Mary Janak Denver, Colorado and Robert Kauffman Atlanta, Georgia
June 28, 2023
Temple of Light service
Mary Janak — I’d like to welcome each one of you. I’m delighted to be here with Robert. I’ve had a wonderful time creating with him and, in preparing, connecting with different friends; so this has truly been from the beginning a collective effort; and I have the privilege and honor of speaking for all of us, actually, so that in this hour the Tone of Life we sound will bless our worlds; and I recognize and respect the substance that each person brings. Robert, I believe we have a video to play.
YouTube Video
What beauty that was, that touched my heart. Maybe it touched yours as well. Water—a symbol of Truth, and the first of the four creative forces—water, air, earth and fire. And the eagle—majestic, noble, powerful, visionary and free. Here’s what Uranda had to say about the flying eagle, in a service titled The “Four Beasts” on June 19, 1953: “The flying eagle—the symbol of the Lord of Truth. When we begin to become acquainted with the reality of Truth, what do we find? There is an ability to move in the air of spirit: the flying eagle, not something that is earthbound, not something that is limited to one little point here or there. And what is the nature of the eagle? The eagle is called the king of birds; the eagle carries a very positive pattern… But the nature of an eagle, the bearing of an eagle, what it suggests in relationship to the positive expression of Being!”
We know what it is to move in the air of Spirit; to express Spirit in the daily moments of our lives; to move with the creative process through all the situations of our lives. And because of this, it occurred to me that our individual lives are celebrations of victory. And our service times like these are also celebrations of victory, because we come together physically as a body in agreement to serve our LORD and KING.
We experience victory because we choose to live the Truth. I know this victory when I choose to be controlled, and to act, to my highest understanding of what is right that I know in my deepest heart, to contribute to the circumstances of my life, just as they are, no matter what I feel about them, and not try to change them. To listen to the Word of guidance from Who I Am about the right time, the right place, the right way. To seek the most creative and uplifting outcome, always. For what else could I do? Nothing. That’s my purpose. And I know the experience of love when I do this. First and foremost, it’s love for the One I Am, and above us all, our LORD and KING, Who focalizes this beautiful earth. And out of that first commandment comes the second, love for others. Every moment of living is an attunement.
Here is something Martin had to say about love and truth, in a service titled “Truth Accepted” on December 12, 1962 [TSS 10:68] “Love and truth are, in fact, inseparable… for love to be creative [that fire force] … it must manifest in the right design, the true design, under God’s control. Then it is creative. The truth, containing within itself the elements of divine design and control, is therefore essential to the manifestation of love at all levels of being.”
The truth of love, as we know it in our own experience, heals us and other people, it uplifts us, and it’s unifying; it’s unifying for everyone, anywhere, who seeks to live their highest integrity. It is all-inclusive. But fight the fire of love through self-will and you will feel the burn. That is the design of how things are.
YouTube Video Speaker View
The creative process transforms us if we are willing to be made whole—if I am willing to be made whole. I and we travel up the Spiral of Life in our process of becoming whole. I suspect it’s a journey without end. Even beyond this physical form, I suspect there is constant creativity, change and growth. In my experience, over the years of my life, I’ve found that moving through the creative process is miraculous, especially when I’ve been in circumstances that have been very challenging, to say the least. I know I speak for all of us in saying that. And what this leaves me with is the deepest gratitude in my heart for the One I Am and for our LORD and KING.
I have found it’s true—the truth is an immovable object. It’s absolute. It’s “yes” or “no”. There’s no in between. It’s a foundation I have lived on since I first became aware of it. It has sustained me and brought me to now, and I know I will stand on it for the rest of my time here on earth. Martin made this important point about truth, in a service from November 1, 1981 titled “Being the Truth”:
“The quality and character of this immovable mass of truth is a constant; it endureth forever; but the Truth causes movement. If we provide in our own experience of living that immovability of truth, then all around us things move. The question then arises as to whether that movement around us is going to dissipate our experience of immovability.
