“How can there not be a way for Knowledge to express itself when it is the most natural form of expression?” is one of the questions asked at the beginning of Step 37. There is a way to Knowledge of Steps to Knowledge.

After the questions, the Step states in no uncertain terms: “There is a way to Knowledge.” And goes on to elaborate, “It requires skill and desire.”

I wrote in my notes that for me desire is the key, I want to find the way to Knowledge, it is the driving force behind my being. And I add today that it is the most natural form of expression. What do I mean by that? I mean that as I continue taking Steps to Knowledge, I feel this increasing comfort and ease, I feel things falling into place, I feel this growing sense that I am exactly where I need to be, doing exactly what I need to be doing. So now I can confirm that finding the way to Knowledge is the most natural form of expression.

The most natural form of expression

I hasten to add though that on the day I did this Step (December 14, 2012), I was baulking and struggling and thinking, “I do not need to do that!”

This was when, instead of entering stillness and engaging in deep meditation during the two practice periods, the Step asked me to take a piece of paper and write down all the ways to get to Knowledge, exhausting all the possibilities I could think of. I was very resistant to this suggestion. I did not want to be writing things down. Not that I have anything against writing things down, it is something I do quite regularly, I just did not want to be doing it on command, and my mind was a blank anyway. However, I decided I should not be so faint-hearted, I kept coming back to the Step, rereading it, and finally took up my pen. And once I started, I couldn’t stop, the words kept flowing onto the page.

This is what I wrote:

Ways to gain access to Knowledge – listening to my inner voice, heeding my intuition, my gut feeling, being aware of how I feel after making certain choices or decisions – do I feel peace and contentment, or is something bothering me still, does something feel not quite right? Being aware of how I feel in general, keeping tabs on my reactions, emotions, feelings, consciously keeping my eyes open, being attentive to what is going on, analyzing my feelings, reactions. Having the desire to know the truth, seeking knowledge, gaining insight into myself and my relationships. Paying attention to what other people say, keeping my mind alert to heed messages that come my way, be it in something I read, correspondence with family and friends, some thought or idea that pops into my head, probing and feeling for what feels right, asking to be shown the truth, not pushing things, not expecting instant solutions, being aware that some of my choices are not based on Knowledge and the Truth and need to be adjusted without regret or sorrow. Always seeking, always asking, always desiring to know the Truth.

And something clicked.

Now, for me, this is the most natural form of expression.

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 was out in the forest gathering mushrooms yesterday and found myself taking immense satisfaction in how adept I now am at distinguishing the true mushrooms from the false. And it’s about time, I’ve only been doing this for twenty-odd years!
Step 37. There Is A Way To Knowledge says, “There is a way to Knowledge. It requires skill and desire. Both will take time to develop. You must learn to value the true and not to value the false, and it takes time to learn to separate the two and to recognize them.”

I could not help but compare this to my mushroom-picking experience. Distinguishing mushrooms from toadstools can be difficult, both look so alike, toadstools often being more colorful and attractive than genuine edible mushrooms, so how can you tell them apart? Separating the true from the false also poses a dilemma, how do you know which is right?

Distinguishing mushrooms from toadstools frequently requires close examination, although I have also found that I can now spot a good mushroom from a distance. I take almost pride in the fact that I have the skill and desire, and that I have had the time to develop these attributes. Over time, I have learned to separate the two (the true mushrooms from the false toadstools) and recognize them.

I am applying this to my Steps journey and taking comfort in the fact that with diligence and perseverance I will find the way to Knowledge, the epitome of the Truth. I will learn to value the true and not to value the false. At this point, I am reiterating to myself, based on my mushroom-picking experience, that this requires time and practice, the main emphasis being on practice.

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.

This is the sixth post in a series of seven posts regarding Step 49 of Steps to Knowledge.  In Step 49, I’ve been told to review my practice and experience of the first 48 Steps.  I am sharing what I wrote when I actually did the Step 49 review, and adding commentary as needed.

Step 36 – My life is a mystery to explore – “I remember thinking the phrase ‘going spelunking in my soul.'” I waited from early 2011 to June 2013 to write that phrase in a blog post.  Part of this step was taking the focus off of life as a result to be judged.

Step 37 – There is a way to Knowledge – “I wrote down this Step in this book,  I seem to think that I need to get high to get to Knowledge.” I wrote down 23 different practices, some of which are about development of character, some of which are about alteration of consciousness.

Step 38 – God knows the way to Knowledge – “I did the Step.  Sometime around this day I got there were Christians who found the way to Knowledge, like Joan of Arc.”  I’ve written two posts about Joan of Arc so far.  I will probably write more in the future.

Step 39 – The power of God is with me – “I did the step, recalling the hymn ‘Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise.'”  This Christian hymn, written in 1876 to a Welsh melody, talks about God dwelling in inaccessible light.  It talks about God being “unresting, unhasting, and silent as light.”  This hymn had a similar vibration to me as the bit in the next step about the great stillness of God.

Step 40 – Today I will feel the power of God – “I commented on this Step.”  The post about tomato aspic is the commentary I wrote down.

Step 41 – I am not afraid of the power of God – “I commented on this Step.”  In that commentary, among other things, I wrote “The separation is insane, and to maintain it, I must spin a hurtful insane mud world around myself.”  Spinning a mud world around myself is a line from a Robert Bly translation of a Kabir poem.

Step 42 – Review – “I commented on this review.”  In that commentary, I wrote “Another thing I haven’t written down until now is that I’m very briefly scanning through the Steps I’ve done so far, in getting to the Step I’m going to do on a particular day.  That seems to help.”

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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.