Rayson022705NOCO65_OpenMindedness_TheWay,""The Is,"and "The Now"

Group: Northern Colorado TeaM, #65

Loveland, Colorado

Teachers: Rayson (TR, Daniel Raphael)

Zarath (TR, Jerry Evans)

Topics:

1. Open-mindedness
2. Characteristics of Group Maturity
3. Remain an Open System
4. "The Way," "The Is," and "The Now"
5. Approaching the Mota
6. Appreciating Peace
7. The Quality of the Creator Is Love
8. The Oneness That Is Becoming
9. "The Way" of the Universe
10. Hunger for Your Becoming
11. Set Your Intentions Clearly
12. Live with Consistency in Your Life
13. Forgiveness—the Essential Ingredient
14. Seek Morality and Ethics
15. Living in the Moment
16. Take Time to Reflect

February 27, 2005

RAYSON: Good afternoon, this is Rayson. My, what a grounded and peaceful and settled group we have today—very placid and very pacific. This makes a wonderful entryway for the topic that we will speak of today. This topic has been spoken of many times, but many months and years in the past and perhaps it is time now to refresh this with a new angle to it.

We not only sense, but [also] see the maturing of your group. You are not a "centric group," meaning that you do not focus in on your group or your beliefs as central to all, but that you are accepting of other beliefs that are congruent. This is wonderful, because this leaves you as an open system, rather than a closed system. And were you to be closed, you would have all the answers, would you not? And then you would be able to pontificate, if you desired to, to other groups and other belief systems, saying that you had "the right way." But by being open, you are tolerant and you are discerning, having the capacity and capability to examine other beliefs, as they may be valuable to you, weighing those that are worthy, useful to you, and weighing out those that are not. The maturity of your group parallels the maturity of many other groups.

The International Congress of Religions provides a wonderful backdrop for discussion today. Where you have value for other religions; where you show courage to examine your own beliefs; the courage to examine others, without fear that your beliefs would be diluted or that you would be swayed and drawn away from your core beliefs. This is a wonderful heritage you are shaping and sharing and forming in consciousness on your planet, that you are open to broader sources of truth, [and] that you do not have to have a narrow perspective of truth to protect yourself. This says a great deal about you, individually; it says a great deal about your organized belief systems. That is why we appreciate your halting, questioning inclinations about forming a new religion. You really offer yourselves the greatest opportunity to found the basic taproot of the Father’s Church, for the Father’s Temple, as it arrives in the future.

The Father’s Temple and the Father’s Religion will draw its validating wisdom, of course, from the highest sources within the universe and it will draw through the organized religions on your planet those truths that are typical of that higher religion, that higher source of truth. You are doing this now. You are to be commended. You are valuable sifters and sorters of "the way." It is not necessary that you say, "I know the truth, and I will tell it to you," but that you say, "I accept truth and I am open to receive truths from whatever source they come from." This is a definite sign of maturity. I can tell you, friends, its early arrival in you was not anticipated. We thought that developmentally, this wise stance, this wise position, this flexible position would not arrive yet for at least a decade or more. But you have exercised the rudiments of a flexible, open, evolutionary belief system by willingly examining your own and examining others, and broadening your own belief systems. This maturity about your religion—about all religions—is part of a larger, unorganized belief system on your planet, but one that is clearly organized and which is taught diligently, persistently, consistently in the morontial realms, and that is "a way."

We are not talking about Taoist religion—"The "Water Course Way"— we are talking about "the way" of the universe, though there may be parallels between Taoism and "the way," which I speak of. And that is that there is a self-coordinating function that occurs in the universe—it just IS. And this fundamental, coordinating force, presence, emanates and is invested in the entire universe, and is coordinated and coordinative from the First Source and Center. It includes all that which IS. It does not include all those things "which are not." If you are curious, you can examine those things which are not, which includes wrong-doing, evil, lack of harmony, dissonance, and so on, and these are manifest on many levels in human activity. It is also evident even on morontial planes, where those people still dabble with those inclinations.

