Classroom Talk: 11/22/2002 - The fear we feel that we can't succeed with starting life all over again is because our old nature wants us to believe that the path to a New Self requires we retrace our steps and fight our way back to an unsoiled starting place in life. But here's the truth: There is no pathway, past or future, that leads to Real Self-Newness. The secret place of all fresh starts in life unfolds right from where we are in each moment...

Question: My ex-husband is a drug and alcohol addict. The alcoholism has especially worsened over the past several years. I covered it up for years with others, then could do it no longer. I now receive punishing e-mails from him every week. It is affecting my sleep, health, serenity, and a new relationship. I have asked him to stop, and it does nothing, but I don't want to get attorneys involved. Do you have any thoughts on the best path forward?

Topics covered: We only want to work when it makes us feel good; There will always come a point where pain pushes back; The only way you will be a free human being is when you are able to discern Real I from False I; An awakened man lives in a world that is no longer based in duality; Only the divine can take you past your pain; You don't know what God makes possible in your life; You can't be...

We can't really know love's power to free us, to fulfill us through our relationships, until we gain some totally new ideas about how to see, and then interact with others. Not just a rehash of our past failed viewpoint; we know that path is powerless to heal the aching heart. An altogether higher view is called for. We need to be able to see others through the "eyes" of a completely fresh understanding...

For anyone with ears to hear, there is but one question and one answer: will we wait patiently for a single moment of relationship with what is eternal and real...

The higher purpose of suffering is to ground us in the existence and Presence of an altogether higher level of (our own) Being...

Topics covered: The only way it is possible to want to avoid any moment is that we are asleep to the possibilities in that same moment; Our powers that we imagine we possess abandon us whenever we need them the most; The mind's endless juggling is about trying to find a way to get past disturbances to the place of peace it has imagined in a time to come; The endless struggle is about trying to gain the powers necessary to restore peace and security...

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...

Topics covered: Why is it so hard to let go and live in the present moment; I wish to be fearless, spontaneous, and cheerful but life's challenges leave me baffled; Is there a distinction between positive and negative feelings; How should I respond to other peoples' fears; How can I grow past limiting situations in the workplace; What is the true meaning of being 'God-fearing'; How do I find s...

Classroom Talk: 9/11/2024 - For anyone with ears to hear, there is but one question and one answer: will we wait patiently for a single moment of relationship with what is eternal and real? Where - by the ineffable touch of something as unknowable as it is timeless - all the moments of our life - past, present, and future - are forever changed? Otherwise, we waste the precious few moments of our life chasing the pleasure of an imagined time to come that recedes from our grasp in the same instant that we reach for it.

Do you have any suggestions for making use of idle time such as waiting in lines, traffic, doctor offices, etc.? I feel bored with my job and my life in general. In the past I would have looked for a new job or a time-consuming hobby. Can self-understanding clear up the boredom, or should I take outward steps to do so? I am not motivated by my present job. Is there inner work I can do to relie...

I have been in a marriage for 19 years and for the last 6 years it has not been good. What criteria is the best to use to decide if it's time to quit? We put up with each other and that's it. Is a successful relationship one that lasts for a certain amount of time? I've been divorced for a year and even though I believe I've dealt with our past issues, I cannot seem to put my ex-wife's *curren...