Regina’s Tip for Lesson 15
Today’s lesson says:
“It is because the thoughts you think you think appear as images that you do not recognize them as nothing.”
NTI Ephesians teaches how the world of experience is made. It calls this process “the law of Love.” Through the law of love, thoughts are received into the mind. We don’t think the thoughts into our minds; we receive them, which is why the Workbook refers to them as “the thoughts you think you think.” Once a thought is received, we judge it as valid or invalid. If we decide a thought is valid, that thought is delivered into manifestation.
It is just as ACIM says:
“The are no idle thoughts. All thinking produces form at some level.”
(T-2.VI.9)
Since we believe a thought and then have an experience in the world that supports that thought, we think our thinking is right. What we don’t realize is the experience was created through believing the thought. It is the law of Love, which is the process of cause (believing a thought) and effect (experience).
Today’s lesson also speaks of light episodes that “symbolize true perception.” I experienced a light episode when my awareness shifted into an apple. During that episode, my awareness resided as the apple. I wasn’t Regina. I was the apple, and as the apple I saw an entirely different world. I experienced a world of light—living aware light, which is also love.
Please watch the following 3-minute video to hear more about this light episode:
Regina’s Tip for Lesson 16
Every thought that comes into the mind represents either the ego and its illusion or the truth. For most people, the vast majority of thoughts—nearly all of them—represent the ego and its illusion.
If you pay close attention to the thoughts that come into the mind, you’ll find attack, defense, guilt, blame, unworthiness, anxiousness, fear, envy, desire, righteousness, victimization, judgment, regrets, manipulation, selfishness and hate, to name a few. If you look at the world, you’ll find these qualities there too. That’s because these thoughts come from the ego’s illusion and these thoughts make the ego’s illusion. It’s a loop of cause and effect. Thought causes manifestation, and one type of manifestation is thought, so thoughts of a certain type create more thoughts of the same type.
Today’s workbook lesson says:
Every thought you have contributes to truth or to illusion; either it extends the truth or it multiplies illusions.
NTI Ephesians says something similar. It says:
Watch the thoughts carefully. Do not choose those which you would not deliver, knowing all that is delivered can be given back to you.
Today’s workbook lesson is a beginning step towards realizing that you do not want to believe every thought your mind receives, because many of those thoughts do not serve you, nor do they serve the world.
Regina’s Tip for Lesson 17
The first time I did this workbook lesson, I didn’t believe, “I see no neutral things.” I thought I saw a neutral wall, a neutral TV and a neutral trashcan, but that was only because my judgments were repressed.
When I did this workbook lesson again years later, it was as if I could remember all of my previous judgments about walls and TVs and trashcans, etc.
For example, I remembered thinking that white walls are boring and different color walls are better. I also remembered being disappointed in a friend’s taste when she built a new house and had all of the walls painted white. I remembered judging people for wanting 65” or 75” TVs, thinking they are too big and unnecessary, but I also remembered judging some smaller TVs as being too small. I remembered thinking trash cans should be inexpensive—after all, they’re just trash cans—and judging one friend for wanting a $65 stainless steel trash can for her kitchen.
Workbook Lesson 17 reminds me of the reading from NTI Luke 12, which said:
“Whenever you look at anything with the body’s eyes, there are thoughts in your mind about that thing. If you look at a chair, for example, you may think it is pretty, worn out, available, desired, not desired, clean, dirty, etc. etc. The thoughts that come into your mind seem automatic, without any awareness or evaluation on your part. You may make judgments about the chair based on your thoughts, and you may choose to sit there or not sit there based on your judgment. But you never look at, evaluate or question the thought you hold about the chair, and that is only a chair.
“The process that you call thinking, of which you are mostly unaware, goes on within your mind regarding everything in your world. You make unevaluated judgments about the work you do, the relationships you have, the pastimes you choose and the person you think of as yourself. These unevaluated judgments define everything and everyone within your world. And they are allowed within your mind without your awareness, your questioning or your evaluation.”
Workbook Lesson 17 and NTI Luke 12 remind us that we see no neutral things, because we see and experience everything through the filter of our thoughts, which are not neutral.
Regina’s Tip for Lesson 18
NTI Ephesians teaches that thought is received through mind. “Mind” in this context has two meanings:
- The receiving mechanism.
- Attention.
