Our Responsibility in the Seven and the Twelve

Our  Responsibility  in  the  Seven  and  the  Twelve

from

Seven and Twelve

Martin Cecil  September 20, 1981

Most holy Lord of creation, I address Thee in these words with the greatest reverence and awe. This morning I bring this congregation before Thee. In Thy name I invite them to come near unto me, that thereby they may come near unto Thee. In these moments of quietness we are aware of Thy presence and of Thy love. According to the spiritual responsibility accepted by each one in their living heretofore, so may these all together offer to Thee a body of flesh for the accommodation of Thy spirit and Thy word, that the blessing of Thy creative action may be extended in this hour into all the world to all people, an outpouring of Thy creative spirit, opening the gates of Thy kingdom for the inflowing of response wherever it is present in the hearts and lives of human beings everywhere. Thou only, O Lord of creation, art God. We have no other gods before Thee. Aum-en.

We have now moved into a new year, a new cycle of seven years—into the Fiftieth Year of this ministry on earth. It is also not only a year in its own right but it is the first in a succession of years, seven to be exact, which would be characterized by the fire force. This particular year, in and of itself within the cycle of this ministry, is characterized by the air force. Here are two aspects of the creative power by which God's will is done. Making reference to this, I am making reference to something that relates very specifically to the Emissary ministry. We have a certain awareness of the significance of this ministry to the larger picture, the world of mankind.

There is one level of consideration with respect to numbers which we need to understand. Usually when Emissaries, or those who consider themselves to be Emissaries—there may be a distinction here—consider numbers, seven and twelve emphasize themselves in consciousness. This is not by chance, even though there may heretofore have been little real understanding of what it was that was being considered. It is clear that in the unfoldment of the ministry as such, seven has been predominant. We have just completed seven cycles of seven years; we now move into the eighth cycle of seven years. This is presuming that the seven-year pattern continues as before. There is always the possibility that the days may be shortened somewhat. So there is the seven-year cycle, which has been clear enough over the last forty-nine years, relating directly to the responsibilities carried by reason of the Emissary ministry.

At the same time, of course, these seven years are made up of one year at a time. The year itself relates to the passage of the earth in its orbit around the sun. This orbit, from the standpoint of human calculations at least, has been divided up into twelve months. It is not by chance that this pattern has come to be accepted in the world: twelve months on the one hand, seven days in the week on the other hand. Here are two aspects of one thing. They say there are fifty-two weeks in a year, but it isn't quite right. They say there are three hundred and sixty-five days in a year, and that isn't quite right either. But there are these divisions, which relate to something with which human beings everywhere are familiar.

We ourselves may see that the seven has a particular relatedness to this Emissary ministry. We recognize here the emergence of a conscious focus, a conscious spiritual focus for mankind. We may recall the story of creation in the Book of Genesis, where emphasis is placed there upon seven: seven days, seven periods of time, seven cycles. Here was a deliberate creative process for a specific purpose, conveyed, on this basis, as relating to seven. Being a deliberate process, we could say it would be a conscious process. So the seven relates very particularly to this conscious focus of what is provided by what the Emissary ministry actually is. What it actually is and what people may have thought it to be could be different. But there is a reality here which we have used Emissaries of Divine Light to describe. The reality, of course, needs to emerge as it actually is so that, in a sense, words to describe it would be unnecessary. But there are words to describe it and we are content with these words which bring to focus the conscious, deliberate action necessary in the creative process by which the restoration of mankind may be achieved.

We recognize that there is no conscious mind without the subconscious aspects of mind. You can't really separate the two, any more than you can separate the surface of the water from the water underneath. So there is a subconscious aspect, which relates very particularly to the experience of mankind over the centuries and the millennia; and this is indicated by the use of the number twelve. There are the twelve tribes of the earth which were, back along the way, represented by the twelve disciples, the twelve tribes of Israel; in other words here is something that is all-inclusive of mankind—in a more particular sense the subconscious aspect of the mind of mankind.

There has been a certain amount of deliberation in this subconscious level of human experience. In other words it could be said that there has been a certain amount of what human beings would probably describe as conscious action in the world. All the human achievements that are seen round about are apparently consequent upon this conscious action. But this relates very much to a dream state, where there is apparently someone present—who maybe one thinks of as oneself—in the dream, doing various things and being done unto by various other things in the dream. And this is pretty well what has been occurring in the world as human beings have known it. It all is included in this subconscious level, symbolized by the twelve. Of course, seven is a number that is included in twelve. It's part of the whole mind of mankind but refers in a particular sense to the surface conscious levels, which are rightly brought to focus by those who may be properly called Emissaries of Divine Light. So we have these two aspects here.

The twelve is very inclusive of far more than the immediate earthly experience. Certainly the earth moves around the sun in its orbit, and that orbit may be divided into twelve segments; but obviously the earth is not alone in moving around the sun. And the solar system is not alone, in an isolated sense, but is a part of the galaxy, and so on. So the twelve may be seen as relating to something far vaster than the subconscious levels of the human mind; the subconscious levels of the human mind simply represent something much vaster. The twelve, therefore, refers to the planetary system as such, the solar system, the galaxy and the universe. Here is the particular connection that mankind has with this vastness—through the twelve.

So there is the twelve aspect and the seven aspect. Our concern has been especially with the seven aspect. Whereas this seven aspect is made up of years, of course, it is immediately related to the twelve, which refers, amongst other things, to the twelve months of the year, the movement of the planet around the sun. So the connection is there in the year. Each individual year as it comes around is directly connected to the twelve of the subconscious aspect of the whole body of mankind. I use words to describe all this but I am trusting that you have some spiritual discernment which enables you to comprehend what it is that I'm talking about; because if you try to intellectualize it you will lose it. But it is clear, obvious, actual, real, when it is spiritually discerned.

