Comparison

In this short talk, Guy Finley talks about what it means to let go of something without needing to know beforehand the outcome of that sacrifice.

Guy Finley explains that we all have natural preferences in life based on our individual make-up and conditioning. But when life doesn't match up with our preferences, the pain and negativity we feel is not because of the event, it is because of the part of us that has become unnaturally identified with the preference itself.

As we see more and more how each one of our own attempts to make ourselves feel complete leaves us feeling empty and searching again, we gain the power to refuse to be misled.

Guy talks about how it can actually be unhealthy to discuss the concept of "being one with God" because, most of the time, we get lost in imagination when we consider the idea. There is genuine "oneness with the Divine" only when, through moment-to-moment self-seeing and work on ourselves, we become the authentic expression of that which never stops giving life.

We put tremendous amounts of energy into developing and carrying out plans for protecting ourselves psychologically from a world we perceive as a hostile place. Thus, we justify our actions to ward off the possible criticism of others. We fawn before people we see as more powerful than we are. We tell ourselves that we are superior to those we see as less powerful than ourselves. So, instead o...

Any time we pretend to be something we're not, we do so out of fear that without that "persona" to protect us -- to make that impression we want -- we won't get what we want. This whole way of thinking is secret self-sabotage. It sinks us in our personal and business relationships as surely as a torpedo wrecks the ship it strikes. Learning how to stop this self-sinking is our focus here. The...

You must learn to stop thinking in terms of beginnings and endings, successes and failures, and begin to treat everything in your life as a learning experience instead of a proving one.

The mind has a natural longing to explore itself and to understand its own possibilities. But this same mind will look at people that it sees at being better than itself, and it will say that there is no point to exploring any further since it will not be possible to match what others have achieved. The mind that decides that there is no point has succeeded only in hurting itself. As our mind...

We are always measuring ourselves in an attempt to confirm to ourselves that our lives have value. It is a fact that no creation is more or less valuable than anything else that is created. Is the tree more valuable than the ground from out of which it grows? No, in fact it is impossible to separate the tree from the ground. In one respect, all things are created equal, which means that all th...

There is an immense reason why we do not develop spiritually. It is because when it is time to act, our intellects become frozen and get locked up in the trap of "should I" or "shouldn't I.". Instead of properly acting on impulse in the present moment, we have become people who always defer to a conflict that exists in thought. Every impulse to act is the same as the opportunity to discover a...

Ultimately, all of our searching in life is for what we believe will release us from something that presently restricts us. If a man or woman is genuinely earnest, he or she will go down a countless number of different roads in order to find freedom. But you can't set out to find something without you being the one who is going to find it, which means that for each different pursuit, you assum...

The experience of what we are in the moment is always the product of comparison. Presently, what "I am" is always measured against something else, so that my identity begins divided. But our true nature is not something that our minds can think about, and cannot therefore be the product of any comparison. The great lesson that life is always teaching individuals is to let go of being who or w...