2-15. Practice calming your mind until it is as still as the waters of a glassy lake. From the depths, memories of the Love of God will float up.
It is highly cliché to simply state “calm your mind”. There is much more, which is really to say that there is much less, to this process that what you may have been told by others. To allow the natural calmness, peace, tranquility and limitless awareness that is the most natural and likely highly dormant state of your mind to be developed is not necessarily an easy task. This is because you have probably grown quite accustomed to being your thoughts rather than simply stepping back and watching your thoughts as they unfold in a constant river of judgment and evaluation. This evaluation is truly a narrative one, a process in which you regard that which is occurring and then compare it to your many previous experiences, attempting to draw inferences and distinctions in what you are regarding now as referenced against that which has already come to pass. This is not to imply that this process of judgment is solely and wholly without value, for certainly to be able to accurately and rapidly assess danger and to respond appropriately to threats, such as a speeding car that is about to cross your path, has value and should never be regarded as useless. It is simply that most of your thoughts are, in truth, utterly valueless. This is because to judge that which has no need of judgment has no value for you. You may not agree with this. You have been trained, both consciously and on a deeply unconscious level, from what you have learned from a very early age, that to judge is both necessary and just within the context and framework of differentiation and separation that this world forever holds out as the only system in which it is at all appropriate to evaluate what is occurring both to you and within your own mind. This is not the case. To accept is so much easier than to constantly judge that to even attempt to compare the peace, simplicity and ease that will come with the process of releasing judgment and accepting that events occur and they do not necessarily need, require or even justify judgment that to try to hold up these highly oppositional points of view and to attempt to find a commonality between them is unlikely to be a successful endeavor. The ego, forever an illusionary entity that desires to judge to hide its emptiness and permanent uncertainty from you, wants to distract you with the seemingly valuable appeal of judgment in place of the tranquility and simplicity of acceptance. To accept is not to acquiesce. It is very important to draw that distinction clearly in your mind, for it is very common in this world to believe that to accept that something is happening without automatically reacting to it must imply that the observer has in some way condoned or otherwise permitted the action to take place simply because they have not immediately engaged in any direct or tangential pattern of behavior or thought related to that which has transpired. To accept, instead, is simply to be the observer of outer and inner events without the necessity of a reaction that lacks justification. How is this done? Really it is not done, for what is asked of you is to release your desire to always produce a reaction to every event. Rather, it is simpler, easier and frankly much less tiring to simply be willing to accept that something has happened and then to allow yourself the necessary time and space to appropriately evaluate what has occurred without leaping to judgment and reactive behavior simply because that is what you have done in the past. The past does not govern the present, for the past has long since fallen behind you, a road travelled and a step already taken. What is present is now. What has already happened is not now. There is a crucial difference between these two times, one which is absolutely no longer accessible and the other that represents the totality of all that is accessible, present and available to you at all times. The present moment is the only moment that can in any way be truly said to be Real. The past is over and the future is not yet present. As such, there is only the present in which anything can effectively be said to be occurring. What use do you have for the past, other than to reflect upon it and to learn from what has occurred? Once this process of evaluation has run its course in the present, release the past for it no longer has any value for you in this, the ever unfolding and always perfect present moment. To calm your mind, release that which you wish to attach to and step back into your mind, allowing your consciousness to become centered on a calm awareness of what is happening without a fervent and constant desire to judge. Do not expect this transformative process of releasing your innate and seemingly irrevocable desire to judge to simply fall away instantly. As with all habits that have been developed over many years, it can take time, patience and deep sympathy with yourself to become able to remain centered in the present moment even when upsetting, difficult and challenging circumstances arise. That these situations have arisen in your life is highly likely. That they will not magically cease simply because you have gained a greater acceptance of yourself or because you are becoming more willing to release your instantaneous desire to judge in favor of a more measured and contemplative process of evaluation and self-reflection. To release illusions in favor of Truth is not necessarily a simple, easy or unchallenging process. This does not, and should not, be construed by you to mean that it is not infinitely worthy of your effort and dedication. It is, in a way that words cannot possibly serve to capture. The peace, calm and joy that will arise from releasing rapid judgment in favor of simple observation is without limit. As you progress ever further down the path of acceptance and farther away from knee jerk reactivity, you will realize the peace and equanimity that will naturally follow a process of regarding both your inner and outer worlds from a place of stillness rather than judgment. In time and with effort, newness will arrive in your mind, welling upwards from the center of your heart, now welcomed again within the apparent boundaries of your consciousness. This newness is not new at all, for it is the Love of God that has forever resided, still and peaceful, within your heart, waiting for the time when you were ready to calm your mind to a sufficient degree that it becomes possible for lightness, freedom and expansive awareness to resume their normal operation within your mind. This place of openness, this overwhelming liberating and free perspective, accurately represents the original state of your mind. Much has been layered upon this mind of non-judgment. None of what was placed on top of your original mind was actually needed. But because you requested it, it became manifest and present in your mind. Release these illusions. They no longer serve you well at all, for you are a Child of God and there is nothing that can disturb your mind save for that which you believe has power over you. All that occurs within your mind is a choice. You can choose to react in any way that you desire, or you can choose to not react at all. These are your choices, for your Free Will is inviolate and it will always be as such. Only your desire to project an attitude of requirements, a perspective that believes in the illusionary necessity for reaction, when simple acceptance can bring such greater peace and calm to your mind has served to blind you from the simple Truth that you can always choose. Do not choose anger, fear, repulsion or judgment in the face of that which appears to assail your mind. Instead accept that you can react, or not react at all, at all times and in any situation, no matter how dire, difficult or apparently overwhelmingly challenging. First accept and then rely upon the Love of God. This Love can withstand any attack, any illusion and any difficulty, for there is nothing else in this world that is truly Real but the simple Truth that because you are Loved by God, you are Free.