Today we ask that you question the merits of martyrdom.

Many people are taught that being a martyr is a virtuous and honorable way to live.

But this is not true.

It is not healthy to always put the needs of others ahead of your own.

To do so is to deny your own soul purpose.  It is not healthy.

Moreover, people who habitually put the needs of others ahead of their own often become very resentful, and bitter.

Most of you may know such a person.  Someone who is always martyring himself, doing things to help and care for everyone else, exhausting himself.  And then one day this person explodes with pent-up resentment and bitterness.  Or else he is always a little passive aggressive, quietly judging others for not being as virtuous.  Always complaining that others are so selfish.  Always feeling taken for granted.

This is not a good way to live.

It is not healthy for parents to martyr themselves for their children.  Obviously, children require an enormous amount of love and care.  But what they do not require is that their parents lead lives of misery and self-denial on their behalf.  This will only lead to terrible resentment, especially as the child gets older.  Then the martyring parent may act as if the child owes him some debt that can never be repaid.  No one benefits from this situation.  

Many Christians believe in martyrdom, because it is said that Christ was a martyr.

This is not true.  It is a misunderstanding.

To understand the Christ story, it is necessary to focus on the Resurrection, not the Crucifixion.  Christ was and is a completely liberated being.  He was and is liberated from the suffering and drama of human existence, and shows that such liberation is possible for everyone.  This is because it is impossible for the human soul to be annihilated.  There is no death.  That is the message of Christ.  It is not about glorifying torture and martyrdom.  It is about liberation from the fear of death.  It is a message of ultimate freedom.

Life is not meant to be a miserable experience.  Most people are very confused about life, and have been taught a great many false beliefs.  One false belief is that martyrdom is noble and virtuous.  It is not.

You must follow your heart.  You must follow the deep calling of your soul — even if it means that other people accuse you of being selfish.  Do not go around causing harm, of course.  But if it really is your soul’s calling, it will never ask that you harm others.  

Just because other people accuse you of being selfish doesn’t make it so.  The great artists and innovators of human history were always attacked for being selfish and immoral — Christ being no exception.  So, if you really want to follow Christ, don’t be afraid of other people accusing you of being selfish and immoral!

Do not suppress your own light because you have been taught it is the virtuous thing to do.  This path will lead to misery.  It will backfire.  Don’t be a martyr.  

Today we ask that you learn to work intelligently with your mind and body.

Most mental and physical illness is triggered by states of energetic imbalance and depletion.  

Eastern medicine has a better understanding of these processes then Western medicine, on the whole.

All good medicine is about bringing the human body and mind into a state of balance, and fullness.

The main factors in this are diet, patterns of physical and mental activity, and patterns of physical and mental rest.  

To maintain health, it is essential to build up energy in the body, and not allow the body to remain in states of depletion.

It is therefore good to eat energy-building, nourishing food, like green vegetables and legumes.  It is good to engage in energy-building physical activity, like yoga or martial arts.  It is good to give the body adequate rest, in the form of restful sleep every night, and naps during the day.  It is good to rest and restore the mind, in meditation.  It is good not to deplete the nervous system through constant stimulation from computers, phones, and TV.

Most people these days are terribly depleted.  They are always overstimulated, and do not rest enough.  Drinking caffeine usually worsens the problem.  That is why so many people suffer from insomnia, anxiety, and depression.  That is why so many people suffer from weight problems and stress-related physical illnesses.  These are signs of severe energetic imbalance.  Unfortunately, western medicine usually prescribes medication that masks symptoms, instead of addressing the root of the problem.

Most people would feel healthier and more energetic if they ate well, avoiding sugar and processed foods, and eating an abundance of green vegetables and protein-filled legumes.  Most people would feel better if they watched less TV, and slept more.  Most people would feel better if they took a nap during the day.  Most people would feel better if they learned to meditate.  Most people would feel better if they engaged in an energy-building physical practice like yoga or martial arts, or simply went for a walk outdoors in the fresh air every day.

It is not “rocket science.”

Meditation is really the greatest key to health, because the biggest culprit behind poor health is a restless, overstimulated mind that cannot stop thinking, and therefore engages in compulsive behavior (like overeating, shopping, etc.)  To relax the body, you must learn to relax the mind.  And deep relaxation is the greatest cure for energy imbalance and depletion.  The body knows how to heal itself.  But healing occurs best in states of deep rest, and repose.

If humans were meant to be active and working all the time, sleep would not be necessary.  Historically, the only humans who were driven to work constantly were slaves; and they had very short lifespans.  

