from
Christmas Message to Young Explorers
Uranda December 8, 1938
This year I would address
my Christmas Message to the Young Folks—for Christmas is a time when people of
all ages feel young and happy as they let go in the true Spirit of Christmas.
So it is that on behalf of all the Young Folks of the Explorer's Club, I invite
all the adults in the Third Sacred School to be the Guests of the Young Folks'
Explorer's Club through this Christmas Season, and during the first part of the
New Year. We trust that all of you will find Joy in entering into the Spirit of
our Invitation—for Jesus said that all people needed to become as Little
Children, and this is a time of year when it is easy to be young in heart and
in Spirit, no matter what the years of the calendar ago may be. So it is that
we, the Young Explorers, welcome you as our Guests.
I have prepared a special
Christmas Poem, and we designed a special Christmas Folder for it, and had it
printed on parchment as a fitting symbol of the parchment that was used during
the time of Jesus' Ministry. On the front you will notice the three Wise Men
who are following the Star. The three Wise Men represent the three phases of
yourself, namely, your own body, your mind, and your outer Spiritual Nature.
The Star represents the Christ Light that shines forth from your own Father
within you, and as all three parts of you are wise, they will always follow the
direction of the Christ Light, or the Star, until the three human parts of you
will be blended with your own Father within you, so that you will be Born Again
Spiritually, and you will become a true Son of God.
The important thing for you
to do during this Christmas Season is to find a New and Deeper Meaning to
Christmas—you are to Explore into the Spirit of Christmas so that you can begin
to experience that greater Joy which is the Will of God for you. In this
Message I am going to help you have the right attitude toward Christmas, so
that you can begin to find many wonderful and interesting things that you have
never even thought about before.
Not long ago one of the
wide awake Young Explorers asked about the time of Jesus' birth. We all know
that the Christmas Holidays are supposed to celebrate the birth of Jesus, in
Bethlehem. The story of His birth never grows old, and it is told in many ways;
in song, in poetry and in prose.
Jesus was not born on
December 25th, even though we celebrate His birth on that day. There is no
exact record of just what day of the week Jesus was born on, nor of the day or
month. However, we know that He was born in the Spring, and not at the beginning
of Winter. In the Third Sacred School we accept the 7th of March as the Birth
Date of Jesus, in the year 4 B.C.
You are not all supposed to
know just what it means now, but I would mention that Jesus came in the early
part of the great Water Age—and Water is the symbol of Truth—and He was born
384 years after the beginning of the Water Age. The Water Age ended in 1768
A.D., just 270 years ago, and the great Air Age began at that time. Air is the
symbol of Spirit, just as Water is the symbol of Truth. So now we are in the
Spirit Age, or Age of turning to the Spiritual Life, just as Jesus came in the
Truth Age, or the Age when Truth was given to man. Jesus said, "I am the
Truth." In this you will see that we have a great many things to Explore into
as we go along the Way.
Now let us find out why the
birth of Jesus is celebrated on December 25, instead of on the day when He
really was born. The Apostle John, who was so close to Jesus all through His
Ministry, lived to be a very old man, and after he left the earth, there was no
one who took the lead in Living and Teaching the Christ Life. Soon after John the Revelator passed to the Inner
Planes, the true Spiritual Teachings of Jesus were forgotten by most people,
and what they did remember they mixed with their own ideas to please
themselves. By the time 300 years from the time of Jesus' birth had passed,
there was not anyone, anywhere in the then known world, who was really letting
the true Christ Light shine forth. The human ideas had been given more attention
than the Truth, and by giving attention to the "letter" of the law,
the Spirit of it was ignored. So it was at that time that the Dark Ages of
history began.
Before this time, that
which has now developed into the Roman Catholic Church had been started. The
man who really started the Catholic Church was a very devout follower of the
Christ, but others who sought to have power over the people soon took control
away from him. Shortly, those who were giving first attention to the Spirit and
the Truth were crowded out of authority, and a selfish priesthood began to develop.
In the fourth century after Christ, the Catholic Church began to grow rapidly,
gaining converts from the so-called pagan countries. Because they claimed to
follow Christ, they were called Christians.
