4/17/15

Step 107 - Today I will learn to be happy. (MP3) Entry for Step 106 - There are no Masters living in the world.


Greetings All –

Step 107 - Today I will learn to be happy. (MP3) [Open in Drive or copy to your Drive – Download folder or play from Drive – Step PDF also.]
"Today I will learn to be happy." Step107
 
LEARNING TO BE HAPPY IS SIMPLY LEARNING TO BE NATURAL. Learning to be happy is learning to accept Knowledge today. Knowledge is happy today. If you are not happy, you are not with Knowledge. Happiness does not always mean having a smile on your face. It is not a behavior. Genuine happiness is a sense of self, a sense of wholeness and satisfaction. If a loss has occurred in your life, a loss of a loved one, you may still be happy, though you may shed tears. It is all right to shed tears, for this does not need to betray a greater happiness within you, for these also may be tears of happiness. Happiness is not a form of behavior. Let us remind you of this. It is a sense of inner satisfaction. Knowledge will give this to you because it will simplify your life and allow your mind to concentrate on that which it is given to do in reality. This will empower you, simplify you and provide a greater harmony than you could have known before.

THEREFORE, IN YOUR TWO PRACTICE PERIODS TODAY, allow your mind to enter stillness once again. This is a time of quietude. This is not a practice of mental investigation, but a practice of mental stillness.

PRACTICE 107: Two 30-minute practice periods.




From the journal:

Sunday, October 31, 1999

10: 09 A.M. There are no masters living in the world. What do I see? Who have I known? Who do I respect?

For one – my father – Everette. He has led a good life. I've had more education, more exposure to the world, but I respect him for the quality of his life.

There are many in the world with power and a sense of direction. Most teaching comes from elsewhere – ACIM, RUOW, Urantia, the Bible – S2K – it is all from elsewhere to be applied in the earth context. The cultural leaders, the politicians, artists, actors, writers, revolutionaries – all work within the found environment using the available building blocks – even to make new building blocks.

It seems to be going forward. Certainly the number/mass of humanity increases and the number of transactions increases. Pieces have masters – or high artisans – but all is contextual for humans. Mastery of sustainability is in the deep biology – plants and animals, life forms that have kept their niche in the biosphere for eons.

Peace dynamic is the perspective I feel needed. No master advocates that. Few understand my perspective. That doesn't make it wrong.

Krishnamurti is a man who helped me think – he was one who promoted knowledge – but was silent on spirit.

Jesus said, "Choose life that you may have abundance." S2K says, "Life is the master." So choosing life is acknowledging its mastery.

Our environment has changed – does that affect but the choice is or how the choice is lived?

9:30 PM

Session #2 – There are no masters living in the world today.

– What is my mastery? Avoidance, fear, self-pity, eating, having no discipline, self – defeating thoughts, poor relationships, not being understood, missing opportunities, having no friend, weakness, eating everything in sight, avoiding decisions, avoiding work, missing sleep, not continuing exercise, not adapting to bifocals, being lost, not accepting leadership, ignoring my intuition, not paying attention to finance and investments, thinking big and a small way, writing in journals but not publishing, trying to play music w/o learning how, having poor relationships with women, being on a different page, losing myself in the woods, seeking – but not finding, staying up late and depriving myself of sleep, avoiding physical pain, listening w/o judgment to my children, supporting continued family dysfunction, staying up late & will falling asleep in my chair, hiding, reading books and not following them, making lists/plans and doing something else, wasting time on the Internet, believing/disbelieving, not caring, wishing for other things, spacing out

6:44 PM 11/1/99 – a rather comprehensive list –

This first run through of this Step was useful. A brain stretch. The following year was a bit different; still long.
NNC
 

Journal second time x2 Step 106.  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.