Tomas Vol III - Pittsburgh, PA - Jun 27, 1996 thru Sep 17, 1996 - Part 3 of 13

In this section Tomas sets up the group for a series of lessons on the fruits of the spirit, which is basically a study in character.  These lessons were compiled and put into a small booklet entitled "Fruits of the Spirit," copies of which are available from the publisher, Harp of God (www.harpofgod.org).

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PITTSBURGH, PA, USA

VOLUME III, Part 3 of 13

June 27, 1996 - September 17, 1996

C O N T E N T S

PITTSBURGH, PA, USA

VOLUME III, Part 3 of 13

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DATE: June 27, 1996

LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEXTUAL STUDY: Urantia Paper 40

Ascending Sons of God

6. The Faith Sons of God

7. Father-Fused Mortals

8. Son-Fused Mortals

9. Spirit-Fused Mortals

10. Ascendant Destinies

TEACHER SESSION

THE WORK IS AN INSIDE JOB

Q&A: Euthanasia

TOMAS: Good evening, my friends.

Group: Good evening, Tomas.

TOMAS: Indeed, I am Tomas, your teacher, your guide and your companion in your eternal ascent. It gives me great pleasure to once again be here with you in this gathering of women, of believers, of sisters, of faith daughters, faith sons all in the divine plan of ascension.

I reflect on you this evening as I reflect on the delight of a field of fireflies. I observe your gentle lights go on and off as you move in and around your arenas, and it is in the fact that the light comes on unexpectedly in new and different places that brings the delight; for truly, if your lights were to shine constantly, it would be a different view entirely. Do not mistake me, I would relish the view, but I am grateful for you, my little firefly friends.

I am reminded of our friend Abraham who has spoken of the light switch, that when life becomes difficult and you find yourself in a darkened experiential room, it is your privilege and your responsibility and your option to turn on the light switch of spirit and illuminate yourselves in the light of the Son.

Once again, my friends, I have many things which I am eager to share with you and often I find I am unable to address everything I would bring to you, and must limit myself to one subject or two in order that we might bite off one morsel at a time. The morsel that I would call to your mind this evening is that the work is an inside job.

I have been exposed of late to much external titillation and twinkling of lights, and feel it desirable to remind you and us of the fact that attaining divinity and finding happiness in this existence is a matter of going inward and upward, not outward and around.

Going inward to find God is not what you have been exposed to in the Christian sense. Always have you been shown that Jesus was outside of yourself, often on the cross, often in a field with children around him, sometimes in the temple teaching. You have always been taught that God is in heaven, a long way away. And so you have not identified with the Master as you might have if you thought of him as your spirit companion who stood beside you, and if you thought of God as an integral part of your internal makeup.

Rather, that truth has been kept from you, lest the error be made that your ego is God, and this has been a concept that has lived, although it has not been promoted, even so. The living God that dwells within you is above and beyond you in that, it pre-existed you; and it will return to Divinington, with or without you. The key, obviously, for your eternal survival, is to ascertain where it is in you. Get to know it, spend time with it, allow it to lead you. Allow it also to benefit you by showing you your strengths, your gifts, your abilities, your place in the universe and your service opportunities among your fellow men and women.

One of the obstacles to allowing yourself to go inward is this matter of control which has blocked so many from finding the living water in which they wade, for they somehow have indeed construed that they are God and to give up control would be to lose control. And yet I say to you, as you give up control over defining your inner life, you become acquainted with your Inner Companion, and indeed you become acquainted, in the spiritual sense, with that intimate awareness of Michael, your Father-Brother, as he stands beside you in the spirit.

(LONG silence) I have taken back control from Gerdean who had taken it from me, and you see what results: a standstill. Only in allowing yourself to be open to the guidance of either the spirit or the ego, are you able to function, and the choice is yours. It is a choice you may make each moment. And as you make those choices, your existence is that of the firefly, for often you waft along in the grace of God in the dark, and often through the grace of God you are aware of the light.

In order to shine brightly, in order to light the way for others, in order to be a forerunner into the realm of light and life, it is desirous for you to allow the light to burn, to give over control to the God who dwells within you and seeks expression through you.

Let me entertain you by presenting yet another assignment, and this one will have to do with your awareness of your Indwelling Spirit. Your studies have taught you that when you leave Urantia and you leave your mortal tabernacle behind, you will be existing in the morontia form which is part spirit, part material, and that living organism already is a part of you, is becoming as you are becoming.

I will give you an example from your mortal frame of reference. Have you ever had a tooth pulled and later believed you had a toothache there? Have you heard of individuals who lost their foot relay that their foot itched, even when it was no longer there? This is dramatic license that I take here in order to impress upon you the concept of your morontia body and I am going to ask you throughout your week to notice your morontia body.

I am not specifically focusing on your God Fragment, on your Indwelling Adjuster, on that aspect of spirit, no, but on this morontia form, and the reason I will ask you to observe this form about yourself is so that you may understand how it feels to waft in grace when you allow yourself to be led by the spirit and when you give up control of your own marching through life.

It is not expected that you will spend a long time here, no. It will be a glimpse, if anything, but it could be helpful of your understanding to your future spirit existence, and also instill within you a new appreciation for that God that dwells within you in terms of its energy manifestation potential.

We have heretofore spoken of your potential service work, your merciful ministry, your speaking truth, beauty and goodness, but we have not spoken of your recognition of the spirit in being a physical being. I thought it would be an interesting experiment. If you are willing, I would be interested to hear your feedback in time, as your observation of your morontial body begins to indicate to you the grace and dignity of a true faith son.

How have you been this week?

Student: I had a good experience because I really got into sort of a pickle, a kind of problem, and I really talked to Jesus like you have said, and I really told him that I was cross with myself and I really asked him for help, although I didn't think he could possibly help me out of this situation, and he did - in such a wonderful way. And then I used the thing that you taught us and that is, if you're sorry you can say, "Oops! Sorry!" without making everybody feel that you're terribly distraught and making people uncomfortable, so it really was a very helpful moment for me and it was a real outstanding moment in this week for me that I trace back to your help, Tomas, and I thank you very much.

TOMAS: I am certainly glad that I have been able to be helpful to you and I am even more glad that you have called upon our Friend Michael for his companionship, guidance, solace and so forth. It is through knowing him that we are inspired to go forward.

I myself had a wonderful experience this week in being able to work with my friend and yours, Welmek. It was an honor to be in association with him in our mutual capacities as Teachers in the Teaching Mission. It was a wonderful event for all of us and I am very grateful to this group of believers for your support and for your obvious appreciation of our presence in your life.

I am somewhat disturbed and saddened by H__ this evening. She is angry and resistant, and thus argumentative. I welcome a repartee with you, my daughter and friend, in private or in this forum, if you would be inclined. I am not unaware of your distress. I only wish to convey love to you and encouragement and suggest that much of the difficulty may be in definition of terms. (No response) I do not mean to put you on the spot. I am not requiring a response; therefore, we shall go on with our evening. Are there any questions?

Student: Yes, Tomas. The colors predominantly in this room . . . are you able to give it ...?

TOMAS: With respect to your appreciation for color, it serves no purpose in your spiritual growth...

Student: I understand.

TOMAS: . . . and I am here to facilitate your personal spiritual growth. As I indicated early in the lesson this evening, "inward and upward" is where we take ourselves for the journey. In looking outward, at color, it is a diversionary tactic, delightful in its presentation certainly and not forbidden information by any means, but I find my response would be valueless.

Student: Tomas, looking inwardly to color though, like when you're healing, aren't there healing colors?

Student: My soul keeps wanting this information. It probably has it on an inner level somewhere.

TOMAS: I will respond but not fully to your satisfaction. The colors of your spectrum are so rudimentary ...

Student: Of the physical spectrum. Not of the spiritual spectrum.

TOMAS: Color is not spiritual. Color is an energy manifestation ...

Student: Okay.

TOMAS: … sometimes of a spiritual force or field, but color itself is material and non-spiritual. In your mind's eye you perceive color and you have been conditioned that red represents hot or passion or blood or things relating to red; that green represents growth and verdancy and leafy green vegetables and, therefore, health and so forth; that white is all color, all Oneness, perfection; and that black is absence of color, life, therefore dead, denial. These colors which fall within your color range perception are a method of communicating on a fairly rudimentary level.

The fact that blue can go all the way from deep, rich, regal blue such as you might find in an infinite sky at twilight, therefore representing strength and power and depth, that also, on the opposite end of the spectrum, is bird egg blue and ice blue which are fragile and gentle and breakable and not strong at all, these frames of reference for color are part of your psychological makeup and not bearing on spiritual reality. It is your perceptions that develop into spirit realities.

Student: Thank you.

TOMAS: You are welcome.

Student: There is a sentence in the Book that I was really wanting to ask you about and it was in tonight's lesson where it says, "... their Son- and Spirit-fused brethren of the ascendant evolutionary struggle will be acceptably contributing to the maintenance of the experiential equilibrium of the perfected superuniverses while they stand ready to welcome the incoming stream of Paradise pilgrims who may, at that distant day, pour in through Orvonton and its sister creations as a vast spirit-questing torrent from these now uncharted and uninhabited galaxies of outer space." Now, I didn't quite understand that.

TOMAS: Neither did I. Would you please read it again?

Student: Okay. (Re-read paraphrased: ) ''The Son- and Spirit-fused brethren will be contributing to the maintenance of the experiential equilibrium of the perfected superuniverses while they stand ready ..." now this is the part that I don't understand. "... ready to welcome the incoming Paradise pilgrims who may, at that distant day, pour in through Orvonton and its sister creations as a vast spirit-questing torrent from these now uncharted and uninhabited galaxies of outer space."

TOMAS: Spirit- and Son-fused you say?

Student: Yes.

TOMAS: I am responding, but parenthetically it might be interesting for you to note that this Book is written so that you might understand it and I have to re-interpret what they have told your mind, so that my mind might comprehend where they are coming from in their address to you. Suffice it then to say or equate it then to our work here, where we are experiencing the harvest. The harvest is great and believers are coming forward and we are preparing; we are making ready for the many who are coming into an awareness of their spiritual nature. The spirit and son-fused beings are not to be deprived of the experience of being prepared for the work that will be forthcoming. As you experience your work, they experience parallel work. (Excuse the frequent use of the word "work". To me it is a fine four-letter word. )

Student: Well, I think I understand your answer very much about having to almost reinterpret everything, because they've reduced it to something extremely simple compared to your understanding of it.

TOMAS: I will also state that it is an academic piece of information even for myself for I have not been there.

Student: Tomas, I want to say that I was reading" the transcript of the past meeting where you told about the way that one could help a friend who has more or less lost their faith and needs to be uplifted, how we could send them God's love and wash over them, and give them help that way, and I was very much taken with that because it seemed such a wonderful explanation and an easy way to help a friend.

TOMAS: I appreciate your remarks, my sister, but you and I both well know that it is not an easy matter to void yourself of all-concern for anything but the well-being of the beloved friend. It may be an art which is acquired through the years, but it an art that is hard won. So many individuals are so self-absorbed, they cannot drop their control over their own life and their own concerns adequately to allow the love of the Father to pass through them in such a loving direction as to affect the friend positively. I do take advantage of you here, you see, because you have helped me to teach. I thank you.

Student: Thank you!

Student: Well, we're coming up to the 4th of July and it's a good time for thinking about our country and the blessings that we've received as citizens of this country. Would you comment on that for us?

TOMAS: I will comment to the effect that freedom from tyranny or bondage is indeed a victory worthy of celebration. I applaud the concept of Independence Day for it causes individuals to question what independence means. It causes thinking individuals to consider their freedoms. On occasion, it will impress feelings of patriotism and nationalistic pride, at least in this country; however, other countries have their Independence Day also, and they also develop their nationalistic pride. As we strive for one world, it is recognized that overmuch nationalistic pride is a block to world peace.

I, as a teacher, as a guide in your spirit quest, am particularly taken, on Independence Day, with those individuals who question what it is that they are in fact not independent of, but rather find themselves dependent and burdened by various relationships, behaviors, addictions and beliefs which do not give them a celebratory attitude. The work of the spirit realm is often accelerated on a day that celebrates a happy cause, because there are so many individuals who are not happy and who stop to ponder why not? why me? why God? and so forth.

This is the value of Independence Day to me, my daughter, for as you are independent from forces which hold you back, from being dependent on anything but spirit, is cause for agitation in the spirit realms. We are busy on Independence Day. I will not grant accolades to your government, with all due respect. I am not here to do that.

Student: Tomas, are you willing to talk about ending the life of a person who has terminal illness and is in great pain and wants to die?

TOMAS: Are you asking me if I am a fan of Dr. Kavorkian?

Student: Not necessarily. What if a person himself took something to end such misery? Then again, I guess we do have to include Dr. Kavorkian. I'm sure you're not a fan, but you have to sympathize though.

TOMAS: I have a great fascination for the subject and truly great admiration for the good doctor. I am very concerned now about charlatans who do not have his integrity. The entire subject is quite electrifying (that's the wrong word). I am not averse to discussing terrestrial escape. At one time we were cautioned against sanctioning suicide and that admonition still has great influence. I will not, therefore, make any blanket judgments or pronouncements or recommendations,

Student: If a person refuses to go to the doctor or to take their medicine, is that considered suicide? When they feel that it's not going to do them any good?

TOMAS: I would have to revert to your dictionary terms to determine, since suicide is not a word we use in our language - unless you are referring to cosmic suicide and that, believe me, is a concept that far surpasses your understanding. A failure to medicate an illness is not suicide as I understand your definition of suicide.

Student: We were always taught that it was such a sin that it could not be forgiven, and because it's such an offense to the Holy Spirit, and it was like a lost opportunity. To be wishing for someone to suffer as some kind of a lesson, and therefore when the person is in the illness, where they're in the last stages, and certainly there isn't going to be a cure, a miracle cure, and they know its a matter of time, that they are going to die, I would not understand why a person couldn't either take medications that could alleviate that. Of course, if they were very medicated, they would be losing consciousness anyway, and so what would the difference be?

TOMAS: You have asked me a rhetorical question, my dear.

Student: Well, also, and added to what C__ said, if someone is extremely ill and has had an invasion many times with surgery and so on, they have been artificially kept alive in a sense, and so in a sense they have already been, if you want to say, they have already declared that this person is ready to go on. We artificially are keeping them alive with surgery and medication and therefore they should have the right to accept what was naturally their fate. Isn't that...? Wouldn't that be true?

TOMAS: I must take some exception or at least break that down, for that was rather a large category of individuals. There are, for example, some people who may have lost, for example, a kidney whose kidney was replaced and they went on to live a marvelous and happy and long life. The fact that they had one kidney failure does not mean that they should have died years ago. There are, on the other hand, some individuals who, like an old automobile, have become expensive to maintain and perhaps they might want to consider whether a new brake job would truly see them through the winter. Excuse my analogy, but . . .

Remember that in your all around picture here on Urantia you have many diseases that might not have been here had your forefathers acted according to divine plan. Since they did not, there are those elements of disease that unfortunately have not all been cured [Ed: eradicated]. Also, it is to be taken into consideration that many individuals, by their own abuses, have caused serious damage to themselves; and the psyche of the various individuals is a very important factor in addressing the merits or demerits of terrestrial escape, for is it truly an existence that they opt to take the easy way out? or is a situation where it is truly inhumane to continue?

Student: I think it said in the Urantia Book that when you're brain dead, you're dead, even though the body can keep going.

TOMAS: You did not ask me.

Student: No.

TOMAS: I appreciate your commentary. The body does die. The animal realm has subsisted on this cycle for thousands, millions of years. We look forward to an evolution of the human race that will preclude violent deaths: war, starvation, violence of inhumanity to man among each other, and disease. It is far the preferred and indeed the ideal, barring fusion, to simply sleep the sleep of the ages and awake rested in the Resurrection Halls. It is also a goal of light and life to approach the passing of the physical body and, therefore, the graduation from one level of life to the next as a true departure into a new and glorified existence, therefore, [Ed. ergo] a happy event.

Much education is required on Urantia to attain that understanding that leaving here is not the end of life, that indeed terrestrial escape is only the beginning.

Student: Would the comprehension of the intellectual of studying the Urantia Book, if a person were, say, put into the position where they had to experience a type of situation that would make them want to go over faster, would that knowledge of understanding, does that make it easier when they go over into the mansion worlds to reconstruct, or say if someone, as a contrast, didn't understand and just wanted to be out for the out to be, or maybe they were diseased or whatever, or dis-eased in any way, is it easier for the one that comprehends a more broader perspective?

Student: She wants to get there fast.

Student: No, I'm not talking about me. I'm just talking about, say, one that would understand and one that wouldn't.

TOMAS: I have been barred from responding to that question.

Student: Because I've had a friend that went over and was very, very aware of it, and so much tragic here that he just couldn't deal with it anymore.

Student: After I go to the discussion of this subject on Saturday, I'll probably have more questions for you next week, Tomas, because I'm sure that these people will be raising many questions, but I did want to ask you. Am I correct in assuming that a being -- getting into the subject of abortion, but just briefly -- is it true that a being is not registered in the universe until he has taken the first breath of life? I believe that's in the Book.

TOMAS: I believe you are correct, insofar as the registry is concerned. I would ask you, for your mental piece of mind, to read it again. I am not so much concerned with that, for the registration is not related to the spirit reality of the being.

Student: Tomas, do you think that more and more people now believe that there is an afterlife?

TOMAS: As compared to when?

Student: Well, say, twenty years ago or something.

TOMAS: Yes.

Student: I seem to find that this is true. And there have been a lot of books written by people who have had experiences from operations and so forth who actually did not die but had these experiences, and they prayed about them and people who read about it seem to be very much impressed.

TOMAS: These are personal confirmations of a greater life, a greater glory ...

Student: Yes.

TOMAS: . . . and they are not falling on deaf ears, and so these seeds are planting and they are contributing to the great harvest.

Student: Yes.

Student: Tomas, I get the feeling, today, that you are somehow more ... you're directing more urgency toward directing us. More precise direction than what I ever sensed before.

TOMAS: Consider that perhaps you are a more congealed and spirit-unified group than before, also. I have always had the same agenda. I am happy that you are beginning to sense, perceive and acknowledge that we are headed in a direction!

I am also concerned, once again, about one of our flock. I am poignantly reminded of the Master's parable of the shepherd who would go out to find the sheep who was lost, and I would ask that we here focus loving energy and prayer on a limb of our organism which is weak and afraid.

I am afraid of being accused of meddling in the soul of my friend, and so I will not persist. I will ask for one more question and then I will leave.

Student: But you leave us puzzled.

Student: Is this person ... Does anybody have any idea, or can they say what is disturbing them?

Student: Well, we can certainly go down the list of each person in our group and pray for each one of them especially this week and we're going to reach the person, even if we don't know exactly the person.

Student: Does the person know, Tomas? Are they aware, themselves, that they're ...?

TOMAS: Yes.

Student: This one is choosing a decision. It is that choice.

Student: If the person is at this table, I'll like to send them al1 the love in my heart.

TOMAS: Indeed. And it has been recommended that we love one another and therefor envelop each other in our spiritual awareness embrace. In fact, if you are adequately satisfied for our question answer discussion today, I will be happy to lead us in a group prayer, not only toward one individual but towards each one individual, for each child of God is a prayer in itself, is a rare and precious thing, is a life to behold. Each child of the Father is potential perfection, is happiness in motion, is service in its display of its love for its Creator. Each one of you here, each one of us, each is a reflection of divinity, each strives to overcome that which would pull us back, which would lead us away from our eternal goal, our sublime happiness.

Father in Heaven, be with us today and always, ever reminding us that your light shines to illuminate the darkness, to light the path, to show us the way. You are our guide, our creator, our perfect Father Mother, and we are the fireflies of your creation. Help us to keep our light burning, Father, that we may delight the darkness. Help our lights to shine. Help us to turn on our own light switch, that we would ask for your constant illumination to help us undress those garbs of mourning and sadness and error and madness which we are heir to as we are heir to the human condition. Have mercy on us, heavenly Parent. Help us to learn to humbly bow before you as your fireflies, always looking to you for the source of our own light in the wilderness. Amen.

And farewell.

Group: Farewell, Tomas.

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DATE: July 2, 1996

Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEXTUAL STUDY (not noted)

EXPERIENTIAL GATHERING

TEACHERS TOMAS AND OLFANA

"Morontia Bodies" (Astral Selves)

TOMAS: Good evening, my children, my friends.

Group: Good evening, Tomas.

TOMAS: Indeed I am Tomas and indeed I am here with a host of beings who have truly delighted in your rapport this evening, in your myriad discussions regarding your understandings and experiences of your morontia selves and your several morontial experiences. I am personally gratified by your renewed devotion to our association. I am appreciative of our hostess who has manifested interest and acted upon her interests to the inclusion of us all.

You have this evening already answered many of your own questions through your sharing and through the fortuitous readings. I am not going to lecture this evening. I was disinclined to speak at all, since I felt you had already filled your own plates, but my own co-workers poked me in the side with their elbows and said, "Go for it," and so I am here, my friends, but I will not stay for I have brought a. companion who has been looking forward to this exercise which you have invited by your reflection and discourse regarding my somewhat off-the-wall assignment of last week's lesson.

Even so, I am and we are activated by your activated approach. One moment please, I shall return later.

OLFANA (complete with her movements): My friends, I am your friend. You have perhaps met me before. You have (indicating Leah), no doubt, heard me speak to a group of people before. I am known as Olfana. I am a teacher in the Teaching Mission. And you say, "What on earth is going on with your gesturing, Olfana?" and I tell you, for those of you who have not met me, that I am allowed this freedom.

My own transmitter/receiver [Ed: Reference is to T/R Susan K.] has invited me to use her freely and so I have become accustomed to expressing myself in such a way as to bring about an understanding of a certain fluidity of spirit.

Perhaps you will appreciate my expression as a manifestation of the Infinite Spirit that dwells within, that the energy pattern of personality (or whatever descriptive adjective you opt to use) will be better understood through your seeing how freely the spirit moves. It is your own human constraints, my friends, which hold back your own expression of spirit.

It is unusual for me to have this opportunity to address you as I am very visible and many transmitter/receivers do not like to deal with me, you see. There are those who find me freakish, but I find the freedom to operate a true delight and I invite you all, my children and my friends, to allow your spirit to express itself, to be, to move.

How constrained you are! How tightly you hold yourselves! How wrapped up in your mannerisms are you, when I say to you the spirit is fluid and malleable and free, and so, my friends, perhaps you would give yourself the pleasure of expressing that within you which does not feel such constraints.

I appreciate that you feel ridiculous. I appreciate that you think I am beside myself (outburst of giggling from the group). I do not jest! (more twittering). I have been doing it this way for a long time and I am delighted that I have this freedom, for you know the (miming) male teachers, they are so dignified (more laughter). But I am a lady, I am a daughter; I am free, you see, from those constraints of your civilized world.

Perhaps if you were to recognize within you that dancing spirit, perhaps if you were to free yourself in your constraints, to experience (more laughter) the dance of life, you might have a totally different understanding of your morontia being.

I will, having invited you now to experience such freedoms, take my leave. Obviously, I am overwhelming you and I will return you to your teacher Tomas with his more formal approach.

Group: Thank you, dear Olfana!

OLFANA: My beloved, my beloved children.

TOMAS: Oh, and so here I am, your old fuddy-duddy friend. (Barely suppressed group laughter) I feel your delight in the presence of our vivacious friend, but truly she speaks the truth, for your human constraints, your dreadful need for dignity and your fear of embarrassing yourself in your society has locked you up and you thus, as rigid wooden soldiers or porcelain dolls, move through life. It is unfortunate that you do not allow yourself this marvelous freedom of expression.

I myself do not feel inclined to "flit" but I do appreciate the absolute graciousness of movement. Were I to comport myself more naturally, you would see that I, in discourse, sit rather calmly but I am more inclined toward sprawling than this transmitter/receiver allows. You see, you mortals have elevated us to some position of authority and your impression, then, of authority allows only that we appear sedate and dignified according to your understanding of those qualities.

I am quick to state, for I have observed that although you found Olfana's manifestation of personality to be different, you giggled and laughed, not in derision, but in delight, and so it did please you and you see in this morontia state there is great mirth, there is great joy and lightness of being.

As you read this evening, there are many, many manifestations of reality, that your morontial forms vary considerably with each individual -- not as vast in difference as you might suppose, for there are certain constraints, but there are vast differences as well. It is not required that you all feel such freedoms as Olfana, but it is entirely possible for you to incorporate certain freedoms in your mode of behavior and still appear as a full and radiant and very real entity.

Were there questions that you have left over from your dialog that you would like to ask or are there commentaries that you would like to have on the record, or that you would like to share with me?

Mrs. McD: Tomas, do you think it would be good for us to do some experiential-type things to enable us to more fully realize our morontia selves, things such as maybe going out of the body?

TOMAS: I would like for you to experiment with your morontia body inside your own framework. I am not going to encourage you, before you have learned to fly, to do loop-de-loops and swirls. If you become aware of your morontia body, it would suffice for now. There are those, you see, my daughter, who might travel into realms and construe their experiences as more meaningful than necessary.

My goal with you all is to allow you to be aware of all facets of your own spirit potential and I am not a travel agent (laughter). There may come a time and a teacher who will guide and direct such activities as astral projection or various activities which are popular and which conform to the mode-o-day, but it is my purpose as a teacher to keep you grounded, as it were, while you become more appreciative of and responsive to the almost unlimited facets of your own spirit.

Mrs. M: Tomas, were there any examples that any of us happened to talk about that seemed to be particularly good examples of experiencing a morontia body tonight? I mean, so many of us seemed to just wander around. Did you react to any of those as being fairly good examples?

TOMAS: I am reluctant to respond to that question directly, for it might appear as though I preferred an interpretation over another, for truly these at this point are interpretations, and when I asked you last week to essay experiencing your morontia form, I did not truly anticipate the enthusiastic response which that bizarre

assignment has brought about.

I would be delighted if you were to take some of my other assignments as seriously as to meet especially to discuss them, but I will not begrudge your delightful congregation here this evening. Whatever it takes to whet your appetites, I will do.

