Even the most talented beings in the world cannot achieve anything without practising several hours every day, and often from childhood, to develop their talents. Work is the only thing that can achieve results. And this is even truer in the ...
The intellect is a faculty that allows us to know the physical world and something of the psychic world, but no more. By itself it cannot show us the truth of life.Take the very simple example of a rose. We know a rose not just by perceiving its ...
...at when you are unable to move, thinking is not much help. You are wrong: by working with your thoughts and imagination you clear a path and plough a furrow, creating favourable conditions for a possible return to activity....
...cing, vast life. We can also say that they are nourished by each other's lives.
When you harbour thoughts and feelings that are selfish, unfair and wicked, it is as if you are taking in food from the lower regions of life. By accepting them int...
Even if they have reached adulthood, most people are still like children: to hold their attention, you have to keep offering them new things. And this failing can be seen in spiritual people too. Even if the teaching they receive provides them with ...
Why do men and women who felt strongly attracted to each other at first so often end up unable to bear each other anymore? Because they have been unable to sustain their inner life, to make it beautiful and poetic. For, unconsciously, it is life ...
In several passages in the Bible, mention is made of a book called the ‘book of life'. This book of life, which is obviously symbolic, has names written in it. You may be wondering how you can know whether your name is written in this book. It's ...
Now that you have committed to the path of light, you must keep walking without wondering when you will reach the end. One by one, all obstacles give way before those who do not stop en route, for they have set the powerful laws of life in ...
Even when humans stopped believing in gods who held feasts where they were served nectar and ambrosia, this did not stop their preoccupation with the search for an elixir, a drink of immortality, a search which continues to this day. In reality this ...
Do you want to know where you will go when you leave the earth? It is simple: you will be naturally drawn to those regions that have been the focus of your desires all your life. If you use your energies to ask for intelligence, love and beauty and ...
You are beginning to have difficulties as a couple… Instead of immediately thinking of separating, look at how you can sort things out. A marriage is like a problem which destiny has given you to solve. If you have met a particular woman or man in ...
Today's culture offers us endless objects and activities to entice and tempt us. And not only are people not warned of the dangers involved, but everything possible is done to persuade them that the satisfaction they will derive from these things ...
We have nothing to reproach scientists for when they describe minerals, vegetables, animals or human beings. What they say is true, but it is only a partial truth. For the truth to be complete, they would have to place the object of their study back ...
Question a few people at random; ask them if they value life. They will all probably say yes. So why do they squander it, racing around trying to acquire things that aren't as important as life itself? If they gave a thought first to the source ...
Over the years, most people lose their taste for things: they breathe, eat, drink, walk, see, hear, without being particularly conscious of what they are doing. You could say their senses have become dulled over time. But suppose they fall seriously ...
Earthly life for humans is simply a long sleep filled with dreams, some of which are pleasant and some not. One day, when they wake up, they will wonder how they could have believed that what they were experiencing was reality. If they are here ...
Once you are committed to following the path of light, do all you can not to leave it. And the surest way of doing this is to watch carefully how you perform the tiniest actions of daily life. There is no point in coming up with noble projects if ...
A spiritual teaching gives you a glimpse of a wonderful far-off landscape. You know that you will never be able to reach it, but at least you will have seen it, and this vision will stay with you and never cease to inspire you. You will never be ...
Just as all creatures are born, grow up, become old and then must make way for others, so too nations, countries and peoples do the same. They give what they have to give, and then they die out, as if they are resting so that one day they can ...
Over the years, most people lose their taste for things: they breathe, eat, drink, walk, see, hear, without being particularly conscious of what they are doing. You could say their senses have become dulled. But suppose they become seriously ill; ...
You will all have heard the saying that life is a school. If you really understood what that meant, each time a new difficulty arose you would accept that you needed to do further exercises, and you would say, ‘Ah, here's another opportunity for ...
When will people understand that their life must be always new, a constant outpouring? Like the sun, which is forever new. Yesterday's life is already past. Today's sun is not like yesterday's, and it also brings us new riches: each day it brings us ...
Even if people are convinced that life is the most precious thing they possess, they have still not properly understood that the most essential thing in life is life itself. They do not think of all the creatures, all the powers in the universe that ...
Do many people really consider the meaning of their time on earth? How many actually ask themselves, ‘What am I doing here? Why am I here?' Most behave as if they had nothing better to do than try to pass the time as pleasantly as possible. Very few ...
It is natural to rejoice when you have achieved success, but unfortunately – or fortunately – it is just as natural that some time later this success no longer satisfies. It is in the past, and you have to find a new reason to proceed with the same ...
