Greetings All –
It
is better to be simple than to be poor." Step 117 (MP3)
[Open in Drive or copy to your Drive – Download folder or play from Drive –
Step PDF also.]
 |
| It is better to be simple than to be poor. Step 117 |
SIMPLICITY
ALLOWS YOU TO GAIN ACCESS TO LIFE and to enjoy its beneficence in every moment.
Complexity is a state of self-disassociation which renders you incapable of
enjoying life and perceiving your role within it. This is the source of all
great poverty, for no worldly accomplishment and no worldly possession can
banish the sense of isolation and destitution that accompanies such a
disassociation.
THEREFORE,
TODAY PRACTICE STILLNESS MORE DEEPLY than before so that you may experience the
power of Knowledge that is with you. Allow yourself to be simple, for in
simplicity all things may be given to you. If you are considering yourself to
be complex, or your problems to be complex, it is because you are viewing
yourself and your problems without Knowledge and are thus lost in your
evaluations. Here you are confusing things of greater value with things of
lesser value, things of greater priority with things of lesser priority. Truth
must always bring simplicity, for simplicity brings resolution and right
understanding and establishes peace and confidence in those who can receive it.
PRACTICE
DEEPLY TODAY. Repeat today’s idea upon the hour, and in your two deep
meditation practices, remind yourself that Knowledge is with you and then enter
into stillness. Allow yourself to be simple and trust that Knowledge will guide
you in all ways.
PRACTICE
117: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly practice.
An
uncommon view of simplicity and complexity in this Step; one worthy of deep
stillness.
Picture: Box
turtle, Front Royal, Virginia - Simple, not poor. The bright sun's reflection is a spot on the shell. Turtles all the way down; Teachers all the way up.
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.
