Awaken To Oneness
Martin Cecil June 1, 1980 a.m.
Praise the Lord! Thankfulness surely fills us this morning as we have this, another special opportunity of being together with one accord in His presence. In the spirit of thankfulness we may find ourselves in agreement with His spirit and with the expression that is to be brought forth by reason of His spirit in this hour. We are here to let His will be done, assuming individual responsibility for this. Seldom has it been true, of those who were gathered together in a particular formation of human beings, that all have been willing to accept their individual responsibility. The wandering of human consciousness, the failure to come to point, has characterized even those who have offered themselves to the Lord for His purposes. Is it so of us this morning? Or is it conceivable that this number of people, each one individually here present this morning, is capable of coming to point and staying there? There is no other reason why anyone should be present. In the spirit of thankfulness then we stand together in agreement with the Lord in spirit. In form you are sitting, but in spirit, standing.
There is a familiar passage that I would read to you, from the 2nd chapter of the Book of Genesis: “But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
This has produced a rather strange picture in the imagination of many: probably of a large person assembling some dust, dampening it down perhaps, and forming a little clay figure, and then somehow providing artificial resuscitation so that this figure came alive. Of course there wasn’t anyone around with hands, to get the job done along these lines, and the whole exercise is based in the concept of separation: the Lord God on the one hand, the dust on the other. This ignores the fact, the truth, that heaven and earth are one, that God is not some kind of figure separate from His creation, or His creation separate from Him. Oneness prevails: this is the truth. It might be said, using human language, that creation takes place from within; but then here again other strange concepts are engendered.
Again, using human words, we have taken note of the undimensional and the dimensional, the invisible and the visible, the unmanifest and the manifest. Here are two aspects of one thing: the manifest takes form by reason of the unmanifest; the unmanifest is revealed by reason of what takes form. There is no separation. There are not two separate things: the Creator and the creation. It is only in human consciousness, where the state of human experience is that of separation from himself, that the concept of separation exists. It is unreal. The reality is oneness. If we do not know that in our own experience we proclaim our ignorance, we proclaim the darkness of our state; and even though the light may be present the darkness comprehends it not.
There has been an inclination to see the external things around us from the standpoint of the unreal state, which beholds what is seen as being separate. The person sitting next to you tends to be seen as being separate from you. The world, beyond these walls, seems to be separate from us, within these walls. What has been called the Emissary ministry is looked upon as being separate from the various forms of human composition that exist in the world. Very often the population of the earth seems to be divided in the consciousness of Emissaries as being composed of Emissaries and non-Emissaries, but the fact of the matter is that there is only one composition. This composition not only includes mankind as a whole but everything else as well. If this is so, then the futility of trying to manipulate separate things into a state of oneness may be seen. It is an attempt to do the impossible, because oneness already exists. We cannot make the state of oneness. It is already made. It is already the fact. It is already the truth. It is a matter of knowing the truth for ourselves, individually speaking and all together. When we know the truth the concept of separation previously held vanishes away. It is unreal. Separation never really existed.
Again, we are impressed that the condition in which human beings have been existing is a dream state, just as insubstantial as the dream from which you may awaken in the morning. As the awakening comes, the dream vanishes. As the reality is known, the unreality is found to be nonexistent. We have some understanding of these things but how much experience? How real is reality to us? Or, on the other hand, how real is unreality to us? In the human state unreality seems to be real; consequently, attempting to exist in this unreal state, we must be living a lie. As long as we are living a lie we are excluded from the experience of the truth. This has been the worldwide condition of human experience. The truth has remained unknown except perhaps as an intellectual concept, which is not in fact the truth. The truth is not an intellectual concept. It is what it is, whatever that may be.
So we come this morning once more into position to acknowledge the reality, the truth that is. To the extent that we actually do this the unreal dissolves. While we may still be aware of the dream state in which human beings exist, and in which we ourselves have existed, it is known to be unreal. As long as human beings have existed in this unreal state they have been useless. Most people are not in favor of acknowledging their own uselessness. Hopefully, they anticipate that if they are not useful now, one day they will be; evolution may take care of this. Of course most are un- willing to admit that they are useless now, but it is the fact of the matter to the extent that one is existing in an unreal state. One is not very useful about one’s daily tasks if one is asleep and dreaming, and this is the condition in which human beings are. So there is need for awakening out of sleep, that the dream state may automatically dissolve. Most are inclined to think of the present dream state as some sort of nightmare, which it indeed may be; but usually when human beings become involved in nightmares at night they are quite anxious to wake up. Not so in this nightmare state of unreality in which human beings exist. Very few seem to be anxious to wake up. There is anticipation that somehow the nightmare can be turned into a delightful dream if we work at it hard enough.
