Centering In Being, Not Becoming

Centering  In  Being,  Not  Becoming

Will  and  Faith

Uranda   July 14, 1954  Class

We thank God for all His many blessings, the break in the heat-wave is one we should mention, nice and cool last evening and not so hot this morning. It makes a great difference. And this emphasizes the variety that we have coming down from God out of Heaven into manifestation through what we call nature. This manifestation is prolific. There is something of a sweet abandon in nature and yet we see that all these things through which the blessings of God are made manifest have a means by which balance may be maintained, and if anything begins to get too far out of line something else balances it. So we have a wide variety, we have a prolific expression, and we have the natural means for attaining and maintaining balance in nature—and nature is the means by which many of the blessings of God come down out of Heaven into the earth.

Nature as such, does not have intelligence. It is governed, properly, by intelligence, but in and of itself does not have intelligence—at least not in the sense that we think of it. There are instinctive factors of various kinds, but man was made to be the crowning creation above nature, made in the image and design and likeness of God, to have dominion over nature, to provide the intelligence factor. An intelligence factor which is to have dominion, must have a means of expressing determination. Determination relates to what we call will.

Yesterday our meditation brought us to the point of considering God's Will. “Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven.”  We realized our need to understand more clearly the working of will and what will is. What human beings call will in the sense of an arbitrary determination, more-or-less forcing and trying to force, is not will, and this thing that human beings call will is almost always brought into operation, or a semblance of manifestation, in relationship to trying to do something which the human being is afraid he cannot do, or believes he cannot do, or with respect to something wherein he feels the chances are against him. There might be, say, one chance in a thousand—so we will try by the exercise of will, and if we can put it over, well and good; but almost always any expression of will, as human beings generally know it, comes in relationship to a background pattern of attitude which carries in it the seed of defeat.

Trying to believe something which one does not really believe is called faith. It really is not of course, but you cannot properly segregate a consideration of will from a consideration of faith because true will and true faith work together. You cannot have them in separate compartments. They form a team, shall we say, in relationship to the expression of life.

Now we start with a recognition that the mass consciousness of mankind with which we have individual and collective relationship, does not understand the meaning of will as it relates to the expression of God-being, nor does this consciousness have a true understanding of faith. So we need to begin to find an orientation by which we may have a clear realization of what faith and what will mean from God's standpoint. If we can more-or-less relinquish, for the moment at least, whatever ideas we may have in relationship to these two qualities of being in the realization that whatever is true will be sustained and maintained, whatever is true will not pass away, we will have sufficiently open-minds and open patterns of perception so that we can begin to see, or at least have an opportunity to begin to see, something of the vital phases of life expression from God's standpoint instead of looking at them from the human standpoint.

To whatever degree you have made progress along the Way through this series of meditations together, you should be able to let your consciousness be centered in and identified with that which is higher than you are, that which we call God. Without trying to figure out what God is, or the extent of God, or all of the questions that might arise with respect to God, there is a sensing of the consciousness—which is to say, Shekinah, the evidence of the presence of the One who Dwells. And through your meditations you have come to realize that this presence is revealed by what is classified as Shekinah, or Shekeenah, or Shekanah in the Old Testament pattern; or Christ, or the Christ Spirit in the New Testament pattern—and that the two mean exactly the same thing. Also, whether in the Old Testament or the New Testament pattern, we have the word Word as signifying something, “In the "beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God”, etc—that means Shekinah, the evidence of the presence of the One who Dwells, and One who Dwells must, of necessity, be Being.

Being is that which is and does not have to become. As long as anything is becoming, it is acted upon and if there is something acted upon there must be something to perform the action. And we cannot conceive of the development of all of these things, on the basis of the pattern of evolution as human beings sometimes think of it, the pattern of chance, well, transmutation, etc—merely a pattern of things acting upon each other, each tending to act and each being acted upon, one part sometimes for a moment supreme, and the other part for a moment supreme. Merely a pattern of interaction would not provide a centralization of intelligence which would permit the definite development of the systems, the many systems in the physical body, in nature all around us and on into the solar system, universes, which make up the cosmos.

So, from atom to cell to the universe, we find a great series of systems, each related to the other directly or indirectly, and such a development, moving into the realm of, and relating to, intelligence, cannot be a non-focalized pattern of interaction, merely different things, somewhat by chance, acting upon each other. Actually I am sure that you all agree with that, but I wish to bring it clearly to point in consciousness because it gives a real basis for knowing, not trying to believe, not trying to have faith in God, but knowing the Reality of Being—and Being is that which is, and that which acts upon—and that which is, is classified as Creator and that which is acted upon is that which is classified as creation. So creation is in the process of becoming—but Being is.

