The universe is a work being continually perfected; though unseen, it is justice, compassion in action. Those who resist and resent what comes their way -- who fight with its unending waves that rock their contrived sense of reality -- are actually the ones who live without real choice. They must serve their struggle to resolve the sense of loss that comes each time the world changes without first having consulted them.
Life does not come at us from the outside in, even though that is the way we've always seen it. Once we understand this, we'll see the mistake we've been making all along about the true meaning of strength. Currently, we have a list of things we want to overcome: our past; our failure to acquire what we believe we need; a pressing world that has it in for us. We've identified these...
We have an innate need to rise above ourselves, to open ourselves to higher influences... for one thing, because we understand that without higher influences, we're left to our own flu-like influences from which we don't get well, and that we are sick from following our own prescriptions! Our present condition is imagining what we need to do in order to get above ourselves...
We each have ideas about who we are, how the events in our lives should go, and how other people should treat us. We believe that if everything goes according to our plan, we will be safe. By the same token, anything that threatens the fulfillment of the plan is seen as an enemy. What might some of these enemies be? Other people who don't give us the respect we deserve.
What causes disputes between human beings? What is this business of "what I believe" vs. "what you believe"? Can we see that you cannot separate what you believe in from what you want? When I say, "I believe in this," and "I believe that you should be like that," what I'm really saying is that I insist you be what I believe you should be, because if you don't, we have war...
The secret that ends your fear of people, of situations, is the possibility of discovering that these people are as afraid of you as you are of them. What do you think would happen if you knew that the person you're afraid of is as afraid of you as you are of him or her? How do you think that would change your reaction? That man makes the cruel comment, that woman makes the cutting remark...