Four Actions To Win Your Battle With Life GF Live 8-15-26

Key Lesson: Our first responsibility in any difficult moment is to see not just what the moment itself is asking of us, but who or what within us is in a rush to answer it.

Action #1: I will do the work to see what the moment asks of me, and nothing else.

Action #2: I will do the work to be aware of any part of me that wants to misdirect me.

Action #3: I will do the work to let go of, and consciously suffer anything untrue to the work I am given to do.

Action #4: I will do the work to never forget my first action is always to enter this battle in every moment of life I can remember to do so.

Key Lesson: We cannot control outcomes because no action belongs to us alone. The moment in which we act - in fact, the reason we are moved to act - is because each moment contains innumerable forces, relationships, conditions, histories, and other celestial possibilities.

Transcript

The title of the talk today is Work on These Four Actions and Win Your Battle with Life. Work on these four actions and win your battle with life. And the key lesson, If you will, Kate, Please. Keeping in mind that we're talking about this. Battle that all of us understand we are more or less constantly in in this life. Here's the key lesson, I'll trust it gets up there. It's impossible to separate some false action in life from the pain that it produces. So that the more we learn to consciously suffer that pain, The more clearly we begin to see into and through the false nature responsible for creating it. There's so much material today. And some of it requires constant attention. So I do appreciate your posting and if I ask for your acknowledgement that you're following, That's great, But as best you can, Let's try and keep our attention solely on what is being presented because for one thing, We're going to start our talk today in a kind of a strange place. We were talking about this idea. Of how we might win on the battlefield of life. We're going to start our talk on a battlefield. We're going to look at this idea. That comes to us from a very old writing called the Bhagavad Gita. Which was 700 plus verses written a long, Long time ago by an illumined being. The Far East? And the principal story concerns a certain prince by the name of Arjuna. Who was a great warrior. And who belongs to a specific caste back in those days called the Pandavas. And how he was at war and going to go into war with his cousins. His cousin symbolizing conflict. Negativity. And the Pandavas. Representing more or less virtuous tendencies, Truth, So forth and so on. And they are on this battlefield called, Forgive me if I brutalize the pronunciation. Kurukshetra. Which basically means in that language, The field of Dharma, The field of right action. Now be patient if I have to ask for it. So that you can start to understand what's going on, Because the story unfolds where Arjuna is on this battlefield and trying to reclaim the kingdom that is being stolen from him, Just as we are trying to reclaim our life that is being stolen from us by a nature that we do not understand, Let alone how it works within us. But he's torn. He's on a battlefield and he doesn't know what to do because he sees only consequences. He doesn't want to go to war with his own family, With his cousins. And he knows that if he refuses to fight, On one side, That the injustice, If you will, The negative tendencies of greed, Ignorance, That they will prevail, Damaging the kingdom. But on the other hand, If he does fight, What kind of victory is it going to be? Because he's afraid he'll lose his soul for going to war with his own family. So he thinks to himself, I do nothing. I'll betray everything that I know is right, But if I do what I know is right, What will become of me and everyone else. And this story unfolds as he, Arjuna, Is talking to Krishna. Now Krishna represents Uhhh. . . A higher conscience. The divine aspect, The higher self, Real conscience. Arjuna represents you and I. A confused soul, More or less caught in between doubt and deliberation and all the things that are always attending our lives moment to moment. And he doesn't want to go to work. He doesn't want to enter into this battle. Now, Please understand. This battlefield. That Arjuna is on with his charioteer, Krishna, Having this conversation. This battlefield is essentially the physical world. It is the world we are in where there is a constant battle between the good wolf and the bad wolf. Between what we sense is correct and what we are afraid to do for cost of following what we know is true, This constant conflict that rages on in between us. We are in that world. We are in that battle. So that battle that is in this book from thousands of years ago is not as distant as it may seem to us because we know something of that place. Have you ever stood in front of a moment where life asked you to enter into a difficult conversation? Maybe come up with a very uncomfortable decision that you just don't want to get to because you're thinking of the consequences, Even though you know what the right decision is. For some of you, Just to admit you're wrong, Admit an error to somebody, Or in some instances, Walk away from a behavior, A relationship that no longer serves what is right, And you know it doesn't. But as you sit there in that interior battle, There is always this idea of a consequence that is going to come out of doing what