Grandiosity

"People want grandiose demonstrations, but the Presence operates differently. It does not make a great show of itself. It speaks to the inner world of the person and reaches from person to person in this way."

"You will not be successful if you think you are grandiose. Little seeds are not grandiose yet. Those who value their true worth are willing to be diminutive. It is no affront to them. Those who hate themselves cannot stand the idea."

Directives

"Do not be grandiose. Do not think you have to do something that affects everyone. Do something that affects one person, two people, or three, or five or ten or fifty or a hundred."

"It is time to step aside from the grandiose goals and ideals that can only keep you in a state of imagination about your life."

"Your contribution will express itself in all things you do, great and small. So do not imagine for yourself a role that is grandiose or that will be devastatingly difficult."

"Allow yourself to leave self-doubt and the sense of unworthiness aside, for these things will be consumed in the fire of Knowledge and purified from your mind. When this is done, you will not need to give yourself grandiose ideas of yourself."

"The greatness you will experience will express itself in simple and mundane things. Therefore, do not imagine grandiose ideas of yourself as a savior. Do not see yourself being crucified in the world, for these images are born of ignorance and you do not comprehend their true meaning."

Glaring, gargantuan self-serving

"The peoples of the wealthy nations of the world must know that their grandiose lifestyle, and their expectations and demands of the world and of their governments are generating the power and the potency and the requirement to gain resources from other nations, to exploit these nations, to control these nations, to manipulate their governments, to secure these resources for yourself—resources that go far beyond your basic needs of life, even the basic needs that provide authentic enjoyment and camaraderie between peoples."

Great yet small

"You have come from beyond the world bearing gifts for the world. This is most certainly true, but do not fall prey to thinking that this indicates a grandiose role for you."

"Your role will not be grandiose; it will be simple. In almost all circumstances, you will work behind the scenes quietly and without recognition. This is necessary to protect you and to protect your gift from contamination, misuse or exploitation by others."

"It is only in your grandiose ideas, which are a cover for fear, anxiety and despair, that you would avoid the small things that are required of you to do in the world."

Idealistic not realistic

"In your evaluation of yourself, your life is either pathetic or grandiose."

"Your imagination has painted grandiose pictures and devastating nightmares for you. It is not in harmony with life. It exaggerates life in its hope and in its fear. It exaggerates your sense of yourself, primarily to your own self-deprecation. When your imagination is redirected by Knowledge, it will engage itself in an entirely new way. It will serve an entirely new purpose. Then you will be able to be free, and your imagination will not betray you."

"In the absence of Knowledge, people create great and grandiose ideas, tremendous philosophies and cosmologies, enormous ideas, and great mental complexities. But the real question is whether you are with life or not, whether you are in relationship with the real nature of the world and its direction and development and with your real nature and its expression in life. This is the real question. It is not how great your ideas are or how encompassing your philosophy about life is."

"We do not promise grandiose things or easy accomplishments. No instant riches. No instant love. No instant meaning. No instant purpose. No instant accomplishment, as if you just add water or some other magical substance and you just have these things! These are the goals that the dreamers dream of, those who are lost in imagination. No, we offer a way. We offer the means. We offer the reality. And we offer the confirmation of Knowledge within you. Our words speak primarily to Knowledge within you. They call to Knowledge within you as your Knowledge calls to us, to this message, to this Teaching and to this greater truth."

Satisfaction in simple service

"You are here to be a part of the world’s emergence into the Greater Community and part of the advancement of the human race, which is necessary for your world to emerge successfully into the Greater Community. Your role will not be grandiose. You will not be a saint, a god or a goddess. Your tasks will likely be very mundane. Yet they will serve a greater need, and they will be imbued with a greater purpose and a greater Wisdom. You will realize that if you are here to serve, then you will want to give yourself where your skills, your abilities, your nature and your design can be most effectively employed and applied. This will give you the greatest satisfaction and the greatest confirmation as well."

Beginning students

"Your future will not be grandiose, but simple, but profound. You will not be a superstar or a great leader, but your life will be simple and profound. Give up greatness. Give up fame. All these are false ambitions. Those who are chosen for great things are never ambitious. Those who are ambitious are held back and kept at the lower level of their education until they can recognize their error and outgrow these things."

"The Unseen Ones want you to start at the beginning, but people want to be at the end. The Unseen Ones know what the foundation for learning and for living The Way of Knowledge really means, while people have their great fears and grandiose ideas.

You learn to build the foundation by building the foundation. There is no other way. There is no philosophy of building a foundation. There is no hypothesis of building a foundation. There is only building the foundation. You learn the way by following the way. You learn the activity by doing the activity. You learn the steps to Knowledge by taking the steps to Knowledge. You gain Wisdom by exercising Wisdom. There is nothing more and nothing less than following the way, and that is why the way seems so refreshingly simple, honest and open. It is without adornment. It is without embellishment."

"People are not accustomed to living without definitions, and so you will see within yourself and within others the propensity to define or to project your ideas upon your new experience. Many serious mistakes are made here as a result. Here people try to extend their past life into their present life. They try to exercise the familiarity of their old ideas with the challenge of meeting new experiences. Here you see people making grandiose assumptions about the Divine and the Divine Presence and reality in their lives. Here you see people making grandiose proclamations about their abilities—calling themselves healers, calling themselves advanced practitioners, thinking that they are at the final thresholds of their learning when in reality they are beginners like you.

There are no masters in the world. The world is not the environment for mastery. Perhaps this idea comes as a shock, but if you consider it honestly, you will see it with a great relief. The world is but a limited arena in which to experience life. There are greater arenas beyond the world in the Greater Community. You may become a proficient learner here, and you may become an advancing student of Knowledge, and this represents a very great accomplishment, we assure you. But do not call yourself a master because life is the master. Knowledge is the master. And the ability of Knowledge and the depth of Knowledge will always exceed your understanding."

The antidote for grandiosity

"With others you will see your real capacity and affinity regardless of what great ideals and beliefs you may have about your capacity to join life in a larger arena. Here you humble one another, as you should. Here you temper each other’s grandiose ideas. And here you encourage each other to regain self-confidence.

Having false notions about yourself and having grand ideas are directly related to a lack of self-confidence because there is a basic distrust of Knowledge, and so there must be a great compensation for this. Here people build themselves up in their own estimation, but fundamentally they are unsure. They must convince other people that they are what they think they are because they do not know. They must get others’ approval and reinforcement constantly because their own foundation is weak and fallible. They are without Knowledge in their evaluations; therefore, they need constant reassurance."

See also

• Discussion for this page

Further study

• Steps to Knowledge, Step 174: My life is necessary

• Steps to Knowledge, Step 188: Life in this world is more important than I had realized before.