If I understand the world, I will understand myself. Continuation Training Step 4

If I understand the world, I will understand myself. CT Step 4 (MP3)

If I understand the world, I will understand myself. CT Step 4

You have a fundamental relationship with the world because it is the world that you were sent to serve. You were not sent here to condemn the world or to avoid the world or to ridicule the world or to malign the world or to grieve over the world. You were sent here to serve the world. To serve the world, you must understand it. You must understand its beauty, its conflict and its fundamental predicaments. You must have this understanding without denial or avoidance. If you can understand the world this completely, you will know why you are here and you will experience those who sent you and who are with you even at this moment.

Therefore, as you go through your day, you are building a greater understanding and a greater awareness. You are establishing yourself at a higher vantage point on the mountain of life, even as you witness the mundane events of your daily affairs. What power this gives you! What freedom to see and to know and to act according to the true direction that lives within you. Understand, then, the world. Understand where the world is going in its emergence into the Greater Community. See yourself as part of the bigger picture, not simply an individual living within your little shell, preoccupied with your own fears, goals and anxieties, but a person who was sent to give something in the world with other people. Create this larger context today as you think about today's lesson.

Stop upon the hour and see where you are and what you are experiencing. And in your one long practice in stillness and silence, let yourself come into harmony with the world's greater nature, for Knowledge lives within the world as it does within you. And you can experience this today if you are still.

Picture: Development model of Beijing Town, a part of expansion for the city of Beijing, China. June 26, 2012

Journal entry link CT Step 3x1

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 must be patient in order to proceed. Continuation Training Step 3

I must be patient in order to proceed. CT Step 3 (MP3)

I must be patient in order to proceed. CT Step 3

Everyone seems to have difficulty learning patience. This is because people are living without Knowledge. They are trying to establish their goals in life without Knowledge. They are trying to establish their primary relationships without Knowledge. They are even trying to be at peace without Knowledge. Thus, they are at the mercy of the machinations and the conflicts of the mind. And they are at the mercy of the conflicting forces that exist within the mental environment and the physical environment. Thus things seem continually unstable and out of harmony. Great effort is exerted in building things that can fall apart in a moment, things that have no stability or permanence.

Therefore, come back to Knowledge in your long practice period. It is infinitely patient with you, and you must become patient as well. For what is patience but relieving yourself of your own frantic pursuits to enjoy the luxury of stillness and the depths of true understanding. At first, this will seem difficult, for your mind is racing here and racing there and trying to solve this and trying to establish that. But as you become quiet, you become more receptive and more in harmony with your deeper nature.

Therefore, develop this patience. Let not the frantic yearnings of your personal mind govern your understanding, but abide with Knowledge, which is permanent and which has true direction in the world.

Today, practice upon the hour and in addition to your long practice period in stillness, consider the meaning of today's lesson. Look about. See how it applies to the world around you. And look at your own experience and see how it applies to you. Explore it meaning and its implications.

Practice 3:     One 30-minute stillness practice.

Contemplation practice.

Hourly practice.

Picture: This is the rock in the Shenandoah National Park that I named Patience. This naming occurred sometime in the 1980’s, as the hour walk walk in and out, I found, made me more patient. It was essentially a labyrinth walk. There’s a Pinterest page Journey to Patience.

Journal entry link CT Step 2x1

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.

The gift of Knowledge is given me today. Continuation Training Step 2

The gift of Knowledge is given me today. CT Step 2 (MP3)

The gift of Knowledge is given me today. CT Step 2

The gift of Knowledge is given you today. Abide in its stillness. Receive its certainty. Share in its total commitment to life. Rejoice in the reprieve that it gives you from the conflicts and the horrors of the world.

In your one long practice today, practice stillness. Simply receive this stillness, this gift, this reprieve, the luxury of peace where no problems have to be solved and nothing has to be contemplated or corrected. Do not see this as an effort, but as a gift.

During your time of practice, find a comfortable place to sit. Uncross your arms and your legs. Give this practice your total attention, not letting your mind wander to other things. For the gift is given you today. Upon each hour stop and experience the presence of Knowledge, the stillness of Knowledge and receive the counsel of Knowledge if it is needed.

