The Use Of Material Objects To Focalize Vibrations
Uranda January 5, 1954
One of the things we have to do this evening is the carrying out of the patterns suggested the other evening with respect to the use of material objects—which in and of themselves have no power—as a means of bringing vibrational factors to focus. I notice that in harmony with the word I sent to you, many of you have brought pictures this evening which you wish to use, from the standpoint of focalization of attunement currents in your own rooms or quarters. You will notice that I have brought the little statue which I mentioned to you before.
This little statue in and of itself has no power. A wrong pattern of expression or attitude with respect to these things could develop the concept that we are somehow utilizing what could be called idolatry. In other words if there is an understanding of what we are doing there is no danger of any such false concept developing. But in utilizing these principles, I wish to emphasize the fact that it is very important that you be very careful what you may say or how you may say it to others. Now I am not suggesting that we somehow try to hide the application of this principle. At the appropriate times and seasons you may utilize it regardless of who may be there. But it needs to be very, very clear in our consciousness, individually and collectively, that we are not accepting some image as being “the thing,” but rather recognizing that an image in the sense of a picture or in the sense of a statue—the principle is identically the same in either case—may be looked upon as a point of focalization of vibratory factors in representation. The image, the statue, has no power in and of itself. It is not able to do anything, but we can do something with it. It cannot do anything, but we can do something with it—a visual recognition of that which represents.
When our Master was on earth in the body of Jesus, the man, that body represented the Father, in the representation of the God Being whom we speak of as our LORD and KING. His physical flesh body was in oneness with the spirit of the God Being, and yet, even in that oneness was representative of that God Being. Anything that is to be made manifest on earth must, by some means in the realm of form, be a representation of that which is in heaven. That which is in heaven cannot project itself as it is into the earth, in the sense of the vibratory level in which we function. That which is of heaven must come into the earth through some form which represents that which is in heaven, or in the realms invisible to the human eye.
Man as such cannot see spirit as such, and yet spirit is made manifest through man. As I emphasize this point, that the image, whether in the form of a picture or a statue, cannot do anything, but that we can do something with such an image, we might remember the statement as given in the Ten Commandments: Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image or likeness of that which is in heaven above or in the earth beneath. Now it might appear to some, who have not stopped to consider the matter, that I am suggesting something which violates that commandment. But let us take another look at it. We find the record in Exodus 20. First, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” That is clear, a point upon which we have given meditation many times. “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”
“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness… Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.” This expression appeared at a time and a place where images as such were worshipped as God. In other words “Thou shalt not make a god unto thyself. Thou shalt not make anything which thou shalt consider to be a god, which thou shalt undertake to serve.” Now we all know that we are not in any sense bowing down to an image, to serve the image, whether in the sense of the picture or the statue. We have not made these unto ourselves. They are made unto God. We are not in any sense detracting from, or separating from, God, but in the field of representation they are accepted as a point of unified focalization in response to God—not to the image. If your response to me is limited to me as a man it would be wrong. But your response to me is in recognition of that which I represent, something brought to focus to me, and through me to God.
“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.” The commandment does not say “Thou shalt not make unto Me any image which may be used as a means of recognizing the focalization of My spirit.” As we bow down before God and serve Him, remembering “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” there is no reason why we cannot use this principle of representation, which has been in use down through all recorded time. It was in use before that. It is something which the Master used; it is something which we see was in actual fact in the Master's own manifestation—that which represents. There may have been times when, with that fact in mind, one might prefer a flesh-and-blood point of focalization. We recognize that we can utilize persons as the means of focalization in the vibratory field in love response to God, but we need to recognize that it is possible for us to use material objects, lifeless and helpless in and of themselves—for us to use them; not for us to serve them, but for us to use them in the service of God. Herein we see the vast difference between the right pattern of function and the wrong. I wish to make it very clear, so that there could not be any possibility of misunderstanding.
Now let it be recognized that the value of any such object depends upon the individual who uses it. If you are undertaking to serve the object you are wrong, but if you are using the object it can be done correctly. The value to be derived from such a process depends upon the individual who uses the object, not upon the object itself. We might presumably use almost any object which to our minds, our senses, might be deemed fitting. If it violated our sense of the likeness of things, the value of the object would of course be lost; but any object which might be deemed fitting. In the days of the apostles, and in the days of the Master Himself, objects were so used. The woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years used an object on that basis—the Master's garment. She said to herself, “If I touch the hem of His garment I will be made whole.” And when she did touch His garment on that basis, on the basis of her right use of such an object, the Master felt the virtue issue forth from Himself into the one who received on the basis of such response. Later, pieces of cloth were so used, and other objects, but the tendency was, among those who did not have full comprehension, to attribute power to the object and therefore to have a certain amount of response to the object, to become subject to it. If you are going to attribute power to the object as such, then it is wrong. But instead of serving an object, we are using an object. So whether, as in the days of the apostles, when they used what we call a handkerchief, which was blessed to act as the point of focalization in the vibratory field, or whether it was something else, is of small consequence.
