Today’s reading provides the basic guidelines for purification. When we live by these guidelines, we purify, which means we rise in vibration.

In today’s reading, the purification guidelines are called “new habits.” Our conditioning is referred to as “old habits.” If we continue to live by our old habits, nothing changes. New habits are necessary if we want to rise in vibration.

Here is a summary of the new habits (guidelines for purification):

1. Realize you do not know anything.
2. Rely on intuition to guide you in all things.
3. Have faith, which means:
   ~ trust the healing process
   ~ put confidence in a benevolent power beyond what your senses or mind can know
   ~ accept that all is well, regardless of the appearance
4. Be willing to let darkness rise into awareness.
5. Practice rest-accept-trust when darkness rises. This type of rest is healing.
6. See doubt as a normal part of this process while realizing it is the lower vibration, and then choose faith instead.
7. When you notice that you’ve slipped into old conditioning, shift into the new habits. In this way, the new habits will replace old conditioning.

Note: I recommend printing this tip for future reference.

Today’s the day! The inner teacher has taken our hand and is leading us into the desert for purification. Yay!!!

Purification is a very important step. It’s necessary, which is why it was the very first thing Jesus did after baptism. Baptism represents the decision to awaken fully. Purification is the first important step in the direction of awakening. We follow in Jesus’ footsteps by walking into the purification stage with the help of NTI and inner spiritual wisdom.

If the thought of purification scares you, remember that fear is a low vibration tempting you to remain at a low vibrational level, and then choose to focus on your willingness instead.

Today’s reading begins:

I am your leader in this process of healing. … The way to healing is to listen to Me with the full attention of your ears. Focus them on nothing else and no one else.

That’s the opening instruction—focus your ears on nothing and no one except the combined guidance of conscience and spiritual intuition. That means that intuition will guide you in how to be, including how to respond to your boss, your spouse, your parents, your children, your spiritual teacher, and etcetera. No one has authority over your spiritual intuition. It alone is your guide, and it guides under all circumstances.

Start here by accepting inner spiritual intuition as your sole authority under all circumstances. If you make this commitment, you take a giant step forward.

Three times, today’s reading says, “This is what you are to do.” Whenever you see those words in NTI, pay close attention. That is specific guidance. You heal by following specific guidance.

What does “heal” mean? NTI refers to the lower vibrations as “sickness.” These are the thoughts, emotions and perceptions that lead to suffering. “Healing” is rising in vibrational level until lower vibrations have no effect on you.

There are two levels of healing. The first level of healing is true perception. True perception is similar to being in remission; you are currently healthy, but you are still subject to vibrational levels. One who experiences true perception is at a very high vibrational level and is in the habit of selecting high vibrations, but the possibility for selecting lower vibrations still exists.

The second level of healing is awakening to the First Principle of God, which is awakening beyond the effect of any vibrational level. It’s awakening from the dream of vibrational levels.

As you read NTI today, keep your journal handy. When you read what you are to do, which will happen three times in today’s reading, ask within “What does this mean?” or “How does this apply to me?” Write what comes to you in your journal. The act of writing will help you commit to the guidance inwardly, and it will help you remember the guidance. I also recommend reviewing your journal a few times during the day. In addition, it is helpful to share from your journal in the Sanctuary or in a safe relationship. Sharing will further strengthen your memory and commitment.

At the end of today’s reading, we are told:

Sickness must rest and be quiet. This is the way to health. Let your sickness rest. But health must serve the Son of God, for that is its only purpose.

Here’s something to contemplate in relationship to that:

The right use of mind is in the service of love, of life, of Truth, of beauty. … You must begin in yourself, with yourself – this is the inexorable law. Attend to yourself, set yourself right – mentally and emotionally. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

The story in the Bible at Luke 4 is the story of Jesus’ 40-days and 40-nights in the desert. Jesus went into the desert to purify from lower vibrations, namely false beliefs, fears, desires and conditioning.

NTI Luke 4 is the beginning of the purification process for the reader. From this point forward, NTI takes the role of spiritual teacher and guides the reader through purification. However, NTI cannot do this alone. You must choose to follow the guidance of NTI in your daily life. If you make that choice, NTI becomes your guide. When NTI becomes your guide, it is more than written words on the page. It is also your inner guide, meaning it will be with you as inner spiritual intuition whether the book is with you or not.

Today’s reading says, “Jesus came out of the desert a teacher, but the one who taught through him was the Holy Spirit. This is the same one that teaches you now, so that no time has elapsed since Jesus seemed to teach until the time that I am teaching you now.”

