Let There Be A Firmament

Let  There  Be  A  Firmament

and

A  Radiant  Letter  of  Realization

Uranda  and  Martin Cecil   May 15, 1946

There are certain things that I wish to consider with you. Step by step, as we move along the Way, vibrations are focalizing and many things are being accomplished. Tonight I should like to talk to you on the subject: “Repairing or rebuilding the Altar of the Lord.” Many times in the Old Testament period we have the record that the Altar of the Lord that had been broken down was repaired by individuals who were serving the Lord. In each of those cases, examination of the record will show that the people had been worshiping at the altar of Baal, and in some of those cases where we have reference to the rebuilding of the Altar in the earth, specific mention is made of tearing down and destroying the altars of Baal. That is the work in which we are engaged.

The rebuilding of the Altar of the Lord is a definite process in itself, and another definite function is required after the work of repairing has been completed. It is evident that those who have been worshiping at the altar of Baal have functioned according to the principles, the vibrations and the nature of the altar of Baal. They have been in the habit of conforming to the processes essential to the service that takes place before the altar of Baal. That means that the individual himself must, of necessity, undergo a change in function. He must let his attitudes, his concepts, his visions, and his direction of Response be changed so that they are no longer in conformity to the service before the altar of Baal and come into conformity to the service of the Altar of the Lord. These statements are specific expressions of principle in view of a generalized application. Let us together, with one accord in one place, on the one vibration of the Christ Love, consider how these things relate to us.

In the beginning, according to the Word, the Spirit moved upon the face of the waters, and Creation resulted. The Currents of Truth, the whole body of Truth, have of necessity a specific focalization, and the Currents of Love and the whole body of Love have of necessity a specific focalization: and we recognize Divine Love to be the primary Creative Force. We recognize that Truth provides the Principle and the Pattern; therefore, there is, in the Body and in focalized form, the Spirit of Love, and there is, also, in the Body and in focalized form, the Spirit of Truth. These two focalizations have worked together since the beginning of Creation when the foundations of the earth were laid. The text in Genesis states: “The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” The Spirit here indicated is the Spirit of Love, and the waters here indicated are recognized as the Spirit of Truth. Through the centuries and the millenia since man fell, these focalizations of Creative Activity have worked to restore man to the Divine Estate, so that the whole of Creation as it relates to this world might manifest the perfection which characterized its inception.

The Spirit of Love came into the world in focalized form with the coming of the second year of Cosmic Being, and He focalized the Creative Forces essential to the recreative work incidental to the salvation of man, and He gave manifest expression in the Creative Current to the Principles and to the Pattern, that being established in the focalization of His Being, in manifest formation with respect to the Negative Triune world, they might extend out from Him and fill the whole earth. According to the Response of the human beings who have lived since that time, the processes of recreation have been at work in the world. We have now come to the time which corresponds in large measure to the Second Day of Creation. Concerning the First Day, we read: “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” With the coming of the Master in the age that has just past, God sent His Word into the world with the command: “Let there be light,” and through Jesus Christ there was Light. “And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness,” and that also was accomplished. The Light was divided from the darkness. As the Master said: “I come not to bring peace but a sword,” and He indicated the manner in which the Light and the darkness would divide those who were attuned to those two manifestations of Creation—and then there comes the Word: “And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” We recognize that that first Day came to a close in the eighteenth century, and we see that the world itself as a whole neglected, during that Day, to take cognizance of the difference between the Light and the darkness. Nevertheless, that First Day came to a close.

Next we read: “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.”

That is the Creative Cycle in which we are functioning now—that is the Creative work in which we are engaged. In the Light of all that you have learned in the Third Sacred School, consider the words: “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven.” The waters that are above, then, are the expressions of Truth, the manifestations of Truth and the focalizations of Truth in the Inner Planes, and the waters which are below the firmament are the expressions, manifestations and focalizations of Truth in the Negative Triune world, divided by the Air of the Spirit which He called Heaven. The Air of the Spirit divides the waters that are above from the waters which are below. The Air of the Spirit divides the Truth that is above from the Truth that is below. The Air of the Spirit He called Heaven and “Heaven,” the Master said, “is within you”—and “the Kingdom of Heaven,” He said, “is at hand.” The Air of the Spirit, the firmament that is Heaven, is within you.

It is in this Second Day that we see the Inner and the outer established in Reality as an accomplished fact. We see the polarity of the positive and negative phases of the Whole Holy World clearly established. That is the important point. Human beings, considering the application of the First and Second Days of Creation to the lesser ages, and knowing that we are in the Second Cycle now, might say: “Since man was created on the Sixth Day, we shall have to wait until the Sixth Age of this Cycle to have the Restoration to the Edenic State,” but such a concept is faulty. Why? Because man has already been created; man already exists, and the Second Day established the polarity of the Inner and the outer. The Second Day makes manifest the operation of the One Law. The Second Day provides the co-ordination, through the Spirit, of the firmament between the waters that are above and the waters that are below.

The incarnation of our Great Master provided a manifest formation of the focalization of the Creative Currents of Love that are above and that are below. The incarnation of the Spirit of Truth provides a focalization in outer form, in manifest expression, of the waters that are above and of the waters that are below. We have, then, the Creative command: “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” The manifestation of positive Truth and the manifestation of negative Truth, focalized at one point and co-ordinated through the Air of the Spirit, is called Heaven.

Consider the result of that Command as it works in the world, today—the bringing forth of the firmament that God called Heaven on the Second Day, the manifest expression of the One Law, the co-ordination of the Inner and the outer, the establishment of correct polarity on the basis of the Principles and operation of Truth. With that Creative Command fulfilled with respect to this Second Age of the Cycle in which we now live and serve, what is there that can remain of the unreal?