This year which is before us is the beginning of a seven-year cycle, but it is a year in and of itself. We don't wish to lay emphasis upon the external factors, which loom so large in human consciousness, because we are now concerned directly and deliberately with what might be described as heavenly elements. These heavenly elements will be reflected in external factors, yes, but we may be reminded of the verse in the Book of Job: “Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?” This is our direct and immediate responsibility. First of all, the ordinances of heaven must be known. One couldn't very easily set the dominion of the unknown in the earth; so the ordinances of heaven must be known. In a sense I've been speaking of this now, utilizing these particular terms relative to the numbers seven and twelve. All this relates to the ordinances of heaven.

Sometimes, I think, the ordinances of heaven are looked upon as being fixed structures. But we recognize that life is the evidence of these ordinances, and life is always characterized by movement and change. So there is something moving, something changing constantly, relative to the ordinances of heaven. They are based in what we may call the Law, but the Law is not static; it's constantly moving, relative to the requirements of the creative process. And so we have ordinances of heaven, which need to be discerned momentarily. You can't say to yourself, “Well now I know the ordinances of heaven; I'm going to set the dominion thereof in the earth,” because as soon as you've said that, they've changed to something fresh which reveals the reality of a living, pulsating movement. And we have the responsibility, in the creative cycles that are before us, to bring to focus these living pulsations and allow them to take their fitting form in their fitting seasons. Coming events, in that sense, the events brought forth by these living pulsations, may in some respects cast their shadows before, so that we are not entirely blind relative to the future. But though we may discern something with respect to the future, we are not wrapped up in what we may discern in that regard, because we don't know exactly what form it is going to take. What is to occur must be vibrationally established; the ordinances of heaven in each moment. Don't be too hooked on your vision, because whatever it should be can only be as the ordinances of heaven, now, are set in the earth now and in each succeeding moment. Then, coming together, we know what it is. All of us have a responsibility in developing various creative movements which are being brought forth. So we need to gain an overall view of the heavenly ingredients that are present relating to what we would refer to probably as vibrational factors. Those vibrational factors may be brought to point by utilizing the seven and the twelve. We see our responsibility in the seven.

In order to make right use of what is occurring we must remain at the balance point where we belong. Human beings are inclined to swing to extremes. There are definitely pulsations. These pulsations are related very particularly to the twelve, or the subconscious aspect of things. But consciously we need to be at the balance point and not swung around by whatever is happening in the subconscious level. What is happening in the subconscious level, from the standpoint of heaven, needs to happen, not in order to push us around but to provide us with the material that is needed for the deliberate achievement of what it is that should be achieved. So we may recognize the necessity of standing at this balance point. The balance point, which can be looked at in various ways, relates first of all to the horizontal component, of which mention has been made before. We may see it in terms of the past on one side and the future on the other. Well we need to be in the middle—that is, exactly now. That doesn't deny the fact that there is a past stretching away and a future stretching away; but here we are now, in this present moment.

Another aspect of this relates to the tendency of human beings to swing to what they think of as a spiritual extreme—spiritualistic, I think, is the more accurate term—and to the materialistic extreme on the other end of the spectrum. No, we need to be in the middle, the Central Way, the balance point, because only there is there direct connection and relatedness with the vertical component—the vertical component which comes to focus in the present moment. It doesn't come to focus in the past; it doesn't come to focus in the future. It certainly doesn't come to focus in the spiritualistic antics of human beings or in the materialistic antics of human beings. And yet there is this pulsation moving from the heavenly standpoint, of which one may be consciously aware. And we need to be consciously aware of it, not to be thrown around by it, because here are the facilities for creative action that we consciously and deliberately can make use of—the point of balance, the point where the creative power is, the point where God and man are one. So we may observe what is happening, we may be aware of the pulsations. These are part of the ordinances of heaven, mistranslated by human beings. But we're here to translate them correctly, not to do away with them. We need to be steady in the middle, but this doesn't prevent us from discerning, and being aware of, the pulsations which are moving on each side of that central point.

These pulsations can be seen in different ways too. It's interesting to note that the anniversary of this ministry falls approximately, in the northern hemisphere at least, at the time of the autumnal equinox. This is a balance point, not only for the northern hemisphere but for the southern hemisphere, when the length of the day and the night are the same—the same thing in the north as in the south. This is indicative of a balance point. When you come to the solstice in the summer or the winter, you have a directly opposite experience in northern and southern hemispheres. In other words, it looks as though in the northern hemisphere it's unbalanced in one direction, but in the south there is evidence of unbalance in the other direction. There is nothing wrong with that, is there? It's quite all right. We at least enjoy the long days of summer; we should enjoy the short days of winter. It's all part of the cycle. But we ourselves are not being flung around by this; we stand where we belong, and are in position then to use rightly what it is that is actually happening.

What is actually happening is what is happening from the standpoint of the ordinances of heaven, not what is happening from the standpoint of human mistranslation of these ordinances. And we have all sorts of events, very troublesome things going on in the world, based entirely in human mistranslation. Well here we are, back where we belong, in order to provide the balance point which allows all these movements, pulsations back and forth that rightly occur as part of the living process, to be rightly used, rightly translated in our own experience. We can't immediately start translating them out there somewhere: “Well the events of the world are not the way I like them. This and that is not happening the way it should.” No, we live right here, we live next to ourselves and in the immediate environment, and here's where the balance point needs to be. One can see, even from the rather surface viewpoint, that if there are enough people who stay in that balance point around the world, we have a balance point represented everywhere. And this begins to assume responsibility, then, for the creative process which is working out, designed to permit the restoration of mankind.

Most of the things that are going on in the world apparently have no relatedness to that; no one even thinks about it. But we think about it, we know something about it, and we are aware of our responsibility with respect to it. And this is very real to the extent that we are in the real position. If we go off from side to side we're not where we belong, and we lose an awareness of what we would know if we were where we belong. I'm sure that you could all testify to this experience. The reality which you know when you're on the beam, as they say, seems to fade away, disappear, when you begin to swing off to one side. Well that should be fair warning: Get back where you belong! Unfortunately, for most people, that doesn't seem to occur to them. They want to plumb the depths or the heights a little more, rather than stay where one belongs, aware of the depths, aware of the heights, but seeing the value of these things from the standpoint of the balanced position.

