Today’s reading asks, “Do you disagree with your brother?”

Whenever you find that you disagree with anyone, it is a good time to practice inquiry. Look to see if you are attached to self-will. Look to see if you need to practice root cause inquiry to discover a hidden motive or belief.

Inner harmony is the sign of an empty shell. Disagreement doesn’t arise out of pure emptiness. That doesn’t mean that emptiness agrees with everyone. Agreement is just another position. Instead of agreeing or disagreeing, emptiness accepts everyone, allows them to be as they are, trusts all things as they unfold and acts intuitively.

Today’s reading also asks, “Do you have thoughts of temptation in your mind?”

A temptation is a desire, craving or impulse to do something wrong or unwise. For our purposes, we can say that a temptation is a desire, craving or impulse that arises from ego conditioning.

It’s helpful to notice how each of us is a slave to ego conditioning. I used to parent by yelling. That’s the first adverse conditioning I chose to transcend. Other examples of conditioning that I actively chose to transcend are the desire for control, poor eating habits and too much TV.

How does one transcend adverse ego conditioning?

1. Recognize that the habit is contrary to your spiritual aspiration.
2. Inquire to see if there are false ideas driving the habit. For example, I yelled at Jasmine because of a mind-made law that daughters are supposed to respect (always happily obey) their mothers.
3. Notice when the temptation arises, and practice rest-accept-trust instead of giving in to it.
4. Do not judge yourself when you do give in to the temptation, but continue to gently realize your desire to transcend that conditioning. If you do judge yourself, rest-accept-trust with the feelings that arise from judgment.
5. Be patient and remain lovingly motivated to transcend the ego conditioning you’ve identified.

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

In NTI 1 Corinthians 1, we were told, “The ego is still within your mind.” Since the ego is still in the mind, discernment is an important factor for one who is learning to be an empty shell.

On Day 156, we contemplated the Commentary on Discernment from Thoughts of Awakening. That commentary said:

Discernment tunes in to a pitch that is beyond the communication of mind and informs mind of the source based on its pitch.

That means that discernment isn’t confused by the words or story in a thought. Discernment senses the vibrational signature of the thought’s source. It knows if the thought is ego or intuition, because it is familiar with the characteristics of ego and spiritual wisdom.

Today’s reading expands on that message. It points out that thoughts that lead you to believe in illusion are ego, and thoughts that lead you from illusion are spiritual wisdom. This is a simple message that can help identify the vibrational signature or pitch of both ego and spiritual wisdom, if you are genuinely interested in letting go of ego and awakening to truth. However, if you are more interested in securing peace, happiness or a sense of safety in the world, you will continue to be attracted to ego, which chatters about how to get peace, happiness and safety in the world.

I recommend reviewing the Commentary on Discernment before reading today’s reading in NTI. That way, you can contemplate the commentary and today’s reading together.

The last paragraph in today’s reading is a very important tip that will help you avoid a common mistake. People frequently be~lie~ve they know other people’s thoughts, when they are simply believing ego in their own mind. For example, if John’s mind thinks, “Gerty thinks I’m lazy and irresponsible,” John presumes that is what Gerty thinks. John doesn’t realize that idea is self-judgment in his own mind.

People often tell me what they think I am thinking, and their thoughts are very far from the truth. Usually, I am thinking nothing at all. I am simply watching the moment unfold. Their thoughts about my thinking are classic projection.

Your thought, which is projected as ‘s/he thinks’ is a sly trick of the ego. It can mislead you, and then you miss an opportunity for discernment. You can avoid being misled by noticing:

1. The thought is in your mind.
2. It is an ego thought, so it is a thought you want to let go of.

Click here to review the Commentary on Discernment

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

People often resist surrender, because they believe that in surrender they sacrifice something. As today’s reading points out, that resistance “comes from the delusion that you are what you are not.”

In NTI 1 Corinthians 1, we were told that the “ego is still within your mind, and it may seem to persist for some time.” The ego is the idea and feeling of ‘me.’ As long as the idea and feeling of ‘me’ persists, surrender will be resisted to one degree or another. If we expect perfect surrender from ourselves before we are fully ready, we create another opportunity for self-judgment. The ‘I am bad’ belief endures through self-judgment.

It is best to see ourselves as learning  surrender. It is natural to make mistakes in the process of learning. Children fall when learning to walk. Pianists hit the wrong keys when learning to play piano. Etcetera.

We do not need to judge ourselves for our mistakes, but we can use them to enhance our learning.

In a recent contemplation with inner spiritual wisdom, Teresa from Northern Ireland wrote:

When I worked as a teacher, I would demonstrate a new mathematical process to the children on the blackboard. They appeared to understand, but it was only when they started making mistakes, when asked to complete some exercises by themselves, that they realised where they were going wrong.  That’s like me.  I think I understand while I am reading, etc. but the rubber only hits the road when I’m in my daily living.

Inner wisdom responded:

You can view your life in the world as those little children doing their mathematics.  Learning from their mistakes is the only way they are going to have success.  Then they have to practise, practise, practise in order to become unconsciously competent.

