In a little while this year will be half gone, six months of 1953 almost gone. And what has been written upon the pages of time has been written, and no man can change it. What has been written upon the Book of Life has been written, and no man can change it. But there is One, the One Who Dwells, who can make all things new, who can cause the former things to pass away, who has the power to say, the authority, the right, to say, "Behold, I make all things new."
We begin to realize that day by day we are giving evidence, by our attitudes, by our words and actions, as to whether we conceive the Almighty to be All Mighty. The One Who Dwells, is He only partly mighty?—mighty to do this and mighty to do that, well able to do the other thing, but is He All Mighty? This we reveal by our attitudes, by our words. Not that we should with the human mind predetermine what we think the Almighty should do and in some foolhardy manner venture forth and say, "All things are possible with God. He is the Almighty, therefore I can do this and He will see me through that. I can plunge in here, I can accomplish the other thing." That is like saying, "If Thou, O God, art all mighty, then command that these stones be made bread." And it is written, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Yet how often the human being does those things which are in fact tempting the Lord, as if the human being would put the Lord to the test: "If Thou be the Almighty, then do this or that." And even though He is All Mighty, He does not do as you ask in such a case. But you may, if you listen, hear the Voice of Love. It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone"—man shall not live by the patterns of his own actions, by reason of the things in outer form, by reason of the things that he thinks he must have or desire or achieve. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
In our meditations we began to see more clearly the significance of the Word. We recall that in the Old Testament patterns, in relationship to the prophets, there is the frequent expression, "The word of the Lord came unto me, saying," or "The word of the Lord came unto him, saying" thus and so, What is the Word of the Lord? We have come to know that the Word of the Lord is Shekinah. Wherever we read, "The word of the Lord came unto him, saying," we may read, properly, "And the Shekinah, the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells, came unto him, saying." And in this hour of meditation which we share I would draw you together in the Spiritual Pattern of Being, that you may realize more deeply the reality of Shekinah. There are many things which enter into this Pattern which you cannot yet know or adequately realize, but there is that which you do know. And remember to always function on the basis of what you know. Never try to act on the basis of what you do not know and you will avoid much confusion. The human being is inclined to say, "There is much that I do not know. I do not know this or that," and he begins to function on the basis of what he does not know, and then he gets in trouble.
Let us remember, there is that which you do know. If it is not so, there is something wrong, either with your perception and realization or my presentation. There is that which you do know. Never violate what you know, never deny it; and function on the basis of what you know, and then all is well. Why be concerned about what you do not know? That will appear in season. But let me give you a little warning. Do not expect to know all there is to know in any specific period of time. If in all eternity you were to exhaust and encompass and contain the uttermost limits of all there is to know, that would be the point wherein heaven would become hell. You will never do it. You may know many basic fundamentals, but do not assume that you know or should know all that there is to know. So there is that which you do know, and knowing that which is true, even if it be but one point, you have a beginning, the place of beginning.
The experience of realization—which is illumination—realization which causes you to know any point of truth, any aspect of truth, is in actual fact the working of the Shekinah in you. You need to begin to realize that the Patterns of Shekinah are without end, numberless, ever-changing. "All things were made by Shekinah," all the things of God, "and without Shekinah was not any thing made that was made." Realizing this, you can begin to see that there is a specific Shekinah Pattern of Being which comes to focus and function in relationship to everything that we do in the Pattern of the Divine Design, in the current of the kingdom control. We do not imagine that there is only one manifestation of Shekinah. The manifestations are numberless. And we must, if we would truly serve our King, we must allow the Shekinah Pattern to take form in relationship to all that we do, everything, without any exception.
