Tag Archives: Walt Whitman

Then Falter Not O Book Fulfill Your Destiny

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Then falter not O book fulfill your destiny

The Worldwide Community of the New Message from God is observing the 2022 Steps Vigil. This is a commemoration of the 20-day period (May 26 – June 14) when Marshall Vian Summers received the book Steps to Knowledge. Marshall received this book in Albany, New York in 1989. We are therefore celebrating the 33rd anniversary of the entrance of Steps to Knowledge into the world. Steps to Knowledge is the book of spiritual practice of the New Message from God. I have written a review here.

Then falter not O book fulfill your destiny

Steps to Knowledge is part of a much larger body of material. Marshall Vian Summers received this material over a period from 1982 to the present. The New Message from God presents itself as the latest in a series of divine revelations to humanity. This series includes the teachings of Buddha, Jesus and Mohammed. When these revelations appeared, it was not immediately clear they should be translated into the languages of the world. But people of many faiths have observed that people learn the teachings of a religion best in their own heart language. Bible translator John Wycliffe (c. 1320-1384) wrote, “it helpeth Christian men to study the Gospel in that tongue in which they know best Christ’s sentence.” Translating Steps to Knowledge into other languages is comparable to translating a small portion of the Tripitaka, or a book of the Bible, or a Surah of the Qur’an.

In how many languages is Steps to Knowledge available?

I wrote in 2018 about the progress of translation of Steps to Knowledge into the languages of the world. I mentioned that there was a complete version of Steps to Knowledge in 11 languages, spoken by roughly 2.4 billion people. Significant progress has been made since then, There are now complete versions of Steps to Knowledge in 15 languages other than English:

  • Bahasa (Indonesian) – Langkah-langkah Menuju Pengetahuan
  • Bengali – জ্ঞানের প্রতি পদক্ষেপ
  • Bulgarian – Stŭpki kŭm Znanieto
  • Chinese (Traditional and Simplified) – 内识进阶
  • Dutch – Stappen Naar Kennis
  • French – Les Pas vers La Connaissance
  • German – Schritte zur Kenntnis
  • Greek – Ta Vímata tis Gnósis
  • Italian – Passi Verso La Conoscenza
  • Korean – 앎으로 가는 계단
  • Persian – گام به گام تا بصیرت و دانش
  • Polish – Kroki do Wiedzy
  • Russian – Шаги к Знанию
  • Spanish – Pasos al Conocimiento
  • Vietnamese – Những Bước Đi đến Tri Thức

The number of people who speak these languages as their heart language is roughly 3.1 billion, slightly less than 40% of the world’s population. In addition, there are 10 languages where a partial translation exists: Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Croatian, Danish, Hebrew, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak and Swedish. These are the heart languages of an additional 530 million people.

Who did these translations?

It should be noted that professional translators did not create these translations. Student practitioners created these translations. People who practiced Steps to Knowledge in English, who spoke another language as their heart language. “Native speakers” of Steps to Knowledge created these translations. I have heard the testimonies of a number of these translators. Some of the translators encountered the New Message and thought to themselves, “This must be shared.” Some of the translators shared “I trusted my deepest inclinations,” as they described their path into translation. Russian translator Alisa shared some of her translation experience here. I consider this translation to be an enormous accomplishment, a great display of dedication and devotion.

Is this translation technically difficult?

Some people might be wondering “Is the full experience being conveyed in translation?” I believe it is. The evidence I suggest is the readability level of Steps to Knowledge. A high school freshman has a reasonable chance of understanding its content. I find Steps to Knowledge remarkably free of esoteric language.

How is Steps to Knowledge progressing into the world?

The number of people who have a complete copy of Steps to Knowledge in their heart language has been doubling every 10 years or so, over the past 33 years. if this trend continues, Steps to Knowledge will be available in the major languages of the world in 20 years or so.

Then falter not O book, fulfill your destiny

American poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892) wrote a poem “In Cabin’d Ships At Sea” in 1871. He envisioned books of his poems being read by mariners in the future. In this poem he wrote “Then falter not O book, fulfill your destiny. I speak this same blessing over Steps to Knowledge. This book has been given with gratitude and high expectation. I rejoice and give thanks for the efforts many have made to move it forward into the world.

