July 31, 2016

The Sanctuary

The  Sanctuary




YouTude  Video


Martin Cecil   July 12, 1987



We are here for a purpose. That purpose is served because we come into the sanctuary. This room is not the sanctuary—it may provide a setting for the sanctuary. There is a sanctuary if we ourselves bring it. This could be seen as one of the initial purposes: that there might be a sanctuary in this place because of us. It either is so or it isn't so—because of us.


Here is a very convenient setting for a specific focus of the sanctuary, but it is entirely our own responsibility as to whether the sanctuary is here or not. We may have some assistance in the matter. One of the factors is that this has been the setting for a sanctuary, lo these many years, and therefore is somewhat imbued with the atmosphere of the sanctuary. When we come together we cannot rest upon what has happened here in the past. We may take advantage of it, so that the radiance of the sanctuary may be present and intensified. This may happen only because we are willing that it should. This certainly indicates that we are not here for our own benefit, to get anything for ourselves. This is unlike most human activities. There certainly needs to be a difference from what is the common human experience.


So we have a purpose, not to add to human woes or to increase the destructiveness already present in the world but to provide what is necessary to introduce what can only come by reason of the sanctuary—the sanctuary which in this instance we ourselves provide here. Surely we understand these things. The sanctuary is a radiant place, to the extent that our experience is that of radiant people. There is really no magic in this. It isn't a mystery. It isn't really even a mystical matter. It is a very practical state of affairs, within which we are either capable of operating or we are not. Most of us have had ample opportunity to discover the truth of all this, not only as it relates to those occasions when we are together in this setting but to the continuing experience of the sanctuary in every moment of our daily living. It isn't something to be turned on and off.


We enter the sanctuary through the door of stillness. Coming through that door we discover the radiance of the sanctuary, the beauty of it, the living, moving, changing creative process which is found there. All doing should be done in the sanctuary. Most human doing is done in the environment, because forms—external things, eventsloom so large in the minds and hearts of human beings.





It seems that mankind has become lost in this external world of things, people and events, projecting all this into the primary position, insofar as individual attitude is concerned. This seems to be necessary in order to survive, but, as we have often noted, human beings don't survive anyway. So that could hardly be the way to go. And yet I'm sure we all still find ourselves somewhat pushed and pulled by what is occurring in the environment around us. This pushing and pulling happens because of what is happening in our own hearts and minds, in our own reactions. Obviously if one reacts to external things, the external thing is in control. There is no order or design then in human experience, so there is the frantic endeavor to try to order it all somehow, to get it to conform to some human view of the way it should be. Of course all these human views tend to conflict with one another, so there is conflict. Here is the way to non-survival. It has become such an ingrained habit in human experience that it is anticipated, generation after generation, that no one will survive. But there is a sanctuary—blotted out of course by all this involvement with external things, forms and events, which are deemed to be so very important, when all they are is a reflection of what is present in the human hearts and minds of those who are temporarily present.


There is a passage in the Book of Revelation that could be pertinent to our present experience as we play our part in giving place to the sanctuary. This is the last chapter of Revelation—the 14th and 15th verses say this: "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie."


Most people reading that last verse would say, "Ha ha, that's not me!" But the fact of the matter is that it is. It is the human state being described here— perhaps in symbolic language, but nevertheless it is not very difficult to recognize human characteristics if we examine the description a little bit: dogs, for instance. Perhaps the thought may spring to mind, "man's faithful friend." Dogs in this context would relate, surely, to scavengers. In that setting of old particularly, and presently in many places, the dogs survive by scavenging. And a lot of human beings survive by scavenging. I'm not talking about those particular people who pick over the garbage in a literal sense, but most everyone picks over the garbage in a symbolic sense. We tend to survive on one another's garbage—that is, temporarily. It's not a very healthy diet. So one of the human characteristics could be said to be that of scavenging.


Sorcerers! Are there any sorcerers around? One doesn't have to have a conical hat to be a sorcerer. A sorcerer is a good description of anyone who manipulates. Manipulators. The world is full of them, but one might just as well look in the mirror. Here is a very straightforward description of what one might call human nature.


