At the end of his book, If You Meet Buddha on the Road, Kill Him!, Sheldon Kopp offers ‘A Partial Register of the 927 (or was it 928?) Eternal Truths’, 43 items in total. This list exists elsewhere on the World Wide Web, but still worth reproducing here:
This is it!
There are no hidden meanings.
You can’t get there from here and besides there’s no place else to go.
We are all already dying and we will be dead for a long time.
Nothing lasts.
There is no way of getting all you want.
You can’t have anything unless you let go of it.
You only get to keep what you give away.
There is no particular reason why you lost out on some things.
The world is not necessarily just. Being good often does not pay off and there is no compensation for misfortune.
You have a responsibility to do your best nonetheless.
It is a random universe to which we bring meaning.
You don’t really control anything.
You can’t make anyone love you.
No one is any stronger or any weaker than anyone else.
Everyone is, in his own way, vulnerable.
There are no great men.
If you have a hero look again: you have diminished yourself in some way.
Everyone lies, cheats, pretends (yes, you too, and most certainly I myself).
All evil is potential vitality in need of transformation.
All of you is worth something if you will only own it.
Progress is an illusion.
It can be displaced but never eradicated, as solutions breed new problems.
Yet it to necessary to keep on struggling toward solution.
Childhood is a nightmare.
But it is so very hard to be an on-your-own, take-care-of-yourself-cause-there-is-no-one-else-to-do-it-for-you grown-up.
Each of us is ultimately alone.
The most important things, each man must do for himself.
Love is not enough but it sure helps.
We have only ourselves, and one another. That may not be much, but that’s all there is.
How strange that so often it all seems worth it.
We must live within the ambiguity of partial freedom, partial power, and partial knowledge.
All important decisions must be made on the basis of insufficient data.
Yet we are responsible for everything we do.
No excuses will be accepted.
You can run, but you can’t hide.
It is most important to run out of scapegoats.
We must learn the power of living with our helplessness.
The only victory lies in surrender to oneself.
All significant battles are fought within oneself.
You are free to do whatever you like. You need only face the consequences.
What do you know … for sure … anyway?
Learn to forgive yourself, again and again and again and again…
Why? I don't know ... not for sure ... anyway.