In other words, that which led Jesus into the desert for purification, that which taught through him after purification, that which speaks through NTI and your spiritual intuition are all the same one. It has been called by many names, including the Holy Spirit and the Voice for God. It is the knowingness of pure consciousness. Today’s reading is an invitation to let this Voice be your guide.

The reading says, “… you will not have to look far to find doubt within your mind.”

It’s helpful to admit that we have doubts, and then move forward trusting inner intuition to the best of our ability anyway. If doubt holds us back, no movement occurs. Doubt can keep us at a lower vibrational level.

Maybe you aren’t sure that you intuit spiritual intuition. That’s okay. It really doesn’t matter at this point whether you do or not. You have access to conscience—everyone has access to conscience—and you have spiritual intuition through NTI, so start there.

NTI Luke 1 said:

Each one comes to the awareness of truth from where he is, so where he is, is where he must begin to learn. There is no shame in his starting point, wherever that starting point seems to be.

Keep things simple. Our goal now is to raise our vibrational level by choosing to follow the highest vibration currently available to us. By doing that, higher vibrations become available. So, that is all you have to do.

If you are worried that you won’t recognize the highest vibration, you can put that worry aside. Worry is a lower vibration. Remember what NTI Luke 2 said:

The birth of Jesus represents the birth of willingness, humble at first, but promising within it all of the glory of Heaven. Mary pondered this promise in her heart, not with the worrisome thoughts of the ego, but in her heart where the Holy Spirit is.

Instead of worrying, simply be willing to take one step at a time. NTI has promised to guide you, and it will. NTI gives very specific guidance—clear and easy-to-follow guidance.

Our guidance begins in tomorrow’s reading. Today, contemplate your willingness to follow NTI’s guidance.

Please review the tip from Day 1, and then come back and read this tip.

Conscience, Consciousness and God’s Will:

Conscience is the knowing within that encourages us to choose the highest vibration available. Conscience knows that lower vibrations lead to suffering and higher vibrations lead to freedom.

Today’s reading refers to “Christ” and “Son of God,” which are synonymous. They are religious terms for consciousness. When today’s reading says that John the Baptist was “not yet fully the Christ,” it means that conscience points towards consciousness, but the vibration of pure consciousness is higher than the vibration of conscience.

As pointed out on Day 1, spiritual intuition is higher than conscience. That’s because spiritual intuition is the knowingness of pure consciousness. We reach spiritual intuition by following conscience and by desiring truth realization. Only following conscience is not enough to awaken spiritual intuition. The desire for truth must also be present.

Today’s reading also refers to “God’s Will.” In truth, God has no will. God, as life-awareness, simply is. “God’s Will” is a symbol. It represents truth. It is also used to symbolize our desire to realize truth.

Let’s look at the Four Principles of God using the terms from today’s reading:

First Principle of God – Pure, unmanifest, life-awareness. There is no “will” in this principle, but the term “God’s Will” is a symbol for this principle.

Second Principle of God – Consciousness, Son of God, Christ.

Third Principle of God – The creative principle.

Fourth Principle of God – Manifestation. Conscience operates at this level. It is an intuitive mechanism that can reduce suffering in humans and raise their vibrational level.

Distraction and Specialness:

Yesterday’s reading pointed out two ways we can raise our vibration: willingness and being grateful for willingness. Today’s reading points out two ways we maintain a lower vibration:

1. Distraction – Being completely outward-focused and forgetting to pay attention within for the highest vibrational option.
2. Specialness – Thinking you are different from other people.

Whenever you notice you have become distracted, simply remember your willingness, and then turn to intuition to find the highest vibration available to you in the moment. Surrender to that vibrational option as guidance.

Whenever you notice that you feel special (different from other people), remember the exercise that we did with molding clay on Day 48. Jesus was a temporary form made from clay. Clay was the essence of Jesus. Clay was a symbol for consciousness. Just as the essence of Jesus was consciousness, your essence is consciousness. There is no difference between you and Jesus. Since the essence of everyone is consciousness, there are no special people. Everyone is the same, regardless of appearance, vibration, knowledge or behavior.

The story in the Bible at Luke 2 is about Jesus’ birth and consecration. The consecration was a ceremony required by Jewish law. Every firstborn male had to be taken to the temple in Jerusalem to be dedicated with a small sacrifice, namely “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.” When Jesus was taken to the temple, two unusual things happened:

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation…”

There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; … She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

Today’s reading says that Jesus’ birth “represents the birth of willingness, humble at first, but promising within it all of the glory of Heaven.” It interprets the story about Simeon and Anna in this way:

This tiny willingness, only newly born and without achievement of any kind, is received by the Holy Spirit as a wonderful gift, and it is received with eternal gratitude.

