So, as I understand it, the overall idea is that as we progress in our study of Steps, Knowledge will gradually make itself known in our consciousness, providing us with a kind of spiritual rudder to help us guide our journey through life.  One aspect emphasized repeatedly is the need for stillness, so that we can actually 'hear' when Knowledge is speaking to us.  It occurs to me that until that lovely day when Knowledge appears in my life, I can be doing other things to practice and exercise this stillness/listening 'muscle'.  Other things in addition to the daily practices.  

Practicing intuition seems logical to me, as it also requires a certain stillness and an ability to pay attention to signals we are receiving.  My speculation brought up the notion that perhaps some of the same habit patterns that will be acquired by bringing Knowledge into our lives may exist in the exercise of using intuition.  I casually practice listening to my intuition and have for years.  I find I do this mainly when I’m driving.  My little exercises mainly consist of selecting the correct lane to be in to avoid any congestion.  I find it’s a quick and easy way to practice it.  One of the keys to a good ‘practice session’ is not stop with being happy when your intuition pays off/annoyed when your intuition doesn’t pay off.  Take the extra step and anchor in the feeling when you have a success.  What did it feel like when you had a sense of which lane you should be in?  Once you’ve identified that subtle feeling, make a point of anchoring it in your psyche.  It will make it just a hair easier the next time you do it. 

I also practice at intersections.  If I have two ways to get to my destination, I check my intuition to decide which is the most efficacious route to take.  Remember, of course, sometimes a ‘bad’ route may turn out to be positive.  And visa versa.  Just keep practicing.  When you have successes, anchor them.  When you have failures, explore what you missed so you can do better next time.

Lately, I've been enjoying a show called 'Travelers' (available on Netflix) that resonates with me as regards my Knowledge studies.  It has an interesting premise: time travelers from the future are coming into our time to alter numerous events in the present so that the future will change.  Evidently things are going to hell in a hand basket in the future and their time travel technology is sort of a last resort to try and fix things.  One of the odd wrinkles is they don't travel in a machine back in time - they 'travel' through their consciousness and take over the bodies of people who are on the verge of dying or being killed.  So they inhabit the lives of another person.  If someone is married, they become a husband, if someone is a mother with a baby, they have to become that mother, if someone occupies the body of a drug addict, then they have to deal with the pain of addiction.  This creates all sorts of unusual situations that are fascinating to follow. 

They work in teams of 5 and are given assignments, some small, some huge, that in various ways are presumably leading to a better future.  As I watch the show I perceive parallels with those of us who are students of Knowledge. 

• The obvious one is they are trying to change the future, as are we. 

• The Travelers have teams all over the world.  We're not in teams (though, maybe we will be in the future) but are simply individuals working quietly to become good students of Knowledge.  I have no idea if students of Knowledge are all over the world, but some translations have been made of some of the books, so perhaps there are students of Knowledge in other countries.

• The Travelers are agents of change and while they don't posses something we call Knowledge, they do possess knowledge of future events and use this knowledge to expedite their missions.  As we will use Knowledge, presumably, to expedite our various missions. 

• As the bodies are occupied by the Travelers, this has an effect on family members and friends of the previous inhabitants, who notice changes in their personalities.  The Allies mention numerous times how as we grow in Knowledge, friends and family members may drop away and we might have a whole new group of friends. 

• They have to work in secret because you don't just announce that you're a time traveler and are trying to change the future.  We don't have to work in secret, but the Allies constantly stress the need for discretion.  Which is a kind of secrecy.  Secrecy 'light'. 

• Occasionally the Travelers work with other teams on more complicated missions.  In the 'Wisdom from the Greater Community' books, the idea is expressed over and over how as our Knowledge grows, we will naturally attract others from our world who are also growing with Knowledge. 

I don't know...perhaps there will be small teams of us working on the challenges generated by the Great Waves of Change.  The picture I have in my head is less like agents, as depicted in 'Travelers', and more like...monks.  Moving to the places we need to be, helping out as Knowledge dictates.  I picture them more as projects rather than missions, but the idea is analogous.  Maybe I'm pushing the parallels a bit, but somehow I find the concept comforting.

A number of years ago I read and enjoyed ‘The Celestine Prophecy’.  One of the things I liked about the story was that it introduced me to this idea of messages and what one was supposed to do with them.  If you receive a message, your job is to embrace it, process it, and perhaps act on it.  If you feel drawn to communicate a message to someone else, your job is to find a way to get the message into their brain.  The contention was that you’re either in listening mode or transmitting mode.  For some reason, this whole idea really appealed to me.  I’m sure it was because I was ready to hear it.  I felt as if some kind of internal radar got activated, and is still activated to this day. 

Knowing these messages are out there, just waiting to be dealt with in some way, I found very exciting.  So, every day since then I’ve tried to be alert for any messages…occasionally words, but often feelings, sounds, smells, sensations.  It occurs to me now that perhaps this was my first taste of Knowledge, packaged in a form that was metaphysically palatable for me.  And if I wasn’t receiving Knowledge, per se, it was at least getting me into the habit of listening for messages.  Listening requires stillness, a skill/habit that Steps emphasizes.  Simple, I know. 

I'm about a third of the way through ‘Steps to Knowledge’ and am trying to foster some sensitivity within myself so that I can muster an awareness of the transformation process that I’m hoping will occur.  I’ve read a number of Marshall’s books over the years and was finally motivated to tackle the Steps again after a long, 10-year, hiatus.

I think I’m sort of far enough along to the point where I look forward to what the next lesson will be.  At the beginning, it was more about disciplining myself to get up early to do the morning lesson, getting into a regimen of stillness and study.  Now I’m in the regimen.  I have a habit pattern I follow and it’s not terribly difficult to stick with.  Like the preliminary instructions say, you just need to follow the route outlined and stay on the path.

The curious-like-a-cat side of me keeps hoping I will see some indication that Knowledge is peeking through.  It’s undoubtedly too early for that but one side effect I’ve noticed, especially within the last 20 lessons or so, is that occasionally a specific lesson is very pertinent to issues that arise during that particular day.  In other words, I study the lesson and a situation comes up during the day (usually at work) that the lesson is addressing.  Almost as if my day is being subtly restructured to be embraced and benefited by the lesson of that day.  It’s cool when it happens, I thank the powers that be for their gift, and continue with the process.  A little more motivated, knowing that I’m being watched on some level.  It’s a nice feeling being helped from the other side.