Classroom Talk: 7/16/2004 - Seeking the approval of others -- in the hope of measuring the worth of ourselves -- makes as much sense as looking for our reflection in a falling drop of rain, with the main difference being this: A raindrop actually lasts longer than does that fleeting sense of self we win for having sold our soul for another empty smile.

If... You serve only yourself, You serve nothing. If... You love only yourself, You love nothing. If... You cling only to yourself, You hold nothing. If... You wish to please only yourself, You please nothing. If... You have only things as pleasures, You have nothing. If... Your thoughts wrestle with tomorrow, You struggle with nothing. If... You strive to amass o...

It's a little-known secret that our experience of life in any given moment is a direct reflection of what we actually value in that same moment. We may deny this unsettling truth, but when it comes to what we are in relationship with, inwardly and outwardly, actions speak louder than words--and, seen or not, all actions are a choice of one kind or another...

Fear's power over us is nothing more than the way it causes us to forget the truth of ourselves, which is this: we are created to eternally transcend the limits of our present nature, to transform who and what we have been in the very moment it ceases to serve the good of us. But, because we have forgotten this or -- more accurately speaking -- because we are asleep to its power in us, we ar...

These five special insights present the case for -- as well as the cost of -- true Spiritual Independence. Welcome them into your mind and watch how their secret instructions lead you to the unconditional freedom that your heart longs for. To weigh the value of what this world can reward you with -- you need only to remove the scales from your eyes; for were you willing to measure how many t...

We go through life looking for approval from others. This unending search for approval runs deep inside of us as we unknowingly nurture a relationship with the idea that if we could just be accepted, then little by little we would come to know who we are. We actually buy into the notion that if we could get enough people to approve of us, then this ache in our soul that is always trying to fig...

Looking for ourselves in the eyes of others throws us behind the walls of a psychic prison. The door slams shut each time we find ourselves feeling good about ourselves simply because someone has given us a needed nod of approval. Let's investigate this strange sequence of psychological events that leaves us in a prison of our own making. Whenever someone approves of us, it gives us a feelin...

Far better to be wrongly judged by others than to live with the fear one has of being judged wrongly by them... and to sell one's soul oneself for the sake of their approval.

For the want of love, pleasure, or approval we often accept within us the guidance of a consciousness so compromised that it is incapable of discerning the difference between fulfilling ourselves and selling our soul.

Topics Covered: Discussion of the lunch exercise to be aware of your feet on the floor; Thought is not in your head; Our sense of self is almost always an anxious one; You experience the perceiver, not the perceived; All postures approximate states; In a sleeping human being, all I's are an expression of an unconscious feeling; All real freedom begins with self-knowledge received and understoo...

We go through life looking for approval from others. This unending search for approval runs deep inside of us as we unknowingly nurture a relationship with the idea that if we could just be accepted, then little by little we would come to know who we are. We actually buy into the notion that if we could get enough people to approve of us, then this ache in our soul that is always trying to fig...