Today’s reading is brief, but it is filled with wisdom that inspires us to make a firm commitment to the motive we have chosen. A firm commitment to our motive is a firm commitment to truth. It is a firm commitment to Self. It is a firm commitment to peace and to joy.

I recommend reading today’s reading slowly and contemplatively, preferably multiple times throughout the day. It’s a short reading, so it isn’t difficult to read it more than once. You could also write down some of your favorite sentences from today’s reading, carry them with you, and review them throughout the day.

Today is also a good day to review Chapter 15 from The Untethered Soul  by Michael Singer.

Immerse yourself in today’s message in whatever way feels most guided for you.

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

Today’s reading is a guided meditation. It is another attempt at Self-inquiry, this time coming at Self-inquiry from a different angle than NTI 2 Corinthians 12.

Today’s Self-inquiry focuses on feelings. As you read and practice today’s Self-inquiry, you will be led through five steps:

1. Take time to get quiet.
2. Ask to see the feelings that are within you. Notice the different feelings that arise.
3. Go deeper, still noticing feelings. In this step, you are looking for the feeling of ‘me.’ It has a distinctness  about it.
4. After you notice the feeling of ‘me,’ ask to see what is beyond that.
5. Allow yourself to experience that which is beyond ‘me.’

When you go through this meditation, you may notice a lot of different feelings at Step 2. Don’t rush through Step 2. When a feeling arises to be seen, notice it, acknowledge it, and then ask, “Is there something else here to be seen?” Stay with Step 2 until you feel you have fully experienced the feelings at this level.

The feeling of ‘me’ is a very interesting feeling. I have come to recognize it easily as an object—not as ‘me’ at all—but in the beginning that wasn’t the case. It was a feeling I lived with everyday and took for ‘me’ without ever looking at it directly. The first time I ever noticed it was during this meditation, and there was a strong pull to stop there. There was a strong idea that nothing was beyond it. That’s why the reading says:

You may seem to come to a very personal feeling. It may seem strong, like a wall. This feeling tells you that you are what you are not, so do not pause to listen to it.

I was guided not to listen to the idea that there was nothing beyond the feeling of  ‘me.’ I was guided to continue and discover what was beyond that “wall.”

This meditation taught me that the wall—the personal feeling of ‘me’—and all of the feelings I found before the wall were not me. The lighter, non-attached Self that I found beyond ‘me’ is what I am. You could say this meditation was my first successful Self-inquiry.

When you go through the reading today, read slowly. Pause and practice the steps as you go through them. Look at the feelings before the wall, notice the wall itself, and then go beyond it.

What is beyond that feeling of ‘me’?

If you can know that which is beyond the feeling of ‘me,’ can you be that ‘me’?

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

Today, we are taught to investigate so we can discover if we are praying for truth or illusion through our daily living.

If you are reading NTI, then you have been called to awaken. Your purpose now is truth. If truth wasn’t your purpose, NTI could not hold your interest. However, your prior purpose was illusion. That isn’t a judgment. Consciousness as a whole chose illusion when it created the creative principle and made manifestation. But now, there is a return motion—returning to truth realization—and you have been called into that motion. Truth realization is the purpose you have been called to accept, and you have accepted it, which is why you read NTI.

Since illusion was your prior purpose, you are in the habit of praying for illusion. That is the same as saying that you are attached to the world. It is also the same as saying you are in the habit of believing the world, your thoughts and your emotions.

It’s time now to begin living from a new motive. So, starting today, you will observe yourself to find where you are in the habit of living from the wish for illusion, and you will shift your way of being  so that you live from the desire for truth. Living from the desire for truth is being in the world but not of it.

Since action is the expression of thought, NTI asks us to watch the body to learn which motive we live from, truth or illusion. We can tell which motive we live from if we watch the body without judgment, because the body’s action is the physical representation of a motive.

For example:

If you find yourself getting upset, believing your upset and acting out from your upset, you live from the wish for illusion.

