DailyUpdateOnly – Page 39

5-30-21 Weekly Gathering: “Why do We Resist?”

May 30, 2021

Weekly Sunday Gathering with Rev. George Maddox

Title: “Why do We Resist?”

Description: Rev. George explored the theme of resistance and how resistance is a key characteristic of our belief in being a separate individual. Also, he shared specific tools and methods we can use to overcome this resistance.

Reading: Rev. Shawna Summers read excerpts from the transcript of Leo Gura’s video on resistance. Here’s a link to the YouTube of Leo’s: Click Here and Click Here for the transcript.

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5-23-21 Weekly Gathering: “Seek Ye First the Kingdom”

May 25, 2021

Weekly Sunday Gathering with Rev. Meghan Reinhart

Title: “Seek Ye First the Kingdom”

Description: Things often are more challenging than not getting what you want. For instance, knowing what you want, being able to clearly communicate what you want, and feeling worthy enough to receive the things you want. Rev. Meghan expounded on the promise Jesus makes; “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33) from the Bible.

Reading: Rhoda Makled read Matthew Chapter 6 in NTI.

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Awakening Together Satsang with Rev. Myron Jones

August 16, 2020

Rev. Jones is an ordained minister through Pathways of Light and a student of A Course in Miracles. In this Satsang she was interviewed by George Maddox.

Rev. Jones has this to say about her practice:

“When I first started studying A Course in Miracles, I thought it was very complicated and very hard to do. The longer I practice its principles, the simpler it seems to be. There is still a lot of information that helps me to know why I practice as I do, but the practice itself is what is simple, and the practice is all that matters. The Course is not something to be learned, but something to be lived. Here is the way I live it. I stay as aware as I can of my thoughts because change happens only at this level. If my thoughts are not completely loving, then I know that they need correction. I bring these wrong-minded thoughts to the Holy Spirit and ask Him to correct my thinking and heal my mind. I accept total responsibility for my life. No one is to blame for anything that happens to me. If it is in my life, I put it there. Everything in my life is there for my awakening. If it does not serve God, then it is there to be forgiven. As I forgive, I awaken from the dream to the truth of who I am in God, my perfect self just as God created me. Forgiveness is my purpose.

In forgiving, I am not making error real, but rather I am accepting correction of my perceptions. If I see less than perfect love and complete innocence, then I am misperceiving. I am sorry I projected my errors onto the world and I am willing to withdraw those projections so that I can allow the Holy Spirit to correct them. That is my practice: awareness, forgiveness, correction through the Holy Spirit. This is my way home.”

Rev. Myron Jones’ website: ForgivenessIsTheWayHome.org

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Awakening Together Satsang with Rev. Myron Jones ~ This Sunday, August 16, 7:30-9:00 pm ET

August 10, 2020

Join us on Sunday, August 16 at 7:30 pm ET when George Maddox and Anne Blanchard will interview Rev. Myron Jones.

Rev. Jones is an ordained minister through Pathways of Light and a student of A Course in Miracles.

Rev. Jones has this to say about her practice:

Rev. Myron Jones’ website: ForgivenessIsTheWayHome.org

Gentle Healing 2 ~ Day 111: NTI Acts 4

June 21, 2020

Note: Before reading today’s tip, read Acts 4:1-22 from the Bible or watch all of Acts 4 from the Visual Bible movie, Acts.

More About Guilt

Yesterday we saw that guilt is not the correction for ignorance; knowledge is the correction for ignorance. Today, let’s look a little more closely at why guilt is not a proper correction.

Let’s imagine a woman with a sweet tooth. This woman loves to end each day by eating a bowl of cookie dough ice cream and some Oreo cookies. Over time, the woman begins to gain weight because of this habit. Whenever she looks in the mirror, she begins to believe thoughts like, “You fat cow. You’re ugly. No man will ever want you.” Since she believes these thoughts, she begins to feel very bad about herself. Feeling bad leads to seeking pleasure, which leads to bigger bowls of ice cream and more cookies. Of course, that leads to more weight gain, more self-hatred thoughts, and the cycle grows unto itself.

Notice that when the woman started hating herself for gaining weight, the self-hatred did not lead to a positive correction. Instead, it led to additional ice cream and cookies, which compounded the problem.

