7/25/16

I forgive those whom I think have hurt me. Step 207 - Steps to Knowledge: The Book of Inner Knowing ~ Spiritual Practices


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.]

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 Spiritualityand 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.

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.