Today’s reading follows up on the interpretation of the parable about The Vineyard and the Tenants, which we read on Day 85. Today’s reading uses logic to encourage us to inquire about the validity of our belief in separation, our belief in guilt, and our sense of fear.

What is validity? An idea is valid if it has a sound or well-grounded basis in logic or fact. An idea that does not meet this criterion is not valid; it is fallacious, meaning false or mistaken.

We hold onto to our belief in separation, our belief in guilt and unworthiness, and our sense of fear, because we believe they are all valid. If the Holy Spirit can lead us to inquire deeply into these ideas, we will discover they are not valid; they are fallacious. When we see for ourselves that these ideas are fallacious, we can let them go. As long as we believe they are valid, we will hold onto them. This is why inquiry is so important.

Enlightened inquiry alone leads to liberation.
~ Ramana Maharshi

We have looked at this quote from Nisargadatta Maharaj:

The world you can perceive is a very small world indeed. And it is entirely private. Take it to be a dream and be done with it.

It’s important this quote isn’t misunderstood. It means that we shouldn’t take our life so seriously. We do well to let it come and let it go, as we maintain our true state of constancy.

However, it doesn’t mean that we should deny our experience or avoid our role in life. One who uses teachings such as this quote by Nisargadatta to deny their experience or avoid their role in life is listening to the ego’s interpretation of the teaching. A clear mind faces whatever is here now fully, and then it lets it go as that experience disappears into the past and a new experience comes into the present.

Today’s reading reemphasizes a point made in yesterday’s tip:

The mind resists truth by seeking to understand truth mentally. If you or I are satisfied with mental understanding, the desire to realize truth is quenched. In this satisfaction, the ego wins.

You could say that today’s reading is a call to stop trying to understand truth.

How do we proceed if we let go of trying to understand?

We proceed by following current moment guidance and by practicing the new habits, which purify the mind.

Today’s reading asks us to accept God’s freedom by:

… extending your trust and innocence.

To extend means to spread forth or to enlarge the scope or effect of. It also means to exert oneself to full capacity. So, if we extend our trust and innocence, that means we are making these a bigger part of our way of being.

Trust is “assured reliance on.” In this case, it is assured reliance on the benevolence of the universe and on the current moment’s guidance. Assured means certain and reliance means to be dependent. So, we extend our trust by feeling certain that all is well while being fully dependent on guidance.

Innocence in this case is “lack of knowledge,” which means we do not try to rely on our own thinking. We do not try to understand. We do not try to figure things out. Instead, we are certain that all is well without needing to understand, and we are fully dependent on guidance without trying to figure things out for our self.

There are two questions that are really the same question:

What is truth?
What am I?

When these two questions burn in us to the point that nothing else is important, we are getting ready for truth realization.

Today’s reading interprets the parable of The Vineyard and the Tenants. When we read this parable in NTI Mark on Day 50, the vineyard was interpreted as the teaching, and stealing the vineyard was interpreted as identifying with the teaching (also known as fundamentalism). Today’s reading interprets the story differently.

Today’s reading interprets the vineyard as:

… a mind that is shared among God and His creations.

Like consciousness, awareness and soul, “mind” is an elusive term. If you look it up using a few different dictionaries, you will find out that it has many meanings. Although there may be a temptation to try and define exactly what “mind” means in the context of today’s reading, it might be better to let it remain an open question.

Why?

We’ve already seen that one type of resistance is seeking answers to metaphysical questions or questions about enlightenment. The mind resists truth by seeking to understand truth mentally. If you or I are satisfied with mental understanding, the desire to realize truth is quenched. In this satisfaction, the ego wins.

The real purpose of today’s reading is three-fold:

1. To help us realize that our sense of guilt and unworthiness stems from an unconscious knowing that our false sense of self is a lie.

 

2. To help us relax away from the belief in guilt by pointing out that we are free to maintain a false sense of self and world.

 

3. To lead us into a penetrating curiosity, where we want to find the answer to “What is the truth?” and “What am I?”

I love the line in today’s reading where the Holy Spirit says, “So whatever I am, you must also be.” Notice the word “whatever” in that sentence. I like to stare at “whatever.” As I look deeply at the word “whatever,” I want to find out what that is—“whatever  I am, you must also be.”

Do you want to find out what that is, or are you satisfied with a lie and a dream?