Today: Step 232 - My calling in
life requires the development of others. (MP3)
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| My calling in life requires the development of others. Step 232 |
FOR YOUR CALLING
TO EMERGE IN YOUR LIFE, it is not merely your own development that is
essential, but the development of others with whom you will be directly
engaged. Because your purpose in life involves your engagement with others, it
is not a singular pursuit. It is not an individual fulfillment. In reality,
there is no individual who is completely separate from other individuals
because individuality has meaning only in terms of expressing that which binds and
joins all life.
THEREFORE, THIS DAY
DEVELOP THE WISDOM and the understanding that your true accomplishment is
dependent upon the accomplishment of others as well. Think not that you know
who all these others are, for you have not met them all yet. Some are in this world,
and some are beyond the world. They may not be in your personal sphere at all.
HOW, THEN, CAN YOU
PROCEED when your accomplishment is partially dependent upon others? You
proceed by giving yourself to your preparation. The power of doing this will
strengthen those with whom you will be engaged in your life’s calling. Because
your application strengthens one another, you are already in relationship; you
are already influencing one another. The closer you come to that point where
Knowledge emerges, the closer they will come as well. The more you hold
yourself back, the more you hold them back. You cannot see the mechanism for
this while you are in the world, for you must be beyond the world to see how
this works. But you can understand the idea that all minds influence each
other, particularly those minds that are meant to be engaged specifically with
one another in life.
THEREFORE, YOUR
ADVANCEMENT IS DEPENDENT upon your own efforts and the efforts of others. Yet,
the efforts of others are supplemented and strengthened by your own efforts. Therefore,
your achievement is very much given to you to accomplish, and yet your achievement
will join you with life and will deepen the content and experience of relationship
beyond what you were formerly able to experience.
IN YOUR HOURLY
REMEMBRANCES and in your longer meditations in stillness today, allow your
efforts to supplement the efforts of others, which will supplement your
efforts. Allow the combination of your mutual dedication, then, to be a source
of strength which you will experience this day and which will be experienced by
those whom you have not yet met in this life.
PRACTICE 232: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly
practice.
A rare continuity of picture themes Step to Step. Might
the arch be symbolic of the calling? Yesterday’s picture:
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| Step 231 - I have a calling in this world. |
From the journal: Step
231 - I have a calling in this world.
Saturday,
April 7, 2001
7:15
a.m. On waking. Confusion, confused – that is the condition – my condition
often, the world's most of the time. Now that I Know I've been confused
– now that I see, feel, no that is my situation – I can choose to be still,
wait for the water to clear, and no longer be confused. Can I lose all
confusion? In the woods, in stillness – I am not confused. I'm there with life
in all is well. I can experience clarity. I am in the world. To be of the world
is to be confused. Be in the world, not of the world.
Also
– Knowing what I need do, I shouldn't be able to use confusion as a reason to
avoid it, delay doing what I need, be distracted by the "new". I can
look @ different things – need new info, but… need to remain focused on my own
emergence.
I
shouldn't use confusion as an excuse. In fact – in this moment of clarity – I
see that I can come to forget this and again be indolent. My mind is weak… so
is my body. To be focused w/o being harsh… as I've been accused of – reacted to
– in the past.
[An/The
Atlas of Regions – use other people's regions – share data sets –]
7:40
a.m. Step 231 – "I have a calling in the world".
The
Steps go from confusion to calling. In the Lutheran tradition you waited for
your "call", you received a call. It was to ministry… John D...
explained how public service work was his ministry, our ministry.
At
this point my calling is pretty well emerged. My confusion is partly how can I
do so much [that which has emerged 4/28/01]
Looking
ahead – review ahead the lessons so I can clear my confusion and work on
changing that which keeps me confused. I need to get over the grief of my loss
– the unburdened.
8:30
a.m. More processing – coming to grips with confusion – the lack of
perspective.
How
do we know the earth is not flat? The moon, the stars, the sun – the context.
Foreground, background.
It
is all the environment. CH 25 – GCW II – "in the GC, environment is
considered the most important thing".
Downstairs
earlier, thinking as I make coffee, I wondered for a long time why I ended up
with the water and solid waste – the environmental issues? It became clear in
my mind that water is the compelling reason to cooperate. I’ve got to thank Pam
for leaving so I could do the River Rec…. There are many $ efficiencies that
should be reasons for cooperation.
Here
in this region – it is water that is moving us – and the many unknowns about
supply. (→ Water is the reason for humanity to cooperate!
4/28/01)
John
C… – "Treating the water as regional resource, treating the resource
regionally, leads to better financial decisions".
Make
the governmental services region visible. There are market regions; there are
service regions.
State
standard service regions.
GIS is
needed to integrate as the volume of human actions increases. More people, each
person doing more things. All impacting the environment. When will there be too
much? In overload we must change. Reality overpowers confusion.
Out
of confusion – I get an overwhelming sense of Love – here @ 9 a.m. and it is
time to go into stillness.
9:40
a.m. My stillness/silence was very active. The Step "I have a calling in
this world". It was shown to me very clearly why I am here in this time
and place, the benefit of my Senior Planner role as giving me the research
environment I needed to pursue my regional communities path. I've accomplished
my 1983 goal – the PDCs are important to the State, thus the PDC is becoming
more important to local governments. They've not been put out of business.
The
next steps are business/citizen visibility – and multi-regional coordination.
Winchester – the bellybutton of the mid-Atlantic.
What
does the Valley have? – Location and it's getting better.
8:37
p.m. Ethnic area codes/servers/Bank cards – to layer multi-cultural identity on
similar geography.
1:19
a.m. Sunday – April 8, 2000→ The message is getting clearer. It is simple – it
is not new, yet as a restatement of the obvious – once explained it is truth.
Confusion is a hard road, but looking back, there
does seem to be progress going on. Work in the world - life work - what is the difference? Understanding my own calling has been a
lifelong pursuit. 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.
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