TMArchives

Tomas Vol IV - Butler, PA - August 25, 1998 thru October 13, 1998 - Part 10 of 13

This segment settled down to some good lessons and some good discussion.

Unity in Diversity is a great overview of the new age, and how the Teaching Mission fits into it, It also contains an interesting conversation about social mores, in which Tomas said: " I am not here to support or deny your social mores. Those are something you develop as you manifest your faith walk, and therefore those are integral to your individual behaviors, but what I can teach is the spirit connection that would give rise to those ethics and sentiments within you that would enable you to behave in such ways as may or may not come forth with a literal apology when you feel remorse. This is an individual offshoot of spiritual growth."

The lesson on Spiritual Ego is important, and includes a memorable response to the question: " Do humans naturally trust?" "No." Tomas says, " Humans inherently need, and as they are provided their basic needs, they then develop a trust that their needs will be fulfilled. When they have needs and their needs are not met, they do not develop trust. Trust is a human process. Trust is not a gift of the spirit. Faith is a gift of the spirit and once you have developed faith, and have learned how to trust the Father, then you can develop trust in something that will be there for you."

Chakra Talk was included because it represents contemporary new age thought, the arena in which many of us "light workers" perforce do work and play.

*****

BUTLER, PA, USA

VOLUME IV, Part 10 of 13

August 25, 1998 - October 13, 1998

C O N T E N T S

Date	Topic	Page
August 25, 1998	Unity in Diversity	1
September 1, 1998	Allegory of the Fawn	19
September 8, 1998	Clichés and Buzzwords	28
September 22, 1998	Spiritual Ego	39
September 29, 1998	Your Morontia Reality	55
October 6, 1998	Chakra Talk	65
October 13, 1998	Love One Another	86
	[End of Vol. IV, Part 10 of 13]	100

Group: Erata, Iyana, Liana, Hunnah, Leah, Rachel, Evangel, Joniel and Gerdean; Good evening.

PEARL: We have a big gathering tonight. Is there anything special that you would like to learn about?

Gerdean: I'm on-line now, on AOL and I'm talking with the Teaching Mission people's conversations; one of them is about the diversity and how even we think different. They're going through the same growth throes as our groups have gone though in order to find our core unity and so the process of unity in diversity is an on-going adventure -- sometimes difficult; sometimes impossible, it seems, but -- that's what was on my mind. Not necessarily that I'm asking any questions about it.

Gerdean: Well, what unites us is our belief in Michael and the Epochal Revelation, the Urantia Book. That's what basically unites us, that we're sons and daughters of the living God. A personal relationship with our Father, that's what basically unites us, but even as we come together, we come together with such diverse backgrounds, such varied opinions, that sometimes we have a hard time remembering that to love each other and to accept each other with the differences -- sometimes the differences are really striking.

PEARL: I believe you hit the nail on the head. You know where you're coming from.

PEARL: Yes. Everyone has a little bit to offer each other. Everyone cannot be the same. Everyone works toward one purpose. It's like putting together a puzzle.

Hunnah: Do we want people to be the same, because it makes us feel more comfortable?

PEARL: Yes, because it is more comfortable to have a common ground, as you might say, but someone might be on a different type of ground than you. Someone is on sand and someone is on dirt, but they are equally the same. You want a common ground.

The part that is important is the acceptance with the other, no matter what background they come from. When you put together a puzzle, say you have a painting painted by the painter Monet who has not defined colors but multiple colors, a dab here and a dab there and you have to put together the pieces. It is very difficult sometimes to see what piece matches what piece because the colors are not black and white as you might say, and so when you are with other people, the acceptance is very difficult sometimes, but you have to give with your heart, not with your eyes, not with your head. You have to use the eyes of your heart rather than the human aspects.

When you come to the core, what is the core? The core is the Master in his love, and so you come together because you have a common interest. You have different backgrounds, but also, the reason you are together is because of Him, so you have to set aside all the differences. The appearance -- The way a person appears to you is different, but way a person lives IS different. Perhaps the way a person thrives in this society with his job is different, but ultimately you come together. You come together because of Him.

Gerdean: I seem to remember in the text, in The Urantia Book, it says that the success of the unity in diversity is because we can put aside our differences for a common goal.

Gerdean: It's difficult in our arenas because we all have different agendas.

Gerdean: Because we all see things differently and that's where the problem comes in, because people have different agendas. Some of us have hidden agendas, some of us are overt, and some of us aren't interested in the other guy's agenda, so we need to have a long-range goal that can incorporate all of the diversities.

PEARL: One of the things you need to do is develop your sense of understanding compassion and love. As you strive to accept one's fellowman in the different ways that each present themselves, you must attune your mind continuously to the thought that "He is the son of God". When you look at an individual, you will not see that they have rags or silks, but rather you see past the exterior. We see past the flesh. When we practice the attunement of your mind to view the individual as truly the Christ views him, then you are with the Christ.

If Christ were to come into this room, how would you address him if you didn't know who he was and he was in rags and needed a bath and something to eat. Some days you might welcome him with open arms; on other days, when you have other things on your mind, you might want to shoo him away, so you must practice to accept him any day with the open arms, so that when the Christ does come to you, you will be able to accept him, as he always accepts you.

But it takes practice, because the human element is very difficult sometimes to overcome. There are too many conflicts and too much garbage, too much interest and you cannot set your mind on what you really want to do, so every day if you practice and if you think and remember what you have to do, it will become as if it were natural to you. Do you understand what I mean?

It is like a habit that you develop or a habit that you break. The more often you do it, the more it becomes a part of you. So all the things that you need to set aside will become unimportant. They are not what you are here for. What you are here for is to accept, to love, to give to others. That way, when you meet/come together, as a group, not only are you unified in what you want to do, but then you will know the core -- why you are here. Does that make sense to you?

Hunnah: Yes. I would like to address something in your talk. I have observed that there is a cadence to your voice that is almost hypnotic, and this is enough to pull me totally away from thinking at all. It's mesmerizing. This intonation is almost like a soothing lullaby. We forget about the packaging, the message can be very powerful. It can be very soothing. The words don't mean anything so much as the presence, of where that energy is coming from. It's like a beam of light that reflects and falls softly on us. The comprehension's there, but the comforting intonation is what I was interested to notice.

PEARL: It's like a lullaby and when you were a child and listened to your mother sing to you, you might not know what the words were, but you sure knew the hymn -- the way the music flowed, and that is the comforting part.

Hunnah: It also turns off the cognitive aspect of the self and it allows spirit to have the full reign. As you spoke, reason leaves, analysis leaves, and there is just that lovely swing and you go back and forth and it's very healing.

PEARL: The message -- to give up what is human and to accept what is divine -- IS a matter of healing.

Hunnah: Your messages are so simple. I'm sure there are times when Jesus spoke that it was annoying to people who were still into questions and wanting intellectual challenges, and it must've been provoking to him, but the cadence of his voice must have won over, in spite of that tendency. It's just an assumption.

Gerdean: Our souls are bathed, and in this case, we are learning the presence of a wonderful new teacher, and so we are attentive to the atmosphere that emanates from the loving personality of this new teacher.

When Tomas early spoke to this group at Elyssia's, the same remark was made about Tomas' almost hypnotic effect, and yet today he is regarded as an academic teacher and, to me, it's because we are so literal-minded, it's necessary -- perhaps not necessary but that's at least what Tomas does, is waft away from that core place of tranquility in order to bridge the gap of the literal-mindedness with the greater reality. It's nice.

Gerdean: We have to teach it also, so we have to academically understand it, even if we do feel it.

PEARL: Don't you yearn for the new learning? That is another reason why you come together. When you walk away from here, do you not feel refreshed, as if you were bathed in the light of the Father's love?

Rachel: Too, I can take what I get here, the expansion of reality, of the truth, and bring that with me and I've been really good at it, being more spirit-led and letting things come to me, and it's been very rewarding -- instead of trying to throttle someone with your own ideas and try and find that core where you can relate somewhere and take it from there.

PEARL: The acceptance of the message is so important that when we tell you and give you this beautiful message, that it does give you a seat in your spirit that is always there and comes forward as you grow stronger. Many times your human aspect takes over because of your mindset.

You may look back and analyze but you must know it’s a continuous learning experience, the way it should be done and the way we are trying to give up. It's hard to give up those human attributes and make the spirit part of you lead you to the right way.

Hunnah: I taught Reiki in Cranberry last Thursday. My husband Ron taped the one-hour session. Merium and other celestial assistants enjoyed having 50 people to address. I think the session uplifted the collective consciousness. It led me to reach out in appreciation of this light that we are all connected to and can utilize. I hope to be able to do it again.

Liana: I went to Montana, a Ta-Anua retreat. Solara has written the "11-11" books, like "Starborn." 11-11 is the ascension and has been going on since 1987. There are gates that have been being opened, activated. The first gate was activated Jan. 11, 1992. In 1993 I was made aware of "sacred geometry." There I met Omashar the musician who works with Greg Braden. It took place on 120 acres, a 6-bedroom lodge. There were a lot of experiences for the nine of us: 5 from Argentina, 1 from Peru, 2 from Germany and me.

We threw 11 sticks into the fire, representing 11 things we wanted to let go of. A lot of issues came up for everyone. Everybody's chain was pulled and we all made up at a heart level. There was sacred dancing, like the Golden Winged Lion, brought to us by the celestials. Each dance was strenuous, lasting 20-25 minutes. There was also the Earth/Star dance, representing how we go along separated and then connect in love. The dances are to recalibrate the psyche, the soul, perhaps the planet.

We went to a cave and had to crawl through it, like a birth canal. Here are photographs. In the cave, we descended about 1,000 feet to a river, and after asking permission of Mother Earth, we unlit our lanterns and sat in a circle hearing the water lapping up on the rocks below. All of a sudden I heard ancient tribal singing and drumming. Later I discovered others had heard it also.

Group: All these groups seem different, but they are really the same. Diana Coda Robles was another. Her thing was in Hawaii. It's all part of Correcting Time. That's what the ascension is, the Correcting Time. "All that I AM, that I AM."

Hunnah: When I started to read Solara, the energy response was so powerful it scared me, and I closed the Book. Her consciousness is in this book. It's the Pleiadian connection, like a remembering, but it doesn't fit with the Urantia teaching, that there is a remembering. So we are being allowed to remember in a universe sense and not just an earthly sense.

Gerdean: Remember that we are to identify with our Thought Adjuster who has been eternal.

Gerdean: We humans have just been born, but our job is to become one with the spirit, who has been around a LOT. But we begin our personal experience with this life.

Hunnah: The diversity, though, is scary at first. You think "Those people are nuts!" but at the same time, we learn to respect their experiences.

Gerdean: Our Thought Adjuster did come from Divinington and will return to Divinington, and will bring us back with it.

Iyana: Exactly. And we are on the last leg of it, right now, of our journey.

Iyana: We are agondonters and the last of the kind and we believe and trust. This is the last time. We'll never be incarnated again.

Rachel: Rose Parks is steeped in Native American culture, the sweat lodges, the chants, and she has certain beliefs that she's here to be teacher and healer for whatever's coming after that, and with all her funky beliefs, there comes this couple from Europe who actually keep King Arthur's Castle. They came and visited Rose. He was the keeper of King Arthur's sword and she had the feminine sword, and their job was to go around the world and open up earth centers. One was near Rose's hill. And even with her disbelief, when he plunged the sword into the earth, she could FEEL the pain of the Mother. Overpowering. And then the other sword went in, and everything lit up, and there was a feeling of love and opening up. I love these rituals. It brings you into a certain oneness.

Hunnah: Are we talking about the astral plane? My daughter has scratched up -- so many voices are speaking up, saying "Maybe this will catch your attention!" -- It goes on as part of the wake-up call. We are all brought to a point to allow this myriad representation, whether it's ancient, cosmic or personal, to respect.

Liana: Yes. Your core truth. You have to sit in your truth. What is your core self? The spark of God! And it's connected with everything. That's how we become one, with the heart. I could feel what everybody else was feeling because that's also my stuff. It just is. Everything I read now is the same. No matter where it comes from, it's saying the same thing. And now the thing to do is to Surrender-Trust-Allow-Rest, and then God comes in.

Hunnah: [Reading] "The sacred marriage represents the unison of Christ and the presence of I AM. The union of God and mankind. A consciousness of oneness on all levels of human experience." We have to experience oneness in human form, right? Bride and groom. Unity and oneness. I came, at one point, to the place where I knew I had to stop insisting that I be courted to grow up and allow the marriage -- to make the commitment. It's very important for courtship in a marriage, of development, and it deserves these attentions, as diverse as they are. We do want to hang on to the word "Urantia" to study book talk, but we can't stay in our house studying a book when the whole world around us is discovering new ways to say the same thing.

Rachel: The key word I hear here is "experience" -- to experience other people, and that's what makes us grow.

Hunnah: If you say, "that's it" I've had enough experiences, then you quit growing.

Gerdean: In reaction to what you said about reading the Book, this is a Teaching Mission movement that we're with. Part of it is an appreciation of all of the activities of Correcting Time which is a reflection of the fifth epochal revelation, the day and time wherein we are being enlightened and enlivened by the universe opening up to us. The wonderful thing about the Teaching Mission to me, as compared to what I call the orthodox readers -- which I was, a reader, and still am, but before the Teaching Mission we did read the Book and there were a lot of people content to have those intellectual answers, but the vibrant and wonderful thing to me about the Teaching Mission is that it does bring it into the experiential, it helps us work through our issues so that our spiritual life can shine.

It helps us come into our own nitch as far as our service work, which may be with Reiki or Native Americans or 11-11 or transmitting or any number of activities, an unlimited amount of activities, and -- without prejudice -- it's a delight to be a part of the TeaM because it's associated with the UB which teaches the core truth which Jesus taught which is that we can take truth from any source and accept it, no matter where, what source it comes from. SO any one of these new age movements has truth! It has value because it is in praise of the Father in the way that the Father is understood by that believer. It's a living reality.

Iyana: I've been reading Louise Hay and everything in it is for you to improve yourself so that you are living a life of love and joy and praise. So that there's nothing negative at all. You get rid of all the negatives that you had, make a new program for yourself. You get rid of the old magazines, the old clothes, you just shed them, be good to yourself, life and everybody around you. If you do those things, you do what Jesus wants you to do. You become loving and caring, and real.

Evangel: It's not really easy to live that way. You have to work with the Holy Spirit or some higher consciousness to bring it about, but you can't just say "I'm going to do it!" It just doesn't work that way.

Iyana: Last week Fraline said that the Book changed her life. She is dropping her temper, her anger, and she is very happy. Her whole life is changed. So to me the whole thing is getting rid of the garbage, and if you are a joyous person, people want to be around you and they will learn from you why and how you got to be that way. And that's also part of the Teaching Mission. You're supposed to have a good time, kids.

Rachel: I have to disagree. I think you can throw that switch and say, "I'm not going to be that way anymore." Because I've worked hard at it in the past, very hard.

Rachel: And then spending time in the stillness, meditating, wanting in your core to be a master of yourself.

Evangel: You will eventually change, but it won't happen because you demand it be changed right now.

Iyana: Louise Hay talks about certain diseases you got in your life. Maybe anger, resentment, that you hold on to. All that can get into your system and your system is affected.

Liana: Things have to be known on an emotional level. You can't just will yourself into thinking something. There has to be an emotional -- that's what's coming up now.

Evangel: In these meetings, too. It is a step in the right direction, but then you have to go further.

Liana: You have to experience things in an emotional way. In our culture, especially in North America, we've been afraid to experience anything emotionally. All truth must come into the emotional knowing.

Liana: Right. And in North America, we're as scared as hell to be feeling anything, but now it seems the places that I go . ..

Gerdean: And they're afraid to see other people feeling. "I don't want to see you joyous! I don't want to see you unhappy! I don't want to see you grieving! Or in love. Or cry. Or be angry!"

Evangel: Unless they're kissing in front of me. I don't want it waved in my face.

Liana: I've done a lot of work. I did the Course in Miracles for years, and I really thought that I was pretty clean, but when I went to this thing with these people, there was stuff that I could not release but I released it through other people. Like I have been a wounded child. I heard about that there. I've been betrayed. So, there was one day that I cried continuously. I went to my room and water was just coming out. It wasn't even crying, it was just a purification kind of a thing.

Hunnah: When you're eyes just run, that's release. When you cry, that's pain. But when you release, you're not doing it just for you, you're doing it for everybody.

Hunnah: I did that for about five years with church folk. This evening we've talked about ceremony. It's not an anathema, but there was a ceremony when I was 16 when I made a commitment to Christ. I responded to ceremony, where I was to light one candle. I got up there and lit them all! It was not a decision I made; it was a response. I would like to ask in prayer this evening that I be allowed to lift the high purpose of ceremony and not hide from it. I've been considering teaching Reiki, and in order to do that, I have to do a ceremony. I have pushed all that away, but it's okay if you lift it up to entertain a new definition.

Joniel: My week was not as exciting as everybody else's. It was just a vacation. The first time in years. We went to Ocean City, Maryland. On the way down I had a fight with my daughter so I spent the first day in my room crying, depressed, but I did get to go out and I thought there wasn't really anything there that I wanted to see, that I couldn't enjoy up here, except for the beach. The amusement park held no fascination for me, all the sham and glamor of tourist traps. It was sort of shallow. I did enjoy going down to the beach. The rest of it, I've outgrown carnivals and that a long time ago.

My daughter and I are talking again. I ended up having an accident that I have to pay for because she was switching gears on me when I was trying to pull up to a stop. She doesn't have money because she is moving and won't have the money so I have to do it. She's very irresponsible.

On Sunday I went on a tour. They have new group homes that they've built. It was like going back home, but not. It was different, and I ran into a few people I had grown up with and that made me happy. I think I had more fun there than I did in Ocean City, and so what I did learn was: Don't take your kids on vacation with you.

Gerdean: Maybe that's why we're admonished to love with a fatherly affection. Motherly affection is a pushover. Father would want us to grow up; Mother would want us to stay babies. An observation.

Evangel: I have been on and off. I've got some kind of infection that gets me down. It wears me out. I've been praying to either be strong enough to abandon these ill beliefs or take me away. I'm tired of living like this. I've been sick my whole life. A few months ago I got some antibiotics but they didn't work, they mess up my digestive system.

Hunnah: It's always interested me how someone could be instantly cured. Up to their eyeballs in trouble and then Wham! It’s gone. I think its grace, at that point in your release, that it goes. As soon as one is aware of why one is ill, it's over! That's what can happen. Wham! You move into a different frequency.

Hunnah: In a sense this is unconscious. You are an innocent, but there is secondary gain to be had from an illness. Don't even waste your time digging at it because the root cause is tucked down deep.

Evangel: It's the ego trying to keep me material, from being spiritual, and I know how the system works. I've done the Course in Miracles, many years ago, but you have to know how it works. You have to have the right desire first and then the Holy Spirit will work with you in its timing, not yours. That's why I say, you can't snap your fingers and will it. If it's your soul desire, then the spirit will work it out. It might not be in this world. I don't want to give up. I want to fuse on this planet. I want to get better on this world, but it doesn't work just by saying I want it. I'm doing the best I can. I meditate and I've had religious experiences. Many! I've met Jesus and Machiventa and I know that I'm involved with this stuff here but still I'm sick.

Iyana: We have to be the way we are. We have lessons to learn. I don't know why.

Hunnah: That's right. That's the category you're in. We have experiences because they're going to be shared. My teaching the Reiki is a good example. We have to change our idea of what teacher means. I miss Erata (who remains on-line).

Iyana: I'm finally getting bored and I've done very well, considering I've been four months here upsetting their life and everything. It's time for me to go home! They've been wonderful but it's time for me to move on, so PRAY that I'll be able to take care of myself when I get home. Little fairies to do the work. We went out twice. We went to dinner once and went to Pittsburgh.

Rachel: I had a great time at my horse show. It went wonderfully. I expected nothing and I had a great success, I would say. The first day I did horse massage and went home and sat in the meadow and got the message: Foot Massage. So I got up the next morning and made a sign: "Food Massage" and I did that and people were lined up and came back day by day. One man had done the Course and we got to talking, so it was nice to meet a brother in the flesh among all the non-believers there and I have another one this weekend in Saxonburg. There's an ad I wrote in the flyer, all about communicating with your animal, so I'm getting a lot of calls. And I'm creating my own company. The Good Sense Horse Clinic. And I'm making it a viable living entity and I'm having fun and being creative and not stressed and more organized and I'm having fun. So far. I can't wait ‘till the next challenge rears. So that's it.

Leah: It's my turn. I remember what the teachers said about the children so I was talking to Evangel's son, and I caught myself being shrewish and I heard my voice and was not happy with myself. So I tried to change. I made a mental note to try to be more communicative with him and his two friends. It hasn't been working out that well as far as I'm concerned but it seems to be working for them, but I did make an effort to pay attention to children.

The other thing is I was having this dream where the garage door was partially open and these Native Americans, or someone with a swarthy complexion, was coming in or going out and I remember going "Ohhhh!" and they turned to look at me. Evangel, in the next room with the door closed, was wakened and he came in and I was making this Indian war chant type of noise. Loud! He couldn't take it any more so he shook me to wake me up and I said, "What are you doing here in my dream? Or waking me up?" and he said, "What are you doing!? Making that noise!?!" It was funny.

Iyana: Since I've been here, I have been dreaming and awakened talking. In my dream I would be moving my hands and then I wake up and see my hands doing it!

Leah: Once I started yelling, "Help!" in my sleep. My husband woke me up and chewed me out. "What are you yelling that for!?!?"

Gerdean: For my sharing, we had the Last Supper last Thursday. Always when Jesus' birthday comes I feel a resurgence. Part of this comes from being on-line and being in touch with people in Oregon and Idaho and Texas and Ohio and so it's great to have the family expanded. I am so delighted. I turn it on and it says, "You've got mail!" and I go, "Yes!" and I get LOTS of mail. Get an e-mail address and I'll call you too.

We went to the family reunion on Sunday and had fun. We invited Jude to go. We ate. A lot. I have two or three cousins that I have some degree of affinity for; the rest of them don't really understand me, so Mom was really happy that I invited Jude because that is something she can understand.

The house is still falling into place. In the shop, business fell apart the MINUTE we dropped the bomb. As long as Clinton was screwing around, business was really good and the minute he quit, we dropped the bomb and the bomb has fallen on my business. I am not happy about that at all. I don't know what the problem is but it has affected the economy. Meddling around in things that don't concern us.

Evangel: Countries all over the world are concerned about this ruining the world economy. It's real serious. We shouldn't be spending all this money investigating somebody's sex life.

[Conversations deteriorated. "Diverted" into speculation and gossip and emotional outrage and . .. ultimately general mayhem 'til tape ended. Second tape:]

PEARL: What a room full of information! Let me tell you how many heads I have: at least ten! It seems as though it really comes down to learning. Learning to see how things are to be, giving up what needs to be given up and taking on what needs to be taken on. Giving away old habits, perhaps, if you want to call them that. A trying to develop understanding of how the universe works.

