Begin. . . Where you are, NOT where you want to be. Begin stuck in the doldrums of your false story--if that is where you are. Begin there because, in truth, there is no other place to start from. Tell yourself that you are going to listen for the sound of your own voice--and remind yourself when you forget. And you will forget, over and over again.

A self-leader cries for no followers by himself. He does his thing and people get to know him, chase him and learn from him.

It is a great evil to look upon mankind with too clear vision. You seem to be living among wild beasts, and you become a wild beast yourself. ('“The Story of Prince Alasi and the Princess Firouzkah”).

Are you eating to live or are you eating to die? Food is not just for nourishment. Food is for information, it is for intelligence. It is for wisdom, but more so it is to create clarity within your self.

Sometimes it’s the dirt between your toes that gives you the clearest picture in your mind. Grounding yourself aligns the dirt between your toes and the vision in your mind.

Between what I see in a field and what I see in another fieldThere passes for a moment the figure of a man.His steps go with “him” in the same reality,But I look at him and them, and they’re two things:The “man” goes walking with his ideas, false and foreign,And his steps go with the ancient system that makes legs walk.I see him from a distance without any opinion at all.How perfect that he is in him what he is — his body,His true reality which doesn’t have desires or hopes,But muscles and the sure and impersonal way of using them.

Consider meekness as a character trait to develop and then you will leave a leagcy as a leader who influenced and touched lives.

But as I began to write this book, I realised that without the whole truth my life would have no power, no real meaning. With the help of my mother, the memories of our lives in North Korea and China cane back to me like scenes from a forgotten nightmare. Some of the images reappeared with a terrible clarity; others were hazy, or scrambled like a deck of cards spilled on the floor. The process of writing has been the process of remembering, and of trying to make sense out of those memories.

But the fantasy kingdom and trappings of success soon lost their luster, as I discovered that the most prestigious and remunerative of my resume's way stations was also the most tedious and unfulfilling I had ever experienced. This paradox only made me more morose about modernity. Why was I going to watch my hairline recede in front of two-thousand-line spreadsheets staring at me from cold, glowing monitors? Why was everyone in my office apparently so happy to be spending so many hours there, when the things they really cared about - people, pets, pastimes - were all relegated to a few photographs on their desks? That seemed to be the formula: spend the best years of your life in an office with photos of what you really care about.

Ascension is the triumph of mastered emotions; a process of gaining clarity in the darkness of blind spots and struggles, allowing you to perceive with the karmic intelligence of the Soul.