As
we move in the ever ascending Cycles of the Eternal, we relax under the influence of the Holy Spirit so that we may, one and all, be easily led into
All Truth. We are doing our part in letting the Truth bring the Freedom of
Reality into manifestation for all the Faithful Ones upon the face of the
earth. When we let go in the Current of the Spirit, which is itself Eternal, we
find it easy to begin to comprehend the so-called Mysteries of Eternity.
You are
well aware of the fact that all creative processes move in cycles; that
Eternity itself is symbolized by the circle, which is without beginning and
without end: and that from the standpoint of the Divine that which is under the
influence of creative processes is never static. From the time that activity is
set up in the unformed, the substance so produced continues through a constant
process of adjustment, change and progress that is not at any time completely
static—although from the human standpoint it might seem that the substance in
rock, for instance, might properly be called a static formation.
The magnitude of the Cosmic Cycle of Creation is
beyond the immediate comprehension of the human mind; nevertheless, the human
mind can understand that, regardless of the magnitude of the dimensions
involved, there is such a Cycle. The
Cosmic Cycle is so huge that it includes the fullness of All that Is, and within that Cosmos our universe constitutes
but one of tens of thousands of universes. The Creative Cycle of our Universe
is of such magnitude that there is no need, at this time at least, to attempt
to grasp the distances and the time elements involved—but within the Creative
Cycle of our Universe we have the Creative Cycle of our own solar system, which
relates directly to us and to the world in which we live. In the Creative
Cycles of our own solar system, and particularly of our own world, we find that
which we can, under the influence of the Spirit, begin to comprehend and understand.
When we consider the progression of the Creative
Cycles of Being, it must be understood that up
and down, or lower and higher, are
relative terms which must not be confused with the ordinary usage of the terms up and down as they relate to a given point on the earth's surface. As the
earth revolves, a given point at the equator in relationship to a given point
exactly opposite on the equator, or, in other words, one-half the distance
around the earth, will be up part of the day in relationship to the second
point, and down part of the day in relationship to the second point—up and down at a given point on the earth's surface may be
opposite to the same use of the same terms at another point on the earth's
surface.
To further illustrate this important point, we
recognize that the progression of the Creative Cycle is in the nature of an Ascending Spiral rather than in the nature of a fixed circle. If we have an
ascending spiral, the upper part of which is lost from view in distant
infinity, but the lower part of which is directly before our vision, and we run
a vertical line from the starting point upward along one edge of the spiral, we
will note that movement beginning at the lower end of the spiral and moving
along the spiral will, after the first cycle, come to the vertical line, or a
point directly above the starting point. In this case, the movement has been in
the form of a circle, and the completion of the circle is at the same vertical
point as the beginning. So for ordinary practical purposes the circle, being
without beginning and without ending, illustrates Eternity, but as the vision
expands and understanding increases, we cease looking at the bottom of the
spiral which seems to be a circle only, and we look at the side of the spiral
where the ascending vibration of the Creative Cycles becomes evident. To the
degree that this illustration is clearly comprehended, the endless nature of
Eternity becomes less mysterious.
The Creative Spiral for this world began at the
point of the beginning of the creation of this world. This beginning point was
selected, not in an arbitrary manner, but with a full recognition of the relationship
of all the Cosmic Forces focalized into that given point through the creative
triangles of the Universe and of the Cosmos as they relate to this solar
system, and as they were focalized with respect to our Sun at the point where
creation was to begin. It is not expected that you will be able to fully
understand all that this implies, but to the degree that you do understand it,
the logical nature of the processes of creation will become increasingly
evident to you.
Remember that everything which is accomplished from
a Cosmic standpoint through the Creative Power of God is worked out on the
basis of mathematical certainties in relationship to fundamental Principles and
Laws, and with a full recognition of the nature and strength of the Cosmic
Currents and Forces which are focalized in any given activity. If you remember
that God does not do anything on a haphazard basis, or by reason of whim and
fancy, but that, rather, all Divine and Spiritual things are worked out with
mathematical precision and certainty, you will have removed from your mind one
of the greatest causes of confusion with respect to things Divine. It is
obvious, then, that human beings must first permit themselves to be coordinated
with the basic Laws of Being, and that they must begin to understand those Laws
and work with them before they can hope to have any effective expression from
the standpoint of Creative Activity.
