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We cannot harm another human being or the planet without first having harmed ourselves.
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When an event triggers a negative reaction in us, it seems to us there is no other action to take other than to protect, at all costs, our present identity — i.e. who and what we believe ourselves to be in that moment, that feels threatened by whatever it is that was triggered.
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The only way it's possible for me to harm myself is if, in that same moment, my attention has been handed over to some unconscious nature that has decided it knows why the pain is there, and what must be done to free me from it.
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The unattended mind breeds defeat.
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There is no such thing as a day when you will become free.
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The mind continuously searches for a way to be at peace in this life, not realizing that the very search to make life match what it says is peace produces every bit of pain and suffering we have.
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If we want to be free, we are going to have to reclaim our attention.
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Unattended desire is a form of tension that meets a moment with a demand.
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Exercise: Be still and sense your eyes, without thought. Once you have this undivided attention on the sense of your own eyes, then without thinking about it, bring the sense of your own eyes into the full awareness of yourself. Then slowly move that same attention to your ears, then your nose, then your mouth, then your hands, then your body.
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The point of this type of attention exercise is not to succeed but to start to see how difficult it is to keep your attention.
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Use this new knowledge in unwanted situations when something wants to take your attention away.
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As you begin to see how your attention is stolen from you, you will begin to understand that every plan to escape escape your pain belongs to a consciousness whose attention is placed on what it says.
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If we want to know anything about God's life we must learn instead to have a conscious connection with the divine.