Real life can no more act to pull us down than does the rising sun burden the spring flowers that wait to bathe in its nourishing light.

Part I: When we feel overcome by a life seemingly turned against us, it is vital we understand these moments are not the outcome of some bitter Reality set against us. This suffering that seizes us is born of our resistance to seeing that the present foundation of our self is nothing like we had imagined it to be. Each such glimpse is a Gift of Reality, not Its denial of our hopes; for now we...

Topics discussed in this dialogue: The idea that we can manifest abundance and create our destiny is only half the story -- the other half is that we are creations as well; Our relationship with the Divine is literally intended to be moment-to-moment; No matter what we're doing, we're in the presence moment -- it is the living expression of God at this level of reality; If we're unhappy it's b...

If you haven't noticed this yet about yourself, it's easy to see in others: we each seem to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. The nature of this burden may change with age. When young, we feel the weight of having to choose a direction in life. As adults, we feel encumbered by all the perceived requirements of an active life: trying to control events, win acceptance, maintain relationships, on and on, with each new self-shaped solution...

Classroom Talk: 5/1/2019 It may feel as if it's true, but familiarity is not safety... Any more than we might believe that some unfortunate creature -- protected by the cage in which it is confined -- finds comfort in its captivity.

The reasons we give ourselves for our pain are not the cause of it.

Classroom Talk: 12/01/2024 - Take Your Rightful Place in the Divine Revelation of Life

When we turn on a faucet connected to a hose with a small nozzle at its other end, we know from experience that we have to keep the hose in hand, otherwise we will likely get soaked chasing down the runaway end. What happens is that the water pressure, as it passes through the nozzle, transforms our ordinarily tame garden hose into the equivalent of a tethered rocket. With this picture in min...

Classroom Talk: 11/12/2004 - Whenever we ask another to help us with a challenge that we must face -- before we've done all we can on our own -- we rob ourselves of realizing this priceless understanding: The higher powers we need to transcend our troubles are given to us, but only as we awaken to our need for them, and stand willing to receive them not in glory, but in humility.

Even though we all have our natural preference, no season of the year is greater than any other. Each plays an indispensable role in a cycle of life greater than its individual parts; and each one serves the season that follows on its heels, enabling it to fulfill its purpose in a procession as timeless as the earth itself...

Student Talks: 10/25/2024 - Key Lesson: United we see, and are free; divided we struggle...and fall.

Topics covered:  The last thing that human beings want to give up is their suffering; The root of every ongoing, painful psychological struggle is the attempt to avoid suffering; None of the chronic psychological pains that we experience in our lives exist without the corresponding things outside of ourselves that we blame them on.