Abide in the Garden

Abide  in  the  Garden

Keeping  Fine  Substance  Inviolate

Martin Cecil   July 7, 1977   Class

The ship analogy has been used partly in order to emphasize the importance of the steering mechanism. I am sure you recognize that the steering mechanism relates to the business that we are about. One might say that the reality of the Emissary ministry constitutes the steering mechanism. Part of that analogy of the ship relates to a movement out of hellish waters into heavenly waters. Now, what occurs as this actual movement takes place in spaceship Earth needs to be understood at least to some degree. I would like to read a couple of verses here out of the 2nd chapter of the Book of Genesis: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.”

There are a number of interesting points with respect to these two verses. Man was formed of the dust of the ground. Here we have the earth aspect of the dual nature of man. “And the Lord God breathed the breath of life into his nostrils.” This relates to the heaven aspect of the being of Man. There is, as you know, the triune earth and the triune heaven, with a connection in between. From the standpoint of the true state it is all one thing. From the standpoint of present human experience it isn't, because there is very little awareness of the reality of the Breath of Life which causes man to be a living soul rather than a dying soul. The heaven has been obscured insofar as human experience is concerned. What has been known has been outside of the Garden where man belongs. It is stated that man was put out of the Garden. We recognize that it was his own action that put him out—it wasn't an arbitrary decision on the part of some disturbed God. Man can only exist in the Garden. If he is out of the Garden he isn't man, but he is still capable of being restored to the Garden. Again, this is our business.

There are these two aspects, a true duality—the triune earth and the triune heaven, with a connection in between. That makes seven planes, or seven dimensions. The connection in between we have seen in terms of pneumaplasm—in which the heaven may be reflected. Pneumaplasm, being sensitive to spirit, what is present in spirit may be reflected in pneumaplasm. There is the reality which is reproduced in the pneumaplasmic substance and then reproduced again in the physical substance. It is first in heaven and then in earth, and when all is clear the reflection in earth is a reproduction of what is present in spirit.

I made a little diagram, three overlapping triangles cut out of paper. You can look at it from below. That triangle has an E on it, which means Earth—the triune Earth represented by this particular triangle. Back of it is the H, the triune Heaven; it folds behind. And back of the triune heaven is the S, representing Spirit.

When it is all put together there is just One Triangle, each permeated by the other—it is all one triangle. We can look at it from from above, which is the right way of looking at it, rather than from below; in which case Spirit comes first, and it is reproduced in the Heaven, and again in the Earth. The apex point of the Spiritual triangle, where the True Identity is, is the same apex point all the way through. It is an Identity at the level of Spirit and then at the level of form—those apparently two identities which are in fact One. I Am that I AM—referred to by the Master when He had reference to Himself and to His Father. There is the manifestation of the Father in human identity, which is exactly what He portrayed in His living.

Now of course the actual state that is now present in the experience of human beings, who are no longer Man, no longer a living soul, is of the triune earth—at least in some measure. The triune heaven is blotted out. There is a veil in between. The veil, which should be a veil of connection—and it is to a certain extent, otherwise we would not still be alive in the human sense—is a veil of separation. The way things have gone, this has made possible the restoration. There has been no human ability to penetrate through that veil and mess up the heaven. He was put out of the Garden. He put himself out of the Garden. Now, function in the earth, which is obviously the human state, we have referred to as function on the basis of earthly orientation, and there has been the experience of a false character because the heaven was very largely excluded—in other words the true character was very largely excluded from human experience. There has been a false character known and consequently a false identity because whatever the character is, that will determine the nature of the identity which the individual experiences, and the character has emerged out of what we may now call earthly heredity.

Whatever has come out of earthly heredity has come up against the veil—the veil which in human experience is a veil of separation—and been reflected back. In other words there is a closed circuit in the earth. Something comes out of the earth, hits the veil and goes back into the earth, and this is the basis for all human function. Something hits a person out of the environment, he reacts to it and acts accordingly, and that goes back into the earth. The earth is influenced to some degree by whatever it is that goes back, and so that will be included in future extracts of earthly heredity, which again come out and hit the veil and go back. And this has been going on around-and-around for millennia. There is consequently a seething compost heap—the human world, civilization as it is called.

Now, the veil has a relatedness to what we call the heart, the feeling realm. One of the beatitudes is, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” The idea here generally speaking is that you could gaze steadfastly into heaven then, and there you would see God. But that is not the way you see God. You see God reflected back to you from the earth. The true situation is that you gaze steadfastly out of heaven because you are in heaven. You are not in the earth looking into heaven rightly; you are in heaven looking into the earth. That is Man. That is the true state of Man. But we have to acknowledge that things are the way they are and human beings are in the earth separated from heaven by the veil.

