What Am I?

Our special theme says, “Ours are the eyes through which Christ’s vision sees a world redeemed from every thought of sin. Ours are the ears that hear the Voice for God proclaim the world as sinless. Ours the minds that join together as we bless the world.”

What jumps out at me from this excerpt is, “Ours are the eyes … Ours are the ears … Ours the minds…” In other words, we are the ones that have the direct experience of awakening.

Direct experience is different from belief, and belief is different from faith.

As we have already seen, faith is important on the spiritual path. We cannot know the direct experience of what lies ahead of us. The fact that it “lies ahead” means it is not our experience yet.

When we have faith in the direct experience of masters, we are motivated to continue this journey so we can find out for ourselves. Faith is a motivating factor.

However, belief has an opposite effect. Belief is intellectual. When we believe something is true, we do not have a driving motivation to find out. We think we know.

It is fair to say that faith has a healthy amount of doubt in it. It isn’t the kind of doubt that holds us back. It is the kind of doubt that isn’t satisfied until one knows for herself, from her own experience.

Belief doesn’t doubt in that way, nor has it gone far enough to know for itself. Belief is a type of delusion, where one pretends to know what he doesn’t know.

Direct experience is the only means of knowing. It is firsthand experience. For example, the only way to know what a pineapple tastes like is to bite into one. You can never know the taste of a pineapple by reading about it or by listening to others describe it. At best, you can only imagine it.

As another example, most humans who live on earth believe in death. However, no living human knows death as a direct experience. No living human has tasted death directly. Death is perceived indirectly when we see a body. The living sees a body and thinks “death.” Death is an intellectual belief. It is not a direct experience.

Death is an example of a belief.

Awareness is an example of direct experience.

Faith trusts the teachings of masters enough to want to find out, but it seeks the proof of direct experience and will not settle for belief.

It is important for a spiritual aspirant to have enough faith in the teachings to seek direct experience. However, like a scientist, the genuine spiritual aspirant has no use for belief. Belief is seen as the cause of delusion.

Sickness is but another name for sin. Healing is but another name for God. The miracle is thus a call to Him.

Please read today’s workbook lesson in full. Notice a phrase, sentence or excerpt that you feel particularly attracted to and go into it more deeply through writing.

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What Am I?

Our special theme says, “We do not seek a function that is past the gate of Heaven. Knowledge will return when we have done our part. We are concerned only with giving welcome to truth.”

“Our part” is spiritual practice, like the spiritual practices listed in my tip from Lesson 352. It’s interesting to note, however, that spiritual practice cannot take us across the threshold into the final awakening. We can’t make the crossing through the self’s will or effort. Bernadette Roberts wrote about this in the conclusion of her book, “The Experience of No-Self.” She wrote:

Of our own accord we cannot cross the line into the unknown; only God knows if we are ready for such a step, only he can take us across and see us through. In fact, self never crosses the line, it simply ceases to be.

However, it is important to note that she also wrote:

Having made this journey I now see clearly, that a dimension unmistakably exists beyond anything that could be described as self’s union with God… For the contemplative to regard such a union as the final or ultimate consummation of his spiritual life is a grave mistake. He is setting his sight at a midway point, which I now see is too low, too close-in, and too narrow. At this point he may be so centered in God that he is still subject to the illusion of self’s deification… Whenever possible, it is best to get beyond such a point, even when letting go means surrendering this union with all of its experiences and ensuing qualities of strength, love, certitude, and much more; for as long as there is any feeling, knowledge, or inkling that any self remains, … we have not gone far enough.

In the first excerpt that I shared from Bernadette’s book, she said that we cannot cross the threshold of the final doorway “of our own accord.” In the second excerpt, while referring to the state of awakening that the Course calls true perception, she emphasized that even there, it is best to continue surrender and letting go.

It is as NTI Revelation states:

The world is an illusion, and so everything you experience as you let go of the world is illusion also. … You are to keep moving by letting go until you find yourself with nothing left to hold onto.

This reminds me of Mooji’s story of the Yogini, who let go of what appeared to be divine experiences in order to awaken to Truth. It also reminds me of Dr. David Hawkins words in the video I shared with you recently. He said:

Having surrendered everything, there was nothing left. … There was nothing left to surrender. And then came the knowingness, “Yes, except your life.” And then I got, “This to must be surrendered to thee, O Lord.”

