This day commemorates something which we should cherish with our whole beings, not only on this day but throughout the year, a step that was taken by our forefathers which has had tremendous significance not only for us but for all the peoples of the world, a movement toward what we classify as freedom. We realize there are levels of freedom, and to each higher level of freedom that level below does not look like freedom. There are states of consciousness and circumstance which people conceive to be free which have not reached the mountaintop of freedom. One reason the danger of losing this freedom has loomed on the horizon is because human beings have tended to become self-satisfied with the degree of freedom which has been attained, and that is always a dangerous situation, a self-satisfied situation.
We can look back in world history and find innumerable men and women who have given their lives, themselves, to furthering the basic freedoms of humanity. Many of those stories are thrilling. And there has been a great price paid, both in life and in death, for that which we are privileged to enjoy here in this hour, the privilege of gathering in peace to worship God and to consider the way of life—untold lives on the battlefield, of those who have given all for the cause of freedom, lives that are yet limited physically and mentally, though the body still lives. The Armed Service hospitals are full of them—the price that has been paid by untold numbers of people, not only here but everywhere. How well do we value, to what degree do we appreciate, this privilege, this opportunity, this responsibility, which has been bought at such a price?
We look back through the centuries and we realize that these movements toward a higher level of life—which is to say, freedom to live—come to point in the life of our Lord and Master when He walked among men. We see the price He paid and the price that has been paid by millions since that time, and the outworking of events in more recent times, not only from the standpoint of the wars that have been fought but from the standpoint of those who have suffered brutality under the tyranny of dictators. When we speak of dictators we no doubt think of Hitler, Stalin, and the millions who suffered under those patterns of tyranny, more recently the millions who have been slaughtered in China because they believed in freedom—not just a few thousand, actually millions in China—the suffering in Korea, the state of affairs in Russia.
I just read an article concerning a colonel who escaped from Russia—he was a member of the MVD—and his report of conditions and the outworking of circumstances, much of which of course has not been published, but something of it. Another report ties in with this one. There was a certain holiday in a large city in Russia and there were throngs of people on the street, and two men, representatives from the so-called “free world,” were walking along. They had to get out and walk in the gutter because of the crowd, and after a little while one of them stopped the other and they stood still. There was something that had been bothering him in the back of his mind. This was supposed to be a celebration; there were throngs of people. He suddenly realized what it was, and he asked the other one to stop and listen for a moment. There was no talking, no laughing, the tramping of their feet but not the sound of conversation. They were afraid to say anything, afraid to speak lest someone overhearing would report them for some supposed infraction of the law.
The starvation, the suffering, the human anguish that still remains in the world, all a challenge to those who are free spirits, a challenge to the cause of freedom. We have such rich blessings in freedom, and yet there is, by the very circumstances in the world, an indictment against those of us who claim to espouse the cause of freedom. We need to see freedom not only from the standpoint of freedom to worship God, which is so essential, or freedom of speech and press, the commonly recognized freedoms, but the hospitals filled to overflowing across our own land tell us of the fact that we are not free from terrible diseases. And yet the sufferings here are less than in so many, many places in the world. I point to these things not to paint a morbid picture but that we may pause and face the facts as they are, realize the tremendous scope of the responsibility and the opportunity, to the end that we may be more dedicated, more consistent, in so living that freedom shall increase in the world, true freedom. It is not merely patriotism, as noble and fine as that may be in relationship to country. It is patriotism as a citizen of the world, in recognition of the brotherhood of man under the Fatherhood of God, that we may accept a higher goal.
