J e h o v a h
Deep Feeling
Martin Cecil January 27, 1960
In the 24th chapter of Matthew there is this familiar verse: “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)” Then the following verses indicate what sort of action should be taken.
“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation.” The emphasis is on the word “see.” The abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, is standing in the holy place but most people are not aware of it. It is essential that we do become aware of it. First of all, there is no sense in deluding ourselves, no sense in trying to imagine that everything is just wonderful when it is not. It is vitally important that the individual should reach a point where he is capable of looking at the abomination of desolation within himself. It is there. We have used the symbolical term “looking into the jade stone,” the jade stone representing the means by which the individual may become aware of what is actually within himself as a human being. Because of the nature of that which is present it takes some considerable time for a person to be brought to the point where he is not only willing but able to look. It could be disastrous for a person to look too soon; there are, however, protective mechanisms built into human beings which have very successfully kept human beings from looking too closely.
We remember that it is stated somewhere in the Bible, “The Lord looketh on the heart.” In other words God sees what is in human hearts. Human beings do not see what is in their own hearts. We recognize the importance of beginning to share the vision from the Divine standpoint, the importance of beginning to see things as God sees them. God's vision in this regard is very different from human vision. Human vision does not see very deeply and is incapable, actually, of looking into the jade stone, of coming to the point of really seeing what is present in fallen human hearts. Yet until that point is reached where there may be a clear recognition in this regard the individual cannot be made free. The extent to which a person has looked, or is looking within his own heart, and seeing what is actually there, reveals the extent to which the individual is sharing Divine vision.
Most people are inclined to think of Divine vision as seeing something altogether marvelous and wonderful—heavenly things everywhere. That aspect of the matter is true too, but God is not blind. God does not delude Himself into imagining that something is nice when it is not. He sees with honest vision. He sees whatever the facts are. If we are to share Divine vision we will likewise become aware of such things. I have spoken of this before: the more of heavenly things the individual is capable of seeing, the more of the corrupt things the individual is capable of seeing. But if he is capable of seeing heavenly things truly—not deluding himself in imagination but actually seeing them—when he observes the corrupt things, they do not have any effect upon him, they do not disturb, they do not establish control over him. To reach this point, however, a person must have established an adequate pattern of identity with his own Divine nature and consequently have looked and seen what was within himself.
You cannot successfully see what is in anyone else until you have first seen what is in yourself, because what is in yourself will, if it has not yet been seen by you, color your vision of everything you look at and you will see in others, by and large, a reflection of the things that are in yourself. To reach a point where it is possible to deal with other people, to serve them, to assist them along the way, it is absolutely necessary to be able to look into their hearts and see what is there without being in the least disturbed by whatever may be there. As long as there is any reaction of judgment it is evident that the individual does not actually see what is there. His judgment will blind him. Of course as long as there is a reaction of revulsion the individual is in no position to serve that person. Once one has really looked at what is within oneself as a human being, and been able to do it without any reaction of revulsion, then there will not be very much in anyone else that will be capable of causing that reaction.
Human beings, having been involved with the corruption of the fallen state for twenty thousand years, are not very angelic creatures. We might just as well face the fact, because if we are going to grow, if we are going to move toward becoming what we are supposed to be, if we are going to rise up out of the consciousness of the body to the high level of the spiritual consciousness, we are going to see some pretty awful things—not so much in relationship to other people, although that will come too in season, but with respect to ourselves. You may say, “Well, aren't we supposed to think upon the things that are lovely and beautiful and of good report?” Yes, we are supposed to give attention to those things, that we may begin to rise up in consciousness; but if we actually do begin to rise up in consciousness, so that we look at things from a higher level on the mountainside, we see what is below us, and it is necessary to take a look at it sooner or later. The human tendency is to skirt around it. Of course that is all right, perhaps, for a while; a person is not yet really in position to see what is there. He may become aware of little bits and pieces, so to speak, round about, but he does not reach the point yet of really looking right into the middle. As I say, he could not take it. That was the story about the jade stone, was it not? The individual would approach a little bit, just glance at it out of the corner of his eye and look away quickly. Gradually he would draw a little closer and look a little deeper, until finally he was in position to look right down in and actually see what was there without flinching. Why would a person not flinch? Because he no longer identifies himself with what he sees in the jade stone. If he is capable of looking deep down in he has identified himself with his own Divine nature. That is what he is, and what he is looking at is not what he is, so it does not bother him. But it takes a while to reach that point. It takes a great deal of honesty.
