I cannot tell you any spiritual truth that deep within you
don't know already. All I can do is remind you of what you have
forgotten.
The Power of Now
Introduction, Page 6. |
Those who have not found their true wealth, which is the radiant
joy of Being and the deep, unshakable peace that comes with
it, are beggars, even if they have great material wealth. They
are looking outside for scraps of pleasure or fulfillment, for
validation, security, or love, while they have a treasure within
that not only includes all these things but is infinitely greater
than anything the world can offer.
The Power of Now
Chapter 1, Page 9. |
The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly,
however, it becomes very destructive. To put it more accurately,
it is not so much that you use your mind wronglyyou usually
don't use it at all. It uses you.
The Power of Now
Chapter 1, Page 13. |
All the things that truly matter beauty, love, creativity,
joy, inner peace arise from beyond the mind.
The Power of Now
Chapter 1, Page 14. |
All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from
a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.
The Power of Now
Chapter 1, Page 19. |
Love, joy, and peace cannot flourish until you have freed
yourself from mind dominance.
The Power of Now
Chapter 1, Page 24. |
Pleasure is always derived from something outside you, whereas
joy arises from within.
The Power of Now
Chapter 1, Page 24. |
Pain is inevitable as long as you are identified with your
mind.
The Power of Now
Chapter 1, Page 25. |
Nobodys life is entirely free of pain and sorrow. Isnt
it a question of learning to live with them rather than trying
to avoid them?
The Power of Now
Chapter 2, Page 27. |
The greater part of human pain is unnecessary. It is self-created
as long as the unobserved mind runs your life.
The Power of Now
Chapter 2, Page 27. |
The pain that you create now is always some form of nonacceptance,
some form of unconscious resistance to what is. On the level
of thought, the resistance is some form of judgment. On the
emotional level, it is some form of negativity. The intensity
of the pain depends on the degree of resistance to the present
moment, and this in turn depends on how strongly you are identified
with your mind.
The Power of Now
Chapter 2, Page 27. |
Accept - then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept
it as if you had chosen it. Aways work with it, not against
it. Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy. This will
miraculously transform your whole life.
The Power of Now
Chapter 2, Page 29. |
Watch out for any sign of unhappiness in yourself in whatever
form - it may be the awakening pain-body. This can take the
form of irritation, impatience, a somber mood, a desire to hurt,
anger, rage, depression, a need to have some drama in your relationship
and so on. Catch the pain-body the moment it awakens from its
dormant stage.
The Power of Now
Chapter 2, Page 30. |
Where there is anger, there is always pain underneath.
The Power of Now
Chapter 2, Page 32. |
The psychological condition of fear is divorced from any concrete
and true immediate danger. It comes in many forms: unease, worry,
anxiety, nervousness, tension, dread, phobia, and so on. This
kind of psychological fear is always of something that might
happen, not of something that is happening now.
The Power of Now
Chapter 2, Page 35. |
Power over others is weakness disguised as strength. True
power if within, and it is available to you now.
The Power of Now
Chapter 2, Page 36. |
An emotion is the body's reaction to your mind.
The Power of Now
Chapter 2, Page 36. |
Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not
now, nor will there ever be.
The Power of Now
Chaper 2, Page 41. |
Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret
of life is to "die before you die" and find
that there is no death.
The Power of Now
Chapter 2, Page 38. |
To be identified with your mind is to be trapped in time:
the compulsion to live almost exclusively through memory and
anticipation.
The Power of Now
Chapter 3, Page 40. |
Nothing ever happened in the past; it happened in the Now.
Nothing will ever happen in the future; it will happen in the
Now.
The Power of Now
Chapter 3, Page 41. |
The quality of your consciousness at this moment is what shapes
the future which, of course, can only be experienced
as the Now.
The Power of Now
Chapter 3, Page 50. |
All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological
time and denial of the present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress,
worryall forms of fearare caused by too much future,
and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances,
sadness, bitterness, and all forms of nonforgiveness are caused
by too much past, and not enough presence.
The Power of Now
Chapter 3, Page 50. |
Most people find it difficult to believe that a state of consciousness
totally free of all negativity is possible. And yet this is
the liberated state to which all spiritual teachings point.
It is the promise of salvation, not in an illusory future but
right here and now.
The Power of Now
Chapter 3, Page 50. |
Do not be concerned with the fruit of your action - just give
attention to the action itself. The fruit will come of its own
accord.
The Power of Now
Chapter 3, Page 57. |
To be free of time is to be free of the psychological need
of past for your identity and future for your fulfillment.
The Power of Now
Chapter 4, Page 59. |
Be at least as interested in what goes on inside you as what
happens outside. If you get the inside right, the outside will
fall into place.
The Power of Now
Chaper 4, Page 64. |
Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here
and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three
options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept
it totally.
The Power of Now
Chapter 4, Page 68. |
There is nothing wrong with striving to improve your life
situation. You can improve your life situation, but you cannot
improve your life. Life is primary. Life is your deepest inner
being. It is already whole, complete, and perfect. There is
nothing wrong with setting goals and striving to achieve things.
The mistake lies in using it as a substitute for the feeling
of life, for being.
The Power of Now
Chapter 4, Page 71. |
You cannot find yourself by going into the past. You can find
yourself by coming into the present.
The Power of Now
Chapter 4, Page 75. |
Words in themselves are not important. They are not the Truth;
they only point to it.
The Power of Now
Chapter 5, Page 85. |
At the deepest level of Being, you are one with all that is.
The Power of Now
Chapter 6, Page 105. |
The ultimate purpose of the world lies not within the world
but in the transcendence of the world.
The Power of Now
Chapter 7, Page 117. |
You find God the moment you realize that you don't need to
seek God.
The Power of Now
Chapter 8, Page 122. |
[Relationships] do not cause pain and unhappiness. They bring
out the pain and unhappiness that is already in you.
The Power of Now
Chapter 8, Page 127. |
Whenever anything negative happens to you, there is a deep
lesson concealed within it, although you may not see it at the
time.
The Power of Now
Chapter 9, Page 147. |
It seems that most people need to experience a great deal
of suffering before they will relinquish resistance and accept
before they will forgive.
The Power of Now
Chapter 9, Page 149. |