5 Quotes & Sayings By Samuel Sagan

Samuel Sagan is a writer and independent film director. He has lived in Washington, D.C. and in Puerto Rico and currently resides in NYC with his wife and son. Sagan has written for various publications, including GQ, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, ESPN The Magazine, and is a regular commentator on NPR's Morning Edition Read more

Over 20 of Sagan's essays have been published in the book "Into the Black: An Anthology Of Writing By And About Transgender People" (AK Press). He was the recipient of a Feature Story Grant from The New York Foundation for the Arts and has been awarded residencies at Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony.

1
If there is one ruler that can harmonize and unify the mob of characters [in our astral body], it is the Ego (the Higher Ego, or Self, or Spirit). The more the Ego shines like a sun at the center of gravity of the astral body, the more the different characters start orbiting around it. Instead of working only to satisfy their own selfish desires, the characters start manifesting the purposes of the light and of the Spirit. Instead of plotting for the success of their own ambitions, they start accomplishing the works of the Higher Self.. The unveiling of the Self begins a process of unification--a new astral body slowly develops. In this new, or transformed, astral body, the different parts are penetrated by the light of the Self. Therefore they are not only united around the Self, but are also cemented to it.. [Before this process], one is nothing more than an appearance: it is the illusion of being one person.. Samuel Sagan
2
In the preshent human condition, pain is unavoidable. As long as you inhabit a physical body, you have to experience pain from time to time. Suffering is of a different nature. It is a reaction of the manas/mind that magnifies the pain and adds various emotional frills and thrills to it. In many cases, pain is only transient; but if one wishes, one can always add to it and suffer more - there is no limit. Samuel Sagan
3
While performing the great majority of the actions in their life, people are totally unaware. We tend to go through our daily activities mechanically. We talk without real purpose. We do things without even knowing that we do them. We are not really present to what we are doing. Even if we practise being aware, entire portions of our days can elapse before we retrieve our thread of awareness. In short, we are not living our life, we are sleeping it. . Samuel Sagan
4
Primum non nocere, 'First, don't make things worse, ' was an essential principle of Hippocrates' medicine. Nowadays, unfortunately, it seems to have been forgotten. Conventional modern medicine aims at getting rid of patients' symptoms. Little, if any consideration is given to the fact that some of these symptoms may actually be used by the body in an attempt to correct deeper disorders. When this is the case, suppressing the symptom does not necessarily help the patient. Samuel Sagan