Those whose eyes are blinded by the darkness that comprehendeth not will not see the Light shining in the darkness. It may not be evident to the eyes of many round about, but when there is that which needs to be done we do not properly just plunge into action on the basis of developing the physical form. With respect to anything that is to take form under the action of our hands, or by reason of our living, it should first be allowed to take form in Shekinah. "In the beginning Shekinah created the heaven and the earth." In the beginning Shekinah created. Every creative expression must be the expression of Shekinah. There is no other. Any action, any word, any expression, that is not of Shekinah is not creative but destructive, without a single exception, ever, at any time, in relationship to any person. All things of God, of the Divine Design, of the Garden of God, in heaven or on earth, "all things were made by Shekinah; and without Shekinah was not any thing made that was made." In the beginning of any creative action, or expression of being, there must first be Shekinah; and if Shekinah is not allowed to come to focus as the manifestation of the Presence of the One Who Dwells, the Almighty, so that the thing that is made may be in fact made by Shekinah, then that form which human beings put together of the substance from the earth is not a true form; it is something that may by the physical factors of Life force—and those factors are from Shekinah—be held in form for a little time, but the moment the human hand and the human will and the human determination let go, it begins to crumble and decay, and soon is gone. Why? The force of Shekinah was misused by man to force certain substance of the earth into a particular pattern, but Shekinah did not make it. Man put things together to make something, but soon the form is gone. The things that were made, the things that were created, in any time past, were the result of the working of Shekinah.
We look back in history and we note certain individuals who were considered to be properly classified under the term genius. Generally speaking they were more or less unbalanced individuals. Generally speaking genius manifests in just one particularized field, and the rest of the human life is comparatively speaking dwarfed, insignificant. Some expression—for instance perhaps a poet, perhaps a great leader of some sort—generally speaking, just one avenue in the individual's life expression reveals genius. What is that? With respect to that particular pattern, that human being, man or woman, has learned to function in relationship to Shekinah, perhaps somewhat distorted, perhaps definitely misused; but there has not ever at any time in all the history of man been what might be properly classified as genius without the reality of Shekinah in relationship to that individual—music, art in any form, the brilliant expression, creative in accomplishment, through any human being anywhere. And so we begin to see that there is indeed in every manifestation of genius, in any field whatsoever, wherever it manifests, something of the reality of Shekinah—every constructive thing. And those who have had a genius for being destructive, they have had the capacity of attunement with Shekinah but have misused and abused it, and so have destroyed themselves and others. We can see that pattern at work; the sort of thing that manifested, for instance, with Hitler: the destruction he brought upon himself and upon his nation, and upon other parts of the world, countless human beings—a misused, abused capacity to contact the Shekinah force. Now in such a case Shekinah does not function in relationship to the individual as in the constructive case, and let us not get off on a tangent trying to understand just what makes a Hitler. That is not so important. What is it that makes a man or woman of God in the Divine Pattern?—that is important.
So, you have been called out of the world pattern as it is, to share in the Divine outworking by which you might become a noble man or a noble woman in the service of our King. So all genius represents a particularized capacity to contact Shekinah. Generally speaking, in the world those human beings who have contacted it have done so more or less accidentally. All kinds of theories and teachings and philosophies have been developed which are supposed to make it possible for the ordinary man or woman to equal the feats of genius. We have so many that I could name. But in actual fact they do not, because they do not understand. And hoping to equal the feats of genius is a poor goal. If we have no greater goal than to hope to equal or come near, perhaps, that which has been achieved by some genius of the past, we have accepted a distorted goal, something that is meaningless in fact. We are here as instruments for Shekinah: Man, made in the image and likeness of God, to be the instrument for the manifestation of the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells.
If you fully comprehend that brief statement you understand much. And we begin to see that for those who truly see, there is the particularized formation of Shekinah—the central ball of Fire, the surrounding Light that Glows, and the Cloud—which comes into being in relationship to every truly constructive or creative endeavor. If you attempt to give an attunement, for instance, and you cannot under the circumstances allow the particularized focalization of the development of Shekinah in relationship to it, you will not really give an attunement. You may not say so; you will not just say, "Well you may as well get out of here." You will give the individual an opportunity, if he or she will accept it, to begin to learn how to respond. You will not talk about Shekinah. Oh no, not at all! If you do you are very wrong. There is not one of you that is actually equipped to talk about Shekinah in the sense of undertaking to convey it to someone else. The point is that you will begin to inspire the individual to a response which will permit him or her to share in the beginning of the development of a Focalization of Shekinah, for that particularized development must appear before the actuality of attunement is established.
