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One day while walking quietly together, out of the silence the Buddha\u2019s attendant Ananda declared, \u201cTeacher, to have companions and comrades on the great way is so amazing! I have come to realize that friendship is fully half of an authentic spiritual life. They proceeded along quietly for a while more, before out of that silence the Holy One responded. \u201cNo, dear one. Without companions and comrades, no one can live into the deep, finding the true harmonies of life, to achieve authentic wisdom. To say it simply, friendship is the whole of the spiritual life.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n My paraphrase of the incident as recorded in the Upaddha Sutta<\/a>. Then, just as a bit of frosting on the cake, when looking for a suitable image to accompany this citation, I stumbled upon a meme someone created out of something I wrote in the past. Perhaps it shows where I get my best material\u2026<\/p>\n