Always Keep the Holy Place Holy
from
Represent the Truth
Martin Cecil April 21, 1974
My particular responsibility is to represent what is true and right in all of you, and many others, to the Lord. Perhaps this representation on my part can assist you to understand what your responsibility is. We accept people as they are. This, after all, is the only way that it is possible to do. We cannot take the attitude that such and such a person will have to conform to our views as to how he should behave before we are willing to accept him. Though we may accept people as they are, we only represent what is true and right in those concerned — we see no necessity at all to represent the things that are wrong. In this way we maintain the holiness of our own beings, and we make possible the reality of the holy place on earth.
This representation of rightness relates always to the present moment. Whatever it is that comes to point in the present moment as the specific responsibility for us to handle provides us with the means of right representation. If the present moment, and the circumstance of it, is ignored, then there is no right representation present in that moment. Regardless of what it is that the responsibility may be, that is the one in which there needs to be right representation. It is, as it were, that we proclaim, “This is the way.” What is the behavior which you accept for yourself in the circumstance of the moment? This indicates the nature of your representation. It isn't a matter of trying to see the things that are right and true in people; it isn't a matter of shoveling away the manure, so to speak, so that you can find the treasure underneath. It is simply a matter of providing right representation yourself in the moment. Then what is represented by you will find a chord of attunement in somebody else. That somebody else may be immediately present with you, or may be a thousand miles away — it makes no difference. Those who find that chord of attunement with your representation of rightness will be drawn to you.
If you are doing this and are right in the moment, then, in view of the fact that you are a part of a larger body, it may mean that the one who is being drawn to you is drawn to some other part of the body of which you are a part. So there is no looking for results, peering around to see which one is going to be drawn “to me.” This “to me” attitude is the self-centered attitude, isn't it? We do not particularly care where a responding one comes to, as long as he comes to the forming body of which we are a part. But it is right representation in the moment that establishes the point of contact with what is right in somebody else, and if the Tone is sufficiently clear in that other person the drawing power of that Tone will bring him home. This is the way it works, in simple terms, so it emphasizes the importance of the circumstance of the moment. We accept the circumstance of the moment — there is, rightly, no endeavor to escape from it. This requires a certain amount of honesty. All too many people subconsciously seek escape. We have taken note of the various mechanisms in this regard which assert themselves in human experience.
Sometimes the individual will feel too tired to accept the circumstance of the moment. The very fact of seeming tiredness is part of the circumstance of the moment. The thing which the individual should do is another part: How will this be handled? Will there be a representation of tiredness in the situation? A lot of people are feeling that way all over the place, so no doubt we will provide a representation in that regard for many. But that is exactly the wrong representation to provide. If we have begun to accept the responsibility of right representation, we know how to handle a state of affairs where we feel tired, and we do not permit our feelings to govern. We do the thing that needs to be done, in the way that it should be done, with an understanding of what it is we are about, for we are not here to represent human weakness. Most people find that very easy to do, and they justify themselves in various ways. But if we are representing what is true and right in people, we are not representing what is weak and wrong. Most are inclined to take the attitude that if some sort of weakness is being felt that this, while it may be unfortunate, is more or less inevitable because it has been so customary to identify oneself with weakness, thereby representing the weakness. We are here to represent the strength. And if a circumstance arises where there is a sense of weakness, what greater opportunity could there be than to represent strength? If we are feeling very robust, then there's nothing much of weakness to handle, is there? Mind you, there's nothing wrong with a sense of robustness — we have the responsibility of representing strength.
We represent what is strong and right in people. This is an interesting thing. We find ourselves, if we do this, in an assembly — parliament, congress, what have you. We didn't have to campaign; we simply assumed the position of representing what is right in people and were elected. These in fact are the electorate. No one can stop you from being a true representative of the people. You don't need to belong to any politicical party, and you don't need to campaign, in the ordinary sense at least. Your campaign is the correct representation, so that in relationship to every detail of your momentary living experience you represent rightness. And part of the representation of rightness is strength. It is possible to be strong, you know, in seeming weakness. So regardless of the circumstance, regardless of personal feelings, regardless of likes and dislikes, the sole concern is to represent rightness in people.
