TMArchives

Tomas Vol VI - Rio Rancho, NM - May 4, 2003 thru September 7, 2003 - Part 2 of 3

This segment of sessions is an amicable collection of transcripts that reveal friends having a nice time on Sunday afternoons. They are conversational, with warmth, conviviality, honesty, humor, philosophy, and genuine concerns. They cover relationship issues, buying a house, buying a car, changing jobs, taking trips, illness, confrontation, loyalty and affection -- all the things that comprise the human experience. Anatolia and Tomas are there through it all, to congenially confer, commune, console and counsel.

*****

RIO RANCHO, NM, USA
Volume VI, 2003 Part 2 of 3
May 4, 2003 - September 7, 2003

C O N T E N T S

Date	Topic and Teacher	Page
May 4	Hope and Undying Hope	1
May 18	Rationalization; A Moment with Time	9
May 25	The Art of Living; Chips off the old Creator Block	18
June 1	Soul Birth - The Supreme Decision MICHAEL	24
June 8	Soul Birth - Finding Our Purpose	32
June 22	Plopping Pebbles in Life's Pond	40
July 27	Living Life as You Find It; ATHENA	49
August 3	In the Midnight Moment	55
August 10	Purposive Ministry	63
August 24	Receiving Transmissions; DANI; MERIUM; JESUS	73
August 31	The Abundance of Sonship	80
September 7	The Symphony (Revisited)	90
	[End of Vol. VI, 2003 Part 2 of 3]	97

RIO RANCHO, NM, USA
Volume VI, 2003 Part 2 of 3

*****

DATE:       May 4, 2003
LOCATION:       Rio Rancho, NM, USA Elena & Matthew's Abode
T/R’s:           Gerdean for Tomas and Matthew for Anatolia
TEACHERS:       TOMAS and ANATOLIA
TOPICS:
Hope and Undying Hope

Q&A:            Hope Versus Desire

Music:        Elena on Piano:
           Prelude: "You Are My Hiding Place"
           Postlude: "I Will Sing the Wondrous Story"

Prayer: (Matthew) Let us place ourselves in the presence of Jesus, the Christ.

“Master Teacher, We come to you with Light in our heart and in our beings, much like the illuminated paper bag of last week in the lesson that we had and we appreciate the visualization that we saw in real life just the day after. [Ed. - On Monday, we drove to Santa Fe to hear and see presidential hopeful Congressman Dennis Kucinich at the High School and there in the middle of the gymnasium floor, serendipitously, was a six foot tall illuminated paper bag!]

"We appreciate that we continue to grow in our love and knowledge of You, and that eternity is a long time, with vast reaches and heights and depths and widths beyond our comprehension. But it is what we are entitled to, by victory achieved by You, and we are forever grateful.

"We ask for the teachers that You will present today and for the lessons that we will receive, that they will impress us in terms of our eternal careers which are now and will continue forever. And for those that You know that are of special needs in our hearts and our minds, we include them before You as well. Amen.”

TOMAS:    Good afternoon, beautiful friends. This is Tomas, your teacher. Come and cuddle in to my embrace, and we'll chat a while about the things that you fantasize -- those things that you hold as Ideals to aspire toward -- those things for which you have hoped.

I listen to you tell tales among yourselves of the lives you live, the ways in which you occupy yourselves and find your joy: your selection of flowers for your garden, hanging baskets and the like; the way you wear you hair and the anticipated new style; the political picture and your preferences of philosophy; and these all are reflective of the Fruit of the Spirit that we all know as Hope.

There is, however, a major difference between the Hope that is held in the heart of the unbeliever or the sleeping child as compared to the Hope of the second-miler, and the range of appreciation is a very individual and personal matter. Last week, however, Matthew inquired about the quality of Hope and asked that it be addressed, and so we shall again call Hope out into the center of the floor and give it a look-see. As it perches or plunks itself there before us -- the Fruit of Hope -- let me ascertain from you each your own understanding of Hope, since you, in so many ways, are the embodiment of Humanity. You have within you innocence as well as wisdom.

Paula, you're a great one for images. You have already told us that you Hope your haircut on Friday will be stunning and effective for your needs, and that the Impatiens you planted will bear up under these Spring nights. How else is it that Hope realizes itself in your mind and your heart? What does Hope mean to you?

Paula:       Are you waiting for me to answer now or later?
TOMAS:    I will put you on the spot.

Paula:       Well, okay. I'm just lucky. Very, very lucky. Because I could have been all alone, all this time, without anybody, and here I found Men-O-Pah and there he was -- 'ripe for the picking' -- ya know? You could put it that way. And he was very glad to get picked. Weren't you, dear?

Men-O-pah:   [Amidst group laughter] Yes!

Paula:       He better say 'yes' or he's in big trouble! [Laughing] No. I'm very, very lucky -- and very happy.

TOMAS:    And so you had Hoped for a companion?

Paula:    Hmmm. I hadn't even thought about it. And then all of a sudden -- there he was!

TOMAS:    It is as if your needs were known even before you knew them.

Paula:       Um-hmm. That's right.
TOMAS:    And so what need have you for Hope? All your dreams have come true.
Paula:    That's right. They have. I'm just lucky.

TOMAS:    You are a perfect example of the Perfection that we discussed last week. Men-O-pah, how has Hope impressed you?

Men-O-pah:    There's a line from a song that we sing occasionally. It's called 'There's a River in Judea' and it says, "Often times I dream of music of a River that freely flows, And the song it sings is sweeter than honey, one everybody knows. Late at night I hear it singing and again I rise at dawn and it fills me up with Hope and good will -- the will to go on."

TOMAS:    You speak to the quality of Hope that is the comfort of all who struggle. The anticipation of better times. Thank you for your contribution.

Elena, speak to us of Hope.

Elena:    I was wondering what the difference between Faith and Hope was. That was going through my mind, and I was thinking what I might answer. Hope, to me, seems to be a forward projection of what you would like to have happen. But Faith seems to be a little bit more constant, perhaps. You didn't ask about Faith, I know. But Hope seems to me to be an outward and obvious show of effort of what you would like to have happen. That's what Hope is to me.

TOMAS:    Hope Offers Perfection Expectation -- 'H - O - P - E' -- whereas Faith is the constancy. Yes. Very interesting expressions.

And Matthew, you are the one who asked to hear about Hope. Perhaps you can tell us what it is about Hope that you sought to know more about.

Matthew:    Well, something made me think of it last week, but I don't think I'm as confused as I was at one time. But, several years ago when I was going through a very difficult time in my life, I figured that up until that point -- Because I worked for Catholic charities for a while, I figured I had 'charity' pretty well down pat. And 'Faith' is what I was going through, in terms of the trial of confirming my belief system, and more-or-less reassuring me of what 'Faith' was and what it contained. And then I was left with -- Then, okay, of the three: 'Faith, Hope and Charity'.

Then I figured by default I learned what Hope was because of the trial that Faith took me through. And that Faith became (like Elena was saying, it's not on the table for discussion, but) to me, Faith was 'knowing what will be' and Hope is the opportunity to create what you 'know will be' so that -- so long as you are Faithful to that picture of Hope, there is the continual opportunity to create your expectations or have them fulfilled.

TOMAS:    Yes. You have given it thorough thought. Faith, Hope and Charity. I see. That is a good springboard for study. As are the Fruits of the Spirit in the Urantia text that I have addressed, individually, including that of Undying Hope. And so I will review briefly the quality of Undying Hope which seems to be the kind of Hope you each understand the best -- as an extension of Faith. [T/R having difficult time speaking]

Perhaps in light of this squeaky 'machine' I would do well to ask Anatolia to discuss Hope. Is that something you are amenable to, Matthew?

Matthew:    Sure.

ANATOLIA:        This is something that I am able to address, only because it is something that our world, where I hail from, was a hallmark for this virtue.

There are many ways to look at Hope: from a bottom-up point of view, as -- when you are at the bottom of the social structure or are the foundation upon which power has its base, Hope is the belief and desire which enables one to look out beyond their current struggle to become Living Faith, beyond the current suffering. It is not as if it is a belief or understanding that the life one is then leading will become one of luxury or substitute servitude for being served. But rather it is the belief and the expectation that through denial and through self-sacrifice one's Soul will radiate and rebound to joys and grace far beyond the limitation of that experience at the moment.

In other words, one of the greatest examples in your world experience is that of the Negro slave of American vintage, and the vast array of both spiritual music and cultural practice that led to the potential Civil Rights movement that continues to be a part of the developing cultural growth of your society. That which came from unfathomable pain, sorrow and utter despair. But despite such a scenario, the Hope that sprung from that experience far out-strips the misery and the pain that bred such sweetness and flowering to a new height and a new experience.

This is not to dismiss the experience that was inhumane, cruel and brutal by any standards, but rather to show that the Hope that was lived and conveyed to future generations is the Fruit that came from such misery that superceded that which was the experience.

I had said that my world had Hope as its Cornerstone, because, being a world that was settled in Light and Life -- that 1,000 years of Peace (that has been foretold in your world; that looking at your current circumstances and what you have known from your past and all of the accumulation of Human History you have that to look forward to, that "thousand year reign" as it is known), has been foretold. Whether in this world or beyond it, you picture that which is in your mind, which is in your heart, which is the outgrowth of Faith. It is as Jesus had foretold in the parable of the vine and the branches, that the many illustrations or examples of bread and wine, and particularly the grape and the wine imagery that is presented, one can say Faith is the Fruit that grows, but Hope is the Wine that is produced. It is the Spirit that Lives despite current circumstances which may limit one's view, dampen one's spirits and discourage, if not remove, the life-force entirely given the circumstances which one may experience.

But, like the saying 'Hope springs eternal,' it is the vision, the view, and the expectation that Justice and Glory will be the eventual outcome; that despite years, generations, if not a lifetime, and civilization, built one upon the other, will see the eventual justification of why suffering is called for. The life that is lived in good and bad times. And yet, the expectation that ultimate perfection and beauty and peace will prevail is what leads us to continue to Hope.

I will leave you with this thought: when your world is settled in Light and Life, the brilliance that is known as the Love that is shared, the unity that is experienced in the expression of Light as a beautiful form of being, and in such glory and in such magnificence of such unity in being -- there is yet the constant Hope that this will be shared by all of creation, that the unicorn and lamb, the deer and the lion cub, will all grow in unified force for a life form that will be known as beautiful by all.

This is my Hope and Expectation -- that your world will be such and that you will experience it. Be of one mind and one heart for all beats as one. It is my pleasure to be with you and I will return, if need be; otherwise, we return to our chief teacher for the day.

TOMAS:    Thank you Anatolia for your assistance. And well done.

The idea of Hope is very cheerful because it is focused on an improvement, an improved outcome, but Hope is born in less than perfect circumstances. When you look out upon the sea of humanity and recognize the darkness they suffer under, the sorrow they live in and with, the cloak of darkness that comes away with you as if it were the dust from the highway on your feet or the residue of ash on your shoulders is Hope, that quality of Hope that wishes well for those who wait for the Spirit to embark with them upon their eternal adventure. Hope is a beautiful Fruit of the Spirit because it so readily reflects those areas where Hope is not.

This is the beauty of Undying Hope, for those of you who live well within the parameters of Spirit Reality. Hold your Hope for those who know not the joys of Sonship, for you have no need for personal hope. Like Paula, you have everything you've ever asked for. All your needs are met.

Even so, as a participant in the human condition, there are always lessons to be learned and refinements to be made in your advancement into Perfection Attainment. And sometimes your perception of the Father's will, or the Mother's desires, are presented to you as an 'undertaking' or an 'assignment, a 'thing to do,' a 'matter to be fulfilled,' a 'place to be acquired,' a stature to be attained, in the material realm, as if it were a 'presentation,' a 'proof' of your association of divinity.

The building of a Church, for example, or a Temple, or a Light and Life Center. The choice of a marital partner, and the concept of procreating a child. The idea of moving to a new location and/or buying a bigger house or downsizing into a smaller one. These human experiences are testing grounds for the Fruit of the Spirit Hope.

You Hope you make the right choice. You Hope the choice you make benefits everyone. You Hope the choice is one that will lead you forward. You Hope that your attitudes and aspirations are proved to be correct. And you Hope for the support of your community and your peers. These are a part of the thrilling adventure of personality expression as each of you put one foot in front of the other in an attempt to do His will and to manifest His good works in your lives.

Undying Hope is that whatever choice you make good will result. Even if you've made a poor decision, or chosen a lesser way, you will have learned a lesson that will give you greater perspective and insight into the Divine nature. You will have been forged further on the anvil of experience. Not to be held up as a laughingstock for making mistakes, no, but as a courageous sojourner in this imperfect milieu, an explorer in unforaged areas.

The same is true for philosophers who express themselves or for politicians who want to better the world we live in. They are all Hopeful. All of you are human, and while Undying Hope may be a Fruit of the Spirit, the human being continues to Hope for better things, for brighter days, for sustained health, for fair weather, for all the things that innately are yours and which you yearn for in your advance into Perfection Attainment. Those things which are less important will diminish, to be replaced by the Hope of other and more pertinent things in your life.

But you know from your experience how Reality operates -- to offer you, always, an alternative choice, an opportunity to seek the way the Spirit of Truth would lead you into. And in this path you will go from one joyous experience to the next, sometimes winning, sometimes failing, but always advancing in Perfection Attainment.

This should suffice for a review of the peculiar Fruit of the Spirit which is Hope. I Hope for you the best of all things, including the worst of all things that you might better appreciate the best of all things. Because in the end Faith, Hope and Charity will prevail. The spirit will win out, and we rejoice in those mountain top experiences wherein we know that what we do is blessed and sanctioned On High, and what we fail to do in this life we will do in the next.

What would you like to address this afternoon, children, in terms of your interaction? Are there questions?

Elena:    I have a question that came up a couple of times in my mind as you and Anatolia were talking. Hope seems to be, in many respects, a singular activity like there is one person Hoping that something will happen, and it's kind of something that happens mentally or internally. And it seems also that we've been instructed before about our will actually going out, and what we desire having an effect on what will come in the future. And I'm wondering how different Hope and Desire is. It seems to me a kindred thing. So I guess my question is two-fold: (1) is to kind of compare the difference between Hope and Desire. Maybe that's next week's lesson! And then (2) how our Hopes combine. Does that make sense?

TOMAS:    Yes, it makes sense. It is a complex question. A two-fold or a three-fold question. But you present the word 'desire' as compared to 'Hope' and desire is most often regarded as relevant to the human condition whereas Hope has an ethereal aspect to it. Desire is more like fire and Hope is smoke, but they are certainly related, and often confused.

It is easy to desire something with a passion, and yet, is it something that will serve humanity or higher interests or are you only passionate? And yet, in order to help Hope manifest as Reality -- a certain Passion is required. It could be said that degrees of Hope call for other degrees of intensity. You can Hope for something and 'desire' something at the same time, but unless you do something about it, it's still a Hope. And 'desire' often is so intense as to effect some kind of action -- even if it's wrong -- whereas Hope may continue to internalize as a yearning.

It is true, your observation that both Anatolia and I have focused largely on the Personal aspect of the quality of Hope. That is to say, it is an individual thing. That is because of different tastes and preferences and different levels of Perfection Attainment. But Hope, when amassed, is very powerful and can indeed move mountains. This is evident in a 'movement.' The Teaching Mission 'movement' has Hope of affecting the spiritual darkness of Urantia with the Light of Truth. And there your Combined Hope is being demonstrated and is effective by your United Hope for what you do.

Politics presents another example of Hope in action. The democrats hope to wrench the steering wheel back from the republicans. And as they select a candidate and weigh their chances, their Hope looms large at winning the election. Hope is a vital part of attainment. Even in competition: "I Hope our team wins." "I hope she fails and makes a fool of herself." "I hope my cake doesn't fall." All of these are valid uses of the quality of Hope but their motives fall short of the Fruit of the Spirit.

But this is the way evolution is, you see? The higher levels of appreciation for these Fruits of the Spirit are only realized after time and after trials that elevate your recognition of those things which are worth Hoping for -- worth desiring -- worth working for -- and those which are worthy of letting go.

The Undying Hope that we aspire to is the Blanket Hope that Anatolia glorified -- that Hope that all will come to know the Beauty of the Lord, and that those who are hiding from Him will come to hide within Him, and take their strength and sustenance from Him, thus entering into the Kingdom and joining the choir of angels who rejoice in being a part of the Family of God. This is the only Real thing worth Hoping for, for once this is found -- everything else is an effect of the First Cause. Is this helpful?

Elena:    Yes. Thank you, Tomas. That's good. Thanks.

TOMAS:    But, am I suggesting that you not Hope for those personal dreams and personal ambitions? Certainly not, for those are the classrooms that you attend in determining the way that you live your life -- whether it is self centered or broad centered, whether it is Spirit led or people led -- and then watching, when you make the wrong choice, how God will make lemonade out of your lemon. All of this is possible because of Free Will, and because it is already understood that if you had all the answers you wouldn't have to have Hope nor would we have Hope for you.

But Undying Hope leads you forward, and it will continue to lead you forward as you merge your Hope with Divinity, for the joys experiencing God will bring -- for the opportunities to make mistakes, change your mind, become adept -- even artful.

Matthew:    Those are some terrific descriptions. Thank you for responding to my question of last week. It helps a lot.

TOMAS:    It is helpful when you indicate your conscious need to know. It is possible for us to ascertain, to some of extent, the needs of your Soul. That is what we Hope to address and respond to, but my children, you are all so very clever at disguising yourself and your soul needs. They are hidden in Him, perhaps, but need to be brought out into the Light of Truth and placed on the table, that we might examine them and glean from them that which will help you in your life, and let go of those which are holding you back from greater happiness and greater enjoyment of the experience, as well as helping you be a better teacher and letting go of those situations that temporarily offer no Hope of improvement.

There is a phrase in the Recovery community that defines insanity as 'doing the same thing expecting different results.' And there are so many people who mistake Hope for this practice. They 'hope' that someday things will change and they continue to do the same thing over and over. Our Hope is that you change and stop beating your head against the wall, "insanely". That is something all of you do but you don't reveal such peculiar behaviors because they are insane, and you like to only put your 'best foot' forward. You like to reveal only that which you are relatively sure is already relatively perfect, so that you eliminate the need to expose yourself to any kind of judgment or alienation. And this too shall pass. Eventually as you grapple with Sonship issues and Correcting Time issues, you will realize your true Self and know the areas where you Shine and the areas that are still muddy and you will eagerly seek clarification in those muddy areas so that you can Shine all the way to Paradise.

So bring me your dirty hands and your muddy feet and we'll clean them up, right here on the table in our midst. In due course you will be scrambling to see who goes first.

What else?

Paula:    Well, you know, you were talking about Faith and Hope and how when we really need them we can find them. And there were a couple of times in my life when I've been all the way down and wondering which way was up. And my Faith sustained me, and there was Hope, and it all turned out alright.

TOMAS:    It is the experienced Adjuster that you carry within you that was your life saver, that enabled you to come around to seeing the way clear to the Lily Pad of Faith upon which you sit -- high and dry -- today. But it was you who sought Divine Counsel and the Divine Way, and this contributes to the growth of your Soul and the Reality of your Being.

All of you are so very Real. Each of you could stand alone without your human body. Each of you are a vital Personality, recognizable by those who know you and love you. You are well on your way. You will be able to 'be there' for those who flounder, still - who lose their way. You will be able to offer a word, a helping hand, a gesture. Your energy will enter into the atmosphere that alters the molecules allowing the Divine to direct Itself into the minds of those mortals who struggle and seek for a reason to have Hope -- when all is lost.

Be the eyes and ears of Spirit, little ones, on this very needy world, for these very needy individuals who look at you and wonder why you have so much good cheer. Let Him not hide within you but come out and joyously! To mingle among the many who rejoice in knowing Him. And when they are alien to you, take your comfort in that sanctuary that you share deep inside -- where you abide together with the Father -- that Eternal Soul that seeks to Immortalize you -- and will if my Hope is effective.

Run along and play, then, Children, and find what the world has to offer you in terms of challenges this week. Look to those who have lost Hope or those who have never considered how high Hope can take them. Whose petty little dreams fall short of the Desires of the Father for them. Infuse them with a hunger to know more and the assurance that the Universe will respond to their slightest flicker.

Peace be upon you. Anatolia and I embrace you and look forward to our next session together. Farewell.

*****

DATE:         May 18, 2003
LOCATION:       Rio Rancho, NM, USA at Esmeralda’s
T/R’s:           Gerdean for Tomas; Matthew for Anatolia
TEACHERS:       TOMAS and ANATOLIA

TOPICS:
“Turn on the Lights”
“Man Can Rationalize & Justifying Anything!”
Marking the Passage of Time

Q&A:           Time and Space
           Turn On the Lights

Prayer: (Matthew)    Let us place ourselves in the presence of Jesus, the Christ.

“Master Teacher, We come to you today with a reduced work force, but all of us are truly here in Spirit. We represent a lot more than are showing in the room. We take safety and security in knowing that we place ourselves in your care and custody and in that of our Heavenly Father and the Infinite Spirit and the Eternal Son. The Trinity -- vast, awesome and beyond our comprehension -- is such that it could make us feel like specs and unworthy and insignificant; but on the other hand we know we are part of the vastness that gives us our identity, our meaning and our future.

"So for that which you brought into our reality and made us aware, we are forever grateful. We ask for the teachers who are here today, that they will bring further understanding to our hearts and our minds as we continue on our path to be all that we are made to be, here and now and forever. Amen.”

TOMAS:    I am Tomas. I will join you now. How are you this afternoon?

Group:    Great – very good – thank you.

TOMAS:    It is almost a rhetorical question, for I have been here all this time, enjoying your picnic and your dialog with one another. Therefore, I am well aware of how you are -- at least in-so-far as how you purport yourself to be among your peers. But now let’s find out how you Really are, in the depth of your being, as we once again gather around the campfire and ponder the Truths of Life as compared to the Truths of Being.

(At this time Matthew is whispering to Esmeralda that he turned the light off … )

TOMAS:    You turned the light off?!?!?!?!

Matthew:    [Laughing]…in the kitchen. Sorry. [Group laughing] I had left the light on when I left the room.

TOMAS:    If there is one thing we don’t need is someone of your stature going around turning lights off! [Laughter] It is sometimes so dark on your world, an artificial light is preferred!

You are all full, I know, and in the afterglow of the afternoon respite from routine, your molecules cry out for a nap. And yet, I would not be worthy of my hire if I were not to take advantage of the momentum of your discourse to reveal yet another lesson in the curriculum of the Melchizedek University that we enjoy.

Well before I heard your dialog today, I was intending to discuss with you today the word, the attitude, and the relative value of Rationalization. If you appreciate what I am saying, you will agree that Man can rationalize and justify anything. Indeed, all the vagaries of existence are brought into being because someone was able to think of an idea, rationalize its existence, and justify its being. This is the part of Free Will that allows you the option to do such things whether or not they are to your advantage or the advantage of your peers.

I am speaking to you, as always, as if you were in Apostolic Allegiance with those who would bring the Light of Truth to your world. In order to bring Truth to your world, it must be brought one-at-a-time, and so your intercourse with your fellows -- men and women in the field -- is the essential part of the work upon which we are engaged. It is in this context that your work is important. Each time you Turn on the Light, each time you enable another individual to Turn on the Light of his own Spirit Illumination, you have contributed to the Light of Truth on Urantia.

And you who are aware of the possibility of such Illumination are the New Apostles. Whether you choose to have a ‘spiritual’ mantle such as that is irrelevant. In fact, in some cases it is better if you do not think of yourselves as New Apostles, for this perception may lead you to become vulnerable to religious ego and to act as if you are someone you are not, but as someone you believe you must become in order to behave in a certain way.

What has all this got to do with ‘rationalization?’ you ask. Would it be redundant for me then to answer and say that when your life is built upon Reality, Rationalization becomes an unnecessary appendage? It becomes time-consuming scaffolding to an unnecessary structure. And those who have not the perception of Spirit Illumination as you have, are a part of the World and its Un-Reality in a drama that is given structure through the Art of Rationalization.

Rational thought is the gift of Thinking Man. ‘Reason’ is a gift given to Homo sapiens. Rational thinking is a way to enable those who are not deep thinkers to understand the necessity for certain acts -- or failures to act -- based on Human comprehension. And the comprehension of these Humans are, generally speaking, comprehension which is born of Man and not born of the Spirit.

Thus, centuries of behaviors have been brought about because of the Fine Art and Skill of Rationalizing, not only behaviors but Belief Systems and Governments. The scaffolding of such Systems of Belief and Government constitute the Ways of the World you know, and without which, the Systems, the Governments, would crumble. They are as a House of Sticks / a House of Straw that will be blown away by a goodly gust of strong wind. What you have, my loyal students, is the ability to blow wind on the shaky structures in which people reside.

I hear your Soul inquire about the wisdom of blowing away someone’s Reality such that they stood naked, alone and fearful. What kind of ‘Graciousness’ is this, you might ask. What kind of ‘Christ-like behavior’ would that be for me to destroy the structure that provides the Security for my fellow creatures? What kind of ‘Loving Kindness’ would that be? And I tell you, you have Rationalized your own Religion by such a question. Would you not rather, as Jesus did, apply with spittle and mud the cake upon the eyes of your brothers and sisters to call them forth from the darkness? Would they not in truth rather resound to the Reality of Life as it is lived in the Spirit as compared to the hovel of life as it is lived in the Flesh? Who are you being loyal to when you rationalize your reluctance to act upon your own Light of Truth?

“Man can rationalize and justify anything.”

You, too, are capable of justifying how you perceive; whether or not you will serve; the extent to which you will walk a second mile. And you will justify these behaviors, or not, depending upon your own Light of Truth. And the extent to which your Light of Truth shines is dependent upon your own ability to rationalize your own responses to stimuli you’ve been given -- the stimuli on one hand of God Himself and the stimuli of Man (Mammon) on the other.

It is important for you to understand your fellow human beings. It is important for you to understand them in order to love them. But it is not necessary for you to join them in their foolishness simply because it is the predominant reality, because, in the Light of Truth, it is an insufficient reality to alter the course of destiny. And if the course of destiny is not altered on Urantia -- if the Spirit is not allowed to prevail as the predominant reality -- the people of your world will continue to find myriad ways of engaging itself in destructive behaviors -- UN-real behaviors. Un-realities.

In order for you to understand and appreciate the full extent of how humanity tends to rationalize and justify the State of Affairs on your World, it is necessary for you to understand them, to-wit: put yourself in the position of empathizing with their point-of-view. Consider their motive. And in the fear-ridden, their motive may not be to ‘take over power’ but merely to Survive. And, as an animal who has survived, you can certainly empathize with that quality in them, and thus in your empathy and sympathy go no farther than to provide Comfort by your Presence. But is your Presence -- our Comforting Presence -- a Fruit of the Spirit? Or is it another degree of Rationalization that keeps you from being about the Father’s business?

Look around you this week at the myriad ways in which Humanity Rationalizes its very existence. How it measures its choices -- based NOT on a Divine Perspective -- but on an animal perspective that seeks creature comfort and passive acquiescence to the Powers-that-be, and observe the skills with which the Powers-that-be utilize their sway over these sheep. Rationalization is a dangerous thing.

