The Passing Of Graven Images

The  Passing  of  Graven Images

Martin Exeter   December 21, 1986  p.m.

Let light increase. It always is a matter of letting it be so. No struggle, no human effort. The increase of light permits the increase of vision. There certainly is need for that increase of vision. Without vision, the people perish. But the increase of light is the increase of creative power by which essential changes are wrought, so that all might be included in the creative processes of restoration. Individually we have the ability to let the light shine and increase in its shining because responsibility is taken for one’s world.

It might be useful to consider something in this connection which relates to the dissolution of the veil of human nature, so that the light might increase. This morning we were considering again the matter of judgment. We may be inclined to think of this in terms of our association with other people and circumstances. I trust we do think of it that way and are exercised in the matter of relinquishing judgment, one of another and of our circumstances. This is essential if the light is to shine. When we speak of these things, the elementary ABC (Accusation, Blame, Criticism), it means little until it becomes specific in our living experience. We are all experts, I’m sure, in describing what is necessary. We can all talk at length about it. But here is the road to failure unless we specifically see the fact of our own specific judgments in daily experience.

So there is much to be looked at, which is brought to us moment by moment — we don’t have to go searching for it — because anything that is brought to you will, according to old habits, be judged. But anything that comes, whatever it may be — and it will come in specific ways day by day — is there to determine as to whether one still is in the kindergarten capacity, learning ABC. Presumably when we learn that, we can go on to higher learning. But if we don’t know our ABCs we’re stuck in kindergarten, and I’m sure no one is anxious to spend the rest of their days in kindergarten. No wonder things seem so dull and routine-like, if one has never gotten out of kindergarten. Of course to a young child first going in, that’s very exciting. And, I'm sure, entering into the experience of life on earth seemed, back along the way, to be a very exciting thing. But then somehow or other we got sidetracked, never having learned our ABCs. So the excitement tends to pall, and we have to hype it up somehow. At least this is the usual human view. As I mentioned this morning, there are matters of danger that excite people. They do all sorts of crazy things because it’s dangerous and they get a thrill out of it — that is, if they survive! That’s a very unnatural state of affairs and gives no indication of the true fulfilment that may be known once judgment is left behind.

As human beings we all fell pretty low. Many people talk about the fall. And it’s a fact. We got down into the muck and the mire where we don’t belong. We find ourselves somewhat stuck in the muck and the mire, wondering how to get out of it. This is a common experience to many people. They would like to shake it off somehow but cannot do so because of their own attitudes of judgment; that keeps them at the level where they don’t belong. What was it that brought people to that level? The eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree of judgment. This is done in very specific ways; and we have to meet those specific ways and let them clear, so that when something comes to us and the habit of judgment arises we are there consciously to deal with this event. It may be a jerky experience to start with. We have to stop and say, “No, I shouldn’t be judging here. It doesn’t matter how justified I am in the reasons for this judgment, it is the judgment itself that keeps me embedded in this fallen condition.” Why should one try to justify oneself for staying in the fallen condition? That seems rather foolish. Well every time one justifies one’s judgments one is doing that, taking another lease on the fallen condition and staying where one doesn’t belong. There are many implications to this. We necessarily think of it in terms of our daily experience. But there are many background factors that are present with us that also hold us from coming clear so that we may rise above this human condition.

I was thinking a little about our use of the Bible, and particularly of that portion of the Bible which purportedly describes to us the Master’s presence and experience on earth. We have something here which has come alive for us so that it is no longer merely a story in a book. It has come alive to a certain degree.

Christians talk about Jesus Christ. We may speak of our King. When it comes right down to it, what’s the difference? There is a character described here in the Gospels. This is a story. No one really knows where it came from. There has been a certain amount of effort to find what might be referred to as the historical Jesus, rather than the Jesus of the Gospels. I think it is fairly safe to say that no one has been very successful in this. Many ideas have been put forward as to the nature of the Jesus of the Gospels. Where did this character come from? Was it a real character? If you’re trying to make it so by looking at the form of things you will come up with an image. And human beings, obviously, have come up with an image. I’m thinking of this particularly in the Christian world; and I suppose most of us have had some sort of a background of Christianity, certainly from the standpoint of heredity in many ways, of generations and generations of people who read this story in the Bible and assumed that it was true and that it had reference to some certain particular character. However, as I say, when you start looking for that character, historically speaking, you don’t find him.

There are those who have postulated the idea that the Jesus of the Gospels was invented out of the characters of certain historical personages, maybe a couple of them or more. Well, someone was quite bright, evidently, if this was done. Of course it is true that the Jesus of the Gospels largely supports the building of the Christian religion. So presumably the things that are there were there because they did support this human effort. More recently of course there have been what are called the Dead Sea Scrolls, which have described another character. No doubt there has been a suppression back along the way of certain aspects of what it was that appeared on earth, in order to make possible the building of the doctrine of Christianity. This is not exceptional, mind you. You can look into this from the standpoint of other religions too.

But all I am saying here is that, insofar as we are concerned, we have seen Jesus very largely through the eyes of the Gospels. However we have also seen something which went beyond that, because there has been some sort of a living experience, something that we have had in our own experience which transcends the form. We don’t need the form, really, to tell us what the experience is. It’s something that springs forth into expression in our living if we will let it, let the light shine. The idea has been, for the most part, in the Christian world at least, “Look at the light.” The light was Jesus, Jesus of the Gospels. The statement has been made a number of times that all history is fiction. Are we to exclude this?

