There has been a group of people assembling for a sunrise service on Sunrise Ranch for about forty years. Here is one evidence of a faithful consistency. This morning is a beautiful morning. It hasn't always been so for sunrise service; however most of them were conducted in the open air, only just a few inside. Sometimes it was cold; sometimes we saw the sun rise. This morning we won't see it rise because of the cloud cover, but we know it does. Here is another evidence of faithful consistency. We ourselves have participated in such consistency to bring us to this hour.
Over these years there has been an unfoldment of the creative process, in our experience and in the experience of others, bringing to pass something of a miracle. During this period of time, year by year, there has been a movement out of an emphasis on the religious past into the increasing freedom of spirit in the present. On Easter there is supposed to be the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. Insofar as all are concerned, that is simply a fantasy. Because of this emphasis on the past, whatever might have been known in the present has been prevented from appearing except insofar as this Emissary Body is concerned, for here is the factual, present reality of the resurrection of the Body of our KING on earth.
As a fantasy of the past the resurrection has had little meaning except to keep alive the memory of a possibility. We ourselves, with others the world around, have offered ourselves to be included in the resurrected Body of our KING—a factual reality now. Over the years there has been a generation of spiritual substance which has permitted the formation of a body of agreement—all this in spite of manifold factors of human nature that have been, and perhaps still are, present in those concerned.
Here is a miracle indeed! that such a Body could be drawn together and continue in faithful consistency over the years, while dragging along what we well know are characteristics of human nature. In spite of all that, in spite of such resistance and rebellion as there may have been, the Body is present and alive. Doubtless there are changes yet to occur. As each is able to say, and to speak truly, "I am the Incarnate One," so may the Body also speak truly, "I am the Incarnate One." This, because the Incarnate One is present and in expression.
We rejoice this morning to let that Incarnate One speak and say, "I am present. I am the resurrection and the life. I am alive in form forevermore." This is the reality. The fantasy may pass away. So we share these moments this morning in the continuing movement of the creative process, rejoicing with others the world around in the resurrected Body of our KING.
I speak to those here present, or wherever they may be, who know Thee, most Holy Father, the only true God, because they are Thy Body, the Body of Thy Son. So Thy Son lives on earth. The joy of Thy Word is known to the Son. Thy Word is Truth. All who receive the Truth are sanctified through Thy Word and are made one in the Son. Thy power and Thy glory are given to Thy Son, that the world might be restored to Thee. Aum-en.
The Secret Of The Resurrection Uranda April 18, 1954 11 a.m.
We come to the conclusion of another week, our Saturday evening hour of meditation this Seventeenth Day of April, 1954, the evening before Easter morning. With tomorrow’s dawn we will be gathering on Chapel Hill to share a few moments of meditation in relationship to our commemoration of the Resurrection. But what of the evening before? What of that night?
It is said that “while it was yet dark,” on that morning, there was a visitor to the tomb before the dawn. It was during the night that the Resurrection became a Reality, for the visitor came and found the tomb empty while it was yet dark. What of that Saturday evening? The tragic events of the day before, the day that they called the Sabbath, drew to a close with the setting of the sun and it was the first day of the week, according to their calculations, from the moment of sundown. The hours of the Sabbath had passed and it was the night time. What of that night which preceded the dawn of the first Easter Day—the Day of the Resurrection?
The seventh day of the week, which was measured from sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night, was called the Sabbath, a commemoration to remind human beings of the Commandment and of the fact that on the Seventh Day the LORD rested from His creative work, [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2023/09/seventh-cycle.html] from all the things that He had made—a pause in the creative cycle. We have considered, and will consider again, aspects of significance in that as they relate to us, but tonight we take note of the fact that the day during which the Master’s body was in the tomb was the Sabbath Day. It was Friday afternoon when they hastened to remove His body from the cross and place it in the tomb because it would not do to leave His body there on the Sabbath Day. So, on that seventh day, that Sabbath Day, the body of our LORD rested in the tomb. The first day of the week began at sundown, and sometime during that night something happened, something took place, according to the record, which had a tremendous impact upon humanity. On that Sabbath Day the body of our LORD rested in the tomb, but before the dawn of the first day of the week He was active once more. A new creative cycle opened as one had closed, and the dawn came to reveal an empty tomb. What of that night?
Concerning the events of that night, the record is silent. The record begins with the finding of the empty tomb. Oh, there was the report that the soldiers who were guarding the tomb saw a great light and fled—but what of that night? Man had closed a chapter in the history of the world. He had closed a chapter in that history by the events on Golgotha, the place of the skull.
