In a sense, each of us is an island. In another sense, however, we are all one. For though islands appear separate, and may even be situated at great distances from one another, they are only extrusions of the same planet, Earth.

The two-fold goal of all human striving is the avoidance of pain, and the fulfillment of happiness.

If it (the good circumstances) changes will you be able to keep onto your happiness just as much? Because if not then your happiness is really built on sand.

That's what life is for, to find that joy in yourself.

When I find that I am more conscious, it's because I'm in tune with a higher reality. When I'm less conscious, it's because I've cut off that entunement to some extent. Maybe through drinking, through anger, through whatever. And I realized then that God has to be an infinite consciousness, and that I had to be an expression of that consciousness. And that the goal of life then must be to become more and more in tune with that consciousness. And I decided to give my life to God. And around that time, to make a long story short, I found Autobiography of a Yogi.

I know that everybody is seeking bliss. And they're all looking for it mostly in the wrong ways, and as a result of that, they err, but there's no reason to hate them; they just don't know any better. Jesus himself on the cross said, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do." And so people who hate you, that's their problem. It doesn't have to be your problem. I wish them well.

In a sense, each of us is an island. In another sense, however, we are all one. For though islands appear separate, and may even be situated at great distances from one another, they are only extrusions of the same planet, Earth.