R:

Q: Do you have access at all times to your memory records?

R: I can access them if I wish, however I have many other obligations and not so much free time for such activities. It is best for me to contain a review of my memories in the period assigned to the Reversion Director.

S: Then usually your Reversion Director has a pretty good idea of your efficient use of time.

R: Yes. (11/27/93)

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Q: In recreation, no matter what we do - whether it's rest, recreation, or toil - to keep the mind on God is the good thing to do. Is that correct? It is the intelligent thing to do, correct? Am I understanding that correctly?

A: Yes.

Q: Are drugs or alcohol considered part of recreation? Or do they take the mind away from God? Can you comment on drugs or alcohol, as recreational?

A: Yes. As I have defined recreation, drugs and alcohol play no role.

Q: In recreation?

A: Yes.

Q: Are drugs and alcohol strictly animal things?

A: Yes.

Q: That makes sense.

A: And, in fact, animals are well-known to partake of substances that alter their bodies’ chemical activities and their sensory perceptions for the same reasons that mortals do such things.

Q: So it's neither good nor bad, it's just animal?

A: The taking of substances is neither good nor bad, but the behaviors that emerge after can be either good or bad.

S: I understand. That's happened in my case, both ways, for sure.

R: Certainly by using drugs or alcohol or other substances you are not likely to experience spiritual growth. (

S: Thank you).

Q: Are you saying that hallucinogenic type drugs cannot help anyone in their spiritual growth, even though they visualize Deity in a unique way?

A: The hallucination may be the visualization of Deity, but it is extremely unlikely that that is the fact. (

S: Thank you).

Q: Would it be correct to say that if there is spiritual growth at the time one takes drugs...

A: To elaborate on the last question that was asked, which was if any spiritual growth occurs during the taking of drugs or alcohol: might it not be in spite of, rather than due to, such substances? My answer is this you all know that there are times during which the Adjuster departs for various purposes. Most likely when you use exogenous substances that alter your mind thought, your Adjuster will depart. You will not grow spiritually unless your Adjuster is there with you. Does that answer?

Q: Yes, except it would seem that when one takes those drugs, that's when you would need the Adjuster the most, and that they would know this and would not depart.

A: It all depends on the circumstances, but when the Adjuster senses that the being in which it dwells is not receptive to spirit promptings, that is always a cue for departure. Now, it may be that when you use whatever you are doing so with the goal of spiritual work and progress, in that case your Adjuster might remain. But if you were to plan a debauch with the sole purpose of behaving in an animal fashion, it is very unlikely that the Adjuster would stay to observe, for the capacity for spirit growth would be almost nil. Your personal guardians might stay to help to protect you, unless you dismiss them. Does that help?

S: I believe that when we talk about drugs and alcohol it's too general a way to phrase it because I don't think many of us here do hallucinogenic drugs on a regular basis. The drugs that we do tend to be things like aspirin, caffeine, nicotine - for some people, alcohol, prescription drugs - and I don't believe that with the taking of those that the Adjuster would leave under any circumstance.

R: I answered the question with the linguistic assignment of non-medication substances to the word "drugs". Perhaps this was a misunderstanding.

S: It was correct from my point of view, because I asked the first question, sir.

S2: My understanding is illicit drugs.

R: A more precise way of describing such substances as what one questioner called "drugs", as opposed to "medications", would be to use the term "mind-altering substances" consumed with the specific intent of mind thought alteration. Very few medications would come under this definition, although there are some which are used for behavior adjustment in the case of neurological diseases. But it is my understanding that substances which are consumed, including food at times, for animal gratification purposes do not promote spirit growth and development, except by accident. Q. Your definition and qualification of the words are appreciated, and it makes what you said previously more exact, and I thank you for that. And, I guess, the last part you were talking about, that even such commonplace drugs as caffeine, or even food items such as sugar when consumed in quantity, can also produce deleterious effects which tend to counter your spiritual leadings from your Adjuster. Is that correct?

R: Yes.

Q: Could I follow up on his subject by asking if the Thought Adjuster leaves because of the person's turning to mind-altering drugs without seeking a heightened spiritual experience, can the being invite the Thought Adjuster back, and would He come back?

A: Yes, the being can invite the Adjuster back, but the Adjuster will only return if it detects sincere desire for communion. (12/12/93)

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Prayers

Q: I'm curious as to how prayers are answered.

A: First, the issue of how is prayer answered. Yes, that is a most fascinating subject and actually will be the object of a lesson in the future. I shall attempt to answer as briefly as possible at this time. When you pray you actually - if you follow instructions and are sincere - you actually tap into the universe circuits and, through means that are not clear to me, your prayer is routed all the way to Paradise. This is a most amazing thing - and I never cease to wonder at the miracle of it - that so many, many, many beings in all the universes could, by the simple technique of prayer, could have access to the Father in Paradise. But this is indeed what happens. And once the prayer is received, a decision follows and through the universal administrative channels orders are given for certain actions to be taken in answer to the prayer. Now these are not always what the prayer has in mind.

Few will wake up and find a new car in your driveway, or your debts are erased, or a suitcase full of money in your bed, and therefore some would say that prayers are not answered. But of course, these are material considerations and prayers are not answered in a material fashion. But be assured that when you pray there is an almost instantaneous response to your prayer in the form of celestial guidance, assistance, and - in ways deemed appropriate by the Father - you are given help that is sought. [In response to a question about the Lucifer rebellion and Caligastia betrayal Rayson said:] It takes such a small amount of difference in direction on the universe scale to have the enormous effect over the course of time. A fraction of a degree difference in direction, that is all that Caligastia's behavior affected, and yet the result was to essentially derail the basic plan leading toward the establishment of Light and Life on Urantia quite severely. The major impact of Caligastia's disobedience was the severance of the universe circuits to Urantia and other planets involved in the rebellion, because when this severance occurred man was left far, far more to his own physical being than would have been the case otherwise. If you starve a living creature of one essential nutrient the creature will live, but its function will be impaired. A good example is vitamin or mineral malnutrition. This is analogous to what happened when the universe circuits were severed to contain the rebellion. Man continued to live but did not thrive as had been intended because of a stunting of spiritual growth. Yes, prayers were still answered, but through a detour - if you will - and less expeditiously than otherwise would have been the case. Yes, there were beings - are beings - here to help you, Midwayers and beyond. But because of lack of access to the universe circuits it was immeasurably harder for these helpers to assist man as he sought daily guidance in spiritual growth. (05/22/93)

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S: I have a feeling that my strength and my security lie only in my faith, is that correct? Faith makes it possible to talk with you. Frankly, I'm uncomfortable, it’s a new experience. I mean the fact that you exist and the way that you communicate is not-its so foreign to conventional thought. I feel like I'm standing in a valley, about to climb a mountain, and the mountain is covered in clouds. And then you come along and the Urantia Book comes along, blows away the clouds and I see this mountain, its 350,000 years high, and you are on the same mountain. Is that right?

R: That is just the foothills.

S: Are you that little guy way up on top?

R: Somewhere there. Your faith is not your only strength and support. It is a crucial one, yes, but you have your Adjuster. You have your spirit guide, your Guardian Angels, the ones who love you. You have your own unique personality and your capacity for prayer to connect you instantaneously to Paradise. You have your ability to worship, and grow and co-create with the Most Highs. You have so many areas of strength and connection to Father.

S: It's nice to know. I understand that the Presence of the Father is closer than breathing, nearer than hands and feet. What I'm confused about is praying out loud. When you are praying out loud, is that only for the fellowship of those of like mind? Is that the only purpose of praying out loud, since the Father is within us?

R: There is no purpose other than those which you assigned to such prayer. Believe me, when to seek to pray, even the quietest whisper of your mind-thought is heard loud and clear.

S: That's how I prefer to pray, by being quiet.

R: Then you certainly may do so, my friend. (11/27/93)

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PRIORITIES

[A student is commenting on her absence at a commemoration of Jesus' last supper on the occasion of His birthday on August 21,1994.]

Q: Yes, Rayson, this is (S). I want to, on one hand, apologize for not making it to Michael's dinner, but my best friend's father died about ten minutes before I was to leave. I had the feeling that you all on the other side would know that. I want to make it known that I felt sadness at not being able to be there, but I really couldn't find it in my heart not to go to my friend in this time. His father was in his home. I just want you all on the other side to know. It was just a choice I made, so I hope it's OK.

A: This matter of dinners and meetings and so on is really immaterial as long as you take the lessons to heart and express them in your actions. It sounds as if you made the appropriate choice given your personal circumstances. God does not keep the guest list, contrary to what some religionists would have you believe.

S: I know, I wanted to be there. I knew that was a very special, and I would think powerful, time. I had all kinds of great intent and food to go there that night. I knew in my heart that my choice was fine, along the lines of worship. (08/28/93)

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PSYCHOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY

Q: Rayson, with regards to these lessons, doesn't personal ministry, then, effect a balance of psychology and spirituality? Isn't it impossible to avoid the psychology in personal ministry?

A: I am not clear on how you mean "psychology."

Q: Meaning that it's difficult to "minister to someone that's ailing or seeking answers spiritually if you are not conscious or attuned to their psychological context? It seems that Jesus was incredibly perceptive in terms of the people that He came in contact with - where they were at, emotionally, psychologically, at that moment. And that affected what He could reveal or how much he could affect them spiritually. A. That is correct. Jesus was adept at seeing into a person's soul, and assessing what they really needed in spite of what they may say they wanted or needed. For example, the boy who was afraid, who declared that he did not want to interact or need anything, and as Jesus engaged him, saw that, immediately knew, he was dealing with fear unsuccessfully, and then engaged him in a way which bolstered his confidence as he was in actuality helping him.

Q: This was when he asked for directions?

A: Yes. However you must keep in mind that often what a person verbalizes is not what they really crave. The spiritual is always the bread of life. So psychology can be used in two way

S: one is your ability to assess where the other human is at and what their real needs might be, and two, the other person's own psychology of using mindal mechanisms to deny spiritual needs, or disguise spiritual needs. And these are two different usage of psychology in that situation. Your own ability to see others clearly will depend in part on your spiritual sight to see beyond the external to the soul within.

Q: So then that feeling, then, that (S) is capable of, and that I have experienced, sometimes it's really like spiritual sight, and sometimes it feels to humans like X-ray vision. (Yes.) And do you counsel that? (Absolutely.) Because X-ray vision is not necessarily a manifestation of ego, then. Sometimes it's looking through spiritual eyes.

A: Correct. (05/29/93)

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SCIENCE

S: Rayson, at what stage of advancement or what stage of development in your curriculum is the universe studied from a scientific point of view? Have you reached that stage yet?

R: Yes. You have done this yourself already. Have you not?

S: Well, I thought maybe my amateur astronomy would be very insignificant compared to the knowledge the celestials might have. For example, (S) was asking me yesterday about black holes and whether I thought that you had ever visited a black hole or knew what one was.

R: We do not use such terminology for the phenomenon to which you refer. Remember that your technology, although it is marvellous for what it is, is still quite limited, and most of what is considered knowledge on Urantia is really grand speculation based on very tiny bits of fact.

S: I have assumed from my reading the Urantia Book that black holes are really sites of the Power Directors as they seek to balance the universe, and that they represent the different stages and positions of Power Directors and other celestial beings having to do with the conversion and distribution of power to the local universe.

R: It is true that there are foci which the Physical Controllers and Power Directors arrange in the cosmos, but I cannot affirm or deny that your black holes are these. Is it appropriate for a kindergartner to be given post-doctoral theories?

S: It depends on how much intelligence the kindergartner has.

R: Perhaps a kindergartner is best served by the kindergarten experience of learning to play, socialize, count, control one's physical functions.

S: Or the polliwog.

R: Exactly. Why instruct a polliwog in fly-catching? Or a caterpillar in flight? There is much that could be explained to you in the area that you question, but it may not be very meaningful to you at this point of your experiential progress. This is not meant to be a criticism, but rather to afford you some perspective.

S: I'm just getting a little impatient. I'm a polliwog, and I want to learn how to eat flies.

R: Do not be so impatient, little polliwog, that you fling yourself out of the water that you require to sustain your life.

S: Good advice.