I have the responsibility of representing what is right in you and in others. I do not care at all to represent the things that are wrong. This makes me your representative of rightness. And you didn't elect me. And yet, if you are content to have the rightness in you represented by me, should there be an election I would be elected. Now, you need to see this in relationship to yourself, because you have the responsibility, individually, of representing rightness in your worlds. I could not represent rightness for you if I took as an excuse for not doing so the fact that there was some wrongness present in you. Neither can you take such an attitude with respect to those who people your world. Just because you might think there was something wrong inside someone — and no doubt there is — that's really none of your business, is it? Not if you are a representation of what is right. That's your business. And so, regardless of what may be wrong in anyone, anywhere, you still have the responsibility of representing rightness. The acceptance of that responsibility is what permits the reality of a priesthood to be a fact on earth.
Some people have found it easy, apparently, to acknowledge the rightness that was made evident in Jesus. And so they say, “Look to Jesus to represent your rightness.” But Jesus is not around to provide that representation. Where are those who will accept the responsibility of themselves doing it? This is something that is open to anyone. It has very little to do with orthodox religion as such; it has nothing whatsoever to do with politics. And yet, anyone, anywhere, at any time, may accept the position of the representative of what is right in people. And those in whom that rightness is strong enough will become your constituents.
The Priesthood, as symbolized by the tribe of Levi of old, was supposed to represent to God what was right in the Twelve Tribes. It certainly wasn't their business to represent what was wrong and bring it into the holy place. To come into the holy place it is necessary that one should be sanctified. One is sanctified by the truth. That sanctification takes place because the individual simply and solely represents the truth that is present wherever it is present in people. And that representation is not just a momentary thing, as though one were to say, “It's time now to go into the holy place, so I'll pick up my true representation and go marching in.” Representation relates to living.
My representation of what is right in you is not merely a matter of words in a service. If this was all there was to it it would be pretty thin, wouldn't it? You would have no sense of any substance to it; it would be a veneer. I doubt if you'd pay any attention. Of course, even though it does have substance, sometimes you don't pay any attention anyway. But the substance relates to living, and living relates to the present moment — out of which we never get. Can you take a day off? I'd advise you not to try it! Living is of the moment, the ever-present moment, no time off, no moment when you do not have the responsibility of representing what is right and true in people anywhere and everywhere. You don't have to pick this person out or that person out; you let them pick themselves out in response to your representation. You do not have to explain what the truth is, particularly; just represent it, just be it in relationship to the thing of the moment. And you can't pick and choose in that regard. Whatever the thing of the moment is, that is your point of reference in representation — whatever it is that arises, whether it's something anticipated or something which seems suddenly to appear. There is a representation of rightness into the sudden appearance; there's a representation of rightness into what is anticipated. The question arises always: “Is it a right person who is handling the circumstance of the moment?”
How often you have found yourself representing something that wasn't so right, maybe an attitude of resentment, an attitude of jealousy, an attitude of you-name-it, which is common in human experience. This is customary for human beings, to represent to each other the wrong things and, consequently, to destroy each other, to tear each other down. We are concerned not with the descending aspect of the creative cycle, but with the ascending — to hook people up with what is moving up. And that is what we are here to represent. We may say that this is vibrational hookup; we're not going to hammer people over the head and say, “Come this way.” We simply provide the essential Tone of Life which is generated by reason of right representation.
The words were written, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” How? By representing what is true and right. The voice of one crying in the wilderness is heard by those wandering in the wilderness, not those who are self-satisfied in the land of Egypt. This is rightly your voice, heard through every circumstance because you in fact are preparing the way of the Lord and making His paths straight — the way by which human beings who are willing may come back to the Lord.
