Thirty Tears Ago Today

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

Your First Love

Your  First  Love

Martin Cecil   November 27, 1977

The first message to the seven churches contained in the Book of Revelation, the blueprint of the Third Sacred School, was to the church of Ephesus, and it reads as follows:

“Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

“I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

“And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

"Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

"But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”

“These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.”

Here is pictured the Archangel who has the control of all levels of consciousness in His manifest body. There only is a manifest body to the extent that this fact of control is made evident. That control is extended through the seven stars, specifically relating to the angels who compose His body on earth, and through those angels all levels of consciousness are encompassed. So here is a message extended into the developing consciousness of the body of the Spirit of Truth, the body of the Archangel, and it is the first one. Unless heed is paid to this message the other messages are of little consequence.

We have noted the fact that the Archangel is keenly aware of what those who compose his body, his developing body, are up to. I think sometimes the Spirit of Truth is thought of as being apart somehow, maybe carrying a watching brief, but not actually on hand. The statement was made that he is with you and shall be in you. This "shall be in you" aspect of the matter is what allows the control of the Archangel to operate through the consciousness of his body on earth. If there is a recognition that the angel who you are is already present and walking in the midst of your consciousness, offering control, exactly the same thing is true with respect to the Archangel and his collective body.

We may sometimes think to hide from the presence of the Lord. This is what Adam and Eve did in the beginning. They hid themselves from the Lord, but all they actually did was to hide the Lord from themselves—they had not really hidden themselves from the Lord. The same is true with respect to all of us. We're not hidden at all. We hear of the ostrich who is supposed to bury his head in the sand thereby imagining that he is out of sight. Well he is out of his own sight but plainly visible to everybody else; and this is indeed a good portrayal of the human state, supposedly hidden from the Lord but in plain view in actual fact. It's wise to remember this. You are exposed, so don't fool yourself. Recognize the fact. Acknowledge it. If you have not known the Lord it is not because He has not known you.

So your wonderful works have been in plain view. The Lord knows all about that. He is not neglectful of your willingness to serve at certain levels of consciousness. He sees how dedicated you have been, how determined in your own several ways to do what you thought was the right thing and to see clearly enough the sinners around you. All this is acknowledged as being so. The Lord is not neglecting your good works. But in spite of all that has been done, in spite of your labor, there has been something missing, something which had not been completely remembered: “Thou hast left thy first love.”

Obviously, in dealing with the various levels of consciousness that are included in these messages to the churches we find differences in individual people. Some may require more rebuke in certain aspects of consciousness. Some of the churches here mentioned indicate where the rebuke is required, but we are dealing with this first one. It is true that the rebuke is necessary in this first one to varying degrees insofar as individuals are concerned. I might mention this element in relationship to our services. Obviously I am under the necessity of working with the state of consciousness that is offered to me by those who are present. Within the scope of that state of consciousness there is a variation from individual to individual. If what is expressed is in the current of the spirit then it is found that the words are spoken in your language anyway, regardless of the level or state of your consciousness. This is assuming that there is a certain openness in this regard and a willingness to receive what is being shared. But there always is this matter of bringing the states of individual consciousness into a cohesive whole when a service is offered. There is obviously a variation in the states and levels of consciousness of those who are present, and yet I have to speak to the whole.

Certain ones have taken the attitude that I was speaking to somebody else more particularly than to themselves. Usually when such an attitude was taken it was an indication that my words were more particularly intended for that person, and he was copping out by shoveling it over onto somebody else. So if you ever feel that the words that are being spoken are for somebody else, have a care. Those are the ones you need to see and to hear. So if we are considering a certain level of consciousness, here designated as the church of Ephesus, there will be a variation with respect to all of you in this connection.

I have again been giving emphasis to your first love. What is it? The Word. This is your first love. I am sure that many of you can recall the delight when you first had opportunity to begin to consider the literature of this ministry. If there was a real openness of response in you, you couldn't have enough of it. I recall from my own experience, shortly after I came on Uranda's mailing list in 1939, that early in 1940 he sent me considerable stacks of mailings. They were like this (indicated how thick), a number of bundles. And I devoured that material, hardly stopping for meals or for sleep. It so happened at the time that I had opportunity to do so. In this way I became aware of my love for the Word, and I am sure that many of you have had a similar experience. You may not have been snowed under with such a massive initial dose, but it has been consistently coming. By and large this has been received with joy. Here is the first love—love for the Word.

You will note that the word Word has only one letter different to the word Lord. You will also note that the Word was spoken of as being in the beginning with God. One might say in one sense that the words Word and Lord are interchangeable: “In the beginning was the Lord, and the Lord was with God, and the Lord was God,” or “In the beginning was the Word.” “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. Thou shalt love the Word thy God with all thy heart.” Here is something very definite and very specific.