Casting the sticks into the fire symbolizes giving up of things, old habits, old ways, and trying to go on to a newer way. There are a lot of symbols, but it all shows you the way you should go. It seems as though you are all on the right path, being able to acknowledge things that you should change and realizing the way in which you should change it. It's just a matter of your awareness, becoming more aware of how the universe should be, how you should go to come in line with the Father.

There has been so much information shown and shared. I could visualize a lot of it as you talked, how you deal with your individual problems and how open you were to share all of them, simply from knowing that you had to give up, you did not enjoy the amusement park, but would rather be here, in your home; or to see the simple beauty of the beach but also knowing that you have to work on your relationship with your daughter.

There is so much to learn. You have the time to do it; it is just a matter of taking one step towards that change. So many times you pull back because change is so difficult. Everything is learning. Perhaps change is a word that is sometimes not accepted. Learning to do something differently might be a better way of expressing it. Your awareness of where you want to go is quite evident in what you say. It is just getting your mind set and making the pattern so you know how to get there.

There was so much spoken, it was hard to take it all in, so perhaps you could ask me questions. I tried very hard to hold on to everything but it went from one to the other, so if you were to ask me questions it would make it easier for me or are you all talked out?

Leah: I have two comments. One of them is about all these diverse paths: "There are many ways to climb the mountain." And the other one I have is, and I apply it to myself as well, in the political situation and the things we get hotheaded about is that I can recall that Jesus said, "He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone."

PEARL: Yes. When you were discussing that issue, I think that part of the problem was that it was brought into such a long drawn-out affair. A man who does something wrong and lies about it, hurts himself and those that are close to him. There will be a long time healing for the family you were speaking about because of that lie. That should show you that honesty is always the best policy. So many people have been hurt, not only in the immediate family but in the tax-payers as well. Did it not cost quite a bit of money for this long drawn out affair?

A lot of issues have cut across the news page. It has brought sex talks into the workplace when that should be left in the bedroom. Everybody needs their intimacy but it does not need to be on the front page. So you see, everyone makes mistakes; admitting a mistake is really the most honorable thing to do. So that issue hopefully will clear up and maybe the media will learn from what they've done and understand that it doesn't really need to be done in the fashion it was done.

A lot of people make mistakes and to admit them is difficult at times. We all make mistakes, but we must learn from them as well.

Rachel: I was listening to this preacher on the way up talking about God's toolbox, and God's tools are the chisel, the hammer, the . .. you know, they're not gentle little tools, and I can't say I agreed with everything he said. When you get in God's way, perhaps it's God's plan for you to hurt and hurt and hurt and then you have victory. I don't know if I...

PEARL: But to reshape yourself is uncomfortable and it also gives you learning. If it is not uncomfortable, would you really remember it as well as something that was easy for you?

Rachel: No, that's true, and I was reading in "God Calling" today, Jesus was saying, "Were it not for My apostles' weariness and exhaustion and doubts and fears that they had to set aside and rest with Me and give up the works, so that they could gain strength," so I suppose there is a bit of truth to that: the pain and the gain.

Hunnah: On this journey we have been working very hard but we are allowed to come into the day of rest, and for me that day is being aware of my station in reality, and if you see success coming to you more gracefully with a new definition and our new allegiance, then you don't stay in the discomfort zone as long because you really learned that if you're uncomfortable then there's a reason and you start to pay attention more. I don't think we are as tormented as I would have felt earlier because I was too ignorant to know if I was receiving a cue to be instructed.

PEARL: Perhaps it is not ignorance but you are coming into more trust as to how you are being led.

Hunnah: Yes. The old circuitry isn't visiting as frequently. In other words, I don't feel that I'm off the trolley, off my track as much, but someone described this as brainwashing and in a sense it is a new program; it's a new disc, and we are allowing it to be filled with new interpretations and direction, and when we put in the old disc, the old programming, we can expect all the errors, even if we have access to the new. We always have that choice.

PEARL: Yes. So whenever you have the new train of thought, to know that the Father is caring for you and that you are on the path to do his will and you allow it to happen without any hesitation on your part, then it comes to you.

Rachel: You know, I look back at the pattern and the little pieces that kind of lead you along the path, you say, oh, okay, that was spirit-led. Or, how would I have gotten to this point if I was not doing his will. Right?

PEARL: Another stick to throw into the fire. Yes, it is. So know that you are loved and that you are a beautiful person and that the Father is with you and that he will offer you opportunities to do his work. Accept them graciously because they'll come continuously into your path. Allow them to flourish and to flower.

TOMAS: It is such a joy to sit back and play professor emeritus and watch the new teachers have a go at it. It is a joy indeed to have such a long-standing class, my very own graduate students, indeed. I feel more this evening, however, like a country grandma who has put up many dozens of quarts of fruits and vegetables. I feel as if I have done a significant job of preserving many tasty morsels that will be utilizable throughout the winter.

Indeed, I would like to discuss for a few minutes these beautiful jars of cherries, peaches, string beans, tomatoes and so forth, and discuss to some degree the reality that they are not all quarts, no, but some are large jars of dill pickles and some are tiny containers of extremely exotic chutney.

And you, my children, are very much like these preserves and canned goods. You have your capacities and you have your unique taste. You each provide a nutritious meal or a colorful side dish for someone's nourishment. Your value can be apportioned as needed, and it is unfair to assume that one can make a meal of pickles or of chutney, but a taste here and there may be all that's needed, if you see my analogy.

TOMAS: I also want to point out to you that the capacity of the container is an interesting analogy to your own capacity and this capacity may or may not grow bigger than it is now. There is the little jar that is appropriately filled with something poignant and precious, like your adage "Great things come in small packages", and so some of you are a small package, but the taste treat, the morsel that you bring, is as valuable as the bounty to be had from the crock, and it is a joy to me as your teacher of long-standing to sit back and behold what beautiful jars of fruit I see.

How the red cherries glisten! How the slices of apple covered with cinnamon and sugar sauce invite pie and cobbler. I am so proud, so pleased, of the contents in these jars which you represent. I don't mean to activate your appetites . ..

TOMAS: ... but it's an analogy that seemed to be appropriate in the discourse having to do with unity and diversity. If you all can realize that you each in your own capacity contain that which is appropriate for you -- your size, your color, your value, your nutrition -- as you are each presented, as you each follow the leading of your own indwelling adjuster, you will provide the savory treat as indicated by the directions on the jar. Are there questions this evening?

TOMAS: Guilt is a sense that you have done something that does not meet yours or another's standards. It is a sense of being wrong or inadequate. It is a sense of doing something that someone, including yourself, would not approve of. Guilt is a virtually useless feeling. It is certainly nothing to dwell on.

It may be recognized for what it is and ascertained as an emotional observation and let go. If you yourself feel a sense of guilt, it may be because you have discovered that you cannot live up to your own ideals, and this is a part of the human condition. No one can live up to their ideals, even though the ideal remains something to eternally aspire toward, and you may enjoy those strides you make.

If on the other hand, you are experiencing guilt as a result of someone else's standards and ideals . ..

TOMAS: ... you must let that go at once, for it is not a standard that you must aspire toward. You must aspire toward the ideal that Father establishes for you. You are not here to meet other people's expectations, and under no circumstances are you to accept a condition called shame which is insidiously related to guilt.

Rachel: Okay. I'm in agreement then. Well, I felt guilty but I didn't think I should feel guilty because I didn't live up to someone's expectations, because I had my own agenda.

TOMAS: Who else's agenda can you loyally have? If you have made commitments, you can only attempt to live up to these commitments as best you can. If you have failed in being able to live up to a commitment, you have failed yourself and you must answer to yourself above and beyond an acknowledgement that you are unable to attain your own ideal, your own commitment. What can you do? Grovel? No. You may certainly apologize for your inability to attain a standard that someone else has set or that you have failed to live up to, but making an apology is not even the same as guilt. Guilt is a value judgement and as has been mentioned earlier this evening, and who among you would convict me of sin? We all err. To err is human.

TOMAS: To apologize is to acknowledge error and in-as-much as you are human, you will make error, but to feel guilty is to feel morally abased. To feel "diseased." Guilt is an unhealthy emotion, should not be cultivated, and serves no purpose.

TOMAS: Precisely. You change your ways. You atone by changing your behavior, and go on. It is very unfortunate that guilt has become a way of life, has become such an ingrained habit. It is in the cellular level. It is a truth that you will discover that you will find yourself feeling guilty without knowing why. This is a condition built into you from time immemorial because of your belief evolution. There is always something for you to feel guilty about as long as there is someone wielding power over you. That is how you are kept in check, and yet if you have dignity status and realize that you have nothing to feel guilty for, you have no need to carry around this guilt or to subscribe to a genetic guilt, or an historic guilt.

You did not do those things which your society would have you responsible for. Did you annihilate the American Indians? Did you bring the slaves over on ships? Did you crucify Christ? Did you eat the apple? These are old wounds that someone has suggested you carry around with you in order to keep the atmosphere of guilt alive. You must abandon guilt. Let it be the first thing you abandon in your ascent. It is unwieldy baggage.

Leah: I hear the words you're saying, and you say that guilt is not the same as "I'm sorry", but there is an appropriate time to say "I'm sorry" and unfortunately it always seems as if it's guilt induced, so when is . .. the way you're speaking is that there is almost no appropriate time to say you're sorry but I know there is an appropriate time.

TOMAS: I have heard of your movie that says you don't have to apologize to someone you love.

TOMAS: That is the one. And yet, as long as you are developing civilization, as long as you have social relationship, as long as you are working on a brotherhood of man, you will find these amenities beneficial, for to say that you are sorry is a method of bridging the gap of offense.

If, for example, you have inadvertently hurt someone, or if they perceive that you have hurt them, they will establish a barrier between you. You may not believe that you have hurt them, and yet they perceive that you have. It is perhaps the better part of valor to ask them what the matter is, listen compassionately and apologize on behalf of the misunderstanding. That does not mean you have to assume guilt.

It is also true that sometimes it is inevitable that there are times you are inconsiderate or ruthless in your humanness, and occasionally inadvertently bring deep grief to one you love, or to one you don't love, but when you perceive that you have caused damage, emotional pain, for no good reason, even though you see that the Father can take this experience and turn it into something, even though you can intellectually rationalize your way in and out of the experience, if you know in your heart that you have done something that could have been done better had you not been so willful, you would do well to acknowledge your error to your brother, and this is a way of healing the rift, the potential rift (tape turned) . .. or sustained guilt.

Iyana: Oftentimes in just the course of ordinary happenings some body will brush against somebody, say "I'm sorry", speak out of turn, say "I'm sorry" I mean, it's just a matter of social form, to keep things running smoothly.

TOMAS: Indeed, it is a civilized gesture. However, I feel that Rachel's question and Leah's pursuit have to do with a condition of emotional content, perhaps one which affects the quality of their life, and this is the life of the soul, not necessarily the social arena.

Rachel: But it's true what you said, when other people want to make you feel guilty it's a power trip. Isn't it?

TOMAS: I believe that was indicated in my response that it is a way of keeping you down. It is a way of keeping you in check. If you feel that you are worthless, which is a side effect of guilt, and then you can allow their esteem to flourish. Supposedly, I will add, in support of value, that if you are astute enough and spiritual enough to see this point, to realize this point, you have the responsibility then, the opportunity, to understand your friend, your peer, your brother, and love them in the face of their aberrant behavior which could be dealt with in good humor.

TOMAS: It is an interesting evening indeed. I would not deny you your most valuable sharing for anything. It does indeed contribute to your sense of community. As predicted, it has broken down barriers and allowed you to show your petals, if you will. You have become fragrant flowers. Some of you are tiny little buttercups and some of you are cacti. Some of you are Hawaiian passion flowers, and some of you are wildflowers. Some of you are hot house grown. [Group laughter]

Erata: Gee, Tomas, can you tell us which one we are? I wouldn't mind being the beautiful night-blooming cactus flower.

TOMAS: Let me then give you an amusing assignment for this week wherein we will be honoring again and still the birth of our Lord. Think of yourself as a flower and ascertain, based upon your understanding of your flora, what flower you are. Are you long and wispy? Are you short and compact? Do you have fragrance? Are you the kind that would snap up flies? Pick yourself a posy and be true to yourself in your portrayal. It is an interesting study, one which allows you to focus on your personality and perhaps to say, “My God, I do think that's the flower I am!" God help us.

Remember, however, that each of these flowers in the garden of the Lord is a unique bloom and it grows in the bed where it has been planted next to its neighbor. And altogether we have a beautiful garden. How have we gone from canned goods to gardening? My, we are turning into country folk here, aren't we?

I am going to sign off. I am not apprised of Merium's agenda. I think she may have an apron on as we speak. I myself, however, am charmed to be with you as always. I love you. Good evening.

TOMAS: This evening I feel more like a friend, like a companion, and less like a teacher, for sometimes you are rather adept at teaching yourselves, especially when you set out to assign yourself to a process of learning. We enjoy your growth in this regard; we also have rejoiced in your ability to play. We have felt and discerned your saturation with life experiences in this season of celebration and awareness of the Master Son and his impact on your life.

Happy birthday to you, Leah. (Thank you) And congratulations to you, Gerdean, on the anniversary of your release from toxins. It is always a joy to enter into your human accomplishments and your celebrations and invite you to party and rejoice in those things which are relative to your human systems, for we are aware of your human need to rejoice, to find life joyous in all of its contexts.

I am not going to bring in a lesson, that is to say I do not have a lesson prepared. I am not going to build your discourse this evening having to do with "preferment" except to add, Evangel, that you are wise to be aware of our Master's policy of observing that iniquity is unacceptable. If and when you find in your discernment that iniquity is in evidence, it is right for you to voice your belief, as it is right for anyone to believe and to stand for what they believe. One cannot be judged by having a belief system or an opinion and for living up to one's own standards of what is right or what is His will for you.

It is very interesting how human behavior at this point in your evolution, coming from a way of life and entering into a new way of life in the spirit, is the carrier of a lot of behaviors and thinking patterns that are external nuisances, but unless and until they become a nuisance for you, they will not be gotten rid of, and so much of the human manifestation of its own humanness must be born by others with good grace.

Remember there is an excerpt in your text that says that wise folk look upon immature people with the love and tolerance that parents bear their children, and those of you who have experienced parenting know that children can do some pretty disgusting things and even so the parent, in their bemusement, can readily overlook and even laugh at the antics of the little "rug rats" because they are so loved and enjoyed for all their being-ness. It is certainly true of the gods that you are, on occasion, also "rug rats" and you will grow up, and in the meantime it behooves you to appreciate that when you and/or your peers are not acting as maturely as your standards require, be forbearing and have loving tolerance for the growth throes of the human race.

Remember, too, if you will, that those of you who have set out upon a course of perfection attainment are sure to be led and guided by the spirit as you are capable. You cannot grow quicker than your capacity for growth allows, and the God-led individual is that one which is most eager to grow into ripeness for the Father. And so each of you in your own heart of hearts are aware of your own limitation and these limitations are an acknowledgement of your need for eventual growth in and through the good grace of the Father and the Mother and that reminders from one's siblings is not necessary.

You have, in your lives, of course, experienced the capacity of being a sibling and in that have known the condition known as sibling rivalry, and bickering among yourselves as children will do, but were you given a serious challenge, it is a fairly sure bet that all of you would drop your petty differences and band together for the united goal of standing up for that which is true, noble and good for you at your united core, and although we will not bring war upon you that you may band together in opposition to a warring force, we will remind you of the good fight of faith and that as each of you apply yourself to this good fight of faith, over weariness, over prejudice, over difficulty, over despondency and tedium, your best friend, next to yourself in your relationship with God, is your brother and/or sister who will stand with you in your fight for faith, for it is their fight also.

Stand together against the darkness, not against those who are also seeking truth, even those who seek in obscure and peculiar places. If they are not against us, they are surely for us, and so together we will prevail. We will forge into tomorrow, into an honorable realm of light and life.

I divert now to the fantasy of light and life, for I have witnessed it on your planet on occasion and even today experience it with you in certain pockets of realization. Certain moments in time. And the illumination of these moments, this conjoining of you men and women of time in and with the dignitaries of celestial glory, have pin-pointed and actualized a reality that can then be sought and attained by others.

The exploration of soul into space, the reaching out into the unknown for the security of reality, is indeed the new frontier. You have been called the avant-garde; you have been called the fore-runners. You live in exciting times and you are fortunate indeed, fortunate to have come this way in your own fight of faith and fortunate still to have the companionship of your siblings. Rejoice in the multi-faceted family of God.

It is perhaps important for me to remind you all that our search for God and the realization of his indwelling is a parallel to saying that you are searching for and finding divine love for you and within you. Our Father is living love. He manifests love throughout the universe in his order and in his harmony. In bringing your soul to peace, in allowing you the sanctuary of the still quiet place within where you know the peace which passes all understanding, you can recognize your relationship with God by the embrace, by the love which you feel for Him and which He feels for you.

In your ascent, you are aware that this love must be redefined on each new level of growth, and as you are growing, and as your siblings are growing, you must realize that your perception of love is not going to be the same as theirs, that in the difference is the adventure and the challenge. If a situation is too adventurous or too challenging, it is not required that you take it. It is only interesting. The only thing even remotely required is your own personal growth, and that is not pressed upon you any quicker than you can grow, as we have discussed already this evening. And so all is returning focus to your understanding of living love, the living love which you know in your heart that you have for your Parent and that your Parent holds for you. That is the only reality that you know, and even it will modify as you grow. It is the only authority you have: your own relationship with living love.

You have learned many, many truths and half-truths from many avenues of learning. Many teachings are out there. And they may or may not contribute to your development, but if they are teaching someone some degree of truth, then they have relative merit. If they do not speak to you, then bless it as you pass by. Or ignore it if you feel better, but it is not going to serve you to try to destroy that which is the belief system of someone else.

This is true also of those of you who were to argue theology with the various sects of organized religion. There is little to be gained in trying to persuade someone to another way of thought, in particular when it comes to theology. Theology is a man's relationship to his own God and there is nothing more sacred.

Leah: Doesn't it say in The Urantia Book that Jesus never took anything away from something somebody believed, but added to?

TOMAS: It is offered as a teaching technique. In your ministry with others, it is suggested that you do as he did and as he instructed his apostles and believers, to add to the existing belief system some truth or reality that would enhance the truth that was there while not dwelling on that which is not true. In other words, allowing the shadow to fall further and further into the shadow and allowing the truth, the illumination, to become brighter and brighter, and in this way, in their own good time, the truth would take on its own light and therefore the Father would succeed, you would succeed.

This is true, Leah. It is a teaching technique that is to be practiced as often as you can remember. It is also part of the human condition to become enrapt in personal opinions, prejudices, conditionings which decry such a skill, but even so, it is one which is encouraged. All of you can stand to gain by continued practice of this astounding technique of truth fostering. Are there questions this evening?

Iyana: I knew what you were saying because it is more or less of a review of what has been taught to us and what we have been reading. Also by your telling us that we can only grow as we can, that that would give us patience, so that we would not try to push ourselves where we do not belong.

MERIUM: I am trying to decide how I want to do this. Oh. I see a fawn, at a stream, getting a cold drink of water. It will walk around in the water a little bit, quench its thirst, and move to return to its environs, its habitat, its trails, will follow the meridian that's been created by its group.

I want you to be aware that there are people who will go from one transmitter to another in preference to any form of entertainment and will hardly give themselves a chance to process what they have observed. Almost like they were groupies. I want you to come to be with us like the young fawn, for a drink of water that you can assimilate into its body, you can take back without thought, satisfied, and returning to being what it is.

Study groups, synergies or other forms of group, become almost like sport or an activity for people. It is not meant to be an entertainment where you swap baseball cards, tidbits and truths. You're not really supposed to be operating that way. You are supposed to be like the fawn, in tune with getting that little drink and going about your life and being what you are.

Your minds are very busy. It is puzzling to watch the human lost in dispatch of everyday life, surfacing, and going out for the sport of choice as a form of entertainment. Many religions are a form of recreation; many religions are practiced for the wrong reasons. I hope that you will embrace our gathering like a little swim, a bath that serves and dislodges the not-so-truths that you have acquired.

There are many ways to enjoy your day. You do not have to work so hard at getting tickets in the front row of the soothsayer or the speaker who has the truth. You all know that this is very pleasant coming together with you but that you are very capable of bringing in your truths like the drink of water and you may swim in it.

Yes the fellowship is worthwhile; it brings a pleasant camaraderie for you, but I hope that this little metaphor that I am using will help you to look at your own life and decide whether (a) you are involved in a sport, (b) you are working too hard at it, with furrowed brow, or (c) that you have found this little pool of sustenance that is allowed to live and dwell in you and never be empty.

MERIUM: Thank you. I did not have beauty in mind. The fawn was there to be observed. Remind you, a fawn is a young deer, and as you journey and become who you are, you may mature into a wise doe or buck. The adult deer is not where it shouldn't be, and this is what we want for you, to be allowed to live your life in joy, without creating your value system and molding it into a sport.

I hope I have not offended you. I think that we have been together for some glorious companionship, and I do not sound light-hearted about this but it seems to me that it is a statement that can be made for what it is. Thank you.

TOMAS: Thank you very much, Merium, for your fine teaching and your lovely picturization of truth. The picturization that you present has now given me opportunity to divulge an analogy and, in lieu of entertainment or sport, you might consider this entire realm of revelation as art. I have equated the transmitting process as an abstract art form, in-as-much as you are in co-creation with divinity, and in-as-much as the mind of the mortal is used.

And as anyone who has any appreciation for art can tell you, there is some very delightful but juvenile artwork. There is some so sophisticated, so complex and so abstract, that it makes no sense whatsoever, but there are always some forms of art and/or a picture or two that speak to you and I recall to your mind a mota that art is a moment in time captured for eternity, and so perhaps as you review the various art forms of the new age, The Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, that is the many, many translations of truth which will be outpouring because of the opening of the circuits and the various prompts and programming of the participants.

There will be an array, much like a living gallery, and you may decide that some have value and some have not. It does not mean that the soul does not have value, but that the art-form holds no permanent interest for you. Has this been helpful?

You have touched upon and brought to the circle this evening interesting points of view and observation, worthy of note, for they speak of the day and age in which we are approaching, in which you read about this evening in the excerpt from the Last Supper*, and in your reflections of your many experiences socially with what's going on, on Urantia today in this divine conspiracy to bring God-consciousness into your lives. It is a worthy discourse. It is a meaningful subject.

