What is the World?

Our special theme says, “Let us not rest content until the world has joined our changed perception. Let us not be satisfied until forgiveness has been made complete.”

If you continue to read the last paragraph of our special theme, it appears to have an outward focus. It says, “We must save the world.” However, an outward focus that attempts to save others, possibly by converting them to the teachings that we study and practice, ignores the teaching itself.

Remember, “Inward problems cannot be solved by looking outward. Inward problems can only be solved by looking inward.”

Or, as A Course in Miracles puts it, “The sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the atonement for himself.” (T-2.V. 5:1)

What is meant by, “Let us not rest content until the world has joined our changed perception … ”?

Most people are motivated to the spiritual path and spiritual practice by their own suffering. They are looking for a better way of existence. If one commits his/herself to spiritual practice, one will reach a point when individual suffering is no longer a problem. One has found a better way of existence. One is happy. In A Course in Miracles, this better way of existence is called “the happy dream.”

If one was motivated solely by the desire to end personal suffering, his/her motivation to continue spiritual practice may wane when s/he reaches the happy dream. However, the ego has not ended at this stage. It is merely dormant, waiting until attention has diffused its focus, so it can return undetected and regain command and control.

The desire to end suffering for one’s self can be highly motivating for a time. However, it is not enough motivation to keep one determined until the ego has ended. A motivation that continues beyond the desire to end one’s own suffering is the desire to end suffering for everyone. This was Buddha’s motivation. This was also Jesus’ motivation. This is what he meant when he said, “… whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:26-28)

Although my experience has reached the happy dream, I pay attention to the news everyday. I look at the suffering that occurs in the world, and I let compassion for others motivate me to continue spiritual practice earnestly until the ego’s final end.

In fact, I am motivated by two factors:

1. Compassion for the world.
2. Desire for the direct knowledge of truth.

Whatever suffers is not part of me.

Today’s lesson may appear to conflict with everything I just said, but it doesn’t.

Let me share an analogy. Let’s imagine that you have a rash on your face. The rash does not itch or hurt. The only way you know you have a rash is that you see it when you look in the mirror.

The doctor has given you a cream to apply to your face. Her instructions are to apply the cream twice a day until the rash disappears completely. As long as there is even the slightest appearance of a rash, you need to continue to apply the cream. If you stop before the rash is completely eliminated, it may return.

Since the rash does not cause you any personal discomfort, the only way to see if the rash has been eliminated is to look in the mirror. If you look in the mirror and see the rash, you continue to apply the cream. Of course, you don’t apply the cream to the mirror. You apply the cream to your face.

The world is our mirror.

Each morning, I get up and spend a few minutes looking at the news on my Yahoo homepage. Seeing suffering there is like seeing the rash on my face. But after looking at the rash, I turn to my own spiritual practice. I apply the cream to my face.

Denying suffering, when it is done properly, is a part of applying the cream to my own face. The proper way to deny suffering is to look at awareness, recognize it as my true Self and recognize that awareness is forever unaffected by perception. In other words, I reclaim my true Self and disown the false self.

As today’s lesson says, “What is in pain is but illusion in my mind. What dies was never living in reality, … Now I disown self-concepts and deceits and lies …”

Many people have been confused about the proper use of denial. Do not deny the suffering that others experience. Have compassion for their suffering. The suffering that you deny is your own. You deny your suffering by noticing that your true Self does not suffer. It never has.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this one:

Broken Heart Meditation

What is the World?

Our special theme says, “As sight was made to lead away from truth, it can be redirected. … all perception can be given a new purpose by the One Whom God appointed Savior to the world. Follow His light, and see the world as He beholds it. Hear His Voice alone in all that speaks to you. And let Him give you peace and certainty, which you have thrown away …”

The “One Whom God appointed Savior to the world” was referred to as the “Thought of peace” in our last special theme, What is Salvation? That theme said, “The Thought of peace was given to God’s Son the instant that his mind had thought of war. There was no need for such a Thought before, for peace was given without opposite, and merely was. But when the mind is split there is a need of healing. So the Thought that has the power to heal the split became a part of every fragment of the mind that still was one, but failed to recognize its oneness.”