If we have seen the necessity for awakening and have undertaken, ourselves, to experience something of this, we become increasingly aware of the necessity as it relates to the whole body of humanity. We become aware of our own responsibility to provide what is necessary to allow for this awakening. It may be that there are those who are in too deep a coma to experience any awakening, but we would not make any assumptions in this regard but offer what is necessary to allow this awakening to be made possible.
We need to see this in perspective. If we ourselves have experienced any measure of awakening to the truth, this certainly didn’t happen because we put our minds to it. What is happening, to bring to pass the awakening within the body of humanity that is now occurring, did not happen because someone, somewhere—the Lord God presumably, whoever that might be—is laying this trip upon the human race. That would imply a state of separation, a state which doesn’t really exist. Anything that is occurring is occurring because of the state of oneness. I mentioned the idea of something happening from within. Whatever word is used to describe what takes place will inevitably produce in human consciousness some misunderstanding, because human consciousness doesn’t know the truth. Human consciousness is still in the dream state. But words may be used as reminders of something that is naturally known when one is awake. So if I use the word within, don’t translate it literally, as the human consciousness is inclined to do, according to its own structured state. If we use the word invisible it doesn’t merely mean that we can’t see it with our physical eyes; it means that it is not a part of the manifest world, and yet is one with it. There is no separation between the invisible, in this sense, and the visible. They are one. But there would be no visible if it wasn’t for the invisible, and I suppose you could say that the reverse is also true. The whole exists, and the composition of the whole includes invisible and visible, heaven and earth. It is impossible, in actual fact, to separate the two. If it seems as though they are separate, such a view is unreal; and yet it is the view held in human consciousness by all people—the unreal state, the sleeping state, the dream state, crying out, in a way, for awakening.
So the means of awakening is present because of the state of oneness. The invisible is present in the visible. So the opportunity to awaken is actually present, actually working, actually part of the creative operation. It is there, whether human beings know it or not, like it or not, or are in agreement with it or not. Because of this creative movement some awakening is beginning to occur. If we ourselves experience something of this it shouldn’t give us fat heads, because it could well be said that from the human standpoint we didn’t do it. It happened by reason of something humanly unknown, certainly unknown in the unreal state. It is unknown in the unreal state because it is reality. But obviously something is happening in this invisible sense, not only here on earth in this little speck of dust but throughout the whole universe—and who knows what that means?
Human beings have a very limited view of the universe. They postulate certain theoretical understanding on the basis of that view, which is much like the gentlemen who were examining the portions of the elephant, you may recall, and all describing the elephant differently because they couldn’t see the whole creature. They only saw the little part and assumed that because they saw the little part this was evidence of what the whole creature was like. Of course it wasn’t true in that instance and it isn’t true from the standpoint of such observations as human beings make of the very large, as they think of it, or the very small, as they think of it. Nothing is seen accurately, because it is seen from the standpoint of the structured state of separation. After all, the person who is observing is standing over here, and that’s over there. But it isn’t; it’s all one thing, and the observer is not separate from what he is observing. This has been discovered in certain instances, where the very observation alters what is being observed. And, in any case, what is being observed is not understood, altered or not.
Awaken! Emerge from the coma, from the dream state, from the nightmare state, into the real world. People are accustomed to thinking of the real world as being what has been built on the surface of this planet. That’s not the real world at all; that’s a phony state. But there is something moving creatively which is designed to restore the awakening state of consciousness to human beings, who now suffer from the sleeping state of consciousness, or the coma state of consciousness, which doesn’t amount to a row of beans, although it is thought of as being so grand and great. So there is this invisible creative influence, one with the visible, and therefore producing in the visible what has been set in motion from the invisible.
One of the things that has been set in motion is the awakening of human consciousness to the truth. This has been set in motion, whether anyone wants to know the truth or not. Of course it makes a difference from the standpoint of the person concerned, as to whether he is willing to know the truth or not so willing. If he is not willing to know the truth, ultimately there is no state possible, because there is only one state and that is the state of the truth. There is a little interim in human experience because human beings are still alive, in other words associated with the invisible, but in a coma. Their capacity of consciousness is filled with dreams rather than with reality. When these dreams become extreme in nature, people of course are put in institutions; but fundamentally there is no difference, only in degree of craziness. Sometimes those in institutions are inclined to take the attitude that the crazy people are outside, and they are not far wrong either!
