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 of the Thoughts of Awakening.

~Commentary on Fear~

You fear the idea of surrender, because you see it as unknown. You see surrender as unknown, because you see it as a place without you.

Know that nothing could be further from the truth.

The mind that tells stories is not you, although it has captured your attention. The spirit that is calm is your truth, although you are afraid of looking there.

Go within the calm. Take time to recognize your Self there. Then when you return to the stories, they will have less meaning for you, because you will know you have been to the place of calm, and you were at home there.

~From our Holy Spirit

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 of the Thoughts of Awakening.

~Commentary on Calm~

Fear is a voice that has had your attention because you have believed it has something to give. You listened to fear, and thoughts of fear, because you believed they spoke of your own best interests.

Watch your mind when it is busy with fear and turmoil. Notice it believes your best interests are at heart.

Now turn your attention away from the thought (or fear) of your own best interests, and place your attention with your desire to know the all as one…to know the all as in harmony and in love.

Focus your mind and your heart and all of your attention on the desire to know the all as one harmonic whole. Seek nothing but this, and you are immersed within a confident peace that is calm.

~From our Holy Spirit

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 of the Thoughts of Awakening.

~Commentary on Self-love~

To be calm, one must remember to love one’s Self above all else. One must be willing to love one’s Self above one’s fears or concerns. For if you look, you will notice that when the mind is consumed with fear or turmoil, you are focusing the mind outward on the worry or concern. Since your attention is there, your love is there also. So when you notice that you are not at peace, you must choose to love your Self.

To love your Self, turn your attention from the worry or concern, and notice what you need most now. If you place the attention inward, away from the problem, with the desire to love your Self, you will notice that what you need most now is to be calm. When love gives its attention to its Self with love as its only purpose, it sees what gift to give, and it is perfectly guided in how to give it.

Trust the intention that is your love. Follow it to the practice of truly loving your Self.

~From our Holy Spirit

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 each day. The commentaries are designed to enrich your understanding of the Thoughts of Awakening.

~Commentary on Surrender~

Surrender is an act of not knowing while also desiring to be led by knowledge.

Surrender is an intent. It is the intent to be used by all, for all, with the good of all as one’s only purpose.

True surrender cannot be accomplished by one who has his own best interests in mind, because when one has an eye on his own best interests, he has also defined himself as apart from the all.

One can only truly surrender when he forgets to consider his best interests, and he asks the allness to make of him a slave, because he knows that to serve without thinking is joy, and to think without serving is the cause of all pain.

~From our Holy Spirit

Note from Regina:  Sometimes in writings such as this one, people have a strong negative reaction to the word “slave.” In this case, “slave” is a devotional term. As you contemplate today’s commentary, consider this dictionary definition of slave:

A device that is directly responsive to another, such as a printer to a computer.

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

For the next several days, we will take a break from NTI to read and contemplate commentaries that support the current day’s Thought of Awakening. The commentaries are from Thoughts of Awakening: 365 Thoughts for Contemplation.

Please read and contemplate each commentary deeply, in the same way that you read and contemplate the Thought of Awakening. Each commentary is a gem in the treasure chest of spiritual wisdom.

~Commentary on the Inner Guiding Force~

 The inner guiding force is birthed from silence, which means “not thinking.” It is described as a prodding or nudging, because it moves to action without reason or justification. It leads to non-action without telling why.

The inner guiding force is a guiding force and not a forcing force, because the guiding force requires (or respects) your cooperation. It does not ask of you that which you do not want to give, and if you want to give what it does not ask, it surrenders and rearranges itself in response to you. It this way, it is a perfect leader, because it leads as it would have you follow and it follows as it would have you lead.

The inner guiding force is discussed as if it is a separate force, but it cannot be. It is the perfect attunement of the allness as oneness, because the oneness is allness and the allness is one.

You cannot go against the will of the inner guiding force, because the inner guiding force provides in response to you. And yet, you cannot know the fulfillment of your part as the inner guiding force unless you listen as it listens and act as it acts.

