The Greatest One

The  Greatest  One

from

Spiritual  History  —  Spiritual  Destiny

Grace Van Duzen   1999   Sunrise Ranch

And the veil, in my estimation, has become very thin. We are working with masters on all planes.

They have been on earth all the way through the history, or the Master could not have come.

Considering everything which led up to what we have called the Second Sacred School, the emphasis is noteworthy—on those who carried through during very difficult times. There were instances where it looked like the population of the earth had had it! But there were those who had been true to the Lord, and this is a vital aspect of this whole story, because here we are.
 

I am to share with you something of the New Testament. There was enough substance established in the earth, through the ages, to enable the Greatest One to come and take human form in the world exactly the way it is and maintain his divine identity. There were many, as we've noted, who carried through with substance, but here was a unique example of something that never wavered, that never compromised. And these were difficult circumstances into which he came. I think that many people believe, perhaps subconsciously, that somehow Jesus moved through life with special privileges, that he was recognized as special, and made way for. No. He was born into a people who were persecuted. We can see that in the world today. I would mention that there was a stigma attached to an illegitimate person that is not as intense today. He went through all that maintaining absolutely his divine identity.
 

At His birth there were a few who knew of His coming. This indicates that something was present on the face of the planet. There has been mention of wise men; they were wise, and they are often called kings. They were wealthy people. These were aware of His coming because of a star, which they followed. There are, I think, many people who perhaps see the star, but it needs to be followed if one is going to find the Christ. And remember that the Christ always is everything said of this angel. That was one end of the social spectrum—wealth, position and nobility. The other end were the shepherds. They were not wealthy; they lived in the fields and kept animals—the other end of the spectrum. But they saw and knew the sign. They didn't call it a star; they called it an angel. In the Bible an angel represents light. I'm not saying it couldn't be a being, but it is light, as was the star. There are different ways, but they must be followed; there must be a steadfast attunement with that to find the source. They came to the same place. 

There is an interesting observation with respect to the angel, when the shepherds saw the angel. The minute there is an identification and recognition of the angel, "Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host." Here is a connection with all the power in the cosmos, once we have that identity of the angel. It's all connected. I think there is a subconscious idea that the cosmos is out there somewhere. Well what are we in? This is the cosmos. I am a part of the cosmos. And the angel said it was all related. But it happens; it isn't always put off for next week or next year. At some point suddenly it's done. And why not now? The heavenly host on earth was present, yes, in human form; but the heavenly host in all the realms was present. And the veil, in my estimation, has become very thin. We are working with masters on all planes. They have been on earth all the way through the history, or the Master could not have come. His words are the wonder of the Bible.
 

The first recorded words in the Bible of Jesus were of the magnificent expression through Him at twelve years old. To me this indicates the true design for God's creation. The idea is that you have to live, what? twenty-one years to reach maturity. It takes different periods of time. It's all right, as long as we get there. But at twelve years Jesus found himself in the temple with the learned men, doctors. That doesn't mean they were all medical doctors. They were doctors of science, of psychology, etc. One can imagine His joy in hearing all of this, the history, everything, and the wisdom came through Him. One can sense that wisdom through Him put the meaning in all of this wonderful learning. And these learned men were astonished and kept Him there for quite a while. So when His parents came for Him, they said, "How could you do this to us?" and that's understandable. And what did Jesus say? "Oh you don't understand." He said, "Wist ye not"—Don't you know?—"that I must be about my Father's business?" Don't you know that you must be? But He went home with them, and it is said He was subject to them, which means He was truly wise and fit Himself into the pattern where He found Himself. The close of that particular chapter is that He grew in grace and stature, and in favor with God and man. That says a lot. It was not just in favor with God. There are some who think if you are in favor with God you've got to be against everybody. He grew in favor with God and man, and it was proven in His ministry, the magnetism of His being which drew everyone to Him, men, women, children. Love was his message. 

There is a hiatus here, and people have tried to find out what Jesus did in that time between twelve years and something like thirty. I think that gap is very wise. Some say they know what He did, but they don't, because this is the way it should be. If all His movements were known, every day and everything, wouldn't there be some who would say, "Well if I do all those things I will arrive"? The way doesn't matter as long as it is in that direction and coming to the Lord. So it's left open, wisely.
 