The human mind is centered in the place of the skull. The self-active determinations of human beings crucified the body of our LORD on Golgotha, the place of the skull. The crucifixion of the Body of the Spirit of God has ever been in the place of the skull for the body of mankind which has been undergoing the process of crucifixion for lo these many centuries. The Body of the Christ Spirit which man himself crucifies—which is to say, he crucifies himself—is brought to naught in the place of the skull, the self-active mind of man.
So a chapter in history was closed. “In the beginning God created.” The beginning of history was an act of God. Man closed a chapter in the world’s book of history on Golgotha, the place of the skull. “In the beginning God created.” God opened the book of history. Man closed the chapter, but God opened another chapter. As God opened the story in the beginning, man was able to close a chapter on a note of degradation and shame, but man could not keep God from opening another chapter, and though the body of our LORD was at rest in the tomb on the Sabbath Day, with the coming of the first day, while it was yet night, God opened another chapter in the world’s book of history. And that chapter, so begun, is not yet closed—it is not yet finished. Shall this chapter be closed on a note of degradation and shame by reason of man's action in the place of the skull, or will this chapter which God began close on a note of Noble Victory?
We have a part to play in relationship to the events of this closing chapter which God began that night so long ago. We are helping to write the pages in this chapter of history. “In the beginning God created.” In the beginning of this present chapter in the history of the world God brought forth and restored to action on earth the body of our LORD and KING. In the darkness of the night it seemed to those who were mourning in the city of Old Jerusalem that darkness had proved triumphant, and yet, within that darkness and out of that darkness came the light. God was in action once more, for the body of our LORD had rested through that Sabbath Day.
What of that night? For that night was as a womb, and though it was dark it contained the patterns of life, and the body of our LORD came forth from that womb of darkness, and in the early dawn, Mary, lost in grief, perceiving someone standing there, thought him to be the gardener, the caretaker, and she said, “Tell me where they have taken Him.” Was this so strange that Mary should think of such a thing? This tomb into which the body of our Master had been placed had never been used. It was common to have tombs used many times. Among those who were not wealthy in the sense of this world's goods it was common that the burial should be in a tomb, that the family would arrange for the tomb for a day; or two, or three, and rent it, we would say, so that there should be a nice funeral, and then it was understood and arranged that after the funeral was over and a little time had been granted the body would be removed so that the tomb could be used again. This was common practice in those days, so it was not so strange that she should imagine that the Master's body had been taken from the tomb and put somewhere else.
Her mind was filled with wonderment and sorrow, wondering where, for there had been so little time to do anything on Friday night before the coming of the Sabbath. And with tear-dimmed eyes and mind filled with such thoughts as these, she stood asking the question, “If you have taken Him away tell me where?” And a voice answered, “Mary.” In a moment the clouds vanished from her mind and she would have thrown herself upon Him, at His feet, but for His upraised hand and His warning voice, “Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to the Father.” The cycle of ascension was at work—a change in the pattern—and if she had touched Him then, her body could not have withstood the Power that was working through His flesh.
What of that night? Did these things just happen? How did God fulfil His Will in the dark hours of the night? There must have been some yielded flesh; there must have been a yielded mind; there must have been a yielded heart; there must have been some means by which the Will of God was done in the hours of that black night. Man commemorates the day. He arises early to see the dawn. But what of that night? Out of darkness have I called my Son.
“Out of Egypt”—that is but a symbol. Out of darkness have I called my Son. In spite of all the things that had been done to destroy the manifestation of the Christ, He came forth Victorious from the darkness, out of darkness—out of the darkness of the tomb, out of the world situation as it was, and as it is.
Have you known an hour of darkness, of sorrow, of seeming defeat? Out of darkness have I called my son. He is revealed with the coming of the dawn, the light of day. But what of the night? It is not out of the day have I called my Son. “Out of the night, out of the darkness, have I called my Son.” Think you to find release from darkness into day, that you may then receive the call. If the call comes to you, and you hear it, you come to know, “Out of darkness—out of the darkness of the night, have I called my Son.”
What of the night? Should we then so fear the darkness? If we have known darkness, the darkness of the night, we have known that place from whence the Son is called, and this is true. In our Master's release from the tomb, in the rising of the sun, Out of the darkness have I called my Son—the rising of the sun at the dawn of a new day. And there was the dawn of a New Day because the Son came out of the darkness.
