Key To All Things — Focalizations
Uranda
July 23, 1946 Tuesday Afternoon Service
I wish to consider with you other words that you
have heard before—words which carry the Spirit that giveth Life. Speaking from
the standpoint of the Absolute, not from
the realm where human frailties still abound, but from the realm of the
Absolute, from the standpoint of God, there are times when it is necessary to
destroy in order to give life. There are so many people in the world who,
although they are allowed to feel the warmth of His Love, although they are
watered with His Truth, and their hunger is partially satisfied with the bread
of His Life, still they will not let themselves be resurrected—they have, in
embryonic form within them, that potential which will let them expand into men
and women in Christ, but before we can resurrect them—speaking from the
standpoint of the One Christ Body, remember—we have to roll
away the stone at the mouth of the tomb—the tomb of this world's darkness. What
is the stone? One might properly say it is the hardness of man's heart. It
could be said to symbolize so many things—almost anything that stands between
man and his God.
You are beginning to realize the value of what I
have talked about as focalizations. You
are beginning to actually experience a specific focalizatlon of Reality in the earth.
Focalizatlon—the Key to all things is to be found in their
focalizations. Is it not so?
With that background—and I will go back and pick
up the thread again in a few moments—I would read to you from Ephesians 6-12: “For
we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places.”
It is true that the rulers could not have become
rulers had not those ruled contained within themselves that which corresponds
to the qualities of the unreal; but, even so, we find that focalizations
established in the world begin, sooner or later, if they be maintained, to
overlap each other, as it were. There may be, suppose, in a certain place ten
thousand people who, by reason of the unreal in them and the situations that
cause them to function in the outer, have a focalization of the unreal for some
specific purpose, and the focalization exists according to the concepts of needs
or of the uses of power. As long as those ten thousand people are left alone, anyone
looking at them will see little, if anything, beyond that focalization of the unreal.
But when we come along in the Spirit and Power of the One Christ Body and begin
to set up a focalization in that same place, or cause a focalization to overlap
into that same place, we find that there are those among the ten thousand who have
in them that which responds to our focalization. Then, for a little time, two pyramids
stand on the same ground at the same time. Is that not true? Such a situation
introduces interesting possibilities.
There is a saying that two things cannot occupy the
same place at the same time. So we recognize that the pyramid that we establish
in the same place that is already occupied is primarily vibratory—it is not
filling all the space as yet, so there is some space for the pyramid of the unreal.
But the strange thing is that the unreal, while it can be added to, never grows.
You can add to it, but it never grows, does it? It decays. The interesting characteristic
about the unreal is that it continually decays. If it were not for the
additions all the time, decay would soon wipe evil from the face of the earth. If
that which is good, of the Life Current, was not continually added to the form
of evil, it would not take very many years for evil to just simply decay; it
cannot grow; it cannot add to itself; it would decay and be no more. Is that
not right?
Evil is absolutely powerless to grow. Had you ever
thought about that? All we can do is to keep taking something good and adding
it to the form, so that, as fast as the form decays, we keep building around it
with that which is of the good. Generally speaking, the way it works in this
world is that, as the form decays in the center—in the altar of Baal—the young
people in whom the natural essence of life and goodness is to be found, are just
pushed into it at the center which is decaying. That is the only way that the
altar of Baal can be maintained—that is, as the good in which life is, is added
to it. The world is sacrificing its sons and daughters unto Baal. The
interesting point, to me, is that that which is of Reality cannot decay—it
always grows. Interesting facts, are they not?
When we have these pyramids, not actually occupying
the same space at the same time, but having their foundations on the same
ground, or at least overlapping—then, the nature of the unreal is to decay; the
nature of the Real is to grow. If the focalization is maintained, the base
cannot be moved. That is true of both pyramids, isn't it, but in the case of
the unreal pyramid the focalization is maintained by pushing that which still
has life in at the bottom and forcing it up, so that a pinnacle is maintained
arbitrarily, regardless of decay, while the focalization of the Real does not stand
on something forced into it and under it, or something that is forced to stay there
until it decays. In the first place, it is of the Current of Life, and, in the second
place, through the creative power of Love it draws unto itself its own; and by
its nature it grows.
Let us suppose that this is an equal contest—now,
there isn't anything of equality in this contest at all—but we might suppose
for a minute a condition where it might seem to be somewhat equal, and the focalization
of the Real is simply maintained. The nature of the Real is to grow, and, as it
grows, it finds space around it that was previously occupied by the unreal, but
the unreal decays pretty soon and the space is occupied by that which grows,
and there is no space for the unreal. Just that simple process alone,
maintained, would, in a comparatively short time, cleanse the earth of all
unrighteousness, would it not? Do you see what I mean?
