Today, we continue looking at the seventh step in the awakening process. That step is to give no meaning to anything the ego may say or anything you may experience as the ego dies its final death. The only way to pass through the seventh step is to purify the beliefs that are part of your conditioned thinking. If those beliefs are not purified, you will interpret the ego’s death fearfully, and you will retreat from the ego’s death, because retreating makes you feel more comfortable.

Yesterday, you may have learned something about your thinking. For example, you may have learned that you perceive some things as good and other things as bad. You may like peace and silence, but detest violence, especially in the name of righteousness.

When you go through the final death of the ego, it’s important that you do not interpret anything you hear, feel or experience as meaningful. Instead, you want to simply be with it, whatever it is. As you be with the ego without giving it believing attention, it can pass away. However, when you give the ego believing attention, it has you (awareness) in its grip, and you will act reactively instead of from clarity.

That means that if you think peace and silence are good, and violence is bad or fearful, the ego can use that against you to extend its apparent existence.

It is much better if you see peace and silence as constant, and if you see violence as a temporary scene that will soon pass away. That is a completely different interpretation than “good” and “bad,” and it is an interpretation that will allow you to pass through the seventh step.

Today’s reading interprets Revelation with the right-mind. It encourages to you to seek out the conditioned beliefs that you are not aware of. It asks you to not be distracted by the “smoke that rises out of the abyss,” but to look “past the smoke, deep into the abyss.”

The “smoke” and “abyss” refer to symbols used in Revelation 9. The “smoke” is the smoke screen of the world, and the “abyss” is the mind. In other words:

Do not believe you are upset because of anyone or anything in the world.
Look in the mind for the cause of your upset.

Whenever you believe you are upset because of someone or something in the world, you are deceived by the smoke screen. Instead, look beyond the situation that appears to have upset you, and look in your mind to find the belief that caused your upset. This process of uncovering and letting go of conditioned beliefs is the purification that will enable you to pass through step seven to final awakening.

Today’s reading points out that purification is not always easy. We have repressed false beliefs because they were uncomfortable to face. However, they aren’t true. They are false  beliefs. In order to purify, we need to face them, feel them and let them fade away. That’s how we discover they were never real in the first place.

Sometimes people are afraid to look at their false beliefs. If you are afraid to look, you will not look, and you will remain a robot to your conditioning. However, there is nothing to fear, because you are looking at false beliefs. Looking is the way to freedom.

Please read Revelation 9:1-11, and then read today’s reading in NTI:

Revelation 9:1-11

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

On Day 272, we learned:

We all have ways of finding meaning—ways of interpreting—and whether we realize it or not, we use our conditioned ways of interpreting in order to apply meaning to everything we experience during our daily life.

Our “conditioned ways of interpreting” come from beliefs that we hold on to, because those beliefs are a part of who we think we are or they are a part of how we want to see the world. Conditioned beliefs are not all positive; in fact, the beliefs we treasure most are typically highly negative.

Today we will begin looking at the conditioned beliefs we carry in the mind, beliefs that color our interpretation of everything we perceive.

On Day 275, we looked at six of the seven steps to awakening (as those steps are put forth in NTI). We didn’t look at the seventh step that day. Today, we will begin looking at the seventh step.

The seventh step that one must pass through in order to awaken to truth is this:

Give no meaning to anything the ego says or to any experience you have as the ego dies its final death.

The only way to do this is to purify conditioned beliefs so you are no longer unconsciously subject to them.

The first step in purifying conditioned beliefs is becoming aware of those beliefs. You want to see them in action as part of your interpretation. When you see them, you can let go of them. If you do not see them, they control you.

Today, you will be asked to read a passage from Revelation. As you read, please take notes about the thoughts that flash across your mind. These thoughts will give you insight regarding conditioned beliefs that you still hold onto.

Complete today’s reading this way:

1. Read today’s reading in NTI.
2. After you finish today’s NTI reading, read Revelation 8 from the Bible. Write down the thoughts you see as you read Revelation 8.
3. After you finish reading Revelation 8, look at the notes you took and answer these questions:
   • What meaning did I give as I read Revelation 8?
   • What beliefs led to that interpretation?

For example, let’s imagine you begin the reading with a peaceful feeling, and you think, “That’s nice.” Write that down. Let’s imagine that as the reading continues, you see an anger thought arise. That thought is, “How could anyone think that  is holy?”

You continue reading and continue writing down all of the thoughts you notice.

In this example, after you finish the reading, you look at everything you’ve written down. You notice that you liked the first part of the reading and didn’t like something that came later in the reading. Ask yourself about those thoughts. Why did you think the first part was good and the second was bad? What did your mind see in the first part that it judged as good? What did it see in the second part that it judged as bad? What is underneath those judgments? Practice root cause inquiry to find out why you were upset about the second thing you read.