The next reference is at the time of His ministry. After His baptism He met the devil, it is said. But in that same text where it speaks of the devil, he is also called the tempter. That's a very accurate term. Who has never been tempted by anything? And we have His magnificent answers on each of the three planes. The first of course is the physical, and then the mental. The third, the spiritual expression, was the crux, where He told the devil where he could go. Of course that's where he lives anyway! That temptation was exactly the same as what Judas presented to Jesus, which resulted in Jesus being in Gethsemane—the very same temptation. Whether this early meeting of the tempter was with a person, we don't know, and it doesn't matter, but it was all met by Jesus. Here was something in the mental level which recognized the power of Jesus, absolutely, and was saying, "With your power and your magnificent mind, you can have all the wealth in the world." Well that temptation hasn't disappeared. It hasn't been denied very much either. But this is what Judas was presenting to Jesus. He believed in His power, in the magnificence of His mind, and he said, "All the kingdoms of this world belong to the King. Let's do it, let's get them! You can do it." Oh he believed in His power. If his intention was that Jesus would die he never would have gone out and committed suicide. He'd have rejoiced. That was not the way he wanted it to happen, and he was the treasurer. That was met early in Jesus' life; in fact, the first reference we have after his baptism, the magnificence of this victory which carried through in Gethsemane on the cross. He came to show that the way which man had chosen was completely opposite from that which the Lord intended. 

The Angel's Song was "Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, good will toward men." God's will is good will toward men. Elsewhere it is said that the Lord is not willing that any should perish. He isn't decreeing the death of anybody, although this is what man has attributed to Him. And you can hear people saying, "Why is God doing this to us now?" God didn't pollute the atmosphere! He didn't do any of that. So there is a dominant opinion that death is the will of God. There is nothing wrong with death in the fallen state. What would happen without it? It is a blessing! This is the fallen state. It is a complete change of man's ordained state. That decree is life, and Jesus proved that on the cross and in the tomb; it was a womb rather than a tomb. And on the cross He delivered His capacities, which included the subconscious, into the hands of the Lord. He said, "Into Thy hands I command my spirit," but it was His action doing it. He was in control. And then we know the story of the light in the tomb and His coming forth, and the wonder of His whole life from beginning to that last. And there were other characters in the New Testament. I'm not going to include those characters. And there has been additions of verses throughout the Bible, not just in the New Testament, when it was compiled, some attributed to Jesus which are not his. But they are very easy to see; they jump out at you. The words of Jesus are wonderful and tell of his magnificent life. 

So where does that bring us? How does that connect with where we are now?—the life of Jesus. To make a connection I go to the fifteenth chapter of John. In the days when I was new in the ministry—those on the mailing list when Uranda was here were told to memorize the fifteenth chapter of John. I couldn't repeat it now, but I could at one time. I mention that because it emphasizes the importance of this piece, and I'm going to read a bit of it now:

"I am the true vine…" Not "I am the vine." There is a big vine on the face of the earth, a huge body. But "I am the true vine."

"... and my Father is the husbandman." That says it, doesn't it? This is where we are; this is His body on earth now. "I am the true vine," and He led the way for this vine. It's a perfect symbol, essentially the tree of life. The tree of life has branches, as does a vine. "I am the true vine..." 

"Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." So we rejoice in the purging, don't we? 

"I am the vine, ye are the branches; He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing." This is the life of the whole body of mankind. We're speaking of the focus of that body. Everything has a focus, and the love that comes through Him is what He always emphasized. 

"If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." This has always happened but this is a very special time. It doesn't say that He does anything to judge which branch will be burned and which will survive; simply, "Those that abide in me belong to the body." And there is much that has been burned; it is obvious. He says that what does not belong it will separate itself and be withered, and then burned in the fire. But it is self-destruction; it is not God's will. God's will is to let this mess be cleaned up. It has to be or the earth will not survive. 

"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.  Herein is the Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit... 

"This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you." As He has loved us. That is without discrimination. It is the shining of the sun, and that which receives the light of the sun decides in itself whether it will be burned in the fire or whether the fire of love will draw it unto itself, it's all the fire of love.

At this point I will go back to one of the great ones in the Old Testament, closer to the New Testament. I'm going to mention Isaiah. He was a mighty prophet. He didn't have a lot to do with the history, as it was being told, but he was a prophet. He was one who recognized that upcoming was a new heaven and a new earth, and he delineated it exactly in those words. But I want to read something he said which applies to this time. He is, what shall we say, quoting God. As we know, there has been that all through the Book, where "God said this." Well, Jehovah was saying this, and that means the body of God expressing through human beings: 

"Now will I sing to my well-beloved [the Lord] a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill;" How better could this earth be described than "a very fruitful hill"? It is fruitful. It will bring forth what anyone plants. And here are some of the most poignant words ever uttered: 

"And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof..." He did everything. He made a winepress therein so that the fruit of the vine could be made into the wine of life—a purpose. 

