Greetings All –
IN THE SECOND HALF OF OUR PROGRAM OF PREPARATION we
will undertake to explore new arenas, to further cultivate your experience of
Knowledge and to prepare you to be a contributor of Knowledge in the world. In
the days to come we shall explore things with which you are familiar and things
with which you are not familiar, things which
you have recognized before and things you have never seen before. The mystery
of your life calls for you because from mystery come all things of concrete
value in the world.
THEREFORE, IN THE STEPS TO COME, give yourself with
increasing dedication. Allay your sense of doubt. Allow yourself to proceed
with greater certainty. Your participation alone is required, for as you stimulate
Knowledge, Knowledge will arise on its own. It will arise on its own when the mental and physical
conditions of your life have been properly prepared and adjusted.
LET US NOW PROCEED with the next step of your
preparation.
SEEK EXPERIENCE TODAY, for experience will answer
all questions and make questioning unnecessary. Seek experience today so that it
may lead you to greater and greater experience. It is better for you to ask
questions of Knowledge and then receive the experience that Knowledge can give
you. You are accustomed to receiving so little in response to your inquiries.
An answer is so very little. A true answer must be an invitation to participate
in a greater preparation, in a preparation you have not prepared for yourself
but which has been prepared for you. Therefore, seek not for little things that
give you momentary relief or comfort. Seek for that which is the foundation of your
life, which can provide life to you as never before.
TODAY, IN YOUR TWO DEEPER PRACTICES, become
receptive to this experience. You may use the word RAHN if you find it helpful,
but enter deeply into the experience of Knowledge. Do not seek for answers.
Ideas will come to you in their own time and in their own way. You can be
assured of that. As your mind is prepared, it will become truly receptive and
truly capable of carrying out what it receives. This is the acknowledgement
that you need. It must be born of great experience.
UPON THE HOUR REMIND YOURSELF OF YOUR PRACTICE, and
realize it is genuine experience that you are seeking and not answers alone. Your
mind is full of answers, and they have not answered your questioning thus far.
PRACTICE 183: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly
practice.
Yesterday: Step 182 -
Review
From the Journal:
5:22
A.M. Awoken by … yelling up the street.
I’m
at a point, near a point, where I’ve got to make some changes.
I
can let go of many attachments. They’ve served their purpose. The flow in need
not continue. I’m seeing a bigger omniverse/beyond human imagination.
Coincidentally
this journal is near its end. Instead of trying to get back to sleep I decide
to get up and do my long practice. Step 182 “Review the past week in one long practice
period and then take time to think how far you have come and how far you need
to go. “ (All the way – 9:18 p.m.)
To
understand/Know, I will need to go further. I do sense greater personal power
to do what is necessary. The co-evolution of myself, my spiritual family, and
this world, the greater world.
8:20
A.M. After writing the above – I began to be tired. I meditated – then went to
bed and am up again now.
I’ve
great catch-up goals – but wonder how far I can get. It must be incremental – I’ll
begin “Living the Way of Knowledge” which came yesterday.
I’m
moving down this path with discretion. Did it not match/parallel ACIM, Urantia,
other spiritual work – and my own thoughts/insights, I wonder if it would
appeal?
12:10
p.m. LTWK – Living the Way of Knowledge
frames the work of living as foundation building. This is useful. I had/have
the pieces, but not being conscious of the unity – the framework – caused loss
of energy. In fact – the philosophy transfers
to the PD work where my goal has become building a foundation for planning in
the region – becoming a learning region that is aware of its context, its
environment and makes investment – responding to incentives of the older and
wiser who create incentives at higher levels. This foundation is community, it precedes
cooperation. In all my relations I’ve sought cooperation. The work ones often
have been weak and detrimental to me. …
While
my greater vision is to make “regions work” visible as a strategy, the most
important thing is to make it work here in NSV [Northern Shenandoah Valley] – to document the foundation tool given the
alignment tool of Governor Holton and the stress to of NOVA [Northern Virginia] and the don’t spend legacy tool of the culture,
and the “quality tool” that is brought here and the affinity tool of the
emotional attachment to the “Shenandoah Valley” and the technology tool for
internet communication within the region, and the “scenic beauty tool” of the
landscape – and the many other tools I could list now.
1:07
p.m. My contribution? To make the region work?
…
9:30
p.m. Review – “I have come far, yet remain a beginning student.” Tomorrow –
Part II of S2K begins. Now LTWK
9:35
p.m. What is essential within me?
LTWK
p 34 Test: I have to make a serious decision. When do I get back into the stock
market and how?
1. “What
do I think and what do I want?” I think that whenever I put some money in – it will
fall and reduce my $ to ¢. I will lose lots, maybe all.
What
I want is the market to drop back to below where I sold so I’ll be proven right
and rich.
2. “Is there something I really know about
this?” What I do doesn’t affect the market. The real revolution with sharing
information is driving economic growth.
Another long day of journaling. I got a new Greater
Community book, Living the Way of
Knowledge. Since that isn’t something I want to write out
every time, I created the abbreviation LTWOK. Something that’s not uncommon,
but it can make writings cryptic to those that don’t understand them. I put
some of its thoughts to the test at the end, giving consideration to the stock
market. There will be more of that in the journal in the months ahead.
The Steps page also has several notes and comments.
The notion of "Beautiful Planet" had been with me for many years. I'd have to go far back in the journals to find its first use. Blue ink is year two, so by then my answer for "how far you need to go" is "econic" as though that is a real word.
The positives here are the self-recognition of
growth due to the Steps and the questioning. As is common, my work in the world
is part of the day's deliberations. I was surprised to find at this date: "This foundation is community, it precedes
cooperation." "Community precedes cooperation"
is my first thesis. The second is “Community is how life solves all problems”
and third is “Security is the primary purpose of community.” Altogether they
are the basis of “community
motive.” The seeds were sprouting long ago, but I wasn’t able to put them
together for many years. Still working on articulating these thoughts.
NNC
P.S. At Step 183, 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 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 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.