The 30 latest...
The 30 latest published notes
Evolution is working along three lines in the human being: the intellectual, the mystical, and the moral-physical. All must be attended to … The threefold path is what philosophy asks for although religion, science or mysticism is usually satisfied with a single path. Meditation is the most important of all as without it one cannot transcend the intellect, but it is not enough by itself …
3.2.5.195, ExcerptListen 7 Feb 2023The degree of ego-attachment which you will find at the centre of a man’s consciousness is a fairly reliable index to the degree of his spiritual evolution.
6.8.4.452Listen 6 Feb 2023The more he practises identifying himself with the timeless Now (not the passing “now”), the more he works for true freedom from besetting passions and dragging attachments. This is the Short Path, more heroic perhaps but in the end much pleasanter than the Long Path.
15.23.5.217Listen 5 Feb 2023Wang Yang-ming maintained that wisdom and virtue could not be gained by meditation alone. He asserted that the daily experience of dealing with ordinary matters was also needed, providing that experience was sincerely reflected upon by conscience, reason, and intuition.
9.13.2.166Listen 4 Feb 2023To work effectively in this world of everyday without repudiating or forgetting the world of the Spirit—this is his duty.
9.13.2.159Listen 3 Feb 2023It is only the beginner who needs to think of the quest as separate from the common life, something special, aloof, apart. The more proficient knows that it must become the very channel for that life.
2.1.1.75Listen 2 Feb 2023… The “I” differentiated itself out of the infinite ocean of Mind into a distinct individuality after a long development through the diverse kingdoms of Nature. Having thus arrived at consciousness of what it is, having travelled the spiral of growth from germ to man, the result of all this effort is certainly not gained only to be thrown away…
16.26.4.257, ExcerptListen 1 Feb 2023The consciousness of his own imperfection sooner or later awakens in him an urge to seek perfection, that is, to enter on the Quest.
2.1.2.275Listen 31 Jan 2023Swedenborg: “Without the utmost devotion to the Supreme Being, the Origin of all things, no one can be a complete and truly erudite philosopher. Veneration for the Infinite Being can never be separated from philosophy.”
13.20.3.28Listen 30 Jan 2023In all of us there is this resplendent being dwelling in the deepest concealment, linking us with the Supreme Being.
14.22.3.83Listen 29 Jan 2023Hopkins, the Jesuit priest-poet, abandoned meditation because of constantly recurring moods of self-disgust and hopelessness. This sounds exactly like the point where Long Path work should be brought to an end, being replaced by Short Path work.
15.23.4.126Listen 28 Jan 2023Let it not be forgotten that goodwill towards mankind does not exclude goodwill towards oneself. The way of martyrdom, of dying uselessly for others, is the way of emotional mysticism. The way of service, of living usefully for others, is the way of rational philosophy.
3.2.8.149Listen 27 Jan 2023Once the soul has revealed her lovely self to him, he cannot help adoring her, cannot help the feeling of being carried away in lifelong pursuit of her. The attraction is not of his own choosing. It is as natural and inevitable as the movement of the sunflower towards the sun.
14.22.7.79Listen 26 Jan 2023The first step is to capture thoughts and hold them by the power of will. The second step is to carry the attention inward, away from the five senses of physical experience.
4.4.1.147Listen 25 Jan 2023It would be wrong to believe that it is sufficient for the aspirant to join right theory with self-correction and right action to secure the highest result. The fourth item needed to complete his effort is even more important. It is proper meditation.
3.2.4.119Listen 24 Jan 2023The Long Path creates a condition favourable to enlightenment, but since it is concerned with ego, it cannot directly yield enlightenment. For its work of purifying the ego, however necessary and noble, still keeps the aspirant's face turned egoward.
15.23.2.120Listen 23 Jan 2023How can he have fears for his future who knows that he is related to God, and that God is the same yesterday, and today, and forever?
15.24.3.232Listen 22 Jan 2023The forgiveness of sin is no myth, but it can become a fact only after the sinner has done penance and sought purification.
12.18.5.71Listen 21 Jan 2023The fact that God is formless suffices to show that he cannot be seen as an external or internal form. Whoever declares that God has taken shape before him, whether in tangible flesh or untouchable vision, thereby declares his own ignorance.
11.16.15.44Listen 20 Jan 2023A time may come when his own personality is distasteful to him, when he begins to dislike his own traits of instinctive negative reaction and innate negative character. This is naturally understandable on the Long Path, but it may be minimized on the Short one.
15.23.4.99Listen 19 Jan 2023The Grace comes into his mind when thoughts are still and quiet, and into his life when ego is stilled and relinquished.
12.18.5.203Listen 18 Jan 2023… The loved one has now gone on to a sphere of existence where happiness, bliss, comfort, and rest can be found as can only be imagined but not found here. He may be assured that the loved one is really in a better world where only the beautiful side of life can penetrate and where ugly and base things can never find lodgement. He may help best at such a moment by an occasional loving remembrance during the peak point of meditation …
6.9.1.137, ExcerptListen 17 Jan 2023At such times he becomes aroused from the sleep of ignorance to the Overself’s constant presence.
14.22.4.30Listen 16 Jan 2023The study of philosophy educates the mind in deep thinking. It must be approached in the spirit of scientific detachment.
13.20.3.10Listen 15 Jan 2023Where he knows that other persons will not be sympathetic to these teachings, he will be prudent to remain silent about them. Where his friends know of his own interests and disparage them, he will be wise to avoid futile arguments.
9.13.2.358Listen 14 Jan 2023How easily can the ego clothe itself in false altruism or hide behind high-sounding speech! How quickly can it exploit others to its own advantage! How smoothly can it lead a genuine aspiration into a side-path or, worse, a trap!
6.8.4.304Listen 13 Jan 2023If the confession of sins and faults is an indispensable part of philosophic prayer, striving to forsake those sins and faults must be made an active part of the daily life after prayer.
12.18.2.142Listen 12 Jan 2023The woman of deep Christian piety who has striven to follow this path knows well that in the Christ-Self within her heart she has her greatest treasure. Its Presence is the God she is to worship. She will have learned in the past the mysterious value of tears—tears of spiritual yearning, as well as tears of worldly grief.
12.17.5.122Listen 11 Jan 2023Once this question—what am I?—is answered, there are no other questions. In the light of its dazzling answer, he knows how to handle all his problems.
6.8.1.11Listen 10 Jan 2023These intrusions from a realm beyond conscious thinking may be heavenly ones. If so, to resist them would be to lose much and to accept them would be to gain much. But they have to be caught on the wing. Their delicate beginnings must be recognized for what they are—precious guides.
14.22.1.82Listen 9 Jan 2023There is something within us which will not let us rest in what we are, which urges us to think of still higher possibilities.
2.1.2.265Listen 8 Jan 2023
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