Prayer: (Gerdean) "Father God and Mother Spirit, we come before You today to find out more about you and Your nature in all things and all beings. We long to know You, God, and to be a part of Your universe, to find where we can best serve and do good. We know this will bring us our greatest happiness -- and Yours, as our Parent.

"Send us Your words through a Teacher that we can readily embrace and understand as our Teacher. Thank you for all these wonderful souls that have come to listen. Amen."

MERIUM: Well, I am coming in. This is Merium. Good evening, my lovely friends. I know that Gerdean is still anxious, and yet I will not allow her anxiety to stand in my way. She has given me permission and so I am forging ahead (as) I am also going to encourage you to do. You know in your heart of hearts when to do the right thing, when to do what you feel led to do, and yet you so often talk yourself out of it. You get into your rational mind and hobnob with your fears such that you become comfortable in postponing the thrill of knowing the Divine and doing Its will.

Much of this is because of the world on which you live and its unfortunate history, in terms of the Lucifer Rebellion and the Adamic Default. It has certainly been subjected to many other vicissitudes as well and even today continues to suffer under ignorance and prejudice revealing itself in war and destitution of one sort or another but the tide is turning, the dawn is breaking. We have indeed turned the corner.

It wasn’t long ago you were being told "its just around the corner" and now we have passed the corner and it is upon us. These are very exciting times. Oh, I hear the skeptic in you say, "Well, it doesn’t look that encouraging. There are still a lot of problems in this world." And yes indeed there are, and there are a lot of problems within each of you as well, but we are not going to let that stop progress. We are going to pick ourselves up by the bootstraps and forge merrily on.

And I am here to companion you in this venture. I am delighted to be here, delighted to be among you, recognizing the difficulties you have struggled with, the triumphs that you have known, and the excitement you experience even now as you anticipate the next step in this journey, the next view that reveals itself on the horizon, and the next glimpse of light at the end of the next tunnel. Holding hands this way and working together, we are sure to be testimonials to one another that we can look at and say, "Look at how far we have come! Let us rejoice!"

And so, let us rejoice this evening as we gather together and share our observations of this incredible time in which we live on this planet. Such a world it is, indeed!

It is a mixed crowd here this evening, I see. We have newcomers among us and we have other experimentation afoot. It pleases me to see the seeming merger between the mechanical aspects of the Teacher Corps and the Magisterial Corps. That is to say in the broadcasting aspects. And before or rather than going into those peculiarities unique to this particular culture, I will simply say that in many ways we are creating mythology. We have given birth to a reality that is understood by one and all as a result of our investigations and understandings of the greater universe in which we live and of which we are a apart. We know we are no longer isolated and removed from other worlds and other intelligent beings, legions of angels and armies of celestial helpers. And so we have embraced this reality and in the process we are bringing into being the concepts of divinity that we adulate, that we look up to.

I say this as your teacher for I too am an ascending son, an ascending daughter, a creature of evolutionary status, your elder sister in universe consciousness. It is good for me to establish an example of elder sister comportment and yet it is not kind to act as if I have it so much more together than you do. I would not do that to you, my lovely friends, my children, because of your dignity. Just because you are lowly mortals does not mean you are without dignity and intelligence. You have your noble qualities. You are noble creatures. And so I enjoy addressing you that way. In time, you will even come to believe it. You will begin to carry yourself as the daughter of divinity and the son of god that you truly are.

Yes, of course, you still carry around with you your mortal tabernacle; you trudge your path with feet of clay. But in company with us, this family of divine friends, you will be encouraged. You will find a ready ear for those insights that come to you that you have so few with whom to share. But there are many joining us, many are coming into the light and recognizing that there is so much more than you have known, so much more than you have been taught. So there is quite a flurry of growth and, yes, some chaos because that is part of growth, but it is fraught with a sense of happy anticipation more than dread or that old thing of waiting for the other shoe to drop. It is so nice to have it turned around and to have the foundation be something positive.

This is such a gift. It is such a gift for me to be able to share this with you, to reinforce this understanding of a friendly universe in you, a loving god, a family of angelic overseers, heavenly helpers, many, many, many orders of beings who delight to help you in your efforts to become more divine, even here, even as you live in this mortal estate.

