Greetings All –
CARRYING KNOWLEDGE IN THE WORLD requires
responsibility. Your responsibility is to follow Knowledge and to learn to express
Knowledge adequately and purposefully. In this, your human abilities will need
to be cultivated and elevated. Discernment and all the other qualities of value
within yourself will need to be cultivated as well, for you must learn to
express that which you carry. You must learn to follow it and become a worthy
vehicle for it. This is the true meaning of all individual development. This is
where individual development has genuine purpose. This is where your growth and
advancement have direction as well.
THEREFORE, ALLOW YOURSELF TO EXPERIENCE THE MEANING
of today’s idea. Allow yourself to accept responsibility. It is not a weight upon
your shoulders. It is a rite of passage for you, and in this all things that
have confused and frustrated you within yourself will be given a new and
purposeful application. Realize that Knowledge carries responsibility. In this,
you need to treat it with the seriousness that it requires, and yet with this
seriousness, you receive the greatness and the peace that it will render to
you. Over time, you will become a very, very finely-tuned vehicle for Knowledge
in the world. In this, all things that require development will find
development, and all things which merely hinder your progress will be
relinquished.
IN YOUR DEEPER PRACTICES IN STILLNESS TODAY,
recognize that you have a responsibility to cultivate your faculties of mind as
a student of Knowledge. Exercise these responsibilities and do not drift away
into imagination. Engage yourself as a student of Knowledge according to the
requirements of your preparation, for you are now becoming a person of responsibility
and a person of power.
PRACTICE 282: Two 30-minute practice periods.
“UPON THE HOUR TODAY remember and affirm this great
truth—that you seek Knowledge above all else,” begins the third paragraph of this Step.
The component parts are: “remember…that you seek Knowledge above all else” and “affirm…that you seek Knowledge above all else.” It is not a
suggested activity, but one to remember, as inherent in our being. Once
recognized, then we are to affirm that you/we/me: “seek Knowledge above all else.”
It is not
optional, we can recognize this or not, in life, but Knowledge is sought above
all else. Understanding this should affect how we live.
Journal references are bold and underlined, should you
want to skip to those alone, or choose to look at that in the context of this
student’s life:
7:40
a.m. Sunday, April 23, 2000 –
Education
is divisive, goals unite. Edward
T. Hall observed that people who were more educated – officers in the
military compared to enlisted men, were more out for themselves and less
concerned about the others. In communities – the same may be true, so the
personas of Clarke, Frederick, Winchester etc. Need to unite – and goals can do
that.
Orders
can be given from above, in a military command environment – if those lines of
authority exist.
In
networking, people come to the table as equals. Like computer networks,
protocol is required. It is a type of diplomacy.
---
Play
region / what is your home base?
What
is your range of movement – car/walk – one mile – 45 minutes – what?
We
live to play –
9:25
p.m. Still Easter Sunday. It has been a weird day – from the start – the drive
to Unity Chesapeake – there the minister, a different, even more dynamic woman
minister Elizabeth Thompson – Stocks – in a full church. ---
In
the bookstore at Unity I checked out a book by Charles Whitfield about
"Boundaries." It said a hurt/abandoned child adult would marry
someone with the traits of the parent they felt hurt/abuse them as well as
traits of the one that they liked. Perfectionism was a trait of a person
w/boundary problems.
From
church we went roaming to dine at a burger joint – then to Penny S… 's. We went
to the Beach in separate cars. I was able to do practice #1 at A.R.E. The rest
of the afternoon was lost – Easter Sunday the malls are closed, so there was
nowhere to shop to dissipate the energy of frustration.
The Practice today "Above all else I seek
Knowledge," was hard to envision as I withdraw from the world. Did lots of
book searching at the Heritage Store and ARE – only looking for geographic
stuff – no metaphysical stuff appears important. For dinner – Mexican – very
good – and a large margarita.
Called
the kids. David not home. Sarah at AA – so I talked to M. E. She's calmed down
from Friday – I told her it is nice to say our son is in business, but after 7
years it isn't true – it's a fantasy.
11:17
p.m. S2K – I'm less responsive to the
world's attractions.
What I could write today in terms of a close look
at this Step, was not where I was able to go 14 years ago. There may be an urgency
in our desire to progress, but often only time and experience can get us to
relative understanding. Let us continue.
NNC
P.S. At Step 282, 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.
