Tag Archives: Spiritual Family

With Gratitude And High Expectation

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With gratitude and high expectation

It is the season for the worldwide community of the New Message from God to observe the Steps Vigil. This is a 20-day period (May 26-June 14). In this period in 1989, Marshall Vian Summers received the book Steps to Knowledge. This took place in Albany, New York without any public attention. There are many posts in this space regarding the annual Steps Vigil, here, here and here.

With gratitude and high expectation

Many books have dedications where the author chooses to honor a particular person. Some book dedications are literature in and of themselves. Steps to Knowledge has a dedication as well. I have never gotten around to sharing it, but today seems like a good time.

Dedication

“This method is given to
all students of Knowledge in the world
with gratitude and high expectation
from your Spiritual Family.
Follow the instructions as they are given.
In this way, the power and efficacy of this work
will be revealed to you and, therefore,
Our gift to you will have been given.
It is with great excitement
that We bestow this upon you
and through you upon your world.”

Who are the students of Knowledge in the world? Like gold, they are where you find them. There are students of Steps to Knowledge in many countries, speaking many languages. We are following an invisible light. And yet, we are also choosing to take each step.

Who is my Spiritual Family? Steps to Knowledge speaks of it in a number of the 365 steps. Relationships I have reclaimed over a long time. A group of learners. Those who gave me a mission in the world.

Steps to Knowledge stresses the importance of following the steps as they are given in multiple steps. Sometimes I have looked at the directions and wondered, “I can do that? I must be able to if they are telling me to.”

With gratitude and high expectation. I feel the emotions expressed in this dedication. For me, it is as if it is known that Steps to Knowledge would make people more able to serve an emerging 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.

Another Force Of Nature Speaks

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Another force of nature speaks at Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii, USA

I have listened to the forest, where God is full of life of every shape and size. I have listened to the mountain, where God is full of ancient strength. I have listened to the river, where God is restless in these swelling and ebbing currents. I have listened to the ocean, where God has said with the voice of many waters, “I have work to do.”

Another force of nature speaks

Step 75, “Today I will listen to my Self” of Steps to Knowledge, adds a force of nature for me to hear. Not the feverish little clod of grievances and ailments complaining that the world will not turn on a dime to make it happy. This is the first time the term “Greater Self” is used to describe Knowledge. This Greater Self is united with the Teachers who were introduced in Step 22, “I am surrounded by the Teachers of God.” The Teachers have been mentioned in a number of steps between Step 22 and Step 75. This is the first time the term “Spiritual Family” is mentioned. This Greater Self is united with my Spiritual Family. I am asked to listen to my True Self today.

The point of the Step is to practice listening to that True Self, not so that I can get an answer about this or that today, but to prepare myself for the moment when that True Self offers a thought, an impression, an inclination or a direction. I recall when doing this Step that my True Self was another force of nature, like the ocean or a mountain. I prepare for the day when another force of nature speaks.

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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.

Marshall Vian Summers Questions and Answers

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Marshall Vian Summers answered a number of questions in an online chat session

Marshall Vian Summers conducted a live webcast on Sunday, December 15.  I viewed this webcast.  There were 190 people on the chat room at newmessage.org during the webcast, which is more than I’ve ever seen for a webcast by a significant margin.  I was unclear about the fact that there would be a question and answer session on the YouTube page where the webcast was also aired.

That session lasted roughly an hour.  There were some questions which were answered by Marshall, and those are the ones I’m putting in this post, with commentary.  There were some questions answered by members of the Society for the New Message from God.  There were some questions answered by other students of Steps to Knowledge.  I didn’t answer any questions.  Some questions weren’t answered, but I don’t believe it was due to the nature of the questions.  It was a highly active chat.

The New Message from God One viewer asks “How do you do it?”
The New Message from God Marshall responds: “Thank you for your honest question. I wish I could give a simple answer, except to say that I was born for this and that beyond my being a man in the world…my greater community is beyond” [There are many videos at the New Message from God YouTube page which would be worthy of consideration]

Question: What is your relationship to art?
Answer: Marshall responds: “Art is another vehicle of communication. I love art, if it can communicate something real and important.” [The questioner said “I know you play guitar.”]

