Yesterday we noticed our desire for service and our desire for self-centered living. We acknowledged the presence of both, and we looked within to see which one represents our true desire.

If you realized that service is your true heart’s desire, and then you notice yourself making choices from self-centeredness, you may be tempted to judge yourself for going against your true desire. Today’s reading addresses this temptation. The reading says:

You are not separate, and so you can do nothing alone. All that you do, you do of Me.

What does that mean? Does it mean that I can indulge my self-centered tendencies and be in harmony with my Self?

No, it doesn’t mean that.

It means that everything is consciousness. To knowledge, which sees only consciousness, whether you are being kind or selfish, whether you are taking care of the body or hurting it, etcetera, you are still consciousness within consciousness, so consciousness is present in everything you do.

Think of the exercises we did with children’s molding clay. Whether you mold a little girl smelling a flower, a man killing a woman, one person helping another person or one person stealing from another person, they are all made out of clay, so clay is always present. From the point-of-view of clay, the only thing that ever actually exists is clay.

Consciousness is more than molding clay. Consciousness is intelligence. Since all things are consciousness, the intelligence of consciousness is always present. That means no matter what choices you have made, you have not left the realm of guidance. At any moment, whenever you are ready and regardless of what you have done, you can always ask for the highest vibrational choice and it will be available for you. You can’t go so deep into darkness that you leave consciousness or its benevolent intelligence behind.

If you cannot ever step outside of consciousness or its benevolent intelligence, is there a reason one should choose service over self-centered living?

Yes. The reason for choosing service over self-centered living is joy.

Although you cannot ever exit consciousness, you can go further and further out of harmony with your true heart. Joy comes from being in harmony with your true heart, so the further you are from being in harmony with it, the more you suffer.

As you read today’s reading, consider this quote from Ramana Maharshi:

“Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside.”

Thoughts of Awakening # 103

When the stories are put aside
all that is left is Me.

What am I?

I am the moment
without definition.
I am the feeling of freedom
that brings joy to your heart.
I am your knowing,
which guides you
when you don’t hide your knowing
with fear.

I am all of this,
and I am you.

~From our Holy Spirit

Join us at 10:15 am ET/ 8:15 am MT for our Weekly Sunday Gathering with Rev. George Maddox

Title: “Why do We Resist?”

Description: Rev. George will be exploring the theme of resistance and how resistance is a key characteristic of our belief in being a separate individual.  Also, what can we do to overcome this?

Reading: Rev. Shawna Summers will be reading excerpts from the transcript of Leo Gura’s video on resistance.

*Weekly gathering is held every Sunday morning at 10:15 am ET/8:15 am MT in the Awakening Together Sanctuary. Join us after the Gathering for our Fellowship Time, hosted by Rev. Saina Fernandez.

Enter Sanctuary Here

 

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Join us at 1:30 pm ET/ 11:30 am MT for Freedom Practice Sangha Facilitated by Anne Blanchard

This will be a time of sharing our inquiries, insights, and challenges, listening to others, or just knowing that we are in community as we find that undefended place within ourselves that longs to be free. This program will be facilitated by Anne Blanchard.

 

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Join us at 5:00 pm ET/ 3:00 pm MT for The Mighty Companions

Revs. Glen Ganaway and Yolanda Mapes, who are interfaith ministers, share a delightful, funny and inspiring hour of A Course in Miracles. Come join in on the fun, the laughs, and the music while unlearning the ego through the lessons and chapters of ACIM.

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Join us at 6:00 pm ET/ 4:00 pm MT for Something Genuine with Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert

Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert facilitates this program, in which Awakening Together members and friends join together to watch and discuss TED talks that reveal the Truth of ourselves and our universe based on the actual experience of ordinary people. Their insights are genuine—not based upon theory or dogma—and give us a “man on the street” perspective on what we are coming to learn through Awakening Together.

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Join us at 7:00 pm ET/ 5:00 pm MT for The Guiding Light with Rev. Regina Dawn Akers

Regina Dawn Akers reads selections from the book Perfect Brilliant Stillness by David Carse. The purpose of this inspired book study is to learn to stop focusing on words and concepts. Look where the pointers point! Be still and realize Perfect Brilliant Stillness just as it is. Join Regina as she dives deep into this enlightened book study which isn’t a book study at all!

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Join us at 8:00 pm ET/ 6:00 pm MT for Replay of Seven Steps to Awakening Audios with Regina

These hour-long recordings will be played in the Sanctuary on the 1st, 2nd, and 5th Sundays of the month from 8 – 9 pm ET / 6 -7 MT.

In this series of teachings, originally airing on Awakening Together beginning in 2012, Regina Dawn Akers shares her contemplation of the quotes compiled by Michael Langford in The Seven Steps to Awakening. The Seven Steps to Awakening is a powerful collection of quotes on the subject of how to directly experience the true Self, whose nature is Infinite-Eternal-Awareness-Love-Bliss, and how to bring the impostor self, its tricks, and all suffering to a final end in this lifetime.