R: One step after another, and each step to be closely monitored, gauged for its appropriateness. You are doing what you should be doing right now, and you are struggling, as we all struggle with the constraints and difficulties of the material condition. But as difficult as this may be for you to understand now, these most fundamental lessons that you master now will be crucial to your progress when you journey beyond Paradise. Have you not found it to be so even now?

S: Certainly, they are useful to me now.

R: That your normal life experiences have been continual sources of information in later, more complex activities? (Yes.) So have faith. What would a polliwog do on a jet plane?

S: Expire.

R: Well, this polliwog would probably want to be the pilot. How would you like to be his passenger? Fasten your seat belt. A true case of auto pilot.

S: Well, we certainly can't go through this life in auto pilot, can we, Rayson?

R: No, well, you could try, but you would not get very far.

S: Before you crashed.

R: Yes, you would be as if you had never been. What excuse would there be for you in the cosmos?

S: None, really.

R: No. And you would have increasing potential for damage. Are there further musings or questions? Then we shall conclude this lesson? (12/04/93)

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SERVICE

Today's lesson is on the subject of service. This is a lesson that is best given to a group once it has reached a certain threshold level of knowledge, because the concept of service is instrumental in effecting change - not only on your material world, but in all phases of universe existence. Service seems such a simple concept, and yet it is very much misunderstood, most particularly in the material existence. Therefore, we will start with some basic definitions. Service, in the purest sense, is that action which the Father continuously performs. All acts of the Father are service oriented, constitute service, in fact. The incarnation of Michael on Urantia was service. And in His life in the flesh, His every behavior personified service. If you would serve, do as He would do. When in doubt ask yourself: "How would Jesus handle this? What would He do?" He set down a basic guide for conduct which some of you know as the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have done unto yourself. Where then, comes the confusion?

Much confusion regarding service has been introduced by those who strongly - who are strongly motivated by the desire to gain profit. The profit motive has been instrumental in the civilizing of man. It has served much useful purpose. However, service and profit are not the same. When profiteers present the notions of service to those whom they would enslave, the concept is transformed to become one of servitude rather than service, with the main idea being that so-called service consists in relinquishing one's material goods and efforts in order to improve one's self spiritually, and of course, the material goods and efforts received go on to improve the profits of the presenter. The most compelling use of this logic has been put forth by certain persons in the organized religions on your planet. I need not enumerate the examples, for they are most plentiful. But for anyone who has doubt, I must remind you that the way to skylight behaviors and the performance of service have not to do with material goods, gifts, bribes, or the like. Motive is extremely important in understanding the true nature of service.

Once you pass from your life in the flesh, your perception will be greatly increased with regard to the motives of others. And, in fact, some mortals possess an increased awareness of this. To the seraphim and other assistants on Urantia, motive is readily ascertained. Service, when performed, eventuates in spiritual growth. There is in the offing a great step forward to be taken by the peoples of Urantia, awaiting merely the motive and desire. This is because presently Urantian mortals are driven by profit motives. The addition of service motives, true service motives, to the existing profit motive, will enable Urantians to take this great forward step toward light and life. Many of the proverbs of Michael, Jesus, are guidelines for you if you wish to be more service oriented and service actuated. For example, "it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish."

What good, truly, for a man to pursue profit throughout his life - disdaining goodness truth, beauty, and love - amass a great fortune in material goods, and then make large charitable contributions shortly before his death in the name of service? Each of you, each individual on Urantia, is unique and different, a created personality with a specific mission in the universe. The ultimate in service is to develop your skills and perform them to the best of your ability with each day that you live, whatever your skills may be, to be honest, to be kind. Would you deprive others of the adversity that they require for their own experiential growth? If not, then why would you give a man goods he has not earned? Jobs he does not deserve? Honors he does not merit? The rewarding of inferior performance, even though it may be well motivated, is not correct. It leads to mediocrity, and holds your planet back rather than advancing. Inferior performance, if left alone unrewarded, will either improve or will extinguish itself, because it will not succeed. If rewarded it will persist and detract from the superior performance of others, others who are rightfully motivated and service oriented. Pity is not the same as compassion. Service has not to do with the gratification of ego needs of mortals, which is another area of confusion, and incorrect motivation.

Doing good is not the same as what you refer to as making another person feel good. How could you possibly know what really makes them feel good. To do such a thing is to attempt to enter into ego-seeking of the other. It is not service. However, service is not the pursuit of one's own selfish goals, either. If anything, service takes you outside of yourself. It has been said in a previous lesson that it is most important while living on this world to be in the world yet not of it.

That is part of service. In closing, let me remind you that, as you - each of you - grow spiritually, becoming more and more service oriented in your actions, you will experience a greater measure of energies and a lesser concern with material needs. And - interestingly - you will find that your material life will become easier, with far less conflict. That is not to say you will not continue to experience adversity, with battles. You will find it less onerous. That is the end of this lesson. Are there questions?

Q: I think, when I work, that the best thing for me to do, is to do service in my work and make money, in other words, to gain material benefits plus do my utmost to be of service to whoever I work for. Is that an ideal situation?

A: It is ideal if service leads and profit follows. It is most ideal under those circumstances. Both are quite powerful. If you are service led in your activities, profit will certainly follow - cannot help but follow - not as a reward, rather, in consonance with the flow of the Universe - when your behavior is correct and all goes well. Do you understand?

Q: Yes, I do. Does that mean that - for instance - if I cannot be of service to people doing things that I cannot do well, then the most ideal work for me in this life is to do those things I feel I can be of the most service? And that as a result of this my material needs will be taken care of?

A: (S), you and all other mortals have many many skills and abilities, beyond your comprehension even. You cannot even begin to fathom your true potential during your brief time in the flesh. However, in answer to your question, you will find that in your strongest areas the work will be facilitated, it will be easier; it will not be quite so difficult. You have areas of ability that remain dormant, many areas. I cannot tell you to only develop along one direction that would not be correct. You must work on this during your quiet times. Do not misunderstand and assume that great wealth will necessarily follow upon your efforts along skilled lines. Closer to the truth would be to say that if you do what you do well with clear motive you shall not be poor, you shall have enough. Not necessarily will you gain great material wealth, but you will have enough. Does that answer?

Q: Yes. I wasn't really concerned about the material end. I was just thinking that I would be more of service to others doing things that I am more capable of, than doing things that I am lousy at.

A: That is one way of stating it. But do not stop trying in some of the areas in which you feel uncertain.

Q: You mentioned in the lesson that focusing on spiritual well-being results in a lessening of material worries and needs. Can you explain why that is true? And possibly explain what the morontia mota counterpart is of that principle?

A: Yes. As a mortal on Urantia with a particular brain structure and certain physical limitations, your attentions, your efforts, your focus, each are divided in three ways. There is the attention and care directed toward the maintenance of your physical self. There is the attention and care directed toward your intellect which includes emotion and ego, and the third area is the spiritual with your Thought Adjuster's presence and guidance of seraphic and other attendants. Because of mortal limitations, as more attention is placed in one of the three spheres there is simply less for the other two. So, as you increase your spiritual awareness and efforts toward soul growth and God consciousness, as you become increasingly service oriented in your thoughts and actions, you will necessarily become less physically and intellectually oriented. The benefits that will accrue as a result of following your inner guide will be so compelling that you will simply pay less attention to the material cues that had heretofore been your guide. This is in keeping with a principle of the universe. The mota statement would be something like this, restated for your comprehension: "That which is exercised grows strong, that which is neglected or not exercised grows weaker and weaker." Like your material muscles, if you exercise a muscle it grows strong and large; if you neglect a muscle it atrophies and wastes away. So will be your experience with your material concerns. Spirit leading will satisfy your needs so very well that you will continue to follow it, and you will prosper materially and become increasingly less concerned with material worries. Does that answer? If not, please ask.

S: I'm a little short of understanding, in that, if you are exercising your spiritual focus and increasing that strength, and therefore neglecting your material or mindal areas because you are so attracted to the spiritual areas, then you might think that those areas would rather weaken because of neglect. Whereas you have instructed us that - to the contrary - those areas are taken care of even though we neglect them. So I guess that confuses me still.

R: The confusion comes because you believe that there is only one way to attain a goal that a material goal is only attained by material means, and the lesson is that material goals as well as spiritual goals can be attained through purely spiritual means. Michael, during His incarnation on Urantia, certainly fulfilled his own material needs, but He led a spiritual life. Perhaps the word "neglect" was not the best. Perhaps a better word would be inattention. (02/14/93) *********************

Q: Regarding the lesson, you spoke about putting oneself in the service of the Father's will. I feel a little lost about what form that would take. I know that in my cognitive mind I feel that if I'm always as honest as I can be, if I maintain my integrity at all costs, if I try to help and do right, that I'm working in that regard. But I personally feel - especially this last week - very lost about the higher aspects of that. I don't feel like I've been doing my best very well at all lately. Could you expound on what is service to the Father in the greater form?

A: Yes, certainly, my daughter. First, you would not be here in this room had you not committed yourself to serve the Father. You are not being paid in monetary terms. You do not gain socially from this. There are many other experiences you could be engaged in at this time. There is no material reason for you to be here. You are here only as a seeker after truth and on the basis of your personal faith in the Father. Your feeling of being lost is most likely due to an increased awareness of your spiritual self which has been submerged in the past from conscious knowledge. It is perhaps analogous to a blind man suddenly gaining sight. Of course a blind man who gained sight would find the world to be a confusing place, and so would a spiritual sleeper find sudden awakening to be somewhat disorienting. I sense that you are a service oriented being with a wonderful mission in store and that you are firmly committed to follow the Father's will. Do not be fearful, but have joy and good cheer for you have some wonderful experiences awaiting. Does that answer?

S: It helps. Thank you very much. (You are welcome.) (05/22/93)

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SPIRIT OF TRUTH

[The following lesson was given following an impromptu discussion among Rayson's students regarding the non-appearance of Prince Melchizedek in Naperville.]

Today's lesson was to have dealt with perseverance, but in light of your discussion I shall give a short impromptu instruction on the post resurrection period as illustrated for you in The Urantia Book. In particular, on the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit of Truth, as you know, was bestowed upon Urantia on the day of Pentecost in the year that Jesus ascended to morontial form on this planet. In that time - although the Apostles had lived with the Master for years - they gained more spiritual growth from commingling with the Spirit of Truth than they did from the actual physical presence of Jesus, who was the incarnated Creator Son, Michael. Although you find this hard to really believe as evidenced by your own failure to access this Spirit more often, it is true. The Spirit of Truth is a mighty teacher, indeed, and a tool to be used by every mortal in your quest for spiritual illumination and growth. Although the human heart longs for more physical or palpable contact with teacher personalities, you have present amongst you the greatest teacher of all, which is this mighty Spirit of Truth. This Spirit speaks clearly when sought. You do not have to go anywhere to be in touch with this spiritual force. You only have to pray to be shown and the Spirit will beckon to you in ways that are clearly understood. Confuse not the framework of your questions - which are often erroneous - with the clarity of the answers.

You often fail to heed or hear this spiritual teacher because your questions are unreal. The answers, however, are not, and are always truthful and sure in the path to the Father. Sometimes the simplicity of the signposts leads you to believe that you have not been heard or answered. Trust in the simple things, for they are often the most, the closest to God. Remember, Jesus taught with many parables, to learning as children learn, to seeing as children see. Simplicity is not simple mindedness. Simplicity is often the purest form of spiritual insight. Because great revelations as you expect them to come do not happen, you think that you have not heard guidance. So perhaps your first rule should be to disregard not a simple answer, to expect not the Red Sea to part, but to take instructions for building a simple canoe to cross the sea. Your life consists in much energy spent on activities which will not be important in your spiritual growth career, not the activities themselves, but the motivation behind, is where the reality lies. Earning a living is important to keep you physically alive and as a functional member of your society. But, the motivation of hard work, of honesty, and perseverance, of toil, of living faithfully as a tadpole, these are the realities which survive beyond this planet's stay.

The social interactions that you have are not so important on the day-to-day conflicts and joys, but viewed more as teamwork and learning to resolve or live with inherent personality conflicts, to outreach your understanding of your fellows, to include a more spiritual view of your brothers and sisters which can extend into a sense of love and family. These day-to-day activities often take precedence over, or crowd out, your main activity, which should be your soul growth. The Spirit of Truth can help you wend your way through the maze of distractions that consist of Urantia life to the higher path of spiritual growth.

