If sound is to be heard there must be a medium through which it is propagated. There has been pretty much of a vacuum insofar as the essential medium for the propagation of the Tone is concerned. And, while the Source is present it remains unheard because of the lack of the essential medium in this dimensional world. Air is not the only medium for the propagation of sound here on earth; it's propagated through water—liquid—and solid in some measure; but principally we are interested in air, because this is the way we perceive sound. The ear provides us with an instrument by which we can discern the sound waves in the air around us. Air is the symbol of spirit. We recognize that the second day of creation permitted the formation of what was called the firmament, which was called heaven—and the second force of the four forces is air. Here is the development of a substance which connected the waters which were above and the waters which were below. It divided the waters from the waters; however whatever divides also connects. Here was some fine substance, which we have called pneumaplasm, to provide the means by which the truth of the dimensionless realm might be connected with the truth of the dimensional realm—waters above and waters below.
Unless there is an adequate amount of this connecting substance the Tone won't be heard to any great extent. And unless the connecting substance is of the right consistency, pure and clear, what comes through will tend to be distorted or muted, so it must be the right medium—a sea of glass clear as crystal. Then the Tone may sound. And it's not only a sound—the word sound is used as a way of conveying an idea—because the Tone relates to every level of consciousness. It is a sound, it is a sight, it is an aroma, it is something to be felt; all the various means of discernment are required to encompass the Tone. It is a Seven-Dimensional Tone. If we only become aware of it on one dimensional level we haven't really heard the Tone yet. As long as life remains in the flesh of the individual physical body there is some of this substance permitting the connection to be maintained with the Tone—a certain amount of the medium of connection. Only when the Silver Cord is loosed, when the medium of connection in its focalized expression is no longer sufficient to convey the sound of the Tone, is the body dead. The composition of the body is still a part of what is present in this dimensional world and therefore partakes of the life that is present in this dimensional world, but no longer specifically in that form.
Obviously there is a need for the generation of this connecting substance so that the Tone may begin to be heard more clearly and accurately here in the world where we are—it's only a Tone to us when it is heard. The Source of the Tone is present and emanates from the dimensionless state. It could be described as a Tone in the dimensionless state; the vibration is there, but it doesn't mean too much here in the dimensional world until that Tone is translated into dimensional vibration. To do that this pneumaplasmic substance is essential—pneumaplasmic substance of the right consistency and clarity to allow the Tone to be heard. That right consistency and clarity has a relatedness to what is spoken of as a pure heart. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall be aware of the Tone sounding in the dimensional world because the substance, the medium by which the sound is propagated, is present—then it may be heard. We may see clearly enough that if there isn't that substance present, adequately clear and to a sufficient extent, then a person simply is not in position to hear the Tone. In such case it would be useless to amplify the Tone to any conceivable extent and expect that person to hear anything. The substance must be present in the person if the Tone is to be perceived by that person.
If there is someone present in whom there is adequate substance so that the Tone is sounding, then there may be something of a transference of substance to the other person, if there is any openness of response, so that while that other person is present with the one through whom the Tone is being released he may hear it. But as soon as he goes out of that person's presence and the substance is no longer available the sound vanishes, and then the individual says, “Well that was just a dream; I thought I heard something then but it didn't really amount to anything.” This has been the experience of all of you in your contacts with people. And you yourselves may at some point have had that experience, so that the sound of the Tone may have been discerned for a moment but then it vanished—and when it vanished it didn't seem to be real anymore to you. The more generation of pneumaplasm there is the louder the Tone sounds; not that there is any more Tone sounding but that there is more medium through which it is being propagated.
The Tone, the Shekinah, the Christ, the Lamb, the Word, has always been. “The same was in the beginning with God.” It has always been sounding dimensionlessly speaking, and obviously some of it's been getting through without being damped down. There must have been adequate pneumaplasm present, universally speaking, to permit what has transpired to be the way it is. But we are concerned with what is happening in human experience, what is happening insofar as we and others are concerned. We see the importance of the generation of this medium of connection between the dimensionless state and the dimensional state. Insofar as human beings are concerned, if the purpose of man is to be experienced, that medium must be in place. It must be generated in the required quantity and in the required consistency, so that it is on hand and the Tone can be clearly discerned by everyone. This hasn't been the case for a long time, but is once again beginning to emerge, simply because there is more of the essential medium of connection.
We have considered this matter of connecting substance—pneumaplasm—in various ways. It is generated out of the flesh of our own bodies, so obviously it relates to every level in this dimensional realm. Insofar as the human being is concerned the flesh is at the first level, and there are successive levels or Planes of Being besides the physical, for we live in what is describable as a Seven-Plane World. Out of the flesh, at the first level, pneumaplasm is generated on the basis of response to God. Here is the activating means by which this substance may emerge, ascending, to provide the medium of connection at each succeeding level so that the true Tone, in the dimensionless sense, may sound and resound through all seven levels. It's only the True Tone when it is doing so—it is only then complete. If it is just sounding through one or two levels it's incomplete and doesn't give a true experience of the real nature of the Tone. The Tone is rightly differentiated sevenfold in this sense. When we speak of this seven it's more or less an arbitrary definition to convey an idea, because there is no break between tones, or between levels, where the Tone is sounding. The vibration is continuous.
So we are concerned with the generation of the essential pneumaplasm of the right consistency so that there may be provision in this regard at every level, and when this is so, the Tone can sound at every level and the Whole Tone then becomes apparent. This relates to Holiness—the Holy Ghost. The ghost is seen as referring to this substance which we have called pneumaplasm. And the Holy Ghost is a Whole Ghost, not just bits and pieces of a ghost, which is an incomplete ghost and consequently an unholy ghost.
Incompleteness is sometimes referred to as evil. In the Lord's Prayer the statement was made, “Deliver us from evil”—deliver us from incompleteness. We need to be whole. Let us not imagine that we can be holy if we are incomplete. The only thing that produces completeness is the sounding of the Tone, but the Tone can't sound so that it has any effect in this dimensional world, in relationship to dimensional people, unless there is the essential substance available at every level. Then we can dwell in the Secret Place of the Most High and abide under the Shadow of the Almighty. So there's no use searching around for the Tone—lo here and lo there—as though we could find it lurking somewhere. The only way we become aware of the Tone is because there is the substance through which it is sounding present in ourselves. If it isn't in ourselves we're not aware of the Tone. Obviously it is in ourselves to some extent now, because we are aware of the Tone in terms of being alive—that much anyway. We know there must be more to life than merely being aware that we are alive, and the more relates to the sounding of the Tone through the substance of pneumaplasm at every level of this dimensional state in us.
