Lesson 98. I will accept my part in God’s plan for salvation.

What is God’s plan for salvation? In the language of the Course, it is forgiveness. What is forgiveness? It is removing your attention from the untrue.

Removing attention from problems.
Removing attention from grievances.
Removing attention from fears.
Removing attention from regrets.
Removing attention from jealousies and envies.
Removing attention from judgments.
Removing attention from all of our ideas about how other people should be.
Removing attention from all thoughts about our weaknesses and shortcomings.
Removing attention from our doubts that the truth is true.

Lesson 97. I am Spirit.

What a wonderful reminder this tip provides. We are not that which we have spent so many years imagining ourselves to be. I am not this thing I believe myself to be—I am Spirit.

“Today’s idea identifies you with your one Self. It accepts no split identity, nor tries to weave opposing factors into unity. It simply states the truth”.

We have a ready avenue for remembering the truth that the self-made concept has covered over—awareness watching awareness.  In spending time in awareness watching awareness (or awareness being aware of itself), we lay aside our self concepts, even if momentarily, to make room for the answer that is given when we ask, “What Am I?”

Recently, in my Satsang Interview with Eshwar Segobind, he asked one of our members the same question he had asked me in our prep for the interview: “Tell me who you are without using concepts.” This invitation is the same one we make to Holy Spirit/Inner Wisdom/Consciousness in awareness watching awareness meditation: “I am willing to set my concepts aside and not believe a single thing I have ever believed about myself in the past. In this space left empty of my ideas and concepts, please tell me who I am.”

My experience when attempting to answer Eshwar’s question was a bit of disorientation. How can you say who you are with no point of reference? I could see the thinking mind wanting to define/describe/narrate. But, without concepts, it felt unsettled—a bit threatened. I shared with you in the last Gentle Healing group that this “wobble” is where I want to be. This wobble is where Truth is welcomed.

This lesson is inviting all of us into this undefined space. It may feel uncertain, but only because the thinking mind has nothing to hang its hat on—by refusing to participate in formulating concepts, its illusory underpinnings are removed. Sitting in the wobble takes faith and courage as we let go our familiar foundation of self and reach to understand, with a felt sense rather than the thinking mind, True Self. As the Course promises, in this unoccupied space, “What you Are will tell you of Itself.”

In my spiritual aspiration and vision plan, I have committed to living in that undefined space (wobble) as much as possible: to see where I am applying meaning; to let go comparisons; to let go my self concept as the orienting factor in the experiences I encounter; and, to deeply consider as often as possible throughout the day, “If I am not what I have always thought myself to be, what am I?”

In this short meditation video, Mooji extends the same invitation, to experience yourself without self image. You may wish to use the video for one of your hourly practice periods today.

Lesson 96. Salvation comes from my One Self.

The most important thing about today’s lesson is that we continue to practice looking at awareness for 5 minutes every hour. When we can’t do that, we at least say today’s lesson to our self and practice Bentinho’s 2-5 seconds. This practice of looking at awareness frequently is much more helpful than you may imagine. Literally, your salvation (awakening) comes from paying attention to your Self (awareness).

Remember, you are praying for whatever you pay attention to. We learned this in NTI Ephesians. Pay attention to the world and your thoughts about it, and you get more of the ongoing dream script. Pay attention to awareness, and you will come to know your true Self as a direct experience. (Salvation comes from my one Self.)

Lesson 95. I am One Self, united with my Creator.

Today’s lesson is really subtle. It’s an important lesson. It’s also a lesson that the ego can’t understand. Let’s look at it carefully and slowly so it can be understood and digested beyond the ego mind.

“I am one Self, united with my Creator.” If this is true (and it is true), can I do anything apart from my Creator? In order to do something apart from my Creator, we’d have to be two, wouldn’t we?

This means that if I forget the lesson for a few hours, or if I remember but I have too much resistance to give 5 minutes to practice, that I am forgetting or resisting WITH my creator.

