Steps To knowledge Continuation Training

92 Pages·2013·0.336 MB·English

by  Marshall Vian Summers

SPIRITUAL PREPARATION FOR AN EMERGING WORLD
STEPS TO KNOWLEDGE CONTINUATION TRAINING
by Marshall Vian Summers

INTRODUCTION

This is the Steps to Knowledge Continuation Training. It is designed to build upon the steps that
were learned in STEPS TO KNOWLEDGE to enable you to experience the grace, the power and
the direction of Knowledge in your life and to become an expression of Knowledge in everything
that you do. If you have completed the book, STEPS TO KNOWLEDGE, twice through and
have followed the instructions as they were given without altering the curriculum in any way,
then you are now ready to begin this more advanced study.

This book is designed to be used in chronological order. There are three parts. Each contains 28
steps. It is important that you do them in the order in which they are given. Once you have
completed all three parts, you go back to Part I and you begin the process all over again. You
continue in this way until this practice becomes established in your life until you reach a point
where you can naturally and instinctively utilize the methods that are provided here.

Perhaps you will have to study the Continuation Training for a relatively short period of time,
say one or two years, in order to achieve this. But it is more likely that you will have to study it
for many more years before these processes become integrated fully within your mind. When
this occurs, you will be able to develop and apply real discernment at any moment, in any
situation, with any person, in any mental environment. You will also have achieved a stronger
foundation in the Four Pillars of your life: the Pillar of Relationships, the Pillar of Career &
Providership, the Pillar of Health, and the Pillar of Spiritual Advancement. When these pillars
become strong, then you will be able to receive greater gifts from the Unseen Ones and will be
able to participate in greater events and more important endeavors in your life.

Part of the purpose, then, of the Continuation Training is to give you the resources and the
understanding you need to build this foundation, for great things cannot be given to you until this
foundation is established. It would indeed be unwise for the Unseen Ones to bestow upon you
important responsibilities until you are truly stable internally and have learned to negotiate the
difficulties and the opportunities of life with far greater skill than you can at this moment.

Therefore, approach this Training with great patience. See it as a long-term study. Do not try to
race through it. Do not try to get to the end as fast as possible. Rather, learn to practice
consistently every day and let Knowledge build naturally within you. If you can participate in
this way, then the power and efficacy of this Training can become fully established, and you will
be the true beneficiary of its magnificent gifts.

As you have probably already learned in your study of STEPS TO KNOWLEDGE, it is
important to have companions, those that you can share your study with. It is important to join a
study group if one is available or to start one yourself. However, at this moment, there may not
be many people who are ready to participate in the Continuation Training, but if you know of
someone who can practice with you, that would be very beneficial. If not, then you must proceed
on alone. But be assured. You will not be alone, for the power of your Spiritual Family will be
with you, more than ever before, for now you are moving closer to the greater purpose that has
brought you into the world, and therefore you are moving closer to your Spiritual Family and all
that they represent and all that they really are. As you come closer to reality here, everything that
has been presented in this program of study will become clear and obvious to you. Then you will
be in a position to assist others, for you will be able to see clearly and you will understand the
process of redemption.

Therefore, begin the Continuation Training with the idea that you will be practicing it for a long
time. Going through it once alone will not be enough. You are building something here. A
foundation is not built with one brick. It is built with many. It is built with repetition. It is built
with consistency. It is built with patience and quiet determination.

Therefore, approach your Continuation Training in this way. You are undertaking a long-term
preparation to produce great results, results that can only be established by such a participation.
There are no short-cuts here. There is only the way to follow. If you follow it, you will advance.
If you advance, you will proceed. If you proceed, you will know.

Therefore, we provide this Continuation Training and entrust the curriculum to you so that you
may learn to use it wisely as it is given, without altering it in any way. We place our confidence
in you that you may proceed and recognize all that must be established and corrected within
yourself and in your immediate circumstances. Therefore, do not ask that the Creator take care of
you, for indeed you have been sent to the world to take care of the world, and in this you are not
alone. In this, you are empowered. In this, you are given the gift of Grace, which is the gift of
preparation.