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In facing these things we are forced to recognize that there is a certain lethargy, a certain tendency to take for granted the blessings that we have, because of rejection of personal responsibility, because of rebellion against personal limitations. Our President is faced with a weight of responsibility such as has seldom, if ever, rested upon one man in the world of human affairs. Yet there are so many ready to criticize, try to counteract whatever may be done. There are so many who hold back to see if he or our leaders here or somewhere else shall fail, so that they may appear in their own eyes to be righteous if failure comes. To my mind all of this ties in with the thoughts we were considering last evening in relationship to the principles of being. We see a mass tendency not to center attention upon that which is, but to look most diligently for that which is not, to rebel because that which is not is not, and consequently to fail in the sharing of the glorious privilege and responsibility, opportunity, of building a better world.
If we depend upon our leaders, or world leaders anywhere, without doing all that is possible ourselves, we will deserve the consequences which fall upon us. No one person, no one group of persons, here or anywhere, can do it all. There is a vital need to have a deeper sense of personal responsibility, here in our whole nation and in the world. Selfish interests, individually and collectively, defeating those things which could move toward peace; human beings driven like dumb creatures under the whip of fear; others, having suffered so much in so many ways, becoming lethargic and fatalistic, thinking to accept the present situation, to make the best of it, and let whatever happens happen. But what happens is produced, it is created, it is made. Things do not just happen. They are produced by action and nonaction, by what human beings do and fail to do. And whatever is in our circumstances and in our affairs has been produced by some means. If we don't like what has been produced we should share the work and the responsibility of producing something better. That is why we are here on Sunrise Ranch—not to quarrel with any others, but to learn how to so live that we may do our part in conjunction with all others in the building of a better world, that we may so draw near to God, and come to understand the laws of God, the principles of being upon which we are all dependent, that we may live not haphazardly, subject to things that happen, produced by causes beyond control, but that we may do our part toward causing the right things to happen.
We all know what it is to have disappointments, problems, difficulties, a certain amount of suffering. But we are not so much concerned about escaping from these things for ourselves as we are concerned about learning how to meet them creatively, constructively, to the end that others may begin to see a ray of hope in the situation as it now is. There is nothing so dangerous to a human being, to a nation, or to humanity, as becoming so deadened under the whip of fear that we simply begin to accept circumstances like—what shall we say?—dumb oxen driven to the slaughter. God has given us the capacities of intelligence. He has given us emotional natures, or what the Bible calls “the heart,” by reason of which we can feel and know and understand.
Someone a few days ago, while I was away I believe it was, mentioned that of all the creatures on earth the only one outside of man capable of showing shame, or a state of being ashamed of having done something wrong, was the dog. I was inclined in my own mind to challenge the statement just a little to start with. I think I have seen some horses act as if they were a little bit ashamed of having done something wrong, as if they were sorry for it. But for instance, cats—a cat may learn a lesson after a while, but did you ever see a cat actually ashamed of having done something? I don't think so. And generally speaking, in the animal world, there isn't a sense of shame with respect to any course of action, a consciousness of having done something wrong.
Now this sense of shame, a realization that one has done something wrong, can be used rightly to help one to learn not to do that thing again. But if one does not have a clear vision of how not to do that thing again, so that one does it, whatever it may be, in action or nonaction, a conflict develops within because there is the sense of shame. The human being, not liking the sense of shame, tries to cover it up, and he feels incapable of function which does not produce the sense of shame. He feels that he must learn to live with it because he doesn't see how he can live and not produce it. This, to my mind, is one of the vital and critical points in human lives, and in the life of humanity as a whole, in relationship to this matter of freedom, because as soon as the human being begins to accept a state of life or function wherein he feels that he must do that of which he is ashamed, and therefore he begins to cover it up, to push it down into the subconscious, to get away from it by some means, he begins to accept a state of slavery for himself. And once he accepts slavery for himself in relationship to himself, he is immediately in a position where he tends to become subject to the tyrannical attitude of others.
