Today’s reading begins by saying:

The question that you always ask is: How are you to live in the world without being a part of the world? … When you are thinking this way, you are listening to the voice of confusion. … You are looking at the world as if it is real, and you are looking at actions as if they are actions.

If awakening to truth is our goal, it is important that we remember truth and live by truth to the best of our ability. If we continue to live by falsehood, falsehood is strengthened in us. When we live by truth, falsehood weakens until it passes away.

Truth is represented by the four principles of God. Everything in the fourth principle is illusion; it is consciousness appearing as something other than consciousness. The appearances are created by declaration. When we declare something meaningful by believing it and giving it attention, that value is reprocessed by the creative principle, and the energy from the appearance creates more appearances with the same energy.

The energy that I am speaking of is also called “thought.” As mentioned on Day 183, “thought” is broadly defined to include general attitudes and ways of being. Action is an expression of thought. That means that every part of how we be  in the world is fed into the creative principle and creates the world, including its characters and their thoughts.

Most people are completely unaware of the four principles of God. They do not know truth, and they do not know that we are all a part of the creative process. They live from ignorance. That’s why Jesus said:

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.
(Luke 23:34)

Most people are completely unaware of truth, but we are not completely unaware. That’s why yesterday’s reading said:

This service that you perform of not believing the world and of not acting as if the word is real, is a service you provide for yourself and for the entirety of the one mind that you are.

Those of us who are not entirely ignorant serve everyone by living from the wisdom we’ve realized.

How do we do that?

• Actively remember your spiritual aspiration.
• Actively remember the wisdom you’ve realized.
• Act based on your spiritual aspiration and the wisdom you’ve realized instead of acting from ignorance.

The best way to act based on wisdom is to stay focused within. Ask inner wisdom, “What am I to do now?” and let it guide your perception and your actions.

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

Yesterday’s reading said:

You give through thought.
There is literally no other way to give.

Today’s reading asks us to take discernment beyond thought. It asks us to practice discernment regarding the actions we take in the world.

That brings up a question:

If we give through thought and there is no other way to give, do actions matter?

Today’s reading teaches that our actions do matter, because all action is an expression of thought.

For example:

On Day 165, I mentioned that I used to parent through yelling. When I practiced inquiry, I found that I yelled because of a mind-made law that said, “Daughters are supposed to always happily obey their mothers.” Yelling was an expression of that untrue idea. If I had said, “I see that idea, and I don’t believe it anymore,” but continued to yell, that would not have been honest.  I yelled, because I believed the thought. My action demonstrated the belief.

When we practice discernment regarding the actions we take, we are practicing discernment regarding thought, because action is an expression of thought.

For example:

Imagine a woman wants her son to accept one job offer over another job offer. She notices she feels a lot of anxiety about her son’s decision, so she practices root cause inquiry to discover the cause of the anxiety. She discovers that she is embarrassed when she thinks about telling people her son is a trash man, and she feels better when she thinks about telling people he works for the state highway authority. As she inquires further, she realizes her anxiety is caused by her own sense of unworthiness.

The next day, her son calls to let her know what he’s decided. As he explains why he is going to accept the job as trash collector, she notices a strong desire to change his mind. She wants to point out the disadvantages of that job and emphasize the advantages of the job with the highway authority. If she follows that temptation, she will enliven the idea of her own unworthiness,  since the belief in her unworthiness is at the root of the temptation. If she chooses to stay quiet, listen to her son and practice rest-accept-trust with her feelings, she permits a false idea to weaken in her mind.

It is important to note that changing what we do because we want truth and changing what we do because we think we are guilty for doing it are not  the same motive. The first is genuinely helpful. The second continues to clog the creative principle with untruth, since guilt is an untrue idea.

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

Today’s reading says:

You give through thought.
There is literally no other way to give.

In that statement, “thought” is broadly defined to include general attitudes and ways of being. “All is well” is one example of an attitude that gives. Seeing all experiences as having the purpose of helping you awaken is another attitude that gives.

One definition of “give” is to cause or allow someone or something to have something, especially something abstract. That definition comes close to the meaning of “give” as it is used in today’s reading.

To give is to allow truth into the creative principle by not clogging the creative principle with untruth. Of course, we clog the creative principle with untruth by giving our attention and belief to ideas of illusion.

For example:

When we judge the world and others, we clog the creative principle with untruth.

When we accept all things as they are, we allow truth into the creative principle.

When we believe that we are defined by specific qualities, we clog the creative principle with untruth. (Reference Day 173.)

When we see ourselves as open-silent-watching and when we practice awareness-watching-awareness, we allow truth into the creative principle.

Today’s reading says:

What you give is what is experienced,
so your experience is a measure of what you give.

