Today’s reading says:

The time has come to release misperception.

The primary misperception that needs to be released is the idea that you are a body-mind-personality, or even an individual soul-mind, that is separate or distinct from all-that-is. However, there are other misperceptions too, which all stem from that one primary misperception.

I recently went on vacation with my mom. Her religious affiliation is Christian. She feels at home in a Baptist or Methodist church. Over our vacation, a couple of situations arose that might have caused anxiety in many people, but it didn’t cause anxiety for mom. She simply whispered to herself, “I am in God, and God is in me,” and then shifted to a state of surrender, peace and joy. I thought it was beautiful.

I am in God.
God is in me.
God is all.
All is God.

That is the essence of truth. That is the essence of the truth that Job and Peace Pilgrim knew and lived. That is the essence of true perception.

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

On Day 219, we learned that sin is only forgetfulness. To “sin” is to forget what you are and to act as if you are something different. It is mistaken identity.

The Bible tells the story of a man named Job, who was “blameless and upright.” Job was a lover of truth. He was also a rich man. Everything in manifestation flowed easily for Job. (Job 1, 2)

In the story, the wrong-mind and the right-mind have a figurative conversation as Satan and God. In the conversation, the wrong-mind, which is fixated on manifestation as the source of happiness, tells the right-mind that the only reason Job loves truth is because he has everything a man could want. The right-mind gives permission for the wrong-mind to manipulate the creative principle so that everything the wrong-mind sees as valuable is taken away from Job.

Job loses his wealth, his servants and his children. Although Job falls to his knees in grief when he hears about the death of his children, he cries out:

Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.

The wrong-mind, continuing to believe that manifestation is supreme, points out that Job still has a healthy body. Thinking that all men are self-centered, the wrong-mind feels sure that if Job loses his health, he will curse truth.

The right-mind gives the wrong-mind permission to manipulate the creative principle so that Job loses his health. The Bible continues:

So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.

His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”

He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”

In all this, Job did not sin (forget truth) in what he said.

Job’s heart was centered on truth. One who is centered on truth does not forget truth in the play of manifestation. Truth is of supreme importance to such a one. Reality is his beloved.

As long as we believe, to any degree, that happiness comes from manifestation, we will experience suffering. When we choose to love truth as supreme, manifestation may appear favorable or unfavorable, but it will not affect our heart-centered love of truth.

Here is a story told by Peace Pilgrim. In this story, Peace Pilgrim demonstrates her unwavering love for reality:

I was walking in a very isolated section of the high mountains of Arizona where there was no human habitation for many miles. That afternoon there came a surprising snowstorm, out of season. I have never seen such a storm. If the snow had been rain you would have called it a cloudburst. Never had I seen snow dumped down like that!

All of a sudden I was walking in deep snow and was unable to see through what was falling.

Suddenly I realized that the cars had stopped running. I supposed they were getting stuck on the highway and unable to pass.

Then it got dark. There must have been a heavy cloud cover. I could not see my hand before my face and the snow was blowing into my face and closing my eyes. It was getting cold. It was the kind of cold that penetrates into the marrow of the bone.

If ever I were to lose faith and feel fear, this would have been the time, because I knew there was no human help at hand. Instead, the whole experience of the cold and the snow and the darkness seemed unreal. Only God seemed real – nothing else.

I made a complete identification—not with my body, the clay garment which is destructible—but with the reality which activates the body and is indestructible.

I felt so free. I felt that everything would be all right, whether I remained to serve in this Earth life or if I went on to serve in another freer life beyond.

I felt guided to keep on walking, and I did, even though I couldn’t tell whether I was walking along the highway or out into some field. I couldn’t see anything. My feet in my low canvas shoes were like lumps of ice. They felt so heavy as I plodded along. My body began to turn numb with cold.

After there was more numbness than pain, there came what some would call a hallucination and what some would call a vision.

It was as though I became aware, not only of the embodied side of life where everything was black darkness, bitter cold and swirling snow, but also so close it seemed I could step right into it, of the disembodied side of life where everything was warmth and light.

There was such great beauty. It began with familiar color, but transcended familiar color. It began with familiar music, but transcended familiar music.

Then I saw beings. They were very far away. One of them moved toward me very quickly. When she came close enough, I recognized her. She looked much younger than she had looked when she passed over.

