Tag Archives: Step 64

I Will Practice Today. And The Next Day.

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This is the third post in a series of three posts regarding the Step 70 review of Steps to Knowledge, where Steps 50 through 69 are reviewed. I am sharing my notes from when I actually did this Step (sometime in the summer of 2011) with some commentary.

I will practice today. And the next day.

Step 64 – “Today I will listen to another” – “I was hoping for a greater communication, but I didn’t get one.” The Step said “Allow others to express themselves to you.You will find that they have a greater communication for you than you might at first have anticipated.” Even though I didn’t experience a greater communication at the time, I felt good at having followed the directions. I felt good at having practiced listening.

Step 65 – “I have come to work in the world” – “I got it, but I’m still mystified.” I don’t remember what I was mystified about. I might have wanted more details about my work in the world. I might have been mystified as to how I could be somewhat autistic and accomplish anything the world actually needs.

Step 66 – “I will stop complaining about the world” – “The kids said ‘Yeah, right’ when I told them this step. More ‘observe without judgment.’ I’ve got plenty o’ nothin’ and nothin’s plenty for me.”

Step 67 – “I do not know what I want for the world” – “I spent three days on this, thinking about the uniting world, the intervention, and the degradation of the environment.” The “intervention” is a shorthand term for a complex of phenomena described in much greater detail in the New Message book series The Allies of Humanity.

Step 68 – “I will not lose faith in myself today” – “This is such a challenge for me, but I remember grasping while journaling that I’m part of a much larger enterprise than me.”

Step 69 – “Today I will practice stillness” – “The instructions were ‘Be still, and get off on it.’ I did.” Those weren’t the exact words, but was the general idea. The Step did include the words “Allow yourself to bathe in the luxury of emptiness.”

Here is the word cloud from Steps 50 through 69.

Steps To KnowledgeSteps50-69WordCloud

I will practice today. And the next day. And the next day. And the next day.

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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.

Listening For A Melody

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Makrokosmos by George Crumb - Listening for a melody

In Step 62 “Today I will learn to listen to life” of Steps to Knowledge, we were told to listen, to be present, to listen without judgment.  After the review period of Step 63, Step 64, “Today I will listen to another,” goes a little bit deeper into the nature of listening.

The step doesn’t seem to be asking for what the therapists call “active listening.” I’m not being asked to share what I believe I’m hearing.  The step doesn’t seem to be asking for what the neuro-linguistic programmers call “matching” or “mirroring.” I’m not being asked to do anything in particular to build rapport.

Listening for a melody

I feel I’m being asked to not just listening to the words someone says. I feel I’m being asked to listen to the total package of what they saying by their manner.  I’m listening for a melody.  Sometimes people say things as if the words they were saying were the last words of a patriotic song.  Sometimes people say things as if they were confessing their failure to protect their children.  When I did Step 19, “Today I wish to see,” I recalled this quote from American botanist George Washington Carver (1864-1943):

George Washington Carver was listening for a melody by silently communing with people

“Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough. Not only have I found that when I talk to the little flower or to the little peanut they will give up their secrets, but I have found that when I silently commune with people they give up their secrets also – if you love them enough.”

I consider Step 64 to be a listening version of Step 19.  I consider Step 64 to be a listening exercise in loving people.  The step considered the possibility that the person I was listening to might be taken by surprise, and give up one of their secrets. “You will find that they have a greater communication for you than you might at first have anticipated.”

If I am listening for a melody, will I hear the bending of the musical staff in Makrokosmos by American composer George Crumb, the music shown above?  I don’t know, but I know I’m going to try.

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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.