Истина как цель познания

Истина как цель познания

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Истина как цель познания раскрывается всё шире по мере того, как я прохожу Шаги к Знанию. В Шаге 27. Есть во мне мудрость, которую я хочу раскрыть говорится о том, что истина существует, чтобы служить мне. А что это значит?

В моем понимании, это значит, что истина существует как некая постоянная величина, она верная и не подвергается изменением. Поэтому если была ситуация в моей жизни, в которой я почувствовала, что истина меня подвела, то это значит, что я просто её недооценила.

В своих записях к этому шагу, я писала о том, что не помню, что когда-либо истина меня подводила. Я всегда была того мнения, что всё, что с мной случается в жизни, имеет благую цель—истина как цель познания.

В этом шаге также говорится о том, что надо помнить, что истина всегда предотвратит от совершения более существенной ошибки. То есть, истина служит тому, чтобы избавить меня от совершения поступка, о которой я потом буду жалеть. Но для этого надо быть начеку, всегда иметь в виду, что есть истина, на которую надо ориентироваться.

Я писала в своих записях о том, как очень ценю это просвещение, и надеюсь, что у меня всегда будет способность познавать истину, чтобы не тупо преследовать какой-нибудь самовольной цели, без усмотрения нужд других людей. Я хочу, чтобы Знание руководило мной и показало истину.

Я впервые прошла этот Шаг 2 декабря 2012, но мудрость, которая гласит в нем как нельзя кстати и сегодня. Ведь сегодня я как раз переживаю ситуацию, которая требует усмотрения желаний не только моих, а тех моих близких. Я не могу тупо настаиваться на то, что я бы хотела, на свое воле, а желательно следить за мудростью, о которой говорится тут, познавать истину и не заблудиться.

Я хочу отличать истину от всего остального, чтобы не совершать ошибки и познавать её настоящую пользу в моей жизни.

Истина как цель познания

Истина как цель познания

Я должна рассмотреть прошлое и познавать каким образом истина служила мне. Я должна рассмотреть счастливые моменты и болезненные моменты. Как я понимаю, это делается для того, чтобы в будущем я смогу лучше опознавать истину, чтобы не попасть в заблуждение.

Фотографии в этой записи я снимала в Республике Карелия, чуть севернее той деревни Щелейки, где я обнаружила, что заблуждения приводят к истинному знанию. Но в тот день когда я счастливилась наблюдать за этим закатом, я не ценила истину и не видела истину как цель познания. Познание пришло позже.

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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.

The Truth Is Here To Serve Me

The truth is here to serve me

Step 27. I Have A Wisdom I Wish to Discover of Steps to Knowledge tells me that the truth is here to serve me.

When I practice my step each day, there are certain phrases that speak to me louder than others, certain phrases I find myself attracted to and identifying with.

In Step 27, these phrases were:

If you have ever felt that the truth betrayed you, then you have not recognized its value.

I wrote in my notes: “I can’t remember ever feeling that the truth has betrayed me. I have always felt that everything that has happened to me in this life has been for my higher good.”

Yet, remember that the truth has always saved you from a greater error that you would have committed otherwise.

My notes say: “Right! This speaks to me loud and clear today. I am so grateful for this and hope that I will always have the capacity to see the truth and not barge stubbornly on to what I think I want and must have, but allow Knowledge to guide me and show me the Truth.”

I did this Step on December 2, 2012, but what I wrote in my notes is so pertinent to an issue I am engaged with today. I wish for the capacity to see the truth and not barge stubbornly on without considering others. I wish to discover the wisdom this Step addresses, I seek the truth, hoping that I will recognize it and not be led into error.

The Step assures me:

In this program of development, the truth will be distinguished from everything else in such a way that you can experience it directly and will not be confused about its appearance or its beneficial existence in your life.

I hold these words upmost in my mind, for I wish to distinguish the truth from everything else and not be confused about its appearance or beneficial existence in my life.

The truth is here to serve me

truth is here to serve me

This Step calls for a certain amount of retrospection, looking back over my life to see how the truth has served me. I am to look at experiences that were happy and look at experiences that were painful. This I understand to be an exercise in being able to recognize the truth more readily in the future so that I am saved from greater error.

The photos in this post were taken in the Republic of Karelia, a federal subject of the Russian Federation, further north than the Leningrad Region and the village of Shcheleiki where I discovered that errors can lead to true knowledge. I use them to illustrate this post because on the day I was privy to this sunset, I was not valuing the truth and did not recognize that the truth is here to serve me. Those insights came later.

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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.

Can I Take A Step Into A Larger World?

This is the fourth post in a series of seven posts regarding my experience of Step 49 of Steps to Knowledge.  In this step, I am directed to review my practice and experience of the first 48 steps.  I am sharing what I wrote when I did this step, and adding commentary when needed.

Step 22 – I am surrounded by the Teachers of God – “This step presents the Teachers as critters who have just been a little ways further down the road I’m on. I commented further on this step in this book”  I finally got around to writing about my experience of the steps when I did them, when I did step 22.

