A universal assembly for true discernment
Weekly Sunday Gathering with Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert
Title: “On Becoming an Empty Shell”
Description: Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert discussed what it means to be an empty shell as that term is used in NTI; why we would want to become an empty shell; and, how to use the tools we have been provided to become an empty shell.
Reading: Marisol Landin read from NTI 1 Corinthians.
or
This evening (or tomorrow morning):
Read NTI Matthew 5 (v38-48) to the end of the chapter.
Tomorrow:
Throughout the day, notice when you judge someone. Pause and notice how the person you are judging feels separate and different from you, and then say this to yourself:
Judgment makes separation seem real.
Regina’s Tip for Lesson 3
As you do today’s Workbook exercise, you might notice the meaning you have given to some things. You might think, for example, “I do understand that photograph on the table. That is my family on vacation last year.”
When you think you understand what you see, simply notice that you think you understand, and then continue with the exercise by being as indiscriminate as possible.
What you witness when you think you understand is your egoic filter. That is your individual way of seeing through the self-referencing program.
For example, if you say, “That is a photograph of my family on our vacation last year,” you think you know who you are, what belongs to you, what a vacation is, what the opposite of a vacation is and what time (“last year”) is. All of those ideas are merely concepts; they are not ultimate truths. Some of the ideas may be useful, but they are not genuinely true, and they can cause trouble.
The Introduction to the Workbook said, “The purpose of the workbook is to train your mind in a systematic way to a different perception of everyone and everything in the world.”
The “different perception” the Introduction refers to is true perception.
Today’s Workbook lessons says, “The point of the exercise is to help you clear your mind of all past associations, …”
Without past associations that were built through self-referencing, can you say:
Can you say any of those things without past associations?
The Workbook lesson says, “The point of the exercises is to help you clear your mind of all past associations, to see things exactly as they appear to you now…”
If you had no past associations, would you even know “That is a photograph…?” What if you saw that object right now, for the very first time, without any past associations of any kind? Could you describe it at all?
The Workbook lesson says, “The point of the exercises is to help you clear your mind of all past associations, to see things exactly as they appear to you now, and to realize how little you really understand about them.”
Is it possible that the understanding you think you have is covering up the reality of what you see? Is it possible there is something here that is incredibly amazing, and you do not see it, because you are looking through a mental filter that thinks it understands everything it sees?
Homework for the week:
What is the Ego?
Our new special theme begins by saying, “The ego is idolatry…”
We can stop right there. Already we have something to contemplate.
What is idolatry?
Idolatry is extreme admiration, love, or reverence for something or someone.
In order to turn this definition into helpful insight, let’s pause and look at the definition slowly and contemplatively:
Extreme admiration, love or reverence
for something or someone.
In our last special theme, we saw that Truth is the absence of consciousness. Now we see that ego is the extreme admiration, love or reverence for something or someone—that is, love for object rather than for absence.
Can you find that— extreme love for object rather than for absence—in you? Can you see that which is intently focused on “something or someone” instead of absence?
Close your eyes and look. What is interested in thought, sensations, sounds—anything but absence?
It may feel like ‘me.’ It may feel like a sense of what you are. It may feel like your very existence. But it is none of those things. What you have just discovered is the ego.
Ego is that which admires, loves and reveres some thing. Ego is that which keeps us engaged in outward focus.
Fear binds the world. Forgiveness sets it free.
Fear is defined as an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.
When it comes to the ego, fear is actually the belief that the absence of someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.
Today’s lesson says, “ego makes illusions.” Another way of saying that is outward focus makes illusions. We could also say attachment to objects, including thoughts, makes illusions.
The lesson also says that “Truth undoes” these same illusions.
In our last special theme, we saw that truth is the opposite of illusions. That means it must also be the opposite of outward focus.
Of course, the opposite of outward focus is inward focus. It is through inward focus that we find Truth, of which our lessons says, “It merely is. And by its presence is the mind recalled from fantasies, awaking to the real. … Without forgiveness is the mind in chains, believing in its own futility.”
In our first special theme, we learned that forgiveness is abiding as the unaffected Self. That means that the ego is undone by turning inward and abiding there as the unaffected Self.
Please contemplate this tip. Notice the ego in you. See it in action. Also contemplate how ego is undone. And then with this clarity, enter into your meditation for today.
Meditation Options
Since Day 300, we have been looking very carefully at mind chatter in order to notice that we believe it is me thinking. As was pointed out on Day 300, this is a very important step. In order to fully surrender, we need to see the extent of our addiction to mind. We need to see that we cannot awaken ourselves, because we are far, far, far too addicted to mental chatter as me.
Here are some quotes to consider before beginning today’s reading:
The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle…” The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” ~ Mark 10:24-27
It is only your inner teacher that will walk you to the goal, for he is the goal. … He is your own Self, your hope and assurance of freedom; find him and cling to him and you will be saved and safe. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
…surrender yourself, because you realize your inability and need a Higher Power to help you. ~ Ramana Maharshi
Thoughts of Awakening # 306
Silence is stillness
and stillness is silence.
Silence is a state of mind
on which chatter has no effect.
This is not because silence has learned
not to be affected by chatter.
Silence has never been affected.
It is perfectly still.
Silence is not an achievement.
It simply is,
and it is always.
Go there, to silence,
and be still in peace.