We have all, I’m sure, established images in consciousness relative to Jesus. There are those who not only established them in consciousness but let them come out in the form of wood or stone or the painting of a picture, whatever. Is there anything much different between having an image only in consciousness and letting that image externalize itself in some artistic expression? You have to have the image in consciousness first; and I think virtually everyone has had the image in consciousness, an image which was largely based in the story of the Gospels. “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.” Oh, well we didn’t get around to doing it in stone, or in wood, or painting a picture. Actually some have painted pictures of the image they had in consciousness. But everybody had the image in consciousness, in whatever measure and whatever it seemed to be. I am suggesting that this must be relinquished. It must dissolve.

We find ourselves in a situation somewhat like what was spoken of in this story when Mary Magdalene was in the garden — again according to the Gospel — and couldn’t find the body of Jesus. There was someone there whom she questioned: “They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.” I would suggest that everybody needs to come to that point. Here is an image which people cling to; it’s very precious to them. We have stories in the Old Testament about people who had very precious images. One lady sat on them in her tent. But one cannot experience the truth if one clings to an image, even the image of Jesus. How then can the truth be known? Well we are aware of the way. But fundamentally it is taking the same position in one’s own world as Jesus was purported to have done in His. That’s the only way you could find out what the truth is. There are those perhaps who have tried in various ways to get back two thousand years to the events of that day, but no one was very successful — this, in order to find out what it was that really happened. We don’t need to go back there because all that is real is here now. The truth can be known now.

An aspect of judgment is this business of setting up an image. Thou shalt not make unto thee any image or a likeness of anything, even in the heaven above, certainly not in the earth beneath, though everybody has done that. Everybody has worshipped their external idols and been largely governed by what is present in the water under the earth, in other words the subconscious elements that come out of the past through heredity and in various ways. But there has been a deliberate setting up of an image of Jesus Christ in the Christian world, and other images in various ways in other religious doctrines. The view is: “There is the light” — the image is the light. One may feel rather self-righteous by reason of the fact that one may not have externalized one’s image, but you still have it. If you are an artist perhaps you could externalize it. And there are people of course who seek to externalize it in their living. This would require a very, very good person, if we are considering the Jesus of the Gospels. A lot of people don’t like that idea too much because they think it might end in crucifixion anyway. It isn’t a matter of trying to imitate Jesus according to one’s image of Him. Immense numbers of people have endeavored to do this, to make a facsimile of Jesus. What blasphemy!

The only way to discover what the truth is is to be it. You can’t be it if you think it’s over there somewhere, even if it’s over there simply in consciousness. So there is something to be relinquished here, simply because one assumes the responsibility of standing in the place where we have an awareness that He stood relative to the world. It is said in the Gospel that He wasn’t sent into the world to condemn the world. Well we weren’t sent into the world to condemn the world. That’s a pretty straightforward statement. Certainly in order to condemn the world we would have to judge it first presumably. Then, having satisfied ourselves with our judgment, we could hand out the sentence: condemn the world, condemn people — involvement with ABC. Let it dissolve, that we may relinquish the image and accept the responsibility.

The image has always been valuable to people because it helped them to feel right about not accepting the responsibility. If one can have an image to worship, well, provided that image is at the very peak — and in the Christian world that would be Jesus Christ, presumably — then one doesn’t need to assume the responsibility that He, even in the story, suggested that we should. As long as we have an image, there is something separate from us, and we remain in the identity of human nature. Human-nature identity is the identity that is separate from the truth; and if we see an image, obviously we have an identity still which is separate from the truth. So I think it is well due that we should realize that “they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.” We don’t need to know, because each individual assumes the responsibility of being the truth.

Nobody can ever assume that responsibility and identity as long as the human-nature identity persists. So, clearly, one must come to that point, somewhere along the line. I think most of us have been sidling up to it a little. But the truth is now. It’s not in the past. It’s not in any image that we could create in consciousness. There are those who have tried desperately to do this. They have read the Bible with such care and application, seeking to find that truth. Well of course it isn’t there. The truth is here. The truth is in the individual himself or herself. Only when it comes out can he know it or she know it. Let the light increase.

Grace Van Duzen — Martin, what is being taken away is the graven image and not the Lord. Surely to see this is the greatest thing that has ever happened, and to see it at this time of year when a lie is celebrated. And we can actually say that and not be struck dead. Maybe the crucifixion and the ascension can be included in all of this which has been perpetrated deliberately, so that the monstrous hoax that has covered the face of the earth has allowed this thing to grow on earth that is called the body of man, and the world. I thank God that the Word is invisible. The Word is here; thank God it has remained and is here. We know that Word. But we are not afraid to call a lie a lie. And the Word can only find flesh and be clothed by each one of us as that lie is allowed to dissolve. I thank God for this.

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Lord Exeter — Each individual may say for him- or herself, “I only can know the truth for myself.” And one knows the truth for oneself when one assumes the stance exactly where the truth is. We come to this particular season of the year which emphasizes the possibility of being the truth. This is not the usual emphasis: the truth was over there somewhere, in the past, a little baby. Oh how delightful, how romantic, how precious! A precious image. And that precious image comes out, takes form, doesn’t it? — usually through children who are inveigled into this. It may be all right for a child, but adults have been trapped in a lie, worshipping a lie, never accepting the responsibility to be the truth and therefore know it. It is presumed that someone else knows the truth, or knew the truth — in this instance, Jesus — therefore “He can tell me the truth; He can acquaint me with the truth.” Never. The human identity can never know the truth because the human identity is a lie in the first place. But we can relinquish that lie and accept the responsibility for our worlds, individually, in exactly the same way that we have discovered, through association with the experience of it, that whoever Jesus was did.