One of the tendencies, while the individual is drawing closer, is to try to include others in relationship to that which it is necessary to observe within himself. He tries to say, “Well it's not all my fault!”, or “I'm not entirely to blame. So-and-so over there isn't so good either.” That is a method commonly used to skirt around the necessity of really looking at oneself, because when a person really takes an honest look in the jade stone, he recognizes that he is simply facing himself. He cannot face anyone else in that way. All that is required is that he should face himself and acknowledge what is there without diverting the attention to one side a little bit, so that the individual says, “Well, I know there is something that is not so very good there, but then look at so-and-so over in the other place!” It is absolutely essential that a person should reach a point where there is no longer any subjection to that slippery sort of an attitude that holds just a little bit of judgment with respect to someone else. That person has never yet really faced himself, never yet really seen what is there, because if he really does see actually what is there he will not be inclined to try and pin anything on anyone else. There will be plenty right there. We know how it seems to be a more or less automatic reaction of people to blame somebody else. It starts in early childhood, does it not, and becomes a more or less fixed habit, the purpose being to keep from the necessity of looking at oneself. And yet that point must come somewhere, so that the individual is in position to see the abomination of desolation which stands in the holy place.
There are a number of places in the Bible where this process is described. There is indication that the human state of “comeliness” turns to corruption. In other words all that the individual thought was pretty good about himself is seen for what it actually is. When the human state begins to be put alongside the Divine state the best of the human state is utterly corrupt, not fit to be compared at all. And it is necessary that there should be the ability to look into the jade stone, each one for him- or herself, because until it is done it is impossible to be of much help to anyone else; the tendency to judgment, the tendency to reactions of revulsion, will still be present.
In a recent service I spoke of the manner in which you at times have put up your defenses. Why would you wish to put up defenses in relationship to anything that I might offer? I think that you have had long enough experience to know that I am not interested in destroying you. My concern is with building something. Why would it be that there would be a tendency to feel it necessary to erect defenses? I think if you are honest you will recognize that that is so, or has been so. One of the patterns of defense relates to the process of translating the things that are said as being applicable to someone else. They say that one of the best forms of defense is offense, so “Let's pin it on someone else!” But there are many subtle ways of defensiveness which are used to prevent the individual from being greatly moved inside. Of course the defensiveness in the final analysis is the endeavor to keep from looking into the jade stone.
There is a peculiar sort of a paradox here, because the responding one will claim that he wishes to serve God, he wishes to grow, he wishes to rise up in consciousness, he wishes to see more, to be capable of functioning more effectively in life, but at the same time there is the realization, conscious or subconscious, that if he does so he is going to see some things that are not so pleasant in himself. On the one hand he wants to grow and on the other hand no, because it might be painful. And so a sort of soft pedal is used, just to dampen things down a little so that there will not be too much intensity of feeling experienced—interest perhaps in looking at things from an intellectual standpoint, learning something, as the individual thinks, adding a few concepts about truth to the already established store, but let's not feel too deeply; it might get out from under control. That is a good excuse! Of course we would acknowledge that feelings do get out from under control sometimes—usually the wrong kind of feelings. And even in relationship to what are supposed to be the things of God feelings get out from under control and people do foolish things—letting the feelings go without any control pattern having been established, without the truth being present.
But nevertheless, the intensity of feeling, when it is under the right control, determines the measure of the release of the spirit of God. We cannot suppress our feelings and really grow very much. Insofar as our experience is concerned there have been times when there has been a more intense current of feeling moving in a service, for instance. I do not think that under those circumstances you have ever found that things were getting out from under control. I am here to maintain the control. What are you afraid of? This does not mean that human beings are supposed to go off half-cocked, as it is put sometimes, but to begin to lower their defenses a little so that feelings can begin to come into play. In our service last Sunday evening I engendered a current which carried a certain impact from the standpoint of feeling for those who let down their defenses a little, or for those in relationship to whom I was able to get behind their defenses.
There is this vital necessity of looking in the jade stone. When you first look, perhaps you are going to be uncomfortable; it is going to produce a storm perhaps. But until a person really looks—really reaches a point where he has the courage to look, and to feel, in relationship to that which he sees, utterly repentant—he cannot receive forgiveness. It is not that there is any desire on anyone's part to push a person down into the pit, but unless there is an honest facing of what is present, so that the individual does feel deeply about it from the standpoint of repentance, there isn't any forgiveness and there isn't any change actually. Nothing has been achieved. I have spoken about the necessity of hitting the things that are wrong, and of cooperating with me in the process so that you do not in any sense defend them on any basis whatsoever. You do not say, “Well, I see something wrong in someone else! Why don't you hit that?” Oh but I am, wherever I am allowed to do so. I must be invited to do so. I cannot do it arbitrarily.
