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Enlightening articles by Guy Finley on a wide range of topics address practical life issues and deepen your spiritual understanding.
Short but powerful quotes by Guy Finley will inspire you throughout your day.
Heartfelt inner-life questions from people around the world, and Guy’s enlightening answers, will shed light on your own issues.
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Join us for exclusive live broadcasts of select Guy Finley talks.
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Shop eCoursesGF: Hello and welcome everyone. Before we begin tonight, I would like to introduce into your minds a few special ideas that you will need should you wish to reclaim your Real Life. What is your "Real Life?" It is that True Life that is uncontaminated by fear, greed, hatreds, and the host of other negative states that punish most people on a daily basis.
Last month we spoke of moving past painful self-limitations by coming to realize that we live within worlds that are within worlds. These "worlds" -- high and low -- are the size of our present understanding. So, tonight we will take a closer look at how we can transcend the laws of our lower nature whose "self" is the ground for our troubles in life.
Human beings (unlike every other creature) have a consciousness that is a kind of "two in one" order of intelligence. Casual observation proves this. The first consciousness belongs to one's own body: its organs and systems, as well as the relationships these entities allow. For instance, we live in a body that is under fixed laws -- that has a certain number of heartbeats and then passes. This body, with its mind and the personality formed by it, is essentially one nature. In scripture this level of self is called the "flesh."
This "lower" nature governs processes in us concerned with eating, procreating, working, fighting over territory, seeking pleasures, and avoiding pain. It is a nature limited to instinctual and otherwise habitual behaviors. Creative works are its highest expression, but even these are expressed within the limits of some form of imitation.
The point, for now, is that this level of our self -- due to the very number of laws it lives under -- has made for it ninety-nine percent of the choices that determine its experience of life. We may protest this fact, but it doesn't change the outcome. Unconscious reactions rise up from, and then rule over this level of self. Here is what this means:
Until we awaken and realize a new order of Self, we effectively live in a physio-psychological machine that decides for us who and what we are and what we do, as well as how and when we do it. This description tells, in part, the real and hidden meaning behind the idea of one being "spiritually asleep."
All responses of such a sleeping being are conditioned. Reality for this person, for the most part, is determined by what his organism "remembers" it should do or be in the moment. And again, it makes these determinations from a pre-determined set of possibilities, most of which have to do with how this self has been conditioned by the world it lives in.
Within this same nature that is unconscious of itself, or of its own actions -- meaning that it shares the same body as does the self of this lower nature -- there also dwells another, greater order of consciousness. The lower dwells within this Higher Nature, much as the proverbial branch dwells within the vine from which it springs. The vine is under different laws than the branch as, for instance, the former withers each season while the latter lives on, immortal relative to its offshoot. This would indicate that the life experience of this order of Higher Self is very different from what it dwells within.
For one thing, and again to the point of this writing, the quality of its life is not a creation of conditioning; it does not respond to events through a mental process that always compares the past to a perceived present in order to know what to do with the challenge at hand. This Higher Nature knows what action to take without having to go into thought to find its way through what life brings. In other words, within each of us there is a higher consciousness, a true Conscience that is an active part of Reality itself. It acts not by referring to what once was, but from the incorruptible Light of its own native innocence.
In summary, we can go on living as we have, where we allow our lower nature to respond to life for us by "remembering" what it does, and then "choosing" these reactions to act as our guide, telling us how we ought to meet the moment; or, we can choose a whole new path that lets us reclaim our Real Life. What is the nature of this new path we must take?
We must begin to do the work of authentic self-remembering. Among other considerations, here is what this idea means for us relative to this study: As life asks us for a response to its ceaseless changes, we work to be awake to the still small voice in us that would have us remember, and then put first, what is the quiet wish of our own True Self.
Before we close our chat tonight, I will pass along to you what this special form of self-remembrance entails by giving you "10 Simple Truths to Help You Reclaim Your Life." Don't miss reading these ideas. It is impossible for one to awaken without realizing their place in his or her spiritual work.
One last word before we begin. This chat room will be closed until next spring. So, be sure to take note of the chat host's comments about how to learn when it will resume.
