Communion With Our Friend
from The Communion of Friendship
Uranda May 24, 1953 Class
I thank God for that response in each and every one of you which has brought you to this time and this hour, and tonight I would like to share with you a period of meditation on one of the most significant of the Secrets of Being in the series which we have been sharing together. In our most recent periods of meditation we have recognized certain of the basic factors concerning friendship; something of what friendship signifies; something of the opportunity we have that we may be friends to God even as God is a Friend to us. Once the qualities of friendship, the capacities of friendship, begin to develop in the individual, the relationship so established between God and us makes possible the divinely ordained position for which man was first created. God created man in the image and likeness, the same design, the same principles, the same laws, the same capacities and qualities as are found in God Himself, to the end that man might be the means by which God could reveal Himself in action on earth in relationship to the rest of creation.
Man was supposed to be the connecting link between Creator and creation. But when man violated the basic principles of friendship, he lost the position of being a friend to God and became the missing link, allowing the appearance of separation between Heaven and earth. In that Divine position as the connecting link between Creator and creation man was, before the violation of friendship, a friend to God. God has never ceased being man’s Friend; and with patience and love and infinite care He has sought through the generations since that day to reestablish a pattern on earth by which man might receive the friendship of God and become a friend to God.
In the pattern of true friendship—not in the range of so-called fair-weather friends—in the true pattern of friendship there is always, without any exception, to whatever degree it may be experienced between human beings on earth, a particular quality of communion. Those who move toward the state of true friendship—which has been in fact a very rare occurrence—began to experience a state of communion, of vibrational companionship, which might at times use words for the interchange of ideas but was not limited to words, for in friendship there is understanding, and there is a communion of spirit which is unknown to those who have never touched the true Spirit of friendship, a quality of comprehension of the inner play of the vibratory field of the one who is counted Friend. And this quality of communion is one of the crowning marks of friendship. Once we begin to see that the true state of friendship is the true state of Heaven on earth, the idea of the Kingdom of Heaven being at hand does not seem so vague, so uncertain. Once we begin to glimpse the reality of what friendship means, or what it means to be a friend to God, there is a new vision of Heavenly things made manifest, for we have noted that friends make no demands upon each other. God is our Friend and he does not make any demands on us. He offers us something. He invites us to share something. But God makes no demands. We can trust Him. He is not inclined to take something from us. And we learn, in the pattern of friendship, to make no demands upon God; for as long as man makes a demand upon God, whether he thinks it to be in prayer or some other form, he is violating the principles of friendship essential to the correct relationship with God. So, as we begin to comprehend the principles of friendship we make no demands upon God.
We have recognized in our meditations that where the state of friendship is established, those who are friends, without making any demands upon each other, at the same time exert a powerful, profound and lasting influence upon each other. Man, in the limited realm, having failed to know the truth and let the truth make him free, could well experience this profound influence from God. But you may say: “What profound and powerful influence can I exert upon God?” Friendship is based upon qualities of equality. That is the point! For God first created Man, male and female, in the image and likeness of God, having qualities of equality, and it was never God’s intention that man should be in a limited, dwarfed, subservient, or weak position. It was God’s intention that Man should be made manifest on earth as the image and likeness of God. We remember the Word as it has been written: “And God said, “Let us”—plural—“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” And God did so, “male and female created he them.”
