x2 Step 281 - Above all else I seek Knowledge. – Journal – Step 280

Today:  Step 281 - Above all else I seek Knowledge. (MP3)

Above all else I seek Knowledge. Step 281

ABOVE ALL ELSE SEEK KNOWLEDGE, for Knowledge will give you all else that you need. You will seek Knowledge with total conviction when you realize that any other avenue of endeavor and any other use of your mind and body will be hopeless and will lead you into greater confusion. For without Knowledge, you can only learn that you need Knowledge, and with Knowledge, all true learning will proceed. Your past has already taught you the great need for Knowledge. You need not learn this again and again. Why repeat the same lesson over and over, thinking that it will yield for you a different result?

OF YOURSELF YOU CAN DO NOTHING. Without Knowledge you can only generate more imagination. Therefore, there is one answer to your one greatest need, and the one answer will meet all other needs that emanate from your one great need. Your need is fundamental and the response to your need is fundamental. There is no complexity here, for in essence you need Knowledge to live meaningfully. You need Knowledge to advance. You need Knowledge to realize your True Self. You need Knowledge to fulfill your destiny in the world. Without Knowledge, you will simply wander around and come once again to realize that you need Knowledge.

THIS IS A DAY OF THANKSGIVING, for your prayers have been answered. Your need has been responded to. The gift has been given to you to reclaim your Knowledge. Above all else seek that which will serve everything through you. In this, your need and the remedy for your life will become simple, and you will be able to proceed in certainty and patience, becoming a consistent student of Knowledge. Day by day you are reclaiming your True Self. Day by day you are escaping all else that seeks to pull you into the darkness of confusion. Day by day that which is unreal begins to disintegrate and that which is genuine begins to emerge.

UPON THE HOUR TODAY remember and affirm this great truth—that you seek Knowledge above all else. In your deeper meditation practices, allow yourself to enter stillness. Allow your life to be transformed. Allow Knowledge to emerge so that you may be a vehicle for its expression, for in this you will find happiness.

PRACTICE 281: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly practice.

From the journal:  Step 280 - Review

Saturday, May 26, 2001 – at …– prior to the seminar.

8:20 a.m. E.D.T./M.D.T. 6:20 a.m. – My bag was found by an RTD employee (visitor needs a seamless environment) so I'll pick it up @ the airport Monday.

Preparing to shower – thinking of the need – I'll – BLANK – too many thoughts – past, present, future

→ to deal with the world changes we need a new global humanity. (precursor thought – to be fulfilled) – 5/28/01

→ At dinner last night – I asked [the people I stayed with] – "Who was thinking about this? Which governments on earth evidenced, by their behavior, alien influences.” It was something they'd never talked about.

Need to develop – Global Human Community –

8:32 a.m. M.D.T. Long review 280 – I pray that I might learn that I might understand and that I might teach in a way that stimulates learning –

Amen & Amen

T-om Su-ne

Points from note cards

267 – “…to find Knowledge you must become still and observant and learn to disengage from fear and anxiety”.

- problem solving – When you have a preference that is governing your mind, you cannot see the obvious. As you learn to look at problems w/K you will see the resolution as apparent.

268 – I will not be deceived by complexity today. …You must follow K and not attempt to use K to solve things according to your own designs. – (Not TJC designs – but K-designs.)

269 – The power of Knowledge will extend itself from me. … That is why you must learn to be very discerning in relationships, for as you progress as a student of K, your influence over others will be greater. You must not use this influence for selfish purposes, or your activities will be destructive to you and to others.

270 – It is very important that you recognize the relationship between power and responsibility. Responsibility requires self-discipline, self-restraint and self-control. It requires an objectivity about your own life which very few have yet attained in this world. Responsibility is a burden until it is recognized as a source of protection. It is the guarantee and the assurance that your gift will find a wholesome and welcome expression within you and that you will be advanced and accomplished by the rendering of your contribution.

271 – Accept responsibility, which is your ability to respond. Accept this, cultivate it, cherish it and welcome it. It is what will make you strong. Accept responsibility today. Accept this, for it represents your truest and greatest need. R will enable you to love and extend yourself into the world. (in stillness) Enter the mystery of your life so that you may be able to respond to it, for this is the meaning of R.

272 – You will require Teachers to guide you. … for you will be venturing far beyond your own concepts and assumptions. … Your Inner Teachers represent your most primary relationships, for these relationships are completely based upon K, and they are given to you to cultivate K safely & completely.

273 –  Do not underestimate the value of your Teachers

274 – Seek freedom from ambivalence, for this is the source of all human confusion, misery and frustration. Ambivalence is the indecision about participating with life. It is the indecision about being in life. - K dispels ambivalence, for it sets a clear direction.