To know what you must know,
to see what you must see
and to do what you must do,
you must reach a
greater vantage point in life.
To reach this,
you must take the journey,
a journey of many steps.
And the steps are in
Steps to Knowledge.

(Greater Community Spirituality: A New Revelation)
CONTINUATION STEPS CONTENTS

PART I
1: Knowledge Is With Me, But Where Am I?
2: The Gift Of Knowledge Is Given Me Today
3: I Must Be Patient In Order To Progress
4: If I Understand The World, I Will Understand Myself
5: I Must Find My True Relationships In Order To Know My Direction
6: My Mind Is Here To Serve Knowledge
7: The Difficulties I See In The World Today Are The Opportunities For Me
To Develop Discernment
8: There Is A Greater Harmony In The World
9: The Greater Community Is In The World
10: I Will Forgive My Past Today
11: I Will Remember Those Who Have Given To Me
12: Today I Will Not Try To Be Happy
13: I Give Myself To My Practice Today
14: Review
15: Let Me Look Towards The Greater Community To Understand Where My Life
Is Going
16: There Are Greater Forces At Work In The World
17: Today I Will Not Let Anything Prevent Me From My Practice
18: Today I Wish To Know
19: I Will Observe The World Today
20: Today I Will Not Forget That I Am Here For A Greater Purpose
21: Review
22: I Must Understand The Greater Movement Of The World
23: Today I Will Use Conflict To Deepen My Experience Of Knowledge
24: The Unseen Ones Are With Me
25: There Is A New Hope In The World
26: Today I Will Learn Of The Greater Community
27: I Must Learn To Be Discrete Today
28: Review

PART II
29: I Wish To Know My Own Strength
30: To Realize My Strength, I Must Exercise My Authority
31: I Must Learn To Use The Power That Has Been Given To Me
32: The Wise Depend Upon Me
33: I Practice For Myself And For All Others Who Seek To Be Free
34: My Life Is A Mystery To Explore
35: Review
36: Nasi Novare Coram
37: Let Me Remember That I Am Not Alone
38: I Wish To Strengthen Freedom In Others
39: Let Me Understand My Relationships Today
40: Who I Am With Will Determine What I Will Be Able To Do
41: My Relationships Are An Expression Of How I View Myself
42: Review
43: My Responsibility Is To Knowledge
44: If I Understand My Relationships, I Will Understand My Priorities
45: There Are Greater Relationships Awaiting Me. I Must Prepare
46: I Must Have Courage To Choose My Freedom
47: My Power Is Needed In The World
48: In The Greater Community, You Will Not Be Free
49: Review
50: I Must Learn To Use My Body As A Vehicle For Knowledge
51: My Work Is An Expression Of My Life
52: My Spiritual Advancement Will Fail If My Other Pillars Are Not Built
53: The Greater Community Is A Greater Reality. I Must Be Prepared
54: The Fire Of Knowledge Is Burning Within Me Now
55: There Are Forces In The World Which I Must Comprehend
56: Review
PART III
57: Let Me Be Attentive Today
58: Today I Will Be Attentive To What I Tell Myself
59: Today I Will Be Attentive To Others
60: Today I Will Listen To The World
61: Today I Will Be Discrete
62: The Greater Community Is In The World. I Must Be Attentive
63: Review
64: The World Is Emerging Into The Greater Community. I Can Know This
65: I Surround And Protect Myself With The Love And The Grace Of God
66: My Freedom Is My Gift To Others
67: My Freedom Is Awaiting Me
68: The World Needs Freedom
69: I Will Not Take My Freedom For Granted
70: Review
71: Let Me Become Aware Of The Mental Environment In Which I Live
72: I Am Influenced By The Mental Environment Around Me
73: The Mental Environment Of The World Is Changing
74: I Seek To Be A Force For Good In The World
75: I Will Not Be Deterred By Others' Opinions
76: I Am Here To Serve The World
77: Review
78: My Strength Is Called For In The World
79: I Have A Mission In My Life To Fulfill
80: I Have A Gift That I Share With Others
81: I Will Not Be Afraid Of Conflict Today
82: Great Joy Is With Me Today
83: Let Peace Be With Me Today
84: Review
STEPS TO KNOWLEDGE CONTINUATION TRAINING: Part One

Step 1
KNOWLEDGE IS WITH ME, BUT WHERE AM I?