Now these objects which we have brought before the throne of God tonight are to be blessed, not in the assumption that they are thereby to have some strange and mystic power so that you can respond to the object as such and have some kind of blessing, but that they shall be recognized as objects of focalization in the vibratory field, through which there may be a conscious contact with that which is invisible, with that which is represented. This object of representation here in this particular case—whether it is the Master's picture or the statue representing Him, or the picture representing myself—is of small consequence, because you recognize that the two patterns cannot be segregated in any case, and that whatever is used, whether it is my body, my physical presence in the form of a man, or some object, it is all in representation of our Lord and King, that we may have on earth that which represents heaven. We cannot have heaven, in the sense of the invisible realm, manifest on earth any more than it is except by means of that which represents heaven. When we have discord and turmoil and chaos we have that which represents hell. On earth we are functioning constantly with those things which represent something, and any object which represents that which is of heaven becomes a means by which the things of heaven are made manifest on earth. This is something which you need to realize more deeply in relationship to yourselves.
You as human beings are supposed to represent something in heaven, so that the factors, the qualities, the realities, of heaven may be revealed on earth through adequate and proper representation. Our whole program is designed to establish on earth an adequate representation on earth of that which is in heaven. If we present on earth that which reveals heaven, then we have on earth that which represents heaven.
Remember, with respect to these objects, you are using them as a means by which your faculties of perception—sight, feeling, smelling, hearing, taste if you wish to include it, all your senses of perception—are brought to a point in love response to God. The degree of response, the nature of response, brought to point in a specific object, or the sense of perception which is focalized in such an object, determines the extent to which the cycle may work in the particularized field involved; not in the sense of responding to the object as an object, but recognizing the object as a point accepted by many, through which response is extended to God. If you think you are to respond to the object you are wrong. If you are to respond to God through the object you are right. And by use of an object we can bring the pattern of response in many people to a single point, so that as the pattern of response is concentrated to point the current from God to those who so respond can be increased in power and in meaning.
One of the great illustrations in history with respect to the working of this particular process was the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was a box covered with gold, having some handles, a plate on the top of it, and two images—an image on each end, of an angel. This box, this object, had absolutely no power in and of itself, but as the central object of focalization of the vibratory pattern of the people, the children of Israel, there was a tremendous current allowed to work through it. And it was so designed that the patterns involved could work effectively. The Ark as such, when it was first made, had no power. As an object it never had any power, but as an object it was the central point of focalization for the entire people of the children of Israel. With their response so centered the current of God's power working through that object to them was greatly increased.
Now there are many patterns which might be used, and which perhaps in the future may be used, to some degree at least; but we are starting, opening a cycle, in the simple recognition of these factors, and the acceptance of an object as a means by which your focalized response to me and to our Lord may be established here, regardless of where I may be in person geographically speaking.
I wish to draw your attention to this object which I present before you here. You may say it is a human concept with respect to the appearance of our Master when He was on earth, but I do not think that we need to be concerned about whether He really looked just like that, whether His facial features were just so. We may perhaps examine it closely. I would not be happy to find that you had been coming up here and picking it up and handling it and looking at it. If you do you will spoil the pattern. It is not to be picked up and handled by just anyone. I would ask Lorraine to take care of it, if it needs to be moved, or if she is not present to do so, Grace or Lillian may do so. But it is not an object to be picked up and handled. If you start handling it you are going to begin to establish your vibrational pattern in the material object itself, and that will not help matters any. It will not let you gain anything from it, a piece of bronze, with ivory hands and face, representing the form of our Master, representing His spirit of givingness, His spirit of compassion, His spirit of love, His spirit of blessing—representing Him.
I wonder, would you like to accept a point of focalization in this image and receive an attunement now? This object, this material object, becomes a sacred, holy object to the degree that we recognize the sacred and holy nature of that which this object may properly represent to our consciousness. We can, as you consider the matter, see here a representation of the Master, of the LORD of Lords and KING of Kings. We may say the head represents our King. We may properly say that the right hand represents me, and we may say that the left hand represents the Lord of Life. And we may say that the body of the statue, down to its base, represents every earnest, sincere responding one the world around, including you; for you are a part of the Body of God on earth. And the Body of God is a body of flesh. So this is not the Body of God—for you are a part of the Body of God—but this represents that of which you are a part.
Therefore I bless this sacred object in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, that all who will respond to our Lord and King, by a centering of attention to this object, may thenceforth and always receive, according to response, the current of love and truth and life, in the filling of every empty vessel, according to the working of the will of God on earth, in the current of the spirit of our King, in recognition before Him that Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Aum-en.
And so here, in the Shekinah of our King, the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells, we behold an object wherein we may let our attention center in love response to Him, to His glory and to the blessing of the children of men. And so it is that we use this object, this sacred object, in the service of our God as we respond to Him, worship and serve Him, now and always. So let it be. Aum-en.
And now I shall be seated and you will please let the attunement pattern continue, as you are doing, for a time. The value of this inanimate object, this holy object, to you here and now, at this level of your progress and development, is very great. You need something to help you center on a unified pattern, to a Central Being as it were, so that the vibrational patterns may no longer be scattered. And because we have a material object before you there is no need for you to have some personal attitude toward the object as such, other than appreciation for that which it permits us to do. With a person, even with me, your response is tinged and changed by reason of your attitude toward me as a person. You can be impersonal in this sense toward this sacred object. There is no reason for you to resent this object. It has done nothing, it has said nothing; therefore why should you resent it? Let your response be to our Lord and King, for this object represents Him, as surely as it represents His representative.
