Tomas Vol VI - Rio Rancho, NM - March 17, 2002 - June 9, 2002 - Part 1 of 3

It was truly gratifying to return from the 8-year sojourn with Teacher Tomas to the teacher base established in 1993, an event that was reported in "The Private Ministry of Teacher Tomas" as part of Volume I.

We were not in this region a month before Tomas was teaching in the same teacher base established a decade earlier. T/R Gerdean and Thoroah pulled into New Mexico in late February and soon contacted Esmeralda and Elena. The group was established at once. Commencing on Sunday, St. Patrick's Day, at 2:00, it has not wavered since.

This first segment of the first year was a period of time in which Tomas familiarized himself with his basic student body and they with him. Together, Esmeralda, Elena, Gerdean, Thoroah and Mr. S. established the core group and basic format that would serve the Central New Mexico TeaM for years.

March 17, 2002 - June 9, 2002

DATE: March 17, 2002

LOCATION: Rio Rancho, NM, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEACHER: TOMAS

This new group formed quickly upon Thoroah and Gerdean relocating to New Mexico. TeaM Hostesses will be Elena, who also plays the piano for us, and Esmeralda. Guests included Myra and Nina. We captured some of the pre-session conversation on tape and share some Q&A as part of the introduction. This first gathering, taking place on St. Patrick's Day, led to this first question:

Q: Is Tomas a little bit Irish?

A: I've looked that name up, because of the spelling of it.

Q: Is it To-mas'?

A: It's Tom'as. No H. A lot of people think that it's To-mas' because of the spelling but it's spelled that way in German, Spanish, Irish, and in Slavic languages, so it's very cosmopolitan.

(General discussion about the personality styles of Teacher Ham and Teacher Abraham)

Q: Who is this Tomas?

A: He was an anthropologist on his planet.

Q: You don't know how old he is?

A: No, but he lived his mortal life, he died, he ascended, and since part of the program in the universe is that you teach what you've learned, all of the teachers volunteered to come teach us, or edify us, or reveal to us or whatever, so they're on a spiritual assignment of sorts.

Q: From God?

A: Right. It's all part of God's master plan. It's through the auspices of Jesus, a Michael Son, and it's all part of God's family of beings.

A: It's like a career thing. Tomas, like the other teachers, are on a volunteer career path.

A: When we leave here, we still continue to grow. Tomas is in like what you would refer to as "heaven". He is beyond the material realms.

A: As the scripture says, "I go to prepare a place for you," and "In my father's house are many mansions" and the Teachers call it mansion world rather than heaven.

A: The kingdom of heaven is within us.

Q: How are Ham and Tomas related?

A: They are co-workers.

A: Actually Ham is more of an administrative personality. Tomas has called himself "a lesser prophet". I have such esteem for him it makes me a little mad that he would call himself a lesser prophet, but that's not my business, that's Tomas' business, so . … Ham is like the Dean, sort of, of the Teachers. He's got a different administrative role than Abraham. Abraham has a peculiar uniqueness because he is the original Abraham who lived here before. None of the other teachers have ever lived here before (not counting Melchizedek who was his teacher then and is our teacher now.) Abraham has some fabulous perspective to offer because of having lived here. And so, many of the things that we know about Abraham by the Bible, is enhanced and made quite real because Abraham will talk about it. I guess his authority is his experience, and that, really, is what we're learning -- the authority of our own experience -- because we can read what other people say, but it's only made real for us when we own it, and it has become a part of us.

A: They are all very unique unto themselves and they all teach excellent stuff. Its different things in different ways. Tomas is kind of a professor type.

A: And there are others, like Olfana, who's ebullient! She has a big smile on her face.

A: I won't let her work through me. I'm way too uptight for that. [Laughter]

A: S.K. does well with it.

A: S.K. does beautifully with it. I've let Olfana in a couple of times, but I'm just more comfortable with Tomas because he is professorial, even stuffy, but I should let Tomas talk for himself!

A: I was going to say, Tomas will probably carry this conversation on farther.

Q: They have been listening?

A: Oh yeah. A lot of time they tell us that the conversation that we have before the meeting is important -- or more important -- because they will go from that.

Gerdean: Is everybody ready then, because it is not something we want to launch into until you are comfortable with it.

Guest: So we just listen?

Gerdean: Yeah.

Elena: Will Tomas let us ask questions?

Gerdean: He will, no doubt.

Esmeralda: Does he give personal messages? You know in Nashville, Ham does.

Gerdean: Tomas has not, overtly.

Esmeralda: Does anybody need anything?

Guests: We're fine.

TOMAS: Such accolades! I am charmed to be your friend. I am heartened to be welcomed into your lives, your social arena, your private time with God, this religious moment of searching inside for what will be that great mainstay of our association -- the First Source and Center of creation. This fellowship we enjoy spawns from Eternal Parents, providing for us such kinship as to bridge the gap between your realm of existence and mine, as I find it in my existence.

You have done well, children, to ascertain who it is you are speaking to. I am going to spend, in fact, today devoting our energies, such as I might, to an acquaintanceship. What we will build is relationship, which will bring forth from each of us a degree of recognition of who we are and how we live our religious life. That will enable us to socialize our beliefs, clarifying all the while what love is.

What is relationship but sharing, and what is our association but sharing our inner life? If we were not interested in deep mind concepts, or heart-felt conditions, it would suffice us to be at the mall or at the game. But, inasmuch as we seek to go beyond the common perception of reality and enter into an arena of divinity attainment, it is pleasurable to get to know you.

And, in fairness, I can share with you something about myself, for this contributes to our ability to understand each other, and in understanding each other, we can come to know and love each other in ways that will indeed be eternal.

Even as my form alters and your form changes, we will recognize one another by our personality, and so let us commence to embark upon a full appreciation of what personality is, so that this gift of God can be revealed by and through each of us in an appropriate expression of praise for our Creator.

As you have heard, I am a former mortal. That is to say, I am an ascending son, a pilgrim of time. I am not complete spirit. I am still carrying with me vestiges of my animal existence. As you review your faults in moments of reflection, I too look upon my shortcomings and lament the fact that I have yet to master certain qualities of behavior, animal vestiges. I admit to prejudices and intolerance, but not often and not demonstrably, but even so, I am aware that the shadow of imperfection lingers within me.

And so I, like you, have work to do in releasing to the ascension scheme all those qualities that will, like the sinker on a fishing pole, hold me down, weight me fast to the current of living water that I might stay the course and fish, keeping my goal in mind of what I am fishing for. Am I a fisher of men for the Master? Or, am I a fisher of flattery and vain imaginings. We thus learn together.

However, I must confess to you a certain edge, a certain experiential edge, which in fact is what gives me the credence I have as a Teacher. I urge you to question my authority at any time. I encourage you to find fault with my efforts, for in these exchanges I am not perfect. I accept my need to know more, and so when you question me you stimulate me to think and ponder and indeed to pray for reconstructive surgery such as to heal my error.

I'll tell you my common format. It is to enjoy your camaraderie and share in the concerns of your lives, and therefore we encourage your association and your honest portrayal of what it is in your existence that concerns you, so that as a community we can share these concerns and perhaps I can enhance your appreciation of your experience by the value of the experience I have had in the nature of mastering such concerns as you have voiced.

Much like a Dutch uncle, I am a philosopher now. For while I once was a Cultural Anthropologist, I can only study evolving life up to a point before I have to acknowledge how it is that we are the same, even while appreciating how it is that we differ. Once this occurs, there is no resolution but to become a philosopher, and encourage the performance of those acts which will, in faith of their performance, bring about an actualization of a greater reality, and this reality will reflect in your hearts and you will know greater happiness. And so I come to you, my friends, to help you become happy, even while I rejoice in the happiness you bring to me and to my peers in this Corp of Teachers, to this lovely orb of glowing light in the galaxy.

After I give a lesson or offer a thought, I will pause and you can choose then to follow up with the lesson, if questions come to mind, or you may divert entirely to another realm and we can investigate other concerns and interests as if they were part of your curriculum. I am fairly tolerant of curiosity questions, however, I have been admonished by my superiors to not expend overmuch time in trivial socializing, as we are under the influence of Efficiency Engineers, even in this work. I have a smile on my face however as I say, "Let's not let the Efficiency Engineers create such a mechanical working environment that we lose our social fragrance and natural grace." I am so glad to meet all of you. Let me hear from you.

Elena: I want to welcome you, Tomas. I am so pleased that you are here. I am just thrilled. Mother and I have had a long and wonderful relationship with Ham, and I have to tell you I cried when he handed me over to you, and still tears come up to my eyes, but it is with a happy heart that I welcome you and look forward to a "getting to know one another" period, and so thank you for being here.

TOMAS: Gracious daughter, I am humbled by your words. Most assuredly, you have not lost Ham. He often attends all of our meetings and is intimately involved in your growth and interested in your concerns and will continue to nurture you even as he offers you subsistence counsel under myself. How glad I am to be so welcomed by you, and assuredly together we will make our elder brother Ham proud of us in our ultimate ascension.

Esmeralda: Tomas, it is going to be wonderful to add another Teacher to love and to get to know. Ham and Abraham have been great and we are grateful to them. We are also very grateful that Gerdean and Thoroah have moved into our area. We have longed for a Teacher for a long time and thank you for fulfilling that. It is wonderful to have them and it is wonderful to have you. We look forward to getting better and better. Thank you.

TOMAS: What a marvelous presentment of sentiment, Esmeralda. The story behind this Teacher Base is a saga of loyalty, and I am truly glad to be well based, and I am as appreciative of your steadfastness and longevity. In being patient, you inspire me to better myself in my impatience. Perhaps we could begin having exercises in patience! [Chuckles] Everyone hates those unilaterally.

Myra: I also welcome you, Tomas. I know that when Elena sent me an e-mail and said you were here, I knew that this is where I belonged.

TOMAS: I embrace your heart, daughter, and welcome you home. We are family, indeed. You belong with your people. How can I presume to make such a claim? Because I am fully impressed by the community we share. There is nothing greater than kinship in God's family. With each other we are able to accomplish anything that He should set before us, and with each other as company and inspiration, our accomplishments will lead us through those growth experiences which will teach us how invaluable we are to one another as extensions of our divine Creator.

As I grow in affection for each of you, I grow in appreciation of the Infinite Parent, I have a greater respect for omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence. Listen to the trickle of the water. These grand words are only reflections of the purity of the trickle of the water. This is the same value lesson as we find in the Living Water of divine love. As it flows in and around our hearts, we are refreshed and revivified, purely and without excess verbiage. My heart goes out to you and I look forward to many romps in the Living Water with you, bathing beauty.

Nina: I guess it's my turn, Tomas.

TOMAS: I am delighted! Tell me about you.

Nina: Okay. I'm a Christian. I'll be honest with you. I'm a little skeptical about being here today. But something has brought me here and I would just like to hear from you. What can you tell me that will help me not to be so fearful, to feel more comfort here?

TOMAS: You challenge me, indeed, with affection, for you present to me words which I can chew one at a time. You present me with the word Christianity. You are Christian. You have shared with me a chocolate, for I am also [Christian], in that, I am a believer in Christ. He is my Lord. I follow him as avidly as did his original apostles. I am bent upon building his church. I believe, with you, that with Christ we can bless earth with love and harmony.

There are many things we share because of the word "Christian." However, I have in my experience also known, befriended, and come to love heathens of all manner, and also have lost my heart to faiths of a different order/nature. There are values that rule worlds similar in divine quality but which have scant frame of reference for Christ, for he never appeared on their world; there are others, however, who are appointed the task of uplifting and edifying, yea even saving humanity, and so there are dimensions of Christ-consciousness which extend beyond the shores of the Christian history as it has been presented to you in your culture. Its remarkable how many individuals are in step with Christ who has no knowledge of his name. This is because of his beneficent ways and His mysteries.

Continue to question, and think critically, for one of the greatest travesties of this world has been those who follow foolishly and blindly down some path which appears to be a solution but which really only paints a pretty picture of what could otherwise be a divine reality. Your spirit indwelling will help lead you. As Jesus has admonished, the spirit of truth will always point the way and say, "This is the way" and when you are convinced, you will go the way in which the Lord has led you, content to have followed his voice.

It is experience like this that creates the strong soul, that which will not be swayed by sophistry, but which will know because they have gone through the experience with Jesus, with his essence.

Nina: Tomas, how do I hear his voice? Is it in my conscious? In my head?

TOMAS: It is, yes, and the mind is the arena wherein you ponder and weigh intellectually these thoughts which will lead you to a superconscious resolution. However, in the end it is the spirit within you which will ultimately clasp the truth as you have discerned it, as you have chosen it, in order to create that which will serve you eternally. Therefore, ponder carefully and choose wisely which way you will go. That which is built upon a firm foundation will endure, but that which is made of intellectual resolutions is vulnerable to being cast ashore, being shipwrecked by tumultuous storms of experiential fury.

The faith son can stand calmly by and watch such calamities occur without losing ground. Thus any time your choices have led you astray you have the option then to recognize that perhaps your faith was built on a lesser reality than what The Father would have you know. Rather than find fault with your imperfect choices, you have the opportunity now to modify your thinking such that you will allow yourself to be led into greater awareness of greater reality, and this will help shore up your psyche and your soul for subtle new degrees of perfection-attainment.

Ultimately, child, you will have forged the right to stand before God, a perfect product, a perfect entity, because of your choice to do His will. That is your goal and only you can attain it. You have every right to be mindful of your choices, your comings and goings. I hope only to encourage you, to inspire and edify you and to companion you in your efforts to become all that you can be, in the spirit and in the flesh.

Elena: I just want us to acknowledge Matthew, too, because he is really looking forward to being here and being a part of this group. He is not here this afternoon, but he's very mindful of the meeting and very supportive and encouraging. He's looking forward to being here, too.

TOMAS: I look forward to him as well, having had the pleasure of his personality presence in times past. And there will be others! Others are en route even now to conjoin with you in this new configuration, this celebration of sonship -- the Rio Rancho Teacher Base. Is this the official title? [Group laughter]

Thoroah: It has a nice ring to it.

Elena: Yeah, it sounds great!

Esmeralda: Thanks for recognizing Rio Rancho.

TOMAS: It's easier to spell than Albuquerque. [Laughter] This is one of the lessons we have all learned from Teacher Ham. If we can make these morsels of food small enough for you to chew, you will savor their value and grow teeth to chew off greater concepts later on. Perhaps later on we will also have an Albuquerque Teacher Base for those who have chewed the spelling.

Now, that was a reflection of my prejudice, you see, but I don't regard it as a negative quality in my personality; rather, an appreciation for human nature. Having been a human being, I know whereof I speak.

Thoroah and Gerdean, it is with great joy that I embrace you in this new configuration. Truly you have come into your own, as they say. Having meandered, Gerdean, hither and yon, how marvelous it must feel for you to have lit upon the common shore that we knew so many years ago. And how accommodating of the universe to provide Thoroah with the Land of Enchantment in the process! How are you enjoying the climate, Thoroah?

Thoroah: All I have to do is look outside and see those golfers playing golf and that says it all.

TOMAS: It would appear as though your milieu might be fellow athletes. It's always helpful when attempting to make a connection with someone, that you have something in common. That's the way to bridge the gap of personalities. Perhaps in discussing golf you will be able to begin to create the parallels/parables necessary to bring the reality of divinity into the game of golf and thus praise our Creator in leisure as well as in production. It's the same as women with recipes, or horticulturalists with plants. What you have in common is immediate foundation for association, and the more joy you find in the activity, the more praise is available for your lips. Having been bonded and developed a sense of kinship, it is possible to go on, then, to those areas which will need some work in order to meet your standards of attainment.

Perhaps as we bond as kin or friends in something we have in common, it will be possible for us in time to address some of those concerns that will require a more critical eye. Thus, we may be able to impact upon our society as a group of people in addition to each individually impacting upon their society of friends. At any rate, I am certain we will enjoy the association -- providing I don't do all the talking.

We've had a delightful visit. I am glad to have made your acquaintance. I am not certain I have offered a lesson. However, I have at least established myself in your consciousness. If we can develop the same kind of consciousness of Our Father, it's possible we can enhance this relationship to another level of reality, for the same technique is used to come to know God as it is to know one another.

Spend time with Him and share with Him your concerns. Listen to Him for His response to your cares, and in faith, give yourself up to His counsel. In strength, then, of His abiding love for you and his creation, allow Him to lead you into ways and means of connecting and correcting a life extended from the life inherent in sonship.

We have no reality without the reality of God. It is merely illusion if we exclude our Source and Center, that "still, small voice" known by many things.

I think one of my favorites is "the voice of the Good Shepherd" who calls his sheep and his sheep respond. May your bounty this week be to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow him where he leads, knowing you are in his loving care. Until we meet again, I am your friend, teacher and companion, Tomas.

*****

DATE: March 24, 2002

LOCATION: Rio Rancho NM USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEACHER: TOMAS

TOMAS: Good afternoon, beautiful friends. This is Tomas & Co. and glad to be with you. Today is one of those days when surely the stones cry out and rejoice in his coming. The beauty of spring is with us, not only on your calendar but in your hearts. The dark winter is behind us; we face the blossoming of the new season, the joy of living, and rejoice in knowing the sun [sic] has risen. This is a day to rejoice indeed, to celebrate the arrival of the Son of Man -- arriving in the city where he will meet his detractors and state his purpose once more before offering himself up to the culmination of his bestowal here.

Haven't you felt a similar gladness when, after struggling with a situation for a while, you make a decision? Having made the decision then, you have a happy heart, in-as-much as it is your sense that you have made the right choice, that your soul has reconciled that His will, will be done in your life as a result of your choosing. Having made your decision, having stated your faith, and proceeding to walk therein, you have hope of the final resolution as being a selection which would be pleasing in the eyes of the Ultimate as well as serviceable to the moment.

Only as you give yourself up to the Spirit of Truth within you will you have such clarity of mind, such serenity of soul, as to emit such radiance of positive energy and affirmation, as to reflect the divine nature of God himself. And in this reflection of divinity you reveal to the life around you - [to] the stones on the side of the road, the leaves on the trees overhead, the countenances of passers-by -- thus revealing to your arena the radiance of the Father as He may live through you. This is the gift given in Jesus' arrival at Jerusalem that day long ago which is celebrated today -- the realization that God is with us.

How do you realize God in your life How are you able to recognize Our Father in and through your relationship with him, with the spirit, with divinity? Certainly there are those who see Him in nature and testify to His greatness because of the beauty and grandeur of His creation, even the tiny reflections of perfection as they are revealed in the veins of the leaves or the veins in your hands. There are those who see God in their fellows, in their relationships. They see the Family of God, the Holy Trinity, revealed in the Family of Man, the marriage relationship and offspring of such unions, to people tomorrow -- civilization-in-becoming. They see this as a reflection of divinity.

But how many of you realize that your very energy, when aligned with the God fragment which resides within you, is imitation of divinity such as to influence everything you touch, everything around you. You, too, may enter the City of Jerusalem, humbly riding on a borrowed ass, and radiate the Father's goodness, greatness, divine beauty to all you see.

Divine love is contagious. As you live in love, as you walk with The Master, as you walk with your hand in His, as you align yourself with divinity, as you choose to do His will, as you seek His favor, you absorb and radiate His nature, and thus you walk as a Son of God and a Son of Man also -- brothers now with Christ, workers in His field, fruit of his branches.

We in the Teacher Corps have enjoyed our assignment of appropriating truths from your history, your culture, your nation, and incorporating those concepts in ways which will speak most closely to your heart, your mind, in order for you to feel those values, and in feeling those values, responding to the guidance of the indwelling Guide, thus hearing from God Himself as to how you shall go, how you shall think, how you shall feel.

So it is with great pleasure that I close my lectern and mingle among you for conversation and discourse as regards your concerns in your life as you pass by. In this way how much more readily we will be able to conform our lessons to those yearnings of your soul which will render you a better reflection of the Father as may be useful to you and your fellow men and your world. Would you ask questions? Or offer commentary?

Elena: Well, you can always count on me for a question! Hi, Tomas. Welcome. Happy Palm Sunday, and I'm so glad you're here! This is so great to start. So that was first and foremost. Most of all I don't have anything except a full heart to bring, but at some point in the next few lessons, one thing I would be interested in talking about is in dealing with fellow workers, of the balance between applying what is right and what is good, working with different egos, and kind of turning the course away from fear into a more positive way. I don't know if I've expressed that very well or not, but at some point in the next few lessons that would be of great interest to me as a topic.

TOMAS: Daughter, greetings. I pause to touch your brow, to bless you in your openness and honest heartfelt desire to better serve. The breadth of your concern will give us subject matter for many afternoons, for there are so many varieties of flowers and weeds that grow along the path you walk. So there will be different methods of relating to different personalities, depending upon how best you might serve the moment.

Esmeralda: Tomas, this afternoon we have some guests that aren't usually here, and from other towns and other states. We have Matthew with us from Columbus, Ohio, and we're very happy to have him. We have Lorraine and Audrey from Idaho and Utah, so this is quite a widespread group and we're very happy to have all of them. Especially, Tomas, I'm happy to have you in my home for the first time. This is truly a blessing and a joy and we're looking forward, so much, to each week. And studying your lesson over again this week, after I finally got it on the Internet, was just really a blessing. You are such a good teacher! There's going to be no problem at all growing to love you like we love Ham and Abraham.

But one of the things that I'd like help from you is, it doesn't seem that I do very much in the way of service. I know that I haven't been too well for the last year and a half, but I think my health is improving enough now and I feel I should be doing a lot more than I am, and so any help that you can give me along those lines will be very much appreciated.

TOMAS: The service you have provided by your outpouring is adequate to keep us all busy for a week, and so you have truly served. Let me see if I can arrange my responses so as to give honor to your words.

Indeed, we are blessed to be among kindred spirits, and those of you who are from distant parts are as close as those who reside here. There is nothing to separate those who are like-minded. Time and space are realities of the material life, but in the spirit, there is no separation; thus we embrace our students far and near, even as each and all of us are your teachers, companions and associates in the morontia realms as well as the material way. Every day we are united in purpose we grow in power. Our community extends and expands and the kingdom is enlarged. Indeed, in time, this love of God that meets in moments like these, in homes like yours, are those foundations that give reality to the physical connection you share, as well as the morontial reality we all share, and the spiritual reality which we are all creating by our collective voice.

This thing about service, Esmeralda, has a qualitative affect to it. Not only is it quantitative, for you understand that as you gain in wisdom, you no longer need to "spin your wheels" learning how to do what you've already learned to do. And so you become spiritually expeditious. Just because you don't spend time doing what you once did, does not mean your energies are not now put to quality use, because you have learned how to focus your Self in such a way as to organize your mind for consecrated service. It doesn't take what it once took. This is the value of experience. This is why there is no replacement for personal experience.

Myra: Tomas, during the course of your lecture, you gave us a personal ass to ride into Jerusalem, and I am trying to get the symbol of whether…. I know that it is sometimes what they call "transportation," but today, is that ass that I'm riding on "humility" so that I am always open to the people around, no matter what the circumstances are? Or is that ass that I am riding on, into the village, "hardship" that takes me to a better place?

TOMAS: This is a typical human question. It gives me an opportunity to provide you with an either/or response, and the truth is there is some element of reality in either case. The "humility" is, of course, the ass that we would choose to ride, not so much as to portray ourselves as pious or self-righteous, but simple. Simple is a hard concept for your society, your culture, to appreciate. It will, however, come to pass that simplicity will provide the efficient vehicle because there is no need for all the extraneous trappings. The trappings of life are those embellishments which humanity uses to assert himself as if to say he has learned, he has mastered, he has arrived. If and as a sojourner in life speaks and acts with simplicity, it will be easier to keep your eye on that which is meaningful, on that which truly feeds the hungry.

Audrey: Tomas, hello and thank you for coming. I am grateful that I have an opportunity to get to know you and to share with this lovely group of people. I have some thoughts on healing and different techniques of healing as a group. I know that Rayson is taking people into toning, and I understand that we are all going through a healing time, a cleansing, a purging of ourselves and everything up to the surface, letting go of the old and becoming new. And also I am aware that this is a crucial time right now for us to either go forward or step back, and I'm curious if there is any healing techniques that you have that would be of assistance for us as a group.

TOMAS: Interesting question, in that I have not anything to offer, as I have not discerned a favorite healing technique, aside from the value of personal time with God in Stillness.

However, I have certainly been present at many demonstrations of physical adjustments which could be considered healing or even miraculous (but certainly an improvement!) as a result of the mind's will to apply itself in faith and hope of a better reflection of itself, in and through its material organism. Having paid some attention to these results of faith in action, I have enjoyed the many devices derived by humanity to prove the point, to demonstrate the concept, to depict the truth of the value of faith.

It is possible to heal many of these mortal ills as an exercise of faith and conscientious application of essential laws of nature. But the miracle I enjoy most is the heart that begins to rely upon the Spirit for the answer to all its questions. When you begin to realize that the Universal Father is the First Source of all that you are and the Center of what you are becoming, you realize how dependant you are upon that energy, that power, that pattern which you depend upon as being yours and yours alone. As you trust Father, as you sit in His lap, in faith of His overcare, as you hold your hand in His and seek perfection, He will help you attain perfection.

He will help align your mind and soul in such a way as to give you that hunger that will find what it needs in order to be filled. In some cases this is a more material representation, as in crystals and minerals. There are essences more etheric, as toning and aromas which speak to and heal other areas of the mind which crave that more aesthetic level of perception, that will enhance spirit connection, that speaks to that human being. There are those who enjoy the physical hands-on contact, as Reiki practitioners, as Life Carrier healing practitioners, phrenology and reflexology experts.

These different techniques appeal to the different tastes and propensities of the various racial strains and cultural inclinations as well. Many of these are mere superstition, but as faith is added, it is exalted and elevated to worship, and this worship is accepted On High as viable praise of Deity as it is understood by the Children of God. So to ask if I have a favorite, no, nor do I have one that would be a panacea for all humanity, except for that tried and true practice which we promote, that being the practice of sitting in Stillness and listening for that quiet voice within, that part of God which is yours and which you are destined be one with.

Audley: Thank you.

