LN, Lafayette, CA: In Living in the Infinite, you suggest that I need to be thinking about
my infinite self while I’m doing everything I usually do, which pretty much takes up all
my energy and attention. It would be much easier to do on a retreat.

SS: Thank you for your message. You’re right, it would! But that’s not where it’s needed.
We need infinite self’s help in daily life. And it’s not really so hard, because it involves
awareness more than thinking. Thinking takes energy and limits the mind; awareness
itself is infinite, so it’s a matter of including something, not shifting attention. It get easier
as you do it.

LN: Your reply helps. But speaking of being busy, the book suggests practices. Those
take time, don’t they?

SS: Yes, they do, as do going to the gym and the other things that keep us healthy and
balanced. I often challenge my students to do an experiment: take the time for daily
practice, and see whether the time invested isn’t made back, and then some, because they
become more focused, efficient, and energized. I’ve never had one say it didn’t.

BR, Los Angeles: You cover a lot of topics in your book. Are you implying that the
infinite self is the solution to everything?

SS: A good question. I don’t see it as the solution to anything. It’s part of who we are.
Without actively engaging it, we’re severely handicapped. We—the totality of self—are
the solution. In partnership, finite and infinite self can do amazing things. We’re already
ahead if we just recognize what comes from infinite self and what it can and cannot do.

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