# Charles Eisenstein - Quotes: 9 - Author page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-eisenstein ## Books - [The Ascent of Humanity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-eisenstein/the-ascent-of-humanity.md) — 4 quotes - [The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-eisenstein/the-more-beautiful-world-our-hearts-know-is-possible.md) — 5 quotes ## Recently added quotes > The unstoppable compulsion to act, in bigger and wiser ways than you knew possible, has already been set in motion. I’m urging you to trust in that. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-eisenstein/the-more-beautiful-world-our-hearts-know-is-possible/the-unstoppable-compulsion.md) > When one is aligned with the purpose of service, acts that seem exceptionally courageous to others are a matter of course. > > When one experiences the world as abundant, then acts of generosity are natural, since there is no doubt about continued supply. > > When one sees other people as reflections of oneself, forgiveness becomes second nature, as one realizes “But for the grace of God, so go I.” > > When one appreciates the order, beauty, mystery, and connectedness of the universe, a deep joy and cheerfulness arises that nothing can shake. > > When one sees time as abundant and life as infinite, one develops superhuman patience. > > When one lets go of the limitations of reductionism, objectivity, and determinism, technologies become possible that the science of separation cannot countenance. > > When one lets go of the story of the discrete and separate self, amazing intuitive and perceptual capabilities emerge from lifelong latency. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-eisenstein/the-more-beautiful-world-our-hearts-know-is-possible/when-one-is-aligned.md) > Boredom is so endemic to our culture, particularly among youth, that we imagine it to be a near-universal default state of human existence. In the absence of outside stimuli we are bored. Yet…boredom is virtually unique to Western culture (and by extension to the global culture it increasingly dominates).…greed like boredom is absent in most hunter-gatherer cultures based on a more open conception of self. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-eisenstein/the-more-beautiful-world-our-hearts-know-is-possible/boredom-is-so-endemic.md) > Not blaming ourselves for mistakes is the flip side of not taking credit for our acts of courage or creativity or leadership, or our good ideas. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-eisenstein/the-more-beautiful-world-our-hearts-know-is-possible/not-blaming-ourselves.md) > The things that we think we want are often substitutes for what we really want, and the pleasures we seek are less than the joy that they distract us from. From the normal vantage point, it certainly seems that only with discipline can we withstand the temptations that surround us: overeating, drugs, video games, mindless internet surfing, and everything else we consume. These things are undeniably destructive to our own lives and beyond; therefore, it would seem, we cannot always trust desire at all. But when we recognize that these are not really what we desire, our goal becomes not to suppress desire but to identify the true want or need, and to fulfill it. That is no trivial task; it is a profound path of self-realization. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-eisenstein/the-more-beautiful-world-our-hearts-know-is-possible/the-things-that.md) > No matter how complete the despair, no matter how bitter the cynicism, a possibility beckons of a world more beautiful and a life more magnificent than what we know today. Though we may rationalize it, it is not rational. We become aware of it in moments, gaps in the rush and press of modern life. These moments come to us alone in nature, or with a baby, making love, playing with children, caring for a dying person, making music for the sake of music or beauty for the sake of beauty. At such times, a simple and easy joy shows us the futility of the vast, life-consuming program of management and control. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-eisenstein/the-ascent-of-humanity/no-matter-how.md) > We intuit also that something similar is possible collectively. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-eisenstein/the-ascent-of-humanity/we-intuit-also.md) > I write of a coming shift from a profit-taking economy to a gift economy, from an economy of ‘how can I take the most?’ to ‘how can I best give of my gifts?’ This future, in which the anxiety of "making a living" no longer drives us, will arise out of the transformation in the human sense of self that is gathering today. But it is not only a future. We can live it now. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-eisenstein/the-ascent-of-humanity/i-write-of-a-coming.md) > The fact that the regime of separation appears to be reaching new heights, the fact that the whole globe is falling into the grip of the monetization of life and the commodification of relationship, the fact that the numbering, labeling, and controlling of the world and everything in it is approaching unprecedented extremes, does not mean that prospects for a more beautiful world are receding into the distance. Rather, like a wave rolling toward shore, the Age of Separation rears up to its maximum height even as it hollows out in the moment before it crashes. This crash, inevitable eons ago, is upon us today. As for the world that we can build thereafter, we can see glimpses of it in all the ‘alternatives’ presented today with so little effect… > > Deep deep down, we all know that a much better world is possible, and more than possible, certain, someday. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-eisenstein/the-ascent-of-humanity/the-fact-that.md)