from
The Magic of Life or the Magic of Death
Uranda June 3, 1953 Class
We have been moving forward in the
pattern of the contest. Remember this: We did not ask for this contest. From
the standpoint of deity we did not ask man to fall. From the standpoint from
which we function we did not ask man to resist the patterns of deity for twenty
thousand years. From our standpoint we did not ask man to crucify our Lord and
King. From our standpoint we did not require that there should be any
Gethsemane for Him. But there was, and when He drew His last conscious breath
upon the cross, lapsed into coma, the command of the battle passed to other
hands than His, hands dedicated to His cause. And we are here because of that.
Our purpose is to quell the
revolution; for there have been those, and there are those, who revolted
against the kingdom of our King and they have said in their hearts that they
could succeed in their revolution and maintain their rebellion. But it is not
so. Our King has been long-suffering and He has been patient, that any and all
who would yield and respond might not perish because of the rebellion but
rather respond and become citizens of the kingdom. So we have not sought the
battle that looms before us; it has come to us unbidden, as it is put in the
Gita, “glorious and fair.” When the pressures come it is time to give
thanks unto God and to be thankful that the revolution of the rebellious ones
cannot be maintained forever.
The battle is being joined
individually and on many fronts—the pattern of the world situation, all of the
things that are at work in the world, on both sides. Those who at any level
stand for that which they recognize to be right under God are a part of this in
which we are engaged. As you have begun to recognize, the adversary is versed
in some of the distorted and reversed principles of magic up to a point, but
within the realms of the revolt. They do not know and cannot know, they do not
use and cannot use, the divine form of magic which is granted to our use. So remember
this whenever pressures appear, hold center and give thanks to God for the
battle that is drawn.
And remember what I have
emphasized several times: It is not your business to contend with the black
magicians or the patterns of black magic in the world; it is for you to remain
centered and hold steady under pressure, for if there be no pressure there can
be no victory. If there be the manifestation of the power of the unreal in the
world, the power in us must mount to a higher point than that power, and there
can be no manifestation of power without pressure. These are unnatural and
abnormal pressures because of the situation in the world mirage and the realm
of illusion. But the things of this realm of illusion must pass away and those
who are subject to them must make a choice and choose whom they will serve.
We have been using the patterns to provide you with a setting for the true working of the
power of God, true principles of magic, and so that you could more readily feel
and know the fact that you are in eternity and that which was true two thousand
years ago or four thousand years ago is true today, so that you may function
from the standpoint of eternity and not from the standpoint merely of a moment
of time in the cycle outworking—not limited to the concepts of a short cycle of
existence on this earth. You may recognize that the longings of your heart
which would avoid the pressures that arise are legitimate; for we all long for
that day when the Prince of Peace shall rule supreme upon the earth. But do not
let them be used by the adversary to make you turn from the fray, or to yield
your place of responsibility; for that would only prolong the agony and bring
havoc to yourself and to others. We are not here to play children's games. We
are here to be men and women, citizens of the kingdom in the service of our
King.
We are concerned about the
workings of magic, and everything is magic. Human beings begin to take their
blessings for granted; they cease giving thanks to God; they lose the magic of
life and it turns into a humdrum existence. They begin to lose the magic of
life because they have started to lose the magic of love and truth, and then
the colors are dulled round about, the beauties of the sunset are hardly noticed,
the blessings which God has provided day by day are either taken for granted or
ignored utterly, and lo, the magic of life is gone. So the individual is under
the magic of death, the black spell of the grim reaper; for there are only two
kinds of magic and no halfway realm between. It is a thin line between them.
Not a broad expanse of no-man's-land, just a thin line; and you are on one side
or the other with respect to every word and thought and deed.