"... And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes." Here is the poignancy: 

"What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?" An insight into the wonderful heart of God—"What could I have done more?" How could man have been created any other way except with free choice? Not an automaton! An automaton is not the image and likeness of God. So it is for us to exercise that free will and live the words of the Lord: "Thy will, O Lord, be done, not mine."

This is a beautiful passage: "wild grapes came forth." "Wild" describes that which is out from under control, the control of the spirit of God. You can take a beautiful rose bush, and if it goes wild it will bear a lot of little flowers, but not the beautiful creation of a gorgeous rose. The design is not there. 

I close on that note. We say the Law works. It does. And we can see the futility of man-made laws. I'm thinking particularly now of one they are trying to pass to do away with hate crimes. Man cannot make a law to do away with hate. But there is a law that works absolutely. It is the law of love, and that governs this vine. We have no business saying that branch doesn't belong and this one does. How wonderful! There is a diversity in the branches, which makes it what it is. Each human being is a branch and completely different. These are meant to abide together under the One Law. That body works, and the law is love, as Jesus taught. The two great commandments are to love the Lord, and then you love everybody. You'd think that was the simplest thing in the world, to love. Sometimes it seems to be the most difficult. This is the commandment. Let the Lord decide, let love decide, but let's not hold back. Love and truth we are.

© Emissaries of Divine Light

One Heart One Spirit One Mind One Body

from

One Heart   One Spirit   One Mind   One Body

Martin Cecil   August 20, 1978

Remember it is not the physical numbers that are important;

it is what is generated by reason of those numbers, the substance that is generated,

so that it becomes tremendous. There is the power,

the power of which the human mind knows nothing, but it is there nevertheless.

We have a creative purpose and we do not experience what happiness is except we participate in that true creative purpose. How big is this potential do you think? How big specifically is your potential as an individual? We can see something here which relates to our participation with others. All of you are gathered here this morning physically speaking. Individually we may say that we have a body but we might also collectively say that this is our body, a collective body, the flesh of many individual bodies. There is a collective body which can be a useful instrument if there is one mind. For there to be one body in the collective sense there must be one mind. If this collective body is to be one body there must be one mind. If there is to be one mind there must be one spirit. If there is to be one spirit there must be one pure heart.

To what extent is there one body? To the extent that there is one mind. To what extent is there one mind? To the extent that there is one spirit, one quality and character of living. And to what extent is there that one true spirit? To the extent that there is one pure heart. So our size collectively may be considerably larger than it is individually but we may look at it individually too and see that the same thing is true. We each have one body. What is the fact with respect to your body? Is it holding together pretty well or is it falling apart? Your body is not isolated, not all on its own—it is related to other people and the circumstances around you, but also there is this matter of the mental capacity which is present.

Most people are inclined to think of their minds as somehow being simply in their heads. Well the brain is in the head but the brain is not the mind. The brain is a physical implement one might say, useful. It plays a part. But the mind is not limited to the head; it occupies the whole body. There are various levels of mind and it extends beyond the body. The skin does not contain the mind. The mind is larger than the body. It permeates the physical substance but the substance of the mind extends beyond the substance of the body.

We have the capacity to express either human nature or what might be described as divine nature, the nature of God, seeing that we were made in the image and likeness of God for this purpose in fact. So we have a capacity that is beyond the body and the mind but the substance of it is present with the physical substance and with the mental substance but goes beyond both. We are getting bigger. If we think of ourselves as being these capacities we are getting bigger. What in fact is happening is that our capacities of expression may begin to be seen in their true stature. If we think of our stature simply as being our physical stature, some of us are quite small, others are bigger, but none of us physically are all that big.

We might consider the occasion described in the story of long ago when the lad David went out to meet Goliath. Oh there was a big giant physically, but I suspect there was very little beyond his physical stature. On the other hand here was little David—a boy. He couldn't even carry the armor that Saul put on him. But we begin to see that because of the expression of spirit which was in him, emerging through his mind and through his physical form, he was much bigger than the giant. This was factually so, not apparently so but factually so. And of course, as has been noted, his small physical stature was advantageous because it allowed the stone to be cast at the right angle so that it penetrated where it needed to go. And that great giant didn't have a chance. But clearly from the standpoint of David's spirit on that occasion he was vastly greater than Goliath, much bigger. There was no question in his mind that here was something that needed to be done—let's go ahead and do it! “What are all these silly people lying around for, blinded by the physical stature of this man?”

