Greetings All –
I complain because I am lacking Knowledge. Step 180 (MP3) [Open in Drive or copy to your Drive – Download folder or play from Drive
– Step PDF also.]
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| I complain because I am lacking Knowledge. Step 180 |
WHEN
YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT LIFE, you are asking for Knowledge. Knowledge has its own
statement about life, but it is very different from the lament which you hear
within yourself and around you. Therefore, as you approach Knowledge today,
recognize the nature of complaint—how it emphasizes your weakness and the
world’s domination over you and how much it is in contrast to what you are
learning now. You are learning now to discover your greatness and your
domination over the world. You are in relationship with the world. Let this
relationship become healthy and meaningful. Let the world’s contribution be
given to you. Let your contribution be given to the world.
THEREFORE,
THANK THE WORLD ONCE AGAIN TODAY for what it has given to you. In your deeper
meditation practices today, enter stillness and silence. Use the word RAHN to
help you enter this deeply. Use the word RAHN to orient your mind and thinking
so that your mind may become unified with the sound of this one ancient word.
THIS
IS A DAY OF IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION. Do not complain about this day. Recognize
that everything that happens is an opportunity for you to apply your practice
and to develop the true faculties of your mind. Your complaint would only be a
denial of the world’s contribution to you. Therefore, do not deny this. Do not
complain about the world today so that you may receive its gifts.
PRACTICE
180: Two 30-minute practice periods.
Where
else do we complain, either silently or out loud, than when waiting in line?
The picture is at a railroad ticket counter in Piacenza, Italy. Is tolerating
the slowness of people really a problem of Knowledge? Sometimes it is while
other times it is an exercise that builds our skill of being patient.
Picture: Train station, Piacenza, Italy. I do not
know the language, so I can’t understand the schedule. Did I complain? In the
past I may have, thinking everything should be in English. I lacked the
knowledge of Italian, but that may not stop me or others from complaining.
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.
