NTI 2 Peter is about abundance. Take a few moments to write down what abundance means to you. If you were to live a life of abundance, what would that look like?

Please complete this exercise before reading the rest of this tip.

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On Day 136 and Day 202, we learned that the law of attraction is a distortion of truth. Today, we will learn that the ego’s ideas of abundance are a distortion of abundance.

Today’s reading defines abundance as “full awareness of your divine nature.” We often call that awakening or enlightenment. The reading also says, “Abundance cannot be defined in any other way.”

Look at your list of abundance. Are there material ideas of abundance on that list? Are there experiential ideas of abundance on the list?

Whenever the mind tries to define abundance, it thinks about material or experiential ideas. For example, for one personality-type, the mind’s list of abundance might look like this:

– Plenty of money so I am financially secure until my death
– A nice house to live in with beautiful furniture and art work
– A swimming pool, a well decorated meditation room, an art studio
– The time and the money to travel all over the world
– Physical health for me and my family

Today’s reading says that abundance “cannot be defined within the limits of the world.” That means the previous list, or any list of material and experiential ideas, is a distortion of abundance.

If you look at the dictionary definitions of abundance, you will see that none of the definitions use the term “unlimited.” They may say, “a large quantity of” or they may say “ample quantity” or “a relative degree of plentifulness,” but the dictionaries do not define abundance as unlimited.

Any material or experiential idea of abundance is a limited idea  of abundance. Therefore, it is not full, complete or unrestricted abundance.

If you look deep within your heart, you will find that your heart is not interested in limited abundance. The mind is interested in limited abundance, because in the pursuit of or the attachment to limited abundance, you maintain identification with the mind.

The heart is only interested in true abundance, which is abundance beyond all limits and beyond all definitions. It is “full awareness of your divine nature.”  It is abundance that transcends the world entirely.

The reading says:

For this reason, quiet the mind whenever it seems to stretch to imagine abundance within the world. When the mind is stretching in this way it is stretching to limit itself even more.

Those who believe that material or experiential abundance will fulfill them are identified with the temporary body-personality-mind as who they are. That is the limit that mind’s ideas of abundance put on you. The mind’s ideas of abundance limit you  to a temporary manifestation.

Do you want to be limited in that way, or do you prefer to know true abundance as what you are?

The reading also says:

It is through witness that you know. That which you taste as witness cannot be forgotten…

In other words, spend time noticing life-awareness. It is through the direct knowing of your Self that you know your Self. You cannot know your Self through the mind’s concepts, no matter how lofty those concepts might be.

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

Today’s reading is another collection of pithy statements for contemplation. Here’s how I recommend reading NTI 1 Peter 5:

1. As you read, write down any statements that stand out to you as especially important or meaningful.
2. After you have finished reading, go back and contemplate the statements you wrote down.
3. Write what comes to you as you contemplate those statements. If you are guided into deeper journaling, follow that prompt.

It’s likely you will have a very insightful experience with today’s reading if you contemplate it as I’ve recommended. Don’t feel like you have to contemplate every sentence in the reading. Ask inner wisdom to help you know which sentences/paragraphs are for you.

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

Today’s reading is about two specific misperceptions: fear, and the belief that you are a person.

The Misperception of Fear

In order to let go of fear, it is helpful to notice what fear really is. Fear is nothing but imagination. It is negative fantasy. Whenever you are afraid, it is because you are imagining what might happen, and “you are imagining fearfully.”

Today’s reading says:

To live without fear is to live without imagining. This is to stay in the now and in the heart of true desire.

Whenever you are in fear, pause and notice what is actually happening. Notice that you are imagining.

We can all imagine many fearful scenarios and live a life of anxiety and fear, but why? Why use our minds and attention that way? Is there a benefit to entertaining fearful imagination?

Look at fear. Question your fears. Are they something you choose to hold on to?

The Misperception that You are a Person

On Day 245, we saw that the idea, “I am a person,” is the mistake of believing that manifestation is primary and life is secondary. Life is seen as belonging to a specific manifestation, so when the manifestation ends, life ends too. The mind believes that life is fragile and temporary. That is the root cause of fear.

Today’s reading says:

You are not a person now, and you have not been a person before. There is no person from this lifetime or any other that you must let go of, because there has never been a person. There has only been the thought of persons, and the thought of persons is not real.

