Kate shares her experience as she goes about the business of giving up her ideas about herself and the world on her journey toward purification and awakening. Kate shares with wisdom and humor and allows us a glimpse into the beautiful and sometimes messy blossoming of life examined with an eye on Truth.
1-3-21 Weekly Gathering: “Be Sure of Nothing”

Weekly Sunday Gathering with Rev. Beverly Toporowski
Title: “Be Sure of Nothing”
Description: Rev. Beverly shared about trusting the unknown as a way of being.
Reading: Kate Brennan read from Nisargadatta’s book, I AM THAT
Chapter 7.
or
500 Days with NTI ~ Day 1

Welcome to 500 Days with NTI!
A self-study curriculum designed for
busy people who are deeply interested
in spiritual awakening.
Start today with this post!
Day 1 Assignment
- Watch the following 10-minute video.
- Consider starting your 500 Days with a prayer, or if you don’t pray, consider starting with a contemplative intention. What do you hope to get out of these 500 days? What do you hope to realize? What’s the change that you seek? Let your prayer or intention center on your answer to these questions.
- Read the Introduction to The Holy Spirit’s Interpretation of the New Testament (NTI) –
How This Interpretation Came to Be: The Scribe’s Story. As you read, look for information that will help you get the most out of your 500 Days with NTI.
the page numbers may be different than page numbers mentioned in the video.
Gentle Healing Year 1 Tip For Lesson 325
What is Creation?
Our special theme says, “Creation is the opposite of all illusions, for creation is the truth.”
Unfortunately, all that we are aware of is illusion. That means that we have no idea what truth is.
It is helpful if we take in this realization:
We have no idea what truth is.
This is why NTI Luke says:
There are expectations in your mind regarding truth, but these expectations are based on what you know within your slumber. They are not based on knowledge or Life. They are based on interpretation, or death.
What do you expect of Me? Where is it that you think I am leading you to?
Free yourself from these thoughts, and open your mind to Me unfettered by expectations. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of Me.
People have often asked me what that last sentence means:
“Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of Me.”
In her book, What is the Self?, Bernadette Roberts describes some of the last temptations that we experience prior to Manonasa. She writes:
We have to keep in mind that consciousness is the experience of energy, and that in the unitive state [the real world] there is still the experience of various energies and feelings. … Because these energies are new to us they seem to be quite extraordinary. … So one task of the unitive state is that we do not mistake these energies for the divine, but instead, see them as belonging solely to the unconscious self. This task may not be as easy as it sounds; to regard certain energies as supernatural can be a powerful temptation. …
The truth that must eventually be learned or disclosed is that the divine is not an energy or a power, and that none of our experiences of energy or power is divine. Instead, these are powers of the unconscious self, …
The claim to possess supernatural powers in the unitive state is well-known and documented. People have regarded themselves as prophets, healers, saviors, and God knows what else. As Carl Jung noted, the possible masks the unconscious self can take are almost unlimited. They represent the various cultural views man has of a superior being…
Throughout this stage or state there will be many temptations to put on one of these divine or supernatural masks and play out the role. If we fall for one of these masks, … we forfeit going any further with the journey. It is imperative to stay with the true divine center, which is a “still-point” and not an “energy-point,” and to dismiss these arising energies or powers…
Bernadette goes on to write that if supernatural powers are manifesting themselves, there is nothing we can do about it. However, “Our task is simply to see that they are self and nothing but the self. If we cannot eventually make this distinction, we march off to our own dead end, and the passage may well end in total delusion.”
This is what NTI means when it says, “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of Me”:
Blessed is the one who does not fall away on account of
his/her own ideas about truth or enlightenment.
As has been pointed out through the tips in the last two days, truth is the absence of self—the absence of any self.
All things I think I see reflect ideas.
Today’s lesson supports what Bernadette Roberts wrote. The lessons says:
This is salvation’s keynote: What I see reflects a process in my mind, which starts with my idea of what I want. From there, the mind makes up an image of the thing the mind desires, judges valuable, and therefore seeks to find. These images are then projected outward, looked upon, esteemed as real and guarded as one’s own.
The lesson talks about the “gentle world,” which is a “kindly home” where we can “rest a while” before we journey on to Manonasa. This “gentle world” is the real world, which is what Bernadette calls the unitive state. Even in this state, we need to be mindful to stay focused on truth instead of desiring an idea of truth.
As the prayer in today’s lesson says:
Our Father, Your ideas reflect the truth, and mine apart from Yours but make up dreams. Let me behold what only Yours reflect, for Yours and Yours alone establish truth.
It is helpful to realize today that we do not know what truth is—it is a mystery from our perspective. Therefore, it is good for us to let go of all ideas about truth before we create a new dream and mistake it for reality.
Meditation Options
Gentle Healing 2 ~ Day 299 – The Circus and the Meadow
Today’s message speaks directly to your desire to awaken. Likely, somewhere deep inside, you already know everything today’s message has to teach, although the mind does not think about this knowledge. The mind’s thinking distracts us from the wisdom that is clear through today’s message.
Today, we are told that our primary interest now is to lose interest in the mind. That is to lose interest in mental chatter. Just as the only way to stop smoking is to stop smoking, the only way to stop listening to mental chatter is to stop listening to mental chatter. As today’s message points out, we can’t be free by quieting the mind for a little bit each day if we engage in mental chatter the rest of the day, just as you can’t quit smoking by not smoking from 7am-10am while still smoking the rest of the day.