The more we give the general attitudes of truth, the more we experience those attitudes. The more we give thoughts of falsehood, the more we experience falsehood. In other words:

What I think, I see.
What I see, I experience.

Because this is true, we can discern what we are giving by noticing how we feel. If we do not feel free, open, relaxed, happy and trusting, we can look at our minds to see where our focus is. If we are not giving in the way we want to give, we can use thought differently in order to give in harmony with our spiritual aspiration. (Reference Day 179.)

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

When we learn that we are the unaffected Self, but we still feel affected by things that happen in the world, we often think we are guilty for feeling affected. Today’s reading says that is not true. We are not guilty.

The idea that we are guilty for not being fully awake to Self is simply another false ego idea. Since it is a false idea, it is an idea we can let go of.

Instead of believing you are guilty when you feel affected by something in the world, simply watch your emotional reaction. Practice rest-accept-trust. When you watch an emotional reaction or practice rest-accept-trust, you are abiding as the true Self. When you feel guilty, you are falling for another ego shenanigan.

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

Today’s reading opens with this paragraph:

Now is the day of salvation, for now is the day that you can choose to think apart from the world. You can choose to think apart from your experience. As you do this earnestly, your experience will change, and you will find yourself willing to let go of the world.

Interestingly, the previous paragraph does not  end with:

As you do this earnestly, your experience will change, and you will have everything you want the way you want it.

Instead it says:

As you do this earnestly, your experience will change, and you will find yourself willing to let go of the world.

Yesterday, we saw that Ramana Maharshi said:

Happiness is your nature.
It is not wrong to desire it.
What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside.

Everyone wants happiness. Since happiness is our true nature and we feel lost from our true nature, it is natural to seek happiness. However, it is a mistake to seek happiness in the world, because the world was created to be different from truth, which means different from our true nature. Happiness cannot be found in the world. Happiness can only be found in our true nature.

Some people may argue against this point by saying that although they aren’t always happy in the world, they do experience some happiness in the world. They might argue that they are happy when they are with their children, grandchildren, lover, pets or favorite hobbies.

Let’s look at that more carefully and see if these things truly bring us happiness.

Has there ever been a time when you were with your children, grandchildren, lover, pet or favorite hobby and you felt something other than happiness? Have you ever felt distracted, worried, frustrated, annoyed, disappointed or any other way that was not happiness when you were with your children, grandchildren, lover, pet or favorite hobby?

If so, then we can say that your children, grandchildren, lover, pet or favorite hobbies don’t bring you happiness consistently, since you don’t always  feel happiness with your children, grandchildren, lover, pet or favorite hobbies.

Next, let’s see if these things ever bring you happiness or if happiness has a different cause.

First, let’s examine what your true nature is. We have called your true nature “consciousness,” “awareness,” “life,” “emptiness” “openness” and “Love.” Another term that we can use is “being.” Whenever you are simply being open awareness, accepting the current moment as it is without a wish for it to be different, you are abiding as your true nature. Since your true nature is happiness, you experience happiness when you are being your Self.

Recall a moment when you were not  happy with your children, grandchildren, lover, pet or favorite hobby. Look at what was in your mind in that moment. Notice that you were judging something. You thought something should be different than it was. The cause of your unhappiness wasn’t your children, grandchildren, lover, pet or favorite hobby. The cause of your unhappiness was your judgment.

Now, recall a moment when you were happy with your children, grandchildren, lover, pet or favorite hobby. Notice you were not judging in that moment. You were not wishing things were different. You were simply being with the moment. You were open and aware without judgment. You were abiding as your true nature, and that  is why you were happy. Happiness is your true nature. Since you weren’t blocking your true nature with judgment, you were naturally happy.

This is important, because if we think certain things or certain circumstances in the world make us happy, there will always be other things and other circumstances in the world that we believe make us unhappy. This leaves us seeking those things we think make us happy and trying to avoid those things that we think make us unhappy.  We start trying to control the world around us, which we can never do, and we become completely lost from our Self and our joy.

“Think apart from the world” is another way of asking us to abide as our Self regardless of the current circumstances. It is another way of asking us to be open awareness without asking things to be different. When we learn to be with every circumstance in this way, we abide as our Self, and we are happy because our Self is happiness.

The opening paragraph from today’s reading says:

Now is the day of salvation, for now is the day that you can choose to think apart from the world. You can choose to think apart from your experience. As you do this earnestly, your experience will change, and you will find yourself willing to let go of the world.

The reason thinking apart from the world prepares us to let go of the world is because we learn that happiness isn’t found in the world. It is found in our true nature. At that point, abiding as our true nature becomes our only real goal.

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