Topics:

1. Angels of Industry
2. Leadership

July 06, 2008

MERIUM: Greetings. We, too, are ready. We have been awaiting your focused attention and enjoying your enjoying yourselves. It is this kind of relaxation and leisure that is a result of your conscientious maintenance of civilization and consecrated industry. That is my lead-in to Andromadeus' message for the day. One moment, please.

ANDROMADEUS: Good afternoon. I am Andromadeus, a most high, come to join with you and engage you and your mind in an appreciation of the seraphic corps and today we will focus on the angels of industry. In that light, I would appreciate Elena, if you would read the definition for us as found in the revelation:

Elena: The angels of industry. This seraphic group is concerned with fostering industrial development and improving economic conditions among the Urantia peoples. This corps has been seven times changed since the bestowal of Michael.

ANDROMADEUS: Thank you. That brief paragraph does not give proper acknowledgement to the angels of industry, as I see it. They have obviously been industrious, for there have been now seven "changes of the guard" in the past 2,000 years.

With the advent of Thought Adjusters, the forward progressive nature of spirit prompts has instigated a new appreciation for advancement. Prior to the on-set of the Adjusters, industry was hammered out strictly by necessity and the need to survive. Even so, inventions were uncovered/discovered, and the mortal races of time have always had among them those who were sufficiently blessed with the ministry of the adjutant mind spirits that they would have enough of that adventure lure to allow them to set sail on their own curiosity to discover things that assisted humanity in its forward march, men and women who have laid the foundation for the cultural civilizations that you have today and made no mistake you can credit yourselves with your civilizations since so much of what was intended for your world was lost or neglected, but we are at work today to overcome some of those losses and setbacks. So, let's go into more modern history and talk about industry since the advent of the Adjusters.

Thoroah: And for how long have Urantians had Adjusters?

ANDROMADEUS: They have had Adjusters since Andon and Fonta originally were indwelt, which is many, many thousands of years; however, it was rare for people to be indwelt with a fragment of God until the Day of Pentecost. The outpouring of Adjusters on all normal-minded mortals is the gift of the Son -- in your case, the Creator Son. And when it is not the Creator Son, it is a Magisterial Son who will come to an evolving world and release the Adjusters into the world of their mission.

Elena: I had thought that by reading the UB that we always had those, and I had not drawn that parallel for some reason between the Bible and the day of Pentecost and our having Thought Adjusters, so thank you, Thoroah, for asking that question and thank you for the answer. That's great!

Thoroah: There's a lot more to that whole story right there. It would be interesting someday to study without distractions.

ANDROMADEUS: Indeed, there are many throughout the course of history who have provided spiritual leadership who have been endowed with, indwelt by an Adjuster, but that was because of their own spiritual industry, their own cooperation with the adjutant mind spirits. For the most part, advancing civilization has been slothful and lazy, except insofar as getting its needs met, and those efforts have often been thwarted by oppression, ambition, disease, isolation, and many factors that have contributed to your remaining rather backward.

However, with the advent of the Adjusters, with everyone being indwelt by an Adjuster, it is like the light switch was installed, and now all one needs to do is turn on the switch through their own will in order to begin to work with this Adjuster. This lends a degree of inspiration and cooperation between humanity and divinity that is functional, even when humanity is and remains ignorant of divinity's influence. And so we have God doing for humanity what humanity often cannot do for itself, or rather will not do for itself, but the more humans cooperate with their Adjuster, the more effective with the results be. And this is what would like to focus on today in terms of industry.

You have been doing some remedial work on Urantia in making up for those many thousands of years of pastoral living, herding, hunter-gathering, and so forth, a way of life that has provided for you as a race of people but has not provided overmuch in terms of freedom from the bondage of effort and industry, although today, as for many in prior times, there is a great deal of enjoyment in industry. Work is one of the supreme satisfactions of living. And this is depicted in works of art such as Vincent Van Gogh's work "The Gleaners" or in the old Negro spirituals where the "darkies," picking cotton, their voice would lift up in praise and thanksgiving for the day of deliverance, and so the Spirit has infused workers with joy, even to high art.