What do you feel like discussing tonight? What have you been working on within yourself and how can we use this time together to grow in new understanding? Let's get started with your questions.
TruthStudent: I'm walking down a stairwell. Between the fourth and third floors I see the stairs, my moving feet and legs, the changes in the number of stairs below me, etc. Upon reaching the third floor landing I become aware that my mind was thinking of something else. Although my eyes and brain registered my surroundings during my trip "down," my mind was not there (apparently). Was I asleep between landings, and was my moment of true awareness only at the third floor?
GF: Yes, as you could tell, for one flight of stairs you had some proper awareness of yourself, then you went asleep to yourself as you continued descending the stairs. One of the extraordinary findings of a person who begins to awaken to himself, even in the smallest fashion, is that his awareness of himself, his consciousness of his own being is not a prerequisite for even becoming the President of the United States. 99.9% of all the human beings on this earth live and die and never know they had a chance for real life.
dzooby: I don't understand how one can flow in the present moment and struggle with constantly staying awake.
GF: Is the water of a river separate from the current that water moves in? The current is within the river; the river and the current are of water. When we begin to understand how our own mind is captured constantly by the very images it produces within itself, and that this form of self-fascination by nature isolates us from the world that we are walking through, then at last we begin to withdraw our attention from the interior workings of ourselves and give our attention to the whole of ourselves, which includes the thoughts and feelings as they flow in currents through us as we walk through life. Try to understand this metaphor.
ag: Relative to the idea of concept vs. content and looking at oneself say you are thinking positively of someone, or ducks in a pond are you also looking at yourself?
GF: There is an old saying that wherever one goes, he meets himself. If all you see are ducks, it means you're a quacker!
dzooby: How do I know I am experiencing true reality as opposed to a blissful hypnotic response created by my mind?
GF: Reality does not turn into a nightmare as do dreams of reality.
herennow: Could you please share your insights on trusting your partner with regards to attempting to have a meaningful relationship? It seems that almost nobody can be loyal, and they always end up cheating or thinking the grass is greener on the other side. This could be a matter of life and death these days rather than just hurtful feelings of jealousy. Is it even possible to be truly satisfied and not have overwhelming curiosities?
GF: You've asked two questions that perhaps I can answer with one idea. First, part of the "problem" of being asleep to oneself includes the fact that such a person has no inkling that he or she is not one integrated being, but is actually a composite of various desires and the sense of self that is born from these forces in his or her soul. No one who is many can act as one. To expect someone to be loyal, to have integrity, to be true, when such a person is almost by law divided into more natures than Seth himself, is to ask for sorrow. So, the first thing that we must do if we wish to cease feeling ourselves a victim is to begin the process of integrating ourselves. Once we realize the truth of our own condition, it is impossible to be deceived by anyone who remains in a state similar to the sleep life we have now escaped. This is a form of spiritual safety. But more important than that sense of security that comes from the presence of a Living Light within us is that for this same Light within us, we are liberated from the base longing of hoping to complete ourselves by someone or something exterior to ourselves. This is contentment that is not based in the opposites, but is a natural radiation of one now living in an undivided Reality.
hopeful: If the Light is doing all the work within me and I just have to stay out of the way, why am I here in this chatroom? Do you mean it is the Light that has brought me here?
GF: If you yourself ask why you are reading this sentence, how can I possibly tell you why you're reading it? The point of the Light of which I speak, the Light of awareness, of higher consciousness, is not a second or third party to the possibility of us realizing a real life. Each of us has within us the potential to meet life through an unconditioned intelligence already indwelling, whose very nature it is to transform not only the impressions brought into it, but the very self that is the progenitor of those same reactions.
TruthStudent: Is what you're inferring here what you discuss in Design Your Destiny about our Being and our nature and how true Awareness can only be achieved through relationship with our Being?
GF: Yes. That's exactly what I am stating -- that we cannot separate the moment, its content, our response to the moment, and the awareness that holds these elements. All are features of our True Being.
ag: This "How do I feel about what I want now?" test from Design Your Destiny are results you experience likely to change if you test for the same want two years down the track?