Through being one with the inner guiding force, you know yourself as one with it.

Through driving the inner guiding force, you experience yourself as separate, and yet you are experiencing yourself in a way that can never be true.

~From our Holy Spirit

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

Today’s reading says:

The world is an image in the mind, or better said, a picture-thought within the thought of spirit.

Let’s review the Four Principles of God and see how it compares to this excerpt from today’s reading:

First Principle of God– Pure, unmanifest, life-awareness; abstract, unlimited potentiality.

Second Principle of God– Consciousness, also known as I Am or Spirit. It can be called “the thought of spirit” since it is a thought born out of the unlimited potentiality of the First Principle.

Third Principle of God– The ongoing activity of creation, which occurs naturally through the declarative  interaction of consciousness with that which is witnessed.

Fourth Principle of God– Manifestation, which is the realm of appearance (experience and images). In other words, “a picture-thought within the thought of spirit.”

Today’s reading points out that although the Fourth Principle isn’t real, it is experienced. It doesn’t take much self-honesty at all to notice that you experience the world. If you don’t believe me, pinch yourself. You will experience the pinch.

One reason the world seems real is because we confuse experience with reality. We think that if we experience it, that means it is real. However, you have experienced many nighttime dreams. Were they real?

No, your nighttime dreams were not real.

Therefore, it is easy to see that experience is not the criterion for determining reality.

As we saw on Day 134, the criterion for determining reality is unchanging existence. The world does not meet that criterion, nor does experience, because experience is always changing. (For example, you no longer feel your pinch, do you? That experience has already disappeared.)

Since experience does not meet the criterion for reality, experience is not real. Clearly, the unreal is not a criterion for reality. Therefore, we cannot determine reality by experience.

But, with all of that said, we still experience experience, which is why you felt your pinch.

Because we confuse experience with reality, when experience isn’t reality, we need another way to perceive or interpret our experience. Today’s reading provides that new interpretation.

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

Let’s review what we have learned through NTI Romans for a second time:

• Consciousness made a wish to experience itself as different. You are consciousness. This wish is in you and can only be healed in you.

 

• The creative principle was made through this wish. It creates temporary manifestation through divine declaration, also known as judgment or decision. Each time we judge something, we subconsciously declare it to be real.

 

• The way to realize everything as consciousness again is to stop declaring manifestation to be real. This is accomplished by realizing you know nothing and by surrendering unconditionally to intuition.

 

• The creative principal and manifestation are not mistakes. Awakened consciousness loves and enjoys manifestation.

 

• One obstacle to realizing consciousness as what you are and what everything is, is thinking you are something different. To realize you are consciousness, practice awareness-watching-awareness.

 

• Enlightenment, or awake consciousness, exists in you now. You are not aware of it because of the attention you place on manifestation.

 

• Both external symbols and internal spiritual wisdom are provided by your awake consciousness to help turn attention back toward it.

 

• Another obstacle to realizing consciousness as what you are and what everything is, is thinking the world is real. When you think the world is real, you keep attention with the world.

 

• The purpose of the world during the awakening phase is to reverse the declaration that made it seem real. Instead of declaring manifestation real, you declare it unreal as it happens. You also declare consciousness as its only reality.

NTI Romans 9 shared tips about how to declare the world unreal. It may be helpful to review the notes you took that day.

Today’s reading shares tips about how to declare consciousness as the only reality. I recommend taking notes as you read today’s reading. Taking notes will help you remember what you read so you can practice it. Your notes will also be available for easy future reference.

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

NTI Romans 2 is the story of a wish, “What if nothing is as it was?” It tells the story of how the wish was focused on to the point that truth was forgotten. It says:

Struck with [the idea that your wish came true], you became engrossed by it. And you tossed [the truth] aside. Faced with reality and the option of fantasy, you chose to step into fantasy.