It is also a part of your nature as gregarious human beings to enjoy the pattern of working together, mindlessly even, and so the success of standardization has helped to serve your civilization and this has been evident in the Industrial Revolution where millions of people have found a home in manufacturing, on the assembly line, where they do their work without much thought, without much care, for rather relative high pay and a decent life style, their product contributing greatly to the ease of humankind. And more recently, you've had the infusion of technology such that yet another division of seraphic helpers have been applying themselves to your minds which have become imbued with modern technology in terms of your computers, televisions, Ipods, DVDs and the like, all of which contribute to sophisticated communications and more opportunities for industry, either in the field of technology or because of the effects of technology.

Even so, any and all of these advancing factors are better served if they are based on the essential relationship between man and the soil, which is the fundamental industry.

I will divert somewhat and call to your attention how it is that the angels of industry work with you in your lives. Earlier we eavesdropped to hear stories about what you commonly engage in. Between those snippets and this mind bank, I can assure you that each of you is an industrial entrepreneur in your own right by the nature of your disciplines in the maintenance of civilization. Over-achievers like Elena are rather connected to the angels of industry for the energy they promote and derive and manage. This is part of the joy of working, and why it is that so many people when they retire are reluctant to let go, because of that energy surge that is involved in productivity and industry. And this is not just factory or office or business industry, but social and domestic industry as well. Having to give up square dancing for some would be tantamount to social suicide.

And yet, a new dimension of industry is made manifest when the physical nature of industry is set aside in order for mental industry and spiritual industry to take precedence. Inventions, creations, composing music or letters -- these are reflections of the angels of industry as well. Mothers who harangue their children to clean up their room are extensions of the angels of industry. The song, "Take out the papers and the trash or you don't get no spending cash" is a product of the angels of industry, for there is the universal law of cause and effect involved, as the Hebrews injected into social consciousness, "He who does not work does not eat."

The modern day mania for materialism -- money, acquisition, profit -- is one of the unfortunate negative side effects of the energy inherent in the work of the angels of industry. As you evolve -- as a nation, as a civilization, as a global economy, as a people -- you will be less troubled by those who use their ambition without regard such that oppression will be alleviated and it is up to your sense of ethical industry that will help bring that day about. Rather than simply accepting the fact that there are usurers in industry, you may feel free to point out that just because the Planetary Prince's staff counsel on industry succumbed to the sophistry of Lucifer, you need not follow that same legacy.

Service motive is infinitely more effective and productive and the results of that new plateau of operation will be a future product, to which you have contributed by your loyal efforts to assist the angels of industry in joyous effective and ethical means of functioning on your world. Work with them, help them help you, and you will have once more helped carve out your destiny -- both for yourself and your world.

I have spoken sufficiently on industry for the day to give your mind some new food for thought as to how these angels work. (Pause) All right. Let me add then, prompted by Merium, that these angels also work inside industry to eliminate child labor abuses. Much as a union is formed to assist the workers, the angels of industry assist the workers as well as the leaders and the organizations that conspire to advance your world.

As you master your industry techniques, the resulting effect is increased leisure, and with leisure comes the enjoyment such as you have had this week-end and which many of you enjoy as a way of life, having been removed one way or another from the fast lane of industry to the elysian fields of retirement. We will discuss next month the antithesis of industry, that being diversion, recreation and fine arts, those products of leisure that are the culminating reward of having been industrious. Thank you for your attention. Good day.

Group: Thank you.

MERIUM: This is Merium to come in and stir things up, to wake you up and open the windows and let the wind blow through your minds such that the pondering of Andromadeus may be temporarily replaced by the billowing daydreams and luxurious thoughts inherent in your Sunday afternoon among friends, and in the security of your fellowship.

I thought today I would engage you in an appreciation for and understanding of, perhaps even a study of, leadership. The idea of industry provoked a discussion on our side of the veil as to leadership -- how we perceive leadership from our vantage point and as we observe leadership as you see it -- and since leadership is such a vital quality, perhaps it would behoove us to have a better appreciation for and understanding of leadership.

