Greetings All –
Step 124 - Today I will
not pretend I am happy. (MP3)
[Open in Drive or copy to your Drive – Download
folder or play from Drive – Step PDF also.]
 |
| “Today I will not pretend I am happy.” Step 124 |
YOU DO NOT NEED TO PRETEND THAT YOU ARE HAPPY, for
this will only mask a sense of self-pity, compound your confusion and deepen
your dilemma. Today be yourself, but be self-observant, keeping in mind that
Knowledge is with you as you vacillate to and from, towards and away from
Knowledge itself. Because Knowledge does not vacillate, it is a source of
certainty, consistency and stability for you. Because it is unafraid of the
world, it is a source of fearlessness for you. You are not pitiful, so you need
not pretend.
DO NOT PRETEND TO BE HAPPY TODAY, for he or she who
is truly satisfied may cast any expression upon the world, but within their expression
will be the power of Knowledge. This is what is most important. Knowledge is
not a form of behavior. It is an intense experience of life. Therefore, do not
attempt to persuade yourself or others with a demonstration of behavior, for
this is unnecessary.
REPEAT THIS STATEMENT UPON THE HOUR and feel its
power and its gift of freedom. Allow yourself to be exactly as you are today.
In your two deep meditation practices, allow yourself to enter stillness, for when
you are not trying to be someone, you may have the luxury of stillness, which
is the luxury of love.
PRACTICE 124: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly
practice.
Yesterday: Step
123 - I will not pity myself today.
From
the journal:
6:30
a.m. Wednesday, November 17, 1999 –
Regional
diplomacy must be win-win-win-win-win- In international diplomacy, the big
cater to the small in order to get peace. In regional diplomacy – the big must
first learn the value of the small; learn to see the value of the hinterlands.
The hinterlands must learn to cooperate to balance the power of the central county/city.
8:20
a.m. My S2K meditation was bumpy. Work/life issues blocked my route to
stillness. The work situation is getting ridiculous. I should file a grievance.
They don’t get it and I don’t know how to communicate it.
In
S2K I’m rereading the text for more perspective. My view of the world is
changing. I am taking responsibility for less and less of the world. At the
same time I need to be more responsible for me. At age 52 I’ve yet to learn how
to eat, exercise or even plan my finances. Knowledge can calm my fears – and is
doing so …
11:49
p.m. I’m moving from this world to a new world – a different perception. I need
to reduce my errors. I will keep up appearances with the Commission.
Notes of the day suggest that change is taking
place in my mind as a consequence of Steps. The Steps page also has notes.
“Be
still and know that I am God,” is inked in. That is Psalm 46:10, a clear connection across space-time
and culture that the God of Judaism is the God of Steps to Knowledge.
NNC
Journal second time x2 Step 123. This
is for those who have completed Steps once. 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 you 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.
P.S. If you’ve some interest due to this or other
Steps, you should go to the beginning blog post. From here you will learn about Steps to Knowledge
and can begin it on the day that makes sense; then progress as needed. You can
use the posts on this blog as a companion if it helps. They will remain in
order in the archives - one post per Step.
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 here 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. There are options as well
through the Free School of the New Message.