When we look at all the things that are going on in the world, that seems to be a giant in the land, doesn't it? There are several giants striding across the land, exemplified by what are sometimes called great nations. All this seems to rule the world but there is something vastly bigger than this. When we begin to experience our own real size because we stop trying to maintain the viewpoints and the attitudes which have been inherited from generations past and embellished by each generation—we are willing to let those go in order to accept what is true—then there is a facility on earth which is far greater than any of these seeming giants, and what needs to be done can be done.

You remember that Goliath didn't think much of David. He was going to feed him to the vultures—this little squirt here! But Goliath lost his head nevertheless. The stature of the living God in the facility made in His image and likeness on earth is capable of doing whatever it is that needs to be done here in the world to rebuke human nature, to get it out of the picture. Now that requires that there be those who hear the question and give the right answer—so that it is out of the picture in them. Then there is the facility for asking the question beyond them. But let us never think of what God creates as being insignificant.

Sometimes there has been the attitude of apology: We're sorry to be trespassing in the domain of the devil. Stop being governed by the circumstances that you yourself, however inadvertently, have created. Stop being subject to those circumstances. Of course we recognize that the whole body of mankind has a responsibility in this regard; there is a collective creation, clearly so. But we don't need to be governed by any of it. There is no necessity to keep generating it anyway. What we are here to do is to reveal the truth, the creative character of the living God, which is available to be expressed by anyone at any time.

Stop hiding behind the trees in the garden. The voice of the Lord God came walking in the garden. Where art thou? Wilt thou be made whole? Of course when that first question was asked of Adam in the story, he had a whole lot of blather to offer which had nothing to do with the question at all—when he might have stood up and said, “Here am I. Here am I to reveal the fact, the truth, of what I am.”

What cringing, weak, wishy-washy people there have been on earth for millennia. A few stand out. I am sure you would think of Moses for one of them, certainly Jesus for another, because they took responsibility. Jesus—He moved right with it. But Moses had a few doubts to start with: Let it be by the hand of another. Which other? Let us ask ourselves that. Who else is going to do it?

Are those who don't see, who don't understand, who are embedded in the human nature state—are they going to do it? Of course they're not! Only those who begin to have a glimmering of understanding at least, who have heard faintly the question and who really know what the right answer is. These are the ones, these are the hands of the Lord—this is the means by which the job gets done. And there certainly is a job to be done but it is not such a tremendous job as the human mind would have you think, because it is not done by human-mind ways at all. It is done in spite of that, although there need to be some human minds who begin to be governed by spirit, and therefore who are thinking what needs to be thought, not merely what they find pleasing to think.

Most people just want freedom of thought, as they call it, free to think any old thing. “Of course my thoughts are going to be good, they are going to be constructive. I am going in this direction.” But it is all destructive, because the only constructive expression is that which results from the movement of the spirit of God. The spirit of God can't get to move the mind until the heart is pure. The heart is impure just as long as human feelings are governed by the realm of effects around them. And how people delight when they say, “Well I feel this way, I feel that way.” About what? About the effects.

What is felt with respect to the living God?

That relates to the first great commandment. When the heart is totally open to the spirit of the living God the experience of that spirit is known, but as long as the heart is closed it can't be known. Then the individual imagines he has to trust this laborious business of trying to think everything out. It can never be done that way. It multiplies confusion and it is a fatal disease. The fatalities have been immense over the millennia and in these days—they could be even more immense almost by the flick of a switch.

Who has what it takes to accept the challenge of being a man or a woman? “Gird up now thy loins like a man: for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.” This is a very gentle question, “Wilt thou be made whole?” But it's a tough question too—no ifs, buts, maybes. When we respond, we respond because we rise, take up our bed, and walk. We do not remain under the control of our circumstances; we begin to make right use of those circumstances. It's not as though we were trying to deny that they were there. They are there, but they need to be handled rightly, and they can only be handled by the one who is incarnate in this facility, whether it be the individual facility or the collective one. There is one who is capable of handling things. That one is present and the facilities begin to become aware of that fact to the extent that there is the expression of that one. Otherwise it remains unknown. Of course! We only know what we express.

If we express God we know God. If that which finds expression in the quality of our living is fathered by the creative spirit of God, that is what we know. That is what we are. When we speak of identity let's not think of it as being over there somewhere. “Oh I need a new identity. I am looking for my identity.” Where do you expect to find it? Under the stones? You'll find something under there but not a very valuable identity. The identity is already present but you have no faintest idea what it really is until you express it, when the quality of your life reveals the sounding of the real tone of life.

