What is the Second Coming?

This special theme ends by saying, “Pray that the Second Coming will be soon, but do not rest with that. It needs your eyes and ears and hands and feet. It needs your voice. And most of all it needs your willingness. Let us rejoice that we can do God’s Will, and join together in its holy light.”

As we have seen, the spiritual path is made up of four primary stages. The four stages lead to a final awakening that is beyond those stages completely. It is an awakening that is beyond perception. It is awakening to the First Principle of God, which is the Source and ultimate truth.

The Second Coming is awakening to the Second Principle of God, consciousness. That is the fourth stage of the spiritual path. Although it is an awakening, it is prior to the final awakening. Consciousness sees with true perception. It knows all things in manifestation as consciousness. Therefore, it knows all things are one.

Merging is the stage that leads to awakening as consciousness. This is a stage of surrender, when one continually lets go of anything that appears to be a separate will or separate self and surrenders into spiritual intuition and the recognition of consciousness. Awareness-watching-awareness meditation is an important part of this stage. Practicing surrender as it is taught in The Teachings of Inner Ramana is another part of this stage. The Loving All Method is also a wonderful practice during this stage of awakening.

Purification prepares you for merging. Purification is a stage of clearing away false beliefs and conditioning. It is a stage of untangling or undoing. It is also when most people discover spiritual intuition. Inquiry is a very important part of this stage. Focusing on one’s willingness, spiritual aspiration or desire for clarity is also very important. Awareness-watching-awareness meditation is helpful, because it can help you achieve some distance from the mind, which aids immeasurably in letting go. The Loving All Method helps you gain freedom from your emotions and judgments, which is also very helpful.

In fearlessness and love I spend today.

Today’s lesson says, “This day, my Father, would I spend with You, as You have chosen all my days should be.”

Nisargadatta Maharaj once said, “If you desire to be free, do not neglect the nearest step to freedom.”

Let’s spend this day with our Father by paying attention to our individual “nearest step to freedom.”

Ask this question:

What is my nearest step to freedom?
What do I need to know and do?

Let writing (or speaking into a recorder) lead you to the answer. Start by writing the answer that feels true to you. Write to the boundary of your knowledge, and then wait to see what truth comes from beyond the boundary of your current knowledge.

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What is the Second Coming?

Our special theme says, “The Second Coming is one event in time which time itself can not affect. For every one who ever came to die, or yet will come or who is present now, is equally released from what he made. In this equality is Christ restored as one Identity, in which the Sons of God acknowledge that they are all one.”

This is a statement that says we cannot fail to awaken to consciousness.

Admittedly, it is possible that our awakening to consciousness will not happen in this lifetime. However, the special theme says, “For every one who ever came to die, or yet will come…”

That means that if awakening does not occur in this lifetime, it will occur in another lifetime. Awakening is guaranteed!

When we think of this lifetime as the only time we have, we are looking at this person as who we are. We are not this person.

To see that we also have other lifetimes in which we can accomplish this goal broadens our perspective of our self as more than this time-limited being with a particular name and history. It’s helpful to see that we are beyond that limit, because that is true.

At the same time, this lifetime is a perfect time to make every stride that we can in the direction of awakening. Maybe this will be the lifetime in which we awaken!

Whether this is the lifetime in which we awaken or not, as we saw in our contemplation yesterday, “this instant is the only time there is. … The only interval in which I can be saved from time is now.” Let’s use now well.

I will not fear to look within today

The lesson says, “Within me is eternal innocence, because it is God’s Will that it be there forever and forever. … I fear to look within because I think I made another will that is not true, and made it real. Yet it has no effects. Within me is the Holiness of God. Within me is the memory of Him.”

If you have listened to my teachings much at all, you have heard me speak of the ‘I am bad’ thought. This fear—the fear that ‘I am bad’—is one of the greatest obstacles to awakening. It keeps us stuck in the belief that we are something other than God. As NTI puts it:

You believe you have stolen yourself from God. That is to say, you believe you have made yourself separate from God’s Will. You believe it is your choice to follow God’s Will or your own, and you feel guilty for this choice, because you believe it is a sin to have made a will that is separate from God’s.

Your guilt, born of the choice to have a separate will, leaves you feeling unworthy of God’s Will. And so, out of your guilt and sense of unworthiness, you deny God’s Will by not hearing it, or by hearing it, but by not believing you are deserving to follow it.

There are several things you must look at here. First, you do have the desire to know and follow God’s Will. Hold that up as a beacon. That is your willingness. Let it guide you to your true Heart’s desire.

Secondly, the feeling that seems to be an obstacle to knowing and following God’s Will is the belief that you are unworthy of God’s Will. This is like a crafty trick. It is a loop that keeps you trapped within an illusion of yourself.

You think you are guilty because you want to serve a will other than God’s,

and

Your true desire is to serve God’s Will,
but your sense of unworthiness is an obstacle to that desire.

Do you see the loop in which you are snared? Can you see how your own belief in your guilt and unworthiness seems to lead you onto the path of increased guilt and additional unworthiness?

This is why I have come, to help you look at the upside-down reasoning within the mind that keeps you feeling trapped. And also to help you see that you are not trapped, because you can lay down this reasoning that makes no sense. When you lay it down and put it aside, you are free to know the reasoning of the Holy Spirit, which is right-reasoning and is joy.

If you are in the purification stage, spend today noticing the thoughts in your mind that continually tell you that you are ‘bad’ (guilty, unworthy, not good enough, etc.) Each time you notice one of these thoughts, realize that it is an ego preservation strategy and nothing more. Put faith in the fact that you are eternally innocent. Rest for a few moments as you hold that faith in your mind and heart. You don’t need to understand how you are innocent. You simply need to trust that it’s true.

If you are already purified from the ‘I am bad’ belief, let today’s lesson be a reminder of your desire to surrender completely, and therefore merge fully with consciousness.

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What is the Second Coming?

Our special theme says, “The Second Coming is the time in which all minds are given to the hands of Christ, to be returned to spirit in the name of true creation and the Will of God.”

That is an extraordinary sentence.

“all minds are given to the hands of Christ”

“to be returned to spirit”

“in the name of true creation”

“and the Will of God”

Please take time to contemplate this sentence today. What clarity comes to you as you contemplate this beautiful symphony of words? Be sure to write your clarity down, so you can return to it if it is forgotten later in the day.

This instant is the only time there is.

Today’s lesson is also incredible.

“I have conceived of time in such a way that I defeat my aim.”

“I must change my perception of what time is for.”

“Time’s purpose cannot be to keep the past and future one.”

“The only interval in which I can be saved from time is now.”

“The birth of Christ is now”

“present blessing”

“love is ever-present, here and now”

“Thanks for this instant, Father.”

Oh my goodness! What a glorious feast! It is a perfect combination of ideas to bring us into the heart.

Please contemplate these words from today’s lesson, just as you contemplated the excerpt from our special theme.

I can hardly wait to get this tip posted, so I can move into my own joyous and fruitful contemplation. The heart is already opening in anticipation of it.

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