Sex And Spiritual Intimacy

Sex  And  Spiritual  Intimacy

Martin Cecil  January 11, 1958

What rich blessings we know at the hand of our Lord! I was thinking particularly of this wonderful winter which we have been enjoying. It has been so mild and beautiful. It makes life easier, doesn't it? And that is God's will for human beings: that life should be easier than as it has been known in this fallen world. As we come together once again this evening we may give further consideration to that which is truly fitting as we serve in the Holy Place. Perhaps you can understand why it was that I used the opportunity to speak of wisdom in the Holy Place before we finally set our course during our service on Wednesday evening.

I have been doing all that I could to prepare you for that which is needful in the days before us. I emphasized the point of the necessity for honesty, so that you are really honest with yourselves and do not attempt to deceive yourselves with respect to your motivations, the reason why you speak or act thus and so. How easily human beings do deceive themselves in that regard, persisting in self-deception. Obviously there must be honesty in the Holy Place, because if there isn't, there would be the making of a lie, and that, if it is a part of anyone, prevents them from entering into the Holy City. There is a need, then, for true honesty, and there is the need for the development of a true sense of the fitness of things. That which is fitting in the Holy Place is very different to that which may seem to be fitting in the world of man. The wisdom of men is foolishness with God, and human beings have judged the wisdom of God to be either foolish or unfitting. We remember the words, “Behold, I make all things new.” That certainly indicates a complete change, for that which is in the Holy Place must be fitting in the sight of God, regardless of what human beings think about it. And you will find that, while you have undergone a change of viewpoint and you see many things in a different light to the way it used to be, the new vision and new understanding, the new sense of the fitness of things, the new recognition of values, is yet to come.

I was wondering tonight if I could begin to speak to you a little about these things, perhaps we might say the characteristics of divine men and women as they serve God from the Holy Place, that you may have an increased understanding of what is fitting there, what is right and proper and what is not. We cannot lay down any rules and regulations as human beings try to do in the world of man. They establish a pattern of some sort and then they say it just is not done, to behave otherwise. Well of course there are those things that are simply not done in the Holy Place, but the correct function is based in something the individual knows from within himself rather than on something which is imposed from outside. The Ten Commandments were given a long time ago as a basis of regulation for those who at that time had not reached a point where they had any true spiritual perception, no real sense of the fitness of things yet. There is that within the Ten Commandments which we have already recognized as being of value in helping to develop a sense of the fitness of things. But as commandments in the ordinary sense, they are left behind. As guides to the fitness of things and to an understanding of the Divine Pattern and the ways of God, they have their value.

And when we come into the Holy Place we discover that truly all things must be made new. Everything! And all the old patterns of belief, concept, all the old regulations, dos and don'ts, no longer have any effect. Yet, as we have seen, there is an absolute control insofar as the Kingdom of God is concerned. It is not as though all controls were taken off simply because nothing is imposed from the outside. The outside controls cannot properly be taken off until the individuals concerned have learned how to accept the inside controls. And it is those controls which spring from within the individual that operate in the Holy Place. To attempt to come into the Holy Place on the basis of some outwardly established and accepted code of ethics, for instance, would end in failure, because the outer control would interfere with the inner control. As long as a person has the two—partially controlled by that which is coming from outside or is imposed from outside, and at the same time seeking to be governed by that which is established from inside—there is a certain amount of conflict, and the individual is not quite sure whether he should be governed by this or by that.

If we are to move safely into the Holy Place, to serve there as we should, we must come to the point where we can completely accept and remain subject to the controls which God offers from the standpoint of the Holy Place, controls which originate with God and spring forth from within the individual, in body and mind and heart.