It has been drawn to your attention that there is a very thin layer of disturbed pneumaplasm, but just as it only takes a little breeze on the surface of the water to spoil the reflection in the mountain lake so also with respect to this matter of the reflection of heaven in pneumaplasm. It is almost totally obscured by the ripple on the water, on the very surface, the surface next to human beings, of pneumaplasm. And that is kept disturbed by continuing human reaction to the earth—earthly orientation. And so the flaming sword which prevents human beings from returning to the Garden is this. It is maintained by reason of the attitudes and reactions of human beings themselves. It is not something that has been imposed upon them.

There have been those who have attempted to rise up spiritually. The triune earth—at the top here, is the spiritual expression level or plane. They try to rise up there and somehow penetrate into the heavenly state of Nirvana. All they run into is a rather blinding light, that is if they are at all successful. In rising up spiritually they are still in the earthly state. But there is an effulgence which throws them back in actual fact—they can't get through it. It is the positive action arising from the working of the Law, and the human being is positive. He is trying to scramble into heaven. He cannot get through. And so there is a very foolproof method employed here to prevent human beings from getting back into the Garden which, incidentally, is still present. It does not say anything about the Garden being dissolved. It does not say that God threw man out of the Garden and then because there was no one in the Garden there was no point in having the Garden anymore, so He called it a day. All that happened was that man lost consciousness of the Garden which is still just as present as it ever was, but not connected up with the earth because man has failed—and man is the means of connection.

So all these things may fall together in consciousness: There is a veil; there is pneumaplasm available for allowing the heaven to be reflected—and it is being reflected in such pneumaplasm as there is, but human beings know nothing about it because their identity is below the veil. Their character results from reaction to the earth and, while there may be some good aspects to human character, it is all part of this below‑the‑veil experience. And insofar as everybody is concerned there is the presence of shame because there is the absence of what should be there—the noble, angelic character—and human beings unconsciously are ashamed of the fact that they are not Man. There is this element of shame present in all human beings, quite buried in most, although it isn't hard to make human beings feel guilty.

This is one of the ways that the human mind has controlled people in the world, by making people feel guilty. Obviously this was done very thoroughly in the religious patterns—make everybody feel a sinner and you can control them. The sense of guilt—you know for yourselves that that rises up in you at times. You are made to feel guilty somehow and you are anxious to make it appear at least that you were not guilty, or are not guilty. But if that is the objective then obviously you are being controlled by guilt. If you find someone flaring up very quickly at what is supposed to be an injustice for instance, you know there is something quite unjust in that person. The Master when He was on earth said, “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” Which of you can make Me feel guilty? Nobody could. Of course, as long as we are functioning on the basis of what is below the veil, we can be made to feel guilty because we are guilty. And this is one of the things that human beings object to—feeling the fact of the matter. So there is the endeavor, particularly in psychological fields, to butter people up, to make them imagine that they are something that they are not. One of the first necessities, as you I'm sure have all recognized, is to acknowledge the fact of the matter—that in human identity you are completely worthless. If you feel worthless, well that is fine because that is what you are in human identity. And it is not a matter of trying to make human identity feel worthwhile, which is the psychological approach. It is a matter of being worthwhile and then presumably you'll feel worthwhile. But you did not convert your worthlessness into worthwhileness. Worthlessness is worthless. Let it be that way.

And so there is the veil in between which is the veil of separation insofar as human experience has been concerned for millennia. And there was no means—no matter what efforts, what methods, what techniques we use, no one has ever penetrated through the veil because it is not a matter of penetrating through the veil. It is not a matter of getting human identity into heaven. Who would want it there! In spite of all the hoopla about saving souls, which presumably means that you are able to get some human egos into heaven, it has never been done. It would not stay heaven long, would it, if there were human egos there. So we may be very thankful that heaven has remained inviolate. The Garden is the Garden still. But we are out of it—have been out of it. For this to change, it is not a matter of trying to get into heaven; it is not a matter of dressing up in Sunday‑go-to‑meeting clothes so that one might slip into heaven somehow. Man being put out of the Garden is one way of describing what occurred, but what happened was that man's identity landed up the wrong side of the veil. Nothing really moved except human identity. It landed up under the veil instead of where it belongs—in the veil—in the veil where heaven is reflected.

There is this veil realm of the heart, and the experience is of an impure heart. If the pure in heart see God, what do the impure in heart see, do you think? Well presumably the absence of God, sometimes described as the devil, and certainly in human identity people see the devil everywhere. They may not call him the devil but they see something that is wrong, something to be condemned, something to be changed, something that is threatening them, something hostile. This is the human state isn't it? The state of the impure heart. The impure heart is really only this very thin layer, just the surface of the pneumaplasm at the very coarsest level.