I know I said that I would not give a lecture and indeed I have not lectured. I have addressed your concerns much like a friend would counsel with you in your life's situations. I would like, however, to bring this into a focus of how it is that the Master would have you, as his ambassador, as his new apostle, as a recipient of the insight, bring the information of this fifth epochal revelation to mankind, how you then may feel about the stature of the Revelation as compared to the significance of the many-faceted manifestations of developing spirit reality in your arena and on your world, for you know that this day and age is because of your evolutionary status, your time and space. That is why The Urantia Book is here now, because you were ready, as an evolving race of people. The time has come for the fifth epochal revelation, and so you are not the only ones who were waiting for these energies, but you have been mustered into the corps of those who would enforce truth and establish reality. You have reviewed your understanding of focus, the focus that equates you with the Master that allows you to speak for him, that allows you to follow the example of his teachings, his admonitions to you as teachers and believers.

You who will change the face of Urantia, who would bring light and life into the darkness, assuring the onward march of civilization and disallowing the disaster of dissolution of truth, grant your brothers and sisters great leeway in your focus, and yet always maintain your own focus in the Master's truths, for in maintaining his spiritual core of reality, you manifest a strength and indeed a greatness that goes beyond your words, that goes beyond the words of any mortal teacher, that goes beyond the words of any transmitter or trance-channeler, for the living reality is in reality greater than words.

The Father is pre-personal, and it is your relationship with this pre-personal fragment of divinity that is the upholder of the universe, and so hold fast to that, to the Father that indwells you and that upholds all of creation. Hold fast to that reality and it will manifest and radiate out from you your own microcosm of perfection and you will have succeeded without expressing a word. Has this registered?

Iyana: Yes, I think we know that we have work to do. Be about the Father's business.

TOMAS: I always appreciate hearing one of my flock announce his or her intention to follow the Master and to work in his vineyards. Indeed, lyana, you have heard me well. You have heard the urging of the Father within.

Iyana: What amazes me is the fact that we can really put in -- in our speaking sometimes to others, we can put in this little goodie so to speak. This little message can come in, especially like I would tell people, "You know, the Father really loves you! I don't believe you understand how much he loves you." And they really look at me as if, "Is that so?"

TOMAS: It is because they are hungry for this divine love, and how wonderful for you to give them the opportunity to believe this, if only for that brief moment when you contact them, eye to eye, Thought Adjuster to Thought Adjuster, and remind them that they are loved by divinity. This in itself is a service.

Iyana: I was going to ask you. I know that everything is going to be alright when I go home, but I was sort of looking for a pat on the back to find out if it will.

TOMAS: I will give you a pat on the back next week. This week I will give you a deep and profound embrace. I truly embrace your soul to its very origin, for you have been a real soldier of the circles, here in this vicissitude of life. In your return to your own environment, you will perforce recognize your environment and the challenges and delights of your own life, but you will miss the association of your daughter, your son, your grandchildren, your brothers and sisters in this active community and you will then need a pat on the back because it will take great strength of character to relinquish the grieving in order to embrace your initial original community in your town and resume again the efforts of the ages, that seed-planting movement of bringing the gospel to the people. I am quite confident of your strength. I am quite confident, too, that you realize how much you bring to your community and that when you go out into the world from your own home base, you will realize the strength and the joy that is yours, that you deliver to your neighbors and your brothers and sisters who await your stimuli and your seeds of truth.

Iyana: Actually, what is happening to me is that I am reaching more and more to the Father. And I know that that's going to be a great comfort to me.

TOMAS: Do not be gone long. Continue to visit the teacher base and demand regular transcripts of our activities so that you are regularly fed by the society of your peers.

Iyana: Always know, Iyana, that you are able to access any of us. You have the capacity to sit and learn the technique of teacher reception through your journaling and through the same methods that are used in this classroom. You do transmit through your verse, through your praise, and so you do teach and you know how it works, but you can gain even more comfort by greater application and more appreciation for what dwells within your own realm of authority.

TOMAS: You are very well loved. Are there other questions? Other issues? I will acknowledge to you that you have all worked hard and perhaps too hard. I will acknowledge to you the delights of letting down your hair and being childlike. You well know how good it feels to soak your feet or to indulge in nine hours of sleep. You all know how good it feels to be silly and you know what great medicine a good belly laugh can be.

It is important for you to, as you struggle, as you work hard, to also allow yourself the delights of childhood. Being a childlike person of faith allows for you to go through life without judgement, without having to judge others and without having to accept the judgement that others give you. You can give them the raspberries if you want to, and the Father would fully understand. (Pause) I am going to sign off.

TOMAS: Merium and I embrace you and once again profoundly thank you for your loyalty and your devotion to your own path of spiritual awareness and even to your teachers and your human peers and associates for in this family you become realized. Amen and farewell.

PEARL: This has certainly been a full evening. As I sit here trying to observe everything, it's kind of in the back of the drawer, however, I would just like to hopefully bring home one point, the point of focus. As we go upon our path, it is always better to have the light in front of us, so that we can see the way. As we keep the light the light focused before us, we forget that we are walking, because we are concentrating on the light.

That is how our life should be, that we focus on the light and allow ourselves to really almost float rather than take a conscious effort of knowing that we are taking one step at a time. When we focus on the light, the path will be as it is directed. There will be no deviation from one way to the other, because as we set our eyes and our heart towards the light, then, there we shall be.

The light then must be something that we have to think about. What is the light for you may not be the light for someone else. That is where we come upon the difficulties that we heard earlier and in our conversation of the different cults or sects that you speak of. Some sects are there for self-fulfillment, other sects are there for our Christ-fulfillment. It is up to you to decide which one it is you want to follow and make your light, therefore you must pray and you must meditate to know which choice to take.

Now there are different religions and some of those religions do uphold the light of the Christ and some do not follow the light of the Christ but rather are there to receive you and send you to another way, so therefore you not only look at the light with your eyes as you go, you also look at the light with your heart, and if you have your heart set on the Christ, then you will always choose the right way.

Does that simplify matters to you? Or does that complicate matters to you? It is so fearful to you to know whether you are choosing the right way. So many people have chosen a way and have been deceived, but they also were not learned in what they should know.

Part of the choice is also from the study, whether it be the Urantia Book, whether it be the Infinite Way, he more information and the more studies you have under your belt, will also help you make the right choice.

We pray that you realize that it is important to study on the subject before you make the choice, and many things that direct you towards the Christ may seem like they are narrow but they are not, so you can make a combination of study’s and teachings and writings and learning’s and they really all lead you to the same way. Beware, though, of the ones that do not lead you to Him, because at first it might seem as though they lead you to Him and then the light goes out.

So as you focus, always focus on the light and if you see the light then you are going in the right direction. As you see the light, you will be filled; you will be filled by the interactions you have with others, in the studies that you prepare, in all the ways that people touch you in your interactions with them as you follow the light. Set yourself in the light. Do not be mislead. Collect everything that you can along the way to the light and you will go there with grace. Are there any questions?

Leah: I don't quite understand what you said. What was that word you used to do along the way to the light?

PEARL: Collect. All the things are gathered, all the things that take you toward the light. As you become knowledgeable in the ways of the Christ, then you come closer to the light, His light, Divine light. If you keep the focus, it is much like if you were drawing a line from one point to another, using a ruler. You go from one point to the other using a straight edge. As you make that line, you are headed toward the dot on the paper. But as you make that line, you are making the mark on the paper, so as you make that mark, you are actually collecting knowledge of what is on the page, knowledge of the Christ, the way it is supposed to be, the way you are supposed to be, the way that Christ wants you to be. You gain that knowledge and then you become closer to the light.

Gerdean: Teacher, I think that this discourse we're having this evening is more important than our immediate approach because the global thing, also is about this. The eastern religions, for example, have not had Jesus as a part of their frame of reference and perhaps their understanding of Christianity has even given Christ a black eye, but the living light is certainly a part of Buddhism, I know that, and others too.

The ancient religions that meditate, they know the "still, small voice"; they follow the light, even though they may not recognize it, even though they may not realize it as Jesus, but the fact that we are different and still heading toward the light is eventually going to bring us into the presence of Jesus because he is our Creator, the Creator of our local universe, so we must be open to those who are different.

PEARL: Yes. That the people are different, but they eventually will become the same. It is accepting someone of a different culture as equal to you. Different cultures were taught, just like a different language, but yet we are saying the same thing, and so yes, all those will be drawn together in acceptance of other's teachings towards the light.

Acceptance is where the unity will become great. It is difficult when you have people that are not flexible, that are mainline and do not flex from one side to the other in acceptance of their beliefs. Just because the beliefs are taught differently, the beliefs are different, the prayers are different, the services are different, and that is when you have trouble when there is a lack of acceptance from one or another.

PEARL: Yes, that's true, but the lack of acceptance from one towards the other does not create unity, you see. When you have some mainline Christians who do not accept this religion or that religion, then you do not have a unity. It is there that needs work to allow them to understand that we are all equal and that we need to be united in our efforts and in our love for the Father.

Gerdean: I look at those along those lines and in that light, I look at those who worship Allah and those that worship Jehovah and I don't think that Jehovah and Allah are ever going to shake hands, not in my lifetime, but with this new . .. resurgence of spirit, because of the circuits opening, because of the revelation, because of the spiritual renaissance, because of our evolutionary status, our hunger at this point, our need for peace, our need for progress… we might be able to begin to set the stage for the next generation, the next revelation, the next portrayal of truth on our planet.

PEARL: Yes, and we are leading the pack. The example that is set for the Father.

Iyana: Those other religions haven't had the advantage, perhaps, that reading the Urantia Book to find out about the other teachings, and their goal isn't the one God, and we know of the one god and the many gods, so to speak, so whether or not they learn it doesn't really matter, just as long as we all go into the spirit for all of us has a different way of going, but its kind of revolting to us, some of the religious rules they have -- thou shalt not.

PEARL: As you talk about "thou shalt not", those were guidelines given many years ago because people did not follow God's plan. Now it's still the same. There are many who do not follow his plan. If you have the love of God you do not need the rules. That is very unfortunate, you see. We can call the meeting to a close.

Gerdean: Thank you very much, teacher, for staying with us and offering your guidance and your personality.

* [Pg. 1942d] "And when the kingdom grows to embrace large groups of believers, likewise should you refrain from contending for greatness or seeking preferment between such groups."

Page 1571: "You are commissioned to save men, not to judge them. At the end of your earth life you will all expect mercy; therefore do I require of you during your mortal life that you show mercy to all of your brethren in the flesh. Make not the mistake of trying to pluck a mote out of your brother's eye when there is a beam in your own eye. Having first cast the beam out of your own eye, you can the better see to cast the mote out of your brother's eye."

TOMAS: Merium and I are here, as are many of your other spirit friends, guides and companions, student visitors, many personalities aware of your association in spirit and your striving to make contact with greater reality. We are glad to be with you in your humanness.

As we observe your discourse, your study of the human condition in terms of your relationships and how they work and how they don't work, we are enlightened. When we were mortal, Merium and I, we had these difficulties more or less the same as yours; we are therefore nostalgic of the days when we had sibling rivalry and marital spats and parent/child discord and these similar circumstances. The phrase "There's nothing new under the sun," comes to mind, but it is, of course, a relative remark because it's new for you. It's new enough, at least, that it is still presenting you with growth difficulties and challenges.

We have heard many, what you might call "buzz-words" in your sharing this evening, any number of which are able to garner a full-fledged discourse, but there are those of you who have perceived in advance our readiness to address your needs and since your sharing has been fairly explicit in out-lining your various needs, at least in the human framework, we are willing to help you approach your human condition in such a way as to lend it greater reality, to spiritize your thinking and thereby perhaps eventually easing the stressors of your temporary conditions in your associations here on Urantia.

How can I help you? I have reason to believe one of you is going to formulate a question.

Rachel: Yeah, we had a question when Gerdean was reading about "we are to save people, not to judge them." Would you please give us your definition of that?

TOMAS: It is oversimplified to say I can give you a definition, as if we were taking the word ''save' and looking it up in the dictionary, for that word indeed connotes many things for many people. Of course you know that love must be redefined on each new level of appreciation for what love is, and so perhaps you can assume that saving your child, your partner, your mate, your relationship, is what is referenced, but that is not necessarily the case. Also your tendency to "fix it" could be construed as "saving it".

That, too, is not necessarily the case. The fact of the matter is, when you are admonished to save people not to judge them, it is not necessarily in the context of such intimate associations as you have been discussing. It indeed can cause offense in an intimate relationship if one of you is assuming a stance of constantly attempting to save the other from them self, from circumstances, or whatever. It can be a very meddling attitude, in fact, and so I will refer to the word "citizen" and dwell on that a bit.

For the word citizen sets it apart from you somewhat. In relationship, it is very easy for you clannish creatures to believe in a sort of ownership in your relations. You women have objected to your long history of being regarded as a man's property, but you are also guilty of assuming ownership in your relationships, and this assumed ownership is part of your relationship problems. When you realize, each of you that you do not belong to one another, you will have begun to independently find out who you are, but it has been your cultural history for quite a while to associate yourself with someone else and thereby understand that your identity has been established by and through the relationship. Men and women are both guilty/victim here.

And this is that kind of relationship that becomes so embroiled/ enmeshed as to become potentially dysfunctional. It is also a normal part of evolving relationships. As you have witnessed, the bickering that goes on between children and between men and women of long-standing relations, or between girl friends, even, these are simple human behaviors, and like TV, if you don't like it, turn the channel; but as far as an expanded understanding of association and relationship, a healthier perhaps and less convoluted association, you might try the attitude of fellow citizen, in particular those of you who are citizens of the universe.

One of the things that enables the four of you here this evening to converse comfortably with each other is that you are not attempting to "save" each other, but are, rather, accepting each other as a fellow citizen of the kingdom, of the cosmos. It is an advantage to have attained this point in your relationship. It is a distinct advantage when human beings realize the relationship with the First Source and Center, for then you know the primary relationship, the one that you have with the Father, is the one that gives you your eternal identification. It is God that you answer to. It is God that provides your needs. It is He that you belong to for you have given yourself to him and given a part of Himself to you. It is the betrothal of the Parent and child, the bride and the bridegroom, the union of you and your indwelling God Fragment.

This understanding of the primary relationship enables you to understand the perspective on your other relationships. Those who have not securely ensconced themselves in an understanding, a living understanding of the primary relationship, are perforce relegated to understanding relationship from the human standpoint, and since you have been human all your life and you have been trained and conditioned as a human, you are very well conditioned in how to be a human and how to have human responses. Indeed your very genetic structure reinforces your understanding of your role in relationship.

This business of roles in relationship has been a very stabilizing factor for a long time, but in the face of the changes of this century, they are no longer as stabilizing; in fact they are becoming very constricting. And so the old role is changing and the new understanding of devotion to duty, to responsibility, to relationship, must be refined. Those of you who have stepped out of tradition, away from conformity, must bear the burden of your understanding of new relationship ideals, goals, necessity.

And so now we have talked about your individual relationship with the Father and we have talked about your personal relationship with your intimate associates. Finally, but not least, we discuss the mission work, the outreach, the service work of those of you who have ordained yourselves as believers in the gospel that Jesus taught, that he lived, that he asks you to live, that you love, that you know to be the Great Reality -- the planting of living love seeds in your arena. To save an individual is not to fix it. To save an individual is not to supplant their need for primary relationship with the First Source and Center with your understanding of what they need. To save a person is to bring them to an awareness of God and you do that by manifesting God in your life.

Have we made a start on understanding some of your relationship difficulties as it relates to the excerpt from your daily reflection?

Rachel: Yes. It's defined "save" and "citizen". What I need to define is how someone keeps picking on you. What is to be the appropriate response? Do you just refuse to get embroiled in that conversation? I can't.... You know, we tend to go on the defense when we're attacked and it's extremely difficult to stop ourselves and turn our minds upward.

TOMAS: It will become more and more necessary, however, for you to do that in order to have harmonious relationships. If you are not well-matched, there is not much can be done toward establishing a harmonious relationship. It is possible that certain relationships, if they remain in existence, will forever fall short -- CORRECTION -- will fall short for a long time, but this is a matter for your choosing. Remember, in the "marriage papers," Rachel, there is a section there that discusses that certain marriages appear to have been made in heaven as compared to some which are wholly mortal in origin.

And I would ask you to look to see if your relationship is one or the other of these or is it indeed something else entirely? Is it a relationship established by you as a mortal? For human purposes? Is it a relationship based on your mutual eternal goals? Is it a marriage of convenience? Is it a business association? Indeed, is it a viable relationship at all, and if so, what are it's qualities of goodness that you are able to appreciate and dwell upon as fulfilling of the friendship?

Relationships ought to be friendships first and foremost. If you are a friend, you can talk with one another. If you are, however, each playing roles, it is very difficult to break down the barrier established by the role itself in order to be real. It therefore becomes necessary that you become friends in some context in order to put your cards, your feelings, on the table and do your best to understand each other. It is, as you know, difficult for man and woman to understand each other, and sometimes its only resolution is to rise above the difference and conjoin in living love.

Now, of course, many marriages and unions fall short of the goal of living love but, rather, stop at the embrace in a physical context, but you know that this is not the be all and end all of union, and it is therefore necessary for you to determine if it's possible for you to have a spiritual relationship with your friend or is it strictly human. In-as-much as you are a part, at least 50% of this relationship, then you must determine for yourself its merits, and, as they say in the old wives' manual, "Having made your bed, sleep in it."

Rachel: No, Tomas, you've said many things that I've said myself, but we've ceased to be in a friendship and have fallen into those old role patterns that I so despise.

TOMAS: They are, however, based upon the need for security, and so whereas they do provide a sense of security and a refinement of sentiment and a certain art form among those who are well suited, it can be stifling, congesting and irritating if you are not compatible. It is also possible that you are merely growing at different rates, growing in different directions, and this too must be considered. One needs to have elbow room in a relationship; otherwise co-dependency and enmeshment can result, and this makes for very unhealthy relationships.

Dependence upon the Father is always the answer. If you depend on Father and your relationship personality also depends upon the Father, then you can meet each other side by side, eye to eye. When you must look to your mate as being the ruler or if he/she must look to you as the ruler, then you are side-stepping your personal relationship with Father/Mother. Not that understanding the greater reality will resolve all the human difficulty of relationship, but it will help you keep things in better perspective.

Leah: I would like to know what you mean, "change the channel" in relationship, as you said earlier. And also you used the word "perforce" and I'm not sure what that meant. And you said saving our fellow citizen is to manifest God, and how do we do that? I need to qualify this. Obviously you've heard our conversations and I've used the words "demanding respect" but that's not the term I'm looking for. How do you say, "This is unacceptable behavior." "This I don't want to deal with, with you." As opposed to demanding respect. I don't know. I have these thoughts in my head about "acceptance is the key" and then "detachment is the key" and I always feel like I'm walking a tight rope when we have these discussions!

TOMAS: These are the result of the many buzz-words. And it is wise to define our terms, and even so, one can become married to a definition. It is important to allow words to be flexible as well as expressive, so that the concept can get across. That's what words are for.

You inquire about "perforce". Perforce is a word that indicates you really have no choice. Perforce is a word you will want to look up in the dictionary after our session, but to say you have no choice gives rise to argument, you see.

TOMAS: Along those lines. However, given all the circumstances that are reasonable to consider under the circumstances, "perforce" indicates you have no choice. There's nothing wrong with the word perforce or even with the occasion when you haven't any choice, but sometimes when you say, "I have no choice" results in humans arguing what you said, you see.

TOMAS: It is a better choice of phrasing, to my mind. Regarding "changing the channel", yes, there are certain relationships that are ill-advised. If your personalities are causing each other static, turn the channel. It is easier to turn the channel on someone who is not an intimate associate, but there are certain personalities you would not be condemned for avoiding IF it is understood that you have a personality clash, you rub each other the wrong way, do not bring out the best in each other, and so forth, and this is merely based on the fact that you are human.

Leah: I get into that traditional Christian thinking. I heard once that you don't have to like everybody, but you have to love them. And if they were drowning, you have to love them enough to throw them a life-saver, but... that's how I evaluate that one.

TOMAS: If you really, truly love the Father and know what love is, you don't have to love anyone; it will be automatic. You can even love with a divine love those people you don't like.

TOMAS: You may not, but if you love with a divine love, you understand that they have an irritating personality that rubs you the wrong way and so you avoid it, like poison

TOMAS: Do you feel so magnanimous that you must grace everyone with your aspect of divine love?

Leah: I don't know if I feel that way, but there is something in the way you posed the question, I feel as if I should feel that way.

TOMAS: Then stay away from those who irritate you, because they will not bring out the best in you.

Leah: And the third thing I asked you about and maybe that's part of the answer, you said that if we are going to "save" our fellow citizens is by manifesting God, somehow avoiding people doesn't feel like manifesting God.

TOMAS: But you also must remember that as a child of God you are eager to share your life; you are a spontaneous, divine, abundant, prosperous child of God, and if these are your attributes and you are a conduit of love, you will want to be where it can be manifested, in the capacity that you are able to give. You will want your light to be able to "so" shine that they will see that you know the Father. If, however, there are certain personalities that throw a wet blanket on your light every time you see them, who come running up to you and douse your light, you cannot shine it well in their presence. It would behoove you, then, to not want to spend more than your necessary allotment of time in their presence, so that you can let the light shine often, radiantly, in those areas where it is most beneficial.

Leah: I see that. I still want to ask you though about . .. well, Rachel said you can't really demand respect, but some of the things we discussed here this evening, isn't it our responsibility to be kind enough to ourselves to say, "This is behavior I will not accept." Or is this selfish and judgmental? Or is the answer just detachment? Or…?

TOMAS: We are assuming for the third time that you are an enlightened child of God, that you are spirit-born, God-led, and therefore not a totally selfish human being. You must remember, Leah, that when you have given your life to God and begin to develop your soul, consciously, you begin to evolve into a morontia-ized mortal; you have a perspective that is and was not there when you were in fear, when you lived through wit and cunning, through manipulation, and through traditional, conventional belief systems. Give yourself some credit for having made those decisions which will allow you to see with the eye of the beholder of light.

Leah: I might be running on a different wave length here. I'm not going to give any examples but this is just hypothetical and close to something that was discussed here this evening. I am aware that there is someone in this room who is very loving and giving and let's just say that this person recognized a need and gave their apartment over to some people to use and when they returned, the apartment was filthy and not taken care of at all, and when she saw the personalities whom she graciously extended her generosity to, they called her derogatory names. What is the proper response to such behavior?

Leah: Yes it's uncalled for but this is what I'm saying. The behavior is not acceptable.

TOMAS: It is not a matter of demanding respect. One cannot demand respect. Respect is something that is born of the spirit. If you are not born of the spirit, you have no understanding of what respect is. Only as you can understand what respect is can you manifest respect. It's like humility. Only the humble know what humility is. You cannot fake reality. If these people were not aware of the gift they were given, they cannot be made to see it. There is no amount of brow-beating that will enable them to realize what gift was given to them, and so as they spurn the good graces of their benefactor, they are those swine whose pearls should not be dropped in their path. I pull this analogy from the scripture that speaks of pearls before swine.

