What is the World?

This is our last day with our special theme, “What is the World?” It is good to read it slowly and contemplatively today. Notice the main themes in this special theme, all of which we have covered in our daily tips.

Let me not see myself as limited.

In two of our recent recommended meditations, the instructions have asked us to keep an open mind.

Tip 11 with AWA Description O said, “Be open minded to the possibility that you can let go of whatever obstacle appears.”

Tip 12 with AWA Description P said, “Be open minded to the possibility that you can let go of all that is limited and finite.”

Today’s workbook lesson asks us to be open minded in the same way. Today is a day to let go of any doubt that we find in our thinking.

Remember, doubt is an ego preservation strategy. If we believe doubt, we are less likely to apply ourselves to the spiritual practice that ends the ego and leads to Self-realization. Therefore, taking time to let go of doubt is extremely useful.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend that you practice one of the following meditations:

AWA Description O

AWA Description P

If you have time, practice both meditations today. I recommend practicing one early in the day and the other later in day.

What is the World?

Our special theme says, “Let us not be satisfied until forgiveness has been made complete. And let us not attempt to change our function. … what was made to die can be restored to everlasting life.”

With these words, our special theme encourages us to stay with our spiritual practice until the final end of the ego.

How do we know when the ego has reached its final end?

Our special theme says that in truth “all the world must disappear.”

Here are a few quotes to consider:

Only when the world-illusion goes does the blissful light of Self arrive. Life lived in this bright, blissful light is our true, natural life. Other ways of life are full of trouble and fear. ~ Ramana Maharshi

The Self, revealed as our true nature within the heart through the power of Self-inquiry, is none other than the peerless reality of the Supreme, which alone remains after this worldly illusion has faded into nothingness. ~ Muruganar

He who knows the state in which there is neither the world nor the thought of it, he is the Supreme Teacher. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

When the mind abandons the movement of thought, the appearance of the world ceases. ~ Vasistha

The world no longer is, whether past, present or to come, after awakening to the supreme reality in the real Self, the Eternal, from all wavering free. ~ Adi Sankara

There are many, many more quotes that point to the disappearance of the world as the sign of true awakening. However, I will end with just one more quote:

There is no world! This is the central thought the course attempts to teach. Not everyone is ready to accept it, and each one must go as far as he can let himself be led along the road to truth. He will return and go still farther, or perhaps step back a while and then return again. ~ A Course in Miracles, Lesson 132

The end of ego and the disappearance of the world are both only concepts for me. I have not experienced either. However, it feels both gentle and right to commit myself to spiritual practice for as long as I look in the mirror (referring to yesterday’s analogy) and see a world.

Forgiveness ends all suffering and loss.

NTI 1 Corinthians speaks of a stage of enlightenment in which existence in the world is pure joy. It says:

The fourth phase is a glorious phase, upon which your feet shall barely touch the ground. As you walk the earth, you know where you walk, so that the earth is merely a symbol within the mind. You shall not know brothers, but you shall talk to them. You will not need food, but you will eat with joy. Music shall accompany you in your every moment, and yet, you will have no need for your ears. Your sight will be changed from earthly sight to sight that is provided from Heaven. All things shall be new, and you shall have no need for any of them. In this, your joy shall be complete.

From there, NTI 1 Corinthians goes on to say:

The purpose of your life in the fourth phase of living on earth shall not be different than the purpose at any other time. Only now, in the fourth phase, the distractions have been erased. In letting yourself become an empty shell, you freed yourself from the desire for distraction. Now, in the fourth stage, your focus is complete. Now you know what you want, and you want it wholly. …

The one that seems to be in the fourth stage is but a symbol of the truth that is. So this one must pass away also. But in its passing, you pass from a final illusion of beauty to Beauty that cannot be contained in illusion. You pass from form, which reflects Light, to Light, which shines into form.

You shall not know death in your passing from the fourth phase to Light, for this passing is recognition of Life. This passing is acceptance of all that is true and all that has always been true. This passing is the final release of illusion, so that no illusion may appear to you. And death is an illusion. So you shall not know death, because you have accepted that illusion does not exist.

Therefore, be willing to become an empty shell. And be willing for this completely. For it is through emptiness that illusion is released, and it is through releasing it, that illusion is taken away.

Letting go of I-thought thinking takes us from a dream of suffering to a dream of joy, but that is not yet the end of the I-thought. If we stop our spiritual practice upon reaching this threshold, we can experience a reemergence of the ego thought system.

