Commandment — Agreement — Fulfilment — Complement

Martin Cecil   September 4, 1977

We are aware of the necessity for connection between various aspects of the living design in which we work and move. We speak of the importance of the connection between heaven and earth. In the experience of human beings this essential connection has been absent in their consciousness. It has seemed to them as though the earth was some sort of entity all on its own. The word "heaven" has referred principally to something imaginary, or possibly to the realm surrounding the earth in which we behold the sun during the day and the stars and the moon at night. The heaven, however, we have come to realize is not merely a realm of imagination, nor is it merely the apparent realm of the universe around us.

Our consciousness of the heaven has thus far been somewhat limited because the adequate connection has not yet been made. Although we have awakened to something more than is apparent to most, we still are inclined to place considerable weight in the earth. There our values continue to be, at least to some extent. We may be deeply concerned about what is occurring in the earth, whether in our personal environment or in the larger world, but such concern has tended to trap us, with virtually all other human beings, in an endeavor to manipulate whatever it may be that is present in the earth and capable of our manipulation; in other words we have thought that it was important to manipulate the earth.

We realize now, factually to some extent, theoretically probably to a greater extent, that the earth simply reflects whatever may be present in the heaven. The heaven insofar as human experience is concerned might be identified as the state of human consciousness. This of course is not the true heaven. It is a false heaven which human beings inhabit and out of which springs all that occurs in earthly human experience. Most people are so fascinated by what is occurring in the earth that they tend to forget that what is happening is consequent upon what may be present in the heaven or the hell of their own consciousness. If we begin to awaken to the truth of the matter then we see how vital it is that an essential connection be made so that heaven and earth may be seen as being one in the true sense.

To do this of course there must be emergence out of the false heaven, in other words the first heaven. And the first earth, which is simply a reflection of that first heaven, must rightly pass away so that there may be the experience of the true or new heaven and the new earth; but for this experience to come the connection between the heaven and the earth must be restored in human consciousness. It doesn't need to be restored in fact, because it already is a fact, but it isn't a fact to human beings because it has not been present in their own consciousness. Consequently humanly speaking there has been existence in a realm of delusion, a realm of delusion that seems very real to most people but which in fact is unreal. We have for years in this ministry talked about the unreal but scarcely anyone has had any real understanding of the nature of the unreal, because it has seemed so real. The only way that we can know the truth is based in the fact that the connection between the true heaven and consequently the true earth is restored in the consciousness of human beings, ourselves presumably in particular.

We find ourselves this morning together at this place of connection. This place of connection is one place in this present moment but it also should permit the experience of what is describable by the words "of one accord." We are here present to be of one accord. To put it in another way, we are here to experience the reality of agreement. Many of you have come to recognize that the word "agreement" relates in a very specific sense to the Second Sacred School, to what was brought on earth at the time when Jesus was present, offering a facility for the manifest expression of the Lord of heaven and earth. It might be said that the central tone of the Second Sacred School, of what was brought to focus by this particular one on earth, could be identified by the word "agreement,"—spiritual agreement. This is what He brought. There are many in the world who characterize themselves as Christians but if there ever has been a state of disagreement it has surely been exemplified in what has been called Christianity. This should give pause to anyone who thinks of what is called Christianity as being the truth.

Where the truth is actually experienced there is the fact of agreement. Therefore if agreement is not being experienced there is evidence of the fact that something untrue is the known state. Agreement between human beings is only possible when there is agreement by human beings with the spirit of God. When this is the case, when human beings do agree with the spirit of God, immediately they find themselves in agreement with each other. Agreement with the spirit of God certainly doesn't cause everybody to become the same. That would be very boring, wouldn't it? There is something uniquely different insofar as each person is concerned, rightly so, but what that unique difference is can only be known on the basis of the individual agreement with the spirit of God.