We return to this lesson, the lesson which began your initial study in The Greater Community
Way of Knowledge. This lesson is fundamental. If you can understand this question, if you can
penetrate its seeming mystery, you will understand the nature of human suffering and disability,
and you will see clearly where the answer resides.

Knowledge is with you completely, but you are not with Knowledge. Not yet. Intermittently here
and there. And sometimes more completely. But your hours and your days and your weeks pass
by with your mind somewhere else, preoccupied, overwhelmed, overtaken by your
circumstances or by your feelings and moods and so forth. Until the mind can serve a greater
purpose, until it can be reeled in and directed according to the Grace and Spiritual Wisdom that
lives within you, then it is a reckless instrument and cannot be used for a greater purpose.

Yet now you have the opportunity to bring the mind into focus, to arrest its recklessness, to give
it direction and purpose and meaning, which it desperately seeks in all things.

So we return to this fundamental lesson. "Knowledge is with me, but where am I?"

In your practice today, spend 30 minutes practicing stillness. Select a time that you can practice
today and every day to follow, a time that you can use on a consistent basis in order to deepen
your comprehension and discernment. In addition to your one practice period today, it is
important that you contemplate the meaning of this lesson. Spend another practice period
sometime today considering what this means, considering what it asks, and how this question can
be really answered. Look beyond the obvious and you will see deeper things. Make the
connection that you must become close to Knowledge and stay close to Knowledge in your
journey in the world. In this way, you will be able to receive its grace, its wisdom and its
certainty.

In addition today, as in all the days to follow in this study, learn to stop upon the hour as you
have practiced before in STEPS TO KNOWLEDGE. Stop upon the hour and take a moment to
see how you feel within yourself-how you feel physically and emotionally. Take a moment to
observe your immediate circumstances and environment. And if you have the opportunity and
the time, ask yourself, "Is there anything I need to know at this moment?" This is your ongoing
practice upon the hour during your waking hours. Return to practice if you miss times. Always
return. And over time, your mind will become much more present, discerning and observant.
This indeed is the purpose of this exercise.

Knowledge is with you, but where are you? Find where you are and bring yourself back to
Knowledge.
Step 2
THE GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE IS GIVEN ME TODAY.

The gift of Knowledge is given you today. Abide in its stillness. Receive its certainty. Share in
its total commitment to life. Rejoice in the reprieve that it gives you from the conflicts and the
horrors of the world.
In your one long practice today, practice stillness. Simply receive this stillness, this gift, this
reprieve, the luxury of peace where no problems have to be solved and nothing has to be
contemplated or corrected. Do not see this as an effort, but see this as a gift.

During your time of practice, find a comfortable place to sit. Uncross your arms and your legs.
Give this practice your total attention, not letting your mind wander to other things. For the gift
is given you today, and upon each hour you can stop and experience the presence of Knowledge,
the stillness of Knowledge and the counsel of Knowledge if it is needed.

During the day as well consider what today's lesson is really telling you. Let yourself not be
caught up in the frantic pursuits of the world, but carry out your worldly responsibilities with a
greater discernment and sense of presence. It is not up to you to determine whether things are
good or bad, right or wrong but instead to follow The Way of Knowledge, for in this you will
become a force of good in the world, and it will teach you all that you need to know regarding
this.
Step 3
I MUST BE PATIENT IN ORDER TO PROCEED.

