from
The Body of the Archangel
Martin Cecil October 23, 1977
Obviously in the initial stages, when earthly consciousness begins to open in response to the working of the spirit of God, the viewpoint is from earthly consciousness. On this basis it is thought that there is a considerable amount of effort required, much sweat of the brow, in order to begin to conform to a developing concept of what would constitute spiritual expression, or what it would mean to be an angel incarnate in human form. While anyone must start from the place where he or she is in consciousness, obviously sooner or later the viewpoint of the earthly consciousness must be left behind in order that one might be in position to see from the standpoint of heavenly consciousness.
When there begins to be a view from the heavenly standpoint then there is an alignment with the angel of one’s true identity. There begins to be the attitude which sees the physical body and the mind as a facility for spiritual expression on earth. It is not looked upon as being particularly important in its own right. The only importance that your body and the consciousness of your body has is as a means for the expression of the angel who you are. But an actual awareness of this has been obscured because of involvement in identity with the earthly consciousness—that is a false identity. We begin to move to a point where we can examine things from the standpoint of the true angelic identity. We let the light shine upon that which we would examine. The only way that this can be done consistently is to have one’s own light shining brightly all the time, and that is made possible only to the extent of one’s heavenly living. The life which is heavenly is the light of men.
It may be possible to be in the presence of someone whose light is shining and, being sufficiently open and willing, to see what is revealed by reason of the light shining through somebody else; but if one’s own light is not shining, when one leaves the presence of that other person one will no longer see what one saw when one was in that person’s presence. When all is said and done anything that needs to be dealt with in a person must be dealt with by that person. It can’t really be dealt with by somebody else. It may be illuminated so that whatever it is can be seen by reason of the presence of somebody else but the actual handling of what needs to be handled must always be done by the person himself, and in order to do this he must see what he’s doing. The only way to see is to have the light shining, and the only way to have the light shining is to reveal in one’s living the truth of spiritual expression.
We may look at these things now and see that here is something entirely logical, reasonable; it may be seen clearly enough in this moment. But how clearly will it be seen when you are under the necessity of letting it be seen by the shining of your own light? because whatever is now seen that needs to be dealt with in your own consciousness needs to be seen when it arises in your own consciousness later, seen for whatever it is and dealt with on that basis. So the angelic viewpoint is very important. If there is the angelic expression in living there will be light and one will be able to see what is necessary in relationship to one’s own field of responsibility. One’s own field of responsibility is first with respect to what is present in one’s own consciousness. That is the thing that is closest to everyone.
Only as what is in one’s own consciousness is sufficiently clear so that one can see accurately will one be in position truly to serve, because, after all, we have to see what we look at through the state of our own consciousness. There’s no other way of doing it. If our consciousness is murky in some fashion, there is present a distorting lens in our consciousness, then we may think we see things accurately but we are seeing them through this distorting lens and we see the distortion accurately. There is then the necessity on the part of the angel to recognize that there are certain elements in the earthly state of consciousness of the facility which the angel is under the necessity of using for whatever he does on earth. Consequently there is the necessity for handling the things that arise in consciousness, the earthly consciousness, that need rebuking. You need to see that it is you who do the rebuking. It isn’t somebody else. The individual himself sooner or later will have to assume the angelic responsibility and do the rebuking. Then the field of creative responsibility begins to clear.
As consciousness clears in this sense there begins to be a new awareness of the design of things. Here, there is obviously a body of human beings present. We may have a certain awareness of the fact of being a part of the body of those who are actually present in this room this evening. We also presumably have a larger view than that and we recognize that we are a part of a larger body. The consciousness of being a part of this larger body is angelic consciousness—at least in some measure. The angel knows, after all. The angel has a keen awareness of the reason for incarnation on earth: to provide through the facility of body and mind what is necessary to permit the manifestation of a collective body through which what should perhaps be referred to as the greater works may be done. We have lesser works to do as individuals but the greater works are done by the body as a whole. The body as a whole only begins to appear as a healthy body with a healthy consciousness to the extent that this is true of the individuals who compose that body, which means that the angels are present, consciously present in expression.
This larger body may be referred to as the body of the Archangel. Each angel who is present in the body is in effect a differentiation of the spirit of the Archangel. We might begin to comprehend these things more clearly by considering an individual human body and its consciousness—mine for instance. Obviously there is a focus of consciousness present which is capable of transmitting something through words. In order for this to happen, obviously the body needs to be present. Nowadays it’s possible to record something on a tape and play it and you can hear the words, but in the sense of this living experience together here, my body needs to be on hand. It’s not possible, for instance, just to bring the speaking mechanism along this evening and leave the rest behind. It all has to be here and it has to be in sufficiently good health to provide what is necessary. The various parts of the body need to be functioning adequately in coordination. Clearly, the heart needs to keep beating. If the heart took the attitude at some point that it had been stuck with this job of beating day in and day out, year in and year out—it’s time it had a holiday—that would be liable to affect the whole body, wouldn’t it? No holiday for the heart. It has to keep its beat going as it should.