275 –  Freedom from uncertainty. – “In essence, you either know what you are doing or you do not. If you do not know what you are doing, you simply wait for Knowledge. If you know what you are doing, you simply follow what you know”.

276 – “Knowledge is my salvation. … God has given you the greatest possible gift: the means within yourself to correct all error, to resolve all confusion and conflict and to set your life on a true course that is aimed at your true destiny” (this current life).

277 – “My ideas are small, but Knowledge is great”. “Knowledge is the great source of your being as it is expressing itself in your individual life”. __ realize that there is a means for you to escape the world of ideas and enter the world of relationship, where everything is viable, real and based upon a foundation that can never change.

278 – Truth is changeless, but it expresses itself within the world of changing circumstances and changing understanding. Thus, it appears that truth is changeable, yet the source of truth is not changeable. You who live in a world of change and are undergoing change yourself must realize that your Source is unchangeable. ___ As you realize that your true life is changeless, then you will feel free to allow it to express itself in changing circumstances.

279 – Freedom is not a concept or an idea. It is an experience. Therefore, it must be realized in many, many different circumstances for you to see its universal application. This you are given time to accomplish. This will make all of your activities meaningful, purposeful and valuable. To have genuine stability in the world, you must identify with Knowledge and allow Knowledge to demonstrate its power, its efficacy and its benevolence within the world. – “… you can only be free when you are still inside, and if you are still inside, you are free already”.

280 – Review - It is by following that you are able to give and you are able to lead. …be very thankful that Knowledge is being given to you, for you are realizing that above all else it is Knowledge which you seek.

GC Retreat Journal 5/26/2001

Ground Rules –

– to protect our environment

– create a break from outside world

– set down a trusting relationship

1. Be here for the whole time (don't wander off)

2. What is done and said here is in privacy – and not passed on. (Sharing a unique spiritual experience doesn't work)

3. Talk from experience – fewer words – so people go away with experience not – a-ha's

provide tools, correction if necessary

– Knowledge knows why it came here

– intellectual studies, books read… does not carry weight

came for – contact

need – fortification

want to – contribute

fear – acceptance of my contribution I've made it this far

[Attendees]

– Fire – being connected –

<intervention is thrown in to attract attention>

Look at K

experience of K

look at 4 pillars

pillars work

calling

being called

GC as idea & experience

Patricia – Remember → Students – not here – those working to teach –

4 pillar practices

– relationship

– work

– health

– spiritual development

– 90% of writing is draw us – looking – listening – on

– Instead of peak experience look for flakes of gold

… Mailboxes [exercise for four pillars – each pillar, envision a mail box – ask: Is there anything I need to know about this pillar? Imagine a mailbox. Look in the mailbox for a slip of paper – on the paper – an answer to that question – no paper – nothing needed to know.]

> use mailboxes – regular

> kinetic – ask question while doing physical thing starting car – turning key/putting money in parking meter

– counting – can't count and think about other things – keeps the chatter of mind down

– Where you're going to fail is in your pillars

– strong and pillars > Frank Wolf

→ lives destroyed by neglect of a pillar

→ work is equal to spirituality

> temptation to lose yourself –

– Temptation of guilt

→ 4 pillar – balance, structure in life –

→ can this person make the journey → find where people are likely to fail

– strength to strength → spirit transmission to strength

→ doors of perception can't to be broken down for those who can't take it

→ some tuned in, but not able to integrate

→ (sounds like the spiritual Marines – boot camp )[my thought]

– The secret room – mind has lots of rooms –

↓

the thing we don't want anyone to discover

→ the core of our dream life

→ the thing we don't want to reveal 2K –

→ the thing you don't want to give up, if you don't know that you want to give up.

I thought I might save the world, but I'm lucky to save myself.

Fear – I'll disappear –

– The need to know is more important than fear

– Hint – protecting a relationship that doesn't work –

< – I can only do my small part>

– teachers look for suffering in the soul – that breaks the separation –

<soul hunger>

Powerful affirmation –

– We don't know what you want or need →

– Greatest weakness – misappropriated strength

> pray for the best outcome

> affirm Knowledge and people

> you don't need to determine the outcome

> sometimes things need to fail

> Balance – TJC = Alfredo

Hourly > practice – on the hour

– physically?

– emotionally?

– What's going on around me?

– Anything I need to know?

– Directional check – 11:11

– practice, practice, practice

First day complete Notes are cryptic – compared to 2001, these teachings are common in the New Message. Practice is the key. 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.