Step 8 - Today I will be still.
This is the introduction to stillness.
Time commitment - Two 15-minute practice periods.
- -
Yesterday, Step 7 - Review
Reviews will be a weekly occurrence. If you've looked ahead, you will see that pattern. The Teachers advise not to read ahead. The few times I did that, it didn't make any difference. The Steps do build, so simply reading them is not "practice" nor can you keep in mind what is next.
Getting two full 30 minute sessions is a challenge. I have always done what I could in a day and kept moving. I don't now expect all-at-once permanent enlightenment. There have been peak experiences over the years, but at some point they need to end.
My July 3, 1999 reviews went like this:
Step 7 - Review 1 -6 -> It suggests I give up my assumptions. Existing in the relative universe - I know that reading the environment and acting within it is based on my perceptions/assumptions. In the past two years I've been attacked - which challenged my assumptions about my PDC viability (work) ... (some new employees) were... offended by my style... As new elected officals came on board I didn't have time to build and maintain partnership relationships. I am teaching bigger picture awareness with each encounter, learning myself in the exchange. My assumption is I'm here to experience.
Steps 1 - 6 are
1 - I am w/o Knowledge now.
2 - Knowledge is with me. Where am I?
3 - What do I really know?
4 - I want what I think I know.
5 - I believe what I want to believe.
6 - I have a true foundation in the world.
Note: I often write out the Step in my journal and/or excerpts from the text as a learning method.
I believe I started at Step 2 - that awareness already.
4 - my ego/Spirit wants - though relatively minimal - need to be tested.
5 - I have awareness I don't want to accept -
6 - I had inklings and this cements it.
So
1 - I will seek to understand Knowledge as expounded here - and remain open to information which may be a wisdom messenger.
2 - Where am I? It doesn't matter for I am on my path of community and aware.
3 - I know that I seek Knowledge
4 - Until I know more, my wants are determined/limited by my scope of Knowledge - though vision - presents me with a future view - even before there is knowledge. I've been able to discern that a situation is not right, even though I don't know what it should be. I've thought, if I were God - I wouldn't do it that way. To heal the earth and the relations, a sort of communication system like the Akashic records is needed. Guides need few coordinates - Name/roughly and year of birth - approx.
5 - With ACIM [Alice Bailey | T3M (The Third Millennium)] I learned of the illusion / Maya / glamour / spell of matter and my beliefs have been minimized
6 - This helped me affirm the knowledge that had emerged so I can act to clarify that link.
Well - that was a lot to read. If you've not journaled much, please recognize that I've been doing it since college in the 1960's. If you've ever taken a writing course, you are encouraged to keep a journal - or must do so, which is often a negative experience. That's why I have the one page start-up method. http://goo.gl/kgX0d9
The more you let your minds speak, the more you will become comfortable with the benefit. Often I read thoughts that weren't really from my current experience, but reflected some knowledge, wisdom or even Knowledge.
You will note references to other studies. You probably have your own and beginning to sort out what does or does not reflect this New Knowledge, which is related to Holy Spirit.
One week done, 51 to go. It is worth the effort. That is my witness to anyone who reads this.
NNC
