Note: Before reading today’s tip, read Acts 4:1-22 from the Bible or watch all of Acts 4 from the Visual Bible movie, Acts.
More About Guilt
Yesterday we saw that guilt is not the correction for ignorance; knowledge is the correction for ignorance. Today, let’s look a little more closely at why guilt is not a proper correction.
Let’s imagine a woman with a sweet tooth. This woman loves to end each day by eating a bowl of cookie dough ice cream and some Oreo cookies. Over time, the woman begins to gain weight because of this habit. Whenever she looks in the mirror, she begins to believe thoughts like, “You fat cow. You’re ugly. No man will ever want you.” Since she believes these thoughts, she begins to feel very bad about herself. Feeling bad leads to seeking pleasure, which leads to bigger bowls of ice cream and more cookies. Of course, that leads to more weight gain, more self-hatred thoughts, and the cycle grows unto itself.
Notice that when the woman started hating herself for gaining weight, the self-hatred did not lead to a positive correction. Instead, it led to additional ice cream and cookies, which compounded the problem.
Self-hatred, unworthiness, shame, guilt, and similar self-debasing feelings all work in the same way. When we cling to these ideas about our self, we listen to ego more instead of less. The problem is compounded, instead of corrected. So, you aren’t guilty for the mistakes you’ve made, and believing you are guilty will lead to additional mistakes. Believing you are guilty (or unworthy, shameful, etcetera) keeps you stuck in the cycle of listening to ignorance.
Therefore, if we want to be free of ignorance and its effects, it’s important to trust that we are innocent, worthy and even beloved by the benevolence of the universe. By trusting our worth, we are able to step outside of the cycle of guilt and begin choosing the highest vibration available. In that way, we begin climbing the ladder of knowledge.
Contemplating One Will
Today’s reading points out that belief in separate wills is ignorance, since the belief in separation is ignorance. It says:
If you knew there was only one Will, you could not be confused.
It is easy to see many different individual wills in the world. Politics is a great example of this. People vary greatly about the policies they’d like to see as law in their country. So what is this “one Will” that NTI refers to?
The one Will is life-awareness-freedom (which is also called love).
When the world is seen through the right-mind, it appears as life-awareness-freedom. The right-mind sees one Will that is never blocked or interfered with. Life-awareness-freedom is present in everything that can be seen. It is also known in the unseen.
When we look out on the world and see many different wills, we are seeing through the filter of separation. We are seeing with ignorance, which means we need knowledge, since knowledge is the proper correction for ignorance.
Thoughts of Awakening # 111
Letting go of self-will
is letting go of judgments
you have laid upon truth.
When the judgments,
or decisions,
about what you see
are removed by a decision within the mind,
the original state of mind is reinstated,
and in this state
you see.
~From our Holy Spirit
Homework for this week
- Practice daily meditation for 30-60 minutes each day.
- Practice the “Loving All” Method.
- Thoughts of Awakening, 106-112
- Read NTI John Chapters 19-21 & Acts Chapters 1-5.
- The reading shared on Tuesday night was from The Transparency of Things by Rupert Spira, p. 128- 136 or for Kindle users the Chapter titled Knowing Is Being Is Loving & Changeless Presence.
- Exercise to practice: Everything you know, you know because it is in you. You could not know it if it was not in. you. This week, every once in awhile, notice every now sounds, sights, sensations, anything in your awareness and know that the only way you can be aware of them is if they are in you.
