The Living Design

The  Living  Design

Martin Cecil   Bill Bahan    Michael Cecil

January 10, 1982  100 Mile House, B.C.

Martin Cecil — For many years I have brought to focus, and represented to you and others who compose this Emissary body, the spirit of the living God. It is because of this spirit that the Emissary body has taken form. It has, over the years, grown in grace and stature. It is more than merely a body, for there is a mind and a heart present also. As this body has been maturing over the years, the more mature expression of mind and heart has emerged: all this because of the spirit of the living God. While I have given focus to this spirit, many have shared with me in the increasing expression of that spirit. So has the body taken form, with mind and heart, to the point where it is in position to provide in turn a focus for the body of mankind, a focus of mind and heart for the body of mankind. This is the responsibility of the Emissary body, with the mind and heart present within it, because of all those who compose this body.

But within the Emissary body the focus of mind and heart is provided and has naturally emerged, as you know. I have emphasized that Michael provides a focus for the conscious aspect of that mind, and Bill for the subconscious aspect. In view of the fact that these three points of focus are present in the Chapel this evening it would seem fitting that advantage should be taken of the fact. All who are here gathered have a part to play in this moment. Others, who are not directly conscious in this moment of what is occurring, play their part too. Later no doubt they will become conscious that they were unconscious. Bill and Michael will be participating in what is to occur: Bill first, as the unconscious aspect of mind and heart. You know that this does not mean that Bill is unconscious! He will be followed by Michael representing the conscious aspect. It is possible that I might have a further word to say in conclusion. Bill.

William Bahan — Thank you, Martin. As you can see, I’m very conscious. I had opportunity after our evening meal to hear this morning’s service via the videotape. I never get enough of that wonderful stuff! And I find myself, as Martin said in the service, surrounded by friends and in this marvelous setting. I have found Martin’s spirit a lodestone, absolutely irresistible, because it’s my spirit. There is agreement in that spirit.

Last evening, in New York City, circumstances were trying to tell me that I couldn’t get here. It was probably one of the worst ice storms that New York has ever seen, thousands of cars all over the place. We had one situation where there were probably twenty cars in front of us blocking our way. I had a very able driver in Lou Rotola, and he was in absolute agreement that I was going to be here too. And the way cleared, not because we sat back and twiddled our thumbs but because something was done, including several times getting out of the automobile and pushing cars that were in the way, and Lou going up on sidewalks and crossing medians in order to do it. I was reminded, actually, during the whole of this, of the 91st Psalm—imagine that! “His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.” There was a spirit of protection there, the shield; but the buckler was there also, which opens the way, and cleared the traffic for us.

What a wonderful thing it is to have the facilities of mind and heart. Actually these facilities are absolutely neutral. They can, with equal facility, express the truth or lies, depending upon who is going to use them. Because we have received the baptism in water, allowing our identity to move from our heart and mind, being centered in spirit, we may use these facilities to reveal the truth. The facilities, of and by themselves, cannot reveal the truth. The truth must be there to use the facilities to express it. But, as we know, none of this could have taken place in our own experience without that external baptism of water, and we have been well soaked.

Some years back I stopped at a gasoline station to buy some petrol, and I gave the gentleman the credit card which said Emissaries of Divine Light on it. He looked at it and said, “Oh, that’s a church.” I said, “Yes.” He said, “Do you believe in baptism?” I said, “Full immersion!” He was delighted. We’ve had full immersion, many barrels. What a provision. But, being offered those barrels of water many times, there is the need, as we know, for the internal baptism where the truth is expressed.

In order for this to take place we know that the mind and heart must be in agreement. The minds in human beings as they are in their present state of consciousness have been agreeing with the heart. That’s trouble. The heart needs to agree with the mind. It’s the mind where logic and reason are. We have seen with our mind what the truth is, the way the design works, and this surely has been, as I say, a great blessing. Just this week, at our one-week seminar, there were some twenty-one folks or so that showed up to take this class. One elderly gentleman came with his wife, and I had opportunity of presenting a class in the middle of the week on the mental equipment and how it works. And he came up to me after the class just aglow, saying, “My, how wonderful to see the way this works.” Well we’ve had that; we’ve all known that. We’ve known the excitement of seeing just the way it works. So with our conscious mind we’ve seen the way the design is and how things work, but we know that it really doesn’t work until that heart absolutely agrees, with a depth of feeling, deep feeling, for the truth, for the design, for the way things really work.

I think this fact of deep feeling needs to be reviewed by us. Human beings are afraid of having deep feeling, because they have had deep feelings about the wrong thing: “Every time I love I get hurt.” Well, without any baptism that’s true: every time we do, so called, love, we get hurt. But that isn’t the truth. The truth is: every time we love through the truth it’s wonderful, it’s heaven, and consequently, having been baptized by the water of truth, there is this need for deep feeling, to really, you might say, let something rip. Are we afraid of that? Are we afraid to really let something move in relationship to our expression? Well I would suggest that we should be hesitant about it if we haven’t received the baptism, but all of us have received it.

