In this world that you and I live in, response is request. We can slightly enlarge this idea by restating it this way: The way you respond to life is also a request you make to it. See how the next few examples prove this important discovery: Someone walks into your home or office and says something to you that upsets you terribly. You respond with a negative state, continuing to brood or...

We are always trying to build a self that won't disappear out of the things that are coming in the stream of time, never understanding that nothing we find floating upon this temporal stream can ever be timeless. And if this is true about the nature of the world's ever-becoming events, how much more impermanent is our sense of identity derived from them? But we're slow to learn!

If regret is the act of a divided nature that keeps itself in place by regretting itself, then remorse is pain that nullifies this false sense of self. And that is why remorse is so rare -- and why it is so holy. It is written: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn for the sake of righteousness..."

GF: Welcome to our chat tonight, and Happy New Year to the Friends of Truth. Yes, the promise of another New Year is here, and this hopeful idea brings us right to these questions: What must one do if one truly intends to make a new beginning? What is our part in fulfilling this promise of Newness latent but hidden in ourselves? We ask these questions in the spirit of the Newness that we hope...

Our relationships with one another are often a source of distress. In general, the principal form of conflict we experience with others has to do with some form of consideration that we feel they are not giving to us. We often suffer from thoughts like these: "She is not being respectful enough." "He is not as kind as I want him to be." "They just don't care as deeply as I do." However, if we...

GF: Good evening. I want to introduce some special ideas about what is required of us if we wish to spiritually transform our lives. First, to set the stage, a short question about human behavior: Have you ever noticed how -- whenever there is a secret going around among your close friends - you will do almost anything to learn its undisclosed nature? Or if you think someone knows something t...

GF: Welcome and good evening. Our chat will begin once I post these opening remarks on what each of us can do -- on a daily basis -- to develop more harmonious human relationships. Deep spiritual work reveals the truth that hellish things on earth manifest as they do because their dark cause dwells hidden somewhere in us. Tonight we look into this interior abyss and shine into its unseen corn...

GF: Hello and welcome everyone. Before we begin tonight, I would like to introduce into your minds a few special ideas that you will need should you wish to reclaim your Real Life. What is your "Real Life?" It is that True Life that is uncontaminated by fear, greed, hatreds, and the host of other negative states that punish most people on a daily basis. Last month we spoke of moving past pain...

GF: Welcome to our chat tonight. Before we begin, I want to give you some things to think upon that are vital to true self-victory. No one can hope to grow in Spirit who ignores the truths about to be told. We begin with a short story: Two men who have worked for the same company for years, and who share an office, are having a conversation over lunch. They are in the company cafeteria with o...

GF: Welcome everyone to our chat tonight. We will get started momentarily. As is the usual case, I would like to send along a few thoughts before we begin. If one day you banged your elbow and seven years later the same spot not only still ached, but radiating pains were appearing in your fingers and shoulder, you would know that something in your body's system was terribly amiss! You would k...

GF: It always seems that in the face of any crisis, the best and the worst of humanity is revealed for all to see. On one hand, there are thousands who suddenly become aware (perhaps for the first time) of the pain and loss others feel and, foregoing personal interest, dive into the challenging waters of self-sacrifice and other charitable works of selflessness. At the same time, these crises...

Welcome and good evening. Our chat will begin once I post these opening remarks on the nature of spiritual battle, and what is required of us to overcome the darkness that has (so far) overcome us. The true spiritual battle occurs in the "dark" of us, a contest between the light of our wish to be better than the bitterness in us, or higher than some heartache or hatred dragging us down. Whate...