Let us now return to the starting point of creation
as related to this world. The Four Forces have been given symbolical names, which
facilitate a comprehension of the four basic forces which manifest through the
created forms of this world. From a Cosmic standpoint, the forces utilized were
not limited to what we call the Four Forces, and it must be recognized that
what we broadly term the Four Forces are sub-divided into innumerable
sub-classifications of Divine Activity in-and-through all created forms on this
earth. The usual arrangement of these symbolical names of the Four Forces must
be reversed before the correct manner of their application and function can be
understood. We change, then, the arrangement—Fire, Earth, Air and Water, to
Water, Air, Earth and Fire. You are already somewhat familiar with the meanings
contained in these symbolical terms, and the reasons for their use. Now, we turn
to the story of creation as contained in the first part of Genesis, and we find
that the Biblical story of creation emphasizes the correct understanding of the
Four Forces.
Remember that I specified that the Four Forces,
broadly indicated by these symbolical terms, are as they relate to
manifestation in-or-through the created form not to
the Cosmic Forces which, in their Universal nature, may be thought of as
preceding, or exterior to, the specified Four Forces; although it must be
recognized that the Four Forces in manifestation through created form have
their origin in Cosmic Forces which are not necessarily limited to the nature
and function of the Four Forces as we are considering them. This distinction
must be borne clearly in mind in order to avoid confusion, and it is
illustrated in our first text: Genesis 1:2 —“And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the
waters.” That was the starting point of creation on the first day. However, it
is at once seen to be obvious, in accordance with the distinctions we have just
drawn, that the action of the Spirit of God prior to and at the beginning of
creation, implies vastly more than the Spirit of God symbolized by air as made
manifest in and through all the forms of created things on this earth.
Therefore, the First Force in its segregated form
relating to the creation of this earth, is symbolically named Water, and it
signifies the specific group of Truths or basic Principles and Laws which
constituted the scope of Creative Activity as it was to relate to this world,
and thereby established the limits of that which was to be. In other words,
there is vastly more Truth in function and manifestation in the Cosmos than was
required in the making of this world. Therefore, the first step of creation,
after the Cosmic selection of the starting point, was the selection of the
Truths necessary to the fulfillment of the pre-determined Plan for this earth,
and then the release of the Spirit or Power of God through those Truths to
begin the process of creation, whereupon there was Light. In the “deep” of
space, which was void of all form, and where there was darkness because there
was nothing to reflect the light, the beginnings of creation took place.
Part of the work of the first day was the establishment
of the nature and limits of the Creative Day which was, according to present
time measurements, a period of 25,872 years. The Six Days of Creation, then,
covered a period of, roughly, 155,000 years. In other words, the beginning of
creation was at a point 310,852 years B.C.
As we shall see shortly in our further
consideration of the cycles of the Four Forces, they are all four always present,
but with one only dominant in any given Creative Day, so that the Water
Vibration continued dominant for 25,872 years,
whereupon the Air Vibration became dominant, followed by the Earth and Fire
Vibrations, whereupon the sequence begins again, with Water again becoming
dominant. This earth, and man, the crowning creation, are the result of the use
of the Trinity Pattern, and therefore in the basic cycle of the spiral from the
starting point to a point first directly above the starting point, there were
three repetitions of the sequences of the Four Forces, or twelve Creative Days,
which completed the first cycle of creation for this world that terminated 388
B.C.—or 310,464 years—which carry us to a point 388 B.C.
Each Creative Day of 25,872 years is divided on the
Trinity Pattern into twelve sections, so that the twelve segments of the
Creative Day, each being 2,156 years long,
relates to the period of time required for the Sun of our solar system to make
one revolution in its orbit around its Central Sun, although the path of the Sun
is in the form of an ellipse and not a circle, because of the progression in
the movement of our Sun's Sun through the Cosmos. We find, then, that the
successive dominance of the Four Forces in the 2,156
year periods is repeated three times within one Creative Day of 25,872
years. Here you begin to get a picture of the way in which the Four Forces are
combined to produce specific results.
