Resanctify the Vessels of the Temple

Resanctify  the  Vessels  of  the  Temple

Martin Cecil   August 27, 1976   Class

The Israelites were referred to as a peculiar people; the Lord's people are a peculiar people. They may seem to be a bit odd to others, but the meaning of peculiar is an indication that they are special people. The Israelites, of course, might think of themselves as being special because they were descendants of Abraham. But then, as we have noted by this generation, we could say, “Who isn't?” Because the approach at that time was from the standpoint of the first plane, or the physical approach, the core of the Israelite pattern centered in the sons of Jacob. Of course, by the time the people were brought out of Egypt, the number included many who were not particularly related to the sons of Jacob. But something at that time was springing out of the earthly pattern of heredity, insofar as the peculiar people were concerned. However, their peculiarity was not based in this fact. It was based in the extent to which they were willing to participate in the Divine purposes on earth. Most of the people at that time had very little awareness in this regard, but certainly Moses did, and various ones had some vision. However, the rest of the people went along with it to a certain extent, and so to that extent they were a peculiar people because they were participating in the outworking of the purposes of God, in the sense of providing a facility at the level where human beings are, by which the impact of the spirit of God might be felt by all people.

Those who participate in the outworking purposes of God, in this sense, are always a peculiar people. If we, today, participate in those purposes, then that makes us a peculiar people. As I say, we may seem a bit odd to some of our fellows, but it isn't really that sort of peculiarity. It is a special people because they have a special task to fulfil. And in the fulfilment of that task, they have all the support and backing that is necessary to permit it to happen. We may have a recognition that the Lord never asks something of anyone that is impossible. He Himself has never been interested in the impossible. I have before indicated that He certainly is a realist. He doesn't delude Himself like human beings do. Always we are under the necessity, if we agree with Him and prove that we are a peculiar people, never to delude ourselves but to work with things the way they are. This is a very rare occurrence insofar as human beings are concerned. They are always trying to work with imaginary things, partly because of lack of vision, lack of any real comprehension of what is present with them. Everything is seen through the state of consciousness which is based in earthly heredity. So nothing is seen clearly, let alone understood.

A peculiar people are those who have accepted, in whatever measure, spiritual responsibility. This acceptance is only possible to those who begin to be spiritually oriented. Now, an earthly oriented person, trying to accept spiritual responsibility, may be peculiar in another way. And there are some of those around too. But where there genuinely is spiritual orientation, in whatever measure, then there begins to be some vision, some understanding, and consequent acceptance of responsibility. We have seen this as an aspect of maturing. If you are to participate in serving, then you must have experienced at least some measure of maturity; you must have put away childish things—stop playing children's games, stop treating the elements in your environment as toys put there for your pleasure, so that if some of the things you find round about are not pleasurable, then you try to get rid of those toys. We're not interested in seeing what is around us in terms of toys. We will not see anything in terms of toys if we stop being childish. We will begin to see the real purpose of everything within the scope of our experience.

As we do accept spiritual responsibility we are, in fact, accepting the responsibility of what may be called the Priesthood. We need to see this word in a way that it is not usually seen because there are many people who are awakening spiritually who would not be particularly interested in becoming a priest or priestess because they have a concept as to what that word means. We see it in terms of abiding in the Holy Place—but then we have to have an understanding of what that means. Those who function on the basis of spiritual expression are the Priesthood in the Holy Place. We use these words to identify those who are functioning in this fashion—your dwelling place, the place where you habitually are in consciousness, a Holy Place. Heretofore, I am sure that it hasn't been at times. Even now, perhaps you find yourself in and out. Only the mature, those who have put away childish things, can be in the Holy Place. It is a place of maturity.

The Priesthood, in the true state, constitute what may be called government—the government of God on earth is extended through the Priesthood. There is no separation of church and state in this regard. We can well recognize why it has seemed necessary that there be a separation of church and state when function is from the standpoint of earthly heredity, because it isn't a true church or a true state. And if they get together they are something untrue. So, keep them apart and perhaps they will help to keep each other towing the mark, so to speak. But all this is children's games. We are willing to let it pass away. This does not mean that we are forcibly going to throw it out, enter into some revolutionary approach, because we are well aware of the fact that the unreal will dispose of itself. There are these two aspects in the creative cycle—integrative and disintegrative. And when there begins to be a means by which integration can more effectively take place, then disintegration more effectively takes place. The two go hand in hand.

