Step 120 - I will remember my Knowledge today. Entry for Step 119 - Review

Greetings All –

Step 120 - I will remember my Knowledge today.

I WILL REMEMBER MY KNOWLEDGE TODAY. REMEMBER YOUR KNOWLEDGE TODAY. Remember that it abides with you regardless of where you go or what you are doing. Remember that it is given to you to serve you, to nurture you and to elevate you as well. Remember that you need not be aggravated with the world because you can accept the world as it is. Remember that you accept the world as it is so that you will be able to give to it, for the world is developing as you are. Remember that Knowledge is with you, and you need only be with Knowledge to realize its full impact.

REMIND YOURSELF UPON THE HOUR TODAY that Knowledge is with you and give this a moment of thought. Do not let raging emotions or deep depression cast a shadow upon your practice, for your practice is greater than your emotional states, which change like the winds and the clouds but cannot mask the universe above them.

THEREFORE, REALIZE THE LITTLENESS OF YOUR EMOTIONAL STATES and the greatness of Knowledge. In this way, Knowledge will balance your emotional states and will reveal to you the source of your own emotions, which is the source of your expression in the world. This is the mystery of life which you are now learning to explore.

PRACTICE 120: Hourly practice.

Yesterday:  Step 119 - Review

From the Journal:

Saturday, November 13, 1999

8 A.M. Who as the customers for the region? Those that use it. Build your value region – bound your necessary reality. May the universe be your backyard – we all live at the center of our personal universe. That center may contain our children who split off and become their own center –

As souls inhabit manifestation there are more and more relative centers.

Learn to see your region, your backyard.

$:45 p.m. at Little Bear – Cool & twilight – Review time S2K. Instead of doing nothing productive at home – I mowed the lawn. I’m enjoying a body w/o back pain – pinched nerve, I like this direction – exercise will be required. On back porch it occurred to me that we/I can only experience a tiny part/a mere fragment of this great part of creation. The design which precedes us – the knowledge it reflects – man can hardly be the crown of creation.

>This is the time & place to review, but I have the wrong book. I do have the list of the phases this week on a 3X5 card.

→ Review – beginning November 1

So, the journal entry gets us to the Review, this time for two weeks, but nothing about it. The Steps book:

  

NNC

Step 119 - Review Entry for Step 118 - I will not avoid the world today.

Greetings All –

Step 119 - Review

IN THIS SPECIAL REVIEW, review the past two weeks of practice, reviewing each instruction and recalling each day of practice. Try to remember how seriously you thought about each day’s practice and how well you utilized that practice. Do not think you can complain rightfully about this preparation unless you are utilizing it to its fullest extent. Your role here is only to follow the steps as they are given and not to alter them according to your preferences. In this way, you place yourself in a position to receive, which is the position you now need to acquire for yourself.

IN YOUR TWO LONG PRACTICE PERIODS TODAY, each one given to one week of practice, review the past two weeks. Try to be very kind with yourself, but recognize if you are falling short of the requirements and do not deceive yourself in this regard. Rededicate yourself to deepening your practice and your resolve, reminding yourself of the simplicity of your life and the true value that is being given to you. In this way, you will learn a new way of living. You will learn how to receive and how to give, and your life will be free of the darkness of complexity. For simplicity must always be of the light; it must always be of the good.

THEREFORE, GIVE YOURSELF TO THIS REVIEW so that you may understand how you learn. These Reviews will demonstrate to you your own learning faculties and your own learning predispositions. They will teach you the necessary things that you will need to know in the future when you will be able to help others learn as well.

PRACTICE 119: Two long practice periods.

Yesterday:  Step 118 - I will not avoid the world today.

From the Journal - 1999:

7:36 A.M. - Friday, NOV 12 – The world expects a lot – and I am tired. Spirit expects a lot – and I am tired. My children need a lot – and I am tired. I am here to serve – I seek/am willing to be guided by KNOWLEDGE.

8:42 A.M. Bathroom time - I am here to serve the world. I will not avoid the world.