This morning I am emphasizing this balanced position particularly because certainly the swinging will likely occur with greater vehemence in the world around us as the days and years go on, and we need to have very sure footing where we belong if we're not going to be carried with it. Of course, if that goes too far things are flung right out, and we can see a cleansing process occurring on this basis. But let not everything be cleansed away! If half of it is flung this way and the other half that way, there's nothing in the middle. There needs to be something left, something that is stable and solid and provides a connection for all those who are in the vicinity of it, not physically necessarily but vibrationally.

We have a certain sensing—if our hearts are not overly impure—a certain sensing of a point of stability. Now you know there are many who are awakening in this way, sensing the point of stability, the awareness of people, individual people, you and others, who provide this point of stability without calling it names. Let's not keep the door closed. Let the door be open, because there are more who properly participate in this focus of the conscious aspect of the mind of mankind. It requires, certainly, more than are presently available. So the door needs to be kept open. There should never be a sense of shame with respect to the means by which this conscious aspect of the mind of mankind has been brought to focus. Isn't that a tremendous thing! Why deny it? For those who don't understand we wouldn't particularly shout it from the housetops. But there are those who are ready to understand; for them the door should be open.

So I rejoice to share this consideration of a reality which is describable in symbolic ways; it's the only way it is describable. We have to use words of some kind, and these seven and twelve numbers are useful in acquainting us with something very real that is going on, and in which we properly share. And we're not isolated in some conscious level of understanding, because there would be no conscious level of understanding without the subconscious. It's all one thing; it's all properly unified. But we have the point of conscious stability in the middle where we stay. We are not swung around by all the things that are going on in the subconscious mind and heart of mankind. Lots of things are going on there; we sometimes inadvertently get hooked up with them. Well we need to be alert so that we don't stay with that sort of a ride—we come back to where we belong. And others will tend to come with us and stand where they belong too. Altogether there may be the true ordinances of heaven and the dominion of them set in the earth. When that is so, the earth is known once again to be the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

© Emissaries of Divine Light

Lloyd Arthur Meeker—Uranda

Lloyd  Arthur  Meeker — Uranda

from   A Word To The Wise — Issue No. Seven

Uranda   January 7, 1941

Some of you have been listening to me speak, both privately and publicly, and reading my writings, for a period of five years or more—and you know that I have said very little, and written less, about myself. Those of you who attended the Services I conducted this past summer, know that I did not talk about myself or my personal experiences. All of you who are now in the Church know that not a single one of you was drawn into the Church on a personal basis of a consideration of me or my experiences. All of you Responded to the Truth I presented—and you were willing to Harmonize with me in Service without knowing anything about the very things most people present first. The average teacher of the world first tells about himself and his experiences, in an attempt to convince people that he is worthy to be heard. I reversed that. If you were not willing to hear me for the sake of the Truth I offered, you would not have been received. Now that you are already in the Church, and it is evident that it is neither to satisfy your curiosity, nor to urge you to the acceptance of my Teaching, the time has come for me to tell you certain things about my present manifestation in the earth. However, I explicitly request that you refrain from talking to others about what I now tell you. Let such things wait their appointed season.

One of the primary reasons why I have not expressed more about myself, is this: If I were to relate a certain experience of my own to a person not yet drawn to the proper point of understanding, he would be very much inclined to try to duplicate my experience in his own life. That would mean failure for him. Or, if he really sought to understand the Principles revealed by my experience, he would be very much inclined to attempt to imagine some circumstance, happening, or experience, by which he might bring forth the same revelation of Principles—and again that would mean failure. To the degree that you actually Realize that these statements are true, you will understand why so many so-called teachers have defeated themselves at the very start, by telling about their personal experiences in order to intrigue their listeners. However, in that I teach the Central Way, there comes a time when certain facts concerning myself should be brought to the attention of Emissaries—but in so doing I caution you to Walk in the Central Way in relation thereto, or you will fail to receive the Blessings made possible by our present consideration.

A certain Sister wrote: "We are very often inclined to think, 'Well, it’s easy for Uranda to teach and understand, because he felt his call at the age of seven, and probably there is a special rule for him.' Now we have realized that it took our Beloved Uranda four years to let his outer-self be fully taken into the Inner Being of Reality." Our Blessed Sister's point is well taken; but there are two points that are not quite correct. It is incorrect to say that I, in the outer sense, felt a "call" at the age of seven, though at that age I, the outer, was conscious of a feeling that I had a very important mission in life, to help mankind. Also, it is incorrect to think that it only took my outer-self four years to fully let go to Me as I AM—it took 29 years! However, there has been a prevalent idea that it was easier for me, in the outer sense, to find Release in Reality, than it is for you who are in the School. Actually, I faced difficulties and hardships and problems that were much greater than anything you have been called upon to experience. I had to lead the Way. I had no one in the outer world to instruct me, or teach my outer mind the Truths which I have offered so freely to you. Of course, the Teachings of the Great Master were in the Bible; but you know that the popular understandings of His Words must have been as inadequate for me as they have proven to be for you. I would outline briefly the essential facts—without any attempt to go into detail, and omitting all that has no direct bearing on the matter in hand.

The first part of this outline must, of necessity, be about the outer-self from an outer standpoint; therefore, I will tell the story about a certain young man who finally came to know himself to be My Temple—and then, in due season, he so Responded to Me that he became the manifestation of Me as I AM.

On February 25, 1907, a baby boy was born of parents whose forebears had been citizens of the United States for several generations. His earthly father was of English-Welsh descent, and his mother was of Dutch descent, of those people known as Highland Dutch. He was their first-born, and they named their son, Lloyd Arthur Meeker. His birthplace was Ferguson, Iowa, near Marshalltown. When he was a small babe his parents moved to North Dakota, where they lived in very limited circumstances in a little sod-house on the prairie. His father was away much of the time, working as a circuit minister, and the rest of the time as a farmer. Part of the time water had to be hauled some little distance on a sled drawn by a cow. In these surroundings a second son was born to his parents. In due season they received title for their homesteaded land; but his father's health was very poor and a higher altitude was considered wise for him. A member of his father's church offered to trade his property in Colorado for the homestead. Because his father trusted his fellow churchman, he traded sight-unseen for a peach orchard of several acres, located near Palisade, not far from Grand Junction, in Mesa County in Western Colorado. His mother was never strong, and suffered from heart trouble all her brief life; and the change in climate and altitude did not improve her health.

