The One Passion

The  One  Passion

Martin Exeter   April 22, 1984

Easter is presumably the most important day of the year in the Christian world—on this day there is presumably celebrated the resurrection of Jesus, and His emergence out of the sepulcher into the Garden. This event is believed in by a great number of people; it forms the basis of the Christian doctrine. It is an event, however, that is certainly not understood by anyone. To vast numbers of people it is simply a myth. Something did happen, however, which had considerable impact, first of all upon those who were immediately aware of it. It seems to have transformed their characters considerably. Here was something that apparently happened to one man. His emergence from the tomb into the garden is what is celebrated as the resurrection. I would suggest, however, that the resurrection was not just a momentary thing. It included the whole cycle of life of this particular person, from the moment of conception all the way through. This period of time could be seen as the cycle of the resurrection. It came to climax at a certain point, but it could never have come to that climax if it wasn’t for everything that went before.

There is a record contained in the Bible which purports to outline something of the latter few years, at least, of this man’s presence on earth. No doubt the record has been doctored somewhat in order to emphasize what was subsequently included in the doctrines of Christianity. But here is the story of one man who passed through the whole cycle of resurrection, whatever that really is. During the last three years of this man’s presence on earth He drew unto Himself certain ones who were called disciples, and other people as well, thus allowing His personal, physical form to include more than His own flesh body. Those who were drawn apparently did not permit their adequate inclusion in this expanded body. I suppose the reason for this could be summarized in the words, “the hardness of human hearts.” So, while He had disciples and some followers, it is quite obvious that even those who were closest to Him had little understanding of what it was He was present on earth to do.

It may be said that He was present on earth to move through this cycle of resurrection, but it need not have been merely for Him alone. He opened the door and offered the opportunity to others, who were drawn to Him, to participate in His body and therefore to move in the cycle of resurrection. As I say, this evidently never occurred—there is a point in the record which makes that clear—so that He was left alone, just with His own physical body, to assume the total responsibility of completing the cycle of resurrection. Apparently the only way it could be completed was through the events which took shape in those last days before His body was placed in the tomb. The crucifixion was included in this. Christians have been inclined to make a big deal out of that, and certainly it was a most horrendous event—most particularly for the One who had to go through it. He chose to go through it. He didn’t object; He didn’t complain about the injustice of it all; He didn’t blame anyone. In fact He maintained the attitude of forgiveness throughout, and He moved through whatever came and completed the cycle of the resurrection.

It need not have been that way if human hearts hadn’t been as hard as they evidently were—and, I might say, are for the most part in the world today. But it was the way it was. He Himself assumed the total responsibility for completing the cycle of the resurrection, doing it alone through His one, personal body. The opportunity had been rejected to let it happen through a body of many members at that time; but it was done in any case by Him, and the door was thereby opened for the resurrection to occur, later, for the body of mankind. The initial opportunity in that regard had been rejected. There have been those who have tried to pick it up later, notably those who are included in the Christian world; but that opportunity went, and it seems to have taken nearly two thousand years for the body, His body, which might have appeared when He was on earth, to begin to take form so that He might be provided with a body on earth. “Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,” until all that is necessary had been done to allow a factual, living body to be made available on earth for His incarnation and for the completion of the cycle of resurrection. The cycle was only completed insofar as His particular form was concerned in those far-distant days. It has not, certainly, been completed insofar as the form of mankind is concerned.

It could be easily recognized that there are two ways to go. One could go into the tomb—and most people usually do—and not come out of it. There are those who espouse the Christian doctrine, even other doctrines, who anticipate some emergence in the future. I am not sure how intelligent people can swallow the idea that, having disintegrated in the tomb, one should be put together again and come out. Where is the dust of our forebears? Some of it is still in the tombs I suppose, but a lot of it is scattered abroad, composing other forms, even our own. Who knows where the atoms went? And if all our forebears were bent upon collecting the dust of their bodies there would be quite a scramble, wouldn’t there?— some of it in the vegetation, some of it in animals, some of it in living people. Oh my! A rather peculiar belief.

But there is some dust around, a good deal of it sitting here in Chapel, capable of providing the substance for the form of a body which could accommodate the incarnation of the One who was long ago called Jesus. If we are alive to these things and have a certain understanding and experience of them, it is surely our passion to provide the substance necessary for His body on earth—not a human organization, some sort of religious organization, but a living form drawn together, coordinated, functioning in health and strength, by reason of that spirit which He brought to focus long ago, in action now. It is in action now. Many of you know that in your own experience, not because you try to believe something but because that spirit has already wrought at least some transformation in you. Part of that transformation has presumably drawn you together to sit in the Chapel this morning. Those who are here are certainly not the only ones who have been participating in this transformation, which is part of the cycle of resurrection. What else is to come remains to be seen. Let us not speculate.

There are those who might say, “Well look what happened to Jesus in the cycle of resurrection.” He did, after all, come forth from the tomb however; that is the purpose of resurrection, surely. As I say, there are always two alternatives: We can go into the tomb and not come out, or we can go into it and come out. But we only come out of it to the extent that we participate in the cycle of resurrection. It is not a matter of looking to the day sometime, as so many Christians do. The day is now! One is either a part of the cycle of resurrection or not. And if one is not a part of that cycle what is one a part of? The cycle of disintegration presumably. And we can see quite easily that happening too in the world, in the lives of human beings everywhere; there is much disintegration.

But we are also aware, from the standpoint of our own experience, that there is a cycle of integration, or resurrection, in which we have been invited to participate. We have been invited, actually, because we are aware of it; that is the invitation. Others on earth may be quite unaware of it; therefore they have not received the invitation yet. How is the invitation going to be conveyed to them? Surely by those who have accepted the invitation, who are aware of the fact of it and have accepted it, and so they have the invitation. It’s their own experience, and because it is so, then there is an invitation to offer to others. If one has not the experience oneself one has nothing to offer to anyone else. This is one of the sad elements in human experience, isn’t it? So many people have been trying to offer something that they didn’t have.

Let this body be drawn together because human hearts now are not hardened against it. Of course it requires more than trying to soften one’s heart, because how would you do that? What sort of an effort should be made? None at all. No human being can soften his heart by self-effort. All people on earth have inherited hard hearts from their forebears, so everybody is in the same boat: starting out with a hard heart and an unwillingness to relinquish that state. It is, after all, the usual human state: Everybody is that way; it must be right. Yet we look around and complain about all the things that are wrong.