In order to make it easy
for the sun worshippers, and other so-called pagans, to become so-called
Christians, the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church made it a practice to take
the Holy Days of the people, change their names, and then let the people keep
the same Holy Days that they always had. There was a certain people that had a
great festival for Seven days between the close of the old year and the
beginning of the New Year. These Holy Days—for that is what Holidays really
mean—began on what we call December 25 and lasted for Seven days. When the
Catholic Church went to convert these people, they did not want to give up
their Holy Days, so the Church decided to let the people keep the same days,
but they would change the name of the days. They had not yet set apart any
certain day to celebrate the birth of Jesus, whom they claimed to follow, and
so they called it the Day of Christ, and told the people that the day was
alright, but that they had to change its name. The Catholic Church always had a
special Mass for each special thing which they wanted to celebrate, so on the
Christ Day they had a Christ Mass as a part of their religious celebration. In
a short time the 25th of December came to be known as Christ Mass Day, which
was changed to Christmas Day, as it is known to us. So you see that people now
celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day, just because some ancient people
had set apart that time to worship the Sun, and the Roman Catholic Church just
changed it from a day to worship the Sun to a day to worship the Son of God.
However, even though we
know that Christmas Day is really not the day on which Jesus was born, we can
celebrate His birth on that date, and take a leading part in the Radiating of
the Christ Love into the world at this Season when others are thinking about
Jesus.
Let us explore for a few
moments the reasons why those ancient peoples who worshipped the Sun as a god,
should set apart the Seven days beginning with December 25th as a Holy Day
Season. It is at this time of the year that we have the longest nights and the
shortest days. Because all life of plants, animals and human beings must depend
so greatly on the Sun, the Sun was looked upon as the Giver of Life. It was
realized that if the sun should go away, and stop shining on the earth, all
things on the earth would soon freeze up in the darkness and die. All through
the fall of the year the days get shorter and shorter, and the nights get
longer and longer. Now if the nights should keep on getting longer, and the
days shorter, all life on the earth would cease. About the first of the year
there is a change.
For the first part of the
Seven days before the first of the year the length of the days and the nights
appears to be unchanged, as if the Sun were trying to decide whether to keep on
making the days shorter, or to begin to make them longer again. So these Seven
Days were devoted to a worship of the Sun, first praying that the Sun would return
and give them longer days again, and then when the Sun did start giving them
the longer days, as it really does at that time of year, they gave thanks to
the Sun for returning. In these Holy Days they greeted the New Year, and they
knew that before long the returning Sun would melt away the snow, and bring the
Springtime when they could again plant their crops and grow their food. So you
see those ancient people had a very good reason for celebrating at that time.
Now we know that it is not right to worship the Sun, but we do worship God who
made the Sun in the first place, and causes it to shine for us. People today
are too much inclined to take for granted the blessings God provides for them.
They might well learn a lesson from those so-called pagan people in giving
thanks to God for their great Blessings.
As you contemplate the
story of the birth of Jesus, it would be well for you to realize that He was
born in a manger, in what today would be called a barn, in order to show that
Spiritual Realities of God do not come in the way that human beings think they
should, with worldly pomp and power. In the manger the oxen and the donkeys
were fed. All through the Bible an ox is a symbol of the human mind—of your own
outer mind. The ass, or donkey, is a symbol of your own body, which is a temple
of the living God. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on an ass, indicating that the
Lord of the body will guide it into the New Jerusalem if the body will respond,
just as Jesus guided the donkey into Jerusalem on that triumphant day.
Just so, the ox and the
donkey had to be taken out of their stall in order to let Jesus be born in the
manger. That means that your own human mind and body must stop being
self-active before the Christ Spirit can be born into the manger of your daily
life. Both the ox and the donkey are very slow and stubborn—just like people
who do not have the Christ Spirit. When your body and mind stop acting like a
donkey and an ox, and then begin to respond to the Lord within, just as the
three Wise Men came to Jesus, giving Him their ALL, you will find that your body
and mind and Spiritual Expression will be made wise, and you will be the three
wise men all in one person. In order to do this you must follow the Star of the
Christ Light, Love and Life, which will surely lead you to your Lord within
you, and as you give all you have and are to Him, He will begin to fill you
with His Presence. The shepherds who heard the Angels sing, are symbols of
those who respond to the loving Call of Jesus, "Come unto Me, all ye that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you Rest."