In other words, spiritual practice will not usher us across the threshold to the final awakening, but until the crossing over occurs, spiritual practice is needed up to and including the last moment on this side of the crossing. In fact, the closer we are to the crossing over, the more mastery we need in spiritual practice.

One temptation that can occur after achieving the first awakening is that one feels awake and puts aside spiritual practice. However, Bernadette Robert’s warns of what can happen if we make this mistake:

At this point [the contemplative] may be so centered in God that he is still subject to the illusion of self’s deification…

NTI Revelation echoes this point. It says:

True desire must lead in the last days of the thinking mind, for the thinking mind will try to disguise itself as true desire. For this, you must remain on watch. … In the hour when true desire is nearly full force, the thinking mind will look for a way to lead you from your true desire, possibly also by leading you to think you are fulfilling it.

This is what “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” points to. Whenever you feel self-satisfaction in the role you have been asked to play, know that role is not true desire. For true desire never leads to a role that is satisfactory to the self. True desire leads only from self to the wholeness of the realization of truth. …

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.

And so it is worthwhile to repeat that although spiritual practice will not usher us across the threshold to the final awakening, until the final awakening occurs it is advisable to continue with spiritual practices like surrender, inquiry, meditation and abiding unaffected. That’s because, until the final crossing over occurs, we are vulnerable to the subconscious ego. We need to remain alert through spiritual practice. In fact, the closer we are to the crossing over, the more mastery we need in spiritual practice in order to make ourselves available for the final awakening without turning back or slipping into a delusional false enlightenment.

It is helpful to see spiritual practice and humility as synonymous. Spiritual practice is humility, because through spiritual practice we remain the student. Humility is the opposite of egotistical self-importance. Humility prepares us for God’s final step. It is safe to say that ultimate humility is absolutely necessary for final awakening.

There is no end to all the peace and joy, and all the miracles that I will give, when I accept God’s Word. Why not today?

Please read today’s workbook lesson in full. Notice a phrase, sentence or excerpt that you feel particularly attracted to and go into it more deeply through writing.

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What Am I?

Our special theme says, “We are the bringers of salvation. We accept our part as saviors of the world, which through our joint forgiveness is redeemed. And this, our gift, is therefore given to us. We look on everyone as brother, and perceive all things as kindly and as good.”

Yesterday I addressed a confusion that forms in the minds of some students of A Course in Miracles. The confusion is that one is a divine individual, and the projection of the world comes from the divine individual mind. (For example, the idea that Sally and Sam are projections of Maria’s individual mind.)

We are not divine individuals. The individual is part of the projection of consciousness. That means that the healing of one individual mind does not end the projection of suffering in the world. That is why our special theme says the world is redeemed through our “joint forgiveness.” However, our special theme goes on to say:

And this, our gift, is therefore given to us. We look on everyone as brother, and perceive all things as kindly and as good.

Even though the world will continue with its ego projections for humans who still believe the ego thought system, the one who awakens beyond the ego thought system will see God in all projections. This is what the Course calls “true perception.” It is as Holy Spirit shared with me in one of my first scribal messages, a message that has been named, “The Ego is Not the Devil.” In that message, Holy Spirit said:

Now you may ask, “If I change my belief about the world, will I see no more sickness, no more war and no more threat?” I’ve answered this for you before in many ways, but I will put the answers together for you now so you may see what seem to be pieces as a whole.

You are not an individual. Everyone that you experience in the world is a part of you. You are aspects of one mind. When I say that the world you experience is made by you, I am not referring to you as an individual. That would indicate that separateness is truth. When I say that the world you experience is made by you, I am referring to all aspects of the mind that believe in separateness. As one aspect of the mind lets go of the belief in separateness, more Light is brought into the whole mind. It helps to rouse the Sonship, but as the Sonship continues to sleep, nightmares of separateness continue in the world.

When I indicate that what you will see will change, the word “see” and the word “perceive” are synonymous. As long as you see a world, you perceive. I am not saying that a violent crime could occur around you and that others would see it and you would not. The body’s eyes will continue to show you the seeming actions within the world of illusion. When I say you will see differently, I mean that you will perceive differently, or to be even more clear, that you will feel differently about what you see. Your perspective will be different. Your feelings will be different and therefore, your action will be different.

