Day by day
The past has furnished its lessons, so why need there be regrets? Drink, sex, ambition, money, travel—they were all stations on the way to understanding. If they robbed, they also gave. If they disappointed, they also trained you. If the past showed weaknesses, it also showed you could tear them out.
15.24.3.229Listen 1 Oct 2011Deep down within the heart there is a stillness which is healing, a trust in the universal laws which is unwavering, and a strength which is rock-like. But because it is so deep we need both patience and perseverance when digging for it.
7.10.5.97Listen 2 Oct 2011That element in his consciousness which enables him to understand that he exists, which causes him to pronounce the words, “I Am,” is the spiritual element, here called Overself. It is really his basic self for the three activities of thinking feeling and willing are derived from it, are ripples spreading out of it, are attributes and functions which belong to it. But as we ordinarily think feel and act, these activities do not express the Overself because they are under the control of a different entity, the personal ego.
6.8.1.1Listen 3 Oct 2011In those moments of suspense when light is yielding so reluctantly to the dark, there is an opportunity to look within and come closer to the Overself.
3.3.7.14Listen 4 Oct 2011When this turning inwards completes itself in the final state of contemplation so that thought is stilled and breath is quiet, the sense of succession is dispelled, a kind of continuous now takes its place, and a stillness of the body corresponds with a stillness of the mind.
15.24.3.255Listen 5 Oct 2011Consciousness came first: all thoughts came into being later. It made their existence possible. It is the permanent principle in man whereas they appear and vanish.
13.21.5.156Listen 6 Oct 2011How can he tell if inner guidance is truly intuitive or merely pseudo-intuitive? One of the ways is to consider whether it tends to the benefit of all concerned in a situation, the others as well as oneself. The word “benefit” here must be understood in a large way, must include the spiritual result along with the material one. If the guidance does not yield this result, it may be ego-prompted and will then hold the possibility of error.
14.22.1.196Listen 7 Oct 2011By thought, the ego was made; by thought, the ego’s power can be unmade. But the thought must be directed toward a higher entity, for the ego’s willingness to attack itself is only a pretense. Direct it constantly to the Overself, be mentally devoted to the Overself, and emotionally love the Overself. Can it then refuse to help you?
12.18.1.77Listen 8 Oct 2011Our troubles are but transitory, whereas our spiritual hopes survive the incarnations and bridge the gaps between births.
6.9.1.73Listen 9 Oct 2011... This is the Principle which forever remains what it was and will be. It is in the universe and yet the universe is in it too. It never evolves, for it is outside time. It has no shape, for it is outside space. It is beyond man’s consciousness, for it is beyond both his thoughts and sense-experience, yet all consciousness springs mysteriously out of it...
16.28.2.100, ExcerptListen 10 Oct 2011This is its mystery, that seeing all, it is itself seen by none.
14.22.3.218Listen 11 Oct 2011To practise living in the world and yet not being of it involves becoming a spectator not only of the world but also of oneself. To the extent that he gets lost in the world-experience, to that extent he loses this deeper self-awareness.
15.24.3.207Listen 12 Oct 2011This is a work which calls for the interaction of two powers—man’s will and Overself’s grace. The will’s work is to engage in some measure of self-discipline, and yet to surrender itself entirely at the proper moment.
3.2.6.62Listen 13 Oct 2011No one can explain what the Overself is, for it is the origin, the mysterious source, of the explaining mind, and beyond all its capacities. But what can be explained are the effects of standing consciously in its presence, the conditions under which it manifests, the ways in which it appears in human life and experience, the paths which lead to its realization.
14.22.3.203Listen 14 Oct 2011A mere belief in the soul’s existence is the first and shortest step. An intellectual study of its nature and a devotional discipline of the self is the next and longest step. A direct intuitive realization of the soul’s presence is the third and last one.
3.2.2.110Listen 15 Oct 2011To remember the Overself devotedly, to think about it frequently and lovingly, is part of this practice.