What are you?

Ultimately, you are life-awareness, the First Principle of God, but before you realize that, you will realize that you are consciousness, the Second Principle of God.

Let’s review the four principles again:

First Principle of God– Pure, unmanifest, life-awareness; abstract, unlimited potentiality.

Second Principle of God– Consciousness, also known as I Am or Spirit. It can be called “the thought of spirit” since it is a thought born out of (evolved from) the unlimited potentiality of the First Principle.

Third Principle of God– The ongoing activity of creation, which occurs naturally through the declarative  interaction of consciousness with that which is witnessed. (“Declarative” means that consciousness uses believing attention to maintain what it witnesses as true and meaningful.)

Fourth Principle of God– Manifestation, which is the realm of appearance (experience and images). NTI Romans called it “a picture-thought within the thought of spirit.” (Reference Day 150.)

The Second Principle of God gives believing attention to persons, including the personal dramas (thought, emotion and perception), and believes it is person. However, it is consciousness.

As today’s reading says:

You are not a person now, and you have not been a person before. There is no person from this lifetime or any other…, because there has never been a person.

All there has ever been is the thought of persons combined with believing attention on the resulting appearances, experiences and story thoughts.

What I think, I see. (Persons)
What I see, I experience. (Lifetimes of people)

“I” is consciousness.

It might be helpful to listen to a short audio on reincarnation. This audio may help you see that people are ideas, which are temporarily manifest and experienced by consciousness. People are not actual. Consciousness is actual, and it experiences itself as people.

16 ½-minute audio

Today’s reading says:

What does this mean?

It means that you believe in illusion, but illusion is not the truth of you. It means that you look on misperception (the person), but you are the one that declares  misperception is true.

If you declare that you are a person, you can also reverse that declaration.

How do you do that?

~ Let go of believing the stories that appear in the mind.
~ Live from your knowledge of truth.
~ Practice awareness-watching-awareness.

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

Yesterday’s tip said:

Everything that you see,
and the way in which you see it,
is a reflection of your feelings and your beliefs about you.

The “you” in this sentence is inclusive. It includes the body-mind-personality that you identify with as your self, and it also includes everyone and everything.

Contemplate this:

I am in God.
God is in me.
God is all.
All is God.

You can also substitute “Self,” “Spirit” or “Consciousness” for God in the previous contemplation. For example:

I am in Consciousness.
Consciousness is in me.
Consciousness is all.
All is Consciousness.

There is no separation or differentiation in that. It is a contemplation that points to the essence of truth.

Today’s reading says:

Whatever you see that seems to separate you from others is a misperception, and it has arisen within your awareness, that it may be let go through your decision to be free of it.

Check with your heart. Are you ready to let go of every idea that points out differences among people as if those differences represent who people are?

Don’t misunderstand me. There are differences among people, and to deny those differences would be foolish. For example, some people are very ambitious for their goals and other people don’t seem to want to do anything except drink alcohol and watch TV, but do those differences actually mean anything about who the people are? Aren’t both the ambitious one (rajasic) and the idle one (tamasic) life-awareness? Aren’t they both simply believing the thoughts in their mind, thoughts that are given to them through the script generated by the creative principle? Are there any real differences at all?

Today’s reading says:

There is no judgment in the world. There is only judgment within your mind.

Let’s consider a tree for a moment. Does a tree judge the ambitious character and the idle character as different? As better? As less? As right? As wrong? As needing to change?

The enlightened human mind is more like the tree. Oh, it sees things that the tree cannot see. That’s true. However, it’s way of being with what it sees is the same as the tree. What the enlightened mind sees does not affect the enlightened one’s way of being, and the enlightened one does not project judgments on what it sees.

Are you ready to let go of misperceptions that block the enlightened mind so you can see with freedom and be in joy? It is up to you, because when an unenlightened thought comes into the mind, you are the one who decides to give it value and attention. You can, just as easily, choose to see it as something you do not want.

If you are ready to be free, pay careful attention to today’s reading. Choose to live life with the purpose of healing every misperception that arises for you.

What is healing?

To heal is to correct. In this case, to correct is to remove value (attention) from that which you’ve placed value on, but in reality it is valueless.

