“Something has, and is, working in our lives; we can’t afford to forget.”

The spiritual journey does not consist in arriving at a new destination, whereby a person gains what he did not have, or become what he is not. It consists in the dissipation of one’s own ignorance concerning one’s self and life, and the gradual growth of that understanding which begins a spiritual awakening. The finding of God is a coming to one’s self.

If you use meditation to avoid pain and to have more pleasure, you also come to see the transitory nature of pleasure. You begin to develop a new perspective. While at first you were motivated only to maximize your pleasure, you are now faced with what lies beyond pleasure and pain. Enlightened beings have always said that clinging to any experience or possession that is in time causes suffering, for everything changes. Both pleasure and pain are in time. To fully escape suffering, you must seek what lies beyond the polarities of pleasure and pain, beyond time.

I will ask for discipline; for the strength to turn out all useless thoughts. I know that the goodness of my life is a necessary foundation for its usefulness. I will welcome this discipline, for without it God cannot give me His power. I believe that this power is a mighty power when used in the right way. Today, I pray that I may face and accept whatever discipline is necessary. I pray that I may be fit to receive God's power in my life.