Question: When is the great deception coming?
Answer: Marshall responds “The great deception is here, that is why God has spoken again and the New Message is here.” [The person who asked this question also trolled the chat, and eventually left after a number of rebukes. I consider it magnanimous of Marshall to answer his question.]

Question: Will you address where new people should begin taking in your message? Answer: Marshall responds: “begin listening to the voice of revelation which is available to you in abundance…find those revelations that strike you and that meet a deeper need. At some point it will be necessary for you to begin taking the Steps to Knowledge….Become a part of the School of the New Message. There are so many important relationships there.” [I believe Marshall is referring to this page, which contains many different New Message revelations. It’s the page I called “the appetizer sampler.”]

Question: I have completed the steps some time ago, when is the best time to start again? How many times through would be necessary for me?
Answer: Marshall responds: “Start when you are ready and do Steps twice and then you will be ready for the next level, which is Steps Continuation Training.” [I’ve been wondering when I was going to mention that the current protocol is to do Steps to Knowledge twice.  It looks like it’s now.  Steps Continuation Training has 84 steps, and the current protocol is to go through it four times.  Therefore, If a student intends to study Steps to Knowledge to the fullest extent, it could be done in less than three years (two years for two times through Steps to Knowledge, and 11 months for four times through the Steps Continuation Training.  It’s going to take me longer than that.]

Question: My daughter asks if we will be together when we left this world.
Answer: Marshall responds: “For a time.” [The daughter asking this question is 9 years old.  It showed a great awareness and curiosity on her part.]

Question: How often should people do the Steps Continuation Training? Twice over then go back to Steps to Knowledge, or indefinitely until we fully reclaim our relationship with Knowledge?…
Answer: “I [Marshall] have done Continuation Training repeatedly but with large gaps in between. Beyond Steps to Knowledge are the Great Practices of the New Message which are to be practiced in all situations…to the extent that you can. This will build your unique studenthood which has other dimensions to it. However I want you to know, I just completed Steps recently. I always return to Steps…it is ever richer the farther you go.” [I took great comfort in this answer.  If Marshall is doing Steps to Knowledge, that says a great deal to me about its importance. I take great comfort that Marshall is taking the medicine he prescribes to the world.]

Question: “i would like to know if there is another person you are waiting for?”
Answer: Marshall responds…”Many.  Those who are to assist me in my time on Earth have not all arrived yet. They have not all made their rendezvous with me.”

Question: Are most of the students responding to the New Message in these early times ultimately from the same Spiritual Family? [The phrase “in these early times” suggests that the New Message from God is in a very early stage of its progress and impact in the world, just as, for example, Islam was in a very early stage during the lifetime of Mohammed.  Someone reading this is thinking “I say, you have high expectations, don’t you?”  We get that a lot.  Spiritual Families are mentioned in Steps to Knowledge, defined as “your small learning group that have been working together through many ages and circumstances in order to cultivate and advance their members so that your group may join with other groups, and so forth.” (Step 186, “I am born of an ancient heritage”) I hadn’t planned on a question requiring so much unpacking.]
Answer: Marshall responds: “No. This is for all the spiritual families represented here on Earth.” [No claim has been made that I know of as to how many spiritual families are represented here on Earth.]

Question: What is a rendezvous more exactly? Is it a physical meeting with the messenger?”
Answer: Marshall responds: “These are people who have a destiny with me.”

Question: “What are we to do about those who crush us with their evil ways and suppress us from being the spiritual beings that we desire to be to follow the ways God wants us to?”
Answer: “If you allow Knowledge to reshape your life, you cannot be suppressed. In this your oppressors can make you strong and determined. But you must forgive them to have this understanding.”

Question: “I’ve noticed from the timeline of the New Message video, that there are unreleased Steps books (level 3 to 5). Can you give some clarification on their content and nature?”
Answer: “They are specific trainings for more advanced students of the Revelation. They require an instructor.” [It’s taking us so long, because we’ve got so far to come.]

Question: How to present the message in totalitarian states or in nations where there is political oppression?
Answer: “In the beginning, the New Message will most likely move in the freer states. However, for those living in oppressed societies, the New Message can still reach them, even through mysterious means.”

Question: Is there a specific order one should read all the NM books? I found the timeline video on youtube helpful.
Answer: “The core proclamation will be released in book form soon. That will be the key book to read first. Until then, read “The Proclamation” and the revelations that have been released to the world.”

