Rejecting The Unreal — Accepting The Real — Basis Of Friendship
YouTube Video
Uranda May 23, 1953 a.m. Class
As we begin our period of meditation this Saturday evening let us have a moment of devotion. Our gracious LORD and KING, we thank Thee for the privilege of yielding to the working of Thy will on earth, that the fulfillment of Thy will may appear on earth even as it appears in heaven, to the end that Thy Kingdom may come in body and mind and heart, in and through each and every responding one, of every of every race and color and creed on the face of the whole earth, that all who will may share in the manifestation of Thy Kingdom through the working of Thy power in the living of life on earth. In the Spirit of the Living Christ. Aumen.
One of the basic problems involved in movement along the way of life is to be found in the processes of rejecting that which is not of reality, with a very definite rejection, and accepting that which is of reality with an eager, enthusiastic, open-hearted acceptance. We find, even among those who are earnest and sincere, a tendency to half-heartedlyreject those things which are not of the Divine Pattern; and to half-heartedly, and lethargically, accept those things which are of the truth which would set them free. The Master said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” He did not suggest at any time, that we could, by any of our own efforts or determinations, free ourselves. He did not suggest at any time, that there was any avenue or means by which man might know true freedom other than by knowing the truth. The one and only way, the Way which He emphasized over and over again, is that if man would be free, free to live life abundantly and gloriously, as God designed it, was to know the truth, and let the truth make us free.
The human being must so yield to the truth that he permits himself to be made over, or be made new—as it is put in the inspiring expression, in that Blueprint which we call the Book of Revelation: “Behold, I make all things new.” And the individual must of necessity accept that, in relationship to himself in this present life, in this present hour, if he would know the recreative fulfilment of God's Will in himself. We must recognize that man can reject the truth; he can refuse to let the truth make him over, make him new—but he cannot make himself new. Only the truth can do that. But if we would reach a point where we may experience such fulfilment we must of necessity know the truth. It is not enough merely to hear about the truth, not enough merely to believesome idea or concept. It is essential that we come to knowthe truth; for no human being can experience the liberating power of truth until he or she begins to know the truth.
The process of knowing is experienced only with the development of a sense of oneness-with, which we call love. We cannot know any person until we have had an opportunity to experience the relatedness of a normal pattern of life with that person. We may know about many people, but there are exceedingly few who ever come to know even one person during a lifetime. When any person has come to truly know another and to accept the relationship that is so established, there is one word which applies—Friendship. Those who, in a pattern of truth, come to know one another, become friends in the true or Divine sense. And friendship, whether in the pattern of marriage between husband and wife, or whether in the pattern of the usual or Divinely Ordained patterns of relationship and association, is the highest state to which any human being may attain. But such a state of true friendship with another human being is an utter and everlasting impossibility unless one first begins to realize the significance of the privilege we have of being a Friend to our LORD and KING, and accepting the Friendship which He offers. The basis of Friendship with God is already established on one side, for He Knows You. He does not have to learn to know you. He already knows you. And knowing you, in spite of any limitation which may be inherent in your present manifest expression of life, in spite of anything that may have happened in the past, in spite of any seeming obstacle which may exist, He offers you Friendship. That is one of the qualities of friendship—for a true friend accepts his friend as he is, because of what he is, and is unmoved by any limitation which may for the moment appear.
It is a remarkable and wonderful privilege we have of receiving the Friendship of One who knows us already, utterly and completely, so that no thing is hid from Him. And yet, knowing us as we are—regardless of any pretense, regardless of any front which the human being may have developed—knowing us as we are, He extends friendship. And by reason of this very fact we have a most significant indication of that which is required of us if we would accept that friendship and reach a point where He may call us “Friend”. We may now call Him, “Friend”, but we must reach a point where He can call us, Friends. He extends His Friendship to us, knowing us as we are, accepting us, in the initial stage of the outworking of the Cycle of Restoration just as we are, without one word of condemnation, without upbraiding, without any of the reservations which human beings ordinarily establish. If, then, we would receive that Friendship, we must accept Him as He is, even as He accepts us as we are, for this is the basis of Friendship. Not to say, “If you will change thus and so, if you will yield to my will thus and so, I will be your friend.” God does not say that to us. Although human minds, with limited concepts, have sought to make it appear that such is the attitude of God. It is not, as the record of Divine Inspiration through the ages clearly reveals. However, by the same token, it becomes necessary for us to take the attitude that we will receive Him as He is without our saying to Him, “If You will change things to be thus and so, if You will please me in such and such a fashion, then I will be Your friend.”
Consider the attitude of human beings toward Deity. Is it not always, or almost always, a fact that the basis of approach is, “Oh, God, if You will do thus and so, if You will arrange this or that, if You will take this thing from me or give me the other thing, then I will be Your friend”? But that attitude is completely and utterly out of pattern in relationship to friendship. Nevertheless, we may note in those rare instances where human beings attain to friendship with a fellow human being, that even though the friendship as such does not require anything of the friend, makes no demands, nevertheless those who are friends exert a profound, a deep and a lastinginfluence upon each other. This profound influence which each friend exerts upon his friend changes life, brings fulfillment and enriches life, brings fulfilment and gives meaning to those things which otherwise would be meaningless. So, while God does not say to us, “Change in this way or that; do this or that; reach a certain point of fulfilment; grovel in the dust for a while, or some other thing, and I will extend you My Friendship.” God says no such thing. He says, “Come as you are. My Friendship is great enough to invite you to come just as you are.”
With a friend—and if we see in true realization that He is our Friend—with a true friend there is never any need to hide anything, never any need for shame, never any need for excuses; for the quality of friendship is greater than all such things; and inherent in that quality is trust which can be trusted. Therefore, since God invites us to receive such Friendship, on the basis of True Friendship, so that we need feel no shame for anything that has been or is, so that we need make no excuses, so that we need have no reservations, no tendency or necessity of hiding something, since He offers such a pattern of True Friendship, we in turn, if we would be His Friend, must take the attitude of a Friend to God. And as He requires nothing of us, so we should require nothing of Him, for it is not the nature or character of a friend to demand anything, when it is friend-to-friend. There is the offering of the giving without demand or requirement. We need make no demand of God, and if we do we deny the Reality of Friendship, and declare by our actions and attitudes that we are not God's Friends—for any human being who imagines that he must demand something of God in order to receive it, does not know God, nor does he know the truth of God. It requires only a simple nobility to accept the Reality of Friendship.
