Ambition

Topic: The First Step to Seeing Your True Being (Remastered Classic Talk)(Classroom Talk 5/7/25)

Remastered Classic Talk: 05/04/16 - The Vine doesn't fear the passing of the branch; it was there before it. The Vine gives rise to the branch; it will be there long after the branch withers in winter winds, and falls away. The branch fears its own passing, knowing nothing of the Vine from out of which it has come... or that it will be born again come the light of spring. All is Vine for those who can see the branch for what it is.

Student Talks: 2/28/2025 - The vast majority of humanity views the idea of spiritual rebirth as some sort of prize to be claimed and declared: a new and exciting personal possession, like having won a tropical island in a high-stakes lottery. But true rebirth is nothing of the kind; (it is) a distinct awareness within oneself of a timeless and intelligent awareness -- a fearless and abiding patience, burgeoning with expectation -- that is "in the world (of passing time), but not of it."

Topics covered:  The divided consciousness asks a question about its pain, and then immediately answers its own question; When the mind asks a question, you think you have to answer it; It is possible by the grace of God to come to the end of every last question you have. The question creates the illusion of a self that is stuck.

Topics covered:  Presently we put our explanation of the moment over exploration of the moment. A reversal must take place. The first shall be last, and the last shall be first; The learning of real lessons is more important than anything else that takes place in our lives; An epiphany is the marriage between the exterior condition and the part of ourselves that is stirred by that condition; We are created to participate in the movement of life rather than trying to control it as we do now.

Topic: Welcome the Light of Life and Say Hello to a Life Free of Fear (Classroom Talk 5/29/24)

Topic: Enter the Perfect Protection of the Presence Moment (Classroom Talk 8/30/23)

Topics covered: "It is wise to seek immortality because time defeats all other ambitions." -- Vernon Howard; The attempt to avoid suffering is an ambition. The attempt to avoid the experience of yourself is an ambition; Our daily wishes are rooted in the imagination of a time to come in which we will not be in the pain that we are in now; What human beings presently call "freedom" involves a time to come...

Classroom Talk: 8/30/2023 - Part 1: Whatever is created in time... is a creation of time; and all creations -- in, and of time -- must pass when their time is up. Part 2: If we ever look closely, we would see that the fear we have of the future is always dressed as a beggar; but if we dared even a closer look, we'd see that not only does that beggar bear a striking resemblance to us...

Topic: Anchor Yourself in the World Above Anger, Fear, and Worry (Classroom Talk 7/19/23)

Topics covered: When you try to escape from a moment, you ensure that you will meet that same kind of moment again and again; Your interior work takes a real turn when you realize you can't avoid yourself; The acronym "TOBADCEOM" from the doctor story stands for "Taken Over By A Different Cause Every Other Moment"; Every moment of your life your mind is given over to whatever it falls on in that moment.

Classroom Talk: 7/19/2023 - Stillness is the first action of truth. Stillness has no momentum, which means it never runs into anything. On the other hand, since all movement has its beginning in stillness, anything that moves into it is found to have simply returned to its original source.