I am just filled with delight and have really nothing much else to say except delight.

Earlier, I was picking Gerdean's brain, as you might say, and we thought about what to discuss this evening. It was made apparent to her yesterday that I, Merium, wanted to speak, although there were others who were willing and able to come forth. But I was elected and we tossed a couple of things around as to what to discuss, one of which was about victimization, because it has and continues to take such a toll on so many on this world -- that sense of victimization that so much happens to them over which they have no control, leaving them to feel powerless, even helpless, and this of course is not something we want to foster because, given the right circumstances, there is a great deal that can be done.

There was also the idea that we might talk about motivation because motivation is such a catalyst for change, and so one wonders what are we changing from and to here in this desire to make a choice? What are my motivations to do this or to do that? And although there are always the motivations we would put forth as being socially acceptable and divinely smiled upon, there are also, often, a sampling of underlying motivations that may indeed be justified as worthy pursuits and there are some that are less than noble, but we concluded that the motivation to do good to others is probably one that would do well to be a mantra for most folks, since Love is the desire to do good to others, and God is Love. And so if you would be as God to your fellows, then you would naturally take it upon yourself to want to do good to them. Doing good to others is going to be affected by your motivation.

And so we thought about that, too, as a topic, but now that we are here, now that I am in place and comfortable, and she is sitting there to my side, observing as you observe, I am willing to open the floor to your comments and pondering, for each of you, I know, has in your mind and heart, even in your own soul, those things which call you to find out about, that stimulate you to probe into your consciousness, your subconscious or your super-consciousness to find out why that itch, why that gloom, why that response, why that delight. For sometimes the answer to those questions will lead to another door through which you may see with the eyes of divinity.

Seeing with the eyes of divinity should not frighten you. It is how, simply, how you would look at things if you were God and then you would practice that and find out how truly godlike it is or how it is only your perception of godlikeness, and so you find out. You find out where you are falling short; you are stimulated to try it again; you are motivated to do better; and so it does make for an interesting life and it can make for stimulating conversation. I will thus open the floor and wait until I hear some question or comment from you. Thank you.

George: Hello! How are you?

MERIUM: Hello! This sounds like Karo.

George: No, this is George. You say your name is Merium?

MERIUM: George! Yes, my name is Merium. I do know that.

George: Okay. This is the first time I have heard you, but I wanted to jump in to because I have a curiosity question. You mentioned victimization. I was wondering, since the circuits are open and we can learn about other planets, my curiosity question is, on planets where the female rules the male, so to speak, do we have the same kind of victimization, abuse, and warlike government that we have on this planet where males have ruled for centuries where men have basically ruled, so to speak?

MERIUM: Well, that was a rather convoluted question. You must let me break it down. The circuits are opening, yes, but that does not mean that we are suddenly going to be able to communicate with neighboring worlds. There is no hurry for that. I am certainly not given any instructions on that. What I am still instructed to do is to work with you on your world regarding your matters for the correcting time of this world and your place in it, and in that context I can say that matriarchies have come and gone on this world as on most evolving worlds.

There is great power and wisdom in the female consciousness, as there is in the male consciousness, and the ultimate standing is that they should share administration. Co-administration is indeed the ideal. And so when either male energy or female energy dominate, there is aberration, there is imbalance. But yes, of course, it happens on all evolving worlds because the creatures themselves must find out what their capacities are, what they can get away with, what they can accomplish, and most of this is done through trial and error.

There is one qualifier, however, and that is that every one in ten planets is an experimental world; a decimal planet will allow for more experimentation than the other nine in that statistic who reserve themselves to the accepted standards and your world is quite colorful in its non-stereotypical ways and means of coming to this point in time. Whereas it has caused considerable distress then and now to many, it has also garnered much attention and contributed much in the way of experiential wisdom not only to you but to your Creators, who are always interested in how the worlds of their creation are faring under their creative nature. Just as you, as parents, are always curious to see how your children are faring under your guidance, even after they have grown up and moved away.

