It is a joy to welcome each and every one of you to this hour of meditation, on the 4th day of July, 1954, in the Chapel on Sunrise Ranch. And in this evening hour I would like to share with you the meditations of my heart, on the subject, The Thrilling Threshold. In our togetherness we have shared meditation upon the Principles of Being, recognizing the true relationship of the human being who is attuned in and with God to the processes of Becoming, whether in his own body, or mind, or heart, in circumstance, or in affairs. And, having glimpsed something of this larger vision, we begin to develop a sense of the truth that each and every one of us stands at a threshold which opens to a new and larger life. This morning we gave thought to the Principles of Freedom, by which we may properly discharge our responsibilities and enjoy our privileges as citizens of the world, that freedom which is so near and dear to our hearts. But in a recognition of that which we realized in meditation we recognize that we have the opportunity of moving onward and upward to a higher freedom in the expression of Being than we have yet known. So it is that we stand together at The Thrilling Threshold of a New Day.
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As we consider all that has gone before us, the price that has been paid that we might be here, the lives that have been expended to make possible this hour, we have a deep sense of appreciation for the nobility that has found expression in men and women, not only in past generations going back to the dawn of history, but to those who have labored in this day to the end that this hour might be possible to us. We have a relationship with all those who have gone before us and all those who share this great and awful time in the history of the world. We have a relationship with them and a responsibility to them that, insofar as it rests within our power in Attunement with God, that which they have done shall not be in vain.
Not until we sense deeply the truth that the opportunity of this hour was bought with a price, can we adequately appreciate it. If it should seem to any that this hour has come about by chance, or that this privilege can be lightly considered, there is a need for recognition that no man can live unto himself alone, that no man can achieve of himself and by himself for himself, but rather that the intricate patterns of our relationships have all played a part, and not only ours but untold millions of others. Sensing this privilege and the challenge of this responsibility, we know that, to be true to ourselves and to God and to all of these others, we must let this moment and time allow the bringing forth in new birth of that which God would send down out of Heaven into the earth, because we live and move and have our being here among men.
Human beings become so involved in their external affairs, their problems, their difficulties, that they tend to lose sight of their opportunities, tend to deny their privileges and magnify their limitations. They tend to forget, or to fail to learn, that there is a Thrilling Threshold. And even those who tend to gain some awareness of this Thrilling Threshold that is before us tend to become so involved in their concepts of that which is beyond the door, that which is to be found by the one who passes through that Way that is open, that their own preconceived concepts stand in the way of their fulfilment. Unwittingly, they let themselves be ensnared in the old delusion that man can be as God, and they think that they can imagine that which God has prepared beyond the threshold, not of death but of life, the threshold of Being as it finds expression here and now. However, it is written, “Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love and serve Him.” “Eye hath not seen nor ear heard,” nor the imagination conceived.
So, how should we approach this Thrilling Threshold of the New Day? Filled with the conviction that we know what we want and that God shall give us this and that, thus and so? Let us not be, for the human mind so functioning prevents the reception of those larger gifts, those richer glories, which God would bestow. How, then, shall we use our vision? How shall we exercise our anticipation? First, let it not be with presumption but in humility, recognizing that our vision, our ability to perceive, mentally, emotionally, with the imagination if you please as well as with physical vision, our capacities of vision were given to us that we might perceive that which is to be seen, that which comes within the range of vision, that which now is. If we attempt to use our capacities of perception in that sphere which is beyond the range of our true vision we tend to imagine details for that which must at the moment be obscurely seen and but dimly comprehended. As we move along the Path, that which is beyond the range of vision shall in season be clearly seen, details known, design comprehended, principles understood, purposes realized, and control exercised. So, there is that which is at hand to see. And if we neglect the beauties and the realities which God has established in the unfolding cycles of Eternity which are at hand, trying to see that which we have not yet reached in our progress along the way, we will but bemuse ourselves and confuse the vibrational factors of our environments. So let us use our vision for those purposes for which God gave it to us.