But in this world human beings are, and have been for so long, governed by the determination to get something. They are going to get something out of their neighbors, out of their so-called friends, out of their husbands and their wives, their children or their parents; yea, they are even going to get something out of God, and particularly do they hope to get some sort of salvation for the time that shall appear after they are dead. They're always going to get something! But the spirit of “gettingness” is never found in the Spirit of Friendship. God is not seeking to get something from you. He is not seeking to take something away from you. He has no need to try to enhance His own position, or increase His own possessions, by taking something away from you. Human beings, because of the spirit of gettingness, try to get something from God; and underlying so many of the concepts about God we find that man has assumed God is trying to get something from the human being. If there is some particular treasure, someone greatly loved, there is a fear that God will take it away, as if God was trying to get something for Himself at your expense, and to your damage.
He does not increase if you decrease. The only way God can increase is for you to increase, and anything that decreases you decreases God insofar as His Kingdom here on earth is concerned. And so man has assumed something with respect to God that is not true. Our basic statement is, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” So instead of assuming that which is false with respect to God, we begin to know the truth, first about God, and then, accepting that truth, we begin to know God. In that knowing, the knowing of the Centering of All Truth, of all control and all design—for that is truth—we begin to know the truth as it relates to ourselves. And beginning to know ourselves, we are in position to begin to know those around us.
The Friendship which God has extended to man down through the centuries, unchanging and constant in attitude and provision, stands as overwhelming evidence, if evidence be needed, that we can afford to Trust such a Friend—that we need have no fear, that there is no necessity of lethargic patterns of acceptance, half-hearted attitudes; but rather, that it is a point of wisdom, the sense of the fitness of things, to eagerly, wholeheartedly, enthusiastically accept the Privilege of Friendship. And all that is required is that we reveal the capacity of receiving such Friendship by revealing the attitude of a Friend. Friendship cannot be one-sided. It may be offered, but it does not become friendship in fact until it is received, and unless we can be a Friend to God, God cannot be a Friend to us.
For those who are not controlled by prejudice and fear, there is no difficulty once the truth is seen, in rejecting any false concept which may have been held in consciousness. This is the basis of honesty; for he who is not controlled by fear, by prejudice or by human pride but, having seen the truth, accepts it, reveals himself as being honest. And only those who are honest within themselves and toward each other can attain to the State of Friendship.
When we have a very dear friend and someone makes an unjust, unkind accusation, we do not immediately assume, “Well now, the accuser must be right.” Or, if such a thought is in mind, “There must be some truth to it. I don’t like to believe it, but I can’t completely reject it.” Just because someone said it. Is that the attitude of a friend? No, a Friend would simply reject, without any qualification, without anyreservation, the condemnation and the sly insinuation directed toward his friend.
This is most important to our realization, for attitudes of condemnation and sly insinuation have been, down through the centuries and the millennia, and are now directed toward God—every sort of insinuation which assumes God to be limited to the limitations of man, to the whims and fancies of the unstable. As it is put in declarations of pompous concept from many a pulpit, “If you suffer, it is because God has placed a cross upon you and you must accept it. If you suffer a loss, God caused it to be so. If something is wrong, God caused it to be so, and you will have to accept it.” Now such an attitude of false concept, of condemnation, condemning God, and of insinuation toward our Friend—something which we know to be totally unfounded, unjustified, the product of a warped and ignorant mind, of an unclean, unstable heart. Man has no right to judge God or condemn God, nor to assume any such thing.
So often it is declared, “We can't understand why God does these things.” What things? These things that bring sorrow, loss and limitation to human beings. And human beings are judging that God did these things. They do not have courage enough to face the fact that they have brought those things upon themselves, and that it was not in any instance God's doing. Such attitudes declare, “God is no friend of ours here on earth. He may change His attitude and be a friend after we are dead, but you can't depend upon God's friendship here on earth.” If we cannot depend upon God's Friendship here on earth, we cannot depend upon it in any heaven anywhere. We need to begin to realize that the lies about God, the false concepts and the assumptions that would detract from Him or His nearness, or His power to do something on earth in and through us, are things which we as Friends of God reject without any hesitancy or reservation. And once we begin to reach the point where we, as Friends of God, reject heartily those things which are not true about our Friend, we find that the things which seemed to separate us from our Friend, or to prevent us from knowing the Reality of His Friendship, begin to melt and fade away. For the maintenance of the false concepts in our attitude toward our Friend, or He would be our Friend, has at the same time maintained in us those attitudes and assumptions and concepts by which we ourselves are betrayed in the Living of Life. The limitations of every sort begin to melt as the ice before the rising sun; and the things which seemed to be so hard and crystallized, so immovable, so destitute of life, or the possibilities of life, become liquid. They begin to move, and the conditions essential to living, to growing, to a Springtime, begin to appear.
If one has difficulty with the openhearted acceptance of the things of God, let such an one turn his or her attention, not to the effort to try to receive, but rather to the work of wholeheartedly rejecting those things which are false, those things which are not true. There will be room for the acceptance of the truthif we first reject that which is not true. If we say we will reject that which is true, or not true, once we are filled with what is true, we flatter ourselves, for what capacity have we? Have we not filled such capacity as we have with the concepts and beliefs and ideas and attitudes which are revealed in daily living? Where is the room for acceptance while there is, by reason of fear and prejudice and pride, an unwillingness to reject that which is not true?
