Step One Hundred and Thirty-Four

Step 134. I Will Not Define My Purpose For Myself.

You do not need to define your purpose when in time your purpose will merely arise and be known by you. Do not live by definitions. Live by experience and understanding. You do not need to define your purpose, and if you attempt to do so, always remember that it is only a temporary expedient. Do not give it great credibility. In this way, the world cannot anger you, for what can the world do to you but undermine your definition of yourself? If you are not living upon your definitions, the world cannot harm you, for it cannot touch the place of Knowledge that is within you. Only Knowledge can touch Knowledge. Only Knowledge in another can touch Knowledge within you. Only Knowledge within you can touch Knowledge in another.

Therefore, do not define your purpose today. Be without definitions so that the experience of purpose may grow. And as it grows, it will give you the content of your purpose, without distortion or deception. You will not need to defend this in the world, but only carry it like a jewel in your heart.

Upon the hour remind yourself not to define your purpose, and begin to think of the cost of doing so in terms of your own past experience. In your two meditation practices, allow yourself to be still. Upon each exhale, speak the word RAHN. RAHN. RAHN. You only need speak the word RAHN upon the exhale in your meditation. Let this be your total focus. This word will serve to stimulate Ancient Knowledge within you and give you the strength that you most need at this time. 

Practice 134: 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.

May 7, 2013 Round One: There is some deep message for me in this Step that I am not sure I fully understand, but am beginning to grasp. It still needs exploration. The concept of

“Only Knowledge in another can touch Knowledge within you. Only Knowledge within you can touch Knowledge in another”

is very profound. It is so easy to want definitions, to try and define things and put them in a box. But this Step, as I understand it today, is calling for expansiveness and a greater flexibility, openness, and freedom of thinking and understanding the world and my place in it.

Also this sentence

“You will not need to defend this in the world, but only carry it like a jewel in your heart”

speaks deeply to me. I tend to engage in self-defense and self-justification, when this is totally unnecessary. I just need to be and carry what I know like a jewel in my heart. It will be seen and known by the people who see and know.

December 4, 2014 Round Two: The first thought that came to me was that I was being premature and presumptuous when I said in a previous step that I felt I was already living my purpose. However, I realize that if I have defined it for myself, I am merely entertaining ideas, so let this be one of those “temporary expedients.” I think what is most important for me here though is being aware that my purpose is something small and manageable, something that suits my nature, something I am capable of doing, given my current makeup.

On further consideration, I do not think I am defining my purpose when I say I sometimes feel I am living it, it is flexible and malleable, it is something I am considering in retrospect, and I am fully ready for my purpose to be something else. Whatever it is, it comes from Knowledge and is not something I have construed for myself, it is not something that will make me angry at the world, I am not allowing the world to define my purpose and then being disappointed at the outcome. I have never tried in the past to accomplish some great mission, I have not wasted endless time and energy in pursuits that came to nothing. I feel I have always been focused on the small things, the things that suit my nature, the things within my range of ability and competence.

I am happy for my purpose to make itself known in due time. I will not define my purpose for myself, it will define itself as Knowledge prompts.

November 12, 2018 Round Three: I am warned against defining my purpose, because this will only lead to frustration and being angry at the world for undermining this definition. Only Knowledge touches Knowledge. A friend confirmed that my purpose is with my family. I feel this, I experience this. I have no definition though, I am only living my life as I feel drawn and called to live it. This Step is the first that calls for using RAHN during stillness. I am sto say it throughout my stillness practice, allowing it to be my total focus. I will try.