Witness Jesus’ life and site me one example -- if you can find one -- where he ‘Rationalized’ anything. He understood and could empathize, yes. But it was not in him to leave the situation as he found it, but always to give Spirit Illumination to the Moment -- to the Human Condition -- in such a way as to bring the Light of Truth to that man, that woman, or that child -- such that their life was enhanced and in that, Planetary Life was advanced.

Yes, I am finished with my little diatribe. But now that I have you where I want you, I will give the microphone to my co-worker.

Matthew:        Anatolia is here.

ANATOLIA:        Good afternoon, this fine day in May in your calendar, 2003 years from the beginning of your ‘calendar time.’ This is an arbitrary indication of the passage of time and it is truly artificial, for your knowledge of your physical world, as you understand it, is millions upon billions of years old. This (2003 years), in the Large Picture, is just a ‘blink’ of existence and not even to referred to as ‘time’ -- so to speak.

My lesson today is not on the passage of time or the demarcation of this quantity and quality that you know in your world. But rather it is to mark time by your thoughts, your movements of expression and your quality of being.

I would like to present a concept that could bring new meaning to what you know. Consider the ‘passage of time’ and the development of Man -- or Humankind’s -- Rationalization, if you will. That is, I am speaking of the Eras or Decades that you can mark as eras in time, as passage of particular styles, ways of doing things, manners, popular thought, colloquialisms, trends, and historic actions that are the culmination of the collective unconscious, as well as conscious, to produce and to accommodate and even Rationalize, that which is the Group Consciousness or Group Will. This is something that is consciously -- as well as unconsciously -- agreed to, in-as-much as trends or cycles of productivity and un-productivity amass to result in great accomplishment or tremendous horror at what Humanity can produce.

This is my introduction to you in terms of the Un-time in your thinking and being. For in your Un-time -- which is NOT measuring of time as it is happening, but is looking back and seeing those eras or phases that you can clearly indicate as movements along the way on the time spectrum. You can see what has transpired to be an ‘expression’ of the current trends or thoughts.

So what I’m leading up to is yet another opportunity to present to you another way of looking at things -- from a 3rd dimensional point of view and from an Ultra-dimensional point of view. Meaning that in your current status as 3rd dimension creatures you can only see things in the pre and post (as well as, to some extent, the current) accumulation and passage of time. However, from a Spiritual point of view, these things are relevant only to the individual and collective expression of Free Will demonstration.

In other words – this is somewhat difficult to explain, but I’m trying to get the point across that these two functions operate simultaneously just as you operate as Spirit and Matter simultaneously. What you do, perform and act on a daily basis would be considered your ‘animal tendencies’ or ‘animal life’ being performed on a daily basis. How you approach this from your attitude and point of view is your Spiritual Faculty that determines your otherwise animalistic-functioning on a daily basis.

If you can see, then, what I am speaking of, is that it is possible to conceptually rise above the everyday and the functional -- the animalistic expression of your life -- to have it be expressed. Despite its animal nature, it can be expressed in a Cosmic Spiritual Ultra-dimensional point of view, so that you can make the reality of Heaven on earth become Real -- so that Time no longer has a function or a purpose. For what you can define by Time in a post-mortem perspective -- in looking back -- you can also define as Time from an Eternal point of view -- so that my depiction of the individual experience of viewing a life as purely animalistic or as a Will creature -- with the ability to decide how that animalistic function will be expressed -- this too exists on the Grand Scale as Humanities’ co-existence with the physical and the Spiritual so that the Collective Unconscious does have a real theater in which to present its production.

Your ability to influence this is as significant as each and every other individual’s opportunity to affect the world stage.

What I encourage you to do is to view your role as an Actor. And you are to look at this as a demonstration of parts in a play or a movie. You might imagine your parts as being, certainly, on the set as ‘extras.’ Your particular role is not especially meaningful or necessary in the production as it is building in its notoriety to those ‘key’ individuals that are playing the most ‘meaningful roles.’ Yet without the ‘extras’ the “significant” roles would have no theater in which to play.

So your particular role can be that of a crowd in a mob scene with harangues, such as “Give us Barabas!” Or it can be in a scene feeding, clothing, and healing those castaways -- the lost ones -- the untouchables that no one else wants to engage with. It is always your choice and always your perspective that makes all of the difference.

So I wish for you to consider the Un-time that was spoken of earlier and what your role will be in the functionality of Un-time in your world. It has been known that so-and-so ‘passed in an untimely manner.’ I would suggest to you, how will you fulfill the rest of your Un-time in your world as you know it? It is your choice and your destiny that will be fulfilled as the result of your conscious decisions in this regard.

I wish you the ultimate of Life’s expressions both here and throughout the Grand Universe -- to know on all levels of expression -- in the multi-level dimensions of Life -- that what you are now is what you are in all of those other dimensions -- both here as we speak as well as what you are becoming will exist in all of those dimensions as we go forward. So my future as a co-inhabiter in the Life we express is as dependent on you as you are upon me. My wish for you is no less than it is a wish for me -- to experience all of the Love that can be encountered and expressed by One Life.

I share that wish and that destiny with you and urge you to join with me to make our collective futures that which can be only dreamed of in the here and now. For surely as I speak there is no future that is dreamed of if it is not dreamed right now. For there is nothing that has existed that has not be forethought and planned as a positive expression. These dimensions and opportunities for expression are not accidents but are forethoughts and statements of purpose as they develop.

Peace be with you, and know that all is well and all is one as has been intended from the beginning of time. Peace be with you.

TOMAS:    Amen. And thank you, Anatolia.

I am willing to engage in questions, answers if you are awake. I say this in appreciation for the pleasing, lethargic peace prevailing in your midst. Anyone? Gerdean?

Gerdean:    Thank you, Tomas. I was listening to Anatolia’s discourse with your words fresh in my mind and was wondering if it could be said that Rationalization is something that is a product of time and space and that as we perceive Reality as being Outside of the restraints of time and space that, that’s where Truth is, rather than Rationalization.

Is that a fair perception?

TOMAS:    It is, because of the fact that all the worlds of time and space are arenas wherein Rationalization and Justification seems to find its necessity. God has no need to rationalize or justify his actions. Nor do the higher beings -- those who are transcendent or Havona bound. There is no rebellion in Paradise. The rebellion of Lucifer was born from his Rational belief (his Rational mind) -- in his belief that creatures of time were unduly burdened by the process of evolving. If he were not invested in the System of his assignment he would not have thought about going against God. It was only because he was enabled the opportunity to develop his own will choices, and did so based on the Material Reality, that he was found to be in opposition to the Divine Will.

When one is in concert with the Divine Will, there is no need for Rationalization. Thus you will be able to tell much about yourself and your fellows if you find yourself, or them, going to great lengths to explain the Material situation without regard to the Divine Perspective. You’ll find the same Unreal propensity in those who cling to the concept of their own Divinity without real appreciation for their connection to the Material world.

When you encounter the common practice of Rationalization in your fellows, or in yourself (which is basically someone or yourself trying to talk you into some point of view) allow yourself the luxury of consulting first with the Divine, with the Spirit of Truth. This way you can appreciate the point-of-view of your fellow and understand him better without having to subscribe to his philosophies. This might give you an opportunity to, at some point in the discourse or the relationship, Illuminate the Moment in Time by the Reality of the Transcendent point-of-view which requires no justification for Being.

Perhaps you will find some merit to the 28th Mota here. Look it up.

(The search begins and it is found in the Urantia Papers)

Gerdean:    Okay, Tomas, we have it here. Morontia Mota #28 says: “The argumentative defense of any proposition is equally proportional to the truth contained.”
[Urantia Book, page 557]

Matthew:    Wow. [as rest of group ponders the mota]
TOMAS:    Did you want to make a remark? [No one responded]

Well, it ought to speak for itself then. … and to some degree underscore the answer to your question posed above. The More you need to Rationalize and Justify your position, the Less Truth it contains, in-as-much as Truth needs no explanation if you have the Divine Perspective. And thus if the Divine Perspective is not available, a lot of Time and Space and Energy will be devoted to Explaining, Rationalizing or Justifying the Facts of the matter -- rather than the Truth contained therein. Anything else this afternoon?

Matthew:    Just curious about this topic. Why did you bring up “Rationalization” today? From what we were talking about earlier?

TOMAS:    Actually, it was on the Agenda prior to coming here and hearing your discourses. It is one of those situations wherein the Topic was determined in advance and turned into the appropriate field of study, in-as-much as it was a facet of all your minds today: The discussion on your Planetary State of Political Affairs, the necessity for Rationalization amid the angers and the paradigm of life as it has evolved based on the factors of life which has been your lot. It is also because the prevailing reality is based on Rationalization of Reality. Everyone does what they do because someone has presented the Option in such a way as to incline Humanity toward following certain directives. The Rationalization of Reality is hard to buck -- hard to resist.

In addition to your political conversations, Gerdean and Thoroah were having an interesting and lively discussion en route to the Lakes along these same lines, in terms of family loyalty and employment situations, such that the paradigm of Temporal Reality -- the dominant reality -- prevails more often than not, even when the Spirit of Truth would have you go in another direction. Resisting the common paradigm is a job for super-humans and most of you are reluctant to consider yourself in anyway a superhuman because you have a False Humility that aligns you with the ‘common man’ and which, in many ways, undermines your ability to perform as a New Apostle.

The prevailing atmosphere on Urantia must be awakened in order for a higher and more Divine Light to shine upon the lives of Humanity. Your political discourse simply upheld what you already understand. My point this afternoon was to elucidate your understanding to the extent that you would be able to ‘conscious-ize’ your understanding so that your innate Adjutant Mind Spirit of Understanding would take on the dimension of ‘cognizance’ -- even of Wisdom -- so that you would be able to cut through the paradigm of existing Reality to reveal the Reality which we struggle for in our Mission together.

It is an ideal time, as I see it, to help you become aware of the insidious nature of Rationalization and begin to perceive how the skillful application of Rationalization and Justification have you eating out of its hand -- buying into its Lesser Reality -- conforming to its ways and aspiring to its goals rather than the goals, plans, ideas, hopes you foster through your Spirit Life.

It is difficult to curtail the demand of mammon and to resist its charms and expectations. But without the ability to sidestep that lure -- that Lesser Lure -- in favor of the Lure of Eternity -- you will contribute to the retardation of this world which we are attempting to edify. We are attempting to Turn On the Lights. We need you to Turn On the Light Switch. Do not apply the dimmer switch just because everyone is walking around in the dark and they feel more comfortable when you also are darkened. Do not diminish yourselves by conforming to the status quo.

This is my admonition to for you this afternoon. And once again the invitation is to study the total qualities of Rationalization so that you are able to recognize it. Recognize it in the tone of voice of those who speak to you. Those who would coerce you into doing their bidding -- whether that is your spouse, your parent, your child, your church, your employer, your employee, your counselor, your teacher, your preacher, your politician, your public servant -- whomever! Even yourself.

Learn to recognize the ‘sound’ of Rationalization and its co-worker Justification which sets paucity into movement.

I know you are sluggish and enjoying the mellow afternoon but I have had the good fortune of being in your midst and given the opportunity to speak to your Deep Mind. Thus while you have languished in your stupor of creature comfort, I have planted the seed in your mind that will give rise to your thoughts gravitating toward the words which I have implanted in your mind.

And thus I have done my job. And without adieu, I am prepared to depart. However as always Anatolia and I are at your service and eager to be of assistance in your minds and lives. What can we do for before we go?

Matthew:    I just wanted to mention quickly -- and I know this has nothing to do with you -- but I saw on a PBS show the other day about an author of a book -- excerpts of the Dead Sea Scrolls called “The Secrets of the Book of Thomas” -- presumably the Apostle Thomas -- of sayings that Jesus had expressed. Ironically many of them -- the nature of them was shared by the author in this interview -- and the tone of them, she said, were admonitions from Jesus to recognize the Power Within and the Direct Relationship that individuals had with their Creator God and not anything like the 4-books that were chosen as the Gospels. So it just reinforced to me the message that was presented in the Urantia Book and it was thrilling to hear it come from another source -- that she found just totally valid -- sufficient enough to write a book about it.

TOMAS:    It would be in keeping, would it not, with the political flavor of that day and age, to banish such invitations that were presented in the Book of Thomas -- “Doubting Thomas” -- to look Within to find the answer, to search the Spirit Within for Divine Guidance. This puts the onus on the Individual and off the Priesthood, an idea which was antithetical to the development of the Mother Church, which has kept the concept of Jesus alive but has not, as Doubting Thomas would have it, given Individual Minds and Souls an opportunity to grow and flourish in the Light of their own Truth through their Indwelling Adjuster.

Someone -- back there and then -- employed the skills of Rationalization to pick-and-choose which books would be selected and chosen for the ‘Holy Text’ -- those words which would operate on their behalf. They opted to think for the people and choose for the people how they would think rather than allowing the individuals to become Enlightened by their own Free Will Choice and advance themselves.

But they had also the wisdom to know that by-and-large the multitudes are not ‘thinking’ people and that they would just as soon someone else did their thinking for them.

But this is how the Art of Rationalization becomes the Voice that leads the people and it may, or may not, be in accord with the Voice of God. Therefore these matters are indeed worth discussing and reflecting upon, wouldn’t you say?

Matthew:    Definitely.

TOMAS:    Yes, there are a lot of interesting things coming to light. The burial box of the brother of Jesus being another recent discovery that has brought a shiver to the Organization of Religion since it casts New Light on the Greatest Story Ever Told.

And this is your task, as well, children -- to shine New Light on the Greatest Story Ever Told -- making it even Greater. And giving the children of this great man an opportunity to share his life and reality in light, and not in shadow; to enhance their existence -- not to overlook it.

What opportunities you have! I can only hope that one or two of the seeds we implant in your mind will grow, in order for you to take root and give forth the fruit of your efforts. This way you will have a consciousness of your contribution to humanity. You will not wake up in the mansion worlds and look back and realize how much of you was wasted. I encourage your investment in yourself and in your future as well as the future of your progeny by listening to the Spirit of Truth and recognizing the words of Rationalization for what they are: Lesser teachings. Even as my words are Lesser teachings to that which dwells within you. Peace by upon you beautiful children and we will see you where and when next week.

*****

DATE:       May 25, 2003
LOCATION:       Rio Rancho, NM, USA at Myra’s home
T/R’s:            Gerdean for Tomas, Matthew for Anatolia
TEACHERS:    TOMAS and ANATOLIA
TOPICS:
Chips off the Old Creator Block
The Art of Living
Our Internal Tugboat
Creating Truth, Beauty and Goodness
Art Appreciation

Q&A:           The Effort Unseen
           Living Artfully and Effort-fully

Prayer: (Matthew)    Let us place ourselves in the presence of Jesus, the Christ.

“Master, we come before you today with expectation of ‘your will be done.’ And with that we expect and anticipate that the best is yet to come in terms of anticipation of satisfaction of our soul’s desires for peace, unity and tranquility. In the meantime, there are roads to travel, mountains to climb, and vistas to behold. In that, during the travel, we know that we are in your Grace, and we place ourselves under your protection as we seek to do the Father’s will, wherever that leads us. In the meantime it is mystery and adventure, yet we are secure in knowing that we are provided for, and Eternity is Now.

"With all that seems mystery and riddle, we place ourselves in You with true knowledge of who we are with You and through You, before Our Father, and before the Holy Trinity, and in eternity’s bright light, now and forever. Amen.”

TOMAS:    Good afternoon, loyal flock. This is Tomas. I am your teacher, companion and friend, associated today with my sister and co-worker, Anatolia, as well as other celestials who come to observe your life and how you illuminate the darkness.

Matthew:    Welcome.
TOMAS:    Thank you, friend.

Today I think I would like to subside from the rigors of study and develop a sense or appreciation for the Artist in you all -- the quality of Art that renders beauty accessible and the Art of Living that enables you to see and feel and know an exalted state of being which is certainly the preferred method of conveyance to the struggle of existence as is known in the material world, without Grace.

Let’s focus on Art itself -- the manifestation of Artistry -- and how indeed each of you are, in your own right, a presenter of that perfection which is uniquely yours and which each of you understand to be your gift, your talent.

The common definition for Art is understood as paintings or perhaps music or dance, sculpture, even athletics. But Art is the product of persistence. Art is the product of effort. The culmination of your efforts is such that it would be easy for anyone to disregard its perfection because it is so simply presented. But this is what the Artist knows. This is what Art appreciation is. It looks easy and yet a great deal of struggle has gone in to mask the mastery of the process that culminates in Art, just as you can see that in Art, as you know Art, students must practice their instruments or make efforts in learning techniques of dimension, must build their muscles and develop blisters that toughen the toes in order to become an exquisite ballet dancer.

But the audience does not see those efforts. They do not feel the aching muscles. They do not feel the despair of coming up short of your own expectations and standards for yourself. All they see is the finished product. And those of you who are inclined to keep your blood, sweat and tears private, and only show that which is sterling and finished, are often overlooked as someone who has worked for their goal or are seen as someone for whom it comes ‘naturally’ and thus no kudos are forthcoming. There are certainly those who are gifted musicians or artists, but even they have to practice their Art.

There are those who feel they have no talent whatsoever but merely go about their lives doing good, and in their Goodness are unaware of the Art their lives reveal. This is the Art of Living that Rodan speaks of, that Personal style that lifts one up from the rudimentary and mundane to the spheres of music and poetry in motion -- the state of Grace that gives your personality fragrance. And even this apparently readily accessible quality of character presentation is often seen as simply a personality that has in it a ‘natural’ propensity to shine, but the truth is, Everyone is an Artist. Everyone is a ‘chip off the old block’ -- a Creator in and of themselves -- as “I AM the Son of I AM”.

There is nothing as personally satisfying as mastering the methods of development that engage you as an Artist. The moments invested in making Truth, Beauty and Goodness, morontial reality, or a dimension of reality that transcends the base and common, that is in its own way outstanding and unique, just as each of you are, in your own way, outstanding and unique, and you are ‘Works of Art’ in the eye of the Beholder, of the Divine Creator.

Reflect on the effort that our Father has invested in you each as each of you have been molded like clay, formed as a sculpture, colored as a sunset or a painting, strengthened and made more perfect by the infinite patience and devotion of the Artist in God’s hand and in His formation of a perfect Universe. You are part of that Creation, and as you become Creators and Artists, you also contribute to the Art of Living. For in mastering your talent , your gift, you master yourself in the process such that when you present your product it appears to be easy, it appears to be ‘natural.’ And in a transcendental view it well may regarded as easy because it is sublime. But it had to be formulated. It has to be ‘brought into being’ just as you have to be brought into being by and through your efforts and your patience and your devotion to your own self mastery.

Some of you are able to present yourselves as a ‘piece of work.’ A piece of work that has been forged, molded, created -- indeed worthy. A piece of work that reveals the Artistry of the Creator Itself. The Art of Living that you portray that would appear to be easy is now easy because of the effort of Mastery involved.

I urge you to continue your path of cooperation with the Creator who will open your mind to those creative ventures which will create Art in you and in your work: in your ability to relate to other, in your ability to navigate the spheres, in your ability to encounter and discern and to be effective as you Pass By. This is part of the Art of Living -- that which makes Life Beautiful, True and Good.

All of you are Artists of one kind or another. That you ‘cannot draw a straight line’ means that you need a ruler! Everyone has a perspective and a unique approach that only needs to be drawn out and encouraged for it also to become Art and to give Joy. And this gives Joy to the Doer -- the Creator -- the Artist -- as well as those who receive the benefit of the effort involved in Creating, that which is of Truth, Beauty and Goodness. For you have then the satisfaction of being part of the process of creating perfection and this gives infinite joy and satisfaction to the soul.

So now we enter into the season, for you, of Summertime. The confinement of Winter is past. Spring is in full glory and the seasons now extend before you as a blank piece of paper, an empty canvas, a sheet of music without notes. Make upon it what you will and derive Supreme satisfaction from the experience of creating Something from what would seem to be Nothing. Just as our Universal Parents are creating Something from what seemed to be Nothing. By this you are experiencing yet another aspect of Divinity and you understand better a little something of God-likeness.

Charming people, industrious players, enchanted companions, I am delighted to be with you this afternoon and humbled in your presence that you continue to find value in our work together. I relinquish the floor to my associate.

Matthew:    Thank you.

ANATOLIA:        This is a fine day since I, Anatolia, am happy to be with you, as always. But it is also a fine day for recognizing all that you have to be appreciative of. It is not for me to tell you what you should appreciate, but only for me to invite you to consider what is it that you appreciate -- in your own individual, inimitable and irreplaceable and unique ways of being, by nature and by characteristic, your own being -- you have the ability and capacity to appreciate. It is much like that of a flower to appreciate that place in time and weather and compatibility that it has, and shares, with the remainder of Nature wherein it finds itself.

It is not unlike any plant or being that, regardless of its placement -- on a seashore, on a stony ledge, or at the desert bottom -- that it has place, meaning and value. What is it and where is it that you find appreciation for your being? Where is it and when is it that you will feel that you are complete enough to be the total being that you are? I ask this rhetorically but it is obviously in the asking that the answer can be found. For there is no time and no place or position in life that you will have that is any greater or any better or any fuller than you have at the present time. Certainly there is going to be a time when you will feel – and will perhaps be -- more complete in your analysis, in your evaluation and in your total being, more fully alive and aware of all of the dimensions of reality.

In the meantime, I wish to assure you that your vehicle (your faculty or your capacity to appreciate those higher levels of Truth and Being), for as far-reaching and vast as may be your faculty to appreciate, can be no greater than it is right now, for your capacity is as a motor on a boat bound for the sunset. That motor can only go so fast, yet it has the full capacity to get you to where you are going. A motor capacitated for the vehicle on which it is bound can only perform the task and the function for which it was made and placed on that particular vehicle.

So, for example, a little tug boat, if you will: a lightweight, light-duty, fishing tugboat that you can see with an outboard motor, placed on the back, going at its capacity, roughly 30 mph or so on an open water bay, somewhere on either coast, is heading toward the horizon at full throttle yet safely going in the direction for which it is intended. It would be inappropriate and unnatural for that particular vehicle to have a jet engine -- a rocket per se -- that would Force it to its destination by hook or crook -- at the jeopardy of the vehicle itself, for such a vehicle could not withstand, could not undergo that intensity of pressure. It would break up. It would not accomplish its purpose. It would be a devastation to nature and all that it was encountering.

If you find my analogy too far reaching to be of value, I only encourage you to be of sound mind and body to appreciate that which you have been given freely, gladly and without restraint. For as my predecessor teacher has well stated -- in Art you express that which is wishing to be expressed. A statue in one form or another expresses that form which the Artist had intended, as your Creation has been placed within you and around you to be expressed and to be manipulated, if you will, that is adjusted and lived within as a gold fish would live in water.

So without stretching the analogy too far beyond recognition, I encourage you to be of full sprit within yourself, to know that all that has been given you is with the full expectation of utilization in the here and the now and the why of what you have been given. So as in any particular Art Work, its purpose is to convey a message, to bring forth the purpose and to fulfill that for which the Artist had intended. Be of good nature and mindful purpose that yours is an accomplishment waiting to be fulfilled. Whether that accomplishment be as vast as saving a Nation from ruination or bringing today’s mail to a homebound individual, whatever it may be, it is to be accomplished with full heart and mind and intact spirit for what is the accomplishment at hand.

I simply wish for you to know that if there appears to be complexity and confusion along your path that is unnecessary and particularly burdensome, lighten your load by letting yourself be in your path each moment as you are able to be free and fully conscious of being the Light of Creation in your world at this time. I wish you the Lightness of your being both now and always in the Spirit of the Oneness of the Christ, who is and will always be One with Our Father, both now and always.

Be of good cheer and know that your tasks before you can be lightened by your lifting them up as you carry them forward. It is with ease and mindfulness of being that I place before you your own desire for fulfillment and purpose. Peace be with you and know that wherever you are, there goes the Light of God. Peace be with you now and always.

TOMAS:    Amen. And thank you, Teacher. Are there questions this afternoon?

Myra:    I don’t really have a question, Tomas, but a comment on how the final product often looks easy and no one sees what’s behind it. And I think that is a conflict in my job at times, so it was nice to hear. Thanks.

TOMAS:    I am sure you are aware of all the work involved, in-as-much as you as a creator/ a teacher are involved in the molding of the minds and manners of your many students. You would certainly be aware of all the effort it takes to create Living Works of Art. The Joy in living is to be seen in the progress that is being made; not always in the culmination of effort, but in the individual day-to-day steps taken to attain the ultimate goal. This is how you and your student or your work, and the relationship therein is able to set aside the work of the day and enjoy an attitude of having done a good day’s work. And this is the satisfaction of living, even in the effort involved, and still anticipating in the future the ultimate product.

In fact, many of you will never see the ultimate product that you are helping to create --the Ultimate Work of Art that you are investing in today. This, in no way, diminishes the importance of the work you do. It elevates your value as well, that you are willing to work without reward, that you are willing to invest yourselves in faith of the future without seeing the end results, without that ultimate satisfaction of actually seeing the end result and appreciating its Artfulness.

This is another reason it is said that it is the Work that is important. Without the Work there is no Art, no final product, no perfection, no appreciation, and no satisfaction of having been a part of the Creation of this Art and this Art of Living.

What is required to appreciate the facet of Work/ the importance the effort, is Humility. It is not possible to enjoy the fruits of your labors without investing the labor therein. If you expect to go from one accomplishment to the next without investing yourself in each creation, you are living in a fool’s paradise or living on the laurels of yesterday’s accomplishments. The work is never done, never finished, in this on-going enterprise of perfection attainment for the self and the spheres. And, therefore, the Satisfaction of Living is in the Effort as the Art of Living is in Living that which has been Artfully and Effortfully learned, as you are Artfully and Effortfully learning your way through this life and into the next, ever advancing in the adventure, the exploration, the unveiling, and the infinite expansion of unlimited Creation.

When you feel empty or unfulfilled in any situation, this is an indication of work that needs done/ needs doing. And rather than feel hollow or less-than or sorrowful about such a situation, you should rejoice in the understanding that there is work to be done. There is an opportunity at hand for you to help evolve the Art of Living and the Artistry of Being in the circumstance you find yourself. In a spiritual sense, you may go from one relatively perfect situation to another, but in the pursuing you will find yourself in many material environments which are short of such sunlight, situations that fall short of such fullness as you know possible. Here is your opportunity to Get Creative and to allow the Creator to work with you, to enable you to successfully complete the task at hand so that you can enjoy the satisfaction of bringing to life that inert, fallow, dull space that lacks reality, that yearns to be filled with the light of Truth. This is the blessing and the curse of the Creative Personality/ the fodder for the Joy of Living.

I fear my monotone has once again lulled you into a subconscious state of receptivity, but one that precludes the essential interchange of discourse for which these sessions are known. Thus, I shall remove myself from your midst and, in company with Anatolia, return to our realm on high and leave you to your Creative Devices such that your Artistry may flow forth and delight the eyes of your fellows.

In anticipation of a Creative week -- mindful of the beauty surrounding you and the beauty that you are becoming -- we leave you in good cheer, in good faith and in good company. Farewell.

Group:    Thank you, Teachers.