The spiritual life does not require the amassing of a large amount of knowledge. The main thing in the spiritual life is practice. It is not good to read and study without ever trying to achieve anything or give concrete expression to it. Obviously, ...
Where are scientific and technical advances leading human beings? They should seriously ask themselves this question before it is too late. So far, those advances have been made to the detriment of life, because the aim of all the research and ...
The meaning of life lies in the quest for something eternally unachievable: divine perfection. For only the impossible is real, and what is furthest from us is in fact closest to us. This would seem to be absurd, but it isn't, for things are not as ...
Life… Yes, life, first and foremost. Whatever your area of study or activity, you must place life at its centre and see it in its broadest and highest dimensions. Only when you have grounded yourself in what is essential can you allow yourself to go ...
You will not change over a few months or even a few years just because you nurture the ideal of a spiritual life. And the fact that you made this or that good resolution does not mean that things will happen just as you decided. Unfortunately, it is ...
For a great many people, intellectuals in particular, the only truth is scientific truth. In fact, life's truth is more important than scientific truth. And life's truth means learning to place all lives within the context of the cosmos to see how ...
Every day, life brings each of us problems to solve, which is why all sages are in agreement that life is the only true master. They themselves can teach people, of course, as they are very evolved beings, who have worked and suffered a great deal, ...
In the morning, as you watch the sun rise, concentrate on it and say, ‘As the sun rises over the world, let the spiritual sun of love, wisdom and truth rise in my heart, in my soul and in my spirit.' When spoken out loud, these words are good for ...
Life after death is merely a continuation in another form of our present life and is, therefore, being prepared now.A few days after the soul has left the body, it separates from the body permanently. But everything the body has experienced is ...
Life is a slow combustion. We must become aware of the fact that all physical effort, as well as all sensation, all feeling and all inner agitation, entails the combustion of numerous substances in us. Most people act as if their energies were ...
...fe principle is of a more mental and spiritual order, and those who strive to feed it with right thoughts and generous feelings can delay the action of the death principle.
Of course, even if we do this work we will never escape old age and dea...
At first glance, what is fine, delicate and subtle would seem unable to resist the stresses of life. But look at what happens in the different kingdoms of nature. On the face of it, stones are the most resistant, but actually plants can defend ...
... knowledge consists in being able to preserve your life, knowing that the very quality of your thoughts and feelings is enough to affect your energy reserves and the very essence of your being. And so the best way of preserving your life is to ...
Humans are alive, of course, but they are not living: most of the time, all you can say is that they are keeping busy. They don't realize that the numerous activities in which their days are spent cause them to forget to live.To live is to breathe, ...
No one will deny that all the human beings inhabiting the earth are alive. Even if they are only leading a life that is vegetative and instinctive, they are alive. And most also have an emotional, feeling life or even an intellectual life. But ...
The spiritual life is like a soil you must bury yourself in if you are to grow. Until then you will be like grain left in a granary. In the granary, of course, it is undisturbed; it is not subject to rain or wind or hail, but it will soon rot or be ...
How many people cling to life and will even commit murder in order to survive! This is because they are unaware that life does not end with their earthly existence, and so they incur heavy debts they will one day have to pay. Disciples of an ...
Although you sincerely want to give up some of your bad habits, it is not easy, and it is important to be aware of this. Before engaging in a spiritual movement, disciples have not yet been instructed in the rules of Initiatic Science and live more ...
One day, after some reading or an encounter with someone, you may decide to change your life and embrace the spiritual life. Nevertheless, it will not be easy to put aside your material preoccupations: money, social position, honours, power… It is ...
The way people see life largely reflects what they themselves are. If they think it is beautiful, it is because they carry beauty within them; if they think it has no meaning, it is because they are ignorant and limited in their understanding.Life ...
...eing, each object bears their traces, and these traces can be detected. In the same way, all the thoughts, feelings and actions of humans, all their aspirations, enthusiasms, plans and prayers, leave them and move off in all directions; nothing...
Now that you have set foot on the divine path, you must keep walking it tirelessly. The obstacles ahead disperse, one by one, when you keep going, for you will have set the powerful laws of life in motion.The spiritual life is like climbing a high ...
It is almost pointless embarking on the spiritual life so long as you have not understood just how tough the lower nature is and how demanding the work is you have to undertake, in terms of vigilance, steadfastness, humility and selflessness. Far ...
Life and death are constantly battling with each other. It is generally thought that their power is equal, and there are some who even tend to think that death is stronger than life. It isn't. On the face of it, of course, death always seems to end ...
Once you have committed to the divine path, endeavour not to turn back. The surest method for not turning back is to be vigilant even in the smallest actions of daily life. It is pointless nurturing noble aspirations, if they are not supported each ...