There is a spiritual idea that appears in the New Testament which states, "Ask and ye shall receive. Knock and the door will be opened to you." It is our mistaken belief this idea is saying that all of our desires will be fulfilled simply by asking God, and that our "order" should be filled to our exact specifications as quickly as possible. Most of us have to learn the hard way about what it...

You'll never know how forgetful of your self you are until you make the smallest effort to be self-remembering.

The person in denial of his or her own condition continues to ask for more of what didn't help the last time around.

When you go outside on a beautiful day and step into the sunlight, do you have to try to enjoy the warmth? Or is the warmth of the sun just part of what is there, and you are a part of it? Similarly, real meditation is effortless. It is the fulfillment of natural relationship, not the attempt on our part to create relationship. Your being itself is meditating, as it is a natural part of the wh...

Every once in a great while you get a very quick glimpse of the fact that you are spiritually alone. How much more alone can a human being be than when all of the psychological props are pulled out from under him or her? Every shattered dream and every crisis brings us back to that moment in which we realize that inwardly we are alone, with nothing and no one to lean on. We must see the fact...

An unattended mind breeds defeat. When we are not present to ourselves, whether we see it or not, we are breeding defeat. Energy is wasted in the mind that is unattended. When we are not attentive, our minds spend our vital life energy wrapped up in fruitless pursuits. Simply put, our minds are always working on something, even when we're not there! Wouldn't you like to be involved in decidin...

In one respect, everything about one's spiritual life is so terribly simple. There is only one time and one way in which to be still, and that is to be still. So the first thing is to understand that we don't need to stop the world. What we need to do is understand that the world whirling around us is the world of our own reactions. It isn't until we can start to see some of this that it be...

All relationships suffer when stagnation sets in; whether in a pond or our personal dealings with others, everything must be continually refreshed in order to realize its true potential. For us this means each re-appearance of some old resentment, fear, or regret, chokes the life out of our chance to love one another, which is our spiritual responsibility. What's so hard for us to understand i...

Here is a great secret about authentic prayer: When a man or a woman really prays, there must be some trembling behind it. If there is no trembling behind a prayer, then there is no implied sacrifice behind the words in the prayer. The authentic nature of all prayer is to establish a direct communion with conscious forces -- with God's life. We ought not pray with arrogance or with an attitud...

We have within us a new, higher vantage point -- a very special part of ourselves within which we may be at peace regardless of what goes on around us. This yet-to-be realized state of ourselves may be called conscious self-awareness. Through its power, instead of being pulled down into painful identification with the passing shadows of life, we can discover a life in a peace far above the rea...

The best time to practice going quiet -- to detect and drop dark inner voices -- is when the world around you is more or less already in a natural state of silence. So, early morning, upon arising, and just before you go to sleep, are the most likely times to yield the best results. But, as you'll no doubt come to discover for yourself, any time is the right time to go quiet. Find a place...

Living within you is the understanding that you are created for a single purpose. The single purpose is that you represent--as an individual--the possibility of perfection. Why is it that we love music the way that we do? You probably have never thought of it before, but it is because you are a living tempo. The heartbeat of the Universe is what gives you your heartbeat. The perfect harmony o...