We do not have to go to Russia to find tendencies to tyranny. They are present in a good many houses that should be homes, right here in the United States, in human beings who are always seeking by some fashion to impose their wills, without regard to what is best for all concerned, without regard to what is right. And there is this conflict: human beings trying by various means to prove to themselves that they have a certain vigor of manhood or womanhood, by tending to subject others to slavery, assuming to achieve a personal freedom in some fashion by imposing a state of slavery upon others. And if you check it back, as I have in so many thousands of cases through spiritual psychiatry, you will find that it always begins at this point where the human being sells his own freedom for a mess of pottage in relationship to this point of shame which I mentioned a moment ago. He begins to relinquish his own freedom in order, presumably, to get away from the necessity of some form of victorious life, of change in some fashion. He becomes dishonest with himself without knowing it. He betrays himself, and then proceeds to cover it up subconsciously. Then he is inclined to try to maintain personal freedom, a show of it in some fashion, by arbitrarily imposing limitations upon others, by making others tend to be subject to slavery, as if slavery for others could produce freedom for himself.
This, to my mind, is one of the reasons why we have a national weakness in the face of this world need, because human beings have, without knowing it—and I am in no sense condemning anyone—betrayed themselves, and they are undertaking in their personal lives to establish or maintain a sense of personal freedom on a basis which subjects others to slavery. Being in that state, they cannot possibly support the true cause of freedom as it should be supported. They are violating it within themselves and therefore, knowingly or unknowingly, they violate the cause of freedom in relationship to the nation and to the world. This we need to consider honestly, as men and women, and we need to face our personal responsibilities in the matter.
It is well to recount those things that have gone before and the things that have been done by others in the great cause of freedom, but merely recounting, as will be done in untold numbers of speeches this day, is not enough, for people tend to go away feeling empty, feeling a sense of futility, not knowing how to take hold of the problem themselves, to really change anything in the world—people feeling as if they were puppets, subject to chance, and if our leaders in Washington do thus and so they will be all right, and if they don't they won't. Much depends upon our leaders—I am not depreciating that—but more depends upon us, because our leaders cannot do it alone. They must have our support, our help. And the only way we can truly help is to face this issue of the thing that tends to destroy human freedom.
I have shown over and over again that physical illnesses of many, many sorts—I think I could say every sort—come finally, with the passage of time, out of this very thing. The human being establishes a point of conflict and discord within himself, perhaps in childhood or young manhood or womanhood, somewhere, and then the conflict continues throughout life, and finally it shows up as physical illness or mental disturbance. If we would support the cause of freedom, here and everywhere, we need to so function that we may ourselves begin to be free within ourselves—not subject to external circumstance, though we must deal with it; not controlled by what others think and say and do, though we must establish proper relationships with others and act with respect to what is said and done; and not controlled by a submerged sense of shame, which covers a conflict pattern within ourselves, which makes us unable to stand against the stresses and strains of life. We are always hearing about people who under a certain amount of pressure crack up. With some it takes a great deal, with others less. But no one needs to crack up. I have helped people back to a state of health and usefulness after such crack-ups, but it is so much easier to prevent than to correct afterwards.
If we are truly sincere in this matter of espousing the cause of freedom, we need to search deeply in our own hearts, to let a cleansing take place so that we may share the fulfilment the Master spoke of: “Blessed are the pure in heart,” in the emotional nature; in other words those whose attitude toward life is not disturbed and distorted and destroyed by a sense of shame and fear and futility. “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God”—not to see God as a man perhaps, but to see the power of God at work in human lives and in affairs, to see the spirit of God blessing, the wisdom of God in action in human beings, to see the expression of God in those around us, and to share it.
“Purity of heart” to me means something much different from that which is commonly thought of when the term is used, because this emotional nature, the subconscious realm of mind and heart, maintaining conflict patterns, produces destruction and distortions in body and in circumstance, and when we are so captivated and enslaved we are not free. It is not enough merely to have the right of free speech. That is important, but let us use it to find a deeper freedom, a higher freedom. The right to worship God according to the dictates of conscience is good, but let us use it to find a greater freedom, a freedom from these enslaving factors which distort so many human lives. Only so can we begin to give real support to the cause of freedom which shall lift the yoke of bondage and slavery from the people who are subject to tyranny in other parts of the world. If we have any true concern for our fellowman, here and in other places, the very fact that this state of slavery exists in the world should surely keep us from any state of lethargy, conscious that there is slavery, slavery that numbs the body and the mind, slavery that makes the heart or feeling nature insensible, that turns human beings into brutes, and slavery that makes life futile and worthless, in hospitals and in many other places.
