Note: If desired, watch all of Acts 15 from the Visual Bible movie, Acts.

On Days 99 & 100, we looked at mind-made laws and how they are obstacles to truth. We learned that mind-made laws vary by individual and serve the ego in two ways:

1. They give us a sense of identity.
2. They provide a basis for judgment and separation.

Although mind-made laws vary by individual, many of the laws we adopt are learned, which means they are part of our culture. Some mind-made laws are religious rules of behavior, some are cultural ethics, and some are the law of the land.

Today’s reading points out that as long as the ego mind’s lower vibrations rule people, laws are needed. Laws are needed, because people are not living by conscience. If people lived by conscience, laws would be unnecessary.

The reading also says something that may be shocking to some people:

When you have opened yourself to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and given your willingness that you should be led by Him, it is also time to lay the laws and rules aside as laws and rules that govern you.

This is true, because mind-made laws were created for the ego. To transcend the ego, you must transcend its vibrational level. Instead of abiding by laws that are intended to keep those at a lower vibration within some semblance of order, you are to follow inner guidance to a higher vibration.

Does that mean you are free to ignore traffic laws, stop paying taxes, steal whatever you want, etcetera?

If you are attracted to unruly living, you are listening to the lower vibration. If you are listening to the lower vibration, laws still apply to you, because you still need them.

It is interesting to note, however, that guidance could lead you to do things that are not in accordance with the law or human morals. For example, let’s look at a story about Ramana Maharshi:

Ramana says of his awakening, which occurred when he was a teenage boy:

It was quite sudden. I was sitting in a room on the first floor of my uncle’s house. I seldom had any sickness and on that day there was nothing wrong with my health, but a sudden, violent fear of death overtook me. …

The shock of the fear of death drove my mind inwards and I said to myself mentally, without actually framing the words: ‘Now death has come; what does it mean? What is it that is dying? … The body dies but the Spirit that transcends it cannot be touched by death. This means I am the deathless Spirit.’

All this was not dull thought; it flashed through me vividly as living truth which I perceived directly, almost without thought-process. ‘I’ was something very real, the only real thing about my present state, and all the conscious activity connected with my body was centred on that ‘I’. From that moment onwards the ‘I’ or Self focused attention on itself by a powerful fascination. Fear of death had vanished once and for all. Absorption in the Self continued unbroken from that time on. …

Previous to that crisis I had no clear perception of my Self and was not consciously attracted to it. I felt no perceptible or direct interest in it, much less any inclination to dwell permanently in it.”

A few weeks after that, he suddenly realized the futility of his schoolwork. He pushed the papers away, sat cross-legged and entered into deep meditation. His brother, who was observing him, remarked sarcastically, “What use is all this to such a one?” Recognizing the truth in his brother’s criticism, Ramana decided to follow an inner calling and go to the holy hill, Arunachala.

He got up and left, making the excuse that he had to return to school. His brother gave him five rupees and asked him to pay his college fees on the way to school. However, Ramana did not pay his brother’s fees. Instead, he kept three rupees for his journey to Aruncacha and left the remaining two rupees with the following note:

In search of my Father and in obedience to him, I have started from here. This is only embarking on a virtuous enterprise. Therefore, none need grieve over this affair. To trace this out, no money need be spent.

Your college fee has not been paid. Rupees two are enclosed herewith.

Thus,
_ _ _ _ _ _

The note was not signed, because his separate identity had been lost when he discovered his true identity a few weeks prior.

As you read today’s reading, pay close attention to the guidelines NTI gives about following guidance instead of mind-made laws. I recommend taking notes. When we take notes, it helps us absorb the information. Also, if you take notes you will be able to keep them for easy future reference.

Note: If desired, watch all of Acts 14 from the Visual Bible movie, Acts.

Command and Control

Today’s reading begins:

Your mind is split. … And this split will seem to persist after you have made the decision to follow this path with Me. Do not let the split distress you, but do not forget to be aware of it. You must notice when the part of your mind that is not with Me seeks to regain command and control  by giving you ideas that seem appealing and useful to it. …

I have italicized part of the excerpt above. That phrase is not italicized in NTI. I added the italics, because that phrase has shown up in my mind many times over the years to help me see ego as it tried to “regain command and control” in my mind. It was really helpful to notice ego in this way, because I am well aware that I do not want it to regain command and control, so when I saw the thoughts in my mind from that perspective, it gave me the ability to remove attention from the mind and place it with intuition instead.

For example:

Let’s imagine there is a problem that needs resolution. My mind is thinking about the problem, and I am engrossed in it until this thought crosses the mind:

“The mind is seeking to regain command and control.”