*****

DATE:           June 1, 2003
LOCATION:           Rio Rancho, NM USA at Elena and Matthew's
T/R's:                Gerdean for Michael and Tomas; Matthew for Anatolia
TEACHERS/GUESTS:    MICHAEL, TOMAS and ANATOLIA
TOPICS:
Soul Birth - "The Supreme Decision"
Serving Something other than Self Finding the Real Self -
the Divine Self
Advancing the Purpose of the Original I Am
Soul's Summertime,
Being the True Self

Q&A:                The Challenge of Being Original
               Progress without Change?
Music:
:               Elena - "Take Time to be Holy"

Prayer: (Matthew)        Let's place ourselves in the presence of Jesus, the Christ.

“Master Teacher, We come to you today with Light in our Hearts and Hope in our Beings because we are once again gathered together and recognize the Power of Believing as a Group -- a Body -- part of the Body of Christ in the mystery and the mystique and the simplicity of that. As we may never understand it in our lifetimes, we are part of that mystery nevertheless, and as we are, that unites us for all time and more importantly in the here and now to know what it is we are to do as part of the Body of Christ, and to accomplish it with Love and desire for wholeness and certainty of purpose. It is that we continually meet and rejoin week after week to be refortified in our Faith that we are one with you and our heavenly parents, now and always.

"We ask that the teachers that you choose today will be able to address us in a lasting purposeful way, that we may be of service to you and our Father and one another both now and always. Amen”

MICHAEL:    I am he to whom you pray, your Master Son, Child of the Universe, as you are, with you in this experience of making Holy that which is not.

What precious children you are! How I adore you all in your innocent eagerness to come to me in Faith of our relationship, in and through our Universal Father -- Eternal Parents -- Mother Spirit and that which we regard as our Family, in this harmony we enjoy in times like these, when you come to me in consciousness of my presence. I am ALWAYS with you as you go about your daily affairs. You are never out of my sight or away from the Maternal care of my consort, Nebadonia, your Mother, the Divine Minister, Daughter of the Infinite.

We love you with an Infinite Love. We see you enjoying each other as brothers and sisters in the Holy Family and rejoice in it, for we know that we are seeing the beginnings of the Next Reality for your world and mine -- Urantia, our home. We are "about the Father's business". We are the workers in THIS field. It is Our Will that His Will be done, here in this vineyard.

I acknowledge the presence of the noble Teacher Corps who I have sent, through Machiventa Melchizedek, to aid you in your journey and in your efforts on our behalf, and leave you in their capable hands and observe your interchange which strengthens your resolve within you, and also with out, as you serve.

TOMAS:    This [is] Tomas, your teacher. Anatolia and I are, indeed, acknowledged and, with you, are grateful to be assigned this moment in time to advance the affairs of the Universe. The music for today inspires me to speak of the idea of revisiting the Holy Nature, which is a special occasion and yet a normal and natural state of being for those of you who have embarked upon the Eternal Career.

Pause for one moment at the precipice of your Eternal Career to review a Soul Birth. You may personalize. But you may also perceive, in detachment, a Truth that your "Supreme decision" is made at that moment when you choose to do the Will of the Father, rather than that of your own devising. What's the difference? you may ask, as we are all committed to The Course.

The difference is the point of departure from when you originally chose to consciousize your existence. By dying to the Old Way of self and recognizing that in the Eternal future, any action you do is 'conditioned' by its Intent to Serve that which is Other than the self. It is a simple difference between "me" and "You".

Having made "the Supreme decision" -- to Live through Service -- to Live through the Divine is, in fact, becoming Conscious of your Self -- your True Self -- your Soul Self, for this is the Self which will endure. This is the Reality, which will contribute to the Evolving Supreme. This New Self -- that is Born of the Spirit -- will unceasingly respond to the Gravity Pull of Paradise -- ever leading it onward into the fields of Universe Experience which are designed to fill more needs and provide more joys than your partial consciousness can realize.

But you can realize nothing without Divine Consciousness that will have any value whatsoever.

This is to encourage you -- you as a family -- you as a Unit of Workers -- a Community of Believers. One of you can alter the course of destiny. When you are United in Purpose, you are more effective in altering the course of destiny for you exponentially increase your Power based on the Spirit Source. This is where Nations fail - where systems fail and where Humanity fails! (In exalting the opinions of individuals.) It is enough to [make you want to] press on for Victory or for Change. [for] The only Real Victory or the only Real Change that can transpire is that which is Sanctioned by the Creator -- otherwise the main thrust of generations upon generations of energy is merely picking up where you left off on the last rotation of the cycle of history which you continue to repeat because you know no other way, because you have not been Born of the Spirit which can lead you out of that repetitive pattern which has no value, into the Light of Truth which is a sure Pathway into Change.

But, Progress without Change is dangerous. (Pause) That was a poor choice of words for you children, but anticipate at some point being able to access your minds as individuals who are engaged in a process of deliberate and conscious application of the Divine Will to the ways of the world in which you find yourself and that will involve risk and effort that children are incapable of accomplishing.

But … We are embarked! Have no doubt! And once Reality has been Conscious-ized, it will not diminish. It will not disappear. It will remain as a Lucid Dream remains … reminding you and nagging you -- in the animal nature and in the Divine nature -- about a Reality to which to aspire. And you aspire toward that Reality because it was shown to you by Revelation from the Divine Source of your Being -- You who, in the flesh, carry out the Father's Will, to create the world of Light and Life for tomorrow that we cannot resist for it is WHY we exist: To advance the purpose of the original I Am.

I am planting the seeds in you, children, for the future of our community, for ideals and goals which are attainable by you as a "body of Christ," by your commitment to be Unified in Purpose. Let me ask each of you. What is your Purpose? How do you perceive that your Purpose affiliates and augments the Purpose of each other?

I will pause now, on that note, and subside from professorial titillation and allow my associates an opportunity to address you today, in anticipation of our furtherance.

Matthew:        Anatolia is here.

ANATOLIA:        Good day, this fine Sunday, the first day of June -- which means that the summer season has begun. And with that comes the opportunity to be part of the sun and warmth and wonder in the time that includes travel, exploration, and to marvel at the marvels of the Universe made personal and private, in a sense, in your world. Another way of looking at this is that the summer season enables everyone, at various levels of activity, to become embraced with the earth and to share in its wonder and mystery. The season allows for exploration of the earthly splendor and to become part of it through exploring the interior and exterior of your world.

It could be likened to the later part of life -- in a fully lived and experienced reality: as you mature and become more real, more settled, more seasoned in your personality within your current life, you lose the necessity to have to adapt or camouflage your true feelings and real being and are able to more fully be yourself, without caution and pretense, as you become at-one with yourself. This is a developmental stage in which, as your season proceeds, so too, you, as mature individuals, are able to proceed in your development and further explore that which is your color, contour, context of purpose and reality here in your world.

It is with great delight that, as this season has been illustrated, that your time of life, right now, when most people, regardless of religious belief or practice, are able to feel more comfortable with themselves in their faith-growth process, some, as you know, regain or revitalize their faith experience and become more fully engaged within the Life Process!

Prior to that, most of the stages of development are reproductive in nature and the consequences and realization and responsibilities thereof are the predominant focus. When these responsibilities have been fulfilled, for the most part, it is like the completion of Spring and then Summer allows you to explore, en-vitalize, and enliven your Life's Experience -- to walk into the sun and feel its presence -- to encounter the Greenery of Life within and around the vegetation.

I sense that you know the essence of my example and wish to just reinforce you with the knowledge that you are well-engaged and well-blessed with the Life that is presented to you as you begin to enjoy the Life that Summer invites. Be at one with this as I invite you to be. Become fully engaged, and explore the mysteries of your world as you continue to be engaged and explore the mysteries of yourselves. Be true to yourself and allow your purpose in your life to reflect upon the others that you encounter -- regardless of their station -- regardless of their faith. It is all one world within one creation and countless dimensions or denominations thereof. It is wild with possibilities as you continue to seek Truth within yourself and your expression. So be glad and bejeweled in that experience of Life that you encounter. Until we meet again in loving pursuit of Truth in your lives, I bid you farewell. Peace be with you.

Group:    Wow. You, too. Me, too. Thank you.

TOMAS:    There is an opportunity here for me, Tomas, to acknowledge the distribution of Anatolia's counsel in the efforts of the Center for Christ Consciousness, in and through the efforts of mortal Donna D'Ingillo, who is a tireless worker for the Master, in her teacher base. The opportunity to come to know the aspects of the Mother Spirit -- those nurturing and fortifying qualities of life which are only known through her gifts and made part of you through the ministry of the Adjutant Mind Sprits, and which lead you into a recognition of the Soul-Giving qualities of what can only be employed through the Mother. These are the Aspects of God which assist, stimulate, intrigue and support all the elements of the Creator, and that Minister to the worlds of time and space.

There are so many marvelous contributions being made by the very committed and are supported by the community of students in this Melchizedek University that seek to serve and seek to enhance the development of the Supreme in and through their own Ideation -- their own Faith-Path. I encourage you to encourage these workers -- those who take such risks and assert their will to do His will into the consciousness of the community.

This is what we expect of our apostles, even as we continue to comfort you and coddle you, nurture you and minister to you as you become able to come into your own and reach for the Fullness of having chosen to do His Will, then being led to experiencing His Will. In this, there is no greater satisfaction -- no greater thrill -- no greater challenge.

Dear students, what has been challenging you of late? -- if anything … and what, if not, have you been amusing yourself with that would contribute to your own growth? (Long pause)

Elena:    Well I've had plenty of challenges!
TOMAS:    Indeed, you have. [Group acknowledges, also]

Elena:    If nobody else is going to speak up -- after giving everyone a good opportunity [Group giggles] -- This new position [recent promotion at work] is really challenging me a lot. Matthew and I were talking to Cicoli ["Chick-Coal'-Lee"], our midwayer guide, about it earlier so I'll just kind of share some of the feedback that he gave which was really important to me. I have a new position -- it's a BIG jump -- but it's actually not! I can do those things but you know there's a perception in there -- and Cicoli was talking to me about it and it's TRUE! This last week I've been letting myself be bamboozled by people expecting me to do this "BIG" job -- and … kind of afraid of other people's perception as accepting whether I was the right person for the job. And a couple of other people have commented with a "I wouldn't have chosen you for the job," kind of way. And so I think I really did come to see the vision that I am letting these little phantoms become obstacles for me, and other people's perception. I am becoming what THEY are perceiving rather than what I know I can be. So I kind of comment on that to share it with people because I think I've gotten the help that I need.

Of course, you get back into the situation and this 'sense of being' evaporates -- but I'll work on … I think I'm ready to go at it another week and see how I can do this week.

TOMAS:    Bravo on your insight! And thanks to Cicoli for helping you consciousize that reality such that you have allowed the Spirit to empower you to that additional degree -- that you believe in your Self and your own Source of reality rather than that of someone else. It is one thing to 'hear' someone's counsel. It is quite another to adopt their reality as your own. For when you adopt their reality as your own you forfeit your own reality in the process. And unfortunately, so many people have forfeited so much of their own reality they have NONE left that they can identify with when all the other extraneous realities have been shorn away.

It is wise for you to retain your Own sense of self and grasp a vision of your Own capacity. And I will say, since you are a woman, that this is a very threatening time for Feminine Consciousness to be "all that it can be" in a Spiritual sense, because it is so often confused with a woman who is testosterone-laden and driven to perform in the 'man's world' in such a way that she is disregarded, distrusted and diminished in her potential because of the cloud of misunderstanding that exists in the value of women -- the daughter's of God who have tremendous capacity to serve … in ways society has never seen fully presented before.

It is well and good for women to have a support system for each other. But it is even better when women have the support of men, for this creates a recognition of the balance that will be necessary [in order] for men and women to evolve and advance together into a new world in which they are both invested for the offspring of tomorrow. For this is the ideal of Michael and Nebadonia that we have asked you to learn to follow in reclaiming Urantia - in resetting its course.

These are very real aspects of your existence. And they will not diminish simply because you translate to the Mansion Worlds -- you, Elena, will always be a feminine form of energy and consciousness, and you will always equal male energy and your brother's, in the process. To be servile to the way 'things have always been,' is to acquiesce to a lesser paradigm of reality. You must take what is inborn in you through your Spirit and interject it into the world as if it were a medicine being injected into an organism that needed this enzyme in order to function at its finest and best capacity.

So you do, indeed, have your work cut out for you -- perhaps more than you realize. But perhaps, too, my counsel will offer you a very viable prescription for a reality which is as valuable and eternal as any your employers have to offer, and which will be helpful to you in your commitment to your assignment.

Elena:    That is helpful. I hadn't looked at it … upon the difference between (male-female)… I'd been Reacting to the difference between female and male -- rather than Thinking about that in a positive way, about what I might be able to contribute to that. So that is very helpful. Thanks, Tomas.

TOMAS:    You are welcome, daughter. Thank you for being open to the view so that your Reactions can become a Response and so that your Actions are Original and not second-hand-emotions.

Elena:    Well I've had a few knee-jerks this week – [Laughing] -- reacting to some stuff. I would much prefer that they were Original and based on what I was best able to contribute.

TOMAS:    Then persevere.

Elena:    What about the rest of you guys? Am I the only one who's challenged here? [Laughter]

Myra:        I do have a challenge. My challenge this week has actually been the challenge of being able to slow down -- to identify the natural rhythm of my own life -- of getting caught up in who I am and what is my purpose here -- instead of getting caught up in the rat race of being busy all the time. And it's nice to have the time to think about that and check the rhythm.

TOMAS:    This is more than 'nice,' Myra, this is essential and excellent timing in your career -- that is to say your Eternal Career -- for you to take this season to alert yourself to Your Own Pace and Your Own Pattern of reality. As you find yourself and as you attune yourself to this presentation of Life that you are -- you will be renewed, then, in your resolve to maintain that which is Real -- even when you return to the arena in the Fall. It affords you a Sanctuary in which you have been able to find yourself in a position to have daily chats with God -- to engage in the process of Worship and thoroughly enjoy your conversational aspects with the Heavenly Hosts. This is the Reality Base that anchors you in a vortex of Divinity that will have tremendous repercussions in the community, simply in your very presence.

I have here a picture of a cartoon character who has stuck his finger in an electrical socket and his hair is sticking out in every direction. And even after his finger is removed from the socket his hair continues to stick out in every direction as one who has been shocked and, you know, having had the experience of this upcoming sojourn through summer into yourself and thus to God, will render you similarly changed. Even when you remove your finger from the incessant pulse of Power you will retain in your personality the impression that you have been plugged into the Divine and will never return to that state that you enjoyed before putting your finger in the socket of Life.

It is a bit like embarking on an eternal journey and you are now pulling out of your dock -- pulling away from your moorings -- to head for the high seas of such an adventure as we enjoy. Bon Voyage!

Group:    [Laughter and appreciation]

Matthew:    I can add, too, that I'm challenged with a new job opportunity, as well, and have to learn, over the next couple of months, volumes of knowledge to go into businesses and judge their safety practices. So that's a real challenge. But I'm not beaten into the ground about it. I just look forward to it as an opportunity to learn and just accept it as a challenge. So I'm not feeling what Elena is at the moment but perhaps my turn will come for that kind of pleasure. I don't know. [Group laughter] So I'm just sharing that.

TOMAS:    Well said, both of you. The ebb and flow of harmony graces your union. This is an opportunity for you to be in a period of learning (but not an emotional realm) mere factual information. Your challenge will be when you have accustomed yourself to the privacy of the mind and later the experience of the necessity of experiencing the world again with the information you have garnered, approaches and you must perforce leave the secure confines of the mind in order to involve yourself once again with the reality of your involvement with the world. Perhaps by then your partner will have resolved her growth challenges sufficiently that she will be able to provide a stable platform for you while you go through this period of learning that she is now engaged upon.

I suggest this because I have observed how Our Parents have created such balance in the Universe. There is such harmony in Real Relationship. This goes to the phrase, "Trust the process." The 'process' of Life is not something that is accomplished by a man-made schedule or an artificial guideline. It is a Reality that comes into being because of the Human Intent -- the Mortal Purpose to be All that it Can be, which is More than it Was prior to Identification with the Spirit.

I'll remind you, then, sometime, to put away your books and really look at these companies' modes of operation and their motives and their intent, and then perhaps you can find what is really dangerous, and what really meets with approval.

Elena:    That leads back to a question I had earlier about what you said about 'progress without change is dangerous.' Just focusing on that one sentence, "progress made without change is dangerous" -- personally I didn't see how progress could be made without change. [Group agreement] So I didn't get that.

TOMAS:    It was T/R error.
Elena:    Oh.
TOMAS:    However….
Elena:    [Laughing good-naturedly] …Oh, of course!

TOMAS:    No, I appreciate that your ear was hearing and you called it to our attention. This is appreciated also by the T/R who is distraught when her vocabulary fails, or her phraseology becomes something spitted out upon our prompt without appropriate passage. I mean to say that there many situations where one might think a lot of progress is taking place because a lot of change was going on, but it might only be chaos or trauma/drama and nothing really has been gained from the action. This is the point.

Elena:    Okay. Well, that makes sense. [Group shares some comments] I get it.

TOMAS:    You cannot even progress without change, yes, because if you are progressing then things will naturally change. Just like Myra will change from having her finger plugged into the Divine Power Source this summer. [Group giggling at the vision - - and a comment about her hair and more giggling -- we'll have a picture of her for a while] We have three pictures we can work with.

The afternoon is getting full -- or should I say "the tape is getting full" and there are three others here who have also been challenged this week and who face real challenges. However, I am offering the opportunity to persist or to return next week to these viable realities of your work in your field, if you choose.

It is, however, good to see Renault here today. I understand the traveling companions to the TeaM Conference [Renault and Gerdean] are getting their heads together to talk about "girl things" in anticipation of their sojourn. So this, it would seem, is their immediate challenge, and yet it hardly seems one to worry about. This appears to be more of an opportunity than a challenge! No doubt we will hear about it when you get back.

Renault:    However, working out the details is a challenge.
TOMAS:    Most of those are accomplished.
Renault:    Oh, good!

TOMAS:    This is such an important point to remember in applying yourself to your life's work -- whether it is the whole picture or merely a frame in the cinematography -- if you have been able to perceive it in your Mind's Eye you can Realize it in the Material Realm if it is Sanctioned by the Power Source Itself. If it is not [sanctioned], it would not matter how much energy went into planning, it would not -- could not -- become realized.

But this is not to say that these visions should not be seen, or these plans should not be made, because this is a part of the Creative Process … and who know when the impetus will strike, when the spark will be able to ignite the fire that turns that concept into a flame and a bonfire to be seen for miles around?

Do know that you are beloved children, that the Master and His Consort are proud of you and of your potential in eternity. Know, too, that as an advanced worker in the Teacher Corps, I am committed to your development, your growth and your internal fortitude that will enable you to reach your capacities as Spiritual Adults, in order to effect the changes that can, and will, result in our Victory over the Darkness.

See you next week.

Group:    Thank you, Tomas. Have a good week.
Tomas:    Farewell.

*****

DATE:       June 8, 2003
LOCATION:       Rio Rancho, NM, USA – at Esmeralda’s
T/R’s:            Gerdean for Tomas; Matthew for Anatolia
TEACHERS:       Tomas and Anatolia
TOPICS:
Soul Birth
Finding Our Purpose
Living the Dolphin Lifestyle
Serving Our Purpose

Q&A:            Devotedly Focused on Your Heart’s Desires
           Your Relationship to Perspective and Purpose
           Injecting God into Every Fiber of Material Existence
Music:        "Glory, Glory Hallelujah!" Elena on piano.

Prayer: (Matthew)    Let us place ourselves in the presence of Jesus, the Christ.

“Master Teacher, We come to you with senses of humor, attempted or real, as well as our own personalities that are God-given and real, and we do appreciate that for you could have made us anything -- a rock, a grasshopper -- or anything . .. and that would have been alright because we’d be part of creation. But as it is, we are part of those things as well and have consciousness and know who we are and where we come from and where we are going. And that is all important.

"We‘re grateful for the teachings that we’ve inherited in our respective traditions of Christianity -- and had we been anything else the Truth would still make us free. In whatever shape or form our belief is -- believing in our Heavenly Father is first, foremost and primary and you have enhanced it – brought it to life -- and brought us new life as a result.

"I wish not to continue here just talking but to sing your praises and that of our Heavenly Father who has made all One now and forever. And for the teachings that we receive today we are grateful, as they continue to stimulate and reinforce us in our growth toward you and toward eternity in loving existence with the trinity. Can you imagine that? We imagine and dream what that perfection is like in knowing that we are in the process.

"So for that and more that you know is in each of our hearts – we are forever grateful. Amen.”

TOMAS:    Good afternoon, favorite friends. [Group: ‘good afternoon’…'Hi Tomas’] I am Tomas, your teacher, in company with Anatolia, and we have also with us a plethora of visitors -- some who are always here -- such as your spirit guardians, personal teachers and midwayers. But we also have morontia companions, a celestial artisan and Machiventa watches from his monitoring station.

And there are plenty more who turn the channel and tune in to your gathering as inspiration and assistance in broadcasting techniques, because you are the raw material with which the Universe works to mold the new dispensation. You are the tools that we use to bring about -- in your time and your day in age -- the same principles and truths which Jesus brought to His day in age. And which are those cameo performances in which our Universal Father is brought into most focus for that moment. Those moments are the Fruit of the Vine -- those moments are the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Those moments are perpetual in those who have a Love saturated soul.

Last week we discussed ‘Purpose.’ As a teacher in the Teacher Corps, it is my purpose to be with you -- to bring you forth, to draw you out -- that you may yield to your world that which resides in you -- that piece of perfection that represents the Divine. This is such a wonderful work. The rewards are so satisfying for they give testimony to His greatness.

There was a time when I was not in this Teaching Corps. There will be times in the future when I will have performed my work with you and will have gone on to other pastures. But for now -- this is my purpose -- to be your teacher and to help you learn to be a teacher of Truth, Beauty and Goodness in your realm and to show forth that perfection which you know and identify with in others as a way of pulling together the pieces of God that fit together in such a way as to reveal perfection.

The pre-session conversations have all been revealing of your method of relating to humanity that you might better portray perfection in one form or another in a way that can be understood by your world - in ways that will allow you to be a part of your fellows -- a part of humanity as well as a part of Divinity.

The beauty of the Mediterranean that is presented by Mr. & Mrs. S. in their recent sojourn reveals the beauty of your world in your sister nations and the history of your world as you remember it through your recorded history. This is a platform for preaching and teaching the Gospel. It allows you to interject a piece of the Father into the appreciation of how other people live and how this culture has been forged from the efforts of those who have lived hundreds and thousands of years ago. For this is all a part of the inheritance of civilization you have acquired by your own intelligence. Which is a gift from God.

You present also a picture of mother and daughter diligently applying yourselves to the sewing machine -- working in harmony, in tandem -- as if the two of you are one in your desire to create, enhance, embellish and clothe that which is naked and that which seeks to present itself as something worthy of beholding. Presenting your Self as the best It can be, is a theme of study in the mentoring sections of the Teacher Mission -- personal growth that impacts on humanity -- again -- for you to reveal the Father through your enthusiasm, your creativity, your practical application of the Divine into the humble field of apparel. But it is a field which all civilization enjoys. Fashion is a field of discussion for those who seek to spread the Good News, for these conversations present opportunities to remember that we are all clothed with mortal raiment -- that our Soul-self within is clothed in a human body -- which seeks to display itself as perfectly as possible.

And then we have the new car. We have the potential of a new home and yet another. And all of these human activities have been and continue to be, opportunities for you to reveal the Father in your earthly life, even if all you have an opening for is to say, "Thank you God for such a deal." Thus displaying your dependence upon the Divine that is the Ultimate Provider of all your needs and the Source of all your true joys and satisfaction.

Thus it could be said, that each of you, in your own fashion and at different points in your lives, apply yourself to your purpose and like plateaus of growth or experiential learning, they are not crystallized but are alive -- advancing and enriching. You are commanded to be perfect as He is perfect and that means you derive soul-satisfaction from your directed energies -- from your purpose to which you are applying yourself. You are able to give your full-self to the task at hand for it represents a reality that you know and respect.

The purpose of life here on this planet is for Soul Birth. The life experience is like the seed that is planted in the garden, fed and watered all during the spring time and the summer, harvested in the fall and put to rest before winter.

What of the seed that does not sprout?

You have certainly all sprouted and also give forth fruit but you have responded to the conditions offered for your development. You have chosen to grow -- you have chosen to reach -- you have chosen to honor the laws of nature -- you have chosen to become the fullness of the potential of that particular seed. We have accomplished that purpose for those of you here. And the purpose for some of you is to create. Some of you serve. Some of you teach and some you nurture. All these are necessary pieces of the puzzle that go into creating that moment wherein perfection is revealed.

I’ll give you an exercise for the week, one which I know you’ve all done before, but have not perhaps recognized the experience in these terms -- and that is to find time this week to have a moment alone in the garden -- in the out-of-doors -- in a place of beauty, privacy -- such that you will be able to enjoy a moment of stillness. And do this with your eyes open. Allow yourself to experience fully - and to see with your physical eyes and well as your spiritual eyes -- how perfect life is. The sun, the grass, the birds, the air, the atmosphere of peace and safety, the sense of fullness and abundance that is your legacy and your right as a moral child of God.

Then frame that picture in your mind so that you know to return to it and to carry it with you even into the arena as much as possible for this is God, Itself. The perfection of Life as it is presented in means and ways understandable to childlike minds everywhere. Look at Light and Life and then realize your work within that framework. What greater purpose could there be for you than to be a Bringer of the Good News in whatever way appeals to your personality? This is a happy life. This is Glory Hallelujah.

This completes my time with you, in terms of monologue. Let me relinquish my hold on you. And while you know you are in the eternal embrace I give you over to my fellow teacher.

ANATOLIA:        Welcome back, friends. This is Anatolia. I am happy to be here with you again with a full compliment of all of the many personalities and wonderful persons of your stature and caliber. Welcome back to our weekly meetings where it is all important that we gather together for, as you know in the statement from the good book, that where two or more are gathered -- there Christ is. It is in this tradition and in this group, in particular, that we find our afternoon times, on the day that you call Sunday -- as your Sabbath here in this world -- to be of significance for ourselves in relation to being believers of one God and a Creator of the Universe that is grander than our imaginations could ever conjure.

This is the fabulous part of being part of such a creation -- that in the many works that exist within our world -- creative, factual and scientific -- nothing could have ever been developed, invented or created that comes close to the reality that is what we call Creation and Life within the Oneness of All That Is.

It’s far beyond my capability to describe to you the vastness, the grandeur and the total inclusiveness that is our Creator of our Universe within time and space and beyond. The best I can liken it to, for a momentary consideration, is what you can imagine is the life of a dolphin in the greenest-bluest water that you can picture and what that dolphin and the school of dolphins would be like in their inimitable nature -- their total freedom and their total oneness as a group -- yet each an individual.

Imagine, if you will, their all-but-flying-through the water in this imaginary, yet real, blue water. This scene, or symbol, (may) include all of the underwater life, if you would like. Color it, fill it, and complete it with coral and all kinds of shapes and colors of other life. This free-flying motion -- the near weightlessness and shear speed -- through which the dolphins can maneuver themselves in water -- is only a thumbnail sketch of what Life in the Spirit -- in Creation -- in the Oneness of All That Is -- is like.

