When the abomination of desolation is in the holy place it isn’t a holy place, and yet there is the potential of this holy place in all people. It is what is present there that determines whether it is holy or unholy. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” It is the secret place of the most High when it is a holy place — so rare in the experience of human beings that it is termed secret. The holy place obviously is a sacred place. How sacred is that place in us, individually speaking? Is there such a place in which we may dwell, live continuously? Or is it just a point of call, particularly available to our experience when we are together in a service such as this? The holy place is not a geographical position, although certain geographical positions may reveal the fact of the holy place more than others. That revelation always depends upon people. If you go into places where there are many people, usually you do not find it to be a very sacred experience.
“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” How much experience is there of abiding under the shadow of the Almighty continuously? Most people have very little consciousness of any sacred place within themselves. If there is a sacred place, a holy place, in one’s own experience, then those with whom one is associated have the opportunity of sharing the experience. It has always been my concern — this is not my only concern — but it has been my concern, in offering a service, to provide a holy place so that all who will might share it with me. If there is that sharing in actual fact, it awakens those concerned to a consciousness of the reality of that holy place in themselves. One only knows it within oneself; one has the experience of it for oneself, even though the holy place may be being provided by somebody else. Many people, though the holy place may be provided by someone else, do not experience it; they’re not aware that it’s there; they have no sense of sacredness. This is because within themselves they have no experience of sacredness in their own living. So one needs to have a little something to start with, in order to participate.
It may surely be said that all of you had within yourselves some sort of a sacred place. If you did, then you would sense the reality of that sacred place, on a rather expanded basis, during a service. And there was opportunity then to become more familiar with this reality so that you might be concerned to let it expand in your own personal experience, no matter where you were. This is important to children in the home. If there is no sacred place in the parents, or perhaps very little, then there is no sacred place provided for the children. If there is sometimes a sacred place there, maybe it’s liable to be eliminated because of some external happening or other which causes disturbance in the parents. Then the child comes looking for the sacred place and it isn’t there. Insofar as the whole of our ministry is concerned I’ve always sought to provide a holy place for all the children, of whatever age, so that there might be a sensing that it was really there, even if at times in other settings, in school, or in the home, or whatever, it seemed to be lost.
We all have very serious responsibility in this regard. The holy place is not established on the basis of much talk — certainly not on the basis of much talk about the supposed principles of reality. It is established for children — and who wasn’t a child spiritually speaking, to start with? — on the basis of an enfoldment of something that was subconsciously sensed. Where that was provided, the child had a resting place, whether the child was five years old, fifty years old, whatever. This resting place was not intended to be a permanent state of affairs, so that the child, of whatever age, had no reason to grow up. It was offered, to start with, as an enfoldment as long as the childish state remained, with the expectation that the child would begin to grow up and emerge out of that necessity of requiring someone else to provide a resting place. We all had to move through this experience. Some have moved speedily, others have lagged. Individually speaking, we all have the responsibility of letting the holy place be kept holy. We can’t count on someone else doing it for us forever. We can’t count on that for very long, actually, because we can’t be permanently attached to whoever it is who is providing the holy place in which we have been participating. We have our own lives to live. We have to be about the business for which we are on earth, and individually speaking we can only be about the business which is our personal responsibility.
Mind you, there are occasions when we may have found ourselves in a position where we had to take the load of somebody else because somebody else left their holy place. We do that in order to preserve the holy place, in order to maintain an invitation for that person to come back in. Sometimes the person comes back in. Sometimes they don’t, in which case there is the necessity for maintaining a holy place for someone else, you know not whom. Eventually someone puts in an appearance, and you rejoice to allow that holy place to be accepted as their responsibility. From my own standpoint, I have maintained a multiple condition in this regard, anticipating that there would be those who put in an appearance to occupy the various aspects of the holy place. And some have; I rejoice in that. By the way, there are still some vacancies!
There is always room at the top. Most people are convinced that where the most room is, is at the bottom. Consequently most people are at the bottom; but they get squeezed there, don’t they? You have had that experience: there’s a jostling crowd, going nowhere. The greatest space is at the top — we have noticed this before. There are many levels of experience. Each higher level of experience is larger than the one below. The highest level of experience possible in expression on earth is vast. Something of that vastness was revealed on earth through the life of the One called Jesus. There was nothing little about His outlook. He had time to take care of details as they were presented to Him. If there was genuine response He never turned anyone down. But the place from which He worked was a place unknown to most; consequently the works were considered to be miracles. Our achievements are based in the level from which we work. If it’s a pretty low level, we find ourselves with the common herd; and we’re all on a rather restricted footing.
We find the highest level when we learn to dwell in the secret place. Then we experience an expansive view, an awareness that transcends the usual petty human viewpoint. There begins to be an awareness of how everything is one and of how all people are part of this oneness but don’t know it. We see these surging tides and currents in the affairs of men. People are swept this way and then they’re swept back that way, sometimes reluctantly, sometimes enthusiastically, but all at this low level. There is precious little consciousness of what is occurring. Human beings take stands for and against this or that, as though they were the originators of these stands, as though the individual was such an originator. He never is! He is always being governed by the mass movement. He has no freedom in this regard. You can see many human organizations in the world where people are manipulated this way and that. Human beings seem to give themselves freely to this sort of thing and then wonder why they are being manipulated.
