Mistakes
"Error... will be a source of pain and discomfort for you." [1]
"The Revelation will make your errors more glaring, your disappointments more apparent, your lack of direction more deeply felt. It may even increase your suffering at the outset until you can discern the real gift of Revelation and recognize that you are beginning a greater journey now." [2]
"It is truly dangerous when people think they know and they do not know. This leads to many mistakes and many tragedies as well. Do not think you know. You either know or you do not know, and if you know, your Knowledge is pervasive. If what you know is real, others will resonate with Knowledge with you, and you will not have to persuade them." [3]
Directives
"Allow the mistakes of your past to motivate you. They need not be and should not be a source of self-recrimination. They are intended now to be understood as the demonstration of your need for Knowledge." [4]
“Be grateful for all those who seem to err against you, for they will show you what is necessary in your life and they will remind you that Knowledge is your one true purpose, your one true goal and your one true expression. In this all who err against you become your friends, for even in their misery they serve you and will call upon you to serve them.” [5]
Mistakes Inevitable
"You must trust what you know in the situation and yet be open to making a mistake because, you see, there are some mistakes you must make. So, why try to do everything right when there are mistakes that you must make? They are unavoidable. Many mistakes are avoidable because they only repeat the former mistakes that you needed to make. So, do not think all mistakes are for a good purpose.You get one chance to make a dumb mistake.That is for a good purpose. After that, you can repeat it many times, but the repetitions are not necessary.[6]
"People make mistakes primarily because they are not looking and they are not listening. They are not getting their cues from Knowledge within themselves, and they are not understanding their environment. It is like driving an automobile while talking on the telephone. People do this, you know, but the truth is they are not really present driving that automobile, and they are not really present speaking on that telephone. They are doing both things at once, but they are living in a hazardous manner. And they are not really conscious of where they are or what they are doing."[7]
"Why would God punish you when you were placed in a world where making mistakes was so easy, and the chance of becoming wise was so slim? God understands that without Knowledge to guide you, the deeper intelligence that God has placed within you and created within you, all you could do would commit errors." [8]
Messengers Fallible
"People want the Messenger to be a super person - powerful, magnificent, immaculate, utterly pure, well behaved, in accordance with human expectation. But the Messenger is a human being and is always fallible, but it is the Message and the Presence that accompany the Messenger that makes all the difference. Jesus made mistakes. Muhammad made mistakes. The Buddha made mistakes. All the great leaders that followed them and all the great teachers in other traditions, thay all made mistakes. To live in separation is to make mistakes. To enter the world of Separation means you will make mistakes." [9]
Redemption
"Your life may be filled with errors and mistakes, wrong decisions and poor choices, but you have still come from your Ancient Home to which you will return. Your worthiness in the sight of God is unchanged. There is only great effort to repair your errors so that you may experience your True Self so that it may be rendered into the world." [10]
"Real forgiveness is a process of transforming something old into something new, something that was useless into something that is useful, something that is meaningless into something that is meaningful. Here your mistakes, instead of being a source of pain and inner discomfort for you, become a means of reaching other people, for everyone has made mistakes, and many people have made the same ones that you have. This becomes a way to reach people. 'I made this mistake. This is what I learned. And this is what I am doing with it now.' What a beautiful teaching this is. How gracious this is and how important it is for the listener and for the communicator as well." [11]
"For you cannot overlook error in order to forgive it, you cannot deny error in order to forgive it and you cannot call error by another name. You must see that error is a mistake. Yet it can be a form of service, both through its demonstration of the need for Knowledge and through the seeds of truth which it contains." [12]
Practice
"REVIEW THE ERRORS that come to mind as you sit quietly alone, and then see how each one can be utilized to your current benefit.
- What needs to be learned from them?
- What must be done that was not done before?
- What must not be done that was done before?
- How can these errors be recognized in advance?
- What were the signs that preceded them and how can such signs be recognized in advance of error in the future?"[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Steps to Knowledge, Step 26: My errors give birth to my Knowledge.
- ↑ The Gift of a New Life (May 14, 2011)
- ↑ Living The Way of Knowledge, Chapter 7: Your Relationship with Your Spiritual Family
- ↑ Steps to Knowledge, Step 280: Review
- ↑ Steps to Knowledge, Step 291: I am grateful to my brothers and my sisters who err against me.
- ↑ Wisdom from the Greater Community Volume One, Chapter 33: Provoking Change
- ↑ Deepening Your Spiritual Practice (November 1, 2008)
- ↑ What Happens After Death (July 11, 2008)
- ↑ God's Power and Presence in the World (April 23, 2011)
- ↑ Steps to Knowledge, Step 24: I am worthy of God’s love.
- ↑ Living The Way of Knowledge, Chapter 2: The Four Pillars of Life
- ↑ Relationships & Higher Purpose, Chapter 3: Your Relationship with Others