Growing Zen

"It is in the admission of ignorance and the admission of uncertainty that there is a hope for the continuous motion of human beings in some direction that doesn't get confined, permanently blocked, as it has so many times before in various periods in the history of man." -Richard Feynman

That is a hearty "amen" to Nephi, and to Elder Andersen in conference on Sunday: "And I said unto him: I know that he [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things." (1 Nephi 11:17)

Another excellent quote from Mr. Feynman, this one from the documentary The Lottery of Birth:

“We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions and pass them on. It is our responsibility to leave the men of the future a free hand. In the impetuous youth of humanity, we can make grave errors that can stunt our growth for a long time. This we will do if we say we have the answers now, so young and ignorant; if we suppress all discussion, all criticism, saying, ‘This is it, boys, man is saved!’ and thus doom man for a long time to the chains of authority, confined to the limits of our present imagination. It has been done so many times before.”

"The time has come to put more emphasis on unity. Here again there must be human affection and patient analysis grounded in compassion.
For example, you may have a different ideological or religious opinion from someone else. If you respect the other person's rights and sincerely show a compassionate attitude toward that person, then it does not matter whether their idea is suitable for you; that is secondary. As long as the other person believes in it and derives some benefits from such a viewpoint, it is his or her absolute right. So we must respect that and accept the fact that different viewpoints exist" (Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, The Compassionate Life, 42-43).

"One of the best human qualities is our intelligence, which enables us to judge what is wholesome and what is unwholesome, what is beneficial and what is harmful. Negative thoughts, such as anger and strong attachment, destroy this special human quality; this is indeed very sad. When anger or attachment dominates the mind, a person becomes almost crazed, and I am certain that nobody wishes to be crazy. Under the power of anger or attachment we commit all kinds of harmful acts--often having far-reaching and destructive consequences. A person gripped by such states of mind and emotion is like a blind person, who cannot see where he is going. Yet we neglect to challenge these negative thoughts and emotions that lead us nearly to insanity. On the contrary, we often nurture and reinforce them! By doing this we are, in fact, making ourselves prey to their destructive power. When you reflect along these lines, you will realize that our true enemy is not outside ourselves" (Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, The Compassionate Life, 42-43).