The Meeker family arrived at Palisade, with all their meager worldly possessions, to find that what had once been a peach orchard, was at that time nothing but a patch of alkali covered ground, with long-dead peach trees standing grotesquely here and there in the whitish earth, as sentinels of doom to the high hopes that inspired the migration of this little family to the land of the majestic Rockies. The privations that followed may be better imagined than described—and while they were living in a tent, a few months after their arrival, a baby girl became the fifth member of the family. Not long after this Mr. Meeker made an excursion on foot, pushing a bicycle in a vain hope of finding a stretch of road where he could ride it, back up into the mountains south-west of Grand Junction about twenty-five miles, to the Rim Rock Country that is called Glade Park. With renewed enthusiasm he filed a claim on a quarter-section of wilderness that was ribbed with sandstone rim rocks; with canyons covered with pinion trees, juniper trees, scrub oak, and sage brush of the variety that grows thickly on the ground to a height of four to eight feet. Anyone who has ever grubbed sage brush in the burning sun, or winter cold, from sunrise to sunset, day in and day out for endless weeks, knows something of the prospect that was—for the purpose was to clear land for dry-land farming. The land had been open range for cattle since the white man first saw it—and the cattlemen did everything possible to drive out the hated "squatters," by tearing down fences, turning cattle in to destroy crops, and even threatening with guns to kill. It was in such an environment that Lloyd began, at the age of seven, to work in the fields from daylight till dark. But first, let us look at that first winter in the Glade Park country. Both of his parents were trained nurses, and so, in order to make a new start possible, Lloyd’s mother spent the winter nursing in the Grand Valley district, and she kept her baby daughter with her. Mr. Meeker got a job on a ranch still further back in the mountains—while he placed Lloyd, and his younger brother, Marvin, in the care of an Indian woman who had married a white man—and he was away from home most of the time herding goats. That was a strange winter, in more ways than one, for the two boys and as soon as the snow melted from the side hill, they had their first taste of grubbing sage brush under the able training of the Indian woman whose size and strength were both prodigious.

The next ten years thereafter were characterized by: Incessant work on a dryland farm where five bushels of corn per acre was counted a good yield, and where milk cows were the primary means of monetary income, which was small at best, because the cream from the separator had to be shipped to Grand Junction over twenty miles away. Living in a tiny shack, and a dug-out that was much like an old-fashioned cellar. Stringent discipline by an earthly father who did not spare the rod; but used cruel beatings on the slightest pretext, thinking thereby to enforce his religious fanaticism on his family—for he would let his wife work like a slave in the field all day with her frail strength; but refused to let her do "fancy work" with her needle, because "it was too hard on her eyes." Two and three months would pass at a time during which period the children would not see a single human being outside the family—and only once each year or two would the growing boys have the treat of going to town, which was an all-day journey by lumber wagon just one way, and the stay would be only for over-night, and then back to the mountains. Here the youngest of four children was born; a boy named Merl. Neighbors were from six to twenty miles away—and there was almost never a chance to play with other children, except at the noon hour at the little school house, from which they had to return at once when school was out, in order to work on the farm. In that period Lloyd attended school for four and one-half school terms, and in that time went through the first eight grades. The school usually had an enrollment of ten or twelve, all divided into the eight grades. The boys had to walk from one to three miles each way to school, through snow and winter storms, in the wild wilderness. Finally there came the winter of 1918-19—and in February, while sick in bed with the flu, Lloyd heard his Mother, abed in the same room, breathe her last breath, as she passed from this life.

The six years following his Mother's passing to the Realms of Peace, in which Lloyd found comfort in the thought that she was free from untold hardship and toil, were filled with such sufferings, privations, and difficulties, with the hardest kind of physical labors, that it is best not recorded in detail. During that time Lloyd was taken ill with typhoid fever, and was in bed for forty days, much of that time being so close to the passing from this life that he and all members of his family were convinced that his life span was at an end. However, under the Blessing of the Lord he lived—and he had little more than gotten out of bed when he had to turn nurse for three or four others who were ill of the same fever, all of whom recovered. At that time he was fifteen years of age. Finally, about a year later, driven by the hypocritical fanaticism and tyranny he saw in his earthly father, climaxed by a bloody beating without cause from which he emerged with his whole body bruised, and both eyes swollen shut, he left what should have been a home—but was not. Under such stress he decided that there was nothing to religion, and he thought himself to be an atheist. This brought to a close his early consciousness of Something that had inspired him, and had enabled him, without ever having heard any fairy stories or fiction, all of which were forbidden on religious grounds, to entertain his brother while they worked in the fields with endless stories, some of which were most fantastic to the outer vision. More than once he was severely punished for indulging in such foolish imagination. The only Light that had given meaning to his young life had been removed from his range of vision—and he turned to the world's darkness, and the ways of the world, in an attempt to find some satisfaction in living.