From whence would you be called? Would you first have the day to dawn? Would you first have your fill of food and the fulness of raiment and the comforts of the day, and, having so achieved, would you then hear and answer the call, “Out of darkness have I called my Son”? For when it is light and the day is here, must the Son be called? If, for you, it is truly light, you need not be called.
My thoughts turn to some of the words of the Master tonight: “Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” And we are, also, to overcome the world.
I was thinking that, in the conclusion of the activities of a blessed day such as this, we might well again give thought to the Master's Prayer at the time of the conclusion of His Ministry. The conclusion of His Ministry was peculiarly the point where our Ministry begins. The time that has elapsed since has no meaning in that. He had been outlining the Principles of the One Vine and of the means by which we might let the Works of the Father manifest.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shallreceive, that your joy may be full... For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.”
He had also outlined the Principles with respect to the work of the Comforter or Spirit of Truth. He had pointed the Way to Life. It remained for those who should follow after to prove that Life, to experience it according to His Word. And then, in the conclusion of that Ministry, He gave a prayer—a prayer that is our beginning point.
“Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee”. He was, of course, the manifestation of the Son of God, but He was returning to the Father and He had outlined the Plan by means of which the Son, the only begotten Son of God, should continue on earth. The interval of time that has elapsed before that Plan began to be of effect should be, in our consideration, forgotten, as it were, that it may be meaningless. The trials and the tribulations, the concepts, the efforts and the failures of that interval must not be allowed to have meaning in relationship to our function. From the standpoint of Reality, those things do not have meaning. The connecting thread, the unifying Current, is not less strong because of the passage of that time. Our attitude and our feeling and our function should be as if we had heard these words for the first time a few days ago, as if only a month ago He had stood with us upon the face of the earth, as if it were but yesterday that the vibrant sound of His Voice fell on our ears, as if we, in this flesh, had seen Him come forth Victoriously from the tomb, as if we had, in person, shared His final words of admonition and instruction, as if we had known that hour when He ascended to return no more until what He had begun should have been finished in the hearts and lives of men.
The human mind is so inclined to feel the distance of the intervening years, so that there is a loss in a consciousness of personal contact. The Son is the One Christ Body on earth, then and now. The meaning of the Word as He spoke it with respect to His own manifestation is not to be construed as the only meaning, for He spoke also of that Body that is—“Father, the hour is come”. His was the hour of departing; ours is the hour of beginning, of moving forward in fulfilment. The Father glorified the Son then. He is just as capable of glorifying the Son now. “The hour is come. Glorify thy Son”. Why? “That thy Son also may glorify thee”. The beginning and the end, or the end and the beginning, are the same.
The point of His ending in Ministry is the point of our beginning.
He was here on earth. It seems but yesterday we heard Him speak. It seems but the passage of a moment since His prayer first ascended as sweet incense unto God. Time—these things transcend all time. It was but yesterday He gave the Promise. Today we let that Promise be fulfilled. We remember how our hearts were stirred at the sound of His Voice, and the passage of an hour or a day cannot quiet that stirring or end that surge of consciousness of the Power of God. It is now, in this hour, that the Spirit of His Word finds fulfilment in our hearts. It is now, in this hour, that we let His Promise be fulfilled. The excitements and the questionings, the fears and the doubts, have been stilled. We have ceased trying to make it be so, for in the vibrant Power of His Love we are not separate or apart and we know that the Father Himself loveth us because we have loved Him, because we do love Him Who has walked the earth before us, Who has revealed the Way, the Truth and the Life.
“The hour is come” for us to let the Father glorify His Son, that the Son may glorify the Father. We trembled, and were sad, that the hour had come when He should leave us, but we did not let such things prevent fulfilment of His Word lest what He did should be in vain. The hour of His going was the hour of our beginning, and it is so still, for though He went He has not departed, for His Spirit lingers in our hearts and His Word is as powerful as when it first fell from His lips, Words burned in letters of Fire upon our hearts, memorable occasions that could never pass from mind. Yesterday His hour came—today is our hour of fulfilment in beginning.
“Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”
“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God”, and the Christ, the only begotten Son—then Jesus—now the One Christ Body Whom Thou hast sent. “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do”. How truly is that our point of beginning. How seldom on this earth has the word reverberated in truth—“I have finished the work”. We have seen in the world the feeble attempts at doing some bit of work—human beings, like children, building castles in the sand to admire in one moment and to destroy in the next, and then to delude themselves into feeling that they had accomplished something. And how they brag about the mansions they builded in the sand; but we consider other mansions, Mansions in the Father’s House.
