Greetings All –
Step 54 - I will not live
in idealism. (MP3)
[Open in Drive or copy to your Drive – Download
folder or play from Drive – Step PDF also.]
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| I will not live in idealism. Step 54 |
WHAT IS IDEALISM BUT IDEAS OF
THINGS THAT ARE HOPED FOR based on disappointment? Your idealism includes
yourself, your relationships and the world in which you live. It includes God
and life and all realms of experience that you can imagine. Without experience,
there is idealism. Idealism can be helpful at the beginning, for it can start
you moving in a true direction, but you must not rest your conclusions or your
identity upon it, for only experience can give you that which is true to you
and that which you can fully accept. Let not idealism guide you, for Knowledge
is here to guide you.
IN YOUR TWO PRACTICE PERIODS
TODAY, recognize the extent of your own idealism. Observe carefully what you
want yourself to be, what you want your world to be and what you want your
relationships to be. Repeat today’s idea and, with eyes closed, examine each of
your ideals. Even though your ideals may look beneficial and seem to represent
your desire for love and harmony, they in effect hold you back, for they
replace that which would truly give you the gifts that you seek.
PRACTICE
54: Two 30-minute practice periods.
Picture: The Flatirons - a landscape
owned by the City of Boulder; an ideal community in the eyes of many.
Yesterday: Step
53 - My gifts are for others.
The desire to contribute is strong, but what am I to contribute? No
clues from the journal from my thinking on the day of this step, September 8,1999.
NNC
Journal
2nd Time Step 53. 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 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.
