This is our class period of meditation in the chapel on Sunrise Ranch for June 17th, 1954. Yesterday we gave some thought to the principle of rhythm as it manifests through pulsation. Actually, wherever we consider vibrational factors we must consider rhythm and pulsation. And one of the problems that is presented to the human mind when we begin to speak of something vibrational is to its direct or personal relationship, or to get it into a range where its comprehensible. The way I use the term there is in the background a recognition that everything is vibrational; in other words we may properly say that all things, including all physical things, are the manifestation of vibration at a given level, and the variations in vibration provide the patterns of form and a sense of something solid. Vibrations of a similar nature are solid to each other.
So, specifically, in order to more easily comprehend the meaning of vibration or vibrational factors, we think of the vibrational field primarily, or in the forefront, recognizing this broad background I just mentioned, that the vibrational factors are those realms that do not present an immediate or direct physical form contact pattern, which permits perception. In other words, we are functioning in one vibrational level as physical human beings. To us this wood appears to be solid, and it is; and yet it is mostly space, and it is specifically vibrational. And yet, because it is somewhat similar in structure and nature to the physical substance of our body it is to us a solid. To other vibrational factors it is not a solid. There are many vibrational factors which go through wood such as this, as if it were not there; so to such vibrational factors the wood is not solid.
We then, functioning in the realm of the so-called solid, which is solid to our level of creation only, we have many factors which are not solid; for instance the vibrational factors of mind, or feeling, all of the aspects of spirit—the flexible or fluid factors as far as we are concerned. Now we have recognized that these flexible or fluid factors have a very definite relationship to the development of factors in the physical realm, the so-called solids. We know that below the solid there is another range of vibrational factors, which do not have an immediate sphere of meaning to us except in the sense of the forms of life in tiny organisms, bacteria, etc. But here we have a range where there is a certain degree of proportion in relationship to size, the proportion which has established man's height in relationship to trees and grass and so on, a proportion pattern with which we are familiar and which we find more or less acceptable to ourselves. Sometimes people think they're too tall or too short or something, but it's completely a relative thing, and actually except as the human being may develop an idea with respect to it, it has no bearing, because if a person does not find his own height, tall or short, displeasing, other people round about won't find it displeasing. They find it pleasant. They accept that as a part of the individual.
Now, if we are going to understand these vibrational factors we must think of proportion, because as soon as we begin to violate the patterns of proportion in the vibrational realm we begin to destroy the rhythms, and anything that disturbs a true rhythm is—well, anything contrary to the best interests of the creation is what we call evil. Now, you have no doubt in time past heard the expression, or at least perhaps given it some thought or study, the “Music of the Spheres”—the Music of the Spheres. Now I think to most minds that expression is very ambiguous and it conveys very little. All too often it may suggest to a human mind that if one gets into some sort of a mystic state and goes through some kind of a peculiar process, then he’ll begin to hear some kind of music out here. Well now, that isn’t, in that sense at least, what we are talking about. The Music of the Spheres is established on the basis of the rhythm in the vibrational pattern of all things. If someone is playing the piano and producing harmonious vibrational factors in a range which we can hear, we call it lovely. If someone goes over there and just starts banging without respect to rhythm or vibrational relationships, we say it's noise, it's discord, it's anything but pleasant. Now there is then, the specific range which we perceive as sound in this vibrational field. That range is established in relationship to our atmosphere.
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We have known people to argue the point with respect to whether or not there is sound if there is no one present to hear it. In other words, suppose there is something out here in the mountain somewhere where there's no person around, no creature to perceive the sound, and yet say some rock falls or a tree falls or something. There is a crash. There are vibrational factors set up in the atmosphere, but there isn't any sound if it isn't heard as sound. Now, I'm not arguing this point one way or the other. You could say that the sound is there, but it isn't heard. Or you can say that it isn't sound unless you hear it. But either way, I think this illustration will help us understand something, because the perception, the ability to perceive in this given range is important. Now, we may say there's a rock over here, something that does not have the ability to hear. that is present where these vibrational patterns are set up in the atmosphere. And the fact that the rock is present doesn't mean that it would or would not be sound because the rock wouldn't have the ability to hear. In other words, the perception, the recognition of the vibratory fact of sound, is required to prove the fact that the sound is present.
Now, all of this boils down then, to a matter of perception—perception, understanding, wisdom, the sense of the fitness of things, an understanding, the realization of our pattern of relatedness to that which is, and an understanding of the various factors which are present in that which is. That which is. Here perception tends to become sometimes a bit confused, because that which is must be seen as being produced by the consistently maintained processes in the cosmic scheme of things, so that its isness does not disappear.