“I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do”—and in season the Son shall again speak these words, but before those words may be truly spoken once more, there must truly be the beginning, the opening up, that comes through the surging Power of His Spirit as we hear again, in memory, His Word, “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.” That was but yesterday, surely. It is but a dream that some did not keep His Word. There must now be fulfilment which gives meaning to His faith when He spoke that Word, that when these words sound in memory, and stir within our hearts, they shall not be as a mockery, a symbol of the faith of the Son of God that found no answering heart on earth, but a symbol of the faith of the Son of God that finds fulfilment here and now in His Son on earth.
“And they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.” Yes, the intervening time when these words remained unfulfilled is surely but a dream. Twas only yesterday He spoke, and today His Word finds fulfilment. Today we prove His faith was not in vain.
“And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” What was His joy? It was the joy of Oneness with the Father. It was the joy of Being the Son on earth. That is the joy that must be fulfilled in us, the joy of Oneness with the Father, the joy of Being the Son.
“And these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” That is His Word. His Word is true, and we let it be so in us in this hour, and forevermore, for as the Father sent Him into the world, even so has He sent us into the world.
“And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have giventhem”—“And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them”. It is glory to be the Son on earth. “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am”—not where I shall be, where I am.
He, the Son of God, stood on earth in the hour of fulfilment. He had finished the work. That was where He was in the hour of fulfilment. And He said, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am”—and so it is His Will that we should stand in that Oneness of the Son in the hour of fulfilment. “That they may behold my glory. Which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Beloved LORD, we thank Thee that it is so,
and we thank Thee for the Holy Privilege of sharing Thy Fulfilment on earth.
“Through you control may manifest in the differentiated aspects
of the expanded expression of the essences of your own being, which you call nature,
the animal kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, and all the rest.”
We come to our evening hour for the lecture meditation the Log Chapel at 100 Mile, in the Cariboo in British Columbia, on this Tuesday evening May 25th 1954—and continuing in the sphere of our introduced material of last evening.
We need to recognize our personal pattern of relationship with and in principle—the God Principle of Being. What is being? Any being, at any level, is made manifest by the formation of a specific body capable of function on that level for the purpose of allowing principle the opportunity of action in that level. That's clear, isn't it? [laughter]
It is absolutely essential that we recognize ourselves in relationship to being. More or less vaguely we comprehend ourselves as being human beings. But human beings have for so long deemed it to be human to excuse the inadequacies that they have forgotten the reality of being, and they have conceived a form through which principle is supposed to act to be the thing itself. Theoretically most people would deny that statement and say that they recognize that there is something more than the form, but in practical function the human tendency is to conceive the human form to be the thing—and function in consequence is on a basis of providing the form with that which is deemed to be requisite to the well-being of the form in an external sense.
Now we do not deny the external things like food, shelter, clothing and other things which are required to make possible the effective function of the form, but if we place these things in the realm of the primary we attempt to function on a basis which we conceive to be necessary to provide the requisite things which are deemed to be essential to satisfying human desires. This makes us puppets, subject to external circumstance. It takes away our freedom and delivers us into continual slavery. Until we recognize that these requisite things are not to be denied but are to be seen as entirely secondary, we cannot begin to comprehend ourselves as beings whose essential and primary purpose is to reveal principle in the expression of Law, in establishing and maintaining dominion over circumstance and thereby enjoying control over things.
The human mind in its self-active pattern is continually establishing the reverse of this: trying to attain that which it deems to be pleasing by manipulation of things, or function in relationship to things as if they were primary. And this effort is expended on the basis of supposing that it is essential to the attainment of dominion. Millions have done this before us in unnumbered generations through the millennia which have passed, and they have failed. There is no valid reason to suppose that we can succeed in violation of the Law, following the same pattern which has brought failure to others. We need to recognize, once and for all, that the only way whereby the essential dominion can be established in the realm of circumstance and things is for us, as human beings, to recognize our own true purpose, which is to say, the revelation of principle. So our second factor in this formula is purpose.
The purpose of principle is to reveal itself in action in any realm or on any level where body is provided for that action; consequently, from the standpoint of body, substance, whether of this realm or of some other, is to allow principle the opportunity of self-revelation. The self-revelation is not of the body but of the principle. So there are two approaches here to this second phase of our formula. 1. The purpose of principle is self-revelation through the body or bodies made available to principle under Law. 2. The purpose of a body or bodies is to permit the self-revelation of principle in the realms, or on the levels of being, where the bodies are made manifest.