We are well aware that all this occurs because the abomination of desolation is in the holy place. Human beings remain in bondage because of this. We ourselves have been in bondage, and in some respects certainly still are, because of this. What is it that can manipulate you? What reactionary feelings can take charge of you and cause you to act in a particular way, to speak out in a particular way? What reactionary feelings can still take charge of your existence? I use the word existence because as long as there are such things it certainly isn’t life. And of course there is a tendency to feel put upon. But if we have the sense of being put upon, who is doing the put-upon? We ourselves. It’s our own choice, even though there may be many seeming justifications, justifications which center in disturbed feelings of various sorts. Fear and hate are not the least of these. There are degrees of hatred, some of it apparently quite innocent: a slight dislike perhaps. But it’s all the same thing. So there are these manipulative controls to which we have in the past willingly subjected ourselves, and which I observe on occasion is still done.
Every time we do that we desecrate the holy place, and in effect reestablish this body hanging on a cross in what should be a holy place, the crucifixion reoccurs. I don’t think that has seemed particularly real to most people. Looking at the event of the crucifixion of Jesus, that may be envisioned as being something pretty horrible; but we don’t see what we do when we willingly let ourselves be subjected to manipulation. It is exactly the same thing, something that we have maintained in relationship to ourselves. And we can’t have anything isolated to us individually. We cannot isolate ourselves from others. We cannot isolate ourselves from the consciousness of mankind. So as long as life remains we’re not isolated; and if we are busy indulging in crucifixion within ourselves it’s having an impact upon other people. We know that this is not at all what we’re here to do. We are here present on earth to carry the blessing of life, to make possible orientation in life rather than orientation in death. The human nature state is oriented in death. Put enough pressure on a person and he wants to kill somebody; sometimes it’s himself. The orientation is in death. In the usual human experience the increasing pressure does not produce increased life. How much pressure can we stand? That’s a question that each person has to consider for himself. Of course we don’t really know until we’re put under the pressure. We may have some grandiose ideas of how much we can stand, but then when we come down to cases we probably find that stubbing our toe is enough to allow the reactionary feelings to take control. If that is the sort of experience which we know, how much value are we in providing a stable point of orientation in life?
To rise up as the Sun of righteousness rises up necessitates that we dwell in the holy place — which is kept holy. Then we live from that holy place and we provide an enfoldment to everything for which we are responsible. When it comes right down to it there is nothing of which we are directly aware for which we are not responsible. The fact of that direct awareness establishes responsibility. Usually people think of responsibility as relating to the things which they can do something about in the manipulative sense, but we’re not interested in doing anything about anything in a manipulative sense. We are here to take responsibility in the spiritual sense, and this is something else.
How much awareness do you have of the nature and the quality of the substance which makes possible spiritual expression? If one’s spiritual expression is a hit-or-miss proposition there is obviously very little substance around and therefore very little awareness of substance. One cannot gain awareness of that substance if one doesn’t have any. We may see that someone reveals a certain amount of stability and strength and understanding, and provides a sense of enfoldment, and so on. We may be aware of that but it has no immediate application in one’s own experience. If there is that quality of living in someone then that person is aware of his own substance, but we only become aware of our own substance when it’s there. If it isn’t there, then we’re liable to feel pretty empty at times; we’re liable to feel vulnerable to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. But it isn’t really outrageous fortune; it’s what we ourselves have contributed to producing by reason of our lack of substance.
Once there begins to be an awareness of the reality of essences in this substantial sense, then what we observe externally becomes smaller. It is smaller — that's the fact of the matter. It doesn’t occupy nearly so much space as those levels of substance which rightly are found in the holy place. We discover that there is an availability of substance which is far greater than the extent of physical substance of which we are aware. Most people see nothing but the physical substance and so they feel it necessary to manipulate to try to get control of it. And it’s always slipping out from under control. This is all the manipulative human nature world; we’ve all had experience in that regard. But there is the reality of spiritual essence which occupies a field tremendously larger than what is known physically speaking. It’s even tremendously larger than what is known mentally speaking. Because human beings have worshiped their minds they imagine that their minds are infinite, but they’re not. Some people have supposedly more brilliant minds than others; but no matter how much brilliance there may be, it is discovered in the end to be a very limited and restricted state. There is something much larger than that.
We become aware of this larger state, this larger world, when we dwell in the holy place. We may dwell there only if we keep it holy; otherwise it isn’t a holy place. We must rightly have a sense of sacredness. Most people, looking at the world in the external sense, take the attitude that there’s nothing very holy there. How can we have a sense of sacredness in all this unholy mess? Well we needn’t be in the unholy mess. Those who are in the unholy mess have little or no sense of sacredness. Of course, because it’s an unholy mess! Well, why be there? Why not accept the opportunity of dwelling in the holy place? And when we are there we see things differently. We are well aware of what may be called an unholy mess. That is the consciousness of mankind; there is where the unholy mess is. It is reflected in events and in external form in various ways but it is only reflected there because it first is an unholy mess in human consciousness. It is the unholy mess in human consciousness that must be transformed. And the only way by which it can be transformed is on the basis of the action of spirit where the unholy mess of human consciousness is.
We see the necessity of letting the holy place be present within the range of human consciousness. Well how can it do that? Only because there is a human being here or there who will let it happen. It’s the only way it can occur. I wonder how seriously we have accepted the fact that it is always one’s own consciousness that is in question, not someone else’s. There has always been the availability of the holy place for all who will receive it, so that an awareness might emerge, in the consciousness of those who would receive it, of the reality of the holy place within themselves. It is impossible to hand the holy place from one person to another. Someone may come close and share in it, and that’s wonderful for the moment, but they’re going to wherever they should be; and unless they have the holy place with them there will be no holy place there. We are, all of us, very much aware of the lack of that holy place in our contacts and connections with people in general. They haven’t a clue! We have a clue at least. We have the opportunity of providing what is necessary within the scope of the consciousness of mankind. This is what we’re here to do. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” How can anyone have life? Obviously only by living! “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” These were the words of the One who gave focus to what it is we are here to do. He’s not here to do it. And we wouldn’t wish Him to be here, I trust. He was here and He did what He did, and that’s enough — never again! So the second coming of Christ is not that. It is something else, of which we ourselves may have an increasing awareness to the extent that we offer the Christ expression of living into the world. Then there it is! It’s come! If we don’t do it, who else is going to do it? We know these things. We have a special blessing in this regard.