Some of you may resent the necessity of sleep, but this is a really very childish way of looking at things.  It is like thinking, “Why can’t I be perfectly healthy on diet of soda and cookies?”  It is very silly.

One of the most intelligent things you can do is learn to work with your body as it is, not as you wish it were.  

Learn what energizes you, and learn what depletes you.  Learn to build up your energy reserves.  That is the key to deep and lasting health.  

Today we ask that you help other people relax.

This is one of the kindest, most useful things you can do.

Help other people relax.

Parents, help your children relax.

Children, help your parents relax.

Teachers, help your students relax.

Doctors, help your patients relax.

Clergymen, help your parishioners relax.

Help your co-workers relax.  Help your clients relax.

Have you noticed that this is not what people usually do?

Most people go around making other people more tense. 

This is what tense, nervous people do.  They come at you with their nervous tension, and they make you nervous.  If you don’t get nervous, then they may get angry.  They think this means “you don’t care.”

People are really crazy, thinking that it is responsible to go around making other people nervous.  Thinking that means they are accomplishing something.

There is a holy woman from India who goes around the world hugging people.  Now, that is useful.  That is a very helpful thing to do, to go around hugging people, making them feel safe and loved.

That is how to be a good mother, whether you are male or female.  Hug people.  Make them feel safe, and loved.

There may be this part of you that thinks you must be harsh and critical with others, and yourself, in order to motivate good behavior.

This is not true.  It is a lie.

There is enough harsh judgment in your world.  It has never led to anything good.  It causes wars and genocides, and no end of suffering.

This world doesn’t need more harsh judgment.  It has more than enough.

What this world sorely lacks is kindness and compassion.  That is what it needs, more than anything.

So stop going around attacking people.  

If you really wish to be a useful person, be kind to others.  Help them relax.

If you really wish to heal this world, you can start by being kind to people.  Help them relax.

Generally speaking, if you are someone who helps other people to relax, many doors will open to you.  In order to receive the light that is coming, you must learn to relax yourself.  It is not enough to help others, if you cannot also relax yourself.  

Today we ask that you relax.

Relax.

Relax.

Take a deep breath, and relax.

Almost all of you are far too tense.

Almost all of you would greatly benefit, just by relaxing.

Almost all of you would be more creative, if you relaxed.

Almost all of you would enjoy life more, if you relaxed.

Most of the problems and dilemmas you face can be solved by relaxing around the situation.

Far fewer acts of violence would be committed if people relaxed.

A voice in your head may protest: “That’s nonsense.  If people relaxed, nothing would get done!  People would just be lazy and unproductive.”

That is a lie.  It is not true.

Relaxed people are, on the whole, far more creative and productive than their tense, anxious counterparts.

Relaxed people are far more focused, and less distracted, their nervous, stressed-out people.

Relaxed people suffer far less mental and physical illness than nervous people do.

So why can’t you relax?  Why is it so hard to relax?

Why do you teach your young children in school to be so nervous and anxious?  Do you think it is good for them, to learn to be nervous and anxious like adults?  It only impedes their ability to flourish in their lives.

If everyone received a massage once a week, overall health in the society would improve a hundred-fold.

If everyone learned to meditate, to enter a state of relaxed calm at will, overall health in the society would improve a hundred-fold.

That is why it is such an awful lie that relaxing is bad for you, or irresponsible, or dangerous.

Is it possible to be “too relaxed”?  Perhaps.  But this is not a problem for most of you.  Most of you are far too tense and wound-up, and could benefit immensely from relaxing.

If you relaxed, you would digest your food better.

If you relaxed, you would sleep better.

If you relaxed, you would treat the people around you better.

Relaxing will not hurt you.  Truly, it won’t.

Today we ask that you pay attention to your patterns of defensiveness.

Notice when you feel defensive.

People feel defensive when they believe that something threatens them.  From there, it is a quick leap to aggression.

A defensive feeling always comes prior to any aggressive outburst.  Before all acts of aggression, defensiveness comes first.

So notice how often you feel defensive.

Some people feel defensive all the time.  Such people usually come off as highly aggressive, and hostile.  Sometimes they may seem crazy.

That’s because most defensiveness is crazy.

Defensiveness is not crazy if you are facing a real life-or-death threat.  If someone is coming at you with a weapon, then defense is a natural response.

But, for the most part, when you are defensive — is it because you are in a life-or-death situation?

Probably not.

People feel defensive when they read things on the internet, or watch the news.  

They feel defensive when they imagine some other person might be judging them.

They feel defensive imagining bad things might happen in the future.

The key word here is “imagine.”

Nothing bad is actually happening.  The triggers for the defensive feelings are almost entirely in the person’s mind.