For us—for you—we speak only of "the way," that IS. And what is, the IS? The IS, is NOW; that which is NOW; that which is always and forever NOW, ever will be NOW, that which is eternal, that which is eternally consistent, that which is eternally in harmony, that which attracts to itself its own. I do not speak in riddles, as this is very fundamental teaching to you; it approaches the mota. I am striving to do that today with you, to approach this way of understanding existence in the universe, past logic and reason. The closest that many of you have come to this way of thinking, is Zen thinking: it is much as I have said in the IS. You know it by what it IS, rather than by what it is not. You want to experience what it IS, without experiencing the juxtaposition of it.

You, as experiential beings, cannot—truly cannot—appreciate peace, without knowing that which is not peace. Were you a spiritual being, having graduated from the morontial or inherently existent spiritual from your beginning, you would not need to know the "is not" of war, of social disharmony, of injustice; you would know inherently that peace IS. Peace abounds, and peace IS the way of the universe. Some of you color this word "peace," as love. That is fine too; that is wonderful. Many of you have forgotten, have failed to discern, what love truly is. "The way of love" is the way of IS, the way of eternity, the way of NOW. NOW does not last, if it is not in the IS, which means that if you are in disharmony, you will end. There is death; there is termination, and there is nothingness.

Love, however, is that quality, inherent in the universe. The quality of the Creator, which has imbued "all" of existence, save that of self-will, with love—harmony with itself. You look upon the heavens—the astral heavens—and your scientists see great nebulae that are crashing into one another. And you say, "Oh my goodness. How could love be here?" There is love here, for there is harmony that is coming into being. There is this, which appears disharmonious—the crashing of nebulae, the vaporization of planets in supernova—that is evolutionary. The universe is not yet settled in the days of Light and Life. Eons, and eons, and eons will pass before the days of Light and Life are existent in the universe. Then, you will all live—we will all live—in a long pervading era of peace and love, before the next universe epoch begins.

For now, we are on an evolutionary world. We live in an evolutionary universe; you live on an evolutionary world. You are evolutionary individuals; you are experiencing some of the most traumatic, evolutionary experiences that exist in all universes, right here on your planet; right here in your bodies; right here in your minds. You live on an experimental planet, a decimal planet, one that is even more evolutionary than others. We could call the others "developmental worlds," where yours is truly an evolutionary world.

You see great disharmony and from what you see in your very brief lives, you cast this shadow, this filter upon the universe, and you see the "is not." You see the lack of harmony; you see the lack of justice. But you, as you age and grow in this Correcting Time, in your own remedial, spiritual healing, you grow. You grow to see the IS of the universe, the harmony of the universe, the love of the universe—the oneness that IS becoming.

And even in yourself, you see the One that is becoming; you have a slight inclination, an inkling, just a slight vision of who you will be as a Finaliter. You as a Finaliter will be dissimilar from who you are now, except for your personality. You will be thoroughly identifiable along your long ascendant course of life to Paradise, by your personality. But you as an evolving spiritual person, you as an evolving soul will grow immensely, and you will grow in harmony, or my friends, you will die, you will terminate your existence willingly.

"The way" of the universe is tolerance, it is patience, it is forgiveness, it is forbearance. Love, you see, is the total combination of all harmonious acts, thoughts, emotions [and] intentions that exist in the universe. You would be in total awe, if you were to experience this oneness in yourself. You get small windows of perception, at this joy of oneness, when you are in love, when you know you are loved, when you are thoroughly accepted, when you are thoroughly and totally appreciated, and you are recognized for who you truly are! In your joy, you get to see who you will become, at all times.

Yet, there is within us, and myself, with all of Nebadon that was created, a hunger. I hunger, my friends; I hunger with you for oneness; I hunger with you for wholeness; I hunger for this love of the universe to be shot through me in all ways, and all beliefs and all thoughts, at all levels of my consciousness. And though I am far more mature than you, I see how much more I can become, and so I hunger for this becoming, the fulfillment of my becoming. And I urge this upon you too: If I were to project anything for you, be hungry for whom you are to become. Seek that which brings harmony into your life, wholeness, [and] oneness. Do this at the conscious level; do this in your beliefs; do this in your emotions; strive to do it in your subconscious.

