What The Human Family Must Do Now

What the human family must do now

Sometimes I feel that the New Message from God is designed to be uninteresting to certain kinds of people. To those who covet wealth, the New Message says “What you don’t need will make you confused.” If you crave fame, the New Message says “The Wise remain hidden.” The New Message tells those who seek relationships “Relationships will come to you when you are prepared.” It takes a certain kind of person to engage with the New Message. Therefore, I sometimes wonder if the New Message will find its place in the heart of the human family.

What the human family must do now

But every so often I hear a report of people from all over the world finding the New Message. Some of them come from the relentless efforts of tireless advocates. Others come through seemingly chance encounters. Is it enough? I don’t know, but it’s definitely more than what would have happened had we done nothing.

In the gospel of Luke, many people in various situations asked John the Baptist what they should do to demonstrate their repentance. I share this because I dare to dream of a day when people in various situations ask “What does this New Message from God say humanity must do?” An enterprising student made a list, collected from various New Message teachings. These are not in any particular order.

  1. Humanity must cease and prevent all war. If there is another all-out war, it will be the end of humankind.
  2. The human family must unite to solve global problems. In particular, the climate becoming less hospitable, and the environment becoming more polluted and unsupportive of life.
  3. Humankind must restore the natural environment. We must give back to nature what we have taken. Replant the forests, cleanse the waters, clear the skies.
  4. The human family must limit consumption of resources. Overconsumption is the engine of war.
  5. Humanity must limit population. More people means more consumption. Please note that this must be done in the most humane way possible.
  6. Humankind must learn of the Greater Community. We must prepare for emerging into a Greater Community of intelligent life.
  7. The human family must provide for its members. There will be great stress in the future when certain regions of the world become uninhabitable due to rising seas and drying lands.
  8. Humanity must take in displaced persons. There were many of these in World War II. There may be more in the days to come.
  9. Humankind must preserve human civilization. While not many realize it, we are in a race to save human civilization.
  10. The human family must resist extraterrestrial intervention. There are craft in our skies. There are people being taken against their will. This is not benevolence.

This is what the human family must do now. I realize some people are reading this and saying “Good luck with that!” But I accept the miracles in my life as a demonstration of the presence of Knowledge. Sociologist Jem Bendell said something recently that might make a good exclamation point. “I remain a positive pessimist: I anticipate a very difficult future but continue to hunger for new ideas for how to reduce harm and find joy in the process.”

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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 Am On A Freedom Journey

I am on a freedom journeyI am on a freedom journey

The March/April session of the Free School of the New Message from God is called “The Journey to a New Life” and offers a number of opportunities to explore this avenue of spiritual growth.

One of the revelations we are asked to read and listen to during this session is called “The Freedom Journey.” It opens with the following words:

“Spirituality is fundamentally a quest for freedom—freedom from certain things and freedom for certain things.”

If I am on a freedom journey, I first need to be clear about what I want to be free from and what I want to be free for. At the last Campfire Chat, Marshall Vian Summers said some words that made a deep impression on me.

He said, “Freedom is not free. It must be earned, sustained and protected against both its inner and outer adversaries. Knowledge is free but you must gain the freedom to experience it, accept it and follow it in all kinds of situations.”

In this context, I wish to be free from past restraints, such as taking on too much work, keeping an eye on my children, being influenced by what other people are doing or not doing. And I wish to be free for pursuing a life in the bosom of nature, for expanding my inner journey, for learning to be self-sufficient, for providing food for myself and others under my own steam, and for many other things I may not be fully aware of at the moment but am ready to embrace.

I am on a freedom journey, and it is taking me out of city living to a place far from the madding crowd in the Russian countryside. This is not an escape for me, or some other form of seclusion or isolation, it is the fulfillment of a deep yearning I have felt for well over thirty years now.

While mapping my freedom journey and examining my life to date, I became aware that what began as an echo of recognition during my student days has slowly grown and evolved to bring me to the place I stand today, a place that promises the fulfillment of my dream.

“To really know where you are, you must know where you have been and how you got to where you are,” go more words from Marshall that speak to me loud and clear.

I am on a freedom journey, and I am open to where it will take me. I am willing to learn new skills, to work, to adjust, to be flexible, to roll with the punches, and to take what comes.

The following passages from “The Freedom Journey” particularly move me:

“You must have the freedom to open your mind. You must have the freedom to take the Steps to Knowledge and to allow Knowledge to protect you and to guide you towards a greater life. You must have the freedom to be honest with yourself and free from those influences, relationships and circumstances that deny this freedom or make it more difficult to attain.

“You must have the freedom to be with yourself completely—facing your limitations, your obstacles, your regrets, your mistakes, your strengths, your weaknesses—everything! You must be free from the fear and avoidance—the habitual avoidance—that has denied you access to your deeper nature all these years.

“You must have the freedom to be with others and practice a greater neutrality with people so that you may hear them, see them, know them and be able to respond to them at a deeper level, and also to be able to know how to be with them, how to participate, when to participate, when not to participate, what to say, what not to say, what to do, what not to do.”

As I have been contemplating these issues over the past few weeks, one of my recent steps in my Steps to Knowledge practice was Step 253. “All Things I Truly Need Will Be Provided For Me.” Since the opportunity to live in the country has basically been handed to me on a platter, I take particular delight and comfort in this step.

I am on a freedom journey, and only time will tell where this freedom journey will take me. I wish to be ready to meet every consequence and fulfill every necessity.

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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 Much Of The Message Is The Medium?

This is another post in a series of posts comparing the books “A Course in Miracles” and “Steps to Knowledge.”

Many people have found the literary style of A Course in Miracles worthy of investigation.  The style element I recall the most is the use of iambic pentameter, or “da-Da da-Da da-Da da-Da da-Da” as the rhythm of a line

Every lesson in the Workbook for Students of A Course in Miracles after lesson 99 is written in iambic pentameter.  It was not something I was expecting.  I didn’t even know what iambic pentameter was when I studied A Course in Miracles.  I remember thinking “It’s curious that many lessons have the same rhythm.”

There are occasional, infrequent instances of poetic language in Steps to Knowledge, like this one:

“It [the power of Knowledge] can be seen in the innocence of a child’s eyes; it can be imagined in the greatness of the movement of galaxies.” (Step 235, “The power of Knowledge is becoming evident to me.”)

My experience of the literary style of Steps to Knowledge is that of simple, direct, forthright declaration.  Right or wrong, true or false, it means what it says.  And that is a style consistent with this description of Knowledge:

“All things you truly need will be provided. It is when you want things that you do not truly need that your awareness of this becomes confused, and this leads you into dark speculation and grave disappointment.What you need will make you happy; what you don’t need will make you confused.This is very simple, very straightforward and very direct. Knowledge is always like that. Knowledge affirms that which is essential. Here your approach to life becomes simple and direct.Thus, you experience life as simple and direct.” (Step 253, “All things I truly need will be provided for me.”)

Just like the song on my lips and the song deep in my soul have to be the same song for me to progress, the literary style of a book and its content have to be singing the same song.

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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.