So here we are participating in the cycle of resurrection; I suppose one could say, whether we like it or not. There was a good deal of resistance in everybody’s experience heretofore, and I doubt if it’s all gone yet. Nevertheless that magnetic force, that drawing power of spirit, is present and has drawn together a body which is in the process of being coordinated to become one body, so that the Lord, who was incarnate in the body of Jesus, might say, “This is My body.” Oh a lot of Christians have been listening to these words for a long time in connection with the communion service: the bread, and the wine—“This is My blood.” Blood, the symbol of life—it is the symbol of life when the bloodstream flows where it is supposed to flow, in the body. It has been the habit of human beings to imagine that somehow, by letting the blood out of the body, that is going to produce some remarkable salvation. It is true that in the crucifixion of Jesus there was some blood spilled, shed, and flowed out of the body. But the blood belongs in the body, not out of it. I suspect that most everyone knows that. Let’s be sensible then. Let’s let it be in the body; let the lifestream flow in the body. It can’t flow in the body if there isn’t any body to flow in; so let the body come together. And it is not just a matter of trying to soften our hearts; you may have learned something along those lines. It is a matter of allowing a passion to be known for whatever is necessary to allow this body to come together for the One who incarnates in it. That is the one passion that is necessary.

Human beings have all kinds of passions, some of them supposedly commendable, others more reprehensible. But whether they are commendable or reprehensible, that’s not the one passion that is required. There are those who generate considerable passion which is based in their human abilities. There have been some very passionate musicians, for instance, some very passionate artists. There have been some very passionate people in every field of human endeavor who have really poured themselves into it. Those sorts of passions are usually thought of as commendable passions; there is something constructive, creative, about them. It’s not true! What a shattering thing: it’s not true. Whether the passion is deemed to be commendable or reprehensible makes utterly no difference. All these are ways of avoiding the one passion that is required. The endeavor to produce a human world which will include all the beautiful things that the commendable passions produce is a false endeavor. And of course all the good people—I’m not exactly sure who they are, any more than I am sure who all the evil people are—would frown upon the reprehensible passions, which bring forth obviously destructive things. But all human passions, no matter what direction they move in, bring forth destructive things ultimately. “Oh if we only had a world filled with beautiful music! That would be perfect.” Not for everyone, would it? Some people like one kind of music, some people like another kind of music. Some people just like noise! So passionate people try to impose their particular aspect of passion upon others. And all this avoids the one thing that is necessary: the passion to allow the resurrection of the body of mankind to come again to completion. This was represented by the One called Jesus. He let it happen as one person. Christians have been inclined to feel that that was all that was necessary. He did it; that gives us excuse for not doing it presumably, for not sharing in that passion to let the body come together. That’s the one passion that is needful.

There are those who follow out their passions this way and that. In the Emissary ministry I have heard people from time to time indicate that they feel that they should move on to something else. Some do this with considerable passion; others are more reasonable, they think, and try to let it work out in a different way. But movement from place to place is movement in form, isn’t it, from geographical position to geographical position. This is always, in the initial human experience, a misinterpretation. What is coming to a person is an awareness of the need for change. And because human beings are mostly polarized in the realm of form, they give weight to that. Then the obvious interpretation is that “I should move from here to there and that will be the change.” Oh no, no change! The change is an internal one. The invitation is being extended for an internal change, not an external one. This is always the case initially. It may be that internal changes would be made easier, the individual thinks, if he were there, rather than here. But regardless of such views in the matter, the one thing that is necessary is to let the internal change come, and it doesn’t really matter where a person is. He has got his insides with him wherever he is! Once the internal changes come, so that the passion comes for the one body, so that everything that the individual does is designed to enhance the bringing together, the fusion, the oneness, of that one body, then a person is quite unconcerned as to where he may be in the external sense.

We all have our associations with people, and presumably we find ourselves being associated with those who are being drawn into this one body. I am not at the moment speaking to those who are not being drawn into the one body but to those who are, whether they are here in the Chapel or anywhere else. And so there are associations. How shall one behave to allow those associations to be what they should be? One can avoid that one passion by judgment, as we have already recognized, by looking at other people and saying, “Well they should change. So-and-so is not behaving the way he should.” What arrogance! How does anyone know? That is their business anyway, and each person will reap the harvest of his own sowing. Let it alone! But how shall one experience a natural blending with other people? This has been virtually impossible, hasn’t it, in the human world. Maybe just for a little while you can get along, but not for long. How shall this blending occur?

We need to have such a passion for the body that we are willing to let anything be done, to allow anything to happen in oneself, to do anything, to let it occur, so that there may be this one body. As there is a fusion into this one body, then there are many directions that one can go in handling the responsibilities that arise, but you can only handle the responsibilities rightly as part of that one body. No one can be whole except in that one body. Yet people in general—I’m sure most of us included, maybe all of us—have done so much to prevent the experience of blending into that one body. It’s not a body that is being foisted on anybody. It only appears as there are those who are passionately willing that it should, who are willing to—what? Lose their lives. You can’t lose life; you can only lose what is going to pass away sooner or later anyhow.

Life is in the body. The experience of life can only be known in the body. This body has been absent from the face of the earth for thousands of years and everybody has been dying. Rather than let that state of affairs change, all sorts of theories have been concocted which are supposed to provide an explanation as to what really is going to happen, when the experience of what is happening is rejected. There is one body. Let us be passionately concerned to let it take form and fuse together. How? There is a little word you have heard once or twice before: Love.

The body takes form according to the design of truth. It operates under the control of truth, not any human control. Human beings want to insert their two bits’ worth all the time, try to make things work out the way they think they should, the way they want them to work out. But there is something working out anyway, that will not be set aside. It keeps on setting human beings aside; generation after generation it sets them aside because of the unwillingness to move in that creative process, in the process of the resurrection. As we begin to yield to that process because we have a passion to let it be fulfilled, then we are not following out this direction, that direction, the other direction, after all our human passions, the things we think we should be doing. There is one thing that we should be doing, that anyone should be doing, and that is letting the body take form. Just one thing!

Once we begin to experience what that actually means then we are a part of the body, and the body does whatever is to be done. It may require the individual to participate in a particular way, but what is being done is being done by the body and not by the individual. How human beings want to inflate their own egos and make themselves grand and glorious, reveal how intelligent and brilliant they are. There have been brilliant human beings in every generation, but look at the world! So we share the opportunity of participating in the cycle of the resurrection because the body comes together, unifies, blends in oneness. There have been those who have been afraid they are going to lose themselves. Are you so valuable? As a human being, are you so valuable? The fact of the matter is that only in the body can one find oneself. That’s the only place where one is, in reality. Extracted from that experience you lose yourself—sometimes quickly, sometimes more gradually. Let the body take form because there is the passion.