“When we are one with the Truth, we reveal the Reality of being. We are. We are what we are. I am that I am. And nothing can make it otherwise. This indicates something of the real nature and quality of the rock, our own true being. So we are present on earth in the world to make manifest that rock… We remain unmoved in our hearts by the changes…”
And yet at the same time, our hearts are moved and filled with passion to live by the truth of love that we each know. I feel a passion to live my purpose here on earth. So that when my time is complete, I may hear the words, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” What could be more meaningful? The key word is to live—to do. Not just talk about what I think is true. But to speak and act in ways that are true. So, in considering this for this morning, I thought of this question: “What do I know to be true because I have lived it, and I am living it now?”
A few things came to mind that I’d like to share with you. But before I do, I’d like to say: I know you have lived these truths, too, and you could add many more to the few that I’m going to describe. And my purpose in offering them into our field of substance is attunement. To have a specific time of unified radiation beyond us on these points of agreement that are backed up by the substance, the rich substance, of our living, each one of us. So here are a few of the truths that I know in my life:
I go in the direction of my response.
I respond to my Lord, the One I Am. My decision is made. It is absolute. It is irrevocable.
Although the circumstances in my life change, these are my opportunities to apply my absolute decision.
To live the truth of my decision. That I respond to the Lord first and foremost.
I will not let anything stop me from fulfilling my spiritual purpose.
My presence has power. It is the power of the One I Am.
When I become free in my limitations, then I can become free from my limitations.
Whatever is true, cannot be lost.
So in this substance, I would offer a prayer: O Lord, let my heart be pure, so that I may see with Thy vision what the right thing is to do. And not only see, but may I have the strength, the courage, the wisdom, and ability to act on it. To Thy glory, Amen.
We know the victory in our lives, and nothing can take that away because it is true. So let us give thanks to our LORD and KING for this tremendous gift of living here on earth now—that we may be of service now; that we know the confidence and assurance of living in the truth of love. We know the joy of living and of creating together. Let it continue.Robert has an audio to play of Uranda chanting “The Land of the Living”, and after that Robert will speak.
Robert Kauffman — I want to thank Mary for choosing to have us play that chant. I’m going to read it now since the words are not easily understood. I think they’re very important to the development of the offering this hour:
There is a Land of the Living, a land, a Land of the Living
O come, O come and dwell
O come and dwell, in the Land of the Living
O come and serve, O come and serve, the God of the Living
The God of the Living
There is a Land of Light, there is a Land of Light
O come and dwell in the Land of the Light
O come ... O come ... O come
YouTube Audio
So when I first saw these words, a question immediately came to mind: where is this land of the living Uranda speaks of? My mind hearkened back to a conversation that I shared with David and some others in which he commented that the Temple of Light service pattern has entered into the Earth phase now that we have begun our third year. That conversation was back in March, and I realize that over the last three months, my heart and mind have been filled with feelings and thoughts of the Earth—this place where I live—and we live. It’s the only place I’ve ever known within the range of physical experience.
Now, as Mary so beautifully began to describe, we are beginning to understand that “the Land” also refers to another place, a holy place within which we may live together in a shared understanding that “the Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein.” And we are coming to an understanding that the ways in which we have thought about the world may need to change. Oh, we’ve made judgments about all kinds of things in our past. For millennia our forebears have been making judgments and forming beliefs that simply are not true. The earth in which we live actually falls under the pattern of essential truth, as Mary has described.
In the past, we’ve talked about a veil in relation to our understanding of this essential truth, and I’ve thought about what’s meant by this word for years. Now, is this something that God inflicted upon us?—you know, with the cherubim wielding those flaming swords that hold us back from Heaven? And it keeps coming back home to me that that’s not it at all. It’s the judgments we make, it’s the thoughts we hold, and it’s all our unnatural biases.
I want to tell you about a particular book that just really floored me, caught my attention in an unusual way. It’s by Paco Calvo and it’s called “Planta Sapiens”, a book that explores the possibility that plants have intelligence—that they have consciousness. What he presents is actually quite convincing although he admits, in all humility, that he doesn’t have the last word. Scientists still have many experiments to do. But as far as the public is concerned, something else stands in the way.
