If you haven’t read Sheldon B. Kopp’s book “If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him!” book I highly recommend it! I read it a year ago when I was struggling with myself and with all the insecure feelings I had. There was a particularly hopefull chapter at the end which was called “The Laundry List”. I used to have it printed on my wall, beside my bed and I read it every night before falling a sleep. To some it might sound a bit “harsh” (it makes more sense after reading the book though), but to me it just sounded so true and so full of hope. It just dimished all my stress about everything and put it in perspective.

“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 and nothing lasts. There is no way of getting all you want and 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 since the world is not necessarily just. Being good often does not pay off and there is no compensation for misfortune but you have a responsibility to do your best nonetheless. It is a random universe to which we bring meaning and you don’t really control anything. You can’t make anyone love you. No one is any stronger or any weaker than anyone else since everyone is, in his own way, vulnerable. There are no great men and 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) but 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. Evil can be displaced but never eradicated, as all solutions breed new problems, yet it is 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 and 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 since 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 but the only victory lies in surrender to oneself. All of the significant battles are waged within the self. You are free to do whatever you lik – you need only to face the consequences.
What do you know . . . for sure . . . anyway?
Last but not least: Learn to forgive yourself, again and again and again and again. . . .”
-Sheldon Kopp