Step One Hundred and Sixty-Five

Step 165. My Duties Are Small. My Mission Is Great.

Your duties in the world are small. They are meant to secure provisions which you need physically and to maintain those alliances with others that are beneficial for your wellbeing and for their well-being as well. These duties are important, but your mission is greater. Do not undermine your ability to receive your mission by being in failure concerning your duties. This is only a form of self-avoidance. Carry out your duties specifically this day regarding your employment and your engagement with others. Do not confuse this with your mission, which is something far greater that you are only now beginning to receive and to experience. Thus, your duties will provide a foundation for you as you undertake the preparation for the reclamation and the contribution of Knowledge.

Remember that all confusion is the confusion of different levels. Do not confuse mission with duty. This is a very important distinction for you to make. Your tasks in the world are specific, but your mission is far greater. As your mission begins to express itself within you who are learning to receive it, it will create a more specific influence upon your duties as well. This is gradual and entirely natural for you. This merely requires that you be self-disciplined, consistent and trusting enough to follow its steps.

Therefore, carry out your duties today so that you may be a beginning student of Knowledge. Remind yourself of your practice upon the hour, and in your two longer practice periods, actively engage your mind in considering the idea for today. Its true meaning is not superficial, and you must investigate it to understand its full value. Do not be complacent with premature conclusions. Do not stand on the outside of Knowledge and attempt to judge it for yourself. Enter into it so that you may be a student today, for you are now a student of Knowledge. You are now giving yourself to the world in your preparation.

Practice 165: 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.

July 7, 2013 Round One: I feel I am beginning to understand the difference between duties and mission it talks about in this Step and am understanding the interdependence that is required to fulfill my mission. My duties are small and I just need to do them to the best of my ability, and somewhere along the way they will contribute to my mission, they will become woven into the fabric of the bigger picture, which I still cannot see. This requires a certain amount of faith and confidence in knowing that although I may not be aware today of where my small efforts are taking me, I can be sure they are leading me in the right direction. They are also serving Knowledge.

The key for me today is when I feel a sense of lightness and joy as I perform my duties, no resistance or dissatisfaction. When a duty is accompanied by a sense that all is right in the world, I feel confident that it is backed by Knowledge and serving my greater mission.

Duties are what we engage in to function in the physical world, they are small but necessary, while our mission comes from beyond this world, from our spiritual core, it was given to us before we came into the world, so it is great in the sense of being beyond the realm of the physical, finite world and having an infinite, expansive and much more far-reaching scope. Duties are for our separate selves, while mission is for the part of us that is not apart from life (Step 11).

January 9, 2015 Round Two: This time I am gaining the sense that my duties are part and parcel of my mission. By performing my duties I am building the foundation I need for reclaiming Knowledge and thus for enhancing my ability to perform my mission.

During my meditation practices today, as I tried to enter into Knowledge and not stand outside it, thoughts of how best to promote the New Message on the Internet kept coming to mind. I have written things in English and Russian, I have illustrated what I have written with pictures I feel capture the essence of what I write. I can post these things where I feel they might be seen and recognized. This is a small duty I can do.

I can translate my Step every day into Russian. This takes up no more than half an hour of my time. I can do this before I begin my main work for the day. I can devote extra time at the end of the day to translating other NM texts into Russian. These are small duties I can do.

I can take walks every day to invigorate my mind and body as vehicles that need to be strong to do what I have to do in the world.

I can help my husband with the household duties.

In a positive frame of mind I can give cheerful encouragement to my children.

I can pick berries one at a time, gently and with loving care, and before I know it my basket will be full.

My duties are small. My mission is great.

December 13, 2018 Round Three: My duties provide for me and maintain my alliances with others, but this is not my mission. As my mission beings to express itself, it will create a more specific influence on my duties. I see this as my work helping me to build my own home. But I am not to be complacent and come to premature conclusions.

Meditation - 4.55 - 5.11. I was in the realm of Knowledge for longer this time, that dense, deep, potent place where I feel intense mind expansion. It is beyond words.