Of course we can't love on command. It is not a matter of trying to love—that is futile. It is simply a matter of awakening to the love which is already known in angelic consciousness. We don't have to generate love or make it appear, do anything to cause it to happen; it is already there waiting to be experienced. Lots of human beings make claims about love, loving God perhaps or loving some other person, but the truth of love is an already-existing reality. Human beings may awaken to it, and when they do they begin to experience it and then they know it. So if there is a commandment to love the Lord thy God, or the Word, it is not such an unreasonable instruction as it has tended to seem to many people. You cannot love on command. The suggestion is then probably made: “Well you have to think of all the wonderful things that God does, and then you'll discover how really lovable He is.” But in spite of all this most people of course have been afraid of God, and fear and love don't go very well together. In fact it is said that perfect love casts out fear, so they don't inhabit the same place.

There is indication that it is wise to fear God, according to various statements made in the Old Testament, but the word fear did not indicate that one should be terrified of God; it merely indicated that one should have natural respect and awe toward God. All this is naturally so when it is experienced because we awaken to it. And you do not awaken to it by saying, “Well I know I should keep that first great commandment; I'll see what I can do about it”; because there is the devil speaking, who in fact has no interest whatsoever in loving God. Why not? Because he is totally preoccupied with loving himself. That is the human ego.

If you instruct the human ego to love God he may put on a nice face but he will never do it. There may be a pretense, there may be claims of the lips, there may be what is called belief; but the reality of love is never known by the human ego. Love is known by the angel. Sometimes a little of that angelic consciousness filters through into the experience of earthly consciousness and the individual touches love. But on this basis human beings don't know what the truth of it is, and it wreaks havoc in human lives. It becomes in human experience hellfire. Though there are wonderful anticipations they remain largely mirages.

So we have a point of orientation here—our first love, the love of the Word. Without this first what else is there? We can never know the Spirit of Truth without the Word, and if we do not love the Word we could never experience oneness with the Spirit of Truth. All too many within our ministry have tended to become neglectful of the Word. There are many who have not, also. But sometimes those who carry the real responsibility have tended to be neglectful of the Word, and so a message comes from the Archangel to rebuke that neglect, to repent and remember from whence thou art fallen.

This brings into focus again the vital nature of the Word. It is a key to what we call the restoration, because it is the key to the incarnation of the Archangel on earth in physical form—and only as the Spirit of Truth has come in this way is it possible for reproof to be extended to the world. The words that are expressed in the current of the Spirit of Truth are priceless beyond the imaginings of men, not merely for the words themselves but for the Word which is thereby made available. Each angel is charged with the responsibility on earth for speaking the Word; and, using the term speaking, this is more inclusive than what a person may say vocally. It includes the whole of life, everything that emerges because you as a person are on earth. The base of that should be the Word, so that all expression is harmonious to the Word, is an extension of the Word, uncolored, undistorted, unchanged, but taking unique form through each one, and having taken that form, blending naturally and easily with what has taken form through everyone else. In that blending together the light shines. We know that in the Word is life, and the way we know the Word is through living, by reason of the fact that the available Word which we love above all else finds complete expression in our momentary living.

In order that this may occur many words have been spoken. There's a book full of them here—the Bible. There are many words spoken since the inception of this ministry carrying the Tone of the Word. It is impossible to reach that Tone of the Word except by reason of the words. You cannot skip over the words and find the Tone, all on your isolated own. Human beings have been trying to do this ever since the fall, and never has anyone at any time succeeded. Why indulge further in such futility when the provision is so accurately and so specifically and so generously made?

We may see here something portrayed by the way in which one reads a service—trying to interpret mentally speaking, as though here was another spiritual course of some kind which one can study and become wiser. It isn't that, it never has been that, although quite a few people have tried to make it that. The words as they are spoken, and as they are recorded and made available, give opportunity for a person to learn to move with the same current of the spirit in which the words were spoken; and he will certainly not discover what that is if he is studying the words, trying to figure out what the words mean—trying to interpret them, in other words. He must move with the current of the spirit, the spirit which made possible the expression of those words in the first place. That is the important thing. The words are the connecting link with that spirit; therefore one must flow with what it is that is available through the words, not stopping every now and again and saying, “Well now what does that mean? I had better get this clear in my consciousness before I go on.” Here is a human ego trying to inflate itself. The words are not food for the human ego, and if the human ego tries to eat them as food it will likely get sore indigestion. It is a matter of letting those words move freely through one's consciousness so that there may be a flow of the spirit. When there is a flow of the spirit in this fashion one becomes aware of the flow of the spirit and, while the words certainly have their importance, it is the flow of the spirit that is vital, for here is the Spirit of Truth with which one is beginning to align oneself. So there is a need to read the words intelligently, not seeking to make them fit into one's own structures of consciousness, because they don't, but yielding one's structures of consciousness in favor of an easy movement with the flowing water of truth.

