Sunday, December 6, 2015

x2 Step 340 - My practice is my contribution to the world. – Journal – Step 339



Today:  Step 340 - My practice is my contribution to the world. (MP3) 



YOU ARE A BEGINNING STUDENT OF KNOWLEDGE. As a beginning student, you engage yourself completely with your practice. Do not imagine for yourself a great role as a saviour or redeemer in the world, for this will only discourage you because you are not yet prepared to carry forth things of greatness. Your duty is to follow the steps as they are given. This is the requirement. In time, greatness will grow within your experience, and you will experience greatness within the world. Yet, as we have so often indicated in our preparation thus far, the greatness you will experience will express itself in simple and mundane things. Therefore, do not imagine grandiose ideas of yourself as a saviour. Do not see yourself being crucified in the world, for these images are born of ignorance and you do not comprehend their true meaning.

FOLLOW EACH STEP, for each will require your complete attention and engagement. Without your attempting to add what is unnecessary to your preparation, you may then become fully engaged with your preparation. This will fully engage you and will elevate all of your physical and mental abilities and give them uniform purpose and direction. Your practice is your gift to the world. From your practice all gifts that you will give in the future will be able to be given with confidence, with love and with certainty.

UPON THE HOUR REMIND YOURSELF that your practice is your gift to the world. If you really wish to serve the world and if you really wish to exemplify within the world that which you hold most dear and that which you honor within yourself, then give yourself to your practice and do not neglect it this day. In your deeper meditations give yourself to practice, for practice is an act of giving. And you who are learning now to receive are also giving yourself to learn to receive. Thus, you are learning to give as well. If you cannot give yourself to practice, you will not be able to give to the world, for giving to the world is a form of practice as well. Remember that all you can do is practice. No matter what you do, you are practicing something, you are asserting something, you are confirming something and you are studying something. Given this understanding, give yourself to your true preparation, for this is your gift to yourself and to the world.

PRACTICE 340: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly practice.

Picture: These are the Holy Days. Christmas is one of the Holy Days in the season of Holy Days and this tree at the Galleria serving the Greater Dallas region – the Metroplex or North Texas, is a symbol of multi-jurisdictional cooperation as a means of contribution to the world.

From the journal:  

9:32 a.m. July 24, 2001 – The work is out there in the world. Points of light – are they networked? At the top, perhaps not – but at the base – they are Knowledge. Intelligence tends to darkness; nature tends toward light – for it is driven by spirit, by K in service to life. Intelligence judges – makes good/bad – ideal/failure. It gets binary/polar/right – wrong. I was wronged/I was wrong. The history of pain. It seemed right – because of the beliefs that made it right. God was on our side. The God warriors – Christian against Moslem. Then the third option – the Satanist – who just chose to worship the dark. All belief systems which made life more difficult for those born into it, even though their creation was done to guide people through life. It worked for the tribe, but not for human. A new integration is required.

8/31/2 Linked – integration @ Ford for auto production leads to inflexibility.

U.S. development – you can isolate physically as long as you are connected by technology and infrastructure. Roads, autos, phone, fax, wireless, email, video.

– In meditation – the Valley will go into ARC, but they'll have to buy into Corridor H. Frederick County favors/Strasburg favors – Senator Byrd will block unless there's the buy-in – Frank Wolf will have to eat crow. It isn't worth it. ARC – no go –

12:26 p.m. On the boat SS Badger – Manitowoc Harbor – a four hour trip across the lake. A time for reflection.

11:58 p.m. Back at the hotel. I've crossed Lake Michigan and lived to write about. It was being a ship – on water. I brought much to read and think about. On the way to Ludington spent most of the cruise talking to Derek and Barbara V…. Interesting folks. Retired – now running a travel business. It seems to work for them. She was on the planning commission. At Ludington I walked downtown. It was hot. New development along the lake as one the Wisconsin side.

On the return I stayed away from getting into conversations. I wanted to meditate and to read Jan Smuts On Holism. He summarized his chapters so I've read those. Two to go.

S2K was "The presence of love is with me now". The text says of love: "It is still; therefore it abides with everything". I know it is there even when I don't feel it. Derek, it turns out, was highly moral, but neither religious or spiritual. I presented some GC thinking to test the ideas and his acceptance, which was low at first. Barbara was supportive of his view…though she's Catholic by upbringing. I differentiated spirituality and religion – or tried to do so.

This is work. 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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