The Stairs
Martin Cecil June 16, 1974 pm
There is an inclination on the part of many to complain that they don't really understand what the true way of life is—everything is so confusing—just as if no provision had ever been made to make abundantly clear why human beings find themselves in the state which they do, and how they may easily move out of it. The Bible, containing the Old Testament and the New, has within its covers an accurate picture of what happened and why, and an accurate portrayal of how any human being anywhere may once again experience the truth.
It would seem reasonable to recognize that the Lord has found it difficult to understand how human beings have been so successful in continuing in the pattern of failure. From any rational view, it's utterly amazing! It has taken, indeed, a great deal of effort, much sweat of the face, to keep out of the Way. This is the exact opposite of the usual view, in the Christian world particularly, where it is supposed that the Christian life is a hard row to hoe. Of course, the way it’s been set up, maybe that’s true, but the way of the Lord is simple. Our Master Himself said, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Good Christians certainly don't have that attitude, do they? “Tough, that's what it is!” If it seems that way, then the individual is moving in the wrong direction and it has nothing to do with what our Master offered. When He was on earth He brought it all so beautifully to focus once again, provided the clear understanding, sounded the True Tone. But what have people made out of that? Something that is very obscure. Anyone who has studied what is called theology could certainly testify to that—darkness upon darkness, obscurity upon obscurity. In spite of all the mental gymnastics through which human beings have gone, life continues to operate. Life seems to take very little notice of what human beings do. If they become too obstreperous, which occurs from time to time, then they are simply swept to one side.
However, the beautiful clarity of provision that has been made, relative to what we call the Bible, is not only in what has come down to us from the Master's life on earth but goes way back before that. The outline of the very beginnings of things paints a clear picture, even though those who have read it immediately begin to make obscurity out of it. I was thinking, particularly, of the events described to make obvious the nature of man's failure. This has been called “the fall”. There are those who object to the idea of a fall. The theory of evolution is one of the ways by which it was thought to set at naught the idea of a fall: man has simply been rising up out of the slimy depths all the way, so that this is the supreme pinnacle of his experience now. And each generation was able to imagine that it was better than the last; it had evolved some more. How nice! How satisfying to the human ego! But how untrue!
It is said of man, when he was first created, that the Lord God put him in the Garden, which had been created eastward in Eden. This has been called the Garden of Eden. Eden is a word for the earth, and the Garden of Eden is the heaven aspect for the earth. The creation included heaven and earth; a two-phase creation, two aspects, but just one creation. And man was placed in the Garden, in the heaven aspect. This relates to what we have been referring to as Spiritual Man, the spiritual aspect of man, where his true identity centers.
Now, man was placed in the Garden to dress it and keep it. Using this method of describing that circumstance, there is obviously a state outlined which is presently beyond the comprehension of human beings. Abel, Spiritual Man, was subsequently slain by Cain; and Cain, material man, remained. This is the same story, but we may recognize that there have been a number of what one might well call descending events relative to the fall—it didn't happen completely, all at once. When you go down stairs it's possible to jump from the top to the bottom, but then your neck might be broken and there would be no more you, in the material sense at least. So the fall of man did not mean that he jumped from the top to the bottom all at once. He went down step-by-step, hopeful that when he got to the bottom he would find something better than he found, or thought he had found, at the top. But he landed up in a murky basement, an airless cellar, where he has been existing now for a long time. He became accustomed to this state of affairs, and considers it the normal course of events—to live at the foot of the stairs.
But when the first step was taken, by reason of what was described as the eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, immediately it was made apparent to him that a mistake had been made, and that therefore repentance or a change of attitude was needful if what had occurred was to be rectified. We know that, regardless of this opportunity, human beings chose not to let the mistake be rectified. They preferred, apparently, to go on down the stairs. This was adventure, I suppose, after a fashion; it was pioneering. Certainly no one had ever gone down the stairs before, so what marvels might be found at the foot! So he trudged on down, and when he reached the bottom he had forgotten what was at the top. There was a faint memory, perhaps, of something, recorded through myths for instance, mythology, fairy tales, and what have you—an awareness that there was something other than the basement state. But by then he had forgotten pretty well that there was anything really at the top of the stairs where he belonged, and so, in latter days at least, he has decided that man's fate was to live at the bottom of the stairs until he finally disintegrated there; then, by some magic means, he was to be wafted to the top of the stairs. The one thing that human beings apparently didn't lose when they fell to the bottom of the stairs was a vivid imagination!
This first opportunity, after the immediate step of the fall had been taken, is described in the Book of Genesis—an opportunity that was rejected, of course. We recognize that the fall was consequent upon eating that fruit which had been forbidden, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the idea being, of course, that if one could gain enough knowledge about things, one would be able to establish a good state, a good life no doubt, and be sufficiently wise to avoid the evil. Human beings have the idea, to this very hour, that all they need to do is to gain knowledge and this knowledge will be all that is needed to establish a state of bliss, happiness, on earth. This has been the idea collectively speaking, but it has also been the idea individually speaking. It is the usual human effort to gain whatever knowledge he considers to be expedient to enable him to succeed in setting up a particular life pattern which will be satisfying, which will bring happiness, presumably all done by knowledge. Whatever kind of knowledge may seem to be desirable, if we get enough of it we will be happy. That’s right, isn’t it? There is this addiction. Of course, those who become addicted to alcohol, maybe a few finally face the fact and recognize the delusion under which they have been functioning. By the same token, it is possible for human beings to recognize the nature of their addiction to the forbidden fruit and face the fact that no amount of consumption of this narcotic will produce a state of happiness. What it does produce is death. It may be that the alcoholic, fearful of cirrhosis of the liver, will decide that alcohol is not going to enable him to live; it’s going to kill him. And so it may be that there are those who realize, finally, that the continued consumption of the forbidden fruit is not going to bring happiness, is not going to bring heaven on earth—it is going to kill. And it does. Now isn't that clearly set out here in the beginning of the Bible? It's been there all along; good Christians have been reading it; not only Christians; Jewish people too, and others, have looked into it. There are similar stories in other scriptures in different parts of the world, outlining the same principles, clear and obvious.