I’ve just been speaking about the last 150 pages of this book; however, in the first 50 pages, Calvo did something I’ve never seen anybody do before. He takes a full one quarter of the book to inform the reader that there’s no point in even beginning to consider the consciousness of plants unless you, the reader, can find it in yourself to allow your own consciousness to shift. He calls it: “Plant Blindness” and a principle aspect of this is that we’re genetically wired to be interested in watching things that move—like animals. Plants don’t move—well they do, but very slowly. There’s record of researchers, even hundreds of years ago, setting up experiments to chart how vines will grow in circles, step by step, constantly picking away at different objects within their reach to find something to hang on to as they grow. They give evidence of choices made: a thought process by all appearances. But Paco was saying from the very beginning, “you’re not going to easily believe me. Plants just stand there; they’re nothing like us.”
The reason why this has attracted me is because it gives indication of many people in this world who are choosing to explore this planet in an entirely different way—particularly regarding living organisms. Life is such a special, unique condition. I think sometimes we’re so imbued with it, we’re just so surrounded by it, that we lose track of what it really is: the design and control that absolutely underscores every aspect of our lives. I’m developing a point here. Last month, in his service, Gary Courtland-Miles spoke about listening, listening for the Word, a discerning of the cycles [templeoflightservices.blogspot.com/2023/06/radiant-listening-and-joyous-service.html] that are moving round about us. I would introduce to you today that it’s important for us to look as well. It’s not just that plants and animals may have capabilities, mental and emotional capabilities, that we have ceased acknowledging—perhaps protecting ourselves through reaction and judgment. It’s time to start to look once again to begin seeing what we’ve missed.
Last week I was introduced to a service that Martin gave 40 years ago called “Activation of the Seventh Sense” [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2019/01/from-activation-of-seventh-sense-martin.html]. I’ll get to that “seventh sense” a bit later but I want to start with an analogy he developed about walking. With walking you’re actually shifting your balance continuously and you’re moving from a known state to an unknown state, and it gets more interesting—let me read: “With running, it can be rhythmic and care can be taken that the steps go in the right place and the movement therefore can be quicker. I suppose carrying this analogy through a bit, we might reach a point one day when we can leap upon the mountains and skip upon the hills, but it is only because we have developed the facility for doing this on a deliberate and intelligent basis. Whatever the extent of our motion thus far, it is carrying us into the unknown, but we are never far from the known.”
In this service he talked a lot about observation, looking. It’s not so much what nature has to teach us as it is to see the cycles that are working out all around us. I’ll give you a couple of examples that you might not be particularly aware of. For instance plants and fungi have an incredible relationship. In fact the truth is that most plants cannot live without the fungi. In many cases the fungi create their own system of roots called mycelia which actually live within the root system of the plants—and not just next to them but fully inside them. Any why do they do this? This isn’t just a dog-eat-dog world or survival of the fittest; no, they do it to nourish one another. The trees and other plants need nourishment from the ground, the minerals which the fungi provide. And the fungi don’t photosynthesize; they need the sugars provided by the plants. They work together. And I can give you one other example, this one being much closer to home. Remember the phrase from the Bible: “closer than hands and feet.” Well let me assure you that within your digestive system, you have all kinds of creatures living in there. They’re not you; they don’t share your DNA. And we couldn’t live without what we call our “gut flora”. We have developed and grown together with these creatures over a very long time.
I’m suggesting that the earth can teach us much that is necessary but also it can only teach us just so far. Life on earth reflects the truth, but there’s a ceiling to what can be learned this way. So how do we reach beyond? Martin spoke about the seventh sense [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2019/01/from-seventh-sense-martin-cecil-june-5.html] and I would like to present something else I’ve been thinking a lot about over the past few months. This is what became known as the “Blessing Song”—originally written by Martin Cecil around 1976, and later put to music by John Simituck:
Thankful are we now to be
Filled with praise Lord to Thee
So shall our living bless the earth
Thankful are we
Holy King
You may realize by now that I love science, and to me, these words are an equation. Thankfulness is paramount, whether it’s “I” or “we” and filling every now. With what?—“filled with praise” and how?—“Lord to Thee”. Now that’s the First Great Commandment. But the First Great Commandment is accompanied by the Second Great Commandment: “to love thy neighbor as thyself”, and we are in the process of seeing this prove itself out within our lives. We can see that our working together in union, as if our lives depended on it, parallels the working of our gut flora in our bodies and the roots and mycelia. There is a connection there that we absolutely cannot live without. It’s the truth, the Truth of Life on this planet—the only life we know. And as we open our hearts and our eyes and our ears we begin to understand that thankfulness is not just a lack of resolve and taking control—I remember Martin spoke of the tendency to jump into decision-making and planning in fearful reaction to events. “It’s scary having to speak publicly, or design a building, or even talk to my friends without thinking ahead and making a judgment of what I should say or do next: How’s it all going to work?”
