Tomas Vol III - Pittsburgh, PA - Nov 21, 1995 thru Feb 10, 1996 - Part 1 of 13

This is a record of Tomas' first teacher base assignment: Pittsburgh, PA. The Pittsburgh group had three previous celestial teachers (Andrea, Nero and Andrew), but were eagerly anticipating the arrival of the new Teacher whom they had been advised was on his way. They were thrilled with Tomas' arrival and rolled out the red carpet for him and his T/R.

These meetings were grounded by some very gracious dowagers, all Urantia Book readers and long-term students of spirit matters. The group convened around the formal dining table in the home of Mr. and Mrs. M, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the fashionable North Hills area, with a glorious view of the outdoor wooded expanse.

*****

PITTSBURGH, PA, USA

VOLUME III, Part 1 of 13

November 21, 1995 - February 10, 1996

C O N T E N T S

PITTSBURGH, PA, USA
VOLUME III, Part 1 of 13

*****

DATE:       November 21, 1995
LOCATION:     Pittsburgh, PA
T/R:       Gerdean

TEACHER HAM INTRODUCES TEACHER TOMAS

HAM:   I am happy to be here with you today, my brethren.  I am here to introduce to you a teacher in my Teacher Corps.  I am Ham, and as many of you know, I hold a somewhat administrative post in this Teaching Mission.  I have been instructed to oversee the placement of the various and many teachers who have come, having been trained to work with you in this Time of Correction.

Your group is well known to us and well loved. We have watched and beheld many wondrous growth steps transpire in your community among yourselves and indeed among the various teachers who have paved the way, for now a new teacher who will make his home among you for a period of time.

It is my finding that your mortal mind takes things literally, and so when I say “a period of time,” you may rest assured that this period of time will be substantial and adequate for many more growth steps on your part as individuals and as a community.

I will withhold my own lesson plan from you today in light of the opportunity to present to you an experienced teacher who has awaited this assignment and yet has not been merely waiting, but who has worked hard and diligently in preparation for the work which he delights to commence this day.

I will come again and speak with you from time to time.  I will always be aware of your growth and struggles.  And now I will leave you in the capable hands of Teacher Tomas.  Farewell.

Group:    Thank you, Teacher Ham.  Farewell.

TOMAS:   Greetings, my new family.  I am Tomas.   I am your teacher, your guide, your companion, your friend, and the friend of those values and standards which you hold dear, which you embrace with your deep heart.

The privilege, which I enjoy today in meeting with you in this formal fashion, is second to none.  I shall not bore you with my credentials, as many of my learning processes have far preceded the induction of Correcting Time and, although it is my earnest desire to serve in this on-going mission, my most important work is spread before me today in your presence.

It is said – and you will know to refer to our primary text, the fifth epochal revelation, The Urantia Book – that the most important work is the work of our realm, and I identify you all as my realm of work and, as we become better acquainted and as I begin to observe, and as you begin to foster our lessons into your arena, then we will begin to see and feel the profound effects which can be and will be brought about as a result of our joint efforts in the cause of Michael of Nebadon.

We are quite gleeful today, in the spirit realm, as we also perceive your hearts are afire with gratitude and enthusiasm for the further realization of spirit reality in your realm, in your hearts, and in the lives of those you love and foster.

I have, shall we say, read your dossier and have preceded my transmitter/receiver Gerdean in her journey eastward, that I might spend some time in silent observation of your energy pattern.  I, however, will not embarrass anyone by revealing those things about you which I am privy to by the nature of my work, certainly not without your full cooperation and understanding of our joint purpose, for many lessons can be shared in the living experience.

Oftentimes I observe through you (and I have cherished this experience) and I am ever working towards enabling you to see through me, that is, through my vantage point.  For as we share vantage points, as we share perceptions, as we evolve and expand our ability to see truth, beauty and goodness from ever elevated and enlightened eyes, the illumination of The Father can clearly radiate through you and yours with more vigor and purity.

I have long sought this time with you and am greatly looking forward to the evolution and development of our relationship.  I am admonished, however, to be careful not to bring overmuch conditioning with me from my earlier assignments lest I disallow the uniqueness of this particular configuration, and this configuration of personalities is, yes, the work of my realm today.

And so, my siblings-in-ascension, we will begin together, and although I am your teacher, it is ever so that the teacher should also remain the student; therefore, as we go along, you will teach me as I teach you.  Never fear me.  Always feel free to engage me in conversation.  It is always a delightful challenge when teachers are asked questions (and I will have further remarks in time regarding the art of asking questions), but do not hesitate to speak what is on your mind, no matter how far afield it may seem.  And you will all abide by the graciousness of Our Master and suffer one another’s innocence in seeking truth.  Much will be revealed as, as you reveal your true self to me, to others, and of course to yourself, more room is made in your soul for further acknowledgement of your true reality. 

My precious associates, I am here and at your beck and call.  Call upon me in your private meditations.  I will greet you in the stillness.  I am quite liberal in making house calls, if you will, and also be advised that we extend beyond the primary group here to include your family and friends for whom you pray and devote spiritual energy toward.  This Correcting Time network is unlimited in its potential and fairly unrestricted in its actuality, for we begin at the beginning, which always is this moment.   

Perhaps one or others of you would like to introduce yourself to me and begin our repartee.

*****

DATE:  November 25, 1995
LOCATION:  Pittsburgh, PA
T/R:    Gerdean

FIRST SESSION

Mrs. H:  Now?
TOMAS: Precisely.

Mrs. H:  Welcome!
Group:   Welcome!

Mrs. H:   Welcome to Pennsylvania.
Mr. L:   Welcome to Pittsburgh.
Mrs. P:    Where God stopped and still is.

Mrs. H:   And thank you for bringing Gerdean safely to us.  I hope that she will settle in and find her niche without any difficulties.  Do you have any particular specialties?  By the way, hello, I’m Mrs. H.  Is there a specialty that you are bringing with you?  Is it a big broom or a board? (Laughter)

TOMAS: My specialty has yet to be developed, for each day is a new opportunity to become more specialized in any given facet of service ministry and truth-seeking.

I have many specialties; I have varied interests. There are many lessons I have given in bygone times.  We have spent much time in the mission as a whole in:
 acclimating ourselves to you and you to us;
 assuring you of our reality and the infinite love of the universe; and
 the various and accessible personalities which have availed themselves of those circuits and avenues of contact which provide healing, creativity and other forms of upliftment.
 Many hours we have spent in the realms of the emotions, in the feeling places of the human condition and what to do with emotions and feelings as offshoots of the mindal spheres.
 Also, we have delved into social fragrance, which is part of the art of becoming a larger family – that “unity in diversity” thing – and getting along with the many differences, the many personalities available.

My former co-Teacher Daniel had what I would call a specialty.  He referred constantly to the practice of Stillness, and this is a (certainly) theme which concur wholeheartedly: that through the practice of stillness, you calm all those otherwise complicating systems that can be a bar against intimate contact with your own Indwelling Spirit, your Mystery Monitor, and in the end it is this God Fragment within which is your most Eternal and Faithful Guide. 

Never are we Teachers to replace your own integral relationship with your Indwelling God Fragment. The Father who indwells us all is the origin and answer and destiny, and so for many reasons, the focal point of stillness has been and will continue to be stressed.

But I am a chatty fellow and I enjoy discussing your situations at work; I enjoy discussing your emotional condition and the dramas and poetry of all facets of your life.  It is your life, after all, that is in the throes of this life experience and which we hope to aid in its march forward.  And as you march forward with some understanding (and even without understanding), it is our goal that you bring others forward with you.  Your growth will be as dynamic and actual as you allow it to be.

I am a bit of a worker, boys and girls.  I am quite determined, as are other entities, that our Mission not fail, that we tilt the world on its axis, that we herald the era of Light and Life in the face of tremendous fears and all indications to the contrary.  The effort required to be of good cheer and, indeed, walk in living faith in the face of such a condition as is in and on Urantia [this planet] at this time does require concentrated and focused devotion.  It is therefore an underlying reality of this teacher that we are embarked upon a very serious undertaking.

Even so, it is my hope that we will know great joy and share great laughter.  The beauties of the Kingdom are sublime, and in your knowing these things, these realities, and knowing them as your birthright as sons and daughters of the living God, and your acknowledging and commending them in your peers, gives you strength of many, gives this light in the environs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where, indeed, God has not gone from, a light which will glow not only around the world but throughout the universe to Paradise itself.

My friends, I am so happy to be here with you today and for this period of time to come, it is very gracious of you to accept me so willingly and also to be so wondrously neighborly to this mortal companion of yours and mine.  We all here rejoice in the furtherance of our Father/Brother Michael’s work as a result of our combined commitment to truth, beauty and goodness, to the furtherance of the glory of God. 

I would like to close our session today, if you will.  I do not do this normally but I would like for us now to hold one another’s hand and I would like to lead this group in a closing prayer.

"Father/Brother Michael and Mother Nebadonia, these, your children, today have extended their hearts and souls to You for Your care and guidance.  Our lives are focused on You today, for we know the love and mercy which You personify is our birthright.

We teachers and students alike are Your children. We come to You for the sustenance and nourishment which will feed our fledgling souls, to raise us up to become noble spirits that honor You, our beloved Creator.

Our thoughts and aspirations go even beyond, to include the growth and ascension of our Perfect Creator through the Evolving Supreme; to fall under the purview of our Universal and Eternal Parents; that all the seven superuniverses and the vast cosmos fall graciously under their purview; that we are smiled upon; that in the vast wonder, we are Your infinite and precious children, whom you care for, whom you care about.

We are honored, Parents, to be part of Your Family.  Be with us as we go our many ways in honor of You.  Amen. 

*****

DATE:    November 28, 1995 
LOCATION:  Pittsburgh, PA
T/R:    Gerdean

LESSON ON SIMPLICITY
Teacher Tomas’ Background
Q&A:  Universe Travel
Sea of Glass

TOMAS: Good evening, my friends.  I am Tomas, your Teacher.

My, how the energies have amplified of late!  How joyous we are to experience the accelerated power of energy in your arena here in terms of your conjoining together in interest of matters relating to your spiritual evolution and illumination.  Our task will be to harness these powerful energies into a clear and flowing way of life which will be approached as Light and Life, for this condition of perfection, relative to you and your lives here and now, is not only possible but immanent, and many of you have known this sublime state of being even in your personal lives – such as those clear moments when all is in perfect readiness for the next perfect moment.  The challenge that awaits us here is to harmonize the myriad energies which have come to this configuration of truth-seeking individuals ~ you here, my students ~ to find that which will bring about that to which we aspire.

I abridged my message for the sake of simplicity, for simplicity is at the heart of a humble and joyous life.  Simplicity of thought and action are a way of watching your life so as to allow the more important affairs of universe administration to prevail in your minds and hearts.  The business of living as mortals is not that complicated, but we ascendant beings who have occasion to stir the soup will fight for the opportunity to do so.  Much of finding the light and life of a moment is in determining when and when not to stir the soup.  Simplicity allows the body, mind and soul to establish priority and once priorities are established and practiced, great progress can be made in the spiritual realms.

And, of course, in saying “spiritual realms” you understand our aspiration and goal is spirit, but in the interim we will traverse the morontia spheres of seeing and perceiving and behaving, in anticipation and practice of spirit.  Various spirits, which you allude to and rely upon, are personalities and energies.  As you begin to glean which energies and personalities can and will assist you, and which are merely here for observation or agitation, again you will simplify your being-ness.  In simplifying your being-ness, you become more readily available and more readily attracted to the One simple truth, beauty and goodness of the Original I AM, the First Great Source and Center, that which directs the harmony of all creation, even that of Michael, and it is that First Source which we depend upon for our most simple and essential sustenance.

Yes, I have a tendency to enjoy hearing you hear me, as it, ideally, creates a very real circuitry of communication between us and among us, for surely you understand that as I speak and as you listen, you are bonding with one another on a higher energy level than you do during your social time or your mindal time and it is invaluable to the development of our community that this feeling be fostered and appreciated, for it will help you and assist you in perceiving the calm and nonjudgmental ultimate reality of your neighbor.

It is a new way to relate.  There are so few who can make contact on the more refined energy levels, the circuits of the spirit. As you yourself become adept at seeking out and depending upon this circuitry, you will naturally gravitate to it and you will naturally pull others to it as well, and so we begin to build a new world based upon a new reality, not upon the fear of animals or of politicians, but of true brothers and sisters in the “spirit”.

I am not the only one here this evening to be drinking in your thirst for righteousness.  There are hosts of beings in attendance and indeed, reflecting upon your reading of earlier, we have a new clinical study in your configuration.  I understood from your discussions earlier that perhaps there might be some questions you would like to ask.  You may ask.

Mrs. M: We have spoken to Machiventa and we were wondering if he would come and say a few words to us.

TOMAS: Daughter, I am quite assured of Machiventa’s desire to meet with you and to allow the love between you to grow. I will ask him when he might find a time to come to visit.  I find him a difficult personage to summon at will, for he rather keeps his own calendar and he does not harken to my every whim, but he is most accommodating.  I find his tendency is to drop in unexpectedly and catch us all off guard, which is one of the prerogatives of the principal.

Mrs. M: Tomas, I found it most fascinating that you were describing a new way for us to be together, which is that way in which we are listening to transmissions from teachers such as yourself, and that this creates a new kind of bonding, and I have thought of that and I would be most interested if you could enlarge on that.

TOMAS: With the concurrence of the entire assemblage here I will elaborate for you see, when you listen in this way, it is your soul which is yearning for food, spiritual food, and the food that is forthcoming is not only intellectual food, you see.  You may read these words and receive intellectual satisfaction and some emotional security perhaps, but the act of focusing your energies such that your soul is focused and concentrated allows you to develop this in yourself and, you see, the others are also in this same state of spiritual receptivity.  In this way you learn how it feels to be in an environment of soul-searching and – seeking and, indeed, acceptance – with your fellow brother and sister sojourners.  You begin to be aware of the inner aspects of each other.

Mrs. M: What an idea to contemplate!
TOMAS: I invite you to contemplate.

Mrs. M: We are so happy that you are a teacher who doesn’t mind just talking to us.  It’s just a pleasure and I think that’s the way we all feel.  It’s a pleasure to have you, and I think that I and the others have a lot of questions that have come from all of us over the past months, when we didn’t have a teacher transmitting and the only thing, possibly, that – we would all love to understand how any of us might be able to transmit, for it seems to have brought so much joy and pleasure to Gerdean and it seems it was that way before, with Beryl and Susan.

TOMAS: I would like to respond from my vantage point as a Teacher in the Teacher Corps; Gerdean can speak for herself.  I would like to point out that the process of transmitting/receiving Teachers is possible for anyone, but it is not practical for everyone.  It is largely a matter of, certainly willingness, but the electrochemical make-up of the transmitter/receiver is also a part.  Of equal importance, are those of you who avail yourselves as a conduit for healing energies.  Equally important are those of you who work with celestial artisans, in terms of creation, creation of not only art as you imagine it, but art in terms of problem-solving and more technical aspects of life.  Many gifts are there to be found and fostered, but I would certainly encourage the practice of transmitting/receiving as a rather unique process of discipline with an abstract art form.

Am I having…?  Perhaps my associate or my associate’s transmitter would have a comment in this context.  (Pause)  No?  Very well.  I am quite conversational and only remind you of your own mortal constraints.  Are there other questions?

Student: Can you tell us about yourself?  Do you come from this earth?

TOMAS: I have not been a Urantian … before this assignment.  I am not natally a Urantian.  I am an ascendant mortal male, having attained some degree of wisdom and experience by the very process of evolving as you here.  I come from another universe, a neighboring universe, where I have ascended and attained considerable experience in the mansion worlds.  I, in my mortal life, on my native world, was what you might call a Cultural Anthropologist … although we threw it under the realm of Sociology.

I was a married man.  My beloved partner and I – her name was Janus, J-a-n-u-s – we had four sons.  Janus even now is ascending and, although she did not volunteer for this Teacher Corps, I did … since I enjoyed the experience of going into the more primitive societies and cultures to [laughter from the group and a big smile from Tomas] study and take my findings back 'to the office' as you would say.  In this case, however, taking my findings back to the office is not quite the way it works.  I am here in the office and will stay a while past closing time.

Mrs. M: Was your planet settled in light and life?
TOMAS: Parts were quite advanced.

Mrs. M: And your Creator Son was different, of course, than Christ Michael, and could you describe some of the ways you might see differences between them?  We enjoyed reading about the way Christ Michael is viewed by other universes.  I’d be interested to hear about your Creator Son.

TOMAS: One moment.  (Pause)  I have been admonished that although your question is personally very intriguing and I personally am saddened that I cannot discuss the Avonal who attended our world, I am relieved as well to discover and have confirmed again that this is outside my realm of discussible topics, for although it is certainly a good question, my dear, it will not serve your personal spiritual growth.

Mrs. M: But one thing I thought we read was about how Christ Michael gave us a tremendous amount of freedom in our universe contrasted to the way other Creator Sons arranged their universes.  I was quite fascinated by that.

TOMAS: You may be assured that the concept of free will goes beyond the purview of the local universe creator Sons.

Mrs. M: I’m glad to know that, although I remember reading that Christ Michael had given us perhaps even more than some of the other Creator Sons deemed necessary, and that it was going to be an interesting turn of events because of his choices.

TOMAS: And has it not?
Mrs. M: Yes!  You are here!

TOMAS: And you are here.  And the circumstances are here which bring us together to enable us collectively to bring around the Correction of Urantia to a plateau which is more suitable to the return of a King.

Mrs. M: Tomas, have you met Christ Michael on Salvington yourself?
TOMAS: Indeed.
Mrs. M: Can you tell us about it?

TOMAS: I cannot go into the nature of Salvington, but I can say that Michael came to many of our classes when we were preparing for this Teaching Mission.  He sat with us often, as he did here with his apostles, in fraternal harmony in his elder brother fashion and tried to convey something of the nature of your world.  It was indeed and in fact part of the curriculum that we have some semblance of understanding to embrace the depth of compassion that would be required to undertake such an assignment as this.

Remember that all the universe saw Michael crucified here, and well … I shall say no more on that.

Mrs. H: We’re so grateful that you’re here among us.

TOMAS: We may all thank Machiventa and his supernal parents, Michael and his consort, indeed.

Mrs. M: Can you tell us what your age would be in years of earth?

TOMAS: Can you tell us what yours would be?  (Laughter)  It matters not one iota, for I, like you, am wise beyond my years and fresh as a daisy.  (More laughter)

Loreenia: This is Loreenia.  Can you embroaden or give us more information that the Directors of the Most Highs a few months back --- are you familiar with that?

TOMAS: A circular passed my desk, yes.  We do try to keep our inner office memoranda orderly, indeed.  Indeed.

Mrs. H: Do the Teachers think that we are amusing?
TOMAS: But of course!
Mrs. H:  I know we have a lot on our mind, but we try to have fun!

TOMAS: Indeed, not only are you perceived of as amusing, but you are amusing, and if you will listen to yourself in your own amusement, you will find that this is an asset and part of what endears you to us and to one another.

Mr. H: Tomas, I have a technical question.  Not a philosophical one, but a technical one.
TOMAS: Yes, my son.

Mr. H: Okay.  You lived in a neighboring universe, which is quite a long distance.  How did you travel from there to here?

TOMAS: There are circuits similar to subways.  Networks of velocity, conduits, engineered if you will.  You might perceive of them as tubes.

Mrs. H: Angels….

TOMAS: Angels are used in the transport of surviving mortals, but in the grand universe, that is, in the superuniverse structure, there are actual avenues and there are  … related to Power Directors … who supervise … traffic controllers … supervise that there are no collisions in these energy bullets, bursts.  Have I responded?

Mr. H:  Yes, I think I agree with you.  I think that’s true, but I’d like to take it one step further.  In the Urantia Book, in the time of Jesus, Christ Michael, when he went on his bestowals, he always seemed to go to a place called the Sea of Glass and he always seemed to leave from that place.  Was this an energy place, a place where all the energy emanated from?  Was he translated from there to the – like earth?  Just what was the Sea of Glass?

TOMAS: You have asked a most poignant question.  The travelers are, as you might recall from your reading, admonished to never attempt a landing there, and for good reason.  This Sea of Glass, as you might conjecture, is called the Sea of Glass because of its reflectivity contours.

Mrs. M: Tomas, were you on the planet when Dr. Sadler first met the man who – where you here then?  Did you enjoy that?

Mrs. H: Did you finish Mr. H’s question about the Sea of Glass?

TOMAS: Thank you, no.  I was hovering over this very powerful lake of reflectivity when I was diverted and I appreciate your keeping me on track.  I would also appreciate, without being tedious, if we could maintain this rather systematic process, for I am eager to respond to every question, but more importantly, I am eager that we become sensitive to the energy patterns that are created in our configuration here, in our session.  The sensitivity that is developed toward me and toward one another is of benefit to yourself and all of us, as well.  This is a process, I remind you, and in the process we will err and fumble and proceed in good faith and with amusement, but your question regarding the departure and arrival in and around the Sea of Glass was and is an important question.  It is – forgive my pun – a very deep subject. Not water. With all those parenthetic remarks, have we clearly resolved your question or are there puddles of questions round this Sea of Glass?

Mr. H:  I’m still waiting to hear those puddles.
TOMAS: You ask why Michael left from there?
Mr. H:  That’s correct.
TOMAS: And was it an energy field?
Mr. H:  That is correct.

TOMAS: Yes.  And I know you want a technical answer, but it is beyond even my comprehension, much less yours.  I will borrow upon your Star Trek and say “Beam me down, Gabriel” or something to that effect, for it is quite a sophisticated and, yes, very technical aspect of bestowals which is and remains a mystery to us.

Loreenia: Can we go back to the directives of the Most Highs across your desk?

TOMAS: Ah, yes.  The memorandum.  I recall.  The directive, having to do with up-stepped activity?  Worldwide?  Is that the one?

Loreenia: Yeah.

TOMAS: We have seen several of those.  There is and has been tremendously accelerated activity already, snowballing.  It is hard for you to see, however.  As you and we together begin to coagulate into a team, a working community, a living organism of truth, beauty and goodness, more will be revealed.  Trust me that, yes, much has been on-going and this snowball effect will lead to even more increased activity and from there, there are perhaps dozens of questions as to what kind of activity, where, when and so forth.  I am not intending to be facetious, but there cannot help but be up-stepped activity when there is being focussed on this world so much ... so much.

Mrs. McD: Tomas, is there anything that we could do, individually or collectively, to play our part, as it were, in the Correcting of the planet?  To contribute to the plan, the overall plan?

TOMAS: Ah, my child, how you strike the chords of love in my heart when I hear you voice your desire to serve.  The sincerity is clear, and although there is reflection and reserve, your intent and desire is clear.  How pleased I am to hear you, individually and as a group, admit your willingness to serve.  And yes, there is much that you can do individually and as a small community, even as part of the larger community, but lest you be overwhelmed with all that can be done, I would like to rather provide you with what I will call an assignment for this week.  One moment.

This week, beloved partners, be at peace in your own personal realm, your own soul, your mind, your heart.   Attain simplicity of being.  Attain simplicity of being as often as you find yourself moving too quickly, becoming angry, becoming tired, as you feel non-spiritual, remind yourself of the simplicity of the God within you.  Touch upon the simplicity of perfection, your own potential.  Simply ponder simple.  Feel simple.  Study simple.  I wag my finger and say, “I did not say simple-minded! but simple, as a child is simple.”

For now my friends, my dear family, although I am reluctant to end our session here this evening, I am mightily grateful for this occasion, for surely it is an occasion when we can come together in this forum in this desire to bring to Urantia the love and light which is the birthright of you all.  We will work further, but for now, my precious ones, good night.

Group: Good night.

*****

DATE:     December 9, 1995
LOCATION:   Pittsburgh, PA
T/R:    Gerdean

TEACHER SESSION
DEVELOPING SENSITIVITY
UB Textbook
TeaM Workbook
“A Course in Miracles”
The White Buffalo

TOMAS: Good afternoon, faithful friends.  I am Tomas.  I am your Teacher, your guide and your companion.  It gives me great joy to be harmoniously in the presence of those who share that desire to be at peace and in resonance with Reality, which is our Source and our goal. Many celestial hosts hover today in honor of you who are here.   Welcome you to this format of communication as you have welcomed me.

Inasmuch as I am new in your community, that is to say, in your consciousness (for I have been and will be part of your community here on Urantia for some time), I am in process of developing a sensitivity to you as individuals with your unique backgrounds, belief systems, personal experiences, traumas, miracles and conditionings which serve to constitute who you are in your being today.  I am developing this sensitivity to you that I might serve you, and in order that in our working together we will create the confidence and strength which will then enable us to move mighty steps forward in faith, and which will subsequently move others in terms of their faith also.

“How,” you might ask, “can a mere mortal affect the faith of another individual, for is not faith a very personal matter?”  Indeed, this is so, but as your faith is founded, well-grounded, shared and amplified, as you develop the sensitivity of which I speak toward other individuals’ backgrounds, including their own range of experience, trauma, miracles, cultural conditioning, etc., you can then instill and foster their own faith in their own reality, much as the more advanced of you have already learned from those sources which have brought forth in your being -- that resonance of knowing, that deep core of understanding which says to you, “Yes, this is truth.” “This you know to be true.”  And so those many, many mortals who have not yet awakened to the music of the celestial symphony, who still cower in uncertainty, these are individuals you may reach as a ministry to the mission.

A tidal wave of Correction is required on Urantia for the waves of truth to wash over all humanity, to cleanse your realm of its many distortions and fallacies, its many scars from betrayal and distrust.  Much work is required, and although we radiate the joy of knowing a facet of divinity and celebrate that reality in one another, it is our aim and goal to spread those seeds, to “spread the gospel” which will illuminate all.

I have mentioned that I am a worker, and you see now that I am a talker as well.  I am, however, truly a gregarious and social being and, in keeping with our camaraderie, I will close my introductory remarks and open this forum up for questions.

Mrs. M: I had a question, Tomas.  It’s really a very sincere question.  I guess a lot of my questions I just throw out because I’m uncomfortable with silence, but this one has been on my mind for quite some time and that is, when I first got the Urantia Book, I thought it was completely adequate and wonderful, but when the Course in Miracles came along, I thought this completed the Book for me, in a sense, and I like to carry one in one arm and one in the other -- and Mrs. McD is our very excellent student of that course – but I began to think, after the Teaching Mission came through, that this in itself could have completed the Book in some way for me.

And so I began to wonder if that was the original plan, to give the Book to our planet and then to have the transmitters enhance what we already supposedly would have learned, and … because there was a warmth and a humanity about it, and there was so much kindness and love that I felt from the Teachers beyond that which we have experienced usually here … so I just wondered if that was part of the original plan.  I’ve said this to people who have accepted and not accepted the transmitting, so I’m curious about your answer.

TOMAS: I will respond to your outpouring.

The fifth epochal revelation is that, and as when any great gift is bestowed thus, the time has been planned, the time is auspicious.  The textbook, that is The Urantia Book, is more than adequate for your intellectual comprehension of cosmology and history and so forth at this point.  Remember, it is only the fifth epochal revelation, not the entire story yet.

