Step Ninety


White Daisy on Blue by Ann Powell

 Step 90. Today I Will Make No Assumptions.
Make no assumptions today as you devote one more day to the reclamation of Knowledge. Make no assumptions about your progress in learning. Make no assumptions about your world. Practice this day having an open mind that bears witness to events and that seeks to learn. Enjoy the freedom that comes without assumptions, for mystery will be a source of grace for you rather than a source of fear and anxiety as you learn to receive it.

In your hourly practice and in your two longer meditation practices today, where you practice stillness and receptivity, you can experience the value and the power of these words. Make no assumptions this day. Remind yourself of this all through the day, for making assumptions is merely a habit and when the habit is released, the mind may exercise its natural function without its former restraints.

Practice 90: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly practice.


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.

March 10, 2013 Round One: Most of my thinking is based on assumptions, this is something that has become utterly clear. So I would say that this is a very radical Step because it totally upturns the way my mind is used to working and harks back to Step 3 “What Do I Really Know.” And I think I would repeat the same answer here – I really know nothing. This leaves a free and open space for a new way of thinking to emerge. So it is a very freeing experience to make no assumptions and allow my mind to open to the mystery and be released from its former restraints.

This Step is also making me aware of a practice I find myself engaging in, which is very useful. I am aware that I am thinking about what I am thinking. In other words, I am able to stand outside my thoughts and view them objectively from the perspective of my deeper mind, rather than my thinking mind. This helps me to see a deeper Truth.

October 12, 2014 Round Two: Yes, it is best to have no assumptions at all, either way. It is common to assume the worst, but I think I need to be cautioned against assuming the best too. I am good at assuming negative things, taking things too personally, assuming I am being criticized, but that is a form of arrogance and very egotistical. It is also arrogant and egotistical, however, to assume I am doing better than I am. This Step says, “Make no assumptions about your progress in learning.” Very sound advice. “Enjoy the freedom that comes without assumptions, for mystery will be a source of grace for you…” Allowing the mystery of life to unfold without assumptions is indeed a very freeing thing. I embrace this today.

I practiced as instructed today and felt the expansion of mind, the freedom of living without assumptions. With or without my assumptions the world goes on, life goes on. So it seems better not to assume, but just accept things as they are.
September 25, 2018 Round Three: I can be free of the restraint, fear and anxiety that come with making assumptions, let the mystery unfold and take life as it comes, not worry ahead of time before anything has happened. I wish to embrace what it says here, “Enjoy the freedom that comes without assumptions, for mystery will be a source of grace for you rather than a source of fear and anxiety as you learn to receive it.” What I am worrying about may never happen, and if it comes to that, it may be the perfect thing. Who knows. I will make no assumptions today.

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