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.

She’s Free She’s On Her Destination

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She's free she's on her destination

Humanity faces a global pandemic. The human family faces an increasingly difficult world. A world of declining resources. Climate that is less friendly. A polluted environment. Extraterrestrial intervention. What am I going to do about it? Share a poem, of course!

She’s free She’s on her destination

She's free she's on her destination
February 25, 1888 issue of the New York Herald

The Walt Whitman poem “Old Salt Kossabone” first appeared in the February 25, 1888 issue of the New York Herald. It would later appear in the first “Annex” section of the final edition of Leaves of Grass. To me, it is as if he had already written his epitaph and obituary in the poem “So Long!” then discovered he had a few more poems to write. This poem is one of them.

OLD SALT KOSSABONE.

Far back, related on my mother’s side,
Old Salt Kossabone, I’ll tell you how he died:
(Had been a sailor all his life—was nearly 90—lived with his
married grandchild, Jenny;
House on a hill, with view of bay at hand, and distant cape, and
stretch to open sea;)
The last of afternoons, the evening hours, for many a year his
regular custom,
In his great arm chair by the window seated,
(Sometimes, indeed, through half the day,)
Watching the coming, going of the vessels, he mutters to himself
—And now the close of all:
One struggling outbound brig, one day, baffled for long—cross-
tides and much wrong going,
At last at nightfall strikes the breeze aright, her whole luck veer-
ing,
And swiftly bending round the cape, the darkness proudly enter-
ing, cleaving, as he watches,
“She’s free—she’s on her destination”—these the last words—
when Jenny came, he sat there dead,
Dutch Kossabone, Old Salt, related on my mother’s side, far
back.

I don’t think people in our time are aware of the complexities of sailing ships. Whitman made references in other poems to ships at sea being baffled or “puzzled.” Let’s just say it’s trickier than it looks. I take joy in this poem for a couple of reasons. I hope for those who care about me to see me “strike the breeze aright.” I hope to see a struggling humanity rising and uniting, becoming a strong race, determined to successfully navigate the difficult times ahead. I wouldn’t mind if my last words about humanity were “She’s free she’s on her destination.”

* * *

Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.

Brace Yourself Against Me I Will Gladly Learn

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Brace yourself against me I will gladly learn
Walt Whitman (1819-1892), 1854

American poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892) wrote a brief poem called “Stronger Lessons.” It first appeared in the 1867 edition of Leaves of Grass.

STRONGER LESSONS.

HAVE you learned lessons only of those who admired
you, and were tender with you, and stood aside
for you?
Have you not learned the great lessons of those who
rejected you, and braced themselves against
you? or who treated you with contempt, or
disputed the passage with you?

Brace yourself against me, I will gladly learn

I share this poem because a thread in Steps to Knowledge resonates with this poem. Steps to Knowledge is the book of spiritual practice of the New Message from God. There are 365 steps in Steps to Knowledge. I use the word “thread” because there are multiple steps that vibrate sympathetically with this poem.

Step 86 (of 365) of Steps to Knowledge, the Book of Inner Knowing

In Step 86, “I honor those who have given to me,” I am encouraged to make a larger frame of what contribution is.

“With those with whom you are angry and upset, try to see how they, too, have given service to you in the reclamation of Knowledge. Do not bear false witness against your feelings, but in spite of your feelings towards them, if there are ill feelings, attempt also to recognize their service to you.”

I shared my experience of Step 86 here. I read the poem “Stronger Lessons” sometime after I had practiced Steps to Knowledge. But something recently reminded me of these steps, which in turn reminded me of the poem.

Step 178 (of 365) of Steps to Knowledge, the Book of Inner Knowing

In Step 178, “I will remember those who have given to me today,” I am encouraged to broaden my perspective to include demonstrations of wisdom and folly.