To the degree that we comprehend this it is easy to avoid many pitfalls, and we begin to have a basis of understanding being; for being, whether here, in heaven, or some other world or realm, is the manifestation of principle in action through the forms provided in that realm, whatever it may be. We are concerned about our realm, where we have these physical bodies. And last evening we began to have a deeper realization of the fact that these physical bodies have a direct connection with, and in, that which is conceived to be invisible. It is invisible as far as our physical perceptions are concerned—particularly vision, hearing, touch. We recognize that we have a capacity of perception through feeling, when it is properly understood, which extends beyond the range of our other capacities of perception. But in any case, by reason of the mind and the feeling nature, we have in and with these bodies a direct connection with that which is invisible to physical vision.
We also emphasized the point with respect to logic and reason, but we did not go far enough in our meditation thus far to permit a comprehensive understanding of logic and reason. The difficulty is that human beings attempt to use logic and reason in a realm where logic and reason as such, as known to the human mind, cannot penetrate. We all know something of that which is called a hunch, which relates to feeling perception. This feeling perception is something which begins to comprehend that which is beyond the immediate range of vision, hearing or touch. If immediately the mind, in an intellectual capacity, begins to try to apply logic and reason, it will violate the principle of feeling perception. If we say we have a hunch, which is a rather crude and incomplete term relating to the feeling realm of perception—but if we have the hunch and immediately the mind argues that that could not possibly be the case, and it argues itself out of examining that which is perceived through feeling, the mind will imagine that it is proceeding on the basis of logic and reason when it is not, for logic and reason depend upon awareness of a true premise.
We cannot have effective expression of logic and reason without conscious awareness of a true premise. Therefore, when the mind rejects the hunch, as we might call it, in an incomplete sense, without examination of the factors, merely on a basis of an attempted analysis of factors within the range of physical perception, the mind is attempting to use logic and reason in a range where logic and reason cannot reach. Now I do not anticipate that all of you will completely comprehend this point in a moment, but if we begin to establish the idea the rest will come later.
The important thing for the moment is to see that the supposed conflict between intellectual function on the basis of logic and reason and the feeling perception that is crudely called a hunch is simply a figment of the imagination, because in actual fact there is no conflict. And those who attempt to utilize logic and reason to reject that which is coming into the range of perception through the feeling nature are violating the basic principles of logic and reason, because the consciousness has rejected something before the consciousness has an awareness of the factors which are involved in relationship to the range of feeling perception.
Now, all of this has a direct bearing on this point of being and to the degree that we begin to see being as the expression of principle through form, by which principle is revealed in relationship to conditions and circumstances which surround the form, we can realize that being is at any level where forms have been created for the revelation of principle. But this revelation of principle through created form is always on a differentiated basis. The essence of that which is created must always be contained at a particularized point of focalization; but at that level the differentiated factors contained in the essence cannot be perceived and comprehended. Therefore we see that creation is a process by which form is given to the differentiated factors contained in the essence at the point of focalization. Now you look like you were ... [much laughter] ... that was very simply stated; why there should be difficulty in following it [laughter]. At least it should disabuse you of any concept that I haven't anything more to teach you! [much more laughter]
YouTube Audio
Well we will take a little parenthetical pause here to illustrate just a little. Remember that all creative function manifests on the basis of creative triangles and creative cycles. For the moment we will not particularly emphasize creative cycles, but we will examine for a moment the principle of the creative triangle. It is obvious that the apex of the triangle provides the starting point for the manifestation of that which appears within the body of the triangle and at its base, and whatever is contained in the body and base of the triangle is brought to focus in concentrated manifestation at the apex. This concentrated manifestation at the apex is the essence of the focalization which must be differentiated in the expanded expression of its being in order to allow its various aspects to appear in comprehensible form. This is an exceedingly simple matter. [much laughter]
Did you ever look in a microscope? If you saw something that to your physical vision appeared to be minute, so that you could not comprehend all of its parts and aspects, and you looked at it under a powerful microscope, you saw it magnified so that its various parts and aspects might be seen in their true nature. Here we have the minute pattern of all that is contained in the expanded expression, and if you look at it as the base and body of the triangle magnifying all that is contained at the apex you will begin to have the idea, because all that is in the triangle must be contained at the apex of focalization. But it cannot be readily seen and comprehended with the capacities of vision which are at lower levels than the point of the apex; therefore down here, in the body and at the base of the triangle, we have the expanded differentiation of these aspects contained in the essence of focalization given form on what we might call a magnified basis, so that they might be readily comprehended by the powers of perception natural to these levels of form and being. See? Very simple.