It is in our best interest to welcome the happy dream as an opportunity to continue our spiritual practice without distraction until we find ourselves ushered across the threshold, through the experience of the ego’s final end, to “Beauty that cannot be contained in illusion.”

If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this meditation:

AWA Description T

What is the World?

Our special theme says, “Let us not rest content until the world has joined our changed perception. Let us not be satisfied until forgiveness has been made complete.”

If you continue to read the last paragraph of our special theme, it appears to have an outward focus. It says, “We must save the world.” However, an outward focus that attempts to save others, possibly by converting them to the teachings that we study and practice, ignores the teaching itself.

Remember, “Inward problems cannot be solved by looking outward. Inward problems can only be solved by looking inward.”

Or, as A Course in Miracles puts it, “The sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the atonement for himself.” (T-2.V. 5:1)

What is meant by, “Let us not rest content until the world has joined our changed perception … ”?

Most people are motivated to the spiritual path and spiritual practice by their own suffering. They are looking for a better way of existence. If one commits his/herself to spiritual practice, one will reach a point when individual suffering is no longer a problem. One has found a better way of existence. One is happy. In A Course in Miracles, this better way of existence is called “the happy dream.”

If one was motivated solely by the desire to end personal suffering, his/her motivation to continue spiritual practice may wane when s/he reaches the happy dream. However, the ego has not ended at this stage. It is merely dormant, waiting until attention has diffused its focus, so it can return undetected and regain command and control.

The desire to end suffering for one’s self can be highly motivating for a time. However, it is not enough motivation to keep one determined until the ego has ended. A motivation that continues beyond the desire to end one’s own suffering is the desire to end suffering for everyone. This was Buddha’s motivation. This was also Jesus’ motivation. This is what he meant when he said, “… whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:26-28)

Although my experience has reached the happy dream, I pay attention to the news everyday. I look at the suffering that occurs in the world, and I let compassion for others motivate me to continue spiritual practice earnestly until the ego’s final end.

In fact, I am motivated by two factors:

1. Compassion for the world.
2. Desire for the direct knowledge of truth.

Whatever suffers is not part of me.

Today’s lesson may appear to conflict with everything I just said, but it doesn’t.

Let me share an analogy. Let’s imagine that you have a rash on your face. The rash does not itch or hurt. The only way you know you have a rash is that you see it when you look in the mirror.

The doctor has given you a cream to apply to your face. Her instructions are to apply the cream twice a day until the rash disappears completely. As long as there is even the slightest appearance of a rash, you need to continue to apply the cream. If you stop before the rash is completely eliminated, it may return.

Since the rash does not cause you any personal discomfort, the only way to see if the rash has been eliminated is to look in the mirror. If you look in the mirror and see the rash, you continue to apply the cream. Of course, you don’t apply the cream to the mirror. You apply the cream to your face.

The world is our mirror.

Each morning, I get up and spend a few minutes looking at the news on my Yahoo homepage. Seeing suffering there is like seeing the rash on my face. But after looking at the rash, I turn to my own spiritual practice. I apply the cream to my face.

Denying suffering, when it is done properly, is a part of applying the cream to my own face. The proper way to deny suffering is to look at awareness, recognize it as my true Self and recognize that awareness is forever unaffected by perception. In other words, I reclaim my true Self and disown the false self.

As today’s lesson says, “What is in pain is but illusion in my mind. What dies was never living in reality, … Now I disown self-concepts and deceits and lies …”

Many people have been confused about the proper use of denial. Do not deny the suffering that others experience. Have compassion for their suffering. The suffering that you deny is your own. You deny your suffering by noticing that your true Self does not suffer. It never has.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this one:

Broken Heart Meditation

What is the World?

Our special theme says, “As sight was made to lead away from truth, it can be redirected. … all perception can be given a new purpose by the One Whom God appointed Savior to the world. Follow His light, and see the world as He beholds it. Hear His Voice alone in all that speaks to you. And let Him give you peace and certainty, which you have thrown away …”

The “One Whom God appointed Savior to the world” was referred to as the “Thought of peace” in our last special theme, What is Salvation? That theme said, “The Thought of peace was given to God’s Son the instant that his mind had thought of war. There was no need for such a Thought before, for peace was given without opposite, and merely was. But when the mind is split there is a need of healing. So the Thought that has the power to heal the split became a part of every fragment of the mind that still was one, but failed to recognize its oneness.”