But we are not concerned with that now; we are concerned with this now, and what is done now, what I do now, where my identity is now. If it is still human-nature identity I will judge, I will condemn, I will justify this stand because it supports my human identity. But it is necessary to come to the point where there is no concern in relinquishing the human identity. Somewhere along the way the human identity is forcibly relinquished, at that point with no means of preventing it. But it may be done now because the assumption of the identity of the truth is taken: I was not sent into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through me, might be saved — not through half a dozen other people, but through me. Of course the human view then would say, “Well that’s arrogance.” No, it requires the utmost humility, the complete relinquishment of one’s human identity.

Have we not been moving toward this point? Is it a point ever to be reached, do you think? Or is it just always a little over the horizon? We see these things because there has been some experience of them. We have been associated in letting the light shine, at least to some extent. And so we begin to know. But finally we cease our reluctance and stand where we belong, as individuals, not looking to someone else to do it. To the extent that we do take a stand we may know that others will do it, and that we find ourselves together as one, in one body with one mind and one heart. It isn’t quite that way yet, is it? What have we been doing? Let the light increase in me because I assume the responsibility of letting it be so.

© Emissaries of Divine Light

Subjects Of The King

Subjects  Of  The  King

Rupert Maskell  and  Lord Exeter

Sunrise Ranch   August 23, 1987  p.m.

Rupert Maskell — What a tremendously rich blessing there is these days in the provision of music and singing, such as we have been blessed with this evening. When the Lord is in His holy place, such things naturally follow. I understand that I am one of many who volunteered to play an up-front role in service this evening. It happens that I am the one who is up here, but I know in representation of all of you and many more who are not here present physically speaking, though certainly present spiritually, one with us.

During our recent Executive Council sessions, on one particular evening there was a closer look at the description of the new Jerusalem, as is described in the twenty-first chapter of the Book of Revelation. That holy city is another way of describing the sanctuary or the Ark, which have been recently used as symbols in the services. During the service this morning there was one aspect of the description from Revelation that stood out very clearly for me, and that was the fact that the new Jerusalem comes down out of heaven like a bride adorned for her husband. I had never seen the significance of that particular description in the way that I did this morning. A bride must be in response to a bridegroom. There must be that spirit on earth, radiant and sure, which invites the presence of a bride by his side for the marriage that is to ensue. They don’t just stay bride and groom; there is a marriage to take place. And in order for the bride to appear there has to be a groom on hand to welcome and invite her into the presence of the Lord.

For so long mankind has refused to accept the position of being the positive, radiant element, which is another way of describing the bridegroom. He has refused to accept that one identity which would allow him—and her, incidentally, to stand on earth in radiant representation of the One I am, inviting a new state of consciousness, which is what the new Jerusalem is about, to be present in form because of the yielded capacities that are present once the spiritual focus is there. As was said in the service this morning, we’ve had it all backwards. We have felt that the only way a new state of consciousness was going to come was if we negated the reality of ourselves totally to some imaginary figure somewhere else, who presumably would put in an appearance one day, if we waited and were patient long enough in total negativity to this figment of our own imagination. And the recorded history of the world reveals that practically nothing of any significance has put in an appearance. One might wonder why. The answer becomes plainly obvious when one sees that our real role now on the planet is to be, in focus and in form, this radiant presence, the bridegroom, who is capable of welcoming and having union with a state of consciousness that has always been there, and yet simply hasn’t been known.

This requires tremendous humility, because without receptivity and acknowledgment of the One I am, the true identity, nothing more can happen. And if one is to acknowledge that true focus of identity one has to disown, or let dissolve, more accurately, the false sense of self which has heretofore occupied the space for the new Jerusalem with all its arrogance, some of which is false humility. Perhaps false humility is the most arrogant stance that anybody could take, because it totally negates the presence of anything else higher. It is only as we begin to claim our position in the simple stance of our radiant living, loving that focus of spirit with all our heart, and allowing that radiance to characterize our own living, that the union of heaven and earth once more becomes the fact on earth. We have waited long enough for this to be, and now, in the presence of all of us this evening, one beholds a body, a flesh body, of men and women who have, to whatever degree, allowed the radiance of living to be the fact, so that once more union may take place. Once more we may stand with the Lord’s representative on earth, not separately but as one body, with one accord, in one identity, bringing the truth of man once more on earth.

In introductory talks and so on, I have so often used the gesture that Martin referred to in the service this morning, the pointing finger, but had always associated it with blame: “One should never blame because, after all, one has three fingers pointing back in one’s own direction if one is pointing the finger at somebody else!” But it was very refreshing to hear, and so obvious if one thinks about it, that one should never try to impute the focus of being onto anybody else by saying, “He’ll do it for me,” or “She’ll do it for me,” thereby subtly, or not so subtly, denying one’s own responsibility. All these cop-outs that have prevented man standing firm and present are now being cleared away because there is sufficient substance through the living body to dispense with the usurper and to allow the radiant presence of the One I am on earth.