We are concerned, surely, with the truth of the resurrection, not with the doctrines of human beings but with the truth which emerges in one’s own experience by reason of the fact that one has a passion oneself. You can’t ride in on the passion of somebody else. Each person must have that passion, to let participation in this body, which is being drawn together anyway, be known for what it really is. Then there is the resurrection—an ultimate point somewhere, supposedly, but it is a cycle. One has to move through the whole unfoldment of the process, and the process is working through the body. If one stands to one side and says, “Oh let it work through the body,” well it may work through the body all right but not through you. And we can condemn ourselves quite easily, as generation after generation of human beings have been doing, or we can in these days come out of it and share the actual experience of the resurrection and the life—not a religious experience but an experience of being oneself, here. Religion will never produce that experience. Religion, after all, is simply an interpretation—they are many and varied, by the way—of some transcendent truth. If there has to be an interpretation it is because the person doesn’t know what the truth is. Human beings are constantly interpreting everything, simply because they don’t know what anything is, and they have piles upon piles of interpretations— they are called books!—to try to convince themselves that they know something. They don’t know anything! That’s a terrible thing to say; after all, you’ve struggled for years to accumulate all this knowledge and look at the progress that is being made! Progress where? Where is it going?

No, there is only One Way, One Truth and One Life, just One: the life of that One Body. If that is not shared, well where does life go? We find ourselves without it, because life is in the body. Only to the extent that we may be a part of the body—and for most people it is a very temporary part—is life known. Because there is life in the carcass of mankind yet, fortunately there is a chance for the resurrection yet, therefore. Let’s let it happen. Let’s let it come together in our own experience, so that we know the truth of the resurrection and the life in our momentary living. We have One Passion. I suppose passions have sometimes been called ambitions in the human world, and it is desirable, so they say, that everybody should have an ambition of some kind: you’ll never get anywhere without an ambition. You’ll never get anywhere with it, except into the tomb, without very much chance of coming out of it.

What a beautiful day this is if we just allow this inherent passion to take us in the way that it would, into the Body of the Son of God. The Body of the Son of God was called the Son of Man. The Son of God is present in His Body and He lives, but His living has no meaning unless there is a form through which it can be expressed, be revealed. We are here to let that happen, and not only at Easter, by the way, but obviously in a consistent and continuous manner, where the human ambitions, the human passions, are set aside in favor of this One Passion which brings the fulfilment for which everybody longs but which thus far everybody has rejected: the fulfilment of life, the fulfilment of the resurrection. We have this opportunity now, together with everybody else; we wouldn’t be exclusive about it. But nobody else knows anything about it unless we accept it, somebody accepts it, somehow it is allowed to appear. Then somebody who doesn’t now know may find out. So we move in this way in the resurrection and the life, in the fulfilment that is waiting to be known as the body comes together because there are those who are willing to let it be so. So it is!

© emissaries of divine light

The Significance Today

The  Significance  Today

Martin Exeter   March 30, 1975

This is a beautiful day in Colorado. We are all delighted to be together, that we might take advantage of this hour which has been provided for us by the Lord. In the Christian world it is Easter—also, in the Jewish world the Passover falls. These two times of celebration relate to events that occurred far distant in time from each other and also from this present time. The events themselves were significant at the time that they occurred. The Passover relates to the redemption of the Israelites, and Easter to the resurrection of the body of Jesus—significant events in and of themselves but, at this present time, that significance is in the far-distant past. The question is as to what the significance is now.

Each of those far-distant events related to fundamentally the same thing. Of course, subsequently they got all tied up in the concepts that human beings developed, so that what they really related to has been largely overlooked. One group of people say, “Easter Day is vitally important.” Another group will say, “The Passover is tremendously important.” And there are manifold further groups who will proclaim the importance of certain days, the significance of certain past events. That’s all very interesting but remains rather meaningless insofar as the present is concerned if all that happens is a celebration of the past. Seeing that these particular events are so far from us in time, their significance must in some fashion be symbolical when relating to the present. But there is an actual significance in the present. Perhaps the symbols may remind us of what that actual significance is, but only as we experience the present significance can it possibly have any real meaning to us.

Of course, what occurred with the Israelites and what happened to Jesus both point to an event of far greater significance than either one, an event which can be a present event. Therefore the present time would then be known to be a time of the greatest significance. The question is as to whether we are willing that this should be so, because obviously, to the extent that we might be hooked to the past, the present to that extent is reduced in significance; we are imputing the significance to something that occurred way back. And as we take significance to that point way back we have removed it from the present. So let us be here now, recognizing that those past events did point to something that should be known now. Both of them related directly to the restoration or the salvation of man. It hasn’t occurred yet, so whatever significance those past events may have had has not yet been understood. It has only been described in human terms, based in human concepts of various sorts, which are thought to be very important. But surely there is something of far greater importance to be known now. This something relates to the restoration or the salvation of man now.

We might pause to consider for a moment what occurred on Easter Day, as it relates to the present time. But first I think we need to see the situation on a little wider basis, carrying through to the moment when what has been called the ascension occurred. I’m not promulgating the doctrines of Christianity, neither am I downgrading the doctrines of Judaism, if we consider this particular aspect of significance, because it can be quite easily correlated with the significance inherent in the Israelite pattern. Recalling the story of what happened after the resurrection of the body of Jesus, a point came when what has been described as the ascension took place. This event, whatever its nature, was described in certain words contained at the beginning of the Book of Acts. There were evidently certain of the disciples present with Jesus at the time.

“… while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”

This is presumably taken as a reference to what is called the second coming of Jesus. The way this is put it is couched in terms which constituted the concepts of the one who wrote the passage and this, in turn, was conditioned by the concepts of the ones who translated it. But we need to see what is being said here, because it relates very specifically to the restoration or the salvation of mankind. The resurrection of the body of Jesus, and then the subsequent ascension, may be seen in terms of the body of the Son of God. The body of Jesus represented the body of the Son of God, but the body of the Son of God itself emerges out of the body of mankind and is composed of many people. This idea has been in the consciousness of those who have called themselves Christians.

There was a recognition that the so-called body of Christ should appear upon the earth. It was anticipated that this would happen very shortly after the ascension. When it didn’t happen, as was expected according to the concepts that had been formed, then it seemed to be necessary to do something about it; and the doing something about it resulted in what is called Christianity. There was an endeavor to make the body of the Son of God appear. The Christian church, and I presume this would include all the manifold denominations thereof nowadays, was supposed to be the body of Christ. It was an imitation body, simply because it was constructed according to the concepts of men—it wasn’t created by God. It hadn’t appeared on the basis of God’s creation, so it was assumed, apparently, that God had fallen down on the job and therefore human beings needed to get busy and make something which would be just as good. The Christian church resulted.

