With that, the deity disappeared, and the gold turned back into an ordinary rock. The woman ruined a wonderful opportunity. Worse, she did not realize why the deity did what it did. Even if the deity had given her its finger, it would not have helped her. The deity's ability to turn rock into gold came from the power of its practice, not from its finger.

At the end of one of my lectures, I asked the audience, "Should I stop, or should I continue speaking?"

A student in the audience said, "I don't want to hear any more. What I'd really like to do is take you home and have you all to myself." What if I agreed to his wishes? Chances are, all I would do at his house is eat, sleep and read. Would he benefit?

Every one of us has a finger that can turn rock into gold, but we must practice to discover and cultivate our power. The problem is, most people do not want to practice that long or that hard. Even if you managed to obtain the finger from a deity's hand, all you would have is dead flesh. It would not do you any good. Keeping me as your private master would not be as good as tranforming yourself into a master.

You must reveal wisdom at its foundation. If you generate your own wisdom, then you do not have to worry about anything else, because everything comes from wisdom.

After Albert Einstein died, scientists removed and examined his brain. They discovered that it was rather ordinary in size and appearance. Where, then, did all his scientific discoveries come from? Were they in his brain tissue? If Einstein's brain were transplanted into someone else's head, would that person inherit Einstein's knowledge, personality and ingenuity as well? Ridiculous!