You can see how essential it is that we should refrain from judging in the matter, judging others certainly, or even judging ourselves, because how much substance is there? How much of the Tone is present and sounding, either in ourselves or in somebody else? It's not a matter of judging—it's a matter of continuing to generate the substance clear and pure and right so that there may be the increased means for the sounding of a balanced Tone. Then the Holy Ghost may come upon us. And when that happens there is power. “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you”—after the Tone is sounding through an adequate pattern of pneumaplasm within you—then that is the Tone sounding in this dimensional world. And it is that sounding in this dimensional world that engenders the effects that put in an appearance rightly at each step of the creative process. We can trust the Tone that this will occur. So here is the necessity of permitting a proper generation of the essential substance which connects spirit with form, connects the dimensionless with the dimensional.
It is in the sounding of that Tone externally that there is the provision for a person to begin to find a point of orientation toward the source of the Tone. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.” Each person in the final analysis is responsible for the generation of his or her own pneumaplasm—the medium of connection. Only when a person begins to become quiet, begins to let go, is not frantically trying to get anything, can there begin to be the possibility of sensing the Tone.
What is the Tone?—that's the point. There is something that was recorded for us of the words of Jesus, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given unto it,” because a sign cannot be given to a wicked and an adulterous generation. The wickedness and the adultery relate to the fact that those concerned are self-centeredly subject to their reactions to the material world, and as long as an individual is in that state there is no sign. “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.” The whole story of Jonah related to the sounding of the Tone which, to start with, he rejected. The point is that the only sign is the sounding of the Tone, and a wicked and an adulterous generation doesn't hear the sounding of the Tone, so there is no sign—easily understood! To begin to discern the sign is to begin to discern the Tone.
The initial discernment of the Tone relates to the sounding of the Tone through somebody else, or others; then the individual may begin to orient in that direction instead of being oriented in the state of wickedness and adultery, subject to the material world by reason of all his feeling involvements with it. As long as he is in that state he is looking the wrong way, he can't discern the Tone, so there is no sign. But when he turns around because there is a point of orientation provided for him, then he begins to be centered toward the Tone, and his feelings are no longer constantly being activated by all the things that are going on in the material world. His emotions settle down; there begins to be something of a calm. And here is the beginning generation of the essential medium of connection—generated when the individual ceases to be all emotionally involved with everything that's going on around him.
Becoming centered toward the Tone, the flesh begins to generate the essential substance of pneumaplasm and, because this is so, the individual begins to discern the Tone in himself. For a while he may see it as being almost entirely over there somewhere with respect to others who are revealing the Tone. But somewhere along the line he needs to become aware of the fact that the Tone is not merely out there but is in here too, so that there may be a conscious increase of the expression of that Tone. The conscious increase of the expression of that Tone intensifies the generation of the pneumaplasm, and so the Tone becomes more clearly heard. Our concern is to maintain the heaven, so that there may be the generation of the essential substance and therefore the increased awareness of the Tone. There can't be an increased awareness of the Tone without the substance.
There are those who feel that we need to have a maintained atmosphere in us and all around us so that this can happen so nicely—don't anybody rock the boat! But if one is only capable of maintaining this right atmosphere, of maintaining the generation of the pneumaplasm, when everything is hunky-dory, one won't maintain it for very long. The supreme example of what is required again comes to point through the experience of Jesus, because no matter what happened to Him the firmament was never dissipated insofar as He was concerned. He never changed character, no matter what stress He was under. So it isn't a matter of having the external environment just right, or the way one thinks would be right to maintain the required state; it's a matter of being capable of maintaining that regardless of the external environment. On another occasion, He was asleep in a boat, getting some rest, when a storm arose and the disciples became all disturbed about the storm. They woke Him up and said, “Look what's happening.” “O ye of little faith!” The storm doesn't need to penetrate into the firmament. In fact if there is a real firmament there it can't—there is no way it can get in.
As there is the increased generation of pneumaplasm and it's kept safe, never allowed to be dissipated, the Tone sounds louder in the individual; but if there are more and more individuals who are allowing this to happen the Tone sounds louder collectively speaking, and it may be loud enough to awaken those who seem to be dead, but aren't really. Here is Gabriel's Trump. It's been sounding a long, long time insofar as the dimensionless state is concerned, but it hasn't been heard on earth because there was no medium to propagate that sound. But as soon as that begins to be here the sound increases in volume and ultimately no one can avoid hearing it. They may not think it's the sound of Gabriel's Trump, mind you, but it will have an effect, and some of those effects will bring forth the resurrection into life and others of those effects bring forth the resurrection of damnation. There are two kinds. But it's all consequent upon the sounding of the Tone, which has been absent from the experience of the world for all these millennia past.
There is no precedent of what is experienced when this Tone begins to sound again in volume.
Well let's find out because we let it happen.
We are delighted to abide in quietness and confidence, permitting the generation of the essential pneumaplasm and rejoicing in the increased sound of the Tone that we thereby know, and that others begin to know, miraculously. We see it happening in some measure already—people coming awake, maybe some coming awake that we've known for a long time and we've seen them slumbering away. But one fine day there they are, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed! What a glorious thing! What a glorious thing! What greater joy could there be than to participate in the sounding of the Tone because we make very sure that there is plenty of air present in which that Tone may vibrate. Whatever substance is present in others will then begin to vibrate with increasing intensity also and they come alive.
We rejoice to welcome our brothers and sisters home to what is in fact the Kingdom—the Kingdom of the True Design and Control of Love. Because this Tone sounds, because this awakening takes place, because the changes are brought to pass, all things are made new, inexorably, inevitably. Nobody can stop it. What greater privilege can there be than to participate in this process, to the glory of God and to the blessing of His children on earth.
I rejoice to have shared another beautiful evening with you, both in the generation of the connecting substance and in the consequent intensification of the sounding of the Tone. It is unlike sound in the ordinary sense. This connecting substance, wherever it may be present, is part of the whole of that connecting substance, so that a sound generated here in that substance sounds in the substance wherever it is the world around. It is not a matter of geography. We are concerned with a different level of experience. While the substance is generated out of the flesh, it permeates all levels of consciousness, and so we find ourselves connected to that same substance wherever it may be. What is done here, or wherever you may be in the sounding of the Tone, is done everywhere—the Tone sounds everywhere. As yet it is not heard by everyone, but to some extent it is certainly having an effect on everyone. And that effect is perfect. Let's not judge it.
The whole dimensional creation and the undimensional Creator are eternally connected in the overall sense by spiritual substance. There is consequently a basic stability here, always in operation. This foundation, by which a general direction and control are exerted into the dimensional creation, maintains a balance, but it is also drawn to focus in various ways throughout the realm of spiritual substance, that there might be more specific action.
One focus in this regard was called MAN. Of course here is a very minute point in the overall creation; nevertheless here is something specific for a specific purpose. The primary substance of Man—and I am not speaking particularly of human beings as they now are, but of Man—is this spiritual substance connecting the undimensional Creator with the dimensional creation. We have called this, amongst other things, the substance of the Garden. It does indicate very clearly, if we recognize the fact in our own experience, that Man is rightly the connecting link between undimensional Creator and dimensional creation within the range of his field of responsibility. Man in his true state has been absent—AWOL. We have been concerned to let Man be restored in our own experience, male and female, simply because we find ourselves without any alternative.