We need to see this in relationship to ourselves as parts of the body which we properly compose. Every part has its place. My feet are essential to me at the moment to keep me standing here. I doubt if the consciousness of my feet is aware of what it is that’s going on. All they know—I can feel that they know this—is that they are supporting my weight. All they know is their own job. And yet they have to do that job rightly if what is being done by the whole body is to be done. So, again, look at this from the standpoint of our individual function in the whole body which we properly compose. Each person certainly does not see the whole of what it is that is happening. There is no necessity. It would be confusion if he did because he would to that extent not be adequately conscious of his own task. We have to be adequately conscious of the particular creative field for which we are individually responsible.
The things that are done, necessarily, in these creative fields are required for the well-being of the body as a whole. I have my hands along with me this evening. I may make a gesture, so the hand participates momentarily in what it is that is happening in the overall sense by reason of the expression appearing through the body. So sometimes what we do has very specific meaning in relationship to what the body is doing as a whole. At other times it just has a subsidiary meaning—to maintain the body in health, to keep it on hand, to make it possible for whatever specific action needs to appear to appear. The specific action that needs to appear this evening is principally through the speaking mechanism. There may be some other action, gesture or movement, but not very extensive. This is required of this body in this moment. But regardless of the creative action that is necessary, insofar as our collective body is concerned we each need to be in place and moving easily and naturally with the current of the spirit of the whole body. We don’t try to extract a little bit of that spirit and possess it for ourselves so that we can go off on some tangent or other. We are willing to leave the spirit contained in the overall spirit of the Archangel. This is the way the body is coordinated, and if at times our experience seems to be somewhat humdrum, what of it? Maybe it’s just as important as the beating of the heart, which could be said to be very humdrum!
As members of this larger body we are blended into the body by reason of the spirit of the body. One might say that the basic reason for ill health in human bodies is the fact that the true spirit of the body becomes obscured in its working through the body. The earthly consciousness of the body interferes and so the coordinating factor, which may be defined as love, is, to whatever degree, absent and the body consequently begins to fall apart. It’s not being properly held together in its real design. Most of the physical body is composed of fluid but the whole body isn’t fluid. There is the necessity for the skeletal structure, for instance. There is the necessity for containing the body somehow. The skin is an important element in this regard but there are other means obviously in relationship to various parts, so that as fluids we don’t ooze all over the place. This indicates clearly enough that the correct place for the blood is circulating in the body. The bloodstream of this larger body which we have been considering needs to be contained within the body, if the body is to function in health. But our physical bodies are composed mostly of fluid, which allows for a certain fluidity of function.
There is a tendency as the physical body gets older for it to dry up, but even in youth bones are necessary, and they’re not at all fluid. There is a certain structured frame which makes the effective operation of a human body possible and I don’t think any of us would be willing to dispense with that. We may see that the same principle is true with respect to this larger body. We should not judge the cells in the body as though they should all be the same. There is a considerable variety in our individual bodies and they all have their place and purpose. We have been instructed that it is wise not to judge.
We noted before that we see what we see through the state of our earthly consciousness. So while we may think we see very clearly what we see, it is liable to be a distorted view, and if we parade our distorted views around on the basis of voicing our judgments we are at the same time displaying our own state. Most people don’t realize this. They think they’re pointing to somebody over there but what they are revealing is the state of their own consciousness. Another person’s consciousness may be somewhat distorted too, and probably is, but what are you going to do about that? Did you ever try to correct the distortions in someone else’s consciousness? It’s a most frustrating task, because at least some of the distortions which you think you see in somebody else are actually in your own consciousness. If you’re busy trying to manipulate something out there this is not going to change your state of consciousness at all. No, what is present in one’s own consciousness needs the first rebuke.
From the angelic standpoint, then, we see ourselves as parts of this larger body. Our responsibility in living expression is as a differentiation of the Archangel, who gives identity to the larger body; and that differentiation which appears in the angelic expression will be suitable, fitting, to whatever part the particular angel should play in the overall state of this larger body, the body which does the greater works, the real works. What needs to be done is done by the body. The individuals who compose that body simply sustain the body, allow it to be healthy, provide it with the essential cells that compose it, the essential fluids that move in it, and from time to time, according to the particular part, participate in direct action of some kind. In a sense we all participate in direct action, as we function as angels, by the rebuke that we offer to those things that arise in our own consciousness that should not be there. That is direct action into the consciousness of mankind with respect to which this larger body of the Archangel is here to make possible the ministry of the Archangel. So there may be some direct action from time to time. We are sharing in a direct action at the moment in this service, direct action as it relates to the consciousness of mankind in a general sense, by reason of what is happening in the consciousness of all of us here present.
Sometimes we find ourselves in a condition which is very uncomfortable, and from the standpoint of earthly consciousness we say, “Well I want to get out of this!” and ways and means of getting out of it are looked for. But if one is in a situation one is in that situation in order to handle it wisely, correctly. This is so or one wouldn’t be there. So it doesn’t matter what comes up in one’s experience, that is exactly where one should be. One needs to learn to accept the situation as it is and in angelic consciousness handle it wisely and effectively. To do this one will not be indulging in bringing to bear escape mechanisms: “How can I get out of this? I don’t like it!” Well we’re not here because the earthly consciousness of our physical forms doesn’t like this or does like that. We’re here to handle what arises as angels of the Lord. As parts of this body, in the dawning consciousness of the angel we become aware of the greatness of the task, not only the greatness of the task but the greatness of the One who is present by which this task may be achieved, the incarnate Archangel.
