The  Essential  Point  of  Focus

Martin Cecil   September 12, 1976

You are all well aware that things do not happen just by chance. Looking at the experiences that are known in the earthly condition, it may sometimes seem to be so; but when we begin to observe with true vision we know that there is always a reason. We are concerned with moving with the true reason. There are wheels within wheels, creative cycles within creative cycles. Some of these are of very brief duration; others longer. Some occupy centuries. And of course, when we begin to reach out into the solar system and the universe, there are other cycles of immense periods of time.

There has been one cycle working out over the last nineteen centuries of which we have some awareness. What occurred between the time our Master was on earth and now has provided us with a connection to that aspect of the cycle which was working when He was on earth. There was, as we are aware, a failure insofar as adequate response was concerned, so that what might have been achieved by His presence on earth was not achieved. He did so live, in a personal sense, as to leave a legacy on earth, so to speak, but what was entirely possible by reason of His presence on earth never happened. I touched upon the point this morning when I recalled His words that He would not be seen “henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

The fulfilment of that requirement has not occurred in this interim of nineteen centuries. He has not been seen henceforth from that time. We now have some understanding of what it is that is emerging within the range of our experience, and that of many others, so that there might be a fulfilment with respect to His words. But it has taken all this period of time—nineteen hundred years. How many people have lived and died during this interval? It may seem somewhat meaningless insofar as their experience was concerned, but obviously if no one had lived and died in between we wouldn't be here. So the connection has been established in continuity to this moment, while a specific aspect of the creative cycle was unfolding.

Whenever there is a failure, one cannot repair the damage. It is necessary to participate in a new outworking from the point of failure. This was true with respect to what occurred in the Master's experience, the failure on the part of human beings that was then made evident, aborting that particular cycle which He had been entirely capable of carrying through to victory for the children of men. Very few have really seen the vast nature of the failure. We can rejoice that in a personal sense He Himself established a victory. This victory has held the door open for human beings ever since. But that has not obliterated the failure that was the experience insofar as mankind was concerned. That failure meant that the particular vibrational factors that were present to make possible the victory at that time needed to be refocalized somewhere along the way, so that the opportunity of victory could once more emerge. It has taken these nineteen centuries for that to occur. The very fact that it has taken so long is a revelation of the immensity of the failure.

All of you sitting here have experienced points of failure in your own individual lives. You have observed points of failure in the lives of others. You've seen these things within the context of this ministry. Sometimes these points of failure were minor ones, in which case it probably didn't take too long to reinitiate a cycle. But the reinitiated cycle stemmed from the starting point, which was at the point of failure. One couldn't repair the failure and patch it up and go on from there—there had to be something reinitiated. This is always so. This is why sometimes it seems such a tedious business, because wherever there is a failure there is a failure, and what might have been victory was not experienced. We have to proceed on the basis of the way things are, not the way they might have been. All too often human beings try to live on the basis of what might have been. But that is a waste of time. So if there is a point of failure, that finishes something, but it also provides the only starting point there is for what is yet to come.

Our movement over the years, insofar as this ministry is concerned, has been rather hesitant because we kept having to make restarts by reason of elements of failure that entered into the picture. And I will acknowledge that at times, from my standpoint, it has been a rather tedious business, perhaps more tedious from my standpoint than that of anybody else, partly because I was keenly aware of what might have been occurring if there hadn't been these various points of failure. However, what I'm principally concerned with in our consideration this evening relates to this point of failure way back nineteen centuries ago, from which a new cycle had to spring, a new cycle which has taken these nineteen centuries to come to the point where a focus might be reestablished on earth for the unfoldment of the creative cycle of victory. It might be said that all that has worked out between then and now has been leading toward the establishment of this point of focus. There are many factors in relationship to the reestablishment of the essential point of focus of which human beings have little or no awareness, but they are there nevertheless. But what was to emerge in this regard couldn't emerge until all these elements came into adequate alignment. And it has taken this long period of time for that to occur.

What has occurred in the establishment of a point of focus on earth may be seen, then, as an event which has an immense amount back of it—a long period of time for one thing, but a considerable coordination of all the essential factors which would let it be so. And so we have come again to the reestablishment of the essential point of focus on earth. This has to be here for anything of a creative nature to occur in the experience of victory. You all need to see clearly then, in relationship to yourselves, the vital part which you are called upon to play. We can look around us in the world and we can see many movements of various sorts, various schools of thought, philosophies, and so on, with all their adherents, people earnestly endeavoring to do something of value according to their lights, or darkness, as the case may be. All these things which are stirring in the consciousness of people may be seen as relating to what it is that is happening in the world. But the happening in the world is only the experience of victory by reason of the point of focus being present on earth. If everything was just left to this great assortment of people who are endeavoring to do their spiritual thing there would be no hope whatsoever for anyone on earth.

