Here is a Bible story from Luke 6:<\/p>\n
One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels.\u00a0Some of the Pharisees asked, \u201cWhy are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?\u201d [Work, like harvesting grain, is unlawful on the Sabbath according to Jewish law.]<\/p>\n
Jesus answered them,\u00a0\u201cHave you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?\u00a0He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat.\u00a0And he also gave some to his companions.\u201d\u00a0Then Jesus said to them,\u00a0\u201cThe Son of Man\u00a0is Lord of the Sabbath.\u201d<\/p>\n
On another Sabbath\u00a0he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled.\u00a0The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely\u00a0to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.\u00a0[Unless it is life threatening, healing is also considered work, and therefore, unlawful on the Sabbath.] But Jesus knew what they were thinking\u00a0and said to the man with the shriveled hand,\u00a0\u201cGet up and stand in front of everyone.\u201d So he got up and stood there.<\/p>\n
Then Jesus said to them,\u00a0\u201cI ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked around at them all, and then said to the man,\u00a0\u201cStretch out your hand.\u201d\u00a0He did so, and his hand was completely restored.\u00a0But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious\u00a0and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.<\/p>\n
As the scribe of NTI, when I read that story from the Bible, I judged the Pharisees. That\u2019s why you see the interpretation that you see in today\u2019s reading. It talks about judgment, because I was caught up in judgment.<\/p>\n
What is judgment? In the way it is used here, judgment is comparing and then favoring or rejecting.<\/p>\n
There is another definition of judgment. Judgment can also be defined as making sensible conclusions. The problem is, most of us think we are judging sensibly when we are actually practicing the distorted judgment of separation.<\/p>\n
If there were more clarity in the human mind, the guidance would be to use sensible judgment in our daily lives, but when we are completely confused about what is sensible and what is not sensible, the guidance becomes, \u201cforget everything you have been taught and everything you have learned. For if you know nothing, you cannot judge. Any judgment you make \u2026 is a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is it safe for us to let go of all judgment? Yes, it is safe if we turn to intuition for guidance. Remember, intuition knows everything about this moment, and it knows truth too. It is much more reliable as a guide than the limited, biased thinking mind. As Nisargadatta taught:<\/p>\n
That which sees all this, and the nothing too, is the inner teacher. He alone is; all else only appears to be. He is your own swarupa (true Self), your hope and assurance of freedom; find him and cling to him and you will be saved and safe.<\/p>\n
Let me be clear. Humans need judgment to survive. One who lays down the judgment of the thinking mind without tuning into intuitive judgment puts the body-personality in danger. However, it is perfectly safe to abandon ego-judgment and listen to intuition instead. As today\u2019s reading says:<\/p>\n
I know truth and I know the world that you believe and hold dear.<\/p>\n
Therefore, it is safe to trust intuition.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s reading addresses a second mistake that I made as the scribe of NTI. While reading the Bible, I noticed that the names of the apostles in Luke were different than the names of the apostles in a previous book in the Bible, and I became scared. The fear that arose in me was the fear that the truth is not true.<\/p>\n
My mistake was looking for the truth in the world (in this case, in accurate Biblical history.) Looking for truth in the world isn\u2019t an uncommon mistake. Another way this mistake manifests is by expecting human perfection from our spiritual teachers. What we don\u2019t realize is that we want them to be perfect, because we are looking at them as if they are the truth, and then when they do something that doesn\u2019t meet our mental expectations regarding truth, we are disillusioned, and we suffer.<\/p>\n
NTI says, \u201cWe are all guided to learn the truth by following the path of unreality.\u201d<\/p>\n
What does that mean?<\/p>\n
It means that the symbols we encounter in the world, including the books and teachers that point to truth, are not truth itself. It is as NTI Revelation says:<\/p>\n
The world is an illusion, and so everything you experience as you let go of the world is illusion also. You are not to believe any of it. But helpful symbols will be given to guide you. Remember that they are only symbols. Follow them, realizing you know not where they lead.<\/p>\n
Judgment will lead us to reject a book or teacher if we find an error in it that doesn\u2019t meet our expectations. Both favoritism and rejection are the signs of ego-distorted judgment.<\/p>\n
Intuition leads us to take what is helpful from books and teachers, and simply leave what isn\u2019t helpful without getting caught up in emotional rejection. Sensible decisions like this are the hallmark of intuition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here is a Bible story from Luke 6: One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels.\u00a0Some of the Pharisees asked, \u201cWhy are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?\u201d [Work, like harvesting grain, is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[101,88],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-29664","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-gentlehealingtips-year2","7":"category-sidebar","8":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n