So it is with your willingness, no matter how humble that willingness may seem to be to you.

Yesterday, we saw that the path of awakening is a path of choosing higher vibrations over lower vibrations. We also saw that although the code is multi-layered, not all vibrational levels are currently available to us as options. We are aware of the vibrations that are closest to our current vibrational level. Some of those vibrations are in tune with the lower edge of our vibrational level. Others are in tune with the higher edge of our vibrational level. We rise up by choosing the options that are in tune with the higher edge of our current vibrational level.

NTI Luke 2 offers willingness as a higher vibrational option that is in tune with our current vibrational level. Gratitude for willingness is another a high vibrational option that is available to us. Through gratitude, willingness grows into true desire, and true desire grows into intense desire for awakening. Intense desire for awakening is a very high vibration. As we have already learned:

Awakening the extremely intense desire for Liberation is the most important first step that can be taken towards being liberated here and now in this lifetime. ~ The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss by Michael Langford

As you read from NTI today, keep in mind that NTI Luke 2 provides a very important key. As it says in The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss:

Some teachings are essential powerful keys. The knowledge that increasing your desire for liberation is the most effective first step you can take, is an essential powerful key.

All obstacles that appear in your journey to freedom are caused by too little desire for freedom. Even a little increase in your desire for freedom is helpful. As your desire for freedom grows in intensity the ego creates fewer obstacles.

Since willingness is a higher vibrational choice, it’s helpful to choose willingness whenever a lower vibration is tempting you. For example, imagine you are very annoyed at a person close to you. Instead of acting from that annoyance, say this prayer with your heart:

I feel very annoyed right now. I don’t see how I could not be annoyed at this. However, I am willing to see differently. I surrender all of my thoughts about this situation in willingness, and I remain open to any guidance that will come.

With a prayer like this, you make the higher choice, and you rise a little higher in vibration, which makes an even higher option available to you. The new higher option is called “guidance”. It might be the guidance to rest-accept-trust, it might be a new way of seeing the situation, or it might be something else that is different from the original options that were available in your mind.

Whenever you choose the highest option available in the moment, you are guided to the next higher option through a rise in vibration. That is what guidance is—a higher choice leading to the next higher option. By following guidance, which is the highest option available now, you continually rise in vibration.

Summary of the Bible Story:

In the Bible, Luke 1 is a story about Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist.

Zechariah was a priest. He was in the temple burning incense when an angel appeared and said, “Your prayer has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. … And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens…” Zechariah’s ability to speak was lost because he did not have faith that his old and barren wife could bare a son.

According to Jewish custom, on the eighth day after the baby was born, the baby was circumcised and given a name. It was customary for the baby to be named after someone in the family. Since Zechariah could not speak, and women were not part of the ceremony—women watched from behind a partition that separated them from the men—the priests were about to name the baby Zechariah, after his father, when Elizabeth called out, “No! He is to be called John.”

The priests were not inclined to name the baby John. They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.” Zechariah motioned for a writing tablet, on which he wrote, “His name is John.” When he wrote this, his ability to speak returned.

Today’s reading in NTI is an interpretation of this story. The interpretation makes two primary points.

All Are Precious

The first point is reminiscent of Jesus’ teaching in the famous Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said:

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. … See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is burnt up in the hot sun, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

Bentinho Massaro defines faith as knowing all is well always, under all circumstances.

The idea of a God-being that gives and takes away is only a concept. What appears to give or take away is the script, which is written by consciousness through the Third Principle of God, the creative principle. The creative principle is not a God-being; it is divine nature. It is the natural means of manifestation.

As The Code teaches, we make choices based on thoughts, emotions and perceptions that come to us from the creative principle. The choices we make return to the creative principle and write the next moment of the script.

With this clarity in mind, notice that faith—knowing all is well always, under all circumstances—is a way of staying with the higher vibration instead of slipping into low vibrational thinking. As a high vibration choice, faith raises our vibration towards true perception. It also affects future manifestation. However, as one rises toward true perception, manifestation becomes less and less important.

One difference between you and the “birds of the air” is that birds live at a more consistent vibration, one that comes from the whole. They live by instinct instead of choice. You have the ability to choose your vibration. Seeing yourself as unworthy is a low vibrational choice. Having faith that you are precious and the universe cares for you is a higher vibrational choice.