The Teaching Mission now, this offshoot of the fifth epochal revelation, is also timely and necessary for the truths in the Urantia Book to become actualized and realized in a framework compatible to the import of the Fifth Epochal Revelation to Urantia.  In other words, in some ways the Teaching Mission is the workbook to the textbook. 

Now, let me remark, if you will, regarding the gift and the current hunger and popularity regarding “A Course in Miracles” which is a fine and valuable contribution to upliftment of humanity and is very soul-satisfying to the participant, and this is because the Thought Adjuster is acknowledged, the deep core reality of the individual is strummed, and the harmony of the soul is caressed into awakening, and is responding to divinity in a way that, particularly, your Christianity has not induced whereas that the quiet mammoth of the Occident has had to sustain during these many years of quiet evolutionary growth. 

Your Christianity has had the Bible but the people of India and other cultures (not exposed to Christian missionaries and Christ and so forth) have had truths and realities that have sustained them, as is normal and right.  Now we find in this renaissance of spiritual flowering, this time of the fifth epochal revelation, this time of surging forward in spiritual progress is benefited by the wisdom and insight of those who have not been influenced by, and in some cases sullied by the aspects of Christianity that have not made Christ a personal experience, that have not encouraged the living reality of the individual with a Godhead as a living spiritual reality.

This is all part of the progress scheduled for Urantia at this time.  And all things certainly are synchronized to augment each other.  Have I responded to your inquiry?

Mrs. M:  Yes, I appreciate that answer and I’m going to, well, read it over again when we get a transcript for it because that’s very helpful, too.  Thank you for your excellent answer.

TOMAS: And for your question.

Mrs. P: Tomas, last night I saw the white buffalo, on the air.  And I have heard a little bit about it and I wonder if you can enlighten me concerning this phenomenon that is supposed to be an almost new dispensation on the earth.

TOMAS: I will say that your question is appropriate to the theme that we have been developing for, again, the white buffalo us representational of a culture’s coming into a new surge of spiritual awakening.  In many cases these truths, these peoples’ truths, which have sustained them for centuries, are now being shared.  The white buffalo has long represented this renaissance, this spiritual surge forward, which is occurring now … (as you may know, because of the reconnecting of the broadcast circuitry, having to do with the adjudication of the Lucifer Rebellion and your being re-connected to your rightful place as a part of the living organism of this superuniverse.)  Well!  That was quite a parenthetical expression.

The white buffalo is to the Native Americans that symbol which is, in their culture, a great impetus and sign of their value.  The Great Spirit, which is the Father of the red race and which, indeed, is our Father also, has given to Its/His/Her children various cultural manifestations of faith.  The eagle, which soars at poignant times, bespeaks great messages and mysteries to the individual who is sensitive and respectful of the eagle and what it represents.  Likewise, the many, many animals of the realm, which have come to represent certain symbols of courage or pride or stealth, have been honored.

Remember that even the animals of the realm fall under the guidance and protection of the spiritual realms and so why should they not also contribute, in their way, to the mighty song of dance and praise which is being experienced by seekers and believers in all faiths, in our evolutionary trek upward?  Is this satisfying to your soul?

Mrs. P: Yes, thank you very much.  It augments what I was feeling.

Mrs. M: Tomas, we love to, in our planet, we love to play with these numbers and thinking they mean something, and we experienced what we think was the year 2,000 last year, and it seemed that everything that happened on our planet in a spiritual way that year, was connected with this wonderful beginning of the next millennium, and I just wondered if you would comment on that. It’s not an important issue, of course. 

TOMAS: We are into the new millennium, and although your common calendars have not caught up with the truth yet, it will, and it is not so essential that your calendars are all synchronized so much as it is that you recognize that it is chronologically a divine time for change.  Even your politicians ring out the need for change.  And certainly a millennium is a calendar notice that if all is not well, now is a good time to do something about it for future millennia. 

Mrs. M: Thank you very much.   That was a very delightful answer from that point of view.  Thank you.

Mrs. P: Encouraging for the earth, too.  For Urantia.

TOMAS: I will speak briefly in response to your earlier comment about not being able to endure the quiet between questions, for as I promised earlier, I would have more to say regarding the art of asking questions, and one thing which is an important aspect of your soul-searching is to allow your soul the opportunity to focus on that which is yearning to be filled.

It is far too easy for the social animal to jump in with amenities to cover the awkward moment when a soul is grappling for understanding.  But by the same token, in the grappling for understanding, the soul is then given the respect of a safe place in which to grapple.  It is not necessary that we fill every hole with a joyful noise!  It is equally important that we begin to perceive the deeper voices, the more resounding sounds of the soul at work. 

Many times the questions cannot be formulated in a way that is satisfactory to the one seeking.  Let me then say to you that one thing which the Teachers have been trained to hear is the true depth of your soul searching.  We do not respond particularly to the obvious or the secondary or tertiary, but “go for the gold” as you might say, and hear your soul’s inquiry, for that is what we are here to find, foster, develop, encourage and send out, send forth into the arena.

It is your soul that is at issue.  It is your soul that is our student.  It is your soul which you will become and be in the morontia realms and beyond, and so when you speak what you feel, it is not so much your well-turned phrase that I notice, although I appreciate an orderly mind, it is more your heart’s desires which turn the key to my response to your learning.  

Mrs. M: We’re coming up on the Christmas holiday and it occurs to me that we’re going to finish the [paper on] Celestial Artisans today, which has been so wonderful, and then we’re going to decide to do some other excellent part of the Book, and Gerdean and I have talked about it and have had some great ideas, I think, and yet because of the season, I was wondering if we should, at least in part, go back to Immanuel’s instructions to Jesus upon his last and seventh bestowal.  Some of our group, a very few people, had not been part of the group at that time and have not had the privilege of enjoying that and would probably enjoy doing that in conjunction with this season, so … it would only be a matter of a couple of weeks that the real Christmas season goes on, 12 days.  Twelve days of the real church season, but we were going to … we were talking about some other excellent parts of the Book which others have not seen at all, that the whole group has not seen at all.

Moving ahead is great, and yet I was wondering how much we should think about the season.

TOMAS: Very well.  The season is insignificant, as I am concerned.  It is a holiday, as you know, based on a Mithraic festival and has little to do with why I am here.  I am, of course, not unsympathetic with the pull of the various cultural holidays and the effect that these things have on the souls of mortals.  In the farther view, I find that the spirit of Christmas is hysteria and emotionality mostly, and that the few relatively since, grateful and devout moments are indeed done in private, often on Christmas Eve, and most often shrouded by deep sadness. 

The joy and celebratory aspects of the season, however, in and of themselves are quite delightful.  It is only when they are intertwined in some aberrated manner that I have to withdraw my support.

In keeping with the local Christian traditions of Advent, it is hoped that you would anticipate the coming of Christ; that you might, in your deep recess, identify that concept and foster it in your soul; that as the onslaught of the holidays come, that the people in their hearts will begin to seek for the birth, not of the baby, but of the new life that He brings in their new life as a reborn entity.

It is very difficult to be an earnest student in this season, for everyone at this time seems to be beside themselves with festivities.  I therefore, class, urge you also to frolic and have fun in your cultural ways and not worry too much about a serious study such as the instructions prior to the bestowal.  These meaty matters are best absorbed when the holidays have passed and your hunger for knowledge and understanding have been heightened and whet by your abstinence from strenuous exerted thought processes.

That is only my opinion and I do not necessarily want you to look to me for direction on each turn, but now you know my sentiments.  I would not care to distort Christ Michael’s reason for being here any further with the Mithraic holiday.  Understood?

Mrs. B: Yes!  I was wondering.  In one of the transcripts I read that He is here.  I thought they were intimating more fully than before.  One of the transcripts seemed to say that Christ Michael said, “I am here, my children,” and I thought it meant that.  And then His coming, which we talk about after Correcting Time, how can He be here more fully than He is now? Because He says He is here.  “I’m here for you.  I’m spiritually here for you.  I’m beside you!  I’m your companion, your friend.  Ask me anything, include me in everything.”  So I would like to have you comment, if you possibly could, about that, Tomas.

TOMAS: I can and I will.  Michael is here present, indeed today in this room.  He is present on Urantia in his all pervasiveness.  It is possible to behold and walk with the Master ~ in morontia reality.  It has been done.  It is being done.  It will be done ... even in your life, as you allow it in.

The act of appearing to the human eye is not a magic trick but it is impossible for the human eye to see the Master; it must be done with a spiritual eye, a divine eye.  It must be with the eye of a child who has complete confidence and faith in the reality of life as it is beyond the flesh.  It is possible.

Part of our aim in Correcting Time is to slash away those barriers, which have constrained you from seeing your many friends who are just outside your range of vision.  The energy pattern which you sometimes feel and sense can be seen in the morontia form, in the midwayers, in the lights of the angelic orders, and so forth, and in Michael himself, are visible even now to those of you who will see.

That you do not all see Him is not that you are lesser, but that you have not yet learned how to drop the barrier.  It is too simple for most people to conceive.  Simple, as I referenced last week, is one of the keys to childlike faith.  So without getting too far afield, He is present in and on Urantia as is promised time and time again, that where there are two or more together, there he is in their midst.  Also, as he has said many times, many times, “call upon me and I will sit with you.  Reach out and take my hand which waits to take yours and lead you home.”  He is a reality greater than you are accustomed.  That does not mean He is not there.

As Urantia evolves, more and more will begin to perceive higher reality and will walk more and more frequently with Michael and the other spirit helpers.  Even so, as you evolve and become socially fragrant and more in harmony with your soul’s expression of your true personality, your own Self will be so delightful and desirous of being hear, it will not be such a preference to seek for the spiritual in lieu of the mortal, for all life is and will be then settled in Light and Life and you will recognize that the physical and emotional and spiritual planes are all in working harmony.

This, of course, is not in the immediate future on a grand scale, but it is possible on a small scale in individual groups such as this, as we work together to instill in your soul an understanding of its worth and value and power and potential.

Mrs. M:   (Inaudible question).

TOMAS:   My dear daughter, as you express yourself there, I hear you say that your Father would push you away and cause you to be ill if you did not believe or behave in a certain way.  It is not correct that you experience illness because you have not believed a certain way or followed a certain spiritual directive.  Your question is a layered question for there are extremes to that question which is a lead-in to a whole realm of aberrant and addictive behaviors, but those go beyond the bounds of this lesson this afternoon.

When you feel physically poorly, it is not uncommon that you feel farther removed from the spirit because so many of your energies are in the body, are in the fever, are in the distemper or the distress.  It is then that you must have faith that you are being nurtured and succored by your ministering spirits, the Mother fragments administering to your health and healing.

Have patience with yourself when you are not at your physical best.  Have increasing patience with yourself as you experience life's processes, as you notice your aches and pains, as you begin to decline as physical specimens.  Be gentle with yourselves and know that this is part of the process and appreciate that you are being overseen and cared for throughout.  Learn to trust that you may even experience illness and be comforted in that.

Call upon your God or your spirit helpers in times of distress, not only in times of victory and delight.  Call upon your Father Brother Michael when you are ill and in pain, and experience the tremendous power of his comfort and strength.  Feel how it is to be embraced as a helpless infant, spiritually.  Allow yourself this luxury of devotion to your Creator Father.

Allow your weakness, and in your growth you will understand weakness when it appears in others and you will be able to bring your own Christ-identified strengths, your own Godlikeness to the weakness, to the many, and I will not go into the far-afield aspects of addictions and aberrant behaviors here either, but this lesson could be easily amplified and magnified to address that entire realm which perhaps we will discuss at another time.

Mrs. M:   Thank you very much for your very helpful answer.

Mrs. McD:   Tomas, in regards to the presence of Jesus on Urantia.  What you said, I understand -- correct me if I'm wrong -- that Jesus, or Michael -- that His all-pervasive-ness, as you put it, has always been here with us on this planet.  And the question is -- it seemed that what you were saying, that our ability to know this and have intercourse with Him is contingent upon our personal development.  He has always been here, but if we are not developed, we are not aware of it.  So my question is, Mrs. M was alluding tot he fact that He was here in some different way now than he ever had been before.  And I didn't seem to get that from your response. Maybe you could clarify that.

TOMAS: I appreciate your furtherance in this questioning.  It is not the case.  Michael has not always been here.  He was here 2,000 years ago and resurrected to the morontia form, whereupon He ascended and returned home [to Salvington] to receive sovereignty over His local universe. And in the interim, among the many administrative matters which have gone about, the details of the Lucifer Rebellion have been completed and the case is closed; the files have been purged; the issue is no more; and the isolation which your world has experienced, the quarantine which Urantia has undergone since the time of the rebellion has finally played its course.  The circuits are open.

In the opening of the circuits, Michael's presence is possible for there are no limitations now upon His beingness.  As the sovereign, He can be anywhere He chooses to be, and, unlike us of a lesser nature, He can be in more than one place at one time. In aspects of His capacity as gracious teacher, infinite beloved, comforter, savior, redeemer, lord Jesus; in many, many ways He appears to many, many people, but not nearly all.  Not nearly.

And so this ability to appear to us here, you here, is relatively new.  And his visibility will be more and more frequent as we work to bring him back, literally and figuratively, if you will.  Have I answered?  Do you have further questions for…?

Mrs. McD:   I understand what you're saying, but there's this quote from the Christian Bible, credited to Jesus, where he says, "Lo, I am with you always."  If He said that when He was here in the form of Jesus, I cannot understand that there was a period after His resurrection when He wasn't here.  Or possibly it's a misunderstood quote.  Or possibly it's more symbolic.  When He said, "I am" He was speaking from the "I AM" presence, which would mean that we have our Thought Adjuster.  I mean, I'm not sure about that quote, so possibly…?

TOMAS: "Lo, I am with you always in the Spirit of Truth which I leave with you," and, therefore, the Son of God has been with humanity in the Spirit of Truth. 

The I AM aspect is different.  It is that God the First Source and Center has been with humanity in the form of the Thought Adjuster and so these many, many, many years of isolation and quarantine, even so, humankind has been attended and accompanied by the indwelling God Fragment, which connects him and her immediately and personally to God, and since Pentecost, humans have been in the company of and with the influence of the Spirit of Truth, which has enabled much spiritual growing to take place. 

But only in recent years, since the closure of the adjudication, has Michael and indeed all of us been free to make such liberal contact with this world.  The quarantine is lifted, and now we are coming and going at a 5:00 freeway rush-hour traffic rate.  (Group laughter.)

Mrs. McD:  Thank you, Tomas.  Very much.

Mrs. M:   Well, I was thinking about … when you were talking about Christmas, Tomas.  I'm going to be fortunate enough to hear the "Messiah" tomorrow night.  My daughter is singing and I guess I think to myself that's got to be one of the times when I can really feel that Jesus Christ is born in me.  Is that the kind of thing that you were indicating when you were talking about the holiday?

TOMAS:   You give me another loaded question.  I am delighted you will be experiencing the fine work of Handel and trust that the production will be worthy of its creator's ideals.

When you hear the choir sing, "Wonderful!  Counselor!  Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace," see if your heart does not well up with pride at knowing this entity as your personal companion and deliverer and all those wondrous words which fall short of the fullness of your heart at the pondering of your Creator Son Christ Michael, particularly perhaps in view of your having recently read His life's experience here.

How deeply you have come to love the Master.  How deeply you have come to appreciate His kindness, His gentleness, His graciousness, His strength, His fragrance, His wisdom, His depth, His character, His all-perfect sense of devotion His Father, Our Father, and to His sheep.  "All we like sheep have gone astray."  Indeed.  And "all we like sheep" have been found ("Amazing Grace!"), have been brought home to His flock and are lambs in His fold.  Our Master.  Our Master.  How we adore Our Master.

And as you hear those strains and feel those feelings of divine confidence and humility, think of those who have not even met the Master, those who are in such fear that they have not the courage to knock upon the door, to be given entry into His bosom. Those are the ones, Elyssia.  Those are the ones who we come to serve, to feed the light of truth.

Mrs. M:   Yes, and then one does think at Christmas time, I guess, of the tragedy of Bosnia because you want to help and as a citizen you feel --- I have no have a point of view about this, and yet there are such excellent arguments on both sides of this problem.  We see these things on television, the Christmas holidays and then the tragedy, their winter, and people experiencing this war. 

Mrs. H:   May I comment?
TOMAS:    (Nods)
Mrs. H:   Tomas, were you going to…?
TOMAS:     (Shakes head)

Mrs. H:   A scripture came to my mind.  Maybe it's not a scripture but it's called "Turning Away," and to reach back to something I was taught with it, we are having, with the assistance of someone like Tomas, we are going to learn to live with two worlds, the world that we have come to accept and our new reality, and the way of a false reality, which is of deprivation, which we see everyday.  And Tomas is here to strengthen us from being pulled down into a false reality and that when we find ourselves doing that, which you so lovingly feel, Mrs. M, that you can turn to the Christ, you can turn to Tomas and say, please give me a definition.  Perhaps at some point, Tomas, you can give us one-on-one sessions.  I was thinking about your willingness to answer questions and if maybe during the course of the week a question comes, we could bring it with us.  But we don't have to have questions to attend, do we?

TOMAS: Of course not.  But it is more of a participation classroom, rather than lecture hall when you allow yourselves to become involved.  I have seen individuals who were drawn out reluctantly, but when they heard their voice resonate within the realities of the moment, soon began to speak more and more and find a facet of themselves that had always remained submerged.  It is fun to see a new being flower and make himself or herself known in the verbal realms, and yet it is certainly not required that anyone go beyond their comfort zone if they choose not to.

I am only going to make one clarifying remark regarding your commentary, dear, and that was you used the phrase "false reality" and for those who are bleeding and dying, it is not false whatsoever.  It is quite real.  And this reality business is a very relative condition.  The Reality with a capital R, having to do with Divinity, capital D, and such is certainly an eager aspect of our lives, but the misery and suffering and 'little r" reality woes of humanity, and the throes of death, destruction, growth, greed, et cetera are also quite real.  The pangs of childbirth are painful and real, even though the memory of it does not last forever.

And, yes, I am amenable to private sessions, question/answer conversations, and I am fortunate to work with a transmitter/receiver who has so freely availed herself to this Mission work, that she is cooperative, so contact Gerdean for a private session.

Mrs. M:   I was going to say that I was just really happy when you were repeating those words from the Messiah in your own very special way.  I thought it was a very, very special moment for me and so I am inclined to mention that one of the other aspects of Christmas that I try to latch onto are the beautiful children and their faces in innocent trust and love and, I guess I probably would love to hear what you would say about that one, because I love what you said about "The Messiah."

TOMAS:   I will not go on, for my vessel is getting rusty, but I will say that children are very responsive to the stimuli of their parents and peers, and often their jubilation also is borderline hysteria and emotionality, but it is always a delight, of course, to see the cherubic upturned faces with dancing eyes in anticipation of sugarplums and other delights, and it is an ideal time for parents to plant those seeds and nurture … "Christ-consciousness" shall we say -- that give real meaning to Christmas.

But so often they are passed over by timid souls who do not take up the challenge to be intimate with their children, to share those soulful aspects which make them together children of God, and gloss over such opportunities with frosting and sentiment.  The sweeping impact of this holiday makes it difficult for what I call real work to be done, but in terms of "real" -- whether it be capital R or little r -- real work for me, Tomas, is in the trenches, in the furrows, in the soil and not in the department stores or in the aisles.

Forgive my mundane approach to life by comparison to others who are more festive, but I also want you to know how I delight in and am first in line to go to such pageants and orchestrations as has been given here and as you will experience in the production of the Messiah.  I am quite greedy when it comes to putting up my feet and snoozing through a good aria or a good ballet, so I am going to take that same approach with your holiday here and regard it as an MGM production in living color, of life on Urantia at the celebration of the life of the Christ child.

My loyal students and loyal students of greater truths than even I am privy to, we together are a growing unit, a team of believers and seekers of truth and harmony.  How glad I am in my deep heart to have been with you today.  I am going to take my leave, for the day grows into the time when many will need to depart, at least stretch and exhale. So, until we gather again in our next configuration, whether it be to apply ourselves in serious scholarly study or to frolic and play in a festive and childlike fashion, or whether it be to greet one another in stillness and in praise and thanksgiving of our devoted Creator, we will be together again, and I look forward to that time.  In the meantime, I will give you an assignment for this week.  One moment.

I will give you a challenge this week as you approach your holiday season.  As you hear the carols and hear the bells, notice how many people are not really having a good time.  How many people are worried about things that have little to do with the birth of the Christ child?  Look at the masses -- your brothers and sisters -- and tell me next week if you think we have any real work to do.

Praise be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.  Amen and farewell.

*****

DATE:    December 16, 1995
LOCATION:   Pittsburgh, PA
T/R:    Gerdean

TEACHER SESSION
LESSON ON TRUST
Value of Santa Clause
More about Trust
Questions about Diet

TOMAS: Greetings, loyal friends and students.  This is your teacher Tomas greeting you today on behalf of many who attend with me in your company, in your gathering here to honor your teacher and your teacher's teachers, for one always passes on what one knows to those who are ascending.

My friends, we are glad that this configuration of believers is beginning to gel, is assuming the maturity of devotion, is willing to garner truths, which can be applied in the material realm to better conditions for Urantia.  The truths which we impart have been designed to be put into action.  The truths which you absorb into your soul, into your reality, into your consciousness and superconsciousness, have residual effects, and our work is not to simply bring you to a point of feeling good and at one with the generic energies circulating in the unseen realms, no, but to effectively take what you have made your own and portray your understanding of reality, that you may begin to see who you are as you present yourself, as others also present themselves, with an understanding that this presentation of the self is but a reflection of the perception of the individual. In due course the refinements which will come about as your life's drama is unfolded, the energies and understandings of your most innermost soul will be given reign; and your path will emote harmonious feelings of acceptance and, indeed, divinity which will present you and your beliefs and your commitments as worthy of our Creator, our Teacher, Michael of Nebadon.

Michael has graced us today with his presence, as He often will, and does.  Today I am humbled and excited to step aside in my words that He might address you as He has asked to greet you on this occasion.  One moment.

MICHAEL:  Daughters and sons, welcome to My heart, My throne, My life, My realm of service and praise, worship and love.  My blessings upon you today.

As you spoke and sang the words "Be Still," I felt as though you were rocking in My arms, for I felt your acquiescence to My nature, I felt your submission to the Strength which oversees you, the Light which guides you.  I am touched by your guileless faith, by your acceptance of one another, for, My children, you all are precious in My sight.

I would ask that as you learn and listen from My servant Tomas that you learn more and more to become giving and forgiving in your nature.  Many steps we will take together in this ensuing sojourn.  Many miles will we walk hand in hand.  Many members of humanity will we meet together.  Work with Me, children, in the active aspects of your life here.

Learn indeed from your teacher Tomas and all your other Teachers -- all the chords which strike harmony in your soul -- and manifest yourself, as has been said, and trust that I work with you in your outpouring, in your life, in your manifestation, and that as you grow, as you learn, as you forgive and are forgiven, as you serve in My vineyard, I work shoulder to shoulder with you.  I will comfort you when you feel downtrodden and will sustain you when you feel weak.  I will embrace you in your victories and be with you in your camaraderie.

My beloved flock, how delighted I am to honor you this day as you honor Me, and I salute our communal efforts, for together we are all sons and daughters of our Eternal Parent, the Great Source of us all, and we ascend to glorify our Supreme Creator, and the evolution of this Deity also.   I return you to your teacher Tomas.

TOMAS: Yes, I, too, always am inclined to take a moment when I have spent an intimate instance with Michael, for I am reminded of the purity of heart which is my inspiration.

You might think in terms of Him being my boss, and in some ways He is, but if you could conceive of the relationship between the "higher-ups" in the hierarchy of this creation as compared to your understanding of power structures, you would no longer regard your arena as you have heretofore in your training.  Even so, I am quite impressed and am quite honored to work for our Creator Son in His efforts to uplift this planet, having suffered so many setbacks in its evolution.

I have a brief lesson for you today, dear class.  I would spend a moment today discussing trust.

Trust is one of my more favorite topics and one which is, in my opinion, an essential early lesson, for no growth can take place in your soul unless and until you understand trust, and [distrust] is a major block to growth on Urantia and in your realms, since betrayal is the cloud which has darkened your world and you have all been reared as mortals who have experienced, understood, and reacted to the betrayal which brings about distrust. 

To then allow your developing morontial souls to lean to trust is frightening, is even so threatening as to bar you from the experience of opening your heart, your soul, that the purity of divinity might shine forth and lighten your way.

"Be still, my child."  Indeed, "child" is, again, a key word here, as is the word "simple," for in allowing yourself to be a simple child in your attitude, in your soul, in your private place in your heart, you can peek through the veil of distrust to allow yourself to feel the lure of Spirit leading.  As you trust this glimmer of Spirit leading and find the delights begin to unfurl before you, you will begin to trust Spirit.

Humankind is not spirit.  You are not spirit.  You and all evolving life here today is in a relative state, ad only rarely are those instances of spirit felt, and pure Spirit is far afield from our working arena today.  Therefore, when I suggest to you the study, the application, the reflection of trust, I ask you to go beyond trusting your own perceptions.  I ask you to go beyond all barriers which you have established in your forerunning days of seeking, and allow this Spirit its own way in approaching you and leading you into an understanding of your true core of your reality.  In time, then, in time -- as you recognize the reflection of Spirit from Spirit, from your Indwelling Spirit, you will recognize it also in your fellows.  You will recognize it and that is something you can trust.  The Spirit is trustworthy.  The mortal may falter and fumble, but the Spirit is trustworthy.

As you begin to trust Infinite Spirit, Infinite Spirit then begins to entrust you with insight and responsibility and experience, which will enlarge and expand your understanding of your identity.  This new understanding of your identity, which then is based on Spirit, is the foundation of our spiritual community.

Now, having said this, I hope not to confuse you by stressing that this condition of spiritual community is not only possible, it is imminent -- even in this group of mortal beings here, these humans who assemble and associate in an attempt to see the Spirit reality of life as it is lived individually in oneself and in others.  The potential of this group is very real and very powerful, and the potential impact that your growth can have on the ascending sons and daughters of our Teacher Michael are adequate to turn the tide of evolution on Urantia.

Our work is important, my loyal students. Yes, it is greatly titillating and sociable, but it is infinitely more.  In our attempts to bring about the initial steps of light and life on Urantia, it is encouraged that we work together to ground ourselves as a core group of respecting and committed devotees of eternal values.

Than you for this forum, for being here, that I am given a teacher base from where to operate.  I have, as some of you know, been privileged to co-teach with Daniel in the Pocatello, Idaho, group and that has been a sublime experience for me and for many others, but now that I have, as my T/R says, "interned" with what she regards as one of the best, I am confident, as is she, that this teacher base will flourish and flower with our joint efforts and our ever ready love for one another.

In view of this festive occasion, I will cease my remarks, which were far more extensive today than anticipated, but sometimes, that is the case.  You realize that my time constraints are not quite what yours are and I forget myself.  So now that I am completed with your lesson and you are all still here (a snore is heard in the background), more or less, (group laughter) may I open the floor for questions.

Mr. L:   Tomas, I have one that I've carried over from last week and I really don't know how to put this question, but it concerns Santa Clause.  I'm a grandfather with six grandchildren and, except for perhaps one of them, they all still have what I would call a belief in Santa Clause, and what I would like for you to do is clarify how it would be best to handle this concept and the principles that Santa Clause stands for with little kids, because at this time of the year, Santa Clause kind of reigns supreme in our material culture, and yet there has to be something good in Santa Clause, or at least it seems that way.  Can you comment on this?  Or would you care to do that?  If you don't care to do so, that's okay, but I thought that perhaps from above you could give me some insights on how to handle that.

