Commitment

"Commitment is life. To be uncommitted is to be dead."

"Your first responsibility is to Knowledge. This is your connection to God."

The First Commitment

"Your first commitment and engagement is to Knowledge because that is your commitment and engagement with God. If your engagement is authentic and not filled with your own ambitions and ideas, then you will have a foundation that will enable you to be a source of strength, purpose and reassurance for others."

The Decision to Commit

"So, review your own investment in pleasure. Itemize the things that you are attempting to acquire or secure for yourself. Look at the investment. Look at the reward. Ask yourself, 'Is this reward worthy of the investment?' Do not deceive yourself in thinking that you can circumvent the investment. There is a price for everything. All rewards, all value and all achievements require an investment. Some people are greatly invested in confusion so that they won’t have to commit themselves to anything. To them, commitment is pain and confusion is a kind of relief even though it produces no value. Here the emphasis needs to move away from survival to achievement, which is a revolution that takes place within the mind.

Necessary Commitment

"The transition from being governed by your mind to adhering to something greater is one that must happen slowly to enable you to maintain your stability. At a certain point, formal preparation is absolutely necessary. If it is avoided or neglected, you cannot proceed. It represents a commitment to change and to rearrange your relationship with your mind and your body and with everything around you. This requires courage. This requires openness. This requires a recognition of genuine need within you."

"The more you are with Knowledge, the less the world will affect you because the world cannot touch Knowledge. But Knowledge can touch the world. Knowledge is not swayed by the world. It has one purpose and one direction. As it emerges within the person, the person becomes uniform and focused and then commitment is natural. You couldn’t be anything but committed. Commitment is life. To be uncommitted is to be dead. You cannot make commitments. You can make pledges to try to be committed, but your real commitment comes from within you. It commits you. When Knowledge emerges, you will not have any choice about commitment. Your Knowledge is totally committed."

The Commitment to a Greater Life

"If you can keep ambition at bay and remain in a state of unknowing and uncertainty, then your way will be revealed, and you will slowly follow it. As you continue, you will recognize that you are following a certain direction and that you are going there for purposes that you can experience even you cannot yet define them. You will also realize that you are not traveling alone, for companions will come to join you. If you can refrain from ambition and self-definition here, then you will move more powerfully, and Knowledge within you will increasingly become a source of guidance, inspiration and protection that you can experience. Without your attempt to harness and direct your life, Knowledge will emerge. This doesn’t mean you are being weak or passive. It simply means that you are attending to something greater. Here you take your former self-determination and apply it to your desire to have Knowledge and to live a life of greater truth. That is the commitment. If this is being followed honestly and sincerely and if you are willing to work for it, then you will be able to generate sufficient energy to move forward on the Path of Knowledge."

Commitment as Force

"The compelling force of Knowledge is so strong that it overrides anything that the world can set in its way. This level of commitment is the greatest demonstration of God. It is powerful, unending and compassionate. It has vitality. It is driven from something beyond this world. It is an uncommon, relentless force. It does not care about costs and obstacles; it cares about practical functioning. People with Knowledge will be uncommon and potent. They will not be alone, unless by choice."

See Also

Knowledge

Concentration

Consistency

Studenthood

Spiritual Family

Further Study

• Wisdom from the Greater Community Volume II, Chapter 21:Devotion & Commitment

• The First Commitment (September 25, 2008)