The Decision-Maker

The  Decision-Maker

Martin Cecil   November 14, 1965

I always find it very pleasing to look upon you as I come to service. But I'll tell you something. I have the impression that a few of you, anyway, do not have any really vivid sense of destiny. Perhaps there is a lack in my vision in this regard, but I wonder if it might be wise to consider this matter. It is tremendously important that if you are present in the Chapel at a service, or whatever it is that is being undertaken, there should be a keen sense of interest and consequent participation. I would far rather have two or three people who were really interested than a Chapel full of lukewarmness. This real interest, so necessary, relates to the experience of a sense of destiny, as I have called it. One has a keen sense of responsibility for the right fulfilment of the creative purposes of God. One's whole being is directed toward this.

This comes to a particular point of focus in our Chapel, of course. It is more easily seen in its focus point, or should be, than anywhere else. We are not, after all, when we come into the Chapel, busy with our responsibilities in the external field of daily function in the ordinary sense. We're not cooking, or keeping books, or washing dishes, or whatever the things we do may be. Therefore our whole attention can be brought to focus with respect to the true purposes to which our sense of destiny directs us. If it doesn't occur when we have a clear field in this sense, it is not likely to occur when we are out there doing other things. If it does occur when we are together, when we are all really participating in that which is being brought to focus, then when we do move out in the field of our daily affairs those external activities will not dominate our viewpoint. We will not ignore them, we will not neglect them, but they will not be primary. They will be the means, the important means, by which we are enabled to serve and to direct the creative expression of our beings into the field where the power of God is required. So it is in these times together that we have the greatest opportunity for developing this sense of destiny. I suppose in other terms we could call it a sense of real meaning, Divine meaning. A sense of meaning is very important to a person if there is to be experience of living in any vibrant sense. As soon as we begin to lose that, we're on the way out.

There is this matter of keen interest, then. And as I say, from my standpoint I would far prefer to have a few people who are vitally interested and right there than a collection of droopy, dozing people. From my standpoint I prefer that if a person is going to sleep, he go to bed and do it where he should be doing it. If there are those who feel that they are not interested, or not going to be able to be interested—I don't know what that means, exactly—then I would prefer that the individual didn't come. Perhaps if he didn't come he might discover the fact that he wants to be there, or he might be quite content not to come, in which case that individual is on the way out. These things will prove themselves out in that fashion, because we really have something to do and we need to do it. There needs to be developed a keener awareness of the reality of what I call destiny.

There have been individuals who have moved through the pages of history who obviously had a great sense of destiny. Of course the most outstanding one, the only completely true revelation in this regard, relates to Jesus, who clearly had a keen sense of Divine Destiny. He not only had this but He acted accordingly. Now there have been many others who have had a sense of destiny, but for the most part it has been a limited or distorted thing—a human pattern and not a Divine one. There is nothing wrong with the compulsion of this sense of destiny. What goes wrong is the individual's translation of it in his own consciousness.

What would our sense of destiny cause us to say of ourselves? “I am Divine man,” perhaps, and in this sense, “I am mankind; all mankind depends upon my sense of destiny.” I wonder how clearly defined that is in our individual consciousness. We take responsibility presumably in our spheres of function day by day. Sometimes there have been little points of failure even in this, haven't there? But for the most part we have learned to be responsible in this regard. However, there is the inclination to look upon what we do as being "this much", contained in our field of responsibility, and we have consequently what might be called a rather puny awareness of our destiny. If our destiny merely relates to what we happen to be doing here at 100 Mile House, even though we hold responsible positions in whatever it is, this is not adequate at all, is it? We need to have an awareness of a far greater destiny, which relates to all mankind.

“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,” our Master said. "They" was not exclusive in any sense. He included all people in that statement. To what extent do we have a consciousness of destiny in this regard? We have used words to indicate something, by saying, “I came into the world to save the world”; but for the most part, I think this has tended to be just words. There must be something inside oneself which knows this to be true. I am not suggesting that there should be the development of a human sense of self-importance. Nevertheless it is right and proper that there should be, underlying one's function, a deep awareness of one's own Divine importance.

It is true of so many, isn't it, that they don't really have very much consciousness in this regard, because individual human beings tend to feel, “I won't be missed,” and they say, “No one's indispensable.” I suppose in one sense that could be said to be true, but in the Divine sense it isn't true, is it? We are all absolutely necessary. No one is dispensable. If any aspect of Divine Being is missing, the whole of Divine Being is rendered meaningless, because God is One God. If there is any part not there—this is impossible, of course, but supposing—then the whole thing is dissolved. From the Divine standpoint everything is in place, and we all have destiny in this sense. Of course very often the word "destiny" is used in the human way, to indicate some sort of fate. It was Judas Iscariot's destiny to betray our Master, in the view of many people. It wasn't his destiny at all; that was his human choice. The destiny of which I speak is the Divine Destiny, the true purpose for being. We need to have a consciousness of this, whether we have the specific awareness of what that destiny is or not. It is not as though we could prefigure it, but in our moment-by-moment living it needs to be present in us, so that all our actions, all our thinking, all our speaking, is conditioned by this awareness of one's own Divine importance—an absolute thing. Then we're not depending upon anyone else.