I know already that Esmeralda's mind has gone to the political campaign, and I suspect that others of your minds have gone to other leaders in history or figureheads or employers or important personages that have made an impression on you as far as leaders are concerned -- not excluding Jesus. So let's take a moment to loosen the cobwebs of our interchange and let me hear from you as to your idea of what leadership is and give me an example of what you think leadership means, perhaps even highlighting, to your way of thinking, a leader that you admire or dislike as a point of reference. And I will ask for volunteers rather than calling on you for that has a tendency to defeat the purpose of sharing.

Esmeralda: I just finished listening to a book about George Washington and there were really outstanding things about him that I don't think are generally known. I think his civil rights - he had the African-American in the Revolutionary Army, which a lot of people did not approve of. He also was very concerned about his own slaves and what (inaudible) our country's (inaudible) and also provided that they be educated. Not just given freedom but (inaudible) and I really didn't know that much about Washington.

MERIUM: So you admire him for setting an example and for showing…

Esmeralda: And being aware of civil rights. (Inaudible)

MERIUM: Being concerned for others. (Yes) Civil rights. What about human rights?

Esmeralda: Well, I think human rights too. I think he considered them human and a lot of people, including -- as I was reading this, I happened to remember that my own grandmother (my father's mother) thought that African-Americans were like beasts, created to work for man, to do their labor. I thought about that when I was a child.

MERIUM: That was a well-accepted concept in the mid 1800's, at the time the Civil War take place. And, unfortunately, remains so in the minds of some people today!

What other leaders come to your mind, or terms of leadership?

Elena: Well, what I thought about was not about leaders; I just thought about the problems of leadership, where in today's world, the difficulty in being able to motivate a group of people to do anything at all is very difficult. And yes, there are certainly those who are capable of doing that, but the problem with leadership, or using leadership, and how leadership was actually used in the world because I think to a large extent leadership is used toward directions that are not really positive directions, or are for self-aggrandizement rather than the good of the whole, or that kind of thing, so I think there should be a college of leadership that should really set everybody straight on, "Look, if you're going to be a leader, this is what you need to do and this is the direction that you need to take." And there isn't one. That's what came to my mind.

MERIUM: All right. Your thought was the responsibility of leadership and ethical leadership.

Elena: Yes. Towards bringing a group forward rather than backward.

MERIUM: Yes. That's getting in to the philosophy of leadership, certainly, and that qualifies. How is it that you feel you qualify as a leader? How do you lead? Could we hear from perhaps the men folk?

Thoroah: Well, I'll take the lead. (Group laughter) But if you want to go first, you can. I have a whole struggle with the term leadership because it implies followers and I am no longer a follower, so I have the only sense that I'm a leader is I'm leading my own life now. Which feels good. I don't know how to lead anybody else except maybe to teach them and do whatever it is as a leader I would expect someone else to do.

Esmeralda: Lead by example.

Thoroah: That's all you can do, really, is lead by example, because everything else is artificial. People are appointed to leadership positions. They play their political games and whatever is involved to get to a "leadership position" doesn't necessarily mean they have leadership qualities and you can't necessarily teach people leadership qualities because there is involved things like communications abilities and the like, so how else as an individual do except to do it the way they think it should be done. Lead by example. What else can you do?

Men-O-Pah: That's the same with the tribe. The chief would not send his people out to do something he would not do himself. And like you said, you lead by example. I've seen when a group of people has a problem they somehow need to get solved, the chief would say, "How are we going to approach this? What are we going to do about this problem?" because every leader knows that if the Indians don't support him, he's not going to get the job done, and it's the Indians that really do the job, so I used to consult with them absolutely. "How are we going to do this?" You get all kinds of suggestions. You say, "All right. We'll take this one." It's very rarely that you need to say, "This is the way we're going to do it." That's the court of last appeals. You just have to use your own judgment on that because that may be the worst possible way to solve the problem.

MERIUM: So you feel that leaders are really facilitators of the workers.

Men-O-Pah: I think so. I was discussing this same thing with Jesus. He's the greatest among us. He started the ball rolling.

Esmeralda: It's the golden rule. (Group concurrence)

MERIUM: And Paula, what are your remarks regarding leadership? Perhaps women's leadership or parental leadership or whatever. It doesn't have to all be about male leadership or organizational; women lead as well and parents lead their children so I'm interested in your comments about leadership.