“Upon the hour, then, repeat this statement and take a moment to recall those who have given to you. Try to think very carefully of the individuals who have given benefit to you, both by demonstrating their Wisdom and their error. Think of those who have illustrated the way to go and the way not to go. As you inquire further into this in your two longer practice periods today, try to think more carefully and allow any individual who comes to mind to be the subject of your investigation. This is an active practice time in your meditation periods.”

Step 328 (of 365) of Steps to Knowledge, the Book of Inner Knowing

Brace yourself against me, I will gladly learn. And on it goes. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not like I’m looking for trouble. But it seems that I must learn the stronger lessons. There are days when I cry out to learn the stronger lessons. I wish to be of greater service.

* * *

Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.

I Lift Up The Hands Of The Helpers

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Pandemics are a consequence of humanity’s treatment of nature.

Illnesses in animals have frequently jumped to humans.

Given what is known about epidemics, something like this is likely to occur in the future

God is not the judge. God is the witness.

In every difficult situation, there are helpers and profiteers. I lift up the hands of the helpers.

I lift up the hands of the helpers. I give them strength of character and strength of faculties of mind.

I lift up the hands of the helpers.

* * *

Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.

Our Poets Shall Be Our Common Referees

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Francis Scott Key observing Fort McHenry, painting by Edward Percy Moran, 1905

This post is my belated gift for the 243rd birthday of the United States of America. As I pondered on the nation’s history, I discovered some things I didn’t know. I wish to share these things with you. These things have a connection with the teachings of the New Message from God.

Our poets shall be our common referees

My fellow American, poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892) wrote the final version of the poem “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” in 1881. The above picture is from that very year. It is a lengthy poem, sweeping over the past fifty years or so. I consider one of the main ideas of this poem to be “America needs poets.” In stanza 9 of 20 stanzas, he writes the following:

Of all races and eras these States with veins full of poetical stuff 
most need poets, and are to have the greatest, and use 
them the greatest,
Their Presidents shall not be their common referee so much as 
their poets shall.

It took a while to find our anthem

John Stafford Smith (1750-1836), composer of the melody of “The Star-Spangled Banner”

Our poets shall be our common referees. I recently discovered that “The Star-Spangled Banner” did not become the national anthem of the United States of America until 1931. My fellow American, Francis Scott Key, wrote what was then called “The Defense of Fort M’Henry” in 1814. Francis Scott Key was a lawyer by trade. He is much more well-known for this poem than for any case he argued in any court.

Why did it take so long? There are multiple reasons. One was that the melody was the melody to a song called “To Anacreon in Heaven,” a song about drinking and sex. The end of every verse speaks of the entwining of the myrtle of Venus (the Roman goddess of love) and Bacchus’s vine (Bacchus being the Roman god of wine). Some people considered the melody to have ignoble connotations, and thus unacceptable for a national anthem. But the song eventually fell out of fashion, and the associations faded. Another reason was that it was unclear whether there would be a United States at all during the season of the Civil War of 1861-1865. A third reason was that there were other candidates for a national anthem, such as “My Country ‘Tis of Thee, (written in 1831)” “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” (written in 1861), and “America the Beautiful” (written in 1895).

Let this be our motto “In God is our trust”

Postage stamp quoting the fourth verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner”

Our poets shall be our common referees. Many people are unaware that “The Star-Spangled Banner” has four verses. The fourth verse answers the question at the end of the first verse. “O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave, o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand  
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation, 
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n – rescued land 
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, for our cause is just, 
And this be our motto–“In God is our trust.” 
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave 
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

I believe that when “The Star-Spangled Banner” became our national anthem, all four verses of Francis Scott Key’s poem became national poetry. And 25 years later, the words “In God We Trust” became America’s official motto in 1956. Francis Scott Key functioned as one of America’s common referees.

Liberty to follow what I know

Our poets shall be our common referees. It was easy to see from the bloody aftermath of the French revolution (1789-1799) that unrestricted liberty had its drawbacks. I consider the greatness of America to be the liberty to follow what I know, the liberty to trust my deepest inclinations. The freedom of religion that America enshrined in its Constitution makes it possible for me to practice the New Message from God.

