Tomas Vol III - Pittsburgh, PA - Feb 08, 1998 thru Apr 16, 1998 - Part 9 of 13

Reflections on the exciting times in which we live; prophesy, dreams, dramatic changes, anticipating the new millennium, out with the old, in with the new. As a child of the universe, rather than feel driven, we have faith in the goodness of life and allow truth to be revealed. Discussions abound with new students, student visitors, personal teachers coming forward, a visit to Buffalo, New York, and on and on. Such a wonderful group! This era provides an example of the benign virus infecting everyone with a living love.

*****

PITTSBURGH, PA, USA

VOLUME III, Part 9 of 13

February 8, 1998 - April 16, 1998

C O N T E N T S

Date	Title	Page
February 8	A Sense of Urgency	1
February 15	Intellectual Peace	8
February 22	Mother Earth and Father Sky	13
March 1	Integrity	22
March 8	Choose How You Will Go	32
March 12	Mid-Term Review of Correcting Time	39
March 19	Peace	47
March 26	Feelings	57
April 2	Lift Yourself Up	62
April 5	Divinity in Humanity (Buffalo, NY)	70
April 9	Power of Effective Prayer	82
April 16	Faith	92
	[End of Vol. III, Part 9 of 13]	100

DATE: February 8, 1998
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, P.A. USA
T/R’S: Gerdean and Hunnah
TEACHERS: TOMAS, MERIUM

URANTIA BOOK STUDY:
Paper 19, THE CO-ORDINATE TRINITY-ORIGIN BEINGS, pg. 219
#5. Inspired Trinity Spirits
#6. Havona Natives
#7. Paradise Citizens
Paper 89, SIN, SACRIFICE AND ATONEMENT, Pg. 985
#10. Forgiveness of Sin
READINGS from the recent edition of T/R NETWORK NEWSLETTER

TEACHER SESSION:
TOPIC:
A SENSE OF URGENCY

TOMAS: Good afternoon, my little family, I am Tomas. Merium and I are here and ask you to join with us as we join with our spirit companions in homage to our Lord, Michael of Nebadon:

"Michael, we bow before you, our elder brother in experience and our Father in creative endowment. It is to you that we come in praise of our very existence and for this opportunity of life and the joy of abundance in our experience, in the abundance of knowing your plan for us and our association with each other that enables us to carry that out.

"Be with us consistently, Father Michael, and through the ministrations of the Divine Minister Nebadonia, that we may open our hearts and minds to further comprehension of truth and a rightful understanding of our place in your universe.

"Lead us beside the still water, the living water of the Father in Heaven. Amen."

Group: (Celeste, Liana, Gerdean, Hunnah, Beatrix, Leah and Hester): Amen.

MERIUM: I am Merium. I am glad to come in here and embrace you each and all, and welcome to you, also, your personal teachers who are flanking you; and a dutiful and obedient class you are this afternoon. How we love you. How we enjoy your enthusiasm when you bring your willingness to be part of the universities of learning spirit reality.

Tomas and I have been joyed this afternoon by your studies, your sharing and your appreciation of those of us who preceded you in the Mission. There were many, many workers -- designated antecedent workers, advance workers -- who helped to bring about the day and age that has now come to be known as the inception of Correcting Time.

It is a testimony for you to notice that this is an actuality; it is evidence to your material minds that that which we proclaimed years ago has indeed come to pass. I chuckle now to observe some of your own prophecies and appreciation of the prophecies of others in terms of what the next revelation to Urantia will bring.

You seem to have an understanding of disaster and it is your love of the drama and the thrill of survival that gives the movie industry such a great hold over you. Indeed, your television, even, is endowed with capability of titillating you beyond your own capacity for titillation, and so you walk around in a state of over-stimulated numbness, looking for a spirit miracle to bring you back to some perspective.

Perhaps Tomas and I are that quality of benumbment that is necessary in your lives. I smile as I say that for I am not numb by any means, nor are you, but it was a way of making a joke and a comradely gesture of affection. I will give you over to Tomas who waits at the lectern, and perhaps I will have an opportunity to fluff up your cushions later.

At any rate, my lovely friends, it is lovely to be here on this beautiful day on Urantia and I look forward to our lesson this afternoon.

Liana: Thank you.

Celeste: Dear Tomas and Merium, thank you so much for coming, to be with us in our home. It's so thrilling, so hard to believe that you are here. We're so grateful.

Leah: Yes.

TOMAS: Cherished children, how we appreciate your sentiments. This is Tomas, one of your many proud instructors and companions in the spirit realm. There are many others here with me, with us, today, and we are all in receipt of your gracious remark, Celeste, that you are glad that we are here with you, and how it humbles us and warms our spirits to realize that you are sincere in your appreciation of those of us who come to spend time with you in your efforts to advance along the ladder of spirit ascension.

Precious one, we are equally enamored of you and equally grateful to you for opening your home and your hearts to those of us who would humbly come to call, in order that we might share together this wonderful fellowship of the spirit, this family of God that is an outpouring result of Michael's divine affection for his universe children.

This afternoon I would like to discuss with you a sense of urgency. Merium's remarks about the media and its effect on you was not without purpose. It is also understood that our presence here in your lives today is in response to the emergency nature of the times.

You know the Melchizedeks often act in time of emergency, and our opinion as to Urantia is that it has risen, on occasion, in part, to the level of emergency / urgency. Your sense of drama is not only a reflection of what you see on TV but a part of the collective unconscious that is moving along rapidly toward a tumultuous realization of significant proportions, and as this revelation comes to pass, it is vital that the faith foundation of those of you who have been exposed to true reality, be that anchor that will allow for these many changes, dramatic changes to come to pass, and still maintain a peace, a groundedness, a stability, that will allow the change to come and on which we may grow.

There are different kinds of urgencies, the media being one of them. Remember, too, that the archangel circuits are a broadcast system, and so you have gotten from us, as well, a sense of urgency and importance. You heard today that our ambition is to turn the earth slightly on its axis. We are heralding in a new era. We are changing the face of Urantia. The circuits are reopened. The adjudication is complete. These are dramatic announcements from On High that are, in a way, parallel to your dramatic sense of entertainment in the physical arena, in the worldly sense. And so what shall we do with this titillation, this invigoration of the mind, the imagination, the heart and all facets of life?

You have been applying yourself diligently for some time toward grappling with your own identity and your own relationship with divinity. You have been working through your old conditioning and allowing the Father to remold you into the child he would have you be - that child which is your natural inheritance. You have established yourselves as viable, productive, constructive and affectionate members of a community. Your community has been a bright light, a spiritual illumination in the wilderness, and so you have accomplished a great deal.

Your work is not over, for now the times are calling for you to be the anchor, the foundation, and the reality in the storm that buffets all around you. How can you be thus anchored? By maintaining your spirit reality and your association with your peers who share your appreciation for the eternal values that make your life worthwhile.

There is, even so, in the heart of all, a knelling, a bell call, that awakens a part within you, that alerts you to the coming of great things, and poignant things, a knelling that calls to you to awake, to arise, to be alert. Your ears are perked up to hear the sound of you know not what. Your heart palpitates to a feeling you are unfamiliar with. It is not fear, it is not excitement, such as you have known, but it is a call to awareness such as you have never known before. It is an announcement from the superuniverse that alerts you to be prepared, to be aware, to be ready, when these things come to pass.

It is a wake-up call, indeed, a dreadful, awesome sense of urgency. Now some of you hear and feel this sense and rush out to do something about it, feeling that you must fill the larder or build an escape hatch. You must buy a new car or get a new relationship, and these distractions are simply that: distractions and diversions from the true reality that you are called upon to maintain in your inner sanctuary of awareness of life in the universe.

And so there is truth to your scintillation, but be wise in the ways in which you respond to the sense of change, of tumult, of activation. Fear not, but stay alert -- not to the news broadcasts of Urantia, but to the news broadcasts regarding Urantia from on High, and you shall surely be advised. In the face of our most invigorating afternoon, have we a miscellany of questions?

Celeste: Well, I was thinking about all the young people today who at such a very early age are learning what I consider too much about life, and I think a lot of people are worried about this, and sometimes it's so out of control.

Hester: It has been ever thus. There are just more youngsters that are operating in the open today.

Celeste: Well, that's the "more" that I was talking about.

TOMAS: There are certain particulars that are different but, in the main, they are the same. There are more youngsters today, perhaps, than ever before, and the media is such that news travels faster than it did before. The stress on toys is greater because they are more available. The concept of abundance is more prevalent because there is not the scarcity of previous generations, and so, yes, there are certain differences.

Celeste: I was really talking about their physical differences. Today really young people are having sex and they're not ready at all to have children. I don't think they know what they're doing, to begin with, and you read about it all the time in the papers anymore. It just makes me feel so bad because I remember my youth and we were really very ignorant, and I think we had a far better youth because we had time to grow up.

TOMAS: Well, one of the difficulties of this day and age is that there are tremendous changes inherent in a liberation of the species and in a revamping of the family values. The values of yesterday are undergoing a great and terrible housecleaning. The nuclear family is virtually gone and yet it will return and yet it does remain, but the values that you enjoyed as a girl, Celeste, are not as available today because of all those things discussed. Children are not so protected anymore. The families - men and women - it is necessary for them to work and be out of the home. The home life is different. It is a showpiece now and a warehouse rather than a place to discuss and play and...

Hester: Live.

TOMAS: ... live. The home life is changing, and, of course, the children are the ones who will feel the effects of it more. Remember, however, that these children are indwelt by God, and they are lively and intelligent. They are, for the most part, of good stock and essentially innocent of the mores and values that have been the earmark of your civilization for a long time, and the civilization as you've known it is in the process of breaking down in order that it can be observed and rebuilt.

Much as in the Mighty Messenger's lesson you read earlier this evening, that you as individuals must come to the Father and say, "Build me up. Teach me how to live, how to be," it is also true of the nation, of the world, of the planet, that it also must come to the Father and say, "You created me. You teach me how to comport myself that I can be a healthy planet for your children on which to live and be." It is a global thing.

It is much like Beatrix was discussing earlier, the inherent need of a people, a race of people to bond together, and it has reached the point on Urantia, and the time on Urantia also is coming fast, that you are able to find a common cause and join forces behind each other in terms of this greatness.

Now, when you come into days and times of cataclysm and disaster, you are perforce joined together to fight the common enemy, but in the end, you will have come together in order to celebrate the common cause of life and rejoicing in the spirit that will emerge from the trials and tribulations of these very normal but very tumultuous growth throes.

Celeste: Thank you.

TOMAS: It is better for you to be prepared to act rather than sit back and lament the almost seeming overwhelming conditions. If you have your association with the spiritual army in hand, you will realize you are not alone, that there are many, many forces working with you, that you are working with many unseen forces, as well as your peers in the flesh, to instill in Urantia and its citizenry, those values and those truths which will lead us all on into light and life. It is a tremendous undertaking, and it is no wonder there is a sense of urgency afoot.

Celeste: Thank you.
TOMAS: Thank you for your concern for our children here today. [Long pause]
Celeste: We don't want you to leave us.

TOMAS: I am not going away. I appreciate, however, that you feel a certain sense of urgency in terms of time and space, for if we don't have a discourse we should go home, but there is still time, and there is no urgency in this context. If you want to just BE and absorb the environment for a moment, you are more than welcome to. How astute it was of the previous teacher (Mighty Messenger) to reference the environment, the actual characteristics of the atmosphere in which you reside.

If you were, in fact, to open your eyes now and look around, you would yourselves literally sense and feel the charged atmosphere, charged with reality, but in a very controlled and gracious fashion. It is indeed a frame of reference, one which ought to encourage you and induce you to re-create it time and time again in all of your environments, wherever you pass by, in order that the living reality of spirit truth, beauty and goodness can prevail, or at least touch upon its inhabitants.

It is like -- we call it the "benign virus," the benign virus of love; God touches people and they become infected by it, even without realizing that they have gotten the bug.

Group: The love bug!
Celeste: I love that: the benign virus.

Hester: Tomas, are we entering the beginning of the prophesied "last days" of this planet, or this dispensation -- I don't mean planet. I mean dispensation, -- that the Bible speaks of, that will come as a movement of the changing of times?

TOMAS: Yes, daughter. I want to say that the new dispensation is here already. It is just that it will take time for the cause and effect to work itself out. The truth is that the old way is dying and the new way is coming in with vigor. It is very clear when you watch the news that something is not right, but they don't tell you about all the parts that are right, that are growing, and growing in a great reality, for they are still of the old world and generating revenue from the proponents of the old way.

Now, in time, the tales of heroism and rejoicing, the chronicles of firm faith footing and even synchronicities pointing toward the miraculous, will begin to balance out the disasters and devastation of a material nature. The spirit is coming into being. The new age of light and life is here, and yet it is necessary that much work be done.

These things are not accomplished in the blink of an eye. We are in the new dispensation already, but it is as if you were in the middle of a battle and say, "Whew! Thank God we've won the battle!" but there is a lot of clean-up, a lot of death and destruction, a lot of devastation and therapy that is necessary, that must come into play before the nation is healed and before the fields can be plowed and joyous again with fruit and nourishment, before the families have regained their footing and their hearths, so yes, Hester, you are right. We are in those days.

Hester: I have another question that is an adjunct to this.
TOMAS: Yes.

Hester: Is this the beginning of the vision that I had when I was in college in 1933 about the changing of the universe?

TOMAS: Certainly.
Hester: Okay. All right. Thank you.
Beatrix: I wanted to ask a similar question.
Hester: I have nothing to fear. Only good will come.
TOMAS: Yes, Beatrix.

Beatrix: Is this the changes that I saw in -- I had a dream many years ago, like 20 or so years ago, about . .. just . .. tremendous changes and things going on where, like, good and evil up in the sky and it was automatic that the evil could not . .. didn't have a chance, and then there was a picture of the new earth and it was all . .. it had like a starry earth. Is this the . .. what I was seeing there in that dream, or being shown?

TOMAS: Your own mind prophesied to you in your own way of comprehending the signs of the time, indeed. You were an astute and alert mortal even then and aware of this collective unconscious and your faith spoke for you in allowing the changes to be brought about, but the victory of eternity is the Father's. You made your decision at that time and that is contributory to why you would have been so vividly impressed with a dream, and why it remains with you today. It is representative of a greater picture, a decision, the decision of good and evil, the decision of survival.

All dreams are a reflection of a reality of one sort or another, be they subconscious or superconscious, and in-as-much as it has had such a lasting effect, a profound effect, I could concur.

Beatrix: Thank you.
TOMAS: You are welcome.

Celeste: Well, speaking of dreams . .. and I understand we dream all the time, but . .. what's wrong when you can't remember your dreams? -- which is my problem.

TOMAS: There is no problem at all to not remember your dreams, for they are an avenue of the subconscious mind; it is a way of sloughing off that which is merely mechanical and unnecessary for your functioning. You also know, and some of you may find this distasteful, but in the night you also slough off thousands of cells, dead skin fragments. Your body is recycling itself, and in some ways your dreams are a similar process. Your many, many mental cells are sloughing off extraneous picturizations that may or may not mean anything.

This is one of the reasons that your text points out to you that dreams are not to be regarded as spiritual experiences, for even though the Thought Adjuster may make attempts to reach you in the night when your mind is still and quiet, it is, even so, easily misconstrued and you can regard your dreams as prophetic divine contact, to the extent that you might alter your life's course -- and it could just be a subconscious uprising.

It is important that you realize the difference between your subconscious mind and your superconscious mind. It is as necessary for you to dream and shed these mental visions as it is important that you shed your hair or skin in order that "new stuff" can be brought into being. It is a crude analogy but it is a part of your animal mechanism.

There are those who have made a great study of dreams; there are those who have made a lot of money off of dreams; and there are those who abide by dreams to the extent of their being their own understanding of a religious path. The methods by which you make contact with your understanding of divinity is your personal religious experience. How you live your life is a gift to God -- and to yourself -- and to that which has potential.

And so those who make a great study of dreams, who wake in the morning with a dream fresh in their mind as a direct admonition of where to go and what to do and what to say, have -- hopefully -- been doing this over such a period of time that it is a natural course of their day, such as a daily reflection or a working with the subconscious, such as some of your leaders have espoused - perhaps Dale Carnegie or Earl Nightingale - that allows for your subconscious to work for you.

And this has merit, however it does not rise to the level of superconscious communications, which is an effort for the human mind to lift itself up to make contact with spirit, which reaches down to embrace you. In these realms of morontia reality, you will be impressed by spirit reality but not in terms of visions … not in terms of hallucinations, but in spite of them. You will be guided because you have been close to that Source which directs and choreographs all of life, including yours. Yes.

Celeste: We're so thankful for Gerdean, that she is here to bring you forth for our benefit.

TOMAS: I too am extremely grateful to Gerdean for her willingness to be of service to myself particularly and to the Teaching Mission in general. It is not an exaggeration to account her as being devoted. [Long silence] Am I sensing that you are fed?

Liana: Yes.
Celeste: I don't know. I'm going away for six weeks. I'm going to miss you a lot.

TOMAS: I will instruct Gerdean to mail transcripts to you so that you will be able to be with us even across the miles. It is similar to our recent discourse about the great mail distributor in the sky. I will see to it that the Father oversees your associations with spirit reality even as you are basking in the Keys.

Celeste: Hopefully. Thank you.

TOMAS: I am glad to be with you. I will refrain from further discourse. I am looking forward to our continued camaraderie, and Beatrix we are pleased as punch to be able to be convening in your gracious environs. It is so wonderful that we have each other to depend on for those particular qualities of goodness that are inherent and which support the overall group.

Each of you has your own priceless commodity that you bring to this configuration, and without which we would surely be deprived. And so, in great appreciation of the abundance that you each bring -- that we all bring to the table that has been provided by the Master -- I leave you to sup in pleasure, in peace, and in propitious awareness of that moment when your own sense of urgency may call you to act on behalf of eternity.

Amen and Farewell.

*****

DATE: February 15, 1998
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, P.A. USA
T/R’S: Gerdean
TEACHERS: TOMAS, MERIUM

URANTIA BOOK STUDY:
Paper 20, THE PARADISE SONS OF GOD, Pg. 223
#1. The Descending Sons of God
#2. The Magisterial Sons
#3. Judicial Actions
#4. Magisterial Missions
#5. Bestowal of the Paradise Sons of God

TEACHER SESSION
TOPIC:
INTELLECTUAL PEACE

TOMAS: Good afternoon, our faithful students and beloved daughters. It is Tomas and Merium, come to greet you on this wonderful Urantian afternoon. How are you?

Group: Liana, Beatrix, Leah and Gerdean: Good. Very well.

TOMAS: It is wonderful when we see you applying your minds so diligently to the concepts laid out in these earlier Papers and more difficult pages of your revelation. It is wonderful when we see that you try to understand how the universe is set up and how your own world (and therefore your lives) have been impacted by what transpires in the greater universe, in the … how you say … echelons of administration.

Under the realization of your great efforts of this afternoon and in light of your limited time frame, I will not speak for a long period of time, but I will plant a seed in your mind based upon the hefty discourses interjected into today's studies of the Avonal Sons, indeed the Descending Sons. [Extensive speculation as to whether perhaps the Maitreya and/or other "Ascended Masters" might be an Avonal, peppered today's studies.]

I would like to introduce the concept of intellectual peace. Intellectual peace is a gift of the divine spirit, not a fruit, but something that is above and beyond your comprehension of that which is innate to your nature as a result of your rebirth. Think now, if you will, of that which gives you intellectual peace in your material realm.

It is, of course, understood that you have (and you must take this in perspective, for there are exceptions to every rule, but, let us say that you have) an understanding of your checkbook balance. Knowing that you have X number of dollars and cents in your checking account gives you, ideally, a certain amount of intellectual peace, if for no other reason than that fact of its existence.

Understanding a concept such as intellectual peace can also be drawn from the simple facts of the matter that you know where you live. You know your address; you know your phone number; you know your social security number. You know your spouse. These are very elementary things about your existence and they give you a sense of identity, in-as-much as they are part of who you are. It is an element of intellectual peace that these things are part of your knowledge and your understanding. Intellectual peace, however, goes very, very far beyond these rudimentary examples.

Remember, if you can, back into your spiritual evolution when you did not know how you were related to the Father, when the Father was a vague imagery, traditionally handed down to you -- perhaps before you had experienced a rebirth -- while He was still in the traditional mode. Think back to when you were unsure or unaware of how Michael, how Jesus, affected your life -- before, indeed, you knew who he was, why he came and how he has indissolubly changed the face of Urantia and your approach to your eternal career -- your very life. These facts provide you with a certain intellectual peace.

Knowing that the universes are upheld by the Administration of the universe; the Paradise Trinity resides at the center of all things; the foundation also of the physical balance in the universe: this even rudimentary knowledge that you have garnered from your studies of this revelation has given you a degree of intellectual peace.

Having this intellectual peace, having assimilated these truths into your very being by and through the Spirit of Truth and your applied studies, your comprehension, your acceptance, your assimilation, your sharing and so on, has given you an awareness that is indeed intellectual in nature and provides you with an uncommon peace, for you know these things about yourself and your place in the universe that gives rise to understanding that all is well.

I would like for you each, in your meditations this upcoming week, to consider the assurances that are a part of your own existence, these truths that you are aware of, that you have assimilated and incorporated into your faith path, that are of the nature of intellectual peace that provides you a footing, a calling, an assurance that gives you a sense of confidence and strength, even in understanding your smallness. Consider the gift from its highest to its most simple realm of affecting you, and begin to appreciate for yourselves the great strength inherent in this gift of intellectual peace.

Are there questions this afternoon, my lovely friends?

Beatrix: That information, Tomas, gives me some insight into why, when I come across other areas of knowledge that are presented different ways, why I attempt to somehow incorporate them, to see how they are connected, and I see that that is to give oneself that sense of intellectual peace, to kind of do something with these other systems, so that they fit, so that you can have that sense of okay-ness.

TOMAS: Indeed, Beatrix, it is not only a method of assimilating and expanding your own understanding of intellectual peace, but of contributing to the intellectual peace of others, for then you can communicate your truths and allow them to assimilate what you believe to be truth, based upon your own comprehension.

As you thus expose your understandings, the Spirit of Truth is able to operate, and that which has eternal and lasting and meaningful value will be assimilated and strengthened through the Spirit of Truth and it is not the singular, sole purpose of the mortal to assimilate these truths, for they are assisted in their appreciation by the ministries of the Comforter (the Spirit of Truth).

It is a wonderful ministry for those who are God-conscious, for those who are disciples of truth, beauty and goodness, to abridge any barriers of comprehension and understanding that may exist so that your overall appreciation of spirit reality can be attained, for there is one truth in the ascension scheme of virtual reality that is willing to assimilate degrees in order to promote the whole: there is no fight except the good fight of faith.

Beatrix: That is a way to become more connected rather than separate, if you can find similarities.

TOMAS: Yes.

Beatrix: Which we all are anyway, but sometimes we lose that realization and start thinking that other people are disconnected and doing some other thing when really they aren't; it's just a matter of the words.

TOMAS: It is also why it is advantageous to come into an understanding of the vastness of the universes of time and space, the many forms of life, the hierarchy, the study such as you did today regarding the various Ascending Sons and Descending Sons so that you realize that there are many kinds of life, and this is a part of the divine plan.