we know is right in that moment. Let's make sure we're all on the same page. Have I set the stage well enough for everybody to follow why I'm starting with this story from the Bhagavad Gita? So now. What happens when instead, Of seeing what the moment asks us to do. And to do as best we know how is true. Given what we see as true in the light of that moment. What happens when we, Instead of doing what's true, Is in that moment, Our attention as a rule, All unseen, Is captured by some form of a fearful imagination that what might happen if I was actually to do what I know is true in this moment? So life is saying, Here is what you are given. Here are the scales of justice, If you will. Will you be the balance point so that what is true might prevail? But in that moment, We cease looking at what we are being asked to do, And all we can see in that moment is what our negative imagination is projecting as the fearful outcome of our choice. Still following me now as I set the stage? Because I want to read to you, And Kate, If you will bring it up, Please. I want to read to you that little passage right there that Krishna says to Arjuna about this conflict that he is in. You have a right to perform your prescribed duties. But you are not entitled to the fruit of your actions. Never consider yourself the cause of the result of your activities and never be attached to not doing your duty. Difficult language, Just as the New Testament language, All old teachings. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities and never be attached to not doing your duty. Now, What is Krishna saying to Arjuna? He's not telling Arjuna that consequences don't matter. Under no circumstances is he suggesting that one should be indifferent in that moment, Much as Christ said that he would spit out from his mouth the people who are lukewarm in their interior lives. No, What Krishna is doing as a form of higher intelligence and Arjuna representing this nascent soul in us, He's saying, Look, There's laws. There are celestial laws. And when you embrace the right law with the right action, You win freedom. From fear. That's what he was saying. There are actual laws, And if you don't embrace the laws, The wrong thing will take place. You will live in constant fear of some imagined outcome, Because that's all you're looking at when the moment comes to you and says, What are you going to do? But if you understand that what's going on is in fact a presentation of some higher presence, A principle saying, Here is what you are being asked, Then you can begin not just to do what is right, But to see the nature that doesn't want to do it. Kate, Let's bring up the second key lesson, Please. Stay with me, Everybody. Here's it in a nutshell. Do what is yours to do. And drop the painful, Fearful sense of self born of the false belief that somehow you are responsible for controlling the outcome of your action. Do what is yours to do and drop the fearful sense of self born of the false belief that somehow you are responsible for controlling the outcome of your action. This is what Arjuna is going through. If I do this, What's gonna happen? If I take this stand, What is it gonna mean? Who will I be in the eyes of the people around me if I stand up and do what is dharma, What is true and good? So this battle that we're describing and that we see in the Bhagavad Gita is our battle. Because basically speaking, Most of the time, We are not doing what the moment asks of us. Let's go slow. Most of the time we are not doing what the moment asks of us. Why? Because most of the time we aren't actually in the moment. We're actually someplace else psychologically. Examples. Somebody asks us a question. Anybody ever ask you a question with a little edge in their voice? Maybe it feels passive aggressive. Perhaps something they say or something you read someplace touches an old memory where you were criticized or rejected. And before we know it, We're no longer answering the question that was asked of us. But instead we're looking to answer our reaction to the question. So we're not asking, We're not answering the question of the moment, What it's asking of us, Which is really our attention. Instead, We are attending to how to answer what our reaction is telling us has been asked of us. Can you see this with me? It's a complete reversal. I don't attend to what the moment is asking. Someone's asking a question. If I'm asked a question, What does your motive have to do with the way I respond to it? I'll say it again. If someone makes a passive aggressive remark, If I see in my mind's eye, Someone who hurt me a hundred years ago, What does the moment that is asking me to attend to it have to do with my negativity that follows it? And if you can see it, That means I'm not answering the question. I'm not present. Instead, I'm in a prison looking to something to help me to get out of it by giving me an answer to a reaction I've had, Not to the reality of the moment. Everybody following me? It's a little complex, But it's right in front of us if we can see it. I'll give you some more examples. Maybe we start thinking about I'm at a family dinner. And somebody makes a passive, Aggressive comment, Or they kind of call attention to themselves. Maybe we start thinking in that moment, Instead of answering the moment, Which is to be present and witness ourselves, How do I not look disappointed? Because I'm not nearly as eloquent or as successful as