Very much the same thing happened with respect to the Israelite pattern, because this, certainly, should have evolved into the body of the Son of God; but again it didn’t. There was a disruption of the outworking, a scattering of the people concerned, and the Israelites as such vanished. All that was left in any cohesive form came to focus in the Jews, who were endeavoring to maintain this body which had in fact disintegrated. And so, on this hand there was the endeavor to maintain the remains of a body, and on the other hand, from the Christian standpoint, the endeavor to make one be; and neither attempt has proven to be very successful. It certainly hasn’t achieved the salvation of man—far from it!

Now, coming back again to this point of the ascension, it is indicated that the representative body of the Son of God was received into heaven. “He was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.” We have a certain dawning awareness as to the nature of that cloud. We have spoken of the veil, something which is present in the consciousness of human beings. The description here indicates that there was an upward movement, and so human beings have been gazing steadfastly into heaven, upward, expecting something to come down. But the upward movement related to the levels of consciousness concerned. We have seen that there is indeed a veil, which has been a veil of separation between the heaven of this dimensional world and the earth of this dimensional world. We have been, to a certain extent, conscious of the earth of this dimensional world, but the heaven of this dimensional world has been hid from human awareness by the veil, by a cloud, a cloudy state of consciousness.

Human beings were functioning at a certain level of consciousness which did not permit them to be aware of the whole; all they could comprehend was what was present below the veil. So, a consciousness of the meaning of the body of the Son of God at that point vanished from the awareness of those concerned. Subsequently a concept was developed about it: It had vanished, so let’s get busy and build something that will be a substitute for what vanished. And Christianity resulted. While there have been many very sincere people, very fine people, related to the Christian experience, just as there have been many sincere and fine people related to the Judaic experience, it simply hasn’t been what should have been. It has been a substitute of such rigidity that it has blocked the experience of the real thing. Everybody was concerned that the real thing should appear on the basis of their substitutes, of their concepts about it—in the Christian world a proliferation of religious concepts. While the intent may have been of the best, we know how the road to hell is paved. So hell has been very much present in the experience of human beings on the face of the earth all down through the centuries, and it’s here today.

The indication was that for the right happening to occur—as it is put here: “… this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven”—He disappeared through the cloud, He reappears through the cloud. He reappears simply because the cloud ceases to be one of separation; there is a clarification. And it is this which provides the means by which the resurrection of the body of the Son of God may occur. We are, in a sense, working back from the point of the ascension to the experience of the resurrection; because the resurrection doesn’t take place on the basis of any manipulations that human beings may introduce to cause the body of the Son of God to be a fact on earth, either through the Christian church or through the endeavors of the Jews. It doesn’t work either way because both those ways have long since receded into the far-distant past.

The question is, what is to happen now? We have begun to share in an awareness of what rightly happens now. There is that which comes down from God out of heaven into the earth. The only basis on which this can occur is as there comes a spiritual expression plane approach. It doesn’t come by reason of an attempt either to sustain something out of the past or to build something in human strength and wisdom. What is to take form comes because of the emergence through the Cloud of the spirit of the Son of God, the Glory of the Son of God, which is the first necessity if there is to be a cause to make possible the resurrection of the body of the Son of God.

To some extent we have seen these things and have a certain experience relating to our own consciousness, to the extent of our own awareness. Now I’m not talking about theoretical ideas about something. There is something to emerge, something that is real, and it doesn’t emerge through the theoretical concepts of human beings. To the extent that there are those theoretical concepts and beliefs and ideas still held, they compose an absolute barrier to the emergence of the reality. And how many human beings there are, sincerely concerned that the reality should appear, who nevertheless insist that it should only appear through their particular brand of concept. It won’t! The concept must dissolve. It’s a lot easier to let the concepts dissolve than it is to hold on to them rigidly until they break; because if one holds on to them rigidly, when they break you break, because there’s no distinction between the concept and the person.

So, certainly there is concern to yield to what comes down from God out of heaven, what comes through the cloud in like manner to the way He disappeared. And it reappears in a very practical manner. The concept, the religious belief, with respect to the second coming of Jesus has been, to say the least, a little bit fanciful! There may be many who are trying desperately to believe such a thing, and I hear it said on occasion, “Oh, Jesus is coming soon.” He’s been coming soon for nineteen centuries!—as though His coming had nothing to do with the person who has the concept, and without any realization on the part of that person that it is his concept about it that stands in the way of the coming, the coming of the reality, emerging in the actual experience of living through human beings. Who is free enough of the past, of the earthly heredity, to be sufficiently flexible in consciousness to allow what is real to emerge, to take its own true form?

I’m sure all of you have had the experience of something stirring in you and you would love to express it, but then you trip over yourself; you don’t know how it can get out. Why is this? Because there is so much rigidity of consciousness in the person to prevent it. Yet, the only way it can come forth is through the human consciousness and, specifically with respect to each one—through one’s own consciousness. One may be inspired or influenced in some way by what occurs through the consciousness of another but it only really begins to have meaning when it occurs through your own.

We have spoken of the sounding of the Tone.

It is this sounding of the Tone that begins to emerge through the cloud,

and it is heard by those whose hearts are sufficiently open.

Advisedly I say hearts, not minds, because if a person thinks he has an open mind, what he’s saying usually is that he’s willing to receive the sounding of the Tone into his mind so that he can dress it up in his own concepts. Let the heart be open, without too much concern as to the extent of mental understanding: “And ye shall know the truth,” the truth unconditioned—unconditional truth, we might say—unconditioned by any human ideas about it. All human beings are so hung up in this long-standing habit of mental activity that they cannot imagine the real experience of life which comes in an hour when ye think not, when all this noisy racket of mental grinding stops and there is blessed silence—silence in heaven for the space of half an hour, time to become aware of the truth, which isn’t mental knowledge. It has been described as the knowledge of the Lord, but what that really means is knowing the Lord, knowing the truth, knowing it because it has taken possession of you insofar as your capacity to express it is concerned. Then your capacity to express the truth is not trying to get hold of the truth and make it conform to your personal doctrines. Whatever comes out on that basis will not be the truth.

Most human beings are possessed of the devil; they need to be possessed of the truth. “For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Here is the true state of knowing. “And ye shall know the truth.” How? “If ye continue in my word.” This is the requirement. Now, that word comes forth on earth how? Instead of gazing into heaven, are we going to listen into heaven, expecting this word to resound from someplace else? If the Tone is to sound on earth it sounds because there is a facility for its sounding, and the facility created for this purpose was man. The comprehensible voice, the rational voice, is man, when man is restored or saved. God has no other voice on earth.

