http://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=Stepspractice&feedformat=atomNew_Message_from_God_Wiki - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T11:11:21ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.35.2http://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Change&diff=6557Change2014-04-21T01:51:48Z<p>Stepspractice: /* The challenge of change */</p>
<hr />
<div>==Directives==<br />
<br />
"You are standing at the threshold of immense change and challenge. You cannot be dreaming of other things if you are to be prepared."<br />
<ref>What Will Save Humanity? March 30, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
“While you recognize the need for change in the world around you, the need to change in how people live, change in government, change in how people use the world, and change in how people behave according to each other, you must really look at yourself. Are you living the life you were meant to live? Are you really being honest with yourself about what you are doing regarding your activities and involvements with others? Are your relationships built on a firm foundation, and upon a real resonance with one another? Are you engaged in work that will be sustainable into the future, given the Great Waves of change that are coming to the world? Are you overusing the resources of the world? What is your relationship there? Are you honestly engaged with the primary people of your life? Or are these relationships only established for convenience and for personal benefit?”<br />
<ref name="change"/><br />
<br />
==Changing world==<br />
<br />
"Everything is changing. Life is changing."<br />
<ref>Where Will You Place Your Faith? (June 28, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
"Everything in the universe is moving--planets, stars, galaxies--all moving towards something."<br />
<ref>[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume 1, Chapter 15: Giving 1</ref><br />
<br />
"The creation that you must be concerned with is this temporary creation—time and space, a physical reality, a reality of constant change, of evolving systems, a reality of contrast and conflict, a reality of life and death."<br />
<ref name="creation">What is Creation? (February 4, 2007)</ref><br />
<br />
"God seeks to prepare humanity for a new world, a new reality, and for its encounter with life in the universe, an encounter that will change and determine the future and destiny of humanity."<br />
<ref name="shock">The Shock of the Future (April 30, 2011)</ref><br />
<br />
==Adapting to change==<br />
"You are so addicted to change. You love change and you hate change. You love your physical existence, and you hate your physical existence. It intrigues you. It stimulates you. And yet it hurts you and terrifies you and disappoints you."<br />
<ref name="creation"/><br />
<br />
“People are losing so much of their [[Life Force|life force]] through complaint and through whining when they themselves are unwilling to make the kinds of personal changes and sacrifices that will be necessary to be a force for change in the world.”<br />
<ref name="change">Real Change (November 6, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
“You cannot change that which was put in place before you came into the world. Though the events of the day and of the year change your circumstances and alter your opportunities, your destiny is still the same.”<br />
<ref>The Initiation, June 28, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
==The challenge of change==<br />
<br />
“It is becoming evident to ever increasing numbers of people that great change is needed if humanity is to meet the challenges of its time.”<br />
<ref name="change"/><br />
<br />
“If humanity discovers that its resources are limited, it will have to change its economic systems, its approach to living, its interactions with the world, its use of resources—everything. These changes are very difficult for people. People who are advocates for change often overlook the cost of change, the price of change, the impacts of change.”<br />
<ref>Forgiveness (October 14, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
“This will change everything for you, as it must change, as it needs to change. It is the blessing of change. It is the difficulty of change. It is what will make you strong and powerful. Do not think it will be easy, for it will not be easy. Do not think it will happen right away because it is a process of many stages and steps. Do not think that you are there already, for you do not know what you will have to face.”<br />
<ref name="shock"/><br />
<br />
"Change is difficult, even under more normal circumstances. It is often resisted and usually feared. It involves uncertainty and often generates blame and condemnation. People rarely undertake change willingly or intentionally and even when they do, it proves to be a greater challenge than they often had anticipated."<br />
<ref>[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume 2, Chapter 18: Compassion</ref><br />
<br />
“Most people are very passive when it comes to change. They will only move on their own accord if moved by desperation. That is a very destructive way to approach the situation. To instigate change when it is necessary means you must trust yourself, yes? You must trust what you know in the situation and yet be quite open to making a mistake.”<br />
<ref name="wgcI33">[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume 1, Chapter 33: Provoking Change</ref><br />
<br />
“There is change that emanates from your wishes or fears, and there is change that is a necessity. Of necessary change there are two kinds: There is a necessity because you are forced to do something, or you face catastrophe. Then there is a necessity where you know you must do something, where circumstances are not so dire as to force you into action. You are motivated by your own Knowledge here, your deep and profound [[intuition]]. It is this state of intuition that We wish to cultivate in Our students, for then they will be able to see with vision the direction of the race and will be able to be very strong participants.”<br />
<ref name="wgcI33"/><br />
<br />
“There are two arenas here for change: There is the change you want to make and there is the change you must make. The “must do” category is the most important, for the things you must do, whether you want to or not, have very great necessity. Human life and development are very much dependent upon this necessity. That is what keeps things moving forward. It is also based upon purpose. All of you have come into the world carrying the seed of God within you, and in this seed is your purpose.”<br />
<ref name="wgcI33"/><br />
<br />
"People want change, they want the nation to change, they want the city to change, they want the culture to change, but they don't want to change. And on top of that they want peace! They want change, they want peace, but change is not very peaceful. When people are facing real change it is disturbing, it is an upheaval, it is stressful, it is difficult, it is uncertain. Have you ever gone through any kind of real change in your life in a state of equanimity? Of course not, not if you are honest with yourself. It was difficult, you were resistant, you struggled, you were angry, you were frustrated, you blamed other people, you blamed yourself. You fought the change, you denied the change, you put it off. Now, tell the truth to yourself here. Was this a peaceful experience?" <ref>Ending Violence Within (August 8, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
==Real change==<br />
“Real change is a change of heart. It is a change in the way you feel about things and a change in the way you see yourself and your life. It is a change not only in perception, but in what you choose to do as a result. That is the real change.”<br />
<ref name="change"/><br />
<br />
“Keep in mind that important change is gradual and often goes unnoticed until its results become evident. Realize that minor or insignificant change often involves great emotional upheavals where people think that something tremendous has just happened. The greater change is deeper and changes everything. Small, incremental change affects your point of view immediately, but its overall effect is not that lasting.”<br />
<ref>[[Steps to Knowledge]], Step 350</ref><br />
<br />
=="Be the change you want to see"==<br />
“People want social change. They want political change. But they themselves often do not want to change. They want advantages. They want social improvement, and they need these as is so very often is the case, but the movement of God must happen within you first. Changing the social order rarely brings benefit to everyone.”<br />
<ref name="impov">The Impoverished & Oppressed (April 18, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
“The revolution must happen within your first if it is to be real, genuine, productive and constructive. If you simply revolt and tear down the walls of the castle and kill the leaders, you simply pave the way for the next set of tyrants to come to power. You have only been used to bring about a transition in power. You have not really made a difference yet.”<br />
<ref name="impov"/><br />
<br />
“To effect social change, there must be compassion, tolerance and patience. The movement for this always begins within the individual, within the individual gaining access and connection to the greater Knowledge that God has placed within you—to cultivate your inner life, to become aware of your deeper inclinations, to still the mind so that you can hear and feel and experience how God is moving you and instructing you in your life, even in the most particular things, the simplest affairs—the inclination to go here, the restraint from going there, the discernment you must bring in whom to associate with and how much to share with them, the need to cultivate a quiet place so that you can begin to listen inside of yourself.”<br />
<ref name="impov"/><br />
<br />
"You may see what is possible for humanity, you may see what has to change, but what will give you the strength to change this within yourself and to become part of the change in the world that will be required? Here you cannot simply say, “Well, other people will not be able to change. Humanity will not be able to change. Therefore, I don’t need to change.” You do need to change. You have not found your strength. Your energy is misappropriated. You are lost in what you want and what you are afraid of. You are committed to things without consequence. You value things without value. You make assumptions that have no foundation and will not stand in the face of great change. You have beliefs that are inconsistent with life and with where life is going. There is great change that must happen within enough people. Not everyone will be able to make this change, but enough will have to, to counteract the temptation to fight and to struggle and to wage war upon others." <br />
<ref>What Will End War (April 29, 2007)</ref><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==Further study==<br />
Planetary Instability (March 14, 2011)<br />
<br />
===Climate change===<br />
[http://www.greatwavesofchange.org/ The Great Waves of Change]<br />
<br />
===Paradigm change===<br />
[[The Allies of Humanity]] Books One, Two and Three<br />
<br />
Humanity’s Emergence into the Greater<br />
Community (July 19, 2008)<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
[[Admonitions]]<br />
<br />
[[Climate change]]<br />
<br />
[[Evolution]]<br />
<br />
[[Freedom from the Past]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Quotes_About_Peace&diff=6556Quotes About Peace2014-04-21T01:45:20Z<p>Stepspractice: /* Directives */</p>
<hr />
<div>“You are here to build a foundation for peace within yourself and within the world, but only God knows how this can be done, and the wisdom of God has been given to you in the power and presence of Knowledge deep within you.”<ref name="achieving">Achieving Peace in the World (September 10, 2007)</ref><br />
<br />
==Quotes About Peace in the World==<br />
<br />
=== Directives ===<br />
<br />
"If you truly are an advocate for peace, if you truly are concerned for the well-being of humanity, and even of your own family and its future and your own city and town and its future, you must be concerned with how you live, particularly if you are seeking wealth or live in an affluent environment."<br />
<ref>The Engine of War (April 17, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
"If you really believe in peace, then you must address the potential of conflict and the reality of violence within yourself. You cannot demand peace from other people, peaceful behavior or peaceful attitudes, if you yourself cannot demonstrate this in your relationships with others, in your relationship with yourself, and in your relationship with your nation and your government and the world at large." <ref>Ending Violence Within (August 8, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
=== Requirements for peace ===<br />
====Stability====<br />
“In order for there to be real peace in the world, the world must be in a stable condition. The world is not in a stable condition. There cannot be competition between nations over who will gain the resources, who will have the advantages, who will have the wealth because that only generates competition, conflict, and eventually war…You must accept that a world in change cannot be at peace because it is not in a stable state.”<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
====Capacity====<br />
"Your natural inclinations for spirituality, for social cooperation and productivity, for political stability and for justice and equanimity will prepare you for the future and enable you to do whatever needs to be done in order to survive, to advance and to bring a greater order, peace and justice into the world. It will not be a perfect order, but it must be a greater order. It will not be a perfect peace, but it must be a greater peace. It will not be a perfect justice, but it must be a greater justice."<br />
<ref>[[Greater Community Spirituality]], Chapter 18</ref><br />
<br />
“God works through individuals and small groups of people primarily. This is what has kept humanity going. This is what gives humanity hope and power and promise. It is Knowledge.”<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
====Necessity====<br />
"Peace is on the minds of many people, but peace is not possible without [[necessity]]. Peace as a goal or peace as an ambition or peace as a wish does not have the power to overcome the tensions and animosities that exist between people and even within people, within individuals.<br />
<br />
"The peace that can be forged in the future must be based upon necessity. It must be based upon a clear understanding that humanity is entering a period of grave difficulty, facing a world in decline, a world of declining resources where many more people will be drawing from the bounty that the world can provide, a world where humanity will be facing competition from other races from beyond the world, a set of circumstances when taken together is greater and more profound and far reaching than anything that humanity as a whole has ever had to face before."<br />
<ref>What Will End War (April 29, 2007)</ref><br />
<br />
===The limits of peace===<br />
“Some people think that peace can only be achieved through victory over an opponent. Others believe peace cannot be achieved through conflict of any kind. So these two groups are in opposition to each other and will find no peace with one another.”<br />
<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
“Regarding your relationship with the world, do not insist upon peace. There will not be peace in the world. But what can happen is that conflict can be minimized through the sharing of resources and by the rich learning to live more simply and providing for those in need. You cannot provide for those in need if you are using too much of the world. You cannot be an advocate for peace if you are consuming too many resources yourself. If you are a big consumer of resources, well, you are making war inevitable.”<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
==Quotes About Inner Peace==<br />
"The question is not about being at peace and being happy. The question is about living the true life. This will give you inner peace. This will give you true happiness." <ref>The Turning Point (January 2013)</ref><br />
<br />
===What it is===<br />
<br />
"There is peace in knowing that you are on the right track. Even if you have much work to do. There is peace in knowing that your life is coming into right order within yourself. There is peace in confirming that your relationship with Knowledge is being honored and furthered. There is peace in knowing that resolution is coming in conflicts and relationships around you."<br />
<ref>[[Steps to Knowledge] Continuation Training, Step 83</ref><br />
<br />
===When to expect it===<br />
<br />
“To finally make peace with your past, you must be building a new life.”<br />
<ref>[[Living The Way of Knowledge]], Chapter 2</ref><br />
<br />
“You will be at peace in your mind when it has given itself in service to the Greater Power through Knowledge within you.”<br />
<ref>[[Relationships & Higher Purpose]], Chapter 2</ref><br />
<br />
“You will be at peace, to varying degrees, to the degree which you are aligned with Knowledge within yourself, the greater intelligence that the Creator of all life has placed within you to guide and to protect you. If you are disassociated from Knowledge within yourself, if you cannot feel what you deeply know, if you cannot follow what you deeply know, if you cannot respond, then peace will not be possible within you, and all you will have are your fears, your desires, your complaints, your resentments and your anxieties to move you. They will all become your guide and counsel now.”<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
===How to wage peace===<br />
<br />
“You become a peacemaker and a peacekeeper in the world as you continue as a student of Knowledge. The stronger Knowledge is within you, the weaker will be your fear and ambivalence. In this way, war within you will be ended and your life will be a [[demonstration]] that war is unnecessary.”<br />
<ref>[[Steps to Knowledge]], Step 288</ref><br />
<br />
“Peace is not simply the absence of overt conflict in the world. Peace is stillness. As long as stillness is greatly feared, there will be war because the struggle for stimulation will produce conflict.”<br />
<ref>Wisdom from the Greater Community Volume One, Chapter 25</ref><br />
<br />
“Peace is a great goal, a significant goal, a goal that many people hold dear. And it is a goal that some people believe it is possible to achieve in the world as it is today. A few people aspire to achieve peace within themselves, recognizing that without that, they will not be able to really foster peace within the world. And, of course, there are people who do not believe that peace is possible or it will ever be possible given human tendencies and given humanity’s history.“<br />
<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
===Where to start===<br />
<br />
“People really do not know what being at peace is like because this is not part of their experience. Even if they have lived in a nation that has not experienced war for a very long time, they are not at peace. They do not conduct their affairs in a peaceful way. They are angry and resentful, even with the very people that they love most dearly. They are conflicted over their personal desires and motives, so there is conflict everywhere. Whether a nation or a community appears to be at peace or not, it is full of conflict.”<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
“So the first objective to begin to build a foundation for peace, rather than merely trying to be peaceful, is to build a connection to Knowledge, to take the steps to Knowledge, because only Knowledge within you is at peace…It promotes peace because it speaks to everyone to become responsive to Knowledge within themselves because there is no conflict between Knowledge between people, tribes, groups, nations or even worlds within the Greater Community in the universe. That is why Knowledge is the great peacemaker.”<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
"It is not enough to say that people want peace, and you should not believe that people have always lived together in [[harmony]], for there has been very little harmony in the world at any time. And you should not think that establishing peace in the world is simply creating a new social program or platform or that it is all about politics or relations between various nations or groups. If people are at war within themselves, they will express this in the world, and they will add to conflict that exists between people."<br />
<ref>What Will End War (April 29, 2007)</ref><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:practice]]<br />
<br />
[[category:mental environment]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Quotes_About_Peace&diff=6555Quotes About Peace2014-04-21T01:44:50Z<p>Stepspractice: /* Directives */</p>
<hr />
<div>“You are here to build a foundation for peace within yourself and within the world, but only God knows how this can be done, and the wisdom of God has been given to you in the power and presence of Knowledge deep within you.”<ref name="achieving">Achieving Peace in the World (September 10, 2007)</ref><br />
<br />
==Quotes About Peace in the World==<br />
<br />
=== Directives ===<br />
<br />
"If you truly are an advocate for peace, if you truly are concerned for the well-being of humanity, and even of your own family and its future and your own city and town and its future, you must be concerned with how you live, particularly if you are seeking wealth or live in an affluent environment."<br />
<ref>The Engine of War (April 17, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
"If you really believe in peace, then you must address the potential of conflict and the reality of violence within yourself. You cannot demand peace from other people, peaceful behavior or peaceful attitudes, if you yourself cannot demonstrate this in your relationships with others, in your relationship with yourself, and in your relationship with your nation and your government and the world at large." <ref>Ending Violence Within (August 8, 2008)<ref/><br />
<br />
=== Requirements for peace ===<br />
====Stability====<br />
“In order for there to be real peace in the world, the world must be in a stable condition. The world is not in a stable condition. There cannot be competition between nations over who will gain the resources, who will have the advantages, who will have the wealth because that only generates competition, conflict, and eventually war…You must accept that a world in change cannot be at peace because it is not in a stable state.”<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
====Capacity====<br />
"Your natural inclinations for spirituality, for social cooperation and productivity, for political stability and for justice and equanimity will prepare you for the future and enable you to do whatever needs to be done in order to survive, to advance and to bring a greater order, peace and justice into the world. It will not be a perfect order, but it must be a greater order. It will not be a perfect peace, but it must be a greater peace. It will not be a perfect justice, but it must be a greater justice."<br />
<ref>[[Greater Community Spirituality]], Chapter 18</ref><br />
<br />
“God works through individuals and small groups of people primarily. This is what has kept humanity going. This is what gives humanity hope and power and promise. It is Knowledge.”<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
====Necessity====<br />
"Peace is on the minds of many people, but peace is not possible without [[necessity]]. Peace as a goal or peace as an ambition or peace as a wish does not have the power to overcome the tensions and animosities that exist between people and even within people, within individuals.<br />
<br />
"The peace that can be forged in the future must be based upon necessity. It must be based upon a clear understanding that humanity is entering a period of grave difficulty, facing a world in decline, a world of declining resources where many more people will be drawing from the bounty that the world can provide, a world where humanity will be facing competition from other races from beyond the world, a set of circumstances when taken together is greater and more profound and far reaching than anything that humanity as a whole has ever had to face before."<br />
<ref>What Will End War (April 29, 2007)</ref><br />
<br />
===The limits of peace===<br />
“Some people think that peace can only be achieved through victory over an opponent. Others believe peace cannot be achieved through conflict of any kind. So these two groups are in opposition to each other and will find no peace with one another.”<br />
<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
“Regarding your relationship with the world, do not insist upon peace. There will not be peace in the world. But what can happen is that conflict can be minimized through the sharing of resources and by the rich learning to live more simply and providing for those in need. You cannot provide for those in need if you are using too much of the world. You cannot be an advocate for peace if you are consuming too many resources yourself. If you are a big consumer of resources, well, you are making war inevitable.”<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
==Quotes About Inner Peace==<br />
"The question is not about being at peace and being happy. The question is about living the true life. This will give you inner peace. This will give you true happiness." <ref>The Turning Point (January 2013)</ref><br />
<br />
===What it is===<br />
<br />
"There is peace in knowing that you are on the right track. Even if you have much work to do. There is peace in knowing that your life is coming into right order within yourself. There is peace in confirming that your relationship with Knowledge is being honored and furthered. There is peace in knowing that resolution is coming in conflicts and relationships around you."<br />
<ref>[[Steps to Knowledge] Continuation Training, Step 83</ref><br />
<br />
===When to expect it===<br />
<br />
“To finally make peace with your past, you must be building a new life.”<br />
<ref>[[Living The Way of Knowledge]], Chapter 2</ref><br />
<br />
“You will be at peace in your mind when it has given itself in service to the Greater Power through Knowledge within you.”<br />
<ref>[[Relationships & Higher Purpose]], Chapter 2</ref><br />
<br />
“You will be at peace, to varying degrees, to the degree which you are aligned with Knowledge within yourself, the greater intelligence that the Creator of all life has placed within you to guide and to protect you. If you are disassociated from Knowledge within yourself, if you cannot feel what you deeply know, if you cannot follow what you deeply know, if you cannot respond, then peace will not be possible within you, and all you will have are your fears, your desires, your complaints, your resentments and your anxieties to move you. They will all become your guide and counsel now.”<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
===How to wage peace===<br />
<br />
“You become a peacemaker and a peacekeeper in the world as you continue as a student of Knowledge. The stronger Knowledge is within you, the weaker will be your fear and ambivalence. In this way, war within you will be ended and your life will be a [[demonstration]] that war is unnecessary.”<br />
<ref>[[Steps to Knowledge]], Step 288</ref><br />
<br />
“Peace is not simply the absence of overt conflict in the world. Peace is stillness. As long as stillness is greatly feared, there will be war because the struggle for stimulation will produce conflict.”<br />
<ref>Wisdom from the Greater Community Volume One, Chapter 25</ref><br />
<br />
“Peace is a great goal, a significant goal, a goal that many people hold dear. And it is a goal that some people believe it is possible to achieve in the world as it is today. A few people aspire to achieve peace within themselves, recognizing that without that, they will not be able to really foster peace within the world. And, of course, there are people who do not believe that peace is possible or it will ever be possible given human tendencies and given humanity’s history.“<br />
<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
===Where to start===<br />
<br />
“People really do not know what being at peace is like because this is not part of their experience. Even if they have lived in a nation that has not experienced war for a very long time, they are not at peace. They do not conduct their affairs in a peaceful way. They are angry and resentful, even with the very people that they love most dearly. They are conflicted over their personal desires and motives, so there is conflict everywhere. Whether a nation or a community appears to be at peace or not, it is full of conflict.”<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
“So the first objective to begin to build a foundation for peace, rather than merely trying to be peaceful, is to build a connection to Knowledge, to take the steps to Knowledge, because only Knowledge within you is at peace…It promotes peace because it speaks to everyone to become responsive to Knowledge within themselves because there is no conflict between Knowledge between people, tribes, groups, nations or even worlds within the Greater Community in the universe. That is why Knowledge is the great peacemaker.”<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
"It is not enough to say that people want peace, and you should not believe that people have always lived together in [[harmony]], for there has been very little harmony in the world at any time. And you should not think that establishing peace in the world is simply creating a new social program or platform or that it is all about politics or relations between various nations or groups. If people are at war within themselves, they will express this in the world, and they will add to conflict that exists between people."<br />
<ref>What Will End War (April 29, 2007)</ref><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:practice]]<br />
<br />
[[category:mental environment]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Quotes_About_Peace&diff=6554Quotes About Peace2014-04-21T01:43:23Z<p>Stepspractice: /* Directives */</p>
<hr />
<div>“You are here to build a foundation for peace within yourself and within the world, but only God knows how this can be done, and the wisdom of God has been given to you in the power and presence of Knowledge deep within you.”<ref name="achieving">Achieving Peace in the World (September 10, 2007)</ref><br />
<br />
==Quotes About Peace in the World==<br />
<br />
=== Directives ===<br />
<br />
"If you truly are an advocate for peace, if you truly are concerned for the well-being of humanity, and even of your own family and its future and your own city and town and its future, you must be concerned with how you live, particularly if you are seeking wealth or live in an affluent environment."<br />
<ref>The Engine of War (April 17, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
"If you really believe in peace, then you must address the potential of conflict and the reality of violence within yourself. You cannot demand peace from other people, peaceful behavior or peaceful attitudes, if you yourself cannot demonstrate this in your relationships with others, in your relationship with yourself, and in your relationship with your nation and your government and the world at large." <ref> Ending Violence Within (August 8, 2008)<ref/><br />
<br />
=== Requirements for peace ===<br />
====Stability====<br />
“In order for there to be real peace in the world, the world must be in a stable condition. The world is not in a stable condition. There cannot be competition between nations over who will gain the resources, who will have the advantages, who will have the wealth because that only generates competition, conflict, and eventually war…You must accept that a world in change cannot be at peace because it is not in a stable state.”<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
====Capacity====<br />
"Your natural inclinations for spirituality, for social cooperation and productivity, for political stability and for justice and equanimity will prepare you for the future and enable you to do whatever needs to be done in order to survive, to advance and to bring a greater order, peace and justice into the world. It will not be a perfect order, but it must be a greater order. It will not be a perfect peace, but it must be a greater peace. It will not be a perfect justice, but it must be a greater justice."<br />
<ref>[[Greater Community Spirituality]], Chapter 18</ref><br />
<br />
“God works through individuals and small groups of people primarily. This is what has kept humanity going. This is what gives humanity hope and power and promise. It is Knowledge.”<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
====Necessity====<br />
"Peace is on the minds of many people, but peace is not possible without [[necessity]]. Peace as a goal or peace as an ambition or peace as a wish does not have the power to overcome the tensions and animosities that exist between people and even within people, within individuals.<br />
<br />
"The peace that can be forged in the future must be based upon necessity. It must be based upon a clear understanding that humanity is entering a period of grave difficulty, facing a world in decline, a world of declining resources where many more people will be drawing from the bounty that the world can provide, a world where humanity will be facing competition from other races from beyond the world, a set of circumstances when taken together is greater and more profound and far reaching than anything that humanity as a whole has ever had to face before."<br />
<ref>What Will End War (April 29, 2007)</ref><br />
<br />
===The limits of peace===<br />
“Some people think that peace can only be achieved through victory over an opponent. Others believe peace cannot be achieved through conflict of any kind. So these two groups are in opposition to each other and will find no peace with one another.”<br />
<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
“Regarding your relationship with the world, do not insist upon peace. There will not be peace in the world. But what can happen is that conflict can be minimized through the sharing of resources and by the rich learning to live more simply and providing for those in need. You cannot provide for those in need if you are using too much of the world. You cannot be an advocate for peace if you are consuming too many resources yourself. If you are a big consumer of resources, well, you are making war inevitable.”<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
==Quotes About Inner Peace==<br />
"The question is not about being at peace and being happy. The question is about living the true life. This will give you inner peace. This will give you true happiness." <ref>The Turning Point (January 2013)</ref><br />
<br />
===What it is===<br />
<br />
"There is peace in knowing that you are on the right track. Even if you have much work to do. There is peace in knowing that your life is coming into right order within yourself. There is peace in confirming that your relationship with Knowledge is being honored and furthered. There is peace in knowing that resolution is coming in conflicts and relationships around you."<br />
<ref>[[Steps to Knowledge] Continuation Training, Step 83</ref><br />
<br />
===When to expect it===<br />
<br />
“To finally make peace with your past, you must be building a new life.”<br />
<ref>[[Living The Way of Knowledge]], Chapter 2</ref><br />
<br />
“You will be at peace in your mind when it has given itself in service to the Greater Power through Knowledge within you.”<br />
<ref>[[Relationships & Higher Purpose]], Chapter 2</ref><br />
<br />
“You will be at peace, to varying degrees, to the degree which you are aligned with Knowledge within yourself, the greater intelligence that the Creator of all life has placed within you to guide and to protect you. If you are disassociated from Knowledge within yourself, if you cannot feel what you deeply know, if you cannot follow what you deeply know, if you cannot respond, then peace will not be possible within you, and all you will have are your fears, your desires, your complaints, your resentments and your anxieties to move you. They will all become your guide and counsel now.”<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
===How to wage peace===<br />
<br />
“You become a peacemaker and a peacekeeper in the world as you continue as a student of Knowledge. The stronger Knowledge is within you, the weaker will be your fear and ambivalence. In this way, war within you will be ended and your life will be a [[demonstration]] that war is unnecessary.”<br />
<ref>[[Steps to Knowledge]], Step 288</ref><br />
<br />
“Peace is not simply the absence of overt conflict in the world. Peace is stillness. As long as stillness is greatly feared, there will be war because the struggle for stimulation will produce conflict.”<br />
<ref>Wisdom from the Greater Community Volume One, Chapter 25</ref><br />
<br />
