Is having a silent mind essential to spiritual development, and what exactly is gained by practicing inner silence? True silence is not just the absence of noise; it is a kind of spiritual medium in which not only are we able to discern what is false, but through which what is true can increasingly reach us and teach us. It is very helpful to practice some form of being silent. As you devel...

The first part of these new lessons in learning to live from your Higher Self and the prayer exercises that attend them is that the next time you feel yourself becoming agitated, simply notice what idea are you connected to? Look how simple that is, if you'll do it. Here is one small example. You are driving down the street and you notice that you're feeling depressed. Or maybe you're feeli...

Here are two proven ways you can learn to work in the Now to ensure that you reach ever-higher levels of personal freedom. Our honest examination of these spiritual assertions -- based upon our own life experience -- proves our need to realize their promise. For best results, first meditate on what each statement means in and of itself. Let the freedom it illustrates awaken in you the remembra...

There are two basic kinds of prayer. The first kind of prayer -- the one most commonly understood and practiced -- is when you are asking for what you want; when you are temporarily filled with -- and renewed by -- both the self making that request and the anticipation of what is requested. This is the only kind of prayer that most men and women ever know; when someone asks from himself for...

The following may shock you, and I hope it comes as just that. Everyone practices prayer twenty-four hours a day . . . only neither do they know they're praying, nor do they know (and this is the real problem) what it is they're praying for! And this fact of life includes those people who say, "But I don't believe in prayer. I don't have a spiritual practice." A moment's consideration of the...

When a mind is at rest, anything that stirs it is instantly recognized. When we can be awake to what stirs us -- become conscious of what is always pushing us, moving us, drawing us along -- then we have a chance to actually begin to recognize and realize what it would mean to be able to sit in a room and not have our mind pulling on us from a thousand different directions about a thousand dif...

Sometimes when you rush in, I feel as though I am standing upon the bank of a river rising up in me, and that you are its sudden waters coming over me. Caught up as I am in these moments, all I want is to be carried away. I want to offer myself, toss myself into this upwelling; but I don't know where to find the edge of these waters in order to leap. In these times I feel as the parched eart...

How many times in a day do we find ourselves having gone after something that we wanted, only to find ourselves "gotten" or "done in" by what we have reached for? Then what happens? The crying, complaining, bitterness, blaming starts: "Oh, why is this happening to me? This isn't right!" We can't see how we actually participated in producing the moment in which we find ourselves compromised, an...

Our sense of self, the way we experience ourselves, is very much connected to the widely varying states of emotional energies that come into us and that seem to shape the nature of our individuality. But the fact of the matter is, there is no such separate self, at least not the way we presently experience it. There are just these ceaseless states of energy and the fleeting sense of self they...

The meditative life is not limited to sitting down someplace quietly, nor is it limited to someplace in time where we can control conditions so that we can experience something of a quiet mind. It can be said that meditation is the active relationship that an individual has with the whole of his or her life. Indeed, if we were able to see clearly enough into our own life, we would see some...

Everywhere we look, people are concerned with essentially one thing: getting what they want, when they want it, and as fast as possible. The fires that fuel their appetite for this envisioned success create so much smoke that they lose sight of the fact that all they reap for their insistent sowing are the cold ashes of regret raked out of broken relationships. If we are ever to realize the i...

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...