he or she may be. Or maybe somebody brings something up and it sets me off. So what I'm looking to is how do I not show this anger that I'm in the middle of? So the moment wasn't asking me to get angry. The moment was asking me to see the parts of myself present in that moment, That when they are presented with something that sets them off, They're there to be revealed. So if you're following me, Before we know it again. Our reaction turns the question of the moment, The necessary action of the moment, Into something else. And so we answer the question, Our reaction answered. We answer, We ask, We answer the question. We answer the question that our reaction has created within us. Before I go on. I want to make sure we're still on the same page because I'm describing to you one of the most difficult spiritual lessons in the world. But one that is also one of the simplest lessons. Kate, Please bring up the third key lesson. A summary. So far. Our first responsibility in any difficult moment. Is to see not just what the moment asks. But who or what within us is rushing to answer it. Our first responsibility, Our first action is not just to be present to what the moment is. Bringing up. But to see the nature that comes up to answer that question, Because the negativity, The resistance to whatever the moment is asking, Always gives us a reason why this is who we are and why we must protect ourselves from what we see as an injustice or somebody doing something to us that ought not be done. So if you get that, It means. The first responsibility, I know this is going to blow some of your minds, Is not to correct the person that irritated you. The first responsibility is not to defend an image of myself that you have somehow questioned. Because as a rule, Is that not the first way we answer any moment that we see and react to as a challenge to some image we have of ourselves? Please. Do you see this? So if the moment isn't asking me to correct the other. If the moment isn't asking me to correct you. If the moment isn't asking me to judge myself. If the moment isn't asking me to do that, Then what is in fact my action in that moment? What is it that I must do? What must my work be in order to begin changing my relationship with the moment that comes to me? So that instead of ignoring or denying what I'm asked to see and then be, So instead of doing that, I become what this reaction gives me to do in order to protect myself from some imagined fear. And if you follow that much, We're about to go into these four actions that I described in the title of the talk. And I will ask Kate to present them one at a time, And I will cover them one at a time as best my time allows. Here are four actions. The first action, Kate, Please. Action number one. Remember this is in every moment, Especially challenge ones. I will do the work to see what the moment asks of me and nothing else. I will do the work to see what the moment asks of me and nothing else. Now let's be careful. Like Arjuna, There is a me that knows what is right, That has conscience, That knows not to enable, That knows not to lie. And then there is my cousins, This family within me. Conditioned, All caught up in the world trying to somehow or other convince everyone that it knows what it's doing and look at what I've got to prove it. But I have to steal it in order to have it. So that me, On one hand, The good wolf, And the other wolf, The conflicting group, The karavasis, The dark side of the family, If you want to use that word, That's what has to happen. So the moment is asking me. If I can see presently What? What? What is to be done here? Clearly, If I'm present, I know impatience isn't the answer. I know that. Lashing out isn't the answer. But the problem is how quick. This thought nature redirects the initial question, Which is basically always, Will you be present? Will you accept what you are being given to see is true about you and the moment, Not as separate entities, But you and the moment as a singular revelation of the whole of what is holy? That's what it asks. But thought says, Well, You know, If I don't say yes here with what they're asking me, Then the consequence is they may not love me. Or if I say no, Like I know I should, The consequences, They may hate me and then I'll be isolated. And so instead of doing what the moment asks, I want to make sure that everything works out the way I want it. And that's not me. It feels like me, But it's not. How do I know? Because I have to sell my soul to do it. What response is going to gain the most ground is the question that comes up in us, And no more does the question come up from that nature than it has the answer. But if we're following this, We realize none of those questions that we ask ourselves actually answer the moment. And they don't answer the moment because we're not in it. We've been stolen, We've been taken out of the moment in one respect. By a level of nature within us whose first business of attending is always to the future that it imagines it has to protect. To a time where it has to gain something. And that's why it has to kind of lie a little bit here just to make sure it can get there. Then it says we will be different. We will do differently. So can you see in that moment? In this instance, Here's the question, Can I speak only what's needed? Or sometimes should not speak at all. That may be the answer because the person posing the question and everything