Some of you may have imagined at times that you had a choice in the matter. You don't, really. The idea of the human choice is somewhat of a figment of fancy. People move the way they move because of the character of response that is present in them. In the present human nature state people are like puppets. They are constantly being stimulated by external impacts of various sorts, many of them of a hereditary nature, but certainly the environment plays a prominent part. The pinpricks of the environment make human beings jump, and sometimes they are more than pinpricks. But there are these constant stimuli which are brought to bear upon human beings in their present state, causing them to act the way they act. This is rationalized sometimes to make it seem as though they are intelligent, but it is not the fact of the matter. The fact of the matter is that human beings in their present state are governed and controlled by the stimuli to which they react. To make it seem better they explain it intellectually, but it doesn't make any difference to the fact: there is this puppet condition.
There are all kinds of stimulus, judged to be good, bad and indifferent. It is, for instance, suggested that one might well be spiritually inspired; in other words some spiritual stimulus may be brought to bear on a human being and he will jump accordingly. There is a political stimulus being brought to bear to cause human beings to jump accordingly. If it requires someone to be present to supply the stimulus to make us jump—whether it be spiritual, political or any other—then we are being governed by our reaction to the stimulus. The stimulus is external; it impinges upon us; it makes human nature jump. Some are inclined to be a little self-satisfied because they can be stimulated by what they deem to be spiritual stimuli. Recognizing this, we would have to acknowledge the subjugated state of human beings in the world, ourselves included heretofore. I suspect there are stimuli that make you jump even now. Is what I am saying this morning providing a stimulus for you to jump? If so, then obviously you are still subject to external stimuli. We are not here to be stimulated in this sense. We are here—if we accept the responsibility of being Man—to provide the connecting link between the Creator and His creation, the only place where human beings actually belong. When you are where you belong you know it. If we're out of position we're out of position because we have been bumped out of position by the external stimuli and we are therefore subject to the external stimuli. The only way by which one might be restored to the true experience of Man is to stop being bumped around by the external stimuli.
There is this basic underlying stability, because there is this substance of connection in the overall sense insofar as the whole universe is concerned. At the level of that substance, even in this part of the universe where human beings are out of place, this stability is a fact. There is a built-in stability present. The course of wisdom is to let go, to stop trying to make things work the way human beings want them to work. Let everything be restored to this basic stability. There is the need to let go to the basic stability of life itself, the stability that is present by reason of the connecting substance between undimensional Creator and dimensional creation, which is there regardless of human beings. If we learn to stop trying to make things work the way we think they should work and let go, let our human nature have a hands-off policy, we will find that the basic stability of life will restore a balance.
Letting go is the first principle indicated to anyone who begins to make an approach toward spiritual reality. This was the indication that was given by Jesus when He said that it was necessary to become as a little child. Let go! The human approach to spiritual things has all too often simply been an intellectual approach, trying to figure out what it was all about. Theology: spiritual things are now going to be forced to conform to some human theory or other. The person who identifies himself with the human theory will discover that spirit can't be contained in that theory indefinitely. It can't be! The theory will be shattered. You can't put new wine into old bottles without the bottles bursting and the wine being spilled. People are always trying to force life into the theoretical confines of their own beliefs, beliefs of all kinds—and life is supposed to work according to “my beliefs.” Those beliefs relate to what it is the individual wants, what he is looking for to provide him with fulfilment, satisfaction, a worthwhile state, and he crashes every time. He keeps on struggling with the controls until it's too late. “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth”—while there is plenty of space underneath. So let go!
Now that's a start! One begins to discover that there is a built-in control, there is a built-in stability, and one may begin to associate oneself with that built-in stability instead of trying to superimpose one's own views in the matter, which are never by any chance right. We may need an instructor, but the instructor is not going to be there forever, is he? You'll never learn to fly an airplane if you have to have an instructor beside you all the time. You are never going to learn to live if you have to be stimulated by the instructor. You have to come to the point where it is an automatic thing in yourself to do this and not do that. No one has to tell you anymore. The connection is beginning to emerge again and the person consequently is coming out of the student state into the actual experience of living. The actual experience of living doesn't require external stimulation. You have an experience of life moving through you in this moment. Can you find where the stimulation of life is? Can you locate it somewhere? No, it's simply a matter of awareness of life.
Let us settle down—let go! Of course in our own experience we should have moved a little further than merely letting go. We are here to provide a means of the creative action of the Creator. Only the Creator can function on the basis of creative action. Human beings off on their own can't do it! One only knows what the reality is in the actual experience of doing whatever it is, and we're here to do, in the sense of living, providing the connection between Creator and creation. This connection extends the control and direction of the Creator to the creation in a specific sense, rather than only in this overall generalized sense—that's what we are here for! Our concern is to extend this direction and control. This is only possible to the extent that there is the substance which connects the Creator and the creation. We must ourselves be functioning from the standpoint of that substance, and extending the creative action because the substance is there.
From the standpoint of the Creator there has always been radiation, the means for creative action. It's always been present and operative because of the spiritual substance which connects Creator and creation in the overall sense. Things work the way they work because of this connecting substance. Because there is the creative action there is the sustaining of the material universe by reason of this connecting substance through which the undimensional spirit of the Creator may act at that particular level, and things always work on the basis of this connection. But something new comes into the picture in this little corner of the universe when Man is in place, because here is a specific means for bringing to focus the creative action. But for that creative action to work there must be the substance present through which it can work, and this requires the generationandintensification of substance at different levels than merely that which is on hand in the overall sense. In the overall sense everything works the way it works. As it comes into focus it works in specific ways. As human beings we don't know very much about this because we have been out of position for so long, but we begin to find out as we let it happen.
So there is the generation of substance which ascends to higher vibratory levels, thereby permitting increasingly specific action—moving out of the generalized action into the increasingly specific, and we have a particular field of responsibility, as Man, in this regard; something that from the human standpoint has been long forgotten. The understanding comes on the basis of the actual experience of the radiation and response in this substance—the radiation, the action of spirit on the one hand, and response to spirit on the other hand. This response to spirit is not so that one might be stimulated by spirit; it is so that one might be in position to express spirit. We're not waiting for something to come down to us from God out of heaven to stimulate us, give us a shock of some kind, so that we jump. Our position is not that of being stimulated. Our position is that of providing the stimulus in the creative process.
We begin to associate ourselves with that stimulus on the basis of what is called passionate response. It is the depth and intensity of that response which determines the extent and intensity of the experience of the radiation which is the stimulus offered through this substance into our worlds. For this to happen our worlds must be immersed in the necessary substance. It is so because we ourselves have let it be generated in the mechanism that is provided for that generation. That mechanism is at a standstill as long as it is merely being stimulated by external factors; whether those external factors are considered to be good or bad it makes no difference. As long as the stimulation comes out of the environment, then this prevents the experience of living which would permit the generation of the required substance. One cannot live by bread alone.
