10/16/16

I can only be a student; therefore I will be a student of Knowledge. Step 290 - Steps to Knowledge: The Book of Inner Knowing ~ Spiritual Practices


Greetings All –

I can only be a student; therefore I will be a student of Knowledge. Step 290 (MP3) [Open in Drive or copy to your Drive – Download folder or play from Drive – Step PDF also.]
I can only be a student; therefore I will be a student of Knowledge. Step 290
IN THE WORLD YOU ARE A STUDENT—ALWAYS. Every day, every hour and every minute you are learning and attempting to assimilate your learning. You are either a student of Knowledge or a student of confusion. You are either a student of certainty or a student of ambivalence. You are either a student of wholeness and integrity or you are a student of conflict and war. You can only learn from being in the world, and you can only demonstrate the result of your learning.

THEREFORE, THERE IS NO CHOICE whether you will be a student or not, for you will be a student even if you decide not to be a student. If you decide not to be a student, you will merely study another curriculum. In this, you have no choice, for to be in the world is to learn and to demonstrate the result of your learning. Recognizing this, your decision, then, is to determine where you will be a student and what you will learn. This is the power of decision that is given to you. Knowledge will naturally guide you to make the right decision and will lead you unto itself, for it is given to you to give to the world. Thus, as you approach Knowledge, you will feel as if you are engaged in a great homecoming. You will feel a great integration within yourself, and you will feel your self-conflict and your war with yourself begin to diminish and to fade.

BE A STUDENT OF KNOWLEDGE TODAY, for a student you are. Choose the curriculum that has chosen you. Choose the curriculum that will redeem you and through you the world. Choose the curriculum that fulfills your purpose here and that exemplifies your life beyond this world, which wishes to express itself here. Become a student of Knowledge.

REALIZE THE POWER OF TODAY’S IDEA and remember it upon the hour. Always remember to read the day’s lesson prior to entering into the world so that you may begin to utilize its practice for that day. Confirm your studenthood in Knowledge. Strengthen your involvement as a student of Knowledge. Follow today’s practices with greater and greater devotion.

IN YOUR TWO DEEPER PRACTICE PERIODS, actively engage your mind in considering what it means to be a student in the world. Engage your mind in understanding the message for today, and attempt to realize that you are a student under all circumstances. Try to realize that you have no choice here, for you must learn, assimilate and demonstrate your learning. This is the foundation for true teaching. Realize that your purpose in the world is to become a student of Knowledge, to assimilate Knowledge and to allow Knowledge to express itself so that you may demonstrate Knowledge in the world. In the simplest way, this is an expression of your purpose, and from your purpose a specific calling will come forth to guide you in specific ways in the world according to your nature and your design.

THUS, TODAY YOU WILL STRENGTHEN YOURSELF AS A STUDENT of Knowledge. In your longer practice periods, actively engage your mind in attempting to penetrate today’s idea and to recognize its absolute relevancy to your life.

PRACTICE 290: Two 30-minute practice periods.
Hourly practice.

Picture:  University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) campus.


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. The 1x and 2x links above 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.