Temptation

Whenever we find ourselves running after something -- anything -- to complete us, what is the real nature of this force within us that compels us in this way? We are pushed along in these pursuits by a very subtle, but solid sense of feeling as though we are somehow incomplete.

No one really wants to talk about it, but the truth is, there is a kind of "evil spell" hanging over each of us and our world as well. In fact, part of this global spell is our denial of its existence. It is called suffering. Everyone does it -- and, like hypnotized captives, everyone believes that their suffering somehow benefits them. That's how the spell works. Why else would anyone punish...

We don't know that we walk around with our mind literally looking at the world around us through our eyes full of darkness. And the darkness that our eyes are full of is imagination and the self that it generates. Unattended imagination relies on what it imagines in order to bring into existence a simultaneously imagined self. It is the most dangerous force in the world, because anything that...

Topics covered:  We seem to be at peace whenever we are getting what we want, but anything can interrupt that kind of peace; There is never a moment when you are not being given what you need, but you have to want to receive what you are being given; If you are thinking about how to face a moment outside of what is practical, you are lost.

Topics covered:  We keep reaching out into the world for what seems to be missing because we are not at peace with ourselves as we are; Whenever we are looking to distract ourselves, there is an unseen hope that we will find a lasting refuge of some kind. We are hoping to find some kind of relief from feelings of dissatisfaction; The nature that feels dissatisfied and incomplete will find ways to create dependency in others so that it can feel momentarily significant.

Topics covered:  We always find fault with what captures us instead of finding fault with what got captured. "The fox condemns the trap, not himself." -- William Blake; In the same instant that we identify with what we believe will make us whole, there is fear that we will lose it. Then we set out to protect what we have identified with; How can we be immersed in suffering and yet not know anything about it? We don't question our suffering; we question what we believe is the source of it.

Topics Covered: Our hope is not in things seen; Being the witness of useless suffering; Use the fear of the future to find the fearless heart; Accept the moment as it is given as an act of higher Will; We don't want to fix ourselves, we want to see ourselves; Dismissal of habitual reactions; Awareness of the play of creation; Replace the idea of "faster" with "more aware"...

Topics Covered: Re-experiencing, reliving a memory; Mind wanting to escape the sound of itself; Real love doesn't punish the one who loves; Love doesn't separate; Love doesn't suffer over what was; Agree to consciously suffer our own consciousness; Remain the witness of consciousness instead of trying to change it; Being in the crucible of the crisis; See that the promise of...