Here is a Bible story from Luke 6:

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” [Work, like harvesting grain, is unlawful on the Sabbath according to Jewish law.]

Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. [Unless it is life threatening, healing is also considered work, and therefore, unlawful on the Sabbath.] But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.

Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”

He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

As the scribe of NTI, when I read that story from the Bible, I judged the Pharisees. That’s why you see the interpretation that you see in today’s reading. It talks about judgment, because I was caught up in judgment.

What is judgment? In the way it is used here, judgment is comparing and then favoring or rejecting.

There is another definition of judgment. Judgment can also be defined as making sensible conclusions. The problem is, most of us think we are judging sensibly when we are actually practicing the distorted judgment of separation.

If there were more clarity in the human mind, the guidance would be to use sensible judgment in our daily lives, but when we are completely confused about what is sensible and what is not sensible, the guidance becomes, “forget everything you have been taught and everything you have learned. For if you know nothing, you cannot judge. Any judgment you make … is a mistake.”

Is it safe for us to let go of all judgment? Yes, it is safe if we turn to intuition for guidance. Remember, intuition knows everything about this moment, and it knows truth too. It is much more reliable as a guide than the limited, biased thinking mind. As Nisargadatta taught:

That which sees all this, and the nothing too, is the inner teacher. He alone is; all else only appears to be. He is your own swarupa (true Self), your hope and assurance of freedom; find him and cling to him and you will be saved and safe.

Let me be clear. Humans need judgment to survive. One who lays down the judgment of the thinking mind without tuning into intuitive judgment puts the body-personality in danger. However, it is perfectly safe to abandon ego-judgment and listen to intuition instead. As today’s reading says:

“I know truth and I know the world that you believe and hold dear.”

Therefore, it is safe to trust intuition.

Today’s reading addresses a second mistake that I made as the scribe of NTI. While reading the Bible, I noticed that the names of the apostles in Luke were different than the names of the apostles in a previous book in the Bible, and I became scared. The fear that arose in me was the fear that the truth is not true.

My mistake was looking for the truth in the world (in this case, in accurate Biblical history.) Looking for truth in the world isn’t an uncommon mistake. Another way this mistake manifests is by expecting human perfection from our spiritual teachers. What we don’t realize is that we want them to be perfect, because we are looking at them as if they are the truth, and then when they do something that doesn’t meet our mental expectations regarding truth, we are disillusioned, and we suffer.

NTI says, “We are all guided to learn the truth by following the path of unreality.”

What does that mean?

It means that the symbols we encounter in the world, including the books and teachers that point to truth, are not truth itself. It is as NTI Revelation says:

The world is an illusion, and so everything you experience as you let go of the world is illusion also. You are not to believe any of it. But helpful symbols will be given to guide you. Remember that they are only symbols. Follow them, realizing you know not where they lead.

Judgment will lead us to reject a book or teacher if we find an error in it that doesn’t meet our expectations. Both favoritism and rejection are the signs of ego-distorted judgment.

Intuition leads us to take what is helpful from books and teachers, and simply leave what isn’t helpful without getting caught up in emotional rejection. Sensible decisions like this are the hallmark of intuition.

Thoughts of Awakening # 67

Forgiveness frees us
from the burden
of our own thoughts.

~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.

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

FunPlay for the week:

 Assignment A: Workbook lessons 101-107. Review your visualization plan daily. 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/

Assignment B: Read The Loving All Method, which can be found in The Direct Means to Eternal Bliss, Chapter 12, or at this link: https://albigen.com/uarelove/most_rapid/chapter12.htm

Assignment C: 5 minutes of Awareness watching Awareness (Being aware of Awareness).

Today’s reading provides the basic guidelines for purification. When we live by these guidelines, we purify, which means we rise in vibration.

In today’s reading, the purification guidelines are called “new habits.” Our conditioning is referred to as “old habits.” If we continue to live by our old habits, nothing changes. New habits are necessary if we want to rise in vibration.

Here is a summary of the new habits (guidelines for purification):

1. Realize you do not know anything.
2. Rely on intuition to guide you in all things.
3. Have faith, which means:
   ~ trust the healing process
   ~ put confidence in a benevolent power beyond what your senses or mind can know
   ~ accept that all is well, regardless of the appearance
4. Be willing to let darkness rise into awareness.
5. Practice rest-accept-trust when darkness rises. This type of rest is healing.
6. See doubt as a normal part of this process while realizing it is the lower vibration, and then choose faith instead.
7. When you notice that you’ve slipped into old conditioning, shift into the new habits. In this way, the new habits will replace old conditioning.

Note: I recommend printing this tip for future reference.

Thoughts of Awakening # 66

Every idea
that seems to cause you
fear or pain
is a thought within your mind.

There isn’t one single exception.

A thought that isn’t in your mind
is unknown to you.

~From our Holy Spirit

Rev. Helen Avery is an Awakening Together Ordained Minister. She shares weekly in our Sanctuary with a half-hour of heart-felt deep-diving into truth, love, and awareness. This candid sharing is a time when Helen explores different modalities and teachings with various non-dual teachers and how the real-life application of those particular teachings is currently showing up in her life. She shares about experiences from her path of awakening including the demonstration of how to utilize these helpful processes and spiritual tools. In her most recent Awakening journey she discusses radical truth and wisdom from teachers such as Mooji and Helen Hamilton.

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