Now that which is produced by breaks or distortions in the rhythms, the discord, something which is not consistently maintained by reason of the natural processes at work in the cosmos, something that is foreign to those natural processes, produces a situation or a condition which appears for a little time. It is present while it is being maintained, but there are not permanent, natural processes to maintain it and therefore it is not that which is. Its temporary presence may be acknowledged and recognized, but anything that we call evil, properly, is of this nature. It is produced, or caused to be present, by reason of a break in the rhythms of being. It is not something that is consistently maintained by that which God has made, and therefore, while it has a form, in the sense of discords, just as you could hear the actuality of the discord, it still is not a part of that which is. It is something which must by its very nature pass away.
To the degree that human beings begin to have a sense of awareness, perception, realization, of the fact of the rhythms as they are established in the vibrational realms which are not, shall we say, crystallized, in the sense of form in relationship to our physical forms, this more or less obscure realm of spirit, or vibrational factors as we speak of them sometimes, is something which we become identified with. The person begins to feel himself as belonging to the discord pattern. I think that's one of the secrets behind some of the so-called music of the, well, noise-box type. People are so out of rhythm within themselves, and so out of rhythm with life, in the true sense, that they need this jarring noise, with a certain degree of—they say there's rhythm in it; I guess there is to some degree at times—to give them a sense of something relating to themselves. In other words it is a projection of a state within human beings. And if a person feels a personal relatedness to that which is not—that which is not permanent—by that very fact he begins to perceive or sense, perhaps unconsciously, the fact that it must pass away; therefore he establishes in his own consciousness a conviction that “I must pass away”—that “I am subject to this; I am related to this; it is inevitable that this must pass away; therefore I must pass away.”
And here, I am undertaking to introduce to you one of the basic secrets in relationship to the problems that confront us, not only in the correct living of life for ourselves but in helping inspire others to do so; because these vibrational factors that are not, except in the sense of discord, carry within themselves the conviction, for any consciousness attuned to them, that they must pass away. No matter how desperately they seek to maintain themselves, how they may struggle, they must pass away. They are not among those things which are classified in the realm that is. They are in the realm of that which is becoming nothing.
So, the level of perception which we can develop in relationship to this vibrational range begins to give us an opportunity of having a sense of the Music of the Spheres, the vibrational reality and rhythm, pulsation, in that which is. And as we begin, by the fact of perception, to perceive a relatedness with that which is, we begin to relinquish our convictions of relatedness to that which is not. Now, we may say that that which is not, now has appearance. Yes, it has form. It has meaning in a temporary sense. It is a discord in the vibrational realm, so that it is there. But if we stop making the discord it disappears, it’s gone, just as the discordant sound from the piano; unless it is maintained it will soon die away and we will not hear it.
Now in the cosmos, in the Divine Order of things, there is that which produces the constant music, from levels higher up, so that the beauty, the true rhythm of music, is always there if we can perceive it. We do not have to go and particularly touch the keys, as we do with the piano, so it has a limited pattern. But suppose this piano were attuned to the cosmos in some fashion, so that that which is constantly at work, like the light shining from the sun, or the various invisible rays, were connected up with this piano and actually it was producing sweet, lovely, soft music all the time, as long as that connection wasn’t disturbed, and yet someone can go over there and deliberately hit the keys in some wrong fashion and inject into that a discord. Now that illustrates rather crudely, and in a limited sense, the situation in which we find ourselves as human beings.
This Music of the Spheres—the true rhythms of being in that which is—is something that is here, and it’s constant, and it is all around us all the time. Perceiving the Music of the Spheres is not auditory function necessarily. We may perceive something of it through the ears, that is true; but perception with respect to the Music of the Spheres is not in any sense limited to what we hear. It includes what we see, what we feel, what we perceive in any and all ways. And the centering of all of these capacities of perception in relationship to that which is, begins to give us a sensing, a pattern of perception, with respect to the Music of the Spheres; which is to say, with the rhythmic cycles in the vibratory realm of that which is; because it has a constant source which does not die away or quit. It is constant in its pattern of function—eternal.