Then come the whoremongers. A lot of people are very self-righteous in this field. But who would these be? I suppose one could use a word which would be apt: enticers. The economic system of the Western world—of everywhere, as far as that is concerned—is based in this matter of enticing, isn't it? The magazines of this day have very few articles in them but are virtually all advertisements, enticements. And individually speaking we endeavor to get our way through methods of enticement, as long as we remain trapped in this human-nature condition.


Murderers! Any murderers here this morning? Of course. I suppose one could recognize very easily that if you drain someone of their lifeblood the physical form will be dead. And the drainers of lifeblood could be referred to as parasites. In one way or another most everyone is a parasite, sucking the blood from somebody else—very obvious in many cases, perhaps not so obvious from the standpoint of one's own experience, until one takes a good honest look at it. Those are slain from whom the lifeblood is drained. We all tend to be vampires in this sense, living on others one way or another, sometimes obviously so, sometimes it's hidden.


Idolaters! Of course, we know all about that. I suppose you could describe idolaters in this context as slaves to heredity. As we easily can see, virtually everyone is a slave to the past. In fact it's deemed to be quite commendable to be a slave to the past if it's the right kind of past. But we cannot be in the sanctuary while being slaves to the right kind of past or the wrong kind of past, slaves to heredity. This is the usual human state, experienced quite unconsciously. It's in our genes, after all. But this is describing those who are without—outside of the sanctuary.





In accordance with our participation together this morning, how much of each of us as individuals is outside of the sanctuary and how much is inside? It always looks a bit fruitless when facts are faced, because virtually everyone would have to admit that they were probably about ninety percent outside. Perhaps we have had opportunity to edge a little closer in, if we were willing, and to find the door of stillness, so that heart and mind are no longer jerked around by all these factors which are without.


I haven't gone into these things in any depth, you know. I don't think it's profitable to do so, but it is necessary that one admits to oneself that there is a depth to it. There is far more than can be touched on in a few words. It is not so much a matter of words anyway. It is a matter of one's own willingness to come out of that state into the sanctuary through the door of stillness.


There is a final classification here: "Whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." It expands a little bit on the classification of liars. I suppose this could be summarized by saying, the self-willed. Self-willed human beings cannot possibly express the truth; therefore they must be liars.


We have this rather complete description of those who are outside of the sanctuary, outside of the city, the city where man, male and female, belongs. Virtually the whole human population is outside. By and large it has exhibited very little willingness to be anywhere else. There are those who have earnestly and sincerely sought to come in by their own efforts, trying to be good according to some formula; but they never succeeded that way. They stayed out. They stayed identified with these various characteristics.


We present ourselves now at the door of the sanctuary. A consideration of the things we have been looking at may be a little disturbing. If we are honest, that is probably so. In this case then the door of stillness remains closed. I'm sure all of us in one way or another, being part of the human population on earth, have had our troubleswe've known a troubled state. Sometimes particular emphasis is placed, in various ways, so that we may be inclined to take the attitude that life is hard. As we have noted before, if we think it's hard we haven't known what life is. All we have known is what the processes of dying are. The yoke of life is easy and the burden of it is light. It doesn't weigh much. It is also radiant—it's radiant in the sanctuary.


Most of us have our troubles, and we endeavor to get them to straighten out one way or another. Sometimes they are environmental troubles, sometimes they are more internal troubles, health troubles perhaps. And there usually is a rather frantic looking around for someone to fix us up. You can't come into the sanctuary with your troubles. You have to check them at the door. The door is the door of stillness. How much of our time is occupied by trying to dispel our troubles? To that extent we are excluding ourselves from the sanctuary. There is no trouble in the sanctuary, so obviously you can't bring your troubles in, because that would introduce trouble into the sanctuary. That is quite impossible. It can't be done. There is a cherubim at the gate with a flaming sword. He won't let you by. Leave your troubles behind. You can't leave your troubles behind if you are so wrapped up in them that you think you can't survive at all without getting someone to straighten them out. But you find in the end that no one can straighten them out. And, as it was put, you die in your sins—in your troubles.