Now you know more of what
Christmas means, and you will understand the Love which I send to you, and I AM Uranda
© Emissaries of Divine Light
Literal Light — Transparent Mind
from EDL: The Door
Martin
Exeter December 13, 1987
Let
your light so shine. It is a spiritual light, in which case it probably seems
to be incomprehensible light. But heaven and earth are one; so what is deemed
to be spiritual light has its counterpart in the earth, which could be said to
be literal light. The evidence of man, the truth of man, is in the light.
This
physical form is something of a burden, isn't it? We have to lug it around.
Some of us are more sprightly than others, more agile, but it becomes a more
evident burden as one grows older. It's a heavy load of flesh to pack around!
This is a form which has enabled the continued existence of potential Man on
earth. It is useful because of this. But to become the form of Man it must be
filled with light. "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full
of light"—literal light. They say that light weighs a little, but not
much. It's very light! And if the composition of human expression in living is
light, the body becomes light. Here we see something of a transformation, even
transmutation, to occur.
However,
Man is more than one person. So the light relates to more than one person. It
may be said that Man is composed of a body of individuals, and the form of that
body is made up of the individuals who compose it. That body is properly the
light in expression, the radiant light made manifest: a form composed of
individuals through whom the light shines.
Because
there is such a form there is a facility through which the light may shine. But
then we come back to the individual, because the extent to which it is shining
is dependent upon the extent to which it is shining through each individual. As
we have recognized before, the sum of the light—in this instance, light shining
through these individuals—is not the total light shining through the form of
EDL. That is far more. We have seen this from the standpoint of putting two
people together, a man and a woman for instance. Each has an ability to reveal
and express and radiate the light, to whatever extent. If you add one and one
together, we find more than two. This is a new math! Properly there are at
least three: there are the two who are together and there is the new state that
comes because they are together. So one and one make three.
This
just illustrates something. The composition of the body provides a facility which can radiate far more light than the sum of all the
light of the individuals who compose the body of EDL, and because that is far
more, it enhances the individual expression of light. We begin to find
something happening exponentially here, but it only comes because, individually,
responsibility is being taken for letting the light shine to the extent that it
may now do so. Then that extent of light, put together collectively, is found
to be far more than the mere sum of the individual light. This is indication of
how rapidly transformation can occur. We ourselves as individuals simply keep
it from occurring, if it doesn't occur. We have known the fact of our own
individual responsibility. We may see it now in terms of letting the light
shine.
We
find that there are variations in the shining of the light. We may take what is
occurring now as an example. My responsibility is of a particular nature which
will permit an intensification of the light to shine by reason of my radiant
expression. This is very different to what may occur in conversation, for
instance, during the day. In other words, as Uranda put it one time, the sun
rises, and there is day; there is a bright intensity of radiation for whatever
period of time is necessary for that. And then the sun sets. But the morning
star is still there. In fact when the sun is shining the morning star can't be
seen, but when the sun sets the morning star is right there.
Lucifer
is always on hand, but he is the light-bearer. He doesn't bear a flaming torch
which is always the same intensity. He bears whatever light is necessary in the
particular circumstance of the moment. And there is a variation in the
intensity of that light, but it is always the same light—there are pulsations
in the creative process, and it shines with the intensity that is necessary in
the moment. At least this is the intent, unless we block it.
So
we are very much aware, I'm sure, of the real nature of our responsibility
mentally. The light determines what is thought. The light determines,
therefore, what is said and what is done. Here is the process of creation.
Creation comes through thought. It has continued to come through the thoughts
of human beings in this fallen condition, but very sluggishly. It takes a great
deal of the sweat of the brow to get anything done. We all know that, in this
human state. We've struggled with it and exhausted ourselves at the business.
But where the thought which moves through the mind is not generated by the mind
but is generated by the light, it's easy and there is a natural flow. And all
creation has occurred on this basis within the range of the responsibility of
man. It would be very risky, wouldn't it, if presently your thoughts during a
day were immediately to take form! So it's useful that a certain sluggishness
has put in an appearance. But they do take form after a while, and they come
back to haunt us. What a wretched state.