Mrs. Ml: Tomas, when you're happy, spiritually happy and you want to dance and feel just wonderful and close to the world and to the Lord, are you experiencing your morontia body? I don't understand it.

TOMAS: No, my dear, this is more in line with your spirit. The morontia body is, as you discussed earlier, more in keeping with your understanding of an energy field, a pattern. It is you who provide the personality for your morontia form and so you cannot overlook your own contribution to your own potential reality.

The spirit is that which induces joy. When you feel happy and when you feel like dancing, it is because you have been stimulated by the Spirit or by the spirits of your fellows. Your morontial form is not especially joyous but it is satisfying. It is not a personality aside from your own.

Let me see if I can help you identify your morontia form. Let me ask you all to sit quietly and in an upright position and without going so far as you witnessed with Olfana, I would like for you to feel, to allow yourself to feel the energy patterns within you.

As you discussed earlier, when your, shall we say, "astral body" left, your material body was left inert and motionless. What I would ask you to do is to understand the dominance of your morontial body and allow it to then carry and direct your material body. It would be similar to how a puppet is pulled on strings except that your own morontia soul is pulling the strings of your body, which allows this to happen. Does that make sense so far?

Hold your-- No-- feel inside of you your energy reality, your spirit reality, as you understand it. See that your physical body is inert, is relaxed. And now allow your material body to be lifted by the spirit aspects, the energy aspects of your superhuman will. I see the word ''superhuman" frightens you. Well, . . .

Lift your hands (Gerdean, you also). Lift your hands not through an act of the animal will but through the grace of the spirit. Feel where it comes from. As you allow the spirit to move your limbs, your limbs are weightless and the energy is from a different source. It is grace. Have you connected at all with that energy source?

Several: Yes. Yes.

TOMAS: Now, we are addressing your morontial bodies. As you develop yourselves, as you become more in tune with yourselves, your true selves, as you learn to be gracious with yourself and with your peers, you will be able to use this great asset in your dealings with men and women.

Obviously this composure, of a sort, is not compatible to acts of the animal. It is brought down and hidden when the animal realm reigns. When you are impressed and affected animalistically, your responses are not conducive to the freedom of spirit action. You are caught in fear, in defense, in defiance, and your spirit cannot operate. You must learn how to overcome these debilitating handicaps of the human animal.

Have you input for me?

Leah: I was going to ask if that may be one of the reasons that, on an artistic level, that Jesus is portrayed so many times with his hands up?

TOMAS: I suspect so, my dear, for he was truly spirit-born and spirit-led. His comportment was truly divine, and I mean that sincerely. It was not by accident that he was adored by his apostles and other followers. His grace was literal, and you see in your own experience of allowing this spirit to lead you, not only as you blunder through your existence, but as you allow it to lead you from your inside outward in your own comportment, it is not heavy. You may raise your arms, you may lift your arms and feel tremendous lightness of being and freedom. It is not a struggle to open your arms to the spirit, or to open your arms to your fellows. Lift up your hands and see how light it is when you are spirit-led and spirit-guided.

I spoke with you last week regarding your tendency to control, and when you are in control, what happens?

Group: You tighten up.

TOMAS: You are not free to be yourself, that which you can be.

This is not a phenomenon; this is real. This is not a miracle; this is your life. This is your future. This is the future of Urantia. Now, for me to say that you should do this night and day at this point in the evolution of your arenas would be rather ridiculous, but you have seen it, have you not?

Group: Yes.

TOMAS: You have experienced it, have you not?

Group: Yes.

TOMAS: You know whereof I speak.

Group: Yes.

TOMAS: Is it not pleasant?

Group: Very, very much so.

TOMAS: Can we not discourse?

Group: Yes.

TOMAS: The Morontia Companions are all smiling (gentle laughter), for this is the way that we will comport ourselves in time, and as you learn among yourselves, as brothers and sisters in the living God, how to address each other through the same graciousness of spirit, the same freedom of movement, many changes will come about. Many things will fall by the wayside; many new things will be added unto you. And so I encourage you in your times of speaking with the Master, in your times of speaking with those who are susceptible, who are vulnerable, who are open to your being, to allow yourself this freedom, this graciousness, this quietude of the soul, that you may address these children, your children, your assignments, my brothers and sisters, in the loving manner that our friend and father Michael has done for us.

I do not mean to curtail your evening's activities, for we have thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated, as I have said, that which has gone down this evening. And again I ask for your conjoining with me in appreciation of our hostess who has sought this experience and courageously foraged her way through until it was experienced.

I will not linger, my friends, but I will savor this evening's exposure to grace in and through your morontia forms and we will meet again soon. I leave you with my blessings and peace. Farewell.

Group: Good night, Tomas. Farewell.

*****

DATE: July 11, 1996

LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEXUAL STUDY: Urantia Paper 32

The Evolution of Local Universes

1. Physical Emergence of Universes

2. Universe Organization

3. The Evolutionary Idea

4. God's Relation to a Local Universe

5. The Eternal and Divine Purpose

TEACHER SESSION

Personality Expression

TOMAS: Good evening, my friends,

Group: Good evening, Tomas,

TOMAS: Yes, it is I, your teacher and guide, Tomas of Pittsburgh. (Group chortle) I will not go so far as to say that this is where I was born, but it is certainly where I live, although I had occasion recently to visit our mission workers in Portland and visit there for their phenomenally delightful gathering of believers. It was a joy for me to experience the results of much spiritual application. It encourages me that you here continue to reflect upon my words and those concepts which have been borrowed from the curriculum of Melchizedek toward lifting your motives, intents and purposes toward greater spirit perception and grasping of your true reality.

And so I come refreshed and renewed from my travels in time for your embrace and I greet you warmly this evening and bring you happy tidings from many joyous spirit helpers who are eagerly observing our growth here and who project great gains from the work which has been done thus far in each of you individually, and as we also learn the concepts and actualities of interrelating to one another as sons and daughters of the living God.

I will speak briefly this evening regarding life, since life, as it pertains to us, is that experience of the personality engaged in association with its fellows and its reactions and responses to the life around it as projected also from the personalities of your associates. In association, then, is when personality is truly given the opportunity to function, to perform, to emote and to express those facets of divinity which delight your Thought Adjusters in the opportunity to use you as its co-creator in divinity attainment.

In your intimate relations, your one-on-one personal relations, you well know the power and influence of personality for it has served you in your relationships oftentimes throughout your entire life, and the dynamics of certain long-standing partnerships and relationships bring few surprises for the personality of the other has been comfortable in its framework of the relationship.

When incorporating new associations, it is not uncommon to put your best foot forward, that you may present a pleasant face and give a good impression for the delight of your association and for the self-esteem involved in presenting yourself as a noble creature and socially fragrant, but as time goes on and if your association persists, the truth will be revealed, and if the association survives, you will have related to your new associates the larger picture of your entire range of personality - which often and naturally includes that aspect of ego and conditioning which are not from the Thought Adjuster but from the human being.

Even so, the friendships which are embarked upon, the associations which are undertaken -- with the understanding of a friendship being an end in itself -- this is a satisfactory situation, for you can accept one another's fallibility.

In the larger system of your society, in its more impersonal aspects, it is difficult for the Thought Adjuster to express itself through you, for your systems at this point are largely mechanistic and materialistic systems. In associating with systems, your spirit is rather forced to take a back seat, for the mechanics of the system do not provide openings for the spirit naturally to express itself. It is invaluable then, as you gradually and eventually learn how to take your truth, beauty and goodness into the larger system, that you maintain your intimate system of association, that your personality is given the opportunity to develop and flourish in and among fellow religionists.

It is, as you know, a comfort to be in the presence of a friend to whom you can relate and discuss spiritual principles and use certain words which connote a mutual understanding. It is not everyone, as you know, that you can pray with and use the word Michael, as an example. But here in this conclave of brothers and sisters, it is possible for you to express yourselves and be accepted by one another in the understanding that you are still in a process of becoming.

I would like to ask you to indulge me this evening, not quite to the extent as we engaged last week with the morontia energy pattern, helping to lift you up, but along those lines. I would like you to experiment with me as we sit around this table in harmonious fellowship and allow your God Fragment to emote itself, to extend itself out from your ego personality, and greet the spirits of each of you. I expect that if this is done wholly, it will take more than a few seconds. I am willing to allow the experiment two or three minutes for the experience of sending forth your heart, your spirit core, into the environment, that you may touch one another in the spirit. And I will preface our experiment by suggesting that there is nothing to fear in the spirit, that indeed the freedom to love and to receive love is the greatest gift. Venture forth. (The experiment)

As you take a walk among the spirit presence of each other, do not forget, my students and friends, to visit also with yourself.

Reluctantly, loved ones, I will call our experiment to a close for now. I do feel that we have made some progress in allowing yourself to be in trust of each other. Now we come back to "real life" and attached to these loving spirits is the unique and peculiar individuals of each of you, these flowers in the garden of life. It is as and how you interface with one another in acceptance of each other that constitutes your fellowship, and it is your choice to allow the spirit to rule, thereby providing you with this haven of safety and warmth of association.

In respect and affection for this association of you here, I give you the floor to tell me what it is that you would like to discuss.

Student: When we are interacting socially, can we use this method to be closer to them in some way? Is that what you're suggesting?

TOMAS: That would be an extension of this experiment/experience. In and of itself it is adequate for now. I am asking you to begin to perceive the spirit realities of those in your immediate association here, your brothers and sisters in the spirit and in comprehension of certain values. Of course, as you extend yourself into your society-at-large, you may also extend your spirit and, indeed, it is desirous that you do so. You well might discover, indeed, that if you take a moment to allow your spirit to seek contact with another's, an energy pattern will be set up that will enable you to carry on a discourse which provides for greater freedom of expression, including an appreciation for more spiritized realities. Be alert, however, that it may unnerve an unsuspecting mortal and so do remember tact and tolerance in your venturing out.

Student: Should this venturing out indicate receptivity on the part of the person we're dealing with? Shouldn't it be asked on an inner level?

TOMAS: I am suggesting that your spirit precede you to greet your peers. It is quite an industrious undertaking to consider that you will remember to do this with everyone you meet. It is certainly not required that you ask permission of their spirit to be acknowledged, for all spirit craves acknowledgement, but the free will of the mortal associate of the spirit is to be respected. As you approach your fellows in the spirit, honor the integrity of the individual to whom you are addressing your spirit.

Student: Well, this reminds me of something that I was doing for a long time and still am doing. Often when I'm with somebody, I ask my Thought Adjuster to be close with your Thought Adjuster. I don't know if that has any significant spiritual effect, but it seemed to me like it was worth trying anyway.

TOMAS: It is worth trying. It is along those lines, indeed, that I have suggested this experiential this afternoon. However, my motives in allowing for the experiment was not intended to focus outside the room but rather for you to appreciate the resource of love and support which is yours in this association, this association of fellow religionists.

Student: In other words, it's like a rehearsal? We are all very receptive and if we do this among ourselves we will gain confidence more gracefully?

TOMAS: I am espousing spiritual unity. As you are united with each other in the spirit, and as that is strengthened, as that becomes a pivotal and focal point of your association, the vagaries of your ego existence are prioritized, are identified as other than your greater reality.

Student: Well, it was funny but one of the times that I thought we had a lot of unity was when we had our Chinese auction. We all forgot to be intellectual. We all forgot to be anything but very childlike in our acceptance, in our joy of the moment, as we actually got to know a certain part of people's personalities that we hadn't known before.

Dr. B: Tomas, as I was trying to do this experiment, spontaneously having an interaction with each person, with a couple people something unusual happened that … I perceived myself doing something with them that I didn't expect, and I really don't know what it means. Like, for instance, with Gerdean, what happened was this white cream was pouring down over her, but with Mrs. P, it was like a comical thing. It was something I never do to anybody, but it was like putting my arm around her and doing like, ruffling up the hair on the top of her head like kids do or something? And that was totally like -- I don't do things like that, so I have no idea what it was. And the really strange one was with Ms. D. I all of a sudden saw, like you have, like these little wire fences? And it was wrapping around her.

TOMAS: I daresay from my vantage point what you have experienced is a fringe benefit to what I had suggested, for whereas I suggested a spiritual enterprise, you were also partaking of psychological and emotional visualizations. I keep forgetting that about mortals, that they bring so much with them. They are not like me in many ways, and so as you have no doubt heard before, I learn as I work with you, sometimes in ways which I find truly astounding.

I have found your picturization invaluable as a teacher and intriguing as a personality. It is in your association then with these individuals which tells your personality (which was our original subject this evening.) that you feel fondly toward one sister, you feel barriers between you with another and you feel --it is impossible for me to convey Gerdean's feelings while she has given herself over to my power, so -- cream you say?

Student: That's the part I ... I don't really feel I have barriers with her. And that it was also kind of rusty.

TOMAS: It is also possible that Ms. D herself has also established barriers and, as you perceive her with barriers up, your spirit has gone out to embrace her and met with resistance.

Ms. D: I'm going to cut away the barriers with scissors.

Mrs. H: This is like watching TV!

TOMAS: This is delightful on one hand, but very personal on another and it would not be possible were it not for the domination of spirit in this entire procedure. I have seen and heard you all discuss each other among yourselves in far less flattering terms and I myself am happy to see the spirit prevail among you and your affectionate approach to one another visualized and actualized, made possible even in your perception, for this opens further the door for understanding and for deeper love and deeper commitment to your work in and with and for each other.

Mrs. H: Something comical came to my mind. I don't know whether Mrs. M. gave us a little book or whether my friend Ellie gave me this little book, but they are tiny, elflike creatures and they have shoes that curl up and they wear like pointed hats, a little bit like a lamp shade, and on the top it curls around like a morning glory and it, holds a candle, and these books are available but I don't know who writes them, but I had the ... I think Mr. H received this book and I think it's a "can't stay crabby" book and I was seeing us with these hats on, and when we'd go up to someone, if their candle wasn't lit, we'd tip our hat to them and their candle would come on.

And it was very playful and precious. I think it's in my mind because I was at Jack's store and he had one of those plastic laminated cards with them on it and I have to bring it in to show you that you all have this little pointed cap on with a candle on it. So, that's what we do down here. We cartoon in order to get over the hard places.

TOMAS: I can see then that you too are playful and precious, for indeed the goal is to recognize each other as fundamental reality and when one of your lights go out, you will indeed doff your hat and bow in service and illuminate the darkness, for this is the way your spirit reality will be reinforced.

You are all, to some extent or another, accustomed to being agondonters, to carrying on your belief system alone, to trudging the path of destiny with blind faith and ignorant glee, but as you find each other and grow with each other in the spirit, your reality is reinforced and your light is less likely to be extinguished. It is in this kind of configuration that the spirit helpers become more activated also, for you are sometimes impressed to contact a fellow and often it is your imagination but sometimes it is exactly that, an occasion to doff your hat and light their extinguished wick by your recognition of them in the wilderness.

As you all begin to remind each other of the spiritual light that each of you is, your strength grows, your faith in your own spirit reality becomes greatened and your approach to your spirit reality is strengthened so that when you embark into those systems of materialism and impersonal energies, you are not swallowed up and you, in fact, can extend your spirit to go before you and to greet each other in the spirit as you pass by.

Barring our experience this evening, are there other questions?

Student: Well, I think we did have a question about our spiritual names. We'd like to have you perhaps enlighten us more on that subject, possibly?

TOMAS: Your spiritual name is that which you are becoming. It is representative, indeed, of where you come from, where you were born, and what you will be when you are fully developed. It is quite the vogue to assign names and so many individuals have acquired many names and I tell you that although this is colorful and serves some purpose, it is not equated with a personality which you are in process of becoming throughout eternity.

As has been mentioned, there are interim names, there are pet names and nicknames and various episodes in life give rise to different focuses of influence and interest. In the case of Gerdean, I have her permission to also acknowledge different names for although she was only wed once, she has experienced several surnames, each one of those representing, if you will, a life in itself. And those names have all been discarded or put into perspective.

A spiritual name is an identity that will be you as you grow into your name, as you grow into your reality.

I had a dialog recently in Buffalo wherein I expressed that I am not inclined to go into the archives and look up your name and give it to you as if it were an assignment, for I have discovered that as your name, as your personality in truth, is evolved and as you begin to express your more spiritized personality, your name becomes apparent to me and I recognize you. Thus I understand why it is that some of you don't like your spiritual name, why some of you don't want to use it, and why some of you want several of them. They are very personal. Very, very personal.

I am of a mind then to utilize your spiritual name as I freely see you and as you have given me your permission to address you thus. I do not command of you that you be your spiritual personality all the time, for I am working with you as human beings with residue in need of correcting, and given that scenario, there is much about the personality which has not been released, which has not become free to express itself in the optimum.

Occasionally I see glimpses of your radiant spiritized personality and sometimes our communication is indeed one-on-one, wherein I recognize you and call you by name. I am not into assigning handles and trying to remember what your handle is. I am into helping you evolve your spirit personality which then graces itself with an address, one which I can read. Has that been clarifying in the least?

Student: Yes, it has been. Very clarifying.

Student: Tomas, I have a question. In our lesson tonight, there was a little confusion on something and it was in regards to a section in the lesson that said there were two basic types of finite will creatures. The animal origin is one type, and that is what we are. What is the other type?

TOMAS: Inasmuch as I am taking that out of context, my son, I would very much appreciate if you would give me a direct quote from the text.

Student: Do you want to answer that later?

TOMAS: I will answer it now if we can find the sentence, and I would appreciate the full sentence.

Student: It's on 361, down at the bottom of the page.

"The fact of animal evolutionary origin does not attach stigma to any personality in the sight of the universe as that is the exclusive method of producing one of the two basic types of finite intelligent will creatures."

TOMAS: Thank you. You remember that this book was created for your understanding. I am advised of the midwayers which are finite will creatures. The secondary midwayers. The midwayers were created of material parents, and although they are invisible to your eyes at this point in time, they are regarded as material.

Student: Thank you, that's quite clear. We understand that. That's a good answer. Thank you very much.

TOMAS: I am pleased to attempt to clarify and aid your understanding. I am not always certain that I am doing that, so it is gracious of you to say so.

Student: Did you just know the answer? Or did your scribe come hustling in?

TOMAS: I had to give the answer some consideration for I was also reminded of the spornagia, which are finite as compared to spiritual and are intelligent, but are not will creatures in that same context.

Student: I don't know if I've made any progress about using my morontia body. I've been thinking about, it though.

Student: Oh! I have a question about the morontia body. If you're going to lift a heavy object, can you direct . . . call attention to it to assist you? The way they do in karate? They acknowledge the center of their energy seat and they can lower it or raise it to accommodate the need? Would the morontia body be able to service us in a similar way?

TOMAS: I call to your mind such newsreels as a young man who was caught under an automobile who lifted the automobile to free himself or those individuals who perform "superhuman" feats of strength in order to save their daughter or their neighbor's son, and this is an opportunity for greater energies than your musculature to operate, but if I were you, I do not believe I would call upon the universe to give you added strength for lifting boxes and so forth, for without proper spirit motivation and justification, you are apt to hurt yourself.

Student: I was applying it to situations where -- what you described usually is an unconscious response. I mean, they just do it and afterwards everybody is in awe of what you did. Okay.

TOMAS: My reference to your morontial energies, your morontial form, was not intended toward material movement so much as an appreciation of the spirit reality of you r morontia soul which will survive you when you leave your mortal tabernacle behind. The more familiar you are with the truth, the reality of your higher being, the more you will be eager to equip if for the transition into a life without limbs as you know it. Your spiritual development is certainly uppermost, but there are other facets of morontia-izing which call the morontia form into play, one of which is, as you saw, the delights of personality expression when not constrained by your material body, and other aspects of your morontial form and personality will include characteristics of thinking and behaving. It is, of course, in those realms that Correcting Time absorbs the most time and energy for it is difficult to be spiritized when there are so many errors and ill-conceived conditionings which you drag around with you as luggage for your life's journey.

Mrs. M: Well, Tomas, can you give us some examples of how we do morontia-ize our ... that which we are? How do we morontia-ize it? Is it because we concentrate on what we think a morontia philosophy is? Do we then grow in that way?

TOMAS: Yes, Your understanding of morontia is, I presume, that it is a combination of spirit and energy in its manifestation, but it is also a level of comprehension and value manifestation also. A well-developed character goes with you into the morontia realms, and so whatever you can do to develop character ~ which becomes part of your eternal makeup ~ accompanies you to the mansion worlds, and you have this with which to operate.

Those who have not taken time to develop ethics and character and spirit reality will be welcomed, of course, but will be the more handicapped without a working understanding of their true reality, and this is why I present these little exercises for you to investigate your higher reality in the physical manifestation, in your understanding of energy patterns and so forth, but although it is delightful and applies some perspective, it is the woof of morontia that provides me with the greater challenge and opportunity to serve, as compared to the warp of morontia which is that which you acquire through prayer and meditation and devotion to our Father,

Student: Is the character something like the skeleton structure?

TOMAS: Actually, I would think more that the spirit is the skeletal structure, for it is on the spirit that all things will be developed. The character, then, could be compared to the fleshy parts, that which fills you out, which rounds you out, which gives your personality its flavor. Would we like to, as has been suggested often, embark into some discussion in the near future on character'?

Student: Yes. Yes, I think so. We'll have a topical evening some night and I think we'll try out the subject of character in personality, because as you become more spiritual, you are freer to express the personality that God gave to us. Am I right? Isn't that a correct perception of that?

TOMAS: Let me touch a moment upon your word spiritual, for although I am, of course, interested in your spiritual development -- indeed the entire deal is that this planet be ushered into an age of light and life, based upon spiritual enlightenment and the bringing of spirituality into life itself, including your personality, your relationships, your systems and so forth. I am of an opinion that the spirit is not so elevated as to preclude your mortal existence.

To me, there is no occasion apart from spirit, including your routine affairs of life. The eternal pattern, the infinite pattern o f perfection, lends itself all the way down into impersonal energy manifestations such as in osmosis or the veins of a leaf, and so surely spirit also converges with you in your existence as an animal of the realm, thus elevating the animal and personalizing the spirit. This enters into integrity of the being, into the character of the man/the woman who is unified in all systems, is whole in spirit and the flesh, who has found life to be good and satisfying.

I only make those clarifying remarks to assure you that I am not aspiring to create a passel of saints here. I will hold off on the nebulous and ethereal realms of morontia existence until you attain those levels naturally. I did, however, want you to recognize them as being part of you and will be part of you throughout your career for many eons to come.

I will allow for one more question if there is one pending.

Student: Was there any disturbance whatsoever when I went out with myself, when we were experiencing a part of me?

TOMAS: I cannot speak as one of you for I have my own vantage point but I can, from that vantage point, say that I could perceive your spirit as radiant and gracious as were all the others here, and all of you are present. All of your souls are alive and well, and I know you already knew that, but it was a delight to perceive your spirit reality extended out from the constraints of your mortal existence, to venture into the arena of the heart, in trust of your fellow beings. You have begun the dance of life and I am pleased to be part of this ballroom.

Student: (Laughter) I like that analogy.

Student: Thank you.

TOMAS: And I thank you, my friends. I am going to wind it up for this evening. Your minds have been stimulated, your souls have been titillated and your hearts have been touched by our association. What more could one ask for in a day in the life? My precious friends, I bid you farewell.

*****

DATE: July 18, 1996

LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA

T/Rs: Gerdean and Simeon

TEXTUAL STUDY: Urantia Paper 33

Administration of the Local Universe

1. Michael of Nebadon

2. The Sovereign of Nebadon

3. The Universe Son and Spirit

4. Gabriel - The Chief Executive

TEACHER SESSION

TOMAS AND RANTARASON

Embarking into Character

TOMAS: Good evening, my friends. I am Tomas, your delighted supernal host this evening in joyous appreciation of your sharing and your fellowship. Your vibrational levels are indicative of one who has been well met and I am proud to be your friend.

It is wonderful this evening to have the added energy and association of our co-worker and your fellow apostle [Simeon] is here, as well as Simeon's entourage. As many of you realize, you are not islands of identity but rather an assemblage of co-ordinate and harmonious energies and personalities as we all accompany one another in the ascent, in the sojourn. I have been personally enjoying the association today of Rantarason, and perhaps we can prevail upon him to join in on our sharing this evening.

I am somewhat concerned on your behalf regarding your time frame. I am not in a worried frame of mind because your time has been well spent thus far. And many times, when your evenings are so ripe with the fruits of the spirit, I am disinclined to carry on any further, for you see how well you can uphold and sustain and stimulate each other in your efforts without me. But I am assigned here and I am part of your group and so it behooves me to also share myself and my personality for we are all in this together, as you know.

I will not carry on at great length, but I did want to conform somewhat to our earlier discussions, our discussions of last week, which have led up to our discussion for this evening which, indeed, will begin to embark upon the realm of character, although the subject of human character is broad and can occupy us for literally years, I do not feel we can accomplish that purpose in one topical evening; Mrs. M., but we can indeed begin to perceive what we are meaning when we discuss character.

1 would like for you this week to ponder in your hearts your understanding of character. It is an emotional response to your environment, to the personalities in your environment. In order to have a well-balanced personality, the balance then is involving your divine understandings as well as your mortal understandings.

In mastering the ego to the extent that your character manifests morals and ethics, it is necessary to understand that the balance is in the clear mind. In a mind that has not developed, it is difficult to find the human framework necessary to exhibit appropriate human character. And so as we begin a study of character, we are considering the divine aspects and the human aspects.

And whereas the divine aspects would constitute such things as the beatitudes or "turning the other cheek" or those more readily understood spiritual character traits, the human being is not always so readily amenable to high character, and the imbalance then results in weak character, in immature personality.

In understanding the human being it is possible to understand the human character. In understanding the human character, that is to say, your own reactions to your environment, to other personalities, to situations in your life, you may look at your reaction and compare it to a reaction of the spirit, a spiritual reaction, and find a harmonious understanding and balance within yourself that will thus represent you and that you will then represent in your comings and goings as part of your character.

The undertaking then, you see, of character is an organic part of life, part of your spiritual evolution. Character, as you understand, is not built as an external discipline, but is grown, i born of your desire to carry the spirit and the flesh in a unified personality.

