Answer Thou Me
from In Consideration
Uranda August 20, 1942
In consideration of swiftly moving world events, in consideration of the cosmic significance of those events, in consideration of the spiritual factors which are at work in the affairs of men, and in consideration of the vital importance of the influence of our work in relationship thereto, one is deeply moved to a consideration of the importance of clear vision, understanding, spiritual perception, courage, the release of divine power, the expression of divine wisdom, and action.
In order to fulfil the vision engendered by the foregoing, it is evident that vision alone is not enough. None of the factors outlined is enough when taken alone. A program can be perfect, but unless there is someone to execute it, its value is only potential. Too many people who think themselves to be spiritual are content with potentialities. Too many people are content to wait for someone else to undertake the required action. Too many people are content to sleep in the Garden of Gethsemane, as the disciples did of old. The whole world is now a Garden of Gethsemane. Who are the disciples of our LORD who are called to watch with Him for the “one little hour” today in this great transitional period? Are you one of them? Did you not hear the Master call you when you were walking in the way? Do you not remember the day you heard that call? What are you doing now? Are you sleeping in the Garden? Is the strain too great for you? Are the vibrations too high for you? Is the significance of this hour lost to you? Let us awake in the Garden of Gethsemane, and be about our Father's business. In those days so long ago, the ones who had been called were found sleeping; they failed the Master in His time of need. One betrayed Him and all but one followed afar off. One, not following far enough away to prevent detection, denied Him. In the Garden of Gethsemane today, is the same thing to happen? The disciples of old were caught sleeping, and they failed to a degree that kept the Master from fully accomplishing that which He could have accomplished. We face again that which has been faced before. The failures of the past made it necessary to face those tests again. Are we going to fail this time, or are we going to succeed?
You know that there is the Cosmic Plan. You know that a means of executing that Plan has been provided. You know that you have been called to be a disciple of the LORD. You know that the LORD has provided one to lead the way in accomplishment—but you also know that he cannot move one whit beyond the point established by the response and cooperation which he receives day by day. You know that he cannot do it alone. You have learned the basic principles of the Cosmic Plan, and you have been undergoing training required to prepare you for a part in the execution of that Plan. You are the ones who have been given the privilege of training. You have the responsibility of fulfilling your part in the accomplishment that is necessary. You have come to know something of what it means to work on the vibration of the LORD’s Will in the earth. Do you rejoice that it is so? Are you filled with praise to God that you have been called to this great work? Or do you feel no personal responsibility? Am I the one who is supposed to do all the work? Am I the one who is supposed to carry all the responsibility? Am I the one who determines the success or failure of this world? Are you doing me some favor by accepting the instruction I offer you? Are you merely a student who takes the lessons without accepting any responsibility? Are you one who considers everything that comes up on a personal basis, considering only as to whether or not it is pleasing to yourself? Are you the one to be pleased in all things? What have you done that you should be pleased in anything? What have you accomplished to prove yourself worthy of such blessings as have been so freely given to you?
Does the LORD owe you anything? Do I owe you anything? Is your own place so secure that you can afford to be inactive therein? You know that the answer to these three questions is “No.” Have you paused in consideration of what you owe the LORD? Have you seriously thought of what you owe this service? Have you fulfilled your part, so that your service may increase? So that you can do something!
In view of what you know about world conditions, do you feel that you can afford to linger always in the same place, going around in circles? If you have gained a little knowledge, is it to make it possible for you to go off on some tangent of your own choosing? “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” The more knowledge you have, the more you have need of direction. I have given to you freely—what can you do to give freely to others? For what purpose are you here? The time is short and is growing shorter each day. The needs are great, and are growing greater each day. Much has been accomplished, but still more must be done. There can be no let down, no slacking on the job—until we have arrived at our goal.
