Steps to Knowledge: My Practice

Step 53. My Gifts Are For Others. Your gifts are meant to be given to others, but first you must recognize your gifts and separate them from the ideas which restrain them, alter them or deny them. How can you understand yourself except in the context of contribution to others? Alone you can do nothing. Alone you have no meaning. This is because you are not alone. This will be viewed as a burden and as a threat until you realize the great meaning that it has and the gift that it really is. It is the salvation of your life. When life reclaims you, you reclaim life and receive all of its rewards, which far exceed anything that you could give yourself. The value of your life is consummated and fully demonstrated through your contribution to others because until contribution exists, you can only partially realize yourself—your value, your purpose, your meaning and your direction. In your two practice periods today, feel your desire to contribute to others. You do not need now to d...

Step 52. I Am Free To Find The Source Of My Knowledge. The source of your Knowledge exists within you and beyond you as well. There is no distinction to the source of Knowledge where it exists, for it is everywhere. Your life has been saved because God has planted Knowledge within you. But you will not realize your salvation until Knowledge has been allowed to emerge and to bestow its gifts upon you. What other freedom is free except that which enables you to receive the gift of your true life? All other freedom is the freedom to be chaotic, the freedom to harm yourself. The great freedom is to find your Knowledge and to allow it to express itself through you. Today you are free to find the source of your Knowledge. In your two practice periods in stillness, receive the source of your Knowledge. Remind yourself that you are free to do this. Regardless of fear or anxiety, regardless of any sense of guilt or shame, allow yourself to receive the source of your Knowledge. You are...

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 ...

For those with the eyes to see Step 50. Today I Will Be With Knowledge. Be with Knowledge today so that you may have the certainty and the power of Knowledge available to you. Allow Knowledge to give you stillness. Allow Knowledge to give you strength and competency. Allow Knowledge to teach you. Allow Knowledge to reveal the universe as it truly exists, not as you judge it to be. In your two practice periods, practice in stillness feeling the power of Knowledge. Do not ask questions. That is not necessary now. Do not argue with yourself about the reality of your pursuit, for that is wasteful and meaningless. You cannot know until you receive, and to receive you must trust your inclination to know. Today be with Knowledge. In your practice periods, let nothing dissuade you. You need only relax and be present. From these practices a greater presence will be recognized, and this will begin to allay your fears. Practice 50:   Two 30-minute practice periods Here you ...

Step 49. Review This marks the completion of your seventh week of practice. In this Review, it is asked of you to review all seven weeks of practice, reviewing all instructions and recalling your experience of using each one. This may require several longer practice periods, but it is quite essential for you to gain a comprehension of what it means to be a student and how learning is actually accomplished. Be very careful not to judge yourself as a student. You are not in a position to judge yourself as a student. You do not have the criteria, for you are not a teacher of Self Knowledge. You will find as you proceed that some of your failures will lead to greater successes, and that some of what you thought of as successes may lead to failures. This will underscore your whole system of evaluation and will lead you to a greater recognition. This will make it possible for you to be compassionate towards yourself and towards others whom you now judge for their successes and the...