The unreal is that which is out of polarity; the unreal is that which is not conforming to the manifest operation of the One Law; the unreal is that which is foreign to Heaven; the unreal is that which does not conform to the waters that are above nor to the waters that are below.

Fulfilment of that Creative Command restores the world to the Edenic State. Do you see that it is so? You know and have known for a long time in the Third Sacred School that we are in the Second Age. You see that this period corresponds to the Second Day of Creation. We see that in the First Day, the Divine Command issued forth and was fulfilled. He said: “Let there be light: and there was light;” for He Who is the Light of the world came into the world. Now, just as surely, just as certainly, the Command has issued forth: "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters," and that Command accomplishes that whereunto it is sent.

How does this apply to the work of rebuilding the Altar of the Lord? Actually, they are one and the same thing. With that background and that recognition of the absolute certainty that characterizes the Currents with which we are harmonizing in the world, let us return to our point of consideration in the opening of this Service. The Altar of the Lord is being repaired in the earth. That means that there is an actual rebuilding process. That is true individually, collectively and in a world sense. The service of the Lord before that Altar, the function with respect to that Altar in its fulness, is the function of all the Life Forces in the Negative Triune world after the Restoration, but those processes manifest now in part during the processes of rebuilding.

What is the human being individually? To the degree that the human being is what he ought to be from the standpoint of Reality, he is the Altar of the Lord in the earth. Then, in harmonious expression, all these individuals are, collectively, the Altar of the Lord in the earth. The formation of this Creative expression is the One Christ Body which is coming into form. The manifest expression of the One Christ Body, in co-ordinated and effective expression, is the manifestation of the Altar of the Lord in the earth. We see how that relates to the world as a whole and to the restoration of the Divine Estate, but to consider certain specific phases of Truth that are involved, let us examine these things as they apply to you as an individual.

To the degree that your mind functions self-actively, it is functioning according to the process and nature of worship and service before the altar of Baal. To the degree that the Spirit expresses through you and that which is manifest in you springs from the Father within, your function is by nature and expression and process a part of the service before the Altar of the Lord. That being true, it is easy for us to see and recognize the importance (in a deeper Realization, a greater Illumination) of the processes of instruction, training and progressive development which you have been and are experiencing in the Third Sacred School.

We have the admonition in the Book of books: “Let the Mind which was in Christ Jesus be in you.” The manifestation of the Christ Mind through the individual accomplishes that which is necessary for the Restoration, and, also, that which is necessary for the fulfilment that is natural to the Second Day of Creation. I have considered with you various phases of mind function as they relate to Spiritual Expression. I have spoken to you of what I call Spiritual thinking. The machinery of the mind broken down; in poor repair; some of it not used; some of it rusty and unoiled; some parts functioning partially—such are the conditions which do not permit the full expression of the Christ Mind through you. Therefore, before the fulness of the manifest expression of the Christ Mind in function can appear in and through you, the machinery of the mind must be repaired and brought into that place of being where the flow of the Spirit through it permits a full function—operation of all of the machinery of the mind.

The value of meditation, for instance, is seen to be very great to the degree that participation in meditation actually begins to produce function in the mind—not from the standpoint of self-active expression but from the standpoint of mental processes which result from the flow of the Spirit through the mind. When the activity generated in the mind is self-actively induced, it has a semblance of correct mental function to the degree that the Source of Power for the operation of the machinery of the mind is permitted to come into manifest expression and function, so that there is a flow of the Spirit through the mind. The machinery, even though it be incompletely repaired and incompletely brought into operation, begins to allow the manifestation, not only of Creative Radiation, but also of effective function; which is to say, the results of Creative Currents begin to appear in harmony with the Cosmic Plan. Now, before I go any further, I wish to ask a question: Does our consideration tonight bring you increased Illumination? Did you ever see in these verses what you see in them tonight?

You have been making progress in permitting the fulfilment of the Command:  “Let the Mind which was in Christ Jesus be in you.” You are helping to focalize certain of the vibrations with respect to the manifest formation and function of the One Christ Body on earth. From the standpoint of actualized focalization of vibrations, from the standpoint of the Radiation of realization and from the standpoint of a consideration of this process of Spiritual thinking, I should like to read to you a Radiant Letter of Realization from Martin Cecil.

May 10, 1946

Beloved Uranda and Kathy:

I have been looking forward to the opportunity when I might sit down and write to you, giving some sort of form to the abundant Realizations which I have been privileged to experience during the last few weeks and days. And in undertaking this expression I may perhaps focalize many vibrations and serve in the capacity of representative of those members of the One Christ Body in the earth, who although scattered upon the face of the earth, nevertheless feel the blending Radiation of Divine Love and, through steadfast response on the vibration, a quickening of the Spirit within them. For myself I know that I have been greatly blessed in experiencing the opportunity of coming to Headquarters and partaking so freely of the Bread and Wine of Life which, under the Hand of the Lord and of His Representative in the earth, are so freely provided there. If my expression in Realization can convey in some measure the Peace and the Assurance and the Love and the Understanding, which are the natural Fruits of the Spirit in the Unification of the Christ Love and which have been and are so vividly experienced by me in consequence of the privilege of visiting Headquarters and Sunrise Ranch at this particular time, then the accomplishment already established may be allowed to move forward in the expanding Cycle of the Greater Works. The accomplishment of which I speak relates, of course, primarily to my own individual function in the One Christ Body in the earth, although, being a part of the Body, it cannot at any point be separated therefrom.

