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...

One maxim of self-development I sense is true is that the way out of any stressful situation is to "go through it." How does the approach apply to reducing stress-producing thought-attacks? Everything depends upon our ability to inwardly discriminate between thoughts and feelings that are for us as opposed to those that are against us. Whenever confronted with an onslaught of internal impress...

There is a Higher World and this peaceable kingdom dwells within you. Allow your heart to remind you what the mind so easily forgets: There is a Peace. There is a Shelter. There is a timeless place in each of us that no darkness can shatter or dispel. Make it your one intention to spend your time there. Prefer its ever-present company to that of any promise of peace to come, and watch how yo...

The following eight points are essential spiritual truths. Individually they represent vital lessons that must be learned along the Path to Real Life. Collectively these same truths hint at the promise of a spiritual power for which there is no substitute: The certainty, compassion, and quietude of a mind filled by the Light of Truth. For the best results read each of these separate truths...

Deliberately dare to slow down your life when everything in you -- or around you -- is screaming "Rush." Why is this bold action a prayer? Every person knows what it feels like to be carried off by an anxious state, so you decide: when some anxiety comes along and takes over your life -- are you an awake inwardly centered person -- or are you an unconscious outwardly driven man or woman? Wh...

As paradoxical as it seems, our journey to reach the undiscovered territory within our own consciousness -- this distant High Country above and beyond thought whose Promised Land lies yet hidden within us -- begins with a strange and often shocking discovery: What needs to be escaped are the constraints of our own conditioned consciousness. In other words, the freedom we long for is from our p...

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...