There are many, many variations on the theme, many myriad kinds of service and ministering personalities. There are even, closer to your realm of understanding, perhaps, the air breathers and water breathers, the different brain types; there will be other physical types as well as spiritual types, and this is putting you in line for understanding the many different types of concepts and approaches to such a large and wondrous universe.

Think yet again about your own comprehension of intellectual truth and peace. You have peace that passes all understanding because you know your personal relationship with Father and his many appendages. Even though the interpretation of these many appendages may differ in terms of size and color and function, the peace is in understanding that you are an integral part of the whole. The more you know about the part you play and how the system works, the more you can benefit by the experience and the more you can assist others in understanding and appreciating their experience as well.

[Very long silence] You are very quiet this afternoon. I cannot understand why it is that you are suddenly so painfully quiet. Do I intimidate you? No, I am certain I do not. Have you overmuch extended your brain cells?

Liana: Well, I think . .. intellectual peace . .. you know, I've been a seeker most of my life and I've gotten to the point now that I think I'm just ready to step back and let things be revealed to me. There seems to be, like, a willingness to just do that. Even though -- Actually I'm in the Urantia group more for the company than I am for all the facts. I can come here and I can talk about the invisible without being in awe of it or without other people being in awe of it or other people wanting me to prove it to them.

So intellectual peace . .. I feel that that's where I am right now because I don't have to know everything, that I see it as just being real to me.

TOMAS: This is very true, child. Another element of intellectual peace is that you allow truth to be revealed, indeed. As you put yourself in acceptance and of faith, you cease to argue with yourself; you cease to have conflict within your own mind. You know in the earlier stages of your growth there is much agitation of the mind as the animal mind is weaned and given over to the leadings of the spirit.

The spirit, as it gains mastery, through your cooperation, begins to show you that it will be an unfolding, and so you allow for the truth to be revealed. Your mind, your intellect, is no longer interested in arguing the point. Your mind no longer battles with itself, but in faith accepts that which is shown to you as truth, and so there is intellectual peace in this context as well.

It is not something you have to argue about with yourself anymore. You are not in conflict about an issue, a matter, a theory, a possibility, and/or an historic fact. It IS. It is existential, in fact, that you experience intellectual peace, not just academic in its intellectual nature, you see.

When your mind is at peace, your body is at peace and your spirit is able to function maximally. You are able to look upon your brethren who are trying to convince you of their truth, who are trying to convert you to their way of life, who are judging your behaviors or your lack of enthusiasm on their behalf, or whatever, in greater aplomb, patience, tolerance and good humor. You can look upon your less mature brothers and sisters as if they were delightful and amusing children, sincere in their impact on life, but none which will alter your course toward the Divine, the Eternal. It contributes, then, to your poise, your peace of mind, your well-balanced personality.

Liana: Thank you, Tomas.

TOMAS: Thank you, daughter. I am glad you are with us. If you were not full-fledged participating human beings in your own spiritual consciousness, awareness and growth, you would not be comfortable here. It is not a group of book-learners, but a group of faithers, acting in a way as to assist the spirit in assisting them to learn to be more real, more viable, more meaningful, enjoy life more abundantly, and so you are here for the correct purpose, for companionship in the spirit, for soul support.

Liana: Amen.

Beatrix: The experience I feel - and I think a lot of people go through this in the earlier years - there is a real hunger, a real searching for information, and now it's . .. that just leaves at a certain time and then it's more like appreciation. Like getting knowledge. It's an appreciation of the universe but it's not that being driven. It's a very different feeling.

TOMAS: Yes, the yearning of the soul to become aware of itself, to introduce itself to the consciousness of the mortal so that the mortal can begin to augment its growth, is a long-suffering period in the life of an ascendant mortal. It is almost as if it were suffering its own labor pains to be born, and upon its rebirth, its acceptance of its place, its having been breathed into the breath of life, it begins then to radiate the joy of existence, and those dreadful dark hours in the womb of pre-awareness are over. It is now an opportunity to enjoy a radiant day in the life and "life is but a day's work; do it well."

Now that you have Our Father and his myriad agents to work with you, to bring light and life into your arena, your own soul as it were, you have all the ammunition that you need in order to create your bastion of inner strength, and that includes your own intellectual peace. When you know who you are, you know your address; you know your social security number in terms of your eternal career; you know that you are in the hands of the Eternal Parents and that your job is laid out for you. Your remuneration is assured. What a divine response to the concept of social security! It is eternal security!

I will bow out with my devoted companion Merium, who urges us to call it an early afternoon, for we are being ushered offstage to allow for the arena of life to wield itself to His will being done on earth as it is in heaven, and so we observe with great delight your work in your fields of endeavor, your own paths.

Dear ones, we will be with you throughout the week. Forget not that we are an integral part of your life. We embrace you. Rest in peace. Farewell.

Group: Farewell. Thank you, Tomas.

*****

DATE: February 22, 1998
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, P.A. USA
T/R’S: Gerdean
TEACHERS: TOMAS, MERIUM

URANTIA BOOK STUDY:
Paper 20, THE PARADISE SONS OF GOD, Pg. 229
#6. The Mortal-Bestowal Careers
#7. The Trinity Teacher Sons
#8. Local Universe Ministry of the Daynals
#9. Planetary Service of the Daynals
#10. United Ministry of the Paradise Sons
Paper 21, THE PARADISE CREATOR SONS, Pg. 234
#1. Origin and Nature of Creator Sons
#2. The Creators of Local Universes
#3. Local Universe Sovereignty

TEACHER SESSION:
TOPIC:
MOTHER EARTH AND FATHER SKY

Group: Beatrix, Leah, Gerdean and Liana

MERIUM (Gerdean): Little girls, this is your big sister, Merium. I am glad to be with you today. Tomas has sent me out to greet you and to frolic with you in the meadow of your environment for a moment, in the sun of this bright day in the light of truth and fellowship.

How we have enjoyed your play, your communion, your efforts toward comprehension of these great and wondrous adult concepts of how the universe is arranged for your safety and security. I, too, feel blessed to have, over my head, a canopy of administration and harmony that affords me the security of knowing that my realm is replete and as it should be.

I tell you we are all here -- the troops; the bleachers are filled, and yet I will apologize in part for the limited capacity, perhaps, of our T/R today. She testifies to having a cold, and part of her, little girl that she is, pouts and says, "I don't feel good," but there is another part of her, sublime and deep, which is eager and willing to accommodate the universe. (How is that, Leah, for grandiosity?)

Leah: Great!

MERIUM: And so we shall see how the afternoon commences, but I am here in your midst and delighting in your company. I hope to participate further but for now I will step aside and invite Uncle Tomas to come in and cavort with his little girls.

TOMAS (Gerdean): Uncle Tomas indeed has arrived. I am enchanted by the vernacular that comes out of the hat on occasion and I realize that part of this is in deference to the human condition, the desire to be entertained, the analogy of your childlikeness, the innocence of your friendship and many other aspects of the configuration of the day.

However, I have tremendous confidence in your bigness and in your adulthood, and so I will refer to you as perhaps a little higher on the ladder of evolution for we have concepts to assimilate and concepts which are eagerly awaited by your hungry minds and souls, not to mention the ravishing audience of Urantia which starves for greater reality. You would not think so.

It is fairly apparent, by a cursory glance, that the masses are totally content to stuff themselves at supper and gorge their minds on third rate entertainment and allow the politicians or the preachers to take care of the weightier matters of your world, but this is only a cursory glance, for all you need to do is scratch the surface of this complacency and you will see a soul squirming to break free of the constraints of its animal heritage and its intellectual bondage.

In part, your job as ambassador of this heavenly kingdom is to stimulate these minds to open these hearts to respond to the tug, the pull, and the lure of divinity and eternity. "How?" you say. "How?" What a challenge, for is it not true that each individual will grow in their own due course? One cannot force a readymade religion upon someone. One cannot expect ripe fruit where blossoms are. And yet each plant may be fertilized; each seed may be aided in their germination; each rubber tree plant may benefit from a slice in the side that new growth may be added thereto.

And so each day, each instance of association provides you with yet another opportunity to practice that which you have learned at the feet of your teachers and the Master Teacher Himself, and in part which you read of today, I allude to the Trinity Teacher Sons who teach teachers, and that includes myself and how many times have you heard it said that we are here to teach you to teach others?

And so, whereas indeed one cannot grow any faster than their capabilities are, it is also possible that growth can be stimulated and encouraged, and you are now encouraged to bring this stimuli to your arena, to tickle the fancy, the imaginations of your peers, to break them out of the comfort mold that they have secured themselves within, to help them peck a hole in the eggshell of their amorphic origin, that they may come out in search of greater life and light.

Your afternoon has been astir with conjecture and preconceptions and cognition of a most intriguing nature. I know there are questions. I see them develop in your conversations. I recognize that the questions come, are presented, and vanish into the shadows of your consciousness without your grasping the awareness that there was a question, and I will assign you that this week.

And that is that as you observe that you do not have total intellectual peace regarding a situation, a subject, a feeling, an emotion, an intercourse, a relationship, a dialog, a situation, any time you have unease, disease, anything which is not reposed by intellectual peace, I will ask you to grasp it -- as weightless and feathery a concept it may be -- snatch it out of the air, capture it on paper, and allow it to develop into a concept on which you can build and grow your truth, beauty and goodness. Thus you can contribute to your own growth and you can teach yourself.

Daughters, beloved daughters, how proud I am of you and how pleased we are that you continue to revolve around your expanding spirit reality. How we admire and appreciate your loyalty to your budding spirit family. Dear ones, how are you and what are your questions?

Leah: Did I understand you to say that if we are experiencing something that we have a reaction that we are not having intellectual peace over that we should write it down and write about it? Is that what you are basically saying?

TOMAS: That is one of my suggestions for the week, yes. Not that you write about it extensively, but that you grasp it; that you find a word or two that can anchor the fleeting thought, the unresolved issue. I understand, I want you to understand, that if you have intellectual peace you are able to expound, for it is whole in your consciousness, and yet if you do not have intellectual peace, you will not be able to formulate a concept surrounding it, for it is not yet solidified as a truth reality for you.

It therefore may be a fleeting glimpse or a sliver of reality, and it is this shard, this sliver, this glimmer that I would have you capture. Not to write about, but to look at, to identify, to expand upon, even to question, to embellish, and to meditate over. And even write about, if you may, for this can develop into a new idea, a new concept, and a new growth. I call it to your attention and assign it as a project for you because how many times have we seen all of you, in your thinking process, come across a good thing, a gem of potential, and shove it aside in lieu of that which is more accessible.

It is part of the animal mind which rebels against the effort, and so I assign to you the challenge of taking up that effort, to grab that thought rather than sweeping it under the rug or into the corner, the back burner of your mind. Allow your mind to grasp it, to clutch it, that you may spend some time on it and develop it into a reality -- or identify it as a fantasy, an unreality, and either create around it or let it go, but discipline your mind and your being to take these fragments and pay attention, rather than letting them waft off like some dry autumn leaf. All right?

Leah: Yes. I wanted to ask you another question on Evangel's behalf. He prefaced this with he realizes that we're not going to go into any crystal ball gazing here, but two weeks ago approximately we were discussing "tilting the world on its axis" and a feeling of almost an emergency state, and he called and wondered if you could elaborate on that a little more. Or give him some -- a little further insight on what was being spoken about and he felt that it was extremely noteworthy and was dismayed that we just went on and didn't ask any questions, and whatever you could offer him would be appreciated.

TOMAS: Evangel, my son, how wonderful to hear from you, and how good it is to sense your alertness even in a far off and tropical realm such as you reside in. Your senses are indeed quick, alert and ready to hear the universe broadcasts!

You have already succeeded in the assignment, it would seem, for you have heard a fleeting concept and grabbed it in order that you may develop it, and so I am happy to bring it to the fore on your behalf, my son, and thank you for your teaching skills for now you have brought your concept to the awareness of many.

You have inquired as to this phrase of "turning the world on its axis." Yes, it is a reality, but it is a reality that is perhaps not the equivalent of what you perceive as you sit at your desk and observe the globe of earth in atlas form before you, wherein it is tilted on a pedestal that enables you to observe, more or less, how it sits in your solar system.

When we say that we intend to tilt the world on its axis, it does not necessarily mean that we intend to make it stand straight up, although in figurative terms, that is precisely what we are doing! And to some extent, you will also become aware of an alteration in its geologic structure, although that will not bring about the emergency situation that imaginings would infer/imply.

Earlier this afternoon your sisters were discussing a harmonic convergence wherein all the planets lined up neatly and this had a profound influence on the sensitive minds of Urantia, the forerunners of the new age in that day and time, and that is the more obvious understanding of a planet tilted on its axis - that all of the elements of physics are in line and in order.

Now, in that context we can say that the planet has already been aligned, or that we are now settling in on the other side of alignment. Also, I must point out to you that your mortal minds have a tendency to become very literal in these regards, and again, it is not necessarily the case, but I do want to add to your envisionings and your imaginings and affirm somewhat your hypothesis, but be at ease as to any necessary urgent reactions.

Let us, for you understanding, envision a holographic universe wherein everything is appropriately connected, symmetrically balanced, and let us say that Urantia, having been shut off from communications with the greater universe, has been out of whack, off kilter, off axis.

You might be able to envision -- and let me see if I can convey here, how it is that if you had a safe, for example, that had a combination lock, and when all the figures are set in appropriate motion, a little to the left, a little to the right, in such and such a balance, you hear a "click" and the safe is open. Even though you have not swung open the door, it is unlocked. And so for visionary purposes, we could say that at the convergence the door was unlocked.

And now what will tilt Urantia on its axis, literally and figuratively, is the light coming on in the individuals of Urantia, the connections that will be made between each individual mortal and divinity, that spirit light which will gain momentum, and which will (yes, like the 100th monkey theory) weigh reality such that the light will shine adequately that the others will follow suit.

They will believe that dawn has come, even though they, in their minds, still live in the darkness. They will see, through the efforts of the vanguard, the spirit forerunners, that the light is lit, and they will begin to awaken from their slumber and we will have come into alignment, we will have tilted this world on its axis in truth, you see. In truth.

I do not know, my son, if this has been a satisfactory answer for your question, however it is a provocative question. I will add one more thing, and that has to do with the elliptical nature of the grand universe, and that it does move in a certain rhythm, and along about now your planet is turning around in the clock of time, in the stream of time, and returning, returning, to its Source, to its original configuration.

There is a much, much, wider, greater, vaster viewpoint available than that which you have garnered from your limited experience on your native world, as a native son, but your mind is eager to expand and I am eager to provide you with certain thoughts that will support your growing awareness of this greater reality; but at the same time you will appreciate that I am not inclined to make pronouncements that will alter the course of reality for the Teaching Mission! I am not interested in arousing panic among my students or the greater citizenry of Urantia's new age population!

And so I will conclude my commentary, with my thanks for your inquiring mind, and for your alertness as to the potential of teaching and preaching, and I thank you for your involvement in your Teacher Base, even from your remote outpost. I embrace you my son. Thank you.

Leah: That was a beautiful answer. I was just wondering. Is this analogous to the expansion and the contraction of the universe?

TOMAS: Yes. My remarks having to do with the elliptical nature have to do with that, yes.

Leah: Well, I'm sure he'll be very happy with the answer because he has spoken to me about that on other occasions. Thank you.

Beatrix: Tomas, can you tell us if the planets, such as earth, do they have a -- are they like an entity also? As like a being? Do they have a spirit to them or a soul quality?

TOMAS: I am also glad to hear this question, Beatrix, for it is beyond the standard question. It is interesting and provocative and lends itself well to speculation of a mind-expanding sort. Your world Urantia is indeed an organism, a living organism, one that is, you could say, only now "rebirthing." It is possible for you to (Gerdean, look up this word; you know the word) [The word is "anthropomorphize"] to apply a personality to a planet, and yet it is not a personality, it is a material creation. It, itself, does not have a soul, no, but it has, in a sense, a spirit. Even in the abstract it has a soul, but in terms of our use of the word soul, no.

Beatrix: Not the way we think of ourselves as having a soul, but like our Indians have often said...

TOMAS: Yes.
Beatrix: Our earth has a spirit.

TOMAS: Yes. I have very lightly touched on an analogy, a rather grand analogy if I may -- I don't know that it's been done before, and no one has picked up on it so perhaps it is not to be developed yet, however -- I have addressed this idea of the planet Urantia as being in recovery and its insanity is as a result of it having been subject to the Lucifer legacy, and in many ways your dear Urantia, our Urantia, is approaching a new life.

You understand that the spirit connections are being made. You understand, in a way, you have dominion over your world, even though you have practically destroyed it in your greed and abuse, but as you are finding your way into spirit reality, as you are as a planet being reborn and becoming oriented in God-consciousness, indeed as Evangel has suggested, as you are turning on your axis and aligning yourself with spirit reality, becoming more and more stalwart toward light and life, you are becoming more aware of your planet, its ecological systems, how you have polluted its waters, its airs and so forth, and you are in a position, now, to begin to approach the recovery of your planet, not only as a geologic structure in the universe but as an organism of good health, designed to support you and other viable life, in God's universe.

If you were to dedicate yourselves to God, even to the God of your understanding, as the Christians do, as the Muslims do, as the Eskimo and the Indians do, you begin to revere a power greater than yourself. You begin to put back into mother earth that which she has given you - life, in the physical sense, in a harmonic sense. You begin to see yourselves as caretakers of this organism that will take care of you in the material sense.

And as your earth becomes healthy, you also become healthy, for you are being nurtured by Mother Earth, as it were, in honor of Father Sky, as it is. And so your planet begins to thrive and throb with new life, new growth, growth in the spirit, growth in intellectual peace and in a lot of good things that will usher in a new age for its people.

It is a wonderful time you live in. It is a wonderful planet. You will not live to see its full development, but in time you will be able to look back in and through the archives of history and observe the pageantry of Urantia, and what a dynamic performance you will see, and when you sit "in the audience" observing the development, the reconstruction, the rebirthing, the resurrection of Urantia, you will feel a very viable pride in your belly as a result of your efforts here today to bring forward spirit reality on Urantia, our throne for our Creator Son, Michael of Nebadon.

Beatrix: Now, Tomas, you are awakening in me, maybe, the ability to ask more questions because a lot of times I don't ask questions, I'm not sure why; partly because, I think, that maybe I don't deserve to get the answer or it isn't right to ask the questions, I'm not sure, but, -- now, I have this question and it's a little bit connected to this third question, and I am not sure if I even know how to formulate it, but when I first -- Somebody brought to my attention that we only have so much water and I was kind of fascinated with the idea that I don't think that many people think about that we only have the same water that we started with and I started thinking that that water has gone through every living organism and the same water that went through the dinosaurs and cavemen and rivers and animals and plants and it keeps going on through everything from the beginning of time and it goes through our bodies, and I'm wondering -- I got the idea that we translate something, or that we get connected somehow to everything all the way back through this water, and of course we did it with air, too, but the water in particular. I just thought the way I saw it pouring out of the ocean and the same water keeps coming down and through us all, and it goes through our brains and through our whole bodies and so it must take with us some kind of knowledge or understanding.

I don't know if I'm saying that, like -- I'm saying that if we implant something on this water and then we're all getting connected through this.

TOMAS: Rather, it has imprinted something on you, which has brought you forward. It has contributed to the evolution of life. You are a water-based planet, and that is the laboratory that has been provided for your development. The water system that has been given to you here is not going to dry up, for that is the basis of your operation here as an organism of the realm. Yes, in terms of chemistry and physics, you have been impacted by water all the way back but you didn't begin all the way back there, not personally.

Life began way back there. Even before life, water was. And water will be here after you have, in the physical sense, returned to dust and in the spiritual sense advanced to the Resurrection Halls of Mansonia, for this is a water planet. Just as you are a two-brained air-breather. Do not worry that your planet will dry up. Always will this laboratory provide the circumstances necessary for life to develop.

It is, however, as I inferred a moment ago, contingent upon you, as a human race, particularly you who are more advanced in your awareness of the organism of life that is Urantia, to begin to care for her, as not only a natal sphere for your physical life but as a spiritual shrine for the local universe in testimony to the incarnation of the Creator Son who walked here.

Beatrix: I had no fear that we were going to run out of water. I didn't realize I had implied that. I was thinking more in terms of thinking of it as some connecting, unifying element.

TOMAS: It is, indeed.

Beatrix: But as you said, even Christ drank this water that we are still drinking, and that's what I meant by the connecting of everything.

TOMAS: I would like to suggest that perhaps some of your newfound courage in asking questions has to do with the uniqueness of your position here as hostess. I have observed that, in terms of your decorum on Urantia, you who hostess are more inclined to move the conversations along and feel the authority of domesticity that allows for a conversation.

It is not a strict rule, but it is a tendency, and it is a growth lesson for all of you that when you realize that all of us are guests here, that it is Michael and Nebadonia who are the host and the hostess and that we are all children at the table at the feast that he provides, we will all feel free then to ask questions in our time, in our way, and we will all be fed.

For now, however, it is an interesting observation of your customs.

Beatrix: It seems that that is true, but I also think it goes further. I've always done that in all kinds of situations where I don't say the question. When I heard you saying earlier to ask all these different varieties of questions, that kind of urged me to not hold back.

TOMAS: Very good. If I cannot address it, I know there is someone here in the spirit realms that can.

Beatrix: Sometimes I think maybe all of us think, "That's not an important enough question" or "That's silly" and I think that women, a lot of times, tend to get that mind set more than men and kind of "Don't ask that because that's not pertinent" or something like that.

TOMAS: If you are not careful, I will have to give you an assignment, Beatrix. [Group chuckle] I am not hearing from you, Liana. Are you bashful today?

Liana: I just can't think of a question.

TOMAS: You have, none-the-less, contributed greatly to our afternoon's soiree. You have a lot to offer and your mind is a welcome addition to this configuration.

Liana: Thank you, Tomas.

TOMAS: And thank you, daughter, for your teaching and preaching. Are there any other questions?

Beatrix: I could ask if I can have -- if I have my personal teacher, who the personal teacher would be.

TOMAS: Beatrix, how happy I am to be permitted to attend to your personal needs in such a way. Thank you for the invitation. I will attempt to secure the identification and nomenclature of your assistance. One moment please. [Long pause]

Beatrix, I am going to respond to your request oddly, for I see in your immediate vicinity the energy configuration of a Divine Counselor. Now, whether that is a permanent configuration or a temporary one, I cannot say at this juncture. I cannot, therefore, ascertain if you have personal guides attendant or not -- which I am certain you must, but they are in the shadow of the Divine Counselor who is in your immediate vicinity. I will therefore withhold an identification of your more personal guides until such time as I am able to perceive them more clearly. You may, in the meantime, take some succor in the knowledge that you are being ministered to or touched by an entity such as a Divine Counselor or one of its counterparts.

Beatrix: Thank you, Tomas.

TOMAS: You are welcome. I perceive that you are wondering why it is that I can't see what's going on in my own realm.

Beatrix: No, I was just wondering -- I'll have to look up Divine Counselor...

TOMAS: I will give you a peculiar equation for you know it is very dense on Urantia. It is very much as if you had gone underwater with your goggles on after dark or at dusk, and you cannot see very clearly unless and until you are right upon it; and in the case of each of you, I recognize you not by your face, you see, but by your light, as we have discussed before. And it is necessary, then, for me to come right into your space, as it were, to get a handle on your personal guides. Even though we have a vantage point that is in many ways superior to yours, it is necessary that certain machinations be undergone in order to identify all that there is to identify, even from this conference table.