Now, continuing in the pattern of attunement, so that there is another step in that which you are now sharing, will you please pick up the picture which you brought and hold it with your two hands, facing me. The objects which you hold in and of themselves have no power at all, but you have brought them to be blest, that they may be objects focalizing the spirit of your response to God and focalizing your reception of the spirit of God into the realm of form, particularly in the sense of attunement.
The Master said, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world”—of evil. He did not say, “You are to try to project your spirit to be with me where I am, no matter where you may be.” He said, “Lo, My spirit is with you, and by reason of My spirit I am with you always, even unto the end of the world of evil.” So I say unto you, by reason of my spirit I am with you here on Sunrise Ranch, even though I in person may be far away. Some of you have tended in times past to try to project your spirit to me, and you have found me pretty far away. But if you will remember that you do not have to project your spirit to me, but that my spirit is here, then you will know that I am near unto you. Lo, I am with you here, through all the days of your service in this place. And if at any time you need to be reminded that by reason of my spirit I am with you wherever you are, you may look upon this sacred object which I have set before you, or upon the sacred object which you hold in your hand, that you may be reminded that it is not needful for you to try in some strange fashion to come unto me. It is rather that you should realize that I am with you where you are. As you begin to realize that I am with you here, or where you are, it will be much easier for you to realize and know that you do not need to try to go to where you think our King to be, but that by reason of His spirit He is with you here. And by reason of the sacred object of representation, you can center your attention here in love response to Him, that you may receive of His spirit in this place. And as you receive of His spirit you shall receive of my spirit; and as you receive of my spirit, so shall you receive of His spirit. So let it be, now and always.
I have blessed these objects, these material objects, these sacred objects, in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son and in the name of the Holy Spirit, that they may be sacred unto you and that you may use them to the glory of God and to the blessing of the children of men. So shall you do your part toward revealing on earth the fact that the kingdom and the power and the glory belong to our King; and because they belong to Him He has the right to grant you the privilege of sharing in the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Aum-en.
So is the cycle established unto you, that according to your use of the opportunity that is granted unto you in the holy name of our Lord and King it may in season be extended unto others, that all who will may share in the working of heaven on earth. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Therefore serve ye in the secret place, in quietness, in stillness and in assurance, that this which is established unto you may be so, truly a representation of that which is of heaven, that it may increase and in season enfold the whole earth, to the glory of God and the blessing of the children of men, in the Christ. Aum-en.
In the days before us, if any shall call upon you for assistance, to receive healing power or the need of blessing in any form whatsoever, in spirit grasp their hands in yours and lift their hands before the throne of God, just as your hands are lifted in receiving attunements here. Let the objects you have been holding be placed upon your laps now, and lift your hands once more. In your hands lift the hands of someone whose response you feel, someone whom you would bring before the throne of our King. Do not try to radiate to someone. Take the hands of those who respond and lift them, sharing with them your response to our Lord and King. So shall you be blessed.
According to thy response, so be it unto thee, now and in all the days to come. Let thy response be such as to glorify our Lord and King and to increase on earth the recognition of His kingdom and His power and His glory. Let the Shekinah of His Presence be made evident in your body, your mind and heart, in thought and word and attitude and deed, now and forever, in the Christ. Aum-en. Father, I thank Thee that it is so, in Thy Shekinah, in Thy Christ. Aum-en.
You’ve heard that lust is the substance of truth, lust for the Lord. What we call emotion relates to this matter of lust. The experience of emotion gives evidence of something. It may well be said that it isn’t anything of itself. When there is vibrational substance of whatever sort within the scope of one’s own experience, then this may be stirred and moved by spirit. We are concerned primarily with the spirit of God, but we also recognize that there are other spirits which put in an appearance when the wholeness of the spirit of God is not there, when the Holy Spirit is not present. Then there is, to that extent, an unholy spirit, an unwhole spirit, a piecemeal spirit. The spirit of God is balanced and it operates at all levels of vibrational substance. As that vibrational substance is clear and available for the movement of the spirit of God, the spirit of God moves through it. It moves in it, and it moves to generate more substance, so that it may move beyond the immediate limits of that substance. That movement is experienced as emotion. We’re inclined to think of emotion as being something in its own right, so to speak, but all it is is the evidence of the movement of spirit through substance—vibrational substance. Most of the spirits which human beings in human nature have known fall into the classification of the unholy spirit, the incomplete spirit, with gaps and absences. Vibrational substance that is present in a person is moved and stirred by that, engendering certain kinds of emotion. We come again to the recognition of the first great commandment as permitting an orientation in the spirit of God, not yet whole, but nevertheless moving in us and stirring the substance that is present, and we feel emotion consequently. Human beings have been so accustomed to thinking of emotion as something of itself that they give it the authority to control them.
