Kathy Smith explores the quotes from Experience Your Perfect Soul and shares from her contemplation of them.
10-1-17 Weekly Gathering: “Using Values to End the Spiritual Ego”
Topic: “Using Values to End the Spiritual Ego”
Rev. Regina Dawn Akers discussed the importance of Awakening Together’s Core Values as a way to purify the mind of tendencies that are commonly known as “spiritual ego.”
Oct 1 ~ Daily Contemplation ~ Lesson 254
Let every voice but God’s be still in me.
Father, today I would but hear Your Voice. In deepest silence I would come to You, to hear Your Voice and to receive Your Word. I have no prayer but this: I come to You to ask You for the truth. And truth is but Your Will, which I would share with You today.
Today we let no ego thoughts direct our words or actions. When such thoughts occur, we quietly step back and look at them, and then we let them go. We do not want what they would bring with them. And so we do not choose to keep them. They are silent now. And in the stillness, hallowed by His Love, God speaks to us and tells us of our will, as we have chosen to remember Him.
Tips from Regina ~ Lesson 254
What is Sin?
We have read the special theme while replacing the word sin with “insanity.” Let’s read the special theme again, and this time let’s replace “sin” with “My ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, what should be and what should not be.”
For example, “My ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, what should be and what should not be are the home of all illusions, which but stand for things imagined, issuing from thoughts that are untrue. They are ‘proof’ that what has no reality is real. My ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, what should be and what should not be ‘proves’ God’s Son is evil; timelessness must have an end; eternal life must die. …”
Most people take their ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, what should be and what should not be to be fact. However, not everyone sees right and wrong, good and bad, what should be and what should not be in the same way. Therefore, our ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, what should be and what should not be are opinions.
NTI calls these ideas “judgment,” and claims that judgment is the building block of illusion. Our special theme makes the same claim:
[My ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, what should be and what should not be are] the home of all illusions, which but stand for things imagined, issuing from thoughts that are untrue. They are ‘proof’ that what has no reality is real.
In her book, In the World but Not of It, Gina Lake refers to these ideas as “duality.” She says, “Be aware of the duality and untruth represented in your thoughts. Thoughts do not tell the truth. When you see this very clearly, your thoughts lose the power to make you suffer.”
Here are some tips Gina shared about how to transcend duality:
The duality of better than/less than is transcended by recognizing the truth that everything is perfect just as it is. Everything is as its meant to be and serving its purpose in the Whole. …
The duality of like/don’t like is transcended by holding your preferences lightly, by noticing your preferences but not necessarily letting them drive your actions or decisions. Instead, the divine self determines your actions, which may sometimes take you in directions that go against your conditioned preferences and desires.
The duality of want/don’t want is transcended by holding your desires lightly and by letting everything come that comes and letting everything go that goes. You lay the small will at the feet of Thy will, trusting that the divine self knows best …
The duality of good/bad is transcended by recognizing where those opinions come from and that they serve only the ego, and then holding them lightly or letting them go.
The duality of emotional highs and lows is transcended by coming into right relationship with life, which is experienced as equanimity. … This equanimity is sober, steady, okay with everything, at peace and content. It is a state of causeless, subtle happiness, or inner joy.
The duality of taking too much or giving too much is transcended through selflessness. The ‘self’ that is absent in ‘selflessness’ is the egoic self, which tends to take or give too much, both for the purpose of getting what it wants. Selflessness, on the other hand, is giving appropriately, … the divine self moving in the world, doing or not doing, according to a greater will that knows exactly what action to take when.
Gina goes on to write:
What happens when you become more aware of your thoughts [of duality] and start questioning them is that space, or distance, is created between you and the thought-stream … more time in the spacious Presence that is the divine self.
Let every voice but God’s be still in me.
As today’s lesson says:
Today we let no ego thoughts direct our words or actions. When such thoughts occur, we quietly step back and look at them, and then we let them go. We do not want what they would bring with them. And so we do not choose to keep them. They are silent now. And in the stillness, hallowed by His Love, God speaks to us and tells us of our will, as we have chosen to remember Him.
