Why do we accept so much unhappiness in our lives today? If you think this supposition is untrue, ask yourself why people spend so much time seeking ways to distract themselves with empty pleasures? Or why so many people push themselves along one spiritual path after another, blindly hoping that something will happen to mitigate their sense of...
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...
Our resolve to live a real life, an awakened life, is strengthened when our self-study reveals that at any moment we're not consciously in command of ourselves, a mechanical nature is in charge of us, directing us to look for someone, something to blame for our pain.
It seems that nothing in my life has turned out the way I have prayed that it would. The sadness over my situation is overwhelming, even though I have tried my best to give all my failures over to God. Where do I go from here?...
Question: I often try during the day to start over, but quite honestly, no matter what I tell myself, I rarely feel anything dramatic happening. I may become aware of myself for a moment, but I can't seem to get free of my anger, or nervousness, or whatever else I'm feeling at the time. Maybe I'm trying too hard, but it seems that nothing new ever happens. Response: To really "start o...
When it comes to letting go and living in the Now, no sincere effort goes unrewarded. In the long run, it is not our ability to succeed with some individual task that determines our spiritual success, but our willingness to learn what is new and true about ourselves. Within each of us dwells a being without bounds, but unless it is explored and exercised wisely we will never know the heights...
GF: Hello and welcome everyone. Before we begin tonight, I would like to introduce into your minds a few special ideas that you will need should you wish to reclaim your Real Life. What is your "Real Life?" It is that True Life that is uncontaminated by fear, greed, hatreds, and the host of other negative states that punish most people on a daily basis. Last month we spoke of moving past pain...
In those times when we're busy dreaming up the next plan, the next love, the next thrill, aren't we really looking for a way to renew ourselves? Most of us experience "renewal" when some idea or a hope that we have gets fulfilled, filling us in turn with a sense of excitement; and then, in that feeling of being full of ourselves, comes a certain kind of pleasure that we take as being the same...
We frequently feel ourselves to be under the power of things. We feel we are the victims of an unfair social system, economic upheavals, painful relationships -- even a lawn chair that won't unfold right. We fight these conditions, feeling ourselves to be under their "dark" influence. The fact is, however, these events do not exist as negative events except for our perception of them. The only...
It is a Law, not of man's or of woman's, but of life: Before you can have a different life -- before you can be happier, wiser, more at peace, and in quiet command of yourself -- you must first be different. Being is everything. What is Being? A moment's consideration helps determine that everything around us has some form of Being. Why is this true? Because all physical forms -- whether ani...
Putting our life in God's hands does not mean that we hand Him our wish list for life, but rather that we make His life our wish. When God's will becomes our sole wish in life, then whatever happens to us not only fulfills our wish, but we realize it has always been our wish right from the start.
Knowledge, regardless of its sophisticated nature, is a tool. It arises from and belongs to what has passed. As such it embodies, defines, and relates us to life through what we already know is true about the world around us. By definition, this kind of understanding is limited.