Even if we had to meet the situation on what we
might, in a sense, call equal ground, we should have a sure thing against a
certainty of losing on the other side. There is no equality. But we are not
limited to that; we have a focalization,
and when it is maintained the focalization is not concerned about all the good
people who are going bad in order to maintain the pyramid of the unreal; we are
not concerned about them at all, for the moment at least; we are concerned
about that which is at the point of focalization of that pyramid of the unreal,
that which is at the point of control. And so, if we have a point of control,
and if we have a pyramid that has an apex—i.e., not just flat on top—then the
point of the apex can begin to deal with that which is at the apex of the
pyramids of the unreal.
The most difficult thing in the world for human
beings is to find people who can be satisfactory points of apex in their
pyramids of the unreal. Isn't that true? Now, leadership according to world
concepts is comparatively rare. There have been times in the past when, by reason
of some great leadership, there was a great pyramid. That leadership goes and
this pyramid settles down and spreads out, becoming half a pyramid with many
points of apex. Then, if they cannot find leaders to maintain it at this level,
this gradually settles down, and we get more and more little pyramids—lots of
them, not because they are multiplying, but because they are decaying.
In the world as it is today, you do not find very
many really big pyramids, do you? To the outer mind, that makes it seem to be a
difficult problem. I rather think that it makes the job easier. The fact is that
their points of apex are not very solid, and when we deal with these points,
one by one, step by step—or maybe getting a lot of them together once in a
while—then what happens to the pyramid? So-called leaders may scramble around
and find someone whom they can push up to the top and make it hold, but
generally the pyramid squashes down. They may manage to make a few little
pyramids, but they do not amount to much. The main thing is that, as those
points of control of the unreal are removed, as the strength of these pyramid
apexes is reduced, and this thing gets scattered out, then the people who were
absolutely bound about by the structure of the great pyramid, so to speak, can get
out—they can peek out of the little ones and see the daylight. It is turning them
loose. We could go out there and hammer against the base of the big pyramid—we
might kill out ten thousand from the outside of the pyramid—try to keep them from
going to oblivion—just send them to oblivion first but it would not do any
good. So we simply let the thing crumble of its own weight. It is a very simple
matter.
The Lord always figures out the easy way to do
things. We just let it crumble of its own weight, and then those people who
have been bound with bars of iron and gates of brass will have a chance to get out.
When they have that chance we want to be sure that they have every opportunity
to see that there is a reason for them to come out. We must be sure that they have
an opportunity to hear the Call: “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not
partakers of her sin.” If they are given the correct opportunity, many of them
will come out.
We are not so interested in just eliminating all of
the evil from the face of the earth. Suppose, right now, by some Act of God I
were given power to wipe all evil from the face of the earth immediately. I
wonder how many of you would be left. Do you suppose that there would be enough
of the unreal left in you that you would be partly destroyed, at least. Just
wiping evil from the face of the earth would be wiping humanity from the face
of the earth, destroying the good with the bad. So that is the reason for letting
this work out in the way that it has done, so that every individual on the face
of the earth will be given every possible opportunity to obey the Call: “Come out
of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sin.”
When we have so functioned that the gospel of this
Kingdom has been preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and
all who will have come and responded and been drawn into the Way, the Truth and
the Life, then the residue will constitute no great problem. When they see the
manifestation of the Real in the earth, their natural reaction will be to feel
that the people who have served God are the cause of all of their difficulties.
The point is that those who refuse to obey God always have troubles, and they
always blame someone else, never themselves, so they jump to the conclusion that
the people of God are the cause of their difficulties. That is bound to come as
the focalization of the things of God begin to actually appear on the earth,
not because we want it so, but we know in advance that that is what is going to
happen, and there isn't anything under the sun that will keep it from happening, except to eliminate the
people of God from the earth—that is, to stop being people of God. That would
deny God and put us in a spot that I would not like to share. Since we have a
real focalization, it will continue to be so as long as we abide in the Lord
and let Him do the works.
Having that focalization of Reality in the earth,
the simplest process of all will be taking care of those who undertake to fight
against God. The difficult and delicate operation, after the manifestation of
the Body, and it is trained to truly function, is to be certain that we have
given every one ample opportunity to turn and know the Way. During that time,
points of opposition will appear, and we just let it come—not that we wish it—we
are not fighting against them—but we just let it come, because a peculiar fact
about the Fire is that it will flash out just as easily on a vibration of
opposition as it will on a vibration of response. The only thing that does not
make it flash is that which is absolutely passive and neutral. Do you see what
I mean? Have you found this consideration helpful? I would like to give you
opportunity for comment now.