The Christ Kingdom is coming into manifestation in the earth—because of you, or in spite of you. God’s Will is going to be done—if not through you, then through someone else. In the past few years I have seen thousands of people throw away the greatest possible blessing that could come to them—an opportunity to serve in and through the Third Sacred School. Sensational activities of men prosper—for a time. Plans and ideas born of men spring to the front, appearing to be great for a time—and then they are gone. Should we be sensational? Should we prostitute the powers of reality to attract the attention and support of human beings? Never. That for which we stand is enduring. Human beings may come and go, but reality goes on forever. Human beings think that they can decide as to whether they will accept or reject. How they delude themselves! All any person can do is to choose as to whether or not he will have a part in reality. Human beings need not think that they can condescend to consider the things of God, according to their own fancies. God does not owe you anything. His service in the earth is not dependent upon you. Yet God does offer you the privilege of having a part in that which is His.
In all of this I stir up your pure minds to an awakening in reality—and your impure minds to a resentfulness toward those who dare to disturb the slumber of death. By the same Love that draws the responding one into joy and peace, the rebellious one is caused to harden his heart and fight against God—that he may hasten the coming of his own doom; for “no one can fight against God and live.” There is little time left for dilly-dallying. The responding ones are moving forward—are you going to move with them? If not, you will be left behind. We cannot linger here too long—we are going forward. Is your mind made up? Are you going to labor in the harvest field? If so, you should not expect us to wait on you, and attend your every wish, as if you were a king and the Lord’s servant your slave. Why should you be given what you want—you should rejoice to accept what the Lord’s servant gives. Why should your interest wane and your response lag, just because you do not find something strictly pleasing to yourself? Who are you? If you can answer, there is no need that you do so, for you are among the faithful ones, and you are doing your part, now. What have you given of yourself to God? If you say that you have given all, take heed that you give all. He who holds back now, seals his own doom. Let us serve the LORD as worthy servants.
In consideration of these things — what is your answer?
Your Name
Uranda March 17, 1948 Salinas, California
“Thy name, thy age, thy place of birth, thy race, thy color, and the creeds by which thou hast come along the Way, are of no consequence here, except that by thy name thou hast identity to those whom thou shalt come to know within these walls and doors—but thy name is as yet but a seed which shall come, in season, to have such meaning as thou thyself shall give it through the expression of thyself in daily living.”
Contemplation upon this quotation from The 18 Keys should produce within you a new realization of the importance of that which you are causing your name to signify among those with whom you are associated in the service of our KING. Such realization should cause you to pause and consider well that which you have caused to be established in the minds of others in relationship to your name; for it is the living of your life that gives meaning to your name, and it is your own expression of life that is associated with your name in the minds of others.
From the Book of Being I would quote: “The LORD doth inquire of thee: Art thou the accuser of My Children? Thus saith the LORD: Blessed are they who behold My Nature in My Children.” Consider well this quotation and let it be written in Letters of Fire upon your hearts, that you may let your whole expression of Being be conditioned thereby.
Whether it be from judging according to the limitations of human understanding, or whether it is the result of the expression of your life as it is in fact, is not, for the moment, under question, and with respect to this point I myself judge not at this time; nevertheless, though you have been in the school, and in the service of the LORD, these many years, there are yet, in relationship to your names, individually, certain attributes or characteristics that are signified by your name in the minds of others with whom you are associated, that are not worthy of you as Members of the One Body, or as Branches of the One Vine, which must, if they be real, be purged from you that ye may be clean through the Word that is spoken unto you, or which must, if they only seem to be present because of limitations of human judgment, be removed from the consciousness of those associated with you by reason of the fact of your own living in the expression of your daily activity. Therefore, whether these things must be purged from you individually, because they are a part of you, or whether they must be purged from the consciousness of others in relationship to their thought of you, the essential purging can come only through the daily expression of the reality of your own Being.
