Tomas Vol VI 2004-5 - Rio Rancho, NM - January 04, 2004 thru March 14, 2004 - Part 1 of 4

People who read transcripts are perhaps unable to appreciate the individual character the students consistently bring to these sessions. Their opinions, their attitudes, their feelings, indeed their concerns, their mortal longings, their very souls are the content. And thus, we have been encouraged to share occasional inter-personal exchanges with the reader, if for no other reason than to share in their growth; this is how we know we are a part of the human-becoming-divine process. Reading these transcripts, getting to know these people and their relationship with Deity and each other is infinitely better than a daily horoscope, more entertaining than a soap opera. They clearly reveal where the rubber meets the road in our daily lives, in how we minister as we pass by, as we learn and as we teach. These sessions are the bread and butter of celestial contact.

January 4, 2004 - March 14, 2004

DATE: January 4, 2004

LOCATION: Elena & Matthew’s Abode

TEACHERS: TOMAS & ANATOLIA

TOPICS: The Human Heart & Infinite Love

Universal Mind & The Intuitive Self

Q & A: Paradigms & Oxymorons; "Where am I?"

T/Rs: Gerdean and Matthew

Music: Elena on Piano: "Go Tell it on the Mountain"

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

"Master Teacher,

"We place ourselves before you, in reunion with our family and friends, as we continue once again in the new year after the holiday season that has been full of good cheer, well-wishing, and gift giving and receiving, and we are most grateful most of all for the gift you gave of yourself, and the teachings that will last for all time and beyond, for the unity of the formative body that you have formed, that we are each cells and part of, for which we are grateful.

"We ask for the Teachers that you choose today, for our betterment and on-going expansion into the life of spirit, both now and forevermore, and for all of the intentions of our hearts and our minds that you are aware of, of each individual who is here and those who are not here, which is the rest of creation, we are forever grateful Amen."

TOMAS: Glad tidings we bring. This is Tomas, Anatolia, and Friends in the spirit realm, come to greet you in this wholesome gathering of cheerful hearts in wondrous praise of that which satisfies all our longings.

Matthew: Welcome.

TOMAS: Welcome, indeed, to you as well, for we would have no class were it not for your willing ears ~ your will ~ which complies to the leading that your Spirit gives you and which seeks to know more of God and your place in the universe.

What adventures and experiences lie ahead for us this upcoming year will depend much on your ability to grow with the points of view which are purposively pointed to you in hopes of whetting your appetite and stimulating your personal experiential growth in these realities which we love to bring.

We gather again in our trusted configuration of long-standing, for the security it provides in the connection with the relationship with other beings in the universe, other loving beings who seek to know more of that love and what that love will be able to provide for the Master and the goals of eternity.

Today I would like to talk with you about love, in particular, that love which you understand as a human frame of reference, but in the discussion of love in any sense, I would be derelict in my duties if I were to in any way disregard the level of love which springs from the divine Source of all love. And so, let us commence.

The Catholic religion enjoys depicting Jesus with a pronounced heart, indeed, a valentine upon his chest, radiating the passion for which he lived and died -- the divine love which is from our Source, and to which you all aspire, inasmuch as this divine love is that for which you hunger. But the human heart, which also seeks to know and experience love, is fallible ~ and thus what you perceive as love may be merely the personal will-seeking nature of the human.

The scriptures point out that the human heart is deceptive, and so those who are fed scripture will take this to mean they cannot trust their own perception of love for it is fallible ~ so fallible, in fact, it may well be regarded as, rather, prideful. This is part of the confusion you experience here in terms of what love is.

And what about love is there that leads you on, often into trouble, and yet you persist in seeking its manifestation in your own being?

The key to comprehending the nature of the Christed heart, as compared to the human heart is to be found in the fact of rebirth. This surrendering of the human will to the divine will is the key to understanding the nature of your own heart.

And, while spiritual rebirth may be your God-given inheritance, it is also true that for you to advance in the kingdom, it is required that you choose which way to go whenever the option is put before you to choose to do the divine will or the human will.

There are those who feel that when they have been reborn they are finished. They have experienced Soul Birth and have no more work to do. In the context of my role with you as your teacher, I cannot conscript that theory for there is too much work to be done, too much that needs to be implanted and experientially realized toward that divine end, and that disallows my acceptance of you as already having attained your pinnacle of the heart’s delight as we yearn to know it.

Thus, relativity, once again, is imperative in assessing the methods by which individuals pursue their course of divine providence.

How is it that the human heart can be deceptive and yet we so often admonish you to follow your heart; we tell you that your heart is good and that to follow your heart’s delight will lead you to greater awareness of the nature of God?

The challenge for you individually is to ascertain the heart that is ruling your thinking at any given moment, for in this phase of Correcting Time, you will be consistently and continually modifying and changing the reference point of your heart, depending upon how well you have devoted yourself to the divine heart, as compared to the human heart.

I will take you to the mind of a child, who says, "But I want it. Why can’t I have it? There’s nothing wrong with me having it." And this child is genuine and sincere. From that childlike perspective it would be cruel to deprive her of that for which her heart yearns, be it a doll, an opportunity to stay up past bedtime, a visit to a favorite relative, or to Disneyland. Whatever this child yearns for and is sincere about, she puts it forth in a plaintive note that would leave a parent to wonder why, indeed, would the child not be given its heart’s desire.

One of the tests of the human experience is having the heart broken again and again, feeling disappointment because the heart’s desires were not met, were thwarted, were contradicted. And so even as an adult, even as an ascending son or daughter, it is possible for that childlike nature in you to wail and lament, "But why can’t I have it?" when the truth is, you have it all! What you are saying is, "I want to keep it. I want to control it. I want it to fulfil my idea of who I am. I want that other person to replete me ~ complete me," as if that yearning was the same prayerful yearning you would utilize when you talk to God about what his will is for you.

You who have attained a certain degree of spiritual adulthood in your experiential life’s lessons are often able now to appreciate the immaturity of your fellows when you see and hear them coming from a sincere place of the human heart. What you must remember is, these beings are all given free will and you have no authority to rule or reverse the free will of another … even though, many times, the timid will implore their fellows to align themselves with that which will make the most sense, or which will provide the greatest bounty for all … even when the still, small voice inside will tell you it is the human heart, a human want, ruling your behavior and not the divine heart, from a perspective of the divine will.

This is the experiential field, and within the experiential field, anyone who has consciousness of any aspect of love is entitled to use it or abuse it because of free will, but those of you who are becoming deepened in walking the path of the divine will have within you a renewed understanding of what the heart of God is and how it works with you and through you to enhance and direct the desires of those whose heart is free to choose evil only because of its own ignorance.

Speaking to you as God-conscious men and women is not any guarantee that you will not misconstrue my words because of your individual standing in these schools. Thus, when you find yourself asking, "but why can’t I have it my way?" choose to see your human longings as a mortal, an individualized, reflection of the love of Paradise for you, and see if you can reason the difference. If you have an eternal point of view, or a far-reaching perspective, it will help you see the value of having your human heart broken because in this way you will be redirected into the realms of greater truth, beauty and goodness which will reveal the divine heart of God as that which you truly seek and will find because of your desire to become one with Him, in all things and with all your heart.

Let me conclude my lecture material for this, our inaugural gathering of the New Year, and pass the baton to my co-worker.

ANATOLIA: Greetings, friends, fellows, and those who share the same life and breath as we do. I, Anatolia, am grateful to be with you once again and more so eager to entertain a New Year of growth and gratitude with you, my fellow students. It is my pleasure to be with you once again. This is a wonderful opportunity for learning - both personal and group as well as universal truths.

As a teacher I intend to present to you the best of my understanding that can be presented to you in a coherent means for your growth and development. This is my intention, as one who is entrusted with the thoughtful minds and ears of those present, much like that of a teacher who is given the responsibility to present lessons to a class of learners at whatever level, for the various levels of learning and understanding are truly graduated. That is, there are stepping stones of openness and understanding. For example, the early elementary years are minds that are open to everything that is, but must be measured and given in the incremental steps that will make future learning possible. That is the essence of the early presentation.

Later, it becomes more graduated opportunity for directing the young mind toward areas of growth and development, which have both meaningful representation in the universal mind as well as particular expression in the world of work. It is this universal mind openness that we are entrusted with, for the Universal Mind is that mind of Spirit, that which allows or enables the intuitive self to have expression and meaning as well as value. For it is this realm that is the highest realm of development.

It is this realm that is of challenge, both within your culture as well as other cultures throughout the world, even those that are dedicated toward a predominance of religious expression, that is those cultures which are predominantly religious by nature are experiencing challenges to that which is universal mind oriented and more so a threat to the popular culture’s interference in the everyday mindset, hence, conservative movements of religiosity, which have been on the increase throughout the world in general.

It is this propensity toward the tightening down of religious principles that are primarily threats toward that which previous generations had been able to maintain without much interference.

It is this universal mind that is the field of activity for which we find ourselves committed and hopefully you, too, find yourselves challenged sufficiently to develop this within your own framework as well as perhaps that which can be developed for expression within the broader community.

It is our hope and aim that this universal mind development can be heightened and expressed and more directly stimulated in this next year and thereafter, for this is the realm of activity that will accompany you in your onward path toward ascension.

I encourage each of you to develop this sense within yourself, as it is this universal mindal faculty that is what you will take with you. There is no baggage; there is no preparation, only that which is mind and spirit and eternal by nature. It is this eternal sense of self that I wish to encourage and to stimulate as we continue in our lessons as students of our Master Teacher and our Heavenly Parents.

Without further development of themes or particular lessons, is there any question as to what I have spoken of thus far, that anyone has currently?

Elena: Actually, I did have a couple of questions, but for some reason my mind has gone totally blank, now that you asked that.

Gerdean: It’s hard to go from the superconscious mind to the conscious mind.

Elena: I was glad that you were talking about the different levels of development, and I was interested in Tomas’ discussions, as well. In fact, actually, when he said that we might misconstrue what he was saying depending on the different levels that we were currently at, and then when you started talking about the different levels of development, I was saying, "Oh, good, she is going into this thing" and I did have a question about it, but I don’t remember what it was. But I’m sorry I can’t go further with that question because I’m blank.

Matthew: Okay, maybe it was because it was a big giant step from elementary minds to the universal mind all of a sudden. There wasn’t much in between.

Elena: Maybe so. I don’t know why that is. I’m totally blank. I don’t even remember now what I was going to ask.

Gerdean: It shouldn’t be that big of a huge leap for Universal Mind as compared to Universal Heart. What we’re being encouraged to look at, it seems, is that there is a huge range of reality manifestation - all the way from the universal approach to the minutia of personal experience of a material nature.

Elena: Yeah, that, and then combined with a deceptive heart. I was trying to get all those into …

Gerdean: If that parallel were to hold true, then, it would stand to reason that the more provincial way of thought would be/could be paralleled to the little perspective of the heart. It’s like your vision doesn’t go out very far. It’s not universal, by comparison, if I can see an analogy in the two lessons. I enjoyed the idea of Universal Mind.

Elena: Yeah, I was reassured by that.

Gerdean: I wouldn’t mind hearing more about Universal Mind but I think I heard her say that she didn’t want to go into that right at this point.

Elena: Well, until I can phrase a better question, I will be quiet, but I appreciated the help, you guys.

ANATOLIA: Therefore, the Universal Mind is a realm which we undertake as this is the one uniting force and the realm in which particular cultural experience indicates that this was the common ground, the inalienable right, the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness the forefathers (not necessarily masculine preference intended) had in mind. For what is the battleground, per se, in the separation of church and state is, in fact, this area that the forefathers had cordoned off as a no-man’s land. Unaddressed, ambiguous, and left to interpretation.

There are scholarly minds that could address this from any number of viewpoints; nevertheless, I invite for our future discussion, considerations that humanity has to deal with. The next level of evolutionary thrust forward lies within this area, for technology (as may already be apparent) can exceed one’s capability to appreciate, encounter and regulate its just pursuit as administration.

The realm of mind and the spirit, which predetermines a mind-set, is the pioneer domain that needs to be addressed.

And therefore, I invite our consideration of these topics in this new year, for as each of you may have in your own mind currently (as this topic is presented) innumerable examples of where the work needs to begin and what needs to be accomplished. For may I say, the dimensions which your Master Teacher and Savior presented to you are just now being entertained, for what was presented in the past thousand plus years had been more institutional than it had been personal. It had been more structural than it had been developmental.

The next realm of evolutionary advancement lies within this realm of universal relationship and ones role in it individually and collectively. Therefore, the statement earlier of postponing this discussion may be evident and deserves further development as we continue in our pursuits of truth, beauty and goodness.

If there is nothing else at the moment, I wish you peaceful and purposeful development, and pursuit of your goals, both individually and collectively - in this new year - and to remember that it is not all work but inclusiveness with your role in it, of all that is, so as to entertain pure relaxation and pure happiness as well as pure understanding of all of those efforts which you undertake. Peace be with you until we meet again.

Class: Thank you, Anatolia.

TOMAS: Would you like to recess for a minute before we discourse? Let us take a five-minute recess, just to get your consciousness focused sufficiently that we could discourse if we chose to.

Elena: I felt about five different things on that little kid route. "Why can’t I have it?"

Thoroah: Well, he treats us more as though we were graduate students, and a lot of the things that he talks about are more universal in nature, for people who happen to read these things, because not everybody is at the same level. Some people know that they are beginners in this awareness, new awareness. They are new to it, and so they’re at a level of understanding, and that’s basically all that level stuff is, is a level of understanding.

We’re all at our own level of understanding, and none of us are at the same level, and there is an eternity of understanding to gain, so our problem is, we speculate where we are on that level spectrum. We think, "Oh, I must be here" or maybe we think, "We’re great. We’re up here." And we don’t know crap about where we are.

Elena: I know. That’s true. And then you think about the disciples, and they were constantly jockeying around, wanting to know where they were. Okay, well, am I going to be on the right hand or am I …? Am I a peer here? And I don’t know where the hell I am, either. So, there’s that, and –

Thoroah: We compare ourselves to each other. That’s the problem.

Elena: Yeah, but … I don’t know about you guys, but at the beginning of a year … this year is difficult for me, but most of them are, too. You think, "Well, you’ve had all the hoopla, the Christmas thing," and then again, it’s "Where am I?" I mean, after all this wonderful holiday and it’s been terrific and then you think, "Where the hell am I?" I have NO clue! I mean, please help. Tell me: "You are here!" And then where do I go? Just point me in a direction from here because that’s what I need. That’s what I feel like. Okay. That’s my question. Where am I and which direction should I go in?

Men-O-Pah: I think in all probability you will be asking yourself that question for a long time. Forever, probably.

Elena: Where the hell am I?

Men-O-Pah: Where the hell am I?

Matthew: Well, that’s encouraging, coming from you, Men-O-Pah.

Men-O-Pah: Incidentally, there are a couple of words that we use occasionally, and Tomas uses. One especially. The word "paradigm". And it came up this morning in our Sunday School. And then the word "oxymoron." So you can open your mouth and tell me what you think it means.

Gerdean: "Paradigm" – I can only equate that to a hologram. It’s like a hologram of reality. It’s like, the way that you can see it.

Men-O-Pah: Is it our perception of what life is? The big picture of what it is?

Thoroah: Not exactly. A paradigm is like a structure. You’re operating within a paradigm. Our society is a paradigm.

Matthew: Like an MO.

Thoroah: Yeah. We do things-- It’s like -- a culture is a paradigm. It creates a reality we operate in. We know when we step over the line in our paradigm. You know. So a paradigm is a way of thinking. Okay?

Gerdean: It’s a group mind-set.

Thoroah: We have a different paradigm, we live in a different paradigm than they do in China. It’s no different, but we live in a different paradigm. We think about things differently than they think about them. And so we’re living in different paradigms. As we grow, our paradigm changes. They talk about a new paradigm; that means a new way of thinking. So they have new parameters to the way we think. The box gets changed. We get bigger boxes.

And then the oxymoron is like … they say it’s an oxymoron to say "government intelligence."

Men-O-Pah: (Chortling.) Yeah.

Thoroah: That’s an oxymoron. "Military intelligence" is what they usually use. That’s an oxymoron.

Gerdean: Or "marital bliss". How can you have the two together?

Thoroah: It’s a contradiction within …

Men-O-Pah: Are oxymorons and paradoxes similar?

Group: Yeah.

Esmeralda: Gerdean, did you say hologram?

Gerdean: Yeah.

Esmeralda: At first I thought you said, "A hole in the ground."

Gerdean: No. (Group laughter) Well, they can be!

Men-O-Pah: We’ve moved up a ways. Just don’t ask me how far up.

Thoroah: Well, we’re on the floor. The floor of the ocean, the floor of the forest, the floor of the jungle. You know.

Gerdean: We have our feet on the ground.

Elena: Yeah, but then the paradigm changes.

Thoroah: It’s the spiritual mind working with the material mind that creates our soul, basically, and that’s how we have our spiritual mind and our material mind and we’re both working on it.

I was writing to a friend of mine who had a heart-breaking situation with his girlfriend, and because he was broken-hearted, I told him, "What you had was you had your mind's heart broken. Your mind had pictured how it was going to be and your mind’s heart was set on that, and when that didn’t work out, your mind’s heart was broken. But your "heart of hearts" would have been able to explain it to you a little better, and your "heart of heart" is what’s explaining it to you now, why it happened. And when we see through our heart’s heart, that is where we are on key. When we see through our mind’s heart, it can trick us because our mind doesn’t know yet, everything. Our mind has this ego boundary.

Elena: Well, let’s get back to Tomas’ deceptive heart deal. What did you guys get out of Tomas’ deceptive thing?

Thoroah: Well, the human heart is deceptive. That’s kind of what I was trying to tell my friend. I made the analogy that it was his mind’s heart. We confuse the heart. We confuse what the heart is. We have this picture of what the heart is sitting on our chest like a valentine.

Esmeralda: Tomas said that, at the very beginning, about the valentine.

Thoroah: But our mind does not let us think through our heart. Our mind has one idea; our heart has another idea. Our heart has its own mind! And our heart’s mind – our "heart of hearts" is the mind we need to listen to. Our mind has a heart of its own and it’s more deceptive because we intellectualize everything. We think we can figure it out. And we’ve got it figured out and we’ve got our hands on it, so we’ve got it, and when it doesn’t happen that way, our heart is broken, but it’s … euphemistically speaking … the heart of our mind that’s really broken. Our expectations get broken. And that’s what’s deceptive. I don’t think he means it’s deceptive in that we’re going to be led down some garden path and be working for some evil cause or anything like that. I think we just get disappointed and heart-broken because of our heart deceiving us, in what we think is our heart telling us what to do. That’s my perception.

Elena: Is our recess over yet?

Paula: Just briefly. Men-O-Pah and I were talking earlier about this word "paradigm" trying to figure out what it could be. It seemed that the way it was used, there could be any number of paradigms. And I suggested that 200 years ago the paradigm was that women did not express themselves in public. They stayed quiet. But the paradigm has changed. It’s come to fruition that way, and today women can express themselves in any number of ways.

Men-O-Pah: Well, the old paradigm was more or less fundamental, and Bible- based, probably, and you know we pretty much believed those precepts. But as the years go by, our notion of that has changed. For instance -- I believe these are the words of Jesus: he talks about two roads. One way, a large amount of people are headed toward destruction, and on the narrow road there’s just a few people on that. And we’re saying, "What is it Lord, that we have to do to be on that narrow road?" So there it is again, you see? The paradigm shift.

But my own thinking is this: Whatever God did, he did it perfectly. And the Bible itself says he is not willing that any should perish. God has said, I put a little piece of me in every one of you. That’s that God Fragment that we speak about. And so, I don’t really think there are that many people on that broad road of destruction.

Esmeralda: I don’t think so either.

Men-O-Pah: I’m not so sure that any will be destroyed. And I wonder how God is going to deal with people like Saddam Hussein and Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini, and others of their ilk. That really boggles my mind. How is he going to deal with them? Of course, I don’t know.

TOMAS: This is my time to come back in and rope you back into class. I can see we are wandering off into the fields of speculation and wonder -- which are encouraged in your social portion, for they have worth -- but we need to keep on track in terms of getting our message said so that we can get out of here and you can carry on about what you choose to speculate.

This has been a great recess, because it allows you to ponder aloud to each other what your perception of the lessons are and how they relate to you.

The question about whether/how God is going to deal with the personalities you mentioned, Men-O-Pah, is only good insofar as it represents how you yourself would manage your civilization, as a god-conscious individual, as one of the human race and one who has God consciousness. Their eternal souls are not your business, but how they affect your society IS, and this is the realm that Anatolia and I have freedom to foster, for this is where the lessons of spirit make sense to you, in terms of how you live your lives with your fellows, how these thoughts impact your society, and how you yourselves are able to change the paradigm of reality from what was to what will be.

You are a part of the growth of your world and these sessions we enjoy contribute to feeding your minds with those concepts from On High which add to the perspective that you would not have held without that farther view that is obtained from the recognition of your place in the universe -- not merely as a citizen here, but as a child of the universe.

As Anatolia deduced, it is not fruitful to foster the idea that your opinions and your wills are so nebulous as to be insignificant, and therefore uninteresting to each other.

This gets me around to your concern, Elena, that your ears hear me speak down to you. I am not speaking down to you and saying that you are lowly. I am saying that within the framework of human beings themselves there is relativity. I was not speaking, necessarily, of the hierarchy from the finite to the infinite, but entirely within your finite realm there are, even so, those who have learned more experiential lessons -- and even fewer who have learned experiential lessons with their God-consciousness impacting on those rewards of experiential living.

The fact of relativity is something to cherish and rejoice about, for it gives you a perspective of your own existence. It allows you to realize how far you have come as compared to how far you have yet to go. But it is not meant to limit your opinion of yourself. Rather, it is intended to help you learn to cherish the reality that you are and encourage you to take upon yourself those experiential lessons which will add to your dimension of divine reality, for in this you will develop the perspective that will enable you to better serve in the purely material arena.

It is in the relativity that you live. There are no absolutes at your (or even my) level of existence. It is within the relativity of things that the conflicts occur and that the harmonies result. And the lesson for today compliments that fact of relativity, and encourages you to delve into that element of your existence, your individual existence, in which you carry on with your fellows in the various configurations (and paradigms) which humans will create en route to finding the resolution of their own wondering about what is real and what is immaterial.

I want to thank you all for your interim commentaries. The people who receive these transcripts are unable to appreciate, as I do, the individual character you consistently bring to these sessions. Your opinions, your attitudes, your feelings, indeed your heart content. And thus, I will encourage them to be shared, if for no other reason that to share your own self in your own growth. This is how we know we are a part of the process, the human-becoming-divine process, and it is where the rubber meets the road in your daily ministry, as you pass by, as you learn and as you teach.

I am certain we did not mean to pile more on your plate today than you were hungry for, but it is still apparent that the respite of the holiday season from your studies of life have whet your appetite and we will make every attempt to not disappoint you or ourselves in our investigations of the increasing realization of that which is the universal mind and the heart of infinite love that you will bestow upon your world in your daily doings.

Peace be upon you until we meet again next week. Farewell.

Group: Thank you, Tomas and Anatolia.

*****

DATE: January 11, 2004

LOCATION: Rio Rancho NM

T/R’s: Gerdean & Matthew

TEACHERS: TOMAS, ANATOLIA and Midwayer DANI

Q & A: The Animal Kingdom; First Five Adjutants

Music: Elena on Piano: "Be Thou My Vision"

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

"Master Teacher,"

"We come to you today with gratitude and appreciation in our hearts for having new people, a new year, new opportunities and newness of heart and mind that we place before you now, asking that it be fed, watered and nurtured as a flower in a flowerpot would be presented to you, placing ourselves before you, flowers that we are, seeking the nourishment and rays of sun that are necessary for our growth and proclivity.

"We place ourselves as such – fragile, vulnerable and subject to what may harm, but with trust and assurance that your protection will not result in such fear. Putting fear aside, and not letting it have a place in our lives, we stand firm and tall, present before you as our leaves stretch before the sun. That is our trust and faith in you and our heavenly father.

"May the teachers today be with us in mind and spirit as we are with them and take whatever we are presented with into the world to make it a better place. After all, that is what the opportunity that we are given is all about.

"In appreciation, and for what is in our hearts and our minds that we place before you in trust, we rest assured in you. Amen."

Group: Amen.

TOMAS: Good afternoon, beautiful people. My friends, I am Tomas, your teacher, host, companion and friend in these processes of becoming sensitive to the nature of the divine, in appreciation of that which we adore, be it in the spirit realm or as it is reflected in the creations of the Creator.

Flowers, indeed, you are and lovingly we come to water the soil in which you grow, that you might reach deep down into the foundations of your being for fulfillment of all you are intended to be and become, through full consciousness.

Greetings, Renault, and greetings to our guest and family friend, Maria of Socorro. We are honored by your presence among us and look forward to continuing reflectivity and association in our mutual regard for that which the spirit brings.

We have quite a gathering today, not only in the material sense of your being, but also in the realm of invisible friends. As always, Anatolia and I are in attendance. And we also host today a number of visiting teachers, as well as the retinue of seraphim and other ministering spirits.

We are glad always to find ourselves welcomed into your lives, for this is the watering spout that nurtures your growth: this contact between the human and the divine, this connection between the finite and the infinite, this avenue of exchange between the material and the immaterial.

This vision that is reconstituted each time you remember to reconnect with the divine Source reconfirms your higher nature and adds to your faith bank, so that when the vagaries of the material life fail you, you may draw upon the resources and the riches of the spirit to remind you of your on-going nature, and this perspective becomes the overriding reality of your consciousness.

This overriding recognition of your real self is the warrior which enters into the fray of human existence in order to shine the light and bring the peace which surpasses all understanding … (Kitty mewing) … and, yes, of which we sing praise in order to be of good cheer.

The community of believers such as we enjoy today is immense. And we rejoice in the acknowledgement that around the world there are others gathered in like manner in order to pray and give thanks for that citadel of the spirit within each of us which constitutes our godlikeness, our intimate and eternal relationship with the divine, that speaks to the heart and soul of man no matter what language he may have been born into or what culture is her background. The voice of the spirit is germane to all and he who seeks the presence and counsel of the divine is open to it and shall receive it as Jesus testified, "Seek and ye shall find."

