The Incarnation of the Spirit
Martin Cecil September 18, 1977 a.m.
Most of you I am sure are aware that the conception of the form of this ministry took place September 16, 1932. Here was the point of the initiation of the creative cycle which has brought this body of ministry to the present time. As with all initiation of creative cycles, there is always a point of beginning. This is recognized in the conception of the human embryo; there is one cell, one cell composed of male and female halves. However, this one cell is fertilized by the Spirit of God, so that the embryonic form may begin to appear. All people have experienced the immaculate conception in the production of their physical forms. There would be no conception, no growth, no embryo, no subsequent body, if it was not for the presence at the point of conception of the Spirit of God, the incarnating Spirit of God. Subsequently cells multiply, but their meaning in the form is consequent upon the fact that they are playing their parts in the form. If any of the cells should decide that they could play a better part on their own without regard to the developing form then they would be of course ejected from the form and they would perish. The individual cells experience life just to the extent that they remain a part of the form in which the Spirit of God is incarnate.
The same principle of course works even with respect to the body of mankind but we may see it particularly in the manifestation of something new as it has appeared through the form of what may be referred to as this ministry. The cells of the form are individual human beings, who have meaning because they play a part in the developing form and in the purposes of that form. If as individuals we should decide that we could play a better part on earth by going off on our own we would no longer be a part of the developing form, which is a form because of the incarnate Spirit. Just as the embryo in the womb remains a complete form no matter at what stage of its development, because of the Spirit which is incarnate in that form, so also is it with this larger form in which we have some experience.
There has been the movement of a creative cycle based in the presence of the Spirit of the developing form. As long as the cells which have begun to proliferate in that form remain adequately under the dominion of that Spirit the form continues to live and to grow. It comes increasingly into position to fulfil the purpose for which it is here. The only purposes that have any meaning are the purposes of the Spirit of God. We are well aware that human beings in the general sense have a multitude of purposes which they sometimes follow out with enthusiasm, but the result is always disintegration, because it is the Spirit of God which makes possible the continued manifestation of any form. This is true of the individual form of each one here present and of all people on earth. It is true indeed of the whole universe.
The universe exists and is sustained as a living organism by reason of the incarnate Spirit of God, but with respect to every aspect of the universe—and let us not imagine that we know what the universe is; it’s a word just simply to describe something—every aspect of the universe great or small, vast or minute, gives evidence of the Incarnate Spirit of God, a differentiated aspect of that One Spirit. Our concern is particularly with this truth as it relates to human beings. No human being would continue to exist as a living form on earth if it was not for the continued presence of an aspect of the Spirit of God incarnate in that form. If the consciousness of that form decides to go its own way, as has been true of human beings for millennia past and is true today, then gradually the form will be separated from the Spirit of God, the Spirit which holds the form together, which provides life and the opportunity for action. If the consciousness of the particular form continues to go its own separate way there will be a cleavage, an ultimate point of cleavage, between the incarnate Spirit of God and the form in which that Spirit was incarnate. That point is called death.
Because human beings in going their separate ways become increasingly idenitified with the form, therefore when the form ceases to have life, that is considered to be death. But what passed away? Certainly not the incarnate Spirit of God. It is no less present than it was before the separation occurred. It is said in the Book of Ecclesiastes that at that point the form returns to the dust from whence it was taken and the Spirit returns to God who gave it. Of course the point is that the Spirit of God was never separate from God. It doesn’t have to return to God as though it had been away from God. It only returns in the sense that it was given to incarnate in a particular human form and when that is no longer possible it ceases to incarnate in that particular human form. So the purpose for which that differentiated aspect of the Spirit of God was given is no longer present and only in that sense does the Spirit return to God who gave it.
So we see clearly enough that the continued existence of any form, human or otherwise, requires the continued incarnation in some way of a very specific aspect of the Spirit of God. This ministry is a Living Body by reason of the incarnation of a specific aspect of the Spirit of God. Individually speaking we continue to exist in form also because individually speaking there is an incarnate aspect of the Spirit of God. Reference has been made to these incarnate aspects as the Angels of God. The composition of the expression of God, at least insofar as human beings are concerned, is describable in terms of angels, the incarnate angels. By reason of the presence of the angel the opportunity for creative action through the human form is potentially available. Most people identified in the human consciousness are so busy following out their own purposes that they never discover the real reason as to why they are present on earth. There has been a cry on the part of human beings: “Why are we here? Who are we?” Those who are thoroughly immersed in identification with the human state of consciousness in the world are unlikely to ask that question, because they imagine that they know who they are; after all, they have a birth certificate to prove it! Well the birth certificate of course is given to the human form that appears on earth, designating the moment of its appearance and identifying its parents presumably, but certainly there has been virtually no consciousness of the fact that here was an incarnate Angel who cannot be identified in human terms but who could be revealed in the expression of Life if the consciousness of the human form didn’t prevent it. However, we’ve all been trained in the ways of preventing the incarnate Angel from revealing his true nature and purpose. We have all received extensive education in the art of dying, in the art of separating ourselves from Life.