So, we turn to the Thought of peace, which is within each of our minds, and let it lead us. We do this by:

• • Recognizing the ego thought system as deception and choosing not to listen to it regardless of what its story is. We remember that Jesus referred to it as “the father of lies” in the Bible. We see it clearly as that now.

• • Choosing the purpose of healing the mind and awakening to truth, and holding steadfastly to that purpose under all circumstances.

• • Practicing the Loving All Method with the realization that the Loving All Method disregards the ego’s judgments and outward seeking

• • Practicing surrender as it is taught in The Teachings of Inner Ramana, so that we are guided by the “Thought of peace.” We “follow His light” and “Hear His Voice alone” because we are not interested in the ego’s deception anymore.

• Focusing on awareness frequently as we anticipate the holy instant when our identity will shift to it and we are no longer identified with the ego’s deceptive thought system.

Without forgiveness I will still be blind.

When we judge others, we believe the ego’s deceptive thought system. Our mind may argue that it is justified for its way of perceiving, but it perceives without the light of truth. As our special theme has taught us, “The mechanisms of illusion have been born instead. And now they go to find what has been given them to seek. Their aim is to fulfill the purpose which the world was made to witness and make real.” That purpose is separation. It is the opposite of truth.

Instead of believing the ego’s thought system today, turn frequently to bulleted reminders above. Review them and practice them. They represent the means by which we shall awaken fully to the realization of truth as it is.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this meditation:

What is the World?

Over the last two days, we have contemplated the fact that perception is deception. However, our special theme gives us hope when it says, “As sight was made to lead away from truth, it can be redirected … all perception can be given a new purpose …”

The world’s purpose for you is the one that you give it. If you give the world the purpose of healing the mind and awakening to truth, that is the purpose of everything you perceive. However, if you do not consciously and steadfastly choose this purpose, the world, by default, will continue to be a place of deception with the purpose of feeding the thought of separation.

What purpose do you choose?

Is there anything (anyone, any circumstance, any desire) that you exclude from the purpose of healing or awakening?

If there is anything that you exclude from the purpose of healing or awakening, that remains an area of deception for you. That is where your ego feeds itself.

To love my Father is to love His Son.

There are some teachings we need to accept if healing the mind or awakening to truth are important to us.

1. The ego (I-thought) will not lead us to awakening. Its purpose is the opposite of truth.
2. The ego is the cause of all suffering. As long as we continue to accept the I-thought’s thinking as our thinking, we will continue to suffer (be unhappy, worry, have grievances, etc.). Likewise, as long as we continue to accept the I-thought’s thinking as our thinking, we will continue to contribute to the world’s suffering (in all of its forms).
3. The only way to be in the world without following the I-thought’s thinking is to surrender to wisdom that is not part of the I-thought’s thinking. That is the purpose of surrender.

You can know the I-thought’s thinking by its will. Outward seeking is the will of the I-thought.

Judgment is a mechanism of the ego’s outward seeking loop. It judges to determine good and bad, right and wrong, desired and undesired, etcetera. And then is seeks to obtain or achieve what it determines is good for it and to avoid or destroy what it determines is bad for it.

Please take a few minutes to contemplate some things or circumstances that your mind judges as good or desired. Notice the thinking that spins in your mind about obtaining or achieving those things or circumstances.

Next, take a few minutes to contemplate some things or circumstances that your mind judges as bad or undesirable. Notice the thinking that spins in your mind about avoiding or ending those things or circumstances.

You have just observed judgment and outward seeking in the I-thought’s thought system.

Love is the nature of the true Self. Love is open allowance and acceptance of all things as they are. Love does not seek outwardly for happiness or safety. Love is fulfilled within itself. Love is eternal and invulnerable. It is not threatened by the temporary circumstances that come and go in perception.

When we practice The Loving All Method, we practice abiding as our truth. The Loving All Method is also a good foundation for surrender, since we are more likely to intuit wisdom that comes from beyond the I-thought’s thinking if we have not already believed the I-thought’s judgments.

Today, give full attention to practicing The Loving All Method and to surrender as it is taught in The Teachings of Inner Ramana. To make today’s practice most effective, first take time to give the entire day and everything that will happen today a single purpose—the purpose of healing your mind or awakening to truth—in whatever way you feel inspired to aspire to that.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this meditation:

AWA Description S

What is the World?