Yep. This may not seem right to you, but if it doesn’t seem right it is because you are still thinking of your creator as something other than you.

Remember The Code. The entire world experience, including every thought that comes into your mind and every feeling that comes into your body, comes from our oneness and how we cast attention. Our oneness is the creator. So if we are distracted from remembering the lesson, where do those distractions come from? My creator of which I am a part. And if I have too much resistance to practice, where does that resistance come from? My creator of which I am a part.

When the ego mind thinks it understands this, it thinks, “Then I don’t even need to try because everything is God.” That’s not a right understanding. Again, remember The Code. The code that we create has different vibrational levels in it. When we choose the highest level available to us, we raise higher in vibration.

Look carefully at today’s lesson again. Look at paragraphs 8, 9 & 10. Can you see how those paragraphs are teaching you to make higher choices so you raise yourself in vibration?

~ If you forget, forgive yourself.

~ Overlook your lapses/failures; don’t give them any power.

~ Try again to remember with regularity.

All three of these choices will pull you up in vibration. Their opposites would keep you down.

Paragraph 8 says, “The Holy Spirit is not delayed in His teaching by your mistakes. He can be held back only by your unwillingness to let them go.” Translation: Choosing to believe a lower vibration thought/feeling cannot keep you down; only continuing to believe lower vibration thoughts/feelings can keep you down.

So when you make a mistake, correct it as soon as possible by choosing the highest vibrational thought available to you now. That is, forgive yourself, don’t give power to ideas like failure or guilt, and try again.

Also, look at paragraph 14. We are the creator, which means as you choose to raise yourself in vibration, you also raise the world in vibration, and “each time you do so, someone hears the voice of hope, the stirring of the truth within his mind, the gentle rustling of wings of peace.”

“I am one Self, united with my Creator.” With this knowledge, I choose the highest vibration available to me today.

If you’d like to review The Code, click this link. The Bonus audio is a good one for a review.

Lesson 94. I am as God created me.

Today we continue with looking at the self concept issue that most of us experience.  In yesterday’s tip, Jacquelyn pointed out “Most of us have an unworthiness or ‘I am bad’ belief.  In fact, only those who have transcended the belief are not beleaguered by it, in one form or another.”  When I read the title of today’s lesson my thought was, if this is true–I am as God created me–then I can’t be bad.  That is why as this lesson says this idea brings complete salvation.  I’m not bad because of what I am.  I am God’s Son.  I am the Life Force that moves through everything.  Through Connie.  Through the tree.  I am the animating factor that is.  I am and you are the window that consciousness looks through.

Today’s lesson says, “Darkness cannot obscure the glory of the Son of God.”  How could Darkness obscure the Life force that moves through everything? What is darkness, but unforgiven appearances? Like what? Oh, the I am bad thought.  The bedrock of our unforgiven appearance is our belief that we are the body/mind/personality.  The I am bad concept is just meant to maintain that bedrock belief.  It is meant to keep us involved in the story.  If I continue to believe I am a human being will I “attempt to feel the truth in [me]” as this lesson asks us to do with the first five minutes of each waking hour?  “Now try to reach the Son of God in you.  This is the Self Which never left Its home in God, to walk the world uncertainly.  This is the Self Which knows no fear, nor could conceive of loss or suffering or death.”  This is the Self that knows its truth.

Self inquiry is a tool that helps us see that truth. It is important to recognize that Self Inquiry requires us to actually look!

Many people who study A Course in Miracles study at the level of mind–at the level of thinking–so when they come to Lesson 94, they adopt the idea, “I am as God created me,” including their imagination of what that means to them. It doesn’t penetrate very deep, because it is only at the level of mind.

We are now at the phase of Self-inquiry. Self-inquiry has nothing to do with thinking. Self-inquiry is LOOKING. For people who believe everything is resolved by thinking, it takes practice to drop thinking and practice looking, but it can be done. With looking you have the attitude of, “What am I?” and then you LOOK with inner-looking, intuitive looking, to realize the answer.