Beatrix: Well, I'll wait.
TOMAS: You are certainly attended.
Leah: What does machinations mean?
TOMAS: Mechanics.
Leah: Oh.
TOMAS: Manipulations.
Leah: I see.
TOMAS: Even logistics.

I perceive that the afternoon is beginning to have long shadows, and so I will excuse myself from your watery realm and take Merium's hand and allow her to lead me off into this sunny meadow of Urantia that awaits us. I have given you your assignment. I again am appreciative of your association and for the divine love of Michael, which has afforded us the opportunity to develop our friendship and to salvage and succor our Urantia. Until next week, then, farewell.

*****
DATE: March 1, 1998
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, P.A. USA
T/R’S: Gerdean
TEACHERS: TOMAS, MERIUM

URANTIA BOOK STUDY:
Paper 21, PARADISE CREATOR SONS, Pg. 239
#4. The Michael Bestowals
#5. Relation of Master Sons to the Universe
#6. Destiny of the Master Michaels
Paper 99, SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF RELIGION, Pg. 1089
#4. Transition Difficulties
Paper 136, BAPTISM AND THE FORTY DAYS, Pg. 1521
#9. The Fifth Decision

TEACHER SESSION
TOPIC:
INTEGRITY

TOMAS: Thank you, my children, and good afternoon.
Group: Elyssia, Beatrix, Leah, Gerdean, Hester and Genessa: Good afternoon, Tomas.

TOMAS: How wonderful to be with you again, here in this divine environment provided for our comfort and convenience. Gracious hostess, Elyssia, how wonderful for your return.

Elyssia: It's good to be back.

TOMAS: Beatrix, it is very good of you and we are glad to embrace you in your place at this table. How wonderful for us that we can share your fragrance once again.

Beatrix: Thank you.

TOMAS: It is a joy for us to touch you all. You are so delightful to us, dear children, dear, daughters. I would like also to take this opportunity to greet, indeed to speak with an associate of our spirit helpers who has been long known to us, your company today. I will refer to her by her spiritual name, which has been long known, and I greet you, Genessa. It is good to meet you in this way. You have read my words; you have met our friends, and now we have this opportunity to embrace. How glad we are that you are also with us this day.

Merium joins me in embracing you all and I will address you this afternoon in a formal lesson and then we can chatter a bit about what has been on your minds.

I would like to speak with you this afternoon regarding integrity. Integrity is a word that combines the best that you bring with you to present before you. You have heard the phrase "rising to the occasion" and your integrity is that which rises to the occasion of sonship.

As a mother, you are aware of what is necessary to call forth in you to provide the bestowal of motherhood upon the moment. As a hostess, you are all well familiar with that within you that you call up in order that you may bestow graciousness and harmony upon your environs and your guests. These are integral to the roles that you play, and in your lives you have many roles and you are capable of having integrity in each and every one of these facets of your personality.

Yet and still, when you combine all of these gifts of personality, all of these facets, and without pleasing or serving anyone but that which is integral to your Being as a result of your relationship with yourself, in and through your relationship with divinity, our First Source and Center, you have now encountered integrity, and it is incumbent upon you to identify integrity and to practice integrity for it will be sorely tested in your life's experiences.

Indeed, part of your stress in your life is establishing for yourself a certain integrity and having this integrity pulled aside, assaulted, ignored, and forced to modify because of the values of others. This is not the same as a healthy compromise; this is something above and beyond a technique of adaptation to your peers and your society in order to conform and survive. Adaptation is one thing; integrity is another.

There are certain things about yourself that are uncompromisable, that are integral to who you are and that which you have become in and through your relationship with the Father, with the Mother, with Divinity. Integrity allows for the integration of all that you hold valuable and dear, and cuts across the grain, does not distinguish between individual needs. You will not, for example, set aside your integrity to minister to a child; you will not set aside your integrity to minister to the sick; you will not set aside your integrity to care for the family pet. Your integrity allows for you to care for any and all things because caring is an integral part of you as a child of God.

Caring is integrated into your being; it is part of your integrity. If and when you are asked to care more for this over here, or that over there, it is an impossible request, for you cannot care more than you can care! And you care implicitly, integrally, because of your investment in your spiritual nature.

It is part of having an integrated personality, that part of you which recognizes the human aspect and yet which accepts and continues to aspire for the divine aspects, both of them working harmoniously together; recognizing your ambition and yet recognizing the limitlessness of spirit ideal/ limitation of human capacity; recognizing that intervening space between what you would be and will be and that which you are and have become - that integrated space, that integral reality that allows you to BE at peace with yourself, not just as a child of God, but as a child in the universe with your feet on the floor of creation. Integrity.

This week, my daughters, I would like for you to consider your personal integrity. Not as it is compared to others, for integrity cannot be compared. If you have integrity, then have it unto yourself. But be aware of that in you which is and has integrity, that is value that provides you value, that gives you value, that shows you value -- your value, as a result of your invaluable association with your Creator.

An integral part of our association involves our inquiry. I have missed you and I see, Genessa, that you have brought a bushel full of questions, and also I see that our friend in Canada has submitted a question. How fortunate we are this afternoon! What a plethora of personality requests. Let me hush myself for a moment, for my friend and yours, Merium, is eager to introduce herself. One moment.

MERIUM: Hello, hello, my beloved friends.
Group: Hello, hello, Merium!

MERIUM: It is so good to be here. I cannot bear that Tomas launched into a heady lesson without giving me a chance to come in and fluff you up and prepare you. I am not putting down Uncle Tomas, you realize, I am just impatient to, if you will, be with you, my lovelies. It is always good to be with you. You know how personality manifestation is, how personality expression does. I want to BE with you, and I know that we have a date, we have an opportunity, that I am to see you, and how dare he assign me to the bleachers to observe his lecture while I covet the opportunity to rush to your side, to pinch your cheeks and fuss with your persons; and so, my lovely children, you may consider yourself fussed over and clucked over and pinched and fluffed.

I am most amused to be here today. I am particularly amused with this tea party because of its configuration. Yes, Elyssia, it is a delight to have you back in these environs and it is also lovely that you, our newest daughter, have come by to enjoy our companionship.

I will not take up excess time. I will, however, not be gone. Tomas has made up for his lapse in good grace by allowing me the opportunity to share with him the platform that we can field questions together, and so I, with Tomas, will sit back and observe what kind of exercise we shall undertake this afternoon.

Elyssia: The question from Canada?

Leah: J.N., our sister in Canada, has written a letter and she is wondering about the chip. "They" are now busy inoculating little children in kindergarten with a computer chip, which has everything on it, like an identification of sorts. She would just like to know if something sinister is connected with it, i.e., the Illuminati? Mind? She says, "I would rather dwell on the positive, but Jesus said 'Be ye as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves' and" -- I believe this is commentary -- "eventually everyone gets one? On the forehead or right hand? For security purposes???" Can you give her any information in regard to this?

TOMAS: I am Tomas. I will respond. First to greet you, dear one, and thank you for your reach across the miles to access peace of mind, peace of heart for you and your fellows. We rejoice with you in your community, in your outreach, and in our association. Greetings.

I am amused at your question, daughter, and I do not want to offend you by using the word 'amused' but I thought, "Well, what shall I say? Shall I say, 'Oh, yes! It is quite sinister!'" when you know that the teachers have never, ever brought fear to your minds. We are quite adept, indeed, at assuaging your anxieties and fears, and so it is my hope that again we can put to rest any anxiety about any "mark of the beast."

I will help to pacify your fears somewhat by reminding you of the evolution of technology. Indeed, one of the Presidents was reported to have said, when shown the telephone, "What an amusing instrument, yes, but who would want to use it!?" and you see how even your Teachers now have "call waiting," and so many of these modern, scientific, high-tech devices are indeed threatening -- in particular when you don't know who "they" are that are installing this unknown substance, this disc, this chip, and thirdly, when it is being installed in your brightest, youngest, most tender meats, for these are your future.

My dear, I am fully cognizant of the admonition to be as wise as serpents and as peaceful as doves. This does not mean for you to be suspicious. It means for you to investigate. Part of your investigation is to go beyond what is reported in the news, for as we have said many times, what you see in the papers and on the telly is hype and drama designed to capture your attention and continue to keep you addicted to the excitement of bad news, when much of it is simply life on parade.

And so investigate more thoroughly what they are attempting to inject and ascertain, after that has been assimilated, how far-reaching these goals are. And have they been already successful? I cannot personally purport that they are harmful and I can guarantee that they will not interfere with Urantia's development as far as its spiritual enlightenment is concerned. It is experimental, however, as you realize Urantia is. And I would ask you to remember that many of the things that have been brought about on Urantia ultimately have contributed to the glory of God -- even though they sometimes appeared, at first blush, to be antithetical to integrity.

Have no fear, my dear. Rather, find it, if you will, an adventure of investigation, and in your investigations, be indeed as peaceful as a dove for you may yet have the opportunity to impart great truth, even as you investigate in your realm.

I hope that my words have been helpful. I am always glad to hear from you and to realize that your ear is attuned to the vibration of eternity, and so, in hopes that my vibrations might be attenuated appropriately, I embrace you and eagerly look forward to our next encounter.

Are there other questions this afternoon? Or perhaps, Leah, you feel that I have not addressed J.N.'s question adequately?

Leah: You're asking me how I feel? I feel as if you addressed it exactly as I perceived you would address it.

TOMAS: I am glad that I am not giving you any unwanted surprises.

Elyssia: Well, along that same line, I know that this is not certainly one of your favorite subjects, but I thought that you might deign to offer us something on it, which was that there was a program about bacterial warfare, and it was a very seemingly excellent program with a lot of seemingly factual contributions to make, and when I watched it I wondered if I could ask you about my reaction to it.

My reaction was that there is something quite dangerous on our planet now and a lot of people who are relative savages, according to what I read in our Papers. They were described as relative savages; that's our state. And so we have a combination that common sense dictates to one. It arouses a lot of concern. Could you . .. help us with that, so we don't get all embroiled in it?

TOMAS: I will not caution you against becoming embroiled. It is not against wisdom to not become aware, but you must understand that as you investigate and become embroiled in these things, it is vital that you not become emotionally riled up about it. When you take these things so personally as to cloud your vision, you become as savage as they, you see. And so if you cannot look at it academically and in a detached way, you are serving the greater purpose to not observe at all!

Elyssia: I see.

TOMAS: I am not recommending that you remain ignorant, but that you rise above your own personal interests, and this includes nationalism and the approach that your media would have you believe. You really must begin to aspire to see the global situation from a global standpoint, and it is virtually impossible to do that when you continue to allow yourself to subscribe to that news broadcast which will inflame your native sensibilities -- your economic and political sensitivities.

There are greater broadcasts -- not just the cosmic communications, but broadcasts from other countries, other intelligent countries, which also apply a wisdom and a vantage point that have merit. You must see the farther view. You cannot see clearly and unprejudicially when you only see this viewpoint that comes into your living room daily, regularly, as part of your lifestyle. You are prejudiced indirectly and unwittingly by the national broadcast.

There are heroic persons, peoples on the face of Urantia who in some ways may be regarded as savage, or certainly as semi-civilized, but just because you have super-highways, sleek automobiles, $70.00 haircuts, does not make you civilized by a long shot, for civilization is not necessarily tied up with socio-economic values or high-tech values. Civilization is a matter of integrity, and even Hussein has integrity. It is only that he has an integrity that is not comprehended by CBS, perhaps, and so you must learn to take the farther view.

Elyssia: Well, you know, integrity is something that you are offering as an important aspect, so how does one gain integrity? Could you give us some spiritual examples?

Hester: Can I ask one simple little question here before we leave this subject? Is this not -- when we are faced with these situations about which we can do nothing, is this not where that phrase "Bless it and call it good" comes into play?

TOMAS: It is certainly a philosophy that can work. It is acceptance. It is serenity in the face of mayhem. If you cannot do something about it, then be peaceful in the fact that you cannot do anything about it. "The Serenity Prayer" speaks to this, and of course there is much merit in a positive attitude.

You well understand the mota that says, "The act is ours; the consequences God's" and so as we have discussed before, merit has come even out of the Lucifer Rebellion, even the Adamic Default, and so there will be good at some point, but of course even I am shortsighted enough to want to see good come of it now, and only good, but if you cannot do something about it, if you have offered up your prayer, it does you well, yes, Hester, to rest on the issue and let it rest in peace.

Now, Elyssia, what were we saying?

Elyssia: Well, integrity. We were supposed to look to ourselves. The relative savagery that we partake of is something you mentioned, so then the integrity is the helpful way we grow out of savagery, but . .. could you give us some thoughts about integrity? You're given us some good things about fruits of the spirit, so now, where integrity comes along....

MERIUM: I am Merium. I will attempt to address your quandary, Elyssia, and any others who may wonder how to develop integrity. What does it take to develop integrity in the face of your most difficult environment here and the challenges and opportunities that are presented? What does integrity mean in terms of your spirit identification?

Well, it is like Uncle Tomas said. You have an integrity in terms of your various roles that you play. Let us take this to the nth degree, then, and say that your role as a child of God is a role that -- Well, I better not say that . .. because there are millions of people who "play that role" of being a child of God and it has done nothing but to get your planet into deeper trouble, so perhaps that is a way of saying what integrity is not.

The integrity that we are urging you to behold within yourself is that which will hold firm and not be swayed, that which will not be bought and sold, that which is held up as sacrosanct, even though ... aha! Here it is: "What does it matter if all things earthly crumble to those who love the Lord?" for you can see that even though the circumstances that have given you integrity as a mother, as a worker, as a voter, as a parent, as a child, as a student, as a neighbor and so on and so on, the integrity that you are asked to observe is that which would be there if you were not any of the above; if and as you stand alone, unidentified with your neighbor or your family; as you stand alone in the universe, in this existential "I AM a son of I AM" (or a daughter of I AM); that integrity that you will hold fast to, that cannot be diminished.

Beatrix: Merium, I get the sense from your description that -- and Tomas' also -- that the integrity is connected some way to your personality and your uniqueness.

MERIUM: It will be a reflection of you, of course, for it is of the Father. Remember that your personality is a gift from the Father and as you develop your relationship with your Creator, your personality is embellished by His bestowal upon you of that which He is. This is how you become more Godlike, you see. You become less animal and less self-interested, less self-oriented. Your personality literally expands and grows as it becomes more Godlike, and in order that it become more Godlike, you need to understand that the integrity inherent between you and God is that divine relationship which will allow for you to be and grow and to be the best you can be in any of your secondary and tertiary associations and relationships because it is primarily connected to the primary relationship of the First Source and Center. That is the integrity of your individuality as a child of God. Has that been helpful?

Beatrix: Yes, I think it has.

MERIUM: I realize you missed part of my response, Elyssia, but I think I expanded it somewhat.

Elyssia: Well, I'm going to read it, of course, as we fortunately are able to do because of Gerdean, so I'll be reading it and we must be partaking of the lack of moral behavior that our President evidences. We must all be in that. I feel that . .. so I guess I want to take a look at myself and all of us. Starting with myself.

Hester: We wouldn't see it if we didn't already know something about it. We wouldn't understand it. It would be like someone speaking Hebrew to a non-Judaic person.

MERIUM: This is a good time for you to pull out the Course in Miracles.

Elyssia: May I ask if you'd enlarge on that?

MERIUM: I am not going to enlarge upon it because my primary transmitter Hunnah is not with us today.

Elyssia: Well, from my point of view, if we go back to A Course in Miracles, it has a complete -- as far as I am concerned -- antidote for looking at the world with horror and condemnation. I realize that there's a lot there.

Leah: There must be another way of looking at it!
Hester: There is.

MERIUM: I would like to address my friend here and ascertain if you, Genessa, know I am speaking to you. Do you recognize your name?

Genessa: Yes.
MERIUM: How are you, daughter?

Genessa: On a personal level, I'm kind of undecided. Not due to what's going on here at this table, but all kinds of other things that I would rather not even bring up right now, but as far as the meeting is concerned, I haven't really defined how my reactions . .. I feel doors opening, though, and I'm willing to look beyond, and I really have to say I'm really pleased to meet you.

MERIUM: My face is smiling. My heart is leaping in joy of our coming together. It is indeed a priceless moment in my existence that I hear your words and see your spiritual face turned to me. What a delight you are, my child. That these doors have revealed themselves as opening to you is the gift that we share together, for our Father/Brother Michael has created these many doors and these many mansions of experience and discovery that we may traverse throughout eternity in greater comprehension of truth, beauty and goodness; and so I enjoy with you the prospects of investigating many doors and many mansions.

Your personal life will never be without challenges, and so this is part of your packaging and we welcome all of your packaging. All of us here have brought with us a colorful past and it contributes to our character today, as individuals and as a group of children gathered together in faith to honor our Creator. It is a delight, a sheer delight, to be with you today and to realize that you are here with us, not only in the flesh but also in the spirit and in truth.

Genessa: Thank you for recognizing me.

MERIUM: You are recognizable as a daughter of God and it didn't even require me to look hard. Are there other questions this afternoon?

Elyssia: I hope this isn't along the same line exactly, but the weather strangeness, is that something about the Correcting Time?

TOMAS: Urantia is undergoing physical change as well as other kinds of change, yes. It is not specifically part of Correcting Time; it is however part of its geologic evolution. Correcting Time occurs above and beyond geologic evolution, but many times evolution and even revelation are augmented and assisted by the geologic travails of the environment. Much as war leads to a yearning for peace, the storms of your physical environment lead to a hunger for harmony, and so yes, in a remote way, they are tied in together, but one does not necessarily push the other along.

Elyssia: I see.

Beatrix: Hester has read in the paper and I happened to see on TV something about this red cow coming and I'm not sure about the history of it. I couldn't find it in the Bible, I didn't know what it pertained to, but they indicated that it would be viewed with some alarm by some other religions, like maybe the Arabs or the Palestinians or whatever, and I think it had something to do with it being -- if it was sacrificed, then it would be the beginning of the rebuilding of the temple or something. So a lot of things that we think of on different levels of rebuilding the temple . .. as something symbolic . .. but others take it as an actual physical thing that has to happen, and I was just curious . .. looking in the Bible, but I couldn't find that.

TOMAS: I will remind you, and I do not mean to be disrespectful to any people or any ideologies, but I will remind you that scripture is easily translatable according to the needs of the day, and this has been a hallmark of evolved religions and their writings. How many times have the scriptures been rewritten in order to accomplish the needs of the day? And most of these needs have been political and economic. I am glad to see when some of them have contributed to an advancement of spiritual reality, but that is always a matter of personal evolution in the minds of those who are participants.

You can clearly observe the political seeds of the situation regarding the red cow, for if an entire people can rally behind a symbol of a religious cause, there has been much energy brought to the occasion, and this is the kind of energy that can topple the walls of Jericho or that can open the Red Sea, you see. This is the kind of drama that enables nations to rise and fall, and so it is a very wondrous and dramatic appeal to a people to come together for a spiritual cause, and they may well be effective, for there is great power in the race, even in the absence of their temple, and it will be an interesting outworking. It is not for us to particularly condemn or encourage such human functions.

Remember when Jesus, as you read today, established how it was that he would set his Kingdom into motion, he made certain decisions and they had certain results. As your kings, leaders and nations also set themselves up and/or are asked to lead their people in certain situations and through certain time spans and through certain crises situations, they also will set up certain scenarios that may or may not appeal to the masses and when the masses can stand behind the leadership, then great things can come about. This is the tide of political evolution.

How it is that individuals deal with this or not in terms of their spirit life is the realm in which we operate. It is our interest to ascertain how it is that an individual's spirit life is advanced because of their decision-making processes in the face of life's vicissitudes.

Do not stumble on the political arena, but go straight to the soul of the individual who grapples in his own integral soul with those matters of life and death that will impact his or her personality development, even into divinity. Has that been helpful?

Beatrix: Yes. When I'm -- The idea that I got when you were speaking at the end was -- and the reason that I was even looking at it, was that so many events are occurring that are unusual. We can say the weather; we can say the germ warfare; we can say the predictions, the white buffalo, the red cattle, and it's -- what I'm getting from what you're saying or wherever I got it from, the thought came that we really don't have to be any more concerned with whatever's going on because we can have an event right in our life in an instant that would be just as dramatic or whatever that we wouldn't expect, so our spiritual development could be developed around that event or these world-wide events, it really doesn't matter.

TOMAS: And truly this is why we ask you to look at your own personal integrity, for this transcends all of those extraneous activities that you become embroiled in but which is the stage upon which your drama is played out and wherein those eternal value decisions are made.

Beatrix: Um-hum.

Hester: In line with this, whenever I was in college, we spent one whole semester comparing the Book of Daniel and Revelations, and it is amazing how they glove -- fingers like hand in glove, and what's happening now is foretold in these things, and it has happened. 30 years ago we had weather exactly like we're having now, but most people weren't aware that we had it then.

TOMAS: One of the advantages of having you with us, Hester, is that you are a representation of the archives [group laughter]. I say that, again, with a smile on my face and love in my heart.

Merium and I are now in preparation to close down the curtain on this afternoon's drama and we are grateful to you, dear ones, for your loyalty and your sublime devotion to truth that would allow for you to come again and again to this table of plenty that the Lord has provided, that you may take from it food to nourish your soul, to make joyous your countenance and to raise your voice On High in praise of Him who is our Lord and King. Amen and Farewell.

Group: Thank you, Tomas and Merium.

*****

DATE: March 8, 1998
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, P.A. USA
T/R’s Gerdean and Hunnah
TEACHERS: MICHAEL, TOMAS, MERIUM

URANTIA BOOK STUDY:
Paper 22, THE TRINITIZED SONS OF GOD, Pg. 243
#1. The Trinity-Embraced Sons
#2. The Mighty Messengers
#3. Those High in Authority
#4. Those Without Name and Number
Paper 136, BAPTISM AND THE FORTY DAYS, Pg. 1520
#8. The Fourth Decision

Group: Elyssia, Iyana, Hunnah, Liana, Leah, Gerdean and Hester

TEACHER SESSION:
TOPIC:
CHOOSE HOW YOU WILL GO

MICHAEL: I am Michael. I would like to spend a moment with you and to touch you, put my hand on you, feel your heart beat, allow our hearts to beat in unison.

I know that it is your will that my will be done as it is our will that His will be done. I know, too, that sometimes that is a difficult order for you to understand, for sometimes life unfolds in ways that you do not understand.

I know that some of you are experiencing an abundant life and you are unnerved by the bounty, as if to say that you will have to pay later for the joy you know today. There are some of you who feel uncomfortable in my presence, for you feel less than perfect.

I am here this afternoon to share with you, my children, my love for you and love of the Father for you also.

Take heart. Take my heart. Make it your own. You read this evening about some of the decisions I made when I approached my ministry here on Urantia many years ago. You yourselves in your life must also go apart and determine in your heart, in your mind, and in your soul those decisions, those choices, that determine how you will comport yourself in your life as my Ambassadors, knowing that how you act affects others, what you believe is reflected in your arena, and your attitudes and opinions are often construed as a reflection of me, of my revelation, of your association with that of divine origin.

Your teachers have spoken to you about the various fruits of the spirit, about many spiritual truths, about the authority of the Father that speaks through you, and about your own integrity. I stand beside you, my children, and uphold you in your work. We walk this path together. Those changes that you would effect on Urantia for me and for Our Father, are only those which are in accordance with your will as it is in harmony with my will, as Our Will is in harmony with Divine Will; otherwise, you see, it is ineffectual. It is as tinkling brass.