There is the old story of the caretaker in a church who, early one morning, while going about his duties sees the vicar coming in with a deacon of the church. The vicar throws himself down in front of the altar declaiming, “Oh Lord, I am nothing.” The deacon obviously thinks this is a good idea and so he too prostrates himself and declaims, “Oh Lord, I am nothing.” The caretaker can’t resist this. He comes forward from the shadows, putting his broom aside, prostrates himself beside these other two and cries, “Oh Lord, I am nothing.” Whereupon the two turn in horror toward him, one saying to the other, “Now look who says he’s nothing!” That’s the sort of attitude that’s prevented anything from happening. We are something; we are one thing, one thing only in spirit. And when that’s acknowledged radiantly, in humility and strength, then all the rest follows, including the appearance once more of the new Jerusalem, the dimensions of which we begin to discover as we dwell therein, going no more forth.

Lord Exeter — We speak of the King, the Supreme One. I am sure that it is in our hearts to receive Him in the only way that He may be received. This is to take His Name, so that we come into the world in His name. In so doing we are His subjects. We are not objects to Him. He is supreme. In Him come to focus all the qualities of being which are essential to Him in His position. To us He is the Supreme One, even though He provides that point of spiritual focus for what is beyond Him.

We well know that we have the responsibility of differentiating the focus of spirit which He is. In this sense we of ourselves are nothing, but have the honor, the privilege, of revealing His character as each one of us may be in position to differentiate it. As we understand this, it is very clear as to the greatness of this One whom we speak of as the King. In Him is all that we as individuals are. Because this is so, we are in position together to differentiate His character. His character is greater than all our differentiations.

He is supreme. We cannot help but approach Him in an attitude of reverence and respect, in one sense a little reluctantly, as we become conscious of who He is. Human beings in their human nature are inclined at times to be rather brash. They behave in ways that are not fitting, very often. We approach the King, at least metaphorically, on bended knee, perhaps with our eyes cast down. Humility before the King is the natural stance of His subjects.

Arrogance has been the natural stance of human nature. The inclination seems to have been, in the democratic world at least, to take the attitude that we are all equal, which carries with it the view that “nobody is better than me.” Well it is not a matter of better or worse; it is a matter of the design of Being. It is a matter of the truth. We can accept the truth or we can reject it. At least it has seemed to be this way. I think this presumed freedom of choice is in the process of being wound up. Obviously that point must come if there is to be what we speak of as restoration. If there is to be the true state, the old state must go. It is quite simple. The old state can go easily, or hardly. Thus far it seems that human beings in general have been unwilling to let it go easily.

We have a story back along the way which was referred to when we were discussing the Ark. There was what has been called a deluge, obliterating the state of civilization which had been attained by human beings at that point. If there was a real awareness of what that civilization was, by those of us who live in this civilization now, we might be rather amazed at the progress that had been made, the advances in every field — not just the same as things are now, but similar. There was a harvest, at that time, of human sowing, and there at that time was the reaping of the harvest: the Deluge. Whatever may have been involved in that experience, it was certainly worldwide. So in a sense that prior period came to an end and the books were balanced. However, as we are well aware, observing the way things are now, it all started up again. The same seeds have been sown over, and so the harvest reappears. It does so collectively. There is a harvest. It comes. This morning we said apocalypse comes. That is a harvest of human sowing.

We are concerned that when it comes there should be present on the face of the earth a focus of spirit in form sufficiently clear so that there may be the acknowledgment of the King. That is the one thing that is required, because that is the one thing that was denied to begin with. There is no restoration without that. But for the acknowledgment of the King to come, it must come first with respect to those who have offered themselves in whatever measure, to be His subjects. This must be clearly focused in consciousness, which relates to the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven. The reason for our presence on earth, if we have awakened to it, is to acknowledge the King, to provide for the King a holy place, a place where He is not only safe but from which He may extend His dominion once again. For this to happen there must be an adequate body of subjects. The substance of the subjects is vital.

Something has to be proven out in the absence of the King in physical form. The opportunity to prove that out in the presence of the King in physical form was given but, as we are well aware, was rejected. No amount of Christian fervor can change that fact. The King, when He was present, was rejected. It is quite impossible to go back into the past and repair the damage. Since that time it seems many Christians have been trying to pretend not only that He wasn’t rejected but that He isn’t rejected.

The only way that the King can be accepted, received, is as I Am. No one has had the temerity to accept that requirement. If that requirement is not accepted, the King is rejected. And it is an individual requirement. As potential subjects of the King, it might be said that we have been edging towards the acceptance of His presence. The only way He can be accepted is as I Am, is as He occupies all the space that heretofore has been held apart by this rather miserable, sometimes a little happy, human self. The human self occupies the space, the place, of the King. We have seen this in terms of thievery. God certainly has been robbed, and all human beings on the face of the earth are criminals in this sense, so it is not surprising if they land up in jail, bondage.

There is no way out. At last this fact that there is no way out is becoming apparent to increasing numbers of people. There is nothing anyone can do! Even the most brilliant human intellects are stymied. Now it is being laid out front, so that nobody eventually can avoid it. There are, obviously, a lot of people who are avoiding it now, but there are increasing numbers who are forced to recognize the fact. There comes a point where it may be said that it is finished. If one is still avoiding the fact, well one can keep right on avoiding the fact, and that will be that. If one has accepted it, one can keep right on accepting it. That also will be that. There is talk about the separation of the sheep from the goats. It happens. The day of judgment, it has been called. It’s easily understood, is it not? It has been happening in our own experience; it’s happening all around us: the apocalypse on one hand, and the restoration on the other. We presumably are interested more in the restoration than in the apocalypse. The restoration needs to be seen differently to what has been the case heretofore.

