from
The Nature Of True Leadership Now
Martin Cecil December 17, 1978
In the first two Sacred Schools there was need for strong leadership which was capable of handling human nature in those concerned and providing the essential instruction to human nature in order to allow the required movement toward the experience that should come by reason of the Third Sacred School. The law was given in the First Sacred School. Moses was on hand for a period of time. He enforced the law: “You behave this way or else.” Many human beings look for that kind of leadership: “You tell us what to do and we'll do it.” This allows human nature to be maintained—“I'll stay the way I am but I'll follow you and do what you tell me.” The human nature state can then be maintained, which was all right in the First Sacred School; it was a start. This required those who followed the leadership, were obedient to it, and also that there be a true leader, who provided the required expression of the Lord according to the needs of the time in question. This was done by Moses, particularly. The whole thing fell apart later because there was no adequate representation of the Lord in the position of leadership. Human nature still prevailed in the people, and without the leadership to maintain government and control, movement in the ascending sense ceased and there was a failure at that time.
Again, in the Second Sacred School there was the need for leadership, not physical leadership at this time but mental leadership, which could only be provided by the Lord Himself incarnate on earth. He offered that leadership, but it was rejected very quickly. If the Second Sacred School was to have worked, this again was the necessity, that there should be someone, necessarily in this instance the Lord incarnate, to provide the leadership to human nature at the mental level, to find those who were willing to obey and to agree. There were some who started along the way, but while He was present they certainly did not get beyond the very limited state of consciousness which anticipated somehow that the kingdom was going to be restored to Israel. So that opportunity was lost, necessitating the initiation of the third opportunity—the third and last incidentally. Provision was made in this regard. I would read some words in the record here: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” The wording, as it has come down to us, may not have made the situation entirely clear to most, but here was the indication of a new state of affairs, made possible by reason of the Third Sacred School. This was a different approach altogether.
The physical and the mental approach under the essential leadership was in a sense the easy way. The physical approach was more or less understandable to many people: Here are the rules; obey the rules and you will be all right. Of course something else was required. But the rules were given and for a while they were obeyed after a fashion. In the First Sacred School and in the Second Sacred School leadership was being provided to the already existing human nature. The ultimate objective, even then, was that human nature should pass away. It could not pass away on the basis of external leadership. It could move toward the point where it might pass away by reason of external leadership, and this was provided—leadership was provided physically speaking and then mentally speaking. The physical leadership having been rejected also, even as later the mental leadership was rejected, the children of Israel were scattered. Then out of the Second Sacred School emerged what has been called Christianity—the endeavor to make things work on the basis of such principles as had been recognized with respect to the Second Sacred School. But what had been offered had not been accepted, and the only basis of such offering was by the One called Jesus. It had to be accepted at His hand. It was not accepted at His hand, so it was expedient for Him that He depart in order that the new approach might be made—the spiritual expression approach. It was said of the Comforter that he should be not only with those concerned but in them—the approach was to be made not on the basis of external leadership but on the basis of the expression of the spirit manifesting in momentary living through each individual. Human nature tends to look for leadership, but human nature is to pass away, so we don't need to pay any attention to what human nature looks for. The opportunities of the First and Second Sacred Schools have passed away.
Insofar as Christianity was concerned there was the endeavor to make it work on the basis of leadership offered to human nature. This approach, which placed the responsibility upon the One called Jesus, was a misinterpretation of what should have occurred at the time of the Second Sacred School, when He was on hand to do it. But He is not on hand in that way anymore and therefore the Second Sacred School approach cannot possibly work on that basis. That is not the required approach. We have seen these things, but there is still an endeavor to maintain human nature by trying to make things work out physically and mentally. There was the opportunity before to follow leadership, to learn to obey and to learn to agree with spiritual leadership physically and mentally. This never happened. It never happened! Both Sacred Schools failed in this regard because of the behavior of human beings. The opportunity was there.