Now, if we see the beauty of the sunset or the loveliness of plants, or flowers, or anything, if we sense any rhythms in the patterns of life anywhere around us, anything lovely, by any means available to us, that is a part of the Music of the Spheres, or that which is signified by that term. We do not have to necessarily use the term, but I wanted you to understand the fact that the Music of the Spheres is not something that you just hear. The Music of the Spheres is something that we see by all means at our command, and it involves the rhythm in the vibrational realm.
Now we have spoken of sound. We might note color as is seen by the eye. We know that again here we have vibrational factors. Red and yellow do not have the same vibrational factors. They are all contained in the white light, but the differentiated aspects of that light, the lower vibrational patterns, give us a sense of different colors. So, we are seeing vibrational patterns, which, in a different level, on the basis of hearing we perceive as sound, all of it vibrational and all of it in rhythm. And if the rhythm is disturbed with respect to the manifestation of a given color, immediately some other color is there. If you change the rhythm in the vibratory factors which make that color, as far as our perception of the eye is concerned it will immediately be some other color. It is only while it is this vibration, in this rhythm, that it is this color. You change that rhythm and you cannot say, “Well I think I can change it a little bit, and it will still be, say, yellow or blue or something else.” It won't, because the moment you change that vibrational pattern it will be some other color or some other shade. It will be a light yellow perhaps, or a light blue, or a dark blue, or something else; but you cannot change that vibrational pattern one iota without changing the color.
Now, we know that in sound we have the same thing. If someone is playing the violin, and the fingering or the bowing is not accurate, and you flat a note, make it flat or sharp, just that tiniest little bit of change and it isn’t the note—it’s something else. If the strings are not tightened properly, tuned properly, just a tiny little change and it is not the thing—it is something else. Just that tiniest little bit of change and it isn't the note, it's something else. If the strings are not tightened properly, it isn't tuned properly, just a tiny little change and it is not the thing. It is something else. Now, we may say, “I do not have to be convinced of that in the music. I certainly know that if someone's going to play the piano, it needs to be in tune”, or a violin or any other instrument needs to be in tune. One note is different from another note, and if you establish the vibratory conditions that will produce one note and you say, “Well I'll just make that, but that ought to make this,” and it doesn't.
What I am leading to here is the fact that human beings are just that foolish in the living of their lives, because they tend to take the attitude, “I want to have this color or this tone, which requires certain vibratory factors. I am producing these vibratory factors, and I can't understand why I don't get that color or that sound. I don't see why I should have to change what I do. I don't see why the change in the vibratory pattern should make such a difference.” Now if you apply that to some of the arguments that you have used in your own heart you might find it helpful, because it has seemed to you at times that you should be able to do thus and so and have everything all right around you, and you find that there are discords; it is not all right; it isn’t what it ought to be. And you say, “Well everybody else ought to fit to me,” or what? You blame someone else for it, or become discouraged and blame yourself overmuch, or something of the sort. The important thing here is to realize that we have this vibrational realm where there are rhythms that are specific, and every change in the rhythm will produce a different form of manifestation in sound, in color, or in anything—not just sound and color, but in anything whatsoever—because you cannot change the rhythm in the vibratory level and expect to maintain what was.
Now, learning to identify ourselves with the true rhythms, learning to perceive them, learning to understand something of them, having the wisdom to understand their pattern of relationships, begins to establish in us a consciousness of being a part of that which is. And as we relinquish the discord patterns, or a sense of personal relationship with them, and stop producing them, they pass away without our passing away. Any human being who becomes ill, sick, is either going to get well or he is going to die, isn't he? We can bring it down to that point. He is either going to get well or he is going to die. All right. Either the illness is going to go out of him or he is going to go out with the illness. The illness is going to go out. And if we say that it is not curable it means that man does not know how to let the disease go out of the person without the person going out with the disease—but out it will go. You see?
If we begin to bring that down close to home we will realize that that which is is not going to pass away. Anything that varies the vibrational factors from that which is, is going to pass away, because it is not going to be maintained. And if the rhythms have been broken, and the rhythms are not restored, we are going to have a condition where the instrument, or the manifestation of these rhythms, will be destroyed. In this case, we are thinking particularly of the human body, or the mind, or the human being with his equipment for living, for the revelation of being.