And so I come to you today and embrace you and touch your heart. It is your heart, Children, which will effect these changes that will embrace Urantia and its people in the light of truth that we would bring to these people, these children of ours.

Nebadonia is also in my spirit and in your spirit. Her love is also extended into your arena in and through your love for your associates and your children, our children.

This divine love is always called upon in you to rise higher and to go deeper. Always is love redefined and broadened as you are redefined and broadened, and even so, love is one quality that is understood always. Always is love understood, and in particular when it is that love which I bestow on you and in you, in and through Our Father.

Saturate yourself in His divine presence, for that is the Source of the love that guides us all. Amen.

Group: Amen.
Iyana: Thank you for coming.

TOMAS: Merium and I are here. It is good to be with you. How we love you! And in keeping with our Master's words, it is a joy to embrace you and to appreciate the full range of love that is available, for your personalities are depictions of a wide range of love in its many flavors, many diffracted rays of light: humorous and tender, sensitive and sentimental, deep and passionate, trippy and airy.

I will not burden you with a heartfelt lesson, but I would like to enjoy your company. Merium also is here, as you can appreciate, and is also enjoying your presence. Merium, would you like to greet our group?

MERIUM (Hunnah): Good evening, everyone. My transmitter/receiver here is on a holiday, and I don't know that I am going to be speaking very much this evening, but it is good to be here with you all. You seem sharp as a tack this evening, full of merriment and good questions. It is good to see you thriving on the word of the teachings that we have sent to you. I hope that you will have a joyous evening.

TOMAS: Thank you, Merium.

I will perhaps speak a little bit about some of your readings, your input of this evening, having to do indeed with some of these decisions that Jesus made, and I bring this up because it is, in some part, a reflection on questions and concerns that one of you have regarding your involvement in the Teaching Mission, that perhaps it is a facet of miracle-working and wonder-seeking as compared to the solid and slow and stable and methodical approach to growth that is spoken of and that was opted to by Jesus.

There is a reference, for instance, about the quick fix attitude inherent in the Caligastia way of life, and you already know that Eve and also Adam short-circuited the divine plan because of impatience and indeed it has been a concern of many in the Urantia movement that the Teaching Mission has followed suit and is an impatient act, an insurrection if you will against the more methodical gains inherent in allowing Our Father to direct us.

I would like to extend an understanding and appreciation for the attitude of this faction of devotees of the Teaching Mission for there are many and their sincere concern is not scoffed at, but is appreciated, for their integrity is at issue. [Long pause] It is also indicated, however, "The act is ours; the consequences God's" [Morontia Mota #11 pg 556 - Ed.) It is also indicated, as you read this evening [see "Those High in Authority" on Pg. 246 -- Ed.], that if you err in judgment in these circumstances, it will go lightly with you, in particular when you are encouraged to believe that the forward movement of spiritual reality on Urantia will perforce have to wait until there are men and women who will dare to rely solely upon Jesus in forging ahead into our new dispensation, our new advancing era of Light and Life [Pg. 2082, last paragraph - Ed.]

And so, in the understanding that you are sincerely concerned that you might be erring, I would like to commend your sensitivity and integrity that allows you to consider and ponder and pray and weigh upon these things, for that in itself is an indication, from this vantage point, that you have not judged incorrectly, that you have allowed yourself to sense and feel the divine prompting of that within you which seeks to express and move forward in spiritual reality for you and your planet, your world, your people, your brothers and sisters.

Long have you languished in darkness and in relative isolation, and I will tell you, my fan club, that if you are a figment of your own imagination and if this Teaching Mission were a figment of your creative imaginations, the spirit truth and value which is born of your desire to do His will, which is born of your decisions to advance in spirit reality, which is born of your desire to know God and to be more like him, is such that we will have succeeded in our intent, and that is the basis upon which we are all judged.

And so I say to you tender-hearted and conscientious believers in this revelation, uphold, if you will, those more conservative souls who will hold the text sacrosanct while you yourselves continue to forge ahead, arm in arm, shoulder to shoulder, along with our Abraham and our Ham and our Machiventa into future destiny. I salute you and Michael salutes you.

Are there questions this afternoon?

Iyana: I have a question.
TOMAS: Yes, Iyana.

Iyana: We are reading the Urantia Book and we are trying to understand what goes on in the worlds above us, and all about these ministrations in the hierarchy. I would like to know, when we pass on, and they go and collect our memory-bank when we get our new forms, if this is part of a memory that will carry on. If it is not, then it would mean, perhaps, that as we study and as we learn we are just building up our spiritual awareness -- what we will be rewarded for later on. My question is: Is it necessary that we know all these things before we pass on?

TOMAS: Necessary. What an odd word. It is necessary to breathe in order to stay alive. It is necessary to eat to stay alive. Whether it is necessary to adorn your person is questionable; whether it is necessary for you to engage in associative liaisons is also questionable; but the satisfaction of dressing and socializing is so wonderful, delightful and valuable that it becomes necessary because you have found it to your liking. And there are many who would say, yes, it is necessary to learn these things, to learn as much as you can about all you can, because it adds so much to your bank of understanding.

Your memory, my dear, will not necessarily retain a lot of facts. Your memory will have to do with what you have learned, your many value experiences. Facts may not have value, but may lead you into understandings that have value and into associations that have value. Certainly the association that you enjoy here today with your sisters in this configuration in an attempt to assimilate those facts about those personalities who administer your universe are not going to be memories (correction)... the association is a memory you will treasure, but the facts may not necessarily stick with you. You will find out who these entities are when you meet them in person, and that associative liaison will provide you with a memory worth keeping.

Iyana: Very interesting. Thank you. You've answered me.

TOMAS: I enjoy your questions, Iyana. I enjoy also that you inquire as to those things that affect not only yourself but also your peers. You are a teacher, indeed.

Leah: Tomas, I don't have a question, but I would just like to say that I'm very grateful for your visitation, for Merium's, and for all the celestial teachers who are dedicated to uplifting us.

TOMAS: Thank you, my friend. I thank you from my heart for your gratitude for our being here. It is occasionally a difficult assignment, but when we know your personalities as well as we have come to know yours, we know your strengths and have worked with you to overcome your weaknesses, when we perceive your loyalties and embrace your realities, we know that it has been worth it, and along with you we are grateful to Michael and the Melchizedeks for establishing this Mission that enables us to get together in this way and to come to love each other as we do.

You are very welcome, my child, and remember, too, that as much as God and man need each other, the teachers and the students need each other as well. We could not teach if it were not for you students. And so we always are grateful to you. Thank you for your attention and your attendance at these meetings and to the value lessons and for taking them into your field, into your mind and into your heart that they may become reality-ized on Urantia.

Iyana: Are these weather disturbances that we've been having, are they just the norm or are they a prelude to what is coming?

TOMAS: I will refer you to the immediate preceding transcript.
Iyana: Thank you.

Hester: Can I ask...? Lately, I have been, like, instantaneously taken into a scene that I do not recognize, but I feel its okay, and out of it comes a one-line statement, and this keeps happening, and the statements don't co-relate. It's like a "roses are red" thing, and then maybe "the street is crowded". That's a difference in the sentencing. And they are not connected, but they come in the night, and they waken me and then they let me go half to sleep and then they start.

TOMAS: Your mind is busy and is not at peace. It is my suggestion that you engage in stillness in an area affording you harmony. If you have an afternoon when the sun shines, Hester, take yourself into the grove or up onto the bank or down to the road and feel the sun upon you more often, as if you were a wild flower that needed the sun to grow and the fresh air to wave in.

Go outdoors, daughter, and feel the sun and the air upon you. Breathe deep and allow yourself to feel enmeshed in the cosmic dance. Open your soul to the presence of divinity. Accept Michael's presence into your heart. Allow Our Father to embrace you and stand still in His presence. This will refresh your mind. This will afford you a release from these fragmented thoughts and mental fleeting glimpses of non-reality, allowing for more fluidity and more reality to enter in. Has this been helpful?

Hester: Jesus and I are on steady . .. In fact, I walk with His hand in mine.

TOMAS: I don't question this. I know you are devout and sincere. I know your reality is intact and your integrity is strong and great, but your environment is polluted, and so I am urging you to withstand the assault of your environment by removing yourself and allowing yourself to wash yourself in spirit more frequently. Even though Our Master is with you and you are safe in his embrace, you are still polluted. It is not your fault, daughter. Just listen to me, and go outside for more fresh air.

Hester: Thank you.

TOMAS: Thank you. Tell me how you feel after four or five days of freshness. Spring has reported to me how happy she is with you and your relationship, developing together.

I can sense that it is already past our bedtime. It is wonderful to feel the solidarity of this configuration and in this place. It is wonderful also to be back at our evening time slot and with it come certain advantages and certain disadvantages. I am aware that it is a work day tomorrow, a school day, and that it is not quite as luxurious as our week-end soirees, and so we cannot dally, but there is also no hurry, and so perhaps we can learn to be succinct. Perhaps we can become as the diamond. Are there any questions before we close out?

MERIUM: We have received a phone call from Ruth and she is asking us if we will keep her and her mother in your prayers. There is attendance there, and so I am sure that you can simply bring her into the fold and she will be uplifted and reassured.

This earthly pothole environment that you live in is indeed a challenge. You have to have a thousand eyes to navigate through it. Not only is it emotionally very dark and complex, but it is an uneven place to be walking, and as you have been reminded, you have been given the Path that is safe, that as you remain committed to the purpose of this prepared place, you too will be able to travel in safety.

I would like to address Elyssia. She was saying that she has been adjusting to settling into her home environment, and as you know I expound continuously on the importance of stillness, so those of you who have not managed to become disciplined, I will beseech you, that you will imagine that you have just discovered the subject of silence, and even though you are comfortable mentally, with the commitment to Jesus, that you are going to try something new.

I am asking you to go around and to look over your abode and find a particular chair in a particular area of your home that you can mark out as yours, and every day, as closely as possible -- and be willing to alter your day -- choose a time and keep a date with the chair. Ask yourself to draw upon new words that will be connected with your reason for going to the chair. Do not depend on anything that you have had in your repertoire before. You are not going to be held by Jesus' hand. You are not going to be guided by such and such. You are not going to read what you have read before. I am beseeching.

I want you to approach this subject as if it were brand new, and you are required to find new appointments to go with it, the new chair, a new time, a new vocabulary, new reading literature that will help you focus, some new technique, so that your mind, that has already been programmed (even though it is positive), but because of your stage of development you have languished and fallen asleep.

Even Hunnah is going to participate in this. May no one in this room be exempt. This is serious business. We have gathered together and become so comfortable that we are falling asleep again for physical or mental reasons. Recently Hunnah has been talking about a woman who has written a book and in the book she used all new words for her, therefore she had her rapt attention, and was fascinated that new words could deliver the goods.

You have heard us speak and we have used the software of Gerdean and Hunnah, and we are able to keep your attention because we can travel through the files and find phrases that are not familiar to you. Jesus spoke, it was recorded, and you have here in your realm rote memory, and it dries on the vine. I want you to take this original approach and to revel in it, to find it almost like someone handed you a fresh piece of cloth or canvas or some sheet music and said, "You are going to create it fresh and new."

Like a romantic relationship, you have a new version of the standard form of lover. I want you to have the most wonderful, stimulating, experience developing this secret liaison with the only lover who ever walked your earth. So I am looking forward to your reports about how you came up with original ideas. I don't care if you have to go to the barn, but please, make yourself a special new place.

Put a fresh scarf on the back of the chair. Bring in a bright pillow. Put on slippers that are pretty. Put on a robe if necessary or a special scarf over your shoulder, indicating and telling your mind that this is a wonderful new opportunity. I am going to sit on the park bench where I found that I am allowed to wait for the only lover I care to hear from.

I hope I have expressed this creatively and powerfully and touched your imaginations and teased your sleepy, dozing reality. So, go for it. Thank you for letting me bring this in, and do not be distracted by this assignment, and be sure to keep our sister in your prayers, and her dear mother. Thank you.

Iyana: I've already selected my chair. I've got a chintz chair that's got roses on it, so I'll just go in that chintz chair and smell the roses.

MERIUM: I think she's high.

TOMAS: Thank you, Merium, for your good remarks. It is well to remind us all of how easy it is to become habitual in the practice of a living thing, thereby reducing the Life to a mere routine and it dying on the vine, so you have your assignment and you have the fresh manna of Michael's loving touch to comfort you and encourage you into this place of stillness, where you can talk with him and be with the Father.

We will see you soon, dear ones. Enjoy your days. Farewell.

*****

DATE: March 12, 1998
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, P.A. USA
T/R’s Gerdean
TEACHERS: TOMAS, MERIUM, MAUGHAM

URANTIA BOOK STUDY:
Paper 22, THE TRINITIZED SONS OF GOD: (Pg. 247)
#5. The Trinitized Custodians
#6. The Trinitized Ambassadors
#7. Technique of Trinitization


TEACHER SESSION:
TOPIC:
MID-TERM REVIEW OF CORRECTING TIME

TOMAS: The circuitry appears to be in order. I am Tomas. Merium and I are here overseeing this connection. Others are also in attendance and I will say the dust appears to be settling. Your invigorating evening has reached its peak and now subsides into a gracious repose of willingness to enter into grateful submission to His will and to the grace of His guidance. Good evening, my dear, dear friends.

Group (Elyssia, Hunnah, Leah, Gerdean, Liana and Beatrix): Good evening. Thank you for coming.

TOMAS: We would not have missed it! It has been a hallmark evening in terms of your growth as a group. It is perhaps due to the vagaries of the human condition and the supplemental effects of the full moon, but your uproarious camaraderie this evening has been a new landmark of fellowship.

It has been invigorating for Merium and I to observe the delight and glee with which you have tackled the understanding of trinitized sons. [Group guffaws]. We are also amused by your assessments of your own human conditions. It is a wonderful truth that "more will be revealed" and it is our hope, Merium and I, that we can take part in these revelations.

I and we will not carry on at length, and I know you have heard us say that before, but it has been pointed out on the record that we have been quite vociferous lately in our many, many words and concepts, resulting in pages of transcripts. There are students who cannot assimilate these lessons quickly enough before the next batch is on their desk or their bedside table.

I am going to call a halt to these proceedings. Not that I am going to step down as your teacher and neither is Merium, but it would appear as though you have attained a level of comprehension and willingness to admit to your need to know, that you are able to investigate some of these truths communally and incorporate them in such a way as to bring about divine order and harmony among you. It is . ... Am I perceiving your desire to speak, Merium?

MERIUM: Hunnah's face was getting tired. I will speak for a while if you wish. Did you lose the train of thought?

TOMAS: I felt your presence strongly.

MERIUM: Pushing you out of the way, perhaps. You were talking about having achieved a level of understanding and Hunnah is still containing the experience of having her upper lip fall into a hiss, so to speak, a prehistoric response, and it amazed her so because all of you are going to be encouraged to know the difference in the quality of your conduct and your conversations in the future.

I want you to be aware of the instinctive hiss, the warning to "stay back, you're getting too close to my space" and allowing yourself to be disarmed for an outgrown form of behavior. There is going to be a new rhythm entering you and this hiss will be heard from a great deal less, or should I call it a snarl reflex? So even in the subtlest way you will find conversation coming at you that will contain maybe only a few words that will press a button of your defensive mode that you have been living with as a gift from your ancestors.

This conversation this evening was indeed a form of birthing because I agree with Tomas, the connection here was very stimulating and very encouraging to us. We don't want you to get hung up in analysis, but you did very well with the materials. Are you ready?

TOMAS: I am ready.

MERIUM: I do have a question for Hunnah, if you don't mind, and you can set it aside and pick it up at some point. Hunnah has a question about T/R'ing, and it occurred to her on the way over here this evening to ask about closed eyes. What would be the difference if a T/R sat with eyes open and brought through a message? Are the eyes closed as proof of the fact that the T/R is not involved in the lesson, or if she sat here with her eyes open and the message came through, would it bring doubt that she was composing the response?

At one time Aria was doing a T/R session and was open-eyed and was moving her hands and was animated. I'm also referring to you this question about T/R because she had teachers who never, ever, ever, ever mentioned the word "channeling" but there was an indication that an intelligent energy was upon the person conducting the session, and they were extremely eloquent and appropriate, so I am throwing this in for her, Tomas, into the barrel so to speak, and at some point in time when questions are not coming up, it would be alright to answer then or if there is nothing pressing, could we discuss it this evening?

TOMAS: Thank you, Merium, for presenting the question on behalf of your transmitter/receiver, our friend Hunnah. I will approach the subject and appreciate her integrity in inquiring.

It is not required that the eyes be closed, no. Indeed, it is for the convenience of the transmitter. In the process of transmitting, any and all external activities, noises, feelings, reactions and so forth can be very distracting of the process, and it requires great skill and discipline, but it can be done. A transmitter/receiver can transmit open-eyed and fluid. Indeed it has been done. Perhaps you have been at an event or occasion where you were witness to this process (and I'm speaking of formal T/R'ing, not the informal T/R'ing that takes place as you yourself are transmitting the Father in your own natural course of your life).

The process of T/R'ing, as I say, is a discipline that is somehow more accepted when the T/R's eyes are closed. There is a certain self-consciousness about being seen, literally, through the eyes of spirit. There is also a certain reluctance on the part of transmitters to see with the eyes of the being they transmit, and in many cases it is not possible, but is a severe distraction from the process. Thus, the value of experience.

I will also point out to you all, not to shame you, but to remind you that in your culture you frequently all talk at the same time. You are very easily drawn into such repartee that the dance is less of a waltz and more of a polka or a line-dance, and so the focus of shall we say divine truth is diluted in open-eyed transmissions.

It is wonderful when it can be done effectively, but it does require also sensitivity on the part of those in attendance. You might want to practice it on a specified occasion. It is not un-heard of and not discouraged, but it requires yet more discipline.

Hunnah: Yes, thank you.

Elyssia: Tomas, did I understand you to say that you wouldn't be speaking, giving a lesson or something tonight because we had lots of lessons that we can read? Is that what you were saying?

TOMAS: I am not retiring as your teacher . ..
Elyssia: Oh, good!

TOMAS: ... and I assure you I will have something to say on our scheduled occasions. It's just that we are going to curtail our lengthy diatribes, even though they have been spectacular and even interesting.

We would like for you to assimilate some of this which you have had presented to you. We have yet to hear you truly discuss your own growth in terms of the lessons, in the over-view. We understand that there are lessons that the transmitters have not yet read and therefore are not consciously aware of. Also, there are many, many growths that have taken place in the year of Merium's presence here and in my couple of years here that have altered the consciousness of your group and your group is in need of adjusting to the new vibrational level of its composition.

This leads me to proceed with my and Merium's earlier comments and indicate that there are, along with the lessons that the teachers are putting forth, elemental changes in the fundamental realities that you have known on your planet for many, many, many, many ages, and you need to be aware of the changes and be prepared to allow them to occur, one of which (and you have assimilated some of this in your question/answer period and experiences) has to do with the scripture of . ..

In heaven, men and women do not marry. Even as you begin to embark upon a morontial way of life, you are passing beyond an understanding of marriage as it has been a reality in your world for a long time. Remember that until recently human beings needed each other in such a way that sustained them in the darkness. Men and women depended on each other, for a long time, through thick and thin, were there for each other in the place of higher reality, for the circuits were not open.

Now the circuits are open and it is no longer that individuals look to each other with the same intensity as they have for centuries, generations. You are embarking upon a new comprehension of marriage, of working together, of unity. These concepts are enlarged concepts.

I remind you when Ham spoke at the initial announcement of Correcting Time, he said "Welcome to change" and the change is ongoing. It is not just a change in the wording, in the vernacular; not just a change in your patterns of home life and relationship, but changes infinitely and ongoing. These changes are going to be demographic and expansive, and so allow for this greater picture, this farther view to enter in.

It is an expansion, not only of consciousness, but of actuality in your realm. It is a necessary development in order to enter into these initial stages of Light and Life. It is therefore necessary for you to take some time and put in perspective your growth and the growth of your understanding of the brotherhood of man. This goes beyond your immediate family environment, even the immediate association of fellow TeaM members and other Urantia Book readers. It goes into the greater arena, the global community. All of us are involved in the march forward.

I will take one question.

Elyssia: Well, there seemed to be a discussion tonight about why should we even think about something like trinitization, since it's so far removed from us in time and space, but some of us said, "Well, we should because there's even the slight possibility that we might even be able to engage in that if we could possibly develop to that point, and why shouldn't we at least think about it," or something like that. So those are sort of two points of view and I wondered if you would have a comment about that.

TOMAS: Yes. My comment has to do not so much with the fact of your potential future experience in trinitizing, but in your understanding of the outworkings of a universe of unlimited aspects. Your comprehension of procreation, for example, has been limited to the understanding of procreation as it is seen in terms of your animal eyes. This is normal. Now you have an understanding of how life can come into being in yet other ways, and so it again relates to the message of expansion.

Your limited way of thinking on Urantia must be enlarged, and so these ideas are presented as an enlargement of comprehension and they are set forth in such a way as to offer you an authoritative angle. In other words, this is not Star Trek; this is reality, and yet through the auspices of the creators of such wonderful programming as Star Trek, you are afforded the visualization, the imaginative appreciation of the many forms of life in the universe and now you see, through your readings this evening, how some come to be, other than what you have known. It is yet another avenue of allowing for unlimited possibilities.

Is that helpful?

Elyssia: Thank you. Very helpful.

TOMAS: Dear ones, I am pleased to be here, as is my beloved co-worker. We are all fascinated by your development and by the congealing effects of your growing, developing, budding spiritual reality as a loyal group of believers. This personality group that has been living, working, loving, growing together on Urantia in this configuration under our guidance and under the banner of Michael for these many, many months, has been a flower unfolding of incredible beauty and untold design.

Be good to yourselves. Be at peace in your minds. Assimilate your truth, and boldly go forward into tomorrow. We will see you soon.

Elyssia: But would you have an idea for Sunday School?

TOMAS: Take a poster of Star Trek and tell them how these entities are to be regarded as your brothers in love. Farewell.

MERIUM: I would like to ask a little question before we close up shop. You were asked to approach your meditations in a new way, to create a new environment and to dress up or dress down but to bring freshness into this experience that can become very routine. I was wondering if anyone had any success, other than Hunnah, of course.

Leah: I was able to find another environment, but I still have difficulty in the stillness part, but I was able to prolong it to a half an hour without really being anywhere near as time conscious as I was before. I enjoyed that.

MERIUM: I am going to add that you allow yourself to know that you have companionship, and perhaps that will assist you.

Gerdean: Perhaps you can help me here, Merium. I have run into a serious problem with my cats. They will not leave me alone! They are a pain in the neck! They are so spoiled. And if I close the door, they scratch on the door and they distract me so badly it's not funny. It's like a baby crying night and day. I can't get there. Do you have any suggestions?

MERIUM: Hunnah has a friend who understands cats and she said that you send them mental pictures and you envision them curled up snoozing and then you may attempt to go about your business. I understand from Hunnah's material here that she has cats and she would try to draw them and the cats would seem to understand that they were being watched and end up laying on the paper. So they can be very pesky, but perhaps you can try giving them a mental image of staying where they are and resting. Your cats are very strong-willed; they attend the Tuesday group.