You need not feel as though you are ‘distant cousins’ and unrelated to this Life that I described for surely you are like dolphins and their relationship to you is very close in intelligence and understanding and personality and Love of Life. But they show you what it is like to be Care Free and without concern for weight and matter and life as you know it -- but demonstrate what Total Freedom can present and what Life in the Spirit is truly like. For they are physical beings as you are but have no cares, no worries and are totally Servants to their form of creation. This too, is what you are called upon to do as Servants to your Creation -- to your Life Form -- and to who your Master and Creator made you To Be. Like dolphins -- true to their Form and Nature. Free as can be. Loving as is possible and One with All That Is.

I encourage you to continue in your pursuits at whatever level you pursue them -- whether it would be mastering the sewing machine or mastering your work situation or life on the computer or on a piano or at a word processing machine -- that enables you to be your creative best even while you have duties to accomplish. I encourage you to say daily prayer -- as in the Stillness that was described. I encourage you to be consciously aware of giving grateful thanks and praise to your Master Son Creator and to Life within a Universe that is far beyond your current capability of imagining how wonderful and great it is. So be grateful for that which you know already to be great and vast and beyond your comprehension. This is only an inkling of All That Is.

I encourage you. I send you my loving blessings and relatedness to you to that All is, in fact, One. Be of Good Cheer and know that your hopes and your dreams are being accomplished as you dream them. All you need to do is to follow your Heart and all else will be possible. In foremost consideration is the Love that is yours because a caring, wonderful and gracious Creator allowed All That Is to become aware of That Creation.

Be at one with yourself and be wise in Love and Graciousness. Peace be with and until the next time be One with All That Is. Amen.

Group:    Thank you.

TOMAS:    We have taken advantage of your summer -- early summer -- season to bring these images to your mind that will cement within you the appreciation of the Father’s hand in all you do, all you have and all you are.

And now we open the floor to you to engage in healthy cross-pollination of Ideas that can help us work in ways that will infiltrate the Material Realm with Truth, Beauty and Goodness -- so that we may expand our school of learning.

Esmeralda:    Your monologue today, Tomas, was wonderful, I thought. It kind of -- I’ve been enjoying the summer very much with yard work and the beauty of things growing -- so you talked about what had been my most time-consuming thing this summer.

TOMAS:    While it is an Art Form, it is beautification, it is a part of self-maintenance, a form of therapy as well. An effort, certainly, but one you can do in your own time at your own pace. And you’re in a position, geographically, to best show off your efforts to those who ‘pass-by’ -- literally. Thus you do improve the world by doing what you Love to do. This is "Glory Hallelujah."

Esmeralda:    I agree.

Paula:    Well when you come to our house next week we’ll see if we’re going to be doing "Glory Hallelujah" with our plants. We’re trying to let the yard look pretty… the tomato’s growing and all that sort of thing. What we found when we were on the trip… especially in Italy... was that no matter which of these big apartment buildings they all seemed to live in -- whether they were magnificent with wealthy people living there or if they were the poorest of the poor -- they ALL had flowers on every single porch… these oodles of flowers and they were beautiful. I just loved them.

TOMAS:    Indeed, I find their practice of infinite value for it brings Beauty into the most squalid conditions and yet it provides a natural and humble contact with the simple things in life for those who are wealthy and complicated.

This is why the Master often used the parable of the seed or that which grows -- so everyone has a keen sense of how much Life can enhance Life, in particular with plants, which, more often than not, respond to Care. It is a very Universal form of manifesting Beauty. It is also a way of keeping your Soul at rest. It is, in this way, therapeutic for even when you need to work or engage in negotiations or sport, work or play with the "outside world," you’re able to come back to the simple act of nurturing that brings you back in contact with your relationship with Divinity that Force which nurtures you.

But as Anatolia readily shared, this application of the Self to that which is meaningful and satisfying can also be done in ways that enable the hearts, minds, and/or spirits to grow to yield to the conditions of growth and reveal the Beauty that was dormant within until it was brought forth by the Master Gardener in and through the efforts of the Service of ‘those who will’ to humanity. Whether that is through playing golf, like Tiger Woods, or tennis like the Williams' sisters. Whether that is creating films like many great creative personalities involved in theater and cinema. Whether you are in science and math or with diplomacy and ministry -- this is the Hand of God working in your Life -- sometimes consciously -- sometimes unconsciously. Sometimes quickly -- sometimes slowly. But with the right conditions -- with the right circumstances -- the right atmosphere -- and the right ambiance -- the right tools can be put to work to focus devotedly to on that which the heart and hands find to do. Glory Hallelujah.

Elena:    You know Tomas you were talking about ‘consciously or unconsciously’ -- sometimes, like this week has been a new spurt of growth for me. You don’t really know how you’re doing exactly because you’re just trying to push your head up through the ground, I guess, and there’s a lot of effort in that but you really don’t know what’s particularly being done on a conscious level -- you’re just acting in that process. And I guess you just have to have the faith that you’ll grow to a different stage and be a bit more -- uh -- that’s just ‘part of that stage’ -- I suppose is what I’m trying to say.

TOMAS:    You will work and attain perspective. This is the Value of ANY kind of experience. Having made your choice -- you act accordingly and eventually you will be able to put yourself aside and see what has taken place. And so you gain a New Perspective. This is Ascending. This is Advancing. This is Progressing in experience. And any experience is good if it leads you to a Greater Appreciation of that which is Holy. This is how it is that you learn from your mistakes. On occasion you learn what NOT to do. And while this can be regarded by some as failure -- this is a mere Educational Course of Living the Life that will reveal the Way, the Truth and the Light.

Yes. Growth is almost always Unconscious. Until after the experience has come to sufficient fruition that you are able to put it into Perspective. That Perspective will have to do with your Purpose and your Intent. Where have you come from? Where are you going? How was that experience contributory and how was it a diversion? And now what? Does the path modify? Do we reverse course? Do we veer to the left? Do we have the willingness to remember to go to the Cosmic Compass to find our bearings to determine where ‘North’ is so that we can find our way home?

No matter what phase of learning, experiencing, perfecting, revealing, healing, we may be (in).   Carry on.

Elena:    Thank you Tomas…consciously or unconsciously. [Some laughter]
TOMAS:    You are conscious, child, don’t forget that. [More laughter]
Elena:    Thank you.
TOMAS:    It is meant more as an admonition than a compliment.
Elena:    Okay. [Some more laughter]

TOMAS:    I depend on you to remain conscious of who you are in-as-much it is through you that the reality of the Divine will be revealed. Even to those who are, in fact, unconscious of how He lives and works in their Lives and that without Him they do NOT live and breathe and have their being for they are lacking the perspective that comes from having been born of the Spirit; their seed has not sprouted. They are missing the opportunity for Soul Birth -- the Conscious Awareness of Sonship. This is your garden. These are the seeds you have been given to bring forth fruit. You must not allow the comfort of the warm, damp, fertile soil to retard your efforts in Kingdom Building.

If you remember to experience with your eyes open it will be a Point of Light for you, furthering you on your course and on the course that is your allotment -- your talent -- over which you have stewardship. You are no longer here for your own amusement. You have a responsibility to Life to Fulfill Yourself. In order that your very existence gives off that which nurtures and creates an environment for others to grow. Not only in the soil but in the atmosphere where the sun (sic) is shining. Glory Hallelujah.

What a challenge you have, children, to bring the reality of God into your work place --into your environment -- without being trite or sounding like an old saw. But rather to invite the dynamic reality of the Living Presence of God into each fiber of the Material Realm. This is our task -- to infuse the Material Realm with Consciousness of the Spirit --the Divine. This is the purpose of the Teacher Corps of which I am a part, as are you. This is the Correcting Time. And this is our Destiny because of our choosing. Every decision you make is important. Every time you see someone flip a coin you have an opportunity to bring reality to that moment. Give the God within you every opportunity to express It Self. You work for It now. It provides all your needs. You have a blueprint to follow for effective living. Glory Hallelujah.

Have you questions about this process -- about this project -- or your place within it? For surely you are one of the dolphins that swim in harmony in this school -- in the Melchizedek University. (Long pause) No questions? Well-- Let us be about the Father’s business. Be on your way. Go in peace and be of good cheer. See you next week.

Group:    Thank you.

*****

DATE:       June 22, 2003
LOCATION:       Rio Rancho, NM, USA – at Myra’s house
T/R’s:            Gerdean for Tomas; Matthew for Anatolia
TEACHERS;       TOMAS and ANATOLIA
TOPICS:
Living and Doing the Father’s Will
Including the Divine in all Things
Plopping Pebbles in Life’s Pond

Q & A:       Taking our Divine Connection to Work Everyday
           In the Case of an Infant's Death

Music:        "The Light of the World is Jesus" – Elena on piano

Prayer: (Matthew)   Let’s place ourselves in the presence of Jesus, the Christ.

“Master Teacher, We come to you today with happy hearts, glad to be together and celebrating our residential reorientation to oneness and happiness, as it’s a happiness epidemic that has struck, and we are happy and glad because it makes a huge difference to be under one roof happy, and as your example of "a house divided cannot support itself", we are looking for support under those rafters, and happiness in sharing.

"With the happy, glad and beneficent heart that you have demonstrated, we join in that example and set ourselves up for the challenge of demonstrating likewise unconditional love to those whom we encounter, with the message that there is an eternal source of that love that has no beginning and is everlasting. If we can do that, we will be well on the way to accomplishing that for which you have made all humanity and creation as one.

"We ask for the Teachers who are present today to address those needs which will help us most and that I, for one, pay attention and listen, because I had to go back and read last weeks because I missed it. So I aim to pay attention and to be one with a glad heart.

"For all of the intentions of our hearts as you know them, we place them before you now, and are grateful for everything. And for any other intention that anyone wishes to say … we are grateful. Amen.”

Group:   Amen

TOMAS:    Amen! I am Tomas and how it delights us to be in your arena with you today and to share with you your experience of God-consciousness in the flesh. How mightily you will be able to support your conviction of faith in a living God by the process in which you are engaged in living. This is, as Vincent says, "Where the rubber meets the road." The theme on-going and of great interest to all of you is "Doing His Will".

How you challenge me, charming children, to respond to His will through our curriculum and with the blessing of our Prince Machiventa Melchizedek, with the sanction of Jesus, the Christ, to lecture this afternoon on the effects of ‘living’ His will as compared to, and analogous to, ‘doing’ His will as you pass by, even unconsciously, but in ways also which you have helped to co-create and be responsible for. For all of you, certainly the obvious house-hunters, are in a mindfulness to enter upon a worldly way which is also the Father’s way. For when we speak of the high nature of faith we know that the family is the bedrock; the home is the foundation of not only child rearing, but of civilization. Building. The home is the master civilizer, and so the attempt to enter upon the process of becoming a home owner is, in the divine sense, a way of assuming the responsibilities of the maintenance of civilization.

And so that value itself is inherent in doing His will. He would have no argument with your direction, and your faith in the process is noble. But here also is how you bring the Father alive, the Mother alive, and the Son alive by and through your negotiations and dealings in the experiential process of negotiating and stabilizing this reality, this relative reality base.

The seven adjutant mind spirits are the Mother’s contribution to this process, and the Spirits of Intuition, Understanding, Courage, Knowledge, Counsel, Worship and Wisdom, are all a part of the involvement -- on behalf of you, the human -- that makes the choices in your decisions regarding the worldly life that will augment the values of the universe or become lost in a miasma of confusion due to the elimination of our Father in the considerations and factors of the efforts at hand.

In order to live a life integrated with the human and the divine aspects in balance, in harmony, and appropriate to your existence, your life in the flesh, and your faith path, you would do well to counsel with your mentors in the way that we counsel in session here with all those experiential enterprises that become the arena in which you live the Father’s will in such a way that it is meaningful to other people. Let me illustrate.

When you, with your faith, walk into the arena, unconcerned about the human condition, you are "in the world but not of it" and certainly you will be blessed in your comings and goings, but you can also be taken advantage of in-as-much as your peers in the arena are not necessarily invested in the faith path and the Father’s essential reality, but rather you understand that without that essential divine connection the animal itself is in charge. It is an intelligent animal and is able to reason, is able to reason with you and indeed rationalize and justify anything. A person of faith is vulnerable here to trusting anything anyone wants to tell them because they have not counseled with their conscious connection to divinity, but have depended upon the adjutant mind spirits of the animal being to make its decisions for it. Which is, of course, how the Father operates in the lives of most people, while they remain unconscious of His … [very long pause while searching for the right word, which word does not exist in the English language] . .. power. And as you also are operating within that pattern, you have to some degree, some percentage, some point, not discussed it with the Father.

To be integrated is to weigh and factor both the human and the divine in all you do. And this is doing the will of God. Consciously. It is being mindful of every step of the way. Every decision you make, every response you give. If it is not in you to remain conscious of your contact with the divine in all you do, you are resorting to the able but incomplete perspective of the seven adjutant mind spirits. Remember that Jesus used to walk apart from his fellows in conscious communion with his Father, having in this way the value of the divine perspective. You put great faith in yourself and in your fellow human beings when you fail to counsel with Our Father or His ministers in making your way through the worldly experience.

The worldly experience is an emotional realm. And when one is accustomed to the tonal quality of the Master’s Voice through Stillness, they are not dissuaded from the divine perspective; they are not swept up in the emotional streams of life. Swept away, perhaps, albeit temporarily, by the passions of the people who are disconnected from the poise that is provided by the Prince of Peace, by the grace that cultivates in you the quality of life that goes into home-building, civilization-maintaining. And if you are going to begin building your civilization, begin now! Begin in every transaction. Every negotiation. Insist upon the divine perspective as well as the human perspective. Take counsel with the Father. Take counsel with his agents. And ask questions. Ask questions until you have found the core of the question. Ask questions until you have the answer that resonates with your integrated self. In this way you have weighed every factor and you have your path clearly laid out before you. When you walk in faith, and when you act in faith, as they say: "blind faith"… be not naïve. But be faith-filled.

Insist upon the highest standard, not only for yourself but for your fellows. For this is how you want your civilization to develop. This is the foundation of your domestic reality and the reality which resonates throughout your realm. You are the dimension of divinity that we have trained and taught, that we continue to nurture and correct and cultivate, for you now to enter into the arena of your earth origin and demonstrate the divine nature, through these encounters with the life existent on Urantia now … in order to raise it up and bring it forward into the new epoch toward light and life.

I am so proud to be your Teacher, for you take the lessons to heart, even though much of what I say and we say is only registered in your subconscious, the unconscious. It is also true that you strive to do His will and you have a certain understanding of righteousness. How I appreciate your contribution to the Supreme. And how marvelous that the effect of these causes, that come from your core reality as well as your human nature, is divine, is bringing about Heaven on Earth, is turning on the light.

I am finished. I am happy to pass the podium to my compatriot.

Matthew:    Anatolia is here.
Group:    Good.

ANATOLIA:        I am here again with you in spirit and mind, and never mind the lack of a body, because you fulfill all of the physicalness of our need to communicate. The ability to be able to communicate at this level has a great deal to do with the capability of having hearts and minds open to that which is akin to you yet not exactly of the same family. Meaning that if you view yourselves as family, which I hope you do, I am related in a detached manner in the physical way of speaking, but am yet your relative. So it is that relative difference or commonality that enables us to communicate through essentially spiritual and telepathic means. It is this means that allows us to be able to reach out and inform as well as cajole and comfort and reassure those who may yet wonder why life has no meaning, no reinforcement of other than misery, despair, fear and even treachery. These are things that are part of the human experience, but primarily from the absence of spiritual reassurance. So in one large way of speaking, you are blessed and prime suspects in the responsibility to continue the spiritual assurance that the race will prosper. For your way of prospering while you are here is to have enough, and to be enough, that your kind can continue.

And in the process you do prefer that creature comforts be provided where possible and there are relative levels or values of what creature comforts are considered necessary versus basic. These things are only to mention that those who put value upon life and determine its value based upon creature comforts, are only standing at the threshold of what is true, beautiful and good. For the message that I bring, in unison with our Teacher and Master Teacher, and all of the heavenly hosts, is to assure you that what you see, touch and feel and need, in your world, is multiplied in terms of realness in the world beyond the physical.

I assure you that what you experience in love, tenderness, care and concern, is only a fraction of that which exists with you and for you now and that you can, at least, be assured that even under the best of circumstances of what you feel and know of love is multiplied at least 14 times beyond your dimension into our own. This level of reality stretches like a ripple, like that pebble placed within a pool. The vibration of that, say, from your reality as the center of the ripple where it plopped by the pebble, reaches out to our dimensions and beyond, so this is in part what being one with all reality entails. It is at any point in time and space and beyond that the ripple is made that it echoes throughout creation. So let your pebbles be pure. Do not worry in this sense about casting your pearls before swine, rather, invest your pearls as droplets in the water of love and feel and sense the ripples reach far beyond your imagination. But as faith will have it, from our discussion of last week, know the reality of what you do, and that every good that you do reaches far beyond your current dimension into the bank of love within the Supreme Being.

This is the good news that I wish to bring you today. To allow your pond to be as mindful and eternal as you can imagine. Drop your pearls in all of your actions and you will weigh in the reaches of love far beyond your current state of mind and being. Be at one in this ripple effect and know that I for one share your joy, your delight, and your reaching ever forward into the eternal oneness. Peace be with you, and let all that you touch be in love.

Peace be with you.

Group:    Thank you.

TOMAS:    Able associate, we appreciate the chords you strum in this orchestra that lend harmony to the song I sing with our charges here in this classroom. Indeed, we provide a platform of stabilization for them. In the divine sense, we are a room in their home as they are a part of our lives. The broadcast system is also a reflection of the divine in the mortal state. That is to say you also broadcast from where you are, not only to your mortal peers but to the heavens. We are able to see the reflection of the divine through your reflection of the divine. This connects the pattern such that the Supreme is cemented, if you will. Communication is a two-way street, and while the Father speaks to the universes of time and space through his agents, His creations throughout time and space speak to Him also through their reflection of His nature. And so your reality reflects back to Paradise. Let us reflect now your perspectives to Paradise and your arena will benefit by the exchange you have and hold with Havona. How shall we proceed in our interchange today, Children? Do you have questions?

Elena:       Actually not questions, but what you said, Tomas. Last week was great! This week was -- I mean, it just hit on -- I mean, I understood it! It was just great! I just thought these were … you cast your pearls in our little pond and I’m just grateful for it. I just think today the lesson was …

I do have a question, though, as usual. I have a situation at work that will be challenging me this week, it’s to establish the evaluation criteria of one of the people who works for me. The evaluation of this particular person was a difficulty for the person who had my job before, so it will definitely be an opportunity to do that which you have charged us with. It is to go into the negotiations and situations that we encounter and try to apply what you have taught us, and so this one is a real-- I think it’s going to be one that will truly be a test of what I’ve learned, so I kind of feel like I’m ill-equipped for this one, but maybe not! Maybe your lesson today has told me I’m not as ill-equipped perhaps as I had thought before, so … any comments that you would like to make would be very appreciated.

TOMAS:   Precious student, how I admire your yearning to take our lessons to heart in your arena of operation for the betterment of humanity and yes, you are also operating in terms of the maintenance of civilization for you are extending your reality from the basic foundation, which is the home, and our consecration of will to the workplace, which is not a separate place, but which is an extension of you in your consecration of will. This enables you to be a harbinger of reality while you work His wonders in your way in your field.

I will remind you of stories you have read before, perhaps in the e-mail, about the student who had been a good student but had fallen back in promise and while the first grade report card read "Excellent," the second grade report card read "Good," the third "Average," and now in the fourth grade the child is failing. When you look at the reports of those before you, you are reading someone else’s perspective. When you take Reality into account, you look at today as today and you assess what an individual offers according to today’s qualifications, not only from the viewpoint of the material but also from the viewpoint of the spiritual.

And the story, the analogy, the good teacher discerns why it is that the individual has "deteriorated" in their quality of performance by discovering that the child’s mother in first grade was well and the family was happy. But in the second grade it was discerned that the mother was quite ill. In the third, she was suffering from advanced cancer, and in the fourth she had died, or was dying and now you see why the student has deteriorated. Because the reality of the soul has been distracted from the task at hand. Now, is the child a bad student? Or has the child merely developed poor study habits as a result of the pressures of life coming at him from another and more important reality than the work place.

This is something you want to factor in, as a possibility, and which follows the guidelines of Anatolia and my counsel today, for if you were to look at it from the perspective of the place of employment only, you would see only the record and you would not see the mitigating factors. You would not see from the divine perspective what has happened to this individual. Perhaps, if you investigate, you will discover this individual is very unhappy on the job and would far rather be doing something else, in which case it would be best for you to discuss this with the person, find out what their core reality is telling them, and help their soul expose itself to truth, rather than glossing over the real issues and only abiding by the superficial and tertiary realities of the lesser way.

Make no mistake. The place of employment is not "the lesser way" but the way in which you deal with your fellows presents an opportunity to do his will or to do the will of the way that was, which is less than the way it can be with the spirit engaged. You are called upon here to infuse the spirit into focus in whatever way is necessary for you to bring truth, beauty and goodness to the challenge at hand. Your method may be inconvenient to the existing power structure, but they have sought you out. Have they sought you out because they admire your integrity and your potential? Or have they sought you out to be a puppet for their power? Here is where Our Father’s will is called into being.

It is very easy to rationalize and justify and gloss over, and even understand (from the adjutant mind spirits), but it falls short of the real challenge of being all that you can be and encouraging your civilization factor to be all that it can be because it has the divine access. It is not yours alone. Everyone has the power of choice in and through their own integrity. Weigh the motives of your fellows. Look deep into their heart -- not to judge them, but to ascertain their motives -- and then expand upon that likely viable cause to enhance it by the addition of the divine perspective.

Now this is a challenge that Gerdean looked at also today in the history of her relationship with the realtor. It was part of Gerdean’s consciousness, albeit unconscious and subconscious, to meet her potential realtor, her agent, in these realms of which she has little knowledge and which she has chosen to depend upon the services of an agent as opposed to or compared to doing the negotiations herself. But in order to ascertain if this agent is going to actually serve her best interests and the best interests of all concerned, it was arranged that they should meet in a quiet and tranquil atmosphere, in which atmosphere it was possible for these two human beings to meet and confer as to how they would proceed.

It is good to know who you are dealing with. It is good to take that moment to ascertain who it is that you are working with, so that you can anticipate how they will behave. This is knowing people as Jesus knew people, not to judge them, but to understand how he could anticipate they would act -- just as he anticipated what Judas would do -- based on how Judas carried himself … even in the beginning. In this case, the simple fact that Gerdean exposed herself as a transmitter/receiver of celestial beings allows her to be vulnerable but also threatens her credibility because if this agent's motives were totally selfish, she would have likely either scoffed at or glossed over the outrageous statement that Gerdean made. Or, being a shrewd and capable animal in her own right, could have said, "Oh, this is going to be a piece of cake. She’ll believe anything I tell her. If she’ll listen to Nothing, she’ll certainly hear Me!" And so these possibilities are inherent in the situation of getting to the basics of the business of Human Associations.

But what will prove out both these potentials is the work of the realm wherein you will interact and ask questions. Find out from them, by their testimony, and then listen with the Spirit of Truth to determine for yourself. Let your Thought Adjuster help you ascertain, for all the right reasons, what the integrity factor of that individual is. And work with that. What you have discovered, in and through love, in and through faith, but also with your human intelligence – using the seven adjutant mind spirits to work for you and with you rather than allowing them to carry you through the human experience in blind faith of its ultimate triumph, when a little conscious effort with divinity will bring light and life to the picture.

This is what the work is. Bringing the Father alive to the world. So let’s not leave Him behind. Let’s not leave him at home, in the filing cabinet, or in the reserve, but in the walk of life you choose, moment by moment, day by day. Take time to incorporate the Father. Take time to counsel with Him on every matter along the way, as Jesus did. In this way you will not be surprised. You will have seen the end from the beginning. And you will have helped evolve humanity by the way in which you went about doing good.

Elena:       Thanks, Tomas.

TOMAS:    You have the resource, dear. You have the reserves of strength in you to hold fast to His garment. You have an eternity! They can wait. Has that sufficed?

Elena;       Oh, you betcha! Thank you very much. I appreciate it, Tomas.
Matthew:    Thank you for another good lesson.
TOMAS:    You are welcome.

Paula:       You know, before we close, I think all of us in this room has his own faith which helps us through a lot of problems. As a matter of fact, I was very fortunate because my parents had that kind of faith, and they really had to have it because when I was five weeks old, they couldn’t find any kind of formula for me and instead of gaining weight like a baby should, I was losing. Mother couldn’t nurse me; for some reason unable to give milk, and they tried those formulas and that didn’t work, so I went to the hospital and at the end of five or six weeks there they found out that I could drink goat’s milk, of all things, my father had pulled from Grand Island where they milked the dog gone goat everyday and that’s how they managed, and I blossomed! I was fine! Healthy as a little horse. And now our family has a big problem again.

My one grandson and his wife have a little boy, a darling little boy, who will be four in September, and they just had a new baby brother on May the 8th. However, he has a really big problem. He has osteomyelitis. There are two holes in the bone of his left leg, way up high (I forget what you call that bone). And they noticed it when they were changing his diapers, the right leg would kick and have a lot of fun, you know, and the left leg just laid there. So Doug called the doctor and said, "We have to come over" and he explained the problem and I guess the doctor, who was some kind of an idiot …

TOMAS:    Some kind of a what?
Paula:    Some kind of an idiot.
TOMAS:    All right.

Paula: Because he thought they were just nervous young parents. They brought the baby over and within the hour he was within the neonatal department in intensive care and he was there for a week while they worked with him, and he has this shunt up in his shoulder and they have to put the medicine in that way because you can’t make a baby swallow medicine, so it has to go in that way to the veins, so, as I say, in the hospital it was nip and tuck. Was he going to live or was he going to die? And it’s still the same way, at home. And I’m sure this must be terrible for his parents.

TOMAS:    Yes.
Paula:    Very difficult to explain to his big brother.
TOMAS:    Yes.

Paula:    But somehow, someway, we are hoping with prayers that little boy will live.

TOMAS:    Yes, indeed, you have a family situation on everyone’s hands here with the issue of life and death and the inherent responsibilities of family life, not to overlook the reality of the universal value of creating children for the Father and then running the risk of failing the task or being deprived of the rewards of creation, watching instead as your hopes and potentials are dwarfed and diminished in reality as life draws away from that which you have created to what might appear to be nothingness.

This again is a dimension wherein the Father needs to be infused into the consciousness of the players in this very real human drama. The child is such potential, as I mentioned above. It represents their family in many ways. And the human psyche will break under the strain of those circumstances which were not appropriately reinforced or been made whole by the divine Indwelling. The child is a registered personality and so it will survive, in truth, dependent upon the choices of the parents, in-as-much as the infant is still dependent on the parents, not only in the physical sense but in the soul sense. The child has not reached the age of Indwelling. It is unable to make those choices itself that will expand its soul, enhance its destiny.

In the animal kingdom, the mother dog will push the weak pup away from her breast so that it dies, but the pup does not have the potential of becoming indwelt by the spirit. It does not have the potential of an immortal soul, as does a child of man. And so the stakes are so much higher. Much of this is not understood by humanity but by which humanity will act upon nonetheless. By having an understanding of the nature of the universe and the divine love of the Father, the comprehension is inherent that should the physical vehicle fall short of the necessary requirements for development, it will not inhibit the soul from developing in its own way and time, in-as-much as there are nurseries on the first mansion world that will enable these youngsters -- pre-Thought Adjuster youngsters -- pre moral choice people -- to survive and continue their ascent to the Father in Mansonia.

