The Season Of Encampment

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Douglas

In previous posts, I have described seasons of the liturgical year of the New Message from God. The Messenger’s Vigil is held in the last week of January. This vigil celebrates the birthday of Marshall Vian Summers. The Steps Vigil is held over a 20-day period starting in May and ending in June. The Steps Vigil celebrates the receiving of the book Steps to Knowledge in 1989.

The season of Encampment

The third and final season is Encampment. Encampment is the annual gathering of the worldwide community of the New Message from God. This season was instituted in 2008. This is the 7th annual Encampment. Encampment is usually held in the fall. In some years it was held at the beginning of September. In some years (like this year) it is held at the beginning of October. Unlike the two vigils, the time of Encampment isn’t connected to a particular date.

Some people compare Encampment to the Hajj of Islam. They are both annual worldwide gatherings of a spiritual community. On the other hand, attendance at Encampment is not required of students of the New Message. The word “Encampment” reminds me of camp meetings, a practice of certain American Christians in the early 19th century. Both our Encampment and the camp meetings were voluntary gatherings in relatively secluded places in nature. Both our Encampment and the camp meetings were gatherings for the purpose of spiritual development.

It was my great blessing to attend the 2012 Encampment. I believe it will be my great blessing to attend the 2014 Encampment. On the one hand, I feel I should approach this event with minimal expectation. On the other hand, I have a certain expectation that something miraculous will happen at this event. I considered the 2012 Encampment to be a remarkable experience. I was around a group of people who were remarkably free of wounds and itches.

Something particular to this Encampment will be a live webcast from Marshall Vian Summers on Sunday, 5 October 2014, at 17:15 GMT. I believe there is a feeling of great anticipation in the New Message from God community about this upcoming event. It is the season of Encampment.

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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.

Новое Послание соответствует нынешним временам

Posted on September 25, 2014 by Alisa

For English version click here.

Посланник, Маршалл Виан Саммерс, продолжает получить откровения для наших и будущих времен. В меняющих условиях современного мира, эти откровения и послания как нельзя кстати. Они помогают сознающим людям найти свой путь среди бурных перемен современности. Вооружаясь Знанием и следуя за силой и присутствием Знания внутри себя, люди могут уверенно и бесстрашно двигаться перед на встречу судьбы.

Тем, кто пока мало знает о Новом Послании от Бога, хочу рекомендовать более глубокое изучение его.

Новое Послание от Бога является подлинным сообщением от Творца, которое послано в этот мир в эпоху великих перемен, конфликтов и потрясений. Новое Послание было получено Посланником Маршаллом Виан Саммерсом в период 30 лет. Это откровение не основано на существующих религиозных традициях или духовных учениях. Новое Послание уважает правду о всех великих Посланниках, которые были сосланы Творцом в этот мир, однако оно никак не сравнимо с предыдущими посланиями. Это новое откровение о истинной природе человеческой духовности, о наступающих великих переменах и о человеческом будущем и его судьбе в контексте Великого Сообщества разумной жизни во вселенной.

Что такое Новое Послание от Бога?

“Новое Послание было дано Творцом всей жизни.
Цель этого послания подготовить отдельных людей
и подготовить целые народы этого мира для выживания
и продвижения вперёд сквозь большие опасности,
которые ожидают человечество впереди.
Это огромный дар в связи с надвигающейся бедой”.

Новое Послание от Бога присутствует в этом мире. Это дар от Творца всей жизни для защиты и продвижения человечества вперёд. Оно содержит предупреждение, благословение и подготовку для всех народов мира.

Как было получено Новое Послание?

Новое Послание от Бога передавалось в течение более чем 25 лет. Оно было получено Маршаллом Вианом Саммерсом в состоянии откровения. Каждое слово этого послания было сначала произнесено и записано на звуконоситель, а затем перенесено на бумагу. Это сохранило целостность и чистоту Нового Послания в его первоначальном виде. То, что в конечном итоге становилось целыми книгами, было получено за несколько дней или даже часов. Так например, 27 глав книги «Духовность Великого Сообщества: Новое Откровение», были получены всего за одиннадцать дней. Этот процесс откровения продолжается по сегодняшний день.

Почему оно здесь?

