Greetings All –
Step - 150 Today I will
learn to learn. (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 learn to learn.” Step - 150 |
TODAY YOU LEARN TO LEARN. You learn to learn because
you need to learn. You need to learn how to learn so that your learning may be
effective and expedient, have depth and consistency and produce a sound
advancement that you can rely upon in all circumstances in the future. Do not
think that you already understand the process of learning, for you are learning
about this now as you understand the
meaning of advancement, the meaning of failure, the meaning of encouragement,
the meaning of discouragement, the meaning of enthusiasm and the meaning of a
lack of enthusiasm. That is why at the end of each week you review your
practices so that you may understand your progress and understand the mechanism
of learning. This is essential for you to realize, for until you do, you will misinterpret
your steps, you will misconstrue your actions, you will not understand how to
follow a curriculum and you will never learn how to teach a curriculum
yourself.
THEREFORE, TODAY YOU LEARN TO LEARN. This places
you as a beginning student of Knowledge, which gives you all rights and all encouragement
to learn everything that is necessary, without presumption, without conceit,
without denial and without falsity of any kind. As you learn to learn, you will
realize the mechanism of learning. This will give you Wisdom and compassion in
your dealings with people. You cannot teach people from idealism, for then you place
upon them the burden of your own expectations. You require of them what even
life cannot provide. But the certainty of your experience and your Knowledge,
which you will give to others, will be sound, and they will be able to receive
it and utilize it in their own way. Then,
you will not place any personal demands upon them in their learning, but will
allow Knowledge within you to give to Knowledge in them. You will then be a
witness to the instruction and to the learning as well.
THEREFORE, TODAY BEAR WITNESS TO YOUR OWN LEARNING
and learn to learn. Upon the hour, remind yourself that you are learning to learn.
In your two meditation practices, allow yourself to enter stillness and peace.
Observe yourself as you move forward and as you hold yourself back. Exert your will on your
own behalf compassionately and firmly, and judge not your advancement because
you are not in a position to judge, because you are learning to learn.
PRACTICE 150: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly
practice.
I
have always enjoyed the library. It was a place where independent learning
could be pursued, as opposed to what was being taught in school. In the library
I could explore ideas and follow thoughts were they led me.
The
notion of "learning to learn" was something I’d been exposed to
in my planning career. I’d heard a lecture by Donald M. Michael in the 1980’s
at a World Future Society event, relating the perspective of his 1973 book: “On
Learning to Plan – and Planning to Learn: The Social Psychology of Changing
Toward Future-Responsive Societal Learning.” This was a man ahead of his time.
When visiting London in 2009, the British Library
was a place I went to see and thus have a picture for this Step. The average
tourist may not visit local libraries for anything other than Internet access,
which is of course important, but my intent was to be in the presence of this
collection of the work of human civilization.
It is an evolutionary process still. Using the
cumulative knowledge for wisdom in the world is what Steps to Knowledge is
teaching so we might have Greater Community Wisdom. The work necessary is not
precisely known, as this is an evolving reality. It is up to us to understand
problems, consider methods of acting and then put the ideas into practice,
cooperatively in communities. Simple, but not easy.
Yesterday: Step - 149 My practice is
my gift to the world.
From
the journal:
6
a.m. December 13, 1999 – Monday – I am learning how to learn. I expected to
know more by this point in my life. My parents acted as though they knew
everything. So, with humility, I begin learning to learn.
8
a.m. Things are better this a.m. Some crap has gotten through the system and is
downstream now. There is much to do in the world…
9:15
p.m. Starting late – but practice is my gift. …
→Ugliness in the
world – what people do to others, and its continuation. When God is denied –
anything can happen. Let us bring the reality of God to the memory of all.
Amen & Amen
T-om Su-ne
This entry is short – looking ahead to “learning to
learn.” A few thoughts on the Steps book page.
Understanding one’s own
work in the world is a great challenge. Figuring out what a personal plan might
be was a challenge I faced in my later 20’s. I was a planner without a plan.
Here’s the personal
planning process I developed and taught for a bit, but never took up as a
business. Today it might be called being a Life Coach. A few people did it as a
group. Let us continue.
NNC
Journal second time x2
Step 149. 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.
