One aspect of our particular pattern of meditation has to do with the mental blocks or barriers which stand in the way of true letting go. We’ve analyzed a good many of the factors which must be clearly seen and understood if we are to allow the pattern of reality to be made manifest in our lives. We’ve seen some of the reasons why the progress of humanity has been so slow, and we have seen some of the opportunities which we have at hand in relationship to this present time. Tonight I would like to consider an aspect of this whole matter with you, which will require, if it is to be properly understood and realized, the high degree of purity of heart and the working of the current of the spirit of Truth through the mind, so that you may remember all those principles of reality which we have considered together heretofore.
We remember the words to which I have often directed your attention—the question was asked so long ago by the psalmist, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in His holy place?” And the answer follows, “He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully.” We have recognized in some of our meditations that this text has many far-reaching and vitally important aspects of expression, phases of being and living. It is not so much to expound upon this particular text that I make reference to it tonight, but rather to bring it to your remembrance as we begin this meditation.
We have recently, in many places, given thought to the basic principles of the creative life, that which is needful to realization of creative living. Tonight let us emphasize the second of the two concluding words of that theme. In many respects the emphasis has been upon the principles, the laws, the processes of function, which relate to the creative expression of being—tonight we center in life and living. In previous meditations we have seen that Life is the child of the heavenly parents, all of which are supposed to live in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee—your bodies. Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long, living in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Not a piece of ground geographically speaking that may be surveyed in the ordinary sense, purchased or sold; not a nation, although we have the privilege of living here in this land and on this ranch. But the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee is the substance of the earth which is your body, your own Temple of the Living God. Honor thy Father and thy Mother, the spirit of God’s Love and the spirit of God’s Truth, that thy days, thy living, may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Here we have the emphasis upon life and living.
What is living? We have considered together something of the senses. We have emphasized the various capacities which give us the ability to perceive—visual perception, feeling perception, auditory perception. We have considered the senses in various ways, recognizing their importance and their right use according to the principles of being, both to the end that we may live and to the end that we may share in the creative work of the Creator, and bring forth on earth the form of the kingdom which already is. The use of the senses in relationship to living is something which is obviously essential. To whatever degree the senses are dull or lacking, the joys of living are decreased.
You will recall in these meditations which we have shared, we have also emphasized the necessity of reaching a point where the human being does not attempt to usurp God’s prerogative of determining good and evil—that we may cease eating of the forbidden fruit—and we have begun to make particular application in relationship to the development of an understanding of how this may be done. As long as human beings feel that they must, with their human minds, their emotional patterns, their likes and dislikes, their reactions of various sorts, determine what is good for themselves and what is bad, they will make mistakes. They may be right sometimes but they will be wrong part of the time; and the life energies will be expended in an effort to correct that which has been wrong. We lose so much momentum, we lose so much fulfilment, when the life expenditure of energy is primarily to correct that which has been wrong.
This corrective process is necessary. We think of it as healing in relationship to the body, the mind, the heart, the life pattern as a whole, as well as circumstance, environment. Healing is important, but if we spend all of our time healing or being healed we’ve only reached a point where we can begin to do what we ought to be doing. We have only reached a position where we can begin to live and to accomplish that which is required of us. The sphere of preparation is important. We are not detracting from that, nor would we detract from the necessity of healing, ut let us not assume consciously or subconsciously that the attainment of healing is the end and aim, the goal, for it is not. It is merely a step, a preparatory step, which permits us to begin to be in position to be and to do according to God’s will, according to the Divine Design.
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Tonight I would like for our meditation to accomplish to two primary things; I trust a number of others will be included—but two primary things. One, to develop a better understanding of the nature of the barriers which have prevented the spiritual development of so many good people in the world. And two, to show us how we can function effectively in letting those barriers fall, if they yet remain in ourselves; and that we may be in position to help others through that experience of letting the barriers fall away. In the world we have certain basic consciousness patterns which all of us have tended to share, which all of us do share to some degree still. Some of them with modifications, all right; and some of them very definitely barriers, very definitely needing change.