TOMAS: Thank you for your question, my curious co-worker.  I recall our discourse last week regarding your Christmas holiday and recall that I indicated I would observe this pageantry as [if it were] an MGM production of the birth of the Christ-child, as portrayed on Urantia in, certainly, your Christian community, and I can respond to your question regarding St. Nicholas perhaps from a reviewer's standpoint only, for as a Teacher, I would not quite know what to do with Santa Clause (or the Easter Bunny for that matter) except to run any obvious parallels.

The tragedy of these phantasmagoric creatures in your children's early impressions are the beginning of a distortion which colors much of their life and the merit to an entity like Santa Clause is only valuable, to my mind's eye, when and as he can be compared to God or the Great Giver of Life.

Consider that all boys and girls receive Christmas presents whether they have been naughty or nice, and Our Father is equally merciful in His realm.  The gifts which are presented on Christmas holiday as coming from Santa Clause can be paralleled by outlining the many gifts which come from Our Father, and indeed Our Mother, in terms of light and life, in friends, food, family, fun, food and frolic.

That Santa is large is also an aspect of Godlikeness, for Our Father is large and abundant and has jolly aspects.  He is not a stern and severe God such as some perceive, but has twinkling eyes, if you will, and a joyous laugh -- not at the expense of children, but in delight of their upturned cherubic faces in anticipation of sugar plums and other delights, much as faith children look to the Father with trust for those delights of life which will give them joy in their heart and soul.

There are actually many parallels that could be given to children if one were willing to find the ways in which to present that message, but at best it is a distortion of eternal value to persist in the illusion that these realities are material in nature only.

I do not know if my comments regarding your question have been helpful, or even worthy, but I am most eager to develop a good working dialog between thee and me, and so I am intrigued by whatever it is that you present so that I can help you work in your arena amidst the realities you have to deal with, much as I do.

Ms. J:   Tomas, I am very moved by your subject today of trust.  And the reason -- I almost felt you were having this lesson especially for me -- because it seems like lately I feel like I have been surrounded by this betrayal.  I've been-- (not just for myself, but my family!) … and I've never experienced so much of this and it's just very overwhelming at times.  It happens so much!  These are very important things in our life … physical, emotional, although-- (this is just a release of emotions) -- but it feels like a mental thing being created, either by attitudes about things you're going through ….  It feels like a test.  I just wondered ….

TOMAS: I embrace you, my daughter, and commend your courage in exposing your heart in a trusting way to me and to these your peers here.  I am most pleased at y our expression of frustration at the recognition of betrayal at every turn.  I also use your commentary as a furtherance of my lesson and appreciate the truth that the sensitivity, which is coming into being as these spiritual circuits awaken, as the soul hungers for truth, beauty and goodness, as this sensitivity is made more aware and effective, it is also more obvious how far there is to go before the work of Correcting Time is accomplished.

Do not despair of the magnitude of work that is required, for in spite of appearances to the contrary, the progress of Urantia is assured.  Particularly as your reality is cultivated and grows firm and strong.  My students, the assignment which I have you last week, the challenge to look to see if we really needed to do any work here, has been clearly answered in this heartfelt appeal for trust amongst one another.  This, too, is why I ask you to take up the subject of trust early on, for it brings to bear on your own strength and vulnerability.

I am going to say again and further now about the word "test".  There are no tests in this class.  There are no tests assigned.  You may find occasional quizzes, but there are no tests, and Our Father, Our Mother, our creative universe does not put things before you to trick you or to have you stumble upon for its entertainment.  The universe is a friendly place and the teachers and celestial hosts are here to serve you in your growth, in your coming home to our Divine Parent, in coming home, indeed, to your true Self.

You will begin to grow strong as you recognize your own trust in your own reality, and although you may find yourself being buffeted from time to time -- for your perception of reality is far removed from that which seemingly surrounds you -- you are in the loyal, steadfast company and support of heavenly hosts who indeed conspire to lift you up and to help you be aware of your true radiant reality and your true connection with this spiritual family which embraces you and rejoices in your life and in your victory over fear.  (pause)  My daughter, are you now stronger in your heart, in your mind?

Ms. J:   Yes.

TOMAS: Never fear being sensitive or vulnerable.  In time you will know that your gem of truth is safe in the citadel of the spirit, in your indwelling God Fragment, where you may go and find solace and sanctity, and that as you find yourself more and more dependant upon the Light of the I AM, the original I AM, to your own God Fragment, you will rejoice and seek those who also understand their sonship/daughtership with the living God.  This is community.

Mr. L:   Thank you for your comments about Santa Clause. I thought that was a masterpiece.

Mrs. H:   Mr. L. wants you to go to church with him and talk from the pulpit.

I have a question on the mesmerizing effect of your delivery.  Has it always been this way?  Because it has a tremendous, a powerful impact of stilling everyone.  We really, really--  Members of the group unwind as--  Is this part of the power of the process?

TOMAS: Greetings, daughter.
Mrs. H:   Hello.
 
TOMAS: I respond to say that this is a developed technique, if you will.  It is not immediately possible for you (nor this transmitter/receiver) to sit for a long period of time without being entertained and, therefore, the actual process itself, of sitting in a focused state, is a developmental process.  I hasten to say I am not merely entertaining, although certainly that is one of our … one of the things we learn in our training -- to not be so academic and dry as to bore you to tears.

There are realities that develop in the process of communication which are seldom realized between mortals because of their inability to maintain a sustained, focused discourse in a soul-satisfying manner.  This practice is developed as we sit and commune, one with another, and focus on matters which evolve/revolve around our growth as individuals and as a community, and eventually and ultimately as a system.

You may interrupt at any time!  I am not intending to mesmerize you into not thinking!  Indeed, it is important that you not allow an intonation to transfix you into not knowing academically what is transpiring.  I am not in a séance.  My transmitter/receiver is not in a trance.  But there are certain melodic aspects of truth.  I believe you read recently about the orators, and I have a long way to go, but there is an art in communication and expression, which we would all do well to practice.  And many other things I could say in response to your observation, but I will not dwell on that now.

Mrs. McD: Tomas, I have a question as regards diet, and what you think the importance of diet on a physical, mental, spiritual, entity might be.  I recently became a vegetarian, very recently, so I'm pretty interested in this.  Do you think that changing the diet in any way helps the evolution of a soul in its path or not?

TOMAS: I must say that if you feel that it helps you, then indeed it helps a soul on its path.  It would be error for me to suggest a dietary standard for Urantia at large or for my pupils in particular.  It is beyond my purview and indeed beyond my expertise to develop your dietary consideration.  It is certain that purity of your nourishment is important, although mankind has survived for centuries on less than ideal substances, and the corrosion of water and pollution of food today make it very hard for one to truly bless their body by proper intake.  Perhaps in light of the difficulties of pure food and drink ingestion, such a decision as to become vegetarian is beneficial and will augment the body's ability to process these corrosions and pollutants without the bulk of meat, but on the other hand, if meat is all there is to eat, then meat should be consumed, even though leafy green vegetables are a vital part of one's diet.

The important thing is that you honor you body and tender it with care and consideration, for your physical condition will significantly augment your emotional and mental state of well-being and thus will enrich your spiritual persona.  It is also possible to maintain a beautiful spiritual life while in the throes of some physical vagaries and diseases that would render other people spiritual cripples.  There are no many variations of the theme at this point, I urge you to attain and sustain such a level of purity of foods and physical habits as you are capable of at this time and you will, of course, feel the benefits therein and you will know for yourself that this is the correct and honorable thing to do for your vessel.  It is not required nor am I going to prescribe.

Mr. C:   Some years ago, I was down in Texas and I met a very wonderful person down there who was sort of a holy man and he made the comment that eating meat was not as bad as many people say, for the simple reason that he said that if we bless the meal that we eat, we raise the consciousness of the atoms in that meat so that they in turn will be able to perhaps become part of our body and everything, that we actually can raise the consciousness of the meat that we eat.  Could you comment on that?

TOMAS: I could.   I will, but only briefly.  Any ingestion, as I indicated in my previous response, can be absorbed and utilized by the body in a well way if the circumstances warrant.  Indeed, in like manner, it has been noted and appreciated that smoking tobacco, when it is done as an offering to the gods, as a person-to-person communication in a spiritual vein, is a non-harmful and non-habit forming practice, and, indeed, augments the camaraderie of the individuals or the worship of the individual in his or her gift of giving the smoke.  And this is the truth that I suppose atoms augment, but the attitudes with which one approaches one's habits and patterns are most certainly the key to either well or ill behavior and attitude manifestations in the arena wherein one works and plays.

For you recall that although the taking care of the physical temple is important, and that it is unkind to deliberately pollute the body, it is also if not a greater disservice to pollute and corrode the system of the mind and therefore the society with such emotional poisons as jealousy or hatred or revenge.  Again, I would say that wisdom in the consumption and temperance, certainly, are to be noted, but the attitude with which all life is taken and given are the true earmark of a civilized human being.

Mrs. Mi:   Tomas, I want to thank you for talking about trust.  I always thought I knew what it was, but now I realize that I haven't begun to realize what spiritual trust is.  And that's what I want to learn.

TOMAS:   My daughter, you will make an excellent student!  (Pause) I feel a lull, and although I know the fruits of this lull could be another hour's extension of our classroom environment today, I will relinquish my role with you today that you might experience among yourselves that sociability which will augment your hunger for trust in one another and in our supernal guides and teachers who bring reality to us in such does and avenues as are palatable and compatible with our receptivity at that time.

My dear children, friends, and faithful students, as you indeed go about your work this week, ponder in your hearts the lesson of today, the concept of trust, and do homage to that One deep, pure Reality within yourself which is eternal and perfect, that which you may rely upon; although you may not understand that element of God which dwells within you, that is your Father Fragment, your eternal companion, your destiny and your evolving soul, have trust in the recognition of your own soul.

Until we meet again, my children, I embrace you and bestow upon you the well wishes and joy of all these many celestial hosts who come today to bear witness to the Eternal.  And so, farewell.

*****

DATE:    December 23, 1995
LOCATION:   Pittsburgh, PA
T/R:   Gerdean

TEACHER SESSION TOPICS:
Sing in Joy "Noel, Noel"
The Color of Personality
Effective Healing Prayer
What Will We Be Called?
You Are Not Your Body
A Case of Passing Over
Request Re: Transcripts
A Red Light on the Dash

TOMAS: Greetings, group of joyous and faithful followers.  I am Tomas, your teacher.
Group: Greetings.

TOMAS: I am happy to be here with you today as the heavenly chorus sings, "Noel, Noel." in anticipation and appreciation of our joys of the season.  We have enjoyed your party today, and the artisans who have come by to observe your representations have twittered among themselves with delight at your precious and prosaic approach to creative divinity.  Cease not in your efforts to understand and, indeed, to convey those values and realities which you perceive to be your destiny and your birthright, for your perceptions, as they are acted upon, are experiential and a training ground for your enlarging perceptions. 

We truly delight in your fledgling understanding of these workers, and only through your own appreciation, and, to some extent, your experiencing these creative factors in your own life, can the reality of such beings become part of your expanded awareness and consciousness of how they work.

And this is true of your experience in the large, for only as you practice faith do you understand what is faith, and as you practice trust do you understand what is trust, and as you practice love do you engage upon yet newer and greater and deeper portrayals of this divine endowment. 

I have observed this week, as have the many celestial helpers who assist you and who assist the teachers and who assist in general, observed your response to our study last week, the fertilization of the seed of trust, … have observed the growth of that living reality in your souls and reflected often in your own awareness through your meditations, reflections and affirmations of those things which you have learned to trust, have desired to trust, have yearned to trust.

This recognition is a light in the darkness.  It is a candle burning in a sea of distrust.  Let your candle burn and be boisterous in your proclamation of your trust in divine reality.

It is difficult, I realize. It is all too frequently observed that as your truth rings out, it bounces off the barrier of the ears of those you would reach and reverberates back to you as a boomerang of distrust and rejection.

This reaction, which is so common as to be the norm, has a tendency to cause a normal mortal, even a vigorous believer, to curtail his or her pronouncements of truth and faith, inasmuch as this negative shadow of disbelief can be energy depleting. Persist in your delivery of your truth in the faith of rejection and derision.  Do not allow the boomerang to strike you, but duck, and allow the negative reaction of fear to pass you by.

As you practice this technique of sounding the toll of truth, beauty and goodness, you will become strong in your own right.  You will believe your truth and hear your truths, whether it was heard by others or not.  Keep company with your own truth.  Listen for the harmony of your own truth.  Take comfort in this truth.  And when and as this truth, as you perceive it, becomes unreal to you, seek for clarification and insight from the Father and ring out again your truth.  Do not allow others' disbelief to hinder you in your expression of your trust in divinity. 

It is not required that you badger your fellow human being by your testimony.  It is not required that you hold your truth so loftily as to rankle the integrity of your brothers and sisters, but sing your truths clearly and graciously, that they May be received.  Gently deliver your "Noel." 

This exercise in manifesting yourself) from your understanding of yourself) allows you, upon reflection, to ascertain how and where your own growth may be augmented.  Always remember that as a teacher you are also students, that as you remain open and vulnerable to spirit leading, you learn greater truths and greater ability to portray your truths.  Have we truths to share with one another today in our question/answer period?

Loreenia: I have something to share with you, as you have shared with me.  I have been told that you were seen … with a spiritual eye … as a deep, deep, dark blue -  sparkling with the white -- trimmed around with flecks of yellow.  And I don't mean our mortal knowledge of "white" but a beautiful white of the spiritual world … not of this world.  Are you representative of that?

TOMAS: Behold, daughter, the color of my personality as I am here in your presence and as you perceive me.

The artisans who work with color are adept at embellishing presences with certain color tonal qualities, and as we and you mature, as we experience various levels of emotion and reality, our reflection, by way of color, alters.  (It is also true that your perception of color is grossly limited by the natural limitations of the mortal sphere, and the colors, which will be part of personality embellishment in our later recognition of one another, will be infinitely enhanced.) 

I am blue, yes; blue-black … deep blue, darker than your Urantia Books … but even in agreeing that I am predominantly blue, I am not conveying to you real truth but merely what is true.  There is a difference.  And you understand me as being blue, but this is through your perception of color and not through an enhanced understanding of color as you will come to understand it in your later time spent in the morontia worlds when color is more representative of energy than the visual identification you know it to be today.

Yes, in your perception, this is correct: deep blue, and augmented by white. Does this, however, contribute to your understanding of your spiritual nature, child?

Loreenia:   Yes.  And my other question is: how quickly are you turning white?
TOMAS: And again, we must quibble over relativity …
Loreenia: Yes.

TOMAS: … for your appreciation of time is far removed from time in the sphere in which I am accustomed to functioning.  I will tell you, however, that I am not turning colors on you so rapidly as to fuse and leave you, no.  I am stabilized during my tenure here with you, and although I am still evolving, still growing, still developing, as are you, and at a "healthy" pace, I am not growing by such leaps and bounds as to surge into full-fledged spirit as of yet.  Is this helpful?

Loreenia: Yes.  I sort of see you as representative of what I've seen before and I saw with spiritual eyes, whatever, and it was representative of the spiritual aspects of all of us, covered with a dimension of the white light, like I saw when my Thought Adjuster came.  Once it started working in the deep blue … and the energies of that blue that you are, it was automatically … it was very quickly that I saw the white light that I perceive all of us as becoming.  Are you representative of that?

TOMAS: I will recall to your mind the incident when the angelic orders decried observing the body of Christ Michael molding in the tomb and asked that it be speedily dissolved, and the miracle of speeding up time took place in order that this request could be granted. Also, the incident of the wine, wherein a natural process was speeded up to effect certain causes. 

Your understanding of accelerated growth is being visualized through color and this is why you representationally see color quickly evaporating into white light.  This is almost a photographic technique you are experiencing, as if you were in a dark room and, in reverse, the white paper quickly becomes impressed with the photo in an accelerated fashion.  Your perception of spiritual growth is impressed by color.  It is not the case for everyone.  You have been blessed with this aspect.

Loreenia: That's why we're here.  I know time is being speeded up like for Christ's body to quickly (dissolve), and I would request that (indistinguishable) be speeded up.

TOMAS: Your request is noted and I will remind us all that through the requests and indeed, the deep heart-felt prayers of many, the many believers who languished in spiritual isolation, those prayers which were sent up individually resulted in the accelerated arrival of we teachers and Correcting Time as an emergency measure to assist Urantia, so your requests are not overlooked.  Indeed, it behooves you all, us all, to take our concerns and earnest desires to Our Father for His judgment, for all things in time and space are in accordance with His will.

Mrs. M:  In speaking about prayers and effective prayers, I have been wondering how I can make more effective my prayers for Gary.  You know Gary -- and many people in this group know Gary -- who put in my patio, who might have to have a kidney transplant and is so very young, and I've been deeply moved by his concern and have turned it over to the people in the group here and was wondering, perhaps -- I did tell his mother, now that I understand this condition as stated in the Book -- that you told the person that you're praying for them, and is there any other thing I can do?  I've asked many good praying people. Have you any other suggestions as to how we can be more effective when somebody strikes us as being such a very special person, in our praying?

TOMAS: Yes, and no, for you have already garnered much of the truth about effective prayer.  To advise, to share with that individual for whom you are praying is helpful, as that opens the door for them to understand that their plight is not one which has gone unnoticed, that there are other connected individuals who are pulling for him or her as the case may be. 

To devote quality time in stillness with the Father, to take the love of the Father in prayer to your friend, by focusing on your friend that love which you feel, is a direct line for healing energies. As more people focus these healing energies on the aggrieved one, that individual is then strengthened to follow through with what His will is for that individual.   It is not necessarily what you feel is the proper outcome.

Pray for the individual to have strength, to understand, to have faith and to trust, to trust the process of life, to process their life's experience in such a way as to open their heart and soul to the acceptance of their infinite filiality, which extends beyond this life experience.

If an individual lives in the understanding that he, she, is part of the grand universe, the celestial family, then tenacity to this life is not as desperate. 

It is understood that your understanding would have him become well quickly and easily, indeed miraculously, and to this end you may certainly pray, but by the same token, if this is not the outcome, then pray for your own understanding that the friends, family and loved ones of this aggrieved individual will perceive the harmony in the process. 

Mrs. M:  I really thank you very much because I really feel that this is extremely helpful, and yet I do have a further question and that is that at one time I was interested in things that Lazarus said.  He was presumably channeled rather well and was a being in his 16th life or something -- I don't know what that meant.  But the things he said seemed to ring true to me at the time … some of the things he said.  One of the things he had said was that health was the greatest gift you could give the Father and I would just appreciate your commenting on that.

TOMAS: Such a quote is indeed truth and an honor to his wisdom, for in good health one can robustly serve and rejoice, and it is indeed a gift that one may give if it is a gift that one has, but those who are not in good health cannot be slighted or lessened by their inability to give their gift of robust health to the Father.  Indeed, their gift may be to afford their fellows to see compassion and tenderness. 

All manner of gifts are there received and given, and the greatest gift, then, is to do the best you can with what you have at any moment, in anticipation of even more and greater moments to naturally follow.

Mrs. M: That is extremely helpful and I will think about these things and try to integrate them into my own philosophical framework.  Thank you very much.

TOMAS: Thank you.
Leah:  Tomas, could you expand on the word "filiality"?  I believe … what does that mean?

TOMAS: Filial is, I believe, from the Latin, having to do with brotherly.  Filial.  Filiality, then, is family, and I refer to filiality as the family of man (and woman) "under God."

Loreenia: Tomas, a question came to my mind yesterday.  There are in the Urantia Book names of groups of beings like Lanonandek and Vorondadek Sons and on and on and on.  When man -- well, we're all sons of God, but -- when this planet goes into the morontia worlds, the mansion words or wherever … I know that we're the last of the agondonters and that's true of the other worlds as well.  What will man be called besides the sons of God?  Do we have a particular -- on this planet -- do we have a particular name that we'll be called as a group?

TOMAS: No, not in particular, although agondonter is certainly a category you fall under and will, indeed, for some time.  Urantia is a permanent tattoo of yours, if you will, and Corps of the Finality is also a classification that you will also wear.  In fact, although you may wear many hats and experience many lifestyles on the way to Paradise, you will increasingly learn to become part of the greater community and not seek so much for unique and individual recognition, either as individuals or as a classification.

All life is part of the great dance, the great symphony.  All are children of Our Father.  All are one.  And the further up you go in your cosmic citizenship, the less it matters how you are identified, for your uniqueness becomes a pivotally unique Reality that is an aspect of the First Cause.

Loreenia: I was seriously curious about that.  A matter of curiosity, but we were talking about titles of different sons.

Mrs. M: Tomas, I have another question about this question because it says in the Course in Miracles that if you can become a person who is very forgiving, "you'll lay aside your body as a well used garment" and I think the one you just -- any kind of illness … and so I'm trying to put that into what you said to us.

TOMAS: Let me then help you from that light.  If you are to set aside your mortal raiment as a well used garment, indeed, a vessel which has served you well, you have indeed, now, set it aside.  That is to say, it is no longer necessary, for the you that you have become is independent of this material body.  The material body well might be used up, may be decrepit and diseased, but the you which has become is not decrepit and diseased.  The you that you have become, that you are indeed now today learning to become, is the real you, the capital R real you, which is not to say that your humble, mortal self is not real, but it may fall apart, may return to dust, may be cut away, and all its frailty and illness and decay with it.  Do you see that as you become a morontial being, as you identify more and more with your true Self, … the carcass, the cocoon that has held you, is not relevant any longer and it matters little if it blows away or whatever.  Do you see?

Mrs. M: I'll do some thinking and praying about your remark.  Thank you.

TOMAS: I want to say that it is entirely possible for an individual of great faith and deep trust to walk through the process of terrestrial escape with grace and poise in the soul despite the discomfort of the body; that the power of God and the power of your soul is such that you can transcend the vagaries of terrestrial escape.  It is possible to not succumb.  Whether or not it happens that way is dependent on many variables, but it is possible.

Mrs. P: Tomas, I had an experience like this I'd like to share with you.  As my son lay on the gurney in the hospital (and they said he was dead) and the nurse let me go in (and I knew he was still there) and I sat down (and they gave me a chair) and I held him in my arms and I explained to him that where he was going I could not go with him.  I sensed his fear.  And I said to him, "You will not be alone. Someone will come that you will know." 

And I could see this broad expanse, almost like looking across a desert, and way off in the distance is a small tree-line or a black outline of whatever's there -- and he was facing toward it and he had his back to me and his crippled body was no longer him.  He was a total six foot man, with his curly blonde hair and his beautiful deep blue eyes (that appeared on the gurney down at the left end) and he was standing there, looking at me and smiling, and his eyes said, "I know something you don't know" and with that he started walking away, and two angels came in from the right hand side and joined him.  So I know what you're talking about.  I saw it happen.

TOMAS: You are indeed a witness to such a reality as will become more and more frequent as your living faith perfects and progresses.  That he knew something that you do not know does not diminish that you have great faith, and it is a blessing to you and a comfort that your morontial soul was able to embrace the morontial soul of your son and send him forth.  You are fortunate in this experience, yes.

Mrs. P: Thank you.

Dr. B:  (Something about a situation at work) terrible lives, and yet they are so beautiful, so loving, that you could see that its like none of it--  I can't say it didn't touch them, because it touches them, but … you can just see it.  They're very loving people and somehow the suffering was not something that they liked to be saved from.

TOMAS: Precisely.  Much of the resistance to the experience of "passing on" is because of fear.  Fear of the unknown.  Fear of God.  Fear of many things.  And this too is one of our purposes in Correcting Time, and indeed in our conversation here today, to remind and uphold the truth that our eternal career lay ahead, our existence has barely begun, our soul expression has only begun to know what it is, and it will harmonize throughout and beyond.

One parenthetical remark.  It will be to our advantage if ever we can get the Recorders to put this on record for us and handle the transcripts.  Do you think that as a group we could put in a request to the Lanonandeks or some other high administrative body to help us with that job?

Leah:  I think we can agree with that. Is everyone in agreement with that?
Group: Yes.
Leah:  We are requesting that.

TOMAS: Like children, we may ask for many things, and in His infinite wisdom, our requests will be answered in accordance with that which is best for all concerned.

Leah:  Tomas, I'd like to put in a request to whoever is available to help with some understanding with whatever the problem seems to be with Gerdean's brake cylinder, and what any midwayers or anyone who could help us out or give us some understanding, we certainly would appreciate what to do about her brake problem or her car, and I think there are people in this room who are in agreement about what should be done in this case.

TOMAS: Ms. Gerdean has long understood that brake problems are, for her, a matter of stopping pell mell activity, and this is no exception.

Leah:  You didn't say Pall Mall, did you?

TOMAS: Pell mell.  As she slows herself, indeed as she brakes (b-r-a-k-e-s) and begins to allow the velocity of her own path to carry her rather than the velocities of her surroundings and external influences, the brake light will return to normal.  I assure you, and Gerdean, that her mortal life is not in immanent danger as a result of that red light on the dash.

Leah:  Thank you.

TOMAS: But, however, the red light has come onto my dash, that this transport into realms of spiritual understanding is soon to run out of fuel, and we will therefor cease our format for this afternoon with the understanding that we are united, we are a force field, if you will, in and for your benefit "living color."  I am ever so much enjoying our rapport and look forward, yes, to our continued developing relationship.

Enjoy your holiday season.  Be of good cheer and be merciful in your ministry to your brothers and sisters in the upcoming days.  Be sensitive to loneliness and be tender of emotions.  Be calm and real underneath your festive appearance.  Until we meet again next week, I wish you a happy holiday and joyous moments in season.

Group: Thank you.
TOMAS: Farewell.
Group: Farewell.

*****

DATE:    December 30, 1995
LOCATION:   Pittsburgh, PA USA
T/R:    Gerdean

TEACHER TOMAS and
MACHIVENTA MELCHIZEDEK

TOPICS:
Commending the Workers
The Supreme Being
The Evolving Supreme
Feeling the Presence of God
Personality Uniqueness
Spontaneous Combustion
Fusion on the Planet
Experienced Adjusters
Substandard Minds
Responding to our Adjuster
Employing the Pendulum

TOMAS: Good afternoon, my loyal friends.  I am Tomas.  I am your teacher, friend and companion, and today my heart overflows with jubilation in your harmony, indeed, in your truth-seeking measures, in the love which you have brought to me and shared among yourselves.  May we now all direct our heartfelt love to Our Eternal Parent in prayer and praise of His eternal overcare.

Heavenly Parent, Our Father, blessed are we this day to bask in Your presence, to feel the love of Your being in our own being.  How grateful we are, dear Father, for the privilege of sharing our live with You and for the honor of your sharing Your life with us in ascension.  We look to You, Eternal Parent, Universal Father and Infinite Mother, to guide and direct our journey, to instill in us the realization of Your untiring devotion to our eternal happiness in becoming more and more like Your Divine Selves.  Happy are we this day to share our light and life with You, O Giver of Light and Life.