Our Father is infinitely merciful, and yet the short-sighted creature sees only that their short-term dreams are smashed and they get angry at the situation when there is not much can be done about the situation, short of a miracle, which would enable the deficient child to progress. The tragedy of death in children is the human potential that is lost -- not the eternal potential, which remains! Albeit, it is still dependent on the human parent and will require the parent’s choices to be such that the unformed and undeveloped embryo of a soul is still held in sacred trust by the human parent of that potential.

But this is a belief addendum that can be added, even in the anxiety and angst of the parents and, yes, the sibling, because they are praying and they are open and they are seeking counsel and they are yearning for the divine hand to hold during this period of time which is so prominently regarded as a time of testing. But it need not be so severe a test if the facts of the Father’s love are made apparent to the souls of these parents of this potential eternal life.

They are not at fault! They are not responsible for the sins of their forefathers. They only have to deal with the results of the choices of their forefathers. And this, too, children is mota. For your choices today will influence the children of tomorrow, and what will you hand down to them as your legacy? Will they be able to look back on these times and acknowledge that they know their forebears gave truth to the Correcting Time, they influenced the course of destiny, they put God back in the lives of those they encountered because of their commitment and consecration to that truth, beauty and goodness which will be fostered forever as the reality of the divine.

This has been an abundant session! But from my perspective it is curtailed from its ultimate potential because of the constraints of your reality in terms of time and space. You have agendas, all. And life goes on. But be advised that there is much to this conversation that has not yet been unfurled, has not unfolded as it might. Even so, in faith, dear children, of your association with Our Father and all of the celestial helpers that seek to assist in your ascension, Anatolia and I will relinquish you for the day in glorious anticipation of our gathering together again next week in the eternal search for completion in an infinite and embracing experience of love enhancement for all.

We therefore take our leave, in faith of your journey. Check in with your elders as you go about your daily affairs in all you do. And if it should come to pass that in your core of being you have need to ask questions, on behalf of Machiventa Melchizedek, our head instructor, by all means, Students, ask questions. Blessings be upon you. Amen and farewell.

Group:   Thank you.

*****

DATE:       July 27, 2003
LOCATION:       Rio Rancho, NM, USA, Myra’s home
T/R:            Gerdean
TEACHERS:       TOMAS and ATHENA (A Celestial Artisan)
TOPICS:
Living Life as You Find it –
Finding Divine Pattern If Not the Teachers,
Who Will Promote Your Work?
Whose Project Are You, Anyway?
Living under the Creative Influence

Q & A:        Where Does this Creativeness Come From?
           The New Phase Is a "We" Kind of Thing

TOMAS:    I am Tomas, with the regular entourage of celestial associates. And we are not so far removed from you as to overlook the undertaking of the fellows in your group not in attendance today … in a material sense, but very much a part of our community in a spiritual sense. We are mindful of the necessity to Live the Life as You Find it. And thus we honor the details of the human life, such as relocating from one residence to another -- much like relocating from one Universe to another is a part of the Overall Pattern of Possibility and Design in the Universe. These accepted changes are ways in which our thriving Community of Consciousness in the universe operates.

It is always a joy to hear you relate your stories, your exchanges, for in this we find a reflection of the Divine -- even in your most material perspective. Your anecdotes are often filled with depictions of scenes from life, or portrayals of symbols of these depictions. Like the "Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" (which Men-o-pah had recited spontaneously prior to opening our session) or the propensity to lay awake all night rearranging furniture in your new house (which Janet and Gerdean had talked about prior to the session). These also have -- and demonstrate -- a reflection of how the Industry of an Evolving World functions.

In-as-much as Change is everywhere -- not only in your life but throughout the Universe -- it is no wonder then that the Celestial Artisans are so much a part of the furtherance of Creation and that their sometimes Symbols of Universe Pattern wind they way into ways in which you are able to better understand the Divine Nature. The nature of our configuration today, and this moment in time and eternity, calls forth a friend many of you have known, some of whom have worked with: Athena, a Celestial Artisan, and I will let her prevail. With that introduction now, I will take my leave and the next voice you hear will be that of Athena.

ATHENA:    Gracious listeners, good afternoon. How wonderful it is for me to have an opportunity to be a featured guest with you today. I am hoping, by my visit, to reveal some elements of Truth, Beauty and Goodness that you would not find coming from your Group Teacher, for that is also a part of the make up of the Universe, that individual orders of beings have fairly well-designed avenues of operation, and by and large we stay within our "job description."

An Artisan, however, is not completely limited, and so within the framework of Artisanry we are quite able to extend our skills into all manner of projects and undertakings that are brought into being or conceived as prospective Creation because the "gods" have always been interested in the mortal outpouring. In fact, if and when possible, your work makes far greater an impression than the work of the ‘gods’ themselves, which work is often overlooked or regarded as out-of-reach, but if you have an idea or a concept and if you have carried this through to fruition -- be it an invention, a premise, a concept or whatever -- it is more likely to have an impact on your world.

Midwayers have long worked with human beings who have sought to uplift the mortal plight, and many Midwayers as well as Artisans have had an opportunity to work with the more earnest individuals in keeping with the fundamental Universe Laws, such as were taught by Jesus, which would be such things as "seek and ye shall find," for those of you who ‘seek’ to better the world, or your standing in the world, are assisted by Universe Forces.

There has been conversation of late as to why the Teachers have not promoted the projects of the Students of the Teaching Mission. It is because that is not their job. The idea might be compared to your understanding of Nepotism, it would seem, if your Teacher were publicly sanctioning your individual Service Projects. It could be construed as making ‘brownie points’ with the Teacher or showing favoritism to the Student. And so, by-and-large, the Teachers stay removed from the individual projects of their upcoming and adventurous students.

But the Midwayers, on the other hand, are concerned about individual involvement and we Artisans are also very much engaged in assisting you who have attained a degree of focus and compatibility to the yearnings of Spirit. We can assist. We can oblige the Creative Spirit. There are several … many … Artisans at work in your ranks even now. Jared, known to you as Hal, has been working with an Artisan for many years. Gerdean also has been working with me for many years. But for the most part mortals are not aware that they are working with an Artisan. They are only working from their "soul" -- from their Creative Core -- and the reflection of Spirit Reality is often only seen in retrospect.

Whereas the Truth of this matter could be much more readily portrayed as: You are our project.

The Spirit Reality you see being projected in your realm is, of course, the Product of Spirit. But to the extent that Your Spirit is able to operate, you are bringing about the Creative Reflections of Divinity … many of which can be realized as products of Artisanry, Celestial Artisanry. Thus, when you stay awake late at night thinking about how to arrange your home, you are in the Realm of Artisanry and you are influenced by the Divine, in-as-much as it is your Creative Desire to Portray Perfection. When you ‘seek’ to portray perfection you are under the influence of Celestial Artisans.

Thus it delights me to say "The Zooid Mission" is my mission. And I say that not so that you will suddenly feel as if it is ‘spiritually sanctioned’ (which it is), but because you will understand that we DO in fact work with you on these projects. And while the Teachers may not discuss your individual works, we are not disinclined to do so. We are interested in seeing your Creative Work come into being, and we are also interested in working with the Midwayers who can help bring about the actual material reality of those concepts … which we conceive through the Spirit together.

We are all in this in order to do the bidding of the Creator who is doing his work toward bringing his realm, His Creation of Nebadon, into the Perfection Attainment that all Creator Sons aspire to bring to their World, in order for the Father of us all, the Universal Father, to be Absolute in His ambition to extend Himself and be Realized by His Creation throughout Infinity. And while we may not see from our perspective the extent that Infinity reaches, we can certainly respond to that Omniscience which is part of Creation, which we are a part of also. And so all of this is in keeping with His Will.

I want to commend the transmission of the Magisterial Son from the Elyon Community recently, which provides enough allusion to the Divine Plan for you to begin to perceive the advancement of your world into the Constellation and beyond. It is a massive undertaking, and when you, as individuals, become snagged on your tendency to proceed with the mortal viewpoint, we are amused. But while it is the part of the process of evolution and growth, it is also one of those phases of growth which will pass as you become more mindful of the Pattern of Paradise … which is to reach down in order to assist those who are in route to perfection. Thus, we all reach down to you and we all assist you – yet in different ways.

The Celestial Artisans are in such a wonderful position to put your concepts into word symbols and visualizations -- not because they are the End Truth but because the very desire to bring these realities into being is the way the Father plows his fields: the I AM enters into you and you conceive. By realizing your conception, you plow your field of endeavor and plant the seed of your creation. The fruit of your labors will bring about eventual Light and Life on your world and on worlds to come. Individual efforts are to be commended and celebrated as courageous undertakings and when they are aborted or eliminated these creative ideas, like any reality, are assimilated into the Greater Reality and made a part of the whole. Thus, no good idea is lost. No great concept, no matter how humble, is left behind.

There is so much that goes into your composition, … you, as human beings. Much of which is still misunderstood, even by yourselves. This, of course, is why the Teachers are encouraging you to know yourself and to love yourself as Sons of God while remaining sons of men. There are so many perspectives for you to choose from. The Heart has a point of view. The Mind has a point of view. The Soul has a point of view. These are constantly being juxtaposed and seen against the collage of opinions, beliefs and attitudes of those hearts, minds and souls around you, and always are these states of being in a changing format. Some change more slowly, some change more quickly, but there is nothing static in the Living Universe. And so there is constant adaptation.

There are so many things that I would like to say … about Artistry and about Nature -- especially as it applies to you who are creative. There is nothing more rewarding for the creator than to have his or her work acknowledged. The work is the symbolized expression of the Reality of the creator. And in the course of eternity, the Symbolized Reality will bring about Ultimate Reality. These creative works will Reality-ize your world, whether the original mortal being is still around to see the end result or not.

Thus, to be creative is to sacrifice the human will for the Divine Will. And while it may appear that the human creator is propounding his works as Supreme Reality, it is the gem seed of the Creator inherent therein that will live well beyond that mortal who planted the seed. And, thus, the seasons continue -- one after the other. The seed is planted in the early Spring, reaches for the sun, grows and dreams eventually to be harvested, its stalks left to die in order to fertilize the soil for next spring’s planting. Such is the way of Life.

The world as you know it is a creative process. The transmissions that you read and revere are filled with the Artisanry of the Creative Nature of the Teachers and through the Creative Natures of the Transmitters because of the Creative Natures of your groups themselves and the individuals who comprise the listeners -- all of this in gracious acknowledgment of the seeds of the I AM which God himself has planted in His universe into the fields in which we, as His fruit, prosper.

Thank you for your attention to my words. I am very grateful for the opportunity to be among you and to share with you the nature of Celestial Artisans. We wish you well in your wonderful Teaching Mission, which is another creation born and bred by will to do His will. Farewell.

TOMAS:    This is Tomas, I will not follow up with another lesson but open to you who are in attendance for your involvement. The floor is open.

Myra:        Is the creativeness you speak of coming from within a person or is it inspired -- coming from without?

TOMAS:    You could replace the word Life and discern that without Life there is no Life -- without Creation there is no Creation. God, Himself, has invested Himself in you and given you the opportunity to grow in His Nature -- including His Creative Nature.

Thus, what you create (and in your case, you create as a teacher –primarily) you create by impressing the minds of your students within a certain framework of instruction, and yet outside the rigors of the material by an overlay of emotion and Spirit Reality which also Teaches. To the extent that you invest your students and your creation (your classroom), your teaching experience, with the Spirit … with the Symbol of Eternity and Reality … you are also investing in Your Creation that which has been given to you by God, Himself.

You cannot give Life unless you are alive. You cannot teach unless you have something to teach. And so to the extent that you are fulfilled in yourself you are able to pass that on. If it is simply facts or temporal reality, it will not have the same impression as that which is able to Eternalize. Many teach only that which is essential to maintaining the material world and that, too, is important. [But] those of you who go beyond the facts of the matter to the Creative Heart of the matter add new dimensions to Life.

You need not worry that you are not fulfilling your destiny when you apply yourself to your work in the field, for you are a robust personality, Myra. Certainly fruit of the vine. Let your mind wander. Let your imagination soar. Let your Soul carry you into new realms of perception. Let yourself freely float through the ethers of Creation in order to light upon that concept which the Divine would plant within your fertile mind. Then embrace that seed. And as you nurture it -- give it Living Water and Eternal Son [sic] -- it will come alive. [It will] develop its own integrity and become a Creative Symbol of the Reality that you acknowledged in allowing the seed of your mind to be brought forth for all to see. Just as the Father has allowed the concept of the I AM to be brought into being throughout the Universes of Time and Space. In terms of eternity, my child, you will become more and more like God and you will know what it is to create and attain sovereignty over that which you have created, for the honor and glory of the Creator of Creation itself. I say this to you because I know that you are interested in Love and Joy and Peace and Harmony. I know that you are not going to create destruction or divisiveness. In the Kingdom of God such attitudes are not fostered; they are left to wither and die as weeds along the wayside.

Yes, Gerdean, I am not forgetting your homework. I asked you last week to formulate, for the group, your concerns so as to share with others your growth. Perhaps you can tell us now, have you done your homework and have you prepared, for the group, the question of your heart?

Gerdean:    I don’t have a question of the heart, Tomas. I looked at it long and hard and I abandoned it. But it was about the Light and Life Center. I thought that by moving out here to Rio Rancho I was moving away from a ‘seed’ that was very dear to my heart and that I wanted to plant very much. But I knew from the beginning that it was something that I couldn’t do by myself, and so nothing is lost; I’ve just gained a nice house and a wonderful community. But I gained some insight about my concern, about what was bothering me by looking at it. For one thing I thought that my husband was opposed to my Creative Nature and I came to recognize that that was my imagination. I also realized that the Idea of Community is coming to pass. It is coming into being -- not just the community that I’ve become a part of here, but in the overall.

The Idea of Community is a natural evolutionary stage that we are entering into now. And that was very evident in the Conference and in the subsequent conversations we’ve been having on TML about things ‘we’ want to do together. It’s not so much ‘me’ now doing something. The shift really has changed to WE doing something. So it’s really unfolding before our very eyes that these Ideas that mean so much to us individually --these Seeds that we want to plant -- are also seeds that are being implanted in other people. And so I think we are seeing a very real unfolding of a New Phase of the Mission. At least that’s how I perceive it.

At any rate my Soul is not unhappy. My Heart was unhappy -- but it’s not unhappy now. And my Mind is not unhappy either because I’ve been able to think it through and I’ve come up with intelligent reasons for why my Heart was troubled. And so I guess I’m a happy camper.

But I do appreciate being challenged to think about what was bothering me in such a way as to come to some kind of resolution about it. Or should I say ‘revelation’ about it? Because really, when it comes right down to it, the Father’s Will, will be done and whether that’s at that particular location (the Lomas street location), which I recognize as a "symbol" -- or whether that’ll be done in a different building or in a different community or in a different way entirely, is all fine and dandy. The fact is that it will be done. And that’s the main thing. And I’m a part of that. And so I’m not being left out and nobody else is either. So as usual -- Father Knows Best and it’s just an incredible learning experience.

So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Of course, I’m always interested in hearing what counsel you may have, Tomas.

TOMAS:    I appreciate your recitation, Gerdean, and the details of your concerns, but I appreciate even more that you have recognized that the human condition presents many sides to the story and when you are able to identify the various contingencies that go into the human composition and can identify the different areas that sometimes struggle against each other, you are eventually led to the Spirit of Truth which allows Reality to prevail. That brings the Peace which passes all understanding.

This is good work on your part, and I have little counsel to add. But I can certainly contribute to your self-revelation and point out that indeed, this is what the Magisterial Son will help bring about: the phase of Universe Growth on Urantia that begins to think in terms of the Family of Man as an organism and a society of those who forge ahead to bring about the Greater Reality -- a "we" thing, indeed.

You are not incorrect to follow the yearnings of your Soul and they apparently are to converge with other Souls to Create a momentum that will expand the growth of the Evolving Supreme. This is truly the Heart of the message from the Artisan. The Soul is compelled to reveal its Source and to Glory in recognition of its Source, even when its Source is seen in other people. This is True Community. This is Light and Life. That any and all of you want to Create Light and Life -- and to get there on the Love Bus -- is perfectly understandable to those, your Elders, who look upon your efforts and smile at your youthful enthusiasm and your young Ideals.

Rest assured, beloved students, we will remain with you through the pangs of growth which follow your childlike glee into the fields wherein your Ideas and the Ideals of the Father can be Realized. Anything further?

Paula:    Can’t think of a thing. It was a very good lesson.

TOMAS:    I am glad you feel replete, my child. We will know more of this sense of satisfaction in time to come as we begin to perceive what opportunities await within the realm of influence we share. What else? [Long pause] Then let us be on our way.

Group:    Thank you, Tomas.

TOMAS:    We will see you next week. Anatolia and I, as well as all your heavenly helpers in attendance and in interest, embrace you in the Spirit and bestow upon you the blessings of the Creator to strew among the rocks and fissures of Urantia in hope of Fruitful gain, tomorrow and beyond. Amen and farewell.

*****

DATE:       August 3, 2003
LOCATION:       Rio Rancho, NM USA - at Mathew and Elena's new home
T/R's:            Gerdean for Tomas; Matthew for Anatolia
TEACHERS:    TOMAS and ANATOLIA
TOPICS:
In the Midnight Moment
Difficulties, Opportunities, Challenges and Gifts

Q & A:        If I get there before you…..? Welcome to Mansonia

Music:        "Tis Midnight" - piano solo by Elena.

Prayer: (Matthew)    Let's place ourselves in the presence of Jesus, the Christ.

“Master Teacher, We welcome you to our presence -- as we are always in your presence, but we may not always be conscious of that -- and welcome you to the invitation of 'where two or more are gathered' you are here.

"We are most grateful for this opportunity to be able to share every Sunday with you and with your Teachers that bring us to Higher Truth and better awareness of who we are and that Life does not need to be difficult because it is really simple -- in terms of Love being the message and being the goal.

"We are very grateful for the message that has been delivered and that we are a part of it: that we are loved as you are loved, and the Father who made All is Love. For this we are eternally grateful.

"I add a personal note for the anniversary of my brother's passing away -- Greg -- last year at this time, and trust that he is with you and in great glee over the happiness that he now deserves and which you promised each and every one of us both here and hereafter, that it's not merely an installment program.

"For all that is in our hearts and the needs that each of us knows and feels for ourselves and others … we place before you and before our heavenly Father and all Deity. We celebrate and are glad, for we are one with you -- now and always. And we welcome this lesson today. Amen.”

Group:    Amen

TOMAS:    Good afternoon, precious flock. Anatolia and I embrace you and welcome you again into the embrace of the Universe -- the Cosmic Contact with neighbors in the Spirit Family.

What an abundance of Joy we have today in your gathering -- this culmination of many life decisions that have brought this man and this woman to their hearth, in which they delight to share themselves, their love and their faith with those of you. And with us! who conjoin with them in the celebration of the Gifts of the Spirit. [Long pause]

I pause for a moment at midnight reflecting on your selection of music today, Elena, and wonder at the choice: the attitude that is so reflective of the Inner Life of the Faith Son -- the quiet time of day that invites reflection -- and reflectivation -- on the affairs of your existence -- be they personal, societal, global or cosmic in extent. It is a time of quietude and sanctity -- at that instant in your daily life that marks the close of one day and the opening of another day-in-the-life of you creatures of time and space.

The reflections that rise up in the conscious mind at midnight are often an odd, and yet poignant and creative, upsurge of subconscious longings and fears enmeshed with super-conscious yearnings and faith to create such a tapestry as this -- your life moment. The midnight hour is always filled with human pondering, not excluding the fearsome ponderings of the individual who is alone or the individual who contemplates death, or loss of life and loved ones.

And yet, still, at this very hour of the clock striking twelve, the resurrection emerges in the final chime that earmarks a new tomorrow, a resurrection, faith of a new dawning, because of the constancy of the universe. Whether or not and to the extent that Consciousness of the Divine may enter into that state of consciousness, it is nonetheless a Moment in Time that is replete with the Human Condition.

And so we pause at the final gong of the twelfth hour and meet the New Day. And the New Day is a cheerful and sunny depiction of Light and Life in the home and heart of our friends and family.

My lesson today is set aside -- adapting to the circumstances of Life as I find it … as it is incumbent upon you to also adapt -- at a moment's notice -- to Life as you find it. For in this Fluid state of Acceptance of what Life has to offer, there are those exercises in expanding God-consciousness that give meat to your efforts.

Thus, I will ask for Anatolia to present her portion of the program. But before I relinquish the microphone, and in acknowledgment of Free Will, I am not intending to direct the show but to be, yes, efficacious in our delivery of that which longs to be revealed. Anatolia, if you would, proceed.

ANATOLIA:        Welcome, all, to this New Abode which bodes well for the Lightness that is in each of your hearts, as we observe today your attitudes of graciousness and appreciation for the things that are important in life and not just the trimmings or trappings. This is important as you begin to wander off into your introspective directions of Truth-Seeking.

Let me not waste a moment to also welcome Renault, for her trip here is not an easy accomplishment, necessarily, and depicts the dedication which she, too, shares with the Teaching Mission and with all of you as well. You are One Unit, as much as petals on a flower make a Unit of gracious and loving Beauty. It is my pleasure to be with you in this realm which offers all of us the opportunity to welcome Newness and Life wherever it is demonstrated.

This is a New Day, for which Tomas spoke in the beginning, relative to Elena's choice in music. Speaking of New Days, each one -- as you become aware -- is beset with challenges and opportunities. And not just thinking in terms of beneficial or positive ways of thinking. Each opportunity that presents itself -- whether a challenge or whether a gift -- is an opportunity to accept that which is presented.

Let us say that the day, as it begins, would bring you some unbeknownst difficulty that in its most positive framework would be presented as a challenge. If that is the case, what would that challenge represent? It would represent the opportunity to meet and greet and to bless the occasion and to enable the best outcome to result. In other words, a simple example would be -- especially on a Sunday morning when one certainly does not expect difficulty because of the innate nature of a Sunday morning, which is worshipful, restful and peaceful by its nature and design -- let us say on such a Sunday morning you are greeted by a baseball flying through one of your windows. This would certainly create a rude awakening to your otherwise peaceful scene. The challenge of this opportunity for graciousness is not to be Pollyanna and to simply say, "Oh isn't baseball a wonderful game?" but rather, to rise to the occasion to say, "What must we and can we do to not curse the darkness but to bring Light upon this occasion?"

One can choose whatever their reaction will be. It can be one of immediate and intense agitation and looking for the culprit that caused an invasion of your privacy and peaceful mindset. This is not the preferred choice but one in which most people would respond. I encourage you to seek out the best in all situations, not because it is the right thing to do but because you are Forces of Light. What more can you do but to face the situation with integrity! -- which is to present the same Light that you do during a moment of Joy -- to also present that same Light upon a moment of discouragement? For both are the same opportunities. Both exist within the Light, and it is your opportunity to share that which you have and to not keep it from a moment where it is needed most.

So, I encourage you not to turn off your emotions but rather to fine tune them, to be able to rise to the occasion of Light meets Light. Light is needed where there is darkness. Light is welcome where there is Light to be able to expand and enhance Its presence. I simply encourage you to be that which you are: Emissaries and Light Bearers of Goodness, Truth and Beauty. This is your charge -- not because I say so, but because IT IS OUR charge, as Beings of Creation, to be continuations of the Light we have been given.

We are the Light, after all, and if we do not pass that on, we are denying the world and the cosmos our version of what will make it better.

I encourage each of you to continue to grow -- to seek within that which is your part of the Reality that we call Life, and to cherish the opportunity to be part of this which we share jointly … much as the petals on a flower. I welcome you and ask you to "scoot over" so I can add my petal to yours as we stand waiting the smile of our Heavenly Parents to allow us to continue to grow and to be the aromatic gift that we are.

Peace be with you and know that you are Loved and Love -- at the same time. May all be well, and I love you dearly. Until we meet again. Amen.

Group:    Amen. Thank you.

TOMAS:    You will appreciate the choice of words then, when I, Tomas, suggest now we engage in intercourse. Are there questions?

Group:    {Much laughter]
Elena:    Well, for once I don't have a question.

Renault:    Is there a way to let Dotty know we wish her well and know that she's doing well and onto other things by graduating? (Dotty is a long time friend of Renault's mother, who recently left this realm.)

TOMAS:   It is inherent in the resurrection, our understanding of a support system of those who love her: those in the flesh and those who have 'met' her in her new form. The first few days of adjustment to the Morontia Life is a flurry of New activity and meeting New personalities -- being reunited with friends and family who preceded the Traveler. And there is, of course, somewhere in the musings of their Midnight Moment that they think about those they've left behind.

But, by this point they have such a New perspective on the dimensions of Reality that these understandings are inherent. Dotty knows you love her -- knows you have always loved her -- knows that you are happy for her transition and that any sadness you feel on account of her passing, is a natural part of the grieving process and that the bond between you will never fail.

Thus, I might venture to say that the spirit of your departed friend longs to comfort you in your concern for her, which should give you an idea of how well she is doing … and will continue to do well with the New Paradigm of Reality which is being presented to her in this dawning of her New Day on Mansonia.

Yes, Renault, she appreciates your sympathies. I can say this as a result of having had the experience myself -- not because I have personally checked in on Dotty and asked her about her experience, but perhaps this will suffice in-so-far as giving you peace of mind in knowing that your friend knows that you miss her already and is happy for her glorified state.

In keeping, now, with Dotty's inherent, innate concern for you, are you OK?

Renault:    Sure. A few aches and pains but I'm okay with it all.

TOMAS:    Are you making reference to emotional or physical or mental aches and pains?

Renault:    Physical.

TOMAS:    In this I would suspect Dotty would also offer her condolences to you for the loss of comfort sustained by her passing. But this is done with good humor and good cheer. This, too, shall pass. Are there other questions?

Esmeralda:    Tomas, I'm curious about something, since Renault mentioned the passing of a loved one, my brother Jared told me that Daddy was sleeping until the next great awakening.

TOMAS:    Let me stop you for a moment, Esmeralda, to repeat for clarification what you have said. You have said you are curious, because your brother has been told his father, your father, who has passed over, is sleeping -- yes, continue.

Esmeralda:    And that -- I can't remember if he said it was Ham or who it was that said it, but also in my mother's passing, she chose to be asleep with my father until they were both awakened.

What I'm curious about is that when I get to the mansion world -- you said we are greeted by our loved ones and those who have gone before -- if both of my parents are still sleeping -- will I be able to be welcomed by them -- since they are sleeping?

TOMAS:    And your question, then, is (to repeat for the transcriber) that if your parents are both asleep awaiting the new dispensational roll call, and if you should resurrect and advance to Mansonia before them, will they be there to greet you?

Esmeralda:    That's correct.

TOMAS:    No. This is, however, one of the conditions of advanced growth. It might seem unfair that you would not be met by your parents who preceded you, but consider … if you are more spiritually astute and more ready to pursue your Spirit Journey … that you to be there when they are awakened.

The configuration of Life as you know it is not necessarily the same configuration you will find after your death and resurrection. There will be so many things New. There is a real problem directing your consciousness to how different it will be because you haven't been there and you continue to take your Mortal concepts into your perception of what Life will be like on the First Mansion world.

