Student Question:  What is character and how is it formed?

Student Question:  Is there a distinction between raising levels of consciousness and expanding awareness?

Student Question:  I am in a situation where my parents want me to do a certain thing and they believe I have to do it.  I don’t want to do it just because it is their expectation, although I do believe that it is something worth doing.  If I choose not to do it in order to pursue something else, then I am left feeling bad about not doing both something worthwhile and what my parents wanted me to do.  In this case the feeling of guilt is created by doing something that I think is more important.  What should I do?

Student Question:  What is stubbornness, and when it becomes too intense, does the ego then crack?

In the postulant preparation class we studied the Seven Virtual Matriculations.  The last one was to realize that we are the oneness which dreams the cosmic dream and that that in itself is a dream, and needs be let go of.  I was thinking that if all of these habit’s that we are developing are part of the same cosmic dream, then are these all ways of enjoying it?

Student Question:  What is inverse narcissism and how does it work?

Excerpt:  "In childhood a process begins that the psychologists call socialization… what it really consists of is the stapling together of the pure awareness that is the self with the belief enforced upon you that you are the body (the identification with the body)… that is controlled by the third element which is language… you are given a name and the name sutures consciousness to the body and from then on people can call you and tell you what to do and that is in societies interest… once you buy into that through your affirmation of that socialization process, you no longer have access to the pure awareness that is your eternal self…."  Recorded on the evening of Thursday, September 08, 2011.

Student Question:  I was wondering if everything outside of awareness like fears for example, are forms of intelligence or entities that are seeking expression through awareness, or even us as that awareness?

Student Question:  How can I be loyal to myself while the ego’s agendas are still running?  How can I make good decisions when it’s coming from an egoic state?

Student Question:  Why is it so hard to keep ourselves from thinking when meditating, and what can we do to maintain these small gaps of silence?  Is there a practice that can accelerate the process?