The Ever-Flowing Lifestream

The  Ever-Flowing  Lifestream

from  The Continuing Word

Martin Cecil   September 29, 1974

It's good to be together in this chapel this evening, providing us with the opportunity of serving in this moment. We are here to do this of course. This is an essential aspect of living. We may begin to participate in these moments in the expression of the truth which should be born in these moments. Only as we do participate in this process may we know the Truth. In recalling the statement of our Master's words, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free,” we remember that the beginning of that statement established a requirement—“If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

To know the Truth we must continue in what was referred to here as His Word. A great many people have been inclined to think that this simply meant the record of the words which Jesus spoke, the record that came down to us presumably in the Gospels. His Word, or the Word of God, is sometimes thought of as being the Bible. But anything that is recorded in that book is obviously in the past; the Truth can only be known in the present. It is only known because it finds release and expression through those who know it. So it isn't a matter of recalling words out of the past, whether those words were the words of Jesus or anybody else, if we are to know the Truth in this moment. Recalling some words which were the Truth insofar as the ones who spoke them were concerned when they were spoken, we may be reminded of what is required of us now. But let us not ever imagine that the Truth can be known by bringing forward something out of the past. This is something that must be born in the moment. We are here now to let something be born now, in this moment, or these moments, as each one becomes the present in its turn. This obviously would then be fresh and new—not a revived corpse, so to speak, out of the past. Those are sometimes called zombies. There are many believers in zombies. Here again, we need to recognize clearly that a belief about the Truth absolutely prevents a person from knowing the Truth. Beliefs perhaps may be useful in pointing a person in the right direction, but sooner or later he's got to relinquish his beliefs if he is to give birth to the Truth, the Truth of the moment. Giving birth to this Truth in the moment, we know it. We don't have to believe anything.

Now I think you realize there have been many beliefs present in your own experience, and no doubt you have been relinquishing some of them. It's interesting to observe that many of the Christian churches have creeds, where the members of the church are required to accept this statement of belief. Little do they realize that as long as they insist upon accepting the statement of belief they absolutely preclude the possibility of knowing the Truth. We can see that very easily, can't we, with respect to those church members out there. But how about your beliefs, for instance? It's the same thing, you know; no real difference. A model is never the real thing. The real thing is living, and is born in the moment.

This relates to Cause, of which many people have an awareness. There must be one; something's moving. We have seen the necessity of moving with that something. And the way we move with it is to participate in letting it be born in our own experience—then we're with it. If we are merely looking for it to be born through somebody else then we're apart from it, we're not with it, we are not moving with it. Obviously, if we have a setting such as this, I have a responsibility to permit something to be born in my own expression. But whatever it is that is so born should be an inspiration or a moving element in your own experience; in other words something is born through you at the same time as it's being born through me. The words that I speak are only a part of what it is that is being born. It's likely that whatever is being born through you as individuals will not exactly coincide with what is being born through anyone else in the room. There is something particular and peculiar and unique which rightly is born through each person. When this is so and we move together in what has been called the Current of the Spirit, then we are with what is moving; we are serving in this fashion and we are participating in the manifest expression of the Cause which engenders the effects that we see round about on the basis of human response or reaction to what is moving. Most people don't realize what it is that's moving. Perhaps from what I am saying now, and from your own experience, you have a certain awareness of what it is that is moving.

We speak of the Current of the Spirit, or the Spirit of God, as a means of pointing to something which in different terms may be referred to as Shekinah perhaps, or the Christ, or the Lamb, or the Tone—something which is moving. Now, it's moving everywhere, not just geographically here. It's moving in relationship to all people. It's moving by reason of Life. It is Life, wherever Life is being born in the moment. We recognize many living forms on earth, but we also realize, I'm sure, that these forms which we speak of as living are not in fact the only living forms. There is no form in the whole universe that is not living. There are different levels of Life and the expression of Life, but it's all Life. Life is present everywhere. It's interesting that a stone was used as an example to portray something about which we were speaking this morning—a stone cut out without hands. Most people look at a stone and say, “What could be more dead than that?” But actually it's living substance, part of the body of the universe—certainly a part of the body of this planet. This planet is part of the body of the universe. So Life is everywhere and moving everywhere. Another way of describing this is to refer to what is happening as the pulsation or the flow of the Lifestream, or the bloodstream; in our own experience properly we might say the blood of the Lamb, the Lamb having particular reference to spiritual expression. We are concerned with spiritual expression, with letting the Spirit express. This same Lifestream could be referred to as the Christ or Shekinah, relating to the dominance of certain other levels of being—mental and physical in these cases. Then we've also mentioned the Tone, using another word. It's all one thing, but we may lay emphasis on certain aspects of that one thing. And the Tone of course has a particular relationship to the pure heart, something clear sounding.