So there was this idea that the fruit was pretty good to look at, could perhaps make one wise, so that one would be able to set up for oneself a kingdom on earth, or for mankind collectively, which would be desirable, according to the self-centered concepts of addicted human beings. But this addiction produces irrational behavior on the part of people. A drunk very often thinks of himself as really being the life of the party. Of course, he may be the life of a drunken party because everyone else is deluded too. But if you are sober and go into a situation where everybody else is at least somewhat under the influence of alcohol, you will find a ridiculous state of affairs, something quite irrational, utterly meaningless, and yet all those who are participating in it think it’s splendid. This is life; this is a good time! And it is in this way that human beings have deluded themselves, until they land up in the gutter. But even the drunk in the gutter doesn’t want to be moved, very often; he’s comfortable there. “Let me sleep it off in the gutter.” Stories of drunks are quite popular, aren’t they? Everybody thinks they are funny. Why? Because there is a recognition of some relatedness to what occurs in the story, and yet the individual feels that he is sufficiently superior to what is happening in the story that he can afford to laugh at it. There’s a little sense of guilt also—and its not really such a little sense either. Shame, after all, was one of the first experiences of those who began to walk down the stairs. When they had taken that first step, nothing too much had really happened yet as a result of their action, so it didn't seem that, immediately, there was anything wrong with what they were doing; everything was going along all right still. So, evidently people weren't ready at that point to admit any failure and turn around to take that first step up. If that had been done, well, we wouldn't be sitting here in this fix now.
But it is said, here in the story, “And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” Walking in the Garden. The Garden is the heaven aspect of this true duality—heaven and earth. Man, at this point, had taken the first step out of the heaven aspect, where his true identity is, and where he carried the responsibility of dressing and keeping the Garden. The realm of spiritual substance, in this dimensional world in which we live, is the Garden, where the seeds are planted, where the essences of what is to take form are established. Of course, in the true state there is no veil between the Garden and Eden. They were one—heaven and earth were experienced as being one by spiritual man in material expression. There was no distinction between spiritual and material man; they were one; there was no veil between. Man was at the top of the stairs and his material facilities were with him. But he started down the stairs by imagining that he could substitute knowledge, as the controlling factor in his living, for God. Now, of course, we can say “for God” at this present time and know scarcely anything of what we are speaking, because to know God one must be at the top of the stairs, and as human beings went down to the bottom they lost God. God became a figment of fancy to them; at best all one could do is believe, but apparently never to know. One of the questions asked of people sometimes is, “Do you believe in God?” If it is necessary to believe in God it is evident that one doesn't know God. Do you believe in the sun? You don't have to have any belief, do you?
Now, man had started to leave his spiritual identity and he was falling into a material identity, and in this process he was having some new experiences on the way down. These, by their very novelty, were apparently desirable, but he had not yet come to the point of recognizing what the results would be—what it would mean to be a dying soul. He could not have these changed experiences, which he thought he enjoyed for the moment, without the results of his own actions, and the results had not shown up yet. But we recognize these principles So, as with many human beings even today, he thought he was getting away with it. But the results show up somewhere along the line and nobody ever gets away with anything, in fact. But we recognize these principles as being operative in our own experience. While it was something that happened in a peculiar way, a particular way, long ago at the point of the initiation of the fall, it is not something of which human beings have no present experience. It has been true in every generation. And it isn't until the individual calms down, so to speak, and is not gorging himself on the forbidden fruit quite so extensively, that there is sufficient stillness in the heart to discern what is moving in the Garden, in the spiritual substance of being.
You may recall in the story of Elijah, when he fled from Jezebel and went and hid in a cave, he was afraid—just the same as Adam was. He was afraid. His feelings were in a turmoil, and he rationalized with his mind so that he had a ready excuse when he heard the Word of the Lord, “What doest thou here, Elijah?” He had an excuse all set up, a reason as to why he was in the cave where he didn’t belong, running away from this woman. So he was justifying himself, justifying his own turmoil, and as long as the turmoil remained he couldn’t discern the true Voice of the Lord. It was only finally when he began to let go of his excuses and to relinquish his justifications, and begin to trust the Lord again, that he heard the Tone. But when he heard it again it was only a very still, small voice—not very much. This is the way it has been with human beings—the Voice of the LORD God walking in the Garden in the cool of the day. When it's not quite so hot in one's feeling realm anymore, then there may be some discernment of the Voice of the Lord God walking in the Garden, where man belongs. And here it says:
“And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the Garden.
And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?”
Obviously, that question indicates that he was not where he belonged. Where he belonged was in the Garden—not hiding behind the trees; in the midst of the Garden, assuming his responsibility to dress it and to keep it. He was ignoring that responsibility and gathering knowledge so that he might direct his own course of life as he saw fit. When he quietened down a little, then he heard the Voice of the Lord God—he hadn't gone so very far away yet; he hadn't entirely left the Garden yet—and so he heard and realized that he wasn't where he belonged. This is always looked upon as though there were a number of people around, the Lord God somewhere, and Adam, Eve, and the serpent, but here was something happening inside the person—you, for instance. And you have sensed that you were not really where you belonged. Now most human beings do sense this; there's something wrong. The question is, what are you going to do about it? Well, Adam was on the way down at that point. We find ourselves down by now, at the foot of the stairs, but most human beings still imagine that what brought them to the foot of the stairs is going to save them: the knowledge of good and evil, sufficient knowledge to establish a good state. Isn't this what all the sweat has been about on earth, to establish a good life, whether that is an individual undertaking or a collective undertaking? Human beings want to do that by reason of the knowledge that they gain, and knowledge has certainly been increased in these days. Oh, how much knowledge everybody has, how many experts, how much technological know-how! Surely with all this knowledge we have it made at last! Is that the way it looks? Surely not to anyone who is in the least bit honest. Utter confusion, chaos, disintegration!
The diet of narcotics, which human beings have been eating with such relish, has brought them into this state, and yet they are so irrational that they imagine that eating more of them is going to get them out. Isn't that irrational behavior? Isn't that plain stupidity? And yet, the human intellect claims so much for itself—so wise, knows so much. The forbidden fruit is indeed a narcotic, which brings human beings into a state of stupidity; they behave irrationally. Those who think of themselves as being sober may laugh at the drunk, or may criticize the drunk, but those who are sober, as they suppose, are in just the same condition in actual fact, under this narcotic of the forbidden fruit.