“Вы опрометчиво несётесь в будущее,
которое не будет похожим на прошлое,
но вы к нему не готовы.
Вот почему мы имеем
Новое Послание от Бога”.

Человечество стоит перед опасностью грядущих больших перемен и неопределенного будущего …

При постоянно растущем населении в мире ограниченных ресурсов, угроза широкомасштабных человеческих лишений, эскалации конфликта и войны, присутствует больше, чем когда-либо прежде.
Вот почему мы имеем Новое Послание от Бога.

Новое Послание соответствует нынешним временам

Но спешу уверять, что это не заявления о конце света. Это зов отвернуться от своих сиюминутных забот, нужд и желаний и обнять более широкое понимание вашего существа.

В одном из откровений «Нового Послания» «Великая Любовь» говорится: «С ростом численности населения у вас есть большая возможность установить человеческое единство, есть большая потребность в том, чтобы установить человеческое единство. Живя в мире уменьшающихся ресурсов, растущему населению нужно будет соединяться для своего собственного выживания. Сама ситуация дефицита, который вы создаете, предоставляет больший стимул для человеческого объединения. Это – вся работа Знания».

Итак, я убеждена, что Новое Послание соответствует нынешним временам и дает всем нам руководство к действию в наших современных неспокойных временах.

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The Message Is In Sync With The Times

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Alisa

There is a New Message in the world, because the Message is in sync with the times.

On September 10, 2014, the Messenger, Marshall Vian Summers, was called to receive another revelation called “Poverty.”

This is the third time the Messenger has been summoned to receive a revelation this month. On September 3, 2014 he received “The Messenger’s Calling,” and on September 8 he was called to receive “Grace.”

One of the questions to be explored in the current session of the Free School of the New Message from God “The Message and the Messenger” is: Why is the New Message here now?

My answer to that question is because the Message is in sync with the times.

It addresses the needs of the world today as it is caught in the grips of profound and devastating changes.

Patricia Summers says at the end of her account of Marshall receiving “Poverty:”

It seems that through the Messenger, the New Message Revelation is intent on speaking to both the visible and the invisible poverty that is present everywhere around us. And that is why the Messenger is being called to many places of need in the world.

Today the world has a refugee problem as never before. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee in order to escape the death and destruction being wrought in their homelands. The glaring examples are Syria and Ukraine.

The Message is in sync with the times

I am incompetent to fathom the workings of the world. Why do some people suffer poverty, destitution, devastation and debilitation, while others live in safety, comfort and plenty?

Some of the Steps in Steps to Knowledge: The Book of Inner Knowing address this issue. In particular, Step 158, I am rich so I can give, Step 159. The poor cannot give. I am not poor, and Step 160. The world is poor, but I am not.

Step 158 says:

You are rich and you can give. You possess a wealth of Knowledge already, and this is the greatest possible gift.

I say: I affirm my wealth today!

Step 159 says:

The poor cannot give, for they are destitute. They are required to receive. You are not destitute, for the gift of Knowledge is with you. … You will have exactly what you need, and the world will not burden you with its deprivation or its excesses. Thus, everything will have perfect balance.

My notes for this Step say: I truly resonate with this concept of having exactly what I need and in the right amount. This has been my experience so far in life and I have not been burdened with deprivation or excess. Everything is in perfect balance.

Step 160 says:

The world is poor, but you are not poor. Regardless of your circumstances, this is true because you are reclaiming the wealth of Knowledge. Understand, then, the meaning of impoverishment. Understand, then, the meaning of wealth.

My notes say: Material values do not count, spiritual values are what count, and they provide a different wealth, an inner wealth, a wealth that comes from Knowledge and knowing that all shall be provided in just the right amount.

So what does this mean? Knowledge is the treasure-trove that contains the wealth needed to escape the devastation and destitution of poverty in the world? If I am diligent in my reclamation of Knowledge, I will reap rich benefits and will not suffer? I will be free to give the gifts I have received? Can it really be that simple?

There is part of me that believes we choose our own destinies. Those who live in poverty now have chosen that way of life to learn. This may seem ludicrous to some, who would choose to be poor? Who would choose hardship and deprivation? I cannot provide any answers, I am only sharing what I feel.