If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this meditation:
If you only have 20 minutes for meditation today or if you have 20 minutes later in the day for a second meditation, I recommend this guided meditation by AHAM and Karen Worth:
Sept. 30 ~ Daily Contemplation ~ Lesson 253
My Self is ruler of the universe.
It is impossible that anything should come to me unbidden by myself. Even in this world, it is I who rule my destiny. What happens is what I desire. What does not occur is what I do not want to happen. This must I accept. For thus am I led past this world to my creations, children of my will, in Heaven where my holy Self abides with them and Him Who has created me.
You are the Self Whom You created Son, creating like Yourself and One with You. My Self, which rules the universe, is but Your Will in perfect union with my own, which can but offer glad assent to Yours, that it may be extended to Itself.
Tips from Regina ~ Lesson 253
What is Sin?
Our special theme says, “The body is the instrument the mind made in its efforts to deceive itself. Its purpose is to strive. Yet can the goal of striving change. And now the body serves a different aim for striving. … Truth can be its aim …”
Actually the mind strives, and the body follows. The mental chatter that you experience is striving—it is not rest. It is striving to accomplish the ego’s “idle wish” for separation.
Admittedly, spiritual practice is also striving. However, it is striving with a different purpose. It is striving to let go of the striving that creates illusion and to return to the state of rest in which the truth is realized.
Here are some quotes from Nisargadatta Maharaj that are related to this teaching from our special theme. Pleae contemplate these quotes at intervals throughout the day today:
- “You give reality to concepts, while concepts are distortions of reality. Abandon all conceptualization and stay silent and attentive. Be earnest about it and all will be well with you.”
- “You are the infinite focused in a body. Now you see the body only. Try earnestly and you will come to see the infinite only.”
- “Mere listening, even memorizing, is not enough. If you do not struggle hard to apply every word of [the teaching] in your daily life, don’t complain that you made no progress.”
- “When you are dead earnest, you bend every incident, every second of your life to your purpose.”
- “The word itself is the bridge. Remember it, think of it, explore it, go round it, look at it from all directions, dive into it with earnest perseverance. Endure all delays and disappointments till suddenly the mind turns round, away from the word, towards the reality beyond the word. It is like trying to find a person knowing his name only. A day comes when your inquiries bring you to him and the name becomes reality.”
My Self is ruler of the universe.
“It is impossible that anything should come to me unbidden by myself. Even in this world, it is I who rule my destiny. What happens is what I desire. What does not occur is what I do not want to happen. This must I accept.”
There is a simple way to see the teaching above.
If I want illusion, I get illusion.
If I want truth, truth is realized.
How do I know what I want?
What is my life about? What am I applying myself toward?
Most people have had a goal at some point in their life that was the central theme of their life at that time. It could have been the goal of getting a college degree, of finding a life partner, of having and raising children, of starting a new business, or any number of things. When a goal is really important to us, we apply ourselves toward that goal.
So again, what am I applying myself toward?
If I am applying myself toward thought or the imposter self’s desires, that means that I am primarily interested in the world of illusion. Because I am primarily interested in the world of illusion, that will continue to be experienced. Since the world of illusion is duality, I will experience duality, both that which I consider good and bad, desired and undesired. That is the nature of duality.
If I am applying myself toward awakening, I will succeed in awakening. As Nisargadatta Maharaj said, “The desire to find the Self will surely be fulfilled, provided you want nothing else.”
Today is a day to contemplate what I want, and to ask if I am willing to apply myself toward that goal.
If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this meditation:
Sept. 29 ~ Daily Contemplation ~ Lesson 252
The Son of God is my Identity.