Now we have seen these things more or less plainly, but perhaps tonight it can be brought more specifically home, so to speak, and we perhaps heard that word, “Where art thou? What are you doing in this state?” Are we so convinced of our depravity that we insist upon remaining subject to the dope? Or, recognizing the truth of the matter, having heard that question, “Where art thou?”, we presumably decided to kick the habit. But most people think that the way to kick the habit is to … “I’ll just go off it easy.” This is the way some people approach the business of stopping smoking, for instance. “I’ll smoke fewer cigarettes.” But you know, there’s only one way to kick the habit—to kick it! It isn’t a matter of improving at it, which is the usual human approach; just relinquishing it altogether, because it keeps us where we know we don’t belong. And to the extent that we have begun to kick the habit—it still has a few tentacles left, I believe—we become more and more convinced that where we were was certainly where we didn’t belong, and we become increasingly conscious of the reality of the Garden, the place where we belong, and the place where our true identity is.
This evening we perhaps may hear the question a little more clearly—“Where art thou?”—not merely because it is spoken externally but because of our own experience within ourselves. I am sure that none of you have faith in the idea anymore that you belong where you have been. There must be resurrection into the experience of spiritual identity, where we again assume responsibility for the Garden and we are no longer hung up in Eden. In crossword puzzles, very often the clue, the answer to which is “Eden,” is something which relates to a heavenly state, and that’s the way it should be, but certainly not the way it is in human experience.
The earth is lacking heaven because man has failed in his responsibilities, in his responsibilities of caring for the Garden. That's where our responsibilities belong; they do not belong in the material realm. Our responsibilities do not require manipulation of material things. Material things will reflect the Garden when man is in place in the Garden, taking care of it. But he's not going to take care of it if he's all involved in material things, and if he imagines that nothing will work successfully in the material realm except he himself is on hand with his knowledge to see that it works successfully. That is the human view. He supposes that nothing would work rightly if he, material man with his knowledge, were not on hand to direct it, and that unless he keeps his hot little hands onto all these things, that everything would disintegrate. Well, that is probably so insofar as his endeavor is concerned to maintain a material state unrelated to the Garden. But it is supposed that if human beings were not doing this, were not giving all their energies into these things, there would be nothing. If this is the view, it is quite obvious that the person that has that view is completely lost to any awareness of the reality of the Garden. He is saying, “This material state is all there is; if I don’t look after it it’s going to pieces.” Well, the affairs of men may fall apart if human beings do not put all their lifeblood into them, but would it be such a loss if they did? The universe seems to get along all right as it is without human beings applying their self-centeredness to see that it keeps going. Why not what is right here? It's part of the universe. If the universe keeps going as it should, it is because there is a correct operation from the standpoint of the Garden of the Universe, from the standpoint of the Heaven of the Universe. That is being cared for by those who have responsibility in the matter, but insofar as this little corner of the universe is concerned, where man supposedly has the responsibility, there is a mess, because there has been failure to assume that responsibility.
So, having heard the Voice that reminds us of these things, let us not hide from that Voice; let us not insist upon being merely human anymore. The first thing that Adam said in reply to that question was that he was afraid; and this is the state of man. Remember how it was with Cain? He was afraid, too. “Everybody that finds me will kill me.” In other words, he had the attitude that everything was hostile to him. And this is a human attitude, this is the attitude of someone who is merely human: he sees everything as being hostile, and he develops all kinds of defense mechanisms to defend himself from the enemy. He's surrounded by the enemy on every hand, the hostile universe—nature is hostile; we have to tame it. Do we really? No. Man is hostile. Man, having lost himself, feels that everything's against him. Have you ever felt that way? Everything's against you. The idea of fate developed out of this. The bogeyman is going to get you in the end and he does!—because of man's insistence upon being somewhere that he doesn't belong, in this dank cellar at the foot of the stairs. He has made a bit of artificial light down there and he calls that daylight, but it isn't. He doesn't belong there, but in the Garden, to dress it and to keep it, to become aware again that all his responsibilities are in the Garden. When he assumes his responsibilities in the Garden, Eden will take care of itself, and there will once again be the Garden of Eden, in other words heaven and earth, the two phases in oneness, no veil in between, because man is back where he belongs.
We have touched something of the reality of the spiritual substance of Eden, and have become aware, and are becoming aware increasingly, of what it means to dress and to keep that substance. When we dress and keep the substance of the Garden, then we find that Eden is dressed and kept, too. But if we try to dress and keep Eden according to our view of the way it should be dressed and kept, it disintegrates.
We need to come back to where we belong, spiritual man, true identity, a state that was represented by our Master after the resurrection. The material aspect of man shares with the spiritual aspect of man, not the other way around, as most people try to make it happen. Human beings want to stay material and have the spiritual come and share it with them. It doesn’t work that way. One must accept the responsibility of spiritual man and then the material will share it, and that sharing does certainly involve a different state of material experience. It is a different state at the top of the stairs to what it is down in the basement, and human beings find that they are different people. Man is at the top of the stairs. I don't know what's at the bottom—sub-man! So we have the opportunity of returning to the state of spiritual experience in identity, that what had been known before in the material sense may be invited to share that spiritual state. And that’s restoration.
© emissaries of divine light
The Angel Of The Lord
Martin Cecil June 16, 1974 am
Today is called Father's Day, I understand. Spiritually speaking, I have been in the position of a father for most of you for varying lengths of time, and for many others besides. I have carried many people in my bosom, so to speak, for many years, my concern having been to invite all concerned to call upon the name of the Lord, to open hearts and minds and lives that the Lord might be glorified on earth, that Abel might be resurrected into the experience of all concerned.
Years ago I heard a voice inviting me to call upon the name of the Lord. This was, of course, Uranda's voice, and others heard that voice also, some of whom in consequence did call upon the name of the Lord. Because of all this, Abel has been resurrected to this extent in my experience and in the experience of others, so that the same invitation might be extended to increasing numbers.
To call upon the name of the Lord is the first step. Necessarily there must be a turning toward the Lord in an awareness of the reality of God, but, properly, without as yet knowing anything but that there is a God. Unfortunately, in the consciousness of all too many human beings, what God is has become an established concept, hiding the truth. The only truth that is necessary when a person calls upon the name of the Lord is the awareness that God is; there is no need to try to figure out what He is. The many concepts and beliefs established in the doctrines of men should rightly be allowed to pass away, that continuing to call upon the name of the Lord, in the recognition that He is, the resurrection of Abel may occur and an awareness of the truth emerge into the expression of daily living. It is this alone that acquaints a person with the Lord, so that concepts and beliefs and imagination are not necessary.
A person remains unacquainted with the Lord as long as it seems that the Lord is somehow separate from himself. The starting point from which a person may proceed to come to the truth is in the state of affairs as it is in human experience, and certainly there is a consciousness of separateness; but we may recognize that that consciousness of separateness is a false state, out of which we need to come. We would not endeavor to make it continue, so that all that we imagine is necessary is to gain a deeper understanding of the Lord. If we think we have to have a deeper understanding of the Lord, obviously the Lord is separate from us: we are here and He is over there; we're going to do whatever is necessary to understand Him better. This maintains the false state of separateness.