TOMAS: You are welcome, child. You are a delight and a gift to those who know you. All of you are cherished, precious, unique and priceless in your own right. Different you are, oh, so different -- like snowflakes are magnificent and unique -- and yet if you only are seen from afar, you are not discerned. It is when you are clearly seen and when your facets are illuminated by the eye of discernment that your uniqueness and originality is allowed to come through such that you can each only bow to the immensity of our Creator that such works are able to come into being. One more question.

Matthew: I have a simple one. This is Matthew, and I work with Anatolia in Columbus, or vice versa, and she said that she's not from our galaxy but that she is basically from a planet that was already been established in light and life, and from what I remember reading from the transcript from your group last week, it sounds like, Tomas, you have moved on well and you said you are, apparently, from our galaxy. Do you happen to be from the same neighborhood as Anatolia, that the two of you are working in the Teaching Mission? And I know it's a big universe and beyond but had you known one another before or have you only met in the hallways of the Teaching Mission?

TOMAS: How marvelous a question, for this enables me to expand your appreciation of the local universe. Yes, I know Anatolia. She and I have been students together in classes we have taken along the way. We know each other, respect each other, and enjoy each other as personalities and we knew each other well before we were each given the opportunity to serve here on Urantia, but we are not from the same world. There are so many worlds in Nebadon it would be unusual for many to hail from any one particular world.

I have made it a point to investigate the home base of many of my peers only because it's part of my personality propensity as a human and as a cultural anthropologist. I enjoyed my work of going into the cultures of those outside my immediate environment and studying their way of life. Thus I have a list of the worlds of my co-workers in the Teaching Mission that I intend to make a point of visiting when I have completed my assignment with you; however, that will not be right away. And so I will need to wait, and look forward to those adventures even as I encourage you, over time, to look forward to those many adventures that you will have as you ascend through the Father's many mansions en route to Salvington and beyond.

I have visited worlds settled in light and life, and yet it was not possible for me to assimilate all that my eyes beheld because I was not exposed to that reality level to that extent. My world was advanced, but it was only pieced together. The experience of an entire planet settled in light and life was even beyond my grasp. However, as I become more familiar with the architectural spheres of Mansonia and beyond, I am more able to appreciate worlds such as that which Anatolia comes from and the tremendous acuity that must surely be the characteristic of anyone who had that experience.

I have certainly found her to be sharp, keen, brilliant in her character reflection of our Eternal Parents, and I'm certain this has much to do with her upbringing on her world. However, again referencing snowflakes, in the far-flung universe, her clarity is no [more or] less beloved than your uniqueness here. Even with all its difficulties, these very difficulties have helped to forge a character which is priceless and unique in all of Nebadon. Again, another illustration of the magnificence of Deity.

Matthew: Thank you.

TOMAS: This is my pleasure.

The heavenly angels sing. The rocks cry out. The world is alive, rejoicing in anticipation of his coming. In the days that follow, as the collective consciousness of your realm is enlivened by the topic of Easter and the Resurrection, as you endure Good Friday and the reflections of Maundy Thursday, be mindful of his coming still. Relinquish him not. Hold fast to his garment. Seek him. Look for him everywhere. Find him, speaking to you in the flowers, in the rocks, in the rain, in the wind, in the music, in the mind, in the soul, in the heart, and allow him admittance.

I'll see you joyous ones next week. Farewell.

*****

DATE: March 31, 2002 -- Resurrection Sunday

LOCATION: Rio Rancho, NM, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEACHERS: MERIUM, TOMAS

Music: Elena on Piano: "Blessed Assurance"

[Editor's note: Alas, the recorder was not plugged in for most of this long session, so we do not have it on record, but we will attempt to recap the highlights.]

MERIUM: Tomas' associate from the Pittsburgh Teacher Base, "told a story" of the Old Lamp Lighter from our literature, who went around lighting the street lamps, one at a time. In some cases the lamp was a solitary illumination, but sometimes there were enough lights to encourage a social opening where townspeople could gather in safety, sharing their knowledge, thus world civilization was seeded through the Old Lamp Lighter. This was the theme carried throughout the session.

TOMAS: Greetings and salutations. There was quite a bit of Tomas' message that kept referring back to the blessed assurance -- that assurance of knowing that you know. In light of our new association, Tomas asked if we had any questions from our sessions so far. During the Q&A -- Esmeralda opened everything up commenting on seeing Jesus in the resurrection of everything in nature the previous week as Spring came into view -- very befitting activity, considering today was Resurrection Sunday.

Q&A: (1) Elena wondered about the Town Council meeting she attended in which she spoke regarding plans for the golf course and how that would impact upon the neighborhood. (2) Myra wondered about a School Teachers' Meeting she attended in which she stood firm on behalf of the children and wondered how she could have been more effective. (3) Angus wondered about the intensity of strife existent between the Palestinians and the Jews and how that situation might impact upon our lives and our world.

Tomas warmed to these topics. Drawing upon his mortal experience as a cultural anthropologist, he responded to these concerns. He then recommended we check the tape, whereupon we discovered it was not recording. "Side two" --

QUESTION: As someone who goes through enormous ranges of highs and lows in life, from inspiring creativity to crushing feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness, I often wonder how these emotional highs and lows help or hinder my spiritual growth. That is, are these diverse experiences of feeling and emotion of experiential value, or are they merely animal characteristics that ride like excess baggage on my "higher learning"? Looked at from another perspective, do the current crop of antidepressants help or hinder our spiritual growth and experience?

TOMAS: Hello. I welcome your question and appreciate your thorough coverage of the condition you inquire about. This field of emotion is, in the main, a part of your animal heritage. It is part of the marvelous palette of your creature existence, but there are many who live entirely within the realm of emotions and exclude the influence of the intellect or the realm of the spirit, even ignoring the physical plain. There are those who live intellectually and avoid emotions entirely, as if they were too messy to deal with. There are those who thrive in the spirit who appreciate how the emotional fields conspire to add a human dimension to the gift of sonship. There are those who live a purely physical life who regard emotions as their birthright and make no attempt to understand how they feel.

You have obviously entered into an area of growth that is giving you an opportunity to perceive your emotional base states, thus you are able to see how it is that you are happy at one moment and unhappy the next. Many moody people assume this as a way of life. Many people who are sensitive have anxiety they may be manic depressive because they have such a dramatic range of feelings. There are many who have discovered that their diet has tremendous bearing on their emotions. There are many who have discovered that their emotions are where they escape to when they don't want to think, and some who have recognized that they only want to think and don't want to feel.

These emotional colors that are a part of your personality palette are able to be understood and therefore enjoyed and even mastered. Emotions can be effective tools in ministry. There are those also who would diminish the effects of their emotional life by regulating their synapses through pharmaceuticals. I cannot state, as might a medical doctor, what an individual's physical condition is, nor is that my purview, but I can state that the propensity to witness life through the eyes of an artificial stabilizer, deprives themselves of the experience of getting to know themselves, and discovering for themselves their own well of natural resources that are a part of your packaging.

To stifle who you are, in order to make yourself presentable to a society in psychic disarray, is certainly compatible with the circumstances you find, but how honest is that? How have you served yourself and your Higher Self by submerging yourself? What a wonderful range of reality you are -- all of you! -- and what a superhuman individual you can become if and when you know yourself, inside out, as an animal, as a social creature, as a specimen of humanity, and as a worker in the field. The more you know yourself, the less inclined you are to judge others. The more communion you can experience with your fellow human beings, the more you experientially bond with humanity. Does this bring us back into that Lamp Light, that social coming together that you may experience and share all knowledge? How can you share all of who you are, in all of your greatness, as a fragment of the divine, with personality expression, if you cannot face yourself -- your fears, your desires, your needs, your talents, etc.?

The tendency to allow drugs to be the common answer to life's questions is escalating. You will soon be a nation of zombies, an aggregation of artificial emotional insemination as you are told how to feel and, in comfort of that reality, you will sacrifice your own skills in thinking to accommodate the numbing of existence.

Barring a need for deep-seated counseling under controlled circumstances, dispense with the narcotics. Life can be painful, yes. Emotions can be wrenching. But they can also reveal your bliss and your passion for life, which is your birthright, so don't deny yourself your birthright in the highest sense because your animal heritage is a handful to manage.

How much messier can it be, after all, to discover how you feel about things than what's going on in the Holy Land? That's some very messy emotion in that mix. Very deep-seated indeed. Emotions are lovely when they know their place. They are part of the tools that you are given. They are part of the joy of living. They need to take their rightful place, with a clean heart, and clear and clean thinking, in order to augment the spirit and the fruits of the spirit.

This is a nudge to urge you to fertilize your roots, your emotional roots, so that they can provide you the nourishment that will give you the well-being to be genuinely productive in your life experience -- not just to feel good, but to do good -- so as not to just not feel bad, but not to do bad. The emotions are indissolubly connected with how you think, and how you think is reflected in your every utterance, so to be a better teacher and preacher, to have more effective and spiritually fragrant personality expression, it behooves you to have an understanding of how you feel and why you feel that way, for that effects how you think and how your thinking impacts on your world.

Take these matters into consultation with the Spirit in Stillness and develop your relationship with yourself such that you know yourself, you know when you are being angry and why, so that you know when you are sad and can endure it, when you are excited and how to express it. But this is the one field wherein you have total authority, so make yourself comfortable in your own playground, in your own sandbox, in your own home -- for this is where you live -- with your feelings and your thoughts.

"Father, we thank you for this group of children who have come to serve you, who have a desire to know you, that they might reveal you in their lives and enjoy the sonship experience with each other. Such joy they bring. Such expressions of life they are. Bless them in their sojourn, in their experiential situations, that they might see You and learn of Your ways, Your divine Way, the Way that was revealed in the light of your son, Our Michael, when he visited here.

"We today remember his release from the human experience and from the bestowals. Such a vision of loveliness we have here, from this vantage point, this humble vantage point - to be mindful of the emerging from the chrysalis of the material life, the blossoming Son of this universe, our Master Son, rising to His own sovereignty. Joyous Lord, share your joy with us as we make our way in our world, in honor of you and to your glory. Amen."

Group: Amen. Thank you.

Music: "A Medley of Praise"

*****

DATE: April 7, 2002

LOCATION: Rio Rancho NM USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEACHER: TOMAS

Q&A: Pets: Paul; Eve

TOMAS: Good afternoon. This is Tomas. It is such a wonderful opportunity for me to have your companionship in this arena, this social configuration which you have brought into being because of your hunger and thirst for righteousness, and to perceive the Divine in your lives. You honor our Eternal Parents by your desire to show your faith in our Heavenly Parents and in each other in faith. It is a great pleasure to be here.

I want to share with you today a reference to our feminine deity. The Divine Minister is our maternal frame of reference. It is the Bride of Christ of which I speak. However, this aspect of divinity is a third of the Trinity, and so I'd like to bring to you a perspective on that aspect of spirituality, which is a part of the universe and which is also a part of you.

But I will be brief and depict the macrocosm of creation as First Source, which perceives, which creates, which upholds and administers; and the Second Source which is a personification of mercy and a right hand of God while being also God; and the Third Source, the feminine, is the active angle. The active angle of God is the Mother, the Holy Spirit, that which infuses life into the worlds of time and space.

The Mother is in truth the mother of all her creation. That which you see is of the Mother; that which you think is because of the mind, a gift from the Mother; all that you sense as a sentient being is a gift again from the Infinite Spirit, the mother of creation.

Here you understand "Mother Earth." Mother Earth is a part of the reality of God. The spring rains, the flowers, these are manifestations of God for which we laud the Mother. The culture here indicates a woman's work is never done. Have you seen Mother Spirit in stillness? It is never done. It may pause -- to ponder, or consult with the Eternal Son or the Universal Father -- but the action is the product of the Infinite Spirit, which reaches down into the worlds of time and space through her daughters, the Divine Ministers, who are the Brides of the Christ Michael Creator Sons of time and space, creators of local universes like yours. You thus are living in one of the rooms that has been created by, designed by, conceived by the Bridegroom and the Bride, Michael and the Divine Minister, your Parents indeed.

Now, when Jesus walked your earth, he was not given in marriage. His work was not of this world. He had a bride that waited for him at home, as he went out on his seven bestowals to secure for himself and his consort, their Kingdom they had conceived, planned, designed and created for the glory of their Father in Heaven, our Almighty God.

Thus when you see the wonders of nature, it is appropriate to think of the blessed Mother that we call Nebadonia. Nebadonia is the embodiment of the perfect reflection of the Christ, whose universe, Nebadon, is our home. Thus we live in Nebadon and give honor to Nebadonia, our Mother.

Let me enhance your look at the feminine part of divinity yet further and discuss mind, for the third part of trinity, Infinite Mind, is the mother of the Divine Minister, who provides you with your mind as a tool to use while on earth.

The mind you've been given is an incredible mechanism, a multi-faceted miracle of creation, indeed, from our perspective. For it is capable of so much consciously and unconsciously, even super-consciously. It is in the mind that the choices are made that will further your growth or halt your spirit progress; thus your mind is your sacred arena of thought. This is where you choose.

The gift from our Father, our Universal Father, is your free will. And so while our Eternal Parents may provide you with every opportunity under the sun to be all that you can be, you have the option to make up your own mind about your destiny. For the greatest gift you can give back to your Father is to respect and love His authority, His overcontrol, His beneficence, and His devotion to your rights of passage such that you opt openly and freely to do His will, to honor His being, and give glory to His name.

There are those who attest that motherhood is inherent, that mother instinct is built-in. And there is, indeed, a pattern of biologic insurance that allows for the young to be born and tendered by its mother until such time as it is able to contend for itself. But the Infinite Mind, the Divine Minister, the Mother Spirit, is devoted not only to Her children but to Her children's children, and the children of eternal-coming-forth.

There are so many qualities of godlikeness that are unnoticed by your people in your culture because they have no reverence for the gifts the Mother brings. This is, in your day and time, a cultural conundrum, for your history has been deformed in terms of its innate appreciation of motherhood.

We would like to re-introduce to your world the wonders of the Holy Spirit. That is your Divine Mother. She holds the worlds of time and space in her arms and to her breast. She cradles her worlds as tenderly as you hold your own, and as animals assist the life of their young.

We will refer often and again to the Divine Minister, for God is not only a god of might and power and authority; God is also gentleness and quiet strength and patience. These qualities are also in you and in you each, so that you, in your depiction of our Prince of Peace, may reflect the qualities of the Father and the Son and the Spirit in your life, in your realm, in your family, as you pass by.

These are my words for today that I have prepared and brought as appropriate for this day of nurturing the earth with falling rain in the desert. Will you, with me, rejoice in the profusion of aliveness that is yielded up from this blessing, this kiss of Our Mother?

(Long silence) Are we all together here? Are we indeed working? Is the tape recorder connected and are we all present and accounted for? I ask this in an attempt at good humor, in-as-much as it seems we were remiss (last week) in sharing our private live, our inner life with God, with those who enjoy knowing and seeing that the will of God is being done "on earth as it is in heaven" in other cities and homes throughout the world.

Elena: I thought you were talking to me, Tomas, because I was a little tired today and I wasn't as totally with it here as I was. I was thinking, "uh oh!"

Esmeralda: I was going to apologize because with that "spring forward" hour – (and I had a crockpot going last night that needed to be turned off at 3:00 this morning) -- I dozed twice, Tomas, and I apologize for that. It is not that you in any way are not capable of holding my interest. It's just that, at my age, I tend to drop off -- every once in awhile, anyway. But the lesson was great.

And we have a guest for the first time today, and I'm sure you know Yvonne, and we're very glad to have her with us today. Thank you.

TOMAS: I have enjoyed a divine connection in her company this afternoon and have gathered from her personal spirit guides and associates a replete depiction of her own soul growth, and so we've become old friends already. Even so, I anticipate an opportunity to get to know her/you even better as time goes by, as you begin to share openly your challenges and opportunities of developing your soul growth in your life and in enhancing the lives of others.

It is a pleasure, as I have indicated, to be in your company.

Yvonne: Thank you. Likewise.

TOMAS: Are there questions or observations?

Elena: I have one question. I was thinking. Our mother gives us our minds for during this life, and so I was kind of curious about after we leave this world, because, Tomas, you are from another world, and Ham is from another world, so I was kind of curious about -- I know YOU still think. I mean, you just don't get these little scripts handed to you, I imagine, so you have to think and you need to develop them, and I'm not meaning to be smart-alecky but I just didn't quite get the thing about our minds that we use on this world and how maybe our decision-making process or our thinking process might happen afterward.

TOMAS: Yes, I enjoy your thoughts there. They refer back to the thing about the mind that is on loan for you during this intense time of life, the time in the flesh. There are many things which the mind requires to live in this kind of form that the human lives in, and while the mind is certainly variable and, naturally, will be different in each world, each civilization, each culture, each individual, it is still a mind which is appropriately created for the mortal creature.

The mind that you will inhabit and utilize in your afterlife is concerned in many ways with a continuance of what you're learning here but it will not be so finite, nor will it be so concerned with matters of survival. So many things, as I indicated, can and will be accomplished with this amazing mechanism of the mind which you are enjoying now. Even so, I am working mainly with your divine mind, the morontia mind, the mind which is less pivotally focused on your survival needs in the flesh and more on your survival needs in the spirit.

The exercise that you've developed with your divine mind now, your morontia mind, is going to be immeasurably helpful to you when you resurrect, as you will have already conscious experience in using the higher mind, while there are millions of people and generations of people here who have hardly touched base with their divine mind because the evolution of the races has conspired to keep their attention fast fixed to that which was essential. So you will appreciate that our arrival and our work with you is in large part due to the fact that your minds have reached the point where your survival is assured in the flesh but your higher minds are eager to know more about who you are in terms of eternity.

And so I would ask you to conclude that the other creations throughout the vast universe, the evolving worlds of creature beings, are indeed recipients of the same mortal mind mechanism, but with its own unique needs and benefits, appropriate to the life of that individual.

The realm of the mind is so utterly fascinating. I am certainly not the only teacher in this Teacher Corps who has sat "open-mouthed" and been astounded by the evidence of your mind at work. It is so much like having the opportunity to discover a whole new species of creature.

You enjoy the Discovery channel and looking into the lives of various creatures, like lions or other cats, lizards or other reptiles, birds and the like, and their mating practices and their feeding practices and their migration practices and so forth. You are no less fascinating, and even more so because of the varieties of minds which have developed from the individualism that has been a part of your incredible evolution, as a result of the existence thrust upon you by the default of your Material Son and Daughter who would have been yet again the replication of the Michael Son and his Divine Minister on your world as they are a replication of the Universal Father and the Infinite Mind in Paradise. This pattern reflects all the way down to you, as I mentioned before.

But as for the mind that you will use in your "next life", your morontia career, you will be then tapping into higher mind energy and a reality that is hardly relative to you today in your cocoon of existence here in the material life. Is this helpful?

Elena: Yes. Thank you.

Esmeralda: Tomas, I found it interesting that you mentioned animals, and for some reason I have had pets on my mind this week, and wondering some different things about pets and what purpose they were designed for in our life, and also I wondered if you had that type of thing, household pets, in your planet.

TOMAS: Indeed, we did, but I will get back to that. You are wondering what the purpose of animal life is, or the pet itself?

Esmeralda: Pets in our lives. Nearly all of us have household pets -- cats, dogs, various -- and I think they set a good example for us in many ways. I think they are loyal, they're faithful, they depend on us, and they're really quite innocent, and they give of their love for us. I think they're pretty good examples, in a way, to follow. I think they show us a lot of good things.

TOMAS: This is a good point of reference for the duplication of the paradise pattern of perfection as it works its way down into the lower levels of life.

This relationship that you, as human beings, developed with certain animal species, speaks to your own needs and desires for protection and companionship. The success of your domestication of certain animals is a result of reciprocity of these animals to find you delightful and necessary for survival and companionship, although it is said that dogs are more amiable as pets, since cats have such a sense of independence. But this in itself is a reflection of its owner and its legacy.

You are able to learn about yourself by observing how your pets behave, just as teachers are able to learn something from their students. It may not be of eternal value, but it is enhancing, even so, and thus of value, so, for you, the value that you have added to your life as a result of the association you enjoy with your pets. You have added a dimension to your quality of life that has made you a better person, and this will carry with you into your universe career. It is in this way that animals become exalted as having value worth surviving, but they do not, for they are not indwelt with the Spirit as you are indwelt with the Spirit, a spark of God Himself, while they are, however, infused with the energy and pattern of Paradise through Our Mother.

Therefore it behooves you to tend to your animal creatures as extensions of divinity. As above, so below. And is it not said you have been given dominion over these animals? It behooves you to know them and their practices so that you can honor and respect their way of life as we hope to instill in you an appreciation for the ways that other people think and believe so that you can honor and respect how they live their lives.

Esmeralda: Thank you, Tomas. That was very helpful.

TOMAS: I would like to recess for a minute. [Tape turned]

I will tell you now about pets. [Household pet meowed.] There's one! You see how we greet one another. This is a dimension of the adjutant mind spirits that my world was far more aware of and sensitive to, although it may not have been understood in quite those terms. If you could see what my culture was like, the culture I lived in was more integrated with life, such that we would not hesitate to relate to any living thing.

It is customary for you to acknowledge the existence of other human beings, perhaps, and certainly register the reality of the animal kingdom, but to go so far as to relate to plants is still a stretch for the human imagination. But we were mindful of life such that we really did have an appreciation for God's omniscience, and when you are aware of the omniscience of God, in that He is in everything, it is easier for you to see God depicted and reflected in all life; therefore, it is easier for you to relate to that life wherever it may be found and, since we were comprised of certain evolved energies and segregated from certain devolved energies, it was not that we had to be on the lookout for dangerous animals or poisonous insects or reptiles -- anything that we knew was friendly -- and so the circumstances as I knew them in my world were completely different than your appreciation here, but to say did I and we have pets? Yes, very much so, in that we understood our animals and they understood us in ways that you only enjoy with a few species.

We would like to return to the focus of the Mother, and touch a bit upon the history of your world. The evolution of the feminine aspect of deity has been thwarted as cruelly as has been the appreciation of the real divinity of manhood. The god and goddess in individuals from this world, Urantia, is severely colored and influenced by this world's history which has not been fostering any kind of liberation or appreciation of godlikeness until only recently.

Historically speaking, you have all been deprived of your birthright, but in the process of reclamation, in the efforts to reunite you with your cosmic neighbors, you've been allowed a new glimpse of how it has been in the greater universe and you can better see how your history, darkened as it was, has inhibited the flowering of men and women both. For while one is oppressed, the other is the oppressor, and neither of these patterns are optimum.

There were interesting discussions in our recess. Are you inclined to share your observations and questions with others?

Elena: Well, like Thoroah said, Paul takes the rap for a lot of the subjugation or ignoring of women or of keeping them in a lower place, or however you want to call it, but I guess I am kind of curious. I mean, why didn't any of the other disciples -- I mean, that's a good point. Why should we just put it all on Paul's shoulders? Somebody, it seems, could have spoken up.

TOMAS: You can see this better when you put yourself in the apostles' immediate circle. They themselves were mindful of the women's evangelical corps, which members were comprised of their wives, mothers and sisters. They were very much aware of the work of these women. In many cases the women were more industrious than their male counterparts. Thus they could not see that they were remiss. And indeed, this is the way of humankind. When in your immediate circle all is well, it is easy to think that that paradigm extends out into greater planetary life.

Their lives were in turmoil when Jesus was taken from them, and further confounded when he rose and greeted them in his spiritized apparition. Their concerns were immediately very personal and very divine. The matter of women's equality was not a high priority, given the challenges they faced, for their women were at it still.

But we can't dwell on Paul as the bad guy here. He certainly had his faults, but to blame the current state of affairs on Paul exclusively is to short-change your perspective, for well before Paul you were deprived of the paradigm of ideal family life when your Material Son and Daughter, Adam and Eve, were unable to carry on their work with you, and this was immediately and directly related to and because of the initial disruption to your planetary pattern of perfection when the Lucifer rebellion took your world and permanently affected your growth.

Just as I mentioned earlier in the lesson, the mind is the arena wherein you choose to advance your spirit reality or halt its progress. Your progress was irrevocably halted at that critical time when he chose to usurp the divine plan and do it himself. And, without casting overmuch negative shadow on the male energy of your world, there has been ever since a tendency for man to take his realm and control it at the expense of the involvement of divinity, and that includes his mate and his children and his property.

This is in many ways a natural animal trait that you share with the animal kingdom, and so in most regards it is a healthy pattern, but in the case of rebellion, it has a long range detrimental effect, and so for these many, many thousands of years, you men and women have suffered the effects of the Lucifer rebellion even in the relationship that exists between you and each other, and this is indeed one of the bright and shining areas of enlightenment that is coming to be -- the regard for the divinity within you, the microcosm of the macrocosm. Within you lives the Father and the Son and the Mother.

Within you resides an element of all that is, for you are a son of the Original I AM or a daughter of the Original Trinity, and so that element of you which is eternal and divine is in need of illumination as to how it is that you will come to recognize in each other what our incredible Paradise Family has invited their creation to share with them.

Elena: And I apologize for Paul, too.

TOMAS: Paul has taken many blows.

Elena: Well can I take that last one back?

TOMAS: You need not. He is completely appreciative of the heartfelt concern he has as a major player in Christian implantment, of maintaining the remembrance of Jesus the Christ through the ages. This is a heartfelt concern he shares with everyone who opts to co-create with God and who runs the risk of error in inherent imperfection. It is in faith, however, such as we also have in common with Paul, that that which is good and eternal will become activated and actualized in eternity, even as error and shadow will fall away in the light of the sun.

Thoroah: We also have a tendency to blame Eve for a lot of our problems.

TOMAS: Indeed, she was a convenient scapegoat for many and an embodiment of evil woman, and yet if you yourselves could appreciate the conditions they encountered in their assignment here, the realization of what they had to contend with, and after all the time that went by in their only experience, it would perhaps be a solution you yourself might have considered as having merit. She, too, has taken many hits, and yet her legacy lives on in the devotion she shares with mothers everywhere for their mate and their children and their home life. Just as you experience here. And so she is more of your sister than your mother, even while she is supremely experienced in comparison.

She learned; Paul learned; Lucifer did not. More's the pity. We can rebuild from any foundation if we have God at the helm. Any error is able to be aligned and a righted if we have a relationship with divinity, but without God, we are not.

