A universal assembly for true discernment
Find a place where you will be undisturbed. If it is comfortable, put on headsets or earbuds. Relax, and enjoy this meditation.
Thoughts of Awakening Quote 290
Hour Meditation Thoughts of Awakening Quote 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
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.
Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.
All that you see
with the body’s eyes
cannot harm you.
There is no reason to be afraid.
There is also no reason
to look on the world without love.
It is but Light
play-acting that it is not Light.
Have compassion for the ones
who do not know,
and choose for yourself
to remember.
~From our Holy Spirit
Find a place where you will be undisturbed. If it is comfortable, put on headsets or earbuds. Relax, and enjoy this meditation.
Thoughts of Awakening Quote 289
Hour Meditation Thoughts of Awakening Quote 289
All that you see
with the body’s eyes
cannot harm you.
There is no reason to be afraid.
There is also no reason
to look on the world without love.
It is but Light
play-acting that it is not Light.
Have compassion for the ones
who do not know,
and choose for yourself
to remember.
~ From our Holy Spirit
Yesterday we saw that mental chatter is the greatest of all human addictions, and so the greatest of all desires is necessary to set yourself free from mental chatter.
As your desire for awakening increases, mental chatter catches on to your desire for awakening. It uses that, too, to try and save itself.
If you give mental chatter your attention, it will distort your desire for awakening into another desire that is similar, but not the same. It might distort it into the desire to attract people or circumstances. It might distort it into the desire to get approving attention from others. It might distort it into the desire to be a spiritual teacher. It might distort it into the desire to be part of a spiritual community. It might distort it into the desire to write and sell spiritual books, to sing spiritual songs, to be seen as spiritual by others, to buy spiritual objects, to go to spiritual places, to have a close relationship with an enlightened person or to feel spiritually special in some other way.
Today’s reading says:
True desire is known by its desire for only one thing.
True desire desires truth. It is immune to deception. If you remain fully focused on the desire for truth, you will not be sidetracked by the myriad of distortions that the ego can come up with. Because mental chatter is highly deceiving, you need to remain fully aware of what you desire in every moment.
Today’s reading says:
The only way to pass through the tests of the thinking mind, without being led astray by false desire, is to remain fully focused on true desire now. There is no other way.
You do not need to read from Revelation in the Bible today. You can go directly to the reading in NTI.
Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.
After hearing that Shawna lost her home in the recent wildfire that destroyed most of Paradise, California, Regina wrote to Shawna asking about her experience. This is Shawna’s answer to that question.
~ ~ ~
Thank you for your interest in how I’m experiencing the fire. First I want to set up the situation because I was so blessed and taken care of by Grace. I was in Sebastopol, CA (Sonoma county) 3 hours away from Paradise when the fire started Nov. 8. I was pet sitting. So I didn’t experience the evacuation. I fall to my knees in gratitude when I think of it.
I first heard about the fire when I turned on the phone at 9:00am. I usually wait until after meditation and homework for Gentle healing to turn on the phone. I immediately got an alert to evacuate. After determining the alert wasn’t local, I noticed texts from friends in Paradise, telling me to get out now. I felt great fear for my friends. I looked up a few websites and grew very concerned. I stopped, took a few deep breaths and turned towards the Peace that is ever Present. This shift allowed me to flow from this place of Peace even as I cried, felt worry and helplessness arise. A friend called and we cried. I returned to Peace. I went to a friend’s house to go for a walk and I cried, but returned to Peace. I held everyone in the Light and saw them as Perfect. I couldn’t see the fire as perfect.
As I recieved more texts and calls from concerned friends, I handled each one as it arose in the moment with Presence and concern for them. It was interesting to watch how each person had their own interpretation, their own reaction and expectations. I also noted a discomfort in me around accepting the offers of help. I’m usually the one giving. I actually don’t need much, so I gratefully declined most offers. In fact, because I had a lot of my stuff with me, including most of my personal files, I didn’t think about my stuff in the house until much later. My concern was about the safety of people, animals and my beloved forest! My heart hurt thinking of the suffering that was and continues now.
I noticed my ego loved the drama and attention. I watched the news for several days, then quit. I don’t have TV, radio or internet and the cell service is poor here, so I’m pretty insulated from the news now. I noticed the incredible level of fear from my friends here, in Sonoma county. They went thru a very destructive fire a year ago. The smoke from Paradise really freaked people out here. The air quality is still very dangerous here! People here are also very empathetic because of their experiences last year. So much love and offers of whatever I needed. it was/is touching and overwhelming. I cried a few times just from the generosity shown!
