What Is This Knowledge Like?

What is this Knowledge like?

The New Message uses the word Knowledge in an unconventional sense. It is something much more powerful than information. It is fearless and determined for me to fulfill my purpose, my mission for coming to the world. I can ignore it, I can hide from it, I can bury myself in hobbies, but I can’t extinguish it. But what if I seek it? What if I take the Steps to Knowledge? What if I prepare by practicing awareness, discernment, attentiveness and discretion?

What is this Knowledge like?

There is a certain experience that I feel if I’m not supposed to do something, even if it seems like a good thing at the time. Steps to Knowledge describes it this way:

“Only concern that your Knowledge is being violated will emanate from Knowledge, and then only to indicate that you need to reassess your actions and ideas. Knowledge has a
self-correcting principle. That is why it is your Inner Guidance. If you are going against your Knowledge, you will be ill at ease with yourself, and this will give rise to anxiety. Much of the fear that you experience moment to moment is simply a matter of your own creation, your own negative imagination. But, then, there is fear that is born of the violation of Knowledge. This is more a discomfort than a fear, for it rarely carries with it any kind of imagery at all, though ideas can come into your mind as a form of warning should you be attempting a behavior or a line of thinking that is dangerous or destructive.” (Volume 3, Steps to Knowledge, Step 128, “My Teachers are with me. I need not fear.”)

So sometimes I feel restraint. And if I follow that restraint, the inner ickyness goes away. But other times I feel a prompt. A feeling that something must be done. Not only that, but that something must be done by me. Furthermore, a feeling that something must be done by me by a certain time. It may not be on my personal radar at all. The New Message calls this “the fire of Knowledge.” And in the same way, if I respond to the burning of the fire of Knowledge within me, there is a certain satisfaction, a feeling that when the time comes again, I will respond.

“You cannot be comfortable with comfort alone. You cannot be self-assured with all the trappings of security. You cannot be satisfied with little things because the Fire is there. It is mysterious. You cannot conceptualize it. You cannot use it for your own intentions. You cannot use it to gain wealth or privilege or to win over others. The Fire has its own purpose. It has greater plans for your life.” (Volume 1, The Power of Knowledge, The Spiritual Fire, Verse 6)

But how does one distinguish these prompts and restraints from all the other thoughts? Sometime I doubt. Sometimes I am uncertain. Fortunately, there are certain “signatures.” I experience Knowledge as being relatively terse. “Do this.” “Don’t do that.” “Go here.” “Don’t go there.” “Acquire this.” “Get rid of that.” I consider Knowledge to not talk about the why and the how of something. My mind was made to serve Knowledge, to figure out how to fulfill the prompts of Knowledge. Knowledge lasts much longer than an emotion. One way to distinguish is to internally say “I am absolutely going to do thus-and-such, no matter what” and see what sort of feeling that inner resolve produces. There is usually an inner happiness or an inner discomfort.

Does a restraint or a prompt come every day? It does not. What do I do in the meantime. Practice and prepare. Strengthen my position. Build and balance the Four Pillars of health, relationships, work / providership and spiritual development. I practice to grow strong and competent.

I pray that the power of Knowledge may move through me, and through others, and not be discounted in the face of danger, doubt, uncertainty, difficulty or despair.

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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.

How Should We Then Pray?

How should we then pray?

Many religions offer prayers of one form or another. Many religions offer guidelines as to how to pray. The New Message is no exception. One error that the New Message rebukes is the idea of praying for every preference.

How should we then pray?

“They want God to provide so many things for them without asking anything in return. They do not want their lives to be directed or impacted or restrained. But they want God to do so many things for them, as if God were a kind of servant, an errand boy [emphasis mine] for the shifting desires of the individual.” (Volume 4, The New God Experience, Experiencing God, Verse 2)

How should we then pray? Many religions direct their students to pray to the Lord of the universe, the Creator of all life. But if God is the Creator of a billion billion billion races and more, don’t my prayers have to “go through channels?” Is God micromanaging my life? The New Message says “No.”

“God is not micromanaging your affairs, and changing the climate, and bringing about catastrophe and good fortune. This is something that is just living in the process of life—a process that was initiated at the beginning of time. In this, there is no conflict or contradiction between Creation and the evolutionary process.” (Volume 1, The Time of Revelation, God’s Plan for the World, Verse 8)

How should we then pray? I never pray for individuals or events on other worlds. But what about individuals and events in this world? Should I strengthen particular outcomes? Oscar Wilde observed that when the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers. Maybe I should limit my prayers to giving strength of character and strength of faculty of mind. Such a prayer will never be punished.

“You will have a special practice two times today where you are to think of someone in need and then give them a quality that you wish to receive yourself. Send that individual that quality. Send them love or strength or faith or encouragement or determination or surrender or acceptance or self-discipline—whatever they need to bring about resolution in their lives.” (Volume 3, Steps to Knowledge, Step 121 “Today I am free to give.”, Verse 2)

How should we then pray? I pray that my prayers may be launched and guided by Knowledge, the deeper spiritual intelligence that God has placed in every person. I pray that my prayers my be of noble intent. And to the extent that they are, I pray that they are prayed and shared by other people. I pray that they become part of the culture around me, and part of the culture beyond my awareness.

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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.