To Be The Focus Of Spirit On Earth

To  Be  The  Focus  Of  Spirit  On  Earth

Martin Exeter   July 13, 1986

No one comes to the truth except love draw him. There have, of course, been many ways and methods by which human beings have anticipated finding the truth. Such endeavors are an indication of arrogance, because it is factually so that no one can come to the truth except he is drawn by love. Unless there is a willingness to lose one's life in the human sense, which would include all human ambitions, one could never come to know the truth. The truth has been thoroughly obscured because of the arrogant expectations by people all down through the ages that they could somehow wrest the truth by the application of their own knowledge—by the increase of knowledge, by what I suppose might be called inquisitiveness. All this is characteristic of the way human beings operate, but it still remains that no one can come to the truth except love draw him.

How would one ever know what and who the focus of spirit is on earth without accepting that responsibility for oneself? It has been my personal concern to do this. I have made no claims with respect to it but sought to represent that focus in whatever way would be genuine for me. At the same time I have drawn to the attention of all who had ears to hear that the truth concerning the focus of spirit could only be known if the responsibility for it was accepted by oneself, by each individual. It is not something that is rightly true of me or anyone alone.

We are well aware that there is only One Focus of Spirit. Because of this the fact of oneness in the experience of mankind is possible; it can't be found on any other basis. But it isn't found just because one person seeks to accept that responsibility so that everybody else is supposed to look at that one person. This is more or less what has happened with respect to Jesus Christ as it relates to Christianity. Here was One who did accept the responsibility and revealed the truth in consequence. Certainly He never indicated that because of that no one else needed to do it. In fact the instruction apparently was: “Follow me.” But I don't think He had in mind a bunch of foolish sheep trotting along behind Him. What in heaven's name would be accomplished by that? Follow me in the experience of knowing the truth, and that requires that one be drawn by love into the position where the truth may be accepted. Each individual must accept that responsibility for himself. I have undertaken to do it the best I knew how, but that doesn't relieve anyone else of the responsibility.

The idea, of course, relates to the matter of an individual point of focus of spirit for the whole of mankind. I have never claimed to be that. I have offered myself as a point of focus of spirit to you and others who had, at least in some degree, let love draw you. That presumably is why you are here this morning. I wouldn't wish you to be here on any other basis. But how could one know what the focus of spirit is without being it? One might imagine that one knew something about it by observing somebody else, in which case a concept would be developed as to what the focus of spirit was. In that event one couldn't possibly know for oneself; so the only alternative is to have a concept about it. Some have laid their concepts on me, which perhaps is all right as a temporary measure, if there is a willingness later to relinquish the concept in order to experience the genuine article oneself.

It seems that many people who have offered leadership, supposedly of a spiritual nature, to others have been carried away by the response that they received and then proceeded to cultivate more and more of that sort of response. If such was the case it was an indication of a weakness, of the necessity apparently of getting other people to back you up and support you to assure you that you were worth something. People have offered many compliments to me of various sorts, but I'll let you in on a secret: I always accepted them with a grain of salt, and I have never had the notion that my worth, whatever it is, was dependent upon what anyone else said or did. I alone can be genuine. You alone can be genuine.

I think you have at times offered response to me in order to help you be convinced of your genuineness. Well you are not genuine until you express genuineness. That should be obvious enough. Each one is simply responsible for that for him- or herself; that's all. When genuineness is expressed it always takes into account what others are doing, not to be controlled by it but to provide opportunities, amongst other things, for all concerned to accept their own significance and genuineness as a focus of spirit on earth. I have sought to do this for myself, and if doing it for myself it can be of some assistance to others to do the same thing I rejoice. Accepting the focus of spirit, one comes to know the truth, not merely because you may try to accept my focus of spirit but because you express your own. Then you know the truth, or you begin to know the truth, and we all share then in knowing the truth.

One of the basic elements of truth is design. If you know the truth you become aware of the living design which is a basic element of truth. You become aware, moment by moment, of your natural participation in that design. You are not looking for some great thing to do, but you are humble enough to accept whatever it is that is your own genuine placement in the living design. It is a living design; it is not set in concrete, so to speak; but there is an awareness of relatedness to others who also participate in the design. One comes to know what one's own particular field of operations is in that design. This has been true of me, and it is just as true of you. My particular field of operations has been my own. It relates to all of you and others, as yours relates to me. They are not all the same of course. Why would you need a bunch of duplicates? One is enough. One is enough of each one in order to permit the wholeness of the design to emerge into operation. There has been the tendency for some to think of design in rather restricted terms, as though it was set in concrete: “Well where is my place?” If you are looking for a concrete place, there ain't no such animal! Movement and life are one.

So the design emerges, becomes evident in the moment, as the truth is known. The truth is known to those who are drawn by love, not to those who are trying to figure it all out—they are the arrogant ones, too big for their boots—but simply because love draws them. This occurs through no effort of the individual himself. In fact it only becomes apparent when human efforts cease. Obviously it requires a certain amount of trust, but in what—in me? No, except as this might indicate a trust in the spirit which I extend. You have trust in that when you extend it. Then you know it, and there is a sharing in the dominion of love on earth, the dominion of love which displaces the attempted dominion of mankind. I'm sure, being somewhat intelligent we have recognized that the focus of spirit is essential and also recognized that there is such a focus.