So, we turn to the Thought of peace, which is within each of our minds, and let it lead us. We do this by:

• Recognizing the ego thought system as deception and choosing not to listen to it regardless of what its story is. We remember that Jesus referred to it as “the father of lies” in the Bible. We see it clearly as that now.

 

• Choosing the purpose of healing the mind and awakening to truth, and holding steadfastly to that purpose under all circumstances.

 

• Practicing the Loving All Method with the realization that the Loving All Method disregards the ego’s judgments and outward seeking

 

• Practicing surrender as it is taught in The Teachings of Inner Ramana, so that we are guided by the “Thought of peace.” We “follow His light” and “Hear His Voice alone” because we are not interested in the ego’s deception anymore.

 

• Focusing on awareness frequently as we anticipate the holy instant when our identity will shift to it and we are no longer identified with the ego’s deceptive thought system.

Without forgiveness I will still be blind.

When we judge others, we believe the ego’s deceptive thought system. Our mind may argue that it is justified for its way of perceiving, but it perceives without the light of truth. As our special theme has taught us, “The mechanisms of illusion have been born instead. And now they go to find what has been given them to seek. Their aim is to fulfill the purpose which the world was made to witness and make real.” That purpose is separation. It is the opposite of truth.

Instead of believing the ego’s thought system today, turn frequently to bulleted reminders above. Review them and practice them. They represent the means by which we shall awaken fully to the realization of truth as it is.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this meditation:

Brain Relaxation Meditation

What is the World?

Over the last two days, we have contemplated the fact that perception is deception. However, our special theme gives us hope when it says, “As sight was made to lead away from truth, it can be redirected … all perception can be given a new purpose …”

The world’s purpose for you is the one that you give it. If you give the world the purpose of healing the mind and awakening to truth, that is the purpose of everything you perceive. However, if you do not consciously and steadfastly choose this purpose, the world, by default, will continue to be a place of deception with the purpose of feeding the thought of separation.

What purpose do you choose?

Is there anything (anyone, any circumstance, any desire) that you exclude from the purpose of healing or awakening?

If there is anything that you exclude from the purpose of healing or awakening, that remains an area of deception for you. That is where your ego feeds itself.

To love my Father is to love His Son.

There are some teachings we need to accept if healing the mind or awakening to truth are important to us.

1. The ego (I-thought) will not lead us to awakening. Its purpose is the opposite of truth.
2. The ego is the cause of all suffering. As long as we continue to accept the I-thought’s thinking as our thinking, we will continue to suffer (be unhappy, worry, have grievances, etc.). Likewise, as long as we continue to accept the I-thought’s thinking as our thinking, we will continue to contribute to the world’s suffering (in all of its forms).
3. The only way to be in the world without following the I-thought’s thinking is to surrender to wisdom that is not part of the I-thought’s thinking. That is the purpose of surrender.

You can know the I-thought’s thinking by its will. Outward seeking is the will of the I-thought.

Judgment is a mechanism of the ego’s outward seeking loop. It judges to determine good and bad, right and wrong, desired and undesired, etcetera. And then is seeks to obtain or achieve what it determines is good for it and to avoid or destroy what it determines is bad for it.

Please take a few minutes to contemplate some things or circumstances that your mind judges as good or desired. Notice the thinking that spins in your mind about obtaining or achieving those things or circumstances.

Next, take a few minutes to contemplate some things or circumstances that your mind judges as bad or undesirable. Notice the thinking that spins in your mind about avoiding or ending those things or circumstances.

You have just observed judgment and outward seeking in the I-thought’s thought system.

Love is the nature of the true Self. Love is open allowance and acceptance of all things as they are. Love does not seek outwardly for happiness or safety. Love is fulfilled within itself. Love is eternal and invulnerable. It is not threatened by the temporary circumstances that come and go in perception.

When we practice The Loving All Method, we practice abiding as our truth. The Loving All Method is also a good foundation for surrender, since we are more likely to intuit wisdom that comes from beyond the I-thought’s thinking if we have not already believed the I-thought’s judgments.

