Kalisme quotes, and what each one asks of you
A quote that asks nothing of you is a decoration. The sentences that follow come from the manifesto “The Kaliste” and each one asks for something precise. They are given here with what they commit you to, not only with what they say.
On permission
“Happiness is not earned: it is permitted.” What it asks: giving up the clause you set yourself. Not feeling happy, removing the condition. It is the first permission, and the most uncomfortable, because it takes away a merit people are attached to.
“Kalisme does not ask you to be well. It asks you not to punish yourself for not being well.” What it asks: dropping the double penalty. Difficulty on its own is bearable; difficulty plus the trial you hold over it, much less so. It is the sentence that keeps Kalisme from becoming an injunction to be happy.
“In a world that glorifies exhaustion, resting becomes an act of lucidity.” What it asks: no longer treating your rest as a conditional reward. It is the fourth principle, and the permission to stop is what it really costs.
On attention
“Your attention is the most precious currency of your existence.” What it asks: admitting that you spend it, and therefore that you can refuse it. As long as you live your attention as something taken from you, there is nothing to decide. The word currency isn’t an image, it is the point of the third permission.
“You are unique: inspiration expands you, comparison shrinks you.” What it asks: telling apart two moves that look alike. Watching someone to learn and measuring yourself against them don’t have the same effect, and the border runs through what you feel on the way out.
On fear and courage
“Fear is a signal, not an authority.” What it asks: taking away its right to decide, without taking away its right to speak. The tenth permission never says you should override a fear that protects you.
“Courage is not decreed at the summit of fear: it is built on the lower slopes.” What it asks: shrinking the step instead of waiting for the impulse. It is the most operational sentence in the manifesto, and the least spectacular.
“Courage moves forward with fear; agitation scatters so as not to feel it.” What it asks: looking at what your activity is avoiding. A very busy week can cover exactly the decision you are not taking.
“Act from what matters, rather than from what frightens.” What it asks: naming the value before comparing the options. It is one of the three commitments the manifesto proposes taking up each morning.
On bonds and peace
“One can love without appreciating, and it is a profound liberation.” What it asks: no longer making a bond depend on the pleasantness it provides, and no longer calling love what is only habit. The eighth permission separates the two so that everyone stays free.
“Peace is not the absence of anger, but the mastery that makes it just.” What it asks: not smothering a signal in the name of serenity. Anger indicates what is not just; Kalisme asks you to answer it, not to silence it.
“To inhabit your life is to inhabit it knowing that it passes.” What it asks: holding finitude without making it an urgency. It is the weight the chapter “Toward the infinite” gives to all the others.
What these sentences are not
They are neither affirmations to repeat, nor mantras, nor proofs. Kalisme is a practical, secular philosophy: each of these sentences is judged by what it changes in a day, not by the effect it produces as you read it. The manifesto in fact asks to be annotated and contradicted, not quoted.
Nor do they replace being accompanied. No sentence, however true, applies under coercive control or threat, and none treats a suffering that immobilises: in those cases a health professional is the right door. The manifesto is published under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence: these sentences may be reused freely, provided they are not sold and their source is cited.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I find Kalisme quotes?
In the chapter “Key quotes of Kalisme” of the manifesto “The Kaliste”, freely readable online. This page takes twelve of them and states what each one commits you to.
Can these sentences be reused freely?
Yes. The manifesto is published under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence: free reuse, commercial use excluded, source to be cited. The Kalisme Collection, for its part, is under exclusive copyright.
Are these sentences affirmations to repeat?
No. Kalisme is not a practice of affirmations and asks you to believe nothing. Each sentence is judged by what it changes in an ordinary day, not by the effect felt while reading it.
Which sentence sums up Kalisme?
The one that opens and closes the manifesto: you deserve happiness, and it begins with loving yourself. The thirteen permissions are its development.
Read further
Take the one that disturbed you most, not the one you liked. It is generally the right one.