Diamond Heart: Elements of the Real in Man

Doing things perfectly is not the point. The point is doing your best.

With Essence, instead of experiencing anger, you experience Strength.

It is part of the Work to produce these reactions so you have a chance to look at them and study them.

To be impeccable is to be realistic. You don’t expect from yourself what you cannot do; you expect the best you can do.

Finally, you see that there is nothing you can trust—nobody, no authority—except the process itself.

The third group not only gives us something that will lead us someplace, but it tells us the meaning and point of our Work.

Because they believe that something is wrong and nothing can be done about it, they’re always trying to fill the hole.

At some point, you have to take the leap from faith to knowledge. There is always a leap between mind and Essence. The mind of the personality can go just so far towards Essence; it can’t go all the way.

How much suffering and difficulty it brings you is immaterial in relation to the fulfillment and satisfaction you will have when you actually struggle and see the fruits of the struggle.

So value generally depends a lot on our unconscious, our conditioning, and our beliefs.