Step 365 - I am committed to learn to learn. I am committed to give what I am meant to give. I am committed because I am part of life. I am part of life because I am one with Knowledge. Entry for Step 364 - Knowledge carries me because I am a student of Knowledge.

Greetings All –

Step 365 - I am committed to learn to learn. I am committed to give what I am meant to give. I am committed because I am part of life. I am part of life because I am one with Knowledge.

WHAT IS COMMITMENT but the natural expression of your true desire? It frees you; it does not bind you. It engages you; it does not obligate you. It fortifies you; it does not limit you. True commitment is born of true Knowledge, of which you yourself are born. In this final step in this stage of your preparation, give yourself and your entire day to practice.

HONOR YOURSELF for accomplishing a remarkable and substantial task in completing this one year of preparation. Honor your Knowledge for giving you the desire to participate and the strength to participate. Honor your Knowledge for giving you the vision that is now emerging. Honor all who have served you in your life—your family, your parents, your friends and your seeming enemies and adversaries. Honor all who have enabled you to value Knowledge and who have given you the strength and the resolve to undertake the preparation for Knowledge. Remember your Teachers as well, for they remember you and abide with you even now. Remember that you are a student of Knowledge, and with this you will be able to proceed forward in your preparation.

TODAY UPON THE HOUR and in your two deeper meditation practices, give yourself. Consider all that is given to you. Let this be a day of accomplishment and gratitude. Let this be a day to honor that Knowledge is real in you and that you are real in Knowledge. Open yourself to the next step beyond this program. The next step is awaiting you—a step that will meaningfully engage you with other students of Knowledge, a step that will meaningfully engage you with those who have advanced beyond what you have accomplished thus far, a step that will engage you in serving those who are only beginning to advance in the stage that you have just completed. Thus, you receive from those ahead of you and you give to those behind you. Thus, all are nurtured and supported in their return Home to God. Thus it is that you follow and you lead, you receive and you give. Thus it is that all of your activities become uniform and you find escape from all negative imagination. Thus it is that you are a student of Knowledge. And thus it is that Knowledge blesses you who are meant to bless the world.

Nasi Novare Coram

 

NNC Drawing by Ellen

Yesterday:  Step 364 - Knowledge carries me because I am a student of Knowledge.

The notion of being carried by Knowledge becomes comforting. The Step says: “Seen correctly, you will realize your true relationship to Knowledge. You will realize that you carry Knowledge within you and that Knowledge carries your well-being within itself.”

All that is required is to practice and be attentive. At the bottom of the page I pictured myself carrying Knowledge and my well-being: “K → Tom’s well being within K.”

From the Journal:

12:19 a.m. Saturday, July 15, 2000 –

Step 364 – "Knowledge carries me because I am a student of Knowledge." This feels good – I need to be carried some days – perhaps all days.

→ It will be necessary to do Steps again.

→ Starting points might be January 1, 2001 or October 16. I'd finish October 16, 2001 – age 55 – lots that I might do…

1:19 a.m. Not yet ready to sleep – reading about relationships in–LTWK still learning how to live at age 53 – trying to figure it out.

5:07 p.m. Step 364 – "Knowledge carries me because I am a student of Knowledge." I've been carried all day preparing Regional Intelligence Designs for the web and WFS as business cards. I could not stop for Practice #1. Now done – I head for the trail. I read the lesson at 12:19 a.m.

In looking at it this afternoon – I knew I was carried through this work.

6:22 p.m. @ Little Bear. Carried the 2 pound weights all the way up. Just before I left Sarah called. She got a job as grocery carryout at Albertson's – I was so happy for her – she passed her drug test and got the job on her own with no help from MH/MR Services. I'm happy for my RI progress – but nothing exceeds the joy I have for Sarah.

Walking through the woods the thought of me carrying Knowledge, but in fact being carried by Knowledge, was clear.

---

On this day I’m looking ahead to a second passage through Steps and involved also with “Living The Way of Knowledge” which I started July 6, 2000, nine days before. It had just been made available by the Society.

The blogging of my second time experience will begin January 1, 2015 with Step 1, at this blog. To cover those elements of “a student experience” in relation to other parts of the New Message, it seems that another blog venue will be required.

Also, as a study aid in 2015, there will be audio Student Spoken Steps available that are MP3 downloadable, to assist in practice.

NNC

 

P.S. At Step 365 we finish passage through the Steps today. If you’ve some interest due to this or other Steps, you should go to the beginning blog post. From here you will learn about Steps to Knowledge and can begin it on the day that makes sense; then progress as needed. Doing so on January 1, 2015 is an option. You can use the posts on this blog as a companion if it helps. They will remain in order in the archives - one post 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. 

Step 364 - Knowledge carries me because I am a student of Knowledge. Entry for Step 363 - Knowledge is my true desire because I am a student of Knowledge.

