In some dramatic stories, it seems as if the seventh step of awakening is transcended all at once. For example, watch this scene from the movie, Little Buddha, and then continue reading the tip below:

In this scene, it appears as if the final temptations of the ego came all at once, in one short meditation, and were transcended by Siddhartha as he watched everything without believing it. It looks as if the seventh step was transcended in only a few hours or less.

For most of us, however, the seventh step stretches over a period of time. It can last many years. It doesn’t occur in one dramatic meditation. It occurs more slowly through everyday life. During this time, the ego can be very deceptive. Most people fall for its deception easily.

In order to transcend the temptations that occur during the seventh step, one must want awakening more than anything else. It is as we learned through NTI Revelation 6:

The first of the seven seals on the scroll of Life represents that which must always come first. The rider of the white horse “bent on conquest” represents full dedication to the true desire of the heart.

Today’s reading asks us to feel within and notice our desire for awakening. How strong is it truthfully? How much resistance still remains? What other goals do we want to accomplish more than we want awakening?

We aren’t looking at ourselves today in order to condemn ourselves. We simply want to be honest. If awakening is at all important to us, self-honesty is also important. If our desire for awakening is not strong enough to see us through the seventh step, it is good to focus on increasing our desire for awakening.

It’s just as we learned from Michael Langford in Gentle Healing Year 1:

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. …

Of all of the factors that determine whether you will or will not be free, the intensity or lack of intensity of your desire for liberation is the most essential factor.

Therefore, whatever you can do to most effectively increase your desire for liberation should be done.

Today, take the opportunity to look honestly at your desire for awakening, and then ask for guidance about how you can increase that desire. Be willing to follow the guidance you receive. Often, people receive absolutely perfect guidance, but then they go about their daily lives and do not follow the guidance they received.

Remember what we learned through NTI James 1:

Do not merely listen to My words without practicing what I say. To listen, but not to practice, is to be like a man who looks in the mirror, but then goes away and forgets what he saw.

Before reading today’s reading in NTI, please read the Revelation 11:1-12 in the Bible.

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

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.

When you go through the ego’s final death, you do not go through it alone. The right-mind (awake consciousness) is present and able to help you through to awakening if you are open to its guidance. The way to be open to its guidance is to give no meaning to anything the ego may say or anything you may experience as the ego dies its final death.

Revelation 10 speaks of an angel “holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand.” This scroll represents the guidance of the right-mind.

Today, you will read Revelation 10 and let the right-mind interpret it for you. On Day 272, we learned how to make room for the right-mind’s interpretation. We were taught to:

Step back.
Detach from what your mind thinks.
Look at the whole as it is.
Feel within for intuition.

Practice these steps as you read Revelation 10 today. Let a right-minded interpretation come to you. Don’t prejudge what that interpretation should be. Let the right-mind speak to you in whatever way it wants. Simply let it flow. Discover what guidance you are given when you open up to it.

Complete today’s reading this way:

1. Read today’s reading in NTI.
2. After you finish today’s NTI reading, read Revelation 10 from the Bible.
3. After you finish reading Revelation 10 or as you read Revelation 10, depending on how you are guided, write the right-minded interpretation that comes to you.
4. When the right-minded writing is complete, review it to see what guidance you are given.

For those of you who are interested, here is a video by Dr. David Hawkins about the final death of the ego. You can watch the video before or after doing today’s assignment, as you feel guided:

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

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.