I am here to serve the world. Continuation Training Step 76

I am here to serve the world. CT Step 76 (MP3)

I am here to serve the world. CT Step 76

You are here to serve the world, but do not think that you know what this means or how it will be carried out People make many premature conclusions about this and then give up everything and follow some pursuit, only to find grave disappointment after they have expended their primary years and much of their resources.

Yet just the understanding that you are here to serve the world gives you a different set of criteria upon which to determine what is valuable in life and what is not. Yes, you have personal needs, and yes, you have personal enjoyments. And many of these are fine to fulfill so long as they do not require too much from you. If they do require too much, you will feel it, you will know it and you will sense it. And it will be a problem. Then you can ask yourself, "Am I giving too much to this situation?" or "Should I be involved in this at all?" Creating the balance requires much care and discernment, much patience and some degree of consistent effort, but it is well worth it. For balance is essential in order to advance. In order for your life to come into harmony and all things to work together well, there must be a strengthening and an alignment in all aspects of your life.

Your study in The Greater Community Way of Knowledge and your diligent application of this Teaching will provide you the means for accomplishing this. This will be motivated by an understanding that you are here to serve the world and not just yourself and that your happiness and your security are eclipsed by something greater which offers much more meaning and satisfaction. This puts you on a different track, so to speak. It gives you a different vantage point from which to see all things around you and even within you.

Today practice in stillness and practice upon the hour in awareness and discernment. But keep in mind that you are here to serve the world. Carry this thought into the day with you, reminding yourself regularly that this is the case. Then perhaps some of the things that seemed so irritating before will not seem as important now. And some of the passions, desires and fears that seemed so dominating in your mind will have less vitality.

You are here to serve the world. This is where your happiness will be found.

Practice 76:    One 30-minute stillness practice.

                         Contemplation practice.

                         Hourly practice.

Picture:  We go through the day with the world over our shoulder. Love Field terminal, Dallas, Texas.

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

Chapter 7: The Initiation

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

I will not be deterred by others' opinions. Continuation Training Step 75

I will not be deterred by others' opinions. CT Step 75 (MP3)

I will not be deterred by others' opinions. CT Step 75

Anyone who has broken new ground in any avenue of life, in any endeavor, has had to deal with criticism, disbelief and ambivalence from others. This throws you back upon yourself, for it is your authority here that must be exercised to a greater degree than you had thought before. Even those people who you thought were very educated and high-minded, perhaps they will ridicule you as well. Perhaps they cannot see what you thought they could see. This can be very revealing, for intellectual brilliance is very different from the power that comes from Knowledge.

Here you will see the difference between real spirituality and spirituality of a more cosmetic nature. Here you will not speak with pride about your spiritual understanding, all the books you have read or all the insights you have had, for you will see that this is nothing but vanity and that the Wise do not talk in this way. Here you will learn the reality of discernment and discretion and how the wise remain hidden and how the foolish proclaim themselves. This may be very upsetting or very confusing at the outset. It may turn your world upside down, but it will be a confirmation of what you have always felt and always known. And it will show you that your light, however small it may seem at this moment, is a real light and that it will grow as you nurture it, protect it and learn how to bring it into the world.

The opinions of others will make you strong if you can learn that their opinions do not necessarily come from Knowledge. Here it can take quite a while to discern between positive and constructive feedback and feedback which is merely condemning and an expression of ignorance. Here you must be careful whom you associate with, for the unknowing must be dealt with very carefully, and you must understand their condition with compassion. You must practice forbearance around them.

There may be times when you are the only one who feels what you feel and knows what you know. You will know it is true if it is consistent and does not leave you, for that which is believed, that which is a personal conviction, does not have this stability and resides in a different part of your mind and your body.

In order for you to become a man or woman of Knowledge, you must become strong—stronger than you are today, wiser than you are today, more discerning and more discrete than you are today. Because you are amongst the first to learn The Greater Community Way of Knowledge, you will have to face a certain amount of criticism and disbelief. This is fine. All pioneers face this, both within themselves and around them. If you can perceive it wisely, it will make you strong. It will give you compassion because you will understand why people think these things and say these things and why they are afraid. They may even resist your claiming your freedom because that would make their own bondage more apparent to them, more painful to endure and more difficult to avoid.

Practice your stillness meditation and your hourly practices in awareness and discernment. Also, this day listen to criticism and ask yourself, "Is this helpful to me?" If Knowledge is silent, then just realize that the person is expressing something else, trying to express a concern or an anxiety or a need, perhaps in a way that is not appropriate. Do not condemn them and do not take personal offense. This is the condition of the world. The world is without Knowledge, yet Knowledge is here.

In your study of Steps to Knowledge, you will have to endure your own self-criticism and your own self-doubt. If others express this to you, then use this engagement to practice regaining your self-trust. Always remain open for correction and for a deepening of your own understanding. In this, even your critics can assist you in The Way of Knowledge.

Practice 75:    One 30-minute stillness practice.

                         Contemplation practice.

                         Hourly practice.

Picture:  If you go to a conference of your peers relative to your work or your life interests, your will need to deal with the “opinions’ of others”. That can happen in many places. This is from an American Planning Association conference in San Francisco. It is a place I sought to give my thinking on regional planning, but had to use feedback to make myself strong.

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

Chapter 6: The Mission of the Messenger

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

I seek to be a force for good in the world. Continuation Training Step 74

I seek to be a force for good in the world. CT Step 74 (MP3)
 

I seek to be a force for good in the world. CT Step 74

With Knowledge, you can become a force for good in the world. You can keep the light of Knowledge alive in the world. You can keep the freedom to experience and to express Knowledge alive in the world. You can counteract the forces that oppose the expression and the experience of Knowledge in all of their manifestations.

Here you become a force for good though your life may be filled with mundane activities and simple endeavors. You are a force for good because the power and the presence of Knowledge is with you. This is not a power that you invent or that you can even describe to others. It is not something that you make a personal claim to, as if it were your personal power. It is a power that is with you and abides with you because you have created a place for it, and you are a willing participant with it. It is universal. It is holy. It is good. It does not belong to anyone.

Become a force for good through your practice today and through your practice each day. Feel this goodness within yourself during your time of stillness. And during your hourly practices, remind yourself that you can become a force for good in the world. Do not look at your own personal abilities and shake your head, for it is not your personal abilities alone that will account for this greater force. It is your ability united with the power of Knowledge within you that will make this possible, and it is towards this that you are moving today.

Practice 74:    One 30-minute stillness practice.

                         Contemplation practice.

                         Hourly practice.

Picture:  Encampment site - YMCA of the Rockies – Estes Park, Colorado.

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

 Chapter 5: The Seal of the Prophets

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

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.