Conscious Leadership — Melchizedek
Yujin Pak October 24, 2021 Seoul, South Korea
Today we have several young adults here, and I am particularly glad for your presence. As I mentioned previously, our program here in Korea is beginning a new cycle, and I am offering four services for four Sundays in a row. This is our second one. One essential quality of this new cycle is this: Up to now the Art of Living School has offered a great deal of nurturing and care, and through that a great deal of growth has happened in people, transformation, awakening, and healing. In essence, the time of principally providing a lot of nurturing and care is completed, and there’s another phase we’re moving into now.
The purpose of nurturing and care, or being ministered unto, is to reach a point where we can provide ministering for others, provide care and nurturing for others. Our focus more overtly will be on assisting people to be those who care for others and minister unto others. The purpose of receiving serving is to be a server. Because in our program we did a lot of what we call Time Travel, sometimes people have erroneously thought that our program is for those who need healing. Healing in this way is a very secondary goal or purpose, but at times people have confused that secondary purpose as being the primary. Perhaps we will do less such Time Travel processes in the days ahead.
So for whom is the Art of Living School, if not for those who are wounded, needing healing and care? The Art of Living School exists for those who desire and seek to provide leadership for the world. The purpose of the Art of Living School is not individual happiness, achievement or healing. Those may happen as a by-product, incidentally, but they are not the main purpose of the Art of Living School. The Art of Living School’s purpose is the emergence of Being within each individual. The emergence of Being individually first and then collectively--this is the purpose of the Art of Living School. So I want to make the purpose of our program crystal clear as we begin this new phase.
If the purpose is not individual happiness, individual achievement and healing, it’s possible there are some who may realize, “Oh, this is not for me then,” and also others who may not be attracted if it’s not for this. But it doesn’t mean that there is no caring, no nurturing, no “ministering unto” within our program. For each person in the process of awakening there is a period of time in which there is a need to be ministered unto, in order to learn to minister. But it is essential that the time of primarily receiving ministering not be too long.
Many years ago Martin asked this question of those who were with him. In a way I ask the same question today here in Korea of those who are moving with us. He asked the question, “Must I minister unto you, or will you stand with me and minister unto the world?” As I said, there’s a time in which to be ministered unto and to learn ministering, and that’s important. But what is emphasized is that we stand together increasingly and minister unto the world together. Jesus spoke these words, “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” Buddha took a similar attitude. He did not want his students and disciples to remain students and disciples forever, but to awaken sufficiently to do the work with him of awakening others.
That we reach a point where we stand on our own feet and no longer need ministering, but provide ministering, does not mean that now we will scatter all over the place and do our own thing, including our own ministering. The meaning is: When we have come to stand TO minister truly on our own two feet as leaders in our own right, then is there something truly for us to do together. Until then what could happen, as we truly stood as ministers, could not happen. When such individuals, no longer needing to be ministered unto, stand up together, then a larger work is possible. Jesus referred to this in these words: “Greater works than these shall he do.” When the disciples of Jesus were merely students following him, it was only he, Jesus, who was doing the works. But when those individuals, disciples, would stand as rightful leaders--awakened, mature, on their own, as servers--then greater works would be possible.
Today here in the room we have several truly bright young leaders. Looking at you, I think of me 40 years ago. I was 26 in 1981 and did a two-month class. This was a time when I completed my education and came to a place of accepting responsibility. What occurred for me in that two-month class was the ending of my spiritual education. In the course of that class a transformation occurred in my consciousness where I accepted fully the responsibility, the commission, to be a server, a minister, for this world. That class was a time in which the resolve settled inside of me to stand with Martin, and with others also who had come into this world to provide the Leadership of Light.
I came also to have a deep new vision: a vision of a conscious body comprised of conscious individuals or Beings. What I came to understand was that throughout history there has always been such a body of conscious Beings present on earth, sometimes very few in number, sometimes more, but that they contributed continually to the lifting and evolution of human consciousness. At age 26, I became aware that, without doubt, most of the creative changes in human history emerged from the presence of these individuals. Because of the presence of these individuals and the vibrational ministering they provided—leadership they provided—human consciousness did not descend, but little by little rose over time. As I came to understand how important such vibrational leadership--though largely invisible—was and is currently to humanity, in comparison nothing else was more important.
Regarding such vibrational and somewhat invisible leadership, I want to touch on one figure in history and through that, speak a little more about the nature of this function of leadership. This figure is recorded in the Bible, perhaps one of the most mysterious figures that appear in the Bible: Melchizedek, who is spoken of as “righteous king of Salem.” The significance of this in history is that he is the one who blessed Abraham, whom I have described before as the father of three of the main religions in the world today: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In their encounter recorded in the Bible, Melchizedek blesses Abraham and Abraham offers gifts to Melchizedek, one tenth of his belongings. In the record about Melchizedek it is said that Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, is a man “without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually,” or eternally. “Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life,” a priest forever. People reading this at times have thought perhaps he was a godlike being. But the meaning and significance of Melchizedek, with these attributes described, is as a symbol for each one of us. “Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God,” or daughter of God. This is a description of who WE are.
But of course we can say, “But I do have a father and a mother and a birthday, and obviously likely I will have an end somewhere.” But the point is: Is that who we are? What is our identity and status? Several days ago I had occasion to mentor someone to whom I said, “Regarding your status and identity, you do not belong to your father, your mother, your ancestry, as you have thought.” Like Melchizedek, our ancestry and descent is not of our earthly history. We too did not have a beginning, nor do we have an end. Made like unto the son and daughter of God, we abide as a part of the priesthood eternally. When we become truly conscious of our identity, we come to know this to be the truth. We are priests eternally. Uranda said something to that effect.