Troubles don't need to be corrected. Problems don't need to be solved. All that needs to happen is that these things should be transcended, one should be where they are not. As long as one insists on existing where they are, one will be troubled by them. And it is absolutely futile to try to find a solution. Of course this is being done on the grand scale in the world all the time. People are trying to find solutions. Anything that human beings do to try to solve their problems makes them worse, always. Oh it may look good for the moment, but take a look at the world, which is the result of generation after generation for millennia past trying to solve their problems. Why continue in that downward slide? Well presumably because most people don't know any other way to go. Do we? If we do, will we go in that way, or will we still trust the downward slide? While we still have some little connection with life, surely there is the place to discover a transcendent experience, to discover what life really is. We are all so thoroughly familiar with these processes of dying, which are very troublesome.


"Rise up, my love, my fair one." Lift up your eyes, to start with. Well we've lifted our eyes a little and seen something other than the usual human condition. There is a true state—there is the reality of life. Life characterizes the whole universe. The only part of that universe which is not characterized by life is right here—the human experience. Why? Well we have described it before: "Because I want to get my own way. After all, it's a good way; I'm a good person; I'm going to get my own way." The ways of human beings relate to all these external things, so he immediately becomes a manipulator. In order to manipulate he has to suck somebody's blood. All these things come into the picture and we have the continuing condition of being outside of the sanctuary. And yet human beings are clamoring to come in. "We don't like this. It's very uncomfortable out here." Well one would hope it would be. No one should be encouraged to stay out.


Let go. Rise up. Don't imagine that you will ever find an answer in the realm of form. It isn't there. One seeming answer leads to a dozen further problems, until the problems are so immense that everybody is sunk. Let there be the evidence of the sanctuary, and no one can come into the sanctuary except through the door of stillness—being still within oneself. Most people seem to spend their lives seething inside. It's not surprising that we have all these physical ailments. Rise up. Come to the door of stillness, where it is recognized that as long as you are trying to work out your problems, that is self-will, that is the state of the liar and it ends in disaster, always.


We have considered these things together so that we might not be identified with the problem state. We can see it—"only with thine eyes"—we can see it without being involved in it. Come clear, so that there may be evidence of the way, the truth and the life. The only evidence of the way, the truth and the life available within the scope of human awareness is through one's own experience. One may be encouraged by the experience of another, but one never knows the truth except for oneself.


So, as we have been willing and sufficiently still to come into the sanctuary, we have been able to see much without being involved with what we see. And we carry this transcendent level of experience into our living, so that we never allow the form of things to become the dominant factor. There is always something else happening. We call it the creative process. "Well the creative process doesn't relate to this little thing that is going on over here. I can handle this and disregard the creative process"—disregard what is natural in the sanctuary. Well if you are without, of course you will do that. You will disregard it. It won't enter into consciousness even. But there is always something more going on, no matter what it is one is doing, what it is that is present in one's environmental situation. There is something back of it going on. There is a creative process. Look at that.


Don't get mesmerized, hypnotized by the form—"We've got to get the form exactly right." You never get it right on that basis. It will be right when it is allowed to be a part of the creative process. It's the only way it will be right, and that transcends what anyone wants. We let it emerge the way it will emerge. Let's do it in our momentary experience. That's the only place we have to let it happen—not some great thing that's going to occur way over there somewhere. It's going to happen within the scope of what we are doing. 





We rejoice to come into the sanctuary, so that the form of things no longer dominates, and we begin to perceive back of the form. Whatever the form may be, whatever the circumstance, the situation may be, there is something working out. Let's see that, instead of being blinded by the form. All things work together to perfection for those who are identified with that state which abides in the sanctuary.


Let us lift up our eyes. Let us let our hearts and minds, and indeed our bodies, be lifted up to that level of things where there is no need to solve any problems; there aren't any to be solved. Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.


