Perseverance is a very important ability, but like all important abilities it must have its right application, and it must be understood within a larger scheme of things—a larger context. Take even the most virtuous ability, set it apart from an important purpose, and it turns into an aberrant form of behavior, a problem to be solved, a liability rather than an asset.
Knowledge is the primary reference point in your development. Therefore, it is necessary to consider stages of development in terms of your relationship with Knowledge itself. Knowledge is your True Self as it exists in the world. You cannot grasp it or conceptualize it and possibly comprehend its meaning, its value or its purpose. However, you can and you must experience it increasingly. The teaching in The Way of Knowledge is concerned with the reclamation of Knowledge and, through Knowledge, service to the world.
Facing a world of tremendous change and upheaval will require a greater Intelligence to guide you, a greater strength within you that is beyond you, but that you are a part of. It will require fortitude and compassion and patience. It will require that you relinquish what you think the world must have and your complaints against the world, no matter how deep set they may be.
What is a relationship?
Relationship is when two or more people come together to fulfill an inner and an outer need. Life is like climbing a mountain, and you cannot climb it alone. You will not find your way alone, you will not gain strength alone and you will not learn to overcome the obstacles alone. You will need companionship. You will need companionship for encouragement, for discernment and for the courage to identify and eliminate your obstacles. You need relationship to learn The Way of Knowledge.
We will divide our conversation regarding work into three categories. The first is your work in the world. The second is your greater work. And the third is the handling and contribution of money.
Let us start with your work in the world. To build a foundation for learning and living The Way of Knowledge, it is necessary that you be able to provide for yourself in order to meet your basic needs and expenses and that you deal with these resources—money, time and effort—effectively. If this is neglected, you will be disabled in your attempt to build your foundation and to begin your journey into the next great stage of your life, which is the reclamation of Knowledge and the discovery of a greater purpose.
In order to learn The Greater Community Way of Knowledge, one must face the fact that one’s intelligence is very limited and needs to be expanded. Intelligence in the Greater Community is highly regarded, not only for what it can produce physically, but for what it can know and perceive. That is why intelligence is considered to be a commodity, something that can be exchanged, acquired, controlled, used, and so forth. In fact, intelligence is considered even more valuable than technology. This is a very important fact and represents a new understanding for the human community, where due to a lack of competition with other intelligent life, intelligence has not been developed sufficiently, especially when one considers the capabilities that humans really have and how these can be used for good and for greater accomplishment.
Serving people is an idea that is familiar to you, but we must give you a larger vision of what it means. We must also caution you about the errors and assumptions that are generally made when people approach this idea and consider it for themselves. Serving people can become a great excuse, or it… Read More
There are three stages in one’s overall development. There is dependence. There is independence. And there is interdependence. In the simplest way, this is demonstrated in a person’s life by the fact that they are very dependent when they are infants and young children, slowly growing out of dependence to a state of independence as an adolescent or young adult, when they begin to differentiate from their parents and family. Then there is interdependence, when they are married and have a family, or unite with other people in spiritual community and so forth.
It is now necessary to discuss a subject of grave importance that may well be difficult to understand at first. It is the problem of evil and the Forces of Dissonance. This is a difficult subject for many people because there is a great deal of fear and apprehension regarding it, as well as a great deal of denial and many distorted perspectives.
Let us say at the beginning that the world is certainly being visited by different groups for different purposes. There are some groups who wish to assess your technology, to learn about your nature and to determine your biological codes, which will tell them about your temperament and predispositions. Others are coming here to determine whether you are capable of engaging in commerce and trade. Still others are coming here to look for the ancient depositories and to utilize and recruit those who show some skill and knowledge of the physical environment to help them do so.