Today, give full attention to practicing The Loving All Method and to surrender as it is taught in The Teachings of Inner Ramana. To make today’s practice most effective, first take time to give the entire day and everything that will happen today a single purpose—the purpose of healing your mind or awakening to truth—in whatever way you feel inspired to aspire to that.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this meditation:

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What is the World?

Our special theme says, “Thus the world was meant to be a place where God could enter not, and where His Son could be apart from Him. Here was perception born, for knowledge could not cause such insane thoughts. … The mechanisms of illusion have been born instead. And now they go to find what has been given them to seek. Their aim is to fulfill the purpose which the world was made to witness and make real. … Yet everything that they report is but illusion which is kept apart from truth.”

Similarly, The Teachings of Inner Ramana says:

“Think of mind as a filter. This filter enables one to see objects where there is light. This filter enables one to distinguish differences where there are none. … Without the mind, one would be unable to experience the world. But this does not mean that one must be subject to the mind.

The mind, when believed and taken seriously, seems to define reality. But as I have just shown, the mind does not define reality. It places a veil of perception over reality so reality can be experienced in a new way. This means that the mind is a trickster or illusionist, and that which it creates is purely illusion. To believe the mind is to believe illusion. To think illusion is reality is to be completely deluded.

Again I emphasize that belief in illusion, or the process of being deluded, comes from believing the mind.

This must mean then, that the process of awakening is also the process of learning not to believe the stories of the mind.

As a filter, the mind can be used to see and experience illusion without believing it. This experience comes from maintaining knowledge that is beyond the mind. It can also be said that this knowledge is before the mind. This knowledge exists now, within the Self, at a depth that is below and at a height that is above the mind. In other words, the knowledge is always accessible and it takes only desire to remember and realize this knowledge.”

Your peace is with me, Father. I am safe.

We practice again today like we practiced yesterday. In addition to practicing awareness-watching-awareness, we take short breaks throughout the day to notice awareness as what we are. Also, we practice surrender as it is taught in The Teachings of Inner Ramana. By asking, “What am I to do now?” we are led by intuition, which comes from truth-knowledge, instead of by thought, which is the source of delusion.

To help with today’s focus, I am recommending two meditations again today. If you can, please practice the first meditation early in the day and the second meditation later in the day.

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Just Be Natural Meditation

What is the World?

Our special theme says, “Thus the world was meant to be a place where God could enter not, and where His Son could be apart from Him. Here was perception born, for knowledge could not cause such insane thoughts. But eyes deceive, and ears hear falsely. Now mistakes become quite possible, for certainty has gone.”

The primary definition of perception is, “the ability to see, hear or become aware of something through the senses.” A secondary definition is, “a way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something; a mental impression.”

In other words, perception is an outward focused way of acquiring information. When combined with personal thought, which interprets the information received from the senses, perception is also a way of conditioning the mental organism, the brain.

This is very important to see!

Simply put, perception is a means of creating and securing ignorance. In other words, as we remain focused on the world and thought, we are completely ignorant of truth. It is also fair to say we are completely deluded.

Or, as our special theme says, “The mechanisms of illusion have been born instead. And now they go to find what has been given them to seek. Their aim is to fulfill the purpose which the world was made to witness and make real. They see in its illusions but a solid base where truth exists, upheld apart from lies. Yet everything that they report is but illusion which is kept apart from truth.”

I am in danger nowhere in the world.

When we look deeply at the fact that everything we think is true is not true, we can feel very disoriented. We can even feel afraid. However, there is nothing to fear. There is nothing to fear because thought, the body and the world are not real; therefore, we are not at all vulnerable.

Yes, it is true that the imposter self is vulnerable. As we saw in yesterday’s tip, fear is an inherent part of thought, because thought is not a self. That unconscious realization is the cause of fear. But we are not thought. We are not the imposter self or its creation, the body. We are the true Self. We are that which “cannot suffer, be endangered, or experience unhappiness …”

As The Teachings of Inner Ramana says, “Fear comes simply from not knowing reality. Therefore, the only answer to fear is to let go of what is false and to remember reality as true.”

That is our focus today. In addition to practicing awareness-watching-awareness, take short breaks today to notice awareness as what you are. Notice that as awareness, you observe thought. Notice that you observe the body. However, you are prior to both of them. Notice yourself as that which is completely unaffected by anything in the realm of perception.

