Today we ask that you take all gossip with a grain of salt.

It is a common human behavior to gossip.  Much of the media is dedicated to gossip about celebrities.  Everyone gossips: about coworkers, bosses, fellow students, family members, people in church, the lives of others.

If you have ever been the subject of malicious gossip, you know how cruel, how painful this can feel.

So why do people engage in such cruelty?  Why do people gossip?

People gossip in order to reassure themselves that they are really superior to other people.  It arises out of egoic insecurity.  Since most people struggle with constant feelings of worthlessness, gossip is what allows them to convince themselves that they are really worth something.

They are better than the people they are gossiping about.

This is especially true when it comes to gossiping about the rich and famous.  People feel very threatened by the rich and famous.  They feel inadequate in the face of rich, famous people.  Their defense against this feeling of inadequacy is the weapon of gossip.

Those rich, famous people aren’t so special after all.  Look at their bad behavior.  Really, I am superior to these people.

The whole tabloid industry, and much of what passes for news and entertainment these days, is based on this premise. 

It is true that many rich, famous people lead exceptionally unhappy lives.  The condition of celebrity can lead to severe egoic distortion in all but the strongest souls.  For most people, celebrity is something you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.

Do not take delight in the misguided behaviors of celebrities, or people on reality TV, or coworkers, or people you know.  Notice your tendency to revel in gossip about people.

Why this need to gossip?  Why do you need to feel superior to other people?  It only exists because you have these deep feelings of inferiority.

But gossiping will not help you.  It actually perpetuates the pattern of feeling inferior, and needing to put people in their place by gossiping about them.  There is an endless cycle of feeling inferior, trying to reassure yourself that you really are superior, then feeling inferior again.  Gossip is addictive, and it is extremely unhealthy.

The truest response to human suffering is compassion.

Can you hold compassion for suffering people?

If you found yourself the subject of vicious gossip, wouldn’t you want other people to have compassion for you?  Wouldn’t you hope that people could see the good in you, and give you credit for all the good things you’ve done in the past?  Wouldn’t you want people to give you the benefit of the doubt?  Wouldn’t you want people to question the veracity of the gossip, especially if it’s based on lies and half-truths, as almost all gossip is?

If that is what you would want — then please do this for others.  Do not gossip about coworkers and people you know and celebrities.  Be the voice of compassion and understanding.  Remind yourself that these are suffering human beings, fundamentally no different from you.

If you can hold this space, you will actually be much more healthy and secure.  You will no longer need to prove your superiority to others through gossip.  

Today we ask that you not take yourself too seriously.

Whenever you are taking yourself too seriously, this is the the prelude to a fall.

The universe likes to throw banana peels in the path of someone who takes himself too seriously.

The universe likes to send Harpo Marx to blow a horn at anyone who takes himself too seriously.

If you are incapable of laughing at yourself, this is not good.

Children having tantrums can’t laugh at themselves.  Often, adults can perceive the humor in the situation of a child who screams because he’s denied a cupcake.  But the child sees nothing funny about it.

Adults who take themselves very seriously are like little children throwing tantrums over not getting a cupcake.

And that’s okay.  Sometimes adults throw tantrums over nothing.  There’s no need to judge, or condemn — only to acknowledge that it is very childish behavior.

Of course, adults who take themselves very seriously don’t think they’re being childish at all.  They think it’s very serious!  It’s a very serious matter!

Nothing is all that serious.

Life isn’t all that serious.

Life isn’t all that serious, because death isn’t all that serious.  You believe that death is very serious.  But if you had true perception, you would see that it is not.  Death is just like taking off a worn, tight jacket.  Death is taking off a coat.  That is all it is.  No one really dies.

It is okay if you don’t believe that.  But if you did, you would stop taking life so seriously.

It is a moody adolescent thing, to take life seriously.  It is what moody teenagers do.

It is a sign of wisdom and maturity not to take yourself seriously.  Not to take life seriously.

But most people are neither wise, nor mature.  And that is okay.

Not taking yourself seriously is a key to happiness.  You will treat other people better.  You will treat yourself better.  

Lighten up, and life gets lighter.  

Today we ask that you be humble.

It is good to be a humble person.

This is not false humility.  False humility is what happens when someone with a very big ego is overwhelmed by a sense of worthlessness and inadequacy.  The larger the ego, the deeper the plunge into such feelings.

It is the hallmark of an unhealthy ego that it roller coasters between feelings of grandiosity (“I’m a genius!”) and total worthlessness (“Nothing I do is good enough!  I’m a failure!”)

