The Steering Mechanism

The  Steering  Mechanism

Martin Cecil   July 5, 1977   Class

As I recall, in paper number seventy‑seven of the 1952 class series, the analogy is used of the rudder which steers the ship. This is rather a useful analogy. In the case of the ocean liner or the supertanker these days, if you were to see the rudder that steers the ship just sitting all by itself, it would appear to be relatively huge. But compared to the size of the ship, the rudder is almost insignificant; and yet a ship without a rudder or an inoperative steering mechanism is liable to be in dire straits.

The steering mechanism may well portray our particular task with respect to the body of mankind composing the ship itself. The steering mechanism is quite separate from the power plant which drives the ship. There is obviously such a power plant insofar as mankind is concerned which keeps things moving in the world. Life itself is the power plant, so that human beings are capable of doing the things that they do. On a large ship there are usually several screws to drive it, and it is possible to maneuver the ship to some extent, even if there is no rudder, by the use of the screws. We have a state in the world where a rather precarious balance is maintained. This is seen as being necessary if the ship of mankind is not to founder entirely on the rocks. There are the so‑called super powers, for instance, and some sort of a balance is maintained between them. If it gets too much out of balance, one side or the other, it could be quite disastrous as long as there is no rudder to steer the ship. So without the rudder these power plants have been used to keep the ship of mankind moving in such a way that it does not come to disaster. This has become so customary in the world that the idea of the rudder has been more or less forgotten; there is little recognition even of the possibility of the steering mechanism other than that which becomes operative to some extent through the use of the power plants. Of course without the steering mechanism, and without those who understand the correct use of the steering mechanism, and without the proper chart with the course laid out on it, and the ability to work with a compass, the ship remains more or less meaningless, going around in circles, running close to dangerous rocks at times, but veering away by the manipulation of the power plants. But the weather remains extremely stormy and it is an uncomfortable ride.

Here in the United States, very often in the weather reports there is indication that cold or stormy weather is coming down out of Canada, but much of the weather which is experienced on this North American continent originates in the Gulf of Alaska. In British Columbia we feel the initial brunt of this, but it doesn't stop there—it keeps moving. There is a weather ship which sits out there in the Gulf of Alaska. I always feel appreciation for the people who man that ship because the weather is always bad. They just sit there observing the weather, the waves and the winds. And that is the weather that they experience constantly, so presumably it becomes routine. This rather illustrates the state of the world: the weather is bad. And if a ship finds itself in this stormy weather, there are hazards in the vicinity, rocks, islands, upon which the ship could founder, and various frantic efforts are made to keep some sort of control which would permit mankind to continue to exist for a while.

If we awaken to the fact that there really is a steering mechanism which is quite capable, when it is correctly operating and under the right control, of steering the whole ship into the seas where it really belongs, then our concern would be not to participate in this desperate manipulation using the power plants but to let the steering mechanism be restored. It doesn't need to be made—it is there. It always has been there but for a long time inoperative. We ourselves, and others, properly compose this steering mechanism, which needs to be brought into an operative condition again. The steering mechanism is a part of the ship. Some have had the idea that they could restore the steering mechanism somehow and steer safely to better climes without regard to the ship, but if you separate the steering mechanism from the ship I suspect it would go right straight to the bottom. If we see this we may have a certain appreciation of the ship—it keeps us all afloat. It keeps the steering mechanism afloat while it is being repaired, and the steering mechanism is of value only because it is properly fixed to the ship—bolted down good and solid. We are not trying to separate the steering mechanism from the ship. Its value is in its connection with the ship.

We may recognize in this regard that at the point where it is bolted to the ship the greatest stress will be apparent both with respect to the steering mechanism and with respect to the ship. Most of the ship will be quite unaware of this stress, but when the pressure of the water comes on the rudder, the ship is being steered into a new course, then there is considerable stress on all that connects the rudder to the ship. And this includes a considerable amount of machinery in a large ship. That machinery is fixed firmly to the ship, and when the pressure comes on the rudder the pressure is transmitted through the connection to the ship and the ship moves into a new course. But the greatest stress is at the point of connection. So we may be aware of this fact in relationship to our own experience.