If you look at your thoughts carefully today, you will learn something about the filter through which you interpret everything you experience.

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

Before reading today’s tip, please read Revelation 7:1-8 in the Bible.

Revelation 7:1-8

The “seal” that is spoken about in this excerpt is readiness. One is not led to the point of letting go of ego until one is ready to let go of ego. Readiness includes preparation, and the teachings that we’ve contemplated in NTI up until this point have prepared us to be ready. When we have learned NTI’s lessons fully, and we live from those lessons in our daily life, we are ready to let go of the ego.

Today’s reading summarizes 12 primary lessons we’ve learned from NTI. Please read the 12 lessons slowly and contemplatively. You may want to journal a little about each lesson to make sure you have clarity regarding each lesson. Do you practice these lessons in your daily life? If not, how can you bring them into your daily living?

The more time you spend contemplating today’s 12 lessons, the better prepared you are to live your life ready to let go of ego.

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

Before reading today’s tip, please read Revelation 6:1-14 in the Bible.

Revelation 6:1-14

On Day 273, we saw that everyone is able to open the symbolic scroll, which means that everyone is able to awaken to absolute truth. The six seals mentioned in today’s reading are six of seven steps that are part of the awakening process.

Step 1– Desiring awakening more than anything else. As we have seen repeatedly since Gentle Healing Year 1, the desire to awaken is the most important part of the awakening process.

Step 2– Seeing through the ‘mask’ of your own ferociousness. Ferociousness is being aggressive towards others (or towards circumstances), and it can show up in a number of ways. Some synonyms for ferocious include brutal, vicious, cruel, merciless, severe, raging, and murderous. Every unenlightened human is ferocious in some way, even if it only shows up as mental attack. Step 2 is acknowledging your own ferociousness and then looking beneath it to see what drives it. In this way, you see beyond it, and it loses its power. It no longer has any value when you see through it. (Root Cause Inquiry is a tool used in Step 2.)

Step 3– Tiring of judgment, which is tiring of wanting things to be different than they are. (The Loving All method is a tool used in Step 3.)

Step 4– Letting go of the belief that life is temporary. This belief comes about when you believe the body-mind-personality is primary and life is secondary to it. The ego, being mental identification with a specific form, sees life in  form. It sees life in people, life in animals and life in plants. That’s why there appears to be death. If form is primary and life is secondary, when form ends, life ends. (Awareness-watching-awareness is a tool used in Step 4. It helps us see that life-awareness is primary and form is secondary.)

Step 5– Learning to trust all that is as it is. (Living with an attitude of trust.)

Step 6– Letting go of perception, which is letting go of thought as me.

Today’s reading does not address the seventh step. We will look at the seventh step in a couple of days. However, the seventh step is giving no meaning to anything the ego says or any experience you may have as the ego dies its final death.

It is helpful to contemplate today’s reading in NTI carefully. How do you feel you are doing on the six steps that are discussed in today’s reading? We aren’t asking this question in order to condemn ourselves, but we do want to find out if there is a desire for and an opportunity for improvement. I recommend asking yourself if you would like to work on these steps more directly than you have been, just as you’d work directly towards any goal if achieving the goal is important to you.

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

Please read and contemplate the following commentary in the same way that you read and contemplate the Thought of Awakening. The commentaries are designed to enrich your understanding.

~Commentary on Love~

Love is acceptance. In order to accept, one sees through falsehood to truth. For you cannot say you accept a thing as it is, if you also insist it is something it isn’t.

To love God and Self and all is to accept God and Self and all as it is. This is also a choice to let go of insistence that it is what it isn’t. And this…true acceptance as it really is…is love.

~From our Holy Spirit

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

Revelation 5:1-5 says:

Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

The scroll represents absolute truth realization, which is awakening to the First Principle of God. When Revelation says, “But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it,” it simply means they are not prepared to open the scroll. Everyone is worthy, but not everyone is ready.

When Revelation says, “See, … the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals,” it means that Jesus has awakened to absolute truth realization.

As today’s reading says:

… Jesus is not different from you.

All of consciousness is one and the same, so if Jesus or any other being can realize absolute truth, you can too. You are fully worthy and fully capable. All that is needed is an absolute decision and commitment-living-practice to back up that decision.

Do you want to be one of the few who persevere?

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

Today, we will begin reading from the Book of Revelation in the Bible. We will use Revelation to look at the wrong mind’s interpretations—to see how it thinks and how it perceives—and to learn how to allow the right mind’s interpretations, which may not come as quickly as the wrong mind’s interpretations. Revelation is full of symbols, which came to John through visions and dreams. These symbols require interpretation if they are to have any meaning, and so it is the perfect text to use as we look at interpretation.