I am sure we all are well aware that, as there is an increased awakening or rising up in consciousness — or you can look at it the other way, the increased expression of the One I am — there comes a changing comprehension of what it is we are dealing with, of the way things really are. We have had little awareness of the way things really are, as we thought of it. This awareness has been different from what most people see, but I’m sure we don’t imagine that we have seen all there is to see yet. There is a changing view, naturally so, to the extent that the One I am comes forth more through the available consciousness. Some of that coming forth is conscious. The majority of it is subconscious. Whether conscious or subconscious, the coming forth of the angel, we have called it, the coming forth of the One I am, dissolves the one I am not. It brings the view and the understanding of the One I am into clearer perspective in one's own heart and mind, so that we see things in new ways.

It was said of John in the Book of Revelation that he saw a new heaven and a new earth. We think we’ve seen something of that too. We have seen something of the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. We speak of a new state of consciousness — well of course, because the One I am is coming forth, bringing the design and the control of truth, so that all things are drawn into that design and under that control, which are of the required resonant substance. So there is an Ark created: the Ark, the holy city, the body of the subjects of the King. It has a design. The design is the way it is. The human mind usually is interested in this sort of thing: “You tell me what the design is.” No. We don’t need to be told. We just let it emerge, and it emerges in very specific ways. It has been doing this through this body of subjects of the King, and we can, if we are alert, become aware of some of the things which are putting in an appearance in form because of what has been happening in spirit.

It is interesting to note that the holy city was of a peculiar shape. There have been those who have been trying to figure out how it could be, because the length and the breadth and the height were all equal. That looks like a cube. That is hardly a city. However, as someone noted, you can put a sphere inside a cube, and our planetary home is a sphere. In any case there were a number of features of this holy city. It had twelve gates, as I recall, three on each of the four sides. Gates presumably are for ingress and egress. They were always open. They were pearls, too, as I recall, pearls of great price. We ourselves participate in a process which is one of invitation to people to come, to come close, to come near unto me. But, also, at the same time we are aware of the necessity of radiation. That is the invitation, after all. So there is a flow moving out and moving in, the creative process. The creative process, we are aware, has some relationship to what we have spoken of as the four forces. Oh yes, there were four sides to the holy city, and in those four sides three gates in each one of them.

Another thing interesting to note at this point, without forming concepts or engendering speculation, is that presently we have twelve units. I don’t think anyone decided that there should be twelve units because, after all, we need twelve gates. No one thought of that, fortunately, so it could be allowed to happen the way it happened. I don’t think we have entirely completed the spectrum of units, but we may think of this in present terms for the moment. It acquaints us with the fact that when the creative process is allowed to work it puts things together in the design. We discover what the design is, actually, rather than theoretically, rather than merely in symbol, when we are willing to let it take form. And if we are considering the matter of units, these took form how? Because we decided we were going to have a unit here and a unit there? No. What happened was that there were people in whom there was substance resonating with the radiant expression of the One I am, and in that radiant expression is the design and the control of what must take form. So we are quite content to let that radiant expression reveal the form — create its own form, in other words — in whatever way will be fitting. We have often spoken of the fact that spirit creates its own form when allowed to do so. Human beings are intent, generally speaking, on trying to make their own form, get everything set up the way they want it. Of course this engenders conflict and doesn’t work. The fact that it doesn’t work is easily seen in the world, isn’t it? Yet apparently very few have come to the realization that all their efforts don’t work; so why continue with that senseless sweat of the brow?

We do not wish to pat ourselves on the back at all, because I don’t think we could have helped but move the way we have. That’s what we did, after all. So it wasn’t our brilliance that decided that we should face the fact of heretofore being unintelligent, and now at last we are beginning to be intelligent. Be careful! Spirit works the way it works, according to the design and the control of truth and in the power of love. We know something about that too. Very often it seems that those who have thought of themselves as Emissaries were inclined to back into the experience of love. They thought they were with people whom they couldn’t love, for whatever reason. However the creative process is very persuasive and it puts people together whether they like it or not, and after a while they find out they like it. It would have been much more sensible, really, to have decided to like it right from the beginning, instead of going through all the miseries that ensue when one doesn’t like something. So we find ourselves fitting together, but it takes the creative process quite a bit of maneuvering to get the job done — I’ve noticed this — but eventually it will get it done. It will get it done, provided there is present in those concerned sufficient substance which is capable of resonating with the radiation of the focus of spirit. We understand somewhat what all these words mean. There are getting on for five billion people in the world who probably wouldn’t. But as long as there are a few whose resonation is such that there is a beginning, at least, of understanding, of light, of comprehension, we are on the way; and we have assumed that we have been on the way for quite a little time. If we actually are on the way, and there is the movement of the creative process — it is going on right now — things will change, and be different to what they were before.

I would sound a little note of caution to everyone, because there is still probably present in all of us some measure of the attitude which sees things as continuing the way they always have since the fathers fell asleep. But factually they are not. In the human sense the world is a dangerous place. We have had some evidences of this, striking fairly close to home recently, but it relates to all of us. You can’t take for granted that the way you have been doing things heretofore will continue to work. It may relate to such simple things as taking a bath or driving a car, or doing anything that human beings do and that we have been doing. Let us not take anything for granted. There has been an attitude on the part of Emissaries that somehow or other they are enfolded in a protective sheath, so that they can do anything and not receive the results of what they do. It ain’t so!