“But,” you say, “part of it might be true; and I wouldn't want to reject any little part of truth, so I will keep the whole thing, or try to sift it out through the days of my years.” Blessed ones, suppose some little part is true, would your rejection of the mixture, the impure mixture, cause that little part of truth to vanish and be eternally gone? Can truth be caused to pass away by any means whatsoever? No. And if there be something of truth in that which you, by reason of the falseness of it, do reject, you will find that you have not rejected the truth, for it will appear in a new form and be revealed in a new setting, a Proper Setting for the Truth, wherein you can begin to know it as it is, without the necessity of trying to calculate with the human mind as to whether this or that is the truth. “And ye shall knowthe truth”—not just about it or concepts with respect to it. “Ye shall know the truth” by reason of your Oneness with the Truth, and the Truth will make you free, free to live victoriously, fulfilling that Divine Design which God established in you and you alone, as a specific individual.
And that Design in you, brought under Control—the Control of the Kingdom is the Truth, for Design of itself is not the Whole Truth, Control of itself is not the Whole Truth. The Divine Design, with the Power of Control, thatis the Truth, with respect to anything. And the Truth of anything must be recognized, with respect to the Design of it, whether it be the hand or the eye or the ear, and the power to Control that Design and make it function, make it live.
So, if we would know the fulness of the Design established for us, and if we would know the Control which makes that Design have meaning, it is well that we should be a Friend to the One who has offered Friendship to us for so long. If we would be Friends of God, let us remember the basic nature of the Spirit of Friendship, for Friends make no demands one upon the other.
Our Gracious LORD and KING. We thank Thee for the Holy Joy of knowing Thy Hallowed Name and of recognizing the Truth concerning Thee and Thy Kingdom, that we may no longer be subject to the infamous lie that Thy Kingdom is for some future time., some hereafter, or some other place. This life, this hour, this state of circumstances—it is for us and not just for others in the past, or some otherwhere in the present, or somewhere in the future. We would reject the lie and accept whole-heartedly the Truth that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand; and receiving that Truth, begin to Live and move and have our Being in the realm of Thy Design and the reality of Eternal Control, by which that Design may know its greatest fulfillment, accomplishing Thy Perfect Will on Earth, to the blessing of all who will receive—or Thine indeed is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever. Aumen
Helena Karchere and her son, David's grandson, Xavier Barerra,
Oren Yakovee and Keahi Ewa
Sunrise Ranch July 20, 2025 Loveland, Colorado
Marilyn Manderson — I welcome you to give thanks for the gift of Michael's creative and powerful piano offering this morning [Michael Gaeta]. You may bow your head and close your eyes if you wish.
From this place of gratitude, I invite you each one to go within, to access stillness, peace, and presence, through your openness of heart, to meet the grand and expansive reality of spirit there; that opening which leads to the presence of love, truth, and life. Allow yourself to connect fully with this beauty, this strength, and this flow of life available in and through you—through you now as we pray together. Let us honor and hold this precious and powerful reality, and move together in the deepest and broadest way possible in this time before us. I would ask now that from this place of prayer that we open even more fully, more fully, to welcome the flow and change of life available to and through us now, through heart, through mind and body to release what might seek to block this flow of our creation. May we let go of any distraction that might be present and honor the focus, the clarity, and the current of spirit available to each one of us, and all of us together, now. Let us bring specific honor to the Spirit of Love in all its glory—how it glows and grows and flows through our capacities into the world as we allow it to be so. I am, we are, here now, the vehicles through which this love can be known. Let us glorify this love in ourselves, and as a collective, in preparing the way for this hour of creation together. Aumen
Jane Anetrini — Thank you so much Marilyn. May we open as you invited us, letting the blockage and the noise pass away so that we might be in the current of this river. Thank you Michael Gaeta for the music. It’s good for us to be together on a beautiful Sunday in July—no matter what season it is it’s a beautiful morning—and we have a wonderful hour ahead of us. Welcome all of you on the line and all of you here at Sunrise Ranch. Following me, we have the privilege of doing a sing along with Helena Karchere, our … I'm trying to find the most appropriate way to welcome this diva to sing for us; but she is an incredible song leader and singer, and we're so glad to have you. Following that, we'll have a poem from Bexx Biehl entitled, “I have Worn My Grief”. And following that, we have Xavier and Helena presenting an incredible song, “I Have Loved You”—and we'll have Xavier on guitar as well as singing, and Helena will be singing. We'll have some more piano from Michael Gaeta. And then following them the speakers will be Orin and Keahi speaking about The Transforming Power of Collective Prayer, which was the theme of our Pulse of Spirit this week [emissaries.org/the-transforming-power-of-collective-prayer/]. Following them, we'll hear from David. Helena, welcome.
YouTube Video Helena Karchere
Bexx Biehl — I Have Worn My Grief
I have worn my grief
like molten silk
forged in the underworld
threaded with echoes
of countless unsaid goodbyes
I’ve knelt in the ruin of what was
palms pressed to ash
heart still pulsing with wild heat
a coal no rain could extinguish
And when I could carry it no longer
I brought it to the altar of love
offered it fully
the sorrow
the silence
the shattered hope
I surrendered it all to the flame
In that sacred burning
something ancient stirred
my grief became gold
my ache a hymn
my tears a sacred river
running back to Source
I am not afraid to be seen
not afraid to feel
not afraid to want
I have loved without armor
bled without blame
and still I rise
I stepped into the ocean
salt on my face
and in my breath
the darkness vast and holy
welcoming what is unknown
and yet already written in my bones
I offer it all
the pain
the grief
the sacred uncertainty
to the fire of love
and allow it to become
something brilliant
something meaningful
as I rise once more
from the ashes of a life
that asked everything of me
I am the one who transmutes
who alchemizes ache into illumination
I choose myself again
not from pride
but from devotion
I choose service to source
I choose service to humanity always
And still there is a silence I cradle
a space beside the fire
unspoken
unguarded
magnetic with something unnamed
that moves like shadow
breathes like tide
and answers only
to the language of light
YouTube Video Helena and Xavier
Oren Yakovee — Wow, what a powerful sacred hour so far. Thank you so much. Thank you Michael. Thank you Helena and Xavi. Thank you Bexx. Thank you Jane. Thank you Marilyn. So wonderful to sing together. So wonderful to be together in this powerful flow of collective prayer. It’s such an honor and a privilege and a joy, hearts overflowing with gratitude to be in each other's presence, to be surrounded roundabout with such master beings of Love, Truth, and Life, as we gather as the Voice of Many Waters, a powerful flow of collective prayerful vibration radiating ever outward from invisible Source. I feel that happening now, emanating powerfully through all the phases of the Shekinah Pattern of Being to all of creation. Together we are standing courageously, with both feet firmly planted in the Fire of Love, the Light that Glows, and the Cloud of Glory shining round about.