I mentioned something about the lack of interest, the tendency to be only partially present, shall we say, which sometimes appears in different ones. This is an indication of the fact that the individual is not participating, not playing any part. If you are in a position where you are the only one, and there is something to be taken care of, you know darn well that it's going to be taken care of by you or it isn't going to be taken care of. Yet if there is more than one, the human being tends to lose this consciousness. He thinks, “Oh well, it doesn't matter. Someone else will do it.” In other words there is no real sense of worth. One is saying of oneself, “It doesn't matter; I might just as well not be here.” Well why don't you cut your throat then? You might just as well, if it's true that it doesn't make any difference whether you are here or not! It makes, actually, a tremendous difference from the Divine standpoint—but we need to have a consciousness of the fact that it does make a difference.

We can't be meaningful if we have no sense of meaning within ourselves, if we are, so to speak, apologetic for our presence. Mind you, there are times when perhaps we need to be a little apologetic about something, when it is the sense of the fitness of things that brings forth what is expressed. Let us not be apologetic about being ourselves—but let's not always be apologizing for ourselves. Now I don't necessarily mean coming out in words and saying so. I'm talking about an attitude. One should have a keen awareness of the fact that if you are not in place, everything is going to collapse.

Now, of course, that can be carried to an extreme too, from the standpoint of human ego, which doesn't wish to allow anyone else to carry any responsibility. We are willing to carry our own responsibility, and we are willing to let others carry their responsibility, rightly; but from the standpoint of our own responsibility, this is a vital factor in the whole. If it is not there, the whole pattern is going to be spoiled. Yet people take the attitude that it doesn't really matter whether they are present or whether they are not. Of course, when a person is taking that attitude, in one sense I suppose it doesn't matter. But the individual is not being true to himself when he takes such an attitude, because there is the reality of Divine Being, which is not dispensable at all. So it is important that we should have this sense of destiny, of our own Divine importance. We're not, because of that, going to thrust ourselves in and say, “Look how important I am; you've got to take note of me.” No, there is humility, there is a sense of the fitness of things, but inside oneself there needs to be this rock which knows. And that state of consciousness is tremendously important. Without it we can't go very far.

I wonder if we might look at something else related to this matter—perhaps a little excursion into a field of adventure. Let us think of our own physical bodies for a moment, not just from the standpoint of the parts, the organs and so on, which we may know about, nor yet even from the standpoint of the cells of which the body is composed. Let us consider it as to its basic structure, which relates to what are called atoms. Some vast, meaningless figure may be given as to the number of atoms that are present in a physical body. Now, these atoms are presumed to exist; they actually are simply in our consciousness; nobody has seen one. The atom itself, the structure of it, may be broken down still further, into little bits. But they aren't “bits,” are they? It is said of an atom that sometimes it behaves like a particle and sometimes it behaves like a wave. Well, it isn't either a particle or a wave. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2022/10/trailing-clouds-of-glory.html] It may seem to behave that way according to human viewpoints, but within the atom we recognize the positive and negative factors. These are very insubstantial, aren't they?—you certainly can't lay your hand on them. They might be described in the term used by Mr. Wells, who refers to them in the Journal of Modern Subjectivism as “conscious constructs.” That is, they exist simply in one's consciousness—this takes them out of the realm of "things" as we think of things—positive and negative conscious constructs, whatever that means.

Now, we have brought our bodies down to this. Really, it isn't anything in this sense, anything of which we have any direct awareness, is it? We have an idea that we have a solid physical body, and if we are human, in the ordinary sense, we think of ourselves as being this. Yet, when we come right down to it, we find that it is very insubstantial; it is hardly there at all. There are these positive and negative factors in different combinations, built up one upon another, until finally we have a few molecules, and then some cells. These cells are constantly changing, we hear, in our physical bodies. This is not necessarily an indication that all the atoms are constantly changing. There may be a breakdown of cells, and the atoms may be used in other cells. In any case, if we are intent upon imagining that we are our physical bodies we are virtually saying we are nothing—just these positive and negative factors.

