{"id":26724,"date":"2017-12-13T01:50:48","date_gmt":"2017-12-13T08:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/awakening-together.org\/dev2\/?p=26724"},"modified":"2017-12-08T09:23:06","modified_gmt":"2017-12-08T16:23:06","slug":"tips-regina-lesson-327","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/awakening-together.org\/dev2\/tips-regina-lesson-327\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips from Regina ~ Lesson 327"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is Creation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our special theme says, \u201cWe are creation; \u2026 We seem to be discrete, and unaware of our eternal unity with Him. Yet back of all our doubts, past all our fears, there still is certainty. \u2026 God\u2019s memory is in our holy minds\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a very important clue. Truth is unimaginable, but it is reachable. And we reach it through a journey within our self<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This could be called returning in the way we came. We began at Home, in the First Principle of God as our Self. In this Self, however, there is no sense of self<\/strong>. There is awareness, but not awareness of<\/em>. There is Truth without a subject to be aware of Truth.<\/p>\n

From this state of Truth \u201cin crept a tiny mad idea.\u201d It could also be called a desire, a desire for something that did not exist. It was the desire to \u201cKnow thy Self,\u201d which could be called a desire for a sense of self.<\/p>\n

And so, a container that could have an experience of self arose. This container was a subject, something that could feel or know. It was awareness with the additional ability to be aware of. I call it consciousness in order to distinguish it from the awareness that it came from. This is the birth of the Second Principle of God.<\/p>\n

Once consciousness arose, which is the ability to be aware of, there needed to be something to be aware of. Consciousness is like a living mirror that wanted something reflected in it, something to watch, know and feel. Of course, consciousness could have simply looked back in the direction it came from, and it would have experienced the reflection of Truth in itself. But consciousness was on an outward-bound journey, so it looked outward in its desire to know something as its self.<\/p>\n

Out of this desire, divine law\u2014the creative principle\u2014arose, which is the Third Principle of God.<\/p>\n

Through divine law, all of manifestation was born, which is the Fourth Principle of God.<\/p>\n

As consciousness watched the images that appeared in it\u2019s self, consciousness became engrossed with them. It began to identify with the images. Each of us, as consciousness<\/strong>, experiences an aspect of that identification. We feel identified with our thoughts, feelings, life experiences, etcetera, because we are the consciousness that has become identified with the images reflected in it.<\/p>\n

So now, we begin the journey back in the way we came. It is an undoing. It is the return of a boomerang idea, going back inwardly by reversing the steps we took in the outward-bound direction.<\/p>\n

First, there is the undoing of the distinct sense of self, typically called the ego. This is undoing of identification with the image<\/strong> as me. It is this sense of self that creates suffering. Therefore, this undoing is significant, but it is only part of the return journey.<\/p>\n

When we awaken to our self as consciousness (the mirror), we experience a more correct sense of self. Whereas the idea that \u201cI am the image\u201d is a delusion for consciousness, the idea \u201cI am consciousness\u201d is more correct or truer. Yet, it is not ultimate truth, because the original true Self has no sense of self.<\/p>\n

A sense of self is a type of existence. You could say, \u201cI exist as the sense of what I am.\u201d Since a sense of self is a type of existence, the end of the sense of self is a type of death. It is the death of what we have come to know as existence. The death of consciousness as self is manonasa. What lies beyond this death is Nirvana.<\/p>\n

Note: Since consciousness is like a mirror, we can get a sense<\/strong> of Nirvana once we reawaken to consciousness. This sense comes from Truth\u2019s reflection<\/strong> in the mirror of our self as consciousness. However, this sense is still only a sense received from a reflection. In order to know Truth directly, we must awaken fully to it and be it<\/strong>, which is to awaken beyond consciousness.<\/p>\n

I need but call and You will answer me.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The reason for telling the story above is to help influence us to \u201cconstantly direct [mind-consciousness] toward liberation, through self-effort.\u201d We made the outward journey through a kind of self-effort\u2014idea, desire, curiosity, will, focus\u2014and now we make the return journey through the same kind of self-effort.<\/p>\n

But how? Where do we begin today?<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s workbook lesson says, \u201cI am not asked to take salvation on the basis of an unsupported faith. For God has promised He will hear my call, and answer me Himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The God that we call on for guidance is not some distant deity, knowledge or awareness. We are the one that took the outward journey from truth to our present attachment to manifestation, and every step of that journey is recorded in our divine unconscious<\/strong>. Therefore, the reverse of each step is known in our own divine unconscious. Our own unconscious knows the way! The communication that comes from this unconscious knowing is what I call spiritual intuition.<\/p>\n

We literally have everything we need, except for maybe one thing. It\u2019s possible that we haven\u2019t actually made the decision to begin the return journey yet. It\u2019s possible that we are still interested in lingering here a little longer.<\/p>\n

Please read and contemplate today\u2019s workbook lesson in full. As you do, also contemplate the power of your own decision or lack thereof. (In truth, there\u2019s no such thing as a lack of decision. Not deciding for one option is deciding for the other.)<\/p>\n

Here are a couple of short video clips to help you contemplate today\u2019s teaching in a fun way. You\u2019ll find the meditation links under the video clips.<\/p>\n