How
wonderful to have the mind transparent so that the fitting light of the moment
may be born, the fitting thought of
the moment, primarily, may be born—not generated because one is thinking so
desperately, as human beings do in an endeavor to control all their
circumstances, but the thought which is the creative thought coming down from
God out of heaven into the earth. How? Through the mind. That's what it's for—not
to do its own thinking and to mess things up constantly on that basis, but to
become transparent so that the light may be born. The light may be carried,
yes, but also born into expression, and the first expression comes through thought.
There is something which precedes the thought, mind you, but the first
awareness that one may have of what it is that is moving comes through
conscious thought.
Conscious
thought is controlled thought, controlled by the design in heaven, controlled angelically.
That thought may safely take form, and it will do so. I'm sure you have found
already that when there is that thought, what is thought very quickly takes
form. The world is transformed on this basis, not by manipulation either mental
or physical but by the flow of creative thought out of heaven into the earth by
reason of a transparent mind. The transparency of mind cuts human beings down
to size. The usual view is that value comes because a mind is very capable of
generating its own thoughts. But that all dissolves, and there is a totally new
state, a new heaven. Out of the new heaven the new earth springs, and the basis
of that coming forth is the flow that occurs through the transparent mind.
The
light shines and, in the shining, transforms. Creation occurs by reason of the
shining of the light. Re-creation occurs in this way. Insofar as human beings
are concerned, the only way that there may be participation in creation is when
the facility for the shining of the light is available to that shining. And the
facility is the human mind, not merely the conscious mind but the unconscious
mind as well. The light is apparent consciously, and it transforms by reason of
the radiation. We are familiar with the process: radiation, response,
attraction, union, unified radiation. This is a mental description of something
which happens continuously when the mind is in place to let it do so. There is
radiation and there is consequent transformation.
It
is not only what may be deemed to be spiritual light, but it is literal light
also. When the light shines, the flesh is revealing of it and is transformed by
it. But, as we have recognized, it is not possible for it to occur individually
without it at the same time occurring collectively. The collective shining of
the light is what clarifies and restores the flesh to the point where the light
may be intensified so that the transformation occurs. However, the flesh is the
last along the line. The light only comes to the flesh because there is a
transparent mind, and it is the transparent collective mind that permits the
intensity of radiant light to be of such power that the very flesh may be
transformed. All these things work in the creative process, if we trust the creative
process and let it work.
The
importance of the light may be easily seen. Mention was made of loving the
light, which is what is essential. If you love darkness more than you love the
light, well you'll stay in the dark. But loving the light implies loving the
Word, the illuminating Word. Finally
there are those who suddenly seem to have become aware of the vital nature of
the Word—not of the printed form in and of itself but of the radiance which is
made available in this way. It's made available in other ways too, and it's
made available rightly through each of us and all of us continually. But to
appreciate the light and to know the nature of it, it must be loved, certainly,
above all else. In the light is the one identity, the one I am.
So
there is natural love for the light and consequently a delight to bathe oneself
in it, because thereby it is found that as the substance of one's own external
being resonates with the light, it is resonating with one's own true identity.
And one's own true identity consequently emerges. It can never emerge except by
reason of the light, because that's what it is. And in the radiance of the
light the truth is known: "I am the door. I am the open door."
© Emissaries of Divine Light
The Body Is Me
from The Creative Process is Perfect
Martin Exeter May 3, 1987
Finally there begins to emerge a body,
and that is all I have been interested in from the word go
Many of you are beginning to realize
what it means to be in the body. The son of perdition may explain it in terms
of loss, loss of what human beings have been persuaded is freedom. But there is
no freedom for any human being to experience outside of the Son of God, outside
of that one body. All the forms of life on this planet, for example, are
included within the scope of this body. All forms of life are free to be
themselves. They are not free to be anything other than themselves. This is
still widely revealed in the various forms of nature. A lion is not free to be
a camel. It is quite free to be a lion.
Insofar as human beings are
concerned, the fact of the matter is they are only free to be what they were
created to be. Otherwise they are in bondage. All human beings find themselves
in bondage to the extent that they are not revealing what it is that they were
created to be. And what it is that any individual was created to be does not
exist outside of the Son of man.
There comes a time when it is not a
matter anymore of dealing with individuals as though they were not a part of
one body. There is no need to discuss anything with anyone—and I do less and
less of that—relative to anything that is not included in the one body, because
it means utterly nothing to me. There is something else to be done. We have
reached a point where what needs to be done must be done, and all the talk and
discussion won't ever get anything done.