When the spirit of God stirs emotions, that presumably would be thought of as good: “At last, the spirit of God is being allowed to stir the substance, the vibrational substance, of my being, and I am experiencing emotion on this basis. It really chokes me up.” Do you think the spirit of God is choking you up? No, it’s your own acceptance of the emotion as though it was something of itself, when it’s only the evidence of whatever it is that is happening—whatever it is that is stirring your vibrational substance. Then the emotion puts in an appearance. All you might say with respect to what is felt emotionally in that instance is, “I am aware that some spirit is stirring my vibrational substance.” It just acquaints you with that fact. Sometimes the spirits are strong. Certainly the Holy Spirit is strong, but not too much of it is acceptable, as a rule, to stir a person’s emotions, because it is customary to be stirred by other spirits which, in their stirring of your vibrational substance, bring forth emotion. And then those emotions are accepted as the reason for the way one behaves. Where the spirit of God has actually been stirring emotion, people quite often get choked up, and maybe tears flow, and the person can’t say anything. Well that isn’t much indication of the spirit of God being allowed to continue to move through the vibrational substance, which is what we are here for. And we must anticipate that when it does, it’s going to be made evident by the fact that there is an emotion of some kind present. We need to have a very sane, balanced approach, angelically speaking, to what it is that is occurring, so that we do not imagine that the emotions of themselves carry all that much importance. What carries importance is the movement of the spirit of God through such substance as is available for that movement. And we need to let it move.
Now, as it moves with greater intensity there will be a greater evidence of that movement in emotion. The movement of the spirit of God with great intensity, in the experience of Jesus when He was on earth, has come to be called “His passion”. That is the emotional sensation that comes by reason of the movement of the spirit. Most people think of the emotional sensation in His experience then as being a very painful one. That was something that was quite deliberately undertaken insofar as He was concerned. As He Himself put it, “I can lay my life down and take it up again.” So there was deliberate undertaking in this regard, for a specific purpose. But the movement of the spirit of God generated what might be called passion, a very intense emotion. And yet there is no evidence of anything out from under control insofar as He was concerned. Here was the power which enabled the achievement of what was necessary in that particular situation, which had been deliberately accepted. It was called a cup, wasn’t it? It is supposed that He prayed at one point, “If this cup can pass from me, let it do so.” Here was what was being brought to Him in His acceptance of the responsibility He had for the fulfillment of the particular purpose for which He was on earth. He wasn’t allowed to fulfill it one way, so He was willing to fulfill it another way. And there was passion involved.
Do you think that any of us are going to achieve what we’re here to do without passion, without an intensity of emotion which is giving evidence of the fact that the spirit of God is moving with increased freedom and effect because there is substance present through which it may move? If we’re afraid of that movement, and afraid of that passion, well we’re in the wrong business, because obviously that’s what we’re here to let happen. The passion gives evidence of the movement of the spirit of God through the available spiritual substance, and if there’s plenty of spiritual substance there’s more passion then experienced, and that passion gives evidence of the power. Here is the power. Now we don’t want to stand in the way of that power. We don’t want to become subject to emotion so that we block its movement, because it’s going to be a risky business. We have the necessity of learning to experience this emotional passion at ever-increasing intensities. If we recognize the need for power, you can’t have the power without the passion. And as we are here to handle that power in the recreative processes, then we’d better be willing to accept the passion and learn how to let the passion be present, giving evidence of the power. Here is something controlled. This has been what has been absent, isn’t it? Dominion, the control which would allow power to be intensified to the point where it might do what needs to be done in the sense of what we call restoration.
On the one hand power has been made available for destructive purposes, and it is unleashed on the basis of what might be called the passions of men, the lusts of this world, whatever type of lust that might be—the lust for power, for instance, and if you can’t have the power you’re certainly not going to let anyone else have it. That’s just about it, isn’t it, on the international scene. Of course it’s explained by saying, “Well you have to keep a balance here.” So human consciousness is well aware of some sort of immense destructive power. Human consciousness is far more occupied with destructiveness than with true creativeness, so obviously the power that is around is seen in destructive terms and has been developed in destructive terms. But we begin to become aware of a power which is the creative power, the power by which there may be restoration. While at the same time we are quite aware that there is a certain amount of what human beings would describe as destruction related to the restoration, the primary factor is the constructive aspect, the integrative aspect. It is only because of that that what should survive survives.
So we need substance, as we well know, but we need to see that it is living substance. It isn’t just, “Well it’s nice to have substance, and we’re going to be able to achieve so much if we have substance,” as though it was just a dead tool, so to speak. This is a living experience, and it involves our emotions, intensity of emotion. If there is to be substance through which the spirit of God moves, it must be generated, and there must be space for it to occupy. We are using words which may bring enlightenment if we are allowing the spirit to move through such substance as is available in ourselves. There must be space into which the substance may be generated and which it may occupy.