And so there is the bloodstream present, and we may see this applying especially to the body of mankind. There is a certain range of Life manifesting through human beings. That range is wider or larger than the range manifesting through anything else here on this planet. Lesser ranges manifest through the animal kingdom or the kingdom of vegetation, the mineral kingdom; but it's all this same bloodstream, and it's moving everywhere. When we think of our own physical bodies we say the heart is a muscle which pumps the blood through the body—this is one way of looking at it at least. Now, it's a very efficient pump, if that's what it is, because it keeps a constant flow. It doesn't just spurt out a package of blood while the various parts of the body are waiting for the package to arrive, and then after it's passed and returns from whence it came they're left high and dry. That's not the case. There's a constant flow.

And this is a very good illustration of what is happening in this matter of the Lifestream of God, the blood of the Lamb, or however it might be put. There's a constant flow everywhere; all are related to this flow. Not all have an awareness of it. You are beginning to have an awareness of the reality of it. It is this flow, and our consciousness of the reality of it, that begins to put us together, begins to make us aware of being part of One Body, that we're not just isolated individuals who somehow or other are going to let a little piece of Truth be born where one happens to be, quite regardless of what's going on anywhere else; it isn't so. Whatever is born, actually born, through an individual is closely related to what is being born, actually being born, through others. We're not separate in this sense. There is consequently a sense of unification, because of the experience of the birth of Truth in one's own expression in the moment. The birth of Truth in one's own expression in the moment doesn't segregate one from everybody else: “Well now I'm a sage and Truth is being born through me. I'm illuminated, and where's everybody else?” No, it's the same thing that's moving through everyone, but everyone is not letting it be born adequately or accurately into expression. To the extent that we begin to be an adequate means for this birth then we begin to become aware of other adequate means of this birth, and we begin to find ourselves associated in this way. And the association takes place quite without our choice in the matter. We're not going to pick and choose with respect to those through whom the Truth is going to be born. It either is or it isn't, in an adequate sense, being born through a person. Those through whom it is being born we find a relatedness to: we become conscious of a relatedness that already exists because of what is being born.

So we don't choose each other. We find that we are chosen. This is perhaps the basis of what has been called “the chosen people.” The people are chosen by reason of what is being born through all concerned. As one becomes aware of that, one finds one is part of the Whole, associated with others whether one likes it or not. Some have rebelled against this and objected to this one or that one, but we'd better learn to like it or lump it. We find that it is likable as it proceeds. In the initial stages the birth is perhaps not too adequate yet, and therefore there are frictions which arise, but as the fuller experience comes all this gets smoothed out, ironed out. We find that those people with whom we are associated are not so bad after all. Because of this we don't judge; we stop judging others. We move out of the condition of iron and clay.

Now here is the Truth being born in the moment. It is particular and specific in relationship to each one, but it's not unrelated to what is being born through others. It is not the same thing as is being born through others. We don't want any repetition. It's unique to the individual, but it all fits together because it's all the Truth; and on this basis we begin to know the Truth. Of course we can't let this happen if we are carrying forward our beliefs. Now the Truth that is being born in any given moment at this point is not yet adequate; it's a partial Truth as yet. When it is born through you, you may say, “Now I see. Isn't that great? Now I really see!” Well you see something more than you saw before, and that is greater than you saw before. So it's the greatest thing so far; but don't take it as though it was the last word, because whatever it is that is being born now is not yet the adequate expression of Truth. We speak of highest vision. Well that's as high as we see at the moment, as high as we understand at the moment, as high as we express at the moment. But there's more to come.