Because we have a certain understanding we have a commensurate responsibility. We share these things in an awareness of that responsibility, which may be brought forth with greater intensity in the evidence of our own experience in living at this particular time of year. As has often been said in times past, people are, in some respects at least, less rigidly structured than they are the rest of the year. It could be put that they are rigidly structured in a different way, but even that can be helpful. They may be caught a little off balance, provided that there is something present to which it is possible to orient. I’m not necessarily suggesting conscious orientation. There are those who are ready to awaken consciously but the vast majority aren’t, and we don’t expect them to. But, as we are well aware also, people orient to things subconsciously. They explain it to themselves consciously, mind you, but the orientation is subconscious. They can just as well orient to life as to death, provided that there is the provision of the point of orientation. If there isn’t that, then they have nothing to orient to and things continue, as long as they can last, as they always have since the fathers fell asleep.
But we have this opportunity of letting the substance of spirit be paramount in our experience. We fill and enfold all the levels of coarser substance, right down to the physical level, with this substance of spirit, which is far vaster; there’s far more of it. We can flood it — maybe this has something to do with the flood — and those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, even though it be but subconsciously, will discover this point of orientation. Then there begins to be a new spiritual control exerted in the consciousness of mankind, so that a new direction begins to emerge through many, without those many realizing what the direction is for the most part. They will undoubtedly interpret it in various ways according to their mental concepts, and we are not particularly concerned about that as long as they are emerging. Let them emerge and translate it at the level where they are, and let them keep on emerging, and then they will have to translate it some other way a little further along as they emerge. Our concern is to provide that point of orientation as we reveal something genuine on earth, something real, something that conveys the reality of true knowing because the experience springs from the holy place. Then the whole world is sacred. Oh yes, there is this little pocket of an unholy mess, but there’s no problem to clearing that up once the substance is provided to fill and enfold the whole of it. Then the job is easily done because it’s done by the spirit of God in action, by those who are willing to let that action occur.
There are those who have felt that letting was a rather passive attitude to take. Letting passively I would define as laziness; nothing happens. The true letting to the spirit of God is obviously not a passive thing. It couldn’t be, because it’s letting the spirit of God act. If the spirit of God acts, you act! You can't help it. So it’s a very positive expression, in that sense. Let us be willing to participate in the creative process of letting — letting it be so. Obviously if I, for instance, come up here to give a service I don’t stand here letting passively. We’d all be here in silence, as long as we could stand it. But there is action, because the spirit of God requires that action. Woe unto those who stand rigidly in position and refuse to let the spirit of God act. They get clobbered in one way or another, and I don’t propose to stand here and be clobbered. So the spirit of God in action is a creative letting, all to the glory of God, and we have a responsibility in this regard of which we are all well aware. Let us not pussyfoot around. Let us be willing to let the spirit act, so that there may be this point of orientation.
We can only let this happen when we are willing to dwell in the secret place of the most High in an awareness of the sacredness of all our living, all of it. We can’t step out at any point and say, “Well I’ve got to do this, and this really isn’t a very sacred thing,” or “I’m dealing with some unholy mess here; therefore it’s not very sacred.” If it’s not sacred to you that you should be in position to deal with it, then you’re not going to be able to deal with it. So we have a consciousness of sacredness, which comes naturally if one dwells in the holy place. It is sacred there, so we see everything from the standpoint of that sacredness; and we’re never afraid of being polluted somehow, even though we’re aware of a lot of pollution around.
So here we are in this Christmas season with a consciousness of the holy place where we may dwell, not only now while we’re together here but always. If you can dwell in the holy place for one moment you can dwell in it for the next moment, and the next, and the next; and it’s open-ended then. Never envision things in terms of the future. Just let it be so now, and we have it made!
We all have the opportunity
of sharing this service this morning, bringing a gift to the Lord, and also a
gift to the children of men. It is well and fitting that we should take time in
this day to be together in oneness of spirit, aware of purpose and in position
to provide what is right and needful now. This day has dawned
over the earth. Perhaps we here on the west coast of North America are about
the last to have come to that dawning. I am thinking particularly of those who
are consciously aware of true purpose and who share this day on that basis.
There may be a few present in Hawaii who are yet a little while behind us, but
most of those who are consciously aware of true purpose, the reality of being,
having a certain measure of experience in this regard, have awakened and are
present with us in these moments.
In oneness of spirit we
are assembled in the presence of the Lord to present the gift of ourselves in
manifest form to Him. We have awakened to an increased awareness of the reality
of the presence of the One whose birth is this day celebrated around the world.
We recognize that original birth as a point of conception. That One is present
in the body which He has been forming over the centuries. He is present in that
body in this hour. We share whatever awareness of this to the extent of our own
awakening. Certainly we do not look back, any more than as individuals we
particularly look back to the point of our conception. We know there was a conception
or we wouldn’t be here. But we are here — that would seem to be the point. Exactly
the same thing is true with respect to this larger body in which the Lord, as
we have known Him, is incarnate.