This parental attitude is what they call a 'part and parcel' of the universe, and so there will always be a fascination with how mother would do it as compared to how father would do it and so, you see, matriarchies and patriarchies. But the ideal is co-administration. Is that helpful?

George: Yes, thank you so much.

Ernie: Hello, Merium?

MERIUM: Yes.

Ernie: This is Ernie.

MERIUM: Hello, Ernie.

Ernie: How are you doing?

MERIUM: I'm doing well. How are you doing?

Ernie: I'm doing excellent. Thank you.

Along those same lines, when you go onto the morontia worlds and then on to spirituality, do you continue with that? Does that gender -- male and female -- go with you?

MERIUM: Always. Always.

Ernie: Okay. So that's a type of energy?

MERIUM: Yes. It’s a perspective. It’s a part of the balance of the universe. Yin yang, black white, passive aggressive, male female. It doesn't mean that one is better than the other, or bigger or more important, or that one is less than or behind. For each takes its turn, each fills its role, each is necessary.

Ernie: Right.

MERIUM: They are of equal value for without one the other would be bereft. And this will go on into infinity. It will go on for you eternally. If you are comprised of those energies which we constitute as male, you will always be male. Now, your manifestations of your maleness will change at once when you no longer have your male body to support your energies, and yet you still will maintain certain qualities that will always be inherently male. This is not to say that you won't also have an appreciation for and empathy for female qualities. You will know, rather, what qualities you lack and thus find fulfillment when you are around it, and in this way you will continue to need one another, male and female, throughout your eternal career. Always will you be able to assist, encourage, stimulate, and inspire one another as you go about your lives.

Do you find this encouraging or discouraging?

Ernie: No, I find it totally encouraging, completely. I was just curious as to what happens when you leave here. Here you are in your male body and in the morontia body -- is that your soul, IN your personality? Is it an energy that just hangs there?

MERIUM: Well it hardly just hangs there. Both male and female energies are very dynamic. They are both pure energies. And your personalities, as you ascend,-- even now but even more s you ascend -- are liberated from the fetters of that which you are moving out of. I call to your mind, for example, a sculptor who is sculpting with Carrara marble, and rather than say, "I want to make here a woman, heavy with child, standing by a birdbath," he, rather, looks at the stone and feels the stone and allows the stone to tell him what it wants to be revealed, and so he (the sculptor) takes away that which does not belong, in order to become what it is

This is what you do as you evolve. You allow to fall away that which is not you and you become more real, more vital, more energetic, dare I say more male, more female, as you pursue your path into eternity. However, rather than having it as a goal to be the most perfect male or the most perfect female as would be typical on a sex planet such as this, your goal would be more to the effect of harmony, cooperation, effectiveness in creativity, unity of purpose, for these are things you can aspire to and attain in company with one another, even assisting one another, and so you arrive in Paradise together, having enjoyed a tremendous long career throughout the many mansion worlds and beyond.

And for those who are unfamiliar with the cosmology of the universe, just be assured that you will never be bored. There is always a new place to discover and new beings to learn to love, new opportunities, occasions, jubilees, even theatrical performances for your entertainment. It is a brilliant universe, one in which we are all thrilled to be a part. We encourage you to rejoice in that as well, and if some days that means simply rejoicing in the fact that you are a male or a female, then by all means rejoice in that clear light of truth. There are many to whom it is not clear.

Ernie: Well, thank you so much. I appreciate your insight.

MERIUM: I appreciate your querying.

Marty: Merium, this is Marty

MERIUM: Marty, my dear. Yes.

Marty: I've been interested in the male/female discussion that took place and it's something that's been on my mind, since I raise animals and I have given a lot of thought to the evolutionary procedure in which the males are so aggressive, and they fight -- kill each other -- over the possession of the females. You cant-- if you have a whole flock of chickens, you can only have one rooster. And the goats, the billie goats just kill each other, they really do. And being a human animal on a sex planet, I just spend a lot of time thinking about the purpose the Father had, or has, for this kind of evolutionary experience.