Insofar as each person is concerned, the Lord is present through His angel, and His angel is the truth of you. You are an angel of the Lord, but to a large extent you know it not. To the extent that you know it not, what you do know is false, and yet this false condition is what most human beings imagine to be the reality. They say of themselves, "We are only human." This is scarcely the truth. It has seemed to be so, but the truth is that you are an angel of the Lord. What you have known of yourself has been the capacity to experience yourself. That capacity was initiated at the point of your conception. What has a beginning, incidentally, must have an ending, but you, as the angel of the Lord, had no beginning and therefore have no ending.
When the babe is born into the world there is the evidence of a physical form with the potential of growth, not only physically but in the development of a mental and emotional capacity and of a spiritual nature to be expressed; but insofar as the baby is concerned these are all potential. The angel of the Lord is present but unrevealed, although there may be a sense of something heavenly in relationship to the little child. The angel is present. That baby grows into childhood and the angel is still present, standing behind, as it were, only revealed in a very immature sense; but the child begins to know a sense of self. This which is so known is simply the experience of a capacity to know oneself. One could not know oneself on earth in physical form, in mind and in heart and in spiritual expression, without having a capacity to do it. Most are inclined to suppose that that capacity is the thing itself, is the self, but that is not true; the capacity results from the presence of the angel of the Lord, in whom the true identity of selfhood is.
In this sense it may be seen that the angel of the Lord is the Father of the one who takes form on earth. The angel of the Lord, the truth of you, is not dependent for existence upon either your material nature or your spiritual nature; but your material nature and your spiritual nature are dependent upon you, the angel of the Lord. Without you they could not exist. If, therefore, this material nature assumes an identity all of its own and begins to try to live life, as it is called, on that basis, a state of separateness is bound to be experienced, and when that separateness becomes complete it is said that the body is dead. Nothing happened to the angel of the Lord, nothing happened to you in reality, except that you lost a material and spiritual means of expression in the dimensional world, and so, specifically, you as an angel of the Lord are no longer present in form. Now it is quite evident that human beings insist upon some sort of a human identity and endeavor to preserve that, crying unto the Lord for help in this regard; but that isn't calling upon the name of the Lord; that is trying to maintain a false state, in which the Lord is not in the least interested. The true state is in the angel of the Lord. To call upon the name of the Lord is to yield the capacity of self-consciousness to the angel of the Lord, so that one may come to know his true name, his true identity.
Now, as we see, with respect to a young person growing, there are changes occurring. Birth doesn't only occur just once. What is birth in the usual sense? It is simply a change of environment for the physical form. It's the same physical form before birth and after birth except insofar as it may be recognized that that form is constantly changing. That constant change may be seen as the real birth, in which case it may be recognized that there is a birth in every moment, a physical birth in every moment. This is more or less obvious when one observes a child growing toward adulthood; the change is clear enough. But why does that change occur?
Why is there a continuing experience of birth in each moment? It is because of what may be described as spiritual birth. The material fact of a human body could never be established if it were not for what is back of that body; and what is immediately back of that body is the spiritual nature, and what is back of the spiritual nature is the angel of the Lord. As long as spiritual birth is occurring in each moment, physical birth occurs in each moment and the individual, in the external material sense, grows.
Obviously, the objective of that growth is so that the angel of the Lord may have an adequate channel through which to come into the world. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son." Well, insofar as each person is concerned, you are the only begotten. You are you, nobody else; the only one; unique as the angel of the Lord. The human capacities have a certain uniqueness, but such uniqueness as they have in actual fact is absolutely dependent upon the angel of the Lord. Human beings, as such, are all very much the same—boring, to say the least! "The mass," they are called; and there is a mass in that sense, a mass of potential, a mass of capacity only very slightly occupied, insofar as expression is concerned, by the angel of the Lord. Most of human expression is not that of the angel of the Lord; it gives evidence of the absence of that expression, and this is what is called human.
Some people take pride in being human. That is rather unfortunate, because there is nothing to a human; he's just a husk capable of being used as the means for the expression of the angel of the Lord, and unless that is what actually happens the individual has no meaning. This is why he feels so frustrated and futile as the years go by. It may begin to dawn on him how meaningless he is, and so there is the frantic endeavor to try to make meaning, to make oneself meaningful. If one feels under that necessity, obviously one does not yet have any meaning, otherwise it wouldn't be necessary to make it. But the meaning is present; it doesn't have to be made.
The meaning is the angel of the Lord, the angel of the Lord who stands behind the wall of the material person, the material person who has assumed, and who has been trained to assume, that his identity and worth are in being a material person, a human. And there is the endeavor, of course, to try to make people feel that they are worth something as humans; but this is an endeavor to delude, because the human of himself is not worth anything. Hopefully, psychiatrists and psychologists and others endeavor to help people to feel that they are worthwhile when they are not. If they succeed they have succeeded in deluding somebody, because the human material person of himself is not worth anything. He is simply the clothing, the means, for glorifying the Lord, and the Lord is glorified when the angel is in expression on earth.
Now, clearly, the angel is not yet in expression very much through the newborn babe. There cannot be a handling of the capacities for expression yet by the angel because the capacities have not yet been developed to the point where they might be useful in that regard. So, while there may be a sensing of something heavenly about the babe, the angel of the Lord is obscure—rightly so at that point. But then that babe grows in the continuing experience of repeated birth—born again. Interesting, isn't it? Christians often speak about being born again, but gradually, in the experience of most that pattern of rebirth begins to run down until it ceases altogether, and when it ceases altogether there is a corpse. The pattern of birth and rebirth should be a constantly expanding experience.
Our Master, when He was on earth, spoke of this in connection with the kingdom of heaven, indicating that it was impossible to enter therein without being born of water and of the spirit. Now the physical form is mostly liquid. The planet earth, incidentally, is mostly liquid on the surface of it; so likewise with the human form. That liquid is very important, the juices of the body of various sorts, and they need to be there and circulating if the body is to remain resilient. When the physical body begins to become mostly mineral and the liquid is reduced, then it's said that we may have arthritis; we begin to turn into pillars of salt and it becomes increasingly difficult to move with the agility of youth. The birth relating to water is not being experienced quite as adequately as before, and this is happening because the birth with respect to spirit is not being experienced as adequately as before. A young person growing is not yet spiritually paralyzed; there is a resiliency of spirit present, and because of the resiliency of spirit, the continuing process of birth in this regard, there is a resiliency of form. But when the resiliency of spirit begins to cease, the resiliency of form begins to crystallize and the kingdom of heaven begins to recede until it's totally gone insofar as the experience of those particular capacities are concerned.