Beatrix: Well, I felt very sobered, hearing Tomas' presentation tonight, and felt very tuned into something and then I felt very disappointed that somehow he had one question and we got off into all this other that somehow took us away from what Tomas was trying to say, something very profound, that had to be sensed beyond the words that we were being told.

MERIUM: If that environment could be restored, would it assist you?

Beatrix: If it could be restored right now, I'm sure it would.
Leah: Could we make an attempt?
Beatrix: Well, I just wondered if anyone else was having . ..
Leah: Yes. Yes.
Beatrix: That we were at the precipice of something.
Leah: Yes.

Beatrix: We went back to the lesson and it was just, you know, until we can read all those things. I'm just not sure what happened.

Leah: Well, as Tomas said, he would take one question. Merium has not said she would take one question.

Beatrix: But it isn't a matter of a question. It was a sense that . .. I was sensing that the question . .. that we should have had more silence and more waiting and let the question be formulated in reaction to what we were just told.

Leah: Yes. I'd like to ask what was meant by demographic change, if anyone would care to answer that.

TOMAS: I will indulge you.

You are accustomed to thinking in terms of change as in changing your hair-do or in changing the chintz cover on your chair. You are thinking (tape turned) In other words you consider changes only as you are personally affected, and this is fine, for it assures you of your continuing growth; you realize that you do not stand still; that you have these experiences for a purpose, and that where you are today is not where you were yesterday, and so in understanding change as it regards yourself, this is good.

But I am asking you to think in terms of change in the overview, in the larger view, in the demographic view, in the cultural view. Look indeed at how it is that your social mores are advancing or how the fight to move them ahead meets with resistance. Look at the acceptance of the 12-step programs as a way of life and realize that 20 years ago they were anonymous entirely whereas now they are assimilated into what you call the New Age movement.

All of these New Age movements are, in fact, a result of Correcting Time and they are assimilating the East and the West, the Occident and the Orient. They have brought meditation into vogue. We are now, in your evolutionary progress, advancing into realms of healing that were heretofore un-thought of, and these are common practices, augmenting and assisting the medical profession greatly.

These are all new changes and they go beyond you personally. Entirely large segments of society have been undergoing correcting, and so our efforts are advancing and being seen. That which we told you 4, 5, 6 years ago would happen, is happening, and you can see that there are changes afoot. Many changes. One of the changes, one that I mentioned earlier, is that even your appreciation for marriage will change. Your understanding of union will be different. You are embarking on a morontial way of life and so you will no longer marry or be given in marriage as you did when you behaved tribally and when procreation was the pinnacle of existence and you comforted one another for a lifetime. Times change, growth occurs, mores adapt, and these are indicative of change inherent in your approach to reality.

Again, you have seen the portrayal of other kinds of life and association in the universe, indeed all the way to Paradise, and remember that Paradise is administering this universe, and so as you look at the changes and feel that the new way is not as good as the old way, remember that in time you may be trinitized and you may also be a party to the creation of yet a new way of life. Won't you be amused to recall how reluctant you were to make changes when you were on Urantia?

I hope I have put in perspective what I want to say and what I want to assign you for the next few weeks to review. I want you to be able to be conversant with these wonderful strides of humanity and anticipate the many more strides of growth that will come in bringing about this unity in diversity for the praise of Michael who has created us.

Leah: Thank you.
Liana: Thank you, Tomas.
Elyssia: Thank you very much.
TOMAS: Are we finished, Merium?
MERIUM: I think so. Thank you.
TOMAS: Good evening.
Group: Good evening. Thank you very much.
Leah: Was that any better?
Beatrix: Yeah. That made a lot of sense.
Liana: That was great.

Beatrix: When he got to that part where he said, I will take one question, I felt that when these things happen, we have to pause and make sure, wait and get the question very relative to what we were just told! And that requires not having the question ready ahead. It has to be formulated, and you have to have time to put it into words.

Elyssia: Sometimes when there's a long pause, though, they shut down the session.

Hunnah: No, they don't do that.

Gerdean: They have never done that. Never. They will wait . .. ten, seven minutes. They've never shut down a session because nobody had a question.

Beatrix: But a lot of you felt that? That we were at something?
Elyssia: Absolutely.
Beatrix: And it was that we lost it.
Leah: What are demographics?

Elyssia: An example is: In 2020, the demographics of our country will be that 51% will be non-white.

*****

DATE: March 19, 1998
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, P.A. USA
T/R’s Gerdean
TEACHERS: TOMAS, MERIUM, MAUGHAM

URANTIA BOOK STUDY:
Paper 22, THE TRINITIZED SONS OF GOD
# 8. The Creature-Trinitized Sons (Pg. 251)
# 9. The Celestial Guardians
#10. High Son Assistants
Paper 147, THE INTERLUDE VISIT TO JERUSALEM
# 4. The Rule of Living (Pg. 1650)

Sharing, Prayer and Stillness
TEACHER SESSION:
TOPIC:
PEACE

TOMAS: I am Tomas. Good evening.
Group Beatrix, Rachel, Leah, Liana, Gerdean, Hester and Elyssia: Good evening, Tomas.

TOMAS: Merium and I are here overseeing your congregation and beaming with pride at your developing fellowship and spiritual maturity. How proud we are of you, our loyal students! What a bounty to see you all here together and to hear your voices lifted up in prayer for those you love. Indeed, you have us all on our knees, and there are many here, as you have been given to understand, those many who come by to witness your earnestness in your ascension career.

Merium and I were remarking this evening, and drawing a comparison, that you are rather like Juniors in your educational levels. I remember when I arrived, you were like ambitious and rambunctious Freshmen, unaccustomed to the rigors of higher education -- well educated and well grounded in your elementary education, but unfitted for the rigors of higher study; and in your growth you have surpassed the realm of Sophomoric application to your spiritual associations and find yourself now in a somewhat mature level of understanding, for you are realizing, in your discipline of study, that you are actually learning, actually attaining, and can actually impact upon the world that you live in. It is invigorating to us to attend to you and to attend these classes that we embark upon together. How delighted we are with you.

I would like to speak with you this evening regarding peace. I and Merium are even experiencing a moment of tranquillity as we reflect upon your maturity, as you have yourselves reflected in your association this evening. Each of you in your sharing, embraced the concept of peace:

Beatrix has testified to a growing mastery of patience, and this bespeaks an inner peace that allows for time and circumstances to mature in their own course, and not to hurry that which cannot be hurried.

Rachel, lovely Rachel, has discussed the peace of acquiescing to superior wisdom and to the overcare of the Father who presents life in and through His own time.

Leah has longed for peace in the lives of those she loves, even to the peace of the world at large, and inherent in her yearning for others is the core desire for peace in her own heart -- the peace which passes all understanding.

Liana's search for peace this evening has lit the path into a wood. I am reminded of your Robert Frost, for the road that you take can make all the difference, not only to yourself but to the many who look to you as an example of strength and courage.

Gerdean's peace has come about as a result of her internal lack of conflict in that no longer is she conflicted with her nasty habit of cigarettes. This conflict within herself has been resolved. She has chosen life and is victorious, and now is experiencing the inner peace in her soul and mind and body resultant from that resolution, resulting in peace.

Hester's peace is bathed in spirit. The spirit has long been her sanctuary and even now in the reassurance of her peers, her fellows, she anoints your presence with her association with that which has enduring reality -- that peace, indeed, which passes all understanding.

And Elyssia, my daughter, your peace has emitted notes of harmony that have reached all the way to Paradise. Your affection for your earth mother rings of devotion; and your appreciation for the artistic representation of young love has indeed brought a sense of peace to your romantic nature, and perhaps an appreciation of the truth that the spirit of God will lift you up into an understanding of romance that supercedes the Harlequin romance and embellishes true love with that refinement of affection so well depicted by the love between Ruth and David.

How wonderful to be in the presence of you who speak of peace, you who yearn for, pray for, and embrace peace.

I would like to add to these words in commendation of your composition this evening to reflect to you that this unity of your ideals, even in the diversity of your personalities and your circumstances, is the pinnacle of perfection of brotherhood, sisterhood. Your congregation here this evening is strengthened by your union in these truths and these ideals.

If you can see my point of my lesson this evening, you see the point of my being here at all, and the work that Merium and I have done with you in your emotional realms in order to help you lift up your own appreciation of your life and your association/relation-ships with those in your life that are meaningful to you.

Your maturity, as Juniors in this university of our Teacher Base here, is encouraging and is also a commencement, a commencement exercise into your ability to carry this profound reality into tomorrow, into the day after, into your arena, and into your return to your association, your fellowship, on the morrow, that it can again be reinforced and enlarged as the Kingdom on earth -- that Kingdom, at the heart of which, is indeed that peace which passes all understanding.

Merium and I are glad to be here this evening and are both eager to hear from you. Are there questions or commentary?

Rachel: Boy, I have a lot of questions! I had one written down. I don't know how to pose it. That spirit of faith that we experience. I mean, its incredible how on faith alone we are driven! Driven? I guess we ride through life on that faith alone. And it seems so incredible to me how it grows stronger and stronger and diversifies and overwhelms! Where does it come from? It so changes the mind; it so changes the outlook on life; it brings such peace. It has me curious.

TOMAS: It has you singing praises!
Rachel: Yes.

TOMAS: I hear your thanksgiving. I hear your worship! And we sing with you in your resounding of the wonder of His love. Indeed, you will rise up on faith and it will lift you higher; you will float aloft from the travails of the darkness below. Because of your faith, it is real. You are being led into reality. As you embrace this reality, your faith is enlarged. You are encouraged to pray for yet greater faith, for as you have faith, you can move greater mountains, you can effect greater changes in those about you and for the good.

As you enable yourself to willingly be a channel of His love, you will radiate that love into your arena and it then will be enlarged. Now you can see, as you have testified, how it is that this faith expands and extends, creating greater reality.

You are curious? Well, you are glad now to know, to have intellectual peace as well, for does it not satisfy the mind to know that the spirit is a reality and that you are a very real part of a greatness that is enduring and that is destined to go beyond this life even to anoint this life with a new degree of appreciation?

Rachel: Surely it does. It makes me thirst. For more.
TOMAS: It is a universe of abundance, and as you seek, surely you shall find.

Rachel: So why is it that when I meditate, nobody talks to me!? [Laughter] I feel -- Let me backtrack. I feel incredible presence, peace, love. I feel Jesus near me; I feel God listening. But I want Him to talk to me!

TOMAS: Let me take you back to an understanding of how it is to be a babe in swaddling clothing. If you are a wee child who has not yet learned the language of the universe, of your parents, would you find yourself any less tended to if you were held, fed, rocked, burped, diapered, cuddled and cooed, tickled and slobbered on, kissed and nurtured? You would surely appreciate that you were being taken care of and that all your needs were met!

It is in some ways that way even now, that as you put yourself in the lap of God, as His child, as you go to Him to have Him meet your needs and to feel His embrace, you do feel that divine love and overcare that is His alone. As you begin to understand how it is that He speaks to you, you understand first that you are loved, and that you are His precious child.

How it is then that He speaks to you in the human language, is the mystery, for it will come to you in many, many ways. How it is that He speaks to you will be through encounters, chance encounters, synchronistic remarks, off-the-cuff news broadcasts, subconscious uprisings, superconscious impressions and many, many other forms of serendipities and innuendos of life that will give you an opportunity to pause and say, "Is this the answer? Is this what You meant? Is this what I should do?" and always, always, at that juncture, will the Spirit of Truth come forth and say, "This is the way. Follow me."

And so He speaks to you. It is just that you need to learn to understand His language. In the interim, you have certainly learned to appreciate His love, and that is the beginning of communication indeed!

Rachel: Thank you. That was a good analogy. Anybody else? Oh, yes: UFO's. Extra-terrestrials. There are so many books written today. So many people are having -- giving testimony to their abductions, government covers-up, -- are they, in truth, creatures who do inhabit this planet? And have apparently for centuries? Are they God's creatures? Are they real? Or are they not? Can you answer?

TOMAS: My, my, you are full of questions! Curiosity, indeed! I would be a fool to deny the existence of life in the universe, would I not, when you have read even this evening that there are billions of orders of intelligent life and you also well know that there are other forms of material existence, even intelligent existence, and so, of course, there are these -- what you call "unidentified flying objects", however they are certainly identified, even though you have not perhaps been introduced.

I will not go into depth regarding these many phenomenon, or seeming phenomenon, but I will acknowledge that of course they do exist. I will tell you, however, that they are friendly. The cosmos is not an intergalactic battlefield. There are no star wars in existence. As these life forms are intelligent enough to build these incredible machines that approach your solar system, your galaxy, they are intelligent enough to realize when and where they may travel without trespassing on the property of their neighbor.

You are isolated here from invasion, and when you grow up scientifically, you will have matured adequately to not invade the yard of your neighbor either, and yet this will take some time, some evolution on your part, for you see your culture, your young minds are still animalistic enough to think in terms of take-over and alien abductions and these highly creative but very barbaric concepts. You are a young world indeed.

You have asked many questions and I have not begun to answer them all, but I hope I have given an indication of where my responses would go.

Rachel: Oh, that's okay. I always thought they were friendly little creatures. It's just man's paranoid mind that has us believing that we're going to be abducted somewhere unknown.

TOMAS: This is true, but I would like to clarify also, in respect to those other forms of life in the universe, they may not appreciate your patronizing attitude of "little creatures" [group laughter], for obviously they are sufficiently intelligent to investigate the boundaries where they may and may not extend beyond. They are fine forms of life and they are not here in your local world invading your space, probing your inhabitants, or frightening its citizenry. That aspect of "UFO's" is strictly a result of over-active imaginations combined with a yearning to make contact with greater appreciation of life in the universe. In time it will come. For now, however, it is a fulltime job to learn how to live and work together as mutual citizens of the same planet.

Rachel: Hmmm. Very good. Can I ask one more?
TOMAS: Of course!

Rachel: Well, we have the coming here of the millennium, and the world appears to be going topsy-turvy in its weather patterns; our political structure and financial structure seems to be crumbling; many people I know are preparing and storing food for the coming times of crises. Can you shed any insight into what's happening? Particularly the weather pattern. Is that going to get a little more topsy-turvy perhaps?

TOMAS: I cannot crystal ball gaze. I am not allowed to peer into the future and predict. That is not my assignment. I will tell you that technically we are well into the 3rd Millennium. It has already taken place. What we are experiencing is the shuffling of the deck, the turmoil of change, the actualization of Armageddon -- and that is a personal condition, a personal crises in faith.

There are tremendous changes underway, and so yes they will probably get worse before they get better, but that is not to say that we are peering down the double barrel of an explosion of trauma-drama at the stroke of midnight on the year 2,000. That is, again, a configuration of the imagination of the human race, and so I call to your attention your responsibility as a Junior in this classroom of the Teacher Base of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Your job is to be stable and calm and firm in your faith and resolute in your joyousness of the wonders of Our Father. As you maintain your good faith, your good cheer, your positive attitude, you are a living testimony of reality to the many who are not in understanding of this fundamental truth, and so as mayhem mushrooms around you, your being anchored in the spirit of the Lord will solidify your environment such that you are the peace, the calm at the eye of the hurricane.

Your personality and other personalities like yours that can remain well anchored in the face of the chaos that will surround you as these individual, personal Armageddons come to pass, you will help to guide the way through the passage into the acceptance of this new way of life, this new millennium, which is en route to the era of Light and Life for Urantia.

Elyssia: I was going to ask you a few more questions about my guide, Maugham, because I've been thinking about him and kind of saying "Hi" and I know that -- I had a wonderful description of him and I enjoyed that, but . .. if there's any more available, I would appreciate whatever you could tell me, Tomas.

TOMAS: I can tell you a lot about Maugham. I can let Maugham tell you about himself.
Elyssia: That would be good, too.
TOMAS: I am only somewhat reluctant because of the restraints of time here in your arena.
Elyssia: All right.
Leah: He hasn't said no!
Elyssia: We could do it another time. That's fine.

TOMAS: On the other hand, I have to acknowledge that the Butler group, which has not been so disciplined in its studies as the Pittsburgh gathering, has enjoyed the companionship and the consultation and the counsel and the comfort of their teachers for some time. Not always in depth, but at least a working understanding of their personal guides and companions.

And so, under the circumstances, if we can do this in a democratic fashion, which is to say: we cannot have a party going on to the wee hours of the morning, I will step aside and allow Maugham to come and say hello and I trust that all of you will be sufficiently impressed by Maugham's personality that you will not object to his taking time and space on our program this evening. One moment.

Elyssia: Great!
MAUGHAM: Hello, Elyssia.
Elyssia: Hello, Maugham. It's good to be able to speak with you.

MAUGHAM: I am very pleased to be able to address you in person. It is a deep thrill for me to be able to see you, as it were, face-to-face. I am very pleased at the opportunity to come to you and speak to you, to let you know of my existence, my interest, so that you may begin to comprehend. I am a personality and I am an integral part of your program, your pathway.

I am perhaps a gardener in your secret garden of life. I am an intimate companion, and am very active in your facilitator role. You and I have worked together quite a bit, quite effectively. I am very happy to have you to work with, for you are very responsive to my guidance. Your (let us call it) "left brain" is quite accessible. I have tapped into you and you are very keen on following through with my ideas, and so I have been very fortunate as have those who have benefited by your skills as a result of my help.

Now I tell you this not at all to undermine your incredible ability as a facilitator, and even as a manipulator of your environment and certain peoples and situations that have brought great benefit to many, yet I tell you that I have had often a part in your shenanigans. We have had fun and we have had victories, and when we have muddled the process, thank God He has been there to take over where we have made a mess!

I am very glad for the opportunity to work with you, Elyssia. You are one of the most devoted mortals I have encountered. I am always intrigued by the human personality and each one, no doubt, has certain factors and features which are endearing and, no doubt, each personal teacher has been selected as a counterpart as a result of those particular qualities of character that are endearing to the guide and to the mortal.

And so it is my way of saying to you how fabulously fortunate I feel to have been working with you so effectively for so long. You and I together, my dear, have effected great growth in your community and indeed upon Urantia, and I am honored to be your associate. I have deep loyalty to your emotional health and your physical health. I have deep affection for you as a human being. I admire many of your qualities of womanhood. And it is also great fun to be in your witty company. You are a child of God that I find refreshing.

Now I will tell you a little about myself. I am young in spirit. You might compare me to a romantic lead in an opera of your choosing. I am not as young as Romeo nor as romantic. Perhaps you might think of me as having an attire of quality grey tweed and a statuesque build. I present myself thus for I know you have a keen appreciation for quality and I am a quality companion. You once referred to a personality type called Harvey and I am not a Harvey, although I have some qualities that he no doubt would have if he were real. I am glad, again, to be part of your life. Did you have a question for me?

Elyssia: I'm trying to figure out, Maugham, are you a being who could be described as a midwayer, or are you a being who is not described in The Urantia Book? I know there are those beings who are not described. I'm wondering is there a way I can figure out the kind of person you are?

MAUGHAM: I am not listed. I am not like the spornagia. I am rather more like the midwayers, yes, but you could probably appreciate me more if you thought of me as of the seraphic order, for I am probably most closely related to an ascending cherubim.

Elyssia: I thank you so much for the time you spent with me tonight. Thank you.

MAUGHAM: I thank you for seeking to know me better in this fashion, I thank Tomas for the opportunity to take the dais for a few moments, and I thank you here this evening who have given me the opportunity to present myself, my qualifications and to some extent my personality. It has been a sincere pleasure. Good evening.

Group: Good evening.
Elyssia: Thank you very much.

MERIUM: I am Merium and I will come in here at this juncture for I will not allow the evening to pass without my having an opportunity to shower myself upon you. How lovely you are this evening, my little girlfriends. I am here with you in all my regalia and affection. I am here in as much dramatic profusion as is allowable under the circumstances.

You know, I will tell you we have a teacher in this Teaching Corp. You have heard of her. Her name is Olfana. And if you think that I am flamboyant in my personality, you have not met Olfana yet! I tell you she fairly lifts the transmitter up out of the chair when she speaks, and so I am not apologetic when I come in and abruptly stir up the atmosphere with my personality presence. Just because Uncle Tomas is so academic and philosophic does not mean that I have to be.

I will also say, since Gerdean has given this some thought, I am not a second class teacher. I am a first rate teacher! I am not apologizing for Gerdean, for she did not suggest this, but it has crossed her mind and perhaps the mind of others, that feminine teachers are somehow playing second fiddle to the big guys like Ham and Welmek and Daniel, and this is just not the case at all. I am one of the daughters of God, a female presence in the Teacher Corp, along with Will, Olfana and many, many others who are gracious in our portrayal of Our Father's and Our Mother's affection.

I was not meaning to scold or embarrass anyone, but I did want to say that little speech. Does anyone want to engage me in discourse this evening?

Rachel: (After a long pause) Oh, come now!
Leah: I'm just delighted you're here.
Rachel: I love your personality.
Elyssia: I do, too.
Rachel: I just think it's terrific.
MERIUM: And then indeed we shall go shopping?
Rachel: Yes! [Group laughter]

MERIUM: I am somewhat concerned, then, in that context, regarding Liana's reluctance to find the market place amusing. I would suggest that perhaps you need to take a more creative approach to your venture into your material realm. I wonder if perhaps you are not secluding yourself somewhat?

Liana: I am.

MERIUM: Isolating is not a healthy practice. I tell you, you are too beautiful to stay holed up in any few rooms somewhere. You must, truly must, take your personality into the arena. I want you to dazzle them at this shower. I want you to shower them with well-wishes. I want you to be a positive summer thunderstorm of lightening and refreshment for their souls. I want you to deluge them with goodness and truth and beauty!

Are you not the mother? Are you not a representative of Our Mother? Are you not the Infinite Spirit in the flesh? Indeed you are. Indeed you are, a beautiful, beautiful girl, and you can teach, you can show, you can demonstrate, you can inspire and instill a sense of womanliness that these ladies have yet to aspire to.

Are you not the mother-in-law? Aha! Now we are making peace across the world. We are merging minds! We are creating a new configuration. Indeed, we are trinitizing sons of God here. We are putting into being a new life, based upon two great personalities who find an ideal and an idea worthy of reflection and reproduction, worthy of reality-izing.

You have so much to share, my dear. You have so much to give! Do not limit yourself in your presentation of yourself and your gifts. If you were to take a soup tureen as a gift, even as a gag gift, they would realize before the day was over, that you had brought them nourishment, you had brought them a chicken soup for the soul that was unsurpassed by any elder sister. You would truly be the life of the party and the Best Woman.

And so I must encourage you to re-look at your engagement here. Approach it in new terms. Allow yourself to allow these women to see what a fine caliber being you have brought into this party. Now go on out there and have fun.

Liana: Thank you, Merium. I am totally inspired.

Hester: Could I get into this little action a little bit? [Group laughter]
MERIUM: You bet.

Hester: I have spent the last week listening to people make money at the expense of the United States of America. They have dragged us through everything they could drag us through. I think the time has come for those of us who believe that the power of God is stronger than any power anywhere, should pull together with this power of God and say, "Father, forgive them. They know not what they do," but let's let it come to a complete, honest close and let the chips fall where they will.

MERIUM: I truly appreciate what you are saying, daughter. You are seeking peace in your country and in its peoples. You are seeking a conclusion of mayhem and confusion. You are seeking to have the honor of your citizenry raised to a decible of acceptance. You are seeking healing for your nation and for your people. You are seeking salvation from a deplorable moral circumstance, embroiling many, many, who seek to take undue advantage of the human condition, capitalize on it, and disgrace the nation in the process.