My Self is holy beyond all the thoughts of holiness of which I now conceive. Its shimmering and perfect purity is far more brilliant than is any light that I have ever looked upon. Its love is limitless, with an intensity that holds all things within it, in the calm of quiet certainty. Its strength comes not from burning impulses which move the world, but from the boundless Love of God Himself. How far beyond this world my Self must be, and yet how near to me and close to God!
Father, You know my true Identity. Reveal It now to me who am Your Son, that I may waken to the truth in You, and know that Heaven is restored to me.
Tips from Regina ~ Lesson 252
What is Sin?
Our special theme says, “The body is the instrument the mind made in its efforts to deceive itself.”
Here are some quotes for you to contemplate today in relation to the previous statement from our special theme:
- You know yourself only through the senses and the mind. You take yourself to be what they suggest; having no direct knowledge of yourself, you have mere ideas; all mediocre, second-hand, by hearsay. Whatever you think you are, you take it to be true; the habit of imagining yourself perceivable and describable is very strong with you. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
- Question: To be here and now, I need my body and its senses. To understand, I need a mind.
Nisargadatta Maharaj: The body and the mind are only symptoms of ignorance, of misapprehension. Behave as if you were pure awareness, bodiless and mindless, spaceless and timeless, beyond ‘where’ and ‘when’ and ‘how’. Dwell on it, think of it, learn to accept its reality. - When the subtle mind emerges through the brain and the senses, the gross names and forms are cognized. When it remains in the Heart names and forms disappear… If the mind remains in the Heart, the ‘I’ or the ego which is the source of all thoughts will go, and the Self, the Real, Eternal ‘I’ alone will shine. Where there is not the slightest trace of the ego, there is the Self. ~ Ramana Maharshi
- We know that only by means of the bodily senses and the mind can the world be known. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
- This [supreme state] is entirely one and indivisible, a single solid block of reality. The only way of knowing it is to be it. The mind cannot reach it. To perceive it does not need the senses; to know it, does not need the mind. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Son of God is my Identity.
Today is a day to give willingness to know your true Self. Stay in the heart today. Review the quotes above along with today’s excerpt from our special theme. Ask yourself questions like, “If I am not this body, this mind, this personality, what am I?”
If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this meditation:
Sept. 28 ~ Daily Contemplation ~ Lesson 251
Section 4. What is Sin?
Sin is insanity. It is the means by which the mind is driven mad, and seeks to let illusions take the place of truth. And being mad, it sees illusions where the truth should be, and where it really is. Sin gave the body eyes, for what is there the sinless would behold? What need have they of sights or sounds or touch? What would they hear or reach to grasp? What would they sense at all? To sense is not to know. And truth can be but filled with knowledge, and with nothing else.
The body is the instrument the mind made in its efforts to deceive itself. Its purpose is to strive. Yet can the goal of striving change. And now the body serves a different aim for striving. What it seeks for now is chosen by the aim the mind has taken as replacement for the goal of self-deception. Truth can be its aim as well as lies. The senses then will seek instead for witnesses to what is true.
Sin is the home of all illusions, which but stand for things imagined, issuing from thoughts that are untrue. They are the “proof” that what has no reality is real. Sin “proves” God’s Son is evil; timelessness must have an end; eternal life must die. And God Himself has lost the Son He loves, with but corruption to complete Himself, His Will forever overcome by death, love slain by hate, and peace to be no more.
A madman’s dreams are frightening, and sin appears indeed to terrify. And yet what sin perceives is but a childish game. The Son of God may play he has become a body, prey to evil and to guilt, with but a little life that ends in death. But all the while his Father shines on him, and loves him with an everlasting Love which his pretenses cannot change at all.
How long, O Son of God, will you maintain the game of sin? Shall we not put away these sharp-edged children’s toys? How soon will you be ready to come home? Perhaps today? There is no sin. Creation is unchanged. Would you still hold return to Heaven back? How long, O holy Son of God, how long?
Lesson 251
I am in need of nothing but the truth.
