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.
Reminder: New Gentle Healing Year 1 Groups Begin on Thursday ~ January 7, 2021
Please remember to purchase A Course in Miracles and (NTI )The Holy Spirit’s Interpretation of the New Testament for the Gentle Healing Year 1 Group. You will need these two books to be able to complete your homework assignments.
Two new Consistent, Gentle Healing Year 1 groups will begin on Thursday, January 7.
One group will be facilitated by Rev. Dawn Fernandez and will meet each Thursday at 6 pm- 8 pm ET / 4 pm-6 pm MT in the Awakening Together Sanctuary.
The second group will be facilitated by Susan Telford and will meet each Thursday at 2 pm – 4 pm ET ( 7 pm – 9 pm UK time / 8 pm – 10 pm Central European time) in the Awakening Together Sanctuary. This group was scheduled so that those who are not in the United States can more easily attend.
The Gentle Healing Curriculum guides committed students to make consistent, gentle progress toward genuine peace, joy and love. Year 1 is based on A Course in Miracles Workbook for Students and other non-dual teachings. This group will meet weekly and will be committed to specific assignments and practices between group meetings.
You do not need to ‘register’ for this group. All you have to do is come.
If you are already in a Gentle Healing group and feel that you have benefited from your participation, you may wish to consider inviting friends or family to participate by beginning with this new Year 1 group.
Gentle Healing Year 1 Tip For Lesson 318
What is the Last Judgment?
Our special theme says, “Salvation asks you give it welcome. And the world awaits your glad acceptance, which will set it free.”
In Chapter 5 of the Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss, while sharing Choice A (eternal life) and Choice B (being identified with a body), Michael Langford writes:
The Awakening of the extremely intense desire for liberation, which can also be called “really making Choice A” is:
It is like a sign stating “NO MORE” that is a million miles high. NO MORE to all of the human evils of the past. NO MORE to all of the horrors the ego has created.
It is like a silent shout saying NO MORE so loud, that if it were given a voice it would shatter the eardrums of every human on earth.
It is a demand for Truth.
It is the absolute demand for absolute Truth. …
It is the absolute demand for absolute goodness.
When Buddha began his search for enlightenment (Nirvana), he wanted to find the end to all suffering for everyone including disease, old age, and death. It was as if he felt “NO MORE so loud, that if it were given voice it would shatter the eardrums of every human on earth.”
With that in mind, please contemplate this Biblical story from Matthew, Chapter 20:
Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
“What is it you want?” he asked.
She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”
“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”
“We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
What clarity comes to you? What has this clarity got to do with you?
In me salvation’s means and end are one.
Most people feel that those who have awakened fully, those like Buddha and Jesus, have made a great contribution to the salvation of the world. However, most people do not see their own steps toward Nirvana as having the same impact as the steps that Buddha or Jesus took.
Please contemplate today’s workbook lesson as you consider this question:
Is your contribution to the world’s salvation any less than that of Buddha or Jesus?
Is there anything different about your decision to awaken and theirs?
Also, continue to look carefully at the judgments that arise today. Inquire into them, look to your heart to discover your true desire, and then let the judgments go in light of your true desire.
Meditation Options
Gentle Healing 2 ~ Day 292 – NTI Revelation 21, (v9-14)-end
Yesterday, we saw that NTI interprets the symbols in Revelation for the purpose of purification and awakening. It is a right-minded interpretation of symbols.
We’ve used Revelation to look at and contemplate interpretation. We looked at how your mind (mental chatter) interprets, and we learned how to open up to right-minded interpretation.
Interpretation is a type of understanding that occurs at the level of mind. Whether it is wrong-minded interpretation or right-minded interpretation, it is mental understanding. Right-minded interpretation points toward truth. Wrong-minded interpretation does not point toward truth. However, both are interpretations, and neither is truth itself.