So, your first commitment should be to remembering that the Spirit of Truth is here, and to remembering that the Spirit of Truth exists only to show you how to use your daily experience to further your soul growth. He points the way to the path of higher values and more loving actions. And as you engage in higher values and more and more loving actions, you ascend - even while you stay in this material form - closer to God. The fruits of the Spirit grow in your own life, and you grow in your own capacity to understand and know God. Your communication with your Adjuster increases, you ascend the psychic circles, and perhaps the possibility of even fusion exists for each of you. But you must call on this teacher who is here only to show you how to live in the world while being dedicated to the spiritual.

The Spirit of Truth straddles both spheres. Unlike the Adjuster which only lives in the spiritual realm, the Spirit of Truth is very much in the world. This is the closest you will come to living with Jesus. This is the gift of the Son. I fear that many forget to use this tool, to use this helper, as you go about your day-to-day life. So, one, do not forget.

Two, I urge more frequent remembrance suppers where a powerful experience spiritually will occur, and has occurred, as I am sure many of you are experientially familiar with, which is the commingling of your Adjusters with the Spirit of Truth, the fraternization of these two mighty spiritual gifts. And when this happens your higher mind is indeed upstepped and the effect is eternal. This should be engaged in much more frequently. It should not be a special occasion thing, but you should seek the company of this spirit whenever possible. Your growth will be mightily enhanced if you do. The reason I have changed the lesson is because of the discussion. You asked, must we go to certain places to see certain celestial teachers? The answer is "no." You have with you access at all times to the mightiest teachers in existence. You need but ask. The Spirit of Truth is wherever you are. As we say in the prayer that begins our lessons, "Wherever we are, God is." That is real. That is not a fancy phrase which sounds nice. That is a truth. As is the truth that you have access to every spiritual tool. They come to you. We come to you. The fellowship is wonderful. Group worship is wonderful. But these are not necessary conditions for growth, or even for revelation. Jesus did not leave Urantia, a planet which is a special one to him, abandoned. He bestowed the great gift and we wonder why you don't use this more. The Spirit of Truth teaches individually and generationally. It is here to always reinterpret spiritual truth to the mortals of time.

This teacher communicates clearly, does not mask himself in obtuse forms that need experts to interpret. This is not the point of spiritual communication. Communication is just that, communication to be understood by both parties. You do not have to go to a special place, or be in a special condition, or do anything in preparation. You need only to ask for help and you will be answered. The need of the humans to see is something which I, as my own individual personality type, have very little understanding of. I am simply bemused after all this time that it continues to be so important, and have tried to refrain from commenting because it is something I cannot fully understand. However, it appears to be so universal that it is obviously built into the mortal.

Very few appearances have happened: the morontial appearances of Jesus, the appearance of the angel to Mary, to Joseph, the voice in the garden, to name a few. But appearances are unpredictable, and are not the first choice of communication on the part of the beings of the non-material realm. Because of the confusing rebellion on this planet where Midwayers often appeared - rebellious Midwayers appeared to primitive mortals and misled Thern - we have tried to not engage in this type of activity for fear of building up the superstitious and cult type religions that proliferate here more so than on other planets which have not undergone the rebellion. I urge you, brothers and sisters, to take advantage of the sound spiritual helpers which do exist and are here for your benefit, who love you and only want to serve your needs. (04/25/93)

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SPIRITUAL GROWTH Today's lesson will be on a most interesting subject: the subject of Spiritual Growth and Achievement. This is a topic which is well-timed to be presented and discussed now, for there has been reached in this mission a threshold level of information and experiential growth among the participants such that you will be better able to appreciate and incorporate the teachings that are included in this chapter of our lessons. Spiritual growth is one of the most - if not the most - important subjects of each ascendent mortal's educational process from birth through eternity, certainly extending far beyond even that glorious moment when you shall behold the Father in Paradise. You shall never stop growing spiritually as long as you continue to exist, and indeed with each fragment of time that adds to your personal existence, you become ever more proficient at the process of spiritual growth and attainment. This is an inevitable result of experiencing the universe as an active participant, engaging in freewill decision making, expending effort - and indeed much, much effort shall be expended, my friends - worship, prayer, interaction with all of the father's creatures near and far. All these activities and many, many more beyond reckoning are integral, essential components of each of your individual missions - which is your own spiritual growth and development. For some ascending mortals this begins at a very early stage to blossom into a more enhanced and aware process, even while on the planet of origin - or shall I say in your physical form and presence.

This is true of all present in this room now. You have worked - each of you - very diligently, have striven to embrace the Father's will and have appropriately engaged in worship behavior, and therefore you have earned your present level of development. Others who are less wanting of spiritual growth progress more slowly. This is not to belittle them but rather offers some perspective and an answer to the unasked question of why there is not more evidence of advancement among your peers on Urantia.

You see, my friends, so much - so very much - is tied up in your own freewill decisions. The Father gladly offers you the whole universe and all that is within creation, but you must wish to have it and must work and work very hard in order to experience the delight and wonder that awaits. Do not think that once you pass from your life in the flesh that things will necessarily become easier.

I do not say this to disappoint you, my friends, but again to help you to gain some necessary and appropriate perspective. Mortals in particular, especially while living in the flesh, desire comfort and ease of living. And this desire has led many toward sin and iniquity, and has led others to delay their own spiritual growth. It is indeed true in your mortal existence and beyond that you never receive anything for nothing. Now and forever that shall be true. The Father has not set up a system of rewards and punishments as you understand it. Rather you are rewarded - to use a poor word, but it will suffice for now - you are rewarded for your effort, your striving, your earnest wish to do the Father's will by personal growth and spirit advancement now and beyond this life, at all of the levels of your ascendent great careers and far beyond the Paradise visitation that will certainly come on one blessed day for each and all of you. The only real punishment that occurs is the delay of your growth, or - in extreme and rare cases - the cessation of existence, but this is indeed rare.

It is unfortunate that the notion of punishment has been used as it has in some of the worlds, Urantia's, existing and extinct religious forms. Nonetheless it has. As you progress with your own personal individual growth, the nature of your service mission during your life now and beyond your sojourn on Urantia - will become clearer. It is unlikely that you shall awaken one morning and perceive this mission in its entirety with all details in place, which may be a disappointment to some. Instead, your perception will increase as grains of sand added to a small mound then becomes a hill and then a mountain. The accrual of knowledge in this respect may seem unbearably slow for you, my friends, but on the cosmic scale it is really quite rapid. You must bear in mind that with each bit of growth that you achieve there are responsibilities, new responsibilities, incumbent upon you. Not only do you not achieve growth for free, in the sense of needing to expend effort, but your step forward brings you more work, more responsibilities, a greater requirement for service.

Embrace this as it occurs and you will be much gratified, for doing so is a form of worship and brings you ever closer to the Father. And a sense of increasing inner peace will ensue, and the trials and tribulations of your physical existence will diminish accordingly. Be not afraid! There is nothing to fear in this wonderful creation we have been given. Whether you progress rapidly or slowly is of no great - it doesn't matter that much. Spiritual growth is not a contest. God does not give blue ribbons, gold medals, plaques, for fast achievers and humiliation for slow achievers. There is no place in the great scheme for this sort of thing, and in fact, the difference in velocity of progress, if you wish to look at it that way, is so small that it is barely perceptible at the higher levels.

Once you leave the mansion world existence your perception of time will be greatly altered. You will not experience creation in terms of days, minutes, and seconds. There is a much different method of time reckoning at that level. And of course, by the time you reach that, your growth and your ability to learn spiritually will have matured to such a level that you will need these greater expanses of time for your activities. That is, your growth becomes greater and greater. It does not reach a certain level and then slow down and stop as you understand the growth process on Urantia. Rather, as you advance spiritually and grow to understand more and more the universe and the Father's plan, you become better and better able to guide your own growth, more facile in growing, and possessed of greater ability to grow. You will be able to expend much greater effort in this direction, and then you will be most gratified. But it will not be easy. This is not a creation of lying around and taking it easy. We all work very very hard, to the limit of our capacity. Not to say that we are slaves, for we work of our own free will and in loving service, though we work - indeed we work. So, the idea of a heaven where the lucky lounge about on a cloud doing as they wish mostly nothing - is absurd. And indeed, if that were the case it would be extremely irresponsible of advanced creatures who had achieved survival status to loll about in such a way. Fear not, there will plenty to keep you busy and it will be fascinating, always interesting. None of us in this room, mortal or beyond, will have a dull moment in the service of the Father. What does this mean to you, each of you, personally, individually? And what does it mean for your group?

You may look at our mission as a flower which has been carefully nurtured which has grown to maturity, and is in the process of blooming. And soon the petals will fall and the seeds will be dispersed by the wind. For, my friends, you have progressed well, and there will indeed be a shift in mission. Your group may certainly continue to meet and add members as you see fit. But those who have done their homework, so to speak, are ready to become more deeply engaged in individual activities aside from the group. This does not mean drastically changing your life, nor does it mean selling books, appearing through mass communication forms, and proselytizing. Rather, it means you will - if you wish - become increasingly adept at imitating the life behavior of our master, Michael, while incarnated on this planet as Jesus of Nazareth. Of course you will not be crucified, but you will become better able to exemplify the art of living. And this, my friends, will have a very profound effect among your associates and even the most casual of acquaintances. You see there is no being on Urantia that can fail to detect, consciously or unconsciously, the glow that you will emanate and this will become increasingly strong as you work and progress. It will not always be easy. But it will be, as I was saying, most gratifying. And it is likely that you will prosper materially - not as a reward from the Father, but as an inevitable result of spiritual consonance as opposed to spiritual dissolutes among your fellows. You will be the seeds of a new Urantia, a new era for this planet which has had such difficulties. Those whom you influence will, in return, be motivated to seek spiritual growth themselves, and so on. And this will spread rapidly. It will be wonderful to observe. In fact, it has already happened and we are pleased. I therefore commend you all and encourage you to continue your efforts. Seek your inner voice. It is there, always. Trust that feeling that you have that guides you. And the blessings of the Father and all of His faithful servants shall go with you. This is the conclusion of this lesson. I will be happy to accept questions.

S: Thank you for a very timely, inspiring and informative lesson on Spiritual Growth. I'm just delighted to know that our change in mission is not going to involve a change in teachers. I was a bit concerned, particularly after Ham left the Woods Cross group, and now he's coming back. I anticipated that that might be the message that would be issued today. Your other students didn't know you were coming here today and made other plans. I did not get the word to them until late yesterday. It was too late to change some of their plans. I know they want to be here and I will give them copies of your lesson.

R: Yes, (S) The substance of these lessons has been designed such that the important elements shall be repeated many times so that those who may be absent from a given session will not miss the teaching. But thank you for your consideration. And as far as the teachers, if anything, there will be more teachers as the mission continues its progress and growth. As the first group of students goes forth as individuals and other others are touched there will be greater numbers of persons requesting teachers. We are ready for the call.

Q: I'm a little bit confused as to what you mean by our being seed, specifically, in this mission, and its nature and direction, or more or less specific spiritual goals? For example, I find that there are at least three arenas in which I am in contact with many people, and perform different roles. In a leadership position there is a natural flow of people who seek counsel, advice, and information from me. I am noticing lately that there have been more opportunities to talk about spiritual issues, points - God even - in situations where I would not normally have brought it up. Is that the kind of thing? I've been feeling more at ease in doing that, and also a bit of a pull to do that. Is that what you are talking about? Or is it specifically about the mission, and Machiventa and that sort of thing?

A: Yes, yes. Your question is a very good one. You are sought for spiritual information because your own level of spiritual growth is perceived by others. And by all means proceed. Be discreet and protect yourself, of course. But you have done very well and will continue to do so. Your individual mission is inextricably intertwined with the mission on Urantia of restoring the spiritual balance on this planet now that the universe circuits have been reopened and the planetary government restored. You might say that you have had the luck to be born at the right time. Of course, once you pass from this physical life there will be others who take your place as far as reuniting Urantia and bringing Urantia up to speed, so to speak, in terms of planetary spiritual development. However your own personal mission and personal spiritual growth will be enhanced and much - very much - influenced by your role here on Urantia, first as student and seeker, developing into teacher. Does that answer? (S: Well, great.)