Our special theme says, “Thus the world was meant to be a place where God could enter not, and where His Son could be apart from Him. Here was perception born, for knowledge could not cause such insane thoughts. … The mechanisms of illusion have been born instead. And now they go to find what has been given them to seek. Their aim is to fulfill the purpose which the world was made to witness and make real. … Yet everything that they report is but illusion which is kept apart from truth.”

Similarly, The Teachings of Inner Ramana says:

“Think of mind as a filter. This filter enables one to see objects where there is light. This filter enables one to distinguish differences where there are none. … Without the mind, one would be unable to experience the world. But this does not mean that one must be subject to the mind.

The mind, when believed and taken seriously, seems to define reality. But as I have just shown, the mind does not define reality. It places a veil of perception over reality so reality can be experienced in a new way. This means that the mind is a trickster or illusionist, and that which it creates is purely illusion. To believe the mind is to believe illusion. To think illusion is reality is to be completely deluded.

Again I emphasize that belief in illusion, or the process of being deluded, comes from believing the mind.

This must mean then, that the process of awakening is also the process of learning not to believe the stories of the mind.

As a filter, the mind can be used to see and experience illusion without believing it. This experience comes from maintaining knowledge that is beyond the mind. It can also be said that this knowledge is before the mind. This knowledge exists now, within the Self, at a depth that is below and at a height that is above the mind. In other words, the knowledge is always accessible and it takes only desire to remember and realize this knowledge.”

Your peace is with me, Father. I am safe.

We practice again today like we practiced yesterday. In addition to practicing awareness-watching-awareness, we take short breaks throughout the day to notice awareness as what we are. Also, we practice surrender as it is taught in The Teachings of Inner Ramana. By asking, “What am I to do now?” we are led by intuition, which comes from truth-knowledge, instead of by thought, which is the source of delusion.

To help with today’s focus, I am recommending two meditations again today. If you can, please practice the first meditation early in the day and the second meditation later in the day.

AWA Description R

Just Be Natural Meditation

What is the World?

Our special theme says, “Thus the world was meant to be a place where God could enter not, and where His Son could be apart from Him. Here was perception born, for knowledge could not cause such insane thoughts. But eyes deceive, and ears hear falsely. Now mistakes become quite possible, for certainty has gone.”

The primary definition of perception is, “the ability to see, hear or become aware of something through the senses.” A secondary definition is, “a way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something; a mental impression.”

In other words, perception is an outward focused way of acquiring information. When combined with personal thought, which interprets the information received from the senses, perception is also a way of conditioning the mental organism, the brain.

This is very important to see!

Simply put, perception is a means of creating and securing ignorance. In other words, as we remain focused on the world and thought, we are completely ignorant of truth. It is also fair to say we are completely deluded.

Or, as our special theme says, “The mechanisms of illusion have been born instead. And now they go to find what has been given them to seek. Their aim is to fulfill the purpose which the world was made to witness and make real. They see in its illusions but a solid base where truth exists, upheld apart from lies. Yet everything that they report is but illusion which is kept apart from truth.”

I am in danger nowhere in the world.

When we look deeply at the fact that everything we think is true is not true, we can feel very disoriented. We can even feel afraid. However, there is nothing to fear. There is nothing to fear because thought, the body and the world are not real; therefore, we are not at all vulnerable.

Yes, it is true that the imposter self is vulnerable. As we saw in yesterday’s tip, fear is an inherent part of thought, because thought is not a self. That unconscious realization is the cause of fear. But we are not thought. We are not the imposter self or its creation, the body. We are the true Self. We are that which “cannot suffer, be endangered, or experience unhappiness …”

As The Teachings of Inner Ramana says, “Fear comes simply from not knowing reality. Therefore, the only answer to fear is to let go of what is false and to remember reality as true.”

That is our focus today. In addition to practicing awareness-watching-awareness, take short breaks today to notice awareness as what you are. Notice that as awareness, you observe thought. Notice that you observe the body. However, you are prior to both of them. Notice yourself as that which is completely unaffected by anything in the realm of perception.

To help with today’s focus, I am recommending two meditations. If you can, please practice the first meditation early in the day and the second meditation later in the day.

AWA Description Q

Recalling Attention

What is the World?

Our special theme says that the world “was made as an attack on God. … Thus the world was meant to be a place where God could enter not, and where His Son could be apart from Him.”