Because at the time of the ministry of Jesus on earth there was so little agreement with the spirit of God the evidence of that fact was made abundantly apparent. There was scarcely anyone who actually and factually agreed with the spirit which was brought by reason of Jesus. There were some claims of the lips with regard to agreement but it didn't prove itself out. We have recognized that the only approach that can be made at this present time is the approach of the Third Sacred School; in other words an approach at a different level to that which was made at the time of the Second Sacred School. Human beings threw away that opportunity; they obviously rejected it. As is usual with human beings after they have rejected something, they tend to look back and think oh maybe they shouldn't have been so hasty and they try to pick it up again; but once something is rejected it's gone; it can't be picked up again. There is something else which needs to be experienced, just as when the First Sacred School ended in a pattern of disintegration it was necessary to initiate the Second Sacred School in consequence. So when the Second Sacred School ended in a pattern of disintegration there was the requirement of the approach through the Third Sacred School at a different level. Jesus certainly never tried to pick up the pieces of the First Sacred School; that opportunity was gone. But He did initiate something new.

That first opportunity was based in a quality of tone which might be described by the word "obedience." The opportunity to be obedient to the spirit of God was initiated through the First Sacred School, and this came to a very particular point of focus during the time of Moses. It is clear enough that that opportunity was rejected and the reality of what it means to be obedient to the spirit of God was never adequately experienced. So the First Sacred School was characterized by a tone which could be indicated by the word "obedient"; the Second Sacred School "agreement."

In making the approach of the Third Sacred School at the spiritual expression level of the earth aspect of the total whole of heaven and earth, necessarily there would be experienced what had not been experienced in the First and Second Sacred Schools; but the approach is different. We don't start out, as they did in the First Sacred School, by setting up a whole host of rules and regulations, commandments: "Do this! Don't do that!" This was necessary at the time of the First Sacred School in order that the capacity to obey might be developed, because, obviously, unless one has a capacity to obey, one will not be in position to be obedient to the spirit of God when the spirit of God begins to be experienced. So the capacity must be there.

Now we necessarily approach the development of that capacity from a different level, the level of spiritual expression, the level of the Third Sacred School; but we have to learn obedience just the same—obedience to the spirit of God. And we will find ourselves incapable of being obedient to the spirit of God, no matter how much we may think we want to, if we do not have developed in our experience the capacity to be obedient. If we have the experience of being undisciplined we have not yet the capacity to be disciplined, and it has to be developed, deliberately developed. The longing of the heart to be obedient to the spirit of God doesn't make it so. It merely may point the individual in the right direction but he has somehow to develop the capacity to be obedient.

The expression of the spirit of God can only appear on earth because of the capacities of human beings. If those capacities are held out and fail to be properly developed then the spirit of God has no facility for expression on earth. This is the case in the world as a whole and the result is we see everywhere the absence of the spirit of God in expression through human beings, and we also see everywhere the results of the absence of the spirit of God in expression through human beings. Theoretically this is easily understood, isn't it? But how are we factually to let it change? Well obviously we are not going to let it change unless we have some facility by which we may express the spirit of God, and part of that facility relates to obedience. We have to learn to obey the spirit of God as human beings.

If you all are here present this morning on a true and sound basis you are not here present because you mentally chose to be here present. You may think you chose to be here present but if that is the fact of the matter you are not present spiritually speaking. Your body may be sitting there but still you are not present. If you are aware of the fact that you are here because you could not help but be here, that you are compelled to be here, then you may begin to be here on a true and sound basis. It may be that you in fact have been compelled to be here by the spirit of God but you may be inclined still to take the attitude that it was your mental choice, in which case obviously you would be in a state of self-delusion; you would be claiming something that was not true. Only those who have been compelled by the spirit of God to be here, so that they couldn't really be anywhere else, have experienced something of what it means to be obedient.

Because of the conditioning of human beings in the world the way it is there is an inclination to kick against the idea that one was compelled: "Oh no, I'm really an important person. I make my own decisions. I decided to be here, so here I am!" Let us recall the words of the Master to His disciples: "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you." Now, we must have that experience and acknowledge it; otherwise we maintain in existence the human ego which prevents the individual from knowing the truth—he has not experienced what it means to be obedient; what it means to be compelled by the spirit. The effectiveness of what we are experiencing together now is dependent upon the extent to which all of you have been compelled to be here. It is not in the least dependent upon an assumption by anyone that he made a choice to be here with his mind. If that is the real reason why you are here, as I said before, you are not here, because we are speaking about being with one accord in one place spiritually, not merely mentally.

