An Orchestra of Quotes

Like most Filipinos and boxing fans the world over, we practically dropped everything we were doing last November 13 here in Manila (November 12 in Las Vegas) in order to watch Pacquiao fight Marquez for the third time. Although Pacquiao won that one, it was a far from convincing win. Up to now the debates are still raging and the closeness of the fight likely means that the debates won't end anytime soon (refer to the image in this article, courtesy of web designer Gie Jose).

Personally though, as long as both fighters fought fairly, they BOTH won, just not in the way most people expect. Like what Oscar dela Hoya once said, it takes guts to get into the ring. The exact quote is as follows:

"One of the things that bothers me most, ... is that very few people really understand what it means to be a fighter. I hate it when I hear someone say, 'That fighter doesn't have guts.' I hate that; it really ticks me off. I don't care if you're a world champion six times over or a four-round fighter who just got knocked out in thirty seconds of your first professional fight. To step inside that ring, you have to have guts."

One American Pacquiao fan, Michael Sellers, wrote an inspiring article about Pacquiao and it's entitled Dear Manny Pacquiao, the “Man in the Arena." He used a quote by Theodore Roosevelt which I think also applies in other areas of life. The quote is as follows:

The Man in the Arena

Exceprt from the speech “Citizenship in a Republic”, 23 April, 1910

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Very nice, right? Applied to spiritual practice, it means that we are responsible for our own lives. We are the ones living this life and as long as we are at peace with our Higher Selves, no one else can say if we are successful or not. But we need to do the hard work of spiritual practice. There will be failure, ridicule and oft times the feeling of being unappreciated. As Master Choa Kok Sui once said, "You have to be courageous on the Spiritual Path, trust the Higher Beings."

The Man in the Arena quote complements the inspirational poem Don't You Quit nicely:

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit-
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow -
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out -
The silver tint in the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It might be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

When doing the spiritual exercises, it's often difficult to track just how much progress we've made. We are after all dealing with intangible matters; it's not like there's an electronic meter that we can attach to monitor our progress. Sometimes it seems that we spend days and weeks without any progress, but many esoteric manuals exhort the student to have patience and persevere. One day, one will be surprised how far one has reached.

In the end, the success of this incarnation will be a matter between you and God. Choosing the right path is important, but staying the course despite all difficulties wins us the prize.