These, to my mind, are the things that we must face if we would do our part toward counteracting the tendencies toward crime, delinquencies of various sorts. The increase in crime—why? Because human beings reach a point where they are so completely slaves to circumstance and conditions within and around themselves that they are willing to venture a period of imprisonment to try to get out of it in some foolish fashion. They are already prisoners within themselves or they would prize their freedom more than to risk imprisonment. The prevention of crime, the prevention of disease, the prevention of mental breakdown—this is a vast field in which we can play a very important part, providing we remember the privilege, the opportunity and the challenge of freedom, providing we permit the reality of freedom to be so made manifest in ourselves that we will not be merely speaking empty words or trying to impose something upon someone else, but that we will be living examples of that of which we speak, so that those round about us may take heart and be encouraged in the way of life to do their part toward making a better world: a land of the free—and the home of the weak? No.
The home of the brave, the land of the free. But we cannot relinquish the state of freedom within ourselves and maintain freedom outside of ourselves. Let us remember that. We cannot relinquish the reality of freedom within ourselves, permit ourselves to become subject to internal tyrannies, and maintain freedom outside of ourselves. And if it looks as though our freedom were slipping away, we and all people everywhere should take heed and begin to know the reality of freedom within, that under the banner of the Prince of Peace we may have peace inside of ourselves. Then we will have something to extend toward others. You cannot impose peace outside of yourself when it is not within yourself. And if it is within yourself, you will not try to impose it; you will give it as a gift to those who will receive it.
Only so can we cease to be dictatorial in our attitudes one toward another. He who here in America is dictatorial toward those round about him, in his own sphere of family or friends or business relations, is supporting the dictators in other nations. Dictatorial attitudes, patterns of life based in fear or greed or selfishness, support these same things in other places—the malignancies in the body of humanity. Some take the attitude that this malignant condition is simply going to be fatal for the whole body of humanity. “We are going to wipe ourselves out and we might as well quit now,” seems to me to be a very unworthy attitude.
It may seem to human minds that this malignancy which is so evident in Red Russia and in China and in other places must be fatal to the body of humanity. To take that attitude is to deny God, to deny our own manhood and womanhood. We need to come face to face with the basic truths of being and recognize that even though it is terrible, even though it is malignant, the condition can be corrected and the healing can come. But we must do something about it, and the place where we start the doing must be in ourselves and not in our neighbors—in our own hearts and minds, accepting personal responsibility—if we are going to enjoy the blessings of privilege. Only so can we glorify God on earth and cause our lives to have any value or meaning to those who dwell with us on the face of the earth.
Our gracious Lord and holy King, we thank Thee for the privilege of living in this great country upon which Thy blessings have so richly rested. But having this privilege, we would accept the challenge of responsibility, not only that these blessings may be maintained but that they may be increased here and overflow into the lives of others who dwell on earth. We thank Thee that the working of Thy spirit overleaps all human boundaries, penetrates all iron curtains, regardless of race or color or creed, until Thy children everywhere are inspired to arise and enter into that peace which passeth all human understanding, and sharing it, to let it overflow into the lives of others, that we may know true freedom, a higher freedom, a more glorious freedom, in which Thy kingdom is made manifest on earth and Thy power is caused to work in the affairs of men and Thy glory is shared by all peoples everywhere.