If you find yourself getting upset, taking a break from the situation, practicing rest-accept-trust and possibly journaling to learn more about your upset, you live from the desire for truth.

Here’s another example:

If you are worried that the stock market will crash, you lose lots of sleep worrying about it, you call the stockbroker and move all of your investments to cash accounts, and then you find yourself laying awake all night worrying that you made a mistake, you live from the wish for illusion.

If you notice a thought that the stock market will crash, ask within if you are to do anything, do or not do based on what you feel intuitively, and then forget about it, you live from the desire for truth.

I could write examples all day, because there are many. However, you don’t need me to describe every possible scenario. As today’s reading says:

When you observe the body with the purpose of learning, you do not observe alone. The One who knows you and teaches you observes with you so you may learn. Call on this One and ask Him your questions. He will lead you to find answers, for His purpose is the same as yours.

What do you do if you observe the body and find that you are living from the wish for illusion? Make a correction. Bring more spiritual practice into your daily living. You know the purpose you’ve accepted. There isn’t really a question about that anymore, so now do your best to live from that motive instead of from old habits.

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

Today’s reading is about prayer, how we pray, and how prayers are answered.

Prayer is defined as an earnest request or wish. As we have already seen, since consciousness is not aware of many things, from consciousness’ point of view you can only pray for two things: truth or illusion. In order to have genuine clarity, one must be clear on this point.

The law of attraction is not the law of Love. The law of attraction is an ego-distorted version of the law of Love.

According to the law of attraction, there are many things, and you can attract the things you want through intention and faith.

Here are the distortions in the law of attraction:

1. There are many things – This is a distortion that comes from the ego point of view. From enlightened point of view, there are not many things. Enlightened point of view is unity consciousness, and unity consciousness sees clearly that all there is is consciousness. There is one thing, not many. All is the Self.

 

2. You  can attract – The “you” in the law of attraction is the personality—the false self. It is the personality that wants a new relationship, a new car, lots of money, a big house, world travel, and etcetera. Therefore, the law of attraction reinforces the idea that you are the false self.

 

3. You can attract the things you want – The many things (distortion #1) and you (distortion #2) are put together with judgment, so that some things are perceived as good/desired and other things are perceived as bad/undesired. Judgment solidifies the perception of duality, and the ego remains very secure, even if the law of attraction works and you get the intended thing or circumstance.

The law of attraction is a distortion. Even if you “win” by attracting the thing or circumstance you intend to attract, you lose. Why? You still perceive a world of many things; you still perceive yourself as a “you” who has personality-based preferences; judgment rules in your mind, and your perception is duality.

As I already mentioned, today’s reading is about prayer, how we pray, and how prayers are answered. Prayer is defined as an earnest request or wish. One who practices the law of attraction prays for illusion and receives illusion.

Todays reading says:

“I pray for you” is a statement of faith that all you see and sense and experience is not all there is. It is a statement of realization that effect is the result of intent, and intent can be affected by you.

There are only two intentions (motives): truth or illusion. And you can decide which intention you choose as your purpose.

Today’s reading also says:

Faith is by no means dead. You put faith in whatever you believe. …

Motive without faith is dead.

In this context, faith is synonymous with believing attention.

When NTI says, “Motive without faith is dead,” it means:

To say you want truth, but to live with believing attention on the world, your thoughts about the world and your emotions, is to live from the motive that wishes for something different than truth.

To receive truth, you must live from the motive of truth. Your believing attention must abide with awareness and spiritual intuition, not the world, thought and emotion.

We do not pray with words or thoughts. We pray with believing attention and with action, since action is an expression of believing attention. If we put faith in illusion—if that is what we believe, think about and react to—we get illusion. If we want truth, we must learn to live from the intention for truth realization.

We experience illusion or truth, whichever we genuinely intend. That is the law of Love.

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

One who sees herself as a person subject to the world and to her experience in the world reacts to thought, emotion and perception as if it is real, which is  judgment and continues the manifestation of illusory energies.

