The real adversary in our lives, that proverbial thorn in our side that leaves us aching and angry, and then sends us looking for someone to blame, is not what we have always believed. It is not something "out there." It's something "in here": an intimate enemy.

Studying wise principles without putting them into practice is like learning how to read music but never owning an instrument through which to experience the sound of those notes you know.

When it comes to seeing the truth of our lives, the late, great author Vernon Howard taught those who would listen that "The medicine is bitter, but it heals." If we would heal the hidden hurt in us then we must learn that the initial bitterness of self-truthfulness is the front runner of our ultimate spiritual betterment. Our work is to concede to the bright prescription of higher self-honest...

What we call a personal "crisis" is really that moment when some previously invisible conflict within us becomes temporarily visible.

One of the sad reasons why so few men and women persist in the inner work necessary for higher self-discovery is because we have all become -- to one degree or another -- either an unwitting captive of, or willing participant in, what can only be described as a descending scale in the meaning of life. More simply stated, over time our values have been subtly shifting away from the love of *th...

Dare to put aside all relationships other than those which serve to reveal what is essential to your real desire.

Whenever we will lend our attention to the inner task of working to transcend some dark state at work within us, then in that same moment, even if we don't see the immediate fruits of our effort, we will have already begun to release ourselves from its restrictions. For our effort to be conscious of our condition instead of remaining its captive, fresh energies flood over and through us, lifti...

Our spiritual task, assuming we are stirred to seek this truth of ourselves, is to awaken ourselves to the Light that first invites us, and then unites us with its uncompromised life.

Be willing to do without what you must if you see certain things that tell you that what you are embracing is destroying everything, including your chance to be a true human being.

Although self-study may include reading certain inner life books or listening to lectures on self-transformation, these materials, as encouraging and informative as they may be, are really only preparational tools; they have their place. After all, if you were going to climb a mountain, you would want expert advice on the proper equipment to use, and you would want instruction from others who...

The Living Light never shows us anything in ourselves that it hasn't already started to change for us.

Our willingness to teach for the purpose of learning is every bit as important as is our willingness to learn what we must in order to grow.