Step One Hundred and Eighteen

Photo by Elena Shumilova

 Step 118. I Will Not Avoid The World Today.
There is no need to avoid the world because the world cannot dominate you when you are with Knowledge. When you are with Knowledge, you are here to serve the world. The world, then, is not a prison anymore. It is not a continual source of discomfort and disappointment. It provides for you an opportunity to give and an opportunity to re-establish your true understanding. Do not seek refuge in spiritual things, for your purpose is to give to the world. Allow the world to be as it is, and your condemnation of it will not come back to haunt you. For without condemnation, there is only the opportunity to give. This will draw upon your Knowledge, which will give of its own, and you will be the vehicle for its giving.

Think of this now. Allow yourself in your two practice periods to experience the presence of Knowledge in your life. Demand nothing of it. Seek not to question it. Only allow yourself to experience it, for with this all that you seek returns to you naturally without your effort. Utilize your self-discipline only to direct your mind in the proper direction. Once it is so engaged, it will return to Knowledge of its own accord. For that is its destination, that is its love, that is its true companion and that is its true marriage in life.

Practice 118: Two 30-minute practice periods.

Here you will find the entire book free for download http://stepstoknowledge.com/

Here you will find pointers for getting started if this is your first encounter with this practice: Taking the Steps to Knowledge.

April 15, 2013 Round One: While practicing this Step I was particularly drawn to the words “all that you seek returns to you naturally without your effort.” This is a truth that I want to hold on to because I know it to be true. I have experienced it and recognize it when it happens—it is one of the fundamental laws of the Universe. If I struggle for something, it slips from my grasp or does not satisfy me if I do reach it. The real gifts only come when I stop reaching for them, when I relinquish my control and let things go. All that is required from me is to direct my mind in the proper direction, to allow Knowledge to guide me and all that is truly mine will be manifested. This requires a deep trust.

November 18, 2014 Round Two: I am not really sure that what I wrote the first time actually applies to this step, but what the hey, it has some truth to it.

I am more drawn this time to “do not seek refuge in spiritual things, for your purpose is to give to the world.” I take this to mean less theorizing and more doing. It does not mean making a show of myself though. I can be out participating in the world, not hiding away from what I find abhorrent or not to my liking and still be quiet and unobtrusive. I am not in prison in the world, I am not allowing it to dominate me, I am bending to it, going with it, retaining my integrity, confident that Knowledge is with me, and with Knowledge all is as it should be.
October 27, 2018 Round Three: When I first read this Step, I thought, “uh-oh,” this is the opposite of what I want to do at the moment, which is withdraw and avoid people. But then I realized that it is not about relationships and personal engagement, it is about service in the world. It is about not being so heavenly that I am of no earthly good. I still have one foot in the world and I am not avoiding it. I am not avoiding the world around me. I am doing my work here.

I do not condemn the world. I am here to serve and reap the benefits of reclaiming Knowledge. That is when all that I seek returns naturally to me without any effort.

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