Hester: Amen.

MERIUM: Now you have brought forth a concern that is not yours alone but one that is shared by truly most of your fellow Americans and even many of your brothers and sisters throughout the world. It is extremely immature behavior to have . .. pronounced upon the broadcast systems. It is rather like airing your dirty laundry in public. It is embarrassing, and yes, to think that people are making big bucks off of this scandal, makes it appear as though the National Enquirer is the fare for the United States of America.

Now I ask you to realize that in part that is all true. There is a very tacky element to this country, and there are very tacky elements to all civilizations. It is however in the hope of maturity that these absurdities come to light. It will pass, Hester. I understand that you are asking for spiritual strength here, as a nation, and it will truly be the spiritual strength of the nation that can see this through.

It will be the spiritual strength of the people who comprise the nation and indeed across the world who will be able to withstand this scandal as it has withstood other and far greater scandals inherent in the human condition.

I sympathize with you, my dear. It is yet another evolutionary growth throe in the development of a young planet, a semi-civilized planet. Even your evolved United States has a long way to go before it becomes ethical and moral to an acceptable degree and you and I both know that this will only come through living faith and a living relationship with a living God. These truths, these behaviors -- ethics, morals, and so forth -- are a result of knowing God. You cannot force people to be moral; it cannot happen, and so immorality will be exposed. It is healthy that it be exposed, for it then can be reevaluated and new truths can come of it.

Remember that we are undergoing great rebirth of your world here. We are beginning at the beginning. We are entering into a new dispensation. We are going through great turmoil, upheaval and healing. As you individually are going through recoveries and healings of various sorts, so is your world!

And so the sores, the ills, the disease, all of it is coming to a head. The pollution, the corruption, the debasement, the immorality, all of this is being revealed so that it can be revealed to the light of the sun, so that it can heal, so that you can march on into new ways of life. It is all part of Correcting Time. Bear with it. Bear with your own people. Not only your people who are under your flag, but who are under the banner of Michael on his planet here.

All of you are being brought forth. Do you think that the Russians have not suffered their embarrassment? Do you think that the Chinese have not known their disgrace? Do you think that any of these other nations have gotten off without being exposed through the media to their own foibles? You are not alone.

Hester: I am not judging any one nation. I'm certain that a group of people, no matter who they are, are going to have some Seth group that will lead the rest of them, even though they may not agree at all. What I'm saying is that those of us who believe in peace and harmony and love and life, spend a little more time energizing that within the confines of our country. That's my way of saying the answer.

MERIUM: In-as-much as you live here in your country I am in full agreement. I am not a politician. I am lovely. And so I am not going to address this again. As I mentioned recently, if we're going to talk about auto body repair, I'm out of here. I like to talk about thundershowers and baby showers, but I don't like to talk politics. I can if I have to, I suppose, but that really is not my job. I am here to inspire you as a human being to do your job in your arena, and Hester, if your inspiration is in the realm of giving them hell at the voting booth, then I'm all in favor of it.

Hester: That's up to the individual. What I'm saying is that we teach peace, we teach harmony, we teach love. Let's get it together and throw it so that whatever this is that's trying to become a divisive factor, it is set aside, buried, and we get on with being a normal, natural country.

MERIUM: I will leave now, in-as-much as I am not going to get involved in a dissertation of semantics as to what is normal. Good night, girls!

Group: Good night, Merium! We love you! Thank you!

TOMAS: I am Tomas, and I too am out of here. I am aware of our horn of plenty this evening. We have certainly run the gamut of appreciation. I myself feel well fed.

I don't have an assignment for you, but I would like for you to realize what you have brought to your group here and what you have been given as a result, by your association, your own increased appreciation of who you are and so, yes, let us reflect to those we love, back to them, who they are: a child of God; so that in due course this living love will become the reality, the torchbearer for the advancement of Urantia.

Lovely ones, I'll see you soon. Good evening and farewell.

Group: Farewell.

*****

DATE: March 26, 1998
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, P.A. USA
T/R’s: Gerdean
TEACHERS: TOMAS, MERIUM

URANTIA BOOK STUDY:
Paper 23, THE SOLITARY MESSENGERS, Pg. 256-263
#1. Nature and Origin of Solitary Messengers
#2. Assignments of Solitary Messengers
#3. Time and Space Services of Solitary Messengers
#4. Special Ministry of Solitary Messengers
Paper 102, FOUNDATIONS OF RELIGIOUS FAITH, Pg. 1123
#4. The Fact of Experience
Paper 140, ORDINATION OF THE TWELVE, Pg. 1578
#7. The Week Following the Ordination

TEACHING SESSION:
TOPIC:
FEELINGS

TOMAS: Good evening, loyal students and dear friends. I am Tomas.

Group (Elyssia, Hunnah, Leah, Aren, Gerdean and Hester): Good evening. Thank you for coming.

TOMAS: I am here with bells on, in spite of the handicap of Gerdean's raspy throat. I will not talk into the wee hours of the morning. I am very glad, in fact, for Hunnah's presence here and will not presume upon her either, because it is a fact of human nature that the vessel is frail and fallible. It is therefore incumbent on those of us who are, shall we say, older and wiser, to sometimes curtail your enthusiasm. As you indeed read in the text this evening, "May your wisdom equal your zeal and your courage atone for your ignorance!"

The fact is both Gerdean and Hunnah have been diligent workers in the field. In the face of their frequent exhaustion, their enthusiasm to provide a platform for the teachers has lifted them up and allowed them to forge on, even to strengthen them, and yet it is a consideration inherent in the sensitivity of fraternity that we not presume upon the good graces of each other beyond human capacity!

It is good to be here, it is good to be with you, and in commendation of you all, I again express, on behalf of Merium and myself and in company with the many loyal students who come to observe our gatherings, a keen and enduring appreciation for your loyal attendance, your enthusiasm and your community support of the teachers and of each other in your spiritual ascent, in your strivings to comprehend the ways of God.

Merium, would you like to share for a bit?

MERIUM: Yes, I would, and the subject is feelings, simply because it's a handy subject and Hunnah just left a discourse on the subject, so I would like to ask you all to ponder how you feel about IT, "it" being whatever's going on, whatever comes your way. Allow the recording of how you feel about it and you will find that you will be filling a portfolio of information about what's going on in your life.

Do not harbor these feelings; just be aware that you are allowed to feel the activity in your life and if it helps, write about it. Talk to the mirror and then release it like a little bird and be on your way.

This is a small gathering this evening, and Hunnah did not attend the lesson, but she knows how you savor the words and enjoy the discourse. I hope you will enjoy the spring weather and allow yourself to ponder it, to see the miracle of it, and to let your totality connect with it.

I really do not have a message, and I agree with you Tomas, that our vessels here this evening are being loyal and not particularly ready for the marathon. Thank you.

TOMAS: I would however be remiss if I did not ask if there are questions, for as teachers, are we not always inspired by the well-turned question?

Aren: I have a question.
TOMAS: Very good.

Aren: Merium was talking about feelings and I can identify with feelings in several ways -- two or three of which -- well, I'm not sure what a feeling is. First of all, the feeling I identify with is physical phenomenon coming from an emotion; and then there's a feeling, a collective, higher thought, an intuition that I recognize as feeling, too. I mean, "What is feeling?" is my question.

TOMAS: I have heard you describe the physical feelings as in the senses, the perceptions of the human vehicle, the sense of taste and touch and smell. The physical feeling of ice and heat, of pain, perhaps, or pleasure. These are physical feelings indeed.

I also hear you make reference to feelings in terms of your intuitive feelings, your sixth sense perhaps, those intuitions and even instincts that are just a gut feeling or a sense that does not rise quite to the intellect but which is noteworthy.

Both of those senses of feelings are valid, of course, but neither of them are the feelings which Merium refers to when she speaks of feelings and being aware of your feelings and expressing your feelings, as required, and letting them go, also as required.

Feelings that you might begin to understand about yourself are feelings of defiance, feelings of appreciation, frustration, gratitude, joy, anger and the like, and these feelings are generally a result of your interaction with others, and it is in this realm that many gloss over their feelings and pretend that their feelings are not happening because feelings can be awkward.

It is much more difficult to be sensitive human beings, to say, "When you say this, I feel . .." for then you must be responsible to them for your feelings. You must be responsible. You must own your feelings. However, in saying "I feel this way," you are setting the record straight. You are taking it, really, off their shoulders and giving them an opportunity to see how you see, and it is therefore a tremendous sharing experience, at least in potential.

Indeed, some of the difficulties of communication, as you know it on your planet, is that you discuss facts and not feelings, and therefore you can spend a considerable amount of time and energy with someone and not feel as if it had any worth, any merit, any depth or any significance, has no lasting value and no bonding effects; whereas you can say to a total stranger: "I observed you do something, and what happened was, I felt this way..." whereupon the stranger can identify the feeling and you have crossed innumerable bridges of communication through the identification of a feeling.

The intellect and words are very tricky. People can play games with their intellect, even games with themselves, but feelings are rather naked. It is rather difficult to misconstrue a feeling. Once you know, for example, what envy is, it's rather hard to gloss it off as something other than what it is. Once you understand joy, it is very difficult to not remember joy as a positive feeling, and so forth. And so your communications would be enhanced if you were to have the courage of your own feelings. These are the feelings that I feel Merium was discussing.

MERIUM: This is true, and it takes a good listener to allow someone to have the confidence to express how they feel in a given moment, and proper timing is always one of the cues that you have to acknowledge.

Since we have the young people frequently with us, it is a good opportunity to let them express their feelings and not just their thoughts. "How do you feel about that?" They'll give you an opinion. But how do you feel about that? And perhaps you can assist them with expressing something that's going on in their life that they're not even aware of, and in this sharing time it might come up and they will surprise themselves and be able to release something that is not going well or needs to be clarified.

Now this can turn into a heavy subject, but it also, when you are sharing your own feelings about something, it is good not to get on a tirade but to be able to plunk it out there and see it for yourself and then thank whoever is listening to you for helping you to identify with what you're dealing with.

There are feelings that have been stored for eons, and when they rear their head, they are unexplainable sometimes, and it takes patience and understanding and some time to deal with them, but this is housecleaning and it is spring and there are issues that will come forth. As you reach for the greater light, you will want some place to let it live, and if you have a cellar full of things that you don't want to get rid of, it will be difficult to invite it in and to let it have a lasting place to dwell.

So I am not asking you to take a Lysol bucket of water and a scrub bucket but simply to allow yourself to embrace issues that show themselves, not out of fear but out of respect and gratitude that it is now time to deal with this.

When Hunnah took Reiki, there was a 21 day cleansing period and people were forewarned that things would come up that had to go, and some people are busier than others and of course some of them are better at catching on, so I welcome you to your spring cleaning and if you only get a small place on the pane for the sun to come through more clearly, then that is a plus, but please don't be laboring it.

TOMAS: I am going to think in terms of assignment, and this one sounds like a great deal of fun and productive, and we will combine it with our Tuesday assignment, that being to take a look at the opposite sex and put yourself in their shoes, and so now I would like for you to see if you can ascertain how they may be feeling, as well. Indeed, observe that, and it may give you an additional appreciation for that human being that some of you have testified as being incomprehensible, but feelings are indeed one of those things that are available both to men and women.

Everyone knows passion; everyone knows childlikeness; everyone knows anger; and these are a commonality that can be shared, to help bridge that gap. Additionally, I would like to follow through with this spring housecleaning somewhat and give you all the opportunity to make it a part of your life and actually assign yourself three times per day an occasion wherein you can say to someone else, "I feel . .. this and thus about that" to specifically not respond from your intellect, or even from your spirit, but from your feelings, so that you can get a grip, a handle, on what your feelings are and how effective they can be in your arena.

I find it necessary to clarify that feelings peculiarly are not necessarily emotions. Do not become studious about that point but rather go ahead and do your assignment to the best of your ability and we will look forward to our coming together and anticipate that all of you will have gained tremendous depth and breadth of character and augmented your relationships as a result of your newfound capacity to feel and appreciate and share the feeling relationship with others. Remember the Father himself is personal. Feelings are personal. And it is a way to BE.

Let us close our session this evening, our very brief but very pleasant and poignant session, with a prayer. I would like for you to hold hands, in-as-much as this is another way of feeling together the association of spirit reality.

"Feelingly, Father, we come to you as your children, your own offspring. We come to you in trust of your overcare, in anticipation of your graciousness, your loving-kindness, your nurturing attitude toward us, your creations.

"We feel secure in your company, Father. We realize that you are not angry with us, that you love us and that you find joy in our accomplishments and you encourage us in our learning processes. We love you, Father, and we feel gratitude that we can share our life with you.

"We are also grateful, Father, and joyous, in the knowledge that we have the association of each other here in the flesh, that we can appreciate that we are not alone but that we have one another with whom to share our human experience as we come to be more Godlike and to understand how that feels.

"In full appreciation of the example that was set by our very dear and very beloved Father/Brother Michael, we pray. Amen."

Group: Amen.

*****

DATE: April 2, 1998
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R’s: Gerdean and Merium
TEACHERS: TOMAS, MERIUM

URANTIA BOOK STUDY:
Paper 24, HIGHER PERSONALITIES OF THE INFINITE SPIRIT
#1. The Universe Circuit Supervisors
#2. The Census Directors
#3. Personal Aids of the Infinite Spirit
#4. The Associate Inspectors
Paper 103, THE REALITY OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
#5. The Origin of Ideals
Paper 136, BAPTISM AND THE FORTY DAYS
#2. The Baptism of Jesus

Sharing and Stillness
TEACHER SESSION:
TOPIC:
LIFT YOURSELF UP

TOMAS: I am your friend, Tomas.

Group: (Elyssia, Celeste, Rachel, Leah and Gerdean): Hello, Tomas. Welcome. Thank you for coming.

TOMAS: I ask you to lift yourself up into the spiritual stratosphere and strain your ears to hear the perfection of Paradise, to hear the angelic choirs singing, to hear the voices of angels lifted up on high, to radiate praise and thanksgiving for being. Raise your ears to the song of perfection. Hear yourself lifted up into the wings of angels, into their embrace.

Lift yourself up into the celestial realms. Feel the heavenly blue surround you. Allow the pure, pure atmosphere of heaven to be your home. Raise yourself up above the din and legacy of your material existence. Step lightly and lively upon the lily pads of faith that enable you to divine your way beyond yesterday into tomorrow.

Beautiful children, how it warms my heart to be with you, and before I bring you into focus into your more cerebral realms for comprehension of concepts that will better enable you to understand who you are and how you are in this universe, I want to convey to you our deep and heartfelt appreciation for your efforts to evolve in spirit reality.

Your environment is very powerful and it would not take much for you to lie down before the challenges that are presented to you, but in loyalty to the God fragment within, you allow yourself to be stirred from your lethargy and to be scintillated by the strokes of perfection upon your soul.

The urge of your own soul's need to progress into greater awareness of itself and greater functioning for the Father enables you to rise up, and now I ask you to rise even higher and to elevate your paths of consciousness to embrace your divine legacy as daughters and sons of living Love.

How we admire you! How we truly understand the difficulty that encounters you as you face your daily toil. Even as you become discouraged and grow weary, we are aware of your growth throes.

We are aware of the effort that is involved in your ascent. As we are cognizant of the struggles of the fish to crawl up onto land to become amphibian and reptile and bird and mammal, we are aware of the pull of the animal aspects of time and space, and how tenderly we suckle you as children of God, how earnestly we apply ourselves to your higher nature, to lure you onward, to help you take those baby steps into a greater realization of your growing, true reality.

Merium and I are honored to be your teachers, and visitors and other students from other realms impart to you their fascination for your experience here. We are united in our reminder of the great plan of ascension which expands across the universe of universes, incorporating the mortal of time and space in the great march forward into an understanding of our relationship with perfection.

Yes, we are aware of your busy minds and your flamboyant social agenda as well. Indeed, Merium would like to speak to you regarding dieting. I will be back in a moment.

MERIUM: I am not in favor of diets, you see, and so it is not my favorite subject, but I thought I would volunteer to discuss it since it is at least a non-studious kind of subject. I, however, still prefer talking about angels and lily pads and faith. Yet, diets are another subject that I can discourse about in-as-much as I have known many kinds of diet in my ascension.

I am now beautiful and am not in need of a diet, but I will speak to you of the diet I know Tomas alludes to, and that is the diet that would allow for you to appreciate and savor that food which is most nourishing, delicious and good for you.

Your culture -- Oh, dear. I will not even get into it. I will not soil my slippers with a trudge through your dietary practices. Even materially you have horrible appetites and you satisfy them in the most grotesque and uncomely fashions, but I speak to you not so much about your physical appetites and physical diets, but rather the diet of savoring those foods which would be appropriate for your development in terms of your spirit, your mind and your personality essence. Even socially you have a tendency to fatten upon each other's company in excess, and so your caloric intake of sweetness is somewhat overdeveloped.

Your Oriental friends, actually, have perhaps a better handle on diet for they understand "lean cuisine" even in terms of their behaviors. When the Orientals greet one another, they give a little bow to indicate an honorable appreciation of that which indwells you, as if to say, "I bow to the God within you" whereupon he or she will bow back and say, "And I bow to the God within you," and this greeting is so simple as to require no words but the attitude in and of itself is a prayer at the onset of your communication that immediately bespeaks a sensitivity in the spirit that can immediately embellish your relationship.

In your culture, you may or may not extend your hand and crank the hand of the other, often gnashing the musculature in the process, and vigorously stirring up the immediate atmosphere of miscellaneous energies and psychic responses that serve no purpose but to perhaps instigate an attitude of pugilance or competition. Peculiar. How much more pleasant to honor the spirit than to crank the machinery.

However, I have gotten off the subject of the diet, and I told you when I came on board I didn't like talking about diets, but I acquiesced to discuss it for a moment for it is important that you begin to realize the importance of a well-chosen morsel, not only in your greeting of each other but in your sharing with each other.

I would like for you to all bring to your mind's eye the delicacy, once again, of the Japanese dinner. Their very, very precisely prepared bite-sized morsels, flawlessly designed and nutritionally organized to provide the palette and the senses and the body and the spirit with the superlative effect of having been aesthetically and emotionally and materially sated. Well fed!

I would encourage you to begin to appreciate this kind of diet in your life -- in your social approach as well as in your material approach. A peculiar assignment? I think not, if you were to consider it. At any rate, we would all lose a few pounds in the process.

I am enjoying my vacation in Florida, but I came here to be with you this evening and I am delighted to be here as always. I and Tomas are devoted to our culture here with you, and I will remain throughout the evening in the event there are questions or commentary that are appropriate for me, but for now I am finished with this diet of words and so I will return the platform to Tomas.

TOMAS: Well now, my appetite is worked up. Shall we talk about something? You had questions pertaining to energy. Would someone like to formulate the question?

Rachel: Are we talking about Gerdean's problem with her transmitting in Butler?

TOMAS: Oh, if we're going to talk about Gerdean then I will say that her problem is not having to do with transmitting; it has to do with the energy in her arena, and I would be happy to spend a moment discussing the energy in an arena such as hers, which is fundamentally a commercial outlet on Main Street USA, and any commercial zone, even in a small town, is going to be subject to a smattering of energies from any number of sources and often they will be in conflict with each other.

I would like to say to you, Gerdean, that you can readily accept the truth of the fact that some of the discordant energies you experience are because you are a female sole proprietor, and this immediately instigates a certain reaction from certain personages. It isn't necessarily positive or negative, it's just a reaction.

Also, you might be advised of the fact that your environment, as a reflection of you as a professed religionist, maintains a certain energy circuit of its own and often individuals entering your environment will react to those circuits; sometimes they will fall right in and feel right at home, whereupon you will appreciate the convergence of the energy systems/circuits and the harmony will occur that you have worked/strived to attain, and indeed communication can take place; however, there are many who will resist your circuitry and many who will overtly fight against it.

And these kinds of energy patterns will reflect throughout the course of the day. I would like to remind you that although days like today may come along, there are more often than not, days which are extremely effective in the realms of the spirit and even occasionally in the realm of finances, and so do not allow the energies of a day like today to color your overall appreciation of the effect of your being where you are.

I would like to address one more thing having to do with the energy circuits, as you are confused by them, as of your reading about energy circuits this evening, on top of a day like today. I would like to remind you that there is a certain cyclic nature to all of life and that as a pattern of reality is instilled, a certain energy echo is given off, and if you can magnify that concept to include a village or a region or a planet or a universe, you will see that a certain pattern is established at the beginning; and as it resonates and vibrates and does its thing, it will elevate or stabilize depending upon its function/purpose, and so there are cycles even in energy.

It is similar to waves on the beach, the ebb and flow of life. Sometimes the energies may appear to be erratic and sometimes they may appear to be perfect. They do not get that way by mistake. There is purpose throughout the universe.

It would be beneficial for you, Gerdean, and you others who ponder these things regarding energy circuits, to accept that the energy circuits are in place and that you can only influence them slightly. They were in existence before you and will be in existence after you have passed their domain. Personality circuits are quite another matter; I will not get into those, but I have touched upon energy circuits, and so we can move on, unless you have another question about that.

Celeste: Tomas, I want to move on a little bit. I was away for six weeks and so I've just read some of the papers, and I was so thrilled with -- at Beatrix's house -- how you talked about intellectual peace. I thought it was one of the best things that I had read in a long time, so I sort of scribbled it down but I'm not going to read it because everybody has heard it, but I want to thank you for it.

I'll just read this last part: "You have the Father and His agents to bring Light and Life into your soul, and all the ammunition to create your own inner thoughts, your own intellectual peace. You have eternal security." And I love this thing. It's just so very, very beautiful.

TOMAS: Thank you, my prime pupil, you go to the head of the class.
Celeste: Oh, I don't think so.

TOMAS: Yes, yes, you have an "A." My dear Celeste, I have missed you. I am glad you have returned to the embrace of your loyal community fellows and your teachers. Yes, my dear, I thank you for your contribution in acknowledging the value of intellectual peace.

It is because you are such a smart cookie that you appreciate the value of intellectual peace, and that is a compliment. I am not putting you on a diet. I want you all to see how it has fed Celeste that the concept of intellectual peace is one of those gifts of the spirit that enables you to simplify your life significantly. There is no need, once you have intellectual peace, to puzzle yourself about whether or not you can support the prospectus presented.

Elyssia: We were talking about creatures of WILL and we were saying something about, you have to be able to think in order to become a creature of WILL. We were sort of stuck on that tonight a little bit. Could you offer a comment on that, please?

TOMAS: Yes, although your text book did go on to clarify that in saying that the higher beings are not required to be thinkers, they already know, and yet they are will creatures.

Elyssia: Oh, that's what it was! Oh, yes. Oh, great. Thank you. The gods know everything. That's right; we did read that.

TOMAS: Not only the gods, but many of the higher ministers, yes.

Elyssia: I'm really glad I asked you that question.

Leah: Well, then, when they talk about them being immediately aware of the birth of a will in any part of the grand universe, is that the same as when a personality has a Thought Adjuster?

TOMAS: Just one moment, please. [Checking] I cannot go too far afield with this, Leah, because it would be misleading, for there are so many different kinds of life throughout the universe. On your world, yes, that would be the case.

Leah: Well, then, would . ..

TOMAS: No. Excuse me, wait a minute. Correction. You have will here long before you have a Thought Adjuster. You are registered as a personality at birth and a personality is a will creature. Assuming your mind is normal, you have the potential for WILL at that point. It is very much as if a light has gone on, that they read/notice the light.

