Student Talks: 6/20/2021 - Key Lesson: You cannot protect yourself from psychological pain or disappointment and hope to court the Divine at the same time. The narrow entrance into the heart of heaven is a movement; (it is) an unknowable accord found only where revelation and letting go converge and merge, and from their union give birth to...

Letting go and spiritual growth are as rain is to a field of wildflowers: we blossom as beings only as we release ourselves from what is self-limiting. But why do this kind of work within ourselves? Even though it's obvious, it needs to be stated: we struggle with whatever we do -- with whatever personally compromises us or our contentment in life -- so that we might realize a greater...

Topics Covered: You cannot understand your life through the level of consciousness that is the source of confusion; You can't convince a human being that there is something in them that can't wait to hate its life or feel sorry for itself; The one thing that people won't sell is their hope in things seen. It is the hope in things seen that is the source of fear; The false self doesn't exist...

Classroom Talk: 6/20/2021 - You cannot protect yourself from psychological pain or disappointment and hope to court the Divine at the same time. The narrow entrance into the heart of heaven is a movement; (it is) an unknowable accord found only where revelation and letting go converge and merge, and from their union give birth to a new...

Have you ever noticed that when you're under the cloud of some negative state, what you do to try to "make things better" actually makes the situation worse? Struggling to free yourself from your own negative reactions is a bit like throwing gasoline onto a fire, isn't it? Recognizing that you get trapped in this pattern of taking action that neither relieves nor rescues you from...

Topic: Let Go and Let Something Really Good Start Happening to You! (12/16/20 Classroom Talk)

Topics Covered:The awakening of conscience is the beginning of the return journey to our original spiritual home; "If I am not for myself, then who will be? If I am just for myself, then what am I? If not now, then when?" -- Hillel the Elder; We presently live from a divided level of consciousness that believes it is impossible to be for ourselves AND for others at the same time...

Classroom Talk: 12/16/2020 - Until we're able to see how the needs of others are the same as our own -- and awaken enough to witness a self-centered level of consciousness that would convince otherwise -- no one's true need, let alone our own can be fulfilled.

Can you can see that, "If I'm ever to have freedom, somehow or other I'm going to have to accept everything that's given to me"? It seems counterintuitive, so let me explain why it's true. There are two orders of transformation. They are not really separate; they are in a constant exchange, just like the river is in a constant exchange as water flows in and out at each point...

If you haven't noticed this yet about yourself, it's easy to see in others: we each seem to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. The nature of this burden may change with age. When young, we feel the weight of having to choose a direction in life. As adults, we feel encumbered by all the perceived requirements of an active life: trying to control events...

Student Talks: 8/21/2020 - Key Lesson: Part 1: The divided mind -- driven as it is by unconscious desires -- is very similar to a dog that has learned to throw its own stick. It cannot come to a rest until it has exhausted itself, and even then it can’t let go of what it feels compelled to chase. Part 2: The cost of starting over spiritually...

Classroom Talk: 8/16/2020 - Part 1: The divided mind -- driven as it is by unconscious desires -- is very similar to a dog that has learned to throw its own stick. It cannot come to a rest until it has exhausted itself, and even then it can't let go of what it feels compelled to chase.