The Word comes on the basis of a human voice or human voices. It comes in a specific way. Just as the ascension took place in a very specific way, just as the resurrection took place in a very specific way, so does the reverse process take place by which what is the other side of the veil emerges into expression on earth. It emerges on the basis of the Word. When Jesus was on earth He was referred to as “the Word made flesh,” the Word of God. We live by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God; we die otherwise. So, the Word is made flesh, takes form, finds expression, in a very specific way; and this Word is magnified through the voices of many. The Tone sounds through you when you know the Tone in your own conscious awareness. It doesn’t sound through you merely because you heard the Tone sounding through somebody else.

Those of you who are interested in music may become aware of specific notes if they are played on the piano, for instance; you hear them outside of yourself. But the real musician, while he can hear them outside of himself as well as anybody else, presumably, unless he’s deaf, hears them in his own consciousness. He knows the note within himself without sounding it. The great composers didn’t compose by hitting the notes on a piano. They composed in their own consciousness; they heard the notes there. This symbolizes quite accurately, portrays quite accurately, what must occur with respect to the music of life based in the true Tone. It is necessary, while one is developing the consciousness to discern the notes within oneself, to hear the notes externally. So, there is a means by which this sounds—the Tone must sound specifically. One of the means by which this Tone sounds specifically is a means we are using in this present moment—a human voice right here. It’s useful; it does something. It wouldn’t be very valuable if I just sat here for an hour and said nothing. It is because there is a voice and because there can sound a word, that the Tone may be heard. What is specifically said is important, but the Tone is far more than that.

I had a beautiful letter of response from somebody which I brought with me this morning, and I would like to read a portion of it:

“I find increasingly that the mailings provide the organic pulsating contact with center which is absolutely vital to my effective service here and now. Reading a mailing, or even just a short excerpt, instantly tunes me in to center … the very substance of life that I know and love and have helped to build. It is such a deep joy to relax and allow the spirit of the Word to flow through me with intensity and clarity, and in working closely with it to let the substance of my expression combine with it and let it move out into my world with impact. Something like an internal combustion occurs, and the potency of that generates the necessary energy which enables me to handle with ease whatever is placed before me, vibrationally or otherwise.

“I’m sure that, if I had to, I could function intelligently and effectively without the mailings, but I thank God from the depth of my being that this beautiful life-giving provision is available. I don’t in any way question my own centering and the spiritual authority I carry, for nothing can touch me there, but how much easier it is to carry the responsibilities I have, and increasingly will have, when in the quietness of my being I can share a service with my Lord through the Word. How quickly any heaviness that I might feel lifts and my spirit soars as I stand with you in the holy place.”

“I do not … question my own centering and … authority”—this is an indication that the one who wrote this letter hears the Tone, regardless of the external sounding of it. To the extent that a person does begin to hear clearly that Tone internally, then the value and the meaning and the purpose of what is released externally becomes apparent. And yet one can only become aware of that internal Tone with clarity by listening to it externally first. There are those who have said, “I wish Martin would give shorter services; I wish he wouldn’t be so repetitive. I wish ... I wish.” But what is the sounding of the tone? If a person is wishing along these lines he hasn’t really yet heard the Tone; he’s fooling himself. Hearing the Tone and becoming consciously aware of it within oneself, one then is a part of the Tone, and the release of the Tone in the way which coordinates, brings together and gives life to the body is experienced. It isn’t just a matter of mailings, as such. Here is something else that needs to be seen clearly with respect to oneself.

We have a legal entity in this world. But one has meaning for oneself. We are not seeking to establish any organization on earth but to allow the living manifestation of the body of the Son of God. And while we use words to describe it, let us not imagine that the use of those words tells us what it is. It doesn’t. And the very moment we begin to think we know what it means, we’re treading on dangerous ground because we’re forming a concept. What it really means is that we express life in the moment, as it should take form in the moment, on the basis of the sounding of the Tone in that moment. And what does that make us? It makes us living souls, if you want to use words to describe the condition—the true state of man. The individual doesn’t have meaning because he belongs to this nation or that nation, to this club or that club, to this church or that church. That isn’t what gives anyone meaning. The meaning is inherent in the person, and when that meaning is allowed to express, the person has meaning; the meaning is made evident. The meaning is there already; there are no restrictions, but all move, knowing the Lord, knowing the truth.

The reality of life is revealed in this way, to the Glory of God on earth. And it is this Glory, the sounding of the Tone, that is the power of salvation, the power by which the resurrection of the body of the Son of God occurs, something coming down from God out of heaven to reactivate that true living form, so that man might walk once more on earth in the image and likeness of God. Here is the significance of the present moment to those who are willing and capable of letting it happen. And we let it happen, not merely because we gaze steadfastly into heaven (we need to look up) but because we are so yielded that what is present, unknown to the human mind, may begin to emerge through the cloud into the experience of daily living. Then the evidence of what has been called the second coming, or the coming of the Messiah, or whatever way one might wish to put it, appears. But it doesn’t appear because someone had a good idea about it. It appears because someone was sufficiently humble, sufficiently open, sufficiently yielded, to let it happen. And, letting it happen, we know what the happening is. If we don’t let it happen, how could we possibly know what the happening is? We could only have theories about it, and what use are those? We are here to let it happen, because we hear the Tone and we become aware of its life-giving nature and we are willing to yield to it regardless of prior concepts, preconceptions of any kind. All things are then made new, to the Glory of God.

© emissaries of divine light

The Temple of God

The  Temple  of  God

The  Way  of  Increase

Uranda   October 20, 1946

For several days I have been thinking of how our work here corresponds with the experience of the Children of Israel. After they had been delivered from the land of Egypt, and at the direction of the Lord, they undertook to build a Tabernacle—the Tabernacle was a symbol of the Temple that was to be, and the Temple that was constructed at the time of Solomon was a symbol of the Temple of God on earth, to be formed of human beings who let His Will be done. But in the wilderness they undertook to build a Tabernacle and I would like to read a little from the 36th chapter of Exodus, Verses 1-7:

“Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom the Lord put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the Lord had commanded.

“And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it:

“And they received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. And they brought yet unto him free offerings every morning.

“And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they made;

“And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make.

“And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.

“For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.”

To my mind that pictures the giving and the doing, the building and the making, that we are privileged to share in here. We notice first, that there were those who responded so to the Lord that the Lord could put wisdom and understanding in their hearts, causing them to know how to “work all manner of work for the service of the Sanctuary, according to all that the Lord had commanded. And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it.” First, there was the talent, the ability, the coordination in function, and then there came into manifestation that with which to do, that by reason of which they might accomplish the Will of the Lord in the building of the Sanctuary, and there was such an abundance brought that they had to publish a proclamation that they had enough, and more than enough. “So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.”