In the Book of Revelation there is mention made in relationship, particularly, to the four beasts and the four and twenty elders, that they would be made kings and priests unto God, to rule on the earth. The terms kings and priests might well provide us with a basis for meditation. A king, as we already know, symbolizes in the Bible the human mind—the king or Pharaoh or Herod, the human mind—usually in the fallen state. But, seeing as God created the mind of man, we recognize that there is a correct place for it, and that the king might not necessarily refer to the fallen human mind. Our Master is referred to as the KING of Kings. We have here something rather interesting. When He came into the world His approach in ministry was from the standpoint of the second plane, the mental plane, the plane of the king. The mind of man, when it was first created by God, was created to be king on earth, to rule on earth. However there is that, of course, which is higher than the king: the priest. The priest refers to the correct function from the standpoint of the spiritual expression plane of being. So we have the mind, symbolized by the king, and the spiritual expression in you, in anyone, as it comes to focus, symbolized by the priest. And there is that which is above the priest: the Lord. Insofar as you as individuals are concerned, that would refer to your own God Being. And there is, of course, that which is above your God Being. However you do not need to particularly concern yourself with that, because everything that is above your God Being is just the way it should be. The pattern is right; it is all coordinated; it is all integrated; it is all one thing. It is that which is below that requires attention: the level of the priest and the king.

Now the king must be willing to come under the control of the priest in you, and the priest of course ministers before the Lord. The spiritual expression levels of your being constitute the realm of the priest. Now I suppose we could carry it further, below the level of the king, and perhaps we would use the term prophet in relationship to the physical aspect: prophet, king, priest, Lord. A prophet indicates the form on earth through which the word of God, or the act of God, finds expression, and could relate to the physical levels of being. The Old Testament, particularly, gives a record of many prophets, and we remember that the Old Testament has primary concern with the First Sacred School, that which was from the standpoint of the physical approach.

When our Master came, His ministry was introduced by John the Baptist, who was considered as being the last of the line of prophets. Our Master indicated at one point that of those who were born of women he was the greatest, but that the least in the kingdom of heaven was greater than he. Here we begin to see movement from that level to the next: from the physical level to the mental level, the kingdom, the place of the king, the realm of the king. Now that kingdom, insofar as we are concerned now, is at hand by reason of something else: the level of the priest, the spiritual expression plane of being, which is the level of our approach. So insofar as each individual is concerned, then, there are these three aspects. We have spoken of them as body, mind and spiritual expression, and have coordinated these terms with prophet, king and priest.

That is true of each one. When we consider the whole body of mankind we recognize that there are those who function from the standpoint of the Priesthood, there are those who function from the standpoint of the king level of being and those who function from the standpoint of a prophet level of being. That which is needed on earth in order to make possible the development of the pattern according to the Divine Design is the Priesthood, that which provides the connection between God and the king, between God and the means by which human beings function in a practical and meaningful sense here on earth. So we are particularly concerned with the development of the Priesthood, because as long as the king of the outer mind tries to function without the priest, or without regard to the priest, as the case may be, we have the state of the fallen world: the mind of man separated from God. The priest provides the connecting link between God and the king, that which permits the establishment of government on earth.

As we have noted, those who come into the Holy Place must come in completely, [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/through-gates-of-praise.html] body, mind and heart. We cannot leave any parts outside. So the coordinated function of the three levels of being, as symbolized by prophet, king and priest, is essential to those who share in establishing the True Priesthood on earth in the Holy Place—body, mind and heart; all of you—that there may be true men and true women, both serving in the Holy Place, together, in oneness, as a part of the Body of the Priesthood. This indicates the correct relationship between men, between women and between men and women—the right pattern, that which is truly fitting, right and proper in the sight of God.

There have been many concepts developed, even in the scope of our own ministry, with regard to these things; but there is that which needs to be seen clearly, with understanding, in relationship to things as they actually are. We do not wish to hold theories or to maintain beliefs that do not harmonize with the truth. When we begin to move into a consideration of proper relationships within the pattern of the Body of the Priesthood in the Holy Place, we necessarily touch the realm that human beings think of as sex. Actually, of course, all of our considerations in relationship to the Holy Place and the things of God are concerned with sex as it actually is, not, certainly, simply as human beings think it to be, because their view in the matter tends to limit itself to a certain field in the physical plane of being.