What, then, of anticipation? Is it not well that we should anticipate those things by which our present needs might be best fulfilled? I have known so many people who have worked with great diligence trying to anticipate what they conceived to be the good things of life, that they might come to a larger fulfilment. There is right anticipation. But as we move upward and past, above this Thrilling Threshold, we come to the conviction that these popular uses of anticipation have tended to prevent fulfilment, and have denied earnest men and women many marvelous blessings which they might otherwise have enjoyed. How shall we rightly anticipate?
First, let us consider, honestly, with a deep integrity, the conditions which confront us in relationship to this problem. If we can say, honestly and truly, that we comprehend all of the factors which are involved in relationship to any state of need, these factors as they relate to ourselves and to others, the pattern as it is established in relationship to those who are far away as well as those who are near at hand, if we say that we comprehend all of the intricate factors of our interrelationships, if we can say that we know just what is to be achieved by any immediate outworking, then, if in addition we can say we understand all the Laws and Principles as they operate in the hearts and minds and bodies of all those with whom we have such relationships, and if we can assure ourselves without the violation of integrity that we know just how all these things should best be done and that we can with wisdom utilize the power by which fulfilment shall come, then we might begin to have the idea that we ourselves, with human mind, could begin to comprehend that which should be done in this immediate circumstance, just what we should derive from the outworking of the cycles of Eternity, what it should be, when it should be delivered, and how.
But before we permit ourselves any such presumptuous attitude, let us further examine the Principles of Being, and come to a deeper realization of the purpose for which we are here; for God created man in His own image and likeness, establishing in man the design which is established in God Himself, not that man should supersede God but that man might be the means by which God Himself should act on earth, to the end that dominion might be established, control exercised in relationship to all the affairs of men, that there might not be chaos but order, that there might not be suffering but joy, that there might not be weakness but strength and power, that there might not be ignorance but wisdom and understanding. If, then, we conceive our capacities of Being to be established in us to the end that we might ourselves exercise this control, and for ourselves establish the dominion which we deem to be desirable, we thereby deny the fundamental purpose for which we were first created. And by such presumption we begin to reestablish on earth the falsity of that first lie, the delusion which brought about the miseries and sufferings known to humanity, that man, having knowledge of good and evil, might be as God; for we would not be as God, knowing good and evil. We would, rather, permit ourselves to be used by God for the purposes for which He first created us, the expression of His own Being, not that we should be as God, but that we should permit God himself to find expression in and through us.
And if this be so, then the origin of control, the point of dominion, is not for us to exercise but rather to transmit into the realm of men and women and the affairs of earth. If, then, we know this, we will not try to utilize our capacities of Being, or of comprehension, for the purpose of anticipating what God shall do, and how, or even the nature of that which shall appear. We would, rather, exercise right anticipation, which first must be characterized by an eager readiness to receive whatever gifts God may bestow, not seeking in all things to know in advance what they shall be, but finding a deep and inner joy in the exquisite element of surprise when such gifts appear, anticipating, not just what, not just how, not just when; anticipating, rather, that that which shall appear shall be a challenge wherein we may exercise our full capacities of Being in using it to advantage, dressing it, giving it form, keeping it, tending it, caring for it, that it may have full manifestation and full meaning.
As we begin to exercise right anticipation we begin to realize that man has for so many centuries been defeating himself by trying to do that for which he was not created while ignoring the doing of that which he should have done, for this ill state which tends to appear in the lives of human beings appears by reason of a two-fold pattern: first, of doing that which ought not to have been done; and secondly, of not doing that which should have been done. And we do not come to the point of wisdom wherein we have the sense of the fitness of things until we give greater heed to that which can now be done, that which is nearer at hand, that we may see that which we have before tended to overlook because we were straining our vision trying to see that which we could not yet see clearly.