Since you are in a period wherein you have been commanded to think upon and speak about the reality which you behold in another, you have also in this period an opportunity for prayerful self-examination with respect to the things to which your attention is drawn. As I look into your consciousness, individually and collectively, I see certain ill things connected with your individual identities, as above outlined, some of which I would mention, that you give particular heed to yourselves individually in this period of self-examination, that you may let the spirit purge away that which is in you that is unreal with respect to yourself, and likewise let the spirit purge away that which is unreal in your consciousness with respect to others. The unreal things which are signified by your individual identities and yet remain in consciousness, so that they must therefore be purged away, which I would mention now, are as follows:
1. The appearance of arrogance
2. That which seems to be human pride
3. That which looks like aloofness
4. That which gives the impression of back-biting
5. That which some have thought to be judging
6. That which appeared to be a non-cooperative attitude
7. That which some have thought, rightly or wrongly,
to be a jealousy or envy with respect to position and authority
8. That which, somehow, impressed certain ones, regardless of the accuracy of perception,
as a desire to be great in the eyes of others
The Master Teacher said, “Let him who would be great among you be the servant of all.” If this instruction displeases thee, whether thou dost understand or not, this Door will not open unto thee; but if thy purposes are honest and thy willingness sincere, the secrets of true greatness await thee here. That your pure minds may be stirred up to remembrance of the Living Word, and that you may more vividly behold the Way by which you may effectively function together in the current of the Christ Love, which is the spirit of togetherness, I would quote for you as it is written in The 18 Keys:
1. Truth provides the meeting place for awakened minds, wherein the pattern of Being, as it relates to all persons, things and ideas, may be brought into the clear focus of vision in the Light, that, through understanding, all who will may share in the mutuality of appreciation.
2. Creative activity, to bring true satisfaction, must be oriented to the Supreme Center, which is the essence of creative activity in the absolute focalization of Truth and Love, and it must, in its relatively correct position in relationship to the Whole, be motivated by the spirit of the givingness of the Creator, and not by the gettingness of the created, that the joys of intelligence and reason may be increased, and not diminished; for only as man functions in intelligence and reason through the unifying force of Love according to the pattern of Truth, can man be consistently and continually harmonious with and in the One Law by reason of which man is privileged to enjoy dominion.
Let your meditations upon these two phases of The Key establish in you a clear recognition of that which is required of you. You may consider it well, in recognition of the necessary purgings by which you may be cleansed and purified according to the necessities of that service to which you are called in the Holy Name of our KING. In John 13:34-35 it is written: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
© emissaries of divine light
The Christ Comes Forth Through Everything
from Active Agreement
Martin Cecil December 30, 1979 p.m.
In a letter of response to this morning’s service, mention was made of passive agreement. I am sure that you all understand the necessity for active agreement. In season, passive agreement may have its purpose but in initiating this creative cycle in the world it must be done by those who actively do it; otherwise it won’t be done. It certainly wouldn’t be done by those who are passively in agreement with the spirit of God. Passive agreement may be better than active or passive disagreement, but what has been lacking in the world, obviously, is the creative action of the spirit of God, which only comes when there are human beings who are actively in agreement with its coming. They are not just sitting there daring the spirit of God to prod them into action. As there is active agreement, the creative action of spirit takes form in expression. I suppose this is comparable to a beginning movement of a flow of water.
For a long time human beings have been building dams. In the world as we know it, sometimes those dams seem to be useful for generating power or irrigation or whatever. But I am speaking of the flow of life. Human beings have constructed a dam to the flow of life so as to divert the water into their own human nature ways. The dam has prevented the water from flowing in its natural course. It may have seemed to human beings who have been resistant to the movement of life that the building of a dam was constructive because it enabled the water to be used by them for their own purposes. This is the use of life for human nature purposes; I am sure you can see the analogy. We are here to let the water, or life, be returned to its natural course, which means that the dam has to come out. Now if the dam comes out by reason of an earthquake, that is liable to be a very destructive experience. This wall of water comes roaring down and takes everything with it. That is one way of getting rid of human nature, but by the same token of course it gets rid of human beings.
Our concern has been to allow this water to emerge into expression in our own living. Relatively speaking this would be a little trickle, wouldn’t it? We are thinking of what the state would be should it occur through the whole of mankind; just through us would be a little trickle. Nevertheless where this starts it is liable to grow, isn't it, so that more and more water spills through the breach, so to speak, in this humanly constructed dam. The flood is more gradual on this basis. There will be a flood. Somewhere along the way the whole dam will go out. Hopefully, enough water will have already spilled so that it is not totally destructive. We are concerned with this initial flow of water, the water of life, the truth of life, so that it may emerge under control and be kept under control as the flow enlarges.