Two Choices

Although the code is multi-layered with several vibrational options available, we are not aware of all of the vibrations simultaneously. We are aware of the vibrations that are closest to our current vibrational level. Some of those vibrations are in tune with the lower edge of our vibrational level. Others are in tune with the higher edge of our vibrational level.

In today’s reading, that which is in tune with the higher edge of our vibrational level is called the Voice of Worth. The other voice, which is called our thoughts, is in tune with the lower edge of our vibrational level. Today’s reading encourages us to trust our worth and choose the Voice of Worth.

Realize that the creative principle responds to you. Cooperate with the creative principle by choosing the highest vibration available to you. Also, it’s important to follow through with your choice. It isn’t helpful to say, “I choose faith,” and then attempt to control the situation. As we have often heard, “Actions speak louder than words.” Our action demonstrates the choice we’ve really made.

Summary

In truth, you are greater than the creative principal. You are the First Principal of God. Consciousness is born in you. The creative principal operates in you, and all of manifestation comes and goes in you. That doesn’t seem true if you believe the lower vibrations of the script. Follow the higher vibrations. Following the higher vibrations is the way of “true discovery.” That is how you discover that you “are the One.”

NTI does not teach about a physical resurrection of Jesus’ body. That isn’t a comment on whether there was or wasn’t a physical resurrection. As we have already learned:

When the conditions are right, consciousness manifests as a temporary appearance within consciousness. That temporary appearance could be a flower, a baby, a disease, or an appearance that appears to defy the laws of our world. When the basics of the creative principle are understood, it is seen that temporary manifestation occurs because the conditions come together in a way to create that appearance.

NTI Mark is written to provide helpful symbols. Our role is to derive meaning from its symbols, and then live from the example provided by those symbols. So NTI Mark points within instead of towards manifestation.

We need to look within in order to find our way through the purification stage. We surrender within as we merge with consciousness, and the final death of the ego, which is also the final awakening, is an experience that occurs within.

Here is a related scripture from the Bible. It is provided for your own contemplation:

Now when [Jesus] was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go after them or follow them. For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. ~ Luke 17:20-25, NKJV

Today’s reading provides a contrast between the unhealed mind, the healed mind, and the mind that is somewhere between the two. The reason for the contrast is to help us see that there are no facts in the world. Everything seen and experienced is dependent on the mind seeing it and experiencing it.

A fact is “a thing that is indisputably the case.” An example of a fact might be, “Crucifixion is a slow and tortuous means of execution.” At least, most people would agree that is a fact. However, today’s reading describes the experience of the healed mind during crucifixion as “wholly joyous.” (Also, the Bible tells us that Jesus’ body died fairly quickly, instead of slowly.)

In today’s reading, the unhealed mind sees darkness and suffering as it observes the crucifixion. The healed mind is wholly joyous, and the mind that is “somewhere between the complete knowledge of the healed mind and the unfettered blindness of the unhealed mind” experiences reverence and gratitude. Yet, all eyes looked on the same scene.

What is the lesson for us?

Everything that you see and experience,
you see and experience through the filter of your mind.
~ NTI Luke

Allow yourself to realize there are no facts in the world; nothing is “indisputably the case.” Accept that the way you see and understand is the way you  see and understand based on your current state of mind. You are not right about what you see. What you see is right about you; it witnesses to your state of mind.

Your perception is like a school report card. It reports on your state of mind. Aside from that, it has no meaning at all, since what you see is not a fact. Others see it differently.

Contemplate today’s tip deeply. The more you accept that what you see witnesses to your state of mind, the more prepared you are for healing (purification). The more you believe that what you see is a fact, the more likely you are to stay at your current vibrational level.

In the last couple of days, we’ve paid attention to lower and higher vibrational choices. In today’s reading, you will also notice individuals making lower and higher vibrational choices. However, yesterday’s tip said:

Reality transcends all vibrations and all experience.

Today, we will get a sense for reality.

In NTI Mark, Jesus goes through initial purification, clearing away many beliefs and much of his conditioning, during the 40-days and 40-nights in the desert. NTI Mark doesn’t go into detail about Jesus’ initial purification. The majority of NTI Mark is focused on the phase that follows purification, which is called “merging” in NTI. Merging is the process of awakening to consciousness as Self.