Observing the various phases of the world crisis which are so obviously and so rapidly drawing toward a climax, it is not difficult to recognize the importance of that which is working out in and through the Lord's Service in the earth in relationship thereto. Being in a critical period, while there may be a certain precedent of failure, nevertheless the possibility, nay the certainty, of great accomplishment is surely present. We have seen the manifold manifestations of the unreal, and perceiving the abounding evil everywhere, we have perhaps felt the futility of any attempt at direct correction of the maze of ill conditions in the fallen human world. But now we come to a point in understanding which reveals the simplicity of the outworking Cosmic Plan, whereby all that is needful in the removal of the unreal and the bringing forth of the Christ Kingdom on earth is brought to pass step by step.

Recognizing that there is only One Source, and therefore only One Current of Life Force as it springs forth from the One Source, it becomes obvious that all manifestations in this outer world whether of the Real or the unreal originate and are maintained in being by reason of the One Current of Life Force. This Current then must divide into two streams, the one to bring forth Reality and the other unreality, and the result of this division manifests as the one or the other according to the channel through which that Current finds release into the earth. The question then arises as to where and what these channels might be.

The contact point between the Inner Planes and the outer planes of this world is established at the dividing line between the Third and the Fourth Planes, and this dividing line constitutes the veil through which it is impossible for man in self-activity to penetrate. He cannot force his way into the Inner Planes on the basis of human will power exercised on a self-active basis. The highest point he can possibly reach under these conditions is the highest point in the Third Plane. However, the Current of Life Force must pass through the Third Plane in order to manifest in the realms of the second and first planes. Originating in the Seventh Plane and channeled through the Fourth Plane, the Current finds release through the focalized channels provided in the Third Plane into the outer world.

In the fallen world as it now is, these channels are established in self-activity, with the result that the Current is distorted and utilized to bring forth and to maintain the evil and the unreal forms which appear in the world. In other words, it is the focalizations in the Third Plane, established on a self-active basis, that actually permit the continued manifestation of the unreal in the world, because they are conducting the Life Current into the world which makes it possible. Therefore to allow the recreation of the world to manifest on the basis of the Pattern of the Christ Kingdom requires, first, that a focalization of Reality be established through which the undistorted Life Current can be permitted to bring forth the perfect form, and, second, that the focalizations of the unreal be cast down. When these latter are removed, naturally there is no more Life Force flowing into the unreal forms and evil patterns of the world which consequently must collapse and disintegrate.

Now we begin to see more clearly that which IS the One Christ Body in the earth, for it is through the One Christ Body in the earth that the true Current is permitted to find perfect expression in the accomplishment of the Greater Works. The One Christ Body in the earth, polarized in the Fourth Plane, is thereby established upon the firm foundation which cannot be moved or shaken, and so provides the means whereby the unreal focalizations, which, while functioning in the Third Plane, have no polarization in the Inner Reality, are cast down and removed; opening the way for the re-establishment of the Life Current upon the Divine Pattern.

(The expression thus far was written May 10 and 11 in Vancouver and on the road from Vancouver. It is now continued from Banff, Alberta, on May 12.)

I feel very strongly the unity of the Spirit and the Bond of Peace in the One Christ Body today, and it is surely only as these things are actually experienced by the individual members therein that the Body itself may be fully and consciously made manifest in the earth in due season through the processes of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. These processes, step by step, must cause the fusion of the individual members into the Body, and of the Body into Oneness with the Father within the Body, who is the LORD of Lords and KING of Kings. Only as this blending is completed can we “be one” even as was made manifest by Jesus in His Oneness with His Father—that we may be made perfect in one. Then it is, and not until then, that the expression of the One Christ Body in the earth becomes fully and completely the Expression of the LORD of Lords and KING of Kings in the earth, carrying His absolute Authority. That the developing Christ Body has been brought to such a high degree of Polarity and focalization gives us assurance that as we remain faithful and true that which is required in the accomplishment of the Greater Works in the earth must surely come to pass. There are no doubts; there are no ifs and buts; the Pattern is set; the Christ Body is coming into full manifestation in the earth, carrying with it the absolute Authority of the LORD of Lords and KING of Kings.

Now we begin to see that the LORD'S Prayer is the Prayer of the One Christ Body in full response to the Father of the Body; and the expression of the Body in Oneness with the Father surely accomplishes that whereunto it is sent, for it is the Word of the Father through the Body which shall not return unto Him void. That which responds to Reality shall be lifted up. That which opposes Reality shall be cast down. And the fulfilment of all seven points upon which we “agree on earth” is sure and certain according to the Promise. Let us give glory to God in the Highest that It is so, in the Christ. Au-men.

Greetings to all the Blessed Ones at Headquarters. I shall not soon forget the joy and the privilege of associating with them during the all too short three days of my recent visit. In the Peace of the Lord and in Oneness of Spirit, and with most reverent love to you and Kathy, I am — Martin

Uranda — Is that an example of the Spiritual thinking of the Mind which was in Christ Jesus? That is the positive vibration in focalization.

The Responding Ones who become the focalization of the primary polarity in the earth have to let changes come and the unreal manifestations have to fall away—but from the world standpoint, the manifestation of the Altar has to appear before the unreal in the world is cast down. It is not so much a casting down as it is a filling of the voids on a higher level of consciousness. It is true that the unreal powers have to be cast down in the sense that they cease to exist and manifest, but in the higher sense, in the Creative sense, it is a filling of the voids, because the unreal is a lack of the Real.

© Emissaries of Divine Light

From Favorable Reaction To Spontaneous Expression

Drastic Change — Do We Dare Let Go?