Q: I would like to see if I understand parts of today's lesson correctly. You were talking about punishment, the doctrine or theory of punishment, and you said that it was rather unfortunate. Is it more accurate to say that it is the natural consequences of breaking spiritual laws instead of punishment? Can we look at it that way?

R: Could you elaborate?

S: Yes. When we sin we merely - as I see it - break a spiritual law. And the results - instead of being a punishment for sin - are really the spiritual consequences of doing whatever it was that we did. Is that a better way to understand it?

A: Yes. Yes. You put it very well. There is an established harmony in all of Father's creation. Sin, iniquity, break that harmony. It is like trying to swim against a river. It is much, much easier, and more productive, to go with the river than to swim against it. Yes. But mortals are created imperfect and therefore have great difficulty with naturally following the flow of the universe. There are very strong animal urges such as the one I alluded to earlier, the desire for comfort and ease. Look at the lower animals on Urantia. You will observe that they spend much of their time sleeping. When they are not seeking food or procreating they generally sleep. This is the way of all animals, and it is a very strong urge in man on Urantia, and of will creatures of animal origin on other planets as well. It has taken many millennia for man to accept the work ethic, let alone embrace it, and even now as you are well aware there are many who spurn that work ethic to their detriment and, of course, to the detriment of the planet. A very important part of the work assigned to the first Planetary Prince and the first Adam and Eve of any planet is the teaching of work to the will creatures of that planet. And it is done through a system of rewards. It is interesting that you bring up the topic of punishment. It is the higher way not to punish for misdeeds but rather to withhold rewards. To do so helps the spirit to grow from experience more than out and out punishment. However, where there are animals involved, punishment inevitably becomes necessary in order to maintain civil order so that work can be done. As Urantia continues to progress as a planet spiritually you will see less need to invoke corporal punishment, but that day is not here yet. Indeed, it is far off. Lucifer erred greatly, and part of his doctrine was the idea that the desire to work would evolve of its own volition if will creatures of animal origin were given their own hand. This, of course, is faulty, and has led to much suffering and has retarded progress greatly on this and other planets involved in the rebellion. But that is behind us now. Lucifer did not recant despite the abundant evidence that he was incorrect. The basic notion that one will get something for nothing has been proven again and again to be incorrect. Does that answer?

Q: Yes. It seems to me that when I'm trying to reach the stillness - and most of the evenings I make the effort - that I am still not able to communicate with either you or my Thought Adjuster, but during the day time when I'm working on the editing of the papers which I hope we will call "Rayson and Friends" that I seem to be guided by you and by my Thought Adjuster in my selection of concepts and in editing. Is that correct?

A: Yes, we are there helping you when you ask. (06/19/93)

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Today's lesson is on education and spiritual growth. This is an interesting topic in many ways. As you may have guessed, a very important part of this teaching mission is, as its title says, education. The way that we understand education varies somewhat from the concept as grasped in the material life. There is the presentation of a novel concept to the student. And the act of presenting the concept requires not only diligent effort on the part of the teacher but also the spiritual ingredient of love for the student and the sincere desire to impart that which has been gained through effort, that is, information. Without these two elements, as well as a third element, namely the sincere receptivity of the student, himself or herself, and the student's reciprocal love of knowledge and search for truth, then no real learning will occur. This is like a chemical reaction you may say. And, in fact, physical and electrical forces are very much involved in the education process. There is actual exchange of energy between the teacher and the student when true learning occurs. I am sure that everyone here has sensed that at one time or another during your lives. Think back, and remember the occasion when you acquired knowledge - and the teacher - and the occasion was marked by that different feeling within; not just a pedagogic exercise, but not so different from a dance in which both partners must coordinate their efforts and actions in order to achieve a successful result. There is nothing passive about education, about the learning process, and it may well prove to be the most difficult work that you perform for much of the first part of your eternal career. Additionally, part of the mission for each and every will creature created by the Father is to continue learning for the full period of your existence. Father has placed in all creatures abilities that are geared to assist in learning. Even the virus of Urantia is able to learn. And the act of learning can most definitely be placed in the category of "miracle." Like the secret of life, the secret of learning is unfathomable to the mortal mind. And like life, the mortal is able to perpetuate learning. And the analogy extends further for - as you are aware - many mortals believe they are responsible for life, and they are responsible for learning - lacking humility - in ignorance and denial of truth. As you grow in your ability to worship through your efforts, you will find that your capacity to learn is enhanced - yet another beneficial result of spirit growth - not a reward as you understand rewards, but more a result of following Father's plan rather than resisting. There has been talk in some of our recent lessons about Caligastia. And it is interesting to note here that the moment Caligastia received the idea of rebellion during communication with Lucifer was the moment at which his ability to learn ceased, and his ability to worship. And it could be said that he started to die at that moment, truly die, not a material death, but the profound death of the spirit.

This can happen to mortal beings, of course. It is rare, but these are the ones who elect non-survival. You are given all of the perceptual qualities that your particular brain is able to accommodate to assist you in learning in the form that you now assume on Urantia. Your capacity to see, hear, feel, tastes, smell, are major tenants of your perceptual cognition. And there are a great many sub-categories that are also very useful. The entire human brain participates in learning, although this may not yet be recognized by your scholars. And in fact the entire body also participates, but not with exactly the intensity that the brain does. How is education and learning different among will creatures compared to those who lack free will? Because of the capacity to make free will decisions, an extremely important dimension in processing information belongs to the will creatures.

Without this added sense - for it is a sense as your vision is - a being is unable to learn sufficiently to achieve the requisite spiritual growth needed for survival. So you see, that is why the appearance of creatures capable of freewill decision making is such a critical event on a planet. A critical and wondrous and miraculous event indeed. When you pass from this life and move on to the next level, the joy that you have now, from such experiences as procreation, will be imparted through learning and through worship and through assisting Father and His loving servants in creating that which is. Your memories of joy will most definitely be preserved as this emotion is really important in spirit growth. Since you are of animal origin and nothing is wasted, those strong feelings that are beneficial to animal survival - procreation, hunger and seeking of food, the desire to rest the body, aggression in the face of danger - once free will arrives, it becomes possible for the possessor of free will to channel these strong animal emotions into the service of the spirit most constructively. For each of you here doing that, channelling these emotions into your own personal spiritual growth is a part - an important part - of your own personal mission here on Urantia.

Many of the components of these lessons are aimed at teaching you how to achieve this end. We know that this is very difficult. Do not have remorse for your animal behaviors. Remorse is not very useful in service of Father. If you regret some of your actions, reflect on them and learn a way to - in future - direct such emotions and energy toward your own personal spiritual growth. Review these simple lessons that have been presented and the most excellent presentations provided in your Urantia Book which go into great detail in this matter. Think of The Urantia Book as your textbook for learning in conjunction with this teaching mission. In this way you will aid in your receptivity of spirit teaching. Now that the universe circuits are open, fully open, it is possible for each of you to tap into the transmissions, albeit less than a fully conscious level. You can do so through worship, through acts of loving service - not servitude, but service - through your own earnest desire to grow, to improve yourself and those about you, and through sharing in discreet ways that which you have gained with others. Not your material acquisitions. But those which are spiritual. When you do this you complete the final part of education and learning, which is that the student shall always become teacher. The true test of learning resides in this act. There is no teaching without somewhere in the being a love for the Father, even though it may not be acknowledged. That is teaching as we understand it as will creatures. And this is also required for true learning. Every step that you take in your spiritual growth career you shall be receiving from those who are one step beyond you and you shall be giving to those who are one step behind you. There will be further lessons about education and teaching but because your transmitter tires, we shall stop at this point now, and I shall take any questions.

S: Rayson, I have two statements that are related to the lesson but not related to each other. My first comment is that The Urantia Book says that the universe is one vast school. That thought is quite appropriate to underline your session.

R: Yes, very much.

S: The second comment: I found it amazing, even astounding, that Caligastia lost the only two spiritual qualities or components that make the difference between animals and humans in this lifetime. He lost the sixth and seventh adjutant mind-spirits, the equivalent of wisdom and worship. I know the adjutant mind-spirits do not work beyond the animal level, but I think it is fascinating that the spiritual equivalent of these two adjutant mind-spirits are what he lost. So he then became a spiritual animal for all practical purposes. Is that correct?

R: Yes. That is most astute. That is what happened, and this is an illustration of the true extent of Father's - of what Father will allow His creatures to do. But you can see the results, can you not? (S: Yes, I sure can.) (06/26/93)

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Q: Is it normal for us to have periods of forward growth in our spiritual growth? There is an old saying: one step forward, two steps back. Is it normal for us to have periods of regression or that seem like regression? And are they really regressive? Is it possible that we come out of those black periods with more resolve, better understanding? Or are we just starting over again?

A: Well, remember again that spiritually only the positive is perceived, so it is most likely that what you personally experience is not regression, but rather stasis. That is, the forward progress you make may slow or even halt for periods. It is unlikely that anybody in this room today has actually regressed in their spiritual growth, because a true spiritual regression requires iniquitous decision making, and none of you have done that. But as I said earlier, at the spiritual level - and this will be far more apparent to you once you pass from the material life - it is the sense of awe and wonder that one gains from forward motion in the terms of spiritual growth that is such a strong incentive for beings to journey Paradiseward. And a slowing or a delay in that journey in not necessarily painful, nor is it regressive, but the wonder and awe stop. And the cessation of the wonder and awe just is not a desirable state to be in. You are probably experiencing that yourself. Do not be so harsh with yourself. Accept the fact that you are not created perfect and that you are very much feeling your way in your spiritual growth on this planet that has had so much misfortune. You are not in conscious contact with the universe circuits, as are beings on other planets. Rather, your guide is your own faith, and that is far more difficult to follow, far more difficult. And you have done very well, and will continue to do so. Think about the factor of faith, and remember that Father punishes no one for a stuttering journey. In fact, He does not even punish those who decline to take the journey. The only spiritual punishment that exists in the universe is the lack of spiritual perception, or eventually, the state of non-being. But this is a choice. You have not made that choice. None of you has made that choice. Do not let the fear of pagan religions and of your own animal heritage seep into your spiritual journey. There will be no punishment. You all know that deep inside. Think of it during the static periods. Even the best need to rest from time to time. You have read in your books about the need for reversion directors. Does that answer? (08/28/93)

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R: Remember again, my friends, that spirit growth in man does not occur by virtue of outside influence, material outside influence,. It cannot be forced, persuaded, bought or arranged in any way by another being. It is, and always shall be, a matter of an individual decision to accept and work with the indwelling Thought Adjuster. There is every example imaginable of this happening in the face of love, kindness, terrible cruelty and torture, enormous handicap and great wealth. There is no easy formula that you can follow to influence your fellows. You must lead your own personal life as you, in contact with your Adjuster and your own sense of universe message, deem appropriate. You are responsible for yourself while on this planet, and by conducting yourself as Jesus did you will be doing the most that you can do to positively affect this planet and your fellow beings. I know that this is hard for you as it was for me. One asks, "But is there not more that I can do? Please, please tell me where can I spread my wealth? How can I spend my time? Who can I speak to? What can I do? It must be more complicated than that." Well, the material acts of giving, speaking, doing, while well-intentioned are not the way to influence spirit growth and actually are far easier than working on one's self. As you endeavor to lead your life truthfully, kindly, with loving and goodness, your example will be observed by one and all, and your light will be perceived at least by the Thought Adjuster of others, if not by their conscious minds, and there will be a deep awareness of your goodness and your courage and faith. It requires great patience to persevere in this way. Have faith. But consider the lighthouse. It does not go to ships, swim across waves. It faithfully turns. And as the lighthouse mechanism turns, the searchlight flashes across the waters through the air, rendering service to one and all who perceive its brightness. Be like the lighthouse, my dear. Does that help?

S: Yes. Thank you. It's a beautiful image. It does help indeed. (10/23/93) *********************

Q: Rayson, I keep pondering things about the ascension plan. Sometimes questions come up that I'm not sure you're permitted to answer. But I'm going to ask anyway. In Urantia years, such as this is 1993, would you tell me the year of the last dispensational resurrection?

A: I am truly not permitted to give you such information.

S: I rather thought you weren't, but one does wonder.

A: You will know soon.