The focus of spirit indicates something that might be described as invisible. Human beings are always looking for external visibility: What's going on there, or elsewhere? Well lots of things. But the focus of spirit provides the focus of design, the focus of control, and the focus of creative power, by which what rightly should be brought forth is. By the same token, this coming forth displaces what is already present but shouldn't be. This displacement is causing a great deal of harrowing experience around the world and in individual lives everywhere, because there is a great reluctance to let go: Let's cling to this and try the best we know how to use it to our own advantage! And so it goes. But there is something else present which has not been recognized—and I think that is a blessing—the fact of a focus of spirit. It seems such a little thing but it turns out to be everything, and all else turns out to be nothing. Each individual anywhere on the face of the earth, but you particularly who begin to know these things to the extent that you have actually been drawn by love, has the opportunity of being genuine, of accepting the responsibility of being the focus of spirit on earth. The Master long ago didn't do that so as to excuse everybody else. He did it so as to make it plain that everybody else had the same responsibility.

From my own standpoint, in accepting the focus of spirit which is my own I haven't done it to excuse anyone else from doing it. My friends are those who do it, and we find that we belong in the same design and that we cannot operate outside of that design and live. The focus of spirit centers in the One we have referred to as our King, or the Supreme One, but being the focus of spirit that is invisible, unknown, until given expression in form. Each individual has that responsibility. I have it, you have it. I can do it for myself, you can do it for yourselves. As this responsibility is assumed we become friends instead of trying to be servants by the sweat of our brows. We become friends because we have been drawn by love, and we know love consequently, the love that is natural between genuine people. This love, as it becomes known, is the power of creation or, in this instance, of re-creation.

There has been much effort to try to make things work the way they thought they should work—the divine design no doubt! But nobody knew what the divine design was until they stopped trying to make it work that way. If you try to make it work that way you will be subject to disillusionment. That's wonderful, isn't it? If you are subject to illusion you had better be disillusioned. So that's a blessing. And you may observe things that you don't approve of. Who cares that you don't approve of them? I have people frequently telling me of things that they don't approve of. It's of no interest to me whatsoever! I'm interested in the genuine expression of the person, not something that that person puts up as a barrier to his genuine expression by looking over there and saying, “Well they are not doing what they should be doing.” What a waste of time!

It is the focus of spirit on earth that has meaning, that and that alone. So this is the birthright to be accepted by each one. I became aware of this responsibility back along the way somewhere and tentatively moved in the direction of accepting it, as I have noted others have done. But it took a real kick in the pants to come to the point where it was actually accepted. I see a lot of tentative people around. Maybe my prayer to the Almighty would be: “Let them all have a good kick in the pants.” Well that is not the way it works. It is a matter of being drawn by love. If a certain experience, set of circumstances, forces an awareness of the fact that one is drawn by love and must assume responsibility, then that's fine. But why wait? I can't assume the responsibility of anyone else but only for myself. The same is true of you. It's the human habit to try to assume responsibilities for others, imagining that one is so wise as to know how others should behave. But, assuming one's own responsibility, there is no impulse at all to judge what others are doing. One always has good excuses for judging what others are doing, of course.

There are those who valiantly try to protect each other. Is not the power of love sufficient? Or do we have to add some puny human effort? Those who accept responsibility find themselves in the design of the body, and the body lives. The power of the Almighty indeed is available and at work in the processes of re-creation. We don't have to manipulate. That saves a lot of trouble. There are many things that each individual does not know. That's all right. No single person is supposed to know everything anyhow. It takes all put together to know what is necessary to be known. But that's true also of each individual. I'm in position to know all that I need to know. You are in position to know all that you need to know. Put us together and we really know something. What? The truth, the beautiful truth, through which the power of love works to bring life to all who will receive it. There is another side to that coin; we don't need to look at it particularly, but we should not be shocked by it either.

So in the oneness of love the invisible spirit of the Supreme One may find creative expression into the world all around us. In one sense it could be said that what happens in consequence of that is none of our business. As has frequently been said in the past, the Law works. If there is a focus of spirit in expression on earth then the fulfilment comes quickly, because those who provide that focus do not judge the way it comes. They let it be what it is.

We all have the opportunity of being the focus of spirit on earth—you certainly, and no less than me. But what that means you do not know until you let it happen. Then this which I spoke of as friendship is strong and sure and clear; there is no judgment one of another. The spirit of the Supreme One pours forth in radiant blessing, in radiant light—no longer fiddling around in the world that man has produced in his arrogant stance as though that could be repaired in some way, but willing to let the divine design bring forth what it naturally will when there are those present in the body through whom the action occurs. What a delight it is to be trusted to be the focus of spirit on earth.

© Emissaries of Divine Light