Now then, this makes it clear that any given point of focalization cannot be immediately comprehended, because it contains the essences of that which is to be given form in the expanding process of differentiation by which that essence at the point of focalization is magnified in form to a comprehensible pattern of action. Now you are that, as a human being in relationship to God Being. Creation in its wholeness is that. Now, we recognize that no particularized point in the triangle, at its base or in its body, is supposed to contain all of the essences of that which is focalized at the apex; for that which is in the body and at the base of the triangle is, in each of its parts, differentiated in expanded expression revealing the apex.
Now let’s apply that from a practical field that is familiar to us—this realm of creation. Man, mankind, was created to be the apex in form; not the apex as far as the vibrational realm is concerned, please remember; for he, man, is still a form through which the principle is to be allowed self-revelation. But man, mankind, is the apex of creation in relationship to this world. The differentiated aspects of the essences contained in mankind are made manifest in the realms of vegetation, animal life, birds, bees, insects, fish, mineral kingdom, etc. All of these various kingdoms of this world—the kingdom of the animals, the kingdom of the insects, the kingdom of the fowl of the air, the kingdom of vegetation, the kingdom of the soil or mineral pattern—all of these kingdoms of this world properly find their point of focalization, in relationship to form, in mankind.
But man, as such, has forgotten the true purpose of his own function and has turned it around so that he, as man, is trying, by ingenuity and force, to compel a certain amount of control, compel the acceptance of a certain amount of control in these other kingdoms, forgetting that he himself is the apex in the creative triangle in relationship to the realm of form, and that he, as man, contains within himself the essences which are differentiated in all of these other fields; for that which is present in any of these kingdoms that I have mentioned, in their differentiated patterns of form, are contained in man. You take any bird, any insect, any animal, or in the realm of vegetation, and examine the facts, and you begin to comprehend that man in his own physical body, regardless of the levels of intelligence and feeling, etc., man in his own physical body contains the essences of form which are differentiated into all these other parts, so that man is supposed to be the apex of the creative triangle in relationship to this realm of physical things. If we see that, it is very easy to begin to recognize the fact that man, trying to control those factors which he is supposed to focalize, dooms himself to failure unless he recognizes in turn that which focalizes himself; because he in turn is a differentiated aspect of a higher point of focalization which contains in itself the essences of being so manifest.
Consider this in relationship to human beings and see the realm of human beings as the base of a triangle, for instance, which in turn provides the apex for the triangle in relationship to the rest of creation in the realm of form in this world. And we see that mankind, as one body, is made up of the cells which we call human beings—that humanity is in fact one body, and that we as human beings are simply cells in that body. And we recognize that the body of mankind, or humanity, has never died. Death has not been known on this earth. Does that sound like a startling statement? It isn't, because mankind, the body of humanity, while cells have come into it and cells have gone out of it, has continued a body of mankind from the beginning.
See this principle in relationship to your own body, for a year and a half ago you had certain cells in your body, in all the vital tissues of your body, which have now gone from you and are not present in you, and your body has formed new cells, because every fourteen months all of the cells of the vital tissues of your body are changed in normal health; so the cells that composed your body a year and a half ago have gone from you and new cells now form your body. This does not mean that you died. Cells have come into you, cells have gone out of you, but you, the human being have remained the same human being. The same thing is true of the body of humanity. Cells have come into this body and cells have gone out of this body, but the body of humanity has never died; it continues, the same body of humanity.
Now if we see human beings as this base of the triangle which extends into the invisible realm, we begin to recognize that the differentiated aspects of the human body which we call human beings, each one having similarity to all others, but each one individual, each one distinct in its own capacities and abilities, we will see this pattern of differentiation, for the essence of that which is focalized at the apex of the triangle, in relationship to the base of the triangle which is formed by humanity, is differentiated in the expanded expression, the magnified expression, and seen as a mass of human beings. If we take a piece of flesh, any flesh here—you look at my hand for instance, and you think of it as a hand; you do not think of it as a mass of cells. If we were to put it under a magnifying glass, strong enough, we would begin to see the cells, the differentiated aspects which form the flesh of the hand. So this principle holds true all the way through.