False humility is not the same as being humble.

Being humble is just being honest about how little you really know.  It is recognizing that even if you have studied something for many years, you are still a journeyman, still a beginner.  You are always open to learning new things.

Being humble means realizing how limited your perception is.

Being humble means not walking through the world with a constant need to feel superior to others, arising out of a sense of terrible inferiority and worthlessness.

Being humble means, stop being a critic.  Everyone is doing their best.  Before you judge a restaurant owner or a TV show writer or the person driving next to you in traffic or a celebrity, ask yourself: “Am I in this person’s place?  Would I really do better if I had to trade places with this person?”  Really be honest about this.  Think about the conditions of the other person’s life.  Can you say with absolute certainty that you would do better?  

Humble things are simple things.  Humble people have a simplicity about them.  There is a kindness, a warmth.  They do not mind looking foolish.  They do not mind being beginners, and admitting how little they know.  

True humility has nothing to do with being “worthless.”  A truly humble person is completely secure, and self-loving.  That is why he is not afraid to reveal how little he knows.

Be humble.  Be simple.  It’s okay to look foolish, to fail, to stumble, to be a beginner, to admit how little you know.  

Whenever you feel very swollen with some sense of superiority, it is always a prelude to a fall into worthlessness.

When you are humble, you will be liberated from such highs and lows.  It is a very free and light state to dwell in.  

Today we ask that you learn not to be brought down by meaningless things.

Many of you all too easily allow your energy to be drained or lowered by little meaningless things.

Traffic.  Bills.  Things you see on TV or the internet.  Some passing comment a family member or friend said.  A repairman who didn’t show up on time.  A minor physical complaint, like gray hair, or a wrinkle, or a wart.

Little things.  Little meaningless things.  

And yet so many of you are undone by such things.  Whole days are ruined.  You obsess and rage over these things.

In such ways do you drain your vital life energy.  Over nothing.  You then wonder why you’re exhausted, and can’t get anything done.

If you are spending time outraged by traffic, bills, and repairmen, then of course you’re exhausted, and can’t get anything done.  You are frittering away your energy on nothingness.

There is a saying: “Don’t sweat the small stuff.”

This is very wise.

It is a sign of great intelligence, to know when little things simply are not worth your energy.

It is also the key to happiness.

If you observe children, you will see that they get agitated over little things.  They throw tantrums because they can’t find their toy, or they don’t want to eat the broccoli on the plate, or they don’t want to go to bed.

Most adults are no different, getting agitated over little things.

Don’t throw tantrums over traffic and bills and repairmen.  It is not a good use of energy.

Sometimes a true crisis occurs.  That is when you need your energy.

The rest of the time, you need your energy to create and grow and make your way in the world.  

So don’t waste it on little things.

You will be happier, healthier, and far more creative. 

Today we ask that you embrace the things that challenge you.  

It is natural that everyone wishes to avoid challenging situations.  No one likes to struggle, no one likes to suffer.  Sometimes you may go through what feels like a protracted period of struggle.  In such times, you may believe that there is something wrong with you, or that reality is against you.

This is not so.  There is a certain amount of struggle and discomfort around all evolutionary processes.  Children, as they grow, experience a great deal of struggle and discomfort.  Learning new things involves a great deal of trial and error, and constant failure.

There is a destructive belief in your world that adults are different from children.  This is patently untrue: adults are really just like children.  It is the adults who cannot admit this, and pretend that they know everything about everything, who are the most childish and petulant of all.  

There is absolutely no difference between children and adults, from a spiritual perspective.  All adults are in a continual growth process, just like children.  But adults are very confused about this.  Most adults expect that they should just reach a point where they are finished with challenge and lead very stable, comfortable, easy lives.

If you can find a single adult who has reached such a place, this would be a miracle.

This notion is a fallacy.

Challenging situations and periods are indicators that you are in a major growth phase.

If you understood this, you would not feel that something is wrong with you.  What you are experiencing is very “normal.”

You will never reach a point in your life where you have mastered everything, and rest comfortably on your laurels in a state of secure, stable, unchallenged bliss.  That is a childish fantasy — like never having to do homework, or clean your room.  

When people become complacent in their lives, that is usually an indicator that a big shake-up is imminent.

It is not because reality is against you and wants you to be unhappy.  It is because you are children, and it is necessary in this life that you keep growing and learning.  That is part of what you came here to do, by choice.