As time goes by and as you are willing, we will broach facets of character and I look forward to the vignettes and anecdotes and affectionate personality responses that will provide you with a glimpse and an understanding of your character and the character of your peers. Ponder your understanding, then, of character for this next period of time, (so) that we might embark upon another facet of understanding character when next we meet.

I am finished with my remarks this evening. I know there was a lesson there; it was not all an assignment, but I am eager to share my platform with Rantarason, if he will say hello to us.

RANTARASON: Hello. Dearest friends, it is my pleasure to be a part of this fabulous and exciting group of enthusiastic fellows. I am Rantarason, Melchizedek Aide and friend.

Your efforts to understand character are well synthesized in the life of your Master Son. Your understanding of his nature will guarantee increased insight into what constitutes well-balanced character: however, your Book delineates attributes quite well, so I will not be redundant, just emphasizing.

One area I would like to share with you is in the arena of relationship, and the character trait I would point out which enhances all relationship is the quality of listening and comprehending and desiring to understand one's fellows.

It is common in communication to cross over in thought while communicating with another. It is difficult in the initial stages of discipline to truly listen without judgment or without developing response, yet if you look to those in your life that you most appreciate and find most timely and supportive, you might recognize that these individuals are those who listen well to your words and desires.

There is an atmosphere of friendliness that was developed by the desire in another to know you and to care about you specifically. If people can carry this out further to themselves and understand the appreciation of these connections, it can also create a desire in the individual recipient of kindly affection to develop the skill, the character trait which is in its truest basic form a desire to know and care in interest in the lives of one's fellows.

I enjoyed this opportunity to share on one aspect of character. I hope you will grow as the time unfolds to understand much, very much, of true character and its relationship to the entirety of the self and to the relationship to others. Is there anything else? I have enjoyed this evening.

Group: Thank you, Rantarason. Thank you for coming.

TOMAS: Thank you, brother and Teacher, for your presence and your words to us all this evening. God grant that we have listened to these words with ears to hear, with hungry hearts, with thirst, for truth, for this opens the door indeed for understanding and for closer relationship also to one's and others' God.

It is a privilege to be embarked upon this journey with you, dear fellows. As I hear with my perceptions, I hear also that when we yearn to be heard, when we yearn to express ourselves and be acknowledged, we do this not only from a position of authority, but also from a position of supplication and prayer, indeed, the friendship, the communication with God in each other that fosters the reality of true character and personality expression.

It is late. It is also unthinkable that I should not allow your questions or commentary, but we will not go into tomorrow. The floor is yours.

Ruth: Tomas, I'm not sure you heard what I'm going to be doing this weekend [Ed: Student is a massage therapist, assigned to minister to the KISS musical group this coming weekend] and I would welcome any help that you could give me when I deal with these people -- on any level -- because they are vastly out of my experience and I am sure it would be very beneficial to me. Do you think that would be possible?

TOMAS: My child, I will share with you my observation that you who would serve Him, must serve one another without regard for recognition. It is to their benefit that you bring your gift and you will certainly infuse them with divine grace and healing power by your ministrations. It is possible they will not realize what you bring.

I will not discourage the experience, but remember, you are dealing with superstars who will eagerly absorb what you have to offer, that they might then take their energies to give what they have to offer. Delight in the experience, in the exposure, in the exchange of energies. Be creative and adaptable in your approach and hurry back to tell us how much fun you had.

Ruth: Don't you want to come along and sprawl in a chair'?

TOMAS: It is very difficult to sprawl when you are tapping your toe.

Student: I would like to ask you if you could possibly send some healing to my cousin who is (indistinguishable).

TOMAS: My friend, I can do that, as can you. Our Father is no respecter of persons and your sincere prayer is as powerful as mine. I am not shirking the request.

Student: I understand.

TOMAS: I am only saying that, do not look to me for that which you are capable of doing yourself. You are as great as you allow yourself to be in faith.

I appreciate that we have prayed together before and we will pray together again. I do not refuse to pray with you ever. Indeed, be aware that the angels pray with you. As you r sincere prayer is sent out, the angelic hosts hear your song and respond thereto. When we pray as a group, many of us will kneel to be in the prayerful attitude with you, for it contributes to the aspect of prayer. When you pray as a group, I bow in honor of your prayers.

No one prays alone, and so we indeed pray together for your friend and relation who hurts, who feels pain and feels fear. As anyone who prays knows, it is an intimate act, for if we didn't care, we wouldn't bother to pray, and so a sincere prayer touches upon the distress, the confusion, the anger, the resentment, the despair, the fear of that person who is prayed for. It is through a sincere desire to serve that the sincere prayer is offered, and you, daughter, in your ministry, are a humble, eager servant, desirous of pleasing your Lord and your peers. Fear not, for you are smiled upon and your prayers are responded to.

Student: Thank you.

Mrs. M: Well, Tomas, I was going to ask you if you might zoom down to St. Steven's on the 27th and hang out for at least the sacred music, and if don't want to stay for the rest, that's fine. And I was also going to ask you, do you think you'll be at IC '96? Because you did say, I believe this summer, that you were going to go. Was I right about that?

TOMAS: I believe my comment was that my itinerary was well planned for me. And, I will be there. I will also attend the wedding ceremony, in part. I wouldn't miss it. I enjoy these jubilees. I do not think I will stick around for the dancing, however, unless it is required of me. Thank you for your gracious invitation.

Mrs. M: You often talk about dancing as a kind of an analogy for other kinds of participation, which I have enjoyed tremendously over the last few months.

TOMAS: I have learned it from you mortals. There is a phrase to the effect that if you dance you must pay the fiddler. (Group laughter)

Mrs. M: And we were talking about Eric J., and having written "Lord of the Dance" which we have all enjoyed in this study group.

TOMAS: Are you on a comma? (Group laughter)

Mrs. M: Period. That was a period.

TOMAS: We have also enjoyed your harmonious recitation of the song. Indeed, the Lord of the Dance has many pas de deux and so forth outlined. It is a dance. It is a symphony. You recall our session, Rantarason, [Ed. - The Boise Conference] when we met in the garden with our wide-eyed mortal associates and waltzed around the ballroom of life selecting various partners and kicking up our heels in joyous spiritual revelry together. It is an analogy that delights the entire cosmic scheme of things, yes.

Simeon: Hi, Tomas. This is Simeon. I'm glad to be able to ask you a question. I've heard you before but I haven't had the time to interact with you. I guess my only question -- it has to do with this trip -- is asking for any insight in things that I can look forward to or participate in or be a part of as I'm out on the road this summer. I feel that I'm just following the leading of my Father in where I may end up, and also give me any insights or any gems of knowledge that the teachers can offer. Is there something out there that I should touch on this summer?

TOMAS: My co-worker in the kingdom, you have espoused to me what you have already been about. You have sought to do His will and follow His leading. You have sought to interact with fellow believers and to plant seeds. You have sought to be pleasing in the eye of the Master. You have succeeded thus far; your journey has only begun. As you venture out, even now, you merely follow the path that you have been on. As has been said by Michael, by Jesus, "Follow me," and as you hold out your hand in company with the Great Friend, you are following His lead and you will not be led astray.

The adventures of life unfold naturally and normally to one who lives in the framework of an understanding of his or her intimate relationship with a personal God. Any seeker, any sojourner who has walked with the Master for even a step or two knows how it feels, and will return to that divine grace for more practice, for more exposure, for more faith growth, for the path is not so narrow. The path widens, ever broadens, as you twirl down the highway of life. You have not disappointed nor will you be disappointed as you follow your destiny path, as you well know, my son.

Simeon: Thank you, Tomas.

Student: Tomas, when you gave that answer, is that not something that you could say about any of us here as we venture forth?

TOMAS: Of course.

I believe, my friend, that you yourself have made testimony to that precise truth, that as I speak to you, it is in your willingness to hear the message, the words, the concept, that is being conveyed that allows the truth to resonate. If we were getting into really specific matters, very personal issues,

I would edit for publication, but as I am "trained" to teach the multitudes, I am mindful that my words must reach across many divergencies. It is simple and yet it is a challenge for each of you has an individual personality and each of you is addressed personally, even though truth is impersonal and is spread broadly.

My beloved friends, I am reluctant to leave you. You well know how I enjoy our brief time together. I anticipate the next few weeks will bring some turbulence. Not necessarily negative turbulence, but a bumpy ride here and there, for there are many miles to go before we will all convene again together. I look forward to the diversity of your various and sundry adventures for I will be with you and I look forward to our return to our fundamental base here when our autumn session begins.

Beloved friends and honored guest, good evening.

*****

DATE: July 25, 1996

LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEXTUAL STUDY

Urantia Paper 33

Administration of the Local Universe

5. The Trinity Ambassadors

6. General Administration

Local universe time

6. The Courts of Nebadon

7. The Legislative and Executive Functions

TEACHER SESSION

WHAT IS CHARACTER?

The Fruits of the Spirit

What is Loving Service?

Quality of Childlikeness

To Respond or To React

TOMAS: Good evening, my friends. I am Tomas, your Teacher, your guide and your companion in our association, in our aspiration to ascend to Higher levels of understanding and being. It gladdens me to return to our study of human character, and before we proceed into the work at hand, I would like to offer up a few words to our supernal teachers, those who abide over us and watch our journey in the spirit.

Divinity -- healers, fathers and administrators -- we are your subjects. It is to You that we approach for understanding of the vastness of the universe and our place therein. It is to You that we look for the comfort of knowing that the galaxies are all in place, that the balance of nature is harmonious, that justice and mercy are distributed in accordance with Your will. It is our supreme desire that Your will be done and that we can become cooperative, co-directors in this march of the ages toward perfection attainment.

You who have knowledge of our origin, You who see beyond the apparent to that which is hidden in each of us, You who see and know from whence we come, give us the guidance and nurturance which will bring us forward in our manifestation of divinity in our lives, in our work, in our presentation of You. In adoration of our Creator Michael who understands our yearnings, in His name we pray. Amen.

TOMAS: Character. In this evening's discussion regarding character I would like to have it be understood that in the large I am addressing that aspect of character that is born in the lives of spirit-born and God-knowing individuals. It is, of course, true that character lives and functions in unconscious minds/ in minds unconscious of its immense potential. And so you may take exception to my words on behalf of those who have not yet attained knowledge of sonship/ daughtership of the living God, but recall my preface, that the study of character as it relates to you and to me will have to do with those of you who, in spirit consciousness, choose to do His will, and to carry His loving message into your arenas, not only outward into your society but into your immediate society, your relationships here with one another, with your other brothers and sisters in the Kingdom.

It has been said, regarding the fruits of the spirit, that if these characteristics, these fruits, are not growing on your tree, then your tree is worthless and is good only to be hewn down and cast into the fire. All of you who have grasped your relationship to divinity have, at your heart/ in your sap, the Life that is necessary to see to it that your tree grows to bear fruit. Oftentimes, it is not the entire tree that needs pruning, but only a branch or two, and it is in that context that any assignments will be given as to character, for the only character that you can negotiate is your own character. I smilingly say, then: it is not for you to saw off the branches of your neighbor.

I asked you last week to give some thought as to your understanding of character. I am not certain that the assignment was consciously embarked upon. I am eager, however, to engage you openly in ascertaining your understanding of character, your thoughts on character, perhaps your favorite character-istic. It is reiterated in the text, in the paper about the Apostles, that each or them had a favorite characteristic in the Master that they admired.

I am at leisure in approaching character. I had originally thought to take a more administrative approach and discuss the fruits of the spirit individually, as they are indicative of a fruit-bearing character, but I am willing to dally with you in a less formal fashion if you should be inclined to parlay with me. Let me ask you then your thoughts.

Hunnah: We frequently use that expression, "he is quite a character," or "she is a real character." It's something that we make reference to here that's more like a personality trait more than a quality of fiber. I think of character as being a virtue, someone who is dependable and makes good decisions and who is unselfish. That's all I'll say.

TOMAS: Thank you for your contribution. I believe you have broached on mota here, for true character is far more than cleverness, and cleverness is often the trait of one who is "a character," and your society has found great delight in fools, and so the development of true character has often gone by the wayside in lieu of learning skills of wit and sorcery.

To assume the depth of character that is ideally sought entails such things as responsibility and service, yes. It is in this context that we look at character. How is it that you, that we, as spirit-born and God-knowing individuals can apply our character in service fields in order to feed the sheep who hunger for reality and righteousness? Leah?

Leah: Oh, you hear me! (Laughter) You hear me clicking here, huh? Uh, well, I'd like some editorial freedom here in relation to what I'm going to ask. Your question "how can we serve" struck me immediately since [paraphrased for simplicity] I've been giving a woman a lift, even often going out of my way to accommodate her, although she could take the bus and she could offer me a dollar now and then but she never has. She acts like it is my duty to take her when and where she wants to go. Recently she even reprimanded me for being late. Today I just didn't return her call. It seems to me that there should be some expediency in wanting to serve, but I have a lot of mixed feelings about this. I feel guilty about not having guilt about not doing something about it, whereas before, I would have just done it.

Hunnah: What Tomas has to say, people can apply it in other directions. It's not just that situation. You don't want to be an enabler.

Leah: Right. I don't want to be an enabler but to serve. I would like to serve, but if I understand what we're talking about, character here is making a decision to serve and to not let the human stuff get in the way.

TOMAS: Let me respond.

Leah: Thank you.

TOMAS: We are discussing ''loving service." It is a fruit of the spirit. Loving service. Let us break that down even more: Service. What is service? God is love and love is the desire to serve others. Service. Love. Loving service. A qualifier. Not as an obligation but in love. If indeed you are not feeling that your acts would be loving service, then you are correct to not follow through with something that is inharmonious to your innate understanding of loving service and your innate desire to be of loving service.

It is redundant what individuals present themselves to you for. What we are concerned about here is not those individuals or those instances. What we are discussing is Leah's character and how is it that there is some facet of Leah that has historically opened herself to allow such an influx of neediness in the realm of transportation.

Perhaps it is because, Leah, you have established yourself in your own eyes as a woman of wheels, and perhaps, too, this has colored your approach to life and, therefore, has reflected a discoloration to these fellows who approach you in this area. It is not your responsibility to see to it that everyone gets where they need to go, and yet, in your approach to loving service, you have done what you knew how to do, and that is to drive and to move people around from place to place -- with good intentions, with good motives -- but your understanding of loving service has been expanded and is no longer restricted to transportation.

Indeed, your panorama of loving service has begun to see the usury that you allowed, and your newer decisions are allowing you to see that you are attaining a new level of character which is not as a driver but as a human being with needs and desires of your own. When individuals purport themselves as something, then others will respond to that which you have purported yourself to be, and this is a matter of your developing character, all of you, for as you learn and as you grow, as you experience life and realize that what was once valuable is now no longer serviceable, you may evolve your attitude and your behaviors accordingly. You still have loving service, but your loving service has broadened and your service capabilities now can include new and higher realms.

Do not berate yourself for being unavailable in certain facets. The adage that "when one door closes another door opens" can be applied here, for you are correct to aspire to new and greater doors and to enter them when they open to you. It is also a character development facet for others to find alternative methods, not the least of which is in direct prayer and supplication to the Father and his agencies for a new and better avenue of functioning. And so character grows within you.

Hunnah: Tomas, when you said character growth, it's sort of like putting our house in order? It's almost like character is an administrator within us who helps us clean out one thing after another. Also, as we speak, I want to say thank you. One of the reasons I came into this group, I think, was that I waned to learn more about how Jesus taught. It meant a great deal to me. And how you talked her, I felt that's the way He would have approached her. He always spoke to them in an altitude of directing them toward their growth, and it's very exciting to be able to witness it. Thank you.

TOMAS: Dear child, it is also very gratifying to be part of it, even as it involves our personal relationship as we, too, have had discussions of this sort and our relationship has bloomed and you have blossomed. It is highly complimentary that you should equate my teaching methods to the Master's but I would like to expand that. I indeed have learned from the Master and you will also teach as you pass by. And so again, we help one another. Be not surprised, then, when you observe yourself in your own teaching fashion, in your own counseling methods, performing this same act of loving service.

It is an indication of character, that being that which is born in you as a daughter/a son of the living God, to hone those skills and to wend our way into those situations which will enable us individually to plant further seeds and to fertilize the soil for growth. It is in a being of well-balanced character that you can prevail with men and women in your society and not forsake/ abandon/ sacrifice your spirit nature, your spirit character. Part of our effort here will be in allowing you to accept within you the high character that you have and aspire to, while recognizing your lesser character facets in a loving way, and helping one another to work beyond those character facets which stunt growth and provide barriers to loving communications. Most of these are unconscious, are mere conditionings, but it is much, as you say, like cleaning house, and how do you even know what to do with the stuff in the closet if you are not aware that the closet is there! (Group laughter.)

Hunnah: You ' re getting kind of personal there. (More laughter)

Leah: He must've been visiting us all this week.

Hunnah: One of the things I found is when something is going on in another level in me is that I start acting it out physically and I have been cleaning out my basement.

TOMAS: I find that interesting, inasmuch as a basement is, by and Large, a subterranean realm, one which could be happily equated to the subconscious realms or subliminal realms, and so, my dear, I wish you well in your efforts and if you should seek assistance, do not hesitate to invite the hosts into those realms with you. I myself have delved into some rather primal depths and have no objection to a revisitation if indeed the pipes are eventually c1ea red f or the free-running Living Waters.

Hunnah: Well, it hasn't been too painful. I am rather enjoying it. That's exactly the way I related it. I was dealing with some stuff that wasn't necessary and I have enjoyed doing it. A kind of a 'sing along with Mitch" situation. (Laughter) That helped. Is there any requirement that a person has to have someone near with a clipboard keeping track of your progress? (More laughter) We have these little things going on here.

TOMAS: I understand that you are being clever …

Hunnah: Yes, I am being--

TOMAS: ... and are being a character.

Hunnah: Yes. (Group laughter) Yes, you caught me.

TOMAS: It is a survival technique.

Hunnah: Yes.

TOMAS: You may be assured, daughter, that your survival is guaranteed and we have now reached realms wherein we are aspiring to not just survive but to truly thrive in the abundance of the spirit, and so you may leave your cunning in the basement.

Hunnah: Okay. While we're talking about these feelings, like Leah brought up, there are things that I don't enjoy anymore. I was talking to Gerdean about it. And I miss my silliness. Now, if I wasn't on a spiritual journey, or since I have been, you might be able to say, "well, she's menopausal" or "she's not as much fun as she used to be" or "they're getting older". We have stigmas like that here, and it makes me uncomfortable. Just like Leah' s describing missing a part of her willingness to do something she used to enjoy, and now she's in a different situation and you have mixed feelings. You miss that joy of doing something. You never thought about it much; you just go ahead and do things. I miss some of that. In my case, some of my silliness. Is that normal?

TOMAS: I will respond and yet I must say that I am not convinced that the example that you set out is on a parallel with the example that Leah set out, but in terms of your childlike need to feel innocent and carefree and silly, that is not in opposition to the responsibilities of being a teacher or believer. It is that light-hearted joy is appropriate only in certain circumstances. It is, as the scripture states, "As I became a man I put away childish things," and although some may regard a mature woman being silly as an embarrassment to them or less than acceptable character, it is not so, for the ability to laugh at oneself and be foolish is a great antidote to the exaltation of the ego.

Bear in mind in your need to be childlike that it is ever true that you are a child of God and that in order to feel that parental guidance which assures you of your innocence and your youth and your need to be taken care of, you may always find that in the fellowship of the Spirit of the Father/Mother. Be understanding, however, of your compatriots who may not appreciate the character of a toddler in a grown-up. I observed Abram today went with his chums to the amusement park and they acted very much the boys, but in a manner which is appropriate to their age and stature.

Having maturity is not a reason to preclude your childlikeness. Childlikeness in and of itself is not a character defect. Indeed, in the spiritual sense, it is an asset and necessary to anyone who would be born of the spirit.

Leah: So are we saying that . . . Could we summarize this with something like, um, character is response rather than reaction?

TOMAS: We cannot say that for that is not always true. Most, often, in fact, our character is a reaction and this, you will understand me, is in need of correction. (Quiet group) In your silence, which hangs heavy, is it possible you do not understand?

Hunnah: I was going to ask you to dwell on that. You said it's a reaction, not a response. A response is something that's ... untimely? And a reaction is more of a what, a conditioning?

TOMAS: A response is the more mature, for it involves responsibility for the way the information was received, the way it was processed, and the way that it was responded to. A reaction is more of a fear-stimulus or an inert reaction without thought but only provocation. It is the fact that so many of your behaviors are reactive, rather than responsive, that your communications want, that your relationships are divided and so on. And so we would aspire, in understanding character, to respond rather than react.

Hunnah: Your discourse this evening is a response. All the time when you speak you respond ... (indistinguishable) our realm. In other words, your talking to us is a good example of response.

TOMAS: I do respond to you, yes. I will add that I have the advantage, not only of many years' experience, but also the fact that I am no longer so heavily influenced by the electrochemical system which your material bodies operate in and with. Much of your reaction to life is animal reaction to stimulus, some of which has been around for thousands of years. It is part of your survival aspects in the most honorable sense. And so it is perhaps somewhat easier for me to respond, but do not mistake this either: I do have occasional reactions to you. I just try not to act upon my reactions but rather to embrace you in good character and respond to you.

Leah: So the character is the decision to embrace a fellow rather than judge them and--

TOMAS: Character is, as we discussed last week, on one hand a facet of the spirit and in that context it is an integral part of you. The spirit within you has character, has the fruits of the spirit within you. But the mortal, the human, the animal, is a being largely of conditioning, and its character is not always in its own best interests and not always in the best interests of the Kingdom. This duality can cause conflict within the personality and what we would hope for is a coordination of the two facets of character to present a well-unified personality, a well-balanced character that is responsive to life in the spirit and in the flesh.

Evangel: Would the word "care" be related to the word character?

TOMAS: In and of itself, no. However, taken in the more transcendental tone, it would hold true, for as we said earlier, God is love. Love is caring; it is a desire to be of service. It is a desire to do good to others and that is caring, and that also is character.

Hunnah: What about the development of the traits of character? Is this something that develops racially . . . that's carried through?

Leah: You mean through generations?

TOMAS: Human character is a learned response, and so it would certainly be hereditarily passed down, but it is not necessarily in the genetic make-up, in the DNA of the being. Indeed, as a creation of the Creator, even in the flesh, the flesh, too, knows what harmony there is in its natural state of being. There is grace and honor in the human animal. It is the behaviors which have been passed down in culture and it is character that you have learned from your forefathers and your environment, but it is not true character; it is learned character.

Leah: Tomas was certainly accurate when he said we could spend several years on this discussion.

TOMAS: I will not carry on our discourse this evening, as I perceive that your plates have been piled high with stuff to ingest, chew, swallow, or spit out, and so in hope of your eventual satisfaction and nourishment, I will close for the evening, but of course I will ask you to ponder our lesson well of this evening and perhaps in particular you might observe yourself as you go about your business this week and observe (and it is up to you not to your neighbor to carry that clipboard and pencil) and ascertain if you have reacted or responded to the myriad individual situations which are presented in a day in the life.

My friends and loyal, companions, how I cherish your presence(s) here with me and I ring out to my fellow teachers the honorable position we share as friends and neighbors in this vicinity. Farewell!

Group: Thank you, Tomas. Farewell.

*****

DATE: July 29, 1996

LOCATION: Buffalo, New York, USA

T/Rs: Donna P. and Gerdean O.

TEXTUAL STUDY

Urantia Paper 119: The Bestowals of Christ Michael

TEACHERS ANDREA AND TOMAS

To Grow Spiritually

More on Loving Service

Assertive Conference

ANDREA: I am so pleased to be with you. I look forward to a discussion with you. On behalf of the many teachers gathered here this evening, I wish to extend their greeting to you as well.

Tonight I would like to present a brief lesson on what it means to grow spiritually. Based on your reading of the bestowals of our beloved Sovereign Michael, we see that all life is a progression. It is varied, it is experience, it is making decisions and experiencing the consequences of those decisions, whether they are negative or positive, that contribute to your overall life plan.

Beginning here is the first phase of your life, the first, phase of how you learn to make decisions. Experiencing life as you do on this material plane is very narrow; it is very circumscribed in its focus. It is based on what you see with your physical eyes. However, you have been given a wonderful guide, a spirit pilot, an indwelling God Fragment which acts as your compass to guide you in a direction. This is our purpose of our presence with you. How you live now colors your perceptions, your experiences and your decisions leading to serving outcomes.

To put it succinctly, the decisions you make here and now color the success or the lack thereof that you experience. Living here and now, living this first life of mortal creature, the decisions you make here and now color the success or the perceived successes that you wish to achieve in life. Living in the material realm may produce those acquirements of material possessions if you are able to get into a, so to speak, stream of material prosperity, but are these the lasting treasures? Is this what will add depth and breadth to your soul? Will this give you the lasting happiness that you seek?

I challenge you tonight to renew your commitment to the spiritual path, to spend some time each day in spiritual, communion with your indwelling Thought Adjuster, to commune with the Father Fragment, to renew and to refresh yourself with the peace and the love and the comfort that you need to go forth in this material life. I believe each and every one of you is fully aware of the many challenges that the material life presents. You need much strength and much stamina to endure the many vicissitudes that this life presents.

I encourage you to spend time seeking the stillness each day, finding the love of the Father, drawing upon the strength in that relationship, to give you the spiritual nourishment you require, you need each day, to help you meet the challenges of life with more .JOY, courage, tolerance and patience. You breathe the air, you eat food, you sleep, you meet your bodies' physical requirements. Now is the time to meet the requirements of your spirit, for this, my friends, is truly the most important component of your being. It is the real you.

After a few days of not eating, you feel hungry and you go in search of food. Your spirit is calling you to enter into this relationship with the Father. Spend time each day, if you can, developing this relationship. Spend time drawing in the love, breathing the love, the guidance, the nourishment for your soul. True and lasting happiness will be yours, will grow. You will feel the peace, which may sometimes seem so elusive.

This is the great lesson of our Master's life. This is the real significance of his bestowal efforts. He, at each level, revealed another component of the Father's love, and at the physical level he manifested the Father's love to all with whom he came in contact, but first he was able to master the human life, what it means to feel the love of the Father on a daily basis and throughout the day. He lived in a continual flow of unconditional love.

