Tomas Vol III - Pittsburgh, PA - Jan 04, 1997 thru May 22, 1997 - Part 5 of 13
This next section reveals a great season of outreach and teaching. The
group participated in a major EXPO effort to introduce the Urantia
Book. As a follow up, four weeks were dedicated to a series of
introductory lessons on the four parts of the Book, to which the public was
invited. These four meetings were held in a Lutheran Church in another
nearby suburb of Pittsburgh. It was a great learning and teaching experience
for all of us.
Meanwhile, the Butler group, a spin-off from the Pittsburgh group, has been providing new T/R Hunnah with a platform of training to transmit new Teacher Merium.
*****
PITTSBURGH, PA
VOLUME III, Part 5 of 13
January 4, 1997 - May 22, 1997
C O N T E N T S
DATE: January 4, 1997
LOCATION: A Chinese restaurant in Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R: Gerdean O'Dell
TEXTUAL STUDY
The Urantia Papers
Paper One, Continued
TEACHER SESSION:
RESIST NOT EVIL
The Beholder State
Allow Growth to Manifest
Conditions for T/R Error
Respect the Process
TOMAS: Good afternoon. I feel as though I should speak a
foreign language here, or greet you in an exotic Oriental tongue.
It is different, of course, in a new environment, a commercial environment, but
I will none-the-less hold forth, for I wish to follow up on our lesson of last
week and your assignment having to do with judgment, for it was not a frivolous
exercise that I asked you to observe in your life, the phenomenon of judgment
and of control.
I will ask you now if you were conscientious in identifying when it was that
you judged or when you thought you were being judged. [I will ask you] to now,
in your mind's eye, picture yourself with both hands up. And what does
this connote to you? It connotes a different status, as if you had been
burgled, or, in the cowboy pictures when they say, "stick 'em
up." And with both hands in the air you are in a defensive mode, you
have become a victim of attacks of judgment, and if all of you were to walk
around with your hands over your head most of the time, how can we expect to
accomplish anything? And yet most mortals do this as a matter of course. You
cannot shake hands, you cannot embrace, as long as your hands are up in the air
defending yourself against life itself.
There is a phrase, a quote from the Life and Teachings of Jesus that suggests
"resist not evil" and it is to this lesson that the analogy is given,
for in judgment - in giving judgment and in assuming judgment upon yourself -
(from others or from yourself) - you have resisted evil. You have
defended yourself against it. You have reacted to it. You have
retaliated in kind, and it consumes far too much of life. And so, in
regard to judgment, dear children, I would ask you to peruse your understanding
now of judgment and remind yourself to resist not evil. Be aware of the
inherent risk of judgment towards others and towards yourself, but do not allow
it to be a life style. Rather, let it pass you by.
Accept the fact that infinity lies ahead but the finite creature is a
conglomeration of societal conditionings, and judgment is an unfortunate part
thereof. In seeking souls for the kingdom, judge not, for God himself is no
respecter of persons, and it is to this that I address my words, you who have
been born of the spirit, who have gone beyond the realm wherein you need to
judge, for you understand that judgment is only done by those qualified to see
the entire picture, and as you pass through your life, you cannot see the whole
picture, you cannot even see your whole self, much less the whole of another.
And so remember to resist not evil when you see it, but understand that as you
are all imperfect, "this too shall pass." Go on, then, to what is
acceptable in your sight and that which you can have unity and a benign
relationship with and for.
Are there questions this afternoon?
Hunnah: I don't have a question. I have a statement that I
am impressed with. You said to put our hands up. It reminds me that we really
are more fear-based than we realize, out of habit, and that we live with this
in our experience here, and even though we are not conscious of it, we really
are in a survival mode, and that the new sound is so new that we think we're
discovering it all the time.
My previous teacher talked about the beholder state where it allows you in the
course of your day to look for, to allow yourself to see the unexpected, or the
serendipity moment in your day. And it isn't at specific times; it can go on
all day long and that beholder state is that reality that we are no longer
familiar with.
I really thank you for the reminder that we really have been subtly conditioned
and that the beholder state is the gold ring, you might say, that you are
allowed to grasp. I don't mean to try to crowd the stage here with you, but I
appreciate the stimulation of that statement. That helps me. We're always
looking for verification of something that we feel is true and that helped me.
Thank you.
TOMAS: I applaud your introspection and your willingness to
envision that which we discussed. Your understanding now of a fear-based realm,
as it has been portrayed through the defense inherent in judgment, has been a
large developmental step. It also reminds me of what would appropriately be
called a New Year's lesson, and this being the first gathering after your
commencement of a New Year, it is a good time also to remind you that as you
walk your path, you who are growing and emerging and changing and maturing and
developing each day, remember that so are your fellows, and when you come
together, or when you encounter each other, allow for the growth to manifest.
In other words, do not assume the routine, the rut of association, that each
time you encounter your friend, they are the same -- ("the same thing, the
same thing, the same thing,") -- for they are growing and changing and
emerging as you are. If you continue to assume that they are not growing, then
you are assuming a dead branch. That goes for all of you here. As you see each
other in your encounters, accept about each other that which is good, which you
love, which you routinely anticipate.
That which you had formerly judged as unworthy or undesirable, let that
judgment pass, and in letting that judgment pass, open yourself now to observe
the newness which can emerge as you have put down your arms and allowed each
other to pass in freedom.
And behold: a fresh look, a new look for the new day. This will also add flavor
to your adventure and you will, once again, learn how to love each other as the
Master loves you.
Loreenia: Tomas?
TOMAS: Yes.
Loreenia: I want to ask about Bertrand who was here last
week. I asked if it was the same Bertrand that was in California.
TOMAS: (One moment) I am going to divert, and in diverting,
perhaps clarify some things of and relating to the transmitting/ receiving
process.
Let me point out then that it is appreciated, when a visitor is addressing you,
that you not interrupt the discourse to ask who it is, for this is jarring and
disarming to the transmitter/ receiver, the mortal vessel, and I will tell you
that although the visitor last week was impressing the mind of Gerdean with the
bearing of One High in Authority, she was reluctant to use that phrase for fear
of error, and when, in the middle of the discourse someone asked who was
speaking, Gerdean, in her human alarm, at the break in transmission, felt
compelled to identify the being, and yet was fearful of conveying "One
High in Authority." Her mind thus jumped to the defense of the situation
and identified the being as Bertrand, in-as-much as that was and is a
personality who is generating considerable interest in your area and in Canada
at this time.
I relay all this, in part, to convey how it is that misinformation can be
disbursed, and on one hand it is not a problem because any names are merely
window dressing, it is the message that is important. The names are not
necessarily important, except for your understanding of personality
identification, and to some extent also categorization. Given this response to
you, I will say that even though I supported the notice that Bertrand was a
co-teacher, as indeed he is, I am going to also clarify the record to some
extent and say that was not the Bertrand which has taught here before, nor is
it the teacher that we understand as a possible Bertrand for Canada. The entire
identification of our visitor last week was error.
I give you this lengthy response so that you can, perhaps, to some extent,
appreciate the delicate and sensitive connection that I have with you, working
through a mortal vehicle, for although she is in abeyance and willing to
transmit my thoughts and words, when her mind is jarred, as any animal mind can
be jarred by a left-fielder, I am then in a position of having to wait for her
to remove herself again, either willingly or through a consultation with her,
or allowing her human error to emit and cleaning up afterward.
I appreciate that you who are not experienced transmitters may not understand
the nuances of this process, but you do understand that error occurs. I have
explained to you now how such things happen. I will also go on to say that
certain respects ought to be accorded the process. It is not to say that the
transmitter/receiver needs to be put on a pedestal, but the process itself
needs to be honored in order to garner a clear rendition of our messages and
therefore certain idiosyncrasies of the human contact personality ought to be
honored.
Gerdean, for instance, is distracted when she hears paper rattling so when I am
trying to speak and she hears paper rattling, she will step aside from me to be
irritated by rattling paper, which interferes with my message. I therefore beg
you to withhold rattling paper, not because I am worried by it, but because of
her peculiar failing in that regard. It is not to put her in a position of
honor, nor even the Teacher particularly, but the process, you see, which is
delicate, while profound. Have I responded, Loreenia, to your question?
Loreenia: Yes, thank you very much.
Elizabeth: That was great, Tomas. Thank you for all
the beautiful things you've done. And the next time we come here, we're going
to invite you in first, so that the talking around us here wouldn't matter.
Under the circumstances I really apologize. I think we will change our format
if we meet here again. And for Gerdean for being so patient.
TOMAS: It has been a delight for all of us to experience
your culture in this fashion and no one has been discommoded by our presence
here today. I am delighted, as always, to be with you and I will be with you
this week as you, "behold all things are becoming new." Farewell.
*****
DATE: January 4, 1997
LOCATION: Greenville, PA
T/R: Gerdean
TEACHER: TOMAS
TOPIC:
ON DEATH AND DYING
ON A PRAYERFUL ATTITUDE
(In acknowledgement of the sudden passing of Iyana's friend Jeff, a fellow
reader of the Urantia Papers and a protege of the Teaching Mission.)
TOMAS: Dear daughters, it is your trusty friend, Tomas, at
hand, at leisure, and at your pleasure. You must feel rather honored to have a
celestial teacher at your beck and call.
Iyana: Oh, you must know how happy I am to
have you come to my home, Tomas.
TOMAS: I have been here with you more times than you
can imagine, Iyana.
Iyana: Thank you!
TOMAS: I always keep an eye on my sheep.
You have had an adventure in your peripheral arena in the departure of your
friend and ours. It is a joyous event for him and he will be quite pleased in
learning that his life's experience was of value, and that he has been embraced
by the light, and is even now, in his consciousness, embarked upon the
adaptation to his new celestial realm.
Iyana: Oh, that's wonderful.
TOMAS: Yes, it is a wonderful plan, and it is so unfortunate
that you have not gone through that process, yet, for you would then see how the
experience of death is a natural part of your life's unfolding. Much like the
caterpillar that emerges from the chrysalis into a butterfly, you will emerge
also triumphant.
Part of the difficulty is your leftover belief systems from societal conditioning
and aberrated thought processes of Urantia. The process of experiencing a
transition from this world to the next is a natural evolutionary development,
one which might be embraced heartfully, but your conditioning is to regard it
as risk-taking and fear-inducing and traumatic - a fearsome thing.
You who rejoice in Jeff's survival would do well also to rejoice in the
knowledge that you too shall rise up On High. It could enhance your entire
approach to life knowing that this is merely the caterpillar stage of existence
and that as you cease to fear you will allow the chrysalis to enfold you, and
that you will naturally then emerge in Mansonia as the butterfly of morontia
material.
Iyana: That's beautiful.
TOMAS: It is truly a beautiful plan. It is easy for me to
say so for I have experienced it and I have the confidence of it, but you who
still must face life in faith have not the confidence of one who has had the
experience. But as you trust your teacher and those of us on this side who
help you, you will begin to honor our vantage point and to adopt it into your
own thinking process, ideally to help you also overcome some of your normal
reticence to relinquish this life. For even though this life can be difficult,
it is still precious, and the one that you know. And as is the case in the
mortal, it is easier to embrace that which you know than to change and carve
out a new existence in unknown realms. This, too, will change as you grow.
You will begin to recognize that you may allow yourself to go through the
process of transition, even joyously, knowing your days ahead include a reunion
with your familiar loved ones, an opportunity to come face to face, as it were,
with your Thought Adjuster and your guardian seraphim and many other spirit helpers
that accompany you in your sojourn. This way of thinking, this advanced format
of thinking, is had by returning constantly and consistently to your prayerful
attitude with the Father.
The discourse you had recently this evening regarding your habits of
journaling, for example, depict what benefit can be had from developing a
conscious contact with a source of serenity expression and soul satisfaction. A
habit of journaling can easily lead then to the habit of a prayerful attitude,
of soulful discourse with that spirit reality in you and around you, that which
is a greater reality and a source of strength, a companion in your life
journey, and, as in any good habit, you begin to appreciate its value and
acquire a yearning for its fulfillment.
As you come to know the Father and his will for you, you fear less what you
have known before and you grasp with faith wings those new adventures,
experiential adventures, which are in store for you, including translation from
this world to the next. Oh, joy! Oh, revelation! Oh, Holy Spirit!
Well, my ladies, what have you been doing that you would enjoin me to join you
this evening? Am I one of your more pleasant and beneficial new habits?
Iyana: Oh, yes.
Hunnah: You were eavesdropping on our conversation. We've
been wagging our tongues. Gerdean should be tired.
TOMAS: It has been a fruitful day, and the spirit has been
activated in all of you, often. It was a more productive day than even we had
anticipated.
Hunnah: How do you feel about us meeting in a public place?
I think that the lingering light . ... Gerdean said it was not as difficult as
she thought it would be, but is it appropriate?
TOMAS: It depends upon your motives, as you might suspect.
In the instance today, the foundation was well laid in the environment by your
having grounded yourselves there and established your arena through prayer and
worship, and through socialization. You had already established the atmosphere,
the environment, and therefore the helpers were sensitive to your timbre, your
tonal quality, and when the others were brought in, they were not inharmonious
to your fellowship and this is part of, shall we say, the harmonics of the
working universe.
The circumstances today were quite do-able, but when you say "a public
place," there are qualifiers. The truth is you were doing what you went
there to do and not to "show off" or to attract attention, even
spiritual attention, to yourselves. You were following your path in your
rightful way and it was not obtrusive or offensive or disarming to those who
were brought into your presence. Public places vary, obviously. It worked
today.
Iyana: Tomas, it seems that when I meet with you I am
always asking you personal questions. And to keep on that path, I have been having
longer silence, stillness times, but it seems that I doze off and then wake up
again. And usually when I go into the silence, I like to visualize a
light. I feel that I'm being lifted up when I see a light, but I don't see a
light very often. I just don't seem to understand my silences, my meditations.
They're quiet.
TOMAS: First let me state that I do not object that
you ask me personal questions when we have a session such as this, for this is
the correct methodology in a conversation of this sort. You are expected to
want to know more about yourself and your relationship with God and so your
behaviors are quite appropriate. Do not fear on that count. Now let me
help you, if I can, regarding your approach to and experience with and in
meditation. I heard you earlier say that you had some difficulty in talking
with the Master.
Iyana: That's true.
TOMAS: Would you talk to me for just a moment about that,
for that may be a block to more effective meditation.
Iyana: Well, I can talk to the Father. I seem to talk to Him
first. But to talk to Jesus -- I just think of Jesus as being a sweet,
wonderful person. And I thank him all the time for this gift of -- well,
his gifts of truth and understanding and the peace that he gives, and I feel
the peace and I thank him for it. But when I pray, it is always to the Father.
I feel closer to the Father. I know Jesus was here on earth, and he was a
person when he was here, and he was also a spiritual person and he showed us a
wonderful way that we would try sometime, maybe to combine our spirit and our
humanness, but there's something about the aura about the Father.
I understand that Jesus and the Father are one and I understand his love, but I
just don't seem to pray to Jesus, to Christ Michael. The words "Christ
Michael" seem to be stronger to me as a divinity.
TOMAS: That is appropriate also, for Christ Michael is the
sovereign ruler of the universe, and Jesus was a mortal, and so as you envision
Jesus, you may be perceiving him as only a little beyond your own
bearing/standard/stature, for he was a Jewish man who lived a long time ago. It
is the risen Christ who is the Sovereign that exists now and hears your
petitions.
It has sometimes been of benefit to those who feel the human facets of the
Creator Son in the form of Jesus that endear him as a fellow, as a friend, a
comrade, one that is easily approachable. But if your sense is to go to
the Father, to the First Source and Center, then consider that you have within
you an aspect of this divine Parent in the form of your own indwelling Thought
Adjuster, and look to see if you are, in honoring this indwelling God Fragment,
having a rapport with yourself as compared to that with divinity.
Iyana: I don't understand what you mean. I think of the
Father as divinity. I think of Christ Michael as divinity. And I think of Jesus
as divinity, too.
TOMAS: I cannot tell you how to pray but I will suggest that
if you talk over your affairs of the heart and the mind with Michael and, having
then communicated your concerns to your Creator Father Michael, ask him to
bring you into the presence of the Father. This is a process, a procedure,
based loosely on the phrase that one comes to the Father through him.
Iyana: I understand that.
TOMAS: And so he is the door. Knock on his door and he will
let you in to the Father. Once in the presence of the Father, words are no
longer necessary, but rather a feeling, a sense of oneness in His care. It is
appropriate to pray to any being, but it is perhaps the more effective to pray
in conversation with Jesus, the risen Christ, and to worship the Father, to
allow yourself, in your communion with the Father, to praise him for your
being, for your life itself, to worship the gift of life which he has given you
in your Thought Adjuster, in your experiences, in your associations, in your
enrichment.
Iyana: This is very helpful.
TOMAS: Also in the presence of the Father, even without
words, it is of great benefit to experience His love for you - the
all-enveloping aspect of the Eternal Parent that washes you with love, that
rains upon you these blessings of existence which are beyond words, which are
beyond mortal expression, for they have reached into the realms of spirit. You
have reached up out of your mortality and into the more aesthetic and ethereal
realms of worship. This is the realm of relationship with the Father. In this
position, in this place, it is natural enough to feel that peace and that
comfort which He provides - that total security that would allow for you to
fall asleep in His arms, in total calm of His care.
Iyana: That's beautiful. Thank you, Tomas.
TOMAS: Yes, Iyana.
MICHAEL: Precious ones. I am with you,
for you are gathered in my name. I would like to spend a moment with you and be
at peace among you. I would welcome you to come to me as your friend.
I will call to your mind the little book that was published that is entitled
"God Calling." It depicts my conversations of long ago with two women
who came to me every day, and in this manner that you are experiencing now,
sought my companionship, my words, my wisdom, my guidance in their daily
affairs. These two women, who believed in me, were cherished by me, and they
have by their advertisement of me, affected thousands upon thousands of people.
I bring this to your attention to call to your mind the friendship that I
desire you to have with me.
Do not be reluctant to ask me into your life, to share with you your sorrows
and your joys. I hear you and I care infinitely. I care about you and your
interests in this life, which I have given you to live, which I have asked you
to live for me. How could I not then care for every thought, for every concern,
for every whisper of truth as it comes to your mind, as it visits your life? I
am a most intimate companion.
It is not necessary for you to perceive me as you might perceive of an icon in
a house of worship; it is not necessary for you to remember me as crucified
upon the cross; it is not necessary that you have any expectations about your
own demeanor or attitude as you engage in conversation with me, for I know you
well and I love you dearly.
And so again, my daughters, I encourage you to come to me and ask me to join
with you in a moment of quiet reflection of your day, of your thoughts and your
concerns, for your loved ones and for your problems, your sorrows and your
joys. I yearn for you to know me and love me. I delight in your presence. I
find happiness in your company and in your joy and I can bring you joy for I am
Joy.
I will not leave you, but I will go about my business of observing you,
overseeing your care, and rejoicing in your development, in your companionship
with your teachers who are also my beloved flock. Peace be upon you. I embrace
you, and … farewell.
*****
DATE: January 11, 1997
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R: Gerdean
TEXTUAL STUDY:
Urantia Papers: Forward and Paper 1, Continued
ANNOUNCEMENT: Points of Light Coalition, Inc., a spiritual group
dedicated to acquiring the Turtle Building in Niagara Falls as a spiritual,
cultural, educational, and healing center, welcoming all cultures, all
religions, excluding no one, is hosting a gathering to heal Mother Earth on
January 25 at The Turtle in Niagara Falls.
TOPIC:
THE NATURE OF GOD'S CHILDREN
TOMAS: Good afternoon, diligent pupils and delightful
children. I had intended to discuss "children" today and I am going
to continue with my intention, but I want you to know from the outset that this
is not in response to your discussions so far today, but rather a way of
underlining how childlikeness and childishness are part of your make-up and
perhaps how we can distinguish between the two.
Before I commence. I would like to greet you in a sincere and even scholarly
fashion for I understand the respect that is brought to this format. It is
appreciated, and we are truly earnest in our desire to serve you in order that
we may serve the Master and the masses, and so it is always helpful and important
to acknowledge your inherent greatness of intent -- your Indwelling Adjuster's
and your desire to follow Its leading. Your integrity is met and embraced in
these sessions and I embrace you now.
I am not alone in this embrace, for there are myriad beings also who watch with
interest your growth and development, not only yours individually here and as a
teacher base, but throughout Urantia. All eyes of the universe are focused on
Urantia, on its exciting and current phase of growth. Correcting Time extends
far and wide. It is an exciting time, one that should cause children of God
great delight for its variety and freshness of approach.
And so I come around now to my theme of "children," for you well
understand that as children of God you are always coming back to the humble
position of being a child, asking the Father to guide and direct you in your
life, in your feelings, in your relationships, in your comings and goings as
you pass by.
It has been for hundreds and thousands of years on your world, and even in your
life, that isolation was the norm. Everyone lived in their own little sphere of
reality and many of the expansive realities of this new age were non-evident
because of the closed circuitries, and so people grew accustomed to their
personal isolation. In their personal isolation there was, however, the
connection between each individual and the Father, through the Indwelling
Spirit, which was and is a lifeline to reality and cosmic consciousness.
But today, as the channels are opening, as the circuits are being reconnected,
as Correcting Time floods upon Urantia, all manner of children are being
brought into the light and isolation is ended, and so what we have are a lot of
children coming together to learn to play in the fields of the Lord, and this
is a learning process. This is a situation where all things shall become
new, for you cannot bring into a new global fellowship the old isolationist
techniques and concepts.
I will borrow upon this transmitter's childhood experience to relate an analogy.
When she was about five and essentially an only child, she was invited to a
birthday party of other children in that age range. Perhaps a dozen or more
children were there, and imagine the chagrin of little Gerdean when, having
been the center of the universe and the darling of the clan, she was set in an
environment where the birthday girl was receiving all the adulation and
attention. This was a jarring and disturbing experience for this child who had
no idea how to socialize, and so in spite of the fact that there were other
children and there were games played and there were gifts and songs and cake
and ice cream, the psyche of this child was clouded and muddled by the
confusion of not understanding that she was not the center of the universe and
how to make that adjustment. That profound experience that day, to that child,
is very much related to what is occurring now on Urantia in terms of the
overall fellowshipping of the many, many paths to the Father.
Before we began our session today there was a discussion about the Turtle near
Niagara Falls, which is designed as a spiritual center for the One God among
his many followers, one world, -- these pacific and reflective qualities which
are the earmark of tomorrow. And the concept of that enterprise is
an enlarged birthday party wherein everyone who attends the larger gathering of
humanity (not just at that center but in concept, en toto) comes from their
comprehension of their life, their belief system and their reality in an
isolated bubble, and it is difficult to bring your bubble into the boiling
cauldron of many, myriad faith backgrounds of others. Yet this is truly
what the brotherhood is all about: it is appreciating and accepting each one's
unique approach to the Father and relationship with the Father, understanding
that there is the added element, albeit a difficult one to adapt to, of the
fraternity of sons and daughters of this wondrous, many-faceted Parent.
It has been said, as you know, that as you put forth the fruits of the spirit
in your life, you mature, you develop character, you go from being a new-born
soul, a new-born child in the spirit, to one who barely crawls, to an
adventurous and curious toddler in the spirit realms, in the soul growth, to an
adventurous child who climbs the trees and plays with other children,
eventually to develop sincere and meaningful and lasting eternal relationships,
to form teams of workers in the field, and ultimately to stand as an adult, a
spiritual adult … and this is the growth process.
It is the practice for you now, in your finite realm, to presume that everyone
here in your company is already an adult, a mature adult of the realm, having
lived many years establishing yourself in your own eyes and in the eyes of your
society, but I will ask you to set that perception aside, for that perception
is one of this world. I do not see you as you see yourselves. I see you as
children at a birthday party, trying to learn how to relate to each other,
having come from the isolation of your own personal sphere into the fellowship
of other children. I see you literally as children, and I would ask for you to
look at each other as if you were a child of God. Allow yourself to envision
yourselves as children.
I call to your attention the refreshing quality of children that allows for a
fresh approach. Children are not naturally prejudiced. They don't care about
skin coloration or whether their friend has designer a jean or a cast-off,
cut-off jean. Their values do not incorporate those values which your society
teaches you and which become prominent in your assessment of your fellow human
beings. Think about how children play, once they have learned how to play. See
how it is that they share, once they have learned to share. They can have an
argument and the next two minutes later have patched it up and are best friends
again, unlike the "adults" of your realm who can carry a grudge for
several generations, all with due dignity and so forth.
It would be helpful, when you look at each other as children, to remember that
children are precious, particularly when they are someone else's child, knowing
that you do not have to mold them or provide for them or be responsible for
them, that indeed someone else will take them home, feed them supper, give them
a bath and put them to bed. It is far easier to love a child under those
circumstances, and so as you look at each other today as children, remember
that it is not your child that you have to be responsible for molding and
living up to your societal expectations, but rather it is the Father's child
that He is raising up. It is Someone Else's child. Then you can learn to be a
child yourself and go on to play and find out how delightful it is to be a
child at play, even in your socialization here at this table.
On that order also, in approaching each other as children, in viewing your
friends as children, understanding that you are not their parent, it is a
tendency also for humans to look at children and judge their parents because of
the way the children behave. In other words, it is not easy to be angry with a
child, but it is much easier to be angry with the parent, for not controlling
the child, or teaching the child, or reproving the child, or raising it in a
way that would be more compatible to your values, so when you look at your
brother and your sister, and see how they are acting childishly, notice at once
what parent it was that taught that child to behave in such a way.
For our Father in Heaven did not teach that child those things which are less
than perfect. From our Father and Mother we only learn those lessons that will
further make us like Him and Her. Has it been the god Lucifer that has taught
that child? Has it been the god of money that has influenced that child?
Or the god of fear? It is an interesting study; it is an interesting
observation. And as you were all so successful in our recent experiment of
observing judgment and control, carry through now into this next series of days
with the augmented look of the fellow child and you will see the influences
which have come to bear upon that child in order that it reflects what it has
been taught, as you do.
Return always to the True Father, the Loving Parent that we know as a living
reality, and embrace your brothers and sisters in that spirit. Be children
together in a loving fashion. Be childlike in your affection, in your ability
to recover from the imperfections of the mortal existence, to patch things up
quickly as best friends, to forgive easily, to accept out of curiosity those
which are new or different. Become as a child — not childish, but childlike.
Well, my loved ones. How are you? Are there questions?
Celeste: Thank you, Tomas, for noticing what happened today,
for helping us understand one another.
TOMAS: It happens every day! It is appropriate to
discuss your childlike aspects for we are at the start of a New Year. It
is a new beginning, and always in a new beginning we start out fresh with new
things to learn and experience. It seemed a more appropriate subject than
"hibernation" which would have led me into a good reminder to go into
stillness, for on these many dark evenings when there's nothing on television,
it is the ideal time to excuse yourself for half an hour and go in to enjoy a
hibernation period with the Father in stillness.
Celeste: I love new beginnings. And new awareness. And new
understanding. It's wonderful.
TOMAS: All children love surprises. It is when routine
becomes rut and the spirit dies in the mundane that life becomes burdensome and
God becomes a far-off fantasy understanding, but in keeping yourself fresh, in
giving yourself the opportunity to approach each day as a new opportunity, in
and through and for the Father, your life is enriched and indeed made fresh.
Mary Theresa: I like Celeste's idea of new beginnings. As
much as I knew January was a new beginning, this December I was fearing January
because after our many activities and baking and preparing for the holidays,
I'm usually sick in January and I feared January coming this time, but I tried
to tell myself it's the beginning of a new year and it's not going to happen to
me this year! I'm going to get lots of rest and I think the great way to look
at it is it's a new beginning, a new year, another time in our life, and there
is so much to look forward to. I still thank God I'm here every year, closer to
the year 2,000. I wanted to be here for the year 2,000 to see what's going to
happen, and I feel grateful for you and the other entities that are here trying
to help our earth and I feel that it should be something wonderful, and we
appreciate your help.
TOMAS: I appreciate your appreciation. But let me say that
that arbitrary date of A.D. 2,000 is a construction of mortal time. As we
observe our interpretation of calendar, there are no momentous dates to make
note of in that same context. Therefore, this year could be the greatest time
ever, as next year can be the greatest year ever. It is a peculiar set of
expectations set up by mortals that within certain timeframes, certain things
should happen; if they don't, there is a disappointment or perhaps a relief,
but you set yourself up, based on time and space, and seem to think that the
entire cosmic preview is the same.