that's revealing to you, This person loves to complain. This person always has a negative slant. This person uses terrible language, Whatever it might be. So the right response sometimes would be no response at all. That's how you would answer the question of the moment, Because in the proper answer, You get to see everything in you that's afraid of doing what's right. But if you answer it properly, That person or that moment has an opportunity to see what it would never see about itself as long as you were dancing around trying to make sure everything stayed copacetic. If I speak in that moment, Can it be without impatience? Can I do it without anger? Can I listen to somebody talk? Without going into thought preparing some kind of defense. Making some kind of secret bargain with myself that then I put on the table. Do you see all the examples I'm trying to get at here? A way in which we we're constantly doing without knowing it, Answering what our reaction is telling us has been asked instead of doing what the moment is giving us to respond with. Kate, Let's bring up the second of the four actions, Please. I will do the work. To be aware of any part of me that wants to misdirect me. I will do the work. To be aware of any part of me that wants to misdirect me. The blind shall lead the blind, Said Christ, And both will fall in the pit. The misdirection always comes up the moment the reaction starts pointing to someone or something outside of us to blame. And then it comes up with what seems to be a completely reasonable action, Which is you need to defend yourself here, Or you can't let them get away with that. Make sure they know what they just did to you. You know all of that. Every last one of those thoughts that promises relief and release is itself captivity and a kind of misdirection in the moment. Why? My attention isn't on the moment. It isn't on the nature that always feels as if it's being attacked. Instead, In that moment, It's on what it sees as the attacker and it's righteousness that makes sure that that person knows how they've missed the mark. Those voices, They seem very helpful to us, Don't they? When they come up. Here's what to do. Here's how to go. Here's what to say. And it happens just like that. But if we look carefully, Which is what our work is about. Nearly every one of those voices, Every one of those whispered questions moves us out of the present moment and into a psychological time. Where we are measuring what we think we have now against what we might stand to win or lose, So that our attention is misdirected onto who or what's to blame. And then once that's determined, It's a piece of cake, Because if I've determined the problem, Now I know what to do to get rid of the pain involved in it. And so in that moment, Instead of our attention being misdirected, Always falling on what's to blame. Blinds us. As that happens, To the lower nature that can't do anything other than blame. So the moment we become identified with that movement, We are where? We are left right in the battlefield to go through the next battle the next time that challenge comes up. Because the real moment isn't it? That's the quote, Battlefield. That's the moment where something is acting and something is passively experiencing it. And the revelation is not just the full exposition of the battlefield, But of the nature of the two cousins, Of the two fields, Of the two sides that are operating in it. If you're still with me, I'll go on to the third action. Everybody following? Kate, Let's bring up the third action. I will do the work to let go of and consciously suffer anything untrue to the work I am given to do. I will let go of and consciously suffer anything untrue to the work I am given to do. And this may be the most difficult of the actions. Because, And you know it already, Those of you who do any interior work, Seeing an angry impulse doesn't bring an end to the fire that, That that I'm standing in. Seeing how afraid I am of not saying what I need to say or not acting in the way I know is appropriate in that moment, It doesn't bring an end to the fear that has me bound If I see inside of me this resentment, Just comes up all the time. And as the resentment comes up, Instead of being there present to answer what I'm given in that moment, Which is to see something is carried over, Carried over, Carried over, Instead, What happens? I, My mind starts plotting how to retaliate. And how many times have you retaliated passively, Aggressively, Or directly? Only to find out that that doesn't change one thing about the feeling of how you were wronged. Because it'll come up again and again and again, Not with that person, But with everyone else that begins to assume that posture with you. So this idea, As difficult as it is, I'm going to work to let go of it. I'm going to consciously suffer. Anything untrue to the work I am given to do. And what is the work I am given to do? It is to be where I am, To see what I am, And to experience it without leaving the present moment in which all of it is being revealed to me. So that means, If you're following me, That. . . We're gonna have to suffer our own presence. I should say it this way, We have to suffer the presence of our own lower nature without serving it. Because every time our lower nature deflects what we are given to do and to be in the moment, Every time it deflects that, We are serving that nature that is deflecting the light of that