No one needs to look
for the day of His coming, because the fact is that He never
left. According to the story He was taken up into heaven, and this is assumed
to mean that He went someplace else. But we proclaim with our lips at times
that heaven and earth are one. His presence has been constant. As He said,
“There am I in the midst.” It has always been so, up to this very hour, and His
body forms in consequence. Because of the spirit that has been present individually
with us we are here. Because of the spirit which has been present in this larger
body He is here. We may have taken the attitude that He is here; we may be
inclined to take that attitude now; but if it is His body and we are a part of
that composition, both in form and in consciousness, then the word is naturally
spoken by reason of that body, “I am here.”
We share this awareness
to the extent that we are awake. Those who still slumber may say, “He is here,”
or perhaps, “He is at hand,” or “He may be here one day” — there are various
levels of understanding — but the truth is to be known, and the truth is that “I
am here,” and each one of us can say that. Because we can say that, the truth
is proclaimed — the body is present of the One who brings peace, peace on earth,
goodwill to men. Most human beings are not awake; they slumber on. There are
those on earth now who are awakening or are awake and who are in position
therefore to proclaim the truth. We rejoice this particular day because it is a
reminder for all people that conception did take place, that there has been
gestation and birth since, and there is One on earth incarnate in His body who
says, “I am here,” and so the gift is offered to the children of men. Because
there are those who have brought the gift of themselves to the point of
awakening, then the gift which the Lord would give is given to the world, and
we find this to be increasingly so. It is given that others also may awaken to
the truth. The Word is spoken on earth, in living, not merely in words, although
words are spoken.
We all speak words. Do
these words that we speak ring true always? What are our words day by day? Is
the Word present by reason of our words? What of our attitudes day by day? Is
the Word present by reason of our attitudes? What of all aspects of our living,
in every detail? Is the Word present because of this? If we are awake it is so.
If we are not awake then dreams persist, words are spoken, deeds are done, that
do not ring true. Today is the day when we may well rejoice to be aware of the
truth and to be very sure that all that finds release this day shall be true to
the truth, ring true, that it may be so henceforth forever. There are those who
have cried unto the Lord, “O Lord, how long, O Lord.” I would suggest that probably
the Lord’s word is, “O human beings, how long, human beings!” Why drag it out?
Why not let the truth be known? Why not let the reality of the power of love be
the expression of living? What better day is there to experience this in the
fulness of our oneness in the spirit of the Word? Let the Word be spoken this
day and in all the days to come because we, with many more, provide a body and
a consciousness, a facility, by which this may be so, to the glory of God, to
bring the experience of peace on earth and goodwill to men. Glory to God in the
highest!
Ceremony of Exaltation
Pendell and Choir
The Spirit of His Presence
Special Focalization Session
Gabilan Ranch, Salinas, California
Uranda February 26, 1948
Tonight, I would like to talk to you heart to heart, considering words that our Master spoke when He was here on earth. Words that, each time we hear them, they mean more to us: “I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned... As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment. That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”
Our experiences of the past week, as we have been working together in the service of the Lord, prove that these commandments are being fulfilled. You are learning to love one another with the Christ Love. You have all felt and known my Love, that that Love has had meaning because of the outpouring of Love from the LORD of Love, and you have known that I AM come out from Him into the world, even as He came, sent of the Father, into the world, to be the Light of the world, the manifestation of Love revealed in the pattern of Truth, symmetrical and beautiful in form, the focalization of Deity on earth, the One Whom we revere, the One Whom we are glad and thankful to call our LORD and Master — our KING. He opened the Way in which we walk, in which we find ourselves tonight. And so, we recognize that it is through Him, and because of Him, and the wonder of His Love for us and for all the children of men, that we have been privileged to be drawn together through the currents of Love, that in the Oneness of the Christ Love we may begin to make manifest on earth the pattern of Truth, whereby the beauties and the wonders and the joys of Reality may be made known on earth.
Your lives leading up to this hour, your sharing in the Work of our God, proves, have proved, that Love for God that is in you, and because I have been privileged to speak to you the Word of God, because I have come into the earth as His Prophet, bearing His Word of Truth, I have been privileged to share on earth in that Love which you bear Him Who is our KING. I always feel very humble before our KING and my KING, in this privilege of sharing in the Love which His Faithful Ones bear to Him, and the last day or two particularly I have been sharing even more fully than before, because you have found a greater unification in oneness in your response to our KING. You have found yourselves drawn still nearer before His Throne. You have found yourselves abiding more consistently in the peace of His Presence. In the Words that I just read to you, He admonished those who should follow after, continuing His Work on earth, to abide in Him, that He might abide in them. He is the LORD of Love. You have been learning, step by step, to abide in Him, and as you have responded, you have come to know more fully, day by day, what it means to let Him abide in you.
He is in His Place in the Inner Planes, as the LORD of Lords and KING of Kings. His Person is not made manifest on earth as it was when He walked among men nearly two thousand years ago, but He provided a Way whereby He might be on earth through the Body of Faithful Ones who should let His Will be done on earth, even as His Will is done in Heaven. And so, as you have come more deeply into that unification of the Christ Love, more deeply aware of the Way, the Truth and the Life, you have, of a truth, been drawing near to our Father which is in Heaven, and you have found His Spirit is in you. Through His Spirit, He is in you. Through the One Body, He is, as it were, incarnate on earth, so that His Works may continue to manifest on earth. There is no greater privilege, no more sacred responsibility, than that of being a member of His Body on earth, that He may be in you because, through Love Response, you are in Him — and in Him, being a branch of that One Vine, you bring forth Fruit.
