Today’s reading says:

I lead you where you want to go. Do not fear that I will ask you to do what you do not want to do. I cannot do that, because I know what you are.

It also says:

I can only want for you that which you do want. This is why you have the freedom to choose dreams of illusion, if that is the experience you desire. I will not take from you that which you desire.

If you ask a human what s/he wants, you might get a list of hopes and dreams. When awake consciousness says, “I lead you where you want to go,” it does not mean that it will lead you to achieve all of those hopes and dreams. Awake consciousness has a different point-of-view. From its point-of-view, there are only two things you could want: truth or illusion. And right now, you desire only one of those two. You desire truth or you desire illusion. If you think you desire both truth and illusion, you desire illusion, because there is no illusion in truth.

When awake consciousness says, “I lead you where you want to go,” it means that it leads us to truth. Yet, if we are not ready for truth, it waits gratefully. It sees us as we are—as consciousness—and it wants for us what we think we want. So if we want the experience of illusion, it is grateful that we experience illusion.

Of course, if we choose illusion, we choose duality. Duality will never be “all good,” because it includes the swings of change. Nothing is constant in illusion. Everything eventually ends. Illusion is never wholly pleasant to the mind that desires it.

Our reading says:

I will never make you suffer, because I know you cannot suffer.

This is not speaking to a person in a world, because a person can suffer. This speaks to our truth. Awake consciousness does not see us as persons. It sees us as we are. It does not arrange the universe to suit the person. It lets the universe unfold as it is created through the creative principle, and it continues to remind us that we are before  the world and before  the creative principle. We are unaffected, untouched consciousness. The world is meaningless to what we are—meaningless, because the world cannot affect or change what we are—just as a gnat on the back of an elephant is meaningless to the elephant.

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

Today’s reading is very powerful and should be read slowly and contemplatively. I also recommend reading it more than once today, possibly once in the morning and once in the evening.

Humans are addicted to self-judgment. Today’s reading points out that if we judge our self as good or bad or simply mistaken, we are not empty. Just as emptiness does not believe the mind’s stories, emptiness does not judge. Emptiness is silent watchfulness, including silently watching the body-mind that seems to be ‘me.’

Focus on the idea of emptiness as silent watching. Can you be empty by silently watching everything, including what your body-mind does or doesn’t do?

The reading says:

Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.

That sentence is not an opening to judge one’s self. There is a balance that only emptiness knows how to maintain. That balance is silent watching combined with discernment and acting based on intuitive guidance. However, silent watching is the over-arching beingness. In other words, silent watching watches the body-mind discern and act based on guidance, or not.

As an example, let’s imagine that someone says something. In my forgetfulness, I get annoyed and say something from annoyance, and then I see that. Immediately, I choose to shift into silent watching—not judgment. As I become empty, a realization that an apology would be beneficial comes from intuition. Abiding in silent watching and without any expectations, I apologize. I remain in silent watching and let whatever happens happen. I am also tuned-inward to intuition for my role in the play. I play my role and silently watch the play, including my role in it, simultaneously.

The simultaneous balance maintained by emptiness is silent watching, discernment and acting based on intuition.

In my example above, I spoke from annoyance, saw that, and then shifted into silent watching without self-judgment. I can do that now, but I admit there was a time when I couldn’t do that. Back then, self-judgment fired so quickly that I couldn’t stop it from happening. At that phase in my journey, I learned to shift into silent watching (or rest-accept-trust) and watch the automatic self-judgment, as well as any emotion that was created by self-judgment. Rest-accept-trust are the training wheels that teach silent watching.

In other words, shift into silent watching or rest-accept-trust whenever you can. If you can silently watch your body-mind without judgment, do that. If self-judgment seems automatic, watch that. If there is a lot of guilt or emotion that you feel nearly compelled to believe, practice rest-accept trust. Whatever you can do to move out of full believing and toward silent watching is beneficial.

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

Today’s reading is about our identification with thought. It’s about how thought thinks it is what we are, and we also think thought is what we are. The reading says:

The voice that thinks it is you has convinced you that it is you also, and so you listen to this voice as if it is you.