But to be thankful is to take a positive stance. It pops up all around us in our living: thankfulness for the trust, for the assurance, and for the consistency of my living—of the life that meets us in every moment. It’s incredibly effective because thankfulness is the opposite of judgment and fear. And with thankfulness what does this lead to? It leads to “praise”—what I would call the “wow-factor”. As we start to realize that there are some amazing aspects to the trust we place on life and that life puts in us, our hearts leap with praise. I suspect all animals, all creatures, do this. I had one experience of remarkable praise about twenty years ago, while visiting my sister in Thailand. She lived in a forest where somebody let all the chickens run wild to live within the forest. And one morning I happened to wake up about 4:30, just as it was starting to get light, I heard this first little chirp up in the trees and then a couple of cackles among the chickens as they roamed around on the forest floor. And as I sat and listened, the calls grew louder and louder and much more intense. About 5:00 or 5:30 it had become this incredible symphony of sounds. Every once in a while a rooster would crow and in branches way above me, there was a squirrel doing pushups in time to the music! Now if that’s not praise and glory and the fullness of life lived to the greatest, I don’t know what is. And I’m beginning to realize that I have the capacity to feel such deep praise within me—the same with all of you. That kind of lived praise really is a simple but powerful thing.
“So shall our living bless the earth” and the HOLY KING shall once again walk upon the earth in consciousness. I can’t help but wonder at how Martin could put it all together in such a clear and short song; there are so many broad implications. I would like to sing it for you now. This is the only song I know; I can never seem to remember the words to anything else. But when people insist: “Oh, Robert, what sacred song can you share?” I want you to know that it has been warmly received in some wonderful gatherings. Robert sang the “Blessing Song”.
I’ve had some time this morning to share my heart and thoughts and I now would like to offer to all of you to add your own voice. And please don’t refrain from singing if you so feel moved.
Deborah Starrs — Robert and Mary, I so much appreciate what you've shared with us this morning, particularly in terms of essences. Recently I was contracted to paint a mural. It's not so much about the painting of the mural, but that it caused me to scrutinize and observe the desert scene much more carefully, and to really appreciate the beauty that surrounds me here in the desert. I have a saying in doing art, that “If I can't see it, I can't do it”, and I think that's a principle that's true of so much of living. We see with our hearts, and something translates through to our minds and action. In fact, we're dealing with essences all the time, related to 10,000 myriad things in living. It's the art of living, to give thanks and to translate that accurately, with the tone in our moment to moment living. So thank you so much for bringing all this this morning.
Marsha Bogolin — Mary and Robert, I have tears wetting my eyes. I want to start Robert, with your song. You may think, “Well, I didn't sing perfectly”, but actually to me, it was absolutely perfect. As I looked at you (you know, you have a nose rather like Martin's) I felt Martin's heart through you, in him having written that song. With his British background, Martin didn't reveal it quite as vividly as you did, so that was a real gift for me. Also a gift was the experience you described of deeply looking, deeply sensing the LORD's design and control—that is so strong with me these days—the symbiotic relationship of all of nature. And Mary, that video with the eagle! I have seen many pictures of eagles and some videos, but I've never seen one that shows the eyes so vividly, and I could sense what the eagle is seeing as it showed what it was flying through. When you offered your prayer there was a point at which I looked into your eyes and they were the same eyes as that eagle—the purity of heart that you spoke in your prayer: that you might be able to see what to do and have the courage and strength to do it. Your absoluteness, the way you describe that, your absoluteness of love for the truth. It has been a riveting experience for me. Thank you so much.
Millicent Holliday — I too had tears in my eyes because what I sensed you both brought was being naked and unashamed before the LORD. And you bought reverence. It was beautiful. Thank you both so much.