In reverence to the triumph of divinity, let us go about our week in awe of the many dimensions of divinity. Love, Mercy, and Action in the world of time and space which is your home.

Amen and farewell.

*****

DATE: April 14, 2002

LOCATION: Rio Rancho, NM, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEACHER: TOMAS

Tiger Woods & the Game of Golf - Perfection Hunger

Who You Are and What You Do Are Two Different Things

TOMAS: Greetings, I am Tomas, your friend and teacher, companion and host. Welcome to you this gorgeous afternoon. How gracious of you to come inside and sit with one another in assertion of your rightful place in the universe. You are in good company with your associates in the material world and with those of us who also join with you from the more ethereal realms of reality.

One prominent reality which is in evidence, as a common thread that weaves you all together, is the ritual of laughter and its contagion as testimony to your good spirits, but more to the point is the method now of worship you enjoy in living these experiences of your life. There is nothing that is not a prayer, but there is much that is not worship. Worship is the stillness that gives you the reminder of infinity. It is being in the eternal now. It is thanking divinity for the right to partake of this incredible and vital existence.

There is a thing in your language that asks, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound?" (pause) When you, in your solitude, are enmeshed in the spirit so completely as to be outside yourself, are you aware of yourself? (pause) Only God responds, but God is all there is. And so, He hears, and you sing praises as the echo of His Voice, which is all you hear.

Such beauty is in your world! Such immense joy is inherent in the reality you experience as a sentient being with God-consciousness. Your perspective is ennobled as a result of your conscious connection to divinity, your literal sonship, the offspring of the Original I AM.

They say that love makes the world go around and your musical scores, motion pictures, depict love as a carousel, in petticoats. A romantic interpretation indeed! A depiction of heaven on earth. And this is available to anyone who authorizes our Creator to direct the show, to put on the pageant of our lives. The pilgrims of time, having reached certain appreciations for their interdependence on a celestial reality connection - I apologize for my mouthpiece. It was editing me and so our connection was broken.

But this I will weave into my words for you today, for as the conscious mind interjects into this divine place in which you worship -- simply by enjoying your recognition of the truth, beauty and goodness of divinity -- then you are thrust into the experiential realms which often are not fraught with the delights of prayer and thanksgiving. And now all of a sudden you are in the field, alert to service opportunities, ambitious that others may know the delights of sonship and bask in that energy which is infinite and eternal.

And lest I overlook the real essence of our value lesson here, the essential ingredient is love that will enable you to merge those moments with humanity that will enable you to bridge another gap between the material reality and the divine, so as to help mankind come one step nearer to that blessed state of mind which we recognize as worship. Such a source of joy and inspiration cannot help but want to share and expand the consciousness of perfection to the ends of the earth and to the ends of time.

There now, we have sat in spiritual pulchritude. I long to hear your voices, to hear from you, to engage with you in our association so that our appreciation for this salve of love may be realized, exercised, strengthened and reality-ized, so that your reality indeed can reinforce the reality of the realm. What do you think? Do you think that Tiger Woods today has enhanced the Supreme? Sports fans?

Thoroah: Well, in the relative sense of the way he does the things he does, yeah, there's some beauty and goodness there, and the truth of it is in the game of golf itself.

Elena: I'm not even a golf enthusiast but I can recognize that what he offers to golf is the - I can see truth and beauty in his playing. I mean, there is a ring to it, even for a non-golfer, so yeah, I'd have to say that it's visible.

Esmeralda: I always think, too, about the good. As far as I know, of what I have heard and read, he does an awful lot of good for a lot of people, especially underprivileged children. It used to be that golf was a game that only the wealthy could play and to learn and I think that good sportsmanship for youngsters (and some oldsters, too, as far as that goes) is good, but he has made it possible for a lot more children to enjoy the game, which gives them, I think, a better fellowship and a feeling of security in our material world, and for those things I think he really does add to it. And it's just very enjoyable to watch such physical perfection! And mindal, too. Golf is a game that you have to exercise your mind with, so those things are good, I think. As far as whether he is maybe depicting -- and I do not know what his spiritual situation is at all, but he seems like a good person, and so he does service in a way. Of course, he is paid very well for it, too. But then he uses part of his money to make things nicer for other people, too.

TOMAS: Here we have a real fan! And I am happy to confirm that indeed this young professional is a hero in terms of having those qualities that one might look up to him as an example of how to comport oneself in ones livelihood, for while this game is also very civilized, it is not civilized without the participation of those who express civil behaviors and good sportsmanship. It's also a method of observing the disciplines that enable one to perform an art, an athletic expression, so exquisitely as to raise it to an art form and have the civility to maintain congenial relations with your competition as well as your support staff and manifest respect to your superiors.

How can I object to your worship? I am not suggesting you worship Tiger or the players or even the game, no, but those values which are an expression of a derivation of perfection which has been developed as a cultural expression so as to represent the best in performance. This is what you all strive for in your own way and in your own life, and this is a reflection of the divine in you, which would choose to bake the best pie or be the best soprano or cut the thickest log. All these efforts to overtake, overcome, and enhance human value and dignity is an effort for the Supreme. Not for the physical demonstration, not for the material representation, but for the essence of integrity which attempts to perfection.

Thus you now can see how your lives are busily engaged in efforts for God-consciousness, even when you are not discussing theology or making reference to a deity. And while those efforts of Tiger Woods and Oprah Winfrey and John Denver ad infinitum are philanthropic, indeed, it is their essential character that is the true statement of truth, beauty and goodness.

Well, have any of you done anything perfect this week?

Elena: Tomas, I wanted to comment about what you just said. Actually, I am concerned about my lack of perfection, naturally, and reading some of the other transcripts about now being a really critical time in the world, and it being very important for us each to do what we can. And I was thinking, "Wow! I've probably dropped the ball every which way possible!" And I was feeling bad about maybe not holding up my part as well as I would like to, and maybe I'm just looking for reinforcement (and you gave me some reinforcement and I really appreciate that) about doing what we can, even if we're not talking about God or in other ways, that we can still perform our particular kind of worship. I may not be getting it perfected, but you see what I mean? So, I found that -- I hope I wasn't misinterpreting or getting it incorrect, but -- it is such a critical time and I would like to think that I'm doing my part and what I can in doing what God created me to do.

TOMAS: Understood. You remember that your world is changing very rapidly. This period of time in history is moving very quickly, and there are new ways of keeping up with all the things that are going on, or enough of them that you are far more well informed than ever before, at least as to circumstances and situations which are newsworthy. So much of what you are barraged with consistently is unnecessary, irrelevant to anything but the keeping up of the cacophony of chaos in which many minds reside.

But you who have come to experience the peace which passes all understanding, those of you who have tasted of the quietude of perfection in a moment of worship or a reflection thereof such that you were able to admire, appreciate, savor something outside yourself, you have at least that much comprehension of serenity and security that will allow you to promote that reality in the face of such chaos as is in evidence everywhere you look today in your world.

If you let yourself, you can become overwhelmed by the knowledge of all that needs done, and you end up "spinning your wheels" needlessly expending energy on something or everything you can do nothing or little about. Better to find one small thing you can do and do it well. Learn to focus on something you can do something about, and don't question whether you are great enough -- or even good enough -- but rather humbly apply yourself to that small task, which will then open the door to the next task at hand and so you carry your service field in a way that you can be more effective in a way that will keep you from being enveloped in the maelstrom of chaos, even the confusion of which rightful cause is more pressing, more needy, more onerous.

And if there is nothing else you know how to do that will be part of the solution, pray. For that is the essential way to find out if indeed there is something you can do something about it or not, as it will be made clear to you, through your integral relationship with your eternal parents, what to think, hence, how to feel, and thus what to do or what not to do in terms of that which tugs at your heart strings or toys with your mind.

You are in no position to judge yourself, daughter. It is natural for you to assess your own abilities and ascertain if you are meeting your natural capacities, but to feel that your incessant yearning is a key to the solution, no. Focus specifically and absolve yourself of the tendency to have a cloak of incessant responsibility over your shoulders. Sometimes the best thing you can do is play with the cat. [Group chuckles]

Feel peace, know peace, invite peace, and allow it to be such a reality that it cannot help but go out like a radiant beam of light, like a warm sun ray, into the environment that yearns to be healed by the vitamins and minerals that are electro-magnetically injected into the environment by your earnest…ness.

I hope you feel better.

Elena: Oh, I sure do. Thank you, thank you.

Thoroah: I've been thinking a lot about perfection, at least about the last two weeks, and the relativeness of perfection, etc., in our perfection hunger, but to me, one of the biggest scams on humankind was the idea that we started perfect and everything literally went to hell in a hand basket after that, and to me that is a scar, a psychic scar that we all have to deal with, instead of having the perception that we are on a road to improvement, we are psychically wounded into the idea that we are on the road to degradation.

TOMAS: It is a very old theory on your planet. Way before the Material Son and Daughter were here, your ancestors were primitively downgrading itself.

Thoroah: It was their perception they were from the Prince's staff and they started off perfect. They were relatively in perfection compared to what we are, but … They were not perfect beings but we are led to believe that, right?

TOMAS: They were obviously not perfect.

Esmeralda: I think that we simply -- I don't think that we can attain perfection on our planet. I think that we strive to improve, and I think we strive to follow the Father's will -- maybe we don't strive hard enough -- but I don't think that perfection on this planet is attainable. I think we simply work toward it and grow and even in the mansion worlds I think we still will be striving to become more Godlike and I think that is mainly the goal, or should be the goal in our lives.

TOMAS: It is the ultimate goal of your Paradise ascent, and yet, even so, in relativity, it is experience-able in your world today, in your life, and thus in others lives' also, if you simply allow yourself to acknowledge perfection when you see it. Perfection is worship. It is without flaw. It is at one with God. And that is how it is possible for you to be perfect in your realm even as the Universal Father is perfect in his realm. If you put off perfection, you are guilty of the same technique as those long ago who put off the understanding of the great truth of Jesus that "the kingdom of heaven is within you." If you keep thinking, as many religionists have through the ages, that the kingdom is some future time, it will never come!

Indeed am I reminded to remind you that the Master said, "Seek ye first the Kingdom and all these things will be added unto you." Seek ye first the Kingdom NOW. Seek ye first your perfection now, in your life, as you live it, even in its relative smallness, even acknowledging its relative imperfection at the same time. If you are mindful of the values of good and evil and are able to extricate yourself from the concept that you are bad, then you will give yourself a better chance of acknowledging that you are good and that you are a part of the goodness of God.

So acknowledge your goodness now, your relative perfection, as you are able to. Even as it may be a fleeting moment now and then, even as your appreciation of your reality as a part of the Kingdom is a temporary or fleeting recognition. Give in to the urge to feel that divine enmeshment that will reward you with a strengthened sense of connection to that which is ultimate perfection. And thus reinforce your own perfection-hunger and your own perfection recognition.

To say you have perfection is not a feather in the cap of the ego. It is glory to God.

Thoroah: It's a good golf analogy. As bad as I play, I hit a perfect shot once in awhile.

Esmeralda: A couple of times.

Thoroah: And the recognition of a Tiger Woods playing a perfect round, and me playing a perfect round, are two different types of perfect. And the game is set up so that it's handicapped, so that if I'm playing against Tiger, I would be given the relative chance to be as good. So there is a little analogy there to the game of golf that is relative perfection.

Esmeralda: Thank goodness for handicaps.

TOMAS: And there isn't anyone in my circle of friends who is not aware of how truly handicapped you all are. [Group laughter] I only say that to remind us of the challenges, the unique challenges that are inherently yours as a result of your home planet, not to diminish your value or your potential perfection attainment. It's a point I like to make because so many people think that perfection is unattainable, and while it is unattainable in the Ultimate sense, it is certainly attainable in your association with divinity, in your configuration with reality.

As you are helping to learn about it and co-create with it -- the new era, the new age, the new dispensation that lies ahead toward global light and life - it's necessary to attest that it is possible for perfection to exist here on this world. Even though you may not see what it looks like, believe it is possible and strive towards it while you are here, and thus leave a legacy that countermands the legacy that was left to you.

I'll use an example of a tree. It may be most natural for a tree to shoot straight up, but sometimes trees are gnarled and bent because of their growing conditions, thus they become crooked or twisted. As apple trees may become crooked and bent, they still produce delicious apples. So can your tree of Urantia be as perfect as Manzanita bushes - crooked and gnarly and still perfect.

Esmeralda: I like that theory. Thank you, Tomas. That should make all of us feel better, and it does make me feel better, thank you.

Ms. D.: I really feel that you have answered every question that I had this past week. Sitting here today has been rather an enchanting experience. But I seem to get caught in the theory of -- you gave Oprah as an example, and Tiger, and John Denver who had very specific talents and nurtured them -- And then you went on to the play analogy, I believe, and I am caught there, knowing that for all of us here we have very full lives, which really means then that we are in many plays at the same time, and we have varying roles in those plays.

We are not always the star. And those areas that we are the star, we are displaying one kind of talent, and yet sometimes we have a bit role and sometimes we are working behind the stage. All of those have talents, and so what I think I hear you saying is that our job is to pray for our talent, to reflect on it, and to enjoy the success that we do. Perhaps it is the success -

When Tiger makes a hole in one, he gets to experience that success, and perhaps you can call that perfection, so … I think that I'm hearing you say that when we are in a role and experience success, that is one piece of perfection that we can look at as encouragement to move on -- And be proud of it! To accept that, knowing that it is not the end, that tomorrow there is a new play starting. But to accept where we are today. But thank you for speaking to us so clearly today.

TOMAS: I am glad you have ears to hear such that my parables are effective. (pause)

You are talking about attainments. You are acknowledging growth attainment and the joy of acknowledging your own growth. And this is indeed a joyous moment, a time of thanksgiving and celebration, and effectively constitutes a psalm of praise, which accolades you receive from your attainment from others is mere peer acknowledgment.

The personal religious experience is between you and God -- that you have met the mark, made the right choice, found the light at the end of the tunnel, connected with the resolution -- which experiences are very real and very necessary for the expansion of your own soul -- but the reward of social acknowledgment is secondary. Even as the efforts of any hero is to hear others tell them, "How great thou art!" it is encouraging and it is something that is an entitlement, as an ascending son/daughter, but it is also after the fact. It is the reflection of the reality rather than the reality itself, which transcends time and space. It also transcends show business and role playing, even while it is certainly true that the material life is a kaleidoscope of scenes and views that, like a good parable, will portray divinity in such a way as to be understood by you, appreciated, and clasped as a reality worth holding onto, worth developing, worth cultivating as a key to the Kingdom, a part of the ultimate goal.

The troublesome thing about mind-expansion is that as soon as you have grown into comprehension, your windows and doors open and in flood a whole new category of questions. Hence it is advisable, on occasion, to just play with the cat. [group laughter]

I am glad you are joining us today, Mr. S.. I am privy to your presence, even though my enrapt class has failed their social graces.

Group: [Abject apologies]

TOMAS: Well, Mr. S., let's just play with the cat.

Mr. S.: Good advice.

TOMAS: I have no fear that we have lost anything, and that we have gained everything in our camaraderie this afternoon. It is as if we were all able to, at heart, allow our identities a moment of freedom from individualism in order to wash ashore in the living waters, so that we all feel a part of infinity, even for a moment in time and space. This kind of instant gratification of group worship is one of the "metaphysical" factors that charge our configuration with a dimension that transcends the mundane, that lifts us up into a realm of grace wherein we feel the urge to be Godlike and to reflect the qualities of our Creator, the nature of God. Are there questions??

Esmeralda: Mr. S., do you have any questions to ask?

Elena: If you wanted to, you could, you know.

Thoroah: Or you can play with the cat.

Mr. S.: That sounds like a smart idea.

Esmeralda: Well, Tomas, it's not a question, but you've certainly given me more to think about on the subject of perfection because I had never thought that I had seen perfection in any way, so I've done quite well with a number of things -- like my two daughters, for instance -- although I had such good material to work with, but really that was not …

Elena: Tomas, would you tell her that she is one of the best mothers? She won't believe me. I keep telling her. And would you tell her how wonderful she is? Maybe she'll believe you where she doesn't believe me.

Esmeralda: No, I do think that my two daughters are evidence of something going right, but …

Elena: Tell her she has good ears, too.

Esmeralda: But I think it's as close as I have come to perfection, but on the perfection idea of the communication with the Father, that has given me more to think about and to work with.

TOMAS: That is the area that matters, you see. That is where perfection comes from. How you perform is another subject entirely. What you give to the Supreme is a result of the First Cause. The First Cause is the realm I'm interested in and am encouraging you toward, for this has nothing to do with what you do. It is more with who you are and how you are innately, inherently, infinitely. That is another dimension indeed and one which you have only to grasp by allowing. It is here that you become as a little child, to the extent that you give yourself up to your Eternal Parents' loving embrace. That's the perfection Source; that's the perfection that you seek to carry in your personality expression. But how you express that in terms of what you do, including having children, raising daughters of the Divine Minister, is another category altogether. It's a common misunderstanding in humankind. What you are and what you do are two different things.

Ms. D.: Do we not act? Do we not do based on what we are?

TOMAS: Not always, no. Most of what you do is for reasons other than who you are and more on who you think you are or what someone else has said you are, and there again is another topic entirely.

Group: Yes!

TOMAS: Now we are getting into the meat of our meeting, the mind is opening, the mota are impinging, and it's almost time to quit. This is decidedly corporeal, this arena in which we operate. And this is why we continue to grow, because we learn something and then experience that instant of awareness, that reflection of perfection, that God-conscious state that actualizes that which we momentarily realize, in order for new impetus to enter in, in order to stimulate your soul development. They say that eventually the soul begins to grow on its own accord, and that is because it insists upon its existence. Its determination to attain perfection has no reluctance, no further hesitation, has hunger, perfection-hunger. And so think about perfection-hunger this week and what you do to satisfy your appetite.

Are there other matters? (silence) Then let me take my leave by giving you each a good commendation for the work you've done in class this afternoon. You have brought me and my peers great joy in your upturned countenances and we smile upon our conjoint efforts in the work.

See you next week.

Farewell.

Group: Bye, Tomas!

*****

DATE: April 21, 2002

LOCATION: Rio Rancho, NM, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEACHER: TOMAS

OPENING MUSIC: "Fairest Lord Jesus"

TOMAS: Good afternoon, my lovely friends. What a tribute to the Master, who is most lovely fair indeed. We bask in the glory of sonship in his name. -- He who walked upon your world and represented the ideal life of the faith-filled follower of divinity.

How it delights me and my co-workers/colleagues in this branch of the Melchizedek University, to acknowledge our association as an association which is supportive of the personality of the Christ. We benefit even greater when we understand the man Jesus, how he approached his relationship with the Universal Father, how he reflected the nature of God in his relations with his human family and friends -- even his apostles, of which you are also included, in-as-much as it is your will that His will be done and the kingdom thrive "on earth as it is in heaven".

This is just a simple joy that we have, that we celebrate. Yet there are those who have the will to worship God without the Christian frame of reference for the son of God as we acknowledge Jesus. His religious life was one which took its origin in an intimate and loving connection with his Heavenly Parents. Which is, of course, how it is that we are brothers and sisters. Even while I am an elder brother and teacher, yet and still are we family because of our parentage.

This joy of knowing a spirit connection is possible to share with anyone willing to open their heart and mind to the concepts which constitute a comprehension of an Almighty God, and sometimes that is only understood in terms of energy.

Here again, how fortunate we are that we have the element of personality, that even while our God is the creator of personality, he is none-the-less also personality, and so we can come to our divine parents as their children, seeking understanding from their wisdom, seeking comfort from their guidance, seeking consolation as we find ourselves needing to be upheld and supported, as we are not always sufficiently replete to know all there is to know.

And here, once more, how fortunate we are that we can come as little children to the Master and know that he will stop in the middle of important work in order to "suffer the little children" and that is who we are: the little children.

We honor the Mother again today, the Mother Spirit, the Divine Minister, who has such a tremendous job to do in overseeing her myriad children in the far-flung universe, material and spiritual, in an attempt to foster and nourish, discipline, encourage, nurture and correct, comfort and command her many boys and girls, and there are so many who have lost respect for their mother or have never known how to respect that quality of caring that she is.

We pause in praise of our Creator and our Universal Parents. Pause to enjoy our communion. Linger in this space of relative perfection in which we listen to the gentle trickle of the living water as it washes us clean of our stressors.

How fortunate we are to know how to conjoin in spirit with that divine power which is our God, and to converse in our heart and soul and mind with our perception of the Lord Jesus who has and continues to show us the Way. What choice is there in the face of their love for us? Their patience over us? Their support for us? What choice have we now, as sons and daughters of the living God, but to carry on the family legacy of truth, beauty and goodness? How can we not, now, knowing, give complete loyalty to that essence of creation which is at once our origin and our destiny, and which, in personality expression, reveals itself as divine love and as mercy?

How far we have to go here on our world, on this world which is the assignment, the classroom, the sanctuary, and the homeland of you and of the Master! Therefore, bask in this moment of stillness that you may absorb the strength and guidance, the courage and fortitude, to hear the voice speak to you when you inquire, and hear it say, "This is the way. Follow me, and walk therein." This man Jesus, who is risen in our hearts, souls and minds, is able to allow he and thee to speak as one, worshiping Our Father and the Infinite Spirit, all the days of our lives, even on into eternity.

Now nice to see you all here on this totally exquisite afternoon. How perfect and replete is this atmosphere with your listening and with the arms of Mother Earth enveloping us in her embrace. This family is dear, and as it grows, it commences to create a force, a living, loving force of higher mind as it joins with spirit. In reaching out and embracing all that which it can see, there is strength in our numbers, for we augment one another in our assertion of divine love, being that contagious benign virus which is more contagious than hate, which will lend clarity to confusion and which will lead us all into a phase of creation which we will know as one infused with light and life, wherein all of us have a full and honorary association with our Heavenly Parents, even as we parent one another here and now.

Let me get down off my soap box and listen to your musical voices. Have you questions that you have saved for me that perhaps has risen from our earlier sessions or the experiential laboratory of your life?

Elena: Tomas, before we do that, thank you so much for being here. But let me not make the same mistake twice and be remiss in welcoming totally this sparking gem of God's creation that is also in our group today: Ms. J. She is a newcomer and we are so pleased to have Ms. J. And we are also just tickled to death to have Yvonne come back. So, since mother isn't here to welcome, introduce, and to do the honors, I don't want to skip out on that one at all. And Mr. S. is back, so welcome to everyone! I think I've covered the bases now, Tomas, so ….

TOMAS: I have appreciated your social graces, certainly, yet I have, in my heart, mind and soul, already enjoyed the flavor of Ms. J.'s presence and her indwelling God fragment came out to meet me as I recognized her; thus we've been introduced by the "powers-that-be" and we are now charmed to have made this manifest in the material realms in which you reside. Yes, it is my pleasure to enjoy these shining lights. The fact that I have not bored you to tears or made your life more difficult is encouraging to me as a teacher. Maybe I could help in inviting another in who has a different energy, that can help enliven you. I don't intend to take you into your deep mind and leave you there. I am at your service.

Elena: Well, you said something that really helped me. I've certainly been thinking about the Mother Spirit and trying to contact and make a better relationship there, but you also made a comment -- and I may not have gotten the word, but it really sunk in about talking to the Father fragment, and had to do with that, and somehow that just kind of spoke to me on a deep plane. And I'm not verbalizing it well, but I wanted to give you the feedback because that was extremely helpful and it reinforced something that I kind of needed reinforced. And then plus the fact that Mother is enveloping us right now, and I felt that, so your words were enhancing, but the energy was here and so you not boring me to tears at all. Maybe to tears, but certainly not boring.

TOMAS: Thank you for your perspective and your expression of your perception. This pleases me that you are able to distinguish between the Infinite Spirit and the Universal Father. The energies are altogether complimentary, and yet each is in its own realm, as in your material life it is said that men and women enjoy their own realm of realization.

When you can appreciate and acknowledge the difference, then you are better able to understand your own interpersonal relationships, for that will give you a picture, a reflection, of those qualities which are innate to each. I am reminded to say "viva le difference" for while your lower relationship liaisons are often highly antagonistic in nature, it is also true that in the ultimate sense these energies are entirely complimentary, and so the challenge is, for those of you who consider these matters of importance, you are able to learn from divinity itself.

And this would be reinforced and supported by the Material Son and Daughter, Adam and Eve, who continue to hold sway over your world and influence it. This more poignantly now since the re-encircuitment has commenced. Perhaps I speak in these terms as I am aware now of the relationship that Mr. S. and Ms. J. share, and that others are also enjoying, and anticipating. But it is not only for "sweethearts". It is for human beings to appreciate and respect that realm within which the other resides -- that kingdom over which one or the other holds sway.

Then, Elena, (long pause) … you will be able to express the third facet of infinity through the spirit of mercy, that which enables us to love all that is, even that which is still in darkness, as our Eternal Son is able to perceive the divine, even in the dark holes of space. Another comment or question?

Elena: Thank you, Tomas.

Mr. S.: Tomas, that was especially interesting that you noted that Jesus was a priest after the Order of Melchizedek. I've always been of the opinion that since God created Adam and Eve perfect, and yet they sinned, that they had lost their chance for heaven.

TOMAS: Little Brother, how I warm to your voice. My friends, your Adam and Eve, are humbled to acknowledge how they erred in the divine plan. However, like the Magdalene, they are most earnest in atoning for their short-coming. Material Sons and Daughters have been known to default before in other worlds, but their error was not one of deliberate and willful violation, rather one of misguided ignorance. So this is where the quality of mercy is most pronounced. Mercy was also extended to Lucifer, but Lucifer refused. Thus, there are differences, for Lucifer, too, was high on the scale of celestial administrative helpers.

This leads me to point out the importance of motive. While you are not really qualified to cast judgment -- eternal judgment -- on your mentors or your peers, you will observe their motives, for once you understand their motives, you can then more wisely ascertain how it is that the Father loves them, and the Son has mercy, and the Mother enlivens. When they refuse love, when they refuse mercy, when they refuse to act upon the light of truth, they have obstructed their growth and the growth of the greater universe. Thus eventually they will be eradicated, if only because the living legacy of love will rise up around them, suffocating them in their refusal to grow up and take their rightful place in the cosmology of things.