One who sees herself as the creative process chooses her way of being  (discernment) by remembering that her way of being is  creative spirit.

Today’s reading recommends that we remember we are the creative process by choosing our way of being. It says:

Awakening comes from the Heart, so let the Heart lead in all things. The mind is the great receiver. But with the Heart, sort through that which is received. Let the Heart and mind together give to spirit, so that the deliverer receives, always, through the Heart.

What does the previous excerpt mean when it says, “Let the Heart and mind together give to spirit”?

When NTI Ephesians refers to “mind” and “spirit,” spirit is synonymous with consciousness and mind is synonymous with manifestation, which includes thought, emotion, and perception. When NTI Ephesians refers to Heart, it refers to spiritual intuition. So, when NTI Ephesians asks us to let the “Heart and mind together give to spirit,” it asks us to practice discernment regarding every thought, emotion and perception.

As we learned on Day 36, discernment is determining the difference between:

• personal thought and self-will, which is ego
• thought and will that arise from beyond the personal self

Both options are mind, or manifestations. A Course in Miracles  differentiates between them by calling them “wrong mind” and “right mind.” The Code differentiates between them by calling them “lower vibration” and “higher vibration,” yet they are both code.

Spiritual intuition (Heart) is the part of us that knows the difference between wrong-minded lower vibrations and right-minded higher vibrations. When we look at the thoughts, emotions and perceptions that are received from consciousness with spiritual intuition, we discern the higher vibrational options so we can make those choices. If we do not look at the options received from consciousness with spiritual intuition, we are likely to choose the lower vibrational options because they appeal to the personal self.

Again:

One who sees himself as a person who is subject to the world and his experience reacts  to thought, emotion and perception as if it is real.

One who sees himself as the creative process chooses his way of being  (discernment) by remembering that his way of being is creative spirit.

It’s beneficial to drop the idea that you are a person, adopt the idea that you are the creative process, and then use discernment to live from the right-minded higher vibrations. If you forget, and you react to conditions as if you are a person, simply return to the higher vibrational choices as soon as you remember. Don’t judge yourself for forgetting, because judgment is just another low vibrational choice.

As today’s reading says:

If you are not joyous because of what you see, ask of God (consciousness) differently by remembering who you are and how you ask.

You ‘ask’ with your believing attention. In other words, whatever you accept as true  is the experience you ask for from the creative principle, and the creative principle always gives you what you ask for.

Note: When NTI says, “You may decide what you want, ask for what you want, and you will receive in kind,” it means you will receive truth (or an experience that points toward truth) or illusion.

Remember what we learned on Day 170. From consciousness’ point of view, there are only two things you can want: truth or illusion. Therefore, in every moment you are asking for one or the other, and “you will receive in kind.”

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

Today’s reading makes two primary points:

1. Past choices appear in the present, which provides the opportunity to choose differently now.
2. Through love, you shall know only love.

On Day 198, I provided a link to a message and audio called, “Is Attack Real?” When I received that message, I posted it to an online discussion group where I posted regularly at the time. A spiritual teacher had started the group, although he rarely posted there himself. The group was moderated, and every post was approved before others saw it. That day, the moderators approved my post. However, after the post was approved, the spiritual teacher who owned the group wrote a strongly worded email to the moderators and Cc’d me. He told them not to allow any more of my posts in the group. He called me a fake who made up everything I wrote because I wanted to be a famous spiritual teacher.

When I first saw his email, I felt attacked. I saw his face in my mind’s eye. It was red and all scrunched up with anger. And then I remembered the definition of love that came from the very message I had posted that day:

Love is giving through spirit to spirit that which spirit requests.

I realized that this situation appeared before me now because of past thoughts I had believed. I realized I had believed in attack in the past, so it made perfect sense that I should appear attacked now. I realized that I was simply witnessing the creative principle in process, and it was working in exactly the way it works.