During the day as well consider what today's lesson is really telling you. Let yourself not be caught up in the frantic pursuits of the world, but carry out your worldly responsibilities with a greater discernment and sense of presence. It is not up to you to determine whether things are good or bad, right or wrong but instead to follow The Way of Knowledge, for in this you will become a force of good in the world, and it will teach you all that you need to know.

Practice 2:      One 30-minute stillness practice.

Contemplation practice.

Hourly practice.

Picture:  Feather on the path Dickey Ridge Trail, Shenandoah National Park. July 24, 2014. I took a picture, but did not take the feather. Most likely from a protected bird, it is against the law to have such items, regardless of where they were obtained. Found Feathers and the Feather Atlas

Beginning Continuation Training, we have a foundation. We are committed beginning students. There may be more thinking going on, more to put into the journal, if there is time. I had the spiral bound, 8.5 x 11 inch book, so there was plenty of room to write on the page. The new, bound book is smaller – but do make notes in it – that is a part of journaling, provided you date the note. The comment may be good, but when in the journey was it written?

For each Continuation Training Step my journal entry post will be here:  Journal entry link CT Step 1x1

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.

Knowledge is with me, but where am I? Continuation Training - Step 1

Knowledge is with me, but where am I? CT Step 1 (MP3)

Knowledge is with me, but where am I? CT Step 1

We return to this lesson, the lesson which began your initial study in The Greater Community Way of Knowledge. This lesson is fundamental. If you can understand this question, if you can penetrate its seeming mystery, you will understand the nature of human suffering and disability, and you will see clearly where the answer resides.

Knowledge is with you completely, but you are not with Knowledge. Not yet. Intermittently here and there. And sometimes more completely. But your hours and your days and your weeks pass by with your mind somewhere else, preoccupied, overwhelmed, overtaken by your circumstances or by your feelings and moods and so forth. Until the mind can serve a greater purpose, until it can be reeled in and directed according to the Grace and Spiritual Wisdom that live within you, then it is a reckless instrument and cannot be used for a greater purpose.

Yet now you have the opportunity to bring the mind into focus, to arrest its recklessness, and to give it direction, purpose and meaning, which it desperately seeks in all things. So return to this fundamental lesson: "Knowledge is with me, but where am I?"

In your practice today, spend 30 minutes practicing stillness. Select a time that you can practice today and every day to follow, a time that you can use on a consistent basis in order to deepen your comprehension and discernment. In addition to your one practice period today, it is important that you contemplate the meaning of this lesson. Spend another practice period sometime today considering what this question means, considering what it asks, and how it can be really answered. Look beyond the obvious and you will see deeper things. Make this connection that you must become close to Knowledge and stay close to Knowledge in your journey in the world. In this way, you will be able to receive its grace, its wisdom and its certainty.

In addition today, as in all the days to follow in this study, learn to stop upon the hour as you have practiced before in Steps to Knowledge. Stop upon the hour and take a moment to see how you feel within yourself-how you feel physically and emotionally. Take a moment to observe your immediate circumstances and environment. And if you have the opportunity and the time, ask yourself, "Is there anything I need to know at this moment?" This is your ongoing practice upon the hour during your waking hours. Return to practice if you miss a practice. Always return. And over time, your mind will become much more present, discerning and observant. This indeed is the purpose of this exercise.

Knowledge is with you, but where are you? Find where you are and bring yourself back to Knowledge.

    Practice 1:   One 30-minute stillness practice.

 Contemplation practice.

 Hourly practice.

Picture: Dickey Ridge Trail, Shenandoah National Park, July 6, 2008.

The 84 practices of “Steps to Knowledge Continuation Training Steps” begin here and is published a Step a day. A copy of the Introduction is included with the MP3 file. I am the student speaking the Steps for this effort. I hope your find the voice tolerable.This series of posts will be available long term for students who reach this point and wish to use an internet source to support their study.

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’ve not done Steps to Knowledge twice completely, read the related materials, and have a sense of the direction of this study, you won’t get the experience. Begin at the beginning.

This second time will only be the CT Step. If having another person’s journal entry is useful, you can find the first time series beginning January 1, 2016 in the archives of this blog.

NNC

Note: If you’ve some interest due to this or other 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. You can use the posts on this blog as a companion if it helps. They will remain in order in the archives - one post per Step.

Often it takes 18 months to get through the Steps once. For this blog, the pace is one-a-day, but it really makes no difference how fast you do it, only that you begin, persist and repeat. 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.