It is unfortunate when you happen to be associated with swine. It makes you feel, perhaps, responsible for them, but you are responsible for your relationship with the First Source and Center, as is everyone else. Some relationships are too close to do much about. You will remember that as Jesus grew up, more and more, as he discovered his family could not relate to him, he began not so much to relate to them, and eventually he weaned himself from his association and except for Ruth and to some degree James, his siblings were more or less estranged, and in particular, Mary, who had such high expectations of her son.

Jesus wept when he realized the estrangement between himself and the human family. The largess, the magnitude of divine love is such that you want to incorporate everyone into the loving arms of the eternal Parents. It is inherent in your being a child of God that you want everyone you know and love to enter into this living love, and it is truly heartbreaking when those you feel tender toward, deny the gifts, the fruits of the spirit, the gift of sonship, but you can do nothing but grieve until such time as they are also ready to embrace the Father for all that they are, all that they can be.

Leah: Well, manifesting God to these people, how is this done? Do you say, "I won't accept this behavior"? Or do you say, as Jesus did, in your head, "Forgive them for they know not what they do"?

TOMAS: You know, Leah, it depends a great deal upon your capacity for good and your capacity to assume work. There were times in Jesus' ministry when he walked past people because he perceived that they were not ready for truth. There were many that fell into that category, but those who would hear him, heard him gladly, and you must put yourself out there in such a way as to speak to those who will hear you. If they will not hear you, then you plant the seed and you go on. In this way, you will bring the potential citizens to the Father in your manifesting the Father to them as you pass by.

This is the essence of the message "to save and not to judge." If you stand back and look at a person and ascertain their behavior before you attempt to teach and preach, you are entering into a different level of ministry. As I mentioned before, love must be redefined. You must work at your capacity.

Leah: I understand almost everything you are saying. The thing that puzzles me is, given the hypothetical situation that I gave, when this gracious person returns home and finds that the house is filthy and ramshackle, there comes a point where you have to say "No" to people, and I don't understand what you said about the ministry. You don't want to judge people, I understand that, but when you come to your home and find it disrespected, there's got to be a way to not allow that again. And I don't know what the assertive thing to do is without not being Godly.

TOMAS: One time I gave a lesson about laying down your life for your friend. It would not hurt for you to look up that lesson in terms of this situation because there are times when you can lay down your life and fall right into abuse as compared to when you can lay down your life and pick it up again because it is a tool of the Father. It takes a great deal of spiritual maturity to put yourself in a position of laying down your life for someone who has no idea of God. The Mother Theresa’s of the world are few and far between, and so I am not going to assume that caliber of diligence but rather the caliber of normal people such as you are. It is not necessary to subject yourself to abuse.

If you have seen that your gift was spurned, that you were treated with disrespect, then don't give the gift again, and allow a lot of time to go between visits, allow time for them to mature on their own. You are not asked to raise people up to God-likeness, but to let your light so shine as to reflect spiritual truth beauty and goodness. If it is not accepted, then you must pass on to those who will appreciate what you have to offer.

Rachel: Tomas, could you shed some light on the difference between selflessness and selfishness? Only because what, maybe, I deem in the highest interest to myself and who I am, could be perceived as selfishness on my part to someone else. Would you care to comment?

TOMAS: I will tell you that you have presented such a big scenario that it is difficult, but I will essay to enlighten you somewhat. I will put it in the context also of your current planetary evolution because the truth today may or may not still hold true next year, may or may not have been true last year, because you are evolving as a human race and you, as a human beings and part of the human race, are also going through evolutionary changes, and in part your evolutionary changes are accelerated because of revelation.

In general, the evolution on your planet, your civilization at least, is on an upswing and has become interested in a new definition of self. The self has taken on the limelight in order that it learn how to become selfless. In time those of you who are discovering the selfishness that keeps you from being appropriately selfless will move on, and those who are still un-evolved will awaken and say, "Oops, I'd better get unselfish if I'm going to be liked in this advancing world." It is growth for the planet. It is changing. And so it cannot be fixed, you see. It is not appropriate to say, "Your behaviors are selfish or selfless" without specificity, without an example, because even in the same paragraph (whatever that paragraph may be speaking of) you can be appropriately selfish and then appropriately unselfish and then appropriately selfish again. It is therefore not so much a question at this point in evolution whether you are being selfish or unselfish, but what are your motives in your selfishness or your unselfishness. Did that make sense?

TOMAS: There are times when you must be selfish because you need to do what you must do based on your understanding of His will for you, based upon your understanding of what's right for yourself, and yet your understanding of appropriate selfishness may appear to be totally inappropriate selfishness from the vantage point of someone who is looking at it from their angle, which may be entirely appropriate for them at the time, and so these are part of the difficulties of the human relationship scenario, and it is also why it is important that if you can be friends in a relationship, you therefore can grow and talk about your growth, even your growth difficulties. If you cannot be friends, there is not much point in trying to justify your existence.

TOMAS: I am going to speak to you for a moment regarding the Baptist, John the Baptist, who was imprisoned, who was imprisoned because he announced the arrival of the impending Messiah, and yet while he was in prison and his followers floundered, he whom John prophesied would come, saw him there in prison and did not bring him out, did not, for all of his stature and potential, release John. You well understand from your studies, that this became a bone of contention for many, including Judas. There may be some of you who have read that segment in the text and wondered indeed yourselves, how could the Master have let his own cousin, his precursor, languish in prison, unto death. Was that not cruel?

TOMAS: Let us, then, take that wonderment and apply it to those you love. Joniel’s daughter. Others' relationships. And understand the reasons why Jesus did not bail him out, but allowed the dastardly destiny to unfold.

Each of you are indwelt by God himself. Each of you have the finest relationship in potential that there is, in and throughout the entire universe. Each of you are related to the Father himself. Each of you may go directly to the Father in your pining, in your crying, in your whining, in your needing, in your pain, each of you can go to the Father and feel His very real comfort. You can each literally be saved. You can all really be lifted up, out of the darkness, away from the vagaries of this existence, by and through a realization of the living love of the Father.

It is not necessary that you be bailed out, or that you be enabled, or that you be financed, or that you be sanctioned by anyone, anyone, other than the Father and He is in immediate and direct association with you if you but reach for Him. And so this very hard core truth holds true for you. When you cannot help someone because your destiny leads you in a different way, remember this parallel of Jesus and his beloved John the Baptist. It was not that Jesus didn't care for John, or that it didn't matter to him what happened. You know that Jesus was poignantly aware of the mental state, emotional state, and he sent him a message and John heard the message and John went to the Father, figuratively and literally. Even now John the Baptist is one of your counselors on the Counsel of 24.

The first shall be last and the last shall be first. You do what you know you must do as a result of your relationship with Father. Let Father be your ultimate counsel, your goal and your destiny, and ask Him how to manifest His living love in such a way as to be His light here for those who would see it, who would be reminded of their own indwelling Pilot Light, those who would want to grasp this greater reality and take it to their own heart of hearts, for their own enlightenment.

I see I have sobered you up. I am not suggesting you learn to be cruel, but I am suggesting that you learn to detach yourself emotionally so that you can see with eyes to see, with clear perception. Emotionality is not the answer. The goals of your forebearers are not the answer. Living love is the answer, and that divine love is greater than any love you have ever known.

Rachel: Tomas. If we were to feel the full effects of divine love, would we go POOF! Because we couldn't handle it?

Rachel: I try, but sometimes wonder if it's in our capacity of human little earthlings to experience all of that in this realm. Because I imagine its part of the whole growth process.

TOMAS: You know it is something we have been working toward and are looking forward to. It is possible, it will be possible, and it will be a natural part of your world one day. When you anticipate light and life, anticipate temples also that will be built to accommodate your fusion. These are glorious advances to look forward to. It will change the approach to death immeasurably, but there is a lot of spiritual work that can be done by you in the meantime, and think not that the temple will be created first. No. The need for the temple will cause the temple to be built; therefore fuse on, children.

TOMAS: And as you have grown and others have grown, the 100 monkey effect is in full swing.

Rachel: Our media is still so negative. Although I did see Oprah today and she has a whole new segment on her show about celebrating the spirit and she shared with everybody her meditation about going within to find the great spirit, or whatever you call it, and it was so on par with this whole teaching that it was wonderful. It was nice to see her expression.

TOMAS: It is nice to see the expression of believers anywhere. Are there other questions this evening? (Long pause) I am as always glad to be with you in your configurations. You can be assured we have a full house. Even though your spirit aspirations have not attained to hallmark heights his evening, your humanness has benefited greatly and we are interested in you as humans. As you are manifesting truth, beauty and goodness in your humanness, you are able to manifest the Father in this reality. It is not sainthood we are aspiring toward, but unified, happy personalities. Happy not like having a smile plastered on your face, but real. Real because of your association with that which is real, and sometimes that association causes sadness and contemplation. Be real, children. Be yourselves that's the only thing you can be. Don't try to be someone's idea of who you should be or someone's dream of how you could be. Be yourself. You are beautiful.

TOMAS: I am Tomas. Good evening. I interrupt your reflections here in order that we might have an opportunity to have an on-line, on-going conversation for awhile before your requirements of daily living intervene and wrench us from our configuration, a most delightful gathering of women friends in spirit. We have been pleased to observe your interchanges, your socializing, and have observed and reflected how you have evolved in your gracious acceptance of one another's reality, in and during this course of time.

Your appreciation for your peers is indicative of your renewed appreciation for your own needs, not only to be heard but also to hear, not only to express but to be responsive to the expression of others. You are beginning to appreciate the dance, the ebb and flow, the balance of communication, of sharing. We might liken you this evening, indeed, to a quartet, in terms of your balance.

We have with us this evening some of your weird friends. I have enjoyed your adjectives, describing the many facets of advancing reality, Gerdean, and I am not here to promote your manuscript but I can certainly sympathize with the concept of a society of unity in diversity and indeed this socialization that you have engaged in this evening can bridge all gaps because the socializing that you engage in, the breathing into your immediate atmosphere the fragrance of a love-saturated soul, unhindered by judgement or blocked by ignorance, can foster a degree of acceptance of the self that will allow for the spirit to have more play within the framework of your camaraderie and therefore in your lives.

We are glad to be here together for an exchange. Merium is here and we have had opportunity to compare notes on our travels and experiences. I am certain she is eager to play ball. Merium?

MERIUM: Good evening. It is good to be back with my friends and it is good to be here this evening. We have enjoyed your talk and it is true there is an ease here that has developed. There is nothing to prove. Celebrating is most becoming. We hope that we can add to the flavor of your dialog. Tomas, would you take over for a little bit while Hunnah settles in here.

TOMAS: By all means. It is fully understood, the dynamics of T/R'ing. I will use this opportunity to touch a little bit upon the subject of spiritual ego. Spiritual ego is a natural evolutionary reality which must be faced and consciously adjusted to assimilate other truths, other belief systems, as much as it is necessary for you to accept other cultures, other races. Those of you who feel that your spiritual solution is the only solution are in for a rude awakening and a potential isolation. There is great value in culture and the culture that develops among individuals who share a theology, a belief system, who conjoin in rituals symbolizing a shared reality; there is value to conjoining in celebration and survival against enemies and certain odds; there is happiness
to be had within the framework of the family or the club or the clan or the cult, but in the long run, these are simply hues in the rainbow, simply different instruments in the symphony of the Creator, the Master Conductor.

And so these are words that are applicable to everyone. When one finds something to believe in, it reverberates throughout their being and they want everyone to believe as they do because it is so significant and meaningful personally to them. This is the nature of religious experience. But to assume that your religious experience is the only kind, or the right kind, is error. Any religious experience is viable, and how any person attains that point, through whatever means, through whatever ladder they have climbed to find this view, is part of the history, part of the majesty of the unfolding of creation.

[Background: a cat meowing loudly.] What have we here? A feline in distress? She is a show-stopper certainly.

And so you each may take my words to heart to realize the truth of the matter that spiritual ego will be encountered in everyone who finds a belief system that they feel is worthy of elevating into the realms of worship. But... it is only one. One facet of light on an eternal diamond.

MERIUM: I would speak of words. You are so inured by them. You find them glamorous; you accept them as manna. Let us examine the words that you have accumulated. Baskets of them. Piles of paper with words, and let us liken them to food. If you do not read them with a fresh open mind, they taste stale and do not hold your attention. If you are attuned and receptive, they are satisfying. How long does your belly feel full? You have all acquired many words and you are all articulate. You can speak with ease and confidence; you have poise that you have not had in the past.

I am encouraging you to find a comfortable understanding of this, one that will allow you to go through your day without having to read words or to speak special words, that just being yourself will be a sufficiency, and the words that you speak will have light. If you are with someone, as Rachel has pointed out, who is thirsty, those who come to you will be awake. You will know; you will sense it. You will not feel that you have to correct them or encourage them beyond their comfort zone. What matters is that they are receptive, and the movement will take them as it is taking you.

What will you do with these words? Develop an archive? What would you do if you lost them? Oh, my! Hunnah found great solace and comfort in the gift that has companioned her for many years. It is as if she found the key to the secret garden. She knows where to go to find her pearls. Manna. If this was understood more completely -- you all have your own version of this -- but I want you to be aware that there is not to be a dependency upon words. Your dependency must remain at the Center, where It, that which you have discovered, will reveal itself.

And in this process of being revealed, having your own individual experiences, is a sufficient joy for you, but it can never, ever replace the uplift of holy communion. Greater self-discipline will enter gracefully into your life. Everything grows together, and it is true, all areas are cultivated within you. Do not stand like Hunnah's cat, as a centurion over a chipmunk hole, because you found something there at one time. Do not hang about looking at the place where you received yesterday's manna. You must know that it is an attitude and a focus that can be expressed in any number of places and in the company of others as well.

You have many books. It is true that it is interesting to read other persons' experiences, but we are more interested in having you offer your own and be very aware that you are having and enjoying an experience of life. A true adventure! A place where you can see your truth in action.

I have been away from Hunnah's receptivity and cooperation. When you remain faithful and you stay and continue to exercise this gift, it is smoother. If you only practice your musical instrument occasionally, that is going to be the quality of your performance. Thank you.

TOMAS: Thank you, Merium. I must say that I am feeling rather pleased with our efforts, the results of our efforts together. By listening to you, Merium, and by hearing you all speaking earlier about your lives, it is very apparent that we teachers have indeed been teaching you how to be teachers. It is a joyous sight to behold when you, as individual believers, have packed up your caravans in preparation for taking your show on the road, for it is "out there" in the arena, that that which you know can be administered to those you encounter as you pass by.

Merium's words remind me of the scripture that "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God" and so as you, sons and daughters of God go out into your arena, the Word that you will take with you is indeed the Son, as you are the sons and daughters. That is the word that you will take, but even so, it has been and continues to be an honor and a pleasure to be your companion in these sessions of intimate teaching and learning. Always remember that the teacher must remain the student and the student is always a teacher. The last shall be first and the first shall be last. Rejoice in the light. Are there questions this evening?

Rachel: I have a question I was thinking on the way over. I have to use myself, an example. When you're born is there a pattern or a predisposition, a destiny of the soul that is in alignment with the father. So let's say that the soul is not born yet, spiritually, but it's in the seat of your solar plexus. Now, I was thinking about when I was in Chemistry in high school in my complete rebellion stage and I rebelled against chemistry, and now that I've found a path of the Father, I love chemistry because I have to learn it, but I like it!

Now, can that be seen as -- being that rebellious -- was I rebelling against my pre-destiny? I wonder. Being in that rebellious teenage mode that I was in.

TOMAS: You are reflecting back on and projecting a value upon yourself that you may see from today but would have been an unfair assessment at the time. Even so, no doubt there were those who judged you as being rebellious, yet, were you being rebellious against the divine plan? No, for only as you are conscious of your decision to go against the divine path are you rebellious. As a child unaware of the greatness of God, you cannot be expected to assimilate and follow the designs of the greatness of God. Now, however, that you are aware of your place in the universe, you can contribute to your own cosmic sense of connection with the chemical aspects of existence and find great harmony in your life as a result of knowing your conn4ection. Your electro-chemical connection to the pattern of life.

You are aware that there are many patterns that your personality has a pattern which is different than the external pattern of your environment. It is all quite an elaborate, complex system in which you live.

I hope you realize that because I have stopped with my flow of words, I have not concluded the commentary, no, for I am perfectly willing to expand upon these as you are willing to work with me on it Has this touched upon your need?

Rachel: The question was -- are we unconsciously rebelling against the soul, but if you're not a God-knowing individual, then you are not rebelling against the will of the Father. That was really, I suppose, my question. Another question: is trust inherent? Do humans naturally trust? Do humans naturally trust?

TOMAS: No. Humans inherently need, and as they are provided their basic needs, they then develop a trust that their needs will be fulfilled. When they have needs and their needs are not met, they do not develop trust. Trust is a human process. Trust is not a gift of the spirit. Faith is a gift of the spirit and once you have developed faith, and have learned how to trust the Father, then you can develop trust in something that will be there for you.

When you have had the experience as a mortal of having learned to trust and not having been betrayed in your trust, you are more readily able to make that transition when the opportunity to learn to trust Father becomes an issue, and it can come much earlier. When you have experienced betrayal of trust, it becomes more difficult to open yourself to trust, for you are more skeptical as a result of your predisposition. Because of this it is invaluable that you be born of the spirit, for then you can come to understand the infinite love of the Creator, then as you learn to trust His divine truths, your own reality will begin to be entrusted with great works, great opportunities. What a wondrous plan!

RACHEL: If we trust the Father, then we'll be able to trust man more? Mankind?

TOMAS: It enables you to understand what it is about mankind that could be construed as trustworthy. Remember that Jesus had great faith in his children. He still has great faith in his children. But does he trust them? He knows them. And I will ask you the same question. Because they have indwelling Adjusters, you can have faith, ultimately, in their coming through, but can you trust them? As they trust the Father and are guided and directed by the divine love of the Creator, then you will see the Creator reflected in them, and to that extent they may be trusted.

That is a discernment that comes about as you begin to recognize the spirit of God, the presence of God within yourself and then within your fellows, for it is the presence of God that is trustworthy and indeed in which you may have faith. This ennobles your association with your fellows. When you can begin to understand them and they you, in terms of the spirit, you have now risen above the animal legacy that is simple and untrustworthy in needing to survive. Now you will survive eternally, in and through the spirit.

Rachel: So as I was saying before we got on-line here, about trusting the Father, to put me in a serviceable position, I think I was asking to wait upon the Father to have him have it happen in his way.

TOMAS: Even there, my dear, you must begin to think in terms of your society as your fellow kingdom-builders, and in this way your reality, the reality of your peers, this new era of light and life will be able to take hold. If you continue to kow-tow to the larger consciousness as being the ultimate reality, you will continue to submerge your growing spiritual reality and be shadowed, you see. Insist that your reality is the one reality for you. Your society is the society in which you live with the Father and your brothers and sisters in truth. Remember that love is more contagious than hate. In this way we will expand the living reality. Have courage. Take heart.

TOMAS: You have grown. Indeed you have grown immensely in a short period of time. You are to be commended for your blossoming process. And much of this is due to your devotion to that relationship with Father that will enable you to focus on truth beauty and goodness within yourself, within others, within your life.

Rachel: One last question. Maybe a comment. My sister -- you've heard me speak of her, how she has suddenly remembered that Jesus, Christ Michael, came to save her four years ago, and needless to say I'm absolutely floored about this, and elated! But not really knowing, I don't want to push her, you know, she's put this off for a long time. And I see it coming. I hope, I pray. Can you all go knock on her door? A lot?

TOMAS: I will compare her experience to the experience of the Master going up to a prospective apostle and saying, "Follow me". She has been invited to follow the Master and it is an invitation she will not forget. As she is encouraged in this invitation, as she sees that there are others who have followed the call, it will lure her into her calling as a child of God. It would do a lot more good if you and other mortals were to instill in her an appreciation of the reality of the living God in your life and in the lives of those you know and love.

You sent some stories around this evening. Anecdotes of what you call miracles. Poetry, prose, fairy tales, examples of entertainment, fables that have morals and spiritual messages. These are very personalized reflections of the value of following the Master, of picking up your feet and following him. It is a wonderful thing to hear the call, but remember that many are called and few are chosen. It is only as you choose that this becomes a viable pathway. Encourage her to make that choice. Consciously, willingly, to become co-creator in kingdom building with you. What a joyous life it is!

Rachel: I think she's met people who also follow Jesus, in her community, and has been interested -- how shall I say, her interest has been piqued. At one time mentioned going to their group. I'm just praying she heeds the call.

Rachel: I'd love to! My sister and reading are not compatible. I don't think she's really ready for it, I don't know. I don't want to push what I have on her too much. I want her to find her own way. I just want to be an encouragement without.

Leah: I'd like to ask something. Today I was speaking with a friend of mine and we were speaking about the leader of our country's situation where he admitted to the populace that he indeed had engaged in inappropriate behavior with an intern and I made the statement that I had watched portions of the video tape that demonstrated his testimony and I made the comment that I was appreciative of the fact he apologized to his wife, his child, the country, and the young lady who was involved and I felt that this was commendable. And I also felt the sincerity when he made the statement that he wished with all his heart that these things hadn't come to the public and that these people weren't embarrassed.

My friend commented that I was judgmental because . .. well, he said, "Well, did you expect an apology?" and I said, "I think it was appropriate," given the fact that he's an elected official and he represents the leadership of our country," and my friend said to me, "Well, how does that affect you?" and I said, "I'm a member of this country!" and his inference is kind of interesting; he said that he need not make an apology to anyone, that this was a private matter, his private sex life and that while I agree with that to a certain extent, and I'm doing any name-calling here or anything because I am certainly embroiled in a similar situation, the man is a married man and he is a representative, so . .. well, I...

My friend seemed to take it that I was condemning him or something. However, all I was saying was that I was appreciative that he did make the effort to make the apology. My friend said to ask you what you thought about our leader making an apology and if it was appropriate and if it was necessary, so I'm asking you the question.

TOMAS: I am Tomas. I will not become embroiled in your discussion between you and your friend as to whether or not President Clinton should have apologized. It is none of my concern. I am a teacher of spiritual truth, not of political behavior or social mores.

Leah: I understand that, but you just put forth a discussion about trust and a discussion about cultural value and some other things in the discourse with Rachel.

Leah: Yes, I understand that but many times you state that what is applicable to one is applicable to all. And that is where my friend said to me that he didn't think he needs to apologize. And I don't really think that he needed to, I just said I was appreciative that he did. And for some reason he thinks that that means that I think that the President should crawl on his knees and beg forgiveness. I never said such a thing! Anyway.

TOMAS: It is fundamentally a discussion between you and Evangel that you want me to settle for you and I will not.

Leah: Well, I didn't mention his name but thank you for saying it. He did ask me to ask you so now I've done my job. [Group laughter] And I know he will say, "So there." I'm still appreciative that he did. I really feel as if... I mean, I don't know! I can't judge.

But I really feel after reviewing some of these tapes, I have not paid hardly any attention to this at all, including not viewing the tapes when they became public, but I happened to turn on the television yesterday and I really felt that this man was speaking from his heart and that -- it's an opinion...