~From our Holy Spirit
This evening (or tomorrow morning):
Read NTI Matthew 5 (v31, 32) through (v33-37).
Tomorrow:
Regina’s Tip for Lesson 2
Theory supports spiritual practice. Theory alone is not enough to undo the ego filter that has built up in your subconscious mind over this lifetime. To undo the ego and realize true perception, you must engage in properly structured spiritual practice. Reading Gentle Healing is not enough. It’s important that you practice the daily Workbook exercises in the way the Workbook asks you to practice them.
The mind has the ability to repeat the Workbook exercises without paying attention to the exercises. You can do the exercises while simultaneously being distracted from them. For example, you can say, “I have given that TV all the meaning it has for me,” while thinking about an email you need to write later in the day.
Distracted practice is an ego preservation technique. The ego will not be undone through distracted practice. Be sure to bring awareness to the practice by giving it your full attention. You don’t have to understand how the practice works. Mental understanding is completely unnecessary. You simply need to do the practice willingly while giving it undistracted, unhurried attention.
Homework for the week:
Before we begin our new special theme, let’s take a day to review the special themes we’ve contemplated so far. I will begin “What is the Ego?” tomorrow.
What is Forgiveness? Forgiveness is recognizing yourself as the unaffected Self. Therefore, “what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred.”
What is Salvation? Salvation is healing by “failing to support the world of dreams … it lets illusions go. By not supporting them, it merely lets them quietly go down to dust.”
What is the World? It is a “false perception” where “mechanisms of illusion … go to find what has been given them to seek.” Yet, “all perception can be given a new purpose.”
What is Sin? Sin is ignorance or outward focus. “Sin is the home of all illusions, which but stand for things imagined issuing from thoughts that are untrue.”
What is the Body? “The body is a fence” that seems to separate us from everything else. It makes duality seem real and makes it seem as if we experience duality directly. However, its purpose can be changed.
What is Christ? Christ is consciousness. It is the process of creation and the unaffected witness of creation. It is what we are. It is our higher Self. (Note: There is a more ultimate reality beyond Christ, compared to which Christ is an illusion.)
What is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is a Judeo-Christian term for spiritual intuition, which issues forth from our Self as consciousness. Its sole purpose is to help us awaken to consciousness. Once this goal is accomplished, its purpose is done. (God takes the last step to awaken us beyond consciousness.)
What is the Real World? The real world is the world as it is seen from the perspective of consciousness. It is a world blessed by forgiven eyes, seen through true perception. The real world is still a dream, but it is a dream that reflects Truth. It prepares us for the next and final awakening.
What is the Second Coming? It is awakening to our Self as consciousness. From this awakening we see with true perception and experience the real world.
What is the Last Judgment? This is the awakening beyond consciousness into Nirvana. With this step, consciousness itself is seen to be untrue.
What is Creation? “Creation” is a term A Course in Miracles uses for reality. It is what is known after manonasa, the death of our sense of self as mind-consciousness. It is our true Self beyond any sense of self. It is our actual existence, often referred to as bliss or Nirvana.
There is no conflict, for my will is Yours.
Today’s lesson helps emphasize any decision we may have made to commit even more to the path of awakening. It says:
How foolish, Father, to believe Your Son could cause himself to suffer! Could he make a plan for his damnation, and be left without a certain way for his release? … How could I think that Love has left Itself? There is no will except the Will of Love. … Conflict is sleep, and peace is awakening. Death is illusion; life, eternal truth.”
And so today we begin again. We forgive ourselves for any past “failings” that we may perceive, and we contemplate what we really want.
Here’s a song that always inspires me whenever I make the decision to increase my commitment, “Be The One” by Tom Dalton. (The Meditation Options are below the song.)
Meditation Options
Today, we will continue to look at our addiction to mind. We will continue to look at how much we believe mental chatter is me thinking.
On Day 303, I listed several spiritual practices that are now part of your daily Gentle Healing spiritual practice.
Do you feel your life is centered on those practices?
Do you avoid any of the practices for any reason? Because you don’t enjoy them, because you are too busy, because you have decided they aren’t useful, etcetera?
If you do, where did that idea—I don’t like to do this, or I’m too busy, or this practice doesn’t do anything—come from? Didn’t it come to you as a thought? And didn’t you believe it, and aren’t you avoiding the resisted spiritual practice because you thought that was you thinking?
If mind said, “I’m too busy to practice awareness-watching-awareness,” didn’t you think that was you thinking and believe you were too busy? Isn’t that why you skipped meditation? What about when mind said, “I’m tired. I need a break. What’s on TV?” Didn’t you believe that was you thinking as you reached for the remote control?
Are you free, or are you a slave to the mind because of your addiction to mental chatter?
What’s really going on?
Thoughts of Awakening # 305
Stillness is the one answer
you can ongoingly return yourself to.
In stillness, there are no attachments.
In stillness, there is no upset or fear.
In stillness, there are no stories.
In stillness, there is only peace.
~From our Holy Spirit
In this program Anne Blanchard facilitates one of the core practices of the Awakening Together community. This program provides an opportunity to be in community with others who will to find that place of no-place, that attention to our natural attentiveness, that innate humanness that can often be overlooked. Anne Blanchard facilitates this program on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7:30 – 8:30 am ET/5:30-6:30 am MT by leading participants through gently guided Being Aware of Awareness meditation. All are warmly welcome.
