Response  is  the  Expression  of  Divine  Being

from  Reverence in Life

Martin Cecil  November 12, 1961

In my ministry to you I believe you sense the fact that I know there is Divine Being in each of you. I think you sense the fact that I am not just simply trying to kid myself on this score, that if I had been trying to kid myself I would have been discouraged quite a while ago, in some instances at least. There is a knowing. Because of that knowing, the door is always open. There are certainly occasions when I have drawn attention to the things that do not, or should not, have any weight, meaning or value, because perhaps you may have overlooked the fact that they did not have any weight, meaning or value. But all that was presented, all that has been said or done, has been based in the fact of the reality of Divine Being. Some of you have been aware of the reality of Divine Being in me, and you have responded to it. I rejoice. But what is real response to God? What happens when there is real response to God?

The individual who responds, him- or herself, gives expression to Divine Being. That is the evidence of response. Encouragement has been given to the spoken word or the written word of response, and there has been response which was an expression of thankfulness and perhaps a recapitulation of some of the things that I had said; but the real response is the expression of Divine Being through the individual, something which has never been expressed before. It will not be unrelated to the particular pattern in which the expression appears; for instance, in a comment period after a service. We might say that kindergarten response is one thing, where there is simply an expression of appreciation. It is all right as far as it goes; but until it reaches a point where there begins to be something coming forth through the individual that is the expression of Divine Being for that person, there is not yet any evidence of a maturing response. Here is the evidence of response. This is response—the expression of Divine Being made manifest. It is this for which I look. Perhaps there has been the development of this in relationship to some of you. It has appeared in some measure. But it is this expression as it appears, when it appears within the scope of our unified Body, that causes this Ministry to be unique.

There have been spiritual leaders all down through the ages. There has been a Supreme Point always on earth somewhere, but there have been others as well. There has been response to those spiritual leaders by human beings, but the response virtually has never gone beyond the kindergarten stage; for true response causes those who respond to share in giving expression to the Divine Being which is focalized through the spiritual leader. In virtually every case, if you look back over the record, the spiritual leader has stood alone. There have been those who had a devoted response, we might say, in certain points toward that spiritual leader, but it never caused them to begin to participate, to become a part of that which the spiritual leader was expressing, and consequently afterwards, after the spiritual leader was gone, nobody really knew what it was that he had brought into the world. We have that clearly revealed in relationship to what is called Christianity—scarcely anyone has the faintest idea of what it was our Master brought into the world. They have developed a whole host of beliefs and concepts and ideas, but none of them the reality, because nobody shared in it in fact.

There will be something original, something which has never appeared on earth before, the very moment that there is the development of a Body of human beings who are actually sharing in the expression of Divine Being that is focalized in the spiritual leader. But it means precious little as long as it just remains there. It only means something when it begins to permeate the Whole Body, so that that which is expressed through the individual members of the Body is the expression of Divine Being. It is not just response, or what is supposed to be response, which centers in a sort of adulation of the spiritual leader. The true response is revealed, the evidence appears, in the expression of Divine Being through the individual who is responding. If it does not appear in that, there is no real response. As you begin to find an awareness of Divine Being in relationship to yourselves and your fellows, then there is the beginning of the evidence of response: the expression of Divine Being through you. And this will be unique, absolutely unique.

We have had the privilege of associating for a little while with a spiritual leader [Swami Premananda] who is expressing something of Divine Being, traveling around the world, offering something to many people. There are many who respond to him in the sense of appreciating what he says, most of them without understanding what it is. They feel something, it feels good for the moment; but what is needed in the world is a pattern in which those who respond share in the expression that is made manifest in its focalized essences at the point of the leadership. There must be that point. There has been such a point constantly, all down through the ages. It is not that that is really unique in our ministry. Perhaps the recognition of it is something. But the sharing of it!—that is the unique thing.

Richard was mentioning the other day, some lady who was a secretary of Gandhi, and she is involved in some movement in relationship to this nonviolent program, which is another form of conflict. The subject was brought up with Premananda, and he was very quick to indicate that this was not at all what Gandhi was offering. In other words those who were followers of Gandhi have virtually all of them failed to comprehend what it was that he brought. They were not really sharing in it at all. Just the same thing as happened when our Master was on earth; the disciples had no faintest idea. Do you, in this Ministry?

It is in the measure that you do know something, share something, participate in something, experience oneness with something, that there is the unique provision on earth of that which makes possible salvation. It has never been on earth yet. If it had, the world would not be the way it is. No religion has provided it—the way human beings have functioned in relationship to their religions, at least. The truth has been brought over and over again and offered, and there have been those who have felt that the spiritual leader was wonderful, but they never reached the point of sharing what was being expressed. Only as that point is reached does this Ministry, or any other ministry, have any meaning. Of course, the spiritual leader must be a spiritual leader. He must be right. He must be providing an expression of that which is Divine for it to work, but it only begins to work as there are those who share that spirit.

The spirit appears individually through the individual expression, but it is never a violation of that which is focalized at Center. And as there begins to be this sharing, as you begin to know it because you are aware of Divine Being wherever you look, there is something unique on earth, and it is not wonderful just for its uniqueness but by reason of the fact that it provides what is essential to the creative achievement of the Divine purposes, making possible the changing of human beings. This may be shared by all of you and many others, to the glory of God, for you reverence Him and your attitude is one of reverence as you live and serve.

© Emissaries of Divine Light