Today: CT Step 57 - Let me be attentive today. (MP3)
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| Let me be attentive today. CT Step 57 |
Every day as you venture into the world, you have
an opportunity to look carefully and to learn new things. Without looking, you
simply recycle your old thoughts. This is what most people do to spend their
entire lives, learning very little along the way. But you have an opportunity to
make this day a special one, to be very attentive to where you are and to what
you are doing, to listen carefully to people, to listen for the signs of
Knowledge and to be aware of the lack of Knowledge in the conversations in
which you are engaged and the conversations that you overhear. Watch carefully,
but without condemnation. You are not here to pass judgment but to find out
where Knowledge is present and where Knowledge is absent. This is your practice
for today.
In addition to your long practice in stillness and
your hourly practice in awareness and discernment, practice knowing where you
are and being attentive. So many mistakes are made because people are not being
attentive. There are so many errors in judgment and so many things missed
because people are not present. When they are not present, they are preoccupied
with other things. When you are preoccupied, you do not see and feel what is
happening. You are minimally aware. As a result, you cannot perceive. You are
not sensitive to the situation. It is not important here to be sensitive to
every situation, but to pay special attention to your conversations with
people. Listen for Knowledge. If you do not hear Knowledge, just take note of
that. No further judgment is required.
The man or woman of Knowledge who listens for
Knowledge looks for the evidence of Spirit. Where Spirit is lacking, they are
not harshly critical. They are cautious and discrete. Let this be your practice
today.
Practice 57: One
30-minute stillness practice.
Contemplation practice.
Hourly practice.
Picture: Denver International Airport - TSA security
queue. Waiting at various points as we travel, long or short trips, are
opportunities to be attentive.
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
Yesterday: CT
Step 56 - REVIEW
Points from note cards
50– …if you
do not know your purpose or your greater reality, then you will think of your
body as a prison and you will exercise your self-abuse by misusing your body. …
We seek to correct this destructive attitude by reminding you that the body is
an instrument for communication and contribution. It must be maintained with a
high degree of health and vitality for this purpose. …
51 –
… It may take you a long, long time to
find your real work and a much longer time for it to support you financially. …
Your real work resides in the Mystery because if you were to discover your real
work before you were able to do it, it would be a great tragedy for you, a
great failure.
52 –
My spiritual advancement will fail if my other Pillars are not built.
53 –
The Greater Community is a greater reality. And it is overshadowing everything
that you are doing today and everything that you will do tomorrow.
54 –
The Fire of Knowledge is burning within me now. … This Fire is what gives you
vitality, creates life force within you and gives you the energy, the
commitment and the enthusiasm to carry out greater things in life. … this is
the fire of light, the fire that does not burn but that consumes all that is
false and unreal. You need this fire. It is the source of your vitality… power
…
55 –
There are forces in the world which I must comprehend. … If these forces were
not in the world, the world would be a place of Knowledge and would be totally
unrecognizable from what you see today. …
56 –
Review … The mind seeks a master. … Knowledge … is the real master.
8:20
a.m. Saturday, October 20, 2001 –
***–
Region – a constellation of communities
–
Dreamt of a conference that led to more discussion/work for small communities –
in pews – a church.
This
is a review day. Yesterday's topic – "forces" – tides it seemed like
this morning, I was pulled and pushed by tides of food, entertainment, guilt, –
external planets – moons – come into view and pull or push the internal time. –
Werewolves – our behavior pulled by moons whose influence we've come under. Astrological
forces?
→ In spite of how
much better I can use my time without the burden of the PDC – it still bothers
me that – I couldn't do it all – and messed up.
→ Step 56 –
Review – text – "The mind seeks a master. That is one of the reasons why
people give themselves to other authority figures because they do not know of
Knowledge, who is the real master. Your mind as the servant is magnificent.
Your mind without anything to serve is pathetic".
To
serve Knowledge is a choice. There are other self established authorities
around the world/the universe. The need for authority in life can be fulfilled
by these other self-created authorities.
Some
are in alignment with Knowledge, some are not. Freedom – is a sign of
alignment? Yes
As
for me and my house, we serve the Lord. (Align with Knowledge)
10
a.m. Saturday stew – Cindy using the new vacuum. Me listening to the C-SPAN
tape of last night – the speaker saying that the Middle East problem is due to
state failure on the economic fronts, schools teaching what they know rather
than what is needed. And so…the issues of development are constant throughout
the world.
Primary/secondary
education – teaching the known → higher ed – and
lifelong learning → pushing into
the unknown. Future Focus.
Integrating
these ideas and applying them regionally – is the challenge – the role I'm
drawn to – to make sense of the complexity created by the simple/primary
thoughts.
10:50
a.m. Dealing with light in my study Blocking/reflecting.
11:19
a.m. Begin Review –
A
prayer – Nasi Novare Coram – that my teachers be with me. I sense…forces that
are more with Knowledge than without. Today's task is order.
World
without end, Amen.
C-SPAN/C-SPAN-2
is a great resource to my mind which seeks expression of Knowledge through the
hearts of others in their words of wisdom to the world. I've got to make my
"study" more comfortable.
11:50
a.m. Re-did monitor – scrolling marquee
>
Goal – develop expertise in regional community development.
12:07
p.m. – Too many goals, not enough Indians.
12:10
p.m. All my relations – database. The PDC database is a relationship database
based on position. The RC relationship to the person in that position stays the
same – or you'd hope so – regardless of the individual. The outlook/traditional
contact databases are for salesman/constituents only. When new people come to
positions you offer them info – a welcoming letter.
4:24
p.m. Afternoon gone – again I begin to start the review.
4:37
p.m. Step 50 – reviewed – taking care of the body…a great challenge mentally.
Watching C-SPAN about the Kennewick
man, 9,500 years old – skeleton – age 45 – had many, many injuries in his
life – how easy is my life by comparison.
Step
51 – "My work is an expression of my life". Ironic this should be the
step on my 55th birthday. I need to power up so that I'm an able body for K.
6:12
p.m. Review complete. After 7 years – age 62 – I may be ready for the Mental
Environment Steps. This start – better late than never. I'm amazed by people
like Art Collins who’ve treated their bodies as temples for years. It isn't a
new idea – but is rarely expressed.
4
pillars –
R. –
Y – Let go.
W.
–Y – Order/focus, pacing
H.
–Y – Consumption
S.
–Y – UU – deliver.
The
Continuation Training is working us pretty hard. Much to consider. The only
thing one can do is follow the Steps; do one’s best to do the work. 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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