If you serve only yourself, you serve nothing. If you cling only to yourself, you hold nothing. If you hunger for the approval of others, you starve for nothing. If you wish to please only yourself, you please nothing. If you have only possessions as pleasures, you have nothing. If you strive to amass only wealth, you count for nothing. If you are wise only in the ways of this worl...

The Vine doesn't fear the passing of the branch; it was there before it. The Vine gives rise to the branch; it will be there long after the branch withers in winter winds, and falls away. The branch fears its own passing, knowing nothing of the Vine from out of which it has come... or that it will be born again come the light of spring. All is Vine for those who can see the branch for what i...

The sudden onset of any painful confusion has a single source: it is the dark and negative effect of a mind unaware of its own contradictions. For instance, how can there be any conflict -- or confusion -- over what any moment wants to show us about our present nature, without there being some part of us that refuses the revelation? Learning to be aware of such contradictions (in our own consc...

One sure way to tell if you're negative about something that's happened to you... is when you can't stop thinking about it, reliving some idea that simply won't stop. Any thought about an event past that you can't stop running through your mind... is in a race of its own; it sprints forward trying to cross some imagined finish line where it imagines it will finally rest for having finally outr...

Part 1 No one is willing to risk losing a "fight" until he or she sees that there's nothing to be gained by going another 10 rounds in the same ring. Part 2 Hoping to make a real change in some painful pattern with a loved one, without being willing to risk what may happen to you by deliberately stepping outside of that pattern, is like walking around in a circle and wondering why y...

Part 1 It makes no difference to whom, or at what we point the finger of pain as the figure to blame for our suffering, because until we are aware of our own hand in these same unwanted moments... nothing can change. Part 2 The unconscious assumption that the more negative we are towards any given situation -- given the "wrong" we see as having been done to us -- proves that w...

Part 1 You are responsible for every impression you make on others; however what they make of your work is no longer your responsibility. Part 2 Nothing is easier than to be offended; it is the dark expression of an unconscious level of self that believes feeling indignant toward those who fail to show it proper deference proves its superiority over them. This is like believing th...

When it comes to comparing the rewards of this world -- its powers and pleasures -- to the possibility of realizing spiritual freedom, there is no such thing as the "next best thing." But, as always, each must weigh such considerations for oneself, and prepare to live the consequences of that decision: is it better to "die" a free man or woman, or to live as a foolish one who realizes, too lat...

One of the greater misunderstandings about our existence on earth is that most believe, in one way or another, that it is intended to be a place of rest; but it is not. Our life on earth, like everything created upon it, is a test... Where not only are we weighed as to what we can and will agree to bear, but so is our heart being constantly examined as to what it loves and places above all els...

The wish for perfection -- to be perfect -- doesn't originate with you; it is a seed of a sort, planted in one's heart by Perfection itself. The work to know this Source of all that is Good is to become one with it, which is what perfection is in All created worlds. So do not give up this wish; rather let go of the idea that YOU are the one to make it happen.

With all the unrest in the world and Christians who talk about end times, I have to admit that I am very concerned about what is in store for the world, our country, and for my family. I believe in God and I don't want to live my life worrying. I do believe that one day we will all be in heaven and in peace; it is just the process of getting there that scares me!...

Part 1 Just as it is impossible to wish upon a star without being able to see its light in the dead of night above you, so must we understand that our relationship with the Divine cannot be separated from our awareness of its moment-to-moment revelation as it unfolds within us. Part 2 We cannot see with our physical eyes the being of things; the infinite and intricate relationship...