Now, of course, I recognize that we have called many patterns of outworking attunements when in the deeper sense they were not. But it was all right along the way. But we have to reach a point where we begin to recognize what an attunement really is. And when we first started this Class I could not have told you, no matter what words I used, because you would not have been able to understand what I was talking about. But you are beginning to reach a point where you can realize that every attunement with God must be by reason of Shekinah, and if Shekinah is not allowed to manifest between the cherubim it will not appear; and without it there is no power, no attunement, just an emptiness, just a form, just action and words that mean nothing.
In other words you must learn how to let the specific Pattern of Shekinah take form in relationship to that which you do. You as an individual alone cannot arbitrarily cause it to be so, but when there is the right pattern of relatedness established with someone else, and function is correct, there can be the beginning of the manifestation of Shekinah between you and that someone else. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-shekinah-fire.html] But you must both stand upon the mercy seat if it is to be so. Your foundation must be in the Law of God—the revelation of the letters of Fire, the rod of Truth, Aaron's rod that budded, the bread of Life, the basic triangle of Being within your foundation, the Ark of the Covenant. And you must learn to stand upon the mercy seat. The Master said, "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." And is there one among you who has no need of mercy? "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." Actually the Beatitudes, properly recognized and understood, portray the basic principles essential to coming to the point where you can be a cherubim, a servant of God, an angel of God, standing upon the mercy seat. But you may be standing upon the mercy seat and if there is not someone else who stands upon the mercy seat somewhere, somehow, with you, you, standing there alone, cannot make manifest the conditions essential to the revelation of Shekinah. There must be two, one at each end of the Ark of the Covenant, with the mercy seat between. And it is above the mercy seat, between the cherubim, that there is the beginning of the centering, of the forming, of Shekinah in that particularized Pattern.
Perhaps it would help you to begin to see this more clearly if we did a little supposing within the range of reality. Just suppose every man, woman and child upon the face of the whole earth were centered in God, completely under the kingdom control of the Spirit, letting Life truly manifest—the Shekinah Light is the Life of men—there would be then, around the entire surface of the earth, wherever there is land at least, the manifestation of millions and millions of particularized focalizations of Shekinah. There would be a particularized Shekinah pattern between any given individual and each of his true friends. Suppose some person had one hundred friends. There would be one hundred balls of Fire and glowing Lights and manifestations of Cloud in relationship to that one individual who centered the hundred friends; but they in turn would have other friends, and each might have anywhere from, what shall we say? one to a hundred, more or less, in some cases many more of course, manifestations of Shekinah, and it would cover the earth's surface, and everything that would be done, every word that would be spoken, every action, would be on the basis of the expression of Shekinah in actual fact. The earth would then be a Sun, glowing, shining, in its place in the solar system and the cosmos—a Sun, a manifestation of the only begotten Son of God. How often back through the months we have shared have I told you that Shekinah is the only begotten Son of God? Did I not say the Christ Spirit—Light and Love and Life? What is Love and Light and Life? What is the Christ Spirit? What is the only begotten manifestation of God, that which gives evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells? Shekinah. For the Christ of the New Testament and the Shekinah of the Old are one and the same, and Christ should not be thought of as being any individual, not even our Lord and King. We can speak of Him as Jesus the Christ, the centering and manifestation of Shekinah; but to call Him Christ is a statement which reveals a lack of understanding. People act as if they could interchange the words "Jesus" and "Christ" and it would be perfectly all right. It is not so.
Christ and Shekinah, or Christos, as it is put from the standpoint of the Greek; Christos and Shekinah, the same thing exactly. So we begin to realize that if all those who dwell on the face of the earth were as they ought to be, there would be many more manifestations of the Shekinah Pattern than there would be individuals on earth, many more, and all things would be the expression of Shekinah, and without Shekinah there would not be anything done. Before there can be any real meaning to a pattern of response from any individual in relationship to myself as a teacher or leader, there must be the development between that individual and myself of a particularized focalization or manifestation of Shekinah. And that particular focalization is ours, that person and myself, and it belongs to no other, no one else. That is ours. Under the Divine Pattern I have the capacity to have such an individualized focalization of Shekinah with every man, woman and child on the face of the earth, without any exception, if the individual will let it be so; and in each and every case that manifestation of Shekinah would be ours, just ours, no one else's.
