Greetings All –
WHAT VALUE CAN FREEDOM POSSIBLY HAVE except to
enable you to find your purpose and to fulfill it? Without purpose, freedom is merely the right to be
chaotic, the right to live without external restraint. But without external restraint,
you will merely act out the harshness of your internal restraint. Is this an
improvement? Overall it is not an improvement, though it can lead to
opportunities for self-discovery.
DO NOT CALL CHAOS FREEDOM, for this is not freedom. Do not think that
because others do not limit you that you are in an exalted state. Realize that
your freedom is to enable you to find your purpose and to fulfill it.
Understanding freedom in this way will enable you to utilize all aspects of
your life—your current situation, your relationships, your involvements, your
successes, your errors, your attributes and your limitations—everything on
behalf of discovering your purpose. For when a greater purpose begins to
express itself through you in a manner that you can recognize and accept, you
will feel at last that your life is being completely integrated. You will no longer
be separate individuals within yourself, but one person, whole and unified,
with all aspects of yourself engaged in serving this one purpose.
THE FREEDOM TO COMMIT ERRORS WILL NOT REDEEM YOU. Errors can be
committed under any circumstances, and freedom can be found under any
circumstances. Therefore, seek to learn about freedom. Knowledge will express
itself when it is unfettered and when you as a person have developed
sufficiently to be able to carry its great mission in the world. Your Spiritual
Teachers, who abide with you beyond your visual sight, are here to initiate you
into Knowledge. They have their own method for doing this, for they understand
the true meaning of freedom and its true purpose in the world.
THEREFORE, IN YOUR PRACTICE PERIODS we once again affirm the power of
this statement and give you two opportunities to experience it deeply within
yourself. You do not need to try to speculate about this mentally, but simply
relax so that it can be experienced. Focus
your mind completely to allow it to experience the greatness of the presence of
God that is with you and that is within you, for this is looking in the
direction of freedom where freedom truly exists.
PRACTICE 94: Two 30-minute practice periods.
Much to think about in this Step. On the notion of
restraint as a criterion of freedom, the Rolling Stones song "Sympathy
For The Devil" comes to mind for me because of this stanza -
"… Just call me Lucifer
Cause I'm in need of some restraint
So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse…”
Restraint is something we will learn to understand.
Yesterday: Step 93 - I am sent here for a purpose.
From the Journal:
October
18, 1999
5:30
p.m. Home to meditate – then return to work to complete time sheets. “I am sent
here for a purpose.” Sensed the “stillness” right – here. I would be happy to
find my purpose 2012 timing suggests many years. What will the days be? I do
not know!
8:17
p.m. Where am I? I ought to be able to enter four time sheets of data in 90
minutes. I am in anticipation of my purpose emerging more directly.
Relationships
on relationships. Divide and conquer, divide and manage. All I want to do is
keep the PDC alive so it can be passed to someone. If things will need to get
worse for cooperation to increase – what will that mean for us?
I
have no choice but to hang on.
What role might you or I play in the world? That is
a challenge to the mind. Is the work we are now doing part of that or not? How
will we know? If you’ve worked much, you all jobs have their boring, mundane
and crazy elements. The journal is a good place to work it out, though much of
it will sound distinctly unspiritual.
NNC
