Topic: Leave the Teaching Moment Alone (3/24/19 Classroom Talk)

Patient persistence in any labor, coupled with persistent patience in that effort, serves not only to perfect that task at hand, but also works in tandem to perfect the hand that undertakes the task.

The only thing we "add" to life by our resistance to it is the weight of a self-induced suffering born of needless worry.

Topics covered:  What we call our thinking isn't really us doing the thinking at all. Rather, it is a mechanical mind talking to itself about what each moment means; The nature that reacts mechanically has already concluded what the moment means even before the condition that stirs it to the surface. As we are, we are that reactive nature; Any time life runs counter to expectations, there is instantaneous judgment and resistance.

Imagine trying to see the whole of an ocean through a ship's porthole, and we have a pretty good idea why (our) life can so often feel small and confined; as if we have no choice but to be swept out to sea on a single wave of some fearful thought or feeling.

Persistence of the conscious kind proves discouragement to be a lie. Only in the light of this revelation is the deception of discouragement seen for what it is in reality: the shadow of an unconscious self that protects its life by convincing its host to accept mediocrity as the only possibility.

Topics Covered: Resistance is bondage. "Not wanting" is a form of bondage that can't be separated from its opposite of "wanting"; Within every imagined want is contained the fear that what we want will not come; There is another order of our own being that cannot be made less than it already is; Silence is not just the lack of sound, but it is backdrop and foundation that allows...

Part 1 There is no uncertainty in the pure present moment because in the Now there is no one apart from it to be fearful of anything. Part 2 Negative forces are not a dream, but anyone who is fearful or angry about his life is living out an unnecessary, useless nightmare.

It is his wants and desires that disturb the waters he longs in his heart to be still. This is the contradiction in his consciousness reconciled only in God's will.

What is the source of the "blues," and what is the most effective way to begin shaking it? When I find myself feeling depressed -- in the dumps so to speak -- I tend to see myself as the victim of whatever situation is at hand. Then the more I find reasons to justify being the victim, the longer I tend to stay at my personal pity party. What would it take to snap myself out of this sad stupor...

We can only bring an end to our wants through reaching the end of our hopes in the wanter.

Our sensations of life have nothing in common with sensitivity to life. The former is born of unconscious reactions as they cascade and then disappear in time, while the latter is related to True Conscience and is as timeless as the eternal wisdom it helps to bear. Learning to discern the difference between these two states of our being is a pre-requisite to our realization of Real Life.