MERIUM: I can address this briefly. The evolving worlds are at varying degrees of barbarity, Marty. This one is coming along, actually, and there are pockets of high civilization on this world, even though there are still areas that are poor in spirit and an embarrassment to humanity. But in circumstances and conditions when survival is such a prominent part of the life, these instincts to survive are natural and right. The male is the protector, in the primitive worlds. He is stronger, he is not bothered by the young. He need not worry about being stopped by maternal instinct, as mothers will for their young. His task is to protect them and provide for them, and this carries over into the upright, human animal. These qualities that are inherent in the animal are also a part of you because you have evolved up from the beasts of the field, in a way, and you still carry with you the qualities of the animal kingdom.

Now, you need not worry so much about surviving any more, as your goats seem not to have yet learned, or ruminants that will battle each other to the death to have control of the herd. This is simply a facet of animal evolution that assures the survival of the fittest -- literally: the fittest males, the fittest females and the fittest offspring. Weak offspring are abandoned readily, even by the most loving, caring, nurturing females; they are simply pushed aside because they are a handicap to the survival of those who must survive to keep the continuity of life advancing.

With reason, with rational minds, with the addition of the two higher adjutant mind spirits, one hopes for great advancement in animalistic behavior and indeed progress is being made although admittedly, there are pockets of barbaric behavior, very backward behavior, even on this world. And so yes, it is worthy of pondering. It is worthy of pondering because in terms of society you must judge your fellows as to their behavior, their ethics, their comportment in the society that you share with them. If they are going to try to take from you what is yours, what you have earned, then you will fight them in return. And so it is important to have these observations.

This is one of the gifts of having evolved. You can draw upon all of that history, that history of your experience as an evolving creature, and add to that then your collection of consciousness -- morality, rightness -- and your things: your games, your books, your contributions, your music, inventions, property … and you have acquired quite a legacy to enjoy and to pass on to those who will come behind you. This is another form of fore-running, of preceding others into the future, into the unknown. This is a part of the eternal adventure and it is indeed something to have those moments when you are able to sit back and ponder the behavior of your predecessors -- even human predecessors a generation or two or three ago -- and compare and see and observe and acknowledge how much are growing, what you have learned and how you have grown, and give thanks for the sure direction you are going (in), even though you may not have a clue about where you are going to be tomorrow. This is faith. You just keep putting one foot in front of the other and act in faith, and follow your own visceral and inner counsel, which ultimately will lead you up and out of the conflict, away from the difficulty onto dry land with a higher view, a farther view of where you are going and how you are going to get there.

Marty: That’s really very good coverage of the question. I guess there is a place in the Urantia Book that says something like we need darkness in order to know about light, or such contrasts as that, and here we have the contrast -- survival instinct of animals such as we experience ourselves and then we are given the quest to see things as God sees things, to love one another as God loves us, which is not the way of animal way of survival. It gives us a challenge.

MERIUM: Before I agree with you, let me remind you that there are wonderful qualities about the animal kingdom as there are about the human race, and they reflect very much, the same values -- for example, I look at you -- in other words, we are always able to look back at where we have been, or the previous incarnation, or the previous dispensation, and observe how it was and not just be glad we are no longer there but value that which it was, so while it is very difficult in being an animal, for example, that is only interested in survival of the fittest, it is also true that there are qualities of loyalty, nurturance, stamina, valiance, even heroic acts that take place in the animal kingdom among the animals that comprise that realm. The kindnesses they do to one another; the ways they find to get back home; how they help each other; how they find things for their pack, for their needs, and share them -- the rabbits, the deer, the fish -- they have tremendous loyalty to themselves and have brilliant lifestyles, each one unique unto itself. There is much, much goo din the animal world. It is not just barbaric. It is as gentle and soft and loving as a whisker … as much as a whisper, or a purr.

Marty: It's really true. The experience of raising animals is just a remarkable thing to do; it's unbelievable, and I can see the way Mother Nebadonia lives with her animals, in her animals. And I often -- I watch them eat and how they chew their food and enjoy the tastes, and their loyalty to one another, and the relationship they have with each other -- and with the people! It's incredible. And I often think of their lives as being just material and they are not being able to survive as we will…

MERIUM: But they will always be a part of the omniscient universe.

