One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.
One’s inner light alone is the means, naught else. When this inner light is kept alive, it is not affected by the darkness of inertia.
For him who has completed the journey, for him who is sorrowless, for him who from everything is wholly free, for him who has destroyed all ties, the fever of passion exists not… He is like a pool, unsullied by mud; to such a balanced one, life’s wanderings do not arise. Calm is his mind, calm is his speech, calm is his action, who, rightly knowing, is wholly freed, perfectly peaceful and equipoised.
Develop a mind of equilibrium. You will always be getting praise and blame, but do not let either affect poise of mind: follow calmness, the absence of pride.
The only real conflict you will ever have in your life won’t be with others but with yourself.