To help with today’s focus, I am recommending two meditations. If you can, please practice the first meditation early in the day and the second meditation later in the day.

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Recalling Attention

What is the World?

Our special theme says that the world “was made as an attack on God. … Thus the world was meant to be a place where God could enter not, and where His Son could be apart from Him.”

However, The Teachings of Inner Ramana says, “The mind creates experience that is not real. It is illusion or fantasy, and it is created for the purpose of enjoyment or pleasure.”

So, which is true? Is the world an attack on God or is it intended for our enjoyment?

If you pay attention to the mind, which is engaged in actively creating the world now, you will see that both are true.

The world is “an attack on God” and “meant to be a place where God could enter not” in that the mind is focused on the thought of separation. The mind wants “me” to be real, this apparent individual entity that is separate from everything else.

At the same time, the mind is constantly seeking “enjoyment or pleasure” for “me” and tries to avoid anything that it defines as pain or displeasure.

Both of these metaphysical stories, the one from A Course in Miracles and the one from The Teachings of Inner Ramana, describe the workings of the mind as it is now. And the world we see today comes from the workings of the mind as it is now.

Also, both A Course in Miracles and The Teachings of Inner Ramana describe the world as a place of fear. The Teachings of Inner Ramana says:

“The mind is afraid because the unnatural is not natural. The mind that has forgotten reality knows that something is wrong, but it does not know what that is. It projects stories in an effort to give itself a reason for its fear, but it cannot find the answer it seeks because it is looking in the wrong direction. Its fear does not come from its own projections, and so solutions to those projections cannot end the fear.

Fear comes simply from not knowing reality. Therefore, the only answer to fear is to let go of what is false and to remember reality as true.”

Or as Michael Langford writes in The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss:

“Thought believes thought is a real entity and thought believes thought is a real self. Thought is not a real entity and thought is not a self. Living from thought instead of living from Awareness is the cause of all human suffering. …

The ego is the cause of all disease, death, war, fear, anger and violence. Although many thousands of years have passed, human beings have made almost no inward progress toward ending suffering, sorrow, war, fear, anger, violence, cheating and lying.

Thousands of years ago humans had suffering, sorrow, war, fear, anger, violence, cheating and lying.

Now, today, currently, humans have suffering, sorrow, war, fear, anger, violence, cheating and lying.

What has kept humans in the same pool of inward unsolved problems?

The ego (the imposter) has kept humans in the same pool of inward unsolved problems.

Inward problems cannot be solved by looking outward. Inward problems can only be solved by looking inward.

The ego knows that if the attention is turned inward, the ego will be found to be a myth, an imposter, an illusion, a delusion, a dream. Therefore, due to the ego’s fear of ending, the ego keeps the attention directed outward.”

If you contemplate “What is the world?” along with these excerpts from The Teachings of Inner Ramana and Michael Langford, you will see that they are all saying the same thing:

The ego (I-thought) is not the truth of what we are.

Since the I-thought is unconsciously aware that it is not truth, fear is inherent in its thought system.

The ego does not want to look inward to find the cause of its fear, because it unconsciously knows that if one looks inward, the I-thought will be found to be unreal.

Therefore, the mind projects problems outward and then tries to resolve its fear by solving those problems. This is the outward seeking mechanism of mind. It seeks pleasure and avoids pain.

Of course, outward seeking will never work, because as each problem is resolved, the fear inherent in the thought system continues. Therefore, another problem is projected by the fear in thought.

This seeking and projection loop continues for as long as the thought of separation continues.

The only answer to the world’s problems is to end the thought of separation (the ego, the I-thought).

Today I will judge nothing that occurs.

Judgment is based on the idea that we know what is good and bad, right and wrong, etcetera. If you look carefully at these ideas, you will see they are part of the outward seeking and projection loop described above. In other words, judgment is a primary function of the ego. Since judgment is an activity of the ego, believing judgment keeps the ego active.

The entire world and all of its problems are a projection of the ego. To believe the ego is to continue the projection. This is very important to see!