But remember, like the angels, men and women are not given in marriage beyond the Life in the flesh. And there is, in Truth, no reason for your native nuclear family to be in attendance in order for you to recognize MORE intimate associates in Spirit Reality -- that being your own Thought Adjuster, who is your Father -- and your Guardian Seraphim, who is in many ways your Mother. These elements of Divinity are your True Parents and they will surely greet you.

But for the human psyche, these entities are most often represented by that which the human mind already understands. This is why the legends reveal the loved ones as being literal. They may or may not be literal. And at some point during your readjustment to your New Life, you will indeed have occasion to reunite with their personalities, and the remembrance of whether you had been related in the flesh may or may not remain valuable - for what is of True Value is that which has lasting value, and families are a product of the material worlds. They come into being not only to maintain civilization but to propagate the race. And you don't need to propagate in Heaven. Nor do you need to acknowledge the Maternity and Paternity of those who gave you human Life. But, as you acknowledge and recognize their Personality, you will see the Father reflected in them and the Mother reflected in them such that you will see Who they Truly are. And that may or may not relate to how you know them now, as humans.

I tell you this fully understanding that there are many who will discard these words completely, in-as-much as they are not compatible with the human emotional tract. It is very much like -- Again, I will be booed and hissed! -- It is very much like those who will not go to heaven unless their pet is there as well.

Group:    [Some group laughter]
Elena:    Well, there's a substantial group of those.

TOMAS:    This is understood. But I am not here to pacify you. I am here to teach you. And if no students come back next year I will have learned my lesson. [More group laughter] But if the ones who do come back are eager to know Real Truth, rather than what they want to hear, I'll know I'll have done a good job as a Teacher.

Esmeralda:    I think you do a very good job, and your message and your answer to my question is comforting, and I think whatever the situation is when we get to the mansion world, it will be joyous.

TOMAS:    I certainly found it so. Incidentally, my mate preceded me in death but we were fortunate to have been resurrected at the same time. And so as we made ourselves at home in our New Realm it was simply a matter of time before we recognized one another, greeted one another in the Spirit, and resumed our journeys as friends and as siblings … but no longer as husband and wife.

Paula:    Well, all of this doesn't make me a bit happy 'cause I'm old and haven't got a long time to live and when I get up there, I want it to be just the way I always figured it would be! I'll see my father and mother and all the rest of the family and I'm going to have a great time up there!

TOMAS:    But you misunderstand my words to you, child. I am not taking away from you your beliefs. You are surely right. When you arrive you will see your Parents as you perceive them. You will be given that which is needful for you. And if you need your parents to greet you, and if it is His will that your will be done, it will be so. But I will insist upon my statement that how you will be aided in your ascent, and in relinquishing this Life in order to embrace the Next, when you in fact are resurrected you will be SO embraced by the Spirit you will KNOW that you are HOME. And that is all I'll say on the matter at this time.

Group:    [Chuckles]

Paula:    And now I feel a little bit better. [More chuckles] I'm not anxious to get up there you understand. I'm having a great time right here!

TOMAS:    I am glad to hear that, because we have an entire community to develop here, and you are certainly a part of our community. I say that not lightly because our conversation began a while back about the Garden of Eden, and how it is that each of you are creating your own Garden of Eden. These are not individual only. They are a part of the Community Concept. And so your quarter of the Village that we are creating in Light and Life among us is an essential element of the Reality that is unfolding in this Teacher Base.

This Teacher Base extends beyond you individuals within it. It is a Point of Light for the Great Southwest! And when others are drawn to this area, it would be good if they were drawn eventually into the Light and as Light from the Divinely guided -- to the Garden of Eden that you have created. The new community is composed of you -- the individuals in the community -- you who reflect the Divine. You who reflect the values that are inherent in the Divine, along with us, are a reflection of Light and Life -- Heaven on Earth. Your attitudes towards one another will show forth "and they will know that you have been with" the Master, that you have learned to love the Father, that you have been nurtured by the Mother, that you are happy siblings in the Family of God.

This success story that you are is not exclusively for your happiness but for the purpose of the Divine. If you would look at the circumstances that have brought you all here -- even today -- you will each see that you have been Divinely guided to this very spot. To this very moment. To this very Midnight Moment. So as we pause here to reflect and reflectivate, the Next Instant begins a New Day, a New Dispensation, a New Era. And it is one in which we will rejoice in the Family of Man together with the Family of God.

It all sounds very lofty and poetic, I know. But it is essential to the advancement of your world that you become attractive, you see. Not because, as Anatolia said, not because of your trappings, but because you represent to their minds that which is truly worthy of attaining. It may be perceived as a nice house with nice things, but it is far more than that. It is far more than the superficial material presentation.

It is, in truth, the spirit behind the depiction that is at the Heart of who you are and what you are saying to those who pass by you. If you can be one of those people who represent Truth, Beauty and Goodness in such a way as other people will look at you and say, "I don't know what it is about them but I want what they've got," it will have provided a beacon that will indeed allure and entice others to find you and your community will begin to be of service to the Universe -- beginning here in Rio Rancho. And I say that because this is where I am assigned. It is also the case in other Teacher Bases and in other communities throughout the world where individuals gather together to be all that they can be and reflect back Divine Value in all they do. And this is how we will attain Light and Life. This is how we will sooth the savage beast and bring about the peace which passes all understanding. It is that reflection and reflectivation at Midnight --- the stilling of the heart and mind to ponder that which rises up and reaches up and reaches out to glean greater understanding of the purpose of Life and the fulfillment of your place within it.

How odd we should talk about Midnight when the sun is high in the sky and the Light is dazzling. Perhaps it is one of those issues of contrast that enables one to see more clearly the yin and yang of reality. Are there other questions?

Paula:    I will keep my mouth shut. [Group chuckles]
TOMAS:    Then let us be on our way. Be of good cheer. See you next week.
Group:    Thank you, Tomas.

*****

DATE:       August 10, 2003
LOCATION:       Rio Rancho, NM USA, Esmeralda’s home
T/R’s:            Gerdean for Tomas; Matthew for Anatolia
TEACHERS:    TOMAS and ANATOLIA
TOPICS:
The Unification of Souls on Purpose
Our Purpose, Your Purpose and Other Purposes
The Temporal and Finite; the Invisible and Infinite
Being Spiritually Ready
Discussion: The difference between Personal & Public Ministry

Music:        "Here I Am" – Piano solo, Elena

Prayer:   (Matthew) [prayer joined in progress as the recording device was not in the correct mode to record the beginning of the prayer]

“…what we have is the moment and the hope and expectation that you are with us every moment -- even when we are not familiar, aware or conscious of your presence or our presence before you, always. For that we seek enlightenment and encouragement that all is well and we have nothing to fear.

"We pray that the teachers today will bring messages that will be beneficial and that aid our growth and development which logic and everything else defines -- what else would it be but that? But for our comprehension and our growth as a result, we place ourselves before you and our Heavenly Father and Heavenly Parents, now and always.

"For the concerns in our hearts that are spoken or unspoken we place those with you now as well.

"In appreciation forever, we are forever one. Amen.”

Gerdean:    Tomas is here.
Group:    Greetings. Hi, Tomas.
TOMAS:    Good afternoon, my dear friends.

I am quite enthused about our gathering today, as I am every week, and as you are developing a yearning to respond to the Divine, which now you know permeates and personalizes throughout Infinity. Within you lies the Infinite, even as you -- the mortal -- are Finite. The resolution of those two formidable Realities constitutes your Reality as a Living Soul ready to participate in the affairs of your assignment.

You have with you -- surrounding you and in you -- underneath you and over you -- the blessed Trinity in one representation or another. But your willingness to grow along the lines of the assimilation of the Reality that Indwells you and the Reality that you are co-creating is an Invisible and Invincible part of Creation. Yes, thus, as I see you go about your lives in good cheer and spreading the Love of Divinity to those you meet in your lives is enough to render me enthusiastic about our work and about our future.

But this is Faith! As we sit here in company this afternoon, we are gathered in Faith. Can we feel the Faith that is palpable between us, among us? Can we feel the atmosphere of the Celestial Kingdom? This Divine fellowship is your Supernal Destiny in the Infinite sense and the Assignment in a Finite sense. For we will bring about Light and Life one day for all Urantia, as you are experiencing and enjoying its nature -- today.

As you bond together as family, you sustain each other’s Faith Path -- not from a meek need to lean on your fellows, but to stalwartly stand strong next to one another. Each of you carry your task of Soul Survival into the Union of Souls. And this effort is for the Supreme. The Supreme becomes Realized as an Effect from the Cause that we put in motion by our combined Divine will to see His will manifest in all things, in all matters and in every manner.

You are a fortress. Within yourself you are a fortress. In your core resides the Divine, and you reach inward and upward to ascertain your Path -- that which it feels for you. This is foremost for your Reality. And you also as a group are a formidable force. For when the time comes -- and when you have all performed according to Divine will -- following Divine Pattern -- undertake together a function, an organization, a service, a project or a worship, you will be more effective because of your Joint Consecration to having His will be done. This is Community. This is the Fellowship of men and women which will lead the way into Light and Life. This is our Assignment.

And it gives me great joy to perceive you living out your Assignments, but I want to point out to you that there are ‘Other’ Assignments. There are ‘Other’ Paths which are formulated and have been created by Deity and that have Other purposes and Other worlds and Other Assignments -- depending upon the circumstances of Universe development which is necessary and available to be done and called into being for That Purpose and for That Period of Time of Reality Development that contributes also to the Evolving Supreme in these many worlds of Time and Space, in these many facets of Universe Discovery. The Hand of God is at work.

This will give you Peace, to know that while you know everything you need to know Infinitely, it is a part of your Eternal Career to always find and discover that which is Different from you -- redeemed and beloved. Such is the Family of Man and the nature of the Worlds of Time and Space. Such individuality of Purpose also manifests in the Invisible Realms of all the seven superuniverses, and not excluding Havona -- even Paradise -- defies definition for its different Facets of Reality.

And so you are invited to avow a Loyalty to the Divine which transcends your Cultural Perspective, thus leaving the door open to learn to love yet more about our Source as we advance into Perfection.

The establishment of these Individual reflections of the First Garden of Eden is essentially a striving to attain the Perfection of Edentia, your Constellation Capitol. And so, even while each of your Gardens are Temporal and Finite, they also reflect the ideal of the Invisible and the Infinite. This balance is a State of Grace, indeed. And we are joyed to observe your attainment and the subsequent effects -- which is a furtherance of the Reality of God through the Mortal Brotherhood of Man.

I’ve concluded my remarks from the podium. I relinquish the floor.

Matthew:        Anatolia is here.

ANATOLIA:        Welcome, all, this fine Sunday -- one in which, some of you anyway, have reason to celebrate … a near torrential rain, yesterday -- which, whenever it occurs in the desert, is most welcome and certainly needed. This is what it’s like in terms of bringing Good News to those who wait, those who are eager to learn, as the Soul seeks nourishment and thirsts for righteousness, as your desert conditions so ably demonstrate. That without the Kinder side of Life -- as rain demonstrates -- Life can be harsh, severe and certainly without encouragement or nurturing.

This one of the lessons for today in terms of being Spiritually Ready. When the time arrives for those who are seeking Truth and wish to demonstrate Goodness and are dedicated to being, sharing and seeking Love -- we benefit by being mindful of what is happening and why. Much can be gained from the experiences that Life has to offer. And if you are paying attention you will most likely be able to derive the message that is intended to be directly given as well as the more subtle messages which may appear immediately -- if not later, upon hindsight.

What I’m speaking of is much like your desert conditions. Your life here in the mortal state is somewhat similar and often, without rhyme of reason, Time, Circumstance or Opportunity lend themselves to your ordinary experience as Extraordinary influences and encouragement upon your everyday life. Much like the rain when it is needed -- long overdue and very much appreciated -- these New Opportunities, Insights and Gifts to the Spirit are just that -- brought to you when it is necessary, helpful and most of all Life-saving and reorienting.

What I am talking about is that Life, if you are Living it, lends itself to Growth, lends itself to New Experience, and lends itself to Opportunity -- while being awaited, Arrives when it is Most Necessary. So whenever you are feeling that your time has been, your days of opportunity, your moments of insight have already been experienced, let me assure you that this is NOT the case. You will continue to experience and to grow and to have insight for to not to, is to have shut off your Life Support, to have turned off your Light and thrown away the cord. This is not within your nature, or within your being, to be the case.

So I encourage you that when it is apparent that discouragement and disappointment may prevail, that this -- like the awaiting of rain -- will be overridden, will prevail as Life will prevail.

I encourage you to continue to seek and you will find. This is the essence of Faith. Not that you simply believe, but that you continue to seek that which you need in all respects -- for your Life here is 3-dimensional. In that respect you have all types of back-dropping. You are not simply placed as a gumdrop upon a white sheet of paper in a white environment that is stark and without stimulation, color and depth. Rather, you have everything you need to allow yourself to grow and to be the Full Force of your being, both here and throughout eternity.

I encourage you to seek this, your continued growth and understanding, even in the moments when it appears unlikely and that you have been forgotten among the fauna and rocks and other items of the desert. Bloom eternal, my dear ones, and know that you are as precious as the most rare of desert flowers. For this is where you are thriving -- where there is infrequent rain, plenty of sun, and otherwise hope springs eternal. I will offer you my solace and my encouragement and support every step of the journey until we meet in person and share the opportunities for growth and stemming throughout your galaxy.

I leave you in good stead knowing that the Father’s Spirit guides you always as He guides me. Peace be with you, and may you return, when we meet again, in full and living color, happy to be alive and with one another. Until then, peace be with you.

Group:    Thank you. Thank you, Anatolia.

TOMAS:    She shall not get rid of me that easily. [Group chuckles] I am in contact with Anatolia on a daily basis, you would say. It is my pleasure to often share with my co-teacher, Anatolia, and many others, what we speculate to be the emerging of the Divine Plan -- for you and for us -- in this fundamentally unique situation that we find ourselves in, in this assignment with you.

And so it comes to the point in our gathering that involves us more closely with you in terms of your work in the field of your undertaking, of your Assignment and your speculations as to what His will is in your realm and how you go about living within it. The floor is yours. Are there questions?

Elena:    Yeah. I have a question about a situation that I can’t quite shake. No matter who I talk to -- mother, and I talked to my sister, and everyone about and I felt this morning it turning around a little bit, and I think it might be a good thing to share with the group.

I have a friend who I feel relatively close to. I really like her very much. I had the feeling that we were honoring and respecting one another’s spiritual paths forward -- certainly I was hers. And this week -- she’s a member of a more fundamentalist kind of group -- and this week I sent an email to her and a couple of other people at work -- something I’ll probably NEVER do again! -- but I got kinda lambasted by her and just showered with scripture with red letter highlighting of the King James Version and she said that the phrases in our lessons were changing the quotations of Jesus and that this (our studies) was the devil’s work and mentioned that I was participating in a cult -- and I just -- whoa!

I’ve been trying to shake this off and I haven’t been able to yet. Frankly -- in the email, I prefaced it saying by that I wasn’t pushing this toward anyone, but that we’d gone through (at work) such a difficult two-week period that this particular lesson from Abraham might be helpful to somebody else, too. And whoa! I got it right between the eyes. This person can just kinda dissect me and eviscerate, -- ya know? -- in all directions. I feel like I need to be more focused myself, but I’m still having difficulty just shaking it off.

Men-O-pah:    Well you know, Elena, I’ll say to you what I might say to Paula -- you don’t want to carry that baggage with you. You just mustn’t do it. You need to forgive that person -- whoever they are -- and be done with. I call it ‘baggage.’ It’s a kind of grudge. But -- I know your intentions are good. I think sometimes, you know, our intentions are good but they just don’t seem to work out…

Esmeralda:    I think Elena, though, was really hurt by it and I think that, that is what she can’t shake -- that feeling of being hurt.

Elena:    Yeah.

Paula:    Nobody else has the right to be judgmental. So if I were you I would cut her right smack out my life. [Group responds with loud laughter] I would. I would. If she decides that she can tell you what you should do or not do it’s none of her goll-darned business [More group laughter] and she ought to just get lost and out of your life. We don’t need people in our lives who interfere with the way we are headed. Just like if somebody would say to me "don’t buy that house -- you don’t need that -- especially at your age." Well phooey on ‘em. Because it’s none of their business. So I’d just say -- you’ve got loads of good friends and close friends who think the world of you and if there’s somebody who is criticizing you -- Drop ‘em! You don’t need them in your life. Just X them right out! [More laughter] And that’s my opinion…not somebody else’s.

Men-O-pah:    And you’re stuck with it. [Lots more laughter]

Thoroah:    I had a very similar situation. My cousin, who I grew up with, who was the closest person on the planet to me when I was growing up -- outside of my parents and sisters. We were always very close. And it wasn’t until I found the Urantia Book -- which he turned me onto -- that he gave me the same type rhetoric and the type of reaction to it -- it (the UB) being so foreign to the doctrine and dogma of his fundamental beliefs -- that he said it was the "devil’s stuff" that I was involved with.

The part about all of this that makes it even more perplexing is the friendship and the closeness that seems to suddenly just be worthless because of this different track of belief -- and that’s what is probably the most hard thing to overcome -- how do you return to that respect, and -- well, we even ended up, my cousin and I, not communicating. We tried but we couldn’t. We couldn’t without antagonizing each other, and so I just let him go and let him believe the way he wants to believe and I’m not going to try to communicate with him for the time being because no matter what I try or no matter what he tries, we always think the other is trying to do some persuasion in there. It’s just the way the chemistry is, and no matter if it’s innocent or not, the other one suspects the other one of trying to ‘sell’ them somehow and it just has to be let go of and grown into a whole other thing, I guess.

Esmeralda:    Well, I think that some people are just not ready to accept anything other than just the King James Version. And I know several people who take it absolutely verbatim and exactly every word as it is written and there’s nothing else. I know I was talking to one person and he started talking -- this man brought up the subject of religion and then he asked me what I believed and I told him that we were into the Urantia group and we did -- for lack of a better word for T/R’ing – ‘channeling’ and he said, "Oh, that couldn’t be possible because when Jesus was on the cross he said, "It is finished." and that he meant nothing more to ever say to us on earth.

And another person that I talked to about it just thought that I was probably somewhat like what Deborah (Elena’s friend of reference) said about Elena, that she might be misleading others and was being misled herself, and that’s what this person said to me. And so with that I concluded that my missionary work needed to just take a different channel and not try to -- in any way elaborate -- even though both of these people brought up the subject to me of their beliefs. And so I decided that I was just going to live my life and be a friend to man here on my own little corner, and that’s about the best I can do.

Thoroah:    Friendships have a way of deteriorating when you start sharing ‘beliefs.’ You can get along with someone, and as long as you don’t know what their ‘belief system’ is -- in so many words -- but you work together and get to know each other and you build a relationship and that’s their religion – that’s their Real Religion where they really live, but when people try to Speak about their religion, then it separates people. It seems like a road to division.

Esmeralda:    Well, I don’t understand that exactly because I’m fascinated by what others’ believe because I think that what everybody believes -- we’re actually all believing in the same Father, but we have a different way of interpreting. And I think everybody is entitled. And I don’t know why some people are so quick to say, you know, "My way’s the way and your way is wrong." I don’t think that your way is wrong. For them, that is their belief and that’s all good. I think that all religions have their place.

Men-O-pah:    I think when you start saying that, you’re on some very shaky ground …
Esmeralda:    If you say that all religions are okay?

Men-O-pah:    No…if you say "The right way is my way. Here’s the way. This is the way for YOU to live."

Esmeralda:    I just don’t think we really and….

Men-Oo-pah:    We’re all on a path and we’re all trying to understand. And that’s just about where we are.

Thoroah:    It shakes people’s confidence when they see somebody else believing something and if it works for them (the others). It shakes their confidence in what they believe, because they aren’t necessarily believing what they believe; they’re believing what they’ve been told to believe or led to believe. They’re not really sure about what they believe and so their confidence is shaken, and the only way they can regain confidence is to continue to think that they have the right way, that "others" have the wrong way. But basically I don’t think that they have enough of a core belief of their own so they are confused.

Esmeralda:    Well, I just think people are short on understanding and some are very narrow minded.

Men-O-pah:    I’ve had to abandon some my own beliefs that were instilled in me since I was a little kid. My grandparents were staunch Southern Baptists -- they are fundamentalists by-and-large -- and I’d been taught and come to believe that it was absolutely necessary for Prince Michael to abdicate his Godly attributes and come to this earth because of the SINFUL condition of man -- passed on to us -- We didn’t commit the sin in the Garden of Eden but Adam and Eve our forebears did, -- and so I thought that was passed on to us and it was absolutely necessary for Christ to come in order to tip the scales back and make them even. And, well, I don’t know about that. I really don’t. Not now, I don’t.

Paula:    Well, Men-O-pah heard me say many times that the Bible is a great book, it’s a wonderful book, but we have to stop and remember that it wasn’t written by somebody with their finger coming out of the sky. It was written by men! People. Just ordinary people. Well they were good and holy I guess.

Men-O-pah:    They wanted to believe they had the hand of God on them. You know that they were inspired, at least.

Paula:    They were inspired and all that, but you don’t take the Bible …. As it says in our church, you respect it but you don’t take it literally, word-for-word, because as I say, it was written by men. When Christ was born and lived people just didn’t have things put down in writing.

TOMAS:    I’m going to interrupt, if I may. This is Tomas and I have thoroughly enjoyed your discussion. I encourage discussion of this ilk in the future. I am not meaning to stop your discussion, but to commend the way you have comported yourself in this gathering. In the interim it has given us all a fine opportunity, from this side, to observe the complications of the condition of the religious status of your civilization in the realm in which you work. Not that we were not aware of that already, but as it relates to you, the students, that we work most intimately with.

The evolved religions all have contributed greatly to the advancement of spiritual concepts and even more recent religions which have emerged, not excluding Mohammedan-ism, Bahai-ism and the many modern ‘isms’ of a spiritual nature. These all reflect the values inherent in the time and place of the peoples who convened together to create the religion, to support the culture that developed around those core spiritual needs, in that geographic area at that point in time.

These differences now are a result of the many ways the Spirit has developed. None of them are wrong. And for anyone, obviously, as you have discovered in your discussions, to testify that this is right not only for me but for you as well, is in fact extending beyond the boundaries of civility that show respect for the personality of man, and that includes his religious background and personal commitments -- to deity any other important aspects of Life that presents a Value sacred to that individual and/or that group of individuals.

Now you live in a Christian country, even though it is generously infused with many other religious aspects at this point in time. But even among Christendom there are many differences. Even now there is a new schism going on in the Church, having to do with the nature of Church, its devotees, its proponents and the like. These serve a purpose --these different groupings for different reasons at different times -- and the option is yours to adapt, merge, discern, discard, ignore, or discover that which has Value. For this is the Right of Choice, the sanctity of free will.

Even words can confuse the issue when you talk about matters close to the heart of people. This is why I often stress ‘defining your terms,’ for what may mean "born of the spirit" to you may mean something completely different to someone else. And so the ultimate path to take, for those of you who discern the Value of evolving life as well as the ideals of Infinity, is to do as you have been admonished in your teachings, and that is to LIVE that which you believe rather than to ESPOUSE what you believe.

As in parenting, it is how you live your life that your children are impressed, and not by what you Tell them. But what they tell you can certainly cause havoc in your mind, and until such time as you can discern through your own Spirit of Truth what bearing that has on your Spiritual Path, you will, as Men-O-pah indicated, be carrying around a lot of baggage. But that, again, is for individual discernment as to what matters and what doesn’t matter when it comes to their Right to Be Themself and to reflect that self, even Imperfectly, as they go about ‘Doing Good" as they see it. This does, indeed, lend great texture to the quality of Life that you Live -- you who are conjoined with the planet Urantia, this most fascinating sphere.

There is no answer a broken heart except to mourn and pass to the next Love Affair Life presents. In your scenario, Elena, there is no call for anyone to abruptly slam the door on your Pearls, no matter how silly, inane, or mistaken they may be. And thus you grieve, and that is what you are experiencing. Because you have been wounded, in your innocence and your naiveté. But this only a temporary -- momentary -- setback, and from this experience you will emerge having learned something … NOT cynical, not bitter, not about the depravity of the human limitation, but of Hope and Sportsmanship that will enable you to make more wise choices in your future actions as it concerns your presentation of Truth, Beauty and Goodness.

Paula:    All I can say is, anybody who is so short-sighted and stupid to criticize you in any way needs to have their head examined, and when people try to interfere with your life like that, there’s only one thing to do -- and that’s to just cut’ em dead. You’ve got a lot of good friends. You don’t need people like that in your life. I had one like that in my life and I’m cutting him dead, believe me.

TOMAS:    This is another one of those instances where in a definition of terms would be most helpful. The phrase, "cutting him dead," Paula, is a murderously unfriendly phrase. [Group laughter]

Paula:    I meant it that way!
TOMAS:    You can rephrase your terminology to not be so ugly, yourself.
Paula:    Well, I’m ugly then.

TOMAS:    You are not! And this is my point. You can certainly stick to your values and indeed, feel as if they need to be upbraided and have their mouth washed out with soap. This is "cutting him dead." Even refusing to invite him to your next tea party, because this is sociably acceptable behavior. But when I hear my student, you, my precious child, speaking with such words as to vilify a bystander is an occasion for me to "cut you dead" and point out to you that you can do better. You have a rich vein of Truth within you, but you have been brought up by your mortal parents to have a better expression of propriety, and this goes a long way toward retaining your spiritual fragrance. You have so much to give, you shouldn’t discolor yourself with those barbs.

But for those of you who think that our child here is worthy of "cutting her dead", shutting the door on her, and never speaking to her again … think again. For even the most beautiful rose in the garden has thorns. And there is no doubt in my mind that, while Paula’s thorn is evident, there are other prickly aspects of each of you that are perhaps more subtle or buried in the foliage, but there is not one among you who is completely perfect.

Esmeralda:    Tomas, I think that Paula, too, at that time was, because of her love for Elena, was being a defender of Elena.

TOMAS:    It is a natural part of Valor that you defend your loved one. This is a natural inheritance, yes, in the noblest of animal characteristics. But in the Spirit, it is entirely unnecessary for the Father does not need defending.

Paula:    I’m a real stinker! I am! [Much laughter and ‘we love you – you are adorable -- everybody loves you’ from the group] But I’m sure not a bit holy because when people hurt somebody that I care about, I don’t want anything to do with them. And I feel that you have plenty of good friends why should you continue being friends with somebody who is not worthy of it.

TOMAS:    [Interjecting] Obviously that thorn is going to prickle for quite a while. Can we move along?

Elena:    Okay, but I appreciate all of you and I thank each one of you for your thoughts. Each one of you had something that did help me with the situation and I really appreciate each one of your comments. So thanks to each and every one of you…and I am including Tomas too.

TOMAS:    I will add to that then. I will suggest that you respect the difference between Personal Ministry and Public Ministry. Within the realm of Personal ministry, you are assisted in the Presence by the Father through your Adjuster, by Michael, through your Spirit of Truth, and the Mother Spirit through all the Adjutant Minds Spirits, and they can not only help you, they can deliver the Goods.