Just like children who are learning math turn to their teacher for help when they make mistakes, we can turn to the inner teacher for help when we make mistakes. The inner teacher will help us see the mistake with clarity and help us see the correction without judgment. That is how children learn math, and that is how we learn to be the empty shell. Today’s reading says:

Therefore, when you believe you have made a mistake, turn to Me. Ask Me to use your perception for your learning. In this way, you open yourself for another thought of Mine to be revealed.

Every time we turn to inner spiritual wisdom, we receive spiritual wisdom, and that is how we learn.

You are becoming skilled at going within and receiving wisdom. Be willing to use that skill to look at your mistakes. If you do, you will receive insight that is specifically and directly helpful to you.

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

An “empty shell” is empty of self and empty of self-will. Today’s reading points out that we will not immediately become the permanent empty shell. We need practice in order to learn that we prefer emptiness to self-will. That is the same as saying we need practice in order to learn that we prefer harmony to conflict. You might think you prefer harmony to conflict now, when you don’t, at least not yet. You see, the ego mind likes harmony as long as it gets harmony “my way.” The ego is attached to self-will, which means that when it comes right down to it, it prefers conflict to no self-will.

We need to learn that we want harmony over conflict to the point that we are willing to relinquish self and self-will in order to realize harmony.

If we are willing to let go of self-will, we will be given opportunities to practice. Conflict will arise in our lives, so we can see that the cause of conflict is self-will, and then we can decide if we are ready to lay aside self-will in that moment  in order to experience harmony.

It reminds me of the opening to Lesson 185 in A Course in Miracles:

I want the peace of God.

To say these words is nothing. But to mean these words is everything. If you could but mean them for just an instant, there would be no further sorrow possible for you in any form; in any place or time.

It’s important to note that harmony is experienced within, not on the outside. If I let go of my self-will in a conflict with another person, but the other person doesn’t let go of her self-will, she may still experience conflict. If I want her to experience harmony, that is simply my  self-will. (i.e., I want her to experience harmony.) I can release additional self-will by letting go of my desire regarding her experience.

Today’s reading says:

Your willingness to practice will match with your brother’s willingness to learn, so he may be brought to you, and you will be given your opportunity to practice.

In NTI Romans 13, we learned that the world is “set up for your learning.” It is set up so we can learn the answer to these questions:

What if nothing was as it is?
What if I could make something completely different,
and make it whatever I want?
What would that be like?

Regardless of whether a person is on the spiritual path or not, he is learning the answer to these questions. When his readiness to learn more about, “What would that be like?” matches with your desire to let go of self-will, you are matched in what may appear to be a conflictual relationship, so he can learn more about the experience of self-will while you let go of self-will.

Today’s reading says:

You are eternal and beyond limits of any kind.

The ego has an interpretation of “limitless,” which is a distortion and not related to truth realization. The ego’s idea of limitless is:

I am not limited. I get my way all of the time.

It is better to see limitless as:

I am not affected by anything. Everything can be exactly as it is.

You know yourself as “limitless and beyond all fear” when you have no self-will and you are  absolute, unqualified love.

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

Yesterday’s tip defined the “empty shell” as being empty of self and empty of self-will. The willingness to be empty is never an ego desire. Therefore, it is a safe desire. It is also a goal or focus that is helpful in both the purification and service phases. Therefore, it is a worthy goal for the individual who wants to awaken and realize truth.

In addition to being a worthy goal for the individual, the desire to be empty is the one individual goal that serves the whole.

Most individual goals create conflict, because most individual goals come from self-will, which is highly personal and conflicts with other persons. It is extremely fair and honest to say that all conflict comes from self-will.

The desire to be empty of self-will, however, is different. It is the only individual goal that does not create conflict, because there is no self-will in it.

As today’s reading says:

As an empty shell, you are filled by Me.

The “Me” in that sentence is the natural wisdom and love of awake consciousness. There is no selfishness in awake consciousness, because awake consciousness knows all things as its Self and loves all things as its Self. Therefore, a human vessel that is moved by awake consciousness is a vessel that serves the greatest benefit of the whole.

A human vessel that is empty serves the whole in two ways:

1. It can serve at the level of dream to reduce suffering and to point toward truth.
2. It serves at the metaphysical level to communicate truth throughout consciousness.

Today’s reading refers to “mind.” For example, it says:

That which has opened itself to the Spirit of God by becoming as an empty shell has made a statement unto the mind that is its own.

In this context, “mind” is the intelligent faculty in consciousness.

Everything is consciousness, but as you know, consciousness does not recognize itself as consciousness when it is focused outward on thoughts, body and world. Yet, consciousness that does not know itself as consciousness is  consciousness, and its truth is communicated to itself through its intelligent or comprehension faculty whenever a part of itself realizes itself.

Today’s reading is short, but its meaning is far-reaching, since it provides an opportunity to help awaken the entire universe by choosing to become empty at the individual level.

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