Greetings All –
Alone I can do nothing. Step
45 (MP3) [Open in Drive or copy to your Drive –
Download folder or play from Drive – Step PDF also.]
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ALONE YOU CAN DO NOTHING. Nothing has ever been
accomplished alone, even in your world. Nothing has ever been created alone,
even in your mind. There is no credit to be received by doing something alone.
Everything is a joint effort. Everything is the product of relationship.
DOES THIS DEMEAN YOU AS AN INDIVIDUAL? Most
certainly not. It gives you the environment and the understanding to realize
your true accomplishments. You are greater than your individuality, and thus
you may be free of its limitations. You work through the individual that is you
personally, but you are greater than this. Accept the limitations of a limited
self, and do not require a limited self to be God or you will give it great
burdens and great expectations and will then punish it for its failures. This
leads to self-hatred. This leads you to resent your physical life and to abuse
yourself personally, emotionally and physically. Accept your limitations so
that you may accept greatness within your life.
THEREFORE, IN YOUR TWO PRACTICE PERIODS TODAY, with
your eyes open, concentrate now on your limitations. Recognize them. Do not
judge them as good or bad. Simply recognize them. This gives you humility, and
in humility you are in a position to receive greatness. If you are defending
your limitations, how can you receive that which transcends them?
PRACTICE 45: Two 15-minute practice periods.
Pictures: Urban Up New
Community Development, Milan, Italy. Such projects require the work of many. An art gallery in Virginia displays the work of many. We experience environments as individuals. Really not a problem in Steps.
Since this Step falls on Valentine’s Day, love and
marriage may be on peoples’ minds. Steps deals with relationships in a new way,
even redefining marriage. This wedding party image from Hungary may be more
reflective of what people imagine as the solution for being alone.
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| Alone I can do nothing. Step 45 |
Plan B - If the MP3 doesn’t work, here’s the link to
the folder: New Message - Student Spoken Steps Recordings -
Steps to Knowledge - Working file
If this is your first time seeing one of the “Steps to Knowledge”,
then welcome. There are 365 Steps, daily spiritual practices if one seeks to
complete them in a year, but that is not necessary. They can be used by people
of any religious tradition or no religious tradition. They will help one to
become mindful in the world.
The Step today is from the book: Steps to Knowledge: The Book of Inner Knowing. The practices were
brought to the world through Marshall Vian Summers, The Messenger for The New
Message From God. Important background for the Steps is in: “Greater Community Spirituality” and the “Wisdom Books - I and II”.
Hard copies are available from the New Knowledge Library Store. The
Society for the New Message from God also has a Free Book Project. If you need
the books now, PDF files can be found here: http://goo.gl/RJuuGP
Keeping a journal is recommended. If you have a Steps book,
write your reactions and comments, highlight or underline points that strike
you, and date the note. In this way, your Steps book can be a partial journal.
Using the PDF, you can print out pages as you need them, or use
the software to maintain a digital copy where you can enter notes and highlight
text that stands out.
Other modern methods of keeping a journal include having a
document on your PC or phone to keep notes. You could send yourself an email or
use the voice recorder function. It is important to capture insights and
reactions because it is by this means that you can understand change. Sometimes
it may just be a word or short phrase, an image or a scene.
To end this post I again offer the blessing: "May the
presence of the Teachers be with you." In the invocative language of
Knowledge this blessing is: "Nasi Novare Coram" (pronounced NAH-see
no-VAHR-ay co-RAHM)
The short form of Nasi Novare Coram used by students is NNC.
The short form of Nasi Novare Coram used by students is NNC.
NNC
P.S. 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 linked below 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.
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 anyone 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.
