Alan Watts

To act or grow creatively we must begin from where we are, but we cannot begin at all if we are not “all here” without reservation or regret.  Lacking self-acceptance we are always at odds with our point of departure, always doubting the ground on which we stand, always so divided against ourselves that we cannot act with sincerity.  Apart from self-acceptance as the groundwork of thought and action, every attempt at spiritual or moral discipline is the fruitless struggle of a mind that is split asunder and insincere.  It is the freedom which is the essential basis of self-restraint.