The merging process can be gradual or it can be abrupt. In NTI, Jesus experiences a gradual merging, which occurs between the initial purification in the desert and the night of his arrest. The practices that facilitate Jesus’ merging are discernment, kindness and surrender. Jesus also took time for private contemplation and meditation.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, just prior to Jesus’ arrest, fear drives Jesus to surrender more deeply than ever before. On that night, Jesus surrenders his sense of self-existence, which is known as “will.” This surrender was the final death of the ego. It was also awakening beyond consciousness to absolute reality, which is the First Principle of God. To think of Jesus as a man after this point is a mistake. He is no longer a man. He is life-awareness.

There are a few sentences in today’s reading that give hints about the life-awareness that appears as Jesus. Instead of seeing the physical scene directly, it is moved by the highest vibration of code although it is simultaneously beyond that vibration.

For example, Jesus does not see men bullying him. He sees love desiring love. He does not see crucifixion. He is “fully consumed with love and gratitude and reality.”

As the scribe of NTI, I experienced a vision of Jesus on the cross. In that vision, I was Jesus. In other words, the awareness that I refer to as “I” saw through the eyes of the Jesus-body and knew the realization that was known. Let me describe that vision to you:

I was hanging on the cross, meaning the body was hanging on the cross. The body’s eyes still saw in the same way they have always seen, so the body saw soldiers casting lots for clothing; a woman known as “my mother” bent over in agony and surrounded by friends; men dressed in priests’ robes discussing what they saw; some angry faces, and rocks being thrown. The body also saw people going in and out of Jerusalem through a nearby gate, going about their normal day’s activities. This is what the body saw.

However, I was not connected to the body’s sight at all. There was no mind thinking about or interpreting what the body saw. It is fair to say there was no focus on these sights, just as you typically put no attention on many unimportant sights and sounds that your senses pick up on everyday.

My awareness was completely filled with love-gratitude-joy as one thing, not three. And I knew reality, which was nothing that the body sensed. Although the body’s eyes saw physical sights, I was not aware of those things; the body was aware of those things. A scene was present, but I was not part of that scene. I wasn’t aware of “I” or “me,” and I wasn’t aware that there was no “I” or “me.” Those concepts were non-existent. There were no concepts and no thinking. There was only direct knowing (as contrasted with indirect knowing, which isn’t knowing at all).

That is as far as I can go in describing the vision. I knew the vision was a taste of full enlightenment, and I knew enlightenment had no relationship to this world. As Bernadette Roberts described it, “It is a different dimension entirely.”

(Note: This tip is longer than usual. If you are short on time, read the tip this morning, and then read from NTI later today.)

Yesterday we contemplated contrasts, so we can learn to recognize lower and higher vibrational choices. Today, we continue that same contemplation as we watch someone who sensed a pull toward a higher vibration, but then followed the lower vibration instead.

The person I am speaking of is Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Pontius Pilate had the power to crucify Jesus, to imprison him or set him free. Other than the Roman Emperor, who was very far away and unaware of this little incident in Jerusalem, no one had authority higher than Pontius Pilate. He was free to make any decision.

As you read today’s story, notice that Pilate felt intuitively that Jesus was innocent. He also felt curious about Jesus, and interested in him. Something in him wanted to talk to Jesus more. If Pilate had followed this feeling, he would have followed the higher vibration.

However, the lower vibration showed up in thought too. It showed up as concern about what ‘others’ think of ‘me.’ It was the shadow of a thought we learned about earlier:

I am separate and different, and for this I am guilty [unworthy, less than]. I must protect myself, for when my guilt is unmasked, I will suffer endlessly. I will be cut off from all that is and from life itself.

Pilate believed that idea and followed the lower vibration.

Another opportunity came. Pilate had the authority to release Jesus or another prisoner, Barabbas. His genuine feeling was to release Jesus. That was the higher vibration.

However, once again a lower vibration arose. It was another idea that we’ve looked at recently. It was the idea that rules need to be consistent; precedent needs to be followed. Although Pilate had full authority to do something different this time, he believed consistency is what mattered, and he condemned Jesus to die. (Reference the tip for Day 46.)

Some people say that Jesus’ crucifixion was God’s will. Others say the script is written and cannot be changed. However, the Code says something different. The Code teaches that the script is always being written.

Here’s a simple review of the Code:

The thoughts that come into the mind are part of the code. However, the code is multi-layered, so there are higher vibrations and lower vibrations. When we choose the lower vibrations, the script is written according to the lower vibration. When we choose the higher vibrations, the script is written according to the higher vibration.

