The wise man, a candle, a wick, the self, the world, non-being, and a false question

***

The wise man teaches nobody,

and learns from everyone.*

As a candle, recently blown out yet still retaining the heat and movement of the gaseous wax sent into the air, can be lighted from the top down (i.e. one need not light the wick), so the man who extinguishes himself then receives the fire from above.*

To recognize the self as Self, this is the task. For once you recognize it, you are IT.

You can walk away from the world only after, and only because, you have accepted it, not because you have rejected it.

Nothing is true unless its opposite is also true.

Non-being requires being, to be not being.

We are all in the same house, simply looking through different windows.

You must be lower than the rest, only then shall you uplift them.

It is not possible to truthfully answer a false question.

I am the shuttle driver, taking weary citizens to the airport for their flight away to holiday. And I also shall pick them up upon their return. I will send you forth from this earth, and I also shall receive you.

***

These fragments are taken from unpublished writings by Jack Haas, selected from the notebooks 1990-2005.