“Peace is a great goal, a significant goal, a goal that many people hold dear. And it is a goal that some people believe it is possible to achieve in the world as it is today. A few people aspire to achieve peace within themselves, recognizing that without that, they will not be able to really foster peace within the world. And, of course, there are people who do not believe that peace is possible or it will ever be possible given human tendencies and given humanity’s history.“<br />
<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
===Where to start===<br />
<br />
“People really do not know what being at peace is like because this is not part of their experience. Even if they have lived in a nation that has not experienced war for a very long time, they are not at peace. They do not conduct their affairs in a peaceful way. They are angry and resentful, even with the very people that they love most dearly. They are conflicted over their personal desires and motives, so there is conflict everywhere. Whether a nation or a community appears to be at peace or not, it is full of conflict.”<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
“So the first objective to begin to build a foundation for peace, rather than merely trying to be peaceful, is to build a connection to Knowledge, to take the steps to Knowledge, because only Knowledge within you is at peace…It promotes peace because it speaks to everyone to become responsive to Knowledge within themselves because there is no conflict between Knowledge between people, tribes, groups, nations or even worlds within the Greater Community in the universe. That is why Knowledge is the great peacemaker.”<ref name="achieving"/><br />
<br />
"It is not enough to say that people want peace, and you should not believe that people have always lived together in [[harmony]], for there has been very little harmony in the world at any time. And you should not think that establishing peace in the world is simply creating a new social program or platform or that it is all about politics or relations between various nations or groups. If people are at war within themselves, they will express this in the world, and they will add to conflict that exists between people."<br />
<ref>What Will End War (April 29, 2007)</ref><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:practice]]<br />
<br />
[[category:mental environment]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Patricia_Summers&diff=6345Patricia Summers2014-02-24T03:31:37Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>Patricia Summers:<br />
<br />
Devoted wife and primary supporter of [[Marshall Vian Summers]]. She is an Advanced Student of Knowledge and a Seer in the Way of Knowledge.<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
[[Seeing]] <br />
<br />
[[Steps to Knowledge]]<br />
<br />
[[category:the Messenger]]<br />
[[category:support]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Patricia_Summers&diff=6344Patricia Summers2014-02-24T03:31:14Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>Patricia Summers:<br />
<br />
Devoted wife and primary supporter of [[Marshall Vian Summers]]. She is an Advanced Student of Knowledge and a Seer guided by Knowledge.<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
[[Seeing]] <br />
<br />
[[Steps to Knowledge]]<br />
<br />
[[category:the Messenger]]<br />
[[category:support]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=The_Society_for_the_New_Message_from_God&diff=6289The Society for the New Message from God2014-01-16T17:06:14Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>Founded in 1992 by [[The Messenger|Marshall Vian Summers]], The Society for the New Message from God is an independent religious non-profit organization, whose mission is to assist Marshall Vian Summers in bringing the New Message from God into the world, to preserve the New Message from God in its original form, and to learn and live the New Message from God, so that humanity can find its common ground, preserve the Earth, protect human freedom and advance human [[civilization]] as we stand at the threshold of great change.<br />
<br />
The Society's members have dedicated their lives to this, and share practices and observances in accordance with their mission.<br />
<br />
==Current members of The Society==<br />
*[[Patricia Summers]]<br />
*Reed Summers<br />
*Ayesha Summers<br />
*Darlene Mitchell<br />
*Ellen Mitchell<br />
*Carol Coffey<br />
*Ana Burrows<br />
*William Burrows<br />
*Jeanine Butler<br />
*Robert Busbey<br />
*Tyyne Andrews<br />
<br />
<br />
The Society is also known as ''The Society for the Greater Community Way of Knowledge'', ''The Society for the New Message'', or simply ''The Society''.</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Messengers&diff=4265Messengers2013-05-27T17:52:49Z<p>Stepspractice: /* Previous Messengers of God */</p>
<hr />
<div>==Previous Messengers of God==<br />
*Zarathushtra - Ca. 1700 BC <br />
*Moses - Ca. 1391 BC<br />
*Buddha - Ca. 563 BC<br />
*Jesus - Ca. 7 BC<br />
*Muhammad - 570 AD, See the [[Koran]]<br />
<br />
==Current Messenger of God==<br />
*[[Marshall Vian Summers]] - 1949 AD<br />
<br />
== Short Quotes ==<br />
"God's interventions are infrequent, but they are vitally necessary. The arrival of great spiritual emissaries such as Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed represent such interventions."<br />
<ref>A Greater Darkness upon the World (April 11, 2001)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed and all the great spiritual emissaries, both known and unknown, are in complete harmony with what is being presented here. They too had to face dissension and conflict, rejection and ridicule."<br />
<ref>Spiritual Powers in the Universe (April 11, 2001)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
== Long Quotes ==<br />
"All the great Messengers that have been sent into the world at great turning points for humanity, they have had to face this inability of others to respond. They have been persecuted by this.Is that who you are? Will you be the persecutor of the Messenger, a denier of the Revelation? If so, you will not be alone, but you will have failed the test, you see. You will have disappointed the Creator. The Creator will not punish you, but you will not be able to receive the blessings, the guidance and the power of the New Revelation."<br />
<ref>The Voice of the Revelation (April 14, 2011)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"It is like centuries ago. You were having tea at a table with Mohammad, but you did not know who he was. Well, he looks like anyone else. He is not radiating the Presence. He is not so magnificent or so omnipotent that everyone around him is swooned by his presence. He is just a man, dressed traditionally, just a man. There he is. I see him now. He is over here. Nothing special. He had to preach hard to even get people to listen to him. So blind was everyone around him, only a few could see. Such is the dilemma and the burden of the Messenger at any time of Revelation."<br />
<ref>The Initiation (June 28, 2011) </ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"People want the Messenger to be a super person - powerful, magnificent, immaculate, utterly pure, well behaved, in accordance with human expectation. But the Messenger is a human being and is always fallible, but it is the Message and the Presence that accompany the Messenger that makes all the difference. Jesus made mistakes. Mohammad made mistakes. The Buddha made mistakes. All the great leaders that followed them and all the great teachers in other traditions, thay all made mistakes. To live in separation is to make mistakes. To enter the world of Separation means you will make mistakes. But if the Messengers deliver the Message and do not elevate themselves into a godlike position, then they have achieved their goal."<br />
<ref>God's Power and Presence in the World (April 23, 2011)</ref><br />
<br />
"None of the Messengers were gods. They were Messengers—half human, half holy—representing both realities, the reality of the world and the reality of the [[Ancient Home]] from which you have all come and to which you will all return eventually."<ref>Living at a Time of Revelation, September 27, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:the Messenger]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Messengers&diff=4264Messengers2013-05-27T17:51:45Z<p>Stepspractice: /* Previous Messengers of God */</p>
<hr />
<div>==Previous Messengers of God==<br />
*Zarathusthra - Ca. 1700 BC <br />
*Moses - Ca. 1391 BC<br />
*Buddha - Ca. 563 BC<br />
*Jesus - Ca. 7 BC<br />
*Muhammad - 570 AD, See the [[Koran]]<br />
<br />
==Current Messenger of God==<br />
*[[Marshall Vian Summers]] - 1949 AD<br />
<br />
== Short Quotes ==<br />
"God's interventions are infrequent, but they are vitally necessary. The arrival of great spiritual emissaries such as Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed represent such interventions."<br />
<ref>A Greater Darkness upon the World (April 11, 2001)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed and all the great spiritual emissaries, both known and unknown, are in complete harmony with what is being presented here. They too had to face dissension and conflict, rejection and ridicule."<br />
<ref>Spiritual Powers in the Universe (April 11, 2001)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
== Long Quotes ==<br />
"All the great Messengers that have been sent into the world at great turning points for humanity, they have had to face this inability of others to respond. They have been persecuted by this.Is that who you are? Will you be the persecutor of the Messenger, a denier of the Revelation? If so, you will not be alone, but you will have failed the test, you see. You will have disappointed the Creator. The Creator will not punish you, but you will not be able to receive the blessings, the guidance and the power of the New Revelation."<br />
<ref>The Voice of the Revelation (April 14, 2011)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"It is like centuries ago. You were having tea at a table with Mohammad, but you did not know who he was. Well, he looks like anyone else. He is not radiating the Presence. He is not so magnificent or so omnipotent that everyone around him is swooned by his presence. He is just a man, dressed traditionally, just a man. There he is. I see him now. He is over here. Nothing special. He had to preach hard to even get people to listen to him. So blind was everyone around him, only a few could see. Such is the dilemma and the burden of the Messenger at any time of Revelation."<br />
<ref>The Initiation (June 28, 2011) </ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"People want the Messenger to be a super person - powerful, magnificent, immaculate, utterly pure, well behaved, in accordance with human expectation. But the Messenger is a human being and is always fallible, but it is the Message and the Presence that accompany the Messenger that makes all the difference. Jesus made mistakes. Mohammad made mistakes. The Buddha made mistakes. All the great leaders that followed them and all the great teachers in other traditions, thay all made mistakes. To live in separation is to make mistakes. To enter the world of Separation means you will make mistakes. But if the Messengers deliver the Message and do not elevate themselves into a godlike position, then they have achieved their goal."<br />
<ref>God's Power and Presence in the World (April 23, 2011)</ref><br />
<br />
"None of the Messengers were gods. They were Messengers—half human, half holy—representing both realities, the reality of the world and the reality of the [[Ancient Home]] from which you have all come and to which you will all return eventually."<ref>Living at a Time of Revelation, September 27, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:the Messenger]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=The_Society_for_the_New_Message_from_God&diff=3881The Society for the New Message from God2012-10-02T04:43:25Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>Founded in 1992 by [[The Messenger|Marshall Vian Summers]], The Society for the New Message from God is an independent religious non-profit organization, whose mission is to assist Marshall Vian Summers in bringing the New Message from God into the world, to preserve the New Message from God in its original form, and to learn and live the New Message from God, so that humanity can find its common ground, preserve the Earth, protect human freedom and advance human civilization as we stand at the threshold of great change.<br />
<br />
The Society's members have dedicated their lives to this, and share practices and observances in accordance with their mission.<br />
<br />
==Current members of The Society==<br />
*[[Patricia Summers]]<br />
*Reed Summers<br />
*Darlene Mitchell<br />
*Ellen Mitchell<br />
*Carol Coffey<br />
*Ana Burrows<br />
*William Burrows<br />
*Ayesha Uppal<br />
*Jeanine Butler<br />
*Robert Busbey<br />
*Tyyne Andrews<br />
<br />
The Society is also known as ''The Society for the Greater Community Way of Knowledge'', ''The Society for the New Message'', or simply ''The Society''.</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Invocative_Language&diff=3600Invocative Language2012-04-23T01:24:50Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>"An ancient language that has not originated in any world.This language represents the language of Knowledge and serves all those who speak a language and who still need a language to communicate."<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 296</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Words which you have not used for centuries, but which will become familiar to you as they resonate deeply within your mind"<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 299</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Singing takes you out of your mind." <ref>Marshall Vian Summers</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Examples==<br />
''Rahn'':<br />
"This word will serve to stimulate Ancient Knowledge within you and give you the strength that you most need at this time."<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 134</ref> "Rahn connects us with the power and movement in the universe and with those individuals and assemblies of individuals who have attained a high state." <ref>Marshall Vian Summers</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Nasi Novare Coram'':<br />
“'The presence of the Teachers of God is with me.'”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 296</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Novre Novre Comey Na Vera Te Novre'':<br />
"speaks of the power of stillness within your mind and the power that the stillness within your mind will have within the world"<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 297</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Mavran Mavran Conay Mavran'':<br />
"calls upon those who practice Knowledge with you in the Greater Community so that the<br />
strength of their undertaking and their great achievements may embellish all of your attempts and all of your practices as a student of Knowledge.Today’s invocation engages your mind with all minds which are engaged in the reclamation of Knowledge in the universe"<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 298</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Nome Nome Cono Na Vera Te Nome'':<br />
"calls upon the power of others’ endeavors in the reclamation of Knowledge to assist you in your own."<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 299</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Raye Navar'':<br />
"Raye Navar means, in a rough sense at least, to shed the mind"<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from the Greater Community]]'' Volume 1, Chapter 18: Higher Education</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Aile Aile Contreyana Misu Veda Misu Veda'':<br />
"Listen to the voice within, it is the voice of Knowledge."<br />
<ref>[[Marshall Vian Summers]] (circa 2005)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Rahn Ekan Novay Trenansa, Misu Veda Maya Toom'':<br />
"We call upon the power of those who have achieved the state of Knowledge within the world and beyond to assist us in this great mission of bringing the Way of Knowledge into the world."<br />
<ref>[[Marshall Vian Summers]]</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Cay Mavran Tomay Naya Tay - Coma Navran Tay Misu Veda Re Tranan'':<br />
"Beyond all boundaries of race and tolerance, the Way of Knowledge flows to those who can receive it well."<br />
<ref>[[Marshall Vian Summers]]</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Retreana Carvedan Celton Iy''<br />
<br />
<br />
''Nasi Novare Coram Novre Novre, Cona Na Vera Te Novre Novre''<br />
<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:the Greater Community]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Invocative_Language&diff=3599Invocative Language2012-04-23T01:23:25Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>"An ancient language that has not originated in any world.This language represents the language of Knowledge and serves all those who speak a language and who still need a language to communicate."<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 296</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Words which you have not used for centuries, but which will become familiar to you as they resonate deeply within your mind"<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 299</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Singing takes you out of your mind." <ref>Marshall Vian Summers</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Examples==<br />
''Rahn'':<br />
"This word will serve to stimulate Ancient Knowledge within you and give you the strength that you most need at this time."<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 134</ref> "Rahn connects us with the power and movement in the universe and with those individuals and assemblies of individuals who have attained a high state." <ref>Marshall Vian Summers</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Nasi Novare Coram'':<br />
“'The presence of the Teachers of God is with me.'”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 296</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Novre Novre Comey Na Vera Te Novre'':<br />
"speaks of the power of stillness within your mind and the power that the stillness within your mind will have within the world"<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 297</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Mavran Mavran Conay Mavran'':<br />
"calls upon those who practice Knowledge with you in the Greater Community so that the<br />
strength of their undertaking and their great achievements may embellish all of your attempts and all of your practices as a student of Knowledge.Today’s invocation engages your mind with all minds which are engaged in the reclamation of Knowledge in the universe"<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 298</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Nome Nome Cono Na Vera Te Nome'':<br />
"calls upon the power of others’ endeavors in the reclamation of Knowledge to assist you in your own."<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 299</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Raye Navar'':<br />
"Raye Navar means, in a rough sense at least, to shed the mind"<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from the Greater Community]]'' Volume 1, Chapter 18: Higher Education</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Aile Aile Contreyana Misu Veda Misu Veda'':<br />
"Listen to the voice within, it is the voice of Knowledge."<br />
<ref>[[Marshall Vian Summers]] (circa 2005)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Rahn Ekan Novay Trenansa, Misu Veda Maya Toom'':<br />
"We call upon the power of those who have achieved the state of Knowledge within the world and beyond to assist us in this great mission of bringing the Way of Knowledge into the world."<br />
<ref>[[Marshall Vian Summers]]</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Cay Mavran Tomay Naya Tay - Coma Navran Tay Misu Veda Re Tranan":<br />
"Beyond all boundaries of race and tolerance, the Way of Knowledge flows to those who can receive it well."<br />
<ref>[[Marshall Vian Summers]]</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Retreana Carvedan Celton Iy''<br />
<br />
<br />
''Nasi Novare Coram Novre Novre, Cona Na Vera Te Novre Novre''<br />
<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:the Greater Community]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Invocative_Language&diff=3598Invocative Language2012-04-23T01:22:21Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>"An ancient language that has not originated in any world.This language represents the language of Knowledge and serves all those who speak a language and who still need a language to communicate."<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 296</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Words which you have not used for centuries, but which will become familiar to you as they resonate deeply within your mind"<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 299</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Singing takes you out of your mind." <ref>Marshall Vian Summers</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Examples==<br />
''Rahn'':<br />
"This word will serve to stimulate Ancient Knowledge within you and give you the strength that you most need at this time."<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 134</ref> "Rahn connects us with the power and movement in the universe and with those individuals and assemblies of individuals who have attained a high state." <ref>Marshall Vian Summers</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Nasi Novare Coram'':<br />
“'The presence of the Teachers of God is with me.'”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 296</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Novre Novre Comey Na Vera Te Novre'':<br />
"speaks of the power of stillness within your mind and the power that the stillness within your mind will have within the world"<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 297</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Mavran Mavran Conay Mavran'':<br />
"calls upon those who practice Knowledge with you in the Greater Community so that the<br />
strength of their undertaking and their great achievements may embellish all of your attempts and all of your practices as a student of Knowledge.Today’s invocation engages your mind with all minds which are engaged in the reclamation of Knowledge in the universe"<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 298</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Nome Nome Cono Na Vera Te Nome'':<br />
"calls upon the power of others’ endeavors in the reclamation of Knowledge to assist you in your own."<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 299</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Raye Navar'':<br />
"Raye Navar means, in a rough sense at least, to shed the mind"<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from the Greater Community]]'' Volume 1, Chapter 18: Higher Education</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Aile Aile Contreyana Misu Veda Misu Veda'':<br />
"Listen to the voice within, it is the voice of Knowledge."<br />
<ref>[[Marshall Vian Summers]] (circa 2005)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Rahn Ekan Novay Trenansa, Misu Veda Maya Toom''<br />
"We call upon the power of those who have achieved the state of Knowledge within the world and beyond to assist us in this great mission of bringing the Way of Knowledge into the world."<br />
<ref>[[Marshall Vian Summers]]</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Cay Mavran Tomay Naya Tay - Coma Navran Tay Misu Veda Re Tranan"<br />
"Beyond all boundaries of race and tolerance, the Way of Knowledge flows to those who can receive it well."<br />
<ref>[[Marshall Vian Summers]]</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
''Retreana Carvedan Celton Iy''<br />
<br />
<br />
''Nasi Novare Coram Novre Novre, Cona Na Vera Te Novre Novre''<br />
<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:the Greater Community]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Invocative_Language&diff=3597Invocative Language2012-04-23T01:21:25Z<p>Stepspractice: /* Examples */</p>
<hr />
<div>"An ancient language that has not originated in any world.This language represents the language of Knowledge and serves all those who speak a language and who still need a language to communicate."<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 296</ref><br />
<br />
"Words which you have not used for centuries, but which will become familiar to you as they resonate deeply within your mind"<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 299</ref><br />
<br />
"Singing takes you out of your mind." <ref>Marshall Vian Summers</ref><br />
<br />
==Examples==<br />
''Rahn'':<br />
"This word will serve to stimulate Ancient Knowledge within you and give you the strength that you most need at this time."<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 134</ref> "Rahn connects us with the power and movement in the universe and with those individuals and assemblies of individuals who have attained a high state." <ref>Marshall Vian Summers</ref><br />
<br />
''Nasi Novare Coram'':<br />
“'The presence of the Teachers of God is with me.'”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 296</ref><br />
<br />
''Novre Novre Comey Na Vera Te Novre'':<br />
"speaks of the power of stillness within your mind and the power that the stillness within your mind will have within the world"<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 297</ref><br />
<br />
''Mavran Mavran Conay Mavran'':<br />
"calls upon those who practice Knowledge with you in the Greater Community so that the<br />
strength of their undertaking and their great achievements may embellish all of your attempts and all of your practices as a student of Knowledge.Today’s invocation engages your mind with all minds which are engaged in the reclamation of Knowledge in the universe"<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 298</ref><br />
<br />
''Nome Nome Cono Na Vera Te Nome'':<br />
"calls upon the power of others’ endeavors in the reclamation of Knowledge to assist you in your own."<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 299</ref><br />
<br />
''Raye Navar'':<br />
"Raye Navar means, in a rough sense at least, to shed the mind"<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from the Greater Community]]'' Volume 1, Chapter 18: Higher Education</ref><br />
<br />
''Aile Aile Contreyana Misu Veda Misu Veda'':<br />
"Listen to the voice within, it is the voice of Knowledge."<br />
<ref>[[Marshall Vian Summers]] (circa 2005)</ref><br />
<br />
''Rahn Ekan Novay Trenansa, Misu Veda Maya Toom''<br />
"We call upon the power of those who have achieved the state of Knowledge within the world and beyond to assist us in this great mission of bringing the Way of Knowledge into the world."<br />
<ref>[[Marshall Vian Summers]]</ref><br />
<br />
"Cay Mavran Tomay Naya Tay - Coma Navran Tay Misu Veda Re Tranan"<br />
"Beyond all boundaries of race and tolerance, the Way of Knowledge flows to those who can receive it well."<br />
<ref>[[Marshall Vian Summers]]</ref><br />
<br />
''Retreana Carvedan Celton Iy''<br />
<br />
''Nasi Novare Coram Novre Novre, Cona Na Vera Te Novre Novre''<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:the Greater Community]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=God&diff=2904God2012-01-05T03:41:11Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>God is the Creator of the universe and the source of [[Knowledge]] in all sentient beings.<br />
<br />
== The Nature of God ==<br />
"God is not capable of anger."<br />
<ref>''[[Relationships & Higher Purpose]]'', chap. 8, p. 65</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"We have spoken of God as a great attraction, as a force pulling and drawing people. That is a good analogy because it allows God to be as great and as mysterious as God is. That is to acknowledge that God in the world is a force in motion. It is here to do something. It moves people to go along at Its pace. It ignites people, sets people in motion and cares for people."<br />
<ref>Wisdom from the Greater Community Volume One, Chapter 13</ref><br />
<br />
==Relationship with God== <br />
"To understand God’s work in the world, you must understand God’s work in the entire universe."<br />
<ref>God, Knowledge, and the Angelic Presence, 9/17/08</ref><br />
<br />
"Believing in God may be preliminary to knowing God, but believing and knowing are not the same. Many people claim they believe in God, either because they believe or because they are afraid not to believe. However, to know God is to come into relationship with God."<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'', chap. 9</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"God is so close to you, and yet so vast and magnificent and incomprehensible. Your connection to God is at the very center of your being, but you live your life at the surface of the mind, held there by your fascination and fear of the world."<br />
<ref>The Future of Humanity, May 12, 2010</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"It is the Greater Power of [[Knowledge]]—the mystery, the evidence of things unseen—that must be the focus of your [[faith]], that must be the heart of your [[religion]], that must be the source of your encouragement, your [[wisdom]] and your guidance."<br />
<ref>The Great Faith, April 25, 2007</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"If God speaks again, who can respond?<br />
If God shows things that have never been shown before, who is willing to see this?<br />
If God defies religious belief and expectations, who has the courage and the humility to be prepared to receive this?<br />
If God calls you to a higher service and position in life, who is willing to undergo this process of change, a process they cannot control and cannot even really understand?<br />
Who is willing and able to do this?"<br />
<ref>God's Power and Presence in the World, April 23, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
== Metaphors ==<br />
"The emphasis here is for you to reach that vantage point where you can see your relationship with God and with yourself clearly while you are in the world. It is from this vantage point that you will be able to see the relationship of all things. Like climbing a great mountain, you must reach a certain position where the relationship of that mountain to everything around it becomes self-evident."<br />
<ref>''[[Relationship & Higher Purpose]]'', chap. 1, p. 2</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"God is like the air. Everyone breathes the air, but few pay any attention to it. Everyone is sustained every moment with every breath. Their bodies depend upon each breath in order to live in the next moment. Cut off this supply of air and the person dies quickly and everything comes to an end. God is like that—so pervasive, so present, so supportive and so nourishing."<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'', chap.9, p. 106</ref><br />
<br />
==Short Quotes==<br />
"God is the experience of total relationship."<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'', chap. 1, p. 1</ref><br />
<br />
"God is not a person or a personage or a personality or a singular awareness. To think like this is to underestimate the Creator and to overestimate yourself."<br />
<ref>The Recitation, April 1, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"There is nothing in the universe that God is not aware of."<br />
<ref>Entering the Greater Community, May 27, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
"Here the New God is the old God, unveiled and clarified, not clothed in ancient understandings or ancient mythologies. For there is only one God, and that is the God of all the Universes..."<br />
<ref>The New God, February 12, 2009</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"God has no wrath."<br />
<ref>The Engine of War, April 17, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
==Long Quotes==<br />
"God did not create your social personality.<br />
God did not create your ideas and beliefs.<br />
God did not create your decisions, your failures and your regrets.<br />
God can only speak to what God created in you, which is something deeper, more pervasive and more natural within you.<br />
The New Message is calling to you."<br />
<ref>The Recitation, April 1, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"You are no longer dealing with a local god, a local deity, a god of the hill and the tree, a god of the ocean and the river.<br />
You are not even dealing with the god of one world and one people, as you are accustomed to think.<br />
Now you are dealing with a God of all the universes and Creation beyond the universes, a God so great that your mind can only fall down in praise.<br />
Not a human God. Not a God that you create in your own imagination, but a God that you must experience at a deeper level, beneath and beyond the limits of your surface mind.<br />
For you to comprehend the God of the Greater Community, then you must comprehend the Voice of the Revelation."<br />
<ref>The Voice of the Revelation, April 14, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"God is moving humanity in a new direction. It is time to prepare, to receive and to support the Revelation. People will complain. They will protest. They will resist. They will accuse the Messenger. They will denounce the Revelation. Unable to respond, unwilling to reconsider their life and their ideas, they will resist. This always happens at the time of Revelation. Those who have the greatest investment in the past will resist the new world and everything in it. They cannot see. They will not know. They do not have the courage to reconsider their position. They do not have the humility to stand in the face of the Revelation. What can God do for them? They asked so much from the Creator, but they cannot respond to the Creator’s response. What can God do for them? Be amongst the first to respond so that your greater gifts in life may be established and have an opportunity to come forth in the days and the years of your life. This is the power of Revelation—to unleash wisdom and Knowledge that humanity desperately needs now to prepare for a future that will be unlike the past. The blessings are with you. The power of redemption is within you, in Knowledge within you."<br />
<ref>God Is Moving Humanity in a New Direction, April 22, 2011</ref><br />
<!--move content to "The Messenger"?--><br />
<br />
"God loves humanity. God is not angry with humanity. God knows exactly what humanity is prone to do under difficult circumstances, so God provides what is necessary to guide the human family, without taking from you your own responsibility as an individual, as a citizen and as a member of a group or a nation."<br />
<ref>The Engine of War, April 17, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==What is God?==<br />
"You must think of God now in [[the Greater Community]] - not a human God, not a God of your written history, not a God of your trials and tribulations, but a God for all time, for all races, for all dimensions, for those who are primitve and for those who are advanced, for those who think like you and for those who think so differenlty, for those who believe and for those for whom belief is inexplicable. This is God in [[the Greater Community]]. And this is where you must begin."<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'', chap. 1, p. 2</ref><br />
<br />
==Excerts==<br />
“All the seeming power of your world, the forces of nature, the inevitability of your death, the ever-present threat of illness and loss and destruction, and all appearances of conflict are all temporary movements in the great stillness of God.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 40</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“The Presence of God is first experienced as emptiness because it lacks movement, and then within this emptiness, you begin to feel the Presence that permeates all things and that gives all meaning in life.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 69</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Through Knowledge you can feel the Presence of all relationships. This is the experience of God.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 169</ref><br />
<br />