From Favorable Reaction To Spontaneous Expression

Martin Cecil   June 10, 1979

I am sure you all well remember the story of the contest on Mount Carmel. In a way it is quite an elaborate story but there is one point which bears particular emphasis in view of our considerations this evening. In order to make clear as to which way was the genuine way, whether that of the prophets of Baal or of the prophet of the Lord, it was agreed that no fire should be put under the sacrifice. It was anticipated that the true God would answer with fire. You know the story. Regardless of what attempts were made by the prophets of Baal to generate something which would allow the sacrifice to catch fire, nothing happened. But the prophet of the Lord was answered by fire—fire fell from heaven.

This may be thought of, by some, as coming down from upstairs, but we would see it as something coming forth—you could call it spontaneous combustion. There was no such spontaneous combustion insofar as the prophets of Baal were concerned. They entered into the project with great enthusiasm but it all slowed down and petered out at the end. Under the hand of the prophet of the Lord something rather specific was done and there was an unfoldment of the design in the right way, so that the spontaneous combustion occurred. I am sure you can see an application here in human experience—perhaps even our own. In considering some people, we may on occasion say, “We need to build a fire under that person.” In other words he is not going to move or do anything without some external stimulus of some kind, something which will engender a reaction. This relates to the matter of being neither cold nor hot—no reaction. The lukewarm are those who are not stimulated into any particular action on the basis of reaction.

We can look at this from the standpoint of our own experience with respect to the working of the Law. A stimulus of some kind has been applied in the world, and there have been those who favorably reacted toward it, you amongst them. Others reacted unfavorably. The vast majority were not stimulated at all; they just sat there like lumps of dough. In describing what takes place we have used the formula: radiation, response. Response in this sense could be described as favorable reaction. Radiation, favorable reaction, attraction because of that favorable reaction—and that is about as far as it has gone with all too many. In this case there is some sort of a locking into a condition of eternal favorable reaction. But of course we discover that it is not quite eternal. The favorable reaction, while a necessary step perhaps toward the experience of the fire, never of itself allows the fire to be known.

Fire has sometimes been equated with enthusiasm. There are those who have been quite enthusiastic in their favorable reaction to this ministry, but by the same token there have been many more who have been most enthusiastic in their favorable reaction to all kinds of things in the world. The mere fact of favorable reaction does not yet achieve anything. It may set something in motion, as it did in the contest on Mount Carmel under the hand of the prophet of the Lord. There was a favorable reaction: the people came near unto Elijah. They reacted favorably to what he was proposing. We have a ministry in form because there has been favorable reaction on the part of a number of people to what was being offered, but this is not the end and aim of the undertaking. We are not here on earth merely to engender a favorable reaction on the part of mankind. In the field of favorable reaction we and some others might be classified as the first fruits, but I am sure in examining the situation you would be inclined to say that it does not really appear as though there is going to be all that much favorable reaction, and that the favorable reaction that is forthcoming or that is liable to be forthcoming could hardly be expected to achieve what is needful. You are right, because it is not merely a matter of favorable reaction. There is radiation, the response or favorable reaction, and there is attraction. But that leads to something else; it leads to union, so that there may be what was spoken of as unified radiation.

The state of union is a different state to that of favorable reaction. Favorable reaction is not carried over into the experience of union. Here is an entirely different experience. If one gets accustomed to favorable reaction there is a tendency to want to stay that way: “Let us favorably react forever.” But forever turns out to be not all that long. Favorable reaction, response as it has been known, leads to another experience which is not the same at all—an entirely new experience. We have called that entirely new experience the restoration. If all that happens is that human beings on earth decide finally to favorably react, that does not of itself produce restoration. We have the same human nature situation as before, only the enthusiastic reaction has been channeled into one stream. But all it is is the same thing as was the case before in the human nature state, because people are very accustomed to favorably reacting to this and that. Of course they also unfavorably react to this and that, but it is the reaction itself that is the trouble after a certain point is reached. In other words there is the expectation of continuing to be galvanized into reaction.

Obviously human beings have gotten themselves into this human nature condition, and seemingly to come out of it there is the need for some sort of prod. The required prod to move people in the right direction has been described as radiation, spiritual radiation; and we are going to see who will respond to that, who will be moved by it, who will begin to jump because of it. And so as this movement emerges there is the experience of attraction—attraction toward the radiation. Radiation is being applied, there is favorable reaction to it and consequent attraction, and one is moving along. Is one going to spend the rest of eternity simply moving along on this basis? Well as human beings we find out that we don't have eternity available to us, and evidently on this basis of movement time runs out. Time runs out because the attraction did not lead to the point of union insofar as the individual experience was concerned. They settled for attraction. That was all that was anticipated. In fact many people become comfortable in the attraction; they enjoy being attracted in this way.

Now we have services Sunday by Sunday. Here is something attractive to some people: “Fine, go on giving services Sunday by Sunday. We will continue to enjoy them. We will come again next Sunday. We will keep moving along in this process of attraction.” But if that is all that happens, obviously we never get anywhere. So it is not just a matter of favorable reaction, although this is necessary if anyone is to start toward the true experience. But the true experience is not the favorable reaction experience. That is a way station. It is just something which opens the door to the real experience, which was described by using the word union—attraction brings a person to the point of union.

