The anticipation of something desirable is always sweet in conception, which would be great if it weren't for a certain fact about the nature of longing itself: it appears within us, at first, by itself, bringing with it the promise of just what we need to make everything right. But appearances are not always what they seem; for standing directly behind it, as it were...

Guy Finley explains that the path to a quiet mind is not through battling with what we think opposes our peace; it is by remembering what we love, and giving our attention to self-observation so we can instead be a witness of the moment.

In this short talk, Guy Finley discusses the importance of understanding the idea of "levels and scale" inside of our own consciousness, so that we can gradually begin to break our identification with the familiar sense of self that is produced by the level of mind that unconsciously talks to itself.

Darkness, in whatever form we experience it -- from a simple black, starless night, to a depressed thought or feeling -- only exists in the absence of light.

In this short talk, Guy Finley talks about how real revelation of the truth of ourselves transforms the character that has been revealed.

In this short talk, Guy Finley talks about how we are not meant to be held captive by thoughts and feelings that do nothing but repeat themselves over and over again.

There is a lot of conflict inside of an aspirant's heart. As an aspirant of a true spiritual life, you will run into many inescapable contradictions. Please read following sentence very carefully. There's no difference between not wanting a reaction that punishes you, and wanting to have a reaction that does not punish you. Wanting something and not wanting something are opposites that cannot...

There is an order of being that already exists as a possibility in the consciousness of humanity. This order of consciousness never gets caught up in trying to repair things the way our minds currently do. Because our minds are always busy trying to fix something psychologically, we automatically assume that what the mind is working on is worth fixing. The divided mind believes that there is...

Do we resist or embrace events that we do not want? The answer is that we resist them. And how much time do we spend not wanting what the moment presents to us? If we're honest with ourselves, the majority of our time is spent not wanting the moment. So we must come to the conclusion that, in large part, our lives are spent resisting life. Can I get negative towards another person without fir...

Blaming conflict-filled feelings on any condition, or person, outside of yourself is like getting angry at your shoes for being laced too tight. Most men and women recognize the need for a healthy balanced diet because good eating habits nourish the body. Good nutrition helps keep us agile and strong. And we also like to learn new skills to expand our interests. Challenging mental activities...

Gradually I'm beginning to realize that my pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain are the opposites of a single thought. How do I back up and see the whole thing in its entirety, so as to be free from this unconscious duality? The understanding of the operation of the opposites is not an intellectual act. Using reason to try to escape the opposites, to negate them, is just the begi...

You wish, and then rush, to free yourself from your sorrows, but refuse to change the beliefs causing them...which is like jumping off the Ferris wheel onto the merry-go-round in the hopes of bringing an end to your dizziness. Any attempt to protect yourself from emptiness only creates the illusion of it...along with an imaginary self that believes it can somehow outrun this unwanted nothing.