revelation so as to keep us in a kingdom of shadows where the fear that lives there will keep us serving that nature. So there's an immense difference. Between serving the parts of us that suffer. That are filled with resentments and regrets. An immense difference between serving those. So that we can escape what they are telling us we will never be without if we don't do as they say. Versus actually remaining present. To all the pressure that that nature brings up. As it approaches on the battlefield, Claiming the right to my life. Imagine, I know it's hard for you to see, There's no greed without fear. There's no ambition of a self without fear. There's no trying to acquire. Without fear. So without knowing it, When I do what fear bids, I do it because fear has said, What will happen if you don't protect yourself from what, From what fear says will happen if we don't serve it. And this is why we don't understand why these things don't change. It is entirely possible, It's necessary to stand for what is right without succumbing to retribution. Without yielding to something telling you you're going to make somebody pay or you're going to take something from the world that you're owed. To defend what is right. And what is right can only be known in the moment as it is revealed to you to do and be the instrument of. To do what is right, Defend it, Serves principle. Retribution serves self-greed, Serves nothing but its wish to escape its pain. Kate, Let's go to the fourth action, Please. I will do the work to never forget that my first action is always to enter this battle. In every moment of life, I can remember to do so. I will do the work to never forget that my first action is always to enter this battle. In every moment of life, I can remember to do so. For the longest time, We can't remember anything. Because we're so occupied with a question. That our reaction has brought up. What do I do about this? How am I going to handle that? What does that mean? Now what? What's gonna happen to me? Oh God, What do the doctors say? You fill in the blanks. And what you find if you're honest. Is that there is never a moment in which something doesn't come and say, Look at that. And instead of understanding that if something is directing my attention to look downstream or upstream into the past or into the future, The nature that commands me to visit some time stream that I'm other than the moment I'm in is itself the deception. And all I will find there in my actions to change the past or to fix the future is that I was deceived, But I didn't know it. And I won't always until suddenly I see it's too late. And the important thing to understand about this, I will do the work to never forget my first action. I don't care where I am. That will include that my first work, The first action is to see that when I did forget, That when I didn't remain aware. The first action is to see that. Not to judge myself, Not to hate myself. Not to make excuses as to why I forgot to be attentive to my own life? Can you imagine something giving you an explanation for why you were so inattentive to what was going on that you wound up in a prison? What kind of nature would explain to you that? And I'm telling you what kind of nature. The nature that wants to steal your kingdom, That wants to steal your right to be a prince inside of the kingdom of heaven. And critical here to understand is these battles, They don't just happen once. And I hesitate, And that's part of the problem with language. I guarantee you, If I went and looked up the actual Sanskrit, The actual origin of the word battle in terms of the Bhagavad Gita, You would see that it really has nothing to do with enmity between sides. It has to do with which side will prevail in the moment when light reveals what is actually recurring. Because if we see the truth of something, There's really no question about it, Is there? But when I see the truth about myself, Up comes the question, Well, Maybe this time I need to be like this, Or it's okay for me to be a lazy this or a disgruntled that, Because after all, And then the excuses follow, Because I didn't get the break everyone else did, Or I don't have what others seem to do. So these battles are going on all the time, Every moment. When two of us appear, So to speak. One is saying, Do what is true. The other says, Well, Yeah, But first make sure it's not going to hurt you to do that. Everything we need is in presence. Because presence is everything we need and cannot wait to give us all that we require in order to be a realized human being no longer fighting with the role we are given to play in this life. One of these natures, Our true nature, Asks us to meet what is. The other imagines it knows what might happen next and then avoids the shadows of its own fearful projections. Now, If you're following me and I don't know how clear I've been. And if you've reached anywhere near this point where you have seen how you don't do the good you would, But rather the evil you would not to quote St. Paul, Because that's what we're describing. Here I am and I know what's right. Don't go back in time. Don't worry about what that particular moment means relative to your three years from now. To see all of that. Because. . . The mind will say, But look, You have to control outcome. If you stop trying to control outcome, What's going to happen to you? It may not say it out loud, But that's exactly what's going on. What