Thirty Years Ago Today
Martin Exeter
April 27, 1909 — January 12, 1988
from
The Magnitude of One Man's Life
David Oshanek January 12, 1997 100 Mile House, B.C.
An amazing man,
without doubt, Martin had a power of presence! His spirit was, to me, what we call
life. He had the capacity to love us, and to present the truth to us, so that
we would grow in stature, spiritually as well as emotionally, and in the sense
of accepting responsibility.
I was very fortunate when I
arrived in the fall of 1949. It was a challenging time, when there was so such
much to be done; it didn’t matter in what direction I turned there was something
waiting to be accomplished. I remember arriving in our old car, driving through
a pile of dust that deep! because
they were tearing the road apart in front of The Lodge. I remember thinking, “Wow! What a place to
be.” There was nothing here; a few buildings; a torn-up road; but I knew this
was where I needed to be. There was no question about it! I had known for years
that I was coming, either to Sunrise Ranch or to 100 Mile House. It only
required the proper sequence of events to bring me here, though I didn’t really
know which it was going to be—originally I was supposed to go to Sunrise Ranch.
In any event, the first thing that
Martin did was give me a job. He said: “Learn how to drive a truck and help out
with the gas business.” Martin was the ESSO agent, so handling fuel deliveries
in this area was under his hand, and at that time the Ranch foreman was doing
most of it; so I stepped into that. I took a job that was only a couple of
hours a day and made it into a fourteen or fifteen hour-a-day job, and had fun
doing it. Now, in those days, it wasn’t just delivering fuel. Ross Marks and I
were looking after the power plant; we were digging ditches, putting in water
lines, stringing power lines, we were doing everything to build a community.
One of the early commissions we had here was to provide income for the support
of Sunrise Ranch. That was one of the first understandings I had, of the reason
for 100 Mile House: to be the financial arm to support Sunrise, which was totally
dependent on donations. So that was the goal. Anything that came along was done
to accomplish that purpose. Through it all Martin provided the supreme example
of integrity.
Nancy mentioned Martin’s
Englishness—the fact that he was called Lord Cecil, and later Lord Exeter.
There was that nobility in his expression that encouraged us, encouraged me—I
better speak about me particularly because I can’t speak for anyone else—but
he encouraged me to accept that nobility for myself, to allow my spirit to come
forth, to be honest and true, and to function to the highest of my
understanding. He taught me that I could function in a special way. For
example, I could allow the capacity of my mind to be Lucifer, the Light Bearer.
We have heard a lot of talk about the devil, and I realized early on that the
devil is only what individuals experience for themselves and make for
themselves on earth. Hell isn’t really a place to go, though people often say, “Why
don’t you go do hell!” The point is that I learned from Martin that if my
spirit is allowed to control my mind, that will be a beacon of light in my
life; it will allow me to function to a high level of understanding, and not be
subject to all the problems and difficulties that are common to most of
humankind. It has been my privilege to move in this way.
I was fortunate in knowing Uranda
back in the 1940’s, and I spent time on Sunrise Ranch. I returned to the Ranch
with Martin in 1952, for the first Class. That was a significant time for me.
That first Class began in the beginning of January, in the depths of winter,
and winter that year was significant, even as this year it has been a significant
winter, thus far. I remember, there was so much to do and there was nothing to
stop me. We had an old tractor on the property and since we had no plows, the
roads were not plowed, and it was difficult for Uranda to come up to the house
where we had services. So I used to go down with tractor, hook on with a chain,
and drag the car in.
Now, in that time cycle, during
that first month of Class, Martin was there, and Martin would complete the
service. He would take up where Uranda left off—Uranda would turn it over to
him and he would finish with some comments, or he would give the closing
blessing. During the time that Martin was there he served as the men’s
focalizer. This was the biggest Class that we had had there for a number of
years—thirty-three people—I think it was eighteen men and fifteen women, if my
memory serves me. In any case, Martin was responsible for taking care of the
men’s work after the daily Class, seeing to what needed to be done. One of the
projects was to establish a roof on what was to be the Chapel. At that time the
Chapel was in the foundation of William Oshanek’s house, where he lived. It was
the basement section; there was no adequate roof on it, no second story to it.
It was a flat roof on a small building, and we needed more space, of course.
There was already established a shell for a Chapel and no one could figure out
how to put a roof on it without having
the thing collapse. Martin had that ability. He could see what was required, so
he designed the roof and I was responsible for building it.
After a months time, when Martin
had to leave, I was given the job of being the men’s focalizer. Now you can
imagine what that meant to a kid of twenty-one, working with men who were all
older than me. I learned a lot then! How to work with a variety of people and
not step on toes, though I may have stepped on a few toes. Martin returned to
Sunrise Ranch to take us back to 100 Mile House at the end of June, and Martin
and Uranda took me in and asked me, “Where do you want to be? Do you want to be
at Sunrise Ranch or do you want to be at 100 Mile House?” And I said, “Well, I
love both places! Where do you need me the most?” I went away and after a while Martin came
along and said, “You’re coming back to 100 Mile House with me.” That was a
turning point for me, because I could have been on Sunrise Ranch, which meant
my life would have been entirely different. But I was needed here, and Martin
made that clear, and so I came back, and the cycle continued. And I have
enjoyed being here, living near Martin.
In the early days we shared
attunements at lunch time, day after day—it was a special time, sharing with
him. We would talk about things that needed doing, or whatever, and it began my
attunement ministry. But he provided a point of focus for me that was remarkable,
and he guided me—he didn’t tell me what to do. One of the principles he
functioned under was that leadership learned by experience, by seeing what was
required. Leadership was not told what to do. He always said that if a person
was a leader, you didn’t tell him or her what to do, because by doing that you
took the leadership away from the person. I understood that, so I always worked
on the basis of seeing what I needed to do, and doing it. And of course, it
always proves itself out; and that was my delight to work with him and do
whatever was required.
Oh, I have got lots of notes but I
am not going to say much more. I learned to fly here. I became a pilot and flew
for many years. I was treasurer for a couple of decades. That was a responsibility
I took very seriously. It emphasized the requirement of being exact and
precise; a gift which I still cherish and use. All these things were the result
of Martin’s spirit—his spirit of care; his spirit of nobility; his spirit of
emphasizing what was right in the individual. And, as Nancy mentioned about the
people who came who were hippies, well, I wasn’t quite in that category, but there were lots of people who came to Classes
who were. I found I could accept them as he had; the appearance didn’t matter;
there was no need to judge. I saw through to the spirit of the individual. And
one of my commissions was to prove that work is love made evident. I always
challenged men. I said, “You will learn to love work when you work with us.” Many of them, years later, came by and said,
“Yes, that was a special time. It
changed my life.” But that all stemmed
from Martin and his perfect expression that impacted me and so many others.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
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