Today’s reading is very important. One who genuinely practices today’s reading will advance very quickly. As we have already seen, if we continue to live by our old habits, nothing changes.

Today’s reading makes two primary points:

Everything that you see and experience, you see and experience through the filter of your mind.

That means your mind at your current vibrational level. As you rise in vibration, you still see through the filter of your mind, but how you see changes because the mind is different at a higher vibration. Remember, mind is simply thought. So as thoughts change, perception changes. However, even the highest thought—the highest vibration—is still not reality. Perception is never reality, so perception isn’t knowledge.

Knowledge is peace.

Knowledge isn’t “the right perception.” Perception is always interpretation—always seen through the filter of mind. Knowledge is peace.

Peace isn’t perception. Peace is difficult to describe, because it isn’t an object. It isn’t a thought or emotion. It is the absence of object—the absence of thought and the absence of emotion. It is undisturbed, clear, open awareness. That is knowledge.

If we are honest with ourselves, we know when we are caught up in our interpretation and when we are acting with knowledge.

How do we know?

Because peace is either present or it is not.

We can lie to ourselves and claim to be at peace when we are not, but if our desire for truth is strong, we won’t lie to ourselves. From the stance of self-honesty, it is very easy to tell if we are at peace in the moment or if there is a disturbance present.

Today’s reading recommends that we avoid speaking or acting from interpretation, which is not knowledge. It also suggests that we avoid “correcting” others whenever there is a disturbance in our mind. Instead, if we notice a disturbance in ourselves, regardless of how small that disturbance is, we do well to seek healing and clarity in quiet.

When we are at peace—meaning there is no disturbance present—we can trust what we feel to say and do. We are moved by knowledge. In fact, one who is moved by knowledge knows she is moved by knowledge, because she does not have her own interpretative reasons for what she is saying, doing or not doing. She does it because she feels moved to do it, and that is all. There is no other reason, because there isn’t an interpretation.

Review today’s reading carefully, contemplatively and repeatedly. After that, I recommend practicing it conscientiously. There is great benefit in putting today’s reading into practice starting immediately.

Here is a Bible story from Luke 6:

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” [Work, like harvesting grain, is unlawful on the Sabbath according to Jewish law.]

Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. [Unless it is life threatening, healing is also considered work, and therefore, unlawful on the Sabbath.] But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.

Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”

He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

As the scribe of NTI, when I read that story from the Bible, I judged the Pharisees. That’s why you see the interpretation that you see in today’s reading. It talks about judgment, because I was caught up in judgment.

What is judgment? In the way it is used here, judgment is comparing and then favoring or rejecting.

There is another definition of judgment. Judgment can also be defined as making sensible conclusions. The problem is, most of us think we are judging sensibly when we are actually practicing the distorted judgment of separation.

If there were more clarity in the human mind, the guidance would be to use sensible judgment in our daily lives, but when we are completely confused about what is sensible and what is not sensible, the guidance becomes, “forget everything you have been taught and everything you have learned. For if you know nothing, you cannot judge. Any judgment you make … is a mistake.”

Is it safe for us to let go of all judgment? Yes, it is safe if we turn to intuition for guidance. Remember, intuition knows everything about this moment, and it knows truth too. It is much more reliable as a guide than the limited, biased thinking mind. As Nisargadatta taught:

That which sees all this, and the nothing too, is the inner teacher. He alone is; all else only appears to be. He is your own swarupa (true Self), your hope and assurance of freedom; find him and cling to him and you will be saved and safe.

Let me be clear. Humans need judgment to survive. One who lays down the judgment of the thinking mind without tuning into intuitive judgment puts the body-personality in danger. However, it is perfectly safe to abandon ego-judgment and listen to intuition instead. As today’s reading says:

I know truth and I know the world that you believe and hold dear.

Therefore, it is safe to trust intuition.

Today’s reading addresses a second mistake that I made as the scribe of NTI. While reading the Bible, I noticed that the names of the apostles in Luke were different than the names of the apostles in a previous book in the Bible, and I became scared. The fear that arose in me was the fear that the truth is not true.