Obviously it is not just a matter of reading the words to oneself. If there is association with the spirit in which the words were first spoken then one is obviously not getting anything for oneself. Do you think that while I am speaking now I am speaking because I want to get something for myself? You know that isn't true. I am expressing something in which you may share. So if you are associated with that spirit, you are expressing something to share with others, even when you are seemingly merely reading it to yourself. In other words this is an attitude which begins to emerge as you move with the spirit in which the words were first spoken. It is something flowing out from you. If it isn't flowing out from you but is merely something you are trying to get into yourself you cannot possibly know the Spirit of Truth, because the Spirit of Truth is outflowing. You understand, don't you? You know something of what I am talking about. As you associate yourself with these words you begin to familiarize yourself with the Spirit of Truth, with the Word, and this is the way provided by the Lord so that it might happen. It is not going to happen by human beings following out their old mental routines. So the evidence of the Spirit of Truth must be received if the Spirit of Truth is to be known, and that evidence is in the words. We might move on from reading to oneself, now having an awareness that it isn't really reading to oneself—it is reading to everybody else, whether there is anyone present with you and you are reading out loud to them or not—but there may be more than silent participation in the creative process. The words which give evidence of the Spirit of Truth in action may be read and shared with others.

Until a person has learned to let it flow he doesn't understand, although he may think he does because he has made some fancy interpretation. People fall in love with their interpretations, and by doing that they lose their first love. They fall in love with their own creations, and those creations are phony; they are the enchantments of the black magicians. So there is a need to develop such proficiency if it is lacking. But the mere ability to read proficiently is certainly not enough—proficient reading is very often quite empty. With respect to this matter of reading and proficiency certain ideas have been developed regarding technique, so that one could give the appearance of saying something really important and weighty without actually doing so! To the Egyptians, what Pharaoh's magicians do looks very much the same as what the expression of the Spirit of Truth does, but in fact there is a vast difference, and anyone with ears to hear knows the difference. The point is, however, that in our opportunities to read services out loud we have special provision by which we may learn to move even more easily in the current of the Spirit of Truth.

When you read a service those words are your spontaneous words of the moment, and it should not be possible for someone with their eyes closed to tell whether you are speaking spontaneously or reading. When this is true of you then I would acknowledge that you have the capacity to move fairly accurately in the current of the Spirit of Truth—but you had to discover how to do it. It didn't happen to you just by magic. If you have reading limitations in this regard then you have limitations in your own supposedly spontaneous expression based in the movement of the current of the Spirit of Truth. You may assume that it is an expression of the truth but it will not be. You have to pass your examination, in other words. You have to see the importance of that examination, and you will do that just to the extent that you are keeping the first great commandment. When you love the Word it is always a delight to participate in the expression of it. When you love the Word you just can't wait.

In days past, in the beginnings of the Unit here at 100 Mile House, everybody was very busy. There were only very few participants in that emerging Unit and we all had a lot to do. I certainly had a lot to do I know, but when the mailing arrived, I don't care what I was doing, I sat down and opened the envelope and read the mailing, because here was the Word. There was nothing more important to me, not because I was trying to get something out of it but because I was sharing something. That was my first love. They were Uranda's words in those days—now they are my words mostly. Of course I have to read through the transcripts of my services to make sure that they make sense when they are written. There is a difference between speaking and writing. So there are corrections to be made, and I have to read the transcripts for that reason. Then a little later they come again as mailings, and when they come again as mailings I read them through again! You might say, well, I should know what they say. You'd be surprised! I certainly don't memorize what I say.

When I was giving a public lecture in New York one time people kept arriving late. Long after we had started they still kept coming in and coming in, standing around the walls. About five minutes before I concluded the lecture a lady came in and listened, and when I finished and was preparing to depart she came up to me and said, “Will you please give me a brief thumbnail sketch of what it was you said.” Well if I could do that I would have given the brief thumbnail sketch for the lecture. It would have saved a lot of time! What ridiculous notions people have. They have no idea what is going on.

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. Thou shalt love the Word. Here is the first love, and when we begin to awaken to this love we find that indeed it is true that we are given to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God, right here where we are. That is the experience. It is all outlined rather accurately here in Revelation, although in somewhat obscure language. We know these things by experience, and if this is the first love, if this is the first essential, then other people need to know it too. If there is no evidence that we are true to our first love then why should anyone else pay any attention?

I thank God that there are those who have allowed something to occur within themselves so that when they first receive some literature it immediately awakens their awareness of their first love. And I thank God for that. But are we not charged with that responsibility ourselves, really, to be the living Word? And how can we be the living Word without first loving the words which make that consciousness of the living Word known to us? So I thank God for the opportunity of speaking of these things this evening, even though we seem to have gone over our time a little, because it is such a vital area in our service and in our living. Glory to God, because we love the Word.

Here is a rebuke being offered to a certain aspect of consciousness present in human beings. We see this particularly as it relates to those who are allowing the form of the Archangel to manifest on earth. Here is the first area of rebuke within the scope of the consciousness of mankind. The rebuke is offered into the consciousness of those who have the responsibility of giving form to the body of the Archangel. And this is the first rebuke, the first requirement, if anything else of value is to follow subsequently.

© Emissaries of Divine Light