The Spirit of His Presence in you causes the fruitage to appear, and you have found yourselves being purged and cleansed, that you might bring forth more fruit, and you willingly let go that, in season, you may bring forth much fruit. The fruit of the Vine appears on the branches. He said: “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” If the branches all be pruned away, there is no fruit made manifest, until new branches grow, and appear on the Vine. So are you branches upon the Vine now, and the fruit of the Vine must appear through the branches. He, our LORD and KING, said: “I am the vine.” What is His fruit? What was the fruit of His Life? The manifestation of Love and Truth, the Works of Love, the Revelation of God on earth. “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” The fruit of the Vine must appear through the branches. The revelation of Deity on earth made manifest through the Vine, must appear through the branches of the Vine.
He brought into the world the healing touch. He brought into the world the Word that gives Life. He brought into the world the Word that cleanse and purifies. As He said, “Now are ye clean, through the word that I have spoken unto you.” Through His Word, the Word of Truth filled with the Fire of His Love, each one who responds and keeps on responding is purified and healed, and made every whit whole. In the individual He brings forth a New Thing. “Behold, I create a new thing.” That applies to the world, but it must first apply to you, and to all others who truly walk in the Way, the Truth and the Life.
And so, I have brought to your remembrance once more these words our Master spoke, that they may be in you words written in letters of Fire, words realized and caused to have meaning in life, here and now. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men. And so, we rejoice in the Holy Privilege of abiding in Him, the joy of letting Him abide in us, that His words may abide in us, that our joy may be full. Truly, the world is in need of the manifestation of the fruit of the One Vine, and except the fruit of the Vine appear through the branches, wherewith shall the needs of the world be filled. Except the fruit of the Vine appear through the branches, how shall the Earnest Ones and the Responding Ones and the Seeking Ones begin to find and to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life. Truly, He brought the Good News, and we have come to know that the Kingdom is at hand, and that we are privileged to enter into that Kingdom here on earth.
The Book of Job has its setting in a period prior to the submersion of Lemuria, prior to the portrayal of man being driven from the Garden of Eden as pictured in Genesis. It pictures for us the close relationship between man in this outer world, even in the fallen state, with God. At that time, especially for those who sought to find the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the veil was very thin and easily penetrated. That which separates man in the realm of his consciousness from the Divine was pictured in Solomon's Temple, as well as in the Tabernacle before it, as the veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. When Jesus was crucified on Golgotha, the veil in the temple was rent in twain, showing that once again in man's progress toward the state of the Divine, the Way had been opened so that it was possible, even as it now is possible, for human beings who recognize the Law and harmonize with the principles of Reality, to penetrate through the veil, that they may perceive, recognize and understand things Divine, and what we call the Inner Planes, which were symbolized by the Holy of Holies in both the Tabernacle and Solomon's Temple. From the time of the fall onward to the submersion of Lemuria, the veil became gradually more dense, and after the submersion of Atlantis the separation was quite complete for a long period of time. The Prophets of the Old Testament period penetrated through that veil to a degree, but from the time of the submersion of Atlantis until the time of the crucifixion of Jesus the veil had not been completely rent in twain. The Council of the Golden Veil is composed of that body of Beings who, consciously from an outer sense and constantly from an inner sense, seek to assist human beings in recognizing the fact that the veil has been rent in twain. From the standpoint of the illumined one it is indeed the Golden Veil, because beyond it one finds the full revelation of eternal spiritual truths, and because from a standpoint of the outer world the presence of the veil gives fallen man an opportunity to live long enough to find the Way, the Truth, and the Life. If it were not for the Golden Veil, all those who function contrary to the realms of Reality would be quickly destroyed, and they would have no opportunity to learn to harmonize with the Way and the Will of God.
Human beings have resorted to various humanly conceived methods in an attempt to penetrate the veil, but such efforts have been to no avail. Many of those who have sought the Way have, by reason of ignorance, complained that the veil existed, little realizing that if it were not for the protection of the Golden Veil they would not have had the opportunities of finding the Way, or of entering into the Divine Estate. Let no one bemoan the fact that the veil exists, for he who is ready to see through or beyond the veil finds that it is rent in twain and the Way is easy and the burden is Light; and let those who have not yet so seen abide in patience, remembering that to strive is to fail, and that, in due season, as the faithful one continues on, all that is necessary to his or her proper function in the world shall surely be revealed. Let no one begin to try to penetrate the veil, and let no one become discouraged because he may think that he has not seen as much of the Divine Estate as he would like. As Jesus, our Lord and Master, proved that the veil can be penetrated, and as it was rent in twain even though the world rejected Him, each faithful one should remember that the responsibility of perception and of knowledge and of understanding must be born nobly and wisely with each advance into the realm of that which is unknown to the world. Each should rejoice that the Lord does not at any time place a greater burden of responsibility upon any individual than he or she can bear in the state of his expansion of consciousness, and at his point of progress along the Way.
The Veil Becomes Transparent
Martin Cecil July 20, 1977
Human nature cannot approach the Lord. It has to be left behind. We can't persist in identification with earthly heredity and approach the Lord at the same time. That would be a contradictory attempt. All good human beings seeking for better spiritual understanding make this approach; they are not conscious of any other possibilities as a general rule. So there is an approach, rising up in relationship to the spiritual expression plane of being, which permits an awareness of what one might call a bright effulgence, as though one might approach the sun for instance. The only consciousness a person has from the human nature standpoint is of the general effulgence — that is actually the veil or the flaming sword which prevents a person from going any further. And because he is prevented from going any further, very often the individual says, "Well I've arrived. This is as far as you can go. This is Heaven. This is Nirvana. This is wonderful. Such a brilliant light here; it must mean something." What is to be experienced is not this — this is the human nature experience.
