Today’s reading says:
The world is an image in the mind, or better said, a picture-thought within the thought of spirit.
Let’s review the Four Principles of God and see how it compares to this excerpt from today’s reading:
First Principle of God– Pure, unmanifest, life-awareness; abstract, unlimited potentiality.
Second Principle of God– Consciousness, also known as I Am or Spirit. It can be called “the thought of spirit” since it is a thought born out of the unlimited potentiality of the First Principle.
Third Principle of God– The ongoing activity of creation, which occurs naturally through the declarative interaction of consciousness with that which is witnessed.
Fourth Principle of God– Manifestation, which is the realm of appearance (experience and images). In other words, “a picture-thought within the thought of spirit.”
Today’s reading points out that although the Fourth Principle isn’t real, it is experienced. It doesn’t take much self-honesty at all to notice that you experience the world. If you don’t believe me, pinch yourself. You will experience the pinch.
One reason the world seems real is because we confuse experience with reality. We think that if we experience it, that means it is real. However, you have experienced many nighttime dreams. Were they real?
No, your nighttime dreams were not real.
Therefore, it is easy to see that experience is not the criterion for determining reality.
As we saw on Day 134, the criterion for determining reality is unchanging existence. The world does not meet that criterion, nor does experience, because experience is always changing. (For example, you no longer feel your pinch, do you? That experience has already disappeared.)
Since experience does not meet the criterion for reality, experience is not real. Clearly, the unreal is not a criterion for reality. Therefore, we cannot determine reality by experience.
But, with all of that said, we still experience experience, which is why you felt your pinch.
Because we confuse experience with reality, when experience isn’t reality, we need another way to perceive or interpret our experience. Today’s reading provides that new interpretation.
Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.