As we do move upward, emerging out of the body consciousness to the higher level of spiritual consciousness, we begin to come apart from the body consciousness so that we can look at it and we can see what is there. As long as we are involved in it we do not see what is there. We may imagine some things, but we do not really see. It is not until one rises up on the mountainside that one gets a good view of the valley. As long as you are down in the valley you do not see very much; the trees are all around you. But as you begin to rise up you can see more. As you begin to emerge out of the fallen human consciousness to a higher level of spiritual consciousness you can look at that which you are leaving and you can see what is in it. You don't pretend about it, and you are willing to acknowledge and admit what is there, as you see it, and it is cause for repentance.
All too many people imagine that they have to wake up one day to the fact that they are sinners and repent because they become aware of the fact that they are sinners, and that that is all that is necessary—then they can be forgiven! But they do not really know what it is that made them sinners, why they are sinners, what the sinner state is. They have not seen it yet. They have merely woken up to the fact that it is present. But for it to pass away the individual must emerge from it. If he is still identified with it he cannot be separated from it, and when he begins to emerge from it the evidence of his emergence from it is in his recognition of what is in that state within himself. If he doesn't recognize what is within himself in that regard he has not emerged from that state, and all the groveling in the dust will not accomplish anything. It is not God's desire that anyone should grovel in the dust, but that those who are willing to repent should emerge out of the state, receiving forgiveness.
Most people never do anything until they are shocked into it. It is an unfortunate thing, isn't it? Unfortunate for all concerned, because that is a painful business. And the individual is not inclined to let down his defenses until something really shatters them. It could be so much easier, so much more pleasant a process, if the responding one would open up in feeling and let feeling intensify on the basis of that which is being provided, coming down from God out of heaven. These are vital things. How much were you really shocked by what I said on Sunday evening? How much real effect did it have upon you? How much did it slide off you? How much did it actually penetrate into you? According to your response so is it established. According to the extent of the defenses so is the penetration.
The abomination of desolation! Complacency is one of the most deadly states in which a person can indulge. Some people indulge in complacency, deluding themselves that it is tranquility. They are not the same thing at all. Complacency is known when the individual suppresses feeling. Growth, change, the achievement of anything from the standpoint of either constructive or destructive outworkings, is on the basis of the intensity of feeling. That is obviously so from the standpoint of destructive things, isn't it? Things can be really destroyed in short order if a person becomes subject to ill feeling. If a person gives body to a devil, then there is destructiveness—creativeness in reverse. The more intense the feeling, the more violent the reaction, the more destructive it is. By the same token, we recognize that the creative purposes of God are incapable of achievement without intensity of feeling. Something must really stir a person. Of course that something is the spirit of God, if the individual will let it be so—the spirit of God in action. But there must be openness of heart toward it, for it does not impose itself on anyone. It is present with every individual, but it is meaningless until the feelings begin to be open toward it and consequently stirred by it, and the individual lets his or her defenses down so that there may really begin to be a deep current of feeling with respect to the purposes of God and the Divine fulfilment, permitting God to be in action on earth.
God in action on earth is spoken of in the Old Testament as Jehovah. That of course is not the name actually. “Jehovah” is just an English translation of something, and it is not right at all. But that which is indicated by Jehovah we know as God in action on earth. It is not enough to know the Lord God Almighty, as many people do. It is necessary that He should be known by His name Jehovah, because that indicates that He is in action on earth—in action through the human form, the spirit of God finding release on earth through the human form; not fettered and limited by the defenses that human beings erect or by the distorted patterns which they insist the spirit of God should work through, but a completely open and unhindered thing wherein the control of the spirit of truth allows that which is released of the power of God to be constructive.
Because the disciples were not adequately moved by the spirit within our Master's words, particularly when He spoke to them in the Upper Room shortly before His arrest, they by their failure, by their action, were responsible for destroying Him. We could say that it was a sin of omission. They did not realize what they were doing, but the fact of the matter was that because they did not allow themselves to be stirred so that the limiting, inhibiting factors were broken and the spirit of God might work through them, when the crisis point was reached there was no power—God was not in action on earth. Oh yes, through our Master Himself, as one individual, but not on the basis of a control pattern which could achieve anything in the world.