In the generation of substance, we have considered the matter of sex as being basic, because there is sex at every level. It is life. You can’t limit it or restrict it to some certain thing. Sex is the way that life works. So when we speak of sex we’re really speaking of life. The idea of sex, generally speaking, translates in human consciousness, as a rule, as getting very closely together somehow. In what might be called the physical consummation of sex, a closeness is involved. But that’s just one level, the physical level, the smallest level. Universally speaking the physical substance in the universe is scarcely anything in the relative sense—there is far more space in the universe than there is physical substance, space into which there may be the generation of spiritual substance. Now we need to see this from the standpoint of our own field of creative action. We need space. We have assembled ourselves together here, physically speaking, for a specific generation of substance, that there might be the greater outpouring of spirit, and consequently the greater generation of substance. But in generating substance there must be some place for it to go; there must be space. We need to see space relative to our associations with others. In the human consciousness there is the idea that you have to get together to experience oneness—when the fact of the matter is that oneness can only be experienced when there is the necessary space. The Universe is One—One Universe—but it is only so because there is so much space. I trust that in our association together in this Assembly there has been a consciousness of expansion, a consciousness of something much vaster than it was before we came together. In other words, in our association with each other we become aware of the space, holy space we might call it, sacred space, which increasingly, because we see it as sacred, we would not violate in any way. And there is need for a great deal of space in this sense between us.
We were looking at the matter of time and seeing how we function in the present moment, but that in the present moment there is space into which there may be the generation of this substance, the release of this substance, so the spirit may move through it. We don’t need vast periods of time to let it happen. In fact, when we become involved with our concept of vast periods of time, we just scatter everything abroad into a realm of fancy. It may seem to be so real to those who study it, but in fact it’s fancy, because to the extent that they are involved in all this, they’re failing to live now. They don’t know what it is to live now. They’ve projected this imaginary scheme of things into the forefront, as though they were living in that, which is just a realm of imagination. They’re not living there at all. They’re living in their imagination. But how about living in the reality, which is now? The first thing to do is to relinquish all that stuff of imagination. And this is too much for the conceit of the human intellect, that it should acknowledge that it is really nothing. That’s too much. It has the sense of somethingness because of all this vast imagination that has been created, and the view is that the intellect is so tremendous that it can encompass vast areas, when in fact all it is encompassing is the field of imagination—nothing real about it at all. It isn’t encompassing reality. And it is only when the intellect becomes humble—“I of myself can do nothing, except indulge in fancy”—that one may finally come to the point where reality is, which is the present moment. In that present moment there is great depth. There’s lots of space into which we may pour this substance, so that the spirit can pour forth because the substance is there for it. It does so in the present moment. It doesn’t do so in the past, it doesn’t do so in the future. The only reason for looking at the past is to see how one may experience what is necessary in the present. Sometimes it’s helpful to look at the past. For that reason we’ve done it. But if we think that we’re looking at it just for the past, that’s a waste of time. The present is real, and here we are in it; and functioning in the present moment, we allow space in which this substance may be generated.
You cannot experience oneness with another person without unlimited space. It isn’t a shrinking experience. It’s rightly an expansive experience. One becomes One with everything. One’s personal relatedness to someone else opens the door for the experience of Oneness with the Whole. The purpose is not to have a nice little sort of imaginary oneness with somebody else. That’s all it could possibly be, if there is a consideration of closeness and the matter of possession—a shrinking in. The reality of Oneness comes because one has the experience of the Whole. That is a spiritual experience, isn’t it? All this relates to what we are here to do, because what we are here to do is only done by the spirit of God. We didn’t understand how the spirit of God might get it done. We thought maybe it needed a little help here and there. It wasn’t doing it yet the way we thought it should, so we had to put in our two bits’ worth, and we were sure, back along the way, that the spirit of God would be very grateful for this. But that isn’t so, is it? The spirit gets the job done. We ourselves have a role to play in order to let the spirit get the job done. Not to interpret what we imagine the spirit would do to get the job done, but to let the spirit get the job done actually. And this is so unaccustomed in human experience that it virtually doesn’t exist at all to start with. There’s nothing to go on. Therefore it seems like there’s nothing there. Therefore we have to put in our two bits’ worth. But certainly anything that may have happened during your time together here has been achieved by the spirit of God. How much we’ve allowed to occur may be a question. But anything that has occurred has been consequent upon the action of the spirit of God that was allowed because there was substance through which it might act.
This relates to matters pertaining to sex, to life. It is life. It is life with which we are associated. We can’t associate with life without associating with sex. We can’t banish sex because it disturbs us, because we have been subject to our emotions, and we were not in position heretofore to stand back sufficiently from our emotions to see what they actually are. It simply is the way by which we are acquainted with the fact that spirit is moving through vibrational substance. Our emotions acquaint us with that fact. Well, we’re not concerned with distorted spirits, unholy spirits, moving our vibrational substance, so we seek to yield to the character of the spirit of God so that this may move our spiritual substance. And when it does move our spiritual substance, we have an emotion because of this. That emotion is fine. Praise the Lord for it, whatever it is. But we’re not going to be pushed around by the emotion. We delight to be acquainted with the fact that something is moving, from the standpoint of spirit, in the spiritual substance. And because we’re not being pushed around by the emotion, the emotion itself can acquaint us with the nature of what it is that is moving spiritually speaking. We begin to understand what it is that is moving, and we are delighted to allow this movement to continue to occur in whatever way it should. Now on this basis the movement is controlled.