The first Creative Day began with a Water
Vibration; in other words, Water was dominant in the Creative Day, and Water
was dominant as the beginning point in the 2,156 year cycles. As soon as the
first sub-cycle closed, Water continued dominant in the creative cycle, with a
sub-cycle of Air dominance, and so continued in natural sequence through the first
Creative Day. The second Creative Day, as we find in the sixth and seventh
verses of the first chapter of Genesis, began with a dominant Air Vibration and
a Water Vibration in the sub-cycle. The firmament is the atmosphere, or the air
of this earth, which is symbolical of the Spirit of God as manifest in-and-through created forms. On the third Creative Day the dry land appears, so the
natural sequence of the dominance of the Four Forces is substantiated by the Biblical
record. On the fourth Creative Day, the light of the sun, moon and stars
penetrated to the earth's surface by reason of the clearing of the earth's
atmosphere, and so we have on the fourth Creative Day the dominant Fire Vibration.
If our sequence is correct, the fifth Creative Day
should again return to Water, and you will note in verse 20 that God said: “Let
the waters bring forth abundantly.” The sixth Creative Day should be an Air
Vibration, and we find that it was in the sixth Creative Day that animal life
was created, with the crowning creation of man—and air is the basic essential
for life in the animal kingdom. Man can go for periods without food, and water,
but shut off his supply of air and he dies immediately. The seventh Creative Day,
an Earth Vibration, was a day of rest. As you follow this through to its logical
conclusion, you see that the concluding Creative Day of the first cycle would
naturally be Fire.
It was during the Fire Age of 25,872 years which
ended 388 B.C. that Lemuria went down in flames
of fire, and 1,000 years later (or after the submersion of Lemuria) Atlantis
submerged. In the latter part of this twelfth Day of creation, as the first
cycle was drawing to a close, man had returned to a point of consciousness
where he began to again be aware of the direction of the Lord, as evidenced by
Old Testament history. What is the outstanding thing in the symbolism of
religious ceremonies during the Old Testament period? The answer is Sacrifice
by Fire. It was a Fire Age, concluding with a Fire Vibration in the sub-cycle. It
was from the burning fire of the bush that was not consumed that God spoke to Moses.
It was in the fire and smoke of Mount Sinai that the Commandments were
given. Sacrifice by fire characterized the whole Old Testament period.
This means that the first cycle of creation came to
an end in 388 B.C., and for the first time since the
beginning of creation the world was back to a point directly above the starting
point. The earth and all that is therein had been created. Divine Man had been
established in the earth, and then in the beginning of the twelfth Day of creation
man had fallen, with subsequent cataclysmic changes in the earth which carried
man down to what has been called the Cave Man Age, and then for about 5,000 years
man progressed to a point where we have the beginning of recorded history,
going back to about 5,000 B.C.
Man had progressed to a point in the latter part of
the twelfth Day of creation where it was possible to begin to work out the Plan
of Salvation, and the First Sacred School was established at the direction of
Melchizedek. However, the Israelites failed to carry through on the opportunities
given them, so the beginning of the actual process of making all things new according
to the Promise contained in Revelation had to wait until the beginning of the
second Cycle of creation, or until the world had returned on the spiral to a point
directly above the starting point of creation.
As soon as this thirteenth Day of creation was well
started, Jesus came. As the world had returned to the Vertical Line on the Ascending Spiral for the first time since the beginning of creation at 388
B.C., we begin to recognize the Cosmic reasons back of the coming of Jesus into
the world at the time that He did come. The Cosmic Forces were again for the first
time focalized in a manner identical to those which permitted the beginning of
the creation of the world, and through the use of those Forces, and the
manifestation of Jesus, the beginning of the recreation or restoration of the
world could best take place.
This thirteenth Creative Day in which we now live
is, in the natural sequence, seen to be a Water Vibration—just as was the first
Day of creation. The first sub-cycle of this Creative Day was also Water. We
note that Jesus began His Ministry by the baptism of water, by the changing of
water to wine. He called disciples who were fishermen. Many of His Miracles
related to water. He walked upon the water—He was in the boat on the water at the
time of the storm. Water baptism was instituted as a symbol of the cleansing of
the individual by the action of Truth under the influence of the Spirit of God.
Jesus obviously recognized that in this first Creative Day of the second cycle,
He was dealing with a Water Vibration, both in the dominant cycle and in the
sub-cycle.
