To resist anything
is to listen to chatter.
Silence is acceptance.
Silence is willingness-flow.
Silence is being.
Being is happiness.
~From our Holy Spirit
A universal assembly for true discernment
Today, we begin reading from The Teachings of Inner Ramana. A primary focus in The Teachings of Inner Ramana is letting go of mental chatter. When one lets go of mental chatter, she completes the sixth step of the seven steps to awakening. The sixth step is:
Letting go of perception, which is letting go of thought as me.
Note: For a thorough review of all seven steps, see Day 284.
When one lets go of perception, one awakens to true perception. With true perception, the body’s eyes still see what everyone else’s eyes see, but clarity knows that what it looks on is consciousness.
Today’s reading says:
Mind cannot be ignored entirely.
In this context, “mind” does not refer to mental chatter. Mind refers to the brain’s ability to interpret.
On Day 22, we learned about the connection between the brain’s ability to interpret and our ability to see objects. Here is a quote that we contemplated that day:
“Vision consists of your eyes detecting light and converting it to electro-chemical impulses in neurons which are then given meaning by your brain. Hence, the real ‘seeing’ occurs in the brain with the interpretation of the impulses. ~ Debbie Hampton, author of Beat Depression and Anxiety by Changing your Brain
In order to live as a human in a world, even within the experience of true perception, some mental interpretation is necessary.
However, mental interpretation is not knowledge. As today’s reading says, knowledge is “beyond the mind.” In other words, when one has the experience of human, but knows that he is life-awareness, he has knowledge. When one has the experience of human and believes he is a human, he is deluded.
The Teachings of Inner Ramana begins by giving us two tools. These tools enable us to live as humans while totally ignoring mental chatter. The two tools are:
Mantra
Surrender
We have looked at both the mantra and surrender as taught in The Teachings of Inner Ramana since Gentle Healing Year 1. However, now we will start to use these tools in our daily life with great emphasis.
The mantra is “I Am That I Am.” We were introduced to this mantra through the Thoughts of Awakening on Day 230. Here is that Thought of Awakening again:
“I am that I am”
is open.
It is as open as the sky.
It has no end.
It continues forever.
This is the best idea of you.
This is the truth
without definition.
Do not put thought to this idea.
Merely let it be thought,
repeated,
by the mind.
And after it is thought,
rest the mind without thinking,
and then let this thought
be thought again.
~From our Holy Spirit
The Thought of Awakening on Day 231 also referred to the mantra:
I have asked you
to rest the mind.
This is not a little request.
To rest the mind frequently
will bring the most insight.
To rest it little
will bring the least.
The mantra
“I am that I am”
is a gift of awakening.
Cherish it as a gift,
and you give love
to your reality.
~From our Holy Spirit
Today, begin to practice the mantra as regularly as you can. Realize that the purpose of the mantra is to help you ignore mental chatter and rest in silence.
You will learn about surrender in the next two days. Today, focus on replacing the habit of listening to mental chatter with a new habit—the habit of practicing the mantra.
Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.
Today, you will read the final words that NTI has to share.
What are they?
In short, NTI says that you are not who you appear to be. Whenever you find that you have forgotten your Self and acted from conditioning, simply pause and choose again.
It’s okay to stop in midsentence when you see that your sentence is coming from the wrong-mind. Stop, pause, let go of mental chatter’s interpretation, tune into intuition’s guidance, and follow intuition’s guidance (effective immediately).
I’ll share that again.
When you catch yourself acting from the wrong-mind, take these steps to correct yourself:
Step 1: Stop immediately. Do not continue acting with the wrong-mind in the lead.
Step 2: Pause. Take a breath, and remind yourself of your spiritual aspiration.
Step 3: Let go of the interpretation that came from mental chatter.
Step 4: Tune into intuition’s present moment guidance.
Step 5: Follow intuition’s guidance right away and straightaway.
This is our last day with NTI. Tomorrow’s reading will come from The Teachings of Inner Ramana.
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.
As we near the end of Revelation, NTI continues to interpret the final symbols in Revelation as the final awakening. In doing so, it makes an important point:
Seek not to change that which you see, for that is to desire that you be different. Accept all that you see in glory and rejoicing, for that which you see is the mark of Heaven.
As we saw on Day 282, Self-judgment is judging anything, since everything is consciousness.
You cannot judge your Self and awaken to your Self too. You either embrace truth as it is, or you choose illusion.
On Day 138, we learned how illusion began. There was a wish for something different than reality, and then believing-attention was given to the wish.
Awakening comes from the opposite action. Love everything exactly as it is. Accept it as consciousness, and ultimately as reality.