This is the challenge of the mortal career. It is not easy, my friends, but it is very worthwhile.

I will pause now and entertain your questions, and please do not be hesitant. I am here to be here in this process of spiritual growth.

Leah: Could we know the teacher's name that is talking to us tonight?

ANDREA: I am Andrea. I have been here many times before.

Leah: Yes. Welcome, Andrea.

ANDREA: Please, treat me as one of you. I am your sister. Although you cannot see me, I am just as you were, at one time. I had the mortal experience. I understand the difficulties that life can present.

Satya: I have a question. I have been experiencing headaches on a daily basis and the lower- part of my head and down my spine and I want to be able to function at top capacity and physically so I can do what I'm here to do and I would like to know if you could help me understand what is the nature of that and how 1 can heal myself.

ANDREA: Healing is a natural process of the body correcting certain energy patterns, certain thought, patterns, certain living patterns that have not always produced a state of health, a state of free movement and mobility. I encourage you, my sister, to spend some time each day in focus on the experience of the Father's love. Love is a healing energy. It is a healing presence.

Envision yourself, as you may, surrounded by a field of light. If you are able, envision your hands, loving hands surrounding your head, as if they are feeding energy into your head, into your whole being. I encourage you to spend time with the Father each day, asking for His healing presence in your life, asking for His guidance to help you find the answers that you seek regarding the alleviation of symptoms.

It's not for me to say the nature and cause of this problem, but I encourage you to seek out those who offer energy rebalancing and techniques whereby you can relax yourself and allow the Father's healing love presence (to) overtake your system. I encourage you to meditate on a daily basis, to surround yourself with the love of the Father and let His love be the healing presence in your life. Is this helpful?

Satya: Yes, thank you.

Student: I have a question, Andrea. I have tried to practice the stillness on a regular basis and the name Marius has come to me and I seem to have thoughts that I am not sure are my own, like a continuing dialog, and I wonder how I can tell if it 's coming from another source or what is in my own mind. How can I be sure?

ANDREA: Does this information help to enhance your ability to understand the Father and His love for you? Does this seem to broaden your perspective, the nature of reality? Does this seem to fill out, as it were, an understanding that you may have previously? Does it seem to ring a bell of truth within you?

Student: It has helped me change certain attitudes and realize certain priorities and look at things differently, yes.

ANDREA: Then I would encourage you to continue this conversation, and do not dwell so much on "is this me or is this another being." Focus on what is being said, and in time the distinction whether it is your mind or another being's attempt to communicate with you will become more pronounced and you will be able to better discern the difference. Do you need further clarification?

Student: No. Thank you very much.

Julie: I have a question and it has to do with the T.R that a lot of people are experiencing, and is the way that this information is coming across, is it necessary for everybody to have this kind of experience or are there other ways that people experience this information without this phenomenon? Do you know what I'm saying?

ANDREA: I believe I understand, and jet me clarity -- this question has several components to it. Let me address the T/R component first. We are here to present a level of instructions heretofore unrevealed on this planet. This is based on the curriculum that the Melchizedeks have prepared for us and it is intended to help to prod (is a word I shall use) the mortals of this world into being more attentive and more stimulated to seek spiritual guidance.

Your minds are naturally active. It is difficult to seek the stillness, therefore we have come to encourage you to walk you as you would, hand in hand, step by step each day in this process. We teachers are here to assist you, to guide you, to direct you, to answer questions about this process of spiritual growth and to also encourage you to share this message with others, to encourage them to seek this path also. Had you lived on a normally developed planet, this intervention would not have been necessary for there would have been those habits cultivated from an early life that would have encouraged you to spend time communing with the Father on a daily basis.

There are many ways to serve. Having or acting as a T/R is important in the sense that these words can reach many people; however, you can and many people here do have personal instructors who are able at times to convey certain higher impressions on your mind. You also have your Thought Adjusters.

A Child: I have a question. If children practice meditating, will they also see the light?

ANDREA: Yes, my dear, and I am glad you have asked this for this is something that children are very receptive to; children are very open to spirit. Encourage them to spend time with God, to seek the stillness. You will see the light for you have a light within you. Spend time talking with God, just as if you would when you are talking to your best friend, for He is the Best Friend you will ever have. He will help you with all of your problems. He will help you find the true path in life.

Getting back to Julie's question, I would also like to add that each of you has a life path that your Thought Adjuster presents to you. How you wish to serve, how you wish to develop yourself and your gift in your personality potential is your free will. When you spend time in communion with the Father on a daily basis, you are more receptive to listening to the impressions that this Most Marvelous Monitor presents to your minds.

The diversity of expressing God's love is infinite; it is boundless. Seek what your role is. Allow the Adjuster to guide you. Whether or not you wish to serve as a T/R, whether or not you wish to serve in this Mission, is between you and the indwelling spirit. Do what you can. Find those ways to allow you to present your gifts and you will be very blessed indeed.

Julie: Thank you.

Leah: Andrea, I'm very happy that you're here with us. I realize that you have been with us, but to hear you audibly is a very (?) for us. Based on what you were saying to Julie, we had a transmission recently that had to do with loving service, and when you spoke of presenting, you know, do what you can when you can present your gifts -- I feel like I'm in the Transportation Corps. (Group Laughter) But there are times when I don't feel like I want to present.. Generally, I'm 99% willing to present that aspect of myself. I also think that I'm a. malfunctioning copier/copyist, but I do the best I can on that to disseminate information.

But, would you say something about when you feel the impetus to do something but you really don't want to do it, would you say something about that? I mean, I know that we're supposed to care about our brothers and sisters, but there's times they -- speaking for myself -- I just feel like, um, -- I Know this can't happen unless I allow it, but I feel I am being taken advantage of. Actually, I don't feel so much that way anymore, but I'd like to hear a little bit more about it.

ANDREA: Michael and the Father do not expect you to do that which you do not want. Never is your free will superceded, nor are you judged for not performing a certain task when you feel you should. This is the balance of life, the balance of giving and receiving. You must learn how to walk this fine line. Is this not what Jesus took many years to perfect in his life? The giving and receiving? Freely he gave to others and then he would retreat into the bosom of the Father to commune and receive the spiritual sustenance he needed to go out and give again.

This is your challenge. You will never be asked to do what which you truly do not wish. If you find there are times when your mind says one thing and your heart says another, pause, still your mind and ask for guidance. If you feel that you do not have the strength or the courage to do something, but yet you want to, draw your strength from the Father who will give you the tools, the ability to do it if it is your desire.

This is not easy. Walking this fine line takes much mastery, it takes much persistence. But truly, it is your will, it your decision to make, how much you wish to serve. This is another reason why the stillness on a daily basis is so important, because it refuels you, it restores a feeling of rejuvenation, of new life, new energy. You cannot expend when there is nothing inside to give. Let the Father fill your cup with love and courage, strength and fortitude. Allow those moments for quiet time, for reflection and renourishment in your life so that you can perform at a level that is more compatible with your heart's desire. Is this helpful?

Leah: It's very helpful, very helpful and reassuring. I think part of my problem is that my ideal is that I just don't want to say "no" to anything, and I know that I have to say "no" sometimes, I just don't know how to do it.

ANDREA: Still your mind and ask the Father to give you the words, with graciousness, with compassion, with respect. If you can do this, you will be surprised to hear the words come out of your mouth. You will not believe that with such poise and gentleness, but truly you must make that decision in your mind if this is something that you wish to do. There are gracious ways of saying "no". Let your spirit lead you to them.

Leah: Thank you. Those are very comforting words.

ANDREA: You are welcome.

I will pause now and ask, if there are no more questions, I would like to say thank you for the opportunity of speaking with you tonight. Our friend Tomas is here and if Gerdean is willing, I believe he would wish to address this group for a few moments.

Thank you. I visit you frequently and I extend my love to each and every one of you here. Good evening.

TOMAS: Thank you, my co-teacher, for your presence this evening, for your words, for your kind encouragement and invitation to us all to administer ourselves in such a fashion as to spiritually progress. I have enjoyed, as has Gerdean, the experience of savoring the flavor of your personality and basking in the fragrance of spirituality when it is allowed to waft its scent in the atmosphere.

Of course, this is made possible most poignantly by the method of stillness, through repeated experience in stillness, to appreciate the pace and poise of relative perfection. How much more sensitively we hear one another, we listen more graciously to that which is between the lines, to that which the soul calls forth.

"The young man who was afraid" might never have been stimulated to progress in his own spirit reality, were it not for the assertive conference which Michael brought to their relationship in discourse as he passed by and as he asked for help. And so as you progress and as you seek to serve and as you seek to augment and encourage the spiritual reality of others, it is well to learn to beseech aid, to ask for help, to submit to being available.

Not that you will be walked on, no. Not that you will be taken advantage of, certainly not; for you have your will dignity, your se1f-respect, your sonship/daughtership to afford you strength and fortitude -- but that you can and may humbly appeal to the soul of' your brethren and elicit their trust, thereby calling forth their own understanding of their own indwelling deity reality; waking, yes, their own spiritual progress.

And so it is not too difficult. It is not impossible. It is certainly not necessary that you have the skills of a Creator son (although I would suspect that that would be a great advantage), but we do have each other, we do have frequent visits and opportunities to investigate this elemental interest in our lives, and so as you anticipate more and further contact with teachers and believers, prepare in your heart and in your mind inquiries of those facets of life that have intrigued you, that have aroused your curiosity, those intellectual probings, those emotional responses, those gut reactions which are fodder for the service mill. Do not be afraid to share your inner life.

How lovely to have a literal child attend this evening. I was certainly reminded of the Master's tendency to stop even a serious discourse to attend to the needs of a. child, and it has been a privilege for us here to be witness again to that character which allows for love on many different levels at one time.

It is wonderful for me, Tomas, to be in your presence again. As Andrea has said, there are many beings here this evening. On behalf of them and Michael, and in the interest of the Teaching Mission at large, I will close my remarks for the evening. I would ask that we hold ourselves in stillness for yet another moment of prayer and appreciation for the thrilling enterprise upon whi.ch we nave embarked: the gospel of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, in living color, on Urantia. Farewell. [Five minutes additional group stillness]

*****

DATE: July 31, 1996

LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEXTUAL STUDY:

Urantia Paper 34

The Local Universe Mother Spirit.

TEACHER SESSION

ANALOGY OF THE FARMHOUSE

Core Ingredient of Character is Self-Respect

Further defining self-love, self-respect and self-esteem

Reference to other-terrestrials not being humanoid

Is it important to understand universe hierarchy?

Whetting the appetite for perfection hunger.

More emphasis on reaction versus response

TOMAS: Good evening, my faithful friends.

Group: (Many chewing pretzels) Good evening, Tomas.

TOMAS: I am Tomas, your guide, your teacher, your companion and your friend, and it pleases me greatly to be with you again. I have been making myself available to many resources of late. Active is this Mission. Your own heightened activity this evening, in terms of your sharing, has brought great delight to many of us, and before I begin my lesson this evening, which is a continuation of our ongoing theme of character, I would like to relate a story.

This story is not a primary tale, however the mastication of the members here presented a picturization in the mind of Gerdean, which I will run with. It is a short introduction to farm life, from my vantage point through her ears, for as these creatures chew their cud (the pretzels), I am reminded of a farm, and that leads me into a story having to do with a certain farm house.

I would ask you to envision a farmhouse that is leased to a married couple by a property manager; this property is owned by a landowner who is traveling in another country. Let us say, for the sake of understanding my analogy that the farmhouse is located in Butler County, Pennsylvania, set within the many counties in and around Western Pennsylvania. Now let me analogize that Western Pennsylvania will be the superuniverse of Orvonton and Butler county is the local universe of Nebadon, and that the farm house is indwelt by Caligastia and his wife Dalagastia, and that the property manager is Lucifer and his secretary is Satan.

This story, this analogy, is presented in response to a question which has been asked by a student (by several students in truth), having to do with the philosophy, the theory, that there is nothing wrong in God's world, that the ills of existence are as they are supposed to be. This philosophy is a great distortion on spiritual truth for, to the landowner, who is in another country and who has entrusted the property manager with his property, his property has been grossly mismanaged in his absence.

Indeed, let us carry this picture further and say that on this farm, on this ranch, there are many animals and many helpers, many farm hands in various cottages and residences, in order to support the land in its natural function of growing things and putting up stock and so forth, and that while these individuals are under the direction of Caligastia and Daligastia, they have been forced to behave in certain ways and subscribe to certain behaviors that are not necessarily in accordance with the values of the landowner.

Might I introduce one example of a girl who is instructed to gather the eggs but she is forbidden to pass by the well on the way to gather her eggs, and so for many years she has crossed the lawn in avoidance of the well.

The landowner returns from a distant country and discovers that the property manager has leased this property and allowed it, even encouraged it to be mismanaged. In the flagrant mismanagement, the herds are being neglected, the buildings are in disarray, the abuses of nature are apparent. The landlord is displeased with the property manager's management, or mismanagement, and he banishes the property manager from the job to which he was assigned, and he also dismisses the dwellers of the home, who are wielding authority over the hapless helpers on the property.

This story is told and made personal for you when you refer again to this girl who has for years been taught that she must not go near the well in order to gather her eggs, when in fact, this is not true! And yet for years after the dismissal of the mismanagement, the girl continues to follow the practice that she was taught, through fear of punishment, in her collecting of the eggs.

One might say, then, that all is right in God's universe when God is overseeing. The analogy of this ranch to Urantia should be apparent, and what we are dealing with is the correction of this farm, to instill in it the harmony of function that would be, in the eyes of its owner, most pleasing and delightful for all involved, from the human helpers to the animal herds and to the land and buildings itself.

When you hear, then, about the philosophy that all is right in God's world, bear in mind that when God is the supreme ruler, all things are indeed right, but when you suffer from the misguided impression that you must avoid the well in order to gather the eggs, that is not a case of all being right with the world, for why should any girl be restricted or redirected in her path for fear of punishment?

And now, my friends, that they all live "happily ever after," I will return my focus of attention to our discussion of character. You read this evening in your study that the animal is not innately born with high character. Indeed, the animal balks at developing that character which would be beneficial to the Kingdom, but as you are born of the spirit, that spirit has its own divine capacities and its own recognition of those qualities -- joy, goodness, fortitude and so forth -- which are the basis for developing firm human character.

This evening I would like to bring to your attention the core ingredient in working with and developing character in yourself and in your relations with other beings, and that is a quality of self-respect. You well know from your studies, and some of you knew from your own experience, that when Christ Michael begins to activate your life, and when spirit begins to dominate your thinking and acting, you are at once rewarded with a sense of self-respect, the likes of which had not theretofore been as ingrained or as meaningful.

That in you which is respectable is that you are indwelt by divinity, and that is your new core base of reality. How can you not respect your own indwelling fragment of God, installed there by the Creator? How can you not respect that which has divinely smiled upon you to the extent of giving you eternal life? How can you not respect that quality of divinity, which has attached itself to you, bestowed itself on you and in you, in order that you may attain eternal life and ultimate perfection?

That element within you is respectable regardless of your background. Recall Apostle Matthew to your mind, for he was an indulger of life's pleasures. He is the example to many of how even the grossest of pleasure-seekers can be lifted up into the dignity of faith son status and given self-respect by the ministry of the spirit. With self-respect as your core understanding of yourself-in-becoming, you have the foundation then to bear fruit, to see with eyes to see spirit, and ears with which to hear spirit promptings and spirit guidance.

Henceforth, your growth will be sustained and nurtured because of that element of respectability that resides within you. Identify yourself with that Father Fragment, that it may continually remind you of your divinity connection, that as you then begin to observe and hear your behavior and your interaction with your fellow human creatures, you will be able to see and hear the areas of character wherein you have strength (in order to develop them), and where you have weakness, (in order to correct them).

Self-respect is not the same as self-love or self-esteem. Self-respect is a tool, which the spirit has provided you … to enable you, as a child of God, to walk wholly, humbly and nobly through your spiritual progression. Even as you become aware of your finite imperfections, you are bolstered by the knowledge that you are respectable, for you are indwelt by a piece of perfection itself,

Also, as you gaze upon the reality of your fellows, if you could but bear in mind the fact that they, too, are indwelt with a respectable aspect of divinity, your approach to them will broaden and you will cease to see them as finite beings, as imperfect beings. You will not so readily handicap them with infirmities of familiarity but will honor and respect that divinity aspect within them that will help to uphold them in their reality awareness and ascension also.

And so, my friends, in respect for you, my peers, my fledgling fellows, I open the floor for your involvement. Have you questions or commentary this evening?

Hunnah: You've got a lot to offer! I enjoyed your lesson this evening. At least toward the end I did. I don't know that I actually have a question.

Leah: I was wondering if you could say something about self-love and self-esteem. You said they are not the same thing. Could you talk a little bit more about the differences?

TOMAS: Very briefly. I will state that self-esteem is a. result of self-respect. Let us take the young girl in the farmyard. As her self-respect, is restored, she carries herself with more dignity; she combs her hair, she adds a ribbon to her braid. She may iron her apron. Those elements of self-esteem manifest to others that she understands and respects herself. Self-esteem is in part, the manifestation of self-respect.

As you hold a position in your society and you respect your accomplishments, you carry yourself in such a way that others recognize you as an esteemed person, thereby contributing to your sense of self-esteem, but it is different from self-respect, which is not dependent on other's view of you but on how you view yourself.

Self-love is a phrase which I have heard misused and it is misunderstood by many, for the sad truth is few people know what Love is in the sense of a God-knowing, spirit-led individual, and as I said last week, in these lessons we are focusing on the character of an individual who has been born of the spirit. And so, self-love is a phrase that can be used in terms of taking care of yourself and appreciating your self's needs because you love the self, which is an extension of the Father/Mother.

To love your tabernacle is to feed it well, to provide it with fresh air and water and rest; to Love your mind is to provide it with harmony and stimuli and good conversation and companionship; to love your spirit is to worship the Father, to honor your place, your status in the universe, to love your brothers and sisters. This is the flavor of self-love and it, too, is after self-respect, for when your-self-respect is lacking, you do nor respect yourself enough to take proper care of yourself and love yourself as you deserve to be loved as a child of God. Have those declarations helped to clarify my meaning?

Leah: Yes, very much so.

TOMAS: I will digress a moment in order to respond to a question which has been submitted by our sister and co-worker Iyana on behalf of her neighbor who asks about the extra-terrestrial entities who have been making the news lately in your realm. This neighbor would like to know if these entities are humanoid beings.

These other-terrestrials are living beings but not of the humanoid series of life form. They are intelligent creations of the universes, but not humanoid. That is all I will say in response to the question.

Hunnah: That will leave a lingering question.

Evangel: I didn't know that was the question she was asking.

Hunnah: No. That wasn't. That was a question Iyana gave to Gerdean when she spoke to her on the phone. The question our friend asked earlier was: Is at really important to know all this hierarchy? I guess it sounds like the part in the Bible where you have "the begets" and . . . which is human history. And she wanted to know if when we are on the other side if it was really necessary that we know all this information that we have been studying previous to these last few pages.

TOMAS: To the contrary, my friend, it is far from "the begets.'

Hunnah: All right. That was a bad example.

TOMAS: It is … I will not use the word "necessary." I will use the word "desirable" for you to assimilate as much information as you can about your creators and your universe. To me it is evident why you would want to know everything you could get your hands on regarding such exciting and edifying information, such comforting information!

In terms of my lesson of this evening, it could be construed as an act of self-love to absorb as much of this information as you can, for it feeds your mind, it feeds your spirit and it feeds your soul to absorb truths about your very existence, about the beings who are administrating you and ministering to your cosmic neighborhood, who are operating the laboratory in which you are a mere amoebae.

Part of the merit of attempting to assimilate the huge amounts of informal ion available is that your mind is challenged. There are concepts which are not possible for you to grasp upon your- first, reading. There are some concepts that you may never grasp while still in the flesh. There are some whose minds are so receptive and eager that they are already complaining that enough was not covered in the discussions that were provided.

As you, for example, learn of the reality of the evolving Supreme you will better understand your contribution to this Godhead-in-creation. As you are motivated by the love and life of this vast organism, you will be inspired to help bring about the culmination of perfection in order to, perhaps, help your higher-ups to celebrate their efforts of millions of years. As you learn to appreciate the work that has been done in order that you can experience this experience, even this evening, in your heart of hearts you will not be able to constrain your appreciation for all that has gone into your very existence.

Many of these concepts, I will grant you, are not immediately available, are not immediately appreciated, but as you persevere, as you garner certain truths about the universe, your soul has been satisfied on a certain level, your adventurous spirit has been stimulated on another level, your mind has been expanded on many levels, and so your capacities are increased, your borders are stretched, your imagination is stimulated. Is it necessary? That, my child, is a determination that only you can make. But for me, I find it valuable. Has that answered?

Hunnah: She'll be very pleased with that. She seems to have a natural appetite for the Book, or what appears to be natural, or developed. How's that? Why is it that some seem to have a natural appetite while others do not?

TOMAS: Perhaps the being who does not have a big appetite, has not had his appetite whet sufficiently.

Hunnah: How do you go about it?

TOMAS: As a hostess, how do you serve a dinner to guests? You provide a gracious atmosphere. You prepare delicious tidbits. You engage them in intriguing, stimulating conversations. You assure them that the banquet has been prepared for them, that your entire purpose at that time is to provide your guests with pleasure and satisfaction. It is the same in the spirit realms. This feast has been provided for you, and as you allow yourself to accept an hors d'oeuvre of truth, as you allow yourself to realize that this feast is yours for the taking, you will develop an appetite. Smell the scent of spirit. Does it not beckon? Taste the tart taste of truth. Does it not make you salivate?

In truth, you are at the helm. Your spirit pilot is ever ready to embark with you upon the adventure of the ages, and you may be satisfied with short hops, but do not rule out the pleasure of the adventure of long-distance flights into the unknown.

Hunnah: You are in rare form tonight, Tomas.

TOMAS: I have been well fed, you see.

Hunnah: Yes, you have.

TOMAS: I have been dancing with my co-teacher Andrea, and being a romantic fellow on a remote outpost far from the Center of things. I have found her companionship delightful and stimulating, and this is also true of you who sustain one another and feed each other by your association. How clever we are, are we not?

Hunnah: I'm glad you've got some good company. We are indeed in Siberia.

TOMAS: I will not respond. I will, however, prepare to take my leave for indeed, our evening has been profuse, but let me give you an assignment. Let me ask you first: do you pay any attention at all to my assignments?

Hunnah: Just before yon said that I was trying to remember what our assignment was. (Group laughter)

Loreenia: I didn't hear it until today but I'm very reactionary when cats get into trouble, or when people upset the apple cart with me.

TOMAS: Indeed, daughter, the assignment from last week was to notice in your life during a day's adventure, when and how it was that you reacted and when and how it was that you responded.

Loreenia: Well, I was at work and walked into a strange situation where the manager -- his reactions literally (indistinguishable) ... raised his eyebrows. I went about my work and he came around apologizing and I feel like I've got a new friend in the process.

TOMAS: I would like to make a bit of a pronouncement, for I have been also with (Machiventa) Melchizedek of late and we have been discussing the teacher base here in this area and the lesson plan and the subsequent lessons and the group growth resultant, and Machiventa called to my attention that in last week's lesson, in the discussion of responding and reacting, I ought to expand somewhat on this business of reacting, which I. presented as, by-and-large, a rather negative experience. And Machiventa suggested that I merely add that reactive responses often indicate a need for growth, not necessarily correction. And so I will and have presented that to you.

And as you begin again to ponder and perhaps even discuss among yourselves your understandings and experiences of the assignment relating to reacting and responding, I will give you the assignment for this week, and that is to privately, in your own private time, give some thought as to your understanding of self-esteem, self-love and self-respect. Seek out that within you which you respect, that aspect of divinity, which is flawless. Respect that. That is a good place to begin our further study of character.

My stalwart companions, I am your loyal friend, Tomas. Farewell and Godspeed. Good night.

*****

DATE: August 7, 1996

LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEXTUAL STUDY:

Urantia Paper 49: The Inhabited Worlds.

TEACHER SESSION

A SENSE OF BALANCE

TOMAS: I am Tomas. Am I too late for your party?

Group: (Laughter) No! It was very nice of you to make it.

TOMAS: It was a struggle, I tell you, for me to break away, for the entertainment was in full sway, but I hastened home for this entertaining group in itself.

Hunnah: Down here we call that a "sacrifice."

TOMAS: "Sacrifice" is no word for which I have a lesson plan prepared. However, alas, it is a word which one day we will discuss. The word "sacrifice" is not only from the days of Abraham but also from the days to come.

I had thought to stay in Flagstaff and contact you by way of the circuitry but Gerdean was non-sensitive and so I have returned. I understand that I have been missed and I will catch up here in due course -- and so will you all be brought up to date as to the events in our local universe project when your compatriots return with their enthusiasm from the experience.

Let me also state at the outset that I am very pleased that there will be a TeaM Conference east of the Mississippi. It is part of the tapestry of the brotherhood of kingdom believers that the quilt be pieced together coast-to-coast and this event will certainly add to the dynamic design which we have been stitching upon for some time.

It is good to be back with you. I am not unprepared, for even as I was away I was with my fellow teachers and we had our own opportunities for what you would call seminars and workshops and so forth in terms of our work in our realm, and so I return to this teacher base ready anew to embark upon our configuration, our studies, our developing loyalties and concepts alluring us all into greater spiritual unity and social fragrance.

I have been pleased with the resultant growth, with the stimuli and thought processes, which have been effected of late from some of our discourses having to do with character. A greater sensitivity has been developing among you as a group and has been also developing in you individually. This growth is fulfillment and we are always happy to see fulfillment, for it then presents paths for further growing, further nurturing, further fertilizing for further seeds of growth.

This evening I would like to discuss with you another key element of developing character and that is the inner ability to maintain a sense of balance. We have, you will recall, touched upon the facet of balance in character in terms of the character of the spirit as compared to the character of the unevolved human being, and that the difference is remarkable; and, it is a challenge, certainly, to bring these two facets of character in to a working harmony, an alignment.

