We don't realize that, somewhere within us all, there does exist a supreme self who is eternally at peace.

That's just your ego, trying to make sure it stays in charge. This is what ego does. It keeps you feeling separate, keeps you with a sense of duality, tries to convince you that you're flawed and broken and alone instead of whole.

But never again use another person's body or emotions as a scratching post for your own unfulfilling yearnings.

I feel like if I were to get another tattoo, it would probably be those two words. Just stubborn, stubborn, stubborn gladness.

Maybe the difference between first marriage and second marriage is that the second time at least you know you are gambling.

So miss him. Send him some love and light every time you think about him, then drop it.

Then again, you cannot stop the flood of desire as it moves through the world, inappropriate though it may sometimes be. It is the prerogative of all humans to make ludicrous choices, to fall in love with the most unlikely of partners, and to set themselves up for the most predicatable of calamities.