My mistake was looking for the truth in the world (in this case, in accurate Biblical history.) Looking for truth in the world isn’t an uncommon mistake. Another way this mistake manifests is by expecting human perfection from our spiritual teachers. What we don’t realize is that we want them to be perfect, because we are looking at them as if they are the truth, and then when they do something that doesn’t meet our mental expectations regarding truth, we are disillusioned, and we suffer.

NTI says, “We are all guided to learn the truth by following the path of unreality.”

What does that mean?

It means that the symbols we encounter in the world, including the books and teachers that point to truth, are not truth itself. It is as NTI Revelation says:

The world is an illusion, and so everything you experience as you let go of the world is illusion also. You are not to believe any of it. But helpful symbols will be given to guide you. Remember that they are only symbols. Follow them, realizing you know not where they lead.

Judgment will lead us to reject a book or teacher if we find an error in it that doesn’t meet our expectations. Both favoritism and rejection are the signs of ego-distorted judgment.

Intuition leads us to take what is helpful from books and teachers, and simply leave what isn’t helpful without getting caught up in emotional rejection. Sensible decisions like this are the hallmark of intuition.

Today’s reading provides the basic guidelines for purification. When we live by these guidelines, we purify, which means we rise in vibration.

In today’s reading, the purification guidelines are called “new habits.” Our conditioning is referred to as “old habits.” If we continue to live by our old habits, nothing changes. New habits are necessary if we want to rise in vibration.

Here is a summary of the new habits (guidelines for purification):

1. Realize you do not know anything.
2. Rely on intuition to guide you in all things.
3. Have faith, which means:
   ~ trust the healing process
   ~ put confidence in a benevolent power beyond what your senses or mind can know
   ~ accept that all is well, regardless of the appearance
4. Be willing to let darkness rise into awareness.
5. Practice rest-accept-trust when darkness rises. This type of rest is healing.
6. See doubt as a normal part of this process while realizing it is the lower vibration, and then choose faith instead.
7. When you notice that you’ve slipped into old conditioning, shift into the new habits. In this way, the new habits will replace old conditioning.

Note: I recommend printing this tip for future reference.

Today’s the day! The inner teacher has taken our hand and is leading us into the desert for purification. Yay!!!

Purification is a very important step. It’s necessary, which is why it was the very first thing Jesus did after baptism. Baptism represents the decision to awaken fully. Purification is the first important step in the direction of awakening. We follow in Jesus’ footsteps by walking into the purification stage with the help of NTI and inner spiritual wisdom.

If the thought of purification scares you, remember that fear is a low vibration tempting you to remain at a low vibrational level, and then choose to focus on your willingness instead.

Today’s reading begins:

I am your leader in this process of healing. … The way to healing is to listen to Me with the full attention of your ears. Focus them on nothing else and no one else.

That’s the opening instruction—focus your ears on nothing and no one except the combined guidance of conscience and spiritual intuition. That means that intuition will guide you in how to be, including how to respond to your boss, your spouse, your parents, your children, your spiritual teacher, and etcetera. No one has authority over your spiritual intuition. It alone is your guide, and it guides under all circumstances.

Start here by accepting inner spiritual intuition as your sole authority under all circumstances. If you make this commitment, you take a giant step forward.

Three times, today’s reading says, “This is what you are to do.” Whenever you see those words in NTI, pay close attention. That is specific guidance. You heal by following specific guidance.

What does “heal” mean? NTI refers to the lower vibrations as “sickness.” These are the thoughts, emotions and perceptions that lead to suffering. “Healing” is rising in vibrational level until lower vibrations have no effect on you.

There are two levels of healing. The first level of healing is true perception. True perception is similar to being in remission; you are currently healthy, but you are still subject to vibrational levels. One who experiences true perception is at a very high vibrational level and is in the habit of selecting high vibrations, but the possibility for selecting lower vibrations still exists.

The second level of healing is awakening to the First Principle of God, which is awakening beyond the effect of any vibrational level. It’s awakening from the dream of vibrational levels.

As you read NTI today, keep your journal handy. When you read what you are to do, which will happen three times in today’s reading, ask within “What does this mean?” or “How does this apply to me?” Write what comes to you in your journal. The act of writing will help you commit to the guidance inwardly, and it will help you remember the guidance. I also recommend reviewing your journal a few times during the day. In addition, it is helpful to share from your journal in the Sanctuary or in a safe relationship. Sharing will further strengthen your memory and commitment.