Now Being is Isness, isn't it? True Being is that which is. These basic factors of that which is, are subject to an infinite variety of combinations, just as we can take a violin with four strings and a bow, and someone who knows how to put them together in the sense of music, and you can play all kinds of music; there is an infinite variety. Now, that which is produced by these variations will, shall we say, pass away, not in the sense of something dying, but in the sense of something which is the ever-changing Color of Being. But those basic factors, shall we say, the four strings and the bow, the violin as a whole, and the one who plays, they continue. Now that which is Eternal is that which is, in the sense of reality, that which we are illustrating by the violin, the bow, and the one who plays the instrument. The various possible combinations within the scope of that are virtually infinite. We hear someone like Heifetz play a violin and we think, “How exquisite, how beautiful, how it penetrates into the soul.” And in that sense, its influence has been released—but that same sound does not come constantly issuing out of the violin. Sometimes the violin makes no sound, or the violinist may play some entirely different piece, and it comes issuing out.
That which issues out of the true expression of that which is, is that which provides the eternal variety, the ever-changing color, the beauty and the wonder and the glory of Being. But that which is must be activated on the basis of intelligence, which understands the difference between discord—that which is not right, which is not fitting—and that which is harmonious to the pattern, or wise, the fitness of things, in their relationships. So, if we begin to let our minds open to this particular vital factor of meditation, portion of meditation, we realize that in reality, in that which is Eternal, there is that which is basic at the level of Being, which we classify as that which is. It has certain varieties, certain arrangements, which are particularly proper for that level of creation.
Above that there is another level, and the vibrational factors of any level are real to the other vibrational factors of that level. The vibrational factors of this level are real to the other vibrational factors of this level, but to a level below, these factors seem to be unreal or vague or uncertain, just as much as the so-called heaven is vague or unreal to the human being until he learns to understand the patterns of relationships in these things. He learns how to use his perception, so that he begins to realize the practical nature of that which is in a fluid or flexible vibrational state, as distinct from the so-called solid, which in itself is not solid really, except to itself or something similar, and certainly is not solid to that which is above.
So in heaven, in the Divine State—Paradise Restored—the highest and finest and loveliest state of Being of which you are aware, there is that which is constantly passing away, and that passing away is not death. I pointed out yesterday that there would be a need for correcting in the vibrational functions of Being in any heaven to which you might ever attain, in any paradise that may ever manifest on earth. We simply reach a point where we perceive the necessity of that correction, and make it before there is a distortion. Those who have dullness of perception, or who are functioning in some contrary fashion, ignore and let the distortion appear. The fact that the distortion appears is not anything wrong, except that the correction wasn’t made, at the point where it should have been made. It gets out here so big we cannot help but see it, and then we say, “Now I must make a correction.” It would have been so easy to make it here at the start. No one would have ever seen it, because there wouldn’t have been any discord, if we had perceived it at the right point. And that is true with every ill thing on the face of the earth, every discord, every distortion, every evil thing. If it had been perceived, the tangent factor had been perceived at the right point, and corrected, there would have been no distortion.
Now if we say we are going to go to heaven, or have Paradise Restored, or something, where there are no distortions, does it mean that we go to a static place where there are no vibratory patterns working? No, it means that we are anticipating a place where those who function have sufficient perception so that they make the corrections immediately; and it never produces a distortion, because there is wisdom, a sense of the fitness of things. Each one discharges his or her responsibility harmoniously with respect to the whole—therefore no distortions, and consequently no evil. But the potentiality, the possibility, shall we say, of evil, is theoretically there in the Highest Heaven. It isn’t there, but theoretically it is there, because if anyone in those levels let the tangent factors go by without correcting them there would be evil there. The point is, those responsible don't, therefore there isn't evil there.
We are learning how to function in life—what we call the art of living—which means to say, that we are learning how to perceive and function with these various factors. Now human perception has been so confused that it has recognized that evil, that which is of the discord, must pass away. It has touched something of that which is beautiful, like a bird's song or a violin playing, something, and it is exquisite for its little time, and then it goes away; the sound ceases, and the person feels a sense of loss, perhaps. He says, “It's gone.” Instead of appreciating the influence that was there during the period of its manifestation, and letting it go, and knowing that something else beautiful will be coming forth in its proper season, the individual begins to feel that this beautiful thing is gone—gone.
And so, knowing with absolute conviction that evil things are going to pass away, and sensing that lovely things disappear—the beauty of a moment, some particular experience, and it passes away—then, instead of seeing the difference between the manner in which they pass away, the subconscious conviction that all good things are passing away is established in the individual's mind and heart and he has no foundation. He then is subject to distortion. His rhythms are broken, his pattern of relatedness with that which is, is disturbed, and he identifies himself with that which must pass away; because the expression of Being produces that which does pass away in Heaven—and if it didn’t, we’d have Heaven filled up with certain fixed color combinations and sound combinations, and so on, and it would just go on that same note forever, that same color forever, and it would just go on, and no change. And it would be utterly horrible. It would drive the Archangels crazy.