However, the aggression that arises from defensive feelings is quite real.

So, for example, people who feel defensive around people with different political or religious beliefs, or sexual preferences, will wind up behaving very aggressively — even if nothing is actually threatening them, in reality.

You may sit in judgment over conservative or religious people who feel threatened by people with different preferences.

But you may be doing the same thing yourself.  

You may feel defensive toward many people who pose absolutely no threat to you.

You may even be in a state of chronic defensiveness, which will make you irritable, aggressive, and threatened even around your loved ones.

So just notice when you feel defensive.

The more you observe this behavior, the more you will see that on the whole, it is not in line with what is happening in reality.

This doesn’t mean that some people and situations don’t pose real physical survival threats.

But this is rare, in most modern people’s lives.  Nonetheless, an office worker facing down his boss may just feel as threatened as a cave man facing down a saber-toothed tiger — which is really not sane.  

So just observe this tendency.  Learn to calm down this part of you that always feels threatened and defensive.  Meditation is a tremendously useful tool in this regard.

Today we ask that you let go of needing to control what will happen in the future.

This would be wise, because in truth you have no control over what will happen in the future.

It is true that the most “anal” person who attempts to plan and micromanage everything well in advance — that person is very likely to experience a terrible shake-up, due to unforeseen events.

The great lie of the egoic consciousness is that it is in control, or can maintain control of anything — let alone what will happen in the future.

Know this:

The major events of your life are set in place before you are born.  This includes the day of your death, the major players in your lifetime, your parents, spouses, and children.  It includes what focus you will take in life — whether you are an artist, monk, scientist, or accountant.  These are all determined, with your full consciousness and consent, before you are born.

There is, at the same time, room for exquisite nuance and variation in the life as it unfolds.  When the soul embarks on a new life, much is left unknown.  That is the fun of it.  

That said, the big things are predetermined.

You have far less free will than you believe.

In fact, most of your free will is centered in how you choose to experience your lifetime, how you perceive your life.  Not the major events of the life itself.

This may sound ridiculous, or difficult to swallow, and that is okay.

But if you accepted this, you would feel a wonderful sense of relaxation around your life experience.

It means that mistakes are impossible.  You can’t “screw up.”  Even events that appear to be very tragic are foreordained.  They are agreed to by the soul, prior to incarnation.

It is okay if you do not believe this.

But if you did accept it, it means you would no longer feel such a constant sense of struggle and fear around controlling your future.  You would relax — and let what will happen, happen.  

Today we ask that you create balance in your life.

Many of the dramas that occur in your life are really just indicators that energy is out of balance, the way physical illness indicates an unbalanced body system.

The two major forces you are working with in life are what the Chinese call “Yin” and “Yang” energy.  They can be viewed as a masculine/feminine dialectic, but that is limiting.  Really it is more like the interplay of Strength vs. Flexibility.

Most athletes understand that peak physical condition requires the body to be both strong, and flexible.

Too much strength and forcefulness, without flexibility and suppleness, leads to injuries and breakage.

You live in a predominantly “Yang” society, so this is the state many of you find yourselves in.  You are taught to cultivate a certain kind of strength: hard work, competitiveness, dog-eat-dog, caffeinated, long hours, no sleep.  This is not healthy.  There is no fluidity, no suppleness, no give-and-take, no adaptiveness, no rest.

Overly “Yang” societies and individuals tend to experience breakage and breakdowns.

“Yin” energy is fluid and adaptive.  It is like the lubricant that keeps your joints healthy.  Without this lubricant, inflammation and breakage occurs.

However, if “Yin” energy is unbalanced, it can lead to a passivity and weakness of character.  There may be integrity issues, or a general lack of “oomph” in the life experience.  You’re a bit of a puddle.

These energies are best when they are balanced.  People require strength, endurance, and courage — but they are in danger if they are overly rigid, and prone to forcing things.

If you tend toward rigidity and trying to force matters, then you need to cultivate a more flexible, soft, adaptive energy in your life.

It is good to be flexible, yielding, and adaptive.  But you are in danger if you are always being “rolled over,” or feel like a doormat, or don’t have much “oomph” in your life.  If you are too much of a “couch potato.”

If you tend toward passivity, and feeling like a puddle — then you need to cultivate more strength, endurance, and courage in your life.

A physical practice like yoga, or martial arts, is an excellent way of cultivating both yin and yang energy in your life — in a healthy, balanced way (although beware if you have yang tendencies, and always want to “power through” everything — that means you need a softer practice.)

Balancing these energies in your life can create powerful positive change in your life experience.