Self-hatred, unworthiness, shame, guilt, and similar self-debasing feelings all work in the same way. When we cling to these ideas about our self, we listen to ego more instead of less. The problem is compounded, instead of corrected. So, you aren’t guilty for the mistakes you’ve made, and believing you are guilty will lead to additional mistakes. Believing you are guilty (or unworthy, shameful, etcetera) keeps you stuck in the cycle of listening to ignorance.

Therefore, if we want to be free of ignorance and its effects, it’s important to trust that we are innocent, worthy and even beloved by the benevolence of the universe. By trusting our worth, we are able to step outside of the cycle of guilt and begin choosing the highest vibration available. In that way, we begin climbing the ladder of knowledge.

Contemplating One Will

Today’s reading points out that belief in separate wills is ignorance, since the belief in separation is ignorance. It says:

If you knew there was only one Will, you could not be confused.

It is easy to see many different individual wills in the world. Politics is a great example of this. People vary greatly about the policies they’d like to see as law in their country. So what is this “one Will” that NTI refers to?

The one Will is life-awareness-freedom (which is also called love).

When the world is seen through the right-mind, it appears as life-awareness-freedom. The right-mind sees one Will that is never blocked or interfered with. Life-awareness-freedom is present in everything that can be seen. It is also known in the unseen.

When we look out on the world and see many different wills, we are seeing through the filter of separation. We are seeing with ignorance, which means we need knowledge, since knowledge is the proper correction for ignorance.

Thoughts of Awakening # 111

Letting go of self-will
is letting go of judgments
you have laid upon truth.

When the judgments,
or decisions,
about what you see
are removed by a decision within the mind,
the original state of mind is reinstated,
and in this state
you see.

~From our Holy Spirit

Homework for this week

Practice daily meditation for 30-60 minutes each day.
Practice the “Loving All” Method.
Thoughts of Awakening, 106-112
Read NTI John Chapters 19-21 & Acts Chapters 1-5.
The reading shared on Tuesday night was from The Transparency of Things by Rupert Spira, p. 128- 136 or for Kindle users the Chapter titled Knowing Is Being Is Loving & Changeless Presence.
Exercise to practice: Everything you know, you know because it is in you. You could not know it if it was not in. you. This week, every once in awhile, notice every now sounds, sights, sensations, anything in your awareness and know that the only way you can be aware of them is if they are in you.

Gentle Healing 2 ~ Day 110: NTI Acts 3

June 20, 2020

Note: If desired, watch all of Acts 3 from the Visual Bible movie, Acts.

In America there is a saying:

Everyone has skeletons in their closet.

What the saying means is that we have all done things we are ashamed of—things we feel guilty for. When I look at my memory to see when I first tried to hide something I did because I felt guilty for it, I remember two events from when I was 4 and 5 years old. I guess that means we start putting skeletons in our closet at a pretty early age.

Are we guilty for the things we’ve done that were clearly wrong?

For example, one of my early skeletons was lying to my kindergarten teacher and blaming someone else for something I did. If the teacher hadn’t seen through my lie, a little boy could have been punished for something he didn’t do. Lying to the teacher and blaming an innocent child for something I did was clearly wrong. It wasn’t the right thing to do. But am I guilty?

What about the extra-marital affairs we’ve had? What about the hurtful things we’ve said out of anger? What about the times we’ve hit someone or thrown dishes at someone? What about the things we’ve stolen? What about all of the lies we’ve told? What about the other skeletons in our closets? Are we guilty for what we’ve done?

Today’s reading is very clear. We are not guilty regardless of what those skeletons are.

Every time we’ve done something wrong, it is because we listened to ego instead of conscience. Listening to ego was the first mistake. If we hadn’t listened to ego first, whatever came next would not have happened. For example, when I blamed that little boy for what I did in kindergarten, the quick ego thought in my mind was something like, “Oh no, I’m going to get in trouble. Quick! Blame someone else!”

Today’s reading points out that the ego is ignorance. It is ignorance, because it is an entire thought system based on one false premise: separation. It is an entire thought system based on the idea that I am this body-mind-personality, and I am not anything but this body-mind-personality. Everything else is separate from me.

