REVELATIONS 13-14

CHAPTER 13

Guilt and self judgment comprise the beast(s)---that continually eats our lunch.

We are asked here to look at the beast, to neither deny it or let it overwhelm us.
We are also reminded in other places int NTI that we are never alone; we are not doing any of this by ourselves. How can we be? The whole concept of self is a reflection of our crazy idea of separateness.


CHAPTER 14

Time and again we are brought back to remembering both willingness and the true desire of the heart.

We have created the beast(s) of guilt and judgment--which stem from Fear---in a strange attempt to control life, feel safe, and support the illusion we have created. We have lived with the illusion of inadequacy for so long(many lifetimes) that when we try to shake it lose it feels very weird.

The end which we fear is only death to the ego--the false self--it is not who we are. There is no loss; there is nothing to lose.

REVELATIONS 12

                                                     The Lady or the Tiger?
                                                                    Remember that story?

In this chapter, the choice seems to be the Lady and the baby or the Dragon.
As the Holy Spirit points out--this is all about you, not only is it your choice, but your perception creates the object os of your choice. Nothing is outside you. Nothing/no one is creating the objects of your choice or making the choice for you.

This lesson suggests we have lost touch with this truth. We have come to think of choices as conundrums, traps, stuckness, no-win scenes. "Not true," says the Holy Spirit.
All of this (the world) is your creation so you could experience that which you wish to experience.

"To accept choice as freedom is to reclaim the way to be found."

                                              and


(v 10 – 12)   1Accepting choice is accepting the way of salvation. 2Accepting choice is accepting how all experience is made. 3In accepting choice, you are accepting that you are experience’s maker, and in doing this, can all previous choice be undone.

We are continually reminded here and in ACIM that we can always choose differently or choose once again.

REVELATIONS 11

Just for the record, we have not just skipped over Chapters 9-10, but the Holy Spirit has suggested that the material is meaningless, so there did not seem to be much sense in talking about it. (God knows I've talked about meaningless stuff for years.)

The theme of this chapter is about becoming more aware of the true desire of the heart, and continuing to focus on that desire.

Until this point we have depended on the true desire of the heart to be like the fuel for our journey back to the awareness of Oneness. Eventually we will all come to this awareness, but we can speed up the process by being more consciously aware of this desire. (which can be expressed in many ways--desire for Peace, Unconditional Love, Joy, Wisdom, Oneness, etc.).

As you go into the quiet, notice what you are drawn to. This is how you measure how much the true desire of your heart is in you conscious awareness.

Right now, I close my eyes, and open myself up to God at this moment, and instead of God and Light I see images of guitars dancing in my head. I am attached to having a new guitar (which I don't need), and the need is taking up a lot of "headroom."

Now what I am being asked to do here is, "Do not deny that resistance still worships at the inner chamber of the heart." (v7) I do not want to deny, condemn, or even fight with my resistance and distractions. Just simply realize they are there and let them go.

I can learn form my obsession. It is simply an illusion created by the mind that says, "Buy this, get that, do this, and you will be happy, at peace, etc."

See, the true desire of my heart is still there, my mind decided that the desire of my heart could be taken care of with a new guitar.

Focus on the desire for peace, happiness, etc.

Another piece to all this is that I continue to try and do this work all by myself. (v13) Reminds me that:

"The two witnesses represent the joint Will of the Holy Spirit and the Son of God(you/me)."

How often I forget that one.

Jack ended class on Sunday by offering us a very profound truth: we spend years of time and millions of dollars, reading books, attending workshops, etc. and still find ourselves yearning for enlightenment.

It is time to acknowledge what we profess to already know, that the "kingdom of heaven is within you." This is  not a feeling or a thought, it is an acknowledgment of the Truth.

Acknowledge this truth every time you might think of it,  no matter how you might feel or what the circumstances. 

This Truth is always true. This Truth is always here. This Truth is who you are.

REVELATIONS 8

One of my teachers suggests, "You are the meaning maker of your life."

What we usually do, however, is to get caught up in the drama of a situation, and once we are caught, we lose the conscious "meaning maker" and in our fearful closed state of mind, make a decision about what this situation means---and, of course, the meaning is fearful and judgmental.

Not only do we have the process backwards---letting the situation itself tell us what it means, but we have lost focus of the first lessons of ACIM which remind us, "I don't know what anything means."
I don't know because the mind can only put limited meaning, AND ANYTHING OTHER THAN LOVE IS MEANINGLESS.

When am I going to get that one?

to quote:18The time has come to look and to release from the mind that which is in the mind that teaches only fear.

REVELATIONS 7

Regina Dawn Akers refers to this chapter as the "Cliff Notes" for the entire book of NTI.
 I guess we could say the rest of NTI is commentary about these truths.

Regina also suggests that we not take them in simple linear fashion, even though that is the only way we can communicate them. These truths, through our willingness, are taking hold within us all at the same time, we don't simply move from one to the next.

That being said, I still feel myself drawn back to #1 "You are innocent." Unless I am open to that truth, it is nigh impossible for anything else to be revealed.

I would suggest reading this chapter over and over, and in your quiet times, prayer, or even any moment you remember to make your mantra, "I am innocent."

I realize the mind will vehemently object. It will say such things as, "Well what about when you said this or did that? That really hurt someone. Do you mean to tell me that was not real?"
"What about Hitler, and the millions he slaughtered. Is he innocent?"

