Greetings All –
My suffering is born of confusion. Step 230 (MP3)
[Open in Drive or copy to your Drive – Download folder or play from Drive –
Step PDF also.]
 |
| My suffering is born of confusion. Step 230 |
WHEN
YOU REALIZE THAT YOU ARE CONFUSED, then you can claim the means to regain your
certainty. If you do not accept that you are confused, you will impose
substitutes for certainty upon yourself and the world and thus remove yourself
from the possibility of receiving your certainty. This is why you must realize
that your confusion is the source of your suffering, and you must allow
yourself to be confused to recognize your true predicament. Recognizing your
true predicament, you will see the great need for Knowledge, and this will
engender in you the dedication and the self-application that is necessary for
you to receive that which is your inheritance.
TODAY
REPEAT THIS IDEA UPON THE HOUR and do not forget to do so. In your two longer
practice periods, engage your mind actively in attempting to understand the
depth and the meaning of today’s idea. Recognize objectively all of the
feelings and the thoughts that are in favor of it and all of the feelings and
the thoughts that are opposed to it. Take special care to recognize any
objection that you might have to today’s idea. Then, recognize the power of
this idea within your own mind. This will give you a recognition of today’s
idea and its true meaning. This will also help enable you to realize
objectively the current construction of your mind. This is all part of your
education as a student of Knowledge. Give yourself to considering today’s idea
and do not be complacent with simple answers and explanations, for today’s idea
contains a gift you have not yet experienced.
PRACTICE
230: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly practice.
Picture: The
picture is of New Orleans’ Bourbon Street. When I visited for a conference, my
Bourbon Street fronting room was too noisy in the afternoon, so I and asked for
one that was more quiet. The city has a long and interesting history; it is old
and human scale - very walk-able. The people here are looking for something -
confusion loves company.
Stateside? Time to get a
supply of composition books for journals during “Back to School” sales. The
fancy ones are nice, here’s an Amazon
selection, but at $5 to $10+ a copy, that is a big cost when journaling for
the rest of your life. What I’ve used for 40 years is the trusty composition
book
which now comes in many
colors and designs:
For school sales now, the regular $2+ books may be as low
as fifty cents.
It is OK to have a special
or topical journal, but over time, I’ve moved to a single journal, even as it
relates to taking notes at conferences. Journaling is a way to capture messages
and thoughts of/for one’s soul. I’ve found mechanical pencil to be the best for
writing.
Plan B - If the MP3 doesn’t work, here’s the link
to the folder: New Message - Student Spoken Steps Recordings -
Steps to Knowledge - Working file
If this is your first time seeing one of the “Steps to Knowledge”,
then welcome. There are 365 Steps, daily spiritual practices if one seeks to
complete them in a year, but that is not necessary. They can be used by people
of any religious tradition or no religious tradition. They will help one to
become mindful in the world.
The Step today is from the book: Steps to Knowledge: The Book of Inner Knowing. The practices were
brought to the world through Marshall Vian Summers, The Messenger for The New
Message From God. Important background for the Steps is in: “Greater Community Spirituality” and the “Wisdom Books - I and II”.
Hard copies are available from the New Knowledge Library Store. The
Society for the New Message from God also has a Free Book Project. If you need
the books now, PDF files can be found here: http://goo.gl/RJuuGP
Keeping a journal is recommended. If you have a Steps book,
write your reactions and comments, highlight or underline points that strike
you, and date the note. In this way, your Steps book can be a partial journal.
Using the PDF, you can print out pages as you need them, or use
the software to maintain a digital copy where you can enter notes and highlight
text that stands out.
Other modern methods of keeping a journal include having a
document on your PC or phone to keep notes. You could send yourself an email or
use the voice recorder function. It is important to capture insights and
reactions because it is by this means that you can understand change. Sometimes
it may just be a word or short phrase, an image or a scene.
To end this post I again offer the blessing: "May the presence
of the Teachers be with you." In the invocative language of Knowledge this
blessing is: "Nasi Novare Coram" (pronounced NAH-see no-VAHR-ay
co-RAHM)
The short form of Nasi Novare Coram used by students is NNC.
The short form of Nasi Novare Coram used by students is NNC.
NNC
P.S. 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 linked below 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.
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 anyone 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.