GF: The truth is, if one could honestly observe oneself, there is virtually not a moment that goes by where what we experience relative to our wants (whatever their nature) doesn't change. We are, by and large, a kind of captive of the workings of our own unconscious imagination. It holds a fixed idea, a fixed image, that when we look at this in ourselves, essentially continues to provide us with the same sensation that it gave us at first glance. But our own reaction to this image (and the sensation) dwindles. You've heard the expression, "The thrill is gone." This is not connected to the object that once stimulated us, but to our inability to derive the same stimulation from it as it remains in our mind.
TruthStudent: You've stated that there's nothing in our lives that we don't want. What confuses me is to know that I do the evil I don't want to do and don't do the good I want to do yet am doing what I, apparently, "want" in my life. Am I interpolating two concepts here incorrectly?
GF: No, you're not. What I have said is that we must learn what life wants for us. This idea embodies the understanding that we, as individuals, can begin to relate to life at large through a new understanding of it that allows us to realize there is an Intelligence at work within and around us whose sole purpose is our spiritual success.
TruthStudent: I think it is selfish to put myself and my wants first if I were to leave, and yet that is what I am doing right now by staying "for my children" in a relationship where my spouse is having a lengthy affair. I know I do this for fear of being alone. Either way I am behaving selfishly. Is there a way out of this squeeze?
GF: You need to see that you keep asking the same questions, which is simply a way of avoiding going through the turmoil that you must as you walk away from what can no longer possibly serve you, except to make you unconsciously suffer. There are always ways in which a man can do what is true and right and even compassionate without compromising the welfare and well-being of those who may be innocents in the situation. We not only compromise ourselves when we remain in compromised relationships, but everyone involved is compromised.
ag: If you realize that you have agreed to what is compromising you, what is your next step?
GF: If you realize what is compromising you in Truth, that is the end.
ag: When we see an image in our mind that is compromising, we put our attention elsewhere -- is that correct? So we don't resist, but change focus?
GF: Yes, a change in where we place our attention is a part of the process, but not to be confused with merely distracting ourselves from the compromising state in question.
Clyde: When I get the urge to speak up about a situation that seems to be compromising me, I often suspect that that's just negativity trying to pull me down into complaining. How can I tell the difference? What is the proper role of emotion here?
GF: Never fear to see that any expression of negative emotion is not only wrong for you, but for anyone and everyone around you. Complaints of any nature are a secret form of resistance to the moment. It is impossible to resist a moment and learn from it, which means that when we complain, we have agreed to see life through the eyes of a nature that doesn't want real change, only to live in conflict over it.
Clyde: Is the dark "I" to whom I compromise myself, the same "I" that lashes me with regret afterward, or is it just an "associate" of the original dark "I"?
GF: They are all part of one family that lives in the dark of ourselves.
ag: How do you make the right choice (higher choice) when it comes to choosing a wife? Do you have any writings on the topic?
GF: It's hard for us to realize that all things, including our life experience, are under laws. Wolves do not sleep with sheep. Eagles don't fly with ducks. It is our nature, it's true level that attracts to us what we get. If we want something higher, we ourselves must become higher beings. If you want information on this kind of relationship, you might try "Waking Up Together" or "The Heart and Soul of Freedom" albums. Both will enrich you and your ability to find what your heart longs for.
herennow: I see my wonderful and loving parents growing older. They do not have their level of strength and health they once had. I work at not identifying with images of the past and how I learned to view their characteristics, but still feel a sad feeling from time to time. How can I really be of help to them and their safety as they start to lose the strength and abilities they once had?
GF: The more you work to be present to yourself and to not be made a captive of whatever negative states present themselves to you, particularly in the presence of your parents, the more you help not only them, but virtually everyone around you. Within us there is an actual character whose nature is kindness and compassion. Presently it lives blinded and made mute by the machinery of a mind literally mad with self-reference. As we see through this self, and its search to find itself in any passing thought or feeling, we are automatically made more present to ourselves and those we love. This presence is strength and encouragement for all.
smiles-r-free: Do you agree or disagree that we are spiritual beings having a physical experience in this life?
GF: I think far more important than agreement or disagreement over an insight that some seeker had along the way, is for us to each realize that until we ourselves can meet life without the comfort of conceptualizing our place in it, that we don't meet anything other than our own sensation-producing thought machine.
mikejb35: Mr. Howard said "When a man truly thinks for himself, the whole universe thinks with him and for him, for his authentic mind and Universal Mind are the same." Can you explain further?
