Vertical Expansion
Uranda December 4, 1947
Gabilan Ranch, Salinas, California
Speaking of cycles in the individual life where self-activity shuts the door to fulfilment, we see that the same thing holds true in the world as a whole. From the standpoint of the rise and fall of nations, there is something that is revealed in history which, as far as I know, has never been recognized by anyone outside the Third Sacred School. The phenomena that accompany the decline and disintegration of a nation or an empire, has always included what has been generally classified as immorality. Apparently the direct causes of this situation are unknown as far as the world at large is concerned. A brief review of the basic steps of the rise and fall of any nation in history is sufficient to our immediate purpose.
In one way or another, pioneering—the acquiring of lands and the conquering of peoples—has been involved in the establishment of any great nation, kingdom or empire. As long as the national energies were directed toward such pioneering and expansion, the specific standards which were to hold sway in the nation were so obscure that, from the standpoint of the national expression, there was not a very strong line of demarcation between right and wrong, and many things were tolerated which, at a later time in the national history, would have been considered extremely evil. Gradually with the boundaries established and the development of the nation or empire the primary concern, national standards of what constituted right and wrong became established. Those who fostered the standards given national recognition were convinced that they knew exactly what was right and what was wrong and the war against evil was forthwith under way. Gradually the outlines of expansion for the masses became dim, the modes of life began to be fixed and crystallized, horizons at higher scientific levels were recognized by a certain few, but for the masses the boundaries permitting immediate hope of improvement of conditions became to a high degree fixed.
Various methods have been used at various times in various nations to keep the masses from becoming too unsettled and dissatisfied with their lot, but generally these methods have hinged around warfare in some manner. However, as class distinctions grew and the upper classes and the wealthy began to be self-satisfied and arrogant, giving little heed to the lower classes, the true Creative Urge of the masses became stifled; but by this time the standards of right and wrong which were accepted by the founders of the nation had become more or less fixed nationally in the consciousness of the people and in the laws of the land. Because of the inflexibility of the concepts and the laws concerning right and wrong, and because of the tendencies of such national conditions to smother true creative expression, hypocrisy and evil activities of various kinds always began to flourish under a cloak of self-righteousness.
Such activities have invariably begun to breed an attitude of contempt for law in the minds of the masses so that, to a high degree, the mass mind has been convinced that its only possibilities of true fulfilment and progress were in a range of activity which to some degree violated the fixed laws of the land. Because of this conviction, coupled with the inflexibility of the laws, the rigidity of social standards and concepts, and the widespread hypocrisy of the self-righteous, a certain false halo began to evolve around questionable activities, and since true creative expression was hindered and stultified the mass of individuals began to find their only range of personal satisfactions in pleasure-seeking.
Gradually, with true creative expression denied or made virtually impossible by circumstances, the two illegitimate channels of expression opening before the individual functioning on the basis of the mass consciousness have been liquor and sex; the demoralizing influence of liquor reducing sexual expression to a level of vileness and lust, even when confined between husband and wife. Recognizing the evils of wrong sexual expression, some have tried to combat the situation by denouncing sex itself as being evil. Others have tried to control the situation by more vigorous enforcement of more rigid laws which, in turn, tended to establish a confining, constricting influence upon the inherent urges of self-expression in the masses, so that the ill conditions have only been aggravated and not corrected.
In our own land at the present time some of these principles have been recognized, and some efforts are being made to encourage self-expression in the young through craftsmanship, etc—however, the range of such activities is totally inadequate to the need and falls short of providing a final solution to the problem. The tremendous increase in the use of intoxicating liquors is simply an evidence that the mass of human beings has failed to find adequate self-expression and fulfilment in life. Seeking to combat liquor as if it were in itself the primary evil is and will be futile. The only solution is to open the way, for those who have any self-respect remaining, to begin to find individual and collective fulfilment in self-expression. In order to experience such fulfilment in self-expression the Creative Urges of human beings cannot be ignored.
At this point we might well pose a question. Why has a widespread eruption of sexual demoralization always accompanied the decline of every great empire in the past? A complete answer to this question is impossible within the scope of our present consideration. Briefly it is this: When the boundaries of the empire or nation have been established, and when the progressive steps already outlined have led to a state of crystallization in the conditions of the masses, the main current of creative expression inherent in human beings has not found an adequate channel for release within the scope of the laws, social standards and conditions of the time. When this pent-up urge for creative expression reaches a certain point of pressure through the passage of time it is bound to erupt with destructive results if it is not given a constructive channel of expression. The very fact that this same cycle has worked out so many times in past history should prove to the skeptical that this very eruption of sexual demoralization provides the key to release from the vicious cycles that have, in time past, brought oblivion to every great empire, kingdom or nation.
