Student Talks: 4/29/2022 - Key Lesson: It is a distinct stage in the development of the aspirant when -- rather than being easily distracted by some imagined consolation for his pain, or by concluding who is to blame for it -- his first and real preference in that dark moment is to increase his awareness of his condition, and not to find ways around it.

Topic: How to Spot a False Inner Guide From the True One; Questions: Is the devil a man-made creation so we have something to blame for our suffering; Working with the Stop, Drop, and Endure exercise; How do I know whether the strong feelings that surge through me are the 'real me'; I understand I should observe without thinking but my tendency is to analyze everything.

In this discussion Guy explains that we are intended to have a direct relationship with the Divine. Presently we unnecessarily go through an intermediary to find the relationship we have been seeking. But a mind that is in constant contradiction can't see itself as it actually is. When we begin to realize this inherent contradiction within our present level of self and not blame anything outsi...

All the many years of my first marriage, I showed one face for outside and another for inside so that I would not get into trouble. I know we shouldn't blame anyone else for our mistakes, but I did anything to keep the peace. Now I have a chance to meet someone else but I have no desire to lie, cheat, and deceive again. My trust has gone out the window. How do I start over and give this love a...

The unwanted moments that move in-and-out of our lives are like shadows that pass through a forest on a sunny day...

How many times in a day do we find ourselves having gone after something that we wanted, only to find ourselves "gotten" or "done in" by what we have reached for? Then what happens? The crying, complaining, bitterness, blaming starts: "Oh, why is this happening to me? This isn't right!" We can't see how we actually participated in producing the moment in which we find ourselves compromised, an...

Topics covered: Thought dilutes the necessary experience of yourself; There is no development without an inner struggle in which a person will get banged up; What we get sucked into is the sensation of 'I' that fights with life; Some examples of false flags (something that seems to be on your side but is actually a deception and not for your best interests) include blame, plans, ideologies, lovely feelings, believing in people, believing in anything...

There is a difference between thinking about a moment, and being in a kind of relationship with the moment in which there is awareness of ourselves as we actually are. The present moment provides us with the opportunity to see that our experience of an event is not separate from the event that we are experiencing. Awareness of this fact puts an end to blaming the outside world for our experience of life.

Topics covered: Real peace is beyond imagination because it transcends the self that imagines it; It is a person's ideas about the nature of peace that produce the conditions that are subsequently blamed for taking that imagined peace away; "The roaring of lions, the howling of wolves, the raging of the stormy sea, and the destructive sword, are portions of eternity too great for the eye of man." -- William Blake

Topics covered: The mind believes that it possess what it imagines. However, to be in imagination is to be separate from what you are thinking about; Humanity is spiritually asleep, and the purpose of a true spiritual school is to show men and women that very fact; The fox blames the trap. The real nature of the trap is the nature of the fox that is identified with what it wants.

Topics Covered: No possession that we have given to ourselves has ever made us feel safe and secure; Any time you judge, hate or blame, it is because your self-made kingdom has started to crumble. And yet you must let your kingdom fall and do nothing to save it; Comparison comes out of imagination, and it is at the root of feeling that you are all alone...

Topics Covered: Pain names what it blames so that it can keep us in its prison; Fools believe, wise men and women explore; In my weakness is Thy strength made perfect; Staying in the moment for a heartbeat longer; Stop talking to yourself; Analyzing the pain is a part of the pain; You can't identify with thoughts and feelings, and learn about them at the same time...