September 05, 2025

A Place Apart

A  Place  Apart




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Martin Cecil  May 26, 1974 p.m.















If we take time to consider the past, we do it simply because of its relevance to the present. If I have recently been speaking of the First and Second Sacred Schools, this had little to do with history as such, but rather with the refocalization of the truth relating to the First and Second Sacred Schools at this present time, in our immediate experience. The same is true if I have spoken more particularly of the Master when He was on earth in the form of Jesus, for what He did is now relevant to us and to the whole world.


In a special way, we who have participated in the cycle of the Third Sacred School have been very much blessed—we have found ourselves in a protected situation. When the physical plane approach was made, at the time of the children of Israel, there was a direct confrontation at that level with many other people who were functioning at that level. There was, necessarily, something of a collision in consequence, which was the way it should have been at that time; but it engendered a great deal of violence and stress. Likewise at the time of the initiation of the Second Sacred School; this was at the mental level, where human beings are prone to disport themselves, and so again there was confrontation.



But the Spiritual Expression Plane approach, the Third Plane approach, is something of which material man knows virtually nothing, so there has been very little direct confrontation. Consequently there has been the opportunity to allow the development of what has emerged in this protected circumstance. We have been able to go about our business without excessive interference, because what we were doing didn't seem as though it amounted to very much, at least in the eyes of material man—and we are, or should be, delighted to have it that way. We begin to know what it amounts to, but those who make the approach from the material standpoint haven't a clue.


From time to time there have been those associated with our ministry who wanted to jump into some sort of a confrontation, get into an argument, for instance. Nobody ever really wins an argument, any more than anyone wins a physical battle; the war goes on in either case. We are not in the least interested in involving ourselves in such antics, because they lead nowhere. This is the realm of material man divorced from spiritual man. It is the realm that was described as relating to the great red dragon in the Book of Revelation. At the time when this character was mentioned, there was first indication of the presence of a woman clothed with the sun, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars and the moon was under her feet, and she was in the process of bringing forth a man child. The great red dragon was on hand to devour the child as soon as it was born; however, in this instance, he didn't succeed. It is through the woman that the reappearance of spiritual nan on earth is made possible. It doesn't all happen at once.


There is, as we recognize in all creative outworkings, a cycle involved. We know something of this in our own experience individually speaking, and also we are aware of its significance collectively speaking. The woman, through whom this reappearance of spiritual man is made possible, was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into her place in the wilderness for a time, times and half a time. There she was nourished and protected, while the creative cycle continued to unfold. We can see this as relating to what has occurred and is occurring within the range of our own experience. I have already mentioned the protection that has been present by reason of the Spiritual Expression Plane approach. The two wings of the great eagle signify something in this regard: the ability to function at the level of the Spiritual Expression Plane.


Because the dragon didn't pay too much attention to what seemed to him to be of no particular moment, the woman has been safe in the wilderness, in her place, and we know that has been so. It is said that he did cast out a flood of water to sweep the woman away but the earth helped the woman and swallowed up the flood. Now it's certainly true that there has been a tremendous multiplication of all kinds of “isms,” ideas of every sort, espoused by many people relative to what they consider to be the truth, organizations on every hand, the dragon's idea being that if the truth should put in an appearance it would be lost in this shuffle. Well, again, we had no objection to that; it provided protective covering, shall we say. But the truth prevails, the woman was safe; and no matter how much verbiage has been poured out all over the place, it has made no difference to what it is that we are about. And we have been in position to go quietly about our business, protected in the wilderness of the world, in our particular place for a time, times and half a time.


So we have the movement relative to the first Three Sacred Schools and half of the Fourth: time, times and half a time. Protection was only needed for this period, because material man has no ability to do anything beyond the earth or the realm of material experience. He is, in fact, limited to the first two planes. He is very active there—self-active, we call it, physically and mentally—very busy, very occupied with all his plans and programs. These plans and programs operate on the basis of what may be called evil spirits. The principal two, we have noted, are fear and greed. As long as human beings can be caused to jump because they are afraid or because they are trying to obtain some kind of a reward, then the control is in the hands of what is portrayed by the great red dragon.


The realm of control is symbolized by the heaven. In the true state control on earth proceeds out of the heaven, the true heaven. The way material man has worked it he has developed a heaven of his own, which relates to the Spiritual Expression Plane level of consciousness, but on the basis of the absence of the true expression of spiritual man. What is expressed, or has been expressed on that level, has been of the nature of the evil spirits of which I have spoken, and human beings are constantly governed by demons in this sense, and there is certainly the need for a job of exorcism here. But exorcism is not a matter of getting into a battle with the devil. Anyone who gets into a battle with the devil will be defeated by the devil.