At the end of today’s reading, we are told:

Sickness must rest and be quiet. This is the way to health. Let your sickness rest. But health must serve the Son of God, for that is its only purpose.

Here’s something to contemplate in relationship to that:

The right use of mind is in the service of love, of life, of Truth, of beauty. … You must begin in yourself, with yourself – this is the inexorable law. Attend to yourself, set yourself right – mentally and emotionally. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

The story in the Bible at Luke 4 is the story of Jesus’ 40-days and 40-nights in the desert. Jesus went into the desert to purify from lower vibrations, namely false beliefs, fears, desires and conditioning.

NTI Luke 4 is the beginning of the purification process for the reader. From this point forward, NTI takes the role of spiritual teacher and guides the reader through purification. However, NTI cannot do this alone. You must choose to follow the guidance of NTI in your daily life. If you make that choice, NTI becomes your guide. When NTI becomes your guide, it is more than written words on the page. It is also your inner guide, meaning it will be with you as inner spiritual intuition whether the book is with you or not.

Today’s reading says, “Jesus came out of the desert a teacher, but the one who taught through him was the Holy Spirit. This is the same one that teaches you now, so that no time has elapsed since Jesus seemed to teach until the time that I am teaching you now.”

In other words, that which led Jesus into the desert for purification, that which taught through him after purification, that which speaks through NTI and your spiritual intuition are all the same one. It has been called by many names, including the Holy Spirit and the Voice for God. It is the knowingness of pure consciousness. Today’s reading is an invitation to let this Voice be your guide.

The reading says, “… you will not have to look far to find doubt within your mind.”

It’s helpful to admit that we have doubts, and then move forward trusting inner intuition to the best of our ability anyway. If doubt holds us back, no movement occurs. Doubt can keep us at a lower vibrational level.

Maybe you aren’t sure that you intuit spiritual intuition. That’s okay. It really doesn’t matter at this point whether you do or not. You have access to conscience—everyone has access to conscience—and you have spiritual intuition through NTI, so start there.

NTI Luke 1 said:

Each one comes to the awareness of truth from where he is, so where he is, is where he must begin to learn. There is no shame in his starting point, wherever that starting point seems to be.

Keep things simple. Our goal now is to raise our vibrational level by choosing to follow the highest vibration currently available to us. By doing that, higher vibrations become available. So, that is all you have to do.

If you are worried that you won’t recognize the highest vibration, you can put that worry aside. Worry is a lower vibration. Remember what NTI Luke 2 said:

The birth of Jesus represents the birth of willingness, humble at first, but promising within it all of the glory of Heaven. Mary pondered this promise in her heart, not with the worrisome thoughts of the ego, but in her heart where the Holy Spirit is.

Instead of worrying, simply be willing to take one step at a time. NTI has promised to guide you, and it will. NTI gives very specific guidance—clear and easy-to-follow guidance.

Our guidance begins in tomorrow’s reading. Today, contemplate your willingness to follow NTI’s guidance.

Please review the tip from Day 1, and then come back and read this tip.

Conscience, Consciousness and God’s Will:

Conscience is the knowing within that encourages us to choose the highest vibration available. Conscience knows that lower vibrations lead to suffering and higher vibrations lead to freedom.

Today’s reading refers to “Christ” and “Son of God,” which are synonymous. They are religious terms for consciousness. When today’s reading says that John the Baptist was “not yet fully the Christ,” it means that conscience points towards consciousness, but the vibration of pure consciousness is higher than the vibration of conscience.

As pointed out on Day 1, spiritual intuition is higher than conscience. That’s because spiritual intuition is the knowingness of pure consciousness. We reach spiritual intuition by following conscience and by desiring truth realization. Only following conscience is not enough to awaken spiritual intuition. The desire for truth must also be present.

Today’s reading also refers to “God’s Will.” In truth, God has no will. God, as life-awareness, simply is. “God’s Will” is a symbol. It represents truth. It is also used to symbolize our desire to realize truth.