You recall one of the Apostles said, "I do that, which I do not want to do. I do it still." This is that little part of himself, the subconscious, which urged him to do that, which he did not want to do. You will find as morontial beings, a wholeness in your existence, as we spoke of before. You will lack awareness; you will have no cognizance of that fractured nature of your mind that you have now. You will have oneness, but you will have incompleteness; you will be loved, but you will not yet be able to love as completely as you want to. And you will never be able to do that my friend, until you are Finaliters and you have experienced the embrace of the Creator personally, individually, so that all your being has been totally touched by the Creator’s presence.

As I told you last time, we enjoy being with you during the week. You give us so many examples for our lessons to you. You make it easy for us to write lessons for you. We are with you during the week, weeks that we do not gather together, and we listen and we are there. Some of you are quite aware of our presence, while others are not. This topic we speak of today is a very important one. I did not touch on evil today, as that is part of the "is not." So, let us not focus on that. Focus on the positive. Set your intentions clearly for your life.

Now, how you set your beliefs and how you declare them, is important, because you may have beliefs that are incongruent. They may be inconsistent; and they inherently carry dissonance and lack of harmony by their mere existence in your life, and you do not see this. That is why we urge you to be open minded, to be broad minded, to question your reality, to discern your own thinking, to observe yourself as a behavioral individual, and if you are able to, to observe and question your own thinking. And if you have difficulties doing this, call upon a friend who has this observing capacity and capability. It will be very helpful to you.

Although the topic today has touched on everything that is not material, it has everything to do with material living on your world. It has everything to do with living with consistent intention, with oneness. And Happiness! Happiness is evidence of consistency in your life; happiness is evidence of the fulfillment of your beliefs; happiness is the lack of dissonance with that which is around you, either those individuals who disagree, or dissonant with your own beliefs. Happiness is a mirth factor, as Machiventa spoke of. You have much mirth to share; you have more mirth yet to enjoy.

When you see these dissonant beliefs, dissonant thoughts dropping away from your being, you will be more available for happiness, more available for joy, more available to bring oneness into your life. When you see this, have thanksgiving; [give] praise to yourself and to your teachers and guides, and for the ultimate source of harmony in your universe, the Creator. Thanksgiving is your evidence of recognition of this oneness. Thanksgiving is that which says to you, "I see; now I believe and I know."

Forgiveness is an elementary, essential ingredient of achieving happiness. Ridding yourself of guilt also is a beneficial factor of forgiveness. If you are not able to rid yourself of guilt after forgiveness, my friends, you will not find happiness, and you have gotten yourself caught in the web of your own mind, your own thinking. Forgiveness that does not rid yourself of guilt is a fruitless endeavor; you will always be forgiving, always be forgiving, always be forgiving—you could say that phrase for years now, and if you find that you still have guilt and your forgiveness is ineffective, then seek your spiritual friend’s help. Seek the help of your guardian; seek the help of Christ Michael. Seek the help of the Spirit of Truth. Strike this stone of guilt against the touchstone of the Spirit of Truth, to find where the gold is. Find what is true and what is not and discard those that are not gold. Move toward wholeness and pureness. Move towards that which leads you to joy and happiness, which makes you hungry for more.

I am reminded that I could speak more deeply about harmony of the universe, emanating and inherent in the manifestation of the perfect idea of the Creator, but we can leave that for another time. Know that morality and ethics—high standards of living, high standards of belief—without duplicity, without clouding your own thinking yourself, is worthy to be pursued. These are not "rules" for living, but guidelines for living, ways to find harmony. If you are rebellious, then truly you will have difficulty with all that I have said today.

Are there questions? And if there are other teachers who wish to speak, I invite them to come forward as well.

Student: I have a question Rayson. This may seem like a strange question, but in terms of trying to find who we really are, of developing our own personalities to the maximum, on this world we go by a different set of standards or traits we call "personality," can you give me some examples of what our true nature would entail, so that I can tell from that, what is part of my real personality and what part of that is just my cultural training?

