the truth

Can practicing meditation help you accept reality? Yeah. But it’s amazing how little it helps. [laughs] You can be a long-time meditator, but if someone says the wrong thing in the wrong way, you go back to your ego-driven self. It’s almost like you’re lifting one-pound weights, but then somebody drops a huge barbell with a stack of plates on your

Master, what about pursuits such as in sports, business, the performing arts . . . Are prescriptions equally poisonous in those domains. M: Yes. S: But there is a technique to those things, is there not. M: There are indeed some mechanical elements. Such as physical technique. And, as they apply to a mechanical element, prescriptions may be of some

Anything can give one anything for a fleeting moment. Sitting in meditation, or even going for a walk can give one peace. But it does not last. That is the point.

Here is the crux of the matter: When the mind desires winning, its fear of losing far exceeds the desire for winning. As a result, there is intense anxiety. Which, in turn, sabotages the individual’s performance. And often results in the very thing that the mind feared all along: Losing. Does this mean that this anxiety always results in losing? Of

If you do not desire something in the depth of your bones, you will have an endless tolerance for failure. If you do desire something in the depth of your bones, you will have little tolerance for failure. As Buddha had. And once the prescriptions fail, as they always do, you will be forced to find your own way. S: So the only people who continue t

Today, the way we think you get peace is by resolving all your external problems. But there are unlimited external problems. The only way to actually get peace on the inside is by giving up this idea of problems. [77]

Intelligence, my dear student, is something that is attained by way of Instinct rather than Knowledge. S: Why is this the case, Master? M: Because you see, my student, Intelligence comes from a place beyond the human mind. And it comes to a man by way of Availability moreso than by “study” or “hard work.” S: I do not understand, Master. M: When a m

M: Because he has been conditioned to believe that if he does X, Y, and Z . . . he will attain the thing he is trying to attain. He fails to understand that the X’s, the Y’s, and the Z’s serve only themselves. They do not serve the thing he is trying to attain.

The good news is, the moment of suffering—when you’re in pain—is a moment of truth. It is a moment where you’re forced to embrace reality the way it actually is. Then, you can make meaningful change and progress. You can only make progress when you’re starting with the truth.

In employing prescriptions, he will approach the non-mechanical in a mechanical way. He will replace the power of his instincts, with manufactured notions of correctness and incorrectness. He will replace his inner voice with the voices of others. And when the prescriptions begin to fail, he will need new ones.