Now for this to happen requires active agreement. Passive agreement is not of much value. It is like certain portions of the dam saying, “Well when the trickle starts we are willing to go along with it.” But the trickle must start, and the only way this happens is on the basis of the creative action of the spirit of God in expression through human form; and those human forms must be actively moving therefore with the spirit of God, no longer requiring anyone else to initiate what is required. As long as others are necessary to initiate what is required, their time will be occupied by all this business of prodding, so that nothing that is actively required will happen. So I trust there is a keen awareness of what our particular responsibility is; ours here, and those who share this responsibility with us in a larger sense. We are here as activators, not as activatees. There are those who certainly have been emerging into a more evident role in activation, and I am thankful for this. It is something that has happened more particularly in recent times. Something has occurred through everybody but I trust there is a more vivid awareness of the real extent of activation that is necessary to let the water begin to come through the dam. A number of you share with me during a service in the process of activation. Usually there are more who are in passive agreement.
This morning we took a look at a larger picture so that we might orient ourselves with respect to that, having a certain awareness of it, at least in the background of our consciousness, so that we no longer feel isolated. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2019/12/solar-from-way-things-are-martin-cecil.html] We become part of something vast. This something vast has a particular application now relative to mankind, to this earth and all that is in it.
We are responsible for this flow of the water of life. There is a sound to it, a sound of many waters, as there are increased numbers of individual human beings who let it occur. Reference is made in various places in the Bible to the sound of many waters. This is an outpouring, a flow, of the water of life in the actual experience of those concerned. This generates a sound, not a sound perhaps in the ordinary sense of things, although occasionally it may emerge in that fashion. There are many ways it may emerge as fitting sound, as we know sound in the world, but there is a consistent sound unheard by most before the right known sounds may put in an appearance. This has been lacking in the world, so that the sounds that have put in an appearance have been pretty jumbled up. There has been what has been called music, and some of that has had a backing of invisible sound by reason of the individual who composed the music and also those who subsequently may have given it form in living sound, in external sound, known sound. But most of the music that has been brought forth had no real backing, and even with respect to so-called good music the lives of most of those who produced such musical masterpieces did not give all that much evidence of the sounding of the creative tone of life. So, known sound has been a very restricted thing, and while human beings become very much involved in it at times and imagine that there is some vast greatness to it, there is not really yet. What needs to be brought forth has not yet been brought forth, because the bringing forth of known sound must be preceded by the bringing forth of unheard sound in the living of life.
The unheard sound has an influence, as we well know, as the tone sounds on earth because there are those whose lives are letting it sound. It is not limited to the individual, nor is it limited just to those who are near at hand, but extends into the whole consciousness of mankind and has an influence, an impact, there. We noted this morning that this impact of the coming forth of the Christ is revealed very largely thus far in destructiveness, the pushing forth of the debris. As the water of life begins to flow more freely it clarifies, and there comes more evidence of creativeness, building, the making of all things new. All things cannot be made new without the disintegrative aspect of the cycle of course. There is a saying that whom the gods would destroy they first make mad. Well I don’t think the gods are particularly interested in destroying anyone or anything, but there is a recognition of the need for the disintegration of what it is that doesn’t belong in the range of human experience. That needs to go, and those who are identified with that, and in the going of it, exhibit an increasing madness. We can observe many irrational things going on. We might profitably look in the mirror once in a while too. There are those in the irrational state who think of themselves as being rational; most people do, and they make use of the irrationality of others, failing to realize their own irrationality. So the whole confused state moves further and further into the cycles of disintegration. But we have a responsibility to offer stability and to provide what is really necessary.
We have a rather remarkable record that came down to us out of the past—words of the Master on earth:
“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”
“Behold, I have told you before. herefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
Here is the emergence of the Christ spirit everywhere, shining out of the east even unto the west. In this sense it is not a personal matter at all. Human beings are inclined to personalize things and so they are always looking for someone who will provide active leadership so that they can be passive followers. Because of this tendency in human nature it is easy for manipulators to gain control over human beings. For the most part people are looking for saviors here or there, and “there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets,” people, individuals, who assume positions of leadership as though what they had to offer was of great consequence and would be a tremendous blessing to all concerned. But that is not the way it happens.