GF: What is one, is one.
jackson: I see how difficult it can be for you to teach these truths to adults. What about children and teens? Maybe you could write a book for them.
GF: Such ideas are constantly being played through my mind, and indeed one day I have no doubt there will not only be a series of children's books, but a series of plays produced for children.
jss: I recently had a brush with a co-worker who became angry over a matter in which I had very little flexibility to grant his request. For the first time I was able to choose not to fight as I would have done in the past, even though everything in me wanted to. My question is, if we persist in spiritual work, will the parts of us that want to fight eventually leave us, or is it something we must accept as part of us and not live from it?
GF: Both states of self are true, much as the fragrance of a rose follows the blooming of that rose that is born from a bud. All things are within all things, and have their time and place within us if we persist in our spiritual work to grow.
dzooby: How can I find the right spiritual teachers out here in New York?
GF: I cannot speak to your question as I am unaware of any true teachers in the area you mention.
Grayson: I have seen many examples of someone having deep compassion for a wounded animal or a human being, and someone who is very apathetic to such a plight. In considering the vast contrast in thinking, are both opposite viewpoints simply conditioning, or is the one with the compassion possessing more spiritual awareness of life?
GF: Your intuition is true. The inability to consider the life or condition of any creature outside of us is due to a low level of consciousness that is capable of considering only itself.
herennow: I enjoyed the writing on the new topic of money posted on this Web site. I feel a trueness about it and have been guilty of being a "lazy liar." I do think that my issues have not all been because of pride alone, however. Why should I take a minimum wage job that is given to ex-cons, severe criminals and truly low people? I mean not to be judgmental but I am not one of them and deserve and am capable of more responsibility with somewhat proportional wages. What, if anything, am I missing that has been stopping me from landing a fair position?
GF: To go through life fighting with it because of what it doesn't give us, regardless of how worthy we think we may be, is to miss in fact what life is trying to give us.
herennow: The lack of finding an ideal position has obviously produced lack of money. I do not worry over having no health insurance. My faith is in God. Should I seek out funds to buy insurance in case of a serious hospitalization, etc.? Is this practical, or is it fearing life and scrambling around into man's makings?
GF: Again, you are missing the point. The "lack" you experience to provide for yourself, whatever it may be that you feel needful, is not for a lack of possibilities, but is most likely a question of false pride that probably masks yet something else in your essence. We climb a mountain by starting at its base, not imagining ourselves near its summit.
Clyde: When meditating, my attention seems to be focused either on what my eyes seem to see (in the darkness of closed eyelids), or on the impressions that arise from my mind, whether deliberately summoned or not. Is it possible to see both at once? Why can't I notice the moment when it switches from one to the other?
GF: The first time I swung a golf club, I couldn't see anything except a ball trickle two feet ahead of me! Now, I can see a set of eternal laws in the second and a half that it takes for the club to finish its arc. All this is to say that we must not only want to have "eyes that see," but we must develop the correct patience and perseverance that it takes for our development.
Clyde: I sense that something in the way I perceive life, in terms of subject/object, is fundamentally backwards. Can you tell me how I can use my awareness of physical sensations to make this fact more clear, evident to myself?
GF: It's a strange phenomenon of the Work that the attempt to prove something to ourselves often pushes away from us the very proof we're seeking. This has something to do with an unseen second force born out of the opposites. This is why we must learn what it means to simply be as still and watchful as possible. True transforming insight comes to us through our willingness to suspend our analytical approach to understanding ourselves. This doesn't mean we don't hold in our mind the intention to learn what we would, only that once that intention is set, we must completely release all concern for results.
herennow: I have been coming across information regarding energies that are said to be extremely influential to everything in the teachings of Feng Shui. This seems to strike a true feeling within me as if I already had known and experienced these things ever since I was a child. How can I really learn about the true parts within these understandings without getting carried away into the false, silly parts that are man-made superstitions?