If we recognize that there are many ways in which physical substance manifests, there is at least as much distinction insofar as the various levels of pneumaplasm are concerned. It is not all the same consistency. Such awareness as human beings have is of the very coarsest levels of pneumaplasm, but the disturbance in those coarsest levels of pneumaplasm provides a protection for the finer levels of pneumaplasm because human beings cannot get through to mess it up. They keep being thrown back, on the basis of what they keep displaying in the way of character in their living. They may start to rise up a little in a better character but then something happens in the environment and back down they go again into some unworthy state of character. Satan goes to and fro in the earth, and up and down in it—up and down, up and down. And he wanders around horizontally, trying to enjoy himself one way or another at human expense.

Now it is not a matter of trying to get into heaven, trying to get through this coarse, disturbed layer of pneumaplasm so that we can land up in the delightful Garden, because it is impossible anyway. But it is a matter of letting this coarse layer come out beyond us. It comes out beyond us, and if it is on the outside of us then we are on the inside—in other words in the Garden. We did not move any. We did not actually change from the truth of ourselves. All that happened was that the distorted state of the impure heart went beyond us. It is still there all around; we see it everywhere—in people. “Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.” That is out of the 91st Psalm. “Only with thine eyes,” not with your heart. You see what is going on. You see it clearly enough and you know that nothing whatsoever would be gained by your jumping into the mess. You cannot save a person from the quicksand by jumping into the quicksand with him. This is what the chivalrous Adam tried to do with Eve. He jumped into the quicksand with her. If he had been willing to stand on firm ground he might have offered her a helping hand to pull her out, but he went along with it. And so the fall, as it has been called, the expulsion from the Garden, became complete insofar as what had been Man was concerned. Man, remember, is male and female. If it had been only female and not male then there would have been opportunity for the female to find solid ground again; but for whatever reason, we don't need to discuss the rights and wrongs of it, the male went along. And that established his essential weakness—most apparent ever since.

So it is a matter of allowing the coarse levels of pneumaplasm to be pushed out of one's own experience. The pressure is behind them, as those who attempted to penetrate the veil can really testify. Of course there are those in that attempt who found this beautiful effulgence of light and decided that that was Heaven, Nirvana—all get lost in this wonderful bliss, become completely useless. It is not that way at all. That is merely evidence of the fact that here is a person trying to penetrate through the veil in human strength. It cannot be done. They may be able to get into it a little by various techniques but they never get out of the triune earth that way because we don't need to get out of the triune earth. We need to stay here where we are and permit the triune heaven to come where we are. The only way it can come, the only way it can reach us, is through the clear pattern of pneumaplasm.

If it is to reach us then we must be where the clear pattern of pneumaplasm is, but we are not going to get there by trying to scramble into it, because we would be taking our impure hearts along with us. It is a matter of allowing the pressure of spirit through pneumaplasm to push the disturbed layer of pneumaplasm beyond us, so it goes out. The fact of the matter is that the finer levels of pneumaplasm could not exist in the triune earth because of the coarse behavior of human beings. It dissipates immediately in the triune earth. It is only safe in the triune heaven, safe behind the veil or behind the surface level of the veil which prevents human beings from getting to it. Now you can begin to see what the restoration is. It is permitting this coarse, disturbed level of pneumaplasm to be pushed beyond a body of human beings so that the body of human beings is behind the veil.

Those who are in the world will still be on the wrong side of the veil, and of course it is impossible to penetrate through the veil so it is impossible to recognize what is on the other side of the veil. This is why when the Master was on earth nobody knew who He was, because they could not see through the veil. It was only as there began to be those who allowed the veil to be pushed through themselves, even though it was momentarily, that there could be any recognition. There was recognition, on the part of Peter for instance, at one point. And the so‑called transfiguration related to this matter, not of something that was not there to appear. It was there all along but there was no one on hand to be aware of it. And it was only as the disturbed, distorted, coarse level of pneumaplasm was pushed out through the three disciples who were present, momentarily, that then there was an awareness of something that was the other side of the veil. It was right there where they were. They did not go anywhere. Then of course Peter had to start reacting to that of which he became aware, in the usual human way. “Let's make three temples, build something in human strength, and we will catch this. Then we'll have it.” Well of course, immediately a cloud covered the vision, the awareness, and everything on this side of the veil—for the veil had moved back through them and they had reassumed the old character—the old human character, because what was made evident was the true character in that experience. The true character was not the character of Peter, James and John, as it was put, but of what was described as Jesus, Moses and Elijah. There was a certain amount of confusion in the consciousness of whoever it was who wrote about it. Virtually nobody understood what was going on and so the event has been enshrined as some sort of a miracle according to the concepts, beliefs of those present—who were human beings—but it was simply the reality made evident momentarily, because they were willing at that point to allow the coarse, distorted level of the veil to be pushed out beyond themselves.