This first Day of creation in the new cycle, which
is the thirteenth Day of creation from the beginning of creation for this
world, is naturally a period of 25,872 years dating
from 388 B.C., but the sub-cycle beginning 388
B.C. on the dominant Water Vibration ended 2,156
years later, or in 1768 A.D. Remembering our sequence, we see
that 1768 A.D. would mark the beginning of the
second sub-cycle in this Creative Day, and that it would be under a dominant
Air Vibration. We have, then, at the present time a dominant Water Vibration in
the Creative Day, and a dominant Air Vibration in the sub-cycle in which we now
live. By the beginning of this century the influence of the dominant Air Vibration
of the sub-cycle began to be evident. The airplane, the radio, precipitation of
chemicals from the air, and many other things, show how it is that we are living
in an Air Age insofar as the sub-cycle is concerned.
It is through this Air Age that the speeding up
process which is shortening the days—and is intensifying the destruction of
evil by evil—has taken place and is taking place in accordance with prophecy.
Now man is being given his final opportunity to return to God. In this first
Creative Day of the new cycle, God is beginning to make all things new. Through
the progression upward on the creative spiral, the vibrations in which the world
is functioning are becoming more and more rarefied, so to speak, and man will
have to let go of evil and turn to God in order to live in these higher
vibrational conditions.If man as a whole were to refuse to Respond and be
recreated and reborn in this period, he would in a comparatively short time
destroy himself from the face of the earth. It is not anticipated that this
will be the case, but if this should
happen, we are still in the first Day of creation of the new cycle, and God
would be in position to carry on creative processes and create man on a higher
vibration in this cycle, so as to remove any possibility of a repetition of the
fall.
It is anticipated that there will be those who
carry through into the New Age State of Being, but because we are in a cycle
that is on a higher plane of vibration directly above the point of the beginning
of creation, the intensified vibrations will make it impossible for evil to
again manifest, no matter which alternative of the outworking plan must be utilized.
If the Faithful Ones carry through into the fullness of this New Age Vibration,
they will populate the earth made New. If such a thing as the failure of all human
beings were to take place, the Cosmic Vibrations are such that God could create
Divine Man and begin again on the higher plane of the present cycle.
In the original creation God made every provision
necessary for Divine Man, but He recognized that on the plane of vibration then
manifest the fall of man was possible. God warned against self-activity; it was
not God's Plan that man should fall; but it was necessary for the beginning of
the creation of the world to take place under the focalization of the Cosmic
Forces that were utilized. Now, through progression along the spiral of the Creative Cycles, we are reaching a point where evil cannot continue indefinitely
to exist, and once the change is accomplished, the vibrational state of being
will be such that a repetition of the fall will be impossible.
This gives a deeper understanding of the Cosmic
Principles and Forces that are in operation in the world and in our lives individually.
To the degree that we recognize the Cosmic significance of the time in which we
live, and to the degree that we, individually and collectively, coordinate with
these Laws, Principles and Forces, we will be doing our part in accomplishing the
Greater Works which are required for the recreation by which God is making all
things new, that the New Earth State may be hastened, and that as many as possible
of the children of men may carry through this time of turmoil into the New Age.
As the world experiences crucifixion, and then passes through the period of the
darkness of the tomb, it is for every Faithful One to remain attuned to the Cosmic
Currents of Life by which the Victory over the tomb may manifest for the world,
in accordance with the Way in which our Great Master led.
Therefore, as the Earnest Ones, recognizing the
basic Principles regulating the operation of the Four Forces in-and-through
this world, begin to let these same Four Forces become the dominant influences
in their individual lives, we find that the scope of function becomes the whole
of Truth, the power of function becomes the release of the unlimited Spirit of
God, the foundation of function becomes in all things the Rock of Reality, and
the manifestation of function becomes the expression of Divine Love that is as
firm and undeviating in the face of opposition as it is gentle in the
consideration of True Response.
Tonight I would like to meditate with you for a little time on the subject of time, of the principles involved in the realization of eternity. We look out into the world and we can see the evidences of chaos, the evidences of inharmonious patterns of self-activity, of destructive tendencies. And then bringing the observation nearer home, perhaps you can remember when there were certain chaotic patterns within yourselves, discords in bodyor mind or heart, divisions and uncertainties which resulted in patterns of discord, friction and misunderstanding in relationship to those round about you.
