The other day while meditating, joy was brought to my heart for something I saw. A few hours later, I read something that made it even more clear. I was able to apply this new understanding to my life for the day. It was wonderful while it lasted. I know my life that day touched others. Is this what it means to be in correct balance?...

Classroom Talk: 6/18/2023 - The real joy of a quiet mind is the realization of just how soul-stirring real life can be without having to identify with anything moving into and through it.

Classroom Talk: 10/2/2024 - Continuing to look for something new outside of yourself is like rearranging the clothes in your closet and, after you're done, going back through it hoping to find the experience of some unexpected joy.

Classroom Talk: 3/13/2022 - Part 1: By wanting are all things not wanted... thus created; much as joy and sorrow, bound as one... are related. Part 2: If you build it, they will come; if you leave it empty... it will be filled.

Classroom Talk: 1/2/2022 - Much as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so it holds true: our experience of any given moment - for its light or darkness - its joy or sorrow - is cast in the image of the consciousness momentarily awakened to reflect upon itself.

Student Talks: 3/18/2022 - Key Lesson: Part 1: By wanting are all things not wanted... thus created; much as joy and sorrow, bound as one... are related. Part 2: If you build it, they will come; if you leave it empty... it will be filled.

Student Talks: 1/7/2022 - Key Lesson: Much as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so it holds true: our experience of any given moment -- for its light or darkness -- its joy or sorrow -- is cast in the image of the consciousness momentarily awakened to reflect upon itself.

Classroom Talk: 5/11/2003 - Part 1: There is no life lesson available to us that exists apart from the Light that reveals its truth. Part 2: Our soul, in her developing desire for the Divine, is like a flower created to be visited and attended to by Higher Beings that bring her wisdom, comfort, and silent joy.

Classroom Talk: 1/22/2020 - If our contentment - our joy in life - doesn't start somewhere deep and untouchable within us, as does the beauty of a rose begin before it flowers, then our happiness is "in and of this world": (it is) a creation of passing time that will - as must all things that live in time - wilt and wither away.

Whoever doesn't know himself suffers unwillingly for the sake of ignorance. Whoever works to know himself agrees to suffer for the sake of wisdom. Whoever becomes wise slays the suffering born of ignorance. And whoever transcends the suffering born of ignorance shares in the birth and burden of creation, in which can be found no greater peace or joy.

In this High Holiday Season, so full of self-created gratification, we should never forget that hidden in the shadow of all passing pleasures dwells their unseen opposite, some form of sorrow that - sooner or later - must visit the unwary soul. Yet... for our striving to remember this inescapable fact of life, born in us is this bright new understanding: lasting joy is found only in the realiz...

Topics covered: How does 'being indispensable vs. being expendable' relate to levels and scale; Why does it sometimes seem like resistance is deferred; What do I do about a roommate who ignores me; What is the meaning of 'Nothing exists that you do, that you won't pay for.'; I try not to give in to negativity but it's very persistent; The more I do this work it seems to lead to both more joy a...