It is rather interesting to consider this matter of positive and negative. I suppose, in another way, one could say: yes and no. If you stop to think about it, whenever you decide to take any action, immediately you create positive and negative factors. For instance, if I decide to stand up, at the same moment I decide not to sit down. And you will find that in any action that is initiated there are always the two things. We have heard something about the processes of creation which relate to what has been called the unformed—apparently nothing—and yet, out of this nothing the positive and negative factors emerge. Why? Well, obviously, because some decision was made. In this unformed, if we can call it that, there is unlimited potential, but that is all there is—potential. I suppose you could say potential is something, but what is it? We don't know what it is until it emerges and stops being potential only. The positive and the negative factors are consequent upon a decision. As it is put in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, “And God said”—He made a decision—“Let there be light: and there was light.” But there was darkness too.

Now there is a teasing thought! Could there be darkness without light, or could there be light without darkness? These we can recognize as positive and negative factors emerging out of something. Light and dark are potential in the unformed. Can you imagine a state where there is no light? “Oh,” you say, “well, it would be dark.” No, because you've got to imagine a state where there is no darkness. “Then there would be light.” No, neither darkness nor light! What would that state be? Of course it is beyond the comprehension of the human mind, but here we see the nature of the unformed. We have an awareness of that which emerges but we can't comprehend that which isn't formed, out of which the emergence comes. But whatever it is out of which it comes, it must be there or nothing could come. Incidentally, we have already taken note of the fact that if there is a creation there must be a creator. You can't have one without the other. You can't have a creator either, without the creation. The terms would be meaningless. So we see how the initial starting point in any creative process always establishes the positive and the negative, the yes and no, the proton and the electron.

There can't be a proton without an electron. Now they may not necessarily be together, but they are each necessary to the other. We have the idea of anti-matter. There is matter and there is anti-matter, yes and no. Of course this is more or less speculation in the scientific field; but according to all the indications, there couldn't be one without the other. So we have a universe and an anti-universe. We recognize what we would call heaven and earth, and there can't be one without the other. There is this duality everywhere. The creation takes place by reason of the fact that a decision is made. Now if a decision is to be made, there must be a decider. A decision can't appear of itself. The scientific developments in recent years have come to the conclusion that there is no need for any initiator of any processes—they just follow along. Did none of the scientists ever initiate any processes themselves? Because of a decision creation is initiated. If I decide to stand up, I create this condition. I create the condition of standing up, and at the same time I create a condition of not sitting down. We are constantly creating in this sense, on the basis of decision.

Now, we recognize that something hasn't worked quite right in the field of human function. I don't wish to go into that at the moment; you know something about it. But when we begin to accept the true identity of what we might call the Divine Decider, we may participate in the creative process, transmuting elements in the realm of potential into the actual. If I am presently sitting here, the state of standing up is just potential, it isn't actual. If I make the decision to stand up, the potential of standing up becomes an actual experience, an actual creation. It emerged—from where? Where did it come from? Well, you can say it didn't come from anywhere. And yet it was there in potential, or it would not have been possible to stand up.

We can recognize that there is a vast field of potential, absolutely unlimited potential, out of which there may be eternal creation. We are never going to run out of potential—but the potential is nothing, in effect, until the decision is made. If our decision is based in our acceptance of identity with this physical form, then our decisions are going to be distorted, because the physical form is not the true decider. The physical form, we have noted, is an actual creation that came forth from the state of potential, and it has built into it the capacity to decide. We recognize that this capacity to decide is necessary if a decision is to be made at the particular level where the physical form is. There could be no decision made at this level if it were not for a built-in ability to make the decision. As this particular construct of the human form was brought forth for the purpose of providing the facility to make decisions—in other words, to create—at this level, it is only natural that the facility should be present. But it isn't present so that it should make the decision, but so that that which created the facility might make the decision. We come again to a recognition of the basis of right function, which centers in right identity.

This atomic structure here is a part of this creation. It only exists because there is a creator. The creator is not the creation. This is something that leads into various other opportunities for understanding. The creation is contained within the creator and yet the creator is contained in the creation. We have an awareness of the fact that within the scope of our own consciousness is contained everything of which we are aware. In that sense it is within us, and yet we are in the creation. There is a seeming paradox here. The creator is present in the creation but the creation is also contained within the creator. We do not necessarily need to figure this out, other than to recognize the truth of it. We are rightly in the position of being identified with the Divine Maker of the decision—the making of decisions, the ability to make decisions, the ability to create. We are here to create rightly, to bring forth rightly.

I think that very often, when there is consideration of Divine creation, it is imagined that God snaps His fingers and here is a perfect creation. Presto! There it is, all complete, everything just right—according to the human concept. From the scientific standpoint, usually based in the idea of the evolutionary theory, it appears that nature made a lot of mistakes along the way, whatever nature is. It developed a form up to a point and then discarded it. Of course the view of these things is a view of something distorted in any case, because the viewer is seeing things through a distorted viewpoint. And because the creative processes have not been functioning correctly, since the creator in man has not been in position to function correctly, there have been mistakes in that sense. Those mistakes we call evil—something unwholesome, something wrong, something which shouldn't be.