Bill Bahan — I loved flying in the air of the spirit with both of you and appreciating the beauty of your spirits. I loved the symbolism of the eagle flying in the air of the spirit. There is such wonderful freedom as we fly in the air of the spirit, unencumbered by anything around us. That is total freedom, and that is total joy, because wherever there is the actual experience of freedom, there's always joy, always a sense of praise for the fact that we find ourselves in form on earth with this ability to live in the air of the spirit. As we were listening to Uranda's chanting, I heard something of the North American Native Indians in that chant, and we know that they had a certain attunement with the Spirit of God, and that was one of their ways of expressing that, and it's so powerful. And I loved your singing Robert. You and I have spent many hours together, and I've only heard you sing once before, and I knew you had a tremendous resonant voice. So don't hide that voice Robert—keep singing. And thank you Mary, for pointing out the fact that our times together are a celebration of victory, because we're flying together in the air of the spirit. It's always a true celebration to come together with all of you. I was amazed, Robert, that you should quote from Martin's service, “Activation of The Seventh Sense”, because that's one of the services I'm going to send out this Saturday, July 1st. You and I have never spoken about this service, but evidence of the fact that we fly together. So it's good to take this flight with you, all of you. Thank you both, Mary and Robert, for our time together.
Anne Blaney — Robert, I was also intrigued at that hint you dropped about the seventh sense. Maybe you didn't describe it but we began to experience it with you. While you were speaking Robert, to give you a little update from the world of nature, there's been so much activity outside as your voice was sounding in this house that it was almost comical. I've had squirrels run by the door, birds sweeping across the window and I kept thinking, “Do they hear Robert's voice?” I was thinking how Life is the product of Love and Truth, as we spoke about earlier with Mary's portion regarding the Spirit of Truth, and so by looking at essences of life we can see that the product of the union of Love and Truth is Life; and as you so beautifully described life—the plant world, how it senses, how that vine senses what to hold on to—we have this incredible seventh sense, to discern the essences that Deborah was mentioning, and connect essences to this larger Being that we are part of, a Being that comes to focus, as we increasingly listen for and hear and perceive with the seventh sense which, as humans, we have been designed to be capable of doing. So I love the richness and the complexity of life together, with the lovely description of that immovability of truth, and the vibrancy of life that you both brought together in this service. We do have this exceptional opportunity of being and dwelling in the land of the living. Thanks.
Davina Misroch — Robert, Mary, I want to capture an essence that seemed to weave between the two of you. It was articulated in words by Mary, and it struck me so strongly that I wrote it down. And I think that Robert you actually lived it. “I will not let anything stop me from living my spiritual purpose.” That is what came radiating out of this service this evening. From my standpoint, listening to both of you, combining it, that's the essence that came radiating forth. Thank you.
Robert Kauffman — Well, I will make one more comment. Davina, nothing can stop us as we join together in one heart, in one mind, focused on the LORD. I would like to give Mary a chance to respond, if you would like.
Mary Janak — Thank you Robert. Thank you everyone. My heart is full of the rich substance of this time, and sometimes it is difficult for me to find the words when I feel so deeply. But there is joy in living, and joy is natural to us. And we know that joy. It is our Father's good pleasure that we share the Kingdom. The Kingdom is not only at hand, it is in our experience now—now, yes. We let goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our life because we express it, and we are doing now what we came to do. As Robert said, we are doing it together. So I give thanks, we give thanks. Let us give thanks to our LORD and KING.
