Topics covered: We keep trying to change the exterior circumstance instead of waking up to our own expectations and demands; The way that we know we are good is how much we want to punish others for not being good; Letting go is the recognition that holding on hurts. The intelligence in awareness will not harm itself; The unattended mind will inevitably reach out and touch something that will cause pain...

Topics covered: We try to change exterior conditions in order to change our experience; There is nothing more practical than self-understanding. And there is nothing more empowering than self-knowledge; When we are afraid and anxious, who or what is it that is taking the action to change my experience? Fear and anxiety pretend to be guides; Letting go is about discovering the parts of us that promise power but ultimately make us powerless.

Topics covered: We have been conditioned to believe that who we are is dependent upon conditions; Psychological fear is the belief that who we are can be threatened by exterior conditions; Fear needs to control the conditions that threaten the existence of that self-structure; You can't change conditions, but you can change your relationship to them. That's where fearlessness starts; Any fear that you feed is going to consume you in the end...

Topics covered: Tapping Into The Powerful Resource of Effective Prayer; Our life moment to moment is a ceaseless interaction with a matrix of divine and earthly energies that always respond in appropriate measure to whatever we as human beings put forth into that life; Prayer is for the betterment and perfection of ourselves, but it also serves unknowingly as the source of a punishment if we're not aware of ourselves...

Classroom Talk: 12/31/2023 - Just as the eyes that see the sun cannot understand its light by which they behold the shape and beauty of all things, neither can the heart understand the love that calls it to know and embrace all things. Eye and heart are creatures in time, but Light and Love are not. Even so, they meet; in their union is the mystery, miracle, and fulfillment of our yet realized Divine possibility.

We see others tell themselves lies to explain their obvious negative reactions and attending self-destructive choices, almost never missing the chance to sit in silent judgment of them...

Topics covered: When we have pain in our relationship with others, we never turn to ourselves and wonder, "What is this about?"; We have no idea what to do about our pain, let alone why we have it; The people and problems in your life are not there to produce suffering, they are there to reveal to you something latent in your consciousness that you do not yet understand; There is no "self" without relationship. It is a mutually dependent experience...

Topics covered: The intimate enemy is a consciousness that is asleep to itself but does not know it; As long as we have good reasons for why we suffer, we are never going to transcend painful patterns; Something in us believes that there are good reasons to suffer over things that we have no control over; Sufi story: "I lost my donkey, but at least I was not riding it at the time." We are not meant to be saddled by negative thoughts and feelings...

Topics covered: New Year's resolutions always revolve around wanting to keep the so-called "good" parts of what I call "me," and not-wanting what I call the "bad" parts; If you want to have a new life, you cannot bring old wants along with you; There is an innate longing to be in relationship with what cannot be expressed in words; True spiritual teachings are not recognizable by the consciousness that has faith only in things seen...

What is one of the most limiting ideas that our physical senses report to us? The idea of time. "Time! Where's it going? I can't hold onto anything, try as I might: what I won; how you felt; the way she looked; the things I love..." Like the torrent of a strange river that vanishes from view as it rounds an impassable bend in a shadow-filled gorge, what is past just disappears, leaving only memory in its wake, itself subject to the ravaging passage of time.

Can you count the number of times you have been present in a moment of your life and realized how much you wished you weren't you? That you hadn't done what you just did, and wished you would never do it again... loathing yourself for your weakness, despising yourself for your ambition that compromises you with every step you take, feeling frightened over some possession you've managed to acquire in the hope of some freedom it promised...

In the following material, you will read the innermost thoughts and feelings of inspired seekers who have gone before you. Some names you may know; others you will be glad to meet! But, as you journey along with them, sharing in their discoveries and discouragements, one thing should grow increasingly clear: the spirit that called them -- that awakened their hearts, and quickened their minds -- so that they might have...