Now the human viewpoint in regard to that is very much distorted, of course, very limited, so we could not say that sex as human beings understand it is included in our consideration; but that which human beings have misunderstood in relationship to that level of sex is included in our considerations. Actually, as we have before noted, the One Law, of which you have some understanding, is very definitely related to sex in the divine sense, and all function relates to the One Law. When we understand how the One Law operates, finds its proper application with respect to any field of function, all fields of function, then we are capable of correct function, and that is function in sex in the divine sense.

Now you can see that that covers a very much greater scope than what human beings usually think about in relationship to sex. But we cannot exclude those levels of sex which human beings have so distorted in their own approach to them, because it is all one thing, and the One Law finds application all the way through in relationship to all levels of being, with respect to all function. You can recognize that when you carry on a conversation with a person there is actually function in sex in the divine sense; the positive and the negative are in operation. I don't care if the conversation is between men or between women, or between a man and a woman, there will be that which finds positive expression through one, and if it is to be a true conversation there must be response on the part of the other, and then the pattern may shift around so that the positive is on the other side. And we have in relationship to all things this function between the positive and the negative. Now to imagine that physical sex is involved in all these patterns of association is ridiculous! There are those who have attempted to make it relate to everything. It doesn't! Sex relates to everything, yes, but not simply that particular level of function in sex.

So there is a proper pattern of relationship within the Body of the Priesthood which is contained within what we call sex, or we can use that word to describe it; but the pattern of oneness which is essential relates to the spiritual expression level of being. Those of you who have attended the Class on Sunrise Ranch may recall Uranda emphasizing the necessity for a server to establish a pattern of spiritual intimacy with the servee. Now that is exactly what it should be, spiritual intimacy. There are those who have not understood how to let it be maintained under proper control at the right level of being, and it has tended at times to move to levels where it should not be. If we are to function together in oneness in the Body of the Priesthood there must be that spiritual intimacy. But let us not imagine because there must be that spiritual intimacy that that somehow opens the way for intimacy to appear at the other levels of being, and particularly from the standpoint of the physical level of being. There is a Divine Design. It comes down from God out of heaven, and our concern in the matter is to receive it at the spiritual expression level of being, that we may establish a spiritual intimacy that does not cause anyone to imagine that somehow there will follow a pattern of intimacy which extends to the other levels of being.

There is nothing indiscriminate insofar as the function of the Priesthood in the Holy Place is concerned. There is an absolute control there. Those who serve in the Holy Place are of course servers, and there is the necessity of developing patterns of spiritual intimacy with those whom we serve, otherwise we cannot serve them in any effective sense. But the absolute control from the standpoint of that which is coming down from God out of heaven must be established and maintained. As I pointed out, as we move into the Holy Place, going on through the Cloud of Glory, there is an intensification of the light and of the fire. It becomes possible to see more, to understand more, to comprehend more in the light, and there is an intensification in the feeling realm, in the heart. That is what happens as we move on through. Now, I pointed out the dangers of losing centering, because the intensification of wrong feeling can come just as violently, as strongly, as the intensification of right feelings, should the centering be lost. But I want to make very sure that you are going to let things be under control as we move into the Shekinah Pattern of Being.

There are many things in relationship to the patterns of sex in the physical sense which are fitting and right from the divine standpoint which might not be considered so from the standpoint of fallen human beings. But I would not wish anyone to jump to the conclusion that they know exactly what those patterns would be and that therefore they are capable of functioning in them, because that is not so. I might, in passing, mention something with respect to this particular field. You know that anything in the world of man that persists over a long period of time gives indication that there might be some truth in relationship to it. The descriptive term is used on occasion of that which is called the most ancient occupation, the occupation of the “harlot”. That is something which has persisted all down through the ages, and there is truth in relationship to it. In other words there is a pattern very different to that which human beings have established for themselves, but a pattern that is right and proper from the standpoint of the Divine Design. Many people are most self-righteous when it comes to a consideration of that field of human function. Remember what happened when the woman who was taken in adultery was brought before our Master. He put all those who were present to the test, and there was not a single one who remained to cast the first stone. “Neither do I condemn thee,” our Master said. “Go, and sin no more.” And what is sin? The Spirit of Truth shall reprove the world of sin, because they believe not on Jesus Christ—on the truth which our Master offered to the world, the Divine Design.