I remember, in a service some years back, Martin speaking about this. He used the analogy of our having been in the bathtub for a long time, and he thought it was about time we got out and dried up. Part of that drying-up process is allowing our feelings to be used under the control of the truth, so that that great spirit of our KING may find accurate expression in our living. I find in my own experience something of that wonderful depth of feeling of thankfulness, thankfulness for all that we have received and the careful preparation that the LORD has offered to us to bring us to this point where we may in fact serve Him once more, that mind and that heart may be used by the spirit of the KING, used to reveal the truth which we are. How wonderfully good it is to find ourselves in this setting tonight knowing what we know, so that we may in fact offer that baptism to others.

As you know, I was recently in India. My what a marvelous open heart our Indian brethren have. It’s called the subcontinent, you know. And one of the things that our conscious mind needs to prove to our subconscious mind is the fact that it’s trustworthy. Our subconscious mind does not and has not trusted our conscious mind, and that’s true, I think, in relationship to the people in the subcontinent. I don’t think those who went there from this part of the world, and who properly represented the conscious mind, have offered the truth. I think there has been a lot of grabbing from the subcontinent. But the Indian people, symbolically representing the subconscious mind, are opening their hearts, and we’ve had opportunity to go down there to represent the truth. And when the truth is represented, believe me, they love it! I’m sure that in the days to come we will find many, many hundreds of these wonderful people coming our way; they can’t stay away. And we have the perfect setting for them; everything is prepared.

Driving into 100 Mile House this afternoon, seeing the snow, all the trees—what a wonderful feeling. I felt the presence of a womb, something protective, and it lifted up in my mind how the LORD had worked things out to put Martin in this particular spot away from the hustle and bustle, something protective. The LORD has not denied us anything. Everything that we’ve needed has been given to us, and so here we are with everything. But there is one thing that is needed, and that is that increased depth of feeling. This is where the power is. This is where the juice is. We need this depth of feeling for what we know, not taking anything for granted, but revealing the fact that we do love the LORD our God with all our heart and all our mind and all our strength and all our soul.

So I delight to be surrounded by friends, but if I wasn’t I would delight anyway. I delight to be on earth with you at this most marvelous time, doing what we came to do, bringing the Kingdom right where we are.

Michael Cecil — Beautiful words, Bill. As Bill just emphasized, he will represent the truth regardless of circumstance, and with a passion too. Because that is the fact, which we can readily acknowledge in the spirit of his presence, there is an element of valuable use for God on earth. I would trust myself to represent that same quality of absoluteness, come what may. To the extent that that is the fact, then there is a working association possible on earth between us.

Bill emphasized the provision which there has been over the years for us and for many people to come to a recognition of absoluteness. We would acknowledge absolute reliability of spirit which is brought to particular focus in Martin. If there is an effective instrument symbolized in the working together of Bill and myself, it is because of a clear orientation in that focus. That being the case all around, then we have three reliable factors that can be counted upon. What a beautiful thing is present on earth when there is a useful mechanism, mind and heart with one accord in one place, a vehicle developed for the expression of the spirit of God, as may be appropriate.

Bill was mentioning something about trust. The world as we have known it has revealed a sorry sight between men and women, between the different aspects of humanity. There has been so little trust, so little reason for trust. Bill mentioned something about the way in which the Indian people along the way naturally opened up in trust to the British, but found that in various ways they were betrayed. This has been the story all over the world, really. There is an interesting analogy here in Bill and myself. Bill is from Boston, and I’m from Britain, at least partly. Some two hundred years ago there was a tea party where there was a certain statement of justifiable mistrust! Something different can be proved now. When this symbol of the conscious mind has found its orientation in the spirit of God then there is a factor of trustworthiness present, and if that is true of the symbol of the subconscious mind too there may be mutual ease.

In our Emissary body there has been some expression of concern amongst various ones, a comparison between what I do and what Bill does, and the feeling that Bill isn’t like Michael and Michael isn’t like Bill, and that is very suspicious. What ridiculous nonsense, really! I deeply appreciate what it is that Bill brings so vividly to focus. He spoke of passionate feeling. While Bill is more, he certainly is a representation of passionate feeling in the right direction, a representation of a true inspiration which is at work in the world, as we saw in our considerations this morning, perhaps largely at unconscious levels, but also nowadays made increasingly evident consciously too. And then there is that wondrous intuitive facility, where what is coming out of the future from God can be acknowledged perceptively. When the troubled heart has settled down there is a facility available for use. I really appreciate what is brought to focus in Bill in this regard. I wouldn’t say that I don’t have feeling or that I’m not intuitive, but there is something of particular emphasis here in Bill. Perhaps in a more measured, rational way there is something that I may add that Bill need not be so concerned about and then together there may be a whole. How ridiculous comparisons are! How necessary to the rich, rounded picture of God in the flesh we all are, and we are all different. We each have something unique to add to this tapestry of life, and our respect for one another in this regard is so vital.