And, of course, the resiliency of spirit, the rebirth in spirit, so that the individual might come to know himself or herself as the angel of the Lord, ceases, because the material self becomes so preoccupied with material experience. Most human beings take the attitude that they haven't time even to consider spiritual things. Of course, they don't really know what spiritual things are, but they haven't time for them anyway! They don't? They don't have time to live, then, because if we become so busy with our material concerns, we are then preoccupied in that direction and spiritual rebirth from moment to moment begins to slow down if not to cease; and if spiritual rebirth ceases, physical rebirth ceases. This is why human beings are dying souls. It's very simple, really; there's no mystery to it. The angel stands behind the wall.
Now, the concern, insofar as we are properly concerned, is to permit the experience increasingly of the angel in expression. This is to live. Now whether we are young in physical years or older makes no difference insofar as what is required is concerned. With young people, as there is growth, as the capacities expand so that they would be more capable of providing the facility for the angel of the Lord, that is certainly the best time to let it happen. This is the natural course of events. But human beings have become so very accustomed to becoming involved with the lie, the false sense of self, so that they think of themselves as being a person when they are not yet a person in the true sense. The person is the angel of the Lord, and if you cut it off somewhere and say, "Now, I'm a person. Now I'm going to function as a person. I'm really something now, and I'm going to make something of myself, of course, because I'm not quite complete yet. I'll acknowledge that much at least. I need to mature a little more, of course, but I'm a person now and I'm going to do it." If that is the attitude that is taken, the individual is separating himself from the angel of the Lord, and that person has no existence separate from the angel of the Lord. Isn't it stupid that human beings do this and feel justified in doing it? All they are saying is, "I'm justified in dying. I'm justified in destroying myself. I'm justified in separating myself from life."
But how beautiful it is to see the angel of the Lord who has been standing behind begin to show himself through the lattice. We see this in young people growing, when there is an enfoldment of them in love and in the spirit of blessing, as there is a willingness, of course, on their part—we can't make choices for other people—to let it happen. But we see the changes occurring in people, not only in young people but in everyone who allows this to happen—the veil to thin, the angel to begin to put in more of an appearance in expression, because the material concerns cease to be so prominent.
A person will be inclined to say, "Well, I have to make a living, you know; this is the most important thing." Is it really? Why do you have to make a living? What for? So that you can stay alive? Why? Why is there any need for you to stay alive? It isn't to make a living that is of supreme importance. What is of importance is to reveal life, and if a person is so much preoccupied with trying to make a living that he has no time to be concerned with living, what's the point? The first concern is with living, and this relates to the spiritual nature; here life is, and if that spiritual nature of the angel of the Lord is not allowed to express in the material sense, then life cannot be known; just a little trickle comes through.
The little trickle seems like a lot to human beings when it appears while they are young, but it's just a trickle, even then. As we have seen before, concerning that first so-called miracle of changing water into wine, at the marriage which Jesus attended, He indicated that the waterpots should be filled with water, and when they were, it was found that the wine at the end of the feast was better than at the beginning. But this is certainly not the experience of human beings in the world; the wine tends to get rotten, vinegar, toward the end, doesn't it? Bad wine. Well, wine is the symbol of life, and so life seemingly becomes more difficult as the years go by, more miserable, more unhappy. It is said, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth," before the evil days come. But, of course, we can remember to call upon the name of the Lord any time, that there may be a new experience of ourselves, so that we do not insist upon maintaining that crystallized self which is probably very closely associated in your consciousness with your human name. That is not you. It may be convenient to have a name for identification purposes in the external sense, but you are the angel of the Lord who stands behind the wall, which you may allow to become a lattice, so that he can show himself through the lattice and so that he can begin to look forth at the windows of your eyes, so that he may have the privilege of making right use of the material facilities which you have thought yourself to be. These are his; as a material person you didn't make them, did you? You didn't imbue them with life. The angel is present; you are truly present. I trust that many of you are beginning to know it to be so. The only way it can be known is for the angel to be revealed in the expression of your living. Then the angel is there and the Lord is glorified in consequence.
The whole purpose of life is to glorify the Lord. There is no other reason for living. What exactly that would mean, of course, is an unknown quantity until a person lets it happen. When he lets it happen he begins to find out that life is glorious. Have you not begun to sense this? Surely you have. Life becomes glorious for itself, not because, "Oh, something glorious is going to happen." Many people are always looking forward to something glorious that's going to happen, and of course, as time goes on, fewer and fewer glorious things seem to be going to happen. But life itself is glorious. Do you not find that you enjoy something just for itself, not because you were requiring some certain state of affairs, some certain environment, something thus and so or you wouldn't be happy? No, you find that you are happy regardless of the thus and so, because life itself is glorious. Life is the expression of the angel of the Lord. When the angel of the Lord expresses because of what you have thought yourself to be in the outer sense but which you aren't, then you share the experience of the glory of life and you don't have to have special circumstances. Therefore circumstances stop controlling you; the things of your environment, the people of your environment, stop controlling you. The total control of what you are is the control of life, the life which is the evidence of the presence of the angel of the Lord.
When that is your experience, you know yourself, but you don't know yourself because you looked at yourself. You can't see yourself; all you can do is express yourself, and then the evidence of that expression is all around you. One might say that's the reflection, that's the mirror around you, of what you are, and what appears in that mirror will tell you what is expressing through you. You, each one, are at the center of your world; you know that—no one else is there, just you. And what you express is revealed in the environment around you. And when you see with the eyes of the truth of yourself, behold, the world is made new. Very mysterious, isn't it? Not at all! This is the way things are, and human beings who don't see with the eyes of the angel see a hell of a world, don't they? or they see the world as hell. That's the reflection of what they are expressing, that's all. That's exactly the way it should be. But let the angel express, and what is reflected? Well, heaven of course! If the angel doesn't express, hell is reflected, the absence of heaven.
