Greetings All –
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| I do not know what fulfillment is. Step 97 |
IS THIS STATEMENT AN ADMISSION OF WEAKNESS? Is it a
resignation to hopelessness? No, it is not. It is the beginning of true
honesty. When you realize how little you
understand and yet realize at the same time the great offer of Knowledge
that is available to you, only then will you seize upon this opportunity with
great encouragement and dedication. You can only imagine fulfillment, but
within you the Knowledge of fulfillment lives and burns. This is a fire that
you cannot put out. This is a fire that exists within you now. This represents
your greater yearning for fulfillment, for union and for contribution. Far
beneath all of your hopes and fears, beneath your plans and ambitions, this
fire is burning now. Relinquish, then, your ideas concerning fulfillment, but
do not be hopeless, for you are placing yourself in a position to receive the
gifts that are intended for you. You have brought these gifts with you into the
world. They are hidden within you where you cannot find them.
YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT FULFILLMENT IS. Happy
stimulation alone cannot be fulfillment, for fulfillment is a state of
quietude. It is a state of inner acceptance. It is a state of total
integration. It is a timeless state expressing itself in time. How can even the
happiest stimulation give you that which can abide in any circumstance and
which does not cease when the stimulation is over? We do not wish to deprive
you of happy stimulations, for they can be very good, but they are momentary
and can only give you a glimpse of the greater possibility. Here we wish to
take you directly to the greater possibility by cultivating the great resources
within your mind and by teaching you a way of seeing the world so that you may
learn of its true purpose.
THEREFORE, UPON THE HOUR TODAY, repeat today’s idea
and consider it seriously in view of yourself and the world around you. Today,
in your two long practice periods, once again spend time seriously considering
this idea. Remember to think of your own life in these practice periods and
apply today’s idea to the plans that you are aware of concerning your own
fulfillment. These thinking meditations require mental work. Here you will not
be still. You will be investigating. You will be exploring. You will be
actively using your mind to penetrate things that you recognize exist there.
This is a time for serious introspection. When you realize that what you
thought you knew is only a form of imagination, then you will realize your
great need for Knowledge.
YOU MUST UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU HAVE in order to learn
to receive more. If you think you have more than you actually have, then you
are impoverished without even being aware of it and will not understand the
Great Plan that has been created on your behalf. You must start from where you
are, for in this way you may proceed, each step certain, each step forward,
built upon the step before. There will be no falling back here, for you will be
firmly established on your path to Knowledge.
PRACTICE 97: Two 30-minute practice periods.
Hourly practice.
Picture: Hotel
and Casino - London.
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.