TOMAS: I can only say, Leah that you must have a terrible conflict in your heart because you are able to see him as an elected official of your country as well as a human being, indeed, a brother, and these are at one in the same time conflicting. It is compassionate of you to try to balance, to weigh these two facets of reality within yourself and to seek "appropriately" depending upon what situation you are in socially, that is to say, whether you are discussing it politically or spiritually, but I am not in that generous situation in-as-much as I am not required to vote. I am not a citizen of your country. I am a teacher of spirit truth and reality and it is not my place to discuss his political apologies. Or anyone’s, for that matter.

Leah: Well then can I ask you the question: my friend puts forth to me that he thinks that apologies are not necessary, ever! I'm not just speaking of the words "apologizing", and I don't think that people have to crawl on their knees or anything of that sort, but I think that if you recognize that you have done something that may have hurt someone or affected them, that it is just a social more and an appropriate thing to say you are sorry if you caused any harm to anyone.

TOMAS: I realize this, Leah. I heard you again use the phrase "social mores" and once again, I am not here to support or deny your social mores. Those are something you develop as you manifest your faith walk, and therefore those are integral to your individual behaviors, but what I can teach is the spirit connection that would give rise to those ethics and sentiments within you that would enable you to behave in such ways as may or may not come forth with a literal apology when you feel remorse. This is an individual offshoot of spiritual growth.

There was a time not long ago, in fact it was with Rachel, we had a lengthy discussion having to do with guilt and guilt is an emotion, a feeling that is not to be indulged beyond a recognition of having failed to live up to a standard, either a standard of your own or a standard of someone else, and whether or not you apologize or grieve or atone is essentially a personal matter and it will be regarded as a social matter if someone else has an expectation of you to make apology for something that you are experiencing in your own growth.

There are theories, evidently, wherein one would feel it was not necessary to apology to anyone for their failure to live up to either theirs or someone else’s standard, but by the same token, it is possible to inadvertently hurt someone's feelings in your own growth, and if it should come to pass that it would benefit the relationship to make reference to an acknowledgement of an awareness of an imperfection that caused distress, it is admissible without shame to do so. That could be construed as an apology but it is also incumbent upon the individual then to become responsible.

If they feel they have fallen short in their ability to live up to their standards or the standard of someone else’s they have said they would live up to, they have a duty then to try to abide by that, and yet again, if they cannot live up to their ideal, it once again is a matter of whether or not they need to apologize, because in truth, Leah, and all of you, an ideal is always just beyond your reach. It is not possible to live up to your ideals, for always will your ideal extend out beyond you. Even if you were to live up to your ideals, or if someone were to live up to your ideals that is not necessarily synonymous with the will of God. It can just be some mortal appreciation of an ideal that may or may not have reality in fact.

And so both of you are correct, depending upon how one considers it. Perhaps you can chalk it up simplistically to appreciating that, men and women do not think alike.

Leah: Well, thank you, I appreciate also the fact that my husband wrote me a note and said that he was sorry for any . ..

TOMAS: You are very gracious with each other and you are being very civilized about this dissolution of matrimony. It is the least you can do, in-as-much as you are not enemies, is be gracious and kind and tender of each other's feelings.

Leah: Well, as I said before I'm certain, you know, you talked about judgement and I can't judge the president, but I felt listening to him and his expression that I had a feeling that this whole thing is going to definitely be a spiritual experience for him. That's just my opinion, but it just seemed that way to me, and certainly for the nation.

TOMAS: I daresay you can judge the president but you cannot judge Bill. He is your brother, and I think you're right: he is going to and has already had to call upon a Source of divinity for his sanity throughout this experience.

MERIUM: This is indeed a worldly lesson and I will comment around some of Tomas observations because we are talking about a very, very human situation. Old habits die hard. Obviously public exposure has forced someone who is very playful, to bend their knee. He has a Thought Adjuster just like everyone else. He has an opportunity to mature and have a rich, full life or he can continue habits that he won't perhaps hold in check.

You are looking at the consequence of the nation in many ways. There are many who behave in a similar fashion, and I heard the mention of living below the waist. You cannot solve problems down there intellectually. You must rise above them, come through and want something better to work with. You are knee deep, up to your throat, above your head in materialism and with this materialism and prosperity comes the misuse of power. This is his lesson only it's being aired in public and from our point of view, he is just another man trying to find his way, and like others, can be very devout for a while and have it fade, suffer, and then attempt to rise again.

You can only watch the journey from a distance and save yourself the trouble to judge, but I will comment about the needs of the nation and the needs the nation are for someone who is mature and focused, who has taken their pledge very seriously. That is the need of the nation. And it is casual about this, perhaps, because their belly is full, there is gas in the car, and the children are planning to go to college. It is a very selfish world that he represents, very self-seeking and there will be more of it in others because this is the way they have been permitted to develop. You have to have the heart, free reign of your Thought Adjuster, to come out of these situations but it is interesting, the masses have known that they have ghosts in their own cupboards and it makes them squirm because they would not want to have a bright light of accusation upon them

It is interesting to see how some can prosper and come out looking good in the ugliest situations. If you are going to pray, pray for everyone, not just one. There's never just one involved in any situation. There are many. They have come together to convenience each other. I really think that you will be saturated beyond your wildest dreams before this has cleared. It is the times. Selfishness goes on in many nations all over the world. It is not just this particular theater that is concerned. This is a very common situation, but it has received publicity. We are cheering and hopeful, and when the contrite heart seeks assistance, it is there, just as it has been for all of you! Life goes on.

You know, when you speak of such situations that are so volatile, the masses, the company, the peoples have just become nearly drunk on the sensationalizing of this distraction from themselves. It brings us no pleasure to even discuss it with you, but we understand how you are pulled in emotionally. It has become a national sport, the Democrats versus the Republicans and vice versa. You are into sports and other distractions and there will be another and another, so it is indeed, "Come to me all ye who are heavy laden and I will give you peace." Peace from this utter nonsense. I think I have said enough.

Leah: I'd like to make another comment. My other friend, who is thoroughly engrossed in all of this, has said to me, "What is the matter with you! Why are you so apathetic?" because I have not, up until two days ago, I didn't want to hear it. I felt very strongly that everything would be taken care of in its time and I just say to her, if you feel this strongly about it, why don't you write to somebody about it? why just tell me about this stuff all the time? Basically, what she wants to tell me all the time is the sensationalism and I wonder sometimes, "Am I apathetic because I don't want to get embroiled in this?" I feel like Tomas here when he said, "I don't want to get embroiled in your political issues." And I'm a member of this nation so I suppose to some extent I should be.

TOMAS: It is not that we don't want to become embroiled in your political situations, for the Correcting Time indeed is to help to contribute to the healing of the political, global situation. What we are not interested in is getting drunk with you in the sensational aspects of it! I have no desire to become intoxicated in the fumes of emotionality, in particular of the debacle of the soap opera of the fidelity aspects. This is not our job. It is not your job, either, if the truth be known, Leah, and you are right to stand removed. Perhaps you can pray for your friend who wants you to come down into her outrage and her playpen and share with you her own debacle.

MERIUM: I would make a comment. I would like to have you turn this all around and use this distraction to look at your self. A. Are you registered to vote? The citizenry, in general, those who have so many opinions, have they taken the trouble to be responsible citizens? That they are registered to vote, and that they will take the trouble when that day is upon them to go out and vote. Are they informed?

MERIUM: Wonderful. They have to answer their own questions and to use this opportunity to look at themselves in the role, and what do they expect of someone that they sent into public office. Do they expect this person that they appoint to public office to behave in a more mature manner than they themselves? I would hope so. Do they expect a person who is in public office to remember that they are appointed by the nation to the highest position of all, do they expect anything of them? Or do they expect a personality that is divided, works eight hours and then goes about and acts as if they had not really developed or evolved at all? What do they want? What do they expect of themselves?

I think this is the time to point the finger but the other four are pointing back at themselves. It is wake-up call for all of you. This could be used as a wonderful lesson to take a look at how they behave. Do they pay their bills? Do they make an effort to be their brother’s keeper? Do they even live as you would live if you had graduated from kindergarten? There is a great deal of immature, selfish behavior involved on every level, from the voter to those who are in public office. What about a marriage that tolerates such chicanery?

There are so many questions. It is simply a time that is going to rattle and disturb self-indulgence and if you're fortunate, great growth can come from this experience. Those who are already in office are pondering their own behavior and thinking, "Oh, am I ever glad they don't know about Such & Such!" Whether it is a relationship or it is the way they handle their affairs and other aspects of their responsibilities. I hope that you can be done with this. Stand your ground and perhaps what I said will be used by you in conversation with these people who want to engage you into having an opinion and say, "What do you ask them? What do you expect from someone who is living in that position?" And have them answer, because perhaps they hadn't thought about it. You can use this situation to help disturb people and to have them look at their own lives, but by all means ask if they have registered to vote and that will perhaps end the discussion. Thank you.

TOMAS: Thank you, Merium, for your many contributions this evening. It is wonderful to have as evidence that without comparing notes between the transmitters, without having any contact at all, personally, the teachers, none-the-less have been able to uphold the same truths nationwide, even globally. It is such a privilege as a teacher to be involved in this incredible and wonderful process of being your spirit guides and companions, and it is also a divine delight to be associated with the integrity of you individuals in particular Gerdean and Hunnah who have to carry a burden of disassociation during these processes.

How we appreciate you and how the master loves you. How we love you. It is such wonderful experience to be in this kingdom, in this unfolding of truth, beauty and goodness in this seeking the fragrance of love in our selves, in each other and in our world. Indeed, in our universe. Bless you for your patience, for your fortitude, for your strength, for your trust, for your faith, for your peace, for your courage. Merium, I believe we have outdone ourselves. I certainly have.

Hunnah: I would like to make one little comment. I'm going to leave my Merium mode. She is still with me, though. I was thinking about the young woman and what it must have …

Hunnah: Yeah, we can continue to record this but I was thinking about someone, how Jesus met a woman who was a courtesan-- and it is in some cultures an art form, and I was thinking about this young girl who has used such poor judgement, how she had to go home and face her father, who offered questionable parenting skills, and what a wrecking ball that must have been. Once she started to cooperate, she had to go home to her "root chakra authority" and face the music. On the other hand, this father, who had to do his own homework, had to embrace this child who had embarrassed them so terribly. This goes on everywhere! You can take it and you can heal with it and go on or you can rot and all this attention is on Wild Bill. Everywhere this is taking place, the emotional base has just rattled the foundation and its making them look at their bases.

Rachel: Because Wild Bill is about a lot of politicians and a lot of power hungry people around the world. He's no different; he just got caught.

Hunnah: And he has a wife who has to say, "Am I in this situation for my convenience, because I really don't want to disturb myself?"

Hunnah: Oh, I beg your pardon. Well, then what's the difference between my making a comment about this and Leah's. I don't think there is any because I bowed out. But I was simply going to say it’s another opportunity for people to use it as a wake-up call. And this is as simple as that for me.

Leah: I'd like to make a comment, too. This Monica. People are trying to make her out to be a monster sort of also. She's quite young. She's a young person. She hasn't learned the ways of life completely.

Leah: Well, it certainly is giving everybody an opportunity to look at their life and I certainly heard an awful lot of people say, "I wouldn't want to be him!"

Hunnah: You know, it is, just as we talk about behavior, but we talk about people who are struggling with a human problem. They are out there and they are in their white water of human-hood. Last year was it or year before when it was that O. J. thing. We choked on it. That nonsense. Abuse. Also, another thing, that women are not really making the progress that they like to think they are because there are many women who are defending this situation with the statement, "Boys will be boys." They are still content to put up with it.

Leah: Well on the other hand, it is interesting because they talk about social mores and cultural things and you know on the other side of the world we have leaders that have, you know, ten wives. And that's just the way it is.

Hunnah: Well, I certainly don't want to ruin my beautiful Autumn day sitting at an internet reading every word.

TOMAS: ... brought up as a result of our concern for a friend of Leah and therefore a friend of ours who is outraged to the extent of ingesting you into her emotional situation. It is appropriate in this context to look to find out what emotional wound she is truly suffering from. If it is an emotional situation for her, it is a personal experience, and as we have said many times, the symbolism of what's going on in your government is a symbol of what is going on in marriages everywhere. It is not just because he is President, but because he is on TV and every man and every woman has an emotional reaction to this kind of behavior. The mores are in turmoil. They have been in turmoil for a long time, particularly since the women's liberation movement has come into being.

It has, by the way, the women's liberation movement, swung far left of center and is now moving back to the right side, and the dust has not yet settled on human liberation by a long shot. Remember we discussed not long ago that the face of marriage would be changing and this is an example of how it is that marriages are changing. There is going to be some discussion going on and until marriages can discuss among themselves what is real, they will continue to reflect outward on other people's situations and we will continue then to experience major judgement, because it's so much easier to look outside yourself and point the finger than to look inside yourself, and make your own determination as to how you will live, based upon your understanding of what is right for you in the context of you in your life. That's all anyone can ask of anyone.

That is sufficient for today, boys and girls. Be at peace and be of good cheer. We'll see you soon.

DEMETHIUS: This is Demethius. Thank you. Tomas and his consort Merium and their associate Pearl all have been most gracious in including me in your communal affairs and I have enjoyed my entry into your environment in Butler this evening. I don't know what you're complaining about Gerdean. It seems to be a fine environment, as fine as any. I have seen much worse.

My purpose in visiting you this evening is basically for me to practice my skill. I am a student visitor and may be given more opportunities to install myself into the newly formatting circuitries of Urantia. It is always a wonderful opportunity for those of us who sojourn to make contact with those in whose environs we arrive, we learn more as student visitors if we can interact with you rather than merely observing. It is part of the experiential training, if you will.

DEMETHIUS: In a manner of speaking, yes. Your vernacular is very playful. Many times it is inadequate, in particular when it fails to strive, fails to attain certain sensitivity levels, but we have the option then of relapsing into cleverness in lieu of truth, for even in our portrayal of concepts that reach toward truth, you are at least encouraged on the way. My friend Tomas has offered me the opportunity to address your questions.

Rachel: Okay. I have a question from a fellow Urantia reader. This question is: Are the teachers a part of the Planetary Prince's programs as it is explained in the Urantia Book, taking into consideration the differences of time passing?" and "Does our Prince have a physical location as it is described in the Urantia Book?" That's it.

DEMETHIUS: The teachers are in cahoots with the Planetary Prince, but they/we are more co-workers than what you might think of as staff members. Indeed, we all fall under the jurisdiction of Michael, under Father Melchizedek, and certainly regard Planetary Prince Machiventa with great respect and admiration for his devotion to this region of the realm. Even so, many of the teachers have done extensive work in the local universe and can only be rightfully called co-workers. What was that question, again?

Rachel: "Are the teachers part of the Planetary Prince's program?" So you say you work in conjunction with him.

Rachel And then, "Does the Prince have a physical location as described in the Urantia Book?"

DEMETHIUS: Indeed, he does. Indeed, it is a truth that everyone in the Father's family is given residence. An appropriate residence is presented upon need, as you are given a home when you need one. You know, the story of the lilies in field. Give no thought as to your environs, for they are appropriate to you and the environs of Planetary Prince Melchizedek are appropriate to him. It is indeed associated with and near the archangels circuits. It would be sensible, wouldn't you say, to have access to internet? In a manner of speaking? And what was the other question.

DEMETHIUS: I am an ascendant midwayer. We who have been around a long time are accustomed to the vagaries of language. My native planet, where I spent truly thousands of years, was a virtual library of languages, in which I became fluent. Every one. It is interesting because as time evolves and we have, for a while, limited things to do, we entertain ourselves in our own realm and we learn the language of the realm in anticipation of being able to make contact with the mortals there and even if we cannot it is amusing to observe their interchanges. How you communicate with each other is very revealing. It is a perspective that a student visitor has many opportunities to see.

Leah: Well, it's interesting you asked him, "So you're trying to get a feel for us!" It's like an idiomatic phrase.

Leah: Being an ascended midwayer you must have been on a planet that attained Light and Life.

Leah: So were the mortals there anywhere similar to us or are we completely foreign to you?

DEMETHIUS: You are truly foreigners. I was not assigned to a rebellious planet, for was I assigned to a decimal planet. The planet I was assigned to was very regular, quite ordinary, right on schedule, so to speak. It gave me an opportunity to see and experience what your scientists call a controlled situation. Now that I know intimately what the control situation resembles, it is very easy to see what is out of control.

DEMETHIUS: It is for me but not only for myself, it is a unique and learning experience for most of Nebadon. Even though much of your universe is not intimately involved in the action here, it is fair to say that intelligent life in your universe is aware of your birthing process and your upheavals. It is more interesting to some than to others, very much like your own broadcasts.

Leah: You said you were a student visitor. Are you observing? Or have you volunteered to work with this mission?

DEMETHIUS: I have, along with many others, volunteered. I have not received confirmation that I am accepted, but in the interim, I am a student in other capacities and in that capacity I am given the opportunity to observe and in-as-much as I have asked to be part of the Teaching Mission enterprise, I have been given the opportunity to attempt and gain access to T/R situation so that I can have first hand experience at what it would be like if I were to be accepted. It is sort of part of the -- can we call it "initiation"? -- For there is a testing ground that goes on prior to actuality.

DEMETHIUS: No. I have been able to make contact with others but I have not had such a clear-- [end of tape; end of session.]

TOMAS: Peace be with you, this evening. How exciting you are when you get on a roll in your relating your spiritual experiences and conveying your appreciation for those experiences of others that appear to be an incredible and/or viable in the way of truth beauty and goodness. We are amused in part by your tales, for your fascination indicates an impression that it might be possible and it might be meaningful and it might, in fact, occur to you, and if so, how can they happen more often and are they a good idea?

As you have observed the experiences of being "embraced by the light," experiencing these breathing water, swirling experiences, the ones that relate to powerful mental connections, communications of an order unknown to most mortals, you touch upon an area that once would have been regarded as The Twilight Zone but is now becoming popular and plausible as a new form of energy. Indeed, I will titillate you somewhat and discuss with you the fact that The Urantia Book talks about there being a new form of energy as yet undiscovered by your scientists, and indeed it is possible, is it not, that these powers could come from your own spiritual reality. Even Jesus said that "more things than this can you do" in terms of healing and even wonderworking.

My friends I am suggesting that the reason we are incessantly encouraging you to develop disciplines is not for you to curtail your enjoyment of life, no, but to augment your understanding of what enjoyment really is. You think you have a good time partying, and indeed you do, but as you begin to approach and appreciate greater realities, your amusement quotient is adjusted accordingly. It is entirely possible for you to communicate with your morontia reality. You do not believe this. You do not know this. You do not experience this because you are still largely relating to each other in your animal realm and from your conditioning as a mortal. You are reluctant to let go of your animal legacy, and it's not as though you have to leave your existence entirely, indeed you would be foolish to do so, but you must remember in time you will be living on a new set of energies. These are a part of your future and the quicker you bring them into your frame of reference, the quicker we can begin to bring morontia realities into existence on Urantia.

The mind, as has been said in many previous lessons, is a mighty and powerful force, and when your will is in synch with his will, mighty things can and do happen. But you have yet to practice and see for yourself that you can participate in these wondrous works. Much of your reluctance is from a sense of inhibition and fear of attention-getting, and this is wise to consider. Indeed, what are your motives? When you are in a position to defend yourself or when your own identity as a morontia personality is inconvenienced or indisposed by ignorance, it is possible for the God within you to rise up to meet the challenge of the moment. This is possible as you allow it, this power. You cannot do this through your own will. You can only do this through willing that His will be done. There is a significant difference.

My efforts this evening then and therefore will focus on your morontia reality, that within you which is becoming, that which is fact your radiant soul which has committed itself already to divine purpose. Identify more and more, if you will, with that part of you which has personality and whose personality wills that His will be done, for therein you gain great strength, great energy and great power because you have aligned yourself with the cosmos, the Living Water itself.

It is wonderful to see your environment, your atmosphere invigorated. Not just your environment here in this room but your cosmic neighborhood. It is indeed stimulating to see the lights coming on, the flickers of faith becoming a steady glow, and the single units of awareness coming together in recognition of like minds and kindred spirits in order to form a living grid work of spirit hunger awareness appreciation and love for divinity and your place within it.

Liana: I don't know if you can even answer that, but what would that look like? if we started dipping into the morontia world while we're still in the physical? I know that experience I was mentioning earlier this evening when I started to go into that spin, I got fearful, and I was disappointed with myself that I wasn't able to go with it in awareness rather than become fearful that I was out of control, and I was just wondering if in fact we are sort of... I'm asking a bunch of questions! When you say there is a change in the energy... I do follow this one particular person who talks about there being a decrease in magnetism and increase in frequency that is happening naturally and I'm wondering, if this is happening naturally and that's what you consider the morontia, what kinds of things can we expect to experience? Can you address that, Tomas?

TOMAS: Only up to a point, my dear, for in setting up possibilities, then I have preprogrammed you to look for certain experiences that may not be in line for your experience. You will recognize them when they happen to you. It would be like telling you what happens at the end of the movie. It is better for you to go see the film and experience it fully, knowing that you will thoroughly enjoy this film which has rave reviews and Oscar nominations.

I would like to speak for a moment regarding your experience in the water after the sweat (Native American sweat lodge experience). I would like to put your mind somewhat at rest regarding your sense of failing for lack of better words. Remember the psychology of the mortal, the human. You were in the water. And water is a great conductor of energy, and it is also symbolic of the womb as well as the Living Waters. If you had had your feet on dry ground, your experience would have given you more of a sense of grounding, but you may not have "spun out" [Note: at this instant, a car in the alley "spun out"] so vigorously. [Group laughter, reaction]

TOMAS: It has been registered, yes. I am, in fact, here responding to Gerdean's appreciation for the moment when she was in Thailand having a conversation with me there. At the end of my remarks welcoming her to a new reality, a rickshaw went by singing music indigenous to the culture, almost as if it were a refrain to my words. This gives you an indication of the harmony of the universe. Even those things which often appear to you to be inharmonious are assimilated in the energy patterns of divinity.

Remember, the act is ours the consequences Gods, and so the trinity reality will create value, will embrace, will absorb, will even deify that which is occurring in order to create reality for the Evolving Supreme, and the ultimate absolute reality of your universe at large. It is an example for you, if you will, that "all is well."

When things are not good, when willful actions persist, when ignorance attempts to destroy our God, it will create static, it will create rough edges. These too will pass, but they create a different responsive energy. As you become more aware of your morontia self they will become less frightening and more of a nuisance which must pass, like the noise siren or the thunderstorm on your picnic. It is a matter of perspective.

Returning to your experience in the water, again the mind contributes greatly to the experiences you have, and as you align your thoughts with "the mind of Christ" as you disentangle yourself from the fetters of your mortal existence, the freer you are to realize the aspects of lightness of being. It is a holiday for you when you can do this. It is important for you to remain grounded. It is important for us that you remain grounded because we need you here in your arena, working. And yet these experiences of expanded consciousness, of a greater reality, are enthralling and memorable and gives you a sneak preview of what the movie will present.