Q: When I get there. No, I was thinking about others who have preceded me on the journey, and wondering where they were along the way, and so forth. I believe I understand the plan well enough, but I'd like to know; a person who does not know about God's ascension plan in the manner of the teachings in the Urantia Book, but who has a religious relationship with Father, is a believer, is a loving person, lives in his belief, can he or she actually skip the long sleep and be resurrected on the mansion world on the third day, if they were prepared spiritually?

A: Yes. At present this is quite rare. Remember as you ascend with each step Paradise-ward your power to perform spiritually increases. With that power goes greater responsibilities, and it would be most unwise to allow too rapid progression of the unprepared. This does not mean that there are not beings on Urantia who are most virtuous and devoted and work-oriented and service-driven. But imagine that you are in a storm at sea and every bit of your effort is required to keep the ship afloat . .. [end of side of tape] When that storm subsides and you find yourself at a distance from land, what would be the point of giving you a wheeled vehicle?

Q: Yes. Thank you, Rayson. Then, carrying this further, the sleeping survivor is not aware of the passage of time. Is there preparation going on during this sleep to undertake the next journey?

A: Well, yes, in the sense that there is something of a remodeling of memory that occurs not unlike that which happens when you emerge from your mother's womb. The newborn baby recalls nothing of life in the womb, and the newborn mansion world inhabitant recalls nothing, really, of life in the flesh, but does take the benefit of that life forward. And when there is reunion among those who once shared material life experience, you are permitted a glimpse of that memory. But it is not specifically preserved within your being. It is reposited elsewhere. You will not find this to be very interesting anyway, once you become fully aware of the mansion world life. [laughter]

Q: By that you mean we will not find our mortal memory plan interesting? The plan that I'm asking you about, that you have just told us, I think is beautiful and we might find that still interesting.

A: Exactly. What do you care about sensations you might have dwelt upon at length while you were floating in amniotic fluid? [laughter] (11/13/93)

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S: Is Prince Melchizedek here today?

R: He is not directly present, but is observing from afar. He is always aware of these proceedings but cannot always be physically present.

S: I would like for him to observe my commendation of you and your presentation of the lessons which he's helped you write. The lessons themselves are marvellous, and your presentation of them is wonderful. You have very, very high marks.

R: Thank you for your kind comment, however I am judged by the effect upon your lives and the lives of those with whom you interact, no matter how kind your comments may be.

S: Even by that test you're number one. I see changes, spiritual changes, spiritual growth in every one of your students.

S2: Absolutely.

R: You would be amazed, each of you, to know how far your own personal spiritual work actually goes. There is so much that you touch with each passing moment. It is truly astonishing, truly a chain reaction. The benign contamination of spirit growth is a very fast growing thing, indeed. I shall now bid you farewell, and I shall look forward to seeing you anon. (12/18/93) *********************

SPIRITUAL LIVING Today we will discuss one facet of the Master's teachings "to be in the world but not of it," - spiritual living. When Michael was incarnate on Urantia as Jesus He had much firsthand experience with this all encompassing concept. As a youth He experienced a conflict between two moral-ethical tenets; the first being to do the will of the Heavenly Father and to reflect the Father's truth to others, to tell the truth - spiritually - versus the injunction to honor His parents and their teaching. This became a conflict of the young Jesus because Mary and Joseph, although not classified as fundamentalist Jews, were nonetheless religious Jews in their day, of their time. Many of their beliefs contradicted the spiritual truths which Jesus became more and more sure of as His Divinity was revealed to Him in His human mind. He experienced a conflict between loyalty to truth and duty to His parents and culture. This would arise on many occasions.

One example being, Mary and Joseph, like most others in their religious culture, believed in a wrathful, judgmental and punishing God. The young Jesus could not accept or endorse this description of His Heavenly Father and many discussions would ensue between Jesus and His parents over this. Consequently, Jesus felt much inner turmoil over which injunction to follow as He perceived them as contradictory. The resolution of this conflict came about in a very perfect way, as the Master would - over and over again in His life - find the perfect solution to what we might think of as an irreconcilable situation. He talked from His heart to His earthly Father, Joseph, and said, "Father, I cannot believe that whatever mistake I make, you would ever withdraw your love, or be angry and punishing towards me and not be able to forgive me." And He said to His earthly Father "therefore, if you yourself could have such love for your child, and such compassion and tolerance for when I make mistakes, how could you not think the Father in heaven, who created this goodness in mankind, could be any less loving, merciful and forgiving?" And Jesus was so sincere when He asked his father these questions that Joseph and Mary never berated Him again about their erroneous concept of God, but rather kept silent and allowed their son His own truth. There were many examples as Jesus grew of the application of "being in the world but not of it" on a day-to-day basis. Because Joseph and Mary were such products of their times, many times Jesus was faced with the knowledge that their practices - religious practices - were not the highest.

For example, He often tried to teach His family to pray in their own words and from their own hearts rather than to repeat the written and prescribed Jewish prayers, but He had little success in this endeavor. But out of this did come The Lords Prayer, which we all are thankful for. So Jesus developed a technique for coping with the discrepancy between His inner truth and His outer practices, which was to never consent to things He knew not to be true - to never consent, but rather to conform to the wishes of His family and culture. Out of this resolution, Jesus developed His technique for teaching through asking questions in such a way as to not offend the person He was questioning or teaching. He was eminently fair and loving, and did not engage in questioning someone for the lowly purpose of winning an argument or advancing His own ego. Rather, Jesus saw every opportunity to reflect the wonderful truth of God as a loving Father and creator of us, to the humans He encountered. This technique served Him well, because it never made the person He was teaching feel defensive or threatened. And yet they were enlightened. Jesus had to deal with many worldly problems, as we all do.

Yet He managed upon much reflective meditation, prayer and communication with His Adjuster to create solutions which benefited everyone. He also used the technique of not disclosing the full truth before others were ready or prepared to hear it. As an example, he did not tell others of His divine nature for many, many years - even after he was sure that He was indeed the Son of God. So, brothers and sisters, I would like you to use these simple examples in your own lives every day, for much of the stresses that you face can be seen to be rooted in a conflict between loyalty to higher truth and duty to one's family or work situation or culture. And this is the center of how to live "in the world and not be of it." Using the tools of spirituality, there is always a solution. Step outside mindal logic and intellectual organization into the realm of higher mind and the solution will appear. There need not be anxiety over the tiny decisions which we all face in living an ascension career. On Urantia in particular there is a large discrepancy between behavior in the world and what we know to be spiritual demeanor.

However, even 2000 years ago when the world was much more rigid, Jesus managed to marry conflicting philosophies in a way which inspired many, many others and offended very few. This is the key to spiritual living and practical survival, for one cannot ignore the needs or demands of daily life and retreat into a spiritual vacuum. Nor can one separate the spiritual from the material. Our challenge is to marry both and thus inspire others - man to find God, God to find man, or man to see God when he finds Him - as we live. This can be done, but not without a conscious effort to achieve it. Too often we forget our real purpose for existence, and we make life easier by separating spiritual life from all the rest. So we might pray in the morning or evening and then forget God the rest of the day. This is not how one should live. We must integrate what we have been given with other situations in order to grow spiritually ourselves, and also to inspire and uplift our brothers and sisters.

There probably have been humans you have encountered who you have been drawn to or liked very much, and without knowing why. These humans possess the talent - ability to reflect the love of God outward. It does not have to come in religious packages. It is a spiritual law that beings are always drawn toward God's love. So if we keep God's love as a goal we are living in spiritual reality rather than in worldly amnesia. Although this sounds simple, very few humans have achieved this consistently on Urantia. Jesus is the best example, and there are many insights in part four, in terms of specific dilemmas which he resolved. You might want to - as you read - to be aware of these situations and how they apply to spiritual living in a largely non-spiritual world. This is perhaps one of the greatest gifts the life of Jesus can teach us. You are here for one purpose only, and that is to know God. Please keep this more in the forefront of your conscious mind as you go about your lives. Jesus was no stranger to disappointment or life's vicissitudes. The difference between Jesus an the average human is that Jesus knew in His heart that He was a Son of God, and He knew that - He knew what lay ahead [two inaudible words]. Therefore, the disappointments like the death of His earthly father, His voluntary giving up of education and career for Himself - for He took care of His brothers and sisters - His putting aside of His own needs and wants - which like all of us, He longed for things, for goals for Himself - were relatively easy things for Him to do because He always knew the spiritual reality. If one examines His life, you will see that He dealt with as many trials as you do, sometimes more, and always did he handle these trials with great poise and valor. For He always was in deep communion with the heavenly Father. Jesus longed for comfort on a human level as we all do, more so even than we do, because, as His divine nature was revealed to Him, He knew He could share this with no one. But He still longed for a best friend to confide in, to help ease the burden of His responsibility. Perhaps Rebecca came close, but even Jesus had to reject a life of earthly love because of His divinity. As he suffered this loss, He cared only for her feeling, first. These are more examples of living in the world and not of it. Not that you should not have a life partner, that is not the point.

The point is to care more for another's feeling, to put the needs of your brothers and sisters first. This is an attitude of loving service. As you grow spiritually it will become more habitual or easy for you to strike a balance between conflicting needs. Also, be cautious not to become self-righteous when dealing with organized religion in terms of their belief system. It is arrogant to feel superior when one can never know the faith light that burns within another being. The point is not to discourage, remember. The point is to bring another closer to God. So as you travel through your own life's path, please try to integrate your two assignments, which is to live spiritually and physically in one vessel. And that is the lesson for today. (05/29/93)

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STILLNESS

Q: Can you offer a little bit more information regarding the exercise of the stillness, seeking the stillness, what I might do to attain more of that?

A: Yes. What you have been doing while pent up within your automobile is very much akin to attaining the stillness. The major difference is that, for optimal attainment of the stillness, one would be motionless with eyes closed, and not engaged in directed activity such as driving, walking, reading, and so on. Does that help? (Yes, yes it does) Many have said that while working on the stillness they fall asleep. That does not mean you have not attained stillness, nor have you failed to benefit from the calming of the chattering mind. The benefit will extend into your sleep time. So do not be alarmed if this should occur. As you work with the stillness there will be less of a tendency to fall asleep, which is an instinctive response to a quieting of the mind, and you will be more able to remain awake during periods of deep meditation. Have you any further comments, my son?

S: No. Thank you very much. I plan to set aside time in the future where I can actually meditate quietly, either in a room or in a park or someplace.

R: You have made much progress and we are most pleased. You have attracted much interest in your efforts and there are many standing by to help you, for your mission is great. (05/15/93) *********************

TOLERANCE The lesson today, brothers and sisters of the spirit and flesh, will be a continuation of last session with Mary on love. Today we will examine the rudimentary first action of divine love, which is tolerance. Tolerance is the first outworking of divine love. Many things were given to Urantia with the hope of nurturing tolerance. For example, it was the hope of the life carriers and Creator Son and staff that the experimentation with the varied color races would promote tolerance. It was the object of this experiment. How so? Well, when humans are so different visually, and different in terms of genetic characteristics, tolerance must be learned or there can be no evolution in the spirit. It was the great hope, and mistake, that some day the eight color races would blend and create a world of tolerance and brotherhood. Due to the Adamic default, this failed to occur - or only partially occurred - but we still view it positively in terms of the lessons that you must be challenged with, which are all tolerance lessons. The other design that is not unique to your experimental decimal planet is the family unit. The family unit is the birthplace in essence of the spiritual fruit of tolerance, for a parent cannot be intolerant - or should not be intolerant - of a child, nor a child intolerant of siblings or parents. In order to live together as a family, one must learn tolerance of other's differences, and as Jesus instructed when he was bestowed here, tolerance is really knowledge of others, and a very godly trait. Because to cherish another human means to tolerate them with an air of loving acceptance for wherever they are, for we realize that the human has the spark of divinity and the potential for eternal existence within, and is in fact a child of our Father and a contributor to God the Supreme. So to know a human is to be called upon to practice in life, tolerance. Tolerance is also a fatherly trait. As our Father tolerates our different levels of immaturity, so should we be tolerant toward other mortals or non-material beings whom we either do not fully understand or are less mature than ourselves. In that aspect, tolerance is a more real act, because it is more - it is of survival value in that it reflects divine value. It is a higher value than indifference, annoyance, or hostility. When Jesus taught tolerance - and please refer to page 1773 - He did not teach condoning evil doing, sin, immorality, more primitive base actions, etc. Jesus was not tolerant, and neither is God, of evil. What He did show us is that it is not up to us to judge other