This is a creative process, but you will note that man was designed to represent the Creator on earth in order to permit the Creator to act directly with respect to His creation on earth. Man was not to be identified with the creation but with the Creator. Being identified with the creation, then it seems as though favorable reaction and attraction are what is necessary: “Ah, now the changes are coming.” In other words we are in the creative process, but that is not where we belong. We belong in oneness with the Creator, in order that there may be the creative action of the Creator with respect to the creation for which man is specifically responsible. So, obviously, if we settle down into a comfortable state of attraction by reason of favorable reaction we nullify the possibility of restoration. Restoration is not known in that state; it simply leads toward restoration. In order to experience the true state described by the word union the attractive state must be relinquished—favorable reaction must pass away. What a terrible thing to say! Haven't you been encouraged to respond? Well we don't leap into the unknown except from the known, and in that movement toward the experience that is required obviously there is the passage from here to there; there is what has been referred to as a transition period. The transition period is what is known while the attraction is going on, but let us not become so enamored of the attraction that we never move beyond it.

So here we begin to see the essential experience, which is beyond attraction and beyond favorable reaction, beyond that sort of response. How should we approach the necessity? We have talked a good deal about restoration and we looked hopefully toward it, while staying in the condition that makes it impossible, a condition which certainly is a required condition to experience restoration, to experience the fact of union, but which must be dissolved in order to experience that fact. It is interesting, isn't it, how when we begin to move a little we discover that we did not know as much as we thought we knew. Perhaps some of you had reached a point where you felt everything had been set—now it was pinned down pretty well; you understood the principles. Did you? They have been introduced perhaps, but you never understand them until those principles are in fact you. As long as we are standing wherever we happen to be and looking at the principles, the principles are apart from us. We never understand them on that basis. We only understand them when we don't see them anymore because that is what we are, and we don't see ourselves. Then we find ourselves experiencing union with those principles, union with the truth. We don't know about the truth anymore—we just are an expression of the truth, that's all.

That is a very different state from this interim period of attraction which has been known, where we imagine that we know all sorts of things about the truth, about the principles of reality. But now we suddenly are faced with the necessity of relinquishing something in which we have had so much faith, so much assurance—the principle of response, a favorable reaction. As long as you are favorably reacting to something, you are being stimulated by that something and you are consequently separate from it. If you are separate from it you have not experienced union. Are you going to stay that way?

We can see this in other terms as related to the association between male and female, and there have been some concepts developed on this score, haven't there? After all, the male is supposed to be positive and the female is supposed to be negative. The negative is going to favorably react to the positive, and if a male becomes aware of some favorable female reaction to his maleness then he begins to feel pretty manly about it: “Here is favorable reaction coming to me. Isn't this wonderful?” What is he going to do with it? Is he going to try to crystallize that favorable reaction into a permanent experience? This endeavor is certainly undertaken by many males—I would not call them men. It maintains a state of division, and pretty soon it begins to disintegrate. It does not work. You cannot maintain this favorable reaction forever. At least it can only be done in a very restricted way, because that is not the intent; that is not the way it works. Oneness is a different state altogether. When male and female are one the female is not favorably reacting to the male, any more than the male is favorably reacting to the female. There is no more separation. As long as this ding-dong reaction is going on, sometimes not so favorable of course, there is not a state of oneness. There cannot be a state of oneness as long as reaction is present, whether favorable or unfavorable.

With respect to the spirit of God, it is thought to be perfectly all right to have a favorable reaction to it. Of course this spirit is revealed in some way; it is not entirely invisible and unknown. There are words spoken, perhaps something written, or there is the evidence in action, or whatever—and let us have a favorable reaction to that. We recognize that this is necessary if there is to be attraction, but the attraction is intended to produce the union, not to be something in and of itself. So there is this attraction, but what is the experience of union? Do we dare let go of the attraction? Oh dear, here is the unknown! Perhaps there would not be anything there; safer to hang on to the known, isn't it—or what we think we know of the principles of reality.

So we may begin to see that we possibly might not know as much as we thought we knew; and it should be obvious to all of us that something vastly different must be born into experience if what we are here to do is to be done. I don't think any of us here present this evening would say, “Well I am in position now to do what has to be done.” Are you? Go ahead. Go right ahead. I would like to see it done. I sure would. There is a transformation to occur.

Going back to the story of the contest on Mount Carmel, you may recall that under the hand of the prophet of the Lord the altar was built, and the sacrifice was laid upon it, and water was poured over it, and all the things were done that were necessary. And there it all was: the altar, the sacrifice, the wood, the trench round about, the water everywhere—that was the condition. We can have an idea of what it looked like—pretty soggy. But then something happened. Fire fell from heaven and consumed all this, so that what was left was not the soggy sacrifice and altar but something else. There was a transformation of some kind, so that after the fire fell there was an entirely different situation from what it was before. We need to see this in relation to our own experience.

I have emphasized the fact of the real necessity for drastic change, but I think drastic change has always been seen in terms of what is going to happen by reason of this attraction that is going on—but here we are talking about an entirely different state. The attraction was necessary to bring us to the state, but you cannot experience the state and hang on to the attraction, hang on to the idea of favorable reaction as being the supreme element. It is not—it is just an interim requirement. My concern principally this evening is to reemphasize this matter of drastic change, but bringing it a little more to point regarding what we imagine we already know, so that we may not be quite so sure that what we know, or what we think we know, is really the way it is.

I was touching upon this matter of male-female association and how no doubt the male would be delighted if the female would always provide this wonderful favorable reaction. Why? Well because it makes him feel good. It makes him feel meaningful in some way. It makes him feel important. And there have been male Emissaries who have imagined that some sort of state of this nature was what was required: “Let everybody respond to me favorably, be attracted to me.” The question is, if something of the sort happens, do you know what to do with that attraction? Do you know what to do with what comes to you? Are you going to crystallize it in this imaginary state of attraction?—“All my life I want to have this wonderful feeling of attracting all this beautiful favorable reaction.” That would be rather a self-centered state of affairs. That is certainly not what is required. Anyone who is in the position of really serving knows that there will be attraction, rightly, but he knows why that attraction is there, and it is not for his personal benefit. It is merely to permit this person to come to the point where they may experience the reality of the union state. Union with what? Union with a server? No! Union with God—oneness with the Creator, coming out of the state of merely being in the creative process, into the experience of oneness with the Creator.