Moving beyond the point of these two Sacred Schools, we come to the Third, which is the sole remaining opportunity. Human beings seldom recognize opportunity when it is in front of them. They have 20/20 hindsight, they think. They say to themselves, “Well if we had lived at the time of Jesus we would have gone along with Him.” Ha! Or, “If we had been among the children of Israel we would have obeyed the laws.” Ha! It is not a question of hindsight anyway. It doesn't mean anything. It is what is happening now that is the point. This is the only opportunity there is. Obviously those concerned at the time of Jesus did not see it then. Not even the disciples really saw it then. It is what is happening now that is important, and we need to see this from the standpoint of the Third Sacred School, which is the spiritual expression plane approach. Somehow those who respond to this approach must become sufficiently acquainted with the working of the spirit of God, with the Tone of it, the quality of it, the character of it, to be in position to let it work in one's own individual experience. For this to happen there must be provision somehow which allows the Tone to sound so that it can be heard, but the purpose of the sounding of the Tone is not to tell people what to do but to enable them to find out for themselves what their behavior should be. Yet there needs to be leadership of that nature if anyone is to become really acquainted with the true Tone of Life. We have shared in an awakening to the true Tone of Life, not on the basis of theory, not on the basis of the idea of the mind alone. The question is: What is the behavior, what is the expression of life, what is the character being revealed, what is the quality of spirit in expression? Nobody is being asked questions as to whether they know about it—the question that is being asked is: How much is the Tone of Life being revealed in one's own living? It is the only thing that matters. Beliefs mean utterly nothing until they emerge into experience. Then a person begins to know something rather than merely know about something.
So it was expedient for the Master to go away, because as long as He was there those concerned were simply trying to follow Him in human nature. They might have followed Him in human nature up to the point where the Second Sacred School ceased to operate. You know what that point was, described as the occasion when He wept over Jerusalem: “Ye shall not see me henceforth.” He had come to initiate the Second Sacred School under His own personal leadership, but it was rejected. He had done at that point what He came to do but was not allowed to do. He opened the door subsequently for the Third Sacred School, another opportunity, which would not require His personal presence. There was no more need for leadership in that sense. It was not to be the leadership offered to human nature, the leadership which is inclined to tell human beings what they should do. There is only One who was in position to provide this sort of leadership from the standpoint of the Second Sacred School, or the second level of the mind. He did what He could. Now it is different.
He spoke of the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth. Here is the sounding of the Tone, which becomes loud and clear when it is sounded in one's own living. If it is not sounded in one's own living it is very faint, if it is heard at all. It is heard when it is sounded in one's own living. One cannot experience the reality of the Spirit of Truth by reason of someone else sounding that Tone. One must sound it for oneself to know it. What needs to happen on earth happens in consequence of the sounding of this Tone in the lives of those human beings who are willing to let it be so. We also recognize, and become aware in our own experience, that as there is this sounding of the Tone beginning to emerge it brings forth a body of people—not an organized body of people according to the ideas of the human mind but a body of people who emerge into their natural relationships by reason of the fact that individually the Tone is sounding through them. There is One Spirit, One Tone, differentiated by many. It is this emergence of the Body of the Archangel that allows what is needful to happen on earth to do so, because there is consequently the presence of true spiritual Cause, which when present and in expression on earth inevitably brings true spiritual effects. Then those spiritual effects are reflected in the material realm.
In our ministry there has tended to be the idea that there should be vastly greater numbers, that unless there are vastly greater numbers nothing could possibly happen. Those who are consciously participating in whatever measure in this ministry are, relatively speaking, very very few, and yet isn't it remarkable what has happened? Why then should we suppose that there have to be vast numbers? Is this not the approach of human nature? Human nature is always impressed by large numbers. I mentioned something with respect to Gideon and his three hundred. The gang he had to start with had to be whittled down. What needs to be done actually requires relatively very few, because it isn't being done on the basis of the human nature approach. It may be describable as secret service in some ways, because it is at a level which is not generally recognized as even being present insofar as most people are concerned.