The safe place is in the body. It is a spiritual body. The safe place is in the spirit of that body. The safe place, as we have noted — this morning, was it? — is not in the world of form. One must abide in the world of spirit while functioning in the world of form, if that safe place is to be brought into the world of form. We are responsible for bringing it into the world of form, not for discovering that it isn’t a safe place in the world of form. We have all had opportunity to do that. We get sick and have accidents and all this because we are inclined to take for granted that we dwell in the world of spirit, when in fact our focus is in the world of form. Now things are hotting up, getting more intense. If one has the awareness of the One I am, one will act accordingly. One will not act like an adolescent, or even like a brash Emissary.

Have a care! Acknowledge the King and behave accordingly. In such case one can’t behave like a childish human being. We are all related to each other, so in various ways our behavior puts everybody else at risk if we fail to remember who we are. It isn’t enough to come into the Chapel on a Sunday and say, “Oh yes, now I know who I am,” and then forget it when we go out. I am not talking about something deliberate or intentional, but the way it happens. And we may put ourselves at risk, or we may inadvertently put others at risk. We belong in the Ark. The Ark is composed of spiritual substance. There we dwell, in the substance which is the character of the King, and we reveal that character in momentary living, the way we handle ourselves and the way we handle our environment. Let us be sure that we acknowledge the King, for after all that is the one thing that has been lacking in human consciousness, in human experience. We share this responsibility. Sharing that responsibility accurately, we carry the authority of the King.

© Emissaries of Divine Light

Honor the King: Reveal the King

Honor  the  King:  Reveal  the  King

Martin Exeter    August 23, 1987  a.m.

It is twelve months since Central Council, as we call it, has been assembled in this holy place, the Dome Chapel, situated on this holy place, Sunrise Ranch. Most of those who are here present were here present twelve months ago; some are here for the first time; others who were here are not here in person. But we ourselves who are here in this moment provide a focus of sacredness for all who are willing to share in it, wherever they may be on the face of the earth.

There is an awareness on the part of many that there should be sacred places on the face of the earth. Such are usually identified from somewhere out of the past. There are many such places, most of them having fallen into considerable disrepair if there were external evidences of their presence in the past. But what of the present? Perhaps the sacred places out of the past were an endeavor on the part of human beings in the past to reestablish something that had been lost. These all put in an appearance since what we might refer to as the fall of man. Possibly they were also a vague memory of something. But for a sacred place to be present on the surface of the earth it requires sacred human beings. Locations and positionings on the surface of the earth do not put in an appearance merely of themselves, as though anyone could pinpoint the importance and position of such locations. If we consider man as he was and is created to be, he is responsible for maintaining the sacredness of the earth. Obviously in this he has dismally failed, at least over the last twenty thousand years. He has brought an abomination of desolation into this sacred earth. We have some awareness of this, having awakened to it; and we have awakened to the extent that we have individually assumed the responsibility of sacredness in our own living. Without that we are aware of nothing that has any importance. Here is a sacred place this morning in the Dome Chapel on Sunrise Ranch, a sacred place reestablished on the surface of the earth to the extent that there are present sacred people. It isn’t something that comes into our experience because there is some particular efficacy to this specific location, but because this specific location has offered itself to us for the reestablishment of a sacred place on the surface of the earth.

Originally, when man was Man, there were sacred places on the surface of the earth, and a network of connection. The whole earth was sacred. But these served particular purposes in the fulfilment of whatever it was that Man was present on the surface of the earth to do. All that has been long lost and there have subsequently been these various endeavors, on the part of sincere people no doubt, to bring again sacred points on the surface of the earth — for what purpose nobody really knew. Because there have been people who sincerely gave themselves to this effort, there was no doubt a certain generation of vibrational substance in these locations — just, for instance, as there has been the generation of such vibrational substance in certain buildings, cathedrals for example, particularly those of long standing in the older countries. So there is a little residual vibrational substance around, and some people are able to cotton onto that with a sensing of something, but they know not what. And there have been endeavors to reproduce whatever it was that happened in the past — a rather senseless and useless exercise — ignoring what is available now and where that availability comes to focus.

The focus, of course, is not primarily location on the surface of the earth. It is in human hearts and minds. As there is an activation of this resonant vibrational substance in human hearts and minds it may be drawn into configurations of focus. This has happened within the range of our own awareness and experience. This is why we find ourselves here present this morning. As there are indeed sacred people gathered to be with one accord, then the location where this gathering occurs also becomes resonant with this substance, and we may say then that this building is a holy place. We may say also that the surrounding earth is also a holy place, because we do not, and those who dwell on Sunrise Ranch do not, constantly inhabit this building. We are nevertheless present in the vicinity. There are indeed other points of focus of which we are aware. These have put in an appearance because there have been individual human beings, in whom there was substance resonant to the radiation of the spirit of the living God, who were drawn to these locations. The fact of the matter is that wherever a holy person stands, there is holy ground. It isn’t the ground that made the person holy. It’s the person who made the ground holy. For the most part human beings have everything backwards, as we are aware. Presumably the search for sacred places is based in the idea that if one could stand in those sacred places one would partake of the sacredness of the place. But it has no inherent sacredness as a gift to human beings, except that it is providing a place where people can stand. It gives them the opportunity to make the place sacred.