There is, in the limited consciousness of man, a peculiar idea that in what is called Heaven there is a sexless state of things. Angels are supposed to be creatures of neuter gender. This idea, developed out of ignorance and prejudice, has been one of the devil’s chief weapons to keep people from drawing near to the Throne of God, for the suggestion of a sexless state suggests to man, whether he thinks it out or not, that such a state would be a realm without any particular feeling, without any particular joys of being, without any particular productiveness; a realm of virtual meaninglessness. And so the self-active mind of man has maintained a concept that here on earth we could accomplish certain things, have certain pleasures, be productive and creative in various ways, but the moment we get to Heaven there will be a static state, the thing that is supposed to be perfection, as if perfection were something already finished, having reached the ultimate degree of completeness, so that there was nothing more to do, just to float around on a cloud all day and pluck a harp.The popular concept of Heaven portrays a state that would produce boredom, that has absolutely no true appeal to man, a state that seems to man to be senseless and meaningless. Now there are not very many who have perhaps dared to analyze the matter, and some suppose that taking an honest look at the matter is somehow sacrilegious. But here we have one of those points that is vital if we are going to know the Truth and let the Truth make us free, for only the Truth can. And as long as the self-active mind of man can maintain in the consciousness of man this deplorable lie with respect to the Heavenly state, it can be so worked that man will think that the earthly state as it now is is infinitely more desirable than the Heavenly state. The idea of sitting on a cloud and plucking a harp, day after day, year after year, century after century, millennia after millennia: that is the picture of hell!—unmitigated hell, boredom in the nth degree! So, by the very nature of the situation we see that this is a lie about God, that this concept maintains a state of consciousness in man whereby he is not privileged to know God, or to know the true state of things with respect to God. It is only the ignorant mind which could assume that perfection is an ultimate thing that comes to a static state and so remains forever. That very state would not be perfection, for perfection is right function under any given circumstance.
Perfection in heaven would require right function in the heavenly state, and God is a creator. God never ceases creating! As long as human beings imagine that God was a creator for a few hours or a few days, and then He quit and He is going to spend the rest of eternity sitting on His throne and enjoying the obeisance of His creatures, we show that we do not know God. God is a Creator and God could no more stop creating than you could by holding your breath stop breathing—and there is no static state in eternity. We are in eternity. We could not get out of it if we tried to. We are in eternity now, and once we begin to realize with absolute certainty that our God is a creator, that He is continually creating, and we are made in the image and likeness of God, then we too have the capacity to let the creative spirit work through us. Now let no one jump to the conclusion, as some have, that I am suggesting that man is limited to the procreative act in relationship to creativeness. I am talking about a creative life, so that man begins to reach a point where every thought, every word, every act is dedicated, under the control of the spirit of God to creating something lovely, something beautiful, to bringing into manifestation something that carries a blessing to others, or to the creation as a whole.
Made in the image and likeness of God, it is our business to share the creative work of God, and God would like to have men and women on earth share the creative work, right here, to the end that paradise may be restored, to the end that Heaven and earth may be seen as one, which in fact they are. It is only an appearance that makes it seem to man that they are separated. Heaven and earth are one already in fact. They have never been anything else. But man has not permitted Heaven to manifest in relationship to himself, so man has sought to get out of the earth into Heaven instead of recognizing the Divine principle of letting Heaven get out of some invisible realm into the earth through himself. This is another of the basic falsehoods which has kept men bound down through the centuries, a false concept with respect to God, with respect to Heaven; for man has thought that he had to get out of the earth, out of his body, into a Heaven, when God created man with a body as a means by which the invisible Heaven might be made visible in this realm of things, that man, made in the image and likeness of God should share the creative work of God to make that invisible Heaven visible on earth. And the fact that man stopped making Heaven visible does not change the fact that Heaven and earth are one and have always been. As the Master Himself put it, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”—available, within reach, available to you.
Once we begin to see that this quality of friendship with the Lord was supposed to be on a basis of equality, the manifestation of God Himself, we begin to see the basic factor which caused the fall, which caused man to become a missing link; for man tried to be as God. Instead of being the actual revelation of God he wanted to separate himself from God and be as God. There is the difference. And as long as man continues to try to be as God and to accomplish something worthwhile in life without regard to God, man will continue to be a poor, weak, miserable creature. But the very moment any man or woman has the courage to face the Truth, and let the Truth make him free, there begins to be a recognition of the basic truth that man was created to be a means by which God could reveal Himself, so that man might be God in action on earth. And we begin to see that friendship with God is possible.
