1.  Mastering the illusion of NEED

The first illusion, the illusion of Need may be used to experience the huge aspect of Who you Are that you might conceptualize as:  that which needs nothing.

You need nothing to exist, and you need nothing to continue existing forever.  The illusion of Need creates a contextual field within which you can have the experience of that.  It is when you step outside of the illusion that you experience Ultimate Reality.  The illusion creates a context within which Ultimate Reality may be understood.

The Ultimate Reality is that everything you think you need, you already have.  It exists inside of you.  Indeed, it is you.  You are what you need – and, therefore, you give yourself everything you need in any given moment.  This means, in effect, that you need nothing at all.   To understand this, and to know it experientially, you must see the illusion of Need as an illusion.  You must step outside of it.

The way to step outside of the illusion of Need is to look at what you think you need right now – that is, what you think you do not now have that you feel you must have – and then notice that, even though  you are without it, you are still here.

The implications of this are enormous.  If you are here, right now, without what you think you need, then why do you think you need it?

That is the key question.  It will unlock the golden door, the door to everything.

The next time you imagine that you need something, ask yourself; “Why do I think I need this?”

This is a very liberating inquiry.  It is freedom in seven words.

If you are seeing clearly, you will realize that you do not need whatever “it” is, that you never did need it, and that you have been making it all up.

Even the air you breathe, you do not need.  You will notice this the moment you die.  Air is something that only your body needs, and you are not your body.

Your body is something that you have; it is not something that you are.  It is a wonderful tool.  Yet you do not need your present body to continue the process of creation.

This information may be esoterically pleasing but may do nothing to alleviate your fear of losing your body, your family and the circumstance in which you find yourself.  A way to alleviate such fears is through detachment – the practice of Masters.  Masters have learned to achieve detachment before they have evidence that the life of the body is an illusion.  For those not operating at the level of mastery, the experience of what you call death is often needed to provide this evidence.

Once you are away from your body that is, once you have “died,” you will realize immediately that this state of being is not the dreaded experience of which you have heard, and is , in fact, an experience of glorious wonder.  You will see, too, that it is infinitely preferable to being tied to your physical form, whatever attachments your most recent form may have created.  Detachment will then be a  simple matter.

Yet you can master Life while in your physical form, and do not have to wait until you are removed from it to know the glory of life, and of Who You Are.  You can do this by achieving detachment before you die.  And you can achieve this through the simple expediency of stepping away from the illusion of Need.

This stepping away is accomplished through a deeper comprehension of both life and death, including the knowledge that death as you have conceived of it does not exist, and that Life goes on forever.  When you understand this, it becomes possible to detach from anything in Life – including Life Itself – because you know, given that life goes on forever, that you may have those attachments again, as well as others that you might have thought you would nevermore experience.

All of your earthly attachments, in fact, may be experienced in what you call the “afterlife,” or in any future life, and so, you will have the experience that you have lost nothing at all.  Gradually, you will release yourself from your attachments, as you become aware of the extraordinary opportunities for continued expansion and growth that never-ending Life offers you.

Yet you will never stop loving those you have loved, in this or any other lifetime, and you will experience full Oneness with them at the level of Essence at any time that you wish.

Should you miss someone who is still living with a physical body on Earth, you can be with them with the speed of your thought.

You cannot die without God, but you can imagine that you are doing so.  This is your imaginary hell, the fear of which has sponsored every other fear you have ever had.  Yet you have nothing to fear, and there is nothing you need, for not only is it impossible for you to die without God, it is also impossible for you to live without God.
This is because I am you, and you are Me, and there is no separation between us.  You cannot die without Me, because “without Me” is not a state in which you can, or will ever, find yourself.

I am God, and I am All that Is.  Since you are a part of All That Is, I am what you are.  There is not a part of you that I am not.

And if All That Is is always with you, then you need nothing – and that is the truth of your being.  When you deeply understand this, you will live in your body in an entirely different way.  You will become fearless – and fearlessness produces its own blessing, for lack of fear creates a lack of anything to be afraid of.

Conversely, the presence of fear draws to you that which you fear.   Fear is a strong emotion, and strong emotion – energy in motion – is creative.  This is why I have inspired it to be said, “You have nothing to fear, but fear itself.”

The way to live without fear is to know that every outcome in life is perfect – including the outcome that you fear most, which is death.

I am telling you that here.  I am giving you this information now.  If you will look closely at your life, you will see that you have always had whatever you have needed in order to get to the next moment, and ultimately, to bring you here, where you are, right now.  The evidence of this is the fact that you are here.  Clearly, you have needed nothing more.  You may have wanted something more, but you have needed nothing more.
 
This is an amazing revelation and it is always true.  Every appearance to the contrary is False Evidence Appearing Real (FEAR). Yet, “fear not, for I am with you.”

When you know that everything turns out perfectly and there is nothing of which to be afraid, conditions that you would once have defined as fearful are seen in an entirely different light.  Indeed, they are seen in the light, rather than in the darkness, and you begin to call your fears “adventure.”

Such a re-contextualization can change your life.  You can live without fear, and you can experience the glory for which you were created.  Seeing the illusion of Need as an illusion allows you to use the illusion for the purpose for which it was intended – as a tool with which you can experience this glory, and know yourself as Who You Really Are.

Using the illusion that you need your body, for instance, motivates you to protect it, to care for it, to make sure it is not abused.  In this way, the body may be used for the greater glory for which it was intended.

Using the illusion that you need a relationship likewise motivates you to protect that relationship, to care for it, to make sure it is not abused.  In this way, the relationship may be used for the greater glory for which it was intended.

The same is true of anything that you imagine that you need.  Use the imagining.  Use it in very practical ways.  Yet know that it only serves you when you see that it is an illusion.  As soon as you believe that the illusion is real, then you turn caution (a very purposeful use of an illusion) into fear, and begin to cling.  Love becomes possession, becomes obsession.  You have fallen into the trap of attachment.  You have become lost in the illusion.

And when you are lost in the illusion of Need, you are lost indeed.  For the illusion of Need is the biggest illusion of all.  It is the first illusion, and the most powerful.  It is the illusion upon which all other illusions are based.  Who You Are is that which is without need, and it is Who You Are that is lost.

It is often said of a person that “he is just trying to find himself.”  And that is very true.  What you are all trying to find is your self.  Yet you will not find that self anywhere outside of you.  What you are looking for can only be found within.

If you do not go within, you go without.

Only within can you find your answer to the question, “Why do I think I need this external person, place, or thing?”  Only within can you remember that you do not.  Then you will know what is meant by, “Once I was lost, but now I am found.”

What you will have found is your true identity.  You have used The first illusion to experience yourself as a Divine being who needs nothing, for every need is always met.  As you awaken to this truth, you will experience it more and more in your day-to-day reality.  And you will literally become what you know yourself to be.

Always remember that.

You become what you know yourself to be.

From the book - Communion with God by NDW