White Raiment of Illumination
The King's Court
Uranda September 15, 1953 8:00 pm Anniversary Meditation
In our pattern of Anniversary Meditations, we come to this evening hour on September 15, 1953. Last evening, as we shared an hour of Meditation, you moved into a deeper realization of the means whereby the design in thought or idea, concept or belief, becomes animated, or becomes a living, meaningful thing. The Truth, through the mind, through the working of intelligence, provides the design, the factors of form in concept or belief. Love, through the heart, animates that which is accepted by the mind. The physical body receives that which is so established, for the body as such has no choice but to receive that which is imposed upon it. We began to comprehend and realize this process by which something ascends to a given point in the human being, by his acceptance of the Kingdom-of-Heaven-at-hand idea in the pattern of Truth, and Love comes down out of Heaven from God to animate, or give life to, the accepted idea. We noted how it was, and is, that human beings accept certain things in the sense of intellectual beliefs, but that which is animated in the actual expression of their lives takes form, or has form, on the basis of resentment ideas, fear ideas, rebellion ideas, or hate ideas. The real feeling manifests in the range of something which carries a critical, condemnatory or destructive attitude, and that which is of the Divine Design, even though it be seen, is not animated in the individual life because there is no particular feeling in regard to it.
I would share with you a particularized Meditation which takes into consideration not only this point but the other points we have covered so far, in relationship to polarity or centering in Deity, under the One Law, and the principle of giving into life, or the expression of life, that which is to return, for, “As ye sow, so also shall ye reap.”
In undertaking to live by what is sometimes called The Golden Rule—“Do unto others as you would have others do unto you”—human beings very often interpret the Golden Rule idea on the basis of selfish, self-centered designs, and they think they would like such-and-such a thing done unto them, when they have failed to take cognizance of that which is ultimate in the pattern, that which would derive, that which would appear as a natural result. In other words, the human interpretation of that which the individual would like to have done unto himself is very often contrary to the true design.
So, we need to begin to see these things in relationship to the reality of control. We have used the word, control, many times and have considered it from the standpoint of Dominion, or the Kingdom of Heaven that is at hand, but until the Cycles of Illumination begin to unfold, the Kingdom idea, or the Dominion idea, even though it be accepted intellectually, does not become adequately animated through the heart, and consequently there is no force in the individual life in relationship to the idea.
One of the factors which enters in here, if polarity is not correct, is that of self-centeredness. Illumination comes when the mind accepts the Truth idea, and the Dominion idea, in a manner which allows the heart to animate the Dominion, Kingdom idea. Any constructive idea which becomes animated through the heart brings some degree of Illumination, which is to say, vividness of comprehension and appreciation; for Illumination is simply comprehension coupled with due appreciation. And by reason of appreciation there is the acceptance of value.
Now, the human tendency, when elements of self-centeredness remain, is to devise a pattern of concept or idea which the individual deems to be acceptable to himself, which is to some degree animated by self-interest through the feeling nature, and then to ask, as it were—perhaps not in so many words, but in attitude, in practical function—to ask that this individually devised idea pattern be received as a completed, or ready-made object into Center. The individual in this particular situation is following the world method. He devises something in his own mind, according to the pattern of what he deems to be pleasing, desirable or suitable, and then he prays the Lord to receive into Center, as a part of Center, that which he himself has devised. When that which is so developed is not received into Center, the individual feels that he himself is being rejected, or in some fashion inadequately appreciated.
The right pattern, the Kingdom Pattern, causes the individual to relinquish his ideas and concepts of that which is seemingly desirable, and he does this relinquishing without qualms because he knows that such talents and abilities as he may have are derived from the Lord, and that the Lord is not arbitrarily going to disregard that which the Lord Himself devised, that which the Lord Himself bequeathed, in image and likeness of God to the human form, in capacity and ability. Therefore, there is true trust, and the individual knows that that which is true in relationship to himself will endure, and that which is not true will not endure. Therefore, he has no qualms about trusting the Lord and he feels no necessity of trying to impose his self-made designs upon the Lord if he is, himself, as an individual, to be received by the Lord. Therefore, such an individual, responding truly under the Law, in harmony with the principles we have thus far considered, comes to Center as an individual, naked insofar as the clothing of his own concepts is concerned. That which he has woven in concept he sets aside, willing to trust the Lord's designing. He knows that whatever comes forth must be given form by himself, that he has a part to play in any case, and so he comes to stand, naked and unashamed, before the Lord, not physically naked but mentally naked, his mind at peace and at rest.