Spirit includes the spirit of Truth—it includes design and control. So there is control naturally present. That control is known when we are not governed by what we experience emotionally. We don’t object to the emotional experience, because we know that this relates to the intensity of the movement of the spirit in the achievement of what specifically needs to be achieved. So we see emotion as relating to specific achievement. We’re not looking at it anymore as though it was something all on its own, and we’re not saying, “Well now, this emotion is moving, I’m angry.” I AM is not angry. “I am, therefore, not angry, but I experience the emotion of anger because the spirit is moving through this substance in the achievement of some certain requirement in the fulfillment of the purpose for which I am here, and it has generated, in its movement, the sensation of anger.” Now I’m talking about this from the standpoint of the movement of the spirit of God, not the movement of so-called evil spirits, which are chiefly the absence of the spirit of God. So in the achievement of some certain purpose, of which one has an awareness because the spirit is moving, the spirit enlightens by reason of its movement. And we understand what it is that is happening. So we experience anger because there is the need for an intensity of spirit which is going to do what needs to be done. And because of that intensity of spirit, we have been accustomed to translating it in our minds asanger. We might call it something else, “a hoof”—anything—we call itanger. Probably, because it is called anger, from the standpoint of human nature, good people would say, “Well you shouldn’t be angry,” or at least one would have to rationalize it someway so as to make it righteous indignation. That’s been done often enough.
But the point is that here is the spirit of God moving through this substance, accomplishing something, initiating motion of some kind, and the sensation of that may still be translated in our consciousness as anger. I’m taking just one so-called human emotion, which is no longer seen in that light at all. It is merely the evidence of something that’s happening. So that when what needs to happen has happened, the intensity of the spirit of God which was required to achieve that is no longer there. The anger is no longer there, so it seems as though one has the capacity to let it turn on and let it turn off. But that capacity is based in the fact of the movement of the spirit; it’s not based in the human mind which decides, “Now, I need to be angry in this situation,” and get all hot under the collar, and then find out there’s been so much whipped up in one’s experience, and the adrenaline and all the rest, that one decides, “Well, now I should turn it off.” And you can’t turn it off, because you’re in subjection to it. But if it’s the spirit of God moving, it’s your spirit moving; it’ll generate an intensity of some sort in the particular situation with which you are dealing, and you will sense the emotion of that. That’s fine. That gives you a key to what’s happening. You let it happen. And when it’s happened, where did the emotion go? Well, it didn’t go anywhere, because it wasn’t anything in the first place. It was merely the evidence of the fact that the spirit of God was moving through the substance.
So in all our affairs we are concerned to let the spirit of God move through the substance. Therefore we must have the substance. And therefore we must have the space for the substance to be in. And we need to have an attitude, therefore, with respect to each other, which allows us to have plenty of space, and we’re not trying to cram people into some sort of particularly good emissary structure. If there are groups of people all together in a relatively limited space, physically speaking, there needs to be, one might say, more consciousness of vibrational space than if one wasn’t in such a situation. Groups tend to be much more conscious of being physical groups than they are of the space which is present also. The fact of the physical group should be the least impressive of the factors that are present, because it is the smallest factor. The consciousness may expand to be aware that there is a vast space here and each individual in that group needs to have plenty of space into which this vibrational substance may be generated.
But because people who are in small physical spaces keep bumping up against each other in those small physical spaces, they pay more attention to these bumps than they do to the space which is actually there. If the space was as prominent in the consciousness as the physical factors, then there wouldn’t be any bumps, because there’s so much space that the people are far apart in that sense. You may recognize how this is symbolized in its working, at least in some measure, by a number of birds flying together, maybe thousands of birds flying in close formation—starlings for instance. And they go this way and they go that way; they never bump into each other. Why? Well there’s lots of space insofar as they are concerned. Their sensing relates to that space, vibrational space, rather than to the physical factors. Well it needs to be more so, doesn’t it, insofar as human experience is concerned. But human experience has been encased in a little physical area, emphasized by reason of the closeness of people in large population centers, and they say, “There’s no space here.” And people want—“Oh I need to get out into the country where there’s space.” But this is internal space—plenty of it in the present moment. It opens up indefinitely in the present moment. In this present moment there’s all the space, even in the external sense, in the universe. Let us not be bound in the smallest level of our experience, when we have so much immensity available to us.
In the generation of substance we represent the world to God. The substance for which we are responsible is not just personal substance. Our personal spiritual substance is generated out of our physical bodies, but we are part of something much greater than this. It is our representation of the people to God that provides us with a base of generation. The people are the base of generation for the substance that is to be conveyed, by us, to God. The way of saying this has been: “We need to represent the people to God.” We need to allow the generation that is in the people to ascend to God. We need to be present to let it happen. So that generation comes forth from the people by reason of what was spoken of as the remnant. And here is the substance beginning to ascend to God, being brought to us. There is an inheritance that is being brought to us all the time. Out of that inheritance there is that which can ascend to God—rather, in a sense, a small proportion so far. This is the substance that is being generated; it is the substance of connection, which rises up the other side of us, so to speak, to the apex. We are in the position of intercessors, allowing this to happen, something to rise up out of mankind, be brought to us and allowed to ascend to God. And here is the substance of connection of our collective body, connection with God.
