Greetings All –
AGAIN WE AFFIRM THIS GREAT TRUTH, which in your Knowledge you will know to be true. Regardless of
your current stage of personal development, the reality
of your purpose in life remains true. Therefore, from time to time we repeat
certain lessons that are essential for your well-being and development. We give
them different wording from time to time so that you may have a greater and greater
experience of them. In this way, they may find their way into your heart so that your heart may
find its way into your consciousness.
YOU ARE HERE TO SERVE. You are here to give. You
are here because you are rich with Knowledge. Regardless of your circumstance
in life, your own sense of poverty will be banished forever as Knowledge arises
within you, for there can be no sense of deprivation when Knowledge is being
experienced and expressed. This is the promise of this program of preparation. This
is the promise of your life. This is your destiny and your mission here. From
this, your specific calling in the world will be given to you. It will be quite
specific to your activities and behavior. Before this can happen, your mind
must be cultivated, and your life must be rearranged and brought into genuine
balance so that it may reflect your Knowledge and not your fears and wishes
only. A greater life must come from a Greater Source within you. A greater life
is made possible for you now.
YOU ARE HERE TO SERVE, but to serve you must
receive. In your longer practice periods today, practice receptivity. Go deeper
in your practice of stillness. Cultivate this practice. You are now learning
the specific skills that will help you to do this. When your will is being experienced, the methods will follow naturally. We
give only so much methodology as is necessary to aim your mind in the proper
direction. From here you can refine your practice to meet your needs without betraying
the instructions that are given in this course.
THEREFORE, FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS that are given and
make minor adjustments as necessary. When you learn to work with your nature,
you will learn to utilize it on your own behalf. Practice upon the hour so that
your practice may go with you everywhere and so that everything that happens to
you today may be a part of your practice.
PRACTICE 185: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly
practice.
Note: “You are here to serve. You are here to give. You
are here because you are rich with Knowledge.”
From the Journal:
6:42 A.M. Monday, January 17, 2000 – on waking – I
need a bigger brain. There doesn't seem to be enough room in mine to encompass
the areas of information I wish to use.
9:10 A.M. I continue S2K. The information promoting
GCWK appears harsh to me – as though there is no knowledge of community in the
world. My orientation is specific to my work – but I'm not alone – getting
beyond local community has been my challenge. It looks like the emphasis is on
creating communities of practice/communities of Knowledge.
If all souls have Knowledge implanted by the Creator
– and Unseen ones are available to all – the thought-adjuster in the Urantia
model – and life experience challenges us about our beliefs – then true Knowledge
will grow in souls and be expressed.
The world is divided into occupations – priesthoods.
Every knowledge is not for everyone. Even those that study all the time may not
know. The answers they present to may be believed, or at least not challenged.
I am able to do in the region what I do because of
the design and my use of the design. I am a hub – being, a Cisco router, an
information device – with an ability to listen. I assist in this community of
practice. It is spiritual. It is my ministry – per John Dooley – Public Ad-ministration.
Reading on in S2K – there are no soft landings
here. Life can be hard – it will be harsh.
9:50 A.M. even though I'm in desperate need of
doing the office work – that Pillar – I must continue to read GCWK to
understand the relationships.
It is far too wordy and repetitive.
p109 LTWOK "Eventually, if you build a
foundation and learn the Way of Knowledge, you will gain a Greater Community
perspective about the world, which is an ability to see the world from the
outside looking in as opposed to the inside looking out."
6:15 p.m. The
urgings to do the Steps fall short of the experience of the Steps.
Step 184 "You are seeking to know the meaning
of your Knowledge through its demonstration."
7:02 p.m. Sarah called. She's studying to be a Jehovah's
Witness. I told her there was just one God – many ways to worship.
Practice #2
8:20 p.m. Spiritual Family – Sharone Sha-rone
I am confused by GCW text, not the exercises. The human
settlement overlays are inefficient. When desperately poor in the 1930’s their
circumstances taught saving - but not adequate investing. They did not learn to
protect the land. Y2K got people to cooperate. What will be next?
8:56 p.m. I've been eating heavily all day. I've been
reading LTWK. The final conclusion is that if mankind doesn't unify and
cooperate it will fall under the control of other forces. We who may seek
knowledge are The Lost Planet Airmen who must save the planet. The GF and HF
messages from Sheldon Nidle won't do it?
9:30 p.m. Things
will get worse before there is more cooperation. This I sense – this is why I
am patient and persistent. Virginia is a place to practice.
11:10 p.m. The
GCW is useful as a tool for cooperation. The scenario of contact is not
impossible. What is my responsibility here?
1. I think this is probable and I want it not to
affect my life.
2. I know it will. It already has.
Another day of long journaling. Since I don’t look
ahead to see what my responses were in 2000, I end up with quite a bit of text
to enter. My thinking has been expanded by “Living
the Way of Knowledge” which in chapters 2 – 6, it introduces “The Four
Pillars of Life.” This is a book you may want to fit into your reading, as it
gives an expanded basis for Steps.
The Step page includes the request: “I need a bigger
brain.” A pencil note form
7/1/2012 indicates “sadness.” I could look at the journal for then to see a cause, but won’t.
You’ll note what might be considered criticism in a
superficial reading: “The urgings to do the Steps fall short of the
experience of the Steps.” That is not the case. It would better be
expressed as: “The experience of the
Steps greatly exceeds the urgings to take the Steps.” Sheldan Nidle is falling
by the wayside, as the Greater Community perspective grows in my mind. The
Urantia Book perspective lingers.
What I told my daughter
is a variation on how I approach any conversation on religion or spirituality.
If the topic comes up, I offer: “Of
course, there is only one God – but many ways to get there. Spirituality is
like transportation; it is a need, but you whether you use a Ford, Chevy or
Toyota for the trip makes no difference. Religions are vehicles.” Some vehicles might be better, but a wider
discussion can’t begin without some common ground. This is a test for common
ground, after which other ideas can test the receptivity to GCS.
NNC
P.S. At Step 185, we are into Part Two of Steps, so
if you’ve found this and find some appeal in this or other Steps, you should
really go to the beginning
blog post. From here you learn about Steps to Knowledge and can begin it on
the day that makes sense and then progress as needed.
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.