I’m very aware of the need there is from a conscious standpoint to provide understanding, to provide enfoldment and respect to this other side of life and, above all, to provide a point that is trustworthy. I think men have concerned themselves unduly with the question as to whether they could trust women. The answer well might be “No.” But it’s an extraneous question. The real point is, “Can a man be trusted?” Is he trustworthy? Can he be counted upon to represent the truth of the spirit of God absolutely? If that is the case then we have something that might work on earth. I delight in the opportunity which is present to give loving encompassment to our worlds—I speak of my world and Bill’s world—something that may be healing to the people therein and may encourage the emergence of spiritual maturity.

In all of this there is a recognition that insofar as the two of us are concerned—I know Bill would agree with this—we have the opportunity of working closely with Martin, not just looking in responsive awe in his direction but present to work together. That really is the point of the whole operation. We are all here to work together to let this world be what it must be, and it is good to let the facilities come into place so that special work can be done.

I rejoice greatly tonight to say these things and to work with increasing effectiveness along with you to do the job for which we are here.

Martin Cecil — If two or three of you shall agree on earth, what miracles spring from this as it is so. This certainly does not mean that everybody else is excluded. It is because of this agreement in the all-inclusive spirit of the living God that everyone who is willing is included.

Human beings are so very petty at times, most of the time. This is so because of self-centeredness. Obviously, if there is an operational creation it will have a very varied composition. Even the things that man has made for his own enjoyment, for his own pleasure, have many working parts. There is considerable variety. Certainly this is true when we observe living human beings, even living human beings in the fallen state. It requires those who complement each other. By the way, I think I have to remind a good many people that there is a difference between compliment spelled with an “i” and complement spelled with an “e”. We don’t have to go around congratulating each other, that is, giving compliments to each other.

Something was said this morning about appreciation. There should naturally be a sense of appreciation in each person, a sense of appreciation to the Lord for the marvelous provision that He has made in so many ways so magnificently. And we become aware of all this. We’ve had the opportunity of participating in it. Where is cause for judgment? All judgment is basically judgment of the Lord: He apparently hasn’t been doing things right. Every complaint is a complaint about the Lord. Human beings imagine that they have not been treated justly. According to their view it may seem so, but who has been concerned with treating the Lord justly? That would require that human beings reveal the truth of themselves on earth. That’s the way the Lord created everybody. To take the attitude toward the Lord, “You haven’t created me right,” and to behave accordingly, is certainly establishing an injustice to the Lord, because the fact of the matter is He did a perfect job. Now human beings have turned around and say, “He didn’t. He made this mess. Look at us”—look at everybody else, for the most part!

The perfect state is present; let us not deny it. If we deny it we betray ourselves and betray the Lord. All things are the way they exactly should be. Justice prevails. Human beings get what’s coming to them. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord for justice. In the true design there is a sea of glass clear as crystal, the truth is clearly in evidence; it all works together to perfection. There is a fluid design to that working. That fluid design on earth requires people. It requires people who will let the fluid design move easily and naturally, complementing itself in whatever way is necessary. We all have some awareness of this, some experience of it perhaps, certainly some ideas about it. There is something to come down from God out of heaven into the earth, to be received because there is a facility to receive it. That facility puts in an appearance in our own experience. We are aware of it, even though we have done a good deal to frustrate it and perhaps continue to do a certain amount to frustrate it.

I am most thankful to the LORD for the evidences that have appeared to give confirmation to the truth. These evidences appear because there are those who are willing to let them appear, and when they do so the truth is confirmed. This evening particular emphasis has been placed upon these two points: Michael and Bill. Recently the conscious and unconscious aspects of mind have been under consideration so that we might align ourselves with the working of things. We can only do this because we make the approach from the standpoint of spiritual expression. We don’t try to make the mind work the way human beings try to make it work from below, try to get something out of the realm below. All the investigations that have been undertaken by the human mind have related to the things that are below: How do things work?—just looking at the things that don’t work for the most part or that don't work the way they should. They can’t work the way they should as long as human beings are not working the way they should. But the truth is confirmed in our own experience, and it is confirmed in a collective sense. This is so to the extent that we as individuals have taken responsibility for ourselves, each of us solely responsible for our own expression in life.

