IntroductionCorona Del Mar California Teaching Group
Bertrand
July 14, 1992
Gods Omnipresence
Other Thought Adjusters
Are We Good Too?
I am Bertrand. I am your teacher. Tonight we will speak of God's omnipresence.
The Heavenly Father exists in all things. There is no place that is without his presence. There is no human that does not receive his watchcare. There is no system, universe, or grand universe that he is not totally in control of. But for the mortals of the realm, to know that he is the controller of the Grand Universe is of only minor significance to the fact that he actually is a part of your being. He is in all normal-minded humans that you meet. He is no respecter of persons. When you see the light in someone else's eyes, it is his presence looking back at the presence of God within you. When you see a person stop on their normal daily path and render aid to a fellow human in need, it is he also that is giving that aid.
As we go about our daily lives, it is important, very important, to recognize the God in each fellow that we meet. It is very difficult for a Thought Adjuster indwelling a mortal mind, to be in such a human that ignores that presence. It is a continual sorrow for him to not be able to at least have some reasonable contact. As you travel through your daily life and you feel the wind upon your face, it is the presence of God; as you see the beauty in the sunset, it is the presence of God; as the mountain snows begin to melt in the spring and begin to fill the rivers, that also is the presence of God. There is no place that he cannot be found. Even in your business lives, he is there too. He wishes to experience all that we experience, because in doing so he is fulfilled, he is made whole, he is growing that part of Himself that will be God the Supreme. He is with you in your trials; he is with you with your joys, and he ever loves you beyond your wildest imaginations of love. Do you have questions this evening?
[Do We Communicate with Other TA’s?]7/14/92
STUDENT
I don't know if it's in The Urantia Book, or where but, somewhere in the legend of The Urantia Book readers, I picked up the thought that we can communicate directly with other people's Thought Adjusters. If we wanted to deal with somebody we're having a problem with is one technique of doing that is praying to their Adjuster. Is that something real? I remember it, but I don't know if it's in the book.
BERTRAND
Yes. One method is to actually appeal to your Thought Adjuster to appeal to their's. That is certainly possible and most assuredly takes place. You may petition your Thought Adjuster to carry a message to another.
[Meeting Others As Personalities & Adjusters]7/14/92
STUDENT
. . . . I think our problem is trying to love our fellow man. We all probably have that difficulty. We know that Jesus has said "love one another as I have loved you". I'm just wondering what we can do to prepare our hearts more often I guess, to have that love with us. It seems like we always seem to put conditions on our relationships and maybe loving closer ones more than our fellow man. I'd sure myself, like to know how I could come to know and love my neighbor more than I do.
BERTRAND
I feel your heartfelt question. It is sincere and it requires an answer. One first step that you might take is to first recognize from the other person, the presence of their Thought Adjuster. It may be helpful, when you speak to them, or when you see them, to view them as if it were the Thought Adjuster himself--the spark of God--that you are looking at. And as you begin to do this, the repetition of it, will begin to help you see God in others. Listen for man's motives, not necessarily just what he says. Try to ascertain his motives or what makes him say or do, or ask, or be the way he is being.
By doing thus, you will understand more of his hidden personality, his hidden drives. And you will begin to understand, and perhaps see God's work in his life; the Thought Adjuster's work in his life. Because it is through his desires and motives and things that he is trying to do that the Thought Adjuster can be more readily observed in that other human.
[Are We Good Too Or Is All Goodness God’s Work?]7/14/92
STUDENT
Bertrand, you said something in your lesson that was specially interesting to me. You said that if we were on the street and we saw a person help another, that was God. Do we not ourselves have feelings of altruism, or are they all originated in God? Are none of them us?
BERTRAND
A very good question. The outworking, service motivation that individual showed in my example, could be from two sources. The first source, a direct inclination that was the direction of their Thought Adjuster; the second, the inclination driven by the person's soul which, of course, has a divine component. If one had neither the soul, nor the Thought Adjuster, you would be purely animal. Animals, other than the maternal instinct, are rarely, if ever service motivated. Service motivation is the response to God's leading. Does that answer your question?