Now, in actual manifestation—well, do not jump to conclusions. You are not ready yet to understand just how all those things work. Function on the basis of what you know and not what you do not know. However, there is the necessity of realizing that nothing worthwhile can be accomplished on earth by anyone, anywhere, under any circumstance, without Shekinah, and any human relationship which is not based in Shekinah, which does not allow the manifestation of Shekinah, is an utterly useless relationship. Two cherubim standing above the Ark of the Covenant, upon the mercy seat which extends between them; and between the two there appears the Centering of Shekinah. Now this manifestation is without regard to sex. And here we begin to see why human beings have jumped to all kinds of foolish and fanciful conclusions, assuming that the angels of God were sexless creatures and that there was no such thing as sex in heaven, and so on and so on, up and down the line. But these manifestations are established without regard to sex—in other words I can have such a manifestation manifest between another man and myself as easily as I can between a woman and myself.
We begin to see then that that which results from the manifestation of Shekinah will be on an individualized basis, and the Shekinah Pattern will take form between any two cherubim who stand upon the mercy seat above the ark of the covenant; and if you have any foundation other than that you are attempting to build on shifting sand, for that is the only sure foundation, the Rock which the Master spoke of, the Rock of Reality—the man who built his house upon a rock. The house of your endeavor, that which you are achieving, attempting to make or bring forth by reason of living, if it is upon that foundation and the result of the working of Shekinah, then it is well. But if you attempt to duplicate, as nearly as you can, the same thing without the foundation and without the working of Shekinah, you may be able to fool those who have poor spiritual vision, it may look to many as if it is just as good, for a little while, but it is upon the sand, and as soon as the storm comes and the wind blows it will fall and great will be the fall of it.
Only Shekinah provides us with the opportunity of sharing the creative work of God on earth and any endeavor that disregards this great Truth must come to naught. There should be a Shekinah Pattern between every husband and wife; there should be a Shekinah Pattern between every parent and child; there should be a Shekinah Pattern between all those who are true friends; there should be a Shekinah Pattern between the one who carries a pattern of true focalization and all those who serve with that One. And only as you allow, for instance, a Shekinah Pattern to develop between you and me can we have any real meaning in the Cosmic scheme of things.
The great, magnificent significance of Shekinah! We need to begin soon to learn more about how to let Shekinah take form. I have told you already: stand upon the mercy seat above the Ark of the Covenant as a cherubim and let, [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2019/06/attunement-seat-david-barnes-2-2019-p.html] in the Divine Design, yourself have relationship to a starting point. You know it is perfectly permissible for you to recognize me in that position if you want to. You do not have to hunt for someone else unless you wish to. And if you refuse to let me share that pattern with you, I might mention you will hunt in vain for anyone else to share it. He who does not share it with me can never truly share it with anyone else. That is the Cosmic Law. It is the Divine Pattern. Share it with me and you will find someone else to share it with you. But it must work on the basis of Center.
And lo, if your foundation is the Law of God written upon the tablets of your heart with letters of Fire, and Aaron's rod which budded, the living Truth—the same thing that is symbolized by the wine which the Master caused to appear from the water, and the manna, the bread of Life—if these are your foundation, this Creative Triangle, this Creative Field, and you stand upon the mercy seat in correct polarity in relationship, according to the Divine Design, you will share the creative work of God on earth and you will begin to realize that man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word, every Shekinah, which comes forth from God. So let it be and we shall share the manifestation of the kingdom that is at hand. There is no other way. The kingdom of heaven is at hand, the kingdom of Shekinah is at hand. Let it appear to the Glory of our King and to the blessing of the children of men.