“This Greater Power in the world requires that you be prepared to receive it and to express it. You are its voice; your hands are its hands; your eyes are its eyes; your ears are its ears; your movement is its movement. It relies upon your preparation and upon your demonstration, as you rely upon it for certainty and as you rely upon it for purpose, meaning and direction. Thus it is through this reliance upon Knowledge and Knowledge’s reliance upon you that your union with Knowledge is made complete.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 318</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“God’s Presence is permanent. The world itself is temporary. The physical universe is temporary. God’s Presence is permanent. Can you then see what is great and what is small? Can you then see that which gives and that which must learn to receive? Can you then realize the importance of your preparation? Can you then realize the importance of your service in the world?”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 339</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“The Creator uses everything for a greater purpose. The Creator does not come in and destroy the wicked and take control of everyone and everything and force a unity that people would resist and could not choose for themselves. Instead, everything is set in motion for redemption, for reunion, for contribution, for empowerment, for forgiveness, for true recognition.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]] Continuation Training'', Step 13</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“God does what works, even if it is incomprehensible to those who are destined to be its beneficiaries.”<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'', Chapter 6</ref><br />
<br />
“In coming into meaningful relationship with another, you will feel God. In telling the truth where the truth needs to be told, you will feel God. In experiencing gratitude for something that has been done for you, even on a mundane level, you will feel God. This is how God is recognized and experienced.”<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'', Chapter 9</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Do you see? The Greater Community will change your ideas about God completely. It will change your ideas about religion completely. You will see that God is not preoccupied with humans. You will see that God is something bigger than what you have ever considered, and you will have to think as a participant in a Greater Reality. This is a great blessing.”<br />
<br />
“God has given this world everything it needs. Now it must use what has been given. God has given this world purpose. God has given this world evolution. God has given this world spiritual assistance of tremendous magnitude. God has planted purpose within you. God has given you life. God has given you Knowledge so that you may fulfill your part in this world at this time.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 3</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“People are very adamant that God should come and make the world exactly the way they want it, but God has other plans. God’s intention is to free everyone here so that they may return to their Ancient Home. So instead of making the world a perfect place for your separation to exist, God has set in motion the forces to break your separation down. Very loving this is.”<br />
<br />
“God is only interested in re-establishing communication with you. That is all that matters because that is the universe. What can you hope to accomplish here without that? Your span of years is quite brief. Your environment is far more powerful than you are, or seemingly so. There are countless adversities to undermine your progress. There must be something else. This then is where your trust must be directed.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 4</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“God’s Purpose here is to unburden you and prepare you for true relationship, because you will not be able to do anything in life without true relationship.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 12</ref><br />
<br />
“The great gulf between you and God must be filled in with reality. The assumption is always made that there is you and there is God, and you are small and God is great. But between you and God is all of life’s evolution—an expanding network of relationships. It is through this network that you must pass.”<br />
<br />
“God is always pumping life into life, essence into form. When things begin to die, individuals are sent into the world to bring new life.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 16</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“God works mysteriously. God is like a great attraction without a marquee or a billboard. God is pulling you along incessantly.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 18</ref><br />
<br />
“As Knowledge is the Mind behind your mind, so there is a Mind behind your Knowledge, and this Mind is God.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 19</ref><br />
<br />
“God is here. Yet no one can be still. Relationship is here. Yet no one can feel it. Your Teachers are with you, but your eyes are moving too fast.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 20</ref><br />
<br />
“People often think of God as a giant welfare system—spiritual welfare! You just sign up and then you collect your checks, and you receive your dispensations, and you are given your gifts and your miracles. You just have to believe in the system. Then God will come and serve you and do all these little things for you, as if God had nothing better to do in the universe than to cater to your wishes! Only a pathetic God would be so involved!”<br />
<ref>''[[Living The Way of Knowledge]]'', Chapter 4</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Your Spiritual Family beyond the world is supporting your spiritual development by communicating to you through the Mental Environment. The Unseen Ones are supporting your spiritual development by overseeing your participation in the world and by participating with you at the critical turning points of your life. And the Creator is supporting your spiritual development because the Creator has given you Knowledge—a pure, guiding intelligence within you. Beyond the reach of the world and worldly contamination, it remains ever pure and ever complete within you.”<br />
<ref>''[[Living The Way of Knowledge]]'', Chapter 5</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Your relationship with God indicates that you are here in the world for a purpose.”<br />
<br />
“God has a Mind, a Will and a Purpose. In its totality, this is incomprehensible to you now, for you cannot stand apart from this Mind, this Will and this Purpose and be able to discern their meaning. You can only join with them, and the extent to which you can join with them will be the extent to which you will experience their reality, their value and their immediate necessity in your life.”<br />
<br />
“You experience God through discovering and carrying out your purpose for being here.”<br />
<br />
“Your relationship with God cannot be comprehended intellectually. It must be experienced. The development of this experience rests upon your desire for it and your capacity for it.”<br />
<br />
“Your experience of intimacy with anyone or anything directly reflects your desire and capacity to experience God.”<br />
<br />
“You cannot go further with anyone or anything than you can go with God.”<br />
<br />
“Without your relationship with God, you would have no real basis for understanding yourself.”<br />
<br />
“Your relationship with God is not based upon ideas. It is based upon the experience of affinity and purpose.”<br />
<br />
“In realizing your real will, you come to realize God’s will for you.”<br />
<br />
“Your disassociation from yourself, from others and from God is primarily an issue of competition for power.”<br />
<br />
“You do not need to be a religious person or even to have a religion in order to experience God.”<br />
<br />
“The purpose of all religious institutions fundamentally is to provide an environment where you can cultivate your desire and your capacity to experience God.”<br />
<br />
“The attempt to define God is the attempt to make God concrete. This is an attempt to make God fit in with your ideas.”<br />
<br />
“Your relationship with God is what must be healed, for that is the primary conflict in your life. Your disassociation from God is the source of all of your conflicts and disabilities. However, the resolution of this fundamental conflict will take place within your relationship with yourself, with others and with the world. In other words, your problem is your relationship with God, but the solution will be established through your relationship with yourself, with others and with the world. Real healing must be established within the context of these three arenas. The power for you to do this is given by God.”<br />
<br />
“In considering your relationship with God, you do not need to have answers, but only to ask questions. You ask these questions so that you may open the door to your own realization.”<br />
<ref>''[[Relationships & Higher Purpose]]'', Chapter 1</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“What is the ego but the attempt to maintain the mind in its service to the body. This punishes the body and crucifies the mind. To reverse this destructive arrangement is God’s first purpose. For God’s first purpose is to unburden you from your own conflicts so that you may be able to express the greater purpose which has brought you into the world.”<br />
<ref>''[[Relationships & Higher Purpose]]'', Chapter 2</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“You can ask God for favors, you can ask God to rescue you from your dilemmas great and small, but somehow you never made your rendezvous with God. Your rendezvous with God is your rendezvous with Knowledge within yourself, for that is where God speaks to you. That is where you reconnect with the Source of your life.”<br />
<ref>The Sacred Rendezvous, January 29, 2009</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“God knows what humanity needs even though humanity remains confused. God knows what is coming for the human family even though the human family is obsessed with its past. God knows that humanity must unite in the face of great danger even though people continue their conflicts and continue their admonitions against one another. What God knows and what people believe are not the same.”<br />
<ref>The Message and the Messenger, January 26, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“God does not discriminate. God is not delighted with the religious and angry with the unreligious. God has placed the saving Grace within each person. The real purpose of religion is to bring people to this saving Grace. Religion in all of its forms is intended to do this. Even though religion has taken on other manifestations and assumed other purposes and in many cases has been adopted by political forces, this is its fundamental purpose—to bring you to Knowledge, to bring you to this deeper guiding intelligence that the Creator of all life has placed within you and within each person as a potential.”<br />
<ref>What Will Save Humanity, March 30, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“You may pray urgently to God for salvation, for guidance, for redemption and for protection, but God has already given you a perfect guiding intelligence. Whether you are a part of a religion or not, whether you practice a faith tradition or not, wherever you live, whatever your culture, whatever your financial position, you have the great endowment living within you.”<br />
<ref>Navigating the Difficult Times Ahead, September 29, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“God is speaking to everybody—even those who do not believe what you believe, even those who do not adhere to your religion, those of other countries and tribes and groups who might live very differently from you and have different social customs and values. God is speaking to them. God does not only speak to the people of one faith tradition, as if they were the chosen people, as if they were God’s favorite because God does not function at the level of ideas. God is not a super intellect because God exists beyond the physical reality, and beyond the physical reality you do not need ideas in the way that you think of them now. Ideas are related to form, to people, places and things and to the interpretation of events, which are people, places and things. God lives beyond this reality.”<br />
<ref>Knowledge and the Limits of Belief, November 3, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“God functions beyond human belief. God is not circumscribed by humanity’s religious traditions. God moves as God moves, not as people think God moves. Even if you can get everyone in the world to agree about a position about God, God is not bound by this. To say that God cannot send a New Message into the world is profoundly arrogant. How can you say what God will do or what God cannot do? How can you make this claim?”<br />
<ref>What is Creation? February 2, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“God is so close to you that you cannot even turn around. God is so big and so magnificent that if you had only one leg and one arm and God, you would do well.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 3</ref><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
== Further Study ==<br />
[http://www.newmessage.org/special-teachings/the-nature-and-experience-of-god.php# How Does the New Message Speak of God?]<br />
<br />
[http://www.newmessage.org/chapters/greater-community-spirituality/chapter1.php?bg=black Greater Community Spirituality, chapter 1: What Is God?]<br />
<br />
[http://www.newmessage.org/chapters/greater-community-spirituality/chapter9.php Greater Community Spirituality, chapter 9: How Does God Participate in the World?]<br />
<br />
Relationships & Higher Purpose, Chapter 1, ''Your Most Primary Relationship''<br />
==See also==<br />
[[God's Will]]<br />
<br />
[[category:god]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=God&diff=2903God2012-01-05T03:40:44Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>God is the Creator of the universe and the source of [[Knowledge]] in all sentient beings.<br />
<br />
== The Nature of God ==<br />
"God is not capable of anger."<br />
<ref>''[[Relationships & Higher Purpose]]'', chap. 8, p. 65</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"We have spoken of God as a great attraction, as a force pulling and drawing people. That is a good analogy because it allows God to be as great and as mysterious as God is. That is to acknowledge that God in the world is a force in motion. It is here to do something. It moves people to go along at Its pace. It ignites people, sets people in motion and cares for people."<br />
<ref>Wisdom from the Greater Community Volume One, Chapter 13<ref/><br />
<br />
==Relationship with God== <br />
"To understand God’s work in the world, you must understand God’s work in the entire universe."<br />
<ref>God, Knowledge, and the Angelic Presence, 9/17/08</ref><br />
<br />
"Believing in God may be preliminary to knowing God, but believing and knowing are not the same. Many people claim they believe in God, either because they believe or because they are afraid not to believe. However, to know God is to come into relationship with God."<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'', chap. 9</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"God is so close to you, and yet so vast and magnificent and incomprehensible. Your connection to God is at the very center of your being, but you live your life at the surface of the mind, held there by your fascination and fear of the world."<br />
<ref>The Future of Humanity, May 12, 2010</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"It is the Greater Power of [[Knowledge]]—the mystery, the evidence of things unseen—that must be the focus of your [[faith]], that must be the heart of your [[religion]], that must be the source of your encouragement, your [[wisdom]] and your guidance."<br />
<ref>The Great Faith, April 25, 2007</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"If God speaks again, who can respond?<br />
If God shows things that have never been shown before, who is willing to see this?<br />
If God defies religious belief and expectations, who has the courage and the humility to be prepared to receive this?<br />
If God calls you to a higher service and position in life, who is willing to undergo this process of change, a process they cannot control and cannot even really understand?<br />
Who is willing and able to do this?"<br />
<ref>God's Power and Presence in the World, April 23, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
== Metaphors ==<br />
"The emphasis here is for you to reach that vantage point where you can see your relationship with God and with yourself clearly while you are in the world. It is from this vantage point that you will be able to see the relationship of all things. Like climbing a great mountain, you must reach a certain position where the relationship of that mountain to everything around it becomes self-evident."<br />
<ref>''[[Relationship & Higher Purpose]]'', chap. 1, p. 2</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"God is like the air. Everyone breathes the air, but few pay any attention to it. Everyone is sustained every moment with every breath. Their bodies depend upon each breath in order to live in the next moment. Cut off this supply of air and the person dies quickly and everything comes to an end. God is like that—so pervasive, so present, so supportive and so nourishing."<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'', chap.9, p. 106</ref><br />
<br />
==Short Quotes==<br />
"God is the experience of total relationship."<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'', chap. 1, p. 1</ref><br />
<br />
"God is not a person or a personage or a personality or a singular awareness. To think like this is to underestimate the Creator and to overestimate yourself."<br />
<ref>The Recitation, April 1, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"There is nothing in the universe that God is not aware of."<br />
<ref>Entering the Greater Community, May 27, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
"Here the New God is the old God, unveiled and clarified, not clothed in ancient understandings or ancient mythologies. For there is only one God, and that is the God of all the Universes..."<br />
<ref>The New God, February 12, 2009</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"God has no wrath."<br />
<ref>The Engine of War, April 17, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
==Long Quotes==<br />
"God did not create your social personality.<br />
God did not create your ideas and beliefs.<br />
God did not create your decisions, your failures and your regrets.<br />
God can only speak to what God created in you, which is something deeper, more pervasive and more natural within you.<br />
The New Message is calling to you."<br />
<ref>The Recitation, April 1, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"You are no longer dealing with a local god, a local deity, a god of the hill and the tree, a god of the ocean and the river.<br />
You are not even dealing with the god of one world and one people, as you are accustomed to think.<br />
Now you are dealing with a God of all the universes and Creation beyond the universes, a God so great that your mind can only fall down in praise.<br />
Not a human God. Not a God that you create in your own imagination, but a God that you must experience at a deeper level, beneath and beyond the limits of your surface mind.<br />
For you to comprehend the God of the Greater Community, then you must comprehend the Voice of the Revelation."<br />
<ref>The Voice of the Revelation, April 14, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"God is moving humanity in a new direction. It is time to prepare, to receive and to support the Revelation. People will complain. They will protest. They will resist. They will accuse the Messenger. They will denounce the Revelation. Unable to respond, unwilling to reconsider their life and their ideas, they will resist. This always happens at the time of Revelation. Those who have the greatest investment in the past will resist the new world and everything in it. They cannot see. They will not know. They do not have the courage to reconsider their position. They do not have the humility to stand in the face of the Revelation. What can God do for them? They asked so much from the Creator, but they cannot respond to the Creator’s response. What can God do for them? Be amongst the first to respond so that your greater gifts in life may be established and have an opportunity to come forth in the days and the years of your life. This is the power of Revelation—to unleash wisdom and Knowledge that humanity desperately needs now to prepare for a future that will be unlike the past. The blessings are with you. The power of redemption is within you, in Knowledge within you."<br />
<ref>God Is Moving Humanity in a New Direction, April 22, 2011</ref><br />
<!--move content to "The Messenger"?--><br />
<br />
"God loves humanity. God is not angry with humanity. God knows exactly what humanity is prone to do under difficult circumstances, so God provides what is necessary to guide the human family, without taking from you your own responsibility as an individual, as a citizen and as a member of a group or a nation."<br />
<ref>The Engine of War, April 17, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==What is God?==<br />
"You must think of God now in [[the Greater Community]] - not a human God, not a God of your written history, not a God of your trials and tribulations, but a God for all time, for all races, for all dimensions, for those who are primitve and for those who are advanced, for those who think like you and for those who think so differenlty, for those who believe and for those for whom belief is inexplicable. This is God in [[the Greater Community]]. And this is where you must begin."<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'', chap. 1, p. 2</ref><br />
<br />
==Excerts==<br />
“All the seeming power of your world, the forces of nature, the inevitability of your death, the ever-present threat of illness and loss and destruction, and all appearances of conflict are all temporary movements in the great stillness of God.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 40</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“The Presence of God is first experienced as emptiness because it lacks movement, and then within this emptiness, you begin to feel the Presence that permeates all things and that gives all meaning in life.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 69</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Through Knowledge you can feel the Presence of all relationships. This is the experience of God.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 169</ref><br />
<br />
“This Greater Power in the world requires that you be prepared to receive it and to express it. You are its voice; your hands are its hands; your eyes are its eyes; your ears are its ears; your movement is its movement. It relies upon your preparation and upon your demonstration, as you rely upon it for certainty and as you rely upon it for purpose, meaning and direction. Thus it is through this reliance upon Knowledge and Knowledge’s reliance upon you that your union with Knowledge is made complete.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 318</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“God’s Presence is permanent. The world itself is temporary. The physical universe is temporary. God’s Presence is permanent. Can you then see what is great and what is small? Can you then see that which gives and that which must learn to receive? Can you then realize the importance of your preparation? Can you then realize the importance of your service in the world?”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 339</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“The Creator uses everything for a greater purpose. The Creator does not come in and destroy the wicked and take control of everyone and everything and force a unity that people would resist and could not choose for themselves. Instead, everything is set in motion for redemption, for reunion, for contribution, for empowerment, for forgiveness, for true recognition.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]] Continuation Training'', Step 13</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“God does what works, even if it is incomprehensible to those who are destined to be its beneficiaries.”<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'', Chapter 6</ref><br />
<br />
“In coming into meaningful relationship with another, you will feel God. In telling the truth where the truth needs to be told, you will feel God. In experiencing gratitude for something that has been done for you, even on a mundane level, you will feel God. This is how God is recognized and experienced.”<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'', Chapter 9</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Do you see? The Greater Community will change your ideas about God completely. It will change your ideas about religion completely. You will see that God is not preoccupied with humans. You will see that God is something bigger than what you have ever considered, and you will have to think as a participant in a Greater Reality. This is a great blessing.”<br />
<br />
“God has given this world everything it needs. Now it must use what has been given. God has given this world purpose. God has given this world evolution. God has given this world spiritual assistance of tremendous magnitude. God has planted purpose within you. God has given you life. God has given you Knowledge so that you may fulfill your part in this world at this time.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 3</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“People are very adamant that God should come and make the world exactly the way they want it, but God has other plans. God’s intention is to free everyone here so that they may return to their Ancient Home. So instead of making the world a perfect place for your separation to exist, God has set in motion the forces to break your separation down. Very loving this is.”<br />
<br />
“God is only interested in re-establishing communication with you. That is all that matters because that is the universe. What can you hope to accomplish here without that? Your span of years is quite brief. Your environment is far more powerful than you are, or seemingly so. There are countless adversities to undermine your progress. There must be something else. This then is where your trust must be directed.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 4</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“God’s Purpose here is to unburden you and prepare you for true relationship, because you will not be able to do anything in life without true relationship.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 12</ref><br />
<br />
“The great gulf between you and God must be filled in with reality. The assumption is always made that there is you and there is God, and you are small and God is great. But between you and God is all of life’s evolution—an expanding network of relationships. It is through this network that you must pass.”<br />
<br />
“God is always pumping life into life, essence into form. When things begin to die, individuals are sent into the world to bring new life.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 16</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“God works mysteriously. God is like a great attraction without a marquee or a billboard. God is pulling you along incessantly.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 18</ref><br />
<br />
“As Knowledge is the Mind behind your mind, so there is a Mind behind your Knowledge, and this Mind is God.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 19</ref><br />
<br />
“God is here. Yet no one can be still. Relationship is here. Yet no one can feel it. Your Teachers are with you, but your eyes are moving too fast.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 20</ref><br />
<br />
“People often think of God as a giant welfare system—spiritual welfare! You just sign up and then you collect your checks, and you receive your dispensations, and you are given your gifts and your miracles. You just have to believe in the system. Then God will come and serve you and do all these little things for you, as if God had nothing better to do in the universe than to cater to your wishes! Only a pathetic God would be so involved!”<br />
<ref>''[[Living The Way of Knowledge]]'', Chapter 4</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Your Spiritual Family beyond the world is supporting your spiritual development by communicating to you through the Mental Environment. The Unseen Ones are supporting your spiritual development by overseeing your participation in the world and by participating with you at the critical turning points of your life. And the Creator is supporting your spiritual development because the Creator has given you Knowledge—a pure, guiding intelligence within you. Beyond the reach of the world and worldly contamination, it remains ever pure and ever complete within you.”<br />
<ref>''[[Living The Way of Knowledge]]'', Chapter 5</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Your relationship with God indicates that you are here in the world for a purpose.”<br />
<br />
“God has a Mind, a Will and a Purpose. In its totality, this is incomprehensible to you now, for you cannot stand apart from this Mind, this Will and this Purpose and be able to discern their meaning. You can only join with them, and the extent to which you can join with them will be the extent to which you will experience their reality, their value and their immediate necessity in your life.”<br />
<br />
“You experience God through discovering and carrying out your purpose for being here.”<br />
<br />
“Your relationship with God cannot be comprehended intellectually. It must be experienced. The development of this experience rests upon your desire for it and your capacity for it.”<br />
<br />
“Your experience of intimacy with anyone or anything directly reflects your desire and capacity to experience God.”<br />
<br />
“You cannot go further with anyone or anything than you can go with God.”<br />
<br />
“Without your relationship with God, you would have no real basis for understanding yourself.”<br />
<br />
“Your relationship with God is not based upon ideas. It is based upon the experience of affinity and purpose.”<br />
<br />
“In realizing your real will, you come to realize God’s will for you.”<br />
<br />
“Your disassociation from yourself, from others and from God is primarily an issue of competition for power.”<br />
<br />
“You do not need to be a religious person or even to have a religion in order to experience God.”<br />
<br />
“The purpose of all religious institutions fundamentally is to provide an environment where you can cultivate your desire and your capacity to experience God.”<br />
<br />
“The attempt to define God is the attempt to make God concrete. This is an attempt to make God fit in with your ideas.”<br />
<br />
“Your relationship with God is what must be healed, for that is the primary conflict in your life. Your disassociation from God is the source of all of your conflicts and disabilities. However, the resolution of this fundamental conflict will take place within your relationship with yourself, with others and with the world. In other words, your problem is your relationship with God, but the solution will be established through your relationship with yourself, with others and with the world. Real healing must be established within the context of these three arenas. The power for you to do this is given by God.”<br />
<br />
“In considering your relationship with God, you do not need to have answers, but only to ask questions. You ask these questions so that you may open the door to your own realization.”<br />
<ref>''[[Relationships & Higher Purpose]]'', Chapter 1</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“What is the ego but the attempt to maintain the mind in its service to the body. This punishes the body and crucifies the mind. To reverse this destructive arrangement is God’s first purpose. For God’s first purpose is to unburden you from your own conflicts so that you may be able to express the greater purpose which has brought you into the world.”<br />
<ref>''[[Relationships & Higher Purpose]]'', Chapter 2</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“You can ask God for favors, you can ask God to rescue you from your dilemmas great and small, but somehow you never made your rendezvous with God. Your rendezvous with God is your rendezvous with Knowledge within yourself, for that is where God speaks to you. That is where you reconnect with the Source of your life.”<br />
<ref>The Sacred Rendezvous, January 29, 2009</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“God knows what humanity needs even though humanity remains confused. God knows what is coming for the human family even though the human family is obsessed with its past. God knows that humanity must unite in the face of great danger even though people continue their conflicts and continue their admonitions against one another. What God knows and what people believe are not the same.”<br />
<ref>The Message and the Messenger, January 26, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“God does not discriminate. God is not delighted with the religious and angry with the unreligious. God has placed the saving Grace within each person. The real purpose of religion is to bring people to this saving Grace. Religion in all of its forms is intended to do this. Even though religion has taken on other manifestations and assumed other purposes and in many cases has been adopted by political forces, this is its fundamental purpose—to bring you to Knowledge, to bring you to this deeper guiding intelligence that the Creator of all life has placed within you and within each person as a potential.”<br />
<ref>What Will Save Humanity, March 30, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“You may pray urgently to God for salvation, for guidance, for redemption and for protection, but God has already given you a perfect guiding intelligence. Whether you are a part of a religion or not, whether you practice a faith tradition or not, wherever you live, whatever your culture, whatever your financial position, you have the great endowment living within you.”<br />
<ref>Navigating the Difficult Times Ahead, September 29, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“God is speaking to everybody—even those who do not believe what you believe, even those who do not adhere to your religion, those of other countries and tribes and groups who might live very differently from you and have different social customs and values. God is speaking to them. God does not only speak to the people of one faith tradition, as if they were the chosen people, as if they were God’s favorite because God does not function at the level of ideas. God is not a super intellect because God exists beyond the physical reality, and beyond the physical reality you do not need ideas in the way that you think of them now. Ideas are related to form, to people, places and things and to the interpretation of events, which are people, places and things. God lives beyond this reality.”<br />
<ref>Knowledge and the Limits of Belief, November 3, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“God functions beyond human belief. God is not circumscribed by humanity’s religious traditions. God moves as God moves, not as people think God moves. Even if you can get everyone in the world to agree about a position about God, God is not bound by this. To say that God cannot send a New Message into the world is profoundly arrogant. How can you say what God will do or what God cannot do? How can you make this claim?”<br />
<ref>What is Creation? February 2, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“God is so close to you that you cannot even turn around. God is so big and so magnificent that if you had only one leg and one arm and God, you would do well.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 3</ref><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
== Further Study ==<br />
[http://www.newmessage.org/special-teachings/the-nature-and-experience-of-god.php# How Does the New Message Speak of God?]<br />
<br />
[http://www.newmessage.org/chapters/greater-community-spirituality/chapter1.php?bg=black Greater Community Spirituality, chapter 1: What Is God?]<br />
<br />
[http://www.newmessage.org/chapters/greater-community-spirituality/chapter9.php Greater Community Spirituality, chapter 9: How Does God Participate in the World?]<br />
<br />
Relationships & Higher Purpose, Chapter 1, ''Your Most Primary Relationship''<br />
==See also==<br />
[[God's Will]]<br />
<br />
[[category:god]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Quotes_About_Giving&diff=2902Quotes About Giving2012-01-05T03:35:56Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>== Blessings ==<br />
"Greater gifts will begin to emerge from you that are natural for you to give, that you were meant to give, that were put inside of you before you came into this world—gifts the world needs, for it is not only individuals who are impoverished, it is all of humanity."<br />
<ref>The New Message for the Impoverished and Oppressed, April 18, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Instead of running around one day, go through everything you own and imagine what a wonderful thing it is to have these things and that you can acquire such things and that you can give them away to others who might need them."<br />
<ref>Joy and Gratitude, January 31, 2009</ref><br />
<br />
== Directives ==<br />