We are concerned with this matter of integration and therefore with function from the Holy Place in spiritual expression, and consequently we assume spiritual responsibility as peculiar people. Nobody is born a peculiar person in this sense. It merely becomes evident after a while. It comes out into the open if it is so. If there is a movement away from children's games into the expression of the Priesthood in the Holy Place, and therefore the fact of maturity is made evident—peculiarity in the maturity. To start with, it is simply in the fact that there are those who are willing to align themselves with the Divine purpose; they are not so interested anymore in human purposes. And giving evidence of this alignment with Divine purpose, they become peculiar to the Lord in a way that those who are not aligned with the Divine purpose cannot be.

This relates to the matter of government on earth, the government of the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit—not the absence of spirit, the unholy spirit. This government is a very different government to what human beings know in their earthly state, but nevertheless a very effective one—far more effective than the rather distorted and elementary methods that human beings use. Human government is based, fundamentally, in manipulation at the level of form, and also at the level of what is not usually thought of as form but nevertheless is—mental form. Ideological considerations come into the picture. And people are manipulated in various ways by propaganda, it is called. And then we have all kinds of physical programs of government that are supposed to benefit people, materially speaking. So, the governments of earthly heredity are manipulative. The true government is based in spiritual expression and is very exact, because the Law works. Those who respond are attracted; those who oppose are repelled. And we have the two aspects of integration and disintegration coming ever more specifically into the picture. This is government; this is sorting things out on earth.

How do human beings go about it in earthly heredity? Well, they have various methods. You join the right political party or subscribe to a particular political system, and that will sort things out. We know how nonsensical and irrational all that is; it accomplishes nothing; it multiplies confusion. The true government is spiritual government, something that is virtually unknown to human beings and therefore it is very secret—secret service we have called it—but very effective, because nothing can withstand that government. Everyone is going to have one attitude or the other. Everyone is going to respond or they are going to oppose. For a while, some sit on the fence, but eventually even those are spewed out of the mouth, are forced by the very circumstances to fall off the fence one way or another, or be pushed off. It's getting that way in the world. It begins to be impossible to be indifferent, lukewarm.

So there is government. One of the factors of government is leadership. That has tended to be rather lacking in human government; at least there has been all too much of the wrong sort of leadership. Of course there is a sort of leadership which is more or less natural in human experience. When people begin to see what is present in themselves, exemplified by leadership, they try to get rid of it by getting rid of the leadership. That's not the way to do it. One should do it here first, and then it is discovered that it will not be in the leadership that is accepted. If there is what might be referred to as crooked leadership, it is because crooked people are being led. What other sort of leadership could there be? That's the way it is. There is a saying that people have the leadership that they deserve. There is a certain amount of truth in that because the points of focus that rise up, rise up in relationship to what it is that is being focalized—this is so in the state of earthly heredity where everybody is pointed in the wrong direction.

Leadership is very often looked upon as being an arbitrary imposition of some kind. And those sort of leaders are sometimes acceptable to human beings where someone gets up and says, “Well, you do that; don't do that; don't do the other thing.” A lot of people like that sort of regimentation, rebelling underneath all the time at it, but they feel safe and secure in such a situation because someone else is taking all the responsibility. But the leadership with which we are concerned is spiritual leadership. And we are not interested in manipulation of circumstance, whether the circumstances are near or far. Those who are interested in world affairs look out into the world and see various things going on, and the press tries to make something out of these things, in various ways, which have little to do with what is really going on. And if we pay too much attention to what we read without having any basis of understanding, we will no doubt be embroiled in taking sides this way and that way, once more beckoned into earthly heredity.

There is a very false picture of the world situation portrayed by what we read in the newspapers or hear over the radio or on TV. However, I'm sure that all of you begin to have a better point of outlook, so that your perspective may be more accurate. This is so when we begin to stand in the Holy Place; and we know fundamentally that these two processes of integration and disintegration are going on. We stay steady. We stand in the Holy Place. This is where we belong as the Priesthood. And we deal with world affairs, not in imagination, but because we handle the affairs that are right next to us correctly. That is dealing with world affairs. If we can be lured away from what is right next to us, to become embroiled in attitudes this way or that way, then we remain subject to earthly heredity; we remain pawns of the devil. This is what happens to people, because they don't know what else to do. We know what else to do; we know that we are here where we belong, and that our environment immediately around us is the closest part of our world to us. Our world does reach to a further extent, but the only place we can do anything is right where we are. And as we do something right where we are, we are doing something out there too because it is all connected together. But the only place we can touch it is right where we are. We can't touch it out there. And so, leadership relates to the extent of our spiritual expression in handling the immediate circumstance. And we will find in our immediate circumstances, when we have this perspective vision, that all the elements that are out there are right here. We don't need to go anywhere to find them. They are right here, wherever we may be. Our service as the Priesthood is in the Holy Place, not rushing helter-skelter all over the world trying to fix things up. If there are those who can hold things in place, in the external sense, it is for us. But let's not expect them to do it too long—let's get with it.

