Greetings All –
What is Knowledge? Step 10 (MP3)
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Step PDF also.]
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| What is Knowledge? Step 10 |
LET US SAY THAT KNOWLEDGE is not the things that
are usually associated with it. It is not ideas. It is not a body of
information. It is not a system of belief. It is not a process of
self-evaluation. It is the great mystery of your life. Its outward
manifestations are profound intuition, great insight, inexplicable knowing,
wise perception in the present and in the future and wise understanding of the
past. But despite these great achievements of mind, Knowledge is greater than
this. It is your True Self, a Self that is not apart from life.
PRACTICE 10: Read the lesson three times today.
Picture: Sunset,
Front Royal, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia Date: July 25, 2010.
The first paragraph reads: Stillness of mind allows a Greater Mind to emerge
and to reveal its Wisdom. Those who cultivate stillness with a desire for
Knowledge will be preparing themselves for greater revelation and true insight
to emerge. The insight may emerge during practice or during any normal
activity. The important aspect here is that the preparation has been made.
"Insight" will come. You will, in the course of Steps, come to identify moments in your life when you've had insights, either following them - or perhaps ignoring them. Insight may come as a word, a phrase, an image or picture, maybe a feeling, a sense. These are communications you'll want to capture, so as to remember, so however you might be journaling, please give that some effort.
Spirit communication is not long winded. It is often short, concise and perhaps enigmatic in the moment, but if you can remember it - the greater meaning for you will be realized.
From my journal:
9:05 A.M. July 5, 1999 - Monday –
"Wisdom from the Greater Community" Thus far, it has affirmed and explained many of my experiences in connecting with and following my Guides - here Unseen Teachers. I am open to Knowledge - and do not seek power over others. I am here to give - give what I have.
ACIM, "You must have in order to give" - is not about $ in the bank - "having" exists and expands through awareness. The earth is a rich planet and the answers are nearby - vision is needed to see them.
It is time to simplify for the long term - to set direction ...
Later in the day
4:34 p.m. Father/Mother/God - It is a great honor and privilege to be in the world of earth/Urantia/Gaia at this time. It is well to have the awareness of this so I can be thankful. I am here to do my small part, to give in service as needed. I follow the focus of my apparent mission - and whatever else may come to the fore. Human as I am - I honor my teachers and guides - and cultivate awareness so that I can give what I am to give.
Amen and
Amen - T-om
In this prayer, again one can see the influence of
what I'd studied before. I was a Urantia
Book reader from 1981 to 1988. I'd seen the Urantia Book in 1974 at a
library book sale for a dollar. I didn't buy it then, but it stuck in my mind.
When I looked to get it in 1980, I found out they were $35 - a lot of money
then. This was long before Amazon.
Attending the Religious Futurists meeting at the World Future Society conference, I learned the St. Petersburg, Florida Urantia group was giving free books to those who requested one. They did send me the book. A single parent at the time with children five and seven, I sent them a letter of thanks and a check for $4 for the postage. It wasn't until two years of reading the book that I was able to discuss it with other readers.
I found the life of Jesus very interesting, the description of the "Spiritual Bureaucracy a bit complicated with the vision of Edentia too symmetric. The treatment of race was disturbing and later found out to be "human content" related to the eugenics movement. The goal is to fuse with one's "thought adjuster" - whereupon it seems you depart the planet in a flash.
This map of the universe was more detailed than that provided by Christianity, but elements did not ring true. Most of the readers I spoke to had other spiritual perspectives from other sources. At the Urantia Student Conference in Maine, in 1987, I learned about ACIM and upon return to Virginia found out about The Lord's Chapel located in Frederick County. It was there I found people who were studying A Course In Miracles and I began to do so myself.
Here at Step 9 there is the additional page which asks:
Attending the Religious Futurists meeting at the World Future Society conference, I learned the St. Petersburg, Florida Urantia group was giving free books to those who requested one. They did send me the book. A single parent at the time with children five and seven, I sent them a letter of thanks and a check for $4 for the postage. It wasn't until two years of reading the book that I was able to discuss it with other readers.
I found the life of Jesus very interesting, the description of the "Spiritual Bureaucracy a bit complicated with the vision of Edentia too symmetric. The treatment of race was disturbing and later found out to be "human content" related to the eugenics movement. The goal is to fuse with one's "thought adjuster" - whereupon it seems you depart the planet in a flash.
This map of the universe was more detailed than that provided by Christianity, but elements did not ring true. Most of the readers I spoke to had other spiritual perspectives from other sources. At the Urantia Student Conference in Maine, in 1987, I learned about ACIM and upon return to Virginia found out about The Lord's Chapel located in Frederick County. It was there I found people who were studying A Course In Miracles and I began to do so myself.
Here at Step 9 there is the additional page which asks:
Why am I doing this anyway?
VERY GOOD QUESTION! Why are you doing this anyway?
Why are you asking such questions? Why do you seek for greater things? Why are
you exerting the effort? These questions are inevitable. We anticipate them. Why
are you doing this? You are doing this because it is essential. If you wish to
live anything greater than a purely superficial and unstable life, you must
penetrate deeper and not be confident based only upon weak assumptions and
hopeful expectations. There is a greater gift awaiting you, but you must
prepare yourself mentally, emotionally and physically. Without Knowledge, you
are unaware of your purpose. You are unaware of your origin and your destiny,
and you will pass through this life as if it were a troubled dream and no more.
For me, the answer of The Teachers made/makes sense to me. If it doesn't for you, then you might stop this now. In a few years you might come back to Steps, or never return - but regretting not having pursued it.
In these posts I'm showing my path, not that it is anything to be copied, but to demonstrate the search for, as it turns out, a greater explanation, a better map of my/our relationship in the physical universe to spiritual reality.
That is what this practice and the study of Greater Community Spirituality, the New Message, has given me.
For me, the answer of The Teachers made/makes sense to me. If it doesn't for you, then you might stop this now. In a few years you might come back to Steps, or never return - but regretting not having pursued it.
In these posts I'm showing my path, not that it is anything to be copied, but to demonstrate the search for, as it turns out, a greater explanation, a better map of my/our relationship in the physical universe to spiritual reality.
That is what this practice and the study of Greater Community Spirituality, the New Message, has given me.
NNC
Journal
2nd Time Step
This
is for those who have completed Steps once. Doing Steps with only the texts,
messages and your life experience, including what you may have studied and
practiced is your journey. I’m showing my first year Step comments after the
Step, so as not to influence you in advance. It is a wilderness trek to be left
to your own wits, but then you can also listen more closely for guides, angels
and teachers, always first saying: “I surround and protect myself with the Love
and the Grace of God.” Thankfully, I was taught this practice in 1989.
P.S. 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.