RAYSON: Let me answer it this way: Awareness will come to you eventually. You are obviously struggling with this now. For this time, it is not necessary for you to struggle with this, as to its origins. Your struggle, your energies, would be more beneficially directed towards discerning what beliefs are supportive of harmony of love, and your order and oneness in the universe, and those which are not.

It comes down to living with your self in the moment, [in the NOW] observing yourself in the moment without obsessing about it — living in the moment without being wracked with self-doubt — observing yourself, knowing that you will make mistakes and allowing for them, and forgiving yourself.

But I tell you the most important thing to do is to each day and each night, as you begin the day and as you close out the day and prepare for sleep, declare clearly, your intentions for living. This may sound like awfully simplistic thinking, yet I can think of no more powerful influence in your life for developing your personality, voiding yourself of cultural baggage, family baggage, emotional baggage, erroneous beliefs, religious baggage than this.

You have within yourself, coupled with that intention and diligence during the day, and awareness during the night that you will be guided. You have within yourself your Thought Adjuster. You are powerfully influenced during the day and during the night. That is why stillness is so important to use, at least twice a day—or twice a week, if you are that busy—but use it. You could not, my dear, have accepted or asked that question without having the influence of your Thought Adjuster, active in your thinking, even now. Truly, you are blessed, to have this agent with you.

Your Thought Adjuster is more than a catalyst. Your Thought Adjuster is an active partner with you, whose actions are far more powerful with your agreement, with your intentions and your declarations of doing God’s will. Yes, your Thought Adjuster ceaselessly works with you and ceaselessly works with every individual who has a Thought Adjuster. Yet the effect and power and outcome of its applications in your life are far more productive when your intentions are consistent: When you recommit yourself to doing the Creator’s will, and striving each day to live in peace and harmony, doing good to yourself, and doing good to others.

Oftentimes you are not able to do good to others, so just leave them alone. Let them be on their way. Do not interfere with them. Neither cast stones at them nor grab them by their lapels and tell them how to live. This is not your business. So you have asked a very important question. I am glad that I have been privileged to answer it for you. It is very simple: When you are working in your review phase in the morontia life, the review of your mortal life, you will see those cultural influences, which were not your own, which were outside your orbit of conscious influence, but which none-the-less, influenced your behavior and thinking, powerfully. Then you can willfully discard them and delete them from your mind. Does this help?

Student: Yes, it helps very much, Rayson. It helps greatly. It’s also nice to know that my Thought Adjuster is getting through to me. I’m never quite sure if I am listening and cooperating with him, or not.

RAYSON: Well, if you were to see the calendar or your life, you would see many gold stars in the days. There would be some blank spots, but there would be many days that would have gold stars in them for you. (Thank you.)

Student: I think my teacher, Zarath, may be present.

ZARATH (TR, Jerry): Yes, this is Zarath. I am so pleased to be able to join this group, and to express some level of my appreciation and joy and love for you all. I have listened to my senior teacher, Rayson, with great attention. We all can learn from such wise advice. There is much in the universe that remains to be opened to us all, and the experience of doing so is ever more joyous, ever more expansive, evermore beautiful. My message will be short, but I leave these thoughts with you: Your continued development is so well known and appreciated here, for it justifies all of our efforts, patience and experience. I like-wise then commend you and leave you with my love. Good afternoon. (Thank you, Zarath.)

RAYSON: We will revisit this topic from other perspectives in the future. It is one that you will hear about many times in your lifetime, one which is part of your elementary, preschool preparation in the morontial realm. It is a measure of your maturity, a measure of your relationship to the other, and your acceptance of the relationship of the other to you. It is an intimate aspect of your living in the morontial realm that you can demonstrate now, in your life in the mortal realm. Find peace. Find stillness. Do not be afraid of solitude; take time to reflect upon your life, your experiences and the moments that you live in. Give your mind time to integrate your life’s experience into a larger framework that can contribute significantly to your maturity, as individuals, as emotional beings, and to the growth of your soul. Strive not to be so busy. Have less; live easier. Have joy; be in love with the world, the universe, yourself, and who you are to become. Good day. (Thank you.)

END