Greetings All –
YOUR TEACHERS REPRESENT YOUR SPIRITUAL FAMILY that
are beyond the world. They hold the memory of your origin and your destiny for
you, which you must learn to realize through your experience in the world. They
have traveled the ways of the world. They know of its opportunities and its
difficulties. They know of the possible errors that you can commit, and they
are aware of the errors you have committed already. They are fully prepared to
guide you. They have the Wisdom and the accomplishment to do so.
THEREFORE, DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THEIR VALUE to you
and always remember that they are present in your life to initiate you into Knowledge.
They wish for you to become strong in Knowledge, eventually as strong as they
have become. Thus, they serve your greatest need and purpose, and you must
follow them, receive them and honor their presence, as a student honors a
teacher. This will allow you to receive their gifts completely and will free
you from any false associations you may make with them. This is a very
responsible relationship, and you will mature within it.
ACCEPT, THEN, THE PRESENCE OF YOUR TEACHERS. Accept
it upon the hour as you remind yourself that they are with you, and accept it in
your two deeper meditation practices as you open yourself to receive them. This
is a great opportunity for Knowledge. Your Teachers will initiate you into
Knowledge, for they can only be known. Your images or concepts regarding them
are relatively meaningless, except in that they might limit your approach. You
must experience your Teachers’ essence, which is their presence, to fully know
them. And you will find out from this experience, as it develops, that this is
how you can experience life as a whole.
THOUGH YOUR SENSES WILL PERCEIVE the form of
things, your heart will experience the essence of things, and this is how
things will become known. Once they are known, you will realize how you are to participate
with them. Thus, all your faculties of mind will be utilized for one great
purpose, for Knowledge will utilize all your faculties and the faculties of the
world for the redemption of the world, which is the redemption of Knowledge
within the world.
PRACTICE 273: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly
practice.
This Step begins: “YOU
WILL REQUIRE TEACHERS TO GUIDE YOU as you proceed on the path to Knowledge, for
you will be venturing far beyond your own concepts and assumptions….” This is not a new subject in the Steps, but the
notion that we have Teachers – unseen to us, does take some mental adjustment.
The Step provides more information about them: “Your Inner Teachers represent your most primary
relationships, for these relationships are completely based upon Knowledge, and
they are given to you to cultivate
Knowledge safely and completely.”
The
first time through Steps, there are many fine points that one may miss. One
here is the notion of primary relationships.
Once again I will use this image, Hesiod Listening
to the Inspiration of the Muse by Edmond-Francois Aman-Jean, to visualize the
notion of having Inner Teachers. This may be romanticized, but there’s no need
to have an ugly visualization.
From the Journal:
4:05
a.m. Friday, April 14, 2000
No
pain, no gain? I'm awake and hungry. The mind is churning. There will be a new
Exec. Director – they kept my title as Senior Planner. They thought Exec.
Planner would be a conflict – it's OK – I just want to plan. It hurts, yet I
know it suits my soul – the ego is bruised – but this removes a great burden. I
lost control of the staff – I built up enemies over time – I lost the title…
And will be happy to lose the work. À la "The Sixth
Sense" – like Bruce Willis, I was dead for a few years – I just didn't
know it. They had to let me stop working too hard.
[comment
added] 4/22/2000 – it came to my mind in the past week that I might have
precipitated this change for myself.
4:55
a.m. “My teachers will guide me as I proceed.” (272) I'm having a title-echtomy.
It was causing pain to me and others, so it has been removed. An artificial
title has been implanted. The patient is expected to live and thrive. The LFPDC
is becoming an institution – my plan worked and now my job changes.
→ The regional
plan is more about having a focus for coordination of other plans. It is
strategic planning – not so much of the written plan, but the operational
plans.
---
11:11
a.m. At the route 17 Fredericksburg Burger King – needed food after my presentation
– 9-10 a.m. – The audience was receptive – one planner – who came late –
challenged the idea that communities had to grow in income/value – saying
school enrollments would lower in the future and costs would go down –
offsetting the need for income growth. I handled the question – need better
technique.
11:25
p.m. Tired… An interesting day. Good movie – "High Fidelity" John
Cusack. On the way home. The thought in response to the question this a.m.
About the need for value/income to increase – "communities must create
value." – Then thinking "community" creates "value" –
just the networking is enough to create value. Guidance seemed OK today – I'm
ready for it – not great progress on my own.
By
the end here I recognize my own need for guidance. Even though my journals have
many instances of the recording of thoughtful guidance, it is still a difficult
notion.
Let
us proceed. There are more Steps to help us get to an expanded perspective on
life, creation, The Creator and all our relations.
NNC
P.S. At Step 271, 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.