This doesn’t mean to say that we are independent of each other. Obviously we are part of a larger whole, and taking responsibility means that we cannot do anything without taking that whole into consideration. We can never take unilateral action, as human beings are inclined to do. They say to themselves, “This is my business.” Is it? It’s the Lord’s business and it includes the whole; therefore those who are (wholly) Holy unto the Lord  in their living also include the whole. They are responsible for maintaining the true spirit, the expression of what is right in every circumstance, in every department of life, but at the same time taking into account the whole. One never acts just on the basis of one’s own view. If one acts that way one’s view will be distorted, because if it were clear one wouldn’t act that way. It always includes others. We are careful in this regard.

As there are those who are careful, who do accept this larger view, they emerge as points of focus. There have been those who complained that they weren’t given more responsibility. Well you have to be trustworthy presumably, first, and you can’t be trustworthy unless you have some awareness of the whole. The initial awareness of the whole is probably centered in taking into account two or three people who are next to you. That’s about all that many can encompass, and maybe they don’t do that too well. But having a view of the whole, we begin to see what is working from the standpoint of the spirit of God, and therefore are in position to know what is fitting. For the moment it requires quite a bit of work to make sure that all that is necessary is brought into the picture.

This might emphasize a point that I was touching upon this morning. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/sanctification-martin-cecil-january-10.html] There is this wholeness which needs to be encompassed. It takes all of us to do it but there are particular points of focus who rightly have the necessary vision of what it is that is required, so that much can be encompassed of which those who are not in that position are unaware. The vision of anyone in that position would be more encompassing than the vision of any other. The picture that needs to be seen is the Lord’s view, and we have the opportunity of sharing that. But we blot that out every time we become involved in our own self-centeredness, where we are not taking into account the whole, even though we don’t see the whole. Of course we don’t see the whole but it’s there nevertheless, and we’re all a part of it. We have the ability to encompass a certain segment of it, and that includes many other people; and we have to take them all into account, because, after all, this is all that the Lord has to work with.

I suppose one might be inclined to say, “Pity the poor LORD,” but for heaven’s sake, He has provided everything that is necessary, everything for all of us. Let us accept the fact of it and allow a meshing together that naturally occurs in the unfoldment of the fluid design. And this meshing is represented very beautifully, and has been this evening, by Michael and Bill. They are very different. Praise the Lord. Who wants duplicates? The representation is of something quite different: the conscious aspect of the mind, we say, and the unconscious aspect of the mind. The heart is included in both, by the way, but seeing that the unconscious mind occupies so much more volume, one might describe it I suppose, there is more heart there then. And these two complement each other. Why judge it? Let it be what it is. If we do that then we are liable to let ourselves be what we should be, but if we are judging others we’re never going to allow ourselves to be what we really are.

Now here is a third point standing here too, different from these two. Of course! It doesn’t mean that one is better than another. It simply means that there are those who have assumed the responsibility for which they are on earth, and that responsibility includes the natural complementing of one another. This is being done. Allow it to be so. I rejoice greatly that there is this focus of the mind of the Emissary body; only because there is this can the total mind of the Emissary body provide a focus for the mind of the whole body of humanity. Let us come out of the petty vision and begin to see things as they really are and the responsibility that we and others really carry, so that we don’t hide in the shadows but acknowledge the truth and reveal the truth in our living, that there may be agreement on earth as touching all those things for which we individually and all of us together are responsible. So may the restoration of mankind be brought to pass, not by might, nor by power, but by the spirit of the living God finding expression—free, strong, sure expression—on earth because there is the facility for this to take place. This is cause for great thanksgiving on the part of all those who have even the smallest sensing of these things. Isn’t it glorious beyond words to express? It certainly is from my standpoint. How about you? (There was expression of agreement from those present in the Chapel.)

Lillian Cecil — It is glorious beyond all words, Martin, to share this special hour. We rejoice in true design and with our arms of love we encompass, if we can, the three of you in this moment, that that true design on earth is kept where it should be safe in this holy place, in the holy place of our hearts.

Martin Cecil — It is to be kept holy, holy unto the Lord. It is holy unto the Lord, and those who offer themselves wholly unto the Lord keep this most holy place safe.

David Thatcher — Martin, I wish to express on behalf of many who haven’t expressed anything prior to this point in time in this setting, in representation of many in the conscious Emissary body. It’s a delight to see the ease with which you, Bill and Michael function together. It’s a delight to know more clearly than ever the ease and the power with which we move and which we can bring to focus and offer to you in representation of a world that is rapidly coming into the Lord’s hands. Praise the Lord.

Martin Cecil — We’re friends. We love each other. We enjoy each other. And this is representative of what is provided from the standpoint of the focus of the Emissary body. And it is this exactly which must be provided by the focus of the Emissary body for the whole body of mankind.

© emissaries of divine light