No, the thing, that which is, in the sense of Being, is maintained—just as the violinist may give his recital and then put his violin in the case and go to his hotel, we will say, and the violin is still there. It did not end; although you can't hear the sound anymore, but the minute he activates the violin, it will produce either those same sounds or some other. So, that which is must be activated, and that which is produced by reason of the activating of that which is must pass away, not because it must die, but because it is, even in Heaven, a temporary manifestation; it is something that is not going to be permanently there. I've heard instances where someone liked a particular piece inordinately, and he was going to play that record over and over again. That was pleasing to him, but others around him decided they'd like to have it changed after a while. It may have been a lovely piece, but to have the same thing over and over and over and over again, just exactly the same way wouldn't be heaven, would it? Well then, by the very nature of it, there must be that which does pass away in heaven. But it is not the Being that passes away; it is the particular combination of factors in life expression which are of the moment. But the individual doesn’t feel a sense of loss, because he knows that correctly activating of that which is, there will be forever a newness in that with which he is surrounded; because any Being is surrounded with that which is produced temporarily by reason of his being activated. But it is right and proper that that which is surrounding the Being should pass away, whether it is good or bad, in the sense of that which is produced at the moment.
Now, you wouldn't want me for the next few months to get up here and give the same lecture over and over and over again. You might find it helpful for about three times. But a month of it would be too much, wouldn't it? You'd say, “I wish he could think about something else once and not repeat himself so much.” Well, do I repeat myself so much? The point is that we need to stop fighting against the passing away of that which is expressed in life; for the minute we stop expressing that which should properly surround us, and we begin to live in memory with respect to that which has been expressed, it has passed away. We center in that which has passed away, and identify ourselves with it, and we pass away. And it does not need to be. There is something expressing through us today. But you may say, “I don't like this as well as what I had yesterday,” or “Oh I had the most beautiful experience five years ago. If I could have just kept that experience, if I could have just kept that vision, if I could have just kept something.” And do you know, if you still had it you would be bored to tears? You don’t want it. That which is, remains; the Being remains; the reality which produces the infinite variety, that gives color to life, remains. It is there. All we require is the activating of that which is, in harmony with the rhythms of being, the vibratory factors—and we have ever-changing colors, we have ever-changing sounds, etc.
Now, you may see a rainbow and say, “Oh how beautiful! It's a beautiful thing in the sky.” But how would you like to have God suddenly say, “Well now, you have admired the rainbow. It is very nice, isn't it? Now everywhere you look, for the rest of eternity, you will never see anything but a rainbow. That is all you will ever see. You admired it. There it is.” Everywhere you looked, nothing but a rainbow. “Oh I thought it was beautiful; now it's horrid. Oh I wish I could get away from those terrible colors.” It must change, and if it doesn’t change you become bored; you become disturbed; it spoils. So, whether of the unreal or the real, the expression must pass away. There is that in Heaven that is constantly passing away. And we must realize that, and begin to realize that the Center of Being is that which does not pass away; and if we are a part of that, we are constantly producing what passes away.
Now suppose a violinist was going to give a recital and the first few notes he produced on the violin floated out here and stuck. You can still hear them. He goes on and plays some more of that piece. They are out there; you can still hear them. He keeps on playing through one piece. You can still hear every note he produced; it is all there, crystallized; it is not passing away. “I want to hear it all; I want to keep it forever.” Here it is. All right, now he starts the next one, another piece, and every note floats out here and sticks. You keep right on hearing it, right in conjunction with all the other notes. By the time he has played for half an hour, how much confusion would there be? Wouldn't it be horrible? The beauty of the note that he is producing in the moment is dependent on the fact that the sound of the note that he made a few moments ago is gone. Isn't that right? The beauty of that music, the wonder of it! You still feel the influence of that other sound, and you perceive it in its relationships; but the note that is being produced now has meaning because the other notes have faded away.
Suppose suddenly, somehow, you started hearing every word I have ever spoken, could you hear the words I am speaking now? No, you couldn't possibly. There would be such a din of sound that it wouldn’t take three seconds to absolutely ruin your mental processes. See? Even the words that I speak, the sound of them, must pass away. And I would be very hesitant to speak if they didn't. You see, in Highest Heaven there is that which is passing away, and we must not confuse that which is with that which must pass away. And it is confusion on this point, coupled with the subconscious pattern of relating oneself to the unreal, and the passing of the unreal with the passing of the real, that is produced in the sense of the beautiful music, that gets the individual all confused. And he feels, “Well I'm passing away. Everything good passes away,” because he is confusing the result of expression with that which makes possible expression. That which makes the expression possible must not be confused with that which is expressed.