Sarah is back at home. Lloyd locked her out. The Sheriff’s deputy took her to Starlite.

Pain, pain, pain …

3:49 p.m. – I will not avoid the world today. Where will I get the energy?

2001 A Space Odyssey – the movie ended with Keir Dullea in a bedroom – almost a nursing home – old age situation. It was culturally – earth based/Western civilization projection – for a distant future – yet still a probable end. As I lay in bed writing this – It is a probable future for me.

Really, could not avoid the world that day. Step 118 page has notes in green, 1999, blue 2000 and then there’s an entry form 2009. That says: “Knowledge is the true companion of the mind.” This is a useful recognition. It only took ten years to achieve, and another four now in 2014, to remember it. This Practice has continuing, long term benefits – so stick with it; that’s my recommendation.

Here’s a picture of the scene in 2001 that I reference.

That movie was released in 1968 – the year I graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. I studied film and was going to make a movie that saved the world. Isn’t idealism a wonderful motivator? This film did stick with me and remains an important vision/test of vision. Some of that future has been realized, but not as much as we wanted way back in 1968. In this picture it is possible to discern the meaning of the monolith.

NNC

Step 118 - I will not avoid the world today. Entry for Step 117 - It is better to be simple than to be poor.

Greetings All –

Step 118 - I will not avoid the world today.

THERE IS NO NEED TO AVOID THE WORLD because the world cannot dominate you when you are with Knowledge. When you are with Knowledge, you are here to serve the world. The world, then, is not a prison anymore. It is not a continual source of discomfort and disappointment. It provides for you an opportunity to give and an opportunity to re-establish your true understanding. Do not seek refuge in spiritual things, for your purpose is to give to the world. Allow the world to be as it is, and your condemnation of it will not come back to haunt you. For without condemnation, there is only the opportunity to give. This will draw upon your Knowledge, which will give of its own, and you will be the vehicle for its giving. 

THINK OF THIS NOW. Allow yourself in your two practice periods to experience the presence of Knowledge in your life. Demand nothing of it. Seek not to question it. Only allow yourself to experience it, for with this all that you seek returns to you naturally without your effort. Utilize your self-discipline only to direct your mind in the proper direction. Once it is so engaged, it will return to Knowledge of its own accord. For that is its destination, that is its love, that is its true companion and that is its true marriage in life.

PRACTICE 118: Two 30-minute practice periods.

Note, the Steps says: “Do not seek refuge in spiritual things, for your purpose is to give to the world.”

Yesterday:  Step 117 - It is better to be simple than to be poor.

From the Journal:

6:20 A.M. Thursday, November 11 – a day of remembrance – a day of peace.

7:42 A.M. Where am I? November 11 is a day I usually go into the woods. It won’t be an option this day.

7:53 A.M. Where is my simple life? What is it? I love my wife, my children, my family, my work. I am but one in the world. I serve by promoting connectivity within the many wholes – regions of influence.

Here – energy does not go directly to the need. In manifestation, investment must be channeled.

As my soul orients to KNOWLEDGE, the ways of the world made less sense. I’m in the ACIM “I need do nothing” mode. Floating… pain free..

8:37 A.M. I am simple. I allow myself to be simple. Planning is about finding a better way – simple, well designed, elegant.

Every relationship simple. Cascading relationships – neural networks – in total – simplified.

1:32 p.m. I’ll do the second meditation.

This is Veterans Day. I spent the morning doing a presentation at the Warren County Chamber of Commerce Leadership Training. My job is to promote the regional framework. That I can do …

Watching the stock market again – its pattern nature is something I could track and benefit from … but I haven’t taken the time. Is there something wrong with me?

S2K says “It is better to be simple than to be poor.” I feel poor for all the opportunities I’ve missed. Why am I paralyzed by these things? It seems indolence and lack of worldly knowledge. What am I really seeking? Where am I really going?

On one hand, earth & the U.S. is chugging along just fine. On the other hand, it is potentially a coconut shell illusion that can crack and end up hollow.