Leah: I understand your answer in reference to all knowing beings, but on our earth plane, wouldn't you have to be a thinker before you could assert your will?

TOMAS: No.
Leah: Then how would that work?
TOMAS: The infant whose will demands food is acting without thinking.
Leah: So is will instinctive?

TOMAS: Will is a matter of the animal nature. The WILL, however, to survive and ascend is innate in evolution in-as-much as, as you become born of the spirit, as you determine, "It is my WILL that your WILL be done," you have become a WILL creature. You have been thus recorded as a viable member of the flock of the Kingdom of Heaven, rather than the creature of potential, having- animal will.

Leah: I really don't mean to give you such a hard time about this, but in order to make such a statement, wouldn't you have to think through that and make a decision?

TOMAS: Yes.

Leah: I would think so. That's all. If you want to elucidate on that, that's fine. That's just what I was trying to get at. Thank you.

TOMAS: You are welcome.

Rachel: Oh, yes, Tomas. Help. Addictions. Clarify . .. Why do we have these addictions? Why can't we let them go? Why does the animal want to hold onto them?

TOMAS: Well, peculiarly, it ties in with what I was just saying in regard to Leah's discourse about WILL. The animal wills the indulgence and the divine WILL would prefer you allow it to lapse, and so the conflict then is one of your will, or the animal will, versus your WILL or the divine WILL, and so which WILL, will you follow?

In-as-much as addictive behaviors are related to the human being and its will to live, it is very difficult to academically/ intellectually assign it to death. It is only when you fully and wholeheartedly submit all of your will to the WILL of God that the divine WILL of God can override the human will's desire to indulge itself in self-defeating behaviors, in pleasure-seeking diversions. That's how it happens.

Rachel: Well, I mean, I pray that the WILL of the Father override mine. I mean, I don't want this.

TOMAS: Keep praying.

Rachel: I guess. I mean, I suppose recognizing your bad habits is a first step in going the right direction, is it not?

TOMAS: It is, certainly. To become aware of your situation and those things that may be standing in the way of your development or the development of others, yes. It is important that you become aware, intellectually, of these things and yes, begin to think. You, as a thinking human being would do well to think about how you interrelate to yourself and your society.

You can think all day, however, and even make mental decisions right and left and they will be completely ineffectual because your will is not engaged in the process. It is only when your will is in accordance with His WILL that it will work.

The will is very strong. This is why your gift of your will to do His will is the greatest gift in the universe. The Father's gift to you of free will is a tremendous and powerful legacy to you, child, for you carry in your heart the ability to decide whether you will do God's WILL or your own, and to what extent.

It is the Source of joy or suffering, that Will. It is your will. And as your will is brought into alignment with His WILL, you will become more effective as an agent of His design. But it is a supreme sacrifice for your human will to give up the right to be that which you have become in and through your own choices, your own development, your own survival techniques and your own inheritance. And so you have to give up yourself as a creation of yourself, and that is almost asking yourself to undergo psychic surgery.

Rachel: It is psychic surgery. It's dissection.

TOMAS: And yet you will reach a point, if you persist in your ascension, wherein you will want to cut away that which is holding you back from complete and total fulfillment and embrace of the divine way.

Rachel: Why do we have this animal fear of being what we want to be? What is this fear that stands in our way of being a perfection of what we think ourselves to be?

TOMAS: I will refer to something Elyssia said earlier in the evening, having to do with her heart opening to feel the full and tremendous, yes, the awful impact of our Master's crucifixion and ascension. The overwhelming power of the spirit is so terrifying in its presentation to our littleness, we cannot bear the thought of our insignificance by comparison. It is a simple matter of humility.

In humility we are given the strength to be greater than we ever thought possible, but to reach a point of allowing that humility is a tremendous operation for mortals. Most die not realizing their own potential for greatness and joy because they refuse to allow themselves to be humble in the sight of God and in the sight of their own creation of their own perception of themselves.

It is peculiarly not a question of why do we not want to give up the addiction, but why do we not want to feel the tremendous joy? It is almost part of your Christian legacy of guilt that disallows you from feeling too good, and it is as much of a quandary for us who work with you as it is for you who experience it. But, my children, we are overcoming this -- together.

Rachel: Can I ask one more?
TOMAS: Of course.

Rachel: If we have time, if you're not too tired, I'd like to say hello to Madigan.
[Long pause]

MADIGAN: Hello, child.
Rachel: Hello.

MADIGAN: I have been out walking. I'm glad you called me in to sit with you. Where have you been?

Rachel: I was going to ask the same of you! When I'm talking to you, do you hear me? Sometimes I forget about you. I'm sorry.

MADIGAN: I am aware of you even when you are forgetting me. I am often even closer than your horses and yet it is difficult to get you to quietly stroke me as I am near you. It is my great joy to spend time with you. You must be still and come with me, apart from the maddening crowd and into the by-ways and the parts of the field that are away from the dusty path.

Come into the tall grass, into the tall wildflowers, and sit with me in the dirt. Allow the grasses to grow up long and lean beside us. We can sit there hidden, together, in the brush, with the sky overhead, feeling the voices of love speak to us together.

The joy of our companionship is like a precious friendship that needs time to develop. If you come and spend time with me, you are spending time with yourself and I can help you learn to love yourself, to forgive yourself, to understand yourself, and to allow yourself to flourish and grow in the grace of Our Mother.

These are our efforts at understanding our own note, our own music. I am more personal to you than you are ready for. Yet if you were to somehow conceive of me as closely as you nestle your mares, you would begin to murmur softly to me also, and I could tell you from the inside where I hurt and how I hurt for you, that we can then together work on that which has caused our muscles to strain, our heart to thump, and our legs to strive against the flow.

Be my friend. I love you. I am your most close girlfriend. I am going to leave your table, but not you. I am going, even now, into the tall grasses. It is twilight here, and the sun, even though shining in spirit, is quiet on Urantia, and so I will walk in the night grasses and await your repose this evening.

In your mind's eye, then, join me in the grasses away from the dusty road where we can sit together and look at the stars and contemplate our place in the universe. I will see you later, my friend.

Rachel: Thank you. That was beautiful.

TOMAS: I am Tomas. It gives me great pleasure to be with you and to be your teacher. I would like to thank Gerdean for her ability to give herself up to these processes. Gerdean, I know that you sometimes feel we have sold out, and yet I want you to be at ease in-as-much as you have known from the beginning that it was not your Mission, but the Mission of Michael, and in-as-much as He has granted His permission for these many, many undertakings, these many relationships to become realized, it is my joy to bring them into realization and it is my honor to thank you for your cooperation in not stopping the process by your own will choice.

Leah and Rachel: We thank her, too. Truly.

TOMAS: I thank all of you for your delightful personalities in the Father. It is a true joy to behold you becoming yourselves. It is a process. It is not done in the blink of an eye and I want to thank you each for the trust that you have begun to indicate in your own souls, in the souls of your fellows here in our community, and in the association of those of us in the spirit realms. How grateful we are for your support and your commitment.

How happy Michael is to see His children dancing.

Merium joins me in embracing this lovely flock. Until we meet again, I am Tomas. Good night and farewell.

Group: Good night. Farewell. Thank you so much.

*****

DATE: April 5, 1998. Palm Sunday
LOCATION: Buffalo, New York
T/R: Gerdean
TEACHERS: TOMAS, MURIEL

Prayer
URANTIA BOOK STUDY:
Paper 172, GOING INTO JERUSALEM
#2. Sunday Morning with the Apostles
#3. The Start for Jerusalem
#4. Visiting About the Temple
#5. The Apostles' Attitude

Song
TEACHER SESSION:
TOPIC:
DIVINITY IN HUMANITY

TOMAS: Welcome to you all. I am Tomas. I am the spokesman this afternoon for many who have gathered here in obedience to your will that you know the Father better that you come into alignment with His will for you in your life.

We have enjoyed your camaraderie this afternoon and were particularly touched by your personal prayers, offered up in unison. It is these types of prayers in unison that will forward us, for your sincerity is made manifest, not only to the Gods themselves but to each other and to yourself. When you profess your faith in clear obedience and radiant joy of their being heard and honored, in company with others, your truth is solidified and activated.

Your group prayer and worship is long-range in its effects. It is wonderful for us to observe, even from our vantage point, how it is that each of your voices sings their separate and individual notes according to your understanding of your role in and with divinity at this time in space. How we relish hearing from you. Indeed, how we worship that God within you that seeks to manifest itself in your daily lives.

I will speak with you this afternoon in a formal fashion regarding, in fact, your own divinity aspects as they affect others in your lives. Indeed, in your prayers, it was heard, many of you asked to know how to do His will in your life, how to manifest His love in and through your arena, your kingdom, as you pass by, and so I will speak to that in you, and ask you to realize that each of you are a representative of the Father and as you, as an ambassador of His truth, seek to uplift and implant truth, beauty and goodness, you are doing His will in your arena.

Even those, whom you do not understand, as you perceive their own reflection of truth, beauty and goodness, assimilate that also into your understanding of reality and thus embrace a greater reality. It is our Master's will that his children come together in an eternal dance of joyousness before him, a large merry-go-round of children holding hands in loving celebration of his triumphant ride into Jerusalem and into Salvington, so as you see and feel the music and the dancing of fellow celebrants, lift your voice also in hosanna and praise to that God which has given you an understanding of your own aspect of divinity as you pass by.

It is easy for the human to forget and to fall back into the ways of fear and self, but as you remember yourself in union with Him and with each other, in testimony of your sonship, it is easier and easier to reflect the divine nature in your lives. Therefore, stay close -- if not to each other, at least to the Master, to the Father who indwells you, for He is your Source of great joy. He is your comfort in sadness; He is your clarity in confusion.

In the text you will recall the time when the apostles came to Jesus and lamented that one was teaching in his name in a distant city, and they complained loudly that the teacher from afar was not one of them, and the Master replied that he was indeed with them and not against them, and so this is part of your ministry, my children and my friends, in your arena also.

As you hear those testify to their understanding of their relationship with God, accept that God is being rejoiced. In due course error will fall away, but it does not contribute to the correction of Urantia to stumble upon the minor falsehoods of temporary understanding. Rather, go about your business of loving one another as He has loved you, and if you forget how it is that He has loved you, ask Him to come into your heart and remind you of how it is that He affects your life.

I am happy to report a large attendance here of celestial personalities. I am also eager to address you, if you should have questions. There are, as always, a million things that we would love to discuss and we regret your limited time frame; however, let us gather our rosebuds while we may.

Thank you, C.D., for your graciousness , and G.D. for your nobility. We are pleased to partake of your hospitality and grateful for the extended fellowship from afar that has indeed brought us all together. Welcome, one and all. Are there questions?

Christopher: Yes.
TOMAS: I am eager to hear it.

Christopher: Well, first I would like to say we thank you very much for the Teaching Mission's guidance and also I've not been exposed very much to this and I have been thinking much about it and how it could potentially alter our lives, not only the way we relate to one another but the way we relate to the greater kingdom of man.

If this Teaching Mission is to continue, are we to focus more on the Melchizedek Order way, with the universities that will be established for teaching the people of this age the greater way of the Melchizedeks, which are apparently very important leaders for us in the future to grow into more wonderful beings? Can you respond as to how the universities are coming about? And perhaps where we might be able to contact one of these universities, if it is possible at this point in time?

TOMAS: You are in a fledgling university already, my son. Your presence here this afternoon is contributory to the eventual existence of a university. It is not the Melchizedeks who create the university, but you who create the university by your active participation as a student and as a teacher of those truths which are evolving as you are evolving.

An understanding of an academic university such as you have known scholastic aptitude on Urantia is inadequate to the purpose of teaching Reality. Reality can only be assimilated as you attain the ability to assimilate it. It is not intellectual knowledge that is being taught and is making the difference, you see. It is a spirit reality, and this is so throughout the universe. It is not a cerebral appreciation of facts and figures and a comparative analysis of scriptures and theology, no, but a living reality.

Your personal religious experience, your relationship with the Father, your relationship then with your brothers and sisters throughout the greater cosmos, is your fundamental educational platform, and as you grow with each other, your curriculum can handle more and more sophisticated concepts of truth, beauty and goodness.

It has been said that you start out as newborns, as fledglings, indeed, as kindergarteners and you grow to grade school, high school, college and so forth, and it is the same in spirit reality. You are reborn and as you are reborn you begin to assimilate realities. You pick from the universe those truths that you can handle at the time. You will nurture yourself as you decide to go forward.

In due time your soul will take on its own energy and grow at its own pace, rather dragging you along with it, but that is because you have augmented your soul's growth by the decisions that you have already made toward your own spirit development, as so as you begin to mature, as you begin to attain spirit maturity, as you begin to teach and have effect on your environment, as you begin to bring about spirit reality in others and nurture and cater to the spirit reality developing, then you have become a part of the living school, the living university, fostered by our Melchizedek teachers. Only as you are prepared to assimilate the truths, however, are you capable of hearing the lessons of the teachers.

Lonny: Thank you.
TOMAS: Has that been helpful?
Christopher: Yes. Could I have a perhaps a quick follow up?
TOMAS: Yes.

Christopher: Are we not therefore . ..? — Uh, this was very well spoken. I appreciate the message, because I think it goes right to heart of the truth of the message, but on the other hand, are we to expect a physical institution, whereby we can gather outside of these groups? And I understand your explanation -- that was very well explained and I appreciate that very much -- but will there be physical places where many peoples from many races and walks of life can gather and know they will be receiving the higher Melchizedek teaching?

TOMAS: Let me respond this way, my son, and say "My Kingdom is not of this world". In due course, of course you will build your temples and your schools. The Cymboyton schools are an example of how it is that you will set yourself up for greater philosophic expression. In terms of a physical school for the Melchizedeks, that could be a human undertaking, but I will caution you all not to expend overmuch time, energy, money and so forth in building the building, which will directly take away from the energy needed to put into the very, very urgent desire for spirit reality on Urantia at the time.

It is not uncommon for you as human beings to take truths and put them into concrete forms so that you can manage them, handle them, control them, manipulate them and so forth, and this is clearly what the mind's eye sees when it perceives a Melchizedek university or a morontia temple, and yet if you were to study the curriculum as it is established by the Melchizedeks and not by your own imagination, you will find that there will become, one day, a brilliant structure for your morontia teachings but it will not be one that you have built of rock and stone, but will be a place where you can literally reside in safety and in sanctity, away from the din and lethargy of this material existence.

I don't know if that has been helpful. It may be elusive to you that I said that, but it is true nonetheless.

Christopher: Thank you very much.
Lonny: I have a selfish question.
TOMAS: All questions are selfish and I welcome them.

Lonny: Thank you. I would like to know if a teacher guide has been assigned to me and do you have another name for me?

TOMAS: Indeed you have a guide. And of course you have an identity, one which in fact has a name. I am not clear on the reading but I see that it is related to Philo and philosophy. It is not, however, adequate in this mind's eye to convey to you as a reality. I apologize.

Lonny: Understood.

Jerry: Tomas, this is Jerry from the Hamilton group. I have got a question for you.
TOMAS: Hello, my son. It is good to feel your presence here again. I embrace you.

Jerry: Thank you. The last time we met we were discussing a teacher for the Hamilton group and you had mentioned two names -- I can't remember them now…

Group: Muriel and Bertram.

Jerry: I would like to find out if we as a group are doing enough to attract one or at what stage you think we are at now.

TOMAS: You are standing at the precipice of the leap of faith and each of you are looking to the other to say "Who will jump first?"

Group: [Laughter] That's our group exactly.
Jerry: That's why I asked the question.

Vince: Could you describe the manifestation of the teacher that will come, the phenomenon that you're experiencing?

TOMAS: We do not work with the word phenomenon; this is a natural course of evolution.

Your Hamilton teacher Muriel is a wise female of many years' experience. When I say many years, obviously I mean more than 40 or 50 -- I mean of wisdom and warmth. It is a human propensity to insist that God be made in your image and it is sometimes helpful to create a persona that you can identify with. I can tell you, then, in your imagination, you might see her as a dignified woman of perhaps middle age who has a background of teaching music; she has a conservative streak and presentation but she has an acid wit and a depth of intention that would stagger you.

She is a comrade at arms and has often visited your neighbors, other teaching mission groups, in observance of how it is that we carry on in our rapport with you and she is obviously very eager to make her mark on Urantia. All of us who have been selected as volunteers for this Teaching Mission are salivating to make a difference and you will find that as you also are motivated to contribute to the development of spirit reality on Michael's planet of nativity, you will be infused with that same inspiring motivation.

When you have begun to waltz with the personality of your teacher, she will lead your steps and you will be readily willing to provide your words for her use, for you understand what a tremendous value you have given those who long for spirit association and release from spirit isolation. One moment.

MURIEL: Well, I'm not certain I appreciate the school teacher picture that he has painted of me, but I will go with that. I will even wear silk flowers on my lapel if that makes you happy. I am willing to do almost anything in order to get you to work with me. I am not a strict teacher. I am really far more of an elder sister or even a neighborly type who is eager to comfort you, counsel you and give you cookies; and so I look forward to our opportunity to become friends, for it is in the friendship of the spirit that we can begin to practice those trusted fruits of the spirit that will enable us to become stronger in our spirit association.

Remember those fruits, that value of confiding trust. You can trust me. And yet in order for you to trust me, you must learn to trust yourself, and these are the kinds of lessons that we can begin to work on together so that you have an idea of my intimacy in your spirit path.

I am not an academic teacher. I know you all look at teachers as if we were someone who was going to point out the historic dates and times of certain wars, battles and waterloos, and this is not what we do in the Teaching Mission. We teach you how to be true to yourself. Who are you? What is your personality? What has the Father given when He has given you personality? How can your Father-bestowed personality be best brought into being? How can we get rid of the conditioning of the material realm, the Lucifer legacy that the Spirit of Truth may shine forth in your lives? How can then we engage you in the strength of spirit reality that will enliven you in your dynamic spiritual life to rejoice and bring others into an awareness of the joy of knowing Our Father and the desire to be with Him, as you are.

Remember Jesus said 'if you act as if you know who I am and you have been with me, they will see that you have been with me and will want to be with Me also.' How is that possible unless we are enjoying our life, finding its value, even chewing upon the difficulties of life together -- for is that not the human condition? The human condition is what we're working with here. How can we operate within the human condition in a healthy way to lift our voices on high in praise to the Father that he may be revealed and adored for our own pleasure?

Now this is our assignment. This is the stuff that we are made of. How can you resist? I am looking for the most slight entry into the crevices of your circuitry. As you begin to notice a sense of otherness in your Stillness practice, give it a whirl. Let me speak through you. Work with me. Let us work together toward the unfolding of truth, beauty and goodness on Urantia.

Group: Thank you.
Marge: I have a question.
TOMAS: Yes.

Marge: Numbers. Twelve apostles. 24 hours in a day. Numbers galore in The Urantia Book. Can you elaborate on the true significance of numbers? Are they translatable to love? To all of the things we're talking about? Are they interchangeable? Or are they just there to represent a structure?

TOMAS: Seven is our magic number, my dear, not twelve.
Marge: No, I meant just numbers in general. The way divisions occur.

TOMAS: There is nothing divine about the number itself, except in its balance. There is no particular significance to the number four except as the four elements relate to each other. There is no importance to the number eight except how the eight relate to each other, and so it is the relating that is significant.

One is a relationship of one and that is where we begin; a relationship of two immediately expands one more than twice; and when we include three, now we are a group. Four is a force. Five is a community, and so forth, and it is only in relationship that numbers matter. There is nothing magic about a number, but there is tremendous mystery in the relationship.

Marge: To which you will not elaborate? It's for us to discover?

TOMAS: There is unending adventure in the discovery of relationship. Into infinity.
Marge: Hmmm. Thank you.
Lonny: And to every relationship, you can apply a number.
Joe: I have a question.
TOMAS: Yes.
Joe: First of all, I want to thank you for this opportunity.
TOMAS: My brother Joe. How nice to feel your presence here.

Joe: Thank you. This is my second opportunity and I want to once again give you thanks for your patience and instruction.

TOMAS: Yes, my son.

Joe: My question is, this year in which we live now, in which there is confusion regarding origin, who we are as sons of God, I also was having my idea -- I don't know how idealistic I am, or whether humanity -- or whether the time will come where humanity will be shown clearly all his past and history, in order to clear any doubt, any confusion, any misunderstanding, so we can clearly know our own history in this sphere, on Urantia, and will that be able to happen in the near future or is that linked to our own development as individuals and as a race? I would like to have an explanation on that.

TOMAS: Alright. I will attempt to respond to your question. In due course there will be pageants. You may have read about this in the text. In the future there will be pageants that depict the entire panorama of the racial development of a planet, but that is far afield of where we are today.

Your racial origins are, at this point, still a tapestry of design that is colorful and diverse. On a planet of normal development your races would be well blended by now. As it is, your uniqueness is still in evidence, and rather than causing concern, as it does and has, it is rather a cause for rejoicing and celebration, for each culture has its own foods and fancies which stimulate and create a palate of delight for your other races.

It is most unfortunate that you fear each other so, here. As you can culturally assimilate others' cultures, you in fact contribute to the development of the brotherhood of man. As you each profess a fascination for the culture of your brother, instead of remaining limited to your own circumscribed viewpoints, tastes, fashions and so forth, you break down those barriers which set people apart from each other. You begin to invite new partners into the dance.

I don't know if I have answered your question but I have certainly attempted to address a concern which is not yours alone, Joe, but the concern of many individuals who are a member of a race which is not the dominant race in the neighborhood. However, in the overall each of you are a part of the human race, and none of you are more nor less than the other.

You are all one in terms of God's children, each colorful, each bringing its own strengths, its own peculiarities. There would be a great step forward if prejudice and bigotry could be eliminated and this of course is because of fear and again, your text speaks to this.

Joe: Thank you for the answer.
TOMAS: Thank you.
Lorne: This is Lorne from Hamilton.
TOMAS: Yes, Lorne.

Lorne: This question is different. I'd like you to comment on the present day -- I won't use the word 'phenomenon' because you don't like that word very much -- called 'near death experience'. Some books have been written by people who suffering great physical trauma, near clinical death, have experienced out of body sensation hovering over their own body as medics tried to resuscitate them. In this state they were met by spirit entities, some purporting to be older, deceased relatives. Also meeting light beings of great brilliance and merit, giving them the impression they had further work to do in embodiment. On re-entering their bodies, suffering the pain and discomfort of trauma and healing and rehabilitation. But also undergoing a change of mind and heart, a conversion not unlike that mentioned in The Urantia Book as a birth into the spirit.

TOMAS: Where is the question mark? (Group laughter)
Lorne: I just asked for a comment.

TOMAS: It is, as you say, a somewhat modern "phenomenon". It is probably a result of an attainment of awareness of a connection with a greater reality. I am not a specialist in this field. I would have to surmise for conversational purposes that in-as-much as the circuits are rejoined and the possibility of contact with the greater universe has been restored, that the impressions of spirit reality beyond Urantia, beyond this life, have been enlivened and expanded. It is still, however, very much a phenomenon of the human mind.

You realize that the circuits having opened, each of you is a potential channel of light, and as you enter into an experience of such magnitude as to look death in the face, you are going to have a reaction. And since the greater cosmos is right there, beyond this life, you can readily reflect a possibility of accepting your next life as a reality or staying here with that reality and doing what you can do toward developing yourself here before you go there.