We can recognize how all creation is established on an ascending scale so that step-by-step that which is being acted upon is lifted up so that it becomes, ultimately, an inherent part of that which is. It changes over in a series of creative cycles, which may be called re-birth or ascension or perhaps other terms—ascension out of one level into another, re-birth after re-birth—not the old idea of reincarnation now; do not get confused on that because it is not reincarnation as it is taught in the Orient—but re-birth after re-birth while we live on earth in this present time. There is incarnation but not reincarnation according to the Oriental concepts. But these cycles lift up so that that which is acted upon ultimately becomes an integral part of that which acts.

Now we see the garden down here—it is something which is acted upon by those who work in the garden. Sometimes I think more of you ought to do that. More of you ought to act upon the things in the garden, before they reach the table. But at the table you act upon them again, and what was a lettuce leaf or a carrot or something is acted upon and in the process it becomes an integral part of you, and as such has a part in the processes of acting upon while you take care of other carrots and lettuce leaves, or whatever you may be doing. Now we see that in the immediate cycle of our own relationship to nature, but this cycle also continues on the same basis, or same principle, in our relationship to God, extending into the invisible realm. And remember also that most of that which you do in life expression is particularly and definitely related to the invisible realm.

As far as physical, visual perception is concerned, we see the physical body—it is in the visible realm. We can see certain actions, but most of your living is already in the invisible realm, Because you cannot see your mind, you cannot see the thoughts of the mind, you cannot see the Spirit, you cannot see your feeling, you can see the actions which may result from feeling or thought—but you cannot see mind. You may see the results of the working of mind. So with respect to Spirit, with respect to mind, with respect to feelings or emotions, they are all in the invisible realm, directly related to you, and all actions have a relationship to this invisible realm. Life expression is primarily, with human beings as they now are, in and with the invisible realm—related to it directly. Most of life expression is not in the visible realm, but the invisible aspects of our own beings as human beings find expression and manifestation in or related to the physical realm. We have, in and of ourselves, under God, the definite manifestation of the visible and the invisible, so we do not have to try to figure out what it means to have a relationship to the invisible—we do already. 

And we remember that the Cloud of Glory relates to Life, we remember that the Light that Glows relates to Truth, we remember that the Fire that Burns relates to Love—and we recognize that these are the three aspects, the three primary aspects of the Spirit of God and that all three are in you now—and you do not have to try to get them, you do not have to try to establish a relationship, they are in you. All we have to do is understand the pattern of our relatedness to these three phases of Being which are the evidence of the presence of the One who Dwells—which is to say, the presence of the Reality of Being in you, not just over here somewhere in someone else, but you have, if your mind and consciousness is capable of accepting it and recognizing it, you have now, already, not something yet to be or to become, you have now the evidence of the presence of the Reality of Being in yourself.

This state of relationship to Being, in the absolute sense, does not have to become. You do not have to try to produce it, you do not have to try to believe it, you do not have to try to will it into manifestation. It is something which already is, and it is the is-ness of Being which gives you a starting point for letting that which is of Being in the true sense have action in and through you upon your environment, so that you properly, as a man or a woman, have your consciousness centered in identification, self-identification and self-awareness, with that which is acting upon rather than with that which is being acted upon in the range of your own body, in the range of your own environment, and all of your contacts in life.

Here we have the two patterns. The self-active pattern where the human being has his consciousness of identification centered in the range of that which is being acted upon; but as we come into the pattern of Reality, relinquish self-centeredness and self-activity, and become oriented in Being, we are simply recognizing the fact of Being which already is in us. Being identified with that, we have a consciousness of relatedness to that which acts, and we share the processes of action upon. Now if this be clearly seen, and you will recognize that I have given you a bit of review so that you could easily and naturally see it all falling into place, we have two distinct states for the centering of consciousness and self-identification.

If your centering of self-identification is in one state, you can try to use will, you can try to use faith, you can struggle, you can do what you will, and while you may make a little dent on some of your circumstances, you may seem to accomplish something part of the time, you are finding that it all turns into futility, no matter how hard you work, no matter how earnest and sincere or anything else. There is constantly a turning into a range of futility because your centering of self-identification is in a range of that which is being acted upon and that which is being acted upon is acted upon by many forces which are beyond your control. And out of this comes the idea of fatalism, or chance, or luck, or a lot of other ideas which do not have any basis in fact. So if your self-awareness, your point of identification is in and with that which is being acted upon, you may for a moment, establish a pattern of consciousness that God is acting upon you, and if you are thinking of yourself as something that God is acting upon, then for the moment you may have peace, for the moment you may say, “I had a beautiful experience”, but as soon as you move out here into the sphere of daily life, you find so many influences acting upon. Human beings, being governed by their emotions instead of their intelligence, all kinds of factors and interplay of forces at work, and only momentarily can you maintain what seems to you to be control, and the moment you relax your effort at will, according to the human concept, it is all swept away—you lose. So, it leads to futility.