This message points to true perception, which is still perception, but it feels the presence of God, and it sees the reflection of God in all projections. Bernadette Roberts called this “unity consciousness.”

The Bible teaches that God is in all projections. In the opening of the Book of John, it says:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

When an individual awakens to consciousness, the world itself may not be healed, but the individual mind is healed. Therefore, it is able to see the light that “shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” This seeing is the essence of true perception. Although the world may not be renewed to the point of yesterday’s scripture from Isaiah, the one awakened to consciousness sees the real reflected in the world.

We stand together, Christ and I, in peace and certainty of purpose. And in Him is His Creator, as He is in me.

Please read today’s workbook lesson in full. Notice a phrase, sentence or excerpt that you feel particularly attracted to and go into it more deeply through writing.

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What Am I?

Our special theme says, “We are the bringers of salvation. We accept our part as saviors of the world, which through our joint forgiveness is redeemed.”

If we look very carefully at this excerpt from our special theme, we will see that one answer to the question, “What am I?” is, “I am not a divine individual.”

Some students of A Course in Miracles make the mistake of thinking of themselves as a divine individual. In other words, they believe the world is a projection of their individual mind. When they believe this mistaken idea, they also think that as they heal as an individual, all ego appearances will disappear from the world.

However, let’s look closely at what our special theme says:

We are the bringers of salvation. We accept our part as saviors of the world, which through our joint forgiveness is redeemed.

When I was a young teen, my favorite Bible scripture was Isaiah 11:6-9. It says:

The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

My religion at the time was Jehovah’s Witnesses. They taught that Satan would be destroyed in a battle described in the book of Revelation. After Satan’s destruction, the Earth would become the paradise that God intended in the beginning, before Adam and Even ate of the tree of knowledge. Jehovah’s Witnesses called the renewed paradise the “new world.” I was taught that this scripture described what the new world would be like.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are not that far off with this portion of their religious understanding.

Since the ego is the cause of all suffering, all suffering must end when the self-centered ego ends. However, the self-centered ego is not in the mind of one individual alone. The self-centered ego is in the mind of humankind. It is our “joint forgiveness” that could result in the reflection this scripture points to.

We each need to participate in our individual awakening, because humankind’s “joint forgiveness” appears to happen one individual at a time. As an analogy, let’s imagine the individuals in humankind as cells in one brain, the brain of humankind. As healing and awakening spreads through the brain, individual brain cells are renewed and freed of cancerous darkness. When the healing has spread through the entire brain, healing and renewal are complete.

As individuals, we are each like a cell in the symbolic brain of humankind. We have been called to the spiritual path, because it is our turn to be healed and renewed as part of the broader awakening. However, the awakening isn’t complete until all cells have been healed and renewed. As long as ego remains in some cells within the mind of humankind, the projection that comes from the mind will continue to include appearances that come from the ego.

My eyes, my tongue, my hands, my feet today have but one purpose; to be given Christ to use to bless the world with miracles.

Please read today’s workbook lesson in full. Notice a phrase, sentence or excerpt that you feel particularly attracted to and go into it more deeply through writing.

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What Am I?

Our special theme says, “Our use for words is almost over now. … The truth of what we are is not for words to speak of nor describe. Yet we can realize our function here, and words can speak of this and teach it, too, if we exemplify the words in us.”

Today I would like to contemplate the first phrase of this excerpt along with the last phrase of the excerpt. That is:

Our use for words is almost over now … if we exemplify the words in us.

Another way of looking at this is:

Our time of learning is almost over now,
if we are ready to live from what we’ve learned.

The “if” is interesting. It means that we need to make the decision to exemplify the teachings. If we make that decision, we no longer need metaphysical education. We’ve received enough metaphysical education. However, if we are not yet ready to live from what we’ve learned, more education is needed.

In other words, the purpose of education is to bring us to the willingness to live the teachings. Once we are ready to live the teachings, education has fulfilled its role.

The Teachings of Inner Ramana makes a similar statement. It says:

It’s time to go beyond everything you’ve learned.

Everything you’ve learned has been helpful. It’s been helpful toward willingness to take this next step. But without the step that we are taking together now, all that you’ve learned serves no real purpose toward awakening.