As we have been working here in the Service of the Lord, to build that Temple not made with hands, to let the Temple of God come into manifestation on earth, some have been inclined to feel and to think according to the backgrounds established in the world—but through the summer, as we considered the Truths of Being together, there came a deepening realization of what it means to draw near to the Heart of God, to live in the Spirit of His Presence, and we have been letting, in our unified function, the Lord put wisdom and understanding in our hearts, to know how to do the work and to make it.

Just before this particular incident about which I read, Moses said to the Children of Israel, “See, the Lord hath called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship; and to devise curious works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in the cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of wood, to make any manner of cunning work, and he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work.” There we have a little picture of the wide scope of activity that was actualized in the building of the tabernacle, many different lines of activity.

We see developing here, as we begin to let the work of God be made manifest in more effective fashion, the opening up of many lines of activity, many spheres of function where all the ability and all the talent of each one may be utilized to the full, to the Glory of God and the blessing of man, and we recognize that that wisdom, that knowledge and understanding, in all manner of workmanship, can come only from the Spirit of God. First, there was that ability to do, that coordination, which let the wisdom and the understanding and the knowledge be made manifest, and then there was the doing, and finally, there was the manifestation of all that was necessary to the accomplishment of the work to which they were called. If it was then, so is it now. We may not immediately, in all respects, have made manifest all of the things that we might be able to utilize, but we have enough so that we can work effectively, and there is still the opportunity for letting the Spirit of God fill us more fully with understanding and knowledge, in all manner of workmanship.

I was wondering—suppose we were living in that day and were called to work in the building of that Tabernacle. We have always thought of that as artistry of the highest possible degree, of the highest quality and degree of workmanship, an inspired work of art. I wonder—the accomplishment of such work would surely require carefulness, application; there would be no room for carelessness; there would have needed to be a diligence that let every talent, every ability be drawn to the highest possible degree of utilization. When we think of our work here today in the light of that experience, recognizing that there has been splendid progress in carefulness of workmanship and doing, especially since the close of the Summer Session, do you feel there is perhaps still more opportunity for expansion in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, in all manner of workmanship that relates to our activity here?

Surely the building of the Tabernacle in the wilderness was a wonderful thing and very important, but was it any more important, any more wonderful, than that to which we are called? If there is any difference, to my mind this is even more important than that was; this is even more significant than that was, has greater potentiality of blessing for our brother man, a greater potentiality of letting the Glory of God be made manifest on earth. We have considered the Truth theoretically, intellectually, we have accepted it; we have realized it, we know that it is more than mere theory; and yet in the realm of practical function, proving that faith that is in us, we have started as it were, back at the beginning, at the starting point, to do, to let our talents be drawn forth to the highest possible degree, to let the wisdom and understanding and knowledge of the Lord fill us, so that we may be effective in all manner of workmanship, of doing, of making.

We recognize that our project here can become the living, vital thing that it should be only after we have reached a point where we can make things that will find uses out in the world. At the present time we are engaged in making those things that are necessary for our own use here—and that is absolutely necessary—but this is a period in which we are privileged to let the Spirit of God work increasingly in us to develop that wisdom and understanding and knowledge, to develop that carefulness and excellence of workmanship by which we may be able to do all the things that are required in the Service of the Sanctuary, to make it withal, because we are not just building a building.

We are building that which, by its every manifestation, is designed to carry a Spirit of things Divine, an atmosphere out into the world, a means by which others may come to share in the realization of the Presence of the Living God. When they had that ability made manifest, that ability in all manner of workmanship, the ability to do wisely, with understanding and knowledge, then they had all that they needed to work with, “for the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.”

When we function correctly, in the Way of God, use wisely with proper knowledge and understanding, that which is at hand, the increase must surely appear. The provision of the Lord through His people must surely be enough and too much. It must overflow. We have seen that overflowing, that filling, to such a wonderful degree in such wonderful ways—and it is necessary that we use wisely, that we avoid waste—but we must also so function that there be no spirit of feeling that the supply of the Lord is insufficient or that it might be in some manner shut off. If we would do our part toward enhancing that supply, so that there would be an abundance to do according to the Will of God, then the effective use of that which we have reveals the way.

So this is still a period of training, in the doing of the work, of the proving of the faith that is in us, that as the Lord provides the increase we may, under His Spirit, use it wisely, bringing blessing to all who will receive. So, in the work of the Lord, it should ever be so, and always there should be the overflow. Thinking of this, our thoughts turn to the time when our Master was here on earth and the multitude was hungry, and they brought the loaves and the fishes and they were multiplied in His Hands, and they filled the need of all the multitude, and afterward that which remained—was it just thrown away, left there in the desert place? No, they gathered it up in baskets and there was the overflow, more than enough. When we function correctly, in Oneness of Spirit, under the direction of the Lord, using effectively and wisely, with understanding and knowledge that which He puts in our hands, we find there is always enough and there is an overflow.

It seems to me that as we live and function in that realization, that spirit and attitude and consciousness, we find that we ourselves determine the effectiveness of the filling and of the overflow by the effectiveness of our doing according to the wisdom and knowledge and understanding of God and His working through the talents and abilities which He has given us. No one here is undertaking to bury any talents but to use those talents wisely, that they may increase. You remember, the Master gave the parable of the talents. The unfaithful one buried his under the tent, but the faithful ones used theirs and caused them to multiply. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2020/05/melchizedek-increase-grace-van-duzen.html] Always that which is used in the Service of the Lord is caused to multiply, and one of the most important things for us, as we live here and serve the Lord, is that as we ever remember to let the Lord work through us in the doing of the deed, in the making of the work that is required, that He may cause our talents and abilities to multiply, and cause that which we make to increase and multiply until there is enough and more. God’s Way is always the way of enough, and more than enough. Let us ever live in the realization that it is so.

© emissaries of divine light

Passion For The King—Be Holy Be Perfect Be Humble

Passion  For  The  King 

Be Holy  Be Perfect  Be Humble

Martin Exeter   June 7, 1987 am & pm

Be holy. Be perfect. This is the natural experience for human beings. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Who indeed can make him- or herself perfect? No one. Who knows what it would mean to be perfect? Who is it that even wants to be holy? The way of holiness, the way of perfection, is the way of man as he was created to be. Be holy. Be perfect. A myriad of excuses rise up as to why this could never happen: all lies. Why would it be so difficult to be oneself? Be holy. Be perfect.