© emissaries of divine light

July 28, 2016

Let There Be A Man On Earth

Let  There  Be  A  Man  On  Earth





Martin Exeter   November 2, 1986



There is a story in the beginning of the Bible which speaks of a woman by the name of Eve, who wanted to have her own way. That is where the trouble started, and that is exactly where it continues. As it turned out she had a pretty sad experience. She not only lost herself and her womanliness, she lost her man, and found a pale male creature as a substitute, and then proceeded to complain about him: "Look where I may, I cannot find a man. Therefore I have to depend upon myself to establish control in this rather limited state, and so I am determined, one way or another, to have my own way." This may seem to be rather a brash way of putting it but it is the fact nevertheless. Complaining about the absence of a man, she apparently fails to recognize that all the men that have put in an appearance over the course of the ages have been through her. She may say, "Well men want to have their way too." Of course! They put in an appearance on earth through her and, in the early years of life at least, they are thoroughly imbued with the female determination to have her own way.


There is an interesting passage in the Book of Revelation where there was a woman in labor apparently. She brought forth a man child. There was another character on hand ready to take charge, but this man child was caught up to God and to His throne. Usually this is interpreted as meaning that here was a portrayal of what did happen insofar as Jesus was concerned. But here is a portrayal insofar as every man child is concerned who is born into the world. This woman was apparently a remarkable character, clothed with the sun and all, and willing for this to transpire. So her son was caught up to God and to His throne and delivered from the control of the dragon, who was hopefully standing by—the intent being that there might be a man. A man is a man because of heaven, because of being caught up to God and to His throne. There must be a man on earth. We have the record of one in particular, the One who was called Jesus. Here was a man who carried authority. He carried authority because, remarkably, having been brought up by a woman He did not fall into the trap of emulating her in trying to do what He wanted to do in the human sense.


I am sure I speak with the greatest of confidence when I say of all the men within the sound of my voice now, every last one of them, including myself, were intent upon doing what they wanted to do. Anyone here who would dispute that point? I trust not, because I would call him a liar. I am not describing the situation this way so that the men can then say, "Well all the women are to blame; after all, I was brought up by a woman"—women probably. Some of you may have had the experience of an older sister too, who established the idea that one should do what one wants to do. Of course there was, no doubt, a certain amount of discipline involved, for some anyway, when what the little boy wanted to do was considered to be bad: "Shouldn't do that—naughty." But this didn't in any way detract from the idea that one needs to do what one wants to do, presumably provided it is good. "Just don't do the bad things; you will find it's much more useful to do the good things, and then you will be a success." Of course some found out there was some sort of a fallacy in this and so they did the bad thing anyway. But whatever the experience may have been, it was all based in the idea that one should do what one wants to do. Of course living cheek by jowl with a lot of other people, one has to modify it a bit so that you don't tread on too many toes; otherwise you won't be able to get what you want to get.


Anyway, here is the picture of the state of mankind: the men playing at being men, having been brought up by women; and the women intent upon maintaining their control over men, but in any case maintaining a hand on the way things go. A hopeless state: fallen women—that is one way of putting it—establishing control over fallen men. We have looked at this before, but I reiterate the matter because there is only one way out of the condition, and that is that there should be a man on earth. This is clearly seen from the standpoint of the creative process. That is why the Master put in an appearance. He put in an appearance for both men and women, that there might be a point on earth, a point of authority, spiritual authority, which was uncontrolled by the human urge to do what one wants to do and to get what one wants to get. There is no way out of the human impasse without that. There has to be such a point that will not conform to the female requirements. I became aware of this myself by reason of Uranda back along the way and found myself, at a certain point, projected into the focus of this requirement.





Of course the endeavor to do what one wants to do, as I have indicated, was no longer limited to the female. It was part of the character of the male too. If I point to the original female action it is not to put anyone down but merely to face the fact of it. That is where it occurred, and it will not un-occur without a man. It has been an impasse, hasn't it, because the woman determined how the men should behave, and then when the men behaved the way she had determined they should behave she would complain about it and say there is no man there. And there has been this perennial seeking of a man—"my own personal man, my puppet." Sadly, men have gone along with it, and only broken out a little bit by establishing various male arrangements which excluded the female. Even that's breaking down these days. In every field the female inserts herself. "Equal rights," they say. So the whole mass, particularly in the Western world I suppose you would say, becomes a sort of jelly. They talk about "unisex" these days, which means "nothing." So the woman lost herself.