Now, if man remembers that he is designed to make possible the revelation of principle in this realm, he will not try to be something which he is not. And all of the chaos in the world appears in consequence of man's failure to remember this basic point. For man chooses what he conceives to be his personal purpose—self-determined, self-established, selfishly conceived, without regard to the purpose for which he himself was created—and then, on this arbitrarily determined basis, he attempts to achieve that which he thinks would be pleasing to himself, forgetting that he was created in the first place as a means by which principle could be revealed at this level, and that unless he pleases the Intelligence which functions in relationship to principle, which perhaps we might call God, he will not be able to please himself, because he would have to establish himself in a position as great as, or superior to, God before he could disregard God's purpose. And it is obvious that man, although he has been trying it for twenty thousand years, has never succeeded in making himself superior to God; therefore we cannot be happy or truly successful, or find or know true fulfilment in life, while we disregard the purpose which God had in creating us.
If for the moment we can forget our personal desires with respect to external things and consider the fact that the true purpose of being as far as we are concerned is the revelation of principle, we will begin to become oriented in the pattern of invisible being, and then, having re-established our personal pattern of relationship with the invisible realm, the force, the power, the intelligence and everything else necessary to the revelation of principle will begin to manifest through our capacities of being, and the control in relationship to external things will be established on a higher level and a more effective basis than we could possibly achieve by any self-determined method. This should make it clear that it is absolutely necessary that we understand being as such, and ourselves as beings.
Last evening I introduced an idea which we would pick up now, for I pointed out that we do not undertake this Program of educational training as a Church. The Church is provided as a spiritual home for those who choose to share it. As far as we are concerned there is no compulsion, and we are not interested in proselyting; we are not interested in holding anyone in that Church home who wants to depart from it. The door is wide open, either to enter in or to go out, and no one who has any authority will turn a hand over to prevent anyone from coming in or anyone from going out. Let’s remember that. It’s simply a spiritual home for those who share it. Now there must be a means by which we carry out this Program of education and training. What is that means? If we had a dictionary here—I suppose there is one around somewhere; no need to bother about it; you can look it up later yourselves if you wish—and we were to examine the meaning of the word “ontology” we would find that it means the Science of Real Being. The science of Real Being. Now science involves classified knowledge, but more than that it involves action, practical action on the basis of that classified knowledge. Science—the Science of Real Being.
Now what is Real Being? Not merely the existence of human beings, for Real Being relates to the manifestation of the form of being correctly oriented to and in that from which such form receives its life force; broadly speaking, we can say God. But to use the word “God” here proves, generally speaking, to be entirely inadequate, because the comprehension of the meaning of the word is not clear, the idea is obscure, and the variations equal the number of people who hear. So we begin to realize that Real Being must be seen in relationship to that which is beyond the visible realm, and man cannot begin to know his own Real Being until he recognizes the reality of the principle which is supposed to be revealed by the form of his own body and his capacities of being, which we call mind, or intelligence, and heart, or feeling nature. The Science of Real Being.
It is obvious that the most important thing on the face of the earth to any human being, anywhere—regardless of his own concept of his own place in the scheme of things—the thing that is of greatest importance to any human being anywhere is the Science of Real Being; because if we disregard that science we are going to try to express the qualities of being without an understanding of the nature of being, and we will be acting on a haphazard, trial-and-error basis, which is bound, by the very nature of things, to defeat itself. So regardless of religion, regardless of color, regardless of belief, regardless of position, every human being should be interested in the Science of Real Being, and if he is not, and we can't inspire such an interest, that individual is hopeless. He cannot be an integral and meaningful part of the whole and he cannot hope to ever achieve a state wherein he has true meaning to himself. So actually, as far as the real scheme of things is concerned, he has to be disregarded except as a potential part of the whole or a potential menace to the whole. Otherwise he must be disregarded. He may potentially become a part of the whole or his potential may be as a menace to the whole. And only in that respect can he be considered, because he makes himself to be meaningless in any other capacity. So our immediate concern is with the Science of Real Being, and later our interest will be in the range of inspiring others to become interested in the Science of Real Being.