When we believe our own ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, etcetera, we think we are going to make things better through judgment, but in fact we are keeping the problem creator, the ego, active. This is very important to see!

In short, by trying to seek pleasure and avoid pain through judgment, we create the very suffering we seek to avoid.

When this is seen, the only reasonable response is to genuinely surrender all judgment and to turn to inner spiritual intuition regarding what to think, how to see, what to say and what to do.

Today, try not to believe judgment. Instead, practice the Loving All Method and practice surrender as it is taught in The Teachings of Inner Ramana. Leave creation to be itself without further complicating it with your individual assessment of what should and should not be.

Please read this tip two or three more times today. It is very important to fully accept what is written in this tip.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this meditation by Michael Langford and Karen Worth:

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What is the World?

Our special theme says, “When the thought of separation has been changed to one of true forgiveness, will the world be seen in quite another light; and one which leads to truth, where all the world must disappear …”

I would like to quote from an article by Bentinho Massaro. The article is titled Update on my Graduation from Creation – Part 1.

After several years of practicing resting as Awareness and increasing my lucidity and emptiness of self and bias, 5 years ago I penetrated beyond all that into the Absolute. I directly realized that the Absolute ‘me’ was beyond all perception, beyond all Creation, beyond everything, beyond even Consciousness/Awareness as we know it to be (infused with experience). There is nothing beyond this Absolute. It is Infinitely Absolute. Absolutely Infinite. Absolutely One. Indescribable. Unimaginable. It is Final Completion.

This penetrative ‘experience’ of being beyond all perception/Creation (and I have had several complete absorptions since then) showed me that there was a realization or disappearance possible way beyond what most of us consider to be ‘Enlightenment.’ Penetrating into the Absolute made ‘awakened living’ seem like nothing at all in comparison; just more mind, more illusion. This was true liberation beyond all levels and utterly indescribable. …

There are many levels of ‘Enlightenment’ or rather: there are many degrees of transparency to the One while still associated with I AM (while still partaking in the illusion). However, they are all trumped and rendered irrelevant when the Absolute is realized.

Most levels of awakening simply increase the lucidity of this Illusion, but do not actually wake you up to the point where this illusion of perception or experience disappears entirely.

You can compare this to your dreams at night. You usually dream unconsciously. Let’s say you have one of these usual dreams and you meet a guru in your dreams and this guru is reminding you of the fact that you are dreaming.

You start to ponder this idea in the dream and your experience “I am dreaming” becomes more lucid. You become more awake IN the dream. You may even start to intuit that your actual body is laying in its bed in another reality. You may start to imagine and remember what that other reality is like outside of the dream, and you may even become awake and subtle enough to channel that intuitive experience with other dreamers. But when it comes down to it, your experience is still that you’re in, or part of, the dream to a greater or lesser extent depending on your ‘level of clarity.’

Lucid or not, the dream is an illusion, and as long as we are associating ourselves with a portion of the dream, or even the dream as one, inseparable whole, we are still, nevertheless, dreaming and thus not aware of our true Absolute Self.

And then there may be a time in your dream at night when you are totally ready to part from the dream; you did everything you felt you needed or wanted to do, dropped your attachments to those seeming other-selves within the dream, and even are letting go of your attachment to being ‘alive in the dream’ at all.

You let go completely, intensely desire or will yourself to wake up, and suddenly the dream disappears completely and you awaken in your bed in your ‘real’ body/reality.

What was heretofore your only known reality from which you could only imagine and speculate what waking reality must be like, is suddenly reduced to a vague, intangible memory that seems to lack existence as you wake up into your real self.

Dropping into the Light of Self, but especially and really only upon penetrating into the Absolute beyond even the Universal Presence of Isness-Love-Light, is exactly like that waking up FROM the dream to where even universal Isness (Creation’s substratum) disappears and is woken up from. The Absolute Alone Remains.

Please contemplate what Bentinho has written. Return to what is written above at least two more times during the day to read and be with it. If you have time and feel the calling to do so, you may also read Chapter 5 from The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss again. It might be helpful to read it again just before going to bed.

This day is God’s. It is my gift to Him.