I tell you truly that this is the case, even in your material realm. While many of you enter into the arena of man and find not that reflection of the divine which you seek to nurture, and which also nurtures you, dig deeper. Search further. Pray for the eyes to see and the ears to hear that which will be revealed to you as you truly seek to serve and connect with the immensity, the magnitude of God. For, in truth, he indwells all beings, and your loving inquiry into the godlike aspects of your fellows will, in fact, stir them within such that they will feel drawn from their sleep, awakening into the growth that is their destiny.

As you call forth the souls of your fellows, it is not necessary to disturb their seed in order to simply aerate the soil in which they are imbedded. The disturbance of the seed and its tender germinating shoots of life may bring an adverse reaction. You will not kill the seed, but you may retard its development by jostling it overmuch in its nest. Therefore, when you approach the soul of life, that seed within your fellows, seek not to uproot it abruptly into the light of the spirit, but merely nurture the growth of that soul seed in love of life itself. In love of their life, as that is how they will perceive that you can be trusted, and thus will their spirit smile within them and respond in kind, enlarging that soul’s capacity to receive the goodness that is their birthright.

The idea for many of becoming god-conscious is terrifying because religion has been such a disruptive, contentious expression of differences, but the solitary soul seeks association with its Source. Even while the mind may resist the birth of the soul, the soul itself longs to sing. Help the soul sing.

You who have been on this path for some time occasionally would do well to be reminded that the soul needs to grow according to the pace and the capacity of the mortal it indwells. Just as an infant is born and needs to learn to get beyond its own dependence on its parents, the soul needs to learn to become dependent on God and not human sources. This is a process that, in this world, potentially takes a lifetime and more. Be patient with these children, these fear-ridden children. Be gentle with their anxiety about spirit matters.

Even now passions rage, having to do with supposedly religious issues that have brought nations into war with each other. No wonder humans avoid the subject. But those of you who know the spirit and who enjoy these moments of sublime rest within the divine arms, such as we enjoy today, understand the nature of God in such a way as to reveal this poise and peace and joy as a way of being and not so much a way of thinking.

Sometimes, merely being a comforting presence, as is the reality of God a comforting presence, is the most effective way to help your seedlings grow. Smile on your gardens, and let your divine light shine like the sun on their future; let the living waters seep through your soul into the soil of your association with others, so as to render their environment amenable and pliable to stretching their own spirit nature into greater growth.

It is understood that we would all like to see the planet settled in a state of light and life, wherein everyone rejoices in sonship and praises that which is true, beautiful and good, but in order to attain that pinnacle of planetary development, we begin where we are today in this new, mighty dispensation of revelatory growth for this planet. What a privilege it is to be able to provide my consecrated care to the cultivation of the soil that will give rise to a new crop of believers and so we rejoice in the work at hand and in the workers who have already begun the harvest.

Anatolia, is next, I believe.

ANATOLIA: I am Anatolia, happy to be with you again on our Sunday afternoons here in the Land of Enchantment. Welcome to new and extended family who are here on this lovely mid-winter afternoon, and greetings to all who are in the gallery, who you may not be able to see but chances are you have an opportunity to sense, for it is much like you have seen in movies, perhaps, of the gallery observing a surgical procedure -- not that you are subjects or mice on a table, but that all are watching with interest, as in an observatory, so to speak.

For you are being observed –not for your peculiar nature or oddities of character -- but through your faith, for as has been said time and again, your presence here on this planet, as in others that are blessed with the presence of faith, are truly heroes and heroines of your time, as have been more such armies of the faithful that have gone before you and, Christ willing, shall follow after you.

My presentation, or discussion today is based upon that gift of faith. Some of you may remember the story that is in the Urantia Book of the first ascended mortal who had ascended the top of the hill to the first plateau of ascension. As the story goes, it was one fine day in the mansion worlds when out of the clear blue, out of the ordinary, one found a pilgrim mounting the top of a hill, and since it had never been accomplished before, enabled everyone to stop in their tracks and simply stare in disbelief over the first mortal soul who had made their way to the mansion worlds.

Grandfanda is his name. Imagine, if you will, the throngs that have followed since. But more important than that, the vacuum, the silence that would have been there prior. And by hearing that echo of a call that only the soul knows and grace can address, could that have ever happened.

Picture if you will, then, the amazement and the glory that would have been filling that atmosphere that day, as one untold, unexpected, unannounced, pilgrim mounted the crest of that hill. It is in this tradition and in this trek that each of you make your way to the top of this hill, for when it happens for each of you, the cheers, the glory, the gratitude that awaits you, is fully in place and only awaits your completion of the equation.

For faith is what enables you to mount the trek, to keep going when all else tells you, in logic and visual and hearing in your world as you perceive it, that your trek or journey may be foolhardy, that there is really nothing up ahead, only your hope, only what you have been told, and there is little on the physical side of your belief that encourages your trek or your journey but in your heart and in your mind you cannot be fooled, you cannot be told something that is not true or real, for that is where you fully and truly evaluate that which you believe, and that which you make real for it is your belief system that creates your reality.

There are those, after all, who are confused, misguided, and are uncertain as to their spiritual future who do not find this path or trek until sometime when they become full believers, for they journey, they wander, they go in circles, they are unfortunately the lost in the desert, much as anyone would be in a sandstorm, fully engulfed, blinded, unable to see and need to hunker down until such time as they can once again regain their bearings.

We encourage each of you to picture wide vistas of avenues open to your quest, for your charted path is in your heart and in your mind. This is where faith truly lives and if needed to be tested would be put to the test which you would pass, for your faith in that which is, yet cannot be seen, is the music of the spheres which is in your heart and in your mind.

So I encourage you to continue on your faith journey, and do not be shaken by anything that is either perceived to be real or even what you see as real, for the matter will pass away, and your reality will survive it. So be true in your belief and pure in your love and all else is a matter of accomplishment. Rejoice and be glad for today you live and tomorrow you will abound in glory with all of those who have gone before.

Peace be with you and may your new year be full of cheer and reinforcement of your goals. May you be forevermore at one. Peace be with you.

Group: Thank you, Anatolia.

TOMAS: Well, now, loyal class of eternal students, what shall we do for the remainder of our time together? Let us stretch the muscles of the mind and body in order to reach into the grab bag of perception that will reveal the nature of your needs today, in terms of enterprising interest. (pause) Let not everyone talk at once!

Elena: I’ll start. I loved the lessons from both of you, Tomas and Anatolia. They were just beautiful today. But what I wanted to hear your comment on Tomas, was you were talking about being gentle with other souls and nurturing them, and I particularly found that helpful to me. As I may have mentioned before, there is a child from a former marriage, who is not my own child physically but, in a sense, related, who has given me a call so … she has her own concerns on a number of different issues that are difficult for her and somehow your comment about just giving a little bit of encouragement or spreading sunshine onto somebody else’s path was reinforcing, because I frequently find myself – well, not frequently, but – when talking to her I feel in a little bit of a quandary about how much to help her. My own family members caution me about getting too much involved and yet you see a problem that somebody has and so … I guess this isn’t a question yet, other than saying thank you for that, and then if you do have any comment on to what extent, how you decide to what extent to help someone, I guess. Is that a clear enough of a question for you to see what I’m driving toward?

TOMAS: Yes, I clearly see you are wrestling with a matter of discernment. What I will suggest you do is revisit the concept of family in this context – remember that Jesus suggested his apostles, his followers, not merely regard one another with brotherly love, but to go the extra mile and approach his people with fatherly affection. In telling me you are not this child’s birth mother but that you have a maternal sense of ministry concerning her, you tell me you are approaching this from the fatherly point of view that we are admonished to maintain. And from this fatherly/motherly pinnacle, all humanity becomes your child. All of humanity is your family. And what opportunities are presented!

The concern about being too much involved is an appropriate caution for those who tend to live the Golden Rule from the brotherly love perspective, for many times brotherly love falls short of the divine goal because of the limitations of the sibling point of view. However, from the perspective of parental love, you have the option to use discernment as to whether or not your behavior is enabling the child to remain immature or encouraging the child to grasp a greater concept of life, including its vicissitudes and its wonders. You understand my counsel?

Elena: Except for that last comment. For some reason, I kind of lost that, about …

Renault: Sometimes life is hard. Is that right, Tomas?

TOMAS: Yes. And sometimes life is a mystery, filled with truth not yet revealed, which would encourage you to let the child live its life based on a premise of faith in tomorrow rather than condemnation and fear of experiential living. The father can do this more readily than the brother, who tends to commiserate and empathize to the extent that there is no counsel given. The parental point of view is able to counsel that human being who is put into your path for you to minister to as you pass by.

Elena: Okay. That makes sense. Thank you.

TOMAS: Yes. Revisit these lessons in your leisure time for the cerebral value, as well as the visceral value you seem to absorb in these meetings, for the lessons on faith that Anatolia spoke of will augment my counsel.

Elena: Thank you.

TOMAS: You are welcome. (long pause)

Elena: Well, if nobody has anything else, I would like to ask you, Tomas, or you Anatolia, or anyone else who would actually have a better feel for this. I have asked Chicoli about this, but other tips would certainly be helpful in getting Tanya and Barney to cohabit easily, or any tips in that area would be appreciated.

TOMAS: I will have no counsel for you there, for it is far beyond my job description (group giggles), but I can bring in someone who perhaps could offer some advice, if that would be amenable to you.

Elena: That would be great! I need some extra tips. I’ve gotten some good tips but I think I can use all I can get.

TOMAS: One moment. {Clock strikes 3:00} Dani is here. Dani is a midwayer.

DANI: Hello, everybody.

Group: Greetings. Hello, Dani!

DANI: I’m much closer to the subject. I’ve met your Barney. He’s quite a fellow. I’ve already been friends with Tanya for awhile and she is quite the lass as well.

Elena: Oh, thank you, Dani.

DANI: You really do have some fine furry friends as companions, and you certainly do have some animal training (coo-coo clock strikes 3:00) at hand, to do.

Remember that your animals are affected by the first five of the seven adjutant mind spirits. Therefore, they have within them the capacity to share with you most of what you know. That is to say, they are able to share consciously the spirit of intuition, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of courage, the spirit of knowledge and the spirit of counsel. The only two they are missing is the spirit of worship and the spirit of wisdom, so you must already know in advance they will never gain wisdom; they will always be critters, pets, but if they can have knowledge, they can get smart enough to learn how to get along,

This is where your challenge lies, then, is drawing on those innate qualities of the Mother Spirit that indwells these animals, and I would suggest that you review the adjutant mind spirits for a greater understanding of how they may benefit you in the task that lays ahead. If you speak to your animals with the spirit of counsel, they will respond by the spirit of understanding. If you caution them, through the spirit of intuition, they will develop, then, the spirit of courage, that will allow them to have, then, the spirit of knowledge that knows "No!"

It is as if you were dealing, in many ways, with little children, who, in their immaturity, have not developed yet the nature of worship and wisdom, and so you just basically have two little kids on your hands and she was there first! She is older than he is, even though he is going to be a lot more energetic and a lot bigger. He is essentially the one who needs to learn his place in this family, and the more you cater to him (as adorable as he is), the more difficult it will be for him to understand that he is not the firstborn. (Oh! Okay.)

Dogs and cats are both very territorial. Therefore it might benefit you to have areas of demarcation which each understand is their turf, their boundary, and when you have your time with Tanya, based on the life you have already lived with her and shared with her for quite a while, he will just have to wait – perhaps in his cage – and watch you having a good time with her, without him being involved, so that he learns, through the spirit of understanding, that he will just have to wait for your attentions and your affections until his turn.

He has the capacity to understand this, to learn this. And if you talk to him intelligently, his spirit of counsel will develop this spirit of understanding, so that he will know, through the spirit of knowledge, what he can and cannot do. By the same token, once Tanya is assured of her place in your heart and in your home – which you must remember is still fairly new to her, and she may still be going through some insecurity because of her newly acquired arena -- a newcomer on the scene may be a little more traumatic than you would think, in particular one as captivating and demanding as Barney.

Barney, however, will need special care because he is a young one and has not got those feline qualities, which seem to almost take care of themselves. In many ways he will be more dependent on you, and it will be a big help if Matthew is able to absorb some of those extra energies and duties that will free you, then, to minister to Tanya, so that she is not feeling that she has lost you, but that she has gained family.

This is not a simple question or a curiosity question. It’s a very real issue and it does call for a spiritual solution, as does everything! It’s simply a matter of determining how the spirit works in your lives, and in the lives of all things, in order for you to manage that energy and those realities to better bring about those conditions which will lead to life and light for all concerned. Is this helpful?

Elena: Extremely. I am so grateful, Dani. Thank you.

DANI: Sure! Anybody else have a problem with their menagerie, or something I can help with while I’m here?

Maria: My cat, who was hostile to my other cats, disappeared recently. Somebody said they thought they saw her a few doors down. Is it appropriate to ask if my cat that disappeared is alive and living with someone else?

DANI: Just a moment. Let me see if I can get a handle on that.

Maria: Lorna is her name.

DANI: Lorna Doone, lost in the dunes. Where are you? Lorna is not well. Lorna has a tumor. She will not live long. Let her go. Animals know these things instinctively, and while they may seem brutal to you who are far more sentimental, there are skills and keynotes in the animal kingdom, many of which you all seem to have forgotten, that contribute to the – what shall we call it? "The balance of nature." There is purpose in the design of the animal kingdom, including the human animal. And none of these living beings are overlooked in the care of the kingdom in the domain of the overseers. That is to say, you have heard it said, "God knows every hair on your head." He knows also when the smallest sparrow has fallen to the ground. This is because God is everywhere and Mother nurtures life everywhere. There is nothing to mourn here. Nothing to regret.

This is the nature of the animal existence. The life that has been loved and has given much in its path has returned to the ethers of existence in order to contribute to the cycle of life which will one day reformulate the follicles of existence, the molecules of matter, into another expression of creation, be it animal, vegetable or mineral, in order to supply the world with the demonstration of material life that is required for your existence and sustained life here. As well as those many generations to come.

It’s really quite a marvelous process and even though those who are not mindful of all its intricacies, like to call these things ‘miracles’, there is much about creation that is as natural as "water rolling off a duck’s back" if you just looked more closely and read between the lines. I have confidence your current cats will keep you company.

Maria: Yes.

DANI: Animals, having the first of the seven adjutant mind spirits, are able to communicate to those who will listen. Remember the movie that was out years ago about the fellow who talked with animals? Well, perhaps by now there are dozens. But those who are sensitive to the animal level of existence are indeed capable of listening and hearing what they have to say. Those of you who are sensitive to your pets already know that they will tell you when and where they want you to respond to their needs, so all of the animal kingdom is like that. It’s just that most people don’t take the time to pay attention, above and beyond their immediate frame of reference.

I guess I have done enough damage for one afternoon. Thank you, Tomas, for the opportunity to meet and greet the group again. I’ll catch you later.

Group: Thank you.

Elena: Thank you so much!

Paula: This turned into an animal thing!

Elena: Well, I sure needed it.

TOMAS: We cannot overlook the animal nature of our students. Indeed, this is a great deal of what goes into the Correcting Time, for many of you have made decisions, based on your animal nature, which have not served you well and which now must be revisited in terms of your new and divine perspective, so that those paths of conviction you have traversed may be reversed, in order for your soul to find its way out of the maze of your own making and back to the divine design.

Understanding your animal nature is as enlightening and edifying as is any study, and those who become so top-heavy as to spend all their time and energy in the realm of the spirit will find their physical legacy lagging and their intellect sagging, so balance is of the essence. As you grow, grow as a whole person, keeping yourself in step with your own growth by recognizing the necessity of integration.

Integrate the spirit into your existing human life. Integrate an understanding of the animal nature into your theology and your philosophy. Integrate your thought processes in accordance with the divine leading and the animal lures as well, for therein you will make wise choices. What a great existence you have, if you but realized the extent of your potential and your capacity!

I am eager to help you step outside of the limitations of the lives you live in order to assist the Master in his desire for you that you learn to love life and enjoy it more abundantly, because of him. Thus, you will be able to reveal him in your lives as you live your unique existence in this garden of creation.

What a bounty it has been for us this afternoon. How we enjoy the stimuli of new thought, new people, new opportunities and new challenges. Let us ever renew our commitment to life as it is lived in the spirit – vital, dynamic and new, every day, every moment. Amen. Farewell.

Group: Thank you! All of you.

*****

DATE: January 18, 2004

LOCATION: Wayawahili’s Wigwam

Albuquerque, NM

TEACHERS: TOMAS & ANATOLIA

TOPICS: Perspective From the Riverbank

Why Don’t People Get Along?

Barriers are Inherent in Secrets

Q & A: Who is the Heavenly Mother?

Why fuss about a Virgin Mary?

T/R: Gerdean and Matthew

MUSIC: Elena on Piano: "We All Gather at the River"

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

"Master Teacher,

"We come to you today with excitement in our hearts and in our minds in anticipation of a new world to come. Whenever that happens, as you said, this generation shall not pass away until what was described as the end times arrive. We don’t know what that was supposed to mean or if that was accurate, but we wish to live as if we will see light and life in our time. May our steps be directed to the approach of light and life when the millennium of peace and tranquillity and love will be here. In our own lives, it is key that it exist prior to whatever being external, so we entrust ourselves to you and to our Heavenly Father, Heavenly Mother, and all of Deity to eventually join in that oneness of being which is now but we only need to become aware.

"In appreciation for the Teachers that you have made available to us, we are grateful and ask that their teachings come through clearly and succinct today for our enlightenment and for the accomplishment of the kingdom. For all that is in our hearts that may not be spoken, we place before you as well. Amen."

TOMAS: Good afternoon, precious friends. I am Tomas, your teacher, your companion and guide and host for these festivities. Anatolia and I are joyed to be among you again and to celebrate the largess of our community and the power and strength of our communion today. "The family that prays together, stays together." The power and strength that comes from such union in communion will enable humanity to overcome all its difficulties, but when we have dissention, even within the Family of God, wherewith shall we be fruitful?

This wellspring of living water that we gather at today is light and life, indeed, for we have, figuratively speaking, gathered at the throne of God and rejoice in our sonship stature humbly, with God as our Father, with the Divine Minister/Universal Mind as our Mother, and the Creator and Descending Sons of God as our witness. With this awareness in mind, it is easy to relinquish our hold on the material fetters and philosophies and foibles, which hold us, back from rushing pell mell into the rushing waters of spirit. This is a delicate balance, a precipitous position for you to be in, but as you well can see it is possible, even as each of you are different, and have your own opinions about many things, there is sufficient commonality in your gathering together, that you can transcend those differences in order to commune here with one another in the Light of the Son. You become like sunlight twinkling on the top of the water, moving, ever moving, coursing through the Stream of Time into infinity.

Why can’t everyone be thus? Why are there fights and disagreements, even among religionists? Why must the various evolved religions separate themselves from one another, as if they would become sullied by association? Why, indeed, do human beings whisper among themselves and keep secret things from each other, as if there were untold enemies at hand to undermine this sacred communion which we are privileged to enjoy when our hearts are laid bare, our minds are wide open, and our souls are fulfilled in this companionship in the Spirit?

A rhetorical question. It is because there has not been enough praying done together. The effort entailed to open up a Vortex of divine light, such that can shine on you and your neighbor, is no respecter of persons, cares not if you are black or white, rich or poor, foreign or native, highborn or low. Under God, all are equal. It is only when the politics of living intervene that there are conflicts, and lest I be mistaken, even individuals within the autonomy of their own unique identity are prone to these same sort of conflicts. Such is the nature of growth.

The fact of conflict is a side effect of growth. I realize that is very peculiar teaching, that you would rather see harmony a result, not conflict, of growth, but in the light of the many differences, different factions, religions, cultures, et cetera, of Urantia, your planet, there is bound to be upheaval, in particular as resistance to breaking down the barriers is put forth as warranted and as individuals are unable to put aside their own prejudices, even in terms of the spirit, and pray with thine enemy.

In the meantime, pray for your enemy, or your perceived enemy, but pray in the knowledge that they are your brother/ sister/ beloved child, but you have not been given the opportunity yet to gather at the river together. In this light, it is apparent that the task at hand is to glorify the river, enhancing it and inviting it to flood the land, enveloping all of humanity in the living water of sonship, such sonship as this that we enjoy today, that transcends the differences, even the differences that are a part of your unique inheritance.

There was discussion before our session commenced, about secrets. Secrets are barriers to the flow of the living water. The example was offered of the town gossip who would think nothing of revealing intimate facts of the denizens of its community, in the hope of expressing a perspective that would provide insight into the character of the being/individual who was being discussed. Have you not often wondered, yourself, what goes on in the heart of another? What motivates their thinking and behaving? Ought not humanity be more open about its motivations and less secretive about its designs?

The thing about secrecy, as I see it, is that, like the gossip, there is an intense striving for what can be regarded as intimacy in the practice – in the practice of gossip, in the practice of international intrigue, in the business of government and governing institutions, even in the domestic relations of human association.

"If they know nothing about me, they have nothing to judge" versus "If they know everything about me, they have a chance of perceiving who I am" and knowing who you are will then determine how open you are about who you are and how much you will then come to expect from your fellows as fair exchange for the step advanced toward gathering at the river.

The resistance is part of the baggage. It well may be that resistance seems justified, but the path of least resistance is more effective, for less energy is wasted on piling up all these barriers to open communion with the soul of one another that will result in harmony and peace on earth, for from this vantage point, we wish only good for each other. We love each other. We recognize, like the Ancients of Days, how difficult have been the struggles! We see with the eye of divine mercy.

There is the element of mores that colors everyone. This is a mere microcosm of the politics of your world, which affects everyone, but the goal is every and anon the same -- to be in a world which acknowledges the goodness and the greatness of the God of all creation, there to gather and enjoy the fruits of the long upward climb. Evidently, it will be necessary, then, for you all to learn to pray.

On that note, I will conclude my remarks for the afternoon’s message from Tomas and open the podium to my contemporary who will join us and contribute additional food wherewith to sup.

ANATOLIA: This is a fine day in which to meet, on Sunday, here in the Stafford’s home in upper Albuquerque -- (Group chuckles)-- not to be confused with lower Albuquerque. Point being that in Upper Egypt it was the reverse of what you would think. It was Upper because the water flowed North. In this case, euphemistically, it is a fine day to be here. And besides, you can see the City from the Wigwam, so it is literally upward.

And as far as gathering at the river is concerned, it is a fine day to gather at the river whenever there are more than two people to take advantage of what the offering is at the river – whether it be recreational, inspirational or intentional pursuits that bring one to understanding what it is that rests within the hearts of men … or women … meaning that water is a natural analogy that can be a contributory factor for the pronunciation or demonstration of the spirit, for the spirit flows through, past, under and around anything that may appear to be an obstacle. So, too, does water seek its own level. As water is refreshing, nourishing and life sustaining, so it is, too, that life could not be as you know it without spirit.

In fact, one could say the intention of life is to discover spirit. If life were never presented as you know it, it would be as if the shell and nut game would be useless as a demonstration, meaning, if you had full knowledge of who you are before life as you know it began, you would have no reason to ever question, doubt or seek to know that which is not at all evidence. Much as the shell and nut game, if the shell and nut game were never utilized, you would never know the excitement of finding that which you considered to be conspicuous and obvious, for the skilled craftsman who can present the shell and nut game can be thoroughly entertaining, surprising, and baffling.

Such it is, in simplistic terms, that your life has meaning only because you are unaware of its actuality ~ beyond what you know it to be. So if you had never experienced this …what you call life … you would never know faith in its truest sense, for your belief system, as it is, is truly courageous and magnificent. To be able to believe and to know without a doubt that you are eternal is truly the insight into life. It, in itself, is not the key to eternal life, but it is certainly the beginning. If there is a beginning to unlocking the mysteries of life, certainly this is it.

To lose a partner, a family member, a loved one of any sort, you know all of a sudden the sense of loss and truly missing that individual, although you may in your faith belief system know that that individual is part of everything that is and has his or her personality intact, yet you do not see, you do not know of their whereabouts. This gives you an impression and an experience in which to know that life proceeds its physical form, for you know in your heart and mind that that individual exists. Again, without this experience, you might not begin to know that life is the mystery that it is, going through this corkscrew as you do, knowing you have meaning and purpose.

I wish to entertain the idea of questions, if you have any, at this point. Are there any questions pertinent to today or in general that anyone may have?

Paula: Yes, I’ve got a couple. One of them is … different times I’ve heard ministers use the expression and I heard Matthew use it this morning, about the Heavenly Mother, and I have never been able to figure that one out because all through the Bible, Jesus talks about his Heavenly Father and the only mother he had was Mary, so who is the Heavenly Mother? Can you explain that?

ANATOLIA: I will advise you that the term is used figuratively, in the sense of the Holy Spirit as the lighter side, the feminine side of the Trinity is the essence of what we refer to as the Heavenly Mother, in that, what the Father may actualize in terms of First Source and Center, the first action that flowed and the Eternal Son, who in transpiring progenitor reality, may or may not have preceded the spirit, nevertheless, the Spirit which is the lighter, feminine side of the deity head presents that which we know of as feminine or motherly characteristics.

The combination of these deities and their relative spirit personalities, make up the vast array of the heavenly creation, part and parcel of which you have presented to you in your third dimension reality, but is only a fraction of that which does exist in the breadth, depth and heights of creation. Does this help any?

Paula: Yes, it does, because I never read the Bible from cover to cover. There was too much war and kings killing each other and all that and I got kind of bored with the whole things, so I didn’t bother reading it through, but I was wondering if somewhere in there they were talking about God having a wife up in heaven and that was the Heavenly Mother. But I never heard any ministers talking about it.

Now, my other question is this: why does everybody make such a big deal about saying "the virgin Mary." Why is it any of our business whether she was a virgin or not? What difference does it make? I think it sounds, again, like a big lot of gossip. (Group chortles) If she and Joseph got together beforehand, well, that’s not unusual. So he got born a couple months before he was supposed to, but what is the difference? It’s the kind of person he became. Who cares if his mother messed around a little bit ahead of time! It’s not our business! And why should they keep talking about Virgin Mary business. I never could understand that.