I anticipate the pleasure of taking some of you, in the near future, back up into the high mountains. It is something that is taking form and is at hand. And, correctly functioning, we can give it the fulness of form and the fulness of meaning. But suppose, in this proposed journey, that we should reach the point of the entrance to the Narrows and the Big Thompson Canyon, and instead of looking at that which is to be seen at hand, each one sharing that journey should be trying to see around the corner to see what is in the Canyon higher up. Instead of looking at that which can be seen, suppose he spends his trying to see that which he cannot yet see. He will miss the beauty that is at hand and fail to realize when he reaches the point where he could see what he was trying to see a quarter of a mile back; for then he will be trying to see what is still a quarter of a mile ahead, and, continuing so, he will surely fail to enjoy the opportunities afforded; he will fail to see the beauties that are at hand. So it is with life—human beings trying so hard to see that which they cannot yet see, and which in fact they do not need to see. It is only a false delusion that convinces the human being that he needs to see that which he cannot yet see. And all the struggle and worry, all the fretting and stewing, all the trying to see that which is not yet to be seen, will only go to make it impossible for the human being to see that which he has been trying to see, when he gets to the point where he could see it; so he will fail.
Let our vision be correctly used, anticipation rightly enjoyed, and we begin to know how to approach The Thrilling Threshold of the New Day, not with fear concerning the terrible things which are and may yet be, not with minds and hearts filled with foreboding with respect to that which cannot yet be seen and known. So often I have heard people say, “I cannot rest. I cannot relax. I just don't know what is going to happen out there, and I cannot enjoy life until I know.” How foolish! What a miserable state! Let us look around us, let us take heed and begin to exercise our capacities with respect to that which is at hand, and when we move a little further along the Way we will see that which is not yet seen. We need not look to the future with foreboding, nor need we indulge in the destructive pastime of anticipating every sort of ill or sordid thing. That, again, is wrong anticipation. I take the attitude that those who hear my voice tonight would not indulge in any such thing, in any case.
But there is this higher level of comprehension with respect to right anticipation, and that which is ahead, here. We are reminded once more of those significant words recorded so long ago, that God planted a Garden eastward in Eden. He planted it. It does not say that He caused the seed to grow, to take form. We are not to suppose that He had some nursery somewhere and simply transplanted the Garden from some strange heaven into the earth. It does not say that He transplanted anything. It only says He planted it. He established the seed which was yet to grow, which was yet to take form, which was to be cared for and nourished until the form should appear. He planted a Garden eastward in Eden.
And Eden, we remember, is the earth as a whole, not any one part of it, now or in any time of the past. Eden is the whole world, including every part of it, not some strange section in Mesopotamia or somewhere else. Eden is the whole world. And eastward in Eden? Out of the east come our tomorrows. Eastward in Eden? Today, just as much as any day that has ever been, God has planted a Garden eastward in Eden in the days of our tomorrows, with the coming of tomorrow's dawn. From whence shall that day come if not out of the east? And as it comes to us out of the east, to any point on earth, anywhere, at any time, in it God has planted something. It is not for us to try to plant something in it. That is the source of the weeds, the tares, the misery and the suffering.
Man is forever trying to plant the seeds in the days of his tomorrows, eastward in Eden—wrong vision, wrong anticipation. But when we begin to realize that God did and does plant the right seed eastward in Eden, just as much for us today as for anyone, anywhere, in any time gone by, we begin to realize that God has planted the seed already in the Garden, the Garden of God that comes to us out of the east in the days of our tomorrows. The seed is already there, planted by God Himself. It has not yet taken form, it is not yet sprouted and grown, but the seed is there. God has planted it. It is not to transplant something already formed and fully shaped from some Heaven somewhere, as if Heaven were a nursery filled with greenhouses or hothouses, or something. No. He has planted a Garden eastward in Eden for us in this hour. And this Thrilling Threshold of the New Day gives us assurance that, if we let it grow and take form, if we provide the right conditions wherein it can sprout and come to the point of harvest, God has planted in the days of our tomorrows the seed for every needful thing, with far greater wisdom than you could display with respect to what should be planted there, a far greater understanding of all the interrelationships as they affect every human being on the face of the earth.