I would like to suggest to your thought one word, and examine that one word from the standpoint of what it really means and what it means from the standpoint of the deep-seated mental and emotional patterns in world consciousness. So that we can see one of our problems in relationship to terminology, how sometimes human beings, recognizing that words have certain basic meanings to world consciousness, undertake to develop other words—and I do that myself to some degree, deliberately turning terminology. I think you will find it is always within the range of the acceptable means of the word, and yet something of that nature is necessary to the development of a new level of consciousness. However, we can’t do that altogether. To illustrate a little of what I mean—and this is not the word that I mentioned before—we might take the word “God”. Now the word God is used more frequently in profanity every day than it is used in proper understanding and application or even a remote indication of the proper utilization of the word—not necessarily an adequate comprehension of God—but anything that might be considered a reverent or right use of the word; the irreverent are inclined to use the word very frequently; the reverent not so often—and I do not object to the more or less infrequent use of the word in the reverent attitude. But we cannot just arbitrarily pick some other word and eliminate from our language the word God because it is wrongly used in profanity, because there are literally millions of people who express the word dozens of times every day in an irreverent blasphemous manner. So we have that aspect of the matter. And then in addition, we have the fact that if we use the word God it will suggest a different thing to almost every hearer. Very few have any real realization of what the word truly signifies, what it symbolizes, for every word is a symbol. Now a symbol in and of itself can have no meaning—remember that principle. A symbol, whatever it may be, any word, and all words are symbols—there are other symbols likewise—but in the field of words, any symbol has no meaning except, insofar as you are concerned, except as you have feelings with respect to it. A symbol that is heard or seen without having any feeling with respect to it, it has no meaning to you. Some degree of feeling must be there, in you, in relationship to that symbol in order for it to have any meaning whatsoever. And the deeper the feeling, the deeper the meaning.
Now, we have a number of words about which the mass consciousness has developed a very deep feeling, a very deep feeling in the sense of condemnation or rejection, perhaps revulsion—a feeling deep seated in the good people of the world that anything relating to that word is evil. You speak this word and the good people will immediately think of evil things and their deep feeling with respect to it as being evil, and they work to try to eliminate what they think it means from their lives. They try to be free of it, and yet they cannot. So as we begin to see this principle in application and operation, we begin to see that the rejection pattern that is present in the consciousness of the good people of the world in relationship to such a word automatically rejects so much that is God-given. Now there may be—and there certainly are—certain things within the range of that which is properly signified by this word that are wrong. We do not deny that. But the human pattern of rejection is rejecting a large share of the blessings which God would give to humanity.
Now what word do you suppose I am thinking of? You might in your own mind be able to suggest various words that would fit this category, to some degree at least. But this word has two particular forms: sensual or sensuality. Sensuality or something sensual, and the good people think of all the evil things that every good person rejects; something that’s bad—sensuality. The sensual impulses of the flesh, all bad presumably; and the word immediately suggests to most good people, if not all, something that is specifically evil or which they at least believe is evil whether it is or not. They think of evil. You speak of the sensual or sensuality—evil. Therefore anything that is focalized in the vibrational field that says “sensual” or “sensuality” is evil, and it is rejected because these people are good, so very good. So let’s stop and examine it a moment.