ANATOLIA: The question of the Virgin Birth is one that was carefully crafted, if you will, as a means to explain the unique nature and birth of the Christ. After all, to simply allow (in the explanation sense of things) a Son of God, or THE son of God to be born to mere mortals, with every type of frailty – for the construction of a belief system in the early Christian Church, it was seen to be necessary to erect a system whereby the son of God needed to be born to a supernatural situation, that ordinary procreation would have nearly been an insult to the functioning of a God-man among us. Therefore, the woman chosen to deliver such a child had to, in the eyes of the Church fathers, be flawless in every way and above human desire, let alone temptation, so what does this mean in actuality?

The actuality is that the spirit of God was upon Mary and enabled the seed of what we know as Jesus to have been planted. The pre or post marital life of Mary and Joseph were not, nor is it, subject of doctrinal or ecclesiastical purity, but rather the purity of heart that enabled such a function to take part. Therein is the immaculate conception -- in the purity of Mary’s heart, it allowed to be a host to such a life. This is the grandeur and the miracle of the virgin birth, euphemistically. Is there anything else in this regard.

Paula: Well, she certainly didn’t stay a virgin, if she was one, because she had other children.

ANATOLIA: Correct. It is immaterial – again, it was a way for the church fathers to give particular homage to Mary and to justify the physical birth of a God-man who, if brought into life in ordinary procreative manner, was perceived to have somehow demeaned his purpose and his deity status. Lest I say that this attempt to glorify and party deify Mary was unnecessary, as much of mystery and somewhat mythical qualities were presented as the Church had an opportunity to construct that which they wished future generations to believe.

If it had been "allowed" to have Jesus born by an ordinary pro-creative means, it would (in their minds) lessen his God-like status. Therefore, it is merely a medium for attempting to demonstrate the unique, divine, and superlative nature of this individual who took it upon himself, in union with our Heavenly Father, to visit such a world at such a time. This is the miracle, and this is the fabulous nature of what was accomplished, sex being immaterial, truly, and unnecessary to explain the pros or the cons of human existence.

I hope that this satisfies the desire to understand this concept. It is not a key factor, but you can rest assured that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was not an ordinary individual. That is, as good as any a vehicle to bring forth the life of the Christ. Rather, she had a pure heart and truly a devoted individual to her God. This made it possible for her to be the host to the Christ. This is what we can celebrate and rejoice and not worry about pre- or post- purity. Is there anything else?

Myra: Yes. About prayer. The statement "where two or more are gathered in my name, there God is" so I would like to know where he is in personal prayer.

ANATOLIA: I would say, in a literal sense, as the statement is made, you can rest assured that by your stating a prayer, placing yourself in a prayerful state, this can be done in any number of means – whether kneeling, standing, sitting, in deep meditation or respectful communication – "Where two or more are gathered, there I am with the God-presence within you" and yourself to acknowledge such presence, the two being there make or create a host opportunity to allow the God force to come forth, to be present.

As was said before, without this gift of life to truly host and to enable your sense of the unknown to become aware to you, how can you know any better than to live a life without total assurance and guaranteed that you are eternal beings, other than to believe truly and become then convinced upon your transmission to the next state of being. In your opportunity for such awareness gathering, it can only be done behind the veil or in the dark, so to speak. In the light terms, for you to be able to give God the opportunity to speak to you, you must be quiet and become the host to allow for that communication to take place. Therefore God is present. Does this help any?

Myra: Yes. Thank you.

Maria: I had a man working for me, Greg. And at the point I met him, I think he was quickly dying of cancer. I did a significant amount of healing work on him and he worked on getting some resolution with people he had left along the way. I encouraged him to get in touch with family and finally he did and he is now back with a family that loves him, and although … -- I think the important part is that he is with family – but, I just wondered if maybe he has done enough healing, he will get better. Or maybe he’s just getting done what he needs to before he dies.

ANATOLIA: You can be assured that you have helped tremendously in the opportunity for a soul to find inner peace. The greatest obstacle to his absence from family was to enable himself to finally give in that he does need the love and security of family around him, which is healing in its own right, for inside the physical being is an individual who, partly out of stubbornness, refused to believe that others presented to him in his life had true meaning and placement within him.

It was much like having to find the heart of the onion without stripping off all levels. By facing a critical life challenge, he was able to allow himself to finally allow himself to go to the kernel, or heart of the matter, to allow himself to love himself enough that he was willing to relinquish his apparent need to not need anyone else, but that his self-sufficiency would suffice without the external influence.

Regardless of the amount of physical healing that may be encountered, the healing of his soul and his heart is what truly is at hand, and for self-love to be enabled, he is able to allow others in his life, which is the first step into eternal life. So this is a sign of great relief and healing of which you have been a part.

Maria: Thank you. That helps a lot.

Paula: Oh, and do you think that when Roger-- [Editor’s note: Earlier in the session there was a telephone call advising Men-O-Pah and Paula of Roger’s recent death. A noted curmudgeon, he died peacefully in his sleep.] gets up to heaven, that God will sit down and talk to him? Does he talk to anyone, I wonder, when you get there, and try and straighten him about things?

ANATOLIA: Let me assure you that Heaven as you will know it has any number of possibilities. It is not a central meeting all that everyone goes to, but rather, depending upon your heart and mind, is where you will find yourself. He will eventually meet God, as each and every one of us will, but not until his heart and mind have changed to be able to receive that which he is given. Imagine someone who is of the dark who resists the light, whether it be a cave dweller or what-have-you, but will not go toward the light, to all of a sudden bask in total love and light. The individual could not relate, would not be able to relate, so it is with gradual love that the light is presented, so that the individual can accept it.

This is a case of self-loathing, and as long as the individual loathes him or herself, there is little opportunity for even God himself to convince the individual that they are worthy of love. So, as it is in divine providence, each and every opportunity is presented for the individual, the soul, to gain recognition of love worthiness. And in that union with God as we know our Creator, in concept and in beauty, is made possible. Generations or eons regardless, it is and will be accomplished, provided the individual opens his or her heart accordingly. Is this helpful?

Paula: Yes.

ANATOLIA: I wish to thank each and every one of you for the opportunity to be entrusted with your questions, and to give you my perspective as I see it from my side of the fence. It is, after all, merely a side of the fence that I have perspective broader than your own. I wish to aspire to true wisdom, as is my aspiration. My teaching capabilities are my way of contributing back much of the grace and love which I have been given. It is my pure desire that you, too, may be able to give back as you have been presented. It is the open heart that is willing and able to give as they have been given to. I know each of you to be such individuals and I continue to entrust you with the love that is given to you. So give back all that you are able, and love will hence continue. Peace be with you, until we meet again.

Group: Thank you.

TOMAS: As your host, I insist upon the last word. Thank you, Co-Teacher Anatolia, for your testimony and for your teaching today. It gives Gerdean a chance to be a student and perhaps one day we’ll get her to ask questions. It is in such fearless seeking that the door will be opened.

While I feel the session this afternoon has been replete in every way, I will none-the-less pause to inquire before we go if there are questions. (Pause) Then let us be on our way, prayerfully advancing into light and life.

Elena: Tomas! I do have one question. One of your closing comments on your lesson was that we all need to learn how to pray. In future lessons will more attention on how to pray be provided? Is that an upcoming topic?

TOMAS: Evidently. I will check Machiventa’s roster for your curriculum, but it would seem so. Beautiful children, farewell until next week.

*****

DATE: January 25, 2004

LOCATION: Myra’s Light House

Rio Rancho, NM

T/R: Gerdean

TEACHER: TOMAS

TOPIC: "I’ve Looked at Clouds …"

Q & A: Where Will I Go to Serve?

Why Must I Vocalize Intent?

Gerdean: To help me get focused, I’m going to go and see Jesus for a minute here.

"Jesus,

"Come join us, if you would please. We are gathered together as we incline to do on Sunday afternoons, to hear the lessons from the Teachers that are working with us to uplift us from the darkness. Thank you for the gift of the Teachers and the subsequent friendships that we are gathering up in the friends that we make, your sons and daughters that also want to know more about you and your wonderful universe.

"The lessons that we receive, we trust are sanctioned by you, and so we open ourselves to learn without fear of consequences. We know you will not lead us down any primrose path or blind alleys, certainly not without going there with us.

"And so, in trust of your over care and mercy, we thank you for the opportunity to work and play in service to you and your world we live on. Amen."

TOMAS: This is Tomas, your friend and companion, teacher, guide, host and general prodder. The configuration indeed is different today with many of you absent, having gone to church to celebrate renewal in joy with other religionists. I expect we will hear tales of your journey, your mission work, when you return. In the meantime, what a joy it is to again be in our regular configuration in the Rio Rancho Teacher Base.

I understand the dynamics of the weather are causing quite a distraction in your mind’s eye today as you watch the clouds form and cross the planes and Sandia Mountains. Your view of conditions prevailing and passing is much like our perspective here in the architectural sphere where we reside, where we are able to oversee your growth and the development of the growth of this world upon which we bestow our efforts.

There are days when the cloudlessness of the atmosphere gives rise to great progress and happy rejoicing in the service fields you have chosen, while there are times when the clouds of doubt enter into your consciousness to obscure the light of the son (sic) and distract you from the duties at hand. Let us assimilate the clouds, not as a negative influence but an opportunity to permit the winds of change to affect the earth plane as we often allow the winds of change to affect the planetary development that is a part and parcel of the Correcting Time. The saying goes, "There is not growth without conflict," without agitation in the subconscious realms of the mind, even in the conscious mind, as you discern what was true for you yesterday no longer holds value for you today. These clouds of confusion come upon all who are open to the winds of change that are brought on by the Spirit, which is, like the wind, ever moving, ever changing, ever perfecting and leading you on to your greater perfection potentials also.

The perspective we enjoy from our post is relatively speaking as incomplete as is your view from where you are but we, unlike you, are confident of the end results, the on-going unfolding of eternity, inasmuch as it is our great privilege to know from personal experience the divine nature of the universe, whereas you, as agondonters, are even still in a position to only know through your faith what the reality is that you seek and attain. But, even therein, withal, you are privileged to enjoy the soul consciousness that speaks and says, "I know what I know."

Today, in this small and intimate gathering of lights, quietly illuminated here in this circle of associates, we recognize the purity of intent, motivation, and perception in you new to the mission, and wish to convey to you our appreciation of the knowledge that there have been many who have come as wolves in sheep’s clothing to divert you from the divine path, that would set your feet upon a path of wrongdoing or misconception.

While we do not deny that fact, there is even so, my assurance that our desire to work with you is based upon the divine injunction to be perfect in your realm as the Father is perfect in his, and to utilize the Master as the inspiration for the mortal life that lived like you do, as you do, and still consecrated himself to the Father to direct his path and counsel him in all his decision-making such that his life was an example to the entire universe of how to live a God-led, spirit-born life, such as you do in your own realm of truth, beauty and goodness.

The Fatherhood of God envelops all of his creations. The Brotherhood of Man includes those of you who are mortal men and women, but the Family of God includes the many Sons and Daughters of God throughout the universes of time and space who seek to find Him, discern His will for them, and earnestly choose to do and actually accomplishing the doing of His will in and for themselves, as a way to reflect the nature of the divine throughout the vast cosmos.

This consciousness of being a part of the Family of God that exists throughout the Grand Universe is the conscious re-connection with your place in the universe. The isolation that your world has endured as a result of the misdeeds of the fallen, is ended, is redeemable, is reclaimed, for God is good and yearns to embrace all of his creation in his grasp. Look to the hills whence cometh our help and when you find the mountaintop clouded by the clouds of circumstance, know that they, too, shall pass. The sun (sic) will prevail, shining on Urantia as one perfect realm in the starry heavens of creations throughout the galaxies in step with the dance of time, in consciousness of the on-going stream of creation. Rejoice in this understanding and gain peace from the comfort of His presence that abides with you, within and without, in the many forms that God takes in order to prevail in and through His family of creations. As you, too, can prevail throughout your family of connections in this kaleidoscopic and perfecting portrayal of the infinite I AM.

From that mountaintop where even Martin Luther King, Jr. stood, we stand. And as we look around in our sphere and in yours, we can testify indeed that in the eternal perspective all is well.

What can we do that will help cast light on the over-riding yet passing clouds of doubt or confusion that visits your mind and mannerism? What spirit consciousness would you reach for that will allow the clouds to pass in order to reveal the clarity of the vision before you? Are there questions?

Maria: Along with what you’ve been saying, I was thinking about some of my growth lately. I might be moving soon, and I’ve been doing a lot of my healing work and I’ve been doing a lot of healing myself lately, and a lot of growth, and I feel like where I go I may be able to start really fitting into my purpose instead of sequestering and learning, and I wonder if you might speak to that?

TOMAS: Yes, child, I can address your concern there, which is a concern that we all experience, the yearning to be of service and where our service can be most effective and while each of us have a perception of how we are able to best serve, it falls upon our superiors in the hierarchy of divinity to know better than we how, where and when our gifts are best given. It is foolhardy to depend upon our own perception of our use.

This is a mirror reflection of the truth that we are in no position to judge ourselves, and generally, that is ascertained as a negative judgment; nor can we judge our assets as far as our ministry, for that is up to the Perfect One to decide. This is, therefore, something that can be garnered by you in conscious communion with that divine Element of yourSelf that has bestowed Itself within you, that Divine Fragment of perfection, which is yours to keep and become.

In that light, then, you will learn firsthand, often by being unaware of how you serve. It is the desire to be of service that matters. How you serve is often irrelevant. At least insofar as your perception of this is concerned. How can you know how you affect others? Yes, it is true, sometimes these remarkable realities can be revealed and they are truly gratifying, but by the same token, if they become a crystallized perception, they will invariably be broken in order for your growth to be allowed to continue, for the living waters cannot be frozen into a concept that crystallizes truth from expanding, growing and flowing with more growth as you cannot curtail the clouds from forming in certain weather. Thus, continue to yearn within your soul to do his will, and then trust that it is being done, whether you can perceive it or not.

That being said, it is understood that you as a mortal, as a human being, as a child of God and man together, desire to find certain fulfillment and gratification in the work you do for the realm as well as for the father. There you may apply your own comprehension to the construction of a facility or a service format that will comply with the comprehension of those you choose to reach, those you long to touch and inculcate.

In that regard, you may call upon your personal teachers who, as was discussed before the session began, are with you, have never left you, and would be more than happy to help you establish your will in the doing of His will in those ways which will be relevant to your perception of your mortality and morontial reality.

When and if your mortal efforts falter or fail, find comfort in the knowledge that many times these exercises in seeking and finding and doing the Father’s will are clarifying exercises that, like cloud formations, come and go … to provide relief from the incessant sun (sic), to add living waters to the abstract atmosphere, to lend dynamic change to the unbroken perfection of blue skies. These experiential ventures are like the weather – they are constantly changing.

And as is said in many parts of the world, if you don’t like the weather, look again in 15 minutes and it will be different. And the same is true for human enterprise. If you don’t like what you’re doing, try something else in 15 minutes and see if that suits your fancy. Obviously where you relocate will have a great deal of bearing on how you proceed as is always the case, if you are led by and through divine guidance, you will be taken to the place where you can best serve, but in the ideal, daughter, remember that anyplace you serve is the best place. Is that helpful?

Maria: Yes. Thank you.

TOMAS: Thank you, for your willingness to be about the Father’s business, to assist in the alleviation of the difficulties that have been ingrained within the mortal consciousness that await the releasing touch of the divine spirit, in order to right those wrongs that were done, in order to proceed and advance from here … even with the scars and markings of yesterday’s pain adding character and definition to the experience of your isolation on an outpost such as this that will set you apart from others for eternity as having been a child of a rebellious world, an agondonter who could believe without seeing.

You will be assuredly looked after and watched over. Again, I urge you to become conscious of your personal teachers and to retain your connection with the Source of all through your stillness meditations, and in time you may well become aware of the many universe personalities who will seek to assist you on your path and in your service ventures as you pass by.

Maria: Thank you.

TOMAS: You are welcome. Are there other questions?

Thoroah: I have a question, Tomas, about the need on our behalf to express our desires in order for our desires to be acted upon. And I’d like to know where the literalness of that leaves off in actual function.

TOMAS: That is an interesting question. Let me see if I can approach it in a way that is meaningful and purposive for you.

First let me remind you of the microcosm of the divine that you are. Look into yourself and see within you the Fragment of the First Source and Center, the paradigm of the I AM consciousness, that infinite and eternal quality of perfection which you seek to assimilate as it seeks to assimilate you in this marriage between the human and divine that will eventuate in the everlasting and immortal soul. That is the initial decision, the supreme decision that sets you on your path toward ascension and a consciousness of your awareness of consciousness – thus your superconsciousness, and this all can take place within yourself.

As the Thought, then, seeks to serve and reflect itself, it becomes the Word, as the original I AM became the Universal Father of all creation and created the Eternal Son as the Word. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God and the Word was with God." And thus you can express your reality as the Word and sing praises and associate with other sons of god as the Word.

But not until the third aspect of Trinity was engaged, was Action actualized. Therefore, Action comes after the Word. Expand on that. The Word needs to be activated before the Action can actualize. Therefore, therein, is the root of the rule that you must first voice your intent for the event to come about. If you do not voice your intent, you remain in your Thought form, having good intentions, perhaps, but eventually losing the gist of the Thought for it has not been put into effect by a conscious acknowledgement of it, through the Word, that will instigate the Action.

This is a law of the universe. Do you see my point?

Thoroah: I actually have practice in that, and it makes me ask a further question about certain affirmations, or certain repetitive more-or-less rituals, where one does speak out loud one’s intentions, which is something I did for over a year, I remember, because of the prompting of Napoleon Hill and some things I learned about voicing our goal, our purpose in life, and then sort of having a mantra that you voice daily. And that will not do it alone, I realize, but it sets it up for the action.

TOMAS: Yes.

Thoroah: But you have to act.

TOMAS: Yes, this is where the Third Source and Center actualizes the Word from the Thought. Affirmations, however, are readily reduced to rhetoric and mere mouthing of words without intent, without the spark of life.

In beginners, the dramatic impact of first learning these truths is impressive, and the beginner may tend to wear it out from usage until it has served its purpose, whereafter, it will no longer bring the desired effect. This is because you have learned that lesson and you must go on to the next up-stepped lesson in that path of consciousness. Many fear the next step and so they veer off-course, try something else. The "parking lot angel" is one that has been "used to death".

But you cannot just sit around for eternity hoping for a parking space to open up. There are so many more things in the galaxy that crave your attention than mere affirmations or conveniences that require your genuine investment, that call for a consecration of y our will. These dabblings in metaphysics, such as "the parking angel" and affirmations, are effective starting points, but many falter when they discover they must invest something of themselves in order to go farther or deeper into cosmic reality. They choose to debunk their experience as a metaphysical plaything, rather than taking it as a starting point for a greater reality. The point being, they are not willing to become deep thinkers or brave experiencers. They choose to keep themselves and their ego intact without investing into the unknown, in faith, so that their cosmic consciousness can be enhanced and gratified. They choose to rather stick with the easy, cheap thrills, and then give up the process when it requires something of genuine substance.

This is, in effect, how it is that you can choose not to go forward into eternity. You can simply say, "Nah, I don’t wanna go there," and you won’t have to. But if you don’t commit your soul to the development of your own eternal reality, in one way or another, you will have no invested reality with which to go forward when the time comes. This puts your eternal destiny not so much in the realm of good and evil as it does in intent … and ambition. God will not do it all for you if you will not contribute to the process by consecrating your will to doing his will.

This is how it is that many experiences are allowed, even those that may not appear to be divinely sanctioned experiences. They are opportunities for the human to make a choice, to learn a point, to find a value lesson therein, and any of these experiences may be beneficial, providing they do provide a kernel of truth, a seed of reality that instills in the experiencer and the experimenter a yearning to be more like God, a drive to become more real, a genuine longing to learn to love deeper, better, more forcefully, more thoroughly, to serve more effectively, to recognize righteousness more consciously, and thus develop and grow in those values which will see you through your eternal career.

Looking for the glitz and cotton candy of spirit reality will not cut it, even though it may provide temporary and intriguing amusement. It will not suffice for your investment in your reality unless and until you commit yourself to the divine will. This is the supernal decision. From there many classes are available in these Melchizedek schools that will take the earnest student in order to teach it those valuable soul lessons that constitute the kinds of reality that lend the mortal malleable and open to those growths and assimilations of truth, beauty and goodness from the divine which will feed his or her soul ~ at the same time stimulating, perhaps, the minds of others. Are we on the same page?

Thoroah: Your last sentence there was something that I was thinking about, how those sort of self-centered desires to grow and be all we can be, those things that we learn in those experiences are valuable to us, but I see them also as valuable as things to teach, and I’m closer to that kind of thing because of my job and all, but those life experiences are not only valuable for our own growth, but they provide things to use for teaching.

TOMAS: Yes, indeed, they do. No one lives in a vacuum, and certainly no one who lives in the family of God who is conscious of the importance of relationship. Once you have been born of the spirit there is no isolation for the Father is overall of us and we are all connected, therefore all of the experiences that we undergo are able to be shared and appreciated by others as a frame of reference, for a plateau of reality which provided some degree of morontia reality or even human experiential wisdom that contributes to the process, the overall process of perfecting ~ the individual as well as the universe.

Good question. I hope it bears fruit.

Thoroah: Thank you, Tomas.

TOMAS: There is a question trying to formulate in Gerdean’s mind. Let me disconnect from her so that she can gather her conscious mind together and formulate her question.

Gerdean: I’ll formulate out loud so that its not any more well formulated than anybody else’s.

I was thinking about the Association for Light and Life that is formulating, and it being as if it were a microcosm of the Family of God, individuals opting to do ventures and service projects that may or may not be perceived by others as useful or divinely inspired or sanctioned, and yet they can be valuable for those who are doing them, undertaking them, … and I was reminded, naturally, of my own experiential adventures and ventures that I’ve taken and one of which was nipped in the bud because I couldn’t do it by myself, and that being the Light and Life Center down on Lomas Boulevard. And how even with the Thought and the Word, if there is not adequate Action, it’s not possible to be accomplished, and even so, the Thought and the Word are not without value. Right?

So, talking about things, therefore, must have value. Instead of just sitting around by ourselves thinking. Talking with others is a way of stirring up confidence, one would suppose, or stimulating each other to growth such as occurs in the greater universe. We are used to being isolated here. We are used to thinking about doing things alone, and the universe is a bigger place and it thinks about group functions, or mass events.

That was not a question. Not formulated as a question. But nonetheless, it was formulated for your response, if you will, Tomas.

TOMAS: You might enjoy having a chat with Adam and Eve, for they too had a project they thought to do and had a desire to commence upon but were thwarted in their efforts, for the circumstances were not sufficient to see it through. Not only were the circumstances problematic, their perception of their purpose was colored by the experience itself. That loss of a potential is much what they feel and regret, as would any parent who has lost a child mourn the potential of that which never came about.

But to consistently return to the perception of failure is to spoil the opportunity to open up to the opportunity to succeed in those future endeavors which can and will come about because of the increased momentum and Christ-consciousness … or cosmic consciousness … that has been activating as you have been contributing to the overall activation of the planetary awakening that is currently on-going in this Correcting Time. These attempts at creating a world or an entity or a reality are all important, for they contribute to the future success.

The theory of "my science project" might be helpful here, even though I know you mortals do not appreciate being regarded as a science project and a guinea pig, but the ideological ideal of the analogy is enough to help you appreciate that if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again, for you will have learned things from the first go-round that can be incorporated into the next go-round. Just as the Association for Light and Life will be able to bring into being many of the things that failed before for lack of group consciousness.

Group consciousness is often required for group effort, although not always. It is possible for groups to operate even unknowingly, but that’s yet another topic. I perceive that you are saying you want to do something with consciousness, that stemming from the remark Thoroah made about these conscious mortal experiences that you undertake. Yes, well, that’s how it is that the Thought becomes the Word becomes the Action that actualizes the material realms of space, and now even includes the Planet Urantia and the sister worlds that are emerging out of isolation into the stream of time and space.

There is much afoot. There are days when (my days, your days, it doesn’t matter. It’s an abstract day) … there are days when there is so much going on, the idea of taking on another project is absurd, and rejected. But there are days when the sky is clear, not a cloud in sight, and nothing but opportunity on the horizon. Those are the days to gather together under a shade tree with a picnic basket in association with your fellows, in order to happily design a project that can be undertaken as a group venture, and in this way it will be born as a group venture, and not as a series of individuals attempting to operate as one, or as one individual attempting to lead everyone.

An organic core creates greater function, if only because of the exponential aspect that is only possible as group mind prevails. And growing a group mind in the spirit is evolution itself, which always takes time. Even those days when you think there is too much on your plate and too much to do. There is always room for the recognition of on-going advance into eternity, into perfection. And thus we gather up our basket and our tools, we put away our apron and set about to be about the Father’s business.

Thank you for joining with me and us today. I have spoken for and on behalf of the many who contribute to the cosmic consciousness of this gathering, in this teacher base in the desert. Beautiful ones, I leave you with the Father’s blessing upon you and in the Mother’s care. Amen and farewell.

*****

DATE: February 1, 2004

LOCATION: Rio Rancho, NM, Teacher Base

T/R’s: Gerdean and Matthew

TOPICS: The Work is Upon Us

Q & A: Monjoronson Mission?

Music: Elena on Piano: "Being Known to us in Breaking Bread"

Matthew: Let us place ourselves before Jesus, the Christ.

"Master Teacher,

"We come to you today with vigor and enthusiasm in our minds, in excitement for what could be. You have promised us "Peace on earth" as your opening greeting and departing overture to your disciples in terms of "Peace be with you." That is what each of us does want; each of us does strive for. As we encounter opportunities to do that, that may be fleeting or may be permanent, it is what is in our hearts and minds and we cling to you in the promise that that shall be.

"With the open-mindedness and desire to make connections with you and with your teachers, we pray today that we be encouraged and enlightened in the same breath, to be all that we can be here and now, to help bring about the peace on earth that you have promised to us, to be experienced here, both now and forever. For this and all else that you know within our hearts and our minds, we place before you in trust that they be changed, delivered and brought into fruition. Amen."