Properly speaking, as a ship is turning on to a new course, there will be considerable stress experienced by the steering mechanism, and by that part of the ship that is most closely related to the steering mechanism. You can see how this analogy holds good thus far. This is a very effective analogy. The steering mechanism is very small relative to the ship, but that does not detract from its usefulness. It has to be a certain size to be effective. It would be rather a difficult task to try to steer an ocean liner with a canoe paddle. So it would be futile to make the attempt to steer the ship except on the basis of the machinery that is available. The ship was designed right; it has a steering mechanism. The steering mechanism is present but has been inoperative. Because of the lack of the steering mechanism these other methods have been developed to try to keep the ship from foundering on the rocks. Hopefully, I suppose, also there is the idea that we could get to some calmer seas somewhere. If you have two screws in a ship and one of them becomes dominant, then of course the ship goes around in a circle and nothing really happens; we don't get anywhere. Our concern is with the steering mechanism. We need to clearly see the vital importance of the connection of the steering mechanism to the ship. We are not trying to escape from the ship. If we were successful in this we would no doubt drown. It is possible for the steering mechanism to still be present and capable of being operated because of the ship, so we are thankful for the body of mankind. There is an influence then to be transmitted by reason of the steering mechanism.

Now the steering mechanism is valuable because of the rudder and the rudder is valuable because of the water. If the ocean liner is in dry dock you can have an operative steering mechanism, you can turn the rudder any way you wish, but nothing will happen—the ship just sits there. It is only because pressure is exerted by the water that the steering becomes possible. So it isn't as though there was something inherent in the rudder to steer the ship; it is only by reason of the relationship of the rudder to the water that the ship can be steered. So if we begin to allow the steering mechanism to be restored, to become operative again, we don't get swelled heads imagining that we are going to really get something done now, because it is just a mechanism which, in its proper relationship to everything else, gets the job done.

The mechanism itself is in some respects complicated. It has many parts and all the parts need to be in place for it to work. I suppose using that analogy, if there is just one part missing it won't work. The restoration of the steering mechanism to operation can be described as an awakening process experienced by you and by others who begin to realize that there is a purpose. Now in religious fields particularly, where people have an experience, like Paul on the road to Damascus, that is considered to be an end in itself. He got religion. Well what is the point? He might have gotten measles or something else. Such experiences may be a step toward what is really needed, but most have tended to settle for the step.

We've used the analogy of a door in this regard. People become aware of the door and then proceed to worship the door, failing to recognize that the value of the door is that you can go through it. And going through it there begins to emerge an awareness of something to be done above and beyond the idea that human beings have had that all the world should be converted to Christianity or some other religion. And if that was done then all would be fine. I doubt that all is fine in Christendom, so that obviously isn't the answer. It is a matter of awakening, again, to the responsibilities which are properly carried by those who in this consideration compose the steering mechanism. They must be in place and functioning in a certain way to let the mechanism operate. It is not enough just to say, “Oh I see! This is clear enough. There needs to be a steering mechanism and we all need to be a part of it. Isn't that wonderful?” But nothing happens because there isn't really any steering mechanism as a factual reality, just an idea that there should be one.

There needs to be then a recognition of the specific nature of spiritual responsibility—it is particular to the purpose for which the individual is here in this steering mechanism. I suppose there may be parts of the steering mechanism that are very similar to each other but there is variety too. And all these parts need to fit together, they need to mesh, if the rudder is to begin to steer the ship in the right direction. Now there must be some means on hand to transmit the right direction to the rudder. The rudder doesn't know what the right direction is, the steering mechanism doesn't know what the right direction is, but there must be those on hand who are capable of reading the chart, of understanding the compass, and of how the ship is steered. If we can envision this ship in the Gulf of Alaska, for instance, having been there for quite a while, going around in circles, having survived thus far—many have perished along the way of scurvy and everything else—we can see that the experienced condition in that circumstance would be of the nature that it is a stormy one. And those who compose the ship have been in that circumstance for a long time, so they take it as being normal, the natural state, inevitable, it has always been that way, as long as they can remember. There is little consciousness of the possibility of any other state.

