Talk Takeaways

There is no life without death, and there is no death that is not the fulfillment of life.

We judge others for their weakness because it seems to prove our strength.

The purpose of all true spiritual teachings is to bring about a change of nature that cannot be brought about by thought.

Reincarnation is first and foremost what happens to the level of consciousness that repeats the same painful patterns over and over again because it cannot see the waste in doing so.

In those moments when you can see your helplessness, there appears a seemingly "helpful I" that tells you what you should do to deal with the helplessness.

Wherever there are opposites and no awareness of those opposites, there is conflict.

The temporary appearance of an 'I' that is stirred into action by a particular condition has no power to change any other temporary 'I' that appears when conditions change. My heart has to change, and 'I' can't change it.

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation, and go to the grave with the song still in them." -- Henry David Thoreau

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." Ezeziel 36:26-27, Old Testament

Death is not the end of something. It is the beginning of another relationship.

One of the ancient meanings of the word "mercy" is "to pay the cost." The cost is to see ourselves as we are, allowing that awareness to change the heart, without the interference of thought and all of the madness that comes out of identifying with it.

The "third force" that undoes and reconciles the conflict that arises between the opposites is Awareness, which sees those opposites at once and understands that they are complimentary forces.

Real love includes the negation of any 'I' -- any strong sense of self -- that thinks of itself as loving. That sense of self is painful, which cannot be real love. That "loving I" is only loving for as long as conditions support its loving image.

How can something that is completely disorganized... organize itself?

Instead of pushing back, center yourself in the awareness of what is pulling on you.