will happen to you if instead of doing what you know is true in the moment as it is given to you to see and to be, Well, If you do that, It could be a disaster. I might wind up on a street someplace. So it isn't. Our mind says life is about creating results. That's how we've been conditioned. We are grown. We are good. Brought into a world that tells us results, Results, Results. Failing to tell us that any result we imagine contains the fear we want to obtain the imagined result. Which is why no result releases us. So we think, Don't we need ambition, Desire, Planning, And foresight? Look, Of course we have to plan. We're meant to use our natural intelligence. But psychologically depending on an imagined outcome. And being present are two completely different things. That's what Krishna was saying to Arjuna. If you would stop thinking about the outcome of what you are being asked to do for the sake of Dharma, For the sake of what you know is right. If you get rid of the fear of what happened, Then it's evident. And then further, He was saying is that if you will go on and do what is right. Then what is right will come because you won't live with fear anymore. You will be acting as you are intended to act. And I'm going to run out of time. I knew I would. There's a parallel here between the Bhagavad Gita and Christ. He said to his disciples, What man taking thought can add one cubit to his stature? What man taking thought can add one cubit to his stature, The actual translation, Who by being anxious about tomorrow can build themselves a secure, Peaceful life now. And he goes on to say, For sufficient under the day is the evil thereof, Meaning that this whole idea that you can control outcome, Because isn't that what anxiety is about? Yeah, I'm anxious. Why? Because I don't know what's going to happen. Well, Why are you worried about what's going to happen tomorrow? What a stupid question! Because if that happens tomorrow, I'm sunk. Who shunk? Me? Who's me? Fear. Worry, Doubt, Anxiety. So the deception runs so deep we don't see it. Krishna was saying, Christ is saying, Don't worry about the results of your action. If you take true action, The results take care of themselves, Which is your liberation. Which is your realized relationship with the presence of something that is holy and isn't concerned with the outcome, Left or right, Of anything that it's asked itself to do, Because it's contained in an order of consciousness that can't act against itself. Kate, Let's bring up the fourth key lesson, Please. It's a summary again. We cannot control. Outcomes. As no action is ours alone. Please let this key lesson sink in. We cannot control outcomes as no action is ours alone. The moment in which we act, In fact, The reason we are moved to act, Is because each moment contains innumerable forces, Infinite relationships, Conditions, Histories, And other celestial possibilities. I sit here, I watch the morning doves, I watch the dolphins, I watch the herons, I watch the lizards. I watch everything move back and forth. They are all being moved. And not one creature moves on its own, Just as the lily does not create its own beauty, But rather it is the summation of everything that comes into that moment. And everything that comes into the moment moves what is in the moment according to the need, The greater need of all that is moving it. So we sit here and think to ourselves, I got to control the moment. First of all, You are the one the moment was acting on. The you that doesn't want the unwanted moment is not the true you that is being acted on. You are being acted on by truth so you can see the truth of yourself. And the action that comes out of that basically is no action. Because it's clear, It's resolved, Everything's evident. So if I actually were to see, Which is why I always suggest my students spend time in nature. And not just to placate themselves or hide out. Actually, See, There's no moment, And I'm going to go into this deeply tomorrow. There's no moments where everything in the universe isn't conspiring to move whatever it is moving. In Dira's Web, All of the various myths and teachings connected to this idea of this broad, Beautiful celestial circulation. Where everything is being moved according to the need of what is moving it? And it is being moved into the need of that which awaits it. That's the truth. So here I am, Something moves me, And I want to figure out not just what I need to do relative to that movement, Because I know what it is. I also know what the movement is I should take, As if somehow or other, I'm independent of all that is acted on me, And I'm not. So accordingly, Subsequently. In these moments, If we understand something is coming and it is asking me to play my role in that moment. Which is to see and to be everything that has been brought together between heaven and earth. And to allow the revelation of that relationship to produce the new conception, Which is the new movement, The movement that comes out of what was moved. An immaculate conception, The movement that comes out of what is moved. I will talk about this tomorrow. Only then do we enter into the whole, Into what is holy. We participate. In what follows. But we don't possess it. We participate in what follows, But we don't possess it. That's all I want to do is possess stuff. You want to possess a future. That you live in fear won't work out to be the prized image that you've imagined. So this