Charlie — According to this last statement, it appears to
me that when these points of opposition appear, they will be given an opportunity
to examine the Truth in the matter, then, if they will not accept it, they will
be destroyed.
Uranda — That might appear to be the case on the basis of
what has been, but my function previously has been as an individual working to
draw together the Members who will permit themselves to be the One Christ Body.
With the manifestation of the Body in actual function, our job is to let Love
radiate, and remember that it is the Head—or the properly authorized Member—who
deals with the adversary, because the Head may find that there are occasions where
the adversary can be dealt with, with the right hand in proper position. On the
other hand, various Members, under various conditions, might be utilized. But
always, if it is going to be effective, unless the action is simply leading
with one's chin, in which case it is not the Head that is leading—the Head has
to direct the action.
The first great realization for the Members of the
Body is to remember that they need not be concerned about meeting these things
of the opposition, of the unreal, or things of that nature. Understanding in
that realm will come, true enough, but remember that segregated action on the
part of a Member, self-actively, for no matter how good a purpose, will create
division and prevent the function of the Body. In other words, a Member might just
want so much to double up his fist and sock, but that fist had just better stay
put, no matter how much it wants to move, until the Head says to let go. As
long as we function as a Unit under the control of a single point of focalization,
we are absolutely invincible, but the very moment that the Members of the Body
try to work out these things according to what they think would be a good idea
for the good of the Lord's Service, it is going to lead to trouble and they will
probably be the ones to catch it first. If something like that ever does happen,
I am going to be sure that you are without excuse.
If we are to function properly, the purpose of
function is to let Love radiate to all alike, regarding no one as enemy. We
must radiate all of the time, as the sun shines, not being concerned about so-called
focalizations of evil. If you start looking for them, you will think you find them
everywhere; you will start imagining things. It is like a man who is so drunk
that he sees pink elephants. The thing to do is to remember that the Body has one
job, and that is to let Love radiate, and when, on the basis of correct
function, under the direction of the Head, we do meet opposition—that is, deal
with it—it will be on the basis of Love, because it is the only basis upon
which we can act. Most of this expression might not appear to the human concept
as real at the moment, but that is beside the point.
Since there is a Christ Body and there is a
radiation of the Fire of the Christ Love, those within the scope of our
radiation have, automatically, the opportunity to know, and if it were not for
the radiation there would not develop a focalization of opposition—therefore,
when the focalization appears, it has already had its opportunity. That was the
distinction I was getting to, on the basis of what Charlie said. It would not
take form on the basis of opposition unless it had had that opportunity; therefore,
we deal with it on the basis of its own judgment of itself. That is the Principle
involved, but I wanted to emphasize, before bringing out that point, that except
as it may be brought out for consideration by the Head, the Members of the Body
are not to concern themselves about dealing with the dark forces, or
opposition, or evil, or any of these things, because if you start thinking
about it, meditating upon it, or trying to figure it out, you are going to
cease to be a Member of the One Christ Body. And it can happen awful fast, and
I mean awful—full of awe.
Remember always that the basic Principles that you
have learned all the way through still hold, and except as we give attention to
the things of Reality, we cannot possibly hope to carry through. “Finally,
brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever
things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be
any praise, think on these things.” That should mean more to you today than it
ever has in the past. That is why I have been emphasizing the spheres of
responsibility here.
Unless, as Members of the One Christ Body, we are obedient
to that Word, it will be as nothing. And that has to be done in really living
the Christ Life—not just seething inside with resentment, not just by saying, “I
am looking for good things to think about.” But isn't that just about as
sensible as the human being is sometimes? It has to be real. Remember, folks, I
always know the difference between the real and the counterfeit, whether I make
the test right in front of you and show it up or not. And remember that I am
not interested in anything that is counterfeit—it does not impress me; it does
not help; it is utterly valueless; and, sooner or later, I will see that it is
tossed out into the garbage.
We have to remember that there is just one type of
thing that can be used, and that is the genuine article; unless it is genuine,
it cannot be used very well, and whatever is counterfeit has to be removed. We
shall remove it ever so gently and be sure that it is filled with the Real if
you will let me perform the operation the way I want to do it, but if you insist
on trying to work it out according to some concept of yours, you are liable to
find on one bright day that with one clean sweep the Sword is likely to lay it
right apart, and you can take it or leave it. Unless it is genuine, it is
absolutely no good at any time. I tolerate some counterfeit, so that we may not
be under the necessity of making spectacles of things, so that we can let these
things change gradually and as painlessly as possible, but, sooner or later,
that Sword will operate if you insist on trying to do it your way—and that is
that.
