A universal assembly for true discernment
Please read quotes 1169-1172 in The Seven Steps to Awakening with your inner teacher. Here is the last quote:
On account of this realization of the truth, the delusion concerning the material or physical ceased in me. In its place there was the great consciousness which neither rises nor sets. There was awareness in which I saw neither space nor the rock but I was aware of only the infinite.
Note: The next Daily Contemplation will be available tomorrow morning after 2am ET at this link.
Yesterday, I told a story about a woman with five daughters. In that story, the daughters were asked to remove their Disney Princess costumes, “and become my daughters again.” Of course, each girl already was the woman’s daughter. No one really had to remove the costume to “become” the daughter.
The same is true with you. You do not need to remove your false beliefs and conditioning in order to become truth. You are truth now. And yet, you do need to let go of your false beliefs and conditioning, just as the girls did need to take of the costumes—if not for strawberry shortcake, then later, for some other reason, like to get ready for bed, to bathe, or to go to school the next day.
Why do costumes need to be removed? Because they aren’t truth. The costumes did not represent who the girls were. The costumes weren’t real. They were temporary. Beliefs and conditioning do not represent what you are. They aren’t reality. They are temporary. The spiritual journey is one of taking off the temporary—like one takes off a costume—and returning to the foundational reality.
How does one do that?
Nisargadatta Maharaj said, “All you need is to listen, remember, ponder. It is like taking food. All you can do is to bite off, chew and swallow. All else is unconscious and automatic. Listen, remember and understand — the mind is both the actor and the stage. All is of the mind and you are not the mind. The mind is born and reborn, not you.”
He also said, “Forget the known, but remember that you are the knower. Don’t be all the time immersed in your experiences. Remember that you are beyond the experience ever unborn and deathless. In remembering it, the quality of pure knowledge will emerge, the light of unconditional awareness.”
And, “The more earnest you are at remembering what needs to be remembered, the sooner will you be aware of yourself as you are, for memory will become experience. Earnestness reveals being. What is imagined and willed becomes actuality — here lies the danger as well as the way out.”
What is to be remembered? “The ‘I am’. Give your heart and mind to it, think of nothing else.”
And one final instruction from Nisargadatta Maharaj: “Just remember steadily what you want, and reject the incompatibles.”
These quotes are the heart of today’s reading. First, contemplate these quotes, and then read today’s reading from NTI. Put your heart into the contemplation and the reading, and you will experience great profit, which brings me to another Nisargadatta Maharaj quote:
Remember that you are.
This is your working capital.
Rotate it and there will be much profit.
All thoughts are within the mind, and it is here, within the mind, where you make the choice to treasure or dismiss the thoughts you think.
Pay attention to your thoughts and the meaning you believe they have, and then remember what you have decided you want.
Each thought either supports your purpose or draws you away from it.
Choose your treasure wisely.
~From our Holy Spirit
In this program, Paul through the vehicle of Satsang and repetition will be helping us to let go of misidentification and recognize Being Consciousness as our Truth.
Paul suggests repetition through Satsangs is helpful. It is an example of how the dreamING repurposes another programming element, repetition. What was used to (mis)identify, becomes instead a helpful undoing within the dreaming of that identification. The helpfulness of the Message is recognized in what Paul calls “traveling lighter.” In the surrender of an assumed need to escape/improve, the ever-present reality of consciousness already now/here becomes where our interest stays. Being consciousness in contact (in/as/through sensory experiencING), we appreciate being “successful” – already, as that Reality.
You can also learn more about Paul on his website www.zenbitchslap.com or his YouTube channel under the same title (Zen Bitchslap).
Add This Program to Your Calendar*
*To add this program to your own calendar click the three dots in the upper right-hand corner, and then click “copy” and “save”.
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During our time together, we will explore what it takes to live from an open, undefended heart. Naturally, any true exploration of living from the heart necessarily entails taking a deep and sustained look at what prevents us from keeping our hearts open. Grounded in the knowledge that the essence of us, our true nature, is the very lovingness within us all, we will explore how to recognize and release egoic energies by cultivating open-hearted awareness practices which support us in directly experiencing our true Self. By leaning into willingness, steeped in self-honesty, and with a consistent dash of courage, we endeavor to open to whatever life brings, as it brings it, that is, on life’s terms. In so doing, we trust that everything – absolutely everything – is here for us to use for healing, for purification, and for learning to live from the heart. We look forward to supporting each other in our individual explorations of how we truly embrace the entirety of this show we call life.
Please note: it may be necessary to download the audio to listen to it fully.
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This evening (or tomorrow morning):
Read NTI 1 Peter 1 in full.