I understand that you are time/space creations, but how you perceive things in
the future based upon a calendar is a curiosity worth mentioning. 2000 is not
any different than 1997 or 2002 insofar as events are concerned. Just because
you reach a millennium on your calendar is no indication that the world is scheduled
to tip on its axis come midnight. You see what I am saying. And so any day can
be a new day, and any hour can be a peak hour. I am, of course, glad that you
are here and trust that you will still be working in his vineyard here at the
turn of the century.
Mary Theresa: Tomas, there have been many prophesies made …
that have many of us are kind of looking forward to the year 2000 or around
that time because of the many prophesies that have been made about different
things that were to occur at that time. That's where many of us get the idea, I
think, where many of us -- I don't know how valid they are, but some ancient
time prophesies to more modern day ones that -- that's where I had come up with
it anyway.
TOMAS: There is a certain appreciation for what you say, but
it is based more upon the collective consciousness than on anything real. That
is, as I indicated, you have a tendency to place great importance on, say,
turning 21, or turning 65, or turning 100 based upon their obvious effects upon
your societal responses, and as a century rolls around on the calendar many
changes take place and eras come into being and motivations are brought into
play.
When you approach a millennial anniversary, which doesn't happen that often in
your time, of course it begins to gain great momentum. Even now we are
witnessing the swell of momentum because of the up-coming calendar millennium.
But a great percentage of the effects of that are brought about by yourselves,
by your mass motivation to be here for it, or to (as your President says)
"build a bridge" regarding it, and so forth. It is powerful what
minds together can do.
As for the predictions of the ancient ones, I will not dabble there. I, for
one, am proscribed against making predictions, and although I will not
disparage some brilliant minds and messages of those of old, I will not confirm
them either, although they are fascinating. And if they are fascinating to me,
I can imagine how overwhelmingly poignant they must be to you.
Loreenia: Brother Tomas, you are like one of the ancient
ones to us here! With your age. And that's respectfully.
TOMAS: I am an ancient one, indeed, my dear, but I have not
been part of the history of this planet, and somehow that colors my antiquity,
for I am not Nostradamas nor am I Amadon, but I am an old guy from another part
of the universe.
Celeste: Well, Tomas, I think with your personality, I think
you are a beautiful child.
TOMAS: I needed that. (group laughter)
Loreenia: You are savor to the soul, like coffee to
one who is hooked on it.
TOMAS: And you are a poet. I am glad to have the
opportunity to witness your camaraderie among one another, perhaps to begin to
observe your fellow siblings in their profoundly delightful childlike aspects.
And so if there are no growth-related questions, I will leave you for the
afternoon.
Elizabeth: I have a question.
TOMAS: Very well.
Elizabeth: I just want to talk about how it is for
somebody who found the Urantia Book to try to be accepting of other people's
concepts. I'm talking for myself. I certainly pray that I can be open minded,
like Leah said. I hope I can have an open mind. But remembering the struggles
of my own growth, I jealously, perhaps, guard some of my concepts which I won
with such difficulty, and I'm so entranced by when you are an evolutionary
creature and you struggle to find something that's wonderful and reasonable and
you look around and you see some of the problems that arise from what you view
as being the limiting concepts that you entertained previously. You have to --
you do have reluctance, perhaps, to let this become important.
For instance we had so many people who have come with wonderful teachings. I
mean, everybody at this table, I dare say, has engaged in other configurations,
philosophies, which are wonderful. They are absolutely wonderful, and yet
we do, I think, appreciate here that we have to guard our focus to a certain
extent. And so from that point of view, so many of our people love the
Indian philosophies and some people love that of the Far East India, and some
love the Course in Miracles ~ I for one ~ and some love the Unity concepts, and
some love the . .. and Edgar Casey. I mean we just have a plethora of wonderful
philosophies, and yet it is good for us to remember that our focus is the Book
and the Teaching Mission -- well, not for all of us, but for many of us the
Teaching Mission -- but for all of us the Book.
TOMAS: Let me respond, for I truly do appreciate your
question and the soul depth of understanding inherent in the question, and also
understanding the dangers of having and holding a spiritually egotistical
standpoint of being one of those fortunate enough to have discovered and
acknowledged the importance of the Fifth Epochal Revelation, and to some extent
this dynamic Teaching Mission, which underlines the teachings of the Book and
of the actualization of the spiritual brotherhood, the gospel, if you will, of
Jesus. But yes, there are as we discussed earlier in reference to children,
there are as many paths to the Father as those who take the path, and they take
many diversions through many woods and meadows.
Let me tell you this, those of you who have attained to the appreciation of,
shall we say, opera or Mozart -- fine music. You understand how it is that you
can be carried into a new realm, a living reality through this highly refined
and disciplined art form of music, and you look around you and you see people
thoroughly enjoying rap or polka or rock & roll or country western, and you
can understand that they love their music, but you can also understand that if
they were to allow themselves to expand their appreciation, they too could
understand not only their fundamental cultural appreciation, but could attain to
the high art of opera and symphony as well.
And so those who understand a facet of enjoyment and spiritual reality, be it
through an analogy of music or the different scaffolding of spiritual building
blocks, are not to be disdained but are to be appreciated for themselves in
their own right, in the full understanding that in time the impact and import
of the truths of the Urantia Book will prevail, will filter through some of the
misconceptions, helping to clarify truth. But there are so many delightful things
about these many pathways, these many scaffoldings that are colorful and
entertaining, that it is not necessary for you to spend overmuch time
correcting them. It would do very little good, indeed, for you to even try to
do so.
Rather, think of them as Monopoly or Scrabble or Pictionary, and although you
might prefer Bridge, you can certainly appreciate why some people could spend
hours at a Monopoly board, and some people even prefer Solitaire. There is
nothing wrong with embracing a fellow as well as their faulty beliefs, for as
you embrace your fellow in the light of truth, beauty and goodness, as that
reality grows, their, as well as your, imperfections will fall away.
Because you read the Fifth Epochal Revelation and study under the Teaching Corps
does not mean that you have graduated, either. You still have many nuances of
the Caligastian regime on your shoulders. Appreciate your spiritual source and
the gift of the revelation and its massive retinue of revelatory information,
but be gracious in allowing others their enthusiasm for their path to the
Father. All are headed in that direction. As has been said by the Master, He
who is not against us is for us, and those who are for us and for Him are our
brothers indeed, and so let us learn to play together as children.
Mary Theresa: In the broader sense of the word, Tomas, are
we any better off, here in this room, knowing about the Urantia Book than say a
very dedicated Catholic, Protestant or Jewish person who is strictly into their
own faith?
TOMAS: Better off in terms of what?
Mary Theresa: Reaching our Maker sooner? Are we — In
the next world, when we leave this earth, are we better off knowing about
Urantia, knowing...? Because those people are really dedicated to God. I mean,
we're all going to the same place. That's what we're all working for, striving
for.
TOMAS: Indeed, you cannot set yourself above another man of
faith. By their fruits they shall be known anyway, so what difference what
theology you adopt?
Elizabeth: Well, Tomas, you're there, and you know, and
you're so happy on your wonderful spot, but let me say that I feel a certain
reaction when I know some of my dear Roman Catholic friends are dear and
wonderful and haven't found the release that the Urantia Book has given us in
knowing that we're not going to be condemned for an ordinary life of
peccadilloes.
Mary Theresa: That's here on earth.
Elizabeth: I know, but isn't that important? I
mean, it's great that we can talk about what's beyond, but I'm talking about
right here and now. Does it make your life freer? Of course it does! And that's
what I'm trying to say. Great. Wonderful. I embrace these Roman Catholics. I
love some of them quite a lot, but I also feel, "Oh, my gosh, I wish you
could have found the freedom from limitation that our teachings in the Urantia
Book have given us."
(Several people talking at once)
TOMAS: Let me respond and get out of here so that you can
talk. I understand, you get into socializing and it extends into the day, but
consider -- If you were one who had walked with Jesus and had been in his
company, do you not feel that you would have benefited by that far more than
one who had heard of his deeds and goodness in another country or in another
village? Those of you who have found, discovered, the values and the truths
within the Fifth Epochal Revelation to mankind, the Urantia Book, are as
fortunate as those who sat at the feet of the Master, who followed him and
heard him speak fully and freely.
The privilege, the honor, the joy in having had the experience of knowing Jesus
as a mortal and in knowing the Urantia Book as another monumental gift to
humanity from the heavens is something that will be with you forever, and so
there is wondrous benefit in being a believer in the Book in-so-far as it is
what it says it is, for truly the intellectual peace that it provides is
profound beyond words and the challenge to the continents of Urantia and the
cultures here, the various and sundry religions and sects, the governments and
the peoples, is so mighty and challenging as to stimulate this world for aeons
to come.
It is a marvelous gift to Urantia, as was Jesus of Nazareth, as was Machiventa
Melchizedek, the teacher of Abraham. Those of you who have had contact, living
mortal experience with a revelation, have had a cherished experience. And so,
yes, it does matter, but in terms only of your personal experience and what you
can do with your personal experience. But those who have sincere and
devout faith are as close to the Father as those who have never read a word of
the Book.
Elizabeth: I have friends who have never read the Book
but who are humble before God.
Celeste: All truth will eventually meet with all
people who reach for the Lord.
Loreenia: Brother Tomas, as you were talking, I kept seeing
a great temple being built, and each stone and each colored piece of glass,
each trinket that went into that temple was different, and the stone may look
at the glass and say, "Thou art frivolous" or a trinket that makes
the altar, "Thou art frivolous." But each individual piece is
precious for that temple, and has its own spot, and if it doesn't fit there, it
can be used in another place, and that's the way I see the sons and daughters
of God. They are fitting into a temple, into a piece-knit section, and neither
of them is frivolous.
TOMAS: And who is to judge to say...
Loreenia: That's just it! We can't do it for
each other.
Elizabeth: I'm only doing it for our study
group. I'm not saying don't do it in your life.
Loreenia: I wasn't talking about you. I was
talking about what I saw as Tomas spoke.
Elizabeth: I know you weren't talking about me, but I'm just
saying that on the subject, for us, we have to maintain a certain focus, and we
should maintain a certain openness toward others and their faith, we absolutely
must, I know that, and yet I am reiterating it's well for us to remember why we
come together. That's what I'm trying to say.
TOMAS: I find no conflict in the understanding. We come to
study the Fifth Epochal Revelation and learn to live it, and part of that is to
embrace our fellow brothers and sisters. This is the gospel that can be
extended far out into your realms on Urantia and far out into the realms of
time and space, all the way to Paradise. There is no quibbling about what we
come together for; it is, however, a vast and varied enterprise and certain
interpretations may conflict or compete occasionally but that is part of the
human condition; that is part of how it is that children will get into a
squabble over a marble or a doll and as soon as the opportunity avails itself,
the wind will blow, a noise will be made, and off we skip into tomorrow -- best
friends in the Father. Let it pass.
Let me make my way out of your conscious environment, but do think about our
lesson. Don't wait until you get the transcript to find out what it is that you
are to be doing this week.
Proceed, my children, my delightful, delightful darlings. I will tiptoe through
the next few weeks with you in the tumult of hostess situations and through the
spring exposure, which we will discuss later. Learn to love each other and see
each other as children.
Allow yourself to envision each other in short frocks and short pants. Allow
yourself to see each other with large freckles or pigtails, so that you can
enhance your vision. Indeed, show your broken tooth and your skinned knee and
slough it off. Learn to be children. Until we meet again, I am your old kid
buddy, Tomas. Farewell.
Group: Farewell.
*****
DATE: January 18, 1997
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R: Gerdean
TEXTUAL STUDY:
Urantia Paper 1, Concluded
Foreword, Concluded
TEACHER TOMAS
TOPIC:
YOUR TRUE PARENTS
Lord Michael, we seek your presence. We seek your embrace, your companionship.
We call upon you to be with us and to give us your blessing on our coming
together. Our hearts join in gratitude for you in your wondrous gifts in this
life that you have bestowed upon us, and in gratitude to the Father who dwells
within us. Help us to stand firm in your presence, knowing that you are with
us, that when we feel alone we can come to you in the blink of an eye and feel
your warmth and your light and your love.
Beloved Maker, we gratefully acknowledge your teachers who have come to help us
walk the path in this most difficult while most exciting time on your planet of
nativity. We flounder as individuals, but as people in your family we are
strengthened, knowing that we represent you and that you work with each of us
and abide with us all.
Give us, Brother, the willingness to hear with ears to hear those words, those
nuances of truth that will help us understand you better; indeed, that we may
understand you so well as to walk shoulder to shoulder with you, comrades with
you in this work of Kingdom-building.
Bless us as children, Michael, but help us to grow up to be pleasing to you and
Our Father in heaven. Be with us now today in our gathering, that our
hearts may open to your love through each other. Sanction and bless our
studies, our learning, our fellowship, our growth, and our week as we leave
here fed by the spirit that you bring by your gracious nature. Forever more.
Amen.
TOMAS: Good afternoon, my friends. I am
Tomas.
Group: Good afternoon.
TOMAS: My heart swells with appropriate pride in your
diligence and your loyalty, you who venture forth in search of companionship in
the spirit and understanding of your spirit nature, in hope of harmonizing your
dual nature for greater personality integration and expression. We are most
pleased with your efforts and with your faith.
My friends, last week we discussed the aspect of childlikeness as occasionally
compared to childishness and I know that you have all reflected on that quality
of childlikeness that places you in the hands of the Eternal Parents, that
small one who is made secure in the love of the Divine Parent. You who pray,
pray as a child of the Father, and you who seek comfort and healing pray as a
child of the Mother, and you who pray for harmony and fellowship among
yourselves pray to the Eternal Son, and in your youth, in your seeking, you are
a child.
Even Michael, when he walked upon Urantia, could be equated/aligned in your
mind as a child, in-as-much as he always came to the Father for guidance and
inspiration and companionship and direction. Always was his prayer, "Even
so, Thy will be done." His faith was childlike. He trusted the Father in
all things, even as a mortal child trusts its human parent to provide all
things. Let us look at your childlike aspects.
As you have observed your behaviors this week and the behaviors of others in
terms of childishness and childlikeness, you can quickly ascertain that some
children are more pleasant to be around than other children. Some children are
delightful by their very being, while some wreck havoc on their environment by
their very being. And the parent, the adult, may well wonder, "What will
this child be like when it has grown? Will these same characteristics still
prevail?"
And thus begins the process of formulating the behavior of the child that it
will then conform to the standards of its societal role and societal
expectations for how it is that a good child comports itself. Disciplines enter
into the picture. Sharing is a lesson to be learned, and relearned. Various
punishments may be meted out in order to impress a certain behavior
modification, and so the child ultimately becomes molded into a cultural mold
for the betterment of the whole.
You are, of course, all the products of such molding, and it is necessary that
this guidance take place in order for the young and unruly child to learn how
to function in and with its peers for eventual civilization. But I am more
interested today in looking at a child and ascertaining what it is about the
child itself that makes it "compatible" as compared to being
"well-behaved."
And I envision a child now, which you may do also, who is sheer delight. You
have heard it said in your scripture, "Out of the mouths of babes,"
and you know that as the Thought Adjuster comes to a young one and before the
young one is overmuch conditioned by behavior patterns outlined above, they
have a relatively free and unhampered access to their perception of truth, beauty
and goodness. They are guileless. And herein is the joy, for they can be
sincere in being their self.
There is a quality of devotion in a child who is sincere. Now this child may
not intellectually understand all there is to know, but when you are invited to
a tea party, when you are invited to visit the clubhouse, when you avail
yourself to listen to the child's point of view, you will be startled and
impressed by the degree of sincerity they allow their self. And that sincerity
remains as long as their integrity remains intact also.
It is the sincerity of the child, both little and big, that makes this child
pleasant, bearable, and loveable. And so as you perceive yourself as a child,
with your snits and temper tantrums, with your unwillingness to share, with
your fear of things that go bump in the dark … rather than hide your integrity,
allow yourself the gift of sincerity, for when you are sincere, you are close
to being real, and responses to your condition are more likely to be kindly and
beneficial.
Sincerity comes from the inner Core of the self. It is the soul speaking. It is
speaking for itself its own feelings and interpretations and not what it has
been taught by another. There are variations on the theme of sincerity to
include lesser values (such as, for your understanding, sincerely angry,
sincerely greedy, sincerely evil), but those are not my focus, nor yours, for
you understand that you attain perfection by your sincerity and your decisions,
and you make better decisions, more real and aligned decisions, when you take
your own sincerity into account. And even when you share yourself
sincerely with others (for in sharing yourself sincerely with others you get
feed-back), you can see if it is the feed-back that feeds your soul or if it is
something that has been taught and learned as a behavior modification to
societal expectations and cultural expectations rather than your own soul's
expectations.
Reflect sincerity outward and recognize it when it is reflected back to you.
This tool for your childhood is a gift. Everyone has it. And when you come
together, like you are now, today, in sincere faith and appreciation of your
spiritual growth in this family of believers, you are allowed to be sincere,
encouraged to be sincere, heartened to be real. It is not necessary to be glib;
it is not necessary to be clever; it is not required that you be politically
correct; but only that you be yourself. And that may include your discomfort
and your growing experiences, but in this arena, in this growing environment
with your peers in the Kingdom, you will be regarded lovingly and nurtured
graciously.
And so I say to you today to learn to trust each other as children, but not
products of your mortal realm; rather as products of your Eternal Parents, your
Father, Mother in Paradise, and allow your behaviors, your needs, your growth
experiences, your questing, your happiness, your sorrows, your confusions, be a
reflection of your relationship with Them. Align yourself, children, with your
true Parents. Allow Them to raise you up.
I will speak further regarding your stature as a child of God at another time,
in other lessons. I am eager now to engage in conversation with you. How shall
we commence? Are there questions?
Liana: Tomas, could you just clarify one of these
terms for me?
TOMAS: I will try.
Liana: What does grace mean? And what does "ministering
grace" mean?
TOMAS: You almost ask for a lesson on the fruits of the
spirit. Grace is a state of being when it occurs in you and it is a gift when
you are aware that you have received it. Grace is indeed like a yellow blanket
that covers you and gives off a soft glow of warmth and light. Grace is a
connection with spirit so viable and real as to literally alter your
electro-chemical structure. It pulls in the morontia realm of existence and so
you can walk in grace consciously, knowing you are walking with the spirit and
in the spirit.
When you are not walking thus, but seek to know it, you then seek the touch of
grace which comes through the Master, through the spirit, to bless you, to
bring itself to bear upon you, in you and with you. Grace is a reflection of
the Trinity. You can see grace in those who carry it comfortably. You can wish
it upon those who stumble and fall. You can call upon it to wash over you, and,
if you are willing, it will do so.
Ministering grace is grace by its very nature, for it cannot help but minister
by its very being. As illumination relieves the darkness, so does grace
minister to its surroundings. Does that clarify?
Liana: Yes, thank you.
TOMAS: You are welcome. I appreciate your
question.
Hunnah: This is Hunnah.
TOMAS: Yes, daughter.
Hunnah: We have a small group this morning and it's cold
outside and we have our warm hearts. Can we take a break for a moment to see if
some of us have a question?
TOMAS: We shall have one of our infamous
intermissions, then.
[Intermission]
TOMAS: Welcome back. Happy Intermission. Indeed, it does
provide you that safety valve that we referred to earlier, for you find
yourself focused and fed and "get out get out get out" comes along to
rid yourselves of all that which is blocking your sincere childlike faith. I am
tolerant of your hiatus into your psychological and your emotional understandings
of yourselves for that reason as well as others.
It is important to socialize. It is important, as I said earlier, to trust each
other, and you evidence your trust of each other when you share in these ways,
and the sanctity of the teacher platform allows you to experience this
unabated, unfenced. Your discourses are sometimes even productive of soulful
understandings of your own experiences.
I will add to my earlier remarks having to do with the sincerity of a good
child, of a child, remarking now that this enchanting and delightful child's
sincerity is a matter of the heart. And, as you have discussed in your
intermission, albeit from far-flung points of view, your appreciation of
reality is in the heart's manifestation, not being the romantic heart so much
as the heart of truth, beauty and goodness, the soulful appreciation of your
integrity and reality, your imagination, your beliefs, your appreciation and
your adoration.
Sincerity in a child is like poetry. This week, as you continue to observe
yourself and others as children, observe also the poetry of sincerity. Be
advised that it is difficult for the mortal to be sincere. Many individuals run
from sincerity for it is too real for their "comfort zones." Many
times people shun genuine sincerity for they are at once vulnerable. They have
exposed their heart; they have been real and they feel vulnerable. And so
sincerity is truly a rare commodity.
You would serve yourself, your peers and your Master if you were to be able to
gently enable others to know sincerity, and you can encourage their sincerity
by being sincere yourselves. Being sincere does not preclude having a
sense of humor. Many people regard sincerity as onerous and burdensome
for its tonal quality, as if you had to be mature in order to be sincere, but I
tell you, as children, you have the biggest heart, the most guileless faith,
the most sublime trust, the most radiant joy, and these are light-hearted,
bountiful and beautiful, appealing and charming and loveable, and so exercise
yourself this week by being sincere in your childlikeness. It will help you to
continue to be childlike while restraining you from being childish.
Were there any questions formulated during the intermission or have any emerged
for discussion? Or in the alternative, are there comments or collaboration to
offer?
Celeste: I don't know, Tomas, but I just love the story that
Leah just told. I liked that story; it's so real and so human. I just wonder
what you thought about it. [Ed. note: Leah related an altercation in a
gas station wherein an aggressive driver was verbally assaulting his highway
prey. Leah angrily confronted the aggressive man, in defense of his victim.]
TOMAS: She has been working in the field. She has been
up to her knees in mud, and her sleeves have been rolled up that she may face
the furrows of life with enthusiasm and gusto, for truly that is a situation,
that which she described in her "altercation" at the gas station,
that is a rightful matter for Correcting Time.
It was courageous of her to take this on. It is only fair to add that the
circumstances of her life at this time and her emotional condition also at this
time, her growing and developing willingness and readiness to act upon her
light of truth has enabled her to thus respond to the situation toward
correction. It may not have been possible a week ago and it may not be
necessary next week, but it was indeed a valuable learning experience for Leah
and the man and the boy, and all indeed will reflect upon value, although there
will be great denial and thoughts of retribution in the process. The truth was
demonstrated physically, dramatically and succinctly. Blessed be those who
fight the good fight of faith.
The scripture about "swords and plowshares" wafts to the surface of
the mental bank of Gerdean, but she is not well-versed in scripture and so it
is alluded to for those of you who have that frame of reference for
understanding. Alas, the plowshares, having risen to the surface, refuse to
submerge and so I am drowning. One moment please.
[Ed. note: An intermission discussion arose regarding emotions, to-wit, one
person contended that emotions are exhausting and are therefore to be avoided;
the other person construed this to be an unhealthy attitude. Tomas now responds
to that issue.]
Yes, I also would like to reflect upon your discourses having to do with the
emotional realms. And that experience at the gas station, the altercation in
defense of truth, cannot be construed as less than an emotional experience, one
which could be regarded as exhausting, but also could be regarded as
invigorating, and so these emotions of the mortal realm are not as well defined
as you would like to have them be.
Fear, for example, is not altogether unwholesome, for there are reasonable and
unreasonable fears, given your evolutionary plateau, and other emotions have a
wider range of value than you may like to think. There are also healthy kinds
of love as well as unhealthy kinds of love. There are beneficial constraints as
well as negative controls. The emotional range is, as I have described before,
much like the Everglades of Florida. It is a wonderful place, exotic beyond
description, and even though it may be dangerous in places, especially for the
unskilled, it may also be awe-inspiring and breathtaking and exhilarating in
its majesty and mystery.
It is indeed difficult to live a day in the life without benefit of emotion,
for you are emotional creatures, but as we discussed, being allowed to walk in
a unified personality, a well-balanced individual, human and divine, the
emotions are not all-consuming. As you allow the spiritual outlook to light the
way for you, you can sometimes see an emotional pitfall coming and sidestep it.
If you don't see, and you stumble or get caught in the quicksand of, say,
jealousy or rage or worry, you can call upon the forces of will, which will
enable you to regain your footing.
Even in looking back upon your emotional escapades, you can look upon them and
see what you have learned and what you have experienced as a result of having
allowed yourself the experience which is constructed in and with emotion. An
experience is good if it brings you closer to the Father, if it gives you
increased understanding of your fellow beings, if it encourages and supports
truth, beauty and goodness in the end. Do not avoid going to the Everglades.
I must ask if this has been helpful. (Pause) I am also asking my transmitter
who originally posed the question having to do with the emotions as a realm to
eschew, for emotions can be exhausting, and she is availing her response to me
that, yes, she is pleased with my response to her.
Very well. Have we covered adequate ground that you will gaily go into
your more academic study? Are you ready to embark upon a cerebral and perhaps
morontial appreciation of "The Nature of God" in your text?
Celeste: It is wonderful. I love that part of
the text.
TOMAS: We, too. Let us then commence and I will bid you
adieu for today, we who watch you lovingly and carefully. Be well, be
adventurous, be joyous children.
Group: Love you, too, Tomas.
TOMAS: Sincerely yours. Farewell.
*****
DATE: January 25, 1997
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R: Gerdean
TEXTUAL STUDY:
Urantia Paper 1: The Nature of God
TOPIC:
THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH
TOMAS: Greetings, faithful ones. I am Tomas, your teacher.
It is good to be with you, as always. Many of us have assembled in enjoyment
and appreciation of your coming together in praise of The Father and in
fellowship with each of His children here present and in concern for those who
are dear to you … while not present in the flesh, present in your heart and in
your mind.
Prayer is a great fulfiller. Take your concerns always to The Father in prayer,
for your attitude in prayer can then be adjusted toward helping bring about the
desired results / effects of your prayer. Many times when you pray you are then
given the assignment of following through with that prayer in service.
All children of God are imbued with the power of God. It is in making a wise
and divine use of such power that earmarks you as a son or daughter of the
living God. It allows the Son to shine upon you that others may see your light.
It satisfies the longings of the soul.
It has been said that religionists act, and even though their actions are
sometimes in error, they are at least actions brought about by their intent to
serve. It has also been said in your realm, that there are those who make
things happen, those who watch what happen and those who wonder what happened,
and you may decide which of those you will be, for as you take yourself into
prayer, you can become a mover and a shaker of divine action. If you put your
religious life on a back burner, by maintaining a cursory interest, you may
watch what happens as a result of those movers and shakers; and, pity the poor
person who has no cognizance of this divine and interplanetary interaction at
all, but wonders "What's it all about, Alfie?"
I address now you who would be diligent, you who would be movers and shakers,
you who would act on behalf of your beliefs, on behalf of Michael, on behalf of
that which you love and hold dear in terms of your spiritual life. There are
ways to go about getting things accomplished and your world is well versed in
many techniques of accomplishing things and I would refer you to our Source and
Center and the divine plan that unfailingly gets the job done.
When Jesus walked on your world it reached a point when one day he said to his
would-be apostles, "Follow me" and they did. And the results of their
efforts altered the climate on Urantia for the subsequent 2,000 years. There is
now yet a new and modern revelation to Urantia through The Urantia Book, and it
is a reminder, in part, of the invitation and admonition that those who would
make a difference would follow him even still.
Lo, the Master has been gone from Urantia in the flesh these many years, and so
his invitation to follow him becomes another chapter. No longer is he here to
sit in the flesh with us, to counsel with us, to encourage us, and to flood our
minds with his advanced understandings, but he has said "I am the
Way" and so still we are to follow him. We cannot follow him as the
original apostles did in those long-gone days, but we can follow him in our
lives today by and through his gift to Urantia, to you, which he poured out
upon his departure and upon his reclamation of divinity, and that is, of
course, the Spirit of Truth.
For as you put yourself in a willingness to follow him, he will guide you and
lead you through the Spirit of Truth as fully and as coherently as if he were
here with you in the flesh. Now what is this Spirit of Truth and how does it
work in your life, in your lives? For everyone has a comprehension of truth, of
many truths. And how are you to know what to believe? Which way to go?
As you journey in your ascendant career, you are aided by the seven adjutant
mind spirits, another gift of the Paradise Trinity to help and enable you to
develop and grow your own relationship with Deity. And in and through these
adjutant mind spirits, mortals have made their decisions for many generations,
as compared to consulting with the Spirit of Truth.
It is to be remembered that when you attain a certain degree of spiritual maturity,
you no longer need to utilize so heavily these adjutant mind spirits, but until
you attain that level, they are active in evolving you and aligning you with
life's ventures. And so those who have not been born of the spirit or those who
have not attained a certain degree of spiritual maturity (for lack of a better
word), their decisions will be made concomitantly with the adjutant mind
spirits.
