Mechanical Nature

There was once a young prince who, having reached the age of majority, left home to live on a grand estate given to him by his father. He was told that if he ever needed help he was to put a light in the uppermost tower window, and his father would send a special horse and carriage to carry him to safety. However, his father also warned him that an evil wizard, an enemy of the kingdom, lived n...

In this world that you and I live in, response is request. We can slightly enlarge this idea by restating it this way: The way you respond to life is also a request you make to it. See how the next few examples prove this important discovery: Someone walks into your home or office and says something to you that upsets you terribly. You respond with a negative state, continuing to brood or...

Student Talks: 05/01/2026 - Just as the light of a candle can’t be moved by the shadows it casts, so is there within us a Light that can reveal and observe a reaction without being identified with it, let alone be moved by its shape or character.

Student Talks: 05/16/2025 - The only thing good about any negative reaction is the revelation of how useless is that (level of) suffering to change anything about our present nature, let alone the condition it convinces us to blame for its pain.

Classroom Talk: 8/14/2024 - There is only one requirement if our wish is to "boldly go where no one has gone before"...and that is to realize that not only are we the explorer, but the new frontier is either found within us, or not at all.

Topic: Freedom from the Painful Voices in Your Head (Classroom Talk 6/7/23)

Classroom Talk: 6/7/2023 - Here's the real reason why talking to ourselves about whatever is considered to be the cause of that "conversation" in our head is so exhausting: it's very hard work to make something (so big) out of what really amounts to nothing.

Topic: The Spiritual Facts You Need to Free Yourself from Painful Thoughts (10/13/21 Classroom Talk)

Classroom Talk: 10/13/2021 - Only consistent, persistent inner-work can lead us to the threshold of the "Truth that sets us free." And yet, the following is equally true: the unassailable liberation we seek will continue to elude us until every effort to know the truth of ourselves -- by thinking about ourselves -- has proven useless.

Topic: 7 Ways to Know When It's Time to Break Up with Yourself (5/12/19 Classroom Talk)

Topic: 7 Ways to Know When It's Time to Break Up with Yourself (5/12/19 Classroom Talk)