God has planted it. It is for us to provide the right atmosphere for its growing. It is for us to dress it, to give it form and to keep it, not to throw it away. But as we look round about us—perhaps even as we look in the mirror—we see those who neglect the seed that God has planted, because with such a frenzy they try to plant their own seed and to cause it to grow, and they let the seed which God has planted go untended. It never has a chance to sprout. The conditions essential are not provided. It never takes form. It passes them by. And then they bewail their lot and say, “God did not answer my prayer. He did not send me that which I needed.” Ah, but He did. But did you receive it? He sent it in the form of the seed planted in the Garden of God eastward in Eden. And in the days of our tomorrows it is there, if we will but receive it, establish the right conditions, give it the right atmosphere, dress it, give it form, let it grow and come to the point of harvest, and keep it, not to throw it away, not to neglect it, not to let it be meaningless in the days of our yesterdays.
The Thrilling Threshold of the New Day. Not centuries ahead, not years ahead, not months or weeks ahead, but tomorrow morning. And even now it is at hand, and we should prepare for it, we should be ready for it, ready to dress the Garden and to keep it, with right vision, right anticipation, not the wrong use of these capacities of Being so that we plant seeds of weeds in the Garden.
If we fight the weeds, what happens? We only plant more. It is not necessary to fight evil. It will die of itself if we leave it alone. It will pass into the oblivion of that which is behind us if we let it, if we give heed to that which God has planted in the days of our tomorrows, the Garden of God that is eastward in Eden, if we will tend that and keep it; for these things which human beings have achieved according to their discordant patterns and limited ideas must pass away. Whatever is of God shall remain, whatever is of Truth shall be, and it cannot pass away. Whatever is right will endure, and that which is not must pass away. We need not struggle to maintain that which is right. And we are foolish indeed if we struggle to maintain that which is not right. Let it pass away. Let it fall of its own weight; for if we know the Truths of Being we have no fear that the Truth will not endure, we have no fear that the right will fail and that the wrong will become dominant. It may seem so to us in some moment of time, but it is not so, and it will only seem so if we have neglected the seed which God has planted eastward in Eden. Only if we fail to dress it and keep it will such a thing seem to be so.
We stand at The Thrilling Threshold of a New Day. What shall we do with it? Each must make his or her own choice. Each must live life for himself. No other can live it for you. No other can decide for you. And you alone, of all the people on earth, can bring forth out of the Garden which God has planted eastward in Eden, that which is ordained for you. No one else can cause those seeds to grow. No one else can bring forth that harvest. You, and you alone. And if you do not do it, the rest of us must go without that which you should have produced. The interrelationships. God gives His Blessings to you through others, and He would give His Blessings to others through you. This is one of the deep and sacred joys which we feel and know, as we stand at The Thrilling Threshold of a New Day.
The Spirit of God is in you now, and we have the proof that it is so; for the Spirit of God is characterized by the Spirit of Love, the Spirit of Truth, and the Spirit of Life. And you are alive, or you could not have entered this room tonight. The Spirit of Life is in you now, and it is the Spirit of God. And if your mind can comprehend any beauty, realize any opportunity, recognize any privilege, discharge any responsibility, the Spirit of Truth is in you now; and the Spirit of Truth is the Spirit of God. And if you can feel anything of Love for God, or for anyone, anywhere, if you can feel anything sweet, whole, holy and wholesome, the Spirit of Love is in you now; and the Spirit of Love is the Spirit of God. We do not have to get the Spirit of God to come into us by some strange and fantastic means. The Spirit of God is in us now.
The question is, “How shall we let the Spirit of God express through our bodies and minds and hearts?” for your body was created to let the Spirit of Life have meaning on earth, and your body is important—not merely as some kind of a garment or channel—it is important as the revelation of the Spirit of Life from God, and it is important as a Temple, an enduring Temple of God with form on earth. And your mind was established in your body as a means by which the Spirit of Truth might work on earth and find expression in all those things for which you are responsible in the living of your life. And your heart, or emotional nature, was given to you, and established in your body, to the end that the Spirit of God's Love might find expression in you and through you to others, in the activity that we call life, in the expression of the art of living by which we may know the Victory and share the fulfilment of—what? Of ourselves as human beings, trying somehow to struggle upward to God? Ah, no. The Victory, and fulfilment of God Himself, as we let that which is of God come down out of Heaven into the earth and find expression through us in our daily living, that in thought, in word, in deed, and in attitude, we may allow something to come down from God out of Heaven into the earth, establishing the atmosphere of Heaven on earth, establishing the conditions of Heaven on earth. For the Kingdom, the Control, the Dominion of Heaven, is at hand, within reach and available to you now, in this hour.
