Today’s reading begins by reminding us not to judge ourselves. It says:

“You can misunderstand My message when you listen through the ears of judgment. You can take my message of freedom and make of it a slave. In this way, My message is lost to you.

I ask you to lay down your judgment and listen to Me with clarity.”

A good coach must show us what we are doing wrong so we can improve. Without that helpful guidance, we can’t make progress.

Imagine how useless a golf coach would be if he didn’t point out the error in your golf swing!

The same applies to the spiritual path. In order for a coach or teacher to be truly helpful, that coach must point out our errors. When we see that our mistakes are pointed out to help us improve, we listen with clarity. When we judge ourselves for the mistakes we make, the teacher’s helpfulness is lost to us.

Today’s reading points out that the world is a false god that we make and worship. The purpose of this false god is to tell us that we are separate. It could also be said that the world is made to give us a sense of self or a distinct feeling of “me.” The world does this through people, places and experiences, and through the differences found in each.

The world is an effective false god because it tempers its own message. If the experience of separation were overpowering without any sense of community or communion, we would reject the world entirely and awaken immediately. The reason we linger within illusion is because there is enough community and communion to keep us interested.

In other words, the sense of communion in the world isn’t a sign of an awakening world. The sense of communion is a trick to keep us mesmerized by a world that is made to be different from truth.

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

Thoughts of Awakening # 192

There is nothing that exists
that is different
from anything else that exists.
It is all the same,
regardless of its appearances.

To focus on appearances
is to focus on the story,
and that is to miss the celebration,
which is all around you
and within you
now.

What do you want to see?

What do you choose
to focus on and believe?

~From our Holy Spirit

Today’s reading references the story of Abraham. Abraham is believed to be the father of both the Arab and Jewish nations.

According to the Bible, God made a covenant with Abraham. He told Abraham in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” Abraham was worried because he was childless and did not have an heir. His wife, Sarah, was barren, and both Abraham and Sarah were old. According to Genesis 15, God said to Abraham:

“Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them. So shall your offspring be.”

NTI Galatians interprets that story by saying that Abraham represents birth. One definition of “birth” is “the beginning or coming into existence of something.”

According to NTI Galatians, Abraham represents the birth of Light. Light is the symbol for truth realization, so Abraham represents the birth of truth realization.

Comparing Abraham’s offspring to the stars, which cannot be counted, signifies an infinite awakening—a total awakening to truth, with no part of consciousness left out of it.

The total awakening of consciousness is an interesting promise, but the promise becomes more interesting when you realize that Abraham represents willingness.

You see, Abraham was a man who heard the Voice for God and followed it where it led, even though it meant uprooting his family and servants from the place where they lived and leading them into the desert toward an unknown promised land.

Abraham is just like willingness. It is our willingness that listens to inner spiritual wisdom and follows it, even though that means letting go of familiar beliefs and attachments and walking through purification toward an unknown experience called “awakening.”

Willingness is the state of wanting to do something and being mentally, emotionally and/or spiritually ready to do it, even if learning must occur in the process. Our willingness is the birth of awakening.

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

Thoughts of Awakening # 191

Formless beauty
that cannot change
has no end,
and so there is nothing to fear.

Seeing truth is celebration,
because it is also seeing
that there is nothing that exists
that is not also celebration.

~From our Holy Spirit