Yesterday’s tip also provided an optional opportunity to look at a secular interpretation of Revelation. That interpretation attempted to uncover historical facts about who wrote Revelation, who its audience was and what Revelation meant to that original audience.
Today’s reading says:
Symbolism is gone forever when you can look beyond the symbols to the truth that merely is. In this truth do all symbols disappear, for in this truth is all interpretation rendered meaningless.
When we awaken to reality, we no longer see symbols, and so there is no longer any need for interpretation. Wrong-minded interpretation doesn’t occur anymore, and right-minded interpretation is no longer needed. Reality is beyond perception and beyond interpretation entirely.
We cannot imagine reality, so there is no reason to attempt to do so. Anything we could imagine would be wrong. However, I find it helpful to realize that reality is completely different than perception. There is no sense of self in reality. The body that appears to others is moved by consciousness, and yet there isn’t a sense of self present that perceives itself as consciousness. When there is a sense of self present that perceives itself as consciousness, that one has awakened to the second principle of God. The final awakening is beyond that.
Reality encompasses everything. It is beyond form, and form is made up of reality. It is beyond the sense of self, and yet the sense of self could not be experienced without reality as its foundation. It is as verse 1 of the Tao Te Ching says:
The two (illusion and reality) emerge together but differ in name.
The unity is said to be the mystery.
Mystery of mysteries, the door to all wonders.
You do not need to read from Revelation in the Bible today. You can go directly to the reading in NTI.
Thoughts of Awakening # 292
With careful observation
you will notice two things
that seem to be within you.
One is active chatter.
It has concerns.
It is darting to and fro.
The other is silence.
It may feel like trust
when the mind does not trust.
It may feel like patience
when the mind is afraid.
But what it is
is stillness.
Observe these two things,
and then ask,
“What am I?”
Learn to recognize
and identify with
your Self.
~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, 288-294
- Read NTI Revelation 19-22. Read the Bible excerpt whenever there is a Bible icon next to the verses in NTI Revelation.
Being Aware of Awareness Meditation 12-25-2020
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.
Gentle Healing Year 1 Tip For Lesson 317
What is the Last Judgment?
Our special theme says, “Salvation asks you give it welcome. And the world awaits your glad acceptance, which will set it free.”
In the last two days, I have written about duality as a pendulum. I wrote about how the pendulum swings from good/acceptable to bad/unacceptable. In truth, the pendulum is in both positions simultaneously. While it is in the good position for some individuals, it is also in the bad position for others at the exact same time. You might have realized that as you watched the video in yesterday’s tip.
When the pendulum is in the good position for us, it is difficult to truly consider how bad things can be for others. It is also difficult for us to consider others with the same emphasis that we put on ourselves.
Let’s look at one of Jesus’ teachings from the Bible:
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Matthew 22:34-40)
Please contemplate this scripture in light of the video from yesterday along with today’s tip. What clarity comes to you? What has this clarity got to do with you?
I follow in the way appointed me.
Today’s lesson says, “I have a special place to fill; a role for me alone. Salvation waits until I take this part as what I choose to do. Until I make this choice, I am the slave of time and human destiny.”
After contemplating Matthew 22:34-40, please contemplate today’s workbook lesson in light of your biblical contemplation from yesterday and today. What is your role in salvation?
Also, continue the practice from the last several days of looking at judgments, inquiring into them, remembering what you truly want, and letting them go.
Meditation Options
Gentle Healing 2 ~ Day 291 – NTI Revelation 21, (v1)-(v6-8)
Yesterday, we saw that there are two awakenings. First, one awakens from the idea that he is a person to the realization of consciousness. And then, often years later, one awakens beyond consciousness to absolute reality.
As I mentioned on Day 272, Revelation is full of symbols. These symbols came to John through visions and dreams. The first series of symbols were violent and have been interpreted innumerable ways throughout the history of Christianity. NTI interprets these symbols for the purpose of purification and awakening.
