Topic: Out with the "Old Addictive Self" and in with a New Dedication to be Free (Classroom Talk 1/4/23)

Topics covered: True exploration of your consciousness cannot be for the purpose of escaping from something, nor to confirm what you already know; The defintion of "insanity" is doing the same thing over and over again, and hoping for a different result. The same could be said about "addiction"; "Addiction" connotes the idea of unwilling service to something that is harmful.

Classroom Talk: 1/4/2023 - There is no such thing as a compulsive pleasure, let alone a contented "slave" that lives under its lash; and yet billions of human beings serve some form of addiction, willing to turn a blind eye to how much they suffer for the sake of a pleasure they cannot keep, a security that cannot be possessed.

Student Talks: 1/22/2021 - Key Lesson: Part 1: There is only one path that leads to a relationship with what is holy, and therefore to a Life (that is) already complete, and that is to see without flinching -- and finally without regret -- the following truth. All of the eye-catching paths we first imagine, and then rush to take...

Topics Covered: We are currently identified with an unconscious nature that is incapable of knowing anything real and permanent; We cannot be at peace with anything as long as we are identified with what we believe peace is; Our minds are always trying to take what we think is good and make it last forever. This level of mind makes an enemy out of anything in life that runs...

Classroom Talk: 1/17/2021 - Part 1: There is only one path that leads to a relationship with what is holy, and therefore to a Life (that is) already complete, and that is to see without flinching - and finally without regret - the following truth. All of the eye-catching paths we first imagine, and then rush to take - seeing them as leading us...

Classroom Talk: 1/29/2020 - If you want a “misery-backed” guarantee that whatever troubles you about someone else will get worse... Just be sure and start complaining to him or her about it!

Any time we feign anything, 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. Your consideration of the two special insights that follow will start you down the path to a whole new kind of self-command.

Classroom Talk: 2/20/2019 - Part 1: It's impossible to change any moment that we complain about because - for one thing - the unwanted moments over which we complain do not even exist apart from the level of consciousness that always finds fault with their appearance. Part 2: The more we complain about any unwanted condition in life, the more certain we can be...

Featured Study Group Topic for the Week of August 20, 2018. Part 1: It's not the moment that's unsteady; it's our present level of self: a shack made of sticks that's shaken by any unexpected wind... and that fears its own shuddering.