If you had spent your whole life on board a ship in a storm, you would presume that that was the state of life. And this is the way it is insofar as mankind is concerned. It requires someone who has a greater vision, a recognition that there are other areas in the ocean which are not just that way. If the steering mechanism should begin to come under control again so that there was a course set which could be followed fairly accurately—not all that accurately to start with because these power plants in the ship are going like-this and like-that, and you have constantly got to shift the rudder around to keep the ship on course, it keeps veering from one side to the other—but once there is a steering mechanism it can begin to nudge the ship in the right direction so that the conditions that are being experienced may change. We see this overall view and it is a nice analogy and may possibly be true to the facts, but the only way we can find out is to allow this steering mechanism to be restored. We talk about the restoration of man, the restoration of the whole ship, into that part of the ocean where it belongs, but that is absolutely dependent upon the steering mechanism and the capability of those who maintain the right course. So we concentrate upon the steering mechanism. Heretofore it has been a matter of letting the parts, shall we say, put in an appearance, that it may be seen how they fit together, so that there may be something useful.

Now obviously the repair, or the rebuilding of the altar of the Lord that has been broken down, is one thing. It is one thing to build a house and quite another to live in it. But you can't live in the house if it isn't there. We can't participate in the reason for the existence of the steering mechanism until the steering mechanism is there. So the initial stages of what has been occurring in the experience of our ministry relates to the repair, the rebuilding, of the steering mechanism. But the intent is not that one should continue to repair forever the steering mechanism. In the meantime the ship may have foundered on the rocks—however, it is a job that must be done. But as it begins to be completed sufficiently then a different job is done; there is a change, a shift, in what is being undertaken. And the shift relates to the actual operation of the steering mechanism, the doing of what it is there for, not preparing it to do what it is there for, but actually doing it.

The analogy tends to break down a little because a ship and the steering a mechanism of a ship are just a mechanical undertaking. This isn't merely mechanical because it involves far more than even the physical flesh of human beings—it involves minds and hearts and the dominion of the spirit of God. All this is far more than just repairing a mechanical steering mechanism in an ocean liner. And also we find that the repair job, at a certain point, will permit the application of the purpose of the job, the reason for the existence of the steering mechanism. They go on together. It is not a matter of completing something and then putting it to use; it is a matter of working on the completion, but at the same time there will be use. The two things go on together.

Now the consciousness of those concerned will, first of all, be involved with the repair aspect principally—most people will be thinking about this matter of being repaired. But gradually there must be this changing experience in consciousness where there is the realization of the operational purpose and emphasis is taken off the repair then. And gradually as the operation becomes more of the individual's experience he begins to forget about the necessities of repair insofar as his own experience is concerned because there isn't all that much required anymore. He will be concerned with repair as it relates to others perhaps, but there begins to be a consciousness dawning of rather specific applications of life in his own experience which are directly purposeful in this business of steering the ocean liner of mankind in the direction in which it should go.

Now there is a firm connection needed between the mechanism that is developing to steer the ship and the ship itself. There has been the need to keep a balance in this regard, because, obviously, when a person is undergoing training and true education for it to become useful, there is a moving out from a close connection, in a direct sense, with the ship. For instance, you all had your connections out there in various ways, but they were left in abeyance for the moment while you came here to undertake what was necessary here where the emphasis was on the repair, shall we say. But to know the meaning of the repair there has to be some use in your experience. Just to be beautifully repaired and then just to sit around, a repaired person, wouldn't be of much value—it wouldn't be possible either! So these two things are going on at the same time, but there needs to be a consciousness, an awareness, of what it is that is happening, so that one can cooperate with the process intelligently. This has been described as restoring the dominion of God on earth. It is transmitted through human beings. Actually we find that as there is progress made in moving the ship of mankind in the right direction, then the whole ship of mankind becomes the steering mechanism for something larger—the dominion of God through Man in toto comes into effect to steer the larger pattern of man's true responsibility.