But when you speak to a vast audience or in an impersonal media such as the internet or correspondence to a group of people, you have a different set of rules to follow because the receptivity capacity of your Hearer is different than it is in the intimacy of a fond embrace. Thus, in future you can protect yourself from such losses by developing Diplomacy in your outreach -- unless, of course, like Paula, you don’t give a ‘hoot!’

Elena:    Well, sometimes that’s even helpful too.

TOMAS:    Yes. There is no doubt in my mind that any one of you would go to nearly any lengths to support that which was Beautiful, True and Good in your mind. And this does establish you as reasonable human beings. I am simply asking you to become Superhuman.

Esmeralda:    We want to be, too.

Elena:    Well, that is the intention, I mean I do want to convey that perfection. Like in today’s lesson, I forget whether it was you or Anatolia said that … well, it was Anatolia -- it was the rain and what came after the rain…and each circumstance that we were given had fruits to come from each one of those, that may not be evident at that particular time but with hindsight or further looking at it had things that would flower and emerge.

So actually this is good for me because each one of your perspectives has provided me with that, and instead of just being hurt, Paula’s help of trying to bolster me up a little bit, has kind of helped separate me from the hurt, too. So this is extremely helpful. It really is. Each one of you and certainly Anatolia and you, too, Tomas. The Diplomacy and the need to learn further so that I can be more effective is certainly my aim.

TOMAS:    There is also something to be said for assessment of a situation as compared to pre-judging a situation. If you intend to pre-judge a situation before you have even beheld it, you have closed out the possibility of Joy as well as pain. But to have experienced the pain and said, "I don’t want to experience that again," you are not coming from a negatively prejudiced point of view. You have experienced and thus you are coming from a point of experience. And yet as we discussed, in the ever-changing, ever-growing, ever-expanding, ever-developing, ever-illuminating Life that you are living in the Spirit – while in the flesh – you are able, at any time at any moment on any day, to discard the Realities that were effective in former times for the New Reality to present itself today.

And so the Path includes a constant flow of forgiveness -- forgiveness for the Ignorance that is inherent in an evolving world. Not only your Ignorance but Other’s Ignorance. It is innate in such a life on such a planet. Yet, your consistent reaching for that which is True and Beautiful and Good, in you and in your fellows, is the most effective tool to thwart the darkness and the Ignorance that is often the Prevalent Reality.

When we meet again we will continue our rapport, and yet I feel our afternoon has peaked and is waning. In these waning moments of our sanctuary, have you any other matters at hand to bring to our attention?

[long silent pause] I will leave you, then, in this marvelously pregnant moment that is filled with potential Life and Devotion. Amen and farewell.

Group:    Thank you, very much. Thank you, Tomas. Thank you.

*****

DATE:       August 24, 2003
LOCATION:    Rio Rancho TeaM – Myra’s Place
T/R’s:            Gerdean and Matthew
TEACHERS:    TOMAS, ANATOLIA, MACHIVENTA MELCHIZEDEK,
           MERIUM, DANI and JESUS
TOPIC:
Receiving That Which Is Transmitted

Music:        "Lord of all Soulfulness" - Elena on Piano

Prayer: (Matthew): Let us place ourselves in the presence of Jesus, the Christ.

“Master Teacher, It's been a little while since we've been together, but there's never been a separation or a gap in our connection with you or with one another, since that will never be severed. We are eternally grateful for the connection that you have made with us, and connected us to the Father and made us one big happy family, as we will know in reality, as we progress in our eternal careers.

"We thank all of our teachers, wherever they are and whoever they are, both personal and collective, for their efforts and dedication to us and to your cause and purpose for which we are all united. We ask for the teachers that you will provide today that we receive fruitful and productive suggestions for how to continue our purpose in Christ, and for that, we are forever grateful and look forward to your and/or messages that are brought to us today. Amen.”

Group:    Amen.
TOMAS:    Amen! Good afternoon, my dear friends and companions. This is Tomas, your teacher and host for the afternoon's gathering. We throng to this place to conjoin with you in your up-reach and your circle of friendship. I wanted to introduce myself today as your "black box" [referencing our pre-session dialog about various methods of receiving cable TV].

Matthew:    That's good.
Elena:    You only need one, right?
Group:    [Laughter]

TOMAS:    It is helpful to have several. [Group laughter]) You never know when one is going to short-circuit. [Group laughter].

The transmittal process is a science indeed, a study of universe equipment, utilized to bring the Voice of God into the outermost reaches of creation. The merit to having several black boxes that can Transmit the Word lies in the fact of so many different types of Receivers. Each of you, in fact, is a unique receiver of the Word, of the message, of the media that is broadcast -- though most, it would seem, have turned their set off completely. But -- those of you who are turned on to the greater reality have authority over the messages that come in, much as you are able to control the programming and the volume of the television, which accompanies so many of you on your life path.

The circumstances of this Teacher Base at this time are such that evinces a series of vignettes or newsreels as compared to a lengthy melodrama . .. because all of you are uproariously engaged in a mass change of one sort or another, given the exception of Esmeralda who started this whole cycle by remodeling. [Group chuckles] And now the Mr. And Mrs. B. is in their new location and the Mr. & Mrs. S., as well, in theirs. And we have new furnishings at the school teacher's abode!

All of this is an up-stepping of frequency for your individual receivers. All of you are affected by all of these changes. And with all of these events occurring/ transpiring simultaneously, it is the ideal season to fine-tune your sets so that when the long winter's night sets in, we will be able to choreograph our frequencies into one harmonious "Lost Chord" of the Divine Word, which will reach into your heart and broadcast the messages of Salvington, and even Havona, to you literal-minded, material creatures of my assignment.

We have guests this afternoon, Anatolia and I. And while this is not unusual, it is in accordance with the theme of receiving that which is transmitted, that certain programming be presented that will appeal to you each individually, if not always as a group and if not always extending into the greater community of the Teaching Mission and the greatest breadth of the Correcting Time at large. Without further ado then, let me step aside and Anatolia can commence.

ANATOLIA:        This is a fine day in which to live and rejoice and have your being. Contrary to but in the same token, the Native American saying "It's a fine day to die," means the same as what I am expressing: "It is a fine day to live" -- knowing that your consciousness is a flow unbroken by any event, even unto death, as you know it.

"This is a fine day to live" -- whether where you are or where we find ourselves to be or anywhere that your mind and your heart can envision to be, for when you find yourself on the other side of physical restriction, you will find the opportunity to be where your heart and mind place you. This is truly what it is to be at one with all-that-is, for you can traverse angles and pyramids and caverns and open space, if you will, indefinitely. However, even this would eventually have its limit, in terms of interest, for there is no finer and greater and more meaningful purpose than to adjust your frequencies to those of the living God Presence.

To be in the presence of God is to be godlike. Like attracts like. The refinement of your being and your character and your will, predominantly, is what attunes you to the frequencies that allows God-mindedness to be evident and present in your being. This is what we strive to do in our efforts, for there is no other effort worth its salt, if you will, that is any greater than to bring the consciousness of individuals to their ultimate purpose.

I hate to use clichés but these are terms that you will recognize and the simple statement says it all, that "Rome was not built in a day." This, too, is meaningful, yet is only one side of the coin. While Rome was not built in a day, it is as if, in reality, Rome, at its height (not in terms of power but in terms of purpose) existed at the same time that it was in formation. For the goal and the purpose and intent were there long before it ever came into fruition. So, too, it is in your hearts and minds, my children, that as you set your sights and your goals, for nothing less than unification with your eternal Creator. Then my friends you have nowhere to go but that destination. However, it is in your current circumstances, the physical maintenance of that program that you must see through to completion, and the rest will be like a feather floating to its destination.

This I present to you with good news intended, happy hearts expected, and pure vision and sight projected. I wish you what I know to be true in my heart and mind, that the purpose of our creation and the purpose of our return to our Creator is to bring us and our Creator to perfect satisfaction, for the Spirit that is us, will not be fully satisfied until all creation is satisfied. So you see, we all have a lot of work to do. It is the best of work. It is the only work that has lasting merit. I leave you with this simple fact of truth: that the all-purpose is the only purpose. Renew your hearts and your minds to this message that I wish to renew for you today, and join me in our eternal purpose for unity in all of creation.

I leave you in peaceful, good tidings, and eternal love surrounding you, as we are one in the Christ, now and always. Peace be with you.

Group:    Thank you.

MACHIVENTA:    I am Machiventa Melchizedek. I am here to greet you. To be a part of your comfort for a brief time this afternoon. The purpose of my visit -- aside from offering comfort in companionship -- is to re-establish for you my evidentiary authority in your realm. I am here because of an emergency mission. And the emergency mission in this case is to keep alive the light of truth during the tumultuous times in which you live, the changes through which this planet is currently undergoing.

The difficulty with such a planet as Urantia, that has been so beset with difficulty as to virtually have no underpinnings, is that you live in an almost constant state of dire need. And everyone has terrible need to find some kind of order in this otherwise chaotic state of being, in which you Urantia mortals find yourselves. The attempt to instill and perpetuate evolutionary realities is the product of trial and error. And while some of you find that process and the subsequent results acceptable, there is a growing number of you who feel that the existing paradigms of reality on Urantia are such that there must be a better way, and begin your search -- your soulful search -- for divine guidance along the path to perfection.

Those of you who have set out on this path are those whom we have enlisted in the Reserve Corps of Destiny, to lead humanity forward on the compelling path to truth, beauty and goodness, and these teachers that we have sent into your realm are committed to that purpose as well. But when you feel the urge to reach beyond that which is known to that which is yet unknown, (like the telephone ringing!), will be helped in your efforts to advance for as you advance, so do your fellows.

One of the mortal ministers among you uses a little rubber figure of a man which stretches, which makes the point that while you stretch far beyond your normal state, you will return to your normal state, reconstituted and ready to reach again for the impossible. As you reach for the impossible, you contribute to the lure that will compel others to also extend their reach into that which is yet unknown, even as all of you return to that which is familiar, to take comfort in the reality that is familiar and that serves as your medium of life.

Thus, when you feel stretched, when you feel you have reached beyond your capacity and when you have extended yourself beyond normal mortal endurance, consider your work for the Lord and let divinity take charge of that effort you have extended and expended, into those realms beyond your consciousness, in order to draw forward those who are affected by the energy you leave in the wake of your striving.

And finally, I am here to thank you for your efforts on behalf of the Supreme God, that reality which we all serve. Go in peace.

Group:    Thank you!

DANI:    My name is Dani. I'm a secondary midwayer. I'm here with several of my fellows. I am not the one who is manipulating the black box. I can't speak and perform that service at the same time. Thus, I have someone who is what you might say is "the wind beneath my wings." The Prince, Machiventa, was just discussing how it is that you contribute to the stabilization of the advancement of the revelatory reality of divinity, how it is that you contribute to working with the Reserves in times of urgency, as it is apparent from any news broadcast on your world, there are some pretty urgent situations on-going which have been going on for millennia and which will seemingly continue for millennia unless and until someone and/or all of us unite to redirect the paradigm of reality on this blighted planet.

Yes, it is a blessing indeed that we have been gifted with this re-encircuitment plan and the subsequent relationship with the teachers of the Teacher Corps and beyond, who have been helping you realize yourselves in the spirit sense, instilling in you a sense of dignity status, and according your sonship status the guidance it requires to stabilize and reality-ize the arena over which you have an influence.

It is to some extent still difficult, however, for you to realize the blessing that the United Midwayer corps is to you as well, for we are what you might call "land-locked" and our turf is not so lofty. Our efforts remain in the streets of your world where the need is great. No, we are not the conscience of divinity, not by a long shot. In many ways we are like Paula here. We are occasionally real "stinkers," but we are surely and certainly workers in the field.

And so when you want to talk about the work of the realm, while the teachers may uphold your dignity, we will teach you how to get your hands dirty. We might even be able to teach you to be "stinkers for reality" which is not much different, really, than being "fools for God" but, God knows, there are enough fools on the side of darkness, that it sometimes takes tactics to effectively counter the budding realities of evil that spin uncontrolled from the mind of man which has run amok of the mind of Infinite Spirit.

Thanks for having me over. I will be around. Watch for me in your life and for my fellows who are "busting our butt" for you and your siblings.

Group:    Thank you, Dani.
Esmeralda:    We appreciate what you are doing.
Elena:    We really do.

MERIUM:    This is Merium, an old friend of the Teaching Mission, a playful matriarch of sorts, a morontia babysitter. I'm here to lift you up from the ponderings of your reach into the realms of greater reality. I would like to help you recognize your environs and feel joyous and childlike within them. Let's start with your chair. How do you feel in your chair? Is your behind comfortable? Are your hands at rest? If you have any disagreeable physical sensations, it would do you well to regard that as an initial priority, for as long as you are irritated by your immediate environment, which is your physical encasement, it will be relatively impossible for you to get beyond that, to transcend that, and to be grateful for all that is, all that you purvey.

There is nothing wrong with enjoying yourself. There is nothing wrong with accepting your accomplishments and enjoying your acquisitions. There is nothing wrong with putting your feet up at the end of a long day and looking back over your efforts and finding them well done. There is nothing wrong with a certain contentment from having done a job well ("Life is but a day's work; do it well.")

There is, however, some degree of self-indulgence in complacency, for complacency effectively overlooks mercy, and it is mercy that seeks to minister to those who suffer.

The problem with you young ministers of the gospel is that you have a hard time ascertaining how to be of service. This is generally because you are looking at the big picture and finding the effort you might make insignificant. How could you possibly do anything about uranium unleashed in Iraq? How can you reach into the addictive personalities of opiates and salvage those souls? How can you wipe the tears and the dirt from the faces and the feet of the children who have not eaten for days and whose future is bleak? To dwell on the global picture is to behold horror.

Have mercy! Have mercy. How can your efforts to help one individual who is suffering make a dent in the scene before you? Trust the process. Trust the need to serve. Trust the stirring within you that would be of service, that sees a simple need and can do something about it. It is that reality within you and the effect of your choice to do something that joins with the energies of those others across the world and across the universe that exponentially conjoin to help uplift even those, even those.

You are not to wallow in guilt for the condition of your world! Shrug off that burden, that cross, and lift yourself up to the full potential of your inner self, that which is truly free, that which is liberated in the spirit, that which sings praises to those On High who have given the gift of life and who have given abundantly to those who choose to do and can do His will. While it reaches into the masses with unbridled mercy to enfold, encompass and embrace the lost sheep, the misguided, and misdirected authorities of lesser reality, that we might all rejoice in the light.

Thus, open you hearts. Open your windows! Open your minds! And allow the sun [sic] to shine. Allow the divine mind to refresh your thickened brain cells, dusting the cobwebs from your consciousness, to lift your souls into that sphere of light and life which calls for others to join you in the service of and to humanity.

TOMAS:    Matthew, is there anyone knocking on your door who would like to come through?

Matthew:    Yes. Jesus is.
TOMAS:    Let him in!

JESUS:    Peace be with you, all of my brothers and sisters. This is a message which has been awaiting your ears for some time, for you have been looking for directions to go and places to serve and willing hearts to lend whatever efforts needed assistance. I am assuring you that your efforts will not be in vain, and that whatever you would do to set the purpose of truth, beauty and goodness forward, as an improvement program over what your world conditions presently see, I can assure you that your efforts will not be wasted.

I imagine you are thinking, "But what can I do? I have responsibilities. I'm not able to drop everything that I have to go off to Mozambique or wherever it may be to do what? To say what?" This is not necessarily the requirement. The requirement is that you see the need, desire to help, and to be willing to extend yourself beyond your comfort zone. It is not to say, as was said, that comforts and securities are bad. It is that these are now given, and to maintain them is important, but to be able to do whatever you can do -- whether it is darning socks, performing before those who need to hear music and encouragement, reassurance that beauty still exists, or to be able to fulfill the needs of persons who seek comfort in an otherwise hostile environment -- these are not only examples of what can be done to be of service to the greater glory of your Father, but to fulfill your purposes in being present at this time.

Let us say, for conjecture, that these are "the end times." I am, of course, not relaying to you that they are, per se, because there is no "end time" per se, only change. What level of change is to be seen? This is not a fearful statement or factor that you need to consider in terms of, "Oh, no. The worst is yet to come." It is not the worse. It is the best of opportunities to be of living and loving service.

When the apostles were sent forward, they had no specific idea of where they were going or what they were to say, but they have been prepared for when the time would come. I am assuring you that the time has come for you to take up your cloak and knock off the dust from where you have been and go forward into a new day that has hope, leadership, and fulfillment of purpose within its reach. These are intended to be comforting and reassuring words, not nudging you off of a seat in which you currently sit, but to say,

When you stand again, walk with courage, knowing you are with purpose and part of the eternal plan, and there is no reason to fear. Be of sound mind and good heart in knowing that your thoughts, your words and your deeds are my hands at work, my lips in service, and my feet to carry whatever needs carried. I assure you that all is well and whatever you do in my name and for our Father of all ages, will in fact be energized to be fruitful and productive.

I leave you in the highest regard and in the safest of blessings, knowing that you are loved and secure, here and forever. Peace be with you.

TOMAS:    No questions today. Class dismissed.
Matthew:    Amen.
Elena:    Amen, amen, amen.

*****

DATE;       August 31, 2003
LOCATION:    Rio Rancho, NM, TeaM at The Bowen Townhouse
T/R’s:            Gerdean (for Tomas), Matthew (for Anatalia)
TEACHERS:    TOMAS & ANATOLIA
TOPIC:
"The Abundance of Sonship"

Music:        CD: Van Morrison's "In the Garden"
Thoroah (reciting the lyrics):

"The fields are always wet with rain
After a summer shower
When I saw you standing.
Standing in the garden In the garden wet with rain.
You wiped the teardrops from your eye in sorrow
As we watched the petals fall down to the ground
And as I sat beside you I felt the great sadness that day In the garden
And then one day you came back home
You were a creature all in rapture
You had the key to your soul and you did open
That day you came back To the garden

The olden summer breeze was blowin' against your face
The light of God was shinin' on your countenance divine
And you were a violet color
As you sat beside your father and your mother In the garden
The summer breeze was blowin' on your face
Within your violet you treasure your summery words
And as the shiver from my neck down to my spine
Ignited me in daylight and nature In the garden

And you went into a trance
Your childlike vision became so fine
And we heard the bell within the church we loved so much
And felt the presence of the youth of eternal summers In the garden

And as it touched your cheeks so lightly
Born again you were and blushed
And we touched each other lightly
And we felt the presence of the Christ within our hearts In the garden
And I turned to you and I said
No guru no method no teacher
Just you and I and nature and the Father In the garden
No guru no method no teacher Just you and I and nature
And the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost

In the garden wet with rain
No guru no method no teacher Just you and I and nature And the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost In the garden In the garden wet with rain No guru no method no teacher
Just you and I and nature and the Father In the garden."

PRAYER: Matthew:        Let us place ourselves in the presence of Jesus, the Christ.

“Master Teacher, we come before you today, happy and multiplied beyond our usual numbers. The larger the family, the happier. That may not always be the case, but in this case, it seems to be true. We encourage your presence with us today, and not that it isn't ordinarily, but we are more mindful, more open and receptive to the gifts that you are to us and we pray that we are to you and to our heavenly Parents who have made all of us possible.

"We cherish the opportunity to become our full and complete selves in you and with you, and rejoice in the fact that we are sons of God, as you so well demonstrated-not in the masculine sense, but in the offspring sense, we are sons of God.

"We are grateful and look forward to the teachings that, through you, are brought to our awareness and consciousness and are grateful to you for this teaching mission that you have inaugurated and in and with your chieftain, Machiventa Melchizedek, we are grateful and loyal students and look forward to the day when we can spray in the ray of lights that you make present with us and within us. For all time, we are grateful. Amen.”

Group:        Amen.

TOMAS:    Abundance is what we have here. Sheer abundance! Good afternoon, my friends and associates. I am Tomas, in company with my co-worker Anatalia, and a host of heavenly helpers who have come by to witness your spiritual embrace and to be a part of the process of up-stepping the heart and mind to seek truth, beauty and goodness in all things and in all beings. Welcome, to you all, not only to this new abode, but you who have come from afar to conjoin with this, your extended family. [visiters from Abraham's Woods Cross group near Salt Lake City.]

I hesitate to introduce myself to you today as your "Teacher" in view of the scribe who brought such profound value to your consciousness in the music of Van Morrison, "No guru no method no teacher. Just us in the garden." Well, I am a teacher by default, for I am older and therefore (hopefully) wiser. But this is something you understand as well, for you are all relatively mature individuals. You all know that the value of experience compounds with the years.

The point from the musical selection which I will take as a springboard to open our conversation, stems from the scribe's sadness at seeing those who stood in the gray and dreary rain of the garden without understanding the full benefit of the wet rain -- which is the Living Water -- the sadness on the countenance of he or she who stands virtually outside the garden because they know not the sublime abundance of sonship. Sadness for those who gullibly allow themselves to be sidetracked and derailed into other and lesser realities the way that Nalda would have done were it not for the Master, who returned her focus to the point at hand, and that is to return to the garden awakened and reborn and in glory of all that is.

The value of prayer is pre-eminent here, for only through prayer are we and you afforded a glimpse of how to proceed -- and whether to proceed, in the face of the conditions presented that induce such sadness. It is our good fortune, yes, to know the abundance of sonship, the fellowship of the family of God, and our joy is a testimony to the endurance of that reality for it does not waver, does not flicker with whims and the passing of time.

We would like to safely say that you who surround me here are capable of convening in the spirit garden whether or not you are transplanted into the Edenic environments you have opted to create and assume for yourselves. This need not be a source of gullibility for you, dear ones.

There are many who have not the spirit foundation you have, whose worlds would indeed collapse if something untoward should occur to their paradigm of reality. It is when you can sit in your Garden of Eden no matter where it is, and sense the association of the Father and Mother and allow Christ consciousness to become key to your existence, that you have attained the reality we enjoy and of which Brother Morrison speaks. You have a responsibility now that is incumbent on you to be even more mindful of the sadness that surrounds you in your work in the field.

You who have seen the Master, who have known His love, such as we share, now know that without this divine connection the lot of us would stand outside in the dreary rain of isolation, waiting for the door to open -- not always understanding that the will to serve and the will to survive are often gatekeepers at the same entrance. Now that you have comprehension of eternal survival, you can have more compassion for those whose view of life is more short-term. You can have a better parental attitude toward the immaturity of your fellows who know not the greatness of this spirit-born association.

You are a light unto the world, my friends. Let us work on that light shining in such a way as to illuminate the darkness and invite the folk into their own garden, where they can return, reborn of their own spirit in Christ, and sit with their father and mother, who is Our Father and Mother, and thus our Family expands. It is correct, it is true. In this place, this sacred place, there is no need for gurus, methods, or teachers, for it is in the primary connection of Parent and child, Source and offspring, that begins all and any other association or relationship, but without that, there can be none.

How is it, Tomas, that you can take such a joyous moment and bring in sadness and talk about it for ten minutes, until we have all lost our connection to the jubilance that we owned only moments ago? I will allow Anatolia to respond.

ANATALIA:        Welcome to our venue of choice places, people, and personality. I speak to you in this obscure description, perhaps, only because of the many personalities that go into the creation of any situation that one may encounter. Namely what I am speaking of is the personality of Tomas entering into the description of the garden and it’s otherwise multiple dimensions or descriptions that one can derive from such a scene. The beauty that may be perceived by one as simple, straightforward and undisguised may mean something more to a more insightful individual.

Not that the first vision is inaccurate or improper, but another individual seeing the same scene may take the scene outside of these windows today, and taking a visual view of it, may be able to take a deeper walk into what that scene symbolizes, so that the scene that you witness outside of the window today, you will each have your own reaction. It would not be typical, nor identical, but if there would be a poll of your views, there would be an overriding theme; however, another given personality and perspective can take a deeper look into such a scene and may remember the day that ones pet dog died, or whatever it may be, therefore taking the obvious to you and turning it into a scene of sorrow and remorse. So for my point of view, I share with you that -- to once again use a cliché --"beauty is in the eye of the beholder", for what you see and witness IS based upon your experience and what emotional attachment you bring to that which you witness, in addition to your personality which colors or interprets that which you see.

This is a description which I share with you and bid you to consider it as one of various points of view. If I may change the subject slightly to a more pertinent scene that you see on the walls around you. These scenes are brought to you through personality and perspective, as well as a message to be conveyed when they were portrayed. This is something that each of you do in your daily lives whether you know it or not. For good or for ill, each of you is master of your palette.

You present your feelings and your attitudes through your personality out to and into the world you find yourselves in. It is not a single action activity, mind you, because many times it is what is being acted upon you that you find yourself in reaction to. It is not purely a matter of choice as to how you go about your day trouble free and unencumbered with other individuals' perspectives presented or forced upon you. All I am saying is that you, nevertheless, even though one may color your world brown, dark gray, or even black at a moment's notice, it is up to you to use the colors available to you to color and to create that which you wish to do with that as presented. For with the most moribund shade of gray that I can imagine, one can paint a sunrise to overcome the darkness, or a sunset to show the onset of dusk yet the retention of the light prior to its being taken over by the absence thereof. So it is in each of your minds that you have the choice to be happy, content, or to the contrary.

It is up to you to look at a park bench and be grateful for a place to sit and take in the beauty or complain that it's not a couch inside a home that gives you shelter. Make that which you have before you the cathedral of your heart and mind and there you will find happiness and contentment, regardless of condition. I wish you all songs to be sung and delight within your hearts, now and forever. As the closing scene in many a Walt Disney production .

The little bluebirds flying together with ribbons in their beaks, tying a bow on your heart's desire. I wish you all that is well and most of all, the love that is deep within each of us. May you know it, live it, and share it wherever you may go. Peace be with you, now and always.

Group:    Thank you, Anatolia.

TOMAS:    Be of good cheer, and share with us what you have been pondering or experiencing -- not to delve overmuch into trivial socializing, but to express our value reach or insight into the living condition. (Long pause) We are open to questions or comments; otherwise, we will leave you "in the garden" to enjoy yourselves, knowing you are in good company.

Elena:    Well, you know, Tomas, you said "abundance" and I really feel like "abundant". That is really the key word for me because I just have so many things to be grateful for, and I feel like there are definitely issues or challenges awaiting me in the next week but I feel like what we've been given, it really does give us the ability to deal with individual situations and to try to shed our light. So I really feel grateful for what I get and the lesson was pretty sufficient. Usually I do have comments or questions but I feel like I got everything. Especially, with my family being here and my friends. I'm all happy as a clam.

TOMAS:    Yes, indeed. This was apparent! And this is why I directed your attention to the sadness from recognizing those who are not experiencing with you the abundance of life. Jesus himself said he comes to bring you life and bring it more abundantly. That is qualitative and quantitative. I think not so much as "more stuff," but a greater appreciation of what it is to be a creature of time and space with a divine relationship woven throughout your lives and undertakings. Thus you get to experience the experiential gamut of having a need and setting out to utilize your God-given intelligence to finding the solution to the problem and, having attained that space or acquired that perspective, enjoying a sense of accomplishment, and feeling good about the human and the divine part of that process. Does that individual who is mindful on a daily basis of the inner garden, that very same garden that we have spoken of in terms of the hymn "In the Garden" or the anthem "In the Garden," remember that those who stand outside its gates are those which we seek to serve?