GF: All that can be known, without exception, dwells within you. Learn to enter yourself in silence, and the awareness that permits this relationship will gradually introduce you to a full understanding of these higher principles that your heart has asked to know.
herennow: I have had this type of empathy ever since I was a child. Does this mean that I was born different, and some people will not have the ability to awaken? I ask this so I can better understand if I have any limitations and what I should do to grow.
GF: Never mind what others do or don't have. All that matters is that you hold to your wish to realize those parts of yourself that call you to a broader, brighter, and more compassionate life. It is the light within us that stirs us, leads us, and eventually lets us realize we had nowhere to go but within.
jackson: There's so much about this work that I want to learn and experience, but I can never think of one good question!
GF: Tomorrow when you're at work, take with you an intention to see something about yourself. Keep it simple. For instance, perhaps you talk a lot, or you speak very little in the presence of others. Whichever is the case, make it your intention to do the opposite of your "natural" proclivity. This intention will place you in a condition where you will see qualities of yourself never before seen. From these discoveries comes not only higher questions about oneself, but the faith that answers can be found for them.
rd: The only question I can think of is how do I dispel the tremendous doubt that a god/higher self exists and I am not "depending on air" by wanting what life wants?
GF: Only a fool depends on something that he doesn't have relationship with sufficiently upon which to stand. Stevie Wonder said, "When you believe in things that you don't understand, then you suffer." Our work is not to cling to belief, but to see through and release those parts of us that believe life is about clinging to anything imagined. As this vision grows, so does our faith. Why? Because we are no longer divided within ourselves, and are now conscious of the very Presence within us we once sought outside us.
TruthStudent: I'm still having trouble accepting that an Intelligence exists. I know you state, among other facts, that the fact that we can change our nature is proof of this, but I still can't wrap this around my noggin. I think of myself as someone needing concrete proof to fully grasp/accept things. Can you provide more intelligent examples to ponder?
GF: This path that you ask to have shown you, leads nowhere. True Intelligence is not a mental proposition. It is not expressed in thought, although thought may describe some of its attributes. Your own dissatisfaction with what you understand about yourself at present is a form of proof of the very Intelligence you question.
TruthStudent: Why is the urge inside me (and this "dissatisfaction with what I understand") to continue with Truth teachings proof of a higher Intelligence? How can one make a jump in reasoning like that?
GF: Over the Internet I cannot help you to see what you must. If you didn't know the Truth of what I say, it wouldn't trouble you so.
Zoe: What do you think Jesus saw when he looked out at the hungry crowds? Lepers? Prostitutes? Thieves?
GF: I think he saw children of all ages whose suffering, for whatever reasons, had brought them to the point where it was possible for something their minds once considered impossible to enter them.
herennow: How can I learn about your future plans within the Foundation so that I may participate in helping others?
GF: Any time you wish, you can e-mail Tim or Chris directly through the Foundation's Web site and ask how you might help us. We are always looking for sincere individuals whose wish is to participate in this work.
mikejb35: Can you give us an example of a dramatic but senseless mystery in religious matters?
GF: No True mystery in religious matter is senseless in and of itself. All seeming mysteries have become the mystery they are only because sleeping, psychotic human beings have interpreted the secret teachings in these texts according to purely physical laws.
BARRY: One of your articles posted on uselessness said that any sexual fantasy is useless. So, if the human race adopted this idea, would we go extinct? How were you born?
GF: There are creatures born on this planet no different than the animals that they house in their barns. Nature will have what it will have. This work that we discuss is not about blindly serving nature, but using one's lower nature for the purpose of realizing a life far and away above the inherent aching in being a creature driven only by unconscious desire.
Clyde: We're told that we can fully be with what we perceive without having to think about what we're perceiving. Does practical thought do something that this state of being can't? If so, what, and how?
GF: Yes, practical thought is what is required of us in order to move along certain lines of life that are laid down in time by experience. There would be no scientific progress for instance without thought building upon thought for the purpose of further exploring what thought has helped manifest. This thought nature is mandatory to being able to understand the context of anything, including what you just read.
BARRY: My point of view is anger is the middle way, not a small fire in the hand as you said before. Is it better to hold a small fire or a big fire in your hand as regards to anger to blanket it as a bad thing? I guess I don't see that (yet).
