Greetings All –
I will not avoid the world today. Step 118 (MP3) [Open in Drive or copy to your Drive –
Download folder or play from Drive – Step PDF also.]
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| I will not avoid the world today. Step 118 |
THERE
IS NO NEED TO AVOID THE WORLD because the world cannot dominate you when you
are with Knowledge. When you are with Knowledge, you are here to serve the
world. The world, then, is not a prison anymore. It is not a continual source
of discomfort and disappointment. It provides for you an opportunity to give
and an opportunity to re-establish your true understanding. Do not seek refuge
in spiritual things, for your purpose is to give to the world. Allow the world
to be as it is, and your condemnation of it will not come back to haunt you.
For without condemnation, there is only the opportunity to give. This will draw
upon your Knowledge, which will give of its own, and you will be the vehicle
for its giving.
THINK
OF THIS NOW. Allow yourself in your two practice periods to experience the
presence of Knowledge in your life. Demand nothing of it. Seek not to question
it. Only allow yourself to experience it, for with this all that you seek
returns to you naturally without your effort. Utilize your self-discipline only
to direct your mind in the proper direction. Once it is so engaged, it will
return to Knowledge of its own accord. For that is its destination, that is its
love, that is its true companion and that is its true marriage in life.
PRACTICE
118: Two 30-minute practice periods.
Note,
the Steps says: “Do not seek refuge in spiritual things, for your purpose is to
give to the world.”
Picture: Fire and Rescue vehicle responding,
Paisley, Scotland.
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.