This process does not have to be miserable.  If you can embrace your child nature, if you can accept how little you know, if you stay open and curious about new things — then life will be much more enjoyable.  If you do not subscribe to the nonsensical belief that adults are supposed to settle down and know everything they need to know and lead stable, predictable lives that don’t ever challenge them — then life will be much more enjoyable.  

Knowing that everyone is really a child will help you deal with other people, as well.  It is no coincidence that most people behave very childishly.  That’s because they are children!  There are very, very few truly mature human beings existing in your world.  

So be like the child you are.  But don’t be the petulant, bossy child who acts very serious and insists he knows everything about everything.  Don’t be the frightened, tentative child who shies away from all new experiences.  Be the open, curious, playful child who doesn’t mind looking foolish, and is always open to new things.  Then you will be in harmony with the flow of life.

Be like a child, because you are one.  If you acknowledge this, life will make much more sense to you.

Today we ask that you know that most of your fears are baseless.

In any given moment, many of you are running fearful thoughts.  They usually have to do with fears of bad things happening to you, or your loved ones.  These fearful thoughts are often accompanying by self-attacking thoughts.  Why aren’t you doing more to protect yourself and your loved ones from all these terrible things that are going to happen?

This is very insane.

Chances are, at this very moment, nothing bad at all is happening to you, or your loved ones.

Probably you are sitting in a chair looking at your computer, or looking at your phone.  Nothing bad is happening.  And yet you are living in these terrible fantasies of bad things happening.  Your body is experiencing all kinds of real stress because of what is happening in your imagination.

Can’t you see that this is really sick behavior?

The part of you that protests that you are just being a responsible person, trying to anticipate and protect yourself and your loved ones from bad events — that is the insanity, talking.

How is it “responsible” to create stress in your body with all these miserable fears?  You are just making yourself sick.

How is it “responsible” to create stress in the lives of your loved ones, all because you wish to “protect” them?  You are just making them nervous and sick.

Parents who are like this only create anxious, terrified children.  It is not responsible to fill your children’s minds with baseless fears, because you wish them to be safe.

It is not responsible to always be taking in information from the TV and internet that fills you with fear.

You may say, how can I make informed decisions unless I take in all this information?  No one makes informed decisions when their bodies are full of stress and panic.  People make poor, impulsive decisions when their bodies are full of stress and panic.  That’s how wars begin. 

If you wish to create a more fulfilled and joyous life for yourself and your loved ones, you must stop indulging in anxious, fearful thinking.

It is not helping you.  It only causes harm.

It is not protecting you from anything.  It only causes harm.

Learn to meditate.  Learn how to create stillness in your mind, so that your fearful thoughts are not always running away with you.

One useful practice is to start writing down your fearful thoughts on paper.  When you see your fearful thoughts written out, it is more clear that most of them are nonsensical.  You will also see that almost all of your fearful projections never come to pass.

Your fearful thinking is not protecting you, or your loved ones.  All it does is breed misery, paralysis, and illness.  It leads to poor decision-making, and aggressive behavior.  It is not protecting you, or your loved ones.  It is causing harm.  

We know that you may be surrounded all sides by people who indulge in fearful thinking, running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

Just because everyone else is unhealthy, does not justify your unhealthy behavior.

Just because other people consume a lot of sugary, processed food does not mean you should, too.  Most of you know better.

It is the same with fearful thinking.  Fearful thinking is actually far worse for your health than a bad diet.

It is very possible to stop fearful thinking — or rather, to no longer be at the mercy of your fearful thoughts.

When you learn to meditate, you will begin to experience your fearful thoughts without impulsively reacting to them, or believing them.

Writing down your fearful thoughts on paper will help to break down their validity.  You will see that they are almost always false.

Your fearful thoughts are not protecting you.  They are hurting you.  The time has come to reclaim your power from fearful thinking.  All of you have the ability to master your fearful thoughts.

Today we ask that you have faith.

Have faith.

Faith is a problematic word for many people.  It calls to mind dogmatic religion, and fundamentalism.

Fundamentalism is not faith.  It is the opposite of faith.  Fundamentalists are very certain in their beliefs and worldview.

Anyone who is certain of anything does not understand faith.

Faith can only exist when there is uncertainty.

Faith is an acknowledgement that you cannot be certain of anything within your reality.

It acknowledges the limitations of your perception.  In a vast universe, how can you possibly be certain of anything?

You dwell in a state of continual uncertainty.  

Faith is a loving embrace of this uncertainty.