If we know “cymatics” to be the science of sound rearranging matter into ever-changing sacred geometries, what is this work that we are doing in sounding the Tone to the whole field of human consciousness? But consider us to be a collective beacon of spiritual cymatics, generating an ever-exponentially increasing magnitude of this Sacred Tone that can rearrange the substance of all consciousness in service to the spiritual regeneration of humanity. On any given Sunday, this powerful Tone cascades across the time zones in the various attunement services across this earth, as it has for nearly a century. And yet this Divine Mission looms, the spiritual regeneration of all of humanity. It's a lofty mission worthy of a Priesthood of this Sacred Tone.
How can this Mission be achieved? Can we fulfill it in our relatively small communities of dedicated practitioners? I believe we can. In cymatics, the scale of the subsequent geometric form is only limited by the magnitude of the sounding and the ability of matter to resonate, or respond-to. So what's the answer to fulfilling our Mission? Is it in the strength of our sounding? Or is it, as Bexx beautifully demonstrated in her prayer, the depth of our connection to the actual condition of human nature? I'm so moved by Bexx's poem. Would her poem be as powerful if it wasn't wearing her grief; if she wasn't bringing all of her ache to the Alchemy of the Fire of Love? The strength of the sounding starts in the willingness to be vulnerable, and the willingness to acknowledge the brokenness and to bring it into the Fire. That brokenness is our service—that vulnerability connects to all of humanity experiencing that. Was Bexx only speaking of her own grief? She was alchemizing, as a Priestess in Service, the grief of all of us and the grief of all humanity. It's a simple truth, right?
May we go forward with the prayer for the fulfillment of the spiritual regeneration of all of humanity; and may we have the courage to go forth with all of who we are. Thank you so much.
Keahi Ewa — Go forth with all of who we are, bringing it all to the Fire of Love. Thank you, Oren. Thank you all. This is a lifestyle, not a diet. I'm sure we've all attempted to try a diet, and we've questioned ourselves, our world has questioned us, in that, “Do you have to do it right now, maybe take a break, just right now, just with me.” There has to be a commitment, a devotion, prioritization of our health, of our willingness, our longing to change our life, in the midst of the internal and external voices wanting otherwise—the distractions. It's been my experience that that's how transformation happens. Jane said in our Pulse of Spirit, “We often forget how much our way of life matters, how deeply it can affect others.” I'm affected by Bexx's poem. It speaks to my truth, my experience. Is it for you? Yeah—as Oren beautifully explored, expanded upon. It's these connections, these moments, these services that have helped me through it.
Can we think of other circles that we're in, outside of this that have helped us through—perfect in their imperfection, not each one coming to services twice a week, doing the programs, how many times a year, journaling, doing spiritual practices? Not everyone does the same thing, and yet we can all be in this together—a support, a mirror. One thing at a time.
I recently had an opportunity to represent our community to an interfaith group in Santa Monica, California; and I was called upon on many levels. I didn't realize I was going to be. I was there to explore possibilities of collaboration, get to know their programs more, their community more, their verbiage, all these kinds of things. But I was literally asked, “Do you have a chant, or a song, or something to bring here that will take this higher, will strengthen the container?” I'm like, “Actually I do. Okay, here it is.” Being in that flow. And then I was also asked to help logistically. I'm a logistics nerd, so that came naturally—helping cook food, clean dishes, answer questions of the participants. And it flowed.
So afterwards, on the way back home, on the plane, I'm like, “Wow, what happened there?” I didn't realize what I had done until afterwards. I was just being present. And then, upon reflection, I realized this has become a lifestyle for me, not a diet—speaking and serving, being from my heart, not even thinking about it, just being in the flow. Yes, I'm here to serve. I'm here to offer a gift, to be open to the wisdom that is wanting to come through. It's only because I've prioritized a different way of Being. Can't you just skip this service? Don't you need a break? No, this is my break! Attending services is my refueling, is where I get recharged to go out into the world and be this beacon of light that we all are, that we can be. I feel the difference when I don't. I start closing up, and I stop being that in my world.
I've also come to deeply appreciate when we reach out to each other, and what a gift that can be to reach out. Not in a needy way, or a self-fulfilling way, but in a, “Hey, can you join me in this? I'm working through something, or I'd like to have a different change in my life. Can you walk with me?” What that invites—two in agreement, there am I—being courageous and vulnerable in making that shift, and calling to our worlds to join us in that, in whatever way is comfortable, whatever way is possible in that moment. And continuing to be that invitation, our world shifts with us, and needs us to continue, without expectation or limitation to what's possible.
So in 2019, I started a keto diet, right? And boy, it was hard. And yet now I have support. I have people say, “Oh, right, you're on keto.” I'm like, “Well, I'm in a lifestyle of healthier living. And my choice of healthier living is low carb, less sugar.” And the spiritual parallel to that, “Oh, right, Sunday you go to service, and Wednesday you have service too. That's right. How can I help you be that? I know we're traveling right now, or I know we're busy doing this or that. How can I support you in that?” It's because I did the diligence to stay steady in that, and now my world shifted with me, and supports me, as we support each other.
To me, that's what services are. We're not here to entertain each other. We're to remember why we're here, so we can be that in every one of our worlds, bringing the world with us. So thank you for being here, in person and online, wherever you are in the world. I am with you and you're with me. Yes, let's do this together.
David Karchere — I'm tempted to walk over to the television here, and read all the names and see all the faces. Welcome everyone. My name is David Karchere, and I’m happy to be with you this morning here in Mountain View Room at Sunrise Ranch, and with people online from various places around the world. Welcome, welcome. Good to be here together and share what we're sharing. Thank you Keahi and Oren, and all who've offered. Thank you, Helena and Xavi. Way to go. Beautiful, beautiful.
