CT Step 27 - I must learn to be discreet today. – Journal – CT Step 26

Today:  CT Step 27 - I must learn to be discreet today. (MP3)

I must learn to be discreet today. CT Step 27

What is discretion but knowing when to say something and when not to say something, knowing what to say and what not to say, knowing what to share and what not to share at any given moment? To do this, you cannot be driven by fear or preference or by the desire for recognition or praise or by insecurity of any kind. To do this, you cannot be governed by social conditioning, which tells you what to say and when to say it, that puts words in your mouth that are not your own and thoughts in your mind which are not your own. This is an exercise in strength and freedom. If you are not free to follow Knowledge, then you are a slave to other forces. You can escape slavery, but you must exercise great strength and determination to do it. You must face discomfort, for when you break the laws of manipulation, you will feel fear because fear is what governs them. Beyond this fear, there is freedom and release.

Do not reveal to others today your studenthood in Knowledge. Even to other students of Knowledge, say very little. Do not talk about your important insights. Let them grow. See if they are valid. Do not talk about them immediately. Let the pressure build. Develop that depth. People who go around talking about their inner experiences all day long will never develop this depth and comprehension. They want to get rid of it as soon as they have it. They cannot be with it. They cannot stand pressure or confusion. They cannot allow questions to be unanswered. They cannot allow experiences to go unshared. They are driven and are not free.

Today then, practice discretion. Listen more than you speak, and do not talk about yourself personally except under rare circumstances to certain people. This is discretion and it is fundamental to your success.

Practice stillness in your long practice period, and upon the hour practice awareness and discernment of the environments around you and your own tendencies to be indiscreet. Let today be a gift for you, a gift that gives you the strength and the freedom that you most desperately need.

Practice 27:   One 30-minute stillness practice.

                         Contemplation practice.

                         Hourly practice.

Picture:  Morgan's Ford low water bridge crossing the Main Stem of the Shenandoah River in Warren County, Virginia. Crossing safely requires discernment.

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 26 - Today I will learn of the Greater Community

5:59 p.m. September 19, 2001 –

These have been busy days @ work. Today I did not feel the watch vibrate on the hour once – because that function had turned off, as it is wont to do.

This is the contemplation – the morning meditation was in & out, but the time passed quickly. Step 25 – today – There is a new hope in the world – is a new thought in this material, one that is good for me today. In fact I used it with a State planner in the Chesapeake Bay program meeting. In talking about how long and hard we’d work, he judged that I'd been in water work for a while. I said if we weren’t doing this work there'd be no hope that the water quality could be improved.

Hope is what both Sarah and David need – not without work, but to keep faith in their hearts when the world does not have it.

Diane C... is showing herself as harsh and judgmental in relation to Sarah. She did the same with Mom and Dad, accusing Mom of abusing Dad. She lacks compassion.

It doesn't bother me that she doesn't get it for Sarah, but I'm more concerned about her ability to give compassion.

Humanity does need new hope – I needed it and the GCS has rekindled that in me. My new PDC life is easier – I just do the work and ignore the B.S. The work really needs to be done.

Building the skill of discretion in the world is important we now learn. We may have been taught that by parents or others, but failed to understand and consequently made mistakes. My mother was one who asked: “If everyone jumped of a bridge, would you jump too?” Discretion! 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.