So we have a miniature pattern in a way. It may seem quite large at the moment to us, but it is just to steer the body of mankind in the right direction. To do that we must ourselves steer in the right direction. When the steering mechanism is controlled in such a way that it heads in the right direction, then, because of its connection with the ship, the ship heads in the right direction. Let us not imagine that we can make the ship head in a right direction without ourselves heading in a right direction. It is because we ourselves are heading in a right direction and maintain a connection with the ship that the ship heads in a right direction. We come back to the necessity of the experience of dominion, or control, with respect to our own living. We will be tested in this regard to see where the control is—these testings were described in the case of the Master as the temptations in the wilderness—in order to determine whether the ship is in control of our experience or whether we were accepting the control of the Lord, which is the means by which the steering mechanism can be useful. And we find that in every circumstance that arises the choice is made. We may not have noticed it heretofore, but it is a fact because we don't quit living until we are dead. There is something controlling all the time. The controls of earthly heredity, as they have been described, are usual in human experience. Well we can see that insofar as a ship is concerned, but now we're concerned with the steering mechanism coming out of that. There may be some other parts to the steering mechanism that need to come out too, but the undertaking is for the control to be right in the steering mechanism, not to try to make it right in the ship.

This is what most people have undertaken to try to do from the standpoint of the religious approach for instance; let's convert everybody to our religion, imagining that thereby the ship would then beheading in the right direction. But what would make it head in the right direction? The only thing that makes it head in the right direction is if we are heading in the right direction—composing the steering mechanism. So we're in the fire, we're the ones to be tested, we're the ones to prove something out. It doesn't matter what is going on out there in the world—that will take care of itself when it is proven out here. It has usually been a matter of escape, hasn't it, from the standpoint of those who aspire to be servers, at least in their first concept of what it would mean to be a server. You are going to get all those people out there to do something; they are going to listen to your words of wisdom; they are going to pay attention and do what you thought they ought to do. You don't know what they ought to do until the steering mechanism is in operation and the ship is moving in the right direction—then we'll find out. So it always comes back to ourselves, and we find that we have this matter of being tested.

One of the values of this is that if we take note of the testings and accept the right control in each circumstance, we establish right habits. We are filled with wrong habits at the moment, the habits which spring from earthly heredity. They are not just going to go away until we deliberately undertake to establish some right habits. We will find that circumstances bring us certain situations where the right choice may be made. In the case of the Master three are described, and basically there are three. They reoccur at different levels. But making the basic choices and experiencing what occurs when the right choices are made establishes an experience which spills over into other areas so that we don't have to lay on the psychiatrist's couch and bring out all the garbage that may be present, all the factors of earthly heredity. Our concern is to make right choices in specific circumstances so that it becomes a habit and so that it becomes the natural, normal thing to do. Let it be the true state and the expression becomes automatic. And if there are those areas which are not clear to earthly heredity yet, they will be overwhelmed by what is cleared into the heavenly heredity if they should put in an appearance. We don't meekly revert back into earthly heredity every time the devil plays his tune. So there are these testings.

One of the attitudes which we have recognized as being essential is that of being here to minister rather than to be ministered unto. This is our primary concern—to be identified with the positive action of the One Law. If there is the positive action, there will be the negative reaction—in other words, we will be ministered unto, but that will not be our purpose. We make no demands. But if difficulties are sustained in our Body something has to be done about it—and each person is a part of the Body—and though he tries to cover it up it is still there, and it is quite obvious to everybody anyway. Somehow something has to be done about it. If a person keeps these difficulties to himself he is in effect demanding that someone come and do something about it, because otherwise that person will be ejected from the Body. One can't hold on to the ill things and stay associated with what is right.

