Greetings All –
YOUR SPIRITUAL FAMILY IS GREATER THAN YOU REALIZE.
It exists in many worlds. Its influence is everywhere. That is why it is so meaningless
to consider yourself to be alone when you are part of something so great that
serves the greatest of all purposes. You must relinquish your self-condemnation
and your sense of littleness to know this, for you have identified with your
behavior in the world, which is little. You have identified with your personal
mind and your physical body, which are little. Yet, now you are beginning to realize
your relationship with life itself through Knowledge, which is great. This is done without punishing the personal
mind or the physical body, for they become useful and enjoyable as they learn
to serve a greater purpose. Then the body has health and the personal mind is
utilized, rendering them meaning which they now lack.
YOUR PHYSICAL NEED IS FOR HEALTH, but your health
is to serve a greater purpose. You need right utilization for your personal
mind, which will give it meaning and value, for it only seeks to be included in
that which is meaningful. What enables your personal mind and your physical
body to find their rightful place in your life is Knowledge, which provides
purpose, meaning and direction for you.
THIS IS TRUE IN ALL WORLDS. This is true throughout
the physical universe of which you are a citizen. Expand your view of yourself
so that you may learn to be objective about your world. Do not merely cast
human values, assumptions and goals upon your world, for this blinds you to the
world’s purpose and evolution and makes it far more difficult for you to
appreciate that you are a citizen of a greater life.
TODAY, IN YOUR TWO LONGER PRACTICES, engage your
mind in active investigation of this idea. Spend the first fifteen minutes
engaged in this investigation in both of your two longer practice periods. Try
to seriously investigate the meaning of today’s idea. Then, when your investigation
is complete, allow your mind to re-enter stillness. Realize the contrast
between active mental engagement and mental stillness. Understand that both are
important and complement one another. Upon the hour repeat the idea and consider
it as you view the world around you.
PRACTICE 189: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly
practice.
No review this seventh day. Another week of Steps
before we Review again.
From the Journal:
6:20
A.M. Friday, January 21, 2000 – I’ve got my vitality back – until the next
downturn. I like the way past actions begun insert people who crank me up when
I’m in the dumps. I always try to keep up appearances no matter how down I get.
Thinking of the future – maybe…will replace me? He’s got the perspective.
6:10
p.m. A long, hard day. … This time next week I’ll be enroute to Texas for Sarah’s
birthday.
Ask
not for whom the region works, it works for thee.
Nothing overtly Steps in these paragraphs. I reveal
part of my personal strategy of serving others as a means of keeping myself
motivated. My goal with my work was to make everyone I met a friend. To do so,
I had to listen to people to find their interests and work to connect with them.
The Steps page has a few thoughts.
Many section of Steps appear to me as lists which I
sometimes number in the text or, in this case, have listed at the bottom of the
page. This is an old study habit – writing out ideas and facts so they stay
with the individual.
NNC
P.S. At Step 189, 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.