Instead of trying to repress and control by strict law and regulation, according to outmoded standards and laws, the Creative Urge inherent in the masses, natural adjustments in viewpoint and attitude toward a higher level of life should be opened up in spite of prejudice and selfish interests, so that this force, which has in the past destroyed, might be utilized on a constructive, creative basis to lift the mass to a higher level of life, so that the constricting boundaries in the horizontal sense might not appear to establish limitations in the vertical sense. The mass urges which have heretofore brought destruction could provide the energy necessary to lift the mass to a state of living and consciousness which has heretofore been unknown in the whole scope of recorded history.
Instead of decrying the presence of these energies which tend to find expression in spite of the crystallizations of concept, attitude and law, there should be a recognition that herein lies man’s greatest possibility of fulfilment, providing the leaders of the people are willing to see the truth of the matter and catch the current on the crest of the wave, before it is dashed to pieces on the rocks of the shores of time. It is not movement expanding beyond present boundaries that is needed so much as it is movement upward into the unknown levels of life which are open to those who are willing to recognize the true possibilities and opportunities which are afforded in the circumstances which confront the human family at the present time.
International disturbances are primarily focalized in the greed of selfish interests which play upon the mass desire for fulfilment. As long as human beings imagine that the expansion must take place horizontally, conflicts over boundaries will continue; but once the great Creative Urges of the masses are directed to movement upward, within the boundaries reasonably established, the possibilities for fulfilment are absolutely unlimited. Within the scope of such a program the opportunities afforded every man, woman and child on the face of the earth are greater than any human being can possibly imagine. Is it too much to hope that there are enough people in the world who are willing to relinquish prejudice and crystallization of viewpoint and attitude to a point where the Creative Urges of the masses may be allowed to move upward to a level of life expression and fulfilment impossible on the basis of any materialistic plan or program?
Martin Cecil — The part which impressed me was the possibilities with respect to vertical expansion. Once the vision is taken away from consideration merely of horizontal expansion, the vertical is fundamentally the change of outlook that is required. The solution lies in that direction alone. Nearly every activity from the world standpoint is directed to a consideration of release by some means of horizontal expansion. A teaching or a service which emphasizes the possibilities of release through an expansion in the vertical direction should stand out very vividly and clearly from every other world teaching or service of any kind. That is something that I feel should be taken with respect to our Expansion Program.
Uranda — I like your outline very much, Martin. The problem rests in getting people to look high enough to see the possibilities of vertical expansion. The problem, as it is posed there, is with respect to conditions in the world as a whole now, and with respect to those who are recognized as world leaders, who are virtually without any answer, without solution. We know from the standpoint of past history that human beings, on any scale large enough to be of primary influence in world affairs now, are not going to “lift up their eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh their help.” So as far as world application is concerned, I know of no way of evolving any plan or program or method by which the principles could become effective under a social order or world condition such as we have. The problem is there.
The principles involved in finding a solution are outlined—but a solution in the horizontal sense, getting it started now under these conditions, is highly improbable, to say the least. So what it takes, as you suggest, is recognition from the standpoint of our Expansion Program, which factors we have to take into consideration. But it appears, I think quite rightly, hopeless for us to expect any action with regard to these things, to any degree at least, in any activity older than this that has its goal in the manifestation of the Christ Kingdom. Gradually, as we prove that a vertical expansion is possible, there will be those who will be drawn into it; but from the standpoint of any immediate application on the basis of present world problems, I see no way by which action can be taken.
I was thinking of it in this sense. I was looking at the decline of our own nation. There are a lot of people who do not see that there is a decline here in this country; a lot of people who are pointing to wonderful utopian periods ahead; but the evidences of decay are on every hand and there is a decline. A recognition of these principles on a national scale, with widespread acceptance, could conceivably stop that trend of decline and carry the thing back up. The insoluble part of it, as far as any immediate application of it is concerned, rests in the fact that there is not any way by which you could get a national acceptance that would check the present decline. Therefore, from the standpoint of the outworking historically in the past, the only thing that can be done is to let the decline continue, and continue to establish a focalization that is working on the vertical basis. But after the decline, after things have changed and the decay has worked out to a still greater extent, it may reach a point where those who remain are willing to see the fundamental principles involved and begin to move upward.