Everyone seems to have difficulty learning patience. This is because they are living without
Knowledge. They are trying to establish their goals in life without Knowledge. They are trying to
establish their primary relationships without Knowledge. They are even trying to be at peace
without Knowledge. Thus, they are at the mercy of the machinations of the mind and the
conflicts of the mind. And they are at the mercy of the conflicting forces that exist within the
Mental Environment and the physical environment. And thus things seem continually unstable
and out of harmony. Great effort is exerted in building things that can fall apart in a moment, that
have no stability or permanence.
Therefore, come back to Knowledge in your long practice period. It is infinitely patient with you,
and you must become patient as well. For what is patience but relieving yourself of your own
frantic pursuits to enjoy the luxury of stillness and the depths of true understanding. At first, this
will seem difficult for your mind is racing here and racing there and trying to solve this and
trying to establish that. But as you become quiet, you become more receptive and more in
harmony with your deeper nature.

Therefore, develop this patience. Let not the frantic yearnings of your personal mind govern your
understanding, but abide with Knowledge, which is permanent and which has true direction in
the world.

Today, practice upon the hour and in addition to your long practice period in stillness, consider
the meaning of today's lesson. Look about. See how it applies to the world around you. And look
at your own experience and see how it applies to you. Explore it meaning and its implications.
Step 4
IF I UNDERSTAND THE WORLD, I WILL UNDERSTAND MYSELF.

You have a fundamental relationship with the world because it is the world that you were sent to
serve. You were not sent here to condemn the world or to avoid the world or to ridicule the world
or to malign the world or to grieve over the world. You were sent here to serve the world. To
serve the world, you must understand it. You must understand its beauty, its conflict and its
fundamental predicaments. You must have this understanding without denial or avoidance. If
you can understand the world this completely, you will know why you are here and you will
experience those who sent you and who are with you even at this moment.

Therefore, as you go through your day, you are building a greater understanding
and a greater awareness. You are establishing yourself at a higher vantage point on the mountain
of life, even as you witness the mundane events of your daily affairs. What power this gives you!
What freedom to see and to know and to act according to the true direction that lives within you.
Understand, then, the world. Understand where the world is going in its emergence into the
Greater Community. See yourself as part of the bigger picture, not simply an individual living
within your little shell, preoccupied with your own fears and goals and anxieties, but a person
who was sent to give something in the world with other people. Create this larger context today
as you think about today's lesson.

Stop upon the hour and see where you are and what you are experiencing. And in your one long
practice in stillness and silence, let yourself come into harmony with the world's greater nature,
for Knowledge lives within the world as it does within you. And you can experience this today if
you are still.
Step 5
I MUST FIND MY TRUE RELATIONSHIPS IN ORDER TO KNOW MY DIRECTION.

A critical part of your development is finding those individuals who are destined to share your
greater work in the world. Finding them, then, can preoccupy the early stages of your
development. And in this it is often necessary to leave other involvements that do not represent
this greater purpose and destiny. For some people this can take many years to accomplish. Yet
until you are free to find your true companions, then you must engage in this work, in this effort.
And if you have been so fortunate to find even one of your true companions, then you have a
new beginning in your life. And your development and their development becomes really
essential. Here you become accountable to more than just yourself. For you now practice for
others as well as for your own advancement.. Here failure means you fail them and your Spiritual
Family.

Receive this not with guilt but understand that it gives you great strength and commitment, for in
reality this is the case. People believe that they are weak and so they look for other powers in the
universe to guide them and to protect them. But here you are learning The Way of Knowledge,
which is the way of true initiation. For this you will need strong companions. And they must
become strong for you and you must become strong for them. You must become strong to find
them. You must become strong to join with them. And you must become strong to advance with
them. This is a gift.

Today spend time thinking about the meaning of this. Today's lesson holds the key to
understanding human relationships, and a great deal can be revealed to you if you do spend the
time to consider the meaning of today's practice.
Look upon the world without condemnation but with clear eyes. See that without a greater
purpose, human relationships cannot fulfill their greater meaning and value. They can only be
partial, and they are at the mercy of the conflicts of the mind of those who participate within
them. And they are governed by the conditioning of the world and freedom and true self
expression will not be possible within them. Understand this and you will understand your past
and a great deal about what has brought you to this point.

Continue your one daily practice in stillness and your hourly practices. Think about your greater
companions.