Tag Archives: Step 92

What Is The Fragrance Of Knowledge?

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What is the fragrance of KnowledgeThe New Message from God goes to great lengths to say people have a purpose for being in the world. The New Message from God tells me I have a mission in my life to fulfill. The New Message from God tells you you have come to work in the world. The New Message from God tells us there is a role for us to play in the world. All these ideas imply accomplishing specific tasks, meeting certain people, giving certain gifts.

What is the fragrance of Knowledge?

And yet, part of this mission, part of this work, part of this role seems to be cultivating a certain way of being. Steps to Knowledge is the book of spiritual practice of the New Message from God. Step 353 of its 365 steps is “My True Home is in God.” The following step is “I must experience my True Home while I am in the world.” Here is a bit from that step.

“In your true home you are happy, you are included, you are complete, you are in relationship, you are a complete participant, you are essential and you are meaningful.”

I imagine that the Garden of Eden must have been something like this. I imagine that the life of the Prodigal Son, in the house of his generous, patient father, was something like this. I imagine that it is part of my role, my work, my mission to demonstrate these qualities. Being happy. Showing my inclusion in life. Not having to do or have anything to feel better about myself. Knowing and being known. Not waiting any longer for the world to begin. Doing what is necessary. Knowing I am necessary. I am told that if I approach Knowledge, the part of me that never left God, I will demonstrate these qualities.

What is the fragrance of Knowledge? I become happier just by thinking about it. I’m working on it.

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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 Did I Get Here?

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David Byrne of Talking Heads, singing "Once in a Lifetime" How did I get here?And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful
wife
And you may ask yourself-Well…How did I get here?

Talking Heads, Once in a Lifetime

I do indeed ask myself, “How did I get here?” Did I come to this world? Was I sent into this world? Steps to Knowledge answers that question “Yes.” To elaborate, some variation of “you have come to the world” appears 20 times in 10 different steps between Step 6 “I have a true foundation in the world” and Step 92 “There is a role for me to play in the world.” Variations of “you have been sent” only appear twice in the same interval. One of those times is in Step 93 “I am sent here for a purpose.”

How did I get here?

The word “purpose” appears 21 times in 13 different steps between “Why am I doing this anyway?” and Step 92. Therefore, I believe that people who have come this far have accepted, at least as a working assumption, the idea that they have a purpose for which they are here in the world. Some people might be sincerely ignorant of what that purpose might be. Other people are thinking “Aha! I knew it!” and believing their purpose is some purpose they have imagined for themselves, or some purpose they have attempted to live for themselves. I have been at both those stations. The steps I’ve done so far have helped me to be suspicious of what I want my purpose to be. The point of the step is to hold a place for one’s purpose, without claiming to know what it is yet.

I find it interesting that the step uses the present tense “I am sent here for a purpose,” instead of the past tense “I was sent here for a purpose.” I believe there is an intention to bring this idea into my present experience.

How did I get here? While I’m a little shaky on the details, I say I came here for a purpose. I say I am sent here for a purpose.

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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 Long Do I Have To Rehearse?

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Nativity Scene, The Promise, Glen Rose, Texas, USA How long do I have to rehearse?In the 1980’s, I participated in over a dozen different dramatic productions with three different theatre companies, including almost 100 performances of the passion play “The Promise” in Glen Rose, Texas, pictured above. During that time, something in my experience shifted regarding auditions. Before the shift, I believed that the audition was where the casting director decided whether or not I would be in the show. After the shift, I believed that the audition was where I decided whether or not I would be in the show, and having a lot of fun at the audition was my way of deciding that I would be in the show. I realize this sounds a little pompous, but I’m not claiming I didn’t have to do the work of preparation. I’m just saying that this attitude allowed me to approach an audition from a position of greater strength on the inside.

How long do I have to rehearse?

I’m telling you this to tell you that Steps to Knowledge has a certain cleverness which allows it to speak to the conditions of many different people. The cleverness is in using multiple words with similar meanings to describe a particular idea. For example, a seed was sown in Step 33 “I have a mission in my life to fulfill.” It was watered a little later in Step 65, “I have come to work in the world.” It is now being watered again in Step 92, “There is a role for me to play in the world.”

I confess to you that when I studied Step 33, my reaction to the word “mission” contained a certain ambivalence. People whose lives are organized around their mission are sometimes called fanatics or obsessives or just plain nuts. As someone who has successfully sabotaged multiple jobs, I approached the word “work” in Step 65 with a soggy, dampened enthusiasm. But a role for me to play in the world? I screamed “Makeup! Gimme the script–please sing that chorus once more!” on the inside. Maybe on the outside, too.

I believe I am playing my role in the world, while in rehearsal for greater participation. There is a role for me to play in the world. How long do I have to rehearse? A gentle whisper says “Not very long.”

 

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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.