Step 23 – I am loved, surrounded and supported by the Teachers of God – “I remember finding this Step as unusual (see commentary)”  This is the commentary I wrote at the time: “One thing I find noteworthy about this step is that it I one of the rare (so far) occasions in Steps where something good is said about the student in his current state.  The feeling for me is a feeling of connectedness, a feeling someone wants me to hit the jackpot, to find the great treasure, to win the brass ring.  I have this thought that, generally speaking, the Teachers don’t do flattery.”

Step 24 – I am worthy of God’s love – “I recall having a nervousness about this step.  What great efforts will I have to make to repair my errors?  I didn’t have an answer for that.  I still don’t”  The step said “Your worthiness in the sight of God is unchanged. There is only great effort to repair your errors so that you may experience your True Self so that it may be rendered into the world.”  At this point, slowly backing away from suffering over my errors is a good first step.

Step 25 – I am at one with the greatest truth of life – “I was nervous that the Step said my Teachers are within me.  See above regarding feeling things.”  Steps 22 and 23 went to great lengths to say that the Teachers of God weren’t just mental constructs or helpful metaphors, but actual individuals.  And now they say they are within me?!?  I’ve already written about my issues regarding practicing feeling things here and here.

Step 26 – My errors give birth to my Knowledge – “This step made me have a great deal of respect for the authors.  I wanted to make the pain of my errors disappear, but not learn from them.  They killed off many bad ideas (or incomplete ideas) in one paragraph.”  If I can learn from my errors, I have a good chance of not committing them again.  They killed off the ideas that error non-exists, that error is pure service, and error could be justified.

Step 27 – I have a wisdom which I wish to discover – “I remember the same thing about this step as Step 17.”  On further review, this Step took what was in Step 17 and elaborated on it, so this is hardly surprising.

Step 28 – Review – “I don’t think I’ve had any miracles yet.  I remember being nervous if I had done the Steps as hard, as much as I shoulda.”  The prayer in Step 28 says “I accept the miracles of my life as a demonstration of the presence of Knowledge…”  The word miracle is used exactly twice in Steps to Knowledge.  A miracle is a demonstration of the presence of the great mystery of one’s life.

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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 Want The Strength To Do What Must Be Done

I experienced a certain difficulty finding something particular to say about Step 44 of Steps to Knowledge “I wish to know my own strength.”  I finally decided to just give each paragraph of the step, and offer commentary.

“This affirmation you may find very acceptable because of your immediate need for it in your current circumstances, but the affirmation is far deeper than you may at first realize.”

This is the fourth instance of the word affirmation, the previous instances being in Step 41 “I am not afraid of the power of God,” Step 31 “I wish to see a world I have never seen before,” and Step 27, “I have a wisdom that I wish to discover.”  I believe there is someone reading this and thinking it would be a good idea to harvest the affirmations from Steps to Knowledge and use them separately.  I don’t think that’s a good idea, as the power of these affirmations have a lot to do with the context in which they are found.

“You have far more strength than you have claimed, but it cannot be fully realized until its application is directed in a manner that truly regenerates you and brings forth your true abilities.”

At this point, I’m recalling the Marianne Williamson quote “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”  But we don’t want to have a strength that demonstrates itself merely in using more resources and dying with more toys than a herdsman in Mali, or a Pakistani bricklayer.

I want the strength to do what must be done.

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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 Can Handle Being Taken Seriously

What do I mean by “being taken seriously?”  I mean “being taken at my word, as expressed in my actions.”  Why am I bringing this up?  Step 26 of Steps to Knowledge placed a great emphasis on using error for development.  Step 27 uses the phrase “being served by your experience:

“This point of view of being served by your experience is something you must cultivate. It does not justify the experience itself. Understand this. It merely gives you an opportunity to use your experience for your advancement and your empowerment.”

The point of this is that if a student has come to step 29, “I will observe myself today to learn of Knowledge,” it would be reasonable to think that he is agreeable with the idea of using error for development.  It would be plausible to think he accepts the idea of using his experience for his advancement and his empowerment.  The assigned practice for step 29 is to observing one’s experience on an hourly basis.  The assigned practice isn’t a person, but if it were, it would be a person that takes the student seriously, as if the student was a person who has just done steps 26 and 27.  Got 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.

There Are Some Things Here You Have Seen Before…

It takes a good bit of personal strength to get to where Steps to Knowledge wants to take me.  It takes a certain ability to not care too much about what my culture thinks about things.  So I experience a certain amount of comfort when I see something in Steps which I’ve seen before.  And the something is an affirmation.

Affirmations have been around for a long time.  In some Christian circles they are called “confessions”  They have been a cultural fad, they have been culturally mocked to scorn. Some people have had more success with affirmations than others.  Some people have a greater internal and external consistency with what they affirm.  What am I being asked to affirm?  “I have a wisdom that I wish to discover.”  Out of all the affirmations in the world, this one is only found here.  When I read this, I think “I wish to derive value from my errors, mistakes, wrong decisions and poor choices.”  When I read this, I think, “I wish to experience the love of God which I’ve been told that I am.”

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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.