There is one tone which is differentiated in a multitude of ways but it is still just one tone—one spirit, one heart, one mind, one body. And behold, all things are made new and the powers of this world are powerless. They simply dissolve. We come to know this because the power of human nature in ourselves simply dissolves. Then we know the way it works, we know the truth—and that only has to be extended on out and the job for which we are all present on earth is done.

We give glory to God in the highest, and the evidence of that is peace on earth, goodwill toward and among men—God's will in expression by reason of man. It is that that creates a new world of course, but there certainly is something to be dealt with to reach that point, and we deal with it in our own living moment by moment by moment in the expression of the truth. And ye shall know the truth because you express the truth. It is the only way to know it.

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free to live—to be yourself. This is absolutely not dependent upon what anyone else does particularly, at least in the initial stages. As we move forward we begin to find that we are moving together and that there is something being generated on the larger scale. But remember it is not the physical numbers that are important; it is what is generated by reason of those numbers, the substance that is generated, so that it becomes tremendous. There is the power, the power of which the human mind knows nothing, but it is there nevertheless.

Here is our responsibility individually speaking. We have no other reason for living on earth. One spirit, one heart, one mind, one body. Let us let it work the way it was designed to work, to the glory of God.

© Emissaries of Divine Light

Your Questions Answered #1

Your  Questions  Answered  #1

Uranda  1938

Uranda takes this method of answering certain of your important questions which are of vital import

to all the Earnest Ones who have chosen to Walk the Flaming Way

in Response to the Expression of Reality in the out-working Cosmic Plan.

Uranda’s Answer to a Question on Truth — Both by written and spoken word I have often expressed the Truth that no Truth contradicts another Truth, and if it were not so tragic, the conclusions to which many have jumped in this connection would be most amusing. The Truth about anything is the Essence, or the essential, Eternal Fact and Principle expressed in specific function, in and through that thing. Every Truth is harmonious to every other Truth, but Truth is not in harmony with many things which human beings think to be true. Human concepts of Truth are usually at variance with the Truth itself.

It is useless to try to harmonize the multitudes of human concepts with the Truth itself. When a person is willing to let go of all his pre-conceived concepts of Truth in a true Response to his Father within, he will find that the Truth remains as it is. Letting go of a concept of Truth is not a denial of that Truth. When the vision has cleared, it will be seen that whatever one had seen of Truth before is still to he seen; but because of the Expansion in Consciousness, that Truth is now seen in more nearly perfect perspective in relationship to all Truth. Until the Earnest One is willing to come as a little child, thereby being willing to let go of all his old concepts of Truth by closing his eyes to the old vision, it is not possible for him to allow his Eye to be Opened to the New Vision of Truth. The Changing of the Vision of Truth does not in any way change the Truth itself.

So very often, when a Responding One reaches a point where a New Vision is necessary, he struggles and tries to make his old vision conform with what he thinks the New Vision to be. The result is a meaningless tangle. Then it is that such an one is put to the test, for in such a case I ask that one to forget all that he thinks he knows of the Truth of Reality, that he may make a new approach and gain a New Vision. So very few are willing to do this. They insist on carrying their old ideas with them; saying that to let go of it all would be to deny the Truth that had already been seen. This is not true, but it is almost impossible to convince the struggling one that nothing will be lost by letting go. Whatever there is of Reality in the present vision will still be in the New Vision, though it will be seen in a very different Light; but it is not for the Responding one to try to determine what portion of that vision is the Truth, and what part is false. Let the Responding One let go, and the New Vision of Truth, and the New Understanding will appear in due season. Each must come as a “little child”, willing to let his Father’s Will be done. Let self-activity cease.

Question — I was taught that Heaven was a state of consciousness, in fact, that everything was a state of consciousness; so I supposed Heaven was a consciousness we attained to when we had reached a higher consciousness of Perfection.

Uranda’s Answer — This word “consciousness” has been used to attempt to cover up the appalling ignorance of some self-styled teachers. Any one who will look the word up in the dictionary will find that it relates primarily to an awareness of some thing or knowledge. If consciousness is a state of awareness of something, then there must be something about which one may be aware—and no one should confuse the thing itself with the awareness of the thing. You can be conscious of the sun without being in the sun. Heaven must be the Presence of the God-Being, individually and collectively, together with all the God-Created things which relate to God-Being. That would include this earth, and everything in it excepting the things which man has made. Those who are aware of Heaven as being here in this present instant of Eternity certainly would never confuse the consciousness of the fact of Heaven with Heaven itself. So it is, also, with every use of the word “consciousness” in relationship with Spiritual Truths.

Question — Is mind everything?