The one thing he can't stand is to be ignored. If you start to ignore him you might anticipate quite a clamor to get your attention, and he gets your attention through these ill spirits. All of them are based in the spirit of shame, because material man is ashamed, whether he realizes it consciously or not, by reason of his state of miserable isolation. He knows deep down inside of his failure; he tries to hide it, and I suppose the magnificence of this present so-called civilization is, seemingly, the success he has had in hiding his shame. But underneath it all he is still ashamed, and out of shame spring all the other evil spirits, which constantly push human beings this way and that, governed by their emotional reactions to the circumstances around them, particularly toward other people. Now, as long as they can be governed this way the great red dragon is in control, from the standpoint of the heaven which he has established, the place of control which he has established.


Of course, there are those who think of themselves as being intelligent human beings, intelligent material men and women, who deliberately make use of human weakness to govern. Perhaps, in the case of many of the politicians, for instance, who are rather low in the ladder of the hierarchy of government in the world, they don't realize what they are doing; but when a campaign is in progress we begin to find all kinds of promises being made as to what this person or that person is going to do, or this party or that party, to make it so nice for everybody. Well, this relates to greed on the one hand, and “If you don't let us go to work you well may be afraid of what's going to happen,” on the other. And, of course, the politicians are not the only ones who work it this way—there is what may be called spiritual wickedness in high places—human beings are easily manipulated and they go cheerfully to their own doom, imagining that they are really acting on the basis of their own independent thought. Never! There is no such thing as independent thought insofar as material man is concerned; it's all contained in the material box and boxed in on every side.


So we certainly do not look for solutions from any aspect or level of the material state. All this is going on—we see it on every hand—and we find ourselves probably still touched in various ways by what is going on. We are invited to respond to these things. In fact, if we don't, we are considered to be worthless; we must, after all, have an opinion about all the current issues. Why would we have to have an opinion about them? They mean nothing; they are all part of the material state which is in the process of disintegration, and we shouldn't be too much concerned with trying to patch it up. On the other hand, we are not going to become belligerent and try to knock it down; there's no need; it's going to pass away anyhow.



So, the woman, the means by which spiritual man appears once again in material form on earth, is protected for the period of time necessary to allow spiritual man to appear adequately in material form once again. And in that process, of course, the great red dragon finds himself at a disadvantage, because he can only control those who are afraid of him, for one thing, and, for another, hope, by following his lead, to get something out of it. If there are those who cannot be fooled in this regard and who are not afraid regardless of what happens, then he has lost his control; and if he has lost his control he has been put out of heaven. We see something of this sort happening in the world, because there are those who are beginning to appear on earth who are not governed by the things which govern most people, who are not governed by the carrot syndrome nor by the whip syndrome.


We have had a place apart in order to develop the capacity to accept a different sort of government, and all this has been going on right under the nose of the great red dragon, because he doesn't really know very much about the true use, the right use, that is applicable in the Spiritual Expression Plane level of being. He knows something about his own activities relative to the absence of spiritual man—in other words in the gendering of ill spirits in people. So, he is cast out of heaven to the extent that the new true control is governing in the lives of some human beings. This, of course, relates to the beginnings of the appearance of spiritual man in material form. The shift of identity from material man to spiritual man comes in the time, times and half a time. It comes by reason of emergence out of the tomb, or the womb as it proves to be, into the Garden which is the beginning experience of the Fourth Sacred School.


The Fourth Sacred School relates to spiritual man. Only spiritual man is a graduate in the Fourth Sacred School; by no means can material man get in there. Therefore, obviously, as long as one has merely a material man identity one is bound to be out. It is only as there is a spiritual man identity that one finds oneself in. It isn't really a matter of graduating; it is simply a matter of being. So, the great red dragon is cast out of his heaven into the earth—that is, the physical and mental levels of material man—and he throws a good deal of weight around at those levels; he still does. We see an increasing intensity in this regard, more violence. Why? It was said, “because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” He's in a bind, but the majority of people don't realize the extent of the bind they're in, apparently; or they won't face it. I think a great many people know they're in a bind, but they still have the idea that the great red dragon is going to get them out by using what seems to be available at the physical and mental levels. Material man is yet going to triumph, he thinks! Well, quite a few people have become disillusioned concerning this; presumably you may be amongst them; and to the extent that you have experienced a new identity, in other words a new control in your living, you know that the dragon “hath but a short time.”


Spiritual man begins to appear in material form. In the initial stages there is an inadequate expression and evidence of spiritual man, but if there is anything appearing we begin to realize that he's there. It is the reemergence of spiritual man in material form that has been called the second coming of Christ. It is the coming of the Lamb, the emergence in spiritual expression, the evidence of the presence of spiritual man in material form. Now, this is something which relates to individual experience, of course, but it is also something that is working out on the larger scale. We have an awareness of participating in something which includes many others; there are many others with us who also have a consciousness of being included. But we also see there are vastly more who are not conscious of being included, and yet, in fact, they are. They are but don't yet know it. There was a time when we were and didn't yet know it. Somewhere along the way we approached time, times and half a time; we began to make an approach to the half a time anyway, an approach into the experience of a new identity. What was really happening, of course, was that the veil was thinning out and we were becoming aware of what was already the truth—that spiritual man is present.