In my experience, following the Steps to Knowledge and possessing the wealth of Knowledge provides me with many advantages and rich opportunities. My wish for the world is that those living in poverty and destitution receive the light of Knowledge. The Message is in sync with the times and its wisdom can be reaped by all.

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Will You Hear My Story?

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Douglas

The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica “Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.” (1 Thessalonians 2:8, New International Version) It seemed to make a difference that Paul and his associates swapped stories and built relationships with the people in Thessalonica. I can imagine the question “Will you hear my story?” being asked and answered many times. For example, I can imagine Paul telling the story of his narrow escape from Damascus by being lowered in a basket through an opening in the wall.

Will you hear my story?

I recall Christian musician Don Francisco singing a song with this lyric in the late 1970’s:

I don’t care if your pastor’s super-powered
And your program’s always new
What you need is love and truth
And men are going to come to you

Quite a few spiritual movements have come and gone in my lifetime. Those that have gone either didn’t have enough love and/or didn’t have enough truth, in my opinion.

Stephen Borgman recently sent me an email with the subject line “25 little-known things about me.” His candor inspired me to reciprocate to him, something I have never done until now. I don’t feel a need to inflict 25 facts upon you, but perhaps one or two from each decade of life might not be so bad.

1. My adoptive father, Frank M. Bass, Jr., (1926-2006) was an academic superstar. The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) named the Frank M. Bass Dissertation Award in his honor, as he chaired the dissertations of 58 Ph.D students in the course of his career.

2. My first grade teacher, Mrs. Capps, has a hallowed place in my memory, for creating a box of projects for me to undertake. One of them was filling in the names of the states from memory on a blank map of the United States. Another one was to keep a log of my telephone conversations.

3. I traveled more as a child than most people. I spent a year in England in 1965-66, and we traveled through Europe, Israel and Turkey in that year. My father told me I sat next to Nobel Prize winner Herbert Simon at the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico in 1968. I spent a summer in Stellenbosch, South Africa in 1970, traveling around the world and visiting about 15 different countries during that trip.

4. While I was not on the AV Club and the Glee Club, I was on the Chess team in high school, inspired by the Bobby Fischer-Boris Spassky world championship match.

5. I spent part of the summer of 1979 in Algeria, as part of a service team with the North Africa Mission, visiting Algiers, Cherchell and Oran.

6. I studied A Course in Miracles from beginning to end in 1986-7

7. I was one the first students of Steps to Knowledge, receiving a hand-bound copy with the steps in Zapf Chancery font, shortly after it was received in the summer of 1989. I had no grasp of the historic nature of this book at the time.

8. I am the only person I know to have gotten married on the stage of the Texas Amphitheatre, in Glen Rose, Texas, after participating in a performance of The Promise.

9. I am one of the thousands of people with an Erdos number of 4, having published a scientific paper with I. Hal Sudborough, who published a paper with Zevi Miller, who published a paper with Frank Harary, who published a paper with Paul Erdos, the Man who Loved Only Numbers.

10. I have blogged in one form or another from 2003 to the present. Some of those blogs have been preserved at the Internet Archive, like Belief Seeking Understanding and Crossword Bebop. Some have not. That might not be a bad thing.

This feels like a good place to stop. On my weaker days, I’m like the character in the U2 song “All I Want Is You.” Bono sings “You say, you want, your story to remain untold.” On my stronger days, I realize there’s no getting around the words of the American poet Maya Angelou (1928-2014) “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story within you.” Will you hear my story?

* * *

Exploring My Relationship With The Messenger

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Alisa

I am exploring my relationship with the Messenger.

I am exploring my relationship with the Messenger. He, Marshall Vian Summers, is bringing us the New Message from God. We, the people inspired by this New Message, call him the Messenger.

I have a unique opportunity to explore my relationship with the messenger in the current September/October session of the Free School of the New Message from God. This session invites me to engage in a process of self-inquiry about the New Message and the Messenger. So my exploration goes on.

One of the revelations we are asked to read and study is called “The Origin of the Messenger.” It opens with:

People have no idea what it means to be a Messenger or how Messengers are selected or prepared. They want to worship heroes or deny them altogether.

