North Star

"When people speak badly of you, you should respond in this way: Keep a steady heart and don't reply with harsh words. Practice letting go of resentment and accepting that the other's hostility is the spur to your understanding. Be kind, adopt a generous standpoint, treat your enemy as a friend, and suffuse all your world with affectionate thoughts, far-reaching and widespread, limitless and free from hate. In this state you should try to remain."

~ Dhammapada

When I read the Dhammapada and other Buddhist texts (esp. the precepts!), the words, concepts and ideas serve as my North Star. I don't expect to arrive at the end point elucidated therein, but they are what I aspire to, they are my guide.

"If we want to head north, we can use the North Star to guide us, but it is impossible to arrive at the North Star. Our effort is only to proceed in that direction."

~ Thich Nhat Hanh in his essay "Ahimsa: The Path of Harmlessness"