On the other hand, in the true creative process there are cycles of what we might call trial and error. Isn't the main experience of joy known by reason of working something out? If you just have the finished product it may be a novelty for a while, but you get tired of it. It has been emphasized that happiness relates to creativeness, and there is a process of molding and working things out. Even if we look at the evolution of a human embryo, starting just as one cell, to the adult person, one could say there were many things that were discarded along the way. They served a purpose up to a point, and then they were no more use. Would you call that making a mistake? No. It is part of the evolutionary process—part of the creative process. In developing anything, there is this which relates to what we might call trial and error, even from the Divine standpoint. It is the drawing forth of the potential. We draw forth a little this way. No, this is not quite right. We move it over here, and that's better. Gradually there begins to be the development and the bringing forth of whatever it is that is being created. There are decisions to be made every step of the way. We know this from the standpoint, for instance, of building Red Coach Inn here. You could say, in one sense, that a lot of mistakes have been made. Things have been put in that had to be torn out. You may say, “Well they shouldn't have been put in in the first place.” Perhaps not, but it hadn't evolved to that point then. It only evolved later. Then the change comes.

In all creative processes there is this. And it is right, from the Divine standpoint, provided that the creation which is being brought forth is being brought forth by the True Decision-Maker and not on the basis of the distorted human viewpoint, the ideas of good and evil as human beings have them established. That is no foundation for creation, because, fundamentally, good and evil in the human view are what is considered to be good for human beings or what is considered to be bad for human beings from a very short-sighted standpoint. And that, again, is eating of the forbidden fruit. But there is the True Decision-Maker, and these decisions are made utilizing the facilities of the physical body, with its mind and emotional realm, to get the job done.

Now maybe, if there is a clearer view of the nature of the physical body—it is not such a substantial thing, after all—we won't be so determined to try to identify ourselves with it. In any case, if it is composed of all these myriads of atoms, what composes it? Why is it the way it is? Obviously because there is a Decision-Maker there with respect to it, and this is YOU. This is the individual. This is the reality. The reality centers in the Divine Decision-Maker, and we need to have the experience of being that, being ourselves, being in position to make the right decision, consequently having a sense of destiny. Individually we have that responsibility from the Divine standpoint, the responsibility of making the decision, of taking the responsibility, of recognizing our importance in this creative process. Whenever you make a decision you create. If the decision is not made from the standpoint of Divine Being, then you create destruction. But we have an awareness of this vast potential. Out of this vast potential, actually very little is required to be drawn to create what is right here on this planet of ours. The potential is here. The Decision-Maker is here. Let us share the responsibility of creating. Let us see the reality of that responsibility, in the recognition that whenever we make a decision we create something. And we can't get out of creating by refusing to make any decisions, because the very fact of not making a decision is making a decision. If you say, “I won't make a decision,” well you are not making a decision—and that is what you have decided. The positive and negative are present, and the nature of the positive and negative that are brought forth determines what the further progeny is going to be.

If we have this keen awareness of the effectiveness of our decisions in the creative field, it may give us a sense of power perhaps; but if we do not have any adequate awareness of Divine Being, we may be a little frightened by it, because we can't stop creating. The only right creation emerges by reason of the fact that we are identified with Divine Being, so that our decisions relate to the Truth, in the spirit of Love, and consequently bring forth Life. Then we have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. The sense of destiny is vital, the sense of Divine importance, because you may say, “I am a creator.” In every decision there is creation. Let the decisions be the decisions of the Divine Decision-Maker, who you are in reality. And behold, all things are made new. It isn't such a desperately difficult problem. The vast sea of unknown potential is present. This is the provision of which we speak. We say, “The provision is adequate.” Why? Because all the potential is there. You can't take it away. It's always there, and it is in the decision with respect to this potential that the creation takes place, the positive and the negative emerge, male and female, yes and no.

We see this yes and no in harmony, don't we? It isn't, “Yes, I'm going to stand up; no, I'm going to sit down.” Rather, “Yes, I'm going to stand up; no, I'm not going to sit down.” And we have a harmonious unit. The trouble has been that it hasn't usually worked out that way in human function. We have these creative units, the positive and negative, permitting the Divine potential to be made actual.

Here we have something upon which to meditate, and something of which to be reminded constantly in our living. Your decision creates. If you know what is right and you decide to do something else, you are creating evil, in the sense of unwholesomeness, something that is wrong. It is absolutely sure. No matter how pleasing and nice it may seem at the moment, you are creating something that is going to be destructive. If, in your awareness of truth, you know what is right and you do it, then you are creating from the Divine potential, drawing forth that which should come, and on this basis creation may continue in the fulfilment of Divine purpose. This is the way in which our steps are directed, that we may play our part to the glory of God and to the consequent blessing of the creation. I thank God for your interest which has allowed this much actuality to be drawn out of the present potential tonight.

© emissaries of divine light