There are many who wander in the wilderness, who are betwixt and between, so to speak. They may have one foot in Egypt still, but they don't really know where the Promised Land is. And they wander, and they wonder, in the wilderness. They may have emerged out of Egypt; they may still be clinging to certain aspects of Egypt, even as the children of Israel did after they were in the wilderness. “Oh, for those fleshpots!” Those who wander in the wilderness are more likely to hear the sound of the True Tone than those who are satisfied in Egypt; and hearing that Tone, because there are those who consistently provide it in the moment, they may be gathered together unto one place.
When the point of orientation is available, and it is there constantly, there are those who will come home. You do not have to try to persuade people. If we feel under the necessity of trying to persuade people it is probably because we are aware that we are not offering the True Tone in any adequate sense. So persuasion seems to be an acceptable substitute for the True Tone — trying to convince people. But a person doesn't come home on the basis of that. Sometimes people can be seemingly brought close by this means but, if the True Tone isn't present and there isn't an adequate response to that True Tone, the person who seemed to be convinced will depart. It isn't the fancy ideas of the human mind that bring people home or keep them in the vicinity of home when they approach. They never come home on that basis, actually. It is what is moving in the heart where the True Tone sounds. If the heart is too impure, no matter how persuasive you may be, the individual won't come home.
Now, the Priesthood are always concerned to maintain the holiness of the holy place, so that nothing that defiles or works abomination or makes a lie can be represented by the one who aspires to the Priesthood — he keeps the holy place holy. By the way, where is the holy place? Just exactly where you are in the present moment. So often the holy place is looked upon as being somewhere else; perhaps: “When I get through the day's work I'll be able to have a quiet time somewhere and enter into the holy place.” And what will you bring into it if this is your view of the holy place? — all the unholiness of the day? If you do, it won't be a holy place, will it? The holy place is nowhere else but in the present moment, in relationship to the circumstance of the moment. There can seem to be some pretty unholy circumstances. Does that mean that the holy place is out? It shouldn't, if you are there. If you're there representing what is right and true, then the holy place is there and the abominations cannot enter in.
Let no excuse cause you to allow abominations to enter into your holy place. Do not imagine that you can help others by becoming involved in their abominations so as to try to make them believe that you're not so different from what they are. In such case you sure won't be! The point is that they need to be different from what they are, and you provide the evidence of what that difference should be. Always keep the holy place holy because it is the place where you dwell. And you will never invite anything into it that is not holy, that is not right, that is not true, and you will never leave your holy place to go into somebody else's unholy place. This begins to indicate the nature of a Priest or Priestess in the Tabernacle of God — each one represents what is true and what is right and therefore holy.
It is my particular responsibility, now shared increasingly by others, to represent what is true and right in the Priesthood, that the veil between the holy place and the Holy of Holies may constitute no barrier anymore to the Shekinah — the evidence of the presence of the One who dwells. It is my responsibility in this hour to represent what is right and true in you. I would that all that is not right and true should be relinquished. But even if it is not, I accept whatever you are as a symbol of what you should be, and I represent what you should be. What is not true or right is always excluded from the holy place insofar as I'm concerned.
On occasion some of you may have been keenly aware of this when something that didn't belong was brought close to me. In such case it's almost as though there were a wall. Some, on occasion, have felt rather badly because of this. They came up against a wall. I've been judged and blamed because of this, or sometimes the individual will feel very badly — there must be something terribly wrong with the person concerned. Then there is indulgence in self-centeredness; weeping and wailing — “Oh dear. Woe is me.” Either judgment or such self-centeredness is quite unnecessary. Just recognize that there was something present that didn't belong, that's all. As you become increasingly aware of the True Tone you will know immediately what it was, too. You don't have to figure it out. Incidentally, this is the only way you can know what it is that doesn't belong. You can't tell by the judgments of the mind, which is inclined to say, “Well this is pretty good.” Some of the pretty good things stink. In fact, if you try to bring them along, try to push them into the holy place, you'll come up against the wall. Thus far, and no further.
