Fear is always connected with isolation—which can be either its result or its origin—and the concomitant experiences of impotence and helplessness.
Character reintroduces Fate into psychology. Substitutions for character eliminated this ancient connection. “Ego,” “personality,” “self,” “agent,” “individual” reduce psychology to the study of human behavior—to processes, functions, motivations—and omit the fateful consequences implied by the idea of character. Psychology shorn of fate is too shallow to address its subject, the soul.
Inserting a wedge requires learning the language that your body uses to communicate information about the environment. Its syntax and grammar aren’t made of words; they’re sensation, emotion, and keen observation of the links between your mind and the external world.
Zen practitioners recite: Innumerable labors brought us this food, We should recall how it came to us.
