Contemplation

We take time to consider the meaning and merit of our own impulses and actions and the actions of others.

This enables us to penetrate the seeming appearance of things.

"You are going to contemplate something, not simply to come up with exciting answers,

but really to try to penetrate it. Going deeper than the surface where everyone is so caught up."

Concentration

"You were not trained to concentrate in your education in the world.

You were trained to memorize information for brief periods of time in order to meet certain educational requirements,

and then most of these things were forgotten.

You were taught to pass tests to meet temporary or expedient needs.

You were not taught patience or concentration.

You were not taught contemplation or how to abide with greater problems for longer periods of time.

You were not taught how to be single minded."

"You learn how to slip beneath the mind. And if the mind is too agitated or too caught up, then you use the mind to contemplate, to think about part of the great Teaching in The Way of Knowledge. If the mind will not allow you to go beneath it, then you should use the mind for contemplation—not to problem solve on the outside, but to consider what your Teaching is giving you in relationship to specific things in your life, or to consider what Knowledge has been telling you or indicating regarding a decision that you must make."

"How will you understand a Greater Community intelligence? How will you understand what each Greater Community group is doing here and what their purpose is? You will have no possibility of success in finding an answer here if you approach these questions in a casual manner or if you merely attach yourself to pleasing or comforting ideas. You will have to concentrate on, contemplate and live with these questions without an immediate answer."

"The Greater Community Way of Knowledge focuses upon a larger context of life where concentration has increasing value and merit. It is a unique preparation. It teaches concentration because it teaches you how to focus your mind. It teaches concentration because it teaches you to still your mind, which takes great concentration. It teaches you to think constructively, and it teaches you the art of contemplation, where you learn how to think about something in a gradual and penetrating way."

"Steps to Knowledge teaches you how to think about things in a very constructive way. We call this contemplation. It is different from meditation. It is contemplation. You are going to contemplate a question about life. You are going to contemplate something, not simply to come up with exciting answers, but really to try to penetrate it. Going deeper than the surface where everyone is so caught up. And your stillness practice is really your meditation because it enables your awareness to go deeper and to connect with Knowledge, which knows."

Action and Contemplation

"You are learning now, how to distinguish between action and contemplation. There is a time to act. And there is a time to not act but to be alert, like a hunter who must wait oh so long for the right moment to act. This ability to stalk your prey, whether it be an animal on the hunt or Knowledge within yourself, is something that has been lost in your society to a great extent. People are so over-stimulated that they have no sense of proportion."

"Thus it is that you will learn with Knowledge to be at peace in the world, and yet when you act, you will act with true efficacy and with great result. In this way, you may be a person of action and contemplation all at once, for your contemplation will be deep and meaningful, and your action will be deep and meaningful as well."

"Action is necessary to fulfill what one is seeing and knowing. Action does not have to be immediate, however, for there should be a period of contemplation. There are, in fact, three stages in the process of seeing, knowing and acting. There is seeing a sign. Something stimulates you. You recognize something must be done. There is a time to contemplate, a time of knowing what this is, feeling the need to take it into your mind and your heart. Then there is a time of action."

"In stillness, what needs to be known at this time will become apparent either quickly or slowly depending on the situation. Yet whenever you feel that you have received an answer or an insight, be with it sufficiently before putting it into action. What [does] sufficient mean here? Moments, days, weeks, months depending on the situation. You must really be with this to understand what I am telling you here."

See also

Practices