Today is a day of devotion to That which knows so much more  than we know with our limited minds and from our limited experience. Today we drop all ideas that we know anything, because we don’t, and we surrender to something that is far beyond the meager perspective of the false self, and therefore fully capable to lead us back to our truth.

Here are two prayers to contemplate alternatively throughout the day. The first prayer is adapted from today’s workbook lesson. The second prayer is from NTI Acts, Chapter 1. Remember to pause frequently today. Give your full heart, mind and soul to one prayer or the other each time you pause. (If you would like to edit the prayers in order to fit better with your heart, you may.)

From Lesson 242:

I give today to You. I come with a wholly open mind. I do not ask for anything that I may think I want. Give me what You would have me receive. You know all of my desires and wants. And You will give me everything I need that will help me find my way to You. I surrender everything else to you in complete trust. Amen.

From NTI Acts 1:

Father, I do not know what is best for me now, in this time and this place, that I may be led back to You. Because I cannot see the path I am ready to walk, take my hand and send me your Voice to guide me. I shall go where it asks me to go, and I shall do as it asks me to do in joy and peace and certainty. Amen.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this meditation by Michael Langford and Karen Worth:

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Over the next 10 days, I will share something in each tip about our new special theme, and then I will share about the lesson for the day. I will end each tip with a recommended meditation.

What is the World?

Our special theme begins, “The world is a false perception. It is born of error, and it has not left its source.” Its source is error. In this case, it is an error about what we are. The Course calls it “the thought of separation.” The thought of separation, the ego and the I-thought are synonymous.

As Michael Langford writes, the ego “has created all the wars, diseases, death, suffering and evil that every human has ever experienced.”

It might be helpful to look at the suffering the thought of separation creates. In Chapter 5 of The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss, Michael Langford speaks of the “thousands of wars; thousands of diseases; thousands of forms of violence; all of the ways humans deceive, hurt, and cheat each other; and every other form of human suffering that you can think of.” I find it helpful to look at specific examples of suffering, so let me share two news stories that came to my attention today:

• Police in Kentucky say a 5-year-old boy watched helplessly as his mother was beaten, bound and thrown off a cliff over the weekend. Two hikers discovered the boy’s mother Saturday morning at the bottom of an 80-foot embankment. She survived the fall and is recovering in the hospital. Her discovery set off a search for her son. More than 200 people searched for the boy on Saturday and Sunday. Authorities found the boy’s body near where his mother was left for dead.
• Members of an indigenous tribe in Brazil’s Amazon Basin were allegedly killed by illegal gold miners, according to Survival International. The organization, which advocates for indigenous rights, said the massacre included women and children and may have wiped out one-fifth of the tribe. Members of the tribe were gathering eggs along a river in the Javari Valley, in the country’s remote west, when they came across the illegal miners. The miners later boasted about the slaughter at a bar in the nearest town, and even showed off a hand-carved paddle they claimed to have stolen as a trophy. They bragged about cutting up the bodies and throwing them in the river.

Sadly, there are many, many more stories like these that are not in the news. These stories are only a tiny sample of the suffering caused by the thought of separation everyday.

It would be helpful to read Chapter 5 from The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss again. Please read it at a time of your convenience today.

This holy instant is salvation come.

Our last special theme said that salvation “is a promise, made by God, that you would find your way to Him at last. It cannot but be kept. It guarantees that time will have an end, and all the thoughts that have been born in time will end as well.”

Today we celebrate this promise. We also realize that we are not passive receivers of the promise. We have a role to play. Our role is forgiveness. Forgiveness is remaining focused on our unaffected Self while failing to support the ego—choosing not to uphold it with our attention and action.

Since we are not supporting the ego, we need another way to live in the world. That way is surrender, seeking guidance from spiritual intuition by asking, “What am I to do now?” and letting it lead us in everything we think, say and do.

How glad we are to celebrate the promise of salvation today! We celebrate by joyously doing our part. We are eager to play our role in salvation. (With a heart full of joy, we make Choice A.)

If you have 45 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this meditation:

Existence-Consciousness-Bliss

If you don’t have that much time, consider this 25-minute meditation:

Miracles Meditation

If there is time in your day today, consider doing both meditations, possibly one in the morning and one before bed.

