Repose Peace Serenity
Be Still And Know
YouTube Audio
Uranda March 27, 1954 p.m.
As we gather here at the close of another week, Saturday evening, March 27, 1954, we thank God for the privilege of another hour of meditation. Let us begin with a moment of devotion: Our Gracious LORD, we thank Thee for the privilege of centering in that which centers Thee, for Thy Centering is the Center of all that is. And as we share Thy Centering we share with thee that which Center is, that here on earth Almighty God may act through the working of the Spirit in man; for we would let Thy Word be translated into the sounds which may be heard here on earth, and we would let the acts that find their beginnings in the Most High extend out through us in action here on earth. As a stone dropped in the center of a pond causes the rippling waves which shall reach to every part of the shore line, so does Thy action in the Center of the Universe cause those waves of action which reach this shoreline of the Cosmos, and we would let those waves of action appear because we live, centered in Thee, sharing Thy Centering, and sharing Center with Thee; “For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory, forever.” Aum-en.
In our meditations we have recognized the vital importance of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, or the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, in relationship to ourselves in this day and time, not that we may attain blessings unto ourselves, but that we may receive the Power necessary to the manifestation of God's Blessings to others, the extension of Divine action into the earth through man. We know that man was created in the image and likeness of God, not to the end that man might imitate God, but that, in very fact, man might permit the extension into the earth of Divine action in thought, in word and in deed. Man's consciousness has been slow to comprehend the significant difference between trying to be God-like, and letting the likeness of God appear. As long as man feels it incumbent upon himself to try to think as he thinks God would think, to try to act as he thinks God would act, to try to speak as he thinks God would speak, we must of necessity have among the earnest and sincere ones a vast amount of confusion; for each, then, must interpret the concept of Divine action according to his own vision and belief. But when there are those among the earnest and sincere ones who are willing to let that which God thinks extend through the capacities of their minds into the earth, those who will let the Divine word appear as it originates in the Father, those who will let the action of the Almighty extend through themselves in deeds on earth, we begin to have a condition on earth wherein it is possible to follow our LORD and KING.
The human mind imagines that it must know so much, comprehend so much, and judge so many things. But the learning essential to the mind is this: that it may learn to be still, not producing its own waves; that it may receive the waves which God produces. When man is so busy splashing upon the surface of his own consciousness that he produces waves which seem good to himself, he is not capable of distinguishing therein the waves which come from the Mind of God. This process by which the things of God come down out of Heaven into the earth seems to man to be complex and difficult; it seems to man to require more of him than he feels capable of accomplishing. Nevertheless, there are some who make the effort according to their concepts. Yet, the true accomplishment depends upon something which extends from God to man and through man, that there may be an uninterrupted means by which that which originates in the Most High may come into form in this level of creation.
Tonight I drew your attention to the principle as illustrated by the waves upon the surface of a pond. Suppose the air is still, in the sense of the wave-producing wind, and suppose some children are playing upon the shore of the little lake, heedlessly splashing one another. But, suppose some force invisible to the children agitates the water in the center of the pond and the rippling waves begin to flow from center outward toward the shore. The children, making waves, are not likely to see or know the waves which were so made. This principle was illustrated at the time of the Master by the Pool of Bethesda, for the story goes that at a certain time an angel agitated, or troubled, the waters in the pool, whereupon the first to enter the pool would be healed. And there was a certain man who had long sought to enter the pool when it was agitated, but because he was incapable of prompt movement someone else always got there ahead of him. But the Master, by His Spirit, agitated the pool within the man himself, and he entered that pool, not holding back but accepting the waves from Center into his own body and mind and heart; for there is a Pool of Bethesda within each one, a means by which the movement established by the Angel of God may extend into the realm of physical form.
We have recently come face to face with the realization that it is not necessary to delay longer, that no further special preparations are necessary, at least not from the standpoint of God's provision. Since all is in readiness from God's standpoint, all that remains is for man to receive that which is in readiness. We have recognized that trust, as one of the aspects of Love, must be present before there can be that repose, or peace, or serenity which will permit the Divinely established waves to reach the surface of man's consciousness in a manner which will let man perceive them. These waves do reach us, but they are so inter- mingled with waves of man's own making that man does not perceive them. In order to reach a state where man may perceive them, and thereby be in position to respond to them, man must cease trying to produce the waves which he conceives to be good imitations of the waves which he imagines to be from God.