S: "judge not lest ye be judged." But that to create institutions for dealing with evil, or inappropriate criminal, antisocial, etc., behaviour - which is the legal system which on Urantia is still evolving and impartial in terms of justice, but that is justice - is up to the group on the human level. Spiritual justice is up to the Ancients of Days as representatives of the Creator. So tolerance does not condone evil-doing, but neither is it judgmental in terms of the individual actions. Whether we deem it to be evil or not is not up to us. However, Jesus always taught to be active in your passion to reflect divinity rather than to be caught up in fighting evil, for evil of its own accord will fall away and divinity will always endure, so we will put our energies into the good and let evil take care of itself. But we do not tolerate evil. We ignore it, or justly speak for God when we can, and to the best of our partial ability to understand and reflect divinity. Tolerance is one of the fruits of the spirit which all of us should be actively working to manifest in our lives. Especially have modern men made the mistake and reaped the spoiled fruit of intolerance in religious matters. Christianity has been highly intolerant of other belief-faith systems, and as a result has not achieved the first step towards living a truly spiritual life which is the concept of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. They, these religionists, have allowed intolerance to take precedence over the family concept of tolerance. One learns tolerance in the family unit, and then as we grow in maturity and in God, and in faith, and as we exercise our spiritual muscles, the family widens to include the planet of Urantia, and thus the brotherhood of man/ fatherhood of God concept becomes real. Tolerance is necessary for this concept to exist as more than words or a theoretical possibility potential for a future age. It is important for you to grasp that you may live as an individual right now, tolerantly, and as if the rest of Urantia lives the same way. You can live now, globally, as one family, and based on spiritual Father concept, within yourself and in your individual lives. For tolerance - in practice - is always given to another individual. In Practice. One does not tolerate a group of people in your real day-to-day Urantian life; you tolerate individuals. So thus there is no rationalization or excuse, children, for not practicing tolerance, for you have millions of opportunities as you pass by. One of the more threatening aspects of the teachings of Michael, when he incarnated as Jesus, to the established religions - and especially to those of the Jewish faith - was His tolerance. The Jewish tradition was based on some mistaken beliefs of intolerance: revenge, grudges, a lack of sharing of faith concepts, are all aspect of intolerance. And Jesus mightily preached against these lowly-evolved principles, to include a respect and universality, an all-inclusive family of faith believers. This was extremely threatening to the established order and will continue to be so until man steps out of the darkness of divisiveness and into the healing and more real light of brotherhood, understanding and humility. Nathaniel is an interesting example of a human who lives the tolerance ideal. It would be helpful to study Nathaniel and how he incorporated tolerance into his daily affairs. There can be no real divine love and spiritual brotherhood without first, tolerance. That is the first level of love. You may even learn to apply tolerance upward and not just laterally amongst humans. Often, I am sure if you are honest, you will admit your impatience, irritability and lack of understanding of things divine: the mission, the teachers, your angels, etc. How often, children, have you found yourself feeling, thinking, why does this have to be this way? Why do not they show us more? This is intolerance. And you should practice your tolerance skills and muscles also upward with celestial, non-corporeal, morontial beings, for as imperfect and finite mortals you have a lack of understanding of divinely created or non-corporeal eternal, etc., even other ascendent creatures. And this is good for you to realize that your intolerance often keeps you from spiritual ministry and from seeing the gifts that are yours individually in terms of your own spiritual growth, because you are shut down by intolerance. So I ask you to just be aware of your own thoughts in terms of your relationships with beings different from yourself, for this is the very root of tolerance: is that the wider the difference, the greater the need for tolerance. And that is the bridge between beings at every level of your ascension career and even beyond into the Corps of the Finality. Put aside grand plans for instant love of your fellows. Rather, realize that irritation and personality conflict, misunderstanding, frustration, disappointment, are built into the human as part and parcel of growth. But these need not be divisive if one possesses the oil of reconciliation which is tolerance. Tolerance, as so eloquently extended in the Urantia Book, is the earmark of a great soul. With these words I end our formal lesson.

Q: Thank you for a beautiful lesson. I have a notion about tolerance that I want to discuss or understand more. It seems to be a passive behavior, the absence of - I mean it's just allowance, isn't it? Or am I misunderstanding something? It seems that tolerance is the absence of fear. It seems more passive to me than active. Am I incorrect in that?

A: Partially incorrect. Tolerance is passive and active; passive in terms of what you have described, but active in a passionate commitment to knowing and understanding your fellows, especially those who cause intolerant reactions.

Q: Rayson, I was also struggling with the meaning of tolerance in terms of acceptance and rejection. It seems to be that it's falling right about in the middle. It’s not rejecting, but its not accepting, either, that it's just kind of middle road between those two. Is that correct?

A: Not exactly. It has nothing to do with accepting or rejecting, for you should not make the very common error of judging. It is more like seeing the reality of your fellows clearly without your own emotions and intellectual reactions interfering. When one sees the reality that humans, most humans, are houses for the divine spark of the Thought Adjuster, and when one see the soul of the human, even if it is extremely unformed, one cannot help but view the reality of their existence with much love, for one is respecting divinity in humans. As for those humans who are so dead they have not an Adjuster, they are spiritually dead. You cannot always tell, and they should just be disregarded or ignored. No effort should be made, for these people are not real. So tolerance is seeing clearly beyond, the husk of human body, character, unevolved behavior, to the divine spark and eternal potential of the soul, which is what you - in actuality - are.

Q: Rayson, would we be able to ask our Thought Adjuster to help us with that means of contact?

A: With seeing the divine?

Q: Uh huh - in that individual and understanding that individual.

A: Well certainly the Thought Adjuster already helps you, but to pray for greater spiritual vision is perfectly correct. There is Thought Adjuster recognition between mortals even when the mortals are unaware of this. So the Adjuster is already quite involved in this process. Your prayer more should be for the Adjuster to communicate their vision to you, to be open to the guidance of your Divine pilot.

Q: You refer to page 1773, Rayson, in the Urantia Book and in it Rodan is talking about feelings of tenderness and emotions of tolerance. And the emotions of tolerance, would that mean the divine love coming through as an expression would encompass tolerance?

A: Absolutely correct, and if you think of it, that tolerance is the beginning of expressing divine love, you will see it more accurately.

Q: As an emotion? (A: Yes.) I would like to think that hope springs eternal, but it seems, from a response to one of the questions, that I would be in the position of using my judgment, at times, to disregard certain behaviors in people. This means disregarding them at that time if I judged that they are not behaving in a real fashion. But I would like to think that hope springs eternal and I should ever remain tolerant. Being human, I have been in the position from time to time where I thought that disregarding a person, or at least that person's behavior, then, would be my only option available right then. But it seems that's using my judgement, then. Maybe I'm splitting hairs. I don't think we should judge either. But that certainly is using your discernment, or your free will, to choose to - I think I'm splitting hairs, maybe. Do you understand where I am going?

A: I did not mean to suggest to disregard others, merely to disregard those who have no survival potential which is probably - I cannot say if it would be easy or hard for each person. But there are those who have no Thought Adjusters, and these ones should not be dealt with. You should not waste your energy, cast pearls before swine. In terms of relativity of values, what we are discussing is higher values. If the best one can do with another - another's behaviour - is to disregard it, then that should be your choice. But please remember that we are dealing with, not choices between what is good or bad in our own lives or spiritual path, but between what is good, what is better, and what is best. This is the path you are on. You have far left behind the simplistic ethics of good vs. bad. So, in terms of good, better, best, on our ascending path, if disregarding is the best you can do at the moment, it is not the best possible response. Tolerance is. That does not mean condoning evil behavior. Have I answered your question? [pause] So some judgment is involved, but not soul judgment. Judgment in terms of your own abilities to act divinely. [

S: Yes.]

Q: And one's behavior is not the person?

A: Correct. Is that sufficient? Q. When we are being tolerant of people whose religious beliefs are very rigid and very judgmental of others, what we are doing is recognizing their relationship to God as the good in them, is it not? And then what we have to do is work on our response to them, that it be loving and tolerant of them though they are intolerant of our beliefs? I guess is what I'm trying to say.

A: That is correct. One of the great misunderstandings about the charisma and effect of the human Jesus is that his love was so pure and sincere and all-encompassing that differences - intellectual, philosophical, theological differences - melted in the light of His perfection. No one can resist true, sincere, divine love from another. It feels so good and awakens the same response back, therefore argument becomes obsolete, because that is merely surface. When we talk of commonalities amongst different religions or unity without uniformity - these concepts which are very catch phrases - what you really are doing is extending divine love to a fellow who is in part divine. And the response - it awakens the higher mind pattern of love back, transcending the unreal differences. Does that answer? (S: Yes, thank you very much.)

Q: Rayson, I think it would be nice to hear you talk a little about tolerating the sinner and not the sin. I think personally that's where the struggle comes in. I mean we can't be non-judgmental of actions that impinge on us or others. I know personally, I get tripped up on my intolerant behavior. When somebody does something that hurts somebody I find that I can't divorce that behavior pattern in them from who they are. So the judgement, or my discrimination, or my evaluation of that behavior pattern becomes an evaluation of the human. Maybe you could give us some tips on how we can actually achieve hating the sin and loving the sinner. To me that's my biggest struggle in this area.

A: We all have imperfections by design of the Creator. Some imperfections are genetic, some environmental, some exist - continue to exist - because of spiritual laziness or lack of motivation to change. Some flaws are more apparent to others. Some humans do not have enough - this is not necessarily good - intelligence to camouflage their flaws. But think this way, there are things in each of us, myself included, that we would prefer others not to see or be impacted by. Think of one particular trait within yourself, and then use that to empathize with the person who upsets you, for we all have these imperfections and will have them for many many years to come. On the mansion worlds and beyond they will become more apparent to others, but so will others grow in love and tolerance for our imperfections, so the effect will not be the same. Here it is unbalanced. Some humans, through lack of effort or caring, or just immaturity, show and act upon their flaws compulsively and do not grow. But think of your own areas that need growth and then show gratitude that they do not impact others to such a degree, and tolerance will be easier in terms of separating the mortal's potential from their actions - loving the sinner and not the sin - although most people commit not sin but error.

Q: Rayson, could you speak of racial, cultural, ethnic intolerance? I believe there is something in The Urantia Book that this is a natural part of evolution? I may be wrong, I'm not sure. And now today's lesson impacts on the world as a whole. What you're teaching us - does it impact on healing the earth in some way?

A: Well, of course, the races were created here to teach tolerance globally, but the plan was thrown off-track by the Adamic default in which not enough of their blood lines were given and so racially or ethnically there is an imbalance of traits. Each of the colored races were given certain traits. And these are not traits that are judged to be good or bad, they simply are, and need to be part of the genetic pool of any world. The experiment was to split them along color lines and to observe the blend and the process of the blend. Some traits caused more problems than others, aggressiveness, for example, which was high amongst the orange and green sub-races. But even high spiritual traits - as amongst the red race - contributed to, unfortunately, their demise. Although some blending has occurred, everyone on Urantia - whatever color or ethnic national background - has not enough of the Adamic blood lines. So the process is more brutal and long-lasting than anticipated. In terms of tolerance, the - of course - ultimate out-workings of tolerance on a world level would be consciousness of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of all men regardless of differences. This will probably not be achieved here for much much time, but will be, of course, and is a prerequisite to light and life on Urantia. It has just been set back by the default. Is that sufficient?

Q: Brother Rayson, you spoke in your lesson about us not trying to correct poor behavior in another person but show an example of the light of the Father so that those individuals can see the alternative. In our troubled cities, it appears to me that our modern culture - our media, our film, our television, our print - glorifies violence, shows it as romantic in some way. And it appears to me lately, that something needs to be done culturally about that - world wide - to educate the races that violence is not acceptable. A lot of other things are no longer acceptable: slavery is no longer acceptable, blood sacrifice is no longer acceptable, but violence to one's fellows is no longer acceptable. Should we be taking a pro-active part in trying to change our culture?