I sought for many things, and found despair. Now do I seek but one, for in that one is all I need, and only what I need. All that I sought before I needed not, and did not even want. My only need I did not recognize. But now I see that I need only truth. In that all needs are satisfied, all cravings end, all hopes are finally fulfilled and dreams are gone. Now have I everything that I could need. Now have I everything that I could want. And now at last I find myself at peace.
And for that peace, our Father, we give thanks. What we denied ourselves You have restored, and only that is what we really want.
Tips from Regina ~ Lesson 251
What is Sin?
Our new special theme needs to be read with understanding that comes from clarity. If one reads this special theme with the judgmental mind of the ego, one might perceive that s/he is a sinner because s/he experiences a body. That is not what this lesson intends to teach.
Let’s look at the first paragraph through the lens of clarity.
The paragraph begins with three important words. “Sin is insanity.” The mind might interpret those words to mean something like, “It is insane to be evil” or “It is insane to be as bad as you are.” However, that is not what the sentence says. The sentence is defining what sin is by placing it side-by-side with a synonymn.
Pretend like you had never heard the word “sin” before. This is the first time the sound of s—i—n has ever reached your ears. Someone uses that word, and you ask, “What is ‘sin’?” The answer is, “Sin is insanity.”
“Oh,” you say, because you know what insanity is. And as the person continues to talk using the word “sin,” your mind naturally substitutes “insanity” every time “sin” is heard.
Therefore, you hear, “Insanity is the means by which the mind is driven mad, and seeks to let illusions take the place of truth. And being mad, it sees illusions where the truth should be, and where it really is. Insanity gave the body eyes, for what is there the lucid would behold? …”
Or said another way, the perceived world is not true. Those who choose to believe it without questioning it are deluded. Anyone who has awakened to truth, and therefore knows the unreality of the world, has no interest in it. They are drawn only to reality.
Here’s how NTI says the same thing:
You experience the ego as a stream of thoughts within the mind that seem to interpret, counsel, identify, judge and spring forth as ideas. In themselves, these thoughts seem to be nothing to you, although you listen to them and act on all that they say. These thoughts rule your mind and your interpretation of the world, because you believe what they say. Yet, they are based on a foundation of separateness, which is not what is true. And so what is true is not in what they say.
To listen to these thoughts and believe them is ignorance, for you are listening to what is not true, but believing what you hear. Any action you take based on these thoughts is ignorant action, for it is action based on untruth in an unreal world.
Ignorance is not guilt. It is a call for knowledge. It is the Holy Spirit that leads you through corrected perception to the right-knowledge that you seek. Right-knowledge is true knowledge, and true knowledge is the knowledge of truth.
Do not worry about the mistakes you have made. They are based on ignorance, which is illusion and affects only that which is not reality. Be happy that you have been mistaken! Be joyous that there is another way to see! This is what it means to repent. To repent is to choose again. To repent is to decide to turn from the ways of ignorance and turn to the Voice of Knowledge. This is a joyous decision, for this is the decision that changes all things. This decision that you have made is a decision to listen to another Voice. It is the decision to let go of the thoughts you have listened to until now and to listen to another Voice, the one that comes from God. This decision is a decision to change the habits you have had until now. It is a decision to see yourself through new eyes, eyes that are based on a foundation of truth. ~ NTI Acts, Chapter 4
Set aside your thoughts of division. When you see them in your mind or in the playing out of thought within the world, rejoice! What you see is not true. Be happy that you have found willingness to deny that which is false, for inherent in its denial is the willingness to accept only that which is true. …
One who knows wholeness after experiencing the lack of wholeness knows illusion is no substitute for truth. He shall not choose illusion again. ~ NTI 1 Corinthians, Chapter 16
I am in need of nothing but the truth.
Today is a day to give willingness to know truth. Stay in the heart today. Review the teachings above from A Course in Miracles and NTI throughout the day. Ask yourself questions like, “If this is not reality—if I am deluded in everything I see and believe—do I want to know truth?”
If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this meditation:
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