The veil becomes transparent rather than opaque, even though the opaqueness is pretty bright. Vision is only possible on the basis of this transparency, and the transparency of the veil is the purity of heart. As long as the heart is not pure there is opaqueness. Sometimes that opaqueness is pretty black, but it can be the other end of the spectrum, pretty light. And people are fooled by this — whereas before it was black, now it is light. But it is still this side of the veil. And we can't penetrate through the veil, but we can let the veil penetrate through us on the basis of our expression. And it is this penetration of the veil through us which brings with it a sense of clarity. The veil, instead of being opaque, becomes transparent. We ourselves become transparent. That doesn't mean that anyone can look at us and see all the way through, but in our own experience there is a transparency. This relates to the matter of guilelessness. There is a true state of guilelessness which doesn't prevent one from seeing what is present but rather being unmoved by what one sees. It seems to others who observe, that one is pretty naive, but in fact you know what is going on but you don't emphasize what is going on from the standpoint of earthly heredity, because it doesn't mean that much to you.
So there is this clarity which comes on the basis of the sensing of the true Tone of Life in one's own experience. It has a point of focus and that is the most intimate place in one's own experience, the Secret Place of the Most High. It has been secret to human beings because there has been no inclination on the part of most to keep anything sacred. Everything is seen as being sacred and the understanding of how things can be used begins to emerge by reason of the purity of heart. There is increasing clarity of vision, increasing experience of the transparency of the veil. It is not just anymore a vague effulgence. It becomes increasingly specific in relationship to the immediate field of action. There is a consciousness of being present in one's human facilities, which are in the immediate circumstance, to handle what is present in the circumstance for the purpose for which, as an angel, one is present on earth.
This is a sacred place, a holy place. This is the house of God — the physical form — and this is the gate of heaven — the pneumaplasmic body. The pneumaplasmic substance that is present is the gate of heaven through which the ascending and descending processes may occur. We awaken to this out of our prior dream and we know the reality of the holy place. If we have awakened truly we never forget it.
from Pittsburgh Summer Sessions Service Number Four
Uranda August 18, 1941 Monday Evening
As we consider the Book of Books, we know that we could turn to any place, from cover to cover, and find that which is well worthy of our attention. I wish to consider with you many passages, as the need may arise, and tonight I would like to select a passage from one of the minor Prophets of the Old Testament. Some people take the attitude that we have arbitrarily, and without sufficient cause, determined that there are three outer Planes, for instance, or that other symbols in the Bible mean what we say they do. You, of course, have come to realize that there is very definite meaning in every symbolical expression in the Bible. There are those who try to say that we are not literalists, we do not take the Bible literally enough; but as we examine into it, we find that we are the ones who do take the Bible literally for exactly what it says. The only difference is, some people do not notice what it says. There is a difference, and this particular text is interesting and helpful, not only from the standpoint of opening the way for further consideration of symbolism, but also, to help you to an understanding and appreciation of that which is essential in the outworking of your daily lives here and now.
In the First Chapter of Zechariah, beginning with the 8th Verse, I read: “I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white. Then said I, O, my Lord what are these? And the Angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. And they answered the Angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, we have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.”
This text means what? We read, “I saw by night.” How many of you have been called upon to see by night? In other words, in the night when there was not a clear vision, when there was not a fulness of understanding, when you felt yourself to be enfolded in darkness. Many people have taken the meaning of that simply to be, that he had a vision at night — during the evening part of the day. Some kind of a dream. “I saw by night.” We do not say that it does not mean that he had a vision or dream. All I am pointing out is that when he says, “I saw by night,” that gives us an opportunity to begin to understand the glorious truth that it is possible for you to “see by night.” You do not have to wait until the full dawn has broken upon your own consciousness, or upon the world. You can see by night, no matter how dark the darkness of the world, no matter how dark it is, for you can see by night — there are certain things that you can so see, and so it is for each one of us to reach a point where we can say, “I saw by night.”
Every Emissary who has come along the way as far as you have, to be drawn here together with one accord, in one place, is able to say that, because as you look back along the way, is it not true that you can say that in the night of your own darkness, in the time when you felt the greatest need for Light, that you in that night, saw something? Is that true? You agree? Then you can say you saw by night — and if you have seen by night, so also may all Responding Ones everywhere see by night. They do not have to wait until they have the fullness of Consciousness. You can begin to see where you are, and in this you find added encouragement. Some of you sometimes have felt that you wished you could see more, that you wished more Light, that you could see further, or had greater understanding.
In the place where you are, even if it be somewhat dark, you can see all that is essential to you. No matter how dark the place in which you find yourself, you can still see, you can still work, there is still something that can be done. You cannot say, no matter how dark the place, that there is nothing that you can see or do — therefore, be patient, rejoice that you can see by night, and be unconcerned about what you cannot see. If you learn to be unconcerned about what you cannot see, and rejoice in seeing what you can see by night, all will be well. And so we have the words, “I saw by night.” What do such words mean to you? They should call forth meaning and understanding, such as I have outlined to you.
“I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him there were red horses, speckled, and white.” Some people, if they read that sentence wrongly, could come to the conclusion that the red horses were speckled and white. That wouldn’t make sense, would it? They wouldn’t be red horses if they were speckled and white. There are three kinds of horses mentioned — red horses, speckled horses, and white horses. Red is a symbol of the Physical Plane, and white is a symbol of the Spiritual Plane — Spiritual Expression of Being — and the speckled symbolize the Mental Plane; and obviously it is a mixture of both, isn’t it? A mixture of red and white. Consequently, we see that here we have three kinds of horses mentioned — red horses, speckled horses, and white horses, and they tell us something about the three Planes of Being. That is obvious to begin with. What do horses represent? Power. Horses represent Power, some kind of Power. Whenever you find a horse used as a symbol in the Bible, it means or represents some kind of Power; and the color tells you what kind of Power — so we are considering the Power of the Physical Plane, the Power of the Mental Plane, and the Power of the Spiritual Plane. Is that right? Is it very clearly stated?
