You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.

Instead of asking ‘what do I want from life?’, a more powerful question is, ‘what does life want from me?’

All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.

Most people treat the present moment as if it were an obstacle that they need to overcome. Since the present moment is life itself, it is an insane way to live.

Power over others is weakness disguised as strength.

It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up.

That is the real spiritual awakening, when something emerges from within you that is deeper than who you thought you were. So, the person is still there, but one could almost say that something more powerful shines through the person.

Prejudice of any kind implies that you are identified with the thinking mind. It means you don't see the other human being anymore, but only your own concept of that human being. To reduce the aliveness of another human being to a concept is already a form of violence.

If small things have the power to disturb you, then who you think you are is exactly that: small.

Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it's no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing.

What a liberation to realize that the 'voice in my head' is not who I am. 'Who am I, then?' The one who sees that.

Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it's no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing.

Being must be felt. It can't be thought.

This, too, will pass.

You become most powerful in whatever you do if the action is performed for its own sake rather than as a means to protect, enhance, or conform to your role identity.

When the ego dominates in organizations, even spiritual organizations, there is usually a big drama or upheaval of some kind, and self-destruction begins.

If increased meta-knowledge is not counter-balanced by a corresponding growth in consciousness then the likelihood of psycho-spiritual dysfunction is great.

Although all spiritual teachings originate from the same Source, once they become verbalized and written down they are obviously no more than a collection of words-and a word is nothing more than a signpost....

Death is not the opposite of life. Life has no opposite. Death is the opposite of birth.

The ego wants to want more than it wants to have.

This is why very often you find educated people in the media who look at spiritual books but they are so identified with their thought process, they don't get it. They write reviews or articles and they miss the whole point. They can't see the essence. It's not their fault; it's not them personally. It's the human condition and its mind-identified state. And intelligence in itself doesn't help. You can have two or three Ph.D.s; it doesn't get you any closer to spiritual realization. In fact, you might be more distant.

If the only teacher you have is your suffering, you will need a substantial dose of it for the ego to dissolve. But if the power of spiritual teaching is already at work, then a minor event can dissolve the ego.

Words that arise spontaneously out of the state of presence are charged with spiritual power: the power to awaken.

The human condition: lost in thought.

Teaching a practice can also be a hindrance if it becomes one's identity. To be a spiritual teacher is a temporary function. I'm a spiritual teacher when somebody comes to me and some teaching happens, but the moment they leave I'm no longer a spiritual teacher. If I carry the identity of spiritual teacher, it will cause suffering.

Thought alone cannot recognize spiritual truths no matter how highly developed thought is. It's impossible.

Our animal friends’ non-reactive and forgiving natures can teach us positive spiritual lessons on a daily basis.

A simple but radical spiritual practice is to accept whatever arises in the Now, within and without.

As you become present and thereby total in what you do, your actions become charged with spiritual power.

A significant portion of the earth's population will soon recognize, if they haven't already done so, that humanity is now faced with a stark choice: Evolve or die.

If you are in a state of intense presence you are free of thought, yet highly alert. If your conscious attention sinks below a certain level, thought rushes in, the mental noise returns, stillness is lost, you're back in time.

Knowing yourself is to be rooted in Being, instead of lost in your mind.

Doing is never enough if you neglect Being.

And then there is the universal role of adult. When you play that role, you take yourself and life very seriously. Spontaneity, lightheartedness, and joy are not part of that role.

Don't let a mad world tell you that success is anything other than a successful present moment.

Can you look without the voice in your head commenting, drawing conclusions, comparing, or trying to figure something out?

Become conscious of being conscious.

The greater part of human pain is unnecessary. It is self-created as long as the unobserved mind runs your life.

Nonresistance is the key to the greatest power in the universe.

Nothing ever happened in the past that can prevent you from being present now, and if the past cant prevent you from being present now, what power does it have?

To love is to recognize yourself in another.

Once you have had a glimpse of awareness or Presence, you know it firsthand. It is no longer just a concept in your mind.

...whenever there is inspiration...and enthusiasm...there is a creative empowerment that goes far beyond what a mere person is capable of.

Awareness is the power that is concealed within the present moment. … The ultimate purpose of human existence, which is to say, your purpose, is to bring that power into this world.

When you don't cover up the world with words and labels, a sense of the miraculous returns to your life that was lost a long time ago when humanity, instead of using thought, became possessed by thought.

When this delusion of utter separateness underlies and governs whatever I think, say, and do, what kind of world do I create?

I don't want it to end, and so, as every therapist knows, the ego does not want an end to its “problems” because they are part of its identity. If no one will listen to my sad story, I can tell it to myself in my head, over and over, and feel sorry for myself, and so have an identity as someone who is being treated unfairly by life or other people, fate or God. It gives definition to my self-image, makes me into someone, and that is all that matters to the ego.

If I cannot live with myself, there must be two of me

The reason why some people love to engage in dangerous activities, such as mountain climbing, car racing, and so on, although they may not be aware of it, is that it forces them into the Now - that intensely alive state that is free of time, free of problems, free of thinking, free of the burden of the personality.