Greetings All –

Step 364 - Knowledge carries me because I am a student of Knowledge.

AS YOU CARRY KNOWLEDGE, you will feel Knowledge carrying you. You will feel Knowledge guiding you and directing you, preserving you, protecting you from harm, keeping you from difficult and harmful engagements, engaging you with individuals with whom you must be engaged and leading you away from divisive engagements which do not have purpose. Thus it is that you become a leader and a follower, for you follow Knowledge and you lead yourself. You yield to Knowledge, yet you exercise the power of decision upon your own behalf. Thus it is that you become a great follower and a great leader. Thus, you are in a position to serve, and you will increasingly feel as if Knowledge were carrying you through life. And you will feel that you are carrying Knowledge as well. Seen correctly, you will realize your true relationship to Knowledge. You will realize that you carry Knowledge within you and that Knowledge carries your well-being within itself. This is perfectly complementary. It is perfect because it is born of perfection itself.

BE A TRUE STUDENT OF KNOWLEDGE. Engage yourself in practice. Give yourself in practice. Do not alter your practice. Do not neglect your practice. All you need to do is practice and be attentive, practice and be attentive. Upon the hour and in your two deeper meditation practices, where you come into stillness to be with stillness itself, practice to practice, practice to learn and learn to learn. Today you are learning to learn. Today you are a student of Knowledge.

PRACTICE 364: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly practice.

Yesterday:  Step 363 - Knowledge is my true desire because I am a student of Knowledge.

This Step surprises: “Do not attempt to be without desire, for life is desire. Desire is purpose. Desire is meaning and direction,” then tells us: “Yet, you must recognize your true desire, which is the desire for Knowledge to fulfill itself and to claim itself, the desire for Knowledge to save you and for you to save Knowledge.”

How do we do that? My thought at the end of the Step:

  

“to be in the flow of Knowledge.”

This is getting deep. Thankfully, we are near the end. The journal begins with the exploration of regions. That may not be a concern of yours, but how else will Human Unity and Cooperation come about, except regionally?:

6:42 a.m. Friday, July 14, 2000 – This day we'd normally be in VA Beach for VAPDC. I'm OK not being there… Looking forward to Texas… Wonder what will hit me @ WFS.

Types of regions

Planet –

– continents

– oceans

Where do you draw the line?

For a functional region – the state line may not be the place to stop.

 

Joe C--- – the question from Dr. Beck, the academics – "How can you teach if you don't know the answer?"

7:45 a.m. Completed practice #1 I'm still and alert. My desire is to be safe in Knowledge – a student/teacher of Knowledge – My desire is to see more cooperation in the greater community.

Terms → needing frameworks for definition: planning, region,

> I don't know that we're dealing with ultimate reality, but we can deal with truth.

11:12 p.m. Two days to complete S2K and it feels like I'm losing ground. The goal is strong Step 363 – "Knowledge is my true desire because I am a student of Knowledge."

The peak experience of Steps 357 and 358 is nearly a week old. As that wears off, “it feels like I’m losing ground.” That is not an uncommon experience. Soon the decision will have to be made to continue as a student of Knowledge or not. Is it possible to go back to one’s old thinking, or is it better to work ahead in these teachings? I decided to continue years ago. It will be your choice soon. Can you go back to the thinking you used to have? Let us continue.

NNC

P.S. At Step 364 we are one Step from the completion of Steps to Knowledge for the first time. If you’ve some interest due to this or other Steps, you should go to the beginning blog post. From here you will learn about Steps to Knowledge and can begin it on the day that makes sense; then progress as needed. January 1, 2015 is an option here. You can use the posts on this blog as a companion if it helps. They will remain in order in the archives - one post 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. 

Step 363 - Knowledge is my true desire because I am a student of Knowledge. Entry for Step 362 - I am learning to learn because I carry Knowledge within me today.

Greetings All –

Step 363 - Knowledge is my true desire because I am a student of Knowledge.

KNOWLEDGE IS YOUR TRUE DESIRE. Think not that your desires are false, for all desires, if recognized, are for Knowledge. It is because you have misinterpreted your desires or have attempted to use them to fortify other things that they have led you astray. Do not attempt to be without desire, for life is desire. Desire is purpose. Desire is meaning and direction. Yet, you must recognize your true desire, which is the desire for Knowledge to fulfill itself and to claim itself, the desire for Knowledge to save you and for you to save Knowledge. How can you save Knowledge? By holding it within yourself, by being a student of Knowledge, by carrying Knowledge everywhere you go, by reinforcing your awareness of Knowledge, by being simple with Knowledge and by not attempting to use Knowledge to fulfill your own aims and your own purposes.

