Many founders of Eastern religions (like the Buddha) came from wealthy backgrounds and had no practical experience of life. Contemporary gurus like Krishnamurti also were financially well off. So can a person with no "real life" experience apply these teachings? Aren't these "rich man's" teachings? If I am down and out, would it be the best time to take up these teachings?...

In your book on Breaking Codependency, you refer to "desire" as us wishing for something. For me, desire is a natural impulse to create in the universe. Without it we would never be compelled to move. Don't you think that the word "want" more accurately expresses the lack we feel when we don't have something and the sense that having it will complete us?...

Part 1 The pain in any unwanted revelation over our present level of self is a creation of that same lower level of self that doesn't want its nature revealed. Part 2 There is no real consolation in our spiritual struggles unless we enter into them understanding that whatever sacrifice may be required of us serves a higher purpose than can be known by the parts of us thus summoned;...

Judging yourself, or others... seems to prove the presence of an innocent "you" -- someone superior to the inferior character now being condemned. But reproving yourself, or others... is actually the avoidance of seeing yourself as you are in that moment; this order of disapproval serves a dark and divided level of self, one whose unseen purpose is to create the illusion of there being a di...

Part 1 Those who seek the Kingdom of Heaven are always in the right place, at the right time, to see their cup filled, and to drink from it... as freely as they will. Part 2 You have been granted a relative forever; a living "time" in which to either find a freedom and permanent fulfillment that only love can provide... Or, to live imprisoned in the pain-giving illusion that nothi...

Part 1 Never fight with life; your struggle is not with what opposes you, but rather with what you have yet to understand about the opposing forces that live within you. Part 2 The wind that fills the sails of a ship is born of a coming storm... As is each tempest the herald of the calm waters that follow its wrath. In this knowledge is found the key to conscious detachment, the po...

The lines of a play in a story too great to tell wash over and through me. I speak, as given to; I seem to act, but in truth am moved along, much like the waves of a sea in service to its living waters. As they, am I: forever obedient to time and tide, content to be a part of something greater than any momentary appearance, knowing that what rises... falls, only to rise again.

No shadow can see itself... nor does it want to; the (in-the-dark) parts that don't want to be illuminated will not agree to stand in the light that reveals them. However, there are parts of us that know these truths, and that can -- by a higher will -- hold these unconscious parts of us in the presence of that light... so that the light can do what only it can do: integrate (into itself) that...

Starting out, the aspirant believes his struggle is just to awaken himself. But, as he awakens, the aspirant sees an increasing need to serve others in their wish to be free. Finally, the aspirant realizes that his struggle was never just for himself, or for those he met along the way, but to take part in the awakening of human consciousness itself: to help in the liberation of all human being...

Part 1 Attending to, completing what the present moment asks of you... is the business of real Life. In the silence of this relationship is revealed and received, at once, the wisdom and wealth of your True Self. A few of these timeless riches include: a faith no fear can shake, an innocence no temptation can break, and a freedom that no unwanted moment in life can ever take from you. **...

What good is the love of Truth without agreeing to embody the freedom it promises? This means that we must act from this love -- daring to embrace what is light, right, and true even in the midst of all that seems wrong within and around us. We must bring its flame into the midst of our storms and into that fear that comes with times of trial. For only then and there will we see -- as we sta...

When I face the Sun, I am full of Light; as one with a timeless warmth that nourishes my soul. Yet, when I am turned away -- though I stand in the exact same place as before -- I am full of shadows, seeing only those forms that seem real, but that have no heart, and so... no love, no life of their own. Only the remnants of that first Light, the remembrance of its loving touch, live on within...