Illusion

The easiest thing in the world is to walk around unconsciously feeling superior to everyone we meet. But with what do we measure? A critical spirit? A judgmental mind? What kind of eyes have to look down on another to convince themselves of up?

Can you count the number of times you have been present in a moment of your life and realized how much you wished you weren't you? That you hadn't done what you just did, and wished you would never do it again... loathing yourself for your weakness, despising yourself for your ambition that compromises you with every step you take, feeling frightened over some possession you've managed to acquire in the hope of some freedom it promised...

One of the things about the spiritual journey that is so difficult -- because of what it asks of a person -- is that we must reach the point where we look at our life as it is and realize that we cannot have what our heart longs for in our life such as it is. We come to a full recognition that we are indeed a house, and a spirit in a house, and that the house has had its way with the spirit but that the spirit was never intended to be commanded, dominated by the house...

Every time you get negative, you drain from yourself something vital to the development of your soul. But every time you catch yourself in those dark waters that carry you away, you add something to your development by working to understand them. The source of those dark, raging waters is an illusion. It is the illusion that is part and parcel with the present activity of your mind...

Regardless of the assertion of any negative state that seeks to convince you otherwise (using its painful presence within you as "proof" that the prison you're locked within will stand until the end of time), apply this one great truth: All self-punishing states are "lies." They must break down if they don't succeed in breaking down your willingness to test their reality. How do you...

Key Lesson: We gaze upon a brightly colored veil -- see it flutter in the breeze of some passing event -- and call it the world.