Liana: So I guess the most important this -- and I know this -- the most important thing is to release the fear. And to be trusting.

TOMAS: Yes. The fear will subside as your trust develops. This is a discipline also.

Liana: Is the morontia world like -- in the Kabbalah, in the tree of life there's like four different Sephardim, I guess they call them. Its emanation, creation, formation and manifestation. Is the morontia world like the world of formation?

Rachel: The morontia soul. When I meditate, I mean, I can feel that other aspect of me. It's become a viable reality.

TOMAS: In time you will. Do not berate yourself for living as you must in the world as you find it. But being aware of your morontia self enables you to effect certain changes in your environment if you can keep yourself associated with it. It is rather like the trapeze artist; You can be with an awareness of your morontia reality walking graciously through the air on this high wire, but the slightest distraction could cause you to fall. The net of humanness is there for you. You know how to land on your feet. You are clever creatures. Creative in your surviving and thriving gifts, techniques. But go back up there on the high wire. Discipline yourself to walk that walk, that balance that keeps you in faith and in trust of that higher state of being that has them mesmerized.

You will be able to teach and preach more effectively by associating yourself more consciously with that within you which is divinely related to the Father himself. Become, accustomed to this reality in a "physics" type frame of mind. Allow this to be your greater reality. Practice it! Of course you are animal and will remain animal. Many times you will forget yourself entirely because of your humanness, your temporal conditioning, and so forth, but the more you develop a taste for this greater reality, the stronger you will become, the more amused you will be and the more effective can be your teaching practice.

Rachel: Hmm. Because I've been wanting to become a more effective teacher and preacher. I've had a taste of this. It's quite satisfying. A different sort of thrill.

Rachel: I don't know. I've always wished he were right here so I could see that.

TOMAS: When you're in the meadow, my dear, when you in conscious contact with Him, invite him to walk with you side by side and then in conscious awareness of his presence, feel his very being and allow yourself to be lifted up and led along in association with him. This will feel invigorating and enlightening and liberating.

TOMAS: You will be amazed at how charming you can be. Your problem then, all of you, will be being courageous enough, strong enough, daring enough, disciplined enough, brave enough and gentle enough to comport yourself this way in the face of those who would seek to destroy you. There are many. But by the same token, there are many who long for you or someone to stand out and set the example so that this reality can become one with them and satisfy their hunger and thirst for a righteous and lasting peace within their soul with the Father. As delightful as this might feel, however, the purpose for such comportment is more effective teaching and preaching.

TOMAS: It takes practice, it takes confidence, and it takes conviction. All those things that any new discipline calls for.

Liana: So when I say that I want to rest in the awareness of your presence, and I am talking to the spirit in myself, and I'm trying to practice that, is that what you are talking about?

TOMAS: That is the place to start, of course. As you are in association with that within you which is where you rest, which is your sanctuary, your First Source and Center, your Thought Adjuster, you are associating yourself consciously with this greater reality, and in submission to its divine will, you rest. Indeed. You are in the grace of God.

In time you will become secure in this reality and here your soul begins to flower. It begins to spread out. You become a love-saturated soul, which seeks to express the Father throughout his realm, and so the Father, in association with you, embarks upon a sojourn into the field. It is an evolutionary development. (One moment - Tape turned) The morontia form is very real. One time Leah and Gerdean will recall we had an exercise and in this exercise we discerned the difference between your will moving your limbs as compared to the will of divinity moving your limbs. Would you like to try that exercise?

TOMAS: I would then ask you to sit up straight and allow yourselves an erect spine and elbow room. Put your feet firmly on the floor and give yourself a comfortable stance, straddle. Seated is probably adequate but you may eventually stand to feel how it would be to walk in your morontia body. I will ask you to comport yourself normally, perhaps you can scratch or put your chin in your hand, resting your head on your palm and your elbow on your knee or some typical and normal mortal gesture. Get a feel then for how your muscles are responding to the will of your mind, your brain telling your body what to do. You are herein in control of yourself. Herein you have the disciplines that enable you to walk with life and handle yourself.

Now, would you consider another reality? And herein is the exercise. Allow yourself to go now into that place which you recognize as a place of stillness and accept your association with this greater reality. Allow this greater reality to secure itself firmly within your very being. In your minds eye you might like to think of it as a ray of light which comes down through your seventh chakra and into your spinal column like a rod, holding you up, grounded into the earth, but radiating its energy into you as a supreme energy as compared to the mechanical energy which your brain very graciously provides you when you ask it to be of service to you. Can you feel within you the altered energy state?

TOMAS: Then I would ask you to allow the God Fragment within you to direct your movements and suggest that you would appreciate if they would lift you in such a way as you could feel their direction. Allow the God Fragment in conjunction with your will to raise your self up. Raise your hands, raise your countenance, and raise your very being up high. Lift yourself On High in the morontia energies that are provided. Feel the tingling of your life within your very being. This energy is not driven by your will. This energy is a cooperation of your will and the Father's divine energy. Herein is where these gestures of divinity take place.

Can you not see the Master speaking to the multitudes and his arm sweeping through the crowds to embrace them all? Can you not feel the energy of the Master coming forth from the heart and spewing out over the multitudes? Can you not feel the embrace of the cosmos in your very arms as you experience this loving energy, this divine love feeling embrace you and all that is? This very powerful energy that is your morontia energy is far, far greater than that which you will your body to do.

This is not to negate the wonderful aspects of your body, which you could not function without, which the Mother, the Father has created for you, but the idea of being able to work with your morontia self will give you a power, an energy that will stop them because they have not seen it. And they will know that they, too, have it within them, for you will have sparked in them an awareness of their greater reality also. The Father within. Not just a concept. Not just a theology. But an actual, literal, even "physical" reality. Have you discerned the difference?

Rachel: Yeah. I understand this exercise. I was always curious when I -- even when I first questioned, or searched for that inner reality, my hands would go up in supplication -- palms upward. And it was an automatic uplifting. I felt a need to do that and I would move my spine and my head with that energy and I always wondered why that was and now I understand.

TOMAS: And this is also why Liana regrets her inability to go with this very powerful movement, but by the same token, her mortal mind was aware of the water, and so there was a conflict.

TOMAS: You want to soar, but you want to also survive. It is this potential conflict that holds you back, but if you have practiced, if you have developed control, if you have assigned yourself the environment, the time, the opportunity to develop these realities, if you see purpose to this reality rather than it being a mere Fourth of July expression of wonders and pizzazz, if you find within yourself a tool here for manifesting our Master's gracious reality in your life, our Mother's nurturance. You will be able to give your children, your flock, your peers and your dimension a reality which they have not known and which they will respond to within their very being.

Rachel: This would be a good practice before we share, and maybe we could share more in our morontia....

TOMAS: I am going to tell you something. You have been reminded again and again to develop certain disciplines and even now we are discussing certain procedures in the Pittsburgh group because we encourage you to develop these refinements of personality which will enable you to slip more quickly, more graciously into a more divine state. Your socializing is indeed invaluable and it is an on-going technique as well as a very necessary association of peers and fellow believers. As you socialize your beliefs, you are manifesting the love of God and this is important. You also learn from your socializing.

But this kind of quality interchange is time-consuming and when you have a limited agenda, it is necessary that you launch as soon as possible into the substance of the association, in order then that you have that to socialize. It is a matter of establishing your priorities. Our priority is to being who you can be, the best you can be, in order that you can know happiness, but more importantly, that you can know the Father and show him in your arenas. You have sought to know God and be like him in order to serve and this is our purpose also. This is our agenda. And so, although we appreciate your many activities, your studies, your socializing, your therapy and all of that, we encourage your discipline because it gives us an opportunity to get to the substance of our association and then release you to practice what we have brought to the lesson plan.

It is a process. As you learn these viable realities, as they become a part of your way of life and frame of reference, you will better understand what is happening to people in the "New Age" arena, your brothers and sisters. You will be able to share and compare. You will feel at one with them, and you can even teach and edify as you pass by and you can learn from them because you recognize the energy upon which they are drawing their reality. It is an expansion of the brotherhood, the fellowship, the family of God's kids. As you bind and bond together with other believers, you are tilting the world on its axis. You are bringing about the new era of light and life, and it is happening fairly quickly. It is not as apparent to you, perhaps, as it is to us, but if you but ponder the incredible growth of spirit reality on Urantia in the past ten years, you will see that you are on a big roll. Rejoice.

Liana: Well, since we're on this vein, talking about this stuff, I wonder -- I don't even know how to put this thing. I feel like this whole morontia part. I'm not good with the details of things. I have more of a global view of things and I’m not going to call it by the right name, but I feel like when you’re in this presence or when you cooperate with this presence, you become aware of things... I mean, I honestly believe our bodies keep us from becoming other people. How can I put this. As our awareness expands . .. I say a lot of affirmations, but when you actually see how that looks and how that feels in our reality, like if I say that I will be one with all and my emotions are compassionate for another person, I feel that I can actually become that other person. Not physically, but emotionally.

Liana: Empathically, yes. And sometimes that's not like I know that's happening all the time, it just happens, and I am just wondering what kinds of things we are going to be faced with.

TOMAS: You are wise, Liana, to recognize the extended sensitivity of the morontia reality, for as you are able then to empathically identify a yearning, a need, a hunger, an anger, a fear, a frustration, etc, in your fellows, you are able to be of service to them in your ability to approach that within them that yearns for guidance and counsel. This is an extension of reality beyond the human encounter. Indeed, you will become superhuman. I am attempting to enable you to become superhuman.

Rachel: I'm going for it! I was -- maybe a good analogy., I don't know, maybe you can tell me Tomas, but when you're in that morontia motto as you say, then you become that love-saturated soul of God and you project that love saturation in all you meet and it envelops them, does it not?

Rachel: I suppose. I never thought about frightening them. What happens when they get frightened?

TOMAS: It is yet another service opportunity to assure them of our Father's love. There is no need to fear. It is a time to be gentle, a time to be humorous, compassionate, helpful, tender.

Rachel: I feel those qualities. Every time I have a conversation with someone revolving around the spiritual I come out not beating myself up but wishing I could be more effective. This will be the new course of learning.

TOMAS: But, as Liana says, you become empathic, and as you sense in advance, it is possible for you to adapt accordingly in order for you to serve most effectively. It is as if you see your thought adjuster has a greater range of antennae than you have. But your Thought Adjuster and the Thought adjuster of everyone you encounter is a fact, is a reality. It is up to you then, as human beings, to recognize your innate fraternity, your association as kin, as a result of your indwelling relationship with divinity. And, my flock, since you are becoming aware of your association so keenly, so acutely, since you have come to hunger for this reality so greatly you wish everyone else to know it also, your unselfish service to the Father will involve and entail unselfish service to the soul of that person you encounter.

And that may be a nod of the head, a smile, it may be an acknowledgement without eye contact. It may be effusive attention. It may be sympathy. It may be good natured joshing. Each individual is a unique experience and a potentially unique manifestation and representation of God. It is not just the human being you run into, you see. You run into the soul of your fellow. The Thought Adjuster and the human being are creating the soul. Even though they may not be aware of it, every time they have made a decision that is in concert with the Father, the soul has expanded, and you are in a position to water the seed, to fertilize the soil, because of your devotion to the cause.

Rachel: It's also fun and it brings such satisfaction, of a different type that I've never experienced before.

TOMAS: There is no eternal shame in having experienced the joys presented, even though they may have been shallow and sentient. They have been tasted and sampled and expended in the search for the greater joy, the lasting happiness of perfection attainment.

Leah: I'd like to ask something about the physical side of this exercise that we did. I perceived a -- one of our friends calls it "a bobbin and a weavin". I perceived a sort of a rocking, but not harsh rocking, very gentle swaying that the body seems to want to go in a circular motion, but I recall having something like this many years ago that was a front and back rocking and this seems to be more circular and a feeling of energy in the arms, if the arms are uplifted. Am I just imaging this, or...?

TOMAS: No. You are not imagining. I have cited this example before of people who have had a limb removed, say a foot. They still have, on occasion, an itchy toe. This is essentially their morontia foot and toe. The morontia body is a real form and it becomes more real as you allow it to become more real. It is a part of the formulation of your reality. As you become comfortable with it, as you tune into it, it's energies may lift you up and carry you around as if you were "a bobbin and weavin", a buoy in the harbor.

Leah: Is this how it is that some people who are very strong in their meditation actually levitate?

Leah: It is said that St. Theresa of Avalon, the rest of the nuns used to have to pull her down because she was taking off when she was praying.

TOMAS: But as I pointed out to you earlier, it is important that you keep your feet on the ground. It is important that you connect yourself with your material existence for it is herein that you work and play and have your being as a physical manifestation of your morontial reality.

TOMAS: Indeed! It is also the only context in which I can confirm the theory of being "a spiritual being having a physical experience". Otherwise you are very physical beings and have been and will continue to be, but the appearance of and the experience of the spirit gives you that element of reality which makes you superhuman, supermortal. In time you will lose the carcass and you will waft about in your morontia reality without the grounding influence, without the material gravity, but therein you will be in the morontia realms, the mansion worlds, which are prepared to accommodate that and to teach you, train you, guide you through that experience.

Remember, as you ascend you will be gradually and in due course becoming less animal and more spiritual. That is the ascension plan, and so it will take some time. Be not over eager to lose yourself. Enjoy yourself, rather, and yet be all that you can be. Bring your soul to witness your experience. Reflect the greater reality in your portrayal of your living experience. (Cat meowing.) I hear the mascot is calling our attention to other significant realities. Food, perhaps. Or creature comfort. This is one of the delights of the animal. The pleasures of existence. The joys of humanness, and so you may indeed savor these experiences, these pleasures, indeed enjoy all of your life but look you well to the goal of destiny. Good night.

Seven Adjutant Mind Spirits: Page 481 A, 2. Adjutant-spirit minds. Page 401-3, #5. The Seven Adjutant Mind Spirits

"Michael, I know you're there. I know you're there because you've promised to be there when there are at least two of us gathered in your name. Help me to realize that we are gathered here in your name, to be with you, to remember you, to learn to be more like you, to suffer the little children.

"Help us to come together here in a group, a band of believers, of lovers of your truth, beauty and goodness. Teach us what you would have to learn today, you who know our needs and our capabilities. How can we be of service to you, Michael? Is there anything that we can do for you in and through our service to each other? Or in our arenas? At work, in our home life, in the world at large? Direct us, Michael, in how we might do your will and/or the will of the Father in heaven.

"Thank you, Michael for your presence, for the reassurance that you bring, when we take the time to put our hands in yours. You always help us to realize you are there by your very living, loving presence. Thank you for your untiring faith in us, and your patience with us. And thank you, Nebadonia, our Mother, for all the love you give us, all the care you provide for us and the help that is there for us. Is there any way that we can serve you? Infinite Spirit, Divine Minister. How can we become more aware of your circuits and your servants?

"In helping to work with you we feel more a part of you. We feel more viable, we feel more connected to a lasting and living reality. We grow in endurance. We become more faithful, more steadfast, we experience more joy, more satisfaction, more harmony, more inner peace, more sense of purpose. Enfold us Mother, and strengthen us for the journey. And Michael, counsel and direct us in and through your Spirit of Truth as to how you would have us go.

TOMAS: Good evening, little girls. I am Uncle Tomas. I am enjoying your presence this evening and we have very much enjoyed your harmony in working and playing together in preparing the teachings for distribution. We enjoy so much when you can put your minds together and produce a work in service and in joy. There are helpers, heavenly helpers that contribute to bring about effective associations and it was apparent this evening that you were harmoniously working with those sources, those assistants.

This evening I am not going to burden you with a heavy lesson. Rather, I am going to incorporate you in the format. We have had in the past a midwayer, attend, SongBird, and she has spoken to you regarding an interpretation of the seven adjutant mind spirits. I would like for you to entertain yourselves and us this evening and help to develop a theory of teaching that would coincide the chakra system with the seven adjutant mind spirits. Song Bird has attempted to make this analogy on a number of occasions, and have granted her time on the agenda in order to do that but ineffective as our organization is sometimes we have not effectively followed through with some of these very viable teaching tools. You therefore are at liberty this evening to workshop among yourselves, but I will allow for some focus and discipline, in that, I will suggest that Gerdean go offline and yet you keep the tape running. Let me give you a format for this project:

First, find the excerpt in the Book and review this so that you remember what these adjutant mind spirits are, and this should be fresh in your mind since you recently read this in the Pittsburgh group. Having reminded yourself of the various values, circuits, assimilate them then, in your own fashion, and contribute to each other in like fashion and when you have concluded your exercise, I will come back and discuss with you how effective I have found your techniques. Is this an experiment that might amuse you?

TOMAS: It is good when you can find your education pleasing and amusing. I will therefore release Gerdean for her involvement as well.

"The seven adjutant mind-spirits are called by names which are the equivalents of the following designations: intuition, understanding, courage, knowledge, counsel, worship, and wisdom." and then we go to page 481A under ENERGY- MIND AND MATTER, #10. Universal Non-spiritual Energy Systems (Material Mind Systems) 2. Adjutant-spirit minds. This is the ministry of a local Universe Mother Spirit functioning through her seven adjutant mind-spirits on the teachable (non-mechanical) level of material mind. On this level material mind is experiencing: as subhuman (animal) intellect in the first five adjutants; as human (moral) intellect in the seven adjutants; as superhuman (midwayer) intellect in the last two adjutants."

Gerdean: I thought that was interesting also. I'll take one as an example. The first one being (1) The spirit of intuition -- quick perception, the primitive physical and inherent reflex instincts, the directional and other self-preservative endowments of all mind creations; the only one of the adjutants to function so largely in the lower orders of animal life and the only one to make extensive functional contact with the non-teachable levels of mechanical mind.

Okay. If we're going to compare the spirit of intuition to the base chakra, then I think about Carolyn Myss' discussion that the first chakra is that tribal chakra, or root chakra that is so innate and so programmed into us by our tribal reality. We don't even think about it. It begins in us, according to Ms. Myss, even before we're born essentially, and it teaches us who we can associate with and who we can marry, who we -- you know, you stick with your own kind.

Gerdean: That's the root one. And these are all -- you don't even know that you're

programmed with that stuff.. It's just how to stay alive. You stay alive by staying with your own kind. This is the God we worship, this is the food we eat...

Leah: It's also, unless I have the wrong chakra, isn't it also the spirit of intuition where we get to be intuitive to propagate the species.

Gerdean: The instinctual one is personal, to survive. It's very selfish. It's not even . .. According to the chakra system.... According to Ms. Myss' interpretation of the chakra system -- it's the second one that has to do with sex and power. But I think you could be right, that the first…

Liana: I think the second one says, "The spirit of understanding," so I think the spirit of understanding, you need in relationship. It says, look, right here, "the impulse of
coordination, the spontaneous and apparently automatic association of ideas. This
is the gift of the coordination of acquired knowledge, the phenomenon of quick
reasoning, rapid judgement, and prompt decision."

Gerdean: Second chakra. And again, to refer to Ms. Myss, she's the one that talks about this as being power, sex, money, control chakra, but I'm not certain that it equates very well with the spirit of understanding, because in the spiritual sense -- well, maybe it is. Maybe it is.

Liana: Even numerologically, I really think that the spirit of understanding doesn't have to come into you are in relationship. Then you need the spirit of understanding.

Gerdean: And that could be the relationship with you and your mother or you and your -- I mean, not just a romantic relationship. Any relationship.

Leah: However, when you were reading that, Liana, it struck me, that thing about quick judgement or something like that…

Leah: It feels to me like the first chakra is blossoming and the second chakra is, like, you would have to make a quick judgement in the fear state, like if the lion approached you, or if you were prompting that something -- there is a need to do something, so I think essentially they talk about the chakras as it's beneficial to live in your higher chakras. And it seems like what they are describing in the book is like blossoming, like a bud and its blossoming outward. The -- do you know what I'm saying?

Liana: When I think of the chakras, I think of the three lower chakras as connecting you to the earth. And the three upper chakras connecting you to the higher spiritual realm. And the heart is the mediator. That's how I look at it.

Leah: Yes, that's really good, and essentially we were told the other day during one of the transmissions that we need to have you grounded, you know, because you are working in the field so you have to be grounded and the things you've read so far in the book seem like they would apply to anybody, but because you're blossoming, they feel like they get more spiritual. I don't know if that's a correct "more of this" or "more of that" but, you know -- Do you have any idea what I'm trying to say here?

Liana: Yeah. I think it's an evolution, though. Don't you think it's an evolution?

Leah: That's what I mean by blossoming. You have the bud and it opens to the sun and then it's full bloom.

Liana: That's right. I don't think that we can do without the top or the bottom. I mean its integration. We're part of the earth and we're part of the light.

Gerdean: It's interesting that the interpretation of the chakras today seems to be a little different than they were in the 60's. In the 60's, the spirit of intuition was a lot more related to the more base needs, including sex. And the second chakra had to do with creativity and building and producing, which was related to the sex organs, but in terms of building. Creativity. Not just the instinct to survive, but the wooing that would go with it. You know, the socializing. Perhaps the understanding. See, that's relationship.

Liana: That's what I think it is. It's kind of interesting because even numerologically, when you talk about a two, a number two, that -- first you have the one, and then you have another one in relationship to the first one. That's where I think that --its relationship. You in relationship, and so it's -- I just think of hunting in groups, if you want to get primal, or -- I'm wondering if she does talk about this. Because this is still the tribe! These first three are, in my opinion, all the survival mode.

One is the basic thing that you come in with. And the second one is in relationship. And the third one, to my recollection, is fight or flight. The empowerment one.

Leah: What Gerdean said about how she presented the first chakra, that strikes me more as that tribal stuff, that strikes me more as second chakra, like what you learn...? I don't know what it is, the first one. Everything you've said strikes me more as the second one.

Liana: The first one is just intuition. How you are with -- on your own. In relationship to everything.

Liana: Yeah, like how I am in relationship to everything, the earth, plants, animals.

Leah: Like, you'll see children playing, you know, and they'll be on a playground or something, they'll intuitively go towards one another. It doesn't make any difference what sex, what color or anything like that.

Leah: I think that's first chakra, and I think second chakra is how you react because your parents say, "Oh don't want to play with that little kid over there; you want to play with this one over here." I think that's relationship. It's just my opinion.

Gerdean: We've been listening to Ms. Myss a lot lately and because she has a theory does not mean that we have to subscribe to it.

Leah: Well, I'm trying to -- According to what you read about quick judgement and relationship and what you read in the book, that's how I'm seeing it. I'm seeing everything that Gerdean put forth, I'm seeing it more in the second chakra and the second adjutant mind spirit, the spirit of understanding.

Liana: Reconciliation is better than "penance". That's what he said. And which one is that for?

Leah: That's like when you confess. And you go back to God. There is Holy Orders, Matrimony, Extreme Unction.