There needs to be a clear-cut recognition of this fact, that the only reason that there is any hope for anyone on earth is by reason of the point of focus that has emerged in the world—the point of coordination. And that point of coordination relates to all of you, and many more. But it all centers in what has been referred to as this ministry. I trust that all concerned have a clear-cut awareness as to what the real nature of this ministry is. It isn't a philosophy certainly, or a spiritual school of thought. It is a focus point of actual creative activity on earth, in which all of you, and others, have been invited to participate.

That point of focus relates to this matter of the flaming sword. What is symbolized by the words “flaming sword” is seen in this way—as a flaming sword, by those who are at the point end of the sword. If you and others have come over the line so that you are at the hilt end of the sword, then it no longer particularly impresses you as a flaming sword. It is not as though, coming over that line and grasping the hilt, so to speak, you are then going to wield it this way and that, slicing everybody up. The flaming sword relates to the truth of love, the expression of one's own true character; that's what it is from the standpoint of the one who is expressing his own true character. He does not look upon his character as being destructive to anyone, but he does know that if there are those who resist it they will hurt themselves.

Those who found themselves outside the garden long ago, and perhaps left a record of it, said that they were ejected from the garden by the Lord God. This is the way it is put in the Book of Genesis. That's the way it seemed to those who experienced that occurrence. But I'm sure that all of you are well aware that it was in fact a self-ejection; the Lord God didn't change into a wrathful character at some point and lash out at these sinful human beings. He simply remained Himself—His character remained totally unchanged. If He was the God of love before, He was the God of love since. The only difference was in the experience of those who acknowledged the character of God and those who rejected the character of God. Those who rejected the character of God found themselves in bad trouble. And human beings have found themselves in bad trouble ever since. Apparently the last idea to enter human consciousness would be to take responsibility for what has happened. It has always been put off onto somebody else. There are many who would not directly blame God, but indirectly they do it, because they blame other human beings. But it is the total attitude of human beings that has produced the trouble.

So, while the flaming sword appears to be that way to those who are at the point of it, from the standpoint of the truth of the matter it isn't that way, because the place of man is at the hilt end of what has seemed to be the sword. Now, the Master Himself was well aware of these things, and He made mention of the fact that He had not come to send peace but a sword—because human beings were at the point end; they were outside the garden. So there could be no experience of peace in the world of human beings as long as this material state prevailed. But the sword was designed so as to allow human beings to come out of that experience. Coming past the sword, coming the other side of the veil as we have put it before, then there is the experience of peace; that is where peace is. We may take note of these words: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.” “In me”—in the Christ, in the garden—“ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation.” And that is a promise, clearly stated. Yet human beings have been intent upon trying to produce peace, a totally impossible task, because “In the world”—which is the human state outside of the garden—“ye shall have tribulation.” That is certainly a proven fact, isn't it?

Anyone who resists the tone, the true character of God, the flaming sword, is bound to be uncomfortable, to say the least. And that is the state of tribulation; that is the state upon which human beings insist, refusing to leave that condition of experience outside of the garden. They might like the garden. There are those who look for utopia, this great and marvelous state that is going to be produced by human beings on earth; but all they find is tribulation, because all such effort is resisting what then appears as a flaming sword—self-destruction. The very moment there is a willingness to relinquish that resistance, relinquish the attitudes that engender resistance, there may be a movement which allows the sword to penetrate through the individual, sweeping out, purifying, all of that which has heretofore maintained the state of resistance.

Now this evening my word to you is, “Come near unto me!” This is not a matter of physical closeness, necessarily, although our physical closeness here is useful because I can speak to you directly. But the mere fact of being present does not mean that you are close to me. Yet my word is, “Come near unto me!” Come near in spirit; come near to the tone which is being sounded—come near to the point of focus which is present on earth and which, as you come near, is expanded. The only way you can come near is spiritually, is because of your acquaintance with the real nature of the tone, with the quality of character which is known by those who come near. When the Master was on earth He said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” That's one thing. He was speaking to children.

My invitation extended now is not so you can have rest, because you want something of that sort, because you're sick and tired of laboring, and heavy laden, and therefore you want rest. That is what a child might demand. But it is not what is being offered to you by this present invitation to come near unto me. That opportunity to experience rest was offered long, long ago. But I seek those who will come near because they find that they can do nothing else. And this is true only of those whose lives proclaim the truth of love. Again I am speaking of this matter of crossing a line, but in a very specific sense I'm inviting you now, in this moment, to let this be your experience.

Here are some other words: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” This peace of which the Master spoke is only known in the garden. It isn't known outside of it. You can only be in the garden when you are the other side of what has been thought of as the flaming sword. That must have passed through you. And how is it going to pass through you without destroying you? The flaming sword, from the standpoint of the one who is at the hilt of it, is not seen as a flaming sword—it is seen and known as the true character of God finding expression in living. When you assume the position of one who reveals that true character in living, there is no more flaming sword insofar as you are concerned; it has been transmuted in your own experience to the character that you are now expressing. The invitation, then, is to share the expression of that character.

