The more we believe, as we are inclined to do, that there exists something outside of us with the power to make us happy and whole, the more attached we become to these imposter ideas and those deceptive desires that weave into our hearts.

Discontentment is a kind of psychic echo. In fact, whatever the unhappiness may be, it is only an inner echo that is "sounding" within us. As difficult as it may be to understand this at the present time, suffering only seems real. It has no real life. How is this possible? Our inner stress, strain, and pain feel real to us, for sure; but then, so do all of the fears we feel in the middle...

Dissatisfaction is a psychological storm that every human being experiences. The truth is that dissatisfaction is actually a kind of growing pain, but to our present consciousness, it seems like a curse. We try to put an end to any feeling of dissatisfaction by reinventing ourselves so that we never have to feel that way again. Presently the nature that is dissatisfied sets us out to find som...

No human being has any authority over you. Your life belongs to you and to you alone. No scowling face or irritated manner, no challenging posture or threatening tone has any power to make you feel nervous or anxious, frightened or angry. What this means is that if we are not living life completely on our own terms -- if there is anyone in our life that dominates us...

I can think of no greater encouragement in this life than the self-evident truth that within each of us dwells something Extraordinary. By "Extraordinary" I don't mean any one condition or sensation born of a particularly exciting experience or even the long-awaited realization of some special achievement. The meaning of Extraordinary I wish to convey goes far beyond all such isolated crowni...

Everyone wonders whether or not there is one Great Secret for truly successful living. There is. And it is not a secret. It has been quietly, steadily telling itself right in front of us all along. We just couldn't hear it over the clatter and chatter of our own secret demands. Listen quietly for a moment. Everything can change right now. Learning to hear this Supreme Secret is no more difficu...

Most of us spend a lot more time trying to deal with discontentment than is obvious at first glance. Depending on how the day breaks for us, we may find ourselves feeling discontent about our life whenever we: * Compare our present level of health and energy to those better days when we felt a stronger wind at our back * Take that almost daily inventory of our personal possessions or lack of...

To be a human being is to seek. There is a part in us that is incessantly seeking something. We are never not looking. When we start out in life, we have inside of us this longing, this seeking, and we look for something that will answer whatever it is that has come into us that says it needs something in order to complete itself. For example, I'm eighteen years old, and into my mind comes...

Student Talks: 4/15/2022 - Key Lesson: The Unknowable Source of Peace in real life far exceeds our reach... because it can't be grasped, let alone taken by hand; it can only be received by a heart that has willingly emptied itself of hope in all things seen.

Topics covered: What the wanter in you really wants is to continue wanting; A person can't understand a true teaching if he or she is already full of belief about what the teaching is; The nature of the thoughts that offer to lead you through a disturbance are connected to what you want and to what you don't want; The more conflict that is created by thought, the more that thought is called...

Student Talks: 11/5/2021 - Key Lesson: Spiritual wisdom is our greatest wealth. And when, at long last we see this is true -- so that our first love in life becomes the wish to discover the truth of ourselves -- then each moment of every relationship serves as the doorway to the indwelling Divine.

Topics Covered: It is not we who are taking a journey... Rather, we are being taken on a journey. The journey is not through the world outside of us. The journey is into and through ourselves. The wisdom we seek is already within us; Wisdom is understanding that the possessions of this world come and go; There is no wisdom in having an enemy to resent. There is no wisdom in fear...