." Jimi Hendrix via @astrangersashes — It can still be an addiction drawing you from more productive things. 783
Nov 26 2010: The most hideous musical form is the "cover", where one singer repeats the famous song of another. It only proves their bankrupt creativity. 784
Nov 26 2010: Whenever you think you have no choice, you usually have many. You just refuse to see them. 785
Nov 26 2010: His Holy Badliness does not #ff lightly. For the best of all things philosophical, follow @laurenahayes and watch her Favorites. 786
Nov 26 2010: Selfless service to others is not your highest calling. First invest in yourself, then you will have the tools to invest in others. 787
Nov 26 2010: The depth of my love for you—Is shown on this fine tattoo.—Would it cause you alarm—If I sent you my arm—To nourish your lawyer and you? 788
Nov 26 2010: Opposites attract—and usually end up trying to annihilate each other! 789
Nov 26 2010: A delusion can persist only as long as there are excess resources to support it. 790
Nov 26 2010: Reality is the crusher of delusion. 791
Nov 26 2010: It is one thing to protest a rigged election, quite another to riot over a cut in pay. That's more like a child's temper tantrum. 792
Nov 26 2010: RT @latimes: Dalai Lama to cede role as leader of exiled Tibet government http://lat.ms/e5W0cf 793
Nov 26 2010: Paranoia is a mechanism that assures your success in life never exceeds your inner self-esteem. 794
Nov 27 2010: Notes on protocol: @BadDalaiLama can be addressed as "Your Holy Badliness", YHB, HHB, HHBDL or however you feel moved. He's not a stickler. 795
Nov 27 2010: People like to invent restrictions for themselves—lists of things they won't do—because it helps them avoid making real decisions. 796
Nov 27 2010: You can devote your whole life to healthy living, resulting in a slight increase in your otherwise meaningless lifespan. 797
Nov 27 2010: Slogans are cheap, easily distributed, immediately satisfying and far less painful than action or decision. "We Support Our Troops!" 798
Nov 27 2010: The purpose of slogans is to give people the illusion they are addressing a complex problem without any costs and risks. 799
Nov 27 2010: "Just Say No!" to catchy, ineffective slogans. 800
Nov 27 2010: Life throws barriers in your path, but they are usually minor compared to the barriers you create for yourself. 801
Nov 27 2010: RT @YuririaSierra: Here goes a #FF for @BadDalaiLama, who always is as good (sometimes quite better) as the Lama himself... And certainl ... 802
Nov 27 2010: Those who unfollow you if you unfollow them had no real interest in your communication anyway. 803
Nov 27 2010: Capitalism expects you to be a small cog in a big exploitative machine. Sometimes you have to play along to advance a more noble agenda. 804
Nov 27 2010: There is no money to be made in solving people's underlying problems, only in giving them what they think they want. 805
Nov 27 2010: No one wants to kill pets, but if the shelter doesn't do it, the system will collapse and all the animals will suffer. 806
Nov 27 2010: RT @KilroyCafe: Been to Borders and Barnes & Noble but can't find a good tourist guide to the Somali Coast. Guess I'll have to go it alone. 807
Nov 27 2010: Who is the best romantic partner? Sadly, it is someone just like you in personality. Only a clone can really know you. 808
Nov 27 2010: Marketing consists of offering the consumer a pornographic image then standing in front of it and collecting an admission fee. 809
Nov 27 2010: Unlike SOME lamas, HH @BadDalaiLama reads and cherishes your @ replies and DMs. (He replies to most DMs but only a few @'s.) 810
Nov 27 2010: Full speed ahead, take no prisoners, never apologize, never look back, never stop believing in yourself... Sarah Palin! 811
Nov 27 2010: "We don't go about life as scientists, but as talk radio hosts, concocting arguments that feel persuasive." http://is.gd/hRWhn 812
Nov 27 2010: Obvious neediness has the paradoxical effect of pushing people away. They don't want to drown in your concerns. 813
Nov 28 2010: RT @TommysJustTommy: Going to have to unfollow @BadDalaiLama . That sounded like a pro-Palin tweet. Can't have that In my world. 814
Nov 28 2010: Those without grasp of irony are poorly equipped to deal with the world. 815
Nov 28 2010: Full disclosure: His Holiness and Sarah are very close. http://j.mp/dYNTk6 - Also George W. http://j.mp/hkRO7Z 816
Nov 28 2010: The root of all evil is a mind at war with itself. 817
Nov 28 2010: His Holy Badliness has updated his tweet archive at http://baddalailama.com/archive/ - All his wisdom on one page! 818
Nov 28 2010: Term limits rob a legislature of experience and assure no leader remains in power long enough to suffer the consequences of their actions. 819
Nov 28 2010: It is sad to watch a friend descend into addiction and almost as sad to see them bury themselves in possessions and obligations. 820
Nov 28 2010: No matter how sexy data may seem, the ultimate coin of existence is still concrete actions in the real world. 821
Nov 28 2010: Data is an aid not an end. 822
Nov 28 2010: A life dedicated to online data and virtual worlds is ultimately no more satisfying than a diet of zero-calorie soft drinks. 823
Nov 28 2010: No matter how complex a virtual model may become, it can't compete with the richness, consistency and unexpected twists of reality. 824
Nov 28 2010: Reality. Live with it. 825
Nov 28 2010: Music, television, web surfing, shopping, sports, political debate... All are a mask for the fact that you haven't done a damn thing. 826
Nov 28 2010: The online world is place to analyze activities of the real world, not a replacement for them. 827
Nov 28 2010: Additional notes on protocol: Address HHBDL as "Your Holy Badliness" NOT "Your Holy Baldliness". Also: remove your shoes before approaching. 828