Liana: Yeah. I'm just trying to line those up with the chakras so which ones would you think that--~ because she does that! In her book.

Gerdean: A lot of people have been doing these types of studies on this magical number seven.

Leah: Baptism, Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, Holy Orders, Extreme Unction.

Leah: Yeah, because you get to that when you're about seven to nine years old. Reconciliation is kind of like the equivalent of the Thought Adjuster coming in the Urantia Book it says it comes earlier, but with the sacraments, basically what they are saying is that they recognize that you're held responsible for making moral decisions once you reach seven or eight years old.

Leah: Does she -- now we're talking about Carolyn Myss. You were talking about Matthew Fox.

Liana: Pretty much so. There was one particular thing -- I don't remember if was -- she does the same thing with the seven sacraments. There was one minor thing which he had a discrepancy with her stuff.

Leah: It might have been Holy Orders because not everybody goes into the
contemplative state, or embraces Poverty, Chastity and Obedience. Not everybody goes into the Contemplative state, embraces Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience in the sense that . .not every body does that. The other things are pretty much traditional. I mean not everybody gets married, but those are kind of traditional things that people do. What is the third Adjutant Mind Spirit?

Gerdean: The Spirit of Courage -- the fidelity endowment -- in personal beings, the basis of character acquirement and the intellectual root of moral stamina and spiritual bravery. When enlightened by facts and inspired by truth, this becomes the secret of the urge of evolutionary ascension by the channels of intellect and conscientious self direction.

Leah: Right! That is the gut level. So it is a gut level decision to stand up for what you believe in or to say something when you see something which is really "out of whack"?

Liana: It's when you break away... if you were going up the ladder, then that would be . ...

Liana: Right, you have individuated from your tribe. That's what you are supposed to do but sometimes you don't do that, because we haven't the courage to do that.

Gerdean: Well, that's, "... the secret of the urge of evolutionary ascension by the challenge of conscientious and intelligent self-direction." Like, "I'm outta here... We have nothing in common."

Leah: That's like last week, when I said I stayed in my first marriage. I knew . .. the third day, "This is it." It wasn't going to work out probably but I didn't want to disappoint my parents or my church or . .. then there was my social standing in the community, ya know. Good Irish Catholics don't get divorced.

Gerdean: "The spirit of knowledge -- the curiosity-mother of adventure and discovery, the scientific spirit; the guide and faithful associate of the spirits of courage and counsel; the urge to direct the endowments of courage into useful and progressive paths of growth." And coincidentally the next one is counsel, so before it is courage and after it is counsel, and this is "the guide and faith faithful associate of the spirits of courage and counsel." This obviously equates to the heart chakra.

Gerdean: And it parallels very neatly with Ms. Myss's discussions that if your heart is in mind to do it, and your mind is in mind to do it, is this the one? No, that's the throat. I'm wrong. The heart. Never mind.

Liana: But I think the curiosity mother, the very fact that they refer to it as the mother of adventure, so that's like following your heart.

Leah: Well, it reminds me of Andon and Fonta. When they decided they were "out of there" they were not going to hang out with these guys any more…

Leah: ... You know, they were the first evolutionary lemur-type people that got outta …

Leah: Their spirit of courage, but the spirit of courage, I think, is kind of a revelation. I think that this isn't where you want to be, but I think the heart chakra . ..

Gerdean: “Useful and progressive patterns of growth," so we can equate that kind of an experience in our life but when we come to that fight or flight, we opt for "intelligent and conscientious self-direction."

Liana: See, that's where I think you get off-line from your intuition nature that comes from your tribe and from the things around you and you're starting to go into the
You're asking for mind help, but it comes through the heart to the lower chakras.

Gerdean: Because if you don't have your heart in it, you're not going to do it, no matter how necessary it may be. There is something about -- you've got to have your heart into it in order to be motivated.

Leah: This reminds me of when J.C. and I... when J.C. was telling me about the divorce -- the end of our relationship or however you want to say it -- and I wanted to get on a train. So that was the "flight". I didn't want to stay at home and feel sorry for myself or endure the pain. I wanted to fly away from there and think of something else. And I got on the train for something like 11 or 12 days. I just rode around on a train, all around the country.

Leah: I didn't even get a sleeper. I sat on the train. I went to Albuquerque and from Albuquerque to San Bernardino and from San Bernardino to Vancouver
Washington and from Vancouver to back across the nation through Chicago and
from Chicago down here and . ..

Leah: Visited the people on the train. It was very good because I was gifted. I sat down in the dining room and this Mormon lady told me that she had something like nine kids and her husband walked in and said the same thing that mine did, "I don't want to do this anymore," and she had one in the hospital at the time, so I thought, "Well," if she could get through this, I could get through this. It was good. It was very beneficial.

Liana: "The spirit of counsel -- the social urge, the endowment of species cooperation; the ability of will creatures to harmonize with their fellows; the origin of the
gregarious instinct among the more lowly creatures." and really that's the throat
chakra.

Leah: I remember praying, "I'd like to be saved or not to be involved in the spirits of revenge or retaliation, and that I would like to find a different way to look at this." 'cause I could feel my humanness getting really mad. I'd just start crying and I'd start to feel sorry for myself and when I was able to meet these different people . .. the counsel thing . .. I also ended up talking to a psychologist for a long time. We had a wonderful conversation and then she invited me back to her little place on the train and finally she said to me, "Do you know what I do for a living?" and I said, "I have no idea," and she said, "I'm a psychologist," then she said, "I find your reaction to this entirely fascinating. What you've done and . .." Actually I got a card from her later. It said, "Forget about that guy. Join the sisterhood."

Another lady I met whose son was in a situation similar to my own situation, discussed this with me and she sent me a card, too. So it was nice that I encountered these people that I didn't think I would ever hear from again, but they were like a sounding board, and it gave me an opportunity to kind of be a little bit more rational.

Leah: I'm feeling that at that point -- (I can only speak for myself) that I had the will to not want to be involved in retaliation and revenge, which I think is perfectly normal.

Leah: Yeah, and I say "it's MY choice that I behave appropriately on the spiritual plane as opposed to the human plane."

Leah: It's my will that I demonstrate a spiritual approach as opposed to the real human approach.

Gerdean: Now Ms. Myss talks about the throat being between the mind and the heart, and if the mind and the heart are cooperating, then the will comes out through the voice and you HAVE a voice. You have "In the beginning was the Word" and you can begin speaking truth and strength because your mind and your heart are in alignment, but when your heart and your mind are not in alignment, then you clam up. You speak with forked tongue. You have inner conflict.

Liana: But I think too, it's like if your heart is closed off, what happens is your mind is aligned then with your lower chakras... with the tapes of your conditioning.

Leah: I hear what you're saying, but again, I'm using my own example. I ended up writing notes to J.C. I typed them because I said, "I don't want to put you through the emotional trauma of watching me cry, which you've never been able to understand or put up with, so I'm just going to type you notes. I think it's probably better this way," and I said recently on the computer, "I think it's probably better if we use the computer! At least I don't have to get all emotionally embroiled."

But as you were speaking, what you said, I thought of how people who come to this type of situation, that there is like this famous line about divorce: "Oh, she's a divorced woman! She's hot to trot!" That type of thing which, just, something that you said made me think about that. If your heart is open . ...

Liana: If your heart is open . .. To me what you are saying is that your heart helped you in connected with your higher mind . .. in that, because what you were saying is that you wanted to forgive him. Is that true?

Leah: I don't know whether it was forgive. I... guess it's . .. I wanted to be treated like, you know, the Golden Rule thing -- treat other people like you would like to be treated.

Leah: Um. And I don't know about a forgiveness thing. It's almost like the kind of life we lived and everything . .. I don't think that it has much to do with forgiveness. Just... it's almost like the handwriting was on the wall. It's not like . .. this sounds really odd . ..

Liana: To me, what I'm saying is that, it sounded to me like you were engaging the higher mind with the feeling in your heart to resolve these issues with him. Not to . .. you know, the tribal thing may be the lower chakra, would have been sort of a revenge
and I think you might have said or used some words to that effect.

Liana: To me, you were engaging our heart with the higher mind but now we are saying if your heart was closed, then you would . .. your brain . .. not your higher mind would just kick into that automatic response of getting even with him or even taking the whole thing, the blame upon yourself, that it was something . .. You know what I mean.

Gerdean: Incidentally, about the heart thing, I look at my mother who had open heart surgery a few years back and I have always said, Yes that was entirely appropriate because her heart is closed. If it isn't, she acts like it is. . .. And when she's angry, she does not open her heart. She retaliates. She . .. I mean she is miserable!

Liana: You know it's a perfect example of getting angry instead of actually feeling those feelings. And getting in tune with your higher mind. It's just like -- When I mean the higher mind, I mean the higher self, just like when we were over at Elyssia's house and we were to the Mother Spirit part in the book and remember how we were talking about... if you're not in tune with your emotions, you can't be in tune with spirit. Do you remember that?

Liana: And I think that's the whole thing. You gotta get all this stuff working together, and the heart is like your main central circuit.

Liana: You gotta get these emotions and feelings flowing, and spirit will help you come in alignment with your higher self, and the universe and everything else.

Gerdean: But it's interesting that the heart chakra is the spirit of knowledge. This is like the knowledge of good and evil. This is like knowledge. ... what a peculiar word. Usually when we think of knowledge, we think of book-learning.

Liana: The discovery of this scientific spirit, so it sounds scientific but it’s the knowing, coming to know spirit. Before, we probably didn't even know that. We were so into survival.

Liana: You get to this point and you ask yourself, "God there's gotta be more!"

Gerdean: And the fifth, the spirit of counsel is you begin to find like kind. You're en route to your own life. You're no longer completely tied into the tribe. You've made some of your decisions, you have your own motivations, and you begin to find people with whom you can relate. Kindred spirits, so to speak.

Liana: And this is like . .. yeah, kindred spirits as opposed to being stuck in your tribe.

Leah: Well in a way it's interesting because what J.C. said to me was, "Let's face, it. We are like oil and water; we have no common interests." So in a sense he came to that, too.

Gerdean: Well you had, at the heart level, gone off in two different directions. Into useful and progressing paths of growth.

Liana: I know that Diadra, she talks about this Twin Flame kind of thing, but hers are a little more simplistic. So I think it would be a great idea if we wanted to do this is to watch the film and then if they are interested in that I could get it. It's called Sacred Mirrors of Relationship, that you sort of practice.

Liana: Because the last mirror of relationship is the I AM. I AM that I AM, but there's a lot of stuff in relationship that, you know . ..

Liana: There might be a little bit, but I think you'll see a lot. If you give it another
language from the Urantia Book, like I heard you on the tape saying that even though we're doing the same thing, we all speak a different language. Everybody speaks it, even though we're doing a different thing, depending on what level we're on.

Gerdean: It seems to me that that is what the point of this exercise is, is to find, learn and practice ways to bridge the language barriers.

Leah: Basically he went to Haleakala, a volcano in Hawaii (at Maui) and meditated there and he got this enlightenment that everybody is saying the same thing even though it sounds exactly opposite. Because people are having a subjective or objective observation. It's kind of -- I'm not sure how to put the appropriate words, but it's like . .. Some people have to have the objective church leader, a bishop, a cardinal, a physical thing in front of them. And the other people seem to want to go through the path of the ascended masters, very ethereal, spiritual things coming to them. But they all arrive at the same point or balance. The thing about the nature of God and the nature of man and coming to the balance of... it sounds like it's going to very good.

Gerdean: I think this is a very appropriate to the assignment and it ties immediately into the next chakra, but you were going to say something first?

Liana: In the "Keys of Enoch" he says in one of the passages there that at this time there will be people here on earth that that is their whole purpose in coming to earth is to bring all these things together, all truth together, all different paths. Actually what Carolyn Myss is doing. And now Matthew Fox is doing it. It's like they're saying, you know, these aren't different things. They're the same things. It's the same assignment that we're getting tonight. That in this time there will be a healing of these ideas that were separated. Language . ..

Gerdean: It all comes back to the spirit of worship which sets us apart from the animals. "The religious impulse, the first differential urge separating mind creatures into the two basic classes of mortal existence. The spirit of worship forever distinguishes the animal of its association from the soulless creatures of mind endowment. Worship is the badge of spiritual-ascension candidacy."

And here we are, all of us who are able to worship, are bringing all of our scaffolding, backgrounds, cultural, spiritual stuff with us and our theme in the Teaching Mission is that Jesus wants us all to come together. He wants his children to come together, and as we sit and see the parallels between the various theories, along the lines of the seven these and the seven those, the seven this and the seven that’s, the parallels and similarities are such that perhaps we could contribute to the coagulation or at least coordination of these things through interweaving the concept of the seven adjutant mind spirits in there to, so as not to take away from what they've got but to add to what we've got.

Leah: Well that's what they are attempting to do in traditional Christianity in many religions they are speaking of -- Instead of concentrating on their differences, why don't we look for our similarities.

Gerdean: And the chakra is the third eye. And the spiritual self, which is the religious impulse, that which sets us apart from the animals. The mystic eye – That certainly makes sense.

Liana: But you know what I was just noticing, when we think of ourselves in the lower chakras, we think of ourselves as humans. But this says the "spirit of intuition" so never have we been without spirit. But we were, as a creature, were more tuned into our survival, or our separateness. But we're never really without spirit.

Gerdean: You understand though that these seven adjutant mind spirits do not function as personalities apart from the universe presence of the Divine Minister. They are a level of consciousness of the Divine Minister, subordinate to her. They are actually circuits more than personalities, they are circuits. Energies.

Liana: But the thing is what I'm trying to say is, when you get past the fourth and then even up into -- it would probably have to be in the sixth, where you come to realize there is nothing that exists that is not God. There is nothing that exists that is not God.

Liana: The Spirit of wisdom -- the inherent tendency of all moral creatures towards orderly and progressive evolutionary advancement. This is the highest of the adjutants, the spirit coordinator of the work of all the others. This spirit is the secret of that inborn urge of mind creatures which initiates and maintains the practical and effective program of the ascending scale of existence; that gift of living things which accounts for their inexplicable ability to survive and, in survival, to utilize the coordination of all their past experience and present opportunities for the acquisition of all of everything that all of the other mental ministers can mobilize in the mind of
the organism concerned. Wisdom is the acme of intellectual performance. Wisdom is the goal of a purely mental and moral existence.

Leah: I was visualizing a wise old Tibetan monk or something. They know that they don't really need anything of the earth; they just are in a contemplative state and they're wise! they know that they can worship and tune into -- they're wise enough to know . ... I can remember being a kid and going by the cloisters in NYC and my dad telling me these nuns lived in there and they just prayed all the time and I thought they must live a really boring life! But I was a kid at the time.

Gerdean: It would have been boring to me too! It would have to be a life that I would attain to. And I think that's what we do. I don't think that I would have made a good nun by inheritance. I have to grow into my wanting to be in a state of worship or wisdom. But that's the value of the experiential, making those choices.

Liana: Something like when you're Irish you've got to have a priest in the family.

Gerdean: Carolyn spoke of the seventh chakra of being . ..? I know that being in the old school the lotus blossom and nirvana.

Leah: And in modern day phraseology, as they put it, they refer to prana coming in. The energy of prana, and in the Urantia Book they refer to the seventh adjutant mind spirit as the wisdom.

Gerdean: And isn't it interesting, or at least it was to me, that wisdom is at the top of the list and not worship. You would think that worship would be the top. You couldn't get any higher than worship, but wisdom is beyond worship.

Leah: Well, you could do worship in a congregation. As a ritual, and still maybe tune in to some degree, but you'd still be back in that tribal thing where . .. and the other thing I could think about when she was talking about worship was, it always feels like the birds worship. Even though they don't have a human mind. It's just something about the way they sing.

Gerdean: It's probably part of the spirit of counsel. Their ability to harmonize with us.

Liana: I was reading Ken Wilbur again today. I sort of -- I have been a searcher all my life, all my adult life, and I sort of feel like that's the sixth thing -- the spirit of worship. Because it has always been the great search.

Liana: I was always looking for God out there, but the thing is, as long as God is out there, it's a perpetual search. It -- in doing it, it almost denies God.

Liana: That's what he says. I'm not trying to act like I came up with it all by myself.

Liana: It really is. When I saw that, I realized, it came to me at just the right time, really, to let go of the search. Not real easily. You know it still keeps coming back every once in awhile. But I think that this top chakra, what it is, is it's all-knowing, you understand that you are that awareness that is me, is spirit.

Liana: So you actually get to be where you can practice that and understand that that you don't any longer separate yourself from that awareness. You allow that awareness to be ever present in you. TO me . .. then you would be all-knowing if you actually were able to rest in that awareness. That, that is spirit.

Leah: Right. It seems the application would be to be in this world but not of it. Because we still have to be in this world until our time to be elsewhere, but...

Liana: I think it's like the One. It's like when you say, "I always wondered what that meant: I AM that I AM."? But I think what that means really is you get to an awareness, that I am that. I am that. And I am that and that and that! Like there is no separation between -- Your awareness is the awareness that you are everything. You know, that awareness that lives in you, lives in you, lives in you. And that's what I think is the crème de la crème.

Liana: I've been trying to practice that and I do for this minute . .. I get the feeling and it's really sort of joyous.

Leah: That's the... I love the Course in Miracles. When I was doing the lessons,

because everyday, exactly what the lesson was talking about, would happen. And it was like -- I can remember the one that said, "I do not know what anything is for." I'm going to throw this book across the room! I thought, "this is a stupid lesson!" Well I had it totally demonstrated to me. And yet I suppose when you get to the spirit of wisdom, you know, in an odd sense, what everything is for. In some odd sense. It's for recognition.

Liana: That's exactly . ..! You could've read that article! Because that's acknowledgment and recognition is what the whole . .. what creation is about. I mean, he doesn't exactly put it that way. The Absolute, in that respect, knew everything. Was everything. And actually there was no thing. There was no time and there was no thing. Right?

Liana: So the creation came about by . .. the desire love to experience, acknowledge, recognize self.

Leah: Even if you think of God as external, where one of the tenets that they sort of make the progression with is, well god made everything so that... There was God and god make everything so that he could experience it, because he would be lonely not experiencing it.

Leah: If you just think of him as external relationship again. In the Course in Miracles it says the only appropriate thought of your brother is appreciation. That's the only appropriate . .. mode in response to your brother is appreciation. I found -- as you said, about joy? -- I hadn't really felt that I felt joy recently very much but I can remember when I really was immersed in looking at those lessons, thinking about them, sitting still every morning and . ..

Liana: That's the same thing with me. Both of us were embroiled in relationship things. We were learning through our relationships about what love was and what love wasn't. SO I think sometimes you have to do that because I thought about that too. When you say those affirmations. There's like an affirmation that I say a lot: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, that I AM." I sing that! "Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, that I AM." Well, if that's true, then anything that is not like Christ...

Liana: That consciousness can't live in a consciousness that is separate or has conditions, so . ... If I have a consciousness within me that says, "I am not loved," that love exists out there somewhere, but yet I am saying this affirmation that love exists out there somewhere, and yet I'm saying this affirmation that "Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, that I AM," that I am identifying with Christ, Christ that is compassionate, love, then I have to work through and get rid of all those ideas that I'm not, is not that.

Leah: I can recall a Beatles song, "I am you and you are me and we are one together." It's like a light bulb goes on.

Leah: That's the one. So when Jesus said, I and the Father are One. and then he says, I forget how the words go but its like "If you've seen me you've seen the Father..." then at some point I think he says, "You and I are one"! I could be wrong but I think he says that.

TOMAS: I would like to come in and contribute to your studies at this point if I may.

TOMAS: I am going now to bring you to an appreciation for the Spirit of Truth and as you have ascended, all of you individuals in your evolution through the ministries of these seven adjutant mind spirits, you are brought at length to the pinnacle of spirit, the Divine Minister's consort, that being the Spirit of Truth.

Now when all evolving beings approach the pinnacle of their evolution in and through the seven adjutant mind spirits, and find themselves automatically gravitating toward the Spirit of Truth, which will provide for them this union with others in divine relationship you know you who study the revelation that this Spirit of Truth is the Way shower, the spirit of Christ and so the scripture about "No one comes to the Father except through me" is once again confirmed, for even though many do not know and recognize that the Spirit of Truth is the spirit of Michael, it is, even so, true.

If it is only understood as "spirit" it will suffice. It will lead you home. It will lead you to the Father. And so "No one comes to the Father except through me" as he has said.

We have enjoyed your studies this evening. It is good to see you invigorate yourselves and each other through a mental exercise, an intellectual application of your spiritual path, your studies and your comparisons of your religious experiences with the religious experience of others. Once you have all ascended through these seven adjutant mind spirits and have begun to operate in and with and through the Spirit of Truth as a rule, as a general practice, as a way of life, you will discover how close you are to your brethren, even those whose experiences and backgrounds and cultures and religions have been vastly diverse.

And so it is a wonderful exercise indeed that you have engaged in this evening and which will benefit you and bring you results. As the days come to pass and you will reflect back on your work this evening, and the ultimate goal of destiny insofar as an understanding of these universal truths, these basic ascension steps, even though they may be spoken of by myriad evolving religions, are similar in nature and united in ultimate purpose ~ to bring you into God-consciousness and filiality.

There is indeed a divine plan; there is a play, a conspiracy afoot, to bring you into wholeness, for in due course Urantia will be re-assimilated, and realigned. Your system, your constellation, your local universe, even your super-universe will one day be pronounced Absolutely Perfect and this will go on. It is wonderful when you are aware of its on-going-ness, that you can contribute to it and understand even a minuscule of what is going on so that you can appreciate and find joy in your being a part of this tremendous and great ascension plan of our Father. Are there questions this evening? [Long pause]

TOMAS: Entirely appropriate to the request, yes. It was not outlined to provide you such constraints as to stifle your ability to investigate and share. It is a teaching format. I am very glad for your application, for your conscientious thought processes, for your generous sharing, for your focused appreciation of the merits of the exercise. Indeed, as you become teachers, as you develop the confidence and courage of your own authority, through your own recognition of your own growing soul, you proceed, process and perfect, and so yes, you have done well. I am aware of your limitations in terms of time and space and unless there is a pressing concern, I will step down and allow you to go about your business. Merium however would like to say goodnight.

MERIUM: There we are. There are the chipmunk cheeks up in the air. I am the perennial optimist. How happy I am to be with you, my lovely children. I have had fun watching you play dress-up this evening and think hard. I enjoy you when you show yourselves off to be the refined young ladies that you are capable of being. It is good to see you becoming teachers. I am very happy with the efforts of many in this group. I am thrilled with Hunnah's development. She has caught fire and is aflame with spirit fruits and service enthusiasm. It is a delight to be a coworker with her in this wonderful venture of spewing forth personal revelation en route to divinity. Your own skills are being honed, your own wits are being polished, and your assignments are yielding you engagements and investigations that lend delight and invigoration to your lives.