As I have said for a long time now, the abomination of desolation has been increasing in the holy place — the Earth. We see this. And as there are those who see this, because they are participating in the expression of sacredness in their own living, or to that extent, then the time of apocalypse is at hand. I suppose most people have wondered about that, always projecting it into the future, which is quite convenient because one can then go about one’s personal affairs without any particular concern for apocalypse. These days, however, there is increasing concern in this regard on the part of many. Others apparently are too busy to notice. But whether it is noticed or not is quite immaterial. From the standpoint of those who bring sacredness to the place where they stand — or sit, in this moment — apocalypse is not something to fear or to dread. It indicates the passing of what was in the human state. If we are awake at all we know we are here to facilitate that passing, so why object to apocalypse? From the standpoint of those who are in fact sacred, it is a time of rejoicing. It is the time of what we have referred to in times past as restoration. There cannot be restoration without apocalypse. And so it comes. To the extent that we have awakened to the natural responsibility of being sacred, we have become increasingly aware of what we refer to as the focus of the spirit of the living God on earth. This is an awareness that has been lost in the experience of mankind. It has been lost because the initiation of the fall came because of the rejection of that focus of spirit. We can talk about this as a focus of spirit — no doubt one way of describing it in human language — but we also know what that really is, even though we may not comprehend the reality yet — adequately comprehend; perhaps there is some comprehension.

We speak of the King. It is the absence of the King that has left human beings bereft. But He is absent because He was rejected, and has continued to be rejected all down through the ages whenever an aspect of His spirit came to focus in some person — not only came to focus but found expression. The expression appears on the basis of the level of consciousness that is present in the people to whom the expression is offered. But even though this which was provided was certainly seen, observed, by those in the vicinity, ultimately it was always rejected. While there may have been some sort of an acceptance — a grudging acceptance, or an acceptance because it seemed as though that would be beneficial to oneself — there was never a complete acknowledgment of the King through whoever it was that was present.

We have scriptures all over the world which indicate the fact of the King. This fact may be brought to point in different words, different names, but it is the same fact. It is a fact that nobody wants to look at very much except in imagination, except if that fact was somewhere else. Nowadays in the Christian world, for instance, that fact is deemed to be in someone called Jesus Christ, who is somewhere else. And one can, in the view of many at least, somehow accept this imaginary figure into one’s own heart so that He becomes a personal savior. But this is all imagination. It may indeed point a person in the right direction but, as we well know, if he holds onto the concepts that are provided in this regard he will get stuck. He will not be in position to move in the right direction. One can only move on the basis of the rigmarole that has been produced to indicate how you can move, and it is a very tortuous passage.

One can only begin to move when all that is relinquished. And whether it is in the Christian religion or in any other religion, or in any other form of religion, of which there are many in the world, political systems among them — economic systems — there is considerable worship in that field, isn’t there? — people find themselves hedged around with all these dos and don’ts, restrictions of all kinds, so that all of us become increasingly immobile if we are subject to these things. But the space of freedom is not presently the earth. That should be obvious. If anyone is looking for freedom in the earth they are very much deluded. This seems to indicate that there are a lot of deluded people on earth trying to find safety, freedom, in the earth. It isn’t available in the earth. At least it is not available in experience in the earth without first accepting what we have called the heaven. But fundamentally that is accepting the King.

It seems in the world the way it is, with people the way they are, it is almost impossible to present this focus of the King in representation without the cry of blasphemy going up. Of course these days “blasphemy” is not a usual word, but the meaning of it is there in human consciousness: unacceptable. The truth is unacceptable because it doesn’t allow for all these variety of human ideas and concepts. You can see how the endeavor has been put forth to get things together, while retaining the right to have all these different cultures and these different ideas and these different religious beliefs and political systems and all the rest. That’s an impossible task, of course, and it is a task that has been projected beyond individual human beings. It relates to society all around, to people everywhere, rather than to oneself. The only person one has any real dealings with is oneself. We fiddle around with other people chiefly to avoid accepting the truth for oneself. One can always point the finger at someone else and say, “That person is not accepting the truth.” Of course! Probably it’s true, but it’s none of your business. What one’s own business is, is to ask that question of oneself: whether one is accepting the established design and control of being. It’s present already. Oh no, human beings don’t accept that; they don’t know what it is, to start with. In any case they wouldn’t accept it even if they did, because they want to do what they want to do. We have all been in this state, and I’m not convinced that we’re not still in that state. There has been some emergence into another level of awareness, but how adequately that has been accepted is another question.

Honor the King. Who is the King? Human beings like to think, at least in the Christian world, that they can finger Him: Jesus Christ. In other areas they can’t finger Him quite so well, because He has remained in some other realm. He is the Lord God or whatever. All imagination! Most people don’t like to hear that, because they are so sincere about it. But sincerity goes for nothing if one is being sincere about something that isn’t true. Yet one in the human state is so conditioned to all these things that it seems, again, like blasphemy to relinquish them. However, we have had the responsibility of setting some precedents in this regard. How well we have done this I don’t think we should judge, but we might have a suspicion that we thus far haven’t done it too well. Something has happened no doubt. We have a consciousness of sacredness now in this setting. If we have that consciousness of sacredness it is because we, to whatever extent, brought sacredness with us. The sacredness that someone else brings may, on occasion, seem to be quite impressive, but it doesn’t cause one to experience one’s own sacredness. It may inspire one to experience one’s own sacredness, but one can only do it for oneself.

Who is the King? How can we acknowledge and accept the King? How can we stop our rebellion against such acceptance and acknowledgment? It isn’t a surface matter, obviously. It isn’t a matter of saying, “I believe in this, that and the other thing.” Good for you. The question is: Who are you? Who is this character who is doing the believing? That is the character that needs to pass away in order to allow the truth to appear, the truth of the one who comes in the name of the King. And the name of the King is I am. I am the revelation of that truth. Of course we have all had many excuses for avoiding the acceptance of the truth. “Oh I prefer to be this rather sleazy character that has been characterizing me for some years.” Why? It should surely be quite easy to ditch that, let it go. Of course it hangs around, like a cur dog wanting to be fed, kept alive with the life of the King, because there isn’t any other life.