If the magic of life is gone and
things look dull and discouraging and the expression of existence is in the
realm of rebellion and resentment, what do we have? The magic of death. And the
magic of death appears by reason of what? By reason of the magic of hate and
the magic of lies or falsity. Black magic has a triangle too. One point of that
triangle is hate; another is lies or falsity; and the apex, the focalization of
that, is death.There are only two magic triangles. There are many applications of those triangles, but in the basic
sense there are only two magic triangles: one of divine magic, love and truth
which come to focus in life; and the other, hate and falsity, which come to
focus in death. That is getting it down to the skeleton, to the bare factors,
so that we can see it for what it actually is, without regard to the clothing
or the shroud, or the appearance, or the mirage, or the illusion, or the
delusion—to see it for what it is so that we can know it and remember it. Blessed ones, until we reach a point in dedication where there is one thing
that means more to us than anything else, there is going to be a tendency to
waver back and forth across that line, and wavering across that line is
extremely dangerous. One might waver the wrong way once too often and never come
back, and that is tragedy. There must be a dedication to one thing—that this
earth, every part and parcel of it, shall be restored to the government of the
kingdom of our King.
I have had people say to me, “Well
I don't see why you are concerned about saving human beings. Look what kind of
creatures they are.” And basically I am not concerned about saving human
beings—I am concerned about serving my King and restoring His kingdom, and if I
am going to serve my King and restore His kingdom to Him it will be a rather
meaningless, empty gesture if there are no citizens in the kingdom. So I want
some people in it. So, incidentally, we will save some human beings.
I have had people say to me, “I
don't like pressure.” Well that depends. In the divine pattern of creative
function there is pressure, but it always brings joy and pleasure and ecstasy
and a realization of fulfilment and accomplishment. So there are those
pressures which are of the divine pattern. But in this contest in which we are
engaged there are pressures which none of us like. I have never felt any
pressure from the pattern of the unreal realm that I liked, but liking it or
not is beside the point—I thank God for it because it gives me an opportunity
to do something. If I couldn't work out a pattern in the realm of divine magic
so that there would be pressure, an opposition from the realm of the black
magicians, I would never get anywhere, I would never accomplish anything; and
neither would you. I have no desire to drift for eternity in a senseless sea
where nothing matters. So whether we like it or not is beside the point. From
the standpoint of what we are going to accomplish we like it; not because we
like the feel of the pressures as they are—they are not nice, they have all
kinds of nasty things in them and we do not like them as such—but we thank God
for them and we like them because this is a part of the way by which we get the
job done. So we thank God.
As the Master said, “When men
shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against
you falsely, for my sake, rejoice, and be exceeding glad.” Don't say, “Well I
don't like this. I don't like the accusations. I don't like the other thing.”
Rejoice and be exceeding glad. That is the attitude that the Master told us to
take, so let us take it. But let us note something very, very carefully: Any
human being who can be enticed into fighting against the devil becomes subject
to the devil. The devil has two primary policies: one, to make you crawl in
subservient submission; failing that, to make you fight him. Either way you are
doomed and damned.
As long as the devil can entice
you to try to use the devil's methods in the service of God you are really
serving the devil. And that is where so-called Christianity has fallen down,
because satan, going out to deceive the nations in the four quarters of the
earth, has deceived in the realm of religion as well as in other realms, and
the methods of the devil have been adopted for the so-called service of God.
So, while human beings shout that they are going to serve God, and they
presumably carry the banner of Jesus Christ, they are subject to the devil,
serving the devil, using the devil's methods, and that is not serving God.
Now you may say, “That sounds like
a harsh indictment.” I have not made the indictment. Human beings themselves
have made it upon themselves. These are the facts, not because I like it to be
so, but we have to learn to face the truth, for only the truth can make us
free. As long as we have some limited concepts in mind, believing those things
that are false, we are a part of the wrong triangle. What is it the Master
said? “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” And
truth is one corner of that triangle—love and truth. But you can think you love
God and have that other corner which should be of truth established in false
concepts or beliefs, because you may think it is an attitude of charity or understanding
or consideration: “We just have to be considerate of these people. After all,
they are good, earnest, sincere people.” They are. I am not saying anything
against them. I am merely pointing out that instead of having the corner of the
triangle established in truth it is established in false concept. And when you
come right down to it, what is the primary feeling pattern in the so-called
religions of the so-called Christian world? Love for God? or hate for the
devil? Which one goes deepest?
The pattern in black magic is: one
corner hate, any kind of hate, even hate for the devil. If you can be enticed
into hating the devil or hating anyone or anything, you are in the wrong
triangle. Hate which is the focus of such things as resentment, fear, etc.,
rebellious attitudes of all kinds. We do not have to rebel or be rebellious.