Our first year of Gentle Healing included a lot of learning. We’ve learned:

• The person that we think we are is not what we are. It is a false self, made up of thoughts, feelings and misperceptions. This false self, typically called the ego, is the cause of all human suffering.
• The truth of what we are is life-awareness. Awakening is the process of moving from identifying with the false self to knowing our true Self as a permanent direct experience.
• The desire to know truth is the most important motivator in the process of awakening. Without that desire, we will not apply ourselves toward that end. Therefore, anything we can do to increase that desire is helpful.
• At the human level, casting our attention on thought creates neural pathways in the brain. These pathways are the source of our habits, beliefs and way of seeing. Resting attention away from thought allows previously formed pathways to dry up, which undoes previously formed habits of thought, feeling, perception and action.
• Metaphysically, casting our attention on thought feeds energy into the creative principle, which in turn creates all appearances in the world. What we feed into the creative principle also returns to us as another thought or experience. It’s important to remember that like creates like, so focusing on fear creates more fear, focusing on anger creates more anger, etcetera. Unaffectedness (resting attention away from thought and in presence) generates Grace.
• Inquiry is a valuable tool as we learn to step out of our habituated (conditioned) way of being into a way of being based on clarity. We learned several methods of inquiry including Root Cause Inquiry, Byron Katie’s “The Work,” Diedriek Wolsak’s Choose Again process and self-inquiry as taught in The Teachings of Inner Ramana.
• There are two awakenings, the first of which is awakening from the self-centered self to a self that reflects truth. A Course in Miracles refers to the first awakening as true perception. What true perception sees is the real world.
• Abiding as the unaffected self is one key way of permitting the shifts that purify us of the self-centered self and move us toward true perception. Abiding as the unaffected self can be seen as rest-accept-trust as taught by Regina Dawn Akers, never closing the heart as taught by Michael Singer, remaining in noticing presence as taught by Gina Lake or the Loving All Method as taught by Michael Langford.
• Surrender, as it is taught in The Teachings of Inner Ramana, is a valuable tool as we move away from the self-centered self to movement that is not centered in the self. Surrender allows us to be moved by something other than personal will, so we can live in the world effectively without continuing attachment to our self-centered thinking.
• We come to know our true Self through focusing on awareness. We learned to focus on awareness using short glimpses throughout the day and through daily, sustained focus using Awareness-Watching-Awareness, Loving Consciousness and Abandon Release methods of meditation.
• The second awakening is an awakening beyond the self that reflects truth (true perception) to Truth Itself (beyond perception). This is the human’s final awakening, also known as the last judgment, the final end of the ego, manonasa, and nirvana. Beyond this point, there isn’t anything that words can express or mind can imagine. This awakening is the goal of the spiritual path.

We may have learned some other things this year, but these were the main points. These teachings were taught over and over again through different teachers using different words. Hopefully these teachings are now well embedded in our brains.

As our first year of Gentle Healing ends and our second year of Gentle Healing begins, we move from more education to less education and from some practice to living the teachings in all situations. The second year of Gentle Healing will be extremely beneficial, if you live from what you learned in the first year. If you are not ready to live from those teachings, more education is needed. In that case, it is better to go back and repeat the first year of Gentle Healing than it is to continue to the second year.

Repeating the first year of Gentle Healing may feel like being “held back” in the first grade while all of your friends go on to the second grade. However, the reason for holding a student back is to increase the student’s ability to succeed. Without a good foundation, the higher levels are often too challenging for the student—possibly out of reach—and time is wasted. Repeating the first year in order to get a good foundation may be the most effective way for some students to proceed.

I am not a first grade teacher who has the authority to pass first year students or hold them back. I will not make that specific recommendation for anyone. Please let intuition guide you. It may be a matter of whether you applied yourself well to the first year or spent a significant amount of time not applying yourself to our daily lessons and homework. As you review the bullets above, you may know if you effectively digested the education necessary to continue to the second year.

Judgment and love are opposites. From one come all the sorrows of the world. But from the other comes the peace of God Himself.

Please read today’s workbook lesson in full. Notice a phrase, sentence or excerpt that you feel particularly attracted to and go into it more deeply through writing.

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What Am I?

Today we begin contemplation of our last special theme, “What am I?” However, the answer to this question cannot be found in the words written on the page. It’s interesting, because the italicized words at the top of the special theme are written as if they are the answer to the question, but they are not. The better answer to the question is found in the middle of the second paragraph where it says, “The truth of what we are is not for words to speak of nor describe.”

