Greetings All –
Step 276 - Knowledge is
my salvation. (MP3) [Open in Drive or copy to
your Drive – Download folder or play from Drive – Step PDF also.]
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| Knowledge is my salvation. Step 276 |
KNOWLEDGE IS YOUR SALVATION, for it leads you out
of your hopeless predicament which is born of attempting to live in fantasy and
imagination. It leads you into the brightness and the clarity of reality. It
guides your action and your thinking so that both may be effective and lead to
true self-realization. Thus, God has given you the greatest possible gift: the
means within yourself to correct all error, to resolve all confusion and
conflict and to set your life on a true course that is aimed at your true
destiny. Here you become empowered and honored and your self-worth is
reclaimed. It is your value that must be reclaimed to you. God does not require
that God’s value be reclaimed, for it has never been lost. But your value to
yourself has been lost, and this can only be reclaimed by following a Greater
Plan not of your own making, but which has been created for your total welfare.
WHEN YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH OF YOUR LIFE has been
wasted in ambivalence and how few results that has produced, then you will
recognize the great need for Knowledge. This will give you the strength and the
conviction to proceed in your preparation with the greatest possible
self-involvement. Once you recognize your true need, then you will be able to
recognize the true remedy that has been provided.
THUS, YOU AS A STUDENT OF KNOWLEDGE WILL REALIZE
with clarity of mind and simplicity of truth exactly what is necessary, for
Knowledge is your salvation. Remember this upon the hour and think of it in
light of your recent practices. In your deeper meditations, allow yourself to
enter stillness completely, recognizing that you are engaging yourself with the
means for your own salvation and through you the salvation of the world.
PRACTICE 276: Two 30-minute practice periods.
Hourly practice.
The Step begins:
“SEEKING
FREEDOM FROM UNCERTAINTY means that you are seeking freedom that is genuine,
that is real and that truly deserves the name of freedom. In essence, you
either know what you are doing or you do not.”
Do we know what we are doing?
From the cross we are told in Luke Chapter 23,
Verse 34 - King James Version
“Then said Jesus, “Father, forgive them; for they
know not what they do.” And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.” A common
interpretation of this call for forgiveness might be that it is just for the
Romans and others responsible for his crucifixion.
Given the difficulty people have in life
understanding its nature, and working with what their societies, religions and
governments have taught them, I had thought long ago that it applies much more
broadly, for even today we “know not what we do.”
Steps to Knowledge is giving us mental and
spiritual skills so that we can “know what we do.” Simply believing in what we
are doing is not the same as knowing. This Step is taking us in the direction
of recognizing when we “know” and when we don’t know.
The journal this day reflects the challenge of the
Step, as well as more dealing with life.
8:05 a.m.
Monday, April 17, 2000 – What do I know? – I will slip away quietly from the
PDC to my next step. I do not know where that is yet – so I wait and I heal. I
don't expect vindication. I'm not a fighter. My ambivalence may have
contributed to this fall – but really, I could do no more. The Commission had
to own itself and I became the catalyst for that. The question will be can they
sustain themselves – not knowing their role. T-om
5:22 p.m. At
Chapel – my second practice. "Today I seek freedom from uncertainty."
I am at Chapel. That has been certain. My friends are here – it is a place
where I am restored – as is the woods. My family is certain – as I learned long
ago. My spiritual family too is certain. David/Sarah – even Cindy has become
certain. Steve M---, Bob L-- – these relationships are certain…and there are
others.
Do I know what I
am doing? I was promoting cooperation. That required a soft approach to money.
-------in today's Winchester meeting I saw a Finance approach which was
penny-pinching hard. It was different – a new perspective – like Ed had had, though
it was a double standard.
Do I know what I
am doing? Looking for points and options for cooperation. Is that real?
Do I know what I
am doing? I thought I did.
"…so that
you may find the freedom in the certainty that God has given you. It is this
certainty you must discover and follow."
"Today I
seek freedom from uncertainty."
or: Today I seek
the Freedom of certainty in God.
"–
uncertainty…has destroyed the inspiration of humankind and has led humankind to
war upon itself and the world." Step 275
What I know to
do is follow the Steps to Knowledge and wait until I know it is time to act.
Amen & Amen
T-om Su-ne
The uncertainty of not knowing has tragic
consequences in life. It is a basis for
war this Step tells us. Let us continue.
NNC
Journal second time x2
Step 275. 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.
