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
