"Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them."
Those are words by Albert Einstein. Listen to them again. Let them roll around in
you mind as you associate them to the various kinds of difficulties, problems and
failures that you see in your life, in the family you are a part of, in this country, in
the world. Here they are: "Problems cannot be solved by the same level of
thinking that created them."

I'll give you an example from my own life. I have mentioned to you how grateful
I am to have had the religious background I have had. Indeed, we spent an entire
class session on this: When we open our eyes to our true situation, gratitude is
the first response we have. We are so fortunate. I was - and am - fortunate to
have the personal background I have had. I am confident I would not be standing
here talking to you today like this if my parents had not required me to go to a
Sunday night program in our church called "Training Union."

Yet, at the same time, growing up in the family I did and the religious
environment my parents exposed me to carried certain liabilities. I came to see
God as a Being to be feared. I lived with a great deal of guilt and dread. At twelve
or thirteen I wondered what the "unforgivable sin" was and if I had committed it.
At that age I read religious books that I thought might help me have what I called
then "peace of mind."

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When you leave hear today I want you to be glad
you invested part of your life by spending time
here. I want you to leave with a greater level of
trust in yourself and in the Sacred that sustains
you and me. This is what I teach because this is
what I myself want to learn. I want to grow in both
freedom and in love.
You don't need me to tell you this but this is
tough because we live in an upset and upsetting
world. Freedom as we understand it in the Western
world seems to be threatened on almost every front
and most people - at least from the stories that
make the front pages of the papers - don't seem to
know the meaning of things like love, compassion,
truth, justice and personal responsibility.
I have come to believe that the outer peace we
say we want cannot be had without inner peace and
we can't have inner peace without practice.
Attending this gathering is part of your practice.
Just being here, however, is analogous to attending
a piano lesson. If this is all you do, you won't
learn to play - that is, to have peace.

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