Without our senses in action, we are nothing. Every aspect of living—and can you name me a single exception?—every aspect of living relates to the sensual. Can you name me one exception? All phases of living relate to sensuality. Every feeling or awareness or concept that you have with respect to God, or any good thing whatever it might be, it comes within the field of sensuality, in actual fact. You cannot have any awareness with respect to anything except by reason of the sensual, except by reason of sensuality—every joyous thing, every blessed thing. Now there have been those who thought themselves to be Christians who more or less vaguely recognize this and they developed a Puritan pattern of Christianity. If you ever smiled or if you ever had a good feeling, you were bad. You had to go around with a long face and a pompous attitude and never have any fun, never enjoy life. But they forgot something—they were sensualists in the extreme; and oh how they would have been shocked by that thought. But they were sensualists in the extreme because they imagined that the sensation of a lack of joy and gladness, the sensation of a dour feeling and attitude—because that’s feeling too—was good. You can’t live except in relationship to sensuality. You can’t feel an attunement except in relationship to sensuality. We can’t do anything except in relationship to the sensual. And yet, as we think of it, if you express something about the sensual—at least on the surface, whatever they feel inside—the good people immediately put on an air of self-righteousness. “Oh, sensuality. Terrible. I wouldn’t lower myself to anything sensual!” And to their minds it relates only to that which is evil—or that which they think is evil, because it isn’t necessarily true that what they think is evil really is.
Here we have what I might call a classic illustration of the mental blocks and barriers which human beings have established by which their lives are made futile, because they’re trying to live a good life on the one hand—trying ever so hard according to their likes, their beliefs, and their aspirations; they want to live a good life—and so all of the things that are sensual they try to put over here. All those things are evil. “I’m going to live above the sensual, I’m going to live above the physical, I’m going to live above…” what? Without their physical bodies they can’t live at all. And by that very attitude they reject the blessings for which they long. They refuse to receive the things which God would give them and the blessings for which they themselves are longing. I’ve seen it in I don’t know how many lives, over and over again. The individual establishes a blanket pattern of rejection on the basis of a symbol of some sort, a word, and anything that suggests that word is automatically rejected. And can you name any blessing from God which would have any meaning to you whatsoever that is completely divorced from the sensual, sensuality? If you feel God’s love, or love for God, it is definitely a sensual experience. A spiritual experience? Can you have a spiritual experience that is not sensual? Certainly not—every spiritual experience is definitely sensual, and it is definitely sensual in respect to the physical organism. Love for God; appreciation of beauty, truth; the joy of life or living; the thrill of a spring day or a full moon on a June night—every one sensual, and the sharing of those things, sensuality.
Now there are aspects of sensuality which we would definitely reject as being outside of the divine path. Let’s see if we can note a few of them. We won’t attempt to analyze all of them. But the sensual experience of pain, for instance. Now pain is a good thing, because it’s a warning, an indication that something is wrong. If you could not feel pain or hurt, you could put your hand on a hot stove, be unaware of the fact that it is burning until you smelled the flesh scorched, or someone noticed you were smoking or something. Now I think you will all agree that the sensual experience of pain, if you touch a hot stove, is a very good thing—otherwise you might really burn yourself before you took your hand away. It saves you the future use of your hand. Oh, it may be definitely uncomfortable for a while. But under an attunement it is remarkable what can happen to that hurt. However, when someone starts working on that, you’ll have a sensual experience, won’t you? because you’ll relive this burn. Sometimes it feels like it burns more under radiation than it did to start with. That’s because at the moment of the burn it all happened so fast that you weren’t able to comprehend all of it, you couldn’t sense all of the experience of the burn—it happened too fast. But when it comes under radiation, it is drawn out a little longer, and you have an opportunity to sense the whole cycle, and feel it, and you say “I don’t like it.” Next time you say you don’t like it, remember that if it weren’t for that sensual experience of the burn you might very well not have a hand to use. You might very well be crippled for the rest of your life. So instead of condemning the sensual experience of the burning sensation as the healing takes place, what should you do? Rebel against it? No. Give thanks for it.