However, The Teachings of Inner Ramana says, “The mind creates experience that is not real. It is illusion or fantasy, and it is created for the purpose of enjoyment or pleasure.”

So, which is true? Is the world an attack on God or is it intended for our enjoyment?

If you pay attention to the mind, which is engaged in actively creating the world now, you will see that both are true.

The world is “an attack on God” and “meant to be a place where God could enter not” in that the mind is focused on the thought of separation. The mind wants “me” to be real, this apparent individual entity that is separate from everything else.

At the same time, the mind is constantly seeking “enjoyment or pleasure” for “me” and tries to avoid anything that it defines as pain or displeasure.

Both of these metaphysical stories, the one from A Course in Miracles and the one from The Teachings of Inner Ramana, describe the workings of the mind as it is now. And the world we see today comes from the workings of the mind as it is now.

Also, both A Course in Miracles and The Teachings of Inner Ramana describe the world as a place of fear. The Teachings of Inner Ramana says:

“The mind is afraid because the unnatural is not natural. The mind that has forgotten reality knows that something is wrong, but it does not know what that is. It projects stories in an effort to give itself a reason for its fear, but it cannot find the answer it seeks because it is looking in the wrong direction. Its fear does not come from its own projections, and so solutions to those projections cannot end the fear.

Fear comes simply from not knowing reality. Therefore, the only answer to fear is to let go of what is false and to remember reality as true.”

Or as Michael Langford writes in The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss:

“Thought believes thought is a real entity and thought believes thought is a real self. Thought is not a real entity and thought is not a self. Living from thought instead of living from Awareness is the cause of all human suffering. …

The ego is the cause of all disease, death, war, fear, anger and violence. Although many thousands of years have passed, human beings have made almost no inward progress toward ending suffering, sorrow, war, fear, anger, violence, cheating and lying.

Thousands of years ago humans had suffering, sorrow, war, fear, anger, violence, cheating and lying.

Now, today, currently, humans have suffering, sorrow, war, fear, anger, violence, cheating and lying.

What has kept humans in the same pool of inward unsolved problems?

The ego (the imposter) has kept humans in the same pool of inward unsolved problems.

Inward problems cannot be solved by looking outward. Inward problems can only be solved by looking inward.

The ego knows that if the attention is turned inward, the ego will be found to be a myth, an imposter, an illusion, a delusion, a dream. Therefore, due to the ego’s fear of ending, the ego keeps the attention directed outward.”

If you contemplate “What is the world?” along with these excerpts from The Teachings of Inner Ramana and Michael Langford, you will see that they are all saying the same thing:

The ego (I-thought) is not the truth of what we are.

Since the I-thought is unconsciously aware that it is not truth, fear is inherent in its thought system.

The ego does not want to look inward to find the cause of its fear, because it unconsciously knows that if one looks inward, the I-thought will be found to be unreal.

Therefore, the mind projects problems outward and then tries to resolve its fear by solving those problems. This is the outward seeking mechanism of mind. It seeks pleasure and avoids pain.

Of course, outward seeking will never work, because as each problem is resolved, the fear inherent in the thought system continues. Therefore, another problem is projected by the fear in thought.

This seeking and projection loop continues for as long as the thought of separation continues.

The only answer to the world’s problems is to end the thought of separation (the ego, the I-thought).

Today I will judge nothing that occurs.

Judgment is based on the idea that we know what is good and bad, right and wrong, etcetera. If you look carefully at these ideas, you will see they are part of the outward seeking and projection loop described above. In other words, judgment is a primary function of the ego. Since judgment is an activity of the ego, believing judgment keeps the ego active.

The entire world and all of its problems are a projection of the ego. To believe the ego is to continue the projection. This is very important to see!

When we believe our own ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, etcetera, we think we are going to make things better through judgment, but in fact we are keeping the problem creator, the ego, active. This is very important to see!

In short, by trying to seek pleasure and avoid pain through judgment, we create the very suffering we seek to avoid.

When this is seen, the only reasonable response is to genuinely surrender all judgment and to turn to inner spiritual intuition regarding what to think, how to see, what to say and what to do.

Today, try not to believe judgment. Instead, practice the Loving All Method and practice surrender as it is taught in The Teachings of Inner Ramana. Leave creation to be itself without further complicating it with your individual assessment of what should and should not be.

Please read this tip two or three more times today. It is very important to fully accept what is written in this tip.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this meditation by Michael Langford and Karen Worth:

AWA Description P