I am influenced by the mental environments around me. Continuation Training Step 72

I am influenced by the mental environments around me. CT Step 72 (MP3)

I am influenced by the mental environments around me. CT Step 72

Perhaps you doubt the power of the mental environment to influence you. If you do, today’s practice will be very helpful in showing you to what degree these environments do influence you and even control your experience.

It may come as no surprise here that the wise remain hidden. They are very selective about where they go, who they are with and what kind of relationships they establish with people. There is a very important reason for this. The wise are not indiscriminate. They know that wherever they are is important and has an impact upon them and upon others. They take this seriously. They are not careless in where they place themselves. They do not spend time in environments that are not supportive unless they have specific business in being there. They are sensitive. They know that the environment is powerful, and they respect this power.

Yet look at people around you. They go from place to place, they have experiences, and yet they do not recognize the impact of the environment upon them unless the situation becomes extreme. Sometimes they will say, "Well, this place feels very good," or "I don't feel comfortable here. I don't feel safe here." And they may respond, but often they do not. If they do not respond to an environment that is dangerous for them, this is the first sign that there is a problem. They have missed the first cue. The cues are being given, but people are not responding.

In addition to your practice in stillness today, practice upon the hour seeing where you are and how it feels to be there. But even beyond your hourly practice, take some time today--a few minutes here, a few minutes there, in different situations and in different environments--and see how it feels for you to be there. See what kind of response you have. Is it emotional, mental or physical? In time, you will learn to shield yourself from negative forces in the mental environment, but for right now you need to learn about the environments themselves. This will be the focus of today’s practice.

Practice 72:    One 30-minute stillness practice.

                         Contemplation practice.

                         Hourly practice.

Picture:  Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington County, Virginia. Flashing lights on a police car alter the mental environment for those arriving and departing. Is something wrong?

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

Journal entry link CT Step 71x1

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

Let me become aware of the mental environment in which I live. Continuation Training Step 71

Let me become aware of the mental environment in which I live. CT Step 71 (MP3)

Let me become aware of the mental environment in which I live. CT Step 71

You live in a Mental Environment as well as a physical one. The Mental Environment is filled with forces and thought forms, generated by thinking beings everywhere. You have experienced this. You experience it every day. Walk into any house, any building, any place where people are congregated, and you will experience the mental environment of that place--an environment that is created through the predominating thoughts and interactions of the people who dwell there.

Become sensitive to your environment. Feel it wherever you go. Out of doors, the mental environment dissipates, though places in genera can have an overall feel to them, depending upon what has occurred there in the past and what the prevailing ideas are in that particular location.

Indoors particularly and in close proximity to others, you will experience a unique mental environment. Some of these environments you will find agreeable. Some you will not find agreeable. The question to ask yourself is, "Where do I need to be?" Sometimes you need to be in a disagreeable place to understand it, to discern it and to learn further about the forces in the mental environment. These are forces that influence you every day and that on many occasions govern you completely. This is an essential part of your preparation for the Greater Community, where the emphasis on control of the mental environment has been developed to a far greater degree than is apparent in your world. Here you can practice everywhere you go because everywhere you go, there is a mental environment. With everyone you spend time with closely, you create a mental environment

The question to ask yourself is, "Is this the right place for me to be?" If it is the right place, then you must begin to learn about where you are. How does it feel? What are the characteristics? What are the prevailing notions, ideas or sentiments that exist there? What do they motivate in you? Do they encourage you? Do they discourage you? Do they make you feel stronger? Do they make you feel weaker? Do they dissipate your energy or do they charge your energy?

Beyond your practice in stillness today and your hourly practice, carry on this investigation and do not forget. This is a day of practice, a day to deepen your understanding and to gain new skill and authority in your life.

Practice 71:    One 30-minute stillness practice.

                         Contemplation practice.

                         Hourly practice.

Picture:  O'Hare Airport, Chicago, Illinois.

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

Journal entry link CT Step 70x1

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

…these things must be taken to heart and considered deeply over time. REVIEW Continuation Training Step 70

…these things must be taken to heart and considered deeply over time. REVIEW CT Step 70 (MP3)
 

 

Review the past six steps and consider the message they are giving you. Let this message grow. We are providing essential material here for your advancement and for your initiation into Knowledge. But these things must be taken to heart and considered deeply over time. The quick and the easy way is for people who cannot make the journey. They buy postcards. But they don’t make their destinations. You are heading for a real destination now, and therefore you must consider things in a greater way. You must become deeper, more serious and more focused in your intent. This will give you a lightheartedness over time because your energy will be freed for greater things, and you will not feel burdened by so much that entraps people around you.

Return to your Four Pillars today and see if anything requires your attention. Be very conscientious here and very thorough. Look carefully. Ask if there is anything you need to know in each of the Four Pillars.

Practice 70     Four Pillars Review.

                         Hourly practice.

"The quick and the easy way is for people who cannot make the journey. They buy postcards". Outdoor display near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany

The quick and the easy way is for people who cannot make the journey. They buy postcards.

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

Journal entry link CT Step 69x1

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 take my freedom for granted. Continuation Training Step 69

I will not take my freedom for granted. CT Step 69 (MP3)

I will not take my freedom for granted. CT Step 69

What freedom you enjoy is a privilege in the universe. Perhaps you live in a place where freedom is taken for granted, where everyone assumes that it is everyone’s right. But freedom has been hard won, and defending freedom has been difficult throughout time. Perhaps you have not been through these trials, but you know of people who have.

Freedom is precious, particularly the freedom to experience and to express Knowledge. This is an even greater freedom than the freedom to move about, to choose your occupation, or to marry who you wish to many or to say what you wish to say without fear of severe retribution. Yet even these lesser freedoms are important.

Yet, if it is genuine, freedom brings with it responsibility, a commitment to give, accountability to others and a dedication to service. Freedom without these things is not freedom. It is avoidance. It is true freedom that must be protected and preserved. You lose your freedom every day when you lose contact with Knowledge, when you are lost to yourself, when you act in such a way that betrays your true understanding, when you say things you don't mean to say and do things you don't really intend to do and when you follow others mindlessly out of fear and concern.

In the study of Steps to Knowledge, you are in the process of regaining a real freedom and all the power and grace that accompany it. In the Greater Community, such freedom is rare, for advanced societies do not exercise this kind of freedom as a rule. Only in rare cases does this happen. In the universe, there are greater forces and greater powers, worldly powers. Their dominion is built upon conformity and control. You will encounter them. Some of them are in the world today. What a contrast this will be. It will show you how valuable your freedom is, why it must be honored and preserved and why your understanding of it must be correct and not corrupted.

Consider this today. In addition to your practice in stillness and your hourly practices, consider the value of your freedom.

Practice 69:   One 30-minute stillness practice.

                         Contemplation practice.

                         Hourly practice.

Picture:  Luggage pickup area - Denver International Airport. Travel freedom is common now, our use of it only restrained by lack of funds and/or vacation time, as opposed to being held back by external restrictions. It is something not to be taken for granted.

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

Journal entry link CT Step 68x1

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.