What I think, I see.
What I see, I experience.

As I looked at the situation with this clarity, the image in my mind’s eye changed. Instead of seeing this spiritual teacher with an angry red face, his face softened into a smile. He stood before me in a waiter’s tuxedo holding a silver tray. He offered me a gift on a silver platter!

This teacher, through his current apparent attack, offered me the opportunity to see the creative process in motion. I had believed attack in the past, and so now attack came back to me through the creative process. Since the creative process is love, that means that I looked upon love appearing as  attack.

As I chose to see love through my understanding of the creative process, I realized this teacher offered me the opportunity to let go of the belief in attack. I chose to accept his gift. When I did, my heart filled with joy!

Through choosing to see the creative process and all of its effects  as love, I injected love into the process instead of the belief in attack, and love is what I experienced.

What I think, I see. [Attack]

What I see, I experience. [Attack]

Discernment : Take out attack; replace it with love.

Free redo : What I see, I experience. [Love]

Note: The spiritual teacher didn’t offer me this opportunity on purpose. He actually felt threatened by my post, believed his thoughts and issued an order to block all of my future posts. However, all of his thoughts came from the creative process, which included my prior belief in attack. The creative process delivered what I had asked for through my prior believing attention.

The choice to see love instead of appearance is always available to us. All we have to do is remember that any and every appearance is created through a perfectly allowing creative process, and perfect allowance is  love. Therefore, every appearance appears through love, which means it is love.

Note: If you are interested in the full story about Is Attack Possible?, listen to parts 1, 2 & 3, which are archived on this page starting at 2/28/10. You may want to listen over the next few days, since each part is 1 hour and 15 minutes long.

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

Jesus once said:

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. ~ Matthew 7:12

Today’s reading explains the deeper meaning of that teaching. It says:

Therefore, give as you would receive. Give to the mind that which you would receive of spirit, for they are one. That which you give you must receive, because the mind is the spirit. The mind is the great receiver and spirit, the great deliverer. But spirit receives as mind receives, and mind delivers as does spirit.

“Spirit” is synonymous with consciousness. The “mind” is synonymous with manifestation, which includes thought, emotion, and perception.

The reading says, “mind is the great receiver.” That means that manifestation is an effect. The thoughts that come into the mind are the effect of a cause. The emotions that you feel are the effect of a cause. Everything that is perceived through the senses is the effect of a cause.

Spirit is “the great deliverer.” That means that spirit (consciousness) is the cause. To fully understand this, it’s helpful to look at yourself and your experience.

When you are worried about something, annoyed by something, frustrated by something, etcetera, what are you actually doing?

If you look very carefully, you will notice that whenever you are upset, you are giving believing attention to a thought, emotion, or perception.

What is attention?

Attention is made of consciousness. That means attention is  consciousness. Therefore, it is spirit.

When you give believing attention to a thought, emotion or perception, you enliven it with consciousness. In that way, you deliver that particular energy through the creative principle to consciousness as manifestation. The energy is reprocessed and manifests as thought, emotion, and/or perception.

Believing attention is declaration. It is  judgment. It is the mechanism that creates experience.

Believing attention comes through the combination of mind (believing) and spirit (attention), which means the two are equally part of the process and cannot actually be divided. Any apparent division in the explanation is for simplification purposes only.

One who sees himself as a person who is subject to the world and his experience reacts to thought, emotion and perception as if it is real, which is  judgment and continues the manifestation of illusory energies.

One who sees himself as the creative process chooses his way of being  (discernment) by remembering that his way of being is creative spirit.

On Day 183, we learned:

To give is to allow truth into the creative principle by not clogging the creative principle with untruth.

The purpose of consciousness now is awakening to itself as consciousness. That is the current evolutionary motion. (Reference Day 195.) One who realizes this and also realizes that he is the creative principle will be at peace in all circumstances—be empty awareness or be with a rested mind—so that the fog of illusory experience can clear, and consciousness can see itself as itself.