TOMAS: Glory be to God in the highest and in you, my associates. I am Tomas, your teacher and friend.

Great things are afoot in your cosmic neighborhood. There have been up-stepped measures because of the plateau of perception you have reached – you people who put the will of God uppermost in your lives, you who promote the gospel of Jesus, and specifically those of you who promote that gospel as propounded through the Urantia Papers, the textual presentation of the fifth epochal revelation of which I and we are a part.

The work is upon us. The fields are ripe with fruit to be picked and made a part of the feast of divine abundance. The clear channel message, which was presented to this movement, "the Teaching Mission," (as well as myriad other messages which have been coming down in and through the various channels of divine decree to reach into the hearts and minds of the Urantia fellowship of agondonters such as you all are -- all those of you who are believing without proof of the presence of God simply because of your personal experience in and with that reality which transcends, supercedes and glorifies all of this material realm in which you reside and over which you have dominion -- in order to grow into the inheritance which is yours by the fact of your sonship, and by the testimony you have given to seek to do his will in your lives, the work will be commenced beginning now as a part of the "Monjoronson Mission," which is yet another step in the direction of the progress for light and life and the ministry for Urantia.

The Teaching Mission continues to operate as a fundamental base of operation for teaching and for proselytizing as you see fit. The growth that you garner as a result of your conscious connection and continued growth with and in the spirit, no matter what movement you are a part of, is the forward movement that results from striving to know God, from your Adjuster yearning to return to its Source, to take you with It in eternal tandem.

How the work commences will be determined by your perception of what you are called to do. With that statement made, I will add simply that, for the most part, my work will remain the same. But as yours is enhanced, my opportunities are enhanced, inasmuch as I am your teacher, and as you learn, so am I challenged then to keep abreast of your hunger to learn and desire to serve. In this way you are able to give back to your teachers and spirit mentors the energy that you garner from the work you do with and in and for the divine that we might create this overarching synergy which will lead, even compel, the light and life which is potential within you each and for you all to manifest on earth as it is in heaven.

Today I would like to speak with you regarding Standards. But "standards" being such an emotion-laden discourse, I will choose to use the parable of the choir.

You have all enjoyed being a part of the choir. You often use the phrase, "I am singing to the choir" when you are affirming your own belief system among those who have no argument or who understand your philosophy because they are "on the same page." You may be harmonizing or you may be singing in divinely orchestrated contrast in order for the crescendo to mount and erupt into a paean of glory for all who witness. [Brief interruption for Carl and Janet’s arrival.] Welcome, beautiful Men-O-Pah and Paula. We are now replete. What pride I take in this configuration. Esmeralda is well. All is well.

We were, yes, discussing standards, but without going into the philosophy of standards inasmuch as they are so very personal, and so I thought the parable of the choir might serve to present the same theories, and so we had just begun our discourse, my discourse, about the choir and how you have enjoyed being a part of the choir and singing to the choir inasmuch as you who love to sing praises of God and who love to tell the story in song of the master and his ways, even as they impact you and your journey through the life experience.

There are those who say they are singing to the choir as a way of understanding they are all singing the same song. They are all following the same conductor, like the symphony is following the conductor as well -- the symphony being the primary piece and the choir being the voices which provide the emotional and human element; even as it may sound as angels it is, even so, the voice that personifies the swell of the music.

Those of you who are in the choir have been able to sing in harmony and for the most part this group, for instance, has sung only harmonious pieces – until perhaps today [Editor’s note: we discussed politics before the session began and became a bit discordant]. Discord was evidenced, and it is as if the conductor had turned the page and offered you a more challenging piece to learn for the upcoming recital. Let us continue to work, then, as a choir in this sacred orchestra so that we can bring forth the glory of God in a paean of praise and triumph for the God of all creation.

Individually, choir members are chosen (or choose) to sing in the choir because they love to sing. There are many who would love to be in the choir who cannot hold a note, and so they become the appreciators, who keep the pages turning, or the transportation teams intact, who see to it that the schedule is arranged so that the commitments of the individual members can be met, and they all enjoy a sense of oneness with each other, that - while their voice is important - they are an element of the great One Voice that they bring about when they sing.

This is how we have been enjoying our Teacher Base. And now we have a new piece. This is the work of the Kingdom. It will be a new challenge for you to undertake this development because you may at first only see the discordant notes. I want to remind you, however, that you have your own voice. Everyone in the choir has to have their own voice. They have to know how to sing the song individually, even as they need to know how to sing it en masse -- just as you unique individuals need to know the sound of your voice as it has developed by and through your association with your divine Adjuster.

In order for you to speak as if you were a clear channel of that note you are to sing, that note you are to sing can only be determined by your standards. They will be ultimately known by the choir because of the various demarcations in the choral piece we are undertaking. There will be times when only the baritones will sing, and times when only the altos will hold forth; there will be times when the entire choir joins together in an harmonious chord of perfection.

But in trust of the voice you are given, observe not the difference with concern, but with awe and appreciation of the diversity of voices that are required in order to make up the choir of which we are a part. You will also be mindful that there will be times when the solo is appropriate or the aria, and this could lead into an expanded appreciation of the fact that life itself is an opera, and that like life, all are players and in this parable, all are singers; therefore there are some who will dominate and put forth a solo while the choir rests, and times when the choir stands behind the soloist in contrast, and times when they will stand together in harmony such as to augment neither but rather to elevate the glory to On High.

The only requirement is your desire to sing, coupled with your ability to hold a tune. This process of holding a tune is a discipline, a science, that anyone can undertake to master. This can be done because the Voice itself is a gift of the Spirit. The voice emits from the soul through the disciplines of the adjutants, in honor of the Supreme.

Those of you who in this group are a member of a literal choir are fully able to appreciate that even in the material sense the concert will rise up only as high as the standards of all those who have determined to participate in the production, and to bring with them each the highest standards available to them. Thus, as our standards are upheld, the glory of God is made truer and clearer. It echoes farther and truer throughout the land.

This will be the next leg of our journey, and that concludes my parable. If you find value therein, assimilate it, and accept the purity of your own voice, allowing it to sing as you are directed by the choir Director, in order to maintain your harmonious membership within the choir of those of us who chose to sing his praises and to let his Voice be heard. Thank you.

Students: Thank you.

Men-O-Pah: I’m grateful to you, Tomas, for the discourse on the choir. I think I know that same group of people very well. We go there to sing the praises of our Lord, and we do it the very best that we can. It doesn’t really matter whether there is one person or a thousand in that sanctuary, we go there to sing to him.

TOMAS: And the wonderful result of your group consecration to the work at hand is that all of you are empowered beyond what you thought possible. You rise on the strength of the notes of each other in such power and glory you astound yourselves. This is mota. I am glad you appreciated the parable, and now I look forward to Anatolia’s words.

Matthew: Thank you.

ANATOLIA: Welcome friends, family, and those whom we wish to see on Sunday afternoons. You are all cordially welcomed and accepted as you are for who you are, and there are few other groups that one can rest assured in their acceptance. For this is a unique group, formed and based upon the belief that we are both mortal as well as divine. This effort to be in contact with our true selves, around the common belief that we are the children of a kind, loving and benevolent parent, and other parent (meaning not placing an emphasis on a gender parent) but other qualities are those in which we recognize and cherish in mutual worship on these days of praise and thanksgiving. For few other groups are able to come together in acceptance of one another and acceptance of the purpose for which they meet and share their moments of teaching and education in appreciation which interprets into group worship.

This is the highest form of reaching and maintaining a standard, for in a society there are laws and essentially standards that are upheld, yet most often these standards are given lip service to a great extent and only among those who are truly committed to a higher standard than the lowest common denominator can find the strength and will to live at that level that calls them to greater norm than the group mind.

Let me just say that I, as a teacher of this Corps of Teaching Mission adherents, am proud and pleased to be your teacher, for you offer me your total attention and appreciation for the gift that each of us receives in terms of spirit mindedness and being part of the spiritual creation. Your recognition of this does rise to the standard that is called for by being children of a creator that places you in the driver’s seat of choice as to your belief and practice. You are living your belief by practicing it, not purely on the Sunday afternoons or Sunday mornings or points in between, but on a daily basis.

I wish not to build you up to highly, to have you believe that you are models of citizenship and Christ-consciousness in our midst that all will benefit by following your practice, but let me not discourage you, either, from encouraging you to be the Christ-minded individuals that you strive to be, for striving does bring about the creation of one’s openness and unity with such purposes. So I strongly encourage you to continue to participate in whatever group activity that does rise to the heights of your soul’s song that you wish to sing. You are not alone. You will not sing in a close to a deafening thud, but will join us and others as we join with you in singing praise to the Creator that is in each of us.

Peace be with you and know that the love that is within you is there because you are part of the eternal oneness. Be at one with yourselves and all else. Peace be with you.

TOMAS: Amen, co-worker. There is an understanding that there commences a major sports event in your paradigm and we will not extend ourselves into your standards of enjoyment, but rather will respond as we are instructed by the Choir Director who oversees these gatherings. With that in mind, are there questions this afternoon?

Elena: Well, just one. A little bit. You mentioned one, actually, and I don’t know if I’m pronouncing it correctly: Monjoronson? There was an announcement or an introduction of a new level or I think you mentioned the next step that we would be taking. I think there are those – the majority of the group who actually missed that.

TOMAS: This is a new development, so to speak. It is not new in concept, but is new in terms of taking a truth and putting it down as an event captured in your sense of time and space. The Magisterial Son is anticipated at some time on your world, and it is also anticipated by many that this realization will be done in finite form. Whether that, when that, and if that event occurs, it will become obvious to each of you, inasmuch as you will no doubt come to know him.

But in the meanwhile, the influence that he is bringing to bear on the community is such that there was a pronouncement made recently which called for a special group gathering this past Thursday evening (which is, of course, your choir practice night) and groups around the world were invited, if not instructed, to gather to engage in Stillness together for a broadcast. This, unplanned-by-you, human-consciousness, came about and the effects of those gatherings that night are being polled now.

There was a meeting, in fact, that we Teachers were also required to attend, to discuss the effects of the Monjoronson Mission, and how we might help you prepare for that day when the materialization occurs of any of these personalities -- such as Machiventa or his Receivers, Adam and Eve, Magisterial Son, or any entity that is sent by God to work among you.

The fact of the work at hand is, in part, what has compelled the meeting and the pronouncement. This is why I suggested to you that I will carry on rather much the same, for my role has not changed. However, your involvement in our Melchizedek promoted education will change because of the conscious commitment so many of you have made to more visibly reflect the will of God on your world.

Thus far in the Mission you have been taught, and you have worked quietly within yourselves toward your own correcting and in the ethos of that act you have grown to observe the acts of the world around you and realize the correcting that will be required in the world at large, if indeed, the era of light and life is to eventuate, and there are many of you who have been of a mind to contribute to this mighty effort. While many of you have had individual ambitions and projects, some of which have even been overseen by midwayers and/or angelic orders, a greater impetus is inherent in the Magisterial Mission which will, if you recognize your place within it, offer you the power that was henceforth unavailable.

Therefore, you are advised that the power to do His will is being broadcast in and through your cooperation with the Directors of the unfoldment of the Divine plan that will enable you to act upon your desire, that will indeed multiply your voice, for you are now consciously tapping into and becoming a part of the universal chorus of those who work for the enlightenment and upliftment of Urantia from the previous administration.

The Most Highs are taking over the rule of men. In particular through you who are mindful of the Most Highs in the part of you that is real, the part of you that is submissive to the direction of the Supernal Choir Master, to whom our voices are raised.

Let us be inspired in our singing, knowing that we are reinforced, upheld, encouraged and added to in our desire to do his will by the augmented energy of the Son of God whose work it is to lure you into the assurance of your own voice, in order that you may go forth in confidence of that which you are given to do.

Group: Thank you, Tomas.

TOMAS: And thank you who are conscious of the soul’s yearning to help humanity move forward from the Lucifer legacy and the detriment of the default to the completeness that is possible now with the total re-encircuitment of Urantia and its sister planets in rebellion. There were, in short, big doings On High this past week and you will soon feel the effects in your own lives by and through your own consecration to the divine will within.

I look forward to the music that will be presented for us to observe and assimilate and detach from, just as those of you who master your notes can distinguish the unique standard of each note on the scale as a pure note, as a clear channel, of that perfect will of God through your own voice. Trust the process, and follow the Director, and we will enjoy the triumph again of the spirit as it leads us into a greater revelation of truth, beauty and goodness for you, for your world and for our efforts with it.

This is experience you can enjoy here and which you will also remember and utilize when you leave this plane for these are exercises in cosmic awareness that will serve you well throughout eternity. Adapting the fact of someone else singing a discordant note and recognizing it is part of the composition. Keep your focus on your source and follow that note when it rises up within you and maintain such a standard as it will be apparent your singing has been inspired by God himself. Are there other concerns or questions this afternoon?

Matthew: Thank you for the good news.

TOMAS: Yes, my friend. It was a disappointment, in part, for me to not have you together as a group on Thursday to meditate and repose into Stillness for these impressions that would no doubt have been forthcoming within each of your superconscious minds; however, the truth of the fact of the very existence we enjoy is testimony to our involvement already, in that, each of us were doing what we were supposed to be doing, and there is no shame in that. That is precisely what a choir should do.

I was, at any rate, unavailable for I was being given my own instructions and was not called upon to testify or to T/R. I, like many, have been made aware of the evolving circumstances of Urantia and am given these bits of information, in order to respond accordingly, to my standards of what my role is within this Teaching Mission, and as an ascending son in my own right. And thus I will honor my own free will as an entity and sing my notes as I am able, in full confidence of the compliment of my fellow Teachers in this Corps to also carry out the instructions we have been given by our Sovereign Michael of Nebadon in service to him, even as we prepare for his elder brother and those other administrative efforts as are made throughout the local universe for us to comply with the will of God in the unfolding of the revelation of God in this stage of planetary development.

You see? We have our own politics On High, and we are cooperative. We know who reigns supreme. We honor the roles that each of us are given, just as you respect the gifts of the choral participants and the brilliance of the voices that sing the high notes and the low notes that give such range to the music that we speak and that we enjoy and in which we all participate.

Let me take myself and this entourage out of your superconscious range now so that you can enjoy the festivities of this realm and give thought to the potential of tomorrow based on the news we have been given and the satisfaction that you each can garner from an active portrayal therein. God willing and you willing, we will meet again next week. Peace be upon you. Farewell.

*****

DATE: February 8, 2004

LOCATION: Rio Rancho NM

TOPICS: Overcoming Difficulty; Lesson on Prayer?

Q & A: Am I a Christian?

T/R’s: Gerdean & Matthew

Music: Elena on Piano: "What a Friend We Have in Jesus"

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

"Master Teacher,

"We come to you with inquiry and curiosity, but nevertheless faith and dedication, but inquiring as to why there has to be the strife that we experience. It seems distant and far off and concerning and disconcerting, but exists as near as our own interior workings, in terms of difficulty and tumultuous undertakings – frequently – and why it has to be that way, I suppose, it is the growth process and to see the example of a weed breaking through concrete is an example of what it can bring about in terms of overcoming difficulty. And for this we are grateful -- for the opportunity to overcome and to be more Godlike, as you have demonstrated.

"We look forward to the teachings which will bring us closer in our understanding, as we continue our ascension process to become one with you and our Heavenly Father as all is One and Complete, we are forever grateful. And for the cares and concerns that we have, individually and collectively, we place before you now. Amen."

TOMAS: Good afternoon, my loyal friends and companions, as well as my students afar and abroad. I greet you every Sunday afternoon and you here in this precious conclave hear me, but are you also aware that our voice is heard throughout the realm? I would therefore like to pause in our greeting today to extend Welcome to those outside our immediate configuration, to include the many who receive these transcripts, who find nuggets of worth within to chew over, in hope of disclaiming my reality or affirming the truth herein.

The prayer was offered today in terms of the disparate views within the extension of the kingdom throughout the realm, even in the kingdoms of men. And this is not the concern for us as it is for you, but how you deal with those differences is certainly a matter of interest to us, and a challenge to us as well, for we know well how difficult it is to convey a truth that will extend into the hearts of each of you so that each of you are able to hear the intent and the purpose of my words, our message.

The Master side-stepped those individual differences by the use of parables. In this way, everyone was free to receive his own interpretation of the truth within that nugget, something wherewith to chew the substance of that which was reflected within -- within that man/ that woman/ that child’s consciousness, with its own frame of reference, experiential background, cultural conditioning and so forth.

This is the friend we have in Jesus, who can lay his blanket down for all humanity to sit upon and picnic with him, taking those morsels of truth which feed and nurture his own soul, leaving the orts and crumbs to others, even the beasts of the field, to also nourish themselves on the truth within his being.

Yet, in the structure of this Teacher Mission, there are guidelines as to how to proceed, and this will bring us back to this immediate circle of friends who are indeed courageous to present themselves here in this gathering, to expose their strengths and weaknesses as ascending sons and daughters in truth, to reveal the integrity they each individually know and display in their own right, as we offer our own integrity in our own right as your teachers.

This is how it is that we can speak broadly, across the board, to anyone who chooses to listen, and everyone may hear something different. But you may be assured that we are not Republican and we are not Democrat. We are, however, aware of how these delineations affect you. Nor are we Christian nor are we Islamic, even though we are aware of what those words represent to you, our mortal students. Nor are we English nor Spanish, but through the methods afforded us through the gracious ministrations of the local midwayer corps, we are able to put forth our concepts through the transmitter receivers into the language that you can understand. And I must add "translators" for there are those who delight to spread the word even farther into the realm by way of interpreting our lessons into forms that will feed the multitudes – far beyond these community gatherings as you know in the Teacher bases that are established and announced as such.

We are also challenged by the tremendous amount of work that is upon us, and that is our challenge, not so much yours, but how do we begin to approach the needs of your soul when your souls are so variously situated? It is not our desire to be so generic as to gloss over those specific and particular concerns that each of you hold. It is not our intent to relegate your personal growth to your personal spirit guides. Nor is our desire to leave your spiritual development entirely up to God, as you perceive God and/or Jesus as we recognize Jesus, for these concepts are not always – not in every case – a reality you agree with, support or aspire to.

Therefore, in many ways, our challenge as Teachers would be beyond our capacity to fulfill, except for the fact that we know -- not only because we are told, but -- because we see it in you, that you hunger for truth, and that as you open yourself to truth, you will be fed. The Mystery Monitor provides the answers to your soul’s needs with or without me, but I am pleased to be a catalyst for you and your growth as much as possible, as I realize that, in turn, you will learn these religious realities for yourself and thus you, too, will put forth these realities which go beyond words, extend beyond cultures, reach beyond language, out step even the ideologies of politics and differences which do reside in the hearts and the craw of all of you mortals of this realm.

We had thought to speak of prayer. The act of prayer is an acknowledgement of the inner actuality of your self, in communication with that which it reaches for. It is the shadow of the Paradise Trinity: The I AM seeks response, thus the Universal Father expresses this Thought through the Word of prayer of the Eternal Son, in order that it may be led to Act in accordance with Universal Mind. Prayer is the song of soul, the hurt of the heart, the longing of the living, and the joy of the Children of God.

What is God? God is a concept that varies with each individual. Thousands of you are followers of a concept or a faith that is the gift of your forefathers, though these forefathers may not be the same. There are those of you who have chosen not to relinquish your will to a nebulous and unknown god, often regarding the god of your neighbors as defiled and unworthy of worship, who brings about destruction, disease and allows all manner of unjust behaviors and beings.

There are those of you, too, who have what can only be called a personal response to Deity, and that well may be genuine religious experience, but is it the same as your brother? It is very rare that any two people experience the same religious experience, and so each individual is called to answer for himself and with his own consciousness these answers that speak to the yearning soul which yearns to know and celebrate its origin and its destiny. The fact that you have religion or a philosophy is not the answer to prayer, but rather a course of study en route to the response to prayer.

I feel I am going to lose you now if I don’t bring this back to you personally. Your minds tend to wander. This is not bad. This is your own seed wriggling in the soil striving to grow and spring forth from where you are nestled in your reality here in this material world.

So, as the earth moves before me where you are, let me come into your realm and derive from you individually and in your own words your response to these inquiries that we discuss to and for you and for your own understanding of what that quality is that we yearn to know more of, that being embodied in the word "Prayer". Do we have any volunteers? What is it to you to pray?

MEN-O-PAH: I’m reminded of some lines from an old hymn. "Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, unuttered or expressed, The motion of a fluttering fire, that thunders in the breast."

Paula: You have a good memory.

Men-O-Pah: Yeah. There’s some more to it that I don’t remember.

TOMAS: This "thundering in the breast" is that spark of God that resides within you, that element of God that is often called the soul or the spirit that seeks to sponsor your immortality. It wants to return to its Source. This is one of the gifts that we depend on, one of the gifts to you humans from the Universal Father that we in the Teacher Corp depend on. We would be in error to think that what you take from our classes is due to our skills alone. Perhaps our words can, like the words of that poet, stimulate thought and feeling. But it is the implantation of the Divine Life within your own breast that truly nudges you forward, urges you on, and leads you home.

There is more to prayer. What other comments can we find in this group?

Paula: Well, I think I have almost a childlike faith in God, and when I pray, I talk to Him the same way I talked to my earthly father, and I know He listens and He probably figures, "Well, part of the time, you’re such a dimwit, you pray for the wrong things, so I won’t give ‘em to ya," but if He thinks I’m right, then He usually answers my prayer. Of course, I don’t always get the answer I want, but I know He is listening.

TOMAS: Yes, child, this is a desired response, for you have taken for yourself the father/child relationship to your own religious frame of reference. That gives you the opportunity to remain open to the greater wisdom and counsel of the divine that you know, too, that God is greater than the earth father, even while your relationship has been similar, in terms of admiration and anticipation of your needs being met, being provided for, being cared for, is still not so foolhardy as to give man that same adulation as you would offer up to Deity.

And the conversational exchange you engage in is indeed an ideal, for you consciously bring yourself to the conversation and, without fear, express your heart and soul’s desires to Him On High, and then await a response, that is often called the meditative response. And while you may not get the answer you want, you will eventually get the answer you need.

This is what many yet need to learn: that you may not even get the answer you need immediately, but you will find it throughout the course of your life in the echoes of God’s response to you through others, and through the many variables of creation, not excluding the reflective aspects of your own mind which is capable of formulating the response that you would be given were you to be open to it. "Auto revelation" this is called in your terms, but it is also an element of the divine working with you, working with your mind, which you, by your will, have made malleable and willing to open itself to His counsel.

Yes, indeed, this is a definition of prayer. Are there others?

Elena: Well, the way I think about it is: I think God always has the answers for us, like an energy field that is constantly there, but prayer is a way of trying to be an open link to receiving that energy or that information that we would have, and it’s the stepping stone to what I would like to have on a continual basis but there is too much activity or noise in the world, whether that noise be activity or whatever, for me to concentrate and allow God’s presence to enter me, but it’s my active seeking Father.

TOMAS: You are opening up now another dimension of prayer, that being what might be called a "walking prayer" or a consciousness of divinity even an awareness of your morontial reality. Let me define what I mean by morontial reality, which is basically what you imparted in your prayer, that being walking consciously within His presence, even finding a pattern of perfection within which to walk, one which is identified by the grace and peace which you would imagine having as a perennial presence -- a natural supposition since these qualities are to be found in your silent prayers you enjoy "in the closet" with Him.

This walking prayer will be the way of the future when more and more individuals enter into the personal phase of light and life which will set the stage, then, for the full planetary realization of light and life wherein every citizen of the planet walks with God, acknowledging his participation in the affairs of men, thus fulfilling the prayer of Jesus, the believers prayer, of heaven on earth – "on earth as it is in heaven". This is a dimension. And the lament of your soul seems to be the prayer that you are able to retain that precious connection, even with the pressures and unrealities of the world at large wrenching you away from that reality or sufficiently distracting you from that state of being such that you feel uprooted or disenfranchised or somehow unable to make that connection that you would desire to keep with and through all you do.

This is a worthy prayer, one that, with conscious diligence, you will master and attain, for it is within you, as it was within your friend Jesus, to carry the relationship he shared with divinity into everything he did, even up until and through his death, in joy and in suffering. Part of your challenge, which is similar to mine, is to recognize that there are areas where you will not be able to engage this energy (to the extent that you can in your own environment) because in your own environment you are not limited by the walls that are erected in the world at large that disallow the expression of God to extend beyond your own portal.

This does not limit God, nor does it limit your relationship with God – except insofar as they have limited His inclusion into their lives in such a manner as it would be reflectable to you. Therefore, you must realize the temporary aspect of the situation and forge ahead in great glee of your future victory with God when He will be able to extend himself out from you and through you to them and back again. This is indeed a prayer worth praying and a value worth seeking.

Are there others?

Paula: Well, you just might be interested in something that happened in my life a number of years ago when my first husband died. I took it pretty hard, and somebody said, "You ought to read the book that this rabbi in Boston wrote." Now I can’t think of his name to save me, but anyway, I got the book and I read it and he had just lost his only son when he was 14 years old, and instead of wallowing in self-pity, which is what I was doing, he sat down and wrote a book – which helped him and helped everybody else. So I thought, "Golly, he’s a really terrific man. I think I’ll write and tell him how much I enjoyed it, so I did."

Now this man has the biggest congregation of any Jewish bunch of people anywhere in the whole world! He not only has all these people – a couple of thousand or so in his congregation – and then he has speaking engagements. Well, I wrote to him and told him I thought he was pretty terrific. I said, "If you could handle the death of your only son and sit and write a book that helped so many people, I guess I’d better stop sitting around with all this self pity. You helped me a great deal." I thought, well, probably his secretary would toss it in the thing with all the other letters he gets. Instead, I got back a letter from him, that he wrote himself.

His handwriting was none too good but he said he thought I was pretty terrific too! And I thought, "Wow! That’s pretty darned nice. For him to sit down and write a letter to me." So I wrote back and said, "Thank you for the letter and all the nice things you said and blah, blah, blah. And we kept up a correspondence for about two years! And I haven’t heard from him in a long time and I would hesitate to start it again, but he was just wonderful. He was the greatest thing. And he said, "When you pray," he said, "you’ve got one up on me." He said, "When I pray, I pray just to God. You’ve got a little edge there. You pray to Jesus, too!" I mean, he had a sense of humor as well as everything else.