Our service is in the Holy Place; and to serve in the Holy Place, there are certain necessities. Long ago, when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, or even when the Tabernacle passed out of the picture, there were various vessels, golden vessels, which were used in the Temple in the service in the Holy Place, which were lost. They were no longer used in the service in the Holy Place because there wasn't any service in the Holy Place in this sense. Someone else had grabbed on to them and carried them away and was using them for other purposes. We can see something in regard to this, symbolically speaking, because everything for which we are responsible in the expression of spirit properly belongs in the Holy Place. This could include, in a general sense, thoughts, words, and deeds. Thoughts, words and deeds are the vessels of the Temple. And they have been scattered far and wide, haven't they? Human beings use their thoughts, their words, and their deeds for all kinds of things—in other words, they have stolen the vessels of the Temple, vessels of the Holy Place, and used them for their own self-centered purposes. We are concerned to let the vessels of the Temple, of this Holy Place, be brought back into the Holy Place. We've been doing this, haven't we, particularly from the standpoint for instance, of words. What do you use your words for? What do your words contain?

The spirit, the quality of your expression, is what is present in your words and in your thoughts and in your actions. When you are concerned with the content of these vessels, then you will bring the vessels back into the Holy Place so that they will only be used in the Temple service. They will not be used by you in earthly heredity for human purposes. All your thoughts, all your words, and all your actions will provide the setting for spiritual expression. That is service in the Holy Place. If you can let any of these aspects of setting be used for other purposes, then immediately you're out of the Holy Place. So we see the necessity of gathering all these vessels back into the Holy Place. They were golden vessels—the symbol of Love. All that we think, say and do must be permeated with love. But there is a very specific reason for the vessels of the Holy Place. There is a very specific reason for what our thought may be, for what our words may be, for what our action may be. Here is the setting for spiritual expression. If we do not gather the vessels back into the Temple, there is nothing to contain spiritual expression. If we think we can sit somewhere with a completely blank mind, doing absolutely nothing, and radiate spiritual expression, we would be rather foolish, wouldn’t we? There is always something going on as long as life remains. And so, we have these vessels all available. All that needs to happen is that they should be brought back into the Holy Place, that they should be used in the service of the Holy Place. And that service is spiritual expression. We have noted this matter of words, and we see in this realm many other things.

We were also speaking a few days ago about physical sex, as it is called. I might emphasize something which appeared in our considerations of yesterday, relative to the fact that the physical level at most could only be one seventh of the total picture. And yet, insofar as human beings in earthly heredity are concerned, it constitutes almost the whole picture. And it seems to do so very much in relationship to the realm of sex. When we recognize the generation of these dimensions, and the reason for their existence, the reason why we are here with this composite nature, sevenfold nature, we recognize that the generation comes out of nowhere into the now here and extends outward, or downward. There is something coming down from God, and it comes through and out of heaven into the earth. That's the direction of movement. In this case, what happens in the earth is the last thing to happen, and yet, particularly in the realm of what human beings think of as sex—it isn't really sex if it is limited to that area—what they think of as sex is usually put first, where it is an exact reverse of what the actual creative experience is. It relates to something coming down from God out of heaven. And it relates to all the vessels of the Temple, whether it is thought, word or action.

These things arise in experience because of what is coming down from God out of heaven and not because of what may be present in the environment. If it comes because what is present in the environment, if our thinking is engendered by this, if our words are engendered by this, if our actions are engendered by this, there is a clear case of earthly heredity, isn't there? When there is the experience of heavenly heredity, then the exact reverse occurs. What is to find expression comes down from God out of heaven, and there is a specific way by which it happens. We have illustrated something of that way on the blackboard by using the series of triangles.