The violin isn't going to pass away. The music does. And we're thankful because we wouldn't want to hear it going round and round forever. I've heard people say—I've never been bothered with this personally, but I've heard people say—"Well, I heard a certain song or something and it's been going around in my mind ever since. I can't get rid of it.” The idea that somebody can in their mind, as if they hear something that someone's played or sung or something, it's just utterly foreign to my nature. I have difficulty comprehending how that could be. And if I didn't have faith in their integrity, as far as my experience is concerned, I'd just say, “Oh, you're a liar. That can't be.” Well, I can't personally understand it from the standpoint of my experience because I never had the experience. But that doesn't mean that I say, “Well, no one else does.” And yet, if I talk about an experience that that person has difficulty understanding because he never had it, he's inclined to say, “Well, that sounds kind of fantastic. I don't know whether to believe him or not.” You see, we can't appreciate something until we've experienced it. But some people have had notes or music or something, apparently, go round and round in their heads. I don't think I'd like it, but maybe it's all right. Now I'm content the way I am in that regard, because I perceive so many other beautiful things, not to hold music in my memory. You know if you sing a piece or play it on the violin I couldn't if my life depended on it reproduce it. I absolutely couldn't. I've heard songs I don't know, how many times? If my life depended on my ability to sing “This Is My Father's World”, my favorite hymn, that I've heard hundreds of times, do you think I could give that tune? Not if my life depended on it. I couldn't. I don't know it. I hear it. I love it. But the minute it's sung, it's gone. Just like that. Well now, I'm not saying that everybody ought to be like that; but I'm like that. And I think perhaps in my position of responsibility, God was rather wise in fixing me like that, because it's my business to help you let the things that are gone be gone, isn't it? I don't hang on to them. I have to help you to let go of them.
So, if we are beginning to see the point, we realize that that which is, is not in itself that which makes Heaven a wonderful place. Now, Heaven could not be a wonderful place without it, so let us be careful of what we mean here. You see, we can't appreciate something until we've experienced it. And we might see a Stradivarius violin and say, “What a beautiful piece of workmanship. What a lovely thing.” And so on. And the owner says, “Yes, isn't it? I'm going to put it back in the case and lock it up here. It's there. You mustn't touch it.” Well, the fact that it's there of and by itself wouldn't produce anything lovely. You can look at it and say, “I admire it.” You might study it for a half an hour and think, “What a wonderful privilege I have.” And yet, would you like to just stand there and look at one of those violins forever? If you're that much interested in a violin, you want to hear a violin. You want to hear the music. So with Being. Being is that through which the music of life is expressed, but in and of itself it is not the music at its own level. It is the music for another level, that’s true; but as far as its own level is concerned it is not the music; it is the means by which the music is produced. So we learn to distinguish between Being—which of and by itself, non-activated, would be virtually meaningless—we distinguish between Being and that which is the result of activating Being.
And that which is the result of playing the violin, it must pass away. It has produced influence in the heart; you go away from the concert or the recital feeling renewed and refreshed, joyous to have had those lovely sounds penetrating to the depths of your soul. But, in season you are ready to hear more music. Just because you heard music once isn’t enough. God must have known that, when He produced the meadowlark, who makes its lovely sound; but it does not sing just once and then keep its little beak shut for the rest of its days. It will sing again and again, and that expression of Being, the way it works out, is not in any sense monotonous. That is what Heaven is like: the expressions of Being that produce the beautiful sounds and the beautiful forms in color. The environment of Being is forever changing; never monotonous, forever beautiful. But in order to have that beautiful environment in Heaven, Being must be constantly activated, because the atmosphere of Heaven is forever passing away, even in Heaven, and if they did not keep producing the atmosphere of Heaven in Heaven it would soon be hell. Now, if we say we have hell on earth, why? Because we were not adequately producing the atmosphere of Heaven. And if we produce the atmosphere of Heaven on earth we will have Heaven here. But the atmosphere of Heaven is not fixed at any level of being, in any Heaven anywhere, and there is an atmosphere of Heaven there simply because it is being constantly produced, now and forever.
