Topic: Start Taking the "Little Steps" that Lead to Spiritual Liberation (7/21/21 Classroom Talk)

Nature reclaims whatever we abandon; this axiom holds as true with an abandoned building as it does with one's soul.

Topics covered: Every question we ask about how to approach the Divine creates a distance between us and the very thing that we seek; Trying to be like anyone else never produces a change in the consciousness that is seeking to be something; No description of any principle is the same as the principle being described; The power of any principle does not exist apart from the relationship that the principle is a part of...

Student Talks: 4/19/2024 - Key Lesson: If -- by the light of remembering and considering what is Timeless, Holy, and True -- the heart is warmed and gradually enflamed, then the following must be true, even if yet to be seen: within us must dwell some sort of celestial kindling; what else can explain how such a flame is created, let alone serve as a light in the darkness of the soul... uniting the twain, making of them as one.

As your awareness of the natural laws that currently govern your actions increases, so does your ability to make choices based on higher knowledge instead of being blindly guided by ignorance. Spiritually speaking, this is the beginning of the development of true free will.

In this short talk, Guy Finley explains that when we begin to observe that most of our time is spent in a sort of twilight state of sleep, we will begin to understand the necessity for waking up and working to remain present to ourselves.

In the highest parts of our consciousness, there is a living relationship whose meaning is inseparable from the world that it sees and experiences. There is no need to "take thought" in order to know that we are alive. To think for ourselves properly means to be aware of our reactions to the world, and to not allow those reactions to run wild on their own...

Nothing serves to create a greater sense of isolation -- a feeling of being cut off from life -- than being at the center of your own thoughts about yourself; where you live out your days as a castaway on the 'island of self' upon which you have, unknowingly, agreed to abandon yourself.

Classroom Talk: 9/24/2003 - Until we learn what it means to come to a complete inward stop, nothing of a true spiritual nature can start within us.

Real success is a fearless state of being in a conscious relationship with an Intelligence that always achieves its ends despite ever-changing conditions. But, if we're honest, this order of spiritual success remains at a distance we've yet to traverse. At our present level of consciousness, our mind is always active, trying to figure out what we need to put together in our life to achieve its desired end.

Topics covered: If the Kingdom of Heaven is within, then there is no distance that has to be travelled and  time is not a factor in order to be in relationship with it; The need of the creation that is below can only be quenched by what is above it, which means there is an eternal relationship between above and below; What we call "Now" is where Heaven and earth meet, where what is below is acted upon by what is above, endlessly being made new.

Classroom Talk: 8/24/2005 - Once we understand there is no flower, no leaf, no limb or branch that is greater than any other part that grows on the tree of life, then we realize it is more than enough to be just and only what we are in the moment.