The question always arises as to whether a person prefers the character that he has been expressing on earth, springing from the earthly state, to the expression of the true character of his real being. Now each one decides that in the moment. When the decision of the moment is to allow the expression of true character, harmonious to the sounding of the tone, then any qualities of the old character are immediately dissipated—immediately. You don't have to wait around to grow into it. When you express the true character of the tone, there it is, expressed. And what you might have expressed before you had chosen to express that true character is not expressed. It's gone! The flaming sword has had its effect, then, in that regard. It has, in that moment, eliminated from you what was not true of you. What is your choice going to be in the next moment, and the next? If you do express the true character consistently, then you are in the garden, spiritually speaking. You're still living on earth, you're still in the human world, but you are not of it. You are still very much aware of the tribulation, but because you are in the garden your experience is that of peace. If you slip out of that experience into the world, what you know then is tribulation.

The expression of the true character is victory—there is the point of victory. And you may move from victory to victory. But if you choose to give expression to the old earthly character in some situation, that is failure. And where there is failure you can't make amends for the failure—the results of the failure will come. They must! You know how it is when you have spoken some word which you suddenly realize you shouldn't have spoken—you can't get it back, can you? And whatever it was you said is going to proceed to have its effect. I don't care how much you may protest that you are sorry you said that, it is still going to have its effect—you can't get it back. There was an impact because of what you said, and that impact is going out. So you have to start from the point of failure, because you can't make that failure into a victory. You can allow a victory to emerge out of the point of failure because you are permitting your expression then to be characterized by the truth of you. But in the particular circumstance in which the victory should have been made known it was not made known, and you can't change that. You will find that something similar will occur later, probably, and you will have an opportunity then to reveal the victory.

Now, as I say, in that larger cycle about which I was speaking, it has taken nineteen centuries for human beings to have the opportunity of experiencing the victory. This is the first moment that that opportunity has reoccurred, and what proved to be a failure before may now be revealed as a victory. And by the way, all the points of failure that may have occurred in the past, particularly in relationship to this major cycle, are going to have to be proven out in the pattern of victory. Some of them perhaps have been already, but doubtless there are more to come. “Come near unto me!” that we may agree in this—that the victory shall be proven in everything. We can't say, “Well, I'll prove a victory on Monday, but I'm not so sure about the rest of the week." We prove a victory in the moment, now and now and now and now. There is the point of choice. What shall be the quality of our living in the moment? What shall be our attitude? What shall be our spirit? As we well know, this is our individual responsibility. We can't decide what someone else's spirit is going to be; that's their business, not ours. Let us not judge in the matter. But as there is an increasing revelation of victory, there is an increasing expansion of the point of focus. And this point of focus is the one true point of focus on earth.

Perhaps you have known this from your own experience, making contact with this ministry—somewhere along the way, after that contact was made, or possibly immediately, you suddenly became aware that here it was! You didn't figure that out with your mind. There may have been things in your consciousness that didn't quite jibe with what you felt was true, what you saw with your mind with respect to this ministry. Some of these things didn't quite jibe with what you had in mind before. There may have been a little discomfort here for a while, until you could reach a point where you were willing to relinquish what you had in mind before so that you might be single-minded, you might have a single eye. There are some who have not done that completely yet. But if there is this point of focus on earth, then all who come in contact with it, if they are genuine, will realize something with respect to the point of focus—something will be felt. The door is open in such case for the person to come near.

There is a sifting going on in the world, the sheep and the goats, so to speak. And it works absolutely! It works absolutely to the extent that the point of focus in the experience of victory is adequate. If there are points of failure here and there, then other people making the contact will feel those points of failure, and it doesn't seem to them then that here is the point of victory. Then that can be used as an excuse.

“Come near unto me!”—to the true quality and character of living, so that at no moment, in relationship to any circumstance, do you not give expression to what is of that truth. Let it be clear and right. And it matters not in the least how it may seem anyone else is behaving; that is not the point at all, ever. It is how you behave as an individual, for yourself, that counts, because you are the only one who can behave for yourself. No one else can do it. But when that behavior is a revelation of the truth of love, the truth of you, there is the victory. And we can then move from victory to victory.

  

 

How often in times past there have been victories, yes, but then there were failures. And we can't move from victory to victory on the basis of failures. We may have to start at some point where there was a failure and proceed from there, but let whatever emerges thereafter be a victory. Then we move from victory to victory. We stand in the garden, in the place of peace, a peace that cannot be known by anything that the world may come up with. “In me, peace; in the world, tribulation.” In the true quality of your own character—that expressed momentarily—peace.

Here is a guide, isn't it? What do you know in the moment? Tribulation or peace? Peace is known when you express your true character. It comes through you, and that is what you know. If you don't express it you don't know it. And whatever the circumstance is, nothing can stop you expressing it except your own choice. “Come near!” that we may share in the expression of this character in all our ways, and don't let's waste any time by judging somebody else and saying, “That person isn't expressing the true character.” Just do it yourself. That's all that's necessary. Then there are those who are present in the garden of Eden on earth. And if there are those who are present in the garden of Eden on earth, the garden of Eden is known by them to be on earth. Let us share this expression of character in each moment in all the days to come, abiding in agreement on earth.

© Emissaries of Divine Light