Today is our last day with our current special theme, so please take time this morning to read, “What is Salvation,” one more time. Also, contemplate Lesson 240 and spend some time in meditation. If you have 30-minutes for meditation and would like a gentle audio to guide you, I recommend this meditation:

Self Inquiry Meditation

Fear is not justified in any form.

Two days ago we noticed that our decisions are based on who we think we are. Fear is a decision. Whenever we are afraid, it is because we have decided to believe fearful thoughts in the mind. We have decided those thoughts are true, and this decision is based on who we think we are.

Look at some fearful situations. You may look at current fears or fearful situations that you remember. What is the identification that is the basis of the fear?

For example:

1. I am afraid that I will die. My identification is with the body.
2. I am afraid that I will run out of money. My identification is ‘powerless’.
3. I remember a fear of facing someone. My identification was ‘guilty’.
4. I remember a fear of inviting someone to spend time with me. My identification was ‘rejectable’.
5. Etcetera.

Today’s lesson says, “Not one thing in this world is true.” Contemplate that statement as you look at your list of fears and the identifications that caused them. Practice this type of inquiry with each one:

1. If nothing in this world is true, is this body what I am? What am I? (Pause and look at awareness.) Is awareness what I am? Is the body what I am? Which is more intimately what I am and which is more at a distance? Is awareness vulnerable like the body is vulnerable? Is it possible the body could die, and I would continue to live? Have I experienced death directly or is life all I know? Do I know that death is real or is death something that the mind imagines? (Look and see if death is something you know, like you know life, or is death only in the mind?) Does awareness have a concept of death? What am I? (Be still, and continue to notice awareness.)
2. If nothing in this world is true, is ‘powerless’ what I am? What am I? (Pause and look at awareness.) Is awareness what I am? Is powerless what I am? Which is consistently me, and which is a passing idea or feeling? Is awareness powerless? Is it vulnerable? Or is awareness present and unaffected? What am I? (Be still, and continue to notice awareness.)
3. If nothing in this world is true, is ‘guilty’ what I am? What am I? (Pause and look at awareness.) Is awareness what I am? Is guilty what I am? There may be the feeling of guilt, but what sees this feeling? What looks at it? Am I the feeling of guilt or am I that which is looking at it? Which one is more intimately me? Is awareness guilty or is it simply present, purely itself? (Be still, and continue to notice awareness.)
4. If nothing in this world is true, is ‘rejectable’ what I am? What am I? (Pause and look at awareness.) Is awareness what I am? Is rejectable what I am? Which is consistently me, and which is a passing idea or feeling? Is awareness rejectable? Can I reject awareness? (Look and see if it is possible to reject awareness.) Can awareness see itself as rejected? (Look and see if awareness believes the concept of rejection.) Does awareness reject anything? (Look and see if awareness rejects or if it is perfectly open and allowing of everything.) What am I? (Be still, and continue to notice awareness.)
5. Etcetera.

Notice that the questions changed slightly as I looked at each concept of identification. Let intuition guide your inquiry and your looking. We cannot let go of fear when we are identified with a vulnerable concept. However, as we realize the truth of what we are, which is eternally invulnerable, fear becomes meaningless.

Please take time this morning to read, “What is Salvation,” to contemplate Lesson 239, and to spend time in meditation. If you have 30-minutes for meditation and would like a gentle audio to guide you, I recommend this meditation:

Appreciating Life

The glory of my Father is my own.

I found an interesting chart on a Christian website called The Sword of Spirit. This chart shows the difference between false humility, true humility and pride. Today’s lesson begins by saying, “Let not the truth about ourselves today be hidden by false humility.” Look at the first column in the following True Humility Chart. Do you find ways that you hide the truth about yourself with false humility?

True Humility Chart

Today, whenever you notice your thoughts slipping into false humility, be instead “thankful for the gifts our Father gave us.” Practice right-gratitude, which is gratitude for awareness-life-presence as it is. Be grateful for awareness-life-presence in one’s self, in others and in nature. Let today be a day of focusing on truth with a grateful heart.

If you would like, you can review my tip from Workbook Lesson 195, Love is the way I walk in gratitude.