Does that mean we rejected truth?

Today’s reading says we did not reject truth. When we “tossed [the truth] aside,” we merely repressed it, and what we repress we keep. That means the truth is always with us, whether it is acknowledged or not.

When our eyes are open to truth, the idea that we could reject truth is laughable. It is seen clearly that rejecting truth is impossible. It is the one thing that can never be done. However, before our eyes have opened, we can be-lie-ve we have rejected truth. We can even be-lie-ve that we continue to do so. This untrue idea can be the source of guilt and self-condemnation. Therefore, it is important to see that it isn’t true.

Today’s reading teaches that you have never rejected truth. It has always been with you. After reading today’s reading, consider spending some time in awareness-watching-awareness. Find out for yourself if you’ve rejected truth, or if you ever could.

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

Today’s reading reemphasizes what we learned on Day 135. There are two scripts to choose from, one provided by ego and one provided by awake consciousness. It also points out that as we awaken, we tend to waiver between these two scripts. In one moment, we follow the script provided through intuition. In the next moment, we revert to believing thought again. However, the reading points out that this is progress. After all, wasn’t there a time when we listened almost exclusively to ego’s script?

We have made progress, and we will continue to make progress, especially as we trust intuition over thought more and more (and trust intuition over the world, which is also thought).

As we learned on Day 121, one of the things we can expect when we start following intuitive guidance instead of thought is resistance. Today’s reading reminds us how to be with resistance in order to heal it. It says:

When you find resistance in your heart and your mind, put not your trust there. When you find resistance, remember what you truly want. Rest, so that resistance will pass over you.

In other words, when you experience resistance, remember your spiritual aspiration and practice rest-accept-trust until you feel reconnected to your willingness.

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

Let’s review what we have learned through NTI Romans so far:

• Consciousness made a wish to experience itself as different. You are consciousness. This wish is in you and can only be healed in you.

 

• The creative principle was made through this wish as a tool to create the experience of something different from consciousness. The creative principal creates temporary manifestation through divine declaration, also known as judgment or decision. Each time we judge something, we subconsciously declare it to be real.

 

• The way to realize everything as consciousness again is to stop declaring manifestation to be real. This is accomplished by realizing you know nothing and by surrendering unconditionally to intuition.

 

• The creative principal and manifestation are not mistakes. Awakened consciousness loves and enjoys manifestation.

 

• One obstacle to realizing consciousness as what you are and what everything is, is thinking you are something different. To realize you are consciousness, practice awareness-watching-awareness.

 

• Enlightenment, or awake consciousness, exists in you now. You are not aware of it, because of the attention you place on manifestation.

 

• Both external symbols and internal spiritual wisdom are provided by your awake consciousness to help turn attention back toward it.

 

• Another obstacle to realizing consciousness as what you are and what everything is, is thinking the world is real. When you think the world is real, you keep attention with the world.

 

• The purpose of the world during the awakening phase is to reverse the declaration that made it seem real. Instead of declaring manifestation real, you declare it unreal as it happens. You also declare consciousness as its only reality.

Today’s reading teaches how to declare manifestation unreal. It asks us to remember that everything we see and experience is thought. Said another way, it is a product of thought, which was previously declared real, and is now made temporarily manifest.

Again, everything we see and experience is thought. We learned this last year when we studied the Code. As that message said:

The code is ideas, just as all things within illusion are ideas. The code can be seen as specific manifestations in form, can be felt as feelings or can be heard as thoughts. The best way to look at the code is as the potential driver of experience. I say it is the potential driver of experience, because code will only drive your experience if you fully believe the code. Even if you let go of your belief in the code partially, it no longer has full influence over you. The code can only drive your experience to the degree that you believe the code.

Today’s reading shares tips about how not to believe the world is real. I recommend taking notes as you read today’s reading. Taking notes will help you remember what you read so you can practice it. Your notes will also be available for easy future reference.

If you would like to review the message of the Code, click here.

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