Today’s reading tells us how to use meditation to awaken.

First, let’s look at how we keep the illusion alive. We keep the illusion alive with believing-attention. We keep the illusion alive by believing thoughts, emotions and perceptions and giving them our attention.

Since giving believing-attention keeps the illusion alive, not giving  believing-attention allows the illusion to fade away. And that is the purpose of meditation.

During meditation, you close your eyes and ignore thoughts, emotions and perception. You keep attention still, focused on awareness, without chasing after movement. This stillness doesn’t stop movement; it just doesn’t give movement any attention. In this way, movement is allowed to move through, out and away, until only stillness remains.

Today’s reading shares a few tips to help you keep attention still, focused on awareness, instead of being caught up in thought or emotion during meditation. It says:

When you notice a belief in illusions, ask where your faith is now. Faith comes from desire. … In questioning your faith, you remember your desire. In remembering desire, you loosen your grip on belief.

In other words, when thoughts arise and your attention goes to them, ask yourself, “What do I really want?” or “What is my purpose?” or “Why am I here?” or any other question that reminds you how much you want to remain focused on awareness and awaken. When you remember how much you want to remain focused on awareness and awaken, you naturally recall attention from thought, and place it with awareness again.

Fear sometimes occurs during meditation, especially as you progress from a familiar stage of meditation to a new stage or new level. When fear arises, notice that the mind is judging the experience. Again, remind yourself how much you want to remain focused on awareness and awaken. Let the movement of fear be—do not interfere with it; gently place attention on awareness, and remain there.

The scene from Little Buddha  that we watched on Day 280 is a good symbol of remaining still in meditation, regardless of what arises, in order to awaken.

You do not need to read from Revelation in the Bible today. Go directly to the reading in NTI.

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

On Day 275, we learned about the seven steps to awakening (as those steps are described in NTI). As a review, those steps are:

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.

 
If you examine these steps carefully, you will see that they are not necessarily sequential.

The steps can be circular in nature, like a spiral of awakening.
 
 
 
Yesterday’s reading said:

Do not make the mistake of seeing the harvest as an event in your future, for always the harvest is now. … Always, it is now, so always, it is time to let go of judgment and look at the darkness hiding in the recesses of the mind.

The harvest and the spiral of awakening are one and the same. That means:

Now is the time to increase your desire for awakening.

Now is the time to look beneath upsets for false beliefs.

Now is the time to notice that judgment causes you pain.

Now is the time to practice awareness-watching-awareness.

Now is the time to nurture unconditional trust.

Now is the time to let go of identifying with thought.

Now is the time to give no meaning to the ego as it squirms about seeking believing-attention.

A spiral of awakening is a helpful symbol, because it helps us see that we may not be “done” with a particular step, but that we visit it over and over again as we spiral into awakening. It’s a helpful symbol for another reason too. Humans are not necessarily comfortable with a spiral. They tend to be more comfortable with a sense of control. So, the spiral of awakening helps us understand the feeling of resistance that arises as we go through the awakening process.

Remember that the spiral of awakening awakens us to joy, clarity, love and reality. When you feel the urge to cling to something and fight against the spiral, remember that the spiral carries you into awakening. Rest, release and allow.

Here is a song that may help you remember this advice:

Read Revelation 15:5-8 in the Bible before reading today’s reading in NTI.

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

Yesterday we saw that our belief in guilt (wrong) supports our habit of judgment, and our habit of judgment keeps us locked in the idea that we are a person. Through judgment, we see ourselves as a person in a world. We do not see everything as consciousness. This is why judgment is called the “building block of illusion.”

Today’s reading refers to “God’s judgment.” In this context, “God’s judgment” is seeing consciousness as consciousness. It is seeing as God (as consciousness). That’s why today’s reading says:

The hour of God’s judgment is the hour of your release.

Near the end of St. Francis’ life, he went to the La Verna hermitage in Tuscany, north of Assisi. According to one biographer, he climbed Mt. Verna:

“as though he were pulled along by an inner voice that kept calling out to him. He knew that something out of the ordinary was beginning to take shape within him among these mountain boulders. …

“Francis felt the need to be alone, not in order to avoid people, but in order to see and touch his God in an experience that he already knew from his premonition would be new and exceptional. …

“Francis once again wanted to come in contact with the ‘judgment of God.’” ~ Gianmaria Polidoro

Was the event at La Verna, which is traditionally referred to as the physical stigmata, actually the final end of the ego? One can only wonder, although the possibility of it is inspirational.

Remember what we learned on Day 273:

All of consciousness is one and the same, so if Jesus (or Siddhartha or Francis) or any other being can realize absolute truth, you can too. You are fully worthy and fully capable. All that is needed is an absolute decision and commitment-living-practice to back up that decision.

Today’s reading continues to interpret Revelation with the right-mind, and so you will read a little from Revelation in the Bible today. As you read from Revelation and from NTI today, keep in mind that you are being taught how to live your everyday life in a way that lets go of ego. By living your everyday life in the way NTI Revelation recommends, you can transcend the ego completely and come to see through the eyes of God.

Today’s reading says:

When you fear death, realize the judge has been allowed to be resurrected.

That means you are thinking like a person again; you see yourself as a body-mind-personality, and so you think body-mind-personality is primary and life is secondary. To reverse this error, shift into awareness-watching-awareness. Through awareness-watching-awareness, you see for yourself that life-awareness is primary and body-mind-personality is secondary. You see that body-mind-personality is observed. Body, mind and personality are objects. You are beyond them.

Before reading from NTI, read Revelation 14:8-12 from the Bible. Note: Today’s reading refers to the lessons that are represented by the 144,000. You can review those lessons in NTI Revelation, Chapter 7.

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.