"It is important that you who come bearing gifts not only feel that you should give or that you must give but realize the extent to which you are given to."<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', chap. 15, p. 180</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Do not give your life away before you know what your life is for and the direction that it must follow."<br />
<ref>The Deep Evaluation, June 3, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
"If you want to know God, you need to feed people, take care of people, take care of nature, restore the natural world, offset the great damage that has been done, prepare humanity to face the Great Waves of Change, to face ecological decline, to face the loss of fundamental resources, prepare humanity to face the reality of Intervention from predatory races in the Universe who are here to take advantage of human weakness and ignorance. Take care of the person next door—whatever it is that Knowledge leads you to do at whatever level. There is no grandiosity here. There is no personal fame. There is no sainthood. Renounce these things. They do not represent a pure motive."<br />
<ref>What is Creation? (February 4, 2007)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Your desire to serve humanity must be guided by this Greater Power within you. Otherwise your desire to give will be built upon your own ambitions, your own ideals and your own grievances. It will not be pure and it will not be effective. Your desire for a better world, and even your ideas how to establish a better world in whatever field you are interested in or in which you have expertise, must be guided by Knowledge or your ideas and your actions will not be effective."<br />
<ref>The Great Faith, April 25, 2007</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"For God is calling all who are asleep now to awaken from their dreams of misery and fulfillment, to respond to this great time and to prepare to render the gifts that they were sent into the world to give to a struggling humanity—a humanity whose future now will be largely determined within the few years to come."<br />
<ref>The Blessing, April 20, 2007</ref><br />
<br />
== Processes ==<br />
"As you give yourself, you will receive and in this you will learn the ancient law that to give is to receive."<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 148</ref><br />
<br />
"Knowledge will put you in the position to discover and to express your unique gifts and will give you the criteria upon which to determine who to be with in your life and how to participate with them."<br />
<ref>The New Message for Young People, August 18, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"That which is difficult in the world will bring to you your calling, reveal to you where you must give yourself and the service you must provide."<br />
<ref>New Year’s Message 2010, December 27, 2009</ref><br />
<br />
"To give yourself ... requires a change of heart.... You are going to have to go out and make some things happen. You are going to have to effect some change in your own life and circumstances.... You are going to have to give up the perceived benefits and compromises that hold you back and keep you right where you are.... Here you are not merely wanting, expecting, demanding and complaining, you are putting yourself to the task of finding and following a deeper and more profound direction in life. You are serving those things you know you must serve. Without the mere intention of enriching yourself or giving yourself prestige or dominance over others, you are serving from a pure motivation. And this gives you strength, and this gives you determination, and this gives you perseverance of a kind that personal ambition alone could never provide."<br />
<ref>Real Change, November 6, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
== Short Quotes ==<br />
"To give, you must first receive."<br />
<ref>The Blessing, April 20, 2007</ref><br />
<br />
"What are you willing to give to God?"<br />
<ref>Where Will You Place Your Faith? (June 28, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Only those who know that they have come from their Ancient Home can give."<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', chap. 15, p. 179</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"It is not you who does the giving. It is your [[Knowledge]] that does the giving through you."<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', chap. 15, p. 180</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"So, you are not the giver. You are the medium of the giving. this is a very important difference."<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', chap. 15, p. 181</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Many people expect or demand devotion from others but are incapable<br />
of giving it themselves, for they wish to bargain with their affection."<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', chap. 5, p. 52</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"You were sent here to give. If you are giving, then your spirituality is expressing itself. If you are not giving, then you are frustrated and your spirituality is still in the realm of speculation."<br />
<ref>''[[Relationships & Higher Purpose]]'' chap. 13, p. 145</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"This is where people tend to feel threatened and withdraw because they want to have everything but give very little of themselves. Even their giving is to make themselves richer.<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume Two'', chap. 4, p. 43</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"For what is the most powerful evidence of God in the world but the evidence of selfless giving, the caring for others even if they do not care for you, the caring of the earth even if the earth seems indifferent to your existence?"<br />
<ref>The Reconciliation, May 2, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"You have so much more to do and to give than you are doing and giving at this moment, and you know it is true, if you are honest with yourself."<br />
<ref>The Freedom Journey, March 2, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"What you can give to people is food, water, shelter and the Great Faith. Taking care of people, feeding people, assisting people and giving people the Great Faith—this is what will be needed."<br />
<ref>The Great Faith, April 25, 2007</ref><br />
<br />
== Long Quotes ==<br />
"God is trying to free you so you can be in the world and have the power that God has given you to express in this world, so that your true gifts may come forward, and that you may find where these gifts are to be given, and so that you may find the people who will help you to give them and who will honor them and value them."<br />
<ref>The First Commitment, September 25, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Knowledge within you is telling you where to go, what to do, what to give yourself to, what not to give yourself to, where to move forward and where to hold back. It is doing this on a daily basis, but most people are far too preoccupied and caught up with themselves and have too much resistance to their own experience to hear and follow this natural inner guidance that the Creator of all life has given them." <br />
<ref>Signs from the World, November 7, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"You are here for a purpose.You went to great lengths to be here. You have something to give in being here. You cannot go beyond this world because you have not given what is essential for you to give here. Your giving contains your self-realization, and your Knowledge is your foundation."<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', chap. 5, p. 54</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"The beliefs and fascinations, obsessions and fantasies of humanity are not what move God. It is the deeper movement of the heart and the conscience. It is the act of selfless giving. It is the act of forgiveness and the desire to contribute beyond one’s own personal needs and preferences."<br />
<ref>The New God, Feb. 12, 2009</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"When you practice in meditation, you come to give yourself to it, and there is a response because your Teachers come to give themselves and that is the touch. That is where you touch each other. I give to you, you give to me and we share our mutual giving."<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', chap. 15, p. 183</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"The contradiction of living in this world is that it is a hiding place. People are afraid to give and afraid to receive because when you start giving and receiving, the whole idea of hiding begins to dissolve, and you realize that God has caught up with you already."<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', chap. 9, p. 111</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"How can you give Knowledge? Well, you cannot. It gives itself. Then, everywhere you go people will respond to you, even if you are not trying<br />
to give people anything. There is something in you now that is giving you to people. It is not you giving it. It is giving you."<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', chap. 10, p. 120</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"If you have failed to make your rendezvous, later in life, if you make this discovery, there is a second redemption. And that is to give to others—to share your wealth, to share your time and to share whatever you can in service to meeting real needs of both people and of nature around you. This is the second redemption. It is not as powerful and fulfilling as the first, but it is significant and will be effective. Those who have been driven through all of their life can find themselves at the end with the opportunity to give, to be benefactors—benefactors with wealth, if they have wealth; benefactors of time, if they have time; benefactors of care, if they have the strength to do this. So there is a second redemption."<br />
<ref>The Sacred Rendezvous, January 29, 2009</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"What can you give to others? Beyond feeding them and giving them shelter, if that is their need in the moment, your greatest gift is to encourage them to take the steps to Knowledge, for more than anything else, this will determine if they can face, prepare and respond to the great change that is coming to the world."<br />
<ref>Planetary Instability, March 14, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"The power and presence of Knowledge ... is God’s answer to a struggling humanity. It is the source of all true creation. It is the source of the desire to serve and to give, to produce and to create for the benefit of others as well as yourself. It is the source of all true and beneficial motivations."<br />
<ref>Planetary Instability, March 14, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
== Reckless Giving ==<br />
"People establish relationships casually, using very weak and temporary criteria. They do not realize the seriousness of their engagements and the impact that it has upon them. It is because they lack discernment. It is because they do not value their lives that they would give themselves away so easily or commit their time and energy without greater care, that they would be so careless with themselves."<br />
<ref>The Deep Evaluation, June 3, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"So many people ... have cast their allegiance to other things, an allegiance that really belongs to Knowledge. Perhaps they are very committed and dutiful in their allegiances, but they use them to give their life focus and balance and purpose because you cannot live without purpose of some kind, for purpose is life itself."<br />
<ef>The First Commitment, September 25, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"There are many people who have made notable achievements in life, but they are mentally ill, or their relationships are a disaster, or they have no inner life—no sense of who they are or where they are going. They have no connection to Knowledge. While they might achieve a footnote in history, they themselves are a personal failure. Their gifts could only partially be given. They really did not meet the requirements of their life."<br />
<ref>Building the Four Pillars of Your Life, September 15, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
==The Messenger's Giving==<br />
"No one else can travel the journey that the Messenger has had to travel.<br />
Others will give important gifts where they are needed, and ultimately everyone is meant to do this, for that is part of each person’s purpose. Everyone will be a conduit for a greater Presence and Power. But there is only one Messenger, whose Message will alter the course of human understanding and speak of the great change that will change the course of human destiny and evolution."<br />
<ref>The Story of the Messenger, May 23, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
==Excerpts==<br />
“Your giving is supplemented by the giving of others and this represents the Will of God in the universe.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 170</ref><br />
<br />
“If you try to give for your own self-aggrandizement, if you try to give for your own self-assurance, if you try to give to alleviate an abiding sense of guilt or inadequacy, you will not give with discernment. Your giving then will be ill placed and will produce increasing conflict and discouragement for you.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 261</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“To escape the world without contributing to the world will only compound your dilemma and you will return to your Spiritual Family with your gifts unopened and undelivered. You then will realize that you must return because the work that you set out to accomplish in the world was not accomplished.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 358</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“You are here to learn—not to demand, not to defend, not to protect, not to negotiate, but to receive and to learn so that you may be able to give.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]] Continuation Training'', Step 49</ref><br />
<br />
“Confirm Knowledge and give people the encouragement to express and to follow what they know. This is what it means to be spiritual in the most complete way, in the most complete sense.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]] Continuation Training'', Step 68</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Your great gift is meant to be given in conjunction with the giving of others. You do not get to be a superstar in reality. Your contribution comes through relationship. You have part of the gift. They have part of the gift. You give together. It is your relationship that gives and makes the giving possible.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]] Continuation Training'', Step 80</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Remember that all communication has a pure source of giving at its core. Everything is a gift or an attempt at a gift. Everything that is said or done represents this and, though giving in the world has been denied and greatly distorted, the source of the giving remains true and uncontaminated.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]] Level II''</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“People who are terrified of losing are afraid to receive. The cost is always too great for them. If you are to be fully engaged in life individually and as a society, it will cost everything you have. You will end your life completely used up like a great vessel that has been emptied. It is that complete utilization that will fulfill you in this world and will make it unnecessary for you to return. You have given everything you have brought with you.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 7</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Your greatest gift is to give your Knowledge. There is no greater gift than this. Knowledge is not ideas; it is not information. It is the regenerating force of life within you, but you cannot activate it yourself, try as you may. You can meditate for a lifetime. You can practice austerities. You can deprive yourself of pleasures, but you will merely aggravate and ruin your personal mind. It is something from beyond your own sphere that must reach you because that represents the greater part of you.”<br />
<br />
“How can you give to the world? How can you be sure that what you want the world to be is what it is supposed to be? How can you be certain of all the effects of your actions? How can you be certain of what helping people really means? Your Knowledge knows, but you are uncertain.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 10</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“God always gives to givers because they naturally amplify the gift. God also gives to takers, but they do not experience the gift. What God gives to takers is an opportunity to give. What takers need to experience is the need to give because that is what will redeem them. When they become givers naturally, then the whole process of giving and receiving can truly begin.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 12</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“You can give ideas, thoughts, emotions and beliefs, and these can be helpful, but there is a greater giving that gives you.”<br />
<br />
“You were made to give. You are the gift. Without giving, life is miserable.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]]'' Volume One, Chapter 15</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“If Knowledge is not the guiding principle in your motives, then you will not be able to bring about a spiritual transmission.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume Two'', Chapter 4</ref><br />
<br />
“If you can accept that you have come from beyond the world to serve the world, then you will realize that the world you have come to serve is offering the conditions that will bring forth that which you came to give. If you can accept this, then you will stop condemning the world and start looking for its opportunities and allow it to call from you that which you came to give.”<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'', Chapter 6</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“You do not give to get here. You do not give to assure yourself a future of recognition and rewards. That kind of calculated giving is the machination of your mind, of your social mind, of your mind at the surface of life, a mind that wants to survive, a mind that is insecure, a mind that seeks wealth and power and substantiation and affirmation.”<br />
<ref>Freedom & Service in the World, November 5, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
*[[Devotion]]<br />
*[[Legacy]]<br />
*''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', chaps. 15, 16</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Quotes_About_God%27s_Will&diff=2901Quotes About God's Will2012-01-05T03:31:41Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>"The will of God ... is the love of God. For God’s love is not separate from God’s will. God does not think like your intellect thinks—happy one day, sad the next, happy with this, angry with that, cruel and punishing over those who make mistakes or who live in error. This is not God! This is the human mind projecting a human mind onto God and projecting onto God human feelings and grievances."<br />
<ref>The Great Love (November 23, 2007)</ref><br />
<br />
==For Humanity==<br />
"It is the Creator’s will that humanity emerge into the Greater Community of intelligent life in the Universe as a free and sovereign race—as a strong race, as a united race, as a race that is capable of maintaining its cultural diversity while honoring the deeper strength and purpose that will keep the human family strong, that will keep the human family vital, active and creative.<br />
<br />
"The New Message from God presents a new opportunity for advancement in the future, but to advance you must survive. You must survive the difficult times ahead, and you must survive competition from beyond the world regarding who will control this world and its destiny."<br />
<ref>The Proclamation (July 7, 2006)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"The Creator of all life wills that humanity repair a world in decline to preserve human [[self-sufficiency]] and thus secure human [[freedom]] and independence in this world. The Creator of all life wills that humanity emerge into this Greater Community of intelligent life in the Universe as a free and independent race able to sustain itself, able to establish itself, able to learn the [[Knowledge]] and [[wisdom]] it must gain in order to function within this larger environment.<br />
<br />
"But what God wills must be translated through human awareness, human relationships, human understanding and human behavior. God wills that you be happier than you are today, that you be more successful than you are today, that you be more compassionate than you are today, that you be more effective than you are today as an individual. Therefore, you see, what God wills must be translated into human experience."<br />
<ref>A New Way Forward for Humanity (December 31, 2006)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"God does not care if you believe in [[Jesus]], or if you follow the [[Koran]], or if you try to be unattached with everything. God wants you to follow [[Knowledge]]."<br />
<ref>Errors in Religious Understanding (January 10, 2009)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"God does not will that everyone be poor. But God wills that everyone have stability and security and adequate provision, and beyond this, simple things for the enjoyment of life."<br />
<ref>The Engine of War (April 17, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"God does not will that humanity have an overpopulated world, world of diminishing resources."<br />
<ref>The Great Love (November 23, 2007)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
== For the Individual ==<br />
"What God wills must be translated through human awareness, human relationships, human understanding and human behavior. God wills that you be happier than you are today, that you be more successful than you are today, that you be more compassionate than you are today, that you be more effective than you are today as an individual. Therefore, you see, what God wills must be translated into human experience."<br />
<ref>A New Way Forward for Humanity (December 31, 2006)</ref><br />
<br />
==Long Quotes - General==<br />
"You do not know God’s Will. Even if you have one of God’s great Messages to guide you, you still do not know God’s Will. It is not like your own. Unfortunately."<br />
<ref>The Engine of War (April 17, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
[[Mandates for the World]]<br />
<br />
[[category:god]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Freedom_from_the_Past&diff=2886Freedom from the Past2012-01-02T23:06:38Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>==Short Quotes==<br />
"To finally make peace with your past, you must be building a new life. To finally be able to understand your past and to use it positively and constructively, you must be building a new foundation. To find freedom from the fears and anxieties that haunt you, you must have a new engagement in life."<br />
<ref name="living">''[[Living the Way of Knowledge]]''</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"The freer your mind is from past-referencing, the more space there will be within you for Grace to fill."<br />
<ref name="gcs">[http://www.newmessage.org/books/greater-community-spirituality-contents.php ''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'']</ref><br />
<br />
== Long Quotes ==<br />
"Along the way, many things will be unlearned, and this frees you from the past. What have you learned but your past? Your past represents your learning--all of your evaluations, your beliefs, your ideals, your fears, your compulsions and your patterns of behavior. However, every moment and every second that your are engaged with Knowledge frees you a little bit more from the shadow of your past and from the binding ideas and constraints of your past.... [I]n almost all case, you misinterpreted the past and used it to reinforce existing ideas. Therefore, your memory of your past is more a memory of your evaluations than an accurate memory of events."<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"You must be free from your past sufficiently to be able to move forward in a new direction and to establish a new and greater life than the life you had known before. To do this, you cannot take everything with you. You cannot carry all of your memories like a great store of luggage. The vehicle that will take you into the present and future will not accommodate all of this. Likewise, you cannot carry all of your relationships with you--all of your past loves, all of your friendships, all of your family, everyone that you like, everyone that you dislike, all the people and your memories of them that clutter your mind and keep you emotionally frozen in the past. Knowledge will free you, and it will unburden you so that you can be available to it and open to life as it is now."<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"You will not travel alone, but you cannot take everyone with you. You will find that you cannot keep all of your friends and past acquaintances because they are part of your past, and the emphasis in those relationships is not what you are experiencing now. Allow them to depart and bless them. Do not condemn them. Do not deny them. Release them."<br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"People who live in the past cannot experience the present and cannot understand the future. And every new experience they have is simply used to fit into the past, to add to their collection of ideas, beliefs and assumptions, and to fortify them as well. Their lives become relics as a result, museum pieces of their own personal history. There is nothing alive, nothing fresh and nothing vital there. Instead, people only amass recollections. Their pain is entrenched, and their decisions have become hard like concrete."<br />
<ref name="living"/><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:mental environment]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Freedom_from_the_Past&diff=2885Freedom from the Past2012-01-02T23:06:13Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>==Short Quotes==<br />
"To finally make peace with your past, you must be building a new life. To finally be able to understand your past and to use it positively and constructively, you must be building a new foundation. To find freedom from the fears and anxieties that haunt you, you must have a new engagement in life."<br />
<ref name="living">''[[Living the Way of Knowledge]]''</ref><br />
<br />
"The freer your mind is from past-referencing, the more space there will be within you for Grace to fill."<br />
<ref name="gcs">[http://www.newmessage.org/books/greater-community-spirituality-contents.php ''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'']</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
== Long Quotes ==<br />
"Along the way, many things will be unlearned, and this frees you from the past. What have you learned but your past? Your past represents your learning--all of your evaluations, your beliefs, your ideals, your fears, your compulsions and your patterns of behavior. However, every moment and every second that your are engaged with Knowledge frees you a little bit more from the shadow of your past and from the binding ideas and constraints of your past.... [I]n almost all case, you misinterpreted the past and used it to reinforce existing ideas. Therefore, your memory of your past is more a memory of your evaluations than an accurate memory of events."<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"You must be free from your past sufficiently to be able to move forward in a new direction and to establish a new and greater life than the life you had known before. To do this, you cannot take everything with you. You cannot carry all of your memories like a great store of luggage. The vehicle that will take you into the present and future will not accommodate all of this. Likewise, you cannot carry all of your relationships with you--all of your past loves, all of your friendships, all of your family, everyone that you like, everyone that you dislike, all the people and your memories of them that clutter your mind and keep you emotionally frozen in the past. Knowledge will free you, and it will unburden you so that you can be available to it and open to life as it is now."<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"You will not travel alone, but you cannot take everyone with you. You will find that you cannot keep all of your friends and past acquaintances because they are part of your past, and the emphasis in those relationships is not what you are experiencing now. Allow them to depart and bless them. Do not condemn them. Do not deny them. Release them."<br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"People who live in the past cannot experience the present and cannot understand the future. And every new experience they have is simply used to fit into the past, to add to their collection of ideas, beliefs and assumptions, and to fortify them as well. Their lives become relics as a result, museum pieces of their own personal history. There is nothing alive, nothing fresh and nothing vital there. Instead, people only amass recollections. Their pain is entrenched, and their decisions have become hard like concrete."<br />
<ref name="living"/><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:mental environment]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Quotes_About_Fulfillment&diff=2884Quotes About Fulfillment2012-01-02T23:02:34Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>== Definitions ==<br />
<br />
"What is fulfillment? Fulfillment is fulfilling what you came here to do."<br />
<ref>The New Message on Fulfillment (Aug 24, 2007)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
== Directives ==<br />
"Look out into the world and see how people are trying to fulfill themselves, both in situations that now exist and in situations that are hoped for. Understand how much this separates them from life as it truly exists. Understand how this separates them from the mystery of their own existence and the wonder of life that they are free to encounter every moment of every day. Do not allow yourself to be so deprived."<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 95</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
== Long Quotes ==<br />
<br />
"Only Knowledge knows how to provide advancement, security and fulfillment for you. And only Knowledge knows how to do this in such a way that it does not deprive others of the world. And that your pursuit of safety, security and fulfillment becomes beneficial for others because it is guided by Knowledge."<br />
<ref>The Gift (March 31, 2007)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"It is only when your plans for personal fulfillment are shown to be weak and fallible and unfulfilling that you will turn to Knowledge. Here profound disappointment is extremely important and holds a great opportunity for you."<br />
<ref>The Great Love (Nov 23, 2007)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"You must understand that people are not where they need to be, and that is why they are uncomfortable, that is why they are restless, that is why they give themselves to things that are reckless. If you are going to serve God, you must let God serve you first. You must begin to make the connection. There is no fulfillment apart from this."<br />
<ref name="tnmof">The New Message on Fulfillment (Aug 24, 2007)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"To God it only matters if you find and follow Knowledge and contribute the gifts of Knowledge which you are meant to contribute. This is fulfillment in this world and in all worlds throughout the Greater Community of life in the Universe."<br />
<ref name="tnmof"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“How can you possibly fulfill yourself when you do not know who you are, when you do not know where you have come from or where you are going, when you do not know who has sent you and who will be waiting for you when you return?”<br />
<ref name="stk95">''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 95</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Your entire agenda for your fulfillment must now be brought into question, not to deprive you of anything of value, but to release you from a bondage which could only deceive and disappoint you in time. Therefore, accepting the hopelessness of your attempt opens you finally to receive the Great Gift which is available to you, which is awaiting you, which is meant to be given through you into the world in a way that is specific for your happiness and for the happiness of those who will naturally be drawn to you.”<br />
<ref name="stk95"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“When you are complete in this life, you will leave, but you will not leave alone, for in your heart you will embrace the memory and the presence and the reality of all those whom you have touched and who have touched you and there will not be any spot or residue, not even any hint, of unforgiveness that will remain behind you to spoil your gift and your giving. This is what it means to complete your work in the world.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]] Level II''</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Your life will become simple, direct, magnificent and demanding—all the things that lead to accomplishment and to true satisfaction. Life asks a lot of you because your prayers for peace have been answered.”<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'', Chapter 6</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“People who are terrified of losing are afraid to receive. The cost is always too great for them. If you are to be fully engaged in life individually and as a society, it will cost everything you have. You will end your life completely used up like a great vessel that has been emptied. It is that complete utilization that will fulfill you in this world and will make it unnecessary for you to return. You have given everything you have brought with you.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 7</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Your life is given to fulfillment. That is why you suffer.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 10</ref><br />
<br />
“You are trying to correct your life, rearrange your life, re-establish your life, and fulfill yourself through your relationships, your career and so forth. But it is never enough. Even if you have money, a beautiful partner and wonderful times, your longing will be even stronger than ever because it can only be satisfied by having a greater purpose in life.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 12</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“The work of the Creator is to bring you to your contribution and to prepare you, enable you and inspire you to provide this contribution to the world so that you may find your fulfillment here. There is no other fulfillment in being in the world.”<br />
<ref>''[[Preparing for The Greater Community]]'', Chapter 6</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“This deeper need does not mean you have no other needs, for you will still have some practical needs, psychological needs and emotional needs. But to fulfill the deeper need of the soul means that you have given satisfaction and fulfillment to your essential nature here. You could acquire wealth. You can be devoted to beauty. You could be politically involved. You can have a deeply engaging social life. You can have all the appearances of success in the world. But if the deeper need of your soul remains undiscovered and unfulfilled, you will still be impoverished and the feelings of emptiness will haunt you, driving you further into your outer pursuits as you try to mitigate or satisfy this deeper need within yourself. But you cannot do it, because it can only be fulfilled by responding to the power and presence of Knowledge and having it guide you to the discovery, the experience and the expression of your greater purpose.”<br />
<ref>Interdependence, July 4, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:higher purpose]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Future&diff=2883Future2012-01-02T23:01:24Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>==Long Quotes ==<br />
"It is the perfect time for intervention. It is the necessary time for a greater human awareness to emerge and with it a greater responsibility to the world—not just to one’s nation or one’s group or one’s religious affiliation, but to all of humanity. For if nations fail, the whole world could fail. If intervention is successful in one part of the world, it threatens the future of everyone here." <!--not "The Intervention" but "intervention," with appositional ambiguity--><br />