“Ah, I see,” I say to myself.

A moment before, I was listening to thinking, because I thought the way to resolve the problem was through thinking, but once the reminder showed up, I saw that it is ego trying to command my obedience and control my attention.

Since I know I don’t want ego to have command and control, I shift into trust and patience. I decide to be okay with things as they are now, and wait until something is made clear through intuition or the unfolding of the universe.

Choice of Illusion

Today’s reading says:

You are the expression of freedom, and as the expression of freedom you are endowed with the choice to choose the illusion you choose to see.

What does that mean?

In Tip 77, we learned:

Everything that you see and experience, you see and experience through the filter of your mind, meaning your mind at your current vibrational level. As you rise in vibration, you still see through the filter of the mind, but how you see changes because the mind is different at a higher vibration. The mind is simply thought, so as thoughts change, perception changes too.

True perception is the highest vibrational level of perception. However, all perception is illusory. Truth is beyond perception entirely.

NTI 1 Corinthians, Chapter 15, refers to the mind that sees at the highest vibrational level as a mind in the “fourth stage” of awakening. It says:

The one that seems to be in the fourth stage is but a symbol of the truth that is. So this one must pass away also. But in its passing, you pass from a final illusion of beauty to Beauty that cannot be contained in illusion. You pass from form, which reflects Light, to Light, which shines into form.

Since perception is seen through the filter of the mind, we “choose the illusion you choose to see” by practicing discernment.

Note: If desired, watch all of Acts 13 from the Visual Bible movie, Acts.

Today’s reading tells us what to expect when we genuinely choose intuitive wisdom as our guide. Some of the things to expect include:

A unique path to follow. No two people follow the exact same path to awakening. One of the greatest mistakes people make is trying to copy another person’s way instead of tuning within to discern the guidance that is given specifically for him or her to follow.

Resistance. When you decide to let intuitive wisdom be your guide, an important decision has been made. However, it is unlikely that all value you’ve placed on thinking will immediately fall away. It will more likely fall away over time as your trust in intuitive wisdom increases. You will experience resistance to the degree that you still value thinking. As your trust and dependence on intuitive wisdom increases, resistance weakens.

To need a strong spiritual aspiration. As we have learned before, our spiritual aspiration is the most important factor on our path of awakening. As we go further along the path, this doesn’t become less true; it becomes truer.

To need trust and patience. The mind has its own expectations about how the spiritual path and guidance should unfold for you, but if the spiritual path and guidance unfolded in the way the mind expected, it would only reinforce the mind. Therefore, you can expect it to be different than what you expect. Because it will not be what you imagine, you will need trust and patience in order to let it unfold in its own way.

To let go of how you see. As you follow guidance, you will at first see things as you have always seen them. For example, you may see other people at fault for something that troubles you. All wrong-minded seeing comes from the wrong-mind, so you will need to learn to turn to guidance when you see with the wrong-mind. Ask guidance to help you see where you still believe the wrong-mind. Ask guidance to help you see with the right-mind. Be willing to journal and practice inquiry on your wrong-minded perceptions.

To let others be as they are. Just as you were free to value thinking as your guide until you changed your mind, others are free to value thinking as their guide. Others are free to believe their wrong-minded perceptions. Others are free to act from ignorance. When you respect their freedom, you respect truth, because our truth is life-awareness-freedom.

This list tells us what we can expect when we choose intuitive wisdom as our authority in the world.

Note: I recommend printing this tip for future reference.

Note: If desired, watch all of Acts 12 from the Visual Bible movie, Acts.

Yesterday’s reading said:

The words of the Holy Spirit are final. … They are the only authority in a world that seems absent of Authority, and so it is this authority that is given.

Today’s reading says:

The authority of the world is confusion and illusion, which is no authority at all. … This is why you have the Holy Spirit.

The “authority of the world” is thinking. The “Holy Spirit” is intuitive wisdom.

The world values thinking as its guide, but as today’s reading points out, and as it’s been pointed out to us many times before, thinking is the problem, not the answer.

Have you observed your own thinking processes enough to realize that thinking is the cause of your suffering, or do you still think that thinking will resolve your problems and lead you to freedom?

If you think that thinking will resolve your problems and lead you to freedom, intuitive wisdom rests silently within you, so silently that you may not know it is there. It doesn’t interfere with your attraction to thinking as long as thinking is what you value.

However, if you are beginning to see that thinking is the problem, wisdom is ready to replace thinking. It is ready to be your guide.

You have to make the decision.

Do you still value your mind above everything else?

Do you want your spiritual aspiration or do you want to protect your mind’s image of itself?

What do you choose as your authority?