First, read Revelation 4:1-6 from the Bible. Imagine you are assigned to give a presentation on the meaning of these Bible verses. How would you go about finding the meaning? What would be your method of determining what these symbols mean? Consider those questions as you read these Bible verses:

Revelation 4:1-6

Have you determined what you would do in order to prepare for your presentation on the meaning of those verses?

When I was given that assignment while writing NTI, I wanted to break the scripture into parts, and analyze each part separately in order to determine what it meant. I wanted to figure out what the throne represented, what jasper and ruby represented, what the number 24 represented, etcetera and etcetera.

Some of you may think research into expert interpretations is the way to go, and then you can pick the one that is most suited to your liking.

Some of you may go quickly to blame in your mind, blaming John or those who compiled the New Testament for putting these ridiculous, wrong or unhelpful symbols in the Bible.

We all have ways of finding meaning—ways of interpreting—and whether we realize it or not, we use our conditioned ways of interpreting in order to apply meaning to everything we experience during our daily life.

In today’s reading, a specific method of interpretation is recommended. We are told to:

Step back from the images. Take your eyes off of the details, which are separate parts. Look at the whole picture as it is given in the mind. Notice the feelings that the picture evokes.

This method of interpretation, done properly, allows the right-mind to interpret for us.

For example, if there is a problem that arises in life, some people will start taking things apart to figure out what is wrong; some will do research; some will quickly try to decide who to blame for the problem, and etcetera. However, the reading recommends:

1. Step back from the problem. – Pause, allow yourself to detach from your conditioning and any ego thoughts related to the problem.
2. Look at the whole picture (scene or circumstance) as it is given – Be with the situation. See it as it is instead of how you think it should be.
3. Notice the (intuitive) feeling the picture invokes. – What does intuition indicate? Is it even a problem from intuition’s perspective?

This method of interpretation can be used with everything in life, not just challenging symbols or problems.

Step back.
Detach.
Look at the whole as it is.
Feel within for intuition.

Take a moment to read the following excerpt from Revelation, and then continue reading the tip:

Revelation 4:6-11

As the scribe of NTI, when I read this most recent excerpt, I practiced the method of interpretation that was taught after the first excerpt, and the interpretation of the four creatures as representations of eternal sight came to me. I began to see that awakened sight sees only God (reality), and it is deeply grateful and joyous about what it sees. I saw that the gratitude and joy that comes from awakened sight recycles and expands and recycles and expands endlessly.

What I think (God-Gratitude-Joy), I see.
What I see (God-Gratitude-Joy), I experience.
What I experience (God-Gratitude-Joy), I think.
And the cycle continues.

This interpretation would not have come if I had tried to break the symbols apart—if I had tried to figure out what the lion represented, the ox, the face of a man, the eagle, the six wings and etcetera—and then analyze them. This interpretation would not have come if I had researched the experts’ opinions. And this interpretation would not have come if I had just blown off the symbols as hogwash and blamed someone for thinking they were inspired.

Notice your style of interpreting the events in your life today. If you find that you use a method different than the one recommended in today’s reading, try practicing the method taught today instead. Maybe, if you allow a different method of interpretation, you will begin to see the world differently. Likely, if you continue to interpret events in the way you always have, there will be no change in how you see.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”. ~ Commonly credited to Albert Einstein

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

Like yesterday’s reading, today’s reading encourages us to see purification through to its completion regardless of how difficult it gets during the process. It says:

I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. Keep your eyes fixed on the door as you go through your final temptations. Remember that no one can keep you from walking through that door but you.

The reading points out that as long as you believe your conditioning, the “world is your shepherd.” That means that you are merely reactive, in the same way sheep fearfully react to a shepherd who shouts and swings his staff. You are herded about by your thoughts, perceptions and emotions. You may think you are independent, but you are like a dumb robot that performs according to programming without choice.

The reading also says:

But when you have left these beliefs behind as tiny wisps of air that are not noticed, you shall see the world differently. It shall not be your shepherd. It shall be your banquet table. And at this table, you shall feast daily, joyously with me.

Consider these two poems, one by St. Francis of Assisi and one by the Sufi saint, Rabia:

Wring Out My Clothes
By St. Francis

Such love
does the sky now pour,
that whenever I stand in a field,
I have to wring out the light
when I get home.

This Choir
By Rabia

So amazing this choir of
socks, shoes, shirt, skirt, undergarments,
earth, sky,
suns, and moons.
No wonder I too, now
sing all day.

Consider carefully what you really want; to be a slave to conditioning, or to experience the world with love and joy, like Francis and Rabia did.

Do you want to be one of the few who persevere?

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