Day by day
It is not the tyranny of the ego which is to be removed most of all--although that is a necessary part of the Great Work - nor is it that the ego must be uprooted and killed forever--although its old self must surrender to the new person it has to become. No--let it live and attend to its daily work but only as a purified being, an ennobled character or quietened mind, an enlightened man--in short, a new ego representing what is best in the human creature. He will still be an ”I” but one that is in harmony with the Overself…
2.1.0.1, ExcerptListen 1 Apr 2014So long as thoughts remain unmastered, this present and personal experience shuts us out from reality.
4.4.1.38Listen 2 Apr 2014We who honour philosophy so highly cannot afford to be other than honest with ourselves. We have to acknowledge that the end of all our striving is surrender. No human being can do other than this--an utterly humble prostration, where we dissolve, lose the ego, lose ourselves--the rest is paradox and mystery.
13.20.5.11Listen 3 Apr 2014There is a single basic principle which runs like a thread through all these higher contemplation exercises. It is this: if we can desert the thoughts of particular things, the images of particular objects raised by the senses in the field of consciousness, and if we can do this with complete and intelligent understanding of what we are doing and why we are doing it, then such desertion will be followed by the appearance of its own accord of the element of pure undifferentiated Thought itself; the latter will be identified as our innermost self.
15.23.7.9Listen 4 Apr 2014The secret is to stop, on the instant, whatever he is doing just then, or even whatever he is saying, and reorient all his attention to the incoming intuition…
14.22.1.66, ExcerptListen 5 Apr 2014If, in his earlier days when on the Long Path, he practised daily checking his personal feelings where they were negative, hostile, or condemnatory in the relationship with others, or when they interrupted his inner calm in the relationship with himself, now on the Short Path he abandoned this training. It was no more the really important thing, for it had been just a preparation of the ego for that thing--which was to forget and transcend the ego by transferring attention to the remembrance of his divine being, his Overself.
15.23.1.45Listen 6 Apr 2014The words spoken by this unseen but much-felt presence are not heard by the physical ears yet they are strongly impressed upon the mind. They do not come from the spirits of deceased persons but from the holy spirit of one's own diviner self, from a deep mystical source, not a shallow astral one.
14.22.2.154Listen 7 Apr 2014... The Overself is a descriptive name that ought to be kept and not discarded...
2.1.0.1, ExcerptListen 8 Apr 2014With the sole object of calming and clearing the mind and concentrating its power, it is a good practice to sit in meditation for a while each day before beginning to study philosophy. This helps the studies.
4.4.1.25Listen 9 Apr 2014The discovery that our existence as well as the world's existence is like that of a dream need not alarm us, need not cause us to become impractical, inefficient, uninterested in life and half-hearted in action. For as we should prefer a pleasant dream during sleep to a horrible nightmare, so should we try to live this waking world dream of ours as pleasantly, as profitably, and as successfully as possible…
13.20.4.303, ExcerptListen 10 Apr 2014What does the coming of Overself consciousness mean to man? It means, first of all, an undivided mind.
14.22.3.198Listen 11 Apr 2014When all action comes to an end, when the body is immobile and the consciousness stilled, there is achieved what the Chinese have called Wu Wei, meaning non-doing. This brings a wonderful peace, for tied up with it is non-desiring and non-aspiring. The quester has then come close to the end, but until this peace is thoroughly and permanently established in him, the quest must go on…
15.24.3.289, ExcerptListen 12 Apr 2014His dependence on self-effort must be balanced by his dependence on Grace. If he relies solely on his own endeavours to better his character and develop his intuition, he may find himself frustrated and unhappy with the result. Grace is to be invoked by making contact through prayer and meditation with his Overself. But the meditation should be of a special kind--what may be called the practice of nonduality. In it he should seek to identify himself with the universal and infinite power, to forget that he is an individual.
15.23.6.49Listen 13 Apr 2014What is the hidden meaning of Saint Paul's words which are so often quoted but so little understood: ”For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace”? Do they refer only to sexual morality? Do they refer to pious feelings? ... To be carnally minded means to apprehend the flesh, that is, matter, as reality. To be spiritually minded means to take nothing else than the egoless Mind as reality. Whoever does this and seeks beyond both matter and ego, obtains the result which Paul indicates--that is, true life and unbroken peace.