What is born in one moment being seen as something marvelous and great because it is so much more than was true of the past moment, there is the inclination then to establish a belief. You believe that this is now the Truth, and then you carry this belief forward with you and it stands as an absolute barrier, as long as you hold that belief, to what is to be born through you in the next moment, and the next, and the next. This is a tendency, a human tendency, because it has been so customary. Most of the processes of what is called education in the world are designed to establish these patterns of belief and concept and idea. But we may have a whole houseful of this stuff, and think we are wise because we have so much, and yet not know the Truth at all, because the Truth is born in the moment. Every belief that a person has stands as a block to that birth, because the individual is assuming that he knows what the Truth is and therefore what should be born in the moment. But what things should be born in the moment “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man” yet. It only does so as it is born. In this way we begin to establish association with the flow of the Lifestream; in other words we begin to live. It is the flow of the Lifestream present in all parts of the body that maintains Life in our individual physical bodies. And so likewise is it in the larger body of mankind, or any aspect of the total body of the universe which we might consider. There is a flow, and we need to be present with that flow if we are to participate in the birth of the Truth through us in the moment.

Now, part of this as it relates to our own present experience is seen, or may be seen, with respect to a service—for instance such as we share in this moment. Here something is being brought to focus of this Lifestream, but not only here. If it is the Lifestream and Truth is being born here, it's everyplace else as well. No one is segregated from it until they're dead. I have spoken of the mailings for instance, and tapes and services and so on, as relating to this Lifestream. There's an outer form of something. “Well,” you say, “whatever service comes as a mailing, that's out of the past, isn't it?” Yes, it's out of the past, but you who are reading it are in the present. And what you are reading can provide the inspiration, or the trigger, however you would put it, to permit the Truth to be born through you in the moment. And from your own experience you know this to be true, because you could read a service and ... well it's beautiful; something fresh is seen. Then you read it a couple of weeks later and it's something entirely new. It's not because what was written on the page had changed, but because you had changed, because something new was being born through you.

There are many many people who could read these words and they would mean absolutely nothing to them at all. Many people have read the Bible for instance, being assured by others that there was something there, but the words have meant absolutely nothing to them. However, you have found, particularly those who've had the opportunity of sharing in Grace's class, that the Bible comes alive. But what is it that really comes alive? You do! The Bible is the same Bible, no different at all, but something is born through the person who reads it. And it is this in-the-moment birth that is the basis for association with the flow of the Lifestream. What is being expressed in a focalized sense through the services which we share, you and others, brings to point something of the flow of the Lifestream that is transpiring in the present moment; it's fresh and fairly up-to-date, if we keep it that way. But what allows for the real experience is what is born through the person who moves with that and lets something appear in his own expression of Life.

So what appears through the mailings, for instance, is of vital importance in this regard, because it allows for a new birth in the individual who considers it—not only considers it from the standpoint of reading something but considers it from the standpoint of living something. In other words whenever you read a mailing it should enlighten you with respect to your own experience in living. How does it apply in relationship to your own experience? And there is the essential quality, then, of keeping up-to-date. We must be up-to-date if we are to be with it. We are up-to-date when the Truth of the moment is being born through us in the moment. And this provision of mailings at this time is most useful to assist in the development of the ability to allow the Truth to be born in the moment; not only in the moment when you're reading a mailing but in every moment of living, because then we begin to have the stone cut out without hands. It is not being formed by human effort. It's being formed by the fact that the Truth is being born, by the fact that there are those who begin to know the Truth and are consequently free to express Life as it really is. And it is this irresistible force, this power, which is the Cause relating to all that is unfolding in a specific sense right here on earth. There are many other things unfolding in many other parts of the universe, and it's all related, but there is something specific happening here and we have a particular responsibility with respect to this specific happening.