However, that premise is not true. I am not this body-mind-personality. I am life-awareness. Wherever I see life-awareness, there I am too. The life-awareness that seems to be in this body-mind and the life-awareness that seems to be in your body-mind are the same life-awareness, and we are That.

Of course, the ego doesn’t see it that way, and all ego chatter is based on the false idea that the truth is not true. So, the ego is ignorance. It is ignorant about the true nature of things.

Every time we have done something wrong—and we’ve all done something wrong, usually starting at a very young age—it was because we listened to ignorance. If we listened to ignorance and followed it up with action, our action is ignorant action.

NTI makes a clear distinction between ignorant action and guilt. It says:

Ignorance is not guilt. It is a call for knowledge.

In other words, every time a human does something wrong, it is an indication that one has listened to ignorance. The correction for ignorance isn’t guilt. The correction for ignorance is knowledge.

We have all done things that had intended or unintended negative impact in the world. NTI doesn’t deny the impact our mistakes have had in the world. However, life-awareness (reality) has not been affected at all by our mistakes, and guilt is not the correction for our mistakes. Knowledge is the correction.

Without knowledge, mistakes continue, because we continue to listen to ignorance. With knowledge, we put ignorance aside and listen to intuitive conscience and spiritual intuition instead. Harmlessness (ahimsa) comes from the guidance found in intuition. Therefore, acknowledging that our mistakes and the harm we’ve done are ignorance, and then choosing to put ignorance aside to follow intuition is cause for celebration.

Thoughts of Awakening # 110

Observing is merely this:
Watching while realizing
you do not know.

Observing sets the moment free.
It does not make of it a slave.
It does not make it that
which you would have it be.

When the moment is free, it is a gift.
As freedom, it is the reflection of your truth.
As this gift, it is free to give a gift.
It is free to give the freedom you have given
back to the one who gave it.

~From our Holy Spirit

Homework for this week

Practice daily meditation for 30-60 minutes each day.
Practice the “Loving All” Method.
Thoughts of Awakening, 106-112
Read NTI John Chapters 19-21 & Acts Chapters 1-5.
The reading shared on Tuesday night was from The Transparency of Things by Rupert Spira, p. 128- 136 or for Kindle users the Chapter titled Knowing Is Being Is Loving & Changeless Presence.
Exercise to practice: Everything you know, you know because it is in you. You could not know it if it was not in. you. This week, every once in awhile, notice every now sounds, sights, sensations, anything in your awareness and know that the only way you can be aware of them is if they are in you.

Gentle Healing 2 ~ Day 109: NTI Acts 2

June 19, 2020

Note: If desired, watch all of Acts 2 from the Visual Bible movie, Acts.

Today’s reading shares several tips about following guidance, including some of the blocks to guidance. I recommend taking notes as you read today. Write down each bit of clarity that comes to you regarding the tips and obstacles shared in NTI Acts, Chapter 2.

Thoughts of Awakening # 109

You are ready for the next step now,
and the next step is remembering.
Here is what you are ready to remember:

You do not know,
and in not knowing
is all knowing known.

Stay in the moment.
Remain still
by remembering you do not know.

Trust the moment
without needing to understand.

Relax in trust,
and watch how it all unfolds.

~From our Holy Spirit

Homework for this week

Practice daily meditation for 30-60 minutes each day.
Practice the “Loving All” Method.
Thoughts of Awakening, 106-112
Read NTI John Chapters 19-21 & Acts Chapters 1-5.
The reading shared on Tuesday night was from The Transparency of Things by Rupert Spira, p. 128- 136 or for Kindle users the Chapter titled Knowing Is Being Is Loving & Changeless Presence.
Exercise to practice: Everything you know, you know because it is in you. You could not know it if it was not in. you. This week, every once in awhile, notice every now sounds, sights, sensations, anything in your awareness and know that the only way you can be aware of them is if they are in you.

Gentle Healing 2 ~ Day 108: NTI Acts 1

June 18, 2020

Note for Gentle Healing Participants from Regina On Day 108, the Gentle Healing Group will begin reading NTI Acts. One fun and informative way to read NTI Acts is to read it along with watching the movie, Acts, by Visual Bible. The movie stars Bruce Marchiano, James Brolin, Jennifer O’Neil and Dean Jones. It is directed by Regardt Van Den Bergh.