Now, when he saw by night, what did he see? Behold a man — nothing very strange about that — riding upon a red horse. Isn't that the way men usually ride, upon a red horse? They are attempting to use Physical Power to accomplish whatever they want to accomplish. Human beings who ride upon red horses seek to use Physical Power only, to accomplish that which they wish to do — and this man is attempting to use physical power for the accomplishment of his desires. Where is he? “… and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom.” Did you ever feel as if you had found the bottom, as if you had struck bottom — gone down just as far as you could because you found the bottom and there just wasn't anything any lower? I wonder how many of you have felt that way, as if you had been in the bottom? Now, we find that the man who was attempting to use physical force to accomplish what he wished to do was in the bottom. That is where we would expect to find him, isn't it? You couldn't expect to find a man who was attempting to use physical force to accomplish what he wished to do, anywhere but in the bottom, clear down as far as he could go. That is not the way of Release in Reality.
What do we note here, what do we find out about the bottom, the low point, as far down as one can go? “He stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom.” The Lord always provides something to bring comfort and peace and understanding and direction wherever you may be, even if you have struck bottom — and there you find the myrtle trees. When you hear the words, “the myrtle trees,” what does it make you think of? Do you feel a Peace? Do you feel as if the Peace of God were being made known? Can you think or speak of the myrtle trees without having a realization of that which God has so provided for a way of Release from the bottom? Even in the bottom there are the myrtle trees.
Blessed Ones, if you just remember that, no matter how far down you go, no matter how low you may feel — sometimes it's pretty low, isn't it? — even if you are Emissaries. Perhaps that is pretty well past for you now; we trust it is, but there have been times when you have, in the past, felt a bit low. Is that right? I wonder if I could get any agreement on that point? All right, remember then that even in the bottom, the Lord provides a way of Release, because there you find the myrtle trees, always. Wherever you are; whatever the conditions; whether in the night or otherwise; there are ways of release which the Lord has provided for the Faithful Ones — and so in the bottom, we find the myrtle trees.
“And behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.” Notice that these three horses were behind the man who was using the physical force only. In Revelation we read the words, “I turned to see the Voice that spake with me.” So also do we find here, that as long as a man using physical power, refusing to turn around, keeps going on his own way, according to his own fancy, he will never see that there are speckled horses, and white horses also. He will just depend upon the red horses. Consequently, the individual who is depending upon physical force to achieve that which is essential in his life, has first, the great necessity of turning around to see what is behind, because the individual functioning in the outer spheres of being in the outer world, is looking away from the Center of Being out into the outer world — and it is only as the individual turns his back upon that which is of the outer concern, and sees what is behind him, that he can begin to be aware of the speckled horses and the white horses.
Now, some people say that they cannot see the white horses, all they can see is the red horses and the speckled horses, Physical Power and Mental Power. They feel that Spiritual Power is not practical in the outer world at this time, but the text says, “… there were white horses.” There is Spiritual Power which may be used — used where, how, under what conditions? “Then said I, O, my Lord, what are these? And the Angel that talked unto me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be.” Now notice. He did not say, “I will tell you what these are.” He said, “I will shew thee what these be.” Something you are to see. You are to be shown what these things are, not just told, but to be shown. How are you to be shown, how are you to find out? Let us note now what happens.
“And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said. These are they whom the Lord has sent to walk to and fro through the earth.” We immediately find the Key to those who are riding red horses. They are the ones — of course, the other horses are included, but first, those red horses are the ones whom the Lord has sent to walk to and fro in the earth. Who is it that has been sent into the earth? Those who have been sent into the earth to walk to and fro are the God Beings within all human beings upon the face of the earth, without exception. And what are these, and how do they manifest? It is clear that they manifest through the expression of the Physical Plane, the Mental Plane and the Spiritual Expression Plane — through the Trinity of the outer Being. Is that clearly stated? When the outer expression tries to accomplish by itself, separately, from a physical standpoint, it finds itself in the bottom; but even in the bottom, at the low point, the Lord has provided the myrtle trees.
You know, every time I hear the words the myrtle trees, there is a strange sweet music in them for me. I wonder how many of you feel that same way? The myrtle trees. Just the very name touches something down deep inside of one. So we find that those who walk to and fro in the earth, whom the Lord hath sent, the God Beings, answered the Angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle trees and said, “… we have walked to and fro in the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.” That is, it is not functioning according to that which is the Will of God, it is failing to function. The earth is not accomplishing, in other words, that to which it has been called, that for which it has been Created, because human beings are self-active, attempting to use physical force to achieve their ends. They do not realize that they are in the bottom, nor do they realize the opportunities which are offered to them by the myrtle trees.
Blessed Ones, as you will go your ways again, after this Summer Session, I wonder how many of you will be in the earth as the myrtle trees? The world is in its bottom, in its low point, in its hour of darkness. Will you, in your manifestation, in your activities, in your Radiance of Love, your steadfastness of Being, be as the myrtle trees, revealing the Way to Responding Ones — giving assurance, drawing with the Fire of your Love, those who are willing to Respond? Isn’t it a Blessed thing to be in the night, in the bottom, as the myrtle trees? We do not have to feel that we must be clear up on top in the Light, where there is no darkness. Let us then be content and willing and joyous to be the myrtle trees in the bottom, in the darkness as the world is, and truly, to that degree, all will be well and you will come to know what it is to Love and Serve the Lord, and find all things working together in Perfection, in and through and for you here and now.
