x2 Step 188 - My life in this world is more important than I had realized before. – Journal – Step 187

Today: Step 188 - My life in this world is more important than I had realized before. (MP3)

“My life in this world is more important than I had realized before.” Step 188

IS THIS A GRANDIOSE IDEA? No, it is not. Does this idea betray your need for humility? No, it does not. You are here for a greater purpose than you have imagined, for your imagination does not contain the meaning of your purpose in life. In life there is only purpose and all the things that are substitutes for this purpose, which are born of fearful imagination. You are here to live a greater life than you have yet realized, and this greatness is what you carry within you. It may be expressed in the simplest of lifestyles and in the simplest of activities. Activities are great because of the essence that they convey, not because of the stimulation that they may arouse in other people.

UNDERSTAND THIS DISTINCTION VERY CAREFULLY, and you will begin to learn to discern greatness from smallness and to learn how smallness can serve greatness. This will integrate every aspect of yourself, for part of you is great and part of you is small. Your personal mind and your physical body are small and are meant to serve the greatness of Knowledge. This integrates you. This is what integrates life as well. There is no inequality here, for everything is working together to serve a greater purpose, which you have come to serve.

IN YOUR LONGER PRACTICE PERIODS TODAY, engage your mind actively in attempting to understand these things. Your understanding will be born of your investigation, not merely of ideas that you find self-comforting or personally agreeable. Use your mind to investigate. With eyes closed, think on these things. Concentrate very carefully, and when your concentration comes to an end, release all ideas and enter into stillness and silence. Thus, the mind is purposefully engaged, and then it is brought into stillness. These are the two functions of the mind, which you will be practicing today.

REMIND YOURSELF OF YOUR PRACTICE upon the hour and utilize this day for your development, which is your gift to the world.

PRACTICE 188: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly practice.

Note:  “Your personal mind and your physical body are small and are meant to serve the greatness of Knowledge. This integrates you. This is what integrates life as well.”

From the journal:  Step 187 - I am a citizen of the Greater Community of Worlds.

Thursday, February 22, 2001 – no journal entry or anything new on the Steps page. 

As citizens of the Greater Community of Worlds, what is required? That is coming; 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.