Greetings All –
I forgive those whom I think have hurt me. Step 207 (MP3)
[Open in Drive or copy to your Drive – Download folder or play from Drive –
Step PDF also.]
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| I forgive those whom I think have hurt me. Step 207 |
THIS
STATEMENT REPRESENTS YOUR INTENTION to have Knowledge, for unforgiveness is
merely the application of blame towards a situation in which you were unable to
understand or to apply Knowledge. All your failures are your own in this
respect. This may look like a burden of blame at first, until you realize the
greater opportunity that it presents to you. For if all failures are your own,
then you will realize that all correction is given to you to apply. The failure
of another is not your own, but your condemnation of it is your own failure.
Therefore, any failure that engenders unforgiveness in you is your failure, for
another’s failure need not engender unforgiveness in you or blame of any kind.
In fact, the failures of others will engender your compassion and the
application of Knowledge in the future and need not give rise to blame or
unhappiness within you.
KNOWLEDGE
IS NOT SHOCKED UPON LOOKING AT THE WORLD. Knowledge is not dismayed. Knowledge
is not discouraged. Knowledge is not affronted. Knowledge realizes the
smallness of the world and the errors of the world. It realizes this because it
only knows itself, and all that is not Knowledge is merely the opportunity for
Knowledge to be reapplied. Thus, your unforgiveness is simply the opportunity
for you to reapply Knowledge.
REPEAT
TODAY’S IDEA UPON THE HOUR and do not underestimate its value to you who now
seek to be unburdened from grief and misery. In your two deeper practice
periods, think of those, one by one, for whom you feel
unforgiveness—individuals that you have known personally and individuals that
you have heard about or thought of, individuals that have been associated with
failure. They will come to mind as you call upon them, for they are all waiting
to be forgiven by you. Allow them now to arise one by one. As they do so,
forgive yourself for failing to apply your Knowledge. Remind them as they
appear to you that you are now learning to apply Knowledge and that you will
not suffer on their behalf and they, therefore, need not suffer on yours. The
commitment to forgive, then, is the commitment to realize Knowledge and to
apply Knowledge, for Knowledge dispels unforgiveness like the light dispels the
darkness. For there is only Knowledge and the need for Knowledge. That is all
that you can possibly perceive in the universe.
YOUR
TWO PRACTICE PERIODS ARE, THEREFORE, dedicated to facing those whom you have
accused and forgiving yourself for failing to apply Knowledge in your
understanding of them and engagement with them. Do this without any form of
guilt or self-deprecation, for how could you possibly not fail if Knowledge was
not available to you or if you were not available to Knowledge. Accept, then,
your former limitations and dedicate yourself now to perceiving the world anew,
without blame and with the greatness of Knowledge.
PRACTICE
207: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly practice.
Picture: A
homeless looking person on the grass and a passerby appear to be conversing.
What leads to a person being homeless? The view is from the Castle of Pécs, Pécs,
Hungary.
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.