unconscious mind doesn't see that at all. And it keeps continually, Does it not, Continually trying to claim responsibility. For a future that it could never control. It's so priceless. My mind, My mind claims responsibility. Well, Look at this, You've got to do that. So it's claiming responsibility for a time to come that not only can't get control, But that doesn't even exist apart from the fear that mind has created in its own time. You see this, It'll change you. Because when it does that, It becomes afraid of failing to control what was never within its power in the first place. Outcome, Outcome, Outcome. No! Incoming! Present. There is a higher order of being. One whose peace is not born of knowing what the next moment may or may not know or bring. Rather from understanding that every moment literally is the revelation of a peace that is given to us. Tomorrow I'm going to talk about the bay a little bit. The bait doesn't strive to return to a glassy surface. Everything that takes place is a relationship of response to what is acting on it. It is moved accordingly and will always move according to what acts on it perfectly. But for us? We have to understand that like the bay, Like all living creatures, Like everything God has made, That nature has brought into existence, We have a role to play. And you can begin to understand why Christ said, Not my will, But thy will be done. Because not my action. But a proper response to what you are showing and acting upon me with this revelation of what needs to be done. So it is given. But I don't want it as it's given unless I can change it into something that I want more or that I can avoid. So as we work to enter and realize this inner place that I'm describing. Something. Indescribable begins to take place. And you can only experience this. Don't you dare think to yourself and then feel what you imagine. That's a curse without knowing you've cursed yourself to identify with anything you imagine. Oui, Oui, Oui. If when we do what we are asked to do. Without fear of consequence. Because it's not ours to control. And we understand that. Little by little, We become free of our fear of outcome. We become capable of seeing it. Into and literally dying to a fearful nature that doesn't exist apart from the outcome that it resists the moment it imagines it. So perhaps, If you're following me, The real fruit of right action isn't getting what we hope will end our fear of life. Or maybe the real fruit is understanding that we are not and never have been that fearful self, But we'll never know that we've never been, Not been. We will never know we are not that fearful self until the action is to observe it in action instead of let its action produce for us a time when we won't, In quotes, Be afraid. So the battlefield remains, Again, That word. When you look at the movement of yin and yang, When you look at how things are constantly moving, There's no battle. There's active, Passive, There's acceptance, There's change. And that's always going on, But we have something in us that does not want to change at all. It wants to change the world so that it can agree with what we think contentment and security is because life is never going to stop asking us about things. And it's always going to be difficult. You should get over that. That's another thing the mind says, Well, One day I'll be, I'll be over all of the difficulties. One day you will be over the fear of difficulty. One day you will be over the fear of suffering. That doesn't mean that there won't be suffering and difficulties. It just means that you will no longer suffer uselessly. You will suffer for a useful purpose, Which is to complete the moment you have been asked to complete as your first action. So instead of asking, How do I make certain that these things turn out? Instead, We begin inwardly. And maybe you have to start with this. One day you won't, It'll be present. What is, What's actually being asked of me right now? My husband just walked in and he set me off. What's being asked of me? To let him know that he's been doing that for too long? Maybe on one hand, That is what's asked of you. Because you have listened to something tell you, Keep the peace, Keep the peace, Keep the peace until you're ready to blow apart. So maybe the right action is to find a way to say something. And then maybe the right action in that moment is to watch how you lay plans to be safe and protected and what you say, And that it all comes undone. You still learn, You still grow, You do the right thing in the right moment and you learn from it instead of doing the wrong thing that the wrong part of you tells you is what you need to do to be safe. See what the moment asks. See whatever wants to misdirect you. Consciously suffer what is untrue for your willingness to serve what you know is true, And then enter the battle again and again and again. Do the work that belongs to you. Do the work that belongs to you, Not the work that you inherited because your mother said you should be like this or your father said you shouldn't be like that. That's not your work. Your work is to catch your cousins, Your mothers, Your fathers, The whole unconscious family of thoughts and feelings that dwell in the darkness of this nature. That's your job. And that's the battle. And in the end, The battle isn't yours to win. It's yours to enter, Because to enter it is to win. And you'll see that for yourself if you do the work.