My friends, I have a guest to greet you before I begin.  I have prevailed upon our administrative head, our Planetary Prince Machiventa Melchizedek, to speak a few words with and for your today as you have sought his presence.  I now step aside for him to permeate your being. 

MACHIVENTA   I am Machiventa Melchizedek.
Group: Welcome.

MACHIVENTA MELCHIZEDEK:   Welcome also you here and to my comrades in the spirit realms and the invisible places.  All are conspiring today to bring joy to one another to the end that your joy is realized in truth and can actualize itself into your most far-reaching and distant corners of influence.

My band of teachers in this Teaching Mission have honored me by their devotion and you have also honored us by your willingness to follow our lead when we have sought to impart truth, beauty and goodness to your minds and hearts.  The development now of your morontial souls is that which we acknowledge and own as belonging to our efforts toward enlightenment for Urantia, for enlightenment for other worlds and for impetus into the developing evolution of the Evolving Supreme.

My humble students, rise up in your bearing, in your spiritual stature.  Emote your knowledge and firmness of conviction in your beingness.  Also, I wish today to commend and applaud the efforts of those who are working in league with our Infinite Creator and our Infinite Creator Son to bring Correcting Time to your world, for many are involved in the correction of Urantia and all these gifts are honored, accepted, appreciated, fostered and supported, as they contribute to bringing enlightenment and truth to mankind.

Having now been privileged to have access to your listening ears and ears to hear, I am withdrawing from you only that you might return your focus to the lessons which have been prepared and imparted to my loyal Corps of Teachers.  Blessings upon you all in your efforts and in your new sojourn as of now.

Group: Thank you.

TOMAS: And I, Tomas, your teacher, return to confess to you that at one time I had such awe for Machiventa's power that I feared him, and others as well in this Mission.  How foolish, was I not?  And yet it is a condition of reality that when we are confronted with greatness, we tremble.  And I have come to regard these feelings now not so much as fear but of deep respect. 

I once thought Teacher Abraham was rather crabby and rather militant in his approach, but he has subsequently taught me the error of my perceptions.  I share these things with you today, dear class, dear friends, that you and I might stand shoulder to shoulder in our appreciation for those beings which know more than we know, for always and ever there will be teachers who can convey new truths, new perceptions, new refinements which will augment our life.

I have had to consult with my fellow teachers today as to what I "should" talk to you about.  As a result, I have had some great camaraderie with my fellow teachers.  Much as you together rub shoulders in your human problem-solving, I have called upon my peers to help me problem-solve in this Teacher Base which, for your edification, has challenged me.

I did appreciate your reading today and I confess that your varied backgrounds have dazzled me, and therefore, I thought that I would address our goal, for it has been said that we shall be unified in our goal, inasmuch as our backgrounds and, indeed, theologies to a great extent, are so varied, and yet we are drawn together for the purpose of learning more about ourselves and our spiritual nature, and if we continue to remain on such a personal level we may all become perfect, but what will we do about social intercourse?

For this varied cross-section of civilized human beings, such as has presented themselves here to me today for learning, has much mystery in its composition, and we must learn to focus on our goal if we are to continue to love one another in perspective.  I am looking forward to more scholarly approaches in the textbook, which will help immeasurably, but for today I would like to touch upon the evolution of the Supreme Being.

I realize that is a weighty matter for a late afternoon discussion, and so perhaps I will only whet your appetite, but perhaps as well I can help to portray how it is that the evolution of the Supreme differs in quality and quantity from the evolution of the individual personality.

I have heard many, many of you discourse as to your spiritual perceptions, your personal religious experiences, and I am deeply moved by the depth and variety of same, which indicates to me that indeed they are personal and not particularly what has been handed down through tradition, no.  It would appear that you are all viable seekers of truth and immortality.

Immortality, my beloved children, can be had in knowingness or in spiritual unknowingness.  As is a universal truth, all value returns to the Father, all energy is returned to the Source, and all good is absorbed into this evolving apparition of God the Supreme.  As you act, you feed this evolving god, which will come to fruition long, long aeons from now.  I wish to differentiate your destiny as individuals.

Your destiny as individuals is to merge with your Indwelling God Fragment.  Your destiny as ascendant sons and daughters of this living reality is to offer your unique personality to your Indwelling Adjuster to utilize as your Indwelling Adjuster needs your expression to express its value systems.  This partnership between your willing free-will consciousness and your Comrade in Spirit is your eventual immortality and your personality is sustained throughout eternity.  You, yourself, will personally ascend to the Father and beyond to serve and you will know this; you will be party to this process by your decisions.

Conversely, the Evolving Supreme will also evolve, and yet it is not you but the result of your efforts.  I opted to make this important distinction today for only when your spiritual nature is personalized, when you begin to perceive yourself as a budding reality and a potential spirit personality, can you put your teeth into the work at hand. 

It is entirely possible for an individual to say, "Well, all things go back to God so I won't worry about anything," and this is a very transcendent attitude to border on foolishness for the individual for although, yes, all that is salvageable will be absorbed into the Supreme, it will be absorbed as if it were spiritual molecules and not include your own personality. 

In working with your evolving personal soul, then, is where we find our substance, our work.  As we evolve individually and as a cluster of believers, we become more real and viable.  Our results will contribute to the Evolving Supreme but we will know, as individuals, as male/female eternal potential beings, that we have made that contribution.  Herein is our work and our goal.

Our goal, to carry it one step further, is light and life, and this, too, is a far-reaching goal, but not as far-reaching as the Supreme.  As we work toward light and life, what does that mean?  What does that mean to you?  What does that mean to us?  To this community?

As you become more familiar with your Indwelling God Fragment, as you work more closely with this aspect of deity within you, as you begin to have comprehension and respect and admiration for this Thing inside you, which is so powerful as to frighten you, you will begin to assume that power through your own experiential growth and wisdom you will gain as a result of your willingness to grow.

You will begin to understand light and life within yourself; you will begin to see light and life within your surroundings.  As your aura of light and life passes by, as it merges and conjoins with the light and life of your neighbor, that aggregate of spirit grace and truth actuates, enlivens, actualizes even more and greater light and life to be actually visible.

Constantly there are fears which undermine this process, there are individuals who would not have you be in light and life in and of yourself, there are travesties and disasters of various natures which seem to block you in your realization and steady enjoyment of this state of light and life.  But we will work together and establish that condition here in such strength and concrete reality that it will be unmistakable and will not be brought down.

Dear ones, no doubt I have spoken adequately of my own accord this afternoon.  I am eager now to open my spiritual arms and envelop your personalities into my loving embrace that I might feel the depth of your soul as you express to me your notions and feelings and needs in terms of communication and aspiration for divinity.  Questions?

Student: I don't have a question but I do think that's a big order.  We'll do our best.

TOMAS: I am sure you will.  If I did not feel that you or something within you was willing to work towards that end, I would not have bothered to pack my valise and come here.  I, like Christ Michael, have more faith in you, perhaps, than you have in yourself, but I can tell you, my friend, my daughter, that I know your Indwelling God Fragment is excited to show you, even, what can be done and so, although it is a large order, it is our immanent challenge.

Student: Thank you.
Mrs. Ml: Can you tell when the God Fragment is working within you?  Do you become…?

Mrs. McD: I know you do, or I know that … I feel so happy or so secure, that is when I realize the God Fragment is there.

TOMAS: What happens when you realize that a God Fragment is there?  You must forgive me.  It has been a long time since I first realized my potential, but I have reflected on it often and live it daily, and I would suggest that it is an on-going awareness of your right to be here, your connectedness to life in the most vague aspect and your good fortune to be connected to divinity in the more acute fashion, for to be aware that you are a part, a potential part of the on-going and ever-perfecting scheme of divinity attainment is adventurous and satisfying. It is exciting and awe-inspiring. It is, in a word, humbling to know that you are not just here to die but are here to live and to become greater than you have known possible. 

The infinite potential of your own soul is a matter for reflection.  It is inconceivable to one who has felt the presence of God, who has been witness to the many wonders of creation, who has heard music, seen color, watched babies, and so forth, not be impressed with the power of life.  This is something that is experienced by any sensitive human being, and to add personality association to the appreciation of creation is to include yourself in the ever-ascending career.

Mrs. M:  I was thinking that it must be-- I gather that you can sense our personalities and the uniqueness of each personality here … perhaps even more intensely than we do! … and you find it a source of amazement -- and fun at times, too -- but could you speak about that for just a moment, Tomas?  The uniqueness?  The fact that we are unique and that God the Father gave us this uniqueness?

TOMAS: I would be delighted to.  The uniqueness which you all have is something I observe most poignantly when you speak directly to me and this is a lesson, if you will, in social intercourse: that as you direct yourself most focused and fully on your hearer, then that individual is most available to hear your message.

As you speak to me, I hear your deepest reality, … as deep as I am capable, for I am not yet perfect … yet I hear your expression without all the entrapments which have heretofore marked your personality as it has been perceived by your mortal fellows - through those eyes which would have you be a short-lived reality.  I see you as an eternal reality-in-progress, and that which you deliver to me in your expression is that with which I am dealing.

Many times I hear nothing but extraneous information, but that extraneous information, even, edifies me as to what that personality has been exposed to and impressed by.  The Father has given the personality.  It is a gift.  But it is not often used consciously as a tool of expression for the spirit.  It is most often used as an expression of the ego.

Dr. B:  (Indistinguishable) about this phenomenon of spontaneous combustion, whose frequency recently has almost doubled…?

TOMAS: It has everything to do with that, and isn't it gladsome that that kind of activity is increasing and not just the crime rate?

Group: (Laughter)
Dr. B:  (Indistinguishable) toward light and life that there will be an increase…?

TOMAS: I am glad to have your comment for it gives me an opportunity to expound a bit on our theme of today.  (One moment)  If your planet had not suffered so much deprivation as a result of the Lucifer Rebellion, the Adamic Default and, to some extent the brutal crucifixion of Michael, your world would by now be more advanced.  Many of you who have sought spirit reality have, in and of yourselves, advanced. Some of you who have lived by spiritual principles have even done so unawares, for the Thought Adjuster will minister to you whether or not you are aware of its work.

If you consciously or unconsciously work with your Thought Adjuster, you will spiritually evolve, and so it is not always that those who are spiritually well versed are those who fuse, no.  Many times, in fact often, those who are spiritually advanced will be called to serve, but let me state that in the increased case of spontaneous combustion, this is not the same as light and life.  These are outbursts, spiritual outbursts of actualizing individuals and although they have gone on to translate, to attend the Resurrection Halls and beyond, the goal that we have in terms of light life is a social as well as personal aspiration.

Loreenia:  Tomas, aren't there those present on this planet now that are fusing … slowing … 

TOMAS: There is nothing slow about fusion.  Fusion is basically instantaneous.  We are all aspiring toward fusion and some of us, for various reasons, have opted to not harken to that call as of yet.

Loreenia: Didn't Christ's manner of fusion differ, in that he didn't come back, after he received the blessing at the river from the dove?

TOMAS: Indeed, his personalized Adjuster visited him and that, too, was not a leisurely event but quite spontaneously, if you will, and although it was a starlit example to those who beheld the Personalized Adjuster, it was not seen by the many souls there that day for baptism.  Also bear in mind that Michael did not fuse in the same way that you will fuse, for his ascension is of a different nature.  He is a Creator Son and you are the creation of a Creator Son who is father-indwelt.

I would recommend your reading about perfection and relative perfection and also that part which discusses various types of Thought Adjusters. 

Loreenia: (Indistinguishable)

TOMAS: I will again direct you to your text.  I will allow that all Adjusters here are experienced.

Loreenia: If my request for speeded up light and life comes true, when can I expect that to happen?

TOMAS: I see, my daughter, that you are with me in your aspiration, for you are looking forward toward the clarity of light and life, which is in total reality a condition of clarity and incredible lightness of being. I interpret your appreciation for the color range to equal the ascension plan that we are going from primitive and primordial to ascended and dignified on into realms of actual divinity.

This is a long process, and although we are making great strides, great progress, and are pleased with the efforts thus far, there is a long way to go before this planet is settled in light and life and even farther before the Supreme Being lays its light upon all seven superuniverses, and so I stress that although these are some long-range goals, I would ask us all to focus our attention and efforts on those more short-term goals which we can do something about, namely to develop a personal relationship with the Indwelling God Fragment and to learn to acknowledge the Indwelling God Fragment of those with whom you associate.

This is a big step and it is not half as easy as you might think, for we are good at hiding from the God Fragment, of being afraid of that aspect of divinity which causes us to tremble and to feel humble.  Therefore, much of our work will have to do with shaving off those appendages of unreality which we have put upon ourselves in our attempt to manifest personality as we have been taught and not as our Indwelling God would have us do.

Student: Before, you said that those here have experienced Thought Adjusters.  Could you explain that please, just how our Thought Adjusters have previous experience?

TOMAS: Yes, but only qualifiedly because in explaining a spiritual experience I have immediately negated its impact by putting into an intellectual framework.  The spiritual experience is personal.  It is a harmony between your self and life.

Student: I thought it was that when the Thought Adjuster, when they came to us, it would be their first time coming to Urantia, and I may have been --- misunderstood, but I thought that we were sort of their first….

TOMAS: You are correct.  This is correct, and yet in the vast domains of space, in the many, many multitudinous planetary configurations there are other opportunities for service by these Mystery Monitors.  Your experience has only begun.  By your identification with and your association with your Adjuster, you may reward your Adjuster by helping it to attain its goal, its esteemed reward of its fusion with your personality.

Student: Thank you.

Loreenia: And if one is led by one's Adjuster or determines the reality or is led by their Adjuster toward work in things like light and life, such as the colors that I've asked for, what to us physically would be very strange and unusual things, is that not applying or emoting as you said before?  Should we do more of that?

TOMAS: It may or may not be your God Fragment that is stimulus.  It may be other imaginings or influences.  The problem with trying to ascertain what the Thought Adjuster is up to is that it is illusive and it is very difficult to put your finger on spirit reality for it is alive and ever-advancing and what may seem to you today to be concrete spiritual proof of the existence of some perception of reality, tomorrow may rightfully vanish in a moment's insight for which you have no explanation but complete and total trust. 

Mr. H:  I wold like to make a comment on something in relation to the Thought Adjuster.  In our lesson today, Gerdean mentioned about certain peoples on this planet that have no Thought Adjusters, are not intellectually capable or genetically capable of having a Thought Adjuster.  Now, these individuals … may be young old … do we consider these people human beings?  They have no Thought Adjusters.  Just what are they?

TOMAS: You have put it to me, haven't you?
Group: (Laughter)

TOMAS: Well, as an aspiring entity of eternal value, I can say that if a light is not burning within, there's not much that can be done to cause that light to be lit.  And yet it is a fine line indeed for mortals to go around saying "Oh, well, I didn't like their reaction therefore they are not indwelt with God and I make light of them."  It is a fine line in determining whether or not an individual is indwelt, but it can be ascertained by a sensitive soul. 

In view of the fact that there are many loving and loveable animals without Thought Adjusters is proof that we all can be kind to dumb animals, whether they are indwelt or not, and this is probably the safe tactic. But in time, your society will need to address the matter of retardation if indeed light and life is to be all encompassing.  Shall we probe further, my son?

Mr. H:  Not at this time.  I don't think it's necessary.  You answered.

Mrs. C: Tomas, I would like to go with this, having had some experience with one called "incapacitated." Mentally, it wasn't true, except that certain scar tissue formed in balls in a portion of that brain that made it seem to be a hampered individual when actually, when pressured, there was an experience that caused the brain to say "turn off, turn off, turn off" and it was a man-made situation.  Now--  And yet, that person had more faith in God and chose to be aligned with God in spite of his deficiencies.  Where do you draw the line?

TOMAS: This is why I say it is a difficult situation and indeed a fine line.  The qualifier is whether or not the individual is able to make those kinds of choices that will foster and further its own spiritual development.  The fact that there are mental problems is not a bar to spiritual guidance.  The fact that there are physical disabilities is also not a bar to spiritual development.  It is when the mind is so sub-standard as to not render the individual capable of making those kind of decisions which would further its advancement into worship and wisdom that we consider.  Has that been helpful?

Mrs. P: Somewhat.  In a position that I have in life, I deal with people coming to the congregation that have various limitations, but there's always a point where you can touch a spot, to work with the person, where their divine comes forth.  And I have yet to see … and I know some must be cared for because they are mentally unable to care for themselves. 

TOMAS: The Thought Adjuster is committed to you and is devoted to you and will not abandon you, and that includes those who are ignorant and infirm, indeed, many elderly victims of diseases and so forth.  But bear in mind that for centuries Thought Adjusters have come to indwell men and women who have not responded to their promptings, and they basically lived the full life with the individual with very little to show for it because the individuals refused to grow under their guidance. 

This, co-incidentally, is how an Adjuster can have previous experience in the experience of indwelling individuals who have not developed, who have not chosen to proceed.

Mrs. M:  You probably know, Tomas, that we as individuals in this group are responding to our Thought Adjusters somewhat.  Could you give us sort of an impression that you might have as to whether we have been responding? 

TOMAS: I cannot perceive of one individual here who has not been admirably responsive to the promptings of the Indwelling Adjuster.  The growth of an individual in spiritual realms is certainly a relative case and some mortals have apostolic zeal while some are happy to be disciples and many are content to be believers.  Those who will take upon themselves the roles and capabilities assigned to them and which they are capable of being entrusted with will respond to the extent that they are capable at that time.  Yes, all individuals here are responding to their Thought Adjusters. All of them, this moment, are being caressed and vibrated by the awareness of the Thought Adjuster that it is being attended to.

As you go about your day and in some cases leave your awareness of your relationship with your Thought Adjuster on the shelf or in the closet or in the car, your interaction is not as devoted perhaps as it is if you are 100% consciously constantly aware of your Thought Adjuster, but this is truly an almost impossible undertaking for anyone at this time.  It is not even necessary that you be constantly aware of your Thought Adjuster, only that you learn to work with it.

Mrs. McD: Tomas, there are some people who employ the pendulum when they are seeking answers from a higher source, higher intelligence.  Could that be in some instances or all instances be the communication of the Thought Adjuster?

TOMAS: No.  You might be influenced by something like Energy Manipulators or Power Directors but not the Thought Adjuster in such an instance, and, at the risk of alienating anyone, I will refer you to ghost cults and other forms of primitive religion for your edification and entertainment.

Student:   Is that also when you put it over the food to see if it's going to be okay to eat it?

TOMAS: This surely does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Thought Adjuster as I am given to understand the Thought Adjuster.

Mrs. H: May I ask for an example of when a Thought Adjuster activity is apparent?
TOMAS: Yes.

Dr. B:  I'll say one.  (Indistinguishable) when we got the Urantia Book and she (indistinguishable).  The next day I went back to it and I even said, "I wonder who was there because I was just here yesterday" and here Mrs. M was there that day and she told me about the Book, and I felt she was directed to do that.

TOMAS: Indeed, however this, again, is not particularly the purview of the Thought Adjuster, but remember that there are armies of celestial helpers, not excluding the loyal United Midwayers, who work with spirit beings to create those synchronicities and serendipities of life which can only be construed as "a God thing" but the relationship between the individual and the indwelling God Fragment is always a reflection of love.  As you spend time with the Father in stillness, in meditation, you are saturating your soul with love.  You are absorbing the presence of love.

As you then manifest your personality in accordance with your Thought Adjuster, you are manifesting love and it is not necessarily a sentimental or romantic or maternal love, but it is an aspect of divine love which may be presented sentimentally, maternally or romantically and so forth. Love is the earmark of your Indwelling Adjuster and as you grow in spirit reality your soul will also become a reflection of the love of the Father.

Mrs. H: Thank you.

TOMAS: My loyal students, we have done it again.  We have talked long into the afternoon and how I have enjoyed this occasion.  How you feed my sense of hope in your contributions and in our developing affinity.  Remember that we are all ascending and that as we make friends today, I will know you, you will know me throughout eternity, and so this budding friendship has and does bring me supreme satisfaction.

I thank you for attending today and even more I thank you for your reflections upon that which occurs in your lives and in your mind. Which then is a reflection of Our Father, for surely we are all His children, and surely we all sing praises and hymns of adoration for His infinite goodness in bestowing an aspect of His infinite Self with each of us.  Farewell.

Group: Thank you.

*****

DATE:  January 6, 1996
LOCATION:  Pittsburgh, PA USA
T/R:   Gerdean

TEACHER: TOMAS
TOPIC: 
RELIGION IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE

TOMAS: Good afternoon, my faithful friends. 
Group: Good afternoon, Tomas.

TOMAS: Indeed I am Tomas, your teacher, and I am pleased that we have had this festive afternoon in which to socialize and to share insights into our own spiritual experience as has been set forth in the text. [Textual reference: Urantia Paper 100]

Prior to this moment of coming "on-line" as we say, and joining you in this more formal format of communication, I have been engaged in conversation with my peers in the spirit realm, and among the many visitors today, Michael himself came by to remind me to remind you that although the qualities ascribed to him in the section you read are worthy of note, it is not for you to try to relive Michael's life but to learn to live your own (life) with your own personality aspects and characteristics.

And so I come to you today, my friends, in keeping with the evolution of our group thus far, and say that the reading is on point with where we are in our development, for last week we began to focus that we would begin work on the one personality which is your soul, that your soul may then interact with other souls in social aggregate towards light and life. And how appropriate that these qualities which we reviewed in the reading today are precisely those qualities that God-conscious men and women aspire to have in their own unified personality! 

It has been said, and you will recall the adage, "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me."  This peace of which I speak is not the peace of passivity or passive acquiescence to what transpires in your world, no, but more to that peace which passes all understanding.  This is our undertaking, then, that we begin to develop those qualities of mind, body and soul which will allow for the human being to find this life a gratifying and joyous experience and, also, all the while, augmenting and contributing to the spiritual satisfaction and well-being of all.

Behold the man.  Behold the woman.  Behold the mortal child of God and man at once -- the being that you are, of dual nature, born of the flesh and destined to become spirit, in time.  Behold yourself, now, and reflect on Correction.  How can we correct Urantia if we consistently thrust our efforts onto the man or woman next to us?  The work of kingdom building is "an inside job."

In the prayer that the Master taught, He says, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" and this is our work also, that the Kingdom of Heaven, which is within you, shall begin to manifest itself in your environment.  And what is your environment?  In its most initial state, your environment is yourself, your soul, your fertile soil, which remains open to growth and development.   In pondering a moment on the immediate environment of your soul, …

[One moment.  I apologize.  I have given my T/R a start, for I myself thought of something I wanted to include, and in my thinking process this T/R picked up on my thought change and was astounded that I could forget something in my lesson plan; she rendered me speechless.  Let me try to regain "control" of this situation.]

We were discussing the arena of your soul [which is] your most immediate environment! And I thought that perhaps before I proceed, what we shall do regarding your soul, was to review what I mean when I speak of soul.  Your soul is that which is developed in the marriage of your Thought Adjuster, which indwells you, and your mind, which is your free will agent.  As your mind, through your free will, chooses to coordinate with the desire of your Indwelling Spirit, your soul begins to grow.

Of course, you know that your growth - this growth - will be unconscious, but the fact of the matter is that it will grow through your decisions and, therefore, I am discussing the growth of that which is becoming real, is becoming permanent, is becoming immortal -- the you that will be eternal.  And yet … it also is here now.  And so with that brief definition, I will proceed into discussing the soul environment and on beyond into tits realm of influence.

Your immediate environment is your soul.  It is where you live.  It is your reality.  (It is) not that which is external/material, but the exterior and material is your next immediate level of operation.  It is your home environment - your physical home - and in that it includes your relationships with your family members, your spouse, your children, your roommates, your loved ones.  It extends into your work environment, your fellows, people with whom you spend time on a regular basis and, in the long run, it -- (I am speaking of your environment) -- it extends into the more general milieu of the streets, shopping centers and the like.

And so, when we say, "Behold the human being," we are speaking of the potential spirit housed in the material body functioning in a well-unified personality in this existence.  It is important for me to stress this because this is how life and light will become reality on Urantia -- "on earth as it is in heaven."

It is meaningless for you to consider only a transcendent spirit reality to the exclusion of your mortal existence, for your mortal existence is your arena.  It is the arena in which you work and play and have your being.  The well-unified personality is at home in this world, is productive and happy, and even though regulated by some mores and rules of the game, can be a diligent disciple of spirit truths by being himself or herself and being also at complete peace within the deep, deep core of his or her being.

And so when it is said, "What does it matter if all things early crumble?" from this bastion of the spirit, from this reality of the soul, the foundation is laid that your external environment is indeed but scaffolding toward higher realities.  But as a worker in the field, it behooves you to apply yourself to the arena as you find it.  Opportunities will be unveiled and revealed to you as you learn to walk in grace and in anticipation of opportunities to rejoice and to be of service in this arena.

The arena of Urantia-at-large has suffered greatly, and its inhabitants have been dealt many fatal blows.  There is much Correction to be done before we can expect our kingdom to be manifest in-the-large, but we can glimpse those instances of paradise pattern which will urge us forward in our growth, and you will begin to comprehend your own sphere of light and life as you begin to know it in yourself; and this, too, will require on-going correction of your own perceptions and beliefs and impressions, for what you have been given is a fruit which has spoiled.  The bitter fruit of rebellion, default and the carnage of war and other side effects of primitive evolution have to be recognized and dealt with and set aside in order that the sweet fruits of the spirit can prevail.

The sweetness of the "fruits of the spirit" is only beginning to fill the hearts and souls of the hungry.  And so I ask you all today to consider that even though each of you are fortunate in many ways, that you have health, wealth, prosperity, understanding and exposures to great theologies and philosophies, that as a budding morontial soul, you are and have been impoverished.  In this, then, I ask you to consider what is spiritual poverty, and consider yourself spiritually impoverished in order that you might then see how far you need to grow from here. 

I have just asked you, yes, to become a tadpole, and this is a most humbling experience.  Be assured I do not ask you to consider your spiritual poverty in order to belittle your knowledge or your self-respect or your standing in the cosmic scheme of things, no, but in considering your spiritual poverty you can feel that emptiness which will ask to be filled with spiritual light. And now you are giving yourself permission to grow.

For it is a part of the human condition, part of your heritage here, to attain a level of understanding and become self-satisfied, to become adequate to the purpose.  And in order that we might accomplish our over-all purpose -- Michael's purpose for you and for Urantia and for his local universe -- you must place yourself in a position of being willing to be remade, reborn, re-motivated, revamped, rekindled, renewed at every juncture.

This "blessed are the poor in spirit" beatitude is the beginning of greatness for you -- for the man, the woman, that is becoming.

It has been a powerful day in your environment, in your souls, in this room, in this Teacher Base, and there has been ample food placed upon your plate to feed you for weeks, and so I will not pursue further a lesson for today but will rather leave off, that we might have time and inclination now for our delightful communication one on another.  May I hear from you?

Mrs. M: Tomas, I was listening to one of my fundamentalist radio programs again and these people, some of them, are so beautifully devoted to Jesus, and this one delightful person named Carl said, "I'm going to give you a list of ways to increase your faith," and today in reading about these marvelous reborn times that people experience, it seemed to say there was a total enlargement of faith, and it fitted in with my question that I intended to ask you and that was, can you describe ways in which we might increase our faith?

