text: The amazing thing is that we actually search for That. We think it is somewhere in the future, but it turns out to be ever-present. We think it is hidden, but it turns out to be always obvious and self-evident. We think it is something to be acquired, but it turns to be our very own self. In fact, it turns out that there is nothing else other than our self. We are already That. There's nothing to be found, nothing to be solved, nothing to do but just stop searching and rest in Being - the here and the now, just as it is. It's amazing that we could ever have missed seeing it! And, upon seeing it, all we can do is laugh!
  Not while it is happening. In retrospect, absolutely. One cannot view the NOW faithfully from any historical perspective.
  There is not one of you who does not walk in the colorless atmosphere of memory, when your hearts are longing to be in the Light of NOW, to celebrate your life. You feel burdened because you remember burdens. When you are laughing, if your mind is still, the entire universe laughs.
  - from Emmanuel's Book II - The Choice for Love, compiled by Pat Rodegast and Judith Stanton, and published by Bantam Books.
  Grief is a sign that we loved something more than ourselves. . . . Grief makes us worthy to suffer with the rest of the world.
  When tears come, I breathe deeply and rest. I know I am swimming in a hallowed stream where many have gone before. I am not alone, crazy, or having a nervous breakdown . . . My heart is at work. My soul is awake."
  Yes. It is finally discovered in everything. It is in laughing, crying, joy, grief, ecstasy, sadness, emptiness, fullness, you, me, this and that. It is even in past, present, and future.
  There is enormous physical, emotional, and mental release when that which has never been contracted is recognized. If there is an attempt to cling to physical release, or emotional release, or mental release, what is always open is again overlooked.
  In the usual mode of conditioned identification, thoughts, feelings, and experience are referenced for Self-definition. These are traps.