The story of Melchizedek took place 3,500 years ago. There has been debate as to whether this is a mythical figure or a historical figure. But over time because of the extent of the specificity of the detail of the events, more have construed this is a historical event and a historical figure. Several weeks ago I gave a service in which I spoke about another figure--this time in Korean ancient history—HwanOong, who presumably was the origination of the Korean people, something in the range of 4,200 years ago. HwanOong presumably came into the earth 4,200 years ago, as the story goes, on top of a high mountain and opened a new cycle, which Koreans see as the beginning of the Korean nation. My guess is that quite possibly this is a combination of myth as well as some historical base, the specific nature of which is hard now to discern. In drawing some parallels between HwanOong and Melchizedek, both were individuals who brought something of the eternal, the divine, into this world and opened a new cycle. In the story of Melchizedek, what is described as a single act of blessing Abraham is what opened a new cycle for humanity.
Melchizedek blessed Abraham. What is contained in this one act of blessing? The fact of this one act recorded in that way indicates this blessing offered by Melchizedek to Abraham was no ordinary blessing. It was vibrationally the initiation of something very large. This blessing offered to Abraham is a symbol of the vibrational ministry, blessing and leadership offered by what I described as the conscious body of awake individuals on earth throughout its history. Melchizedek is not a figure that has become very outwardly known, and yet he brought that blessing and leadership. So Melchizedek’s blessing is a symbol of the vibrational leadership offered by what is, to a large extent, an invisible core of individuals on earth.
The Art of Living School, the Emissaries—all these are just outer forms. What we are touching through the form of the Art of Living School or Emissaries, or whatever other outer form, is the reality of vibrational leadership that brings influence and transformation in the world. In the Art of Living School here in Korea in the past three months we went through a very large cycle with various events. What was important in the cycle, beyond what was visible outwardly in form, was the vibrational leadership or blessing offered through the events.
Another way to describe a conscious body of Beings is “conscious priests or priestesses.” Historically the words priest / priesthood have been polluted quite a bit. Largely the words priest or priesthood are correlated with religion. Religious priesthood is something entirely different from vibrational priesthood. What we are speaking of here is not religious priesthood, but the reality of those who actually provide the function of vibrational priesthood. My purpose personally is to assist in the awakening and coming into place of such individuals, to provide that vibrational priesthood function.
Recently I have heard some people say, “Yujin, what you have been speaking in services recently is very high and a little difficult.” While I have heard such comments, what has become clear to me is that I must not filter too much what I need to truly convey. There is also an awareness in me that there’s not time to filter too much, and I need to say it straight out for those who can understand. When I was 26 and came to vision and clarity, it was about this: The function of the priesthood of Light in history and today.
One of the functions of such an awakened body of individuals is the provision of a collective Holy Place for the world. A few months ago we touched on the theme of personal sanctuary, the individual Holy Place in us, and the importance of it. I think all of you know quite clearly how important the personal holy space, sacred space, is for you. All of you have had the experience that it is only as there is the personal sacred space, Holy Place, can the “Being that I am” have a place in which to breathe and be at home. The Holy Place in us individually is the home of the Being that we are. Without the Holy Place, the Being that we are has no home. But beyond the individual Holy Place, there is a Holy Place for the entire world that is needed also, vibrationally. The collective Holy Place is the presence principally of a collective of conscious individuals in oneness. That provides the vibrational Holy Place for the world. It can sometimes have a physical reflection in form on earth or in a number of places, but firstly it’s the vibrational presence. For example, our home here in Seoul is a sample of a collective Holy Place for a range of people. If this home was not present, some would feel something was absent. The union or oneness of conscious servers that together provide a Holy Place for the world. Such collectives are probably present in groups of varieties of size throughout the world, providing that holy space in truly transparent ways, or not so transparent ways but in their own ways, and all of that is important.
Remember: We are “without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning… nor end.” If any of you have some regret about your ancestry or descendancy, let it go. That’s not where your identity is. We are ultimately timeless Beings present here on earth to provide the vibrational reality and blessing from the Beings we truly are. Having awakened to this 40 years ago in 1981, I convey this on to you. Bright young adult leaders that you are, it’s your turn now. And those of you sharing together through Zoom and YouTube, the same applies to the eternal youth that you are. Let us offer the vibrational blessing from Heaven into the earth.
I think of the moment when Melchizedek and Abraham met. What is it that occurred as Melchizedek offered the blessing to Abraham? Melchizedek invited Abraham into a place where time had disappeared. In that moment through Melchizedek, Abraham met all that was beyond time. Speaking of it differently, it was a meeting with the Cosmos and with God. Melchizedek provided the channel for that encounter, the connection to the Eternal. Today in this moment, we are connected into that same place where time has disappeared, because time has disappeared. Being is just one, beyond time, beyond space. Such individuals who provided that link were present before Melchizedek also. By what name they were called, we won’t go into that today, but there were those who provided that link, even before Abraham. So we continue that lineage of timeless, eternal priesthood. The Priesthood of Light is present outside of time and enters into time, throughout time, as needed. Today we are together present to provide that entry point again. What I speak of is of a very high nature and perhaps not easy to understand, but it’s not important to understand it intellectually. Allow something to be seeded at the feeling level and that’s enough. Have a wonderful timeless day today!
transcribed by Luanne Somers and Suzanne Core