A: Culturally, one can do nothing about an entire culture. All one can do is to transform yourself into the spiritual individual that will transform this planet. That sounds simplistic and frustrating I am sure, for I recognize the sincere pain behind your question, however that is the truth. The truth is that when Melchizedek taught against sacrifice, it did not stop. Education is something superfluous, an illusion. You cannot educate people out of violence, this is something that mankind must grow out of. And while your mass media reflect more instantly, such has always been the ways of man, child, that he is fascinated with the gory negative details of living and does not recognize the higher values which co-exist with the baser animal instincts. Mankind will outgrow violence. You will not outgrow violence today. All you can do are two thing

S: live the life of the spiritual agondonter, shine that light on all you come into contact with and dream the dream of a better world, for it is in our dreams for our children and grandchildren that real evolutionary change occurs. Sometimes whole generations are lost in terms of certain values. We look upon this process from a longer perspective time wise, and from a higher perspective in a certain way than you who are amongst the trenches. Dreams are important for they are the goalposts or archetypes of the future. So when you speak of education - you will not take a hardened violent person and talk to them about love and effect a change. No you will not. And if you think you will, you will be sorely disappointed. What will effect a change in this person? Sincere love, maybe. Divine love, to awaken their consciousness of their own divinity. Even then, the behavior may remain the same. The time lags. But you can change the dreams of future generations through education. And this should be your hope and your goal. Is that sufficient? (

S: It helps a great deal.) (02/28/93)

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TRUTH

Today's lesson will be the first part of a discourse on the subject of truth. You will notice that our lessons tend to go from very basic principles, progressing up through more complex topics and then back again to basics. And certain basic topics will be handled on numerous occasions as they are of great importance in laying the foundation of future work to be done on Urantia by you and your celestial assistants, such as myself. Truth is on a par with beauty and goodness insofar as spiritual importances, spiritual weight, are concerned. None of these three - truth beauty or goodness - are to be worshiped, for it is only the Father that is worthy of worship. But these three qualities, these three goals, are to be reverenced, to be sought after, to be held in the highest regard, to be in the forefront of your efforts at self mastery and spirit attunement. What is truth not? Truth is not knowledge. Knowledge is based on fact, on science, and is limited by the level of development of your science. Truth is eternal. It stands the test of time. It stand the challenge of question. It is far beyond fact or a set of facts. Truth is also dynamic and growing. It is not static, as are facts. If you would know living truth on Urantia, you could do no better than to study the life of Jesus, for He lived the truth as he knew it. Truth is not always experienced without pain. It is not necessarily painful to countenance truth, but to expect the experience of truth to always and ever be one of pleasure is to not be realistic. There is some consolation to be drawn from knowing that for most, if not all of you present here today, the pain sometimes experienced with truth will probably be most severe in your present material state, and will diminish as you progress Paradise-ward. Like so many higher values, truth can be recognized in part by what it is not, in part by the manner in which it resists attempts at invalidation, and the manner in which it persists over time. It has been said that the argument required is inversely proportional to the amount of truth contained in a given statement.

Truth is recognized by all mortal beings at some level of their conscious or unconscious awareness. Each of you, as you search your own past experience, may remark upon occasions upon which a simple and profound truth was thrust before you, amazing in its grace, and how easy it was to behold and accept. Truth is experienced by each being as an individual, and because of enormous variations in individual perceptions, the truth that one individual understands must be relative and is not identical to the truth perceived by another individual. You cannot force truth upon another being. However, as Jesus did, you can whet the appetite of others for truth. This is the basis of the council against offering unsolicited advice. As with goodness, and beauty, and love, and the other brilliant aspects of our Father, your capacity to perceive truth grows as does your fledgling spirit. You can help by nurturing within yourself a hunger for truth. Become an avid seeker after truth in all that you do and you will find that your appreciation of truth in all that presents to you will be enhanced. Be patient.

I know that this is difficult, but it is important for you to exercise your patience while nurturing your hunger. You have all of eternity, you see, and no endeavor goes as well as it might when undertaken in haste. As you improve your ability to detect truth, you will find that many of the bothersome aspects of your material existence will seem far less annoying, even amusing, for as your ability as a truth-seeker improves, so will you gain wisdom. And the wise man - above all - is able to see the absurdity of small things, to make light of what others fear, to not divert time toward the pursuit of anxiety, but rather to engage more fully in spiritual growth and in enjoyment of the fruits of the Spirit. One great truth that can be of much comfort in times of difficulty is the truth of your own existence. That you cannot doubt. There is no arguing it. Once you become a survivor, you will have a second great truth, namely the truth of your survival-ship, and that will be a wonderful thing indeed for you.

This first small lesson on truth is meant to be more in the nature of an introduction. I wish you to - each of you - undertake some study of truth before our next lesson. You will find many passages in The Urantia Book to be most helpful. In particular there is a section on truth and faith that will be quite instructive and will provide much material for discussion. Therefore, I conclude this lesson now, and am available for comments and questions. (04/18/93)

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Today we shall continue with discussion of truth that was begun some weeks ago. Understanding truth is a major important goal of your ongoing efforts at spiritual growth - spirit attainment. What you gain in understanding of truth during this material life is only the beginning of an eternal learning experience. Each step of your journey toward the Father in paradise will bring increasing discernment of truth. This is because truth is intertwined with a number of other spiritual capabilities, especially faith and goodness - also the attainment of wisdom and a number of other aspects of God consciousness. The greatest truth that ever existed on Urantia was the human life of Michael of Nebadon. His life was all about truth, for you see truth is a dynamic entity. Truth is to be had through action, unlike wisdom, unlike so many other portions of your soul growth. To experience truth, and indeed to grow in truth, requires that one be active, active among the community of one's fellows. In fact it could be said that truth and real fellowship do go hand in hand.

All of you know truth. Each of you has experienced it. Your personal recognition of truth is related to your own level of personal spirit growth. Each of you has experienced the excitement, the incomparable thrill, of truth in your own personal lives. Think back, explore your own memory bank and you shall find such experiences. It is worthwhile to study them for their unique qualities. And as you each, individually, grow you shall find it increasingly easy to recognize truth in your own actions and in the actions and words of others whom you encounter. This can also apply to situations involving many people, such as actions of political bodies or countries or other human organizations. You will find as you gain faith and become more adept at discerning truth that the recognition of truth in the world will become - yes, yes - an increasingly easy job for you.

If you feel frustrated in your discernment of truth it may be due to a tendency to rely on dogmatization of truth rather than looking inward and relying on the promptings of your Thought Adjuster, your Indwelling Spirit of Truth. There are benefits which accrue to the one who would seek and live truth. These are not rewards, but rather the natural results of participating in, and going along with, the design of the universe rather than resisting it. The greatest such benefit is that of health improvement. And indeed, the healing mission that is joined to this teaching mission is no accident for that very reason. Each and every one of you may take note of improved physical health, robustness, ability to withstand infection, and so on, as you participate in the search for truth, growth of faith, enactment of mota, enhancement and growth of wisdom. Brothers and sisters, each of you present here today came here through no accident. You came because you were earnestly, hopefully and honestly seeking truth. There are no accidents in the universe, and you are much loved for your courageous and forthright search - much loved, much appreciated, more than you can possibly know.

All of those present today affirm this great love that we have for you that we send from our Father above. The things that you seek - truth, beauty, goodness, love - the workings of the Father, himself, abound, even on Urantia with all of its problems. They are there for the taking. And you - each of you - knows within yourselves how to go about doing that. It is the most joyous work that you ever shall undertake, the most thrilling, the most freeing. For as you seek after, entertain, truth the fetters of your animal origins will slowly but surely fall away, and you shall have less of fear, less of anger, less of pride, less of enslavement to cultural teachings - recent and past - that would hold you back from personal growth and spirit attainment. As these burdens fall away one by one, you will experience an incomparable sense of lightness that will fill your hearts with joy, a joy which will be perceived by your fellows - a true light within - and this, my much beloved children, is one of the first steps from here toward the final attainment of light and life on Urantia. Your personal courage, steadfastness, and love, and faith, will help to take not only your living fellows today, but the unborn children of generations hence, out of the present darkness towards the bright future that awaits. Work on the attainment of truth, the acting out of the will of the Father. Be of good faith. Be of good cheer. Working on the stillness will help. For those of you who have difficulty with the stillness it may be instructive to study the life of Jesus of Nazareth as a living example of truth. Truth is contagious in a most wonderful way, as are all of your spiritual assets. A small contagion at first, but as it grows the infection spreads. I leave you, then, with this thought: that the outworking of truth is ever and always reliant upon the faith of the individual. You have been offered many exercises that are conducive of faith growth, spirit growth, and truthful living. Avail yourselves of these exercises, my children. And be assured that you are much loved, very much loved, and have many, many to assist you. That is the end of this lesson. (05/15/93)

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The Interaction of Truth, Goodness, Kindness

Today's lesson will be somewhat complex, for we shall be joining the threads of three separate subjects together, intertwining them. I shall be doing this increasingly in the remaining lessons, for my time with you grows short, regrettably. Today we shall discuss the interactions among truth, goodness, and kindness, for this is an area which poses considerable difficulty for mortals of worlds that have been in rebellion, such as Urantia. At the outset it may seem difficult to understand how there could be conflict among these three tenets of God's will, and yet if you explore your own memory record, you will certainly find numerous instances during which you have grappled mightily with what seem to be conflicting goals in terms of satisfying the requirements for goodness, kindness, and truth, which your Adjuster leads you toward continuously. Truth. It has been said by your philosopher that the honest man, the truly honest man, continuously runs risk of life and limb. Why should this be when truth is such an essential ingredient of spirit growth and Father nearness? To the contrary it would be expected that the honest man would be exalted in society, much treasured. But indeed he who is honest without remitting will definitely have much difficulty in managing social relations on Urantia as it stands now. For the honest man causes pain among his fellows in at least two different ways. By being honest he serves as a reminder to others who are sensitive in this regard of their own lack of complete honesty.

Secondly, the honest man is apt to comment on imperfection which arouses enormous hostility in persons who are predominately animal driven in purpose, for it is the way of the animal mind to assume self-perfection and be blinded to the imperfections of one's being and one's near environment, for this is seen by the animal as an outworking of the self, what you would call narcissism. To put it in your psychological terms, the narcissistic ego is wounded by the notations of imperfection in its sphere of influence and is likely to strike out even unto death to quiet the voice which is disturbing.

Now the difficulties faced by the honest person on Urantia greatly compound the problem of spirit growth of individuals, for fear is the logical response of those of animal origin to threat to life and limb. And fear, as you know, is toxic to spirit growth and attainment. And yet, you all know quite well that without truth there is no goodness or kindness. There cannot be. The will of Father is complete, not fragmented. You cannot act out Father's will in one discreet area and turn your back on His will in another. There is no such thing, despite what some in your culture, even devout religionists, maintain. Kindness.

Kindness is so critical to spirit growth and must be present in great measure on Urantia in order for even the smallest increment of progress to occur. Kindness, however difficult it may be at times for you, my dear friends, serves as a bridge that will carry you from fear and pride and rage, and the other base qualities of animal mind thought, Godward. It is characteristic of animals to respond positively to kindness, but, of course, it is always dangerous to deal with animals, and so carrying out kind acts requires courage and strength. And these two will strengthen your journey from your animal origins Godward. Kindness does not mean giving materially. This cannot be emphasized strongly enough. Material things have naught to do with God's will. They're animal entities no matter how finely crafted, securely held, or highly prized they may be. It is a mistaken belief to assume one is being kind in the bestowal of material objects upon another who is deemed unfortunate. You all know this, and yet it is a most difficult concept for mortal beings to grasp. Even for myself it is still an area that requires study and diligence. Kindness has far more to do with the maintenance of good will toward your fellows. Think on the life of Jesus, ever kind, ever loving, gentle, peaceful of spirit, forgiving, humble, and yet He did not hand out money. He did not share wealth of material sort with others. Yet His kindness was much prized by all who received, it as is yours, for the receipt of kindness by a mortal being resonates with the Thought Adjuster within the other, and God in Paradise is aware that good has been done and responds positively. Does this mean that kind acts are wasted on those who lack Adjusters? This issue is much debated. Jesus was kind to all regardless of Adjuster presence. However, extending the hand of friendship and love toward one who has no God fragment within certainly can be a dangerous undertaking to the mortal being in the sense of life and limb. I would say at this point in your planet's development it may be wisest to refrain from kind acts toward the truly iniquitous among you, if you are discerning enough to detect them. Only you know if you have that perceptual level at this time. It is my sincere hope that as Urantia moves forward there will be far far fewer of the iniquitous dwelling among than is presently the case. But for now teach your children to be guarded, not fearful, but guarded. Goodness. Goodness, as was commented during our last session, is God-likeness.