So we begin to see that the sensual experiences include all experiences in which the senses function in relationship to perception or awareness. There is sensuality on all levels. So the definitely spiritual person might say, “Well I’ll accept sensuality on the level of the spirit, whatever that is. I’m going to live a spiritual life and I’ll accept sensuality on that level but I won’t accept it on the physical level.” And many good people definitely try to live that way. And yet they get hungry and eat. What delight is there in eating a good meal? It’s a sensual delight. The sensual delights of eating good food when one is hungry. Here we note that a person can reach a point where he is controlled by his sensual appetites—and if he is controlled by his sensual appetites he certainly is not being controlled by God. But God made the heavens, yes, and the earth; He made the feeling realm, the heart and the mind, but he likewise made the body, with every organ, every part—male and female created He them. So we recognize that God made the physical body and God saw that it was good. And yet human beings have been inclined to say that this or that part of the body is bad. God gave the patterns of feeling and perception, sensation, in relationship to all the different parts. Without the sensual or sensing aspects of the hearing process, our ears would be of no value at all; the vibrational factors of sound wouldn’t be meaningful to us. And we could carry that point on to every phase of life. God made the body. God made every part. God gave the ability to feel, to have sensual perception and experience, in relationship to all phases of life. If the human mind or heart tends to say, “Well this or that aspect of sensual experience is evil,” well then what made it evil? No. The sensual capacity is not evil—because God gave us every sensual capacity which we have. Hearing, seeing, feeling, in any way shape or form, God gave us every sensual capacity which we have. If we are allowing the sensual capacities which we have to be a means by which the spirit of God can operate at that point in relationship to that phase of living then we are spiritual. If we try to segregate the physical from the spiritual, we say God made heaven but He didn’t make the earth. If God didn’t make the earth, who did? God did.
We are supposed to let heaven come down—the kingdom of heaven, the New Jerusalem, the new understanding, the new vision, the new control—come down from God out of heaven into the earth. How far into the earth? Part way? Or all the way? If God gave us capacities for sensual experience, sensual function, and we say that the spirit of God is to come thus far and no further, we are trying to keep the things of God, of heaven, out of the earth. That’s what fallen man has been doing down through the centuries. He is refusing to let the spirit of God come into every part of the earth of the body, to have meaning in every sensual aspect of life and living. We need to reach a point where there is certainly discretion, discrimination, in relationship to sensual experience. We utilize it to some degree all the time—for instance in singing.
There are unlovely things which we do not look upon unless we have to for some reason in relationship to service. There are lovely things which we love to look at any time we have an opportunity. I have the sensual delight of seeing you when I come before you—and it is a joy. I see your faces, the light in your eyes; I see the patterns of your response, your alertness, your awareness of the subject which we are considering. So it is a sensual experience and if we are sharing something of that nature it is sensuality of the spiritual path. We use discrimination, but we do not say we will not use a hand or an ear or an eye because—why?—every part created by God in man, male and female, has its part to play in the living of life, a sensual part, which is supposed to be a means by which the spirit of God is allowed release according to that particular pattern of being, that particular phase of our vibratory natures. If we say we will let the spirit of God manifest through us here and here but not there and there, we are saying the spirit of God can act on earth with respect to certain things but we will not let the power of God have any meaning in some other spheres.
Now there is another word which generally speaking must just not be expressed in public in good company and that is the word sex. Sex—something which relates to man’s highest opportunity to worship God, the most delicate of the spiritual aspects of being, that which should be held most sacred, that which opens the field for the divine essences of being to be made manifest, man’s greatest opportunity to draw near to the throne of God and to share the reality of the spirit of God in body and mind and heart. And yet this most delicate aspect of life, classified broadly speaking as being sensual and therefore bad in some fashion, is generally, broadly speaking thought of as being somehow evil. It has been made sordid. It has been used to bring degradation—not so much generally speaking by the acts of human beings as the attitudes of others toward those acts. There are those actions which are definitely out of pattern—we are not suggesting that there are not—but all too often that which some human being did, perhaps not altogether right, was looked upon with such condemnation by those that were supposed to be good that there was no understanding, there was no uplifting, and a life was driven to degradation by good people. How many human beings in a moment of need could have extended a helping hand, an understanding hand, and instead the self-righteous goodness of human beings condemned them utterly and drove them to a life of degradation.