I would like to take a moment to emphasize that NTI interprets the symbols in Revelation in order to make them useful to us. NTI does not teach the true meaning of the symbols. It is right-minded interpretation.
There is a second series of symbols in Revelation that come after John’s vision of the second death, which NTI interprets as the final awakening. The second series of symbols are peaceful. They are eternal. NTI interprets these symbols as the experience of the final awakening. However, since NTI is interpreting symbols, the symbols themselves should not be taken seriously.
As the Tao Te Ching says at verse 1:
The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
In other words, reality cannot be described.
Read Revelation 21:1-6 in the Bible, and then read NTI Revelation 21 (v1) – (v6-8).
Related note: If you are interested in a secular, historical-based interpretation of Revelation including who wrote it and why it was written the way it is, you can watch the BBC documentary on Revelation.
Thoughts of Awakening # 291
Do not fool yourself.
Do not pretend to be at peace
when you are not.
Do not pretend to be happy
with an undercurrent of fear or upset.
Always be honest with yourself
about your feelings.
In upset, give willingness for peace.
In willingness, have gratitude for true desire.
In peace, be joy.
~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, 288-294
- Read NTI Revelation 19-22. Read the Bible excerpt whenever there is a Bible icon next to the verses in NTI Revelation.
Gentle Healing Year 1 Tip For Lesson 316
What is the Last Judgment?
Our special theme says, “God’s Final Judgment is as merciful as every step in His appointed plan to bless His Son, and call him to return to the eternal peace He shares with him. Be not afraid of love. For it alone can heal all sorrow, wipe away all tears, and gently waken from his dream of pain the Son whom God acknowledges as His.”
We have seen very clearly that the last judgment is awakening beyond perception and the world entirely. It is awakening into Nirvana. It is something we cannot imagine.
It may be difficult for us to desire this final awakening, since we cannot imagine it and we are told that everything we know disappears with this awakening. If we think about Nirvana for long, we may find that we fear the final awakening. That’s because we are thinking about it with the ego mind. We are considering awakening through the lens of ego consciousness.
It’s really important to look at awakening with the reasoning of the right-mind.
As I shared yesterday, duality is like a pendulum. Like all pendulums, it swings. When we look at these swings from the point-of-view of ego consciousness, those swings are from good/acceptable to bad/unacceptable. If you look at the world today as a whole, regardless of the challenges that you may face in your life now, you may be able to see that things can get worse. And they do.
As I shared yesterday, it can be difficult to think about losing when you are winning.
Let’s look more closely at the story of the rich man from Matthew 19 in the New Testament:
Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” …
Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
“Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
Please contemplate this scripture in light of the tips from yesterday and today. What clarity comes to you? What has this clarity got to do with you?
All gifts I give my brothers are my own.
The gifts that we give our brothers are letting go of ego and turning our attention inward to embrace truth as it is, without asking it to be different. That is the highest gift that can be given.
Today, please watch the video on You Tube: “Happy Birthday, Jesus” by Kirtana, as you deeply consider how important your gifts are, and then continue the practice from the last several days of looking at judgments, inquiring into them, remembering what you truly want, and letting them go. (Note: this video won’t load for me so you will have to look it up on You Tube, So Sorry. AND it can be difficult to watch).
Meditation Options
Gentle Healing 2 ~ Day 290 – NTI Revelation 20
On Day 286, we saw that mental chatter is the belief in separation. It is the I-thought. It is the ego. We’ve also seen that paying attention to mental chatter is the greatest of all human addictions.
Today’s reading opens by saying:
You must be willing to rest the thinking mind at every opportunity given.
Just as the only way to stop smoking is to stop smoking, the only way to let go of mental chatter is to let go of mental chatter. That’s why we need to be willing to rest the thinking mind at every opportunity given, and today’s reading highlights some of the opportunities that are given in everyday life.
