What is the Real World?

Our special theme says, “The Holy Spirit has no need of time when it has served His purpose. Now He waits but that one instant more for God to take His final step, and time has disappeared, taking perception with it as it goes, and leaving but the truth to be itself. That instant is our goal, …”

That instant is our goal. That is why we are on the spiritual path. That is why we do the practices that are part of Gentle Healing. Truth is the goal that lives in our hearts.

Today, take some unhurried time to review what you have written this week regarding your selected perception. As you read, notice your desire to follow the guidance that has come through your writing. Focus your attention on that desire. Through loving attention, it will expand. Sit in awareness and quietly be with your desire to follow guidance across the bridge to truth realization.

Forgiveness is the only gift I give.

Our lesson says, “Forgiveness is the only gift I give, because it is the only gift I want. And everything I give I give myself. This is salvation’s simple formula.”

Today is a day of realizing how deep our desire is to let spiritual intuition guide “the way I live” as “I accept the Atonement for myself.”

What is the Atonement? Atonement means “reparation for a wrong,” with reparation meaning, “the action of repairing something.”

In this case, wrong perception is what needs to be repaired. Wrong perception is the block to the real world and the block to truth. We accept the Atonement for ourselves by doing our part to heal wrong perceptions and by allowing the miracle to do its part to bring healing to completion.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this meditation:

Loving Consciousness Description X

A heartening drama about a slow-blooming friendship between two brilliant mathematicians, The Man Who Knew Infinity is a 2015 British biographical drama film about the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, who shows an immense fascination with mathematics, even though he has no formal training in the subject.

He fills notebooks with equations and formulas and explains to his wife that there are beautiful patterns in everything and mathematics is like painting without colors.

It is very edifying to witness the friendship that slowly blooms between two mathematicians: Hardy, played by Jeremy Irons, is a pragmatist and atheist, and Ramanujan, played by Dev Patel, is a Hindu believer who claims that every math equation expresses a “thought of God.”

Dev Patel, who was so marvelous in Slumdog Millionaire, effectively depicts Ramanujan’s Hindu zeal, his passion for mathematics, and his reverence for its beauty. In another richly detailed and nuanced performance, Jeremy Irons reveals the admirable efforts of a cerebral scholar who finds the courage to stand up for the mind-blowing work of his friend in the face of steep opposition and racial prejudice. Both men would no doubt agree with Henry David Thoreau who said: “The language of friendship is not words but meanings.”

Join us for a discussion of this movie on December 27th at 8 pm ET/6 pm MT facilitated by Ron Raitz.

You can find this movie on YouTube, Vudu, iTunes and Amazon Prime.

(Thanks to SpiritualityandPractice.com for help in creating this post.)

What is the Real World?

Our special theme speaks of the real world as a world that “arises from a mind at peace within itself.” It says the “real world signifies the end of time, for its perception makes time purposeless.” Then it goes on to say, “The Holy Spirit has no need of time when it has served His purpose. Now He waits but that one instant more for God to take His final step.”

In our last special theme, we learned that spiritual intuition is the bridge from our false self to our true Self; we need to surrender to spiritual intuition for as long as the false self continues.

Since the mind is good at lying to us, and we could be fooled into thinking we’ve transcended the false self when we haven’t, our current special theme gives us another clue to pay attention to.

When we perceive the real world, with “no cries of pain and sorrow heard—when “No danger lurks in anything”—we have reached the end of the bridge, and spiritual intuition is no longer needed. It’s purpose has been fulfilled. God will take the next step to transport us from the end of the bridge to truth realization. Until then, spiritual intuition is needed to guide us.

It’s helpful to have this clarity, because it keeps us from fooling ourselves. As long as we have any fearful perceptions, spiritual intuition is needed.

The Holy Spirit speaks through me today.

Today’s lesson says, “We teach today what we would learn, and that alone.”

Over the last two days, you have discovered something that is helpful for you to learn. When you have fully learned something, a change occurs. Until a change occurs that signifies the learning is complete, you are still learning.

Teaching is a way of learning. However, there are many ways to teach. You can take time in the Sanctuary, weekly or just once (if there is an open timeslot) to teach what you need to learn. However, NTI Luke, Chapter 9 says, “I may have you teach without a single spoken word.”

Let’s allow spiritual intuition to guide us regarding how we are to “teach” in order to learn what’s most helpful for us to learn now. Let’s use Adyashanti’s method of writing to discover the best way for us to teach what we are learning regarding the selected perception we are looking at this week.

1 – Write or type this question: What’s the best way for me to teach to learn _______________?
(Fill in the blank with what you need to learn now.)

Note: You may also do this by speaking into a recorder.

2- Write about “teaching to learn” as if you are teaching someone else everything you know about that. You can use resources like NTI Luke, Chapter 9, to help you gather your thoughts about this topic.

Follow Adyashanti’s advice by writing all the way to the edge of what you know about this topic, and then wait for something else that you know is true. When that next true word, phrase or sentence comes, write it down. Stay with this process until you come to a conclusion that feels like guidance for you.

Note: Be sure to write without a limited view about what “teach” might mean.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation, I recommend this meditation today:

Abandon Release Description D

Introduction to Buddhism

This class is 6 weeks long.

One strength of Buddhism is its practices. According to Thich Nhat Hahn, “Awareness of Being is the backbone of the Buddhist method. Awareness of Being is a discipline that helps man to realize himself.”

In this class you will learn:

1.   To discern simple spiritual practices that are useful.

2.   To discern universal wisdom that is helpful when held in universal consciousness.

3.   To discern ways of being that are the outward extension of inner practice.

4.   To get an authentic sense of “right” and “wrong” without guilt. (A.k.a., wholesome and not wholesome)

Specific Information:

This is a forum based MPP course.

Individual Homework Time Commitment: 45 minutes per day, 7 days per week.

Structure of Course: Six weeks including one introductory video and six weekly instructional videos, each about 45 minutes long.

Course dates: January 4 – February 15, 2021
Cost is $120.
Textbook needed is The Heart of Buddha’s Teaching by Thich Nhat Hahn.
Class is offered in Zoom. Familiarity with Zoom is helpful.
Registration closes on December 27.
For more information on this class, click here.

Click to register

Join us at 10:15 am ET/ 8:15 am MT for Our Weekly Sunday Gathering with Rev. Billy Sintiris

Title: “A Vision with Saint Francis of Assisi”

Description: Rev. Billy will navigate the three  levels of consciousness in the prayer of Saint Francis.

Reading: Rev. Meghan Reinhart will read the St. Francis Prayer and excerpts from NTI Luke.

*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 Kate Brennan.

Enter Sanctuary Here

Join us at 1:30 pm ET/ 11:30 am MT for The Freedom Practice Sangha

The Holy Spirit looks through me today.

Today’s lesson says, “Christ asks that He may use my eyes today, and thus redeem the world.”

Earlier in Gentle Healing, we studied The Code. We learned that the thoughts we believe make the world as it is. This is why forgiveness is so important. By releasing our belief in untrue thoughts, which are received into our minds through The Code, and by abiding as our peaceful unaffected Self, we send peace and wisdom into the world instead of fear and attack.

With this in mind, let’s make forgiving the untrue and realizing truth our top priorities. With these as priorities, we give a gift to the world and ourselves.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this meditation:

Loving Consciousness Description W