Today we ask that you let go of the things you cling to.

Humans have a natural tendency to cling to the past.  You hoard your little keepsakes and mementos, until your life becomes very cluttered.  You want to keep the baby shoes, and the scrapbooks.

And that is okay.

But sooner or later, you will have to let go.

Someday, you will die.  At that point, someone — usually your relatives — will have the task of sorting through your possessions.  If you have accumulated a lot of clutter, this will be an unpleasant task.

A few things will be kept.  Much will be thrown away.

That is why it is healthy to let go, right now.

Do not try to hold on to everything.  Simplify your lives.

Some people have the experiencing of seeing their home burnt down, or destroyed in a natural disaster.  If you knew this was happening tomorrow, and could only take a few things, what would you take?

It is good to live life in such a way that if your home burnt down, and you lost most of your possessions, you would not feel terrible devastation.  It would be difficult, but not crippling.  Perhaps in some ways it could even be liberating.

The more you cling, the more painful the experience of life is.

People who cling to their youth, experience pain around aging.

People who cling to their children, experience pain as their children grow up and depart.

The more people cling, the more they engage in destructive behaviors.  They may disfigure themselves with plastic surgery in a futile attempt to stay young.  They may parent their children in such a way that may harm their child’s ability to live freely and independently.

Some people live in homes that are so filled with clutter, they can hardly move about.  Some people live their whole lives this way.

Stop clinging.  Let go.  It may seem frightening, but in truth it is much more painful to cling, than to let go.  It is like ripping a Band-Aid off slowly instead of quickly.  

That it is more painful to cling than let go is especially true at the moment of death, which comes to all men, no matter how wealthy, famous, or powerful they may appear to be.  The richest man in the world cannot prolong his life by a single day, if his time has come.

It is good to die in every moment.  Do not cling.  Let go.

Today we ask that you understand that stress and worry never help anything.

Most of you do not like the experience of stress and worry, and yet you believe it serves a purpose.  You believe that stressing and worrying about things protects you from unwanted events.  By stressing and worrying, you remain vigilant against potential threats, and thus ensure your safety.

This is not true.  This is a lie.

Stressing and worrying doesn’t protect you from anything.  All it does is impair your physical health, and your ability to think clearly.  Stressing and worrying means you are more likely to get into accidents and make foolish and impulsive decisions.  It means you are more prone to aggression, and thus more likely to get into fights and arguments.

In short, stressing and worrying is the cause of most of your problems.  It is not your defense against them.

Reality is fundamentally good.  It is not hostile.

The more you relax, and trust reality, the more easily good energy can flow to you.

It is like when the body gets sick, or sustains an injury.

The body wants to heal.  If you relax, it will heal more rapidly.  If you stress and worry, this delays healing.  It may even lead to the chronic pain of an injury that won’t fully heal.

This is universally true.  Stress and worry delays healing — both on an individual level, and a collective level.

Stress and worry do not make you safe.  In fact, they place you in greater danger.  

This may seem counterintuitive, but it is absolutely true.

The more you relax, and trust reality, the safer you are.

If you humans could relax and trust reality, your whole world would heal much more rapidly.

Today we ask that you honor your transitions.

Many of you are experiencing transitions at this time.  A transition is leaving one state, and entering a new state.  The transition exists between the old state, and the new.

Transitions are always challenging.  It is like adolescence, that awkward phase between childhood and adulthood.  It is like the chrysalis that the caterpillar enters on the way to becoming a butterfly.  

Transitions often involve a form of breakdown, before the new form can take shape.  Within a chrysalis, the caterpillar must first completely dissolve before the butterfly forms.  Transitions can feel very threatening, and unsafe.  The new state you are moving into may seem very alien and unknown.  

You exist in a transitional period.  Mankind has departed an old state, defined by tribalism, nationalism, wars, greed, intolerance, and exploitation.  You are entering a new state in which these tribal and nationalistic barriers are breaking down.  You are entering a time of greater tolerance and compassion that transcends tribal and national boundaries.  

Many people, especially those strongly rooted in old ideologies, find this new state profoundly threatening.  But there is nothing to be afraid of, truly.

As man is in its collective transition, many of you are experiencing transitional states in your individual lives.  Honor this process.  Honor how far you have come.  Honor the new selves that are taking shape.

Sometimes transitions are accompanied by intense physical and emotional upheaval.  This is normal.  The more you acknowledge that you are in a deep transitional process, the easier it will be for you to ride out these waves — for you will feel less resistance to the process.

Honor your transitions.  Honor and acknowledge the passing of the old, and the arrival of the new.