Greetings All –
I can only practice. Step
80 (MP3) [Open in Drive or copy to your Drive –
Download folder or play from Drive – Step PDF also.]
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| I can only practice. Step 80 |
YOU CAN ONLY PRACTICE. Life is practice. We are
merely redirecting your practice so that it serves you and so that it may serve
others. You practice all the time, repetitively, over and over. You practice
confusion, you practice judgment, you practice projection of blame, you
practice guilt, you practice disassociation and you practice inconsistency. You
strengthen your judgments by continuing to exert them. You strengthen your
uncertainties by continuing to emphasize them. You practice your self-hatred by
continuing to influence it.
IF YOU LOOK AT YOUR LIFE OBJECTIVELY but for a
moment, you will see that your whole life is practice. Therefore, you will
practice regardless of whether you have a curriculum for your benefit or not.
Therefore, we give the curriculum which you may now practice. It will replace
the practices that have confused and belittled you, that have conflicted you
and that have led you into error and into danger. We give you a greater
practice so you will not practice those things which undermine your value and
your certainty.
IN YOUR TWO MEDITATION PRACTICE PERIODS TODAY,
repeat the statement that you can only practice, and then practice stillness
and receptivity. Strengthen your practice, and you will confirm what we are
saying. You can only practice. Therefore, practice for good.
PRACTICE 80: Two 30-minute practice periods.
Picture: Tiger,
one of our cats, appears to model stillness practice.
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.