The name Jehovah is interesting. Actually we can see something here with respect to the free, unfettered working of the spirit of God. In the true name of God in action on earth there are no consonants—it is all vowels. If you will examine the method that is used in human speech you will find that the vowel portrays the spirit; it is not contained, or limited, by anything. It is only when we begin to use consonants that a specific form begins to be taken—the spirit begins to be constricted by an external pattern. Jehovah—well the way that is said, there are consonants. Even in the languages which are used by human beings, very often the j is not pronounced in the way which we use in English. J requires the contact of various portions of the speaking mechanism, as do all of the consonants; but if we translate the j into the sound i [ee] we have a beginning point for the expression of all the vowels: i [ee], the starting point; e [eh] (it begins to move back): i [ee] - e [eh] - o [oh] - u [oo] - a [ah]—five vowels.
That still does not give you the true name of God in action on earth but it may convey something to your consciousness in relationship to the free movement of the spirit of God unfettered by any consonants. It is one sound but an unfettered sound, and until there is that unfettered sound manifesting through the human being, God is not in action on earth and what comes out will be something like Jehovah, a harsh and rather unpleasant word. There is nothing very appealing about it to me. Jehovah, a human invention. It is not the real thing at all. It is not anything like the real thing. Perhaps it is just as well that it is the way it is, so that there is no desecration of that which is really holy, just in the same way that we may recognize the word Jesus is not our Master's name. So the use of that word in all the ways that it has been used has not desecrated very much. Of course human beings are living in a state of desecration anyway.
The movement of the spirit of God through human beings must be free and unfettered. What is it that permits freedom? The truth, is it not? The truth. Not human concepts about the truth, not what the human mind thinks about it, not all that the human mind has gathered in the way of knowledge; that has never made anyone free. It keeps binding human beings more tightly in bondage. The great increase of knowledge in the world today has bound human beings much more tightly than when they did not have so much. They are bound by their own concepts, by their own devices. So it is not what the human mind thinks it knows. It is not the corruption that is present in the human fallen consciousness that is of value. The truth is higher. The truth is higher than man is. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” The truth makes man free. Not man trying to manipulate what he thinks the truth to be, in an endeavor to make himself free. That does not work. It is when man yields to the truth that he is made free, so that he begins to be governed by the truth. By what truth? By the truth of his own being. Not by his concepts about something, but by the actual truth of his own being, that which he is from the Divine standpoint. He must be governed by that, he must be identified with that, if he is to be made free. When he begins to be identified with that he begins to be able to see things Divine, the things of God, to understand something of the Divine Design, the purposes of God, the Plan of God. At the same time he sees the corruption, first of all, that was in his own body consciousness; then, letting that be cleared, he begins to be in position to see into that which is present in another. “Man, know thyself”—that is the first step. A person cannot know anyone else until he knows himself.
So it is the truth that makes man free. The truth of your being, that which you are, Divinely created, is what makes you free. And it is by reason of that that there may be the unfettered expression of the spirit of God through you. That unfettered expression brings intensified feeling when the individual stops trying to protect himself from God. i e o u a [ee eh oh oo ah]. Does that cause you to feel anything, or is it just like any other sound? There is something waiting to be felt and known. “It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom,” but you need to be in position to receive it. You need to be willing to be deeply moved in feeling, not with any sense of losing control, but, recognizing the fact of control present with you and in you, so that feeling your comeliness in the human sense turn to corruption, seeing the abomination of desolation which has stood in your holy place, you may stand at the high point of spiritual consciousness acknowledging the fact, feeling very deeply about it but not groveling in the dust—with no desire to blame anyone or to try to include anyone else in relationship to that which is present in yourself; reaching a point of absolute honesty, in other words. You are not trying to slip out from anything but are facing the thing as it is, without regard to anyone else, and are willing to acknowledge it on that basis. Then you can come clear from it. But as long as there is any feeling of connecting it up with someone else you are bound.
Until a person faces himself, for himself alone, he has not yet faced himself. I do not care what seeming justification there may be. Those justifications can bind the individual in hell as long as he will let them, but finally the abomination of desolation must be seen in one's own holy place, because you cannot really see it in anyone else's until you have seen it in your own. It is utterly futile to judge somebody else. Then, standing where you are supposed to stand, the holy place is seen to be pure. It is no longer where you were before. It is at the level of the spiritual consciousness where the corruption is not. And you stand there, letting the spirit of repentance be offered to the Lord so that that forgiveness which permits the power of God to cleanse away the corruption may begin to work, that the consciousness of your body may become pure, may become a fitting instrument for the use of the One who has been known as Jehovah, that through you the power of God may work to achieve the purposes of God, unhindered, uncolored, undistorted.
© emissaries of divine light
