Seems there's a bit of confusion as concerns some of the stories I've recently told, that they hold contradictory ideas. Let me shed some light on this concern with the following notes: Things often seem as contradictions to us when we can't see that higher understanding must necessarily include levels; i.e., something can be true in one world, but not always so in another. In this instance,...

Whatever we seek -- or find -- outside our awareness... is not what we're really looking for; the discontentment that eventually discolors experience proves this fact: what we truly seek lives in a world above anything that can be pursued by the divided mind. But, as yet, either we're unable -- or unwilling -- to see this truth that is the secret cornerstone of self-realization.

Our "normal" way of dealing with pain is to ignore it until we can't any longer -- at which point this mounting pressure drives us to ask ourselves those familiar "What can be done about this?" questions -- our perception being that coming upon the correct answer to the cause of our concern will eliminate the ache being felt. And any time we don't know the immediate answer to some pressing question...

The missing spiritual key -- needed to forgive those who have hurt us -- is found in our own awakening wish to be forgiven for having been deceived, and then seduced into believing there could ever be a valid reason for hating anyone.

Clearly there is no peace in trying to forget you, so perhaps the answer to this affliction lies in refusing to accept a breath that doesn't take your name into my heart. Although I admit there is still some confusion as to the exact gain in this prescription, nevertheless there is some evidence of wisdom in it, and in that there is hope. For instance, of late I've learned that my mind and my...

Spiritual wisdom trails intellectual knowledge in direct proportion to the extent that one falsely believes excellence in something can come before a constant practice of the same.

Part 1: Confusion is the distance between what real life is showing you about yourself, and your refusal to see the same. Part 2: To realize the thought nature is powerless to resolve the incomplete experiences of life that it creates in the first place releases you from the illusion that by revisiting those same moments -- with thought as your guide -- that you can escape the confusion and co...

Featured Study Group Topic for the Week of April 25, 2016. 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? Le...

Topics covered: Enlightenment is not waiting for you someplace, or born out of a knowledge you acquire, or an action that you take. Enlightenment is everywhere; Correct action at the right time is wisdom, and that wisdom is freedom; All confusion is born out of insistence. If I insist, I can't see. If I can't see, I struggle. What do I struggle with? What’s right in front of my eyes that I can’t see. That's confusion...

I've been a pirate... looting the hearts of any I could board and pillage for my pleasure. I've been a priest... consoling, and confusing any I could deceive and profit from by my practiced piety. I've been anyone... that everyone wanted me to be...

Topic: Take One Small Step Beyond Yourself and Be Free of Worry, Confusion, and Doubt (Classroom Talk 10/9/24)

Doesn't it feel at times as though we are all shipwrecked on an island of confusion and stormy emotions? And that over time we've all but forgotten it's possible to live any other way? Where our days are spent either hiding from the storms, or building inadequate shelters to protect ourselves while doing nothing real to get rescued? Yet, something in us knows that there will never be an end to...