In the fall of 1925, Lloyd quit his job on a dairy ranch, where he regularly worked from 4:30 each morning, till ten or eleven each night—with only a few hours rest in the middle of the day once a week on Sunday. With about fifteen dollars in his pocket, and nothing of value beside the rough clothes he wore, he set out into the unknown. He chose freight trains as his means of travel. While crossing the mountains he and his companion, a boy a year older than himself, nearly froze to death, because of the intense cold. After several harrowing experiences he reached Pueblo, where he walked many miles to avoid the railroad yards. Finally he managed to catch an eastbound freight—and spent the night on the end of a loaded coal-car, jumping up and down on the brake platform in order to keep from freezing. He landed in Ft. Scott, Kansas—and after much fruitless searching, he was given a job as a common laborer on a building construction gang. He was with that Construction Company for five years, and in that time he worked doing all of the different things to be done in such work—and if any one wants to talk about hard work, he could tell of long, weary hours shoveling sand and gravel on concrete gangs; of unloading, and otherwise handling, reinforcing steel, and structural steel; of unloading carloads of cement and plaster on stifling hot August days; of working with steel when it was so cold that hands and gloves stuck to the metal; of handling carloads of lumber, and all the work required to build concrete forms; and of many more types of work in heat and cold. During that five year period he worked his way up from laborer, to timekeeper, to bookkeeper, and finally to office manager in the home office of the large Construction Company, where he shouldered a wide range of vital responsibilities. When his Company was estimating to bid on new work, he frequently worked in the estimating department till midnight, night after night, in addition to his regular duties. Those who remember the crash of 1929 and 1930 will be able to imagine the possibility that became fact, without warning he lost his job, and about the same time his bank went broke. Shortly he lost the house he had purchased, and which was more than half paid for. Soon he was again penniless, and without means of livelihood. Events took him to Nashville, Tennessee, where he was living under the very poorest of conditions when he sent for his youngest brother, Merl, who was at that time at Jacksonville, Florida, and was getting into the wrong company under circumstances that were certain to lead to a life of crime. Years later, as a reward for having cared for his brother and making it possible for Merl to go to night school to take a comprehensive business training course, and helping him step by step into a considerable understanding of Reality, Lloyd saw his brother turn traitor to his Ministry, and turn away into the darkness of the outer world; from which he has not yet chosen to return. Let those who think that they have had sad experiences with their relatives, be assured that Lloyd has faced, and passed through, all the possible situations with relatives which might seem to give just cause for wavering from the Way of Reality—and he has proven the Truth of the Master's Word in Matthew 12:46-50.

In Nashville there were a series of incidents which began to climax a search which Lloyd had begun during his second year with the Construction Company. His Superintendent was the first man from whom he had ever received any real consideration and understanding. That man was known as Cort to his men. He expected, and got, a real days work from every man—but he was always fair; always just. He could be "hard boiled" to a degree that made the worst kind of a "tough" to wilt—but he never failed to treat his men with consideration. Our young man began to compare men, and as a timekeeper and paymaster he had an excellent opportunity to do so. Cort had a mind that never overlooked the slightest detail. He knew weeks in advance just how he was going to work out each problem. It was a joy to watch him work. Obviously it was not just a matter of "education" because there were always college graduates in the labor gang. Often men of little education held places of responsibility. The questions: what makes man what he is; where does man come from; and scores of related points, kept up a puzzled procession through our young man's mind.

He read a few books on psychology; but some important factor was lacking. Later, to improve his own health, since he had suffered from a wide range of aches and pains and human ills over the years of his young life, and had often worked in spite of severe suffering, he began giving attention to natural means of increasing health, such as exercise and diet—but all these proved to be inadequate; for Something was still lacking. The incidents in Nashville began to focalize all these scattered searchings, as he found opportunity to help others with his understanding of health problems. Then a lecturer appeared who claimed to be able to reveal great mysteries—and he gave public lectures to sell high priced private and class instruction. With no money to pay for classes, Lloyd considered the various ideas presented, some of which intrigued him—and others of which he considered to be in error. Later he proved that this lecturer was a charlatan and black magician who pried into peoples private lives till he discovered some hidden secret, which he would then use as a means of extortion in blackmail. Among the means of deception used by this black magician, was his supposed ability to communicate with the dead, according to the ideas of spiritualism. Faced with all these false concepts, and having no means of knowing what was right and what was wrong, except an innate "feeling," our young man examined the various ideas and discarded most of them as obviously false—while some of them appeared to have the possibility of truth in them. He felt convinced that there was Something that was Real—and that all of these concepts, no matter how wrong they might be, could not exist unless there were some sound basis of understanding the Unseen, to be found somewhere. He looked through books in libraries, and could not find the answer. He began to consider again the Bible, from which he had turned away years before. As he looked at the Book without the fixed and stilted concepts that had been forced upon him in his youth, he began to see meanings that thrilled him. He did not yet know what was taking place; but he was Responding to My Spirit, and he was beginning to sense My Presence, though he did not yet have the slightest idea that I was within him, and that he was My Temple.

Through this maze of confused concepts and outer world pullings, this way and that, he came blindly to the month of September, 1932, when he made a final decision to ignore, with a clean break, all of the ideas he had contacted, and, as it would appear to the outer vision, gamble everything on his own perception of that Something of which he was, as yet, only dimly aware. It was in this state of consciousness that he retired on the night of the 12th, and on the morning of September 13th, 1932, he awakened at the break of day—which was very unusual. After trying to go back to sleep he felt so restless that he arose, and thought to read a story which he had started; but it held no interest for him. He thought to read the Bible, but it, too, held no immediate interest, so he put it down. Next he decided to just sit and think for a time, whereupon he felt a great urge to write; but he did not know what to write. As far back as he could remember he had always wanted to write a book; but all his attempts to write had been sad failures. Finally, in obedience to the urge, he took pencil and paper and sat down at the table. Not knowing what to write he just relaxed for a time.

Shortly he became aware of a Presence, and he seemed to be enveloped in a white Cloud in which he felt a great Peace. Then he began to write, a word at a time; but as fast as he would get one word down, the next word would appear in his mind as if by magic. Without trying to understand it, and without questioning or rebelling, he wrote for about an hour. He still had no idea of My Presence in him; therefore, he concluded that it must have been some great Being, such as an Angel from Heaven, who had come to him, and he took no credit to himself for what he had written. As suddenly as he had begun to write, he stopped. He simply had nothing more to write about. Marveling at his experience, the day passed, and he retired as usual. The next morning he awakened again; but this time he at once took pencil and paper and sat down to write—and again the white Cloud enveloped him. This time he wrote for about three hours, when the inspiration ceased as before. As he read over what he had written, he found the answers to many of his own questions. The third morning the same thing happened again, and at the close of his period of writing he had a strong Realization that that experience would not return—and it never has. There was no need that it should. On the 15th he considered all the things that had taken place, and by the 16th of September he had fully determined to give himself to the work of revealing the Truth to humanity. He had no worldly resources, and he was without funds. He was unknown, except for a very few people in Nashville. He began to devote himself to the work of Healing, and gradually his work became known, and people began to call on him for help, physical, mental and Spiritual. He began to teach a small group of people in the study of the Bible—and in the Book of Job he found the Mysteries revealed. Gradually he became aware of My Presence in him. Also, in a period of meditation he became aware of My Name.