So let it be, that the working of the Spirit of God in you and through you may glorify the Source of that Spirit and be a Blessing to the children of men; for as we are gathered together before the Throne of God we recognize with one accord in this one place that Thine, O Father, is the Kingdom here and now, and the Power by which all these things are being and shall be accomplished, and the Glory of fulfilment which we have known, are about to know, and shall know in the days to come, now and forever. So let it be, in the Shekinah of His Presence, in the Spirit of the Living Christ. So let it be. Aum-en.
In The Fire — Continuum
Grace Van Duzen September 12, 1999
Initiation—4,000 years ago—a real beginning in history as we know it. There was plenty that went on before that, but Abraham was a great pioneer, and it was the initiation of his ministry which opened the door for everything that followed. The Word he received, which was his Initiation, was the beginning of a Body. Uranda always emphasized the fact that Abraham accepted a Great Promise. This is true with each of us—or should be. There is a tendency to say, "Oh, not one person, insignificant me." He didn't say that. And what he initiated was the source of the religions we know today. No one of them can take the credit. They all came from that: Jewish, Christian, Muslim. It wasn't the way it was meant to be. It was meant to stay One Holy Thing—and there must come a time when it all comes together. This is the time.
The word that Abraham heard was: "And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered." That's a lot of people!—without number. People may say, "Well so many people would fit on this earth, and so many people would have to disappear," and all the rest. Nobody knows! My emphasis here is on the word seed. Here was a seed planted, and everything is contained in that seed. It's a miracle. And the design is in the seed, the way it grows, everything. This was true with the seed which Abraham brought. "Without number." His great-grandchildren included the twelve sons of Jacob, the children of Israel. This is the seed that would be magnified and fill the whole world. It was the same message Uranda heard sixty-seven years ago. Why is it the same message? It was for the Whole Body. Here was the recognition and acceptance of the Grand Commission that a Body needed to be formed. Through every age and every generation there have been individuals who were attuned to the Lord, and they contributed mightily to what is possible now—every single one, every act of love—but this was a recognition that there had to be a Body.
There was a renewal of that seed 2,000 years after Abraham. Why a renewal? There was failure. But there was also Victory. There was enough substance to allow something to be there 2,000 years later so that the Greatest One of All could come into the earth. There was substance through that first endeavor, or it could not have happened. So I emphasize the victories.Yes, there were failures, and a sad failure. It could have carried all the way through, but something was there for another seed to be initiated. The same seed, in essence, but on the next level of the spiral. This is what we need to keep in mind: that there is movement, not just from that seed to the next seed, but now in this time. There is a wonder connected with that second seed when our Master came. The wonder that He could come into the earth—but the fact that substance was carried over from the first was shown by the presence of some here on earth who were aware of His coming and ready to welcome Him. This shows something of the substance that was carried through from the first seed. It was all there in response to the Lord.
Jesus emphasized the Body, the Vine, which He was and is. There were countless victories throughout the time that was initiated by the Master. Failures, oh yes, but something has been brought to this point 2,000 years later. So we had Jesus 2,000 years after Abraham, and here we are, 2,000 years after Jesus, the seed on the higher spiral. But there isn't time for seeds to be sown over and over. This is it. There is one parable of Jesus where he speaks of the last days—last of a certain thing that needed to disappear; not of the earth, not of its people—not if we have anything to do with it. Right? There were victories as well as failures, not just during the time when Jesus was here but since then in every generation. And today, with our media, there is great emphasis on the wrong things—violence. But there is wonderful response in the Body, we could say the Vibrational Ark—the Vine. These three seeds are actually One Seed—necessary Initiations to bring something again to focus.