Let’s look at the Four Principles of God using the terms from today’s reading:

First Principle of God – Pure, unmanifest, life-awareness. There is no “will” in this principle, but the term “God’s Will” is a symbol for this principle.

Second Principle of God – Consciousness, Son of God, Christ.

Third Principle of God – The creative principle.

Fourth Principle of God – Manifestation. Conscience operates at this level. It is an intuitive mechanism that can reduce suffering in humans and raise their vibrational level.

Distraction and Specialness:

Yesterday’s reading pointed out two ways we can raise our vibration: willingness and being grateful for willingness. Today’s reading points out two ways we maintain a lower vibration:

1. Distraction – Being completely outward-focused and forgetting to pay attention within for the highest vibrational option.
2. Specialness – Thinking you are different from other people.

Whenever you notice you have become distracted, simply remember your willingness, and then turn to intuition to find the highest vibration available to you in the moment. Surrender to that vibrational option as guidance.

Whenever you notice that you feel special (different from other people), remember the exercise that we did with molding clay on Day 48. Jesus was a temporary form made from clay. Clay was the essence of Jesus. Clay was a symbol for consciousness. Just as the essence of Jesus was consciousness, your essence is consciousness. There is no difference between you and Jesus. Since the essence of everyone is consciousness, there are no special people. Everyone is the same, regardless of appearance, vibration, knowledge or behavior.

The story in the Bible at Luke 2 is about Jesus’ birth and consecration. The consecration was a ceremony required by Jewish law. Every firstborn male had to be taken to the temple in Jerusalem to be dedicated with a small sacrifice, namely “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.” When Jesus was taken to the temple, two unusual things happened:

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation…”

There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; … She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

Today’s reading says that Jesus’ birth “represents the birth of willingness, humble at first, but promising within it all of the glory of Heaven.” It interprets the story about Simeon and Anna in this way:

This tiny willingness, only newly born and without achievement of any kind, is received by the Holy Spirit as a wonderful gift, and it is received with eternal gratitude.

So it is with your willingness, no matter how humble that willingness may seem to be to you.

Yesterday, we saw that the path of awakening is a path of choosing higher vibrations over lower vibrations. We also saw that although the code is multi-layered, not all vibrational levels are currently available to us as options. We are aware of the vibrations that are closest to our current vibrational level. Some of those vibrations are in tune with the lower edge of our vibrational level. Others are in tune with the higher edge of our vibrational level. We rise up by choosing the options that are in tune with the higher edge of our current vibrational level.

NTI Luke 2 offers willingness as a higher vibrational option that is in tune with our current vibrational level. Gratitude for willingness is another a high vibrational option that is available to us. Through gratitude, willingness grows into true desire, and true desire grows into intense desire for awakening. Intense desire for awakening is a very high vibration. As we have already learned:

Awakening the extremely intense desire for Liberation is the most important first step that can be taken towards being liberated here and now in this lifetime. ~ The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss by Michael Langford

As you read from NTI today, keep in mind that NTI Luke 2 provides a very important key. As it says in The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss:

Some teachings are essential powerful keys. The knowledge that increasing your desire for liberation is the most effective first step you can take, is an essential powerful key.

All obstacles that appear in your journey to freedom are caused by too little desire for freedom. Even a little increase in your desire for freedom is helpful. As your desire for freedom grows in intensity the ego creates fewer obstacles.

Since willingness is a higher vibrational choice, it’s helpful to choose willingness whenever a lower vibration is tempting you. For example, imagine you are very annoyed at a person close to you. Instead of acting from that annoyance, say this prayer with your heart:

I feel very annoyed right now. I don’t see how I could not be annoyed at this. However, I am willing to see differently. I surrender all of my thoughts about this situation in willingness, and I remain open to any guidance that will come.

With a prayer like this, you make the higher choice, and you rise a little higher in vibration, which makes an even higher option available to you. The new higher option is called “guidance”. It might be the guidance to rest-accept-trust, it might be a new way of seeing the situation, or it might be something else that is different from the original options that were available in your mind.

Whenever you choose the highest option available in the moment, you are guided to the next higher option through a rise in vibration. That is what guidance is—a higher choice leading to the next higher option. By following guidance, which is the highest option available now, you continually rise in vibration.