He discovered that when he found a need to be filled, he could speak or write the correct expressions required to fill that need. He began to write, under My inspiration, a series of lessons called Steps To Mastership, to which he signed My Name. During the period from September 16, 1932, to September 16, 1936, he was undergoing the process of Absorption, or Adoption, into Me; and that Adoption was not of the complete Illumination until the latter date. Most of the things written through my Temple prior to September 1936 were reasonably correct—but some of them were colored by unconscious reaction to world concepts. During that time the conscious mind of My Temple was learning, and being trained, how to express My Words correctly. There were times prior to full Adoption when My Temple understood what it was I wished to convey, and what he meant was correct; but what he actually wrote was not always so expressed that it conveyed the proper meaning. A number of manuscripts which were written during that period have been completely left behind—and are no longer used in this Service. They had value at the time as a means toward a more nearly perfect form of Expression—but they have no present value. Even that which was written those first three mornings is no longer available, and has not been used in the School for about six years.

On Christmas Day, 1934, having left his healing work in Nashville, My Temple arrived at Atascadero, California, with only thirty dollars as his total worldly resources. He had gone to California with the idea of working in conjunction with a certain man at Atascadero, who had appeared to accept certain corrections of concept sent to him by mail. However, My Temple soon realized that the hopes held out to him were entirely false, and that the man in question had only hoped to use our young man to his own ends. My Temple could not be caused to deviate from the Way by any such attempts, and disillusionments. Again there was a start under the most limited of conditions. In July of 1935 I arranged events which took My Temple to San Francisco. The immediate purpose which he understood was to investigate the Ballards who were holding forth there at the time—but the primary purpose was to establish a contact in San Francisco with a certain Blessed Brother and Sister who have played a very important part in making it possible to get this Ministry started on a more expansive basis. My manifest-half immediately recognized all the basic teachings of the Ballards to be false, and pointed out the obvious contradictions and inconsistencies in the supposed experiences which the late Mr. Ballard claimed to have had. Because My Temple refused to endorse the Ballards, many of those who had started to study with him at Atascadero turned away. At that time there were about thirty Students on the Mailing List—and the income to the Service from such Students averaged from two to five dollars per week. Those of you who think you have faced hardships and limited circumstances cannot tell any stories that can even touch those through which My Temple passed—and yet he kept right on giving himself, and the money that came into his hands, to carry on the Ministry to which he was dedicated by Me. Later that same year I took my outer-self back to San Francisco, and it was arranged for him to speak My Word before a Group of Students of another school of thought. Most of those who heard rejected My Word—but in that audience there was one who heard with Gladness, and who from that day to this has never wavered from her Recognition of the Truth that I Teach. 

In 1936 the Service grew quite rapidly, and I held many Services in Oakland, San Francisco, and other places. That year, also, I was invited to go by plane to Akron, Ohio, to speak to the Summer School of the Sun Center. My Word was rejected by many who heard Me speak in Akron—and Mr. Benner was chief of those who rejected Me, with the result that his work on earth soon came to a close, and he passed from this life. However, there were many Faithful Ones in that Summer School who heard the Truth gladly, and who are, today, Shining Lights in this Service. Thrice Blessed, indeed, are they. They have lead the Way for all who would turn from the false teachings of the outer mind, and come into the Eternal Truth that sets men free to enjoy the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God, here and now. However, many of my lectures at that time were on the subject of the importance of September 16, 1936, and though I emphasized repeatedly that no one should expect any spectacular happening on that day most of my hearers insisted on expecting some strange happening, primarily because of the false concepts given out by other speakers on the subject, and when the day passed without some great event, about 90% of the people who had been attending my Services turned away—and they began saying that I did not know what I was talking about. They forgot that I warned them against the very mistake they made—yet they blamed me. Such is the attitude of human beings. Again I had to pick up the scattered threads of my Ministry, and out of the remains I shaped the formation of the Third Sacred School as you have come to know it.

Those of you who have truly Responded with fullness of Understanding have come to Realize that no one can rightly consider My Manifest Half as being in any sense separate from Myself as I AM. So it is that a Recognition of Uranda is a Recognition of Me as I AM in My Eternal Reality, and My Temple has been Adopted into Me, so that the manifest form that was once functioning in self-activity in separateness from Me, is now an Expression of that which I AM.

© emissaries of divine light

Movement Toward Integration

Movement  Toward  Integration

Implosion

Alan Hammond   September 15, 1985

"Here am I—send me to speak the Word of Truth, that that Word might be made flesh. That summarizes my purpose and commission. Each one of you, and all who have shared in the creative process by which this flesh has been drawn together by reason of the power of the Word of Truth to constitute a spiritual body on earth, can share with me the same statement of willingness: Here am I—send me to speak the Word of Truth for which I am responsible, that this body may indeed be complete and available, with an open heart and mind, for the right use of the Supreme One. This commission is no less yours than it is mine. The Spirit of Truth has called it to your remembrance and is now calling it to your remembrance in this very moment." from  Tradition Transmuted  Martin Exeter  September 8, 1985

I expect most here are aware that this Sunday falls upon the Fifty-third anniversary of the birth of this ministry. [Sunday, September 16, 2018 is the Eighty-sixth anniversary] It's not a tradition that is very strongly kept but in the light of Martin's words that I just read, we could hardly have a more fitting statement of purpose for the presence of this ministry in form on earth, or a greater statement of purpose for us as individuals. We are here as angels in human form to restore the experience and the government of the Supreme One on earth, and to do this we recognize it has to begin in human consciousness and experience—our own specifically. What a wonderful aspect to our commission on earth in this matter of transmuting traditions. The word "transmutation" has several shades of meaning but the primary meaning is to change the nature of a substance to another, usually a base substance to a finer substance, and this would include therefore any forms which were composed of such substances.