TOMAS: I will begin by suggesting that as you pray for greater faith, your faith will be greatened.  In greater faith your capacities are enlarged and your joys are extended.  In those times when your faith is weak, consider your growth at the time.  Perhaps you are in a state of confusion because of the unconscious growth which is taking place and you may construe this to be a lack of faith or a loss of faith when this is not the case. Therefore, again, pray for faith and increased faith, for faith shall set you free and shall bring you into confidence.

Mrs. M: Thank you very much.

Mrs. H:   I was with a very simple person the other day, whom I respect and admire and I often say that I wish I could be like her more, and I thought that maybe you might have been there, because being with her is a very deep spiritual time, and I just thought that maybe you might remark on this beautiful person for the spiritual delight of my dear friends here.

TOMAS: With respect to your request, I will not, for it is to no purpose.  It is exclusive of all wondrous and delightful children of God who also give of themselves in the lives of all, and we only need to be grateful that our peers exist to lend fragrance to our existence. 

Mrs. H: Thank you.  [Long silence]
TOMAS: You tell me.  Have we attained a saturation point? 
Group: I believe so.

TOMAS: Indeed, like a thanksgiving dinner, it is time to savor the experience and pat our tummy and pick our teeth in satisfaction that the abundance of the spiritual feast of plenty and of challenge have come upon us once again.

It is, again, with great pleasure that I meet with you and encourage your continued aspiration and I look forward to being with you again soon in our formal format.  And in the interim, I will pass by and check on you and speak with you if you call me in your private time.  Otherwise, my friends, my children, as they say in your vernacular, "Have a good day."  Farewell.

Group: Thank you.  Farewell.

*****

DATE:    January 13, 1996
LOCATION:  Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R:     Gerdean

TEACHER TOMAS
ACCEPTANCE
Q&A:  What is Metaphysics?
How to Attain Stillness

TOMAS: Good afternoon, my friends, faithful followers of truth and light.  I am Tomas, your teacher.  I greet you today on behalf of the celestial hosts who hover in anticipation of your continued growth and understanding of spiritual concepts and, indeed, religious experience in your lives and in the lives of those whom you touch and with whom you associate.

Many things come to mind in this moment of greeting and I will follow through with one initial thought which might help to focus the minds of all present, that being the concept I like to discuss about the symphony, and surely your group here s a sterling example of the symphony, which is in the process of warming up prior to its production.   And as you well know, the individual instruments, in fine-tuning themselves, create a raucous and inharmonious noise in preparation for the disciplined strains of music that will eventuate in their working together.

How we enjoy and appreciate you, the instruments, who have shown up and who take your musical devices in hand in full awareness of your contribution to the orchestra.  In considering yourselves each as part of the orchestra, I call to your attention the full range of instruments, from the delicate and lively piccolo to the clashing cymbals to the blaring trumpets to the slide trombone to the drums and the scores of strings which resonate their tones throughout. Each of you, dear students, are your own instrument.  Each of you has your own particular sound; each of you is valuable in the overall performance.

Today I would like to spend some time discussing acceptance, for in your upcoming symphony, the piccolo must accept that it is a piccolo -- not a trumpet, not a drum.  And, by the same token, the cymbal knows that its contribution is pinnacle, but too much cymbal would drown out the rest of the show.

And so each personality brings with it its own unique facets and each instrument is, indeed, important to the production, but only as they are played in league and in alignment with the Master Conductor is the music telling, does it rise and fall with purpose, and affect the hearers with soul-satisfaction.

The personality of the mortal individual in search of serenity and purpose must first accept itself with its many aspects and relative drawbacks. You, individually, must take a look at yourself and accept yourself as you are. In pretending to be other than what you are, you are not giving full tone to your own instrument. In denying your delicacy or your strength, you are, again, trying to be an instrument that you are not.

The phrase "to thine own self be true" has some bearing here but is limited, for it is not that you are being true only to yourself but you are essentially aspiring to be true to that which, within you, peals the harmony and truth of the Divine Coordinator of your life and the music thereof.

Also, and here also is a challenge, it is necessary for each of you to accept the other instruments in the orchestra. Because you are a cello and have great breadth and resonance is no reason to look with disdain upon the xylophone. The xylophone has a tinkling sound which might appear hollow and shallow to the resonant depths of the cello, but the xylophone has its own purpose indeed.

I would speak also of acceptance in terms of your life experience. In accepting your life as it is, this moment, today, you are able then to approach your challenges, your problems and your refreshments of life with equanimity. You are able to put in perspective the situation as it is and not be burdened by how you wish it were or how it ought to be. Acceptance of yourself and your circumstances gives you the perspective, then, to ask in prayer and meditation how things might go from here toward improvement, toward a more perfect resolution or configuration.

As you begin to accept your circumstances you will begin to understand that other people, other instruments, also need to accept where they are and that they, too, have the potential and constraints which you have. In this way you can begin to appreciate and understand that instrument across the room which sounds so different from you.

In the hands, under the guidance of the Master Conductor, this symphony of life becomes a harmonious outpouring of all these differences. And this is possible because you have learned to accept one another. It is not necessary that you all be the same, for you have all been created with your own unique endowments. Perhaps another word for acceptance in this context is respect.

If you respect your own work, your own identification, your own sense of timing in response to the Master Conductor, then you will see that the instruments on the other side of the hall also are responding to the Conductor as they have learned how. Respect is born of respect for your indwelling reality. As you would be treated, so too should you treat one another. The lesson on respect is, however, another lesson, which I will take up at some other point. Today I am discussing acceptance.

Another facet of acceptance is the condition of your world, and many individuals become distraught and discouraged by refusing to accept the condition on Urantia as they find it. They argue incessantly with the government, with the mores, with foreign shores, with cultural differences, and find much of life totally unacceptable. This does not foster understanding and solution.

Those things, which you cannot control, you must accept.  Uh-oh.  Did I say that? (Group chuckle) For now we are wrestling with that rascal "control" and that truly is another subject, but for the sake of acceptance, let us take control back to the symphony. And would the piccolo indeed try to control the drum? And would the trumpet try to control the harp? Rather, the entire control is under the guidance and jurisdiction of the Master Conductor.

Otherwise, how could we make music? And so, "control" as I used it is in that capacity, for you cannot cure the hunger problem of the world, you cannot heal the rift between the Arabs and the Jews or the Scots and the Irish, but you can help to heal your own sense of well-being and self-respect by learning what is your instrument and learning how to play it perfectly.

I also would like to offer you praise today for the courage and stamina to present yourself in this way for this influence. It is not just my pleasure to welcome you here to this format, although it is certainly a privilege for me, Tomas, to be here. I could not be here were it not for you and I respect your individual sounds and hope to assist our Conductor in tuning your instruments, fine-tuning the sections, that we will make such a congealed and harmonious song as will praise heaven and stimulate earth.

It is not such a big order as you might suspect, for already the instruments are tuned up and only await the guidance of the Conductor to begin and we have begun. We are indeed well into the preliminaries and I, myself, am beginning to hear the melody of you together, and so I ask you to ponder acceptance. Acceptance of yourself with your own strengths and liabilities.

I accept you and I gladly work with that which I find. If I did not accept you with your pros and cons, how could we begin to establish rapport. This is also the case as you learn to accept one another. This is how we will forge through the differences to find that chord of solidarity among us, that which connects us --the Spirit, and our destiny as individual spirits, and as a community of spirits working together toward the whole.

I am finished with my lesson today. Accept it in your heart and ponder as you deem it desirable. I am eager now to accept your words and questions.

Mrs. Ml: Tomas, may I say your lesson today was so beautifully put.  It was exquisite, -- very beautiful notes.

Mrs. M: Tomas, I would like to ask a question based on our study today. I thought you might discuss nature as we experience it in this evolutionary, lowest of worlds, and what the problem is when we are falling into pantheism; and I also was going to ask you to define the Book's words on metaphysics from your point of view.  (Group laughter)

TOMAS:  Such a raucous bunch! (More laughter) Indeed, I will confess to you that I have compared this group to a field of wild flowers, raucous in its growing, and this leads naturally into a response regarding nature, and I perforce must address nature from the eyes of mortality or temporally, that you may appreciate my response as I would not want to overlook the actual reality of your nature as you find it here on Urantia.

This beauteous creation is a gift of Michael, the Creator Son. It is a gift to you as is your physical existence here. And I would suggest that as you, the human being, play in nature and appreciate its wonders, on the other end of the spectrum is your Indwelling Spirit, your budding morontia soul, left to play in the Evolving Supreme, for the wonders of your physical nature are indeed your playground and to be appreciated for the manger that it is to you in your earth birth.

The exquisite representation of creation, the veins in the leaves of the trees, the rotting logs with their pungent colors and aromas, the chirping of birds in the branches, the babbling of brooks, the sun filtering through the leaves to dance on the grasses and purple violets, all are gifts to you and representative of the beauty inherent in our Creator . . . beauty created, indeed, for your appreciation and in its pristine, unencumbered state provides that solemnity and tranquillity which affords the soul an abundant nest in which to seek harmony with the Infinite Creator of all.

Enjoy your environs of Urantia while you are here, for never again in your career will you be able to enjoy quite the thrill of falling into the snow or into a pile of leaves or into a stack of hay. Never again will you smell quite the same things as brewing coffee or baking bread. Although your Creator has provided many arenas of wondrous beauty, beauty beyond your comprehension today, in today accept your place as a mortal being on your material realm.

Respect your natal birthplace. Honor the environs of earth. It will not accompany you to the mansion worlds. And do not discard it, either. Do not "trash out" your sacred sphere. Thus I pay homage to your environment, your natal planet, this planet 606, Urantia, as a world unique in and of itself in the mighty symphony of planets in this superuniverse. All, you see, is under the Master Conductor. All is music as it responds to the leading of divinity, be it spiritual or morontial or physical.

You asked about metaphysics as it is conveyed, portrayed, described through the text. Metaphysics in this context is that realm of energy and mystery which has a profound effect on the psyche and soul of the evolving mortal. It is instrumental in strumming the chords of spirit into awakening. Metaphysics is regarded as a reflection of the light but not the light itself. It is not a shadow; it is just not the pure light, but a reflected light. It is not darkness by any means.

Metaphysics has played a vital role in enabling evolving mankind to reach beyond the mere physical planes toward spirit reality. Metaphysics, thus, has been a significant stepping stone in the evolutionary religious experience of many and has been quite activated of late since the spiritual circuits are open. And metaphysics has played a vital role, has been a viable platform and remains valid scaffolding en route to the illumination of spirit and true revelation.

Indeed, much auto-revelation is metaphysical in nature and has been supremely contributory, and yet metaphysics is not spirituality itself. It is a forerunner of divine truth. Have we other questions today?

Loreenia:  Tomas, you mentioned planet 606, earth, Urantia, and I have done a lot of reading and study on the study of the photon belt. Could you comment on this phenomenon, if there is such a thing, and if planets travel through this photon belt, if that is what is happening?

TOMAS:  My friend, I am sorry. I cannot respond. I cannot respond initially because this transmitter/receiver has frozen her availability in-as-much as science is not her forte and she completely "freaked out" at the concept of photons which is totally foreign to her. I am therefore constrained in my response since she will not allow my words to come through, even if I were inclined to elaborate on photons which I am not for it is a phenomenon of the, shall we say, galactic composition and not necessarily related to your personal spiritual growth which is my purpose in being here.

Loreenia:    Thank you.

Mrs. McD:   Is that a common problem among T/R's, that they will clamp down on something that they perceive that they don't know? Have others talked about that?

TOMAS:  I realize that this, too, is a curiosity question but perhaps one a little more closely related to your spiritual growth in-as-much as the viability of the transmitter/receiver has much to do with your acceptance of various teachers' words and teachings. Let me say that the free will of the transmitter/receiver is and remains sacrosanct.  I cannot say anything that would violate the belief system of the transmitter/receiver for in-as-much as they remain aware of what transpires, they are in their right to refuse to transmit anything that they cannot accept for themselves.

It is the case of some transmitter/receivers that they are less aware of the teacher's process than this one. This one opts to remain cognizant, and some are less cognizant -- more "blind faith" if you will, more "by the seat of their pants".  There are always and forever certain colorations that will emanate from the transmitter/receiver because we are using their language center.

Also be aware that many transmitter/receivers are open to words and concepts and also visualizations and energy manifestations. It contributes to my being a pedantic teacher but it also contributes to my being able to be somewhat effective in that this transmitter /receiver is rather focused on what concept I want to convey and is not distracted by the visualizations and energy patterns which are also available and highly alluring.

Be advised as well, my students, that it is necessary for you always to interpret through your own Spirit of Truth those words which emanate out of the mouths of transmitter/receivers, for many times those emanations are commingled with uprisings from the imagination, the creative play, and, indeed, the fears and subconscious realms as well.

Our hope and goal is to stimulate your mind arena wherein you make those choices to become more Godlike.

Mrs. McD:   Are there certain teachers' transmitters who know about more about that information than the teachers of this group?

TOMAS:  The band of transmitter/receivers are very much like that orchestra we mentioned earlier, and they make different noises, and in the overall, they are creating a sound of praise and awakening for humanity. I am not the one to limit your acceptances of truth, beauty and goodness. This is for you to determine. Any more than I can look at you, my students, here and say, "This individual here has more truth, therefore more worth than this one, and so I shall love them better and attend more conscientiously to their soul needs." That is not my place.

I am responsible to you in-as-much as I have been assigned to this lovely Teacher Base. All the teachers which you have had in the past have contributed to strumming your spiritual chord as I hope also to do, and in due course, other teachers -- be they through this format or myriad other possibilities -- our intent is to continue growing, expanding, accepting, perfecting and serving throughout eternity.

Loreenia:   This also interests me and I would like to be able to focus a little bit more on those teachers sometimes as well as ... I would like to know where to look in order to find this kind of information.

TOMAS:   What type of information is it that you would like to find?

Loreenia:   Photon belt and things of that nature, because I have read the book and I'd like to know what's happening in the present with that kind of thing.

TOMAS:  There is an assignment for you to find that mortal T/R who has within its brain framework an understanding and appreciation of this more scientific facet of truth seeking that can respond to this inquiry, for surely there are those who are, in your vernacular, more right brain than left brain.

Loreenia:   I thought you'd have an inside track on the knowledge of who has that information, of all the teachers.

TOMAS:  There is also a teacher in Arizona who might accommodate you but what you discover through your own investigations are your own accomplishments. I am not inclined to be an agent for the teachers.  (Group laughter)

Mrs. Ml:   Good for you.

Mrs. M:   Tomas, I wanted to ask a question about the stillness because Gerdean was kind enough to give me a few words of description as to how she creates a very meaningful moment of stillness for herself and I was hoping that you might make some suggestions to us because we're all now trying to be in the Stillness, I think more perhaps than we had been previously. Would you comment on that, please?

TOMAS:  Thank you for your question. Yes. Perhaps in response to this question I could lead you all into Stillness as I discourse. If you are amenable I will make that attempt and "walk you through" for this truly is key in your development of your personal spiritual experience and it is something which will ground you as you rise.

Let me begin by suggesting that you first find an environment and a time of day which does not distract from your sense of security and privacy.  It is not optimum to have the phone ringing, to have sirens blaring outdoors, to have children squabbling next door, but rather to find a time of day, often early in the morning or in the evening after social time, in order to find that place in your material, mental and spiritual realm where you will be undisturbed.

Once you have found this place -- and you may imagine it now if you like -- first make certain you are physically comfortable. That is to say, you are not tugged upon or constrained by tight shoes, tight belts, and so forth, that you are not made aware of your body any more than is normal and necessary. If, therefore, you have a serious itch, it must be curtailed before you can effectively enter Stillness.

The first element of Stillness is to quiet your body. Many people go through an elaborate and enjoyable process of tightening and loosening muscles in a systematic approach to making certain all the body is in a state of relaxation. This is an approach effective for many but it is not permanently necessary. Like any good habit, you can become adept at attaining Stillness quicker and therefore gain most benefit in a short period of time by encapsulating the experience through practice.

Now that you have gotten your body comfortable -- and I also suggest that it is possible to do Stillness while lying down, but the tendency is to become relaxed and fall asleep. Therefore, I would suggest that you sit upright in a comfortable position, for it requires alertness in a subtle place in your mind, that you be comfortable and relaxed on one hand yet alert and anticipatory on the other -- now that the body is at ease, you come into the realm of the mind which next must be stilled.

This is the difficult part for many, for the mind is incessantly active and, to remind you again, the animal mind rebels against being weaned from its natural propensity to run rampant and control the mortal being; therefore, in order to put your mind at rest, it is a true discipline which does take time but is eminently possible. Many techniques have been used. One is to venture through the chakras to the third eye and focus on the third eye. Some have used the technique of a burning candle to focus all the energy on this one object of illumination. Some have asked the mind of Christ to come in and quiet all the other aspects of mind which clamor for attention.

Whatever device you choose, you will soon find that as your mind becomes still, you will find yourself in a place that could be considered a void, a dark place, perhaps frightening at first for it is at once confining and also immense. This realm, this lotus blossom area, is above the mind. It is now venturing into the morontia spheres.  From this place, if you entered your meditations with a prayer, you may then sit in anticipation of response to your prayer. This T/R uses this time and space to feel the presence of the Father -- the physical, spiritual, psychic, cosmic connection with divinity --and it may or may not be personalized.

As you begin to feel this energy and spirit identification, you begin to feel bathed and warmed by its very real presence. You forget that you have shopping to do, you forget that the socks need darned and you forget that your foot itches, for all things have fallen away in the comfort and indeed sublime bliss of being in this love presence. It is now no longer a struggle to attain this place of Stillness for you have found, in here, complete and total acceptance. Peace. Potential. And love.

In this space, if you stay in this Stillness space for a while, you will discover that your mind is still operating, but it is a different mind.  It is no longer the mind of the mortal. It is the mind of the Third Source and Center, if you will, that is conspiring to merge your higher thought processes with spirit reality and you are now beginning to function in the morontia realms of existence, for although your material body is still present in your chair, in your room, on your deck or wherever, you have been released from the constant clamoring of the body and the emotions and the ego mind to soar among the truths, beauties and goodnesses of infinity, from whence you came and from whence you will return.

From this place you have then the peace and courage to return to your life's work here in the flesh with renewed resolve and renewed vigor to approach your life as it is and from the perspective of relative divinity.

The importance of Stillness could be conveyed thus: why should I spend time in this abstract state when I could walk in nature and experience the marvelous cathedral of God's handiwork surrounding me, where I would feel most inclined toward praise, thanksgiving and even metaphysical reflections toward worship? And I would suggest that if you were in love and betrothed, would you prefer to talk to your beloved on the telephone, or would you prefer to be in their presence? And it is that subtle yet vital difference that stillness provides.

(Group murmuring)  Let me take you one step further.

From Stillness, from this place of relative purity and tranquillity, if you indeed have left your ego behind and are basking in the light of love and seeking to be of service, it is possible from here to tap into your teachers. This, too, is not necessary, for the relationship between you and your God, your Indwelling Spirit and the Eternal Father, is primary, but to assist you, entertain you, accompany you, help you, etc, it is possible to contact the teachers who avail themselves from this sphere.

They operate, by and large, from your language center and I suggest if this is something you would desire, then avail yourself in your deep mind and anticipate that they will contact you. You must not contrive to make this up, but rather allow it to happen.

You may see the impression of a word. If you see this word, speak it aloud and, sure enough, another word will follow close on its heels. Speak that word also, and on, until you discover that your teacher has in fact accessed your circuit. You have accessed the circuit which enables teacher contact. In time and with practice you all can be chatting away with various teachers and it is, in fact, encouraged that you access your personal teachers for companionship and guidance in your more personal realms of growth.

It has been discovered that working with the personal teachers will help you work through some of your own correction, some of the more glaring twists of fate.  The maladjustments from this mortal life, which leave scars and fear of a deep nature, are lovingly addressed and made whole through the ministrations of an intimate teacher who will be with you as you lance those wounds in order to heal those slings and arrows of your mortal existence.

Many, many wonders are available to you in your mind, in conjunction with Infinite Spirit. It is only dangerous — and I use that in a relative sense -- when it is your mind alone which is entertaining you and not the mind which is abridged and embraced by spirit, and this sublime experience can be had through prayer and meditation in Stillness.

In entering Stillness, you are entering into communication with God, your Father, your Creator, your piece of divinity, which has set you in motion. It is only short-changing yourself, then, to neglect this time alone with God. It is not required, yet it is infinitely desirable.

(Long  period of group Stillness)  I feel as if I were a hypnotist and I should snap my finger now and say, "Hello, everyone. Welcome back to your mortal state of being!" 

And so now that we are all back in the framework of time and space as it is known on Urantia, let us approach the week through accepting where it is that we are: in time, in space, in relative perfection, in varying degrees of warming up, and in acceptance of our self and consequently one another.

In eager anticipation of our next gathering, I reluctantly leave you. I "reluctantly" leave you because this focused place of communion in the more spiritual realms of your life is happiness indeed to me and indeed to you, and this glowing, swelling blossom of happiness is a reluctancy to depart from. None-the-less I have faith in you, that you will carry yourself through to our next encounter.

Mrs. M: Thank you, Tomas.
Mrs. Ml: It's so wonderful that you want to be with us. Is it all right to say we love you?

TOMAS:  Indeed, and I also love you, and as I indicated, I am in complete acceptance of you, and this is perhaps the key word here for I see you all in the making and even with all that you present and misrepresent, I accept you lovingly as aspiring immortal souls. You are most welcome, my daughter, and I also thank you and love you infinitely.

Mrs. L: Tomas, before you leave I have a question on a personal note. What is your relationship with the Teacher Nero who speaks through my daughter Alison?

TOMAS:  I had some training with Nero prior to being transported here and I have enjoyed him as an associate for his humor and lightness of heart, indeed, his incredible lightness of being, and yet we have not had the privilege and experience yet of working in tandem or in immediate association. I am looking forward to working with other teachers in this area, but I will not presume to speak for them, for their ministering mortals are also eager to experience further transmission of teachers.

It is an abundant field of wild flowers, indeed, in the material and in the spiritual realms, and as we work together for the next millennia or so, we will create more and more orchestrations of the physical and spiritual kind which will cause the Master Conductor to be pleased with our outpouring.

Mrs. L:  He sends his regards to you.

TOMAS:   And I to he.  I have been watching.  Blessed group, take now the food from this table of plenty and nurture it in your souls, in your hearts and in your guts for your sustenance throughout the many days ahead. Good afternoon.

Group:  Good afternoon, Tomas.

*****

DATE:    January 18, 1996
LOCATION:  Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R:   Gerdean

TEXTUAL STUDY: 
Urantia Paper 101, The Real Nature of Religion
6.  Progressive Religious Experience
7. A Personal Philosophy of Religion
8. Faith and Belief
9. Religion and Morality
10. Religion as Man's Liberator

TEACHER SESSION:
BELIEF
[Sub-topics: pornography; homosexuality]

TOMAS:  Good afternoon, my friends.
Group:   Good afternoon, Tomas.
TOMAS:  I am Tomas, your guide, teacher, companion and friend. I, as well as many others are here this afternoon in glorious rejoicing at your combined energies and motivations to endure, persist, pursue and secure ideal circumstances and situations which will result in your sustained happiness and faith in your own personal religious experience.
It is satisfying to your supernal guides to behold your application toward concepts which stretch your capacities, which stimulate your mind to reach beyond the conformity of your societal mode in search of more realistic planes of awareness and thus service.
In keeping with our format and with your permission I will proceed today to spend a few moments discussing belief, which, as you learned from your reading today, in part, is not the same as faith, but beliefs, en route to faith and yet greater faith, play powerful punches in your developing reality/religious experience and I would like to help you to recognize your individual beliefs so that you can put your beliefs in some perspective and appreciation for the relative reality that they are.
I am torn, now, in my format, for I would, on one hand, like very much to ask you individually to give me an example of a belief which you hold dear, and I know that each of you have cherished beliefs which are noble and worthy and which you would not hesitate to lay upon our table today, but I also understand that in the process of laying forth these fruits, the time grows long and, until such time as we have sustained stamina developed, I will forego that most enticing possibility for the dubious privilege of outlining for you what I perceive are some of your beliefs, for purposes of our lesson today.
The evolution of a morontia-ized soul undertakes myriad beliefs, many garments, to clothe the dangling and imperfect aspects of a developing moral being. The favorite one seems to be, "I believe in God," yes, and yet this is individualized according to each person's perception of God, in that, some fear God, some presume upon God, some create a God to serve their own purpose, some mouth the tenets they have learned from others' God or Gods, and yet a belief in God is certainly one which all professed believers put forth.  More humanly, individuals will say, "I believe in love," and this, too, creates a multi-colored array of various beliefs, for love must be redefined on each new level of awareness and comprehension of love's realities. 

That which was once a cherished belief of the child, that Mother and Father knew everything, provided everything put forth, was shot down when Father and Mother acknowledged, "My child, I do not know," and in the early ages bordering the developing theology, the child in this culture may have been encouraged to believe in Santa Clause, and in time was made to understand that Santa Clause was a creation for the delight of the childlike fantasy and not a reality at all.

In due course, the mortal believes that a marriage partner, a love companion, will make all their dreams come true, that once the beloved is found and secured, all things will be possible, and yet in even the most ideal romantic circumstances, the truth is revealed that the beloved is a mere mortal and is heir to those traits which would not be endearing to even the most loving and tolerant of spouses.

Many beliefs unfurl as life, in its continuum, prevails, and with each new chapter in an on-going life experience, your beliefs are modified and adapted to assimilate the new circumstances and situations presented.  It is often the case that when your beliefs are shaken, when the reality that you believed would fix it for you come to be a mere shadow of a yet greater reality to come, you lament that your world is shaken to its foundation and you fear ever believing in anything again.

It has been human experience to lose heart in beliefs such as true love or 50-year marriages or masters degrees or home ownership or debt-free existence or even a God that suits your purposes, to your content.  All these beliefs that fade away in the course of your growing awareness have been valuable in that they have given you impetus and have fleshed out your life's purpose, much like an actor who will assume a part for which he believes he is well suited.

He will learn his lines and find the appropriate props and invite his friends to the opening night and discover with each new performance new subtle ways in which to add depth and caliber to the role he has been given.  His error is that this role is not his life's role but a role he will play until the curtain falls for the last performance and then the role-player must find yet a new role in order to find himself brought again to life, and this, my children, is the case for all human beings, especially those who aspire to play a part in life and not merely sit on the sidelines and watch life happen to other people.

I am here today to encourage you to accept the fact that you, in your relative imperfection, are still in a position of assuming roles to play, those which you largely feel are acceptable to your contemporaries.  Indeed, you can all attend the cast party together and remark to one another about the flaws in the script and the delight in period costume and so forth, but all these words that I have outpoured upon you here have to do with your beliefs which indeed will change and grow and evolve over the course of time and I encourage you to, when the final curtain closes, to not despair of having nothing more to live for, but rather, to audition for yet another part in upholding yourself with a belief in yourself and in your purpose for being here on this stage of life. 

All of these beliefs which you entertain are but stepping stones into your eternal perfection.  Your faith will grow as your old and feeble beliefs give way to greater, more sophisticated, more in-depth beliefs that require more of you than the temporal happily-ever-after scenario.  Your faith will expand as you discover your belief, which is you r own intellectual configuration, be renewed in an evolved and more spiritized interpretation of those beliefs, which you hold dear, and which support you in your life's experiential mode.