I was undertaking to analyze the factors that are at work in the decline of our own country and outline something of the principles that would have to be recognized if that decline were by some means to be checked. We see the same thing at work in the British Empire. From one standpoint it would seem that the United States should not be declining this soon. But the British Empire was working out an expansion of boundaries for a much longer time, over the period of history, than the United States was. The United States came to the end of its boundary expansion much sooner than the British Empire did. Well, the British Empire has found that it could not carry its own load and it is gradually receding, gradually folding back on itself now. The situation here in the United States is different, yet the decline is here and the decay is at work. In both cases the principles are virtually identical. The things that would have to be recognized to stop that decline are indicated here, but how get a sufficient recognition of those principles so that the decline could be checked and movement headed upward?
From our standpoint, on the basis of the recognition of the fulfilment of the Cosmic Plan, we would not be interested in achieving that unless it could be carried far enough upward to begin to open out into the actual expression of the Christ Kingdom principles. But as citizens of the world in an outer sense, because we are living here, we look at the matter and see what might be done if it could be done, to check this decline and cause it to be from this point onward a true evolution into that field of Reality. Again we come to the point that we recognized in the past, that there is no way by which the world as a whole can be caused to move upward far enough to allow the fulfilment of the Cosmic Plan without the destructive processes which the world itself engenders. While we wish we could do something about it in that sense, an analysis of it shows that there is precious little that could be done.
If we became a group of missionaries and went out and tried to drive the thing home, we might get a few hundred thousand people converted to a doctrine, an idea, start a party or something, and it would be comparatively easy, but you would not get far enough to ever stop the decline and make it effective in movement upward. Therefore, there is not any basis evident at the present time that would warrant any action on the basis of outer world procedures. If we could devise some way to utilize outer world procedures in recognition of these principles, so that we might effectively check this decline, hold it and cause it to move upward on the vertical expansion, within the range of the principles of Reality, we would do it. That would be a proposition whereby we would be avoiding all of these cataclysmic, destructive results and causing it to move easily and naturally for the world mass into the better state. I challenge anybody, any of you here or anyone else, to find a means by which, within the range of outer world procedures, we could do anything that would give hope of accomplishing the purpose.
The only thing we can do is to let the outer world go on through its processes of decay as they are at work, and keep on building this from the standpoint of Reality in the world; and then trust that at the proper time there will be enough response in the world to catch the thing before it hits complete bottom—before the annihilation of the human race in other words—and carry it up from that low point. It would be a much more wonderful thing if we could catch it here, without letting it go down, and help raise the whole thing to a higher level. But how can it be done? From the standpoint of past history, from the standpoint of the tendencies of human beings, of all the procedures that are at work in the world, I cannot see any way by which it can be done. We come right back to a centering in the Program as we have been carrying it out.
I felt that it was absolutely essential to examine into the field to see if there might be any way by which action could be taken on an outer basis to check that decline and help it move upward. Here are the principles involved, the causes of the decline, but we are without any method of applying it within the scope of world procedure on a basis that would be effective for the whole. We see these cycles working out in the world—the same principles exactly working out in relationship to the world that we have been considering from the standpoint of ourselves individually and as a Unit. Either the cycles that are constructive and moving upward on the vertical expansion, or cycles initiated that move into realms of decay, disintegration and downward movement. They are one way or the other. We have been becoming more attuned into the upward moving cycles, learning how to function within them, but here we see the cycles as they are working in the world as a whole, and the factors involved in the basic sense. It is not a question of so-called democracy or so-called communism or something else. These are basic things that get down underneath, and unless these basic things can be dealt with within the scope of outer world procedures we have no means of accomplishing anything from the standpoint of the whole at the present time.
John Oshanek — It appears that the best way we can do something for the world is to turn all our energies to the focalization we are working in, and the sooner we give all our response to the focalization of what you are doing now, the sooner we will catch up those who are coming down.
Uranda — We can, perhaps, catch some of them who are coming down. But it is that we will be ready—that when the thing hits bottom and everything cracks, we do not crack. From the outer world standpoint those structures that are of the world are going to crack when they hit bottom. Unless we have something that is so based in Reality that it does not crack under those pressures we are not going to be in one whit better position than anybody else to help carry the thing up from bottom. Apparently there is no way of lifting it from the present point. We have to keep doing what we are doing and then undertake to lift it from bottom. We have to let it go down before we can bring it back up.