It is through your association with spirit that you maintain balance. It is in stillness that you feel the harmony of your cosmic connection and feel the peace which passes all understanding. As you enter into your arena, as you feel the energies around you, it is then easy to become wrapped up in these energies to the exclusion of spirit, and this, in and of itself, has been going on for a long time, and in your own lives also -- even when these activities are exciting and productive and valuable, as politics or as scaffolding or as family tradition -- but it is born of habit or ambition or tradition without the conjoint cooperation of your spirit.

When and as you bring the spirit into your arena, you bring a new element, one which allows you to act in balance. By the same token, it is probably fair to caution against overmuch spirituality, for it is likewise possible for individuals to "go off the deep end" into spiritual realms and adventures without the true connection to divinity which would disallow such fanaticism.

Balance is necessary for a fruitful and successful life in terms of your own mental composure and your subsequent effect upon your environment and your world. As you have been born of the spirit, as you perceive the ability to commit yourself to the will of God, and to doing these deeds which would indicate that you were born of the spirit, it behooves you to have balance.

It is too easy to get off-balance. All of us become embroiled, ensnared, enwrapped, embraced by and in activities and energies which steal us away. The creative acts, scientific investigation … these are activities which compel you to go further and further, deeper and deeper into the realm of application, and whereas on occasion you may strike upon a new discovery or a flash of genius, even here it is well to remember balance.

I am not promoting mediocrity. I am not promoting a conservative attitude. As you understand balance in your life you can readily see where and when you become off-balance. You can feel the atmospheric conditions alter. When an individual enters your environment who is off-balance, you are vulnerable to also being toppled unless you have your anchor dropped into the well of deity.

Nero has advised me that I am too serious and I need to lighten up. I will take his words under advisement and install a bit of levity for balance. Without meaning to appear facetious, then, I will involve you in this discourse. My friends, how are you? 'What's happening?'

Iyana: This is Iyana. I just wanted to tell you that I nave a wonderful life. I am very happy. I feel fulfilled. I look back on my life and I think that I have forgiven anything that I am guilty of, and I've been getting on with it. I think everything is great. And the Teaching Mission has taught me to be more trustful and not to be so suspicious in the world that we live in. And also it has taught me to be more loving. But there is one thing that I would like to know.

I don't feel that I have a very large social life or anything, that I do not seem to contact enough people to do any benefit for them, so I don't know whether I should just continue like I am or make an extra effort to get out. Would you like to comment, please?

TOMAS: I would like to greet you, Iyana, and tell you that you are indeed great. You are the living example of a child of God, a daughter of holiness, a being who spreads light and life as you pass by. It is indeed a sour shame that your social life is limited, for your personality is and would be a gift to anyone having the courage to be one with you.

Your positive attitude and your radiance of spirit are difficult of enduring by mortals who are afraid, who have become accustomed to the darkness. It is difficult for semi-civilized human brings to withstand such good faith and good cheer. This is unfortunate and I am not going to suggest that you put on a false face and adapt to a philosophy of misery in company in order to attain friends, for these are not what you seek as friends.

But I must also say, daughter and sister, that when one has attained such enlightenment, it is indeed an agondonter lament that you have voiced, for unless and as and until other individuals also edify themselves, clear away the wreckage of the past, heal the wounds, forgive the imperfections, accept life, adjust to circumstances and find God in it, you will be solitary indeed, except for those of us in the spirit realms who keep you steady loyal company, and except for those who, like you, have attained joy, peace, faith and so forth.

You might as well accustom yourself to the fact that most of your dealings with your fellow human beings will be as a teacher. As you teach you become friendly to a point. As you teach friendship with God, you bring about also enlightenment and growth or, alas, you alienate your peer until such time as they are ready again for another dose of your radiant truth, beauty and goodness.

Do not despair of a lonely life, for you shall not be subjected to such a fate, as you well know. But, as I said, being an agondonter has its own (ambiguous) rewards. I am glad to see you again, my child. I thank you for staying in touch with me and with your spirit helpers. Thank you also for the questions which you have submitted for your fellow students' edification as well as your own.

Iyana: Thank you very much. And as far as being lonely, I never feel alone because I know I am not alone.

TOMAS: Indeed.

Iyana: And I look forward to teaching, because I enjoy the Urantia Book and all that it teaches, and I enjoy being with the teachers and learning from them. And thank you very much.

TOMAS: And thank you.

Hunnah: What is the subject this evening?

TOMAS: Balance.

Hunnah: Ooh! We haven't heard that for a long time. Perhaps you'll give us a report on that some other time.

TOMAS: Perhaps we will walk a tight rope together.

Hunnah: I hadn't thought of it that way.

TOMAS: Have you thought about our discourse last week regarding self-respect, self-esteem and self-love?

Hunnah: I have. I've been aware of it. I guess it's been going on only I didn't label it. But it-- in introspection, it surfaces and I've been able to identify it within myself, in my workday, and I'm expecting it to have more definition, though. It's upon reflection that we look at the familiar definition, but because of what we're doing, I expect a new definition to come about.

TOMAS: Indeed. Cause and effect.

Hunnah: We have a small, quiet group tonight.

Loreenia: Tomas, I had experienced seeing something that I wanted one of, and I was thinking about creating a little box for medicine and Band-Aids to put in the car and stuff like that, and just two days prior to talking about the first aid box, I signed up at the church for a drawing and received a first aid box -- and a cup that I hadn't spoken about but that I had attached in my thinking that I would like to have -- and no physical human being knew about that but me. Isn't it interesting that I received those things just like that?

Hunnah: Do we pick up on it first, that it's coming, maybe?

Iyana: Tomas? May I ask was Yogananda there at the convention?

TOMAS: Yes.

Hunnah: Oh, my gosh. I didn't think you'd say that. I painted a picture of him and I enjoyed doing it very much.

TOMAS: He is a beautiful being. Also there was Martin Luther King, Jr. …

Hunnah: Oh, how nice!

TOMAS: ... who is part of our merry band of supporters.

Iyana: Imagine that.

Hunnah: That's wonderful news. Sounds like "Who's Who".

TOMAS: It really was. It really is.

Hunnah: Was it well attended? I mean physically?

TOMAS: Oh, indeed.

Hunnah: Good.

TOMAS: The cup runneth over. I will not deprive your peers, however, of the joy of filling you in on the details. I am most excited to have had the opportunity of attending, not only for my own growth experiences with my fellows, not only to see the dynamic spirit in action and en masse, but also, as usual, to work in the spiritual growth and upliftment of many individuals. It was a wonderful opportunity and now I am now making ready to attend a similarly dynamic event in our own immediate neighborhood, as are some of you. The energy, the love, the reality of life and light are so delightfully portrayed among you and, indeed, among us also. What a party! I am not exhausted, for I have been careful to maintain my balance, my boundaries, and I have been encouraged to probe even further, even deeper, in faith, by my comrades.

This agondonter business is contageous. How much we learn from you is remarkable! How much, I should say, we appreciate you. How we admire the efforts you make. How we see the backdrop of emotional trepidation and see how you, in your childlike faith, bound forth off again to another adventure in your day. If we could but harness some of that boundless undirected energy, we would make such great strides, but as it is we are encouraged, we are amused and we are deeply touched by those of you who strive. What have I missed while I was away? Talk to me. Ask me questions.

Loreenia: We have read in the book this evening on The Inhabited Worlds about the different kinds of beings, the sub-breathers and super-breathers and so forth and we were contemplating what planet you came from in your mortal existence. What did you do? Were you a sub-breather or whatever? A one-brained? A two-brained? We were discussing that earlier.

TOMAS: Why am I not surprised that you would ask me to compare myself to you in that regard? (Group laughter) I understand your curiosity. If I were to tell you I was a one-brain type, would you think less of me than if I told you I was of the three-brain type?

Evangel: You know all about us!

Hunnah: Did you know Evangel has a beard and lots of curly hair?

Evangel: Two brains that don't work very well. (Laughter)

TOMAS: It truly serves no purpose to ascertain that I was this or that. I survived. And I, like you, have advanced. I will confess to you that sometimes here in my Siberian outpost teacher base, without benefit of a co-anchor or other transmitter receivers for my friend here, I will confess that it is sometimes a great act of faith and trust to even enter your environment.

You are so vulnerable, my friends, so susceptible, and this process is not perfect. Far be it for me, Teacher Tomas, a "lesser prophet," to portray information to your minds that would entertain you in the interim but in the long run forestall your growth or the growth of Urantia longer. And so I say it is and does require great faith in you, and even in myself, that I can convey successfully enough truth to sustain you, enough encouragement to lure you, enough guidance to focus you on your own Indwelling God Fragment, and to entertain you enough that you might want to come back for yet more growth in your spirit, in your inner realms.

I will afford you my best, my friends. I compact with you to do my best. But there are times when I feel the need to restrain myself lest the words I use be misused against me or against the Teaching Mission, against truth, beauty and goodness, out of our mutual ignorance.

Loreenia: Tomas, why do I feel you heavier energy this evening? More heaviness than usual? Is it because you have been to the party? And before you came back the energies were erratic. Even now the strength of the energy transmission . . . (indistinguishable)

Hunnah: I don't think that was heard on the tape.

Loreenia: That's okay.

TOMAS: I will respond to what I heard you say, and I appreciate that you hear me as serious, or ponderous...

Loreenia: I use the physical words to describe, but it doesn't really describe what I feel.

TOMAS: I will convey to you our associate's words, "I have been to the mountaintop," and having been to the mountaintop, I am moved. I am mightily moved, and I, like our Sovereign Michael, have a dream, and it is not a trivial trinket. I am enriched, fortified, strengthened, renewed, revitalized and re-dedicated to following the will of our Creator, Our Father, to whatever lengths it takes, to wherever he may lead, to portray the power, love, goodness, mercy, joy, radiance, harmony, energy, dedication, devotion, patience, peace that is asked of me.

I bring this attitude and these words to you and place them at your feet. Whatever brain I have is here to serve; whatever breath I breathe is because of my Creator, Our Father. It is this spirit reality which will edify, delight, entertain, correct, grow, foster and further us for the many eons to come, for the deep-seated work ahead of us -- the growth, the development which lays ahead. But again, I digress into a state of seriousness.

Let me ask you, daughter, how is it when you are alone in your solitude? Do you feel the ponderousness of the Paradise pull? Do you ever sense an urgency about the conditions on Urantia? Do you ever yearn to spiritually suckle your brothers and sisters? These ponderings are to me deeply joyous, even though they may seem to you heavy and out of balance.

Loreenia: You say heavy. I can feel the weight of your energy, which is a good weight. It's not a ponderous thing. It gives strength for more energy. The words we have here are not adequate. Yes, I do ponder and have an urgency to help this planet. I find that being at peace and sending out love helps immensely, even if I'm not in the physical presence of others, and I feel the energies around me of the spirit realm and my heart goes out. It almost takes my breath, somehow, but how can I push my brothers and sisters in a direction they don't want to go?

TOMAS: Indeed, it has been said that effective prayer is a great service, if not the greatest service you can perform.

Loreenia: (Indistinguishable)

TOMAS: Indeed, you have been blessed with a first aid kit and a cup.

Evangel: Pray you don't have to use it.

Loreenia: My first aid kit? Not physically. And the cup? It's a white cup. Everything in the kit is white. But the fact that it came without even requesting! On this physical planet, you're lucky to get anything if you go directly to buy it, much less to just think about it and get it.

TOMAS: Well, what do you suppose I will assign to you this week?

Iyana: To get on with our character study.

TOMAS: To perceive your balance, to ascertain when you determine that you are going too far afield of your pinnacle of your core reality. Even as you become embroiled/involved in things which you love, are you going far afield of the spirit? Or are you conscious of your connection with Our Father, your Indwelling Spirit?

Hunnah: Tomas, I have had difficulty with my meditations and I'm not able to write. Is this sort of a plateau or a holding pattern? Once there is what I would describe as the pleasure of this communion and it goes away, even though it appears in other forms, it sticks in me that I'm supposed to be doing something and then I'm not able to be connected to do it, so I attend to what I can on a daily level, what comes to me, but I have found it difficult and I sit in quiet and I very nicely go off to sleep. So, if it's possible to have some help with that, I would appreciate it.

TOMAS: My immediate suggestion, my friend, is to look at your day and look at your life and see if sleep is part of your balance. Are you getting, truly, adequate rest? It is not natural for one who yearns to spend time in prayer and meditation -- unless you are truly tired, in which case you should sleep and not berate yourself for not following through with a regimented program. When you are rested and when you have set aside time, you will eagerly and willingly spend time with that which most delights your inner harmony, your Best Friend, your creative Source, your breath of life.

Hunnah: Well, I really miss it.

TOMAS: You will return.

Hunnah: Thank you.

Evangel: I have a question. You'll notice I don't ask many questions and I'm sure that it's because my questions can't be answered and I'm sure it's one of those, but I'm going to give it a try. Last week you gave us a story about the well and is there an example you could give us that would be something that we have been, or it's always been that way on this planet that we get to thinking in a certain area or-thinking a certain thing because it's always seemed to be that way? You know what I mean? Can you give us an example of that well, kind of, in real life?

TOMAS: I appreciate your question, my son and my friend, and I could not off the cuff glibly respond, but I can take your question into serious consideration in our further study of character, for it is much about the fruits of the spirit which are to be found in the well that have been bypassed in order to gather quickly those eggs, you see, and so all of humanity has suffered from thirst, spiritual thirst. It is intended that our study of character will b ring into view those behaviors which satisfy the soul, harmonize the heart, emphasize the fellowship, and delight the gods, that are more in keeping with the original plan for this delightful farm yard. Fair enough?

Evangel: Yes.

TOMAS: My friends, I feel I need to make my exit. I am not quite finished with many of the, shall we say, administrative aspects of this on-going energy surge in the desert. I and our brothers and sisters are at work and will greet you again soon and anon. My and our love to you all until we meet again next week.

Iyana: Thank you for coming, for your long journey.

Loreenia: We enjoyed it.

Hunnah: Thank you for leaving the party for us.

TOMAS: You are my party, indeed. I love you, and farewell.

*****

DATE: August 15, 1996

LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEXTUAL STUDY:

Urantia Paper 36, "The Life Carriers"

1. Origin and Nature of Life Carriers

2. The Life Carrier Worlds

3. Life Transplantation

TEACHER SESSION:

COURAGEOUS LOYALTY

TOMAS: Good evening, my friends.

Group: Good evening, Tomas.

TOMAS: Pleased I am to be with you and to be in our customary environment with those of you who have sojourned afar and back again in your local environs; pleased we are that you have brought with you the experience of companionship in the spirit; and pleased we are that you conjoin again together in expansion of spirit family.

The days are upon us that the surge forward is momentous. The momentum of the days around the celebration of our Creator Son's natal birthday brings your emotional and sentimental minds to the fore along with your aspiring spirit appreciation for his life among you. It is, we have observed over the years, a time of great quickening. We are inclined to take advantage of the quickening in order that we may catapult you then into a new plane of operation in your personal life and in your more gregarious arena as well.

We have been, to bring you up to date, embarked upon a study of character. Recently, we discussed the core element of self-respect as a foundation for character building. For as you respect that which resides deep within you, your own Fragment of God, you have a place to begin your understanding of what will be necessitated in bringing the fruits of the spirit to bear in your lives.

We have also discussed the importance of balance in developing character, that it behooves you to maintain balance, that you not exclude your physical nature (or) your spiritual nature, but that you grow as a whole. Many instances of balance have come to your minds this week, those of you who took my words to heart, and more balance will be prevailing in your lives as you ponder further this great truth.

However, loyal students, I have withheld somewhat a full-fledged discourse in abeyance of your return, for one of the aspects of balance in a social group, in a group of fellow-believers, is the integral balance of the growth of you all, that you might have one another to compare, consult and console in your growing experiences.

I would like to discuss this evening with you, to some extent at least, the character set out in the fruit of the spirit designated "courageous loyalty" and I say briefly because, as I am wont to do, "courageous" as a word is a lesson in itself, as is "loyalty."

Perhaps you will recall from your text, in the understanding of the word courage, that physical courage is perhaps the easiest of all courages to carry forth. The animal can be courageous in getting its needs met, in acquiring its way in the way, in providing goods, foods, weapons, pleasures, securities, for itself and for its family, and many times courage is simple brawn, hailing back to your early evolution of the fundamental survival of the fittest.

Courage is advanced when it involves altruism, when it bespeaks ideals and ethics hinging upon its societal connections, philosophic understandings, political persuasions, economic fortresses and so forth. Here the mind enters the arena and brings with it courage to stand for certain foundations upon which your civilizations are built, your families are sustained.

Herein lies argument; herein lies diversity; herein lies tremendous variety of thought and the courage of thinking and believing. With this form of courage the mortal has risen above brute force and entered the more insidious force of ideas and mores.

In the Kingdom, courage bespeaks the ability to put forth your God, allows your God to live and work through your free will choice. Courage to stand for that which you believe in, for that which has reality, whether or not it is supported by your society or by your family, is the highest form of courage. (Courage of this nature without spirit results in fanatics, and so we constrain our focus to those who have devoted themselves courageously to the spirit, to their perception of spirit.)

As we observed your discussions in the earlier course of the evening, we were mindful of the diversity of your individual manifestation of your own personal courage. It does require courage to stand for something, to espouse your belief, your opinion, to make testimony to others of your life's experiences. This courage, this integrity of the individual, is an aspect of sharing the inner life; it is rambunctious.

The nervousness that some of you experience during such dialogs and discourses stems from your understanding, on an elemental level, that the fact of your differences, if it were mere base courage, could result in fisticuffs. But, that you have evolved to a philosophic plane that allows for differences, affords you the freedom to express yourself courageously, and so you all this evening have experienced courage.

Even those of you who have not spoken out have experienced the courage of some conviction, some decision, have ruminated in your mind your thoughts, and accepting your thoughts as your own is an act of courage also.

When you have committed yourself to the living God, to the living Way, when you have experienced this reality to the point where you have seen it operating, where the Spirit of Truth has reflected to you your own reality and the reality of the instance, the truth of the moment -- your courage is reinforced.

As you begin to trust one another, to understand each other's strengths, to overlook one another's weaknesses, to love each other in the spirit as Michael intended, as you bear with each other in your humanness and in your desire to grow and to develop true character, you begin then to courageously stand shoulder-to-shoulder. You become a courageous block of believers, loyal to the one truth, loyal to each other, loyal to your ideals, loyal to your God.

The highest kind of loyalty is to the First Source and Center. As you reinforce your loyalty to the First Source and Center, you are given opportunity then to develop courage in this loyalty.

Remember Peter, who three times denied knowing the Master. In his heart, however, Peter knew courageous loyalty. He was caught up in the times and the prophecy was fulfilled. Many times you have, in your core being, courageous loyalty but you allow yourself to get caught up in the instant, in the moment, in the circumstance, and you deny the First Source and Center.

In time, my loved ones, you will embrace this reality courageously enough that your loyalty will not allow for you to get caught up in the things of this world, in the circumstances of lesser courage. As your teacher, as your elder brother companion, I will, of course, allow that you are known and loved and appreciated even as you grow. Even as you deny to others and more importantly to yourself your loyalty to the First Source and Center, you are forgiven. You are encouraged to get up and go another round with life, stronger, firmer, wiser.

I would urge you to lean upon the courage of your own understanding through Michael and not lean overmuch to the teachers, to the words of others, to the writings of others, but to your own intimate and personal and courageous relationship with Our Father, for He is the reality which will bring you up and lead you home.

I have spoken enough this evening regarding courageous loyalty, a subject which bears great thought, great meditation, for in your lives, in your daily dealings, your many moments are given opportunity to manifest your loyalty and it does require courage. So here's to you, my friends, my students, my brothers and sisters. Here's to your courage and to your loyalty. Taste it well.

How glad I am to be with you this evening, and I am eager now to hear your voices, one with the other. Are there questions? Commentary? Please.

Elizabeth: There's been a lot of commentary about character in regard to this election which I find very interesting, no matter what party we belong to. I think it's actually been very helpful to me. I feel that it has, in thinking of the subject, and I'm so glad that we're still examining it. I think that there's so much there for us to think about. Just a comment.

TOMAS: Yes, I understand that your political parties, particularly your Republican party is being very vocal in its current status in the political arena of your country: the GOP convention, I believe, is the phrase. I understand how your system works but in a cursory way. I am not a politician, according to their terms, and I am not going to allow myself or this configuration to become embroiled in a political discourse, for as I said earlier, your various courages are strong in the mindal realms and our format is not to KO each other at the voting booth, but to grow in the spiritual kingdom.

Your remark regarding character brings to my mind that the character of (forgive the phrase) "stardom," and "show business" seems to be the prevalent characteristic of the political arena of your country at this time. It would be most interesting if these displays of character could be believed year round, if they could be touted regularly, rather than only at "show time." It is grievous to me, as it is to you, I am sure, to see the delight they all seem to find in assassinating the character of the alleged foe.

It is always heartwarming to see when two great powers can set aside their differences and work together for a united whole. I have been apprised of some minor instances, but unfortunately the competitive nature of your two-party system has brought the political arena to a point where the courage of the individual is seldom seen. It is the courage, rather, of the platform which speaks the greater truths, and the platforms, as I see them, are standing on shaky scaffolding.

If we were to discuss individual leaders, it might lead to some interesting character studies, but as I have forewarned, I am not going to do that. I am not interested in the character of a politician but in the character of a God-knowing kingdom believer who has assented to follow Christ, to follow truth, to follow God into new ways of leading and following new ways of life.

I will not discourage, however, your involvement, for it has been said and it is true, that as intelligent human beings, as members of your society, it does you well to become involved in what interests you and how it is that you feel that you can impact your world, your material existence, your society and its institutions. This is good for you to do. It is just not good for me.

Elizabeth: Well, I think I wanted to ask you a question because having come back from the conference -- and you were there, Tomas, I'm given to understand -- I thought it was like being in the first mansion world and you've been there, you've been beyond it, and so I guess I'd love to have you comment on your observations from your point of view. I know we're all feeling you were there and you could sense the unity and the incredible spirit, and I would just enjoy a comment from you on your observations.

TOMAS: I am delighted to comment, as you can well imagine. As I have forewarned you, I am a chatty fellow, and I certainly have my observations. I will tell you, however, that you do yourself and your fellow men and women a disservice when you catapult yourself and the experience of the conference into the mansion worlds, for you have stepped over neatly our goal here today, which is to bring about a condition on Urantia in the material existence, in your actual material lives, as human beings in the flesh, a life, an involvement, a society, a people which is imbued with God-consciousness, which is exemplified by personalities steeped in living love.

Do not get in such a hurry to experience the mansion worlds when we have wondrous experiences to have here. Yes, I appreciate your enthusiasm and yes, by comparison to life as you know it in your realm, it was likely a morontia experience indeed, but be assured that this delightful array of humanity is entirely possible in your native realm if the appropriate loyalties are attempted and acted upon.

Elizabeth: In other words I should think in terms of the days of light and life coming as a vision of those days? Is that what you're saying?

TOMAS: Absolutely! Not only are you in line to experience the days of light and life but you also have the advantage of your comfort zone of Urantia, the beauties provided by the physical planet. Do not overlook your birthplace and the wonders here.

Elizabeth: I see.

TOMAS: It is not only the spiritual brotherhood that you aspire to, but the actual sphere being advanced into perfection -- air, water, forestry -- all these fundamental elements of your origin in harmony and cleanliness, pattern established to bring about efficiency and grace. So much can be attained here!

As you well know and understand, on a world which has not been interrupted and retarded by default and rebellion (such as your history has experienced and which we have more often than not exposed), you would be in a realm of truth, beauty and goodness that would naturally bring you to an understanding, a study, of that which we call morontia mota, where the high philosophic thought bridges the lower spiritual concepts. This is an element of the morontia life which we are fostering because there are many of you who have hungered for truth and righteousness and have been isolated in the lonely spheres of a primitive society surrounded by darkness.

Those of you who opt to be forerunners, who surge into the unknown in faith, with courageous loyalty to the truth of greater spirit reality, are being practiced and being exposed to those morontia mota which we teachers are helping to instill and stimulate in your minds with which you should have already been acquainted. It is, however, not your fault, and so we are trying to make up for the paucity of your historicity by bringing about glimpses of mota now.

But in view of the delights of mota and the morontia life, I implore you not to step over your potential paradise here on Urantia, for that truly is our work at hand.

Elizabeth: I'm really glad you helped me to think more clearly about my experience, because I am trying to sort it out and I felt that I wanted to get some philosophical understanding of what happens when you are in a large group of people who are thinking as these people that I was with are thinking. It brings about something that is absolutely incredible, in my opinion. I think Leah, too, experienced it and I know that the other women did, so I thank you for helping me to sort that out a little bit better. But it was a glimpse, a glimpse of something absolutely incredible.

TOMAS: Yes, daughter. I am glad for you to have had that experience, and I promise that each future experience of like nature will be equally satisfying, rewarding, and stimulating to you and to your greater reality.

Elizabeth: I hope that we'll have our Jesus birthday celebration and again will have a taste of that pleasure and that delight when our recreation is intertwined with some higher philosophical concepts.

TOMAS: Your fledging society here, our teacher base in Pittsburgh, our association of believers who choose to honor the birth date of Jesus of Nazareth, is your family. And it is much like the birthday party of a group of children with balloons and presents. Your delightful youth, your innocence in having a birthday party for the Creator Son of a Universe, cannot but be a charmed experience, even if it were lacking in philosophic sophistication.

Elizabeth: Thank you so much for your wonderful words. You get us in our mindset for our wonderful celebration next Thursday.

TOMAS: I will add to that, that the genuine practice of worship contributes nobly to the spirit and to the bonding of any group of individuals, so as you are learning to play as children, it behooves you to learn to pray as men and women.

Evangel: "Pray" or "play" as men and women.

TOMAS: Pray.

Elizabeth: You're really inspiring me as to what we can do to honor Christ Michael.

Loreenia: You spoke of people being catapulted possibly this time of the year, before and after enjoying Christ's birthday. Can you discuss any of this? What's going on besides what you discussed?

TOMAS: It is part of the collective consciousness of kingdom believers, much like a "magic" takes hold of your society around the season of Christmas. It is also somewhat paralleled to the "magic" that takes place during a political election. It is an energy which takes hold of the devotees, it becomes a life of its own, a life in itself. The only real difference is that in a religious experience, a genuine religious experience, it is eternal. A political convention can come and go and a Christmas can come and go, but the love of God and his followers working together toward the support of the Supreme Being is on-going.