With that said, let’s look at the words in the italicized paragraph and see what helpfulness we can find there:

• I am … complete and healed and whole: These words are helpful, because they mean that anything you find in yourself that is not “complete and healed and whole” is not what you are. You do not need to believe it or identify with it, because it is not you. You also do not want to indulge it, because it does not represent what you are. Instead, notice it, and then let it go (or accept it as it is).
• In me … guaranteed eternal life: This points to the answer to the question, “What am I?” You are to look within (“in me”) and find that which is eternal. Humans tend to think of “eternal” as a measurement of time—that is, endless time. However, eternal transcends time. When looking for that which is eternal, look for that which is always present, absolutely changeless, and you (rather than an object apparent to you.)
• In me is love perfected, fear impossible, and joy established without opposite: Although these words point to the Effectless, we could say these are the effects we experience as we come to know our Self more and more. This is important to know, because our Self is so subtle it can’t be known in the way an object is known. If it could be known, it would be an object apparent to us rather than what we are. However, the effects of knowing our Self can be known. So, although there is no way to measure your progress in knowing your Self directly, you can measure it indirectly by noticing the effects. An increase in inexplicable love, a reduction in psychological fear and self-preservation, and an increase in causeless joy are the signs of coming to know the Self.
• I am the holy home of God Himself: For consciousness, God is an object that is experienced by a subject. Or said another way, “I” experience the stillness of God. This subject-object experience increases as one awakens, but it is also a sign that awakening is not complete. When the subject-object experience of God ends in a non-dual recognition, awakening has completed itself by returning to the point where consciousness departed from Truth. This point is often called “home.”
• I am … Sinlessness Itself, … purity: With “sinlessness” meaning unaffected and “purity” meaning unchanged, these words point to what you are and will help you recognize it. Their opposite is what you are not and can be deemed untrue.

My sinless brother is my guide to peace. My sinful brother is my guide to pain. And which I choose to see I will behold.

Please read today’s workbook lesson in full. Notice a phrase, sentence or excerpt that you feel particularly attracted to and go into it more deeply through writing.

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What is the miracle?

Before leaving this special theme for the next one, let’s circle back and look at this excerpt again:

A miracle is a correction. It does not create, nor really change at all. … It undoes error, but does not attempt to go beyond perception, nor exceed the function of forgiveness. Thus it stays within time’s limits. Yet it paves the way for the return of timelessness and love’s awakening, for fear must slip away under the gentle remedy it brings.

The sense of self is more than self-centeredness. Although the sense of self is not our very existence, it is what feels like existence to us. That means that once the wrong-minded self-centered self ends, the next step in awakening is the end of the sense of existing or the sense of I am. The sense of existing and life are not the same thing. Life, which is what we are, does not end. The sense of existence is an energy that we have mistaken for life.

Remember Nisargadatta’s instructions to the man who said, “I see you smoking!” He said, “At the root is the sense ‘I am’. Go beyond it.”

Here is a brief video by Dr. David Hawkins about his experience with the end of the sense of existing. He calls it the Final Doorway. (The tip continues after the video.)

Note: Here is another brief video where Dr. David Hawkins describes the same experience with a different emphasis.

As our special theme says, the miracle works within time and perception. It moves us from self-centered existence to existence that reflects reality. This existence could be seen as a spotless mirror. Reality is reflected in the spotless mirror—in this sense of existence—but reflected reality is not reality itself.

The miracle cleans the mirror of the self-centered self. When the mirror is spotless, the miracle’s function has come to an end. It is another movement that takes us beyond time and the mirror, a movement that exceeds perception entirely. That movement is known as the final doorway, the eye of the needle, the last judgment, God’s final step, manonasa, etcetera.

Miracles mirror God’s eternal Love. To offer them is to remember Him, and through His memory to save the world.

Please read today’s workbook lesson in full. Notice a phrase, sentence or excerpt that you feel particularly attracted to and go into it more deeply through writing.

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What Is a Miracle?

Let’s review what we’ve already contemplated about the miracle in order to look at the miracle as a whole.