So we see that within the Third Sacred School there is what was brought to focus with respect to the First Sacred School. We can't get around it. There must be obedience to the spirit of God. When there is obedience to the spirit of God and the individual admits it, acknowledges it, in spite of the discomfort of his human ego, then there is a basis for agreement. If all concerned are in fact obedient to the spirit of God then they will find that they are in agreement with the spirit of God of course. They are not holding out anymore on the spirit of God, trying to make their own decisions; not only that, they will find that they are in agreement with everybody else who has done the same thing.

We have known these principles for a long time. We have known the theory but the theory is of little value until it leads to the fact, until there is the factual experience. Our spiritual agreement is based in the extent of our obedience to the spirit of God. So obedience to the spirit of God leads to agreement with the spirit of God and consequently to agreement with all those who agree with the spirit of God. We make this approach from the standpoint of the Third Sacred School: namely, from the standpoint of spiritual expression. Spiritual expression is the highest level in the earth. There is physical expression, there is mental expression, and there is a potential of spiritual expression. Spiritual expression is only possible because there is a spirit to express. So the spirit of God is an obvious prerequisite to spiritual expression.

The spirit of God must exist; otherwise we couldn't know what spiritual expression is; and we are aware of the fact that it does already exist although it has been excluded very largely from the experience of human beings in their state of disconnection with heaven in their own consciousness. We can't let that spiritual connection be restored and leave ourselves behind physically and mentally. Some have tried to do that but that leads to increasing irrationality. This is why I have emphasized the fact that when we do make a spiritual approach we are aware of the necessity of obedience to the spirit of God and agreement with the spirit of God, so that physically and mentally we may still be present. We are agreeing then with the spirit of God rather than with that peculiar and unreal entity, the human ego.

We recognize that the human ego is very closely related to what is referred to in Biblical parlance as satan, "that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan." As long as we bolster the human ego by imagining that we can make our own choices and we can be free entities and all this sort of nonsense, we trap ourselves from ever knowing the truth. Of course this is what has been happening on earth for a long, long time. Freedom is not the license to do as our human egos please. Freedom is only known on the basis of obedience to the spirit of God, which is free. If we exclude the spirit of God from our experience we exclude freedom from our experience. It seems like a contradiction or a paradox to people to accept the idea that freedom comes from obedience. Most think it comes from a rejection of obedience, which is the state of human beings everywhere. Obedience has been rejected by mankind as a whole, but has freedom actually been experienced? Some seeming liberty has been known in certain very restricted areas but human beings are certainly subject to controls in their experience, which are obvious enough when anyone stops to look at it.

There are states in the human nature condition of more or less restriction. Where the restrictions are less, that is thought of as freedom; where the restrictions are more, that is thought of as tyranny; but it is all included in the spectrum of slavery. There are some slaves who are less slaves than others, and because this is the total state of course people are inclined to grab at opportunities to become less subject to slavery; but they never experience freedom on that basis, because they are polarized in the state of slavery. Freedom comes now because a spiritual approach is made to the necessities of obedience and the necessities of agreement. As we begin to yield to the compulsion of the spirit and acknowledge the fact that this is what we are doing, so that we have no choice whatsoever in the matter, then we can move toward agreement. In the experience of agreement we find ourselves in position to know an increased spiritual expression—all of us together, not merely something individual. We find ourselves in a larger space of spiritual expression, and this begins to acquaint us with a tone that may be described by the word "fulfilment." I used the word "commandment" for the First Sacred School. Commandment, agreement and now fulfilment. The fulfilment comes because we begin to permit the connection to be restored in our own consciousness between heaven and earth. This connection relates to the Fourth Sacred School.

There are Seven Sacred Schools, seven levels, and the fourth is in the middle. It is the place of connection—the place of connection between heaven and earth—and when that connection is clear there is the experience of the fact that heaven and earth are one; that is experienced in our own consciousness. When it's experienced in our own consciousness, that is what we know; we know the truth, in other words. The fact that heaven and earth are one was true all along but we didn't know it. If we don't know that, we don't know the truth, and the only way we can know the truth is to allow this connection to be clarified, so that it is a connection rather than a division. Presumably we find ourselves, to the extent of our obedience and agreement and consequent fulfilment, aware of the reality of this point of connection that relates to what is described as a pure heart. If we use words to indicate the tone of these various levels—"commandment," "agreement," "fulfilment"—when we come to the area of connection we could use the word "complement." Complement. C-o-m-p-l-e-m-e-n-t. Something that fills up, completes or makes perfect. If we use the verb it would say: to fill out or complete. So if you complement the angel, you fill out and complete the angelic experience. This is the word that I have been using in connection with the Fourth Sacred School.