The Christ comes forth through everybody. If there are those present on earth who passively agree with this then the Christ comes forth through them as well; but there is no means for the flow of life to occur so as to relieve the pressure on the dam, the dam that human beings have built over the millennia to frustrate life. So the only way the dam could go out would be holus-bolus, all in one fell swoop; and that would be entirely destructive to all concerned, including us if we just passively agree. But as there is the reality of active agreement, so that there are those who move by reason of the coming forth of the spirit of God—they are aware of that movement, they sense that movement, they align themselves with that movement, a movement that is not coming merely from somebody else but is springing forth from within themselves—then the flow of life may start, as it has to a certain extent up to this point. On this basis there may be, and has been heretofore, some release of the pressure behind the dam, so that things have been maintained under control so far.
Only as that flow increases will the pressure continue to be equalized to some extent. If it was allowed to increase because there were sufficient number of those present to let it happen, it would permit what has been held back behind the dam to flow forth naturally into its own course without extreme disaster. Evidently when the Master looked at these things He did not anticipate that exactly that would occur. He spoke of very great tribulation. But what we are about is plain enough. If the dam goes out, the dam goes out. Our concern is to let whatever happens in that regard do so with the least amount of disaster. This depends upon our active agreement, because it is this that allows the water of life to flow. It must flow through us if it is to emerge because of us. We cannot, as it were, stand to one side and say, “Let it run past me.” If that could have happened, of course, and achieved anything worthwhile, it would have happened long ago. That water must flow easily and fully in the individual sense if the Christ is to come forth in the revelation of the true design of life that is to put in an appearance. The old design, such as it has been, the human design, passes away; but the true design needs to be present as that passing away occurs. We are here to let it happen.
There has been a good deal of imagination in the minds and hearts of those who have been associated with what we have called this ministry, which was in effect disguised resistance, a fooling around in the old state. We need to anticipate the coming forth of the spirit of God into creative action, so that we are not found holding back. How much vision do we have, awareness, of what is immediately at hand in our own immediate experience? Do we still walk around blindfolded, so that we are shocked when some experience puts in an appearance: “Oh we didn’t expect it? How about taking the blindfolds off and looking intelligently at what it is that is really happening right where we are. We may begin to have some sort of broader vision with respect to what is happening in the larger field of the world, and we may pride ourselves on this vision—now we know what is happening—the Christ is coming forth, the rubbish is being pushed out. How much actual vision do we have with respect to our immediate circumstance? What do we see is happening there?
Do we have a keen awareness that the Christ is coming forth through all who occupy our worlds? That is wonderful. Praise the Lord. Let it come forth through ourselves. Let it come forth through everybody else. And what that coming forth produces will be in accord with the states and the attitudes of those concerned.
Can we see these things actually happening in the immediate field of our responsibility?—because only when we see it actually happening there are we in position to handle that correctly. We cannot handle what is going on way over the other side of the world but we can do what is necessary here when we understand what is happening here. We are not indulging anymore in nonsensical judgments and condemnations of anything that is happening, because everything that is happening insofar as we are concerned is happening because the Christ is coming forth; and if it pushes some rubbish in front of it, well that is fine. Let it happen. It needs to get out and be lost. We are aware of what is behind the happening and we are aligned with what is behind the happening. If some rubbish is being pushed forth apparently through somebody else, well we are the ones who are pushing it forth. It is the same spirit. It is part of our action, just as the spirit in expression through somebody else is the same spirit that is pushing any rubbish that may be lingering around in us out into the open. We see rubbish. We also see evidences of a conformity to the design of spirit appearing here and there, and we rejoice in that. That is our greatest joy.