Paula: Well, I think when you're in a position where you're going to be leading somebody else, you have to think about it very carefully because you don't want to lead in the wrong direction. You've got to take your stand and say, "This is the way I think it should be," and everybody isn't going to agree with you, but if you're diplomatic about it, I think you can go ahead and lead quite a few people in a lot of ways. But if you are bombasting all over the place, and saying, "We're going to do it in such a such a way," nobody is going to want to follow that. You have to do it diplomatically. And yet carry the message so that they know this is what you feel and that you would like to have followers, but a lot of it depends on the way you present it.

MERIUM: All right. Thank you. It seems most of you, then, feel that leadership is a role that is bestowed upon you by circumstances or the community. Gerdean, what do you think about leadership, in terms of individuals -- not as roles or positions, but as an inherent part of a personality, even perhaps your own?

Gerdean: Oh, interesting you should ask. Not long ago someone made reference to the fact that I lead the Rio Rancho Teaching Mission and my entire being balked at the idea that I was the leader here. I still don't subscribe to that, because if there aren't people here there is no one to talk to and so everyone is here of their own free will and I am not luring anybody here with "sex, drugs and rock-and-roll" or anything that would reward them for coming, so I don't feel I'm the leader. I feel I'm as much a part of the group as anybody else is.

I think of different ways of leadership, though, not necessarily for myself but I think that there are people who lead in … really in devious ways. Anytime they need to get something done they're going to try to get people to do what they want them to do, and that may not be the kind of leadership you are talking about, Merium, but it is a kind of leadership because people manipulate and maneuver people all the time and people follow all the time. And so they are in fact leading other people. They well may be leading them astray, but they are leading and they have followers and so we all have that option.

We all influence people. So to whatever extent we influence people, whether its in how we want to vote or what's fashion or what it is that we get excited about or want to tell people about -- this movie or that brand of automobile or that store -- that's leading … to some extent. And it's leading society, and civilization. It's little, but if we all join together and decide to boycott something, they're going to hurt. So I think we are all leaders. We just need to find some facilitators that can help us be more effective. That's my two cents.

MERIUM: Well! What a well-rounded supply of responses! And you are all right. You are all correct. Leaders are those who will go where no one else would go except by following them, such as the explorers, adventurers and discoverers. Like Lewis and Clark. They were leaders. They led the way into the wilderness. You in the Teaching Mission are leaders. You are investigating cosmic consciousness in a fashion that is unpopular or unconventional, and so regardless of the outcome or your findings, you are acting as leaders. And in this context, Gerdean, I must say you are a leader because you are so smitten with the ability to commune with intelligent life in the universe, even if it is in large part your own conception. The real bottom line will be seen when and as the effects of your causes are revealed, if ever.

And this is often the way it is with leaders. They lead by doing, as Thoroah indicated, whether anyone follows or not because they believe that is what they must do and when people act with courage and conviction, that quality of leadership invites others to observe and follow the lead. Perhaps not to follow in their footsteps, but to follow the idea presented of being true to yourself and responding to your own inner calling to "follow me" as it were.

This calling to step forth out of the herd mentality, out of the standardization of the assembly line, out of the common mold of dead thinking, is an example of leadership and often these types of personalities are persecuted, stoned, vilified, laughed at, crucified and jeered, and yet there is a compelling nature within that forges ahead in spite of all these drawbacks, and that is the leading of the indwelling Adjuster, the leading of the God Fragment within, the leading of your own integral relationship with divine intelligence that cannot be denied.

What I would encourage you to do today, leaders and followers alike, is to spend time with that reality that will allow you to emote your own feelings and evince your own ideas as to what is right -- not necessarily what is popular, or what is customary, but what is genuine and true for you. And then watch what happens. You don't need to hold your breath. Just observe. And think if industry. Think of accomplishing something. For your world, for your universe, for your soul, for your fellows, and see if you can find the connection between you and your seraphim of industry that compel you forward into your field where you will make your contribution to the Supreme and to the world of your origin.