On the other hand, you can reach a point where self-awareness, self-identification is established with that which is and even though your body may need some healing, no matter what is the case with respect to your affairs or circumstances or environment, you, in the sense of the centering or your own Being, you are identified with that which is acting upon—Being. You have the evidence of the presence or Being. So immediately, your body in relationship to any of its needs in the sense of restoration to health or anything else that is of your responsibility, comes into the realm that belongs to nature—even your own body. Not that you disregard the value or your body for it is the means of your expression, and without your body, you as Spirit, could have no the meaning on earth.

On earth, the body is just as important as the Spirit, for without the body the Spirit can have no meaning. But the whole is relegated to its proper place in relationship to nature, not down with the weeds perhaps, although some parts of it might correlate there, but in the upper strata if you are functioning correctly—but still nature. And you, the centering of Being, have self-identification with that which acts upon, and that means God. Not trying to be as God, but letting God be in you, manifest in form, and the pattern of that manifestation is through Love and Truth and Life and all the blended aspects of color in life which appear as we let the three primary colors of the Spirit be blended in all the different patterns or varieties which are possible in color from the three primary colors.

So here in this level of Being, in that which is and has no sense of needing to become—and there is the Secret, that which is has no sense of needing to become. And there you can tell where your self-identification rests, in the realm of becoming or in the realm of Being.

Now you may say, “But I have a lot of limitations. I have this need. I need to learn that. I need. I need. I want. I want. I want.” “The LORD is your Shepherd, you shall not want.” “Let not your heart be troubled.” A commandment. We could point to many indications. But what is it that needs to become, what is it that needs to manifest more fully, needs more knowledge, more of something or other? It is that which is properly in the process of becoming—but that is not you. That is the means of your expression in Being on earth which must become a completed and adequate vehicle for the manifestation of what you are already, for that which you are is and does not have to become. That through which you work relates to that which is in the process of becoming, and changes must be worked out there.

Where is the centering of your identification? If you feel that you, in the sense of your awareness of Being, must be in the process of becoming, you there in that moment, segregate what you conceive yourself to be from Being and establish yourself in the realm of that which is becoming, where change is absolute, and where any given form as it is cannot remain the same forever, not even for that long a time—for a few minutes, for a few hours. You cannot establish a static state. Try as you will, you cannot establish a static state in the realm of nature. It cannot be done. So human beings, feeling that they are in a realm where there is nothing certain but change—yes, we are, as far as our environment is concerned, as far as nature is concerned, as far as that through which we are working is concerned—but if we are subject to that which is subject to change, we are a far cry from Being in the image and likeness of God. We cannot have dominion there, we cannot have control there.

Now the sense of Being comes into the realm of self-awareness as we let go of the sense of needing to become, but if we take the false counterpart of that and develop a self-satisfied attitude with respect to what we think we think and that we believe we believe and so-on, and enter into smug self-righteousness or develop arrogance or human pride, we are not doing what I am talking about. In the world we have many, many people who are sincere and earnest according to their own light or understanding, but who have produced in themselves a sense of being satisfied. They have no sense of needing to become something other than that which they are, and yet their consciousness of identification is in the realm of that which is being acted upon, and it is not in the realm of Being. And that is where the mistake comes in, that is where the failure arises. And so we have generation after generation of earnest, sincere people coming into the world, being ever so good, but accomplishing ever so little. Oh, there has been a lot done and we thank God for the progress, but it is so small compared to what could be.

And in relationship to control—and that is the significant thing about dominion as it is put in Genesis, or a kingdom as it is put in the Master's teachings in the New Testament, is control, and control manifests by reason of intelligence, and the exercise of some force under intelligence by which the various factors are caused to blend together constructively, instead of being in a pattern of chaos where the movement of forces and factors tends to produce constant states of collision, human beings always running into each other and having a contest. “I am going to win. I am going to win.” A fighting contest. That is the realm of that which is being acted upon and it is out of control, because intelligence and the control factor are not allowed to manifest properly. So the forces that are at work through the factors that are manifest are in a state of chaos, and while there may be the potentiality of a collision, an accident so-called here, and they may veer off suddenly and try to not hurt anybody, they want to be real good instead of just running head-on, but still full of accidents, uncertainties, getting nowhere fast. That is the realm of that which is acted upon which is out from under control and we call it chaos, the kingdom of chaos.

