The Practical Path to God

In this talk, Barry emphasises that the spiritual life is practical—it must be lived, not just read about or intellectually grasped. He says that one’s life must be “right,” meaning free from emotional disturbances, inner conflicts, and manipulations by others. Barry identifies emotional reactions as indicators of where life is not aligned with truth and urges listeners to stop fighting their circumstances. Instead, one should either take intelligent action or surrender completely, as resistance only fuels suffering. Self-responsibility is to stop blaming, to let go of hate, judgment, anger, and emotional demands—especially from loved ones—and to reclaim inner stillness and clarity.

Barry talks about the nature of God, rejecting personified or religious images and instead describing God as omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient—experienced as “it,” the truth one naturally seeks and loves. This longing for truth is the spiritual instinct in each person. Barry says that we suffer because we’ve been conditioned to believe unhappiness is inevitable. Suffering is, in fact, a choice – by refusing to harbour negative emotions, forgiving everyone fully, and ceasing to interpret or judge life, one aligns with God or “me”—the still, aware, untroubled state within. This is true being and love beyond the personal.