You may hear someone say, for instance, that their intuition told them to do
something or behave in a certain way or grasp a concept as having reality, and
this is and provides a relative truth, one which is, at that time, honorable.
One may have certain understandings based upon his or her experiences and
exposures, and this plateau of understanding, this platform of understanding,
influences his or her decisions, and so on down the line. The adjutant mind
spirits impact personality and they impact decisions which impact or fail to
impact on the growth of the Supreme.
Whereas, when you consult with and rely upon the Spirit of Truth, there
resonates within you, on every level, a clarity of purpose, and even a
direction. Everyone has available to them the Spirit of Truth, but many opt to
remain in the realms of the adjutant mind spirits for their decision-making
guidance. The Spirit of Truth is that within you which, at every crossroads of
life, will point and say, "This is the Way" and it is the Way of the
Master. It is His answer to you to follow the invitation to "Follow
me."
In order for you to have, perhaps, a clearer understanding of how the Spirit of
Truth works in your life, perhaps you will be able to recall a time in your
life wherein you felt that the direction you were headed was the direction that
was right for you and that you truly wanted to go. It may have had to do with a
career, an earthly career. It may have had to do with a relationship, perhaps a
romantic relationship. It may have had to do, perhaps, with your influence that
you had available to bring to bear upon another human being, perhaps a child or
someone under your authority and guidance. And in your understanding of the
spirit of the seven adjutant mind spirits, you had worked out a plan that
seemed to conform to all the elements of intuition, counsel, courage,
understanding, knowledge, worship and wisdom. You were happy with your choices
and hell bent on bringing it about. And this is how your world has attained its
reality levels today, by and large.
For the Spirit of Truth is its own voice. It is a superior voice to the
evolutionary adjutant mind spirits, and as you learn to trust the Spirit of
Truth, you can bank on the Spirit of Truth for it will show you the way in such
clarity and conviction that you will see the difference between the better way
and the lesser way. Always does the Spirit of Truth lead you into an
understanding of Michael, an appreciation for the divine plan. It takes no
credit for itself, but always leads you into the presence of the Master, that
he may say, "Follow me. This is the Way."
I have seen, I have heard accounts of many sincere individuals who had allowed
a glimmering of the Spirit of Truth to speak to them, and even to show them the
Way, but the mortal was so comfortable with the outlined plan of its own
understanding and of its own choosing, that there commenced, there ensued, a
long and arduous struggle - over time and affecting many souls - that existed
until such time as the struggle ended by and through, ultimately, acquiescing
and recognizing the wisdom of the Spirit of Truth.
And so you may take as much time in your spiritual evolution as you choose, but
as you choose to consult with and follow through the ministrations of the
Spirit of Truth, you accelerate the growth of yourself, of your loved ones,
indeed, of Urantia and on into infinity. When you, therefore, find yourself in
a crossroad, remember these words as to the Spirit of Truth. Allow it to lead
you into the presence and the guidance of the Master, who will say,
"Follow me. This is the Way." And you may follow in full confidence
of it being the correct path for you. It is sure victory, even though it may
appear that the road is rocky and the way hard. It is for you to trust that
your faith may grow in your supernal adventure of finding God and aspiring to
be more like him. If you aspire to be like him, then seek him, and do not lean
upon your own understanding.
I have concluded my "lecture" for the afternoon. How I enjoyed your
reading today in the nature of our divine Parent! The goodness of God has
granted that I may know you and be your companion and for this personal
experience I shall be eternally affected and eternally grateful. How are you,
my loved ones, today? Are there questions?
Mary Theresa: You had said earlier, Tomas, about those born
in spirit and those not born in spirit? Or whatever. I didn't understand. I
thought we were all born . .. unless I misunderstood what you meant by it . ..
that we were all born of the spirit, God within us. You know what I'm saying?
TOMAS: Let me, perhaps, clarify, that yes, indeed, the Spirit
of Truth has been bestowed upon all flesh; and also everyone of normal mind is
indwelt by a fragment of the divine Father. And so you have, everyone has a
Thought Adjuster and everyone may utilize and enjoy the ministering presence of
the Spirit of Truth. But as you understand, you are free will creatures,
and you are not compelled to follow him or anyone, but that as you venture
through your life's experiences, you may make those decisions which will create
your greater God-consciousness, or not.
Those who are born of the spirit, those who are reborn, are innately infused
with the fruits of the spirit and even those who "wonder what
happened" have these fruits of the spirit to reflect upon, inasmuch as
they are indwelt by God, a fragment of God, and so the potential is there. But
unless and until the potential is actualized by conscious decision, the fruit
is not ripe, you see.
Those of you who have opted to go forward, to embrace the divine presence, to
seek to know God in your personal religious experience, your personal lives
have activated those spiritual gifts and can also discern the benefit of
working with an appreciation of the Spirit of Truth. Have I been too vague,
Mary Theresa?
Mary Theresa: No, because I sort of misunderstood, in the beginning.
I was wondering is there a connection with the "born again" people.
We were talking about being born again. Is this the more or less the same
thing, that we just have to open up to it? We all have it, we all have been
born with it, in other words, and we just have to accept, and want to know God,
and, no, you explained it beautifully. Thank you.
Celeste: I read in The Urantia Book one day that if
your mind isn't working well, you should take on the mind of Jesus.
TOMAS: It is indeed a successful technique for those who
have the perspicacity to think in those terms. It puts to rest the
materialistic aspects of the mind, which is incessantly busy and incessantly
clamoring for recognition. If you can replace your ego/mechanical mind with the
mind of Christ, those voices will be stilled. The conditioning voices that tell
you "you should," "you should have," "I told you
this," and all those -- what is it your culture calls it? The
"committee" of voices who remind you of your earlier training: your
teachers, your parents, your peers, your spouses, your authority figures, your
saints and so forth who have deluged your mind banks with impressions that are
still affecting you as part of your previous conditioning.
But by trading that busy and befuddled mind for the mind of Christ, you are at
once relieved of those jabbering voices of others' values, and immediately
impressed with the sanctity of repose, of mental poise, and in this place you
can begin to allow your own mind to be in alignment with that divine mind of
the Infinite Spirit which will give you the ability to make those decisions
which will give reality to your life, based upon your own relationship with
your Eternal Parent and not upon lesser gods. Well done.
Celeste: Those things that you go to a psychiatrist
for or psychologists for, that we have those parts from the past, or your
thinking, when you take on the mind of Jesus, seriously take on the mind of
Jesus, you don't have to go anyplace for medical help.
TOMAS: Remember, though, that you are not taking on the body of Christ, but the
mind of Christ, and although I am not disagreeing with the potentials of your
remark, I wanted to clarify for the record that in taking on the mind of
Christ, you have now found the peace which passes all understanding, and from
this place of peace and poise in the spirit, this great stronghold, it is
possible then to clean out those closets of conditioning which are represented
by the various members of that chattering committee, for they have influenced
you, they have influence that they bring to bear upon your behavior when you
are unsuspecting. And further, as you assume the mind of Christ (which phrase
many scoff at), you are actually freer to also mend your physical facets
because you can see more clearly how it is that you have become ill or bent or
tender. Yes, there are many advantages to taking on the mind of Christ.
Celeste: Tomas, if you practice these fruits of the
spirit, you cannot help but take on the mind of Christ.
Mary Theresa: Tomas also just answered a question that was
running in my mind about physical health. When I feel that I'm possibly coming
down with something, I wonder, I say to God in my prayers that I don't need to
be ill. Whatever it is that I'm doing wrong, let me know; what I'm thinking
wrong, let me know, because I do feel I can trace it back to anger,
frustration, and I think if we, as you say, take on the mind of Christ, we
release those feelings, because I really feel that it affects my health, and you
just said that in so many words, that it does affect you physically.
TOMAS: Indeed it does. I would like to say more regarding
this taking on the mind of Christ, which phrase I will not repeat consistently
for it is a borrowed phrase for certain understanding, but technically it is
not the mind of Christ but a gentle aphorism, for their minds are so far beyond
yours, it is like a little child who is wearing her Mommy's high heeled shoes.
You may think that you can assume the mind of Christ, but technically it is not
possible.
What you have done, rather, is ask for Christ to put your thinking into an
alignment with perfection. Your own mind, then, is that which may make wise
decisions which will further your own progression into perfection. In this clarification,
now, I may renew my interest in the Spirit of Truth, for as you consult with
your mind, the Spirit of Truth may help direct your thinking toward "What
would Jesus do? How might he have done this? How would he have me behave?"
In a way, your mind, having made the decision to become Godlike, presents a
triodity, if you will, with the Spirit of Truth and the guidance of Christ, and
so there is a harmonious working arrangement that results in and between and
among those realities, such that it is not necessary for you then to depend
upon the more primary and material reality levels of the seven adjutant mind
spirits, for your mind has been relieved of much of its foregoing conditioning
and scaffolding, so now you can make intelligent decisions by your association
with your Father/Brother Michael as care-taken by the Spirit of Truth.
I "think" there was another facet of our discussion but it eludes me.
If I have overlooked a nuance of your discussion and inquiry, please bring it
again to the forefront of my attention.
Hester: I, Tomas, have been dealing with the first breath we
take in as we become a human being after we've left the womb.
TOMAS: Yes, Hester?
Hester: And I find this breath tied in. This first breath is
the breath of life that is spoken of in this first series of words, and along
with it comes this "I am the Way, I am the Truth, and I am the Light. No
man or woman or being comes to the Father except by me." I get that this
means not being the Christ in action as much as being active and involved with
becoming the Christ in action.
TOMAS: This is correct. It is astute, for why would a loving
God preclude believers from coming to Him simply because they had not the
knowledge of one Jesus of Nazareth. Indeed, it is true that we come to the
Father through the Creator, but it is because a Creator Son has given us the
life pattern, the life, that we live.
It is not that we are not the Father's direct creation, but rather the creation
of the Creator Son, and so we attain Paradise and the presence of the Universal
Father because we have been brought into being by and through the Creator Son,
Christ.
It is not so much your natal understanding that you would gather from your
understanding of the evolved religions, for as I said, even though a man be
Buddhist or Islamic, he is still in line for ascension to the Paradise Father
and will meet Michael in his ascent.
As to your remark regarding that first moment having to do with the breath of
life, again it is a literal and earthly interpretation. The breath of life is
not just that breath which you recognize as an inhalation and exhalation of
oxygen and carbon dioxide, but indeed the very power of life as it goes out
from Havona into the universes and returns to its Source. This, too, is the
breath of life.
Hester: Thank you, Tomas.
TOMAS: Thank you for sharing, Hester.
I will divert a moment into our session of last week. Recall that we were to
investigate our childlike aspects, in terms of sincerity, in order that our
childlikeness might wield more influence than our childishness, and that you
were invited to induce sincerity in your fellows by being thus sincere
yourselves. Have we reports or testimonies in that context?
Hester: Well, I would say that I wasn't here last week and I didn't know what
the assignment was, but I see I attuned right into it. Absolutely, the first
breath took me into it, and I see this tiny human being taking the first breath
and all of a sudden everything starts to move in that little body. It's like
you turn the button and the thought comes out, and it goes "bang,
bang" and it starts working. It's been working as a fish, prior to this.
The gills close up and the lungs take over on the first breath.
TOMAS: Yes, and you will see when you review our previous lessons and
discussions from the transcripts, that although we did not discuss the approach
from the fish, we have approached the child from its early origins in terms of
its behavior. We have discussed a good child as compared to a rascally child,
and certain conditionings [that are] necessary in your civilization to guide
and conform its behavior.
But we have been focussing on the child as a reflection of you yourselves as
children, in order to take a new and fresh look at how it is that you are the
way you are, and we have been looking now at the quality of sincerity, for the
sincerity of a child is what gives it its own magical aura. Even grown-up
children are creative, inventive, interesting and impelling by their degree of
sincerity, and yet so few mortals are sincere.
I relinquish the floor to you for this discussion. I am not going to give
another lecture. (Group laughter)
Mary Theresa: I think it came up one other time, where you
want to be sincere, but you want to tell the person-- You don't want to
let the person down, so you agree with them, rather than be completely honest.
You don't want them to be angry with you, and so you affirm something that you
really didn't want to, or you catch yourself doing that. At least I know I
catch myself after I've done it. AFTER I've done it. Should I try to make a
correction there or leave well enough alone?
I guess I feel I'm not intelligent enough to know how to handle it, and say it
easily without causing hard feelings. To the person that's down, you try to
build them up, and there I affirm something that in my mind is wrong — maybe
it's only in my mind that it's wrong, so why make an enemy? This is the
confusion that goes on in my head. What's honest and what isn't? What's being truly
wise?
Hester: Theresa, I have to say to you that mankind has been
looking for honesty ever since the first man came on the earth and met the
first woman.
TOMAS: I must interject, for I fear we will reduce our
conversation to a battle of the sexes in terms of honesty. Even this group of
women here can learn to improve upon their honest appraisals and discourses
among each other. As I addressed in the lesson having to do with enlightened
honesty, it is better for you to not say anything than to reaffirm error, for
in affirming error, it has helped to solidify an untruth. And yet if this
matter is of eternal value, it will recur for clarification.
Is it a matter for you to take to the Master in consultation? If so, do not
rely upon your own understanding of honesty, but ask, indeed, the Master
through the Spirit of Truth and see if you are given an insightful response
through your meditations for when this incident reoccurs, as it likely will
until the lesson is learned.
Remember that Jesus, in his dealings with his apostles would sometimes speak --
what word shall I use? Firmly. Strongly. Swiftly. -- in order for them to
understand. Being Christlike does not necessary mean being a doormat or
saccharine in sweetness. Our goal is to become real, to become a reflection of
The Father, which, as you read today, has a vast span of possibility. It
includes science, art, and religion, you know, and, therefore, it can include
mercy and wisdom and justice as well as sweetness and light.
It is important to expand your comprehension of The Father to break down those
genteel doors painted by your historic forefathers of religion. Angels and
saints have been symbolic of qualities of God for a long time, but they are
mere manmade icons of an understanding of this God that is all-powerful,
all-present in his greatness as well as his goodness.
Being honest when necessary should not make you feel awkward. You have the
Spirit of Truth within you, Mary Theresa. You have the strength within you,
within your God-consciousness, to do what must be done if you are called upon
to do it. You have the strength of this all-powerful Center. Do not make light
of your capacities, for there is in you One who can if you cannot.
Mary Theresa: I have no problem being honest with my family.
With them I can be very open. As a matter of fact, I probably tell them more
than I should. Outside the family I just have a hard time being frank and open.
TOMAS: Perhaps these people do not mean enough to you for
you to be truly open with them. If these are social situations that are mere
window dressing and not true reality-based relationships, then I wouldn't lose
sleep over the way you say "Hello."
Mary Theresa: I have a friend, two of them, who are offended
very easily.
TOMAS: Do you love the sinner and
hate the sin?
Mary Theresa: Yes. I love my friends. I've always felt
that I was a people person. I like them; I like sociability; and I've had many
friends. And I know this one gets hurt very easily and I just have a hard time
being completely honest. It just seems like I find myself agreeing because I'm
afraid I'm going to preach, I think, because my husband thinks I preach. My
husband says I preach.
TOMAS: Are you promoting error that will affect their immortal soul? No? Then
let it go. If you think they look wretched in chartreuse, it is not necessary
to say they look pea green in that dress, but say things are going swimmingly.
There are creative ways to get around situations that do not rise to the
occasion of truth-seeking, but if, on the other hand, these situations do not
warrant truth, perhaps the relationship itself needs to be reviewed as to its
caliber and content.
Celeste: Tomas?
TOMAS: Yes, Celeste.
Celeste: I just want to see if I can say this right.
Instead of taking on the mind of Christ, which obviously we can never truly do,
how about it would be okay to say we'd be open to the mind of Christ.
Hester: Eventually we do take on the mind of Christ. It may
take some time. I mean, how many years do we live before we realize that we are
a human being? And there are differences between us all. It's progressive. Am I
right, Tomas?
TOMAS: Of course. It is progressive. It is an ascension plan. Yes. What you
know today is more than you knew yesterday but less than you know tomorrow.
Hester: So instead of getting hung up on this little briar on the side of the
rose, look up at the rose and start moving toward the rose instead of being
hung up on the briar.
Celeste: That's good.
TOMAS: Well put.
Leah: About the sincerity, I don't believe I practiced
it the way you really talked about it, but I did notice that I talked more to
cashiers and people in interchanges and -- I usually do look people in the eye,
but I seemed to have conversations as opposed to, you know, "Good-bye and
thank you." You pay for your merchandise and say good-bye. One time I was
in the parking lot and I saw this man and this woman screaming at each other.
It was obvious they were having some kind of a thing going on, the ego-action
of the thing was, you know, and so I thought, "Well, bless them."
There was some lady that was beeping her horn in the parking lot and she kept
on beeping it over and over and over again, I don't know why, and I found myself
judging her, and I don't know, I feel a bit more sincerity about those social
situations where it's just every day things that you have to do. It feels that
I'm getting to know the people a little better.
Hester: You know those people that were out of the
penitentiary? They were out at the parking lot in Cranberry the day they got
out, and I parked to go into Wal-Mart for some reason, and the man, the
bald-headed man they caught first? He was standing three cars from where I
parked and I walked right past him and you know something? I had to look him in
the eye. And thank God! I didn't recognize him. I didn't know him because I
didn't know about...
I couldn't help it! I smiled! I had to smile. And when I came back out, he was
still standing by that one car, waiting for his cohort, and they got started
and got away but they were the first ones caught. But the car, he stole it
apparently, right there in the Cranberry lot! It could have been my car! But,
thank God, I had the consciousness -- I don't know what else to call it -- to
smile, because I've been practicing seeing everybody as a child of God, no
matter who they are, no matter what they're doing, and it helps my child.
But that really happened. And every time I see that man on television, I think
how fortunate, because they were -- he was a murderer! He was in for murder!
God was with me, is with us.
TOMAS: All the time. I am going to make ready to depart. Are
there any...?
Celeste: I just want say that you are really good to
us, Tomas, and we're glad you're here.
TOMAS: I love you very much, and I am, even so, glad to be
among you. I will extend the assignment from last week into next week to
include practicing your childlike sincerity, and also incorporating your Spirit
of Truth into your consultations to augment and secure your sincerity. Until we
speak again, I am your devoted friend, Tomas, and … I would like to add a
P.S. … that I am available to you should you, any of you, seek a personal
conversation. I and other teachers are here, remember, to serve you, and so if
the meeting configuration does not lend itself well to what your needs are, I
am eager to serve, and I would urge you to consult with Gerdean's calendar for
a special session.
Also, we are very, very happy to have another transmitter emerging in your
midst, and this too shall bring about greater expanse of lessons and learnings.
This is all for now. Farewell.
Group: Farewell. Thank you.
*****
DATE: February 1, 1997
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R: Gerdean
TEXTUAL STUDY:
Urantia Book, Paper 3:
"The Attributes of God"
TEACHERS TOMAS and TARKAS
TOPIC:
You are a Microcosm Universe
"I Am Only Human"
Tomas is Not a Psychic
Stolen Heirlooms
Pope Paul and Mother Theresa
Schedule Meditation Time
TOMAS: Good afternoon, dear friends. I am Tomas, your
teacher and your companion, your guide in your growing, in particular in your
growing experiences as they evolve from our studies in our formal gatherings.
It is worthy of note that those lessons which have been given in the past, and
which you assumed to know, are then given a chance to be experientially worked
out through your life in subsequent times. And so, many of the
experiences that you relate among each other as being a current experience,
reflects upon your recent thought processes having been stimulated by our
gatherings in which your soul's needs have been addressed. Therefore, as
your soul needs to develop, you reflect that need to your spirit helpers who in
turn attempt to bring to your cognizant mind that lesson as set forth in the
Melchizedek curriculum which will bring into effect those experiences which
will manifest that truth for you experientially.
I will tell you, before we settle down this afternoon, before this portion of
your agenda, that I and my fellows in the spirit realm who attend, are much
like those who investigate the delicacies of an operation by your surgeons from
the glass-enclosed aerie up and out of the way of the operation which is your interactions
at your table with one another, and we are amazed at the process, amazed to
see, in fact, how it is that your growth is manifested in your human
experiences and how you then reflect your understanding of your experiences to
your co-workers and peers. It gives us great satisfaction to see you interact
thus. Indeed, your scholarly study today was a hallmark of invigorated
learning.
The everywhereness of God was certainly evident in each of you today in your
sharing of your understanding of your experience in and with and through the
Universal Father, our creator — our ultimate creator. I will borrow, indeed,
upon the lesson from today to convey some words to you as a microcosm of the
Upholder of the Universes, for as He indwells each of you and as He guides and
directs your life, as He is the driving force in your existence, you then, in
conjunction with Him and in cooperation with Him, represent in your sphere a
microcosm universe.
As we teach, as we plant seeds, and as these seeds develop in your reality and
as you manifest this reality, you adopt and adapt sufficiently to carry Light
and Life into your environment. As each of you allows the infinite First Source
and Center to be the First Source and Center of your temporal reality as well
as your spiritual reality, we will have succeeded in bringing about Light and
Life for all Urantia.
And so the challenge is for you to maintain your own sphere of relative
perfection, by and through your relationship with your indwelling God Fragment,
aligning your will with His to manifest His divine perfection in your singular
sphere of influence, your own personal orb of light and life.
We found your dialog today to be most revealing of the human condition, and the
grappling which takes place in comprehending who you are, and how you are, and
how you are to comport yourself in certain specific and general circumstances
affecting your peace of mind and well-being in terms of your relationship with
spirit, and I am returning again to earlier lessons having to do with the
unified personality, the substance of your growth here on this plane of
existence; for whereas you have been born of the spirit and seek comfort and
strength in that spirit, you also have a tabernacle of flesh and its many
demands and habits to consider, to take into account, to hold in balance of
your triune growth of spiritual, mental and physical harmony and ascension.
As you exclude one, you throw the system off balance. It is always necessary to
incorporate your entire being into your reality and into the reality of others.
Easy for me to say! (Group laughter) But I have already experienced those
growth struggles that you today experience and I am now without the primary
considerations of the corporeal form, but I am still envisaged as an entity,
and as an entity, a personality, I am still learning how to adapt to other
personalities while maintaining my own identity and while operating at my
capacity as an adjunct of Our Universal Father.
My "light and life" harmonizes more readily with my peers, for we
have attained a certain degree of modus operandi, and whereas you grapple with
your human experience, we are heartened by your courage and by your dedication
to the task. As you are devoted, so are we devoted. One cannot want for someone
what they do not want for themselves. It is a fruitless exercise to want or
wish for someone else to embrace your understanding of truth, beauty and
goodness, but as they understand truth, beauty and goodness, then you are in
harmony, at least in understanding integrity of intent.
Mortals spend an inordinate amount of time trying to convince each other of
what is right for everyone because it would appear to be right for them, and
this is a result of in your microcosm universe you have not allowed the Universal
Father to be the First Source and Center but have allowed your ego, your
human-based reality, to be the center of that universe.
Before you assume that as a criticism, I hasten to clarify that that is a
natural part of the growth process. As you might say, "I'm only
human," and this is understood, but as you allow your humanness to be
guided and directed, indeed led, ultimately controlled, by those forces of good
which are greater than you, you have indeed "let go and let God" and you
have done this willingly of your own free will -- spiritually, mentally and
physically.
That is a tall order for what began as an animal of the realm! It requires many
surgeries, many adjustments, many operations to convert your will into a
working harmonious arrangement, a collaboration, a co-creation with divine
will. Be good to yourselves in the process, yes, but be good also to those
around you who, in their own way, are struggling for perfection. "Judge
not lest ye be not judged."
Many, many of your recent growths have become actual. Potential has become
actual. There is an accelerated process, and as you continue to hunger for
truth and thirst after righteousness, you will continue to multiply your desire
to do his will and to bring prevailing harmony into your sphere of influence,
that you might see the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. This lofty ideal
and this noble goal is the challenge of the age, and you are not alone.
We are working with you, we are assisting, we are companions with you, guides,
teachers and friends, as you question your experiences in life, as you wonder
about your reality understandings, as you grow through these adaptations to
other personalities, others' values, meanings and truths, consult with each
other, consult with your supernal helpers and consult with Jesus through the
Spirit of Truth, for it is the Father's will that you know happiness, that you
bestow His goodness.
You have been working hard. Recently there was a session of believers gathered
here wherein we discussed the merits of appreciating a plateau of growth and
attainment, an evening of praise and confirmation. It is always a good idea to,
as you say, "stop and smell the roses," knowing full well that in due
course the momentum of ascension will return, luring you ever forward, ever
onward. Trust that you will be led Home, and that as you are led you are given
many stopping off places to experience, to learn, to grow, and to savor en
route.
"In my Father's house there are many mansions." There are many
mansions even before moving on to the mansion worlds, for in your microcosm of
universe experience here, even now you know the many mansions of your life's
plateaus as you have ascended from darkness and from childhood into
understanding and light, into comprehension and cooperation, into new
challenges and experiences. Appreciate your experiences. Not only for the
lessons you learn and the lessons you teach, but for the fact of the experience
itself, for the understanding of the microcosm of divinity which you
participate in by being an offspring of the Eternal Parent.
And so this week enjoy and savor the experience. Enjoy and savor, in fullness
of understanding, that "all is well." That you are only a microcosm
and not the universe itself.
Beloved children, noble sons and daughters, dear friends, my peace I wash over
you. Am I to be included in your growth this afternoon through questions or
commentary?
Celeste: Those of us that are here can no longer say,
"I'm only human," but we can say, "I'm human with God, which is
in me, with the Thought Adjuster." I love that! It's such a big
difference.
TOMAS: It certainly elevates you from a mere puppet of
societal conditionings, social responses and biologic urges, yes, for you have
the status now of the dignity of sonship/ daughtership, your human-ness and
divine-ness in one.
Celeste: When we were all going to church or Sunday school,
we learned that God is within us, and I always loved that, and I thought it was
very nice, but I didn't think much more about it. But now it's kind of
nice to know that you can actually work with your Thought Adjuster, and it's
asked that you do!
TOMAS: Indeed. There are many half-truths, untruths, partial
truths that have been embedded in your growing, and even today as you assimilate
new truths, they may or may not be construed at their highest potential, but
this is part of the scaffolding of your growing process.
In terms of the phrase "I am only human," you truly need to perceive
as best you can the motives of the speaker, for are they trying to convey their
willingness to learn more? Or are they using it as an excuse to not try? You
say it is the second one; I trust you are thinking in terms of a particular
context.
Celeste: Well, I do think that when we fail to do something
we should have done, that's usually what we say.
TOMAS: An understanding of one's smallness in humility is a
response also of saying, "I am only human. I am not yet completely spirit,
but I am working in conjunction with spirit to the best of my ability,
comprehension and commitment."
Celeste: Well, thank God for that because I always
heard it -- when it's been used in my presence, it always sounds like such a
weak thing to say. But it's entirely different today.
TOMAS: It goes from being a "cop-out" to a
reason for compassion.
Celeste: Yes.
Hester: Tomas, could I ask you . ...
TOMAS: You well know you can.
Hester: I don't know how to phrase it. What can I do to help
the police in this recent robbery that we had happen, totally innocently
relieved much of our fine arts, and I don't mean arts in the sense of pictures
on the wall, I mean some of our wonderful things that have been in the family
for over a century. Some of our possessions that are most valuable to us. We
need to find -- The police are having difficulty finding out who and when. Is
there any possibility that you would know, or could describe any people, any
involved in this situation?
TOMAS: Daughter, even if I could, I would not, for that is
not my job. It is not my purpose in being here among you. I am not nor
ever will be a psychic in terms of my abilities to make contact with mortal
human beings. I am not a seer in that sense. I understand that you believe
there to be available those entities who have that quality, but I am not among
them. My purpose is to help you grow in the spirit, Hester, and I would answer
your question by saying that what you can do to help the police is to allow
them to do the investigation and answer them any and all questions that they
present to you.
I am not involved in the organizations of your planetary government and its
agencies, and I am not given authority to "see" where you lost your
key or where they buried the body; that is not my purpose. I am sorry to disappoint
you, but if you have a question for me about your soul's grappling with the
situation of the theft of your history, I might be able to help you there.
Hester: That was my primary question. Why … what
part in this I play, beside the victim of the loss of personal belongings.
Hunnah: Before you answer her, could I combine her question
with … if she had access to her personal teacher, would that be of a comfort to
her?