CARRY FORTH THE NORMAL ACTIVITIES OF THE DAY, but carry Knowledge with you. If Knowledge is not in doubt, you need not be in doubt. If Knowledge is not afraid, you need not be afraid. If Knowledge is not changing the situation, you need not change the situation. Yet, if Knowledge holds you back, hold yourself back. If Knowledge changes the situation, change the situation. If Knowledge tells you to leave a circumstance, leave a circumstance. If Knowledge tells you to stay in a circumstance, stay in a circumstance. Here you become as simple and as powerful as Knowledge. Here you become Knowledge itself.

UPON THE HOUR REPEAT THE IDEA FOR TODAY and experience it. Within your inner life, experience it as well in your deeper meditation practices. Your inner and outer life are where you apply yourself and where you give yourself. They are where you carry Knowledge. In time, you will see that Knowledge will carry you.

PRACTICE 363: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly practice.

Yesterday:  Step 362 - I am learning to learn because I carry Knowledge within me today.

Though formatted as a paragraph, the beginning of Step 362 seems to me that it might be shown and read, as a poem, line by line, for the true emphasis to emerge:

YOU ARE LEARNING TO LEARN.

You are learning to receive Knowledge.

You are learning to value Knowledge.

You are learning to carry Knowledge.

You are learning to express Knowledge.

You are learning to cultivate all of your mental and physical faculties that are essential for this overall preparation.

You are a consummate student.

Therefore, be totally engaged with your studenthood today, which will free you from false assumptions and from placing impossible burdens upon yourself.

The third paragraph begins: 

“LEARN TO LEARN. Learning to learn means that you are learning to participate.”

Learning to learn was a concept introduced to me in my planning career in a presentation I heard from Donald N. Michael, a professor of planning and public policy at the University of Michigan. The theme was, “learning to plan and planning to learn,” essentially the feedback loop of communications and design where you make improvement by comparing the actual results to what was intended.

It is a systems approach, but one that is time consuming and requires critical appraisal. That, it turns out, is hard for humans to do, because errors need to be recognized. Evolution does this; if adaptations are not made, there will be a reduction in population and possibly extinction.

Professor Michael published the book pictured in 1973, which though I would have liked to own it, I could not afford in the 1980’s.  In 2007 I was finally able to get a used copy through Amazon for $4.38, including shipping.

By owning the book, I recognize Professor Michael, now deceased, as a man of Knowledge, a teacher whose work greatly inspired and benefited my education and growth. You could get this book, if it is in your field, but consider the teachers in your life and field who gave to you and may still be contributing to Humanity's evolution, and honor them in some way.   

Like journaling, personal planning is important. I developed a system in the 1980’s and taught it for a while. You can download Plan-Do for free. It will be some work, but goals and objectives work better than New Year’s Resolutions. The plan you generate for yourself or group, will sync with the Four Pillars. At the same link is the Insight Journal pieces and something new, a version called Creativity Journaling: The Good Ideas Trapper Keeper. It is one page also, but for a younger audience. I did it for my grandchildren and two nieces for New Year’s.  

Learning is a great and continuous challenge.

Again, the journal entries are few:

7:50 a.m. Thursday, July 13, 2000 – Besides trying to be and do too much, what is my problem?

I'm nearing the end of the Steps which I'll repeat soon.

This morning, on rising, I decided the challenge was to make the most of this temporary life for the benefit of my true life. Life – that was the "answer" to the question unknown, as I passed Naked Mountain – truth – yesterday about 8 p.m.

Today's Step – 362 – "I am learning to learn because I carry Knowledge within me today."

5:33 p.m. At home – on the patio. Practice #1 –

11:30 p.m. Practice #2 was at 5 trees on the trail. Harder to get into the stillness – once there – don't want to leave. – Now to focus on the Four Pillars.

Three more days until year’s end, and on January 1, 2015, the entries will be based on my journal entries from the second time. I will also review the first year Step posts and correct or add as needed. The format and style changed a bit as I went through my history. There will be a year one Tweet and year two Tweet, so at either round, one can use my experiences as a companion.

Because I’ve not been looking ahead in the journals, as I began to prepare for January 1, 2015 – I saw that I took a month off between round one and round two to study “Living the Way of Knowledge.” I’ve decided to begin with Step 1, round two on January 1 and will have to figure out how to cover what happens that month.

My general experience has been that I do better when I have a Step a day. Trying to use a Greater Community book as a source of Steps, say a chapter a day or so, has not worked well.

Just like my hike to Patience on the Dickey Ridge trail is never the same, Steps are never the same, because there is more experience that we can bring to them each time.

Anticipating completion of this phase, let us continue.

NNC

 

P.S. At Step 363, we are two Steps from the end – Step 365. If you’ve some interest due to this or other Steps, you should go to the beginning blog post. From here you will learn about Steps to Knowledge and can begin it on the day that makes sense; then progress as needed. January 1, 2015 is an option. You can use the posts on this blog as a companion if it helps. They will remain in order in the archives - one post 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.