Faith is a simple love of life, as it is.

It is a love of this reality, as it is.

It is a letting go of the desire to fix the “mistakes” in your reality.

From the desire to fix “mistakes” in your reality unfolds all human suffering and misery.

This really is true.

Faithlessness may be defined as the belief that something is wrong with reality, and it is your task to fix it.

Every crazy person, from Hitler to the deranged killer who shoots the innocent, believes that “Something is wrong with reality, and I must fix it.”  Their deranged actions arise from this belief.

Faith is a deep knowing that there is nothing wrong with reality itself.  Though suffering may exist, there is nothing wrong with reality.  There is nothing for you to fix.

If you rooted yourself in the deep knowing that there is nothing wrong with reality, and nothing for you to fix, you would experience a profound peace, and the end of your personal suffering.

Nor would you become complacent, and not “do” anything.  Your actions would arise from a higher place.  You would no longer seek to fix reality, but rather to dissolve blockages that obscure the underlying perfection of reality.

You would know that you are perfect.  You would no longer neurotically seek to fix yourself, but instead cultivate the inner peace and stillness that dissolves blockages, and thus allows you to perceive your underlying perfection.

That is what faith is.  It is a deep faith in the goodness of reality, even if that goodness is obscured and blocked.

It is a deep faith in the goodness of people, even if they are confused, and act in crazy ways.

It is an understanding that human confusion and craziness arise from the belief that something is wrong with reality and people, and that they must be “fixed.”

Reality is not broken.

It is just that you cannot perceive it clearly.

Faith is an understanding that your perception is limited.  You may not always be able to see that reality is good.  Often it is very difficult to see.  And yet you trust in this underlying goodness.  

That is what faith is.

No one ever said it was easy.

Today we ask that you not let yourselves get run down into states of depletion.

If people weren’t depleted, there would be far less physical and mental illness in your world.  There would also be far less violence and aggression.

In your reality, there is a bizarre resistance around the concept of resting.

If humans weren’t supposed to rest, they would not be born with the instinctive need to sleep.

If you observe animals, you will see that they spend a great deal of time at rest.  This holds true even for “industrious” insects.  All life forms, even at the most basic levels of single-cellular life, move through regular cycles of activity, and rest.

And yet somehow humans, in their infinite wisdom, think they should be exempt from this rule.

It is very crazy.

It is crazy for people to believe they can maintain mental and physical health if they do not have adequate rest and sleep.

Even your children these days are overstimulated, and not receiving enough rest.  This is one of the primary causes of the behavior  you refer to as “Attention Deficit Disorder.”  ADD is very often a disorder related to a lack of sufficient rest, and sleep.

Lying in bed is not enough.  If you are extremely stressed and anxious, your sleep will not be restful.  You will awaken exhausted, and use caffeine and stimulants to push yourself through another day.

Historically, the only humans who were expected to constantly work and be active were slaves.  Slaves did not have long lifespans.

Even hard-working farmers in the pre-modern era knew how to sleep.  “Early to bed, early to rise” means early to bed.  Farmers didn’t go to bed late, and get up early.  

But modern humans engage in constant activity.  They go to bed late, and rise early.  They immediately check email and Facebook.  All day they run about, stimulating their nervous systems constantly, even if they are physically sedentary and sitting in front of computer screens.  They come home from work, and sit in front of the TV and computer until they go to bed late.  Even if they go to the gym to exercise their bodies, they are staring at TV screens and phones.

This is not good for anyone!

If you suffer from insomnia, fatigue, anxiety, depression, headaches, or other stress-related symptoms, it is absolutely imperative that you learn to tear yourself away from your electronic devices, and properly rest and relax.

If humans gave themselves a true one day a week “sabbath” away from all electronic devices, there would be an immediate and noticeable improvement in overall health.

Learn how to rest.  Learn how to sleep.  Learn how to simply be inside your own body again.  Go for a walk.  Garden.  Be around small children, or animals.  Turn off the electronic devices.  Notice how exhausted you feel.  Instead of fighting the fatigue with caffeine, allow yourself to actually feel how exhausted you are.  Most of you would benefit enormously from one night in which you let yourself sleep for nine hours or more.  Your bodies are aching for this.  Instead of watching TV, go to bed early one night.  Rest.  Sleep.

This is a message we often repeat, because we cannot overstate its importance.  It is virtually impossible to tap into higher states of consciousness, awareness, and true health if you are physically depleted.  Depletion is thus slowing the process of human evolution.  If you wish to speed up your own evolutionary process, it is essential that you let yourself rest.  You must build up your reserves of energy.  That way, you will be equipped to not only help yourself, but others.