I mention that in passing, not because it has any particular significance to you at the moment, but to indicate the necessity of recognizing that there are many things in the Divine Design that, because man has distorted them and established them on the wrong basis, are considered to be evil by man. They are not evil at all insofar as the Divine Design is concerned. But remember that the truth contains both the elements of design and of control. There is an absolute control. There is a right function. It is not an indiscriminate thing. That needs to be recognized most clearly as we move into the Cloud of Glory, so that you let the control be maintained where it should be, in the recognition that there will be and should be an increase of spiritual intimacy, which of course provides the basis for the pattern in form of the Body of the Priesthood. I do not want anyone jumping to conclusions!

There is the need for control and for right function according to a sense of the fitness of things, on the part of both men and women. There is far more to be comprehended in the field of that particular level of sex of which I have been speaking than you certainly now comprehend. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2019_01_08_archive.html] There are those who imagine that it is impossible to function from the standpoint of sex in a right pattern, under control, unless one is married and has, consequently, a partner. In other words there are those who are not married who tend to assume that the solution to the problem of sex insofar as they are concerned would be to get married. Oh no! That which appears from the standpoint of a married couple may be part of it. It may, and properly should, provide an apex; but you need the body of the pattern if there is to be an apex. There are those who imagine that getting married would settle everything from the standpoint of the sex pattern, but as all the married couples here present can testify, actually it doesn't. I think if you are honest you will all agree with me. There is more to it than that, more that needs to be seen and understood and comprehended, and one can begin to let the right controls and the right patterns be established no matter what one's state may be. One can begin to allow the body of the pattern of right function to be established so that in season the apex can appear.

Our field of consideration is a difficult one to approach because of the tendencies of human beings to misinterpret what is said. Nevertheless it is necessary to say something and begin to develop some understanding with respect to these things. Above all, I am concerned that there should be control as we let the intensification come, for it will move through you, if you share in it, in body and mind and heart. Human beings so easily clothe what they feel with bodies of their own devising. An intensification of feeling in body and mind and heart so often causes the individual to indulge in vain imaginings. He interprets that feeling in relationship to this one or that one, instead of just letting it be what it is and let the Lord give it form in His season. There is a need for patience.

Patience is one of the outstanding qualities or characteristics required by those who would function in the Holy Place; patience with yourselves and with each other, patience without judgment. Let each one come into the Holy Place in his or her own way. You all are coming. No one is excluded. Do not judge each other, but help each other. Be patient with each other. Be understanding with each other. As the natural increase of spiritual intimacy comes, let it be held under firm control, so that you do not start misinterpreting it. Even with the little intensifications we have had in times past there has been enough misinterpretation, and enough problems consequent upon it. As members of the Priesthood, serving in the Holy Place, it is natural that we should have spiritual intimacy. We are functioning in the Holy Place, the spiritual expression plane of being. Let us let it be right at that level, held under firm control, so that you may participate in allowing the Body of the Priesthood to take its proper form in season. Do not indulge in daydreaming or in vain imaginings!

And so I thank God that I have been able to touch on these things with you to this extent at least, that you may remember my words, that everything may be right and accomplished decently and in order, to the Glory of God, that we may share together in allowing the Body of the Priesthood to appear on earth with that effectiveness which will allow the control from God to begin to be extended to the king, the mind of man. That control cannot come for the mind of man until there is established the connecting link, the means, the machinery, in the Holy Place. You may begin to see, as you meditate upon these things, that the way by which the purposes of God are achieved on earth is really rather simple, and absolutely certain. Let us share in giving the Lord the opportunity for the accomplishment of His purposes, as we stand together in close oneness in the Holy Place.

© emissaries of divine light