Now, when you are true to the Tone yourself, that Tone will operate the same way through you, and others will, on occasion, come up against the wall in you. But you understand what it is — there is no condemnation. Some people get headaches butting their heads up against the wall, thoroughly convinced that what they are bringing is really needed in the kingdom, when it doesn't belong there at all. We need to learn to keep the holy place holy. We are only able to do this when we are keenly aware of the true nature of the Tone. The true nature of the Tone appears perhaps, in whatever measure, in a service such as this. It appears on the basis of whatever rightness there is available to represent, so it will appear in this unique manner on the basis of all who are here present. In another setting it will appear in another way. But the True Tone is always harmonious with itself, no matter how it may take form in any particular setting, though it does take form in a unique way with respect to the setting. This makes it impossible for someone to say, “Well, I know what the Tone is on the basis of my observation of the way it appeared in that setting. So I'm going to take this Tone now and I'm going to blare out in the same way wherever I am. I know what the Tone is. I don't need any more understanding in this regard. I know what the Tone is.” But the Tone is peculiar to the setting even though it's harmonious to itself in every setting.
The most vital thing, insofar as what is unfolding in the world now is concerned, is that there should be those who have a keen ear for the Tone. The Tone being reproduced sometimes gets off-key — then it is that others are being invited to be off-key. Those who have already some keenness of hearing will immediately be aware that it is off-key. Then with others there is the tendency to judge the off-key tone which they have touched as though it were the True Tone, emerging through this particular focalization, when it isn't at all. Woe unto those who offer an off-key tone as though it were the True Tone. So, how important it is that one find that True Tone, to become keenly aware of it.
Now, it appears in a service, but don't imagine that what is said in the service is the Tone. It is what is being conveyed by what is said that is the Tone. And if you don't perceive what it is that is being conveyed you don't perceive the Tone; you may hear the words and you may say, “Oh, those are wonderful words. Now I'll go out and I'll reproduce those words” — and we've had a lot of jargon appearing on that basis — but it isn't the genuine thing at all. It doesn't indicate what the Tone is. It may multiply human concepts pro and con, but what is the Tone? How much of the Tone do you think you have heard in what has been offered this evening, for instance? You've heard some words, but the Tone always has more depth to it than what may emerge in any particular service. Because, as has already been indicated, if it is the True Tone, it is a Tone of living, total living, not just the Tone of the momentary service. The Tone may be touched in the service but not yet really known. It comes through the experience of living. And those who begin to touch the Tone must be very cautious that they do not jump to conclusions and try to force or impose something on others before they themselves know what the True Tone really is. It is never a matter of forcing concepts about something on somebody else. You may think your concepts about the truth are better than someone else's concepts about the truth, but who's going to judge in the matter? It's not the concepts that count; it's the Tone of Living, the real Tone of Living.
The real Tone cannot be experienced by anyone who does not dwell in the holy place. To dwell in the holy place, what is right and true must be represented in the circumstance of the moment, in relationship to whatever is to be done or not done in the moment. How is the situation handled? By a true representative of what is right or by a representative of something that is wrong? That's always the question in the moment. And human beings have such firmly embedded habits with respect to representing what is wrong that it takes some real alertness to handle the momentary circumstance as it should be handled by a true person who is a real representative of what is right. And when what is right is represented for human beings consistently, those in whom that rightness is sufficiently strong will come home in spite of themselves. In fact, it could be said that you couldn't keep them away. There's no great task to bringing home those who are ready to come home — and that isn't everybody by any means — those who are ready to come home, when the right Tone is consistently there.
“I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” Here is the True Tone. Let that be your voice in the wilderness. We may abide in the holy place when our representation is true and right. And through the holy place Shekinah emerges, the True Tone is released, and the fact that the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, the world and they that dwell there-in, is made evident.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
