Note: If desired, watch all of Acts 17 from the Visual Bible movie, Acts.

Like A Course in Miracles, NTI is a step in the awakening process. It is not the final destination. The primary goals of NTI are:

1. Purification, which is freeing one’s self from believing the mind.
2. Service, which is living by following guidance.
3. Merging, which is awakening to consciousness.

Let’s review the Four Principles of God:

First Principle of God– Pure, unmanifest, life-awareness; abstract, unlimited potentiality.

Second Principle of God– Consciousness; the unaffected, still witness. All things manifest are made of this principle; therefore, all things are consciousness.

Third Principle of God– The ongoing activity of creation, which occurs naturally through the interaction of the witnessing principle with that which is witnessed. It is how consciousness forms itself into the many temporary forms that make up the manifest universe.

Fourth Principle of God– Manifestation. Everything in this realm is temporary, and so it is often referred to as a dream. It is consciousness appearing as something other than consciousness, and so it is called illusion.

If you compare the goals of NTI with the Four Principles of God, you see that the goal of NTI is to awaken to the Second Principle of God.

I bring this to your attention, because today’s reading says:

You are the one Son of God. You have always been the one Son, and you shall always be God’s only Son, for that is what you were created to be.

In creating you, God gave everything to you. He extended Himself, which is all that He had, and He named this extension you. The you that He made was the same as I Am, so there was no difference between them.

In this context, “God” is the Second Principle of God and “you” refers to everyone and everything manifest as the Fourth Principle of God. That’s why the reading refers to “you” as “the one Son of God.” The many things in manifestation are not many things, as they appear to be. The many things are one thing, consciousness appearing as something other than consciousness.

The reading says:

There is no difference between you and I Am, … You are the Son. I Am is the Father. You are the extension of I Am. In the extension, you are I Am also.

When reading this, it is important to remember that “you” refers to everyone and everything manifest as the Fourth Principle of God. If your name is Sally, “you” does not refer to Sally alone, because there is no Sally alone. “You” refers to everyone and everything manifest.

It may be helpful to think of children’s molding clay again. The children’s molding clay represents consciousness. Now, imagine that an elaborate city is created from the clay. It includes many types of people, the birds, animals and plants that are found in a city, the buildings and automobiles that are found in a city, and so on. “You” is not one specific image of a person in the clay city. “You” is everything in the city. It is as if the clay is speaking to the clay city and saying, “You are created from me, and you are the same as I am.”

The reading also says:

And yet, there is a difference that cannot be called a difference at all. You are not the same as I Am, because you did not create you. I Am did. And that which He created is exactly as it is, and that is you exactly as you are.”

That means you are not what you think you are; you are consciousness. That’s true regardless of how the mind defines you. It doesn’t matter if the mind sees you as smart, stupid, talented, dull, athletic, clumsy, beautiful, ugly, admired, unloved, and etcetera. None of that is true about you. You are consciousness. You are not Sally or Harry (or whatever your name is.) You are the whole.

Since we are one whole—one creation of consciousness—we cannot be separated or divided. It’s impossible for some of us to be on one side wanting one thing while others are on another side wanting something different. We can’t have different or independent goals. We are consciousness, and its purpose is our purpose.

To illustrate, think of the cake batter analogy again. Is the blue cake batter on one side of a color issue—the “We want to be blue” side—while the white batter is on the other side of the color issue?

No. It is all one batter. The blue food coloring is simply spreading naturally through the batter as the batter is stirred.

In the same way, “we” are one consciousness, and consciousness is awakening to itself as consciousness. That is all that is occurring throughout the Fourth Principle of God, regardless of what appears to be occurring.

How is this helpful?

If you realize that everyone and everything in manifestation is consciousness, and its goal is awakening to consciousness, then you can see that everything has one purpose, and you can use it for that purpose. For example:

Imagine you are with a group of friends who are making plans for the day. You aren’t quite sure what has been decided, so you ask, “What are we doing?” Someone close to you gets frustrated, turns to you and says:

“You are an idiot. I am sick and tired of trying to explain everything to you all of the time. Get your head out of your ass!”

When this happens, you feel deep feelings of embarrassment, shame and unworthiness.

Why has this happened?

The person who said that to you is consciousness, and you are consciousness, but you subconsciously believe you are an idiot, shameful and unworthy. Consciousness played its role in awakening by being the accuser in order to bring up beliefs that need to be healed. Now your role as consciousness is to practice rest-accept-trust and heal those beliefs.

It’s consciousness interacting with consciousness so that consciousness, as one whole, can heal and awaken to itself as consciousness.

That is all that is occurring in the Fourth Principle now. Nothing else is happening, because consciousness, as one, only has one purpose.

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

Note:  Before reading today’s tip, read Acts 16:16-36 from the Bible or watch all of Acts 16 from the Visual Bible movie, Acts.

Many people resist surrendering and following guidance, because they believe freedom is “doing what I want,” and surrender is giving up that freedom.

Today’s reading says:

If you leave all things to Me, I will guide you in all things. You will not need to give thought or care to anything you are to do or not do. … All that you are left to do is to willingly do as I ask and enjoy the freedom that is expressed through you.

If you pay attention to the thinking mind, you will notice it isn’t freedom. It worries. It spins and spins as it tries to figure out solutions to problems. It finds more problems in its solutions to other problems. When things do not go as it expects, it gets angry and blames others, or it decides that you are guilty and unworthy. Thinking is not freedom. It is “the prison you are in.”

When we surrender and follow guidance, we do have to give up “my way,” but what we discover is the freedom of being an empty vessel. Loves moves through and around that vessel, so that what we witness and experience is love.

Knowing love as the benevolent nature of the universe gives us a sense of freedom that we could never know with the thinking mind. It isn’t the mind’s idea of freedom, which is “doing what I want and doing it my way.” That only leads to conflict. True freedom is witnessing love, knowing the universe as love, and realizing, “I am that.”

When Paul and Silas were in prison in Macedonia, a great earthquake came, which opened the prison doors and set them free from the chains that bound them. It appeared that the earthquake set them free, because now they could go their way. Yet, that was not freedom. Their freedom was following the guidance to stay in prison—which freed the jailer from his sense of guilt and unworthiness—and welcoming their jailer into their hearts as a friend.

The freedom of befriending the jailer was greater than escaping and going their own way.

The point of the story is this:

If you go your own way, you may think you know freedom, but if you follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you will discover what freedom really is.

Freedom is being an empty vessel, because an empty vessel is free to know the benevolent heart of consciousness through:

1. Witnessing how the universe cares for us.
2. Directly experiencing free-flowing love for all things.

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