STUDENT
Not quite all the way. Our soul is the--I'll put it kind of euphemistically--child of our Adjuster and ourselves...
BERTRAND
Your mind.
STUDENT
Our mind and our Adjuster?
BERTRAND
Yes.
STUDENT
Okay. So, the qualities that it has are qualities blended or blended from each aspect?
BERTRAND
Absolutely.
STUDENT
Okay. So, our personality could be an altruistic personality or have a component of altruism, for instance?
BERTRAND
Yes. It is from God. You are a personal being. Personality is a gift of the Father. Animals do not have personality.
STUDENT
It almost feels like sometimes we are mechanical, you know, that God gives our personality, God gives us our Adjuster...we're little God robots, you know, just sort of becoming!!
BERTRAND
God also bestows your mind. We do indeed have much to be thankful for.
STUDENT
I am thankful.
BERTRAND
But, the soul is the real you. That is your contribution; that is who you are and who you will be throughout eternity.
STUDENT
What part of the mind, personality, or Adjuster is our free will? Is that a whole different thing?
BERTRAND
It is part of your personality. It is part of your mind. They are together. When the two work jointly together to form you, God has bestowed free will on that energy system and you are then allowed within your domain of action to have relative total free will.
STUDENT
So, qualities...let's just keep on this same analogy of altruism because that's a God-like quality. It is part of his and we're not altruistic in our own natural, unGod-like self at all?
BERTRAND
No. That is why it requires the actions of the Seven Adjutant Mind Spirits, the assistance of your Thought Adjuster, the guidance of your guardian angel, your free will personality and your mind --the gift of the Infinite Spirit--to all work together to create the potential spirit being that is you.
STUDENT
There is a lot going on.
BERTRAND
Yes.
[What’s A Normal Mind?]7/14/92
STUDENT
Bertrand, what is the guideline of a person being of normal mind? As it was stated that all people of normal mind receive an Adjuster. And there are those that do not. How can one determine if one is of normal mind?
BERTRAND
One moment [Pause] Because, your question has ramifications far greater than perhaps you imagine which deal with the future of your planet, the future of your culture, I am admonished to tell you that the answer to your question must be discovered with your own sciences.
STUDENT
Okay. Let me carry on with that thought, however. If you have a child that has been labeled "retarded" and let's say that they may not be of normal mind. Can love, care and nourishment of that individual bring that individual's awareness up to a point of having a normal mind and that in time can they receive a Thought Adjuster even though their age may be 10, 11 or 12 rather than the normal age 5?
BERTRAND
Normal-mindedness has two components. One is physiological and the other is mind-function. Physiological you are most unlikely to be able to change. Mind-function, if the capacity is resident in the mind for growth, I would say yes, it is possible.
STUDENT
Okay. Then that question leads back to the first one, how can we determine that?
BERTRAND
I appreciate your question and I understand its motivations. I understand I think. Because of the social ramifications, the cultural ramifications of the answer, I am constrained I cannot give you the answer to your question. I'm sorry.
STUDENT
Okay.
BERTRAND
It is always difficult for me when I can't openly answer questions for which I have answers. But I am constrained not to do so because of other intervening factors.
STUDENT
My question comes from a personal relationship with some children. Is the effort worthwhile to be put towards an individual in the hope that the individual can be upgraded and can become of normal mind rather than staying in a vegetative state? My question is from a personal level not from a planetary or social level. How one can make a determination to put forth your efforts onto an individual, even trying to take a child to look for that spark on the eye, instead of the blank stare. Where do you take your efforts as far as one individual compared to another? It's a difficult question, I understand! I'm looking for an easy "out"!! I'll admit that!!
BERTRAND
Your question is from your heart though and you would like to receive an answer. The condition that perhaps you experience with this child would require evaluation from a physician to determine their mind-function; to determine if the individual is brain-dead. The only suggestion that I would have for you would be to look in the Thought Adjuster papers on death and review the different types. And try to determine if this child has any capacity to know God, for that truly is the only true measure. More than that, I cannot say.
STUDENT