GF: Until we can recognize the actual wreckage that negative states produce in us, and the hidden cost of this wreckage produced by what pains us, we are simply guessing at what is right or wrong with regards to what is to be permitted within us. Work to be as watchful as you can when this anger presents itself and you will see for yourself its damaging character.
here2learn: I have been working with the Thou Art prayer for awhile, but it seems to become mechanical after a time, and I use the same one or two words for each letter. Any suggestions?
GF: It isn't that the prayer has become mechanical, but that you have adopted a mechanical relationship with it and your intention to reach a certain contemplative state as a result of working with it. The only thing that is boring in this Universe is the image that we return to over and over again, hoping it will be different than it was when we were last there.
James1: How can I make/let my request for the Real Life be genuine? The words and thoughts seem hollow, like I know I should be saying or thinking the right things but I don't really mean them.
GF: The longing for one's Real Life cannot be found or born in the imagination that sets before the mind the pretty picture of a perfected life. Real Life dawns in us in direct proportion to our awakening to and realization of just how compromising it is to continue living from a nature, a false self, whose sole purpose is to satisfy itself, regardless of the costs to the world and even to itself.
Clyde: I've often drifted off to physical sleep with a song in my head, (and woken up with one), yet I often didn't seem to have the energy to even be aware of it playing. Is this the result of one center having more energy than another?
GF: That's part of it. Another aspect of this condition is born out of one part seeking to stimulate itself at the cost of awakening resistance from other parts in us. We as a rule have no understanding whatsoever of how our own divided nature -- all of its individual parts -- are forever seeking a way to be dominant in the matrix of whatever that particular moment of self is made up from. Do not agree to let anything run through your mind unattended.
Cha: For me, meeting people or thinking about meeting people always gives me some tension, even though I try not to let it. And in such cases, the results are always frustrating. This again makes me afraid of meeting people. I really want to enjoy meeting people. Can you give me advice?
GF: It is never what other people do or are that frightens us about them. What causes us to be anxious around others is what we want from them. Until we understand this important distinction, we will try to master our behavior or control that of others. May I suggest that you order the latest special Key Lesson offer, "5 Simple Steps to Make Yourself Fearless." You can find this special offer here or by contacting Chris through the Web site's Contact page.
Clyde: When trying to be fully present, I've often been stopped by a feeling of fear/guilt that my awareness is becoming a prying imposition upon others, even if I'm not rudely staring at them. Any suggestions for helping me to see this fearful, guilty feeling for the lie that it is?
GF: This feeling you have is a projection of the unconsciousness (in you) that does not want you to work at being awake and aware -- so it projects what you perceive as being the negative state of others towards you. See this condition in yourself for what it is and the rest of the problems around it go away.
James1: We rely on this mind which is based on pattern recognition, yes? In time, nothing appears new as our mind frames new experiences in old contexts. We see what we are?
GF: Yes, exactly: the root of incest has its beginning in our thought nature that always "marries" itself. This circle of self is isolation. Isolation is a form of spiritual death, as nothing new can get into such a self to help transform it.
Samadhi2Now: Does our ability to be self-aware dissolve when we die to our ego mind, and do we discover that we are pure consciousness? If in reality we are the same as everything else, how can we have any sensations of being anything if there is nothing we aren't? This sounds empty and void to me.
GF: The mental mind can only imagine opposites. The spiritual mind is the expression of a life that embodies all contrarian aspects of our nature and, as such, knows itself as more than either "emptiness" or "fullness."
DebbiE: I've caught myself telling others to stop being critical. By doing that, aren't I being critical of them? This is the mirror that you speak of I think, is it not?
GF: Yes, in large. Usually we are critical of others because something they are manifesting is making us negative, irritable in some way. So, we "jump" on them in some fashion, usually in the form of a seemingly "constructive criticism." Of course, this act of ours is merely masked aggression. It is good that you have observed this contradiction in your consciousness. See more!
GF: I want to pass on some special remarks and spiritual lessons regarding what is asked of us if we would reclaim our Real Life.
In my opening remarks about the nature of our present consciousness, and the consequences of remaining asleep to its activities within us, we learned that what we have taken as being our "choices" in life really belong to a nature whose mechanical reactions leave us virtually without a voice in our experience of what happens to us.
