Breathing-out and Breathing-in

Breathing-out  and  Breathing-in

from  the  Positive  Power  of  Spirit

Martin Exeter  November 2, 1986

Life is simple. Because of this the real experience of life eludes many people, because they are hung up with complexity. It really doesn't matter what anyone else does. To get down to this sort of brass tacks is very reluctantly accepted by the pallid sort of people who constantly undertake to blame somebody else or to judge somebody else, imagining that that will take the spotlight away from their own behavior.

From my own standpoint, back along the way in particular, I was aware of some extraordinary behavior on the part of various ones who were associated with the Emissary ministry. But what difference does that make to me? It makes a difference to them presumably, but insofar as I was concerned I had the responsibility of providing the stable point in spiritual orientation that was required. And I don't see anyone else anywhere being in any different position. Most others didn't see themselves that way. But finally, there are those who do. Regardless of what anyone else may deem to be their required behavior, one simply assumes responsibility for what one knows for oneself. As there are those who do this, the fact of being with one accord begins to put in an appearance. It certainly isn't based at all in one's own behavior in the past or the behavior of anybody else. It is based in the immediacy of spirit that is present now, to be given expression now in the fulfilment of the responsibility of providing the essential focus of spirit on earth. One has to do that for oneself; no one else can do it, after all. And when that attitude of responsibility is taken it makes utterly no difference how anyone else behaves. One still has that focus point of responsibility.

The behavior of others, if it can throw one off from providing that point of focus, indicates immediately that one is not assuming responsibility for the unwavering expression of spirit. "Someone else did it to me. They caused me to feel that I wouldn't be able to express my beautiful character if I was in their vicinity." Well I don't know how beautiful my character is, but I do know that there is the responsibility of providing the spiritual point of focus, and I trust that there is no one around who can cause me to deny that. Is not this, again, something that any one of us could say with respect to ourselves? People are very revealing of themselves. There is no necessity to judge anyone. They paste it up all the time. You just observe, that's all. It doesn't make any difference to oneself because one simply still has the same responsibility as before, no matter how anybody else behaves. So we accept this, surely, as the basis for living.

The theme these days may be said to be the spiritual expression approach. How simple. How very simple. Why indulge in complexity, which brings so many other things into the picture which have no business being there, and particularly the behavior of other people? I suppose in one sense I could say, I don't give a damn how anyone behaves. Do you take that attitude too? I don't mean that there is no concern to provide what is necessary in the way of a stable point for other people, but whether they accept it or not is their business. One may say of oneself, "Well I'm going to keep it steady, that's all, and do it for whatever length of time it needs to be done or for whatever length of time I'm on hand to do it." This is an indication of the nature of my own attitude in this regard. And it's because there has been something more or less stable there for a period of time, that the results of that have put in an appearance. In the ordinary course of events human beings want instant results. Nobody can wait. Patience is increasingly something of the past, left behind.

Let the positive expression of spirit be maintained—primarily by men, but also in concert with those women who will agree to it—and let the creative process work. There is a simple summary of the reason for one's presence on earth, and how the part may be fulfilled. Complicated, complex? I don't think so. Simple. The complexities are a means of evading the simple point. "Well things are so complicated!" This is a statement that is frequently made by people. No, they're not! They're absolutely simple. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. It's just as simple as that. Well we'd better get around to letting the heart be purified then, that what is thought may be true—and then, so is he—the truth is revealed.

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the creative process. The creative process is not something separate from me." Can we say that? Only when that can be said are we in place, and it is only then that it is safe for someone else to associate with us. Back along the way I wasn't sure whether it was safe for others to associate with me but I was darn well going to find out. I find out by discovering whether it's safe for me to associate with me! And it is basically the same thing for anyone. There was someone of whom I was aware who took that attitude with respect to himself and opened the door for me. As there are those who take this attitude for themselves the door is opened for others, but only that way—not by meditating on it, not by discussion, not by trying to learn the laws of life, whatever they may be, but simply by assuming the responsibility for oneself to maintain that focus of spirit of which we have become aware. Let us not deny that. We are aware of it. Because we are aware of it we have the responsibility, whether we like it or not. There are a lot of people who aren't aware of it, but we are. So there is no excuse there, or anywhere else for that matter.