Let us not vaguely imagine that because we have shared a certain vision with respect to the large picture we have yet experienced that vision in relationship to our immediate circumstances. That is what is required. Then we become effective and useful. The useless gets disposed of, so we had better, quick, become useful. We do that because we allow the spirit of God to activate us in our momentary living, and we don’t sink back into a coma, as has always been the tendency in human nature. Sometimes things are brought out:—in some services recently I spoke of thanksgiving again—“Oh yes, thanksgiving, that’s wonderful. Let’s be thankful.” About a week later everybody has forgotten—no active agreement, just reaction to a prod, and how useless that is. Various things, as I say, are brought up at various times. Occasionally someone wakes up and says, “Yes, well we should have been doing this,” but that is very often just about as far as it goes. Nothing happens. So another prod is given—“Oh yes, we really should be doing something about this.” And perhaps something is done for a few hours, and then everybody goes back to sleep. We may possibly call that passive agreement, I suppose: people who are willing to be prodded occasionally; they will stick around and let themselves be prodded. Passive agreement! But how about the active kind, where there is an actual acceptance of the responsibility of letting the spirit of God find expression in one’s own living now and in every aspect of one’s own living now?
That spirit is present. It has always been active but there have been few who have been willing to develop the sensitivity to that action so that it might be vividly apparent. Yet one has to start with whatever sensitivity one has. But if you don’t start with that sensitivity you cannot go anywhere. We develop an increased sensitivity to the coming forth of the Christ so that we may move easily and naturally with it. Because we do that in our living then we have the vision and we see what is necessary with respect to the things that are happening around us; otherwise we don’t. If we don’t see, we then presume that it is necessary to judge and condemn. But when we do see, we suddenly discover there is nothing to judge and condemn. The Christ is coming forth, which is what we are here for.
“Rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them.” That is obviously the natural attitude when we have in actual fact taken spiritual responsibility for our worlds. As we do this individually we do it all together, and that larger world out there doesn’t have a chance: all things will certainly be made new. All things certainly are being made new now.
© emissaries of divine light
Christ Born This Day
Martin Cecil December 25, 1979
Holy art Thou, O Lord most high. We present ourselves before Thee this morning in thankfulness, acknowledging this special day, both in remembrance of Thy birth in human form on earth long ago and also in a vibrant awareness of the birth into expression of Thy spirit, the Christ spirit, through all of mankind in this day. Once again there is now the birth of the Christ. At the same time this is also the resurrection of Thy body. We are deeply thankful that we share an awareness of these things in our own hearts and lives so that, as the angels of old, we may now herald that birth in the world for all people.
We are deeply thankful for Thy coming long ago, as one man on earth, to open the door of salvation, but we now accept the responsibility of extending that salvation into the consciousness of mankind as a whole, recognizing that only as there is this experience is the world restored as the place of Thy dwelling. Not by any human effort or any human knowledge can these things come to pass, but by the spirit of the Christ only, finding increased emergent expression through the hearts and the lives of human beings on earth.
We are grateful for such awareness as we have of what it is that is transpiring in these days, because we ourselves assume the responsibility of the angelic heralds on earth, saying in our own lives, “Glory to God in the highest,” that there may indeed be Thy peace on earth as God’s will is done as it is in heaven.
Our great Lord and King, we are present in this world to play our part with many others who likewise begin to know the truth in expression in their own living, not only to call to remembrance what is now offered but to share the responsibility of letting that offering be revealed to the glory of God on earth. We are thankful for the privilege this morning of being together here in this setting, that we might agree upon these things, and in that agreement let these things be brought to pass. The birth of Thy spirit is an emergent reality on earth now regardless of the appearance of things. There is no way other than Thy way. The ways of men, whether they are religious, political, scientific, economic, whatever, are valueless. Only the way of Thy spirit makes possible the fulfilment now.
How privileged we are, O Lord, to herald the coming of Thy spirit, not merely in words but in the deeds of living; for so it is surely established with absolute inevitability. In heralding this fulfilment, let our lives pro- claim, O Lord, glory to God in the highest.
We share this special prayer on Christmas morning. I am sure that we do not have any desire to participate in meaningless repetition. Let the spirit of the living Christ bring forth the natural and beautiful forms that it will do when there are those who are willing to let this be so. No longer need we attempt to confine the spirit of the living God in the structured forms that have been traditionally present at Christmas for centuries. How can anything new occur on earth if the only time that human beings pay attention to the spirit of God in a special way is in recognition of the birth of Jesus; indeed how can anything new appear if the old forms are maintained simply because there is a nostalgic memory of Christmases past? Perhaps insofar as adults are concerned there may be an endeavor on the part of many to recapture something of the magic that was sensed in childhood. That magic in childhood is splendid for children but the interpretation placed upon it by adults simply relates to a memory of physical childhood, when what really is being touched is the awareness, not of the past physical childhood but of the present spiritual childhood.