Certainly nothing that is experienced in this attractive phase of the creative process is intended to last. Insofar as what is experienced in the central core of this ministry is concerned, the days of favorable reaction are over! How they are going to be allowed to dissolve is our immediate concern. We are not suggesting that all controls should be thrown off. What has been experienced has opened a door in us, so that we are capable of experiencing what rightly may be describable as the restoration. If you are restored you are not being attracted anymore to the restoration, are you? There would be no reason for such attraction. You are there, and it is this thereness that is the required experience.

We realize that insofar as the vast majority of the population on earth are concerned there is the need for stimulation and favorable attraction, but who is going to provide the essential spiritual stimulation so that that may occur? If we merely associate ourselves with what needs to occur in the whole body of mankind then we are certainly not in position to provide what would make that attraction possible. In other words there must be the experience of restoration on the part of those who are on their way to that already if there is to be available the stimulation required to engender the favorable reaction. We know that is not alone what is engendered. There is unfavorable reaction engendered too, and that is all right; and in between there is this mass of dough, but the dough is finding it increasingly difficult to stay that way. Maybe the yeast is at work.

How much stimulation do we still require? If the only reason that I give services is to make available material which will prod people into favorable reaction then at some point my time is being wasted, because that is not the real reason from my standpoint. You are going to be responsible for providing what is necessary to prod human beings into favorable reaction, if possible, in that great big world out there. But if you are to do that you must have found a stable state within yourself where the fire has fallen from heaven, and there is spontaneous combustion, and you do not need me to keep prodding you into favorable reaction. As long as I have to continue to do that we reach a point where there is an absolute standstill.

The fire falling from heaven I have described as spontaneous combustion; in other words it requires no fire to be put under anyone. The fire is there already, and when there are those in whom this fire is a reality, so that in fact it would make no difference if I stopped giving services this evening—you would still keep moving on the basis of that fire—then we begin to have something. Now it may reach a point where I have to test it out somewhere along the way to find out, and it will be very revealing, I am sure, as to who has experienced the fire falling from heaven and who has not. One can fool oneself on this score. I think it should be more or less obvious that I personally have not required anyone to stimulate me into providing what is necessary, over quite a considerable period of time—but what about you? How has it been with you? What would be your state if what you have known heretofore, provided to make possible attraction, was finished—nothing more? Would you be sure that you had the experience of spontaneous combustion and that it would really not make all that much difference?

In the experience of human beings in the world, when they are born into the world they are given a sort of push, aren't they? Life gives them a push into the world, and something begins to move. They grow physically, they grow in consciousness; and that push is apparently sufficient to make things seem to grow, go ahead—go ahead for how many years? Not very long actually: twenty years, we'll say, possibly thirty. But then, after that, all begins to run down, because the individual human experience has been based upon this matter of being stimulated and there has never been the experience of the fire falling from heaven, never been the experience of spontaneous combustion. It always seems that there is the necessity for putting a fire under people. This is done in all kinds of different ways, isn't it? The doctors are the high priests in this area, supplying synthetic fire of all kinds: a dose of this, an injection of that, and you will be able to stagger around a little longer—trying to put fire under people. But the real fire, the genuine fire, cannot be put under. It is either accepted into expression in one's own living or one does not know it.

It is true that there are certain necessities which we learn about during the period of favorable reaction so that we may begin to get things together, the altar built sufficiently on the right basis and the sacrifice put upon it and the water all over it, etc., so that the spontaneous combustion can occur. But at some point it must occur; otherwise what is the point? So here we are together taking a look at these things, an initial look—there is more to be seen, I assure you—an initial look, so that we may begin to allow a reorientation in our outlook; and we are not assuming that we are going to continue the same as it always has been since the fathers fell asleep. Something must happen, and it is going to prove itself out one way or another insofar as each of us is concerned.

We have had the opportunity, at least, for tremendous preparation, barrels and barrels of water, but the fire must be allowed to fall from heaven, that we may be in position to do what we are here to do in oneness with the Creator, not merely responding favorably to what we have sensed the Creator to be but entering into union, so that it is not the Creator on the one hand and us on the other. If that is the situation we are part of the creation then, and we suffer the consequences. There is nothing wrong with the consequences in the creation but merely something wrong with our being there. So come out of it, and leave this experience that we have known, of mere favorable reaction, behind. It is not what is ultimately required. It could be said to be an essential element in movement toward what is ultimately required, but if you hold on to that too long you can never experience what is ultimately required. It becomes an absolute barrier.

Here we are then, on the verge of something. Is it unexpected? I hope not—but at least something quite different. Because we choose to handle our own individual responsibilities in our individual worlds on the basis of this fire, we may know now what it is that is required, and we on this basis can easily relinquish what is not required anymore. So a door is opening in this way for you and for many. Seeing that we are here present on earth to go through it, I intend to go through it, and I trust there will be some who will be with me. Let us share this responsibility in oneness with the Creator.

