What is Sin?

We have read the special theme while replacing the word sin with “insanity.” Let’s read the special theme again, and this time let’s replace “sin” with “My ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, what should be and what should not be.”

For example, “My ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, what should be and what should not be are the home of all illusions, which but stand for things imagined, issuing from thoughts that are untrue. They are ‘proof’ that what has no reality is real. My ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, what should be and what should not be ‘proves’ God’s Son is evil; timelessness must have an end; eternal life must die. …”

Most people take their ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, what should be and what should not be to be fact. However, not everyone sees right and wrong, good and bad, what should be and what should not be in the same way. Therefore, our ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, what should be and what should not be are opinions.

NTI calls these ideas “judgment,” and claims that judgment is the building block of illusion. Our special theme makes the same claim:

[My ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, what should be and what should not be are] the home of all illusions, which but stand for things imagined, issuing from thoughts that are untrue. They are ‘proof’ that what has no reality is real.

In her book, In the World but Not of It, Gina Lake refers to these ideas as “duality.” She says, “Be aware of the duality and untruth represented in your thoughts. Thoughts do not tell the truth. When you see this very clearly, your thoughts lose the power to make you suffer.”

Here are some tips Gina shared about how to transcend duality:

The duality of better than/less than is transcended by recognizing the truth that everything is perfect just as it is. Everything is as its meant to be and serving its purpose in the Whole. …

The duality of like/don’t like is transcended by holding your preferences lightly, by noticing your preferences but not necessarily letting them drive your actions or decisions. Instead, the divine self determines your actions, which may sometimes take you in directions that go against your conditioned preferences and desires.

The duality of want/don’t want is transcended by holding your desires lightly and by letting everything come that comes and letting everything go that goes. You lay the small will at the feet of Thy will, trusting that the divine self knows best …

The duality of good/bad is transcended by recognizing where those opinions come from and that they serve only the ego, and then holding them lightly or letting them go.

The duality of emotional highs and lows is transcended by coming into right relationship with life, which is experienced as equanimity. … This equanimity is sober, steady, okay with everything, at peace and content. It is a state of causeless, subtle happiness, or inner joy.

The duality of taking too much or giving too much is transcended through selflessness. The ‘self’ that is absent in ‘selflessness’ is the egoic self, which tends to take or give too much, both for the purpose of getting what it wants. Selflessness, on the other hand, is giving appropriately, … the divine self moving in the world, doing or not doing, according to a greater will that knows exactly what action to take when.

Gina goes on to write:

What happens when you become more aware of your thoughts [of duality] and start questioning them is that space, or distance, is created between you and the thought-stream … more time in the spacious Presence that is the divine self.

Let every voice but God’s be still in me.

As today’s lesson says:

Today we let no ego thoughts direct our words or actions. When such thoughts occur, we quietly step back and look at them, and then we let them go. We do not want what they would bring with them. And so we do not choose to keep them. They are silent now. And in the stillness, hallowed by His Love, God speaks to us and tells us of our will, as we have chosen to remember Him.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this meditation:

AWA Description V

If you only have 20 minutes for meditation today or if you have 20 minutes later in the day for a second meditation, I recommend this guided meditation by AHAM and Karen Worth:

Say Yes to What Is

What is Sin?

Our special theme says, “The body is the instrument the mind made in its efforts to deceive itself. Its purpose is to strive. Yet can the goal of striving change. And now the body serves a different aim for striving. … Truth can be its aim …”

Actually the mind strives, and the body follows. The mental chatter that you experience is striving—it is not rest. It is striving to accomplish the ego’s “idle wish” for separation.

Admittedly, spiritual practice is also striving. However, it is striving with a different purpose. It is striving to let go of the striving that creates illusion and to return to the state of rest in which the truth is realized.

Here are some quotes from Nisargadatta Maharaj that are related to this teaching from our special theme. Pleae contemplate these quotes at intervals throughout the day today:

1. “You give reality to concepts, while concepts are distortions of reality. Abandon all conceptualization and stay silent and attentive. Be earnest about it and all will be well with you.”
2. “You are the infinite focused in a body. Now you see the body only. Try earnestly and you will come to see the infinite only.”
3. “Mere listening, even memorizing, is not enough. If you do not struggle hard to apply every word of [the teaching] in your daily life, don’t complain that you made no progress.”
4. “When you are dead earnest, you bend every incident, every second of your life to your purpose.”
5. “The word itself is the bridge. Remember it, think of it, explore it, go round it, look at it from all directions, dive into it with earnest perseverance. Endure all delays and disappointments till suddenly the mind turns round, away from the word, towards the reality beyond the word. It is like trying to find a person knowing his name only. A day comes when your inquiries bring you to him and the name becomes reality.”

My Self is ruler of the universe.

“It is impossible that anything should come to me unbidden by myself. Even in this world, it is I who rule my destiny. What happens is what I desire. What does not occur is what I do not want to happen. This must I accept.”

There is a simple way to see the teaching above.

If I want illusion, I get illusion.
If I want truth, truth is realized.

How do I know what I want?

What is my life about? What am I applying myself toward?

Most people have had a goal at some point in their life that was the central theme of their life at that time. It could have been the goal of getting a college degree, of finding a life partner, of having and raising children, of starting a new business, or any number of things. When a goal is really important to us, we apply ourselves toward that goal.

So again, what am I applying myself toward?

If I am applying myself toward thought or the imposter self’s desires, that means that I am primarily interested in the world of illusion. Because I am primarily interested in the world of illusion, that will continue to be experienced. Since the world of illusion is duality, I will experience duality, both that which I consider good and bad, desired and undesired. That is the nature of duality.

If I am applying myself toward awakening, I will succeed in awakening. As Nisargadatta Maharaj said, “The desire to find the Self will surely be fulfilled, provided you want nothing else.”

Today is a day to contemplate what I want, and to ask if I am willing to apply myself toward that goal.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this meditation:

AWA Description S