Remember when I spoke to you about the 4th of July, that we took advantage of what went on in the minds and hearts of many who ascertained on Independence Day, that they were indeed dependant on things other than the Infinite -- and so many prayers were put out, much distress was manifested, much was pondered in the minds of those who are not independent. And it is similar when a movement such as a global birthday party takes place. We are eager to act upon those thoughts and parallels of the heart that equate you to your Master, your Creator Michael, in any context of his life here on earth, his experiences, and indeed the honor of understanding his resurrection, his bestowals, and so forth, and perhaps in this group a new understanding or a new look at his character.

And as you study character as a result of our times together, you look at the character of Michael for an inspiration or for a better understanding of character. These are the things upon which the spirit realm can act. And so as you prepare for these gatherings of believers, as you prepare for a celebration of the birth of Jesus, your minds are receptive, responsive and reflective of the Divine. And that is something we can act upon also. What else?

Elizabeth: So when we celebrate his birthday, we can think together possibly about the gift of his character to our planet, a picture of his character? Is that a possible theme that we can enlarge on?

TOMAS: Certainly.

Elizabeth: In keeping with what we've been doing?

TOMAS: Well, let me say, daughter, that you have not been with us for a number of weeks but we have already been quite up to our eyebrows in a thorough study of character, and as you commingle with your peers and allow yourself to be advised of what we have been up to, you will bring yourself into focus of understanding and understand then that the study of character which you so persistently called for has now come about. We anticipate being able to devote time and study to character for some time. It is an interesting project.

On your part, perhaps you might want to think in terms of a group project for your upcoming conference in the Fall, that each one of you might perhaps put on a skit and manifest a certain character, if that would delight you. It would activate your minds as to the character trait. It would stimulate your fellows so as to wonder what trait are they trying to portray, and it would entertain those that you choose to entertain because you have put your heart and mind into a service project. And so I do commend your idea.

Elizabeth: I think that's a great idea because I would want to bring something to that conference as a group and I think that sounds -- we're half way there, evidently, from what you're saying. You've been guiding us and thinking about it, and I think it sounds good. We'll probably talk about it as the weeks go on and others will develop some good ideas to bring to the table.

TOMAS: I would only ask you that as you study, discourse, dissect and so forth the thoughts on character, that you truly take them to heart and not just put a costume on it.

Elizabeth: Uh huh. We'll try to do that. I think it's a great idea.

TOMAS: Others? Have you something to bring to the fore?

Leah: Well, I was wondering. The conference . . . leaving the conference, you had such a wonderful euphoric feeling and feeling that you desired to love and serve your neighbor and do all the idealistic things that we attempt to do, and I was wondering. I seem to have gone from such a high to such a low. I did allow myself to get caught up in the instant.

TOMAS: Oh, my darling daughter, I understand what you are experiencing, and I will immediately embrace you and call to your mind our recent lesson on balance, for it is said in your realm "what comes up must come down" (group laughter) and you allowed yourself to ride so high in that helium balloon you have come down splat. My precious lovely, you will even out. Be patient with yourself. Do not allow the adjustment back into your arena to overwhelm you. It is not as dark as you might perceive at the moment, although certainly it is not as light as it was in Flagstaff.

Be kind to yourself and to your God. He has not deprived you of anything. He has not brought you into this pit of existence to allow you to languish here. Be gentle with yourself. Rest. Do not start scurrying, looking for new and greater heights and adventures but learn to plod methodically in the delightful sphere of your own fragrance and find perfect harmony and divinity within your own realm.

As you identify this and find your God within you, you will then naturally and next be brought to the next great challenge and that is: having found God in and of yourself and choosing to do his will, you then come to the grand adventure of finding how and trying to do his will in your life. It is an on-going process. Your sincerity and your strivings, your hungers are in keeping with a child of God. Do not despair, you are not alone.

In the interim, while you are adjusting from your temporary depression, be good to you, Leah, and be mindful of the simple joys of your life, the sweet fruits of the spirit of your mortal existence including the strawberries and plums of your material world. Be mindful of the pleasures of a hot bubble bath. Be mindful of the joys of feeling your toes in the grass on a quiet sunny afternoon. Be gentle with yourself, daughter, and in time your resolve will renew and you will be ready then to go out to seek for new adventures and to serve on His behalf as you go.

Elizabeth: I think we can all enjoy that picture as a way to stabilize our enthusiasms. I think we're all going to enjoy that very much, Tomas. Thank you.

Leah: I would also -- when you were speaking of Peter and Jesus, and how he denied Him . . . the Urantia Book paints a very vivid picture of the compassion. So I guess that would be a good thing to meditate on.

TOMAS: Indeed. Indeed, compassion truly is a fruit of the spirit, one which is not listed formally, but compassion is a gift that is not appreciated without the spirit, without the wisdom of a fatherly/motherly affection for its innocent or ignorant child. It, compassion, is, to me, one of the greatest, most noble fruits, particularly on a world such as Urantia.

Dearhearts, am I overstaying my welcome now? Shall we call it a day? I have enjoyed the rain. I have enjoyed the shower on the outside and on the inside.

Elizabeth: Well, don't forget to come for Jesus' birthday. Help us celebrate.

Student: If you talk to Nero, ask him to come and play.

Evangel: And Andrea.

Loreenia: And Andrew, and all the teachers.

Leah: Everyone's invited.

I'd like to know. Did Peter know that he denied Jesus each time? or was it just after the three times?

TOMAS: Your spirit knows when you are bluffing. Whether it be conscious or not, a part of you is completely aware of what you have done or what you have failed to do, particularly in such a specific instance. Take an example of your life. Allow yourself to ponder a situation of casual discourse. It does not even have to be something as dramatic as the Master's arrest. Allow yourself a moment of conversation with an individual who in their courageous outpouring of their loyalty says something, and in your heart of hearts you know it is an untruth and a lesser way, that if you were the Master you would be able to handle this ignorance in a way that would bring light and life to the individual, and you hear the moment come and you let the moment pass or you very cleverly or glibly make a funny or dodge the issue.

Your heart knows that you have denied an opportunity. It is not so much a sin to overlook opportunity as it is to have a moment presented to you to be true to yourself and to your God, to have that instant presented to you personally, and then dodge the issue. That is a form of betrayal and denial. Granted, it is minute in one context, but it is a habit that once broken, once overcome, can help you develop into a strong promoter of truth, beauty and goodness.

Be alert to these moments. Allow your spirit to be alert to the opportunity to express itself through you. Is it not the Thought Adjuster's destiny that your personality allow It to express Itself through you?

Student: Yes.

TOMAS: Each opportunity that you are presented with that you can give to your Thought Adjuster for Its expression through you as a vehicle of His love/His truth, is an opportunity to work in service for the First Source and Center. Betrayal? No. Denial? No. Lost opportunity? Yes. This will be my assignment to you all this week: to look for those occasions to manifest courageous loyalty to the First Source and Center.

Loreenia: Brother Tomas?

TOMAS: Yes, daughter.

Loreenia: Isn't joy part of the truth, beauty and goodness of the First Source and Center?

TOMAS: Your question is abstract. I say abstract because I do not simply want to say "yes" or "no." Joy is certainly a side effect of a relationship with the spirit, but joy can and should be respected in yourself and in its manifestation.

Loreenia: What brought that to mind was when you were saying to lighten up a little bit. You commented that Nero said to "lighten up."

TOMAS: Nero is and was accustomed to an earlier configuration, and whereas he would have me be more playful, I am mindful of the merit of mirth, but I am also responsible for the soul growth of those who present themselves to me for friendship. I have assured Nero that you do not regard me so much an old fogey as you once did (group laughter) and you have begun to see the humor and the joy that I bring as well as the long sentences and ponderous vocabulary.

Loreenia: What? No "Ha!"? (group chuckle) Nero always said, "Ha!" when he was talking about his (indistinguishable), but it seemed to touch everybody's heart.

TOMAS: I have great appreciation for those who have gone before me and paved the way. "Ha!" (group laughter) My dear ones, I am departing now. I am, as I said, glad to be with you again, glad to have us all back into the embrace of our immediate family, our cluster of apostolic students, our friends, indeed. Be good. Have fun. I'll see you at the party.

Loreenia: Bye Tomas.

Others: Bye, Tomas. Thank you.

TOMAS: Bye.

*****

DATE: August 22, 1996

LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEXTUAL STUDY:

Urantia Paper 179: The Last Supper

5. Establishing the Remembrance Supper

TEACHER SESSION

THE RELEVANCE OF "THE WELL"

TOMAS: Good evening, friends. I am Tomas.

Group: Good evening, Tomas.

TOMAS: I am your faithful companion, again ready to spend a moment in time with you in our configuration of fellow believers in earnest. (I will say parenthetically and at the outset that this transmitter/receiver this evening is not in the best condition. It will be difficult, frankly, for me to keep her at bay. I trust, however, that some semblance of sanity and sagacity will prevail.)

Indeed, we have been blessed by an abundance of celebratory attitudes and gatherings, and the accolades continue throughout your realm. Michael's birthday has instilled an air of festivity throughout Urantia, even reverberating through the local Universe as your acknowledgement of our Creator Son is noticed and appreciated, certainly observed, by the many who observe the development of this planet. And as I suggested last week, your party for a Creator Son has not disappointed us in its presentation, including balloons and Christmas cards, but I will still pursue my assignment. However, given the shaky condition of Gerdean this evening, I will not embark upon a lengthy lesson.

It was asked by Evangel recently -- regarding the well -- "What representation does the well have?" and I indicated that in our context the well would represent the fruits of the spirit and that we would look at these fruits, these character traits, over a course of time in order that you might personalize the fruits of the spirit and learn to put them into conscious practice in your daily life.

But briefly and for perhaps the benefit of our beloved Birthday Boy, the person of Jesus, the pride of Nebadon is indeed "the well" itself, for therein is the living water, the refreshment of life.

When you read earlier of the washing of the feet, think too of the well, for in bathing your own presence in the spirit well, you have washed away your dust and debris of the busy lives of the kingdoms of men, the emotional confusions, the strivings and the conditionings that you unconsciously carry with you. The well, which holds the water of life, is that which will cleanse you and refresh you.

It is a simple water, not a sophisticated drink, but pure and wholesome and sustaining. When you drink water in the course of a day, remember the living water, as you experienced in your communion this evening. It is always a reminder of the Master when you think of him as you ingest your food -- be it material food, mental food, social food or spiritual food. As you are fed, nourished and sustained, it is because of the Creator Son, because of Jesus. And as you sit with a friend and have a cup of coffee, or a coke, or a fruit drink, have in mind also at that time the wine of the representation of his blood --the living water.

There is no thing that transpires in the life of a kingdom believer that is not an act of homage and praise to the Creator. Yet, how much of your lives are lived automatically! How much of the wealth of life you take for granted! How many times the richness of your existence is cast aside as unsatisfactory, when indeed your very life is a manifestation of living love! From the well, I ask you today to drink of the cup of human kindness.

Dear friends, I will not belabor the moment. Are you amenable to discourse this evening?

Elizabeth: Yes, indeed.

Hunnah: I'll comment about the parable of the farm. When you said the water of the well represented the fruits of the spirit ... and then … are the eggs of the girl her worldly provision? When I heard it I was thinking of the well as being living waters and her gathering the eggs more of the fruits of the spirit. It doesn't really matter.

TOMAS: It does not matter, for these allegories are well open to interpretation. It depends upon the context of the analogy. I indicated at Evangel's first request, that the well … in the context of our course of study of character … the well would represent the fruits of the spirit which are, of course, products of the living water.

It is also true that the eggs that are gathered in the context of the original scenario are inclined toward the gathering of materialism and worldly goods that one is sent out by mismanagement to perform as a duty. However, in regarding the well as the living water, the eggs could well represent potential, in that the eggs have not yet been hatched, and that as you stop by the well for spiritual nourishment, you then may go on to reach your potential.

And so these allegories are a way of entertaining your mind, for you are clever human beings, and rather than denounce your cleverness as lack of character, why not apply your cleverness to entertaining ways of thinking about truth, which then makes it palatable for you? As your mind is exercised by your own application, you begin to find delight in the process. Your mind begins to hunger for riddles that the universe then can offer you cosmic problems for your solving, and you have, in the process, gathered great eggs.

Iyana: I have a question, Tomas.

TOMAS: Yes.

Iyana: When one reads all that they can about the Teaching Mission and the Urantia Papers, sometimes when we want to speak of it, we cannot speak all of it. My question is, when you read all these things, is it stored away? Or does it just fade out if you don't keep it exercised, or what? Know what I mean?

TOMAS: Yes. I will give you another analogy, one which I am sure your mind can assimilate readily, that being if you have a checkbook with a checkbook register, and you write a book of checks and log them with a pencil, you will have that record on hand for some months, perhaps some years. But in time the pencil markings fade and you will not know, many years down the road, to whom you have written checks or what for. And in many cases, what does that matter? But if you were to need the information for future generations, it would do you well to make certain that the markings were in permanent ink, or that the records were so secured as to not allow for fading.

Indeed, that which you absorb into your mind consciously is registered in the gray matter, but whether or not it is usable and applicable in your life depends upon how much you have personalized the information. It is not easy or interesting to convey static, factual information. That is not even true communication, and it does not entertain human kindness to barrage your fellows with a static overload of data.

But when these truths are made real for you in your own personal life, and when you have seen these truths become values, which you have applied in your life and in your dealings with your fellows, your reality grows concurrently and you are then in a position to easily withdraw your fortune of information for the spending on your friend.

Iyana: In other words, the more you read and re-read all the truths, and read about other people's experiences, the ones who write these truths and so forth -- the more you read these truths, the more it becomes impressed in the mind?

TOMAS: It certainly activates the mind, and any truth bears repetition until it is well learned. It is very easy for the sluggish animal mind to resist learning and to slough off valuable truths unless and until they are part and parcel of their modus operandi of life. And so, simply reading is not necessarily making you a better ambassador of truth, but it is making you well read, you see. You may then be able to relate to individuals when you hear the subject come up about that which you have read, but how do you share your understanding of this information with others?

Iyana: "Practice what you preach." Is that the expression?

TOMAS: There are other expressions, also. One that comes to my mind is "walk the talk."

Student: Talk the talk?

TOMAS: "Walk the talk, as in that phrase about walking in someone's moccasins. If you are going to espouse a truth, how well do you know that truth? Is it something you have read somewhere and therefore it is the truth of another? Or is it a truth that you have assimilated into your own personal religious experience and you now have authority to purvey that information? It is the difference, you see, between an academic application of information and an experiential manifestation of information.

Iyana: Thank you.

TOMAS: Yes.

Elizabeth: Well, Gerdean and I both chose the character trait of compassion of Christ Michael and we both were interested in thinking about it and wish you would say a couple of words on that subject for us please.

TOMAS: My daughter I would be second-guessing if I were to expound at any length on why it would be that two of you in your group opted to prefer a certain character trait of the Masters, for among the others of you, it well may be said that two more prefer his generosity, while two others prefer his friendliness, and so without a thorough survey of the results of your discourse, it would be meaningless.

Elizabeth: Well, I was really interested in your comments about the compassion of Christ Michael, what you yourself felt about it when you first encountered the story of his compassion. How it affected you and what you were struck by yourself -- Tomas, our teacher.

TOMAS: Dear one, I almost feel as if I need to get approval from my peers to make the remark that I would instinctively respond.

Elizabeth: That's fine. That's fine.

Hunnah: Perhaps that could be expressed at another time.

Elizabeth: We could certainly bring up the subject to our friends in the group and we probably enjoy hearing from them if they want to talk about their reactions to the compassion of Christ Michael.

TOMAS: I want to say I am not intending to be esoteric here. Part of my stance is in deference to the emotional condition of my transmitter/receiver, and I do not want to tell tales on her either, so I will again beg off for this evening, although, as you understand, compassion is one of the noblest of fruits and I do hope to address this with you in depth at some time in the future.

Elizabeth: Thank you.

TOMAS: Thank you.

Elizabeth: In our world we find that it is very difficult for us to contemplate those of us less fortunate, so we tend to -- at least I tend to separate myself from those unpleasant things as much as possible, but that is hardly the way of being compassionate, so I feel a certain ambivalence about that.

TOMAS: I have asked you to drink this week of the cup of human kindness. It is not to say that your compassion needs to expand abundantly overnight, but kindness is something that can be administered (in your language) even to dumb animals, and if you were to regard one another, in part, as dumb animals and be kind to these lop-eared, big-pawed critters of your brothers and sisters in the flesh, you would see it differently.

Student: The conference that we were just at ... That was a major thing--

TOMAS: Yes.

Student: ... the compassion of Michael (indistinguishable).

TOMAS: Yes. As he hung on the cross, as you understand, his compassion was made evident in his plea to the Father that his persecutors be forgiven for they acted in ignorance. How compassionate of him to love those who had destroyed him! That, of course, is a dramatic but pertinent example of the Master's compassion.

It is perhaps even more poignant when you consider the noble offspring of the Paradise Trinity in his communication with his apostles in intimate converse. As you here sit with one another imagine if Jesus were to be here among you, with you at your table, quietly observing as you vie for position in the Kingdom, as you neglect to wash each other's feet. How he must then see you and your crassness, as well as your dismay in not being ministered to, with overwhelming compassion for the full brunt of the human condition.

It is difficult, my loyal students, to have eyes to see and ears to hear, for the pain of insight can be staggering, but for the well.

What else? We all would appreciate a good night's rest. The festivities of late have been tumultuous. It is some of that turbulence that I referenced weeks ago that we are now experiencing -- the bumpy flight over those air pockets, and although it is entirely safe, it is somewhat disconcerting. Such is the way of growth.

My precious friends, your honoring of Michael has been registered On High. Would, with you, that the Master would pass by and speak with us, but I regret that I am not operating in a strong vessel this evening. Believe me, however, when I testify that the Spirit of Truth in each of you will recognize that Michael, indeed, Jesus, has been with us today, and this evening, and indeed now.

Student: Thank you.

TOMAS: As I make my departure from your realm and send you off to your diversions and your rest (with your assignment to ponder the cup of human kindness), I would ask for you, on behalf of Lord Michael, to wait and hold yourselves Still, in abeyance of His touch. He would visit with you one and all in a personal way. Allow yourselves, dear ones, a few moments and I will not disturb you in your communications. I will see you next week. Farewell.

(Stillness with the Master)

*****

DATE: August 29, 1996

LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEXTUAL STUDY:

Urantia Paper 36: The Life Carriers

4. Melchizedek Life Carriers

5. The Seven Adjutant Mind-Spirits

6. Living Forces

TEACHER SESSION:

ENLIGHTENED HONESTY

TOMAS: Good evening.

Group: Good evening, Tomas.

TOMAS: How are you this evening?

Group: We are great. Fine.

TOMAS: I, too, am in good humor and good spirits. I and many others have observed your interplay in your study this evening and indeed the sparks were flying. There is certainly nothing wrong with the circuitry of the seven adjutant mind spirits in this lot of animals!

How delightful your exercises are to us. Your attempts at understanding how you are put together, how you rub off on each other, how the creators have molded you and caused you to be. How challenging now it is for those of us who have volunteered in this Mission to elevate all of this now somewhat in terms of your understanding of yourselves in your innermost selves.

I have much on my agenda this evening and I would begin with a remark regarding the process of transmitting/receiving and concern that certain mortal colorations are involved. I will go so far as to say that you, in your daily life, as you transmit your personality, as you submit yourself to the reception of impressions from your subconscious, your superconscious, your conditioning, and then transmit these thoughts into action, word and deed, you, too, are expressing a composite of your reality.

In the ideal, intent and motive are to foster truth in transmitting/receiving as a process and in your daily life. It is for that reason, that you advertise your beingness so fluidly and freely upon your fellow human beings, that we teachers aspire to enable you to discard those untruths, those lesser beliefs, those unfortunate conditionings, those subconscious turmoils and those super-conscious impressions, (so) that you might indeed transmit higher levels of reality, rather than your cultural baggage.

All teaching is dependent upon your sincerity, your various abilities, and the extent to which you will allow divine values to impress your life, your mind, your soul and, therefore, your external arena. I am happy to make mention of this because oft times I wonder if, as a group, as individuals, you remember why we are studying a course in character, if not for the purpose of attaining greater affinity with Deity. And then, subsequently, expressing such values in your realms so as to bring forth the fruits of the spirit as living testimony.

As you desire to serve, as you desire to be a channel of His love, you will better acquaint yourself with those qualities which are the fruits of the spirit unencumbered by your ego, your personal motives, your coloration and so forth, and so, as we pursue a discourse in these Godlike qualities, it affords you the opportunity to reflect on our discussions as it relates to your inner life, to the life you share with others, and to those you serve.

It is my presumption that each of you here seeks closer understanding of our Father and His will for you. It is further my presumption that you intend to follow through with the natural result of knowing and loving God, that being to share His love with those you meet in loving service. In that context, then, I would proceed with my lesson plan, and this evening I would like to discuss with you the designated fruit of the spirit: enlightened honesty.

Once more we have a tall order, for "honesty" in and of itself is a bit of a study and "enlightened" is the qualitative determiner. Honesty, as it is generally regarded on its most fundamental acceptance level, has to do with telling untruths and in not stealing. A liar is an unwelcome associate. One who lies in his mouth will lie in his behavior. He is untrustworthy. One, however, who will speak the truth may be regarded as honest but socially unacceptable for the distress in his honesty.

Why would someone lie to another? It is not fraternal to deceive, but deceit and dishonesty has been your legacy for a long time, and many lies, deceits and deceptions have become an integral part of your social flavor. A little white lie designed to salve someone's feelings is still a lie, and one who engages in such a technique is lazy, in-as-much as there are enlightened ways of expressing truths … were they but willing, and were they able to seek divine counsel.

Many times individuals lie in the mistaken notion that they are protecting someone from pain. Parents lie to their children. Children lie to their parents. A technique of truth-avoidance is utilized in order to avoid the discomfort of judgment. As you are judged by the truth of the matter, you lie, then, for you have placed the judgment of others in high regard. Unfortunately, my friends, when you place such regard in others, who will judge you unkindly, humanly, you have lied now to yourself.

He who would be truthful must first be true to himself. It has been said that if a man be true to himself, he cannot be false to any man. In order for an individual to be honest with himself, and be God-knowing, inherently then he has become honest with God, with his Source, First Source of being. In aspiring to manifest mature well-balanced character, it is necessary that you be honest with God, for as his child you know that He already knows you better than you know yourself, and who would deign to lie to the First Source and Center?

It is remarkable, of course, how many do make that futile attempt. It is remarkable how many meander and sachet through life in total denial of their own reality. But I will not become distracted by the many, for I, like you, am focused on aspiring for truth, beauty and goodness, for honesty of character, for honesty of integrity, for honesty in relationship, honesty of heart. When your honesty is thus born and fostered in your own soul, it is enlightened, for it is swathed in love and will be distributed kindly.

It is possible for you, for humankind, to have integrity and to have honesty without God-consciousness, but it results not in enlightened honesty but another form of honesty, oft called "rigorous honesty." Rigorous honesty is raw and unrefined and to the point, but sometimes brutal. Enlightened honesty has taken the truth and polished it like a gem. It is worn in the soul as a diadem and distributed as pearls.

Oft times it is sad to behold otherwise noble and intelligent creatures cowed by the inability to be honest. I, Tomas, your friend, companion, guide and teacher, and servant of Christ Michael, attempt to be honest with you, my flock. I would like to discuss honesty with you. Are there questions regarding honesty?

Elizabeth: Well, I said to somebody that I knew, "These people from Europe have never had a lesson in Dale Carnegie!" and you ask them a question and they'll be honest and they'll be blunt. For instance, (and I'll say they are from Bulgaria) I told her we had the same coat. And she says, "Oh, no! Yours is merely ... Mine's an alpaca and yours is just an imitation!" And that was fine. But I think that- in looking back at it, that was her personality type, and I notice that about some people from Europe, they don't have this American way of kind of softening the answers a bit, and so I'm thinking that there's a higher kind of honesty that one strives for, perhaps an honesty in examining yourself and trying to be a person who cares about what Jesus Christ Michael thinks about you. To me, that perhaps is a definition of honesty and I'd be very interested in hearing yours ... I did hear tapes from Pocatello and I know that you were discussing that issue at that time.

TOMAS: First, in response, yes, your associate, your European was brutally frank, and pompous in the bargain -- hardly worthy of a God-knowing individual. But you see she was attempting to make herself feel good at your expense and her underlying motive was apparent; she lied to herself. It is because she does not know that she is a daughter of the Most Highs. If she knew this truth, she might offer you her coat.

Secondly, I have spoken before regarding enlightened honesty. I am not aware of its being on record; however, that is of little import. I have, indeed, discussed honesty before and, as is the case, may need to discuss it many times, as many truths are learned only over a course of time, requiring repetition. I honestly will attempt, however, to be original and not redundant.

Student: I thought it was an extremely timely lesson. It always amazes me how you, like, tune into things going on in my life and I just had a little experience with honesty that is unusual for me. Last Friday-- And unusual in that usually I would've thought, "Oh, great!" -- this store undercharged me, so I got this great sale, but I couldn't do that. I had to take it back to the store, and that was definitely something I would have not done before.

TOMAS: I will commend your cash register honesty. It is the more obvious result of internal honesty, for when you have begun your ascent toward perfection and are aware of yourself, you begin to see how your actions affect others and you see how others are interconnected to your own well-being in the spiritually gregarious sense.

Elizabeth: Well, I want to ask, isn't there a connection between humility and honesty? I think it's a combination that interests me.

TOMAS: A very good question, one which I am happy to respond to, for you are quiet correct. In order for you to recognize your own identity, it requires that you submit to the overcontrol of a Divine Being, you (recognize) that you are not God, and so if you are having a relationship with this Power greater than yourself, you are smaller, and this is humbling. When this Power that you have submitted yourself to is living, loving energy, your origin and your destiny, you are delighted to seek guidance and acknowledge your smallness.

