Featured Study Group Topic for the Week of February 12, 2018. What else are the untold number of lies -- "large and small" -- that we tell ourselves, or others, if not a trap we build in the now... only to be caught in it later?...

When people fail to move fast enough to suit you, try to remember it isn't they who are in pain over the pace they keep.

No individual relationship is the (sole) cause one's conflict or pain; our relationships reveal the nature of an unconscious pain that we bring into them with us. To start discerning the difference between these (two) perceptions is the beginning of freedom from blame, shame, and other acts of useless thinking.

Classroom Talk: 9/13/2020 - Spiritual freedom will never be realized by avoiding what disturbs us, but rather by the work of consciously illuminating what still dwells in the dark of us... that is (always) so quick to find someone, or something to blame for its pain.

Even though we must each do all that is in our power to make our lives and this world as perfect as they can be, we must never forget that perfection is a relationship and not a set of rules by which to justify punishing ourselves, or others.

If the power, and all the resources we have at hand to physically comfort ourselves could provide peace of heart and mind... then individual and global conflict would’ve ceased long ago. But exactly the opposite is true...

Student Talks: 9/18/2020 - Key Lesson: Spiritual freedom will never be realized by avoiding what disturbs us, but rather by the work of consciously illuminating what still dwells in the dark of us... that is (always) so quick to find someone, or something to blame for its pain.

Topics Covered: It is impossible to heal our pain and have someone or something to blame for it at the same time; Most people do not know what to do with their pain, and hardly anyone at all will seek out its true purpose; When we are in pain, there is usually no new understanding that comes as a result; there is only the certainty of why the pain is there and what should...

The temptation to blame another for your pain must be recognized as a secret prelude to self-punishment, and it will be, once we awaken to the truth that the nature that wants to condemn someone has first unconsciously condemned itself.

Blaming someone else for your gloomy day is like resenting the TV weatherman because it's cold and rainy outside.