Here is an excerpt from conversation #14 of I Am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj:

Questioner: My own feeling is that my spiritual development is not in my hands. Making one’s own plans and carrying them out leads no where. I just run in circles around myself. When God considers the fruit to be ripe, He will pluck it and eat it. Whichever fruit seems green to Him will remain on the world’s tree for another day.

Nisargadatta Maharaj: You think God knows you? Even the world He does not know.

In this conversation, Nisargadatta points to the First Principle of God when he says, “Even the world He does not know.” From the point of view of the First Principle of God, the First Principle is all that exists.  The “everything” that we see in perception, is one thing—reality, life-awareness—from the perspective of the First Principle. From that perspective there is nothing different from truth, so there is nothing to fix, change or awaken.

The perspective from the Fourth Principle of God is different, since the Fourth Principle is the expression of the wish for something different from truth. From this perspective, awakening is the mission of consciousness.

To see from the perspective of the Fourth Principle, but to say, “There is nothing to do,” which is the perspective of the First Principle, is what A Course in Miracles  calls “level confusion.” Rupert Spira says it is disingenuous to say, “There is nothing to do,” when you still believe you are a person.

It is as NTI Hebrews teaches:

You are the leader of your own awakening.

So, how the heck do we awaken ourselves?

You know that the desire to awaken is very important.

You are aware of the practices, such as mind-watching, inquiry, discernment, rest-accept-trust, awareness-watching-awareness, loving all, and surrender.

Another important ingredient is faith.

Today’s reading defines faith as “what you accept as true.”

Faith is believing-attention and the action that comes from believing-attention. One who believes thought, emotion and perception place’s attention and takes action based on that belief, while one who trusts truth teachings places attention and takes action in another way. Both have faith. Both live according to their faith.

Faith, or believing-attention, feeds into the creative process. Faith based on the world continues the experience of something different from truth. Faith based on truth creates the experience of awakening. Some call that grace. Grace is not a gift from a benevolent or discerning God-being. Grace is the natural output of the creative principle when faith in truth was the input.

In other words, you lead yourself to awakening by having faith in truth, which also means your attention and actions are guided by your faith in truth instead of by faith in the world.

For some people, NTI Hebrews may seem harsh, because it asks them to let go of people, things and circumstances that they love and enjoy. Others may feel guilty, because they aren’t ready to let go of those things. If you judge NTI Hebrews as harsh or if you judge yourself as guilty, you are looking at a form of the “I am bad” thought. Whenever this thought is seen, whether it is projected onto someone or something else or felt as a “fact” about you, it is rising into consciousness so that you can let go of it.

If you experience judgment or guilt as you read and contemplate NTI Hebrews, consider reviewing NTI 2 Thessalonians.

Today’s reading says:

The one sacrifice that ends sin and guilt forever is not a sacrifice at all. It is but the remembrance and acceptance of all that has always been true. It is the release of what isn’t and the re-acceptance of what is. It is a return to the realization of the truth of what you are.

Many of us go through a phase when we feel like we are asked to sacrifice something (or many things) for truth realization. That’s because the mind believes it gets happiness or love from the objects it is attached to in the world. However, as has already been pointed out, those things are passing—shifting and changing—anyway. Nothing in manifestation stays the same or lasts. To believe that manifestation is the source of our happiness is the cause of suffering.

True happiness comes from Self-realization, because our true nature is  happiness. In this realization there is no loss at all.

Why?

Because once you realize the Self, happiness is natural, and  manifestation continues as it did before. Manifestation doesn’t die away when you realize the Self. As long as the body lasts, it continues in manifestation and it experiences manifestation. Yet, you see with clarity. You know what everything really is, and you are able to appreciate its temporary appearance too. There is no sacrifice in that.

Today’s reading says:

God is Love. … Rest yourself within your Heart. Here your true desire is known, because here the truth of God is known. Then rise up and practice in joy.

If you feel that NTI Hebrews is asking you to sacrifice something you love or enjoy, take time to go within. Get in touch with your Heart. Let it reassure you about the truth, and then, only when you feel genuinely revitalized toward your spiritual aspiration, continue the practice of letting go of dreams.

Allow letting go to come from the heart, not from a sense of obligation. Remember, motive matters. (Ref: Day 177)

If you read Hebrews 9:1-10 in the Bible, you will see that Jewish people once followed very strict rules regarding worship. In fact, the Jewish people were given very strict rules to follow about everything in their lives, including food, relationships, how to settle disputes and more. These rules are called “the covenant of the first order” because they represent a phase in maturity.

Without realizing it, every person follows a “covenant of the first order,” which I have referred to in the past as “mind-made laws.” (Ref: Day 99)

We have rules about everything including food, how to worship (or how to be spiritual), relationships, clothing, and more. There’s a funny commercial on TV about a man who is being helpful by making the bed, and his wife responds by saying, “The big pillows go in the back.” ~ha ha~ That is one of her mind-made laws, a law he apparently did not have in his mind.

NTI points out that mind-made laws have their place at a certain stage in our maturity. For example, if we agree on how beds should be made, we feel a sense of sameness through that agreement. If you look around, you will notice we do have an agreement about how beds are made. We might not all agree that the big pillows go in back, but we do agree to put the pillows near the headboard instead of the footboard or under the bed during the day. These subtle “laws” that we all follow give us a sense of sameness, but that sense of sameness is very flimsy.

NTI says that a new covenant has come to replace the old covenant. The new covenant is the knowledge that we are one and all manifestations are created through the creative principle. That means mind-made laws are meaningless. If I believe that the big pillows go in back and you believe that the big pillows go in front, one is not more right than the other. Both are simply how the creative principle is manifesting as thought and action through a temporary body-mind-personality. Your way and my way are both story, and therefore equally meaningless. What we are beyond the story is one consciousness. Meaning lies in our reality.

Jasmine has a story about how she and a college roommate got in a tiff, because Jasmine started cooking ground beef without heating the pan first. Apparently the roommate felt that a pan should always be preheated before you put the ground beef in.

Have you ever paused to realize that if you hold onto your mind-made laws—your ideas about how food should be prepared, how friends should be treated or how houses should be decorated, and etcetera—you are holding onto the body-personality-mind as you?

By believing you are right about your mind-made laws, you cling to a temporary manifestation as you.

By seeing your mind-made laws as story, you see the body-personality-mind as story too.