Because earthly things tend to be so paramount in human experience, and heavenly things so unknown, we have to deal with the circumstance as it is—if I started to talk to you in the expression of something that appeared at the seventh level, for instance, it would mean nothing to you at all because you do not have that experience. And yet, the fact of the matter is that the process is coming down from God out of heaven. However, the Lord is a realist and so he recognized the necessity of starting with something—of starting at the level where people are, not at the level where they should be or where He might like them to be, but at the level where they are. And so, if there is consideration of sex, for instance, we could hardly begin the consideration with respect to the seventh level, could we? Because it would mean all of nothing. So, we do touch upon this realm at the level where human beings at least have been, where you have been. In any case, in speaking of these things, using words, we can only, at the moment at least, touch upon heavenly things by analogy, just as was done in the Book of Revelation. And the analogy begins to mean something to the extent that we begin to have the experience of it—to the extent that we have risen up to the level of the thing itself, which has been described by the analogy. And in earthly language, there would be no words available to describe that. How could there be? Because human beings haven't known what it was, haven't had any experience of it at all. We may find that as there is a restoration in this regard to the seven dimensional experience, a new language appears.

We might look back to the way things were before man fell and recognize that there was one language throughout the whole earth. It didn't require so many words as the languages of today seem to require, because the content of the words was all there, and one didn't have to go into extensive descriptions or explanations, because there was a consciousness on the part of all concerned of what was present in the word. Now there isn't. Human beings don't agree as to the meanings of the words—words mean different things to different people. But when there is a true expression springing forth from God, then all share that expression, and so there is no misunderstanding. We multiply words to try to avoid misunderstanding, at least if we are honest we're doing that. There are those who multiply words in order to make the misunderstanding. So, we use the words we have and begin to discover new meanings in those words, based in our own new experience. Then it isn't the word that is so important, the external form of it, although that will be very exact, an exact reflection. It is the reality that is back of it that is important. And we only know that by our own experience. We have a feel of it and move with what it is that is unfolding in the current of the spirit. We have an attunement with the spirit, and it begins to reflect in our own consciousness. And we see it. If we take time out to try to grasp something, and get it to fit into some concept we already have, well, we'll lose the movement of the spirit and we won't understand anything. It is to the extent that we do move together in the current of the spirit that we share an understanding, not because we figured it out with our minds, but because we simply know.

And so, in this matter of sex, as human beings understand it, we have noted that it is playing games and playing with toys. It has nothing to do with the real purpose, the real reason why we have this particular vessel. It belongs in the Holy Place. It isn't a toy to be played with by children. Maybe that's what happened to some of the vessels in the Temple when it was destroyed—children got hold of these things and started to play with them, fill them with mud pies, and one thing and another. That's just about what human beings have done. There may have been a sensing there was some value here, but because human beings were childish they looked upon everything they saw as toys for their own indulgence. Whenever I do speak a little about this particular realm of sex I am very conscious of the fact that there is a tendency for each person to interpret it on the basis of his own state of consciousness, which may contain some rather distorted structures. And even though these structures are present, they are not usually seen as being distorted by the person who has them. After all, they are very familiar to him; he's had them all along, or he's developed them over the years. And so, when anything is said it tends to be translated on the basis of these structures. I'm very aware that when I am speaking to all of you, for instance here, that if I talk about correct function, I'm not in the least suggesting that there should be some sort of a promiscuous indulgence in some of the things that begin to emerge into awareness.

Everything needs to unfold in the way that we know that it does unfold—on the right basis—under control, decently, and in order. One can allow one's understanding to open. These currents of the spirit are moving through the individual, male or female, and there are the two aspects in the one person. In a woman, the female aspect is dominant; in man, the male aspect is dominant. But the other aspect is present also. This indicates that there is, in the Holy Place, a correct use for the vessel of the Temple in an individual sense—the positive and negative are present. And while the word has been a rather disreputable word in the idea of human beings on the basis of the toys which have been stolen, masturbation actually has a reason, a purpose in the Holy Place. And so, the fact of the matter is that regardless of relationships that may be presently a fact between men and women, the creative expression in this regard is available to all. It is a fact in relationship to all, as anyone can testify. Sometimes these things are suppressed and so on—but we're still alive, and so there is something moving.