Life is known because there is participation with the creative stimulus which is being offered to our world, and it cannot be offered to our worlds unless our worlds are immersed in the substance through which this creative radiation works. If the substance is not there nobody knows anything about the creative radiation, except simply at the overall level; something rather sluggish goes on in the overall sense, very slow. The astronomers and cosmologists talk about billions of years, and light-years, which simply indicates that human beings think of these things as being tremendously long, either in time or distance—far, far. We are here to hot things up, to allow the creative process to work in a specific sense, which also indicates a speeding-up process. The sluggish days are shortened.
We are concerned to let these controls be re-established because the substance is available and we have filled our worlds with it in our living. You cannot fill your world with this substance if you are below your world—that is the state of fallen man; under his world instead of above it. So we come back into place because, first of all, we let go so that we stop being critical. We let things alone. There's nothing wrong with the way the universe is governed. Let's accept the fact and not try to govern it from the human standpoint! Of course we may say, “I won't try to govern Arcturus and his sons but I'm going to govern the thing that's right next to me.” But that's a part of the universe too, you know; it's not excluded. And our letting go relates to the things that are close at hand. We don't find much difficulty in letting go of our attempts to get the moon to change its orbit!
So the substance must be present in which our worlds may be immersed, in which case we have a protective attitude toward our worlds. We didn't come here to condemn our worlds but to offer salvation to our worlds, and that salvation is offered because we enfold our worlds. And we are capable of doing this only to the extent that there is an abundance of the substance needful in which our worlds may be immersed, this life plasma, this spiritual substance. So we have a protective attitude toward our worlds, and everyone and everything in them.
If we are subject to fear, what are we afraid of? Our worlds presumably; perhaps something specific in our worlds, but our worlds nevertheless. Fear then keeps us in subjection to our worlds; that's just one thing it does. Perfect love casts out fear. When there is a passionate love for the Word of God to find expression in our own living, then we could hardly be afraid of anything that is happening in the dimensional world of the creation around us, the dimensional world for which we are responsible in a specific sense. You can't handle anything of which you are afraid; it handles you. So here is the matter of the generation of this essential substance which comes because of the quality of our living. And the quality of our living is largely based in the nature of our attitude toward our worlds. If we start out by being afraid of our worlds, and consequently trying to manipulate them so that we won't be clobbered, then that sort of living won't generate any spiritual substance with which to enfold our worlds.
Only when we have an attitude of protection to our worlds because we passionately love the Word of God, which is capable of handling our worlds, do we generate the substance by which it may be done. The more substance that is generated the more easily it is done, and we discover that the yoke is in fact easy. We have long experience of the hard yoke and we are inclined to say that life is hard, there are so many difficulties, so many problems, so much to be afraid of, so many terrible people who are going to cause us all kinds of trouble. Well there are lots of things going on in the world all right, but what are we going to do about it? Are we going to begin to take charge, spiritually speaking? Here is the realm of spiritual expression for which we are responsible.
We are concerned to fill our worlds full, pack them tight, with this spiritual substance; and when this spiritual substance is there our worlds will be transformed. The processes of transformation could stimulate critical attitudes, but not if you are enfolding your worlds and protecting them, loving them. Here is the second great commandment beginning to emerge. We are here to keep the world safe, not for democracy but for the Creator, and for the purpose for which there is a world in the first place. We share this responsibility. We begin to understand what it is when we accept our true position, instead of trying to find it somewhere where it isn't. Coming again into place, we share the responsibility of enfolding our worlds, with others who do likewise, and we discover increasingly that the yoke is easy and the burden light.
From the human standpoint government tends to be seen in terms of form. From our standpoint, of course, we see it in terms of spirit. The control that should be operative in the world of true man is that of spirit. And so, at every level of the living experience, individually and collectively, spirit is supreme. In almost any form presently observable in the world as we know it, certain spiritual values can be found. We may be a little selective of these forms, considering those where the spiritual values are most obvious. There is a vast field of form to examine. It is useful to take a look at these forms, particularly if it reminds us of where the real values are, which is in spirit. Now in any field of form, these spiritual values are there because of people. The form itself does not provide us with very much, but always there are people associated with them. There are various qualities that are exemplified by people associated with these different forms. I suppose it could be said that it is plainest where the physical approach is paramount; the mind hasn’t gotten in there so much to distort it. Of course it is doing its best to get in there, particularly in the form of politics relative to amateur sport. Science, where the intellect is very active, finds such a proliferation of detail that it covers up ever increasingly the simplicity of the truth.
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When human beings try to cast themselves simply in the role of an observer, they immediately create for themselves an imaginary state, because the fact of the matter is that human beings are more than observers. They are a part of what it is that they are attempting to observe, while at the same time proposing to exclude themselves from what it is they are observing. So they cannot see the truth, certainly, because the truth would include the person who is observing it, or observing such facts as he is able to lay his finger on. I think this is plainly illustrated by what happens when there are a group of human beings together considering something perhaps—maybe a board meeting—and I enter the room. I have always had difficulty in this regard, because I can never observe what goes on without me being present. The very moment I put in an appearance the whole situation changes. Of course it does this in any group of people when anyone shows up; it changes in some fashion. It’s somewhat different when I show up, because those concerned had, to whatever extent, forgotten the spirit which I bring when I show up. If there had been a complete acknowledgment and acceptance and expression of that spirit in what was going on, then it wouldn’t really change anything very much, would it? It would just go on the same way. So if there seems to be some sort of a rather remarkable change occurring, it is a dead giveaway that the spirit had not been there the way it should have been before and now everybody is smartening up. Of course, it may be that they are putting on their fronts too, so as to impress me. We cannot observe anything without changing it. Observation has a tendency to lead into false judgments every time: the endeavor to cast oneself simply as an observer and then judge what is seen is leaving a factor out of what it is he is observing—himself—so that any judgments that occur will be on the basis of inadequate input. It will be false judgment; it inevitably must be. People try to stand back and to be unbiased, but they are taking an essential element out of the picture when they do that.
We need to stand at a level where we are not a part of the manifest picture; and I don’t know any other level where one could stand but at the crossover point between the dimensional and the undimensional—a point with position but no magnitude. There is no magnitude there, so there is nothing to distort the picture. That is at the high point of spiritual substance in the dimensional world, the point of connection between the dimensional world and the undimensional world. Observation can be made from that point which will include an accurate perspective. Spirit is not excluded. God is not excluded—if God was excluded there would not be anything to observe. So there is an awareness of more than the field of observation, and that more is essential to the field of observation; it would not exist without it. So the only place we could observe with accuracy is this point which has position but no magnitude. The position will determine what it is we are able to observe. The fact of no magnitude indicates that we are not in the realm of form where the observation is being made. We stand at the point of the I—maybe just the dot of the i. Even being in this position we recognize it as a crossover point. Something is crossing over. There is an influence relative to what we are observing, just because of this; but we are aware of that influence as a part of our observation. We could designate this crossover point as the true point of government.