Man imagines that God makes certain waves which extend from the Throne of God to the borderline between Heaven and earth, but that these waves from God are becoming very, very tiny with hardly any strength left in them, when they reach this borderline between Heaven and earth. Here, man must strain himself to see such waves as there may be, and, with his own strength and in his own understanding, he must intensify the waves from God that they may reach into the earth, for God's waves cannot come into the earth unless man makes them do so. Perhaps man does not reason in just so many words, but he acts according to this concept. Man, having his attention centered upon external things, and the necessity of his own efforts within the range of those things, feels that he must do that which will permit God to act on earth. In one sense this is true, but man's interpretation of that which must be done has for so long been at fault, for man must come to the point of serenity, of repose, where the surface of his own consciousness is not being self-actively agitated.
Human beings say, “I try, yet I have this resentment, I have that fear. If I do not hold to such and such an idea, someone is likely to impose upon me, some are likely to do some- thing I do not want them to do. So much might happen if I do not keep control and impose my will with all my might upon those round about me. I do not dare to become completely still, for someone would surely take advantage of me, and then it would be too bad.” And while you work to keep someone from taking advantage of you, you likewise prevent God from taking advantage of your capacities, for until you come to rest at the table which He prepares in the presence of your enemies you cannot receive that which He provides.
These things have for so long prevented the manifestation of accord, agreement, oneness. In some respects you do not quite trust one another, so you must remain alert lest those around you take advantage of you, even though you know that such action keeps God from taking advantage of you, of the fact that you live on earth. Actually, we are here to let God take advantage of the fact that we are here. I find my greatest joy in letting God take advantage of me, take advantage of the fact that my body and my mind and my heart are here in the realm where you are. If it were not so, I could not convey to you the current of the Spirit of Truth by which you may be sanctified.
The one place where you must be with one accord is in consciousness—no movement produced by self-active heart or mind, so that, to the depths of your being, the mirror-smoothness of serenity may appear, no blowing of self-active winds, that He may lead you beside the still waters, for it is when you are led by the still waters that He restoreth your soul. Whom do you distrust? Of whom are you suspicious? Toward whom must you remain on guard? Down through the ages, when quietness begins to so appear that one may hear, there come the simple words, “Be still, and know that I am God.” “Be still and know.” But human beings say, ‘I cannot be still. I have to move and agitate, or I would be nothing. I have to protect myself. I must do this, I must do that. When the conditions are changed so that it is safe for me to be still, then I will be still.” But how shall the Power manifest to make conditions safe if you are not first still, regardless of the conditions? If we would be with one accord in one place, there must be a new acceptance of personal responsibility in relationship to the matter of being still.
Now, perchance, someone, somewhere, receives the impulse of the Spirit through these words and says to himself, “This is the teaching which I like. Spring fever is upon me and I would cease action. I would indeed be still.” The first time you truly become still you let the waves from God reach you without your having interfered with their nature, and the moment you are still you will find that the surface of consciousness is not still. Your stillness does not make you still. When you are still from the self-activity of heart and mind you are, in that moment, open to the activity of God and His Spirit. If you say, “But I have tried to be still, to enter the silence, to do all kinds of things so that I might know what comes from God, and it does not work,” if you think it does not work it is only because you have not yet become still.
“Be still and know.” Nowhere in all creation is there absolute stillness except at the Center of all Being, and yet there is a stillness which is not stillness. If I had come before you tonight incapable of letting mind and heart be still I could not have spoken to you in the current of the Spirit.
Did you ever take a little child outdoors where birds were building a nest and, in some more or less hidden place, say to the little one, “Now be still and watch?” And the little one tried so hard to be still, and tried so hard to see, and tried so hard to listen, and wiggled and squirmed because he was trying hard to be still. If, in such a moment, the child stopped trying to see and just watched to see what could be seen, soon the actions of the birds would let him see. But if he tried to see, he would frighten them away and not see what he could have seen.
So it is with human beings. They say, “I would be still so that I can see what is coming from God.” Where are you going to see what is coming from God? Where are you going to stop it, so that you may see it? Are you going to let it come into the silences of your inner soul and hold it there, accumulated, so that you may see it? It will not come in such fashion. You may think it does but it will not be what you think it is. Where will you see that which comes from God? You will see it after it has taken form in the physical realm of being, not somewhere inside of you, but after the word is spoken you will hear it; after the action has taken form you will see it. Where do you expect to see it? In some realm before it has formed? If you are looking there, you will look in vain. Be still, and let it come into the realm of form, and you will perceive it after it is in form.
Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that we may safely trust Thee with the working of Thy Spirit in the invisible realms, for Thou hast given us perception that we may see and comprehend the working of Thy Spirit in the visible realms, and we would Serve Thee in that place and manner ordained of Thee, letting that which is of Thee appear on earth, “For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory, forever.” Aum-en.
© emissaries of divine light