We might just look at the other word, which is c-o-m-p-l-i-m-e-n-t. It is an expression of esteem, respect, affection or admiration; and as a verb, therefore, to express esteem, respect, affection or admiration. Now that's quite different. We may have such an attitude toward the angel and that is one way perhaps of describing what our action might be. We express respect, we express thankfulness—we express all these things because we hold the angel or the Lord in high esteem. That indicates response, doesn't it? But the word "complement" with an "e" indicates that we are doing something in our expression; we are aligned with the expression of the angel. We are complementing the angel, so that the angel not only has expression in heaven but also on earth, because we have accepted the role of complement. We are aligned with the angel and the ego has been dissolved. There is no separate entity anymore, so that when we use the words "We are aligned with the angel," we would be inclined to change them to "We are the angel." We are the angel then in expression on earth because the human facility has come into place as the earthly complement to the angel. Then there is only one being—an angel in heaven incarnate on earth.

This is the true state. This is the truth for anyone, but it cannot possibly be experienced as long as the ego is preserved, and the ego is preserved as a seeming entity by the endeavor to remain separate from the truth. The existence of the human ego is only made possible by disobedience, and if you want to put a name to that you could call it, as many Christians have, original sin; but when those words are used it usually means something else in the consciousness of those concerned. But the original sin is in fact disobedience. This is why the First Sacred School was concerned with obedience on the road back to the restoration.

Now we can't make that our first order of business because our approach must be from the standpoint of spiritual expression—that's the first order of business. But making the approach from the standpoint of spiritual expression, we immediately recognize that there can't be very much spiritual expression in fact until our facilities of body and mind are obedient to the spirit so that the spirit can come on through. But if there is an ego sitting there big and fat in between and saying, "Well this is my responsibility! I'm going to determine as to what it is that comes through me, and I may consider perhaps letting a little spirit come through me on occasion,"—what a waste of time, because nothing can really come through as long as the ego exists. Part of the experience of spiritual expression is the dissolution of the ego. The human ego thinks of itself as some sort of separate entity, when it is merely an unreal entity, which proves its unreality somewhere along the way by vanishing from the scene of things. But the truth is present, the angel is present, and when we begin to allow a connection to be made in our own consciousness between heaven and earth we discover that they are one and we discover the reality of our own identity.

It could be said that there is the internal and the external identity, but they are one in fact. We only know this fact to the extent that the connection between heaven and earth is restored in our consciousness as human beings. The connection between heaven and the spirit of God has always been there; that is the angel; but we do not know that it has always been there, except in theory perhaps, until the connection between heaven and earth is restored. Then this truth becomes apparent in human consciousness. The angel then is present in human consciousness and in expression at that level. The angel has always been in expression at the heavenly level but when that expression is restored to the earthly level by reason of the expression in the heavenly level then the angel in heaven is present on earth, and the experience of that is known in what may be described as human consciousness, the consciousness at the level of the earth.

So there is the realm of connection, the realm of complement, permitting the revelation of the truth; not as though the truth were some separate state of affairs or idea of the mind, but the truth is found to be what we are. We are here present on earth to let this fact of connection be restored so that it may be known in human consciousness. Now we say that but probably a person is inclined to think of human consciousness as stretching way out there somewhere—the consciousness of mankind—but it's not separate from us, and insofar as any individual is concerned it relates to his own consciousness. Let the restoration occur there and it will inevitably occur everywhere else, but if you try to make it occur out there somewhere it will never happen, because that is the ego manipulating. The angel knows better, and that becomes quite apparent at the level where we are in human consciousness when we relinquish the concept of the human ego.

Get thee hence, satan—that's what it is; not some sort of vague floating entity who comes slipping in when we are not looking; he has been there right along—get to hell out of there, that we may have the experience of heaven and heaven may be reflected because there is an earthly complement, a means by which it may be revealed at the earthly level. This is the restoration, and it relates to what happens in our own individual states of consciousness. It doesn't relate, to start with at least, to anything out there.

© emissaries of divine light