How many millions of human beings down through the ages have gone on happily through what they called life, under the shadow of death, under the veil, with no awareness of spiritual being! It all seemed so futile (as it was) and so tragic (as it seemed to be) but all the time the truth was present, spiritual man was there, but, insofar as the awareness of one who trudged below the veil, very often completely unknown. Sometimes there were glimpses, some people had faith, some felt there must be something; but they didn't know. Material man's existence of not knowing is bound to be misery. What a wonder in heaven when we begin to know, when we begin to awaken to the spiritual man identity—I Am.


Material man has only existed because spiritual man was present, but that existence has been such a limited thing, such a distorted thing, and what seemed to be so real, vivid, close, was actually unreal. To what extent do you have the experience yet of material things emphasizing themselves as being the vivid reality? There is a change of consciousness necessary, isn't there, where the treasures are laid up in heaven and the vivid reality is there. When the vivid reality is there, that is the experience of spiritual man; but as long as the vivid reality is in the earth, that is the experience of material man divorced from spiritual man. But if you have the experience of spiritual man, material man is also present. There have been those, of course, who have thought that they could only have the experience of spiritual man by disposing of material man. That is not what is required, obviously. There is rightly the experience of spiritual man while material man is still present; and when the experience is of spiritual man, material man reflects spiritual man, so there is spiritual man on earth in material form, and that is MAN, that is the reality of MAN—that is Man the living soul.



Now all this has been unfolding in the creative cycle. We have begun to be aware of that unfoldment; we begin to see it and we begin to understand something with respect to it. To understand we don't have to go plunging back into the earth, into the mental level of being, as though that was the only way that anyone could understand anything. There is no understanding there in material man, in actual fact, just a stuffing of knowledge lacking completely any understanding. Who knows what's going on? There is something going on, as we recognize, far beyond what material man supposes. All his efforts to make the world tick are proving to be futile; the clock's running down; so, he feels that something desperate is happening but he doesn't know exactly what and he struggles to prevent it from happening. But we begin to see what it is that is happening beyond the scope of material man's vision. And to the extent that we do see something beyond that, that is to that extent the experience of spiritual man.


Let's be true to that. Don't deny it, and don't return to the vomit of material man; that is, material man divorced, separate from spiritual man. There is nothing wrong with material man in oneness with spiritual man, but the only basis of that oneness is for material man to yield to spiritual man. That's the only way it works.  In an hour when you think not, the Lord comes, the experience of spiritual man reappears. Spiritual man does what thinking is necessary in the true state. The material facilities may be used to this end, but it's still spiritual man on the job; material man follows whithersoever he goeth, and that seems a condition worse than death to material man. What a very peculiar idea! To share the freedom of spiritual man is thought to be a fate worse than death; otherwise he wouldn't have insisted upon dying all this time.


So, in the larger sense, we see the great red dragon being cast out of heaven into the earth. And he has been overcome by the blood of the Lamb. The Lamb? Spiritual man in spiritual expression through material man. That is the evidence of the Life of the Lamb, and it is that that casts the dragon out of his heaven—bang! He lands up in the earth because he can no longer control. As long as he can control you by putting a material squeeze on you, then he has you in his pocket; and in his pocket you're not free, although he offers a little length of rope, you know, before yanking you back. So people delude themselves. But we see him being cast out into the earth, and we see his violent ways increasing everywhere. We see madness on every hand, an irrational state everywhere—the great red dragon raising hell because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And that time is shortened for the elect's sake—that is, because of those who re-experience the state of spiritual man in material form. Then dominion is where it belongs and material man, separate from spiritual man, eliminates himself. No battle is required on the part of spiritual man; he simply stands by while the cycle works itself out, both in its descending aspect and in its ascending aspect, and behold, all things are made new.


How richly blessed we have been, and still are, to be so enfolded in the protective care that is natural to the experience in the Holy Place, at the Spiritual Expression Plane level of being. As long as we remain in the Holy Place, we may hear the dragon going about outside, but he can't get in. The only way he can get at us is by enticing us out of the Holy Place, and he will extend some blandishments, no doubt, of various kinds. You still have the experience of that, I am sure, occasionally. But we may abide under the Shadow of the Almighty rather than under the shadow of death. Under the Shadow of the Almighty we are identified as spiritual man; under the shadow of death we are identified as material man divorced from spiritual man. And this is the way it is. We begin to know. We begin to understand. Let us move with assurance in the creative cycle which unfolds so naturally and so easily under the hand of the LORD.



© emissaries of divine light


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