As you may recall, according to the story, she was taken out of man. There is a natural unification between male and female when there is a man. But that unification is not based in any way at all upon what either the woman wants or the man wants. Because there was something in a woman that a man wanted he has remained in subjection to her, beating his chest the while. And because there was something that the woman wanted from the man she has remained trapped in her own determination to have her own way. We have had the opportunity of looking at all these things, and no doubt we have glanced at them occasionally. And we have had the opportunity of talking about them. It is a matter of accepting the creative process, isn't it, whatever that is. We have had some theories about it. We talk about positive and negative, and the four forces, and all this, which is supposed, presumably, to make us feel wise in our own eyes. But what has it really meant? There is a truth to be known, not merely theories to be discussed. There are some factors in relationship to that truth that it is well that we should become mentally aware of; otherwise we would be inclined to reject the very thing that we seek. So we share the responsibility of experience.


There has to be a point of authority, a male point of authority, to provide a point of orientation. We know this in theory, and I am sure that many of you have recognized your own responsibility as men to provide a point of authority, a point of orientation. You can't do that until you first know what that is; and you can't know what that is without recognizing and acknowledging the point of orientation of man that is provided in the creative process. It can't be done outside of the creative process, so that narrows it down considerably and makes it very pointed. There is the necessity, then, for men to acknowledge and accept that point of authority, spiritual authority. Not an authority which is going to shake a finger and say, "Well you do it this way or else," relative to the external field of activity.


One of the things that the male has very largely lost is the ability to communicate, to have communion, with another male. This is the first order of business in actual fact. Men are quite willing to discuss all kinds of external things with each other, particularly over a bottle of beer, but usually steer well away from anything which would relate to revealing something of the heart. There is fear here. The close spiritual communion between men allows for the male point of focus of authority to put in an appearance in an expanded sense; otherwise it can't. There is nothing available then, and the woman can support her view that there are no men, because that's the fact of it. She doesn't readily admit that it is because of her actions that it is that way. But then, because the man went along with all this subtlety of female control, not so subtle sometimes, he felt inadequate spiritually but didn't want to admit it. And while I suppose there has been a certain amount of admission in this regard—otherwise there would be no direction in which to go—what was necessary has yet continued to be inadequate. If the ladies want something to do, let them stop wanting to get their own way. This has become such a deeply embedded habit that most never notice it. I find the evidence of it, unfortunately, rather blatant.


Let there be men. Then let there be women. Men are not made to be men by women. That's right, isn't it? We know that. Men are men because of God, only because of that. If God is excluded, if the experience of the creative process in actual daily living is excluded—this is a spiritual experience—then there is no man; there is merely the character that was forthcoming by reason of female intervention.





We know very well the mechanics of the situation in the sense of how in the external sense we are made. We have a physical body; we have a mind; we have a capacity for spiritual expression. And there is the matter of the heart—of course we are well aware that it is the impure heart that blocks everything. The physical substance of our own bodies, we are aware of that. We are also aware of the fact of a mind of some sort. This relates to substance, vibrational substance, at a different level to the physical substance, and yet it is not separate from the physical substance, any more than one band of color in the rainbow is separate from the others. They all blend, it is all one thing. So physical substance is filled with mental substance—permeated by it. And the mental substance is not separate from the physical substance; it is just a different vibratory level. So mind and body are in fact one. And there is some spiritual substance also, which permeates the mental substance and the physical substance. They are all one. But the extent of spiritual substance has been so restricted that only a distorted limited range of spirit could occupy it. We may speak of this as the unholy ghost—it is not whole, just bits and pieces—and it is through this unholy ghost that the control has been present, or the expression of character has been present, in both men and women.


But permeating all this again is what may be spoken of as emotional substance, the substance of the heart. And the substance of the heart is the means by which the connection is made between spirit and all the rest—physical, mental, and spiritual expression. The substance of the heart has been wicked. "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." That is the way it has been. That is a very accurate description of human experience, simply because the heart was impure and the remains of spirit that got through was of a distorted, limited, restricted extent and consequently would be accurately described as the unholy ghost. And the unholy ghost has been the controlling basis for human function, human nature.