TOMAS: Hunnah, I will take that up separately.
Hunnah: Okay .
TOMAS: And returning now to Hester's concern, let me expand
your understanding of your history and your realm to include all of your
understanding of materiality, your Max, your heritage, your planetary
identification, your natal world even. All of that which is material is here
only to serve you temporarily, and as you have learned from it, as it has
provided a foundation for you, it is called upon you then to release it that
you might ascend to the next plateau of functioning and understanding.
It comes to my mind a. quote from the life, and teachings "What does it
matter if all things earthly crumble to those who love the Lord?" and you
may remain in an attitude of "victim" if that is your decision, but
that is assuming your experience from an exclusively mortal point of view. If
you rather, consider that the value of the experience of having known this
heritage, this beauty, this gift of life, you will take these experiences, this
knowledge, these learnings with you throughout eternity, is part of your
reality that will live far beyond your confines in the flesh and in this
material realm.
I would therefore advise you to incorporate into your appreciation of your
situation the farther view, and see that the divine plan will bring you into
yet more riches and treasures, a greater history and finer works of art than
you have yet beheld. This, my dear, is my service to you.
Let me now return my focus to Hunnah's suggestion that Hester and/or anyone be
able to consult with their personal teacher regarding these things and would
that be an advantage in the thought processes of the individual, and certainly
it is. It is beneficial always to discuss your heart's concerns with someone,
be it a fellow human being, your personal teacher, your understanding of a
celestial personality, even God himself, and as you ask for clarity in
sincerity, and as you are open to the response, the response will be
forthcoming. Perhaps not from the source that you thought it would come
from, but if you indeed hunger after truth and thirst for righteousness, your
answer will be provided. This is a promise to you.
Celeste: We are so happy to have you, Tomas.
TOMAS: We are very glad to be part of the reclamation of
Urantia. We who volunteered to take on the assignment of the Teaching Corps are
also very grateful to you who hear us and who are willing to allow your lives
to be impacted by your association with us.
Celeste: After you left your earthly life and traveled
far beyond, was there ever a time when you said, "I can't handle any
more," or "I don't want to go any further," or "Do I really
have to stand what's happening to me?" Does that happen? Or...?
TOMAS: I am smiling, and I am admitting readily, that yes I
too faltered, but I never faltered so hard and fast that I gave up the struggle
entirely, for it reached a point, as it does with you, [tape turned]. It is
only the imperfect part of you which has grown weary, but that in you which is
the gift of the Father, that Mystery Monitor that seeks to return to Its
Source, that will pick up the pieces tomorrow, that, through the ministrations
of the Third Source and Center, puts it together in such a way as you can think
you understand "why" and then go on.
Always, too, when you have made the decision to go on, even though you may be
weary, you are assisted. You are given a boost. You feel a surge of reality
that confirms the direction in which you are going. It is not unusual to grow
weary, particularly in the early days of your ascension. We have often compared
you to infants and toddlers, which, although they may manifest bounteous
energy, also collapse on the spot when they are tired. And when you run
out of steam and collapse, you, like the toddler, want only to rest and be fed
and be taken care of. And yet that energy that bubbles forth within wants
also to play, to experience the adventure, not only to run home to the sanctity
of the Parents and the security of Paradise, but for the experience itself.
And so we encourage you in your efforts to take care of yourself, to take care
in your dealings with others, and to care also for others, for it is this
caring of the human aspect which makes the path more palatable. If it were
truly a march toward Paradise without an opportunity to drop your knapsack and
appreciate the plateau of the mansion that exists around you, it would be a
dreary ascension indeed, but there are so many gifts and so many wonders to the
child of God who believes that there is a new view on the horizon, that there
is a new understanding with each experience, that there is new worth in each
value lesson, and new wisdom to impart for the Supreme, that makes us all
continue.
Celeste: Thank you, Tomas. That sounds
wonderful.
Mary Theresa: And I wanted to ask you, Tomas. I guess it's
kind of a personal question. Whenever you left your earth realm (and I don't
know if your earth was above ours, or what) did you have to go through many
other realms before you could become a teacher? And I'm wondering if there's
anybody on our earth now at this time that would be able to, say, advance as
far as you are now, simply by leaving the earth plane? I'm thinking of two
beings in particular that I think are pretty highly evolved on our earth and
that would be Mother Theresa and the Pope. After just reading this book about
him and what he has attained to. Of course, I have no idea what's really in
their hearts and what's in their minds, but I'm just kind of curious how long
it takes to get where you are and was your planet more highly evolved than we
are to begin with. If that's too personal, it's okay.
TOMAS: It is not particularly too personal. It is certainly,
to a great extent, a curiosity question. And I will begin by responding that
your mortal co-workers Pope Paul and Mother Theresa are indeed a qualified son
and a qualified daughter of the living God. Their credentials speak through
their fruits, and "by your fruits you shall be known."
As you well know, God is no respecter of persons, and so he does not favor one
over the other, for all are loved in his eyes, but those who have certain
capacities and certain experiences are better suited to serve in certain
situations, much as you, as agondonters, will be highly qualified to serve in
certain as yet unknown situations in time to come.
I have knowledge, yes, and wisdom, yes, but I am not in any position to say
that I am superior to anyone of you. I am only more experienced. I have lived
longer, and of course, longevity has its rewards that can only be known through
the experience of longevity, but even so, I reserve my right to remain a peer
and not superior. Even the Pope and Mother Theresa ought not be looked at as
superior beings, but they can certainly be admired for their dedication, their
work and indeed their inspiration to those of you who see in them those
qualities that you aspire toward in yourself as an example of one who lives the
fruits of the spirit and is recognized by those fruits.
Now as for my background. I indicated in my introductory remarks to you
many moons ago that my planet of origin was in part settled in light and life
and also in part quite primitive. I was a resident of the more advanced portion
of life on the planet and my work, my mortal career, involved me in those other
realms of life on my native sphere, and so I worked with the more primitive
races and peoples of my time on my planet.
That was a long time ago. I have since worked almost exclusively with peer
groups. I have assisted and been assisted by loving beings. I have been most
fortunate in my experiences, as you are and as you will come to understand, and
I consider this assignment, to work on a world torn with isolation and
rebellion and disease as an opportunity to again help understand the behaviors
of a backward society, not in order that I might categorize you and study you
and take my findings back, as if you were mice in a laboratory, but to
appreciate the religious and spiritual qualities of a people who have opted to
know God even in extremely adverse circumstances.
It is difficult to describe the experience that I have as a volunteer in this
Teaching Corps, working as closely as I do with you, but I am amazed and
astounded each time we have an encounter, for I learn more, not only of you but
of my God who works and plays so lavishly in you and with you and among you --
even to the extent that I can study Him, my God, as He works through you -- far
more easily, readily (and more entertaining I might say) than the vantage point
that I have in looking up to Paradise and seeing him upholding the universes.
I cannot say if this is true for all of my fellow teachers, but we do spend a
lot of time discussing you and your perceptions and our perceptions of you as
well. It is a "fun" assignment, albeit a worrisome one on occasion. I
will not bore you with my worries, however.
Mary Theresa: Are you able to tune into us at any time you
and your fellow teachers-- I'm curious to know-- What do I want to say? That
you're aware of our comings and goings all the time? Or is it just like
whenever the T/R tunes into you or whoever else makes the contact. Are you
permitted to be constantly -- monitoring, I guess, would be the word I'm trying
to find -- monitoring our world?
TOMAS: You are constantly monitored, Mary Theresa, but I am
not the one assigned that task. Your Mystery Monitor has its eye on you
constantly, and from that vantage point, It translates its information directly
to Itself in the person of the First Source and Center. How it is that I have
relations with any of you has to do with your . .. shall we use the analogy of
the light? You may walk around with your light on and I can therefore see you
because your light is on.
Celeste: Are our lights on very often?
TOMAS: Yes, your lights are often on, but they are too often off. [Group
laughter] It is when your light beams directly to the desire to make contact,
that you are hovered over and sought, for you are truly part of the greater
universe, and as you allow yourself to be encircuited and made aware of your
literal connection to the life in the universe -- and I mean all sorts of life:
energy as well as personalities -- you become more readily willing and able to
leave your light on night and day.
We do not invade your minds, as some have perceived. We do not invade your privacy.
But trust me, it is very evident. It is easy to see what you think by the
way you act.
Leah: Tomas, I'd like to reflect upon a
question that we had at the table today, and that some of us stated our
annoyance that we were interrupted in our meditation time. I would like to know
if it is our responsibility to state to other individuals who are more than
likely to interrupt us -- not that we're going to meditate but that we need to
take some time for our self and that we do not wish to be disturbed. Is that
our responsibility to relay to another individual? Or can you give us any
advice in regard to this?
TOMAS: Yes, and I want to say that I appreciate your asking
for my advice for I will begin my response by saying that one should never give
advice unless it is asked for. I hide behind my credentials as a teacher to
justify how much I must presume to advise you, but you among yourselves would
know that the wise one will not give advice unless it is asked for.
And now let me commence with a response, and it depends a great deal upon the
circumstances in which you are operating. The ideal circumstance, of course, is
that the other individual and/or individuals in your immediate environment are
so in tune, so sensitive to the vibrations, the spiritual vibrations of their
self, their peers, their environment, their microcosm of light and life, that
they would sense that one was in need of prayer, would avail the time and space
for prayer and meditation for their companion, completely appreciating the
session, to the extent that they well might also share in worship at the same
time. This is an optimum circumstance.
The antithesis is perhaps unworthy of discussion. But somewhere in there is to
be found something that works for you, and if it is necessary, in order that
you have and secure that time and space, yes, by all means, establish that time
and space by making your needs known or your demands met. It is necessary for
you to keep in contact with your indwelling God fragment.
If you are in a position where you have time alone, then you have not the
constraints of the interference of another individual. By the same token,
child, do not wait until you are around other people to discover it is time to
talk to God in order to generate stress in your life and in theirs. If you can
pray without disturbing anyone, there's the time to do it. As it says in the
scriptures "go into your closet." And yet if you are around people
sufficiently enough that you need to separate yourself from them in order to go
apart by yourself to commune with the Father, if they are insensitive to your
need, then you must tell them, yes. How it is then that they react to
your need is another matter altogether. Has that answered?
Leah: Yes.
TARKAS: Good afternoon, everyone. I am Tarkas. I am in your
neighborhood today and saw your light burning. I am here at the request of your
teacher Tomas; he has invited me to your meetings on a number of occasions and
I have, indeed, been here, but many times there has not been enough time to
come on board, and so I have enjoyed his platform and you before, and of
course, on that monitoring system of observing that was alluded to earlier --
the circuitry.
Well, how are you today? I see your group is alive and well. I see you are all
flourishing. I want you to know that we are doing well in Cincinnati. Indeed,
we are doing well in Ohio, for Anatolia is teaching there [Ed: Columbus' new
teacher] in bits and pieces, waiting for her steady voice. But we are
quite heartened to have a fellow teacher here, a feminine presence.
Many changes and growths are taking place in the Teaching Mission and certainly
in its participants. In the beginning Ham said, "Welcome To Change"
and we are so happy to have evidence of your willingness to change, not just
for change sake, but to change for the better, to change for good, to change in
terms of growth. As you are willing to grow and willing to advertise your
growth, you feed the growth of others.
The benign virus begins to spread, and the benign virus of the love of Jesus is
spreading like wild fire across a dry prairie. It is not only the love of
Jesus, however, that is blazing a trail into the millennia, but the
understanding of a dynamic creative energy force, an impersonal and yet
positive force, that is enabling the East and the West to merge, that is so
contagious in its drawing power that many are investigating what is going on --
even when they are not aware that something is going on, because, my friends,
we are all lifting together, and as we all lift together, the entire plane of
consciousness is elevated.
In the process of elevating the collective consciousness, there are many
molehills that are disturbed in the process; much rubble will be disturbed and
would make your surefooted-ness uneasy, but we ask you to not let your feet
touch the ground, that you in fact soar over this rubble, that you not trip on
that which is merely small and falling away. Rather focus your eyes, your
intent, upon that which is blazing a trail into tomorrow, today, with such
vigor and strength that it will catch us all up in its aroma.
I heard someone say to "stop and smell the roses" and so I thought I
would tell you how it is that the roses have arrived.
I will take my leave now, my dear neighbors. My best wishes are with you in
this configuration of believers, my steadfast neighbors. It is good to have
Tomas here as a steady comrade. I have enjoyed the camaraderie of all of your
interim teachers, but I went to school with Tomas and so we are old friends. It
has been my pleasure to be with you. I will come back and say hello again. I
will now take my leave. Adieu.
TOMAS: I am Tomas. I am back. Thank you for your kind
attention to our visitor, our temporary host, Teacher Tarkas, whom I have
admired for a long time. My vessel tires, yes, but there is one thing more I
would like to say before I shut this off for today, and that is that I have
been advised that our Teaching Mission efforts have reached and are reaching
those among you who are critical of our existence.
And I would ask that each of you, without alarm, without dismay, embrace your
faith in the Fifth Epochal Revelation and your faith in Christ Michael and ask
for the overcare of the divine Trinity on all of us as we aspire to bring about
the early stages of light and life on Urantia. It is in love of Michael and in
devotion to his love for you on Urantia and throughout his local universe that
we devote ourselves, that we rely upon him for our very being.
Bless us, one and all. Amen and farewell.
*****
DATE: February 8, 1997
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R: Gerdean
Urantia Book Study
Paper 3. The Attributes of God
(Including the "inevitabilities" on Page 51)
TEACHER TOMAS
TOPIC:
TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS
TOMAS: Good afternoon, faithful following, as we all follow
Him who sent us.
Beloved friends, it pleases me again to be with you, to enjoin with you in our
configuration of study and sharing that which has worth in your life and which
will manifest in worth in the lives of others.
We have been on a vigorous path of absorption of truth and experientials and I
am going to back off in our strenuous pursuit somewhat; not that we might grow
trivial, no, but that we may access and appreciate some of the refinements of
the spirit, in order that you may appreciate the gentle qualities of your
spirit reality as well as those strengths of character which pull you forward
and earmark you as a valiant soldier of the circles. And therefore today,
precious ones, I will call to your attention a characteristic, a quality of
divinity, which you yourselves can sincerely understand and appreciate, and
that has to do with that of tenderness.
As parents, as elder siblings, as owners of pets, even as mortals indwelling
the tabernacle of flesh, you have an understanding and appreciation for various
degrees of tenderness. When you exercise robustly, your muscles grow tender. In
that light, then, today, let us nurture ourselves in tenderness of the mortal
condition, the child of God who grows weary and who hurts, who calls upon the
Third Source and Center for ministry in healing of tender wounds, the solace of
Michael and his Divine Minister, to assure us of their tender mercy on our
assaults upon ourselves and on others.
Embrace tenderness beginning with your own self, your own soul, for your soul,
although strong, is also tender. It is young. Your understanding of your faith
status is tender, for sometimes you are confident and sometimes you flounder
and so herein you are tender. In your growth, then, remember tenderness. Be
always tender with yourself and with others in your physical dealings, in your
emotional dealings, in your mental dealings, and in your spiritual dealings.
Tenderness will take the edge off of your striving and allow your ascent to
become an easy climb to the farther view, rather than a death-defying exercise.
Tenderness with yourself does not connote necessarily glossing over your
shortcomings, but is in tender appreciation for your journey yet to come, for
your status again as a growing thing.
When you observe your fellows, observe them now with tenderness. Even as they
spitefully abuse you, hold an eye of tenderness on their ignorance, and be
joyous in the prospects of things to come. Tenderness in your dealings with
others connotes sincerity, but tenderness in your attitude lives in your
relationships as a godlike quality. Mistake not tenderness for sentimentality,
and do not regard my words as sanction to regard everyone as an infant needing
coddling, but even as you are tender, so are they tender, an aspect indeed of
Godlikeness.
We read, we absorb, we learn as to the all-powerful, all wise facet of God and
we see nothing of his tenderness except as we feel his tenderness envelop us in
our private moments with Him. We overlook the gentle qualities and attributes
of God as we behold in awe his power and wonders. What makes Him meaningful to
you, however, is that He is merciful and gentle and tender with you, His Child,
and you may carry this legacy into your arena and manifest tenderness also.
As a muscle that has been overworked, apply the healing balm of, the salve of
tenderness, to those who strain at gnats. As a heart reveals itself as being
broken, or in pain, return their mood through tenderness and reintroduce their
heart to the tender love and appreciation of divinity. As your fellows have
fallen and have hurt themselves and are in shame of their frailties, embrace
them tenderly as Father embraces you, and lift them up in tenderness from that
place. Be tender of your own wounds as well.
I will offer an odd assignment this week and if it offends you, pluck it out of
your frame of reference. But this week, if you would, bring yourself
tenderly to this precipice of faith and forgive Father for the times when you
have not felt His tenderness, for those times when your overworked muscles
strained unmercifully, in your mind. Forgive the Father.
Of course, it is an entirely presumptuous and arrogant attitude in the
intellectual sense, but in the soulful context of camaraderie and understanding
between yourself and your Creator Parent, sidle up to Him, bringing your
tenderness of spirit, and with a quiet hand on His shoulder, forgive Him for
those ills which you have experienced, that He has caused you to experience in
order that you might learn.
This peculiar assignment, dear ones, is intended to provide you with a
perspective on how truly tender the relationship is between you and your
Parent, how gentle and soulful and meaningful this merger is. If you have this
experience in the next few days, if you allow this exercise, it would lend for
some interesting discourse among you, again reflecting a tenderness and a
patience and a forbearance you might not have realized possible.
There is an old Christian song, "softly and tenderly Jesus is
calling," and so many of you have such a sense of urgency, as if an evil
were nipping at your heels, as if you must run to secure yourselves within the
walls of Havona before the sun goes down. And yet you are bidden to come
forward, to come into this holy place softly and tenderly.
It is not necessary to march in the gate and show God how good you are, how on
time you are, how noble you are by showing up. Part of this attitude is anger
at God in the fissures and crevices of your conditioning. And so talk it over
with Him, by experiencing sufficient camaraderie and tenderness with yourself,
in conjunction with Him, that you can experience forgiveness together. And
then, children, go forth in tenderness and greet one another.
My lesson is complete for today. I am glad to be with you. How are you? Have
you questions or subjects for discourse on the table in your minds?
Celeste: Do you think we fully understood page 51
today? I find this so fascinating and can learn so many different ways.
TOMAS: It has been said of the text that it is presented in
such a way as to provide different levels of understanding. It well may have to
do with your level of growth as to what you are capable of understanding at any
given time, but at any given juncture in your growth, the inevitabilities
outlined are truly worthy of comprehension, and this comprehension is more than
intellectual. They are designedly active, designed to activate your
sensibilities in terms of experiential.
In other words, you may philosophize about the meaning, but unless and until
you have feelingly experienced it, it is a mere mental exercise, and so as you
experience it, much like morontia mota, you then gain a greater appreciation
for your intellectual understanding. As you were discussing today, social
inequalities are not exclusively related to financial inequalities, and the
resultant conversations regarding inequalities is expansive, for what one
individual can readily see as an inequality has perhaps not occurred to
another, and so in sharing your perceptions, you share your knowledge and this
increases your capacities to aspire, even to wisdom.
And so, no I do not believe that you entirely understand what you read today. I
believe that there is more substance there that you will enjoy for a long time.
Celeste: I think so, too. I hope so. It's more exciting to
know that there's a lot more to be gained from it.
TOMAS: Indeed, it is one of the exciting facets of this
new revelation, for although it is disconcerting at first to discover that the
concept of "one God" has gone from a simple concept of one God to the
hosts of space with, as you are reading in your studies, many titles, for many
different facets of function. It was easier perhaps when you believed you died
and then went at once through the pearly gates to see God with his scepter and
the angels with their halos, but by the same token, eternal bliss could become
tedious and dull, and now you see that you get the best of both worlds: you get
increased perfection and eternal service, an unending university of
discovery. Thus we evolve. Yes.
Celeste: I can't believe that we don't
have a million questions for you.
TOMAS: You are perhaps savoring tenderness.
Hunnah: Savoring lunch.
TOMAS: Which falls tenderly upon your
stomach.
Hunnah: You like that word! The word I was thinking of
when you were talking, when you used tenderness, was fragility. And when
something is fragile, it takes a very light touch to encourage it to grow in
the direction it will otherwise it can be overwhelmed or frightened. Could it
be you have overwhelmed or frightened us? Or we're not getting close enough up
on that lap that we've been invited on?
TOMAS: No, I do not perceive that at all.
Hunnah: Okay.
TOMAS: I do perceive, however, some reluctance to become
that intimate with yourself. As you regard yourself as fragile, you are
picturing yourself as if you were glass or something that could break, but in
tenderness, there is no allowance for breaking, only bruising; more malleable,
perhaps less dramatic, but certainly substantive and qualitative. You are not
accustomed to thinking of yourself, perhaps, as tenderloin or a tenderfoot. You
think only of babies as tender.
Celeste: I always think that one has to be very strong
to be tender. One has to have learned a lot and gained a lot of strength to be
tender toward others.
TOMAS: It is not necessary, for you see, even the childlike
personality knows tenderness. A little girl can go up to a grown-up who is
grieving and comfort the adult tenderly, with a tender compassion, and she is
certainly not strong in terms of experience or wisdom.
Loreenia: Just innocent.
TOMAS: In her childlikeness she is tender. It is perhaps a
commentary on your society that says that only those who are strong can afford
to be tender, for many tender-hearted individuals are taken advantage of or
glossed over as being insignificant, and so many of you, if not all of you, have
your dukes up, and therein is why I suggest you . ..
Hunnah: Try a little tenderness. There was a popular
song years ago called, "Try a little tenderness."
TOMAS: Yes, try it. The song wafts to the mind of the
transmitter, of course, that women get weary wearing the same shabby dress, and
perhaps your understanding of tenderness is to treat yourself by going shopping
(group laughter) for in some ways it nurtures and caters to that in you which
is wounded and bruised. But it is costly!
It is referenced in the text that you may adorn the person, but that will not
satisfy the longings of the soul, and in that context then, although "when
the going gets the tough, the tough go shopping," to assuage that internal
tenderness, shopping is not the solution. The solution is in directly accepting
the true tenderness and not putting a Band-Aid on it, not putting a new dress
on it, not sidestepping the need for tenderness with a material dressing.
Celeste: Often there's a pretense at tenderness, too,
that is not really there. It's a front.
TOMAS: It is a common technique of deception, in fact, and
this is why I say to utilize your sincerity and why I suggest it is not mere
sentimentality, nor is it nor should it be reserved as an attitude for babies.
Big people do need tenderness, but as your song also says, "Big boys/ big
girls don't cry" and, in truth, they do. They sometimes need to cry.
Therein is the need to show tenderness, to embrace the mortal, to embrace the
personality in acceptance of the struggle, of the difficulty, of the
disappointment, of the experience.
I will also point out that it is not necessary, even, that a person have an
excuse to feel bad. Sometimes, in the human, a "bad feeling" will
just simply waft in and over the mechanism, allowing it to feel a certain
depletion of energies, and the mind can quickly, in defense of its nether
state, feel that something must be wrong; there must be a reason for this
feeling. It is not the case. Sometimes just sitting there, allowing time for
tenderness to come upon you is adequate. Did that make sense to you?
Leah: I understand you to say, "Embrace your
anguish."
TOMAS: It may be interpreted that way. I would
not have chosen those words, but as I observe the configuration of those words,
I would agree, for as the "bad feeling" is embraced, it is loved, it
is accepted, it is owned, and it is then allowed to be dissolved, absorbed,
melted away, no longer concrete and worrisome, no longer a rock but now
thousands and thousands of grains of sand that can be washed away.
However, to tell someone to embrace the "angst"--
Leah: Anguish.
TOMAS: Either would apply. -- is perhaps a brutal
suggestion on its face.
Celeste: Tomas, you seem so serious today. We like it
when you bring some humor with you.
TOMAS: I am going to shift the blame. (Group laughter) I am
also going to be tender of my transmitter. As she is elevated in body, mind and
spirit, I am, too, for certain obvious reason. And as she is weary, thus
am I. And so I ask you to be tender of us both, as you are tender with
yourself.
Celeste: I can't think of two people that we would rather be
tender with.
TOMAS: Do! For there are many who are in far greater need!
It is not uncommon for you to look upon your own loved ones first, for a
practice of such an intimate emotion and attitude, and that's a good place to
start, but don't stop there. Be tender of strangers also, and of "the
enemy." Tenderness is a form of prayer.
I am going to call it quits for today, so that you can enjoy each other and
entertain yourselves at leisure. This little one is tuckered, as are you,
perhaps.
Celeste: Full.
TOMAS: I have cautioned you about that before, but you don't
listen.
Group: Yes we do listen to you, Tomas!
TOMAS: I know you do! In fact, it is because you listen so
well and you grow so vigorously that you wear yourselves out, and so suckle
yourselves. I look forward to our next gathering. Do let me know where and when
we are to convene. I will try to catch the correct bus. Our love to you
all. Farewell.
*****
DATE: March 8, 1997
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R: Gerdean
TEACHER SESSION:
TEACHERS TOMAS, MERIUM AND ABRAHAM
TOPIC:
Post-EXPO Gathering #1
Held at The Sesami Inn
Heavenly Father, we give thanks for this gathering, for this community of
believers. Be with us in this configuration, as we share our inner life in
fragrant display of your loving qualities. Give us the internal fortitude to
withstand the trials and rigors of the daily life, in order that we may shine
fort, in radiance your goodness, truth and beauty to those we encounter as we
pass by.
Open the hearts and minds of these lovers in truth for their acceptance of your
divine wisdom and your divine love. As we spread seeds, water them, Father, and
cause the Son to shine upon them and upon all of us here. In the name of the
Christ who has made this possible, we pray this day. Amen.
TOMAS: Greetings, my friends. I am your friend Tomas. It is
a pleasure to behold your gathering today. Even in this setting, as gracious as
it is, in this public place, you all carry with you your Inner Guide, your
citadel of the spirit wherein you find calm and peace and sanctity of being.
How glad I am to see you together. It has been a long time since we have had
such an ample group, but I am in full appreciation of the many efforts that are
involved in your ministries, and so your work has been in keeping with that
which we do for Michael.
Solomon and Thea, it is wonderful to experience your presence here with us
again, and we commend you on your efforts on behalf of the promoters of the
Fifth Epochal Revelation, for your unstinting efforts in loving those who have
been presented to you.
We often forget and take for granted those efforts on behalf of Michael that
are done by you, each other, in your life, for you have been admonished to give
selflessly. But we like to honor your efforts now and again to bring to
your mind the fact that we are a co-working team, and as a part of a team, it
is a good idea, a good practice, to slap each other on the back or to pat each
other in congratulatory jubilance of our victories. And our victories have been
great of late! The seeds are being planted in fertile soil and your seed-sowing
practices are becoming prolific.
My friends, I will not linger long today, for you have an agenda and you have
also the opportunity to share and plan for the season ahead, but I have
introduced to some of you a new teacher who has arrived and who is helping me
in our next phase of growth and development for this community, and she is
eager also to make her appearance today, her presence known to you. One moment.
MERIUM: Hello, my friends and neighbors, I am Merium, your
newly assigned teacher. I am abundantly pleased to meet you and to now
appreciate even more the enthusiasm that Tomas conveyed when he spoke to me
about helping him with his group, for as I sit in your presence, I am impressed
with the size of your glowing lights. As you come together thus (and I know
there are more of you!), your lights become like the city at night, for each
light that is illuminated contributes to the illumination of the whole, and so
this city can be seen while even far off. Your illumination pleases the cosmos.
It will bring many who are in darkness to you.
Continue, then, to shine your light on this hill of community. As you stay in
support of one another, in co-operation with each other as fellow apostles,
fellow disciples, fellow evangelists, you contribute to the light of others and
to yourself, thus building a firm foundation for those who will see your light
and follow into the truth, beauty and goodness that is allocated to them as a
result of their own sonship/daughtership in the Living God.
I am not going to prevail at length today either. I am a co-worker, and as a
co-worker it does not behoove me to usurp more than my share. I return you in
gladness to Tomas and I eagerly look forward to getting to know you better as
we work together in the time to come. Farewell.
TOMAS: I am Tomas again and there is one other who would
like to make a brief comment. One moment, please.
ABRAHAM: I am Abraham, your Director in
this Teaching Mission. As an administrative entity in the development of this
Mission, it gives me great pleasure to acknowledge the arrival of Merium and
the efforts of Tomas. It also gives me great pleasure to endorse your efforts
which have been augmented by their presence, their work with you, and by your
own steadfast application of spirit reality in your personal lives.