Today we ask that you understand the impossibility of death.

If you understood this, you would have no further need of learning.  You would be instantly free.

In this reality, there is an illusion of death.  It appears that things can be killed.  Sometimes death appears to be terribly violent, and unjust.

This is a misperception.

Nothing dies.  Not a blade of grass.  Not a sparrow.  Not a cat.  Not a human.  Nothing dies.

Every one of you is an immortal being.  You have had many physical incarnations.  You have not always been human.  You have not always been on this particular planet.

It is okay if you think this is nonsense.  But if you believed it, deep in the core of your being, you would liberated from all fear.

In addition: that which is pure-hearted and innocent cannot be slaughtered or destroyed.  The very attempt to annihilate pure-hearted energy always makes that energy stronger.

This is the true meaning of all resurrection stories, from Christ to Harry Potter.

The very attempt to destroy good energy always backfires.

You can see this in the numerous attempts to suppress human rights around the world.  Though suppressive groups may temporarily succeed, in the long term attempting to suppress the innocent always backfires terribly.

There is no death.  Nothing is annihilated.  No innocent child has ever died.  What you perceive as reality is only a tiny flickering sliver of the vast, deep reality that underlies and surrounds your little world.  Even a glimpse of this deeper reality can be sufficient to liberate people from fear.

There is no death.  Death is always a prelude to resurrection.  That is true for everyone.  There are no exceptions.

Nor is there any divine punishment, or judgment.  No soul can be annihilated after death.  There is an awareness, after death, of the impact one’s life has had.  Sometimes there is a grief around the awareness that one has caused suffering or harm.  That is the only “hell” that exists.  Reality itself is wholly loving, and wholly forgiving.

It is okay if you do not believe this.  Most people do not.  They believe that souls are annihilated, or go to Hell, or receive punishment in subsequent incarnations.  This is all false.  Men have always worshipped gods made in the image of their own limited egos, instead of true divinity.  Occasionally people glimpse the true reality, which is wholly loving, and rooted in the absolute impossibility of death.

If you really understood that all you create with love can never be destroyed or annihilated, then you would understand all that needs to be understood, and require no further instruction.

Today we ask that you get comfortable with asking others for help.

Many people have terrible discomfort around this.  They equate asking for help with “begging,” and see begging as a lowly, shameful activity.  They are far too proud to “beg” anyone for anything.

This is very misguided.

In Eastern spirituality, there is a tradition in which monks go into the world, carrying nothing but a begging bowl.  They are literally beggars.  They rely on the offerings of strangers in order to eat, and survive.  There is nothing shameful about this.  In fact, it is considered sacred and holy.  By becoming beggars, the monks put their absolute faith in the universe to sustain them.  Their lives become an expression of pure gratitude.

Many people are very blocked in their ability to receive.  They believe that a good person is self-sufficient, and should never need anything.  Certainly no self-respecting person would ask for help from strangers!  To rely on charity — that is shameful!

This is very misguided.  And it is this kind of thinking that turns people into stingy misers, like “Scrooge.”  They hoard their money, so that they will never need anything from anyone.  And they will not give their wealth away — certainly not to anyone they deem “irresponsible.”

Let this be said: the average penniless beggar is far more spiritually advanced than the stingy miser.  It is a terrible thing, to be a “Scrooge.”  Dickens was quite correct about this.

From a higher perspective, it is known that all stingy misers will have to “do time” as penniless beggars — if not in this lifetime, than the next.  This is the way of things.  Some call it karma.  Really, it is just a process.

Know this: there is nothing shameful about asking for help.  There is nothing shameful about reaching out to the community of man for aid.  Aid may come in many forms: knowledge, time, energy.  Money is not the only way.

And it is good to give.  Obviously not to the point of depletion (see the previous post on “martyrs.”)  However, if you have some energy to spare, a generous spirit will always invite flow from the universe.  Flow begets flow.

Those of you with too much pride to ask for help, when it is needed — this is very sad, and unnecessary.  Do not be stiff-necked, and prideful.  This only blocks energy.

Be like the holy monk, with a begging bowl.  Do not be so precious with yourself that you cannot kneel in the dirt with a begging bowl, from time to time.  If you can truly let go to the experience of humbly asking for help, then you will experience a great loosening and relaxation.  Into that space, good energy will flow.