Richard Thompson — I remember one of your Summer Session services in which you talked about the pyramid structure in the world, where at a certain point the larger pyramid would disintegrate into smaller pyramids. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2021/01/two-pyramids.html] So with regard to what you said about our standing steady and letting our focalization be so firm that it cannot break, it would then follow that these pyramids, when they come to disintegrate, would have to go through that period in order that we can come to a point where the upward movement can be initiated on a basis according to Reality.
Uranda — Well, above all things then, this emphasizes something that is very important to us. It is interesting to look at the factors that are involved from a world standpoint. It is not much good speculating about things over which we have no control; but it does emphasize the extreme importance of our functioning effectively in the field where we can function now, so that we will be ready to do something when the time comes when we can do something. The mere fact that we cannot do anything from the standpoint of the masses at the present time should not cause us to get sluggish in our function and to become careless in our procedures. Rather, it should encourage us to bend every effort to the point of being ready to do something when the time comes when we can do something. So that is the net result of my primary purpose in bringing this before you, because it relates what we’re doing, to the world, and the conditions and the things that are working out—things that are bound to come—unless we can hold steady ourselves and cause this that we are working in to be stronger than anything else, so that it is constantly moving in the vertical point of expansion regardless of the limitations around us.
You see, we have to prove that. We cannot just expand out horizontally. Regardless of limitations, we have got to prove the principle of expansion vertically. Then if we carry that out properly so that it is something real in the world, the time will come when we can do something. So let us be ready to do something at the point where we can do something in the larger sense. We can do something for a few, all that we can reach now—and we have an Expansion Program in mind. But here is the thing as I see it in relationship to that expansion: all we can hope to do is to keep this focalization growing and developing and becoming stronger until the day when we will be in position to do something effective from the standpoint of the whole.
Martin Cecil — That relates to the necessities of carrying through on the cycles that are set up now in order that we may move forward to the point where, when the time comes, there will be that cycle in perfection ready, because we will have reached that point by carrying through on these intermediate cycles to that point.
Uranda — That is right. Well now, has this helped you to a better basic understanding of our fundamental problems in relationship to the world, and the necessities of our unified endeavor? If we can devise some means of reaching those who recognize that spiritual help must come from somewhere, and begin to give them something to have faith in, a field to move and work in, then we will be doing something. It would be a wonderful thing if some means could be worked out to do that, in order to check this decline quickly enough to keep it from crashing. But looking back at history, there are a lot of people who are genuinely responding and who are genuinely convinced that it must be from spiritual help, but how far are they willing to go in letting spiritual help become a reality? They have got to let their own lives change. They have got to let themselves be moved out of their ruts. While theoretically, and to some degree in fact, they accept that point, when you come to the point of expecting them to really do something about it, it is another thing.
Kathy Meeker — With the Body at the state of development that it is now, even if all the mass of humanity grabbed on for help, I wonder if the Body has reached the maturation point of carrying the momentum.
Uranda — It is a good question. It will come on gradually I think, within a certain range. But there is going to be a certain point somewhere along the line where that load is going to come on suddenly. At the moment I have no means of telling how soon that is going to be. But I do know that unless we are strong by reason of right function according to the principles of Reality, when that load does come, we will give way under it—and then where will we be? We have got to be ready to take the load when it comes, and meanwhile reach out. It is through those who are becoming convinced that spiritual help offers the only hope that we are going to begin to take hold of the situation now, but they will be drawing out of that mass vibration rather than catching it as a mass.
Kathy Meeker — It shows that we must all let individual and collective changes be made in our own lives.
Uranda — So that the focalization in Reality is a truly factual thing on earth. That is the only hope. We have to forget self-interest in the development of the whole, so that we can be a true channel of giving out into the world to those who are ready, to those whom we can reach. I am conscious virtually all the time, in one way or another, of the fact that there are tens of thousands of people in the world who are just as good, just as sincere, just as responsive as those who happen to be emissaries; and if there was some way of reaching them they would pitch in and help do the job. The mere fact that we are conscious of it does not mean that we are the only ones in the world who are ready. It is that problem of contacting them that we have to work out now, and that is the real purpose of our Expansion Program. There are those tens of thousands whose capacity and sincerity and earnestness and longing is equal to anything any of us have ever experienced back along the line. Those are the ones we do not want to keep waiting. Let us not keep them waiting over-long.
© emissaries of divine light
