Imagination

Key Lesson: Most people are so afraid of dying they are unable to see that agreeing to identify with any imagined state of self is itself a form of death unfolding in slow motion.

Just as we can only move freely in a darkened room when there is light to reveal what surrounds us, so it is with the unseen dimensions within us: in any given moment, we live in a world no larger than the measure of our understanding.

Topics covered: Fear tells you what you need to do in order to change the condition, ostensibly so that it will no longer be afraid; Judging yourself for making a mistake seems to prove to you that you are someone who is above those mistakes; Oil and water cannot be mixed together. Neither can freedom and fear. But we somehow believe that obeying fear's commands will eventually lead to freedom; Freedom and fear live in two different worlds.

Fear and anxiety do not exist outside of an old mind that -- moment by moment -- creates these dark states in a deeply divided space within itself.

Imagining all that remains to be done to realize the contentment we seek -- or that we must struggle with to attain some illusive peace of mind -- is like trying to calm the ripples on the surface of a reflecting pond...by throwing a polished stone into its waters.