I would suggest not even going there. Those are arguments of the mind, and as you know, the mind wants to be right.

The innocence we speak of here is the innocence of your Essence, your Being.

Jesus spent a good piece of his ministry teaching people the difference between who you are and what you do. The Scribes and Pharisees were the keepers of the law and they had rules for everything. Jesus seemed to bang heads with them frequently.
Jesus did not have a problem with the rules or laws, He had a problem with people who defined themselves by the rules and laws, i.e. those who said, "You are what you do."

Your innocence is not a matter of debate about what you did or did not do. Your innocence is a reflection of who you are-- a creation of the Love and Goodness of God which nothing can change or diminish.
Can you hold onto that one?

Even Paul in the Old New Testament proclaims that "nothing can separate you from the Love of God."


It is all summed up in (v 13-17):
 1And the Light of Heaven is seen to be that which is your Self. 2Its joy is your joy. 3Its gratitude is your gratitude. 4Its oneness is your oneness, and its Love is your Self
5Never have you been separate from Heaven, and never has Heaven been separate from you. 6For how can one, even for a moment, be separate from the one that is His Self?

REVELATIONS 6

The Holy Spirit's explanation of the first six seals.

The first is the energy that moves us to the Truth. It is the energy of desire and willingness. When we are focused on the true desire of the heart, we continue to achieve and embrace that desire.

How often am I distracted from the true desire of my heart? How many attachments, desires, etc. put me into the sleep of unawareness?

The second seal represents fear---that must be faced head on so that we know it is not real. As long as I am looking at my fear out of the corner of my eye, or pretending  it is not there it will still have power over me.

3rd seal: Judgement. This is spoken of many times, but I think by now we can see that judgment is the tool of separation. It maintains the illusion of the world. As soon as you realize judgment in your mind, let it go. It is not what you want, and it is not the truth.

4th: death, the ultimate illusion of separateness, the ultimate illusion of guilt and punishment.
We are not denying that there will come a time when we will let go of our bodies, but that is not death.
You are Life!

5th: Our continuing choice---fear or trust

6th: the end of perception--Perception is what we see and how we see through the limited view of the self--even when we know we are more than that our sight is still limited. In the Self, there is no perception because there is nothing to see, all is One, there is no separation, no duality, no subject or object.

Fear is only real if we think we can lose something or something can be taken away from us. The Self is complete and whole in all ways.

Why would we ever choose fear?
I recall a wonderful quote from the spirit guide Emmanuel. He said if fear had a voice this is what it would say: "Hold onto me and I will keep you safe." Of course that is nor true, but how often do we fall for that one?

Revelations 5

The seals on the scroll are the blocks and barriers to Truth that the mind thinks are real.
As it states so clearly (6-10) 2-3 "So what blocks this knowledge from your awareness?
It is the belief that you are what you are not, and that you could have done what you could not do."

Make a list of all the definitions you have of yourself and throw them all away. You are none of these.

There are no definitions of the Self, the Self simply IS.

This chapter is all about WORTHINESS.

In the Old New Testament version none are worthy except the "Lamb who has been slain." That leaves all the rest of us out in the cold.
The ONT also references the phrase, "Oh, Lord, I ma not worthy" any number of times, and that phrase has been incorporated into the Catholic liturgy and other places as well, I am sure.


If you were brought up Catholic, then the words, "Oh, Lord, I am not worthy" are probably indelibly written in your mind.
You might also know that the quote comes from at least two places in the Gospel: 1) John the Baptist speaks of being unworthy to "loose the sandal strap" of Jesus, and 2) the Roman soldier who was askign for healing for his servant said to Jesus, "I am not worthy that you should enter my under my roof."


In the past it seems saying "I am not worthy" was a way of showing honor and respect to another person, but we have turned it around to simply focusing on ourselves in a negative way. Most unfortunate. Jesus never told anyone they were not worthy.

NTI tells us very simply that everyone is worthy. No one is unworthy. You can't be. You are God's perfect creation.

We have been so pummeled by this false idea of unworthiness that it becomes quite difficult for us to be aware of our Divine nature. In fact, the false idea of unworthiness has been so deeply ingrained that to think we are One withe God and God's perfect creation is seen as arrogance. It is just the opposite that is true: to see ourselves as anything but the perfect creation of God is arrogance. Holding onto our unworthiness is a way of saying to God, "I'm right and You're wrong."

And so it is the belief "that you are what you are not, and that you have done what you could not do" that keeps us from the Truth.
We think we are unworthy; we think we did something that separated us from God. Do you get a sense of how powerful the ego thinks it is? Not only does it know more than God, but it also thinks it did the impossible, caused creation to be separate from its creator.

I'm thinking of a quote from ACIM (speaking of the ego): This fragment of your mind is such a tiny part of it that, could you but appreciate the whole, you would see instantly that it is like the smallest sunbeam to the sun, or like the faintest ripple on the surface of the ocean.
In its amazing arrogance, this tiny sunbeam has decided it is the sun, this almost imperceptible ripple hails itself as the ocean.
Think of how alone and frightened is this little thought, this infinitesimal illusion, holding itself apart from the universe...Do not accept this little, fenced-off aspect as yourself.
The sun and the ocean are nothing beside what you are.