I could do more … but I am tired and pre-occupied.

2:42 p.m. I allow myself to be simple. My problems are simple, I only need apply myself.

This I know.

11:48 p.m. 11/11 11:11 has passed A.M. & p.m. On to 12:12

This is an interesting Step, one that generated a good bit of ink in this day’s journal. It may have done the same for you. On the Step 117 page, in reference to truth (setting you free) is noted. 

NNC

Step 117 - It is better to be simple than to be poor. Entry for Step 116 - Today I shall be patient with Knowledge.

Greetings All –

Step 117 - It is better to be simple than to be poor.

SIMPLICITY ALLOWS YOU TO GAIN ACCESS TO LIFE and to enjoy its beneficence in every moment. Complexity is a state of self-disassociation which renders you incapable of enjoying life and perceiving your role within it. This is the source of all great poverty, for no worldly accomplishment and no worldly possession can banish the sense of isolation and destitution that accompanies such a disassociation.

THEREFORE, TODAY PRACTICE STILLNESS MORE DEEPLY than before so that you may experience the power of Knowledge that is with you. Allow yourself to be simple, for in simplicity all things may be given to you. If you are considering yourself to be complex, or your problems to be complex, it is because you are viewing yourself and your problems without Knowledge and are thus lost in your evaluations. Here you are confusing things of greater value with things of lesser value, things of greater priority with things of lesser priority. Truth must always bring simplicity, for simplicity brings resolution and right understanding and establishes peace and confidence in those who can receive it.

PRACTICE DEEPLY TODAY. Repeat today’s idea upon the hour, and in your two deep meditation practices, remind yourself that Knowledge is with you and then enter into stillness. Allow yourself to be simple and trust that Knowledge will guide you in all ways.

PRACTICE 117: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly practice.

An uncommon view of simplicity and complexity in this Step; one worthy of deep stillness.

Yesterday:  Step 116 - Today I shall be patient with Knowledge.

From the Journal:

8:05 A.M. Wednesday, November 10, 1999

The creator/creation is still and eternal- manifestation looks like storms on the surface of a planet/sun – points of stillness connect the surface of a planet/sun – points of stillness connect the surface manifestation to the source – which moderates/manages the manifestation. I fear trauma. Why is that my focus?

… New energy needed – where is community?

David said Jamie will take Lane, he will keep Emily – they’ll split this weekend.

I’m beginning to have little faith in relationships with others. Everyone feels wronged – they all seem abusive.

Fairness? What is that anyway.

Knowledge has the answer, or at least recommendations to minimize the trauma of the creation trying to be the creator. The passing of Knowledge on life, parenting, conflict resolution, sexuality, respect, failure, rebellion, sustainability – could that be done better? I seek KNOWLEDGE but do I have the strength to use what I find?

9:07 The death star shines. Why bother? Except for the children.

11:57 a.m. Risk management – I’ve taken risks in this job every day since I became the director. It is a risk even to record this thought. I work for KNOWLEDGE.

7:15 p.m. I am so mad, so lost, so hurt, so sad, so isolated and lonely, so without human friends. The world is speeding up and I am slowing down. The world is getting worse faster than it is getting better. With the exception of pain, there is little awareness of life. Today I am to be patient with Knowledge as all my beliefs slip away. My relationships number two. … I’m about to disappear – and so what.

Tomorrow is 11/11/99 – at 11:11 A.M. I’ll be teaching. From 11:11 A.M. to 11:11 p.m. thousands will meditate and pray for peace on earth. I will join them – in my usual way.

Years ago we were at Swannanoa for 11/11/__ a key date in the Harmonic Convergence progression.

…

7:24 p.m. I’m not satisfied with this. I want God.

8:47 p.m. Building a world for no one. The disparity in the world I see now – technology going so fast – people missing out for lack of simple investment.

…

There is frustration here you will note and along with it the call for God. That is why I began Steps after having read “Greater Community Spirituality.”

NNC