1. A miracle is a shift in perception, which is a shift in our way of seeing and experiencing. It isn’t an actual change.
2. The miracle could be called a shift in meaning. It gently shifts away from the valueless (temporary appearance) and towards the valuable (reality). That means circumstances that we saw as meaningful before gradually have less meaning while awareness, which once had no meaning at all, becomes more present and centrally meaningful.
3. The core shift that occurs with the miracle is a shift from a self-centered existence and way of perceiving to existence that is not centered in the self. Existence not centered in the self is called true perception, because perception is not colored by self’s personal biases. This core shift may be dramatic or it may be gradual, the culmination of many smaller shifts.
4. Because the self-centered self will attempt to cling to its self-centered nature, it is important for the individual to have a desire to go beyond the self-centered self and faith that existence beyond the self-centered self is more valuable than existence as a self-centered self.
5. The way to enable the miracle is to abide, to the best of one’s ability, as the unaffected self. Being unaffected is synonymous with not being self-centered or not believing self-centered thoughts, perceptions and feelings. The Loving All Method is a simple, gentle and clear method for abiding as the unaffected self. When we abide as the unaffected self, we do not cling to the self-centered self. This enables the miracle, because we are no longer fighting against the miracle.
6. The miracle is both personal and impersonal. It is personal, because the medium of the miracle is the only one who experiences the shift directly. It is impersonal because the shift in perception causes material effects through the creative principle. The one who experienced the miracle may or may not witness the material effects.
7. People often confuse a material effect with the miracle by thinking the material effect is the miracle. The miracle is the shift in perception. It is permanent and irreversible. The effect of the shift is not the miracle; it is a temporary appearance.
8. The spiritual aspirant helps in the process of shifting from self-centered existence to existence that is not self-centered by being aware of his own process, participating in it fully, and prayerfully asking for clarity, guidance, and shifts.
9. To continually seek advancement on a journey from the known to the unknown takes faith. If one will have faith and take the journey, miracles and their effects will reinforce faith. This results in confidence, which enables one to go further into the unknown.

Today I let Christ’s vision look upon all things for me and judge them not, but give each one a miracle of love instead.

Today we give the freedom that we seek by practicing the Loving All Method instead of judgment.

Please read today’s workbook lesson in full. Notice a phrase, sentence or excerpt that you feel particularly attracted to and go into it more deeply through writing. I have demonstrated this practice repeatedly by selecting an excerpt from the special theme and writing based on that excerpt. Increased clarity can come through this type of focused contemplation. The clarity that is perfect for you will come through the selection you are attracted to. You can open up to this clarity by asking to see what is most helpful for you to see, and then begin writing with faith that this prayer will be answered.

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What Is a Miracle?

Our special theme says, “The miracle is taken first on faith, because to ask for it implies the mind has been made ready to conceive of what it cannot see and does not understand. Yet faith will bring its witnesses to show that what it rested on is really there. And thus the miracle will justify your faith in it, and show it rested on a world more real than what you saw before; a world redeemed from what you thought was there.”

When talking about the phases one goes through in the development of trust, A Course in Miracles Manual for Teachers says:

[The teacher of God] thought he learned willingness, but now he sees that he does not know what the willingness is for.  …  He must learn to lay all judgment aside, and ask only what he really wants in every circumstance.  Were not each step in this direction so heavily reinforced, it would be hard indeed!

This paragraph comforted me during many trials along this path. The trials were times that I feared real sacrifice was about to occur. For example, there were times that I feared running out of money, because by following guidance I left a traditional job and began to do what I was guided to do without any direct source of income. I was worried about how I would care for my daughter and myself; my daughter was only a little girl at the time. That paragraph from the Manual for Teachers reminded me to ask only for what I really want, which is awakening, and it promised that the rightness of that choice would be “heavily reinforced.”

My experience has been that this works. It is as Jesus taught, “Seek ye first the kingdom, and all else will be added to you.”

Again today, we are looking at the power of faith and asking, with asking focused on truth and not on conditions in the world. As we stay focused on seeking truth, the creative principle responds by providing the most helpful material circumstances.

When our special theme says, “faith will bring its witnesses to show that what it rested on is really there,” it is pointing to both the shift in perception and its material effects. Both are “witnesses,” which “heavily reinforce” our choice to abide as unaffected.

It is a mistake to expect a specific material outcome as a result of faith. Whenever we expect or desire a specific outcome, we think with ego, and so it is the energy of ego that is fed into the creative principle on our behalf. To feed the energy of the miracle into the creative principle, we must seek only for truth (in whatever way your mind words that aspiration). It is this seeking that brings the miracle, its effects and the positive reinforcement.