Uranda’s Answer — No. That which is called mind is the radiation of the thing itself. All substance has a radiation, just as the sun radiates light. That radiation, no matter from what substance, is the mind of the substance from which it radiates. Most vibrations of mind, insofar as the humanly perceived world is concerned, are in an unconscious state. In other words, in human beings the radiation, or mind reaches a vibration where it allows self-consciousness, or awareness of self, and consciousness of the presence of other people, and of many things. It is a very common error among students of widely accepted schools of thought to confuse mind and the form in and around which mind functions. Also, many confuse mind and consciousness—and many people confuse the brain and the mind. The brain is not the mind. The brain is made up of billions of tiny generators which have a direct part in the radiations from the human organism; and so the brain has a close relationship with the mind, but it most certainly should not be confused with the mind. Many would-be teachers are looking through such dark glasses that all they see is one big blur, and so they conclude that there is no detail in the picture—and they deride anyone who points out the lovely details which are required to make up the whole.

Question — In your paper you speak of the Union of the mind and body with the Higher-Self bringing forth—what? Is there still another phase we have to become aware of, or is it a creation of the Union?

Uranda’s Answer — That which is brought forth through the Union of the outer-self with the Inner-Self is the Release of Reality and Illumination in the Perfection of Being and Function in the state of Divine Man. The only other phase the Responding One must become aware of is the state of Divine Man in the Garden of Eden, or Heaven on earth, here and now for those who will let it be so, and for all the earth after the destruction of evil by evil.

Question — Insofar as human “knowledge,” which can be “learned” is concerned, is that which is taught at any one period generally applicable to all periods?

Uranda’s Answer — The answer is NO! Take an illustration within the span of one life time in the field of “modern Medicine,” as accepted by the world at large. A doctor who graduated thirty years ago, having “learned” all that was available at that time, has found that, while some certain fundamental principles have persisted, much that he learned has had to be unlearned to be replaced with new learning—in some instances a number of times.

However, there arises the point of those general principles of life which persist through all human expression, such as the need for Honesty, Courage, Faithfulness, Steadfastness, Friendliness, Ingenuity, and Love. Surely, if one learned such things in one life, the memory of that “learning” would be helpful in the next. But wait, there is another question: Does one “learn” these things? Are not these qualities which must be allowed to spring forth into manifestation from the Lord within? You may say, “But one has to learn how to let those qualities come forth.” Very well, but the value of such learning is in the actual experience, else there will be no result in the organism. You can read books telling of the value of these qualities, but that will not give them to you—neither will the memory of what you read cause you to be freed from such things as fear, as many can well testify. Many have struggled a whole lifetime with something like fear, and have never won, even though they read, and memorized, and repeated affirmations, and all the other things supposed to bring results. This is a point that has been completely missed by most teachers.

People who try to “learn” a quality must always fail. A quality has to be already present. The secret is to Release the Quality that is present. The learning of, or, I would rather say, the exploration of ways to Release Reality is the truly great thrill of Living. The Reality already Is. The human body and mind form the channel through which Reality may be Released into active Expression in this plane of Manifestation. That means that your particular body has to be tested and proven and harmonized and moulded until it allows the function for which it was created. That is much more than “memory,” is it not? It is evident that most people do not Respond to the Lord enough to begin to let the Transformation take place by which the Release of Reality would be made possible. The result is that most people suffer a great deal, and go through life struggling. Does that mean that they are learning anything of value by all of that suffering? No! If they were learning, their lives would be expanding instead of shrinking and crystalizing and disintegrating. That which “learned” in any past life is that which Ascended, to a degree at least. Lessons 11 and 12 of Steps To Mastership illustrate this point.

There is a general purpose in Life, and it would only be natural that all the life manifestations of any certain God-Being would be in the outworking of a certain vibration, or part, in the Cosmic Plan. Yet, I question, would it not be logical to suppose that each life manifestation is designed for a specific purpose at a specific time in a specific way? Certainly, and if this be true, I would ask: How could the memory of another person in a past time who was working for a very different specific purpose, be of any great value now? It is evident that such memory would not only be useless, it would be very harmful. If the God-Self knows all already, and the outer mind and body are to be obedient to the God-Self, letting the Father do the works, any idea held by the human mind, whether from supposed memory of a past life, or from memory of yesterday, in belief that it knows what it should do, and how, would cause self-activity and prevent the fulfillment of the Lord's purpose in that individual at that time.

All of this brings us to the Realization that the Responding One depends on his Father within, and not on memory, whether of the present or a past life.