We assume together the responsibility for providing, as individuals, that focus of spirit, so that others may be safe in associating with us. Has that always been the case for you? I know it hasn't always been the case for me in times past but I trust it is pretty safe now, safe enough to get the job done if there are those who will assume the same stance. I have never suggested that anyone assume a stance that I have not assumed myself, but I certainly have suggested that that stance be assumed. And there are those who have taken me up on it. Thank God for them. Some of them are here present no doubt. But it is only when it is actually done that there is something of weight present on earth, one might say an immovable mass. And from the immovable mass proceeds the irresistible force. I think many have thought of spiritual expression as being rather a fanciful thing. I have suggested that one should never underestimate the power of spiritual expression, but of course to know what that power is there has to be spiritual expression—one's own. Then you know the power of it. That power is an open invitation to all whose hearts will permit them to come near into an awareness and experience of the creative process.

We have seen the creative process as centering in our King. "I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the creative process. Abide in me, and I in you." Sharing this, the door is opened on earth for anyone to come home to where they belong. Whether anyone does it or not is beside the point. If our continued stability is dependent upon others being affected by it according to the way we think they should, we won't be stable for very long. But when it doesn't matter at all what anyone else does, then finally there is a point of stability. And there are those who will be drawn by the magnetic force of it, the power of it, the power of love we say—a very different sort of love to what human beings have thought of as love. It is the creative power operative throughout the whole universe now. What do human beings know about it? Virtually nothing. They know nothing about love, in other words. But to participate in the creative process is a participation in the moving power of love. To do that requires a pure heart. The pure heart makes possible the movement of spirit to emerge out of heaven into the earth.

"Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." That particular wording was preceded by something concerning peace. "My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Human beings are great at talking about peace, rallying about peace; even, it seems, fighting for peace, as though peace was a human production. Human beings cannot make peace. Peace is the evidence of a pure heart, that's all. Without a pure heart peace remains unknown, impossible of knowing. So words are bandied about concerning peace which have no bearing upon the experience whatsoever, and never could have, no matter how fancy the words. Let the heart be purified.

We are aware that repentance is required if there is to be a pure heart, and we are also aware that repentance is not a one-shot deal. We have seen it related to the analogy of breathing. Repentance is breathing out. If we breathe out it becomes most necessary to breathe in again. When there is repentance, so that the old controls that operated in our existence are relinquished that way, they are breathed out. Let them go. Then there is air, the air of the spirit, waiting to rush into the space created by the breathing out, by the repentance. There can be no experience of the purifying power of the spirit unless the spirit is breathed. It won't be breathed in until you have breathed out what needs to go, until there has been repentance.

The clutter that has maintained the disturbed confusion in human hearts must be breathed out. "Let not your heart be troubled." Repent! Breathe out the trouble. "Neither let it be afraid." Breathe out the fear. And behold, breathing in becomes an absolute necessity. I don't know if you have ever tried breathing out and holding it; it won't last very long. You have to open up with a gasp, breathe in. Some people have tried repenting and holding it, weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth, casting dust and ashes upon their heads. What a useless undertaking. Just breathe in. "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Breathe in. When the Lord God created man He breathed, as it is put, "into" his nostrils—but I think it was "through" them—the breath of life. Well that was both breathing in and breathing out. We do it all the time. Let it portray for us how we operate spiritually. We have an attitude of humility and repentance constantly. We know we are associated with something that is pretty rancid here on earth. Let's breathe it out. Repent. And breathing in, it is the breath of life. The heart is purified this way.

The heart is a useful organ by means of which the blood is circulated, but it is the breathing mechanism that purifies the blood. And we may see in that that it is not an unnatural process. There has been some sort of a big deal made about repentance, some sort of a big deal about exhaling. But we simply do it. And because we do it we inhale. The breath of life is then in our nostrils once again, and the experience of peace comes. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" and all that characterizes God, peace included. No human beings can get peace. All they can do is to permit their hearts to be purified, so that they need no longer be troubled or afraid. Then the experience is peace, peace given by the One who breathes life through the nostrils of man. That wasn't intended to be something merely of long ago—just a momentary artificial resuscitation, somehow bringing life into the dust of the human form, and thereafter let her rip! The breathing is the natural process divinely designed by which the heart is purified and kept pure. And we share that as we choose.

"My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you." The world doesn't give peace. People are looking all over the place in the world for peace. It ain't there! Peace is simply the evidence, in human experience at least, of a pure heart. Let the heart be purified and peace is known. Let the heart remain impure and peace can never be found. Simple, isn't it? Not very complex, after all. So in this simple way let us share in breathing the breath of life because we're happy to repent and we're happy to receive the Holy Spirit breathed through our nostrils.

I rejoice that in this hour we have shared now in the experience of something of that breathing, that the heart might be purified and that peace might be known.

© Emissaries of Divine Light