I moved into Joy at just being alive! I felt a deep, devotional gratitude in my Heart. I felt I needed to tone down the joy because of the suffering of so many people. Our whole little community was gone! I was told stories of great bravery to help others evacuate from folks I knew. I appreciate the strength we can show when extreme situations call for it. I noticed again my ego getting caught up in all the stories. It was overwhelming. But I returned my focus, over & over to our practice of AWA, the reading, tips, contemplation and journaling. I meditated most days. I let resistance keep me from meditation more than was best for me.
There is an incredible amount of crap to do to rebuild ones life. But It helped to remember how you handle being so busy: stay focused on Awareness and do what’s in front of you to the best of your ability. I still have moments of great sadness. I allow myself to fully experience them. I also have times of incredible Joy at how Life is unfolding. There are any great miracles happening. This experience has increased my desire to Awaken! NTI Revelation, your Clarity and Inner Guidance has increased the desire for Awakening!
With love, Shawna
~ ~ ~
Shawna is an Awakening Together member who is in Gentle Healing. She completed MPP, and chose not to be ordained. She shares in the Sanctuary on Tuesday evenings at 9:30pm ET.
Find a place where you will be undisturbed. If it is comfortable, put on headsets or earbuds. Relax, and enjoy this meditation.
Thoughts of Awakening Quote 288
Hour Meditation Thoughts of Awakening Quote 288
Truth is as it is.
To see anything else
that is different
is ego.
Ego can be benign
through the interpretation of Spirit,
but truth is as it is,
and it is never anything different.
~ From our Holy Spirit
Here is a review of the seven steps to awakening (as put forth in NTI):
Step 1– An intense desire for awakening.
Step 2– Seeing through the ‘mask’ of ferociousness (attack, grievance, harshness) to the false beliefs that support and sustain it.
Step 3– Tiring of judgment.
Step 4– Letting go of the belief that life is temporary, which is also letting go of the belief that the body-mind-personality is your reality.
Step 5– Learning to trust all that is as it is.
Step 6– Letting go of perception, which is letting go of thought as me.
Step 7– Giving no meaning to anything the ego says or any experience you have as the ego dies its final death.
Each of the first six steps leads to the seventh step. Ego death is a step in itself, because that is the ego’s last chance to reclaim your attention, and it will likely use anything it can to manipulate you into returning attention to it.
If you can withstand the ego’s final temptations, a change will occur. The habitual connection between attention and mental chatter will collapse, and you will be free to see without seeing through the filter of mental chatter.
The physical world doesn’t change when you are liberated from the mind. It’s your way of seeing that changes. Instead of seeing through judgment and interpretation, you see naturally, which means you see consciousness as consciousness. Without mental chatter directing your actions and reactions, you live through spontaneous inspiration.
Here’s how Jesus described awakened inspired living in the Bible:
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. ~ John 3:8
Using the symbols from Revelation, today’s reading says:
The Sight of Spirit is a choice that you make.
It is the choice to marry the lamb.
For with this choice is innocence known,
and glory is seen through the land.
In this context, innocence isn’t the opposite of guilt. Innocence is the freedom of living through spontaneous inspiration. It is freedom from mental chatter.
Today’s reading recommends that we observe the thinking mind and see how it works. If we do not see our judgments and interpretation clearly, we remain enslaved to mental chatter. We let go of mental chatter when we see that it deceives us.
When we see that chatter deceives us, we can lose interest in it. As long as we believe it protects us, we give it our full attention.
Without the desire to be free of mental chatter, you cannot free yourself from mental chatter. The addiction to mental chatter is strongest of all human addictions. Therefore, the greatest of all desires is necessary to free yourself from mental chatter.
It is as Michael Langford describes in The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss:
Eagerness for liberation must be equal to the eagerness someone who is being held underwater has for trying to rise to the surface. …
Eagerness is another word for the desire for freedom.
How great, how intense is the desire of someone being held underwater trying to rise to the surface. …
Every second his desire to rise to the surface is becoming more and more intense.
Michael Langford also writes:
Another great key is self-honesty. …
Self-honesty means to be 100% honest with your self, all of the time.
Catch your ego using preservation strategies.
Today’s reading makes the same recommendation.
Please read Revelation 19:6-9 in the Bible before reading today’s reading from NTI.
Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.