We need to realize that every aspect of life is sensual. Every aspect of life is supposed to be a means by which the spirit of God may be made manifest on earth, allowed release, expression and meaning; every aspect of life should be under the control of God. But when people think of sex, for instance, in relationship to control, very often it simply means complete abstinence—if there’s control, there is no function—an arbitrary limited concept which has no basis of understanding. A lack of function is a lack of control—no function, no control, in actual fact. Now there are many ways in which sex as such may find expression actually. Virtually everything we do, I think we can say everything, has its relationship to sex. The beauty that an artist puts into a picture. If someone sits down at the piano and mechanically runs over the keys it may have a certain degree of mechanical accuracy but it might as well be a player piano, and a player piano doesn’t have much meaning. What is it that puts meaning into the music when another sits there, and there is feeling? What provides that something that goes thrilling into the hearts of the hearer? It is sex. Not a sordid something I’m talking about. Something beautiful; something divine. We must not think of sex as being limited to a narrow aspect of life. It is something that pervades life, and without sex there is no feeling.
Without sex, there cannot be a pure heart. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in the holy place? Without sex, it is impossible to have a pure heart. And yet many people have imagined that if they are going to have a pure heart they mustn’t have any feelings in relationship to sex; that those feelings must somehow be killed out, or smothered, or sublimated or something. We begin to see that the concept for instance of “sublimation” is all wrong. It’s supposed to be a different use of the sex energies. No, it isn’t sublimation as if you were burying something here, and forcing yourself to express something over here as a substitute. It is the expression of sex itself if it is right—whatever we do, if there is feeling, joy, happiness. Now we wouldn’t ordinarily say it that way, I grant you—but I wanted you to begin to see how human beings establish a block in their own minds, a barrier, so that such words as sex or sensuality establish a segregated aspect over here, and the human being is going to try to live over here without it.
It is impossible to live without sex in any real sense. Oh, I am not talking about the mere physical experience of sex as it is ordinarily thought of. I’m talking about the fact that everything that we express in life that is creative is an expression of the sex life. Sex has to do with the creative aspect of reproduction, yes—but it has to do with every creative act that anyone performs anywhere at any time under any circumstance. God the Creator—there is sex inevitably. In fact, we remain in the image and likeness of God male and female, but the creative act is always a sex act—not the ordinary concept of the sex act, but that is included, it has its part, its place. We need to begin to realize that every phrase of our being was created by God to share in the true expression of life, the creative expression of life. And instead of taking the attitude that this or that is evil, if God made it let us examine into the right use of it, the right expression of it, but let us not call that which God has made evil. Let us learn how to live in relationship to it. Let us learn how to use it, or let God use it to His glory and to the blessings of the children of men. And why would anyone seek heaven but for the sensual joys of being there? Why would anyone long for a paradise except for the sensuality of life there? Remove sensuality from heaven and you have nothing—and paradise? a new earth? A new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. The right use of all of our capacities, the full expression of the joys of living, the sensual reality of being brought into the Divine Pattern, so that instead of something sordid and destructive it is as God made it, the expression of something wonderful and beautiful and glorious in the pattern of the Divine Design.
Blessed Ones, remember the truth which involves control in the Divine Design, the correct patterns of relationship, that which is in its potential beautiful. Let no one assume that the truth suggests a lack of control or a lack of correct design in the patterns of relationship. All things in order, in harmony, in the wonder and the beauty and the glory of that which is holy and sacred, that which is right, that the righteousness of the Lord may cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. But we should not condemn that which is divine merely because human beings have by wrong use made certain phases of its expression sordid. Let us bring all things into the pattern of the Divine Design, into the realm of beauty, control, into the realm of God’s Love, into the realm of life and living, that the sensual delights of heaven may reveal the heavenly pattern of sensuality on earth. For all that is glorious relates to the senses and our function in relationship thereto. The way, the truth and the life, centered in God, revealing the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells—and I bless you in the Shekinah of our KING. Good night and peace be unto you now and always.
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