Why? We are the servants of our Lord and King, and if we are not rebelling
against Him we belong to His kingdom and there is no necessity for us to be
rebellious. About what? We are serving the King. We are citizens of the kingdom
and we do not need to rebel against anything. We are not the ones who are
rebelling. It is on the other side of the fence. They are rebelling against our
King. Let them do the rebelling. We do not have to rebel against them merely
because they rebel against our King. Stay centered in our King and we do not
have to rebel against anyone or anything.
If you begin to see this point you
begin to have the secrets of victory; for if there is resentment, or a
rebellious spirit, or fear, these are the things that come to focus in hate,
and hate is one of the corners of the wrong triangle, the devil's triangle,
black magic. The other one is false concept. And if you do not have false
concept you certainly will not have fear; and if you have fear you certainly
have false concept. So it comes to focus in death. We look out into the world
and what is it that we see? Human beings subject to death. Their great
certainty is death and taxes, while they exist. That is their great certainty.
What is our certainty? God, life, the beauties of being, the enduring qualities
of truth, the wonder of God's love, and the reality of the Book of Life.
You begin to see the difference,
so that you cannot be enticed into rebelling. Rebelling against what? The only
direction in which you can rebel is against God; so if you rebel, you are
rebelling against God, even if you think you are rebelling against the devil.
You aren't. So this contest—it is a battle, yes, and there are going to be
pressures, yes, but are we going to fight with the devil's methods? If we are
we are going to be subject to him, if he dictates our methods, our patterns and
our programs, who is our king, I ask you?
Let us remember that we have a
King, and our King has no need whatever of the devil's methods. Believe it or
not, He can win the victory without the devil's help, without any of the
devil's methods, without any of the devil's wisdom or knowledge or
understanding, strange as it may seem. Take an honest look and you begin to see
how human beings anticipate God's victory but they are going to have to work
and be practical now, be practical and really get the job done in a hurry. “We
will have to use some of the devil's methods to win the victory for God.” And
you see it permeating practically every field of human endeavor, up and down
the line. To take the attitude that you have to fight against the devil, no
matter what your religious concept or background or belief, what is it? You
have to fight against the devil? It is a declaration, “I do not trust God. I do
not know anything about the power of God.” For if God is almighty, why should
you be concerned about fighting the devil, unless you are subject to the devil?
And if you are not subject to the devil you are subject to God; and if you are
subject to God, He is almighty and there is no necessity of fighting the devil.
It is as simple as that.
The way is easy and the burden is
light. Once the human consciousness begins to let go to these basic truths of
being, we begin to move into a realm where there can be victory after victory
for our King. Human beings have failed and fallen in various ways so often,
bringing His name into disrepute, to make it appear to the children of men that
if you want to be on the victorious side join up with the devil. There it is.
What is our choice? “Now,” you say, “it sounds to me like there is a
contradiction somewhere. You say we are in a contest, and yet we are not going
to fight with the devil. How is that?” There is a battle drawn. You know, I am
going to let you in on a very great secret; it is very simple, and I trust you
have realization enough to appreciate it. There is a battle drawn in the four
quarters of the earth. If we stop fighting with the devil and so function that
it makes the devil so afraid that he is going to start fighting with us, we
have got him! You see? It is very simple. As long as he can make you afraid of
him so you are fighting him, you are subject to him. Once you start serving God
he begins to be afraid of you, so he forgets how effectively he has used this
trick to delude human beings down through the ages and is driven by fear and
desperation to fight with us. And God is almighty.
Do we have to fight with the
devil? Do we have to soil our hands by attempting some kind of a physical
contest with the bloody demon? No! If we stand steady and are not afraid of
him, if we are really serving God. We are on God's side. We have not rebelled
against Him, and we are not rebelling against Him. And if we belong to Him
there is no need to rebel against the devil, is there? No. We do not rebel at
all. Rebellion is not necessary. Resentment is not necessary.
Should we resent? You know,
speaking from the standpoint of inner being, the greatest test, shall we call
it, that I ever faced was on that one point; the nearest I ever came to
disobeying my King was on that one point. Where I stood at the foot of the
cross, I had watched the patterns of indignities human beings had heaped upon
Him, and He had lost consciousness on the cross, gone into a deep coma, and the
responsibility of what should be done was passed to my hands in that moment.