We commend your growth and your willingness to contribute to the Evolving
Supreme. We are fully aware of your development here, of your growth struggles,
and of your victories, indeed. And so, my loyal soldiers of the circles, carry
on. Shalom.
TOMAS: And I, Tomas, now will call our brief session to a
close. I have not come today to bring a lesson, but to greet you and to embrace
you in the spirit, and to encourage you to continue to do the same with your
fellows. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad in the harvest. Farewell.
*****
DATE: April 3, 1997
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R: Gerdean
TEXTUAL STUDY:
Urantia Paper 4: God's Relation to the Universe
TEACHERS: TOMAS & MERIUM
TOPIC:
COMMUNITY OF PURPOSE
TOMAS: Good evening, my precious ones. I am Tomas, I am so
glad to be here and I am even more glad that you are here with me. It has been
a while since I have met with you in this configuration. It gives me a great
sense of stability to reconvene in this hallowed room. We in the celestial
realms enjoy the latitude of the spatial components of this area. In your
understanding you might appreciate that the treetops make good bleachers on
which to sit and watch your learning processes, your socialization and your
spirit strivings.
Even though we have not met lately in this particular location, I and we have
not been idle. We have been diligently addressing our new format of focus which
is "the group" and I am happy to see that your studies this evening
contribute to our outline, inasmuch as, in order to develop a solid loving band
of believers in harmony and unity with such great diversity, it is necessary
that you understand that each of you are the way you are supposed to be and
thus your socializing, your coming together, is not founded upon trying to set
the other one straight, but rather in full appreciation of your differences,
and more importantly, of your united goals and purposes.
We have come a long way in this group toward attaining our goals. Your
socialization has gathered depth and yet in this classroom situation of willing
eager students, learners of truth and better ways, we shall proceed with even
further refinements, for only good can come from your continued efforts toward
learning how to be healthy, happy, wholesome followers in community of purpose.
I would borrow upon a reference that Elizabeth made earlier in the evening as
to her cultural conditioning regarding socialization and use it as an example
of her conditioning so that you each might compare, in the privacy of your
mind, your conditioning as to how you learned to socialize, for whereas some
were encouraged to have an opinion, others were discouraged from having
opinions; while some were encouraged to express their feelings, others were not
allowed to manifest feelings, and so forth.
Now this, you see, is one of the disparities of the mass conditioning. That is,
you are all different in the way that you were raised by your parents, your
earthly family environments, your clan. You were raised with certain behavior
expectations and they predominate in your comings and goings today. Our purpose
in this study of the group has to do with how to comport yourself in fraternal
terms so that you together as a group can radiate such true harmony of spirit,
even with your many differences, that you will reflect outward to the greater
community that you have learned certain truths and values that enable you to
love one another as Jesus loved his apostles, and as he admonished them to love
their peers and as I admonish you to love yours.
A study of the human family shows a great variation. Often families are inbred
and cloistered and look upon those outside as outsiders and unwelcome. The bond
that forms through the blood disallows loyalty outside the immediate
association of the family structure. But you see that in the Kingdom, all men
and women are your brothers and sisters and so it does not behoove us to remain
cloistered and selective as to whom we will share our family format (with), for
if, as you read this evening, all are equal in God's sight spiritually, and if
this is a spiritually-based operation (this configuration), then we must learn
to love those outside and incorporate them into the family of believers that
you are here today now, loving one another, understanding your peculiar
differences but enjoying and having loving tolerance for those aspects of
personality which fall short of your peculiar ideals.
It has been suggested by the Master that men shall know that you have been with
Him, and I would like for people, when they see you together, to also say,
"It is apparent that the Christ has been with them, for they know Him and
they honor Him by how they love one another." There are many delightful
practice exercises that we can engage in, in order to augment, stimulate,
further and address your fraternity aspects. My friend and co-worker Merium is
here this evening and perhaps she would like to add a thing or two. I will
invite her. One moment.
MERIUM: Good evening, my friends. I am Merium.
Group: Greetings, Merium.
MERIUM: How honored I am to partake of this social
gathering, this occasion which you have created for personality expression, for
honoring each other, for comforting each other, and for greeting each other in
the spirit. It is a pleasure to be a participant in these sentiments and these
actualities. It is so infrequent that we get to encounter a working situation
so amenable to guidance as you are here. Tomas has been most gracious in
inviting me to help him with some of the aspects of group inter-association. I
will point out to you a couple of things that he and I have had a chance to
observe and to some extent speculate about in our brief but poignant piece of
time here that we have worked together.
Tomas and I admire each other greatly. We come from completely different
backgrounds. Indeed, our backgrounds are fairly irrelevant in terms of our
purpose. He and I are both filled with, yes, hundreds and thousands of years
worth of vital and precious memory experiences, but we relay very little of
these to each other, for they bespeak times past which serve for reflection
individually and can act as a teaching mechanism in a, shall we say "sponsoring"
or "mentoring" situation, but he and I are comrades and we have our
work to perform, and so we focus primarily on our work, understanding that we
innately have immense regard for each other because we understand the integrity
of the other.
It is inherent also that we have a deep affection for each other, and we are
not reluctant to make it known that we admire each other and that we have
affection for each other. It has been noted by some of our students that we are
gracious with each other and it comes as some surprise to me that it was
noteworthy, for it is natural, but in the learning process it becomes first a
matter of noticing, and once you become aware, then you can realize, and then
you can act, and then you can become, and then it is incorporated, and then you
appreciate.
It is very apparent to me, if not to Tomas, that you all have a tremendous need
to express yourselves, and I suspect that it goes beyond the mere ego aspect of
wanting the sound of your own voice to reverberate back to your attention. I
truly believe that each of you has something vital to share and to say, but it
is not always obvious how to say what your soul would like to say, for your
soul, your Father-bestowed personality has been so conditioned and
over-controlled by your earthly family of upbringing and your cultural and
social conditioning as to how it is that the human animal comports itself.
You know that you learn by watching others, and what little monkeys you mortals
are! And so much of your learning, your behavioral learning, has come from
watching other [mortals] rather than having a divine guide to show you and
other divinely guided peers with whom to practice. We cannot fault you for the
paucity of your plight here, but we can evince an earnest interest in Correcting.
It is an overwhelming undertaking to embark you upon realms of socialization
that would harmonize with the Morontia Companions, but again, as you read in
your lesson, "if I cannot do it, there is one in me who can," and so
I, along with Tomas, and along with each of you, put my full faith in our
Divine Parents that they will raise us up, that they will teach us how to
manifest the loving fraternity that would most please the gods and that most
clearly demonstrate to his myriad children on earth your having been touched by
angels.
I am most grateful for the opportunity to be here with you and to contribute to
this mutual admiration society. Thank you.
TOMAS: I am Tomas and I have completed my discourse. I am
eager now to engage with you in terms of what you have brought for us to play
with. There were questions?
Elizabeth: What does the Book mean when it says that all
people of normal mind have a Thought Adjuster? We can't quite figure out what
normal mind means by the narrator, by the Divine Counselor. We can't figure it
out.
Hester: Are there limitations?
[Indistinguishable]
TOMAS: It is a good question and it is also a good
qualifier, Hester, that you have added. There are sometimes limitations based
on damage, but I will set that aside and address the greater subject of
normal-minded, and I will not go on at length, for the bottom line is that it
is necessary that an individual have sufficient mental capacity to make those
decisions which will assure his eternal survival. That is to say, can they make
those decisions which will give birth to the soul and can they then assist in
the development of the soul by those decisions that can only be made by a
normal mind?
Obviously it does not limit itself to I.Q. You could say that someone with an
exceptionally high I.Q. was not of normal mind, and by the same token, there
are some who are considered "slow" who are not in the normal range of
I.Q. but who are capable of making soulful and meaningful decisions regarding
their survival. There are those who have had a normal mind and have made
requisite decisions but due to accident or disease or sustained fever, have
lost the capacity to make decisions, and that would be constituting a
sub-normal mind. The point being, the being must be able to make soul-ascending
decisions.
Elizabeth: Thank you. That's a good bell-weather there: the
ability to make decisions. Evidently that's a big part of this question and
thank you very much for answering the question so roundly. And I think that Anne
had something she might put to a group question.
TOMAS: I am delighted.
JoniEl: We came across a paragraph that
was dealing with opportunities for spiritual growth, socially and economically
and materially and morally, and we were wondering about the morally, the moral
opportunities that people were afforded, and, I guess, that's a big subject, I
don't know.
TOMAS: Indeed, a wonderful subject it is, for your
opportunities begin early in life. When you make your first moral decision you
receive your Thought Adjuster and so you see how important these moral
decisions are! Let me elucidate somewhat.
Moral is what is right. Now, conscience may or not be what is right. Conscience
is a set of values that you have been taught, that are cornerstone of your
values as a mortal of the realm. The family structure, the social arena, the
churches, the institutions, these are well-fraught with concepts of right and
wrong. This field brings with it much guilt, much blame, much suppressed
creativity, much that is not right in a cosmic sense, but it is a system of
behavior in the human sense.
Now, referring back to what is moral in the spiritual sense, true morals are a
result of your relationship with divinity, for as you go about your life and
you come to a point of decision-making, you will make a moral decision, a right
decision, based upon NOT what society would have you do, not what school or
church or employment or parents or spouse would have you do, but what God would
have you do. What would God have you do? And that God is the personal Father.
And you can see, in understanding what I mean when I say moral, what the Book
means when it refers to moral, is that there are millions of moral
opportunities.
Obviously honesty provides a great range of opportunity in the moral
department. If no one noticed, could you steal something? No one would notice.
Your conscience may or may not bother you depending upon if you felt justified
under the circumstances in taking this item from this place for this purpose.
But the moral decision-making process is a matter that transcends conscience
and mere mores and goes to the heart of the matter, and that is that although
no one else may know, YOU know, and the Father knows, and you cannot hide from
the Father.
And so the moral decision would be the decision that had the sanction of the
Father, that had the full approval of the Father. Moral decisions are highly
personal matters. Society has made a great business of making morals its
business, and this has been necessary in the evolution of the ages, but the
mature human being is capable of governing himself according to his
relationship with divinity, and when people quit hiding behind mores and begin
to stand up and be moral, there will be change. There will be great liberation.
Remember, there are angels who supervise. I am not recommending liberty without
license. That, even, is a moral situation -- that you do not presume upon
divine mercy. That is another moral opportunity. Each moment has an
opportunity. Each situation has an opportunity. Each personality that you meet
provides an opportunity for a moral approach to life, to God-consciousness.
Moral opportunity is a cornucopia of fruits to be sampled and savored and
shared.
I don't know if I have edified you as to moral opportunity. Please respond. Do
you understand?
JoniEl: Yes.
Leah: While you were talking I was
reminded of the biblical story of Jesus who healed the man with the withered
hand, I believe it was on the Sabbath. The social more said you don't do any
labor on the Sabbath but obviously his moral decision was that there was a
prophecy to be fulfilled.
TOMAS: Well done. Good example. These are indeed part and
parcel of our learning format here, for in company with each other, in appreciation
for the values and the loyalty that you find here in your comrades in the
spirit, you can begin to venture into moral opportunity with one another. You
can begin to venture into exposing new levels of reality in your personality
expression that has not been afforded the opportunity in your more dense social
milieu. I encourage you to address each other sincerely.
Elizabeth: I have a question about just everyday life now.
During the EXPO, Gerdean and I were talking about the Book, and I began to
think that I was going to be as enthusiastic as I really feel, and Gerdean
even, I think, began to feel that way, too, and yet Jesus said never to, by the
force of your personality, to bring people into your beliefs, and so I felt a
little bit of concern there, that I was overstepping that boundary because I
just felt so enthusiastic about saying to people some very strong things about
the Book, because that's what I really believe! and I, of course, think that
everybody should just drop everything they're doing and immediately start to
read this Book, and I wondered if you could comment on that.
TOMAS: I would be delighted. I will recall to your mind the
excerpt from The Urantia Book that also discusses why the heathen rage, and
Jesus there admonished that those who were entirely too lackadaisical about
their teaching message, should indeed take the kingdom by spiritual assault,
and so whereas you are not to coerce them on one hand, it is vital that you
spill forth your enthusiasm for righteousness on the other.
And I will point out, too, that in coercing someone, it intimates that they are
mindless and cannot make up their own mind about what to believe in, and I do
not believe, Elizabeth, that you are looking for that kind of sheep.
Indeed, I do believe that you understand that a man must develop his own
concept of God, that even by introducing him to The Book, he still must chew on
its concepts and pages to develop a full appreciation for the feast that has
been presented.
No, I felt your enthusiasm was very beneficial to the booth, to the Book, and
to those who partook of your endeavors, and probably most particularly, for
yourself, for you were truly "wheeling and dealing" in the spirit.
Well done!
Elizabeth: Thank you. I really feel better now and I'm going
to charge ahead. I have a whole list of people that we're going to be calling
and we're all going to have a chance to interact with them.
TOMAS: I am glad for that, and remember that we are a loving
family of living believers here. We are not a church and we are not a
conglomeration of conscience and mores. As we embrace these new fellows into
our fellowship, it is well to remember that our head is Jesus who loves us and
would have us love each other as He loved us, and so if we can remember to keep
that love at the core of our being, individually and as a group, then our arms
are open wide and all who come to call will feel welcome and want to stay and
contribute to this marvelous embrace.
Elizabeth: Thank you very much. I think that helps a lot. To
know that you can do this. I guess I've had this question for a lot of years
and tended to want to maybe play down the Book because of it, but now I'm into
a different stage, now that you've helped me along.
TOMAS: I am glad I could help. I have some understanding of
the bushel that the Book was under for awhile, inasmuch as it was restrained by
copyright, and this was indeed necessary. And yet the door has opened and
it is not as it was. It is still probably not the kind of book that ought to be
advertised on the television, but it is certainly more open, and indeed, if we
are to touch base with these hungry hearts, these spirit seekers who are out
there willy-nilly searching, finding, discarding, searching more, it would
behoove us to be in the thick of things and not sitting off on our pedestal
waiting for them to stumble and fall and grovel to the truth. Right?
Elizabeth: That's true.
TOMAS: We are workers in the field, and it is the
field where we march.
Elizabeth: We're glad that we're back and have this
wonderful chance to be with you.
TOMAS: I have an assignment [for you] before I sign off. I
would like for you each to practice indicating to as many as you can how much
you appreciate them. I would like for you to overtly-- and not artificially but
sincerely -- affect individuals by advising them of how much they mean to
you. How much a gesture affected you, something about the individual that
you find of value or of joy, and commend them sincerely and graciously.
This is almost what you would call a moral opportunity, because it gives you a
chance to speak lovingly to someone that you might not have thought of before
this assignment. Stay out of trouble! Remember that when you go among them,
[you are] to remain as wise as serpents and peaceful as doves, but in your life
there are those who you know are dear to you that you have not told, or even
casually that you have enjoyed, that would enjoy hearing. As Merium and I
naturally and automatically appreciate each other and have affection for each
other, go ahead and let it be known that person, you think, is pretty swell.
I look forward to our reconvening. Have fun this week. Enjoy yourselves
enjoying others. Farewell.
*****
DATE: April 10, 1997
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/Rs: Gerdean
and Hunnah
URANTIA BOOK STUDY:
Paper 5: God's Relation to the Individual
TEACHER SESSION:
TEACHERS TOMAS and MERIUM
TOPIC:
CONSECRATION OF CHOICE
Q&A: Growing Beyond Michael
Begin a Love Affair with God
TOMAS: This evening, loyal friends, we greet you together,
Merium and I, on behalf of the Teaching Corps and are happy to be with you as
always in, again, an expanded mode of ascension. Always is our path growing;
always are opportunities diverging and expanding, multiplying.
Elizabeth: Thank you for coming.
TOMAS: Blessed child, I thank you for being here and
providing a space for us, for without your mortal cooperation, we would not
have this format, this platform. Again we return to our mutual appreciation,
our community. I would like to speak briefly with you this evening regarding
consecration of choice.
I know that in your lives you have many opportunities for choices. There are
those among you who lament that there are too many choices to make, that there
are too many varieties of goods, that there are too many costumes and
accessories, that there are too many toys, too much data, much too much that
compel you to make choices, some of which need to be made again and again.
There are those, too, who complain that there are not yet enough choices, that
choices are too limited, that the possibilities of choosing yet remain
undeveloped. And these many, many topics regarding choice are within the realms
of the mind and the body, the adornment of the person, the sciences and so
forth.
But what I would speak to you today regarding is the consecration of the soul,
that choice which you as an individual make that will further the growth of the
soul, that will enhance your meaningful existence, that gives breadth and depth
to your heart of hearts, that sublime commitment which focalizes all of your
creative energies, all of your desires, all of your wants and needs on the
consecrated goal of devotion to Deity, to the First Source and Center, that
which is the goal of the soul and the source of your being.
That decision is the big decision. When they talk about "the supreme
decision," what do you suppose they mean? Anybody have an answer?
Elizabeth: I think it means the time that you decide to try
to turn your life over to God.
TOMAS: Indeed, it is the motive required that you try, but
it is not in the trying but in the doing, when you succumb to His will and
testify that it is your will that His will be done, when you relinquish your
own control to the over-control of divinity. This is the decision, and thus the
soul grows, takes on a life of its own, ascends and expands by leaps and
bounds, even without your knowing, for it is now harmoniously working with your
Thought Adjuster.
As you read this evening, your personality (your will) and your Thought
Adjuster have become betrothed, they are engaged, they have given birth to the
soul. This consecration of the soul to the doing of The Father's will is the
hallmark of the dynamic life, the vibrant experience of living life with gusto
and in fullness, in appreciation of all of life's wonders, in experiencing
freely the many feelings and emotions and senses that have been given to you as
a being, a mortal being, and a potential spirit being.
As you operate in this framework of cooperation with your Adjuster in support
of the growth of your soul, you are at liberty to experience all the wonders
that you can in your own limitations and those spiritual experiences that you can
experience almost without limitation.
I know that I have sounded rather heavy-handed, Merium, but you well understand
how I am and I will appreciate how you are, that you can take my big words and
hefty concepts and put voile around them and make them shimmering shafts of
light for the adornment of daughters and sons of a more reachable God than I
sometimes point you toward. Do you have words to add this evening, Merium,
along the lines of our lesson plan that would edify us all?
MERIUM: Thank you. I embrace your talk, and while I am going
to talk to you this evening, I must tell you that I am very amused because
Hunnah is just beside herself; it is as if she were at the edge and falling off
into an abyss of quaking. She hasn't the faintest idea of what I am going to
say and she is in a panic. But I will address two matters here.
One is the seeming you and one is the aligned you. In your lesson this evening,
the alignment, the mystical alignment was presented and appreciated by several
of you as if it were fresh manna or fresh definition; and the you that you are
accustomed to, that is continuously bombarded with dividing yourself to so many
causes and duties, it is a puzzlement for you to bring the two together as one.
And in one author's book he has written that you are able to develop the art of
living between two worlds or two modes of thinking - one that is embellished by
your Father's direction, and the other by your human loyalties, your human
habits, and we have new leadership in this body that you are trying to bring
together as one. The Apostle Paul talks about bringing the two
("twain") into one new being, and this is what I would like to
present to you this evening. I would like to have you go forth into your daily
living and become more sensitive and aware of the fact that you really do hear
your inner workings, and that the more you let yourself listen in, the smoother
your experience will be and the more objective will be your communication with
those around you.
In your lesson this evening Jesus told his disciples to expect excitement, to
expect controversy, because they are bringing their personality into an
established society that is not responding to its immediate arena in its normal
way. You will not be engaging in conversation, perhaps, the way you were. You
may not become embroiled with an opinion the way you were. This is because the
inner connection within you is becoming more finely meshed and strengthened,
and you will find yourself being far more reserved, less opinionated, perhaps
less amusing than you have in the past, but as your allegiance is to this
Christ-making, you will be demonstrating a puzzlement to yourself as well as to
others, and you will find comfort and strength as you go to your Stillness, to
go into the wings of the theater, you might say, to be renewed and to allow
yourself to gain greater confidence in this new being of which you are becoming
aware.
TOMAS: Are there questions this evening? (Silence) We will take a brief
intermission.
[Intermission]
Gerdean: Okay. This is Gerdean and I had a couple of
questions and I don't know if it's to satisfy my soul or my curiosity or what,
and the answer might even be in the Urantia Book but I forget right now.
Anyway, the two questions are:
One is, "Why did the revelatory commission hail from Uversa?" which,
I guess, is the capital of our superuniverse, and how come Uversa instigated
the Fifth Epochal Revelation to Urantia? I don't understand why Uversa has that
job. I would have thought that it was Michael's job. Maybe it was and maybe he
did appeal to the supervisors of the Sector or something. Anyway, I was
one day suddenly impressed that it had come all the way from Uversa, and I
wondered about that.
And then the second question that has been flashing on my mind of late is a bit
of an anxiety but it's a ridiculous anxiety because I have obviously thousands
of years to go before I have to worry about it, but I got to thinking, as we
evolve and go through the System and the Constellation and the Local Universe
or the Mansion Worlds or wherever it is that we end up going, eventually we're
going to have to leave our Local Universe, and the idea of leaving Michael's
universe fills me with grief. And I'm not even close! - but I
just-- I can imagine that as being a terrible trauma from here, although
maybe from there it won't look so traumatic. But the idea of leaving Michael's
universe and going beyond.... And what's to happen to Michael? I mean, what is
his destiny? As a Creator Son?
Hunnah: I must say you are unique. I can't imagine . ..
You've heard about Henny Penny and Chicky Licky. This just about fills the
bill, what do you think? I'm gettin' ready to start to worry ahead of time and
I'm going to worry for the next trillion years.
Group: (Uproarious laughter)
Leah: I think it's great!
Hunnah: Go ahead, Tomas.
Gerdean: Well,...
Hunnah: Do you want to mail that to someone else?
Gerdean: No.
Hunnah: Are we on the record?
Leah: Yeah, so either Tomas or Merium can answer the
question.
Hunnah: I don't think Merium is going to...
Leah: That's just it! You say, "I
don't think" and she says "I don't think" but you don't know!
Hunnah: Okay, let's open it up and see if we can stop
laughing. (More laughter)
Gerdean: I like Hunnah's response about Henny Penny.
Hunnah: Here I am just coming out on the ice with my skates
on and you . . .
Gerdean: I give you a question I've been pondering for a
year and a half.
Hunnah: Maybe they'll call in an oracle to answer you.
Gerdean: Right. I'm not convinced they're going to answer
it, but sooner or later they will. I'm ready for another question, though.
Elizabeth: Well, I have a question! I often . .. when I don't
have time (and I say "don't have time" in quotes) to really pray in
the morning and study my lessons and things … I cram my prayers into driving
here, driving there, running into the bathroom and I sit with my little papers
and things, and then I feel like I'm crowding Jesus into these little spaces
and that is not really very courteous or something, yet if I do it I get to say
some of these prayers and if I don't do it, I don't; so then the upshot of it
is that I get a chance to be in a certain kind of stillness anyway, so I feel
very confused about that. I feel sort of ashamed of crowding something so
important into these little spaces, and so . ..
Leah: Well, okay, we put these things out on the
table.
Hunnah: JoniEl, do you have something that's tickling your
curiosity?
JoniEl: I'm just taking it all in.
Hunnah: Okay. Or if you have a question during the week, jot
it down on a piece of paper, and if the answer doesn't come to you yourself,
you can bring it in.
Leah: How are we doing, Tomas? Are we doing all
right?
Hunnah: Of course we're doing all right. We were just hugged
and kissed to death the other night. [Ed. In the Butler group.] We're just . ..
Leah: I know, but I forgot already!
Elizabeth: I have another question. If Jesus is in
Salvington before we, for instance, become pure spirit, does that mean that he
is not pure spirit, that he has some kind of physicality as we reference it, as
we think it? Because we still have some part of our physical self in
Salvington. It's not until we leave Salvington that we become pure spirit, so
since Jesus was following the steps of a mortal into the morontia levels, is he
also, in that respect, in some way partly physical still, as we would call
physical?
Leah: I hope there's an auditorium listening this
evening.
Hunnah: I hope you start transmitting this soon so
that we can . ..
Elizabeth: Well, you guys, look, if we don't have
questions, they won't come around!
Leah: Oh, they'll come around.
TOMAS: I will address your question. We are quite bemused and
quite impressed that your questions have gone beyond the crystal ball stages to
being actually interested in the universe and its composition and its
destiny. In that, you have indicated that you have indeed come a long
way. I will reserve the right to withhold certain answers, as they do not fall
under my jurisdiction. You surely understand that I myself have not advanced so
far as to know the answers to these questions, and so I am . ...
Elizabeth: But Tomas, I know that you studied in Salvington
and Jesus would come along and make comment.
TOMAS: And, indeed, I did and I have been with the Master.
There is, of course, a certain "material" element, for even in the
higher spheres there are actual places. Even Paradise is a place, and so no
matter how high you go, there are places to accommodate you. The architectural
spheres are real. There are structures that accommodate the beings resident
therein. Just because they are not physical in the sense that your Empire State
Building or your Alamo were/are physical, does not mean that they do not also
have their actual structure.
And indeed so do personalities. Even when they are "spirit" they take
up space, if you will. They exist. They are. And I appreciate that your
understanding is limited, but to all intents and purposes you may picture them
as taking up space much as you take up space. But in that dimension, by the
time you attain that dimension [tape turned] -- understand that it is not the
same kind of dimension that you understand here.
Elizabeth: Um-hum. Thank you.
TOMAS: I am glad you are happy with the answer; I am not,
but I am restricted from answering for more than one reason. I am here to
address your soul needs, and to the extent that this gives you peace of mind
and soul certitude, I can draw you a picture, but it is far beyond your
comprehension and even mine in some cases as to how and why and wherefore.
I will affectionately identify with Gerdean's concern that she may one day
outgrow Michael of Nebadon and, along with you, I will smile and say it is not
anything to worry about now.
You are just becoming aware of the divine nature of your Creator Son; you are
just beginning to learn to love him. You will get closer, and you will find his
attributes and qualities so wondrous that you will indeed fall in love with him
many times over. But when the time comes for you to take on spirit status and
fly away Home, you will do so with a complete new understanding of
relationships, including your relationship with Michael, and so I say to you,
"Do not worry."
It is as if you had a crush on your Teacher, like a third grader will have a
crush on her teacher and want to marry her when she grows up. It is very
much the same, your comprehension today. It is touching, Gerdean, but trust me,
it is unrealistic to be a worry for you at this point.
MERIUM: Tomas, may I comment?
TOMAS: Yes, Merium.
MERIUM: In Gerdean's outreach for this speculated future,
she has had her thought process scintillated and stimulated by the
possibilities of what tomorrow will bring and in this case tomorrow is totally
beyond our sights, but just as a worldly concern for where you will go or what
route you should take, this is not any different. It is also my observation
that in the course of some of the questions, we want to avoid finding out how
we can apply them, the immediate truth of the answer, into our daily life.
And as we speculate about, "how will I ever be able to bear not having
Christ Michael," in the sense of his greatness that Gerdean is
contemplating at this point, it makes her anxious, and, in a worldly way, we
can become anxious at the cost of our personal life, of allowing this
"Christ-consciousness" that wants to divulge itself in you is a
costly affair because it will change the scene in your daily lives in some ways
and it will bring great comfort and solace to yourself and many others if you
allow yourself to reach the heights that you are permitted to travel.
It is human nature to keep the questions outside of yourself so that you do not
have to address the issues of personal growth, and we have been at liberty in
this small group to talk about personal growth and I am hoping that as we share
our talks on the Thursday evening with the base of the attention on text, that
we will be able to embellish the appropriateness of the lesson into your
personal lives, because it will strengthen this connectedness, this oneness
that was discussed earlier.
The teachings of the text and your personal development and your personal
growth are allowed to be a harmonious and acceptable assignment. It is not
foreign to Tomas' and my goals to be allowed to have the two remain compatible
in both sessions. I hope that you, as you offer your questions, will be able to
bring both aspects to the floor, that we may be able to see the appropriateness
of applying the wonderment of the workings of the Father's creation to your own
individual areas and where you are going to be developing, because you all have
an agenda. You have a wonderful opportunity and destiny waiting for each one of
you.
I think that I have said all that I wanted to say, but it was in Gerdean's awe
and her appreciation and her excitement -- she reads the book as someone who is
reading a western or a science fiction novel; it is a mystery and a wonderment
to her -- and we appreciate that, but we want you all to be able to take the
explanation and apply it to your personal lives. Thank you.