Now, if this be fully Realized, it is well that we consider your question from another standpoint. What was left of the body through which your God-Self manifested in any past life was returned to the elements. That substance was scattered, and lifted into many forms. Some of it has already Ascended through Vegetation and Animal Life-Rays, and so that substance, because it refused to Ascend with your God-Self, has been received into the Inner Plane formations, but not into the state of the God-Being. Some has remained in the earth, and it is now scattered far and wide in scores of different forms. In all likelihood, not one single atom of any of your bodies in any past lives has ever been received into your present body manifestation. However, you have billions of atoms in your body, and each atom has had a distinctly separate history from every other atom in your body. Around each atom is an aura, and in that sura is a complete history of the experiences of that atom in all the forms in which it has had a part down through thousands of years. Each atom has a possible history which includes passage through scores of human bodies, through hundreds of animals, fish and birds; and through all sorts of forms in the vegetable kingdom. Here you have a “mental” vibration which “persists” from life formation to life formation.

Many people develop a “psychic”, or “mind reading”, vibration which allows them to begin to touch some of these billions of experiences which are focalized in their bodies. They touch the vibration of an atom that manifested in an Indian, and they immediately tell of how they were once in Indian life. Such an one, on another day, touches the vibration of an atom that was in an oriental body and at once he tells of being a Hindu, or something else. Out of these tiny points of fact relating to single atoms, great stories are woven which are supposed to apply to human beings—and the whole thing has to be classed as a figment of imagination.

You begin to see that there is a mental life that persists, as you suggest, but it is something that the Creator has very wisely shut completely out of consciousness, allowing the mind of the human being a perfect start toward Victory—but foolish human beings are not content, and they open up those vibrations which should have remained without power of expression until the day when they could be subjected to the Flaming Fire of the Christ Love which would burn away all the evil vibrations, leaving only that which was lovely and beautiful.

This is true of all people, and not just those who try to open their psychic centers. Attempts to open psychic centers are, to say the least, most foolish and without possible value. However, the average person is taught from childhood to respond to external things, and that vibration is dominant in the world consciousness. The result is that many of these ill vibrations of the atoms are let loose to play havoc in the life of the human being. Such things need not be; but they will be so long as man insists on eating of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

No matter, after realizing that all these stories of different incarnations are based on the vibrations of an atom, and not upon the actual expression as such a person, it still is evident that even though a person could “remember” scores of past lives, he would not thereby be caused to be acquainted with his God-Self. He who first becomes acquainted with his God-Self, and is so received into Oneness with his Lord, can have outer consciousness of some of the life-manifestations of his God-Self, if and when such consciousness can be of value to the world—but such knowledge should never be sought after. Also, those who think that their Father reveals “who” others “have been” are only suffering from a delusion. Something of the Cosmic Identity of the true Teacher may be revealed to the Faithful Student, even as the Great Master asked his disciples, “Whom say men that I AM?” Let no one think to know the past lives of others; for out of such things come confusion and failure. Rejoice. One more point: Each atom has been in both male and female bodies—but the Feminine God-Self always incarnates as a woman, and the Masculine God-Self always incarnates as a man.

Question — Please tell me why I get a sense of separateness in thinking of the outer mind in conjunction with the Father within, or the God-Self. I know that the outer mind has to “Let go,”—but really they are all one; or are they two distinct phases? I suppose what gives me that sense is because I think I am that which is within. It came so clearly and vividly and remained with me all day. Then I lost it.

Uranda’s Answer — In the Perfect State of Divine Man as in the Motherland in the Beginning, and as will be in this New Age that has dawned, the manifestation of Mind in Man is really an extension of the Christ Mind of the Lord, or God-Self, within such Divine Man, and they are one. However, since the so-called “fall,” the manifestation of mind in man has fallen from its Conscious Connection with the Christ Mind which always Radiates from the Father within the individual, and so there are two distinct phases of mind in man at the present time. So long as the outer mind insists on being self-active, doing that which it thinks best according to human concepts, that separation cannot be changed into Oneness.

Just as soon as the outer mind begins to let go of its human desires and ideas and concepts, so that it begins to truly let go To the Father within in Love, that Responsive Love becomes the opening in the veil through which the Christ Mind of the Father may begin to manifest in the outer mind. The outer mind does not need to “try” to go in. “Behold, I stand at the Door and knock, and if any man hear My Voice, and Open the Door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20). Love Response to the Father within is the only door through which any person may let his God-Self come in to abide with him. The only way the Door may be opened in any person is through a steadfast, unwavering Love Response at all times. The proof of a Love Response is: “if ye Love Me, keep My commandments.” That does not mean just the commandments recorded in the Bible. It means the moment by moment commandments received from the Lord within—and in this does all self-activity cease, that it may truly be the Father within Who doeth the Works.