Human beings everywhere are spiritual children, indeed babies. Nowadays much emphasis is being placed by some upon the importance of what is called a born-again Christian experience. If there is any validity to the experience of being born again in this sense, obviously it is one of a newborn babe, certainly not of a mature spiritual person. The baby experiences life in its own special way, and I don’t think any of us sitting here this morning can recall very much about that. That experience certainly has little to do with such adult experience as we now have. Likewise the born-again condition in the Christian world is to be forgotten if the natural growth and unfoldment subsequently is to occur, but how few have been willing to let it occur.
To the extent that we ourselves have exhibited such willingness much has been left behind; much has been left behind that at the time seemed significant and important. It may have been significant and important when it appeared. It is significant and important that a baby should be born. Obviously there would never be an adult if it wasn’t so. So likewise, spiritually speaking, it is significantly important that there should be spiritual birth, that there should be a dawning consciousness of a new state. When a baby comes out of the womb of the mother it comes into the womb of the world, and here is a totally different state to what had been experienced before. But the ability of the baby is not all that great to discern immediately after the point of birth what the state is into which it has come. Neither is it so spiritually speaking.
To immediately swaddle the newborn spiritual babe in the ancient vestments of this human world will effectively prevent the growth of that baby into anything worthwhile. Obviously a baby needs protection to begin with but there must be freedom of movement if there is to be growth. There must be exercise, for one thing, even a little crying for another. The lungs need some development, certainly, and while it is irritating on occasion to adults it is necessary to the baby. So we shouldn’t object even to the spiritual squalling, and there is a certain amount of that. But always there is the expectation for the greater emergence of the spirit of God into expression on earth by reason of that individual form. This is the only reason that there are human forms on earth. Scarcely anyone realizes this and consequently there is the almost complete absence of spiritual adolescence, let alone spiritual maturity.
In the ordinary physical and mental growth through which human beings pass, they leave behind the stages of their growth. We sometimes say of someone, “Well that individual is passing through a particular stage.” It’s usually because it’s rather an uncomfortable stage. So there are stages of spiritual growth, sometimes including some growing pains, but always there is that to be experienced which needs to be left behind. As long as tradition prevails it is difficult to leave anything behind, and people are forced into immature molds on the basis of tradition. Religious tradition has been not the least of the methods used to limit spiritual growth. I don’t suppose those who are greatly involved in the religious tradition would appreciate this information but it is the fact of the matter, because those concerned are constantly being indoctrinated into a traditional pattern, so that the newness of spiritual expression that rightly should be appearing is stultified. It is considered that it is only right in its appearance if it comes forth in the traditional forms.
God is a God of the living, not of the dead. God is a God of living man, not of mummified man, wrapped around and swathed in traditions, no matter how good those traditions may seem to be. The bonds so formed are being burst asunder in these days, whether anyone likes it or not, and it seems to be a painful business to most. But why should it be assumed that the coming forth of the Christ into expression is necessarily a painful business? Of course most don’t recognize what is happening. There are those who are hopefully looking toward the Second Coming. The Second Coming has been in motion for quite some time, but who appreciates it? Finally, perhaps to the extent of our own willingness, we discover that the experience is one for which to be greatly thankful.
Let the spirit come forth, let the kingdom come—it’s coming anyway, whether anyone likes it or not! The wise thing is to learn to like it. We don’t learn to like it by resisting it. There are those women who have, either naturally or because they have received the required training, brought forth their babies with delight, in a recognition of the naturalness of the process; but the vast majority resist it, partly because of ignorance of course, partly because human beings have strayed so far from the natural, and this engenders resistance when the natural begins to take hold. Then people feel that it is unnatural because it is so unaccustomed. But if a person has been moving with the natural in living, then all aspects of natural living are found to be acceptable, enjoyable, wonderful!
