The Gift and the Problem of Practice.

A gem of wisdom

The 2017 Steps Vigil continues and I would like to share what, for me, is an important concept offered by Marshall Vian Summers during Day Two of this 20-day celebration. On this day, May 27, in 1989, Marshall received Steps 36-92.

During the broadcast, Marshall and Patricia took the floor to bring us some important guidelines in managing our practice of Steps to Knowledge.

I received this as one of those gems of wisdom that appears in life to delight and inspire.

Here I offer a transcript of the part of the practice session Marshall offered called “The Gift and the Problem of Practice.” (Marshall begins speaking at the 54.40 mark in the video.)

“I want to take this opportunity to impart some important things to you. Because if you are going to learn about a greater reality and actually enter into it, you have to be able to prepare. And preparing requires that certain kinds of old practice be replaced with new practices.

“So learning how to practice something that has never been taught in the world before is a real challenge. And I feel whatever anything I, we, can to do to assist you in developing this practice and doing it successfully is very, very important. Otherwise who are you going to call?

“So here we are.

“This is the first of a series of sessions that we would like to have with you around practice and life and the experience of the Presence itself.

“So we will begin today with practice.

“This session is called ‘The Gift and the Problem of Practice.’

“We give this gift and this problem to you because your life is important, for reasons that will be beyond your understanding and my understanding. And it is because you were sent into the world for a purpose and that purpose is connected to the Greater Coordination that represents God’s work both within this world and throughout the Universe, far, far beyond our reckoning. And your life is important too because you are responding to God’s New Message for the world, which means that Heaven is counting on you to respond, to prepare and to engage with your greater role as it becomes revealed to you over time.

“That means that I, as the Messenger, and we as the assembly here, and the Angelic Assembly itself need you to prepare and become a serious student and to be successful in your preparation. And by successful I do not mean perfect or to achieve perfection, but instead a high level of functionality, clarity, simplicity, power and honesty. So it is important for you to know here that in this practice you are not doing this for yourself alone. This is not for your happiness, or edification, or even to relieve you fully of suffering, because the practice itself will present you with new problems, and you can suffer over those too.

“Here we are investing in your development and in your future. For our futures are tied together. Therefore we practice for ourselves and for one another and for those who have sent us into the world. If you can hold this understanding, you will find the time, you will find the motivation, you will find the commitment, and it will be a very different experience for you.

“So practice of this nature is clearly a gift, it is the means by which you can reform and redirect your life through developing a deeper awareness of practice, of consistent practice, and by building step by step, brick by brick, a foundation for a greater life, a new life. For to have this kind of knowledge and wisdom will mean a new life, for you.

“I know many of you are beginning to move into that new life and feel the movement itself and sense the change in the direction and emphasis for you, which is entirely natural and which is coming from with you, as if that silent hand were moving you from within.

“This is a gift of practice now also because of the condition of the world. There is still enough freedom, affluence and stability in the world and your life to give you this opportunity. And these are things which may not be available to us in the future. So life holds great windows of opportunity, and this is one of them. This is not something you want to postpone or take lightly, that this window is open for you now. If we could but see what was coming over the horizon clearly, you would know this to be true.

“And the third thing is we have open world communication networks that allow the worldwide community of the New Message to grow, to develop, to nourish itself and to become a force for good in the world. These networks may not be available to us in the future, may not be free, may not be open. Life’s great opportunities come and are gone. Never think that they are always available to you. That is because your life is in coordination with other forces that are moving other people, other beings, within this world and beyond. So Knowledge becomes activated within you at these kinds of times. You become restless and anticipatory. You sense that things are changing. How many of you have felt this?

“But we have a problem with practice. The problem with practice is that you can only practice. You can’t stop practicing. You can only determine what you will practice and what it will serve. You are practicing all the time and you are demonstrating the effects of your practice, though you may try to conceal that, put on a good show in the world, you are still demonstrating the effects of your practice. You are demonstrating these thing and practicing, and you cannot change it. Just like you cannot change the movement of time or the meaning of your mortality. So while the gift of great practice is now being given to you, you have this problem. This problem is an amazing thing. And I would like to read to you from Steps to Knowledge. Step 80. I Can Only Practice.”

Please continue listening to the practice session offered by Marshall and Patricia here.

I shared on the Opening Broadcast here.

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