This movie’s script follows the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible exactly. There isn’t a single word added to the script for dramatization. Since the NIV Bible is the one I read when scribing NTI, that means this movie depicts the scenes I read about as I received the interpretation. Another great thing about this movie is that the scripture reference appears as captions on the screen. That means you can watch the movie, stop it, and then read the corresponding interpretation from NTI.

This movie is not required for Gentle Healing. However, if the idea of the movie interests you, I recommend ordering it now so you will have it by the time we start reading NTI Acts. If you get the movie, I recommend using it this way: 1. Look at the tip to see what that day’s reading is. 2. Watch the portion of the movie that corresponds to that day’s reading. (For example, on Day 108 watch Acts 1. Stop the movie when the scripture caption moves to Acts 2.) 3. Read the tip. 4. Read the daily reading in NTI. This will add a few additional minutes to your Gentle Healing routine, but it will help bring the Bible stories alive, and it will enhance your experience of the reading and the tip. The DVD has a great feature that allows you to easily select the chapter you want to listen to each day. If you choose to order the movie, be sure to get the DVD mentioned above. There is more than one movie about Acts.

Note: Before reading today’s tip, read Acts 1:1-11 from the Bible or watch all of Acts 1 from the Visual Bible movie, Acts. (Here is a link to the Acts movie on YouTube.)

Yesterday’s reading described the awakening process from identification with the false self to the awake-realization of unity consciousness. It described the experience as a “merging” process.

Today’s reading points to the first step in the merging process, which is opening to guidance that seems to come from beyond yourself.

In the initial stage, guidance seems to come from beyond yourself, because you are identified with the false self. Guidance does not come from the false self. Resistance comes from the false self.

Let’s look again at what guidance is and what resistance is.

Resistance resists change. Specifically, it will cling to your identification with thought, body and personality as you.

Guidance is the highest vibrational choice available to you now. As you choose the highest vibration, you also rise in vibration. In that way, guidance is like a ladder, and by climbing that ladder you climb beyond identification with the false self to realization of unity consciousness (the I Am presence). That’s why the false self resists guidance, and that’s why guidance does not come from the false self.

Necessarily then, you must put your personal will aside and seek guidance that comes from beyond the personal self, which resists truth. Today’s reading teaches us how to do that.

Today’s reading makes another important point too. Many spiritual seekers become too attached to outer teachers and teachings. Although outer teachers and teachings can be helpful for a time, we all must become Self-reliant with our own inner spiritual wisdom. In fact, the mission of The Foundation for the Holy Spirit, which is Awakening Together’s parent organization, is:

To help individuals become Self-reliant with inner spiritual wisdom. We do this by providing resources and services beneficial to that mission.

Awakening Together is the primary resource through which this mission is accomplished. Gentle Healing is one means of accomplishing that mission. NTI is also a resource of The Foundation for the Holy Spirit.

Thoughts of Awakening # 108

To hear the Voice for God
as it guides and directs you,
have no expectations
along the way.

Do not know
what you look upon.
Do not know
what you seek.
Do not know
what the current moment is for.

Do not know
and be open to knowledge.

~From our Holy Spirit

Homework for this week

Practice daily meditation for 30-60 minutes each day.
Practice the “Loving All” Method.
Thoughts of Awakening, 106-112
Read NTI John Chapters 19-21 & Acts Chapters 1-5.
The reading shared on Tuesday night was from The Transparency of Things by Rupert Spira, p. 128- 136 or for Kindle users the Chapter titled Knowing Is Being Is Loving & Changeless Presence.
Exercise to practice: Everything you know, you know because it is in you. You could not know it if it was not in. you. This week, every once in awhile, notice every now sounds, sights, sensations, anything in your awareness and know that the only way you can be aware of them is if they are in you.

Gentle Healing 2 ~ Day 107: NTI John 20 & 21

June 17, 2020

NTI John ends with a lovely description of the awakening process from identification with the false self to realization of unity consciousness. It describes the experience as a “merging” process. At first, we listen for guidance as if it is coming from outside of us. Then, we begin to recognize it is not coming from outside of us. Instead, it seems to move in us and through us naturally. Eventually we see ourselves as That, which we used to reach for or resist.