And this is also true for all of us. If we take joy in living, even in difficult situations and learning experiences, if we keep our fist clenched to the hem of his garment, our motives will be made clear, even to us, and in that light of truth we can decide whether we want to further our reality or retard it, and every time we choose to retard our own growth, we are essentially asphyxiating ourselves. I encourage you, thus, to stay nearby that which will support your urge to live and thrive in the many facets of your being -- physically, financially, emotionally, mentally, intellectually, psychically, mindally, morontially and spiritually -- so that you are growing at a steady, even keel, and allowing each day to unfold as if it were a flower in your path. Is this helpful?

Ms. D: It is to me, Tomas. You were talking about motivation a couple of weeks ago, and it is very difficult to think back on your own motivation of an action. I'm not sure that I would recognize when I would get to that core, and I can hang on to the hem of the Master and trust, but in so doing, I don't know if that is being pro-active or if it is avoidance of the motive. Those two things …

TOMAS: Don't be hard on yourself, child. As long as you are holding onto Him, you are at least putting your faith in something that will serve until such time as you are able to rise to the occasion, make the decision, turn on the light switch, whatever phraseology you need to use to indicate you have decided. You yourself will know if you are putting it off if after a "reasonable" period of time you are still procrastinating. You will know and prompt yourself.

I was privy to a conversation this afternoon between Thoroah and Gerdean as they approached this session this afternoon, and it was rather insightful for them both to have worked through some parallel appreciations of the seven adjutant mind spirits as compared to the ancient chakra system, which, as they discussed it, was a parallel of the animal aspect of your being, and with the divine aspect of your being. The instinct to live materially as an animal, or the intuition to live spiritually as a son of God, each having and providing an impulse for action.

If you are not feeling the impulse, then you are wise to wait and hold on to the hem of His garment. And this is true whether you are speaking of the animal or the divine about you.

Ms. D: Thank you, Tomas.

TOMAS: You are welcome. Happy am I to assist your growth.

Thoroah: Tomas, on the idea of motives, we've been taught -- I guess "taught" would be the word to use -- taught that "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." I do believe that we may have instincts to believe that, and I would like to get your comments on that.

TOMAS: I have to state in advance, Thoroah, that even while your projection is fascinating and one which I will enjoy, it does require of me rather to portray myself as a crystal ball gazer, for I would need to look into the psyche and determine that; thus I accept your invitation and take the plunge.

The road to hell being paved with good intentions is an adage and one which is likely intended to cast a mote of responsibility on behavior. Asking the hearer to be aware of all the ramifications of their actions. It's like a threat on one hand and an encouraging admonition on the other. Is it to "keep you in your place"? Is it to blame, and thereby secure a superior position. Is it to judge what hell is? And how you might be making your way there hastily? Because your actions belie what your mouth protests?

These adages are like mortal mota. They are life lessons, expressions of folk wisdom that provide scaffolding for thought, for conscious thought, for moral thought, and yet they may or may not rise to the level of mota, which incorporates the realm of the spirit with the wisdom necessary for living a successful human life. The road to heaven is also paved with good intentions. It is therefore wise to remember the adage: "by their fruits they shall be known" and even while the immediate view may reveal one picture, a deeper excursion into understanding our fellows may reveal yet another view. That's why it's always good to take the hand of Jesus into prayer and sit with Him and allow the Universal Father to respond to your soul's concerns, even these adages that implant themselves in your consciousness and oftentimes become as if they were universal law.

The universe is changing, and is growing, even as you yourselves are expanding in understanding and in God-consciousness, insight.

Elena: That was wonderful.

TOMAS: I will give you all an A this afternoon, as you have been attentive. And, as I am stoked by the fire of your soul's intentions, I am rendered a better teacher for I can teach you those things which will generate greater growth for your own soul's happiness. What a pleasure to be a part of this situation which is indeed a part of the priesthood of Melchizedek, as I am able to help Jesus teach you how to be "fishers of men" and how to reveal our divine inheritance as we pass by.

But I will not take overmuch advantage of you and our configuration, but rather abate and allow your regression into diversion and conversation, that you might come to know one another better and recognize our cosmic connection in each as it is implanted in your individual hearts and minds. And so enjoy the community of sons and daughters of divinity in your community this afternoon.

Any pressing concerns before I go?

Ms. D.: It may be a trivial question. It only concerns me and so it might be a bit selfish, but I would be interested in knowing my name in the Urantia Book.

TOMAS: Yes. One moment. Myra.

Myra: Thank you, Tomas.

Elena: Is there a meaning that you might share with Myra that you might tell Myra about?

TOMAS: Not in the same way that your names are defined, but similarly. Myra has a quality of reality which "reminds me" of the combined natures of Martha and Mary, sisters of Lazarus. There is in you, Myra, a responsible elder and a jubilant child. Not an irresponsible child, but one who recognizes the importance of being childlike. Even so, there is no escaping the mantle of Martha who oversees her own childlike nature and so the entire depiction is one of a well-balanced personality, well-rounded, giving, inclined toward service, sober, and yet radiantly joyous and curious, eager to run out to meet that which is en route, knowing it's good, even when it is more than the child can bear, and thus must return to the reality of the elder sister who has a better knowledge of the nature of things, is not so naive, is a reflection of the Mother.

Myra: Thank you, Tomas.

TOMAS: You are welcome, Daughter Myra.

Run along children and play. Eat, drink and be merry, and rejoice in the knowledge of sonship. Amen and farewell.

CLOSING MUSIC: Beethoven's 8th Sonata, from Pathetique, "Adagio Cantabile"

*****

DATE: April 28, 2002

LOCATION: Rio Rancho, NM, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEACHER: TOMAS

Q&A: Career Adjustments

New Name for Matthew

A Teacher's Assistant

A "Fragile" Friend

Pro-active vs Acceptance

Melchizedek University

Christ Michael

TOMAS: Welcome. Good afternoon, I am Tomas. I am glad to be back in your embrace. I delight to feel the energy each of you bring, reconnecting with that aspect of divinity which we all seek to know better. We delight in your company and in your realm of action. We look upon your earth affectionately and respectfully, as the nest from which you will emerge to fly. In this interim exercise area, as we await your ability to take flight into the nether realms of Paradise beyond this material realm, we engage you in our aeronautical attempts to enable you to strengthen your wings and lift yourself up on the currents of spirit, that you might soar and enjoy spiritual liberty, even as you trudge the path of earthly endeavor.

This afternoon I would like to speak with you briefly regarding the winds of change, for as we engage in our repose here, it is a testimony to our Eternal Parents and their creation that the wind has risen and rustles through the leaves, just as the spirit rustles through your lives.

How appropriate that we should consider winds of change, when the winds of your environment have been most vehement this week! The winds of change thus may also bring damage as well as action. When you think of change, think too of the purpose, the value of the change, for change simply for change sake is not always progressive. We seek progress.

So many, in their attempt to develop and change the current circumstances, push their way in and through life's circumstances such that they have no appreciation for the universal tendency to enliven and instill growth as naturally as your gardens bring forth fruit. And so our uppermost concern in regard to change is that it be a new definition, an upstepped appreciation, of how we proceed -- indeed, whether we proceed - and why.

Your question, at the beginning of the gathering today, as to how we are progressing and toward what end, is a question in which we might all find delight in lengthy speculation, for each individual has his or her own concept of what we, as life forces, might find worthy of pursuing. There is a scripture that speaks to every season as having its own reality, its own value, and its own experience. And so there are many changes that can be acknowledged as natural passages of behavioral development over the course of time. Maturity brings certain resolutions as a result of having lived, and yet this is only the kindergarten of your eternal career. This is only the starting point for your greater realization of your existence. Your existence in this earth plane has given you various frames of reference for reality, which you regard as familiar and comfortable.

Your culture, your nationality, your racial composition, and your education level and income methods -- these are ways in which you can relate to one another in your world. And yet it realizes only a little portion of who you really are, and thus you become stultified, limited, retarded, recognizing the limitations of your existence based on the heritage gotten from your forbearers, and now we seek to upstep your appreciation of the value of life, the value of your life, the value of the lives of others, as we blow love into your environment, as the spirit enters into your arena and immerses itself in the reality that you felt was a material existence, a mere intellectual comprehension, or an emotional state of mind.

The spirit lives. It lives in each of you and for each of you. And as you are introduced to your (an "I" word, not in this dictionary), as it becomes a part of you and you of it, it will come to pass that your power, then, will be augmented by the power of divinity, in the sense that leaves are empowered by the wind. And this force will alter the conditions and the course of your planetary destiny, just like the literal winds of time and space are able to be destructive as well as develop-mental. Let us set out to master how the wind blows by becoming one with it.

Winds of change are seasonal, indeed, and in the course of life there comes a season when change is immanent. Rejoice in the possibilities!

What shall we talk about now?

Esmeralda: First, Tomas, we have two people with us today that have not been with us before: Ruth, as we have hoping she would get here and she has; and Ms. M. has not joined this group before and been here, and we are very glad to have them as well as everybody else.

TOMAS: Welcome, indeed, daughters and sisters. Rejoice in your family members gathered here to partake of the delights of sonship and foster faith. All of us embrace you each.

Elena: Tomas? You had a lot for us today, as usual, and I think I kind of followed all that was put together, and there are a couple of parts I would like to address -- the winds of change -- and talk about some of the things, for example, in a work scenario, where there is a continued effort to make one thing change and to having a frustration with that and to feeling like the only way of accomplishing that change would be to force it, so I'd kind of like your feed-back or your comments on how you were describing the wind going along, and I'm looking literally at the leaves and watching the wind and I was thinking that, as you were saying this, that God's strength and the love that was being blown into the world -- what you said was so poetic, it was just really great. I loved it!

But, you know, sometimes it seems like we're not able to change. I guess that's putting too much emphasis on ourselves and not trusting God enough. Is that possibly one part of that? And the situation I'm asking in particular has to do with the work scenario and the project management deal.

TOMAS: You will have better success if you can separate your first question from your second situation. You are investigating how it is that you adapt to life's circumstances, how it is that on some occasions you find it virtually impossible, and then you immediately enter the work place. Am I to interpret this as a concern on your part that you are unable to adapt to the new working conditions?

Elena: I don't think so. I think I should be able to adapt. I'm just hoping to find a positive way of promoting that change that is desired, and I'm seeing another -- the person who I'm going to be reporting to -- wanting to make it happen.

TOMAS: I'm reminded of Jesus who was inclined often to make statements aloud as to his expectations of himself, his affirmations of who he was and how he intended to go about his work. He many times addressed his apostles in such a way as to instill in them an idea that they would never be able to live up to his expectations or all that he commanded of them, but he was not commanding them so much as he was commanding these things of himself.

If, in your assessment of the situation, you were to see that this employer is attempting to administer his or her position successfully, and this is how their motivational approach works, they may be applying their own ambitions to you and you may be balking, as they are not your ambitions but you are not in a position to object.

There are those who dig in their feet and refuse to change. There is a full spectrum of mental compositions that this category involves. There are those who are just plain bullheaded and are not inclined toward any change whatsoever, as compared to those who have experienced many situations, abundant opportunities to make choices, and have had the opportunity to place value on their time and energy such that they have chosen intelligently their course of action, and they, too, may dig in their heels and refuse to change, not from ignorance but from enlightenment. And there is a full range of variations in the interim which represent those who are growing and those who are soaring in differing degrees and in different dimensions.

There's no hard and fast rule here. You seem to sense some insecurity and anxiety in your new circumstances, and this is part of what the winds of change will bring. It's as if you had been swept up in a gust and placed in another part of the building or the field -- it's not familiar; it's a little threatening. The circumstances are different, and you feel you have no control, no sense of competence. This is only temporary. Give yourself to what you can give yourself to. Accept that which is the same. You still breathe the same air and there are many other similarities. In your adapting, assess the similarities and take strength from that which is experientially yours - your capacities, your qualifications, your accomplishments, your contributions -- and reinforce yourself in this way such that you can bring your strengths to bear on the new situation as compared to what you don't know and what you aren't and what you haven't yet and so forth, for this leaves you open to insecurity, vulnerability. Come from your own strength.

Elena: Thank you, Tomas.

TOMAS: You have my total support. I have every confidence in you.

Elena: I really appreciate that. Thank you. I was asked to ask one question, too. This is for Mr. V. He would like to have you tell him what his spiritual name is and a little bit about that name.

TOMAS: I will take a moment and spend it with Mr.V. who is not here, if I have the permission of those of you who are here. Mr. V. is a student of these messages and means. Matthew is a well-mastered personality, gracious, insightful and devoted.

Hello, Matthew. We who oversee these gatherings and the seasons that prevail in the different communities, yea, even in the individual personalities, do appreciate your entanglements and how you navigate them. I here in this base of operations am especially eager to engage in interpersonal communion with you on a more frequent basis, but we will wait for the propitious moment when the wind is at your back and thus will your changes be made graciously, your choices smiled upon, and the sun (Son) leading you. But now I must return to my assignment, in truth, as there are siblings here who enjoy my attentions.

Ms. J. , I am glad to see you again, gem as you are. How have you been?

Ms. J. : Anxious.

TOMAS: Is it because of the wind?

Ms. J. : No.

TOMAS: It has to do then with a higher electro-chemical adjustment in your psyche? How is it that you are anxious? Fear not.

Ms. J. : I hope you're right.

TOMAS: How may I be of assistance to you?

Ms. J. : I really have no idea.

TOMAS: How might I reassure your anxieties?

Ms. J. : Just hope along with me.

TOMAS: Hope Along, Cassidy. [Chuckles] Let's ride.

What a quiet group you are this afternoon! Are you asleep or self-conscious?

Elena: I'm still awake! [Laughter]

Ms. M. : Well, then, can I ask about my business endeavors?

TOMAS: I need to know how you are relating to your business endeavors. I don't know how to put my Curriculum Vitae on the desk so that you will understand my skills and that area where I am not qualified. I cannot know anything about your work place without your input.

Ms. M. : Okay. Well, it seems long and complicated to go into right now. I have confidence that everything will just be great, so ….

TOMAS: The concern I have is how you handle the workplace, not the workplace. You are my student. Your soul's development is my assignment. Have you a soul need, a growth concern for your reality that might be exemplified in your employment relationship?

Ms. M. : Probably, but I hope I'm aware enough in my employment relationship that I am able to take advantage of opportunities that come along for soul growth and helping others there. It's just totally different than the business thing.

TOMAS: This may sound like an over-simplification but if you seek first the Kingdom, all these other things will fall in line.

Ms. M. ; Um-hum.

TOMAS: It's about having the wind in your sails, the wind beneath your wings, such that you haven't gotten yourself caught in a cage. However, there are those who have a stubborn streak who are completely content in a cage. They sing in their cage and would not know how to live outside their limited environment. These also are God's songsters.

Elena: Tomas -- sometimes I feel like the hog of the conversation, and anybody can tell me to shut up if they want to, but -- you were talking about a lot of different characters, and that was really helpful to me earlier, and you mentioned some of the things about people who would prefer to stay in the cage and not change and that kind of thing. I find it very helpful to focus on this since you were talking about the winds of change. I find this very helpful. I would think that if I were you and your teachers, I would find it extremely daunting, because you have to deal with each and every personality type. I mean, I can just say, "Well, I'm not very effective with them." I get mad at them and not deal with them, and yet you, and the other people who are serving in this mission in your capacity, I would think it would be rather intimidating, rather daunting. Do you get daunted every once in awhile?

TOMAS: I enjoy your question.

Elena: I can change jobs. Can you change jobs?

TOMAS: I enjoy all your questions. [Laughter]

Elena: Thank you!

TOMAS: I trained long and hard for this job. I just nicely got my desk organized. I'm not about to put in for a transfer [Laughter] at this point.

Ms. J. : That answered your question.

TOMAS: I feel I've been a circuit speaker who has finally landed a lectern in a local college. I'd like to amass some tenure. [Laughter] And, yes, indeed, I do become "stymied" on occasion and I also err. I often feel I have short-changed you, and yet I know that in the process of growing spirit reality, it is as good to have nourishing hors d’oeuvres as it is to have a full course meal, knowing there is more food every moment.

I am only an assistant in this, a Teacher's Assistant. Christ Michael is the real Teacher. And he is with each of you. I can help stimulate your thinking and prompt your deep mind to need spirit substance, I can whet your appetite, but in truth, after I have added my contribution, the essential work is accomplished by your personal relationship with the Master Teacher and with the indwelling God-fragment which will confirm what you need to know.

What I do is, I only focus on one at a time. If I am giving my full attention to one student's questions at a time, I am able to get a tremendous amount of assistance from the God-fragment who seeks to encourage your growth. I am also assisted by various spirit guides and citizens of the half way realm who have personal knowledge of your peculiarities and patterns. But in truth, my skills are in the same Melchizedek University as yours, we are learning together as we go.

You, too, one day will hear yourself speak in such ways as you will say, "Thanks for that, Tomas. I remember when you first spoke to us about that, and now it's a part of my reality that I can bring to others." You will say, "Yes, Abraham, I recognize that spirit poison and I appreciate how it affects this child of God and how thus I can deal with this situation, this personality, because I have given it soulful thought as a result of your stimuli in my learning, many years ago."

Just as you are able now to remember your social graces because your mother taught them to you, just as you are mindful of how to accessorize or drive, these things become a part of your reality and won't you be glad to be able to minister to your many mortal brothers and sisters as they, like little birds, begin to peck their way out of their eggshell and behold the greater universe, as they step into the security of their nest, hungry for mature food, something upon which they can build an eternal life.

Much of this is merely assuring you that you are, and encouraging you as you become more than you were, and this process is as a result of being blown, through and through, with the winds of change that will eventually lure you all the way to Paradise perfection.

Myra: Tomas, is there a difference between change that is pro-active, and change that is accepted as accepting whatever happens?

TOMAS: Certainly, but it's subtle. That change which is pro-active is directed as compared to that which eventuates unobstructed or undirected. It's very much like the difference between revelatory religion and evolutionary religion, for even while you may have that which is pro-active, it may require that simply bumbling along is how the reality will be instilled. That's a little bit like your saying, "There are those who make things happen, those who watch what happens, and those who wonder what happened." [Laughter]

Ruth: I guess I wonder what happened.

TOMAS: You may be a bird in a gilded cage.

Myra: That would not be a good place to be outside today.

Ms. M. : And yet do these winds of change impel us along to, perhaps, do something pro-active rather than just bumble along, accepting whatever does change, or happen. We can find our opportunity to give forth with the wind here. You might find yourselves in the position to help me change, rather than just wonder what happened.

Ruth: And you do that without making enemies.

Elena: Yeah! Well, that really gets back to my original question. That was part of, really, what I was asking.

Ms. M. : Yeah.

TOMAS: This is a microcosm of the macrocosm. It is a demonstration of the greater reality, for the winds of change, of spirit, are also capable of activating you, as a bird may throw its offspring out of the nest in order for it to have the courage to fly. [Chortle] There are those who spend many years being angry with God for not letting them sleep in peace. They speak to this dynamic as being "hit upside the head with a spiritual 2" x 4". They speak of this as "a wake-up call," and this is a part of the plan, that you become realized.

However, once you have become realized, having been born of the spirit, having embraced your own reality and decided to go with the flow of that greater reality rather than the "merrily down the stream" reality of passive acquiescence, you are able to contribute to the formulation of a greater reality, indeed, you impact upon your world; you also create the Evolving Supreme - the God-in-becoming.

How you rise to this challenge is individual, but have you not realized how it is that your own prayers have been answered? -- those lonely moments in ignorance of your rightful place in the universe. Now that you are found, are you not encouraged?

Cat: Meow!

TOMAS: Yes, we found you, too. [Laughter] And it was good. That was just a little aside with the cat. Have you been stroking the cat lately?

Esmeralda: Um-hum. A lot! She likes it.

Elena: Tomas, can I also ask you a question? There's a friend of mine, D. B., who is very fragile right now, and do you have some guidance about how I might best be able to be helpful to her?

TOMAS: How is she fragile?

Elena: Well, I was just kind of…. Good question, Tomas. It was a way for me to skirt actually saying what specifically, but I think she's going through some difficult times, let's say, and I wanted to know if there was any guidance and help to best help her.

TOMAS: You seek to serve a flower that has been pelted by the winds of time. Perhaps your greatest service to her would be your comforting presence. Giving time and a break from the hurricanes of living is a ministry that gives a mind/soul/psyche a moment in which to regain its composure. The spirit, you know, is responsive to the slightest flicker, and the spirit is what makes you more than you are without it. Give the spirit, then, a chance to catch up, to inveigle its way into the molecular composition of the human being. Let the mind and soul of this flower be at peace in your embrace, so that the presence of God can enter in and uplift, as it is allowed by her. My best wishes go with you in that context.

Elena: Thank you.

TOMAS: I am glad to be here today, however, I have a sense that there is raging river under our life raft. The admonition then, for me to you this week, is to have a thought as to the tether you have with that which will help you stay afloat, that which will keep you from bridling downstream or being buffeted on the rocks. In due course our appreciation for the Living Water will mellow and we'll feel a part of the mainstream, carrying life’s goods and services into the communities on shore, perhaps even allowing ourselves a moment of luxury when we are able to still our craft upon the lake, absent any winds of change, and enjoy the stability and permanence of infinity and perfection. Hold on!

Are there any other questions or concerns before we call it a day?

Mr. S.: Tomas?

TOMAS: Yes, my friend.

Mr. S.: I had two questions.

TOMAS: Very well.

Mr. S.: I heard you make reference again to Melchizedek University. My understanding that the first priest Melchizedek was Shem, the son of Noah. I would like to know how you feel about that. And also, I heard you make reference to Christ Michael. I've always believed that Christ was the name that we gave the man that came to earth, but really he was Michael, the prince of angels.

TOMAS: These are fascinating subjects, indeed, and there are many interpretations. They are of such a nature, however, as to be mindful that they not become a wedge between us, but an enhancement of our mutual appreciation for things of this nature. The Melchizedek Order of being is acknowledged here as a priesthood, yes, and I am a teacher in the Melchizedek Schools. There are many Melchizedeks and they are high-born sons of the Michael Sons, who are the creator sons of the local universes. Now, this cosmology is that which you will find in the Urantia Papers, and there are certainly other sources of material that are a part of the comprehension of humanity that give a similar sense of recognition and importance to these concepts, thus they are highly honored and respected but not worthy of worship.

I am a teacher in the Teacher Corps, which was conceived as a necessary step in the planet's development as a result of Christ's having been here on this world, having gone beyond and assumed his sovereignty, then having called into his presence his various Melchizedek sons and establishing a plan of upstepping this world from its dire conditions to a stage of light and life, and thus, as in many instances, a Melchizedek project has come about as a result of a situation of emergency.

It is regarded by some, by many of us, that this planet is in urgent need, and many of us, having been aware of the history of this world, the efforts that would be necessary to bring it into alignment with God's will after the debacle of Lucifer, the error of Adam and Eve, and even after the murder of Christ, we intend to bring our Universal Father, the Eternal Son, and the Infinite Spirit into a reality in your world and you are how we can do this.

Therefore you who sit here are in a Melchizedek classroom, under the aegis of the Melchizedeks in conjunction with the wishes of the Michael Son of our local universe, that Christ which we knew here as Jesus. Michael and his Divine Minister are the parents of the Melchizedeks, as well as many of the orders of angels who minister to you and to the many worlds of time and space within their jurisdiction.

Mr. S.: Thank you, Michael. Thank you, Tomas.

TOMAS: You are welcome, and I, with you, thank Michael for the efforts he has inaugurated in order to uplift this sad orb to the place of glory which is its rightful inheritance.

Yes, we pro-activate a noble cause. Noble indeed, for it is in service to our Creator and his realm, even those of us here in this room and with whom we work, those who still sit in the darkness of fear and anxiety. Pray with me that we will feel the shimmer of wind within the soul of humanity that will cause us all to yearn for the greater reality, that of truth, beauty and goodness, of peace and righteousness, of a reign of light and life for all mankind, that we may take our place in the universe as rightful sons and daughters of this same creator who has preceded us in his worlds of divine intent.

We are not alone. And neither are you any longer. You have me and an entire Corps of workers that are here specifically for the purpose, and the joy as well as the effort, of enlightening and uplifting this world and all therein. That is a bit of a daunting job description, but I am not alone, either.

Well, it has been my pleasure, I have earned my keep, and you have been duly fed. It is my hope that you will return, that we can become familiar with one another, that this classroom of reality will put forth good fruit. Go in peace. Farewell.

Group: Thank you.

*****

Date: May 05, 2002

LOCATION: Rio Rancho, NM, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEACHERS: TOMAS & MICHAEL

Q&A: "You Gotta Have a Dream."

"On Earth as it Is in Heaven"

Midwayer Assistance

I Have Time for You

Opening piano music, played by Elena: "Here I Am, Lord"

TOMAS: Welcome once again and still to our gathering. Let me reach out and greet you as your soul comes forth to greet me. How joyous we are in this circle of friends. How charming is your music in honor of our Master who has also come today as a conscious presence in our midst. He will speak with you later; I would like to proceed with our session for today, our lesson, and that has to do with this theme: "My kingdom is not of this world."

I am addressing this at the request of one of my students. It is not an audible request but a soul need, and your soul needs are my mission. Therefore it pleases me when you give me your notion of what you need to have a better understanding of, for in this way I am saved the troublesome practice of meddling in your souls. It pleases me greatly when, in fact, your souls have attained such a level of yearning to be godlike that they take on their own energy and their own enthusiasm, indeed, the true hunger for truth and thirst for righteousness.

The Master, when he was here, often admonished his followers about the Kingdom as a spiritual kingdom, and in those days it was hard for them to understand the concept of a spiritual kingdom, even as today it is difficult for you to differentiate between the material kingdom and the spiritual kingdom for they, in your mind, overlap. In your efforts to be about the Father's business, and to be of service in his fields, the greater grasp you have of this concept the greater your ability to be effective in the field will be.

You are all a part of the material world and its energies. Even when you have been reborn of the spirit and begin to learn about the energies of a higher mind, it is difficult for you to have such a well-formulated appreciation of spiritual energy as to keep you from being swept up into the energies of the material realm. And as you know, many of you are lured, wooed, seduced, made comfortable and complacent in the lives you carve for yourself by the nature of the civilization in which you dwell.

