From Education To Government

From  Education  to  Government

Martin Cecil   May 11, 1980

No matter what is experienced there is always something to be learned; so education is a factor in all our variety of experiences, if we are open to learn. On the other hand the matter of spiritual government has been largely ignored in human experience for a long time. We have concerned ourselves with this matter. If we have any real reason for being on earth it is to this end: that we might provide the means for spiritual government in this world, not as something exclusive but as something definitely required. No one is being prevented from participating in the processes and cycles of government from the spiritual standpoint.

The pure expression of the spiritual government has been conspicuous by its absence. In fact it has hardly been seen as being necessary at all except possibly within the range of the religious approach; but then, for safety’s sake, state and church are kept separate. But the concern is not with this matter of human endeavor, whether based in some religious belief or merely in political belief. What has been lacking in the world is the reality of God’s dominion. However there is very little recognition that we ourselves may have some responsibility in the matter. It is because you have some recognition in this regard that you are here. I can see no other reason for us being here together.

In order that there might be those who are in position to provide what is necessary there must be some spiritual education first. No matter how willing people may be to serve the Lord, as they say, they must know how. There have been countless sincere and earnest people over the centuries who were desirous of serving the Lord but the state of the world indicates that the Lord hasn’t been too well served thus far. He is only served when He is allowed to be present, and it is our business to allow Him to be present. We cannot allow Him to be present as long as the human nature state prevails in our own experience.

In order to emerge out of that state of subjection, that state of bondage, there is a need for the provision of education, provided of course that there are those who are anxious to emerge. As long as nobody wishes to do so there is no point in any education; there's no one to be educated. It requires willingness to move out of the state that has been, into something unknown. Now this is a fearful business for most. The unknown is terrifying, so they say. I think it is the known that is terrifying—that is, if you want to be terrified. But the unknown in a spiritual sense is available to be experienced; it has always been present. The statement was made long ago that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The truth is here; we may know it. It requires a little willingness, yes, and a little courage I suppose, to laugh in the face of human nature, no longer taking the attitude that here is the supremely strong influence from which it is impossible to escape.

Mention is made of the great red dragon in the Book of Revelation. I am sure you know exactly what that figure portrays—human nature. There is no great red dragon that has a life of its own; it is simply what human beings have made. If we can make it, equally we can unmake it. It can be allowed to dissolve. Human nature obviously is closer than breathing and nearer than hands and feet. So we don’t need to try to get at this great red dragon out there somewhere. He is easily found in the immediate vicinity.

We see how it is that the earthly heredity that is present in all of us relates to the means by which human nature retains its hold in human experience. Certainly we inherit something in this regard in the material sense, but this does not deny the fact that we also inherit something in the spiritual sense. However most have been inclined to deny the spiritual inheritance in favor of the material inheritance. The great red dragon is on hand and in the heaven of most people. Here is the controlling element in human behavior—human nature supported by human heredity.

So, on the part of some, there has been a willingness to allow another experience to come because there is not so much faith any more in the great red dragon. How much faith do you, as an individual, have in the power of your earthly heredity, your human character, to dictate as to the way you should behave, what you should think, how you should act, what you should say? So, those who are willing to consider the possibility that there could be another state of experience are considering the matter of letting the great red dragon be cast out of the position of control, so that no longer is there subjection to the human nature state as it comes to particular focus in our own individual experience.

I am sure that all of you have a sensing of something quite remarkable, something rather unlike usual human nature experience. There is a sense of friendship, a realization of what is meant by the word love perhaps, It’s good to be together, not because we necessarily chose each other. There is available a large space in which we may find freedom of easy and natural interaction. This interaction comes because the spirit of God prevails—giving evidence of considerable power. Why not let that power achieve all that it will? There is an inclination to let it go just so far, but beyond that point it's a little scary, beyond that point, “I might lose out. I might lose some of my most precious possessions”—in human nature. Yes, you lose them all! Every last one! But that need not be all that fearful a prospect, because there is something else being introduced, something that might be referred to as treasure in heaven rather than treasure on earth. Where your treasure is, there your heart is also. There you are, so you are present with your treasure—in heaven now instead of on earth; and as the earth reflects whatever it is that is in heaven, well you have the treasure on earth too but not in the same way.

