T. Scott McLeod Quotes

As you think and act, so your world becomes.

There is some fiction, in all fact; and some fact, in all fiction.

My belief is the belief of no beliefs. That's my belief.

This would be a secret that I would carry with me, until the day I died.

And could you, from a place of love, actually stand up and, use force, to give someone back, the suffering, they were trying to put on you? Would I do it? Maybe it would even be, an act of fierce compassion, as Enso Roshi sometimes talked about, to not take it any more. To not cow down, anymore. To let my father know, the tyrant, the aggressor, that if he hits me, I’m going to hit back, and hard.

T. Scott McLeod

Stand in your own two shoes.

T. Scott McLeod

It is all, the unfolding. Neither good nor bad, my destiny.

T. Scott McLeod

Let one who seeks not stop seeking until that person finds.

T. Scott McLeod

When you love yourself, utterly and completely, all of yourself, what you will discover then is that you love others, all others, utterly and completely.

T. Scott McLeod

I feel so trapped, by my ego.

T. Scott McLeod

There were so many beliefs which we had about the world, which then influenced everything, everything, about how we saw the world and interacted in the world and were with others. Everything. It was profound to me, amazing, the ramifications, the implications, the far-reaching impact that one’s beliefs could have on the world. It was actually mind-blowing for me. Figuratively speaking. Like, it was just, holy shit. Look at that. And nobody, hardly anybody sees it. They’re just ideas. Ideas. And yet, I’d believed them for so long, and still, was still shirking free of them. How was it that we believed in them, so readily, so easily?

T. Scott McLeod

When I was young, I lacked certainty, too,” he says. “I have the certainty, now, of not needing certainty. I have the certainty, of uncertainty. The peace, with being uncertain. All is good. All is holy. Whatever you choose, it can be fine. Hatred never ceases with hatred, but with love alone is healed. Rejection never ceases with rejection, but with acceptance alone is healed.

T. Scott McLeod

Praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and pain, fame and disripute, these are just the worldly winds of existence.

T. Scott McLeod

Life gives you exactly what you need to awaken.

T. Scott McLeod

If you go to war with your mind, you will always be at war.

T. Scott McLeod

Do you want love, or do you want control?

T. Scott McLeod

Is it love, or is it attachment? Do you want to love her, or do you want to control her?

T. Scott McLeod

Why hold secrets? Why harbor anything? Let me just share everything with you. Let me just talk. Let me let go of the censor that is within me ... I’m tired of trying to be someone other than who I am.

T. Scott McLeod

Hatred never ceases with hatred, but with love alone is healed.

T. Scott McLeod

It is only path bending. Don't let it be mind bending.

T. Scott McLeod

Orange Juice? Sure. Toast? Sure. One last time on the couch? Sure. Phone number? Sure. See you again? Oooh, absolutely. That was the lie I told. Probably not, that was the truth, that was that which went unspoken.

T. Scott McLeod

You had to break, to be unbroken. In the brokenness, I had found, that which was unbroken. That which was perfect, and beautiful, and complete.

T. Scott McLeod

To love one’s self, this is the greatest challenge we are all called to face.

T. Scott McLeod

To hate the hate was just more hate; to reject the rejection was just more rejection; to judge the judging, just more judging.

T. Scott McLeod

What was meaningful? What was meaningless? What did it mean, to amount to something? What type of life, was worth living? Was it better, to make a ton of money, and have a fucking goddamn Mercedes, or whatever the fuck kind of car it was, to be a lawyer with a ‘serious’ job, and to have ‘amounted to something,’ or was it better to just be a waiter, and work the evening shift, and have your days free to goof off with your roommates, your friends, to go to meditation, to take some time to reflect, and enjoy life, and to not always be in such a big goddamn rush to get somewhere?

T. Scott McLeod

We come to the end of suffering, through suffering.

T. Scott McLeod

I am not alone, in my aloneness.

T. Scott McLeod

To love, and be loved, this is the greatest challenge that any of us face in our lives.

T. Scott McLeod

Maybe it’s something which can’t be defined,” Enso Roshi says. “Maybe it’s a question, to be lived.

T. Scott McLeod

The mind is limitless, in its creations.

T. Scott McLeod

Let whatever happens, be what needs to happen, so that I may awaken.

T. Scott McLeod

I loved Enso Roshi’s teachings. I loved learning about life. I loved life. It was a good thing to feel. I loved life, and I loved learning, and I was still learning. I was not, yet, done. At the end of our journeys, there would be an end to the journey. Maybe. If I was lucky. If providence shone down upon me gently. I would find love. I would find acceptance. Complete love. Complete acceptance. I would know, that the self, is an illusion. I would come to enlightenment, but that would also mean, there would be no ‘I’ there. I would realize that the ‘I’ was an illusion, all along, just like some great dream. This is what the wise sages say, the great teachings, the mystical teachings, not only from the East, but also from the West. The Gospel of Saint Thomas. Thomas Merton. Thomas, like I was Thomas, and also doubting, the main reasons I’d chosen the name. If nothing else, it was lovable, just as it is. My life. Even the parts I didn’t love, could I love them? The struggles. It was all part of the journey, and would I not look back fondly on this, at some time? Look at how arduous and sincere I’d been. Look at how worried I’d been. Look at how insecure I’d been. Look at how I’d struggled. Trying to find my way. Would I not look back upon myself, affectionately and fondly and with love?

T. Scott McLeod

Nothing needs to be done, and things get done.

T. Scott McLeod

It is the rub that polishes the jewel,” Enso Roshi says. “Nobody ever gets to nirvana without going through samsara. Nobody ever gets to heaven, without going through hell. The center of all things, the truth, is surrounded by demons.

T. Scott McLeod

You necessarily have to be lost, before you’re found.

T. Scott McLeod

You will bring yourself the suffering you need to bring yourself so that you may awaken.

T. Scott McLeod

I don’t know where I’m going on this path. I don’t know what I’m doing with my life. You had to be lost, before you could be found. These are the truths. You had to be confused, before you could find clarity; you had to suffer, before you could find peace. These were the only ways, life could happen. Of course you were confused before you found clarity. If you weren't confused, then you would already be clear. Of course you were lost before you were found. If you were already found, then you wouldn't be lost. Of course there would be suffering before peace. If there was already peace, then there wouldn't be suffering. One necessarily came before the other.

T. Scott McLeod

Can you allow yourself to be impaled on the present moment?

T. Scott McLeod

The way is not clear, and it is when you do not have clarity, when this is allowed, that you will finally have clarity.

T. Scott McLeod

We find what's in our own heads.

T. Scott McLeod

Success doesn't come to you you go to it.

T. Scott McLeod