Before reading today’s tip, please read Revelation 6:1-14 in the Bible.

Revelation 6:1-14

On Day 273, we saw that everyone is able to open the symbolic scroll, which means that everyone is able to awaken to absolute truth. The six seals mentioned in today’s reading are six of seven steps that are part of the awakening process.

Step 1– Desiring awakening more than anything else. As we have seen repeatedly since Gentle Healing Year 1, the desire to awaken is the most important part of the awakening process.

Step 2– Seeing through the ‘mask’ of your own ferociousness. Ferociousness is being aggressive towards others (or towards circumstances), and it can show up in a number of ways. Some synonyms for ferocious include brutal, vicious, cruel, merciless, severe, raging, and murderous. Every unenlightened human is ferocious in some way, even if it only shows up as mental attack. Step 2 is acknowledging your own ferociousness and then looking beneath it to see what drives it. In this way, you see beyond it, and it loses its power. It no longer has any value when you see through it. (Root Cause Inquiry is a tool used in Step 2.)

Step 3– Tiring of judgment, which is tiring of wanting things to be different than they are. (The Loving All method is a tool used in Step 3.)

Step 4– Letting go of the belief that life is temporary. This belief comes about when you believe the body-mind-personality is primary and life is secondary to it. The ego, being mental identification with a specific form, sees life in  form. It sees life in people, life in animals and life in plants. That’s why there appears to be death. If form is primary and life is secondary, when form ends, life ends. (Awareness-watching-awareness is a tool used in Step 4. It helps us see that life-awareness is primary and form is secondary.)

Step 5– Learning to trust all that is as it is. (Living with an attitude of trust.)

Step 6– Letting go of perception, which is letting go of thought as me.

Today’s reading does not address the seventh step. We will look at the seventh step in a couple of days. However, the seventh step is giving no meaning to anything the ego says or any experience you may have as the ego dies its final death.

It is helpful to contemplate today’s reading in NTI carefully. How do you feel you are doing on the six steps that are discussed in today’s reading? We aren’t asking this question in order to condemn ourselves, but we do want to find out if there is a desire for and an opportunity for improvement. I recommend asking yourself if you would like to work on these steps more directly than you have been, just as you’d work directly towards any goal if achieving the goal is important to you.

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

Please read and contemplate the following commentary in the same way that you read and contemplate the Thought of Awakening. The commentaries are designed to enrich your understanding.

~Commentary on Love~

Love is acceptance. In order to accept, one sees through falsehood to truth. For you cannot say you accept a thing as it is, if you also insist it is something it isn’t.

To love God and Self and all is to accept God and Self and all as it is. This is also a choice to let go of insistence that it is what it isn’t. And this…true acceptance as it really is…is love.

~From our Holy Spirit

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

Revelation 5:1-5 says:

Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

The scroll represents absolute truth realization, which is awakening to the First Principle of God. When Revelation says, “But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it,” it simply means they are not prepared to open the scroll. Everyone is worthy, but not everyone is ready.

When Revelation says, “See, … the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals,” it means that Jesus has awakened to absolute truth realization.

As today’s reading says:

… Jesus is not different from you.

All of consciousness is one and the same, so if Jesus or any other being can realize absolute truth, you can too. You are fully worthy and fully capable. All that is needed is an absolute decision and commitment-living-practice to back up that decision.

Do you want to be one of the few who persevere?

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

Today, we will begin reading from the Book of Revelation in the Bible. We will use Revelation to look at the wrong mind’s interpretations—to see how it thinks and how it perceives—and to learn how to allow the right mind’s interpretations, which may not come as quickly as the wrong mind’s interpretations. Revelation is full of symbols, which came to John through visions and dreams. These symbols require interpretation if they are to have any meaning, and so it is the perfect text to use as we look at interpretation.

First, read Revelation 4:1-6 from the Bible. Imagine you are assigned to give a presentation on the meaning of these Bible verses. How would you go about finding the meaning? What would be your method of determining what these symbols mean? Consider those questions as you read these Bible verses:

Revelation 4:1-6

Have you determined what you would do in order to prepare for your presentation on the meaning of those verses?

When I was given that assignment while writing NTI, I wanted to break the scripture into parts, and analyze each part separately in order to determine what it meant. I wanted to figure out what the throne represented, what jasper and ruby represented, what the number 24 represented, etcetera and etcetera.

Some of you may think research into expert interpretations is the way to go, and then you can pick the one that is most suited to your liking.

Some of you may go quickly to blame in your mind, blaming John or those who compiled the New Testament for putting these ridiculous, wrong or unhelpful symbols in the Bible.

We all have ways of finding meaning—ways of interpreting—and whether we realize it or not, we use our conditioned ways of interpreting in order to apply meaning to everything we experience during our daily life.

In today’s reading, a specific method of interpretation is recommended. We are told to:

Step back from the images. Take your eyes off of the details, which are separate parts. Look at the whole picture as it is given in the mind. Notice the feelings that the picture evokes.

This method of interpretation, done properly, allows the right-mind to interpret for us.