And so it is that as the bonds, even of Christmas, begin to be burst asunder, a living birth may take place in human experience now, and we are not always being sent back to something in the far-distant past. What meaning does that have now, unless we ourselves and human beings in general let it have meaning now, participate willingly, delightedly, naturally, in the emergent expression of the Christ on earth? To reject that is to reject life, and the processes of dying have traditionally been uncomfortable. Here’s another tradition that we might leave behind. The way human beings look at things, and experience things, is based in an agreement with the unnatural. The agreement has been so strong, so firm, over the millennia that it is imagined to be natural, and what is truly natural is imagined to be impossible.
So we have come to this Christmas, 1979, close to the beginning of another year, when we may associate ourselves not with the bonds but with the naturalness of spirit brought forth into living expression moment by moment through each one. And as that spirit emerges through each one it is found to be a unified spirit through all: peace on earth, the evidence of God’s will in expression by reason of the children of men. This we herald by our own living, that all may be invited to become consciously aware of what is actually happening on earth instead of hiding their heads in the sand and struggling to maintain the human traditions which are supposed to solve the problems of the world. They never have; they never will. The only way by which the world may be saved from its own self-destruction is by the spirit of Christ, the spirit of the living God, the creative power of the universe. Why resist it? Why try to substitute the endeavors of human desire? This has been done long enough. That is the fact of the matter, whether anyone agrees or not, and that fact is proclaimed by the fact of the Christ spirit emerging through human beings, everybody, on the face of the earth in this day.
That emergence is a flaming fire which burns the rubbish, and those who insist upon being rubbish find themselves being burned, and that is the discomfort. That looks like an increasing hell on earth, but as we have before recognized, hellfire which burns rubbish is at the same time the fire of God’s love which does not burn itself. So those who associate themselves untraditionally with the truth of love are not burned. They are part of the flaming fire which burns on earth, that is true, and in this there is the herald of the coming. But let us make plain and clear the glory of that coming, rather than the pain which is natural and necessary to the rubbish when that rubbish is identified with human beings who feel.
Today is Christmas Day. How embedded are we yet in the traditions of the past? How free is the spirit of God in this moment to bring forth what is natural and right now?
Grace Van Duzen — “Hark! the herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King’” not a born-again anything on that old level. How glorious to herald the birth of the Christ in expression through human form today, to herald, to initiate, into the world now, this glory; and it is real.
Martin Cecil — The newborn King, which is usually considered to be the basis for Christmas, appeared on earth through one baby a long time ago. This happened because it was the only way possible—just one individual in all the population of the earth, just one, and that was right and necessary and the only way possible nineteen centuries ago. That happened. It doesn’t need to happen that way again; it will not happen that way again; but there is a way that it is happening now. That birth long ago, in spite of the somewhat fanciful stories about it in the Bible, went virtually unnoticed. What is happening now won’t go unnoticed; it isn’t unnoticed. Human beings are very much aware of something happening now, although they don’t know exactly what it is. It looks like disaster knocking at the door.
This birth occurs now in a different way, because it occurs through many. It actually occurs through all, and in the coming forth pushes aside what doesn’t belong, burns the rubbish. The fire obviously is already kindled. Rejoice ye heavens; woe unto the earth. We rejoice this Christmas for the real birth that is taking place, not for the imaginary one which human beings traditionally remember. It’s completely imaginary insofar as human consciousness now is concerned. But there is a real birth transpiring throughout the body of mankind now. This is cause for rejoicing. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, the will of God in expression through human beings. Thus it is! Let the truth be revealed in the living expression of the spirit of God by reason of our presence on earth. We would join in agreement with all those who likewise let it be so, for thus it is.
Lillian Cecil — We would join with you, Martin, in these glorious words of life today: Glory to God in the highest! We are no ostriches that have their heads buried. We know in a natural true birth there is the crowning first, the head appears and one sees and hears and feels and there is the emergence of life. And I feel in this very moment there is the emergence of life. It’s vibrating, it’s alive, it’s glorious! Glory to God in the highest!
Martin Cecil — There is the emergence of life in form on earth, life characterized by truth and love. No man can stop it or prevent it. Seeing that that life shall emerge inevitably, why not delight in letting it be so in our own experience? Glory to God in the highest!
© emissaries of divine light