What has value?

Your truth has value.

Look to a tree as a representation of truth. The tree is like the enlightened mind. It does not judge the ones who gather under it, and the ones who gather under it do not affect the tree. For the tree, there are no differences at all.

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

I am in God.
God is in me.
God is all.
All is God.

When you fully accept this truth, there is nothing you will not accept in peace.

Job accepted the sores that covered his body from head to toe, because he saw that even the sores are from God.

Peace Pilgrim accepted nearly freezing to death at night on a deserted road in Arizona, because physical death is merely a transition in God.

Job and Peace Pilgrim could not be separated from God. Nothing was a curse for them. Every situation was a reminder of their love for God (truth).

That is true perception.

If that is not how you see, then there are misperceptions in your mind that can be healed.

Today’s reading says:

Everything that you see,
and the way in which you see it,
is a reflection of your feelings and your beliefs about you.

The “you” in this sentence is inclusive. It includes the body-mind-personality that you identify with as your self, and it also includes everyone and everything.

For example, if you see someone in politics as arrogant, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you see your personality as arrogant. You may never have had that thought about yourself. However, it does mean that arrogance is a belief in your mind. You believe some people are better than others, and you believe that some people can see themselves as higher on that scale of better and lesser than they actually are. Without these ideas, you could never see anyone as arrogant. You can only see someone as arrogant if you believe in worthy and unworthy or better and less than.

Every false belief that you carry in your mind is reflected back to you through your way of seeing the world, which includes but is not limited to your way of seeing the body-mind-personality that you identify with.

The entire world, including your body-mind-personality and everything else in the world, is like one big mirror. You are consciousness looking in the mirror. By looking in the mirror and noticing how you feel about what you see, you discover the beliefs and misperceptions that are hidden in your mind.

Today’s reading recommends that you use the mirror of manifestation to uncover every false belief, so it can be healed.

Again, let me emphasize that people often misunderstand this process of uncovering false beliefs. They think, for example, that if I see that person as one who takes advantage of others, that means I (this body-mind-personality) take advantage of others. That may not be true. Taking advantage of others may not be part of the script for the body-mind-personality that you identify with. It may be extremely shy and meek. However, if you feel that someone is taking advantage of others and have some sense of judgment about that, it means there are beliefs in your mind that allow you to see that perception in the way that you do. You believe in separation, autonomy, right, wrong and victimization. Without these core beliefs, you could never see one person taking advantage of another.

In order to discover what you believe, notice how you feel about everything that comes into your awareness in the world. Whenever you are not entirely at peace with what you see, practice inquiry to discover what you believe.

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

Today’s reading says:

The time has come to release misperception.

The primary misperception that needs to be released is the idea that you are a body-mind-personality, or even an individual soul-mind, that is separate or distinct from all-that-is. However, there are other misperceptions too, which all stem from that one primary misperception.

I recently went on vacation with my mom. Her religious affiliation is Christian. She feels at home in a Baptist or Methodist church. Over our vacation, a couple of situations arose that might have caused anxiety in many people, but it didn’t cause anxiety for mom. She simply whispered to herself, “I am in God, and God is in me,” and then shifted to a state of surrender, peace and joy. I thought it was beautiful.

I am in God.
God is in me.
God is all.
All is God.

That is the essence of truth. That is the essence of the truth that Job and Peace Pilgrim knew and lived. That is the essence of true perception.

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

On Day 219, we learned that sin is only forgetfulness. To “sin” is to forget what you are and to act as if you are something different. It is mistaken identity.

The Bible tells the story of a man named Job, who was “blameless and upright.” Job was a lover of truth. He was also a rich man. Everything in manifestation flowed easily for Job. (Job 1, 2)

In the story, the wrong-mind and the right-mind have a figurative conversation as Satan and God. In the conversation, the wrong-mind, which is fixated on manifestation as the source of happiness, tells the right-mind that the only reason Job loves truth is because he has everything a man could want. The right-mind gives permission for the wrong-mind to manipulate the creative principle so that everything the wrong-mind sees as valuable is taken away from Job.

Job loses his wealth, his servants and his children. Although Job falls to his knees in grief when he hears about the death of his children, he cries out:

Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.