David Barnes — Robert and Mary, I appreciate both of you. Early on Mary, you emphasized that it is the Spirit of Truth that causes movement. The power of the Spirit of Love moving through the Patterns of Truth causes a particular kind and quality of movement. This is uncommon in the history of our world, where truth has not been the spirit that has been dominant in the hearts and minds of acquisitive and angry people enveloped in shame and struggling. It certainly has not been the Spirit of Truth in expression. And so the power of love had to move through channels that were not true to the truth. And yes, movement happened, but that kind of movement doesn't get us anywhere really—it is just the same old round. But now something different is happening in the world because the Spirit of Truth is rising. And the Spirit of Love flowing from the Lord of Love, through the Body of Truth that we may provide, brings a different kind of movement into the world, and that which doesn't belong, that isn't true to the truth, gets moved out of the way. The pattern of life begins to appear, in accord with the sweet, beautiful substance and forms of Life in the Garden of Glory. So now, something different is happening.If the seventh sense is opened, I see and know things that are uncommon in the world. I see how the Spirit of Love is moving through the Channels of Truth that are now developing, and the Garden experience is returning—for those with eyes to see it, and ears to hear the beautiful music of the Garden. This is something that is actually happening today, through people who allow a focus of the Spirit of the Truth of Love to be present. There is the release of a current, invisible and vibrational, moving out of the way that which doesn't belong, and allowing to reappear, step-by-step, the beautiful revelation of the Garden of God. I hear it and I see it all around me. We are here to allow these things to continue, so the whole world is restored to the Garden State—and the King and Queen of Love are seen and known to be present in the Garden. And we are of that Royal Garden Nature, here to steward the Garden of God, as we have done so simply this morning. And I thank you both for stirring us in various ways that are uncommon in this world. I am grateful.
Yujin Pak — Thank you David; that’s so beautiful. I am so appreciative of all that has been shared in this time, through each one. And thank you Robert, for the depth of heart passion you expressed for your song and words. But I want to go back to what you shared Mary, because there's something of a particular essence that came through that is so important for us to mark and amplify. I thought that you took divine action through what you expressed—your positive expression of being. The prayer that you shared let my heart be so pure that I may see with right vision. What you shared was the right vision from your pure heart. And I felt that in what you expressed you did something very particular. It was, to me, you set the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of the Lord of Truth, the Spirit of the Divine Eagle free in our midst, and through us in the world—a world that has a tremendous amount of confusion, including those who once knew Martin. A tremendous amount of confusion. It set something free of the Spirit of the Lord the Truth, the eagle—and when you showed that video of the eagle I felt a noble spirit and the crooked nose of Martin, the noble spirit of Martin—the noble spirit of the Lord of Truth. You said the truth is absolute, the truth is immovable, and yet all around it begins to move when it's present. And if we are not moved by all that moves, then we continue to express the immovable force into the world. The importance of the Spirit of Truth, in some ways more than the Spirit of Love, has been forgotten. What is needed more is not love, it's the Truth of Love—and that is Love. And you brought that sharply to focus today. When that eagle was flying in the video, I felt the reality and spirit of the truth of the LORD's Body—that eagle is the LORD's Body. And may the passion of our being together be that eagle. Marsha mentioned about the seeing the eye of the eagle. I noted that too—the vivid clarity of that eye that sees, and sees through all the confusion and represents the Lord of Truth, serving the Lord of Love. So, thank you for that specific action you took to release the Spirit of the Lord of Truth, and of that eagle in our midst, and into the world.
Mary Janak — Thank you Yujin. And what I'm experiencing now is an indescribable love—for you, for what you have expressed, your unique spirit and purpose. Bringing that to focus as you did is remarkable. And all that we have shared, and all the comments, contribute their own remarkable piece to the experience that we have now, the vision that we have now, the substance that we have now. And I feel in my heart of hearts the LORD's Promise: the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter, is always with us. And we continue on with new vision, free in the air of spirit, to discover what the LORD would bring forth through us, because it is the LORD Who is building our house. And we are building that house on the foundation of truth, stable, immoveable, knowing that the glories of Life will appear in their season.
Steve Ventola — Mary and Robert, you've given us a clear choice today, a more articulate choice, that there's only one way to go. And the sensing is, blessed of the pure in heart for we shall see God. Blessed are the pure and heart for we shall see God. Let's continue along these lines, making the choice, of saying “Yes”—and realizing there's a clear choice in the truth. And the sixth sense, if we're only relying on our intuitive sense, we judge, there's judgment to the world. But our seventh sense, through a pure heart, allows for acknowledging the truth in every single moment, whoever we're with, acknowledging life as it is—as Robert, you so clearly expressed. Let’s all continue in the Way. Our next Temple of Light service will be on July 23rd, with Yujin Pak leading our time—and we look forward to that.