I believe that at the time of the beginning of the change called death, those nearest and dearest come to welcome us. I have been with dying friends who have stepped over and I remember well how they talked to their loved ones on both sides, as though they were all right there in the room together.

So I thought my time had come to step over and I greeted her. I either said or thought, “You have come for me?” But she shook her head! She motioned for me to go back! And just at that exact moment, I ran into the railing of a bridge. The vision was gone.

Because I felt guided to do so, I groped my way down that snowy embankment and got under the bridge. There I found a large cardboard packing box with wrapping paper in it. Very slowly and clumsily in my numb condition, I managed to get myself into that packing box, and somehow with my numbed fingers managed to pull the wrapping paper around me.

There under the bridge, during the snowstorm, I slept. Even there shelter had been provided; but provided also was this experience.

Had you looked at me in the midst of the snowstorm, you might have said, “What a terrible experience that poor woman is going through.”

But looking back on it I can only say, “What a wonderful experience in which I faced death, feeling no fear, but the constant awareness of the presence of God, which is what you take right over with you.”

The stories about Job and Peace Pilgrim are presented for a reason. At some point on the spiritual path, we have to choose what we will be loyal to in our hearts—manifestation or truth. As long as we choose manifestation, Self-realization will remain out-of-reach, because we desire illusion. The Son of God (consciousness) must experience what it wants to experience. That is the essence of freedom.

When we no longer see manifestation as supreme, but choose to align with truth in our hearts regardless of the appearances in manifestation, we are ready for truth realization. Truth realization will come swiftly at this point in your maturity, because you no longer desire anything else.

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

Yesterday, we looked at this quote by Nisargadatta Maharaj:

The desire to find the Self will surely be fulfilled, provided you want nothing else. But you must be honest with yourself and really want nothing else. If in the meantime you want many other things and are engaged in their pursuit, your main purpose may be delayed until you grow wiser and cease being torn between contradictory urges.

Sometimes we have strong worldly desires, and it feels like nothing short of sacrifice to let them go. We might want a loving relationship, financial security, a child or grandchild, a home of our own, a home in a dream location, retirement or something else that feels really strong for us.

What are we to do with these desires? Repress them?

Of course not. Repression is never helpful.

Today’s reading recommends looking at desires with unrushed quiet clarity.

What do our worldly desires represent?

I’ve experienced very strong desires other than the desire to awaken. Sometimes, those other desires felt stronger than the desire to awaken. Sometimes, my mind whispered, “When I get that, I will be able to devote more time to awakening.” That thought made a desire feel really strong, because it became a “necessary” prerequisite to awakening.

However, when I looked at any worldly desire clearly, this is what I found:

• My other desire put awakening off to someday, after I achieved this.
• I realized that if I achieved this desire, ego would replace it with another desire that had to be achieved as a prerequisite to awakening.
• I saw that all desires other than the desire to awaken are delays.
• I saw that no desire other than awakening is final. If one desire is achieved, the mind will replace it with another desire. It is a never-ending path of desire and delay.
• I realized that any worldly desire comes with new problems to think about and solve.
• I came to see that any desire but awakening keeps me tied to the world, and therefore tied to my self as this body-mind-personality.

By looking at desires clearly, I was able to let go of even the strongest desires. Interestingly, some of those desires became manifest anyway. They came about on their own without being distractions for me. My awakening did not wait on them. Most likely, they were able to manifest because they ceased to be a distraction. Once they were benign, there wasn’t anything that blocked their manifestation.

(Sometimes when we desire something, we unconsciously desire it because we think we need things a certain way to feel safe, to be worthy, to fulfill lack or for some other wrong-minded reason. What we don’t realize is that by focusing on the desire, we focus on the feeling, “I am unsafe,” or the feeling, “I am unworthy” or the feeling of lack, etcetera. Those ideas can block manifestation of the desired object or circumstance, because unsafe manifests as more perceived unsafe; unworthy manifests as more perceived unworthiness; lack manifests as more perceived lack, and etcetera. When a desire based on a wrong-minded belief is let go, the associated focus on that belief is also let go, which can clear the way for a previous dream to become manifest.)