As we continue to choose lower vibrations, we are more likely to choose lower vibrations again. If we choose higher vibrations, higher and higher vibrations become available to us. Higher vibrational choices lead to true perception.

If we look at the story of Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion, we see that many characters in the story made choices along the way.

• Judas decided to turn Jesus in so he could find out if Jesus was genuine or not.
• The apostles chose to follow intuition, and they secured a safe place for Passover.
• Jesus was overcome with the fear of death, but he chose to surrender completely.
• At the time of Jesus’ arrest, many apostles listened to fear and ran away.
• One apostle stayed in the garden in silence.
• At Jesus’ trial, Judas saw he’d made a mistake and believed he was guilty.
• At dawn, Peter saw he’d made a mistake and he went within seeking clarity.
• Some of the chief priests listened to Jesus and did not join in the rush to have him crucified.
• Most of the chief priests did not listen to Jesus. They rushed to Pilate to demand crucifixion.
• The crowd outside Pilate’s palace decided to follow the lead of the chief priests and demand Jesus’ crucifixion.
• Pilate felt that Jesus was innocent and intriguing, but he became worried about what others would think and chose to condemn Jesus to crucifixion.

If you look at this chain of events carefully, you’ll notice that a few people made higher vibration choices, but many stayed with the lower vibration. The script was written from the sum of those choices.

Imagine if Judas had decided to rest-accept-trust while in fear instead of deciding to turn Jesus in for a trial. Imagine if more chief priests had decided to listen to Jesus at his trial. What if the crowd outside Pilate’s palace had simply observed instead of joining the chief priests in their cry for Jesus’ crucifixion? Or what if Pilate had listened to his own inner prompting to set Jesus free?

Or, looking at it another way, what if the apostles had been afraid to trust intuition while looking for a room for Passover and had selected someplace that was associated with them? Is it possible the temple guards would have found Jesus earlier and the entire evening would have unfolded according to a different script? Or what if Jesus had listened to his fear in the Garden of Gethsemane?

Once a devotee asked Ramana Maharshi, “Is not this world, and what takes place in it, a result of God‘s will? If so, why should God will thus?”

Ramana Maharshi answered:

“God has no purpose. He is not bound by any action, and the World‘s activities cannot affect him. Take the analogy of the sun. The sun rises without desire, purpose, or effort, but as soon as it rises, numerous activities take place on earth. The lens placed in its rays produce fire, the lotus bud opens, water evaporates, and every living creature enters upon activity, maintains its activity, and finally drops it. However, the sun is not affected by any such activity, as it merely acts according to its nature by fixed laws, without any purpose. It is only a witness. So it is with God. …

God has no desire or purpose in acts of creation, maintenance, destruction, withdrawal, and salvation, to which earthly beings are subjected. As beings reap the fruits of their action in accordance to natural laws, the responsibility is theirs, not God‘s. God is not bound by any actions.”

When one understands God as the primordial, the First Principle of God, one realizes that God is the openness and essence that permits the appearance of the world, but God has no hand in its creation or its happenings. Consciousness itself is responsible for the world, and we are consciousness.

The higher vibration is made of consciousness, including thoughts, emotions and physical manifestation. The lower vibration is also made of consciousness, including thoughts, emotions and physical manifestation. It is all the play of consciousness, created in each moment through the play of consciousness. None of it is real—it is not the First Principle of God—but all of it is experienced, since consciousness is the realm of subject, object, and therefore, experience.

Do your choices matter?

Ultimately, your choices do not matter, because they do not affect reality. You are never guilty or innocent because of your choices, since they have no actual effects.

At the same time, your choices do matter, because they keep you at a lower vibration or help you raise to a higher vibration. At the lower vibration, you suffer more. At the higher vibration, you become increasingly happy and unaffected until you see with true perception.

Also, your choices matter because they are a part of consciousness as a whole, and so your choices help to write the script that is constantly unfolding as the world.

In short, happenings in the world happen the way they do, because everything that happened before led to the present being as it is. It is a mistake to give credit or blame to God for anything that happens in the world, and since innumerable inputs from consciousness lead to the script being as it is, it is also a mistake to give credit or blame to any one cause (any single decision, person or incident). It is best to accept the present as it is, and make the highest choice available in the moment.

Our choices reach higher or our choices remain lower, and experience unfolds according to the vibration of our choices. However, reality is something different entirely. Reality transcends all vibrations and all experience. Our choices affect our experience, but they do not affect our reality.

(Note: I recommend you print this tip for future reference.)