A universal assembly for true discernment
Please read and contemplate quotes #73, 81, 95 & 99 in The Seven Steps to Awakening with your inner teacher. This is the last quote today:
Mere listening, even memorizing, is not enough. If you do not struggle hard to apply every word of it in your daily life, don’t complain that you made no progress.
Note: The next Daily Contemplation will be available tomorrow morning after 2am ET at this link.
[16] “I have no neutral thoughts”
[17] “I see no neutral things.”
[18] “I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing.”
[19] “I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts.”
[20] “I am determined to see.”
When I did the lessons way back when, I loved the lesson “I have no neutral thoughts.” I think I loved it because even back then I felt the depth of truth in this statement of fact. Now I see it points me in the direction of my true desire. This statement, “I have no neutral thoughts” is basically the same lesson we have been learning in Consistent Gentle Healing and that is, let everything be as it is and letting everything be as it is is the forgiveness lesson. Everything is the way it is because everything (else) is the way it is. Everything is connected. Quantum physics is proving in the “physical” world that everything is connected and of course the physical world is just a reflection of our spiritual or inner world. We know that God is Love. Love is freedom. Freedom is peace. Peace is….Everything is connected.
If everything is connected then we know that our concepts of private thoughts can’t be true. ACIM lesson 20, “Recognizing the share nature of my thoughts, I am determined to see.” If I am connected to everyone then I have an awesome responsibility because I only want to share my real thoughts in the world. NTI Romans 8, “every thought that you have ever had is expressed in the world.” My real or true thoughts are the thoughts that I share with the Holy Spirit. NTI Romans 8 “The Holy Spirit is your truth.” ACIM lesson 19, [It] “is therefore in my power to change every mind along with mine, for mine is the power of God.”
So what does this set a review lessons mean for us in our practical living? It means stay in touch with what is true through our spiritual practices like spiritual inquiry and awareness watching awareness. Allow the false to be. Allow it to be incidental. Allow it to be without emphasis, while abiding lovingly with the true. NTI Romans 9 “Give willingness to see that it is not real. Give willingness to see that it is only thought…You must be willing not to believe the thoughts you see, the thoughts you experience, or the thought that seems to be you.”
Regina Dawn Akers completed her reading of the May 10, 1980 conversation in Consciousness and the Absolute: The Final Talks of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. She also read Quote 5 in The Nisargadatta Gita.
Regina Dawn Akers reads from the Tao Te Ching in order to contemplate enlightened leadership.
Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert shares with honesty and passion about the ups, downs, and all-around of the spiritual journey. Jacquelyn is transparent as she shares about the impersonal awakening process we all experience. She moves us with stories from her own journey, with direct insight from inner wisdom and with guidance from spiritual masters, both contemporary and legendary.
Anne Blanchard shares her experience of purification and awakening, unfiltered and as it happens. Raw, reflective, brave, and infused with clarity.
Anne’s open honesty inspires us all to dive deep into the spiritual journey instead of simply skimming the surface.
This retreat is based on the teaching of Indian sage, Ramana Maharshi. At this retreat, you will learn the subtleties of self-inquiry. You will participate in guided self-inquiry, meditative self-inquiry, self-inquiry with a partner, journaling based on self-inquiry, and you will contemplate and discuss quotes by Ramana Maharshi.
The purpose of this retreat is to help you make advances in the process of self-inquiry in a very short time, so when you go home from the retreat you will be able to use self-inquiry more effectively to abide in the true Self and detach from the false self. Each participant will receive a book of Ramana Maharshi quotes about self-inquiry.
The retreat will begin at 10am on Monday, June 10 and end at 3pm on Friday, June 14. The schedule during the retreat will vary each day and will include silent walks and contemplative outings in beautiful Colorado. Please bring good hiking or walking shoes. We recommend arriving in La Veta on or before Sunday, June 9 and departing on or after Saturday, June 15. You are welcome to stay at the Retreat House for up to 28 days on personal retreat. Longer stays require special permission.
Please read and contemplate quotes #36, 41, 55 & 67 in The Seven Steps to Awakening with your inner teacher. This is the last quote today:
Your sincerity will guide you. Devotion to the goal of freedom and perfection will make you abandon all theories and systems and live by wisdom, intelligence and active love. Theories may be good as starting points, but must be abandoned, the sooner — the better.
Note: The next Daily Contemplation will be available tomorrow morning after 2am ET at this link.
11) My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.
When I lose my focus on spiritual aspiration or true desire, I become disheartened. I am no longer able to see how everything fits together into one glorious song or testament to life itself. I think that there must be some place I am supposed to be, some way I am supposed to be and I imagine that I am not in that place or way of being. This is what it means to be separate from life. When I drop into my heart—when I focus on my essence—I have a felt sense that I and everything else is just where and how it “should be.” I don’t need anything to be different. I am confident in my Self and my “place” in the world.
12) I am upset because I see a meaningless world.
I can be sure that if I am upset, it is because I have, once again, begun searching for meaning outside of myself. I have turned to looking to others and the world and found that they have somehow failed me—failed to meet my expectations. By letting go of my belief in these thoughts of lack and limitation, I find myself settled; happy to be with whatever arises. In myself, I never find any cause for upset. When upset arises and I do not try to assign the cause of that upset to the outside world, I see through the emotions to the unaffectedness of my true nature.
13) A meaningless world engenders fear.
I fear a meaningless world only when I believe it is the world that gives me meaning. What is there to fear in something that can have no effect upon me? I learn to see fear as a signpost, whose presence heralds the recognition of my focus outside myself. Fear feeds itself if I believe it is justified by its cause. How do I let go of fear? I look within myself to see the source of fear. The source of fear is always the believing attention I have placed on my thoughts about the world.
14) God did not create a meaningless world.
Who created this world? I create a meaningless world when I believe it can offer me something I want. The only meaning in the world is to realize it shows me the opposite of truth. Conflict, attack, victimization are those things that are directly counter to the truth—Peace, cooperation and powerful freedom. It is not helpful for me to see the process of creation as outside of what I am and how I think and be. No all powerful force exists outside of me whose whims control my destiny. I am that which is. I come to understand the power of my being as I reclaim responsibility for that which I see.
15) My thoughts are images that I have made.
I must learn to take responsibility for the world I see. I must use discerning awareness in where I choose to cast my attention. When I see images in the world which call for my believing attention, I must ask, “who sees these thoughts” rather than “what do these images mean?” Recognizing my responsibility is not a calling to feel guilty. Rather, recognizing my responsibility offers me a glimpse of the power of my believing attention. Only by recognizing I have a choice in how I perceive what I “see,” can I reclaim my power to create in loving cooperation with my brothers. When the images of this world seem to bring sadness or despair I remember I have the choice to reclaim my creative power. I make this choice by focusing on my true desire.
Regina Dawn Akers guides a group of committed students who would like to make consistent, gentle progress toward genuine peace, joy and love.