The human mind has been trained for so long to respond in love to things of the outer world according to human concepts that it takes a little time to re-train the mind, that it may be Lifted Up into Oneness with the Christ Mind of the Lord within. The sense of separateness comes when the attention is directed toward the outer mind, or the outer things of life in general, in an outer attitude. Rejoice in the Presence of your Lord within you, Responding to Him in Love; for this is the only Way.

Question — How can one keep his thoughts directed to the Lord within and still take care of the many duties that must receive the attention of the average human being?

Uranda’s Answer — To abide in a constant Love Response to the Lord within at all times is the great need of every Earnest One. Many become discouraged because they think that they have to think all the time of what they think Spiritual things to be. Here is a great Secret—all things are Spiritual when they are looked upon from the Inner Standpoint. The outer attention is to be directed toward the Lord within, that the Inner Attention may be directed by the God-Self through the Responding outer attention, and so to the doing of all things needful to the daily life of the Earnest One.

A person interested in Mechanics can, and should, use that interest to allow an Expanding Consciousness, and he should not try to fight against that interest. The points of your greatest interest offer you the greatest opportunity of true Release in Spiritual Understanding. It is necessary to look for the Cosmic Principle that is being used, no matter what application may have been made of it by man. Remember that man’s applications of Cosmic Principles are inspired by man’s concept of his own need, and not by direct Divine Inspiration as has been falsely taught by so many teachers of widely accepted philosophies. So it is that the inventions of man as widely used at the present time cannot rightly be looked upon as having directly Divine Origin. When this is Realized, the things which man has made no longer have a “sacred halo” around them in the eyes of those who view with understanding. This is the first great step in ceasing to worship false gods—the things that man has made. Most metaphysical and occult teachers have taught their followers to worship false gods; and to have an unholy reverence for the things which man has made all based on the idea that these things were special gifts from God to man, made possible under direct inspiration. When it is seen that this is not true, it is easy to look at all things, and to work with them, without reacting to them as if they were, in and of themselves, of great value.

In the new attitude, the things man has made are seen to be of value, true value, only to the degree that they help in filling man’s true needs—and they no longer carry false values based on man’s false concepts of his own needs. So it is that the primary interest of the Responding One is in detecting the Cosmic Principle that is involved in any specific man-made thing in which he may be interested, and then he considers that thing from the standpoint of its true values. If he finds it worthy of further attention and interest, he allows his expression in relation to that thing to be of a nature that helps to make it of more value in the filling of man's true needs. In most cases the Responding One will not be in position to do anything of a concrete nature in an outer sense toward changing such things—and though he does what he can in that direction, he uses all such things as object lessons, first for himself to himself in allowing everything he touches to permit an Expansion of Spiritual Consciousness; and then, secondly, to give expression to such object lessons to others when and as the way is opened to do so.

In the first instance, it must be remembered that every Individual Realization of Reality, in no matter what connection of life manifestation or function, is a true Release into the world consciousness to the degree that such Realization is in Harmony with Reality and is Released in a Love Radiance with an attitude of thankfulness toward the Lord within for Revealing that Truth. Therefore, all such activity has a Cosmic Value in helping to transform the world consciousness, even though the Responding One works in secret, unknown to the world. This same principle is true of every phase of life. With this Realization the Earnest One can see what we mean when we say that all things are spiritual when looked upon from an Inner Standpoint.

All things are not Spiritual when looked upon from the outer, or human, standpoint. He who responds to things, as the average human being does, is thereby worshipping those things. He who sees things for what they are, understanding the Cosmic Principle therein Released, and so uses things in a full Response to his own Lord within, is he who begins to experience true Release. So many people try to take their attention away from things of the outer world in an attempt to give full attention to Spiritual Realities, but remember this: A Vision of Spiritual Realities, no matter how perfect or beautiful, is utterly worthless, both to the individual who sees the Vision and to the world as a whole, until such Spiritual Realities are allowed Release in the outer world—thereby permitting Heaven to express in Earth; so that Heaven and Earth are ONE. There are hordes of self-righteous individuals who think that they think much of “spiritual things,” and who look with condescending pity on those whom they think to be asleep in the material world, who are in no sense better off than those they think to look down upon. Frankly, we are not interested in getting away from the world—we are interested in letting Heaven come forth in the world here and now. In this New Attitude is the Key to the Way.

© Emissaries of Divine Light