Yesterday\u2019s reading said:<\/p>\n
Choose \u2026 to be independent of your experience.<\/p>\n
Independent means free and unaffected.<\/p>\n
Awakeness is free from the world and unaffected by it. That is why Jesus, as awakeness<\/em>, said:<\/p>\n These things I have spoken to you, that\u00a0in Me you may have peace.\u00a0In the world you\u00a0will have tribulation; but be of good cheer,\u00a0I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)<\/p>\n In NTI Romans, we learned about the curiosity that created the creative principle, and via the creative principle, create the world and the ego. That curiosity is:<\/p>\n What if nothing was as it is?<\/p>\n The ego and the world, which are created through and for<\/em>\u00a0 this curiosity, are necessarily<\/em>\u00a0 not truth. They are appearances created through the creative principle, and their appearance appears as anything but truth. That\u2019s why they are called \u201cillusion.\u201d<\/p>\n To look at something that is created specifically for the purpose of appearing different from truth and to hope to find evidence of truth in it is foolishness. Yet, that is a mistake that spiritual seekers make all of the time.<\/p>\n For example, one democratic-minded spiritual seeker was thrilled when Barrack Obama was elected president of the United States in 2008. She saw his election as evidence that the world was awakening. Of course, since then Donald Trump has been elected president and has undone many of the policies Barrack Obama put in place. Does that mean the world has fallen asleep again?<\/p>\n What about when a war ends, such as World War II? Is that a victory for awakening? What about the wars and crimes against humanity that have occurred since then?<\/p>\n What about when a personal problem is resolved? Don’t new problems arise to replace it?<\/p>\n The world is an appearance that is made to appear different from truth. One of those differences is change. If you watch the world carefully, you will notice that change is the world\u2019s greatest constant. (Admittedly, it is change within a limited buffet of reoccurring problems.) Sometimes the world changes so that specific situations are temporarily\u00a0\u201cgood\u201d by the mind\u2019s standards, but \u201cgood\u201d will always eventually be replaced by \u201cbad.\u201d<\/p>\n Look carefully at the world, regardless of whether your mind judges it as \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad,\u201d and realize that it\u2019s not truth. It\u2019s not truth, and truth can\u2019t be found in the world.<\/p>\n Let the world be as it is. Don\u2019t seek truth by seeking permanent good in the world. You will eventually be disappointed.<\/p>\n Seek truth by looking within. Find that which is absolutely changeless. See that is what you are, and abide as that. You are the only truth that can be found in the world\u2014and actually, the world is an appearance in you.<\/p>\n Know your Self, and be your Self. Truth is known by being it.<\/p>\n