I thank Thee, Father, for these here gathered, who before Thy throne in this hour let themselves share a deeper dedication to the glorious cause of freedom. And so also with all those who turn to Thee, whosoever, wheresoever they may be, of every religion, of every political belief, of every color, of every nation upon the face of the whole earth, that all Thy children may come to know that they are brothers and sisters in the Christ spirit on earth and that the causes of conflict may be banished away and the reality of freedom established in body and mind and heart, in home, environment and circumstance, until righteousness—Thy righteousness, O Lord—shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea; for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Aum-en.
Tessa Maskell
Completed her Angelic Incarnation on June 30, 2021
Angel of Life
We do not necessarily anticipate that this human soul is going to live forever. I think that it is inevitable that it would change. In fact I don't think that as an angel of life we'd want the human soul as it now is to hang around us forever. It is useful now, it may be useful tomorrow, it may even be useful next year, possibly ten years from hence—who knows? All that is of concern to us is that we should be in position to make right use of it. Making right use of it, we are present in mind and heart and body in order to make right use of the environment around us, and as long as this present soul can be usefully so employed, presumably we'll make arrangements for it to remain. If it isn't of any more use in this way, then what would be the purpose for its continued existence? We have a realistic viewpoint; and what human beings think of as death, which is the passing of the human soul, means very little. It means very little to the angel of life who is in command, in the sense that its value is based in right use for particular purposes in a specific aspect of the unfoldment of the creative cycle.
If I am the way, the truth and the life, death means nothing; it doesn't exist! That the substance that composed the human soul may be reintroduced into the natural creative cycles on earth is quite satisfactory; that presumably is what should happen. It may be that if, as angels of life, we do play our parts wisely and rightly in these present human souls there could be a transformation in the realm of the human soul which is presently beyond imagination, or unknown. But be that as it may, all that is presently required is to make right use of the human soul in present circumstances, whatever they are. We don't make right use of our human souls with the expectation that changes are going to come in our circumstances to suit the human soul. Therefore it’s quite useless for the human soul to have mental and emotional concepts and desires as to what the changes should be...
So here we are as angels of life, incarnate in these human souls of great variety, not by chance. Obviously, if the angel of life has incarnated in some particular soul, as is the case for all of us, it wasn't a haphazard business. Specific choices were made as to what would be most useful should the human soul reach the point of willingness to allow the angel of life, who one is, to do what one incarnated in that human soul to do. And all these human souls are related, in one way or another, because they have the opportunity of participating in a collective, unified body. The angel of life is also the angel of the way of union. And so union is the natural experience, not only between the human soul and the angel of life who one is but between all the human souls who are the embodiment of the angel of life. On this basis there is one functioning, unified, coordinated body in action on earth, administering the creative cycle. Not making the creative cycle be—it already is—but administering the expression of it within the range of creative responsibility right here on earth. Then the invitation may be extended to all people: “Come out of slavery to the tyrant of death into the way of the fire”…
Coming into the fire, there is the experience of the soul being restored. Now what that restoration for any particular soul might mean remains to be seen, and one shouldn't have expectations and feel slighted if it doesn't happen the way you expect. I'm pretty sure it won't, for any of us. Let it be what it is!—because until there is this yielded openness on the part of the soul, how can the angel of life come forth? And it is the coming forth of the angel of life that burns the bonds, so that there is a new experience known in heart and mind and body because it may be said, “I am present and in expression.” And the whole human soul is unified into the one—there is no separation.
We find, in the natural cycles of living, that we eat and drink day by day; we stay alive that way. Of course we breathe as well, and do other things, but we also excrete. That's as necessary, isn't it? There is something taken in; there is something left behind. This is all natural in the cycles of living. So, with the incarnate angel of life, there is a body and a mind and a heart, a human soul received; and various aspects of waste are left behind day by day from this human soul. Where is the mystery? Where is the mystery of so-called death? At that point just a little more is left behind, that's all. From the standpoint of the angel of life, that is all that is happening. It is human souls who bewail their passing, because they have this sense of separation and isolation and fear and all these things—pain and sorrow and all the rest—of their own choosing.