But it always amazed me that such an important man would take time out of his busy life to sit and write me letters. He even called me long distance one time. He said, "How are you doing? Is everything all right, and are you finding life in Albuquerque pretty good?" And I said, "Yes," and he said, "I had a reason for asking. I’m going to lecture in Albuquerque in about a month," and he said, "Can you come?" and I said, "You’re darned right! I’ll get my tickets right away – for myself, and my daughter and my granddaughter!" and he said, "Well, I want to meet you, but there’s going to be over a thousand people that night, so why don’t you do it the other way. On the day before, on Saturday, I’m going to sign books at the bookstore, so maybe so many people won’t want to read my book and we’ll have more of a chance to talk." And he was right! People didn’t buy too many of his books so we sat down and talked for half an hour. And that night, there were just streams of people. We were about an hour getting out of that temple, because it took so long, and when I shook his hand, he said, "You see what I mean? Aren’t you glad you came yesterday?" And I said, Yes!"

Matthew: Was that "Why Bad Things Happen to Good People"?

Paula: Yeah.

Matthew: By Levin, or something like that.

Paula: No, that wasn’t-- Isn’t that awful? I’m terrible on names. I look at all the people in church and say, "What’s his name? What’s her name?" and he says, "You know who that is!" and I say, "Yeah, well, I know who she is but I can’t remember her name," so he clues me in.

TOMAS: Let me respond to your telling. This is another form of prayer, you see. And this is rather like my talk last week about the choir, for you two have been singing harmony. This is a form of prayer, when you can sing praises to God together. This is the next step indeed from the situation Elena pointed to wherein your private prayer becomes a shared experience with those who also respect and adore that On High which we know as God. Even in the case of the Jew and the Christian. Even so, the divine presence is enough to help you transcend the differences, to nonetheless exalt that which goes well beyond words, just as your appreciation for this fellow goes well beyond mere names. Indeed you will know each other for eternity for the gift of personality, while names are often changed in the course of an eternal career.

I see that I have gotten carried away with my ministry with you today and we are on the second side of our time together and I have not paused to give my co-worker an opportunity to even say hello. And yet there was much more I had hoped to bring in, including all of your responses. But this is one of the limitations of the mortal life I am slowly learning, becoming accustomed to as you are: there is not enough time to do everything we want to do. Shall I then push my way through, trying to make sure that it all gets done, at the expense of a quality experience? Or shall I rather prioritize my efforts with integrity and let the rest take care of itself in good time and in good faith? Thank you.

Elena: Wait! We wanted the answer to that.

ANATOLIA: Welcome all who join us here in our realm to join with yours, to become one in worship and in being. Within this day that the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice.

This brings to mind one simple idea that may or may not relate to what you have to deal with in your realm, for in ours there is not the contrast that you have in your own, where you have day and night, love and hate, peace and war, male and female – not that these are so much depicting contrast and differences as they are dimensions of the same one opposing or representing another aspect of the same energy – meaning day and night for example, depicts the same energy from polar points of view, as light is present at day and absents itself at night. Hence, energy or light is the issue. Notice, however, even in the absence of light, at times in the designated time frames of the month there is light at night as you have experienced recently – dynamic and profound as it is.

My point is that ours is not a world of dichotomy or of ups and downs or of give and take even, in the sense of having to depend upon the kindness and good intentions of those around you. In like manner, the absence of kindness or consideration and having to fall victim to such crudeness and lack of consideration. Ours is a realm of choice of believing and becoming, meaning that upon ones journey into our realm, we find the choice to become as free and as loving as one is capable of expressing. Up to the point where one has become perfected in all of his or her character traits, even to rejoin the creator in that masthead of beauty, goodness and, certainly, kindness.

My illustration is to present to you that as your prayer had invited understanding of such dichotomy in your realm and how to live with it and how to not cast curses upon what you would call ignorance or to cast curses upon the darkness, but as the saying has been, to light a candle instead. So where your world is fraught with dichotomy and understanding challenges, I invite you to not momentarily live in our world with our understanding, for that is virtually impossible for you at this point, but you are able to invite what we find in our realm, and that is to experience the greatest enhancement of your desires by stating it as a truism. Therefore, what you experience in terms of distortion or contrary to that which you would desire, all that you need to do is to state your intention and to persist in your desire to find understanding, even in the midst of ignorance. This is doable, if for no reason other than your own growth and development. You will be able to find hope within misery and determination within hopelessness, and fruitfulness within what otherwise appears barren.

I expect that you have a glint of what I am speaking, that your perception and consequently your experience is based upon your perception and your desire for a whole and complete experience. Why be satisfied with simply the rind of a watermelon when you can, if that’s all you have, imagine what it tasted like and, therefore, appreciate what you have remaining, for all is within your capability both here and now. We are merely without the physical limitation, or bridge, to be what we were meant to be. This is what you and I have in common. It is only the dimensional difference that places us worlds apart.

So too you can join in our experience by your desire and your intention to overcome limitation, for it is only in your hearts mind and desire that such differences exist. So, I wish you all good intentions for this and every life that is to be expressed, for those who are in the most dismal of circumstances, or even the most heinous of criminals, can and will experience peace of mind in their eventual development, for nothing is lost except for that which desires to be lost. Nothing is wasted but those who wish to be wasted. Consequently, all live who desire to live.

I leave you in one frame of mind, and that is the openness to be all that you are for you have the eternal strand of life right here and now as you choose for it to continue to its natural conclusion, to be within the mind of God. I leave you in peace and hopefulness, until we meet again. Peace be with you.

Group: Thank you.

TOMAS: In summation of our theme this afternoon, on Anatolia’s note of all of you having your own individual perception, perhaps we can take up the task next week (or when it is next appropriate) that we take up prayer in terms of how to pray for others. What to pray for, not in terms so much our own growth but for the growth of others. This is almost always an opportunity to reflect on the merit of our perspective and our desires for others that may or may not be within the will of God.

Let me ask, are there questions?

Esmeralda: I really appreciate your lesson today, Tomas, and I look forward as you say to further discussions about prayer. I need help and this is gratefully accepted.

TOMAS: Are there questions unrelated to the topic of prayer that have come to your mind this week?

Elena: I have one. It was actually -- my question came up again with some of the discussion that was going on prior to the meeting, but it first came up when I attended the lecture by Thomas Borg several weeks ago, and he went through the audience and asked all the people there to identify the denominations they came from, and he asked people to raise their hand, okay, "How many are this?" "How many are that?" and there wasn’t a single one I felt I could raise my hand up to. And yet, it brings up a question. When he said "Christian" I almost did because I think our group and the Teaching Mission is most definitely based on not only what is commonly known as the Christian information, and yet it seemed rather strange, I didn’t raise my hand as a Christian because I wasn’t certain that the other people would actually think that maybe Urantia people are really Christians, so that is a question. I wonder where I fit. Or if I’m just a misfit. I mean, I don’t feel bad, but I feel like we’re very much Christian and yet, even in the conversation before, it was "that Christian activity" or something, which is not exactly referring to ourselves. And I’ll stop there because it’s not really my answer I’m interested in.

TOMAS: Congratulations for you capacity to think for yourself. The applying of "labels" – designations, is a practice established in order to allow a sense of belonging, a sense of affiliation. And yet at the same time it disallows that which you are not. If you are to be free of these biases, it is well you retain within yourself allegiances only to that which are without name and number, even though the world as you know it has busied itself by creating organizations of individuals who support certain values or causes, be they Boy Scouts, American Civil Liberties, Zooids or whatever.

The general understanding of "Christian" is the designation for those who follow Christ, and yet those of you who have a personal relationship with Jesus and with Christ Michael, those of you who understand why he came and what his existence means to you, above and beyond what Paul provided by creating the church, above and beyond what the Christian history has been as set forth in the biblical scriptures, has given you a sense of your religious roots preceding Christianity and not truly subscribing to the tenets of Christianity, varied though they may be, depending upon what sect.

In fact, I have seen mortals opt not to involve themselves with any sect, lest they find themselves appearing to prefer one over another. There are some who have no need to conform to the tenets or practices of any one given organization, and yet there are many who prefer to have the subscribed limitations that are set forth in order to live within that framework, for the whole of theology is too great, in many cases, and boggles the mind of those who seek a simple religious association with like-minded people.

Even the designation of Teaching Mission, while it affords its devotees some sense of camaraderie with those who also subscribe to the Teacher Corp, alienate those outside the Teaching Mission when they limit their perception of this mission to the handful of Urantia Book readers who have subsequently found the faculty of Teacher Sons to assist their learning process.

Far better for you all to learn to be magnanimous and inclusive, to devote yourself to opening those doors and professing to being a believer rather than limiting your beliefs, for this gives you the far-reaching perspective, and while it may seem you are out on a limb or alone in your theories, you will find that more and more will be subscribing to that same field of thought. For the truth herein is that as you are a son of God, in the highest sense of the word, the more you have a living religious experience with the divine Universal Father of all and respond to the call of Paradise.

You will ascend in the manner you are destined to follow, as will all other faith sons and daughters, and from that perspective you will be able to see where the dividing lines are helping and where they are hindering, and that will be yet more data for you to be able to use when you seek to minister as you pass by, for you will not have alienated or aligned yourself with any save the Most Highs. Even though it may require some courage on your part to begin that path of standing up for your own spirit consciousness in your own right, it will certainly lead you into that path of morontia walking prayer that you have yearned for.

Elena: Thanks for the encouragement.

TOMAS: And surely you will find kindred spirits along the way, such as the many I have come to know and love by my association with you in this venture we share. I long to lift my voice in praise to that Power On High that follows our development and that leads us forward, that portrays our questions and reveals our answers as we pursue the course of destiny which is ours. Thanks to God, that All- Powerful Presence which is our First Source and eternal goal.

I will leave you now to yourselves to celebrate your differences and your similarities in conscious recognition of your sonship together with those of us who regard you as our charge, watching over you as we do, elder brothers and sisters in this Family of God that we enjoy. See you next time. Farewell.

*****

LOCATION: Albuquerque, New Mexico

TOPICS: Humans Love to be Afraid

Q&A: The T/R’ing Process

PRAYER:

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

"Master Teacher,

"We come to you today, this fifteenth day of February, 2004. As for myself, I didn’t think quite this far ahead, when I was younger, to think that I would be alive for a year such as 2004, but here we are and for as long as we continue to be here, time has relevance and significance, but in reality, there is not time but the semblance of it.

"We place our trust in you, which is timeless and endless and our role in eternity is assured, provided we truly believe and are willing to serve without reservation and without a sense of selfishness, but rather selflessness which, I believe, was one of your key messages. In this we place our trust … and you have our faith and our love and we accept and look forward to all that is promised, both here and in the eternal message.

"For the Teachers that are made known to us today we are grateful, for their time and their effort, and especially their dedication to helping us, your servants, be as mindful and dedicated as they appear to be to bring us to that level and beyond with them. For they are not infallible, but they are steps ahead of us in understanding and growth, for which we will all be able to reunite with our Heavenly Parents. For this and all else you know to be true and in need of addressing within our hearts and our minds, we are forever grateful. Amen."

TOMAS: Greetings. This is Tomas, your Teacher. I am coming into your environment in awareness of my entry into a dimension of time and space, accentuated here today by the audible testimony through the many clocks marking time in the material universe. Matthew’s prayer, making reference also to time, tells me that our follow-up lesson on prayer may not be the most auspicious time for this lesson, for this configuration is missing a major contingent. And so we will defer the lesson on prayer until next week and opt today instead today to delve into dimension.

The idea and concept of dimension is one which has dominated your dialog today in terms of your cats being able to see spirit presence, and other indications of haunting or spirits lingering in the atmosphere, and while we are some of those of which you speak, we are not all of which you speak, for much of what you know about other dimensions is based on superstition, conjecture and fear.

The purpose of my conversation today – I will not even call it a lesson – is to refresh your memory that we are all party to universal design and order. There are no remnant/residue evil spirits afloat in the atmosphere. At one time there were, because of the mischief of Lucifer. He was able to influence minor spirits, specifically midwayers, who for many years went about performing tricks on humans ~ which now we attempt to rectify, for that mischief-making was able to play into "fear of the Devil and the unknown" so thoroughly as to completely defile the mortal attitude toward the idea of good spirits. Only angels were granted divinity status in the collective consciousness. All else fell under the design of evil spirits, ghosts, entities who had lost their way in the underworld, and so forth.

There are certainly myriad mysteries in the unfolding worlds of time and space, but it is my appreciation that the designers of the universes are not inclined to build in quirky tricks for your amusement or for you to stumble over in your path to find what might embellish your reach for belief in the unknown and the unseen. Therefore, this is another realm in which much work must be done in order to set the record straight and elevate mortal consciousness from its fear base to a faith base.

And this will be difficult because no matter how evolved you may become as religionists, it is still your plight to be part of the human element that delights in the mysteries, myth, mythical creatures, and things that go bump in the night. The fact is, many mortals love to be afraid. They set out to find ways in which they can enjoy the delicious feeling of fear, even retaining residue of that delight into their enlightened state, where they can engage in creating yet more fears to feed their own desire for excitement.

We have also a dimension of perception involving not fearful creatures, but strange creatures from other worlds, other planets, and other dimensions that may or may not have roots in truth, but are in search of truth, relative to your positioning in the universe. And there is much speculation, through the creative range of possibility, that feeds your interest, and thereby you are given permission, through your association with like minds, to embellish your speculations, even to including descriptions of their civilizations, habits, practices, belief systems, mores, patterns and all as a comparison to your own, as if to enable you to set up a comparative analysis to other life in the universe such that you will not feel alone -- as a bridge, as it were, to other worlds of time and space.

All of these are natural longings that are a part of the evolving consciousness of the aspiring sons of God. If this were an academic study, I would suggest that you write a list and name them off to me so that I could tell you ‘yes’ or ‘no’ these are real or these are products of your imagination or your fear, but this is not the nature of this Teacher nor this Teaching Mission. I am not interested in telling you what to believe or what to believe in, only that you pursue your investigations so that they become known to you through your own experiential application. Therefore, unless and until you have actual experience with any of these proposed dimensions, they are all merely thought amalgamations, including myself.

However, the fact of relationship enters in, and this is the crux of my lesson for you today in this context. The more you invest in a perception, the more potential it has for influencing you and for then your impression to influence others. And this is not to be feared but to be noted, for there are many who have great faith in their own imagination, or the convictions of others, such that they are willing to follow the convictions of others where their own mind cannot take them. This calls for discernment in your own mind and underscores again the need for your own critical thinking and your own ability to become a deep thinker.

This is one of the side-effects of entering into the phase of evolutionary growth you are in, having attained a certain plateau of material accomplishment and now entering into the realm of the mind. This realm of the mind, the "new frontier" of the mind, will occupy you for many hundreds of years. Obviously, I am speaking to you as a group of people and not as individuals, but even individually you will be investigating, for many years, perhaps even hundreds, the mind arena, for this mind arena is where you choose, and it is certainly the area where I am most busy in my dealings with you, for unless and until it happens within your own mind, and you make it a part of your consciousness, such that you begin to actualize these precepts, all of us are whistling in the dark.

Only as it has become a reality for you, such that you are able to discern for yourself that which is real, that which is unreal; that which is helpful, that which is a deterrent; that which contributes to your soul’s advancement and the advancement of the civilization in which you participate, or destroys same, are you counted/ are they counted. There is so much unreality (from our perspective) at the level of existence where you live, that must be filtered through, gleaned, in order for the spirit of truth to call you forth.

The other point I wanted to make, in reference to the fact of the dimension of your lives and your influence therein, is how closely associated you are – all of you – kinetically and electrochemically, with your physical environment. It would be foolish to try to step too far outside your own realm of perception to seek to find ways to get people to relate to your concepts, for that which is too far removed from the material world in which you live, is also going to be too far removed from their "truth bells" to make much of an impact.

You who have been on this path for some time, have developed enough faith and courage to go beyond the obvious into the ethereal realms for comfort and inspiration, but those who have not yet begun the journey are disinclined, have not yet developed the adventurous spirit necessary, to launch upon a comprehension of things unseen as something friendly and associative.

The example you are all able to recognize, even at this moment as we conjoin here, is the fact of the clocks ticking. The ticking of the clocks influences every consciousness in the room, including my own, because it is audibly measuring your conscious, material, reality. There is not one who would come into this environment without a full recognition and appreciation of the material fact of your existence. Therefore, any subject relating to Time is going to find a welcome place in this room, for time is a dominant theme.

Enter into any material environment and you will find -- you who are astute, you who are looking for hints and clues as to how to bring the spirit reality into the material realm -- that it is going to have its own dominant themes and influences. These are the keys, the tools, for you to utilize, to further augment the truth of God and spirit reality for your peers. Draw, therefore, from the environment itself. Those facts, figures and foibles which will be a direct frame of reference from which to garner your inspiration, to address as an influence on those who surround you, in order for you to bring the spirit into their conscious awareness.

Experiment with that this week. Don’t forget when we close down here today what we have discussed. But carry this assignment with you on one of your outings this week – at least one. Examine the environment you attend. Find its dominant theme. And apply your own sense of association with that dominant theme to your peers there in relationship to spirit reality. Thus you will have found a way to bridge the gap between the human and the divine, the mortal and the infinite, the material and the spiritual, right there on the spot in the life of those material brothers and sisters who have not found the key to open the door to spirit reality.

I would also suggest that when you are investigating ways to open up avenues of spirit exchange between you and your brethren, that you restrain yourself from reaching into areas of the imagination or speculation, but rather, going right to the heart of the matter in living faith in Deity, and in our Creator, as all of the speculations of lesser life in the universe, even including spirits, goblins, fairies, midwayers, angels, seraphim, ghosts and teachers, are going to detract from that key which will open the door to the spirit.

This is our focus. All the rest is window dressing. Wrapping paper. Scaffolding. Let them find their own scaffolding from their own investigations. Offer them real value.

It is amusing, entertaining, even somewhat edifying to investigate all these other perceptions of reality which constitute, in many ways, your social arena; however, as a Teacher in the Teacher Corps, I am responsible to convey to you the real issue of bringing man to God and allowing that door to open such that the Father can flood their consciousness, introducing Himself, then, to the open child ~ that will therewith embrace his or her own dimension of reality ~ in terms of the cosmic citizenship which we all enjoy ~ as sons of God ~ in the highest.

I will conclude my remarks then for this topic and allow a moment interval to transpire between my words and those of Matthew’s contribution, and then we will have our question and answer period, which may or may not recall some of these ideas. Thank you.

ANATOLIA: This is a fine day in which to greet you, this day after Valentine’s Day, my friends and family members who are present. As Tomas had said, there is a contingent not present today so that we are not fully engaged in giving and in depth presentation that one cannot live without. In other words, we will re-constitute once there is a return to a full cast, per se.

In the meantime, I would like to add my opinion or two cents worth or whatever the term should be, in terms of added consciousness conveyance, relative to the metaphysical, which is in addition to the physical. This is a proven fact, now, that non-matter energy is discernible and detectable, both with the seen and unseen eye of measuring equipment that is energy sensitive. This is a way in which one can seemingly prove that the life beyond the known world and physical existence comes into play.

I wish to merely add to that in light of Tomas’ presentation that much to do or fanfare, even chicanery, can be attributed to this belief, for to date there is not someone other than our Master (to my recollection) who has gone to the world beyond and returned in full measure and observable nature to give a report. His was not a life dedicated to mystery or unraveling mysteries, but rather it was his intent to give the light and life inside full weight and importance for one’s development to pursue that which is the most important, and that is ones relationship with their heavenly parents and presence within. This too is our concern, as Tomas had conveyed.

Now, this is not to throw cold water or to eliminate that which exists within imagination, creativity and just plain curiosity, for my telling you that to dispense with this type of investigation is mindless and not worth your while. My intent is to let you know that the real perspective is on light and energy as the vehicle of conveying that which is real and true, that for us to enable belief in other spheres, realms, or depths that have traditionally been painted in darkness, it is my desire to bring you to the light for which we have few pristine examples of such light-bearing and life-giving-ness as our Master himself.

Thus, to pursue or investigate that which indicates life beyond your physical nature as you know it, recommit yourself to that which is an example which has true and lasting value, for the key to life and its continuation is in your present state of being, for if spirit has value, it is currently existing within your hearts and your minds and your beings as it will after your physical nature has subsided.

For you, or anyone, to be fearful -- or concentrating on life after you know this one -- is to really miss the point of living now to your fullest as a life giver and life bearer as the essential message. For one could talk about observing a concert and be so preoccupied with the manner that the notes went together and the nature in which the instruments were played, with such precision and artful expression, that one can miss the very point of the concert itself. So do not miss the obvious which is presently playing in your local theater.

Do not waste your time with overlooking the obvious, for you are essentially portraying the eternal message here and now. You are evidence of there being life before and after this life because you are living in the present. You are experiential and demonstrable evidence of there being a grand plan and eternal scheme of existence. So smile and be glad that your inquiries will be proven as you prove to yourself that life is worth living and passes its expression beyond the physical limits.

I leave you in good stead with all of the evidence that we need to know that your lives are meaningful and successful as expressions of the eternal flame. Peace be with you, and may we enjoy each other’s company again next week. Peace be with you.

TOMAS: Thank you, Anatolia. Returning again to your forum, we have time to investigate your minds and concerns. Have you concerns, questions, or topics of interest to bring to the attention of your need to know and the consciousness of others?

Before you begin, I would like to say we have been reminded by our supervisors in the customary briefings we receive, to remind you again of the delights of the process of transmitting/receiving the messages that you can receive yourselves by and through opening your circuits to the broadcasts from those avenues of energy and awareness that hail from intelligent life in the universe.

If and when you are wanting to embark upon a course of study for yourselves to learn the process and the refinements that are inherent in being a participant in the process, do let it be known so that another format can be offered that will allow this to take place.

This is an element of the delivery that we enjoy, that is available as an option, to anyone who wants to participate – as well as are those various fields of healing. This, therefore, can be construed as yet another invitation to extend yourself and expand your capacities in association with the dimension from which I come and the dimension which you seek to draw from when you have a mind to be of service in the spiritual and metaphysical ways and means possible to you all.

That perhaps will open the floor to yet another dimension of inquiry. But at any rate, I and we are at your service and seek to assist you now in whatever manner you present. The floor is open.

Maria: I hadn’t thought to bring that up so soon, but since you’ve invited me to, I’ve always wanted to learn how to go about doing this.

TOMAS: This is a process, this transmitting/receiving experience. It is developmental born of your desire to serve, an act of faith, as a conduit of the morontial realities that are ready to be bestowed on the mortals of time and space.

If we are to take up the practice as a group, it would need to have a group consensus. Perhaps the group might to think in terms of a monthly meeting being devoted to the process of what you might call T/R practice, so that everyone might have an opportunity to connect to those communication circuits that will help enhance the connection and so that you can share those energies and the experience with others.

Those of you who would like to begin on your own, it is our common practice to recommend you begin to prepare yourself, and all of you are thus advised, that daily stillness practice can be utilized to make yourself ready to do such a thing as T/R or act as a conduit also of healing energy. Begin with daily stillness. Do it religiously. Become mindful of the mechanism in which you are housed – not only the physical vehicle but the mental mechanism. In this way you will be able to master it sufficiently that it – your material existence can be set aside, put to rest, held in abeyance sufficiently that your pure connection (as pure as possible, given your relative condition) is made.

Await a nod from On High to begin to exercise yourself toward the goal you have in mind, and this advice goes not only to learning the technique of healing or T/Ring, but to any practice you should want to undertake whether it be a matter of self-mastery, going into business, being of service in some undertaking or whatever. Stillness is the key. And the Father will guide and direct you in the process, clarifying and purifying your motives and delivering unto you that energy and purposiveness which you will need to fully carry out His design. This returns me to the lesson on prayer, which we will get to next week; however, the same principle applies.

Returning, however, to your question and the topic of T/R’ing or healing, we encourage you to then begin a practice of journaling, following the practice of stillness. Allow yourself a specified amount of time for this process in order to develop the habit, to strengthen your muscle, your spiritual muscle, to commit yourself to the process. And the journaling will eventually lead you into and through the second phase – that of winnowing out that which rises to the surface, setting that aside, and allowing the light of truth to come forth, in response to your yearning. And once you begin to feel the sense of clarity and discern the otherness of existence (other than self-perception), and having given your intent to God and received His blessing, you will then soon find yourself in a position to begin being a conduit.

There are some who have been trained in their unconscious mind to perform this act. Many perform it unwittingly, or so naturally they are not even aware they are transmitting. There are others, though, who have discerned its value and decide consciously to undertake to learn how, such as you have, Maria, and to those I offer these words of guidance.

Therefore, those of you who have a natural propensity will not take as long to prepare yourselves or to become conscious of your potential, whereas those of you who grapple with concepts and argue with yourself insufferably, will have to learn how to master that proclivity such that your mind is clear, for you to be a clear channel, for the one who would avail themselves to you.

There are many teachers who are awaiting assignment, many who have volunteered to offer themselves to the first opportunity for practice, inasmuch as it is just as much a process for us to learn as it is for you to learn. Thus, when you do finally find yourself involved in a communication with an invisible entity, it will be a process of "getting to know you" just as any relationship is. You don’t immediately begin by knowing everything about each other. You only know that which is in your core reality, that pure essence that stems from your initial I AM association with the Source. That is the fairway of our embarkation of communication. Is that helpful?

Maria: Yes, very. Thank you.

TOMAS: With these words of counsel, I will wait now until it is brought up to me again before we commence the next issuance of instruction. It is a good time for me, however, to make note that learning the process that we engage in with you will indeed alter your perspective on how you go about your life. You cannot engage in such a practice without being affected by it. To deny that you are affected by your relationships is foolish, in any case. Why should it be any different if it is with an unseen friend?