There is nuance to our messages today that gear you to the philosopher, Rodan of Alexandria, as well as to the theory of the Seven Psychic Circles, for there is little point in attempting to carry on a rapport of any substance with those who have only begun the journey. And this is where you find your best value in your own ranks. This group, for example, enjoys itself so much because you have so many things in common, experientially and philosophically as well as spiritually -- even physically, so there is that rapport which you enjoy which is not possible throughout the week with others.

But like you say, Elena, having this frame of reference and this "attitude of gratitude" with you as part of your arsenal of spiritual tools, will enable you to effectively work -- in the mines of the arena and in the minds of your human associates -- that level of Christ-consciousness they are able to absorb. Which will, perhaps, not bring YOU to fullness of satisfaction, but when you have such satisfaction at heart, it is not YOU who is at issue! And thus it is easier to become self-forgetful in the sense that you concern yourself less and less with your own needs and concern yourself more and more with the true needs of those you serve. We are not surprised at the silence that prevails.

Marian:    I didn't know if you were still talking. Is it okay to say something?
TOMAS:    It is okay. Speak!

Marian:    Well, I thought you were still going on Elena. I'm ready. I'm used to Abraham saying, "Is this helping?" and then it's "Yes" and "Let's move on" so I am ready. Well, I was really intrigued by you saying the gate that you stand at when you're -- let's see -- the will to survive and the will to serve. And I just thought that was fascinating. For me, the will to survive had to come first and then, as I came to sit at the table, then the willingness to serve came in. So I like that. I don't have to worry about surviving now, so I am willing to serve, and it just crops up all over the place, and whatever it is, I am glad to do it. I don't -- I am not really sad for my fellows.

And I don't mean to sound tacky, but -- I mean, I'm full of joy, and I'm groovin' along, and I know what I do, but back when I was in the total darkness and I didn't know what I know now, I still came along somehow, you know? So my hope is that, like you say, if I've got some light that can shine and if a hand reaches out, I want to be there to bring them along, the way people brought me along when I was in total darkness. Like -- There's this lady that called me on the phone, just before we left, and you know, my husband and I have been through two deaths in the past two months, and we had just had our hands full, but even still we said, "Okay!"

It's like -- we know what to do, and we're giving it, and we're loving and supportive, and there's nothing we've come up against so far that we can't get through. But this lady called me out of the blue. She had this miserable surgery and the most wretched darkness, the most miserable place. And I told her once upon a time I had had quite a few surgeries blah-blah and if she ever needed some help or some support to give me a call, so here was the call. And she was so painted into this negative corner -- and I know what it's like to be in that corner, so all I did was show my experience. So I guess what I'm saying is, when it's people's time to get help or reach for light or when they're getting beams on them, or when they're desperate in their searching for their beingness, I want to be there ready, willing and able to serve, since I had survived, so -- with such help, but I don't -- I mean, everybody will come along when they're ready and able. You know what I mean? So I don't feel -- I hope that don't mean I'm a loser person, that I don't feel really sad for people. I mean, I'm ready to be there if I can help them. What do you think?

TOMAS:   The "thought" that comes to me, dear one, is that you have established your appropriate boundaries based on your capacities and you have a method which works for you and which also serves; thus, you are on your way. I wouldn't worry at all about your perspective nor apologize for it because I have every confidence that your path is spirit-born and God-led and that while you may not be overly sympathetic, you are the heart of soulful compassion.

There are always those instances where a good challenge is the best medicine. If you opt to challenge those who come to you for aid, it is a fair chance that they have recognized in your personality that which you will give them and they are ready to be challenged, perhaps to throw off their cloak of infirmity, to rise up against the seeming injustice, and pick up their bed and walk. But that is a case in point for your personality gifts and skills. Thus everyone would not gravitate to you, but those who recognize your personality modus operandi know that you are a stalwart fountain of faith to which they may appeal if and when they sense their own readiness.

Some might find that unnecessarily callous or seemingly uncaring. "Tough love" is like that. There are other values in what you express. To not be brought down by the weight of the world is good, because if you are under the burden of Atlas, then you are ineffective. But I draw upon the countenance of the Master who, upon returning from Jerusalem and the Passover, paused overlooking the city and wept with compassionate pity for those who lived in darkness. That is a great motivator for some, but not necessarily for all.

This T/R tends toward relieving suffering, but that method also have strengths and drawbacks, which any method will, as any personality can proclaim, "you win some, you lose some." But certainly my reference to the guardians of the gate, that of survival or service, represent the twin powers of self will and divine will, which is not a problem if it is the self's will to do the divine will. It only poses difficulty when they are opposed, and this is the case in most mortals. They are not integrated with the divine sufficiently that they would know how to distinguish the level of survival that is intended in the analogy.

To those who love the Lord, what does it matter if all things temporal vanish? For in time all things temporal WILL vanish for you, and can you still rejoice in the abundance of your being? Are you still whole and complete as a personality, even without your methods, gurus, and teachers? It is the Father's will that we serve once survival is assured, but until survival is assured, our service is at work. Is this making sense?

Marian:    Oh, yeah! Thank you.

Paula:    You know what I was thinking is that everyone in this room has so much to be thankful for. We all have comfortable homes, good relationships, and I find some of the opposite at my work at the hospital, and it isn't just the routine everyday thing that you find in any hospital. I found that these people need somebody that they can talk to, and for some reason, they talk to me, and I have heard some of the most intimate things that you can imagine from people that I never knew before! But they feel as if they have got to get it off their minds and out in the open, and it has been something that is very fulfilling to me because I feel I am not there just to do the routine work that you do in a hospital, but that I am there for another purpose, that they need to have somebody they can unload on and tell their troubles to, or their problems, or their joys, and I hear all kinds of things like that, and it's a very, very fulfilling thing that I do. It's only one day a week but I enjoy it, for that reason, because anything that is just routine and so forth would bore me to tears, but this is something that I really, really enjoy doing and feel as if I'm there for a purpose.

TOMAS:    Yes, your service is an expression of your will in harmony with God's will. You are a Listener. You have a gift of hearing the hearts of those who come to you to express themselves. This is a divine gift, indeed, one which few people elevate to the high art that it can become. The fact that you work effectively with these people is evidence of the divine will working with you, and this, too, is what brings such tremendous satisfaction to you as a mortal worker in the field. You have lifted up your work to a new dimension of reality, one that draws people to you when they need to be heard.

Each of you, if you think about it, have a method, a personality method unique to you, developed over time, that serves. There is no point in being humble about this; humility has enabled it!

Marian:    Can I follow up a little bit? Can't we trust Father? I don't mean to say let's sit in our living room and have people stop at your doorbell and ring it and say, "Oh, Miriam, could you come help me?" And then if I'm willing to serve, I'll say, "Yeah, but -- after supper" or whatever. But, can't we trust Father that some people might be drawn to me, to seek me out for some help, but there's lots of people that aren't, but they would be more attracted to Paula? Do you know what I'm saying? Isn't that why we're all here with all of our different personalities, because we all have different experiences and personalities that will be attractive to others, and if we all basically shine Father's light, that he'll figure it out -- with their participation? Is that too simple?

TOMAS:    Yes, it is. You overlook the fact that those who are not working within the divine will, but are working within self will, are erring at a greater rate than you who have opted to try to pursue the path of greater understanding. As you testified, in your dark days you bumbled along and, thanks to God, found your way back to the path. But that is not the case for everyone. Many are lost. Of course, in the eternal perspective, the Adjuster of that mortal will be given another opportunity to fuse with another human personality at some other point in time; however, that particular personality's opportunity is very largely lost to the vagaries of evolutionary existence. Whatever is of value will be absorbed by the Supreme, but the great gift that you have that you don't seem to appreciate and realize is that your personality, when conjoined with the divine Indwelling Adjuster, will create that immortal soul which allows you -- YOU -- Each of You -- Personally to survive. With Your Personality. Quirks and all. Not just the God within you, but you yourself.

And this is where the importance is in the urge to live and the will to live. Those who lose the will to live or who get lost from that desire to survive are essentially choosing nothing over something, and the phrase you might appreciate here is that "Nature abhors a vacuum." We rush to -- we flock to -- those who have become void, so that they can be filled, so that they can be filled by a greater reality than the one that failed them before. In this you ARE able to assist. It is here that you are called to offer your services on behalf of the Divine. The refinements are preferences. After the will to live is made, it is pretty much a classroom of those who choose to learn and advance and those who would rather just enjoy recess. Everyone enjoys recess; don't get me wrong. But there are those among you, even, who are your soul companions, who have a tendency, a personality tendency to choose to shirk their responsibilities -- their own personality "talents" -- that they have been given, to defer to someone else to do for them.

While those individuals are not important enough to turn yourself inside out over, in-as-much as they have the Spirit of Truth; it is simply up to them to use it. Those who are truly lost are greatly aided by your conscientious commitment to find them and to introduce them to their own Father who lives within. The rest is social games. Father can take care of his children and work out that relationship once that relationship is established, but unless and until that relationship is established, it is indeed self will running riot and making one poor choice after the other. Well, that should be no surprise to you. Just look around at your world and see how effective it is to live this life without divine guidance -- Not Very! What else?

Matthew:    I just had the thought of, What kind of faith system did you have on the world that you came from? You talked about your world at one time but I don't remember from the faith perspective and how was that conveyed to you? In the universal sense? Or pertinent to your world?

TOMAS:    We were very isolated in our organism of life. We recognized -- much as the twins did in your planetary history -- that we would not survive if we stayed with the animalistic tribes from which we stemmed. Thus we isolated ourselves in a mind set that we needed something better, something greater, something higher, and while we did not have a particular religious philosophy, we had a sense that without something greater than what we came from, we would be doomed to experience the same tribal barbarism as was around us. We developed a keen sense of prayer. Everyone, I think it's safe to say, in our community, our civilization, was devout in that regard. It was a part of our culture to engage in all manner of prayerful activities, but we had no knowledge of to whom we were addressing our prayers. In my immediate family, for example, with my wife Janus and our children, we engaged in prayer daily and regularly, as if we were of a religious order that paused three, four, five times a day to engage informal prayer. We engaged in a similar indulgence and we did this commonly, throughout our culture, our community. We never developed a formal religion, but we developed a terrible dependency upon something greater than ourselves, and that Something led us into ways of living which were effective for us and which, indeed, kept us from falling into the abyss of barbarism. Does that answer?

Matthew:    It does. It's interesting. Thank you for sharing that.

Elena:    I have one more question. I am in just a little bit of a quandary about the -- you are talking about the people who are lost and about serving, and I don't have any problem with figuring out how to serve; there are those opportunities in each day which afford themselves. But, with respect to how active a role you take in that, I guess, that service -- because in the past you just said, "Just let your light shine and that really will guide you." That seems a little bit less …

TOMAS:   Relevant?

Elena:    ... well, yeah. I don't. yeah. Is that an active enough role what I do or should we be going out there and being crusaders or something. I don't know. Misguiding people as we go.

TOMAS:    You are seeing the reality of your own growth. What was once inspirational truth has diminished to interesting but not complete information. This is the way reality works, and no, of course, you do not suddenly develop the attitude of a crusader for this silly question is already answered in your consciousness by understanding that a crusade is more ineffectual than effectual, but you are also enlivened adequately to recognize a new truth now and again.

Perhaps this new truth that you heard today is one that you will foster as worthy of study for its morontial content and thus enhance your own soul as well as the evolution of Urantia's citizenry. But yes, you are ready for a new perspective and responsibility based on your plateau of acquisition, not only in the material sense but in the psychic sense as well. You don't want life to become trivial and a piece of cake, as that would foreshorten your eternal career as your beliefs crystallized into nothingness. Thus you guard against your choices of service or survival as you step out on each new plateau of existence, as you reassess with each new psychic circle.

A case in point is, the Father looks upon all creation and sees only those who choose to do his will and those who do not. Do you think he sees those who do not want to do his will? Or does he see only those who choose to do his will? There is a question, a philosophic question for you to ponder throughout the week, much as the question, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" for we stand at the gate, at the forefront of a new era in our very existence here. Yes, in the Rio Rancho TeaM as well as in the Teaching Mission as well as in the greater, global Correcting Time.

I believe we are about ready to be about the Father's business in a new fashion. And so, in great gladness and gratitude for the efforts that you have expended on behalf of your own soul and into the hearts and lives of those you touch, let us be on our way. We'll carry on again soon. Anatolia and I embrace you fondly and wish you well. Walk with God and all his agents as you go about your work in the world this week.

Amen. Farewell.

Group:    Thank you.

*****

DATE:       September 7. 2003
LOCATION:    Elena & Matthew’s House, Rio Rancho, New Mexico
T/R’s:            Gerdean (for Tomas); Matthew (for Anatolia)
TEACHERS:    TOMAS & ANATOLIA
TOPIC(s):
The Symphony (revisited)
The Song of Prayer

Q & A:    Group Project

Music:    Elena on Piano: “Take Time to be Holy”

Prayer: Matthew:    Let us place ourselves in the presence of Jesus, the Christ.

“Master Teacher, We take the liberty to walk with you hand in hand, individually or as a group, to ask for you to take us before the Father-- not that we prefer you over the Father or vice versa, but that in retrospect with my request, you have made the Father known through you. We look forward to the time when we can share your company jointly and with all of divinity, so that we may, in the process, know ourselves as we are made to be and as we are becoming. And that is the greatest joy of all, that nothing is condemned or set for desecration unless one chooses, but we are destined to be whole and united with all that is good, holy and happy.

"We encourage that development here and now, and not just “pie in the sky when we die” but look for the tools and the avenues and to make the right choices, to make that possibility of being wholly happy and one with all now as it will be forever.

"We appreciate the teachers that you send to us and ask for their presence and yours today, and in appreciation for this gift of teaching that we are privy to, may we open the doors in the world to such understanding that all may be knowing of your loving presence and their role in creativity and love forever.

"In lasting appreciation, we are forever yours. Amen.”

Group:    Amen.

TOMAS:    Devoted students and friends, I am Tomas. Good afternoon. Anatolia and I and many other heavenly hosts take great pleasure in joining with you this afternoon in our communal reach toward greater revelation of the divine. Your harmonics are exemplary of the oft-referenced symphony that enables each of you to be true to your own instrument and, in conscious or unconscious accord with the Master Conductor, strike the chords/play the notes appropriate for your part of the song our group sings -- in upreach and outreach, in seeking, finding and distributing that music which will render you each complete -- having participated and having received the divine gift of association in making music to enhance reality. This is a noble work. And while we obviously can enjoy Elena’s contribution to this concept by her skills as a pianist, each of you are also in the figurative sense an instrument.

In Matthew’s prayer today, there was reference made to knowing yourselves, in order to be most true to that reality which you bring, which you are, and which you grow in as you become more and more in tune with your fine art of playing in company with your Adjuster, your internal God fragment that pulls you along into a greater awareness of your capacities as a music-maker.

All your lives you have sung your solo tunes and fiddled with your strings or tooted your horn, but now we come together under the direction of the Master Conductor, in order to create a joyful noise, one which will accompany your individual and group light that shines as a beacon to those who would see with eyes to see or hear with ears to hear.

The process of knowing yourself is the same as practicing your instrument, in hopes of gaining greater and greater mastery over the technique of playing. Obviously you cannot become the best coronet player you can become if you are trying to master the viola. And so it behooves you to become true to yourself in such a way as to enhance all that is, and it is in the mind that this becomes workable.

The Teaching Mission, large and small, is a format for those who will to learn to teach, based on what you have garnered to be part of wisdom. That may be the gospel in its traditional sense, or it may be pragmatic in terms of social development. It may be through ministry and healing arts, or in any way the Word of God can be broadcast to and throughout your material realm.

There is a path you take to become excellent. But attaining excellence requires a consistent upholding of those skills which have enabled you to attain your mastery. In your world, which presents itself as very complicated and/or complex, you may feel like a simpleton in playing the purity of your own selfhood, your own excellence; it can be easily drowned out by the cacophony of instruments which have not even warmed up to the opportunity to play, who have not heard the Master Conductor tap-tap-tap on the podium and bring them to attention as a group or even individually. That is the time for you to practice your solo. Invite harmony. Listen for those who have pitch. Engage them in a duet. Enjoy the elementary exercises of the beginner, in order to whet their ambition to become more and better artists.

Observe how many have the words messed up. Rather than “Take time to be holy,” they “Take time to be lazy.” They construe idle time as the time to do nothing, instead of utilizing idle time to engage in up-stepping ones skills so as to find life more meaningful. Those who look to sources outside themselves or engagement and reinforcement of their perceived reality, will not opt to follow the Conductor’s lead and enable, with you, to enjoy being part of the orchestration of the Evolving Supreme. But remember our chamber orchestra here that we enjoy, and begin to consider the notes you play as a part of the necessary composition of the symphony this group is, the music it plays, and the message it projects into the atmosphere -- which in turn will soothe the savage beasts in your domain.

Stay true to your own instrument. Practice your pitch daily. Entertain yourself with a practice session. And keep your mind invigorated by trying out new compositions to practice and master, so that your mind is exercised as well as your skills. Eventually we will be able to hear the song you sing, for the echo of your music will begin to return to you. You will begin to see in your efforts together, the reflectivation of the Divine. By shining your Light, you will attract the light of those who also seek the Source of all Light. And thus, of course, (the principle being and the ideal remaining) the symphony will grow and incorporate such a chorus as to enhance the spheres throughout eternity.

I will be back in due course. Anatolia is free to take the baton of this session and lead you into her song of psalms.

ANATOLIA:        A wonderful day, a wonderful way, to begin our session -- with a prayer. As you probably could not imagine starting off our sessions without a prayer, I only encourage you to do so because it is a wonderful way to bring about the correct, proper attitude and impressions that you wish to make upon yourselves as you enter into your part of the bargain to become more enlightened and enhanced beings of creation.

This is encouraged because it is helpful for you to make the adjustment from primarily material beings, involved in the course of life that you are following, and needing to disengage for just a moment to place your emphasis and ideas out onto the table where they belong. It is as if you are saying prayers or placing them before an altar, to have the sacrifice that you are placing, be found worthy and acceptable for the needs that you present. This is most basic, if not primitive, in humanity’s perspective -- to place one’s offerings on the altar of sacrifice, wishing to appease an angry god or set of gods. To set the record straight, to beg for acceptance, so that the winds and elements do not destroy those parts of reality which are known and dealt with.

I only bring this up in terms of encouraging you to start anything of importance with a prayer, to place your attitude in proper perspective. This does more in the intent of prayer than any request or placement of your needs before the altar will do. For you see that your God-Presence is with you always, and your “burnt offerings” never have been or ever will be necessary to appease your God. You carry the God-Fragment with you always. You place yourself in the proper frame of mind to be able to receive the graces that are always with you when you begin any effort worth doing, with prayer. You enable your energies to balance and become in balance with those that you place yourself before.

So it is of vital importance to begin any effort with prayer. It is as if you are watering a plant or a flower. In order for it to continue to grow, it needs the proper environment in which to thrive and to become all that it is capable of being. So it is, too, as with prayer, as you place your hearts and minds in proper perspective.

I wish to offer this to you -- not as an instruction, as if this is something new, but as a reinforcement for what you have already known. Or for any who may have need of developing a more mature approach to prayer, it is again doing more for you than it is for our Heavenly Presence. Your statement of prayer is the placement of yourselves on the altar. There you are able to commune and to become one with your request. You enable it, as your Father enables you, to become one in the creative process.

I leave this with you to do and to practice. It has marvelous possibilities and results. Prayer, in terms of placement of an adjustment of attitude and perspective, can be accomplished wherever, whenever the situation is needed or you simply wish to commune with your inner presence. I leave this with you and encourage your continued practice of prayer over the simplest of matters, for all that matters is simplicity and a pure heart.

I leave you in good tidings and present each of you with a lily in your hands as remembrance of the purity that you are. It is only your recall that needs to be enlightened. Peace be with you, and may you reflect the beauty that is in your hands.

Group:    Thank you.

TOMAS:    Are there questions from our sessions over the summer or from the beginning of our existence as a teacher base, or even from the far-reaches of your consciousness?

Elena:    I wanted to ask. There have been a couple of comments about this group changing the way that it would work, and I may be mis-phrasing this slightly, but there were a couple of comments that referred to that and that piqued my curiosity tremendously, and wanted to know if you would care to clarify that a little bit.

TOMAS:    Indeed, Elena, it was you last week who properly demonstrated the answer you seek when you indicated that your perspective today is not the same as it was when we were younger in our existence as a group. You evolve, each of you, and as each of you evolve in the spirit and in morontia consciousness, you are like the instrument that can play more and more sophisticated passages. Indeed, up until now, in some regards you have each been playing solo. And even while we have been meeting as a group, your are only now attaining an ability to function as a group, as a “unity in diversity” arrangement, and to develop in your existence what might be called “group consciousness” or a sense of over-control in which we invest ourselves for what you are as a group is much more powerful than what you are as individuals.

As you know, ten people working together can do more than ten individuals, for they are exponentially empowered, and we are reaching a stage of development in which we will become more aware and practice the aspects of the group in the initial efforts to exhale the divine breath that you hold jointly, into the ethers of the universe. This practice, this development, will provide you greater strength to go about your business in the world because your growing appreciation of the cosmic chemistry of this greater consciousness will override those circumstances in your daily life in the kingdoms of men such that you will be able to more readily recognize the perspective that you have gained from this gathering and more effectively deal with the matters you find in the arena you have to deal with.

Just as Teacher Ham said in his first few lessons, “The living water is real,” so too are these realities which you are being led to assimilate through these sessions, these lessons. The mortal experience is the experiential laboratory, or playing field, on which the reality of the Living Water rains down upon. In the course of time, the reflection of the divine will be not so much a shadow but the more real and the material life you live will be more easily seen as the shadow of this greater reality.

Now, be advised, I am not saying the group here that meets here on Sunday afternoon is a false god, no. I am not asking you to worship your Sunday configuration, no. I am not asking you to give it more credence than is required for you to recognize the fact that as the Living Waters are real, so is the Family of God.

And as you now are able to recognize the instrument that you are, and determine your own capacity (as far as your skills in playing), you will also be able to recognize how you fit within the configuration of the rest of your fellow players here in this group, such that you are able to develop a harmony that will resonate such that the reality of the Evolving Supreme is made visible and apparent to you and to others by your individual and group application to the process of evolving the Supreme. Does this give you some idea of …?

Elena:    Yes, and that makes more sense. I just didn’t really know. Sometimes you -- from the lessons you get a little bit of an idea and your imagination takes a hurdle in one direction or another or just a hurdle flinging it out there, not knowing what that might mean, so this brings it into a perfect content. Understandable and doable, so yes, thank you.

TOMAS:    Along those lines, yes, there are those groups that/who take these laboratory experiments of the lessons we give and, taking them literally, begin to create, as a group, service opportunities or organizations in an attempt to literally bring the light of the divine into the material realm. And these exercises in expressing values of divinity are always of benefit to the participants, for they are obvious exercises of a nature that will enable them to develop their skills as an instrument. In some cases they will be able to ascertain they are not the instrument they thought they were. They are not a piccolo but a tuba! And thus the experience is good, even though it appear to be a bizarre excursion into unreality or “my science project.” An experience is good if it teaches you more about the divine and about your relationship with the divine, and even about truth, beauty and goodness in its essential nature. Are there other questions?

Elena:    Thank you, Tomas.
Matthew:    It sounds as if you were suggesting a group project.

TOMAS:    I was not suggesting a group project, although oftentimes a group, once formulated, will desire to take on a project in order to cement those bonds of affiliation and commitment that seem to be inherent in the group process. I want to say that if there is a group project, it will be your project; I am not assigning you one.

Matthew:    I understand.

TOMAS:    If you take on a group project, I want to know all about it, of course, as I want to know about all of your undertakings and entanglements in the process of becoming who you are and mastering that reality, for this is the Melchizedek University purpose on Urantia campus.

Paula:    I don’t think we need any projects. I think it is just that we enjoy being together, talking, listening to you. Just generally enjoying companionship.

TOMAS:    It is indeed a true hearth you and we create. It is very much like the figurative campfire around which we sit to be mesmerized by the Eternal Flame and allow our thoughts to wander away from the outer reality and focus on the delights of the inner life. And the inner life of each other!

Elena:    Well, I have an idea for a project, if one were to occur. I was just thinking that taking my old idea of playing for rest homes, I was wondering if … I don’t have time to organize that, but maybe somebody … Mother, maybe you would have time to call a couple of the rest homes and then go on a … maybe once a month to have us go by before our meeting and spend half an hour, 45 minutes, singing there. We could take the piano. But that’s … I mean, like any of us need one more thing to do right now.

Esmeralda:    I could do that. And I’ll be glad to sing for anyone that would listen. They would only listen briefly, and then it would be “take up your bed and walk!” I could probably cause everybody to walk.

TOMAS:    I hear you say, “walk out.” I am amused and allow you to make those choices at leisure. It is certainly true that there are many who would benefit from a diversion of the routine existence, especially those who have not learned or have forgotten how to elevate the routine prose of mortal existence to poetry. You would do well, however, if you are going to be lugging around a piano and coordinating your extensive schedules, to take adequate time to do a proper recital. And having mastered that project, it would be easier then for you to perform recitals elsewhere and in other locations. Bringing a smile to the face of the lonely or the disheartened, the ill or the weary, is a service, a ministry, as you all fully appreciate how well you appreciate being righteously entertained.

All of you personally are chugging right along, I take it?

Esmeralda:    I was thinking about this project. Most of the group, in one month, relocated their abodes. That was kind of a group project right there. And it seemed to be a group one because almost everyone in the group did.

TOMAS:   That may be enough to consolidate us for a time, for there will be individual adjustments that as a group you can share, and yet in time it will be true, too, you will be joined by those who have not relocated, and you must not alienate them for not having had a change of address. Being established as a group enables you to think about the influx of new people, and how they will feel as a result of having been made aware of this reality paradigm. It is not church in a traditional sense, nor is it merely social, but it has to be represented as a reality context greater than entertainment.

The living waters are real. And even those who have drunk deep of these waters know the joy of sonship and are able to learn to swim therein, even while there remain those who are dying of thirst in the presence of the divine that dwells within them. This seed has now been planted in your fertile minds. The prayer then will be that the seed will be fertilized, watered, and benefited by the radiance of the sun, such that in due course, the shoots of growth will sprout throughout the vineyard, giving rise to a new harvest of souls.

Paula:    Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I just enjoy being together, listening to all of you talk, getting together in each others homes, becoming close, and that’s very important to me. It’s more important than any outside project. To me.

Elena:    Yeah. This group is very important to me, too.
Esmeralda:    We’ve become a family!

TOMAS:    Yes, you are right, ladies, to recognize that the kingdom is not alone in the exalted realms of the spirit, but realizes itself as well in the fibers of the finite lives you live. In this way the group will enmesh and provide a tapestry of such substance, we will be able to use it for a magic carpet ride into morontia mota. Gerdean wants me to say, “We will go for a ride on God’s mota-cycle.” [Group chuckles] Well, friends, have we come to fruition this afternoon?

Matthew:    Yes, thank you.
Esmeralda:    A great lesson.
Elena:    A wonderful lesson!

TOMAS:    It is a good new start to a new season, as we begin another semester of study and aspiration in this classroom environment, in this communion of souls, and in this worshipful place we call “home”.

Enjoy your lives. Return safe, fulfilled and effective for more next week. Farewell.
Group:    Thank you, Tomas.

*****
[End of Vol. VI, 2003 Part 2 of 3]