The angel is present, standing behind the wall or the lattice. Let us be the son or the daughter, in the external sense, of that Father. For God sent not His son, His daughter, you, into the world to condemn the world, to look at it and say that it’s hell, but that the world through you might be saved, might be restored to the heavenly state. This is the only way it can be done. That's what human beings are for: They're supposed to maintain heaven on earth. They slipped up on that score. Well, seeing they didn't maintain it, they need to restore it, and they let it be restored by reason of the angel of the Lord which the individual actually is. That is your true self; reveal it! Where's the problem? Where do all the problems of the world go? They simply vanish away. Not because by the sweat of the face you solved them. You never will, because they're unreal; they're merely the reflection of a false expression, that's all. What has been expressed just comes bouncing back to you. Then human beings say they don't like it. They try to change what bounces back, when all they need to do is change what expresses and then something different will bounce back. Let all things be made new because you are willing to allow the angel to come birth through you—not showing himself merely here and there through a lattice but as a full expression of what he or she is, to give glory to the Lord on earth.
O Lord, how very thankful we are for such knowing of the truth as is apparent to us now, that we may be true to that knowing, never denying Thy presence, never denying in our expression the angel which we are. We thank Thee that the way is clear and open for this by which others may be invited also to call upon the name of the Lord, that Abel may be resurrected into expression on earth, all to Thy glory, to glorify Thee, in the Christ. Aumen.
Why is it that human beings make such a mystery of things when the way is really so obvious? Perhaps we could say a human habit has been learned, and people over the ages have become more and more addicted to their habit, the habit which is described very simply in the words "self-centeredness," the habit of wanting to be a human person, a separate individual: "Me—I am so important, I am the one. Everything should serve me. Everything should be designed to make me happy." Self-centeredness. And human beings are addicted to this and they have developed some remarkable programs in order to achieve the desired result. For a moment here and there it may seem to do the trick, but not for very long. The angel is present, and what could there be more simple than to allow that truth to find expression?
© emissaries of divine light
The Ministry Of Seth
Martin Cecil June 9, 1974 pm
Subsequent to our service this morning [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/thank-god-for-lonliness.html] I had, as is usually the case, a number of letters of response. One of these also posed a question: “What I hunger to know is: What about Seth? And are we not of Seth and Noah?” Reference, of course, was here being made to something that occurred subsequently, after the record of all those begats: “And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare him a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.” Then follows a verse and a whole chapter of further begats after Seth; the last one of these mentioned is Noah.
This evening Grace also handed me a letter which touches upon this same matter: “The story of Cain and Abel! This fall of man, depicted in this story, seems to mark the time of drastic change (as you strongly emphasized this morning). Subsequent man (descended from Cain and with that characterizing ‘mark’) is unrecognizable as he was (is) with his brother Abel. Not until ‘another seed instead of Abel’ appeared on earth, did men begin ‘to call upon the Name of the Lord.’ I find it interesting that it was not Abel — man suddenly, miraculously, as before the fall (Abel) — but ‘another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.’ Here is the means whereby men could call upon the name of the Lord, the provision in the fallen state whereby the connection can again be made and Abel be resurrected from ‘another seed.’ This brings home, to me, the vast loss which man brought upon himself, and all that has transpired to let this ‘seed’ open and unfold and come to flower, in the consciousness of man.”
It was because of Seth, who came instead of Abel — another seed — that, as Grace said, the way was opened for men to call again upon the name of the Lord. In other words, here is indication of the first opportunity by reason of which man could have been restored. The provision was made way back there. We have considered the opportunities of more recent history, the initial one starting with Abraham, but let us not imagine that there was nothing available to man before that. The way this is outlined seems to give indication that almost immediately provision was made for the restoration of man. That provision has been offered all down through the ages of prehistory, before the history as human beings think of it now. Those who sprang from Seth were the means by which this provision was made, in various ways, for the restoration of man in generations subsequent to Seth. The last in the line of these was Noah. The provision that was made through Noah is rather obvious from the standpoint of the story of the flood.
So Seth represents the means by which the essential provision has been made all down through the ages for the restoration of man, to restore man to a state of wholeness, the two brothers alive on earth and united. This constitutes whole man, the spiritual aspect with the material aspect — whole man, holy man, man as he truly is. So the provision has always been made in this regard. It isn't as though material man has been left without any possibility of experiencing the resurrection of his spiritual brother. We can't, therefore, feel particularly sorry for what has been the unpleasant experience of the human race down through the ages. Self-centered human beings are inclined to bewail their troubles, their difficulties, their problems, their sufferings, their miseries, their poverty, all the rest of it, looking for sympathy, looking for someone to say, “Poor you, it's too bad. You have been unjustly treated.” Man has not been unjustly treated. He has sown his own seeds and harvested them.
So we may begin to have a clear approach in this regard, so that we are not extending false sympathy, although there is a natural attitude of compassion, rightly so. Compassion is the expression natural to spiritual man. Compassion is an attitude which does not weaken people; sympathy usually weakens people. Compassion offers strength, assists human beings to face up to their responsibilities and, in facing up to their responsibilities, to begin to experience a new state consequent upon the resurrection of Abel. Cain killed Abel. Material man has slain spiritual man. This is true of material man to this very hour. Most human beings don't think of themselves as murderers but it is the fact of the matter, and if, having murdered Abel, the results of so doing are experienced, there is nothing wrong with that, is there? So there is no sympathy, but compassion — an understanding of the state of affairs, so that there may be encouragement to material man to be willing to permit the resurrection of Abel. That resurrection is not going to take place merely because material man would like it to happen. The fact of the matter is that material man, heretofore, has not been interested in it happening; he didn't want it to happen. He wanted to stay the way he was, and in that condition to so apply himself that he might make a state of affairs that wouldn't miss Abel.
This has been the attitude of people, no doubt ourselves included; but provision has been made, over and over and over again, through what was represented by Seth, by which Cain might allow the resurrection of Abel within the range of his own experience. Seth, or what is portrayed by Seth, is essential for this experience of restoration, the restoration of man. We have noted in more recent history that that provision has been made in various ways. We see it with respect to a few outstanding characters who came upon the scene to provide what was needed at specific points in the unfoldment of the opportunities made available to the children of men. The first cycle in this regard was initiated through Abraham and moved through various people in a specific sense down to the time of Moses. Here was a giant, a man of true stature, capable of providing the sort of leadership that was needed at that point. Except in principle, that same sort of leadership has never again been required. There have been those who have attempted to emulate that type of leadership but of course without necessarily being of the line of Seth; in other words, it was simply an aspect of Cain in operation.