I or your teacher will become more familiar and intimate with you through the association and you will become more familiar and intimate with your teacher associate, but as Gerdean will be quick to tell you, you will benefit most from seeing the world through the perspective of one having the farther view. Thus, your consciousness will be enlarged accordingly, and the restraints that are imposed upon the process are for a reason. There were many years prior to the re-encircuitment and the inauguration of the Correcting Time, which involves this type of communication, to make certain that the mortal would not become disassociated from human necessity, and fall into fanaticism of any kind or any unnatural aberration of the natural state. Thus, if anyone were to attempt to undertake this process without full preparation, it would be either instantly refused or quickly rejected as unstable and therefore unsanctioned from On High. This is for your protection as well as for the benefit of those you would influence, for this is a very real undertaking, very serious and important for Urantia. In the long run, even for the universe, and so have no doubt that if you seek to serve, your motives are going to be questioned every step of the way. You can only grow from such a program.

What else? Anything else? (Meow from the cat.) Tell me, is everything all right in the animal realm?

Paula: (Speaking for her cat) She’s having a great time.

TOMAS: We sense the harmonics of the atmosphere that are no threat to the animal kingdom here. This is a docile and placid configuration, very calm and conscious of the security of their place in the universe. The harmony of the ticking clocks gives rise to the sense of security that the material world longs for. This is in direct contrast to the shrill shriek of the din of confusion that prevails in the system at large in this critical time of change and so many new undertakings.

In this way you will see how it is that we who are locked onto a dimension of spirit reality which provides such peace and serenity, are an anchor not only to your cat and to yourselves, but to those you influence. This is how Machiventa is able to carry on his emergency mission in this time of tumultuous change through his Teacher Corps and those who follow the curriculum that is provided from On High. The stability that you provide is truly an anchor in the maelstrom that surrounds you. You have mastered the moment of being the consciousness that resides at the calm in the eye of the hurricane.

This place is available to you in and through the clear channel devoted to the relationship between the Universal Father in and through his Sons and Daughters of the worlds of time and space. This citadel of the spirit is available to those of you who seek to find it, within the kingdom of your own soul. Rest in peace therein, and return to this place, this sacred sanctuary, when you feel the need to reconnect with the sanity that is assumed to be here in the heart of God.

In the interim, go about your business in confidence of His overcare and the watchful eye of those of us who aspire to be about the Father’s business in the universes of time and space. Anatolia and I embrace you and send you forth. Peace be upon you, farewell.

*****

DATE: February 22, 2004

LOCATION: Myra's Mansion World

Rio Rancho, NM

TEACHERS: TOMAS & ANATOLIA

TOPICS: More About Prayer

T/Rs: Gerdean and Matthew

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

"Master Teacher,

"With Lent on its way, and with the growing enthusiasm and excitement, as well as controversy, surrounding the movie "The Passion" that is introduced this Lenten season, we pray that an understanding of you and a better understanding of what you encountered -- which apparently is the focus and impact of the movie -- may that happen without more division and without more derision (which the world does not need). Perhaps the movie can be an enabler for bringing us to better under-standing, and thus less secularism and the "my belief is better than your belief" syndrome.

"For that we place before you and before Our Father as a topic of expansion for our hearts and minds. For the lessons we receive today we are grateful. We are appreciative to be a part of this process that has been enabled through you because of what you have done for us in your visit to our world -- as well as what you continue to do in our eternal growth. For all of the concerns, issues, or health-related priorities that we have, individual or concern for others that we know and love, we place in your hands at this time as well. And for those issues that are in our hearts, we know they will be addressed. Our faith is in you and in our Paradise Father, now and forever. Amen."

TOMAS: Greetings.

Group: Greetings.

TOMAS: Thank you for your prayer, Matthew, and thank you all for being here this afternoon to attend this hour of prayer.

What do I mean by "this hour of prayer"? When and as Matthew invited us all to place ourselves in the presence of Jesus the Christ, he opened the door for us to be in a state of conscious prayer. The other side of that coin is to perceive of yourself in a state of prayer as you go about your daily duties and affairs of life, conscious of the way you involve yourself with it, without particularly placing on your life the mantle of a walking prayer. Thus, with Jesus being here we are assuming association with divinity.

We had embarked upon a discussion of prayer and wanted to return to the topic to help you better understand the process of prayer, such that you would be able to learn to be able to pray more effectively. What does it mean to pray "effectively"?

I have a number of methods by which we might individually garner greater appreciation for the process of prayer:

(1) One of which might cut down on my verbiage considerably, but that would involve your gaining a perspective on prayer such as is presented in the text, the Urantia text. There are several pages devoted to the practice of prayer that can benefit you and those pages are readily accessible if you should opt to read essential information about prayer before we commence.

(2) Another method would be, and I would enjoy, hearing from each of you as to how you pray, or even a topic you might chose to pray about, in order to elicit from you your conditioning regarding prayer and the practice of your praying as you understand it in the context of our studies.

(3) Finally, I could just, as I usually do, talk incessantly for an hour in an attempt to convey to you all that I can to help you appreciate the process of prayer as a viable means toward spirit progression in your life and in the lives of those for whom you pray.

You will notice that you are being called upon to invest yourself in some way or another in this discussion, even it if is only to decide how we shall proceed. And for that purpose I will now pause for your consideration, taking the T/R off-line so that she, too, can engage in this course of action. [Long silence]

Gerdean: Anybody have any direction? A, B or C?

Thoroah: I’m lost on the A, B or C.

Gerdean: Okay. A, we can read from the Urantia Book about prayer; B, we can go around the room and either offer up a prayer as an example or talk about what we would pray about if we were to pray; or C. we can let Tomas do all the talking, which he usually does, but he wants to involve us in the process so he took me off-line to elicit your input.

Esmeralda: Did anybody bring a Urantia Book?

Myra: I have one.

Esmeralda: That’s if someone wanted to read from the book.

Gerdean: Right, and here’s a sticky-paper with the pages on it. Some of them, anyhow.

Esmeralda: It might be good to read some of them anyhow. Matthew has a good voice for reading.

Gerdean: What do some of the others feel? It ought to be a consensus.

Esmeralda: Oh, yeah! Not just me.

Maria: It might be fine to find out what the approved method is.

Thoroah: Well, I would like to – rather than just read the description of it –because that is not as organic as a conversation about it would be, because I’m sure we would all like to know the practicality of it all. I mean, prayer is a nice thing. We talk about praying as a nice idea, but we would like to be effective in our prayers and understanding what a prayer was all about.

Gerdean: So you are voting for B.

Thoroah: Maybe B and C. We might talk amongst ourselves about what we think prayer might be and then let Tomas comment on that, perhaps.

Esmeralda: That’s a good idea.

Matthew: I would say we could do both.

Gerdean: We could read and discuss and hear from Tomas.

Matthew: Yeah. All of the above.

Gerdean: And Anatolia!

Esmeralda: We’ll be here all night.

Gerdean: And the prayer was directed toward "The Passion" so, you know, there is just not enough time in one day …

Esmeralda: To do all of the above.

Gerdean: … to do everything we want to do.

Matthew: That’s another topic. I was going to suggest that maybe we could go see that as a group. Like on a Sunday afternoon, in addition to or in lieu of.

Gerdean: It is an interesting thought. I wouldn’t mind going with you people, but I don’t want to go see it by myself. It’s far too profound. I just don’t want to see the Master brutalized and if I go, I’ll be under the chair.

Paula: Oh, I do! I definitely want to see it!

Maria: I do too, if for no other reason than to contribute. There are so many people dissing it over trivialities and I think the movie itself needs support, for having done a movie of … I want to say "honesty" for as far as I understand it. I think most religions want to whitewash as much as they can of things, and I get the impression this is being well received by a lot of religious groups, so I have to go see it if only for that.

Thoroah: Well, yeah, mostly we want to see it for ourselves. We have our own opinion, as well as the opinions we have of other peoples’ opinions.

Gerdean: I remember when I read about the crucifixion in the Urantia Book, I was so upset and so distraught and it affected me so profoundly and so deeply for days, I paced the floor, I ranted, enraged. It was just such a moment in my awareness, and this was from reading a cold text. If I see it brutally depicted, what’s to happen to me, you know? It’s like, man, I don’t know if I’m up to it. Really.

Thoroah You don’t need to necessarily go see it, but there’s a lot of people who have no personal identification with him whatsoever. And the positive thing that I have seen from criticisms, etc. about it, I’m thinking that it’s a chance for a lot of people to identify in some fashion with this event.

Gerdean: I’m all in favor of it. I mean, I think everybody should have that understanding of dreadfully this entity was treated, and how brutally we treated him – I mean "we" as the human race. Whether they be Romans or Hebrews or whomever, to treat anybody like that is despicable, and someone who is so beautiful as he was, and is, it just does not make me feel good about the human race and I think the more people who can appreciate that vantage point of how far we need to come in our sensitivity toward others, they ought to see it.

Paula: In today’s paper they discussed the fact that a number of ministers of different churches have gone to see it, and they were profoundly affected, and they felt it was something everybody should see, and I know I want to see it.

Thoroah: So we have that topic, and we also have the prayer topic.

Gerdean: Well, I vote that we do go, then, as a group to see the movie.

Paula: That would be great.

Gerdean: But I want to sit with y’all. I don’t just want to go on the same day you go.

Esmeralda: No, altogether, as a group.

Gerdean: I mean as a support group, because that’s our Master they’re talking about.

Men-O-Pah: I’m not crazy about going to see it, but I will. If the group wants to go, I will.

Paula; Why don’t you want to see it?

Men-O-Pah: I know what that is.

Paula: What do you mean?

Esmeralda: I think what Gerdean was sharing …

Men-O-Pah: You can’t even imagine how brutal that is.

Esmeralda: How unfair. How unjust.

Gerdean: And I’m sure, Mel Gibson, who has stared in so many brutal movies, I mean he knows the effect of violence. He knows how to make you squirm in your chair and really feel what those horrible, horrible feelings of viciousness and violence and I’m sure that it’s a gifted presentation, and it’s probably more than accurate in that context, but I feel a little bit like the – if I may – like the spirit entities that could not bear to see the Master’s body rot in the tomb and they asked for permission to have it quickly dispensed with. That’s kind of –

Matthew: I rejoiced when I read that.

Gerdean: Yeah, that was humane.

Matthew; That was great.

Gerdean: And to pay money to go see this is just the opposite of what those angels were saying. It’s gory and bloodthirsty almost, to go see it.

Matthew: For myself, I don’t know that I have to see it, but I’ve never entered into the pain of it. I know it intellectually, from time immemorial, of Good Friday and Easter Sunday, but it’s mainly intellectual.

Gerdean: But even intellectually, how accurate is the film. As I’ve been reading about the depiction, it’s from a very highly prejudicial strictly Catholic frame of reference.

Thoroah: Yeah, that’s the context of it, and Gibson has spoken out many times to the fact that it is scripturally correct and it has Vatican approval, basically. He is staying within all the boxes along that line. Which I think is fine. I mean, if you’re going to try to reach people, you don’t want to take away what most of them believe. You want them to see something so you approach them in a way they would most likely accept the approach. I think that’s his authority; he can resort to his religious authority as to why he did it that way, which I think is perfectly fine. That's where we all come from. We all would say, okay, my religious authority says this is what I would do, so I respect that is where he is coming from. The idea that he would put his own money into it and make the world aware of it, I think, is where I see the mission that he’s on. Regardless. I’ve never appreciated the crucifixion. I thought the crucifixion was ridiculous. There’s nothing in there to – whatever the meaning of the crucifixion was, it’s up to each one of us to understand that it didn’t have to happen that way. He did not have to die that way, that’s all there is to it.

Group: Right.

Thoroah: So there’s nothing there to glory in, at all.

Matthew: I don’t know if anybody’s commented whether the movie shows an Easter morning or not, but to me that would be sorely lacking if its not.

Gerdean: I don’t know that it goes that far.

Matthew: They just sort of throw you down and dirty your clothes and leave you there, otherwise.

Thoroah: Yeah.

Maria: It would miss the whole point.

Thoroah: It would seem like it. I mean the resurrection is part of the Catholic message too.

Gerdean: But we love having him hanging on that cross bleeding. How many centuries do we have to leave him up there bleeding and miserable before he is brought down and spread among us, resurrected, as he intended?

Esmeralda: Well, you know, the explanation that he died for our sins, I don’t buy that at all, but the only thing, if he had not been crucified, then there would not have been the beauty of the resurrection.

Thoroah: He could have lived a normal life, died, and been resurrected.

Esmeralda: He could have, but this was certainly dramatic.

Thoroah: Yeah, definitely. The drama of it is perhaps the overall positive of it. To the whole thing. It was quick. In other words, the die had died prematurely and boom, he rose from the dead in three days, so….

Esmeralda: And that has to be worldly days. There’s no insignificance of time like there is in the heavens.

Gerdean: And the depiction of error, so dramatized and impressive, is going to plant further seeds of error, so … I mean, the one that he died for our sins, because everyone is coming out of there saying, "I hung him. I did it." You know, "It’s my fault." I mean, that’s what I read. People come saying the Jews didn’t do it, we did it, we did it, and it just perpetrates more guilt on … I did NOT kill the Master. I did NOT hang him, and the idea of continuing to throw that at us, it’s just destructive of self-respect.

Esmeralda: Well, we all have rejected him.

Gerdean: I have not rejected him.

Esmeralda: Not in that manner.

Gerdean: Not since I’ve been reborn. Not consciously.

Thoroah: No. This is an unconscious thing, and I think this is another way the people identify with the death, in the context that we have to work with. Maybe the context is in error. Maybe we don’t know the context it came from for each individual, but some people need to identify with that. Just like a lot of people in the teaching mission had intellectual knowledge when Rob Crickett came around with his more pentecostal approach. A lot of people got on the bandwagon because people had not had a personal, spiritual experience before, so he personalized it. There are a lot of people out there who have no personalization to go with for Christ, Jesus. Hopefully that would be the positive side of the impact of it.

Esmeralda: That’s a good analogy

Thoroah: I hope so. I pray so.

Maria: HOW do you pray so?

Thoroah: I pray conversationally.

Esmeralda: Do you know, that’s something I do. Prayer has always been quite a thing for me because when I was a child, very small, and as I grew up in the Baptist church, I doubted the sincerity of prayers. You know, people were in church prayed long, loud, flowery, and it’s just a use of their putting words together well and it didn’t seem sincere because the bible said to go into your closet. Prayer is a personal thing. And this was, I thought, Gee, they’re not getting anywhere. It’s just a lot of words they like to put together prettily.

Thoroah: Like sermons.

Esmeralda: Yeah! That always disturbed me, while I was growing up. And now – I don’t pray beautifully. I’m more … as I go through the day and I see something that impresses me, I’m thankful or I’m in awe, and to me that is the way I pray, more than … because you know that praying for the well-being of things, you know the father is there. You know we are being comforted and taken care of. We’ve being held in the arms, so to me I almost don’t think we need to pray for those things because they’re there anyway.

Thoroah: We pray sort of for our own benefit, but at the same time, it’s an acknowledgement to them. I understand. I hate to pray for somebody to get well because I’m not necessarily sure that was the plan. Not t hat the plan was for you to get sick but somewhere in every situation we look at there is a lesson to be learned by the person that is going through it, and I don’t know what that lesson is, so I don’t know what to pray.

Esmeralda: I don’t either, and I find myself falling back on The Lord’s Prayer, and that is beautiful. That really is totally beautiful, and the things that are asked for there – "give us THIS day our daily bread." We don’t need to worry about tomorrow. There’s just lots of lesson sin that, but my prayers are usually thankful. And awe.

Paula: Or to be guided in the right direction, if you’re coming across a problem. But then, I guess I have a childlike faith. It never dawns on me that He’s not watching over me and He’ll guide me in the way that I should go.

Esmeralda: And that’s what I’m thankful for. And I than Him for the lessons I have hopefully learned. The beauty, of everything around us.

Paula: Me, too. And that I’m alive.

Maria: Yes, I was hung up on that. I didn’t know what to pray because I didn’t know what was best for somebody for quite a while, then I finally across … well, whatever’s best for them at this time.

Esmeralda: Yes, God’s will be done. Your will be done.

Thoroah: We add some energy. Maybe there is a co-conspiracy with when we offer our attention, we focus our energy on something that is – you know, there are some things we don’t know we pray about but some things are noticeably things we pray about. Something comes to our mind, we say, "Oh, God, I hope you can take care of that!" I mean, we have a sense of urgency about it sometimes.

Esmeralda: Or, "Help us!"

Thoroah: Yeah, and what I’m thinking is we just add energy to it. It may enhance. It may enhance what God is already doing. I don’t know that, but I like to think that. I mean we humans are almost all a part of the same organism, so if we’re concerned about this humanity …

Esmeralda: The energy is so important, too, they say, so to increase our energy.

Maria: <Tells a story about praying to not have car trouble on the road.>

Gerdean: I’m looking at page 1002, "Conditions of effective prayer." It’s just a short one. There are a number of other pages worthy of reading. For example, I’ll put it on the record: 1621, 1622, 1623, and also 1616 #7. These are about prayer and they give prayers from other worlds, which are really beautiful, as an example of how others pray in the universe.

Esmeralda: What Papers are they in?

Gerdean: Let’s see. 1616, #7, Teachings about prayer and worship. That’s in the Paper "Going Through Samaria." That’s in the Jesus papers.

Esmeralda: The Jesus papers.

Gerdean: Yes, and the next Paper, then, "In Gilboa and at the Decapolis" is where they have The Discourse on Prayer, The Believer’s Prayer, More About Prayer, and Other Forms of Prayer, which include several prayers from other parts of the universe, which, I say, are quite beautiful. But this part I’m looking at now is from back on The Evolution of Prayer Paper, Paper 91, and the Section. Praying as a Personal Experience, and the last section in it is Conditions of Effective Prayer. All of these are very meaty, almost concentrated … Yeah, concentrated lessons on prayer that really are a lot of study, but the Conditions of Effective Prayer, since we’re talking about learning how to pray effectively, I was looking at, and there are seven of them,

"If you would engage in effective praying, you should bear in mind the laws of prevailing petitions:

1. You must qualify as a potent prayer by sincerely and courageously facing the problems of universe reality. You must possess cosmic stamina.

2. You must have honestly exhausted the human capacity for human adjustment. You must have been industrious.

3. You must surrender every wish of mind and every craving of soul to the transforming embrace of spiritual growth. You must have experienced an enhancement of meanings and an elevation of values.

4. You must make a wholehearted choice of the divine will. You must obliterate the dead center of indecision.

5. You not only recognize the Father's will and choose to do it, but you have effected an unqualified consecration, and a dynamic dedication, to the actual doing of the Father's will.

6. Your prayer will be directed exclusively for divine wisdom to solve the specific human problems encountered in the Paradise ascension--the attainment of divine perfection.

7. And you must have faith--living faith."

Well, those are some powerful laws of prevailing petitions. Any one of those seven is - again, "meaty" – developing cosmic stamina took me … a couple years! (Laughter)

Men-O-Pah: I’ve always believed in the power of intercessory prayer. < Tells a story about needing help carrying a heavy load, a casket carrying a 285 pound man and a steel casket of another 100 pounds, and the weight was lifted. >

Matthew: <Tells a story about when he came "this close" to being in a fatal accident, after praying that everyone be safe on the highway.>

Esmeralda: <Tells a story of her mother’s prayer. > She was helping. Myra, you’re being awfully quiet.

Myra: I know. I am. Every day I think I’m here because of prayer. I know that in the morning I do pray, "Not my will but yours," but then I ask that I have the strength, the wisdom and the courage to be aware of that, because I think it’s there in front of all of our eyes, but I’m not sure that we always take the time to see what it is. You know, lots of people have been in accidents, but they just think they’re lucky. You know? They don’t see the power in that, and I just really appreciate being aware of what’s happening to me. It's a wonder.

Esmeralda: < Tells a story of falling asleep driving southbound on the highway at 75 mph and waking up in time to keep from running into the oncoming northbound car, and the subsequent gratitude for the celestial helpers. > [Side Two]

TOMAS: I am in admiration of your exchanges and how you have, by the mere act of inviting deity into your arena, elevated your discourse, meanings and values to a level of prayer, exalting creation as prepared by God himself and given to you as a gift, orchestrated for your learning, provided for your growth and comfort. I have seen and heard you testify to those events and feelings that support your perspectives.

Much of your perception of prayer is actually worship. Prayer is an attitude. And the attitude of prayer may speak to a full range of aspects inside yourself, which makes your relationship with deity personal. Sadness, happiness, fear, confusion, anger, rejoicing, lassitude, ambition – all of these senses that are a part of your humanness and your consciousness are real for you. And thus when and as you are able to approach yourself in such a way as to understand your attitude and lift it up to a power that can provide for you the necessary adjustments or changes or enhancements, in order for you to prevail, maintain, persevere and succeed in your ascent to supreme value, is worthy prayer. It is, as well, a turning of those same suppositions in the direction of those for whom you might pray.

Attitude is the key to prayer, and sincerity. The childlike sincerity of the faith son (or daughter, child of divinity) is that attitude which is most effective. Whether, as Paula indicated, she is praying for her own understanding and growth or for a divine comprehension of the ways and means of others, asking God to intervene on behalf of truth, beauty and goodness is a prayer that can be sent up through your heartfelt yearning to be heard by God, and these prayers are responded to when and as the Divine Distributor reroutes your prayers to those agencies throughout the universe, which will then help bring your desires into being.

(Sometimes I think of God as you might think of Federal Express. Even though you may be sending a package next door, it will go to the Central Station for processing. Therefore, your attitude is seen, registered On High, and the reality of your attitude is dealt with effectively from On High, and so the only true prayer is that His will be done, for it is the only prayer that can possibly be answered! Anything else has "insufficient postage".)

Your project then is to observe the attitude that you maintain as you go about your life, confronting and abutting and caressing those around you whose attitudes are contributory to the divine will, asserting itself against universe harmony, or somehow undecided or skirting the issue or on the fence about that which will be necessary in order for all advancement. Thus, even your prayers are made more effective by and through the attitude you carry with you, in and through all you do.

To rail against the vagaries of life is unworthy of you who have knowledge of the aspects of creation such that you know the difference between the various realms of reality, the differing levels of universe reality. If a pint cannot hold a quart, it is also true that one who has not been touched by the spirit is unable to respond as spirit.

As such, it is possible for you to not only pray that God’s will be done, but that you might contribute to the process by opening up the mortal understanding of how even simple acts of kindness are admissions of faith. It is not necessary for you children to have a sophisticated concept of God in order to love God. In fact, the more pure and direct your appreciation for that Element of pure love, as it is defined for you in this new appreciation for the loving God that Jesus taught, the more possible it is for you to plant those seeds and encourage that growth, thereby putting asunder the doubts and fears of non-faith.

Give yourself an assignment in the days ahead to be mindful of your attitude -- in particular as it is influenced by the attitudes of those around you, perhaps those who have no appreciation for sincerity, or those who have no faith in the reality of the trusting attitude. Knowing that your reality is secure in the foundations of faith established by your own relationship to divinity, you will be able to remain unmoved, except as you choose to lend your own power through your consecrated will to the enhancement of the will of God and subsequently, even unconsciously, diminishing that which undermines or takes away from the radiant reality which is sonship, as you understand it from the privacy of your "closet" -- where you have prayed, given thanks, humbled yourself and been exalted before God – the God of your understanding.

This puts the ball in your court, and the power in your hands, even while it may be limited to what you can do, one individual at a time, once instance at a time, one moment at a time. This is how eternity is created. And the fact remains, if you are faithful in these little things, then more will be given to you.

This concludes my direct discussion on the topic of prayer, but it is certainly not the end of our appreciation for and frame of reference toward this essential state of being. Let us pause now as we reconfigure our group energy and allow Sister Anatolia to embrace you and greet you in her fashion for the afternoon. Thank you.

Group: Thank you, Tomas.

ANATOLIA: Welcome, friends, family and all who are here. It sounds as if I am speaking beyond your immediate quarters to a throng beyond the immediate participants. I address you by all of the above descriptions because of your all- inclusive role that you are to me, as to us. As you know, a son or a daughter is also a brother or a sister, oftentimes an aunt, an uncle, a grandson, a granddaughter, on and on in the many roles that an individual plays. It somewhat adds description to the depth of our perception but also the extent of our relationships, both here and beyond.

While you are all of these descriptions and more – whether it be included -- boss, subject, taxpayer, on and on, you are also at the same time Child of God, emissary of peace, ambassador of the kingdom, representative of truth, beholder of knowledge and bestower of beauty. These are mere descriptions of the depth of your being, which is not evident as are your earthly titles and descriptions. But like a tooth that shines and has strength, body and function, so too does that tooth have a root to enable it to be what it is by function, design and nature. So too are you representative and demonstrative of your role in the Father’s house.

I wish for each of you to be encouraged and to understand your role in Our Father’s House, for there are none that sit higher or lower. All are welcome to the table, and all have adequate seating. There is no limit. There is no admission for what is the ability to enter into the kingdom hall—and I say this in the loose sense, not in a denominational sense, but if you want that to be a denominational meaning, you may have that as well – into the kingdom hall, for all are welcome and all are invited.

In like mind, since we happened upon the discussion of denominational meaning or value, let me just shed light on the subject further, if I may, like seeing light bulbs on the runway on the approach at night in the airplane, so too is each of our roles as being beacons of light that line the way for others to land and to seek security in knowledge of who they are in the ethereal or supernatural way.

It is my perspective to try to reinforce with you the dual nature and more of your role here in this world as it is rooted in what is behind the scenes, not at all evidence. I wish you could see and understand what it is I am speaking of, but it is one of the things I try to address and reinforce you with regularity, to have you understand the divine nature of your beings at the same time you are preoccupied with being alert to and concerned with your physical wellbeing.

It is only natural, of course, that your preoccupation would be upon the mundane and daily routine and activity, but your awareness of what is beyond is great as well, or you would not be participants in this weekly, even temporal in your perspective, so it is much like preaching to the choir, if you will. Nevertheless I wish to reinforce your role as a dual natured being.

As you are aware, the Master, too, was a dual nature being much as you are, enlightened in your ways prior to inhabiting your physical garment. This is not exactly a perfect alignment, meaning that the Son of the All-Encompassing One-Who-Is had greater insight and awareness, more so than each of us who would be engraced with embodiment. Nevertheless, as beads are on a rosary or the feathers are on the sparrow, so too are each of us a part of that eternal plan and existence.

