WITH POWER COMES RESPONSIBILITY. Knowledge will empower
you, and you must be responsible to Knowledge. That is why you must become a
follower. By becoming a follower you become a leader, for you are able to
receive and you are able to be guided. Thus, you will teach others to receive
and provide guidance for them. This is a natural extension of the gift that you
are now receiving, which in time will find expression through you in your life.
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU RECOGNIZE the
relationship between power and responsibility. Responsibility requires self-discipline,
self-restraint and self-control. It requires an objectivity about your own life
which very few have yet attained in this world. Responsibility is a burden
until it is recognized as a source of protection. It is the guarantee and the
assurance that your gift will find a wholesome and welcome expression within
you and that you will be advanced and accomplished by the rendering of your
contribution.
IT IS VERY COMMON IN THE WORLD THAT PEOPLE want
power without responsibility, for their idea of freedom is that they are not beholden to
anything. This is utterly counter-productive and has very dangerous
consequences for those who persist in attempting it. You who are a student of Knowledge must learn to
accept the responsibilities that are
given to you, for they provide the protection and the guidance that you need so
that you may develop appropriately, positively and completely. They are the
assurance that your preparation will yield the great result that it is meant to
yield.
THINK OF THIS IDEA UPON THE HOUR and do not forget
it today. In your deeper practices, think very carefully about what this
statement means. Think of your ideas about power and recognize how much they
need responsibility to a Greater Source in order to be utilized and expressed
appropriately. These two practice periods will be times of mental activity and
application. Think very carefully of all your ideas surrounding the lesson for
today. It is quite essential that you
examine your own thinking and beliefs, for you must understand your current mental
make-up in order to realize its impact upon your outer life. Today’s lesson may seem sobering at first, but in
time it will give you the confidence and the assurance that you will need to
progress wholeheartedly.
PRACTICE 270: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly
practice.
Another challenging Step. How so?
“ACCEPT THE
RESTRAINT AND DEVELOPMENT that are called for now, for they will protect you
and enable you to render your gifts with a minimum of discord and personal
risk.”
Is
that what I was seeking? I just wanted some understanding, some enlightenment
perhaps. Now – “personal risk.” OK – lets go on.
From the Journal:
Tuesday,
April 11, 2000
9:35
p.m. Spent all day getting out letters for the 30th anniversary.
Regions
Work – Regional Community
I
talked to A. G. about my ICMA funds. He is going to look at the options and
make some recommendations. I'd like to work with him as a Broker. I need this
pillar to be shored up.
Driving
back from Strasburg Rotary it came to me that, "You can't have smart
government w/o smart business people. The rules are different – but business
people know investment. If they don't they aren't really in business.
Sustainability
requires living below your means so there is money to invest. All dividends are
not distributed.
→ 20 minutes is
all the stillness I can do…
– My efforts today seemed uncoordinated – the
technology wasn't working. If I had tested one letter – I wouldn't have printed
all too high and then faced with reprinting stationery. That's a lesson I
should have remembered…
11:20
p.m. The problem with the PDC changes is that they are taking my consultant
based business PDC and changing it to a bureaucracy.
The
day summed up: → 20 minutes is all the stillness I can do…
– My efforts today seemed uncoordinated –
You
may have days like this. Let us continue.
NNC
P.S. At Step 270, 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.