These are things that we can mentally describe in this fashion. The description doesn't say really what it is. We have to come to know what it is because the door opens between heaven and earth and the Holy Spirit can flood through and bring the understanding. That is the only way that understanding can come. It can't be gotten out of the mental realm somehow, through study and intellectual effort. All that happens is that things get more and more confused. Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God, they shall be permeated by God. The physical form permeated by God, the mind permeated by God, spiritual expression is then the expression of God, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit—whole, complete, balanced, accurate. As this occurs there is, first of all, a man.


It is a matter of the heart, isn't it? And men are very reluctant to allow their hearts to be purified. They can't be purified as long as they keep them locked up: no admittance, no admittance except to women. And men become devastated on this basis, naturally so. A man's heart does not belong to a woman; it belongs to God. That is all there is to it. But men have become so accustomed to opening their hearts to women that what is of the female floods in, and then the man acts like a pale imitation of a woman. He could never be a really good imitation! And we have all this mixed-up confusion and nonsense in the world, where everybody wants what they want, wants to do what they want to do, and wants it enshrined in law—human law of course, because the other law, the real law, is there already. You can't change it. The way things work, the creative process in other words, is the way it is, and it doesn't allow for any of these human discrepancies. To try to enshrine human discrepancy in a legal state is ridiculous. It doesn't belong anywhere and it disappears sooner or later. It could go out with a big bang, couldn't it? No more human beings and their nonsense! I don't think that should happen. I don't think it needs to happen.





But there must be authority in focus on earth from the male standpoint. There must be a man, in other words, who cannot, will not ever, be pushed around by women—or by other men for that matter. But the point is with respect to women. If there are those women who are willing to let their hearts be purified so that they accept that point of spiritual authority absolutely, then they no longer feel inadequate and try to fill their inadequacy with inadequate males. There is something here which relates to the matter of no marrying or giving in marriage in heaven. There's a hump to come over here. The question is, of course: "What is it in heaven?" Well you never find out without being there, and you can't be there except you let heaven come into the earth.


So we share the responsibility of doing this, but it requires an absoluteness that is absolute. When there is a stable point of male focus on earth there is a beginning point for what needs to happen—only because of that. Most have been so wrapped up in their own affairs that they overlook the one thing that is necessary: Establish absoluteness from the standpoint of this spiritual point of authority. Then share in it—be it. But you will not be pushed around by women anymore, and you know how that happens. The control is there where it belongs, and only as it is there is there any expectation of anything of value happening. Whatever may have happened within the range of our own experience has happened because of this one thing. And because of this one thing there has begun to be an expansion of male authority.


Out of male authority women come. That is the way it works. Some of the ladies may object to it. You are welcome to object but you are not going to change it. That is the way it is. I say this with a certain authority. You may say, "Well I don't know whether to accept that authority or not." Try it. There are those who are accepting it in their own experience, not as an external thing but as an internal thing, a clarifying, a cleansing, a purifying of the heart, so that there is the substance of connection between spirit and form—that's in the heart. What has the heart been filled with insofar as human experience is concerned? Emotional stuff of all kinds, and particularly the interaction between so-called men and so-called women.


Let the heart be purified. "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Such a statement indicates that hearts are troubled and are afraid; that is where the control is. Women are afraid of losing their control, whatever it amounts to; and men are afraid, of course, also of losing what they want. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. I suppose this could be said to be the basic instruction or, maybe, the basic experience to be known now, in this moment: an untroubled and an unfearful heart which is willing to accommodate the creative process in action.


Here we are this morning together to provide that, that there may be a unified, fused means by which the creative process may emerge in spiritual expression on earth. We perhaps have shared this somewhat in this hour to the extent that we were not caught in the human nature state but were willing to let our hearts come free and be purified. "I shall not want." Nice words. True words. But how much do any of us know as to what they really mean? We have the opportunity of sharing that because it is the way, the truth and the life. It is the creative process.





Let there be a man on earth. Then let there be a woman on earth. What that might be is only discovered by letting it be. Obviously it allow the fulfilment in male and female experience based in the state of man, man inseparably one with God, man revealing the creative process in all his ways, in all his living. Let it be so.


© Emissaries of Divine Light