Of course, I’ve also had desires that haven’t manifested. Since I let them go, they aren’t missed. In fact, if they aren’t totally forgotten, they are seen as unnecessary clutter that was never needed in the first place.

If you would like more help letting go of worldly desires, refer to these tips from Year 1:

Lesson 133

Lesson 164

Lesson 185

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

The most important characteristic of awakening is the desire to awaken. Without a strong desire to awaken, one is drawn into the mind’s desires, which means one continues to identify with the mind and remains subject to the mind’s highs, lows, misperception and general agitation.

Today’s reading asks you to be “a conscious-minded teacher of yourself.”

What does NTI recommend that you consciously teach yourself?

It recommends that you consciously teach yourself what you want.

A conscious-minded teacher teaches intentionally and deliberately. The teaching doesn’t happen by accident. You are actively involved in helping yourself realize that awakening (truth) is the only thing you really want.

It is as Michael Langford teaches in Chapter 4 of The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss:

70. Thus the key to bringing the ego to an end is the intensity of the desire for freedom.

71. Eagerness for liberation must be equal to the eagerness someone who is being held underwater has for trying to rise to the surface.

72. Reflect on #71 above.

73. Eagerness is another word for the desire for freedom.

74. How great, how intense is the desire of someone being held underwater trying to rise to the surface.

75. He would like to rise to the surface, but he is being held underwater.

76. See how intense his desire is to rise to the surface.

77. Every second his desire to rise to the surface is becoming more and more intense.

78. After one minute, how the intensity of his desire has increased.

79. After two minutes underwater, the desire for oxygen and therefore his desire to rise to the surface, is ten times greater.

80. After three minutes underwater, his desire to rise to the surface is one hundred times greater.

81. After four minutes underwater, his desire to rise to the surface is one thousand times greater.

82. How great, how intense is his desire?

83. That is how intense your desire for liberation must become.

As today’s reading says:

Desire is the foundation from which all else springs forth.
Be true to your true desire, and it shall lead you truly.

As Nisargdatta Maharaj said:

The desire to find the Self will surely be fulfilled, provided you want nothing else. But you must be honest with yourself and really want nothing else. If in the meantime you want many other things and are engaged in their pursuit, your main purpose may be delayed until you grow wiser and cease being torn between contradictory urges.

Today is a good day to ask inner wisdom how you can most effectively teach yourself that awakening is all you truly want.

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

Today’s reading is about your current life situation, whatever it is. Whatever your health is like, whatever your financial situation is like, whatever your daily work is, whatever your personal relationships are, and etcetera—every detail  of your current life is absolutely perfect  for your awakening. There isn’t one single detail about your life that is a mistake. Every bit of it is exactly as it is, because you are ready to awaken, and this is the life that will awaken you.

When we live our daily life with this attitude, we awaken more quickly. If we judge some aspect of our life as “wrong,” and wish it were different than it is, we delay awakening. We misperceive the gift as a burden, so we do not accept the gift, and we do not use the gift for the purpose it was given.

I have come to see myself as still. I am still, and life circumstances are like a movie that plays in me. I enjoy the show, whatever it is. If, for a moment or two, I do not enjoy the show, I return my attention to my Self. When I do, peace returns, and then joy returns, and forgetfulness is forgotten.

When one sees herself as still, one does not see a reason for the movie as it is. It simply is as it is.

If you do not see yourself as still, you believe you are a character in the movie. You feel tossed about by the circumstances of the current scene. This is a misperception about what you are. This misperception is your only problem.

While you are susceptible to misperception, the movie has a reason or purpose. Its purpose is your awakening. Everything that happens in the movie (the world) is to help you see that you are not in the movie. You are still (unaffected), and the movie is in you. Accept the movie (especially your life circumstances) as having this purpose and this purpose only. Use the movie for your awakening, and you will awaken from the dream that you are a character in the movie.

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

I love NTI James 1. There are several statements in this chapter that I remembered vigorously (with active mental strength) as I went through my awakening process. These statements helped when I felt tired, vulnerable, uncertain or afraid.

Here are the sentences and phrases that came up in my mind repeatedly for several years exactly when I needed them the most:

Trust in all things.