I shall read something from The Vibrational Ark, which was spoken 22 years after Uranda's Initiation, but it was given one month, exactly, before his departure from this realm—delivered on July 4, 1954, and he left on August 4, 1954: "God planted a Garden eastward in Eden. It does not say He transplanted something already formed from another place into the earth. We see those who neglect what God has planted, and with a frenzy try to plant their own seed and cause it to grow, and the seed from God never has a chance to sprout. The seed is already here. It is for us to provide the right atmosphere for its growing. It is for us to dress it, to give it form, to let it grow and come to the point of harvest, and keep it, not throw it away, not let it be meaningless in the days of our yesterdays." That wording strikes me, "in the days of our yesterdays."
It is the time of harvest, and a harvest cannot appear without constant growth. The parable refers to the time of harvest, when the seeds that had been planted would come to harvest. There were wonderful seeds planted by the Lord in His fields. Also the devil planted seeds. And it was said that at the time of harvest the harvest for the Lord would be garnered into His barn and the rest would be gathered into bundles and burned in the Fire. A barn may not be a very exotic name. Another name for it is the Temple of the Living God. And the Fire is present in each one. That's where the Fire is. Do we look for it to come from the sky somewhere? The Fire is present and that Fire is Love.
Where am I in the Fire? This depends on whether the gathering is into the Lord's Temple or burned in the Fire. We have heard that there is a Core where the Blue Flame is cool, where man is created to be with God. There is a process of taking care of the dross, but man was never meant to be in that level. It has to do with eating of the forbidden tree. From the Center, the Core, there is heat, and it changes distortions. In the world and in all the Cosmos there has to be some balancing factor, but man's consciousness was never created to be there, but to abide with the Lord at the Core. So, it is a time of revealing the harvest from the seeds. We are not to get out there and try to decide what the seeds are. We have no idea, none at all. Let them grow to the time of harvest. Let the seeds sprout. Let them grow together. The weeds will come up with the wheat. Then the Fire takes care of it in each one, and all together. Trying to do something about it would always make it worse. And it doesn't mean that we're sitting around waiting for something to happen. We are the instruments for God's action.
The Fire is burning. This is the time of harvest, and I'm sure that that Fire is felt, not as heat necessarily but as an urgency—"I'd better get on with my life, I'd better do something here." There may be a feeling even of not having enough time to finish it. But this is the pressure. Welcome pressure in the Cool of the Fire, in the Center of the Flame. And there are many in the world—we don't know how many, and we certainly can't figure it out, or need to—many in the heat of the Flame. It is called hellfire by those who are in it. You know, there is only One Fire. Where I am in it determines the nature of the Fire, and that Fire needs to increase to let the job get done.
I'm going to mention Martin's name in conjunction with Uranda. They were always in complete agreement. I'll go back to this Word at the end of what I quoted from Uranda on July 4, 1954, when he said not to throw it away, or let it be meaningless in the days of our yesterdays. To me, that's the key. It speaks of continuum. It speaks of something that is not sporadic, that is not allowed to lapse or fall down or fail again. This is a time for carrying through in the harvest. It must have meaning in the days of our yesterdays.
This reminds me of the last line in that beautiful 23rd Psalm: "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." That has always struck me. If something is following me, it has to be there. I must have put it there, if it's going to follow me. There is the continuum. What will follow me is what is trailing after me, what I did yesterday. That is what will follow me. So, do I allow it to carry over? Anyone can respond and begin anytime—now. There's no judgment if it took us a while. But the thing is, can it carry over? That is the only way it can grow, the only way the seed can come to harvest, the days of our yesterdays have meaning. And it isn't always being tempted—there comes a point where it isn't there—what was a temptation, and the spirit does it. Abiding in that place, there is the continuum. And the result of those words, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life," is: "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever," in the Father's barn, His Temple. Praise the Lord.