TOMAS: Thank you, Merium. And your words have now been a
springboard for me to add that as we study the concept of community and
teamwork, as we read the text and apply its truths into the workshop of our
Teaching Mission and the extended lives of the arena in which we work, take
this, too, to include the cosmic sense of the word "community."
Incorporate your neighborhood into the heavens. Include as family the heavenly
hosts and begin to think in terms of "the group" as the greater
family, the association with the galactic bodies as your fellows, your
neighbors in truth.
Begin to lift up from the quagmire of legacy and stretch forth into greater
truth and appreciation of your beingness. Cover yourself with the airy voile
and dance among the stars with each other, touching the ground but ever so lightly.
Are there other questions?
Leah: I have a comment. I was thinking
about what Gerdean asked and it states repeatedly in the Book that anything
with truth, beauty and goodness will always remain with us, so her relationship
with Jesus will always be with her and, of course, we mortals have no idea what
is beyond, and as you state, you don't know, but it has to get better because
it always does get better.
MERIUM: Very well put. I like to hear you speak, Leah. I am
hoping you will write down questions and often make comments. We are looking
forward to your transmitting, as well. You have no idea how wonderfully
expressive (and if you'll excuse the comment) and therapeutic you are.
Hunnah had a daydream recently; she was thinking about you, and she said,
"I wish that Leah could read the Book and put it on tape because she has
the most wonderful resonance to her voice." This is not just sweet talk.
Remember we are instruments, all different instruments, and you have a
beautiful resonance in your voice. It is a pleasure to hear from you, dear.
Leah: Thank you. I have been requested to
do that before, but I heard that there actually is a recording.
MERIUM: Well, perhaps you could record your favorite parts.
It doesn't have to go to press. It could be shared among us.
TOMAS: Perhaps you could record favorite parts of our
lessons; I would love to hear them through your voice.
MERIUM: Perhaps we should mail them to some of the people
that we miss.
Leah: Well, thank you very much for your votes of
confidence.
MERIUM: We are recruiting, dear.
Leah: Well, okay.
TOMAS: We are becoming a community of ambitious souls,
consecrated to loving each other and "spreading the gospel," of
sending up and out psalms and hosannas.
Elizabeth: Well, I had a question and I'm still hoping that
you'll answer. I asked, but I'll ask again, of course. I'm crowding some of my
prayers into these little scattered moments and I think it's not very polite in
a way to do it and so I have a. certain ambivalence about it.
MERIUM: May I, Tomas? I have a suggestion because I
eavesdropped earlier and I heard the word "lover." I suggest that you
take a new lover. (Group laughter) I suggest that you clearly look at your
opportunity to practice the stillness as a liaison affair and that you look
with great anticipation to that moment when you may steal away to be alone. If
you allow yourself to look at this in a playful sense, because intellectually
you are very obedient and studious. If you allow yourself to look for those
little snitching moments where you can escape for just a little while and be
quiet and wait for your lover...
I heard those words and yet I don't mean to make light of it, and yet I do! and
that is part of the purpose of my coming, to help us lighten up and to take
duty which we are so duty-bound, and to set that duty into a new form and allow
yourself to find to your amusement and to that of our Beloved Michael, to allow
Him to show you that this Lover is indeed your Best Friend and that He will
show up for you by allowing you to be quiet and to feel His peace and the
refreshment of that living reality of this little bit of time that you were
seeking, and before you know it, the little bit of time, like tithing, will
become a greater amount; it will be like leaven and you will find fruitage in
this effort, or you will find another original idea come to you of a way to
resolve this problem.
It is not a problem. You are telling us that you are ready for a change and your
appetite is appropriately going to be satisfied.
Elizabeth: I like it. I like your answer a lot. Thank you.
Thank you, very much, Merium. You're really delightful and I really am
responding to your personality. It's really fun to have the feminine point of
view and now, I suppose, we have kind of a balance working here, because Tomas
does come across as being appropriately masculine, which, I like it immensely
well, and so now it's just so great to have a feminine point of view.
TOMAS: I am not meaning to infer that this is a male point
of view but I will follow up with a remark of my own insofar as your current
practice is concerned and I hear you say that even though you frequently take a
moment here and there, as Merium suggests, steal away for a private moment with
the Lover in terms of prayer and thought and worship, you need to actually plan
a get-away vacation and go off with Him and spend some quality time wallowing
in His caress.
The fact that you say "guilt" is an indication of your need to expand
your relationship with Him, this is true. It is not necessary for you to feel
guilty, for you have admitted to practices which benefit, i.e., you pray, you
talk to him, you have these "spiritual" thoughts, but they are
snatched from the bulk of the day which you devote to other causes and, yes,
you would do well to have a renewal of your vows and a recommitment, another
consecration of the will, to allow your soul to burn with that fervor, that
enthusiasm that would allow you to once again raise up and early in the morning
if necessary, in order to spend quality time in stillness and in conversation,
in communion with Michael and with The Father.
Elizabeth: Good.
MERIUM: I will add one little suggestion here, and we
know about the human addiction to soap operas, and I know that you have surely
outgrown the need to come home from getting groceries to watch the soap opera,
but what there is here is the evidence of a block of time, and if you would
allow yourself one month, just as an example, to every day block off a
particular time and say, "I will not be available to the world from this
point to this point" and keep that date, then you will develop a loyalty
to it and you will find out that it will mean so much to you that it will take
a tornado to release you from the commitment, so as you examine your time, in
your heart, ask for the foresight to know what that recipe for you should be
and I am sure you will find great fruitage for you.
Elizabeth: You're a very impressive combination!
TOMAS: We like each other, you see. We have our work in
common and we are naturally compatible, inasmuch as we have attained this level
of functioning, which is, of course, why we are working together with you, that
you also may attain such levels of mutual admiration and affection that your
radiance will spill out into the greater community and affect Urantia as a
result of your love for each other.
My dear ones, it is time for us to call it a day. We have had a rambunctious
evening. Merium and I are very pleased to be part of your lives, to be part of
this Teaching Mission, to be part of the growth of the living organism of the
Evolving Supreme. We offer our gratitude to Michael and to the Eternal Father
for bestowing us with this gift of life, for sharing with His other creatures.
Be kind and good to each other this week and review your consecration and find
out where your true loyalties lie. Good evening.
*****
DATE: April 17, 1997
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R's: Gerdean and
Hunnah
TEXTUAL STUDY: (None noted)
TEACHERS: TOMAS and MERIUM
TOPIC:
PERSONALITY
MERIUM: I am Merium and I will greet you this evening, only because I have the
opportunity, and because I would like to acknowledge your enchantment of being
in the comforting embrace of the spirit. Your tranquillity in this embrace is
profound. As has been said before, when you pray, we also kneel; and when you
worship, we also raise our voices On High. It is yet another facet of
community, and in honor of this wonderful community of believers here this
evening, in the flesh and in the spirit, Tomas and I are honored to be among
you.
Group: We are honored to be with you. Thank you for coming,
Merium.
TOMAS: I am your trusty friend, Tomas.
Group: Hi, Tomas.
TOMAS: How gracious you are, my flock. I am pleased that you
are so graciously accepting of my co-teacher and your newest friend in the
Teaching Mission. We have found great delight in each other's company, as I
also perceive you also are finding in each other's company, and as you develop
trust in the Father and subsequent trust in each other, that love will grow and
you will know fruits of the spirit in and for each other which will enrich your
lives beyond compare.
These friendships that are being formed, fostered in the spirit, are your
eternal prize. Friendships are an end in themselves. (Phone ringing)
There's a friend now! (Group laughter) I will perhaps follow through, along
those lines, to venture into the realms of your study this evening, which will
have to do with personality, for what is friendship if not an appreciation of a
compatible and fragrant personality?
You will no doubt acknowledge that there are some personalities that rankle,
that agitate, that are not conducive to a sense of comforting presence. Even
yourselves, at certain awkward moments in time, may find yourself fitful and
fretful and unfruitful in your fellowshipping. But this is a part of the
development, you see ~ the undertaking of incorporating the Father-bestowed
personality, instead of the ego-driven personality ~ a blending of the
beneficial aspects of both, to enhance the soul personality, which is eternal.
I have heard and been apprised of groups of students here, students of The Urantia
Book, who have studied the subject of personality for literally years, who have
done a thorough and in-depth study on the myriad facets of personality.
And while I do not intend to lead you into such a study, I would like to spend
a moment discussing personality, for I know that you have all wondered, at some
time, why it is that if personality is a gift from God, why there are so many
difficult and obstreperous personalities? Indeed, how can a child have such a
vital and enchanting personality even before they have been indwelt by a
fragment of God?
And so these questions may be pondered and even put to rest when it is
understood that the human personality is a gift of the Father but it is not
eternal in that same context as the soul is eternal, and it is in the
assimilation of God's will within your personality that enhances the human
personality and creates the personality which will live forever.
One of the inducements to the mortal to aspire for eternal life is the joyous
realization that the personality lasts forever, that as you ascend into the
future realms of spirit embellishment, your personality continues to go with
you. In other words, you are not to be diffused into a non-personal mass of
energy that returns to the cosmic Source, unaware of its identity and its
contribution to its own existence.
Those who are not aware of how God works in their life, and how they work in
God's life, may not have the advantage of understanding how it is that they can
contribute to the modification of their own personality by usurping the ego
right to do its own will in favor of doing the divine will of the Father, and
in that the Father-bestowed personality is able to perform.
Another question that has often come to the mind of evolving souls is: if God
is the father of personality, how can that personality be so dynamic and so
intriguing and yet fly in the face of all that has value? Here is the source of
great contention, even among believers. You perceive that a God-bestowed
personality should act in keeping with certain mores and standards of behavior,
and of a certainty this is true, but it is not you who is to decide what merit
a personality has as far as it is affecting its own arena.
It is possible for a personality to be acting in accordance with its
understanding of the will of God even when it is not the will of God, but how
else do humans make those growth pulses possible unless they err and correct
their error? These are perhaps subtle refinements in your understanding of
personality. We go back to the same fundamental lessons that we have
always taught and that we always come back to: that as you grow, you learn; and
as you learn, you judge less about others' learning processes. One moment.
MERIUM: This is Merium again and I have asked Tomas for a
moment on the dais to investigate a little further this thing about moral
personalities, for I know that you are very human personalities and that is
understood because you are humans and because you have had that value system
reinforced all along. And now comes this new wave of spiritizing and it
would have you sacrifice your own understanding of who you are, perhaps, for a
yet higher and more closely-aligned entity in conjunction with a God of living
water.
Generations have implanted in you the God of Israel and of other cultures and
of Christianity, a Godhead who demanded and commanded certain moral behaviors,
and now we come along and remind you that these judgments, as ethical as they
may be in your terms, are not always in the greater light, indeed, does not
contain the greater love that the Father has for his myriad children. (One
moment) I have urged Tomas and some of this group to incorporate his and
our words into your understanding of your readings, inasmuch as it may help to
interweave the textbook and the workbook into a comprehension of a living
reality.
This evening we are rather putting the cart before the horse and it creates a
challenge for us [Ed. - a group format change was made to allow for the Teacher
Session to precede the textual study]. Even so, it has been an interesting
approach and I am certain that as you read your lesson this evening regarding
the God of personality, the bestower of personality, and indeed in terms of
your personality, our words may make a little bit of sense in
perspective. I will now return you to Tomas with thanks for your
indulgence.
Group: Thank you.
TOMAS: (One moment) I would ask you to observe yourself this
week, and without condemnation but with infinite intrigue, observe your own
composition of personality. As you understand the nature of God, as you have
read already (about) many of His attributes and characteristics, observe how He
functions within you and when. Observe also how and when you manifest your
unenlightened human personality. Observe how you have used your personality in
order to survive, in order to make your way in and through the animal realms,
how cleverly you have adapted to being a human animal in a society of other
members of this species, and reflect that value level of existence (which it
is) onto that facet of you that is the evolving personality, of the evolving
soul, that you which radiates in His light of truth. Observe those
opportunities when you have the chance to speak clearly His will and have it be
heard and appreciated.
This study is not to show you how imperfect you are, no, or to show you how far
you have to go, no. But it is to give you an objective understanding of
your personality in alignment and out of alignment. And is it not more joyous to
radiate the Father-bestowed personality? Are you not truly a divine being, are
you not indeed beauteous and radiant in His sight and in the sight of others as
a reflection of Him?
Perhaps as you understand how the Father-bestowed personality works in your
world, you will be inspired to clasp more closely to your breast the
commitment, the desire, to foster His will in your life, that you may ring out
the good news of the living God, the living brotherhood. It is the human
personality on its face which is clever, yes, but which also grows weary, for
it is not infused with the security of eternal value.
I will relinquish you from further formal discourse, but I will open the table
to those of you who have a desire to approach discourse or questions, and as I
throw open the floor, let me throw open also my arms and embrace you in love,
especially those of you whom I have missed in this configuration, those of you
who have been being about the Father's business in realms outside this Teacher
Base. Welcome, beloved children, and also to my faithful flock. How are you all
this evening?
Group: Great. Very good.
Elizabeth: One thing about doing this a little earlier
is that we can talk about the lesson ahead, which is quite interesting.
And also it is -- I feel a lot fresher at this time in the evening. I must get
very tired very quickly. I feel as if I have lots more energy right now and can
listen and enjoy Tomas and Merium. And I have a question. (Phone ringing)
Ruth: Tomas, I have a question. Do you
have a telephone ringing, too?
TOMAS: I have a private secretary who puts my calls on hold
when I am otherwise engaged. I say that, of course, jokingly.
Ruth: Maybe Elizabeth needs to do that, too.
Celeste: Tomas, I still have some trouble understanding the
personality -- mine and God's -- but also I think if we are capable of having
God come through me, and I responded that perfectly to another human being,
that you'd be almost too humble afterwards to even tell anybody about it.
TOMAS: I fully appreciate what you are saying, but I would
also encourage you to not submerge your value. Indeed, I am not asking you to
exalt yourself, but it is perfectly appropriate to exalt the work that you do,
for that is what is important, and as you deny your work, you deny yourself and
your peers the opportunity to share the seeds you have planted and the
germination and sprouting of the life when it is being born.
There are other elements of appreciating God's personality through you besides
the standard ego-personality glorification. It is all right, you see, to accept
your status as a daughter of God, a faith child of the living reality, a divine
being-in-the-making. You are, in relative terms, perfect; and it is false
humility to decry and deny your value. Allow your value, unashamedly.
There is a significant difference between acknowledging your sonship, your
dignity as a living child of the living God, you see, than to strut with
braggadocio of how clever you are in and of yourself; but as you honor your
Parent, your Creator, in the work that you do, then you have set yourself
aside, ego-wise, and you have allowed the personality of God to proclaim
itself.
Celeste: Thank you so much, Tomas, for everything you have
given us. I think this lesson was probably the greatest lesson. I love this
lesson on personality. It's hard!
TOMAS: It is hard, and I will add that culturally and,
perhaps biblically speaking, you have been coerced and browbeaten into a shell
of what you can rise up to be. God has been beaten to a pulp in your society,
and when He seeks to rise up, He is again attacked by would-be crusaders for
another cause or those who fear Him. It is a courageous loyalty to espouse your
own God-given personality.
Elizabeth: The thing of personality, is this — One of
the most fascinating things, as Celeste said to me, in the book, when I first
read the way it works and tried to understand it (and I don't profess to
understand it, but it's a most exciting thing to think about) and when we think
about other people's personalities, it always -- since I've had the Book --
enjoyed thinking about people as different flowers.
You were telling us about the symphony orchestra, which was a wonderful way to
think about it, and I do enjoy thinking about the fun of a great big bouquet of
different flowers, and how exciting it is, and so to me the whole thing of
personality is such an exciting part of the Book, exciting from the point of
view that I feel as if I've just begun to scratch the surface of the meaning of
personality, from the point of view of one's faith.
I had a question, too, only I don't want to diverge from this topic, but I know
we only have a limited amount of time. A person came to see me this week who is
in the middle of a huge decision, whether to end his relationship with his wife
and their children and change everything in their lives and to divorce, and I
was thinking about what you had said about, all right, we all have been using
the adjutant mind spirits when we make decisions on this planet, but if we used
the Spirit of Truth we have a tremendous lead in the spiritual understanding,
and yet I was having a very difficult time being sure of how to explain to this
person how you tap into the Spirit of Truth as opposed to the adjutant mind
spirits which you're accustomed to using as a matter of just the popular way of
doing things here, and I was leaning on the idea that one would have to ask the
Spirit of Truth and also one would have to seek to cleanse oneself, at least
for the moment, of those poisons that are mentioned in the Book before you ask
for guidance, but I was just fumbling around, really. I would love to hear you
and Merium give us possibly some help on this.
TOMAS: Thank you for your expressions. I will first take
your analogy of the flower arrangement of personality and commend you for the
picture that you paint, for even yourselves, as vibrant personalities, are
beautiful and perfect in your own way and that whereas a handful of raggedy
wild-flowers holds certain short-lived charm, those stalwart and hardy blooms
of long-standing, when arranged together, can embellish and enhance not only
themselves individually, but as a floral arrangement that will indeed honor the
room.
Yes, indeed, the difference between a flower and yet another flower is an
honorable analogy, akin to the symphony. You would not want to place a humble
dandelion in a group of iris, but if you have a mixed bag of flowers, any and
all will blend. Let me not get carried away on the flower thing because already
I hear you taking the parable and chewing it to pieces with your literal
mindedness, and truly I only intended to sketch a centerpiece.
I would like now to address a subject of the Spirit of Truth. Perhaps Merium
would like to tackle that one. I will parenthetically interject that I trust
you introduced him to my recent lesson on the Spirit of Truth.
Elizabeth: Yes. Yes. That is what we were
using.
TOMAS: One moment.
MERIUM: I have words to say, of course. I am a storyteller
and so I am delighted to have been asked to attend and to share. I will not be
as formal as Tomas, perhaps, nor as (I will not use the word tedious) specific,
perhaps, as Tomas can be, but I will approach the Spirit of Truth from my
vantage point and that is very much as has been said before: if you were to
talk with Jesus and he were to tell you what way is in the divine plan for you,
you would honor the guidance from Jesus inasmuch as he is your Creator Father/
Brother, and his guidance would no doubt fill you with confidence of what way
to go.
The Spirit of Truth plays the same role, if you will. The Spirit of Truth
is that which directs you to Michael for his guidance, and the clarity of his
guidance echoes in your soul. You know in every part of you that this is the
way to go. You trust that this is the way to go. You know that even if, down
the road, it is required that you veer a little to the left or a little to the
right, at least today this is what you should do; and it elicits in you a
feeling of confidence and assurance that this is what you must do.
Now, how that differs from the adjutant mind spirits is difficult to describe
because you can come to the same assurance, in your perception, from your own
understanding, or from your own instinct, intuition, counsel, and so forth.
Your previous experience alone has told you what you ought to do, but let me
remind you that many times your human experiences are not the best guide, for
in your human experiences where you depend upon your own resources to make
these particularly momentous decisions, you flounder because perhaps one time
when you made the decision, you fell short of your expectations; and perhaps
when you made the decision another time, you far over-extended yourself, ending
up looking the fool. And so on and so on.
There are times, regarding making decisions, when individuals have relied upon
their own instincts, their own understanding, their own sense of wisdom and so
forth that has failed and become paralyzed in the ability to make any further
decisions at all! And so, if you can, it is wise to seek guidance from the
Spirit of Truth, bearing in mind that that is a spiritual approach.
This is the greater approach because it says, "In and of myself I do not
have all the answers. I have these certain experiences and these certain
abilities and these certain instincts, and so forth, but I am an earthen vessel
and I cannot lean upon my own understanding." When and as the soul powers
of the personality prevail upon the Spirit of Truth to direct them, they
invariably come face to face with the living Christ who will speak to their
soul and answer: "This is the way."
Now granted, too, as Tomas has said before, sometimes you get that answer and
you don't want to do it. You know you should; you know perhaps eventually you
must; but for reasons unknown to anyone but yourself, you decide, "I will
not do that; not today," understanding that the Parent is forgiving,
understanding that you may take an eternity to make certain decisions if you
choose. More often than not, individuals will lollygag on their way to the
Father:
"Indeed, what's the point of hurrying up when there are so many wallowing
individuals hanging back that you must help anyway before you can go far afield
of anything, so you might as well enjoy your own ego-decisions and rely upon
your own feelings for as long as you have them; after all, we will outgrow our
instincts when we outgrow our bodies" -- and all manner of rationale take
place in the mortal condition.
This is life, with all of its colorful interpretations of what they ought to
do, based upon their own decision-making processes. How many fools have
justified their behavior by saying, by testifying, that, to their
understanding, it was God's will that they did what they did. And who is
to say that their belief is wrong?
Decision-making is a very, very personal process. It involves the entire
mobilization of the soul. Have mercy on yourself and on those who must
make decisions, for it is by making decisions that you ascend; there are no
backward steps written into your destiny plan. However, I have spoken
long enough, Tomas. I thank you for the opportunity to share with these lovely
flowers.
Celeste: I can't wait to read all of this. We often
say that, but it's true.
Elizabeth: Well, so often we will ask, we'll pray,
we'll "wait on the Lord", we say. And then we seem to get conflicting
answers; we're very confused. Is the Lord really speaking to me? And then my
friend said, "If the phone rings in the next half hour, I'll do it."
(They were making a big decision.) So the phone rang. And . .. that was an
interesting device, I think. For that person, it really did work. Very, very
good Christian person that I know.
TOMAS: Very good Christian seeker of signs. (Group
laughter)
Elizabeth: It sometimes really helps to go to a good
friend who is loving and helpful, and the Spirit of Truth probably speaks
through that person, if we approach it in the right way. Is that true?
TOMAS: This is true, for the Father will speak through those
individuals who permit His guidance to come through them, and this is often an
unconscious process. Also, it is not necessary that the individual become
an advocate, an apostle, a proselytizer. Indeed, it is sometimes the simplistic
individual friendly response that is the most sincere and has the most profound
impact on a seeker. This is one of the aspects of confiding trust, the
fruit of the spirit that allows you to minister to your friend as you pass by,
by sitting and consulting and consoling in the difficulties of the life.
Elizabeth: We do have to be quite careful,
though. As people who sometimes ask to help somebody make a decision, we
really have to be careful, don't we? I mean, people do like to give advice. And
that's one thing I think I'm wary of, is that humanly you sort of enjoy giving
advice sometimes, and when you enjoy it that much, I think you'd better be
suspicious.
TOMAS: One moment, Elizabeth. This is an immediate
reflection upon our words this evening regarding personality and in the text
that you will read later this evening about the human personality as compared
to the Father-bestowed personality. Look to the motives. Look to the intent.
For although you may desire truly to serve, who are you serving?
Are you putting yourself in a position to give advice even when it is not asked
for because they are vulnerable and you are therefore powerful? What are your
motives that you would catch them up short with your sincerity and lead them
down a path that may not be the path for them. This leads only to distrust and
more betrayal. A true friend does not give advice unless it is asked for, and
this requires censor of the tongue, that unruly organ.
Elizabeth: But even when one is asked for advice, I do
think it's time when one has to exercise a lot of thoughtfulness and sometimes
I don't know whether we do, but I'm just wondering what do we do? Does one
sometimes say, "Let's pray together"? Prayer is one of the things
that the Teachers have been stressing.
TOMAS: Prayer will bond you with that individual with whom
you pray, certainly. It will help break down ego barriers and develop trust as
they feel the spirit merge together. This is a very beneficial and
trust-inducing behavior, and additionally, it lends confidence of the
friendship and puts the words in appropriate perspective.
When you deign to give advice, the highest advice that you can offer is your
personal experience, for that has the authority of your experience itself; it
is an intellectual exercise, otherwise. You may suggest what someone else has
done, you may suggest material to read, you may share what Jesus said about the
subject (which, by the way, he said nothing about divorcement), but understand,
too, in your counsel, in your spirit of counsel with your friend, that there
are always more than one side to a story. There is always more than one
side to be considered.
Elizabeth: Yes, yes, that's true.
TOMAS: Only God knows the full set of circumstances. And
that is therefore who to consult regarding the way to go.
Elizabeth: So would you say, "I prefer to pray about
this and then later we can talk?" Would that be a better way of doing it?
Just sort of …?
TOMAS: If a friend has come to you and is troubled, then you
may listen to your friend in compassion of their woe and their distress. Your
comforting presence should be adequate. How can they prevail upon you for an
answer to their life problem, that can only be found in counsel with the Father
himself? It is your friendship they seek, not your answer. They only can find
the answer from the Father and from within the self. If you can help direct
them to the Inner Guide of the Indwelling Guide of the Thought Adjuster, then
you have done your part. You have served the Father, you have served your
brother, and you have done valuable work.
Elizabeth: Yes, I think that's really good. Fortunately in
this situation I didn't presume to really offer advice, because I thought it
was, yes, just better to sit and listen. People do seem to get a good
perspective when they have a chance to sit and talk about something that's
troubling them.
TOMAS: It is often the only thing that is missing -- is
someone to whom to pour out their heart. If they can sincerely express
themselves to a trusted friend, they often can hear themselves reflect back to
themselves what their concerns are, and so it is a way of their praying aloud
for guidance and you, as the friend, have provided the source of reflectivity
for them by giving back to them only your love and your support.
Elizabeth: That's great. Thank you. I think I'll enjoy
reading this, as Celeste said. Anyway, tonight, with this discussion, before we
read, speaking for myself I have no particular desire to do it one way or the
other, but I do think that there is something to be said for coming into this
thing when you're feeling fresh. I'm sure the others will have other different
interesting things to say about it.
TOMAS: And certainly the transmitter will confirm
that.
Group: Yes. I like it, too. Talk about our
lesson ahead.
TOMAS: Unfortunately, we are not crystal-ball gazers and we
cannot ascertain what selection you will choose from the Life and Teachings of
Jesus, and so if you will allow us, we will merely partake of that as our
dessert as well. What a wonderful way to end an evening: a message from
Michael. My friends, are we about to close for the evening?
Ruth: Tomas, I want to ask you something.
TOMAS: Yes, Ruth?
Ruth: I have a gentleman coming to me, my
practice, and he has read some books and he and I have been talking about some
things and I would like permission to give him The Urantia Book. I sort of
inserted foot in mouth in wanting to help him. I just sort of said I would give
him a Book. Would it be all right if I gave him a Urantia Book? He is searching
and he is reading some books and he read "The Holy Grail" about the
Holy Grail and he was talking to me about Mary and Mary Magdalene and Michael
and I gave him a little bit of information.
TOMAS: Let me suggest that you review in your mind's
eye some of the subject matter that you have discoursed with him that has
stimulated your appreciation for The Urantia Book, that you believe would
answer his need and his question. And then find those references in the
Book. Take a brand new book with those items highlighted or ear-marked, and in
discourse with him, fellowship with him, say, "Remember we had that
conversation and you said this and I said that? I would like to show you this
here. What do you think?" And allow him to nibble on the bulk of the Book,
on how it presents itself, on how it answers the question that his soul was
inquiring after, rather than handing him
the Book and saying, "Here! This will answer your question."
It is a responsibility in some cases, my dear, that as you are becoming a
fisher of men, you need to spoon feed them. You need to drop your bait
and (let them) nibble the worm until they have found it tasty, savory and ideal
for their needs. Go ahead and titillate him even further with The Urantia Book,
and when he has made a. reach for it with his heart or his soul or his mind …
even then do not thrust it upon him, but present it to him as a heart-felt love
gift, and encourage him to follow up with his studies and continue to share his
findings with you.
Celeste: I think that's a most perfect answer.
Ruth: You know I did that with another person that
Celeste and I gave a book to, and that gentleman, I think he
became aggravated about something that he read and … He became upset with me, I
know.
TOMAS: It can be dangerous to a soul to have the fifth
epochal revelation placed in his or her hands and have to acknowledge that s/he
cannot handle it, at least at the moment. It can cause wrenching reactions in
the soul. I have seen individuals tremble and shake and hand back the Book in
fear of it and in fear of what they may be doing by returning this insightful
tome, and so I suggest, do not petrify these timid children, but allow them to
take a bite and nibble on it and whet their appetite, for they will hunger and
thirst. If they do not, you have not offended their timid soul, their own
humble dignity in their more simple belief system. You have not alienated them
as a friend and as an acquaintance. You have not put the Urantia Book out there
as a terrible thing, but as another tool for spirit.
Ruth: Thank you, Tomas. That's very helpful.
TOMAS: Thank you, Ruth.
