Greetings All –
KNOWLEDGE IS YOUR SALVATION, for it leads you out
of your hopeless predicament which is born of attempting to live in fantasy and
imagination. It leads you into the brightness and the clarity of reality. It
guides your action and your thinking so that both may be effective and lead to
true self-realization. Thus, God has given you the greatest possible gift: the
means within yourself to correct all error, to resolve all confusion and
conflict and to set your life on a true course that is aimed at your true
destiny. Here you become empowered and honored and your self-worth is
reclaimed. It is your value that must be reclaimed to you. God does not require
that God’s value be reclaimed, for it has never been lost. But your value to
yourself has been lost, and this can only be reclaimed by following a Greater
Plan not of your own making, but which has been created for your total welfare.
WHEN YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH OF YOUR LIFE has been
wasted in ambivalence and how few results that has produced, then you will recognize
the great need for Knowledge. This will give you the strength and the conviction
to proceed in your preparation with the greatest possible self-involvement.
Once you recognize your true need, then you will be able to recognize the true
remedy that has been provided.
THUS, YOU AS A STUDENT OF KNOWLEDGE WILL REALIZE
with clarity of mind and simplicity of truth exactly what is necessary, for Knowledge
is your salvation. Remember this upon the hour and think of it in light of your
recent practices. In your deeper meditations, allow yourself to enter stillness
completely, recognizing that you are engaging yourself with the means for your
own salvation and through you the salvation of the world.
PRACTICE 276: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly
practice.
The Step begins:
“SEEKING
FREEDOM FROM UNCERTAINTY means that you are seeking freedom that is genuine,
that is real and that truly deserves the name of freedom. In essence, you
either know what you are doing or you do not.”
Do we know what we are doing?
From the cross we are
told in Luke Chapter 23, Verse 34 - King James Version
“Then said Jesus, “Father, forgive them; for they
know not what they do.” And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”
A common interpretation of this call for
forgiveness might be that it is just for the Romans and others responsible for
his crucifixion.
Given the difficulty people have in life understanding its
nature, and working with what their societies, religions and governments have
taught them, I had thought long ago that it applies much more broadly, for even
today we “know not what we do.”
Steps to Knowledge is giving us mental and
spiritual skills so that we can “know what we do.” Simply believing in what we
are doing is not the same as knowing. This Step is taking us in the direction
of recognizing when we “know” and when we don’t know.
The journal this day reflects the challenge of the
Step, as well as more dealing with life.
8:05
a.m. Monday, April 17, 2000 – What do I know? – I will slip away quietly from
the PDC to my next step. I do not know where that is yet – so I wait and I
heal. I don't expect vindication. I'm not a fighter. My ambivalence may have
contributed to this fall – but really, I could do no more. The Commission had
to own itself and I became the catalyst for that. The question will be can they
sustain themselves – not knowing their role. T-om
5:22
p.m. At Chapel – my second practice. "Today I seek freedom from
uncertainty." I am at Chapel. That has been certain. My friends are here –
it is a place where I am restored – as is the woods. My family is certain – as
I learned long ago. My spiritual family too is certain. David/Sarah – even
Cindy has become certain. Steve M---, Bob L-- – these relationships are
certain…and there are others.
Do I
know what I am doing? I was promoting cooperation. That required a soft
approach to money. -------in today's Winchester meeting I saw a Finance
approach which was penny-pinching hard. It was different – a new perspective –
like Ed had had, though it was a double standard.
Do I
know what I am doing? Looking for points and options for cooperation. Is that
real?
Do I
know what I am doing? I thought I did.
"…so
that you may find the freedom in the certainty that God has given you. It is
this certainty you must discover and follow."
"Today
I seek freedom from uncertainty."
or:
Today I seek the Freedom of certainty in God.
"–
uncertainty…has destroyed the inspiration of humankind and has led humankind to
war upon itself and the world." Step 275
What
I know to do is follow the Steps to Knowledge and wait until I know it is time
to act.
Amen & Amen
T-om Su-ne
The uncertainty of not knowing has tragic consequences
in life. It is a basis for war this Step
tells us. Let us continue.
NNC
P.S. At Step 276, 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.
