Greetings All –
TODAY’S IDEA REPRESENTS A TREMENDOUS SHIFT in understanding.
It must be born of Knowledge to have true effectiveness, however, its meaning
is not immediately apparent, for you will soon find that there are many
circumstances in which others seem completely responsible for your pain. It
will be very difficult, given your habitual thinking and the assumptions upon which
you live, to deny that others are indeed the cause of your pain. This, however,
is not how Knowledge views you, and you must learn not to view yourself in this
way.
PAIN IS ALWAYS A DECISION THAT YOU MAKE in response
to any stimuli in your environment. The body will have physical pain if it is so
stimulated, but that is merely a sensory response. It is not the true pain that
hurts you. The pain that hurts you is the crown of thorns of your own ideas and assumptions, your own misgivings
and misinformation and your own unforgiveness towards yourself and the world. This
produces a pain both within your mind and upon your body as well. It is this
pain we wish to alleviate this day.
THEREFORE, CONSIDER TODAY’S IDEA AS A FORM OF
REMEDY against pain. If another is the cause of your pain, you have no remedy except
to attack or to change the other person. Even your attempt to change them for
good will be a form of attack, for underneath your altruism will be hatred and
resentment. Therefore, there is no remedy for pain if its cause is beyond you.
But there is remedy for all pain because Knowledge is with you.
THEREFORE, ALL PAIN MUST BE RECOGNIZED as the
result of your own decision. It must be recognized as the result of your own interpretation.
You may feel that you have been wronged by another or by the world. This
feeling is actually present in your mind, so it need not be denied, but you
must look beyond it to its source and to the mechanism for its emergence. To do
this, then, you must utilize your own faculties. This will give you great
strength. You will be able to do this because Knowledge is with you and because
with Knowledge you can do all things that Knowledge asks you to do.
WITHOUT CONDEMNATION, THE WORLD IS SO RELIEVED that
it can begin to recover itself. Therefore, upon the hour repeat this idea and consider
its meaning. Go deeply within it to discover what it truly holds for you. In
your longer practice periods, enter stillness and peace, for without condemnation upon the world and upon
yourself, the mind is at peace already.
PRACTICE 229: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly
practice.
Yesterday: Step 228 - I will not be poor today.
The topic is wealth, always a concern to people. A
divisive concern in my household growing up was the notion that a good Lutheran
family should tithe. The church elders would visit the house to encourage giving.
Arguments ensued once they left. My father didn’t have a great income and, in
fact, about 1956, my mother discovered that we were $10,000 in debt. He had to
take a second job and, with frugal living, we eventually were able to buy a
house, much later than our peers. The experience made me debt-averse in life,
which has probably been to my benefit.
The Step says: “Knowledge is great wealth.”
This led me to write: “Why tithe? – give it all!”
This was not a new idea, but one that came to the fore at this Step. One’s
whole life can be given to God, so whatever activity, even relaxation, can be
seen as contributing to what is being done. The great benefit of Steps is the
way in which one can find, more accurately perhaps, that which one is intended
to be doing in life. The
Sacred Life message confirms as much, letting it be known that one need not
be in a monastery or convent, a religious community, to lead a sacred life.
From the Journal:
Tuesday,
February 29, 2000
7
a.m. Meditate. How has the world been rearranged as I slept? Did my family
participate? Did I?
7:50
a.m. 228 – "I will not be poor today." “… begin to look more deeply at
those things that are obstructions to you.” – What is an obstruction? Lack of
time; taking on too much; too many relationships that drain –; unmanaged
relationship; self-distraction; people not doing their job; my failure to move
on people who didn't do their jobs; by unrealistic vision of integration; food
obsessions; harshness – in my person; go with the flow spiritual ignorance and
relationships, thus not taking responsibility for my power.
5:22
p.m. – Quite a day. I was able to easily refashion the Trip grant into the new
products they wanted at VDRPT. ---… Still slow. I have not been poor today.
Sarah is at risk.
Progress? It seems so, but there is still quite a
number of Steps to go, just to get through it once in order to begin to build a
foundation. Let us continue.
NNC
P.S. At Step 229, 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. You can
use the posts on this blog as a companion if it helps. They will remain in
order in the archives - one per Step.
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.