“If ye continue in my word.” It isn't as though Jesus spoke some words nineteen centuries ago when He was on earth and then quit. He said before He left, “I have yet many things to say unto you.” There are many many words yet to be spoken in this sense. In other words this Stream is an ever-flowing Stream, but the only connection we have with it is in the present moment. We don't have a connection with it in the past; we're here. So this we experience now if we experience it at all. “If ye continue in my word…” Continue, continue, continue. The Word continues, and unless we can somehow connect up with it in the present moment, we don't know what that Word is. We may have some ideas about something that happened in the past, but what's happening now? Most people are entirely at sea in that regard. They think they know something about what happened in the past and they have expectations for the future, but they haven't the faintest, foggiest notion as to what's happening now. The only thing that has any meaning is what is happening now. What is it that is being born into our expression in the moment? Not necessarily a spoken word. There are times when it's right to speak. Presumably this is a moment when it's right for me to speak, but I think if you observe me you don't see me going around talking all the time. There are times for silence, but that doesn't mean something can't be born through you at those times. When something stops being born through you you're dead.

So there is a constant flow rightly, and we begin to know it when we're with it. And we're with it when it's being born in our own experience. Then we participate in this causative element which is very particularly working in the consciousness of mankind. This is our field of service. This is our area of responsibility. What works out in the consciousness of mankind will be reflected beyond mankind in relationship to everything in the further environment. We are concerned with letting the consciousness of mankind change. And how is it going to change? Because we impose something on somebody else? No, because we let it change in us. We're part of mankind. If it changes in us, the consciousness of mankind has changed to that extent. In fact if it changes, in the sense of the birth of Truth in one's own experience, there is the irresistible force related to everybody else, and something's going to continue to happen because we continue in the Word of the moment and consequently know the Truth which should find expression in the moment. You don't have to doctor up that Truth which is to find expression in the moment in such a way that it conforms with your beliefs that you've been dragging forward out of the past.

There are many beliefs that need to pass away—they don't belong. They may relate to something that was born back there, that was fine back there in that moment. But in actual fact, whatever is born in the moment should pass away in the moment because there's something coming in the next moment, and we don't want to block it. And we do discover that there is indeed a pulsing flow of the bloodstream. There is a pulsation. It isn't just a squirt, so to speak, an indefinite squirt. There are beautiful variations. Allowing the Truth to be born one could never be bored. If at any time you find yourself bored you may know why. Because the Truth is simply not being born through you in that moment. You're expecting to be entertained in some way by what's happening in your environment. And this is a very strong influence in human lives, isn't it? They always want to be entertained. Do you want me to entertain you? Let's entertain the Lord, because we give expression to the Truth together; and that's very entertaining, because it's so new and fresh and something unexpected is appearing constantly. It's an adventure, and we don't need to be entertained anymore. We become the entertainer.

It's all one thing. The bloodstream is everywhere. Life is consequently everywhere, and as the Truth is born through us we live, we live in that new expression of Life—the Life that is eternal. If we're on hand to let it be born through us we have an association then with Eternal Life; we participate in that movement. We share in the creative working, the creative pulsations, and we begin to become aware of what is happening to what is next to us. We see the significance of this as extending to something beyond, because it's all one thing. And as we handle the things that are ours to deal with in the moment we are handling and dealing with far more, if our handling is on the basis of the Truth being born in the moment. Then all things are being made new. We see what is transpiring in the world as being part of the unfoldment of Divine Purpose. We have a certain awareness of the immediate Divine Purpose, which is the restoration of man, the facility through which the Divine Purpose may be allowed to find expression on earth. Being restored this can then happen, but in the meantime there is the necessity to be restored.

So we let the bloodstream flow again through this body of mankind that has so long been existing in a coma in the tomb. Blood begins to flow again and Life to come into all parts, that it may be restored. We have a responsibility, because we become aware of it. In our consideration this evening that awareness has been emphasized in this particular way, and something has been born through each one on this basis. If you think you've seen something new or sensed something new, wonderful! Let it go and let's let it continue to be born naturally in the moment, to the Glory of God and the blessing of the children of men. Something has been brought to very specific point here through you. Because of this you're the ones who have the focus of responsibility for what is moving. It's how you behave, what you do with it, that matters. You either allow the Stream of Life to intensify and flow more fully or you let it drain away, you spill the blood. Spilled blood doesn't do any good. It needs to remain and flow through the channels which are prepared for its flow, and those include you. And so it is. We're all together, and we know it. What a blessing, and what a blessing to be offered to all who will receive it.

© Emissaries of Divine Light