So it is my desire to reinforce within you the desire to have you be more aware of your earth-bearing life, but it has meaning and value beyond what it has represented, and this is … my friends, colleagues, children … the truth behind what prayer is. As you say it, wish it, and send it forth, so goes you in the process. You release within yourself and within the universe of your being that wish, desire or statement of truth, beauty and goodness. Therefore it has no limit, no bounds, and only unites with its destination, the Source of all being, the Enabler of All-That-Is.

So, in your prayerful moments, which hopefully are constant, as you are aware of your eternal nature and destination, that you participate in creation each and every day by your existence, which is well-rooted in reality of spirit as it is in the world of matter, I wish for you to know that you are truly empowered within our Heavenly Father’s realm to participate in that which is good for all and that can be generated by your hearts and minds.

Welcome to the eternal dimension, which you have been, you are and you will remain. Let us rejoice and be glad, for the resurrection that has occurred, is occurring. As you need not focus on the depth of despair which brought about the resurrection. It is mindful to know that it was through choice or allowance of the worst imaginable to prove and indicate the grandest imaginable. For in desperation and despair eternity was burst forth. As it is too within your beings. And as it is within all of our hearts, let us rejoice and be glad.

Have a most beneficial week and pray that all that you touch may be engraced by eternal life. Peace be with you, now and always.

Group: Thank you.

TOMAS: I feel inspired and invigorated and hope that you, too are renewed and challenged to take steps into the dimensions of consciousness that will contribute to your growth and the growth of others in those ways which will better reflect the light. Before we go, are there questions? Are there comments?

Myra: I don’t have a question, but Tomas, my daughter is in labor!

Group: Oh! Oh! Oh, dear. Oh, great!

Myra: Gather around her.

Group: Ahhhh.

TOMAS: That is, indeed, cause for prayer and celebration! Let us pray that the pangs of childbirth will be light and quickly forgotten in the flawless delivery of a perfect child to enhance the lives of those she touches, even beginning with those of us here today who hear of her arrival and rejoice in her being registered as a personality in the Universe of Nebadon, 606 Urantia of Satania. The discussions regarding further learning will continue when we meet again. Be of good cheer. Farewell.

Group: Farewell. God bless! Thank you.

*****

DATE: Leap Day

Sunday, February 29, 2004

LOCATION: The Bowen Townhouse

Rio Rancho, NM TeaM

TEACHERS: TOMAS & ANATOLIA

TOPICS &: "The Passion"

The Atonement Doctrine

Q & A: Learning to T/R Concepts

T/R’ing Healing Energies

T/R’s: Gerdean and Matthew

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

"Master Teacher,

"We come to You again today, as we do every Sunday that our group meets, to call upon You to be with us as we continue with the lessons that are so kindly and ably given from our Spirit Friends. It is an instrumental part of our development, which will lead to the building up of the Kingdom, both within each of us as well as without, that which we can touch and effect. We are grateful for the opportunity, through You and the Teaching Mission and the designated Teachers to our group, and for our on-going development, that we may be able to fulfil our destinies, whatever they may be, and in appreciation for the film which Mel Gibson has produced, which there are some positives which will come from this as well, and we trust that it will be the positives that outlive any negatives, but all are growth opportunities from the infinitesimal to the sublime.

"For the lessons today we are grateful and are grateful for the opportunity for this group, for the accompanying growth afforded. For all of those cares and concerns within our hearts, we place before You now. Amen"

TOMAS: Good afternoon, my friends. I am Tomas, your friend and companion and occasional teacher in these processes of expansion of your own actualizing from the potential that lies inherent within. We rejoice in your stance of coming forward to embrace those of us who, in our way, advance as well in our reach for you, for this on-going experience of adjusting the finite to the infinite will be with you eternally.

Even though, in time, as you ascend, this adjustment will be made less prevalent, even so, your origin, as animal-origin beings of the worlds of time and space, always will influence or color your personality perspective. Only upon arriving at the portals of Paradise will you be able to lay down your remembrance of what was, in order for you to fully give yourself up to what is in the presence of perfection.

But in the process of attaining such perfection in the presence of the Universal Father Himself, there are many, many stopping places along the way in which you are enjoined to connect with that sacred sphere of divinity which suffices to serve your hunger for divinity attainment at that point in time.

This is made experientially true for you in these sessions we enjoy together and in those moments when you, by yourselves, are inclined to take the time to set aside the concerns of your world and your place within it, to re-charge your batteries and replenish the soul by regaining your strength through the power that comes from On High.

The God Within each of you is essentially God Himself, in-as-much-as all you need is provided for you in that Divine Fragment which you hold within your own soul. When you find that "the world is too much with us," will yourself to step aside from that quicksand which, without regard for your soul, will take delight in consuming you for its own purpose and not for the purpose of becoming more like God, which is your eternal purpose.

The idea of sacrifice, being a very prominent theme in the wake of the film you are talking about, ("The Passion") calls to our attention how steeped in this mentality your culture is -- and I speak particularly to the Christian culture, which worships Jesus as he was and is depicted, albeit incorrectly, by his supposed sacrificial act of dying as an atonement for the sins of Adam.

The error of this thinking is shot through your entire unconsciousness, as if to die for the cause is somehow exalted … that if you sacrifice yourself to some greater purpose, your reward will be felt in Heaven … that there is something noble about sacrificing yourself and all that you are for some real or imagined value.

This is the problem with the atonement doctrine, for all of you are conditioned now to this sense of sacrifice, and when you, through your own sense of self -- (healthy self. God-conscious self) -- rise up to reflect the truth of what Jesus taught and represented in the exemplary and sterling life experience he lived here, you are made to feel as if you are out of line, as if you were attempting to become assertive and, as you understand, assertiveness is regarded as the sin of Lucifer. And so you find yourself trapped in this position of either being the devil or dying. What kind of choice is that? That is no choice to be forthcoming from a loving God.

Those of you who say you have not been subjected to the theory/the doctrine of atonement are none-the-less quite affected by it. If you could but understand that much of your response to life itself is based upon that cultural conditioning. If you could examine your behavior in this regard and place responsibility for such behaviors on the external pressure that not only invites it but demands it, it will help you clarify how you may be of better service to your world and to your fellow man.

But it is a tremendous, almost overwhelming, project for it is so insidious, and it is so closely tied in with your own reverence for your Creator who incarnated here as a mortal, like you. It is as if you cannot see the forest for the trees. Your empathy for him and compassion for the experience is so emotionally overwhelming, you cannot see how it is that you are being duped.

Just as Jesus was misunderstood, so are you. But I ask you not to sacrifice yourself on that cross, willingly. You are not criminals. You are not living 2,000 years ago. You are not subjected to the same rules, even though they are in many ways the same. You must gather from Jesus’ experience that which you need to take with you – away from that scene at Golgotha - and remember what he came to do and what he did deliver to you through his accomplishment – not dying on the cross for you or for the sins of your forefathers, but for bringing to you the glorious news of the loving Father in heaven … who was not the God of the Hebrews.

Jesus’ God was not a terrible and jealous God. He was not vindictive and destructive. He was not bringing plagues of locusts or famine. He was not smiting races of people, women and children. He was not leading man to war against each other. These are remnants of the animal ascent from the nature of the beast up Jacob’s ladder to the noble estate of Sons and Daughters of a living, loving God.

Ours is the God who has brought to you the peace that passes all understanding, that has delivered his perfection to you through the abundance of life as it can be seen in nature, in the flawless beauty of the physical realm, as it is also seen in and through the Spirit of Truth that has been bestowed upon you since Jesus departed as the Sovereign Son of his Universe.

The idea that God would demand such a sacrifice of his children is a despicable idea and that so many of you in your culture continue to expect you as "Christians" to continue that pattern of laying down your life for the betterment of others, is also a warped idea of the goodness, beauty, and truth of divinity. For God has called you forth, out of the darkness, as Jesus called forth Lazarus, to rise up and live again in the spirit, in the eternal life that is offered in joy of eternal Sonship.

I cannot stress to you enough the importance of getting this straight in your mind and in your heart. It is essential that you who know the Master, you who sit with Him in the privacy of your own prayer life, you who turn to Him for answers to your soul’s questions, clear your mind of that erroneous thinking and give yourself freedom from that taint of your erring ancestors. Give the children of tomorrow the opportunity to look forward to the life that is intended for you – that being peace on earth, goodwill toward all men. This is my message for today.

Group: Thank you.

TOMAS: Before I relinquish the floor to Anatolia, I would like to remind you that there are changes afoot, even in our own group – all good changes, all growth adjustments, adjustments to the growth and the needs of you yourselves as you aspire to make yourselves more aware and more available to what it is that you can do to support and add to this tremendous challenge we are here to address ~ not as an overriding and burdensome responsibility, no, but as a joyous undertaking for the upliftment of these souls who linger and languish in mistaken identity.

Formatting, we will deal with at a later time. Anatolia, may I pass you the baton?

ANATOLIA: Welcome, all, to our weekly rendezvous with eternal destiny.

This is a delight to participate in, not because I get no opportunity to speak other-wise, but because I join one of our able Teachers, held in esteem, not just within your group but among the other teachers within the Teacher Corps, and am happy to be able to share my amount of breath that I experience in the cosmic environs.

I wish to share with you today good news of that which we have been discussing by the lesson presented today by your Teacher Tomas. I wish to share with you the teaching and good news that occurs as a result of that which has transpired in your world and that which, by otherwise good intentions, is leading to a better under- standing of that which our teaching is about. And that is to convey to you that despite the good intentions or perspectives that a believer in faith has, to be able to share with the world, the outcome of this effort is a grand opportunity for teaching.

This opportunity is being brought about in the discussion that the sacrifice of Jesus was not so much a lesson of sacrifice and selflessness as it was a supreme lesson of love and surmounting / overcoming / resurrecting / eliminating any opposition which would be placed in one’s path.

In other words, it is difficult to present, or to discuss, perhaps, awkward to convey, but that in the discussions that take place, and of those which you may have already heard or shared yourself as a result of seeing and believing the points of view from this movie the people who have seen it, to say that they are brought to a new level of understanding, and are in awe at the sacrifice, are at least able to rise to an occasion, to realize that there was a real movement of supreme effort exerted in the sense of benefiting humankind, that if one were to sweat blood, the effort in doing so is far beyond most humans’ capacity to imagine. So if for no other reason than for mild to non-believers not appreciating, prior to this movie, recognizing that a supreme effort was exerted on behalf of humanity, then the movie serves a purpose.

However, there is limited value in depicting the amount of suffering that took place. In a sense it belittles and denigrates; it is undeserved by Creator Son. Nevertheless, for those who are of the opinion that to denigrate and focus on merely the brutality and depth of despair and despicable treatment -- of any human being, let alone a Creator Son – have at least a perspective that perhaps the blood sacrifice was more than what it appeared to be.

Perhaps his rising above that which was despicable, incomprehensible and vile is what Jesus intended to conquer by his expected and accomplished resurrection from the tomb three days hence. For, after all, is this not the magnificent part of the story? That a limitation that would appear to have squelched, silenced, and eliminated that which people did not want to hear, could not be silenced, could not be vanquished, and is evidence that truth shall prevail and love is unquenchable and unconquerable.

This is the message that underlies all that took place within the week leading up to the resurrection. It is not as if we wish to exempt or gloss over the events of so-called Good Friday, but rather it is because of Good Friday that we know the Resurrection.

One can also argue: would it not have been possible for Jesus to have lived a so-called normal life, to have retired somewhere, to have lived a normal life and died of natural means? But this would not necessarily have proven or indicated the supreme victory over death that he demonstrated on Calvary.

Despite the best efforts of a weak and un-insightful mob scene, he was able to rise above, literally, that which is the worst of fear for anyone in the flesh. This leads us to the conclusion that any and all efforts to love and to serve are beyond reason for fear, hesitation, or reservation as to the ability to leave a gift or a legacy that may be of value.

I contend, or offer to you, that a labor to present a beautiful rose from a child to its mother, which may have entailed sacrifice, strife and effort to reach among the thorns into a bush to secure the flower to leave for one’s prized love destination, this in and of itself has a lasting giftedness and contribution that can not be bought, purchased or otherwise duplicated. For obstacles to be overcome at such cost is truly a magnificent presentation.

I urge you, therefore, to focus on that which Jesus did give, so that all may have eternal life, by recognition and by development of their own internal sources of recognition of who you are and where you hail is worth your time, effort and commitment ~ to no longer have fear that anyone could even put you to death for that which you offer as your gift to humanity and to the sacredness of life.

I leave this then for your consideration as to the ongoing debate and what you may be able to lend to it, not just in terms of discussion, but in terms of your contribution to the Kingdom of God. It is each and everyone’s choice and opportunity to do the most that you can with the gift of life that you have. Not that everyone is called to such demonstration, but whatever it is you are called to, surely it is as real and as powerful to you as what a Creator Son demonstrated by his gift of life.

So be of good cheer to know that you share in the co-creative opportunity that Jesus did, by his demonstration of being and sharing the life that is given each and every one of us. Peace be with you, and may this week be particularly potent in your minds for eliminating the negative connotations and limitations and for rising to the occasion to join in the resurrection of your hearts and your minds to eternal life. Peace be with you until we meet again.

Group: Amen. Thank you.

TOMAS: Let us now welcome you to the exchange that we so enjoy. Are there questions?

Renault: There was an interview on Diane Sawyer where Mel Gibson stated that he felt that he was moved and guided by the Holy Spirit in making this movie, which I don’t doubt he was moved by something… so he did this out of his own passion … to pick this. Was there celestial help? A corroboration?

TOMAS: Let me turn your question around and ask you this: as you all approach the work of consciously following what you perceive as the divine will, what about then, those who have become sacrificial lambs to the cause of strapping themselves with bombs to be destructive of those elements that in their perspective are destroying that which they regard as unholy?

The idea of being led and guided by the Spirit is always a frail perspective, for it is subject to human error. The idea of passion itself if fraught with concern, for passion is an emotional condition and the Spirit is not an emotional state of being, although devotees of a religious perspective are often ‘on fire’ with their point of view that it is the most important value in existence.

How can it be that the passion of Mel Gibson is any greater than the passion of Osama Bin Laden, when you look at what their programming is, their conditioning? If you are, to some, "the infidel" in such a degree and to such an extent that entire nations are rising up against you, what scourge does such a passion add to this drama?

Yes, it could be said that anyone who has a passion that is perceived to be divinely sanctioned is augmented by spirit aid and power, but you cannot then say that one is superior to the other. Passions are dangerous, for they are without thinking. This is an intelligent universe. Intelligence is essential to wise planning and to following through to create a stable base of reality for the global environment.

The danger of religious war rises when the passion of the "spirit of man" is committed to his ideals of his idea of what is the "Spirit of God." Does that shed any light on your question?

Renault: Um-hum.

TOMAS: "Be still and know that I am God." In the stillness, in that citadel of the spirit where you repose with the Master in sublime worship of that which is most precious to you, you will not find a need to destroy. You will find no evidence of ranting and raving, raging or railing against – only in praise of, in support of, in service to, in longing for. This is the illumination of the spirit, the divine light that casts a soft loving glow over humanity and not a glaring neon light that seeks to search out and find and destroy an alleged enemy.

It is that kind of thinking that got Christ crucified! It is in error. It is not noble; it is destructive. Be still and think! Think about the effects of your causes, about the immediate short-term effect as well as the long-range effect. Passion acts now. Without thinking. Only from a sense of urgency and importance. Passion takes what it wants to satisfy a terrible desire. To satisfy itself. This is antithetical to the peace which passes all understanding and to the glory of God.

Beware of fanaticism of this sort. Be wary of these kinds of emotions, for while they speak to the heart of man, they speak to the lesser being. They draw mankind back into the broiling, bubbling cauldron of confusion that is at the root of the problem: that chaos which came from Caligastia’s reign as a result of Lucifer’s unwillingness to allow the natural unfolding of destiny to take place slowly but surely and naturally, according to the divine plan. Thus, you see, impatience is also a dangerous passion.

Being excited does not necessarily mean that you are being touched by the spirit. Think before you act. Think before you respond. Add wisdom to your composition. Remember the lessons of the seven adjutant mind spirits, that five of them are animal, just as 5/7 of your very existence is animal, at the top of which is worship which may worship any number of approaches to divinity, and this, still further, is crowned by the adjutant mind spirit of wisdom, which can perceive that all of the lesser spirits serve a purpose but cannot be the be all and end all of your existence.

If you must sacrifice anything, sacrifice the perspective of the seven adjutant mind spirits to the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit of Truth will not tell you to rise up in passion against that which you don’t understand. It will lead you into the ways of peace.

This is very difficult for you to understand and to tolerate, because you are so short-sighted. Borrow upon our perspective. Borrow upon the farther view, the long-range plan. This way, when you lay down your tools and pick up the burden of the Master, you will go forth celebrating his gifts, offering yourself in service to the understanding of this thing called Sonship, this eternal relationship with divinity that defies human passion and ascends into the realm of perfect peace.

Often when Anatolia and I close our session we stress "peace be upon you," "be of good cheer," "peace I leave with you." Peace is the way of the god-conscious son of man. What else? Are there questions?

Maria: You spoke of healing and transmitting/receiving and we were discussing with other people that we were going to do it.

TOMAS: Yes.

Maria: Could you go into a little more detail about what you mean by healing?

TOMAS: Certainly. Healing is correcting. In order to heal, one assumes there is something that needs healing, something that is out of sorts, out of kilter, out of the fine design. If you pursue a course of healing, you will need to have a greater understanding of what we’ve been discussing – the nature of perfection as compared to the nature of chaos, for chaos is imperfection. Chaos is in a state of not knowing itself, or not being in keeping with its essential need to be.

Healing entails ascertaining where the confusion lies, where the missteps are, even to how they originated, allowing order to enter in and become the prevalent reality. It is a process of prayer, which would seek that the divine will be done in all things, even into the pattern of perfection that is inherent in all of creation, as it was intended, even before the effects of the default and the rebellion, even as it was implanted – perfectly – in the life implantation in you, in your life origin on this world.

The Life Carriers brought perfect pattern and planted it within the living water of your world. It was sparked into life by the Mother Spirit who actuates all of the material creation, and so the Mother ministers as you seek to heal that which is in error. See the pattern that is instilled by Universal Mind, that Third Source and Center which refers to the material worlds. As those disruptions affect the personality and social intercourse, appeal to the Eternal Son, the Second Source. And as it impacts on the relationship between the child and the Father, appeal to the Universal Father, the First Source. In this way you bring the energies of Paradise into your paradigm of thinking and you ask for the pattern of Paradise to recreate itself in the realms over which you would minister.

In healing, you are simply asking that everything be returned to the pattern for which it was intended. There are those who feel that in being healed or being corrected, (which is just about everything; indeed this is the Correcting Time,) it is an attempt by you to bring the original pattern back into being. It is there. It is at the root of your reality. But it has been scrambled. Defiled. Disheveled. But it is not destroyed. If there is life, then the divine pattern is inherent within and there is no reason why you cannot expect a miracle.

Be, therefore, of good cheer in your approach to healing others and in healing yourself of those perspectives and perceptions that have been distorted by the vagaries of existence and the ill-advised decisions of your prior mentors. You may deal with energy, yes. Energy is a part of the process of invoking healing. But neglect not the personality of the Paradise Trinity, which gives personality to the process. It gives you who are in the process of correcting, associative appreciation since the universe is not entirely mechanistic, but is also personal.

Much like the patient gives himself up to the care of the physician, encourage those you would assist to give themselves up to the care of that Dear and Glorious Physician which you represent and have interceded on behalf of, for in this way you are a channel of assistance. You are representative of the willingness of the Divine to reach down to and into its child and set right the wrongs which have been implanted. This will add another dimension and courage to that individual who seeks to rise above his limitations and deficiencies, to greater health, wholesome fulfillment, and radiant joy of being.

We had indeed talked of learning how to tap into that Source. This gets me back to the paragraph I inserted earlier, the logistics that this will entail. This group is coming up on its two-year anniversary, and thus this is a good time to review the patterns that we have established and, where appropriate, up-step our program of learning without disrupting the foundations that have already been well established.

We need your input on how to go about the adjustments, rather than merely telling you how we will comport ourselves for the next period of time, for this is your learning platform. And while we are delighted to come, and honored to serve, it will be you who ultimately makes the choices that you can live with and which will allow you to continue advancing in your spirit tutelage, without succumbing to the lure of the worldly ways which would leave us swept ashore, beached, disembarked from our sojourn.

What I would suggest is that in your social time you give voice to your preferences and your needs. I urge you to continue to meet weekly. I think, without being invasive, it is evident that the weekly pattern has not hurt anyone, even though there are variations within that pattern which give everyone an opportunity now and again to venture away for various and sundry reasons.

There is no quota required, although with varying needs, both on your side and our side, it may do you well to structure your weekly gatherings such that we can take care of all our needs and desires in terms of what we meet for with a structure which will benefit you all. Work with that prospect in mind, with alternate weeks or associative choices. For example, Anatolia might take a Sunday and I take a separate Sunday, so as to give Anatolia an opportunity to extend her expression beyond that of being my assistant or associate but developing herself in her own right. It would also provide me an opportunity to forego my pattern with you such that you find more variety in your gatherings.

Each of you ought to learn this technique, and you could sacrifice your social session for group practice on a weekly basis or choose a week or two per month to engage in that process, remembering that as you opt to learn the process of transmitting/receiving, you are also accessing the realms of spirit energy and divine personality which will in turn help you to better understand the association we enjoy. From that experiential standpoint, you will better understand the process of healing. And so all of us benefit from this expansion of our normal platform.

After two years of quality association, it is our sense that the expansion is necessary. It is up to you, however, how we will go about that and, referring to my earlier admonishment, I will ask you to think. Think about what it is you want to get from this reality we share, and seek within yourself that which your soul yearns for, and if we may be of service. We are here for that purpose.

Within these remarks is the necessity to point out to you that there are many other teachers in this mission and throughout the galaxy that are aware of our experiment here on Urantia and attend these gatherings apropos of their being able to also contribute. Thus, there are visiting students and visiting teachers, not to overlook the constancy of the midwayer corps who are always in attendance, the various orders of angels who are also aware of our efforts, in hopes of your eventual development to put them to greater use in constructive methods of uplifting your world, and other members of the Teacher Corps who also are available for augmenting your sense of perception.

Abraham almost always attends, as does Machiventa Melchizedek, although they are not pressured into speaking. We are very prosperous in our resources. There are many who would willingly come and engage you in the process of learning to transmit, and as you get to know their personality, your working association with them will be enhanced in more ways than you would imagine from the inexperienced position you hold as a non-T/R as compared to those who have learned this art of communication. What else can I say?

What I can also say is how much we enjoy your company and, without intending to overlook your personal guides, and your guardian angels, you are a vast host of ministering spirits, even as we sit here today in this amphitheater in the round. Even though you think you are a handful of mortals, we are legion.

We have tentacles that reach out, not only into your community, but into the spheres, sister planets, and distant points of light, all focusing on your growth in the spirit, for your growth in spirit reality is part of the scaffolding and structuring that will lend impetus to the furtherance of god consciousness in your arena that extends to the age of light and life, which will also enhance the system and the constellation and Michael’s universe of Nebadon, which then reflects its light even into Paradise itself.

While you enjoy your limited perspective most of the time, remind yourself on occasion of how far into infinity your influence extends, and for which Anatolia and I are supremely grateful, for as you grow, we are made to look better, and all the worlds of time and space are able to see the light of Urantia growing stronger, growing brighter, and growing more and more beautiful as these sundry lights come on as stars twinkling in the night sky.

Precious students, we bid you good afternoon. Be of good cheer. Peace be upon you. Amen and farewell.

*****

LOCATION: Barney’s Doghouse

Rio Rancho, NM

TOPICS: Identifying with Divinity

The Spirit Realm is Asexual

This is an Experimental World

Claiming Spiritual Liberation

Identifying the Spirit Body

T/R’s: Gerdean and Matthew

MUSIC: Elena on Piano: "It is Well with my Soul"

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

"Master Teacher,

"We thank you for a gorgeous day in which to appreciate the gift of creation and our part in it, and that, as the Bible says that we are to have dominion over all that grows, crawls, crows and wants to be made aware of its presence, and as we become more aware of our role in creation here, in the physical as well as the non-physical. May we do so with the unity of all in mind and to eliminate the domination that has been customary in human history. This, as we are becoming aware, is a consciousness transition that is occurring. May it occur in each of our lives and collectively.

"In appreciation for the teachers that you make known to us as participants in our lives, with the opportunity for growth and expansion in our own lives through this process that you inaugurated, we are grateful for the opportunity to learn more spiritual gifts so that we may teach others as well. For the lessons of today we are grateful and, again, for our role in eternity, we shall always be grateful. For those concerns within each of our hearts, may they be addressed with you and through you. And all else, you know, you have our abiding love, and appreciation always. Amen."

TOMAS: Good afternoon, pupils and precious friends. I am Tomas, one of the many celestial helpers in the Teacher Corps assigned to assist you in your soul’s development, in community development, in spirit regeneration within yourselves and humanity. For this work we are grateful and committed. Co-creating in the spirit of progress, mercy and wisdom, we advance together.

How happy I am to be a friend of yours. You have made me very happy today in your sharing. You have given testimony to your inner peace, your soul reality, with the music which was like a lullaby that lets the soul rest in the arms of the Eternal and Divine Parent, and in your discussions of format for your continued development and enhancement. Such a testimony is to Jesus, to the Master, who bequeathed himself here to teach you that you might have life and have it more abundantly through knowing him and for his eternal purposes, those very same values and qualities which you have demonstrated today as an important, enduring, and joyous part of your lives. Such is the wonder of the fellowship in the spirit, the family of man as it is revealed in the God-knowing sons and daughters such as we are privileged to know and enjoy in your company.

With this opening up of the various values and interests which you are grasping and holding up as an essential connection, as you express your inner peace and abide therein with each other, in and through the spirit, the love of the Father, the mercy of the Son, we thus put into action the community of believers which is alive, functional, progressive, satisfying, and stimulative of those values which will enhance the material realm in which you live and work and have your being, as it would not be able to be done without God the Father directing your motives, your intentions, and your will to see His will be manifest throughout creation.