This Tuesday, we are having a celebration in which we will unveil a plaque, a brass plaque that will be right to the left of the door into the pavilion. The plaque celebrates the fact that Sunrise Ranch has been recognized as an historic property by the state of Colorado. So, we were an historic property before they recognized us, but it's nice to be recognized. Maybe we'll return the favor, and recognize the state of Colorado.
I'd like to read what's on the plaque. Some of you will be coming, so you'll hear more about it then, but I'd like to share it with people around the world, and people who won't be able to make it. So at the top of the plaque, it says:
“Listed in the Colorado Register of Historic Properties. Sunrise Ranch has served as a center for spiritual growth, holistic education, and thriving agriculture since 1945.” If you're counting, that's 80 years. “Founded by Lloyd Arthur Meeker and a small band of pioneers, Sunrise Ranch has been developed and sustained by generations of people devoted to bringing spiritual and cultural regeneration to the world. Designated in 2025 as a state historic landmark in recognition of its enduring spiritual, architectural, and agricultural contributions.
So, those are very literally the three categories under which we applied to be acknowledged, having to do with spirituality, agriculture and architecture. I've mentioned that the plaque references people who have contributed to the development of this place over centuries. That includes people who have lived here for shorter periods and longer periods. And this plaque and this celebration is an honoring of all those people—and it includes people who have participated with us, and who have contributed financially to the well-being of Sunrise Ranch over many years. So many of you online are included in that. Thank you, thank you; and thank you to literally thousands of others. Sunrise Ranch—a remarkable place.
Recently we've been speaking about the Mighty River Of Spirit. The Mighty River Of Spirit. And I'd like to reflect with you on how rivers work, and the whole pattern of how the water cycle works; and rivers are an essential part of that, yes. We think of the mighty Mississippi River that runs down, more or less, the center of North America. There are other smaller rivers that come into it, and all kinds of streams and rivulets that come into them. And all together it forms this Mighty Mississippi—the Mighty Mississippi. It seems to me that that's a symbol of Sunrise Ranch. We are a Mighty River.
Yes, there are many rivulets, many streams that come into this One Mighty River. But a Mighty River it is, bringing something unified and powerful into the world. So think about the water cycle and how it goes. It all starts at one place, yes. Up in the clouds, one sky. One Sky. Rain falls from that one sky over the earth, and in falling, many raindrops create many rivulets, streams, creeks. And yet, it started as one thing, and it comes together into one thing, into one river, into the sea. We give different names for different oceans around the world, but they're all connected, ultimately one vast ocean. And then it all starts again, yes. It evaporates. Kind of like us.
We all came from One Place, One Origin, One Reality out of which we are born. Unless you came from the Pleiades, or someplace else. But one invisible realm out of which we're all born; born into these individual experiences. And in some ways that individuality is never relinquished. So we have an opportunity to come together, just as the Mighty Mississippi brings together other rivers. We have that opportunity to remember we came from One Place. We're part of One Reality. We have one thing to do together.
We at Sunrise Ranch, are here to remind the world of that. To know it deeply for ourselves. No point going around and telling everybody else about it if we don't really know the reality of it ourselves, yes. Just mouthing off. That doesn't go very far. But if we come to know that deeply in ourselves, we can bring the remembrance of that to other people. You might say one person at a time.
How do we do that? It was brought vividly to my awareness recently that there's a certain amount of noise in the human experience. Could be noise in our own heads going on, right? Our own heads and hearts. A certain amount of noise; a certain amount of static. And if we're to be of service to another person, it's essential that we have the ability to cut through whatever noise is going on for them. Not to deny it's happening, not to put them down for it happening; but in some way we have to cut through that noise if we're to reach out and speak to the heart and soul of another person. In essence saying, “Yeah, I know all that's going on, but I've got something else for you to consider and receive into your heart.” You see, we have the opportunity to speak for the Mighty River; to speak for the One Place from which we all come. And it is the tone and the reality of that that can cut through the noise; can penetrate the noise, and can be heard. It is the great love of that River, the light of the heavens, as Bexx's poem referred to—that cuts through the noise.
A news flash here this morning: We live in a messy world. If you hadn't noticed. Yes, I mean, can anyone deny? We have a messy world in so many respects. Messy people, messy culture, noisy culture for sure. What do we do in the face of that mess, that noise? There can be, certainly, a recoil. Think of Bexx's poem. There can be a turning away from the grief of it all, turning away from the shock of it all. There can be some kind of recoil and retreat. There's all kinds of places people retreat to. One place people retreat to is spirituality. Yes. They go looking for a spiritual answer to the craziness that they've encountered in the world in which we live. Wouldn't put anybody down for doing that. It's a good place to look for an answer. But there is an answer to find in what we call spirituality. We could say, “Within” or “Up there”. We go searching for something, and the idea of a search is to find it, yes? Ultimately to find the Mighty River within oneself. It is not to simply escape from the world in which we live. It is to find the Mighty River, to know that and to let that into one's own experience so that there's something to bring into this world in which we live; there's something coming through us in whatever we're doing, to cut through the noise.
I've been noticing that for spiritual people there can be a tendency in, I suppose, the shock of what a person has encountered in the world, a tendency to retreat into spirituality, never to return—never to understand the wonderfulness of what a person touches in spirituality, or at least can touch, the wonderfulness of that, the majesty of it, the glory of it. It's not meant simply as a place of retreat. It is the Source of Life after all. It is the Source of the River, the source of creativity in oneself, and in everybody else. It is the answer for the world in which we live. It's not only a vacation spot.
To hold on to that experience, we have to open to it, not just touch it, not just kind of visit there. We have to go there, open to it, let the River in, and let it deep into our souls. Because you're not going to break through the noise of somebody else, or the culture around you, if you cannot break through your own noise. Yes. We have to break through our own noise, whatever that is, our own personal brand of messiness, and let a vibration of something else come through our own heart and soul, our own mind. Something else has to come through that can move through.