Now there are those who are willing to face up to the situation, to be honest—that we may come clear. And in our own experience of coming clear it is not a dragged-out undertaking. As I say, there is the necessity for some spiritual education, but this shouldn't be too exhausting an experience; it is a delight really, if one really participates in it. It's an absolute delight! One finds the world opening up, a new understanding, a new vision, a new experience. The dominion of the dragon only continues to be a fact as long as he is present in our heaven. The very moment that there is the acceptance of the reality of the spirit of God into one’s own heaven of living the dragon isn’t there—the dragon is cast into the earth. He is in the earth—but he is not in the heaven and we do not need to be subject to his dictates any more. We need to get on with the job. The job is one of spiritual government.

To move toward the point where the experience of spiritual government becomes dominant one must pass through a period when the experience of spiritual education is dominant. As you know, those of you who have been in Class, it is not just a matter of education. There is the matter of experience also—there is an aspect of government as well as an aspect of education. To start with, for spiritual children, it's dominantly education; dominantly, rightly, discipline and all the requirements of control provided for the person until there is sufficient maturity for that control to come from within the person himself. But its only to a very limited extent within a person to start with. Where there are spiritual children there is need for spiritual education and that is provided in one way or another. In the initial stages, spiritual education is dominant and spiritual government is recessive—not there at all to start with but gradually it begins to put in an appearance. And the balance changes until, at the point of what one may call graduation or commencement, the aspect of spiritual government becomes dominant, even though spiritual education is still a factor—one never ceases to learn but one has the responsibility of government nonetheless.

Seeing things from this standpoint, always there is the process of relinquishing the educational requirements in favor of governmental requirements, which are the actual acceptance of spiritual responsibility in one's own living—then there is the concern not with personal things from the human standpoint but with personal things from the Lord's standpoint, from the divine standpoint.

So our concern is that we should all be in the same business, and that business is the business of the spirit of God and not the business of the dragon. I had a letter from somebody bringing up a very excellent point which could apply to this service today: “Now at last Martin will be here and he will tell us this special truth for which we have been waiting all these months and years.” Well what have I been doing in the meantime? Did I never say anything for the past thirty years? The point is that it is all there—it’s been there—it's all been there.

But it's not what I may say that is the point. In fact its what you say, what you say in your own expression of living. That's the only way that you can know the truth. I can give you the keys, which I've been doing for thirty years, and you can accept the keys and open the door if you wish. Anybody could do this; they could have done it from the first point of initiation. We have to admit that the dragon has quite a hold on people—but somewhere along the way there is the necessity of taking responsibility for oneself and not requiring anything else from anyone else. “Well I need a little more help here.” Okay. There's lots of literature; read it. There's the help. If you want more help, do you want someone to come along and bend your ear? I’ve been bending people’s ears for years and also writing letters to people, many of which are now published in booklets and freely available.

People have resisted spiritual education, so much. Why not accept the opportunities that are provided and learn something? Be educated. Spiritual education is offered but not always accepted. Only as it is accepted do people learn; only as there is the spirit of God occupying the heaven of daily expression is the dragon no longer in the heaven. He’s in the earth for the moment; earthly heredity is still around. It is in our own physical forms and in various structure of consciousness perhaps—but these don’t need to be the controlling factors.

When there is a willingness to accept the real quality of living, and be honest about it—snap—just like that, it happens! That’s the only way it ever happens.  As long as there is a long, drawn-out process, nothing is happening—one is still feeding the dragon. In a moment one may acknowledge the truth; and its not as though I, or anyone else, is going to give some great and marvelous truth sometime so that you can say, “Now I have it.”

I've been offering something over many years which is available to be accepted now. It's not going to be any more available in the future. It's going to be more difficult to be accepted in the future. We have the opportunity now. We are sharing in this hour, an hour of what one might call government, spiritual government, something which relates directly to one's own experience. Only on this basis does the Lord come into the world, does the spirit of God have a field of action in the world, because there are those who are experiencing that action. That's government—that's what it is. It's not imposing something upon other people, but it is providing something very positive in living which other people are going to have to say Yes or No to when it comes up against them.  But we need to say Yes if it is to be a reality for anyone else. We can't impose it, rightly; we never make the attempt; but we provide what is necessary and do it with assurance because it is our natural expression.

So I thank God for you and the spirit of agreement that is in you by which we may provide what is necessary on earth, not on the basis of the Emissary ministry as such but on the basis of living, of being what we really are. All we need to be is ourselves, the reality which we are, the truth. Bring the truth. The Emissary ministry is basically an educational requirement, that there may be those who come out of that requirement to be the truth of themselves in living and reveal the unification that is natural between themselves and all others who are letting it happen. Then there is a sense of oneness. We find ourselves out of the land of bondage, in the experience of a freedom that is so natural and right.

© Emissaries of Divine Light

john revill art  johnrevill.com