The wrong-mind, continuing to believe that manifestation is supreme, points out that Job still has a healthy body. Thinking that all men are self-centered, the wrong-mind feels sure that if Job loses his health, he will curse truth.

The right-mind gives the wrong-mind permission to manipulate the creative principle so that Job loses his health. The Bible continues:

So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.

His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”

He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”

In all this, Job did not sin (forget truth) in what he said.

Job’s heart was centered on truth. One who is centered on truth does not forget truth in the play of manifestation. Truth is of supreme importance to such a one. Reality is his beloved.

As long as we believe, to any degree, that happiness comes from manifestation, we will experience suffering. When we choose to love truth as supreme, manifestation may appear favorable or unfavorable, but it will not affect our heart-centered love of truth.

Here is a story told by Peace Pilgrim. In this story, Peace Pilgrim demonstrates her unwavering love for reality:

I was walking in a very isolated section of the high mountains of Arizona where there was no human habitation for many miles. That afternoon there came a surprising snowstorm, out of season. I have never seen such a storm. If the snow had been rain you would have called it a cloudburst. Never had I seen snow dumped down like that!

All of a sudden I was walking in deep snow and was unable to see through what was falling.

Suddenly I realized that the cars had stopped running. I supposed they were getting stuck on the highway and unable to pass.

Then it got dark. There must have been a heavy cloud cover. I could not see my hand before my face and the snow was blowing into my face and closing my eyes. It was getting cold. It was the kind of cold that penetrates into the marrow of the bone.

If ever I were to lose faith and feel fear, this would have been the time, because I knew there was no human help at hand. Instead, the whole experience of the cold and the snow and the darkness seemed unreal. Only God seemed real – nothing else.

I made a complete identification—not with my body, the clay garment which is destructible—but with the reality which activates the body and is indestructible.

I felt so free. I felt that everything would be all right, whether I remained to serve in this Earth life or if I went on to serve in another freer life beyond.

I felt guided to keep on walking, and I did, even though I couldn’t tell whether I was walking along the highway or out into some field. I couldn’t see anything. My feet in my low canvas shoes were like lumps of ice. They felt so heavy as I plodded along. My body began to turn numb with cold.

After there was more numbness than pain, there came what some would call a hallucination and what some would call a vision.

It was as though I became aware, not only of the embodied side of life where everything was black darkness, bitter cold and swirling snow, but also so close it seemed I could step right into it, of the disembodied side of life where everything was warmth and light.

There was such great beauty. It began with familiar color, but transcended familiar color. It began with familiar music, but transcended familiar music.

Then I saw beings. They were very far away. One of them moved toward me very quickly. When she came close enough, I recognized her. She looked much younger than she had looked when she passed over.

I believe that at the time of the beginning of the change called death, those nearest and dearest come to welcome us. I have been with dying friends who have stepped over and I remember well how they talked to their loved ones on both sides, as though they were all right there in the room together.

So I thought my time had come to step over and I greeted her. I either said or thought, “You have come for me?” But she shook her head! She motioned for me to go back! And just at that exact moment, I ran into the railing of a bridge. The vision was gone.

Because I felt guided to do so, I groped my way down that snowy embankment and got under the bridge. There I found a large cardboard packing box with wrapping paper in it. Very slowly and clumsily in my numb condition, I managed to get myself into that packing box, and somehow with my numbed fingers managed to pull the wrapping paper around me.

There under the bridge, during the snowstorm, I slept. Even there shelter had been provided; but provided also was this experience.

Had you looked at me in the midst of the snowstorm, you might have said, “What a terrible experience that poor woman is going through.”

But looking back on it I can only say, “What a wonderful experience in which I faced death, feeling no fear, but the constant awareness of the presence of God, which is what you take right over with you.”

The stories about Job and Peace Pilgrim are presented for a reason. At some point on the spiritual path, we have to choose what we will be loyal to in our hearts—manifestation or truth. As long as we choose manifestation, Self-realization will remain out-of-reach, because we desire illusion. The Son of God (consciousness) must experience what it wants to experience. That is the essence of freedom.

When we no longer see manifestation as supreme, but choose to align with truth in our hearts regardless of the appearances in manifestation, we are ready for truth realization. Truth realization will come swiftly at this point in your maturity, because you no longer desire anything else.

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