NTI John points out that until the merging process is complete, there will be resistance and doubt. There will also seem to be “tests,” which are situations when we are severely tempted to fall back on our old habits in order to feel safe. These “tests” do not come from truth. There aren’t any “tests” we have to pass to realize truth. The “tests” are times when the ego is screaming for us to turn away from truth. The “tests” come from our remaining resistance.

Today’s reading says:

But if you open to Me, even within your moments of doubt, the miracles that you experience will convince you that your faith is well placed, and you will continue to follow the guidance of the Light.

In other words, we are awakening to benevolence. By not returning to the ego during the “tests” of resistance, we discover the benevolence that is natural to truth, and we learn to trust it more. This positive reinforcement, which comes naturally when we do not return to our old habits, encourages us to let go of ego and merge with the light.

Thoughts of Awakening # 107

You have no obligation
except to be love.
And ‘be love’ is all that you are
and all that you can be.

You have no obligation
to see what I say is true,
but the joy of your heart
is to know you as I do.

To know that you are love
without obligation to be different than you are,
observe everything without judgment
and watch how it all unfolds.

~From our Holy Spirit

Homework for this week

Practice daily meditation for 30-60 minutes each day.
Practice the “Loving All” Method.
Thoughts of Awakening, 106-112
Read NTI John Chapters 19-21 & Acts Chapters 1-5.
The reading shared on Tuesday night was from The Transparency of Things by Rupert Spira, p. 128- 136 or for Kindle users the Chapter titled Knowing Is Being Is Loving & Changeless Presence.
Exercise to practice: Everything you know, you know because it is in you. You could not know it if it was not in. you. This week, every once in awhile, notice every now sounds, sights, sensations, anything in your awareness and know that the only way you can be aware of them is if they are in you.

Gentle Healing 2 ~ Day 106: NTI John 19

June 16, 2020

Yesterday’s reading ended with this:

You stand before two voices, both witnessing to you and both claiming to be the voice of truth. Each voice has something to say, but what they say is different. And you must make a choice. … Which voice will you believe? … Which voice will you listen to?

Today’s reading points out that until we resolve to live by the voice for truth, we live by the ego. The ego is the default voice in the world. As long as we believe that we serve our best interests by thinking through options and making decisions based on thinking, we live in accordance with ego.

Most people will read today’s reading, feel the desire to live by the voice for truth, and then follow the ego predominantly anyway.

Why?

Because of the value put on one’s thinking.

The reading points out that you will suffer because of the choice to live by ego. This is important to see. If we notice how much suffering our thinking causes us, we will begin to value it less. The less we value our thinking, the more likely we are to follow our heart and live by the voice for truth instead of the ego.

It is helpful to notice how you feel when thinking is spinning in the mind. Notice that thinking is the cause of suffering. Grow tired of thinking as your guide.

It’s important to remember that the voice for truth is intuition, and intuition guides in the moment. That means that as we resolve to live by the voice for truth instead of thinking, we need to become comfortable with not knowing and with waiting until intuition makes known whatever it is that we need to know.

Watch your thinking. When something is not yet known, but the mind is trying to figure it out, put the thinking aside. Be willing to abide in unknowing presence until it is time to know. Through this decision, you wait for intuition instead of running off with thinking.

Thoughts of Awakening # 106

What is hate
but the wish that what you see
be different than the way
you are seeing it?

Good news, my brother!
It is different.
What you are seeing now
is not what is true,
and what is true is not
how you are seeing it.

Erase the ideas in the mind
that tell you you know what you see.
Look at all you believe
to be facts about what you see,
and be willing to realize
you are completely wrong
about everything.

~From our Holy Spirit

Homework for this week

Practice daily meditation for 30-60 minutes each day.
Practice the “Loving All” Method.
Thoughts of Awakening, 106-112
Read NTI John Chapters 19-21
The reading shared on Tuesday night was from The Transparency of Things by Rupert Spira, p. 128- 136 or for Kindle users the Chapter titled Knowing Is Being Is Loving & Changeless Presence.
Exercise to practice: Everything you know, you know because it is in you. You could not know it if it was not in. you. This week, every once in awhile, notice every now sounds, sights, sensations, anything in your awareness and know that the only way you can be aware of them is if they are in you.