Note: Before reading today’s tip, read Acts 5:1-11 from the Bible or watch all of Acts 5 from the Visual Bible movie, Acts.
Today, we will continue to look at the belief that we are guilty (or unworthy, shameful, etcetera.) NTI uses the story of Ananias and his wife to help us look at our belief in guilt.
In my experience as a spiritual teacher, guilt and its sister-feelings, like unworthiness and shame, are at the core of each person. Some people are very aware of their feelings of guilt, unworthiness or shame. Other people aren’t aware of those feelings. Those who aren’t aware tend to see themselves as better than others in one way or another. They see others as guilty or unworthy, just as Peter saw Ananias and his wife as guilty, and just as the leaders of the Jewish faith saw Peter and the apostles as guilty. This is a classic example of projection. When the belief in guilt is healed, we do not see anyone as guilty, unworthy or shameful.
If you feel this discussion about guilt does not apply to you, pause and look at how you see others. If you see guilt, unworthiness or shamefulness anywhere in the world, the belief is deeply repressed in you. You need this healing too.
The Truth
The belief that we are guilty is not true. In order to see that it’s not true, we need to take our eyes off of the lie and focus them on the truth.
Yesterday we learned that there is only one Will, and that is life-awareness-freedom. That is the truth. For the purpose of simplification, let’s shorten that to life. Life is what God is, life is what God created you as, and life is God’s Will for you. The only thing God wants for you and from you is life. Nothing else is asked or expected.
With that said, if you have an extra-marital affair, have you gone against God’s Will or are you still life?
If you hurt someone with something you say in anger, have you gone against God’s one Will or are you still life?
What if you hit someone, throw dishes at someone or steal? What if you lie or fail to respect your parents? Have you gone against God’s Will or are you still life?
It is true that mistakes like these can cause unnecessary suffering, but as we have already seen, these mistakes are caused by ignorance and are a call for knowledge. Although you may believe they go against God’s Will, they don’t, because God’s Will is life, and life is unaffected by these mistakes.
Some people may ask, “What if I kill someone?” The answer is, are you still life? Look at the life that you are. It is uninterrupted and unaffected in you. That is the answer to your question.
Others may ask, “What about suicide? Am I guilty if I commit suicide?”
Well, if suicide actually results in death, then you are dead. Can something that no longer exists be guilty or does it simply no longer exist? And if suicide does not actually result in death, but results in a transition from one type of life to another, there is still life, isn’t there?
As some people read this, their minds may try to prove that guilt is true in some circumstances. If so, why? Why try to prove that guilt is true instead of accepting this teaching?
On Day 99, our Thought of Awakening said:
See that the thoughts
you want to hold to
are only thoughts
you want to hold to.
They are ideas only.
And you want to hold to them
as if they are your life.
But are they your life?
Are these ideas
that which you are?
That’s a great question to contemplate today. Are your ideas about guilt your life, or is your life present and unaffected by your ideas about guilt? Which is your foundational truth, and which is added by the mind?
As you contemplate this, you might consider these questions:
Does everyone see guilt in the same way? For example, in some cultures a woman is guilty for letting a man she is not married to see her hair. Does everyone agree that is a crime, or are our ideas about guilt merely ideas?
What if there is no such thing as guilt? What if guilt is only a mind-made idea and there’s no truth to it at all?
That is what is being taught now. Guilt is only an idea. There is no truth to it at all. And that is why you cannot be guilty (or unworthy or shameful. They are also mind-made ideas.)
Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.