As you understand your own beliefs, your need for beliefs, your approach to beliefs, and the understanding that your beliefs, although they may be paralleling others' beliefs are not necessarily the ultimate experience, it is easier then to accept that what another individual believes is true to them is acceptable to you, for you yourself have evolved your own beliefs, as they themselves have evolved their own beliefs in accordance with their own understandings also.

When beliefs are destroyed, it is only to create the opportunity for new and superior beliefs to be born into reality. 

I believe I have spoken enough on beliefs for today.  I understand you have questions of me.  Whether they relate to the lesson or not is inconsequential, for I am delighted to once again be in this position that you allow me as your teacher, and I am appreciative.  And how may I serve you, my friends?

Mrs. L:  I believe last week you touched on something that I would like to review when I can read the transcript, but I was interested.  You were saying something, I think, about not being able to accept your world, and I think that I would like to pursue that, over the weeks, because I don't want to be totally indignant about everything that I see around me, that I feel is undermining my grandchildren's future, and I would like to perhaps understand something about other people's belief system as my own because, for instance, could you help me when I try to understand and not hate the man who runs the Playboy empire?  He has a long Italian name. He's a very …  sort of a … 

Student: Hugh Hefner?

Mrs. L:  No, no.  Not that man.  This is Gukliomo or something.  But these people who run these big conglomerates that prey on the lowest aspects of our society.  I can get very indignant and this is not productive for me, and perhaps for others, I don't know, but I see it as something very non-productive for me to be an indignant person and yet, of course, I have to be honest!  That's my reaction.  I don't like the pornography that I see on television.  I know that there is a channel on television that is full of pornography, and so I would perhaps like to understand the belief system of those people. Could you perhaps tell me, because you probably love these people, because you are so very loving, and yet I certainly don't!

TOMAS: I do not know these people, and yet there are things about all people which are loveable, namely their association with Our Father -- to the extent that that association is viable -- and, indeed, in the potential thereof, as well.   

Your moral indignation is understood from your vantage point of high standards and Jesusonian ideals, but in order for you to find some peace in your heart and stop wasting valuable energy on flailing the air about your distress, if you would heal yourself of this rent in your spiritual garment, you might begin by considering the compassion of an elder sister towards one's siblings who have not had the advantage of being:
 
(a) indwelt by such a clever and experience Thought Adjuster;

(b) of such intellectual endowment as to make those decisions which have kept you yourself out of finding this sort of behavior an entrepreneurial enterprise a viable outlet for your own animalistic tendencies;

(c) further compassion to understand that your self-esteem has been nurtured and regarded in such light as you would find it unworthy of you to reduce your daughtership status to sell out for such shabby crumbs of love and acceptance as is the lot of many, many women and men on Urantia.

(d) I would ask you also to consider economic potential, peer pressure, the lure of ego acknowledgement in one's society and, in perhaps an overall wrap-up, consider the overall problem that much of the old ways of Urantia are falling into disrepair and disrepute as the age of Aquarius rises; the old way is passing away, all things are becoming new, and in the collective unconsciousness, the masses are aware that the old way of fear and grasping is destined to come to a close and in its closure, they are even more desperate for what they can get from what they understand.

(e) And last but not least, daughter and friend, give thanks to Our Father for the love which has been made to emerge and resound between He and ye and allow that love which you know in your heart to rain upon those of lesser fortune.  This will eventuate in your beginning to understand your brothers and sisters.  And, indeed, in coming to understand them, you may come to love them -- at least in sufficient amounts to not disdain your own approach to your fellow beings. 

Have I approached your concern? 

Mrs. L:    That was very, very helpful to me, and may possibly be helpful to others in this group who have expressed sentiments somewhat like my own, and thank you. Thank you very much.

TOMAS:   I am pleased to bring understanding as I may.  I appreciate your putting forth your concerns that we might tear them open to the light of the Son.  Further questions?

Mrs. Ml:  Tomas, I have one.  I was wondering if our prayers are doing any good for those poor souls living in Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Russia and where there's so much hatred and anger and where there's so much death and destruction.  Will it ever end in our time, is what I'm wondering, and is there anything else we can do besides sending our boys over and taking their lives in their hands, and our prayers?

TOMAS: Thank you, my daughter, for your most provocative and challenging question, and I will attempt to respond to you also, that you might find some soul satisfaction in the distressing situation that you have outlined.  I will say that I have no inclination to become embroiled in a political battle and, therefore, I will not get too caught up in patriotism and the like, but I personally find that sending young men into battle is not a solution to any problem. 

If I may digress for a moment, let us say you have a forest fire and the fire rages and you send in firemen to fight the fire, but the fire is such that it continues to burn and consume even the firefighters.  How long, you are asking, will it take for the flame of animosity, injustice and hatred and evil to extinguish itself on Urantia, and what can you do as an individual to alleviate the pain and suffering of those creatures who are in the wake of this roaring, raging fire which is out of control?

The deer and birds will flee in terror, to seek peace outside of these flames, and there is not much you can do but to provide hope for them by keeping your own hope alive, which contributes to the light, the illumination of spiritual reality on Urantia, as abstract and remote and perhaps impersonal an answer as that may be.  I can promise you that the light of the Spirit on Urantia has been endangered by negative forces and we are here to help keep the light alive, to help you keep your lights alive, and we are making progress. We are upholding one another, and more to the point, we have begun to hold hands in a large circle of "Christian fellowship" which has reached around the globe. Do not for one moment think that these people caught in the cross-fire of these political situations, these primitive outbursts of control and authority issues, think not for one moment that they are not aware that millions of people are praying for them, are concerned about them, and that in fact the spiritual energies which are focused on them create a literal pocket of sanctity for them in which they may find comfort.

Remember that when you are stressed, you go to your Father in prayer, and whether it be in time of dire illness or the death of a love done or hunger or famine or plague or want, your soul flickers to the hand of divinity which reaches out to you and you are sustained.  In that moment and in that knowledge of truth you can walk many miles -- cold, hungry and torn -- none-the-less, you are renewed in your courage by that flicker of faith which you have extended to your Creator, your God -- in whom you believe.

Continue then to include all of your brothers and sisters in the spirit and in the flesh in your prayers, in the large and in the specific.  Feel free to send specific prayers to specific individuals across the world in villages you are not even familiar with, but rather picture a child, love that child with Our Father's love, and that child will receive God's love and you may feel a party to its salvation.

There are many, many things on this imperfect planet which bear improving, but there are also many, many things on this planet which could be held up as exemplary of faith sons and daughters.  I would ask you, in order to get to the meat of the problem, to pray most specifically for the tortured and dis-eased souls of those in power, for they are the ones who fan the flames which burn the forests of peace.

Mrs. Ml:   Thank you, Tomas.  Thank you very much.
TOMAS: And thank you for your courage in voicing your concerns.

Mrs. P:  On the 31st of May 1995, my son chose to leave this plane.  Several times in this life, previous to this, he left but decided to return after a few hours of coma. This time he made it final.  There is something nagging at me that wants to know if he's made it across that great expanse into space and if he is as happy now as he was here.

TOMAS: I would request of you, before I respond, to share with me (but briefly) your understanding of your son -- not that I might understand better, but that you might hear yourself understand better who he is.  Tell me.

Mrs. P: I'm not real sure that I've ever nailed him down.  I think he's part of the Godness in the universe in expression.  I think he's been around many times; not necessarily here, and I do know that he had an extremely deep sense of reality and Godness, probably greater than my own, but as to characterization, if that's what you're asking, I have no idea who he was, other than that he came to me by divine appointment and we lived together fifty-two of his fifty-for years.

TOMAS: He has not gone so terribly far, for he was not far removed from whence he came, and he is indeed supremely happy, for his religious growth continues to inspire his growing reality and his God-consciousness.  You, my daughter, already know these things.  I have merely confirmed for you what you have known in your heart.

Mrs. P:  Then he IS around here.
TOMAS: Well….
Mrs. P:  In a spiritual sense.

TOMAS: 'Here' is a relative phrase, for we get into the entanglements of time and space.  In broaching reality, it is not necessary to go far in the flesh to go far in the spirit, and it is his spirit that we are referencing, for he has discarded his mortal tabernacle, and so the distance required for his next -- shall we say 'portrayal of reality' is just around the corner.

Mrs. P:  I understand.  He keeps coming from crazy places and I know he's there.
TOMAS: You will meet again.

My children, we have had a double feature again.  The capacity of your beings enlarged with each week, but it is not my intent nor purpose to tire you unnecessarily, but rather to stimulate and encourage your path of ascension.  In some of these studies of the text you minds are bedazzled with truths and concepts, and then I come along with my analogies of cultural events and so forth, and indeed the feast of plenty enlarges to the point of total satiation.  If indeed we are full, I will depart.  I will pause a moment for you and I to sense if we have attained completion for this afternoon.

Mrs. Ml:  Tomas, one of your students is not present but she did present several questions.  Perhaps you can answer one of them today.

TOMAS: I am willing if you are willing.  Select one.

Mrs. Ml:  Last night on a television show, we saw the stations coming in from Europe and it was very shocking -- total nudity and pornography.  I thought U.S. television was getting wild, but it seemed okay to the rest of the world, Japan even.  So is the United States and myself that puritanical? Or do we just have hang-ups about the body or is this a statement of the decay of civilization?  Is there a lesson the world is supposed to learn?

TOMAS: Indeed, it does fit in with the earlier question, but only up to a point, for this is again a provocative question not unlike the other but reflecting upon beliefs, reflecting more closely upon your beliefs than the earlier question, and I am happy to expound somewhat and confess to you that, yes, your cultural mores are in your worlds rather puritanical, and the evidence of nudity and pornography are in great part a counter-balance to the prudery which is a cultural inheritance from the monarchy.

The human body is not in and of itself an object to induce shame.  Indeed, the creation of the physical being is a miracle of creation, a work of art -- exquisite in its manufacture, and delightful in its variation.  That your culture is so prurient, forces the natural swing of the human creature to peek and streak and lure in other avenues, and I could say that much of this decadence is the fault of those high-brows who find that even nursing infants in public is a shameful and sexual, therefore loathsome, act.

Yes, your country is Victorian in its approach to sexuality.  The sex act, even in its naturalistic flavor, is not loathsome or crude; it is the beliefs of many centuries of mores, which have resulted in this very unbalanced situation today in your culture.  Even in the European cultures (as compared to more tribal countries), the appreciation for lasciviousness as recreation is more honest and therefore less noticeable.

When, let us say, prohibition came into existence it was unsuccessful in spite of the efforts to keep [liquid] spirits quelled for moral purposes.  The same is true for sexuality and nudity.  If it were approached as a natural and healthy endowment of mortal beings, rather than an enjoyment that should not be enjoyed for the sake of enjoyment (which must be wrong because it is enjoyable), we would not be suffering many of these illnesses today which, I might add, include an abnormal amount of incest and disgrace upon the many mighty cathedrals and institutions of religion for indiscretions relating to a very abnormal imbalance of appreciation for that which is natural.  I am not eliminating, either, the story of the fig leaf, which somehow puts to shame the private parts of persons who have somehow caused displeasure to some believed-in God.

I hope I have not ruffled any feathers here this afternoon with this response, but I am, even so, glad to have had the opportunity to point out that this moral value judgment serves no purpose in Our Father's Kingdom, and it does contribute to alienating brothers and sisters in the flesh through misunderstanding of true value.  Anything further?

Mrs. McD:   Tomas, while we're on the subject of sexuality, I wonder if you would comment on what is the purpose of homosexuality?

TOMAS: What is the purpose of a robin?
Mrs. McD: The cosmic purpose of homosexuality.

TOMAS: Yes, and I ask you, what is the purpose of birds?  What is the purpose of potatoes?  All things are not necessarily for a purpose.  Are you inferring that the purpose of a woman is to have children and that the purpose of a man is to provide an income?  The purpose of anything is in its being.  You are asking perhaps how is homosexuality justified in a heterosexual society?

Mrs. McD: No, I don't mean to justify it.  I have no problem with it.  I was just wondering.  Heterosexuality has an obvious purpose of procreation.  I was just wondering why … why is it that it happens to certain souls?  I just don't understand why that manifests.  I mean there must e a purpose or a reason, I think.  I mean, this is not a judgment on homosexuality.  I don't see anything wrong with it.  I just don't see any reason for it, either, in a cosmic sense.

TOMAS: Well, I will attempt to respond by reminding you all that throughout your eternal career, part of your experience will be to adapt to other human beings, other entities, as you as ascend along with them.  The purpose, in those terms, of the six colored races includes the learning to accept and appreciate the differences in the races and the same is true for the various sexual preferences or inclinations of individuals.  There are also many asexual and bisexual personalities that are more readily assimilated into society's mores.

Throughout your career you will encounter air breathers, water breathers, two-brain types, three-brain types, those from decimal planets, those from normal planets, those from planets settled in light and life.  Infinite variety of colorful renditions of humankind and ascending spirit-kind will titillate you and entertain and stymie you and confuse you for eons to come.  This is part of the delight of creation and most certainly in your phraseology, my friend, I would be careful for one could say, what is the purpose of Mrs. McD and cause untold pain.  We are all here for a purpose, that purpose being to express our Creator and to aspire to be more perfect, like Him.

Student: Tomas, before you leave, would you tell us if you've seen Christ Michael recently and what has he been doing, because you know him even more intimately that we do, of course.

TOMAS: I have indeed seen Him, even today.  He has been among us here today and I smile when I hear you assume that I know Him even more intimately than you do, for you presume too little of your own intimate association with your Teacher/ Father/ Brother/ Michael when you assume he loves (knows) me better, for he loves you equally and knows you as intimately.  I, like you, adore Michael.  I am only a few rungs up the ladder from where you are and he reaches to all of us and walks with all of us in equanimity as we are able to absorb, appreciate, comprehend and assimilate his truth, beauty and goodness to us.  One moment.

MICHAEL: Beloved sons and daughters, I am Michael, your Friend.  I have come to sit with you for a moment and stroke my lambs, my flock.  How gentle you are to me today in your repose, in your humble obeisance to my shepherd, Tomas.  You also are my shepherds in growing.  You will also carry the staff of life with you as you walk the hills in search of your sheep.  In calling to that sheep who has wandered away from our fold, be gentle with my lambs, you who are my lambs.

Student:  Tomas told us how to achieve a more loving attitude towards some of those (with whom) we have differences, and it was very helpful, and I was wondering if you could tell us about the way you've been looking down on us in all of our shenanigans.

MICHAEL: I look to you with love only.  I am not prepared nor do I want to chide you or chastise you in your growth today.  You do well.

Student:  Michael, we heard that if we could be but more simple, we could perhaps even see you now, since you are so much closer to us here on Urantia, and I wanted to ask you if any of our fellows here have seen you, even if it's been just a very brief impression.

Another:  I must say thank you, Michael, for having come here and touched each one of us physically on our backs or shoulders.  That was great, and this chair was here for a reason.

MICHAEL: Precious ones, I have indeed presented myself to you all and you all have responded to me.  You have in your heart seen me.  In time you will see me even more, and you are beginning to see the Father through me, and in yourselves.  I visit you, indeed, as the thief in the night.  Not while you hold yourself in supplication of my being, but in your trust of my being.  As you pass by, as you go about doing good in your own way, I go with you, and surely you shall glimpse me in the spirit and in the eyes and hearts of those we touch.  Peace be upon you, my children.  Adieu.

TOMAS: I am Tomas for one final remark before we put this to bed for the afternoon.  I am appreciative of the many meaty remarks that were brought to the circuits this afternoon in your questions, for they each brought to the table the beliefs that you have wrapped around yourselves and your fellows.  Look at your beliefs to determine how these value judgments and these behavior patterns relate to the pure affection of divinity which we are admonished to carry through in our daily doings.

Review your week now with occasional insight into what is a belief and how has that belief served you and how will you survive as that belief system is replaced by superior knowledge, wisdom and justice.

Deep affection I leave with you and commendations on your courage.  Let me also say in parting that I have been with many of you this past week, in your grappling with acceptance and we have, some of us, made great progress.  I look forward to our continued work together, play together, and indeed, camaraderie throughout eternity.  Farewell. 

*****

DATE:    January 27, 1996
LOCATION:    Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R:    Gerdean

TEXTUAL STUDY:
Urantia Paper 102, Foundations of Religious Faith
1. Assurance of Faith
2. Religion and Reality
3. Knowledge, Wisdom and Insight
4. The Fact of Experience

TEACHER SESSION :
Human Character

[Sub-topics: fundamentalist stance; character assessments; inadequate parenting; "walk-in" concept; cursing/prayer; Super Bowl]

TOMAS:   Good afternoon.
Group:   Good afternoon, Tomas.
TOMAS: I am Tomas, your teacher, and I greet you this afternoon in fullness of heart and in anticipation of spirit enlargement. I welcome also our visitor and hope that your experience here can be regarded as, yes, a personal religious experience for you. Let me first commend this group on its developing unity. This afternoon's study session shows us great promise in your ability to function as a unit of diverse individuals in one accord in ascending to higher planes of reality existence and manifestation.
This afternoon, my dear friends, I would like to venture into the realms of human character. In the lesson last week we spent some time discussing lower planes of behavior and the more animalistic manifestations of unity and frolic, and I am well aware that a quiet judgment is rendered in certain contexts and I would like then, today, to follow up somewhat, and yet also introduce a new subject, for character is that which we aspire toward.
Michael himself manifested a unified personality, a mature character, and as you in your lives aspire to be more Godlike, let me then discuss that quality of character which you may comport and sustain as your own growing quality of reality. For starters, it is true that your inheritance as animal beings mightily stirs and influences your potential for character, and as you are educated and nurtured in loving environment and harmonious circumstances, your character develops naturally.
However, in those situations wherein those assets are unavailable or relative, the character of the evolving mortal is stunted. This is not to say that character cannot be developed, even in one whose upbringing and background has not provided those circumstances which afford you the fertile soil for character development, and it is through your experiences and your reflection on your experiences which proceed to develop true character.
When I say "character" I pause to define somewhat my term and will use as an example your adage when you encounter someone with a vivid personality, a colorful aspect, "What a character!" and this may be true, but this does not mean that the individual has depth of character, which must be developed. Indeed, sonship/daughtership is a gift but it must be fostered.  That is, your career must be fostered through the development of human character.

You recall the morontia mota, which bespeaks that 'cleverness is no substitute for character', and that human individuals are often clever and creative, but lacking in true character.  I am now earnest in laying before you that a lack of character or an absence of a well-developed character is not a cause for you to assail the personality of the individual who has, by your standards, a lesser character, for your work has enabled you to develop that acme of personality traits which makes you whole and trustworthy.
Consider, rather, the soil from which this plant has grown. Has it been nurtured in mire and despair? In which case its character may be tending toward gnarly, survival instincts. Has it been grown in a protected hothouse where it has been protected from the vagaries of the elements? Has this character been developed at all? And if not, why not? Is it because they languish in fear or in poor self-esteem? And so I say, do not disdain the individual who lacks strength of character, nor regard yourself as superior, for the superior character finds compassion for those who have yet far to go in their accessibility and assurance of happiness.
What do we mean by character? A characteristic of character is "immature personality" and so perhaps a paradox. How can a child have a mature personality? Well, herein is the rub, the effort, the assignment -- to garner the truth of that paradox -- and through your childlikeness, allow yourself to be reared by your Eternal Parents into those experiences which will give you the fodder for fostering and digesting those lessons of life which will contribute to your character.
An aspect of character in the mature individual can be found in the Urantia Book in the reference to Michael's character, wherein he sought balance in himself by being unique but not eccentric, and in other ways. Also, regarding character in others, he sought to instill balance, to avoid extremes of behavior, to be moderate in his bearing and in his tolerance.
Your group here, my pupils, sons and daughters of our living God, you have each professed a desire to become more Godlike and yet what is Godlike? It is not perfection at the expense of others. It is not self-sufficiency in your social interchanges. It is, indeed, your character association with other characters in character associations. The wise being always looks at the immature being with an attitude of parental tolerance and kindness, and so those of you who are developing character will also develop an attitude of forbearance for those of your siblings who have work yet to assault in their own development of character.

Let me also point out that character is not something you set out to do through an act of will. It is not like going on a diet, where you discipline yourself into thinness, but rather it is the development within the soul of the human being that finds nurturance from that which is wholesome and satisfying. This reality is developed through your own choices, through your own reflection of your own behaviors, attitudes, beliefs and so forth.
I am reminded of my brother Welmek's picturization of character wherein he equates personality as a Christmas tree and the ornaments on the tree as character.  On a mature tree you will find poise and grace in personality manifestation. In a scraggly tree, which has weathered the beatings of many storms and has grown in barren soil to have but a semblance of character, you may find its ornaments gaudy with baubles which are designed to camouflage the crookedness and scarcity of the tree.
And so, look to your ornaments. Look to your personality manifestation of your true character. How are you adorned? And upon what substance do you hang your manifestations of Godlikeness? Return now to character and allow your own character to flourish by giving yourself permission to ask for counsel and direction into those realms which will bring forth the fruits of deepened character.
Now, when I say to go into these experiences and, through your education and reflection, develop character, I will also include those experiences which you have long since had and remember -- and even some experiences which you do not remember, which are your early conditioning -- which have affected your character and not always to your best interests. Thus, do not hesitate to go into your reservoir of memory experience and reflect upon those situations and incidents and conditionings which have helped develop the character which you parade around in today, and ascertain if these are aspects of character which you want to continue to regard as noble and good.
It is certainly no shame to discover flaws in your character, for what mortal has been reared in a perfect environment? None! And so we begin this correcting of the personality, the character, so that in splicing your plant, in transplanting your tree, in pruning your branches, it will be natural and easy then to allow yourself to be fertilized and watered, that you may begin to grow new leaves and fresh buds for eventual flowering.

This is a human conscious undertaking and yet it is an undertaking which, as I have said, is not done by a simple act of the will. It is not a magic wand that you wave and say, "I have now developed character," for character is a growth process and even the wise personality with depth of character can benefit from a continual review of those conditionings from the past and from the present influences of this terrestrial environment, to come out the wiser and the cleaner and the kinder, more well-balanced personality that you would be, in your delight to commingle with those beings of personality ascension who also radiate joy and good cheer and mota.
So, now, my dear friends -- and I am beginning to feel more like your friend as we work together more closely -- I am eager to continue our rapport and our developing understanding of one another, and in the process you are learning to understand and love one another even more, and so I will open this forum for your involvement. Are there any questions?
Mrs. M:      Well, I have a question as usual. But Tomas,  -- coming from this, almost this fundamentalist stance from where I came --I had developed a really not helpful attitude which was... well, of course you know what the fundamentalists say: we're so terrible that you can't do anything about it. They call it "plead the blood" and so you just have to say, "Well, Jesus is going to save me and I know I'm rotten," and so that's the place.
And in reading these recent things by Ham, it was just a revelation to me and very exciting about the ideas that we should not be nit-picking ourselves, so I was remembering a person in history that I thought in our Western consciousness came very close to trying to improve his character. My son John pointed out to me Ben Franklin, who had a sort of a system. It's the only time that I heard of a system that sounded as if it had any promise to it at all, which was, good old Ben would write down a few things that he wanted to develop and then he would concentrate on one of them for about, I think, three weeks and he felt that he had improved in some way and of course he wrote a lot of wise old saws anyway.  But I was sort of impressed by that system. Would that have any relationship to the method you're talking about?
TOMAS: My dear, you are quite astute, for this is very much the system that I am introducing also, for if you will consider, we recently discussed acceptance. Does that then mean that before the next week arrives you have all mastered acceptance? Certainly not. But it is something that you have spent a moment considering.   We also discussed beliefs and how your personal beliefs may or may not coincide with truth or with the beliefs of those with whom you associate. Does this mean that you have identified all of your false beliefs and have become perfect in your faith? No, but it does indicate that it is something that is registered deep within your mind that, in time, you may begin to perceive as being fruitful.

And so today, as we discuss character, I do not expect three quarters of you to arrive next week with full-fledged mature characters, yet it is an ambition that we may hold up for future accomplishment as we grow together.  Indeed, the practice of nit-picking and belittling oneself's reactions, oneself's behaviors, is not necessarily productive, although a certain amount of reflection is a wise technique to use in uncluttering the path to the attic.

Mrs. Ml:  Tomas?
TOMAS:   Yes?
Mrs. Ml: I have a question. During your talk you said something about -- I will use the word "a person with AVERAGE character" is not to look down on a person who has a weaker character. Now does that mean that they would be tolerant with that person or that they would be patient with them or are they being judgmental?
TOMAS:  As I understand your question, I perceive that both patience and tolerance still leave room for some sense of superiority, but I will not require you to stand in the corner over that, for there are truths there.
The ability of the human being to assay the characteristics of his or her peers is nebulous at best, and yet it is necessary for the human mind to adapt to these personalities and so a certain amount of assessment is necessary, for no one here that I have met yet has attained that level of unconditional love which will assimilate all humankind without some mental/ intellectual/ emotional criticism, if only in order to understand them better - and understanding, of course, is an aspect of the mind. When that is coupled with an understanding from the heart, then the assimilation of that personality into your heart's delight is more possible.
This is an aspect of acceptance, for it is not your responsibility or your fault that individuals are the way they are. You only need to accept them as they are and if they are not endearing to your heart, then do not allow them in, but if they are endearing to your deep heart, your learned love techniques from your developed character, then you will know how to place them in your life that they may receive your love but their behaviors are set aside as objectionable according to your assessment.

Mrs. Ml:   That was a beautiful lesson.  Thank you.
TOMAS:   Thank you for your question, and for your quest.

Dr. B:   Tomas, I want to bring up a situation. I'm not sure what question I want to ask about this, but this Tuesday I have to go to court and two people most likely will have three of their children taken off of them permanently and they'll never be able to see them again. And right now I feel — I don't have any particular feelings about it, but probably on Tuesday I'll have a lot of different feelings, and the problem is that there seems to be no resolution to this because it's gone on for several years, and part of the problem is both of the parents are … not retarded, but they're near retarded. They're borderline. And therefore, no matter how much therapy they are sent for -- and I have worked with them a long time -- but no matter what you do, they can't get some of the insight, and so it's going to be an extreme punishment, especially to the woman, because they're going to lose them -- more because of the man's actions … and he had a terrible, horrific childhood -- and abused -- and it just seems like there is no answer to this because on one hand maybe the children can suffer - maybe! - on the other hand definitely the parents will, and there's no way to . . . doesn't seem to be a way to make them be able to do whatever the courts want.
And I'm not even sure -- in one way I'd like to ask for some kind of guidance for on Tuesday because I have no idea really on how to handle this. Not that I'm making a judgment but, … it's a society problem.
TOMAS:  Indeed, it is a society problem, and in this case it would seem you are "it" in-as-much as you are the facet of society which is being responsible about a situation that shows no happy outcome. It is the mature society, indeed, which has the strength of character to deal with these problematic situations which affect society. This is part of the maturity of the race and the maturity of the race is comprised of the maturity of the individuals. The circumstance which you outlined is a case of immaturity and inadequacy to effectively parent, and parenting is, as you know, one of the fulcrum experiences of the human existence, therefore the religious experience of existence. And the sad commentary here is [tape turned; some lost]. 
Let me continue.  In our association here together we have had certain indications of discourse along the lines of mature parenting, that is, individuals who have the character to become responsible parents to new human life, and that situation is a downdraft in your world today, in your culture.  That sentimentally allows for the propagation of the race without forethought as to the future of these individuals who become embroiled in this kind of unfortunate situation which now tugs at the hearts of all who behold the tragedy of three children being severed from their parents .