“Be still, and know that I am God.” Having allowed the spirit of shame to vanish away because he has sought and received forgiveness, he is ready to stand naked and unashamed before the Lord, not physical nakedness but mental nakedness. While the individual seeks to retain the clothing of his own mental designing, he is, regardless of any concept contrariwise, still subject to the spirit of shame; for the individual does not clear from that spirit of shame, in actual fact, until he has sought and received forgiveness.
In the process of receiving forgiveness, the individual relinquishes his predetermined concepts, ideas, and beliefs, with respect to the particularized pattern of his own being and of his function as a Being. Human beings, in this regard, have failed to recognize how consistently, how repeatedly, they project from themselves the concept patterns which they are, in effect, asking the Lord to receive into Center. They have designed and devised something which they deemed to be good, and they come to present their ideas, their designing, before the Lord, asking the Lord to receive their designing and to relinquish the Divine Design. When the Spirit of Animation does not immediately appear from Center then, to truly give meaning to that which is so humanly designed, the individual feels that he has somehow been rejected and he begins to try to give meaning to his own designing, and in so doing he begins to engender the support of others in order to give form to his own designing. The human being who develops these ready-made designs and tries to persuade the Lord to receive them into Center is defeating himself, and is not coming before the Lord naked, and therefore he wears the garments of shame, even though he may imagine, in his arrogance and egotism, that he is no longer ashamed or that he has relinquished the spirit of shame.
But the shamelessness here mentioned, in relationship to coming before the Lord naked and unashamed, is something that can be a reality in the individual only when he comes naked—naked of his own idea-concepts which would have to be received by the Lord in order to receive the individual.
The Lord is always ready to receive the individual—there is never any question in this matter—any individual, every individual, you! The Lord is ready at any time to receive you. You do not have to wait until some peculiar season works out. The Lord is ready in any moment to receive you. If there is delay, it is because you are not yet ready to be received by the Lord, and the delay is not with respect to the season of the Lord but with respect to the seasons of your yielding, your response, and your coming before the Lord. And while the individual maintains the mental garments of his own designing in the sense of concept, idea and belief, he is, regardless of any of the concepts he may have notwithstanding, still wearing the garments of shame.
The individual is not supposed to devise and design his own garments, and the Lord is not supposed to receive the garments of human designing. From the Lord’s standpoint, there is always a readiness and a willingness to receive the individual, but the individual, in effect, says: “Receive the garments of my designing and I will let you receive me.” But the Lord does not receive the garments of the human designing, and therefore He does not receive the individual. It is of these that it is written that, “They know not that they are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and naked.”
In the Cycles of Illumination, each one who continues to move forward comes at last to know that when he seems to himself to be naked, as he stands unashamed before the Lord, he is in that moment not naked. While he comes to the Lord, or tries to come to the Lord, clothed so that he will not be naked, he is, in fact, naked. But, when he at last reaches the point where he seems to himself to be naked, then he begins to wear white raiments so that the shame of his nakedness shall not appear. As we begin to comprehend these things, we can have a deeper realization of the reality of Control, for the human mind assumes that control must come in some particular fashion or appear in some particular form, the form and fashion of his own designing, and he knows not that he is naked—naked in the sense of the garment of White Raiment, not naked in the sense of the garment of his own designing. When we come to stand naked and unashamed before the Lord, we are not, to the Lord, naked; for then we are clothed with the white raiment of the Lord's designing. And the Light of Illumination is the white raiment.
Man may receive, and to some degree comprehend, the Truth idea. He may hear it, and in the sense of belief accept it, and forthwith assume that he has the basic condition which will allow Illumination. But he takes his view of Truth and designs it and shapes it, and moulds it after the fashion which he deems to be pleasing to himself according to his assumption of Deity, or the prerogatives of Deity. Therefore, he has woven his own garment and abides in darkness. But he who truly trusts the Lord, knowing that the Lord has granted him his abilities, his capacities, his opportunities, in the image and likeness of God, has no fear that the Reality of his own Being is going to be violated when he allows the Divine Design to appear. And the white raiment of the Divine Design is the Light of Illumination. Having relinquished the human design, the individual is in position to see the Divine Design.