In today’s message, Inner Ramana says:
I ask you to be my student.
If your heart says, “Yes,” to this invitation, read today’s message very carefully. Notice how much you love its instruction. Read it lovingly two or three times! And then give your best effort to practicing the mantra and surrender today.
![]()
Thoughts of Awakening # 299
Everything is love.
If you see any differently,
your seeing is in error.
Take My advice.
Practice as I ask.
Today is a day of review
and self-reflection.
Do not judge
your opportunities for improvement,
but seize them with the heart
in gratitude.
~From our Holy Spirit
![]()
Homework for this week
- Practice daily meditation for 30-60 minutes each day.
- Practice the “Loving All” Method.
- Thoughts of Awakening, 295-301
- Read Read the following messages from The Teaching of Inner Ramana: Commentary on Mind, The Purpose of Surrender, The Purpose of Surrender Part Two, Instructions for Using the Mantra, The Circus and the Meadow, Look at the False “I” Thought, The Importance of Practice
Reminder: New Program, Qigong : “The Movement of Now” with Ian McArthur
Join us this coming Sunday at 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm ET/12:30-1:30 pm MT for the new program “Qigong : ‘The Movement of Now’ with Ian McArthur.” In this bi-monthly program, airing on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month, we will learn the traditional Mind, Body and Spirit practice of Qigong (Chi Kung). Qi meaning life energy, referring to the energy circulating through the body and Gong meaning cultivation or work. The two words are combined to describe a practice to cultivate and balance life energy. By following movements (forms) and a simple breathing technique, we encourage more Qi to flow, which in turn allows us to feel more peaceful and at One with ourselves.
This practice has been followed for thousands of years in order to promote balance and wellbeing as well as a means of encouraging Spiritual Awakening. Ian’s meditative approach to Qigong allows us to experience the many benefits of Qigong. One of the beauties of Qigong is its simplicity, which makes it easier for the forms to be learned. You can start your practice at any age and begin a journey of discovery into Qigong.
For more information about Ian and to access his teachings, visit his website: www.peacefulexperience.com
Anne Blanchard will be the admin for this particular program.
Tip for Gentle Healing Year 2 – Day 307 – Commentary on Not Knowing
Thoughts of Awakening # 307
Peace comes from not-knowing
at the level of mind.
In not-knowing,
there is no worry.
There is no fear.
There is no judgment.
There is only sweet surrender
to wisdom you can trust,
because you are not attached
to imagined knowing
that keeps you living
with the mind of distrust.
~From our Holy Spirit
Gentle Healing Year 1 Tip For Lesson 324
What is Creation?
Our special theme says, “What God has willed to be forever One will still be One when time is over; and will not be changed throughout the course of time, remaining as it was before the thought of time began.”
Time is defined as “the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole.” ~ New Oxford American Dictionary
What captures my attention in this definition is “indefinite continued progress of existence and events.”
It seems like awakening is a process that occurs over time. It seems like awakening is an “indefinite continued progress.”
If you contemplated the target example from yesterday’s tip, then you might see why awakening seems like “continued progress.” However, since reality is the absence of that which experiences “continued progress,” awakening to reality has not occurred until Grace’s final cannon ball destroys consciousness (often called “the mind”). Reality is not known until only the hole remains. Of course at that point, it is no longer a hole. It is all that is.
That which seems like “continued progress” is still part of the illusion of consciousness. However, it is an illusory path that we walk anyway. As NTI Luke says, “We are all followers of the path that comes from within. We are all guided to learn the truth by following the path of unreality.”
I merely follow, for I would not lead.
As our workbook lesson says today:
So let us follow One Who knows the way. We need not tarry, … And it is He Who makes the ending sure, and guarantees a safe returning home.
Please contemplate your personal commitment to walk the spiritual path to its end.
Is there something you can let go of in your life in order to give more focus to the spiritual path and spiritual practice?
If something is not immediately evident, consider asking and receiving an answer from within through writing. After all, inner spiritual intuition is the “One Who knows the way.”
Meditation Options
Gentle Healing 2 ~ Day 298 – Instructions for Using the Mantra
As we saw yesterday, in the language of The Teachings of Inner Ramana, Self-realization is the equivalent of true perception, which is awakening to consciousness. One is “awake” when one awakens to reality, the First Principle of God.
Today’s reading says that quieting the mind is essential to Self-realization. It also says that the purpose of the mantra is to help us quiet the mind. That is the same as saying that the purpose of the mantra is to help us disengage from mental chatter.
Today’s reading shares four guidelines for effective use of the mantra. Please review the guidelines carefully so you can remember them and practice the mantra in the way today’s reading recommends. Also, remember to practice surrender today as it was taught on Day 296.
![]()
Thoughts of Awakening # 298
Peace is acceptance.
It is not acceptance of non-truth,
for non-truth does not exist.
Non-truth is only imagined.
Peace is acceptance of truth,
and willingness to let go of imagining.
~From our Holy Spirit
![]()
Homework for this week
- Practice daily meditation for 30-60 minutes each day.
- Practice the “Loving All” Method.
- Thoughts of Awakening, 295-301
- Read Read the following messages from The Teaching of Inner Ramana: Commentary on Mind, The Purpose of Surrender, The Purpose of Surrender Part Two, Instructions for Using the Mantra, The Circus and the Meadow, Look at the False “I” Thought, The Importance of Practice
Being Aware of Awareness Meditation 01-01-2021
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.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 517
- 518
- 519
- 520
- 521
- …
- 982
- Next Page »