When we finish NTI Revelation, we will begin reading The Teachings of Inner Ramana. Letting go of mental chatter is a primary focus in The Teachings of Inner Ramana.
For now, pay attention to the suggestions in NTI Revelation 20, and start letting go of mental chatter whenever you notice the opportunity to do so.
In the first year of Gentle Healing, we learned that there are two awakenings. First, one awakens to consciousness, the second principle of God, and then one awakens beyond consciousness, to the first principle of God.
When one lets go of mental chatter, one awakens to consciousness. This is also commonly called true perception. Jesus referred to this awakening as being born again. (Reference John 3:3 )
However, a second awakening still waits. Sometimes the second awakening is called the final death of the ego or the final end to the sense of self. NTI Revelation refers to it as the second death.
This is why Jesus referred to the first awakening as being born again. When you awaken to consciousness you are born into true perception. This birth is followed by a period of maturing and learning to abide in the new way of seeing, and then a deeper calling arises. The deeper calling calls you forward into a second and final awakening.
You do not need to read from Revelation in the Bible today. You can go directly to the reading in NTI.
Thoughts of Awakening # 290
Trust in Me,
your inner-Self,
and trust in what I teach.
Give willingness to see
that the world is not real.
Give willingness to see
the All.
Give willingness to be
the presence of knowledge
in the experience of a world.
Give willingness to be
peace.
~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, 288-294
- Read NTI Revelation 19-22. Read the Bible excerpt whenever there is a Bible icon next to the verses in NTI Revelation.
Gentle Healing Year 1 Tip For Lesson 315
What is the Last Judgment?
Our special theme says, “God’s Judgment is the gift of the Correction He bestowed on all your errors, freeing you from them, and all effects they ever seemed to have. To fear God’s saving grace is but to fear complete release from suffering, return to peace, security and happiness, and union with your own Identity.”
When we read that perception, the world and bodies all disappear in the final awakening, a thought might cross the mind that says something like, “I don’t want that!” I know I’ve seen this idea, and I suspect you have too.
It is hard to want to let go of everything you know for something you cannot even imagine. It is especially hard to let go of everything you know if things are going well for you right now.
I am reminded of a line from the movie, Revolver. The line is, “It’s hard to think about losing when you are winning.”
That line is similar to Jesus’ statement, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:23, 24)
That fact is, duality is like a swinging pendulum. When the pendulum swings to the right, life is pretty good. At least it is acceptable. To the mind, the known acceptable is much better than the unknown.
However, every pendulum that swings to the right swings back to the left to an equal degree, and the left is suffering. In other words, “good” or “acceptable” doesn’t last in duality. Whether it is in this lifetime or another lifetime, duality affects everyone who has not yet awakened to the unaffected Self.
It may be hard to think about losing when you are winning, but it is wise to do so. Why wait for extreme suffering before wanting awakening with “all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind.” Why not take advantage of this relatively easier time and awaken without so much pain? (Matthew 22:37)
Today may be a good day to review Choice A and Choice B from Chapter 5 of The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss.
All gifts my brothers give belong to me.
Today’s lesson speaks of the gifts our brothers give to us. It speaks of positive things like smiles, words of gratitude and awakenings. However, that is only one side of the gift coin.
Use writing (or speaking into a recorder) to find the answer to this question:
What gift is present in my life now that I do not see as a gift?
What would you tell me about it?
Let the writing come regardless of whether it feels like you are writing from your knowledge or it feels like an intuitive answer comes right away. If you write to the boundary of your knowledge, hold at that boundary until something intuitive comes in answer to the question.
Also, continue to let go of judgments in this way today:
- Look when judgment happens.
- Silently inquire to discover the past in this current judgment. (e.g., “What idea did I believe in the past that has caused this current judgment?”)
- Notice the perception of separation that is caused by judgment.
- Remember your desire to see without separation or confusion.
- Let go of your judgment simply because it conflicts with what you truly want.
Meditation Options
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