Self-Knowledge

In one respect, at the heart of our predicament as a species of beings -- because it negatively impacts our possibilities -- is that we do not see the big picture. For most of us, the big picture is our problem, our heavy heart, our irritation with somebody else, or our own sense of inadequacy. The big picture is the weight of our past. And that's not the big picture at all. That is a self-pitying picture. It has nothing to do with what it is that we need to understand.

Putting our life in God's hands does not mean that we hand Him our wish list for life, but rather that we make His life our wish. When God's will becomes our sole wish in life, then whatever happens to us not only fulfills our wish, but we realize it has always been our wish right from the start.

It's hard to believe that we have a nature that would rather destroy someone else -- punish them, resent them -- than see itself as it is. Most of us still don't believe it, but when things don't happen the way we want them to, what becomes of us? What do we express? You know the answer, don't you?

It is not in our power to change anyone else. On the other hand, our experience always brings us to this moment of truth where we have the possibility of changing what happens to us. And so it follows that the person to whom and in whom the Truth begins to become a living force, cannot have a bad day or a bad relationship.

Seldom do we know a greater need for making a fresh start than in those mind-numbing moments when we find ourselves feeling thrown for a loss. These feelings of loss often leave an unconscious, invisible residue of fear which tends to taint every area of our lives with distasteful timidity, born of the neurotic suspicion that in some way, life is conspiring to take something away from us.

Too frequently we feel as though our lives are under the power of things outside of us and beyond our ability to deal with: prisoners in one way or another of an unfair social system, impossible work conditions, an unforgiving past, or a failed relationship. Even trying to assemble a build-it-yourself bookshelf that doesn't know it "goes together with ease" can lock us away in the "house of pain."

As we learn how to take the higher ground inwardly and begin winning that life for which we are created, we are gradually empowered to prevail over any event and challenge that life presents. Often, to our own amazement, we develop a new kind of eagerness to meet old weaknesses because within us is growing a cosmic confidence that cannot be defeated. Our inner victory rewards us with higher resources that help us every moment of the day.

Why is it that peace of mind is so hard for us to stay in, to keep as our own? Why is being calm in the middle of a storm virtually the last thing that most of us are able to do? What is the source of real composure? And how do we work to develop it within ourselves? This is why we must have new self-knowledge as follows.

When things naturally come to a close in life, our pain isn't so much born of the fact that something now ends, as it is that within this moment of ending, we are forced to meet a certain order of emptiness in us for which we are just not prepared. We are brought face to face with a great void in the center of our heart that we thought had been filled. And then we make this common, but largely unrealized mistake...

It's well known that storm-tossed waves often expose new treasures along the shoreline; there is unexpected wealth to be collected by those who know the secret value of rough seas. And yet, even though most of us have little tolerance for anything that "rocks our boat," the truth of the matter is self-evident...

At some point in our lives we have all dealt with uncomfortable moments where an unexpected or unwanted change in one near to us brings up some unpleasant reaction in us. Of course we are usually very quick to find fault with this person, but here is the real, invisible story. The reason we fall under the rule of these reaction-driven dark states, and then find ourselves trying to dictate the life direction of the "offending" person, is that something...

Real life is not by the numbers; it is impossible to "know" and grow at the same time. Yes, one can have a formula for a prescription drug, or a recipe for a good green salad; but there is no system of thought that can stand up to the ever-shifting changes of real life, let alone meet those same changes fearlessly. The self that knows itself through thought can never develop beyond the content of itself, any more than a math equation can suddenly outgrow...