And I almost let resentment against human beings and what they had done against
the world of unreality that had treated Him so, against evil in all of its
forms—I almost let it make me disobey. If I had, none of us would have been
here; the world of humanity would not even be here. I could have annihilated
the whole human race in that moment, the way the pattern was set. But what a
futile thing that would have been. I would have been annihilated with it. What
a terrible thing! On the face of it, it would have made everything that He did,
His coming into the world and facing all these issues, to be absolutely
worthless, absolutely futile, all in vain—that He should have been born and
walked among men and proclaimed the truth, and all the things that He did, the
way He had met the issues right down the line until He drew His last conscious
breath upon the cross. So, having passed that test in that moment, I cannot
conceive of any other test.
Why do all of these things in the
world mean so little to me? Why the pressures? You say it has been patience.
Yes, but I have been working for over twenty thousand years to achieve this
result. The patience of an hour, a day, a few weeks, a few months or a year or
two. Patience, yes. But why can these attitudes be maintained, as you have seen
them done? Because having met that issue successfully there isn't anything on
earth could make me feel like rebelling against humanity or against the devil
or against the world of the unreal, or even resenting it. I despise it, the
realm of the unreal—not the people in it, but the ugliness and the sordidness,
the filth of it—but that does not mean that I resent.
No! If you can be tricked into
resenting, you are in that moment tricked into serving my adversary. And it
does not make any difference what you think you are resenting; for the moment
you give your heart and mind to resentment of anything, any person, any
situation anywhere, that is one of the lines at least to the point of hate in
the triangle of black magic, and moving toward that focus there are concepts
and beliefs and ideas that are false in your mind, and you start saying things
that are no more true than any of the devil's lies. So, immediately, you have a
focus in the triangle of hate and false concept, and the other point of that
triangle is death.
Our business is to help people over
the line from one triangle to the other, where they may know the wonder of
God's love, the beauty of His truth and the glory of life; for this is the
divine creative triangle of heavenly magic, the magic of the kingdom of heaven
that is at hand, the magic of the Christ spirit, through which our Master
performed so-called miracles—the works of the Father made manifest, works which
we are to do and which can be done in and through us if we remember who we are,
where we are, and what direction we are moving, and to whom we belong. It might
be well to remember that. Always, if some feeling current, some deep impulse,
wishes to take hold of your heart and to abide there, stop and look at it. You
might be entertaining an evil spirit.
But it is all right to entertain
angels, the spirits of our Lord and King, in your heart. If they fit the
creative triangle of heavenly magic, let them in. If they don't, must you fight
with them? If you do, you are subject to one of the devil's oldest tricks. He
has a bagful of them. Most of them are basically the same, as I mentioned
before with respect to black magic; but they have many different forms of
manifestation. It is one of the devil's oldest tricks. Must you fight with the
devil to escape from him and reach God the Almighty? You must think He is only
partly mighty. He or she who has the courage as a man or a woman to turn his
back on the devil and face God the Almighty finds that instead of providing a
human shield to protect the devil from God he becomes an instrument through
which the power of God works to meet the devil, and how the devil flees!
As long as he can keep you
fighting him he knows that God cannot do anything to him without hurting you,
and God doesn't want to hurt you. Respond to God the Almighty, stay centered,
and the power of God begins to work through you, the almighty power of God. And
oh how the devil flees! So he will use every trick in his bag to keep you from
doing the one thing that gives you freedom, the beauty of life, and lets the
power of God work. We look out into the world and we see how satan has indeed
deceived all nations in the four quarters of the earth. But when it comes to
the contest in actual fact—whether it is you as a person, a small group, or all
the responding ones on the face of the whole earth—when the devil becomes so
afraid of you that he wants to fight with you, if you stay centered in God the
power of the Almighty works through you—as it is stated here, “And fire came
down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” So let it be. Keep centered
and remember your responsibility as a citizen of the kingdom, a servant of the
King. Let us all be loyal. There is no place for traitors in the kingdom of my
King.
© Emissaries of Divine Light