The primary message in NTI 1 Thessalonians is:

Be it to know it.

Be peace to know peace.
Be happiness to know happiness.
Be gratitude to know gratitude.
Be acceptance to know acceptance.
Be love to know love.

Today’s reading says that fear is the primary obstacle to being that which you desire to know.

On Day 177, we looked at three definitions of fear:

1. A strong, distressing emotion that arises when we anticipate danger, regardless of whether the threat is real or imagined.
2. Anxious concern or anticipation that something unpleasant is going to occur.
3. The desire to escape something unpleasant.

Contemplate each of the previous definitions of fear. As you do, look at your own experience. Do you agree that fear is an obstacle to being that which you desire to know?

For example, if you have decided to be and know acceptance, when you are caught up in fearful thinking, are you in acceptance or are you resisting something?

Please contemplate this before continuing to read the tip.

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You cannot fully believe fear and be that which you desire to know simultaneously, but you can feel  fear and be that which you desire to know.

How?

Be at peace with feeling fear.
Or be happy to explore the feeling of fear.
Or be grateful for the opportunity to heal fear.
Or accept of the feeling of fear exactly as it is.
Or love the feeling of fear exactly as it is.

Each of the previous suggestions will help you practice rest-accept-trust. When you practice rest-accept-trust, fear heals. When you believe fear and act from fear, you are lost and do not know the Self.

Fear can be subtle. If you look carefully, even the tiniest upset can be attributed to fear. For example, frustration in a business meeting could be attributed to the fear that you are less than others, the fear that you might lose something, the fear that something outside of you can affect you, or the fear that you are losing control.

Fear is the greatest obstacle to truth realization.

Fear is the greatest obstacle to peace.
Fear is the greatest obstacle to happiness.
Fear is the greatest obstacle to gratitude.
Fear is the greatest obstacle to acceptance.
Fear is the greatest obstacle to love.

Pay careful attention to yourself. Whenever you are upset, pause and look to discover the fear that is present. If necessary, take a break and practice root cause inquiry.

Each time you bring restful awareness to fear, you come one step closer to abiding as your true Self consistently. In the early stages of awakening, this practice is called purification. In the later stages of awakening, it is called stabilization, because you are learning to stabilize as the Self.

One of the definitions of “sin” in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary is “a vitiated state of human nature in which the self is estranged from God.” Today’s reading says:

Sin is only forgetfulness.

Sin is the belief that you are a separate, individual being, apart and different from all that is. It is the belief that spawns the “I am bad” belief, which is the source of guilt and unworthiness. Sin is the belief that causes fear and the perception of death.

Since sin is forgetfulness, the answer to all problems caused by sin is remembrance. In other words, the answer to all problems is truth realization. (Reference Day 110.)

Today’s reading says:

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, because a quiet life is a godly life in which you hold, within your mind, that the process of life is  God.

If you investigate stories of awakening, you will find that many who have awakened have spent long periods of time alone in nature. When one is alone in nature with a contemplative spirit, one may realize that life is supreme and manifestation is temporary. Seeing that life is supreme and life is one’s true nature is truth realization.

Awareness-watching-awareness is another well-known way to reach truth realization, since life and awareness are one.

A busy or distracted life, where attention is constantly focused outward, does not support truth realization. It’s helpful to find time for deep reflection and meditation. There are a number of ways to do this. You can:

• Set aside time in your schedule that is specifically dedicated to reflective contemplation and meditation.
• Take retreats away from your daily routine. Go someplace for the sole purpose of reflective contemplation and meditation.
• Use practices that keep your mind turned inward as you go about daily activity. (For example, the practices taught in The Teachings of Inner Ramana.)

Also, commit to being the Self instead acting like the false self. Live as your Self.

Make a commitment to peace, and live from peace.
Or make a commitment to happiness, and live from happiness.
Or make a commitment to gratitude, and live from gratitude.
Or make a commitment to acceptance, and live in acceptance.
Or make a commitment to love, and love everything as it is.

NTI 1 Thessalonians 3 opens by saying:

Lack of peace in any measure is an opportunity to be healed.

It recommends that we not judge ourselves for our upsets, but instead rejoice, because another opportunity for healing has been brought to our attention. Certainly, the more we see and accept our mistakes with gratitude, the more consistent we heal and come to know ourselves as peace. (Reference Day 214.)

Interestingly, after recommending that we rejoice when we find ourselves upset, NTI 1 Thessalonians also recommends rejoicing whenever we are not upset. It says:

Rejoice in each moment that peace is known within your heart. Do not judge from whence the peace has come or whether it is for the “right” or the “wrong” reason. Celebrate its glory regardless of the reason, and be glad.

Could it be that we have a habit of not being happy—a habit of constantly judging our self, others and circumstances in the world—and that the habit of not being happy is  the obstacle to knowing the Self?

Yep, that’s it. That is the problem. And as Buddha indicated, when you recognize the problem, you also realize the solution.

The way to awaken is to be your Self now. In other words:

Make a commitment to peace.
Make a commitment to happiness.
Make a commitment to gratitude.
Make a commitment to acceptance.
Make a commitment to love.

Choose any of the five options above, whichever one you feel you can genuinely commit to now, and then choose to live that commitment unconditionally, and you will find your Self, because you have committed to your Self.

Note: I recommend printing this tip for repeated reference.

In NTI Ephesians, we learned that we are the creative process and our way of being is creative spirit. In NTI Philippians, we learned the importance of living from our spiritual aspiration, which is also called our motive, purpose, intention and true desire. In NTI Colossians, both NTI Ephesians and NTI Philippians were reviewed and emphasized, plus we saw that our absolute truth is Life, the First Principle of God. Since we are Life, the source of all things, we are also all things that come from Life, including the Second Principle of God (spirit, consciousness), the Third Principle of God (the creative process), and the Fourth Principle of God (form, manifestation.) In fact, we could rename the Four Principles of God as the Four Principles of You.

NTI 1 Thessalonians uses another word to describe what you are: Peace.

It also says that peace is the way to know your Self and your guidance.

NTI 1 Thessalonians describes peace as “gentle gratitude.” It also describes it as “love for all that is.” It’s interesting to contemplate that you are  gentle gratitude, and gentle gratitude is the way to know your Self. Likewise, you are  love for all that is and love for all that is is the way to know your Self.

To know is to be. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

It’s also true that lack of peace is not what you are and lack of peace is not the way to know your Self. When we give believing attention to lack of peace, which is any degree of upset, we choose illusion; we choose not to know our Self.

NTI 1 Thessalonians recommends using every upset as an opportunity to heal the belief that we are what we are not. It also warns us that the ‘I am bad’ belief stimulates denial and repression instead of healing, so we must be willing to transcend the belief ‘I am bad’ each time an upset occurs. By choosing not to believe, “I am bad,” we can look at the upset with peace  and achieve “consistent and steady healing.”