13.21.5.36, ExcerptListen 14 Apr 2014The consequences of putting the contents of his own mind under observation, of becoming fully aware of their nature, origin, and effect, are immeasurably important.
4.4.1.24Listen 15 Apr 2014In the human body there is at one and the same time a projection of the Overself and a channel for it. The wisdom and intelligence which have gone into and are hidden behind the whole universe have gone into the human body too…
4.5.0.1, ExcerptListen 16 Apr 2014When thought of the little self vanishes ... and That which is behind or beyond it in utter stillness is alone felt and known, then he is said to experience the touch of the Untouchable, as ancient sages called it.
16.28.2.137, ExcerptListen 17 Apr 2014... Let go of all negative thoughts, especially those which concern others. Cease from condemnation and criticism…
15.24.3.289, ExcerptListen 18 Apr 2014His thoughts are guided by the Overself, his emotions inspired by it, and his actions expressive of it. Thus his whole personal life becomes a harmoniously and divinely integrated one.
13.20.5.23Listen 19 Apr 2014... Jesus keeps ever in inner contact with those who need him--and that means millions. He is not dead, cannot die. And the love which brought him here from afar keeps him here.
12.17.1.92, ExcerptListen 20 Apr 2014The hour for retirement at night should also be the hour for recalling the day's happenings, deeds, and talks in memory, at the same time making an appraisal of their character from the higher point of view. But when the exercise has come to an end, the aspirant should deliberately turn his mind utterly away from all worldly experience, all personal matters, and let the hushed silence of pure devotional worship fall upon him.
4.4.4.150Listen 21 Apr 2014It is almost impossible to put into thoughts that which is above thoughts. But hints, suggestions, and symbols may render some service. Only intuition, which comes up by itself, can come closer still to the truth and deliver what is more like it.
14.22.1.22Listen 22 Apr 2014The absence of the ego is the presence of the Overself. But this is only a surface impression in the person's thought, for the Overself is always present.
14.22.3.58Listen 23 Apr 2014The individual mind presents the world-image to itself through and in its own consciousness. If this were all the truth then it would be quite proper to call the experience a private one. But because the individual mind is rooted in and inseparable from the universal mind, it is only a part of the truth. Man's world-thought is held within and enclosed by God's thought.
13.21.3.70Listen 24 Apr 2014It is not just ceasing to think, although it prerequires that, but something more: it is also a positive alertness to the Divine Presence.
15.23.7.45Listen 25 Apr 2014... On this path he gets all kinds of vicissitudes and ups and downs, partly to demonstrate vividly that the inner reality is the only unchanging value and thus compel a resort to its quest, and partly to bring out latent qualities. But he will not be tried beyond what he can bear.
3.2.3.135, ExcerptListen 26 Apr 2014His moral response to a happening, as also his mental attitude toward it and emotional bearing under it, are largely free. It is in this realm, moreover, that important possibilities of further spiritual growth or else materialistic hardening are available. He may renew inner strength or fall back into sensual weakness.
6.9.4.24Listen 27 Apr 2014The method of meditation appropriate to this class of seekers is to transfer self-identity to the Overself in, and by, constantly repeated declarations of the truth.
15.23.6.47Listen 28 Apr 2014When he first attains to this clear vision, he sees not only that which brings him great joy but also that which brings him great sorrow. He sees men bewildered by life, pained by life, blinded by life. He sees them wandering into wrong paths because there is no one to lead them into right ones. He sees them praying for light but surrounded by darkness. In that hour he makes a decision which will fundamentally affect the whole of his life. Henceforth he will intercede for these others, devote himself to their spiritual service.
13.20.4.226Listen 29 Apr 2014If it is to be popularized, this must be done under some reserves, to protect its own purity and integrity. But these reserves need not and ought not be as large and forbidding as they often have been in the past. The extraordinary times in which we live, the world-wide area of the crisis, and the nature of the crisis itself require this liberalization.
13.20.2.30Listen 30 Apr 2014
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