I have no cause for anger or for fear, for You surround me. And in every need that I perceive, Your grace suffices me.

Today’s lesson says, “Father, let me remember You are here, and I am not alone. Surrounding me is everlasting Love. I have no cause for anything except the perfect peace and joy I share with You. … God’s grace suffices us in everything that He would have us do. And only that we choose to be our will as well as His.”

Today, let’s notice our concerns.

1. What material changes do you think you need in order to be happy, feel safe, be relieved of anxiety or to focus on God/Truth? Write them down.
2. Look at each desired change, one at a time. Notice how willing you are to let go of that specific desire in trust that as you seek truth, everything that is genuinely helpful will be given. Also notice where you do not feel that willingness or trust. (Simply look and notice.)
3. After looking at yourself in this way, contemplate what you noticed. Just sit and be with what you’ve noticed without judgment or guilt. Our goal is to become more clear regarding ourselves, our fears, our motivations, etc. If you feel guided to write as you contemplate what you noticed, please follow that guidance.
4. When you feel complete with #3, see if a prayer arises in you. If so, pray the prayer that is in your heart.

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What Is a Miracle?

Our special theme says, “The miracle is taken first on faith, because to ask for it implies the mind has been made ready to conceive of what it cannot see and does not understand.”

There are two points from today’s selection that I would like to contemplate. First, let’s look at faith.

Bernadette Roberts wrote, “Indeed, it is because Truth is unbelievable that man needs faith—faith, which is beyond belief.”

What is faith? Faith is trust or confidence in something based on spiritual understanding rather than proof.

I have learned that faith is better than seeking proof, primarily because we cannot find proof until we have walked the journey and experienced it for ourselves. As Bernadette also wrote, “Complete understanding can only come at the end of the journey.” That’s because complete understanding comes from direct experience.

Every phase of the journey that still lies ahead is not understandable and not provable from the perspective of where we are now. This is why we need faith. We need faith that there is truth or higher seeing beyond our current way of seeing in order to motivate us to continue the journey. Without faith in something beyond our current knowing, our journey may stall.

A hiker keeps up the hike because there is still something to see that hasn’t been seen yet. It’s as the old song goes:

The bear went over the mountain,
the bear went over the mountain,
the bear went over the mountain,
to see what he could see.

Faith is trusting there is something to see that hasn’t been seen yet.

The second point I’d like to contemplate from today’s selection is this: “because to ask for it implies that the mind has been made ready…”

It is wonderful to ask. In my Buddha at the Gas Pump interview, Rick Archer commented that when I asked for something, I received it. It’s true. All along my spiritual journey, as I became ready for a particular phase of the journey, I found myself asking for it, and then that phase of the journey would begin. Of course, I didn’t always know what to ask for. I just knew I was ready for whatever was next. For example, just before The Teachings of Inner Ramana came, I asked for something that would take me to the next step. Just before a massive phase of purification started, I asked for something that would take me higher into love. In fact, the entire spiritual journey began when I asked for truth regardless of what it is.

Asking is grand! I like to begin each day’s contemplation by asking to see whatever is most helpful for me to see now. I begin each meditation by putting the meditation in the hands of Ramana and asking that it be whatever is most helpful for me now.

When we ask from a state of readiness, Grace responds. It is as NTI Revelation says:

You will never be asked to take a single step alone, but you must always be willing to take the lead by deciding the purpose and calling it out to Us.

Anger must come from judgment. Judgment is the weapon I would use against myself, to keep the miracle away from me.

Today’s workbook lesson demonstrates asking when it says, “Straighten my mind, my Father.”

Of course, the words themselves are never the prayer. The prayer that moves Grace is the heartfelt readiness and faith that is at the foundation of the prayer. Until one sees for herself how hurtful judgment is, genuinely tires of the judging mind, and has faith that it is possible to be free of judgment, she will not ask with the dynamism that moves mountains. (Ref: Mark 11:23)

How do we prepare ourselves for a sincere prayer?

We simply be where we are on this journey now to the best of our ability and pay attention to everything. As we do that, we are naturally prepared for our next step. When we are ready for our next step, we will feel it, and we will ask for it sincerely.

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