Tomorrow:
Please read quotes 1165-1168 in The Seven Steps to Awakening with your inner teacher. Here is the last quote:
The wise man radiates wisdom and goodness. Then seeking to free himself from the cage of ignorance, he flies away from pleasure towards the unconditioned bliss.
Note: The next Daily Contemplation will be available tomorrow morning after 2am ET at this link.
Regina’s tip For Year 2 Day 365 and Year 3 Daily Contemplation #1:
In order to progress on the spiritual path with your inner teacher, tomorrow you will begin reading and contemplating The Seven Steps to Awakening. Over the next year, you will receive insight from inner wisdom and specific guidance tailored especially for you.
I won’t write tips in Year 3, because it’s time for me to leave you in the hands of the best teacher, your inner teacher. There will be a Daily Contemplation post each day, which will provide instruction regarding what to read and contemplate from The Seven Steps to Awakening. To help you get started, I will provide a sample contemplation from my journal on the first three days that you contemplate the quotes. However, it’s important to realize that your contemplation may not look like mine. For example:
There may be other differences between my Seven Steps journal and your journal, so don’t imagine that your journal is supposed to look like mine. Don’t imagine that it is supposed to look any particular way at all. Let the inner teacher guide, and trust your inner teacher.
Today, you can prepare for Year 3 by reviewing the tip from Day 328.
If you have decided not to move on to Year 3, consider retaking Gentle Healing Year 1 or Year 2. You might find Year 1 interesting, because it’s been awhile since you went through that curriculum. You will most definitely see it and experience it differently this time. However, if you feel guided to repeat Year 2, follow your guidance. It knows what is best for you.
Please contemplate the following Thought of Awakening today:
I agree to continue listening to wisdom
even though I realize it will put an end
to the local-self I think I am
and this world-appearance that I believe is real.
I accept there may be resistance,
and I give resistance permission
to make itself known,
but I shall react only by watching
with non-attachment
as I continue to follow the call of wisdom.
~A decision of awakening
A Parable of a Woman and Five Daughters
There was a woman who had five daughters. Each of her daughters loved Disney, so one day the woman surprised her daughters with a day of Disney fantasy. She let each of the girls dress like the Disney princess of her choice, and she took them to Disneyland. This was especially fun, because other people at Disneyland addressed the girls using the names of their characters. For example, “Do you want fries with that, Cinderella?” Also, “Please slide over, Princess Jasmine, to make room for another rider,” and etcetera.
When the woman and her daughters arrived home that evening, each girl ran off in a different direction, continuing to play the character she’d pretended to be all day. Since each of the girls had a smartphone, the mother sent a group text to her daughters, which read, “Please take off your costumes and become my daughters again. When you’ve returned to yourself, join me in the kitchen for strawberry shortcake and milk.”
The twins were the youngest daughters. They were six. They helped each other change out of their costumes quickly and easily. They arrived in the kitchen first, giggling and smiling, excited to eat strawberry shortcake.
The eldest daughter was thirteen. She was excited to get the text that promised strawberry shortcake, but then she became distracted by another group text with friends. It was half an hour before she finally took off her costume and joined her mother and sisters in the kitchen.
The next eldest daughter was eleven. She was dressed as Snow White. This daughter was particularly imaginative. She pretended that her mother, four sisters, the family dog and family cat were the seven dwarfs. She swirled down the hallway toward the kitchen in costume, hoping to have shortcake with the seven dwarfs. Her mother saw her in the hallway in costume and said, “When you are ready, come into the kitchen as my daughter, and you can have strawberry shortcake and milk.”
The next eldest daughter was eight. She was dressed as Sleeping Beauty. When she got home, she ran straight to her bedroom. She lay down on her bed and closed her eyes, pretending to be Sleeping Beauty, but she fell asleep and did not see her mother’s text. When she did not come into the kitchen, her mother sent the twins to look for her. The twins woke her up and relayed the message about strawberry shortcake in the kitchen. The little girl felt guilty for falling asleep and missing her mother’s text, but when she arrived in the kitchen her mother smiled and said, “It is as it is. Now let’s enjoy strawberry shortcake.”
With all of the daughters in the kitchen, the day of pretending was over. The woman thanked her daughters for changing out of their costumes, told her daughters how much she loved them, and they all enjoyed strawberry shortcake and milk together.
The End.
You are at peace.
Nothing in all of reality can destroy your peace.
Anything within your mind, and anything that seems to be without, that seems to have the power to destroy your peace, has only the power you have given it.
And that must mean, you are at peace.
~From our Holy Spirit
Following the recent Awakening Together retreat participants shared about their clarity after deeply contemplating various teachings of Dr. David R. Hawkins which were adapted by Regina Dawn Akers.
They shared about their reflections from this retreat and how it is guiding their journey to uncovering the Inspired Clarity within each of us.
