#autonomy

S/M flies in the face of every attempt the state makes to appropriate our bodies, our labor, our time, and our imaginations.…the state is deeply offended by any group of people who say, 'My body doesn't belong to you, it belongs to me, so fuck off'… ↗

— Pat Califia

#bdsm #bodies #imagination

If the Bahreini royal family can have an embassy, a state, and a seat at the UN, why should the twenty-five million Kurds not have a claim to autonomy? The alleviation of their suffering and the assertion of their self-government is one of the few unarguable benefits of regime change in Iraq. It is not a position from which any moral retreat would be allowable. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#autonomy #bahrain #iraq #iraq-war #kurdish-people

We are against ignorance. We feel that you have to educate yourself, no matter what the situation is. People who refuse to educate themselves - people who refuse to find out what something is about, that they're frightened of - find comfort in being ignorant.” --Zeena Schreck Interview for KJTV-1990 ↗

— Zeena Schreck

#fear #fear-of-unknown #ignorance #independent-thinking #individuality

The essence of independence has been to think and act according to standards from within, not without: to follow one's own path, not that of the crowd. ↗

— Nicholas Tharcher

#metaphysics #philosophy #acting

It is only the impossible that is possible for God. He has given over the possible to the mechanics of matter and the autonomy of his creatures. ↗

— Simone Weil

#creatures #given #god #his #impossible

Do not repeat after me words that you do not understand. Do not merely put on a mask of my ideas, for it will be an illusion and you will thereby deceive yourself. ↗

— Jiddu Krishnamurti

#imitation #knowledge #illusion

At our present bad moment, we need above all to recover our sense of literary individuality and of poetic autonomy. ↗

— Harold Bloom

#individuality #age

in flow, the relationship between what a person had to do and what he could do was perfect. The challenge wasn't too easy. Nor was it too difficult. It was a notch or two beyond his current abilities, which stretched the body and mind in a way that made the effort itself the most delicious reward. That balance produced a degree of focus and satisfaction that easily surpassed other, more quotidian, experiences. In flow, people lived so deeply in the moment, and felt so utterly in control, that their sense of time, place, and even self melted away. They were autonomous, of course. But more than that, they were engaged. ↗

— Daniel H. Pink

#engagement #flow #experience

Cherish your solitude. Take trains by yourself to places you have never been. Sleep out alone under the stars. Learn how to drive a stick shift. Go so far away that you stop being afraid of not coming back. Say no when you don’t want to do something. Say yes if your instincts are strong, even if everyone around you disagrees. Decide whether you want to be liked or admired. Decide if fitting in is more important than finding out what you’re doing here. Believe in kissing. ↗

— Eve Ensler

#carpe-diem #cherish #enjoy-life #self-empowerment #self-reliance