Friendship requires factors of equality, and man has imagined that God wanted him to grovel in the dust. Man has interpreted meekness as weakness, humility as a doormat attitude. Humility is necessary, but only the strong can be humble. Look at a weak person and you will never find humility. The weak person in the first place does not have the capacity for humility while he is weak, and in the second place he is afraid to be humble. He may manufacture an imitation of humility, and pass it off as humility, but it will not be the genuine article. The weak feel that they cannot afford to be humble. Only the strong ever dare to be humble. Moses, one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known, was the meekest of men. Meekness does not properly suggest weakness. Humility and meekness simply suggest that man as such has let go of arrogance wherein he is trying to be superior to God. He is willing, in his attitude, to accept God on the basis of the Divine Design, the qualities of equality; for once you begin to have the courage to face the facts you find that man has been sustaining himself by a spirit of arrogance which in actual fact took the attitude that God was inferior to man, at least insofar as this world was concerned. How many millions of good, so-called Christians are there in the world who take the attitude that the power of God just is not available to us any more. God gave that power to the disciples back there, and they could let some of the power of God manifest to heal people, but it is just a figment of imagination to imagine that God's power could actually heal anybody in this day and age. You know, we have to have the doctors and we have to have the nurses and we have to have antibiotics and a lot of other things. Man in this world is supposed to be superior to God! Look at the facts and you cannot deny it. And it is this arrogance on the part of man which has kept man from beginning to know the friendship which God extends to the children of men. Let us stop trying to be superior to God and let us begin to be willing to be what God intended us to be, and then we can begin to know the fulfilment of life.
Seeing these things and getting away from this insufferable arrogance that man has in his attitude toward God, man begins to reach a point where he is willing to say in his heart, “Perhaps God could do something on earth. Perhaps God could do something in your own life, and you do not have to do it all in your own strength and in your own wisdom until you are dead and go to Heaven. It is just possible that if we begin to see humanity as it is we will see that this insufferable, contemptible arrogance has put man in a position where he denies the possiblity of the true working of the power of God in the lives of men in relationship to daily affairs. The point is that if man were not so insufferably arrogant, if he would begin to be humble and stop trying to act as if he were superior to God, he would begin to enter into the pattern of Friendship with God and he would begin to have the privilege of communion with our Friend, our Lord and King. The privilege of communion with our Friend. That communion does not always require words, although it may utilize words. Communion between friends is not limited by distance or space. Man imagines that God is far, far away. He imagines that He could not possibly produce a state wherein there would be true communion with God.
Some people try to order God about. I have heard many ministers on the pulpit do what they called praying, which in actual fact was a presumptuous, blasphemous attitude in which they were telling God what to do and how he should do it, making all kinds of demands upon God as if the master mind of man was necessary to direct Divine activities in Heaven in relationship to the earth. Such presumption, such blasphemous attitudes, cannot be called prayer. And so man has failed to recognize what true prayer is. Millions of people do what they call praying when in actual fact it is not prayer. It is a blasphemous presumption! And they wonder why God doesn’t answer their prayer. The simple point is they never prayed! They only thought they did. We should begin to learn how to pray; which is to say we should reach a point of communion with our Friend.
When our Master was on earth He gave some very significant words to us. They are ours as surely as if we had heard them spoken. “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are.” Now, what is a hypocrite? A hypocrite is a person who tries to be something he is not, and any man or woman who has not entered into the pattern of true relatedness to God is a hypocrite, anywhere, because he is trying to be something that he is not. Anyone who is not letting the Divine revelation of Being manifest through himself, anyone who is not subject to God's control, anyone who is not letting the Spirit of God have meaning on earth, anyone who is not revealing the things of God in thought and word and deed, anyone who has not entered into a spirit of friendship with God, is a hypocrite. anyone who is not doing what God designed that person to do is a hypocrite for that person is trying to be something which he or she is not. So let us not have the limited concept of hypocrisy which has supposedly been adequate in days gone by.