Celeste: I know it's easy to give a Urantia Book to
somebody because you're so excited about it and you want them to get it and
I've done it and we've all done it, and then you learn later on that they
opened it once or twice and it was just too overwhelming and that was the end
of that.
TOMAS: This is very true. You need to follow up and hoe the
soil around the seed you have planted. You cannot-- As they say in mota "a
pint cannot hold a quart" and so do not drown the poor fellow with your
largess. Whose ego are you satisfying in a gesture like that anyway? What
personality is it that's acting, there? (Arrival of Ms. McD) Good
evening, my dear daughter, how wonderful to feel your spirit presence with us
again. Your aura is strong this evening and it is an advantage to our configuration
to feel your wonderful spirit here.
It is truly a bounty to feel the presence of all of you this evening. Merium
and I look forward to your studies and to your skilled practice in socializing
in the spirit sense of the word. I look forward to our next encounter and I
leave you with my embrace. Peace be upon you. Farewell.
*****
DATE: April 24, 1997
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/Rs: Gerdean and Hunnah
TEXTUAL STUDY: Urantia Book
Paper 5, Continued
TEACHERS: TOMAS and MERIUM
TOPIC:
LEARNING TO COMMUNICATE
Let us pray.
"Heavenly Father, thank you for your very existence and for ours, for the
gift of personality and the gift also of free will. Help us, dear Father, to
know what to do with these valuable gifts that You have given us. Help us to
align ourselves with Your will that these gifts may give back to You our
devotion and appreciation for your gift to us, in that, dear Father, we may be
granted eternal life.
"We have come a long way in our growth, in our desire to know You, in our
spiritual growths and in our service to others. Sometimes, dear Father, it
seems we've already been at this an eternity and yet we realize that we have
only begun. Help us to realize, dear Father, our growth, our reality, our
eternal aspects through You. Give us confidence of our relationship, of your
indwelling and our eternal life.
"Also, Father, help us to see in others Your personality. You, through our
brothers and sisters, that our lives may be enriched, knowing that You walk
with us, that You share this experience with us, that we are not alone, but
that Your presence is indeed a constant among us. Help us to rise above the
fetters of fear, and radiate the personality that You would have us be, that we
may be loved for You. In Michael's name we pray. Amen."
TOMAS: Good evening, faithful flock.
Group: Good evening, Tomas.
TOMAS: Sometimes it feels like a dog in heat, that we chase
our tail trying to catch up with ourselves, but indeed when we finally catch up
with ourselves we are found in Him.
Your meeting this evening has been most intriguing. Your studies are amazing.
Your personalities are a flower garden of unimaginable color. And yet you are
indeed each a creation and an extension of the God of personality. Radiant
blooms, one and all.
I realize that our format is topsy-turvy, but this is part of learning how to
work as a team. I would not want our group to become crystallized and
regimented to the point where you approached it with a ho-hum attitude, nor do
I want you to feel burdened by the cerebral aspects of the text and the
ponderousnous of the Teachers' lessons, but we must formulate some order in
order that we can maintain a sense of family and continuity.
I would suggest henceforth that all your gatherings begin with a moment of
stillness. This simple, rudimentary practice is invaluable in giving your mind
and soul a focus; not only for yourselves individually but as a testimony to
each other that you are now embarking upon a season of application toward
spirit intent.
I also would like to introduce a practice of sharing that has been successful
in some communities. As Merium has observed, you each have an almost desperate
need to express yourselves and this aspect of personality can be developed.
Therefore, I would like to institute, with your permission and cooperation, a
segment of time devoted to personal sharing, and in this upcoming addendum, I
will ask you to manifest some discipline, for your socialization in this realm
overlaps significantly and you digress. But in the format that I would suggest,
I would ask that you recall the assignment from the previous week and address
the group, one at a time, as to your week's activities, in particular having to
do with the effects of the assignment.
In this way you will have opportunity to apply yourself to the lesson in a
meaningful way, for you will need to report to your peers, by way of
socialization. It also will accommodate your need to share aspects of your life
with each other. It will serve the purpose also of, in an orderly fashion,
notifying your teachers of whether or not you have done your homework. There is
merit to this proposed format, and it is not just for our convenience that we
suggest this, but for your delight.
There are only a couple cautionary remarks, one of which is involving the
discipline of one individual speaking at a time, and I say, with a smile on my
face, that I realize that is an almost impossible assignment for you; and, no,
we are not interested in others' commentary regarding your report, but would
like to hear from you individually, in a soulful way, about your week and your
application to the lessons. This will give us a focus, a direction, and
it will give you an opportunity to share meaningfully. Would you be amenable to
this proposed agenda? (Group agreement) I tell you we have utilized
it for months in the Butler group and it has brought forth much fruit.
Very well. Last week, you will recall, the assignment was to observe your
own personality, your human personality, as compared . to your Father-bestowed
personality, and I don't know that any of you had an opportunity to
conscientiously follow through with that assignment since we did the lesson
last week "cart before the horse."
Let me then reassign that assignment for the following week, and this time,
having now read twice about the God of personality, and having the transcript
at hand to remind you of our discourse regarding personality, you can pay some
attention to your own personality and how it functions. Perhaps you can become
better acquainted with your own personality. Merium? Would you like
to help me out, in this context?
MERIUM: I expected you to call on me later in the evening,
after the report.
TOMAS: Shall we then take an intermission and try a preliminary
review, if they are ready? I don't know if they are ready.
MERIUM: When you invited them to share, I think that you
have reassured them that it would not be on tape, and they will supply
themselves with what they have to say. They have in mind what they know they
will share. In truth, they are going to share that which is pertinent, that
which is waiting to be revealed.
TOMAS: The question then remains, shall we launch today or
shall we wait until next week? I think you are saying 'let's go with it today.'
MERIUM: Yes. I would like to hear what they are going to say
and not what they are thinking they want to say. I will tell a little story. A
wise one, teaching students, approached a student and asked that she would be
selected that day to give the talk and she said to the teacher, 'Oh, you should
have called on me yesterday! I had a very good subject.' He said, "My
dear, you would not have spoken on that subject at all. It was something that
your human mind would be involved in. What you will speak in the lesson, you
will give from the higher realm."
And I encourage you all, just as Hunnah has to allow herself to stand aside in
order to express that which is really important, appropriate, to be revealed,
because what you will want to allow yourselves to do is to behold that which is
presented to you. It can be out shouted, and under the circumstances, that
which you share, that which you reveal, we will be allowed to witness and you
will witness within yourself, and it will be a great healing and a great
releasing and nurturing for you individually.
TOMAS: Very good. Also, we will get to know each other
better. I have only one further guideline, and that has to do with timing, for
we have a tendency in this group to spend too much time on socializing, and I
hesitate to let you run loose with the lectern. There was once a timepiece in
existence at this table. If it is in existence now, it could be helpful. If
not, please utilize the same comprehension of time as a timepiece would allow
and manifest a consideration for the time constraints of the evening. We
will then be in session off the record.
[Intermission]
TOMAS: Greetings, once again. I am Tomas. We have been
appreciative of your development in communication here in this format this
evening. Thank you one and all for your contributions and for the expressions
and exposures of your inner life and your external life as you manifest your
way in the world.
You will reflect this week upon what you shared. You will realize that certain
things were not necessary to have shared but other things in your deep mind and
heart would have been wonderful to share had you thought of it, had you had the
courage.
Your communications will develop. Your sharing will gain greater depth. Your
communications with each other will lend themselves well to true personality
expression and you will benefit and your indwelling Adjusters will benefit. And
you will find that your communications will take on a new flavor, a new
meaning, a new value, and provide you with new rewards.
This, too, is part of the Correcting Time, that we learn how to communicate in
ways which include the spirit, not merely to suit the needs of the material
realms but that also fulfil the needs of the soul and the spirit.
I was recalling the character in your culture who is the opera singer, tenor
Pavarotti, who waves the white handkerchief. When he holds up the handkerchief
at the end of an aria, he senses the audience's reaction, he keys himself in to
the sensibility of the listeners to see if they appreciated what he had to say,
and I tell you I feel as if you were all Pavarotti's and I have tuned into you
to hear what you have to say, as you sometimes tune into me, and so we begin to
sense in each other what it is that we yearn to hear, what it is truly that we
are looking for when we seek acknowledgement from each other.
Your expressions, personality expressions, are each an aria of life as you live
it in your opera -- in the existential act that accompanies the symphony. This
week, be aware of the operatic aspects of life. See the comics, see the
melodramatic, the tragic and the romantic. See the emotional aspects of life as
it is presented through personality. And add a generous helping of the God of
all personality, and see how it is that He shows himself, even through His
ignorant children, how loveable they are in spite of themselves.
MERIUM: I would like to encourage each of you to find
someone who has been introduced to you in a very negative way, who has been supported
in the sense of community in the negative way, and to embrace that individual,
to open a door to his or her opportunity to be released of this picturing of
him or herself.
Our brother has introduced a higher way to communicate with each other, to
appreciate each other, and we all are aware that there are times when we
present an attractive scene or profile. Movie stars particularly show a side of
their face that is their "best profile." There are people who do not
have an opportunity to present their best face to you under some circumstances.
I beseech you to extend them the Father's love. Remember who they are. Perhaps
you are the first one who will ever have known to do so. Thank you.
TOMAS: Thank you, Merium, and thank you students, dear friends. It is late. I
will entertain a couple questions if you have any. Otherwise we will close
early this evening. Are there questions?
And so be it. We will be with you this week as you investigate the marvelous
realms of personality. Farewell.
Group: Farewell.
*****
DATE: May 1, 1997
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R: Gerdean
TEXTUAL STUDY:
Urantia Paper 6, The Eternal Son
TEACHER: TOMAS
TOPIC:
A LIFE OF LOVING SERVICE
TOMAS: Greetings, my friends, I am Tomas.
Group: Good evening, Tomas.
TOMAS: It is good to be with you again. All of us in the celestial realms
rejoice in your steadfastness, in your yearning to grow in spirit reality, in
your desire to do His will, and in your efforts to serve. Lovely personalities,
how are you this evening?
Celeste: Wonderful.
Leah: Just great.
TOMAS: It has been a good evening and continues to be productive of spirit
communion. This evening's studies regarding The Eternal Son have brought now
into your comprehension of Deity an aspect of action in mercy and as you have
observed in your recent assignment regarding personality, the fact of
personality is activated by and through mercy. You now have the chief two
ingredients toward living a life of loving service.
Those instances where you observe personality, without judgment, wherein you
recognize a fleeting glimpse of reality -- be it childlike faith, confusion,
experience of the ages, relative retardation, enchanting aspects, and all
manner of personality manifestation -- there is within you then that which is
called to serve.
Many times the smile is adequate. Many times the acknowledgement speaks
volumes, fills untold wells of loneliness. It may not be your responsibility to
bring your concern for their wellbeing into the picture, but as you accept and
acknowledge and pass by, you have served. We have spoken of this from the
beginning -- to open doors between you; to allow the fear to fall away, in
trust of divine guidance.
And now you begin to see the Father at work in the lives of His myriad
children. You have sought for Him, you have found Him in the Isle of Paradise,
you have found Him within your own essence of association in your own Mystery
Monitor, and now you glimpse Him in others - not only in the spiritual, but
also in the actual, the mortal, the existential existence of your fellow
creatures.
This acknowledgement that these beings are the children of Our Father enlarges
your world. You are not alone. You are embarked on a joyous adventure wherein
you will encounter other interesting personalities throughout eternity. Much of
your on-going eternal education is adapting to, adjusting to, responding to,
working with, appreciating, enjoying personalities. You cannot always select
what personalities you will encounter, but you always have free will choice as
to how you will treat/regard any and all those that you do encounter. How would
the Father regard this child of His?
As you see personality and may or may not opt to respond in a service way, you
may deprive yourself of the opportunity to serve altogether, but as you are
touched by life, as you see the Father-indwelt personality with the
difficulties that they suffer in this mortal life, the challenges they face,
see them in mercy of their standing. Allow the embrace of The Eternal Son to
wash over that being -- your brother, your sister. And so even when you cannot
or will not engage yourself personally, you can operate through the spirit to
project your Father's love and mercy on that personality.
This you can do as a conscious act of your will. It is a service. I invite you
to look at this because oftentimes the distress that you see in your arena is
enough to allow you to pretend that it does not exist, for the frustration is
potentially overwhelming as to how you can serve, how you can do something
about it. Rather than deny its existence, envelop it (the individual and their
circumstances) in a shroud of love and mercy as you pass by. You need not ask
for anything on their behalf or in their regard, but direct your love that you
have received from the Father to them through the Father.
It is, of course, far more intriguing when you allow yourself to become
involved in the realm. Nothing is more important, you see, than the work of
your realm, but it is true that your capacities cannot encompass every
individual human being. You do have finite capacities, after all. But to the
extent that your own expanding infinite love is eager to serve, direct your
free will to love and mercy.
Merium is here this evening and would speak regarding the Sermon on the Mount.
One moment.
MERIUM: Good evening, my lovelies. Tomas and I are yet
getting used to each other, you see. Teamwork takes time. Sharing is a learned
condition, and although Tomas is infinitely eager to share with me his platform
of teaching, he is not entirely accustomed to my personality, and so we adapt,
as he has said, and as you already well know.
Elizabeth: Someday you will have to describe your
personality for us.
MERIUM: Someday, as you get to know me, you will be able to
tell me about it yourself! Indeed, you remind me of our session on Tuesday, but
I will only titillate you by that hint, and so you must find out by hearsay how
we carried on, on Tuesday, but this evening I would like to discuss, but
briefly, this thing about the meek.
You have, some of you, been discussing the meek. The meek are easy to discuss
for they do not threaten. Like the elderly man and woman, like the Butler
citizens, like the Sunday School children, these are examples of the meek.
There is no threat from them. They are easy to recognize, easy to observe.
Theirs' truly is the Kingdom of Heaven. They have not only inherited the earth,
they are quite comfortable upon it. They make themselves at home here. They have
no argument with their Maker or their lot in life. They have accepted and
adjusted. They are not angry. They are not impatient. They are meek and they
are beloved. They are not troublemakers, they are not rabble-rousers, they are
not do-gooders, they are not movers and shakers. They are meek, easily
accessible, too easily vulnerable.
Elizabeth: Well one person who isn't meek is CP! He's
an example of a personality that isn't meek.
Leah: Very un-meek.
MERIUM: I recognize that. I did not include him
for that reason.
Again, in focussing on "blessed are the meek," I remind you to be
meek, to be at home on Urantia, to be a man among men that you might rub
shoulders with your fellow men.
Am I receiving signals that I should be saying female gender words here?
Elizabeth: No!
Leah: You probably heard me say that. There are
no men in this room.
MERIUM: It is a language usage.
Leah: Of course.
MERIUM: I intend no disrespect to our gender.
Elizabeth: " Our" gender.
MERIUM: I return you to brother Tomas.
Leah: Thank you for coming.
Elizabeth: Thank you very much, Merium.
TOMAS: We are both here and are both available to
"field questions or comments. Let's move on. Are there questions
about our discussions or about your experiences on your assignment or about
your reading, or any commentary?
Elizabeth: Well, in speaking about personalities, sometimes
I feel a little concerned because I enjoy putting personalities around me that
I find easy to deal with and pleasant and I don't think I'm getting a lot of
practice in dealing with the other type of people, and so I think maybe I'm not
using my time here to learn as much as I should, but I prefer not to have to do
it unless it's thrust upon me.
I certainly did put in a lot of years with my father, who was a bit of a
curmudgeon personality, so maybe I got a lot of practice there, I'm not sure,
but I was getting the idea that you were saying something to us about a lot of
our growth is going to take place in our relationships with these diverse
personalities. Is that correct, Tomas?
TOMAS: That is certainly correct. And this will be so
throughout eternity.
Elizabeth: And yet I seek the personalities that are easy
for me to deal with. That's not a lot of practice, as I said.
TOMAS: You have become skilled at insulating yourself
against the vicissitudes of life.
Elizabeth: Yeah. I have.
Celeste: That seems to be a very normal thing to do.
TOMAS: It is a normal thing to aspire toward, but it is not
always successful, and yet, Elizabeth, you have effectively insulated yourself
from much that could cause you damage; that is, you and your family. But you
have also removed yourself from the mainstream wherein the seeds are able to
fall on fertile soil.
It is perhaps not your liking to fraternize with the ilk of the Alpheus twins.
Granted they are not what one would call socially fragrant, intellectually
challenging or stimulating, creatively stimulating, even spiritually
compatible, but they are important, you see, for they are your brothers. They
are part of your family, and although you can insulate yourself and educate
yourself and so forth, you will one day need to accept your fellowship
leanings.
There is no satisfaction as deep as recognizing the fraternity of siblings in
the spirit, and in the spirit it matters not whether you are clever or smart or
witty, but that you are real. In time you will yearn to become not more
gracious, more refined, more well insulated, but more real. Indeed, as you grow
in the spirit you become more Real, and like "The Velveteen Rabbit,"
this is not done by remaining insulated and on a shelf, but it comes from being
rubbed and hugged and scratched and buffeted until your whiskers fall off.
I understand that the structure of your life has deep roots. Great history goes
into this insulated existence in which you have found yourself. But it is true,
as you say, that your eternity in front of you involves adapting to other
personalities and it is a good time and place here and now to begin,
recognizing that all attached humans to these personalities are not necessarily
what you would call lovely. It is hard to love unlovely mankind, but it is an
aspect of Sonship that you want for your brothers even that which they do not
know that they want for themselves.
How have you been, Kate?
Kate: Good.
TOMAS: It is good to see you. I sense that you
are not as vocal this evening as you normally are. Perhaps it is because we
have experienced some focused sharing. Have you found merit to our exercise?
Kate: Yes.
TOMAS: I enjoy hearing you learn to communicate, to
convey meaningful value to each other.
Elizabeth: We're probably going to continue, in a certain
respect. We're going to continue a little bit of this, even if we get a
new assignment. I think we're going to do this again.
TOMAS: I appreciate the sharing aspect and would encourage
it to continue, for it eliminates excessive chatter. I do appreciate the need
for socialization and the culture which you share, and indeed the fragrant
personalities that you are that would give rise to such joyous socialization,
but it is my purpose to introduce the spirit into your lives.
The Paper having to do with Religion in Human Experience indicates that there
is a difference between a social gathering and a spiritual gathering, and I am
going to pull rank and say that I believe that if we are here in honor of
Michael and to study how he lived, it is more toward a spiritual meeting than a
social meeting, and so I would like to keep communion as a part of our
gathering together, and perhaps when you have a party I can observe without
comment. However, I do not want to usurp your intercourse, and so when I have
concluded, or when the teaching platform has concluded, you are certainly at
liberty to return to your social customs.
Elizabeth: I think it's productive to do what we did
and to keep it to a certain extent focused on a spiritual path. I think
everybody else feels that way. We do a lot of social things, so this isn't
supposed to be truly social.
TOMAS: I will then think about an assignment for
you for next week, and let us continue to observe what is personality --not
that you have to do anything about it, mind you, but observe what you perceive
to be personality.
(In reference to those personalities who are so difficult of loving -- you are
cherished for your efforts, for your long suffering, for your endurance, and
indeed for your mercy, for final judgment is beyond the mortal realms. It lies
in the Ancients of Days who have greater wisdom that we. It is not for us to
determine when personality has become extinct, when the light of a personality
has gone out.)
We will continue to observe personality in terms of the living tree, the living
fruit.
Kate: Fruit of the spirit, Tomas?
TOMAS: Always. I do not mean to bring up this fruit to
maturity too quickly, but in observing personality, observe personality as it
is - alive! The tree is alive and showing fruit. It is not ready to be hewn
down and cast into the fire. It is the living personality that I want you to
observe ("Let the dead bury the dead."). Focus on that child of God.
Continue to appreciate their personality, their mortal personality aspects as a
child of God, given personality by Him.
And see, too, allow your spirit inside you to speak to you regarding your
service. Is it a nod? Is it eye contact? Is it "Hello?" Is it shared
laughter? Is it a complaint about the weather in good humor? Is it further
discourse? These small steps open doors. Continue to remind yourself of the
purpose of your life: to know God, to be more like Him, and to serve his
children, fostering the reality of God on Urantia.
Yes, we will not go too far in the assignment. Continue to study personality.
Observe, admire, be amused by your fellow brothers and sisters, and feel for a
leaning in terms of service. Report back to me then next week regarding any
leanings you may have felt. We will go from there as to what then to do with
those leanings. All right?
Group: (Assent)
TOMAS: Merium joins me in wishing you well on your
adventures this upcoming week. It is spring. People are out and about. They are
innocent. They are fresh. They may be grumpy but they are happy that it is
spring, and so the positive outweighs the negative. Therefore, enjoy
yourselves. Walk in grace and in beauty. Farewell.
*****
DATE: May 8., 1997
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R: Gerdean
TEXTUAL STUDY:
Urantia Paper 7, Relation of the Eternal Son to the Universe
TEACHER SESSION:
TEACHERS TOMAS and MERIUM
TOPIC:
SPIRIT UNITY
TOMAS: Good evening.
Group: Good evening, Tomas.
TOMAS: I am so happy to be here with you all this evening.
How we have enjoyed your experiences this evening, as I know you have also
enjoyed your evening thus far, and it is still not too late to have a good
day. Let me first embrace my son, Evangel, whom I have missed in this
arena. How are you, lad?
Evangel: I could be better.
TOMAS: And so you shall. It is so fine, however, to feel
your presence, to embrace you in the spirit and to spend some time with
you. Your adventures have been potent and we observe with interest your
many enterprises and involvements. Think not that your motives and intentions
go unnoticed. Think not that your striving for enlightenment for your fellows
is ineffectual, for you are an evangel of truth and of light and your work in
the field is truly firey and effective. Your tendency to agitate folk is more
often than not a springboard to growth.
How lovely, also, to have our friend Marian here this evening. It is a pleasure
to meet you, my dear. It is a peculiar circumstance in which you find yourself,
and we are so happy that it fell upon life's circumstance that you should pass
by and taste what it is that we aspire to, that we enjoy and embrace. You will
feel quite at ease with our purpose, for our purpose is to love one another in
the spirit that we may better love one another in the flesh -- that is to say,
"His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."
Marian: Thank you. That's wonderful.
TOMAS: Your community is going through good growth, but it
is still growth, and often growth is difficult. I have felt a deep empathy this
evening with your sharing, for in reviewing the assignment from last week, I
and we perceive the truth that how it is that you perceive this assignment is a
direct reflection on how you perceive yourself. And so once again there is an
opportunity to observe how it is that you deal with life and how you can more
effectively deal with it if you allow yourself to expand in spirit reality.
You all understand, too, that each exercise and each growth step brings you
into riper fruit, the fruits of the spirit by which you shall be known. The
Master has admonished, has requested, that his children -- each unique and
different in terms of personality, and even in thought and in opinion -- can be
a family by and through their spirit unity, and it is spirit unity that we
appreciate and always remember as the bottom line in our dealings with our
fellow human beings, indeed, in our community.
The examples stated by you in your sharing may return for discussion during
question and answer, but I would like to express a few words early on about the
spirit-gravity circuits of the Eternal Son.
Perhaps never has the divinity aspect of the Eternal Son been so available for
your study as since the Teaching Mission has begun, and this is in part because
of the truth of the matter that the circuits are now reopened, that you are no
longer in quarantine. The flooding of spirit light onto Urantia has activated
these circuits, and you have begun to recognize them - and indeed to tap into
them - in order to accentuate and accelerate your contact and your appreciation
with spirit reality.
As you focus on your spirit reality and allow yourself to be lifted up, indeed,
you are lifted. And as you become strong, as you realize the reality of this
place to which you have been lifted, you become real here. You become
real-ized, and you then hunger for yet more reality. No longer are you content
to slouch down into animal comfort and complacency. No longer are you content
to sit in the pleasure of the darkness, for you have tasted spirit light,
spirit fruit. You have begun to respond to the spirit-gravity circuits.
The harmony that resonates within you is compatible to these spirit-gravity
circuits and so you are indeed lifted up, almost beyond your participation, by
the very nature of Paradise Deity. But as you contribute to your own growth
through your decisions, through your awareness, through your recognition of
your potential and the realization of the actualization of your own soul, not
only do you become an enthusiastic participant in your own spiritual evolution,
you become an avid teacher and preacher for these truths which will only bring
joy to those around you.
To those around you. Well, isn't it interesting that in the sharing this
evening, much of your focus had to do with those around you and how you
perceived them in terms of service? This is recognizing that they are indwelt
by a fragment of God as you are indwelt by a fragment of the Eternal Father,
the First Source and Center. And so (bad tape; lesson lost; Side two)
But you, in your recollection, if you will, of your sharing process this
evening, recall that moment wherein you felt led to act and yet did not -- that
precipice, that turning point, that pinnacle, that instant -- look at yourself
and determine there what your own next level of growth can be for you.
That moment is where your next assignment ALWAYS lies. That moment when you
would act for God or you would act for something less.
Elizabeth: Well, I've never realized that I should sit down
and think about these things and I think this is a new way of thinking, for me.
I thought my growth would take place automatically if I worked, praying and
reading and studying and living and acting and interacting and praying while I
interact, but I am thinking that there is another element here that you
introduced which -- I think of it maybe as -- "co-creator" comes to
my mind. Perhaps co-creator of my growth with the Father, thinking about it,
using my powers of thinking to plan it. It's something that's just beginning to
awaken in my mind.
TOMAS: I enjoy your response. I have concurrence with the
word "co-creative" and let me introduce to you also the phrase
"super-consciousness," which is "consciousness of
consciousness." Are you not becoming conscious of how you consciously act?
Are you not becoming conscious of yourself and your effects on the
consciousness of others?
Elizabeth: It's a little like that.
TOMAS: Of course there are certain times where you must act
and let the chips fall where they may. We certainly don't damage people on
purpose, but if there are conditionings from the old way that are left over,
then they need to be observed and gotten rid of. If you have learned an
actuality in truth, it would do well to be practiced and confirmed.
Reality-ized,
Elizabeth: Well, that's a lot more deliberate planning than
I ever was attracted to, but I can see that it might result in something
beneficial.
TOMAS: I am not suggesting that you lose your spontaneity,
but I am surprised that you, Elizabeth, find it structured, for are you not the
cerebral one? Are you not the studious one? Do you not approach your
spirituality with a high degree of intellectual stimuli? Don't you find these
mental realms invigorating?
Elizabeth: I find this pretty invigorating. It's — something
about it is unfamiliar. I can't put my finger on it.
TOMAS: Let me also suggest that you review the word
"religionist" and ascertain if it is a descriptive adjective that
fits you, for if you are a religionist, actually what you are doing is you are
studying your own religion, for it is not a mere religion of words. It is a
religion of action. And so you are studying your religion when you do these
things; when you ponder these things you are a religionist and, peculiarly,
religionists need each other. And how is it that they need each other? Well,
for many reasons, but one of them obviously is to understand that this is part
of knowing who we are.
Elizabeth: Yes. This has come up, I guess, because of this
study of personality. You must have known that this was going to happen.
TOMAS: I will remind you that we have, at long last, begun a
study of the text from the beginning. It is amazing what happens when you read
this Book from the beginning. It grows in reality, and as we study the text
from the beginning with each other in this wonderful community of fellow
believers, we will take on as much of the life of the text as we can and
incorporate it into our living experience as we have been admonished. We [the
Teacher Corps] are the work book to The Urantia Book.
Elizabeth: I know that we were told to read the Book from
the beginning and, on occasion with different groups as they passed through
Pittsburgh, we did some of that, but this time around it's quite rewarding.
TOMAS: We anticipate the rewards will be extensive,
expansive and eternal. I am going to allow Merium to say hello. One
moment, please.
MERIUM: Hello, friends. I am your trusty compadre, Merium.
It is good to be here. I have been enjoying the refreshing presence of these
lovely new people. Not to say that I don't enjoy the regulars, of course, but I
have not had the pleasure of making the intimate acquaintance of this brother
and this sister and it pleases me greatly to have the opportunity to enjoy your
personality presence. How are you? (No response.) Is he always so
talkative? (Silence.) Well, never mind.
Good evening, my friends. I am Merium. I am rather spent, you could say. Last
evening I had the great pleasure of carrying on at length and I rather outdid
myself I daresay. It was good practice for me and for Hunnah and I enjoyed it
very much, as did she. This is such a wonderful process, this opportunity to
engage in open communication with you and you with us in this way. It indeed
has opened the doors of perception.
