Greetings All –
With power comes responsibility. Step 270 (MP3) [Open in Drive or copy to your Drive –
Download folder or play from Drive – Step PDF also.]
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| With power comes responsibility. Step 270 |
IT
IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU RECOGNIZE the relationship between power and
responsibility. Responsibility requires self-discipline, self-restraint and
self-control. It requires an objectivity about your own life which very few
have yet attained in this world. Responsibility is a burden until it is
recognized as a source of protection. It is the guarantee and the assurance
that your gift will find a wholesome and welcome expression within you and that
you will be advanced and accomplished by the rendering of your contribution.
IT
IS VERY COMMON IN THE WORLD THAT PEOPLE want power without responsibility, for
their idea of freedom is that they are not beholden to anything. This is
utterly counter-productive and has very dangerous consequences for those who
persist in attempting it. You who are a student of Knowledge must learn to
accept the responsibilities that are given to you, for they provide the
protection and the guidance that you need so that you may develop
appropriately, positively and completely. They are the assurance that your
preparation will yield the great result that it is meant to yield.
THINK
OF THIS IDEA UPON THE HOUR and do not forget it today. In your deeper
practices, think very carefully about what this statement means. Think of your
ideas about power and recognize how much they need responsibility to a Greater
Source in order to be utilized and expressed appropriately. These two practice
periods will be times of mental activity and application. Think very carefully
of all your ideas surrounding the lesson for today. It is quite essential that you
examine your own thinking and beliefs, for you must understand your current
mental make-up in order to realize its impact upon your outer life. Today’s
lesson may seem sobering at first, but in time it will give you the confidence
and the assurance that you will need to progress wholeheartedly.
PRACTICE
270: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly practice.
Picture: Courtyard
statue, Pavia, Italy.
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.