The Illuminating Word
Martin Exeter December 13, 1987
The human mind is the means by which the light may shine. We have spoken of Lucifer, the light-bearer. The transparent mind allows the already existing angelic light to shine through. The mind is not an entity of itself, as it tries to be in the human state. Trying to be an entity of itself, it becomes satan; it lands up in darkness. The state of the human mind, in the peoples of the world as we now know it, is darkened. The light is still present — we're still alive — but the light shines in the darkness and the darkness comprehends it not. We are aware of this state, the state where there is a separation between the heaven and the earth of the individual human being. That separation has taken place because satan, the darkened mind, has usurped the position of the true identity, the true identity which isn't Lucifer but is revealed by the fact of Lucifer's presence, because Lucifer is the light-bearer, the identity-bearer. It makes possible the experience of the true identity.
We are very much aware of the real nature of our responsibility mentally. The light determines what is thought. The light determines, therefore, what is said and what is done. Here is the process of creation. Creation comes through thought. It has continued to come through the thoughts of human beings in this fallen condition, but very sluggishly. It takes a great deal of the sweat of the brow to get anything done. We all know that, in this human state. We've struggled with it and exhausted ourselves at the business. But where the thought which moves through the mind is not generated by the mind but is generated by the light, it's easy and there is a natural flow. And all creation has occurred on this basis within the range of the responsibility of man. It would be very risky, wouldn't it, if presently your thoughts during a day were immediately to take form! So it's useful that a certain sluggishness has put in an appearance. But they do take form after a while, and they come back to haunt us. What a wretched state.
How wonderful to have the mind transparent so that the light may be born, the fitting light of the moment may be born, the fitting thought of the moment, primarily, may be born — not generated because one is thinking so desperately, as human beings do in an endeavor to control all their circumstances, but the thought which is the creative thought coming down from God out of heaven into the earth. How? Through the mind. That's what it's for — not to do its own thinking and to mess things up constantly on that basis, but to become transparent so that the light may be born. The light may be carried, yes, but also born into expression, and the first expression comes through thought. There is something which precedes the thought, mind you, but the first awareness that one may have of what it is that is moving comes through conscious thought. Conscious thought is controlled thought, controlled by the design in heaven, controlled angelically. That thought may safely take form, and it will do so. I'm sure you have found already that when there is that thought, what is thought very quickly takes form. The world is transformed on this basis, not by manipulation either mental or physical but by the flow of creative thought out of heaven into the earth by reason of a transparent mind. The transparency of mind cuts human beings down to size. The usual view is that value comes because a mind is very capable of generating its own thoughts. But that all dissolves, and there is a totally new state, a new heaven. Out of the new heaven the new earth springs, and the basis of that coming forth is the flow that occurs through the transparent mind.
The light shines and, in the shining, transforms. Creation occurs by reason of the shining of the light. Re-creation occurs in this way. Insofar as human beings are concerned, the only way that there may be participation in creation is when the facility for the shining of the light is available to that shining. And the facility is the human mind, not merely the conscious mind but the unconscious mind as well. The light is apparent consciously, and it transforms by reason of the radiation. We are familiar with the process: radiation, response, attraction, union, unified radiation. This is a mental description of something which happens continuously when the mind is in place to let it do so. There is radiation and there is consequent transformation. It is not only what may be deemed to be spiritual light, but it is literal light also. When the light shines, the flesh is revealing of it and is transformed by it. But it is not possible for it to occur individually without it at the same time occurring collectively. The collective shining of the light is what clarifies and restores the flesh to the point where the light may be intensified so that the transformation occurs. However, the flesh is the last along the line. The light only comes to the flesh because there is a transparent mind, and it is the transparent collective mind that permits the intensity of radiant light to be of such power that the very flesh may be transformed. All these things work in the creative process, if we trust the creative process and let it work. Moving together in the assumption of individual responsibility for the light, the fulfillment comes. It is the creative thought that brings forth the creation. We have an enormous responsibility in this matter.
The importance of the light may be easily seen. Mention was made of loving the light, which is what is essential. If you love darkness more than you love the light, well you'll stay in the dark. But loving the light implies loving the Word — the illuminating Word. This has always been stressed, hasn't it? Finally there are those who suddenly seem to have become aware of the vital nature of the Word — not of the printed form in and of itself but of the radiance which is made available in this way. It's made available in other ways too, and it's made available rightly through each of us and all of us continually. But to appreciate the light and to know the nature of it, it must be loved above all else. In the light is the one identity, the one I am. So there is natural love for the light and consequently a delight to bathe oneself in it, because thereby it is found that as the substance of one's own external being resonates with the light, it is resonating with one's own true identity. And one's own true identity consequently emerges. It can never emerge except by reason of the light, because that's what it is. And in the radiance of the light the truth is known: “I am the door.”
“I am the open door”
How quickly the creation occurs as that steadfast light is maintained individually and consequently together. It is maintained individually in spite of pockets of darkness. The sole concern is to let the light shine. Most people don't imagine that they are in the dark when they are. So one has to be convinced on that point; otherwise it would seem as though there was no need for the light. One must come to an awareness that one is in the dark. Then there is the recognition that the light must shine and there is consequently a willingness to let the light shine. And behold the darkness vanishes away. So in every circumstance, in every moment of our living, let your light so shine.