<ref>Entering the Greater Community (May 27, 2011) </ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"You are preparing for nations within the world to meld into each other and for cultures here to clash. The future will be strife ridden and very difficult. No longer will nations be able to mind their own business and avoid each other, for if one nation fails, others will be impacted. If one nation destroys its environment, other cultures will feel the full impact of this. Greater and greater world cooperation will be needed and required. You will not see all of this in your lifetime, for you are in the early part of the transition, but what you contribute here now will determine the quality of life for your children and for the generations to come." <br />
<ref>[http://www.newmessage.org/books/greater-community-spirituality-contents.php ''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]''], chap. 11. p. 133</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:the future world]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Quotes_About_Freedom&diff=2882Quotes About Freedom2012-01-02T23:00:18Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>== In the Greater Community ==<br />
"[In the Greater Community], freedom itself is rare.... Free nations in regions of space such as the one in which your world exists remain largely self-sufficient or will only trade to a limited degree with one another. They will seek to be very discreet, for free societies in the Universe do not coexist well with those that are not."<br />
<ref name="emerge">Humanity’s Emergence into the Greater Community (July 19, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Knowledge must come forth in your life as an individual and must become stronger in the human family. This is the requirement of freedom in the Universe."<br />
<ref name="emerge"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"For the power of freedom and the power of God are the same. Here and everywhere in the Universe. And here and everywhere in the Universe, freedom must be protected and nurtured and supported. For everywhere in life, it is challenged. It is a gift. And it is a gift that you as an individual and you as a member of a Spiritual Family must advocate for, preserve and protect."<br />
<ref>Resisting the Intervention (September 10, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Beyond this solar system... war and conflict have been suppressed, and freedom is rare within this larger arena of life."<br />
<ref name="contact">Contact with Intelligent Life in the Universe (October 1, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"To be free in the universe you must be self-sufficient, you must be united and you must be very discreet. Those are the requirements that every nation, every world, every race must establish in a Greater Community of life. Here you can see the danger and the seduction of humanity receiving technology and resources from beyond the world. What a great attraction that would be! What a great seduction that is! Once you lose your self-sufficiency, everything is lost that you value, for you will not be able to establish the terms of engagement to gain access to those things upon which you have now become dependent. Other nations will determine your behavior and your participation. It is a fact of life." <br />
<ref name="enter">Entering the Greater Community (May 27, 2011)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"[In the competitive environment of The Greater Community] you would find it to be very difficult to maintain whatever degree of freedom you have established thus far in the world, for free races do not coexist well with races that are not free, with other governments that do not value individual freedom. And there would be great pressure from the outside for you not only to restrict this freedom, but to eliminate it altogether."<br />
<ref name="contact"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"Freedom is difficult. It tends to be disorderly. It does not have the kind of stability that other races have acquired through dominance and control. But freedom is more important. It is more significant. It is more creative. And it is more beneficial."<br />
<ref name="contact"/><br />
<br />
<br />
== On Earth ==<br />
===Directives===<br />
"Humanity must regain its confidence. It must regain the power and the presence of Knowledge. It must unite for its own survival and well-being. And it must cultivate individual freedom here and face the challenge of living within the environmental constraints of this world. If you can do this, you have a greater future in the universe."<br />
<ref name="contact"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"If humanity does not preserve its freedom, it will be lost. If you cannot recognize you are facing competition from beyond the world, this presence and this power will gain ever-greater strength and persuasion here."<br />
<ref>Resisting the Intervention (September 10, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
===Short Quotes===<br />
"Your freedom is precious, to whatever extent it has been established in the world. It has been gained through great effort and human sacrifice. It must be protected with great vigilance."<br />
<ref name="enter"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"Humanity does not realize what will be required for it to build and maintain its freedom and sovereignty in this world. It is a very critical problem that very few people are aware of."<br />
<ref name="contact"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"Humanity is facing the loss of its freedom and sovereignty in this world to intervening forces from the Universe."<br />
<ref>The Proclamation (July 7, 2006)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
===Long Quotes===<br />
"Everyone who is born into the world is on this freedom journey. Yet most people cannot go very far because of oppressive circumstances. Political oppression, extreme poverty, deaden the spirit, deaden the soul. They are struggling to have the simple and basic things of life, and this occupies all of their time and energy."<br />
<ref name="free">The Freedom Journey (March 2, 2011) </ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Your freedom ... will come under increasing challenge by those who seek to gain access to this world and by the reality of your own circumstances here on Earth. The governments of the world apparently have not recognized this and have not prepared their people accordingly. The religious institutions have not recognized this and are not preparing their people accordingly. Instead, humanity continues in its desperate struggle with itself—for wealth, for power, for dominance, for righteousness, for hostility and for revenge."<br />
<ref>A New Way Forward for Humanity (December 31, 2006 )</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Your allies will not interfere because they realize that if they interfere, they will have to manipulate your perception and your understanding. In order for you even to act correctly, they would have to manipulate you. They would have to control you. And this they will not do because they are freedom-loving races. They know, through the lessons of life in the universe, that the attempt to control the future and destiny of another world will require subjugation. And this they will not do. Free races in your local universe are rare, and they must remain discreet."<br />
<ref name="contact"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"There are many races today who are watching humanity—waiting for an opportunity to gain advantage here, waiting for an opportunity to gain access to this world’s immense biological resources, waiting for an opportunity for humanity to be in a state of desperation where such influences will have tremendous impact. This is the greatest threat to humanity’s freedom and future."<ref>*The New Message on the Environment (December 15, 2006)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
== For the Individual ==<br />
===Short Quotes===<br />
"Spirituality is fundamentally a quest for freedom—freedom from certain things and freedom for certain things."<br />
<ref name="free"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"It is a very, very courageous thing to do to gain your freedom. You do not live in a free world and you are not a free person. Not really."<ref name="take">*Taking the Steps to Knowledge (April 21, 2000)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Personal freedom is valuable only in that it gives you this opportunity to find Knowledge."<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]]'' vol. I, chap. 7, p. 86</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Your greatest responsibility is to the Knowledge that God has placed within you to respond to, to follow and to express. This is an unparalleled freedom, but it requires great inner strength and forbearance."<br />
<ref name="build">Building a Bridge to a New Life (February 25, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"The Way of Knowledge and the power of Knowledge in the individual ... is the source of your freedom. More than anything else it will enable you to see, to know and to have the strength to act on your own behalf in the face of other intervening forces."<br />
<ref name="contact"/><br />
<br />
<br />
===Long Quotes===<br />
"If you are discontented with your life as it is, then you will have an incentive for Knowledge. You will want to find freedom and purpose. Yet if you still think that your life is fine, and you are comfortable with it up to a point, then Knowledge will seem like a great threat. You will avoid it, which is tragic, because you will be avoiding yourself. You will be avoiding your deepest feelings, your emotional honesty, your integrity and your deepest and most fundamental values. This is why people are strangers to themselves. They are identified with things on the outside, but they have very little relationship with themselves on the inside. They are not free. They are not free to be who they are, what they are and to follow their deepest inclination. Even if they are free on the outside and have political and social freedom of movement, which is rare in the world, this freedom does not reach to the depths of their own nature. And so they are not free."<br />
<ref>The First Commitment (September 25, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Many of your thoughts will have to be reconsidered. Many of your firmly held beliefs will have to be questioned and in some cases even set aside. This is the price of freedom. This is the price one pays for having the opportunity to live a greater life, an authentic life, a life that is in keeping with Knowledge within themselves, a life that fulfills the destiny that they were sent into the world to fulfill."<br />
<ref name="build"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"Humanity must regain its confidence. It must regain the power and the presence of Knowledge. It must unite for its own survival and well-being. And it must cultivate individual freedom here and face the challenge of living within the environmental constraints of this world."<br />
<ref name="contact"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"To break out of the personal hell of isolation, to break out of the domination of the mind and the domination of your social conditioning, represents freedom in the most fundamental way! For you can be free in the world, but if you are not free inside, well, you cannot really take advantage of your external freedom. Look about you in the world. People seem to be free, relatively speaking, compared to, say, other people in the world. And look what they do with their freedom. They become lost in addictions, they make horrendous mistakes in their relationships, they abuse themselves physically and emotionally.... Even within yourself, you know you are not free. Freedom is not simply having no obligations in life or not being accountable to anyone. Freedom really in its greatest and most real sense is the ability to find and to follow Knowledge because here you are finally free to do what you came here to do, which is the source of all real integrity and satisfaction."<br />
<ref name="take"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"There are people who are freedom oriented and there are people who are control oriented, and the control oriented are afraid of freedom, and they are afraid of Mystery because they do not believe in the essential goodness of the human spirit. They have lost their faith in humanity and have placed all their faith in their ideology and their prescriptions that they believe have come from God. But God has only given recommendations through the great Teachers, not rules—recommendations for living, guidelines for living to help people orient their lives correctly and productively and beneficially."<br />
<ref>The New Message on Religion (July 20, 2009)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Do not call chaos freedom, for this is not freedom. Do not think because others do not limit you that you are in an exalted state. Realize that your freedom is to enable you to find your purpose and to fulfill it.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 94</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“If you are not free to follow Knowledge, then you are a slave to other forces. You can escape slavery, but you must exercise great strength and determination to do it. You must face discomfort, for when you break the laws of manipulation, you will feel fear because fear is what governs them. Beyond this fear, there is freedom and release.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]] Continuation Training'', Step 27</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“What is worth protecting if it denies you your freedom? What is worth having if it binds you and bonds you to the past? Who is worth being with if all that they can do is remind you that you are weak and pathetic and unable to follow what you know? These are all valid questions. The impediments to freedom are still greatly valued, and freedom is looked at with anxiety and uncertainty. Your prison cell door is open and has been all along. But are you willing to venture out of the seeming security of your bondage?”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]] Continuation Training'', Step 46</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“What is freedom except the ability to unite with who you are and why you are here? The inability to do this represents the lack of freedom in all of its manifestations.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]] Continuation Training'', Step 67</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“When we speak of freedom, we mean the freedom to be what you are, to follow what you know, and to give what you came here to give. This is a definition of freedom in the more ultimate sense.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]] Continuation Training'', Step 68</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“You lose your freedom every day when you lose contact with Knowledge, when you are lost to yourself, when you act in such a way that betrays your true understanding, when you say things you don’t mean to say and do things you don’t really intend to do and when you follow others mindlessly out of fear and concern.”<br />
<br />
“If it is genuine, freedom brings with it responsibility, a commitment to give, accountability to others and a dedication to service. Freedom without these things is not freedom. It is avoidance. It is true freedom that must be protected and preserved. You lose your freedom every day when you lose contact with Knowledge, when you are lost to yourself.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]] Continuation Training'', Step 69</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Freedom is a state of no-choice. Now you are dealing with what is unequivocal and absolutely vital; you are not dealing with casual choices. Life is vital every moment. If you are entertaining choices, you can be certain you have not arrived at Knowledge in that situation.”<br />
<br />
“Your only real freedom is the freedom to live your purpose. Freedom without purpose is chaos. It is living aimlessly without direction, with only your fears for survival, your wants and your desires to motivate you. It is a very desperate situation.”<br />
<br />
“To give up your personal freedom is to reclaim God and all your real power. Your personal freedom is driving you crazy.”<br />
<br />
“Freedom is the great reason people will not accept God, and yet God gives you freedom and power of such magnitude that you could not give it to yourself meaningfully. God gives you responsibility so that you may reclaim your power and value yourself. You cannot come closer to God unless you have this value. You cannot be a little crumb and go to God. God does not know you as a little crumb. God knows you as a magnificent creation. You cannot go to God all self-inflated with a big name tag saying, “I am a magnificent creation!” and be a little crumb inside, either. You must go to God as God made you, not as you made yourself.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 7</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Why do people destroy all that they have created that makes them so secure? Because it is imprisoning them, and they cannot stand it anymore. They would rather start all over again. So if your own stability begins to eliminate your possibility for progress, you will destroy it. You will destroy your financial state, your health, your relationships—whatever seems to be infringing upon you.”<br />
<br />
“What is the value of freedom if there is no purpose? It is only license to be chaotic. But the true meaning of freedom is so true purpose may continue to be discovered and expressed. To have this freedom, you must learn to live in Knowledge and use Knowledge.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 8</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“You do not know what to do with your freedom. God is not interfering. You can do anything here, but very few people know what to do with their freedom. It is very sad because you have may everything and you are still empty. Your true desire inside has not been quenched.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 11</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“You must all become followers because you all are followers. There are no leaders in the world. Those who appear to be leaders are either following Knowledge or they are following their ambitions. They are bound to what they follow. There is no freedom except following the right calling.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 15</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“What keeps people from being free is not their external circumstances. It is their own mind and their own thoughts. They are prisoners to their thoughts. They cannot stop watching their thoughts. It is as if you were watching a movie on a screen and you could never tear yourself away. The screen then becomes ever more real to you, for you have no contrast. You have no experience to remind you that it is just a movie you are watching.”<br />
<br />
“Freedom without purpose is quite meaningless. What is the value of freedom if there is no purpose? It is only license to be chaotic. But the true meaning of freedom is so that true purpose may continue to be discovered and expressed. To have this freedom, you must learn to live in Knowledge and to use Knowledge. If you do not use Knowledge, you will only have your thoughts to guide you, and they are remarkably chaotic. They are so temporary, sporadic and conflicted that they make a very poor guide for you.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 20</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Finally you can see. Finally you can know. Finally your eyes are clear. Finally you are no longer intoxicated by people, by images or by ideas. Your mind becomes free and open to think, to rethink, to renew itself, to adapt itself and to refocus itself. What a great freedom this is!”<br />
<ref>''[[Living the Way of Knowledge]]'', Chapter 3</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“You are needed in the world. It is time to prepare. It is time to become focused and determined. There is no escape from this, for only those who are developed in The Way of Knowledge will have capability in the future and will be able to maintain their freedom in a Mental Environment that will be increasingly influenced by the Greater Community.”<br />
<ref>''[[Living the Way of Knowledge]]'', Chapter 5</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Freedom is not a right in the universe. It is a privilege and a luxury. Your values may argue with this, but your expectations eventually must conform to the real circumstances of life. Individual freedom is extremely valuable, but it is not guaranteed, and you cannot claim it as a right. You will be shocked to find, as you begin to learn about and even experience the Greater Community in which you live, how rare freedom really is.”<br />
<ref>''[[The Reality and Spirituality of Life in the Universe]]'', Chapter 8</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“The problems that you face in this world are the same problems that individuals in all worlds face. The need for freedom is a need that is experienced everywhere—the freedom to think, the freedom to act, the freedom to move around, the freedom to discern one’s own inner direction, the freedom to pursue that direction, the freedom to create, the freedom to discover one’s greater purpose and to express that purpose, without oppression, without condemnation and without subjugation.”<br />
<ref>''[[The Reality and Spirituality of Life in the Universe]]'',Chapter 12</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“You can never take your freedom for granted in the universe. Freedom is a privilege and not merely a right. It must be built with strength and wisdom, and it must be protected with vigilance, always.”<br />
<ref>''[[The Allies of Humanity]] Book Three''</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“You cannot give up your spiritual reality to become a completely worldly person, or you will never have a real sense of your life and destiny. And you will never understand or be able to experience consistently the greater purpose that has brought you here. You will make all your decisions based upon your ideas or the ideas of your culture, and you will be bound and chained to your culture. It, more than you, will dictate who you are with and what you will do, what you will value and what you will avoid. You will not be a free person, even if you live in a free nation.”<br />
<ref>The Mystery, June 8, 2010</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“To Knowledge, wealth, beauty and power mean nothing, and to be free of these seductions is to have a freedom in life that is so unparalleled. When you are free like this, everyone else will look like they are in chains, slaves. And whether the chains are made of iron or made of gold, they are all the same.”<br />
<ref>The First Commitment, September 25, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Knowledge will guide you to take certain actions. You must be free to take these actions.<br />
Knowledge will reveal certain things to you about yourself and the people around you. You must be free to consider these things and to respond.<br />
Knowledge will take you to certain places. You must be free to go there.<br />
Knowledge will build real relationships with people who have great promise for you. You must be free to participate there.<br />
Knowledge will take you out of situations that are unhealthy or that have no future. You must be free to withdraw.<br />
Knowledge will ask you to wait. You must have the freedom to wait.<br />
Knowledge will require forbearance. You must be able to practice forbearance.<br />
Knowledge will require real discernment and the development of discernment on your part. You must be free to undertake this development.<br />
Knowledge will require that you be discreet and not talk foolishly or mindlessly. You must gain the freedom and the strength to do this.<br />
Knowledge will require that you face the world and the Great Waves of change that are coming to humanity. You must have the freedom and the courage to do this.<br />
All of these freedoms require breaking away from certain things and building other things. They require a thousand little liberations and new beginnings in every aspect of your life.”<br />
<br />
“Spirituality is fundamentally a quest for freedom—freedom from certain things and freedom for certain things. Seen in this way, the picture becomes more complete. For you have a greater destiny in the world, a greater purpose for being here, a purpose that you are not living now, despite your definitions and proclamations. It is to free you from the life that you are living now to prepare you for a greater life in service to the world that represents the core and essence of all spiritual development.”<br />
<ref name="free"/><br />
<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
[[Freedom from the Past]]<br />
<br />
[[Free Will]]<br />
<br />
[[category:the Intervention]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Fate&diff=2881Fate2012-01-02T22:57:24Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>== Long Quotes ==<br />
"Every New Revelation has been resisted and denied and disputed.<br />
There is no time for this now.<br />
The fate of humanity will be determined in the next 20 years—the condition of the world, the condition of the human family, the fate and the future of human civilization."<br />
<ref>The Recitation (April 1, 2011)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Your decision making here is crucial to your success.... The decisions you make today result in your life tomorrow. They determine what kind of decisions will be available to you tomorrow. Choose the way that has no destiny and no meaning, and you will spend your years trying to get back to where you started. But choose the way that is meant for you, the way that Knowledge within you will recognize and confirm, and every step you take will be a genuine step towards building a foundation for Knowledge and contribution."<br />
<ref>''[[Living the Way of Knowledge]]'', Chapter 2</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
[[Karma]]<br />
<br />
[[Free Will]]<br />
<br />
[[Predestination]]<br />
<br />
[[category:God]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Quotes_About_Fear&diff=2880Quotes About Fear2012-01-02T22:56:33Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>== Directives ==<br />
"You need Knowledge to see, to know what to do and to do what you know. You need to develop in The [[Greater Community Way of Knowledge]]. [Humanity's evolution and emergence into the Greater Community] is why this must be the primary emphasis for you. Let fear not be your motivation; let wishful thinking not be your motivation. Let Knowledge itself be your motivation."<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'', chap. 15, p. 197</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"You must face discomfort, for when you break the laws of manipulation, you will feel fear because fear is what governs them. Beyond this fear, there is freedom and release."<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Continuation Training 27</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Short Quotes==<br />
"The Ancient Voice is beyond fear. And when you respond, you are beyond fear."<br />
<ref>The Engagement (April 16, 2011)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Long Quotes==<br />
<br />
"To be alone is to be afraid—to be afraid of pain, to be afraid of loss, to be afraid of rejection, to be afraid of criticism, to be afraid you will not have what you need or what you want. And of course this becomes the source of aberrant behavior, dishonesty, manipulation, avoidance, distractions, indulgences, obsessions, addictions, everything."<br />
<ref>Ending Separation (March 3, 2011)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"At the surface of your mind, you suffer over every little thing, and you have great anxieties about your future and well-being—always the fear of future loss, always the fear of the innumerable things that can happen to you and to those that you care for. How can you ever know anything at this level, so filled with fear and ambition, so easily distracted, so easily manipulated, so easily controlled, so easily dominated by the opinions or the determinations of others?"<br />
<ref>The Shock of the Future (April 30, 2011)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"A balanced approach will temper your desires and will also enable you to overcome your fears, for nearly everyone is afraid of at least one of the pillars. Some people are afraid of all the pillars. Your desires and your fears will become tempered if you take this approach. This develops character and capacity. If you are driven by ambition or if you are overcome by fear, you will not be able to establish the foundation for a life of Knowledge."<br />
<ref>''[[Living The Way of Knowledge]]'' chap. 2, p. 11</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“It is your Will that has become fearful to you. You are afraid of what you Know and most deeply feel. This leads you to find refuge in other things that do not represent you, and in this you lose your identity and attempt to construct an identity that is related to those things which you have sought for escape.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 43</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Fear that is born of negative imagination comprises the vast majority of the fear with which you entertain yourself. This you must learn to counteract, for it is an inappropriate use of your mind, where you create an experience for yourself, then experience it and then call it reality. Meanwhile, you have not been present with life at all. You have merely been in fantasy with yourself. Negative imagination drains you emotionally, physically and mentally. It can be escalated to such heights that it can dominate your thinking altogether. For how else can you be separate in the universe except in your own thoughts?”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 128</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Much of the fear that you experience moment to moment is simply a matter of your own creation, your own negative imagination. But then there is fear that is born of the violation of Knowledge. This is more a discomfort than a fear, for it rarely carries with it any kind of imagery at all, though ideas can come into your mind as a form of warning should you be attempting behavior or a line of thinking that is dangerous or destructive.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 128</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Your fearlessness in the future must not be born of pretense, but born of your certainty in Knowledge. In this way, you will be a refuge of peace and a source of wealth for others. This is what you are meant to be. This is why you have come into the world.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 162</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“In your past you have been afraid of the world, intimidated by the world, angered by the world and depressed by the world. Therefore, your past contribution to the world has been limited by these reactions. You have been ambivalent about being in the world, because you were afraid of the world. Thus perhaps you have sought refuge in spiritual things, but your true spiritual nature will redirect you in the world and bring you back with greater power, certainty and purpose, for you have come to be in the world.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 320</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“The only thing that can stand between you and the fulfillment of your purpose and the reclamation of true relationship is trying to maintain relationships or associations that do not have a foundation in Knowledge, for it is only fear of the true and identification with the false that can possibly obstruct you in your purpose.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Level II</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“You are driven by fear, the fear of not having, which is the source of all your artificial desires.”<br />
<ref>Money, Wealth and Power, January 13, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
“People who are terrified of losing are afraid to receive. The cost is always too great for them. If you are to be fully engaged in life individually and as a society, it will cost everything you have. You will end your life completely used up like a great vessel that has been emptied. It is that complete utilization that will fulfill you in this world and will make it unnecessary for you to return. You have given everything you have brought with you.”<br />
<ref name="wisdom">''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One''</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Fear is a master. It is the master of the worldly mind.”<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
“Do not react with hope. Do not react with fear. Respond with Knowledge.”<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
“We come not to incite fear but to provoke a sense of responsibility.”<br />
<ref name="allies1">''[[The Allies of Humanity]] Book One''</ref><br />
<br />
“It is true of intelligent life everywhere that fear can be a destructive force. Yet fear serves one and only one purpose if it is perceived correctly and that is to inform you of the presence of danger.”<br />
<br />
“If you can become informed, then fear is transformed into concern and concern is transformed into constructive action.”<br />
<ref name="allies1"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“Do not condemn yourself for being afraid, for it is natural. It is normal. It is to be expected. How could you not look at the Great Waves of change and not feel immensely threatened and disconcerted by them? But this reaction, however normal, cannot be your overall response. You must move beyond fear and apprehension to gain a greater strength and objectivity and a greater commitment. You must move out of the pathetic viewpoint of your personal mind and anchor yourself in a deeper intelligence within yourself that is not afraid of the future and that is not afraid of whatever might come.”<br />
<ref>''[[The Great Waves of Change]]'', Chapter 13</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“You are afraid of your Knowledge, for you feel that it will undermine your plans, your schemes, your preferred outcomes and your preferred relationships while, in actuality, it will only adjust everything to bring about harmony and happiness for you.”<br />
<br />
“Here you will begin to learn the difference between fear and caution. Fear is a projection of your negative imagination upon the world whereas caution is the awareness that an error can be made. Fear and caution are entirely different experiences from one another. You need caution but not fear, for caution will not exasperate your mind or undermine your Knowledge in any way. It is part of having a healthy approach to the world if it is used with discernment and awareness.”<br />
<ref>''[[Relationships & Higher Purpose]]'', Chapter 6</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"It is remarkable that most people’s desires and ideology are based upon fear—the fear of not having, the fear of losing, the fear of death, the fear of deprivation, the fear of social rejection, the fear of being out of control, the fear of not knowing what to do in the face of danger.<br />
Underlying humanity’s great idealism and desires for its future—providence, wealth and affluence—is this fear. It is like the undercurrent—pulling, directing, moving people around."<br />
<ref>Planetary Instability (March 14, 2011)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:mental environment]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Family&diff=2879Family2012-01-02T22:54:53Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div><br />
"You have a human family that raises you in the world, but you have a Spiritual Family that raises you in life. This Family is not all humankind. You are not entirely human. You belong to a Greater Reality. Being a human isn’t enough. You are not entirely a human being. When you have this perspective, you will know how to serve people because you will not be trapped in their identity dilemma."<br />