However, it does require those who are in fact sounding the Tone loud and clear, consistently, in their daily living. Within the company of those who have been drawn to share something in this ministry there have been those who have been looking for leadership a la First or Second Sacred School—they wanted somebody to take responsibility for them. If any of this attitude lingers in you, you will not be included in the number of those who are in position to let happen on earth what needs to happen on earth. There must be a Core of those whose living is not a relative matter but is an absolute matter, not because they are being told they should do this or do that by some human mind somewhere but because there is the sounding of the Tone of Life ringing forth from the spirit of the living God in each moment. It isn't a casual thing, is it? It doesn't matter what the circumstance is, the Tone of Life is present. Sound it in that circumstance.
I wish to emphasize the point with respect to the type of leadership that was necessary for the First and Second Sacred Schools. It is not at all the same now. The so-called second coming, or the coming of the Messiah, is indicative of the fact that human nature has passed away. It can pass away in one of two ways. It will pass away in one way for sure; that is called death. However, you don't have to go with your human nature. You can leave the human nature behind, and it goes on the basis of the living expression of the Tone which is the spirit of God: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Let everything in your expression of life be fathered out of heaven, out of the realm of Cause, out of the character of God. Then something happens. Otherwise you can believe what you like and nothing happens of a constructive nature—there is a good deal of disintegration around.
So there must be incarnate angels in expression on earth, undisguised by human nature. That means that we take responsibility as individuals, and we do it in fact, not in fancy; and we do it now, not next week. It can only be done now. So let us do it now. If we do we will no longer put up with the mediocrity of human nature. Human nature is very mediocre; not too much can be expected of anyone. We do not put up with mediocrity. If an angel is in expression on earth through the body and the mind which you have heretofore thought of as yourself—but which isn't; it is the body and the mind of the angel who you really are—then there is a consistency of right expression. If you are simply a human nature ego trying to be an angel you are wasting your time. It is only when we have accepted some other unfortunate identity that we behave in an unseemly manner and we go down. If we go down then we look around for some leadership that is going to inspire us or somehow going to lift us up again. We are trying to get back into the First Sacred School or into the Second Sacred School, but they do not exist anymore. The only thing that exists now, that is real now, is the Third Sacred School, and that requires spiritual expression in our living moment by moment, consistently. Human nature doesn't know what it would be. Let us accept the truth. “Ye shall know the truth.” How? By expressing it, by being it. I have been in a very fortunate position for many years because I really had no one to run to to lift me up. So there is only one thing left to do and that is stay up. Why shouldn't it be the same for everybody else? Why not? This is the responsibility we share for permitting the Third Sacred School to be a reality on earth, a victorious reality, not a failure. A failure might well be fatal, not only to ourselves but to everybody else as well. Last call—that is what it is.
Our concern is to find those on the face of the earth who will participate in the Third Sacred School. We are not looking for vast numbers. If vast numbers put in an appearance, that would spoil everything. What is required is that there should be angels incarnate and in expression on earth, to be sent forth into all the earth. There need to be angels in many places on the face of the earth, but the purpose is not to produce vast crowds of people. What good does that do? It achieves nothing. “Not by might, nor by power,” not by human nature approaches can anything be done, “but by my spirit,” by the Tone of Life sounding by reason of a few. This achieves what is needful on this earth, which belongs to God and not to the depredations of human nature. It is to be restored to Him because there are those on earth who are restored to Him in fact, because they obey the instruction: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” That would be a consistent thing, wouldn't it? So, letting all that finds expression in our living be fathered by God out of heaven, so shall the fact of the good news of the Gospel be preached in all the world at a level where human beings are powerless to prevent it. In this fashion all things are made new. Here is our responsibility—with many others besides, but insofar as the population of the world is concerned, relatively very few.
There is nothing more magnificent, nothing more wonderful, than to sound the Tone of Life together in coordinated expression. You have been aware of those occasions, in particular configurations of people, when there has been a coming together in the sounding of the Tone of Life and something tremendous occurs. How quickly what is needful occurs when there are those in agreement, letting the coordinated expression of the true Tone of Life be sounded continuously.
© emissaries of divine light