In the past, as I have presented to you various word pictures of the Divine Design, so that you could comprehend enough of it to be willing to receive it, the human tendency has been for you to take the Truth idea of the Divine Design and weave it into the pattern of your own designing, thinking that you were serving the Lord, thinking that you were going to have comprehension and use your God-given opportunities, presumably in service. This continual distortion, whereby the White Raiment was rejected, has delayed the outpouring of the Spirit in the larger sense and kept you from the deeper Illumination wherein you come to wear the garment of White Raiment in relationship to your mind and heart. The body has no choice but to receive that which is imposed upon it, the garments that appear through the working of the mind and the heart. It is not needful that you be concerned about getting the garment of white raiment for your body; for your body wears the raiment imposed upon it by the mind, which is to say, your body wears the raiment in outer form which your mind wears in the invisible realm of mind. The white raiment for the mind makes possible the manifestation of white raiment for the body, not in the sense of getting some new clothes but in the sense of the vibrancy of Being which appears through the body, the reality of Living.
I have seen, right here on Sunrise Ranch as well as in other places, in the lives of others who are seeking to serve with us, the process by which the Truth that is presented is taken and woven into a self-centered garment of human designing. This prevents the manifestation of real Control, because it places the individual in the position of asking God, the Lord, the Father, Center—whatever name may be used—to receive that which is of the human designing. God is supposed to revamp, rearrange, redesign, all that He has created, so that what you have designed may be received into relationship to the whole, on a basis that will permit it to fit correctly. When you learn to receive your garment of understanding for the mind from Center, you will have true Illumination, because then you will be receiving into yourself that which does fit with the Whole.
Now, here is the secret in relationship to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the reason why man has fallen, the reason why man destroys his pattern of living and being. Man is constantly asking God to receive the humanly designed pattern, intact, into the Whole. Man is offering it as a gift to God, but it does not fit, it does not belong to the Whole, it has no meaning to the Whole. It has meaning only to the individual who designed it. So, instead of trying to project something into Center, in the Cycles of Illumination, the individual learns to receive something from Center so that that which manifests through himself has a true relationship to the Whole, according to the Design that includes all. And, having comprehended that which is so designed, the individual is wearing the White Raiment of Illumination. We must reach the point of being willing to stand naked and unashamed before the Lord, not physically naked but mentally and emotionally naked, insofar as garments of our own designing are concerned. And then we are no longer naked, for the Lord beholds us enfolded in the White Raiment of Reality, and the Reality of Illumination is the individual's realization of the presence of the White Raiment which one must wear that the shame of his nakedness may not appear.
We still have many unnecessary delays in our program here, because there has not been adequate Illumination, adequate Realization, with respect to these things. Remember, it is not the Season of the Lord which delays your Illumination; it is your season; for when you are ready to relinquish the mental and emotional clothing of your own designing and receive the White Raiment which the Lord has prepared for you, then shall you know Illumination. Then shall you cease eating of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Then shall you find that your capacities and abilities in the image and likeness of God are utilized and appreciated. But that which you would impose of your own designing prevents the true uses of your capacities.
What is in control? There have been certain tendencies for the individual to imagine that Spiritual revelation through himself has established some supposedly great and important understanding, and such individuals expect the Lord to receive that which has been so designed, as if it were a part of Center. There are those things which can be seen and known as tests for that which is supposed to be Divine Revelation through the individual. Even if there be some Truth, we find that the Truth has been woven into the human pattern and formed into clothing which the human being imagines to be adequate for his use in the King's Court.
Blessed Ones, he who would walk in the King's Court must wear the garments which the King provides. No matter how long you take in weaving garments, no matter how much energy or expense in any way, no matter how fine you deem it to be, it is not acceptable in the King's Court. As far as you are concerned, mentally and emotionally speaking, you must come to stand naked and unashamed before the Lord, that you may receive the King's garment and walk in the King's Court, and then shall you know the reality of Divine Control by which your talents and abilities may have true meaningfulness in the Kingdom of the King. Blessed Ones, let the Name of the King be hallowed unto you, that His Dominion may come into manifestation in and through you, that the White Raiment of Illumination may clothe your minds and hearts to the end that you may let the Will of the King be done in earth as it is in Heaven, and that you may come at last, in the Cycles of Illumination, to know the reality of this great Truth, “For Thine, O King, is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory, forever.” Aum-en.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
