Everything You Need to Succeed Will Be Provided

To succeed spiritually, to discover the new man or woman waiting within us, requires going beyond being the thought-based, self-conceived creatures we are at present. We must work on ourselves. Only honest self-work heals the unconscious divisions within us and between us.

We must be willing to make the inner journey.

Here is an encouragement: If, in your wish for the life of truth, you just put one foot down in front of the next while keeping your eye on the mark, you can be assured that everything you need to succeed will be provided.

Question: So many people speak today of the idea of self-development and the idea of working on themselves. What does it mean to develop the self? Is this really possible to do?

Answer: True spiritual self-development does not mean struggling to improve the self but rather to transcend its limited levels through self-observation. The task is not to become something new, but to see through the parts of ourselves that stand between us and the new life that already exists within us as unrealized spiritual potential. It might be better said that self-development is the stretch of country we walk between the old world of what we have been and the new world we enter into when realizing the still, secret Self within.

Question: It is clear to me that I can't just wait and see if my life will get better, but looking into myself seems to pull me down. Do you have any leg-up advice for me?

Answer: Always remember these two ideas, and they will become your personal friends, dedicated to helping you fulfill your wish to be free: First -- there is always something higher. This means that regardless of what you may see within you, just above it is a place of new power and purpose that you can touch simply by remembering that it always and already exists. And second, connected to this first idea, there is no such thing as a fact you can find out about yourself that is not for yourself.

Question: My biggest fear at the moment is that I am incapable of ever experiencing true spirituality. My mind will never be quiet. I have no patience, and I'm attracted to everything that glitters! And yet, in spite of these conditions that hold me captive, I wish for a more spiritual life. Where do I begin?

Answer: The upper path begins in the moment where the lower path is no longer tolerable. In other words, we begin this inner work whenever we recognize the futility of our past actions. But to this thought we must add one other: We can't begin to recognize a futile action as being such without seeing the self responsible for selling us that action. As we see ourselves as we are, the natural longing for the wisdom we need to act differently, to be different, is spontaneously awakened in us. This is our guide. It is unfailing. Don't be concerned with how you will or won't succeed. Pay attention instead to where you let yourself invest yourself in what is inherently a dead end.

The only real change that can occur in the conditions we call our life must begin with a change in our consciousness, and there is only one course of action remaining. We must agree to enter into the ground of discovery, embrace our findings there, and go to work on what we uncover! If we will do our part, the Truth will take care of the rest. What grows from our efforts will never falter or fail us.