There are many testimonies being given. Some are authentic and some are highly imaginative. It is not my specialty, as I said. I am inclined to be amused by these testimonies and I encourage a belief in an afterlife as you can understand, but truly, the actuality of your dissolution as a human being and your reassembly as a personality in the Resurrection Halls is an experience that far supersedes these glimpses into an embracing of the light.

Lorne: Thank you.
Julia: I have a question.
TOMAS: Yes.

Julia: Why are our children killing each other, and what can we do? What can be done?

TOMAS: Children kill each other because they are looking for a reality and are not finding it, and in their frustration they are finding a disrespect for life that is in defiance of what they have inherited from you, and so it is an acting out on their rebelliousness toward the lack of a substantive reality.

“How can I grow up and contribute to a world that makes no sense? Life is cheap. Talk is cheap. I am angry. I need something more than this! What can you offer me besides (fill in the blank).”

It is obvious that the planet is very troubled. Not only are your children killing each other, they are killing themselves. It is the reason, if you will, why our presence here is regarded by some as an emergency movement. The need for reality is great. The lure of joy is wonderful, of course, and the experience of rejoicing in the spirit is sublime, naturally; but there is tremendous real work to be done in the field of introducing a reasonableness into the world that clearly allows for a sense of reality to take hold, a loving and meaningful reality.

I am not talking facts. Again. We are not talking data. We are talking living experience. The world is so busy these days, caught up in so many things that are unreal. What we need is reality. A relative reality that leads into the direct reality of the loving relationship between the individual and the loving heavenly Father who dwells within. This living reality is not a joke. It is for real, and without it there is no joy in life. There is no respect for belief, including yours or others.

It is indeed a dire circumstance, and one which we do not take lightly. Your question is well put. "Why are our children killing each other?" Why have they been killing each other for centuries? Why have we not begun to realize the value of love? The value of each other as a brother? As a sister? As a race of people? Why is it that we do not know how to carry on a loving, meaningful relationship with that person who is next to us, who is close to us, who is part of us?

It is an investment, you see, in understanding who you are, and then in understanding how you can relate healthily to those around you. This is the purpose of the Teaching Mission. This is the gospel of the Kingdom as taught by Jesus of Nazareth. When he said, "Love each other as I have loved you," he was not talking about flower power; he was talking about meaningful meat-and-potatoes substance reality:

"Let me help you with your difficulty. Let me share with you your pain. Let me rejoice with you in your celebrations. Let us be one with each other in the love of the Father." These relationships are crucial; they are worth sacrificing (for), they are worth investing C, (in). I cannot give you a complete and succinct answer in one short paragraph, for the question you ask is obviously of great and lasting concern. I will however tell you that your planet has suffered a couple of very serious set-backs.

You could say that you are defective here; you are retarded. You are damaged as a result of the job that Lucifer did on you and that continues to be done by those who still subscribe to his theories of self-will run riot, and so there is a lot of work that needs to be done to clear up the mess that he made. There is also an additional deficit as a result of the Adamic default, in particular in terms of disease.

And so there is a lot to be done, and so I tell you, we are not all trying to take on a spiritual experience in order that we remove yourself from life, but that we get in with our sleeves rolled up and begin to work in the field, indeed planting these seeds and fostering this spiritual reality, this reality which will off-set the deficits of the past and on-set the divine future of divine love.

Julia: Thank you.

Lonny: In regards to the mutation of our soul level, has there been any significant advance in that mutated change toward the morontian side in the last four years?

TOMAS: I have to tell you that that is a peculiar word that you used, that "mutate". I am not certain . ...

Lonny: I'll use 'change' instead, the change from our original state 50 years ago, say, and since they've instituted the program to bring our soul level into a more of a morontia quality.

TOMAS: A soul is a personal thing. I cannot say "our soul" for "our soul" is a non-reality. If there is anything akin to "our soul" it would be absorbed in the Evolving Supreme and, of course, it has grown and developed and continues to.

Lonny: Okay.

TOMAS: As we discuss soul, we discuss one soul at a time, to-wit: yours, and if it has grown in the last four years, that will depend upon how you have fed it and nurtured it and encouraged it, how you have been sincere and how you have made decisions in order to modify its reactions and grow in the spirit reality.

Lonny: Thank you.
TOMAS: Thank you. One more question.

Laurel: Tomas, I have a request if you don't mind? I just wanted to say that in my life and in my outworking with people I meet, I have tried very hard to be a positive influence in their life and to be uplifting to them and I've understood a need for that; however, I do find that in the sensitive personality, there are times when -- much like we talked about earlier -- the certain goings-on on this planet have been somewhat disheartening, and I was wondering if in your library, which may not be a part of mine, if you have any pearls of wisdom or anything that you find at times of distress that help you, because . ..

It's something I don't really like to burden people with, but as a person who wants to be helpful to others, I have a hard time when I find that I need it. I don't know. I was just thinking if you had anything that you find to be a positive in your time that you could share with me.

TOMAS: I have a couple of tools that I drag out on occasion, yes. I am however rather fortunate these days because I have such an army of assistance, I have so much experience, I haven't the occasion to flag in my faith as I did in my earlier years of development.

Laurel: May I just put in -- I've never flagged in faith in that way. I know what I believe to be true for me. That's not part -- I guess what I'm trying to say is that sometimes the disappointments of the world tend to be overwhelming, and you want to be at a point in all times in your life where you can be uplifting to people, and I was just thinking if there is anything -- not materially, but a thought, an awareness of a reality that you find to be helpful in times of perhaps chaos or stress.

My faith is not flagging, but sometimes I find my ability to help other people -- if I'm not always 100%. I'd hate to think there's a time in terms of my "up", my positive nature, and if I could help somebody by always being more up. So that's what I mean. The faith is always there, it's just that the flesh is somewhat depressed.

TOMAS: I appreciate what you are saying and what you are trying to convey but I would like to encourage you to not feel the compulsion to always put on a happy face. It is not necessary that, even as an ambassador of His Kingdom, you rejoice when you feel sad in your heart. As a teacher, as well as a believer, it is sometimes called upon you to bring to light the sadness of the moment that you may suffer together.

Now "suffering together" is not particularly smiled upon by anyone, but it is none-the-less a truth that your suffering is made lighter if you have a friend to experience it with, and the bitterness of pain is lessened by the company of a friend. If this is not taken undue advantage of, you have found a key to an associative relationship that will keep you out of the furrows of foul weather indefinitely.

It is, of course, a supreme experience to go to the Father and share with Him. It is also good to share with your comprehension of Michael's presence. It is valuable, when you are alone, to reflect upon earlier friendships. And when you are in an experiential low, don't deny it. Go through it. Go thought it in understanding that you will come out the other side, you will have learned and/or taught in the process and you will weep and rejoice in the resurrection that follows.

In line with that, my loyal crew here, I will be brief in my closing remarks. I enjoyed your reading this afternoon and I remind you each of your individual approaches to this upcoming season of accepting the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus when he lived on Urantia, an experience that is always timely, always worth study, always worth pondering for its beauty, its symmetry in how it was that he faced life, faced death and faced his experiences with dignity, with the Father and as a human being.

It is also an undying truth that each time you experience one of these crucifixions of the feelings, of the thought, of the emotion and of the life, you will be given the opportunity then to resurrect in the spirit with a greater reality now hovering around you. You have grown in reality as a result of these even difficult experiences.

And so I say to you each, as you trudge your paths this week, this Holy Week, be aware of the rejoicing around you. Do not fear your moment in Gethsemane but stand tall in your understanding that He will go with you though your experiences and you will rise up in the spirit to give praise, to give thanks, to rejoice evermore for your place, your standing in the universe and in the Light of the Son.

My beloved friends, I leave you for now. I leave you in the hands of your most able personal teachers, your intimate Thought Adjusters, the direction of the Spirit of Truth under the banner of Michael and Mother Nebadonia. Amen and farewell.

Group: Thank you. Farewell.

*****

DATE: April 9, 1998
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R’s: Gerdean and Hunnah
TEACHERS: CHRIST MICHAEL, TOMAS, MERIUM

Stillness
URANTIA BOOK STUDY:
Paper 24, HIGHER PERSONALITIES OF THE INFINITE SPIRIT
#5. The Assigned Sentinels
#6. The Graduate Guides
#7. Origin of the Graduate Guides

Song
REMEMBRANCE SUPPER:
Paper 179, THE LAST SUPPER
#1. The Desire for Preference
#2. Beginning the Supper
#3. Washing the Apostles' Feet
#4. Last Words to the Betrayer
#5. Establishing the Remembrance Supper

TEACHER SESSION:
TOPIC:
POWER OF EFFECTIVE PRAYER

CHRIST MICHAEL: I am here with you, your Father/Brother, in honor of your honoring Me, in remembering the time I spent with you, and the message I left with My apostles, to pass on through these ages to you, My new apostles, whom I now invite, and offer opportunity, to again carry on, the tradition, of preaching and teaching the gospel, as one who has been with Me.

I have been with you this evening and in many, many evenings, as I have beheld you struggling in your mind to understand, and reaching deep into your hearts to feel and believe in these words and beliefs that have enriched your lives. You are indeed My children in whom I am well pleased.

It is people like you who make the difference between darkness and light. It is people like you, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, who bring the legacy of living love to those who languish in darkness and who shrink in despair of truth.

Bring to my children the light of truth. Show them the richness of our association. Bring to them the joy of knowing Me. Share with them the bounty of our Father's love in personal association with living love for all. Be steadfast in your desire to be of service.

Be not weary in your well-doing. The times are exciting, and yet they are also stressful. Do not allow the stressors of the millennia to overpower your will to bring the light of truth and the peace of understanding to My children. Be the pinnacle of peace that I know you are, as you know Me, the Prince of Peace.

I look to you for sanity in these days of chaos, confusion and despair. Those of you who believe in Me and know Me, know also each other. Rejoice in the fellowship of the spirit. Do not stumble on theologies, but share the living legacy of love. Time enough, my children, for refinement of beliefs, for merging of creeds. Time now for love, love in the spirit, the love that I give to you, that I share with you in your fellowship with each other.

I rejoice in your friendships. I am proud of your associations in the spirit. I eagerly await your growth steps in reality. I thank you for your remembrance supper, for remembering Me in My visit to Urantia, and I thank you also for your need for Me today in your lives, for I too have need of you.

I would thank you also for your devotion to your Teachers, assigned to you here, to minister to your growth, and to companion you in your ascent, to stimulate your minds and hearts along those lines that would inspire your involvement in a spiritual way of life, a way of life which is so desperately needed in these times, at this time on Urantia.

It is gratifying to Me that you are devoted to that which we can do together. We will rejoice in our triumph over the darkness. Many, many forces are working with us in our united efforts to bring light and life to this, My native sphere, your home world. We will succeed. We will triumph not only for Me, not only for you, but for the Father in whose universe we dwell.

My little ones, I embrace you. I stand beside you. I walk with you in all your travails, and in your parade of happiness, with joy. Always am I aware of your efforts. Always am I with you. Call on me and I will make Myself known to you. Be of good cheer.

MERIUM: I am Merium and I am of good cheer. I am not reluctant to follow the Master's instructions, for I have long since discovered the ease with which His instructions are followed, carried out and mastered; it is only when I resist His guidance that I falter and fumble, and so I encourage you to resist not that which is in your best interests.

It is my pleasure to be here with you this evening in order to behold your partaking of this divine ritual of appreciation for your association with the living Jesus, your brother in the flesh and our Father in Creation.

It is a very special opportunity for you here on Urantia to be able to claim Him as an intimate associate, such as you can and do and will throughout eternity. It is truly a rare opportunity to have the experience of having The Creator Son come to your own native planet. It is highly irregular, indeed! And I hope you can appreciate the gift you have been given in this incredible camaraderie.

It is amazing to me that you can actually go, geographically, to the part of the country on your planet where He walked. When He washed the dust from the feet of his followers, you could actually go there yourself and almost appreciate that it was the same dust. The same dust!

Can you imagine! How close you are to your Creator Father/Brother? It is not like he attended to his bestowal on a neighboring planet, no. He visited Urantia! You, I am certain, have not grasped the full consequence of that, but as you understand the concept of an agondonter, you will one day appreciate that your native sphere is that on which our Creator Son incarnated in his final and seventh bestowal prior to His triumph in Sovereignty.

It is another way, if you will, of realizing how close you are to and with Him, how you may personalize your experience. You and Jesus understand the vagaries of the desert winds and the Mediterranean Seas. You know the taste of dates. You know the texture of fish. Indeed you know life in the flesh just as Jesus knew it. The same feelings that he felt, you feel. The same wine he drank in his ceremonies, you drink in yours.

How incredible! How monumental! And yet how intimate and tender.

I have gone on enough, I guess, for my visitation this evening, but it is a remark I have long pondered and cherished, and it gives me pleasure this evening to share my thoughts with you regarding your intimacy with your Master. This is an experience even I and Tomas have not known, and so you are indeed well blessed.

I am looking forward to our celebration with the masses on Sunday. I mean the multitudes and not the specific ceremonies, for it is certainly a grand day, not only in the Christian realms but in other religions as well.

It is also the time of year that the resurrection from winter is honored. We will soon be experiencing Spring in its flamboyant array and all vestiges of the Winter chill will have melted and thawed in the light of the sun. And so this season is a season of unfolding. The seeds are coming up out of the dark, damp soil and into the airy breezes, bringing scent and glory to your senses.

Rejoice in the experience of your life. Rejoice in your mortal life on Urantia. Experience the sensation of your human experience with gusto. It is one which you will not have in the same fashion when you leave here, and so, allow yourself the indulgence, the absolute and total free liberty of fully appreciating your experience as a corporeal entity with the senses to delight you, the smell of bread and of roses, the taste of wine and tea leaves, the touch of kisses and scratches, and all the goodness of your mortal life.

Enjoy this, my children, enjoy your humanness. Allow your humanness to be the bed upon which you rest at the end of a long day of mental exercise and spiritual striving. I embrace you in the fullest sense of the spirit, in the love of Our Father/ Brother Michael and our Infinite Helper Mother Nebadonia. Dear, beloved children, good evening.

Group: Elyssia, Celeste, Beatrix, Liana, Leah, Aren, Gerdean, Evangel and Hester: That was wonderful. Thank you for coming to visit us.

* * * *

TOMAS: I am Tomas. I am last but not least, here to spend a moment with you, my loyal students, and to also thank you for your attendance, your attention and your administrative efforts in upholding your end of the universe.

I say that because we have spent so many weeks in understanding how it is that the universe is administered -- these many seemingly dry and academic pages of administration and management and supervision of the realms, in methods and means by which you find it hard to identify and/or appreciate, -- and so I will say to you, while you have strained to understand the value of these Papers that have been blatantly beyond your understanding in many respects, I would like to acknowledge your own administration of your own universes in such a fashion as to present your relative perfection to the Father.

Your universes that are created by you and by your decisions, by your application of truth, by your judgment, by your energy, your will and your design, in and through the auspices of Trinity or not, are efforts of the creative consciousness that are a delight to behold. Your own microcosm universes, of which you are the administrator and the ultimate authority, are a delight indeed to observe and to participate in.

It is my way of conveying to you, my children, that you are in awareness of your own realm and that your own realm has viability, reality and relative perfection. You take up good space in the universe. You are not a waste of time. You are not a shadow of a greater reality, but a real person with real value. You are joyous, radiant reflections of the Creator and the Creator Sons, and so I honor your place in the universe. It is a real privilege and joy to abut your universe and to share space and time together.

Above and beyond our little vignettes, I am not going to trouble you with an in-depth lesson. We have expended great energies of late in some marvelous study on morontia mota and I am glad with you to sit back and savor the living presence of the Master in our life, in our universe, in our world, in our reality. As we allow Him to embrace us and activate our sense of being, we are made more real, more viable, and more useful to Him and to each other.

I look around the room here in full affection and appreciation for you each. Each soul that presents itself here is warm and vital, is alive and fertile, and is rich and noble. Each one of you are a very viable offspring of Our Eternal Parents, and although you are young, you are real. I am truly honored to be in association with you. How may I serve you this evening?

Celeste: You have already served us. [Group laugher] But we want to talk with you some more.

Leah: When you spoke of universes, I got the sense you were talking about universes that we create. Did I understand you?

TOMAS: Yes, you did understand me correctly. I will elaborate a little if you like.

Leah: Yes, I'd like that.

TOMAS: I will take you back to early lessons that we had when you, as a group, began reading in the text from the beginning. You will recall that I analogized you to a microcosm of the greater universe and that as you Thought and as the Word was spoken and as the Action came into being, it was, - and so you are, - and so you do.

The same occurs with you. As your thought thinks and the word does, you create. You create your own microcosm of reality, and thus you have a sphere, an orb, of relative perfection in which you reside with divinity. You cannot create without divinity, and since you are working in consciousness of your divine connection, and in-as-much as you are in alignment with this divinity, and enjoined to and with the fruits of this divine spirit, you create your own cosmic bubble of light and life.

And this is indeed, your own universe, your own creation, because of your choices. As you realize this and hold tightly to this reality, you begin to discover that you are safe. You are guided and protected in your bubble of reality.

There is a Unity prayer, Hester, which speaks of "The presence of God protects us, the power of God watches over us, the love of God surrounds us," and this is a literal truth.

This is something you literal-minded ones can hang onto and tout, for it is true that as you create this divine reality, you live in it, and it is in you.

And so you might picture yourself as if you were air bubbles coming up from a. fish in a fish bowl and each little bubble is the sphere in which you live. As these bubbles rise to the surface and abut one another, you have companioned each other in your little microcosm universes, afloat on the sea of life. Indeed, one day, you will float on the greater seas.

Has that elaborated somewhat the concept that I am delighted that you have seen?

Leah: Yeah, it certainly has. I wouldn't mind if you just kept on, it's so beautiful, but I'm sure someone else has a question.

Hester: And that last line that you didn't quote: "For wherever we are, God is."
TOMAS: Precisely.
Hester: The prayer of faith.
TOMAS: Thank you.

Elyssia: Well, sometimes when I find myself reading the newspaper -- somebody brought up newspapers -- and I say, "I don't even have to read this; I could read something really beautiful, and here I am reading the newspaper!" but I do find myself utterly fascinated by the world I'm in, and so I'm taking it from what you're saying tonight that that's part of being in your humanness, I guess, and I want to be there. I want to be in that world, but perhaps, as Jesus said, not of that world. Or something like that.

TOMAS: You have then addressed a dichotomy, for if you want to enjoy the world you are in, you ought not be reading the newspaper for it is not of the Kingdom!

Leah: Amen.

TOMAS: You are inclined to pollute the living waters if you bring in some of that hype. I am not suggesting that it is not valuable and interesting to know what's going on in your world. We have discussed this before.

Elyssia: Yes, we have.

Evangel: (Tape turned) . .. there's a touch and go in your energy flows. If you focus on all the news and all that stuff, you're stuck in that world. If you focus on God, you're in that world. You're still here but in those little microcosms, those bubbles, associating with each other.

Hester: I had an experience this week that brought home to me how easy it is for us to share with others. I was driving, and I had another person in my car, my little white wagon, and I was going out toward the East end, coming through Pittsburgh as you go around past the jail, and as we passed the jail my passenger said, "God bless every person who's in there," and I thought, "How wonderful!"

Group: Urn-hum.
TOMAS: Was that a question?

Hester: No, it was just a statement that she said this and it was a little prayer on her part and she didn't even intend for me to hear it, but I did hear it. I said, "See that jail? Isn't it the most beautiful thing and it houses all those criminal aspects of life that come through," – [group erupts in laughter] -- Well, it is a beautiful building! And inside are all these souls who need our prayers and our help! Otherwise they'll just keep on doing the same thing over.

And when she said, "God bless them all," she reached out her hands, sort of like this, and I'm driving and I see it though the side of my eye-glasses and all, and she was blessing all the people in that jail. And they say it's full!

Elyssia: Well, how effective are these prayers that we say? I mean, I'm curious about it. Certainly it's good for us to think in a warm, kindly way as much as we can, but from your perspective, Tomas, how effective are these prayers that we say for groups, in passing, or something like that? I'm in this group where we do a lot of this kind of thing. My family does this all the time!

TOMAS: It depends a great deal upon who you are praying for and how you are praying. Envisioning positive energies, allowing your spirit to be lifted up in gratitude, and requesting the divine blessing for your world in a general and generic sense is indeed a way of lifting you up out of the difficulty of the mortal existence. To manifest a generic prayer for the troubled souls of prisoners or any group of beings institutionalized, even indeed housed on your world, is a noble gesture toward allowing for a magnanimity of spirit to include all of humanity in your good wishes, and it elevates you to feel this way, that is, forgiving and all-encompassing in your generosity of spirit. But in terms of work, well, I am a worker, and I told you, I think, the first day I arrived at this teacher base . ..

Elyssia: Urn-hum. You did.

TOMAS: ... that I was a worker, and so I am not inclined to just offer up a prayer and let the chips fall where they may or let the angels send the midwayers to do what they can do. I am the kind of worker who rolls up his sleeves and goes into the furrows and so I find the sentiment charming but the work ineffectual.

It is my theory that the work of the soul is involved in personal human decision-making. It is in the decision-making of the human being that those steps and expansions of the soul's consciousness allow for an eternal life to develop. Until that occurs, you have a conditioned animal, and except for trained animals who behave in an orderly fashion (which is certainly beneficial to civilization and circuses), it is not very beneficial to the Kingdom as was presented and promoted by the Master when he was here.

And so I would suggest that if you wanted to do what I would call real work, you go down there in some capacity and work, if not with the prisoners, perhaps with the families, with the victims, with the human beings, with the children who have yet to be raised in an environment where criminality is an option; to allow for the love of truth, beauty and goodness to become a part of the home lives of the parents who bring the children into the world; allow for the economics to be well distributed, to be balanced; allow for the education programs to be administered; allow for the medical aspects to be effective and attainable; allow for education to be available. All these things are putting your prayers into concrete effect here. Here is where the work is done.

Elyssia: Well, this is fine, great. I've chosen my little work to do, that I've chosen to do, and that is what I can do in addition to what I do in my daily life.

TOMAS: Yes.

Elyssia: But I still feel the pull and the desire, somehow, when I think about these people, I feel a pull. I feel a desire to do something, but... practically speaking, you choose what you can do, when you do that, so in passing the jail I might find a certain kind of peace, as you said, say a little prayer for them.

Hester: A little prayer never hurt anybody.
TOMAS: Certainly.

Elyssia: But I'm not thinking it's the same as getting down there and really doing something. We do give old towels, so I'll mention it to all of you. We give old towels and sheets to the people who are homeless or in need, like wives and children of prisoners, so if any of you have any old towels, and most of you probably do,... I found that I had a lot of towels that were slightly frayed, so I . .. would you bring them?

TOMAS: I don't have any towels, but I [group laughter] will support your movement.
Elyssia: I understand.

Leah: I would like to address this question once more. If I understood, Elyssia asked how effective our prayers were...

Elyssia: Yes.

Leah: ... not particularly for direction. And while I appreciate all the direction that was forthcoming, I recall that one of our teachers initially told us "Always send a blessing" and I found it quite charming that Hester's associate, rather than, as she looked upon the monument to criminals, rather than condemn them, spoke a blessing of them . ..

Hester: Lifting them up.
Elyssia: Urn-hum.

Leah: I don't know