I don't know about you, but even though I've written now three books, I'm not satisfied with coming off to the world as saying something erudite, clever, even spiritually clever, spiritually articulate. That's not my goal! My goal is to say something to the world, to bring something to the world, that cuts through the noise, that penetrates, that is relevant, that changes and transforms. I'm not interested in a spiritual smugness. I'm interested in the Tone of Life, the River of Life that is the answer for me and is the answer for the world in which I live—we live.
Recently here, we've been speaking about the need for a Universal Priesthood. I'm not speaking of, what, robes and, I don't know, special hats; or maybe we'd have more people coming to services if we passed out special hats. No, I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about a denominational priesthood, a cultural priesthood. I'm speaking about a Universal Priesthood. This world needs that. Humanity needs that. Someone who will bring humanity back to the One Mighty River from which it came. The One Place of Origin from which you came and I came. We're here to remember. And as that song so beautifully says, when we remember, we love and serve. And our love and service is what cuts through the noise of the world in which we live.
What does it cut through with? A word for it would be authenticity. Yes. Authenticity? The genuine. Hard to define, maybe impossible to define. But we know it when we encounter it, right. A genuine person, an authentic person. Not an erudite person, certainly not a smug person, self-satisfied, smart. Someone who has done the work that Bexx's poem speaks to, of penetrating one's own soul, who truly have found the answer for oneself. The answer is simply the Mighty River. Maybe the word “authenticity” gives some hint about what this is about. I haven't looked up the word origins, but I somehow hear the word “author” in there. Right? Authenticity. The author. I think of an author of a written work. But here we're talking about the Author of the human experience; the Creator of the human experience; the Source of it. And we're talking about not just speaking about such things in erudite ways, we're talking about allowing the Author to speak through oneself. And when the True Author in oneself, that is the Author of All, when the True Author speaks, and we speak as that, knowing ourselves as that, that is authentic. It is authentic love.
It is an authentic human being. Because in the end, here's what I found. We have no other substantial reality beyond that or apart from that. There's nothing real about us except that. And it can express in all kinds of ways. And all those ways that the Author expresses through a human being—culturally, artistically, in work, in play, whatever it is—all of those expressions become authentic, when it's the Author in us, who we are as the Author of our experience, is speaking, is expressing, is being embodied in our life. When someone does that, it's like, “Ding”. Right. You've probably had the experience, as I have, when you meet somebody who's coming from that place, it just rings the bell. That's me.
I hear and I feel the Mighty River roar. I feel it and hear it in you. I feel it in myself. There is the joy of plurality, meaning that we are distinct in some way. We have unique personalities. We have a unique presence, a unique being, each one of us. And there's the joy of that. There's a joy of you and me as that, knowing ourselves as that. And then there's the hub-bub of beings who know themselves as that. The hub-bub of vibrational conversation, the hub-bub of creativity that we get up to together. The synergy, the co-creativity, and the sense that we're part of one thing, one Mighty River. There's the harmonious expression of that.
That's what we've been devoted to here at Sunrise Ranch—to be here for that, be here for people who are looking for that—to sound the Tone of that, give people a drink of water when they come here. Right. Let them know that. It's a magical process. We make a good attempt, I will say, at sharing who we are and what we're about with the world: websites, newsletters, emails, get onto Google as best we can, all those things. And yet what's really happening is happening at another level of things. The power of what's happening here, the Power of the River is flowing. And that's what matters. And for people who are tuned in, they feel that. They're looking for that in their life, just as very likely everyone in this room, and everyone online, has looked for it in their life—they're looking for it, and if you've got it, they want it. You might say, “They want it from you.” They want it from you. So, what it takes from each one of us is the courage to cut through the noise in ourselves, and then the courage to cut through the noise with somebody else.
I had a vivid experience of that this week. Those kinds of experiences help, yes? They just make it so blazoned across your mind, what's going on here is what's needed. But I was with a person, and this person needed somebody and something to cut through their noise. I'm not saying they're a noisy person, but still there's times when we need that as a soul. We're looking for it. And it was needed. And, thank God there was something in me that saw the need, and knew just what to do, which is just to be there. And whatever words come out, to essentially say, “I'm here. I'm here with you. I'm here for you. I'm here in love. You're here in love. And I believe in you. I believe in the power of the River in you. And whatever else is going on, it's smaller than that River. And I believe in who we are together.”
And I say that to Sunrise Ranch, and I say that to Emissaries of Divine Light, and I say it to my world every day: “I believe in you, and I believe in who we are together. I believe in the River that we are. I believe in the River of Life that is the reality of humanity.”
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Thank you for being with me, and saying that, maybe to yourself, your neighbor, to the world, being here for that, and bringing the vibration of that, the magic of that, into the world. I was saying a couple of weeks ago how, yes, we're a social body, right? We're some kind of social unit here. But more importantly, we're a Spiritual Body. And what's happening in this Spiritual Body is powerful. There is “lightning and thunder” going on here—and because of that there's a Mighty River.
So, wonderful to be a part of that here together this morning; and I agree with Keahi. This is the well for me, too. Right. So we want to share a attunement. So we're going to do chant here this morning and we invite you online to participate with us. And it doesn't work, just in terms of the technology, for everybody online to unmute and chant with us, but you can chant where you are; you can hear us chant; and you can be with us in the vibrational part of this Healing Chant by sharing the River that moves through your hands, the flow of the River with us energetically. So let's do that. We'll create a circle and take it from there.
Are we conscious this morning of being assembled in heaven on earth? We are aware of this to the extent that our love is offered freely, openly and fully to the Supreme One in heaven. We rightly have a sense of reverence, humility and awe that we may share His radiant love in the expression of the Word in heaven. His Word is truth. Truth is the design of the controlled vibratory mode of love. This vibratory mode in its design is of great variety. As we share the speaking of this Word, the Law is fulfilled in heaven. Usually we have thought of the Law as operating between heaven and earth. It does operate between heaven and earth, but we should be in position to know the reality of its operation in heaven.