“And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are.” Now, could it possibly be that this applies to anyone within the sound of my voice, or must we go into the next county or the next state to find a hypocrite? “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.” Verily, truly, they have their reward, and it does not come from God. “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking,” or for their loud speaking. The Master's definition of the heathen has a strange capacity of fitting a few people right here in United States of America, just a few. I wonder how many here have the courage, the inner stamina, to dare to stop trying to apply these things to neighbor, so-called friend, acquaintance, husband, wife, someone else, and take an honest, personal look at the Truth; for as long as you avoid facing the Truth for yourself you cannot come to know the Truth, and only the Truth can make you free. You cannot make yourself free.
And remember, you cannot use the Truth. Man so often mistakes mere knowledge for Truth and he thinks to use Truth for his own purposes but he never succeeds. He tries to take Truth and make it his own but he never succeeds. Did you ever stand upon the shores of the great Pacific Ocean and watch the waves roll in, and realize that that water extended out for thousands of miles, with a few islands scattered here and there. That water extended out thousands of miles, to some far shore. The Pacific Ocean. Did you ever, standing there, imagine that you could pick that ocean up in your hands and walk off with it? No. It is just as foolish and futile for any human being to imagine that he can pick up the Truth and use it to his own ends. Blessed Ones, if you take a handful of the ocean and try to keep it, it soon runs away or evaporates. There may be a little residue, but it is gone. You can no more take the Truth and use it for yourself than you can take the Pacific Ocean and use it for yourself. You may swim in the ocean but it is the ocean that is holding you up, not you holding the ocean up. Until you begin to realize that you can let the Truth have you, you can give yourself to the Truth—but if you try to take the Truth to yourself it will evaporate or slip away or become stagnant and be gone, useless. You can no more take the Truth to yourself than you can take the oceans of the world to yourself.
And so, trying to use Truth leads into vain endeavor. Now anyone who is dedicated to vain endeavor, to trying to do the impossible, is, according to the Master's Word a heathen. That is what He says here. “But ye, when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do.” All heathen are constantly using vain repetitions, not necessarily limited to the words of the lips—vain repetitions of act, trying to do something but never getting it done, trying to do the impossible in a thousand and one ways, pouring one's life stream down the drain. Those who indulge in vain repetitions of thought or word or deed are heathen. Let us stop these vain repetitions. Did you ever work in vain for a given goal? Did you ever set yourself to some attainment and struggle hard but work in vain? Perhaps you did. Trying to do the impossible. There is not anything that is more in vain than trying to do the impossible. God does not waste His time in such endeavor, and the Master made the plain statement that anyone who wastes his time in vain endeavor is a heathen. Now He spoke of hypocrites and heathen, neither one very gentle words—something very positive and penetrating—and how many of us dare to submit to the measure which the Master offered men?
Blessed Ones, once we submit to this measure and stop being hypocrites and heathen we can begin to show forth the qualities of friendship and we can begin to receive the friendship which God offers to us and we can begin to extend friendship to God. And would it not exert a profound influence upon Heaven if Heaven were no longer shut up and denied the opportunity of manifestation on earth? Selfish, self-centered, self-active human beings have kept Heaven shut out of the earth long enough. Would it not exert a profound influence on Heaven if we proved to be the Friends of God and let Heaven, the atmosphere of friendship—Heaven is the atmosphere of true Friendship—let Heaven appear on earth. Yes, we can. The way is easy.
Until we begin to let the Friendship of God have meaning in our lives, here on earth, so that we can let our Friendship for God have meaning in Heaven and stop making of Heaven a prison in refusing to let God and the things of God out of Heaven into the earth we cannot possibly know fulfilment. When we stop trying to do the impossible and accept the simple, easy task that God has offered to us, the simple process of working with the Positive Laws of Being, the simple process of changing from dying existence to living fulfilment, the simple process of changing from the paths of defeat to the realm of victory, simply accepting the invitation to be on earth the friends of God, that we may stop believing so many lies about God, stop having false attitudes toward God, and begin to be the Friends of God. This is our purpose here.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