It is no wonder then that many of you are reluctant to get involved in "the system" or, from your frame of reference, are able to see the good that exists in the society and find your will to serve being usurped by the perception that there's nothing to do. The Father's will is being done and your best approach is to behave yourself and stay out of trouble, thus being of service. Well, there is merit to that concept, as is evidenced in the story of the prodigal son.

The admonition Michael offered his apostles, "my kingdom is not of this world," was a way of identifying another dimension of reality. It was not to say that the material world has no reality, but that his is a different reality, and one which we need to attempt to understand, for as we grasp the concept of the glory of God, the greater Kingdom then will come to pass as night follows the day, for those of you who are enthralled with the reality of the spiritual kingdom will see to it that your world eventually and ultimately conforms to those values that you hold dear. And, since love is more contagious than hate, it is the assignment of me and my fellow teachers to remind you and encourage you to promote the spiritual brotherhood of man, sisterhood of women, family of children of God, as compared to promoting the material kingdom. There are already plenty who promote a material way of life.

Our object is to introduce the new dimension, as Jesus sought to introduce the new dimension, of the spirit reality into the material reality. There are errors in thinking. When you look at your saying, "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's," you have a sense that means you need to put your self aside, your own reality aside, for eight hours a day and become the subject of a lesser reality, forfeiting your existence even, in pursuit of the value of the work place. This is not the case.

There is no place that does not belong to the Father. There is no place that God does not exist. In this way you may take the Kingdom by assault. You may take the Father into your arena with you. The music that was played, "Here I Am, Lord. I will hold your people in my hands," means you will honor the fact of His Kingdom, even in the work place, even in those areas which are not designated as "God's House." From the perspective of infinity, all of existence is God's House, and we are all residents therein, all being formed to ultimately exalt His creation of which we are a part.

I will cease my remarks here and open the floor for your involvement, possible questions about my words. Any questions, commentary, or anything I need to know?

Esmeralda: Tomas, we do have a first-time person here with us today -- E. S., who is Mr. S.'s daughter, and we are very happy to have her. We're also extremely happy to have you, Tomas.

TOMAS: Welcome, E. S., to our enlarged family configuration. You are obviously quite at home in our midst and we embrace you happily. In responding also to my affectionate student Esmeralda, I say we are a mutual admiration society, and in this contagious and loving environment, we augment that which is good in us, as we allow that which is less than perfect to fall away in the light of our divine love.

"Our Divine Love". What could that mean? That must mean something having to do with the theme "My Kingdom is Not of This World," for without divine love it would not be possible to see the Kingdom in any of its manifestations, or the children of God that we can "hold in our hands", without the eye of perception. That is a gift from divinity. Thus, we attempt to enhance an appreciation of our godliness, even as we counter-balance that with a new appreciation of how humbly we offer ourselves to be raised up.

Our Father is a great proponent of individuality, as it is He who instills in each of us a unique and wonderful personality -- that which is His gift to each of you, and which only you are able to, in return, devote to Him in service.

Elena: Tomas, one thing that that was bringing to mind -- you know, "my Kingdom is not of this world," -- sometimes, when we think about … we might apply God's will, or what we think might be God's will, and we get these visions that, I guess, start out in the material world and it makes me think, too, about the apostles, who first pictured pretty grandiose positions, possibly, for themselves, -- and I have to admit that I'd probably be right in there with them, -- to getting kind of pumped up about, "Wow, this is really cool" and then it turns out to be something different.

My question for your comment is: sometimes this excitement seems to be helpful, in a way, to get an idea started, getting the energy going. You also spoke about energy. You were seeing energy starting to develop in each of us, maybe, or some individuals, and so I guess maybe some comments about aligning that with God's will and keeping this energy going in a positive force, hopefully towards God's will. Does that make any sense at all? Or, there are like 15 questions there. Would you like to pick one?

TOMAS: I will pick one.

Elena: Okay.

TOMAS: I will make it very simple. I will now go to Walt Disney, who sponsored the attitude, "You've gotta have a dream. If you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?" And dreams are "phantasmagorical", and perhaps are super-conscious uprisings, as nightmares are subconscious uprisings sometimes, and these uprisings are outside the realm of any reality but your hidden mental realms, and so, if you are dreaming, you might as well allow yourself to dream any and all things that waft through your many conscious levels. In pursuing your dream, then, it will be made clear what is worthy and what is not for the ultimate creation of the reality you once dreamed.

There is another phrase, "self aggrandizement" which is a stumbling block for many, for somehow you perceive that any reference to the self is to be squelched, snuffed, eradicated from your existence, as if you were out to kill your ego and all sense of identity. How unfortunate for your existence, that you would discipline yourself out of being, in some misunderstanding of how that word is intended to help you identify that ego which is so self-serving as to eliminate any other reality than itself.

I am being made aware of how much we need to depend upon our Creator for his guidance and sustenance, his encouragement and direction, for the soil in which you have been grown has been one which will need to be redefined from its outset if you are to understand how your responses are conditioned to behave in a way that has been impressed upon you by others, others well-meaning but perhaps not as original for you and your path as was intended by your Creator.

I'll not discourage anyone, but I will point out that our reconnecting and reconditioning process has only begun. You in your life will not see the end result of our efforts, and yet it falls upon you as an awakened one, to know all you can know about that which is becoming, in order that you yourself might become more than you were. Thus, you will "seek first the Kingdom" and with that view, that understanding, that enlarged perception, you will have a divine perspective, then, from which to observe your fellows and how they have been conditioned, and how that conditioning interferes with the growth of spirit or enhances the greater reality.

And in this you can intuitively be of service because to the extent that you are awakened, you are an instrument of the Master to work through, to help you guide and direct your fellows in the faith path in such a way as to increase light and life, and not to assume a superior stance over them simply because you have an enlarged and enhanced perspective. This response is a partial response to your concerns; however, I feel I have clouded the issue or made you feel more weary than encouraged.

Elena: I don't think so at all. A lot of things were really encouraging. I loved that "original path" thing, and I mean there were a lot of things. No. Thank you, Tomas.

TOMAS: I like you, too.

Mr. S.: Now, Tomas, I hear you make reference to the spiritual kingdom, also to a material kingdom, and I know that every Sunday of the year that we pray, "Thy Kingdom come, on earth …" I gather from this there are going to be two kingdoms. One on heaven and one on earth.

TOMAS: No, my friend. (pause) I will try to respond to you. Perhaps I need to say, "Yes! You're right! There will be two kingdoms. You will be able to see one with your physical eyes and you'll be able to see one with your spiritual eyes, but in truth they will be one in the same, whereas today they are not." What we want to do is reclaim your world as Our Father's domain. His son incarnated here, and in so doing, he fulfilled the requirements for sovereignty over the universe he created, the local universe of Nebadon, in which we reside.

Many, many worlds are housed in this local universe -- which is one of many, also. Universes are filled with life. Your world is much like others, and yet it has its own peculiarities, as do all the worlds, just as, as people, you are all alike, but each of you have your own particular imprint. The world as we see it here today, this world, is not infused with the light of spirit as was prayed for in the Master's prayer, "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

In Heaven, in the sphere of Havona, at the center of which is the Isle of Paradise where God lives, there is divine perfection prevailing, and in the worlds of time and space this perfection is relative to the capacities of the evolving worlds. Your world has had its setbacks, as we've mentioned, and so you've been in quarantine, cut off from many of the advantages of being a part of the universe. But now, with this new age, we are embarked upon a mission to reconfigure and reinvigorate this world, "the world of the cross," with the divine light of sonship, and as you each embrace your inheritance as rightful sons and daughters, you will be made mindful of your dignity status. You will become ennobled. You will begin to incorporate the Father's reality in all you do and in all you are, and you will become as the fruit of the living vine, that will bring about the perfection potential here even as it is perfect already in Paradise.

In-as-much as another of Jesus' great pronouncements was "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you," you are given the added dimension of the reality of God within you, as your core reality, and which you will eventually bring into immortality by your will aligning itself with the divine will. And so when you meditate, when you focus on the divine Fragment of God which is yours, is given to you by God -- as God -- within you, you are able to perceive -- increasingly perceive -- His will for you, and how it is that He would have you say to him, "Here I am, Lord. I will hold your children in my hands."

And so you will find yourself working in the Kingdom as you set out, your hand in his, to serve his people and bring the light of truth into the lives of those who fear, of those who sit in darkness. You will light their wick with your eternal flame. You will keep them encouraged as you encourage each other in this loving community that we are forging here, quietly, in this humble community in the desert. Has this been helpful to you, my son?

Mr. S.: Thank you. Thank you, Tomas. Yes.

E. S.: Tomas, I have a question I'm not quite sure even how to ask, and it has to do, I guess, in my mind with how to bring the Kingdom of God into a very real situation that's been troubling me in the last few weeks, and it's a situation that involves some physical injury to me, and has since resulted in some harsh criticism of me by some friends who were involved, and I'm just wondering if you have any words of wisdom for me about the right course and the right path for me because it's been troubling me. If I need to say why, I can. Maybe that would be …

TOMAS: I will take what you have given me, daughter, and suggest you make an arrangement to have a personal session, outside of the group -- not to exclude your concerns from others, but because then we can take the time necessary to determine the factions of concern you have. There are several factions of concern here, obviously. But as for how you ask your question, have no hesitation to put forth your concerns, even when they are unformed, when your questions are unformulated, for this is how we open doors of communication, and the ultimate purpose of communication is communion -- and when we are able to rise to that level of group worship, we have answered all the questions for we are in the presence of all the answers.

Your situation may well indeed provide you with a few clues as to how to deal with troublesome individuals. They well may be reacting instead of responding -- reacting to the difficulties of life out of fear, and defensively, rather than understanding compassion, and rather than allow those attitudes to be a bar against you or between your friendships, you would do well to understand what their perspective is before you conclude otherwise.

Ms. M. : Tomas, I would like to say something. I was reading in the last TeaM Edition where one of the midwayers came through and said that they, too, are part of the divine plan and are here to help, and if we would but call on them more often, even with our detailed wants, that they are happy to help us out, and, obviously, in bringing about the kingdom they are here to help, and so we can call on them in our daily endeavors.

TOMAS: Yes.

Ms. M. : And I have angels of ministry, and angels of health, and midwayers that go unrecognized, perhaps helping us find where we're going. So I want to take this opportunity to formally ask for midwayer and divine help in the project that I have at the house, in putting on the addition, so that everything goes smoothly and cheaply, and that we'll get the permits in a timely manner, that the contractor will be available, that it won't go over budget, et cetera, and have the timing of things worked out, even conveniently, so I'm open to all the celestial help up there of shuffling time tables and schedules and moving materials and getting things done so that we can enjoy more room, as it were, and so I'm just taking this opportunity through the divine channel to ask for assistance and to say "thank you" in advance for all the help that I'm going to receive in doing all this. I know it's kind of a big project and I have, like you said, lots of dreams to make my dream come true, here, so I envision a lovely space for my family, our growing family. So if you would kind of carry on that message for me Tomas, thanks. I would appreciate it.

TOMAS: Your question was indeed well specified, even while I smile as to your innocence. Yes, the midwayers are fully able to manipulate the material environment as they might need to, however it will not be to pound nails or hand you clothes pins. In fact, you will discover that they, too, are tedious at times, for while in fact they will and do help you (much like the "parking lot angels"), your most gratifying relationship with them, your most meaningful association-ship with them, will be in how they have been able to enhance your willingness to work with others in Lowe's or Barcelona Lumber Company or UPS, as an extension of the reality of the greater kingdom, not just yours.

In other words, even though they are here to help, they are not here to make your life more comfortable, [giggles] and those of you who are more knowledgeable about spirit reality also know that from you who have received much, much will be required. It therefore may be your questionable privilege to bend over backwards to help the workers help you, for in this way they are exposed to truth, beauty, and goodness, and those opportunities for them to make a decision that will enhance or retard their own spiritual development. And in this reality you may be sure of all the universe's support.

Thoroah: The bad news is they are not here to make life easier; the good news is they're not here to make life any worse, either.

Ms. M. : And you still have to do the work. Yeah. You still have to put pencil to paper.

TOMAS: This is how you are able to enjoy accomplishment. This is what the ascension plan is for you. Not that you have been created perfect or that circumstances are perfect, but that you can attain perfection. And remember, you do have the overcare of the angels of the home, and that should assure you that even under cramped circumstances, you have the tools you need, the influence over you that will see to it that your home is made sacred, humanly sacred, by giving the Father the role of head of the household and seeking His counsel in all you do.

I'm going to move over. Michael would like to have a moment with you.

MICHAEL: Be at peace. I come as your friend. I am your friend. Many call me "the Great Friend" but when I sit with you, I am not great, I am one with you. We are comrades.

You are my sheep, my flock, my faithful fold. You are my brothers. You are my sisters. We know the difficulties of the human experience. We have buried the dead and brought new life into the world. We have disciplined and nurtured as appropriate. We have bought and sold, negotiated. We have won and we have lost. We have friends, and we have enemies.

I am also your Father, an emissary of the Universal Father. And as my creations, my children, I choose to regard you as my personal kin, my children, sons and daughters. From that vantage point I encourage you to rise above the vicissitudes of the earthly life and love your enemies as we attempt to enlarge the heart of humanity to include the love of our Eternal Parents.

I am not so busy upholding this universe that I cannot sit with you. I have administrators who manage the worlds of time and space. I have time to attend to the business of upholding my universe without that taking time away from you. You will recognize me as you open yourself that I might reveal myself to you. I have no thought to chide you for being young. I seek to strengthen you with my love, with my encouragement, perhaps through my life example.

In my communion with you, reach for me. I am real. I am reaching for you. I long to embrace you and comfort you, sit with you and wile away the time in joy, in pleasure, in comfort as well as in work and service. There is time. There is time for all this and more, and we will know and do all of this and more as we progress in our association.

For now, I am your friend. I thank you for allowing me in your consciousness. I allow you to think of me as a dream until such time as the dream becomes a reality, and as I become a reality for you, I will help you create the reality that Our Father intends for you to have for all eternity.

In peace I leave you.

TOMAS: I'm still here -- Tomas, that is -- although I often have a hard time getting my metabolism up after having been in His presence. I don't know what it is about Him that captures me so. Are there any other questions?

Ms. J. : I wonder if I could ask a question, and maybe you can answer it. I felt all my life that people around us often have problems and difficulties and you have to be able to be there and listen and maybe advise a little bit, and after a long, long career in medicine - in ophthalmology - when I came out here, I wanted to find some way that I could volunteer to do something, so I work in a hospital one day a week in the surgery unit, and anybody can do just the routine things that have to do with setting up surgery or taking care of the patient and so forth, but what the patients need more than anything else, and the families, is somebody to talk to them and to listen.

And maybe it's a gift that God has given me, but I've been able all my life to talk to people and help them that way, so this was one thing I felt I should do out here, and I try, because these people have deep problems. Even though it's maybe a minor surgery, but still, it's something they're going through and they need to talk about it, and my main job over there at the hospital is listening to these people and talking to them, but I often wonder, in spite of all that, if I'm living up to my full potential. Is there any way you can answer a question like that?

TOMAS: Your desire to be of greater service is evidenced in your recitation. You see, you are already serving by perceiving their need to be heard. Listening is a service and listening with ears to hear that which goes beneath the surface of social discourse is a divine gift indeed and one which you might ponder developing as you see these people and hear their fears.

Your situation is an example from today's lesson, that you can see beyond the material to the ethereal. You can perceive with spiritual eyes what they talk to you about, based on their inner eye rather than their optics. Begin to think of yourself as a minister in the art of visualizing, not just the physical eye but the spiritual eye, and you'll likely find amusing and helpful opportunities to expand their vision to include a spiritual dimension as well as introduce an element of humor to their situation, which will alleviate much of their sense of stress.

Yes, listening is a fine service, and it's a rare commodity. Those of you who know how to listen with ears to hear are able to teach in ways that others cannot. Persist in your will to be of service, daughter and how thankful I am for your expressions this afternoon! I am glad to see you have let go of your anxieties. Of course, it's only human to keep taking them back, isn't it? [Group chuckle]

It's a matter of perseverance, persistence, and establishing good habit patterns to replace those habit patterns which are unfruitful or destructive. As was pointed out, the universe is filled with celestial helpers, merciful ministers, anxious and eager to bring order and divine light into your realm, that we might elevate this orb to its rightful state of perfection, in honor of its creator and you who have been born here, born in the flesh and born of the spirit. What a victory over darkness! What a triumph over evil! What an exaltation to overcome the lamentations of past ages. Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Amen and farewell.

Closing music, sung by Mr. S.: "Glory, glory hallelujah!"

*****

DATE: May 12, 2002

LOCATION: Rio Rancho, NM, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEACHERS: TOMAS & MERIUM

Q&A: Why Not a Bestowal Mother?

Midwayers Are Her Tattle-tales

The Terms Nebadon & Nebadonia

Michael, a Master Son

How Does Mother Minister to Us?

TOMAS: Good afternoon, loyal friends. This is Tomas. I am happy to be here with you today and to experience with you your ebullient moods in light of the fair weather, the holiday, and the joy in knowing each other as siblings in the Family of God. We'll have a visitor today. You've met Merium's energies before. I have a recollection of her bringing the story of the Lamp Lighter and your equipment failing to capture her message. But let me step aside and allow Merium now to speak for herself. One moment, please.

MERIUM: Hello, hello. What happened to all that frivolity we were enjoying a moment ago? [Group laughter] What happens is, we get "religious" and suddenly we're all somber! It's such a dreadful human propensity. This is one of my chief delights -- to stir your atmosphere in such a way as to revel in the joy of living, while there are those who keep the standard of stability for a foundation upon which to grow and play.

This balance is a part of the pattern that will accompany you throughout eternity, work always being balanced with play. Now, the subtleties of such a truth are infinitely varied, in-as-much as there are those who play at their work and work at their play; there are those who have their best time when they're working and those who play seriously. Thus it is not simply a matter to attending to your work with a solemn sense of responsibility, setting aside your work and giving yourself over to rambunctious play, no, but to keep yourself sufficiently loose that you do not find the experience of life to be a burden or a monotonous experience.

This is one of the indications of a society in flux that variety will enter in to embellish that which has been established, so that you keep doing what you must do while finding ways to enjoy it more. There were times when there was no enjoyment. There is a famous picture, in fact, of a farmer and his wife with their grim countenances, and indeed it was true that life was a burden of existence for those early pioneers of your civilization which now has a picture of Alfred E. Newman to indicate the other column, that little goofy looking fellow on MAD Magazine.

Sometimes we are serious and sometimes playful, and I am more known for my playfulness than my seriousness. Let's talk a bit about Mother's Day since it's scheduled, even before we got here. And let me tell you just a bit about myself before we talk about mothers. I am not a mother in the sense of the word that you would understand. Even though I had a mortal life as you are enjoying, I did not have children; I never gave birth to any other human being in the flesh as you understand motherhood. However, I am a marvelous mother in spirit. I was perhaps what you might call an elder sibling, a teenager, and I had a hovering kind of attitude, much like a hen will have over her chicks.

I amassed all the children in the neighborhood, in the community, and they became my charge, my interest. I have, of course, a great appreciation for the sibling relationship, but that never came into my personality frame of reference until after I left the mortal plane and began to experience parenting again in and through the nurseries, and there I encountered others like myself who had not had physical children but who needed an understanding of parenting. Those others, then, were my siblings. Thus I have a full sense of appreciation for my brothers and sisters, but again, it was not a human-based frame of reference.

I think perhaps that these early days of my life, those formative years as a human being, were instrumental in forming my personality to be that which I am today. You may think of me as a story-teller with children sitting around me, hanging on me, pulling on my clothing and my hair, and I am with them, on the floor, wiping their noses, straightening their forelocks and babbling along with them in an attempt to communicate with or without words that divine harmony that comes from the playfulness of little children, and this is an act I engage in happily, as it is always in my consciousness that my elder brother and yours, Michael, is always in our midst, standing nearby, watching as we play, overseeing our energies, and being a part -- although a quiet and unobtrusive part -- of our engagement.

I'd like to expand this picture then to incorporate our discussion of Mother's Day and parallel that picture that I painted for you of who I am, to the relationship that exists between Nebadonia, our Divine Minister, and Michael, our Lord. These are our parents. They are the parents of the celestial helpers. They are, in fact, the parents of the worlds of this local universe. Together they have plotted and planned their kingdom, their domain, their realm, and they have been overseeing the development of their kingdom, their universe, in the natural course of their existence. And so let's look at what it is that Mother does, what Mother offers, as compared to what we know about the authority of the Father figure, the strength of Dad, the power plays that are appropriate and natural for the Father figure. There is talk on your world about "men's realm" and "women's realm" and with women's liberation these roles have been upset, upturned, disguised, confused and rent asunder. And so let's look at the universe and how it's set up and what the roles are of the Eternal Parents, the universe parents of Michael and Nebadonia.

Remembering that I am a story-teller, we can overlook my vague recitation of what your text has revealed by indicating that the Mother Spirit is installed/ ensconced/ interned in Salvington, the capital of the local universe, and that she is a permanent resident therein, that she sends forth her representatives, her many orders of children throughout the universes to speak on her behalf and to act for her in the birth and nurture of her millions of offspring, her creations -- morontial and material. Let's throw the floor open and think out loud as to how you can see the Mother's work in her universe.

Elena: I'm glad you did that because a question -- And I love stories, incidentally, so welcome, Merium, but -- I had a question come to mind about Michael actually coming here and then, because you were talking about Mother Nebadonia sending her representatives, -- and I don't mean to be flip in this question, but -- is that just a management style or how come there wasn't the presence of Mother Nebadonia's coming to this world or did I miss something?

MERIUM: This is the universe hierarchy at work. The Creator Sons are given the opportunity to create their universe in league with their brides, the Daughters of Infinite Mind, Infinite Spirit. It is the Creator Sons, offspring of the Eternal Sons, who experience their creation. Let's tell a story then.

Mr. & Mrs. God, in the form of a Creator Son and Divine Minister, court before they get married. They are introduced and fall in love. They, in their courtship, think about the many dreams they would like to have in their life together. They sit down in their leisure and in their love and plan their house, their home, their estate. They have an understanding of their financial capacities, therefore they understand what they can afford and what their limitations will be. They have only one local universe, but within that local universe they have the potential of filling it with constellations and systems and inhabited worlds that will produce X number of children that they can manage and attend to and raise up.

In this picture you can see that you are born of them, you are conceived of them, of their concept. You are raised up. You go through your material life, through the mansion worlds, attain knowledge of the constellation spheres, arrive in Salvington as adults. You grow up, in other words, and eventually you leave home and you attend the advanced universe schools en route to the Father in heaven, even while your parents stay in the local universe, for eventually you will serve Father God in His far-flung universe -- in essence leaving home. However, the influence of your parents, the Michael Son and his bride, are always going to be a part of you. I forgot what you asked.

Elena: Okay, Christ came to the world. And he's our father/brother of this universe. And I'm screwing up the details, but I was just wondering why we haven't had a visit by Mother Nebadonia.

Esmeralda: A bestowal Mother.

Elena: Yeah, a bestowal Mother. Thanks.

MERIUM: Because she is in Salvington, upholding the universe, as your mother was at home "in the kitchen" upholding your universe as your father went out on the job. Now, this is going to inflame the ire of all liberated women and I want to blow love into you and calm your anxieties and indignities and point out that in a normal, healthy world you would be happy to fulfill your natural role, for you would be exalted as divine in that capacity, just as you would exalt as divine your mate in the role that he provides.

The training your planetary circumstances have provided are askew, are in error, and have relegated womankind to be a part of the property of the landowner rather than the honored position of divine partner in creating the realm of reality which you are given by the Father in heaven to do. But look to see how it is that even while Mother may not be departing from Salvington, she has sent her emissaries, just as the Eternal Son in Paradise does not leave Paradise, but sends his Creator Sons into the universes to fulfill the divine purpose.

There are all the ministering spirits under her wing. The adjutant mind spirits are her way of nurturing each fledgling soul, each new mortal who comes into being is ministered to by these circuits from the Mother Spirit. It's a lot as if you were to study some cultures, let's say the Jewish culture that Jesus was reared in. The children were under the jurisdiction of the mother until they attained a certain age whereupon they were given over to the administrative counsel of the father.

In that same way, the seven adjutant mind spirits serve to help the child grow to a point wherein they can begin to utilize and depend upon the Spirit of Truth, which is in some ways a way of embracing the authority of the Father, giving oneself over to that power and energy while letting the adjutant mind spirits go, just as in that scriptural reference that allows you to think in terms of putting away childish things when you attain adulthood.

You cannot grow to spiritual adulthood without having had the ministry of the seven adjutant mind spirits. And even as you have attained a certain degree of maturity as an evolving being, even as you are maturing, yes, in these classrooms of the Melchizedek University of which this gathering is a part, you expand in your capacities to grow to the appreciation, the understanding for you need other counsel and guidance, counsel and guidance that you can embrace and take on consciously as you have embraced and taken on the counsel of those of us celestial helpers who are also products of the Mother in ministering to you as you grow.

Having attained a certain degree of God-consciousness, having made some commitments to your soul, you will receive the ministry of the Mother and the Father, that is to say Nebadonia and Michael, for their entire purpose as Creator Son and Daughter is to create the worlds of time and space that will spawn and foster the Greater Universe, thus all of the universe is in service to you and others like you throughout the seven super universes, just like you might think of Mother Spirit as being the gardener who tills the soil and plants the seeds in order to raise up plants and create the produce that will supply the nourishment and enjoyment of the family.

Look around and express how it is that you perceive the essence and energy of the Divine Minister, our Mother indeed, in your daily life, in this setting here, and in all you do. Laughter is certainly one of the gifts I accredit our Mother with for she has such joy in her. Her joy stems from knowing who she is and how she serves. Not how she rules, but how she serves. And the natural response in the greater universe of service is the reflection of that attitude and goodness that is at the heart of the need to be attentive and caring to those you love and who look to you for direction, just as I look at you children here playing on the floor with me, with your fine hair all tousled by the wind and your socks on backwards.