Love God. Love the Supreme One. Love the King. This is the natural attitude and state of man, male and female. We ourselves here this morning rightly represent this love. Love one another. Curse not. In the Book of Revelation the statement is made: “And there shall be no more curse.” What is the curse? The word “curse” in this context is synonymous with the word “accuse.” Human beings constantly curse each other by accusation. Accusation stems from judgment, from the arrogant assumption on the part of anyone that he or she knows what is good and what is evil. Here is the curse. How arrogant to take the attitude for oneself: “I know how others should behave. I am so wise. I am much holier than thou because I can see what a wrong person you are, and I can list the reasons.” No one can justify accusation. In the story of Job, he was instructed to curse God and die. Accuse God, principally by accusing one’s fellows.

We are aware of the fact that rightly we love God and love one another. So if we accuse one another, we accuse God. That’s what it all boils down to eventually. Accusation—it’s blatant, isn’t it, when we begin to assume a heavenly perspective. Be holy. Be perfect. Be humble. We were not set up to be judges of our fellows. It may be said that there is righteous judgment. This would simply be the view of the way things are seen from a heavenly perspective. No judgment would enter into the matter, in the human sense; there would be no accusation and consequently no cursing. With a heavenly perspective things can be seen the way they are, and because it is a heavenly perspective there is no judgment, there is no accusation. There is simply observation of the way things are.

If the instruction is acknowledged, “Be holy, be perfect,” that is receivable only by oneself. If I have used these words now they are instruction to me. If you use them they are instruction to you. Be holy, be perfect, not because you, in the human sense, know what it means to be holy or what it means to be perfect. But the provision has been made for this experience the very moment the accuser is cast down, so that one is no longer identified with the accuser. Love God. Love your fellows. The love with which we love God is responsive love. Responsive love occurs as there is resonation within one’s own substance with God’s love. That has always been present but there has been very little substance in human beings which resonates with that radiance. It is the resonation with the radiance of love that is love for God. That resonation enables a sharing in the radiance of God’s love, which is then available to love our fellows. Are we not able to handle in radiant love everything that comes to us? Of course. But we have no radiant love available until there is first a resonating with the radiant love of God, the radiant love of the King. When we resonate with that our resonation is unified with that radiation and so we are in position to participate in further radiation. But radiation never brings subjection to that which is being offered the opportunity of response. There is only one way to help anyone else, and that is to be aligned with the outpouring radiation of God’s love. Only those will be helped in whom there is substance which resonates with that radiance. Others continue in the cursed condition. The actual answer for everything is to participate in that radiation of love. That is the only way anything gets sorted out.

Righteous judgment could be defined as judgment without accusation. When there is clear seeing because there is no accusation, then one understands what has happened; and one is quite willing to let it happen, because what’s happening is what should happen. Constantly what happens is what should happen. Let the accuser be cast down. There are things happening in the earth that have been produced by this curse: the insistence by human beings upon their right to judge, their right to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We share in a willingness to let the accuser be cast down, so that we handle our affairs without accusation. No matter what we see, or think we see, in others, in circumstances, in events which are reported to us around the world, there is no accusation. Until that is the fact there shall be more curse; and the evidence of the curse is becoming ever more intense. The more intense it becomes the more reason people imagine they have to accuse. It is a vicious circle. Someone has to break it. Because we have some understanding in these matters, the responsibility must be ours. So we stop cursing.

What engenders conversation between human beings, as a rule? Accusation, chatter, gossip—accusation. It is indicated that one will give account for every idle word in the day of judgment. Today is the day of judgment—it has always been so. Let the accuser be cast down. There is no radiance of love as long as accusation remains. It is a loveless world. Resonating with the radiance of the love of the King, we share that radiance, that the substance in human beings everywhere may be offered the opportunity of resonating with that radiance. This is the creative process. Let the accusations be cast down—they mean nothing; they have no validity whatsoever—that there may be a clear space in which the radiance of love pours forth to seek out substance in human beings the world around which will resonate with that radiance. Leave it in the hands of that radiance. That’s what works.

Only as there are those on the face of the earth who have responded and are resonating with the instruction, “Be holy, be perfect, be humble,” is there the emergent specific provision made understandably available to all human beings who are capable of receiving it. That is all that can be done. “Rise up and come home,” is the command of the radiation of love. Only those who resonate to that command will rise up and come home. Let it be the way of the creative process. Let it be the way of the King. Let it be the way of Almighty God, that there may be present on earth those who love Him and love each other.

Radiant radiation and responsive radiation. Radiant radiation is the radiation of the love of the King. Responsive radiation occurs to the extent that one’s own individual substance is made available to resonate with radiant radiation. Then there is unified radiation, the fulfilment of that very exact Law. If the substance which is present in each individual—physical substance, mental substance, emotional substance, spiritual substance—is permitted to resonate with the radiation of the love of the King it will do so, because we are willing, and our hearts have been turned back again.

On the other hand it is very evident that the substance that is present in human beings the world around has been offered in resonation to what is factually below. The substance of mankind resonates with the world which has been created by mankind, having removed that substance from resonating with the love of the King. If there is resonation with what has been humanly created, the attraction is downward. We know what the end result of that is. This substance is kept from resonating with the radiation of love from the King because of human insistence to keep it polarized in the passions of human nature. It’s interesting to note how much passion is apparent in people who are polarized in what rightly should be below them. A very obvious way is what human beings have passionately given to their cultures, to their religions, to their political structures, to their structures of society, whatever they may be. When something arises, how much passion is poured into resonation with this! Resonation occurs both from the standpoint of love and hate, and all the colorations in between. But how passionate people become in these various fields! What passionate reaction there was in times past with respect to what our friend Immanuel Velikovsky offered—passionate reaction from the scientific establishment. Human beings have a capability of passion, and how passionate people are with respect to their various fields of operation which they love so much. They are passionate about terrorism—very passionate about dying. In a way this could be said of everybody: the methods are different. But it is this passion, polarized in what is rightly below, which leads everybody down.

I have wondered about the seeming lack of passion with respect to the King. While I wouldn’t suggest anything out from under control, nevertheless this is where any passion we have belongs. Love for the King. Love God, and live. Curse God, and die. How much real passion is there for the King? Where is our passion?

Sometimes a great deal of enthusiasm is engendered by reason of a game of some kind—maybe a card game, maybe ice hockey. People have tremendous passion in all these kinds of directions. But passion for the King? It’s usually pretty pale—anemic. Yet without it there is only perishing. We have, individually speaking, a capacity for passion. How will it be exercised? With some it seems it is not exercised at all. Then the capacity atrophies—something that is not exercised will atrophy. We have a passion, I know; otherwise you wouldn’t be sitting there. Many people are passionately given to TV. What programs are we missing tonight? Of course these days you can record them and see them later.