This is why the instruction was given to tarry in Jerusalem, insofar as the disciples were concerned, after the Master's ascension—stay put and let the coarseness of human character be pushed out beyond you. It will still be in the world, but not in you anymore. And that is not going to happen because the coarse human mind tries to make it happen, or tries to develop some method or technique to make it happen. It comes as there is a yielding, a letting go of any human endeavors whatsoever. Then because the coarse levels of distorted pneumaplasm are pushed out beyond the individual the fine levels are safe within that individual. They are protected so that the fine levels of pneumaplasm can once again become active on earth.

There has to be a protection—a means of protection. The means of protection is the same as it always was as long as the state in human beings in earthly orientation is there. The means of protection is the distorted layer of pneumaplasm and human beings cannot get through that in their human character. They have to let go of their human character, and it will come out through them because that is their character going on out through them—the human, distorted, earthly-oriented character going out of the person. And the identity remains in the finer levels of pneumaplasm. There begins to be the experience of the angelic identity in consequence—and as long as that hedge is beyond the person and is not received back into the person, he remains in angelic identity and is in position to extend whatever it is that is necessary. He becomes one of the angels that is sent into the earth to achieve what is necessary for the restoration. And the restoration is simply pushing this distorted layer further and further out so there are more and more people behind it so to speak. And when it is pushed out all over the earth the Garden is all over the earth, and it goes out into outer darkness—it is gone!

Obviously it may take a lot of people with it because a lot of people are not willing to let the character change. They have the human character in earthly heredity and they are going to keep it. Well that is too bad if a person has that attitude. It has been possible for threescore-years-and-ten, for a while on earth, but it gets pushed out anyway, doesn't it? The character is gone. You cannot stop it from being pushed out—but now what is happening relates to the whole of mankind, not just to the individual. It is being pushed out, and the space where the fine levels of pneumaplasm may be expands. There are human beings in angelic identity functioning in the Garden state. Now, the Garden state can only appear when the earth has been cleansed of all unrighteousness. In other words there are no unrighteous people anymore on the wrong side of the veil, because there isn't any wrong side of the veil. It has been pushed beyond the earth. It has gone out into space, if you like, dissipated in space—and all who remain are in the Garden. It is a very simple plan really and completely foolproof.

This gives some view of what it is that is actually occurring on earth so that we need not get hung up on the effects of the movement of this coarse level of pneumaplasm out beyond us into the world. We still remain here on earth. We still are very much aware of what is going on but, “Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.” You see it. Because you see it you may be able to lend a helping hand here or there to somebody who is willing to relinquish their fatal character. “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” That was an instruction given at one point. We do not have to go rushing around. It is the devil, satan, who walks to and fro in the earth and up and down in it. He is rushing frantically around to achieve something, heaven knows what—nothing, no achievement at all. But we are here and can let this character of earthly heredity be pushed out of us and right behind it comes the character of heavenly heredity. It is because we love this character of heavenly heredity that we let it happen.

If we love the earthly heredity character we won't let it happen. We will maintain that false identity and we will be pushed out. Man belongs in the Garden. Man was placed in the Garden. It is the only situation in which Man can exist. He ceases to be Man when he is out of that situation. He comes again into that situation because this coarse level of pneumaplasm goes beyond him and he sees the wickedness of man in this sense—that is, the false human character being displayed by people all over the place. He sees that, we see that, but only with our eyes we observe it. We do not become involved with it because our primary concern is to keep safe this fine pneumaplasmic substance which has so long been absent as an active ingredient in the expression of human beings on earth.

It was present in the Master of course. It was safe in Him, and because it was there many remarkable things occurred. We have this responsibility too but it now becomes a collective one, not merely an individual one. It must happen individually, but in order that it may be so collectively, that more and more people, more and more members of the body of mankind may be in the Garden. And the attitude of those who are in the Garden is not that they must have external evidence of the fact that they are in the Garden—they know very well that that will appear as it should appear in season—but to abide in the Garden, keeping the fine substance of pneumaplasm inviolate and doing whatever may be possible in the positive action of the One Law to push that false character out of everyone who will let it be pushed. We do not try to push it out of those who try to keep it—in other words those who we say do not respond.

We find some evidences of this true character in many people who are not officially called emissaries and we find evidences of the false character in some of those who claim that they are emissaries. So it is not a matter of claims, is it, one way or the other. It is a matter of what the fact is, what the truth is in our own experience. And so I thank God for this hour when we have been able to touch into an area that needs to be clarified in consciousness.

© Emissaries of Divine Light