12.18.1.60Listen 16 Oct 2011Both the necessity and justification of meditation lie in this, that man is so preoccupied with his own thoughts that he is never aware of the mind out of which they arise and in which they vanish. The process of stilling these thoughts, or advanced meditation, makes this awareness possible.
4.4.1.36Listen 17 Oct 2011... Each man gets his special set of experiences, which no one else gets. Each life is individual and gets from the law of recompense those which it really needs, not those which someone else needs. The way in which he reacts to the varied pleasant and unpleasant situations which develop in everyday life will be a better index to the understanding he has gained than any mystical visions painted by the imagination.
9.13.1.45, ExcerptListen 18 Oct 2011The way out is constantly to remember to think and to affirm that the world and all one sees and experiences in it has no other substance than Mind and gets its brief appearance of reality from Mind. When this is thoroughly understood and applied, its truth will one day stay permanently with him.
13.21.5.18Listen 19 Oct 2011... What is the use of taking a few small sections of the past, such as childhood or adolescence, and attempting to deal with them only, when the true past of the ego contains innumerable subconscious memories of former lives on earth and numerous tendencies which arise from episodes belonging to that vanished history..?
6.8.3.34, ExcerptListen 20 Oct 2011If the consciousness of God in him makes him very strong, the consciousness of his dependence on it keeps him very humble.
14.22.3.127Listen 21 Oct 2011... The basis of the Short Path is that we are always divine. It is with us already, it is no new thing, and we only have to try to recognize what is already there.
3.2.1.209, ExcerptListen 22 Oct 2011To look at a man and at his life from the outside is only to see half the man. To look at them from the inside is to see the other half. Put these two fragments together and there is the whole man. Or so it would seem. But what if behind his thoughts and feelings there were still another self of an utterly different kind and quality? And this exactly is his situation. He does not know all of himself, and he understands it even less. Those who have been privileged to look behind the veil can only urge him to recognize this incompleteness and teach him what steps to take to overcome it.
14.22.3.342Listen 23 Oct 2011With the glimpse there comes a curious feeling of absolute certitude, happy certitude, utter doubtlessness. The truth is there plainly before him and deeply sensed within him.
14.22.6.363Listen 24 Oct 2011The highest goal of the quest is not illumination gained by destruction of the ego but rather by perfection of the ego. It is the function of egoism which is to be destroyed, not that which functions. The ego’s rulership is to go, not the ego itself.
6.8.1.189Listen 25 Oct 2011If he is to achieve his purpose, it should be clearly pictured in his mind and strongly supported by his will. It should be desired with all his being, believed in with all his heart.
12.18.1.65Listen 26 Oct 2011The passage from black despair to healing peace begins with learning to “let go.” This can refer to the pasts crippling pictures, the present’s harsh conditions, or the future’s grim anticipations. To what then can the sufferer turn? To the Overself and its divine power.
12.18.4.29Listen 27 Oct 2011During the gap—infinitesimal though it be—between two thoughts, the ego vanishes. Hence it may truly be said that with each thought it reincarnates anew. There is no real need to wait for the series of long-lived births to be passed through before liberation can be achieved. The series of momentary births also offers this opportunity, provided a man knows how to use it.
15.23.8.162Listen 28 Oct 2011If the Long Path seeks salvation chiefly through the building of character and the concentration of thought, the Short Path seeks it chiefly through worshipful meditation directly on the Overself.
15.23.5.19Listen 29 Oct 2011If a man will constantly think about these metaphysical truths, he will develop in time the capacity to perceive them by direct intuition instead of by second-remove reflection. But to do this kind of thinking properly the mind must be made steady, poised, concentrated, and easily detached from the world.
5.7.7.137Listen 30 Oct 2011He will understand the real spirit of meditation when he understands that he has to do nothing at all, just to sit still physically, mentally, and emotionally. For the moment he attempts to do anything, he intrudes his ego. By sitting inwardly and outwardly still, he surrenders egoistic action and thereby implies that he is willing to surrender his little self to his Overself. He shows that he is willing to step aside and let himself be worked upon, acted through, and guided by a higher power.
15.23.7.238Listen 31 Oct 2011
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