Nov 28 2010: A "home" is where you sleep, write, think, change clothes and store a limited cache of supplies. A dorm room is optimal, a house excessive. 829
Nov 28 2010: The bigger the home you live in, the more possessions and obligations you accumulate in it and the more burdened your life becomes. 830
Nov 28 2010: Humans are natural hoarders, genetically programmed to stockpile resources for lean times. Once, it was essential, now dysfunctional. 831
Nov 28 2010: If we have storage space available, few among us can resist the temptation to hold onto anything that "might" be useful in the future. 832
Nov 28 2010: Owning a house is fine—if that's all you want to do. Home acquisition, decoration and maintenance give a mission to those without any. 833
Nov 28 2010: RT @GreatestQuotes: "Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with th ... 834
Nov 28 2010: The purchase price of a possession is only part of its cost. The other part is its storage, maintenance and protection—often much higher. 835
Nov 28 2010: RT @philosophytweet: Fame has also this great drawback, that if we pursue it, we must direct our lives so as to please the fancy of men. ... 836
Nov 28 2010: No matter how thrilling something was the first time, you can never go back. You can repeat the outer motions but not the inner feeling. 837
Nov 29 2010: Youth may know the statutes, but only age knows the case law. 838
Nov 29 2010: If there were no limit on the human lifespan, power would become entrenched and we would be even more wasteful of time than we already are. 839
Nov 29 2010: Parental love is an act of charity. Romantic love is an arrangement for mutual profit. Don't confuse one with the other. 840
Nov 29 2010: Where would we be without parataxic distortion? (Probably not here today to discuss it!) - Wikipedia http://su.pr/1agHG5 via @NewMindMirror 841
Nov 29 2010: Some ideas are offensive because they are exploitative, others only because you have already invested in the opposite. 842
Nov 29 2010: If slogans really change human behavior, then we should erect signs every mile along the highway: "Always Drive Safely!" 843
Nov 29 2010: Instead of following the nutrition fad of the moment, try listening to your body and eating foods that makes you feel good afterwards. 844
Nov 29 2010: "Our body is full of maladaptive cravings that trick us into feeling good." @Knigel — If you eat a whole bag of Doritos™, how do you feel? 845
Nov 29 2010: Taste is a neurological mechanism to guide us to the foods our body needs, not an end in itself. 846
Nov 29 2010: Sarcasm is irony with a bitter edge. 847
Nov 29 2010: @Knigel@bofaux Hey, dude, cut me some slack! I'm the ***BAD*** Dalai Lama! 848
Nov 29 2010: Sarcasm is the passive-aggressive way of saying things. It expresses your frustration but cynically assumes nothing can change. 849
Nov 29 2010: Sarcasm, like anger, is dysfunctional self-expression the world doesn't need. 850
Nov 29 2010: Unbuffered democracy—where the people vote directly for laws—is as much a tyranny as any dictatorship. (See California.) 851
Nov 29 2010: Productive living is a process of "outsourcing", where you develop systems, test them out, then pass them on to others. 852
Nov 29 2010: The condition of being fully outsourced is called "death". 853
Nov 29 2010: Caffeine gives you energy only in the same sense that nicotine gives you pleasure: because addiction has taken it away from you. 854
Nov 29 2010: Photos: HHBDL in Jerusalem: http://j.mp/2uwh9g — Trying to broker a Mid-East peace. Luckily, His Holiness has no dog in this fight. 855
Nov 29 2010: Those who cannot reduce their commitments to sustainable levels will find their commitments reduced for them. 856
Nov 30 2010: "Wanting it all" is the functional equivalent of wanting nothing. 857
Nov 30 2010: Life is the process of reducing the infinite possibilities in front of you to the few things you can afford to do. 858
Nov 30 2010: RT @DOGENZEN: The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear. ~ Krishnamurti 859
Nov 30 2010: You can't teach someone creative writing or film. Either they're inclined to pick up a pen or video camera or they're not. 860
Nov 30 2010: "Object constancy" is knowing that people have their own lives apart from your needs. Children learn it gradually, but some adults never do. 861
Nov 30 2010: "My right to happiness carries no more weight than others'." MRT @DalaiLama — Dude's talking about object constancy. 862
Nov 30 2010: Life is easy: Find a mate, get married, buy a house, have children, work hard, retire. VoilĂ , life over! 863
Nov 30 2010: Sometimes your best move is just cop an Alford plea and move on with your life. 864
Nov 30 2010: Reality has its own structure, independent of our theories or wishes. The only way to know it is to test it. 865
Nov 30 2010: "You can have it all." @laurenahayes — Nope! Life is a series of brutal choices to reduce the "all" to the few things you can afford to do. 866
Nov 30 2010: Whatever consciousness may be, it is not infinite. You cannot divide your attention without eventual degradation of your thought processes. 867
Nov 30 2010: @laurenahayes "Maybe mindfulness can multiply [consciousness]" — What's "mindfulness"? Does it give you a faster CPU? Too many apps running! 868
Nov 30 2010: You can't have quantity without sacrificing quality. 869
Nov 30 2010: In all things, you should to be dealing with the guts of life, not its skin. 870
Nov 30 2010: If you are "receiving" an education, you're doing it all wrong. 871
Nov 30 2010: Photos: HHBDL at the Acropolis in Athens: http://j.mp/grrKqS
[End of archive. 376 tweets displayed of 15877 archived as of , .]
Please give new life to our Ancient Wisdom by retweeting our old tweets. Click on date for the original tweet.