Step Fifty-One


Touch Drawing by Deborah Koff-Chapin

Step 51. Let Me Recognize My Fears So That I May See The Truth Beyond Them.
Your obstacles must be recognized in order for you to see beyond them. If they are ignored or denied, if they are protected or called by other names, you will not realize the nature of your restraint. You will not understand that which oppresses you. Your life is not born of fear. Your Source is not born of fear. To be able to recognize your fear means that you must realize that you are part of something greater. Realizing this you can learn to become objective about your life and to understand your present circumstances without self-condemnation, for it is within these circumstances that you must cultivate yourself. You must start from where you are. To do this you must take inventory of your strengths and weaknesses.

In your two practice periods today, evaluate the existence of your fears and remind yourself that your reality is beyond them, but that you must recognize them to understand their damaging presence in your life. Close your eyes and repeat the idea for today; then consider each fear that arises in your mind. Remind yourself that the truth is beyond that specific fear. Allow all fears to arise and be evaluated in this way.

To be without fear, you must understand fear—its mechanism, its influence on people and its result in the world. You must recognize this without deception and without preference. You are a great being working in a limited context, in a limited environment. Understand the limitations of your environment and understand the limitations of your vehicle, and you will no longer hate yourself for being limited.

Practice 51: Two 30-minute practice periods.

Here you will find the entire book free for download http://stepstoknowledge.com/


Here you will find pointers for getting started if this is your first encounter with this practice: Taking the Steps to Knowledge.

January 8, 2013 Round One: “Take inventory of your strengths and weaknesses” – how familiar this is! (Meaning it is a constant practice of mine.)

I feel as though I understand fear, its mechanism and how it influences people – it prevents people from being who they really are since it restricts them. Fear clips the wings and prevents people from taking risks and reaching their full potential. I have worked with my fears and feel the reality beyond them. Fear will not stop what is going to happen to me, it will happen anyway. The thing is to boldly face fear and step through it, believing that the outcome will be much greater than I ever imagined. It is the same as following a path I had no intention of taking, stepping out of my comfort zone and being prepared to face whatever awaits me. There are imaginary fears and real fears. Fear is defeating and debilitating, it freezes your ability to respond adequately, thus reducing your chances of success. Metaphorically speaking, in order to walk a tightrope, you have to lose your fear of falling.


All in all, however, this is a difficult Step to grasp. Perhaps I don’t understand fear at all because I have not been in situations that bring up fear. I am asking for clarity about fear.

I just read this week’s inspiration I received in my email this morning “Humanity Must Adapt and Change” and it struck me when I read “even in the wealthy nations, there are few who can see. And people everywhere, rich or poor, are so often unwilling to reconsider their lives and to change their attitudes and approaches. It is a problem in human development,” that fear is at the bottom of this. It is fear that prevents people from developing in a productive and propitious way. We need to step boldly ahead “where no man has dared to go before,” to quote a popular TV series, but easier said than done.



August 29, 2014 Round Two: This time again I feel as though fear is not something that looms large in my daily life. I cannot put my finger on specific things I am afraid of, fears that hinder my progress. However, again, I will reiterate what I wrote before, “all in all this is a difficult Step to grasp. Perhaps I don’t understand fear at all.” The Step talks about obstacles and recognizing the nature of my restraint. This gives me food for thought, although I do not feel oppressed in any way.

The fears that came up during the practices were irrational fears with no substance, figments of my imagination.

After the first 30-minute practice today my attention was drawn to another New Message revelation called “The Separation.” There is says, “You are living in separation from your Source and from Creation itself, which exists beyond the physical reality entirely. You are living in a temporary reality. It is impermanent. It is changing. It is expanding. It is chaotic. It is governed by its own laws and dynamics.

“You are a spiritual being living in a physical reality.”

For me this addresses the dilemma posed in this Step perfectly. Fear is born of my physical, limited world, the world of chaos, change, with its own laws and dynamics, while in reality, reality being Creation, my Source, and my deeper nature, fear does not exist. When I embrace these three things, there can be no fear.
August 13, 2018 Round Three: This is an interesting Step to consider in the context of Volodya. I condemn myself for my feelings toward him and see this as a reflection of my limited self, my surface mind. Beyond this is the truth. I am here in this situation to cultivate myself, express my greatness and stretch beyond my physical and mental limitations. I have no fear that Volodya will remove us from his house if I do not act kindly towards him. He is pushing us to do something on our plot sooner rather than later. He is a catalyst. I am not to ignore my obstacles and call them by other names. I am to recognize them for what they are and learn to become objective about my life. I believe I am. I am to recognize my current circumstances without self-condemnation. Volodya is a pesky fly on the periphery of my consciousness.
First 30-min practice - sitting on the bench in the garden. Cool, my bare feet were cold after walking in the dewy grass, but not too cold for comfort. Birds were flying to and fro in the apple trees, especially magpies, knocking apples from the trees with a thud. Masha found me and came to sit on my lap. She was quiet. I began my practice at 5.00 and set the timer for 5.30. But I did not remain in meditation for that long. I had exhausted my fears in the first five minutes - I have very few and they are not really fears, just concern for my children’s future. But I felt reassurance that all is well and will be well going forward. I have confidence that the Truth will always manifest for the best of all concerned and I have a sense of the Truth manifesting beyond my surface mind and my fears. I understand this. I was ready to finish at 5.15. I continued on until 5.23.
I am flowing in a River of Love.

https://soundcloud.com/alisonmary/river-of-love/s-fPvop

Second 30-min practice - resting after lunch before going out to see what the mushroom situation was in the forest - 12.43 - 13.13. I dozed off for ten minutes. I totally get that fears are the makings of my surface mind and have no basis in reality. The Truth lies beyond them. There is nothing to fear.
And having said that, I am still trying to recognize my own fears at a personal level.


Comments

  1. thanks for this... having challenges figuring out what system works to respond since my first response was deleted...

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  2. thanks for writing this. its very healthy to see your reflectiveness in the various steps and for us to see the wisdom of the Steps is even more remarkable. Sometimes I surrender to awe when I can catch glimpses of the depth of love that the message has to aid us in living in this world.. so thanks for this..

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  3. I just saw this Bob. Thanks for your input, both comments seem to be up. Thanks again for these comments. The Steps certainly are very profound and call for deep reflection on our part.

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