Think of the traditions that we daily live in. I suppose there's the family tradition; that's a pretty solid tradition. Husbands and wives. Parents and children. We're on earth to transmute the quality of that experience from something which has, for one thing, become extremely self-centered—transmuting it into something exquisitely beautiful as a pattern of angelic association within the design of the whole, to play a very particular part in a much larger design. We're not in families merely to extract personal satisfaction, and to judge and condemn should that not be our experience in that pattern, but rather, by introducing the expression of the angelic spirit in manhood or womanhood. There is the relationship between man and woman—something of sublime potential. Usually married couples on earth don't think of matters sublime after awhile, and yet we're here to transmute whatever the base or mottled experience may have been, into something sublime. That is not to say what the forms of interaction might be, but the quality of one's own expression into such a pattern is part of our commission on earth. And in our relationship with children—a tradition. Is there not the opportunity for the children in our lives, especially those that were born to us, an opportunity to reveal as never before on earth, the truth of Being in human form so that children may have a glorious inspiration and example to emulate, not emulate in every detail of parental ambition for children, because true god parents revealing God to children don't have that kind of dogmatic “living through the children” consciousness—but an opportunity to allow children to awaken much sooner than we ever had opportunity, awaken to  the true quality of identity and spiritual purpose.

What wonderful commissions to transmute traditions we have right with us, and this applies to other kinds of relationships we know—traditional relationships men with men, women with women. It is traditional in the world for women to mistrust women and men to mistrust men. Oh we might say "Not in all things. I trust so-and-so to do a good job on my car"—which is quite a modest expectation. But how about fulfilling this aspect of the commission for oneself, to begin to transmute the relationships men with men, so that competition for example is no longer—well, put it this way, it's a sordid thought—it's a sordid thought, competition, which endeavors to push someone else down or reduce someone else's appearance. What a remarkable thing if men really trusted men and worked in love together to accomplish this great purpose for which we are incarnate, so that whenever anyone thought of you, they knew there would be a noble man who would never—you know for sure—he would never have been criticizing you behind your back, or anything of that nature. And with women the same. The traditional cattiness of women—mistrust, insecurity, backbiting—all those traditions need to be transmuted into the truth of love between women, something no doubt exquisitely fine, intense. What's the truth of that? These are the truths which we are here to give flesh to.

Traditional attitudes towards money. "Let me pile up as much as I can" is the tradition. We are here to transmute that grasping attitude, which at its base is an endeavor to get the money to buy the things which will produce what we think is heaven in our experience. We already know that heaven is created and experienced not by grabbing but by giving expression to the truth of our Being. This is what brings heaven, and in that spirit and in that character is our stewardship of material substance, resources—monetary resources, or physical resources, mental resources, our talents. What about transmuting all those talents we may have—artistic, intellectual—our unique talents—how about transmuting all of those out of the traditions, out of traditional uses of those talents which are usually for fame or self-satisfaction or monetary gain of some sort—reputation, status. How about transmuting all that tradition simply by thinking of one's expression in these fields as an opportunity to express the truth of love and the glory of life into the whole for the blessing of the whole, which such spirits certainly would be.

And so it goes. All these encased traditions in human consciousness; attitudes in human consciousness, which then create traditions of behavior externally. Our commission on earth is marvelous—to leave all that jaded junk behind. How boring it all gets!—trying to hack fulfilment while at the same time we are perpetuating human traditions in consciousness. But we are adequately aware, we're adequately awake or we wouldn't be in this Dome Chapel, and we're adequately aware to discern this new vista of creative opportunity which is with us now, to transmute all these traditional patterns of life through human form. Is there anything else worth doing? I don't think so.

Although we do, all of us, share a natural responsibility, of course, of extending the true Tone of life into the larger world beyond the Spiritual Body—there would really be no point in being on earth if we weren't to allow the experience of heaven which we are increasingly knowing to extend beyond ourselves and invite others to share of that same experience—but although this is a natural expression of our own Beings, all of us, individually and together, it might be worth noting that the primary area of creative work lies actually within the Spiritual Body. What is this? Not that we should become self-centered, or become isolationists—far from it. But there is a quality of substance which is generated by those who have had opportunity for spiritual education; there is a conscious understanding in such people's awareness which allows them to work together in a far more intimate way than is possible, usually, with anyone beyond the Spiritual Body.

We know very well there are wonderful people of integrity everywhere on the fact of the earth who aren't called emissaries. We also know, however—I'm sure you've had this experience; I know I have—that very often people who come, rehearsing all sorts of difficulties they're having in life, problems, difficulties with family, money, jobs, whatever, if they've had no basic spiritual education, you can't find a foundation to really help them get a clear footing to do something creative in their lives. They're full of excuses—they're full of rationalizations, false beliefs, wishful thinking, blamings, criticisms, arguments as to why they can't express right spirit.

Now even those of us who have had this spiritual training, we lapse into that kind of mish-mash too, but with those who have had the training you can at least point to the person and say, “Look, at least you know you're an angel theoretically. At least you know you should be expressing right spirit. At least you know theoretically it's got nothing to do with what anyone else is doing as to why you should not express right spirit, and so on.” And that basic conscious understanding is quite a foundation to begin to work together. There's a common understanding, there's a common aspiration, there's a commonly shared conscious purpose, and really, the deepest levels of interaction and relationship and function together can emerge much more easily out of a shared substance of consciousness like that, than with people who will go along so far with you and then they're off—they've got other priorities, they've got their families, or they've got patriotism, or their careers, or something which will at some point hold them out of the union in purpose and function.