<ref name="wisdom">''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]]'' Volume One</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"Unfortunately, living in their personal minds, people believe very intently that the only opportunity to experience profound relationship is in romance or in family. We wish to broaden the context of relationship because many of you will not have partnership in this life in that way. Your partnership will be in a different form. Unless you can entertain this possibility, you will strive for the impossible and spend your life attempting to accomplish something that is not intended for you."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"Often people say, 'All I want is a true partner in life, a true relationship. I want to be married. I want to have a family. That is all I want.' And We say, 'Well, that is very good. Go spend time with people who have that and ask yourself if you want to have their level of satisfaction.' We do not want to deprive people of what they want. After all, relationship is very important. But having a marriage or family does not guarantee success."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"In life thus far you have had a physical family, a family of the world that has made it possible for you to be born, to be raised and to be educated in the ways of the world. Likewise, you have a Spiritual Family that is waiting to prepare you, to activate your spiritual life and your Knowledge while you are here in the world…Therefore, you have a physical family, a worldly family, that has raised you from birth and has educated you to prepare you to be in life. Maybe they did not do such a good job, but that is beside the point. Then you have a Spiritual Family into which you are born in a new world, and you develop and you become educated so that you are a spiritual presence in life."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"Your first challenge in change will be with yourself. That is the most important. It will be with yourself and in your primary relationships: your partner, your loved ones, your family and so forth. If you feel a spiritual emergence arising that you must respond to, you will have to change your relationship with your family. You cannot change and have relationships around you not adjust according to that change. You must do it, not wait for someone to do it for you."<br />
<ref name="wisdom2">''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]]'' Volume Two</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"Human beings must learn to live for the welfare of their human family, not simply their blood family, but for their society and world."<br />
<ref name="wisdom2"/><br />
<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
[[Raising Children]]<br />
<br />
[[Relationships]]<br />
<br />
[[Marriage]]<br />
<br />
[[Love]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Family&diff=2878Family2012-01-02T22:53:35Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div><br />
"You have a human family that raises you in the world, but you have a Spiritual Family that raises you in life. This Family is not all humankind. You are not entirely human. You belong to a Greater Reality. Being a human isn’t enough. You are not entirely a human being. When you have this perspective, you will know how to serve people because you will not be trapped in their identity dilemma."<br />
<ref name="wisdom">''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]]'' Volume One</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"Unfortunately, living in their personal minds, people believe very intently that the only opportunity to experience profound relationship is in romance or in family. We wish to broaden the context of relationship because many of you will not have partnership in this life in that way. Your partnership will be in a different form. Unless you can entertain this possibility, you will strive for the impossible and spend your life attempting to accomplish something that is not intended for you."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"Often people say, 'All I want is a true partner in life, a true relationship. I want to be married. I want to have a family. That is all I want.' And We say, 'Well, that is very good. Go spend time with people who have that and ask yourself if you want to have their level of satisfaction.' We do not want to deprive people of what they want. After all, relationship is very important. But having a marriage or family does not guarantee success."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"In life thus far you have had a physical family, a family of the world that has made it possible for you to be born, to be raised and to be educated in the ways of the world. Likewise, you have a Spiritual Family that is waiting to prepare you, to activate your spiritual life and your Knowledge while you are here in the world…Therefore, you have a physical family, a worldly family, that has raised you from birth and has educated you to prepare you to be in life. Maybe they did not do such a good job, but that is beside the point. Then you have a Spiritual Family into which you are born in a new world, and you develop and you become educated so that you are a spiritual presence in life."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"Your first challenge in change will be with yourself. That is the most important. It will be with yourself and in your primary relationships: your partner, your loved ones, your family and so forth. If you feel a spiritual emergence arising that you must respond to, you will have to change your relationship with your family. You cannot change and have relationships around you not adjust according to that change. You must do it, not wait for someone to do it for you."<br />
<ref name="wisdom2">''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]]'' Volume Two</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"Human beings must learn to live for the welfare of their human family, not simply their blood family, but for their society and world."<br />
<ref name="wisdom2"/><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
[[Raising Children]]<br />
<br />
[[Relationships]]<br />
<br />
[[Marriage]]<br />
<br />
[[Love]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Quotes_About_Faith&diff=2877Quotes About Faith2012-01-02T22:49:18Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>==Short Quotes==<br />
"True faith and true adherence comes from a deeper place, from the very soul, the very heart of you, the center of your Being."<br />
<ref>God's Power and Presence in the World, April 23, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Your understanding of faith must change. It must take a higher ground, a more secure position, a more authentic understanding and expression."<br />
<ref name="faith">The Great Faith, April 25, 2007</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"The Great Faith is not new; it has only been forgotten."<br />
<ref name="faith"/><br />
<br />
==Long Quotes==<br />
"You must have faith in Knowledge primarily—Knowledge within yourself and Knowledge within others—because that is what is truly powerful. Everything else may be thrown into question, confusion and doubt. But you must come back to what is essential and what is eternal, to what comes from God directly.<br />
<br />
"This is the Great Faith. This is the power and the presence of Knowledge. This is the great thread of truth in your life. Build your strength here, and the future will not seem so overwhelming. It will not seem so threatening. You can face uncertainty with greater strength and determination. You have the power to change your circumstances in advance of great change and in the face of great change."<br />
<ref>Where Will You Place Your Faith? (June 28, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"It is the Greater Power of Knowledge—the mystery, the evidence of things unseen—that must be the focus of your faith, that must be the heart of your religion, that must be the source of your encouragement, your wisdom and your guidance. This is the Great Faith. This is the faith that requires reinforcement. This is the faith that will ask of you to place your confidence in a greater unseen power—a power that you may only experience intermittently or even rarely."<br />
<ref name="faith"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“Do not lose faith in Knowledge, the Presence of your Teachers, the beneficence of Life nor your mission in the world. Allow all these things to be affirmed so that they may fully reveal themselves to you in time. If you are present to them, they will become so obvious to you that you will see and feel them in all things. Your vision of the world will be transformed. Your experience of the world will be transformed. And all of your power and energy will unite to express itself.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 68</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“If you have sufficient confidence in your Knowledge, based upon actual experience, and sufficient confidence in the Presence of your Teachers, based upon actual experience, this will give you a certainty and a faith in life that will counteract all fear that is unnecessary.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 128</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“When We say have faith in God, we mean have faith in Knowledge in others because that is the most real demonstration of God in the world. Someone is doing something beyond their own personal interest. That is greatness in the world.”<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 29</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“So the question is, ‘What is faith?’ Faith is the willingness and the ability to follow what God has placed within you to guide you. It is not about religion. You can be a person who has no faith tradition and follow the path of redemption. You can be a person of any faith tradition and follow the path of redemption. You could be a person who does not even think there is a God, and follow the path of redemption. It is not about belief or ideology.”<br />
<ref>Faith, Work & Higher Purpose, January 12, 2009</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“Your understanding of faith must change. It must take a higher ground, a more secure position, a more authentic understanding and expression. This faith must be based upon what is unseen, not upon what is seen. It must be based upon what is known and most deeply felt. It cannot be based upon appearances. It cannot be based upon the manifestations of nations and religions, or it will suffer terribly and fail you in the time of crisis and great need. Your faith must be in something greater than what humanity has created. It must be in something greater than what the institutions of the world have created.”<br />
<br />
“Your faith is meant to keep your mind focused on a Greater Power that resides within you and within the minds and hearts of all who dwell here. It is this Power within you and around you that must be the focus and substance of your faith.”<br />
<br />
“If your faith is based upon the manifestations of life—the creations of humanity, what human institutions have developed—then how can this faith be sustained into the future? What will happen to your faith when nations clash, when terrible acts are committed against innocent people in the name of God and religion? What will happen to your faith when people go hungry and starvation increases as the world’s supply of fresh water and food declines due to environmental degradation and overuse? What will happen to your faith when holy sites are desecrated, when places beloved by people are destroyed through turmoil, through competition, conflict and war? What will happen to your faith within these scenarios? If you believe that God is the author of all that takes place, how will you justify these things? How will you keep God holy, merciful and beneficial if you think God is the author of human behavior and human conflict?”<br />
<br />
“If your faith is in things seen and touched, then you are placing yourself in great vulnerability and you are ensuring that your future will be filled with anger and disappointment, shock and tragedy.”<br />
<br />
“It is the Greater Power of Knowledge—the mystery, the evidence of things unseen—that must be the focus of your faith, that must be the heart of your religion, that must be the source of your encouragement, your wisdom and your guidance. This is the Great Faith. This is the faith that requires reinforcement. This is the faith that will ask of you to place your confidence in a greater unseen power—a power that you may only experience intermittently or even rarely. This Greater Power has been known to the true practi- tioners of religion throughout the ages. However, it goes unrecognized for nearly all the people today regardless of their nation or their faith tradition.”<br />
<br />
“This is why there is a New Message from God in the world—a Message to restore this faith, to emphasize its importance and to show you how it provides you freedom from vulnerability, freedom from anger and freedom from disappointment and disillusionment. For you may lose faith in all things seen and touched, but your faith in Knowledge must remain strong. If this can be the case, then you will be able to withstand the Great Waves of change without losing your appreciation for your divine nature and the divine nature of all others who dwell here. You will be able to practice forgiveness, tolerance and restraint—things that you would lose otherwise without this Great Faith.”<br />
<br />
“This Great Faith ensures that the Power of God is there to guide you, to protect you and to lead you to great accomplishments in life.”<br />
<br />
“Whether humanity is rising or falling, the power of Knowledge is within you. And you can amplify this power in others by sharing the Great Faith with them and by sharing the New Message from God with them, which speaks of this Great Faith and emphasizes its vital importance both now and in the future.”<br />
<br />
“Who will be a light unto the world and who will be able to counteract the Greater Darkness in the world except those who have this Great Faith? Who will be able to see beyond the divisions of religious ideology and historical interpretation, and who will be able to mend the conflicts that exist between the world’s religions except those who have this Great Faith? Who will be the peacekeepers and the peacemakers, who will not turn to violence, who will not take sides and struggle except those who have this Great Faith?”<br />
<br />
“What you can give to people is food, water, shelter and the Great Faith. Taking care of people, feeding people, assisting people and giving people the Great Faith—this is what will be needed. For it is only the Great Faith that will give humanity a future. It is only the Great Faith that will enable you and others to navigate the difficult waters ahead. It will be your raft in the turbulent seas. Only this Great Faith will show humanity that it has great cause to unite in its own defense and for the protection of the world. It is this that will allow humanity to have a greater future—a future greater than its past. However, this future will not be based upon political mandates or religious ideologies. It will be established and built upon a Great Faith.”<br />
<ref name="faith"/><br />
<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:practice]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Extraterrestrial_Contact&diff=2876Extraterrestrial Contact2012-01-02T22:47:36Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>== The Allure ==<br />
"It is at this point [of diminishing resources] that so many worlds are contacted from others who offer them technology and resources. And if the native peoples have exhausted their own world’s ability to sustain them, they will have to accept these offers. But it is these offers that will rob the native peoples of their self-determination and their freedom and their self-sufficiency."<br />
<ref name="emerge">Humanity’s Emergence into the Greater Community, July 19, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Human Preconceptions==<br />
"Many people believe the Universe is a great empty place, and if life does exist, it is rare. Many people think that if humanity were to encounter another race of beings in the Universe, this race of beings would be inordinately interested in humanity and would want to help humanity and share their wisdom and technology with this young emerging race in the world. But, alas, the situation is very different."<br />
<ref name="emerge"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"No one in the world is educated about the Greater Community. If you were, you would be responding very differently to the presence of foreign powers in your midst. This would become a worldwide focus, and the emphasis would be on establishing your own rules of engagement with whomever you are encountering now and will likely encounter in the future."<br />
<ref name="emerge"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"People want many things from visitors here. They expect many things. People feel they are very important in the universe and that others would naturally come here to help you and to give you what you wanted and needed. People think Contact is kind of a thrilling adventure, a holiday from the mundanity of human life. They want to think that this Contact would be very positive and beneficial because they do not have the strength, the courage or the preparation to consider it in any other way."<br />
<ref>Entering the Greater Community, May 27, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“When you encounter visitors from the outside, you will tend to misunderstand their presence and intentions — thinking they are here to help you, thinking they are here to benefit you — and you will be very susceptible to their offers of technology, to their inducements and to their seductions. You will be at risk of failing to see that they are merely resource explorers.”<br />
<ref>Contact with Intelligent Life in the Universe, October 1, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Be careful here not to think that there are powerful and positive foreign races in the world today. Many people make this mistake because they still want to be saved or rescued."<br />
<ref name="resist">Resisting the Intervention, September 10, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
== Motives ==<br />
"[They] seek not to destroy you but to use you, to employ you in service to them."<br />
<ref name="emerge"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"The visitation in your world now is very extensive, so much so that people in all parts of the world are witnessing it and are experiencing its effects directly. What has brought these 'visitors' from the Greater Community, these different organizations of beings, is not to promote the advancement of humanity or the spiritual education of humanity. What has brought these forces to your shores in such numbers with such intention are the resources of your world."<br />
<ref>''[[The Allies of Humanity]]'', Book One, The First Briefing, p. 3</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
== Methods ==<br />
"Races from the Greater Community are already here, interfering in human affairs, seeking to establish themselves as centers of power and influence here, operating secretly behind the scenes, influencing people in positions of power, taking citizens against their will, functioning in ways that are highly dangerous and hazardous for the human family. Yet people go about life as if nothing is happening, consumed with their own needs, consumed with human conflict and corruption, consumed with the difficulties of life here in this one world, unaware and unconcerned about the presence of an Intervention here. And those few people who are aware of this presence are being persuaded to perceive it as beneficial, as benign and, in some cases, even representing salvation for the human family."<br />
<ref name="emerge"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"No one else can live in your world. It is biologically too complex for them. They need you. They need your cooperation. They need you to submit to them, willingly. They need to erode your self-confidence so that you feel you cannot resist them. They will need you to deplete your resources so that you will become dependent upon them."<br />
<ref name="emerge"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"The Intervention has studied human psychology and physiology and has devised a very potent form of persuasion. It has taken many people against their will and subjected them to cruel experiments and powerful forms of mind control. Many of these people now cannot think for themselves. Their minds have been overtaken. Their freedom has been taken from them. They are now like laboratory animals for the Intervention, used for reproductive purposes so the Intervention can create hybrid individuals to be in positions of power and influence in government, commerce and religion."<br />
<ref name="resist"/><br />
<br />
<br />
==Recommendations==<br />
"The only way that you can advance, and the only way that you will be able to interpret, discern and contend with forces from the Greater Community is through the development of Knowledge. This is true because Knowledge is the only part of your mind that cannot be influenced or dominated. It is the only part of your mind that is pure. It cannot be infiltrated. It cannot be manipulated, either in the mental or in the physical environment. It is unaffected by technology. It is unaffected by the demonstrations of power. It is unaffected by the manipulations of fear. It is the only part of you that is free. Therefore, the more you associate with Knowledge and become united with Knowledge, the freer you will become, the more capable you will be in encountering new experiences and new forces in life and the more able you will be to discern your visitors' motives and activities beyond any appearance."<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'' chap. 15, p. 190</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Humanity is but leaving one stage of its development and entering another. It is a great transition from a world of tribal societies and warring factions to a more united and powerful humanity—a humanity that can live, function and remain free within a Greater Community of life, a humanity that can face Intervention from other races in the universe and can establish its own rules of engagement here, a united humanity that can learn to live within the boundaries and limited resources of this world without driving them into oblivion and decline."<br />
<ref>The New God, February 12, 2009</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/> <br />
==See also==<br />
[[The Greater Community]]<br />
<br />
[[The Intervention]]<br />
<br />
[[The Allies of Humanity]]<br />
<br />
<br />
[[category:The Intervention]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Failure&diff=2875Failure2012-01-02T22:45:21Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>== Personal ==<br />
"Every failure started out as a good idea—something that would lead in a preferred direction, something that would further a personal cause. Let your failures in life, then, disillusion you and sober you, temper you and open your eyes. Accept your failures. Call them failures. They ''are'' failures. Let them renew you. Let them clear your vision. Let them free you from future failure. Let them give you discernment. Let them teach you discretion. Let them take you back to truth, which is what you needed to begin with."<br />
<ref name="gcs">''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]''</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Why take the easy and comfortable way? That only leads to a great failure at the end of your life, a failure that will cause you much distress and unhappiness throughout your life. There is no comfort in comfort. There is no escape in escape. There is no relief in passivity. There is no luxury in luxury. Unless you can fulfill your mission and purpose here, a misery will attend you that no amount of pleasure, luxury, avoidance, comfort or passivity can allay."<br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
== Collective ==<br />
"For it is at this great turning point that humanity will choose success or failure in the face of immense difficulty in the world and in the face of opposing and competing forces from the Greater Community who seek to take advantage of a struggling and divided humanity."<br />
<ref>[http://www.newmessage.org/ee/index.php/special-teachings/the-blessing The Blessing] (April 20, 2007)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Even if the Greater Community were not present in the world today, your failure to take these steps [toward unification of all humanity] would lead to the destruction of your environment and the loss of your opportunity to live in this world. Two great tragedies. The possibility for that failure now is great; the risks are high. <br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"If you fail in this regard, you will fail even to meet your world's needs, and this will overtake you in time. You cannot afford this, and you know it."<br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
== In learning the Way of Knowledge==<br />
;Potential pitfalls<br />
:ambition<br />
:impatience<br />
:unwillingness to learn <br />
:unwillingness to fit oneself into appropriate placement<br />
:misguided associations ("the wrong people in the wrong ways")<br />
:attempt to use rather than be used by the truth<br />
:lack of discernment<br />
:indiscretion<br />
:grandiose imaginations about one's role or abilities<br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
== Metaphors ==<br />
"The one who is taking the real steps to Knowledge and is learning them correctly will pass you by. And you will become broken down by the side of the road, unable to participate and unable to move forward."<br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:practice]]<br />
[[category:the Great Waves of change]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Failure&diff=2874Failure2012-01-02T22:44:46Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>== Personal ==<br />
"Every failure started out as a good idea—something that would lead in a preferred direction, something that would further a personal cause. Let your failures in life, then, disillusion you and sober you, temper you and open your eyes. Accept your failures. Call them failures. They ''are'' failures. Let them renew you. Let them clear your vision. Let them free you from future failure. Let them give you discernment. Let them teach you discretion. Let them take you back to truth, which is what you needed to begin with."<br />
<ref name="gcs">''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]''</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Why take the easy and comfortable way? That only leads to a great failure at the end of your life, a failure that will cause you much distress and unhappiness throughout your life. There is no comfort in comfort. There is no escape in escape. There is no relief in passivity. There is no luxury in luxury. Unless you can fulfill your mission and purpose here, a misery will attend you that no amount of pleasure, luxury, avoidance, comfort or passivity can allay."<br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
== Collective ==<br />
"For it is at this great turning point that humanity will choose success or failure in the face of immense difficulty in the world and in the face of opposing and competing forces from the Greater Community who seek to take advantage of a struggling and divided humanity."<br />
*[http://www.newmessage.org/ee/index.php/special-teachings/the-blessing The Blessing] (April 20, 2007)<br />
"Even if the Greater Community were not present in the world today, your failure to take these steps [toward unification of all humanity] would lead to the destruction of your environment and the loss of your opportunity to live in this world. Two great tragedies. The possibility for that failure now is great; the risks are high. <br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"If you fail in this regard, you will fail even to meet your world's needs, and this will overtake you in time. You cannot afford this, and you know it."<br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
== In learning the Way of Knowledge==<br />
;Potential pitfalls<br />
:ambition<br />
:impatience<br />
:unwillingness to learn <br />
:unwillingness to fit oneself into appropriate placement<br />
:misguided associations ("the wrong people in the wrong ways")<br />
:attempt to use rather than be used by the truth<br />
:lack of discernment<br />
:indiscretion<br />
:grandiose imaginations about one's role or abilities<br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
== Metaphors ==<br />
"The one who is taking the real steps to Knowledge and is learning them correctly will pass you by. And you will become broken down by the side of the road, unable to participate and unable to move forward."<br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:practice]]<br />
[[category:the Great Waves of change]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=The_Intervention&diff=2873The Intervention2012-01-02T22:42:13Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>(==About the Extraterrestrial (ET) Intervention==<br />
<br />
=== Short Quotes ===<br />
"They want humanity to believe in them and to serve them. They want humanity to work for them. They will promise anything, offer anything and do anything to achieve this goal."<br />
<ref>''[[The Allies of Humanity]]'', Book One, The Second Briefing</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"They will not teach power in the Mental Environment, for they do not want humanity to have this power unless it is completely controlled by them."<br />
<ref>''[[The Allies of Humanity]]'', Book Two, The Third Briefing, p. 29</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"The fact is that very few people are even aware of an extraterrestrial presence in the world, and even amongst them, very few recognize it as an Intervention, as a danger and as a hazard for humanity."<br />
<ref>''[[The Great Waves of Change]]'', Chapter 13, p. 178-179</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Humanity is facing the loss of its freedom and sovereignty in this world to intervening forces from the Universe."<br />
<ref>The Proclamation (July 7, 2006)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Humanity is emerging into a Greater Community of life in the universe because others are here to seek influence and domination of a world of great value and importance."<br />
<ref>The Recitation (April 1, 2011)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
=== Long Quotes ===<br />
"As resources decline within this world, and as economic and political instability increases, the offerings of the Intervention will become ever more persuasive, yet what it is offering is your own demise—the loss of human freedom, your dependence upon foreign technology and foreign power."<br />
<ref>Resisting the Intervention (September 10, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"The Allies of Humanity Briefings and the Teaching in the New Message together will provide you a clear understanding, and it will be an understanding that you will be able to comprehend easily because it reflects the lessons of nature and the lessons of your own history in this world―the lessons of intervention, the lessons of competition in nature and what peoples and nations must do to become free from intervention, in this case an intervention into the minds and the hearts of people."<br />
<ref>Protecting Yourself from the Intervention (March 17, 2011)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Amongst those races who seek to gain dominance here, there is a competition, a competition for influence—a kind of subtle attempt at conquest to make humanity weak and dependent, to encourage human conflict secretly so that humanity never gains security or stability, thus requiring it to reach out to foreign powers and to accept whatever inducements these foreign powers might offer you."<br />
<ref>''[[Life in the Universe]]'', chap. 5, Technology and Stability</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"The calling must be for the individual now, for the world will need many saviors, many guided and inspired individuals, or human civilization could fail, and that failure could be the most terrible thing that could happen to the human family. You would surely fall under the domination of foreign powers in the universe. Such powers are watching you, listening to you, planning to carry out their activities through devious and subtle means."<br />
<ref>The Voice of the Revelation (April 14, 2011)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Many people in the world are awaiting the return of their Savior, their Maitreya or their Imam. But God has sent a New Message into the world, a Message to prepare humanity for the great change that is coming here and for its encounter with intelligent life in the universe, an encounter that will be far more precarious and dangerous than most people truly recognize."<br />
<ref>The Will of Heaven (May 17, 2011)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"The Revelation from God must awaken you to the realities, the difficulties and the opportunities of emerging into a Greater Community of intelligent life. None of God’s previous Revelations were required to do this because the need was not there. Humanity had not progressed that far. But you now have a global civilization—diffracted, conflicted, destructive, heedless and irresponsible, but it is a world community nonetheless. You have global communication. You have global commerce. And for many people, a growing global awareness. It is at this point that intervention will be attempted. It is at this point that humanity becomes a prize to be claimed. Those who will come here and are here already cannot live in the biologically complex world that you inhabit and to which you are adapted. They need human assistance. They need human allegiance. They need human participation in order to gain sovereignty and control here. And they will take advantage of your expectations, your desires, your fantasies and your grievances to establish this position for themselves. Look at the history of intervention in your world. Look how easily native peoples succumbed to the presence of foreign intervention. This must not be your fate." <br />
<ref>Entering the Greater Community (May 27, 2011)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Resisting the Intervention==<br />
===Directives===<br />
"You must resist the Intervention. You must recognize it is nothing more than competition from beyond the world. You must not be fooled by its promises of wealth and power and freedom. You must not become dejected or resign yourself, thinking that you have no power in this matter, for humanity has the great advantage."<br />
<ref>Resisting the Intervention (September 10, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
===Short Quotes===<br />
"It is your evolution to emerge into a Greater Community of intelligent life. It will happen whether you are prepared or not. It must occur. Preparation, then, becomes the key. Understanding and clarity&mdash;these are the things that are necessary and needed in your world at this time.<br />
People everywhere have great spiritual gifts that can enable them to see and to know clearly. These gifts are needed now. They need to be recognized, employed and shared freely."<br />
<ref>''[[The Allies of Humanity]]'', Book One, The First Briefing, p. 13</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Though the visitors have a superior technology, the success of their entire mission rests upon their ability to persuade and to encourage human allegiance. You have the power to resist this. You have the power to see through the deception."<br />
<ref>''[[The Allies of Humanity]]'', Book Two, The Third Briefing, p. 40</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
===Long Quotes===<br />
"Humanity does have the power and the skill to stop the Intervention and to prevent future interventions of this kind. You have the inherent Knowledge that lives within you. This is what we mean by spirituality. You have enough individual power and enough technology to offset the kind of intervention that is occurring in your world at this time. You could drive the Intervention out if you had the will to do it. But you must become educated about the Greater Community, and you must be very clear and sober about what you are dealing with at this time."<br />
<ref>''[[The Allies of Humanity]]'', Book Two, The Fourth Breifing, p. 55</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
[[The Greater Darkness]]<br />
<br />
[[Extraterrestrial Contact]]<br />
<br />
[[category:The Intervention]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Evolution&diff=2872Evolution2012-01-02T22:40:44Z<p>Stepspractice: /* Long Quotes */</p>
<hr />
<div>== Short Quotes ==<br />
<br />
"God created evolution so that everyone in [[The Separation|separation]] could find their way back."<br />
<ref name="origin">The Origin, November 18, 2009</ref><br />
<br />
"The evolution of the world is accelerating."<br />
<ref name="gcs">''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]''</ref><br />
<br />
“God created evolution so that everyone in Separation could find their way back.”<br />
<ref name="origin"/><br />
<br />
==Long Quotes==<br />
"[Humanity's] evolution is being fueled by greater forces both in the world and in the Greater Community which will determine the direction and development of your race. Your evolution is being determined by the Greater Community, for you are in preparation for the Greater Community." <br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