For example, if there is a problem that arises in life, some people will start taking things apart to figure out what is wrong; some will do research; some will quickly try to decide who to blame for the problem, and etcetera. However, the reading recommends:

1. Step back from the problem. – Pause, allow yourself to detach from your conditioning and any ego thoughts related to the problem.
2. Look at the whole picture (scene or circumstance) as it is given – Be with the situation. See it as it is instead of how you think it should be.
3. Notice the (intuitive) feeling the picture invokes. – What does intuition indicate? Is it even a problem from intuition’s perspective?

This method of interpretation can be used with everything in life, not just challenging symbols or problems.

Step back.
Detach.
Look at the whole as it is.
Feel within for intuition.

Take a moment to read the following excerpt from Revelation, and then continue reading the tip:

Revelation 4:6-11

As the scribe of NTI, when I read this most recent excerpt, I practiced the method of interpretation that was taught after the first excerpt, and the interpretation of the four creatures as representations of eternal sight came to me. I began to see that awakened sight sees only God (reality), and it is deeply grateful and joyous about what it sees. I saw that the gratitude and joy that comes from awakened sight recycles and expands and recycles and expands endlessly.

What I think (God-Gratitude-Joy), I see.
What I see (God-Gratitude-Joy), I experience.
What I experience (God-Gratitude-Joy), I think.
And the cycle continues.

This interpretation would not have come if I had tried to break the symbols apart—if I had tried to figure out what the lion represented, the ox, the face of a man, the eagle, the six wings and etcetera—and then analyze them. This interpretation would not have come if I had researched the experts’ opinions. And this interpretation would not have come if I had just blown off the symbols as hogwash and blamed someone for thinking they were inspired.

Notice your style of interpreting the events in your life today. If you find that you use a method different than the one recommended in today’s reading, try practicing the method taught today instead. Maybe, if you allow a different method of interpretation, you will begin to see the world differently. Likely, if you continue to interpret events in the way you always have, there will be no change in how you see.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”. ~ Commonly credited to Albert Einstein

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

Like yesterday’s reading, today’s reading encourages us to see purification through to its completion regardless of how difficult it gets during the process. It says:

I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. Keep your eyes fixed on the door as you go through your final temptations. Remember that no one can keep you from walking through that door but you.

The reading points out that as long as you believe your conditioning, the “world is your shepherd.” That means that you are merely reactive, in the same way sheep fearfully react to a shepherd who shouts and swings his staff. You are herded about by your thoughts, perceptions and emotions. You may think you are independent, but you are like a dumb robot that performs according to programming without choice.

The reading also says:

But when you have left these beliefs behind as tiny wisps of air that are not noticed, you shall see the world differently. It shall not be your shepherd. It shall be your banquet table. And at this table, you shall feast daily, joyously with me.

Consider these two poems, one by St. Francis of Assisi and one by the Sufi saint, Rabia:

Wring Out My Clothes
By St. Francis

Such love
does the sky now pour,
that whenever I stand in a field,
I have to wring out the light
when I get home.

This Choir
By Rabia

So amazing this choir of
socks, shoes, shirt, skirt, undergarments,
earth, sky,
suns, and moons.
No wonder I too, now
sing all day.

Consider carefully what you really want; to be a slave to conditioning, or to experience the world with love and joy, like Francis and Rabia did.

Do you want to be one of the few who persevere?

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

Today’s reading encourages us to disregard the ego voice in the mind and complete the purification process. The reading is thorough and clear. We all do well to read carefully, and then follow the advice given in today’s reading.

First, it advises us about how to be with  the ego voice in order to let go of it. We are advised:

• To see it as confusion.
• Not to hate it or fight it.
• Not to be afraid of noticing it or hearing it.
• To look right at it, and then disregard it.

Awareness is being (is’ing), so it be’s with  whatever is present. Awareness lets go of ego by being with it without believing it.

Next, the reading advises us to go through the darkest and toughest experiences of purification. You can only complete the purification process by going all the way through it. To stop and revert to your conditioning, because purification has become difficult and you are more comfortable with your conditioning, is not to purify.

Let’s review St. Clare’s quote from Day 269 again:

Never forget that the way which leads to heaven is narrow; that the gate leading to life is narrow and low; that there are but few who find it and enter by it; and if there be some who go in and tread the narrow path for some time, there are but very few who persevere therein.

You can be one of the very few who persevere. You just have to want truth realization more than anything else, including more than feeling better sooner.

Here’s a quote from St. Benedict that is also worth considering today:

Don’t be addicted to your own self-image or to anything else that promises cheap fulfillment or an easy escape from problems.

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

NTI Revelation 1 is one of my favorite readings in NTI. It provides simple clarity to help us avoid common pitfalls on the spiritual path. If we remember its wisdom, we can walk the “narrow path” to enlightenment without detours or delays.

For example, consider how many people throughout history have idolized Buddha and Jesus, or how many people idolize Mooji or A Course in Miracles  today.

