July 2025

NEW STRENGTH
There is a very interesting true story, this is true. There was a man who wanted to buy a certain set of books, fifteen or twenty books that came together in a box, so he called the company and they sent out a salesman. The salesman came out, brought the box of books in, set them on the floor, and they talked a little bit. And the salesman, instead of opening the books, sat there for a while and talked to the man who had ordered them and the salesman was telling him all sorts of future involvements with the book company.
  He was telling him that in six months, you’ll be able to get a fifty percent discount over the other books we publish and a year from now, we’ll be sending you literature, which will entitle you to certain coupons where you can get certain breaks in buying books, and the salesman went on and on and on.
    And the man did something, which I want you to do, applying the story to your particular life. All of a sudden, the man said, “Hold everything please, just a minute, I want to ask you just one question. The one question is, if you leave the books here, how much money do you want for those books? I want to buy these books and that’s it.” Of course the salesman didn’t like that, it broke his con game, but how many are as smart as that? No hands. How many want to be as smart as that?
     All right, only the spirit of wisdom, the truth itself, will give you the smartness. Let’s use common words. Just sit back and listen to the con games being played on you, left and right by the whole world. That’s how they live, and you’re not going to go along with it anymore.
    Look, if you want something out in the world, ask the price and get out of there. If you’re in a relationship with someone else, understand that relationship and don’t worry. You see, we always complicate things....
    Remember the salesman story where right in the middle of the sales pitch, the scheme, right in the middle of it, the man held up his hands and said, "Wait, just a minute, enough of that. What’s the price of the books?" Let’s pay it and get it over with. You have to be that firm, you have to know that you can have a strength that you don’t now possess.

MISERABLE MEMORIES
See repetition, the familiar, the usual, all that tricks you into thinking you have permanence. Ah, hah! But also notice how you can’t believe in your favorite phonograph records, your favorite books, your favorite quotations, your favorite memories.
    You go into the average home and there is nothing but miserable memories. The pictures on the wall, the autograph books, the class yearbook; anything that can evoke a memory becomes a false security. I'm not against putting pictures on the wall. Put one of a nice waterfall, for example, and then don’t want to own the waterfall. (Laughter)