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To Be Genuinely Thankful
Martin Exeter November 29, 1987 am
To be thankful, to be genuinely thankful!—thankful to be together, thankful for the music we have just shared, thankful for the opportunity of being thankful. Thankfulness was a key that was offered many, many years ago to most of us, but to everyone—not so much thankfulness for external things, although there needs to be thankfulness for these, thankfulness without judgment. Thankfulness is the key, regardless of the circumstance. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2019/01/through-gates-of-praise-from-outer.html] There is a tendency to forget this. The things we don't like are emphasized: “It's cold,” with a subtle spirit of complaint back of the comment. External circumstances are the way they are. In this very moment they are the way they are. Let us rejoice and give thanks. However, let us also withdraw our attention from the external circumstance.
We are aware that there is a creative process at work. Whatever the spirit is in human beings, in their attitudes and expression, so will the circumstances be. The circumstances have no power of themselves; they are only a reflection of what is present in human beings. Whatever the circumstances may happen to be is perfect, a perfect reflection of the cause of those circumstances; and the cause relates to the spirit which is present in the living expression of human beings. The world is the way it is, reflecting perfectly what is present in the human beings who inhabit this planet. It is futile and a waste of time trying to manipulate circumstances so as to get them to conform to something that would be pleasing to the particular manipulators. Circumstances will continue to reflect accurately what it is that is present in human minds and hearts.
We have seen this illustrated in what occurs when one looks into the mirror. There is a reflection. The reflection is quite accurate (reversed of course) of the person who is looking in the mirror. If the reflection in the mirror is a mess, it's no use blaming the reflection or trying to change it. Let the changes come in the one who looks in the mirror and the reflection will change. The form of things, the circumstances in the environment round about, is the reflection in the mirror. There are those who think that the solution to this is to break the mirror. Foolishness, isn't it? We may be thankful that the reflection is as accurate as it surely is. It's most revealing. What does any one of us see in the mirror? All we see is the reflection.
The reflection takes on the characteristics of the one who is looking into the mirror, as well as the characteristics of others. But the one who looks into the mirror has the most influence as to the reflection. There are multitudes of different opinions, views of what is present in the mirror, but the difference is that the person who is looking in the mirror is in the foreground. The background may merge into something that is commonly seen, but what is observed in the foreground will be primarily the reflection of the person who is looking. If it seems as though there is much to complain about in the reflection, then it would seem sensible to see what might be done to allow changes to come in the one who observes. At least there would begin to be a different reflection in the foreground. That different reflection in the foreground may not as yet carry through into the background, but at least there is the beginning of a change in the reflection, which is the realm of form and circumstance. The change comes closest to oneself if one lets something happen in oneself. Most don't like to look too closely at the figure in the foreground. They would rather observe all that's going on in the background: “Something has to be done about that.” But what can be done? There is only one way that something can happen and that is for the figure in the foreground to clean up his act. Let that happen first. When that does happen, the scene in the background also changes somewhat. Opinions are relinquished.
Most people maintain their self-image on the basis of their opinions. If one has no opinions one is deemed to be nothing. Most are collectors of opinions. Very few of them originate with the person. They are gleaned from others. Someone else is dealing the hands and one picks it up and there it is: “This is my hand.” Some people claim that they have been dealt a poor hand. Others may be lucky—there is a straight flush. Opinions, opinions. All this relates to the form of things round about, to human reactions to the form of things round about, reactions to the reflection in the mirror. What futility!
We ourselves perhaps have seen something of this futility and have recognized that there is nothing that can be done about the background picture, but there is something that can be done about the figure that is in the foreground: oneself. There is a dawning recognition that because the reflection is of what is in oneself primarily, what is present in oneself may be permitted to change. This is the last thing that most people are interested in. One's own behavior is reflected most accurately in the mirror. Clearly we have the primary responsibility as individuals for the rest of the world. The starting point insofar as the rest of the world is concerned is right here in oneself. Unless that is addressed nothing constructive occurs in the rest of the world. So, accepting this responsibility we have come to be aware that there is a spirit present which could find expression in our living if it was not prevented by all our opinions, by all our reactions to the reflection in the mirror. It should be obvious that those reactions need to be relinquished. Most are so embedded in this reactionary stance that they can't conceive of relinquishing their reactions.
It is utterly useless to struggle with what is present in the mirror, what is present in form, what is present in the circumstance. We can easily judge what is present in the mirror and say, “It shouldn't be that way.” But it is that way, whatever the way is. We may not see it accurately because our vision is distorted by the foreground figure. But, whatever it is, it's the way it is. It couldn't be any other way. It must be that way, because it is only a reflection of what is present in human beings, and in oneself in particular because one is in the foreground of one's own mirror. We recognize the opportunity to allow such reactions to fade.