As a child you come to the Father in supplication and in praise. Truly, it is related to humility, but humility, you see, is a great strength. Once you understand that your will is in alignment with His will, you understand the forces in support of your growth. You understand the source of your own self-respect. And so, whereas it may seem that humility is a lowly state, this is not the case, for your greatest ally now is the God of all creation.

Elizabeth: There's another thing that's been on my mind, which is that I have been watching "Pride and Prejudice," which ran for three nights, and I was contrasting our ways of relating with each other to the ways that they practiced in those very formal times. And in the moneyed classes of England, they were so much at leisure they spent a lot of time thinking about things that were, perhaps, inconsequential to us but in their lives they were quite important. So I'm looking at that and I'm trying to say, how honest were they with themselves?

And also they considered it an important part of their development to be able to speak honestly but without ... to be very, sort of, roundabout in the way they spoke. I mean, we don't do that at all. We ... That isn't in our culture in the least little bit. I mean, it's a big contrast to see that.

TOMAS: You are mistaken. You are much like the characters you reference, in your culture, in your society, for whereas their mannerisms were perhaps more refined, their deceptions were great. The leisure of the wealthy is not always steeped in romance as you have admired in this production, but rather has caused great destruction. In your own culture you are only less refined, more relaxed, but you are still as a society deceptive. It is only mannerisms that have changed. And I now come to the rescue of those noble souls who, regardless of their culture, bear life with dignity, equanimity and poise. This can be done in any country, in any century, particularly since Christ.

Elizabeth: What about honesty with other people?

TOMAS: Yes, it is desired that you manifest enlightened honesty. As you place yourself in a position of identifying with Godlike qualities, you are in a position then to practice, to put into practice, those qualities which are inherent in your Divine Adjuster. As you remove yourself and your societal conditionings, and your ego strivings, and your idiosyncrasies, and your personal ambitions, and your personal prejudices, and your long-cherished conceits, you are in a position to allow your Divine Counterpart to respond for you and with you, you see.

If you cannot think of what to say at an instance wherein an awkward moment has put you on the spot, you would do well to stand mute rather than to foster ignorance or betray truth by a hasty, automatic social retort.

Elizabeth: Well, I think I've gotten all kinds of good lessons in honesty from my husband. I do enjoy his responses at times. When there's a question about whether he can be tactful or honest, he seems to be able to do both quite often, amazingly. It comes from some kind of an inner quality that is quite wonderful but he just has it. I mean, he didn't . . . he just got it because of his upbringing, and how do other people learn this? It's very difficult.

TOMAS: Your spouse is indeed charming; he has well-developed tact and tolerance. He also associates himself, by and large, with a collection of his choosing; he is well-braced, well-armed. As you are sent forth, you may not be so cushioned.

It is fortunate for you that your circumstances provide you that well-braced, well-armed support and yet you are an adventurous woman of independent spirit who has been known to venture far afield from that cushioned constraint, and you have held up well in your sporting about as an ambassador of the spiritual kingdom. One of the values of the married state is the securities which you enjoy, which you have earned, and which you bestow in kind.

Elizabeth: Well, I heard my husband tactfully deflecting somebody last night and it was a complete amazement to me that he never had to hurt this person's feelings for a second. I was amazed. I just was ... I don't think it's easy to learn that. It seems to be something you grow up with or something.

TOMAS: You are growing up, my child! You are being re-brought up by your Paradise Parents. You are becoming new. The benefits of your mortal upbringing cannot and will not be overlooked, but the detriments are wasteful and you can honestly survey yourself and determine what subtle deceptions you can begin to discard as you learn also to depend more and more upon the spirit, as you manifest courageous loyalty to the Master.

Elizabeth: That is good news.

TOMAS: Indeed.

Student: Tomas, can you tell us more about that report we heard about ... on the new DNA? (Indistinguishable)

TOMAS: No, I cannot. It is the duty of you to evolve and discover the wonders of your own evolution, as individuals and as a race. It was, however, alluded to in your study this evening. The pattern of your life was established long ago. You understand evolution, and that a human being could not take tea before his ancestors had come up out of the sea. If you were a frog in the age of frogs, you would be astounded to learn that there was evolving a mammal. It is built into your format.

There are more surprises in store for you. Do not feel that you have reached a pinnacle of existence. As you evolve, you grow. Sometimes these growths come suddenly. Some of them are gradual, but believe me they are natural. It is another example of life unfolding, developing, maturing, growing, aspiring, ascending.

Elizabeth: Well, it seems to me that the most honest thing in your life is to take an honest look at your path, quite often do it, and to me that's the most -- or that's one of the most important kinds of honesty. I don't know. Maybe you'll ... Are there others that you would care to describe?

TOMAS: In regard to enlightened honesty, the fruit of the spirit, I have already elucidated my lesson; however, I am willing to chat regarding other aspects of honesty, especially from a relatively enlightened human being, and observing, pondering, looking at your path in life is certainly something that a wise person would do.

Elizabeth: When I look at it honestly, I think about Mother Theresa, and I think that she was ... to me, that was a marvelous pathway, but she did say when she came to Pittsburgh, not to give up everything and go to India to do what she did. She did say that.

TOMAS: It was very gracious of her to attempt to take you off the hook (group chuckle) and yet you will recall that a great portion of the Master's ministry was focused on helping the sick in body and in mind. I understand that in your civilization it is difficult to essay how to do that, for there are so many social programs and civic organizations and so forth established to take care of the "less fortunate" it barely leaves the sensitive and caring servant of God anything to do.

It is doleful, for there is much distress yet to be ministered to and your unenlightened society has merely put a Christian practice into a social and political format, and this is not honest. It is too easy for people to buy their way through donations and write it off their income tax or drop some coins in the box at the local convenience store, when the core of service is contact, is loving one-on-one ministration, soul-to-soul, heart-to-heart, mind-to-mind and body-to-body.

Touching one another in these intensely personal ways affords you an opportunity to contact the soul of the individual that you minister to. To touch another human being, be it their physical person, their emotional condition, their heart's aspirations or their spiritual desires and longings, is important and honest ministry to the Master, to yourself, and to your fellow human beings.

Hunnah: May I comment?

TOMAS: Yes.

Hunnah: I have not followed the life of Mother Theresa, but the one remark that I heard that she made, puts service, to me, in a nutshell. She said she serves the Christ and that's all that mattered. To the point where, I would assume, it doesn't matter who's in front of her because she only served One, and she's not distracted by a person's social setting or their appearance, and the one nice thing about serving the way she does is she probably doesn't have to make carbon copies or carry a computer.

When you were talking about honesty this evening, I saw it as the spine or the living virtue, and integrity was part of the interwoven pattern of honesty, and I was trying to think more of this --it's like having a verb and then thinking of all the adverbs that would go with it -- I was trying to think of some others, and I suppose patience would go with it, because if honesty is expressed, there's a timing, and a patience that goes with it. It's like a package, and it's always a little different every time it is practiced. But I really did like the idea of the simplicity of service, and yes we do a lot to -- we leave our conscious but everyone around us everyday is an opportunity. I'll get off my little salt box.

TOMAS: I will point out to you at this juncture in our discourse that the deception that I referenced in your society when I discussed it as compared to "Pride and Prejudice" in Austin's day and age, the deceptions around you are the veils which create the darkness. Would that you would serve the Master by dissolving the veils, tearing down the curtains that separate you from one another, allowing the blinds to open. Cut through the unnecessary deception of your social mores; cut to the chase.

The honesty you can accomplish is invigorating and refreshing like a cold dip on a hot day. It is also habit forming, as are all fruits of the spirit. In time, as these fruits become practiced in your life, as your society evolves, beginning with your immediate society and extending outward, even new bursts forward in science and emotional and spiritual discovery will be made. How heartening to realize that we have not attained all there is to attain! That there are constantly new gifts, new vistas, new perspectives, surprises on the horizon, around each new corner, new opportunities, new wisdom, new fruits to taste and savor.

My friends, I will leave you with an assignment, to look to your Source for who you are -- honestly. Find yourself as a child of God with imperfections and perfections. Accept yourself and give yourself something to work on in terms of character development. I would ask you further to assist some fellow throughout the week in a situation that will arise allowing you an opportunity to present enlightened honesty, for its portrayal.

Also this week, in terms of enlightened honesty, I would like for you all to select one individual that you do not like and pray for them.

Hunnah: Oh, that'll be easy.

TOMAS: Be honest, now. I have no more to add for this evening but there is one here who would like to say hello. One moment.

JASMINE: I am a personal teacher. (Crashing and clanging in the background.)

Hunnah: Welcome.

JASMINE: Have I alarmed you?

Hunnah: We had a guest with many feet and it's been confined.

JASMINE: I did not bring it.

Hunnah: All right.

JASMINE: I am a teacher, also. A personal teacher. I am experiencing you as a group. It is a pleasure to make my presence known to you, to introduce you to my energies, to my personality pattern. I am a personal teacher, not a group teacher. I have recently been activated.

Hunnah: Does that mean assigned?

JASMINE: Sometimes, not always.

Hunnah: Are you a student teacher?

Student: Are you deliberately withholding your name?

JASMINE: No. I am the teacher of Hunnah.

Hunnah: I wondered. My friend referred to you as ... May I say your name?

JASMINE: Yes.

Hunnah: As Yasmina. Jasmina? You said Jasmine and she referred to you as Jasmina, as if she knew you. I said that you were ever so beautiful.

JASMINE: Truly. I am a daughter of the Creative Mother Spirit. I am bathed in beauty, as are you, my child.

Hunnah: I find that thrilling because I wrote years ago a poem and it ended in the line, "for my purpose, beauty." And that's wonderful. I'm having trouble consciously being aware of you, but I don't seem to be struggling with it. I just figured that it was and all will take care of itself. What can I do to help?

JASMINE: Stay out of your conscious mind and rather enter your superconscious mind.

Hunnah: All right.

JASMINE: Allow the mind of your soul to intertwine itself with my essence and we will develop a level of communication which is not as tedious as you poor mortals must endure.

Hunnah: I would like that!

JASMINE: Truly?

Hunnah: Uh-huh.

JASMINE: We shall continue our walk together, for I have enjoyed our space together thus far and I have immeasurably treasured this opportunity to reveal myself to you, my friends, you who have teachers and you who have yet to attain a personal guide. How charmed I am to be among your presences. Your Thought Adjusters have made me feel quite welcome and I feel the response of your own souls flickering to my energy. I greet you. I bless you. I leave you now.

Hunnah: Thank you.

Group: Thanks for coming.

TOMAS: Let me say farewell. I am Tomas. Farewell.

Group: Good night, Tomas. Farewell.

*****

DATE: September 12, 1996

LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEXTUAL STUDY:

Urantia Paper 119: The Bestowals of Christ Michael

[Gerdean: Recently Tomas had a private session with one of his students, during which time he explained to the student the process whereby I admit him. This student suggested that I reveal that information to the group and so I shall.

"You may wonder what goes on in that period of a few minutes' time before Tomas begins to speak. What happens is that I first take a few moments to talk with Michael. When I perceive his presence, I ask for his guidance and seek his blessing; I ask him to direct the transmitting/ receiving process such that I have a clear mind with which the teachers may work, that my motives be sincere, that my intentions be to serve; and then I ask to be brought into the presence of the Father.

In the presence of the Father, I wash myself in the Living Water. I bow before Him and allow myself to become very small — so small that I am a mere shadow on the back wall, so that my inner chamber may be expanded to include the presence of the teachers. When I am certain that my ego is at bay, I rest assured and await the awareness of the presence of the teacher."]

TEACHER SESSION:

CONFIDING TRUST

TOMAS: I am Tomas. Good evening.

Group: Good evening, Tomas.

TOMAS: How wonderful it is to be in this bounteous group of believers this evening. It is always a pleasure to join with you, my faithful ones, and it is also always an eager event when we behold the presence of new persons interested in sharing their inner life with us that we may share our inner life with them, and thus grows the community of Kingdom builders. Welcome, one and all.

En masse we have appreciated your studies this evening regarding the bestowals of the Creator Son, Michael of Nebadon. Your interchanges are such an array of human responses that we unceasingly delight to behold you in action. It is, I daresay, our fond hope that in time your interaction will be focused and dynamic but, like the original apostles of Jesus, the diversity will never revert to boredom or monotony; and so are you, faithful followers of Him.

It has been brought to my attention that the transcript of our discussions last week was lost, and much speculation has arisen as to the whereabouts and why-withal and I will say to you that I did not instruct the midwayers to delete the lesson, no, but will simply account it to mechanical failure. It is one of the sad aspects of the material realm that material items are prone to collapse and decay, are prone to error, and such was the case.

I have found it interesting, however, that your speculations were such that I needed to make a commentary, if you will, that being that when things occur, it is not necessarily within the divine providence. That is to say, we are not involved in every facet of life to the extent that each incident is a testimony to the involvement or uninvolvement of divinity.

When the matter is significant to your spiritual growth it will certainly be registered and there will certainly be reality reactions/ responses, but for the run-of-the-mill, normal living experience as a mortal in the material realm, many things come and go which are not off-shoots of divinity or any facet thereof.

It has been noted among my cohorts, as we discussed your situation and your reactions, that it is an advanced form of superstition, but "advanced" is the key word, for we noticed that you have included God in your life in a positive vein more so than the ancients did in according all negative aspects to Divinity, and so we did chuckle and say, "See? They are evolving, after all." (Group chuckle)

It would appear that in some ways it was beneficial that the transmission of last week was omitted/deleted from your records, for it has come to our attention that many of you have not been sufficiently impressed with the lesson to recall its topic, and I will therefore reiterate the lesson of last week with minor modifications. We are discussing again this week Confiding Trust.

Confiding trust is a fruit of the spirit. It is a natural gift of sonship. When you give yourself over to divinity and become part of the Living Reality, your motives are such that you are reborn, you are now functioning as an enlightened being, or desire to be helpful in the ministry of Michael in your life as you may manifest the love of God. It is a natural result of knowing God that you should want to be like Him and to share Him in your behaviors and attitudes with others.

The facet of confiding trust as a behavior, as an attitude, was ideationalized by introducing your prayerful attitude toward the First Source and Center. Introducing the concept of a child who comes to the Father, trusting in his love, acceptance, overcare, guidance, consolation and so forth, is innate to you who have been reborn, to you who are born of the spirit, and who turn to the spirit for sustenance, nourishment and an answer to your grievances and prayers.

As you come to know the Father, as you come to Him with your burdens, your experiences, your cosmic problem solving situations, you begin to discourse with the Father as with a friend, and your soul conveys to Him the attitude of needing His guidance in solving these many problems, natural problems, as a result of living the life of a mortal of the realm, a realm much affected by darkness.

In your upward struggle you come to then confide in the First Source and Center your feelings, not only about your external situations but about your internal situations. Indeed, you well know it is not necessary to discuss these things in words with the Father, for he hears, sees, knows your soul as it is and responds to your attitude as you approach Him in prayer. It is your attitude that He speaks to and answers. It is His Presence that responds to you as you open for His presence. This is a result of your confiding trust in the Father.

Your difficulties with your fellow human beings, your distresses with your own abilities to live up to your own standards, your dismay when you discover disharmony, your chagrin at recognizing betrayals -- many serious things occur in a life of a God-knowing mortal that cause deep feeling and concern, and bringing these concerns to the Father in confidence of his hearing, seeing, knowing and ultimately doing something about it, is a manifestation of your trust.

As you then develop this relationship with the Father, you look out upon the sea of personalities surrounding you in your daily life. Each individual you encounter is also indwelt by a fragment of divinity. There is a piece of God in each of his children. As you know your fellows, it behooves you to learn to have confiding trust also in them.

Let us speak first about fellow Kingdom believers, your brothers and sisters in the spirit, those in whom you recognize a God-consciousness, your friends in the spirit. You are opening yourself to lightening your burden when you can speak with them in confidence and in trust that they will hear you as a fellow sojourner and respect your confidence that they will give back to you in kind what the Father gives back to you when you speak to Him in confiding trust.

When you speak with the non-believer, it behooves you to be as wise as serpents and peaceful as doves; it behooves you to whet their appetite for truth; it behooves you to encourage them to know the Father, for in knowing the Father, they are welcomed into this fraternity wherein you have confiding trust in one another. Many of your distresses are brought about, as you all well know, by placing your trust in sources which fall short of the goals of eternity, which fall short of the recognition of God. It is worthy of the adventure to attempt to none-the-less convey a confiding trust even in your enemies, for it gives them an opportunity to make a choice. Every decision that is made brings the mortal closer to ascending one step further, every moment provides unlimited opportunities to the kingdom seeker.

Returning to your fellowship, your immediate associations, which we know is the arena in which you work, play, function, have influence and are influenced by, your arena is where you must learn to have confiding trust. Trust is a difficult thing for you mortals to undertake, for your trust has been betrayed often. Your Planetary Prince betrayed the trust when he set forth his Manifesto, and your entire evolution since those early, early times has been founded on this distrust.

Distrust is part and parcel of your realm. It permeates every facet of life in the realms of politics, education, philosophy, and so forth, and certainly in your behaviors and in your reactions. Trust is a decision you make. Only you can determine that you will trust. Faith is given to you, but to act upon your faith requires that you trust. And so the fruit of the spirit, confiding trust, requires an effort, even though it is a natural fruit of the spirit. Unless and until you are conscious of the ways you curtail your confiding trust in others, you will not advance nor will your brethren.

Before I conclude this subject, I would like to remind you that the betrayal of Judas was largely due to his refusal to trust his fellows. He refused to confide in them his feelings, his worries, his suspicions, his concerns regarding Jesus, many of the Master's behaviors, and many of the facets of life during those times they spent together. As you isolate yourselves in your individual "ivory towers" of isolation from one another, you cut yourself off consciously from the fruit of the divine spirit, confiding trust.

And so, my assignment, my precious students, is to look this week at your understanding of confiding trust. Jesus trusted us. He trusted his children, one and all. And so I ask you to look to your brothers and sisters and learn to trust, learn to confide in others in trust of their response to your soul.

I would enjoy hearing from each of you or some of you. I am not limited to formal questions. I am graciously amenable to discourse with you. I include you. I ask your indulgence to carry on with me for the benefit of us all. The floor is open.

Elizabeth: Well, really, it would be just great if I could ask you to do something that I hardly even know to describe, and that is could you give some homely examples of how we could think of a way to trust each other, especially those not of our close circle, and could you give us possible homely examples because I think it would help me a lot if you could do that, Tomas.

TOMAS: I will give you a homely example. It is exemplified in your earlier discourse. It is apparent to many of us that you all distrust one another, for you are unwilling to be exposed to the full breadth of one another's soul. Your personality techniques and defenses are deeply ingrained. Your inability to communicate is an example of distrust. You distrust having to acknowledge someone else's discomfort in not knowing. You distrust the responsibility of a gracious response. You distrust the pain of insight. And you distrust the comfort of communion.

You do not have to go far afield to see how cleverly you have built up your defenses against the demands of others, the manipulations of clever sophistries, the flash and glitter of your material realms, the soothing tones of intimacy. Far be it for me to parade your imperfections before you, and I am not expanding for that purpose but only to help reveal to you that in your most immediate realm you are distrustful.

I say this not in accusation, for I trust that you are listening to me, that you are hearing me. This is one of the key themes of Brother Rantarason, that you learn to listen, that you not tolerate extensive rambling, but that you truly listen and see what it is that your brother wants to share and respond to that self-expression, that soul need. From there -- from that understanding and that awareness -- you may take it out into the marketplace as far as you like, but this business begins at home and at heart.

Always remember your Source of trust. If you are sincere in your desire to be about the Father's business, you will refer to Him incessantly. You will not hide behind yourself, but behind Him who sends you.

Elizabeth: Can you give us just human examples of John Doe and Mary Smith and John Doe does this and Mary Smith responds, or something like that, please?

TOMAS: No, daughter, I will not, for I am not in the character assassination business. It is up to you to meditate on confiding trust and apply it to your life. What goes on between John and Jane Doe is between them. What goes on between you and your brother is your business. I hope I am not causing offense here. I understand that you want a specific example, but, daughter, if I give you a specific example (and I know this because I know you mortals), you will identify that incident to the exclusion of other incidents representing the same value truth.

It is much like when Andon and Fonta discovered they could make fire by using a bird's nest, and it was many, many moons before they realized that any dry sticks, leaves and twigs could also start a fire, for they were of a mind that only bird's nest would work. You see my point.

Elizabeth: I do, but I think that if I could start with one human story -- I love stories, and they help me because they are pleasant to contemplate and helpful to approach. This is a bit of a challenge.

TOMAS: I am certain that there are many at this table who have in their mind an example. Who would like to share?

Hunnah: I would. Unfortunately. I'm going to use myself as an example. While I have been on a spiritual journey, I have found that I am more aware of my -- what I call the choice of behavior of my higher self and what I call my human conditioning. In the human conditioning, I can tell when I'm being manipulative or when there is an underlying purpose for my tack, which is basically selfish, or I will do it because --

I think my mother was correct the other day when she was pointing out that I always know what's good for someone else ... and that is a human nature and I can impersonalize it now that I have some distance, through our conversation, but in human nature we want to pay attention to what's going on outside our self instead of our own agenda, and because of prayer and meditation, it allows me to tell the difference between my human motives and my preferred performance, and that would be unselfish. And the counsel, the way you behave, you don't have that sly side agenda. Does that help?

TOMAS: It is certainly confirmation for us all of what confidence can be gained in your behaviors in knowing you walk a clear path. It is also good to hear you distinguish knowledgeably between your divine nature and your human nature. I think the key phrase may be the "hidden agenda". It is the hidden agenda of the human being that is not depending upon trust, is not trusting of the higher nature.

Indeed, the human being may trust the fallibility of others in order to accomplish their selfish purpose, and the fruit of the spirit presents confiding trust in a manner in which you confide to us that you utilize in working out your cosmic problem-solving, your own personal spiritual evolution, your ascension, dear, and so your comments are well taken. You will notice, Elizabeth, that no one was assassinated in the process of sharing an understanding.

Elizabeth: Well, I remember that the supreme example to me in the Book was that Jesus knew the possibilities of Judas, but he made himself so completely vulnerable that he eventually was led to his crucifixion, and that, to me, is a supreme example of trust, but I'm thinking of some minute steps, some baby steps, and then perhaps progressing from there to doing some more significant....

Theresa: I think some of us, Tomas, just -- in my case, I'm not sure that my understanding of trust is what you're talking about. Unless it's just that I myself am afraid of being hurt. It's what I -- when I open up and try to trust other people with ... what do I want to say? Talking about God, talking about Urantia, and I'm afraid maybe these people aren't ready for it. And maybe the ones that aren't ready for it will think you're crazy, or act like you're crazy. Or in the case of somebody close to me, it's like a big putdown.

TOMAS: I am not discussing the proselytizing of a book or a philosophy. I am discussing behavior.

Theresa: Trusting a person and trying to carry on a conversation with them. But you get a big putdown. Is this my problem with the trust?

Hunnah: May I?

Theresa: I don't understand it ....

Hunnah: May I?

TOMAS: Yes, Hunnah.

Hunnah: When you're talking to someone and you want to talk to them about the Book, when you check in, just pause, because humanly you are a wonderfully unselfish person, and you love so much that you want to share, but you set yourself up. And when you enter your inner counsel, that whole scenario may be avoided because that person you're talking to isn't ready.

Theresa: Isn't ready.

Hunnah: But your tongue will be loosened when you're with someone you least suspect is ready, and they will be just thrilled at something you said. You won't even know what you said.

Theresa: But how do you know ...?

Hunnah: It's timing.

Theresa: ... which person to trust?

Hunnah: It's timing.

TOMAS: You trust the Father and you trust the God Fragment in your fellow human being. If as a mortal they would sting you, then go about your business. It is not for you to take it personally whether they decide for or against the pearls, which you bestow for them. Place your trust in the Father and in the Father Fragment. It is the human being that you are trying "to save" but only God can do that. You are only conveying what you wish to convey, and what I wish to convey is that you are to practice the fruit of the spirit in your life, which is not to preach a book, but to live the gospel.

Trusting someone in confidence is being able to sit and share not a book but an attitude. You can share your distress, your pain, your excitement, your living experience. This is personal. This is not a book. I say this so that you will not make the mistake of Christianity. Our Mission is not to sell or promote the Urantia Book; it is to live the gospel of Jesus as he lived it. Anyone can read a book. Ideally they will ultimately find that the truths in The Urantia Book uphold and support their own inner concepts of life. But whether or not you place a book in their hands, in their lap, is not the focus of my lesson regarding confiding trust. I do not know if I am being clear to you here, but I did need to put it on record.

Hunnah: Does that reflect the scripture, "choose whom this day who you shall serve"? Isn't it like a constant on-going thing you have to remember? Whether you are saying the old line or the new one?

TOMAS: I am trusting you all, in confidence, that you are sons and daughters of the living God, that we choose to share the good news, that we are sons and daughters of the living God, that we manifest in our lives the fruits abundantly which he has given us, and these are merciful ministry, loving service, confiding trust, enlightened honesty, courageous loyalty, enduring peace, undying hope and so forth. These soul attitudes are what the kingdom is about. It is not about books or groups or even mortal beings. It is about the life, the Life that is alive.

Perhaps I have overstepped myself here. Abram, please, what do you think?

Abram: I'm confused. But I can see where you're coming from. You don't want to deal with anything in this mortal scene. You're talking with something that's quite nebulous, and that's dealing with the internal aspect of the individual in the universe and how they feel toward it and how they operate with it. Trust is something that we almost have to acquire. You have to really feel it in order to understand it and that's about all I can say about it.

TOMAS: I appreciate your contribution. You have sustained me, my son. I am reminded that it would do you well to recognize the presence of God in others. As you recognize your Father in heaven, you can recognize Him in others and discourse more freely, share more fully and confide more deeply. Yes.

Mrs. Ml: Well, I wrote this down. I read it today. Jesus said, "those who are born of the spirit begin immediately to show forth the fruits of the spirit," one of the fruits of the spirit being that confiding trust.

TOMAS: Indeed.

Mrs. Ml: And then as that one fruit of the spirit starts within you then the others come along and progress until you've got them all.

TOMAS: Yes.

Mrs. Ml: And you've got to have total trust in God, the Father.