We know that that first opportunity disintegrated, didn't carry through. This is the first opportunity in what we would presumably call historical times. There were many opportunities before that, all of them obviously rejected. The second opportunity occurred when our Master came on earth in the form of Jesus. Initially He came, one might say, in the name of Seth, to provide the opportunity for human beings to respond and to allow the creative cycle to begin to move by which the resurrection of Abel would have been made possible in season. So this which He offered in the initial stages of His ministry on earth was in the name of Seth. He provided the means by which the restoration could have occurred then, but what He brought in that regard was rejected by reason of inadequate response, and as we have noted, He wept over Jerusalem. He wept over the children of men because they had refused the easy way. So what He then offered was no longer in the name of Seth. He Himself assumed the responsibility of Abel and insofar as He personally was concerned, without regard to anybody else, He carried through, so that Abel was resurrected in essence within the scope of the consciousness of Cain, of mankind. It is this actual happening, not the beliefs about it and the doctrines which have subsequently ensued, that was the important thing.
The resurrection of Abel took place within the range of human consciousness, thereby rending the veil, thereby allowing for that experience in essence to be the experience of Abel in actual fact — or perhaps I should say the experience of Cain in his relationship with Abel. Just because the resurrection was a fact insofar as Jesus was concerned did not in itself get the job done insofar as mankind was concerned. It merely made the job possible. There have been those who have tried to ride into the promised land, so to speak, on His coattails. It doesn't work that way. He opened the door, the veil was rent; there was the means established for the resurrection of Abel as an actual experience within the range of the consciousness of Cain. This was perceived, to some extent at least, as happening to Jesus; but the significance of that happening has never penetrated adequately into the consciousness of Cain. Here was the opportunity for human beings on earth to experience the resurrection of spiritual man in their own lives. Obviously, there has been a refusal to let that happen — it never has. Because it hasn't happened various beliefs have been developed which postponed the experience, hopefully, until after everybody was dead. But that certainly wasn't the point at all. The point is to restore man on earth. This is where he belongs; he doesn't belong anywhere else. For man to be restored on earth the ministry of Seth is required. Cain is not going to permit it to happen all on his own; he gives no sign of being interested in it happening.
So there was the necessity for Seth to reappear — not Abel yet, but Seth — because without Seth there will be no resurrection of Abel in the experience of Cain. We need to recognize that Cain is mankind — let's find no excuses! “Well, there's a good person over there, and that's a man of real quality somewhere else.” Perhaps, but it's still Cain; it's still included in this state of material man. Material man, no matter how fine people may be, has no awareness whatsoever, no consciousness at all, of what True Man is. Abel was slain. The true state vanished; it's gone. There may have been some considerable imagination in relationship to it, but that is all a figment of fancy, even though, possibly, some aspects of that figment may have a relationship to the truth. But fancy is not truth. Truth is something of actual experience. As we already recognize, truth cannot be conveyed intellectually. It isn't increase of knowledge. Increase of knowledge never brings truth, because truth is experience. It's living experience; it's the living experience of what is true. Most of what human beings experience is not what is true; it's a false state, and as long as that false state of Cain persists, it is impossible for Cain to know the truth. No matter how much knowledge he gets he can never know the truth. The truth is known by man, and man is composed of the two aspects of his being: Abel and Cain, the breath of life and the form of the dust of the ground. These two aspects compose the living soul — MAN. So the requirement is that Abel should be resurrected in Cain's consciousness. But that resurrection is not going to take place without the ministrations of Seth, because some people, within the range of the Cain state, must be brought to the point of calling upon the name of the Lord.
Now, of course, this gives indication of the need for a Priesthood, a true Priesthood. I suppose in this sense we should say the Priesthood of Seth. The Priesthood after the Order of Levi should have been the Priesthood of Seth but it didn't prove out to be. It must be the true Priesthood to be of any value, to make possible the resurrection of Abel. At this present time the resurrection of Abel is, in a sense, inevitable, something that it wasn't before. It is inevitable now because of what was done by reason of the resurrection of the essences of Abel through our Master on earth. The die is set, so to speak. The only question that arises is: “To what extent, within the scope of the body of Cain, shall Abel be resurrected?” In any case, to provide what is needful there must be the Ministry of Seth; that is, provision from the divine standpoint which makes available the means by which human beings can be caused to call upon the name of the Lord. This has been the concern, incidentally, of this ministry — to persuade human beings to call upon the name of the Lord.
Some may say that there have been a lot of religions, a lot of churches, a lot of denominations, and a lot of schools of thought, and philosophies, and so on, that have been attempting to do this. The question arises as to whether there was true representation of Seth, because it can only be done on this basis. It can't be done by just anyone who gets a bright idea of what he imagines it would be to call upon the name of the Lord. There are all kinds of concepts in this regard, aren't there? all kinds of beliefs, even just within the scope of what is called Christianity — denomination upon denomination, all with their ideas of what it would mean to call upon the name of the Lord. Are any of them getting the job done, of resurrecting Abel in the consciousness of Cain? I haven't observed it. If anyone else has I'd like to know about it.
The approach almost invariably relates to the future, doesn't it? — the future, some other time, later on, after we're dead maybe. Now is the accepted time. We know that because, in fact, there is no other moment, ever. I have made the statement: “Nothing ever occurred in the past, and nothing will ever occur in the future.” That's true, isn't it, because whatever occurs, occurs now! Right? Nothing has ever occurred in the past, nothing will ever occur in the future; we just have the present moment for any occurrence. Human beings have hopefully looked to the future — Christians, for instance, have looked for the second coming of Christ, one day. If there is a day, the only one, it's today; and if there is a real moment in this day it is now. Anything that is to occur must occur now; there isn't any other time.
So provision, as usual, has been made for the presence of Seth,
what is necessary to allow the resurrection of Abel in the consciousness of Cain.
That does not take place on an arbitrary basis, as though Seth came around and waved his magic wand and said, “Abel, rise up in the consciousness of Cain” — and all mankind suddenly sees Abel. No. There must be those who are inspired by some means to call upon the name of the Lord. And what is the name of the Lord? The name of the Lord insofar as man is concerned may be seen as centering in spiritual man. Spiritual man represents the Lord in expression through material man. Man, whole man, holy man, was made in the image and likeness of God to represent God on earth. A name represents the person. Man represents God on earth, rightly. This is True Man — not Cain: he just represents himself, a murderer and a liar from the beginning. That was Satan, wasn't it? There's another name for material man. Material man has always been afraid of something going to be imposed upon him somehow, by some evil entity called Satan. But there are no evil entities anywhere, in this sense, other than man. If we really wanted to get rid of evil entities all we would have to do is get rid of man and they'd be gone. But, as we recognized, there is a reason for Cain, there is a reason for material man. It's necessary that he stick around for a while, until Abel can be resurrected in the consciousness of Cain. This is the responsibility of Seth. This is the true responsibility of the Priesthood.