I would ask you to set aside your ideal of home life and regard the fact of the matter, which is, apparently, that these people have not finished parenting themselves adequately to devote the energy, time, resources and love necessary to develop the environment which will enable these children to develop even rudimentary character.  It is "too late for tears", but I also appreciate that in even saying thus I myself am hard pressed to relinquish the ideal, and especially in the situation where it is your dubious duty to attend to these personalities in emotional distress.
If you ascertain in your deep heart (and this is personal to you), if you discern in your heart that a Thought Adjuster is resident and active, focus your energy on that Thought Adjuster and disallow the excessive emotional tumult, for you will be unnecessarily drawn into the quagmire of despair which you will encounter. Therefore, daughter, I am suggesting you have tremendous strength of character to withstand this event. I have one other remark. One moment. (Long pause) That is all.

Mrs. B:  Tomas?
TOMAS:   Yes.

Mrs. B: That can be applied--  Can that not be applied to dealing with any stressful situation that has circumstances that are emotional? Many of us deal with the public and it's--  I found that [to be] a very valuable answer because you are addressing their Thought Adjuster, which is something that gets out-shouted almost all the time. What about ... well, never mind. I just wanted to thank you for that clarification if that is where we are addressing our decision.
TOMAS:  Let me respond. I do not mean for you all to take that situation as a blanket answer to all of life's situations. I specifically addressed the question-asker in that context, for in response now to your inquiry, your soul expression, if you were to eliminate yourself from all emotional situations and ignore the surrounding colorations of the circumstance, you would be denying yourself of the experience, for it is in the human aspects that the experience is had.
I have heard, for example, the phrase "walk in" and I have no patience with that concept, for how can your life be real and enriched if you either forfeit it or just pass through without any viable substance to it? It is in the experience, and that involves the spirit, the heart, the gut, the animal, the divine, the intellect, the mind, the emotion, the full nine yards, in order for you to develop as a human being and subsequently as a soul.

And so do not mistake one situation for another, for the experience of life involves emotions, and it is hardly fair to be so selective in your experiences that you will only take the good feelings and deny the uncomfortable emotions of time and space as being too troublesome to incorporate. It is all for your learning.
Now, let me lighten up a little bit and say that, yes, probably there are some personalities, speckled like pepper throughout your life, which you haven't time for, that you find are certainly tertiary to your personal growth.  And it is not required that you reach out and envelop every single mortal you encounter and, like stray puppies, bring them home to your heart and soul and hope to nurture them back to health, to spiritual health, and then send them on their way 'tails-a-wagging,' no. But I offer this commentary as a response to you, to consider the full range of potential human experiences and not to eliminate the emotional aspects of your interchanges with humanity just because they may be troublesome.
Mrs. B:   Thank you.
Mrs. McD:  I have a question on the walk-in or walk-through business. I encountered an individual, very powerfully spiritual-energy person that delivered what I consider now a package deal and I understood -- had been told it was some information that was very important to me. At the time I didn't know what it was and probably still don't know the whole picture, but this individual was then different later. It was not the same personality. I believe that was a walk-through or a walk-in. I've been told the name of that individual that delivered that energy package of knowledge.
TOMAS:  You have told me that you believe this, and who am I to say that your belief is incorrect? I will say that I, Tomas, do not believe it. And that is not to say that you must believe me either, for I, like you and like your friend, are only associations. I would throw out, just for expression sake, that there are days that you are not yourself either. That there are days when you thrill to the truth of spirit and are infinitely lighter and more joyous and there are times when you plod along and barely keep your head above water, and this is the case with all humanity.
I am inclined to express that just because you are impressed by a strong phenomenon-type thing, does not necessarily make it true. The urge to go somewhere or do something or be someone is not necessarily the will of God. It is your free will, however, to take what you like and use it and promulgate it even as you feel this is your belief, but it is not required that others accept it. This is what free will is all about.

And thirdly, I would, my girl, ask you to consider the power of charisma which is very leading in its delivery. Like an actor who is giving his lines/her lines, the emotional or mental message may be very powerful and you walk away from the scene believing that Scarlet O'Hara will indeed pick up the torch tomorrow, but this is not necessarily truth. That is for your discernment. And if you discern, today, that this situation exists, I am not going to pull it out from under you. I am finished.
Mrs. McD:   Well, I discern that on another level there is no difference … that walk-in body.  There's only one. But still, as we perceive it, there was message delivered and it was not by verbal or acting or human intention, it didn't seem. It was very unusual in our experience.
TOMAS:  Yes, and this is the experience of each of us here and hopefully, with even deeper developed character, our words will have such profound effects on people they will wonder if we have not just rung a bell in their head, and this is marvelous, for these impressions give us excitement in the mental realms and occasionally strike so deep as to create harmony in the soul and harmony, as you well know, resounds all the way to Paradise. And so, these moments of insight collection from individuals may be profound and have effects. This is also possible with anyone, even though they "walk in" their own bodies.
Student:   Tomas, at another time -- not during the course of the meeting, but at another time would you expound further on the subject of ... well, it would be in subjects related to what you've just been talking about, because there's some people at the table that are not following your conversation as well as others. Are some people in their reach deluded and accept a concept that makes them feel more comfortable? Can that be part of what some people are entertaining?
TOMAS:  I can only ascertain what someone is entertaining if they entertain it with me; therefore, my response is, as always as your teacher, I will address the need of that individual who addresses me. Hopefully, in the over-all, I am addressing those needs generically to you as a group which will instigate and inspire the kinds of dialog which we are having here, which will enable you to grow as individuals, me to grow as a teacher, and we to grow as a teacher base in Correcting Time in this Teaching Mission under the banner of Michael of Nebadon.

The vernacular which is a large part of this day and age, as a result of the circuits opening and individuals finding shards of truth from every corner, it is a testimony to the spiritual hunger which has long awaited food from some viable source, and when there is no substance, the hungry seeker will accept crumbs on the way to fullness. All of the revelation and whatnot that you are receiving since the circuits are open, are in some degree distorted. I have explained already that even my words and concepts will be somewhat distorted by the transmitter/receiver who allows herself to be "vulnerable" to my promptings. This is true because we are dealing with the human being.
In your travels, when you hear "a zinger" that strikes a chord in your soul, that feeds your hungry appetite for truth, you will take it and be in praise of that source. Let me remind you that all these sources of food are not for adulation but the food itself is what nourishes you, and so take the truths, assimilate them into you until such time as the greater, broader, deeper, more expanded truth comes along to fill out those areas of your developing soul which fatten you.  Anything further?
Mrs. M:  Are you going to any Super Bowl parties, Tomas? (Group laughter) You know, we're all a little crazy in Pittsburgh now, starting just after you leave today.
Mrs. P: For the next 48 hours.
Mrs. Ml:  He'll be checking in on some of us.
TOMAS:  If you are of a mind to open yourself to spiritual energies, someone certainly will come to call, but by and large during these cultural melees (group laughter) the only spirit prevailing is that embedded in the early, early aspects of worship which have degenerated into the modern curse words and so if you say, "Jesus Christ!" it is not necessarily that Michael will come to call. You will appreciate my attempt at humor. (Laughter)
Mrs. L:  I do appreciate your attempt at humor, but I think that some of us do catch ourselves up short when we hear that language which we, most of us, have partaken of to a certain extent. I think we do deplore it, most of us here, although we find ourselves engaging in it perhaps from time to time.
TOMAS: It is truly your primitive urge to worship coming out and it is a very dusty leftover from your early ages and those words today are hardly a comparison to the ways that you have learned to call upon your God, our Creator, and therein you might give yourself some viability as having developed huge amounts of character since those early days.

Mrs. M:  You know, today though, when they use God's name like that, I think a lot of people don't really mean it in that sense. They could say, "Oh, damn!" or something else. I mean, it's just a way of expressing something, like you say, but they were probably programmed that way a long time ago.
TOMAS:   Indeed.
Mrs. H:  It's a sign of a limited vocabulary.
Mrs. M: I mean that's the way we think about it when we hear people use a lot of profanity, that their vocabulary is limited.

TOMAS:   I myself have been known to say, "Oh, Christ!"
Mrs. M: But did you mean it sincerely?  Or were you just--
TOMAS: Totally sincerely.
Mrs. M: Well, that's different.

TOMAS:  "Oh, Christ, how can I be in this situation? What am I going to do?"
Group:  (Affirmations)
Mrs. Ml:  That makes it sound better.
TOMAS:   That is a prayer.

Mrs. McD:   Isn't that reaching higher, actually? In speaking the name? Whether we are aware of it or not?

Mrs. L: When we speak his name we should mean it! Not just use it for a slang expression.
Mrs. McD: You missed my point.

TOMAS:  Prayer words spoken without feeling are only words and are not prayers. Whether it be in the recitation of a litany or in a common curse, it is meaningless without feeling.

Mrs. Ml: Tomas, that's one thing that I have learned from reading the Papers and everything, and that is that you have to be sincere in your love, sincere in your actions. If you're not sincere, it doesn't count.

TOMAS:  I have a very fine lesson on sincerity scheduled for later in the season. (Group chuckle)

Mrs. M: Have you been aware of how much we have enjoyed the lessons about the symphony? We are constantly referring to that lesson. I think it made a good deep impression on our human minds and also the wonderful lessons of the past few weeks, so this is a good chance for me to say, I think on behalf of most of us, they were very special and wonderful and thank you.

Group: Thank you.

TOMAS:  Thank you, daughter, and thank you, class. I accept your compliment. I will tell my boss that you like me as a teacher, and let me say that in this kind of growth which we have undergone and which is beginning to manifest in such wondrous days as today's gathering, we are becoming united as a spiritual family and the words which we use, oftentimes words which were discussed in our question/answer session and in the teachings themselves, become the dialog, the vernacular, which we understand as our own culture and which are readily available to you to take out into your world to use as seed-planting efforts in your world. It is not always necessary to use the common spiritual jargon. It is often beneficial to resort to parables or analogies such as the symphony, which will resound in the hearts of even the unbeliever. Thank you.

Mrs. M:  Before you leave Tomas, from your vantage point, can you see what the result of the Super Bowl game will be? (Uproarious group laughter)  I'm not asking WHAT it will be, I'm just asking if you can see.

TOMAS:   I cannot.

Mrs. M:  I remember reading some of the transcripts from Buffalo and I think that one of the gentlemen were put down rather sweetly when he wanted to know.

TOMAS: I can see that the Super Bowl is infringing even into our environment here today, and let me say it is with gladness that I relinquish you to your festivities, for we have had a true feast of plenty this afternoon. Your minds have been well fed on the subject matter contained in your textbook and our discourse today has left me satisfied for now.

And so, my dear students, my dear associates in the gospel, let me relinquish you with the admonition to ponder your character and to observe the character of your peers with compassion.

Until we meet again, I and my fellow teachers and the celestial overseers who observe and stand in the bleachers rooting for your team, bid you a good afternoon.

Group:  (Laughter, applause)

*****

DATE:     February 4, 1996
LOCATION:  Pittsburgh, PA USA
T/R:     Gerdean

TEXTUAL STUDY:
Urantia Paper 102: The Foundations of Religious Faith
5. The Supremacy of Purposive Potential
6. The Certainty of Religious Faith
7. The Certitude of the Divine
8. The Evidence of Religion

TEACHER SESSION:
RINGING THE TRUTH BELL
Relativity of Perfection
Sexual Identity of Children
Group Schisms = Growth
Preparation for Tribulation

TOMAS :   Good afternoon,
Group:   Good afternoon, Tomas.

TOMAS:  Dear students, loyal family, I am again honored to be in your presence and to assist you in your endeavors to attain a reality in yourselves, individually, which will bring peace to your systems and which will harmonize with your fellows, to the end that we will know peace on Urantia in the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual planes.

My words to you today are a reflection of the bell that you ring in preparation for this teaching format. The clarity of divinity in its purest, as it is known in the Central Isle of Paradise, rings t rue and clear, and as it, diffuses out into the evolving worlds, its resonance is fainter and fainter until it evaporates into infinity. In that tone -- not in the beginning and not in the ending -- you find yourselves in the reality which prevails on Urantia today.

In other words, you are not in the remote realms of space (which discerns not spiritual light and resonance); neither are you in the heart of the bell (in the Center of Havona), but in your relative position in your local universe. And thus it is in this relative state where we meet, and mingle. My comrades, I would speak a moment on this relative aspect which has caused some consternation among many who have found the concept of perfection to ring true in their deep heart, that the relative condition of their spirituality might be suspect.

The sound of the First Source is so pure as to be incomprehensible to the finite beings that you are here; but, again, you are not so remote as to be in total darkness, devoid of music. How else can you be, but relative? -- relative perfection / relative imperfection.

The adage to "be perfect even as the Father in Heaven is perfect" infers the perfection attainment capable of finite beings. It is not expected that your perfection levels attain ultimate levels of reality, but relative realities, which will enable you to function within your framework of time and space.

That aspect of divinity which indwells you, that aspect of perfection which is your destiny, is from the Original I AM Perfect Source, but even Its perfection is suspended as it seeks to conjoin with you, and so your reality develops. Let me address this dual nature of the mortal being, for this is the challenge of your experiential existence, your birthright.

You are born into a material existence from the physical realms and so you are of animal origin.  And with this origin you inherit all those factors of evolutionary life which have gone before you.  And you have a certain vested interest in life as it has evolved on your planet, since this history is the background upon which you stand -- the scaffolding, if you will, that has enabled you to stand upright, to reason, to communicate and to feel the pull from Paradise which will generate that growth in you which will enable you to ascend the ladder of divinity attainment to ultimate eventual merging with your Indwelling Spirit and so bring into being a full-fledged spirit personality capable of perfection in Infinity.

The adventure is in the attainment. And so, my friends, it is philosophically replete to say that you are perfect, as long as you understand that this is relative perfection, relative to this moment. In growth there is change, there is, hopefully, evolution and nearer-ness to divinity, and so your relative perfection becomes higher as you grow, as you make those decisions which will enable you to experience the next realm of relative divinity attainment.

It is, however, highly beneficial to Urantians who have been held back by the traditions and fears of your mortal/animal legacy, held back into feelings of inferiority or powerlessness, it is beneficial to understand the angle of perfection possibility. It is indeed part of our work to encourage you to acknowledge that aspect within yourself which hails from divinity and to recognize that spark of divinity in your fellows, for this potential-actual encourages you to become more than what you were. It helps you rise above the legacy of "miserable sinners", "dust", etc. -- those terms which belittle faith sons and daughters, under which much of your planet still suffers.

And so this concept of "you are perfect" has some merit, but it must not. stop there, for in the acknowledgement of your perfection attainment, what is there yet to strive for? And the exciting truth is that the growth process, the adventure of finding God, the challenge of discovering God, the garden of God, is ever-expanding, ever-illuminating, ever-luring you into yet new and unrevealed realities of divinity attainment.

Also problematic in the attitude of having already attained divinity is the unfortunate approach then to your peers who have not attained this pinnacle of enlightenment, for it then subjects you to a superior attitude toward those with whom you might engage in meaningful fellowship. The concept of having already attained perfection diminishes the need/desire/privilege to engage in merciful ministry. It also lacks in humility.

I am not conveying these concepts today to be obstreperous or to undermine beliefs of many.  I am hoping to expand upon a concept which is in vogue today and which has tremendous worth, for this concept (and I will testify to its presentation in "A Course in Miracles") has a way of pulling Christianity into the fourth dimension where it belongs, and so I would join those proponents of the marriage of the concepts in the Course with the revelation of The Urantia Book as being a significant supplemental scaffolding to help bridge the gap between the East and the West.

I need to, however, interweave the philosophies and ideologies of the fifth epochal revelation to this important work, "A Course in Miracles." It is my hope today, in making these remarks, to inculcate great relative truths -- for even the truths in The Urantia Book are relative to your evolution and awareness.  In respect to your evolution on Urantia as evolving beings, there will be other, later revelations (and I will add, parenthetically, that it has been garnered that a new planet has been discovered, and this is testimony to the growth of your world even since the publication of this book, "The Urantia Book."  And so you see a forward-moving march of ages is already ongoing and assimilating the major truths of living reality across the globe.

Still much work is required, and herein is the proposition: that those various ideologies which would seem to be different, rather, stand shoulder-to-shoulder in support of those truths which will enable this world to become united in its ascension toward greater perfection. An army of Celestial Overseers are in support of all truth seekers, truth beacons. The competition which seems to betray you is "illusion" which you have taken upon yourself as a "belief".

The incorporation of the truths of ascending divinity make for enhanced truth revelation, and incorporate then more and more individuals into this advancing army of believers in the living, loving reality of divinity. It is in the experiencing that the truths of old are made real, and which will carry you and us into tomorrow's realms, not the crystallized and traditionalized truths of yesterday which serve as intellectual fodder for further divisiveness and separation among the children of God.

In concluding my more formal outpouring for the day, I remind you that we are launched on a new era, the tender years of the era of light and life, and in order to attain the greater good, it is desirous that the relative truth of divinity be assimilated over the fossilized truths of the intellect.  Our Master, Michael, has requested that all his children be brought together, a circle of friends, a family of man, believers in his mercy and the divine love of the Eternal. The divisiveness of secularism must not be brought into this New Age of Light and Life.

Of course it will, because we/you are only relatively perfect, but we do have our goals which unite us and the love of God t o sustain us and comfort us in our mutual process of perfection attainment and experiential growth.  May I hear from you, my students?

Mrs. M:   I wanted to thank you for commenting on the Course in Miracles so very much. I also have found great happiness in a little hook called "God Calling" and perhaps you have bumped into it in your celestial bumping around.  And possibly at a time appropriate to your plan, would you also care to make a comment about it because it is very powerful, I believe, for me, and so I was just wanting to mention it to you, Tomas, because your mentioning A Course in Miracles is just great and I know several of the others here do, too.

TOMAS:   "God Calling" is a delightful reference in many respects, a gift to those who would sit at the feet of the Great Friend.  And excepting the few references to certain Christian beliefs, it is alive and well and fostering that relationship between the Teacher and the listener which is precisely what our encouragement into Stillness represents today -- that discourse with our Father/ Brother Michael which brings the impersonal God into your home, into your life and into your daily trials, giving you strength, comfort, sustenance and so forth. This, too, is a delightful reference, which you may edit to your satisfaction.

Mrs. M:  I had a question about -- something I talked about a couple weeks ago. I've been thinking about it and it's clarified itself for me and I wanted to further engage you on this subject of this Rob Guccioni, that is his name. I saw him on television this week and he was talking about his penthouse empire and I realize what I direct against him is not so much anger at him, but the anger that I have towards a force that is militating against our children. It's not a -- certainly it's not a personal anger against Bob Guccioni. I don't have to read anything he writes, or prints. And it wouldn't bother me if I did because my attitudes are fairly well defined through a life-time of living, but …

The Course in Miracles says that anger is a device that creates guilt in somebody else, and so I also heard another definition of anger, which is, if you have anger use it. Use it to become active in some positive way, so I guess I want to ... If I have anger against this Bob Guccioni, I think I would like to use my anger to try to work against pornography in our city and on on the Internet which is a very, very blatant view and a very materialistic view of sex that could create limitations in our children, and so I was wondering -- on one hand the Course in Miracles tells us that anger is not particularly productive and on the other hand if you can't get rid of all of it, can you use it?  Do you have any comments on that, Tomas?

TOMAS:   Of course. It is ascertaining which aspect to comment on that is my challenge!

You well know that anger is a spirit poison but since you are confronted with a poison, the poison of pornography as you see it, your anger is something which, yes, can be directed toward our media and improving an intolerable situation as you see it.

But you refer to your children, and when children are exposed to genuine love and understand the expression of genuine love, it is quite apparent to the child's own understanding of ethics and morals what a sexual expression of love is, and the child which has been impressed by the value-lures and loyalties of its loving parents, has developed that strength of character which understands the intimate and humanly sacred aspects of physical intimacy and is truly not threatened by the crass and largely inartistic presentation, such as riles your sensibility.

The greatest efforts, then, which you can do, that is the most profound and lasting value you can bring to this concern, is to instill in your children and their children the true and genuine aspects of love and affection which you would leave them as a legacy and have faith that their own appreciation for such sensitivity and refinement, of 1ove will be brought to fruit in an appropriate fashion, and that they will not succumb to the more tawdry presentation. 

Mrs. M:   Well , Tomas, I would just like to pursue this a bit. One of the concerns I suppose that I feel is the one for the presumed latency, the necessity for the latency period in which a child develops his powers, he develops his interest in the world about him, in his knowledge and so on, and that period of latency is being impregnated, is being shattered by children having these visual experiences of blatant sexuality.  And so the latency period, which I understand to be from about six to about ten or eleven, is being interfered with by these people, and that is something that I can't, to a certain extent, stop from happening for my children. 

And also, many, many children out there are not going to have the opportunity to have any experience of what sex is like when it's being used in your relationship …  when its not being used in its highest sense. Many, many children today, I think, are just simply not going to have that opportunity, unless I'm being excessively pessimistic about this situation.  I don't know.

Mrs. H:  Could I add to that, Tomas?
TOMAS:   Yes.

Mrs. H:  There is a world of children who have little or no parenting operation going on in their life. They're sort of just going with the flow.  Whatever happens they go this way, they go that way.  These children have never had the opportunity to learn about what the beauty of a relationship can be.  How do we, as leaders in this field, how do we approach this?

TOMAS:   Well, let me respond before someone else jumps in and gives me even more to assimilate and redirect.

You speak of this period of latency.  Prior to this period of latency is the period in the child's life -- and I speak now about that child which has a relatively normal home life -- it is during this period of time that the personality foundation has been laid, and so even though the curious child, pre-adolescent, will perhaps be exposed to the sexual nature, if the foundation is well laid, then their proclivities will be founded in that value bed of affection and intimacy which they have learned from their relatively healthy home life.

The fact that individuals investigate their sexual nature is certainly not cause for alarm, for in the years wherein the identity of an individual is developing, primary is the  need for understanding its own sexual identity.  You will recall that you are animal origin beings, and the propagation of the race -- of the existence of humanity in the most fundamental of factors -- involves the coming together of the sexes to keep the race alive and evolving.  This is natural.

Even investigations to what you, from your adult frame of reference might regard as inappropriate development, is not to be ruled out as the intelligent and healthy young animal will investigate what it will allow itself, whether that be presented on a program featuring pornography or whether it is found in the back room of your own home.  These investigations into understandings of identity are part of a normal development and, with maturity, the individual will settle down to a lifestyle and appetite which relatively conforms to its society.

Now we address also the unfortunate child who has not been exposed to a healthy home life.  Indeed, indeed.  I refer at once back to my lesson of today, for how much can we presume to say that we are perfect, when Urantia has much correcting to do before we can breathe easy and say that all things are on course? 

There are truly many social ills, many miscarriages of justice and so forth which are resultant from the on-going darkness and dysfunction of this decimal planet, much work which can be done either by individuals or by like-minded individuals who opt to wave a banner of some truth or clarity in your political arenas or through your churches or through some organization equally concerned about these matters which indeed we concern ourselves with on an on-going basis.

These ills are our assignment.  This is Correcting Time.  Indeed, many, many of the teachers have been discoursing at great length on such things as human character or anger or emotion and the like, for these are what constitutes you as a human being, and much of your conditioning has been done without a spiritual frame of reference and many of us teachers have been asking you to review your rudimentary understanding of yourself in the light of spiritual rediscovery, that you might then reflect upon your reactions to life and correct your own approach.  In, then, having a renewed understanding of yourself and your capacities, we would embark upon the power of the group en masse, the orchestration of the community.

The community of believers as we see it today is growing, and yet still very diffracted in its foundation, so we intend to continue in our efforts in these teaching sessions precisely to change the flavor of the future so that as the more positive community becomes pivotal, becomes stronger, then the darkened aspects of Urantia evolutionary life will be revolutionized in the process.

It is certainly not my intent to discourage anyone's personal or group cause, for your involvement at any level in improving a situation which is fraught with disease and dysfunction, distress and despair will be helpful, but I point out that as you begin to feel yourself part of the ever-enlarging, ever-expanding, ever-strengthening community of the Love Organism of the Father, then you are no longer fighting those overwhelming battles alone, or against such great odds as you outlined in your preamble.   That is all.

Group: Thank you very much.  Good.  Very good.  Thank you.
Mrs. M:   You covered it well.
Leah:   Would you kindly define the word "diffracted"?

TOMAS:   I will analogize, in the face of the possibility that the word is incorrect.  When you hear the bell ring, it is a pure tone.  With light, as it diminishes, as it goes out, it diffracts, it dissipates.

Mrs. L:   I wanted to ask about a guide for study groups.  In a recent study group happening, one part of the study group went in one direction and one went in a definitely different direction.  There was no attempt to bring that study group into cohesiveness.  It was a question of separating people from other people, and I just would like to have you comment on the necessity to seek unity within the group.  I th ink you probably know the situation to which I am referring.

TOMAS:  I will discuss generally that situation wherein factions will develop.  Recall I said earlier that this is testimony to relative perfection and not ultimate perfection, for in ultimate perfection we are all One and act in Oneness.

The fact that divisiveness occurs in and of itself is not necessarily a misfortune, for this is part of the growth process, part of the evolution. I think vaguely of the poem (by Robert Frost, was it?) wherein it is said, "Two roads diverged into a wood" and he has taken the one that has made the difference, and so certain groups may diverge and one may make a greater difference in the long run, in the greater picture, but who is to say that the one that took the other path was permanently in error? No.

The soldiers of the circle, the army of on-going apostles of truth and life are on the high road to destiny. Whether one or two fall away, whether the group splits in the middle, matters little in the long range view, for the earnestness of effort on behalf of truth, beauty and goodness will ultimately prevail.  Our Father in Heaven is not a failure. Although we may see a dismal failure in a certain situation, it may be, as we say, only the temporary scaffolding which will be torn down in order for the greater structure to be built later on.

Mrs. Ml:  It's so hard to believe that anybody reading the Urantia Book together could ever have to split in that way.

TOMAS:   Indeed.
Mrs. Ml:   It's so perfect.

TOMAS:   Then one wonders what book they are reading, for in appreciating it as a gift to this planet, as a revelation to a world in darkness and despair, to read the sublime words and concepts presented which thrill the truth-seeker in the depths of his or her soul, and to walk those steps with Jesus on his earthly path ~ with the conditions of his time and in his own faith to be able to overcome and master his own personality and be in complete alignment with His Father in Heaven and in so doing to inspire his followers, his children, his co-workers by his matchless courage ~ is an inspiration which ought to move the very soul of even the hardest heart and thickest skull, yet oddly enough there are those who have not opened their hearts to the actual love experience which is at the actual heart of the revelation and the revelators.

It is not a mere exercise in discoursing a theology and cosmology. It is a way of life, and this way of life is bred and fostered by and through living love. Living love is the answer. It is the only question, the only solution.  Perhaps what we have here is an interpretation of love.

