12/18/14

Step 352 - I am a true student of Knowledge today. Entry for Step 351 - I serve a greater purpose which I am now beginning to experience.


Greetings All –


AFFIRM THIS UPON THE HOUR, and in your two meditation practices enter your periods of silence with great reverence and devotion. These are your times of worship. You are truly going to church now—not from obligation, not from fear or anxiety and not from a sense of duty to an unloving God, but out of a sense of great joy and out of a desire to give yourself to that which gives itself to you. Be a true student of Knowledge. Remember all that has been told to you thus far and utilize it every hour. Engage with practice meaningfully, both internally and externally. Strengthen this day. Give this day to Knowledge as Knowledge gives this day to you so that you may learn about the presence of Knowledge in your life.


KNOWLEDGE IS GOD’S GIFT TO YOU, for Knowledge is God’s extension to you. Thus, Knowledge will be God to you but will speak of greatness beyond itself, for Knowledge is here to enable you to be in relationship meaningfully with yourself, with others and with life. Through this you will be able to reclaim relationships and thus move towards your True Home in God.


PRACTICE 352: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly practice.



We are in the final Steps. The journal tells the story of this day:

9 a.m. Sunday, July 2, 2000 – in order that I promote the regional intelligence I see required, I need a simpler life to achieve that focus. It is not region alone, but the built environment within that geography and its relation to the larger bioregion, watershed and air shed. Most look from the inside out. An outside in balance is required – the Eagle/Hawk/Angel view of things.

The neighborhood is where people live. The region is where they roam. A person's region may be the globe if they have the notion and resources.

[next portion with 350 Journal 07-01-2000]

10:15 a.m. Seeing my leather turtle – a totem animal. The foundation of the world in some mythologies, – turtles all the way down.

The turtle is symbolic of foundation building – and that is what I'm promoting with regions – the foundation – the bounds. Geo-data is a foundation – data reflecting relationships which, when known, can be the basis for other beneficial relationships.

My work is foundation building. Making visible the options; when boundaries are mature, long-standing, and enforced by law – the networking across them takes greater investment.

12:25 p.m. Practice #1 Step 351 – Final lessons – Round 1 – "I serve a greater purpose, which I am now beginning to experience."

12:32 p.m. I am a true student of Knowledge today.

Bottoms up regional community – a new way in the world. Given transportation & communication, people move about the planet – create their region.

Your backyard can be regional in scope.

1:17 p.m. Practice #1 complete. It is Sunday. In Stillness I've completed worship. I could go to the park, I've so many trees here – I don't need to do so – Still that green immersion is important. The truth is everywhere, so I don't need to be in a special place to get it – though ease is a factor –

The world rolls by – I don't need to go out.

How shall I spend this time? There are many things I'd like to read – there are many things I need to do.

I'm thankful to be aware of S2K and a student; a true student, a student of truth. The world teaches its truth and then ignores it when convenient. I've learned to do that too. Others only obey the laws they want, and enforced all the laws on others –

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What I need is a path to present my perspective to a wider audience. The traditional audience is too boundary focused on one hand, and not willing to entertain standard regions.

The man who saw regions – a starving artist, a poet of geography. This morning I dreamed of Kandinsky.

Mentor thyself. I've had teachers and friends, but no mentor. This is why S2K is so valuable. The steps are more real than ACIM. That ended in aquestion mark – but neither is it the total solution.

I am still learning how to be in the world. A child does it – even then as a child, I wasn't that comfortable.

3:40 p.m. Wherever I look, I see the unfoldment of Knowledge in the work of others. “How to be safe in an unsafe world" applies knowledge. Its precepts fit S2K. Is it indolence, stillness or sugar fatigue from ice cream/plus the heat that keeps me in the chain on my porch?

At 4 – 5 I want to complete my essay. The future belongs to regions.

4:11 p.m. Home alone. Me in the house – just as I was ages 14 – 18 – @ 2827 Forest Ave. Now my concerns more elevated, but still a paralysis. The published work of others is researched and footnoted – documented and scholarly. I'm a practitioner with a few phrases. What value do I have? I'm not inherently tough. Great thoughts (or fantasies) flow in these pages – yet at the screen – nothing. Am I not ready? All of this makes my life seem deluded.

People want me to write, but I've forgotten how to write for publication.

I am not at the level of development that I need to be.

My life this minute is like a movie where the old man gives up and the idea to save the world is filled up, never to be found again.

What I know is intuitive and anecdotal. It needs to be proven with research.

Bill Dodge’s book looked at regions themselves and not state networks of regions.

Practice #2 I am open – I need more effective guidance – for what I am to do.

5:50 p.m. At Patience. A slow walk today. To review and meditate?

Much being processed; there is a lot to process. A good use of technology may be found, if your mind can stay up and not be distracted. Let us continue.

NNC



P.S. At Step 352, we are in the final lessons,13 Steps from the end. Though interesting, this is not the place to begin this Practice. 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