This identification with divinity goes a long way toward infiltrating those organizations and structures, which are by habit or by design merely mechanistic. Mechanistic associations provide a linear order, perhaps adding to peace, but perhaps exist only in and because of habit. It is up to you to observe your associations and as necessary, infuse them with the divine light of living love, which will perhaps catapult the organization into an organism of living reality.

Correcting Time extends into all things and all beings, even when relative perfection prevails, the perfecting process continues because it is inherent within you that you have perfection hunger. It is the divine Indweller leading you into greater awareness of itself, even as the cells and molecules and atoms of the material creation attempts to bring its elements of animal, vegetable, mineral into full consciousness of its purpose. Having thus infused the breath of life into every aspect of your dominion and assured of its eternal nature as having emanated from your inner peace and divine self, you will continue to be encouraged and stimulated by your very existence and by the life you enjoy with others, no matter what paradigm of manifestation it may take.

This spiritual synergy, which allows all men and women to co-exist in respect for each other’s personal sovereignty, even as each individual is subject to the sovereignty of the one God, is light and life, is the perfection we seek. This is the fullness of the finaliter.

Working then under the assumption that we are in a state of agreeable and controlled change for good, for our group and for a greater grouping of intelligence, it is my pleasure to formally once again to formally invite my co-worker Anatolia to join me in the ministry to your souls.

ANATOLIA: Welcome all, this fine Sunday in your Land of Enchantment. I have been through the tourist guide as well as tourist scene and scenarios with you many times, nevertheless it is a pleasure to be in your company once again in this wonderful day, early in the New Year. We are pleased to be with you during this time of recollection of your viability as a group and taking looks and ways of doing things that may lend vitality and variety to the group. It has been two years since the inception of your group and my role in it was appreciated when your host for the moment made the travel from where he was to where he is, and with this I am grateful to have been able to add to your group as well.

I am pleased to say that my role in the Teaching Mission is not exactly new, but in deference to Tomas and the established group that you have, I was happy to be brought in as an Adjunct Professor, if you will, and am grateful for the opportunity to have shared the time and space and added perspective of what I could lend to your gatherings. It is with all due respect that I lend a helpful ear to your gatherings and to add the other element, if you will, of a feminine perspective; however, male and female in the true sense are void in the spirit realm. Nevertheless, one has a predominant point of view that does lie at the base of who we are.

It is, in the broadest sense, an asexual world outside of the physical; nevertheless we do have our share of predominant characteristics, as it may be possible, and I know several, who would be considered in your world "he men" or "brutes" per se because of what they do and what they say that typecasts them as a man’s man or a woman’s woman, etc. Nevertheless, to hear and see their presentations of who they are, in essence, you would never know they wore a tool belt or that they wrote the finest of symphonies, for there is no typecasting in spirit.

There are all types of gifts to be had and to be learned and to be developed, for in the final analysis, all are physicians -- metaphysicians, at that. That is, those aside from the physical will know how to heal all that may ail you. This is part of our desire and part of our accomplishment that we can lend to the body of Christ in the building up of our part of creation, for if we can sing and dance as well as make the table, literally, as well as prepare it for the company that arrives, all purposes and all functions are part of our learning. So I welcome the opportunity for you to learn other gifts of the spirit as you continue on your path to become vital parts of the creative force.

This, I assure you, will never end. If this planet that you inhabit were to cease this, as a vital part of life giving and life being. Another would make itself known within your immediate world system or planetary system for opportunities such as yours for a life to expand in many directions and many dimensions is part of the creative force and part of the creative process. For this is, after all, an experimental planet and some pretty experimental events have already taken place and others are continuing, but for the vitality of life as we know it, this is what lies at the heart of what experimentation continues, but rest assured that if t his were to end today, another would be available for continued growth and development.

I wish to reassure you that all is well as I see it. Each of you may have your own challenges and opportunities but all are progressing well and within your own time frame. Yet I reassure you that more growth and expansion of your hearts and minds are yet possible, feasible and desirable, but no one can or has been pushed into salvation. I am referring to your choices of which gives of the spirit you wish to develop, but it is within your timing and your choice, so let me reassure you that whatever model you come up with in terms of further growth and development, I am willing and able to assist for it is my purpose to be of assistance of a loving and giving and caring nature, to be [part of this gift and experiment known as the teaching mission, so be assured that I am with you in all ways possible and for whatever role you would like for me in particular to assist with, I am most willing.

To return now to the main presenter of the day, I leave you until the next time, and be assured that all of you are immeasurably loved and appreciated. Peace be with you.

TOMAS: Thank you co-teacher and sister. Tomas here again, and I am going to give you something to think about for the next phase ahead.

Having made some progress in recognizing the evidence of your own soul within your lives, if only from its connection with your neighbors in this configuration, I would like for you now to recognize that your soul contains an energy which some would refer to as the astral body, and some would refer to as the morontial body, that which will be able to house your soul, spirit, personality, even after you have lost the mortal carcass.

You each now carry within you that metaphysical state of being which, were you to understand its existence better, would infinitely assist you in having knowledge of access to and functional relationship with that door, that portal which is within you, which will enable you to make contact with everything and everyone you have the capacity to access. This format, as we have mentioned, is a part of a process of introducing you to your own connection to the universe intelligences.

The old priesthood would have understood your inability and unwillingness to be self-acting and responsible for your own spirit development but we see clearly your time has come, the time has come within this new era, which will enable you to step out of the bonds of tradition into spirit liberation such as Jesus taught, strove for, for his apostles, and for them to teach. And we naturally have greater potential in you today than Jesus had in his apostles in his day, for your evolution has advanced, if only by 2000 years, a significant stretch of history and accelerated signage on the highway to Paradise.

You were to be suddenly shorn of an arm or a leg, it is typical for your consciousness to retain a remembrance of that limb such that it might itch or feel a chill even though it no longer exists. This barbaric depiction none-the-less illustrates that if your body were gone, snuffed out of existence, you would still exist as an energy form. If you would practice recognizing the energy of that form this week, it will be a step toward the lessons which will ensue, having to do with your ability to speak for spirit as you are part of spirit. I have finished holding forth. Have you questions?

Elena: Well, that last part, actually… left me a little puzzled, Tomas. That example … I’m puzzled. Can you make it a little bit easier about the form to ponder? And I’m not being specific here. I’m not trying to be anal or anything, but I thought I had you and now I’m totally lost.

TOMAS: I have not intended to distort your appreciation for the value of your own reality by depicting the wretched example of having been …

Elena: Well, let me -- Maybe this will help a little bit with my question. I guess the thing that puzzles me about the example is that, for me, the spirit part I think is still there. I don’t think it’s just something I’m imagining. I’m remembering. I’m thinking back – that just kind of threw me a little bit there.

TOMAS: Then it was overkill. If it was unnecessary for you to get the point and if it distracted from your already existent understanding of your own spirit within, then I apologize for leading you astray. In the past I have found some degree of success with that example, inasmuch as anyone who has had a tooth pulled has sometimes experienced a phantom toothache. And this was the crutch I was attempting to use to convey to your consciousness the fact of the actuality of your inner being, even without the physical, outer being, so as to help you identify with your eternal self, even as a corporeal body, but without the material element. Have I made sense there?

Elena: Yes. I actually – I thought that’s what it was, and then I got it turned around.

TOMAS: Yes. The externals of the material world are often mistaken by evolving humanity to be the primary reality when actually it is a mere physical demonstration of the eternal reality. Without getting too esoteric or eastern in my thinking, I will simply reiterate that your "astral body" or "morontia body" is what we are going to focus on for you to actuate yourself as a receiving station for the transmittals of universe broadcasts, as a T/R in your own right, through your own equipment, rather than having to tap into the comprehension of the universe through the external mechanism of Gerdean or Matthew.

Elena: Thank you, Tomas.

TOMAS: The purpose is to help you become skilled in the art of universe broadcast, even as you comport yourself in the world at large, for now, you are finding it very difficult, even impossible, for you to inject the spirit into the mechanical mold of your material existence. This teaching will enable you to be better equipped to broadcast as yourself those fruits of the spirit which will lift up your dormant world into one which is infused with the spirit.

Thus, if you can see the tremendous opportunity at hand, that would so greatly contribute to the responsibility of sonship, you would appreciate why we have been so attentive to your growth and so conscientious in nurturing your sense of self, in terms of you being loving and loveable, worthy and good, kind and creative, and essentially valuable to the universe. The abundance you enjoy is abundance you appreciate because of your involvement and the same is true with the spirit realm. When you find yourself engaged in its perfecting process, you have tapped into a vigorous source of good orderly direction. If you are able to read the signs and walk the talk as well as talk the walk.

We are also indirectly and yet indubitably preparing you for the someday event when you will stand face to face with your galactic neighbors who will not present themselves as one of your own kind, but with an understanding that the internal reality is the vital and immortal reality, you will not then be so alarmed or shaken or offended by the material manifestation. You will understand fully the inner life because that is the energy that you will understand from understanding your own inner energy that will see you throughout eternity. Beginning now, up through the seven mansion worlds, into the greater universe neighborhoods.

I have talked you to sleep once again. Therefore, I will leave you to nap in the warmth of this fertile day, in this sacred sphere of your portal to Paradise. Peace be with you. We will see you next week. Be of good cheer. Farewell.

Group: Bye. Thank you.

*****

DATE: March 14. 2004

LOCATION: Esmeralda’s Castle

TEACHERS: ANATOLIA & TOMAS &

Topics: Learning to Go Within

"The Father and I are One"

T/R’s Matthew and Gerdean

MUSIC: Elena on Piano: "Ah, Holy Jesus!"

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

"Master Teacher,

"When the student is ready, the teacher arrives. We, as students, await your tutelage and seek your comfort and your personal presence in our lives, as you guide us in the everyday as well as the mysterious and the eternal. We place ourselves within you and before Our Father as we continue on our way, which helps unravel daily mysteries in the Eternal Presence. For which is everything from simplicity to sublimity. And we are with you as we pray you are with us, which is understood.

"We thank you for this Teaching Mission and for the opportunity to make contact with teachers that prove to us that we are part of the eternal oneness, and that lessons can be taught endlessly and with merit and reason behind each and every syllable, let alone the unity of the message itself. We appreciate that and each other and look forward to the teachings that are made known to us today. With all of the other intentions of our heart and minds that lie before you, we are forever grateful. Amen."

Group: Amen.

TOMAS: Good afternoon, I am Tomas, your host. I will not be a presenter of a lesson today, but will instead engage you in meditation exercises later in the meeting, so as to allow you time and opportunity to begin the practice of meditation such that you will be able to T/R in the near future.

Any art or craft or skill requires some preparation, and so today we shall begin with the preparatory steps toward our goal, then -- as was prayed, "when the student is ready the teacher will appear" -- you, my beloved students, will be ready, and you will appear to teach those who appear before you in search of food from the divine Source of our sustenance.

Without hesitation now, I relinquish the floor to the Teacher for the day. I ask Matthew to avail himself to the prevailing energies so as to serve you in today’s formal study. Matthew?

Matthew: Thank you.

ANATOLIA: This is a fine day in which to meet and greet one another on our new venue for learning and appreciation. I, Anatolia, am happy to be with you today for these and all reasons, large and small.

Much as with the concerns of our hearts and minds for things of smallness and largeness, because all is life, from the smallest element to the largest being, how much spirit does it take to enliven a being? How much being does it take to present a spirit? These are part of the mysteries in which your opening prayer offer, for I wish for you to consider the concepts of truth, beauty and goodness, relative to the presence of spirit, and how that affects your life.

This may seem to be a huge question, but one is which I wish to take you into a deeper understanding of your life within. So if you will bear with me long enough, I wish you to consider a journey that I will take you on, into the inner world. And as you may have heard it said, the path to the life in the outer reaches, is through the inner world. So one must go within in order to go without; to be centered within, in order to know what is truth without or beyond the limitations of your physical presence.

Close your eyes, if you will, and relax your body from the top of your head to the bottoms of your feet ~ by simply feeling all of the tension, stress, concern, difficulties, roll from your being ~ from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet ~ as a rippling brook travels along the rocks -- it smoothes, it caresses, it surrounds every inch of that object.

Let your troubles float away as you feel your body relaxing from the top ~ each inch at a time ~ rolling down your neck … and your shoulders … your arms, your torso … your hips, your legs … and down through your calves, through your feet and out your toes, as if your toes were each a spigot of relaxing energy.

And allow yourself to feel content and at one with the security that you know is within you, that will allow you to breathe freely, without restriction and without restraint. Feel a pattern develop within your breathing that lets you know you are one with all that is, and the breath that enters your body and leaves your body is the divine cycle. The breathing cycle that you experience is that which is part of the universal cycle of life.

When you do this you will know that you are part of a larger mystery of life that enables you to recognize that which you are experiencing consciously at this moment, for what you are experiencing is part of that sublime settled state of being that seldom comes to your mind unless you give it consciousness – somewhat along the line of "I think, therefore I am" which is to recognize the reality of being.

Allow yourself to do this as often as you can, but without restraint or imposing another discipline. Allow yourself to do this at least once per day, when you establish the time for doing so, or when you have finally reached the time of being able to stop and let go. For it is in letting go that you let your being be its best, for you are operating the machine, otherwise, this allows you to recognize the machine and give it an internal tune-up.

It is necessary and essential for your well being and for reaching higher levels of consciousness, for to reach higher levels of consciousness, one must find it within. There is no pill, no drug, and no offer to buy, which gives you the opportunity to gain this insight, without stopping to smell the roses. The scent is there to be appreciated, but one must stop to smell the essence to appreciate its beauty.

This hence is the symbol for the lotus blossom, that symbol of going within and unfolding -- to be at one with yourself and with All-That-Is. Therefore, you will find many answers to the mysteries that plague you, or to the mysteries that challenge your understanding of why or how something is.

Let us now relax, as we have prepared, and focus on the notion that "My Father and I are one." And for the next five minutes, at least, not prolong or beginning purposes, but at least that long allow yourself to experience what focussing on that thought, feeling or concept brings you. "The Father and I are one." [Long group stillness.]

ANATOLIA: Is everyone able to come back from where you were, or are? If it’s all right with you, then, we can begin to talk about any experience you felt and what you believe this exercise was about. So, for discussion purposes, if anyone would like to volunteer an experience you had, we can talk about it with others. Anyone wish to share?

Elena: This time – more easily than when I tried on my own – it was easier to clear my mind of everything. I have a difficult time clearing my mind of other things, and this time it was easy to do that. I don’t know why but it was great.

Esmeralda: In breathing and thinking, "Father and I are One" – the strange part about that for me was, usually when I do this sort of thing I usually see all kinds of things immediately. Light bursts and then all kinds of things. This time, I didn’t until at least half way through. But then I do that all the time when I try to practice stillness.

ANATOLIA: It is desirable to set the stage, for that is what work on the altar is all about. With any of your experiences with altar work, it is literal and figurative, but to alter your state of mind and to present an altar for the acceptance of your place within God’s life, one could say then, "Are you the altar, or are you preparing the way for an altar to be built?" Any way you fashion it, you need to begin to set the altar for the concentration of recognizing who you are in the life of being and your role in it. No one can take your place in your birth, as no one can take your place in your death, for it is truly your life. Not in separation or isolation, but in oneness with all that is, so one must set the altar and your preparations will follow. Anyone else?

Gerdean: I enjoyed this group stillness a great deal. Probably much like Elena, we are scheduled here today, to be here, so there is nothing else – my computer is not there, I don’t have to worry about ironing or anything, and – with the energy that everyone else brings to it, it was really nice to find myself launched into the dimension where I like to be, readily. It was like being lifted up out of the intellect or the mental arena, beyond metaphysical, even, right into the spirit, which is a release, it’s a break-through, and it feels great. But after a while, being in there, enjoying the "Father and I are One" which is generally manifested (in me) as energy, not so much personality today but just energy – I started to get restless because I wanted to do something with the energy, (yet it was typical that Father would send me out to do something), so, it was good. I enjoy your leading us in this.

ANATOLIA: It is an opportunity for each of us to experience another part of ourselves, one of which is somewhat intimate, but yet in a group setting, which is a new opportunity for each and every one of us. A thought, as you were speaking, Gerdean, is – in the opportunities that you have to focus on whatever concept, it is much like a focal point in concentration, that rather than to void your mind, which is one legitimate concept of meditation, for the novice it is difficult to conceive of the nothingness of everything, therefore the essence of everything. Very difficult concepts to visualize, let alone experience. But focus on something that brings you together, internally, with recognition of that, that you may yet have to seek in terms of the truth for yourself, that the Father and I are one allows you to reach out beyond your own thought processes or patterns, to a focal point that gives you a place to reach to, to not have to let your own mind filter itself, but to shoot an arrow at a target, and what better one than to contemplate the essence of you, which is part of the All-that-is.

In your doing such exercises, I suggest that you allow this to happen for as long as you are comfortable in your beginning stages, and as you progress, if you feel that you are losing consciousness or awareness of your surroundings and may end up falling asleep or not regaining consciousness, call upon your seraphim to awaken you before you would lose concept of the cake in the oven or whatever it will be that will require your eventual attention, so is there anything else before we conclude?

Maria: What’s a seraphim?

ANATOLIA: In this context, a guardian angel.

Elena: When you’re losing concentration, what would you suggest? I mean, would just continuing to focus back on the thought process that you’re doing – like a number of things could be used, but to try it for a while or just kind of hang in there and try to concentrate until you get your concentration back?

ANATOLIA: The best way is to refocus your mind. If losing concentration, it is nothing more than an indication that you need to get realigned, so to speak, a technique would be to form another concept and see where that takes you, or, if you feel obliged to pursue the concept you chose initially, or is given as an assignment like "the Father and I are One" to refocus, reconnect with your breathing. Reinitiate awareness of your breathing pattern and get back in with the cycle that allows you to be who you are and to once again connect with the Source of All-that-is.

Does this help any?

Elena: Yes, thank you.

Thoroah: I see the mantra of "the Father and I are One" as that focal point that helps us from wandering mentally. And the breathing, I find if I can at some time take the time to just deep breath and concentrate on my breath, that that in itself does the relaxing trick. So I’m assuming that the mantra is just that focal point, that target that you mentioned, and probably breathing is the essential part.

ANATOLIA: Correct. It is the rhythm that enables you to be unmindful of yourself, in other words, that enables you to lose your self-consciousness and allows you to get, or acquire, a rhythm that is part of the cycle of life, that enables you to reach in closer or deeper to your Essence. This is, after all, where you are going.

You can look at it as above or below, but it is going to a crystal clear (color it blue, if you will) deep well, that is your essential Being, that is as warm as a bath, as a young child with the security of your parent giving you the Saturday night bath, or whatever picture you can imagine, that is the warm secure waters of your inner being, that is your soul, that you are making contact with, that resurrects your eternal life consciousness.

This is what is being called forth when you meditate. It is that oneness that you seek with All-that-is. And after all, what are you, in essence, other than an expression of the eternal Source of All-that-is, each in its own unique ability to be who you are made to be. This is what you make contact with. So if you are able to massage a muscle to relax it, you are certainly able to massage your inner being, to be at one with it, as this is the open door to All-that-is.

This is where you will find eternity, both here and forevermore, for in the time of physical passing, what your eyes are seeing now is what you will see through soul or spirit. Your essence will be that which you cannot touch or feel but what is. I invite you to cherish this opportunity to explore the unlimited within for the sake of your mental and spiritual health, as this too is as important as any nutrient. And I venture to say more so, however you need to function where you are and this enables you to be aware of the house in which you live. Anything else?

Paula: I’ve always had a heck of a time in the silence. I don’t like it. It scares me. And the only time I like it is when I have a headache, or when I’m getting ready to say my prayers at night.

ANATOLIA: Why is that?

Paula: Darned if I know.

ANATOLIA: What do you find with the headache? Does it help it go away?

Paula: Oh, yeah. Because I don’t want any noise around me when I’ve got a headache, so I appreciate it being quiet. Otherwise, it’s kinda spooky and I don’t like it. I always wonder, if it’s real quiet in the house, if Carl’s mad at me. But usually he isn’t, so then it all clears up. It isn’t silent any more. We’re laughing. And that’s a lot better than silence.

ANATOLIA: It is simply being comfortable with yourself that is important, and whether you need a reminder, in silence, of what true security is, this is what you are being invited to explore, of true security, for being alone can be extremely frightening, and a feeling of being abandoned, however being totally conscious, or as conscious as you can be of who you are in truth is what real security is all about; however, like the psalm of old, you can go into battle with arrows and slings being slung around you but have no fear for you are protected and guided in all ways and nothing is able to disturb your inner calm. This may be something you seek or seek not, but you are invited to consider the possibilities of what security is. Anyone else?

Know that what we have begun today is a step toward sharing of ourselves in the security with others, to know that nothing will harm you, and that only the Father and we are one. This is my sharing for today, and I am grateful for the opportunity to share this learning with you. May we continue on the way toward inner enlightenment. Peace be with you.

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

TOMAS: Your host returns to praise the concept of teamwork and my teammate, Anatolia, who mastered the technique of teaching that brought you to this point -- the vital point of connection between your soul self and the Source of your soul self, the eternal God, the Universal Father.

There are some comments I have, in the context of your investigations thus far, one of which is: the stillness to worship the divine and to find this connection is a precursor to T/Ring. You cannot transmit what you do not have, if you cannot access what is in there, and therefore you must learn to open yourself up to the Spirit. When you do this, indeed you will open yourself to the floodgates, to all manner of apparitions and energies of long ago, lodged in your various conscious states, that may seek to emerge, that may need to be released in order for you to find that sanctity.

However, the opposite is true is well, that if you, in your longing to return to the Father, seek Him out and find succor within, He will protect you from those slings and arrows, at least until such time as you have been sufficiently strengthened in your own constitution to deal with those false perceptions that would give rise to those fearsome feelings such as Paula mentioned when what is truly "in there" is the still pool of living waters which will provide you satisfaction and peace such as you have never known.

But, again, it is a process. There are millions of people, many people, too many people, who in fear of quietude and indeed in fear of God Himself, are in a process of filling their hearts and minds with the stimuli of sounds, so as not to have to endure the panic of potentially being face-to-face with yourself - or, being face-to- face with God - which, in a theosophic way, can be regarded as the same thing.

There are lessons, however, to be learned in this process, (after the recognition that avoiding the process is not going to provide the solution your soul seeks), and we will deal with those, hopefully, as time goes by. It is not necessary to set aside every contortion of conditioning in order to access the true, the beautiful and the good within you. Therefore, I am not suggesting you wait until you are perfect, no, for in that case we would never have a mouthpiece for the Master. But that you come to know yourself, including the mind, and the various layers of consciousness that you possess, and so put to rest those apparitions of unreality and illusions which bring you fear, in order for you to grasp the concept of the indwelling God.

For once you have gained awareness of your conscious connection to divinity, it is possible then to discern what He is not, or how He varies from individual to individual in His personality manifestation. In this way you open up your universe greatly, not only to the personalities throughout the cosmos who would welcome you to your cosmic neighborhood and to the Family of God in infinity, but you will find God in the faces, in the eyes, and in the actions of those you encounter, much more vividly, extensively and compassionately than you would by a mere intellectual acceptance of their being children of God. This is a personal experience.

And it will be for you to practice this experience, conscientiously, throughout the weeks ahead. In a month, when we meet back here, we will have an occasion to discuss the difference between your relationship with your inner divine font and the personalities of others, in becoming aware of others, in energy and in consciousness. Rather than be frightened of their presence, be enthralled by the fact that you are learning to see with eyes to see the fine points of universe existence. Those other energies are enabling you to perceive outside yourself. Only one who is secure in himself can see from beyond himself, from the detached perspective that will be required for you to be able to set aside your own interpretation of what it is to the interpretation of the visitor, the teacher, the otherness of life in the universe.

Do you have any questions as to this technique of establishing stillness? I sense you do, but you are not asking, so let us apply ourselves then experientially. It is in the experiential application of what you have yet to learn that the questions are formulated.

Would you like, as an experiment, to experience another moment of quietude in order for you who are aware of God in your superconscious reality to try to attempt to become aware of the "otherness" of others in the universe who may be embracing you, surrounding you, tapping you on the shoulder, or otherwise prompting you to acknowledge their existence? Perhaps your guardian seraphim. Perhaps myself or Anatolia or Jesus. Let’s take that moment and see if you can feel the presence of others. Fear not. You are in good company.

[Another session of stillness.]

MICHAEL: Gentle souls, this is your elder brother, Michael. I come to you today in your quietude to bring you my loving presence while you are open and vulnerable. Let me come in with my love for you and impress upon you my eternal devotion to your growth and happiness in the Father’s kingdom. Your needs are met, your desires are fulfilled, your wants are arranged, by me and the Divine Minister, the Mother Spirit, who protects you through your seraphim and other ministering spirits. Have no fear.

Carry me with you in your soul, in your conscious space of connection with divinity. You have knocked and I have opened and we are one. In this understanding, there is nothing which can beset you that I do not share in completely. With this understanding there is nothing you cannot tell me and come to me about which I will not hear and resolve on your behalf. Through your cooperation and reciprocating love for me, I and you together will bring peace to Urantia.

I know it is said that I bring not peace but a sword, but this sword is not for destroying the good; it is for cutting off the useless parts of life that have hung around, clung to you, because of the nature of life itself. As the snake molts its skin and the leaves fall from the trees in season, so will we enable your world and mine to let go of that which no longer serves, in order to embrace the resurrection of life which lies ahead, inherent in your very limbs, flowing through your spirit veins, to bring nourishment, spiritual food to those who know me not and who languish in their isolation of alienation due to their belief that the Father is far away and lo! He lives with you, as we see and feel this moment, beautiful brothers and sisters, and humble children of God our Father. What a delight to spend some time with you today. I am a reflection of the joy that resides within you. Come to me and I will give you rest.

I return you to your teachers and to yourselves for your celebration of life, in and through each other. Dear children, farewell.

Group: Thank you.

TOMAS: And I, Tomas, have no further words to say, so let us be on our way.

Group: Thank you, Tomas.

*****

[End of Vol. VI, 2004-5, Part 1 of 4]