Steps to Knowledge: My Practice

Step 287. With Knowledge I Cannot Be At War. With Knowledge you cannot be at war. You cannot be at war within yourself or with others, for with Knowledge there is only Knowledge and there is confusion in the world. Confusion does not require attack. Therefore, with Knowledge you are not at war, for you have one mind, one purpose, one responsibility, one direction and one meaning. The more your mind becomes uniform, the more your external life will become uniform as well. How can you be at war within yourself when you are following Knowledge? War is born of ambivalence where opposing value systems conflict with each other to gain your recognition. Competing ideas, competing emotions and competing values all wage war on one another, and you are caught in the middle of their great battles. With Knowledge all of this is escaped. With Knowledge you cannot be at war within yourself. In time, all of your self-doubt, uncertainty, fear and anxiety will wear away. As they do so, you ...

Lake Vorobenets, Valdai National Park, Russia Step 286. I Carry Stillness Into The World With Me Today. Carry stillness with you. Allow your inner life to be quiet as you move in the world of turbulence and confusion. There is nothing for you to resolve in your thoughts now, for you are learning to be with Knowledge. Knowledge will organize your thinking and give it true uniformity and direction. Carry stillness with you and be certain that all of your internal conflicts will be resolved through Knowledge, for you are following the source of their resolution. Each day will bring you closer to peace and fulfillment. And that which haunted you before and cast great dark clouds over your mind will simply be escaped as you walk the path of Knowledge. Carry stillness with you into the world. This will enable you to be truly observant. This will enable you to see the world as it is. This will enable you to diffuse the world’s conflict, for here you are teaching peace by being at ...

Step 285. In Stillness All Things Can Be Known. In stillness all things can be known, for the mind is able to respond to Knowledge. Then, Knowledge will find expression in your specific thoughts and activities. Your mind was meant to serve Knowledge, as your body was meant to serve your mind. In this, the contribution from your True Home is able to express itself in the world of exile. Here Heaven and Earth touch, and when they touch, true communication begins to exist, and the transference of Knowledge is made into the world. You are preparing to become a vehicle for Knowledge so that all things that you accomplish, great and small, unique and mundane, will express the presence of Knowledge. Therefore, your function in the world is not grand; it is simple. It is what is expressed through your activity that is important, for the simplest action done with Knowledge is a great teaching of Knowledge and will impress and affect all minds in the world. Therefore, remind yourself...

Step 284. Stillness Is My Gift To The World. How can stillness be a gift, you may ask. It is a gift because it is an expression of certainty and peace. How can stillness be a gift to the world? Because your stillness allows Knowledge to express itself through you. How can stillness be a gift to the world? Because your stillness enables all other minds to be still so that they may know. A mind in conflict cannot be still. A mind that is desperately seeking for resolution cannot be still. A mind that is turbulent with its own evaluations cannot be still. Thus, as you present the stillness that you are now cultivating to the world, you give all other minds that recognize you the opportunity and the demonstration that will enable them to enter stillness themselves. You are, in essence, communicating that peace and freedom are possible and that there is a great presence of Knowledge in the world, calling upon each separated and tormented mind. Your stillness is a gift. It will cal...

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 ind...

Step 282. I Will Learn To Accept The Responsibility Of Carrying   Knowledge In The World. Carrying Knowledge in the world requires responsibility. Your responsibility is to follow Knowledge and to learn to express Knowledge adequately and purposefully. In this, your human abilities will need to be cultivated and elevated. Discernment and all the other qualities of value within yourself will need to be cultivated as well, for you must learn to express that which you carry. You must learn to follow it and become a worthy vehicle for it. This is the true meaning of all individual development. This is where individual development has genuine purpose. This is where your growth and advancement have direction as well. Therefore, allow yourself to experience the meaning of today’s idea. Allow yourself to accept responsibility. It is not a weight upon your shoulders. It is a rite of passage for you, and in this all things that have confused and frustrated you within yourself will ...

Step 281. Above All Else I Seek Knowledge. Above all else seek Knowledge, for Knowledge will give you all else that you need. You will seek Knowledge with total conviction when you realize that any other avenue of endeavor and any other use of your mind and body will be hopeless and will lead you into greater confusion. For without Knowledge, you can only learn that you need Knowledge, and with Knowledge, all true learning will proceed. Your past has already taught you the great need for Knowledge. You need not learn this again and again. Why repeat the same lesson over and over, thinking that it will yield for you a different result? Of yourself you can do nothing. Without Knowledge you can only generate more imagination. Therefore, there is one answer to your one greatest need, and the one answer will meet all other needs that emanate from your one great need. Your need is fundamental and the response to your need is fundamental. There is no complexity here, for in essence ...