We are aware of the form of this ministry. No doubt most of you have concepts as to what the nature of that form is but the concepts of the mind don’t tell us very much; they certainly don’t tell us the truth; but we have a sensing of the reality of a body whose only basis of existence is the incarnate Spirit. To the extent that we have this vivid sensing we are very much aware of the fact that our own meaning could be experienced nowhere else but in this form, because the Spirit incarnate individually is simply a differentiated aspect of the Spirit which is incarnating collectively. Also there is no conflict consequently between the various aspects of incarnate individual Spirit. It is only when we decide to ignore that that we immediately are projected into the experience of conflict, of disagreement.
The reason for the existence of this developing form is for the achievement of the purposes of the incarnate Spirit. These purposes are incapable of being understood by the attempts of the mind to grasp them. The mind may be useful in allowing these purposes to appear but not because it has somehow discovered what they are and so may retain its position of rulership: “Now I know what the purposes of God are, mentally speaking, so I’ll mentally speaking go and do them.” The mind never knows what the purposes of God are by its attempts to conceptualize them. That’s the way to separate oneself from the Spirit of God. The mind properly is a willing servant.
So there is something to be achieved. We have mentally defined that something in general terms as the restoration of man so as to provide a true facility for the revelation of the incarnate Spirit of God in man. That’s an idea of the mind which doesn’t know at this point what the experience would be, and it is no use trying to figure out what that experience is with the mind. But we do have the opportunity of participating in the action of this Body under the dominion of the incarnate Spirit of God. As cells of a body, as parts of a body, we have specific parts to play. We have individual parts to play, and we have collective parts to play as groups of individuals, and as a collective whole.
We have just moved into a new year insofar as this Body is concerned and it is a convenient point for the initiation of a new cycle. So we have a new year, a new cycle beginning, a creative process. It is the action of the Whole Body; and each aspect of that Body, each part, has a particular responsibility with respect to the action. This is true of my physical body now. The speaking mechanism obviously has a part to play, but the speaking mechanism is conveyed to this position by my feet, and the speaking mechanism is only of value because the heart is still beating and I’m still breathing; in fact, breath is important to speaking, isn’t it? That’s why a corpse doesn’t have much to say. So it wouldn’t have been fitting for me to lop off any part of my body this morning because it didn’t feel so good—I’ll leave it at home—and come up here in bits and pieces. It requires the whole form, doesn’t it, for anything to happen. So also with this form of which I have been speaking, the form of this ministry, which is a form, is a living form, is a functioning form, because of the incarnate Spirit of God.
The continued existence of this form is absolutely dependent upon the continued movement of all the parts under the dominion of the incarnate Spirit of God. The very moment that different parts start going in different directions the Body begins to fall apart. If too many go in different directions, well the Body could be said to be dead; but you have experience of the cohesive nature of the incarnate Spirit of God as it relates to this ministry. We have noted that the Spirit of Love provides the cohesive power by which all things may be held together in the Divine Design. The various parts of this Body must be willing to be held together in the Divine Design if that design is to continue in form. Because in a general sense human beings everywhere have not been so willing, the Divine Design has virtually vanished from the face of the earth even though mankind still continues to exist for a while, just as individual human beings continue to exist for a while even though they reject and ignore the true expression of the incarnate Spirit of God. They do this by deciding to follow out their own whims and fancies in what they call living, but we recognize that it isn’t really living, it is dying; and human beings do spend the years of their lives, the days of their years, dying. It is very easy to see why, and if we can see why, why should it be considered to be so difficult to stop the nonsense?
In this cycle which is moving now we may recognize that the Whole Body has a part to play—but the Whole Body has had a part to play in everything that has happened up to this point. So we can examine somewhat the creative process in which we are collectively engaged. That creative process was described in its essential terms in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, as you well know: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” The manifestation of the true design in form is only possible when God creates it, and God creates through His Spirit, and the Spirit of God is incarnate in human beings. It is incarnate in this Body. It is incarnate in each individual who forms a part of this Body. If the Spirit of God is allowed to act and the consciousness of the individuals who compose that body is not resisting the process, not trying to have its own way, then there begins to be creation according to the true design, the true design which includes heaven and earth. As we know, human beings in their present state more or less ignore the heaven and try to manipulate the earth so as to produce a heaven, as though the heaven didn’t exist. But the fact of the matter is that the heaven exists, is present, but is simply being rejected by human beings in favor of an idea they have in their minds that they can manipulate the earth to produce a heaven. After all, this is the attempt that is made by virtually everyone, isn’t it?—individually speaking, of course, a heaven for “me,” but collectively speaking some wonderful systems have been devised which are supposed to produce heaven on earth, but never have and never will because there is no need to produce heaven on earth. Heaven is already here but presently being ignored by human consciousness in favor of its own designs and desires.
