{"author":"Kilroy J. Oldster","author_id":"Kilroy+J.+Oldster","total_quotes":724,"quotes":[{"text":"Lacking natural equilibrium, I used writing as an illustrative means to center myself in a world filled with haziness and uncertainty. My self-drafted obituary will not bemoan death but shall celebrate life by giving heartfelt thanks for all the people that brightened actuality with their kindness, friendship, noble acts of charity, and expressions of universal goodwill. It was a privilege to exist in this wrinkle of time with many people devoted to burnishing the sharpen edges of life. The heavens blessed me with many years to discover why it is beautiful to live and die in a world where the hills and wind, the rivers and seas, stars and moon, and revealing sunlight shall persevere.","author":"Kilroy J. Oldster","tags":["beautiful-life","beauty-of-life","beauty-of-nature","beauty-of-the-world","death","death-and-dying","essay-writing","essayist","memories","memories","memory","writers","writers-on-writing","writers","writing","writing-philosophy"],"id":281,"author_id":"Kilroy+J.+Oldster"},{"text":"We measure time through a mental framework trussed with two major stakes: memory and expectation. Memory is that spottiness that takes place behind the eyes: memory takes place in the cloistered theater that houses diffused still pictures. We file mental pictures that encapsulate our prior life into mental shelves for a wayward librarian to cull through and forward select recollection to the recall center whenever summoned. Expectations arise from thoughtful consideration of our future prospects in life.","author":"Kilroy J. Oldster","tags":["expectation","expectations","hope","hopeful","hopeful","human-consciousness","memory","recollection","recollections","time","time"],"id":1304,"author_id":"Kilroy+J.+Oldster"},{"text":"The tedium of existence and feeling imprisoned in a deplorable job can cause a person to consider the most expedient escape route from suffering including flirting with suicide. Fernando Pessoa wrote in “The Book of Disquiet” of his own feelings of uneasiness and sense of discouragement. “I suffer from life and from other people. I cannot look at reality face to face. Even the sun discourages and depresses me. Only at night and all alone, withdrawn, forgotten, and lost, with no connection to anything useful or real – only then do I find myself comforted.","author":"Kilroy J. Oldster","tags":["depression","depression","discontent","discontentment","discouragement","suffering","suffering","suffering","suicidal-thoughts","suicide","tedium"],"id":1317,"author_id":"Kilroy+J.+Oldster"},{"text":"The ego with its protective defense mechanisms is the biggest impediment to attaining spiritual growth.","author":"Kilroy J. Oldster","tags":["defense-mechanism","defensiveness","ego","enlightenment","enlightenment-and-attitude","enlightenment-principles","enlightenment","personal-development","personal-growth"],"id":2152,"author_id":"Kilroy+J.+Oldster"},{"text":"For the philosopher, language, thought, and passion are the same. Ideas are personal to a philosopher; they express their human passion and articulate their novel ideas in language. Ideas are more than mere concepts, trifles that the philosophical mind toys with. Ideas provide both the structure and inner vitality that holds great thinkers’ conceptual structure together.","author":"Kilroy J. Oldster","tags":["idealist","ideas","ideas","language","philosophers","philosophical-musings","philosophy","philosophy","thoughts","thoughts-on-life","writers","writing-life","writing"],"id":2932,"author_id":"Kilroy+J.+Oldster"},{"text":"Civilization could not exist without tremors of desire and without the counteracting, negation force of disciplined denial. Nor would the gyratory pulsations of a lively civilization exist devoid of the convulsive chemistry of union and repellency. We are born with a desire to be immortal. Cursed with the knowledge that we must die, people live their orthodox lives out by displaying reckless abandon as to the outcome of human life or nervously hounded by utter despondency nipping their heels. How we resolve this decidedly human complex of carrying out our daily lives while burden by our inescapable mortality determines our essential character. The collation of similar values adopted by our community determines who we are as a people.","author":"Kilroy J. Oldster","tags":["attitude","attitude","attitude-toward-life","attraction","attraction","character","civilization","culture-and-attitude","culture-identity","denial","desire","desires","desires-and-dreams","desires","existence","existentialism","immortality","personal-development","philosophy-of-life","self-discipline"],"id":3758,"author_id":"Kilroy+J.+Oldster"},{"text":"Writing allows a person to explore both physical reality and the internal workings of their mind. Writing places us in touch with our unconsciousness. Writing purposefully, applying the white heat of self-examination, can act to transform oneself. Writing allows a person with sufficient resolve to anneal their basic constitution, make their mind more flexible.","author":"Kilroy J. Oldster","tags":["know-thyself","self-determination","self-determination","self-development","self-development","self-examination","self-exploration","self-knowing","self-knowledge","self-knowledge","transformation","transformation","writers","writers-on-thinking","writers-on-writing","writing","writing-life"],"id":4046,"author_id":"Kilroy+J.+Oldster"},{"text":"Spiritual grace adds to a life and it is crucial ingredient in any person’s quest to attain self-realization.","author":"Kilroy J. Oldster","tags":["self-realization","self-realization","spiritual-development","spiritual-growth","spiritual-life","spiritual-wisdom","spirituality"],"id":4294,"author_id":"Kilroy+J.+Oldster"},{"text":"We unthinkingly build the pilings of our lives upon whatever comes along. Like it or not, we play the hand that fate deals us. If fate is kind, some people credit their fortuitous circumstances to their ingenuity and resoluteness. If fate is cruel, some people curse God. The truth is that an unenlightened person resists suffering, they continually wish for a world different than it is, whereas an enlightened person learns how to suffer heroically.","author":"Kilroy J. Oldster","tags":["enlightenment","enlightenment","human-suffering","life","life-and-living","life-lessons","life-philosophy","life-philosophy-suffering","life"],"id":5674,"author_id":"Kilroy+J.+Oldster"},{"text":"We are condemned to be free people, liberated people who must make life-defining decisions. Freedom requires choices and all choices entail value decisions.","author":"Kilroy J. Oldster","tags":["choice-and-consequences","choice","choices","decisions-and-actions","freedom","self-determination","self-determination","value","values"],"id":6839,"author_id":"Kilroy+J.+Oldster"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":724,"pages":73,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}