Government is not in position. Government operates on the basis of the Law. And we would not violate that operation when we are present where we belong, at this crossover point. In one sense, you could say the Law is back of us and in front of us. There are the positive and negative aspects here, in actual operation, and as individuals at that crossover point the operation occurs totally within our jurisdiction. So government is natural, because we let the Law work. I think government in the human world is unimaginable except on the basis of imposition. Of course it may be, as some have the view, that there should be as little government as possible—in other words, as little imposition as possible. But if imposition vanished altogether, in the human sense, government would vanish altogether. We see government emerging on a different basis—on the basis of spirit, and the fact that there is the means present by which spirit and form are unified. And the form that comes into evidence then is simply the effect, or the result, the reflection, of what first occurs in spirit in the sense of the undimensional realm.
We only have the whole encompassment at this crossover point between the dimensional and the undimensional. There is another crossover point, because the dimensional reflects within itself the larger picture. There is always a larger picture in which whatever one is considering is contained., and this leads into a realm of incomprehension insofar as the human mind is concerned. How could it go on forever? And if it does, how could the human mind possibly encompass it? Well the answer to that is that it couldn’t. So why try? The more it tries to fit into its thimble, the more distorted the picture becomes. Perhaps the mind has the capacity to handle vastly more than it now handles, but only what is present within the true realm of immediate responsibility. It can do that. If it trespasses beyond those bounds it gets into trouble, and its main activity so far has been trespassing. “Forgive us our trespasses.” The human mind has not reached the point of recognizing even the need for forgiveness in this field, let alone asking for it. But there is a very specific application of this statement in the Lord’s Prayer to this particular field. The human mind is always trespassing. Those of us who are gathered in this Assembly must have a recognition of the need for forgiveness personally in this area, even though we might look out into the human world and see people everywhere who we imagine need it more than us. Well, that is their business. But we need it. “Forgive us our trespasses,” because we stop trespassing. That seems unbelievable to human beings, that forgiveness would mean that one really did not function on the old basis at all. Forgiveness, in the human view, is usually just a way station, until the next trespass.
So we have this smaller pattern within the larger pattern, where there is another crossover point
between what we call the dimensional heaven and the dimensional earth.
These two crossover points—one between the undimensional and the dimensional,
and one between the dimensional heaven, the invisible heaven, and the dimensional or visible earth—are really one.
As a model, I have cut some triangles out of a piece of paper and then folded them together,
and you find that the points of the apex fit exactly, one behind the other.
So we have an actual living process here, something emerging into manifest form, which in turn emerges beyond whatever that manifest form is to other forms, and beyond, and beyond. But there is a returning cycle, which raises up that in which this creative process has been at work, and there is what we have referred to as ascension—something coming back, something rising up out of the earth through that crossover point into heaven, and out of heaven through the higher crossover point into God. And we don’t need to trespass beyond this. We may have an awareness of the fact that it is an oversimplification to just use the word God, but that is about all that is necessary for the un-trespassing human mind. We ourselves find ourselves at a point of observation and action, as well as response, when we are restored to ourselves. That experience comes at the crossover point between the dimensional and the undimensional. You could call that point the Son of God, and the point between the heaven and the earth the Son of Man. Man is at the high point of the earth, God is at the high point of the heaven; but they are one. There is a differentiation, a creative movement, the reality of life.
Now, in observing these various forms where human beings are contained presently, we may see that there is always a tendency for human beings to congeal and become the forms. This has happened throughout human history, and it is obvious enough in the world now, even though some of these congealed forms have become finally so brittle that they do not hold together anymore too well. One can see various stages of crystallization here, which is the downward movement. Something starts off by being fairly fluid, or even gaseous, and then it becomes fluid, and then it becomes solid. But eventually the crystallized structure does not have any cohesiveness left and it breaks down into component crystals. In observing these forms, we are not overly concerned with what it is that tends to produce this congealing. We know that it is there in the forms. We are interested in the people—and is it more important that they should be in one form than another? They are still people regardless of the form that they are in, and this is the thing that is important to us. The disintegration that is taking place in the world of form now, all around us, we see as being necessary—as being good—it needs to happen, because it frees up the substance.
But how about the forms into which we ourselves have crystallized?
When there is a recognition that these should be liquefied (perhaps there is a difference between being liquefied and liquidated!) then the resistance appears and an attitude of horror may be assumed. These holy forms are being called in question. Well, any form is only holy just so long as it is capable of accommodating spirit, because the form of itself isn’t anything. With respect to all these various forms, it is the people who are present in the forms, the living people, who are important; and it really makes very little difference to us, properly, as to what the nature of the form is in which these people find themselves. The important aspects are the spiritual values, and there would not be any spiritual values there, with which we would be particularly be concerned, if it was not for the people.
Obviously, there are spiritual values in the animal kingdom, and the kingdom of vegetation and the mineral kingdom, but our immediate concern of government relates to the human kingdom, because here is the place of government relating to all the other kingdoms. We cannot provide right government in these other kingdoms until it is first a fact in the human kingdom. So here is the first order of business. But the spiritual values are present because of people. And because people are in these various forms we accept them the way they are, both as individuals and relative to the forms. We don’t imagine that we cannot accept a person until he comes out of some particular form, because if we take that attitude then we are saying at the same time, “We cannot accept you while you are in that form, but we will accept you while you are in this form.” Well, we are not shuffling people from one form to another. We are offering the opportunity of freedom—freedom from subjection to forms. We cannot be free from subjection to forms unless we are free in the spirit. You cannot just be free from subjection to forms without being dead. There must be something there with which you may be unified on the right basis, according to the true working of the Law—because even when people are subject to forms, as they are, this happens by reason of the working of the Law. One might say it is reversed application, but it is still the working of the Law. And human beings find themselves in oneness with forms, and the only way that this state of oneness with forms on the wrong basis of the working of the Law can be dissolved is through death. So death is a very necessary ingredient of the picture, as long as there is this reverse application of the Law. But it would be entirely unnecessary when the Law is allowed to operate the way it should. We learn to accept things as they are. So we accept people the way they are. And if they are associated with this form or that form, that does not have all that much significance to us. The people are there, and within the people there are inherent qualities of spiritual value, spiritual character. This is true of everyone, as long as life remains. The extent of such qualities varies from person to person.