They want to believe the Messenger is the Message, but the Message is always greater than the Messenger. People will base their whole view and approach on their attitude towards the Messenger, but the Message is always more important.

People cannot live with the Message, so they obsess over the Messenger.

I am happy to say that I do not obsess over the Messenger, nor is he a hero I worship. I do not expect him to do anything for me, I do not think he is responsible for my happiness, nor do I think he is responsible for my reclamation of Knowledge.

What he does for me is show me the way; he provides me with the tools to build a meaningful and purposeful life. I am referring specifically here to Steps to Knowledge, but the entire Revelation provides a wealth of information to explore.

How can he do this?

He says he came into the world carrying a body of information within him. In the Steps to Knowledge Vigil held this year from May 26-June 13, Marshall spoke during the Opening Broadcast beginning at the 1.05 minute mark and likened this to a pregnancy. He said he was indeed pregnant, not only with Steps to Knowledge, but with the whole Revelation. And he was literally waiting to birth it. I find this credible. He underwent the preparation, he was uncertain and unsure at first about his abilities to manage this enormous task, but once it started, once it was underway, he had no choice but to go with it, succumbing to the flow, letting it happen. Any woman who has been through pregnancy and childbirth knows this. Any man who has participated in the pregnancy and birth of his child knows this.

I find greater clarification in “The Story of the Messenger:”

Before he was sent into the world, the Angelic Host prepared him and placed deep within his mind the awareness and the understanding that he would later bring into the world—Knowledge and Wisdom from the universe, from the most advanced races in the universe; an understanding of the future of the world and where humanity is heading in its evolution and all of the great hazards and risks associated with this; a greater understanding of human relationships that would give him a greater maturity as he would grow up in the world.

These were all placed deep within him, beneath the surface of the mind—later to be discovered, later to emerge and later to resonate with the Revelation itself. For the Revelation would not be foreign to him because of what has been given to him before he came into the world.

Marshall received and continues to receive the revelations of the New Message from Unseen Ones beyond this world. They are also referred to as the Angelic Assembly, the Power and Presence, the Angelic Host. For me these are names that help to put the unfathomable into a frame of human reference. Just as the name God. I find this credible. I believe people living in a physical reality are able to receive information from beyond this world.

I was moved recently when I read an account by Patricia Summers, Marshall’s wife, of Marshall receiving “The Messenger’s Calling” on September 3, 2014. I find this credible. I have no sense when I read this account that this is contrived or false. I feel it to be true.

I have watched many videos with Marshall’s participation. I find him to be a man with a simple, unassuming, natural, and uncontrived way of talking and behaving. I find the things he says touch a deep chord of recognition within me.

The Messenger also sings.

Another woman inspired by the New Message created this word cloud of questions she is keeping close to her about the Messenger. I would like to share it since these are questions I would also like to keep close as I continue exploring my relationship with the Messenger. I invite you to join me.

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News Travels, Even Among Thoughts

Posted on September 9, 2014 by Douglas

At one point, the Pharisees and teachers of the law requested to see a sign from Jesus. This illustration was part of his response.

“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” (Matthew 12:43-45, New International Version)

In my mind, it is as if Jesus is saying “What would be the point of my performing a sign? It’s not like it would do this wicked generation any good in the end.” But the claim Jesus made that news travels, even among wicked spirits, went unchallenged by the Pharisees and teachers of the law.

News travels, even among thoughts

In the days of Gunsmoke (see earlier post), Dodge City, Kansas was hardly the only town in the region. Great Bend was (and still is) about 80 miles away. Hays City (now just Hays) was about 100 miles away. I can clearly see in my mind’s eye the various villains, outlaws and no-goods of the region, commiserating in a saloon in Great Bend. One of them says “That <expletive> Dillon ran me outta Dodge City!” Another one says “Oh, I wouldn’t let that discourage you. I believe there’s some opportunity here for a man of your…talents.” Talents such as gun fighting, horse stealing, cheating at cards, etc. News travels, even among villains, outlaws and no-goods.