We have the privilege of receiving the life of the King, but if we claim it for ourselves and do what we want to do because of that — no doubt according to the human views as to how one should behave in this human world, and one can be a very good person on that basis I suppose — it’s all wasted effort and ends in nothing, because the life is the life of the King. There is no other life. We need to see it in these terms, so that life isn’t imagined to be something vaguely spread, at least over the surface of the earth, maybe somewhere else as well. It isn’t. It is very specifically brought to point, in individual human beings particularly. It’s brought to point in other forms of life, as we refer to them, on the surface of the earth; but the point is what the experience of that life in focus is for human beings.

But human beings are all on the grab — “I want this, I want that. I want my life for myself, to do with as I please, so I can get this and get that and do this and do that.” Most people have ideas about good works: “Well of course I’m a good person. I’m going to use this life for good things.” Who told you what’s good? Who did? Well I suppose the church or the priest, the rabbi, whoever, tells you what’s good. And it’s generally accepted, in the human consideration, that people know what’s good. “I’m going to do these good works; I’m going to save these dear little starving children” — and increase the overpopulation of the earth. Is that good? You’re going to save a whole lot of people who are going to increase starvation on earth. Is that good? Are you going to develop medical science so as to make it possible to save thousands of people, increase population on the earth? Is that good? Of course whatever is assumed to be good turns out to be bad, always, and it may happen vice versa too, on occasion, because all that is meaningless. It denies the King: “I — important me — am going to do these good works. I may be very humble and not admit to them; I’ll do it anonymously. That will make it right.” What a sad, sad picture of depraved humanity — no humility; arrogance: “I know what’s good, and I’m going to do it. I’m going to organize, I’m going to get other people who will agree with me that this is good and we will do it.” Tremendous. So we have wars and rumors of wars because of this. We have hell on earth because of this, mostly because of good human beings, or human beings who think they are good, doing good things, good works. “I don’t need the King. I don’t need the will of the King; my will is good enough.” That is the human state.

The King is not now present in individual form on earth, even though He may have been in times past. If He isn’t present in form on earth, how are you going to recognize Him? We know the answer to that. It was articulated very well long ago when it was said: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the King. The name is I am. Blessed is the one who has taken responsibility for revealing the quality, the character, the nature, of the King. And here is the opportunity that has been present with the children of men always. Most people spend their lives looking at their feet. Occasionally someone looks up. If so, there may emerge an awareness within one’s own living experience that one does not belong to oneself. One does not have the right to manipulate anything, even for the best of purposes. The name of the King is I am. That places the responsibility of revealing the King on every individual who is capable of saying “I am.” If that isn’t done, then there is the taking of the name of the Lord in vain, as it has been put. And it is in vain, isn’t it? Take a look around. Consider what human expectations might be, for the individual and for the whole race.

We have the opportunity now in a very specific sense, because we are assembled here in a focus of sacredness, to acknowledge the King through the one who comes in the name of the King. And who is that one? There are those who have tried to point at me. Well I am that one, for me. But remember those other fingers. They point back here: you are the one, for you. From the standpoint of one’s own attitude, one’s own mind and heart, there is this necessity of acknowledging and blessing and giving thanks for the one who comes in the name of the King. That one is right here in each one. If you reject that you reject the King, you reject life; and I suppose if you reject life you’re dead. Certainly human beings have been aware of this rejection: they are expecting to be dead. That is assumed to be natural. But they are hopeful that that experience won’t be quite that final. Why wouldn’t it be, if one has rejected the King, the One who is eternal, the One who is life itself, the life that is brought to focus here with respect to this particular planet through man? There is no other facility for this focus to be known and to be revealed on earth but that of human beings. If they reject it, as they have, there has been no revelation; so one has to indulge in imagination, develop beliefs about this, that and the other thing. Some of those beliefs may have some truth to them, but that’s not the point.

The truth means nothing unless one accepts it into one’s own living. Then there is the experience; then the truth is known. The truth is only known when a person can say, “I am the truth” — not “I am learning about it; I’m going to practice,” because this character who is practicing the truth needs to pass away. Passing away, the truth can be revealed. Otherwise we would only have, at best, a synthetic truth, a plastic truth. That’s the way things are in the world; those little cards are the truth for most people, apparently. They live by that truth, and they die by that truth too! We share the magnificent, tremendous opportunity. There is nothing more glorious imaginable than to acknowledge the King. This is what is being brought to point for all people everywhere. Most people will blot it out and die in their sins. Let us be those who honor the King, who love the King, to whom the King is absolutely supreme. It is His life. It is His way. It is His truth. Let it be so in our own immediate and continuing experience.

Rupert Maskell — Let it be so indeed, Martin. The kingdom can only come as there are men and women on earth who are prepared in their own living to bring that through the quality of their living. And in this moment we recognize the presence of the kingdom on earth through you, through me, and through all who are prepared to accept this one reality, which is the only reality.

Lord Exeter — It is the only reality, and no one has any right whatsoever to use life for his own or her own purposes. That is the license to die. Freedom is the freedom of the King, not the freedom of these human characters but the freedom of the King. And that may be known, if we are willing to reveal it.

© Emissaries of Divine Light