Step Two Hundred and Eighty-Three

Step 283. The World Is Ambivalent, But I Am Not.

Look about you in the world and you will see that the world of humanity is lost in its own ambivalence. It wishes to have this and wishes to go there. It wants to keep everything it has acquired and lose nothing, and yet it wants more than it needs. It is confused as to its predicament. It is confused as to the remedy. It is confused as to its identity. It is confused as to what to value and what not to value. All arguments and debates, all conflicts and all wars are engaged in exercising this ambivalence.

As you abide with Knowledge, you will look upon the world and recognize its utter confusion. This will teach you and remind you of the great need for Knowledge in the world. Knowledge will never attack itself, and Knowledge is not in conflict with itself. Therefore, two individuals, or two nations, or even two worlds, will have no issues of contention if they are guided by Knowledge, for Knowledge will always seek to join individuals in a meaningful way and to clarify their interactions with one another. It is not possible that Knowledge be in conflict with itself, for there is no opposition within Knowledge. It has one purpose and one aim, and to this it organizes all activity. It organizes all forms of opposition into serving one purpose and one direction. Thus, it is the great peacemaker in the world. As you abide with Knowledge, you will become the vehicle for its expression. Then, you will teach peace because peace itself will be teaching through you.

Looking at Knowledge like this will enable you to recognize your true involvement and your true responsibility as a student of Knowledge. The world is in ambivalence. It is in confusion and is suffering all of the results of this. But you who are now learning to witness the world without judgment or condemnation and are learning to witness the world from the certainty of Knowledge will be able to simply recognize the predicament of the world and know that you are carrying the remedy within yourself now.

In your deeper practices enter into stillness once again and use the RAHN word if necessary to help you. Because you are learning to be still, you are learning to be certain. Any individual who can acquire stillness in the world will become a source of Knowledge in the world, for Knowledge will express itself in the world wherever there is an opening in any mind. Your mind is now becoming open so that Knowledge may express itself.

Practice 283: 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.

March 18, 2014 Round One: "Look about you in the world and you will see that the world of humanity is lost in its own ambivalence. It wishes to have this and wishes to go there. It wants to keep everything it has acquired and lose nothing, and yet it wants more than it needs. It is confused as to its predicament. It is confused as to the remedy. It is confused as to its identity. It is confused as to what to value and what not to value. All arguments and debates, all conflicts and all wars are engaged in exercising this ambivalence."

Again this Step comes at such a pertinent time for me. A time when I am looking at what is going on in the country where I live, Russia, and in neighboring Ukraine, and hearing and seeing how people are reacting. It fits so well with the words in this passage. I cannot help but be confused myself.

"As you abide with Knowledge, you will look upon the world and recognize its utter confusion. This will teach you and remind you of the great need for Knowledge in the world."

Trusting in what Knowledge tells me is giving me a strong anchor to hold onto in the buffeting winds that blow. I understand the great need for Knowledge in the world and wonder how it can be awakened in others, how the people who need Knowledge most right now might be shown it.

"But you who are now learning to witness the world without judgment or condemnation and are learning to witness the world from the certainty of Knowledge will be able to simply recognize the predicament of the world and know that you are carrying the remedy within yourself now."

I take comfort in these words.

May 20, 2015 Round Two: Today I am content to let the world be confused and ambivalent. By “content,” I mean I am accepting it without despair or holding my head in anguish.

I am holding onto the following words and striving to acquire the stillness it talks about here:

“Any individual who can acquire stillness in the world will become a source of Knowledge in the world, for Knowledge will express itself in the world wherever there is an opening in any mind.”

I hope my mind is opening and that through this opening Knowledge can be expressed in the world.

April 17-18, 2019 Round Three: I was in Moscow these two days. Left Krasnaya Ushna at 7.00 am on Wednesday morning and returned at 2.00 pm on Thursday afternoon. All went well. I got the money from my employer and changed it into rubles. We ended up with 600,000 instead of 700,000 plus, but beggars can’t be choosers.