Question: Will you say more about being held back? How do I maintain as I care for my elderly mother?
Answer: “Read, study and listen to the revelation while you take care of your elderly mother.”

Question: I am wondering about those of us who are new students – we need to take time to prepare and yet the hour already seems late. How to reconcile?
Answer: Marshall responds…”You have time, but not a lot of time. There is no time to waste in this regard. Necessity will make you strong. Welcome it.”

Question: please, i’d like to k-NOW more about the “3” GRAND ILL-us-i-ON’s (TIME + SPACE + SEPARATION) … can you tell me more about these ?? -)) [This questioner waited very patiently to be answered.  While this questioner was somewhat…unconventional, he or she was unfailingly cheerful and polite.]
Answer: “The grand illusion is that you are separated from God.”

Question: “Marshall, We are consciously here in a physical plane, are we not also existing in a spiritual realm? Are not all of God creations connected?”
Answer: “You are born with two minds. The deeper mind of Knowledge within you represents the part of you that never left God. This is your deeper nature…This is how God of the universe will speak to you if you are prepared. We are living in Creation, and we are also living in the world. This represents the separation that exists within people…which is the dilemma that everyone lives with every day.”

 

I realize these answers possibly generate more questions.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

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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.

Random Thoughts on Steps

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This post expands on my previous one about my Spiritual Family.

Interestingly enough, at my suggestion, my father recently turned to Steps to Knowledge: The Book of Inner Knowing. A sober alcoholic of 32 years, his previous experience had been with the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and he sent me an email called “Random Thoughts on Steps” on July 23, 2013, almost exactly one month before he passed away, in which he made a few comparisons.

I would like to share a couple here since to me they resonate with topics I have addressed in my own posts here.

The first one goes back to my post called “What is God?” 

My father wrote (the bold type is his): When the 12 Steps of A.A. talks about “a god of our understanding,” it is not the dogmatic separate “Gods” of however many religions plague the world, cause factions, wars,  misunderstandings, and violent death.

Bill Wilson states on p.55 in the chapter called “We Agnostics” of the Big Book of A.A:

“——–deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental  idea of  God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or another it is there. For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.

“We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our make-up, as much as the feeling we have for a friend. Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there. He(She) was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis it is only there that He(She) may be found. It was so with us.”

My father goes on to address humility.

Bill Wilson defines Humility in Step 5 of “The 12 and 12” (The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous).

Humility – a word often misunderstood.

“ ………..it amounts to a clear recognition of  what and who we really are, followed by a sincere attempt to become what we could be.”

“What a challenge,” says Dad.

I am reclaiming my father as a member of my Spiritual Family.

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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.

Who Is My Spiritual Family?

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I am writing this post today because I want to share my recent experience and because the Step I have just completed speaks to this very experience.

Step 186 of Steps to Knowledge talks about my Spiritual Family and about reclaiming unto myself the individuals who belong to my Spiritual Family. The concept of Spiritual Family is first mentioned in Step 75, then in three more Steps (92, 111, and 116) prior to Step 186. However, it was not until I reached this Step (186) that my understanding of Spiritual Family opened in new bloom.

I would like to reiterate at this point that I am a beginning student and so permit myself the liberty of getting things wrong this time around. Therefore, I fully accept the fact that I may be wrong about my Spiritual Family. But my experience is this.

Who is my Spiritual Family?

My study of Step 186 coincided with the passing of my father on August 20. Now I have entertained the thought in the past that the members of my immediate family are people I have known before and so, potentially, are members of my Spiritual Family. And I understand this Step to be confirming this when it says that my relationship with the individuals I have reclaimed as my Spiritual Family is something I have cultivated thus far in my evolution up to this time and will be carried forward beyond my life in this world.

My father’s passing is my first experience of the death of a close family member and I was not expecting to feel what I felt. I felt and still feel the close presence of my father’s spirit, watching over and supporting me, even giving me advice. Paradoxically, this presence and counsel is stronger and more potent than I ever felt while my father was alive. I feel he is serving me and the rest of our Spiritual Family from this new dimension beyond the physical. This is an aspect of my Spiritual Family I have come to understand.

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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.