And the greatest work really is introducing into the world in the finer substance—new patterns of heavenly experience, and that requires the purest substance, the most protected substance, the shared substance, the refined substance. The coarser substance further away from the core of the Spiritual Body tends to have the old tradition asserting itself all the time, interfering. But as we in the Spiritual Body begin to generate this pure and purer substance of spiritual expression, out of our relatedness, out of our relationships within the core, there begins to emerge new experiences of heaven in our conscious experience and expression. These new patterns of heavenly experience have to start somewhere in the body of mankind, and it will come through wherever collective substance is the purest. There are many individuals scattered throughout the body of mankind who are undoubtedly angelic in their expression to a large extent, but the limitations of their experience are governed by the fact that they are isolated. The fact that there are numerically more who are generating purer and finer substance allows for a far richer range of experience and expression because we are a collective Body, and there are things which numbers of people can create together which individuals alone cannot. So we have a core responsibility, not only to generate this refined substance of spiritual expression, but then to let spirit move through that refined substance producing new patterns of relatedness and activity which are heavenly in experience—and in effect releasing those essences into the larger body, which is our sole purpose for doing all this. Not just to acquire the heavenly experience for ourselves—if that's our real purpose it'll soon fizzle out. In the Spiritual Body there is expansion going on at the core. We know this from our personal experience.

You know, Martin has been rather a father figure to virtually the whole ministry. And I know from my experience that when I touched this ministry I was young in years, and so were many of the body, and they came along, willing to move towards the Tone, to be united with the Tone, and they were in their teens, twenties, early thirties. But now the earthly cells of this Spiritual Body are maturing—under the intensified radiation from the angelic Being within, maturing is occurring in consciousness. You begin to have a maturing, collective organ within the larger body of mankind, which is capable of allowing the spirit of God to find form and release into the body of mankind in a more expanded way.

I know in my experience of my own external consciousness, how self-centered attitudes are receding, that identification in the true quality of Being is increasing—and that is being experienced in all of us, I'm sure. This has significance in the body of mankind in the world today. Critical days in which the world finds itself, because what we're finding in the world is an implosion, actually. Not an explosion, but an implosion. There is a movement towards integration. Now, human consciousness is not aware of this, but here is the second coming of Christ, as it has been put. Christ is just a name for the spirit of love. Love integrates, and the second coming of the Spirit of Love is intensely underway, causing an implosion in this world, particularly in the consciousness of the body of mankind. Just the shrinking of the world in the external geographical sense is causing an implosion, an integration in every other level and facet of human consciousness. There is, under the influence of this implosion, this integration occurring within human consciousness—it's not so evident with religion; it's probably more evident in things like science where one body of science was isolated from another body of science, and from another body of science, but in this process of integration and implosion, they're finding that one body of knowledge affects another body of knowledge and it's all melting into one vast—you get the idea! And it is becoming overwhelming to the human intellect because the human intellect cannot possibly encompass all that is in one body of knowledge, let alone trying to embody all the knowledge which begins to loom as all these areas are found to be inextricably interrelated and interacting. It is overwhelming to the human intellect. Politically this is happening, religiously this is happening, this implosion, and fundamentally it is the coming of the Spirit of Love, the Spirit of Oneness—and Fire is the symbol of Love. And human consciousness will melt—it will melt one way or another. Much better to yield and let heaven and earth become one, which is the true process of implosion, unification, and unification is the restoration once again of the experience of the oneness of heaven and earth.

That's the unification that's taking place—the awareness of the union of heaven and earth, of Divine Being and human form, of God and man, of heaven and earth. This is being inextricably forced upon the body of mankind, and we have a conscious part to play in it all. Whereas human beings, finding this process going on, find fire produced because of friction, because they are wedded to their external traditions of thinking and behavior—friction is caused as they are pushed together; friction is caused; fire is caused; heat—we, on the other hand, have the opportunity of allowing the union of heaven and earth within our own consciousness because we ourselves are identified in the true spirit of Love, Truth and Life, and as we express that spirit we find heaven appears all around us. That is the true process of implosion, of union, and therefore we provide a focus for this process which is transpiring on earth now. This is our responsibility. What a thrilling position in the design on earth in which we now find ourselves. It's a conscious position of responsibility, to allow heaven and earth to become one—an emissary of divine light does not have a narrow-minded view of him- or herself. An emissary of divine light does not think he or she is superior to all the other unwashed masses cluttering the earth—it's not better or worse at all.

We're not at all concerned how many emissaries there are. "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" That used to be quite a question discussed by medieval theologians—"How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" I know I have meditated upon this—"How many emissaries do we need to save the world?" It's the same kind of futile pastime. Really, all one is concerned with is one's own quality of spiritual expression, never mind even the person next to you. It is the quality of my own spiritual expression and stature for which I am responsible. The Spiritual Body is obviously responsible, like an organ, maybe a particular gland within the collective body of mankind, a gland responsible for generating a particular quality of substance necessary in the life processes in the whole body of mankind. The adrenals, for example, secrete minute amounts of substance over the course of a lifetime, and yet the effects of those minute drops of adrenaline are quite electric in one's own experience. Martin has likened the Spiritual Body to the pineal gland—and there are several unknown secretions coming from the pineal, and that's a good analogy, an analogy which allows us to see that we're not looking at what anybody else is doing. The spirit of God after all is animating all those people too, to whatever extent. Our responsibility is to generate the particular quality of substance appropriate through this collective Body and allow the spirit to use that substance as it will, which is a little bit above any of our intellects to fathom just how exactly it is used. So who cares, as long as I am fulfilling my part in the larger design! But that larger design is served by me primarily through what I bring to focus in this Spiritual Body, this spiritual gland, of which I am a more immediate part.

So how simple the truth finally is for each of us as individuals and for us collectively, because we surely wish to serve the vast Design of God. We would like to think that we are playing our part in the whole Cosmic Design, the One Design, but that requires that I am expressing my true self exactly where I am in that Design, which is in this Spiritual Body. And we may thank God for the particular and peculiar place in the Design in which we find ourselves where there is this much consciousness of what our role is—the Word made flesh. Do we not share thankfulness to the Lord for being in human form here and now that we may play our parts in His purposes on earth.

© Emissaries of Divine Light