From the standpoint of our Program in relationship to the work of the Third Sacred School, we have over a period of time been developing the base of operation, formation and function for the Universal Institute of Ontology. This approach to the Science of Real Being must obviously, from our standpoint, be universal; that is, it must include all people, all conditions, and cannot acknowledge the man-made barriers by which nations, peoples, colors, races and religions have segregated themselves one from another. The Universal Institute of Ontology: the Science of Real Being. And this Institute provides our channel of approach to the world consciousness, and that approach is activated on the basis of the true meaning of Ontology: the Science of Real Being. Obviously, only the truth is of value or meaning in relationship to any true science, and here we begin to see the basic principle being allowed the manifest formation by which the purpose of principle may become active in relationship to human beings, to the end that human beings may themselves comprehend themselves in relationship to the Science of Real Being, and then begin to function on the basis of the revelation of principle through the form, to the end that dominion may be established over that which is in fact a differentiated expanded expression of the essences contained within man himself.
Now man cannot, in his present limited state of slavery, comprehend or control the essences of his own body. He has innumerable institutions filled with thousands of people sick in body and mind and heart. We have evidences of our state of slavery in all levels and fields, in the chaotic pattern of life wherever we may go upon the face of the earth. In some places conditions may be said to be better than in other places, but the evidence of the state of slavery is everywhere to be seen. Now if man cannot control these factors in the range of his own body, where the essences of created form are contained, he certainly cannot hope to control the things, forms and factors which appear in circumstance external to himself. He can try by willpower, he can try by every means at his command, to achieve such an end, and he will fail. Only when we recognize the Science of Real Being and allow the control factors to be established in ourselves in relationship to the principle of which we ourselves are supposed to permit manifestation, can we hope to establish a condition within ourselves as human beings by reason of which the control may extend, by reason of the essences contained within us, to those factors in the creation around us which are the differentiated, expanded expression of ourselves.
Now until we begin to have an understanding of our true relationship to nature, as it is called, and the things around us, on this basis, we cannot understand how to enjoy dominion over them. Some people become subject to nature. They are nature worshippers, and they are called good people generally—and it is fine to enjoy nature. There are those who by various drive patterns, under the whip of greed, envy, jealousy, or something else, establish a self-determined pattern on the basis of human desire, and by the expenditure of life force and energy, time, and all the rest, hope to attain a given end, only to find that it turns into emptiness. For a while it seems to be satisfactory, but it always turns into emptiness, sooner or later. It’s obvious as to why, because that man or that woman has failed to recognize his or her own true purpose in form—body with capacities of being, by reason of which principle under Law is supposed to manifest in this realm in relationship to man himself and to the expanded expression of differentiated aspects of himself, which we call nature.
Now, thus simply stated, it should be easy to comprehend, and if we see the truth the truth will make us free, because it is not a matter of opinion or belief, mine or anyone else's; it is a matter of the way things are, whether human beings like it or not. And those who do not like it will have to lump it. It’s been so down through the centuries with all generations, and it is so for this generation and for all generations to come. We are not going to change this basic pattern, which is what? It brings us to our next point.
We have purpose—first principle, purpose, design. Here we begin to recognize the reason for the design as it is. We do not have to accept it on a basis of blind faith, blind belief. It is not something arbitrarily established by God. It is something which simply cannot be any other way. God is not arbitrary. He simply says, “Here is the principle, here is the purpose, and here is the design.” If you will conform to the design, so that you may be true to the purpose, the principle will be revealed in and through you to the end that you yourselves may be brought under control, and through you that control may manifest in the differentiated aspects of the expanded expression of the essences of your own being, which you call nature—the animal kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, and all the rest.
That’s the way it is, like it or not—classified knowledge applied in the practical living of life. And the truth within the individual, the individual's own integrity, compels him, if he is to be true to himself, to acknowledge the truth once it is revealed to his consciousness. And if he rejects that truth, once it is so revealed, it is on the basis of rejecting his own integrity, which must of necessity produce a rottenness within himself by which he establishes his own decay and disintegration. It may be over a long or short period of time—it matters little. The only way is the way of the truth in relationship to the living of life, and we cannot deny the principle of our own being, we can't deny the purpose which the principle has in relationship to ourselves, we cannot deny the design in its overall pattern of manifest form, and have control in ourselves or through ourselves. And the world is full of evidence that control is lacking.
Now, I have known many people to say that it is impossible to do anything about it—concepts of all sorts: “If man is this way he is always going to be this way.” As it is put in the Epistle of Peter, In the last days there shall be scoffers, walking after their own lusts, or desires, saying, Where is the promise of fulfilment? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of history. Sure, plenty of people to believe that doctrine. But every advance that has been made in our so-called civilization has been made first by a few, and if that advance was basically sound, scientifically established and meaningful, it has been, perhaps gradually but definitely, accepted by many.
