According to A Course in Miracles Manual for Teachers, “to teach is to learn.” That’s true because “teacher and learner are the same.” Jesus recognized this over 2,000 years ago when he sent the apostles out two-by-two to teach in the villages. (Ref: Matthew 10)

Even the Navy recognized this in 1943 when the Naval Reserve Guide published, “Since the best way to learn is to teach, and since teaching is one of the strongest forms of leadership, the officers as well as the men were developed by these methods.”

In this spirit, Awakening Together will now empower its ministers to develop spiritually through teaching Awakening Together retreats that were developed by our Founder, Regina Dawn Akers.

Retreat Leader Certification Course
November 1-5, 2021
10am – 5pm ET Daily

Open to Awakening Together Ordained Ministers, Licensed Ministers
and to Awakening Together members who expect to be ordained by April 1, 2022.

Course Fee: $200
$50 non-refundable deposit required

Experience as a participant in one or more Awakening Together Retreats
is strongly recommended prior to registration.

Space is Limited to 10 Participants

Registration is Closed

Note: Taking this course does not guarantee certification as a retreat leader.

To be certified as a retreat leader, one must demonstrate the ability
to accurately communicate spiritual teachings.

Last day to register: Thursday, October 28, 2021

Today’s reading says:

I lead you where you want to go. Do not fear that I will ask you to do what you do not want to do. I cannot do that, because I know what you are.

It also says:

I can only want for you that which you do want. This is why you have the freedom to choose dreams of illusion, if that is the experience you desire. I will not take from you that which you desire.

If you ask a human what s/he wants, you might get a list of hopes and dreams. When awake consciousness says, “I lead you where you want to go,” it does not mean that it will lead you to achieve all of those hopes and dreams. Awake consciousness has a different point-of-view. From its point-of-view, there are only two things you could want: truth or illusion. And right now, you desire only one of those two. You desire truth or you desire illusion. If you think you desire both truth and illusion, you desire illusion, because there is no illusion in truth.

When awake consciousness says, “I lead you where you want to go,” it means that it leads us to truth. Yet, if we are not ready for truth, it waits gratefully. It sees us as we are—as consciousness—and it wants for us what we think we want. So if we want the experience of illusion, it is grateful that we experience illusion.

Of course, if we choose illusion, we choose duality. Duality will never be “all good,” because it includes the swings of change. Nothing is constant in illusion. Everything eventually ends. Illusion is never wholly pleasant to the mind that desires it.

Our reading says:

I will never make you suffer, because I know you cannot suffer.

This is not speaking to a person in a world, because a person can suffer. This speaks to our truth. Awake consciousness does not see us as persons. It sees us as we are. It does not arrange the universe to suit the person. It lets the universe unfold as it is created through the creative principle, and it continues to remind us that we are before  the world and before  the creative principle. We are unaffected, untouched consciousness. The world is meaningless to what we are—meaningless, because the world cannot affect or change what we are—just as a gnat on the back of an elephant is meaningless to the elephant.

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

Thoughts of Awakening # 170

How does one quiet the mind?
One starts by choosing
not to fear
anything the mind is saying.

One watches each idea and picture
with the intent
to set that idea or picture aside
and be still.

One continues watching
with this intent in place
until the mind has become
empty, quiet and still.

One pauses to listen to the silence.
One feels the Heart
through the emptiness of mind.
One rejoices and has gratitude
that a moment of peace
has been given.

~From our Holy Spirit

Awakening Together Sanctuary Will Be Closed Wednesday, August 4, 2021

NOTE: Today’s reading is very powerful and should be read slowly and contemplatively. I also recommend reading it more than once today, possibly once in the morning and once in the evening.

Humans are addicted to self-judgment. Today’s reading points out that if we judge our self as good or bad or simply mistaken, we are not empty. Just as emptiness does not believe the mind’s stories, emptiness does not judge. Emptiness is silent watchfulness, including silently watching the body-mind that seems to be ‘me.’

Focus on the idea of emptiness as silent watching. Can you be empty by silently watching everything, including what your body-mind does or doesn’t do?

The reading says:

Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.

That sentence is not an opening to judge one’s self. There is a balance that only emptiness knows how to maintain. That balance is silent watching combined with discernment and acting based on intuitive guidance. However, silent watching is the over-arching beingness. In other words, silent watching watches the body-mind discern and act based on guidance, or not.

As an example, let’s imagine that someone says something. In my forgetfulness, I get annoyed and say something from annoyance, and then I see that. Immediately, I choose to shift into silent watching—not judgment. As I become empty, a realization that an apology would be beneficial comes from intuition. Abiding in silent watching and without any expectations, I apologize. I remain in silent watching and let whatever happens happen. I am also tuned-inward to intuition for my role in the play. I play my role and silently watch the play, including my role in it, simultaneously.

The simultaneous balance maintained by emptiness is silent watching, discernment and acting based on intuition.

In my example above, I spoke from annoyance, saw that, and then shifted into silent watching without self-judgment. I can do that now, but I admit there was a time when I couldn’t do that. Back then, self-judgment fired so quickly that I couldn’t stop it from happening. At that phase in my journey, I learned to shift into silent watching (or rest-accept-trust) and watch the automatic self-judgment, as well as any emotion that was created by self-judgment. Rest-accept-trust are the training wheels that teach silent watching.

In other words, shift into silent watching or rest-accept-trust whenever you can. If you can silently watch your body-mind without judgment, do that. If self-judgment seems automatic, watch that. If there is a lot of guilt or emotion that you feel nearly compelled to believe, practice rest-accept trust. Whatever you can do to move out of full believing and toward silent watching is beneficial.

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

Thoughts of Awakening # 169

Quiet the mind.
Be still.
Listen to peace.
It, too, has a Voice.

In peace, there is all simplicity.
In peace, there are all answers.
In peace, one finds life.
In peace, one knows truth.

How can one worry
when life has no end?
How can one fear
when life is what you are?

In knowledge of truth,
guidance is provided,
because in knowledge of truth,
there is no fear of listening
to the Voice that knows of truth.

~From our Holy Spirit