Death and the flesh, the Tree of Life, illusion, the fire, drinking cold beer, and the heart's salvation

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For there is no real death in the flesh.

We eat not from the Tree of Life. Not yet anyway. Life alone is undying. The task is to find life, only then shall you cease being death.

The illusion of life is much like a television show- the images appear to be living, when actually they are not living, but only images- dead images. So it is with us for the most part. When the television is turned off, nothing dies ...because it is already dead

The closer you get to the fire, the more damage you do to yourself at every wrong turn. You get burned if you doubt or weaken while walking across the hot coals. The only thing to do is to walk straight for the goal, and never stop til you get there

Perhaps there are times when one ought be supine, drinking cold beers in the shade with fresh, young women. Perhaps one ought pay no attention to the mysterious privilege of being. But truly we have not come here for pleasure, we have come here to learn. And we have come to learn how to ...be.

Only the heart can save us now. The mind is deranged, and the body is broken. Only the heart can save us now.

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These selected fragments are excerpted from unpublished writings by Jack Haas; selections from the notebooks 1990-2005.