"Intelligent life was seeded in your world. This was a gift from the Greater Community. It was a gift of greater intelligence so that your ancestors could accelerate their development within a relatively short period of time. This gave birth to the modern human race as you know it now. Intelligence was seeded in a few places and then it dispersed throughout the world."<br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"Perhaps you take for granted that humanity will just continue, but humanity has faced great challenges before, but it keeps going and it keeps growing, and there are very positive things that humanity has created. It has made many improvements in many different aspects of human life. If you do not see this, then you are not looking. These results, these accomplishments, in whatever field—in the social environment, in politics, in health, in medicine, in education, social justice—all of these accomplishments have been the result of concentrated minds working against tremendous odds to produce a beneficial result. This has kept humanity moving and has kept alive the greater potential and possibilities for the human family. You need to be a positive contributor to this."<br />
<ref>Relationships and the Mental Environment, December 6, 2007</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"You have come into the world at a great turning point, a turning point only part of which you will see in your own lifetime. It is a turning point where your world gains contact with the worlds in its vicinity. This is the natural evolution of humanity, as it is the natural evolution of all intelligent life in all worlds. Your world is seeking a Greater Community. This will require that your world’s own internal community become unified. This is also a part of the evolution of all intelligent life in all worlds. You have come here to serve this."<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 190</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"The evolution of humanity follows the pattern of evolution of most of the races in the universe. When those races begin to exhaust their own planets and face the reality of the Greater Community of life in the universe, they have reached a great and difficult and precipitous threshold. They have reached a true turning point where their past understanding and assumptions will not serve them and might even betray them. Humanity has reached this threshold."<br />
<ref>The Voice of the Revelation, April 14, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Just as you grow from being a child to an adolescent, from an adolescent to a young adult, from a young adult to an adult and then you grow into old age, so your world has its evolutionary stages as well. There are evolutionary stages in societies. There are evolutionary stages in families. And the world has its own evolutionary process."<br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“As you become a student of Knowledge and are able to objectively recognize your preparation, you will begin to have a true view of the evolution of the world. Here your viewpoint will not be distorted by personal preference or personal fear, for the evolution of the world will simply be obvious to you.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 309</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“The world is preparing to emerge into the Greater Community of Worlds and this underlies its evolution and all of its advancements now. That is why conflict is erupting in the world, because those who oppose the evolution of the world will fight against it. Those who wish to further the advancement of the world will attempt to fortify the goodness of humanity and the sense that humanity is one community that must nurture and support itself beyond all division of nation, race, religion, culture and tribe…All this is part of the preparation of the world to emerge into the Greater Community of Worlds, because this represents the evolution of the world.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 325</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“The world was ultimately created as a place for the separated to live. It was created, as was the physical universe, by powerful geological forces that were set in motion by the Creator of all life. These forces continue at this moment, they are self-perpetuating, they are changing, and in a certain degree they are chaotic…The Creator of all life has set evolution in motion, and evolution now continues without God managing it. It is self-perpetuating. It is moving, it is evolving. Life evolves to greater levels of complexity and intelligence. Evolution in times of geologic and biologic time is extremely slow. Short of cataclysmic events, it is extremely slow.”<br />
<br />
“The world is an evolving state. It is changing. It is following a set of patterns that were established at the beginning of creation of the physical reality. Here there is no conflict between religion and science, if you understand the connection. Earlier creation stories of course were overshadowed by science because they did not represent the evolution of the physical reality, because peoples at those times did not have the range of understanding to comprehend the greater forces of nature and the scope of time. They tried to understand nature based upon their tribal consciousness, their isolation in the physical world, their lack of exposure to the diversity of life in the world. So their creation stories were generated basically on local events and on the range of their own awareness. But now you are seeing the world as a planet, as a living system of life, and science has demonstrated greater forces that were never perceived or comprehended before.”<br />
<br />
“The physical universe is changing and evolving. God is not managing it because it is self-perpetuating. God does not have to manage every little swirl in the current of a river because the river is self-perpetuating. It is running on its own. God does not have to manage every little breeze in the air, or the shape of every little cloud, because these phenomena are all being perpetuated by the geological and biological forces that were set in motion at the beginning of the creation of the physical reality.”<br />
<br />
“The physical universe, therefore, is evolving irrespective of the evolution of sentient beings. It was set in motion to be a growing and expanding reality, and once life was able to be started within this physical reality, it has gone through its own biological process of evolution, irrespective of sentient beings. If sentient beings were no longer in this world, it would just continue along its evolutionary trajectory.”<br />
<br />
“So there are two levels of evolution here. There is the evolution of the natural world, which continues with or without you. And then there is the evolution of sentient beings, who must come and participate in the physical reality in order to overcome the desire or attachment to Separation and to provide service to those living in the physical reality. It is like parallel tracks. They both exist, but they are happening at different levels. They are all part of Creation, but they are happening at different levels. It is the level confusion that people have that leads them to make incorrect decisions and assumptions and conclusions about the meaning of existence.”<br />
<ref>Evolution, October 24, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
[[Creation]]<br />
<br />
[[The Separation]]<br />
<br />
[[category:god]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Evolution&diff=2871Evolution2012-01-02T22:40:14Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>== Short Quotes ==<br />
<br />
"God created evolution so that everyone in [[The Separation|separation]] could find their way back."<br />
<ref name="origin">The Origin, November 18, 2009</ref><br />
<br />
"The evolution of the world is accelerating."<br />
<ref name="gcs">''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]''</ref><br />
<br />
“God created evolution so that everyone in Separation could find their way back.”<br />
<ref name="origin"/><br />
<br />
==Long Quotes==<br />
"[Humanity's] evolution is being fueled by greater forces both in the world and in the Greater Community which will determine the direction and development of your race. Your evolution is being determined by the Greater Community, for you are in preparation for the Greater Community." <br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"Intelligent life was seeded in your world. This was a gift from the Greater Community. It was a gift of greater intelligence so that your ancestors could accelerate their development within a relatively short period of time. This gave birth to the modern human race as you know it now. Intelligence was seeded in a few places and then it dispersed throughout the world."<br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"Perhaps you take for granted that humanity will just continue, but humanity has faced great challenges before, but it keeps going and it keeps growing, and there are very positive things that humanity has created. It has made many improvements in many different aspects of human life. If you do not see this, then you are not looking. These results, these accomplishments, in whatever field—in the social environment, in politics, in health, in medicine, in education, social justice—all of these accomplishments have been the result of concentrated minds working against tremendous odds to produce a beneficial result. This has kept humanity moving and has kept alive the greater potential and possibilities for the human family. You need to be a positive contributor to this."<br />
<ref>Relationships and the Mental Environment, December 6, 2007</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"You have come into the world at a great turning point, a turning point only part of which you will see in your own lifetime. It is a turning point where your world gains contact with the worlds in its vicinity. This is the natural evolution of humanity, as it is the natural evolution of all intelligent life in all worlds. Your world is seeking a Greater Community. This will require that your world’s own internal community become unified. This is also a part of the evolution of all intelligent life in all worlds. You have come here to serve this."<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Step 190</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"The evolution of humanity follows the pattern of evolution of most of the races in the universe. When those races begin to exhaust their own planets and face the reality of the Greater Community of life in the universe, they have reached a great and difficult and precipitous threshold. They have reached a true turning point where their past understanding and assumptions will not serve them and might even betray them. Humanity has reached this threshold."<br />
<ref>The Voice of the Revelation, April 14, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Just as you grow from being a child to an adolescent, from an adolescent to a young adult, from a young adult to an adult and then you grow into old age, so your world has its evolutionary stages as well. There are evolutionary stages in societies. There are evolutionary stages in families. And the world has its own evolutionary process."<br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“As you become a student of Knowledge and are able to objectively recognize your preparation, you will begin to have a true view of the evolution of the world. Here your viewpoint will not be distorted by personal preference or personal fear, for the evolution of the world will simply be obvious to you.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 309</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“The world is preparing to emerge into the Greater Community of Worlds and this underlies its evolution and all of its advancements now. That is why conflict is erupting in the world, because those who oppose the evolution of the world will fight against it. Those who wish to further the advancement of the world will attempt to fortify the goodness of humanity and the sense that humanity is one community that must nurture and support itself beyond all division of nation, race, religion, culture and tribe…All this is part of the preparation of the world to emerge into the Greater Community of Worlds, because this represents the evolution of the world.”<br />
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 325</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“The world was ultimately created as a place for the separated to live. It was created, as was the physical universe, by powerful geological forces that were set in motion by the Creator of all life. These forces continue at this moment, they are self-perpetuating, they are changing, and in a certain degree they are chaotic…The Creator of all life has set evolution in motion, and evolution now continues without God managing it. It is self-perpetuating. It is moving, it is evolving. Life evolves to greater levels of complexity and intelligence. Evolution in times of geologic and biologic time is extremely slow. Short of cataclysmic events, it is extremely slow.”<br />
<br />
“The world is an evolving state. It is changing. It is following a set of patterns that were established at the beginning of creation of the physical reality. Here there is no conflict between religion and science, if you understand the connection. Earlier creation stories of course were overshadowed by science because they did not represent the evolution of the physical reality, because peoples at those times did not have the range of understanding to comprehend the greater forces of nature and the scope of time. They tried to understand nature based upon their tribal consciousness, their isolation in the physical world, their lack of exposure to the diversity of life in the world. So their creation stories were generated basically on local events and on the range of their own awareness. But now you are seeing the world as a planet, as a living system of life, and science has demonstrated greater forces that were never perceived or comprehended before.”<br />
<br />
“The physical universe is changing and evolving. God is not managing it because it is self-perpetuating. God does not have to manage every little swirl in the current of a river because the river is self-perpetuating. It is running on its own. God does not have to manage every little breeze in the air, or the shape of every little cloud, because these phenomena are all being perpetuated by the geological and biological forces that were set in motion at the beginning of the creation of the physical reality.”<br />
<br />
“The physical universe, therefore, is evolving irrespective of the evolution of sentient beings. It was set in motion to be a growing and expanding reality, and once life was able to be started within this physical reality, it has gone through its own biological process of evolution, irrespective of sentient beings. If sentient beings were no longer in this world, it would just continue along its evolutionary trajectory.”<br />
<br />
“So there are two levels of evolution here. There is the evolution of the natural world, which continues with or without you. And then there is the evolution of sentient beings, who must come and participate in the physical reality in order to overcome the desire or attachment to Separation and to provide service to those living in the physical reality. It is like parallel tracks. They both exist, but they are happening at different levels. They are all part of Creation, but they are happening at different levels. It is the level confusion that people have that leads them to make incorrect decisions and assumptions and conclusions about the meaning of existence.”<br />
<ref>Evolution, October 24, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
[[Creation]]<br />
<br />
[[The Separation]]<br />
<br />
[[category:god]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Emotions&diff=2870Emotions2012-01-02T22:38:42Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>==Long Quotes==<br />
"Be patient. Do not let your emotions drive you here and drive you there, for the workings of the heart are beyond the emotions that you feel day to day and moment to moment. They represent the great undercurrent. Like the great undercurrents that move the waters of the oceans of this world, they move the direction of your life. Yet like the great undercurrents of the oceans, they are not seen or recognized from the surface. If you live at the surface of your mind, you will be swayed by this thought and that thought and the thoughts of others. You will be governed by the mental environment in which you live."<br />
<ref>''[[Living the Way of Knowledge]]''</ref> <br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/></div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Quotes_About_Enlightenment&diff=2869Quotes About Enlightenment2012-01-02T22:37:17Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>== Short Quotes ==<br />
“Do not hold enlightenment as the goal of your life, for the person you are seeking to enlighten is the one who is standing in your way. It is your undoing that enlightens you.”<br />
<ref name="wisdom">''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]]''</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“If you think your life is just for your own growth, you will become self-absorbed and miss the whole point.”<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"You were not sent into the world to dream of Heaven. You were sent into the world to be of service to the world, to be of service of now a new world, a changing world, a challenging world, and yet a world that has the power to prompt greater human cooperation and to call forth a greater Knowledge that every person carries within them."<br />
<ref>The Voice of the Revelation, April 14, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"God is not calling you to return to your heavenly state, but to enter into the world for the purpose that you have come."<br />
<ref>The Shock of the Future, April 30, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Spiritual enlightenment is extremely rare in the Universe, as it is in your world."<br />
<ref>Resisting the Intervention, September 10, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“All the books and all the lectures, all the ideas and all the processes—you leave them at the temple gate, the outer gate, to enter in. You simply enter in and your Teachers are there to take you in.”<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
== Long Quotes ==<br />
"Ultimately, spirituality is about the ability to unite in purpose with others and to experience affinity and resonance with these people. It is necessary here to think of spirituality not so much as an individual pursuit towards perfection or enlightenment, but as developing the ability to unite with others, unite at a higher level—at the level of purpose, meaning and direction—a level beyond personal ambitions, fears and deceptions."<br />
<ref>The New Message on Relationship, November 27, 2006</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“For some people enlightenment is held out to be the ultimate goal—to become free of attachment; free of worldly restraint; free to immerse yourself in a greater consciousness, the consciousness of all life, perhaps the consciousness of God; to be unhindered, internally; to be free of anger and resentment and low self-esteem. For some people, enlightenment then becomes their new obsession. They think that that is why they are here in the world—to escape the world, to escape the endless cycle of existence, and all of the suffering and struggle and difficulty that that entails.”<br />
<ref name="enlight">Enlightenment, September 18, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“If it were your purpose to discover the deeper Knowledge that God has placed within you, and to follow that Knowledge and to be a vehicle for its expression in the world, if that were your definition of enlightenment, then enlightenment would be completely appropriate. But enlightenment, in the minds of many people, is something very different. It is a kind of personal exultation. It is an escape from life. It is a retreat from the world. It is a great ambition.”<br />
<ref name="enlight"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“For some people, enlightenment, however, has nothing to do with Knowledge. It is a personal goal. It is the ultimate experience of happiness and contentment, and that is the goal of their lives—to be happy and contented. And so they will spend their lives, all their resources, all of their self-determination, to try to eradicate or overcome or overlook all of the tendencies within themselves that keep them small and chained to the world. But they will also overlook the power and presence of Knowledge and what it is calling them to do.”<br />
<ref name="enlight"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“You did not come here to be a mass consumer, to use everything in the world for your own edification, for your own satisfaction, for your own happiness. This is a very important point of clarification, because if you do not see this, then you will think of enlightenment as a kind of noble road to take, the ultimate pursuit, the greatest adventure, the greatest and most significant challenge in life. But you risk missing what is fundamental to who you are and to the greater purpose that has brought you into the world.”<br />
<ref name="enlight"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"There are no heroes to worship now, no individuals to deify, only greater responsibility to be assumed and a greater wisdom to be utilized. There is no escape through personal enlightenment. There is no running away. There is no self-deception. There is only greater resonance and responsibility, greater sacrifice and contribution. That is what will save the world. That is what will save humanity’s freedom and self-determination in a universe where freedom is rare and must be protected very carefully. This is what will restore dignity to the individual and the ability to contribute something of greater power and significance, no matter what your circumstances may be."<br />
<ref>The Recitation, April 1, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"You cannot run away to God, for you were sent into the world to serve a world in need. That is why the Presence is not a form of intoxication. It is not a grand escape. It is not ascending far beyond, never to return. Why would God call you back to Heaven when great effort was made to bring you into the world?<br />
<ref>God’s Power & Presence in the World, April 23, 2011</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"There are many spiritual teachers in the world who will promise you abundance and enlightenment, fulfillment or spiritual powers, but there are very few of them that will teach you to build the foundation for living a greater life engaged in a greater set of activities and responsibilities. They are selling you on an idea, on a dream, on a hope and a wish. But in the real preparation, people have to work hard and build a foundation."<br />
<br />
<br />
"Today you have many spiritual teachers and advocates who claim to have great powers and great connections and offer expedient means to achieve spiritual power and enlightenment. But, really, it is all a mirage."<br />
<ref>Building the Four Pillars of Your Life, September 15, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"What will you have faith in within such a radically changing world? ... Everything is changing. Life is changing. Will you have faith in enlightenment, that you will become enlightened beyond the specter of love and fear, hope and despair—an enlightenment that is so difficult to achieve and so rarely achieved? Will you have faith in your spiritual path, which for most people will not prepare them for the Great Waves of change? What will you have faith in?"<br />
<ref>Where Will You Place Your Faith, June 28, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"The whole focus on the path of enlightenment [is] skewed and incorrect. People seek to have greater peace and equanimity. They want to feel better and feel better and feel better, and the reason they do not feel better is in part that they are not preparing for the future and they are experiencing anxiety and discomfort."<br />
<ref>The New Message on Preparing for the Future, September 5, 2007</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Many people try to use religion and spirituality as a kind of bypass. They want to leap into a new life without resolving their former life. And of course this is not successful. They simply take their old life into their new life, and they find themselves still living in the same reality even if the appearance of their life has changed."<br />
<ref>Healing Relationships, September 9, 2008</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“People who are terrified of losing are afraid to receive. The cost is always too great for them. If you are to be fully engaged in life individually and as a society, it will cost everything you have. You will end your life completely used up like a great vessel that has been emptied. It is that complete utilization that will fulfill you in this world and will make it unnecessary for you to return. You have given everything you have brought with you.”<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:practice]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Physical_Environment&diff=2868Physical Environment2012-01-02T22:34:35Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>== The View from the Greater Community ==<br />
"Because, for the most part, your visitors are concerned with the preservation of your world, even those who are not beneficial to you do not want to see you destroy yourselves because you would destroy much of the environment with you. Those who support you wish to see you advance and become productive and meaningful participants in a larger arena of life. They wish to see you advance, and they also wish to see your environment protected. <br />
<br />
"In the Greater Community, environments are often considered more important than the races that inhabit them or use them. An environment as beautiful, as rich and as diverse as this world is, is a great prize, a gem, a biological storehouse in the universe. In the Greater Community, such environments are the most highly valued. There will be great effort to preserve these environments if they are threatened by their native races or by any other race that might seek to use and to dominate them. This represents the ethics of many of the advanced races in the Greater Community."<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'', Chapter 11</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"You see, in the Greater Community, environment is considered more important than racial survival. Here you have a natural world with of plants and animals, a magnificent creation, the result of millions of years of development, all now at risk because of one selfish race that is spoiling the world out of ignorance and greed."<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume Two'', Chapter 28</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"It is the Greater Community that will show you that you cannot afford your ceaseless conflicts here on Earth, and that your <br />
resources here are precious, and your self-sufficiency is of the greatest importance. <br />
<ref name="etgc">Entering the Greater Community (May 27, 2011)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"With this awareness, you would not continue to squander the world at the terrible pace that you are doing so now. You would not foolishly think the universe is there for the taking once you exhaust the wealth of this world. You would understand that this world is all that you have. This world, this Solar System, is all that you have. <br />
<ref name="etgc"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"Beyond this, you are entering regions owned or controlled by others, and you cannot take this from them. You do not know the rules of engagement in the universe or the relations between nations or what is allowed and what is not allowed in this Greater Community of life."<br />
<ref name="etgc"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“There is a growing concern about the environment in which you live, the natural environment. This, of course, is important because this is the context in which you live. But the environment is far more important than most people realize. It is important not only for your well-being and your future, it is important in terms of understanding the Greater Community. You see, in the Greater Community, environment is considered the most important thing. It is not something that you use, and then after it has been misused, you worry about it a little bit. Environment is the most important thing. It is seen as the absolute, fundamental context for survival and creation and a model for education itself.”<br />
<ref name="wisdomII25">''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume Two'', Chapter 25</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“In the Greater Community, there are few environments that are as lush and abundant as this world. This world is truly a gem in the universe.”<br />
<ref name="wisdomII25"/><br />
<br />
<br />
== The Priority of Preserving the Natural Environment==<br />
“How you preserve and manage your environment in many ways represents your level of development. This refers both to your understanding and perception as well as your behavior. A very advanced society will value the natural environment tremendously and will utilize it in such a way that its productivity can be continued far into the future. It is a sustainable relationship, a relationship that humanity at this point does not have with the natural world.”<br />
<ref name="wisdomII25"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“Should humanity fail, then others from the Greater Community will come to take over the world. They will take it over because they value the environment. The environment is more important than any one race or species. It is generally held in the Greater Community that should a race spoil its natural environment, then others are free to intervene and to displace them.”<br />
<ref name="wisdomII25"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“There is a great deal of work to be done to restore and to renew your environment and to establish a sustainable relationship with it. Here you take from it what you need and you give back to it what it requires. This balance can be attained and must be attained if humanity is to have a future, for certainly without this balance, your future is in great jeopardy. Either you will perish by your own poisoning of the environment or others will come to displace you.”<br />
<ref name="wisdomII25"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“If your children are to have a world to live in, a safe and healthy world, then environment must become the most important thing. If environment becomes the most important thing or the number one concern, then war will be ended because war is damaging to the environment. Pollution, poverty, strife and conflict between cultures and nations is antithetical to maintaining a healthy environment. If you think of this, you will see that as the environment becomes the most important thing, other things must fall into place. But if the environment is an afterthought and is not considered to be the most important thing to concern yourself with, it will constantly be compromised in order to meet other goals and objectives.”<br />
<ref name="wisdomII25"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“In order to preserve your world and make it a habitable place for future generations, the physical environment must become your first priority. This will have a beneficial effect on your behavior, on your relationship with others and on every aspect of your culture and society.”<br />
<ref name="wisdomII25"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“Many people today have lost sight of the utter dependence they have on their environment to provide them the bare essentials of life—food, water, shelter and clothing—and to make possible all of the conveniences and benefits they enjoy, to whatever extent these things are available to them.”<br />
<ref name="tnmote">The New Message on the Environment (December 15, 2006)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
“The New Message from God emphasizes that the world’s environment must be preserved and well cared for if humanity is to have a future. For if this is not done, humanity will decline, human conflict will escalate and human deprivation and suffering will increase dramatically. While this is apparent to a few people today, what many people do not realize is if humanity were to decline in this way, you would be extremely vulnerable to persuasion and influence from forces from the Greater Community, the Greater Community of intelligent life in the universe in which your world exists.”<br />
<ref name="tnmote"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“There are many races today who are watching humanity—waiting for an opportunity to gain advantage here, waiting for an opportunity to gain access to this world’s immense biological resources, waiting for an opportunity for humanity to be in a state of desperation where such influences will have tremendous impact.”<br />
<ref name="tnmote"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“At this moment humanity assumes its preeminence in the world. It feels it has a God-given right to be in this preeminent position within the world. But within the Greater Community, humanity is a weak, divided and self-obsessed race occupying and stewarding a planet of immense value and importance to others.”<br />
<ref name="tnmote"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“Never think that you can just go into space and claim whatever resources that you have wasted here upon the Earth, for those resources are owned by others. Never assume that the universe is just a vast empty place awaiting human exploration and human exploitation. For you are not alone in the universe or even within your own world at this time. The ignorance and the arrogance of such assumptions must be corrected, or humanity will make fatal mistakes that even God and God’s Angels will not be able to offset. That is why there is a New Message from God in the world because humanity is destroying its self-sufficiency, humanity is standing at the edge of space and humanity is already experiencing forces that are intervening in its world, without its control and without its permission.”<br />
<ref name="tnmote"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“Though there are great perils facing humanity regarding the deterioration of your environment—climate change, decline of life-giving resources and so forth—the greatest peril, the peril that could end human sovereignty forever in this world, lurks in the background awaiting the moment when humanity will bring itself to its knees through conflict, through deprivation, through war and through further decline of the world’s environment.”<br />
<ref name="tnmote"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“God has given this world to humanity as a splendid place, as a paradise in a universe full of barren worlds. If you should ruin it, if you should exhaust its life-giving resources, if you should exhaust its biological diversity, then you will have to face the consequences, which will be far more terrible and far more long lasting than anything humanity as a whole has ever faced before…Some people believe that the world is like a cornucopia that just provides endlessly. They just need the technology to gain more and more and more. But the world is a finite place with finite resources. If you exhaust it, you face the perils that such exhaustion will bring to you.”<br />
<ref name="tnmote"/><br />
<br />
<br />
“You are determining your future and the future of your children and of all people at this moment by what you think, by how you live, by what you promote and advocate and by how you identify yourself as a human being within this world. If you believe you are only a member of one tribe or group or nation, you will not be able to support a greater movement towards human unity and cooperation. You will merely be one side competing with other sides, draining the world of its remaining resources, fighting over those resources, struggling over those resources.”<br />
<ref name="tnmote"/><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
== Further Study ==<br />
<br />
*''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]] Volume Two'', Chapter 25: Environments<br />
<br />
*''[[The Great Waves of Change]]''<br />
<br />
*[http://wp.newmessage.org/nature-and-natural-disasters/ Nature and Natural Disasters (September 8, 2008)]<br />
<br />
[[category:the Great Waves of change]]<br />
<br />
[[category:the Greater Community]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Mental_Environment&diff=2867Mental Environment2012-01-02T22:33:44Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>We live in both a mental and physical environment. We can influence the mental environment around us, but to a far greater extent we are influenced by the mental environment. The mental environment contains forces that affect our thinking and emotions and that can dominate our personal minds.<br />
<br />
"Knowledge... is the only part of you that is unaffected by the Mental Environment. It is the only part of you that is free from deception and manipulation."<br />
<ref>''[[The Allies of Humanity]]'' Book Two</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