Mrs. Ml:   Yes, thank you.  Thank you very much.

Student:  Since you bore me ears to hear with, a voice to speak with, my eyes to see with, I want you to understand the words that I say, though verbal, I want to thank you for bringing so much love with you when you come.

TOMAS:  Thank you, my daughter, for your acknowledgement of your own reflection of your own reality, for without your desire for infinite affection, your heart would not be availed for that love which I connect to and with in my presence here. Yes.

Student:   May I ask if it is in any way possible that I don't understand, that I be opened even more?

TOMAS:  Indeed. It is an exercise in faith that all of us may take upon ourselves, and that is to be ever eager and willing in our heart of hearts to be open to that which would be given to us on our next step of understanding and enlightenment. It is possible always to ask for greater faith, to pray for deeper understanding. It is also true that as you seek, you will find, and without going into a lengthy lesson on "decisions" (which I had thought to do today but opted otherwise), it is by your own decisions that you open yourself to your own growth.

Student:   Tomas, in addition to the warmth and love that we feel for Robert is there some way that we can warm up his abode? He's -- it's a very cold winter!

TOMAS:   You can take him home with you if you like.
Student:   There you are.
Student:   There you go.
TOMAS:   Providing, of course, he is amenable to such a solution.
Student:   I believe Karen has a little bit of the same problem with heat.

TOMAS:  Gerdean's furnace has been repaired, but it is certainly true that this is an uncommonly cold winter, not only here but throughout, and these are a natural part of earth changes and evolution of your world. I am not making light of those who are cold, understand. I will use that, in fact, to refer again back to my message earlier regarding relative perfection for, although the lack of heat equals cold, one cannot in faith say that the one who is freezing to death has not attained the perfection of heat.

Student:   Well, it does bring up the point that our teachers have said that, 'Now don't start worrying about storing up food and don't worry about these things.'  But then, you know, along come these earth changes and some people are finding themselves in rather uncomfortable circumstances, which does raise the question again, why not take certain kinds of precautions about extreme changes in temperature that we feel we might experience? Why not take precautions against the kind of changes that happen when climate changes radically?

Student:   Like turn on the furnace.  Things like that?

Student:   Well, I'm thinking about being prepared for certain rather extreme eventualities which we feel are possibly on the horizon, but will we bring them in if we think about them? Some people do suggest that possibility.

TOMAS:  I respond only conversationally, for it is not revelation.  And why not, indeed, prepare for what you can see is right around the corner in terms of your corporeal existence, your temporal environment, your goods and needs in the physical realm? Why not amass fresh water and an abundant supply of food, preservative-type food?  Indeed, culture, games and those things which will enhance and expand your enjoyment of life should life as you know it alter suddenly, radically or painfully?

I am not predicting or projecting here. I am only conversationally suggesting that these are things that the human animal has an interest in and "Mother Earth News" has been promoting for years.

I am reminded, too, however, that when it is known that you have largess, those who have not planned ahead may attack.  And that is not a solution, but also I am reminded that in war time, when there is national distress or in times of disaster such as floods or earthquake, the human being extends himself in friendship to his peers in the tragedy and that is not an outlook to be overlooked, either, for although preparation will give you perhaps some sense of well-being and material peace of mind, it is the actual working out of the brotherhood in time of need which is the true earmark of a civilized people.

Student:   That's right.

TOMAS:   And remember too that as you are a civilized far-reaching individual who has remembered to amass your securities for hard times, there is on you some responsibility then toward your less far-seeing brothers and sisters in their distress - in their immaturity, but in their humanness also.

Student:   So the bringing together of the brothers and sisters in Christ we are each a commodity, basically, for each other, of love and support and ...

TOMAS:   I will use the word dependant, although that word has a bad reputation these days. It has been fostered as a result of a negative condition, and dependence on God and that which weaves us together as faith sons and daughters is a rightful dependence.  Not that you may look to your brothers and sisters with expectation of their being able to be there for you under any circumstances, but be assured the strength which is provided by your brothers and sisters in the reality of truth, faith and joy of the Kingdom 'on earth as it is in heaven' will help to sustain you and inspire you to then do your own best part in holding up your end, that you also may be depended on in the long range and for the greater good.

Student:   That's what I was meaning, like in a time of disaster, if there's nothing else physically left, the support of your brothers and sisters being there and knowing that they're there is a very strengthening thing.

TOMAS:  Truly. Let me then remind you again of one of my primary purposes here and that is to cement within your own faith realms that understanding of your own reality which will grow and develop to become whole and sound and well-balanced with and within your community, and your community ultimately will touch your neighboring community and your hands will reach around the world to change the face of this planet forever. This is serious stuff.  (Group chortle)

Mrs. M:   Well, to go into something a little lighter, perhaps. It looks like this Flagstaff conference is going to be as magnificent as Montreal was, and maybe you were around for the triennial conference at Montreal, Tomas.  I don't know how long you've been around here, but it was so wonderful and I just wanted to tell you that it would be really nice if you could put it on your agenda.

TOMAS:   I assure you I have my agenda well planned for me. (Group laughter) Perhaps now we can savor a moment of undiffused perfection that will remind us of that inner bastion of strength, that indwelling fragment of perfection which we aspire to attain and become one with for all eternity.  As we find strength and harmony in our lives, as a result of having this divine spark to go to, and attend us, we are renewed in our resolve and determination and strength to then go out into our arena and serve and praise.

My friends, my loyal students and my companions in truth, I have again appreciated the opportunity to come and be with you, to discourse with you, and to share our ideals and aspirations. In affection I am your loving teacher, Tomas.

Mrs. Ml:   It is our good fortune that you are here, Tomas.
Mrs. H:   Thank you.
Mrs. M:   Thank you so much for coming.

TOMAS:    Perhaps soon I can prevail upon a "student visitor" or a "visiting teacher" to come and grace us with his or her presence.  In the meantime, I am appreciative, again, of the developing rapport which we are gaining and building and, in light of our priceless scaffolding, let me bid you then a fond farewell. 

Mrs. M:   Farewell, Tomas.
Group:   Thank you.

*****

DATE:    February 10, 1996
LOCATION:   Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R:    Gerdean

TEXTUAL STUDY: Urantia Paper 103
"The Reality of Religious Experience"
1. Philosophy of Religion
2. Religion and the Individual
3. Religion and the Human Race
4. Spiritual Communion
5. The Origin of Ideals

TEACHER SESSION
TOMAS and DANIEL

THE PARABLE OF THE BENT TREE
Emotional Experiences
Did We Choose to Come Here?

TOMAS:    Good afternoon, my friends.
Group:    Good afternoon, Tomas.
TOMAS:  Yes, I am Tomas, your friend, your teacher, your companion and your host for this afternoon's gathering, to which many have hastened in order to observe your development, your devotion, your disciplines, your discourse and your many divisions.
I indicated to you last week that I would attempt to prevail upon a visitor who might visit and address you today and, as is the case, more have volunteered than we have time for in one afternoon's session, but I will inform you I have been and we are pleasured to have in attendance this afternoon for at least some portion of our gathering: Daniel, Abraham, Will, Tarkas, Welmek, Machiventa Melchizedek and Michael, in addition to many myriad others who rejoice in your presence in the illumination of your communion.
What a challenge you present to us, my dear class, my loyal students, for your diversity is manifold. Even so, as you may or may not be aware, the unity of this group is becoming more viable and steadfast, and this gives us great pleasure and great hope.
I am going to ask Daniel if he would provide a lesson for you today as a visiting teacher, and I would like to say, for your record, that although my transmitter/receiver has worked with Daniel, he requires different energies from her than I am inclined to, and therefore, be advised of the fact that she is going to become, in her words, a "total air head" for Daniel to be able to speak his message without her observation. I have faith in her and in you and in Daniel. I shall return in a few moments; I observe from my post; and now I turn this platform over to my co-teacher for whom I have great admiration.  Daniel, you may take charge.
DANIEL:   I am Daniel, a teacher in the Teaching Mission of Correcting Time. I have been teaching now for quite some time and have known the processes and have seen my home group grow greatly under their willingness to abide by my tutelage. Your group shows me the same promise as I have seen in other areas. The promise of future and further harmony and solidarity leads then and naturally to increased spiritual fruits and abundance and satisfaction, which alters your soul for the better. The confidence, which is born of faith in your teachers, in yourself, in your destiny and in our purpose, provides tremendous strength and an anchor in the storm -- a calm in the eye of the hurricane.

What hurricane am I talking about, here?  I am not talking about the Florida Keys.  I am talking about the hurricane of mis-creation, of manifold misperceptions, the confusion wrought by the contagious aspects of chaos, the malignant virus of fear, the downside of emotional experience, and the arena in which you work out your destiny. This maelstrom of confusion is like a torrent, a torrential storm which will sweep up "everything in its wake and carry if head over heels downstream into a vast ocean of void and obliteration if you are not aware of its power and if you are not grounded in your root s of faith.
I recall the tale of the young tree, which grows on the side of a mountain, in the rooks, and where the winds of life have beat upon it, and bent its trunk, flattened against the cliff, and yet the sapling free has dug in deep its roots, into the crevices of rock, the fissures in which a fragment of nourishment can be found, where the source of life has embedded nutrition in the deep cracks, and this tree has sought out that food, has reached its roots deep into the hard ground to find those rich veins of fossil fuel that feed its strength and ability to hold firm, and with each passing season its roots are hardened and strengthened and with each storm its grasp on reality is firmer and more secure, and this has now allowed the young sapling to grow into a sturdy tree in spite of its shaky origins, its dubious potential.
In the face of a struggle to survive, it has learned to thrive because it has learned how to take root, and no matter how hard the hurricane beats upon the tree, attempting to rip it from its foundation, no, matter how bitter cold or how hot, no matter the sleet and rain and snow beat upon it, in season, if begins to bud and cast its welcome shade upon the rocks to provide a mossy, fertile home for other life. 
It this tree were not well grounded, did not have its roots holding fast to the inner earth, to the source of its growth, it could not prevail. And so I compare you each and all to this young tree which has been born into this troubled world and that has been beaten by hardship and great devastation to the spirit, to recognize the saving grace of emotional harmony, to hold fast to intellectual security and to withstand physical pain. You young trees will survive to nurture others in the face ... One moment.
(I have a problem with this T/R. She is undisciplined and chooses to observe what I say. Now she is picturing this tree in the rocks and is not paying attention to what I want to say, so I need to yank her back so that I may proceed. Do not mistake me; we are dear friends.)

But, I want to also say that this tree, which has been forcefully bent by the winds of time, has, none-the-less, the potential of growing to be an upright and stately creation. Our hope, our purpose, our work in Correcting Time is to help you become a strong and sturdy tree, with your roots firmly embedded in the sustenance of the Source. Picture your own tree and see that it is good. See that it has its own beauty and characteristics.  See also how it has stuck to the side of this cliff and endured the hardships, that it has been nourished by the challenges presented in survival, and watch as over the weeks your tree fills out and rises up to bear fruit.
We will watch with you and call to your attention those ways in which you may draw fuel and nourishment from the soil, which is deeply embedded in the rock, the fissures in the rock. We will help you stretch your branches. We will help you have the courage to prune yourselves of unwanted twigs and old bark. We will help you face the sunlight of the spirit.
It has been my pleasure to experience your presence today in this fashion. I am close to Tomas and I am pleased that he invited me here today to share his teacher base with me as I shared my teacher base with him for many seasons in Pocatello. We miss him there. Do be good to him for we love him very much, and I now return you to Tomas for his further instruction and entertainment,
Students:   Thank you, Daniel, for coming.  Thank you so much.

TOMAS:  I am Tomas, again, and I trust you liked my friend, Daniel. He is an experienced teacher and has a very large heart and much wisdom.
I will ask you about your capacities now before I proceed.  Shall I delve into a lesson or is Daniel's lesson for you this afternoon sufficient for your food?  Shall we begin our discourse between us?  I give you the option.

Mrs. M:  We have enough time to do several things.
Mrs. Ml:  Tomas, would you like to give us a short lesson?  (Group chuckle)
Mrs. H:  Or a long lesson?
TOMAS:    I would love to, and I appreciate your inviting me to do what I have come here to do, although, trust me, my social intercourse with you is equally important.

I have been thinking this week about what to address you with, and have reviewed my lesson plans available, but as always, it is the true calling when I hear you all entertain yourselves and find the fruit of your labors to point up to me what your needs appear to be from how you relate among yourselves.  Today in your study, in your Paper, there was adequate material to provide lessons for several months, but the element which I heard prevail and which also ties in with what I had been thinking about this week, has to do with the emotional realms of you as aspiring unified personalities, as up-and-coming morontial beings.  And of the diversity and philosophic differences which are presented in this diverse group, one thing that is uniform in all of humanity is the element of emotion, and in many ways it is the emotional arena which, in fact, is the winds and storms which press you against the hard wall.
The emotional realms are common to everyone, no matter what creed or philosophy you bring with you. In the heart of all there are those feelings which, once activated by social contact with other beings, emotes in a reflection of the status of that individual's character, belief, wholeness or fragmentation. Can you not observe, for instance, a jealous rage in process and recognize the emotion as jealousy because you yourself have known this emotion? Have you not watched a heroic battle being portrayed and identified with both the victor and the vanquished, for you have experienced those feelings in your own being?  And what of love?  Have you not known the heart's delight of sex attraction and romantic aspirations? Have you not all been awed by the grandeur of Mother Nature and have not you all known sorrow and grief?
In this one realm you can clearly see that you are like one another. How often it is, however, that when you see someone having, let us say, a temper tantrum, you will, look and say, "How childish!" rather than understanding that that child apparently needs to have a tantrum! You may see someone grieving and say, "Oh, get on with it!"  But how much grief do you yourself carry in your being which is too horrendous to grapple with, and so you refuse your own grieving and then decry the luxury that another experiences when they deign to grieve?
Joy can only be experienced through sharing, and I will call to your attention the song you sang earlier today, "In The Garden" … and the joy we share as we tarry there.  Joy is a "we" thing, and you may feel joy only because you know the joy of your Maker. When you deny yourself that joy and you behold another experiencing joy, you react in anger and with feelings of frustration and you renounce that person's joy for it is not yours. When, however, you find that all joy is known because of the supreme Joy of creation, then you can find comfort and satisfaction in appreciating the joy of others.
The emotional realms are those realms which beat upon you and twist your personality, and it is through tapping in to the Source of Life, in the deep mulch of composted nourishment, tucked away for you deep in your being, deep in your foundation, which enables you to appreciate the flavor of your emotional experiences, the flavor of the emotional experiences of those around you, and protects you from being carried downstream in the torrent of ungrounded emotional power.
We will discuss more about the emotional realms as time goes by, but for today, flock, my heart swells with pride, appropriate pride, to be here in session with you, to perceive your eager spirits, to recognize your ears to hear. You are well loved. And now, radiant ones, shall we open our forum to group involvement?
Student:    Well, I would like to thank you, Tomas, for the joy of your presence and the joy of your lessons always.
TOMAS:  You are most welcome. As you well know, it is my pleasure, and you will discover in the course of your own growth that to respond to the in-depth needs of your friends, as well as your enemies, is the greatest service and pleasure and satisfaction, for you then realize that you are giving back what you have received, you are promoting the mysteries of morontia mota, and you are marshalling in an age of harmony for your progeny. We are a team, and as you appreciate me, I appreciate you, for I know that it is a law that as your heart swells to overflowing, as your cup runneth over, it will be poured out in ways which will nourish the soil of Urantia and its children.
Mrs. Ml:  Tomas, thank the large group that has come today, all the teachers coming together to be with us.  It's fun knowing that they're there ~ Christ Michael and all the rest, I'm sure, that we haven't heard about.
TOMAS:   There are many angels. Incidentally, some of those I mentioned earlier have gone on to busy themselves with other things, but do not feel abandoned for it is our practice to have many staff meetings and we are constantly updating one another as to your growth steps, much as you would do if and as you take on a creative project or sire an offspring. All the details of your project or your progeny are delightful to you. Each first sale or each first step is noteworthy of sharing with those of like mind, and even the stranger. And so we share among ourselves our relationship ship with you, our students.
Mrs. Ml:  Somehow I get a beautiful picture of a bunch of mother hens clucking over her children to each other. (Laughter)  Not to be derogatory! I think that's a very beautiful picture. 
TOMAS:    I see many eggs to be hatched, also.
Mrs. Ml:  It takes time.

Mrs. M:  Tomas, we're very happy that Welmek did come because he has a connection with this group, which you are aware of, I'm sure, and very grateful that Michael might have been there, and Tarkas, too, who is important to us because of our connection with the transmitters. 
You were talking about character, and so ... I wanted to ask about a place in the Book that I thought indicated a way to grow spiritually.  I thought you might enlarge on it because it was very exciting to me, and that was the place where, I believe, it intimates that if you are experiencing some very wonderful feeling, as you react to art or something like that, this wonderful emotion can be used at that time to pull in some character decisions and you combine them and then you grow.  I'm not explaining it very well but maybe by some incredible ability to understand us, you could know what I was referring to. I'd really appreciate your making a couple of remarks about that, because I'm still thinking about this character thing.
TOMAS:  I am glad you are thinking about character and the development of your character, but I must say that while I can sense your spiritual light, I cannot read your mind, and so your footnote regarding an excerpt from the text is elusive.  But as to character, you can ascertain that character is an offshoot of those morals and values which arise out of your genuine religions experience, not to be construed with the disciplines imposed upon the self through the concept that "if I behave in a certain way, I will then be that way," for that is backwards. Character is developed from the genuine growth of the soul in concert with the developing God-directed personality.  Would you . . . Are you offering to your peers those character aspects which you hope to improve'?
Mrs. M: I probably want to refine my concepts a little bit better before I even attempt to discuss them with my peers.  I think I didn't think through it, perhaps, prayerfully enough, but I think I'm getting closer and I'll be able to do that if anybody would be interested, but I think I'm going to look up this place in the Book because I'm sure I have some notes, and next week I hope I will be able to ask my question and, in the meantime, I'll sit back and perhaps some others have questions, and if they don't, one of our members did give me some questions that we might want to ask today.
TOMAS:  I would like to say that I do appreciate the tenacity manifested in reintroducing those themes which have been introduced in the lessons such as character, acceptance, belief, emotions and so forth, for these are seeds which, hopefully, take roof and grow. And, as you well know, you cannot, expect a seedling to have developed already the faith that a full-grown flowering and fruitful tree will manifest.

Each budding soul must develop its own spiritual reality and this growth takes time. Even those who have had a conversion experience have to integrate that which they have known into that which they are learning.  And so it holds true that the teacher may always he a student for always are there refinements in learning and teaching.  A pre-recorded question, perhaps.
Mrs. M:  There is a question from one of our students. This student would like to know if we or some part of ourselves chose to come here to Urantia to live out this life experience.
TOMAS:  It is well documented that the Thought Adjuster volunteers to indwell the mortal, and it is thought that many offer to come to indwell the potential immortal soul, but that one is selected based upon certain proscriptions of divinity assignment which then eventuate in the animal of the realm, who has attained a moral consciousness, being then receptive to the arrival of that Mystery Monitor which will then attend that mortal's growth and development throughout its human life experience - and on into eternity - providing the experience is appropriately effective.
I will use this opportunity to state that all mortals on Urantia are new beings, born here of the flesh and not ever having lived before.  There is no standard of reincarnation in the universe, excepting the sporangia, which you may read about. The popular concept of having experienced previous lives is the dubious luxury not of the mortal but of the experienced Thought Adjuster who has likely indwelt other beings in other times and in other places.

Mrs. M:  That's very helpful.  Thank you very much for that.
Mrs. Ml:  Yes, thank you.

Mrs. H:  Then the conscious memories that one sees are that of the Thought Adjuster?
TOMAS:  I will break down your sentence for you, "The conscious memories that the mind sees..." The mind has the memories.  But this is error; this is interpretation. The Thought Adjuster may have recollection of the value which it has brought forward, but whether it has a memory or not, whether it has a mind or not, it is in a realm unattainable by you at this juncture in your evolution.
I will soften my remark by validating your experiential approach in your perceptions, for the mind is an amazing device in and of itself, even without construing your own interpretations with those of your Indwelling God Fragment. The mind assimilates those things which it aspires toward, which ring true, which promote hope, which generate intellectual peace, which entertain, which provide comfort, and all of these mental approaches to perception have a way of beneficially interweaving your conceptions and perceptions into your conceptual reality.
Your experience is not unlike the experience of all mortals who have been rained upon and shined upon in ways which cannot be understood. In order to understand and assimilate life's experiences, the mind is equipped to incorporate those impulses and impressions in such a way as to give you credibility in your own awareness of your own reality. These vary from individual to individual depending upon their life's experiences and many other influences. By and large they are part of your creative approach to the experience of living and each interpretation, of course, has its own color.
Each personality in developing is like a palette upon which [there are] are many squiggles of various colored paints. Some palettes are exclusively pastel; some palettes are primary colors exclusively; some, all too many, are in black and white. But this palette which your personality begets is vulnerable to misinterpretation and error. Fear not that this is to be regarded as a bad thing, a negative thing, a wrong thing, no. It is part of the human condition and part of the evolving consciousness of a very complex mind and coupled with very dynamic emotional content.
In time and in faith the kaleidoscope of life's experiences will begin to focus and stabilize more and more on what you can bring to yourself today in terms of who you are today and what you can altruistically do today that you will affect your world, your realm, your life, your universe, today. This is being in the now and this is also finding joy in the experience of being all that you can be, here, this time around, in your personal natal experience of discovering for yourself the personal God of your origin and destiny.
Mrs. Ml: I experienced some of this teaching last night and I was forming a question of whether I was working properly in the things I perceive I'm to be working on, and I received an answer that-- to continue working on them. If they were wrong, that's okay; but if they were right, it was very, very important that they continue.  It would be better that I be perceiving it wrongly and continue to work on it than if it was right to work on what I was doing better than not to do it at all.
TOMAS:   One of the wonderful things about the adventure of the ascension career is that if and as it is right, it will continue to be right, and that rightness will become so strong as to allow the error of incorrect perception to fall away like autumn leaves or apple blossoms in the face of the living fruit.

Mrs. Ml:  Tomas, you really are a true friend.   I can't wait to read what you've just said. (Group laughter)
TOMAS:   I am your friend, indeed, and we are becoming more aware of what that term means for our Great Friend, Michael, is our personal mentor, and we would learn to love one another as he loved us and as he loves us today.
Mrs. Ml:  Is that why you sit up most of the nights with us? To give us lessons? Since most of us can't sleep half the night?
TOMAS:   It is not my fault!  You see, I understand the emotional qualities of guilt and shame also, but as I indicated in an earlier session, your potential is greatest when you are not resisting the noise and energy of your external environment, and if this occurs at night, it is no small wonder your mind soars.  S-o-a-r-s!  (Group chuckle)  This can also be done in the morning, "while the dew is still on the roses" which also is a quiet time, but if you were to suddenly find yourself getting up at 4:00 in the morning to mull over your mind's eye about things, that is not my fault either!
Where and as you allow yourself those musings and reflections which will garner understanding and lead to wisdom, is you r personal spiritual experience, which is fostered by Michael and His Father's ascension … Our Father's ascension plan.  So I am your friend, but I am not responsible for your nocturnal musings.  (Group chuckle)
Mrs. Ml: I thought you were there because I was getting the same lesson you were talking about today.
TOMAS: I will confess that, as I am mindful of your nightlights burning, I might stop by for "a cup of caffeine-free tea" (Group chuckle) but I will not stay long.
Mrs. Ml:  You're welcome.   At any time.
TOMAS:   Thank you, daughter and friend.
Mrs. M:  Tomas, I just have to ask you if you have any reaction to our beautiful painting.
TOMAS:   I have reacted to it in a way, which is to say I stopped in on occasion during its development, but as for modern art in your realms, I withhold my opinion.  For one, I am biased;  I like everything. And two, my own personal preference runs more toward what I might find on the fifth or sixth mansion world and so that would mean little to you, but I am very happy to see this young one being productive and tapping into her confidences as a creative being, as indeed an artist, for are we not all artists in our own way? And as we are opened to the guidance and illumination of the Creative Parent, our avenues of expression are all artistic outpourings of one sort or another in service, in truth, beauty and goodness.  I appreciate mechanics and cooks, also.  (Group laughter)
Mrs. P:  We have an artist who bakes cakes!
Mrs. M:  My thinking about this character thing goes on.  I was wondering if it would be beneficial for us to sit around and some time or another sort of talk about evidences of great character that we've encountered personally. For instance, I was talking about a movie that, for- a change, had something about a wonderful display of character in which the woman declined to lake advantage of a situation in order to be faithful to a promise, and that was in "Of Sense and Sensibility." That movie particularly had that. I was wondering if we could-- I would like to talk about character in the group and see if we could come up with ways that we personally thought we could improve our characters.
Mrs. H:  That's a hard one.
TOMAS:   I would very much like to see your social intercourse advance to a new plateau. Your desire for expression of values and personal growth concepts is remarkably in keeping with the inclinations of the Morontia Companions. I would and they would and many of us would very much appreciate and indeed work to foster higher, more well developed, gracious, in-depth methods of comporting one's personality in a social situation, social setting, which brings forth discourse regarding these values, without judgment, which could then encourage and inspire and foster the development of these qualities in yourself, in one another, and as a working group.
This group has its own unique potential in terms of outreach. The graciousness prominent in this geographic area, that is to say you here, are good candidates for inculcating individuals because of your many facets of social fragrance, and if and as that were and is complimented by and conforming to the qualities of character such as are evidenced in the personality of Christ Michael, your circle here is guaranteed to draw and retain and empower tremendous growth.
Mrs. M:  Tomas, I'm going to Florida for six weeks. Would you come and visit me there? (Group laughter) And my daughter is going to visit me for three weeks and I wish that somehow you could reach her.  I'm sure that deep within herself she loves Jesus and Our Father. 
TOMAS:   You know she does.
Mrs. M:  I want her to start to admit to it.
TOMAS:   No pressure, now.
Mrs. M:  No.  None.

TOMAS:   I promise to look in on you and on her and I remind you that there is a bevy of powerful teachers in Florida and I will remind you once again that your own personal teachers will be in attendance with you also and so you are not alone.
Mrs. M:  Thank you, Tomas.
Mrs. H:  Tomas, a new helper came for Gerdean, who's artistically bent.  Do you have any words to bring through about this colorful character we are now learning about?  Personality?

TOMAS:   Only to say that he is indeed colorful, and is quite cultured, and has tremendous character.  There are those who indeed feel that he is a character, and no doubt it is because of his natural affinity for the character of Gerdean that they will make a dazzling duo, but I reserve my assessment of Bernie as he is called, for I reserve my assessment of the many in the unseen realms, for you yourselves are aware that we're all wonderful (group chuckle) and, for the most part, we think you are all wonderful, and so what shall we do now?  Shall we dance? (Group laughter)  Indeed, we shall.

Mrs. M:  Good!

TOMAS:   I now will take my leave and allow you all to go your various ways in faith and in joy.  I will set upon you once again the assignment to recognize where your roots are, your attachment to your reality base, much as your Thought Adjuster is attached to you; that as the winds of change and emotional turbulence come your way, you are fastened securely to that Foundation.

Go in peace.  Farewell.

*****

[End of Vol. III, Part 1 of 13]