It took 117 years for the Star-Spangled Banner to become our national anthem. Right now, people are writing anthems for a unified humanity. Who knows, perhaps one of those anthems will be the anthem of Planet Earth in the year 2136.

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.

I Specify You With Joy, O My Comrade

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Walt Whitman I specify you with joy, O my comrade

A poem by the American poet Walt Whitman has been making its way around the New Message from God worldwide community.

I specify you with joy, O my comrade

I was not aware of this poem until very recently. It appeared as one of the “Messenger Leaves” of the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass, and also appears in the “Autumn Rivulets” section of the 1892 “deathbed” edition.

This poem vibrates sympathetically with a portion of the revelation “The Meaning of Christmas,” received by Marshall Vian Summers in December of 1994. This teaching has inspired me to write a number of posts.

“Christmas is a celebration of every moment that the person is moved by Knowledge and contributes with Knowledge. Though it is celebrated as one event in your calendar, as a unique time of the year, it is meant to be an experience for you to have in life and for you to share with others.

Then you will come to know Jesus, not because you can sympathize with him, but because you are undergoing a process that he underwent, and you are beginning to experience the reality that he represented. Then he will no longer be a historical figure. Then he will no longer be an idol for you, someone to worship. Then he will no longer be beyond your reach. Instead, he will become your friend, your companion, your elder brother. And his demonstration and his life, his suffering and his achievement will all have great meaning for you because you will be beginning to experience them for yourself. And you will know that he is not to be idolized, but to be embraced.”

I specify you with joy, O my comrade. Whitman wrote about how others shared his experience now, and how others would share his experience in the future. Did he write about people like you and me?

A compassionater in this context is someone who thinks and feels like someone else. No, I never use the word “peremptorily.” It means “insisting on immediate attention or obedience,” which makes sense from the context.

To Him that was Crucified

MY spirit to yours, dear brother;
Do not mind because many, sounding your name, do not understand you;
I do not sound your name, but I understand you, (there are others also;)
I specify you with joy, O my comrade, to salute you, and to salute those who are with you, before and since—and those to come also,
That we all labor together, transmitting the same charge and succession;
We few, equals, indifferent of lands, indifferent of times;
We, enclosers of all continents, all castes—allowers of all theologies,
Compassionaters, perceivers, rapport of men,
We walk silent among disputes and assertions, but reject not the disputers, nor any thing that is asserted;
We hear the bawling and din—we are reach’d at by divisions, jealousies, recriminations on every side,
They close peremptorily upon us, to surround us, my comrade,
Yet we walk unheld, free, the whole earth over, journeying up and down, till we make our ineffaceable mark upon time and the diverse eras,
Till we saturate time and eras, that the men and women of races, ages to come, may prove brethren and lovers, as we are.

* * *

Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.

Space Beyond Any Astronomer’s Dreams

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Walt Whitman 1852 Space beyond any astronomer's dreams

I was rummaging through an old poetry book at a used book sale when I came across this poem by American poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892). “When I Heard The Learn’d Astronomer” was written in 1865, and appeared in the 1881 edition of Leaves of Grass.

Space beyond any astronomer’s dreams

There is a step in Steps to Knowledge with which this poem vibrates very sympathetically. Step 326 of 365 steps is “The Greater Community is something I can feel but cannot understand.”

Space beyond any astronomer’s dreams. There are 9 steps in Steps to Knowledge where the phrase “Greater Community” is mentioned in the step itself. The first step is Step 187, “I am a citizen of the Greater Community of Worlds.”. The last step is Step 326. Part of the preparation of Steps to Knowledge is how an individual can prepare for humanity’s emergence into a greater community of intelligent life.

Space beyond any astronomer’s dreams. But for right now, I need poetry to even be able to think about things too great for me to bear. Who knows, maybe Walt Whitman felt a little bit of what I’m feeling now. I don’t believe Whitman bore any ill will toward the learn’d astronomer, merely that his configuration of inner lenses and mirrors had a different focus.

When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.