What is Sin?

Our special theme says, “The body is the instrument the mind made in its efforts to deceive itself.”

Here are some quotes for you to contemplate today in relation to the previous statement from our special theme:

1. You know yourself only through the senses and the mind. You take yourself to be what they suggest; having no direct knowledge of yourself, you have mere ideas; all mediocre, second-hand, by hearsay. Whatever you think you are, you take it to be true; the habit of imagining yourself perceivable and describable is very strong with you. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

2. Question: To be here and now, I need my body and its senses. To understand, I need a mind.
   Nisargadatta Maharaj: The body and the mind are only symptoms of ignorance, of misapprehension. Behave as if you were pure awareness, bodiless and mindless, spaceless and timeless, beyond ‘where’ and ‘when’ and ‘how’. Dwell on it, think of it, learn to accept its reality.

3. When the subtle mind emerges through the brain and the senses, the gross names and forms are cognized. When it remains in the Heart names and forms disappear… If the mind remains in the Heart, the ‘I’ or the ego which is the source of all thoughts will go, and the Self, the Real, Eternal ‘I’ alone will shine. Where there is not the slightest trace of the ego, there is the Self. ~ Ramana Maharshi

4. We know that only by means of the bodily senses and the mind can the world be known. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

5. This [supreme state] is entirely one and indivisible, a single solid block of reality. The only way of knowing it is to be it. The mind cannot reach it. To perceive it does not need the senses; to know it, does not need the mind. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

The Son of God is my Identity.

Today is a day to give willingness to know your true Self. Stay in the heart today. Review the quotes above along with today’s excerpt from our special theme. Ask yourself questions like, “If I am not this body, this mind, this personality, what am I?”

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

AWA Description U

What is Sin?

Our new special theme needs to be read with understanding that comes from clarity. If one reads this special theme with the judgmental mind of the ego, one might perceive that s/he is a sinner because s/he experiences a body. That is not what this lesson intends to teach.

Let’s look at the first paragraph through the lens of clarity.

The paragraph begins with three important words. “Sin is insanity.” The mind might interpret those words to mean something like, “It is insane to be evil” or “It is insane to be as bad as you are.” However, that is not what the sentence says. The sentence is defining what sin is by placing it side-by-side with a synonymn.

Pretend like you had never heard the word “sin” before. This is the first time the sound of s—i—n has ever reached your ears. Someone uses that word, and you ask, “What is ‘sin’?” The answer is, “Sin is insanity.”

“Oh,” you say, because you know what insanity is. And as the person continues to talk using the word “sin,” your mind naturally substitutes “insanity” every time “sin” is heard.

Therefore, you hear, “Insanity is the means by which the mind is driven mad, and seeks to let illusions take the place of truth. And being mad, it sees illusions where the truth should be, and where it really is. Insanity gave the body eyes, for what is there the lucid would behold? …”

Or said another way, the perceived world is not true. Those who choose to believe it without questioning it are deluded. Anyone who has awakened to truth, and therefore knows the unreality of the world, has no interest in it. They are drawn only to reality.

Here’s how NTI says the same thing:

You experience the ego as a stream of thoughts within the mind that seem to interpret, counsel, identify, judge and spring forth as ideas. In themselves, these thoughts seem to be nothing to you, although you listen to them and act on all that they say. These thoughts rule your mind and your interpretation of the world, because you believe what they say. Yet, they are based on a foundation of separateness, which is not what is true. And so what is true is not in what they say.

To listen to these thoughts and believe them is ignorance, for you are listening to what is not true, but believing what you hear. Any action you take based on these thoughts is ignorant action, for it is action based on untruth in an unreal world.

Ignorance is not guilt. It is a call for knowledge. It is the Holy Spirit that leads you through corrected perception to the right-knowledge that you seek. Right-knowledge is true knowledge, and true knowledge is the knowledge of truth.

Do not worry about the mistakes you have made. They are based on ignorance, which is illusion and affects only that which is not reality. Be happy that you have been mistaken! Be joyous that there is another way to see! This is what it means to repent. To repent is to choose again. To repent is to decide to turn from the ways of ignorance and turn to the Voice of Knowledge. This is a joyous decision, for this is the decision that changes all things. This decision that you have made is a decision to listen to another Voice. It is the decision to let go of the thoughts you have listened to until now and to listen to another Voice, the one that comes from God. This decision is a decision to change the habits you have had until now. It is a decision to see yourself through new eyes, eyes that are based on a foundation of truth. ~ NTI Acts, Chapter 4

Set aside your thoughts of division. When you see them in your mind or in the playing out of thought within the world, rejoice! What you see is not true. Be happy that you have found willingness to deny that which is false, for inherent in its denial is the willingness to accept only that which is true. …

One who knows wholeness after experiencing the lack of wholeness knows illusion is no substitute for truth. He shall not choose illusion again. ~ NTI 1 Corinthians, Chapter 16

I am in need of nothing but the truth.

Today is a day to give willingness to know truth. Stay in the heart today. Review the teachings above from A Course in Miracles and NTI throughout the day. Ask yourself questions like, “If this is not reality—if I am deluded in everything I see and believe—do I want to know truth?”

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

Subtle Looking

What is the World?

This is our last day with our special theme, “What is the World?” It is good to read it slowly and contemplatively today. Notice the main themes in this special theme, all of which we have covered in our daily tips.

Let me not see myself as limited.

In two of our recent recommended meditations, the instructions have asked us to keep an open mind.

Tip 11 with AWA Description O said, “Be open minded to the possibility that you can let go of whatever obstacle appears.”

Tip 12 with AWA Description P said, “Be open minded to the possibility that you can let go of all that is limited and finite.”

Today’s workbook lesson asks us to be open minded in the same way. Today is a day to let go of any doubt that we find in our thinking.

Remember, doubt is an ego preservation strategy. If we believe doubt, we are less likely to apply ourselves to the spiritual practice that ends the ego and leads to Self-realization. Therefore, taking time to let go of doubt is extremely useful.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend that you practice one of the following meditations:

AWA Description O

AWA Description P

If you have time, practice both meditations today. I recommend practicing one early in the day and the other later in day.