How can I not love you little rascals? How can Our Mother not adore her creations? When you retain your attitude of childlikeness, when you continue to look to your parents for their overcare, you continue to be manageable and adorable. When you think you're too old for Mother's attentions, when you push her aside to show off how big you are and how you don't need her anymore, fussing over you, counseling you, admonishing you, you have run aground.

Your experience here may have shown you that it was necessary for you to cut the cord between you and Mother in order for you to grow up and embrace the ways of the world, "man's world". But in the spirit realm, the truth is, Father will always share his throne with his Bride. You cannot love one more than the other for they are one. You cannot pay more homage to the authority of Father than the ministry of Mother, for they are united.

In this plane of existence, and on this unfortunate orb, it is possible for you to side one against the other and play these fruitless games, as the world has played from long ago, but we encourage you, as you know, to look at your world with new eyes and see the greater picture, see the divine plan that allows you to understand the dance that is intended to exist between the male and the female, the passive and the aggressive, the positive and the negative, that this dance is a way of maintaining your harmony in yourself and in your society with others.

The Mother's influence is everywhere. Her spies are upon you! There is no way you can get into mischief without the Mother having a full understanding of what it is you are trying to engage yourself in, whether it is experientially attempting to gain mastery, whether it is an act of defiance in response to a perceived injustice, whether it is an adventure you are eager to undertake and have no real knowledge if she would appreciate your exploratory tendencies -- she knows. She knows what you are doing just as the Father knows at all times what you are doing.

And she sees you little rascals crawling around on the floor as a mother will see her child crawling around on the floor, poking at an electrical outlet with a knife, ready to snatch you up, in order to save yourself from hurting yourself in those ways, while allowing you to make those necessary mistakes that will teach you how to be a grand expression of the parentage that is your inheritance, your divine inheritance, such as learning to walk and learning to talk.

Right now, in my minds eye, my beloved little brothers and sisters, you are only now beginning to learn how to walk and how to talk. Your communications skills are funny and your best communications are still best conveyed through gestures, like bopping each other on the head or reaching out to touch that which appears to be different from what you know.

Think of each other as toddlers, even as you aspire to become mature and adult, for if you can perceive of the childlike aspects in each other, it will be a natural and innate -- shall we say "genetic" -- disposition for you to adore your brothers and sisters or ignore their antics as mere learning experiences in the art of living.

Mother's work may never be done, but it is not an unpleasant chore. Loving is never a chore. Caring for each other from that font of affection which is from Paradise Source is a never-ending experience in expression. Let's pause on this note for awhile. I'll be back. [tape turned within seconds of running out] I have another story for you. That was not me, that was a midwayer.

Elena: This whole deal?

MERIUM: Noticing when the tape recorder is about to expire is a chore relegated to the secondary midwayers who can see the gauge. And they too are a creation of the Mother -- your cousins -- who are, in many ways, the eyes that see you in your mischief-making and your impishness, your investigating, exploring, and blundering around in life without the vision they have, to reflect your doings to the universe. They can see and act on actions that you precipitate if it's a matter that's brought to the attention of the ministering spirits.

Sometimes, for example, those individuals who are not God-conscious, not sensitive to even the cause and effects of the human experience, blunder into situations that could cause them harm, and if they have not yet been assigned their own guardian angel, they are rather grouped together with another lot of individuals under the jurisdiction of an overseeing guardian angel, perhaps cannot be everywhere at once, and the midwayers are able to see those things closer to the material realm and they can hasten to the guardian angel and point out the detriment of the circumstances the mortal has gotten himself into, and in many instances are given permission to act on behalf of the human, just as I am given permission to act on your behalf as a Teacher here in this environment. And this is precisely how those who are in tune with the spirit realm, half-way realm, are able to work with the midwayers in assisting human life to get on a path of ascension as compared to a path to destruction.

This is the Mother at work. These are Her legions of angels -- in collusion -- to bring you into an awareness of our great and wonderful Parents and their supervisory offspring who spend their lives, their very existence in eternity, tending to you as Mother in her garden might hoe the soil, aerating the dirt, stirring up the worms, pulling the weeds. And this is a task she does lovingly and carefully, for she is devoted to her Bridegroom who has devoted Himself to the care of their mutual creation. They indeed are the ideal.

It would have been easier for you to have learned these things from the Material Son and Daughter, Adam and Eve, had they not defaulted. However, since they did, and since you have the challenge before you, you are given our assistance and encouragement to continue to reach for those ideals of operation that exist in Salvington of Nebadon while you are able to learn to overcome the vagaries of human relationship through the lessons that are still to be learned through the loving overcare of Adam and Eve as they seek to atone for their errors and to lend themselves to your upbringing as intended originally.

It's just that you are operating, as it were, in the dark. And as we become more real to you, you will see how it is that in reality you are in the light, and this light is shining on us, even now, and is the light that you will carry with you into your field, your assignment, so that the reality of the divine plan can be actualized, even under challenging circumstances. Well, I haven't heard you laugh now for several minutes. Perhaps I am taking on the ponderousness of a Teacher.

But let me step back from the podium and allow you to again appreciate the delights of the nature of the children of God, and having come from a happy home wherein the Father and Mother are in conjoint harmony, and where their affectionate embrace is readily seen and felt by their children, in this loving glow are we embraced. We, in this embrace, at once are grateful to our father/brother Michael for all of his efforts in bringing to this emerald orb in the System of Satania the light of his presence and the seed of his path.

We gratefully acknowledge his life and death on this world of our origin. (Not mine. Yours. I wasn't born here. But in a prayer, I know no differentiation.) And in honor of our Divine Minister, who shines upon us like the sunshine, who washes us with her rain, who feeds us with her bounty, nurtures us and cradles us in her arms, all of us offer her our good wishes and say, "Happy Mother's Day, Nebadonia, and to all your Daughters throughout your huge family in Nebadon."

Well, I've been having a marvelous time. I appreciate your sitting so well and graciously, little ones, and listening to me tell stories. All children love to hear about what it was like when their parents were little. Everyone wants to know where they come from. Everyone has a longing to have a sense of history and connection. And so it is my pleasure to offer to you a divine connection as well as a material connection that will help you appreciate how you are situated as a very real and relevant reality in the moment you are today.

Thank you, Tomas, for sharing your platform. I bid you good day.

TOMAS: Tomas again at your service. Are there questions that you have for us or for each other?

Mr. S.: Yes, Tomas. Please explain to me about Nebadon and Nebadonia. I've never heard of that term before.

TOMAS: Understood. It is a very large and complex universe. Your frame of reference has been singular and your world has always been known to you as "earth" and from the perspective of a child of earth, this is sufficient. However, in the grand scheme of universe organization, there are many, many worlds. Around the central Isle of Paradise revolve seven superuniverses. Each super-universe is an amalgamation of hundreds of thousands of local universes which are filled with myriad galaxies and inhabited worlds such as this one, which you know of as earth.

In the case of Nebadon, Nebadon is the name of one of the local universes of the superuniverse of Orvonton. This cosmology is revealed in the Urantia text. It thus is a frame of reference for those who are familiar with those papers which comprise the book which is the fifth epochal revelation to your world. There are four previous revelations, and what do I mean by revelation? I mean that as you grow, as you evolve, as life evolves on your world, from its initial implantation in the saline waters of a planet whose life fostering-conditions have attained a point of being able to sustain life, to the point where every evolved human being is in acknowledgment of the Father God, there are stages and phases of development that attest to your ability to assimilate an additional segment of information that will become a part of the growth of your world that will foster your steps toward the next plane of development.

Your world has now had five of these revelations and they are brought to you from outside your residence here on earth. Everything else you have managed to find and think of and create by and through the capacities that are in you, and those have served you well, but every now and again, in the development of an inhabited world, there reaches a point of attainment that calls for the next increment of insight and understanding, and with this fifth epochal revelation, through the form of the Urantia text, you have been introduced to the cosmology which, as asserted above, informs you of your location in the universe as a part of the Universe of Nebadon and its positioning in the vast universe of which you are a part.

And so now you are no longer a single isolated orb of planetary life, no, but you have the added information given to you that you are one among many, and that you are being nurtured and tendered as are all the other worlds of time and space. It is perhaps not necessary for everyone to read the text to get a technical appreciation of these terms, and yet it is a great comfort to you to know you are not alone in the universe, that there is order to it, that there is in fact a hierarchy of administration and a plethora of helpers, that there is a purpose to your existence, and thus you can see through these revelations a greater vision of your purpose and position in time and eternity.

These are relatively new to your planet, these terms, because your planet now is apparently at a point in time it would benefit you to know the facts of your reality as science is impinging upon an understanding of other life in the universe and this gives them an opportunity to have something to reach for and to not be so fearful when they in fact find that there is intelligent life and inhabited worlds beyond this one.

Nebadon being the name of your local universe, the one which was created by the Creator Son which you know of as Jesus of Nazareth, and Nebadonia is the name that has been assigned to the Divine Minister, his bride, who has upheld her end of the bargain in the creation of these many, many inhabited worlds in the universe they have created, in keeping with the overall design and purpose of the Paradise Father at the center of all things. Is this helpful?

Mr. S.: Yes, thank you.

TOMAS: Any time you have any questions, I want you to spell it out. I will depend upon you to ask me to edify you in times when I am not clear to you because of these pieces of academic information. I am not here particularly to teach you these academics, no, for as I mentioned, it is possible to grow in spirit awareness and character development without these facts, these universal facts, but since they have been given in the last hundred years or so of your planetary existence, it is a fact that they will be gradually impressed upon the populace such that by the time the next epochal revelation arrives as a gift from "outer space" you will have as a planetary consciousness a full appreciation for who you are, your history, how you are situated in the galaxy, in the cosmology of the grand universe, so that your comprehension of your place here and your relationship with the other worlds and more particularly with the personalities of the greater universe are going to be a part of your common frame of reference.

For this reason we do not hesitate to introduce these terms and enlarge upon your existing knowledge of Urantia reality, Urantia, being the name designated to this world you have always known of as Earth. Urantia is the name of your planet as it has been called On High, even while also it is understood that when we talk to you of your world we know that you recognize it as planet Earth. In this way your comprehensions merge with greater perspectives and you grow as a race of people, as an advancing evolving group, and not just individually but as a whole. Thank you.

Mr. S.: Thank you, Tomas. Also it has been my understanding that - I hear you use the term Michael all the time. Michael is the prince of angels.

TOMAS: Michael is the Prince of Peace. He is indeed our Master Son of the order of Michael Sons, the Son of God who created our local universe. We think of him fondly as Michael; we have personified him thus, even as in his earth walk he is known to you as Jesus.

Mr. S.: Yes. Thank you.

TOMAS: Yes. Incidentally, you'll be interested to know that all the many thousands of worlds in his local universe, it was this particular world he chose to come to, to act out his seventh and final bestowal in the way of all Creator Sons, to attain full mastery over himself as is required of his creations, and attain sovereignty over his universe, thus accomplishing the goal set before him, as is set before all Creator Sons, and bestowing upon him the title of Master Son. As a Master Son, he has attained mastery over his universe. He has sovereignty, full sovereignty over his universe and he shares his sovereignty fully with his consort, the Divine Minister, who ministers to her children of time and space and who we affectionately know of as and call Nebadonia.

Are there other questions or concerns?

Elena: I have a question. I'm still -- I'm interested in finding out this answer. Let's see… I had it phrased better a few minutes ago than I do right now, but … You know, when Christ Michael came to talk to us just last week, he came and spent time with us. (And I'm getting to my question.) My question has to do with the way that Mother Nebadonia ministers to us. I'm kind of interested because I'm still confused. I'm just learning to think about the Mother Spirit and include her, and I was really pleased to have Merium say that when you pray to the Father it's actually that they are united. That relieved me a bit because I was thinking, "Well, gee, I've been putting more time and apparent attentions toward the Father and somehow excluding Mother, and sometimes even to the extent of excluding Michael, too." My question is that if you could just give a little glimpse -- not the whole thing -- about how she changes our thought processes, that's what I'm curious about, is how she ministers to our thought processes.

TOMAS: I would like first, child, to say to you to not be impatient with your own development. Give yourself all the time you need to develop your thoughts and expressions.

The Divine Minister helps you to formulate your thinking by being a constant. Thus it is that when you waver in your development, as you seek for that which is real, it is recognizable as a facet of the Mother when you recognize the clarity that she is. She is not going to help you in your thinking process like the Thought Adjuster helps you adjust your thoughts Godward, but she is ensconced in perfection, and so when your mind finds her, you have found perfection, and you'll not forget her teaching.

Mother ministers to you. She embraces you. For instance, if and as you are troubled or weary, as little children will snivel and fuss without reason. As their mother holds them in her arms they recognize her warmth, her scent, her love. They recognize their innate connection to her and they are at once enveloped in her reality such that they now know who they are and they no longer need to struggle. You, when you reach those moments of fussing, if you would just simply allow yourself to lie down in her arms and ask her to embrace you, to hold you, to comfort you, to minister to you, she will in fact come, and her energies will surround you and carry you into the bosom of love that will nurture and feed your soul.

This is an actual energy of hers, and which you can ask for and realize, as many before have asked for and realized her reality. It is as if it were a blanket that covered you, whereas the Indwelling Spirit, which is indeed indwelling you, is an energy that emanates from deep within you and externalizes as personality expression. Hers is an embrace from the outside that reaches into you to assure you, you know who you are. Is this helpful?

Elena: Yes, thank you.

Thoroah: Thank you, Tomas. I think we're just about out of tape. I'm assisting the midwayers.

TOMAS: Well, you are all good kids.

Group: Oh, thank you, Tomas!

Esmeralda: This has been a good lesson, Tomas. Like Elena, I have been confused about the Mother Spirit, but this has been really enlightening, to help us think more about the Mother Spirit. And it was great having Merium, too, today,

TOMAS: I know she enjoyed herself. All of you, have a "Happy Mother's Day." Farewell.

Group: Thank you. Good bye, Tomas. Until next week!

*****

DATE: May 19, 2002

LOCATION: Rio Rancho, NM, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEACHER: TOMAS

Q&A: More on the Spirit of Truth

Love, Mercy and Ministry

A Word about Arrogance

Music: Elena playing, "When Morning Gilds the Skies"

TOMAS: Good afternoon, I am Tomas, your friend and your teacher, your companion in these afternoons of mind-expansion, soul-searching, spirit-enhancing, and in creative expression. In terms of creative expression, I will share with you the picture that I see through the perception of Gerdean's sensibilities as my instrument here. The fan is a tropical breeze and the waterfall is an Hawaiian waterfall which gives us a tropical paradise arena in which to gather this afternoon. Our blue lagoon of tranquility is a fine place to sit and wile away our hour in contemplating the world in which you live infused with the spirit in which we all live.

The review of our meeting last week, with your discussions of human liberation, male and female, is a titillating topic that ears eagerly embrace, and yet I would like to spend a moment on the mortal holidays that you again are celebrating today, and I say holidays because with your Judeo-Christian background you have two holidays in your frame of reference, and that is the holiday which earmarks the receipt of the holy words of the Torah, as well as the receipt of the holy spirit of the Day of Pentecost. In fact, the gifts of spirit are abundant and unending, as the waterfall and the winds testify.

Holy words written in books are a very important part of the human ascent from the primordial ooze to the high planes of crystallized thought that allows for an understanding of how far you've come in your attainment of your respect for the divine. In ages past, divinity was indeed feared. And now it is revered. But as it becomes fixed so that you can study it, so that you can respect what has gone into your evolution as ascending sons, you must not eliminate the power and importance of the Spirit of Truth which is ever revealing yet new levels of spirit reality for your further comprehension.

As words in books are reference material that can be returned to again and again, that can be savored and appreciated, that can reiterate those truths which you enjoy and respect, they offer a springboard for advancement. And this is the unending endeavor of our creative Spirit, that Spirit which was poured out upon all flesh on the Day of Pentecost, which your churches celebrate today. When Jesus left your finite world and ascended to his throne On High, he loathed to leave you unattended. And so he promised to send his Spirit into all the lands, that your spirit would not go alone, but in company with that energy which always is a reflection of his reality.

The Spirit of Truth is indeed a gift which is given to all humanity, and yet as with most spiritual gifts, the bulk of humankind are unaware of its existence and/or unaware of its purpose in your own soul growth. Last week we talked about the Mother, and about her ministry to the children of time and space. Her ministering spirits include the circuits of the seven adjutant mind spirits, spirits of intuition, knowledge, courage, understanding, counsel, worship and wisdom, which serve the developing soul in its human ascent until such time as the Spirit of Truth is able to operate as a consistent and over-riding reality.

The Spirit of Truth is much misunderstood and much maligned. But you might come to recognize the Spirit of Truth in your life when you have an awareness of a reality which is so profound and so personal as to instill in you a sense of such divine reality you cannot question, you cannot argue, you cannot not be filled. It is very, very difficult to proclaim the Spirit of Truth.

All of you however, in your desire to be a witness to the divine will in your life as you understand it, attempt to impress upon others the Spirit of Truth which you understand in your relative perfection. And your attempt to express your perception of the Spirit of Truth is no more nor less than the testimonies of the Torah, Urantia Papers, the Holy Bible, and other words of wisdom which have augmented humanity's appreciation of the spirit from time immemorial.

It is something that resounds within you and which cannot be explained. Nor can it be justified, but if you listen, if you get past the ministries and prejudices of your human experience as reflected in the adjutant mind spirits, and trust the Spirit of Truth, you will find your path unfolding in front of you as the day follows night, as the dawn breaks each morning.

It is glorious to see dawn coming, to hear the morning birds. The heartswell that comes from honoring a new day in which to worship and serve is an experience to be enjoyed, appreciated, and understood as a common joy with others. And yet to attempt to reveal such joy in words is to reduce the miracle of morning to a matter of mortality.

The Spirit of Truth is so compelling in its impression upon you, upon your soul, it is what you look for when you ask for guidance, spiritual guidance. It is that true font of spirit reality which will always lead you into further spirit awareness. It is the divine compass that points you Godward that persists in leading you home. It will always answer your sincere pursuit of the divine will by revealing "This is the Way." And so there is a celebration today for the icons of the spirit and the flesh, the dove of peace and the holy book, the spiritual and the material, all in search of and in honor of our divine inheritance.

And so it goes. How are you all today? I can see that you are well. However, I enjoy hearing from you. The floor is open.

Esmeralda: Tomas, I have to read your lessons over afterwards. I love listening to you, but I do need to study them. That's when -- thanks to Gerdean's transcription and getting the lessons to us in print -- it makes it an awful lot easier for me to go over, and to appreciate and to understand. Not that I understand every bit of it, but it makes it much easier.

TOMAS: Your words are another reflection of the lesson, for the Spirit of Truth can speak to you and you feel and sense it's effect on you. You embrace it and honor its Source. However, it is difficult to express what you heard without seeing it in print, without putting it into the conscious mind such that your mental mechanism can grasp what it is the Spirit would say to you. Understood.

Esmeralda: You express it much better than I, Tomas.

TOMAS: I have every confidence that in time it will also be your blessing to focus on and reveal that which is Within you and you will find the Way to let your Voice be heard. And no one can do it quite like you.

Esmeralda: Thank you, Tomas.

TOMAS: This is another reason why each of us have our own appreciation for the Spirit of Truth, for what may appear to be true for you, may not necessarily be true to another.

And this is a part of the faith path, for when you ask to be made a part of the greater reality, your personality is guided to learn what it must learn in order to teach what it will teach. And maybe you will go to a university in the east, but your sister attends a university in the west. In this way, you each have your own perspective from the Spirit of Truth that has guided you both. But the end result is that you have learned, each of you, what you need to learn in order to best serve, in order to be the best you can be -- ALL you can be at any given time.

It's the Spirit of Truth which makes your faith path so personal, and your relationship with the Master intimate.

Thoroah: Is it like the iron chord? I've heard a reference to an iron chord that's inside. Evidently whenever something strikes that chord, it resonates in a certain fashion. And I think of the Thought Adjuster, the indwelling Father Fragment. I think of the Spirit of Truth, even as something else, at the same time. I guess that's two different things I'm talking about.

TOMAS: It is, and yet they are related. The indwelling God Fragment is the personal gift of the Father in Paradise, yes. There is a direct connection between you and the First Source and Center, and there is a definite drawing power. The Adjuster works ceaselessly to lift you up. The Spirit of Truth is a tether to the Son, and it too has a drawing power, which is as a compass, a roadmap, that provides the direction that you must take in order to traverse the path to Paradise.

Of course, they are related, and it might be petty to quibble about how they differ, but they do each provide their own energy impact on you, as does the influence of the Infinite Spirit, the Holy Spirit, minister to you also.

Elena: Tomas, can I get in here just a second, just to make sure I have terms right. The Infinite Spirit -- the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, and the Divine Minister -- these are all Mother Spirit, right?

TOMAS: Spirit of Truth is from the Son.

Elena: Oh! Got that wrong.

TOMAS: That is not to say that you are lacking. These are elements of the spirit that, once meditated upon, gives rise to a reality which is best understood when a tag, a title, a name is put to it, and these words are wrapped around the spirit much like scripture is wrapped around inspiration. But spirit lives. It is bigger and greater than the words that are used to identify it, and cannot be encompassed or constrained by words.

It is important only in terms of having an understanding of how it is that you are individually, each of you are, a microcosm of the pattern of Paradise, in that you each are a reflection of Paradise Trinity because you are, even now, today, able to reflect the value and reality of the Universal Father, which is the First Source and Center, and that through your Indwelling Adjuster, His fragment which resides within you. And the Eternal Son, the Second Source and Center, as it is understood by you through the Creator Son, Michael Son, and his gift to you which is the Spirit of Truth; as well as the Infinite Spirit, also known as Universal Mind and the Daughters of that Spirit, the Creative Spirits, Divine Ministers of the worlds of time and space.

Each have an influence, each have expression, and as you identify with divinity, you also reflect their reality, and their influence. The Father has commanded you to be perfect in your realm as he is perfect in his, and so to the extent that you can realize that you are indwelt by the Father and that God is love, you can reflect love. As you understand that in your faith path you are an extension of the son, you know mercy and so you reflect mercy of the Son, the Son is Mercy. And as you go about your life in your relationships with others, you minister, and this is a reflection of the Mother, the Third Source and Center, the Divine Minister.

And so as you love, as you have mercy, and as you minister, you are reflecting in your realm perfectly, to the extent and capacity that you can. You are perfect in your realm, as they are perfect in Paradise. And this is the reasoning behind our impressing upon you the nature of God and his Son and the Spirit. It is an on-going and growing comprehension. It is as the dawn, increasingly made lighter and more dynamic as the day goes on, as you reach for the Son, as you find fulfillment, as all the shadows come to pass and you stand illuminated in front of the Father of all things and all beings.

And thus we say, "Life is but a day's work. Do it well." And those of you who are in the dawn of your identity are as precious and dear to our divine parents as those who serve in Havona. And each of you in your own right are able to reflect their perfection in your life and to the extent of your capacities as they do On High. Has this been helpful?

Elena: Very helpful! Thank you.

Esmeralda: Oh, very!

Elena: It was a perfect answer!

Esmeralda: It was really enlightening. You make it so much more understandable.

TOMAS: If we can now just get the commas in the right place, it might even read intelligently.

Esmeralda: Gerdean gets them in the right place, I think.

TOMAS: I have "whipped her into shape." [Group laughter.]

Esmeralda: Well, you've done a beautiful job, Tomas, and one which we all appreciate.

TOMAS: I appreciate her malleability, her willingness. This is a quality I truly appreciate.

Your mortal tendency toward stubbornness is akin to arrogance and it is extremely difficult to work with and through the arrogant personality. They will not follow directions. They cannot be still in order to hear and see the guidance of the Spirit of Truth. They think they have all the answers, you see. They live in their own reality bubble and disallow the influences that will elevate their thinking in letting them lift up like a balloon on a beautiful May day in spring, to waft among the clouds in sheer delight of freedom. Children understand balloons. Childlikeness is a valuable attitude which is encouraged, and not for your excuse to be foolish, but to be genuinely malleable, so that you can be formed, so that the Father and His agents are able to utilize you to His purpose. How we enjoy good kids.

There is a question, speaking of kids.

Thoroah: Yeah, I have a question that was sent in here.

I also have another question along with the Spirit of Truth. Jesus said that he would leave his Spirit of Truth, when he was talking to his disciples and some of the followers. He said that he would leave the Spirit of Truth and, in the Urantia text there is a very profound three or four paragraph thing about this, and then at the end he says "I leave with you my spirit of truth and I leave with you my peace." Since he was not a person who went through formalities, and I would assume that "my peace I leave with you" is like a greeting, like an Aloha, perhaps, but I also thought that perhaps Jesus did leave his Peace, that it was actually something that he left with us, because if we had the peace that he has, that would be another element.

TOMAS: This is a wonderful question. This is a perfect example of how it is that Christ Michael is a good kid. He has complete and total confidence in the Father. He has no conflict about how he should think or how he should act. He is in complete readiness to follow the divine will. In this there is sublime peace, for you know you are doing the divine will by your very being, in your attitude. This is the gift of stillness. In stillness is where you find peace. In the presence of the Father there is peace. Following the divine will engenders peace.

Intellectual peace is an appreciation of the knowledge of universe order. Emotional peace is a result of the peace of mind which comes from knowing that God's omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence are upholding the universe and all therein, and that you are aligned with this perfection. This is peace. The spirit of truth leads you in to peace. You know from your studies that the Father is. And the Son reflects that which is. In this same way the Indwelling Spirit is, and the Spirit of Truth reflects what is… but it is not what is … it leads you to what is. Is this clear?

Thoroah: It serves as a translator.

TOMAS: Yes. Jesus left his Spirit with his followers so that they would be led to him and to the Father, so that they would not be alone in finding their way home. So that the Spirit of Truth could say, "This is the Way," so that you children, as you seek the divine, will not become lost.

It will say, "This is the Way," and by following the leading of the Spirit of Truth, you are led into the presence of divine perfection. Even your own faith path is made a path of divine perfection in the degree to which you are able to express it in how you love, and show mercy, and minister.

I am inclined at this point to hold off our question, for it will entail a visiting Teacher, and so I will hold off inviting our guest until next week. Next week also is a new configuration. Our friend Matthew will be here.

ELENA: Mr. and Mrs. P., too!

TOMAS: And others, yes. We have a good time planned. Are there other questions, now that we are not going to have company?