What is the “you” that thinks it is thought?

We can answer with labels like, “I am consciousness,” “attention,” or “awareness,” but instead of doing that, let’s look.

Can you see what you are?

Can you see how you give yourself to thought as if thought is what you are when thought is not what you are?

Can you see how you can hold back from giving yourself to thought?

Can you see how you can relax into a general openness that is the empty shell instead of being concentrated on thought?

Can you see how in this moment, you actually are  general openness, even when some part of you is concentrated on thought?

Nisargadatta Maharaj once said:

I am that which knows I am.

Can you see (be aware of) that?

I recommend practicing a few minutes of awareness-watching-awareness with Self-inquiry before reading today’s reading. If you are clear on yourself when you read, the reading will be clear.

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

Yesterday’s tip ended with this statement:

As previously mentioned, we let go of a thought by realizing we don’t want it, and the best way to realize what you don’t want is to remember what you do want—your spiritual aspiration.

Today’s reading is about the importance of remembering what you want by focusing on the heart instead of on thinking.

One advantage of Gentle Healing is that we take time each day to focus on the heart through reading, contemplation and meditation. Without this daily focus, we would most likely be slaves of the head instead of servants of the heart.

It is just as Jesus taught when he walked on the shores of Galilee:

Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Dependence on the mind is like building a house on sand. Dependence on the heart is like building a house on a foundation of rock.

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

Here are answers to some questions that might come up as you read today’s reading.

When NTI asks us to empty the shell, what is the shell?

The shell is the person—the apparent human being that is regarded as an individual. When the person is empty, it is a vessel for truth. It is moved by truth, and truth speaks through it. An enlightened one is an empty shell, empty of self and self-will.

What is the difference between letting go and repression?

When a person lets go of a thought, there is a realization that the thought isn’t what is wanted. Since the thought isn’t wanted, it’s let go, just like you might let go of something that is taking up space in your house when you realize you no longer want it. If an idea has been believed to the point that an emotion was created, you’ll also need to rest-accept-trust as the accompanying emotion moves through and out of the body-mind.

When a person represses a thought, there is a fear that s/he is bad for having that thought in the mind. Repression is more like hiding something in a dark corner in the basement of your house, because you don’t want it to be seen. Whatever is stored in the basement is still in the house, taking up space.

By learning to feel the difference  between realization and fear, you can discern if you are letting go of thought or repressing it. If you find you are repressing it, you can realize you don’t want that, and then relax into letting go.

What are points of experience?

As we learned in NTI Romans, ignorance began because we wanted to experience something different than truth. “Points of experience” are illusory thoughts that fulfill that wish by creating emotion.

Let’s look at how points of experience create illusory experience.

Imagine that you are standing with a conveyor belt in front of you. Hundreds of needles are passing by on the conveyor belt. There are several different color needles. There are pink needles, blue ones, gray ones, yellow ones, etcetera. Each needle is standing on end, with the sharp end of the needle pointing up. As the needles pass by, you feel compelled toward some of the needles. When you reach out and touch a needle, it pricks your finger, and you experience the emotion that is associated with that color needle. Eventually, you become addicted to some of the emotions. Even though you don’t like the emotion, you continually touch needles of that same color and continually experience that emotion.

That is how points of experience create illusory experience, except instead of a conveyor belt with different colored needles, we experience illusions that are different from truth by giving attention to thoughts. Thoughts float by, just like needles on a conveyor belt, and we feel compelled to give our attention to some of them, and then we experience the emotions associated with those thoughts.

In order to empty the shell of illusory experiences, we need to see that although we feel compelled to give attention to some thoughts, we aren’t compelled to give them attention. We are free to give attention to a thought or let it go on by, as if on a conveyor belt, regardless of what the thought is. If we’ve already picked a thought up from the conveyor belt, we are free to lay it back down, and it will move on as the conveyor belt moves on.

As previously mentioned, we let go of a thought by realizing we don’t want it, and the best way to realize what you don’t want is to remember what you do want—your spiritual aspiration.

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