Beauty
"As long as you are drawn by beauty, wealth, and charm, you do not yet have the discernment to see what is really meaningful and important." [1]
"If you are not extremely physically attractive, it is such an advantage here because the people who are very physically attractive are being constantly bombarded with offers and persuasions and seductions. They are being given power and recognition though they have never really earned it through any real merit. They are being seduced, and they will seduce themselves, and you will rarely find a highly physically attractive person who has ever cultivated any depth within themselves. They have become a product to be bought and sold. They are a resource for others. Unless they can see beyond this deception, they will fall prey to it." [1]
Misery
“Those who seek advantage and who take advantage of others and their affections and who seek only to fill their own coffers of wealth and personal self-esteem will find only misery as their reward, for what they try to secure can be easily lost. They have not met their inner need; they have not answered their greater questions. So, their sense of stress and lack of well-being will persist and grow deeper and darker over time.” [2]
“What you can give playing a small part is very great. Only very few will gain notoriety and recognition, and this is as much a curse as it is an advantage. For many it will be their undoing, so do not seek this for yourself. Truth is a greater reward and a greater vehicle for service and accomplishment than success and fulfillment.” [2]
“When the eyes of the world are upon you, there is much you must conceal. Truth will live like a prisoner within you, even if you are committed to its expression. It is better to be invisible and to render your gifts without the world’s recognition. This, too, requires greater courage, for here you must forsake self-gratification for something that acknowledges the deeper truth within you, something that is far more fulfilling and important.” [2]
Dictates of Other People
“Let this not be your destiny, though many choose it and express its glories and its benefits. Do not let this be your decision. It takes little courage to follow in the ways of the world. It takes great courage to follow in the ways of Knowledge. It takes little courage to accept the pleasures and to deny the pains of life around you. It takes little courage to try to live a beatific life while the rest of the world goes on without you.” [2]
Directives
“Open yourself to the suffering of the world. You do not need to seek it out or immerse yourself in it. Simply be open to it when you perceive it. If you want to live a beatific life and have everything sweet and lovely around you, you will find escape temporarily from the difficulties of living in the world and many of its tragedies, but you will not find escape from your inner conflicts. And the Knowledge that you have not resolved your inner need for meaning, purpose and direction will go unanswered. Your escape from the world will only be temporary, for you are part of the suffering of the world and your suffering adds to it and contributes to it. This you cannot escape.” [2]