So we wish to provide the substance of connection, in which the spirit of God may work. It is the substance of connection upward for those concerned, for those who are open to be influenced by it. It is an uplifting experience that begins to bring a person into alignment with the cycles of ascension. And this happens to the extent that there is a focus point established between—first of all between the undimensional and the dimensional worlds, and then beyond that again into the realm of earthly form by reason of that crossover point, that connection between heaven and earth. This is our responsibility. And in either case, whichever point we look at, it’s a point—it has position but no magnitude, and consequently we could not fit anyone else into it. So we are not trying to get anyone into anything; but we may share collectively in providing a crossover point. This is our business here in the Assembly, with this particular configuration. There should be a unified point capable not only of generating the essential fine substance, so that it is available, but of letting it connect up with such substance as may be present in other people, wherever they are. As this connecting-up takes place in a more particular sense, we become aware of what it is that is happening in a more specific way. That is what was undertaken this morning in looking at three areas of form and acknowledging that there are people, and spiritual values consequently, present within the range of these forms.
Now the substance that we provide, we see it as connection; but those who are being connected don’t. They don’t know what it is that is happening, even though they have experiences of the happening. But they are not in position to say, “This is happening because of that.” Mind you, when the happenings become more outstanding, so that they cannot sweep them under the carpet of usual daily experience, then something may come more specifically into the picture with which they are inclined to identify the happening. The Emissaries have been used in this way by most who found themselves associated. Their experience became sufficiently specific to say, “Well, this is happening because of the Emissaries of Divine Light.” Well, that’s all right for the moment. But if that view is held too long one is merely associated with a concept of one’s own mind. And again, the connection with spirit begins to fade, the sensitivity begins to fade, the congealing goes into effect, the crystallization takes place, and it all falls apart. If one is doing that as a person, well, one just falls apart oneself. So we see the essential nature of this connecting substance—which is the substance of life itself—as the opportunity for people of quality everywhere to find themselves associated in an increasingly conscious way with the reality of life. The various ideas that may be in their minds are not of all that much importance, any more than the ideas that were in our minds were of all that much importance. We thought they were important, mind you, and we doubtless tried to lay them on other people; but they were not all that important to us, let alone to anybody else.
In order to keep human beings from congealing too much in whatever forms they may find themselves, we are aware of the value of water. Pure water, the symbol of truth—is what was poured over Elijah’s sacrifice, so that everything was sodden; it was quite soft, capable of yielding. And so truth is a vital element here, an element that is present in our own consciousness—it must be there if we are to pour the water over the sacrifice. And we stand at the point of observation, knowing that our presence provides an ingredient in the situation that was not there before. That ingredient includes our own view and understanding of what it is that is taking place. Our view of any forms is important, because this is the way that the water is poured over the sacrifice. This is not requiring anything of anyone else; it is just our own view, our own understanding of the situation. All too many have had rather crystallized views—they had congealed to that extent—and they looked at other gatherings of human beings through this congealed vision and consequently entered into judgment in the matter: “They haven’t congealed the way they should have congealed.” The point is that they should not have congealed, if they have, and neither should we. We are not seeking to congeal people but to free them up, to let them be in a more malleable condition.
The first force was water; and the water is the truth of our own outlook, of our own awareness of what the situation really is. We are not concerned about the form except as it may be a factor which is producing some congealing of the people. But we see the people from the standpoint of their qualities of spirit, from the standpoint of the spiritual values that are present there, regardless of what level of congealing may have occurred. Our attitude is one of blessing, because those inherent qualities that are present are to be activated by the action of spirit moving through the creative cycle, which is associated with these people by reason of the substance of connection. This is all occurring at a level of which the human mind has had no awareness—thankfully, because wherever the human mind gets an awareness it always interferes, it always trespasses, or tries to. So we do not see these things in order that we can explain them to other people. The reason I am talking about them now with you is not to explain them to you but so that we may all together participate in pouring a few barrels of water over these various groupings which come within the range of our consideration, which are brought to us in one way or another.
I am sure that we are all much more aware now of the possibilities in various areas from the spiritual standpoint, and we do not just write them off and say, “Well that form is no good. That congealing condition is no good.” Well, it isn’t much use, that’s true; but there are people there, and we are not writing off the people. And the only way we can sustain a right connection, on the basis of the true working of the Law with those people, is by reason of the fact that we have the connecting substance. And by the way, the substance of connection is not the substance of judgment. So we let it simply be what it is, and we find ourselves associated with these people to the extent that we ourselves are representatives of the spiritual values that are present in them. The connection is a real connection because there is the substance here—it is not anymore just a delightful imagination.
Now this has led into the matter of government more specifically, because you can see how, with the working of the Law and the creative cycle and in the movement of spirit, what rightly can be done is caused to happen. And we do not have to go rushing frantically around the world, here, there and everywhere, trying to preach the gospel according to some human concept. We preach it in this way. We preach it by reason of our own living primarily, because we are then representing those spiritual qualities that are present in people in every formation, wherever they may be around the world. As we let this happen in ourselves these things are brought to us. Certain things are brought to this Assembly. We do not imagine that everything is going to be brought to this Assembly, but there will be those things which are ripe at this point, in relationship to all of us and with respect to all those people out there who are concerned with whatever it is that is brought to us. We let it happen. What is capable of being brought to us will be brought to us as the substance of connection is there. And so we share increasingly in the reality of spiritual government.
A very great deal of my ministry has been concerned with this matter of preventing congealing getting out of hand, because we all move together, and if Emissaries begin to congeal, I am not exempt from what is happening. Of course it is useful to become aware of the fact that there is a congealing going on, because then I know something really needs to be done about it. And consequently I have been under the necessity of doing various things to—well, pour more water on the scene, and in various ways provide what I was able to let things be loosened up. So we all need to be aware of this necessity, because those who are with us more closely as individuals will have the same tendency as everybody else to congeal. And if we go along with it, we are sunk in the molasses.
Karma Of The World Body
fromDealing With Facts Without Judgment
Martin Cecil January 13, 1980 a.m.
Whenever I come before those who are assembled in the Chapel here at 100 Mile House, or elsewhere, I am always faced with a question as to what it is that should be offered in the name of the Lord, for the purposes of God, during the hour that is to ensue. The choice, however, is not entirely my own. I always have a question to ask, too: What will those who are present be willing to let be offered? I am faced with a question; you are faced with a question. These questions may be answered as they are allowed to blend together, so that there is a clear facility present for the Lord to give what is right and fitting and necessary in the particular hour.
We are here this morning with these questions as yet unanswered. From my standpoint it is mostly a matter of finding a starting point. Obviously none of us can know ahead of time all that properly should take form in the hour. If we did I suppose it would be unnecessary for us to be here. We are here to find out. What is forthcoming at the hand of the Lord must necessarily be accepted willingly. None of us are here to determine what it is that should take form. We discover what it is as it does so, but it can only do so in an effective manner if we provide what is necessary to let it happen. If we have any restrictions, any particular wants, then immediately what would naturally come forth is frustrated in some measure.
What comes forth has to come forth either through an open door or seek to emerge around the various blockages that are present. When there is an open door everything is very easy, and incidentally very enjoyable, and in fact we are not bored; but if there is too much necessity for circumnavigating the icebergs and the shoals, then it may become a little bit tedious. But even that tedium must necessarily be accepted, because we are concerned to let come forth what may; no arbitrary imposition is going to be made. So collectively we establish the limits of what may occur. We are all responsible in this regard, so it behooves us to be present with one accord in one place, letting the door be opened wide.