Many individuals and races in the Greater Community, including the Intervention, can exert tremendous influence in the mental environment, while humanity is largely ignorant that the mental environment even exists.<br />
<br />
<br />
== Directives ==<br />
"In order to have a positive effect on the mental environment, you must become aware of the mental environment around you, learn how to establish your own mental environment and learn how to influence it and maintain it. Here you learn about your effect on others and their effect upon you. You learn this through many, many experiences and through objective observation".<ref name="wisdom2">''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]]'' Vol II</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"People around you will affect the mental environment for you. Because of this, you must become very selective about who to be with and what to say. Do not see this as a constraint on your freedom, for this is protecting an emerging awareness that needs protection in a world where it is not valued or honored."<ref name="gcs"><br />
<br />
''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]''</ref><br />
<br />
== Examples ==<br />
"A university ... is a concentrated learning environment.... A library at a university has a very different feeling than a library in a city community. It is a concentrated and focused learning environment. It may be easier to study in the university than it is in a public place."<ref name="wisdom2"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"If you go to a place where everyone is focused on a sports event, it can be much easier to enjoy it and participate in it than it would be watching it on the television. This represents a mental environment. People are together thinking about something in common. This creates a potency or a force in that environment, a force that will affect you greatly."<ref name="wisdom2"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"As in advertising, the basic understanding that people can be made to do what you want them to do if you give them certain kinds of stimulation and certain kinds of ideas."<ref name="wisdom2"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"If you were to go up and down your street and enter everyone's home, you would enter a different mental environment in every place and would have a different experience. Some places you would feel comfortable, some places you would feel uncomfortable. Some places it would be very easy for you to think clearly; other places it would be more difficult."<ref name="wisdom2"/><br />
<br />
<br />
==Excerpts==<br />
"Mental environments are made up of forces and stimulants. Each force has an effect upon you and you, in turn, have an effect upon it."<ref name="wisdom2"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"[Space-faring races in the Greater Community] are all powerful in the mental environment, which means that they will be able to affect your thinking more than you will be able to affect theirs."<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"People underestimate the power of their environment and their relationships to influence them and to dominate them. But nothing grows in poor soil, nothing thrives in impure waters. You cannot begin a new journey in life if you are held in place by your former life."<ref><br />
Freedom from Addiction and Obsession (January 23, 2009)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"The mental environment is something very new to human understanding. The mental and physical environments are not the same. They operate on different levels of existence and follow different laws. They overlap tremendously, but you cannot take the principles of one and apply them to the other."<ref name="wisdom2"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"Unlike the physical environment, you cannot spoil the mental environment. It is an environment that is made up of thoughts and groups of thoughts, which are called forces. The mental environment cannot be destroyed, but it can become very polluted. It can become very destructive. Unlike the physical environment, the mental environment knows no boundaries in terms of time and space. For instance, if you have great emotional distress where you are, it affects someone on the other side of the world, and vice versa.... Minds are connected through a very subtle internal network."<ref name="wisdom2"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"The mental environment is what you create for yourself.... something you have to be responsible for because unless a foreign intelligence is in your midst, almost everything that you experience in the mental environment will come from other human beings. Plants and animals do not have a strong influence on the mental environment. In nature, as you may have noticed, there can be neutrality in the mental environment. That is why people seek refuge in nature--it is refreshingly open and free of dominating influences."<ref name="wisdom2"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"In the mental environment, you have to learn how to shield your mind. Others who have skill here are able to do this – to block intrusions, to block potent forces, to block thought forms that are projected at one and to maintain one’s awareness if one is being affected by technology, by forms of radiation, by scanning and things of this nature."<ref>''[[Life in the Universe]]'', Chapter 10, The Power of Knowledge</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"The Mental Environment is the arena of influence. People know very little about it, but it is very important in Greater Community interactions, particularly between races or organizations that compete with each other. They have to spend a great deal of time trying to discern what the other is going to do and trying to influence the other in subtle ways. This does not happen through technology as much as it happens through consciousness, through awareness, through the projection of thought and through cunning activities."<ref>''[[The Allies of Humanity]]'' II, The First Commentary: ''The Problem of Human Denial''</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"It is possible for you to be in contact with other minds in other dimensions. It is possible for you to be in contact with minds in other worlds. It is possible for you to be in contact with other minds in this world, without knowing who you are speaking to or what their intent or motiveation is. That is why students of Knowledge do not dabble in these kinds of things."<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"There is a way to [[Knowledge]]. The way will save you time because you need to save time now. You are needed in the world, and your preparation must become accelerated. You do not now have the luxury of endless exploration and diversion, for the world needs you. It is emerging into [[the Greater Community]]. This is not a time to fiddle with your mind or your emotions or play around with different therapies or modalities because The Way of Knowledge is being offered to you. You are needed in the world. It is time to prepare. It is time to become focused and determined. There is no escape from this, for only those who are developed in The Way of Knowledge will have capability in the future and will be able to maintain their freedom in a [[Mental Environment]] that will be increasingly influenced by the Greater Community."<ref name="ltwok6">''[[Living the Way of Knowledge]]'', Chapter 6</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Your Spiritual Family beyond the world is supporting your spiritual development by communicating to you through the Mental Environment."<br />
<ref name="ltwok6"/><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
== Further study ==<br />
*''[[The Allies of Humanity]] Book Two'', Third Briefing: The Influence upon Humanity<br />
*[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]], Volume Two'', chap. 25: Environments<br />
*[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]], Volume Two'', chap. 12: Self-Expression & the Mental Environment<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
[[influence]]<br />
<br />
[[the mind]]<br />
<br />
[[group mind]]<br />
<br />
[[category:mental environment]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Education&diff=2866Education2012-01-02T22:31:53Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>== Directives ==<br />
"You must follow the way as it is given—without altering it, without deleting anything and without adding on things that you learned before. In fact, here you must really begin as a beginner. Forget what you have learned. Leave aside your ideas and your philosophy. Do not try to make this new education the same as something else. Do not try to make it continuous with something else.<br />
<br />
"Here you must start from the beginning and constantly set aside things you think you understand, things that you believe in, things that you believe have to be in the world and things you hold true about yourself, others and life in general. You must keep opening yourself to something new."<br />
<ref name="gcs">[http://www.newmessage.org/chapters/greater-community-spirituality/chapter10.php ''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'']</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
== Short Quotes ==<br />
"Here you do not set about to remember facts and figures, equations and details. Here you seek to wed your intellect with your deeper mind, the mind we call Knowledge. Here the emphasis is on developing stillness and the ability to focus on things objectively— two very high functions of the mind.<br />
<br />
"As soon as you think you fully understand the curriculum and can define it for yourself and others, your progress will stop.<br />
<br />
"Beginning students always think that they are on the verge of accomplishment. Intermediate students think they are on the verge of mastery. Advanced students realize they are on the verge of simply learning the next step."<br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
<br />
== The Way of Knowledge vs. Worldly Education ==<br />
In both the unique Way of Knowledge and in the norms of human education to which we are accustomed,<br />
:;You need<br />
::a committed, willing attitude<br />
::a network of peers<br />
::a wise instructor<br />
::diligent, consistent, patient and effective practice<br />
::immersion in a unified curriculum<br />
::the ability to evaluate your progress<br />
:;It takes time<br />
::no shortcuts<br />
::no substitutes<br />
<br />
"In the world, you always build upon what you have learned in the past, adding new things as you go along. As you advance, you become more selective in what you learn because you want to validate what you have learned already. Thus, the intent of education, which is to learn something new, to experience something new and to be able to do something new, becomes lost because increasingly you will attempt to validate the past. Here you will become more fearful and anxious about the future, less willing to see things as they really are and less open to new ideas, new experiences and new capabilities. Here the mind closes down upon itself. It often does this with the belief that it is open and accessible when in fact it has become such a filtering mechanism that very little new information can come to it, either from within or from without."<br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:practice]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Divine_Intervention&diff=2865Divine Intervention2012-01-02T22:29:10Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>== Long Quotes ==<br />
"The world contains a set of forces that are working on their own. God is here to teach you how to negotiate these forces and how to utilize them effectively. God is not pulling all the strings, determining everything that is happening to you today and everything that will happen tomorrow. The world is in motion, and all the myriad forces within its mental and physical environments are in motion. God is involved in present time in the world without controlling everything. Rarely is there direct intervention. When this happens, it happens because it is welcome, because it is needed and because it would further restore relationship to the person or persons receiving it. Beyond this, God lets everything happen."<br />
<ref name="gcs">''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]''</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"You may ... say, "Why worry? Why bother? ... God will take care of everything." God has sent you to take care of everything. Do not sit back and think that the Divine will come and save you. You have come to help save the world."<br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:god]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Divine_Intervention&diff=2864Divine Intervention2012-01-02T22:28:38Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>== Long Quotes ==<br />
"The world contains a set of forces that are working on their own. God is here to teach you how to negotiate these forces and how to utilize them effectively. God is not pulling all the strings, determining everything that is happening to you today and everything that will happen tomorrow. The world is in motion, and all the myriad forces within its mental and physical environments are in motion. God is involved in present time in the world without controlling everything. Rarely is there direct intervention. When this happens, it happens because it is welcome, because it is needed and because it would further restore relationship to the person or persons receiving it. Beyond this, God lets everything happen."<br />
<ref name="gcs">''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]''<br />
<br />
<br />
"You may ... say, "Why worry? Why bother? ... God will take care of everything." God has sent you to take care of everything. Do not sit back and think that the Divine will come and save you. You have come to help save the world."<br />
<ref name="gcs"/><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:god]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Discretion&diff=2863Discretion2012-01-02T22:27:01Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>== Short Quotes ==<br />
"Discretion is the ability to hold Wisdom within yourself, to hold an awareness within yourself without sharing it inappropriately."<br />
<br />
"With Wisdom you will know the right thing to say to the right person in the right place at the right time. Until you are with the right person in the right place at the right time, you remain silent and observant, without condemning yourself or anyone else."<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]</ref>''<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
== Further Study ==<br />
[http://www.newmessage.org/chapters/greater-community-spirituality/chapter7.php ''Greater Community Spirituality'' (''GCS''), chapter 7: How Is Wisdom Achieved in Life?]<br />
<br />
[[category:relationship]]<br />
[[category:practice]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Quotes_About_Disappointment&diff=2862Quotes About Disappointment2012-01-02T22:21:38Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div><br />
"Your greatest concern is that you will not accomplish what you came here to do…to not fulfill your destiny here leaves a disappointment and requires your return."<br />
<ref name="wisdom">''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]]'' Volume One</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"People who are trying to get everything from life may get what they want, but they will not be satisfied. Then their only means for freedom is disappointment, profound disappointment."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"The only way that people can live in the world is to have some kind of god. If you do not experience God, you make up a god. Everyone has a god here in the world. To live without God, life has no meaning. It is over. So, if you do not experience God, you make up a god and then try to experience the god you made. But the god you made up is not totally satisfying, and so there is disappointment upon disappointment."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"We find disappointment to be a very great opportunity. Because it is a natural fact of life that you will encounter disappointment, it must then be seen as an advantage, not always something you can appreciate at the outset, but an advantage nonetheless. There is very great effort by many people to avoid disappointment at all costs, but we want to encourage you not to avoid disappointment. Bring it on! Let it happen! There are lessons you must learn in life, and disappointment will illustrate many of them. We do not encourage people to repeat their mistakes, of course, but certain lessons are waiting for you. Taking advantage of them means that they can unburden you so that you may walk lightly through this world. The burden of avoiding disappointment is a far greater burden."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"Many of your pursuits are unnecessary for your happiness and for your true calling in life. Because it is very difficult to give up a pursuit that is cherished and is still seen as a positive factor, disappointment then begins to have real meaning. This is what reduces you down to your essential Self. You are at the surface of life no longer."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"When you are experiencing disappointment, the first key is acceptance. Do not fight it. There always is a relief in this. The second key point is alertness, becoming alert to what is happening. The third key point is leaving the explanation open. The fourth key point is mourning for the loss and the last key point is committing yourself to action."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"Your frame of reference is far too limited to comprehend the meaning of your life and to experience and enjoy the mystery of your life. Disappointment is tremendously valuable in making you alert by shaking you out of a fixed mental reference and framework."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/>er 27<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"Each disappointment opens a new door—perhaps something you had never thought of or perhaps something you had thought of at the very beginning of your life and now it is there awaiting you, as a new opportunity."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"True spiritual training is very disappointing. Why? Because you find that your philosophy, your idealism and your hopes must be left at the entrance to the temple. Only those who argue philosophy remain outside on the steps. In the sanctuary, this has no meaning."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"To armor yourself against disappointment is to cast yourself in chains. Now your preparation requires more time and is more difficult to bring about."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"The great spiritual leadership in the time to come will be primarily given to women, for this is the Age of Women. Part of the restructuring of society is for this purpose, and it is happening naturally. Therefore, many women will become true leaders. The disappointment for these women is that they cannot take men with them. These women We speak of who have a true calling to be spiritual leaders, rarely will they be able to take a man with them. That is part of their maturity. It is going unchaperoned into a greater life. Women want to find a man first and then go to God because they do not want to go to God without a chaperone. They want to have a man to make sure they will not be lonely. But how can you be lonely in God? God is like having all men at once! To lament not having a man when your heart is going for God represents confusion. Therefore, these women must be disappointed. No man? Go for God. Mourn for no man. Go for God."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"Women carry their disappointment about men like a great yoke, while in reality it is a means for their freedom."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"When you are disappointed, let the emotions come forth. Be a witness to them. You are greater than any emotional state."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"If you are not afraid of disappointment, even in your current state of mind, you will be able to embrace life. Here you have already set down half of your burden. If you are very willful and are demanding that your life be a certain way and yet are open to whatever may happen, you are partially liberated already. Therefore, if you seek that which is true, prepare yourself for a little disappointment. And remember always that your disappointment will be momentary and slight compared to the relief and happiness that you will find."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"Why is there disappointment in life? Because there is so much here that is not important."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"The disappointment and confusion that people have about the Divine is based on the projection that the Divine is thinking about life and about them the way that they are thinking about life and about themselves."<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]''</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"When love denies you something you want but which is not good for you, you experience it as a great disappointment. You are angry and frustrated, but love is at work here."<br />
<ref name="living">''[[Living The Way of Knowledge]]''</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"When you realize how much you have betrayed your Knowledge for personal convenience or advantage, you will feel angry. Be present to this. In order to keep you from making grave mistakes over and over, you must taste the disappointment and the result of these errors and feel them deeply. You are loving yourself when you do that. You are not beating yourself up."<br />
<ref name="living"/><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/></div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Quotes_About_Disappointment&diff=2861Quotes About Disappointment2012-01-02T22:20:58Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div><br />
"Your greatest concern is that you will not accomplish what you came here to do…to not fulfill your destiny here leaves a disappointment and requires your return."<br />
<ref name="wisdom">''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]]'' Volume One</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"People who are trying to get everything from life may get what they want, but they will not be satisfied. Then their only means for freedom is disappointment, profound disappointment."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"The only way that people can live in the world is to have some kind of god. If you do not experience God, you make up a god. Everyone has a god here in the world. To live without God, life has no meaning. It is over. So, if you do not experience God, you make up a god and then try to experience the god you made. But the god you made up is not totally satisfying, and so there is disappointment upon disappointment."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"We find disappointment to be a very great opportunity. Because it is a natural fact of life that you will encounter disappointment, it must then be seen as an advantage, not always something you can appreciate at the outset, but an advantage nonetheless. There is very great effort by many people to avoid disappointment at all costs, but we want to encourage you not to avoid disappointment. Bring it on! Let it happen! There are lessons you must learn in life, and disappointment will illustrate many of them. We do not encourage people to repeat their mistakes, of course, but certain lessons are waiting for you. Taking advantage of them means that they can unburden you so that you may walk lightly through this world. The burden of avoiding disappointment is a far greater burden."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"Many of your pursuits are unnecessary for your happiness and for your true calling in life. Because it is very difficult to give up a pursuit that is cherished and is still seen as a positive factor, disappointment then begins to have real meaning. This is what reduces you down to your essential Self. You are at the surface of life no longer."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"When you are experiencing disappointment, the first key is acceptance. Do not fight it. There always is a relief in this. The second key point is alertness, becoming alert to what is happening. The third key point is leaving the explanation open. The fourth key point is mourning for the loss and the last key point is committing yourself to action."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"Your frame of reference is far too limited to comprehend the meaning of your life and to experience and enjoy the mystery of your life. Disappointment is tremendously valuable in making you alert by shaking you out of a fixed mental reference and framework."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/>er 27<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"Each disappointment opens a new door—perhaps something you had never thought of or perhaps something you had thought of at the very beginning of your life and now it is there awaiting you, as a new opportunity."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"True spiritual training is very disappointing. Why? Because you find that your philosophy, your idealism and your hopes must be left at the entrance to the temple. Only those who argue philosophy remain outside on the steps. In the sanctuary, this has no meaning."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"To armor yourself against disappointment is to cast yourself in chains. Now your preparation requires more time and is more difficult to bring about."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"The great spiritual leadership in the time to come will be primarily given to women, for this is the Age of Women. Part of the restructuring of society is for this purpose, and it is happening naturally. Therefore, many women will become true leaders. The disappointment for these women is that they cannot take men with them. These women We speak of who have a true calling to be spiritual leaders, rarely will they be able to take a man with them. That is part of their maturity. It is going unchaperoned into a greater life. Women want to find a man first and then go to God because they do not want to go to God without a chaperone. They want to have a man to make sure they will not be lonely. But how can you be lonely in God? God is like having all men at once! To lament not having a man when your heart is going for God represents confusion. Therefore, these women must be disappointed. No man? Go for God. Mourn for no man. Go for God."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"Women carry their disappointment about men like a great yoke, while in reality it is a means for their freedom."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"When you are disappointed, let the emotions come forth. Be a witness to them. You are greater than any emotional state."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"If you are not afraid of disappointment, even in your current state of mind, you will be able to embrace life. Here you have already set down half of your burden. If you are very willful and are demanding that your life be a certain way and yet are open to whatever may happen, you are partially liberated already. Therefore, if you seek that which is true, prepare yourself for a little disappointment. And remember always that your disappointment will be momentary and slight compared to the relief and happiness that you will find."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"Why is there disappointment in life? Because there is so much here that is not important."<br />
<ref name="wisdom"/><br />
<br />
<br />
"The disappointment and confusion that people have about the Divine is based on the projection that the Divine is thinking about life and about them the way that they are thinking about life and about themselves."<br />
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]''</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"When love denies you something you want but which is not good for you, you experience it as a great disappointment. You are angry and frustrated, but love is at work here."<br />
<ref name="living">''[[Living The Way of Knowledge]]''</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"When you realize how much you have betrayed your Knowledge for personal convenience or advantage, you will feel angry. Be present to this. In order to keep you from making grave mistakes over and over, you must taste the disappointment and the result of these errors and feel them deeply. You are loving yourself when you do that. You are not beating yourself up."<br />
<ref name="living"/><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/></div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Development&diff=2860Development2012-01-02T22:13:03Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>== Short Quotes ==<br />
"The fact is, the Greater Community is here, and this is accelerating your development at a rapid pace." <br />
<ref>[http://www.newmessage.org/books/greater-community-spirituality-contents.php ''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]''], chap. 11, pp. 129-30</ref><br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<!--comma added. ms--></div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Devotion&diff=2859Devotion2012-01-02T22:11:47Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div><br />
== Directives ==<br />
"I tell you, you will not know God until you are devoted. Devotion is<br />
a giving of heart that is spontaneous. It is not something you have to try<br />
to do. If it is happening in any realm for you, and it is true and gives you<br />
vitality, then please, let this express itself."<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]]'', vol. I, chap. 5, p. 59</ref><br />
<br />
== Short Quotes ==<br />
[Spiritualistic displays] may attract a great deal of attention, but they cannot generate devotion, for only Knowledge can generate devotion. These things attract attachment and ambition, but they cannot lead someone to be wholehearted, for to be wholehearted is to be with Knowledge.<br />
<ref>[http://www.newmessage.org/books/greater-community-spirituality-contents.php ''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]''], chap. 15, p. 218</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Devotion is something you should not judge from the outside. It is<br />
like the Kingdom of God in the world.You are either inside or outside the<br />
gates.That is all. Things look very different on the outside. From there, the<br />
people on the inside look like they are giving things up all the time. It is<br />
such a different emphasis. On the inside you keep wanting to give your<br />
life all the time because you get it back more powerfully. You do not want<br />
to keep anything for yourself because it simply becomes a detriment."<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]]'', vol. I, chap. 5, p. 59</ref><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/></div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Desire_and_Capacity&diff=2858Desire and Capacity2012-01-02T22:11:07Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>== Short Quotes ==<br />
"True spiritual advancement is the result of a growing desire and capacity to experience Knowledge within yourself and compassion, affinity and purpose in your relationships."<br />
<ref>''[[Relationships & Higher Purpose]]'', chap. 3, p. 27</ref><br />
<br />
== Long Quotes ==<br />
"Mystery can only be experienced. Therefore, to learn The Greater Community Way of Knowledge, to learn what Greater Community Spirituality means and why it is so essential for you and for your world, you must begin to have this experience. It will happen in increments, depending upon your desire for it, your resistance to it and your capacity to feel it and to carry it. As your desire and capacity grow and as your resistance lessens, the Mystery will take on greater and greater dimensions, and its rewards will grow for you."<br />
<br />
"People's desire and capacity for truth and honesty, relationship and affinity are so very limited.... People everywhere have dedicated themselves to things that they must learn to outgrow. This takes much time, and there are many failures, but the possibility of success is there." <br />
<ref>[http://www.newmessage.org/books/greater-community-spirituality-contents.php''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]''], chap. 8, p. 88</ref><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:practice]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Demonstration&diff=2857Demonstration2012-01-02T22:09:41Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>==Long Quotes ==<br />
"You know, many people want to go out and share everything they learn as soon as they learn it. The problem is that they have not really learned it, and so they cannot demonstrate it. If you want to inspire others, if you want to show them something that has really been effective in your life, then you yourself must demonstrate it. This demonstration is far more powerful and effective than any words that you could say or any illustrations that you could create."<br />
<ref>[http://www.newmessage.org/chapters/greater-community-spirituality/chapter8.php?bg=black ''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]''], p. 85</ref><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/></div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Deception&diff=2856Deception2012-01-02T22:08:05Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>==Long Quotes==<br />
"The Intervention seeks not to destroy you, but to use you, to use you for their own purposes. This is a reality you cannot escape, and the deception that will be cast upon the human family and the pacification that it will cast upon the human family to submit and to acquiesce are very strong and compelling. <br />
<br />
Having lost faith in human leadership and institutions, people will look to other powers in the universe to guide them, believing fervently that a beneficial force will come here to restore and to save humanity from itself. It is this expectation, this desire, however unconscious it might be, that the Intervention will utilize for its own purposes." <br />
<ref>Entering the Greater Community (May 27, 2011)</ref><br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[category:mental environment]]</div>Stepspracticehttp://www.wiki.newmessage.org/mediawiki/en/w/index.php?title=Dishonesty&diff=2855Dishonesty2012-01-02T22:05:08Z<p>Stepspractice: </p>
<hr />
<div>"It is so easy to be dishonest, particularly as you gain affluence, as you acquire the comforts that so few people in the world have."<br />
<ref>The Freedom Journey (March 2, 2011)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"It is dishonest to demand change, to expect change, when you yourself are not willing to change.<br />
And to say, “Well, I will change if other people change,” that is dishonest. That is placing the responsibility beyond yourself. That is dishonest."<br />
<ref>Real Change (November 6, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"When people try to adjust their perception of the world, what happens is they end up becoming very dishonest and denying whole parts of their experience. If you only want to see the good and the happy and the pretty things, well, what happens? You begin to deny the reality of everything else."<br />
<ref>Taking the Steps to Knowledge (April 21, 2000)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Do not be angry that the world is just full of deception, full of dishonesty because it is a world without Knowledge. People have not found God’s great gift yet, and so they act foolishly, mimicking one another, following whatever their social conditioning tells them they must follow—following their friends, their groups, their leaders, their religions—everything. For without Knowledge, what else could they do but follow everything that is a substitute for Knowledge?"<br />
<ref>The Deep Evaluation (June 3, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Much of what you hear, whether it is agreeable or disagreeable, is inherently dishonest. We do not consider this with any condemnation; we look upon it with compassion. It is expected. In other words, people will lie until they stumble upon some kind of truth or until, by their sheer devotion and desire, they break free of the old patterns they created in the past.This is when the great tree spreads its seeds and something new grows which has its own being in the world. It has new life."<br />
<ref>''[[Wisdom from The Greater Community]]'' Vol II</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
"Forgiveness is not overlooking difficulties you have had with people in the past, for that becomes emotionally and intellectually dishonest. You cannot make something good that was not good without deceiving yourself and becoming dishonest regarding your feelings."<br />
<ref>Healing Relationships (September 9, 2008)</ref><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/></div>Stepspractice