Thoughts of Awakening # 76

I am the stillness,
and the stillness is one
in you.

Listen to the stillness
and all that it contains,
and you know the magnitude
that we are.

.~From our Holy Spirit

Join us on Sunday, May 16, 2021, from 7:30-9 pm ET for a live Satsang with Andrew Harvey where both Anne Blanchard and Lin Castaldo will be interviewing him. Harvey will also be sharing about the latest book, RADICAL REGENERATION: Birthing the New Human in the Age of Extinction, that he has co-written with Carolyn Baker.

“If ever we needed a guide book that truly addressed the crises of our times while inspiring us with guidance and wisdom, this is that book. Talk about Divine timing. These authors provide readers with hope and practical insights, the perfect combination that calms inner chaos. It’s a must-have book.”  ~ Caroline Myss, Author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Intimate Conversations with the Divine.

Andrew Harvey is an internationally acclaimed writer, poet, translator, and mystical teacher. He is the author of over 40 books, including Son of Man, The Hope, Way of Passion, Turn Me to Gold, and Savage Grace with Carolyn Baker. He has taught all over the world, given over 20 courses for The Shift Network, and is the founder of the Institute for Sacred Activism. His website is: andrewharvey.net

If you would like to submit a question to Andrew and can’t watch the interview live, you can suggest one in advance via this link: Submit Questions Here

This movie can be found on Amazon Prime.

Jackie Greggs will lead the Movie Group’s discussion of this movie on Sunday, May 23 at 8 p.m. ET/6 pm MT.

Join us at 10:15 am ET/ 8:15 am MT for Our Weekly Sunday Gathering with Rev. Regina Dawn Akers

*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. George Maddox.

Enter Sanctuary Here.

Join us at 1:30 pm ET/ 11:30 am MT for Reflections from the Freedom from Ego Retreat – Anne Blanchard

You are invited to share in whatever way seems most helpful to you. Whether you join in to share what you have discovered from attending the retreat or you come to just listen in, both are warmly welcomed. This Reflections program is here for you to explore how these particular teachings can further awakening by letting go of the negative programs that block the True Self. Come and listen in on the inspiration that came from attending this wonderful 6-day online retreat that was facilitated by Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert. Anne Blanchard will be the facilitator for this particular program on Sunday.

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.

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.

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! Here’s a link to the book here: Get the book for free

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.

In the last two days, we have looked at thinking. We’ve noticed that thinking is an ongoing problem-solution mechanism. We’ve also seen that thinking resists truth realization in a number of ways. One important point from yesterday’s tip is this:

We are asked to see anything that isn’t love (life-awareness) as meaningless and valueless. Since everything is life-awareness in reality, what isn’t life-awareness?

Mental interpretation isn’t life-awareness. We are to see mental interpretation as meaningless and valueless.

Our reading and tips from the last two days have prepared us for today’s reading.

Let Go of Resistance

Today’s reading says there will be great resistance. It isn’t referring only to emotions that feel like resistance. It refers to all thinking processes that resist the truth. As yesterday’s reading revealed, that includes mental confusion, thinking about problems, trying to appear worthy, metaphysical questions, pleasure seeking, spiritual doubts and more. We do well to notice how our mind resists truth.

When we find resistance in our mind, today’s reading says to “let it go immediately in gratitude as valueless.”

What are we to be grateful for?

We are grateful that we noticed resistance as resistance, and we weren’t fooled by it as meaningful thinking.

Be Aware of Thought

Thinking happens in the mind all of the time. Interestingly, although most people believe 100% of their thoughts and their entire life is based on their thoughts, they are not aware of their thoughts.

What does it mean to be aware?

When you are aware of something, you have knowledge about it.

When we believe a thought without investigating it first, we are unaware even though the thought drives our attitudes and behaviors.

When we stop to investigate a thought—to gain knowledge about it—we become aware of the thought.

Today’s reading recommends that we take time to become aware of our thoughts, and then based on the knowledge we’ve gained, decide if we want to follow that thinking or not.

Some of the questions it guides us to ask in order to learn about a thought are:

What is this thought?

What is it saying to me?

Why am I listening to it?

Is it a thought of love?

Let’s imagine that I’m angry at a friend, and I’m thinking about ending my relationship with her. My mind says the friend takes advantage of me, and ending the relationship is the best way to take care of myself.

Let’s take that thinking into a journaling process and see if anything is revealed.

Thought: This friend takes advantage of me. The best way to take care of myself is to end my relationship with her.

What is this thought? It is a thought of self-protection. It is a defense thought.

What is it saying to me? It says that I am vulnerable. I can be the victim of someone else. My happiness and sense of worth are dependent on how she acts toward me.

Why am I listening to it? I want things to go my way in this relationship. I accused her of taking advantage of me, but I see now that I want her to be the way I want her to be. I want to manipulate her so this relationship goes the way I want it to.

Is it a thought of love? No. It is ego. I can tell because it is defensive, it includes ideas like victimhood, and I want things to go “my way.”

Once the idea has been investigated, I have knowledge about it. Now, with awareness I can decide if I value this thinking enough to end the relationship or if I want to let go of that idea.

Since truth realization is my purpose, which also means I want to let go of ego, I would choose to let go of this thinking. I would stay in the relationship and tune-in to intuition more.

(Note: Other types of inquiry like Root Cause Inquiry and Byron Katie’s “The Work” are also effective ways to become aware of thought.)

I recommend printing this tip for future reference.