With these thoughts in mind, that in order to elevate the nature of our life experience we must first do the inner work of changing our relationship with those parts of us responsible for its creation, we are going to effect this change by making new choices for ourselves. The following "10 Simple Truths to Help You Reclaim Your Life" will get us started.
Each one of the higher life lessons that follow points the way to a brighter life. By their very nature, they are empowered to bring new light into one's moments. The spiritual "catch" here is that these truths belong to a Higher Conscience within us, and they will work for us only as well as we are willing to remember them in the moment needed.
Our work to remember what is Right and Bright places us under the power and protection of the Living Light from which these powers come. Please note that the main lesson of each life-transforming principle is stated in the first sentence of the paragraph, followed by a brief explanation that implies an interior exercise born of its conscious remembrance.
What we experience in any given moment is what we bring into it. This means our moments are mirrors reflecting the expression of our present nature, but we place responsibility for our life-experience outside ourselves. To work to remember this timeless spiritual truth -- that we meet ourselves wherever we go -- changes our consciousness.
All possessions are, by nature, temporary. Our moments pass whether we want them to or not. We resist the temporality of things because we are asleep to the nature that thinks clinging to life is the same as living it. To remember that all things pass teaches us not only to let go of our attachments, but to let go of our lower nature that clings to everything!
Our true future is our relationship with the present moment; it is not a time to come, but a choice that we make in the Now. When we remember that it's what we are in the present moment that determines our destiny, that our Now is the seed of our next moment, then our awakened state not only keeps us safe in the present, but it goes before us as well.
Since what others may do to us is not in our power to change, we need only concern ourselves with what we do to ourselves, for this is in our power. There is no judgment the lower nature passes on another that doesn't first serve to punish it. To remember this truth before we resent another for our pain ensures that we are not adding fuel to the fire.
Whenever we find ourselves in a rush of some kind, we need only remember that we can never get ahead of where we are in any given moment. This recollection helps us collect our unconscious, runaway thoughts, and lets us begin the work of consciously slowing down. Rushing is a poor man's reason for why he can never get caught up with his life.
Everyone we know has a heart that has been hurt, so when we are with others, we can try to remember it's better to work at being a healer than to be a default hurter. Such conscious remembrance helps stir us to err on the side of being more compassionate towards our friends and acquaintances, rather than looking to them to make us feel better about ourselves.
There isn't a thing on earth that doesn't shine brighter when we love it. All creatures flourish when we give them our attention for the purpose of helping them realize their potential. Praise a rose and its blush proves the point. When we remember this truth, then wherever we are gets better because we are, ourselves, better for the kindness we bring to that place.
Our health depends upon the health of the earth. Day in and day out, we take from life, from Mother Earth. We should never take without giving back, even if it's just gratitude for what we've been given to take. That's how simple it is. And we mustn't waste. To remember that we are each a part of a greater whole ensures our right responsibility to one and all.
There is nothing in the entire universe that can stop us from starting our life over, if we will only remember to do it. Right in the middle of the lowest point of our life, in the company of the darkest thoughts and feelings, we can choose a new companion: we can remember the truth that there is always something Higher than what is hurting us.
The very act of working to remember these ten simple truths is an invitation to Truth to begin changing your life. Read through this list once each morning and once before you go to bed for one whole week. Soon you will have the wondrous new feeling that reality itself is on your side. The Truth is -- you are now on the side of Real Life.
As I mentioned when we began our chat, our next chat won't be until sometime in the spring of next year, the date of which will be announced in your weekly Key Lesson. You can also check here, in our Web section of the chat room, as when we announce the next chat the date will be posted here as well. Until that time, remember yourselves and your wish for Real Life. Work at keeping your spiritual intention before you -- whatever roads you may walk -- and watch how God watches over you, seeing to it that you grow in all that is Good. Whenever possible, come visit the Foundation here in southern Oregon; that would be best of all. Good night everyone, and goodbye for now.
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10 Simple Truths to Help You Reclaim Your Life
Posted by Guy Finley in 459 Galice Road, Merlin, OR 97532 on , and updated on .
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