Special Lessons

The solution to all stress and tension is a mind that is made aware of itself as being the producer of that stress and tension. Stress and tension are products of an unaware, unawake mind wrestling with its own contents to free itself from struggle. Relief from that tension is not to struggle with more things or to become stronger than what stresses you, but to recognize the relationship between how you are involved in your own mind because of that...

One of the things about the spiritual journey that is so difficult -- because of what it asks of a person -- is that we must reach the point where we look at our life as it is and realize that we cannot have what our heart longs for in our life such as it is. We come to a full recognition that we are indeed a house, and a spirit in a house, and that the house has had its way with the spirit but that the spirit was never intended to be commanded, dominated by the house...

Our lives, as they are, are less than half of what they are intended to be. We can recognize that something is clearly missing. Often, even though we come up with: "It's him," "It's her," "It's this," or "It's that" which is clearly missing, it turns out that we may even get these things, and things still seem to be missing in our lives...

Do you know people who, when things are going well for them, but things are going bad for you, will tell you: "Let go and let God"? Doesn't it drive you crazy? They got a check that day or they lost a few pounds, or it's a good hair day, or whatever it is, and they say, "Let go and let God." And of course, if they could see, you want to throttle them at that moment for their insensitivity...

Light, love -- all that is good and holy -- already exists. All the wisdom you and I will ever need already lives within us. It's just that we are not where the wisdom is. Why? Because we want to know, to prove, to get. We want to be seen as something special. All of us with that mindset are set to suffer ourselves until one day we see, "This doesn't work." In that same moment the epiphany comes, and suddenly we can see what we have been...

When we talk about making changes in ourselves, it could be said that it's like climbing a mountain. Why is the mountain a metaphor for spiritual change? There's a certain kind of effort necessary for climbing, isn't there? Also, the mountain represents a higher view. Because as you ascend the mountain, not only does the atmosphere change in terms of becoming more rarified, but every step higher up the mountain produces...

Can we see how, in one form or another, everything in creation longs to touch and to be touched? Flowers and trees stretch their leaves and limbs up to the sun, just as it reaches down to touch them. After all, to what end the timeless nature of such radiance, if not to grant life to whatever forms it temporarily animates?

Everything in this life is made to be impermanent, so that by the action of time, it can be changed into something new.

The small handsome sign over the new shop in town was simple. Its hand-carved wood-block letters read: Rare Wine Shop. Hanging directly beneath it was a smaller, arrow-shaped sign, pointing directly to the always-open shop door. Brightly painted letters spelled out the invitation: Visitors Welcome! Taste the difference! And inside the shop the lights were always on, so that no one passing...

There is nothing wrong with being a successful human being. In fact, the purpose of your life is to win. But what if, in your quest for this victory, you were accidentally drawn into a compelling game in which, unknown to you, it was impossible to win no matter how well you performed or religiously followed the "rules?" Where, instead of finding the freedom to run as you wish, you found yours...

When we find ourselves looking for something outside ourselves -- anything -- to complete us, to make us feel whole and happy, what is the nature of this force within us? What kind of power compels us to move heaven and earth to find a way to fulfill ourselves in this way? The answer is surprising! We are driven on by our sense of being incomplete. None of us would feel this compulsion to co...

Our sense of self, the way we experience ourselves, is very much connected to the widely varying states of emotional energies that come into us and that seem to shape the nature of our individuality. But the fact of the matter is, there is no such separate self, at least not the way we presently experience it. There are just these ceaseless states of energy and the fleeting sense of self they...