The reflection in the mirror is consequent upon the fact of the satanic—that's a good word—the satanic spirit which is present in human behavior. Part of that satanic spirit is judgment. The satanic spirit simply indicates that there is something absent. The fact that there is any spirit at all is indication that the truth is present. But because of the absences of the experience of that truth a satanic spirit appears, and that satanic spirit is reflected by the circumstances. The circumstances then control the behavior of the human being, and the behavior of the human being is a revelation of the satanic spirit. So there is a movement round in a circle. There is only one way by which this vicious circle can be broken and that is because reaction to the circumstance ceases. As long as circumstances govern our behavior we will embody the satanic spirit. Reaction merely intensifies the reflection in the mirror of the spirit which is of a satanic nature. Stop being so concerned with the reflection in the mirror. That is not where our primary concern should be.
There is a power at work—the creative process—whch is absolutely unstoppable. This power is invisible, unknown to virtually everybody on the face of the earth, because they are so wrapped up in their reactions to the reflection in the mirror, trying to get ahead of the game somehow—the game being reflected in the mirror. But there is the creative process at work. All that is happening in form and in circumstance in the mirror results from the movement of this creative process. There is something going on behind that reflection which, according to what is present in human beings, produces this reflection, which is just a surface crust over the movement of the creative process, and that surface crust is consequent upon what is present in human beings. What's really happening is underneath the surface of that crust: the movement of the creative process, the movement not of satanic spirit but of the Spirit of the King.
The movement of the Spirit of the King working in the creative process is in command. The surface crust is the human experience where everybody is vying to control it somehow—an impossible task. The movement occurs because of the creative process; therefore is not that the weighty matter? Is not that all that really matters? Do we have to be hypnotized by what is observed in the mirror? Or can we say, “None of those things move me. I know what that is. It is simply the mixed-up reactions of human beings to the movement of the creative process”? One can give thanks for circumstances simply because of that, not because the circumstances are nice or nasty. One can give thanks for the movement of the creative process which presently, because of what is in the consciousness of human beings, erupts in the way it does. It should erupt that way. There is nothing wrong with that eruption; it's just the reflection of what is present in human beings in that level of consciousness which has excluded the movement of the creative process. All right, here we are, finally willing to include the movement of the creative process in our own experience. And we can't do that if we are reacting and justifying our reactions to the reflection in the mirror.
Now at last we may come to the point of being able to look in the mirror and say with absolute assurance, “None of these things move me. I know what they are. I understand what's happening. I can give thanks for what's happening because it's all coming about by reason of the movement of the creative process. Now I have some awareness of that creative process; I know something of the Spirit of the King, and in my own living, because I am no longer being pushed around by my reactions to circumstances, by my judgments. I have clear space for the Spirit of the King.”
There was a wonderful portrayal of this long ago in the person of Jesus. No matter what came, no matter what was present in the mirror, insofar as He was concerned He was not going to get into a battle with it. There was a clear understanding of the way things work. We learn to allow the reflection in the mirror to be what it is because it is what it is, and to permit something to change in our own experience. That's the first change, isn't it. Oh yes, there will be those who are involved in that reflection who will say, “Don't you have any feelings? Surely you should get on your charger, level your lance and spear the dragon!” We have had many Saint Georges around over the ages, but the dragon is still as active as ever with his seven heads and ten horns: the satanic consciousness of mankind. We are not interested in slaying the dragon, because he only exists on our own life force. Withdraw that life force and there isn't any dragon. Withdraw that life force which keeps human beings governed by the reflection in the mirror. There is a reflection. Oh yes! We would have to acknowledge that; we can see it all around. But why let that be the controlling emotional element?
It is love for the Spirit of the King which transcends this vicious circle. We come again to know the truth. We can't be lured anymore from that knowing. I am the one who has been given this gift of understanding. I am the one who is responsible for receiving it and for allowing the Spirit of the King to govern. When the Spirit of the King governs, I come in His Name. Blessed is he indeed who comes in the Name of the King, comes in His Name because the reflection in the mirror no longer controls. I am thankful that we have the opportunity today to be together in the Spirit of the King. Then the reflection in the mirror, while we know it's still there, carries no weight, is no longer seen as being of any importance whatsoever, except of course as it reveals what is present in the hearts and minds of human beings. But let us reveal the Spirit of the King, so that the truth may be reflected in the mirror; and the truth reflected in the mirror is first the truth of the figure in the foreground. Each may say, “I am the truth, and this truth is reflected in the foreground of the mirror which constitutes my world.”
The Spirit of the King is surely supreme to us. That spirit carries an absoluteness of which we become increasingly aware as it finds expression consistently in our living. To the extent that this is so, our behavior must be of the character of the King. Each of us is here on earth to reveal the Spirit of the King in momentary living consistently. The Spirit of the King moving in the creative process is everything in our experience. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2019/02/response-lust-passion-martin-cecil.html] Here is the absolute government, the control and the design of truth. I am thankful that there are those who come in the Name of the King.
“I know the power of the Spirit of my King.” This may be the statement made by anyone, because that power is a reality already. It simply has not been known by human beings, because human beings can claim human rights not to know it. There is one human right and that is to love the King—the only one. Loving the King then makes the King known. Knowing the King, it is possible to come in His Name. We are here to come in His Name, having no other human right. “I have a right to be human.” No! No one has that right. The human makes possible the presence of the King on earth. That is the only right. When that is so, there is nothing to be defended, nothing to possess, for the world is not in reality a mirror. It is a window of heaven, and through the window heaven is known.
