Greetings All –
BE PRESENT TO SERVE THE WORLD, and the presence that
serves the world will speak through you. Be present to serve the world, and you
will be present to that presence. You will be engaged in every activity, and
every activity will be important and meaningful. Then, you will not seek escape
from your experience, you will not seek escape from the world and you will not
seek to find a dark place in which to hide, for you will realize the light of
Knowledge is totally beneficent. You will wish to bathe in it more and more and
express it more and more within the world. This is your duty here and your great
love.
UPON THE HOUR REMIND YOURSELF that you wish to be
present to serve the world. Remind yourself as well that you wish to be present
to have the world serve you. Remind yourself that you must learn how to receive
and how to give, and that is why you are a beginning student of Knowledge. Do
not burden yourself with expectations of yourself beyond what is being
indicated in your program of preparation. Your Teachers recognize your current
stage and they recognize your current step. They do not underestimate your
power, but they do not overestimate your current capabilities, either. That is why
you will need them to proceed with certainty, honesty and reliability.
IN YOUR DEEPER PRACTICES, be present to give
yourself to your practice in stillness. Remember again that all practice is
giving. You are giving yourself so that your True Self may be given to you.
Here you bring what is small to what is great and what is great brings itself
to what is small. Here you realize that you too are great and that the small is
meant to express the greatness of which you are a part. The world calls
desperately for this greatness to be revealed, yet you must learn how to reveal
greatness in the world.
PRACTICE 359: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly
practice.
The journal for the day of this Step, July 9, 2000,
concludes late in the day:
Practice
#2 continues. The issue – "I was not at home in the world." – was
not clear to me a year ago. It has been a long-term concern for sure, but
to imagine at the start that that was to be healed – was impossible, improbable.
To
be "at home" in the world – this my personal wall of separation.
How
– simple? Not simple – it took a year to get here. I no longer have to fake it.
I no longer have to be a fraud.
As written yesterday of Step 357, the closing
sentence: “The world is the place where you
have come to express your Self because the world is the place where you wish to
be at home,” led to an “Ah-ha!”
moment for me.
The Step 358 text also says: “You have brought your Ancient Home with you—within the seed and within the light of your
Knowledge, which is now growing, emerging and sprouting forth.”
In the American Indian traditions, people had totem
animals that were symbolic of characteristics they had or sought. When I
studied Native American spirituality, the hawk and turtle became totems for me,
the first representing vision from a higher place, and the second, moving at
ground level with long term persistence.
This came out as this image drawn in the Steps book
for Step 319. Though not dated, I think it is from the second Steps study and
not the first.
In these Steps, the existential problem of life is
solved. To be honest, it has reappeared in the past 14 years, but through
study, stillness, work and experience, it could not produce confusion and
depression. Doubts can have long lives. In this regard, the turtle shell is
useful.
Here is the journal in which I “seriously consider what home means” to me:
8:40
a.m. Sunday, July 9, 2000
Step
358 – "I wish to be at home in the world." Practice #1 – Home is a
safe place, where you are not afraid. A way to be safe is to isolate. Others
have claimed ownership of the world and set rules or act in ways that degrade
the earth. I feel at home in the woods, I feel at home in meditation.
In
the economic world, the built and economic environments, things change and
people must adapt. Some change is growth, some decline, some elimination, some
totally new.
Home
is a place where you are accepted and understood, or if misunderstood – there
is tolerance.
I
have not felt at home in the world on many occasions. When a teen – I was
depressed – and wanted to leave.
The
world is a difficult place for humanity. They’ve worked out a few cultural
systems, religions, political – and most say, theirs is the one.
From
my earliest days I was interested in political science, history – the
mechanisms for making the world better. It is no surprise that I'm in planning
and public service.
I
have been seeking to understand and give to the world all my life. The gap has
been that I was dealing with the whole from a viewpoint that many didn't share.
I would love to find 4 – 10 people with the related mindset.
Front
Royal is where I live. Six-0-Seven Midland Avenue is my house. My Home town is
Two Rivers, though I was born in Manitowoc. We would have gone back to
Wisconsin after Navy/VA Tech – but M.E. didn't want a Master’s degree – she
wanted a baby.
It
turns out I liked the Navy because I had friends.
I
have much to contribute to the world from the experiences I've had in planning
and in life. The only way to do that is to publish. The web is an inexpensive
way. I have the pieces. I need some partners.
Regardless
of the plans Spirit has for me, these are outcomes from my mundane work which
need to be shared.
Every
locality needs a regional strategy for the global economy. Your greatest asset
is your people. People, if educated, will do what it takes –---
For
me to be at home in the world, it must offer a better home for others.
Improving the governance system is a way to do that.
I've
been fearful, even as I’ve pushed. People have not been using the Knowledge
available. I am at home in the woods – but no longer could live there.
My
work has contributed some to the world, but not all that I'm capable of doing.
All
who use power have critics, many are condemned. Some should be. I do not want
power, but promote powerful ideas.
10:58
a.m. I have an earthly family – why should it be hard to be at home in the
world?
3:05
p.m. Home is where there is family – there is heart.
---
7:45
p.m. Practice #2 – start –
This
has been a good day. Things are coming together. I can be at home in the world
because I have a family where I belong and because I am the family to which I
have children who belong. The world need not work perfectly. Relationships do
not work perfectly. There is enough safe space in which to operate and enough
room for new Knowledge to come forth in the evolution of the world.
A
plan for me is emerging – I will continue to work with my resources – vis &
in –
10:22
p.m. "Lost
At Sea the Search for Longitude" – the movie on A & E an inspirational
story.
Practice
#2 continues. The issue – "I was not at home in the world." – was not
clear to me a year ago. It has been a long-term concern for sure, but to
imagine at the start that that was to be healed – was impossible, improbable.
To
be "at home" in the world – this my personal wall of separation.
How
– simple? Not simple – it took a year to get here. I no longer have to fake it.
I no longer have to be a fraud.
Given the calendar and the January 1 start date,
Step 358 fell on Christmas Eve and 359 is on Christmas Day, December 25. Possibly
not the best for study, if you have high involvement in the many events of
these Holy Days, but then again, sometimes these family days can be lonely,
even when many are present. Earthly and Spiritual Families can be far apart.
If you’ve been with the Steps all this time, and
been an engaged student, there is more distance to go. In the journal I’ve
already begun looking ahead to the second time through, as I know I didn’t get
it all the first time. Let us continue, planning to begin again January 1.
NNC
P.S. At Step 359, we are six Steps from the end –
Step 365. This is not the place to begin this Practice. 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. 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.