Also, it is just wonderful to see this ballroom so decked out in and with you beautiful people swirling around to the music of the spheres in the arms of the Divine Parents. Beautiful girls, how proud we are of you and how we nurture and foster your efforts in appreciating your own good will and good works. Bless you, girls, and rest well.

MERIUM: I am going to come in and fluff the pillows that aren't even stuffy yet, so that you can continue to feel at ease and comfortable and well tended. I am indeed sorry that our Hunnah could not conjoin with us this evening in testimony to our sisterhood and yet it is apparent that her calling is elsewhere, at least for this period of time. I am loyal to the Master and to you and to her and in the greatness of my heart's capacity, I can be many things to many people, and this is my message for you today, my little bumpkins, that you have within your heart the heart of divine love, that font of living energy that allows you to embrace many.

My flowers, you may love the one you behold in any instant, but you will find that they are so rejoicing in your acknowledgment, they will want more of you. And so be prepared to manage your dance card or you will wear out your feet and, like Cinderella, fly out the door at the very last minute to keep from falling apart. Do not wait until the last minute, little ones. Do not fall apart, for the harvest is great and I remind you again of the sacred stillness, the place wherein you may fluff your own pillow by comforting yourself in the arms of the Eternal Parent.

When you go to our Mother, our Father, for assistance and ministration, you are strengthened and ennobled and made ready then for your next moment in time, in order to manifest your radiant joy once more. "Love one another" is the admonition. You are not limited in your ability to love, only as you define your own limitations.

We are many this evening. You have heard this before. I pause in this evenings presentation to remind you again, how many indeed we are. There are truly thousands and thousands of spirit beings in attendance, attending you, all of you, in your wonderful family of humanity. We are working incessantly and insistently in order that you might be awakened to the wonders of your experience of life, that you be released from the bondage of fear, into the liberty of sonship, daughtership.

Your cushion of comfort is knowing that you are loved, that you are a very real and important child of Michael and the Divine Minister. You are important to Him because you are his children and you are important to each other because you are siblings in this wonderful family Embrace one another. Little ones, cherish one another and embrace yourselves as well. Take care of yourselves. Take appropriate care of your own needs, as only then are you going to be able to enjoy, radiantly pour forth, your understanding of His love as it is inherent in you. The most exhilarating love there is.

Well, I see we have an exhilarated four-footed one here having fun [The cat...] how your pets engage you! You who have pets are able to approximate an affection that the supernals have for you. You are so largely animal yet. You are very material in your bodies and in your environments. You are so electro-chemical in your reactions, so subject to gravity down pull and conditioning of the ages, much like domesticated pets or trained animals, but you are indwelt with that spark of divinity which will enable you to become more than you are, greater than you can imagine. And while we encourage you to enjoy your human condition, we encourage you also to appreciate that you are not what you seem.

You are not mere critters in a litter, even though these are wonderful cuddly creatures. You, too, like to be scratched behind the ear and petted on the head. You like to have your tummies rubbed; you like to have good food and a good snooze in the sun; you like to be spoken to in kindly tones; you like to be attended to in your basic needs and you like to luxuriate in the affection of those you love and those who love you in return. I am reminded of your saying, "It's a dogs life" and when you are sheltered by a patron of pets such as our Parents are of their docile little creatures, you are in a good home, indeed, fat and sassy.

How nice it is to spend a moment with you. I am always heartened, enriched, when I get to spend some time with you and share myself with you. I feel your purring senses. I feel you at ease and it is good for you to feel this soothing sense of protection and comfort. Indeed, that I love you as critters, creatures of the Father, is important to you, for you are still mortal and although we aspire to the same divine heights that you aspire to, we fully respect your human condition and the difficulties it must be for you in your experiential -- in such a difficult and challenging environment as Urantia.

But what a privilege and pleasure it is for US as we behold your outworking your own destinies and growing In this wonderful family. How we appreciate your care for one another. It is a legacy of love that we behold unfolding. The embrace of the divine is enfolding you all and you are beginning to trust each other and enjoy each other within this monumental embrace, this divine essence of love and affection. It cannot hurt! It cannot possibly hurt to know how deeply you are loved and how capable you are, in that, of loving others.

TOMAS: Good evening, my friends. I am Tomas, your teacher. How are you this evening?

TOMAS: It is good that Merium has comforted you and provided you with a soul satisfaction of beingness. I smile as I use these words for they are artificial to me and to you but we have learned to use certain phrases, certain language tools, in order to convey certain concepts/ realities/ truths. The interpretation of the message is always a gamble, but in faith of the abilities of the Universal Mind to absorb and assimilate the words and allowing for the Spirit of Truth to ascertain what is being conveyed, we can somewhat, at least, appreciate that a reality is being invoked, instilled and made real and you are being introduced to morontia thought and perception within yourself.

You are able now, all of you, to see results from our constant efforts, from the untiring effort of your own indwelling Thought Adjuster and the ministrations of your personal teachers. You are able to perceive the divine mind working within you. You are beginning to differentiate between your emotional level, your feeling level, and your spiritual level. This is good, because we are studying here What Love Is. And when you work in the field, when you work with others, you need to be able to touch them where they are. And so you need to have a full range of understanding of what love is in order to make contact with your ministry. Have you any questions this evening?

Rachel: I thought that was interesting you brought up definition of what love is because I have been pondering this for quite some time and it seems that as I grow, that definition changes and broadens. It seems so narrow, that word love, in our world. It's almost gotten a bad connotation.

Liana: The place I remember was the teacher was saying they hate to even use that word, it's been so distorted, so warped down here that I don't think that anybody truly understands what love is or how broad it could be. I don't even. I'm just sort of beginning to question. I went to see Matthew Fox. He won't even use "Love". The word that keeps coming up is "compassion" in the place of "love."

Rachel: Yeah. I feel myself growing in compassion for other people. Empathy. Compassion. It's a different kind of love, I suppose. Deeper, broader, more accepting? It's not so shallow. That was just my comment, Tomas.

TOMAS: I enjoy your comments, Rachel. I am enjoying your focused devotion. Your testimony of religious experience confirms your devotion, your application to your time with Father.

Rachel: Well, I've found I've developed this incredible, incredible craving. This thirst! That I feel I will never, ever, ever, ever satisfy!

TOMAS: You hunger and thirst for righteousness and it is fed and filled through the living water. You will always return to this First Source and Center for your fulfillment, for your nurturing. You have been enhungered and alienated from this wellspring of your own reality for a long time, but you now have reconnected your association. You are aware of your God fragment and in human terms you are having "a love affair."

TOMAS: And so you yearn to be in the presence of the lover, for it makes you feel good, lifts you up.

TOMAS: Yes. It is also true that as you are strengthened and confirmed in this reality you will be given guidance and instruction and direction. In due course your Parent will say, "Run along, now, Child, and minister to your siblings, who yet have not known how to suckle at the breast of the Divine Mother or find courage in the breast of the Father, his is when your divine association will engage itself in a conscious co-creative pact and you will go seek the lost sheep, knowing that you too will not rest until they have been found and returned to the fold.

All along the way you will be sustained and encouraged by the Master's example, by his companionship through the Spirit of Truth, by the assistance and association of your leaders, both human and divine. You will never be alone again, and it is such a comfort to know this, such a powerful reality, it takes a while for it to become cemented in your consciousness.

Rachel: Mmmmm. Patience. I was pondering that today. The patience we must acquire to wait upon the Father, to have His Way be done. So that it is done according to His Way and not go off on our own way to rush things along.

TOMAS: Here it is wherein you are impetuous and exuberant children. But it will not take you long to realize discernment. You will find when you have stuck your finger in the electric socket that you don't want to do that again. You will find that if you put out honey you will catch more flies than with vinegar. These very elementary lessons that you have known in your human life will also hold true for you in your spiritual ascent.

TOMAS: Patience, as you understand patience, will fall away. Endurance will replace patience. It is a long-standing perception of patience.

Rachel: Speaking of "long", could you explain that fruit of the spirit called long-suffering? I don't like its connotations. [Group laughter] At all! Maybe you can clarify it in a better light.

TOMAS: It is, however, a quality of maturity that will become a part of your modus operandi and it relates to compassion. Remember that the mature human being soon looks upon his immature siblings with the eyes of a parent, a parent who has loving tolerance for the childishness and child likeness of its younger fellows. You would not become angry with a toddler for falling. And when you begin to perceive your fellows in the spirit, the fledgling souls, fall down, that is to say not rise up to your heights of wisdom or experience, you will not look at them with disdain but with compassion.

TOMAS: Madagan will be helping you along these lines, and you might ask Merium to utilize your circuitry on occasion. She is in need of a new set of vocal chords. It is true that Merium is helping in the field and will likely spend a great deal of time with Hunnah in her ministry, but when possible, you could fill in.

Rachel: I hadn't thought of it. Although I did have -- I was sitting there in this homeopathic workshop in this barn, thinking, now wouldn't this be interesting if something would spring up here, because these people are on a spiritual pathway but they don't even realize it, I don't think. It was just an interesting thought that came to mind. What ever could develop, you never know.

TOMAS: It is always interesting to think in terms of spirit reality engulfed in the flame of living love.

Rachel: Well maybe I'll practice transmitting Merium at home and see if she comes in clear.

TOMAS: She is a very amenable personality, as we know. I would like to utilize your equipment on occasion myself, my dear, if you are not afraid of me.

Rachel: I'm not afraid of you. I'm just not sure if I'm comfortable getting the message clearly. I mean, I feel comfortable in my own mind. I can differentiate between various personalities.

Rachel: Maybe I will practice it when I'm out visiting with my sister. Would you be willing to be helpful out there? Maybe she is not ready for it.

Rachel: Do I still have an attached midwayer? Do I still have one or is he gone?

TOMAS: Many, many celestial personalities have been given permission to make contact now that the circuits are open.

TOMAS: Indeed. We all have a different purpose; we all have different strengths and different approaches, perhaps, like each of you, and yet truly you will find, across the board, we are all devoted to the same ideals, the same goals – perfection

TOMAS: We have been talking about love. There is nothing but love. Anything that is not love, is not. Of course these are very relative realities and so we can take your own understanding of love and define love. Joniel, you are familiar with mother love and other kinds of love. What do you have to say about love?

TOMAS: "Love is patient. Love is kind." Love is long-suffering, whether it is for a child, a spouse, or a new kitten.

Liana: Well, since she used the word, can you define it, Tomas? Long-suffering.

TOMAS: Long-suffering has to do with endurance. Your awareness of your planet's history brings to the super-consciousness an awareness of its deformities and entirely through your life you will be aware, in part, of these defects -- because of the Lucifer Rebellion and the Adamic Default primarily -- because of the long isolation away from counsel with intelligent life throughout the universe. Your life, therefore, in many ways, is one of long-suffering, for only rarely do you get to experience the relative perfection that you would have known had you been on a normal planet.

You do not know this in your conscious mind except as you have read and discovered your status in the universe, and you are not aware of this in your subconscious mind, except as it affects your survival techniques and defense mechanisms and so forth. But in your super-conscious realms, where your divine guide touches and where your soul begins to formulate, you have an awareness of the tremendous need of Urantia to develop an awareness of its place in the universe, and so I equate that as an example of long-suffering for your super-conscious.

It is very much as if you were handicapped. You would learn to live with it, but you would be aware of it not being as well as it might be under optimum circumstances, and so even though you make the best of it, and you find life grand, you are still aware of the fact that it is not what it might have been, and this lends to a sense of long-suffering. Many people do not attain to the maturity of long-suffering. They become bitter and cynical, and so, long-suffering is an element of maturity and responsibility.

Liana: I think that's what compassion is, also, is "love allowed." Accepting those things you cannot change.

Liana: That's how I think of it. I'm sure there are other definitions, but I think that

Liana: It's not judging something as good or bad or right or wrong. It just IS. And "in love" IT IS.

TOMAS: In divine love IT IS. Human love, however, is not as long-suffering.
Liana: It's conditional.

TOMAS: Indeed it is. Because of the conditions of humanness. The time-space limitations of your very mortal existence. It is almost necessary, in the mortal sense, that there will be conditions. This is why it is a part of your maturing process as a human race of people, as a species, to become civilized, to develop ergonomically.

Leah: My understanding is it's the most dynamically efficient way of doing something and all I can think of is those stationary bicycles with the fan on the bottom and they are calling ergonomic because they have that fan configuration. As opposed to a stationary bicycle without one. It's most effective.

TOMAS: And this is why it is virtually impossible for humans to . .. function with unconditional love. It makes it impossible to manage your environment. When you are in conscious contact with divinity, and your fellow isn't, or if you have differing ideas as to how the Father would have you be, in due course all of you will evolve together to a point of allowing Gabriel and the gang to address your environment, your government, all these things, but you will not be able to develop your global ideal as long as you are inclined to provide conditions on your associations and so we have some time on our hands here to develop and work in that direction. I am suggesting some patience, compassion, long-suffering and love in the process. Are you entirely clear about that, Liana?

TOMAS: Can you appreciate that the mortal is inclined to provide conditions in his and her relationships, associations, commitments, associations . ..

Liana: Yes. I think that's, like: learning the application of unconditional love is part of the initiation into the ascension.

TOMAS: It is a vital sense of realizing that you are one, that is to say, what you do affects others. What they do, affects you. When one is a part of a living organism, one must be on the lookout for diseased cells. One must learn to direct certain energies to certain areas in order to counterbalance the developments across the board. Where one is weak, one must arrange a counterbalance of strength in order for the organism to maintain a sense of stabilization. It is a vast undertaking, this global harmony, this brotherhood of man.

Liana: I'm not quite sure what you said, Tomas. What's coming to me, though in
human love, it seems to me that it's a mind set. It's what we think of it. It's something that we give in the hopes of having it returned. And I think of unconditional love, it's in the giving that you receive it. It's something that moves through you. It's not something that you can decide who you're going to give it to or who you're not going to give it to or who deserves it and who doesn't deserve it, it's what you are and it moves through you because you allow it to move through you in your identification with the Father.

TOMAS: You are correct. And yet let us take an example of two people who are in love at a certain level and neither of them are grounded. They well may be totally unconditional in their affection for another for a time, but in due course they will need shelter and at once there are conditions on the relationship. You see.

Liana: Yes, that's very interesting to me, Tomas, because I can see that, when you said that, a light bulb kind of went on in my head and I thought, "Well, that's the element, right there!"

It's, like: when we move back into being able to trust the Father for housing and for our lives, then we don't have to have those conditions in our relationships.

TOMAS: This is the ideal and the advanced state, yes. But it will require a mature individual a mass of mature individuals to create a mature world, one which allow for the Father to rule, for the Most Highs to rule, effectively, and for each to be able to appreciate that the Father is in charge. There is a pattern.

However, at no time will you be in a place where you will not be called upon to manifest an element of mota that gives energy that can be regarded as work that provides heat and/or illumination. In other words, you are not just an ethereal delight, you have purpose. The living organism is purposive. All of these infinite varieties of personalities throughout the universe have jobs to do. Some of them are created specifically to do a job and they do it eternally and perfectly. Some of you have to go through a long training ascension in order to have the wherewithal to do what you will be called to do when you have attained that point which others have been given automatically by the nature of creation.

Liana: What's coming to me now is that: it seems to me that our purpose is that we have -- not in our humanness, not in our physical form but in the spirit, that is, the Indwelling Spirit -- is to remember, that that is what I AM. It seems to me that that is what the whole journey here is all about, is the remembering. Remembering . ..

Liana: ... and that this getting married, falling in love, getting a job, supporting myself, and all that is -- doesn't have anything to do with my purpose. That is like a camouflage or that is the challenge of -- my challenge is well laid out form. It's to remember.

TOMAS: Your point of being here is soul birth, and as you become connected to your spark of divinity consciously, as you remember, you are eternal, in that you are indwelt with a spark of infinity, part of you who has become, you who is a soul, has been forever, and has embarked from Divinington to join with you the will creature, mortal born, who will become its mate in oneness into infinity again. And thus you, Liana, have been born, an eternal immortal soul, because of your acceptance of your divinity and your acknowledgment of its acceptance of you, the personality. It is soul birth. This is your purpose here.

Your next purpose will be to awaken on the morontia plane and begin to polish your value as a potential spirit, all the while gradually molting more and more of the animal vestige. All the while all of these processes are occurring in your own ascension, you are experiencing yourself and your reactions to your environment, in order that you may relate meaningfully to those you encounter.

Liana: So I have a question. When you're saying this and you are talking about the morontia world, am I still in my physical body?

TOMAS: No. This is after the dissolution of the mortal body, when you awaken after the roll call or upon arrival on the shores of Mansonia, after you have left your cocoon and emerge as the morontia butterfly, so to speak. You are born here, in the soul, but you will be fostered and developed further in your morontia reality on another plane.

Rachel: Urn. The resurrection of the sleeping survivors. Are those people who did achieve spirituality or did not or is there a mixture or what?

TOMAS: It is a mixture. Be assured that there are some who do not sleep the sleep of the ages but who, similar to Jesus, are raised up in three days. Those who have made an effort to become, those who are, those who are identifiable as a viable and working personality, those who have made the supreme decision, have made those choices that have fostered and furthered the development of their soul, their reality, are moved ahead quicker, but those who have only partially or hardly begun their spiritual development, are laid to wait until the roll call. This occurs at dispensational intervals, when thousands upon thousands are resurrected.

Liana: So is this -- I'm having a little bit of problem with this. So are you talking about resurrecting like Christ resurrected?

TOMAS: Very much like Christ resurrected. It in fact is a safe parallel to equate his

morontia appearances as the kind of body you will have in the mansion worlds. It will not be a material body and yet it is not full spirit.

TOMAS: It is very visible to those who are morontia beings. I am able to see my associates very clearly. I could describe them for you but you would not particularly understand my descriptions, and yet I can see them personally very clearly. My immediate environment here, as well as yours, is, to my perception, energy, illumination, pattern, and a connectedness between these holograms of pattern and energy and light that allows for an appreciation of cause and effect.

In your world you can see that if you drop a pebble into the water, the ripples flow outward in a certain movement and if you watch long enough you will be able to see that the ripple goes out to the outer rim and returns inward, and this kind of movement is similar to the kind of movement I am suggesting in our environment, in the morontia realms.

TOMAS: It is not so much that the movement distinguishes one personality from the other as it indicates a harmonic convergence of pattern.

Rachel: Is it sort of like two energies emerging and then they create a third energy?

TOMAS: I am reinterpreting here, inasmuch as there are far more than two here.

Rachel: Well, I mean ANY energies that come together when they are good energies, shall we say. Good energies, and then a third energy of goodness is created.

TOMAS: Not necessarily, although that is a pattern of creation that can occur at purposive points in the ascension career, but in our case, at this point in comprehension, there is an essential merging, a harmonious blending of realities such that there is not the fiercely defined boundaries you discover in your own forms here. Your forms are distinctly delineated, and you cannot perceive, to a great extent, how it is that your energy manifestations affect the configuration next to you. In our environment, it is apparent! It is easy to see what is going on.

Let me give you the equation that in your world, if you are angry, you may act polite but you are still giving off angry vibrations. If you were in the morontia form, you would be able to see the angry manifestations and the civilities would be absurd, you see, because what you are truly manifesting is anger, and not the words that you use to cover the truth of your being at that moment. Do you see?

TOMAS: Correct. You cannot hide from yourself. You can see very clearly how you affect others.

Liana: That's very interesting, Tomas. That goes along with some of the stuff that I've been...

Liana: Right! And being able to feel and to be able to move with your emotions.

Leah: I know that I've asked you this question before but I've forgotten. I apologize for that, but what is the difference between feeling and emotion?

TOMAS: Feeling is existential. It is that which comes from the I AM. It is a reflection of divinity and can include joy and sadness. It can acknowledge birth and death. It has a sense of itself. It is a poignant aspect of your soul. Emotion is . .. let me borrow on your new phrase, "e-mail; electronic mail." E-motion is electronic motion. It is what manifests from you, what radiates out from you as a result of what your reaction is to how you feel in conjunction with what you think. And so when your spirit and your mind are in harmony, your emotions are at peace, but when your feelings and your mind are in conflict, your emotions are in turmoil. Has that helped?

Liana: So it's the result of... an interchange between your feelings and your mind – in your thoughts.

TOMAS: Emotion is a manifestation of the relationship or lack of relationship between your spirit and your mind, yes.

Liana: So then if we are at peace in our emotions, we can align with the feelings of the Father.

TOMAS: I see the direction you are going, but essentially it is: if you are in line with the Father, your emotions will be at peace.

TOMAS: Yes, it is a cycle, but I will encourage you to focus on the Father rather than on your emotions, if you see my point.

Rachel: So then those emotions can be used for the good in your teaching and preaching, in your effectiveness.

TOMAS: If you find someone who is in distress, you can address them in their distress without becoming distressed.

TOMAS: You have experientially accepted your humanness; you know fear, you know despair, you know these feelings. You have been betrayed, rejected, etc. In time, in due course, your Urantia experience will be the same -- I mean a thousand years from now -- but it will not be as intense, it will not be as poignant as it is today because you will have evolved and it will not be necessary to be beat up so much in order to get the point, you see.

TOMAS: Yes, but at that time you will be in Mansonia working on the same lessons, for you take up there pretty much where you leave off here. Yes, Leah?

Leah: Well, I... we use the expression here that it is appropriate to feel your feelings, so what I'm hearing you say is that -- probably you agree with that, but what you do with your feeling -- emotion is emoting the feeling.

TOMAS: This is correct. And there are appropriate and effective ways to deal with the emoting of your feelings.

Rachel: I know that Jesus, from what you read in the Urantia Book, he used a lot of emotion in his speeches.

TOMAS: He has a lot of feeling in his teaching. There's a difference. Perhaps this week you will gain an understanding of what the difference is if you will allow your soul to speak to you as to your feeling. Ask your soul, often, this week to discern when you are having a feeling.

Leah: Do you express emotions in the morontia body? Or do you just feel your feelings?

TOMAS: No. You do express emotions in the morontia body. Remember the midwayers are invisible and they express and feel emotions as you do. The angels also, who are morontia beings, emotionally respond to their tasks, their ministries. Emotions are not negative experiences.

Leah: No, but I would imagine they do it a lot more appropriately. I would imagine that part of our evolution is the detachment of the outpouring of emotion.

TOMAS: Appropriate usage. It is my common practice to enjoy a radiant choir of angels singing, in joy of their very being, and this can rise to an emotional crescendo of joyous feelings, of gratitude and love for our creator. They can be in harmony and yet here on Urantia it is often a stumbling block to trip over your emotions in the everglades of the human experience

TOMAS: Yes, and this can be felt and appreciated in genuine friendships such as you experience here in your genuine loving association one with the other. I will prepare to depart. I will call upon the words of Merium to remind you also this week as you develop a keener appreciation for/ understanding of feeling, that you affect your understanding of feeling in and through your ability to cherish one another. I look forward to our next gathering. We all embrace you and send you forth.