When one is at peace or actively resting away from believing (rest-accept-trust), one isn’t clogging the creative principle with illusory energies. That reduces distraction, which helps that one and the whole to receive insight, guidance, and to see with true perception. True perception is realizing consciousness as consciousness instead of thinking it is the many things that are perceived through the senses.

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

NTI Ephesians 2 said:

In truth, you ask of your brother through your mind, and your brother answers you exactly as you have asked.

Today’s reading goes further into that idea.

It says:

When you think you are thinking alone, you are not. Your thoughts, which are heard by your brothers, are answered through them.

In that statement, “brothers” is a symbol. It would be more accurate to say that consciousness knows the energy of every image, thought or emotion that we give believing attention to, and it creates more images, thoughts and emotions from that same energy. Through our believing attention—which is declaration—we show interest in a particular energy, so consciousness delivers more of that energy. In that way, it gives us exactly what we show interest in.

This is why all things are Love. Only Love exists. Every experience that is given you is unequivocally the gift of Love given in answer to your request for Love.

Or, as inner spiritual wisdom one shared with me:

Love is giving through spirit to spirit that which spirit requests.

The question becomes:

What energy am I asking for through my believing attention?

Followed by:

What do I truly want to experience?

I used to perceive attack in the world, whether it was physical attack, verbal attack or emotional attack. One day, when I was seeing attack everywhere, I asked inner spiritual wisdom for guidance. I was taught that what I perceived as attack was actually love.

You can read the message I received from inner wisdom that day and listen to a 30-minute teaching about that message. It may help you contemplate today’s reading more deeply.

Message and Audio

Note: “Conscious” and “consciousness” as it is referred to in this message and audio refers to human conscious awareness; that is, being aware of me and others. It is the realm of duality. “Spirit” is used to refer to Consciousness as oneness.

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

On Day 187 and Day 188, I shared how, as the scribe of NTI, I became afraid when inner wisdom tried to take me beyond mind through Self-inquiry. Since I was not ready to see myself as That which is beyond mind, inner wisdom shifted and took a different approach with me.

The Self-inquiry in NTI 2 Corinthians 12 went well up until this point:

What is my mind?

The answer to that is God. For only God can be Mind, which is the origin of thoughts, with thoughts being the maker or definer of you.

I would not go beyond this point, because I was identified with the body-mind-personality as me. Since I would not go beyond this point, this is where inner wisdom recalculated (like a GPS) and began leading me toward the same destination in a different way.

NTI Ephesians 2 says:

Your mind is of God. This we have already established.

That was something I was willing to accept during the Self-inquiry process—that my thoughts came from my mind, and my mind came from God. So, since I accepted this idea, inner wisdom recalculated and began leading from here. It continues by saying:

Being of God, [your mind] is the same as God.

I was not willing to accept that I am beyond mind, because to me, ‘beyond mind’ meant ‘God’, and it felt blasphemous to say, “I am God.” However, I was willing to accept that if my mind comes from God, it must be the same as God. So, inner wisdom began with what I would accept, and began leading me to see that I am the Third Principle of God.

To see one’s self as the body-mind-personality and to see one’s self as the creative process itself is a completely different perspective.

One who sees herself as the body-mind-personality lives in ignorance. She believes the world, her thoughts and her emotions. She is a puppet to the ego script while believing she is an independent person.

One who sees herself as the creative process  is no longer tethered to the world, thought and emotion. She is free of the world, instead of subject to the world. She is liberated. Instead of being a puppet, she can choose her way of being, knowing that her way of being is creative spirit.

Since I was attached to concepts, inner wisdom decided to attach a concept that was higher than ‘person,’ but less than ‘God,’ to the creative process. It called the creative principle, “Christ.” That’s because, although I wasn’t willing to accept that I am God, I was willing to accept that I am Christ, so by using that term along with my willingness to see that I am the same as God, inner spiritual wisdom began moving me away from the belief that I am a body-mind-personality by showing me that I am Christ—an ongoing creative process.