Thinking of it from the standpoint of heaven and earth, we recall the wording of the first great commandment, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God” with all the available earthly facilities. So here is responsive love being raised out of the earth toward the radiant love which is present in the heaven. As long as the fulfilment of the Law is merely looked at in this fashion there is a sense of separation. The true state of man is impossible as long as that separation exists. However, obviously this is the starting point available to all people. It was described in terms of the factual radiation of God's love and response thereto in the earthly sense, inducing attraction and finally union, which makes possible unified radiation. The unified radiation occurs from heaven. Here is the restoration of man to his true position in heaven.
You may recall the story of Creation, which describes what occurred in earthly terms during the first six days. On the sixth day, amongst other things, it is said that man was created; but then a little later, that he was formed of the dust of the ground. This, I think, is looked upon as a flashback to the sixth day. But actually man was created in the heaven. We are aware that this is the proper sequence. The heaven comes first, we say, and so man in the heaven came first. The vibratory mode for man was established in the heaven. This vibratory mode was of considerable variety. We are aware of that now in the earth. We have a physical form of a very intricate and marvelous nature composed of what we call physical substance, but there is also the vibratory mode beyond that again which allows for the experience of consciousness in that physical form. There are various vibratory modes of truth which permit the various levels of mental and emotional capacity to be present.
There are sundry experiments which human beings may carry out utilizing vibratory modes of sound to cause various substances to take particular forms. According to the substance which is being acted upon, the form will appear—the substance is raised up into the form. This is rather a coarse example of what actually occurs from the standpoint of the radiation of the vibratory modes that are established in the heaven. Substance stands up in various forms as long as that vibration is present. Actually there is always vibration present. The earth itself gives evidence of this; it stands up in the form of a globe. Of course there is more to the earth than solid substance. We are quite aware that there is a good deal of liquid substance around, as well as gaseous substance. Here are three particular evidences of radiated vibratory modes. Substance stands up in these modes, or because of the vibration. This presumably happens regardless of whether human beings are present on earth or not. All that is to be made manifest in form in the earthly sense originates in the heaven on the basis of the Word, the truth, the design of controlled vibratory modes, for the manifestation of love. Love is the power. Love determines the vibratory modes through the truth. If there is no interference, then the substance which is acted upon by these vibrations stands up in forms according to the design established in the vibratory modes.
In a general sense this occurs cosmologically, regardless of man, but man is designed to provide a focus for specific vibratory modes so that substance might stand up in these designs of form. As long as man's dwelling place is heaven he shares the expression of God's love in the fulfilment of the commandment. It isn't really a commandment in heaven—it is the state of affairs in heaven. Nobody has to be commanded to love; it is the natural state of affairs. But there is the working of the Law in heaven. There is the positive and negative aspect which makes the working of the Law possible. There is radiation and response in heaven; there is male and female in heaven. But the total heavenly state is certainly the positive aspect of the working of the Law as it relates to the whole of heaven and earth, and the earth is the negative aspect.
But then again, in the negative aspect, the positive and the negative are in operation. There is response and radiation in the earthly sense; there is male and female. The point of origination for man, however, is in the heaven. The restoration may be said to be the return of man to a conscious awareness of his positioning in the heaven. Presently his conscious awareness convinces him that his positioning is in the earth. We know why that is so, because there has been a reversal of polarity, so that the earth has become the controlling element in the experience of human beings. Because of this the consciousness of being in heaven is lost and the consciousness of being in the earth is virtually all that remains.
I can speak of these things to you because my words are confirmed in your own experience, and I would emphasize this matter of experience. I can speak the words to you because they confirm your theory, but that has no value except possibly as a sort of kindergarten beginning. Experience is an important matter. As long as we operate on the foundation of experience in the heavenly sense we are secure. If we try to operate merely from the standpoint of theory we find ourselves to be very unstable. So I have suggested this morning that we are assembled in heaven in experience—not merely in theory. I'm sure all could wisely nod their heads that we are assembled in heaven in theory, but how many are in position to confirm the fact in experience? I trust that all of you are, in certain measure at least, and that I am not standing here theorizing with you.
You may find the confirmation as to the truth that is being expressed in your experience. For many years I have been under the necessity of theorizing with you because the matter of theory was predominant in your own consciousness. The experience was minimal to start with, but I trust that over the years the percentage of experience has been gaining on the reducing percentage of theory, so that at some point there might be a crossover, where experience would become dominant and theory fading. I wouldn't judge in the matter as to the collective percentage that is involved this morning, but our time together only has some real purpose to the extent that we are sharing the experience of being in heaven together.
It is natural in the heaven to have a sense of humility, reverence and awe, because there is One present in the heaven who is Supreme to us. All our love is offered to Him because we are in heaven, not because we are somehow merely in the earth and scrambling up to heaven by offering some sort of earthly love to an imaginary figure. It is no longer merely imagination to us, because we have a certain experience of the working of the Law in heaven. This might be described as angel-to-angel experience. The angel-to-angel experience comes when earthly compulsions have receded into the background. They are certainly no longer dominant. They may be present but they are incidental. When we gather in the earthly sense on a Sunday morning, for instance, the invitation is to assemble in heaven. We have a convenient earthly place to accommodate us while we participate in this experience, and we are aware of the working of the Law in the heavenly sense. Here is the origination of all the essential vibratory modes that are needed to allow the various levels of substance in the earthly sense to stand up, revealing the forms that are so established. This requires that we administer the creative cycle without changing it, without imposing upon it any human opinions as to what should be appearing.
We have noted before that there is always the necessity of moving out of one state into another state, and there is consequently a period of transition when the experience is neither quite one thing nor the other. During this interim, while the true experience was becoming more vivid, there seemed to be the necessity for a certain amount of manipulation. It seemed as though safety and security required a certain amount of manipulation of external events. This only seems to be so because there is as yet inadequate experience of administering the creative cycle, which allows for these vibratory modes to be purely expressed into the realm of available substance. This requires a pure heart of course, and most of you, I am sure, are a little unsure as to the extent of your own purity of heart. This is reasonable, because the heart hasn't been all that pure. The amount of impurity that was present has inhibited trust in the creative cycle, in the operation of these vibratory modes which are already present in the heaven, and so it was felt wise to adjust them a little here and a little there to make sure that it would work out the way one had imagined that it should. And we are still involved in this way of operating. Obviously we need to become clear of it so that these vibratory modes established in the expression of love may have a clear shot into the available substance, that this substance may stand up consequently in the forms established by the vibratory modes.