You have experienced something of the fact that when the human mind or heart yield to the Only Begotten Son of God, the Spirit of Love and Truth and Life, there is peace on earth, in the earth of the human body with all of its capacities. And as there is peace on earth in yourself, there begins to be the expression of God’s goodwill through you to others, there begins to be that which allows for harmony, understanding coordination with your fellows. But we have likewise recognized that the actual outworking of such an experience in life depends upon obedience to the One Law, Glory to God in the Highest, a love response to God which allows God’s Love to abide in you that you may abide under the Shadow of the Almighty. And so as the Christ expression of Being is born in you there is in you that which establishes the reality of Glory to God in the Highest and on earth—in the earth of your own bodies—peace physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and goodwill toward men, the reality of service, of that which blesses and builds according to the Will and Plan of God for the children of men. All of this is of vital importance to a basic understanding of the principles which we must bring to focalization in meditation upon our chosen subject for tonight.
We remember the word that is written, “For one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” No doubt you can all remember, each one according to your individual pattern of experience, a time, or perhaps many times in your own life when time passed swiftly, unnoticed, when by reason of your enjoyment of the circumstance, your centering of interest, your pleasure in the outworking, whatever it might be, that time as such lost its meaning to you. In looking back in memory you will recall that such moments were moments in which you were not aware of friction, discord, rebellious attitudes or disturbed emotions. Perhaps you can also remember a time, perhaps in the night time, when because of sore emotional distress you could not sleep and there were disturbed thoughts and attitudes, a lack of peace in the physical body, perhaps due to some illness, or a lack of peace in mind and heart, and time moved oh so slowly. It seemed that the dawn would never come.
Here we have briefly touched upon the two patterns of function and experience which introduce a sense of relatedness to the question of the timelessness of time. And it is obvious from your own experience, without regard to what I may say about the subject, that the discordant, chaotic pattern clauses one to be conscious of time. It causes one to be aware of time of the elements of time. But those patterns where there was peace, harmony, a pleasant circumstance, allowed what is called time to pass swiftly. Now we recall our text: “A thousand years with the Lord is as one day, and one day is as a thousand years.” Leaving the second part of the statement as being unnecessary to our immediate consideration we note that a thousand years with the Lord is as one day. A thousand years without the Lord would seem to be an eternity of hell. Some of you, having lived much less than a thousand years, have thought you had found a hell that would never end in any case. “Where one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day”—it is the second part of our statement in which we are interested instead of the first “A thousand years with the Lord is as one day.”
The Master said “For the elect's sale the time shall be shortened”—that the sense of the passing of time will be shortened. For the elect's sake those days shall be shortened—but without that shortening of time no flesh should be saved. According to the Master's word the outworking of the Divine Plan and Pattern has for its purpose the saving of the flesh. Except those days be shortened no flesh should be saved, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. What is the characteristic which distinguishes the elect? Who are they? What are they? They are those who have elected of themselves, chosen of their own wills, their own hearts and minds, to center in God, to be with the Lord on earth, not waiting until they die and leave the earth to be with the Lord.
We recognize that generally speaking human beings imagine that they cannot be with the Lord on earth, which is the same as saying that it is impossible for the Lord to be on earth And yet there are so many evidences of His Presence and the working of His Spirit. The Master's whole teaching, His whole example, was designed to reveal to man the way by which man can be with the Lord on earth. And those who choose to accept His invitation “Follow me” are the elect because they have elected to be with the Lord here on earth while they are in the flesh—for the purpose of salvation is to save the flesh. The outworking of the Divine Plan, the manifestation of Divine Power, has the purpose of saving the flesh of man, and that flesh is here on earth. We share the state of those who are living in the flesh. And so, if we are with the Lord, the timelessness of time begins to be a reality to us.
Whenever we speak of eternity it is something so obscure, something so vague to the human mind. It is something which most people have no consciousness of holding in relationship to themselves. To what degree do you have a consciousness of true relatedness to eternity? You have a consciousness of relatedness to the passage of time as human beings think of it, a consciousness of the years that you have lived, that are passing now. And so often we hear something about how old a person is—the expression that one feels old, or is getting old, or something of the sort, with the passage of a few short years. The consciousness of the passing of time is much with fallen man. But what consciousness of relatedness to eternity do we have? If a thousand years are as one day there is no subjection to the passing of time. Time as we think of it in the first place is simply a means of measuring the movement of certain celestial bodies—the earth in its movement around the sun or the moon in its movement around the earth, the sun in its movement through the cosmos in relationship to the vast universe of which we are a part. The sense of time as such comes with the feeling that time is passing one by.