NTI Ephesians 2 says:

All that you are, you are through creation.
All that you be, you be through creation also.

That means that every body, every thought and every emotion is created through the creative principle. If you believe that you are a body, that the thoughts are your thoughts and that emotions are real, you are a puppet. You are not liberated. You are the ignorant slave of a script.

It also says:

In truth, you ask of your brother through your mind, and your brother answers you exactly as you have asked.

That means you aren’t what you appear to be. You are the creative process, and your brothers, whether they know it or not, are connected to you through the creative process, because they are the creative process too.

Regardless of whether one is liberated or a puppet to the script, one is the creative process, and creation is happening through him as it happens through all.

When we acknowledge that we are the Third Principle of God, we’ve taken a step in the direction of realizing we are the First Principle of God.

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

Willingness is the state of wanting to awaken to truth and being mentally, emotionally, and spiritually ready to do it. It is a call from awake consciousness and a direct link to awake consciousness. When we focus on our willingness, we are in direct communion with awake consciousness. By communing with awake consciousness, we merge with awake consciousness. Focusing on our willingness is the simple way to awaken.

When we focus on willingness, we are consumed with one purpose. When we focus on the mind, our attention is scattered among many purposes. These many purposes are called distractions, because they all have one thing in common: they distract our attention away from our call to awaken.

When we focus on the mind and become distracted by its thoughts, we get lost in points of experience. We experience emotions that are different from truth. Forgiveness is the process of removing attention from points of experience and returning our focus to truth.

Today’s reading teaches a process for forgiveness. It is a simple process that can be used over and over. It can be used each time we find ourselves lost or stuck in an experience that is different from truth. Here’s how the process works:

1. Recognize you are experiencing an emotion that is different from truth and this is an opportunity for forgiveness.

 

2. Put the story aside temporarily in order to quiet the mind. I do this by writing the main points about the story in a journal. Writing the main points on paper helps me empty the mind—to get the story outside of me—so I can relax into a quiet mind.

 

3. Once the mind is quiet, or relatively quieter than before, turn your attention to your willingness or to your spiritual aspiration. I do this by asking myself, “What do I truly want?”

 

4. Focus on your willingness. Let attention linger there. Notice what your willingness feels like. Relax into it. Let yourself go deeper into it by being with it—by communing with it.

 

5. When you feel deeply in touch with willingness, describe the obstacle that you are ready to transcend. For example:
    
   “I am experiencing worry and fear. I am worried that I will have to fight in order to get this project completed on time, and I don’t want to fight. I am worried that I will offend people as I do what I have to do. I am worried we will not complete the project on time. I am worried that if we do complete the project on time, they will put me in charge of the process permanently and that will just create new things to worry about.”

   At this step, it’s important to stay in touch with your willingness. Emotions may arise in the body as you recount the obstacle. Allow whatever arises to be there. Do not judge yourself or the emotional experience; do not attempt to manipulate it or change it. You are in a healing space now, and whatever arises is coming up for healing. Let it be, and stay with your willingness.

6. Once you are in the healing space, any number of experiences may occur. I cannot tell you exactly how healing will happen. Trust whatever happens. Don’t think it is supposed to look a certain way or be different than it is. If you find yourself seeing the obstacle more clearly, look at it. Your clarity regarding the obstacle is a part of the healing process. If you begin to see the situation differently, accept the new point-of-view. If your feelings begin to morph into other feelings, allow them to shift and change. If you begin to realize guidance, trust the guidance. If you feel to grab a pen and journal, do that. If there is a prompt to practice inquiry, follow that prompt.

 

7. Do not try to force forgiveness, and do not try to rush through the forgiveness process. Be willing to stay with the process until you feel intuitively that it is complete for now.

 

8. Optional: I like to conclude a forgiveness process with, “Thank you.”

I recommend printing this tip for future reference.

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