© Emissaries of Divine Light

The Word Expressed Not Interpreted

from

The  Word — Expressed  Not  Interpreted

Martin Cecil   November 27, 1977

How much dependence is placed upon someone else to sustain one's own right expression in living? How dependent are you, is anyone who participates in this Body, upon others to maintain your own expression of rightness? This is a parasitic condition when it is present. It saps the lifeblood from the Body of the Archangel and places undue stress in various places in that body. If that stress reaches beyond a certain point then the individual physical body of somebody is going to lose its ability to encompass the spirit of that one in right expression. At that point it is fitting then that the physical body be relinquished.

Obviously, as angels there is what may well be called an interdependence. We all have interlocking responsibilities, but those responsibilities do not include the necessity for anyone else to sustain our own personal expression. Each individual has that responsibility himself or herself. Wherever there is an attitude which requires encouragement, recognition, there is a parasitic condition. Do any of you demand that you be encouraged, feeling resentful if you are not? Do any of you demand a recognition? What a wishy-washy state! What a useless condition, extending decay into the Body of the Archangel. Each individual as an angel has the responsibility of playing a particular part in manifest form on earth as a part of this One Body. This certainly requires that there be a coordinated expression between all concerned. In that sense we each as individuals carry our own particular Burden of Light, but we do not require anybody else to carry it for us or anyone else to expend their life force in making sure that we ourselves carry it. To the extent that that requirement is there the life force of the whole Body is being sapped. Such a state of affairs is certainly not right and becomes more and more dangerous insofar as those who constitute this Body are concerned.

We need to take a good look at this now—facts need to be faced in the light. If one is letting the light shine, carrying one's own responsibility in spirit, then one will see many things. Some of the things that are seen may be more pleasing than others; some of the things that are seen may be quite displeasing. We don't need to judge. We're not in the business of judging but merely of seeing what we need to see so that what needs to be rebuked may be rebuked.

I would emphasize the fact that in this matter of rebuke the statement was made, “The Lord rebuke thee.” It was also stated that when he, the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter, is come he will reprove the world. The world is not going to be reproved by human egos, by the minds of human beings. The mind of a human being judges what it considers to be worthy of rebuke and may undertake some rebuke on this basis, but nothing whatsoever is achieved by this. All down through the ages there have been good people who sought to rebuke the evil in themselves, and in others incidentally, but the world has changed very little; certainly not because of that at all. So human ego rebuke is a waste of time. The rebuke is by the Spirit of Truth.

“The Lord rebuke thee.” These words were related to a contest, as it was put, over the body of Moses, the body of the Spirit of Truth, this Body—it is applicable now—this Body, the Body of the Spirit of Truth. There is contention over this Body between the Archangel and the devil, the mental identity of the human ego on the one hand and the Archangel on the other. The Archangel extends the rebuke. The arrogant human mind thinks to rebuke in its own way, according to its own views, but this was described in the Book of Job as satan coming also among them—the human mind which thinks it is capable of judging what should be rebuked, and it's going to learn how to do this.

There are those who presume that they are going to learn, mentally speaking, how to do this by reading the mailings or the literature; but when the human ego reads the expression of the Word it never sees what is actually being said. All that is done is to react to what is being said on the basis of its own state of consciousness, and then it is assumed that it knows and the human ego tends to feel quite self-righteous: “Now I know. I read the mailing; now I know.” But for the most part all the individual has done is to react to what was said in the mailing on the basis of his own state of consciousness. He never saw what was there at all. He never saw the Word. He may have had a suspicion that the Word was there somewhere but he interprets it on the basis of his own state of consciousness. There is a vast difference between this and angelic agreement.

Emphasis has been placed upon the importance of the Word as it is extended in form through these services, for instance this service, which later becomes available to others through various means—but is available to you now. If as a human ego you sit there listening to what I say, reacting to what I say—not adversely maybe; probably it would be called response—nevertheless reacting to what I say on the basis of your own state of consciousness, you may develop quite a theory. You may convince yourself that you know the truth, or at least a lot about it; but the fact of the matter is that, like the magicians of Egypt, through your enchantments you are attempting to duplicate the action of the Spirit of Truth. It seemed to Pharaoh and to his magicians that they were able to do pretty well everything that Moses and Aaron could do. It seemed so to them but it actually wasn't so. The extent of vision and awareness of the human ego consciousness is quite restricted. The comparable extent of spiritual vision that falls within that range can be compared, one aspect to another, and because it falls within that range it looks very much the same; but there is a very great deal beyond that range related to the actual expression of the Spirit of Truth, nothing beyond that range related to the extent of the ego consciousness. So everything is judged and seen, observed, within this little narrow, restricted area of human consciousness, but the Spirit of Truth alone can achieve what is necessary on the basis of reproof.

I have a particular responsibility to provide a focus of the Word, the expression of the Spirit of Truth, as it relates to this body, that all who are willing to relinquish the human ego approach may begin to discover the reality of angelic agreement. As I say, that is a totally different experience to sitting apart as an isolated human ego listening to words and translating those words on the basis of the state of one's human ego consciousness. That attitude and approach was described as the one taken by the black magicians of Egypt. If the human ego control is there, and maintained in a person, that's the only approach he can make, and he permanently excludes himself from the experience of the truth. Anyone who is dependent upon others to be maintained in seeming association with the truth is still functioning in human ego consciousness.

I brought this to particular point before by suggesting that the apparent need that a person feels for encouragement and for recognition is evidence of this. That attitude which requires such things needs to be rebuked. Fundamentally it relates to self-pity, doesn't it? “Poor me, nobody understands me, nobody cares for me, nobody provides me with what I see as being necessary. I need to be encouraged. I need to be helped. I need some kind of recognition for all the wonderful works I do.” Do you recall something of the messages to the churches contained in the Book of Revelation? The word almost invariably began, “I know thy works and thy patience and all the wonderful things you've done. I know all that and it doesn't mean a thing. It doesn't mean anything at all. Get that out of the way and remember from whence thou art fallen. Remember thy first love. Remember the truth.” I would emphasize the fact that love is hellfire if it becomes disassociated from the truth. There is only a true expression of love when it gives evidence that the Spirit of Truth is present and in expression. There has been so much claiming to love, but what is the evidence?