Perhaps a simple illustration may be helpful. If you stood beside a railroad track and a streamliner came by you would be very conscious of its speed, of the fact that it was passing you by. In its passage along the track it would give you a sense of great speed, not in yourself but in the train. If you were, on the other hand, riding in that train, you might, as you looked out the window, have a sense of speed but you would share a consciousness of movement in the train. The train would not be passing you by. It is the difference between being out of attunement, or out of eternity, in the sense of the things that are eternal, or being in eternity. Actually, of course, we are in eternity whether we know it or not. But the consciousness of being in eternity is important, of movement with eternity, of being in the train, not of having the train of time passing us by. What is essential to this consciousness?
We have noted that chaotic conditions, discordant feelings, a lack of peace in body and mind and heart, prevents the consciousness of being in eternity and establishes a consciousness of being separate from that which is eternal. In such a state one tends to have thoughts of death or of the things that lead to death. But when one has an awareness of the eternal, one’s consciousness is filled with thoughts of life, vibrant life, and the joy of living that life. When the Spirit of God is allowed to come into heart and mind because the human being obeys the Law and becomes centered in God, peace fills the earth of one's own being and there is goodwill toward men. So often human beings feel that it is difficult to have goodwill toward men. They feel that they are justified in having resentments, ill attitudes of various kinds toward others. Such attitudes establish a sense of separateness from others, but the working of God’s Love under the One Law provides a sense of relatedness with others.
All of this points to a central basic truth: when we are with the Lord in the true sense we are, vibrationally at least, with those who have relatedness to us whether they are present in person or not. And there begins to be a sense of wholeness, and with that wholeness there comes a wholesomeness. Unless there is a consciousness of relatedness to that which is eternal within yourself, you cannot have a sense of wholeness. If the consciousness, then, the sensing of one's own being, is centered in lack, in limitation, in those things which detract from wholeness, there is perhaps unconsciously the rejection of the eternal which would be the starting point for wholeness. We cannot deny the Lord, we cannot betray our trust, and refuse to let God's Will have any meaning in us and have this sense of wholeness. Anything that rejects the eternal reality of the Divine in relationship to yourself is denying the Lord.
“One day with the Lord.” One day with the Lord—it could be a moment or it could be a thousand years, because one would lose the sense of the passage of time because one would be in the eternal, in the movement of time itself. Time would not be passing one by—one would be in it. But only as that wholeness begins to be a reality can one begin to experience in any real sense this consciousness of relatedness to eternity. It is right and proper that we should use the division of day and night, of moments, of hours, of weeks, for convenience sake in relationship to the organization of our coordination. We have noted that that which excludes a consciousness of eternity or relatedness to eternity is always in some manner chaotic, discordant. We look to the heavens and we see the movement of the stars in their appointed courses, we do not have a sense of something chaotic but of something utterly magnificent, in order, in timing, in relatedness.
The organization of our relatedness is essential to coordination, essential to that which permits us to have the reality of peace and the development of a sense of wholeness. So often the Master said, “Thy faith hath made thee every whit whole.” Very often the human being did not allow that wholeness to be a continued reality—he reverted from it. But he had to so yield to the Master’s Will, to a centering, to a faith in God, that at least for that moment, sharing something with our Lord and King, the individual was in reality completely whole. Generally speaking the individual lost his polarity, tended to go his own self-active way. And was not whole very long. He was whole in the complete sense for only a few moments. But he had to allow himself be drawn to that point of centering which allowed true wholeness in order to experience the type of healing in body and mind and heart which was made manifest in the Master’s ministry. “Thy faith hath made thee whole.”
