CT Step 17 - Today I will not let anything keep me from my practice. – Journal – CT Step 16

Today:  CT Step 17 - Today I will not let anything keep me from my practice. (MP3)

Today I will not let anything keep me from my practice. CT Step 17

The world is so dominating that people acquiesce to it habitually. It takes real determination to maintain a greater focus in life, particularly if you are preoccupied with difficulties and challenges along the way. But today you can practice strengthening this determination so that you may have the gift of seeing.

Upon the hour practice looking and seeing. Check the mental environment. Check how you feel. Check what is going on inside of you, taking this moment to come back to yourself.

In your practice in stillness, if you are able to experience something greater than the mind, the mind will yield to Knowledge. Throughout the day as well, try to see in your observations of others how captivating the world is and how captivating the mind is. Ultimately, the only thing that can keep you from Knowledge is the mind. It may seem like the world is dominating you, but in reality it is the mind.

Observe this. You will not have to look far. It is all around you. You can look at your own experience to see how close at hand this is and how important it is for you to be present wherever you are and with whatever you are doing. Today’s practice will strengthen this awareness and determination.

Practice 17:    One 30-minute stillness practice.

                          Contemplation practice.

                          Hourly practice.

Picture:  Foothills South Trail, Boulder, Colorado ~ October 7, 2014

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 16 - There are greater forces at work in the world.

6 p.m. Monday, September 10, 2001 – Contemplation of Step 16 – "There are greater forces at work in the world".

– In order to see – and see far I/one can't be dominated by the mind or by the past. I see/saw today market forces; cars and trucks on the road; the sales trends that move the region up the ladder; in the Rotary orientation I saw those changes which opened up Rotary and made it more viable in the world. The Rotary video showed a Pennsylvania club buying winter coats for Hispanics – kids who came to the area from warmer climates and had no winter clothes. I thought of John Naisbitt's megatrends. The US did not go south, it/they came here.

Talking to Peggy K… @ the HSA – how regional analysis Health planning going in Virginia – the PD building blocks work.

I can see how transportation and communication has changed everything and continues to make changes.

When I travel, I see different things. It stimulates me always. My past – Two Rivers/Manitowoc – no need to return to or perpetuate that, though, for an education, it was good.

At Fredericksburg yesterday – …  – the new new suburbia – with lots of cracked vinyl siding, weathered plastics – big, big rooms – filling up with lots of stuff.

What are the greater forces that are working in the world? – one is "community" itself, to solve problems – as being done in Rotary. Weather is a greater force; life is a greater force as it brought Susan Marie in the world. The cat forces, and the shark forces, the force of truth – I told Howard K… that a "truth commission" was needed for the SNP movement of people by the park in the 30’s.

9:17 p.m. "What are the greater forces that are working in the world?" Love, peace, God, creativity, life, these are the forces I see, I experience.

Greater forces – recognizing these forces, much less understanding them, will take much practice. 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.