A Course in Miracles teaches that the very idea of private thoughts is an unidea, non-well-formed, gobbledygoop:

“I have no private thoughts. Yet it is only private thoughts of which I am aware. What can these thoughts mean? They do not exist, and so they mean nothing. Yet my mind is part of creation and part of its Creator. Would I not rather join the thinking of the universe than to obscure all that is really mine with my pitiful and meaningless “private” thoughts?” (Lesson 52 (review of Lesson 10), Workbook for Students)

I don’t know if this is really true, but I have a picture in my mind’s eye of thoughts comparing notes with each other, looking for minds in which they might be welcome. Just as the villains, outlaws and no-goods compared notes regarding how welcome they might be in various Kansas towns. News travels, even among thoughts.

I realize that some people may not see what I see in my mind’s eye. But the idea of the spreading of thoughts has been around for a while. The English biologist Richard Dawkins coined the word “meme” in the 1970’s to describe a thought-complex that commandeers a mind to assist in its propagation. It is similar to the way a virus commandeers a cell to assist in its propagation.

American poet Mary Oliver wrote that “news travels, even among foxes, as you might know, or not know.” I realize I’m not being exactly precise in what I’m saying about thoughts, memes and impure spirits. But I’m here to tell you that news travels, even among thoughts. Why am I here to tell you that news travels, even among thoughts? Because I haven’t said everything I have to say about the Prodigal Son.

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Миру нужно Знание

Posted on September 9, 2014 by Alisa

Фото Игоря Шпиленка См. также: Блог фотографа-натуралиста

For English version click here.

Когда я констатирую тот факт, что миру нужно Знание, я имею в виду, что миру нужно Знание в том виде, как оно излагается в “Новом Послании от Бога” в целом и в “Шагах к Знанию” в частности.

Что подразумевается под этим словом «Знание», причем именно с большой буквой, может быть загадкой для многих. Ведь определение дается с трудом. Легче сказать, чем оно не является. Оно не является набором фактов и цифр, оно не является совокупностей данных об определенной теме, оно не содержится в книгах или на каких-либо других носителях информации, оно не поддается составлением схем или график. Для меня, оно представляет собой внутреннее познание, которое вне понимания. Оно ощущается, а не анализируется.

В разных откровениях «Нового послания» содержится истолкование Знания. Мало из них до сих пор переведены на русский язык. Но даю тут пару цитат из тех текстов, у которых есть русский перевод.

Итак, откровение под названием “Великая любовь” гласит:

Ведь, вы родились с двумя умами—с умом, чтобы думать и с умом, чтобы знать. Ум, с помощью которого вы думаете, это следствие вашей подстройки под социум. Это следствие вашего существования в мире. Это накопление идей, ассоциаций и способов мышления, которым вы учились с рождения. Многое из этого является полезным, а некоторые вещи являются рискованными и опасными. Разумеется, вы должны учиться выживать в этом мире—выживать физически, выживать с социальной точки зрения, действовать в семейном окружении, в рамках культуры или даже в религиозных рамках. Вам приходилось изучать, как выражать свои мысли и чувства. Чтобы действовать, Вам приходилось изучать то, что социум велел вам изучать. Как мы уже говорили, какая-то часть этого полезна и важна, а какая-то часть рискованна и не в вашу пользу.

Но вы родились с еще одним, более глубоким умом, умом Знания. Этот ум не думает таким же способом, как думает ваш интеллект. Он видит и знает. Это не то, о чем люди думают, когда они говорят о подсознании. Это ассоциируется больше с вашим мирском умом, или интеллектом. А тот более глубокий ум не подчиняется подстройке под мир. Он не поддается влиянию мира. Мир ему не грозит и не пугает.

Это более глубокий ум называется Знанием в «Новом Послании», потому что он связан с восприятием прямого познания, взаимосвязи, истинного осознания и настоящих взаимоотношений.

Миру нужно Знание

В другом откровении «Пробуждение», я читаю:

Бог дал вам силу Знания, более глубокое знание, и более глубокое стремление разрушить трагедию вашей прежней жизни и существования, чтобы вернуть вам достоинство и призвание, на которые вы имеете право претендовать и цель, которой вам следует служить.

Всё начинается с Пробуждения. Чтобы быть настоящим и эффективным, всё начинается с Пробуждения. Именно здесь Бог излагает условия взаимодействия и определяет начало вашего настоящего путешествия домой.

