Greetings All –
Step 64 - Today I will
listen to another. (MP3)
[Open in Drive or copy to your Drive – Download
folder or play from Drive – Step PDF also.]
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| Today I will listen to another. Step 64 |
ON
THREE SEPARATE OCCASIONS TODAY, practice listening to another. Listen without
evaluation and without judgment. Listen without your mind being distracted by
anything else. Simply listen. Practice with three different individuals today.
Practice listening. Be still when you listen. Attempt to hear beyond their
words. Attempt to look beyond their appearance. Do not project images upon
them. Just listen.
PRACTICE
TODAY LISTENING TO ANOTHER. Do not become engaged with what they are saying.
You need not respond inappropriately to them, if they are speaking directly to
you, in order to practice with them. You will be engaging your whole mind in
your conversation. Take time, then, to practice listening without speaking.
Allow others to express themselves to you. You will find that they have a
greater communication for you than you might at first have anticipated. You do
not need to figure this out. Simply practice listening today so that you may
hear the presence of Knowledge.
PRACTICE
64: Three practice periods.
Listening, yes, it can be
learned.
Yesterday: Step
63 – Review
From the Journal: My review was six pages, much of
which is excerpts from the text of the Steps. Writing things out long hand is a
memory technique from school. A few excerpts:
Step
58 - Knowledge must be felt/experienced. Monday, the day of this exercise was
productive - have I sensed Knowledge/did I/do I? - I have - but that aspect of
spirit - I just don't know it by that name. I do Know Spirit and have
experienced it deeply.
Step
59 - "Think of your life in terms of long-term development, not in terms
of immediate sensation & gain." I was to "become objective"
about my abilities & circumstances. Patience for me is and has been a
continuing lesson - I have my own guide for this in SNP.
Step
60 - Not judging the world is an ACIM lesson. It still needs repetition. S2K
text is more clear on the difference between discernment/judgment as opposed to
judgment/judgment.
-----
[A thought that came up at
that time of this review.]
Mythology
is better than science because it is stories that have a beginning, a middle
and an end. Science however is always the most current batch of theories, all
of which will be replaced in the future. At best a scientific theory is in the
middle and solid enough that design criteria can be based on it. Even when a
theory is bypassed, designs based on it will continue to work - since action is
independent of thought.
----
Step
60 - a different perspective is given on judgment. Knowledge represents a
greater judgment, but it is very different from your own, for it is not born of
fear."
The
narrative says, "The world does not need blame. It needs service. It needs
truth. And above all, it needs Knowledge." For me, I responded to this
description by seeing the world as a hurt child.
Step
61 "If you are present to love, then you will be present to the world and
love will speak through you."
Step
62 - If I am present to the world, to life, to God, to myself, I will be able
to hear the world, life, God and myself. Lots of listening to be done. It is
done to develop "a faculty of mind that will be necessary for you to be
able to give and to receive the greatness of Knowledge."
I am
greater than my emotions. The world is a place to cultivate Knowledge.
Knowledge comes from relationships - my relationship with my self is a
Knowledge feeling.
5:10
p.m. End of review - I remain a student who wishes to learn.
Note that on this page I wrote: "For lo, I am with
you always." My memory from what is Matthew 28:20 (KJ21) "...teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with
you always, even unto the end of the world.” Amen.
There is a good correlation
between the thoughts in the New and Old Testaments, and Steps to Knowledge/The
New Message from God. For me this provides confirmation.
NNC
Journal
2nd Time Step 63. 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.
