Today: Step 358 - I wish to be
at home in the world. (MP3)
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| I wish to be at home in the world. Step 358 |
YOU WISH TO BE AT HOME IN THE WORLD. You have not
come here to escape the world. You have come here to be at home in the world.
Understanding this will enable you to value your contribution and engage
yourself completely in its expression. To escape the world without contributing
to the world will only compound your dilemma, and you will return to your
Spiritual Family with your gifts unopened and undelivered. You will then
realize that you must return because the work that you set out to accomplish in
the world was not accomplished.
BE GLAD, THEN, THAT YOU ARE IN THE WORLD NOW and
that you need not wait to re-enter. You are here already. You have progressed this
far. You are in the perfect position to fulfill your destiny here. You have
brought your Ancient Home with you—within the seed and within the light of your
Knowledge, which is now growing, emerging and sprouting forth.
THE WORLD IS NOT YOUR HOME, but you are meant to be
at home in the world. Upon the hour think of this and realize how much you want
to be at home in the world. Realize how much you do not want to condemn the
world or simply escape from the world. When you are at home in the world, you
will be able to move beyond the world to serve in a greater way and to
experience a greater reality than the world can present to you. But you will
not leave with regret, with anger or with disappointment. You will leave with
happiness and satisfaction. This will complete your experience here. This will
bless the world and will bless you who have blessed yourself and the world while
you were in the world.
IN YOUR DEEPER MEDITATION PRACTICES, allow yourself
to seriously consider what home means to you. Again, this is a practice of active
mental engagement. Utilize your mind to consider the important things that are
being given to you now. You will need to examine all the thoughts you have in
relation to today’s idea in order to understand how you are approaching today’s
idea and how you will respond to it. The power of decision is yours, but you
must understand the current content of your mind. With this, you will be able
to make an appropriate and wise decision on your own behalf, within your range
of responsibility. You are meant to be at home in the world. Bring home with
you so that others may feel at home in the world. In this way, the world
becomes blessed because it is not a place apart any longer. Do not escape the
world today, but be present to serve the world.
PRACTICE 358: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly
practice.
This Step gave me a huge: “Ah-ha!” moment as noted on the page, the first time I did
this Step. The book pages are full of notes:
The page is dated five times. It is noted that on
June 12, 2013, this is the Step I used on Vigil Day 18 when I had the honor to
present at the Sanctuary. The note in the left margin?
“How
do I purify my expression?” Then there’s mid-page
The bottom of page one.
Second time through, the ending sentence of the Step: “The
world is the place you have come to express your Self because the world is the
place where you wish to be at home”, kept its truth. It remains a centering
thought to this day, to be at home in the world. That is challenging.
The journal reflects some of the challenges of the day in 2001.
From the journal:
9:50
a.m. Saturday, August 11, 2001 – My practice of GC Wisdom's Steps to Knowledge
have changed my life for the better. It is almost 3 years, (8/29/98) since I
began reading Greater Community Spirituality after meeting with Patricia
Summers. As I started Steps on 6/27/99 it was fortuitous or it would have me at
Step 244 – "I am honored when others are strong" March 17, 2000 when
I got whacked … I took the hit…was
unburdened and kept growing. I'm in a better place – because of the emergence
of Knowledge in my life.
11:23
a.m. – Watching C-SPAN – recipe – path finding to know when to evolve – Neuron
puts in cues in the environment so the DNA…
11:45
p.m. 2nd Practice – Long Day – touched base with Mom and Dad. Talked about 2
hours. Mom said Dad was having a recurring dream – and he'd never dreamed in
his life – a man is lying close to him in bed – he goes away in the a.m. He's
in a gray robe – a hood, like a monk, with a mask – it's a white person. He's
been in the bed with Mom, but when they went to the hospital, he didn't go
along. I asked if there was anyone in the family who had been monk/priest – on
the Rather side maybe, because they were Catholic. He didn't know of any. I
asked if it was fearful, happy or neutral with the spirit next to him? He said
neutral.
I
said the spirit is there either to comfort him or to get comfort from him. The
next time, or a time, Dad could ask – maybe – who are you? do I know you? what
do you want? in his mind, and there might be an answer. I said it wasn't the
Grim Reaper –
This
was all mysterious to Dad. I went on to tell him some of my contacts – and
since Karl had been around me, I didn't think the spirit was Karl. If Karl
came, he would do it so Dad would know – just as Mom Knows Dot is nearby.
Then
I went into an explanation to him of who I thought he was and how he lived
life. It was spontaneous – and as I compared his life to mine, I knew him
better.
I
started with the time when I was about 20, in philosophy, questioning God and
he asked me how I could question God? He told me how he'd waded out of the
forward hold in water up to his neck with the mattress over his head. [His
ship, the USS Laramie, was struck by a torpedo. This was his first time out at
sea. Four died.] It was faith that saved his life and carried him through it.
He never questioned God.
I
said if he looked at his life from birth to the present, it would be a straight
line. He was born happy and always was happy, no matter what.
He
just did what had to be done and everything worked out. He couldn't understand
the questions that others asked. He always knew what to do – and did it. The
hardest part was dealing with Mom's anger, but even that wasn't that hard. I
told him my thought he had/was the wise old soul of a Chief there from the
Dakotas. I don't know if he agreed with that part, but everything I told him
about his life and how he lived in felt was true.
I
encouraged both of them – Mom and Dad – to watch John Edward because it
would help them recognize communication.
I
told Dad the Monk might be from an earlier life of his own. Here as I write
this, the thought of a French missionary came to mind – earthbound perhaps, but
that would be a long time. What order would wear a gray robe?
He
thinks it started when he changed his medication. It could be that, but those
other things stopped when the medication was changed. The fact that the Spirit
didn't go with him – suggests it might be local. Spirits aren't always smart.
At
11:30 p.m. David called to say Sarah left Phil and was coming out there. M.E.
wanted her there. I'll call in the a.m.
A
few more Steps to go. We’ve been through this before, but it is new again, and
deeper. So 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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