Now we will always be ministered unto, but our concern is to minister. When the Master was experiencing the temptations He came to the last one, He handled everything correctly, and the angels came and ministered unto Him. Always when there is positive action there is negative reaction, but we demand nothing, we don't require anything. There are many who seek to minister unto me, and I am most thankful for much of that ministry. I usually seek in some way to allow a person to minister for their sake. Sometimes the nature of that ministry is not all that useful, but the person needs to get the feel of it. If I ate and drank everything that everybody gives to me I wouldn't be in as good a shape as I am. But I accept ministry in various ways, and one needs to do that not because you have to have whatever it is but because it is part of the creative process and there is someone there learning something.

Now another thing of course, insofar as a server is concerned, is the fact that he can't be bought. There are those who attempt to come into the good graces of a server by ministry of various kinds, polishing the apple they call it sometimes. And I have had those who have ministered to me and I have accepted what they brought because, at the time, it was part of their growth of experience, and it may have been a blessing to me too. And then later the person had the idea that they had some sort of special status because I accepted the gift. In that case, of course, they find out differently—you can't be bought. It may be that a person comes initially with the attitude of offering something with the idea that he is going to buy you in some way. If that is the case, then you don't accept the gift. The only reason that you accept anything is because it has a value for the person who is offering the gift and in the total unfoldment of what it is that is taking place. You never demand anything and you can't be bought. This business of being bought was particularly focused in Judas of old. He let himself be bought for what he considered to be a good purpose. I don't suppose he was any more bad than most people. He had good intentions; he thought he was going to achieve something by what he did, but he found out that the Master couldn't be bought. And because He couldn't be bought, that seeming tragedy occurred. Of course Judas wasn't the only one.

We do not betray, we do not deny the Lord. We have opportunity to prove these things out moment by moment not merely at some grand point of crisis. We are not going to prove anything out much at the grand point of crisis unless we've done it in the little things leading up to it. So we find ourselves being conditioned in the external sense for the standing forth of the Angel—the dominion of God reestablished, re-experienced on earth. And in that consciousness of the true state we begin to discover the specific mechanisms which permit the steering of the ship. We all have different parts to play in this. Some are in one area of the mechanism, some in another.

There are those for instance whom I have mentioned, providing the firm connection between the steering mechanism and the ship, a relatedness to the world body of mankind in rather specific ways. And then there are those who are rightly on the bridge, so to speak, setting the course and doing whatever is possible to keep the liner on that course. To let this happen it is important that there should be maintained a balance between the power plants, between the super powers for instance. If that gets out of balance, well, disaster is very, very close at hand. But if that balance can be maintained and there can be a certain steering as the mechanism comes into operation, which, while there may be jigs-and-jags, nevertheless nudges the ship into different water, so that there begins to be a different experience insofar as the ship is and concerned, and people can begin to relax a bit and know something new. Now this in some measure is happening—it has happened in your own experience and we can see it with respect to others—but we have this tremendous responsibility in our hands of maintaining the right course in our own experience, in our own living, because this is what gets the job done, so that the steering mechanism is doing what is required regardless of the stresses and strains. If there is a surge of power in one of the screws, the ship starts to go in one direction, then obviously the rudder has to counteract that and the pressure comes on.

Let's not complain about it. We know what is happening, we understand, and we do what is required. Where there is no vision the people perish, but where there is vision we live. And we are not so self‑centered anymore about the experience of the pressure for instance. It's all right; we know it is necessary. We wouldn't be doing what we're here to do without it. Of course when things begin to smooth out then very small movements of the rudder will keep the ship on course. There is very little pressure of that nature anymore—but right now there is lots of it because the ship is way off course. It has to be nudged around. The dominion of God reestablished in our experience is what makes this possible. And there are very specific factors, some of which I have mentioned, relative to making no demands for instance, refusing to be bought, etc., but nevertheless being willing to be ministered unto as necessary, but never requiring it. Let the Law work and what we are here to do will get done.

© Emissaries of Divine Light