There are those who talk about the body of God on earth. They say the church is the body of God on earth. Which one? I suppose the Roman Catholics have priority in this matter, because they — or what has become the Roman Catholic Church — were first on the scene, so to speak. The Protestants, on the other hand, were Johnny-come-lately, and all they did was protest. They protested against the Roman Catholics, didn't like them, and then denominations have subsequently proliferated in various ways. But there is no evidence whatsoever of the body of God on earth insofar as the churches are concerned. There may be some sort of aspiration in this regard but no fact.
The concern of what has been provided through this ministry has been entirely that the name of the Lord might be restored on earth, that human beings might be interested in letting it happen, in letting Abel be resurrected in their own consciousness, so that there might be those on earth who become aware of being spiritual man. We were talking of the name of the Lord. We have seen that name as being summarized by the two words I Am. I Am is the name of spiritual man. Mind you, material man has been calling himself I am, too, but usually qualified in some way: from the Christian standpoint, “I am a sinner”; from the stand-point of many human beings, “I am sick”; and we can find a host of words to describe the things with which man identifies himself, maintaining the state of Cain. But spiritual man represents the Lord; therefore the name of spiritual Man is I Am. We could say the name of the Lord is I Am That I Am. I Am: to call upon this name, that this name might be restored into human experience as it really is — just I Am, unqualified. As long as it seems that there are two brothers separate, one alive, one dead, there is a duality in human consciousness. But if we come again to the truth of man, there is simply man. Man is not two men; he is one man. It only seems that he is two men, one of them dead, because he is not man. To have the experience of man is to be restored to the state where what seemed to be two brothers are again one. Then there is just one person — Man! And there is no sense of a duality. This is the resurrection of man by reason of the resurrection of Abel, by reason of the essential ministry of Seth.
Human beings, earnestly and sincerely many of them, have been seeking to call upon the name of the Lord. All over the place there have been people in every generation, certainly no less sincere and earnest than we have been, seeking to call upon the name of the Lord. But nothing very much has happened, has it? The world remains a rather unfortunate place, and getting more unfortunate, because Cain can't resurrect Abel by any method he can devise. But under the hand of Seth, Abel may be resurrected in the consciousness of those material human beings who call upon the name of the Lord. But Seth is essential.
There must be provision in this regard, not humanly appointed, certainly not humanly elected, but present nevertheless, because, as has been emphasized, no one is going to experience the resurrection of spiritual man for him-or herself unless spiritual man is represented externally to the person. A lot of people don't like that idea — which is understandable, I suppose, because they have been fooled so often, and the Priesthood has been, at best, so ineffective, and a lot of other things as well. So most people tend to have the attitude, “Well, you show me.” And we realize this; gullible people are not of much value; if a person will swallow one kind of pill, he is liable to swallow another kind. Nevertheless, without Seth the job is not done, cannot be done.
In actual fact, there has been provision in every generation all down through the ages in this regard. It only became obvious at certain points where there was a specific creative focalization emerging — something was beginning to come to the surface, so to speak, in the outworking of the opportunity for the restoration of man. In between those particular points provision was also there but it was of a little different nature because the situation was of a little different nature. But now it begins to come to point again, doesn't it? It begins to emphasize itself, come to the surface. We see disintegration on every hand and we also begin to become aware of the reality of integration that is occurring, occurring within the scope of our own experience, not merely on the basis of some observation. We know, if we know, by reason of what has been happening in our own experience, in relationship to ourselves; and because of this there is no requirement to believe on something. Where people are urged to believe on something it is an indication, usually, of the fact that they don't. Those concerned may say, “I must believe this.” Well, if they say that, obviously they don't. They're trying desperately to believe it. Some approach on the basis of belief may be helpful for those who are moving toward the experience of calling upon the name of the Lord but it never is adequate. The only adequate thing is the actual experience by reason of something that happens in one's own experience. If it doesn't happen there one doesn't know, and if one doesn't know, one has desperately to try to believe, presumably. But if it happens, we don't need to believe anything; we know it, and it is that that has meaning.
The concern of Seth has ever been to assist people, to encourage people, to inspire people, to experience something — not on the basis of some happenstance: “Only believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” Who knows if that has actually happened? Nobody, because it isn't a matter of belief anyway, in that sense. Salvation is an experience right here on earth. The experience is the resurrection of Abel in the consciousness of Cain. That's salvation, and it doesn’t happen in the future; it doesn't happen somewhere else. It happens right here, now, or it doesn't happen. We can only have the experience now. If we are just hoping for something in the future, we can never have the experience. This is why the second coming of Christ has seemed to be like a real slow train, hasn't it? — because it never comes; it's always in the future. But the fact of the matter is that it is now. It only seems to Cain like it's coming. Nothing's coming, in fact, except the awareness for Cain, for material man. The Christ isn't coming; the Christ is here now! Just because human beings are so dumb they don't know it, doesn't change the fact. But we stop being dumb when there is a willingness to yield to the ministry of Seth, by which Abel is resurrected in human consciousness, by which spiritual man is known as the person's true identity once again.
Is this not what our concern has been, over these many months and years? It surely is, and there has been a certain experience in this regard. Sometimes a person doesn't realize what he really knows. Sometimes it takes going out into the realm of Cain particularly and experiencing what is happening there, to become aware of what has really been known in one's own experience. But we can rejoice in what we know, without having to experience the contrast. So here we have the picture within the range of present experience, a picture which includes Cain, Abel, Seth — everything, right here, now. What may have happened in the past is of no concern whatsoever. It's what happens now that counts, and we find that all that is needful is present now for the restoration of man, specifically related to our own present experience and the present experience of many others who likewise share it. The Lord has provided everything that is needful. Let us accept it — something that thus far human beings have never really done.
The attitudes which Cain knows, the state which Cain knows, gives scarcely a hint of what the state of restored man is. All of Cain's efforts, therefore, are directed toward improving his present state. There is no consciousness at all that there is a real state, which transcends his present state as high as the stars are above the earth. In other words, there's no comparison. Human beings tend to try to make comparisons; they're always odious. How can you compare disintegration with integration? Let us accept the Ministry of Seth, that there may be the experience of the resurrection of Abel.
© emissaries of divine light