Myra: I'm not sure there is another question. I think I want to say a formal thank you, Tomas for an accumulation of lessons, and because we are addressing the spirit and the spirit working within us, and I think that I would like to say "thank you" directly to you.

A few weeks ago I had some personal concerns of finding out where I needed to be in the following year, and I think I was given an answer, and I had to address that decision and tell someone else why I was moving. And at the time that I had to give the direction, I was very firm in why I gave it, and I really, at the time that I was addressing, felt the spirit, and I really appreciate it, and I think that some of it is from the direction and strength that I have gotten from your lessons.

TOMAS: Precious daughter, I am happy to receive your gratitude. However, I share with you a mutual appreciation of the ways in which the Divine Parents unfold our lives and offer us opportunities to be of service in our field, as you have been led to your new engagement and I have been led to mine. Your words are gracious. Your willingness to follow divine guidance is appreciated, and will lead you to avenues of service. I am glad to have been able to encourage you and affect your confidence in such a way as to allow your heart and mind to open to the potential that was in you and which now you are actualizing as a result of your own choices, your own will to follow where the Spirit leads.

Yes, we are embarked, and we will enjoy many assignments in our sojourn here together and in the many fields that will rise up to meet us as we advance, even into the new life that lies ahead for you in the many mansions that have been prepared.

But lest we get in a hurry to cross over, it behooves us to bring to bear on our life here, all these wonders of learning and loving that we are given, just as we have enjoyed this afternoon an opportunity to dangle our feet in the warm waters of this blue lagoon of learning, in our tropical paradise of creative imagination in company with that reality which oversees all our comings and goings, and even our vain imaginings. It is a creative adventure indeed to be in the army of the lord.

Anything else? Then let's look forward to next week and each day en route as another opportunity to further understand and reveal that which we are becoming. Farewell.

Group: Thank you, Tomas.

*****

DATE: May 26, 2002

LOCATION: Rio Rancho, NM, USA

T/R: Gerdean

Q&A: Does Rebellion Have Value? The Danger of Pride; Opportunity for Sin-Expression; Memorial Day

TOMAS: Good afternoon, faithful friends. I am Tomas, your companion in these experiential learning sessions, wherein we review what our life is about, according to our perceptions at any given moment, and today in this gathering I perceive the essential elements of Human Association in full sway, a "harmonic convergence" of happy souls, indeed One Happy Family.

Welcome, all of you who are comprising this family configuration in this Teacher Base this afternoon. No one is a stranger here. Everyone is welcome, as Our Father has prepared a feast for all to enjoy and those of you who have come to partake of our ambiance and association in spirit reality, are treasured participants in the experience of learning the Art of Living through good humor and self-mastery.

Well, savor this a moment, folks, and recognize how it feels, for this is truly a plateau of relative perfection which can be a photograph of your participation together in the Evolving Supreme, a photograph that you can refer to as exemplary of a family gathering, having Michael and Nebadonia as our Parents.

In such a setting as this, supported by one another in affectionate regard, inspired by the association of like-minded individuals whose imaginations are stimulated by the creative energies resulting from your social intercourse and the proximity to divinity, you would not feel any need to stir up trouble or agitate each other in an attempt to derive satisfaction at others expense. In this environment of the Family of God, you have only care for each other and a desire to further good will, by taking an interest in each other and their sundry concerns.

How can anyone see anything but potential greatness emerging from such a culling together of human beings who seek to do the divine will and live as siblings? Even so, there are evidently lessons to be learned in the alternative, as is elucidated in the Urantia text on page 51 where it discusses the inevitabilities. And so perhaps it is inevitable that we have a teacher with us who has made a specialty of his topic of study, that being rebellion, and so I introduce to you our visitor today, Teacher Paulo, whose words are a welcome addition. I will return.

PAULO: Paulo here. Don't be afraid. I'm not coming in with pugilistic intentions.

Thoroah: Good to see you, Paulo.

PAULO: Good to see you as well, Thoroah, and all of this spectacle of individuals. It's truly a pleasure to be invited to be a guest Teacher in your midst. Usually I am called upon in the throes of conflict. I unfortunately am a bit of a referee, if you will, in many of the situations in your world which require a faction of divine intervention. I've been very busy in the Middle East and the Holy Land, and without going into that, I will focus my attention on my work today, now, and that is this class, these individuals, indeed you.

How marvelous to have a formal question submitted and to be requested. Thank you, Sir David. Thoroah will you please convey our brother's question for the record?

Thoroah: "I have a question for Paulo, your resident expert on rebellion. It is:

"If rebelliousness is a quality that seems natural to us humans, is there a divine value contained or hidden in it? We know that it is natural for teenagers, when testing their wings, to be rebellious. We also know according to the laws of physics called entropy that things at rest resist moving and things in motion tend to continue moving."

"Our teachers are constantly admonishing us to welcome change with love. We know of the angelic orders of conservation and the orders of progress."

"So when things are out of balance, and the resources of power and the resources of wealth are out of balance, is it sometimes necessary for humans to rebel, to protest, etc, since we are the liberty loving sons and daughters of God, in addition to our heritage of being "Protestants" (read: protesters) and Americans who cherish freedom to speak out, to speak the truth?"

"To wit: I think this subject leans to the complex, but I would love to hear how Paulo cuts through it."

PAULO: Oh, you are a crafty fellow, aren't you? You challenge me with all the muddled mental machinations of mankind at the moment. Well, I can cop out by saying, "Tomas has already answered in his introductory remarks," and go back to work, but I won't. I'll stay here and chat with you for a while -- not that I have any clear-cut answers! -- and yet, insights are such savory morsels.

It would behoove us all to sit around and chew some of these ideas of the obstreperous, the cantankerous, the opposing point of view, the necessity of pushing out walls, pushing back limitations, and the like, for those certainly are tried and true methods of getting from Point A to Point B - maybe even to Point C or D, but -- invariably these instinctual techniques tend to give you odds of two steps forward, two steps back.

Let's talk about the rebellion that is at the heart of most of your difficulties, and that is the rebellion engaged in which isolated your world for hundreds of thousands of years from your galactic kin -- not that you would have been engaged in any in-depth expeditions with your galactic kin anyway, but -- the Lucifer Rebellion is an epoch in your planetary history which has permanently -- I say permanently -- impacted on your growth.

I cannot think of another example current to you that would give rise to the same principle, but let's just take a gross example of a woman who gets pregnant and in her second trimester becomes a drug addict, subjecting the fetus then to all manner of aberrant chemical contortions, and the child even so is born, appearing to be healthy, and yet having in it a predisposition toward addiction itself, as a result of its incubation in the womb.

All of you are altered as a result of the effects of Lucifer's rebellion. In this context, it could be said that he in fact planted his seed in your being -- not permanently superseding your true Father, but effectively altering your "genetic composition" sufficiently as to give one cause to wonder what bad seed this might be -- taking after, as he does, his old man. All of you take after your old man, and we've come to shift gears, and learn, rather, to be like your Father -- your original Creator -- not that which has come to modify your behaviors forever.

That scenario, true as it is, is also relative to the perspective of time and space. By the time you attain Paradise, you will have by-passed, superseded, transcended, mastered, gone beyond these original moldings to be that which you can be, as you are becoming in this Melchizedek University. But that does not mean to say that every rebellion that comes down the pike rises to such a level or should be accredited to Lucifer or his associates.

Indirectly, perhaps, it could be said that a rebellious teenager is striking out against the traditions in which he was raised. In Tomas' portrayal of you all here as a happy family, he suggested that none of you would rebel against the quality of life you have found here, that you create here, and he would be correct, but this small, isolated orb of light and life is a minute part of the overall and general reality that is in existence, that is still evolving, that has yet to attain such a divine level of enjoyment as this group enjoys here today.

Rebellion is many times simply a matter of stretching one's own wings and becoming more than that which was.

The difficulty with having a perpetual rebellious streak, buying into the concept that "you're just like your old man" and that "apples don't fall far from the tree," you can justify your arrogance and stubbornness and justify the ill-effects of others who also act irresponsibly and unethically, as a natural act, and in fact it is, for in all evolving worlds, even those who have not had a mishap the size of the Lucifer Rebellion, are still growing from a lesser root value to a higher root value, and this growth creates conflict, creates turbulence in the mind, in the emotions and in the social expression of such changes.

So a teenager rebelling is, in the main, a healthy behavior. Even arguments for the sake of arguing is best regarded as an art form rather than an unhealthy preoccupation with disagreement.

Again, getting back to the difficulty of rebellion, and what to guard against, is the effects of the rebellion on others. How extensive? To what extent? How far-reaching? Lucifer's folly has affected you for hundreds of thousands of years for his folly was great, but whether or not you in your life and in your particular instance of rebelling against the status quo, may not affect all of humanity, may not even affect all of your household. You may not feel the need to strike out or retaliate. You may not feel inclined to manipulate the outcome. These are the negative effects of rebellion.

It is said that fear is a great motivator. And in the primitive days of your development as a race of people, the concept of food and shelter was indeed an early fear that motivated you to learn to hoard, hunt and herd in ways which would provide those necessities. So yes, fear does motivate primarily, but the Art of Living is motivated by love and a desire to do good to others. It attains to the level of understanding the provisions of divinity.

When you seek to do His will, when you trust the path He has set out for you, you need not revert to animal fear for your motivation. You need not respond to the fears of your fellows in the arena and play the games they play under the old rules.

Everybody rebels against something -- some more than others -- and in the main, it's a reaction to the sense of being curtailed, constrained, limited, standardized, or ignored -- which provokes your attitude. The better motivator is that which is to be found in this Family of God which stimulates the creative imagination and upholds the values that are dear to you all, without the need for fear to nip at your ankles. And this is the path provided by the Universal Father as compared to the shady lane that remains a result of "the old man."

What else has he got there in that question? Something about Protestants. Protesters, yes. I'm only going to dwell a moment on the evolution of the human animal to arrive at a point of peace-keeping, and encourage those of you who must revolt against the political sway, express yourself as Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr., or Jesus, and persevere through patience, peace, love, negotiation, understanding and prayer.

And of course you can vote! You can get involved in the existing political machinery and learn to tap dance effectively. It's a positive thing you can do. It's a way you can turn the other cheek. It's commendable because it gives you an avenue in which you can take action. It gives you a formidable foe to fight. It's a principle to introduce and uphold as a superior way of going about experientially revealing the quality of win-win that comes from approaching your challenges positively, courageously, and constructively, as compared to a mere act of rebellion.

In other words, if and when you choose to rebel, rebel intelligently and mindfully rather than emotionally or as a reflex reaction to something someone may or may not have said.

Anything else?

Thoroah: Not from this source.

PAULO: All right, then. I'll go back to work.

Ms. M.: Can we ask you about your work, Paulo?

PAULO: You can ask.

Ms. M.: I'm sure it's extremely difficult, given the mind sets that you're having to work with. It would seem a little incomprehensible to us that they should seek such a dramatic rebellion. Are they coming around? Is it working?

PAULO: I will not predict the future. If I answer your last remark, it might give an indication of how the election was going to turn out and it would be unfair media manipulation on my part. The difficulties, however, are deep-seeded. You understand what that means? Deep-seated?

Deep-seated or deep-seeded, either one. The deep-seeded aspect is as I discussed in terms of how it was that Lucifer implanted in you these seeds of malcontent and which are a part of you whether they are for your own good or not, and that you must identify and rise above. Deep-seated is a racial and cultural condition, as if "from the seat of your pants" and you generally find this in nationalism or racism, and we're dealing with both factors in the current global conflicts

This is the danger of pride, whether it is racial pride, national pride, historic pride, commercial pride, or whatever. As you marry yourself to a value, and hang on to it for dear life, even at the expense of your own life, your own happiness and the life and happiness of others, you have committed the same folly as Lucifer. You've developed a love for what you think you are, over and above that which you can be by and through your divine inheritance. It's an expression of desperation. It's hardly evolved.

If warfare were highly evolved, I would be out of a job perhaps. Warfare is always a lose-lose situation. Always. Conflict may be growth promoting, but violence is destructive. If we cannot engage each other as elements of a greater reality than our limited perspective, any peace is doomed, and so it is our unceasing effort to promote communications, communications that can begin to be effective because they have, as their footing, a new paradigm.

As anyone reverts to the old paradigm of "the way it was," that's when hope for today and tomorrow evaporate. And yet, in having respect for humanity individually, one on one, it is very difficult to NOT factor in a background which has had immeasurable effect on the personality of the individual you are discussing things with and the value lesson he presents through his heritage.

It's, again, why Jesus' approach is the only approach that can work. I don't mean to say that everyone has to believe in Jesus -- That could be a real stalemate in some of these situations. -- but what he taught, which is possible for everyone to appreciate -- the path of peace by following the Prince of Peace.

Oh, yes, now I see a scripture jumping up about "plowshares" and Jesus even saying that following him would surely lead you into the pathway of trouble. Well, this is true, and I won't recant my words, because who wants to be bored? Who wants to have such refinement that there are no challenges left? How can anyone in this planetary arena conceive of there not being work to be done? This is the challenge -- that we can regard this as work to be done on behalf of Community, a Family of God with Universal Father in charge.

But if that's the case, then your modus operandi will be flavored with love and mercy and ministry, and not destruction, violence, or rebellion simply as a reaction to unfinished growth.

Let me leave you. I will return and visit again. I do enjoy our times together.

Thank you, Tomas, for sharing your platform today. However, I will return the podium to you, good teacher, to bring these ardent ears into a more musical composition to encompass the balance of the afternoon. Enough work for now. Good bye.

Group: Good-bye. Thank you, Paulo.

TOMAS: (After a long pause.) How is it that in hearing about rebellion, it sounds so ponderous, but as you are rebelling yourself, it feels like such fun? [Group laughter]

What has our Mother got to say about the situation, Thoroah?

Thoroah: From the Urantia text [Random Quote for Saturday May 25]:

TOMAS: Now, that's what you call perspective. Only a Divine Minister, a reflection of Infinite Mind, would realize that value and propose it as the best way to go about perfection attainment.

This is in response to the Lucifer Rebellion, and the mercy of delaying punishment for rebellion; indeed, the value of evil as a reflection of divine perfection.

Here's a notation from this mind, that a mother, in keeping house, will not have you sweep the dirt under the rug, but rather would have you take the rug outside and beat it for all the neighbors to see how dusty it is in your room, and that's why it needs cleaned. However, at your level of influence, it's unlikely the dust in your room would pollute the entire neighborhood. In fact, perhaps the neighbors wouldn't even pay attention to the fact that your room needed straightening, thus the remark that the Divine Minister's perspective on things is one which we might do well to appreciate, for how much the sanctimonious mortal enjoys his supremacy over the evil-doing of his fellows.

Indeed, this method of revealing the sin-expression potential is the way to human will choosing intelligently to do the divine will. Why eat burned cookies when nice warm ones, fresh from the oven, are also available? But you don't know a good cookie from a bad cookie unless you've had a taste. Nebadonia, our Mother, is a smart cookie. [Group giggles] Don't you love it when women make proclamations and they end up making sense?

Elena: Always!

Thoroah: Perplexing!

TOMAS: Do I detect an underlying thread of rebellion here? [Group laughter] It is said that the relationship between men and women is a largely antagonistic existence, and this, I daresay, is an old wife’s tale from the legacy of the old man.

Ms. J.: You're so right!

TOMAS: The compatibility which has been built into the perfect balance between the male and the female is a gift which infuses the universe, which is not antagonistic, but through self-mastery and the Art of Living, is the standard for harmony and relationship throughout the spheres.

There is another holiday now on your calendar. You humans have a new holiday every Sunday, it seems. What are we celebrating today?

Thoroah: Monday! We're celebrating Monday.

Elena: Memorial Day. We celebrate those people who have given their lives to secure our freedom.

TOMAS: Along with that acknowledgment, let's celebrate those today who advance spiritual liberty. Remember those who work to overcome the spoils of war, who work for peace, prosperity and perfection. Celebrate the steps you've taken to attain this plateau of light and life for yourselves and for your peers. Enjoy! Weep no more! Advance. Farewell.

Group: Thank you.

TOMAS: One moment, please.

ANATOLIA: I am Anatolia, an associate in this Teacher Corp. I associate often with Matthew, my friend. You see him here today in your midst as Mr. V.

Elena: Hi, Matthew.

ANATOLIA: I and Matthew have been co-workers, co-creators, co-conspirators, and we will be able to bring our energetic contribution to your Teacher Base here in due course, as we are a growing community here and it benefits us all to share the wealth. The saying that "love is the currency of the universe" is certainly in keeping with my understanding of prosperity, and I delight in the treasure chest of riches I find here in your midst. How we will enjoy this abundance and this association. I will, however, withhold much of my anticipation and reveal it when and as I have another opportunity and transmitter. Until we meet again, farewell.

*****

DATE: June 2, 2002

LOCATION: Rio Rancho, NM, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEACHER: TOMAS

Q & A: Resistance to the Spirit Energy

Drain of Competition

War is a Distraction

Transmute Worry into Prayer

Our Precious Liaison

Music: Elena: "C Major Prelude" by Bach

TOMAS: Good afternoon, my friends. I am Tomas. I am pleased to be your companion. I am humbled every time I gather with you to share your gracious repose. You are an oasis of delight.

I have heard visitors testify that when they enter into an environment as is generally presented on this planet, they first array themselves with armor, psychic armor, as if to allay the assaults of barbarism which runs rampant here in this semi-civilized sphere of existence, so I applaud your cultural fragrance, that disallows my having to defend my very essence, as my essence is a welcome energy here, as compared to an enemy.

Let's look at enemies and foes this afternoon, for surely you see how the lack of trust and faith in the divine lends a sense of defensiveness that could be construed as enemy or foe, when in actuality, mis-communication or misunderstanding is what we are really dealing with. When this sense is exacerbated, when it is accentuated or left as the final straw, the bottom line, this state of affairs can develop into full-blown conscious resistance against further communications and serious results are possible. Serious danger, that is.

All of this is a result of fear, you see -- fear of God or fear of another's God. Is it any wonder our Master came to introduce a new concept: that of a loving God? And yet, how do we bring this concept of a loving God into an environment that is so fraught with a sense of calamity and distrust and be at serious odds with each other all the way back to the origins of the race? How unfortunate it is that in the study of your history, it is so common for you to repeat what you know. And this is a pattern that is engaged in by you individually as well as culturally or racially, even globally. Looking at your past is not a stimulus to repeat the past but to learn from the past, and so the idea that it's always been done this way is a shallow response to what is the potential of tomorrow. Thus, teachers of truth would do well to learn how to cut through the wall of fear and resistance that is a part of the cultural composition of every individual.

Last week Paulo spoke of rebellion in terms of that attitude being one which will provide a springboard out of a pattern of oppression or undue confinement. In other words, a revolution into liberation. And this is the standard pattern that, when you recognize limitation being expressed or superimposed as a value that includes even yourself, your sense of spiritual injustice rises up to rebel against that attitude or those who would promote sustained limitation. There are those all around you.

When you join here in this oasis of light and life, it is in understanding [of] that spiritual liberation which gives you the freedom to be yourselves, as, you will not be resisted; your reality is not qualified; your beliefs are accepted as appropriate and good according to your intelligent perception of truth, beauty and goodness. In the world, however, where fear reigns supreme and where the seven adjutant mind spirits have more influence than the Spirit of Truth, it is not uncommon to run into resistance. That limits Father's expression through you as well as through them. And those of us who are devoted to the light of truth, to the revelation of the Father to the world, are frustrated in our attempts to dissolve the walls of mis-communication, the barriers of ignorance and prejudice, the fear of the ages which stands in the way of righteousness and peace.

You cannot do this intellectually, although reason is invaluable in conveying your reality. It is essential that you draw upon the spirit to reveal itself as an overriding reality and not merely emotional. Out of fear for God, fear of God, many people feel His presence and resist it; therefore you have a sense they are resisting you. This is where so much of the reality that would benefit your world is thwarted and why it is so important there are others of like mind who can hear your expressions.

I appreciate and understand that some of you who have attempted to instill a spark of divine reality into your arena -- your working environments, your neighborly associations -- have all but given up in your attempts to enhance godliness because of the seemingly innate resistance that comes from humanity. I'm going to ask you to ponder this reality this week and, in your dealings with your fellow human creatures, perceive the resistance to the divine. See how cleverly the subject is changed, the shift of energy is woven away from spirit reality to material reality.

I'm reminded of the woman at the well. When Jesus approached her, she sought to change the subject. She became philosophic or otherwise attempted to distract herself and the Master from the focus that he would bring her to -- that being her sonship, her daughtership, her very reality in truth. And he would not abide by her skirting the issue, but rather, by taking the kingdom "by spiritual assault" he directed her focus back to the reality he would have her see and when she saw, she was altered.

And even as she set out to speak praise of him who helped her realize her potential and understand her human foibles, she nonetheless was renewed as a result of an instant in which he was able to allow the Father to penetrate through those barriers of fear to tap into the font of joy and spiritual freedom which is the rightful inheritance of every faith child. So rather than denounce individuals as too stubborn or hostile, too much trouble, more trouble than they're worth, obnoxious, unhappy, unfriendly -- look beyond their defenses to see how/ what/ how cleverly and to what degree they are running from the Greater Reality.

Even if you, in your own consciousness, are aware of the fact that they are side-stepping reality, and if they know that you know that they are side-stepping reality, that in itself is a communication. I think you probably all remember how your parents taught you as children. Many times they didn't have to say anything, they just gave you "that look" -- the raised eyebrow perhaps, that told you all you needed to know about how you were supposed to comport yourself. And while this example may be interpreted as a coercion or a manipulation on the part of seed-planters, if your motives are loving and if your desire is to enhance the evolving Supreme by bringing these children of God into the light of His presence, it will be fruitful. I will cease my lecture portion of our association and allow for intercourse among us. Are there questions about the lesson?

Elena: Tomas, I am so glad you brought this subject up, following Paulo's topic last week. I think that's really helpful. The lesson last week was great, but what you're talking about brings it a little more directly and more clearly into our own environment about what we can and what we might be able to expect to do. Now, I'm still really confused about what you were talking about in this respect, that there are many times, and we've had in other lessons possibly, saying that our own light would shine and speak for us, and that we didn't have to do anything or push the Urantia Book, that our own light and our own joy of what we had found would be the main thing that we needed to do. And yet, what you are saying here this afternoon is just really intriguing because there are times when I find that I do need to say something or I need to act, and that we're talking about this is just really helpful to me. So I'm a little bit confused. I'd like to hear your feedback on the difference between just letting our own inner joy or light shine through, and then going and being a little bit more assertive, like I'm interpreting that you are saying this afternoon.

TOMAS: I cannot deny that it is imperative that you let your light shine. This is your "right to be here" and a reflection of your relationship with our Father and His many agents. It is a beacon of light which illuminates the world, yes, and this is how you can comport yourself "as you pass by." And yet, in certain situations it is the human experience to have someone try to douse your light or throttle you because they see your light and they are angry with God and so they throttle you, you see.

The situation I suggested is one example of how it is that as your light shines, you will have an impact on others and it won't always be a positive experience. That is to say, in most cases it will result in having you work for the furtherance of the gospel. How is it that you have such happiness? Such an attitude is an affront to many. Many people don't want to see other people happy because they are unhappy. They would rather you join them in unhappiness than make the effort to find out why you're happy and think they could attain such an emotional state of mind. I say "emotional" because they have not experienced the spirit sufficiently to credit the spirit with the reason for happiness.

But as people are in fear and rebellious by habit, they have peculiar reactions to those who present godlikeness as a part of their being. If you were an overt preacher of the gospel, it might be easier for them to deny your reality because their mind can say you are simply mimicking those who have gone before, and yet, as your light of truth speaks for itself, they will be attracted in their spirit even while they are still confused in their mind, and this confusion reflects in their emotional impulse.

I am trying to help you understand why people react to you the way they do and how you can rise above the emotional downpull, even as you recognize the emotional roots, so that you can appreciate the mental configuration that resists the light of truth, even while you respond spiritually to that lost sheep in such a way as to encourage divine reality rather than creating yet another barrier to their growth. Am I in the abstract so far you are unable to see what I am trying to say?

Elena: No! I see what you're saying exactly, and I can think of more than a handful of examples. I mean, even in this last week I had an experience where I had my energy sucked out, and I thought, "Gee, I only wanted to do something nice here, and I get back a little whammy!" My feelings were hurt; my energy was drained, and I had to work a little bit at overcoming that. And what you've been talking about has been helping me tremendously. There are endless possibilities here, where people fall into the "foe" category. Previous relationships, for instance. So your words are very helpful to me personally.

TOMAS: Let's pause here. Many times you will find yourself facing a competitive response. You introduced your joy and your joy was a threat. Thus there was a competitive response that says, "My God is bigger, or better, or more tragic, etc., than your God." The fact that you took a moment to gather your strength from your own Source, and acknowledge that that their position was valid and good, was an affirmative step; it was good seed planting. It helps to break down the barrier of competition and open avenues of cooperation and communication and you can do this without apology or without feeling you have "backslid" into "people pleasing" because you are attempting to be a peacemaker.

Elena: Thanks, Tomas.

TOMAS: You are welcome. There are so many incidents that occur in the life of a fledgling soul that are wounding, that bear reflection on old values, that have not been comprehended by the spirit, by the higher mind. I intend to encourage you where I can and commend your continuance in that direction.

Elena: You are very encouraging.

TOMAS: I will likely also have opportunity to discourage certain thoughts or behaviors along the way as well, and so I hope my constructive criticism or commentary is received in the spirit it is intended. I want to help you mold your mind so that you can be a better teacher and promoter of a way of life that will reveal the greatness of God in your "kingdom on earth as it is in heaven." That way, in time, it will be possible to see these oasis of light and life increasingly spring up in the midst of the status quo; and as we encourage and nurture the development of these qualities of existence that reflect the nature of God, we will indeed bring Him to life on Urantia.

Ms. J.: There's something I wanted to say. A little over twenty years ago was a very bad time in my life and I saw bitterness and so much of that sort of thing, and it was hard to get through, but I did get through it. And in the last twenty years, I would say I have met 9 people out of 10 who are just really fine Christian people trying to do the best that they can. I've made a lot of friends and they have been really fine people. And I've found something else. When I was away on this little trip of mine that took a week, I met perfect strangers who were just wonderful to me, and took me right in, and were so kind and good to me. I mentioned that at dinner one night, that I was grateful for all the people who were so good to me, because I was traveling alone and they certainly didn't have to, but they were good enough to take me right into their circle and make me welcome.