When there is wholeness there is the consciousness of relatedness to God, the consciousness of relatedness to God's Power, a welcoming of the working of God's Will—not resisting it but welcoming it. And until that wholeness means more to us individually and collectively than anything else we cannot say that we have accepted Divine centering. It is something upon which we merely meditate occasionally, something which we try to work out in some fashion. It is not real. The starting point for wholeness is centering in the Center of the Whole, the beginning of the coordination with the whole. But as long as human beings try to establish that coordination with respect to the parts of humanity which are not as yet related correctly, which are discordant, he cannot know this process of rebirth or illumination. We look out into the world and see the discordant factors, and if we try to work out some means of establishing a pattern of harmonious relatedness with all of these individuals round about we find that it simply cannot be done. When you try to please one human being, you displease some other human being. Someone is always ready to take exception to anything you do whether it is good, bad or indifferent.
You cannot have a centering on the basis of pleasing people and ever know peace or fulfilment. And if one takes the attitude that the important thing then is to please oneself, matters only go from bad to worse. Until we recognize that these parts which are human beings out here, which have not yet come into the pattern of correct correlation, cannot find that wholeness until they come to Center, one can surely with ease comprehend his own necessity—and that it is only in establishing a correct pattern of relatedness with Center that one can know wholeness. The pattern of human relationships is so mixed up. It disregards so completely the nature of human beings that actually, if by some arbitrary imposition of Divine Power which would simply shift people around into their proper relatedness one to another without regard to human will or desire or purpose, direction of response—if somehow Divine Power were simply imposed suddenly today—almost every human relationship would be dissolved, because almost without exception the pattern of human relatedness completely disregards the Divine Pattern. Of course God is not going to impose His Will in any such fashion. I am not suggesting this you know. I only wish to emphasize the basic fact that until human beings begin to let themselves be governed according to the Divine Plan, the Divine realities of centering, they cannot have wholeness.
In the first steps of the outworking pattern of wholeness there will be limited factors present always. We cannot expect anything else. But gradually the essential adjustments will be worked out—gradually human beings begin to realize that if anyone will stay centered there will, sooner or later, be a correct outworking in the pattern of Divine relatedness. Human beings have imposed their own human wills, determinations and desires without regard to the true pattern of relatedness in the Divine Design. If the individual is not in the Divine Design how can he have a sense of wholeness? How can he know the reality of God’s Will? I wish to emphasize somehow the fact that human beings have disregarded the pattern of wholeness, of correct relatedness. Not being themselves centered, they could not maintain that polarity which would allow the coming together of the parts of the whole which should have relatedness—and out of all of this there is discord, inharmony and friction. Only God's love can begin to correct these ill conditions. Only as we love God in obedience to the One Law can we begin to let God's love correct these conditions within ourselves.
The point is that we have chaos until we come to Center and as long as there is chaos, our consciousness has a sense of relatedness to the passing of time, not to our being in the Divine Design, in the framework of the eternal. We could, looking out into the cosmos consider the stars to be the Body of God in the absolute, ultimate sense, the visible Body of God, the cells in their appointed places in this vast Body. And we have a part, a relationship, to this realm of form. Instead of being cells in that larger sense, we would be minute particles, perhaps a part of an atom—each one—not as much as an atom in the Body of God, but a part of an atom. Nevertheless we have a part and a place in the realm of form, and that Divine Design, the whole, makes possible the reality of eternity.
If we are separating ourselves from that centering, that Body of Being, we cannot hope to have true peace, we cannot enjoy the blessedness of life, we cannot know what it is to have our souls restored to a pattern in the Divine design where we are a part of the movement of time, where our own cycles of movement are as sure and certain as the rising and the setting of the sun, where we have as much reason to understand and know continuity of being as the stars in the heavens—not something that is going to pass sway. We look at the stars and feel how they have been there for untold thousands of years—and they will be. We are supposed to be a part of that, not of something that comes for a moment and then is gone, not having time pass us by—but a part of the very Body in which time operates. But we cannot have that sense of wholeness until we begin to have a true consciousness of centering in the whole, of being a part of the whole. And if anyone would begin to know himself in relationship to the whole, as a part of the whole, he must begin at Center. He cannot possibly find relatedness in this realm of chaotic relationships.
He must come to Center, that which is already a coordinated focalization in the whole. Our LORD and KING Who came to earth to reveal the things of God to man and make it possible for man to know the wholeness of being, that which man has so far rejected. Our LORD and KING provides us with a centering point in relationship to the whole. And until we accept that and find our correct pattern of relationship to Him and keep it, we cannot know our correct relationships with others. Until the pattern of our personal relatedness to our LORD and KING is the most sacred thing on earth to us, until no human being can disturb that, until we reach a point where it is so sacred to us that we would not let what anyone says or does or thinks destroy it, we do not have a consciousness of relatedness to Center.