Вы сами не можете вернуться к вашему настоящему состоянию, потому что вы не знаете дорогу. Вы не можете просто следовать чужим инструкциям, потому что взаимодействие со Знанием и Присутствием должно произойти где-то в процессе, иначе это будет всего лишь интеллектуальным занятием, а не путешествием души.

У вашего мира осталось мало времени. Вы не можете продолжать тратить десятилетия и века на самосовершенствование или разбирательство ваших проблем. Действовать надо сейчас. Время истекает.

Исходя из этого, я повторяю, миру нужно Знание.

* * *

The World Needs Knowledge

Posted on September 8, 2014 by Alisa

Photo by Igor Shpilenok

When I affirm that the world needs knowledge, I mean the world needs Knowledge as it is referred to in the many revelations of the New Message from God in general and in Steps to Knowledge in particular.

What precisely is meant by this Knowledge may still be puzzling to some. It is hard to define. It is easier to say what it is not, rather than what it is. It is not facts and figures, it is not a body of data to be found in books or on other information carriers, it is not something that can be charted or systemized. For me, it is an inner knowing that transcends all understanding.

I find a very satisfactory definition in one of the New Message books called Greater Community Spirituality. Chapter Four is titled “What is Knowledge?”

What is Knowledge? In the Greater Community, Knowledge is the essence and substance of all religious experience. It transcends the expressions of this experience in terms of theology, devotional ritual and spiritual practices, which vary considerably from one world to another world. However, the essence of spirituality—the motivating factor in religion, the real call of religious experience—is Knowledge. Knowledge represents your bond and your intrinsic relationship with all life. Yet Knowledge has a specific mission for you in this life—a mission which you are encouraged to discover, to accept, to integrate and to fulfill.

In other words, Knowledge is not everything within you; Knowledge is your connection to everything. Knowledge is intelligent; it is here for a purpose. Knowledge is the part of your mind that is spiritual and permanent. It is the part of your mind that knows who you are and why you have come here, who you must reach and what you must accomplish. Knowledge is within you now, but you cannot lay hold to it. It is not there for you to acquire and to use. Rather, you have an opportunity to come back into relationship with Knowledge.

This coming back into relationship with Knowledge is not an intellectual pursuit, it is something that requires practice.

Another extremely enlightening book is Wisdom from the Greater Community. In Vol. 2, Chapter 34: Walking the Way of Knowledge, it says:

Knowledge is like a garden. It will emerge naturally within you as you are capable of receiving it, accepting it and experiencing it. This requires desire and capacity. Progressing in The Way of Knowledge requires desire. This cannot be a casual interest or a fleeting impulse. This must be something that you feel is important.

I feel this is important, which is why I am taking Steps to Knowledge and attempting to internalize what they are teaching me. I see this as part of a greater endeavor to sow the seeds of Knowledge in the world. For the world needs Knowledge.

The world needs Knowledge

In another chapter from Greater Community Spirituality, Chapter 23: How is Knowledge translated in the Greater Community? I read:

This will give you the satisfaction of experiencing and expressing a greater purpose in life, a satisfaction that is unparalleled by any pleasure or any advantage that the world can bestow upon you.

In this context, I recalled something I wrote a while back in reference to my blogging in this space, “I have found my participation in this venture to be one of the most fulfilling and satisfying things I have ever done.”

I reiterate these words today as I practice Step 60 of Steps to Knowledge: The Book of Inner Knowing “I Will Not Judge the World Today.”

Once the world has been recognized, you will realize how much it needs you and how much you will want to give to it. The world does not need blame. It needs service. It needs truth. And above all, it needs Knowledge.

I wish to make my contribution to a world that needs Knowledge.

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Less Fussing, More Living

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Douglas

I have started what I hope will become an annual custom for me. It is a custom of reading a book on Christmas Day. On Christmas Day, 2012, I read the book Tales of the Dervishes by Idries Shah. I have shared four stories from that jewel-box of wonder since then.

Less fussing, more living

On Christmas Day, 2013, I read the book A Thousand Mornings by American poet Mary Oliver. I have shared two Mary Oliver poems so far, one of them coming from A Thousand Mornings. I will most likely share a few more before all is said and done, like this one.