Now we have recognized that the ladies have a particular part to play relative to the substance of connection. But let us recognize the whole half of the cycle here: out of the body of mankind, out of the world, rising up to us, our inheritance being received by us, and what is capable of going higher is then generated upwards to God. And that composes the substance of connection not only between ourselves and God, which is most necessary, but between ourselves and the people—and in fact it is the substance of connection between the people and God. We are a way station through which it passes. It won’t reach up beyond that way station unless the way station is on hand. So there is that aspect of connecting substance which we may see as either side of us, because what is being brought to us out of the body of mankind connects that body with us, so it’s the substance of connection that side. It connects us with the body of mankind in various ways, not all of them creative one might say, because there are elements of connection that are present in our human nature that need to betransformed. But there is that which is emerging out, and which is capable of being regenerated through us upward, so that there is substance of connection, then, with God. There is the necessary connection with the world and there is the necessary connection with God, and in between we intercede. We provide the means by which these two are brought together. And to repeat words that have come down to us, “No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” If we are in that position of intercession, that’s the only way that anyone can come to the Father insofar as our responsibility is concerned. There’s no other way.
We have this connecting substance on either side of us. This relates particularly to the female responsibility, but it’s also so for men as well. That substance of connection only generates out of the body of mankind because there is something being released into the body of mankind. It doesn’t automatically just go ahead and do it without any reason. There is something being released, which we have called the substance of action. It’s not the substance, particularly; it’s what is moving through the substance that is the animating and activating factor—the spirit of God, which is moving out into the body of mankind, because we are the intercessor also in that respect. The substance of action enables us to allow what needs to happen in our own experience to happen and to extend on out into the world. We do not see ourselves merely as someone who just stands a little to one side and there’s something coming down from God out of heaven, “All right, I’ll usher it through.” No, we have to be right plumb in front of it—and it must have space in us, space occupied by the required spiritual substance—then it can come through. And in coming through us it will have an effect upon us, in the sense of our facilities of action. And part of that effect, as I say, may relate to anger. It may relate to a deep emotion of compassion, or tenderness—whatever is required in the particular situation. And one does not sort of try to grab hold of the emotion, “Ah, this is a nice emotion. I love this emotion. I’m going to hold onto this one. This surely came from God.” But the emotion is nothing. It is the working of the spirit of God. Glorify God. Worship God, if you will, but not your emotions. And you will find you are quite ready and willing to experience any emotion, because it gives evidence of the working of the spirit of God and the achievement of what needs to be done. And whether it is this emotion or that emotion, well, that’s beside the point. One is not having the emotion for one’s own benefit. One is having the emotion so that one may be aware of what it is that is happening, and that’s a very different state of affairs to what is usually humanly experienced, isn’t it?So let us allow the implications of these things to be expanded in our own consciousness so that we may behave accordingly.
I think there must be some sort of emotional passion in my expression or I wouldn’t have been providing what I have so many years. There must be something there. But the emotion doesn’t necessarily make itself all that evident. There are occasions when it does, when it rightly does, because it needs to be seen in order to achieve what needs to be achieved; it needs to be seen by somebody else; one doesn’t need to display it for oneself. And any display of emotion in the true way is there merely because it’s going to be of value as part of the process by which the spirit is getting the job done. And if no value would be gained at all by displaying the emotion, well, it doesn’t need to be displayed, that’s all. You may be aware of it, but you only display it if there is some purpose for its display. But what is felt by you, and others, for instance, with respect to me, is the impact of spirit, not the impact of emotion. That impact of spirit may make you aware of an emotion in you, because it has stirred the substance in you, but then, don’t you become subject to that emotion in turn. We don’t wish to multiply confusion.
You’re doing a job and there needs to be some sort of an impact to let the spirit do what needs to be done, in which case some sort of what might be described by the unenlightened as a human emotion might put in an appearance. You can see why it’s advisable not to judge in the matter. It may be just a human reaction to the circumstance. On the other hand, it may be the evidence of the working of the spirit in achieving what needs to be achieved. One of the most obvious ways of discerning the difference is the fact that if it is an emotion consequent upon the movement of the spirit of God, an emotion which needs to be expressed so that it is seen, it’ll be expressed just as long as it needs to be seen and then it’ll be gone. There is no hangover from it; there are no recriminations that go on and on. People have violent emotional sprees, then talk about it for years afterwards, and try to explain it, and so on. Forget it. We don’t need to discuss our emotions in that way at all. Just let them appear as necessary in the fulfillment of our purpose.
I questioned in my own mind as to what would be the most useful tonight. What could we do, or what could I say, that would have the greatest possible meaning in this hour? I felt that it was not so much the expounding of new visions of Truth that is now needful, nor even, for this hour at least, the reviewing of words already spoken, and when I considered the Bible and all of its beautiful passages, it seemed that even the Bible did not provide what was most needful for this hour, at least not in the sense of just reading some verses and talking about them.