Whenever I noticed my mind spinning with a story of fear, I would whisper to it and say, “Trust in all things.” Now, trusting all things has replaced fear as a habit. I still do not know what will happen in the future, but I trust it, whatever it is. Therefore, I am happy and at peace.

Trust the healing process.

Sometimes the healing process feels extreme. Situations that arise seem really difficult. Emotions are strong. The mind’s stories are anything but helpful. Whenever this occurred, I remembered that everything is for my healing, and I chose to trust the healing process. That helped me to face everything with healing as my only purpose.

Trust your own mind; it will rest.

Sometimes the mind spins and spins and spins with a story, and it seems like it will never stop. When this happened to me, I remembered, “Trust your own mind; it will rest.” I visualized it as an old fashioned wind-up toy that was currently all wound up, and I knew that if I didn’t wind it up again by giving it my believing attention, it would eventually wind down and stop. I trusted that, and I waited in trust for the chatter to die down on its own.

Listen within, with true desire as your focus.

I knew that if I went within with any goal other than my spiritual aspiration as my focus, ego would advise me. It was not beneficial to go within while wanting people to respect me, while wanting my daughter to be nice to me, while wanting more money, and etcetera. Before going within to seek guidance, I always came into contact with my desire for awakening first. I made sure that was the only thing  I wanted. With awakening as my only purpose, I asked for guidance, and I knew what I received was from inner wisdom and could be trusted as such.

Use all things to practice the true desire of the Heart.

For several years, every situation from simplistic to complicated had one purpose for me; its purpose was my awakening. I felt like I was under the surface of the ocean, and my only goal was to get to the top where I could live in the fresh air. Now, I feel like I live life in the fresh air. I breathe easily and naturally. Life is joyous. However, occasionally I slip, briefly, under the water again. Hence, my purpose now is stabilization. I still use all things to practice the true desire of the Heart, but my spiritual aspiration has been updated. Instead of awakening, my current spiritual aspiration is to be awake now. For me, all situations are an opportunity to be awake now. For you, all situations are an opportunity to practice your current spiritual aspiration. That’s all anything is for.

To listen, but not to practice, is to be like a man who looks in the mirror, but then goes away and forgets what he saw.

Like many of you, I used to receive incredible guidance as I wrote with inner wisdom during contemplation, but then I would walk away from my notebook, forget about the guidance and live my day from the mind and from my conditioning. This sentence from NTI James 1 reminded me to stay with the guidance that I received. Keep that mirror with me, and look at it throughout the day. By continually looking in the mirror—by reviewing guidance and actively practicing it—I knew I would come to know my Self.

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 Awakening~

 As one travels the seeming spiritual path, one is awakened one realization at a time. Each realization is a precious Gift from the Seat of Knowledge given to one who has readied himself to receive it.

Realizations are like opening one’s eyes after a heavy night of sleep. If one is grateful for the realization, one will open his eyes more and focus his Heart on it. But if one allows the sleepiness of night to again overtake his heavy eye lids, the realization is lost for a time while the depth of slumber is again experienced and cherished.

Let each realization be a time of awakening. Stay with it and appreciate it until you have fully awakened to the Knowledge that has come knocking at your door.

~From our Holy Spirit

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

The error that is the ego is attaching life to manifestation and identifying with that. It is attaching life to a body, a mind, and a personality, and then feeling that you are that. When you make the mistake of pinning life down to a specific form and identifying with that form, you also see form as alive, as if the form is primary and life is both secondary and temporary. That’s why you believe in death.

In reality, life is primary and eternal. Every aspect of manifestation is temporary, shifting and changing. And you are life, not the temporary form that you experience now.

To let go of ego is to let go of identifying with a specific manifestation as you and to let go of seeing others as specific manifestations. It is to fully accept that manifestation comes and goes, and life is beyond all manifestations. Life is the source of all manifestations; it is the essence of all manifestations, and life is what you are, just as it is what everything is.

The purpose of today’s reading is to help you accept this truth. Admittedly, it is not the truth the ego wants to hear. The ego (identification with a specific form) wants to believe it is eternal, but that simply isn’t the truth, nor will it ever be the truth.

Read today’s reading slowly and contemplatively. I recommend taking notes again today. Taking notes will help you absorb today’s teaching. You can also review and further contemplate your notes, which will further aid in absorbing this important teaching.

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