Mooji, in the video that follows, asks us, “What is it that simply is?”  Self inquiry looks!  It looks past the concepts.  “I am as God created me.”  Self inquiry looks and sees the truth of that.  We are not a character who is bad or even good, as this lesson tries to convey,  we are the “Self That never sinned, nor made an image to replace reality.”  We are awareness being aware.  Will you inquire to the truth of you and all that is?

Lesson 93. Light and joy and peace abide in me.

This lesson addresses an issue most of us would rather not look squarely in the face. Most of us have an unworthiness or “I am bad” belief. In fact, only those who have transcended the belief are not beleaguered by it, in one form or another. That sense that we have about ourselves, that sense that “I am the scum of the earth,” is the voice of the “I am a body” belief. It is created and fed by our focus on our body/mind/personality as who we are.

ACIM tells us, “The concept of the self has always been the great preoccupation of the world. And everyone believes that he must find the answer to the riddle of himself.” T-31.V.14.

So, we set about doing just that and the care and tending or “perfection” of that concept is never-ending. We call this focus on the body as who we are the “ego.” You know the voice, “Oh, good job, you showed them!” or “I cannot believe you failed at that task so miserably. Next time …..” Even if we attempt to create the most wonderful conception of ourselves, the voice tells us, “You have fallen far short.”

As Byron Brown writes in Soul Without Shame, “The [ego] generally recognizes the importance of essential human qualities such as value, strength, peace, compassion, and will. However, it does not believe that you have them innately; it tells you that you must acquire them from the outside through accomplishments and good behavior: ‘If you are an unselfish, giving person, then perhaps you have some value.’ The [ego] believes that you can only claim these qualities when you prove that you have earned them, you can control them, and you can live up to them through meeting its standards. If you can’t, then it tells you, ‘You must be faking the experience; these qualities are only a temporary occurrence, and they will be taken away from you at any moment because they don’t belong to you anyway.’”

As today’s workbook lesson teaches, the unworthiness or “I am bad” belief is undone by removing your believing attention from the idea that you are a body/mind/personality and placing your attention on the Truth of Your Being. The lesson tells us, “Today we question this, not from the point of view of what you think, but from a very different reference point.”

We are going to question our ‘I am a body’ thinking from the point-of-view of our truth. That is, from awareness. An important part of this questioning is “What am I?” Be curious to discover what you are. Are you the body? Are you this thinking? Or, are you awareness? Which one is most true about what you are? Which ones can you observe and which one is you, the observer?

We must begin to listen for the self chatter that purports to tell us who we are. After noticing negative self-chatter, pause to ask, “What am I?” and look beyond the “I am a body (or person or mind)” chatter to notice what you really are.

Today you are asked to give the first 5 minutes of each hour to today’s lesson. It’s possible that you won’t be able to do that, but give those 5 minutes when you can. During that time, wonder, “What am I?” and then look to see what the true answer is. Use the video that is attached to this post to help guide you. You might watch it as part of your practice during one or more of the 5-minute periods today.

When you can’t give a full 5 minutes to today’s practice, give at least the 2-5 seconds that was represented by yesterday’s Bentinho video. If you say today’s workbook lesson and then give a full 5 minutes (or at least 2-5 seconds) to this looking every hour today, you will take great strides in freeing yourself from the “I am the body” belief and from the thinking that goes with it.

Here’s today’s video:

Lesson 92. Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one.

When we have a revelation we have an insight that we previously have not had. The experience was dark and unknown to us prior to the revelatory experience. Similarly, a miracle can be described as a change of mind where a light comes in and illuminates the mind because of a strength that comes to us or through us seemingly not of our own accord, but from awareness. We lose the ability to experience this new found strength when we are body/mind/person conscious. When focused on body/mind/person, the potential for strength and light becomes weakened or darker or less likely. We don’t have the illuminating experience when we are caught up in the story, when we can’t see past appearances, when we worship false idols like money or security or romance or anything of form.