We may think of our own physical bodies in this regard. Here is a bunch of the dust of the ground standing up in a form. What made it stand up in that form? Human beings have looked at these things simply from the earthly standpoint and have examined the substance to try to find out why it stands up the way it does. Well the reason isn't in the earthly substance, so they never find out. They may discover certain mechanisms that are present in the earthly substance and operative in the earthly substance, but why they are present and operative nobody knows. Everything that is observable in the earthly sense is merely the evidence of the working of particular vibratory modes, and the substance has no choice but to conform with that working. If these vibratory modes had a clear shot into the substance, what appeared in form would be the true operating design. It isn't now, because of the interference of human manipulation based in human desire that forms should be thus and so, regardless of what the vibratory mode would produce.
So there has been interference. And the interference eventually becomes so complete in human experience that the substance of their own bodies will no longer stand up in the rather restricted and distorted vibratory mode that has been getting through. And eventually the vibration isn't there and so it collapses. Of course it is still part of another vibratory mode. The vibratory mode of the mineral kingdom, for instance, may be perhaps included in the vibratory mode of the kingdom of vegetation, and even, then, in the animal kingdom—oh, and once again, into the vibratory mode of human bodies! Only those who are capable of being in heaven are capable of administering the creative cycle so that it may cross over into the earth purely, according to the design. This emphasizes the reason why, when we assemble here, we should be assembled in heaven. If we are not assembled in heaven we are not of any great value to allow the transformation to occur in the forms which substance occupies on earth.
We may see that this occurs in the general sense throughout the whole of the cosmos. There are multitudes of forms containing substance, all consequent upon the vibratory modes that have been established in the heaven; but a particular expression of vibratory modes was needful on earth. At the moment it would be unwise to try to figure out why it was needful. We can see certain elements involved; we should see them quite clearly if we are in heaven. Something is to be accomplished, obviously—the creation is not present for no reason—something is to be achieved. In order for that achievement to be possible there was the need for the operational design of substance in form to be present. This substance in form is produced by the vibratory modes in the heaven. The design is established there. It springs out of the radiation of love. That radiation of love is modified into these various vibratory modes so as to allow what should appear in form on earth to do so. Well that's one thing. Here we have the facility available, operational, but for what?
Clearly, then, there is something else involved here that goes beyond the mere production of operating forms. There is no sense to having a bunch of operating forms on the face of the earth with no purpose to them. Whatever the purpose is, it properly comes to focus in whatever man is. Man polarized in the earth knows nothing of this. He may sense that there should be a purpose, and so he tries to make a purpose, devising it according to his own desires. This has been going on for a long time. It has become a habit, a habit so strong that no other possibility is usually seen. We are aware of the truth in this regard however, the heavenly truth, the fact of the vibratory modes which may allow for the production of the essential form. The form is a whole, but with immense detail, and all this is put together for a purpose. The production of this form according to the true vibratory modes relates to the subconscious levels of human experience, the subconscious levels of man, the operating facility for the achievement of what that facility is there to achieve. That aspect of it relates to the conscious aspect of mind.
A car is an operating instrument which may be started by somebody, so that it is known as potentially operable at least, but it requires a driver to be operated. We see the same principle present with respect to man and his facilities of action. The physical form, with mind and heart present, provide the facility of action. But what should the action be? Well first of all something needs to be transformed in the facility to make it really operable, to make it so that it is responsive to the driver. One can put a car in gear, I suppose, and set it off down the road with nobody at the wheel. That is courting disaster insofar as the car is concerned. If the person who should be at the wheel isn't at the wheel there is no disaster beyond the car. So also in man. And we do not know man except we abide in heaven.
We have the opportunity of paying attention to heavenly things, to the nature of the true design, the real vibratory modes that are present during an hour such as this, so that there may be an increased feel for it, an increased awareness in experience which may continue to abide with us when we are not all present in a setting such as this; because it is in the daily operation of our physical forms, minds and hearts that the creative cycle is administered. There are two elements here. One is the restoration of the instrument of action to the true design, which comes because there is a correct administration of the creative cycle so as to clear the way for the vibrational modes without distortion. That is what brings healing. But there is no purpose to healing unless at the same time there is someone present who can allow these vibrational modes to permit the achievement of what the instrument is present for.
The vibrational modes of restoration for the instrument, which ultimately is mankind, is primarily a subconscious operation. The vibrational mode for the operation of that instrument is a conscious operation. We can trust the vibrational modes that are available to recreate and restore mankind. We can also trust what becomes apparent consciously as this restoration proceeds. Obviously we cannot accomplish the purpose for the presence of man until man is present; so the restoration of the presence of man is, fundamentally, the first order of business, and that is a subconscious operation. To the extent that it occurs, to that extent, then something can be done consciously to achieve what is needful by reason of the presence of man. But as long as man isn't present, nothing can be done by reason of the presence of man. That should be obvious enough.
So there is a sensing in this hour of being present in heaven, where such matters may be comprehensible and where we may associate ourselves with the creative cycle already at work and with the vibrational modes already established. We may be absolutely sure that as these vibrational modes are allowed to emerge by reason of our presence, substance will stand up in the forms that are necessary. The forms are living forms, so they change. There is in this sense an observation possible of true evolution. Something is unfolding, as we say. It isn't static. We don't just stand at the gate administering the creative cycle and substance stands up in crystallized forms. It doesn't; it stands up in living forms. And who can tell what the nature of that living form should be at any particular moment in the unfoldment of the creative cycle? We let it be what it needs to be.
As the administrators of the creative cycle have increasingly pure minds and hearts through which to operate, the nature of that creative cycle becomes more and more consciously evident. We already have some conscious awareness of the nature of it. We do not yet see adequately as to what is really happening in this regard in our own immediate worlds and in the larger world which encompasses the whole earth. But the happening is there, and as there are those who are trustworthy in heaven there is the fulfilment of the words, “Behold, I come quickly.”