We might remember that comment in one of the letters
which I read this morning—the realization that in my function I actually have
drawn the lovely out of each one of you, everything that is fine and real in
you I have been drawing out as rapidly as I could, so that it might be on top,
but when there Is something unreal inside, even though you may try to hide it from
me I may let you think you are getting by with it a little while, but you will learn,
sooner or later, that, when I look, I am not looking with human vision that can
be easily deluded. I think you know that already—I have proven it too many
times. That does not mean that I am going to arbitrarily reach inside of your
heart and yank this or that out. No, I have consistently worked to draw from
within you that which is lovely, fine, true, real and noble, that it may manifest
effectively; but, in that process you find that, willingly or unwillingly, as
long as you stay within the range of my responsibility and authority, sooner or
later, I insist that the unlovely corners be opened up and that you take a look
at them. You may think that you have something tucked away so far and so
deep that I shall not know that it is there, or that I cannot find it. I think
a few of you could testify that there is no such place to be found.
I have accepted this One Christ Body, in which I
have the fullest of love, faith and trust, on the level of its function—I have
unified with it as its Head, and I do not think that my love or my faith could
be made manifest any more than it has been—but that One Body has a lot of
growing to do, and those Members who are in it will have to be, sooner or later,
fully purified. Any walls that remain will have to be broken down; anything
hidden in the depths will have to be brought to the light. It can be done in
the light between you and me before God, without the others looking on, if you
will let it be so; but if you do not, one bright day I will rip it off where everybody
can take a look at it—and I don't mean maybe. I cannot make you do anything,
and I am not interested in making you do anything. The only thing that is any
good in this One Christ Body is Love Response and what you do in Love Response
of your own volition, because you want to do that more than anything else in
the world. Anything that you do under a feeling of compulsion, or because you
think I require it, is counterfeit. Many times I have seemed to accept it for
the time, because I wanted to give you every opportunity to grow, but anything
that is counterfeit is utterly no good. Only what you do that is right for the
pure joy of doing right, without compulsion, because it is what you want to do
more than anything else in the world—only that done in Love Response—is
any good.
There is one sure thing—remember this—this Body of
which I am a Member, is made up of many Members. I will not let any Member
jeopardize the whole. Our responsibility is not just for the Members of this
Body, but for the world body of Responding Ones, and as the One Christ Body—while
there is a training period, and while I deal with every matter with all the
Love that I can, and you know it—there is that which requires that we follow
the groove, that we hew to the line, that we let the work be performed
according to the Plan—the Blue Print, if you please, and it will be done that
way by this Body as long as I am its Head. You know that, but with respect to the
necessities of outworking in this Body, it is necessary that I stir up your
pure minds by way of remembrance, so that you function in that realization. “Behold, I make all things new”—inside and out, up and down and
all around, every whit whole.
These are considerations with respect to the work to
which we are called, and things with respect to our function in the doing of
that work. It is the greatest work on earth. It is the most important thing in
all the world. Thousands and millions of lives depend on it. I have not seen
any sign that anyone else was too seriously considering doing the job. To
depend on someone else, in my estimation, would be the sheerest folly. I am not
taking the attitude that there are not any other people in the world who could
do the work if they would. Do you see what I mean? We are not the only good
people in the world, not by a long shot. I suspect that, if we looked around, we
might find a group of people who might be called even better, who never heard
of the Third Sacred School. We do not have any cause for self-righteousness,
nor human pride—and pride goeth before a fall. We do not like falls; we had one
thousands of years ago, a pretty big tumble; and there have been several since;
there have been so many of them that it seems to me that we ought somehow to
stop making them. The world is cluttered up with them; the world needs
something else; the world needs something that it has not got. So, instead of
making another fall, we would rather have that open Gateway that lets Heaven
come down from God into the earth, that all things may truly for all people be
made new.
In closing our Service, I should like to read a few
words from Revelation 21: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first
heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I
John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of
heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell
with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them,
and be their God.” Have you heard that Voice? The tabernacle of God is the One
Christ Body on earth, in which He dwells, lives, moves and has His Being, and
functions to the degree that we let it be purified and made every whit whole. “Behold,
the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall
be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” That is the
description in Revelation 21:3—the double three, by the way—of the
manifestation of the One Christ Body on earth.
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