Greetings All –
ALONE YOU CAN DO NOTHING, for nothing in life is
done alone. This is so very obvious if you simply observe the activity around
you. No one is doing anything alone. This is so very true; it cannot be denied
if you look upon the world honestly. Even if you were alone on a mountaintop
without another soul in sight, you would not be alone, for your Teachers would
be with you, and everything that you would accomplish there would be a joint
effort, as everything that you accomplish with other people is a joint effort. This
affirms the intrinsic nature of relationships and gives complete evidence to
the fact that nothing can be done alone. In this, you must learn to value your
relationships, for they are the vehicles for accomplishment in all areas and in
all avenues of expression.
THEREFORE, WE EMPHASIZE THE VALUE of your
relationships to you who now seek to reclaim Knowledge. These relationships
must be imbued with the Knowledge that you are reclaiming. Then they will have
the stability, the efficacy and the grace that Knowledge contains for you. For
only relationships based upon Knowledge can carry the Wisdom that Knowledge will exert within
the world. Relationships based upon personal attraction or personal fantasy do
not have the foundation to carry Knowledge and will fail abruptly in the
presence of the demands and requirements of a true life.
THEREFORE, AS YOU RECLAIM KNOWLEDGE, you also learn
the lessons of relationships. Remind yourself of this upon the hour and witness
the obviousness of today’s lesson in whatever context you find yourself. If you
look, you will see that nothing can be done alone—on any level, in any avenue.
Nothing can be done alone. There is no individual creativity. There is no
individual contribution. There is no individual invention. The only thing that
can be made alone is fantasy, and in this a great deal has been produced. But
even this is shared and fortified as each individual fortifies it within his or her own imagination. Therefore, even
illusion is shared and substantiated through relationship. Nothing can be done
alone. Even illusion cannot be done alone. There is no escape from this. Yet,
the fact that there is no escape from life is the true promise of your redemption, for here life will redeem you, and all that you have brought into
the world will be activated and contributed.
IN YOUR DEEPER PRACTICE PERIODS TODAY, bring yourself
to Knowledge and bring yourself to your Teachers in stillness and humility.
Realize that you can do nothing alone. Even your attempt to discipline your
mind and to prepare yourself for meditation is something you share with others
who are practicing and with your Teachers as well. All power of God can be
expressed through you, for nothing can be done alone.
PRACTICE 249: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly
practice.
Another Step linking the elements of a greater reality:
“Rely upon the Wisdom of the universe, which is
available to you within your Knowledge, which is stimulated by the presence of
your Teachers.” How might
that be visualized?
Here, an illustration from Dante’s “Divine Comedy” Paradiso,
Canto 19 The blessed souls form an eagle in the sky by Gustave Doré.
Why would we have such attention? The reason
perhaps is given in the last paragraph from Step 248:
Year two I wrote: “I am life’s servant,” in response to what the Step has revealed about the
Student’s relationship to life: “you
who are its servant.” This resonates with me now as it did then. It
passes the freedom test for truth.
From the Journal:
5:17
a.m. March 21, 2000
–
regional is a face of local/local is a face of regional
The
National/State/local gradation of government is to coarse to handle all the
combinations of zones of geography.
6:44
a.m. Bill Dodge was quoted as saying, "regionalism is rocket
science." It is genetic engineering.
Step
248 – "I will rely on the wisdom of the universe to instruct me."
7:41
a.m. I have a message in perspective on regions. I can't carry that forward from
the LFPDC – I need a research grant.
8
a.m. I need a research home. The Shen. U. – as a regional university, could be
a catalyst for a multistate region. I could seek a grant to work out of there.
Talk to Bill S---
6:58
p.m. I am in need of instruction.
Later
– upstairs---
There
are many scenarios and exit strategies. What shall I do – listen, listen –
think, think – KNOWLEDGE will knowledge→
Exiting
from other relationships is an option.
9:33
p.m. I meditated for about half an hour. The text said that in the practice –
"allow this day to be a day of true access to life so that life may give
unto you who are its servant.”
– in
the meditation, being still, made me feel "life" – like I was in the
woods. To be still – and to sense, this is life. I'm tired now – haven't…..? [This … is a case where I began a thought,
something distracted me, or I was tired, and I forgot what is was, so …. and a ?
This may happen in
your journal as well – consider it normal.]
Relationships are being explained, but can we
understand in just one day? Not completely; more time is required – but what
else do we have here but time?
NNC
P.S. At Step 249, 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.