Good-bye Fox

He was lying under a tree, licking up the shade,

Hello again, Fox, I said.

And hello to you too, said Fox, looking up and not bounding away.

You’re not running away? I said.

Well, I’ve heard of your conversation about us. News travels even among foxes, as you might know or not know.

What conversation do you mean?

Some lady said to you, “The hunt is good for the fox.” And you said, “Which fox?”

Yes, I remember. She was huffed.

So you’re okay in my book.

Your book! That was in my book, that’s the difference between us.

Yes, I agree. You fuss over life with your clever words, mulling and chewing on its meaning, while we just live it.

Oh!

Could anyone figure it out, to a finality? So why spend so much time trying. You fuss, we live. And he stood, slowly, for he was old now, and ambled away.

What’s the New Message from God angle? Step 124 (of 365) of Steps to Knowledge “Today I will not pretend I am happy,” teaches “Knowledge is not a form of behavior. It is an intense experience of life.” Less fussing, more living.

Mary Oliver has spent a lifetime being astonished at nature, and eloquently expressing that astonishment. As we say here in Minnesota, you could do worse. Less fussing, more living.

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Get The Hell Outta My Mind

Posted on September 2, 2014 by Douglas

The longest running prime-time television series of the 20th century is the American television series Gunsmoke. Gunsmoke was set in Dodge City, Kansas (shown above) in the 1870’s, during the settlement of the American west. The phrase “Get the hell outta Dodge” has entered the American vocabulary. It was the signature admonition of US Marshal Matt Dillon to the various outlaws, villains and no-goods who came to Dodge City.

Get the hell outta my mind

I am writing this because of a meditation practice given in the book Steps to Knowledge. Specifically, the practice was part of Step 142 (of 365), “I will be consistent today.” Parts of the study of the step are two 30-minute meditation periods. The following is part of the instructions.

“In your two meditations, practice keeping your mind steady and focused, allowing it to settle into itself so that it may experience its own nature.”

I believe I followed the directions. What did I get? I saw in my mind’s eye a picture of an episode of Gunsmoke. There were law-abiding citizens in the town, like Dr. Galen “Doc” Adams, blacksmith Quint Asper, and Sam Noonan, bartender at the Long Branch Saloon. There were also various law-breakers who came to town for various reasons. The rule of law was not a well-established concept in that place and time. US Marshal Matt Dillon did his best with fists, guns and wits. He protected the law-abiding citizens. He kept the peace in Dodge City. He observed the law-breakers. He arrested them from time to time. He demonstrated to them in various ways that it might be good to get out of town. Some of the more violent law-breakers ended up in Boot Hill Cemetery. The rule of law was stronger when he left.

Who are the law-abiding citizens? They are the helpful thoughts, or thought forms or practices. The thoughts that encourage me to exercise a little more. The thought forms that remind me to write that thank-you note to the person who did me a kindness. The thoughts that prompt me to contribute to the world. The practices that spark my soul to build more stately mansions.

Who are the law-breakers? They are the debilitating thoughts, thought forms and practices. The voices that promote obsession, transgression and imbalance. The practices of confusion, judgment and projection of blame. The thoughts that generate the feelings of discouragement, depression and guilt.

Who is the Matt Dillon of my mind? For better or for worse, it’s me. Marshal Dillon didn’t have jurisdiction over other towns. It’s not my place to say anything about the thoughts of other people. It is my place to protect the helpful thoughts. It is my place to observe the debilitating thought forms. It is my place to arrest them and tell them to get the hell outta my mind.

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Mystery of Ascension

A great mystery / Is my true self that I bring / From my ancient home

Monthly Archives: September 2014

The Season Of Encampment

The season of Encampment

Новое Послание соответствует нынешним временам

Новое Послание соответствует нынешним временам

The Message Is In Sync With The Times

The Message is in sync with the times

Will You Hear My Story?

Will you hear my story?

Exploring My Relationship With The Messenger

News Travels, Even Among Thoughts

News travels, even among thoughts

Миру нужно Знание

Миру нужно Знание

The World Needs Knowledge

The world needs Knowledge

Less Fussing, More Living

Less fussing, more living

Good-bye Fox

Get The Hell Outta My Mind

Get the hell outta my mind