Today: CT Step 16 - There are greater forces at work in the world. (MP3)
There are greater forces at work in the world. CT Step 16 |
There are indeed greater forces at work in the
world. You can feel their movement, and you can bear witness to their reality.
Here you look beyond yourself into the world. If you can look without
prejudice, fear or denial, you will be able to see very far, farther even than
you thought you could. The fact is that most people do not look and therefore
do not see. And if they do look, they look with so many conditions,
prerequisites and requirements that they cannot really grasp what they are seeing.
If you are not dominated by your own mind, then you
are free to look and to see. If you are not dominated by your past, then you
are able to see things as they are today, in a new way.
Today then is an opportunity to see where you are
going and to recognize the greater forces in the world. This puts you into a
larger arena of life. You then become a witness to greater things. Perhaps at
the beginning you can only see a tiny, tiny bit. But as you practice in your
ongoing preparation, you will be able to see more as you proceed. You will
develop the eyes to see, the willingness to see and the desire to see.
Beyond your practice in stillness today and your
hourly practices in awareness and discernment, spend time just looking at the
world. Spend perhaps a moment here or a moment there, considering the greater
forces that are at work in the world. It is important here not to have any
conclusions but simply to ask the question, "What are the greater forces
that are working in the world?" Just keep asking the question, without
supplying the answer. It is your experience here that will be the real answer.
To have this experience, you must ask the question and you must begin to look.
Practice 16: One
30-minute stillness practice.
Contemplation practice.
Hourly practice.
Picture: San Antonio, Texas at night
from the Tower of the Americas. October 26, 2007
Plan B - If the MP3 doesn’t work, here’s the link
to the folder: New Message - Student Spoken Steps CT Recordings -
Steps to Knowledge Continuation Training - Working file
From the journal:
CT
Step 15 - Let me look towards the Greater Community to understand where my life
is going.
Sunday,
September 9, 2001
8:24
a.m. A blue sky, sunny morning for the Shenandoah Valley. Opening my life to
Knowledge/Holy Spirit to bring forth my meaning, purpose and direction through
spiritual family and the unseen ones is working in my life and asking for,
prayer for the emergence of Knowledge in the lives of others for meaning,
purpose and direction is working. Making me – letting me be more free and
therefore it is truth for only the truth shall make you free.
This
entry contains affirmation that is also a prayer. In beginning used of the
Continuation Training Steps cards, I noticed also my collection of prayer
cards.
The first is dated August 5, 2001, but it wasn’t recorded in the journal.
Often I’ve written prayers in the journal, but the journal could not always be
at hand, so I made an index card so I could carry it with me and review as
needed.
Here
is how the first card read:
My prayers are for Sarah Marie
Christoffel, David Thomas Christoffel and Cynthia Selena Cave Christoffel, and
those in their lives, Lane, Emily, Jamie, Susan, that their Knowledge emerge
more strongly for joy in their lives and that of the earth, as I, Thomas Joseph
Christoffel seek to serve the truth that Knowledge is by strengthening my own
presence of Knowledge. Nasi Novare Coram
I
felt it important to use full names. The format, should you wish to do
something similar is:
My prayers are for
… and those in their lives, … that their Knowledge emerge more strongly for joy
in their lives and that of the earth, as I, … seek to serve the truth that
Knowledge is by strengthening my own presence of Knowledge. Nasi Novare Coram
Ten
different cards were done through December 8, 2001 – as more people and
situations were added. This is was in 2001, 15 years ago. In Christian churches
and organizations, prayer for others is a common thing to seek assistance with
and there are groups set up to respond to that need. Being a singular student
in the world, this is what I did. The last prayer card I had was lost in 2013
when my card holder was stolen. Today, the New Message Wiki is a place that
brings together the various references to prayer
in the teachings now.
We
continue.
NNC
Note: If you’ve some interest, but this is the
first time you’ve seen 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. Begin at
the beginning.
If you do know about Steps, but have not done Steps
twice completely, read the related materials, and have a sense of the direction
of this study, you won’t get the experience. The Introduction begins:
“This is the Steps
to Knowledge Continuation Training. It is designed to build upon the Steps
that were learned in Steps to Knowledge to
enable you to experience the grace, the power and the direction of Knowledge in
your life and to become an expression of Knowledge in everything that you do.
If you have completed the book, Steps to
Knowledge, twice through and have followed the instructions as they were
given without altering the curriculum in any way, then you are now ready to
begin this more advanced study”.
If you are an independent student, that is
certainly an option. 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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