Thoughts of Awakening # 75

Pause between the words
when you listen to your own thoughts.
Have gratitude for the stillness
as you rest an instant there.

In this practice,
you rest in wait for Me,
and I shall come to meet you there.

.~From our Holy Spirit

Today’s reading is full of helpful pointers.

Prayer

Prayer is typically defined as a request for something or an expression of gratitude for something. NTI says that prayer is the unceasing act of thought. In other words, through our thinking we are constantly asking for things or expressing gratitude for things. (And remember, what we are grateful for increases.)

As an example, let’s pretend that I worry about money a lot. Worry is a low vibrational option. By focusing on a low vibration (worry), I am praying for a low vibration experience.

As far as experience goes, it would be much better to trust that all is well, regardless of the current appearance.

However, today’s teaching in NTI reaches even higher than that. Today’s teaching says that with each thought I am praying for nothing or everything. NTI would define any experience that reinforces the idea that I am a person as “nothing,” because it reinforces the untrue.

Today’s reading recommends praying for everything by laying personal thinking aside and contemplating the Holy Spirit’s thoughts. The Holy Spirit’s thoughts are really ways of being. Specifically, those ways of being are:

Forgiveness – Watching one’s self to notice the current vibration of thought. Letting go of low vibration thinking.

Love – In this case, love is a childlike trust and innocence (opposite of the I-know mind), coupled with following intuitive guidance unquestionably.

Acceptance – Content with what is as it is without seeking more or different.

Gratitude – Specifically, gratitude for being. Paying attention to awareness because one wants to pay attention to awareness is an example of gratitude.

Rejoicing – Causeless happiness, happiness for being. This is the pinnacle of acceptance and gratitude.

The Extension of Love

Today’s reading says, “Your Father is the extension of Love.” In this context, love is defined as life-awareness, which is the First Principle of God. When NTI says that our Father is the extension of Love, it means that life-awareness is the only present reality.

We are asked to see anything that isn’t love (life-awareness) as meaningless and valueless. Since everything is life-awareness in reality, what isn’t life-awareness?

Mental interpretation isn’t life-awareness. We are to see mental interpretation as meaningless and valueless.

In other words, ego-judgment is meaningless and valueless. Worry is meaningless and valueless. Desire (seeking more) is meaningless and valueless. Condemning one’s self is meaningless and valueless. Regretting the past is meaningless and valueless. Jealousy and envy are meaningless and valueless. And etcetera.

Resistance

NTI defines resistance as “nothing more than your desire to keep things the same.” Resistance is the attraction to one’s current vibrational level, whatever that vibration level is. It comes from the mental idea that the known is safer than the unknown.

Today’s reading will list ways that we unknowingly listen to resistance and maintain our current vibrational level. Pay close attention to that list. It might be helpful to take notes as you read the list. Write down specific examples of how you’ve listened to resistance recently without realizing it. For example, when you read, “[Resistance] gives you things to do that must be done if you are to be seen as worthy by the outside world,” a person might write a list of things s/he does in order to avoid being judged by others.

Taking the time to make this list specific to you is helpful, because it will help you see all the ways you are maintaining your current vibrational level. After making the list, it’s helpful to ask inner intuition, “What do you want to say to me now that I’ve seen this?”

Safety and Security

Everyone desires safety and security. No reasonable and loving spiritual teacher would ever encourage anyone to take an action that would put him/her at risk. (Unfortunately, “magical” spiritual thinking does put people at risk. A good spiritual teacher will discourage “magical” spiritual thinking. Examples of magical spiritual thinking include not going to the doctor when something appears wrong with the body, driving the car with one’s eyes closed, not taking wise precautions with wildlife, and etcetera.)

At the same time, the vast majority of thinking about safety and security is ego, and its only real purpose is to maintain the ego. One who listens to ego’s thinking about safety and security may manage a temporary sense of security through listening to that thinking, but since the ego is a problem-solution mechanism, that sense of security will not last. Even if one attains great financial wealth, which was the ego’s plan for safety and security, one will worry about maintaining that wealth or will start to worry about other types of security such as health, beauty, power, popularity or belonging.

There is no lasting security with the ego. The only way to reach a permanent sense of security is awakening to reality.

What is it for?

Today’s reading encourages us to ask, “What is it for?” whenever we use time for anything. The question is a tool for discernment, not self-condemnation. We may ask, “What is it for?” and find an egoic reason driving what we are doing. Then, we might change what we are doing or we might simply adjust our reasoning.

For example, I just got back from 5 days alone in La Veta. Let’s imagine I got there in my little cabin and then asked, “What is this for?” Let’s imagine that I noticed I wanted to escape my busy lifestyle. I sensed a judgment and a need for things to be different in my desire to escape. I realized ego brought me to the cabin.

After seeing this, I could then ask, “What do I really want?” That question will realign my intention with my heart. I would realize that I want to embrace my life as it is and let go of thinking that judges my life as unsatisfactory. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean I need to leave the cabin. With clarity, I then ask for current moment guidance, and I follow that, whatever it is.

Sometimes we may be guided to change what we are doing if ego drove us to do it. Other times, we may be guided to change the reason for doing what we are doing. If one asks for clarity and guidance with self-honesty and with awakening as his/her purpose, one can trust the outcome of asking, “What is this for?” and “What do I want?”

Thoughts of Awakening # 74

Seek within,
without the thinking,
to the Knowing that resides there.

It may not have words,
but it will give guidance,
and the guidance it gives
brings surety and joy.

.~From our Holy Spirit