The Body of the Archangel is at the same time the Body of the Spirit of Truth. When there is such a Body and the Archangel walks on earth free to do what he is here to do, then the Comforter has come and reproves the world, the whole body of mankind. But the first reproof comes in the Body of the Archangel, that the Archangel may have a Body that can be used for his purposes. It is used for his purposes when those who compose this Body in manifest form on earth are in fact the angels of the Lord—in fact, not merely in fancy. They are so in fact to the extent that the Word of the Lord is their Word, a firsthand Word.

Heretofore it's been largely a secondhand word, a word interpreted by the human ego. The human ego says, “Martin said that,” when it wasn't what I said at all. It was merely what the human ego interpreted what I said to be. So arguments break out between human egos and there is an attempt to put down other people. Pharaoh knows not the Lord. All he knows is what his magicians tell him and the experiences that occur in his environment. If he imagines that he can control these things, well, “Who is the Lord? Who cares?”

The only way by which a knowing of the truth may come on earth is as there is a continuing in the Word. It has been mentioned that there have been those who thought they should develop the ability to express the Word themselves, without regard to the Word which is provided and which has made possible the growth and the development of this Body thus far. Without that Word there would be nothing, absolutely nothing! What's the point, then, of reacting to the Word, translating it according to some human ego consciousness and propagating that as though it were the truth when it isn't? It's a denial of the truth.

One must discover what it means to move with the Word that is provided, so that one is so permeated with that Word that one discovers the truth of oneself. Then there is something to express firsthand, but not before. There are those who have been reading the mailings for years and years and years, consistently interpreting them on the basis of the human ego state of consciousness, priding themselves perhaps upon what they think they know when in fact they don't know anything that has any meaning. The meaning is in the expression of the Word itself, not in interpretations of it. Hasn't there been enough interpretation in this regard in the world? Every religion that there is on earth is such an interpretation, the mental interpretation of spiritual things, and the mind has no ability whatsoever to encompass spirit in any case. 

Only when a person is capable of utilizing the words that are provided, experiencing the fact that they are his own words, can there begin to be a consciousness of the truth. The words do not have to be interpreted but expressed. When there is a capacity to do this, then that individual will find that in the daily experiences of living he also has something of the Word to express, something that isn't being read; but until you can read it first as your own word you don't know what it is. There are lots of people who have read the mailings to themselves for years and been delighted with their interpretations of these words—it made them feel so good—but who never associated themselves with the expression of those words. Here is the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of this Body, the Spirit of the Archangel. Only in oneness with that Spirit can one be in position to let one's own particular field of responsibility be included rightly in the expression of the Archangel, in other words be a part of His Body. Otherwise His Body remains sick and crippled, pulling in every direction.

How many are there within the sound of my voice now, or within range of the Tone that is sounding, whose living reveals the Word in expression? It is this and this alone which allows the Spirit of Truth to have form on earth by which the world may be reproved. When the Spirit of Truth reproves you in your human consciousness it does so because you are in absolute agreement with that expression of the Spirit of Truth. You are not and cannot be in agreement with that expression as long as you are merely sitting back as a human ego and interpreting it. The world is the way it is because human beings have been doing this ever since the fall—and there is no solution in interpretations, no answer, no voice.

As I say, I have a particular part to play in this, obviously a necessary part. How else could it be done? There is a babble of voices in the world, a babble of interpretations; but somewhere, somehow, the Spirit of Truth is represented, the Word is spoken, the Tone of it is sounded, providing the opportunity for all who will to be one with that, to let the rebuke come because of that in their own consciousness. One can always interpret something so as to get out from under the necessity of accepting the rebuke in the human consciousness, and this has been done consistently; but when you take the responsibility of speaking that Word in your own living there cannot be any cop-out. But if you stay somewhere off to the side, maintaining your own state and doing this on the basis of a parasitic attitude toward others, which is always present in such case, then you never know the truth, no matter how self-righteous you may feel about your interpretations of it; and there has been some appalling self-righteousness in this regard.

So the Word is spoken, the Spirit of Truth is represented, that there may be a means on earth for human beings, in spite of their embedded state in human ego consciousness, to awaken to the actual experience of the truth in expression in their momentary living. That can never be found by anyone all on his own. It is only found in the way that is provided. That way has been provided before, certainly, over the ages. We know something about that. That is very interesting; we see how it was interpreted and consequently rejected. But what about now? Are we going to do the same thing now as has been done repeatedly in the past? Or is the easy yoke accepted, and each one consequently carries the Burden of Light? This requires an honesty that is quite foreign to human experience. Yes, I know, I know, all the good things you have done—that's tremendous—but there is yet something that hasn't been done, and this which hasn't been done provides the only way of salvation.

The Word of the Spirit of Truth to the human consciousness present in his forming body is, “Let my people go.” The question is as to whether you are going to insist that the devil hold sway or whether you are willing to yield to the Archangel and the expression of his Word. These words are spoken to you here this morning in person, and to many more in spirit in this moment, but later also conveyed to their consciousness in various ways. Let this Word be heard and not interpreted. Let the Spirit of Truth be the clear expression of your living. It is that that is the rebuke. So let it be.

© Emissaries of Divine Light