What is the distinction between goodness and kindness? Goodness encompasses all that is like God, of the will of God, of the outworking of God. Kindness is a tenet of goodness. There is no goodness without kindness or truth, or vice versa. But goodness is more encompassing, includes not only the acts to others as does kindness, but also the acts of the individual, the inner mind workings and communications with the Adjuster, spirit strivings Godward, prayer, atonement. Jesus was the model of the good man. He was also kind and honest. He achieved that balanced and correct intermingling of goodness, kindness, and truth that is desirable for the Urantia mortal and indeed attainable, if you would strive mightily. I shall pause at this point in our lesson and receive questions and comments.

S: I wonder if you might comment for a moment on the distinction, or the difference if there is one, between truth and fact.

R: Perhaps you could tell me what your understanding is.

S: My understanding is that truth is a spiritual concept and that fact is a physical concept. Honesty can apply to either one of those concepts

R: And what do you think is the difference between the physical and the spiritual? By physical do you mean material?

S: Yes, material. In other words, it is a fact that I walked up the hill.

R: It is also the truth.

S: Yes, that is correct. Now, carrying this one step further, I remember when my children were growing up that they had a concept of "letting it all hang out", telling the whole truth even when they didn't need to. I think the example of Jesus was that He didn't tell people any more than they needed to know.

R: Because He balanced truthful utterances with kindness and goodness, but He was always aware of the full truth of any individual's complete existence. Can you imagine having that awareness yourself?

S: No, I can't imagine having it myself. But I still don't think that I should go down the street and say, "hey, you're ugly" when I see an ugly person just because it's the truth.

R: But perhaps what you call ugly is only a judgment based on physical configuration rather than a spiritual fact based upon the full and integrated personality of the individual in question.

S: But then let's say I say "you're ugly in accordance with my concept of your physical configuration, but not spiritually."

S2: Suppose you keep your mouth shut.

S: That's exactly what I'm talking about.

R: If you said that, it might take the edge off the insult.

S: I think he's trying to draw a comparison here.

R: There can be no truth without kindness and goodness. That should help you to understand.

S: Can there be a fact without kindness and goodness?

R: Fact is a linguistic creation which in the absolute sense refers to a statement of a truthful situation. In the purest sense there is no distinction between fact and truth, however you do not have the perception of Jesus. So then I would ask you, knowing this, do you think that you truly have mastered any facts at all?

S: Well, I know that two and two are always four, but

R: In this universe.

S: With that qualification, yes. But I suppose that most of the things that I know as facts in my own mind are really true, although sometimes I can be mistaken. You notice who's laughing, don't you?

R: You will have an interesting time mastering mota.

S: Won't we all? Could you please explain to me more on kindness and particularly what is tithing? Is that a valid thing, because money is material, is it not?

R: God has no requirement for the offering of material substance as an accompaniment to prayer.

S: Does casting your bread out on the waters mean being kind and good and truthful?

R: Among other things, yes.

S: That's the way I should view it then? (R: Yes.) Back to kindness, where there is no Thought Adjuster and the question of whether kindness can be wasted on someone in that state. Kindness is such a quality of universe value that I have trouble finding it wasted anytime that it is extended. I can see your caution about risk, where the person is known or perceived to be totally evil, but there are people without Thought Adjusters who simply are, whose minds have deteriorated to the extent that kindness would seem to be needed. They would still perceive their physical response to kindness, wouldn't they?

R: As an animal might, however your culture may wish to question the wisdom of maintenance of life in those who are in such a state.

S: We haven't evolved that much as a whole yet, but it has come to many of us that we ought to be going that way. Thank you.

R: You are welcome. The capacity to discern Thought Adjuster absence is very close, but not fully arrived yet among Urantia mortals. Those of you who are more advanced in your spirit growth will have a greater sense of this in the ones you contact. But in the not-too-distant future such lack will be almost universally apparent on this planet, as would have been the case long ago had the plan been followed.

S: Could you comment about the validity of being sometimes untruthful to avoid hurting other human beings feelings?

R: Do you recall how Jesus handled such a situation?

S: No, I can't remember.

R: Does anyone here have a comment?

S: Yes, I think that He was never unkind even when He refrained from telling, quote, "the whole truth". I guess He was always governed by kindness and consideration for the recipient, and would never say anything unkind.

S2: What about the money exchangers?

S: That's not unkindness, necessarily.

S2: If you will remember, the money exchangers were in the temple, and He had a human emotion pertaining to their desecrating His Father's temple. And for a while I think it got the best of the human Jesus. And His most unkind words, I think, were toward the religious leaders. He called them vipers, at least John the Baptist called them vipers. His worst words He said against political leaders were He called Herod an ill fox, that old fox.

S: But you're talking about whether He did or did not say anything derogatory, but actually I can't remember that the human Jesus ever made an untruthful flattering statement just to save somebody's feelings either. He always sought something good to say, but He didn't speak untruth, as far as I recall.

R: That is correct. He exercised restraint, yet was never insincere.

S2: Sincerity is the key then. If a guy is an old fox, and if it's truthful, I would be inclined to say that.

S: Or nothing at all.

S2: No, I'd probably say it and regret it later. (S: Okay.)

R: Perhaps if you beheld a professed temple of religious worship that more resembled a combination between a carnival and a gambling village, you would be appalled, also.

S: I think I would be. That - would be my vocal response to what's happened in the Temple, that in current usage with all the flair and the selling things and everything.

R: When men came to the temple to procure sexual companions, Is that worshipful? (S: No.)

S: Rayson, were you at the time, were you at that temple, were you present when those things took place?

R: Not on Urantia, but I have reviewed the records of this planet thoroughly and have beheld the details of which you speak.

S: Rayson, I was wondering, we have video tapes and so on. Do you have the ability to actually do a revisiting of it as though it were on video tape or actually like in 3-D circumstance where you can actually relive that moment and see it?

R: The Ancients of Days guard the records of the cosmos and may permit one to review historical features when it is deemed appropriate. It is far more than the visual record to which you allude. There are spirit qualities recorded as well.

S: How far would one have to advance through the mansion worlds before one would be capable of viewing these and receiving any benefit from them?

R: It all depends on need, actually; if you are needed, it can happen early. If not, it may never occur. Your unique and individual personality is known to those at high levels and if it can be useful to them they will appeal to you for service.

S: Rayson, is it possible that Christ Michael was actually being kind, in a way, when He pointed out the error of the ways of the money changers to them?

R: That is a good question. But I am not privy to His mind record. That is not permitted for my review.

S: I'm such a believer in kindness. On the other hand, in thinking about this very same circumstance, it seems to be, at times, very appropriate and needed anger response in life. It seems to be able to free us up emotionally. In fact, many times I look on anger as just another emotion which the denial of is very painful, and can even undermine our emotional health. In fact, releasing anger at times, could almost be kind under certain circumstances. Could you comment on that? Am I making myself clear?

R: Yes, I believe I understand, but let me ask you. When you yourself experience this anger, do you feel close to God?

S: No, I don't feel close to God at that time, necessarily.

R: That is the answer. Do you understand that?

S: I understand that, but also wonder if it isn't part of our emotional makeup as human beings, that we're going to be involved in working through things which require anger as well as kindness, require multi-facets of our personality.

R: The anger response is a leftover from your animal origins, and at the time that light and life are attained, anger will have fallen away from the repertoire of behavioral responses to stimuli on the part of Urantia mortals. I am not saying that at this time in the development of the planet it may not be a response that is in accord with the conditions in which you live, but your response, in terms of not feeling close to God, shows that you yourself understand the limited quality of anger in terms of your own spirit growth.

S: The reason I brought that up was because of a book by Theodore Rubin called The Angry Book in which he, as a psychiatrist, maintains that unless you really vent anger, it's not something that's harbored or hung on to, but it's an emotion that if it's not expressed comes out in deviant behavior sooner or later. It's saved up like in a slush account. Most of us can easily deal with kindness, or we can deal with love and caring, but it's more difficult for us to deal, at times, with anger.

R: Do you recall how Jesus managed anger as He grew and developed into His ultimate role on Urantia? One instance was already mentioned, but can you think of others later on?

S: Well, He dealt with compassion, understanding, empathy. He had a full range of things He used.

R: Do you recall His periods of meditation?

S: Yes, that's right. He spent a great deal of time in communion between Father and Himself.

R: After which He returned with what feelings?

S: Feelings of wholeness and, I think, perspective, and love, kindness, caring

R: And resolution of anger. The animal emotions that you experience in your life as a mortal being are best understood - in your current intellectual parlance - as expressions of the narcissistic ego against perceived violations of the assumed perfection of self. To make that clearer, I would say that an emotion such as anger is truly an expression of discomfort at your deep, and perhaps not conscious, realization of your own imperfection. And yet you know very well that imperfection is one of your endowments, a gift from Father that enables you to be a co-creator in this universe and others beyond.

S: Is there any such thing as righteous indignation?

R: What do you think?

S: I think it's a code word for anger myself.

R: I would agree with you.

S: And an excuse for manipulation.

S2: It's just the anger that you approve. The anger you disapprove of is just plain anger. It is sometimes an excuse for controlling behavior, too, I think.

R: Is there not fear and pride contained within what you call anger, indignation, even righteousness? (S: Ego.)

S2: Yes, but sometimes, in my experience, I have found that the only way I can get through to somebody is to use anger. When you talk nice and when you talk quietly, they don't listen. But when you yell and you jump up and down, it seems like they listen sometimes.

R: Perhaps you are dealing with animals.

S: But what if they learn from my anger?

R: Do animals ever truly learn?

S: I don't know.

R: Can you think of a more teacher-like way of persuading less spiritually advanced beings?

S: I think I need to do that. It's hard work being angry.

R: It does not contribute much to your ultimate goal of spirit growth and development, and you are sufficiently advanced to desire that and enjoy the sensation of pleasure which results from God-directed act.

S: You used the illustration of training animals. I think that far, far more animal trainers do so by rewarding desirable conduct than by punishing undesirable conduct.

R: Yes, they have an understanding of the limitations of animals as well as the presence of the lower adjutant mind spirits that respond well to small reward.

S: I have a question on kindness to animals. As we respond to animals we treat them in a kindly manner, we're kind to them and we project love upon them. In effect, is that a real relationship? Is that a true kind act? Is there survivor value, for instance, in God the Supreme, when you, are kind to an animal, and love it, and care about it, when in fact it doesn't respond? It is not kind to you per se or it doesn't love you because it doesn't have the capacity to do those things?

R: Yes, of course, because by virtue of your kindness you yourself grow, and you will retain your growth. However, I would like to caution you in only one small regard, and that is the mistaking of kindness to animals as being a substitute for kindness to your neighbor. There are some who profess that animals are better than people. They like animals better than people, and therefore animals are more deserving of kindness than people. This is a limited view that certainly can lead to some limited personal growth. But remember, my friends, that you are all agents of change and co-creators with Father. By participating in this teaching mission you have agreed to assist in the uplifting of Urantia. Urantia will be far less uplifted by kindness to pets than by kindness to mortal beings.

S: Rayson, I'm really, really happy you commented on this. That, to me, is a very important subject, and I'm glad you brought it out. I think it's good for people to understand that we, as human beings, are relating because of our Thought Adjuster relationship. And while kindness to animals is certainly pleasant and nice and so on, it's not a substitute. Thank you for that.

R: You are welcome. It is far easier to be kind to a fawning pet than to be kind to a sluggish employee or an angry customer or a proud neighbor. And yet you can see that the great leaps in your own growth and development come from the latter rather than the former.

S: There's a proverb that says a soft answer turneth away wrath. It probably could be substituted, instead of a soft answer, a kind act.

R: Yes. (12/18/93) See also WORK & Conviction of Truth (01/15/94)

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END Part 3 of 4 Parts Vol II Rayson