To receive a thought is actually quite neutral. A thought isn’t given power until it is given believing-attention. Once it is given believing-attention, it is enlivened and becomes manifest in some way. One of the ways a thought becomes manifest is by coloring the way you see. This was taught in NTI Luke 12.
NTI Ephesians also teaches that what is received through mind is delivered through spirit. In this context, spirit is ‘vital substance’ or energy. In other words, once a thought is given believing-attention, it colors the way you see and it continues to have energy throughout mind. That energy becomes manifest and is received by others.
That is why you are not alone in experiencing the effects of your seeing. If you are seeing through a particular thought, you’ve given that thought believing-attention. Once you’ve given it believing-attention, it is shared.
Regina’s Tip for Lesson 19
Today’s workbook lessons says:
“Today we are again emphasizing the fact that minds are joined. This is rarely a wholly welcome idea at first, since it seems to carry with it an enormous sense of responsibility, … Despite your initial resistance to this idea, you will yet understand that it must be true if salvation is possible at all. And salvation must be possible because it is the Will of God.”
I once saw a movie about Helen Keller called The Miracle Worker. Helen Keller was both deaf and blind. Since she could not hear and she could not see, she didn’t know how to talk or communicate with others. This created great frustration in her, and sometimes she threw outrageous temper tantrums.
Her parents hired a teacher, who tried to teach Helen sign language by signing against her hand, so she could feel the signs. However, Helen didn’t understand and nothing changed.
One day, Helen threw a temper tantrum at the dinner table. She threw a pitcher of water. Her teacher forcibly took her out to the well to refill the pitcher with water. As she pumped the well, she continually stuck Helen’s hand under the water and signed water against the palm of Helen’s hand. She did this over and over and then, as if by some miracle, Helen understood. For the first time ever, she understood that what her teacher had been teaching was a way of communicating with others. Before, she hadn’t understood the concept of communication. When the concept of communication dawned on her mind, she became eager—really eager—to learn the sign for everything. Understanding the possibility of communication opened the world up to her.
I tell you this story now, because this is how it was for me when I scribed NTI Ephesians. I had been a student ofA Course in Miracles for about 2 years when I received NTI Ephesians. I learned about forgiveness through ACIM. I saw forgiveness as something that made me feel better, but really had no effect beyond that. When NTI Ephesians came, I understood the concept of salvation. I saw that what I give attention to affects me, yes … but beyond that, it affects others. I also saw that what I decide not to give believing-attention to frees me, and it frees others.
That was like my Helen Keller moment at the well!
Suddenly, I wanted to practice not giving believing-attention to every thought that could hurt anyone. I was excited to practice extending salvation to the world by not giving believing-attention to wrong minded thoughts in my mind!
So yes, I saw, “I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts” as an enormous responsibility, but it was a responsibility I was excited to embrace. Later, when I learned about why Prince Siddhartha left his family’s kingdom to seek enlightenment, I realized he was excited about the possibility of saving the world too. This responsibility can be highly motivating, because we realize we are not practicing spirituality for ‘me’ alone. We practice spirituality for everyone. It is as Ramana Maharshi said:
“Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world.”
Note: If you’d like to see Helen Keller’s realization at the well, search YouTube for ‘Water scene from The Miracle Worker,’ or for full context, watch the entire movie, The Miracle Worker.
Regina’s Tip for Lesson 20
It is genuinely helpful to become more structured in your practice. Some people will find it difficult to remember to practice every half-hour. There are two ways to increase your chances of remembering:
- Each time you practice today’s lesson, pause afterwards with a heart-felt intention to remember again in 30 minutes. Look at the current time and make a mental note of the next time you will practice the lesson.
- Set an alarm to remind yourself to do the lesson every 30 minutes.
If you don’t use the alarm method for reminding yourself to practice, you may find that you sometimes forget to practice the workbook lesson. It’s possible a couple of hours may pass without remembering to practice. If that happens, don’t condemn yourself. Condemning yourself is never helpful. Simply practice the lesson right then, and then set an intention to practice again in 30 minutes or go ahead and set an alarm.
Regina’s Tip for Lesson 21
Today’s workbook lessons starts by saying, “The idea for today is obviously a continuation and extension of the preceding one.”
It is also a continuation and extension of the lessons before that.
Consider “I am determined to see things differently” in context with the tips from Lessons 18 and 19. When you see things differently, the world is affected differently. That realization can be incredibly motivating.
Remember Ramana Maharshi’s statement:
“Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world.”
Contemplate that as you practice the idea for today.