So we have an awareness of what may be described as a creative cycle moving in the invisible, which is reflected in various ways by the visible. It is reflected in our own experience by what has occurred in our own states of consciousness. There has been the beginning of an awakening, and we have immediately seen that we have a consequent responsibility in the matter of the continued unfoldment of the awakening process. What is happening is going to happen anyway, whether we are on hand to do anything or not; however if we are on hand and beginning to awaken, then we have a particular responsibility for making the awakening a creative and constructive experience for those others in the world who are in the process of awakening also. We can’t pick and choose. We can’t go around looking into everyone’s eyes, or wherever you would want to look to find this out, and deciding that this person is awakening and that one isn’t. There is no need. The process is at work. We don’t have to do anything about that.
But there are those who will reveal the fact that they are beginning to awaken, and these are the ones who are of primary concern to us if we are to be obedient to the instruction that was given long ago: “Feed my sheep.” Incidentally the instruction was not given: “Starve my goats.” That would indicate separation, wouldn’t it, and judgment, as though we were capable of determining who was a sheep and who was a goat—using these terms to describe those who were willing to awaken and those who were not willing to awaken. It is true that there is what might be called a sorting-out process involved, but in a sense that’s none of our business. “Feed my sheep.” While it may not be so true in the animal world, sheep in this analogous sense eat a different diet to what the goats do. So it may turn out that the goats starve, but not because we deliberately withheld the essential food. If they were willing to awaken and classify themselves as sheep, then there would be plenty of food; and we have a responsibility for providing this food so that the awakening may occur in a controlled way.
It is quite obvious that the world is teetering around these days a good deal; and there is a certain amount of fear, some conscious, some subconscious, that everything is completely going to fall apart. There may be some truth to this, because the unreal certainly is going to prove itself to be unreal. But the reality needs to be on hand in human consciousness. It is on hand in actual fact but hasn’t been on hand in human consciousness. When it is on hand in human consciousness then the state of oneness is known, the truth is known. As it was put, God is not willing that any should perish. He has gone to a lot of trouble, after all, in the creative process, to produce human beings, and He is not going to write them off if He can avoid it.
So there is a creative process involved here, which in a very specific sense was initiated some nineteen centuries ago, and it has been in operation ever since, below the surface, within, invisible. It begins to push out toward the surface now, so that the surface consciousness of some human beings is beginning to awaken. One might call this resurrection, something that is occurring in the overall sense. Some people imagine somehow that God is particular about certain people: “Well I’ll awaken you and you and you, but all the rest, go on slumbering.” No, there is oneness, isn’t there, and while it may prove to be selective in one sense it is not because of anything that is happening from the standpoint of the invisible but merely from the standpoint of the choices which human beings make. They either select themselves or exclude themselves. They are capable of doing that. Thus far it has been exclusion principally, obviously not completely or no one would still exist on earth. So there have been the life signs, so to speak, in the body of humanity; but there has been a state of coma, an unawareness of the real world and only an awareness of the dream world, which is associated with the state of coma.
This creative cycle is working and there are those who are in the process of awakening. I rejoice, and I am sure you do too, that this is happening. It has happened with respect to ourselves, in whatever measure, and we begin to know that it is happening. We begin to be able to see that this invisible creative cycle is at work and is the fundamental cause for everything that is occurring on the surface. The things that occur on the surface occur there by reason of the reaction in human consciousness in the coma state. Of course that doesn't provide a clear reflection of what would be true if human beings were awake and participating in the process; then obviously the results made apparent in the world would be quite different. At the moment that is mere speculation but we can see how it would work that way. We do not know what would be produced. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard” It’s not necessary. The invisible is quite capable, actually, without our help. But there is something we are here to do, related to what is occurring on the surface, in the visible sense, and we have a part to play in this to the extent of our wakefulness. If we try to play the part while we are still asleep it won’t be very effective. There may be the appearance of movement and of action—there are sleepwalkers, after all—but it won’t provide what is really necessary. Awake! Arise! In one sense the alarm is sounding.
As it says here: “But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.” This has been thought of in terms of the need for the garden which was to put in an appearance: there needed to be irrigation; it was dry. But here is a symbolic presentation of something, which may have some literal meaning too. But the literal meaning relates to the truth, doesn’t it? Not to the fantasy, not to the dream. We have a lot of people in the dream state who have been busy trying to interpret the Bible, for instance, and doing it, as they suppose very often, literally—fundamentalists. They say that this that the Bible says is what we should pay attention to. Yes, we should perhaps, but we need to see what is said first.