As I have considered these things it seems to me that this hour, carrying forward the focalized realizations of the days gone by, needed an expression that would, by the fact of its beauty, give a consciousness of the Pattern of Reality that is superimposed upon all things, and an expression that should carry the currents of Divine Love whereby there might be a vivid awareness of the directionalizing, controlling Supreme Intelligence, by reason of which the power which we have felt and sensed in varying ways shall be caused to accomplish all things essential to the fulfilment of the Cosmic Plan. And I wonder by what means, through what words, this need might be best fulfilled, that the manifest form might reveal the Pattern of things to be. It is not needful that I should undertake to convince you that there is power—you know it—neither is it needful that I should undertake to convince you of the Pattern of Truth, for you carry in your hearts and minds a conviction of the reality thereof; nevertheless, having carried forward to this point on higher ground, a higher level of consciousness and feeling and recognition, there is need for a deeper sense of At-Homeness therein, so that, as you walk in the Borderland of this Promised Land, you shall not be as strangers therein, but, rather, as those who abide in the Land of our KING.
If I were to speak as a Sage in this matter, I would perhaps simply say, “When you have lived in this Land long enough to let your roots penetrate deeply into the soil of the Kingdom, you will feel At Home. Let, therefore, the At-Homeness come through living here.” And the word so spoken would be true. If I were to speak as a Guide, showing newcomers to the Land, that they might begin to gain a sense of At-Homeness, I would perhaps speak thus: “Here, in the Land of Light, in the Land of Love, and in the Land of Life, the innermost recesses of your hearts, being opened, will reveal the fact that this is the Home for which you have longed through these many years, for though you may have thought that you were finding a home, or making a home, or building a home, as you came along the Way you found that, no matter what you built, no matter how you worked, no matter what devotion you gave, the homes that you thought to make did not fulfil the Allness that is necessary, and the spirit of such homes as you have known did not reach to these innermost recesses of your heart, where, in the secret chambers, there has been locked the treasure chest of the awareness of your true and lasting Home. And it is well, for otherwise you would have been self-satisfied, content to linger in the way-stations, and you would never have reached this Land—the Land of the Living, the Land of the Loving, and the Land of the Enlightened. So, therefore, though it may be true, as the Sage has said, that living here will truly bring you a deeper awareness of At-Homeness, nevertheless, the Spirit of At-Homeness is in your hearts even now, as you look upon this Land, and, though it is vast, there is no reason for feeling as if you were back on earth, alone in a desert place; and, though there is so much to see, there is no need to feel a conviction as if back on earth you were at the busiest intersection of the world’s greatest city.
Behold, in the timelessness of this Land there is Eternity in which to view, and the vastness of this Land gives promise that, no matter how great your expression of Life may be, no matter how penetrating your vision may become, no matter how wonderful the accomplishments which may manifest through you, you will never outgrow this Land—the Land of the Living, the Land of the Loving, and the Land of the Enlightened Ones. Seek not, therefore, to find that sense of At-Homeness that you may have known back along the way, as if you had encompassed your homes and fully comprehended them, controlling them, and causing them to be according to some arbitrary plan or purpose. In this Land the sense of At-Homeness springs not from having encompassed the fulness thereof, and having contained it within yourselves, but, rather, in the awareness that the At-Homeness that is in your hearts will find a place to abide, a place to express, a place to share, no matter where you may rightly move within the Borders of this Fair Land. The At-Homeness here is not because you possess the Land, but because you are a part of the Land—in its Spirit, its formation and its manifestation, which, in one sense, is beyond possession because it is limitless, and yet that limitless fulness, that unmeasured bounty, that unconfined beauty, finds true focus, control and coordination in our KING.
Here you do not possess the Land, and neither does the Land possess you. Here you do not try to utilize all the manifestations of the Kingdom for your own purposes, as is so common out in the world. Here you let your expression of Being find relationship to the ALL, that it may be a part of the ALL, and that the ALL may find fulfilment in presentation to our KING. Here you labor not for yourselves, nor do you seek to get, nor do you undertake to establish, in self-centeredness, any confinement of the beauty and the wonder of this Land, for each finds his fulfilment in the sharing of the doing that brings forth that which we may, all in Oneness, present to our KING. Therefore, we are ever giving unto Him, but He receives not as unto Himself, for He serves not Himself, neither does He, as our KING, possess either the Land, or we who dwell in this Land, for it is not to possess us that He is KING, and His Joy is in giving unto us through that service which He renders each and all. The At-Homeness, then, is in the Spirit of this Land, not seeking to establish limitations here or there, not seeking to set boundaries or take possession, nor yet in being possessed, but in the Spirit of this Land, which is a Spirit of Living and of Loving and of the Shining of the Light—and he who lets the Light shine, he who truly Loves and surely Lives is he who truly Gives.
Here the power works, and the power is not because some human being takes hold upon it here or there to make it be thus and so, but because each and all abide in the realization of the working of the Law, knowing that the Law truly works in Heaven and on earth. Therefore, as you gain that sense of At-Homeness here, abiding harmoniously within the Law, there is no special sense of power which you may command for this or that purpose, according to some whim or fancy, but an abiding, whereby you let the power work according to the Law—and, being thus At Home, you Live, that the Land of the Living, the Land of the Loving, and the Land of the Enlightened may manifest through you on earth for all who have eyes to see. And so, in this you rest, and, being truly At Home, you find what it means to Rest in the Lord, to abide in peace and to know the wonder-working power of our God.