Some people have found themselves concerned with respect to this great task. This has usually been in terms of whether this ministry, this body of which we have been speaking, could be the body which would provide what is necessary in the achievement of the creative purposes of God as these relate to the whole of mankind. Very often this comes to even sharper focus when someone says with respect to me, “Well, can you be the focus of this?” It seems too much to swallow insofar as human consciousness is concerned because the only way the earthly consciousness can swallow such things is on the basis of its own concepts of the state of affairs, the view it has with respect to the divine focus, for the achievement of what is necessary. It has a structure in consciousness in this regard and so there is an endeavor to fit me and this ministry into that structure, and usually we do not fit too well. This is the attitude that people have taken all down through the ages with respect to the provision that has been made by which the restoration of man could take place. The outstanding one of these of course was when Jesus was present on earth. The Jews couldn’t get Him to fit into the structures of their concept; therefore He was rejected on this basis.
But it’s not really a matter of trying to get this ministry or anything else fitted into the structures of human consciousness. What is necessary is that we should discover what the reality is in our own experience, and to do this we have to relinquish our structures. To know the truth we have to be related to the reality in our own experience. So why should anyone fuss about this matter of trying to determine whether this ministry or any other pattern on the face of the earth is the one? Nobody is ever going to find out on the basis of fussing about it or trying to figure it out, because that is trying to get the thing to fit into one’s own structured state of consciousness. The point is to relate to the reality; then all that needs to be understood will be understood, and what is understood on this basis will be very different from the structured belief or concept that had been previously held. It won’t be the same thing at all. It won’t be a structure in the ordinary sense. It will be an experience, one’s own experience.
The only way one could know whether this body is the body—whatever that means, and I don’t think anybody here knows really what it means—but if it is to be known to be the body, one would have to be participating in it and discover the fact for oneself. Most people want to be convinced somehow, but no sign is given. One must experience the truth for oneself. And the only way by which the true body appears on earth is based in the focus of spirit. Unity comes on the basis of the true spirit and when we relate to that true spirit we discover what the unity is and what the means of its expression is. It appears in our own experience. And I would suggest that it has already begun to appear in your own experience. If you acknowledge that, then it becomes a very easy thing. One can move easily in a fluidity with what it is that is appearing. And we discover as we go along what it is. Nobody knows ahead of time, nobody can make it fit into an already-existing human structure, because it doesn’t fit. It is something of itself, and we discover what that something is to the extent that we are associated with the reality that allows it to appear.
Because there have been those who were willing to be associated with this reality something has appeared to this extent. What has appeared certainly hasn’t been whipped into shape somehow by the imposition of fixed beliefs, or rules and regulations. It emerges into experience by reason of the fact that there are those who begin to relate to the reality of spirit, what has been called the sounding of the Tone. That is heard and we begin to relate to it. To the extent that we do relate to it we find ourselves sharing a new state of consciousness, a heavenly state of consciousness; and that heavenly state of consciousness is reflected increasingly in the facility of earthly consciousness so that what had been passes away, the first heaven and the first earth are passed away, and there is a new heaven and a new earth in consequence.
We share this as differentiations of the spirit of the Archangel. Those differentiations of spirit are designed to make possible the manifestation of a healthy body with a healthy mind and a full and free spiritual expression. The greater works are done by this. We begin to have a consciousness of the fact that our lesser works of the moment, which very often seem quite insignificant, are nevertheless an essential part of the total action of the body. We leave something out and the fulness of what could appear cannot do so. Let it all come together and every seemingly insignificant aspect in that body is found to be absolutely essential. We do not necessarily need to know how or why it is essential but we have the sense of it being essential when we are functioning from the standpoint of the angelic state of consciousness.
It is through this body, as it becomes an increasingly effective instrument, that the power of God appears in the achievement of His purposes of restoration. Questioning human minds get out of the way. These human minds of course are inclined to say, “Well how’s it going to be done? What’s going to happen? Who’s going to do this? Who’s going to do that? How can we handle the thing over there?” Well the answer to that is—It’s none of your damn business! It’s the business of the Archangel. Let’s leave it in His hands and it will be done. But in leaving it in His hands we don’t wash our hands of the body through which He gets the job done. We play our part, and we are content to play it, whatever the part may be. When this is so, there is a functioning body, a healthy body, a body of well-being. The health is the health of the body, and when the whole body is healthy every part is healthy. So we might say it is enlightened self-interest to let the body function easily and naturally so that the state of well-being can be known.
We share this responsibility—what a wonderful responsibility!—as angels of the Lord on earth incarnate in human form, that in every way, in all aspects of our living, we may give glory to God. Our life is His life. When this is so consistently in us then the body may function because of us, wisely and effectively, in the expression of the Archangelic Spirit. This is the way, the truth and the life, which we are privileged to share.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