As soon as we begin to have the intelligence factor of our own Being centered in the sense of identification with the intelligence factor of our higher points of Being, we begin to share the awareness of that which acts in relationship to that which must be acted upon. And there, once we have established that union of identification, there is no longer in the consciousness of the individual point of manifest Being the sense of needing to become. It seems however—to this outer focalization of consciousness which is supposed to be the extension of the inner—it seems that there is a great need for becoming. So here we come to another one of those secrets of Being, for instead of it being truly a sense of needing to become—in this centering of Being, the consciousness of Being, there is no sense of needing to become, but to the level of consciousness as man knows it as he emerges out of this mass, he thinks that is what it is—a sense of needing to become. It is actually a sense of needing to act upon, and in relationship to that which is becoming, in relationship to his own body, his mind, his awareness, his environment, his relationships, everything.

He has, correctly, the sense of needing to act in, with, and in relationship to that which is in the process of becoming, but he does not accept for himself in the sense of his centering and identification, the idea that he has the sense of needing to become for he is—and in Being there is no sense of needing to become—but the sense that is felt and translated into the conscious level of idea, should be seen as a strong urge, a longing, a driving force, whatever you want to call it, to act in relationship to that which should be acted upon in the processes of becoming.

Now what are we—centerings of creation or centerings of Creator? If we are centerings of Creator, we must have personal contact relationship patterns with that which is to be acted upon. This in you which must still be acted upon, whether in your body, your mind or any aspect of your life, does not deny the fact of the is-ness of your Being, not in any way, shape or form, when you learn to see the Truth clearly. It does provide you with personal contact patterns to, with, that which must be acted upon because if you were segregated from the realm that must be acted upon, you would have no starting point, and without a starting point, even with the realization of Being, you would still be helpless. You must have a starting point. And human beings get so mixed up here in this realm that they tend to object to or fight against the very things that provide them with a starting point for action in relationship to that which is under the process of becoming, and then when they resent, resist and fight against these things which give them the starting point, they break their polarity (if they had any) and identify themselves with that which is in the process of becoming—so then God is far away, they have no awareness, no sensing of that which is.

There are too many waves, too many forces—pushing, pulling, shoving—all seeming to be out from under control, unless we just exert to the utmost the forces of our human will. Then we get tired, and try to tense up, fight it, meet it, and gradually we get too tired and we relax for a moment and it just washes away like a castle built on the shore when the tide is coming in, and it is soon gone. Such effort, expended over and over again, defeats the human being, he feels all washed out, he feels tired, and he does not realize that he did not have to do all this at all. It was not necessary, it was not required of him, God did not ask it. When we come over to the point of Being, we do not have to try to do something we do not think we can do and call it will, we do not have to try to believe something—we do not believe and call it faith.

On the other side of this line, looking at it, looking at nature, looking at circumstances, looking at conditions from the standpoint of Deity and the centering of true intelligence, we rest within ourselves in the point of Being, and we know that no matter what happens, no matter who goes or comes or what conditions arise, Being as such cannot be touched, changed, destroyed, disturbed or anything, by anything that happens out here in the world. Being. The body through which Being manifests may be killed but Being is not disturbed. It is prevented from manifestation for the moment, yes, but the Being is not destroyed, the Being is, and nothing that man can do can touch Being in the sense of hurting it, changing it, nullifying it.

Man can nullify the action of Being in relationship to himself, by refusing to be obedient or responsive. He can nullify it in relationship to others, by interfering with them, or, shall we say as in war, or so-called accidents, someone loses a life. Well, that nullifies the action of Being, it brings it to an end for the time being, as far as that Being is concerned, at this level of being, in this realm of what we call creation. But Being does not end. Being still is. And it is from that is-ness of Being that we must work, it is there that we must be centered and have identification if we are going to have a consciousness of Being as we function or Serve with God in action in relationship to that which is in the process of becoming.

You must have this centering in consciousness to be a true Server, and then you will be working with God in action in relationship to the processes of becoming in connection with the minds, the levels of consciousness, in the people who are responding. They, in the sense of their consciousness or awareness of Being, their consciousness of Being is in the process of becoming centered and you have to provide the centering for them while they become aware of Being and finally become identified with Being. You will have to do certain things or help adjust certain circumstances, physically, mentally, emotionally, so that they will keep on moving toward that centering. Actually, those things would not make any difference if they would let them alone, but they will not. To them, these conditions or situations out here loom so big, are so important, that the idea of moving to the centering of Being is lost from consciousness, for the moment at least, and they drift back or plunge back into the realm of chaos. And so you have to provide the centering of Being for their consciousness while their consciousness goes through the process of becoming centered. Now actually, that is all we are concerned about to begin with, within ourselves.