But we are asked in this lesson’s practice to give twenty minutes twice today to experience the strength and the light in which the gift of sight is given us. “Leave, then, the dark a little while today, and we will practice seeing the light, closing the body’s eyes and asking truth to show how to find the meeting place of self and Self, where light and strength are one.

Last night in the Satsang interview Jacquelyn had with Eshwar Segobind, he said the reason we meditate is to allow a space where there are no thoughts.  In the video below, Bentinho Massaro shares with us a technique where a space is provided for self to meet Self, a space to notice our true Self. He says that when you relax and don’t define anything that. that is where you will find the isness of life, the aliveness of life itself or a mystery of being that becomes self evident. He says when we are not applying stories to our circumstances we allows ourselves to relax with awareness and aliveness. It is totally inclusive, allowing and pervasive being innocent and causeless like a baby.

This is awareness watching awareness. This is our true Self. Strength comes from our true Self, life awareness. As we become more aware of our self as life-awareness we also become more aware of our strength. Thinking of our self as the body/mind/person is weakness.

I’m willing to relax my interest in the world, to allow for a space where miracles might be seen. How about you?

Lesson 91. Miracles are seen in light.

What is the miracle?

Today’s workbook lesson says, “The miracle is always there.” The miracle in this context is what you are.

What is light?

Light is awareness.

“Miracles are seen in light” means: Your truth is known in awareness.

Today’s workbook lesson also says, “To you, then, light is crucial. While you remain in darkness, the miracle remains unseen.”

The ego thought system is darkness. While we remain focused on the ego thought system, we are not aware of truth. We are not aware of what we are.

When today’s workbook lesson is contemplated deeply, we see why awareness-watching-awareness meditation is so important to our daily practice. When we are focused on awareness in meditation, we are paying attention to our Self.

In all honesty, most of our time on any given day is focused on darkness. Most of our time is focused on the ego thought system. We are typically absorbed in it, mesmerized, hypnotized, dreaming away. But when we sit down in awareness-watching-awareness meditation, we are concentrated in reaching for our Self. This practice is “crucial” for us.

One of the best ways to focus attention on awareness and to learn to concentrate attention on awareness is Self-inquiry. This is the practice of learning to ask, “What am I?” and then LOOKING to observe the answer (rather than thinking about the answer).

Today’s workbook lesson is an introduction to Self-inquiry. As we move through gentle healing together, Self-inquiry is a practice that will be practiced more and more. However, Self-inquiry is a means to awareness-watching-awareness. Awareness-watching-awareness is the primary practice. Awareness-watching-awareness is the direct path to Self-realization. It’s important to see this, because then our practice time will be more focused on what is most important.

There are two more things I’d like to point out about today’s workbook lesson, and then I will leave you to your practice.

1 – Today’s workbook lesson says, “Your efforts, however little they may be, have strong support.” This points to the quantum leaps that we can expect as we dedicate our selves to our purpose and our practice. When we combine intention with action (spiritual practice), we call out to our true Self with a power that the mind cannot fathom, and the true Self answers. This answer to our call is certain. We simply need to put out the call.

Do your part to the best of your little ability, and the true Self will do its part, and its ability is way beyond yours. Prepare to be amazed.

2 – Today’s workbook lesson says, “Faith goes to what you want, and you instruct your mind accordingly.” This points to the importance of developing the visualization plan you’ve been asked to develop this week. We will use our visualization plans in coming weeks. So if you haven’t set special time aside for deep contemplation and asking in order to develop this plan, please do. It is very important, for the purpose of calling forth the power of the Self, which is the power of, the power behind and the power beyond the entire Universe. As NTI Revelation, Chapter 1 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.”

I don’t know about you, but I am excited for the new start that begins tomorrow … our first lesson after the second review period. My heart is beating excitedly with joyous anticipation of the journey ahead.

We are all currently working with our spiritual aspiration. After we watch the Meta-Secret film and listen to “The Secret Holy Spirit Style,” we will focus within and receive our own visualization plan. The purpose of the visualization plan is to promote our spiritual aspiration.