Summary of the Bible Story:

In the Bible, Luke 1 is a story about Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist.

Zechariah was a priest. He was in the temple burning incense when an angel appeared and said, “Your prayer has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. … And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens…” Zechariah’s ability to speak was lost because he did not have faith that his old and barren wife could bare a son.

According to Jewish custom, on the eighth day after the baby was born, the baby was circumcised and given a name. It was customary for the baby to be named after someone in the family. Since Zechariah could not speak, and women were not part of the ceremony—women watched from behind a partition that separated them from the men—the priests were about to name the baby Zechariah, after his father, when Elizabeth called out, “No! He is to be called John.”

The priests were not inclined to name the baby John. They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.” Zechariah motioned for a writing tablet, on which he wrote, “His name is John.” When he wrote this, his ability to speak returned.

Today’s reading in NTI is an interpretation of this story. The interpretation makes two primary points.

All Are Precious

The first point is reminiscent of Jesus’ teaching in the famous Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said:

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. … See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is burnt up in the hot sun, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

Bentinho Massaro defines faith as knowing all is well always, under all circumstances.

The idea of a God-being that gives and takes away is only a concept. What appears to give or take away is the script, which is written by consciousness through the Third Principle of God, the creative principle. The creative principle is not a God-being; it is divine nature. It is the natural means of manifestation.

As The Code teaches, we make choices based on thoughts, emotions and perceptions that come to us from the creative principle. The choices we make return to the creative principle and write the next moment of the script.

With this clarity in mind, notice that faith—knowing all is well always, under all circumstances—is a way of staying with the higher vibration instead of slipping into low vibrational thinking. As a high vibration choice, faith raises our vibration towards true perception. It also affects future manifestation. However, as one rises toward true perception, manifestation becomes less and less important.

One difference between you and the “birds of the air” is that birds live at a more consistent vibration, one that comes from the whole. They live by instinct instead of choice. You have the ability to choose your vibration. Seeing yourself as unworthy is a low vibrational choice. Having faith that you are precious and the universe cares for you is a higher vibrational choice.

Two Choices

Although the code is multi-layered with several vibrational options available, we are not aware of all of the vibrations simultaneously. We are aware of the vibrations that are closest to our current vibrational level. Some of those vibrations are in tune with the lower edge of our vibrational level. Others are in tune with the higher edge of our vibrational level.

In today’s reading, that which is in tune with the higher edge of our vibrational level is called the Voice of Worth. The other voice, which is called our thoughts, is in tune with the lower edge of our vibrational level. Today’s reading encourages us to trust our worth and choose the Voice of Worth.

Realize that the creative principle responds to you. Cooperate with the creative principle by choosing the highest vibration available to you. Also, it’s important to follow through with your choice. It isn’t helpful to say, “I choose faith,” and then attempt to control the situation. As we have often heard, “Actions speak louder than words.” Our action demonstrates the choice we’ve really made.

Summary

In truth, you are greater than the creative principal. You are the First Principal of God. Consciousness is born in you. The creative principal operates in you, and all of manifestation comes and goes in you. That doesn’t seem true if you believe the lower vibrations of the script. Follow the higher vibrations. Following the higher vibrations is the way of “true discovery.” That is how you discover that you “are the One.”

NTI does not teach about a physical resurrection of Jesus’ body. That isn’t a comment on whether there was or wasn’t a physical resurrection. As we have already learned:

When the conditions are right, consciousness manifests as a temporary appearance within consciousness. That temporary appearance could be a flower, a baby, a disease, or an appearance that appears to defy the laws of our world. When the basics of the creative principle are understood, it is seen that temporary manifestation occurs because the conditions come together in a way to create that appearance.

NTI Mark is written to provide helpful symbols. Our role is to derive meaning from its symbols, and then live from the example provided by those symbols. So NTI Mark points within instead of towards manifestation.

We need to look within in order to find our way through the purification stage. We surrender within as we merge with consciousness, and the final death of the ego, which is also the final awakening, is an experience that occurs within.

Here is a related scripture from the Bible. It is provided for your own contemplation:

Now when [Jesus] was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go after them or follow them. For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. ~ Luke 17:20-25, NKJV