And one man at the table said, "You know, maybe something good came out of something bad last September 11th". He said, "I think that since then people found how their world could turn upside down and all those people lost their lives, and that since then, people have been kinder to one another. So maybe that's a good thing that came out of something horrible." What do you think about it?

TOMAS: Thank you for your expressions of appreciation. I do appreciate what you are saying about how it is that people respond in times of tragedy -- more brotherly and fraternal than they do in ordinary times, but first I want to commend your perspective on seeing the good in "nine out of ten people". Usually if you look for good, if you have a positive attitude, you will find good reflected back to you, and this indeed augments human happiness all the way around. However, in the work of the realm, in those situations where you are forced to roll up your sleeves on behalf of truth, beauty and goodness, it is good to understand why those who are unpleasant project such attitudes.

For me to discuss the world situation on that note would be like pole vaulting into a whole different paradigm of values, but there are universal truths to be found therein. It is common knowledge that during times of stress, humans will bond together -- at least until such time as the threat abates. But to be superhuman, to be among those who alter the course of planetary destiny, a more substantial growth is required. Otherwise, history repeats itself in this method of creating disaster in order to create the conditions for a spurt of growth, rather than allowing and enjoying growth for growth sake.

It would appear as though your psyches are being prepared for war. This institutes circumstances which are horrendously constraining; however, it does allow people to join together in fear against a common enemy. Our work is virtually set aside while mankind is embroiled in such conflicts, for they are convoluted by history and lesser loyalties than the impelling force of divine love, mercy and ministry. It makes it far more difficult then to cut through the fetters of fear and the material reality to augment, enhance and enliven the spiritual reality and the natural process of growth rather than as "the opiate of the masses" or a sanctuary to hide in instead of a way of life for all to enjoy.

But if your populace is indeed going to be saddled with extra layers of anxiety, it is going to create chaos in the minds of humanity and you are going to have to work through those fetters to promote the enduring truths of the gospel -- some of which are to turn the other cheek and the like and it will become increasingly more difficult to promote peace and love and mercy and ministry in a collective consciousness that is wearing armor and distrustful of all power, or is so concerned about the current temporal circumstances as to forestall applying themselves to developing a relationship with deity.

Elena: Tomas, what you were talking about earlier. Can I just see if I got this right? So basically understanding and being able to see what we're going through and what we're up against is one thing that you're talking about, of being able to recognize the fear and be aware of it, rather than reacting to it. And then, the other thing that you were talking about, of watching how people just kind of maneuver the topic away. That was a very interesting point, too. Frankly, there are sometimes I go along with that, too, thinking, "Okay, I've made a little trial here," and then coming in with either combative things or not an acceptance of the other person, so I'll go the other way, too, at times.

So number one, did I understand the first point correctly? And then, do you have a suggestion, other than probably just on a case-by-case basis about whether you would stand your ground or let the river form a tributary someplace else?

TOMAS: Your instance wherein you recognize your own occasional belligerence is a fine example of how it is that you are willing to learn from your experiences and to take counsel and consolation in stride. If you expect mercy in your growing, it behooves you to show mercy as others grow - especially as you are the one who has instigated the growth process! It is an awesome responsibility, therefore, to take it upon yourself to enlighten and illuminate humanity.

I don't mean to sound grandiose here, because this can occur in a simple dialog that you engage in at the water cooler at the office or across the picket fence in the back yard. These indeed are the crucial instances of enabling a spirit reality to come into being -- in that pause, in that instant of a reflective moment in prayer with your fellows.

In fact, using the word prayer, I will footnote my lesson by suggesting that when you recognize what you are seeing is worry (which you will see a lot of), help them uplift their attitude from one of worry, as a result of fear, to one of prayer, as a result of faith. For with prayer there can be effects, but with worry, there is only a stagnant pool of swamp water rather than a stream of living water. If you only interject casually a comment uplifting worry to prayer, even by using the word prayer, you have helped plant a seed in their minds and reintroduced the idea of prayer as a practice that has a positive effect. It is something even the most fear-ridden soul can do. They can pray, rather than worry. If they will!

Elena: That's very helpful. Thank you.

Esmeralda: A word in your lecture, Tomas, that I've been thinking about was "resistance" and wondering how much each one of us -- or especially myself! -- how much resistance I have, and how much I resist the Father. Unintentionally, but … possibly resist, maybe, knowing His will for me. But the word resistance, will give me... I'll think about it this week.

TOMAS: I'm glad to have sparked your perception as to your common practice. "Know thyself." Even while I don't mean to encourage you to spend overmuch time thinking about you and your reactions to life, I do not apologize for encouraging you to recognize how you respond emotionally, as that is how you become aware of your thought processes, which are the processes by which you make your decisions. And so, we enter into the mind arena of choice where you can make better decisions and enhance your spirit quality.

It is compassionate of you to realize that you resist accelerated growth, and yet in your faith you are open to His guidance. Thus you have simply acknowledged a spark of humility within you that recognizes you have not grabbed the ball and run with it with the gusto that you might if you were not resistant to His prompts. This is simply appreciating your human limitations and, as they become troublesome, you know where to go to do something about it. You ask our Father to remove that shortcoming. But resistance is a facet of experience that we all intimately know and in particular those of you who have been betrayed by your trusted leaders, authority figures, and cosmic overseers. Resisting clever sophistries is a wise approach, if you ask me, for someone from this world. But again, it takes you into the mind arena of choice where you can chew on that concept in the privacy of your own stillness. You don't have to buy into anyone else's construct of reality.

If you were totally non-resistant, you would be half way and beyond to fusion. You would not let these things linger and torment you. They would fall away as illusions, and this is a goal but as they are still a part of your consciousness, love yourself anyway. Know yourself, so that when you gain faith in your reality you are able to let go of those things which you have resisted. You will derive more energy from the refusal to resist that which you know is in your best interests.

Esmeralda: Thank you, Tomas, and I will look forward to reading this again and going over what you've said. It's very helpful.

TOMAS: I'm glad of it, and I trust we will opportunity to touch base with this subject again as time goes by, for it is a range of soul-growth, of character development, of sonship realization, and this is what satisfies our longing to be a part of the advancement of the Supreme, to be in God's family, a happy and productive member of cosmic citizenship.

Elena: There is a lady that I knew that died this week. Do you know anything about her? Can I ask about her?

TOMAS: I am not apprised of her.

Elena: Okay.

TOMAS: Sorry.

Elena: That's okay.

TOMAS: Why do you ask?

Elena: Well, she was ill for a long time and she was a lady who had a shop next door. I talked to her in the last month and was rather surprised when she died, although she had been fighting an illness for quite a long time. So, in the main, I'm relieved for her, but just… I don't know. I just wanted a little pat. "Yeah, she's over on this side and everything is going well," I guess is what I was kind of hoping to hear. Which I guess I could rest assured that was the case for anybody, I guess.

TOMAS: Indeed. That is something you can assume, even if she is destined to sleep until the next roll call. It is a merciful Son who calls his children from the sleep of the ages to conjoin with him and the next level of morontial growth. These cases of terrestrial escape, that happen to your associates unbeknownst to you, are opportunities to remind you of the gift of association; that "when you pass by", if you are a buoyant and faith-filled child of God, you will have encouraged their faith path simply by being. And if you had opportunity to be involved in her circumstances or the circumstances of others, you would know your work even before you entered in to the association. "Life is but a day's work; do it well," and you need have no regrets as to how it unfolds.

ELENA: Thanks, Tomas.

TOMAS: "Be of good cheer" has great power as an admonition. In particular, those of you who deal with disease, dysfunction, decay and destruction. This gives even more importance to the practice of coming together to enjoy the light of truth that you all shine in your lives as children of God. That you come together in appreciation of the Son and his mercies, of the Mother and her ministry, as you enjoy the aspects of the human existence including the history of your world, its many impacts upon your planet, the geographic areas and myriad peoples, its music, art, and all, are opportunities to "lighten up" the job of dealing with a dearth of spirit reality in the outer realms of human association.

What flowers you are in God's garden! How marvelously you depict the type of flower bed you grow in. Your beauty is reflected by the way in which you grow and how you enhance the beauty of those who grow around you. Some of you are manicured and some of you grow wild, but all of you are so beautiful to behold. How we enjoy observing your growth, your upturned faces, even your reality when you become limp and weary from need of a draught of living water. How you feed the fine feathered friends of the celestial spheres who come to use you, to plant seeds of growth, and to draw from your courage and your font of spirit reality, for if you can do it, we can do it. You are our inspiration.

Elena: Tomas, can you tell how much the wealth of love is just beaming up and kind of gushing out towards you?

Esmeralda: From all of us.

TOMAS: I bask in it, as you bask in it also. And how precious is this liaison we share. How powerful is this truth we enjoy. The energy that we all derive from this gathering of spirit luminosity is sufficient to light the world, if we but knew how. Therefore, release your fears. Let go of your resistance. Trust in spirit guidance to lead you into those areas where you can radiate His love into the lives of those who yearn for His grace, and return to Father daily and to each other next week and we will continue this process of perfecting and appreciating the moments that we share in the experiential aspects of our developing existential reality.

I and those others who are in attendance this afternoon bestow upon you our affections and encouragement, our appreciation for your very being. Peace be upon you. See you next week. Farewell.

Group: Thank you, Tomas. Farewell.

*****

DATE: June 9, 2002

LOCATION: Rio Rancho, NM, USA

T/R: Gerdean

TEACHER: TOMAS

TOPIC:

Q&A: "God Bless America"

Global Family

September 11

World Citizens Unite

TOMAS: Good afternoon. Yes, I am Tomas, your companion, and I've been here with you during your conversations. How good it feels now to be included. I don't intend to take over the session but I will offer a few remarks along the lines of the nature of your conversation for this is the nature of the teacher, that he meet his students where they are. The range of human interest that you've settled into this afternoon is a good prompt for me to bring up to you how we advance human consciousness and human evolution.

It wasn't long ago we discussed the winds of change, and look at the changes that you've been enjoying and anticipating! Relocating, marriage and other conjoinings, remodeling, rearranging the elements of your lives, new employment -- these are always a good opportunity to review your patterns and make an assessment as to those which are patterns of behavior and attitude you want to carry with you into the new paradigm that is being created, or leave them behind as baggage that is a part of an old way of thinking and dealing with your world.

One of the factors involved in your own personal spiritual growth, the growth of your religious nature, is based upon your willingness to replace old and inferior habit patterns with new and improved habit patterns, for you are indeed creatures of habit and in this way you can will yourself into a new level of living, better health, improved relationships, and more efficient and/ or disciplined patterns of behavior.

And while these are a reflection of your choice, it is sometimes very difficult to make the choice stick. Sometimes habits get a hold of you and you cannot change the pattern, and this is problematic when these habits are part of the social mores; thus it takes generations sometimes to eliminate patterns that have been a part of the accepted standard of living for so many. The trend toward better health, less caffeine, no smoking, qualified drinking; the shift away from racist and sexist humor; the institution of political correctness; these are attempts to upstep human behavior.

The paper from the Urantia Book, Paper 72, having to do with life on a neighboring planet, makes reference to the trend toward a more equitable balance of monies, such that the wealthy are impelled to downplay their affluence. This is a futuristic goal for your world. As it is now, it would seem that the aspiration for financial independence and material largess is still the goal of many. But this is in itself a reflection of evolution. A work ethic such as you experience in this culture is enough to influence individuals into making a work environment a major and important part of the culture and social life, whereas in future, the involvement with the work force will modify itself to allow for more leisure time activities and even more time for philosophy, art culture and religion.

So the dominant trends of one era are gradually giving way to trends of a new and better way. All these en route to planetary light and life. But in the interim, how difficult it can be and how interesting, to see how it is that individuals attempt to resist immanent change or force these changes on others. Indeed, it does bring about spurts of rebellion, for intelligent individuals enjoy making those will decisions for themselves and not merely changing in compliance to the wave of cultural fashion.

Those of you who are involved now in a new appreciation of spirit reality, the dimension of spirit that enhances your material life, that elevates you from the base animal level to an art of living in which your human aspects and your divine aspects are allowed to operate in conjoint harmony, are in the forefront of a growth trend to introduce also the effects of a religious life, those morals and ethics which stem from a personal relationship with divinity -- and I specify "with divinity" as a personal experience and not as a tenet or belief system or institutional approach.

As a forerunner you will, however, have to endure the establishment of these ideals in the masses as somewhat lesser interpretations of the divine reality you follow. This is exemplified in the recent popularity of angels. It began as a realization of the divine messengers in your culture and was realized commercially all the way through greeting cards, stationary and jewelry, to plastic dispensers of body lotion. And so you'll see the same thing happen to your esteemed ideals.

And while it may at first appear to be discouraging to see how humanity tends to bring the exalted perception of God down to how they can handle His greatness, rendering Him trivial and petty, be encouraged that He is, even so, being invited to take part in the human condition.

For centuries God has been feared, and religion has been serious business. In the near future, indeed today for many of you, God is a radiant, joyous reality.

But in order to bring about the family of humanity under divine guidance, it will be necessary to the people to gather unto them a God who is small enough that they can understand. And this will begin to infiltrate the social fiber so that words like God, our Father, the Divine Minister, Spirit, Jesus, Melchizedek, even phrases such as "ascended masters", "Angelic corps" and so forth, can become common phrases in your language. This is how we advance from the regime of man to the reign of God.

All this staging I've just described is inspired by your discussions of your everyday lives and how you deal with what is and search for what is said to be better. These social gatherings in restaurants, in churches, in offices, in shopping malls, all over the world are invited as methods of bringing forth the daily values of living the life that all of humanity can relate to. There has got to be other forms of dialog besides those which are fear-infested.

I and we are encouraging you in upstepping the common course of events to make life more meaningful, more peaceful, more productive, more personal, by the very ways in which you enjoy the company of your kindred spirits in gatherings such as these.

What can I do for you today, if anything? Are there questions or concerns or celebrations in need of acknowledgment?

Elena: Tomas, I'll comment on a couple of things that you said that got my interest in particular and applied to my daily life. There were two of them. The quicker one possibly is: President Bush had a speech and it seems like everybody ends their speech with "God bless America" and I don't know … that kind of came to my mind when you were saying that phrases would be used and it might seem to be not as sincere. And I'm not saying that President Bush isn't sincere when he says that, but it does come across a little bit … I don't know … it was like a little stamp that's popular for everybody to tag on at the end these days. So that kind of came to mind.

But then, by what you're saying, it's important to get these phrases into the consciousness, even to maybe a little short of a MacDonald's meal for it, but at least to where it is on everyone's tongue so that there's … maybe it'll appear to be a more common thread. And that's of course the goal. So, is that kind of what you were saying? Or…?

TOMAS: Yes, that's a fine example, although it is another of those instances which inflame the sensibilities of many. It is very nationalistic, of course, and it has little to do with God himself. It sounds a bit less than a prayer, and more of an assertion -- a battle cry, if you will. But yes, this is how the greatness of God is brought down to the level of humanity. It would be globally more favorable if another movement were to begin responding to that common phrase with an improved phrase that incorporated all of humanity.

Esmeralda: You know, because people all over the world hear these speeches, because of our television and our radio and reception, so then everybody hears him but it's limiting it to America, so that's a little bit selfish. But that reminds me of something that Andy Rooney said the other day. I heard him on a program and he was talking about after September 11th all the people that fly the flags, and on the cars, and on their lapels, and everyplace, and he said he doesn't do that but that does not mean he is any less patriotic than those who have the flags on their car fenders and their pickup beds and all of those things. So which is …? That's similar to what you were saying. We need the symbols, maybe, but then on the other hand, if we are not flying flags symbolically, we still are just as patriotic. We can still be just as patriotic.

TOMAS: This is the same message that implicates you can be a believer without going to church. There are common forms that become the bandwagon, that carry off a standard and is supported by the masses. The message of Andy Rooney asks individuals to look deeper into themselves than the common standard, to soul-search. This is fashion, and, in a way, evolutionary fad. Certainly Mr. Bush is taking advantage of the current events to promote his administration, his country he has sworn to uphold and defend.

This is where you in the family of humanity are needed. You who realize that your brothers and sisters, in truth, are not simply Americans but are also Russians, Chinese, Indians, Koreans, Africans and so forth. It would be well to tout a global family. The planet earth has been a symbol of the globe, of course, but a global flag might be more in line with the trend of your nations, more readily understood as a comparison. "God Bless Urantia" has a nice ring to it.

Esmeralda: It does!

Elena: Now that brings up an interesting point, though, because a lot of people don't have the slightest clue that it's called Urantia. That's like, "God Bless Mother Earth"? I mean that's getting specific, I know, but it's kind of an interesting point. I'm kind of interrupting, but you were talking about stepping up efforts and maybe that's kind of a question about, you know, I was going to ask you about that in a couple of minutes anyway. Your comment about stepping up efforts. And I like the idea of a flag, a global flag, and about how to proceed on that and, you know, your comment earlier about replacing old habit patterns with new and improved ones -- this is an example of that, too. So I guess so many times when someone mentions, "Well, let's go do something more," I'm ready! "Okay! Yeah, that's great. What'll we do?" Any ideas about that? Or just kind of see how it unfolds.

TOMAS: None at this time, but the seed is planted, the theme is verbalized, and the circumstances are now ripe for your creative investigation.

Ms. J.: Tomas, don't you think that since September 11th, people are reaching out to other people and they are kinder to one another and trying to do something that's going to help? I know in my own experience, I've found that people reach out to me in a way they never have before. I have found them doing very kind things, like when I was on that cruise and my luggage was gone and that lady offered to let me wear one of her evening gowns because mine, of course, was gone -- far, far away! - And I didn't even know this woman! She was a stranger to me, and yet she was kind enough to say, "Oh, you're the same size I am. Take it! Use it!" And I appreciated that so much. I certainly couldn't go to something formal in a pair of shorts! I mean, that was just a little example, but people, I've found, are just so kind.

TOMAS: Yes.

Ms. J.: They have been to me, right along.

TOMAS: Yes, this is a good observation. This is true. This is also a chance for individuals to express their loving nature and give September 11th the credit for their being able to now express their appreciation for each other. They've had a chance to think about how life can be "snuffed out" "in a heartbeat" and many people are enjoying the new-found freedom of expression that is resultant from that value lesson that many Americans did learn.

The wound to America is being immortalized because these are the kinds of events that impress a people. The Holocaust had that effect also. They instill a sense that this must never be forgotten. We must always remember. The message therefore is remembered long and hard. Christ's crucifixion is one such event. It is remembered long and hard. But the good that came from his life here is the real message, just as there are real messages underlying the travesties of the Holocaust and the terrorist attack on September 11th and those realities are the realities that must be encouraged to grow. They would do well to build a shrine to that memory and then advance. Advance into the truth, beauty and goodness that are revealed by a soulful search of the morals and ethics of a people at any given time.

There are a lot of things that need to fall away as new values come into existence. Encouraging letting go of the old way is a part and parcel of embracing the new way. Sometimes more quickly, sometimes more slowly, but when an event like September 11 occurs, it is a thrust that awakens a people like a cold glass of water when you are happily asleep. You wake up sputtering and angry, but once you are awake, you might recognize that you've overslept. I'm not suggesting that terrorists have a right to establish themselves as your alarm clock, but if each individual in a society was able to think for himself and enhance a reality which suited the oversoul of creation, it would be a different dispensation altogether. This is the value of consciousness, awareness. Not mere intellectual comprehension, but psychic and spiritual perception of another reality than the material reality that meets the eye.

Ms. J.: But Tomas, wouldn't you say that the warmth that people are showing to one another and the kindnesses that they do, amounts to something good coming out of something that was so horrible.

TOMAS: Yes, of course. Yes, but it is also coming out of the people themselves. And that's not to be overlooked. People want to be good. They want to do good. They want to be loving. They want to be expressive of their divine nature. That, when it is devalued as superficial or immaterial, is discouraged, and when it is discouraged to the extent that individuals act as if they were emotional zombies, it is time for an alarm clock to awaken them so that they can freely think and be the children they are destined to be.

There are, you see, other travesties going on throughout the world that are not having a positive effect on people. There are backward nations and oppressed peoples who are experiencing such acts of violence and oppression, and that does not help them behaving more graciously.

What you are seeing is your perception and your perception is profoundly innocent. You are truly a childlike creature, trusting God and find Him in your life and in the lives of those you meet. This blessing of knowing our Father is being realized in your life as he reveals himself to you through others, and this is the wonder and glory of his nature. His nature is that which we would have be reflected in all earth's children, but there are so many who are lost, confused, angry, and opposed to the dimension of divine love, mercy, and ministry. These sores are going to need to be dealt with, in order for the body of the planet to become healed, to become wholly prepared to advance.

America is a great country, yes. It is a young firebrand, creative and dynamic, and it has an opportunity here to truly be a world leader, but it must love the world, not only itself. Just as any member of the family of man must love his fellows as part of his family.

Myra: So I think that I am hearing you say, Tomas, that we cannot operate out of fear, that we have a family, our national family, that we are taking very good care of, but in the fact that we are taking care of our national family, we are forgetting to open our doors to the Urantia family which is far more important. So instead of running into our domain and hiding out of fear or building fences, it is time for us to reflect on possibly maybe our own actions of what causes so much anger, and open it up. What we know in habit or in past, we have an example in Israel and Palestine. We can fight! And it's proven you can fight for centuries and never change anything. And it just seems that we are in that beginning of that cycle, and that to be wise we would stop our actions now and see how we can openly solve our problems in a new way.

TOMAS: Well said. Let's take a large family of you mortals as an example. The Walton’s, a common television depiction, or any of those sitcoms that depict a nuclear family and many kids who have different interests, different ages. Think of yourself, America, as one of the kids who had the advantage of certain circumstances and who made the best of its circumstances, and you have siblings.

There are other kids on this world that may be older, may be wiser, but you are operating with what you've got as they are operating with what they've got. Some of the kids in this family are bickerers, and they may never get along. Is it possible that they could fare well under the direction of one of you other countries as Big Brother or Big Sister until such time as the rift was healed, if only by not picking at it? Perhaps that's a rhetorical question, but if your country believes it is the precocious child, the one entitled to all the Christmas presents, the one that has all the scholarships to the best universities, the one who goes shopping when everyone else in the world is going to work or going hungry, it lets your image look a little spoiled, a little indulged, and I'm suggesting that the precociousness of this country could be replaced by genuine quality concern for others.

There's talk in the recovery community that you cannot help anyone else until you yourself are well. What constitutes "well"? What are your values? The values that are overriding have been material in nature, technological, but that font of loving kindness which you have begun to see since September 11 has been submerged under distrust and cynicism. For your country to emerge as a real world power it needs to acknowledge the value of its brothers and sisters in the global family, an appeal to the good of the whole that will require getting beyond egocentric vision.

There is a responsibility that goes with being as blessed and gifted as you are. You individuals here know the cost of maturity. You've learned your lessons through experience. You've been humbled and raised up. You are sensitive to the needs of others and the ways in which you might be able to help without destabilizing your own reality. This is what is necessary for your country, for your world, to begin to look at each other in terms of how might I help without becoming destabilized? Thus, I urge you to encourage the concept of the global family.

This phase of nationalism must of necessity come to pass. It is hoped we can advance into world peace and the realm of light and life without another global war or major annihilation of large parcels of geography. But in order for that to happen, the citizens of the world will need to come forth and join hands, as they are in some organizations and some movements. Set aside the propaganda. Realize that all over the world you are the same as other men and women. You have the same feelings, the same emotions, the same loyalties, the same needs, the same urges, the same desires, and the same love. Those who eat rice are the same as those who eat potatoes. They are your family. They are a part of the global clan. They, too, sit around and talk about how they can improve their lot and the lot of their children, how they can enhance their energy by changing their diet, how they can improve their attitude by adjusting their approach.

Ms. J.: Tomas, maybe I'm living in a dream world, but I have what might be called a childlike faith. I have no doubts. I am just very sure that God will watch over every one of us and that somehow, with all this kindness that I have seen recently toward one another, that that is bound to help and to bring good things out of something that was so horrible. And maybe this is what we needed as a shot in the arm, that we have to be kind to one another, if we are to go on in this world. And I think people are becoming … well, more willing to do things for one another since September 11th. Maybe I'm wrong but it seems that way to me.

TOMAS: It is a pattern, little one, that the advancing races encounter these events en route to peace, and they do become benchmarks in history that catapult your civilization forward or backward. It is our earnest prayer that it will launch us forward and not into catastrophe.

Your childlike faith is appreciated. I hope you appreciate my remarks are not limited to you in this room, but go out through the broadcast system to those in Armenia, Finland, Afghanistan and Jerusalem. There are trouble spots on your world, and just as you would find a trouble spot in your kitchen and set about putting it aright, it is our hope to find the trouble spots that exist in Urantia and set them aright so that we can have a happy home and celebrate it as the material source of our Master Son's seventh and final bestowal.

In the interim, by all means, enjoy the life you live, the joy you know, the radiance of spirit that is a part of your reality. Blow love on your concerns and give them to God as your inheritance allows. And pray for those who have not yet discovered the grace of divinity. That will be our future assignment -- praying for those who have not discovered the loving Father that Jesus came to tell us about and that we worship today, even here in our midst, as the love that connects us, encourages us, and fills us with warm fuzzies such as peaches in the tree of life.

Carry on then, youngsters, and make those many adjustments that will enhance your life and the lives of those you love. And thereby set an example of how your lives are motivated by love and mercy and ministry. Be of good cheer. Anything before I go?

Ms. J.: No. You've just made us all feel better.

Esmeralda: Thank you for being with us this afternoon, Tomas. We all look forward to it so much, and we appreciate your never forgetting us.

Elena: You're the best, Tomas!

TOMAS: Your loyalty is a warm fuzzy for me, and I release you with the blessings from On High. Then we'll see you next week at a new place and we'll enjoy a new perspective on this Kingdom of which we are a part. Adios, amigos!

*****

[End of Vol. VI, 2002 Part 1 of 3]