All this pertains to our particular responsibility here in the Chapel, but at the same time we need to recognize that there is more going on on earth than what is occurring here in the Chapel. What is forthcoming, if we act as we should, will also be conditioned by the necessities on the wider scene. Consequently we must not only bear with the particular quality of the outpouring of the spirit that is coming forth through the open door which we provide, but have a keen awareness that it is coming forth for a particular purpose relative to what is present, in the relevant aspects of the world experience as a whole.
I mention these things because we may see how important it is that we should have no strings attached to what it is that is forthcoming in the name of the Lord. Even if it should happen that all of us here allow the door to be fully opened, this is not the only factor within the range of our field of responsibility. Certainly we are not gathered here to benefit ourselves, to have a nice and satisfying experience for an hour. We are here to allow something to find release in expression during this hour which is going to be of value in the hands of the Lord relative to His world as a whole—and who of us is to say what that would be? We don’t really need to know, and we are unlikely to find out during the hour what it is. Even though there may be some awareness of the nature of what takes form, we may not know its ultimate purpose in the specific sense. We are quite willing to trust the Lord in this regard—it’s His business, after all. We play our respective parts; we play our part as a whole, unified group, but what moves beyond is not necessarily seen or known by us. It doesn’t need to be. We are here to do our job and we may trust the Lord to do His.
So, always, at the beginning of a service there is a need to find some sort of starting point, as in some measure we have already done this morning. I may ahead of time have given consideration to some possible starting points, but what will ensue once the starting point is presented and the spirit starts to move remains to be seen. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man.” The human mind likes to have things cut and dried. It feels safer that way; more secure, it thinks. But that’s a sure way to produce boredom. How much more delightful it is to experience freedom, so that whatever may emerge is allowed to do so. It becomes exciting then, an adventure, not a repetition of platitudes.
I would like to consider with you a wider vision, so that we may see more clearly what it is that we need to do in a personal sense. Mankind has inhabited the face of the earth for many millennia. There is of course speculation as to origins, but beyond the period of human history as it is known, human beings, much as they are today, were evidently in existence. We say that civilizations have come and gone. However mankind has remained. Mankind is still alive. There are those who talk about what they call karma, trying to make it fit relative to individual human beings. However, we may see a karma which does fit, relative to mankind as a whole. What has been sown has been reaped during the lifetime of mankind. We don’t need any reincarnation to explain it. There is just one lifetime so far, with respect to mankind, and what is sown collectively is reaped collectively. There have been ups and downs, we might say. Some of the downs have been so deep that they formed a chasm over which human vision, at this present time, doesn’t really reach. There is consequently speculation.
Individually speaking, human beings are a part of this overall body of mankind, which thus far remains living. Individual human beings come and go. There is a tendency to see themselves as isolated entities. In order to make the experience seem somehow meaningful various theories have been introduced in which many people fervently believe. One of them is of course this matter of reincarnation. We might well recall an occasion when sight was restored to a man who was born blind, and there was a certain amount of speculation on the part of the disciples as to why he was born blind in the first place. The human mind has always been interested to try to find out why apparently unjust experiences are known. There is basically a recognition in human consciousness that there must be justice somehow. The recorded words of the Master, in reply to this speculation, were these: “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” That certainly, if believed, would shoot down the concept of reincarnation, working out some sort of long-term karma.
This idea of course is convenient because it apparently means that one need not accept immediate responsibility for one’s own experiences. You can blame it on the past, even on one’s own misbehavior in the past. So that looks pretty good to many people. It doesn’t involve blaming anyone else. I don’t think that any of us should anymore be looking for excuses for failing to do what we are perfectly capable of doing now. If we want to consider karma then we can look at the whole human race and see that what is in effect in the world now is not unrelated to what human beings have been doing all down through the ages. But in the personal sense, let us not try to slip out from the acceptance of the reality of our own manhood or womanhood. Let us not whine or complain about what we experience. Much of what we experience we bring upon ourselves. After all, we have been busy sowing seeds of various sorts ever since we have been born, and consequently we reap harvests which are not unrelated to our sowing. It is true that individually we are all part of the body of mankind, and we can’t escape the results of prior action on the part of that body. One of the most futile things to undertake is to complain about it. It won’t make any difference. What we can do is to acknowledge responsibility for ourselves now, and let us do it without judgment.
Judgment probably rises up most quickly when matters of injustice present themselves to us, or what seems to us to be unjust. Then we begin to judge. For instance, there may be those who experience troubles of various sorts that from our viewpoint look to be unfair to those people: it’s not fair to them; at least this could be our human viewpoint; whereas with somebody else who is doing a bit of suffering, we might say, “Well he has it coming to him.” That obviously is judgment, isn’t it? On the one hand we’re saying, “No, that’s unfair over there; that shouldn’t happen. But this here now, this person who is suffering, it’s really justified.” That's judgment! And that is the basis upon which human beings tend to function. Of course these attitudes are taken because of what is known in one’s own personal experience with respect to oneself. Most people do not like to admit that they sowed the seeds which they are now reaping, so it is much more satisfying to claim that one is being treated unfairly.
The point is not as to whether one is being treated fairly or unfairly from the standpoint of the human viewpoint. The point is as to whether one is going to judge in the matter, and whether one is therefore going to be in position or not to handle whatever the situation is correctly. No circumstance can be handled correctly unless there is a correct person on hand to handle it. That’s reasonable, isn’t it? It requires a person who is not judging for one thing, not eating of the forbidden fruit, to handle whatever it is that arises in the circumstances—which includes those within oneself in the human sense—rightly and wisely. This cannot be done if one is judging, if one is saying, “I am being treated unfairly.” That’s not the point at all. It doesn’t matter whether it’s fair or unfair—that’s completely irrelevant! Now that’s a horrible thought, isn’t it? But it is completely irrelevant! The question is, how are you going to handle that circumstance, the factual circumstance, without speculating as to its fairness or unfairness; there is the fact; what are you going to do with that? How are you going to handle it?
In relationship to other people—and the way one handles these things with respect to other people is rather revealing of what’s going on inside oneself of course—if you are saying with respect to someone, probably because you are fond of that person, that he is being unfairly treated and suffering in consequence of that unfair treatment, all you are doing is supporting a state of judgment in yourself. This is the basis on which sympathy is offered, isn’t it? “Oh it is terrible how you are suffering. Isn’t it awful the way other people make you suffer?” Oh the individual is hurting so! Well I trust they hurt some more, so that they wake up finally to the fact that they are responsible for handling that hurt. They are not responsible for judging as to why it is there, and no one else is responsible for judging why it is there. “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents.” We’re not going to place blame anywhere, because that is completely beside the point. Mind you, this attitude occupies human beings everywhere on the face of the earth: “Oh how unfair everything is.” So what? Of course it is. Human beings have been unfair to the Lord, incidentally, for a long, long time. Because of that they suffer, and the suffering emerges through this one and that one in different ways. Is there anyone on hand who is capable of functioning correctly in such a situation? And this is an individual matter. We are beginning to come back from that large picture of immense happenings in the world to our responsibility as individuals relative to those immense happenings, because what we do is important.