So if this body is aligned with the creative expression of the incarnate Spirit of God then there will be movement according to the way in which the creative cycles work. That way is described in this first chapter of Genesis. First of all the Spirit of God in action. In the beginning, the beginning of this present cycle of a new year, God creates the heaven and the earth if we are willing to go along with it. And the earth, whatever is to take form, is void; the earth is without form and void. The form that is to be hasn’t appeared yet and darkness is upon the face of the deep; the future is dark. This was the starting point described by these words, with respect to some original point of creation perhaps but it describes the process with respect to the beginning of any creative cycle.
We have a wide-open opportunity, all of us, to participate in the creative process by means of which what should happen may happen. “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” The Spirit of God is incarnate in this Whole Body. In its various differentiated aspects it is incarnate in each one who composes that Body. The Spirit of God moves upon the face of the waters. The waters relate particularly to the substance of consciousness. The face of the waters presumably would be relative to the things with which one is faced in one’s own consciousness. The Spirit of God is not interested in moving with respect to anything that is not present to be faced in the moment. Most people are wrestling with things that are not present in the moment and they feel futile in consequence because there is no means provided by which such wrestling could be successful. It’s undertaken on one’s own hook, so to speak. It’s much more profitable to stay in agreement with the incarnate Spirit of God which moves upon the face of the waters, which moves upon whatever it is that is immediately present in a person’s consciousness.
That movement relates to rebuke, because what is present in human consciousness is not what should be present in human consciousness. The things which are there that shouldn’t be there need rebuking. So we have recognized that rebuke is an aspect of the creative action of the Spirit of God, and if we are aligned with that creative action we will be in position to rebuke whatever it is that rises up in our own consciousness that should not be controlling us. There is such a habit pattern in human experience of assuming that one has the authority to do as one pleases, but what pleases human beings is very rarely what would be pleasing to the creative action of the Spirit of God. People want to do their own things. How often have you said, “I don’t feel like it”? This is considered to be a sound basis of motivation: “I don’t feel like it.” Or on the other hand something else is suggested and you say, “Oh, that’s wonderful! Let’s do that! I do feel like it.”
Feelings relate to the heart, the emotional realm. As long as the human consciousness is not accommodating the expression of the creative Spirit of God it is an impure heart. It was created to accommodate purely the creative action of the Spirit of God. If it is not doing that then it is an impure heart, and anyone who functions on the basis of the way he feels has an impure heart. That’s not a sound motivation for action. That engenders the experience of chaos. In this creative process there is a movement which could be described as out of chaos into order. At the point of initiation of a creative cycle it is always chaos relative to the order that is to appear when the creative cycle is complete. No matter what may be present it is chaos relative to that; it isn’t what it’s going to be. Something needs to be engendered out of what now is to allow the appearance in form of what should be on the basis of the creative cycle established and initiated by the incarnating Spirit of God. When we let that happen then order appears. In the true creative cycle there is nothing wrong with the chaos; there couldn’t have been a creative cycle if there hadn’t been a starting point; and there is nothing wrong with the order. Human beings are inclined to describe chaos as evil and order as good, but the fact of the matter is that you can’t have one without the other.
Life is not a static state. When a consideration is given to the matter of being perfect most people think of something static, but this creative cycle from chaos to order is perfect; it is the way it should be. However the nature of the chaos that is now present is consequent upon human failure, but regardless of that it is still chaos and it still provides a starting point, that order may emerge. So the fact that the earth is as yet without form and void and darkness is upon the face of the deep is not bad. There’s nothing evil about it in the human sense. It is evil in the Divine sense, a necessary starting point for the creative cycle which moves to the point of order, good. This happened on all the creative days, as they are described in the Book of Genesis: “And God saw that it was good”; in other words that that creative cycle had completed itself; but that good was also chaos, evil, insofar as the next aspect of the creative cycle was concerned. When it’s all working as it should, as it does everywhere else but in the vicinity of human beings, it’s a very natural and wonderful and enjoyable process, but because human beings have stepped out of position it becomes in their experience a very painful thing. They are where they do not belong. They are identified with what it is that is being transmuted.
In the creative process there is the burning of the Fire. This is a very apt symbol which we understand something about. If you build a bonfire then the substance which is in the pile of wood is transmuted by the fire. Some of it is transmuted into gas; some of it remains as ash; in other words there is some that goes up and there is some that goes down. Presumably if one jumped into the bonfire one would get burned, and the same process would happen with respect to one’s own physical body: some would go up and some would go down but it would be quite a painful business while it lasted. Well we are not supposed to be in the bonfire and if we elect to be in the bonfire then we shouldn’t complain about getting burned. We might take note of the fact that fire doesn’t burn itself. You never heard a flame of fire crying out in agony, did you? Fire doesn’t burn itself.
