Today: Step 107 - Today I will learn to be happy. (MP3)
 |
| Today I will learn to be happy. Step 107 |
LEARNING
TO BE HAPPY IS SIMPLY LEARNING TO BE NATURAL. Learning to be happy is learning
to accept Knowledge today. Knowledge is happy today. If you are not happy, you
are not with Knowledge. Happiness does not always mean having a smile on your
face. It is not a behavior. Genuine happiness is a sense of self, a sense of
wholeness and satisfaction. If a loss has occurred in your life, a loss of a
loved one, you may still be happy, though you may shed tears. It is all right
to shed tears, for this does not need to betray a greater happiness within you,
for these also may be tears of happiness. Happiness is not a form of behavior.
Let us remind you of this. It is a sense of inner satisfaction. Knowledge will
give this to you because it will simplify your life and allow your mind to
concentrate on that which it is given to do in reality. This will empower you,
simplify you and provide a greater harmony than you could have known before.
THEREFORE,
IN YOUR TWO PRACTICE PERIODS TODAY, allow your mind to enter stillness once
again. This is a time of quietude. This is not a practice of mental
investigation, but a practice of mental stillness.
PRACTICE
107: Two 30-minute practice periods.
Picture:
Rainbow in the Rockies.
8:15
a.m. Sunday, December 3, 2000
→ Step 106 – There are no Masters living in the
world.
The
text says, I cannot be a Master, for life is the Master. The goal of the
practice is to see self unburdened of idealism.
Who
are the Masters? Living now, the Dalai Lama is the most spiritual person I can
think of. Pope John has risen to the top of the Catholic Church – has mastered
Catholicism, yet remains humble. Krishnamurti was good… Thoughtful, but not
presenting himself as anything but a catalyst. Krishnamurti's work
"Freedom from the Known" has thoughts that are consistent with S2K –
…
12:31
p.m. – To live an unconflicted life is the greatest contribution. "To be
in the world, but not of the world." Is perhaps another statement of it. Manifestation
is a place of competition and conflict according to GCW – and large societies
require laws to manage behavior. The way in which laws are created and
administered, is critical to having an environment where spiritual development
can take place.
Opponents
must be worthy – equally capable of becoming the leader. The systems by which
power is accumulated, distributed and used – is critical.
So…
I can visualize, intellectualize this, but where do I fit? The Buddhism
exercises use imprints and suggest that actions are neutral (?) Not judging
them, not becoming angry, is a way to overcome (?) to resolve, not cause
conflict. When is it denial? When is it ignoring the real threats? Is defense
ever justified? Are mental tactics just another form of attack? – ACIM says
defense is attack. So to be unconflicted – do not defend or attack – or judge
actions of others as attack or defense (even if clearly stated as such)? As a
single – isolated, meditative soul in the woods I can be unconflicted – for a
time – doing that with others, in a church, @ TLC I have experienced, or in
focused meetings – there is a spirit –
When
things are still/unmoving – OK – when things move, there are collisions – and
alignment of movements – movers –
I
can be unconflicted by not being of the world. I emphasize spirit and deny/minimize
body and mind.
It
seems that if we were body and spirit, with no mind – then we'd fit better on
earth – be more simian – gorilla/ape.
There
are no masters – and I've not integrated all that has been presented to me. I
am by myself here in this contemplation, but am assured by S2K, GCW that there
are other Students throughout the universe.
2:51
p.m. A break from my leaf-raking project. Slow going in the yard. This will
take several afternoons. Two planning thoughts – one about regions. The kind of
region you need is a function of what you want to do. It may be easier for
contiguous communities to see that they should cooperate – but the farther
away, the more intervening counties, whether upstream or downstream… the less
motivation for close community, but more need for a higher Knowledge
cooperative community – watershed, air shed – To build regional community, you
need to use local community and local community can't be threatened by, or seen
as, in competition with the locals.
…
Sustainability
doesn't sell because it tends to preclude the potential for things getting
better. No matter how good things are, Americans believe they can get better.
9:14
p.m. Practice #2 – Step 106 – There are no Masters living in the world.
"Perfection is not found here, only contribution." As I write this I
feel lost. One of thousands, millions, billions. What is this world – 2000? In
Winchester – at Lowe's, Walmart – how the area has grown and changed, the world
– grown and changed. Winchester City is so much more than FR – and Warren –
though it has grown somewhat – it is still short because of its lesser market.
Looking @ the wealth of the City – that is the place to be.
Think
of…how you have used them (Masters) to judge yourself and to evaluate your life
and your behavior.
Age
30 – 32 I was waiting for my call→ to go forward like Jesus→ it didn't come – except to be a parent – that's
what came. And the wait for the teacher that never came, the S2K teaching being
the closest since ACIM sought to enable us to be teachers. How can I teach
myself?
I
always wondered whether or not, if Jesus came along, if I would have left my
life to follow him?
The Dali
Llama is masterful – but culturally – nothing to follow there. No need for the
Pope…
Larry
… showed me letter A.R.E. and took me to
Krishnamurti – then he abandoned that. K worked for a while.
If
life is the master, how am I doing? About average for $ wealth, but below
average for my peers. It wasn't a pillar I'd focused upon.
Have
I've been alone too much? With all that time in my experiences, I've developed
this drip irrigation of ideas falling into these pages through my mind.
text
says – "being unburdened by perfectionism/idealism I can focus on the
emergence of Knowledge." Involvement and commitment can move forward more
quickly.
Quite a bit of writing and thinking. This was the
year 2000. Marshall did not come to mind as a Master; he was a channel, a
conduit for spiritual teaching. These exercises can take up a lot of time. The
expenditure of time is worth it, though confusion will return. Let us continue.
NNC
Note: If you’ve some interest due to this or other
Steps, you should go to the beginning blog post. From here you will learn about Steps to Knowledge
and can begin it on the day that makes sense; then progress as needed. You can
use the posts on this blog as a companion if it helps. They will remain in
order in the archives - one post per Step.
Often it takes 18 months to get through the Steps
once. For this blog, the pace is one-a-day, but it really makes no difference
how fast you do it, only that you begin, persist and repeat. Posts here provide
a trail that may let you have a virtual companion when and if you want one. One
may have to study alone, as I did in the beginning. There are other Steps
students blogging their experience and you might find a person more like you as
a companion, or use a number of such Steps journeys. There are options as well
through the Free School of the New Message.
No comments:
Post a Comment