I will not stay. I had thought to add a few choice morsels for your dining
pleasure, but it seems you have been fattened already by your own good efforts
and so I will not tarry. I will be in attendance with you throughout your week
sojourn ahead and I, again, embrace you all and truly, in particular, I embrace
and bless you, my friend Evangel and you, my friend Marian. I wish you well in
your travels, in your sojourn. May He light the path for you all the way. Thank
you, Tomas, for the opportunity to share. Carry on, my friend.
TOMAS: I am not going to carry on much longer for we have
already, as Merium indicated, chewed aplenty. I did not give you any further
assignment. I will ask you to continue to stand at the portal that we have
spent some time drawing this evening after sketching it last week. As you stand
in this portal, beholding the personality at hand and feeling the activation
impulse, observe that moment where you are and what your motives are.
Motives, even to care and to love, may need to be re-defined. Ask the Father to
re-define your understanding of love, for as you well know, love must be
re-defined on each new level of growth. This way we will not drag our old
conditioning into the new Kingdom.
Dear ones, I love you and look forward to your adventures this week. I will see
you soon. Farewell.
*****
DATE: May 15, 1997
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R: Gerdean
Textual Study: Urantia Paper 7:
Relation of the Eternal Son to the Universe
TEACHERS TOMAS, MERIUM and MICHAEL
TOPIC:
WHAT KIND OF BOOK ARE YOU?
TOMAS: Good evening, my friends.
Group: Good evening, Tomas.
Elizabeth: Welcome.
TOMAS: Thank you for your welcome. I welcome you, also.
What a rousing good time we have had this evening! How invigorating for you to
find such value in the Eternal Son! Indeed, He has manifested Himself by and
through His creations, even down to and including yourselves. It is truly a
marvel that the Paradise Trinity has so much knowledge of each of its
creations: high and low; perfect and imperfect; spirit, morontial and material;
finite and infinite. To think that there is nothing in the universe that has
transpired without their all-seeing, all-knowing observation is beyond the
comprehension of those less absolute and perfect as they, but it is still
inspiring to attempt to conceive of the largeness of it all.
I will go gently with you this evening and be somewhat creative, perhaps, in
our further study of personality and the impulse to serve or to show mercy, and
I will acknowledge that part of the motivation or impetus for the coloration of
this lesson has come from the fact that my transmitter/receiver has had my mind
bank inundated of late with titles of books [group laughter], and so I will try
to file some of this away by presenting it as a lesson for your enjoyment, for
I thought to propose to you the idea that each of you are a book. Each
personality is its own unique creative undertaking. And I will preface my
remarks by reminding you that, of course, "you cannot judge a book by its
cover."
But I would ask you to think about yourself for a moment and ask yourself,
"What kind of a book am I?" There are so many kinds of books --
as there are so many kinds of personalities. Some books are very old and very
rare; some are quite new and still shiny; hot off the press like some snazzy
young personalities. When you consider that the universe distributes
personalities that are each unique, you cannot be "a cookie cutter"
version of a book, but you must be original. Pity the poor soul who does not
know his own author, but who has piled words around him in an attempt to be a
book.
Indeed, what kind of book are you? I have had fun with this myself, for I see
so many of you who are a romance novel, and a great many of you who are How To
- how to "fix it" personalities. Have you ever been in a
situation where you relay to a person how you are doing and they want to
"fix it" immediately? That is a walking book of Fix It personality.
You may go to their table of contents and find exactly what it is that you need
fixed and they will be so happy to report to you, chapter and verse, what must
be done to mend it, oil it, clean it, dispose of it, patch it up or cook it.
(Merium is also having fun with this assignment.)
There are those books that are distinctly intellectual, such as textbooks. Do
you know personalities who are like textbooks? And when you approach them, you
feel that you must know something about their subject, otherwise there is no
point in having a conversation. Do these kinds of personalities intimidate you?
What kind of a book are you? Are you a history book who cannot get out of the
past? Are you a science fiction book who lives incessantly in the possibilities
of the distant future? Are you a pill book, focusing on how to get well, stay
well, be well? Are you a poetry book, with lilting words and phrases pouring
from your mind and from your mouth? Are you a spiritual book? Are you a walking
Urantia Book? a walking Holy Bible? a walking Course in Miracles? Are you an
inspirational? Or are you a children's book, complete with stories and pop-ups?
What kind of books do you know? What kind of books are you comfortable with?
Have you already established for yourself what books/personalities you will
read and which ones you will forego? Perhaps one time you read a crime
personality/book and you don't like those so you will never read another crime
book/personality again. Perhaps you are more fond of one selection than another
and you feel that all books in another genre are alike and that when you have
read one you have read them all.
Every personality is its own story, has its own unique beginning, middle and
ending. Each personality has been outlined by the Master Scriptwriter. Within
the pages of each book/personality, there is a core of truth, panoply of value,
meat for the soul. Perhaps the characters are not your favorite kind, but then
again, perhaps you should take another look, for what interested you as reading
material when you were 6 changed when you reached 15 and again when you reached
19, and certainly by the time you had attained 36 and even more so by the time
you had reached 60, and my! those of you who have learned to love to read
books/personalities, by the time you are 60, what a magnificent library of
potential there is in the myriad personalities around you!
Each one of these wonderful creations is different, and is uniquely a work of
art as you yourselves are a work of art. One could open your cover, smell your
leather, feel your pages, see your letters and begin to read your truths, your
words, your concepts, could see the pictures you have created within you, if
they would. You could look into the book of your neighbor and allow them to
read to you pages of their experiences, their hopes, their perceptions, their
recollections, their precious memories and dreams; you would know of their
strengths, you could dance to their poetics, you could weep for their heart song,
you could adore their God.
This is all part of sharing the inner life. But how can you even hope to
share your inner life if you judge a book by its cover, or if you refuse to
open your dust jacket to those who would have a peek at the adventures that lie
inside?
Well, my lovelies, you will have fun, won't you? You will say, "Oh, look!
That's got to be an American history book! I can see that one is a road
atlas!" but what joy you will have in the new perception. Indeed, life is
entertaining. I have heard of how you have entertained yourself this week. Have
you any questions for me to entertain this evening? (None) Perhaps
I have erred. Perhaps I have caught you all with your nose in a good book and I
must shake you out like a rumpled pillow and say, "Come out and
play!"
Elizabeth: Maybe we could be a set of books! I mean, I can't
imagine any of my friends being one book. And I can't imagine myself being one
book. The person I think of as being a road map book has a lot of other books
in her.
TOMAS: Of a certainty you are correct, Elizabeth. And it is
not even that one should be a walking encyclopedia, for what possible good
could all that knowledge be without romance and poetry?
Elizabeth: After the description of the different kinds of books,
I've decided that I want to be a book of poetry. Whether I am or not is purely
beside the point.
Hester: I've got a little joke in here, with my book.
I've tried to stay away from it, but . .. I'm a dictionary! I thought,
"Holy Moses! It's full!"
TOMAS: Many words, many meanings, and many delightful hours
of companionship and understanding. Most valuable for Scrabble and Crosswords,
also for essays and for essaying your mind's eye.
Elizabeth: Is this so that we can study personality from a
new perspective? I gather that that's what it must be.
TOMAS: It is twofold, threefold. It is to be
gentle with you; it is to sort through the voluminous arcades of Gerdean's
brain; and also to add a dimension to your enjoyment of study and observation
of personality.
I will bridge the gap somewhat, for I do not mean to be entirely flippant about
my presentation here. I do know, however, that in your human judgment, it is
easy for you to turn aside from personalities because something they say may
indicate to you that they are of a certain sort and you no longer need that
sort in your life, and so you have automatically rendered them a condensed
version [Reader's Digest] of real life and overlooked a possibility that you
could find merit in them as a brother or a sister … in terms of the gospel.
Many times, too, in reference to a crime novel, if you see a ruffian on the
street you see him only as a ruffian and you have already read enough crime
novels, and you have overlooked the truth of the fact that this is your brother
or your sister that you could have real contact with and real value with if you
did not deny their reality.
Elizabeth: Well, getting close to a ruffian is extremely
dangerous in this day and age. And, in fact, I was thinking about trying
to get involved in something, and my husband was extremely upset - where the
place where this thing takes place. I thought it would be a wonderful way of
stretching and not being so insulated and realized if I do it, I'll have to do
it in a sort of an underhanded way or something, I don't know.
TOMAS: My dear, I intend not to endanger you by my
suggestions. Indeed, you have been insulated, and it would be ridiculous for me
to expect you to take yourself, as if you were a potted plant, and set you out
along the highway of life and expect you to thrive under those conditions. The
fact that you have your environment and you are so effective in it, is all the
more reason for you to function at maximum within your environment.
I will call to your mind Flavius, the collector of fine art that Jesus visited
frequently, and although Flavius feared that Jesus might regard him negatively
for surrounding himself with these statues of beings, as if they might be icons
or idols of reverence, Jesus admired the art work and the form and the
production, and this led them into many enjoyable talks.
That you have grown in this environment - insulated although it may be - it is
an effective environment for you if you allow it to be. It is certainly not necessary
for you to leave here and go into the downtown streets looking for a cause, no.
I do hope that your wits are about you more than that!
Elizabeth: Well, I don't happen to agree with my husband on
the subject, because I found something interesting in the inner city, and — I
used to do Meals On Wheels down in the lower North side. I did that for about 5
years and I certainly did look forward to it. It was one of the things that
kept me going at that time, from the point of view of being, just a minute of
feeling useful; it really was something — and that time my husband didn't
object. I don't understand it, but I will work it out, I'm sure; there's no
question in my mind. I'm sort of intrigued by this project. I think I can
handle that and not get into any danger.
TOMAS: Nor am I trying to make life difficult for your
husband.
Elizabeth: I think he tends to be overly concerned about
these things where we have difference of opinion, but it's certainly admirable
the way he likes to protect his family. Very admirable.
TOMAS: Yes. I am reluctant to get into this, particularly
since no one has asked me about it, and so I am merely replying in a social
decorum kind of way.
Elizabeth: It reminds me of this thing Dr. Dobson said --
and he's a wonderful Christian teacher -- and he said this funny thing about --
he said women love strong silent men, but after they get them, they want them
to change and talk a lot and express themselves. So I like the way my husband
wants to protect his family, and yet at the same time I keep fighting that, so
I think it's a certain kind of amusing thing that women do.
TOMAS: Woman and men are indeed amusing creatures. And
they are particularly amusing when they presume to suspect what it is that the
other one likes.
Elizabeth: Well, anyway, the idea that we were supposed to
observe personalities, that we should try to stretch, perhaps, look around us,
I think, is still affecting me a lot these few weeks. I'm enjoying it
tremendously!
TOMAS: Indeed, I have observed that you are having a good
time. Let me suggest that you extend yourself somewhat and try being a
different book from your own library on different days, that you perhaps be a
textbook for a day or two and then a poetry book for a day or two, that you
switch from fact to fiction and from philosophy to humor, that you balance a
little heavy antique [ancient] history with a little light music, so as to
provide your personality with enrichment and balance.
No personality thrives on sameness. Monotony is exhausting. And so, do
not marry yourself to my analogy and assume that one individual is truly just
one subject, but do not make the mistake of judging these personality books by
their covers and assuming that because they project one thing, that they are
indeed that thing between their covers. And that was not a sexual
innuendo. (Laughter)
Leah: I was thinking about the time when I heard about
the title, "The Man who Loved Cat Dancing" and, with my literal mind,
I couldn't wait to see the movie to see the cats dance!
TOMAS: Literal-mindedness, indeed. It can be colorful and
entertaining, but if you allow yourself a free moment or two of imagination,
perhaps it will take off and send you into a flight of fancy that will
stimulate you all the way into the morontia zones of philosophic thought and
thereby touch base with the higher way.
Perhaps we have merely done some spring fertilizing here this evening for this
lovely plot of flowers. And speaking of flowers, perhaps this flowerbed is in
need of rest. Sometimes we do carry on late, and I know that my understanding
of time is not quite what yours is. In the interest of your clocks, shall we
call it a day or do you have commentary or questions?
Hester: I think you've given us plenty to think about.
Leah: Do give our love to Merium.
TOMAS: I will let her respond. One moment.
MERIUM: I am amused, certainly! I am not laughing. I
am, as you would say, smiling; and as Hunnah would convey, from ear to ear. We
have indeed had fun this evening. We are not such ponderous old fuddy-duddies
as you might think, and this is one of the benefits, you see, of my coming
along to companion Tomas, for where there are two, now there is more fun. It is
as Rodan sets out in your text: with a friend at hand, the bad parts are not as
bad and the good parts are even better. We stimulate each other's creative
imaginations and I hope you have enjoyed the duet that we put together this
evening.
I was trying to tell Tomas to tell you that we should have looked up
"ruffian" in Hester's dictionary, but I didn't get the chance.
Hester: Obviously we'll have to do that.
MERIUM: Good girl. Thank you. It does contribute to a
well-rounded good time if we use words and pronounce words that are accurate.
Even if they are inaccurate, we can have fun with them, but even so it would be
nice to know if it is inaccurate or not. I will not mince words further. I will
make a brief retreat and observe you novel creatures as you go about Our Father's
business this up-coming week. Good evening.
Group: Good evening. Thank you for coming.
Leah: I think we're going to remember
what the assignment is this week.
TOMAS: Tell me what it is.
Leah: Not to judge a book/personality by
its cover.
TOMAS: Is that a fair understanding, Elizabeth?
Elizabeth: I thought there was something else added to that.
When we were talking further, he said that we could be a different book
throughout the different days, and we could test out different parts of our
personality. We could be a book of philosophy one day and a book of poetry one
day or something. I believe he did say that, and I thought that was fun, too.
TOMAS: Yes, better to have some variety in your personality
than to be a same-old-same-old every day. But, of course, if you allow the
Father to guide your life, to turn your pages, there is always a new surprise
in each new day.
Elizabeth: That's true. It's really true.
TOMAS: I have to insert these occasionally for those of you
who are so literal-minded.
Elizabeth: Well, I just wanted to say that I was talking
about the teachers and how we have a relationship, and when I read about you in
the [Urantia] book, I didn't ever think you were real until you came around and
you are so much like a personality -- talk about personality! You and Merium
are personalities -- that it's been really fun to experience you instead of
just reading about you.
TOMAS: I must know what book I'm in! Is it Longfellow? or
Shakespeare? or what?
Elizabeth: I think you're in The Urantia Book. The ascended
experiential beings.
TOMAS: It does provide another perspective, does it
not? Of course, my ego was thinking you must have found a sociology book
from another world that listed Tomas the Cultural Anthropologist that you know.
I would have inscribed it for you if you had.
Leah: What would you have inscribed?
TOMAS: Well, I don't have a pat response.
Elizabeth: I know you want to be spiritual about it, so
that's okay too.
TOMAS: I would have to pause at the portal and check my
motives, would I not?
Elizabeth: You've got this thing of motives going on.
TOMAS: We all have this thing of motives going on.
Elizabeth: I feel it would be extremely helpful if you could
give people peace. Leah is not as hard on herself as she used to be, which is
really good, and yet when she does something kind, she's not sure about the
motives, and I thought perhaps you might say something that will soothe that
troubled part. Maybe it isn't my place....
TOMAS: I see a How To book presenting itself.
Elizabeth: That's exactly what I was coming up as. I'd like
to change that.
Leah: I think I'd like to be a Self Help book this
week.
TOMAS: Even so, take with you some inspirational daily
reflections.
Is it not wonderful how like minds are stimulative of the creative imagination?
Now that we have found a common ground, a unity of purpose, we are indeed
family in our configuration, for which I am so grateful and so pleased, not to
mention appropriately proud. I am enjoying you ever so much, and I hope that
you are learning also to enjoy yourselves, for you are truly perfect darlings.
Group: Thank you.
TOMAS: Petunias, daisies, dandelions and wild roses. Good
night, my friends.
Group: Good night, Tomas. Thank you. Come back.
JESUS: Peace be upon you. I am Jesus and you know me as your
brother. I am here not as your Creator, not as the risen Christ, not He whom
you adore, but your friend who shares the human experience, with the eyes of
heaven upon them.
You have been true companions of mine, my sisters. You have born up under the
burdens of your earthly travails. The assignments of life have pelted you and
you have stood up under them. This is not just a triumph for your spirit, but a
commendation for your human fortitude, for your strengths of character in the
way you wield your way in the world.
I know that you do not always do His will. I am aware that you are willful and
that you are ignorant. But I am also aware of your yearnings, how you want to
please me, how you want to set a good example, how you hope that I look kindly
upon you. I know how you even try to fool yourself. I know for I have been
there.
I have been where you are. I have grappled with my children, my brothers and
sisters. I have seen the mind games. I have seen the sexual courtships. I have
seen the political mechanisms. I have seen the corruption, the debacles. I know
what people do to survive. I know what men and what women have undergone in
this long upward struggle in their evolution.
Don't be afraid to carry on your shoulders the satisfactions of accomplishment.
Don't be reluctant to hold yourself up in pride of demonstration for what you
have contributed in the forward march. You have lived. You have experienced
this life. And you have sought Our Father.
I am proud of you. I am proud to call you my sisters. I embrace you, each one.
I am here for you. Hold my hand. And we will walk together.
His will be done.
*****
DATE: May 22, 1997
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R's: Gerdean and
Hunnah
TEXTUAL STUDY:
Urantia Paper 8: The Infinite Spirit
Reading from T/R News Network
TEACHER SESSION:
TOMAS AND MERIUM
Topic:
GODLIKE BEHAVIOR IN THOUGHT, WORD AND DEED
TOMAS: Good evening. What a bounty! How marvelous to
have you all here! It is a feast, a feast of plenty. Even so, with such a
captive audience, I will not keep you this evening. Your evening has moved along
at a merry clip and you have accomplished much, but indeed I would be
disappointed not to participate and to greet you and to yet plant more seeds of
growth, albeit, I have not seen the fruits of our efforts of our assignment
last week and already this evening you have the enticement of Malvantra's
intriguing assignment. But you are such an eager lot, so hungry for
involvement, for work and play in the spirit realms, I will give you yet
another course. It has to do, of course, with your text and your lesson on the
Infinite Spirit.
Those of you who have been following along have been aware that we have been
very slowly but systematically assigning a project of observing personality as
representational of the First Source and Center, and that as you observe
personality you feel an impulse, as representing the Eternal Son. For two weeks
now we have hovered on the brink but have not acted; now you see why we have
not acted. We have been waiting for the Infinite Spirit, the Conjoint Actor, to
complete the Trinity and also to complete your personal comprehension of
trinity as you choose to personalize the God experience.
I realize that many of you find the text academic and remote from your personal
interests, even in its acknowledging your incomprehension of its information.
You are, even still, a microcosm inasmuch as you are of potential immortal
status. You are to be perfect even as He is perfect. How can you become perfect
in your realm without knowing how the Father is perfect in His realm? Why do
you need to know of his nature and attributes if it is not also true that you
have a shadowy reflection of these same attributes?
God-consciousness and sonship is more than an academic understanding. It is a
reality. It is a living experience and, so as you choose to experience life try
- to some extent - try to comprehend a parallel between you and God. It
has been presented thus in your text and in our corresponding lessons, so that
you may personalize what it is they are discussing when they discuss the First,
Second and Third Sources and Centers: the Thought-God, the Word-God and the
Deed-God. And then there is you. There is your thought, your word and your
deed. This is why our long pondering over the word "motive." What are
your motives when you stand facing personality? Are your motives selfish or are
they in line with your desire to be God-like, to be perfect in your realm as He
is in His realm?
Recall that as the Father and the Son come together in agreement, instantly the
Infinite Spirit acts, and the same occurs in your own make-up. When you present
yourself as a willing extension of Paradise, to function with and for and in
harmony with the perfect pattern of Paradise, what is your thought? what is
your word? what is your deed? If your thought and your word are in harmony, the
spirit then will wash you into deed.
Remember it is said in your text that religionists act. A spiritual life is a
dynamic life, and even if they do it wrong, they will do something. It is
because of their willingness to perceive that they are guided in their efforts
to serve that religionists do something. They open themselves to the activation
of the Infinite Spirit, as do I and as do you.
And so now when you feel that these matters are far removed from you, that the
realms of Havona cannot be comprehended, recall that although that may be true,
they can, even so, be lived as a miniscule representation of the perfection of
Paradise and you can be aware of it. You can be part of this thrilling
adventure, this enthralling experience.
Next study there will be more about the Third Source and Center. I anticipate
it will enlarge your capacity for understanding even more after you have
pondered the picture I have painted for you this evening and if you are willing
to personalize this picture. Are there questions?
Elizabeth: I like the picture which you gave us, about how to bring these
concepts into our thinking about our very own selves and our very own lives and
our very own thoughts and our very own actions, so I really thank you very
much, Tomas, for that. That's good. A bit of help for me, anyway. Thank you.
TOMAS: Thank you, Elizabeth, for your keen observation. I spoke earlier this
week in the Butler group regarding the concept of the Conjoint Actor, and this
may express to your creative mortal minds somewhat more the nature of the
Conjoint Actor, for you recall the text made reference to the stage being set,
and so I will bring in "the theater" - for all of you have love for
the theater; even your Shakespeare (one of those wonderful books) spoke of the
world being a stage and the men thereon being actors.
But on Tuesday I was elaborating this concept of personality expression in and
through the Father and the Spirit by suggesting that you identify your evolving
nature -- Your spiritual identity, it says, "Father, thy will be done.
Thank you for this gift of life. How may I serve?" You are presented then
with a personality, a challenge, an opportunity. And the Eternal Son's impulse
impacts you to serve, and to serve with mercy. And you check your motives; you
connect with your God fragment; you ascertain that it is your will that His
will be done and at that instant you are then filled with the energy wherewith
to follow through on the particular assignment/engagement/challenge.
Now in our studies, for the last several weeks, we have looked at the
personality of you who have been assigned spiritual names, who have recognized
your spiritual identity, have identified with those qualities within yourself
which are eternal, which are aspects of the divine. You have looked at your
humanness, at your animal legacy, your character defects. We have laughed
together at our common imperfections and accepted our own failings, and those
of each other, in love.
It is that imperfect person, that animal personality that lives this material
life, that associates with other beings of animal origin, that has in common
survival matters, family matters, work matters, emotional matters, those things
which make you part of this human race, the arena in which you work and play.
You have your higher nature and your human nature. The higher nature is the
part that wants to do God's will, and the human nature is the part that gets
influenced by the tide pool of the material existence.
The key here is to allow your higher nature to pull the strings, to have reign
over your lesser nature, to allow your higher nature to take your animal
persona into your arena therein to function, but not be guided and led by its
own instincts, no. Rather, guided and led by that aspect of relative perfection
that you grab onto in your aspiration to do His will and to serve.
This requires (getting back to my original premise) acting. But if you are the
Creator, if you are the Stage Manager under the Big Director in The Sky, then
you will subordinate your animal personality sufficiently that your more
spiritized personality can prevail.
You all know something about acting, for if you were to take a keen look at
yourself, you would all realize that you do a great deal of it. You have all
been taught how to act. If you realize this - that much of your behavior is
method acting - we will have a much greater scope of understanding the play in
which you find yourself.
I feel a little -- what is the word? -- "scrunched." This is a very
poignant discussion … poignant to my mind, at least, and important also to my
mind as to how you perceive your own microcosm of Godliness in action through
an understanding of these Paradise Trinity Beings. This is such a fascinating
juncture, where it is that you launch into action. I can only trust, as I have
in the past, that the reality of the moment, of the lesson, of the capacity, of
the text, of the whole nine yards, will prevail in due course, in due time. It
is a challenge.
Merium, I see you are smiling. Have you stamina for a contribution this
evening?
MERIUM: Good evening. My contribution shall be very brief,
and hopefully will have a flutter of wings attached to it. I would like to say
"Be of good cheer!" This has been pretty heavy going, and many, many
small images have come forth to me like servings from Hunnah (and I have
refused them) but I want to have you be of good cheer and, with your imagery,
imagine having a Great One who has many names and many titles accompanying you,
his arm around your shoulder, and let this wonderful part of you companion you
in your daily affairs and allow your awareness and understanding to come to
you. "This is the Way. Walk thee therein."
There are many lines of scripture that have floated through Hunnah's mind while
Tomas has been talking and I encourage you to open your windows and let the
fresh air and the sweet reminders come in as little birds accompany you in your
daily adventures. Do not make this a hardship. Do not make this difficult
for yourselves. You are doing so well. You are so greatly and dearly
loved. That is all I wanted to say, Tomas.
TOMAS: Merium, thank you for saying it. I don't know what it
is about the feminine persona, but I don't have it and Merium does. Butterfly
wings, voile, and all that jazz. (Group laughter)
Elizabeth: You make a great combination, though.
MERIUM: We do not know how this conversation would be if it
were a male dominated group, and it would be most amusing and very jolly, I
think, if we did have many men here because the words would be appropriate for
them. Since this has been a predominantly female group, the wording has
been embroidered to meet their needs.
TOMAS: My colleague is alluring and flirtatious, as well! I
agree that the yearning for the male mind is meritorious. Even so, we thrive.
Elizabeth: Yep. We do.
TOMAS: Have we questions?
Iyana: I would like to say that Yogananda said that the
whole world is a great big movie and all of us are actors in a play. And we
know that often through our lifetimes that we have acted as though somebody
expected us to act this way and have not been our true self, but since we've
been on the path I think that most of us have been our true selves all the
time. Our true selves meaning that we are the daughter of God and just trying
to do His will because it is our will to do so.
TOMAS: It is the striving that matters, indeed.
MERIUM: I would like all of you to observe yourself when you
were in a mode of appreciation of yourself. When do you like yourself the best?
What are you doing when you are at your best? That will be a clue.
Group: (Giggling and whispering)
Hester: Do you want an answer?
Group: (General deterioration of disciplines)
TOMAS: If you don't mind, I will ask Merium if she has
completed her thought.
MERIUM: I have not only completed my thought but I think
that the portion of the evening that we are involved in has been completed.
TOMAS: I am inclined to agree with you, Merium. I believe
that they have run off on us. (Group laughter) I assure you we are not
slighted, for we have done our job and now we can sit back and observe your
social portion, but I will say that we are interested. Not only are we
interested and desirous of you to follow through with your assignments, but you
need the practice in terms of your disciplined sharing.
Think this week upon all these things: our lesson of this evening, which will
be extended; the reading of the lesson and exercise of Malvantra, which will
also be extended; and, of course, your observation of personality which you
find so fascinating. I can see that you have too much homework already, so I
will withdraw and confirm Merium's good advice - to be light of spirit and not
ponderous but indeed enjoy this springtime of the season and of the spirit.
Until next week, then, my friends . ..
Leah: Excuse me, Tomas. I have a
question. Will you and/or your associates be bringing us a word this week?
similar to what was in the (Malvantra's) transmission?
TOMAS: It is perhaps not obvious to you, but we have been
making attempts all along to make contact. It is, I guess, redundant to say
that only as you are made aware of it are you able to begin to be cognizant of
its actual possibility.
Of course you may be open to words, concepts and messages, for you realize that
the planet is being literally pelted. We are serious about this stuff, you see.
We are at it night and day, and so yes, Leah, be aware of these impressions
that come to you in your super-conscious mind and/or in your very center of
being.
They may flash upon you as a literal word from your awareness or from Hester's
dictionary, but they are often indications of subjects to ponder.
"Spring" obviously for new beginnings and fluidity, as in living
water, and the season itself. In lyana's case, "health" was an
indication to pay attention, and so she did and so she has and we are happy
that she is well and with us today. These messages are constantly being
given to you by your spirit helpers, and the more that you can believe that
they are there attempting to assist you, the more you are willing to be open to
the assistance they have to offer.
Leah: I thank you for your discourse. I
just thought we would be given a specific word this week in the manner that was
discussed in the transmission.
TOMAS: You may be assured. I cannot say who it is that will
give you a word, whether it will be from the realm of the Teaching Corps, the
angelic corps, the United Midwayers, a visiting student, a Melchizedek Teacher,
Michael himself, your own Thought Adjuster, or whomever in that great array of
personalities --
Leah: I know I'm being picky here but I
got the impression when I heard the article that everyone in that group was
given one word. That's what I'm attempting to ask.
Elizabeth: We weren't quite finished with the lesson, I
don't think, because, I thought it was going to be for two weeks. We would
discuss it for two weeks.
Leah: Oh! Okay. Thank you. Now I
understand. Thank you very much.
TOMAS: I am out of here.
Group: (Laughter) Thank you! 'Bye Tomas.
We love you.
*****
[End of Vol. III, Part 5 of 13]