Fire relates to the Spirit of God, specifically to the Spirit of Love. Here is the right identity, the incarnate Spirit of God. That is the true identity of Man. In that identity he is a part of the Fire but not of what is being burned. This was beautifully portrayed in the story about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. There is rightly a Fire. Human identity has been centered in the substance that is being burned in the Fire. What might be referred to as earthly consciousness is just this: identification with what is being acted upon by the Fire. Identified with that it is an uncomfortable business. It seems that most people have decided that Life, as they call it, is a tough proposition—very difficult, very hard, a terrible struggle, a miserable state overall, getting more and more miserable as time goes on. This is because there has been an insistence upon identification with what it is that is being acted upon. The Spirit of God is here to act. The Spirit of God is incarnate in the human form. It is incarnate in our collective form of this ministry. It is here to act, and when we are identified with that action we are identified with the Creator rather than with the creation.
In moving out in this particular cycle it is vital that there should be a consistent identification with the action, with the incarnate Spirit of God, both individually and collectively. When there is that, you will discover that there are those things in your consciousness, as you well know, which need rebuking, which need reproving. In speaking of the Spirit of Truth the Master said that when He is come He will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. When He is come. That has given the impression, apparently, to human beings that He is off on a vacation somewhere and may wind it up one day and come over and begin to reprove the world. Well that seems to be the case if the individual is identified with what is being acted upon. Then the action seems to come from somewhere else, and human beings are cringing all over the place because of the action which they think is being imposed upon them. But it’s not being imposed upon them. It only seems so because the person is identified with what it is being imposed upon. If he wasn’t identified with that it wouldn’t bother him. If there is identification with the incarnate Spirit of God then there is a sharing in the action—one is the Flame of Fire, so to speak, which transmutes, which brings order out of chaos.
At the level of human beings this is achieved when there are those present whose identification is where it belongs. Then the Flame is present. Then the action is occurring creatively: order out of chaos. This works, as we have noted, on a spiral, because wherever we start with chaos there is a creative cycle which leads around to order at the higher level; order emerged out of the chaos, but that point which is the completion of one cycle is the beginning of the next. So it is again chaos in relationship to what next is to be brought forth, and so there is movement around a spiral, upward movement around a spiral. This is the creative process; but it is not the upward movement of us; it is the upward movement of creation. Man was certainly made in the image and likeness of God so as to provide the facility for creation at the level where Man is. The creative action may appear because of Man but only when there is identification with the incarnate Spirit of God, which is the only true identity that anyone has. It certainly is obviously the only lasting identity that anybody has, because the Spirit of God is not going to go away but the false human identity certainly is; and as it has been said before, good riddance! It doesn’t belong in the picture anyway.
So we have the opportunity of participating in a creative cycle, because we remain identified with the incarnate Spirit of God. We accept the state of the Angel, and in accepting that state we see lots of things that need to be transmuted. Certainly we can look around and see them everywhere. We are faced moment by moment with all kinds of circumstances in our own consciousness. If we were in a coma we wouldn’t be being faced by these things but because the consciousness is alive and active then we are faced by all these things in our circumstances. Let the Spirit of God move upon the face of the substance of consciousness then. Rebuke, reprove, what is in your own consciousness, not what you think is wrong with somebody else. As far as you are concerned it doesn’t really matter what is wrong with anybody else. Your world centers in your own consciousness, and if you are going to reprove the world you are going to reprove your own world, not someone else’s world, and your own world is right at hand, right with you all the time. When the Spirit of God moves upon the substance of consciousness you may speak the Word, “Let there be light,” and there is Light. In identification with the incarnate Angel your Word carries creative weight. Let there be Light, and there is Light. You will note in that creative process there was a recognition of darkness also; there was day and night, light and dark. There is the chaotic aspect of the creative cycle and the orderly aspect of the creative cycle. There is the ascending substance and there is the descending substance. There is nothing wrong with either but we think something is terribly wrong when we get mixed up with it all. It is very uncomfortable.
Let us stay where we belong and participate in the creative process, a very specific creative process now, relative to what is unfolding in the experience of the Body. And each individual has a part to play in his own world. As that part is played there is creative action; there is the Word spoken, the Creative Word spoken—Let there be Light, in this instance, but whatever the right creative Word is it is spoken, not just by one person but by the Whole Body. We have the opportunity of sharing this creative process in the cycle which is before us. Obviously much more can be considered in this regard but here at least is the beginning. By reason of what we have shared this morning there has been a generation of spiritual substance which should be cared for and not dissipated. It is so easily dissipated because of the tendency in human nature to revert into that state of consciousness which assumes that one can do as one pleases.
© emissaries of divine light