The mist went up from the face of the earth. We know something about that. We know that there is a generation of spiritual substance from physical substance. Here it is being said in specific words for those who are capable of understanding. If you see only droplets of water arising upon a dry land, then you don’t see very much. But if you see an invisible substance which at the level of mist presumably is somewhat visible—but water vapor in the air is not necessarily visible; there always is some water vapor in it anyway—then we may be able to recognize the spiritual substance that is being described. And it waters the ground; in other words it is the means by which animation occurs physically speaking. It is the connection between the invisible and visible; it relates to the heaven in between. So by reason of a generation of this substance something could begin to happen in the creative process to bring forth man. And it wasn’t someone manipulating the dust of the ground into clay and producing a little human figure, but something from within, something occurring through this mist, the undimensional taking form dimensionally on the basis of the true creative process, the natural creative process which occurs in the state of oneness.
Whatever actually happened, we don’t need to concern ourselves with that back there. We are quite aware of the fact that it happened: we’re here! We don’t need to go back there. What is required is required right here, and what is required now operates on exactly the same basis but there is a different situation. Human flesh is around. The earth is already present in the sense of the flesh body of mankind. Well a mist needs to go up on the face of the earth. There needs to be the generation of the essential spiritual substance, which in turn waters the face of the earth, brings a greater animation. We see this in various ways, mostly destructive; but it is all based in the same creative movement. There is the generation of this substance, and if in our own living we find ourselves associated with this generation we begin to be in agreement with what is happening, and being in agreement we begin to awaken and we begin to see what is happening.
We begin to accept responsibility in the happening, because heaven and earth are one. We are not separate from it. We are not going to stand back somewhere and say, “Well now I am coming in the name of the Lord for all these people out here who are beginning to awaken.” That wasn’t the way it worked in the creation in the first place. The Lord God was not over here and the creation over there. Oneness prevailed and it was by reason of the presence of the Lord God in the invisible sense that something happened visibly, and it happened visibly because there was the connection present—obviously it would be there if there is a state of oneness—to allow for the creative process to work. That connection is described as a mist which went up on the face of the earth.
Now, this is happening; and if we awaken to the happening we find ourselves to that extent one, both with the Lord God and with the happening. In other words it is not happening merely to those miserable people out there who need to be awakened. It’s happening right at home, and the reality of the Lord God only emerges, in fact, to the extent that the happening is known in our own experience. The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground; well this is what He is doing now in the sense of restoring man, or re-creating man, who is not separate from Himself: man, made in the image and likeness of God, as it has been put. That merely describes the state of oneness, that man is not in fact separate from God. He is only seemingly separate from God in his own view in this dream state. Awaken and the truth is known, the truth of oneness. And so, in awakening, the Lord God is then known to be present within His creation, if you want to put it that way, but as an essential element of the creation. Nothing would exist at all but for this fact, and we awaken to this truth in our own experience. Because we so awaken we are associated with the Lord God increasingly in a conscious sense relative to the creative process by which this awakening happens. In other words the process becomes more specific, more direct; and we have a responsibility in this. This is the realm of our integrity.
So we rejoice to associate ourselves with this creative process, in the increasing awareness of the reality, the Lord God and His creation. We are aware of the oneness because it is one in us. It’s the only way we can know it. If we think it is going to be a oneness somehow in the future, well the state of separation still exists insofar as we are concerned and we are of no value. Whatever is useless proves, sooner or later, its uselessness. So we share this immediate awareness of responsibility in the expression of the Lord God in oneness with His creation, which includes our own physical forms, our own minds, our own realms of emotion, our own ability to allow the invisible to be made visible. In this way the fulfilment of the creative purposes of God, by which all things are made new in the realm of human consciousness, comes to pass.
O Lord, Thou who art present always in the midst, we would acknowledge this truth and, being one with Thee, let this invisible truth be made visible in all the ways of our living. Thereby we are filled with thankfulness, filled with joy, filled with an increasing awareness of the creative power of Thy spirit and of the creative processes now occurring in which we may, and necessarily must, in oneness with Thee, play our part. The enfoldment of Thy love extends forth by reason of our presence with Thee on earth, that all who will may awaken to the truth and be restored to life. Aumen.
© emissaries of divine light