The immense happenings in the world come because human beings react to the creative tides of the spirit of God. We are not interested so much in human reaction to the creative tides as we are in the creative tides, to associate ourselves with those tides, so that we are in agreement with them and we are not looking around in the world and saying, “Well it’s unfair the way these tides are working.” It isn't unfair; it’s exactly the way they should be. Surely we’re not going to buck the Law. It’s not going to make any difference to the Law anyway; it’s going to work. Let it work! We may be able to provide a blessing to those who are willing to accept a blessing. We won’t find out whether they are willing to accept a blessing until we provide it. Sometimes there is a little prejudgment in this regard, isn’t there? “Oh I know that person is not going to accept the blessing anyway, so I won’t provide it.” Well it’s up to that person whether he accepts it or not, but it’s up to you whether you provide it or not.
So we are very much concerned with handling factual situations and coming out of the ridiculous imaginations that human beings have, coming out of their imaginary worlds of suffering; and as I have said before, vast numbers of human beings love to suffer. They wouldn’t admit it consciously but the proof of the pudding is in the eating—and they suffer. We all have things to handle in that sense. We’re all part of the body of mankind, which is reaping what it has sown; therefore there are those impacts which come up against us in various ways but which we need not try to explain in personal terms.
There is a great deal of suffering to be done; that’s a foregone conclusion. Do any of you imagine, in this moment, that your suffering is worse than the suffering of anyone else on the face of the earth? That’s obviously ridiculous. It isn’t that human beings are not going to suffer—and, the last word I had, we’re all human beings. So there is a certain amount of suffering to be done, the way things are, in the reaping of what has been sown. Why try to explain it any more than that? Whatever the situation is, is factual. Let us handle the situation from the standpoint of the spiritual tides which are moving in the affairs of men, including our own affairs.
We may have compassion upon others, insofar as their suffering is concerned, and we offer blessing; but the blessing is never to commiserate with people on their suffering, never! “Poor you, you’re being badly done by.” That’s agreeing with the devil. No one is being badly done by. Why are we here on earth? “That the works of God should be made manifest.” Simple. Very simple. The works of God are not made manifest when we agree with the attitude of judgment, the judgment that this suffering should not occur, for instance, as one aspect of it. How do you know? I am sure that many of you have had this awful burden of suffering to carry during the course of your lives, and you didn’t like it when it happened probably, but you have been able to look back on it and maybe you saw that it was the best thing that ever happened to you. So let’s leave it all alone, not try to explain it beyond the fact that the Law works. It works individually, it works collectively, and so there are many facts that are here which need to be handled. Who is going to handle them? Not the one who is judging and accusing and condemning and deciding what the sentence should be upon somebody else, but the one who is concerned simply that the spiritual tides of Being should be made manifest in his own attitude and his own way of handling things, even to the extent of handling his own suffering.
So many people just give up when there is a little suffering on hand. We may think of this even in terms of physical suffering. Mind you, you can’t separate physical suffering from mental suffering and emotional suffering. A lot of physical suffering occurs by reason of the wrong function mentally and emotionally. Then the individual has something to show to the world: “Look what’s wrong with me; I can show you; therefore I’m suffering,” as though that was the origination of suffering. It isn’t—it’s just a peripheral effect of something else, something that’s not so apt to be brought to the surface and displayed before other people.
The question always arises as to what you do when you get sick, physically speaking. Here is a very simple situation. We say everybody gets sick, after all. Why? Is there any such necessity? Virtually all sickness is self-induced. We originate our own sicknesses—it’s not unfair—and we need to handle them, because if we don’t we'll keep on originating our sicknesses. What do you do when you get sick? Do you surrender your position of spiritual responsibility, saying to yourself, “Well I can’t be expected to handle that, because I’m so sick. When the sickness goes away I’ll pick up my responsibilities again”? Do you think we would have had any ministry now if I had taken that attitude? We can’t break the tide that is moving through us and is our responsibility to allow to take form in expression, and then pick it up again as though nothing had happened. Something has happened; something has been dissipated, it’s lost. You can’t get it back.
Did you ever hear of the first flush of feeling, the importance of that? That subject was introduced maybe forty years ago, but who has taken responsibility for that first flush of feeling? “Well it will be better next time; I’m making progress; it will be right one day.” Do you think so? Never, never on that basis. It’s now or never! There’s a saying that human beings utter from time to time, “Now or never.” Well it is, in this field, now or never. And if we get sick we still have our spiritual responsibility and the physical symptoms are entirely to one side. I see so many people sinking down supinely under their physical symptoms: “Oh, I can’t help it, I’m sick." That’s like saying, “I can’t help it, I’m human.” Just carrying that a little further you can say, “I can’t help it, I’m dead.”
Regardless of what’s happening in ourselves or anyone else, we stay where we belong. Then we are in position to let whatever happens be to the glory of God, because there is someone there to handle it as it should be handled. One of the first places where anyone needs to handle it is in relationship to his own experience, and that relates very particularly to this business of being sick. We can all be sick, but regardless of all that, we can still be in position and do what we are supposed to be doing. Does that mean that you could never rightly retire to bed? Well it might mean that you never rightly retire to bed as often as you do, but one can handle what needs to be handled even if one is in bed.
Let us assume our responsibilities spiritually, so that we move with the tides that are moving and we are not supporting other people who are complaining about the tides and the effect that they are having in their own experience. Rejoice! That's what should be happening. Thank God that it is so, so that we may keep moving with the tides of the spirit and not keep moving with the reactions of human beings. Let this be clear in our experience, and the creative power of God can work. Let us live, handling our factual experiences without indulging in vain and evil imagination which is based in judgment, usually of what is supposed to be fair or unfair. We need to reach a point where we can say, “Who cares?” The question is whether you are a man or woman enough to handle what is happening, and if we see this happening with respect to somebody else, well what’s our attitude toward them? “You need to handle this in the right way,” not “It’s too bad. If so-and-so had behaved in some other way you wouldn’t be suffering so.” How do you know? We claim our own suffering. We sometimes think of ourselves as being important because we have suffered so much. That’s not where the importance lies. The importance lies in how we handled such suffering as we may have had, and usually it wasn’t near as much as we make it out to be.
So, let us praise the Lord for the privilege of accepting responsibility, individually speaking, in our worlds with respect to ourselves and with respect to others. We don’t support the nonsensical human attitudes that are taken. We need to see the truth, and because we lay it on the line with respect to ourselves we begin to lay it on the line with respect to others. A lot of nonsense could clear up in short order on that basis. Praise the Lord!