Trust the King and live. Eschew cursing. Eschew accusation. If you want a grand evil, there it is, one to be eschewed—not so that we may do good, but so that we may reveal the radiance of the King. We may share with Him His radiance. We honor Him in this way, and we are glorified by Him in this way. This state, of which we know a little, seems so far removed from the pleasures of this world, about which human beings become so passionate. It seems to most human hearts and minds to relate to a never-never land. But we know better.

When there is passion for the King, in fact, this state of radiant outpouring is so intense and all-consuming that finally no one can avoid it. There are those the world around who already love the King. The majority of them have no idea that He has a Body. Those who are aware of the Body, and who genuinely love the King, love His Body, for the King and His body are one. It is impossible to love the King and not love His body. So obviously, accusation, if it occurs within the Body, is an indication that those concerned do not love the King, or their love is not genuine. This is not to say that it might not become genuine if there is a willingness to eschew judgment, to eschew the evil of accusation. There is never any justification for it. One cannot, by any means, justify it. If one attempts to do it one just fools oneself.

Trust the King. Trust His spirit, which is revealed through the creative process. Another word for the creative process might be the Christ. There are a lot of people who claim to believe in the Christ but very few who trust the Christ, who trust the creative process, which is the evidence of the working of the Spirit of the King. Trust the King, honor the King, because the King is loved. And the King is loved, factually, when the substance of one’s earthly being resonates with the radiation of His love.

Most love for God tends to be love for something imaginary, a concept of the mind, an idea that has taken root in human consciousness. There are different ideas in this regard and there are those who have their particular idea to love. If one is loving an idea one is in fact insisting that, should there really be a God, “He must conform to my idea, because I love my idea and unless God conforms to my idea I can’t love God. But of course He will, because my idea is a good one; it’s supported by my particular religion, denomination or whatever.” And there is always seemingly safety in numbers. But that of course is never loving God. It is in fact denying God, because God, the reality, is not going to conform to any human concept or idea.

He is not going to fit into the human view of things.

We realize that the human view must be relinquished if there is to be space for God to reveal Himself—as He is, not as human beings might like Him to be. It seems that a lot of people have a pet God; like the genie in the bottle, isn’t it? You rub God the right way and He will come out of the bottle and give you a blessing. How nice. But beware if you rub the bottle in the wrong way! Then a very wrathful character will emerge and give you hell. I’m sure we are all delighted that it is quite possible to give space in ourselves for God to reveal Himself—but not to us. That’s what human beings usually want, isn’t it? “Well I want to be sure about this. You reveal yourself to me so that I am sure. I need a vision.” Lots of people have had visions on this basis, sometimes visible visions: “Jesus came, and He said this to me.” No, He didn’t. It doesn’t work that way.

When God is given space because we honor the King, loving Him above all, then we will find ourselves increasingly capable of giving expression to His spirit. And to that extent we come to know God. It’s the only way anyone can know God. Certainly He isn’t the genie in the bottle. He isn’t some character hiding behind a cloud somewhere, so that no one can find Him except by various techniques. God is not found that way. The truth is not found that way. It is only found when there is space in oneself to give expression to the truth and to reveal the character of God. Then you know what it is. But certainly it cannot be revealed through all the clutter of human beliefs, ideas, concepts; even less through their ambitions and determinations and endeavors to achieve.

It is rather shattering, to human egos at least, to human beings in general, to come to the realization that all that has been undertaken by human beings over the millennia comes to naught. It has no value in and of itself. We know where the value is: in God, specifically in the love of our King. We begin to have value when we resonate with that, not the sort of value that those who are trapped in the human state recognize particularly. Certainly no one hands out rewards for it or medals for it. If you want a medal you had better go someplace else. No, the value is in the expression of living, the quality that is revealed in one’s own heart and mind and body, the quality of the King; there is the value.

Recently in a service someone mentioned that virtue is its own reward, and back along the way he didn’t think much of that. But if virtue is seen as the revelation of God on earth, what greater reward could there be? Everything else pales to insignificance. Of course this revelation, while it requires individuals, is not merely an individual matter. It’s far greater than that. Finally we allow this revelation to put in an appearance because we let the curse be finished.

Comment — Martin, my King is embodied. Here am I in the midst of Him. More specifically, my King has a focus on earth, in you, and you are my passion. There is nothing to do on earth but to resonate with you, to serve my King, that there is visible, clear and sweet evidence of His presence on earth because, here we are. And we are in passionate love.

Martin Exeter — This passion which is to be experienced on earth, by reason of those of us who are present to experience it, is essential to reveal the radiant love of the King. His love can never be revealed in absentia. If the King is absent His love cannot be revealed. Of course the King has always been present, but unknown, invisible. He becomes known as there is an emergence into human consciousness of the nature of the passion that allows the King to be present in His Body on earth. It isn’t some sort of abstract passion, or a passion toward some hoped-for but invisible character. The passion must be experienced at the level where we are, not in some supposedly exalted level somewhere else. Then the King comes on earth and we discover that our experience is of an absolute nature. It requires absolutely a passionate experience on earth. “Oh well,” some may say, “I’ll be very passionate when I come into the presence of the King.” 

Aren’t you in the presence of the King? Surely we all are. But that presence is represented, and unless the passion is at the level of the representation it won’t be at the level of the King. It is something that is actually very practical. There is no necessity for some mystical involvement. We are all here together. We know each other. We can love each other. There can be a passion for what is represented, both from the standpoint of the representation of the King and from the standpoint of the representation of His Body. They are one anyway. Being passionately in love with the King we are also at the same time passionately in love with His Body. Now perhaps we have reached a point where we do not interpret this passion in the old human-nature ways. We let it be actually what it is. And we define that at the moment by saying, as the King said, “Love one another. Love me, love one another.” The love for one another is absolutely dependent upon the love for Him. If this has been missing in some respects we know that our love for Him has been less than passionate. But now it begins to come forth.

There are angels on earth in human form, present, to be responsible for revealing the King—certainly not for boosting any human egos but for revealing the King, that and that alone. I suppose I myself have had a large opportunity, if I wished to take it, to boost my ego. The circumstances of my birth, etc, make this quite available to me. But I belong to my King; and because I belong to my King, you belong to me, and you belong to each other. One Body. One Spirit. One King. We all awaken in our own experience to what this means. We may say it is quite unprecedented. Of course! If there had been a precedent we wouldn’t be doing what we are doing. But the precedent is being established not by human effort, certainly not by any human ambition, but by the radiant love of the King.

As the Master said long ago with respect to Himself, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” And the central commandment is: Love one another. Of course this can’t be done on command. It is done because the passion, the angelic passion, which is present in each individual, emerges through heart and mind into experience. It only does that as the substance of heart and mind and body are freed up from their structures to resonate with the love of the King. That is union.

© emissaries of divine light