Being, in experience, part of this
one body allows for a very clear awareness of what it is that needs to be done.
Nobody needs to be told. If one insists upon needing to be told, one is making
a very strong statement that "I have no place in this one body."
There is the one spirit which moves through this one body, and all those who
compose that body are capable of being moved by that one spirit. There have
been so many holdouts, haven't there? "Well I want it to work the way I
want it to work. I want to do what I want to do. I want to go where I want to
go." All this. But those who have had any association with this body for
any length of time know better. That's not the way to go. It has no interest
for me, because it is not part of what is required of the one body.
There is one answer. I suppose it
could be summarized in the words, Come home, and stay home, going no more
forth, so that the creative process has a body on earth which is trustworthy:
it will always be there. Now we can say "Hooray for the body!" But
the body is me, each one individually, or there isn't any. And that must be the
attitude of each one. Otherwise one is pulled this way and that way by the son
of perdition, and one has no part in the body.
The fact is that for myself, and I
know for others as well, there is no reason whatsoever to be present on earth
except to do what is necessary to permit this body to act; not to act on the
basis of the usual human ways of doing things, but to act because it is the
body of the King. It is His body, and when we are a part of that body we come
into position to say, "It is my body." It is not a secondhand body.
We share this tremendous
opportunity—tremendous privilege and tremendous responsibility. The question
is, are we going to do it?—it is very simple, really—or are we going to go our
own human way, inspired by the son of perdition? He inspires, you know, as well
as driving with a whip. He can provide what seems to be necessary in a
multitude of different ways, and human beings have been falling for it for
millennia.
Finally there begins to emerge a
body, and that is all I have been interested in from the word go. And there are those who have shared
this interest with me. I thank God for all of them. But there are those who of
course halt between two opinions, maybe not deliberately so—some deliberately
so—but because the reason for fear, the controls which operate through fear,
have not yet been faced and honestly seen.
When one honestly sees what the
human state has been, one is so revolted by it that one could not associate
oneself with it anymore and retain the slightest degree of integrity. This is
the fact of the matter. I am not preaching hellfire and damnation. I am merely
indicating what the fact is, and we can be exercised by the fact. I rejoice
that there are those who are facing the facts and letting the creative process
work.
There is something new being
experienced. There was something new being experienced this afternoon in the
West Chapel, with people right there. Well we need to be right there. What is
more important, of course, is that we need to stay right there, so that the
King has a body He can depend on. It is His responsibility to act through that
body, not for us to develop any fancy schemes. We become aware of what the
action rightly is as we participate in the creative process. It is not a
spineless operation, but we don't need to make choices. It becomes obvious what
is needed, and we do it. It becomes so customary that we love it. We love to
be, and we love to do what the fact of our being brings forth. We love that
individually and it is consequently loved collectively.
There is one body. There is one body
which can be trusted. The creative process is working, and it works perfectly
all the time. It works on the basis of what is present in individual human
beings, and brings forth accordingly. The bringing forth is just perfect
always, on the basis of what is present—completely just, just the way it should
be by reason of what is present.
We are content to let the creative
process work. It doesn't make any mistakes. You don't need to be suspicious
about it. Let it work. It will prove itself out. And what is brought forth, the
effects—integration, disintegration, whatever they are—will be absolutely
perfect, just exactly what they should be.
Let us let the field be clear so
that what is in us may be harmonious to the creative process, and what is
brought forth will still be perfect but of a different nature altogether than
what was brought forth through human nature and human beings subject to the son
of perdition. And the world is transformed in consequence.
We don't need to
discuss it very much, do we? It happens automatically when we let it. We don't
try to manipulate anything. Most human talk relates to this matter of
manipulation. But there is a willingness to let the creative process work, and
to prove out one's own stability, one's own trustworthiness. What a marvelous
thing. This is what has been called the restoration, the restoration of man to
the state of being made in the image and likeness of God, so that the
expression of God by reason of man is natural to man. Then one may say,
"That's me!" And so we rejoice to be ourselves.
Let there be expanding life
throughout the body of mankind, even though there may be a recognition of the
fact that most human beings cannot stand expanding life. It behooves those who
are aware of what it is that is happening to come into a position to
accommodate expanding life, without being pushed out of the picture.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
