Day by day
How can a man unify his consciousness with the Overself without first putting his mind under some sort of a training to strengthen it, so that he will not let go but will be able to hold on when a Glimpse comes?
4.4.3.148Listen 1 Oct 2018Intuition does not always flash suddenly out of the depths of the mind into consciousness: quite often it forms itself very slowly over a period of hours, days, or even weeks.
14.22.1.86Listen 2 Oct 2018The Dark Night is much less a dark night when he believes, understands, or possibly knows that it is a work of the Overself, a movement of Its grace.
15.23.3.47Listen 3 Oct 2018When one has received a terrible blow--such as losing someone very dear to him--he will understand better why the Buddha taught that all living is suffering. In pleasanter times, this truth goes unrecognized. It is only through heart-rending sorrow that many finally arrive at the gates of the Quest, for they have learned at last that only in seeking some knowledge of the Higher Power can they obtain an enduring measure of inner peace. In the calm heart of the inner life--in its strength and understanding--compensation may be found for our outward hardships, griefs, and losses.
15.24.1.15Listen 4 Oct 2018How can a mental state be the final realization? It is temporary. Mystic experience is such a state. It is something one enters and leaves. Beyond and higher is realization of unchanging truth.
11.16.2.29Listen 5 Oct 2018Just as the sun can be seen only by its own light, so truth can be discerned only by its own self-revelation in the mind. That is, only by grace leading to insight. There is no other way.
13.20.5.201Listen 6 Oct 2018The devotional attitude will not decrease with the growth of the mystical one. It too will grow, side by side with the other. But it will cast out of itself more and more egoistic selfish interest or grasping until it becomes the pure love of the Overself for the latter's sake alone.
12.18.1.94Listen 7 Oct 2018In these glimpses he only looks at the Infinite Beauty, but in the final realization he becomes unified with it.
14.22.8.62Listen 8 Oct 2018That the Overself not only is, but is attainable, is the premise and promise of true philosophy.
2.1.5.154Listen 9 Oct 2018In China years ago, the existence was discovered of an organization called the Buddhist National Laymen's Association which operated its own private radio station and every night disseminated the message of Chinese Buddhism to its listeners. What they did to spread their own religion, we of the West could no doubt do to spread philosophy.
8.12.4.180Listen 10 Oct 2018On this Long Path, he stands with his back to the Overself and tries to re-educate the ego. On the Short Path he turns around from this position and faces the Overself.
15.23.1.74Listen 11 Oct 2018Living in measured time as he does is the consequence of living in the movement of thought. But when this vanishes into the still centre of his being, he finds timelessness as its attribute. If there is any surprise, it is a flash only, for in the new consciousness he feels at home.
15.24.3.252Listen 12 Oct 2018This beautiful peace is both the reward of his efforts and the atmosphere surrounding his higher nature.
15.24.4.109Listen 13 Oct 2018Try to do your new duties with inner calmness and outer efficiency. But whatever you are doing, try to keep ever in the background of consciousness the remembrance of the Overself; it will be both a form of yoga and a protective influence.
1.24.0.21Listen 14 Oct 2018Where others get caught in this whirlpool and spend themselves, their energies, and their years in the piling-up of earthly possessions or the exhausting of earthly pleasures, he says to his instincts: Thus far, and no farther. For him there is satisfaction in a restrained enjoyment of this world, with enough time and thought and strength for study of the great gospels and the practice of going into the Silence.
15.24.3.165Listen 15 Oct 2018Only when a man is dispossessed of his ego's rule and repossessed by the Overself's can he really attain that goodness about which he may have dreamed often but reflected seldom.
6.8.4.468Listen 16 Oct 2018This enterprise of the quest is the most serious in which a man can engage. We must treat it as such. But let this not cause anyone to lose the sense of humour.
2.1.1.102Listen 17 Oct 2018All rare and inspired art is to be received as the Overself's voice uttering a message and calling us back to our true homeland.
9.14.1.107Listen 18 Oct 2018Is there a universal truth? Is there a doctrine which does not depend on individual opinion or the peculiarities of a particular age or the level of culture of a particular land? Is there a teaching which appeals to universal experience and not to private prejudice? We reply that there is, but it has been buried underneath much metaphysical lumber, much ancient lore, and much Oriental superstition. Our work has been to rescue this doctrine from the dead past for the benefit of the living present. In these pages we explode false counterfeits and expound the genuine doctrine.
13.20.5.194Listen 19 Oct 2018The real heaven is a state of delightful rest which the finite human mind cannot correctly imagine and usually misconceives as a state of perpetual idleness for the ego.
1.19.0.26Listen 20 Oct 2018He emerges from the experience feeling surrounded by peace and protected by supernormal powers.
14.22.7.22Listen 21 Oct 2018The stages of the quest are fairly well defined. First — the aspiration toward spiritual growth manifests itself in a man's heart. Second — the feeling of repentance for past error and sin saddens it. Third — the submission to an ascetic or self-denying discipline follows as a reaction. Fourth — the practice of regular exercises in meditation is carried on.
1.1.0.67Listen 22 Oct 2018The necessity of achieving mental harmony and union of ideals in marriage counsels great caution in selecting one suited to be a life-companion. A wrong decision in this matter may be disastrous in every way, whereas a right one will be helpful in many ways.
9.13.2.446Listen 23 Oct 2018His ultimate aim is to enjoy the blessed presence of the Overself in his heart. But it is not, as with inferior mystics, to enjoy it alone. He ardently desires to share it with others.
13.20.4.251Listen 24 Oct 2018The priest and the guru, the artist and the writer have to carry a small flock or a million minds with them by means of their work. The talent if they possess it is theirs, but the inspiration comes from a higher level.
14.22.2.39Listen 25 Oct 2018This power to sustain concentrated attention upon a single line or objective for a long time--a power so greatly admired by Napoleon--comes in the end to those who persevere in these practices.
4.4.3.126Listen 26 Oct 2018… There is every reason why a man who accepts the gospel of inspired action should become a beneficent force in the world. Whatever role falls to him in the game of life, he will play it in a vital and significant way. More than ever before in its history, the world's need is for such active philosophers…
13.20.4.229, ExcerptListen 27 Oct 2018The infinite divine life dwells within all embodied creatures, therefore in all mankind. It is the final source of his feelings and his consciousness, however limited they are here in the body itself.
14.22.3.258Listen 28 Oct 2018The test of spirituality is not to be found in how long a man can sit still in meditation, but in how well he has denied his ego.
6.8.4.469Listen 29 Oct 2018When we are brought face to face with the consequences of our wrongdoing, we would like to avoid the suffering or at least to diminish it. It is impossible to say with any precision how far this can be done for it depends partly on Grace, but it also depends partly on ourselves. We can help to modify and sometimes even to eliminate those bad consequences if we set going certain counteracting influences…
1.13.0.28, ExcerptListen 30 Oct 2018For centuries theologians have argued about the meaning of Jesus' declaration that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. Most of them have given it a historical interpretation. Only those who could approach the mind of Jesus have given it a mystical interpretation. For only they can see that he meant that the kingdom of the Overself is really as close to us as is our own hand…
14.22.3.38, ExcerptListen 31 Oct 2018
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