TOMAS: Yes. Well done. The fruits of the spirit are born into you as you are born of the spirit, but you are born in the spirit as a babe, and you grow in the spirit by your decisions and by your sincerity. Whereas these fruits of the spirit are given to you, it is my assignment to help you develop them, that you might grow to the stature of spiritual adulthood, that we might become an army of believers.

Elizabeth: Well, Tomas, can't you find a minute example, somewhere in the group or somewhere, to tell us an example of when somebody was employing this kind of trust. Can't you think of some tiny example along the line to fasten onto? Nobody else, I guess, has this problem, possibly, except me.

Hunnah: Could I? I see trust in everyone here all the time, but we're so close to it we cannot see it. And when you were talking I thought of Joanna. And she loves her Savior -- not any more than any of us here but -- she knows that her welfare, in spite of the fact that it's looked very slim to us materially, it's like daily bread for her. Some people want to see the Father give them a drop at a time. They want to witness a drop. And others want to bask in it, splash in it, and ...

I like the word Celeste used: "immediately" we are given the fruits of the spirit, and I pray this week that everyone here will see that they do believe, that they do trust, and that they will be able to watch how immediate this recognition will be in them, for it's such a generous system.

And Leah travels constantly. She trusts totally, inexplicably, that she will always be safe on the highway. Joel used to say that our safety is a built-in gift into our consciousness.

Barbara: Well, will somebody explain, Tomas or somebody, expound on ...? Tomas, you mentioned something about God not being involved in every aspect of our daily life, if I understood you? and I always thought that He was.

TOMAS: Let me explain further. There was a mechanical failure in the tape recorder last week and there was some speculation that the midwayers may have tampered with the mechanism, and I said that God does not meddle in each facet of material life in that context. Sometimes when you drop a hammer on your toe, it is simply that the hammer slipped; it does not mean necessarily that you need to become grounded, and this is what I was making reference to.

In all things that matter to your evolving soul and to your relationship with divinity, it is overseen and orchestrated by divinity, by God, yes, but cars break down, tires go flat, toasters wear out and it doesn't mean that God told you to buy a new toaster, you see?

Barbara: Yes.

Abram: Just a little bit of levity, Tomas. Many, many years ago my wife and I were first married, we were building a new home and I was doing all the construction, and I'll never forget the time that hammer did fall and just about missed my head and also a piece of sheet rock fell, which she was holding, just missed my head, bounced off, but I did trust that she wasn't trying to do me in ... (group laughter) and we are still married almost 35 years later. She did tend the fire, though, that one evening. I wouldn't let her do anything else. (laughter)

TOMAS: It would seem that you have great trust in one another.

Hunnah: We depend. We depend on each other.

TOMAS: There is a certain inborn trust in mutual need and dependency. It is, however, the reward of friendship, the mortal companionship.

Elizabeth: Well, I'd like to pursue this in the sense that I'm wondering if in the highest uses of trust with another human is to challenge them, to trust them to rise to some occasion that you think they're worthy of, that they haven't quite come to yet, and I wonder if that is true.

Hunnah: Aren't you involving patience in that statement? Is there patience involved here?

Elizabeth: Yeah, there would be patience.

Hunnah: In their potential?

Elizabeth: Yeah.

TOMAS: Let me say regarding trust that as you trust the Father and manifest this fruit in your life, you become trustworthy. As you become trustworthy, you then are entrusted with greater responsibilities. Is it any wonder that the fledgling soul is reluctant to learn to trust, for ultimately there will be "hell to pay." I feel the session is reaching closure.

Elizabeth: Oh, no it's not! If you want it to it will be, but I wanted to tell you about the fact that I was enjoying Enlightened Honesty a lot and I didn't even think I could possibly even try it for six months without thinking about it, but I began to enjoy thinking about it and sort of nibbling on the edges of it and I enjoyed it tremendously, and so maybe after I get used to this new one, I'll enjoy it too, but I haven't been able to think about it enough to ....

Mrs. Ml: It seems a lot more complex.

Elizabeth: It does.

Hunnah: I have a question, if you can hang in there for a minute, and it involves accidents. It surprises me tonight that the subject wasn't brought up by two of the people sitting at this table. But I got to thinking about the number of people we had in our group and there had been four or five that have had mean situations happen to them, and in counsel one time with my daughter regarding the problem I was having -- and my problem would not go away -- and I was causing many people to be frustrated -- I said to her, "Am I doing this to myself?" and she said, "Yes, you are," and I said, "Well, I want it to stop!" She said, "It can stop. You may let it stop."

And by her stating that, it seemed to have moved me into another place. I think my guessing and watching our human behavior, the human considers the administration of spirit an anathema, and like you pointed out, Elizabeth, if I grow up, I'll be given more responsibility and I like being a child and I'll play forever because I don't trust that the Father has playful joy on his agenda, that it's nothing but hard work.

And you may have brought up this subject of the joy of learning and it was part of -- it was one of my blocks, and apparently it still is -- but I had an experience the other night where I did some reading for my job and I had a joyful reading session. I had enough experience that I could relate to what I was reading and I really enjoyed it, and I was conscious that I was enjoying it and I was ever, ever so grateful, because it made me appreciate how some people feel when they are learning something and I've never really had that as long as I can remember. Ever.

So coming back to what we do to ourselves, unconsciously are we teaching ourselves lessons that we don't want to see? And I think I've talked enough that it will probably take you a month to answer, but I'm hoping that I've tapped into something inadvertently that will be helpful to the others as it has been for me.

TOMAS: Your sharing what you just shared has been helpful to the group and to me, for it proves to me that your joy of learning has indeed become a living reality in your life and I am personally delighted and grateful for your expression. It validates my existence here, if you will.

I am not going to carry on about it for you have made the point better than I could and I will take this opportunity now, Hunnah, to further focus on learning this technique of transmitting/ receiving, for your positive attitude even I find refreshing.

As to your remark, Elizabeth, I would like to reiterate something from the lost lesson of last week, that being that this ability to engage in confiding trust with your fellows is a method of involving yourself in the human race. It bonds you with people in an intimate way that can never be brought about by mere social banter, for it is a soul to soul situation. There is no friendship without a certain amount of confiding trust. There is no real marriage without confiding trust. How, indeed, can one give so much of oneself to someone without some degree of trust? As we study further certain subjects such as intimacy we will gain yet broader understanding....

[End of tape; balance of session "off the record".]

*****

DATE: September 19, 1996

LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEXTUAL STUDY:

Urantia Paper 113: Seraphic Guardians of Destiny

1. The Guardian Angels

2. The Destiny Guardians

3. Relation to Other Spirit Influences

4. Seraphic Domains of Action

5. Seraphic Ministry to Mortals

6. Guardian Angels After Death

7. Seraphim and the Ascendant Career

TEACHER SESSION

UNSELFISH DEVOTION

TOMAS: Good evening, friends.

Group: Good evening, Tomas.

TOMAS: I, Tomas, your teacher, am in attendance with you this evening as I am also in attendance with the many, myriad celestial hosts which hover around you and for you and with you, as well as a number of visitors. Your Paper study this evening has given you some indication, if you were but to calculate on your fingers and toes, how many personages surround even one devoted soldier of the circles, and when we get you co-ordinated in one room, it is truly a big event. The air around you this evening is electric and jubilant in appreciation of your renewed application and devotion to our spirit family, our gathering together.

In keeping with our format, I have another lesson in store for you this evening. Before I embark, however, I would like to take a moment and pause for your consideration. I have heard it remarked that we are working pell mell, that Tomas is really piling it on, and so forth, and I do not want to shovel the coal so fast that the steam engine runs us all over. Indeed, I have many, many lessons, but I am not so bent on my formal agenda that I am unwilling to abide with you in your growing process. I will not lollygag overmuch, be advised, but if it is necessary that we slow down, I would like to hear it before I again commence. What say ye?

Group: I think it's great. Full speed ahead!

TOMAS: I must come up with another pet name for you, my loyal followers, my eager beavers. Perhaps I shall ponder that after I have given you your assignment for the week. I suspect that mine [my assignment] will be the more pleasant.

I would like to address this evening yet another fruit of the spirit, that being unselfish devotion.

Hunnah: That's a biggie.

TOMAS: Indeed, that's a biggie. Let us take the concept over all of "unselfish devotion" and give it a broad brush stroke to loosen the limbs of the mind. A sweeping appraisal of unselfish devotion would be dramatic in its employment; it would be a pageant of grand scale, of epoch proportions. Unselfish devotion attends to Paradise, all the way to the tiniest detail, and so, in order that we might bring this sweeping scope of a phrase into our breadth of consciousness, that we might discover it as an actuality in our own life, indeed, within our own personal personality as a trait of character, we shall look at "devotion."

Certainly anyone who has committed him or herself to any even trifling cause has some idea of devotion: A young fellow who brings home his first stray puppy is instantly devoted to the four-legged creature. He will feed it, he promises; he will wash the bowl; he will walk him regularly, and for a short period of time his entire personality is focused on utter devotion to this dog, this new pet.Similarly, in young girlhood, a young man may catch a young ladies' fancy, and her entire waking life is spent thinking of her beloved and her heart is devoted to picturizing their "happily ever after" situations.

In some individuals, in their careers, they find themselves devoted to their work. They have applied themselves and studied. They have ambitions; they have made inroads into the ladder of echelon and community. Their life is devoted to this service, this cause, and all that they do, all that they present, is in response to and in service of their devotion to their career.

It is expanded here now to include devotion to family -- not the young idealistic devotion of youth, but the sincere and arduous devotion of long-suffering, long-standing care, one for his spouse/her spouse, the children, the homestead, the future -- the future even of the estate, and the grandchildren. This is devotion to a value, one which most of you, if not all of you, can identify and to some extent appreciate.

Creativity is an example of devotion. To paint the perfect picture, to shoot the perfect photograph. Sports also provides ideas and examples of devotion. To run the race, to climb the hill, to jump the hurdle -- these are ambitions and goals which require total devotion in order that you may attain your end, your attainment, your accomplishment, your prize, and in many ways, your purpose.

"Unselfish" devotion has, again, a qualifier. Unselfish means that you do this for them. You bring home this puppy not for your own enjoyment, no sir! but for the benefit of that puppy! It is not for your demure need that you should adore the young man on the white horse, no ma'am! It is for the honor and glory of a noble prince and all the ideals and values that husband and hearth represent, and so you would bestow yourself unselfishly upon his every need, willingly.

These of youth give way to reality, to the truth of humanness, the pain of struggle, the sorrow of illness, the despair of defeat, the realities of life which bring often disappointment as well as accomplishment. Even so, unselfishly we prevail, learning how to eke out a living, how to manage our monies, how to compromise our relationships, how to set aside for the future, how to balance the many responsibilities of life that all may be served with perhaps some time left over for a game of cards or a Calgon bath.

And now we come along with "unselfish devotion" as a fruit of the spirit, and having now understood how fully the aspect of devotion affects your lives, and knowing personally how much you are affected by your own understanding of your own selfishness and unselfishness, as well as that of your brothers and sisters, your peers, your siblings, your enemies, and so forth, unselfish devotion to Our Father and to his children enters the picture.

And is it not true that Michael would have you manifest fruits of the spirit in order that you bear fruit and give honor to Him, the Living Vine? How is it that He would have us manifest unselfish devotion as a fruit of the spirit? Certainly all of the human facets we discussed, I discussed, are inclusive. That we take care of the lower animal realms with devotion is noble. That we love and are loved in return is noble. That we have concern for the future of our families, economically, philosophically, politically, ecologically, educationally, medically and so forth, are noble devotions.

But what of the fruit of the spirit? How are we devoted to the God that dwells within each other? How are we devoted unselfishly to the God that has given us all these wondrous things to have, to enjoy, to manage, to attain, to dispose of? For is it not He who is deserving of the highest devotion? Without Him, these things would not exist. Without Him, you would not be aware of the love, the beauty, the goodness of all that you enjoy as a kingdom believer, as a son or daughter.

"Unselfishly", you say. "I am only human. How can I possibly devote my life to God and do it unselfishly? If I devote myself to God, will I have time then, to take care of these other affairs? Will I have time to paint pictures and dream and forecast and amend?"

As I look at the word "unselfish" I am reminded of many who, when speaking of spiritual matters, testify that a certain degree of selfishness is desired, and that it is wise to set aside, selfishly, a period of time in each day in order to thank the First Source and Center, the Creator of us all, for the devotion that we may give Him, for the devotion that He has given us, for the devotion that Michael had when he chose to come here, that he displayed in his life in the flesh, that he bestowed on his family conscientiously, that he engaged in at the marketplace, in the caravans, in meeting men and women and finding out how they lived their lives; in his travels, in his studies, in his musings, in his life with his apostles, in the devotion that he manifested to even the little children. An exemplary life, indeed, full and rich. And what made it unselfish was that he gave all credit to the Father.

As you thus look about yourself this week in quiet awareness of the many ways in which you yourself are devoted, in the many noble ways in which you devote yourself to value -- truth, beauty & goodness -- to those things, beings and so on that have value, remember your primary Caregiver, your Father, for without Him none of this would be possible. Stop and thank the Father unselfishly for His devotion to you and honor Him by unselfish devotion to Him.

I am going to discuss this fruit further, but it is an introduction so that you can understand clearly in your social discourse with one another, that you all have this fruit of the spirit. You all have unselfish devotion. It is not a question of having to discover it, polish it up and show it off, for it is there in each of you. How is it that we may utilize this noble fruit to further the cause of the kingdom is a facet of unselfish devotion I will bring to your plates next week.

How are you, my friends? You have blessed me with your presence here this evening. What a bountiful group! How have you been, one and all?

Mrs. Ml: Great.

Hunnah: She fell off the wall and they're putting her back together.

TOMAS: Oh, no, my dear. She is not a fragile egg, and she will certainly be put back together. It is wonderful to see your smiling face, to feel your cheerful presence. I am glad you are among us and with us in more ways than one.

Mrs. Ml: Thank you, Tomas.

TOMAS: Theresa, I will speak to you, for last time we talked I did not get to spend much time with you. You were telling me how you have learned to fear by trusting and being disappointed in your trust. It is unfortunate, but that is how one learns whom to trust and when to trust, but it is not a reason to give up on trusting altogether.

You recall the reading this evening of how it is that the angels have a hard time understanding the animal legacy of fear, and as I work with you and as I talk more and more with the midwayers, I gain an understanding of your vantage point, and I am somewhat reminded of the vantage point I had so very, very long ago, but truly it has rather evaporated in the mist of history. It is for me very difficult also to understand the animal legacy of fear.

I am beginning to think, however, as I dally with you and as I learn to occasionally challenge you, I am beginning to think that fear is just a bad habit that has been permeating your minds for so long it is easy to revert to fear and hide therein, rather than step out in courage and conviction in spite of the fear.

And so that is my greeting to you, my daughter, my mini-lesson, my somewhat challenge and my sincere hope, that you not allow the fear of the negative to steal from you the joy and riches of the positive, for love is more catching than hate.

Theresa: Thank you, Tomas. It isn't a fear of being physically hurt. It was more of a mental hurt. I felt it was my ego being hurt. It was a put down kind of a thing I was talking about that I was referring to last week, that after so many put downs you just feel sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut and not say anything.

TOMAS: Perhaps it is not so much that you should keep your mouth shut, but perhaps you should seek a different audience.

Hunnah: I think she's going to enjoy that little paper we had from our ...

TOMAS: On mota. A mini-lesson on mota.

Theresa: I was trying to work in that trust thing. You're trying to trust people, you know, and you love them and you think you can trust them and you can't! because they're not ready. They're just not ready. And you wonder where you're supposed to stop and where you're supposed to start and you're there for a reason, they're in your life for a reason and you want to enlighten them, and they're not ready. And that was where I get the putdown, and it's the ego! I just don't want to be hurt that way again. And yet it's not hurt. I get, maybe I call it a hurt ...

TOMAS: It is a rejection of that which you would offer them. In truth you are offering them sonship, filiality with them in the spirit, and they are rejecting your understanding and, therefore, to you they are rejecting the filiality, family of God aspect. Even so, there are ways that you can tear down the wall rather than to allow the status quo or to allow the wall to raise up between you. You might not attain the goal that you had in mind, but if you have fellowship and have nurtured the moment with honest heart-felt good cheer, affection, tolerance and so forth, you have registered On High that you are experiencing your temporary setback as a result of your unselfish devotion to the cause of opting to share God with others, so that they will know the joy you would share with them.

It is like the lesson about being misunderstood, and it never seemed to bother Jesus whether he was understood or not, but it bothers mortals tremendously! They want to be understood; they want to make their point; they want to have their words heard and felt and responded to, ideally, in a way that is fruitful, and when this is not forthcoming, when they don't understand your motives, when they do fear you and the gifts that you bring as well as the challenges that you present, they balk. And their only known recourse is to put you down or reject you, which is easier than rejecting God himself. But in-as-much as you are God's child and in-as-much as "that which you do to the least of your brethren, you have done unto me" ....

Mrs. Ml: You might say, "Well, you might not like what I just said, but God likes it! "

Elizabeth: That's a good one! That might make this person become even more discombopulated! Scare the wits out of this person! Evidently this person is quite frightened of this encounter with God and so, as Tomas said, it takes recourse in striking back at Theresa. But that's an interesting observation.

Mrs. Ml: How about, "Well, God, I'm finished with that one. How about the next one?" (Group laughter)

Hunnah: A good practice session.

TOMAS: In spreading the good news, you have heard it said to not let the right hand know what the left hand is doing, for if you are setting out to consciously plant a seed or save a soul or convert a heathen or whatever, you are going with an ulterior motive into your arena. If you go with love, and a desire to share your inner life with them, your avenue will be more open, for you will not run upon the hidden agenda of conversion, which is a stumbling block for so many.

As you live the gospel, as you re-sound its harmonious toll in your life, in your voice, in your actions, in your attitudes, you are preaching and teaching the gospel. In time, you will have established yourself so that you may have intimate discourse with others. Praise God, the living God. Make reference to those things that are familiar. Do not try to add boulders onto the shoulders of little ones who can only carry pebbles. Strengthen that in them that which is good and true, and spoon feed them little pieces of divinity. Chew on them with your siblings.

Ponder them over, as if to say, "I heard this. I wonder what you think. What is your opinion?" Of course, you may get the oaf who looks at you dumbly and says something rude, in which case you have lost no time moving along. But remember, you have established yourself in the life of this individual by setting aside --in unselfish devotion -- time to think about and pray for and ponder the welfare of this child of God before you. It is not a stranger. He is not a stranger if you have invested in him in prayer.

It is necessary to develop spiritual stamina if you are going to be active in the field, and since you are already active in the field, my girl, it is a simple matter of adapting your already excellent techniques to a broader range of circumference to broaden your arena, for your harmonious bell tolls clear, and as it tolls clearer from the height of truth, beauty and goodness, it will echo throughout the valley below. The Spirit of Truth will enable you to teach and preach gladly, and so fear not. I am eager also to greet others.

Hunnah: May I give a report?

TOMAS: Briefly. (Group laughter)

Hunnah: I will make it brief because you've answered something for me. I've come across some information that I felt dovetailed with your talk on character, and I was considering investing in the tapes so that others might be able to hear them in the privacy -- because people frequently do well privately for their introspection. If you have it at a group, it doesn't have the same impact. And then something happened tonight. It was a conversation between Gerdean and I that made me suspect that I was still just being aggressive with a particular individual and coming at them from another direction, and I felt, "Well, there goes that idea!" and then you just emphasized expanding your arena, and the tapes might be for someone else and not just the person that I'm concerned about. And so I'm going to go ahead and do it. And if I get booted for it, my intentions were good and I'm going to run with it. As they say.

TOMAS: In approaching that entire thing through unselfish devotion, I would only caution you to make certain that the interest charges are not late. (Silence) That was a bit of humor.

Hunnah: I missed that. We'll work on that. Well, it might be for someone who I have no idea who it's for, so I'll go ahead.

TOMAS: Are you certain it's necessary to make the purchase, since the point has been made, the truth has been planted in your heart, and you are a great revealer, and now you are eagerly expanding your arena. I question the need to make the purchase at all. Especially since you have now acknowledged your hidden agenda and found it not necessary. Both you and Theresa have saved yourself great steps this evening by acknowledging your true motive and going for it and acknowledging it honestly. It is not wrong to want to introduce someone to the truth. Just 'fess up to it and don't try to come around the side door. If they are not hearing you, go down the road a piece and sing a song. Like the pied piper, they may find they enjoy the tune so much, they will follow you anyway.

Hunnah: You've given me something to think about. Thank you.

TOMAS: You are welcome.

Hunnah: The line, "and the government shall be upon his shoulders," just came to my attention.

TOMAS: Shalimar?

Shalimar: I was thinking,

TOMAS: You are quiet this evening.

Shalimar: (something about her daughter) between taking action that would be probably dramatic and praying for this person. Let's put it this way, I've turned to praying for the person (indistinguishable). This person is causing a lot of havok. How long should you wait? How patient can you be if other people are being damaged? When you know that they're a very disturbed person.

TOMAS: I cannot counsel you under these circumstances. I would counsel you only to continue to pray, that is, to spend time in stillness ascertaining as best you can the clarity of the personalities involved, their motives and intentions as best you can see, and ask that God oversee and intercede if necessary. I cannot even suggest, from here, what you might do about it in terms of your social discourse or dramatization.

Shalimar: I have been doing that and I have been getting --well, the one day I just got in my car. I did spend a couple hours writing and I was tempted to give it to this person but I didn't. I read it to some other people involved, but I think I got a flood of information with the idea that I have to write it down and try to make sense out of some things.

TOMAS: If it is so ponderous as to weigh you down entirely, perhaps you are investing too much devotion in one area, and a review of your more supernal devotions would give you better perspective.

Shalimar: I'm trying not to be involved in it, but ... it's coming to a head, let's put it that way, and I do. I ask for it everyday -- what's the Father's will for me. That's all. But my own child is not just emotionally ill, but is physically ill because of this. So, it's not easy to just let it linger.

TOMAS: Elizabeth, my dear, I have not heard much from you this evening.

Elizabeth: I've been really enjoying tapping in on others here. I really feel good about some of the things you told Theresa. I really feel that I can use some of that. Theresa is much more gentle than I am, so people don't seem to be too overt about putting me down, but I still have my own kinds of struggles as you know. And you know that I lapsed into fear on Sunday and I was afraid ... I was afraid. Yes, that was that fear that you were talking about.

I was teaching my little class and I was very angry that these people are trying to make these beautiful children pray in a way that I found very objectionable. And the woman that I'm teaching with is one of these fundamentalists and I was so afraid that she was going to find out how I feel about some of these things. I was afraid and so I overreacted and ... we didn't agree, and it was amicable, but if I just hadn't been so afraid that I would say too much, because if I ever begin to say all the things that I feel, I would not be able to be there and do what I think I'm doing, which is to help these children not have all this misery placed upon them, these innocent children!

I was one of these fundamentalists myself, so I suppose I'm even much harder on them in my mind, but I was in fear and I thought about that.

TOMAS: I am glad you told me. I am glad that you shared that with all of us. It is too bad that you hide your grand light under this bushel. It is unconscionable that a woman of your dynamism should so camouflage your own enlightenment. You were afraid that these people would find that you were an enlightened woman! and what? stone you? banish you from their coven?

Elizabeth: They wouldn't let me do what I'm devoted to doing. It is a tiny slice of my life that I think of as being somewhat of a selfless devotion. I know that I can serve in a real way in that capacity, but if I were to be totally frank, I would simply not be allowed to be in that capacity, and so I try to be honest in the sense that I'm not going to teach them anything that their parents would find troublesome, but I do want to not teach them these terribly negative things that I feel are full of misery words like "blood", "death", "crucifixion."

These children are eleven years old. They have to say that they are ... Wait a minute! I brought it! I wanted to share it with everybody. "What is your only comfort as a Christian?" "That I body and soul and life and death belong to Jesus Christ." "What must you know to have this comfort?" First, how I sin every day against God and my neighbor. Second, how Jesus saves me from my sin. Third, how I can share my thanks." "How do you know you are a sinner? Because I do not love my neighbor as myself." "Why don't you do what God wants?" "Because I naturally sin."

TOMAS: Whose answers are they?

Elizabeth: This is the child's version of the Heidelberg confession, and I have this in my Sunday School kit and I don't have to teach this. There's too much material there. They just say, "Pick out what you think of as helpful" and so I was planning to do this but I lost my cool because of my partner there, because she wanted them to learn one of these horrible memory verses. So, it was because I was in fear. That's probably what it was. And so I managed last year to get through the whole year and just saying the positive things, but because this woman is this fundamentalist beyond description ....

TOMAS: Is it necessary that she hang with you constantly?

Elizabeth: No, no. Hopefully she'll maybe just teach when I'm not there. Hopefully. I'd love to have that happen.

TOMAS: These youngsters are certainly old enough to be learning real truths, such as what is sin, evil and iniquity. There is nothing wrong in giving a substantial lesson to a young person. They can handle it. But I agree with you that to teach a child error is error. Good for you.

Elizabeth: Thank you. I would like to have more faith and not fear in my situation.

TOMAS: It is through unselfish devotion to your Father in heaven and the pure truth, beauty and goodness of His divine love (that) He loves his children. He did not send His son to die for their sins, and so on and so on. You know the revelation. You know the good news. You have been called to be an apostle. It is not time now to compromise truth, especially with the young ones who still have a chance to formulate an eager mind about spiritual matters.

Elizabeth: I do have a plan, but I was taken aback a little bit, maybe by surprise because of the very strict fundamentalism of the people around me. I didn't expect it to be quite so intense and so, in a sense, the surprise was one of the reasons why I didn't handle it as well as I could have. I think that's what's bothering me. I didn't handle it very well. The woman I'm teaching with has a very beautiful faith. Like what you said, if I'm not mistaken, and she really does love children very much. She's a very fine person.

TOMAS: It is well to approach each one individually and I will not split hairs here, but remember that it was those who were so staunchly committed to the traditional ways of spirituality that would not allow for the truth of Jesus' teachings that ended up getting Jerusalem destroyed and the Lord crucified. (End of tape; balance of session "off the record.")

*****

[End of Vol. III, Part 3 of 13]