Marty: It's just the reality of each animal's life, an eternal fact, and that's really where it's at. I can't imagine the loss just being a loss. It's not so. Every animal is experienced. The life of that animal experienced by the mother spirit and I'm sure she brings that with her into the supremacy of the universe.

Thank you very much, Teacher Miriam. I think that you are getting to be deeper than Teacher Tomas. You're going all the way.

MERIUM: I have the benefit of the Mother. I think, being female, that we are not superior to our brothers, but unique in that we are very close to life and death somehow. The birthing process may have originally spawned that quality but it is probably a quality of the Divine Mother as you suggested. But at any rate, it is as much fun for me to look at you as if you were my cubs and kittens to train, as it is for you to look at your goats and chickens. Indeed, I have as much invested and have as much reason to believe I will be proud of my endeavors -- not that I expect you to win me the blue ribbon at the State Fair, but I do get "graded" by my supervisors as to my teaching techniques, and so I am attentive to how I might improve upon my interactive relationships with my students, my friends here who come to learn from my hand. I pray that I will know how to do good to you and to feed you that which is wholesome without spoiling your appetite.

We are coming up to the top of the hour. Are there any more questions before we close?

Ray: Yes. My name is Ray. Thank you for being with us tonight.

MERIUM: Hello, Ray.

Ray: I do appreciate your speaking of how gentle our animal cousins can be; however, I have the misfortune of living next to an inconsiderate neighbor with an ill-behaved dog and that creates a lot of frustration a lot of times throughout my day, but my question: Is it possible that as we learn more about who we really are and as we make every attempt to rise above our animal nature, do physiological changes happen as a result of our growth?

MERIUM: Your question, too -- Are you finished there?

Ray: Yes

MERIUM: Your question, too, is a composite of several questions. In fact, I might need to ask you a question or to in order to address you intelligently, but I heard you say "rise above the animal nature." I want to make sure that you understand that in animal training, in training your animal, yourself, you don’t want to rise above it to the extent that you disallow its existence. You need to give it some room in which to operate so that it can help you and cooperate with you. You will never eviscerate your animal nature completely. You want it to work with you and for you, and yet, even as this happens, this process, you do physiologically alter -- and I am saying that metaphysically -- because your mindal capacities are enlarged, your spirit capacity is enlarged. You can derive more energy and power from those realms than the savage beast was able to derive from his growling and snarling.

And so yes you begin to operate on another level and you can compel behavior from that level that you would not have been able to do from the baser level. But you don’t want to look down at your animal aspects. You need to respect them, because just like a pit bull, if you don't, it will turn on you. Vicious animals are vicious animals even when they are trained. And I am not saying you are vicious animals, especially you who are born of the spirit and who are almost unable to strike out in self-defense or in any kind of physical aggression. But you will be able to work with it and it will work with you when it knows its place, where it can be most effective.

This is getting your animal to work for you, your human animal, your ego, if you will, your human identity, it becomes a persona which is driven by, motivated by your higher power, consciousness and Deity, as you tap into those and then, of course, your entire composition changes. You become more than what you were. Jesus spoke of this. You become superhuman, but you are still human. You still have this vessel. And you need to respect that vessel. Does that respond?

Ray: (Pause) I-- yes.

MERIUM: I feel I have not given you what you want, somehow.

Ray: (Laughing) You feel correct. But I will leave it at that because I would -- It would appear that, yes, it was a composite question. Maybe I need to simplify it and I can do this at another time.

MERIUM: Think about it again and we can talk about it later, or any of the other teachers who, I am sure, would be glad to consult with you on these things and depending upon the teacher and their experience and their transmitter, you may get various and sundry responses, all of which will contribute to your ability to glean and discern that which is most appropriate for you. Your Spirit of Truth will winnow your way into you as you are meant to be.

Ray: Thank you.

MERIUM: You are welcome. There is no right or wrong here. There is no black or white.

It has been a wonderful evening. I thank you all for being in attendance. I am very sorry I was not able to speak with each of you individually. I feel as though I have touched your heart and your curiosity and that next time I am in the neighborhood we will be able to resume our conversation and pick up there where we are leaving off here. Blessed be art thou, little ones, dear little brothers and sisters in the family of our divine Parents. Blessings be upon you. Farewell.