Greetings All –
Step 261 - I must learn
to give with discernment. (MP3)
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| Step 261 - I must learn to give with discernment. |
IF YOU GIVE WITHOUT PERSONAL AMBITION, you will give
according to Knowledge, and your gift will be specific and given in such a way
that it will empower you and those who can receive your gift. This is Knowledge
guiding you. If you try to give for your own self-aggrandizement, if you try to
give for your own self-assurances or if you try to give to alleviate an abiding
sense of guilt or inadequacy, you will not give with discernment. Your giving,
then, will be ill placed and will produce increasing conflict and
discouragement for you.
LIFE DOES NOTHING AIMLESSLY. Everything fulfills a
purpose. Therefore, your giving must be done with discernment, and your discernment
is something you must learn step by step, day by day. This is Wisdom
functioning in the world. With Knowledge you must learn this Wisdom; otherwise,
you will not be able to give your true gifts effectively and will misinterpret
their results. Knowledge will give you that which must be given truly and will
direct you to give truly. If you do not interfere with this or place an extra
burden upon your giving, your giving will be totally effective and will
acknowledge both the giver and the receiver.
REMEMBER THIS UPON THE HOUR. Exercise discernment. There
are people you should not give to in a direct way. There are people you should
give to in a direct way. There are situations you should not enter. There are
situations you must enter. There are problems you should not involve yourself
with. There are problems you should involve yourself with. How can you personally
discern where your gifts must be placed? Only Knowledge can discern this, and
you can only discern it with Knowledge. Therefore, trust your deepest inclinations
today. Do not let compulsions born of guilt or fear guide you or motivate you
in your desire to give. Practice this day to learn discernment. Practice this
day to align yourself with Knowledge.
IN YOUR LONGER PRACTICE PERIODS engage yourself
once again with attempting to comprehend today’s lesson. Do not be happy with false
assumptions. Consider all thoughts and feelings in favor of or against today’s
idea. Begin to observe your own ambitions. Begin to observe how they are born
of your fears. Begin to discern how simple it is to follow Knowledge. With
simplicity comes power. You must learn discernment. Learning this will take
time. In this, you learn to utilize all experiences for good, for no experience
should be condemned. It should always be used for learning and preparation. In this
way, you will not justify error, but use it for your own development and for
the advancement of the world.
PRACTICE 261: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly
practice.
Yesterday: Step
260 - I am a friend of the world today.
Here’s the page for the day. I’d dated this and the following pages in
green, but switched to blue ink for comments.
From the Journal:
12:25
a.m. Sunday, April 2, 2000
- It
is creation followed by re-creation -
- recreation
is what sustains - everyone shall know this.
Growth is recreation +.
There
are life cycles - energies and systems wane, yet totals grow in number and
magnitude.
-
Everything was in the first creation - [Nothing new under the sun] - so we create
the selfless of Community Coordination.
9:15
a.m. Sunday, April 2 - the only way to get to elegant simplicity - is to be
with Knowledge.
Creation
is a vast and constantly expanding network. S2K says that there is a
progression of learning. Teachers have Teachers. Students are teachers.
Spiritual families exist and grow. We expand our relationships and link for the
recovery of Knowledge. This is the gap to be filled.
What
I and my peers are learning are the parameters of community. The Knowledge may
be here, but it's not being used.
Civilization
requires a cradle, a nest, nurturing, investment, maintenance.
The
planet is fully settled. All the land is allocated to countries. They are
inter-connected by communication, transportation, need and culture. It has
become a global society.
NO
big frontiers
The
various governmental boundaries
cascading/Dynamic
regions
-
the region can be a dynamic strategy for urban centers - It is a global
strategy. It is a “bounding” strategy.
- A
shift, a pole shift - to
-
local is inside out;
-
regional is outside in.
-
The creator has made major investments in network. In fact - that is the
design.
Local
Planet Regional Designs
→ Everything
local is whole. The planet earth, our home planet, is whole - it is our local
planet. All politics is local – so is governance - so is law. We have
international law and conventions. The people of earth have, over time,
parceled off the continental masses and water bodies into a system of bounded
nations.
Within
those nations there are a variety of states, provinces, counties, cities - all
involved in governance of the local population - primarily now becoming with
the consent of the governed - democratic.
Each
nation and its political subdivisions are whole with assigned responsibilities
for their geography.
→ We remote view
our environment through the mirrors of media, a scientific exploration, of
(dreamtime). Boundaries are intended to manage flow - keep things in or out.
For trade - they are barriers which isolate/protect.
In
order to expand the creative value of enterprise, free flow is needed. Public
infrastructure is the basis for flow - so the people, through their government,
want access.
Unless
programmed by their culture to be isolationist, people want to see and Know
what's going on - world music, world autos, world design. The new culture
dilutes the old - and people resist this loss.
6:52
p.m. @Su-Ne - Alone - Sarah is at home. I bought her new boots - an anchor
charm for her necklace as a symbol of her new life - and shopped for a
camp/pruning saw and picture frame. Both purchases were poor. Chapel was OK -
Cindy is off at the land with brother Bill. Today’s practice is: "I am a
friend of the world today." It reads clear, but I don't know how that should
lead me to act. In the days wanderings I was trying to teach Sarah a few things
- don't know if I did. On the way back from Winchester – on 522 - there was a
plastic garbage can in the road - I went a few crossovers and thought, as a
friend of the world, we ought to go get that out of the road. I looped back -
put on the flashers - and Sarah got out and threw it off to the side of the
road.
In
Walmart - seeing all the people, those too at the Mall and Gabriel’s - I
wondered how regions/I could be a friend to them.
-
the Secret Geography of regions.
10:30
p.m. I just got a shock. I sat down to complete the short article -
long-overdue and I couldn't write. Cindy played the TV - I couldn't mask it - I
was distracted. - So - virtually nothing.
→ more discipline
needed here -
→ I am a friend
of the world today. Practice #2. At this point - the world exists totally for
me. It is rich and varied. There are thousands of things to do.
→ I proceed with
S2K - I feel like a school child - but if that's what I need - then that's what
I need.
For me, being a friend
of the world has been a long term objective. Probably true for you as well. Let
us continue.
NNC
Journal second time x2
Step 260. This is for those who have completed
Steps once. Doing Steps with only the texts, messages and your life experience,
including what you may have studied and practiced is your journey. I’m showing
Step comments after the Step, so as not to influence you in advance. It is a
wilderness trek to be left to your own wits, but then you can also listen more
closely for guides, angels and teachers, always first saying: “I surround and
protect myself with the Love and the Grace of God.” Thankfully, I was taught
this practice in 1989.
P.S. 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.