All right, we have finished with the lecture and the lab. Now, we can approach recess. However, before we go, this is the opportunity for interaction. And so are there questions or concerns from any of you today regarding your lives -- specifically as it relates to your spirit life, your superconscious reality. All the others we can save for tea and crumpets.

Paula: You know what I was just thinking about? I haven't thought of it in a long time, but you would have loved my Dad. Of course he'd been on the stage for years, traveled all over the country, but that was something he'd wanted to do from the time he was a kid and so he finally went to New York. I guess he did it on a hope and a prayer because he didn't have a lot of money. But he got a part. He landed a part and he was with the stage crew for ten years, until he got tired of it. But he was in a lot of plays.

Then when I came along, after he and Mom got married, they went to one church; it got to be in the Depression days, but he thought they ought to have plays, over in church, you know, jolly everybody up, and he did funny plays and of course you know who had to be in every one of them. And I got so tired of trying to learn my lines, but he loved it, and he did all his life. He put on plays and had a lot of fun with it.

MERIUM: He did indeed manifest leadership qualities by simply doing what he felt called to do. Because he loved what he was doing, he was able to inveigle others into enjoying the same thing. This is one of the qualities of leadership, and certainly of stardom. Similar to the Pied Piper and show business personalities in general, "A Star is Born." They have a compelling need to live in the limelight and their motivation is to feel fulfilled in the sincere applause and praise of others because of the pleasure and enjoyment they are able to give in their art, their actions. Pavarotti had that same impelling need, and all artists have that need to be acknowledged.

They do what they do because they love it, but they also love and thrive on the praise they receive, and in the doing of what they do, many are influenced and affected. And thus they have led by offering their gift. They have touched people and affected them by having been here, as your Papa no doubt affected many by his exuberance and love of life. This is such a gift to see people - no matter what they do, whether they are actors or artists in the classic sense or whether they are simply characters and good cooks and helpful folk who are eager to give of themselves, give of their own goodness and desire to express themselves through others in ways that they are comfortable and capable. In such a way, even little children are able to serve and able to cultivate a following.

Elena: This is a really practical situation, but one that I'm concerned about. It's not directly related to my spiritual needs, only in the-- Well, I'll just get straight to it. I'm worried about my-- I think I've done everything that I needed to, to take care of my tree, but I am concerned about my trees. My umbrella trees in my back yard. And I've asked Mother Nebadonia to help me with those and I feel, actually, pretty good about that, but I just wanted to know if there were any other comments about my trees. One of them was attacked by some kind of little eggs on the bottom of the leaves and I sprayed them, but I just was concerned about them.

MERIUM: Your trees, like any living thing, is vulnerable to the vagaries of the material existence. You, as mortals, as well as plants and animals, are subject to bacteria, mold, parasites and other stressors that can impact negatively, even fatally, and the only thing I can suggest is that you nurture your trees as you would your own body and that is to say, feed it well, give it plenty of nutrition, water and rest. Naturally, you will see to it that the pests are removed and all you can do then is hope that you've nipped it in the bud.

If your trees must succumb to the way of the world, then you will rally and find another treatment for your yard, one which may even be more to your liking than the noble trees you have there now. We certainly hope for the best, and yet it is, as you say, not especially a matter that will impact your mortal soul and so we can give only a nodding consideration to it; however, be assured that we give a respectful nod, and appreciate completely the beauty that horticulture provides. Indeed, the worlds in your future will be gardens of horticulture, grand gardens indeed, where all living things are painstakingly cared for since these gardens provide harmony and peaceful surroundings in which to ponder and worship.

Elena: Thank you.

MERIUM: As you say in your vernacular, "we'll keep our fingers crossed."

Elena: I appreciate that.

MERIUM: Are there other matters besides these nasty allergies that have you unsettled? Then let us close out our session for the afternoon. Those of us on this side who have been here observing and participating and giving our energy to the connection and soaking up your concerns, your souls' concerns, by way of osmosis through your Adjusters, bestow upon you now our undying affection and our confidence that you will pursue your destiny with industry and vigor, thereby providing the leadership that is a natural effect of following the divine will.

Bye-bye!

END