If anyone says to you, “Well now, if you are a true Server, if you are a Son of God, if you are a daughter of God, if you are this or that, then command that these stones be made bread and I will believe you.”—do not let yourself be trapped. Refuse to do it, because then you would be be lost—it would not work. Do the thing that is right, regardless, and gradually there will be enough evidence of the presence of Being in you so that human beings will let go of all of their points of turmoil and chaos and gradually these things out here will be less important to them, this will be more important, and finally they will come over the line with self-identification oriented in Being. They will probably slip out again, back-and-forth a good many times before they learn to stay put. Meanwhile, you have to provide the centering of Being, identification in Being, for them. Once they come across that line, the problems which loomed so great to their minds, can be very easily dealt with. They are no longer big problems.

So it takes wisdom, true wisdom to understand how to help in the situation just enough, but never—you know of course you cannot clear the situation, it cannot be completely solved while he is out there in the kingdom of chaos, that is, while his centering of self-identification is out there in the realm of chaos. His body, his affairs, his circumstances, they can be out there in the realm of chaos. He can have all kinds of troubles, but remember what I told you, the formula is established in the Twenty-third Psalm, “Thou prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies”, and you have to learn, right in the presence of your enemies, to sit down at the table the LORD provides—which is what in Reality? The consciousness of centering in Being, identification in Being, and then you can deal with the enemy. But human beings say, “Deal with my enemies, make it all peaceful around me, satisfy my every question, do everything I want you to do. Then I will believe, then I will accept, then I will come over and be identified with you.” But it does not work that way—it never has and never will. So we have to be patient with all of this contrary, orneryness that is in human nature and gradually convince, gradually persuade. You have seen me at work, have you not, with you?

So, step-by-step we come nearer to the consciousness of centering in Being and then, of course as you draw nearer to that point of union with God—that is what it is—it is simply identification of your self-awareness in and with Being. It is not a matter of judging it or determining it on what the condition of your body is or how well, or how circumstances shape up out here, etc. You cannot really do anything in any big sense at least, with circumstances, until that happens. In the midst of the Garden is the place where the Tree of Life is, but we cannot move to that Tree of Life that is in the midst of the Garden until we first let this cycle of identification become.

Now in will, or the exercise of will, if we have this background, this consciousness, and the awareness that until we have that identification we cannot use will, for God cannot use will through us if we are not a part of God in any real, deep, abiding sense. Until this takes place—until we sit down at the table in the presence of our enemies, and then, having come to the centering of self-identification in Being, we do not suddenly try to do everything in such a hurry. We may realize there are emergencies to Serve others, but Being is eternal and for itself has no need to hurry. Have you ever heard me say to you, “I can afford to wait.” Can you? You see? If you are identified out here in the realm of chaos, you cannot afford to wait, you simply cannot. I can. That which is centered in Being—while it may act rapidly at times because of an emergency to bless or help someone else out here who is in trouble—that which is centered in Being has no sense of great urgency in hurrying in the human way. We may have a sense of urgency knowing that a lot of human beings are going to suffer needlessly if we do not get a job done. That is different. But Being is eternal.

So will—will that operates in this sense—must be the result of the working of intelligence which has awareness of the factors that are at work, and instead of trying to make this factor plow through to be that, and this factor plow through to be that—just picking one out and saying, “This is my baby. I am going to shove it through to fulfilment.” What do we do? We see all of these factors around here, and they are all working, and we begin to use intelligence in establishing a control pattern so that they will, in the realm of that which is being acted upon, act upon each other and we will let them act upon each other, back and forth, always keeping the door open, not shoving, not pulling, establishing that control pattern so that we hold this factor for a little bit, and that one, a control force exerting the working of will while factors work upon each other, and to the degree that there is response to the control factor, the individual focalization of consciousness, by reason of such response, is drawn nearer to the centering in Being, and the Power of God begins to work through this human being in the range out here that is being acted upon, and gradually, with the working back and forth, human beings begin to emerge and as they do, you provide more and more the essential factors to their coming to center.

But so far there are only a few at a time who emerge even a little bit above the mass level of consciousness. But you do not start shoving and pushing. Let them come in, let them grow, let them mature, give them a chance, do not rush. Take it easy. Faith—faith is knowing what you know in the centering of Being, and you do not have to try to believe something you do not believe because you know, and it works when the control begins to manifest from the centering of Being, because you are either identified in Being or moving toward it. That is the Victory.

© Emissaries of Divine Light