If some one else, no matter who it may be, has the power to disturb your consciousness of relatedness to our LORD and KING so that you do not hold that sacred above all things else, you are accepting subjection to the chaotic patterns of non-relatedness and you will not be conscious of being a part of the whole, in the whole, and you will feel that time is passing you by. You will not be a part of the Body in which time operates. What is the most sacred thing to you? If it is your relationship to Center so that nobody can disturb that, then you are beginning to have a relatedness to the whole because you have relatedness to Center, and others will begin to have some consciousness of relatedness to you as they begin to have consciousness of relatedness to Center.
What is it that has permitted my life and my ministry to be a blessing to you and to others? This one thing. You began to sense, one way or another, that I had a consciousness of relatedness to Center, something which to me was absolutely sacred, something which I would not allow anyone to violate, something that no one could destroy. And plenty of people attempted it in all kinds of ways. But that stability of relatedness to Center, no matter how you sensed it, was that which drew you, and held you until you could begin to have a consciousness of relatedness to Center. And the moment you allow an actual outworking of that consciousness of relatednessto Center you begin to be whole. It cannot be any other way. You begin to be actually whole, and all things begin to work together to perfection in and through and for you because you love and serve the Lord.
“With the Lord a thousand years is as one day.” When we are with the Lord, centered, when we are letting His Love and Truth and Life have meaning in us, we are no longer subject to a sense of the passing of time; we are a part of that which is timeless, within which time is operating merely as a means of measuring the movement of the earth around the sun. Time no longer passing us by; we are a part of the Body of God, a part of the whole, and therefore we are made whole, and the movement of the cycles of the bodily functions of God no longer gives us a sense of being passed by, a sense of time—we are in eternity.
There may be time, yes but there will be a timelessness in time. As it is written, “And time shall be no more,” in the sense of time passing us by; in the sense of ability to measure the movement of the earth around the sun there will always be time, day and night, but time shall be no more. Why? Because we come to a point where we have a complete consciousness of relatedness to the whole, a complete centering, and we are whole, and being made whole, we begin to know the wholesomeness of being, the reality of God's love, the reality of the Divine design, of the control factors. And we are a part of that. We share it. We are already in it but do not know it, and we do things contrary to that. The movement in the Body of God is something that we are not going to stop when we are not conscious of our part in the whole, of having relatedness to Center. We are always trying to do something which would destroy God if we were successful. We cannot destroy God, so the self-active human being simply destroys himself. The timelessness of time, the consciousness of sharing in eternity—that is our privilege and opportunity if we will let it be so. When we begin to be in love with the Lord of Love, when we begin to yield to the Spirit of His Presence, when we begin to know that Center is the only thing that counts in reality, we can begin to ignore those things which would distract and destroy, we can begin to let God's Power work through us within the scope of our focalization of responsibility.
We can refuse to be a part of the chaotic world. We can refuse to be a part of that which denies the LORD and crucifies the expression of His Spirit on earth. We can begin to be a part of the Body of God, and keep that Body sacred, recognize its sacred, holy reality in the flesh here on earth. And that begins to allow wholeness and wholesomeness. We begin to live in the Kingdom knowing the Power of God and the Glory of Being a part of God now and forever.
We consider ourselves to be adult human beings. We look at the sky tonight and we see that the stars are obscured by the mist. There have been times when during the day we looked at the sky and could not see the sun because the mist and the clouds intervened in the range of our vision. The moment it is a cloudy day and you cannot see the sun you do not become hysterical and say, “The sun is gone. It will never shine again.” And though it is a bit cloudy and we cannot see the stars so clearly tonight—they are obscured or invisible—you do not become hysterical and start reacting and say, “The stars are gone. We will never see them again.” We know it is a matter of a little mist. They are there. The stars are there as surely as when we could see them clearly. If this be true of the stars or of the sun how much more true it is of God? Suppose there is a little mist within the range of your vision. Suppose there is something that does not allow you to see the stars clearly—the stars of Divine Reality. Do you become hysterical and say, “God is gone. The Divine things are no longer with us.” Why not be mature all the way?