Today’s reading says:

Do not idolize anything within the world or any symbol that is sent to lead you from the world. Hold to them as they are useful, but let them go when their usefulness has past. You are to keep moving by letting go  until you find yourself with nothing left to hold onto.

Idolizing any figure, scripture or theology is a delay on the spiritual path. Identifying with the idea that you are a spiritual person is another delay. Using the Law of Attraction to get happiness in the world is a detour from the spiritual path.  Believing that health is better than sickness, riches are better than poverty or that poverty is better than riches are also detours.

Pay attention to what St. Clare of Assisi said:

Never forget that the way which leads to heaven is narrow; that the gate leading to life is narrow and low; that there are but few who find it and enter by it; and if there be some who go in and tread the narrow path for some time, there are but very few who persevere therein.

Since today’s reading provides guidance about how to walk the narrow path without delays or detours, I recommend taking notes as you read.

Note: The next tip will be available on November 3, 2018 after 3:50am ET at this link.

On Day 263, I wrote:

You cannot read today’s reading from the idea, “I am a person,” and understand it. “I” cannot mean “me and not others.” “I” must mean consciousness, and it must include all things in manifestation as  “I,” or the meaning in today’s reading will be lost.

That’s true with today’s reading too. Today’s reading is not talking to Bill or Harry or Sally, or anyone else with an individual name. Today’s reading talks to consciousness, which misperceives itself as Bill and Harry and Sally, and every other apparent individual. However, the point of the reading is this:

There are no individuals. It is one consciousness appearing as many, just as one heating system blows through many vents to heat several different rooms in a house. It is all one heat. In the same way, the consciousness that enlivens many different personality-minds is all one consciousness.

As Jesus said in the Book of John in the Bible:

In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” ~ John 14:2-4, English Standard Version

Likewise, today’s reading says:

I have come to help you remove your faith from the illusion, which you have believed in until now, and place it firmly with one mind (consciousness), which is not separate. With your faith placed in the one mind, you can look at the one mind, see the beliefs that have been accepted there, and then choose to use the one mind to peacefully see another way.

Choosing to look at the image of the world as the reflection of consciousness while abiding with attention on truth is how we “prepare a place” for consciousness, so that it may come and be “where I am.”

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

In the Bible, Jesus said:

Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

When a person is identified with the ego, his point-of-view is selfish. He sees himself as different from others, and he cares more about himself than anyone else. This is true even though he may deny it to himself.

That is why a mother can be annoyed with her children, even though she loves them more than anyone else on earth. You see, she loves herself even more, and when her children conflict with her present desire (e.g., They are noisy when she wants quiet), she becomes annoyed with them.

As we awaken to consciousness, we begin to love others in the same way we love our self. That means their needs (perceived or real) are just as important to us as our own. Even more, we put others before  ourselves, because we notice that the only part of us that wouldn’t put others before ‘me’ is the ego, and we have no more interest in ego.

These are signs that you are awakening to consciousness:

• You naturally care about others as much as you care about yourself, even if you’ve never met them before.
• You happily put yourself aside without any sense of sacrifice in order to accommodate someone else’s needs (perceived or real).
• You prefer to take on a responsibility that you know you can manage yourself than pass it to another, if the other would perceive it as a burden.
• You are willing to do things someone else’s way, as long as the effect of that decision is in harmony with intuition’s guidance.
• You recognize others as yourself and greet them with great joy and familiarity. (Sometimes you have to tone it down a bit, because others are not accustomed to it.)
• Others often tell you they feel more at ease or happier when they are around you or after talking with you.

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

Today’s reading encourages commitment to our true desire … to our guiding intuition … to inner spiritual wisdom …. to truth.

At some point, it comes down to this:

What am I committed to?

Most people don’t notice my commitment to truth. Oh, they see the time I put into contemplation, because of these daily tips. They hear my teachings and know there’s something serious going on there, but my real commitment to truth is much more subtle than daily tips and teachings. My real commitment to truth shows up in the opinions I drop rather than fight for. It shows up when I do things someone else’s way instead of “my way.” It shows up in how I happily accept things as they are without trying to make everything please “me.” It shows up in how I have no grievances against anyone, and I let everyone be as they are without asking them to be different. It shows up in how I don’t expect anything from anyone, and how I respond to the moment as it is instead of thinking it should be different.

A real commitment to truth is subtle. It’s quiet. It appears passive, although it is actually a very active commitment.

Jesus said, “The meek shall inherit the earth.”

Meek is defined as “quiet, gentle and easily imposed upon; submissive.”

Someone who is genuinely meek in the way Jesus speaks of would agree with “quiet, gentle” and “submissive,” but would say she is never imposed upon. Only the ego can be imposed upon.

Genuine meekness is living from within—living from spiritual intuition and wisdom. It is not living from “I know.” It is not living from “I’m right.” It is not living from conditioning. And it certainly doesn’t seek recognition for itself. People who live from ego seldom notice meekness in another, and if they do notice it, they often interpret it as weakness. It takes meekness to notice, understand and appreciate meekness.

Genuine meekness is like a rare, overlooked jewel. It is those who live it that understand its value.

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.