It isn’t what it appears to be.
It is what it is.
When we seek truth, we seek to see (know) beyond appearance to reality. When we judge, our eyes are fixed on appearance. Even worse, we don’t see the appearance clearly. We see the appearance as our mental chatter interprets it. That’s seeing an illusion of an illusion, twice removed from truth.
My favorite Bible scripture is a nice summation of today’s lesson, which is one of the final lessons that NTI leaves us with before its interpretation comes to an end.
This is the day the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
~ Psalm 118:24
Once again, we are brought to the Loving All Method as an important practice in the awakening process. The Loving All Method is important, because it is the opposite of judgment, which is the “building block of illusion.”
Optional: Review the Loving All Method.
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.
With careful observation
you will notice two things
that seem to be within you.
One is active chatter.
It has concerns.
It is darting to and fro.
The other is silence.
It may feel like trust
when the mind does not trust.
It may feel like patience
when the mind is afraid.
But what it is
is stillness.
Observe these two things,
and then ask,
“What am I?”
Learn to recognize
and identify with
your Self.
~From our Holy Spirit
Yesterday, we saw that NTI interprets the symbols in Revelation for the purpose of purification and awakening. It is a right-minded interpretation of symbols.
We’ve used Revelation to look at and contemplate interpretation. We looked at how your mind (mental chatter) interprets, and we learned how to open up to right-minded interpretation.
Interpretation is a type of understanding that occurs at the level of mind. Whether it is wrong-minded interpretation or right-minded interpretation, it is mental understanding. Right-minded interpretation points toward truth. Wrong-minded interpretation does not point toward truth. However, both are interpretations, and neither is truth itself.
Yesterday’s tip also provided an optional opportunity to look at a secular interpretation of Revelation. That interpretation attempted to uncover historical facts about who wrote Revelation, who its audience was and what Revelation meant to that original audience.
Today’s reading says:
Symbolism is gone forever when you can look beyond the symbols to the truth that merely is. In this truth do all symbols disappear, for in this truth is all interpretation rendered meaningless.
When we awaken to reality, we no longer see symbols, and so there is no longer any need for interpretation. Wrong-minded interpretation doesn’t occur anymore, and right-minded interpretation is no longer needed. Reality is beyond perception and beyond interpretation entirely.
We cannot imagine reality, so there is no reason to attempt to do so. Anything we could imagine would be wrong. However, I find it helpful to realize that reality is completely different than perception. There is no sense of self in reality. The body that appears to others is moved by consciousness, and yet there isn’t a sense of self present that perceives itself as consciousness. When there is a sense of self present that perceives itself as consciousness, that one has awakened to the second principle of God. The final awakening is beyond that.
Reality encompasses everything. It is beyond form, and form is made up of reality. It is beyond the sense of self, and yet the sense of self could not be experienced without reality as its foundation. It is as verse 1 of the Tao Te Ching says:
The two (illusion and reality) emerge together but differ in name.
The unity is said to be the mystery.
Mystery of mysteries, the door to all wonders.
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.
Do not fool yourself.
Do not pretend to be at peace
when you are not.
Do not pretend to be happy
with an undercurrent of fear or upset.
Always be honest with yourself
about your feelings.
In upset, give willingness for peace.
In willingness, have gratitude for true desire.
In peace, be joy.
~From our Holy Spirit
Yesterday, we saw that there are two awakenings. First, one awakens from the idea that he is a person to the realization of consciousness. And then, often years later, one awakens beyond consciousness to absolute reality.
As I mentioned on Day 272, Revelation is full of symbols. These symbols came to John through visions and dreams. The first series of symbols were violent and have been interpreted innumerable ways throughout the history of Christianity. NTI interprets these symbols for the purpose of purification and awakening.
I would like to take a moment to emphasize that NTI interprets the symbols in Revelation in order to make them useful to us. NTI does not teach the true meaning of the symbols. It is right-minded interpretation.
There is a second series of symbols in Revelation that come after John’s vision of the second death, which NTI interprets as the final awakening. The second series of symbols are peaceful. They are eternal. NTI interprets these symbols as the experience of the final awakening. However, since NTI is interpreting symbols, the symbols themselves should not be taken seriously.
As the Tao Te Ching says at verse 1:
The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
In other words, reality cannot be described.
Read Revelation 21:1-6 in the Bible, and then read NTI Revelation 21 (v1) – (v6-8).
Related note: If you are interested in a secular, historical-based interpretation of Revelation including who wrote it and why it was written the way it is, you can watch the BBC documentary on Revelation.
Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.