Plan to join us for a rediscovery of timeless wisdom that came through Regina Dawn Akers as she shared her profound journey with this powerful book.

Direct links to join us:

Awakening Together Internet Broadcast: Listen Live on AT Radio

Today’s reading defines “service” as being in harmony with one’s Self. It is aligned with the definition of “service” as Ramana Maharshi used it when he said:

“Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world.”

Prior to realization, service is seeking the light, seeking the light’s point-of-view and surrendering to the light’s guidance.

The opposite of service is “conflict.” Conflict is seeking one’s individual will, clinging to one’s individual point-of-view, and doing things “my way.”

One reason that individual will is conflict is because, as we have already seen, no two individual minds are exactly alike. Therefore, whenever we cling to our individual will, we eventually conflict with any other individual will that we come into contact with.

Another reason that individual will is conflict is because it conflicts with our own true heart. That is, it conflicts with our spiritual aspiration, which is what we want most of all.

Today’s reading says that service is joy. That’s because there is no conflict in service. When we are in service to the light, we are in harmony with ourselves and with the truth of all beings. We are in-tune with the natural benevolence of the universe. We are the presence of love by being in harmony with love through service.

As you read today’s reading, contemplate your desire for service over self-centered living. As you do, you may notice the part of your mind that clings to self-centered living. That is the part of your mind that is afraid of full and total service. It believes it loses something in service. It believes it loses itself in service. It holds onto itself through self-centeredness.

As you notice the part of your mind that resists service and clings to self-centeredness, you are noticing the part of your self that prefers conflict to love. Look at it as it shows up in your contemplation today. See it, acknowledge its presence, and then ask, “What do I truly want?” There are two wills in you now, but which one is your true heart’s desire?

Thoughts of Awakening # 102

Try this today:
Take active breaks
from the stories of the mind.

When you remember,
close your eyes and look at
the story in your mind.
Examine it and observe it.
See what it is telling you.

Then actively place the story aside
and enjoy a moment of silence
with the message of your heart.

Don’t seek too much from the heart.
Accept in gratitude
that which it gives.

~From our Holy Spirit

Saina guides a group of committed students through year 1 of Gentle Healing who would like to make consistent, gentle progress toward genuine peace, joy, and love. This group meets weekly on Thursdays at 6-8 pm ET and all members are committed to specific assignments and practices between group meetings.

Listen to the Audio

Please note: it may be necessary to download the audio to listen to it fully.

FunPlay for the week:

1. Homework Assignment A: Workbook lessons 136-140 including the tips. Stay with Lesson 139 for two days and stay with Lesson 140 for two days. Practice daily Open Eyed meditation for 5-10 minutes each day. Practice the “Loving All” Method. Read Regina’s Tips. The tip should be read after reading the lesson on your own. Here’s a direct link: https://devwp.awakening-together.org/interact/gentle-healing-group/reginas-tips/
   
2. Homework Assignment B: NTI 2 Peter, Chapters 1-3, pages 437-441.
3. Homework Assignment C: Read sentences 10-52 from the Awareness Watching Awareness practice instructions at: https://albigen.com/uarelove/most_rapid/chapter07.htm

Today’s reading is about a wish, a fog, and a shadow.

The Wish

The wish isn’t fully conscious in most humans, although it drives their behavior and decision-making processes. It is the wish to be something, commonly felt as the wish to be somebody. It is the wish for distinctness. It is the wish for identity. It is the wish for separation.

This wish is core to the human psyche. From the time that a child is a toddler, it begins seeking identity. At first, the child looks to its parents or caregivers for its identity. Whatever they tell the child it is, it believes. Later, the search for identity broadens. Identity comes from a wide range of “sources” including other people, media influences and most especially, one’s own developing mental chatter.

The Fog and the Shadow

Driven by the wish to be something, we each develop a view of the world and a sense of self. The fog is one’s view of the world. The shadow is one’s sense of self. They are completely illusory, decided upon solely by the individual mind. It is as Nisargadatta said:

The world you can perceive is a very small world indeed. And it is entirely private.

Since our world and individual sense of self is completely private and not shared with anyone else, they can’t be truth. They are individual made-up illusions.

As we learned on Day 85, we are free to maintain a false sense of self and a false sense of the world. We are not guilty for doing so. However, “the fog and the shadow” block truth as long as we cling to them. Even more, we typically suffer because of the fog and shadow we’ve made.

The Antidote

Since the wish to be something is the reason we made up an individual view of the world and self, a different wish (or different desire) is the antidote. That different wish is one’s spiritual aspiration.

Thoughts of Awakening # 101

One way to let go of
the thinking in the thinking mind
is to watch it.

Pay attention to the stories it tells,
not from a point of involvement and belief,
but from the perspective of learning.

What are these stories telling you?
How are they teaching you to see the world?
What are they asking you to expect from your brothers?

Are these stories helpful?
If not, why are you listening?

~From our Holy Spirit