We noted in the diagram that we used the other day, a creative cycle, a cycle which moves down, coming down from God out of heaven into the earth. I’ve simplified it by just putting the creative cycle here, but there is also another one down here. And it flows down this way. However, we don't wish to complicate things, but you can see that there is something more that needs to be considered. Thinking of this from the standpoint of the union of male and female, here is the male point and here is the female point. And the movement of the current is different in each case. There seems to be some sort of a program in the world now to make it seem as though men and women were the same. How ridiculous! And also, to seem as though a women being a woman was rather a menial business—that unless she can become a man she won't amount to anything. Well, she doesn't amount to anything until she becomes a woman. And a man doesn't amount to anything until he becomes a man. And why women should aspire to occupy the place of men who are not men amazes me! Would that be any improvement? But from the standpoint of the union between a man and a woman, the current is moving this way: It is coming down from God out of heaven through the man; and it is rising up in response through the woman. There is an opposite movement of the current in each case.

What is coming down from God out of heaven needs to be held steady and allowed to radiate into the world. It actually radiates with respect to something specific at this point, and it connects with something in his consciousness with respect to what it is that is happening by reason of the radiation. Now, men have usually been so wrapped up in playing with their toys that they have no awareness at all of anything except—what? The joys of heaven, which rightly are experienced, are an effect. They are not supposed to be the reason for the undertaking. “And these things shall be added.” “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness”—that is, right function in every circumstance, the right use of all the vessels of the Holy Place. And then there is an adding. If there is radiation there will be response. And response rises up through the woman here, to ascend to God through her. And obviously, where there is response and something is moving, that is a delightful experience. It will be emphasized in her in relationship to what is called orgasm, rightly speaking. Something is rising up to let it be so. Now, there are all kinds of concepts that men and women have had about, oh, the delight that should be experienced because there is a mutual orgasm. This is just simply a concept. What is the right thing to happen? That is the question. And in a general sense, a man is responsible for maintaining a steady current in relationship to what it is that is being achieved. There is something going forth which shall not return unto the Lord void. It is coming down from Him. The man has his point of responsibility. Control must be maintained. Now, a woman sometimes has the idea that she is capable of causing a man to lose his control, which she is. And that gives her a sense of power. There are all sorts of attitudes, of course. There is the idea of the wifely duty, or something, a passive sort of attitude, which is ridiculous! How could anything move? There must be a participation and a consequent movement of the current. But she certainly has a responsibility to make sure that what is moving through her does not cause a loss of control in the man, so that what is moving is allowed to move up or down, according to the requirements of the situation. And there may be a pulsating current sensed in this regard.

I speak of these things to impress the actual fact that this is a core element in the service in the Holy Place. We are equipped this way for that reason. We weren't equipped this way in order to have toys to play with. There is some adult reason for these potentialities in us. And these are essential if there is to be restoration. We cannot continue to just play children's games and expect anything of a creative nature to happen. It isn't game-playing. There is something real here. And, touching upon it as I have this morning, oh so briefly, is simply to emphasize the point that here is something supremely sacred and holy. It belongs in the Holy Place—nowhere else. It hasn't been so, insofar as human beings are concerned, for a long, long time. Therefore, in introducing these things, it tends to carry into a realm of the unknown. Well, fine. It is an unknown. It has been unknown. But it needs to be known.

We begin to recognize the essential factor of having a right attitude in this regard. Regardless of what possibility of right function there may be at the present moment, the first thing is to have a right attitude, to begin to see what is really present in this field. And it has very little to do with what has been present in the structured consciousness of earthly oriented people. The best that can be said of that is that it is children's games. And it's a lot of other things as well. Virtually all of it has been destructive, and we see the evidences of it all around us. So, let us recognize that the vessels of the Temple need to be returned to the Holy Place—all of them. If I have touched upon this one it doesn't mean that we should ignore all the others. All the vessels of the Temple must come again into the Holy Place. And the Priesthood is responsible for assembling them there.

© Emissaries of Divine Light

The Pulsing Rhythms Of Being

Summer  Solstice

Look to the Light

It seemed we were alone

in the dark night struggle,

abandoned and opposed

by forces unseen.

You know the ending

in your heart of hearts,

you know who saved us,

the strength always present

when we look to the light.

The rhythm of salvation

drums deep in the earth

echoing across the night sky

to the laughter of stars.

We are leaving

a sleep long and troubled.

Thorn hedges dissolve

and the well of life's water

flows out in a spring.

It is morning

and we are awake.

Don Hynes

donhynes.com

The  Pulsing  Rhythms  Of  Being

from  Servers In Our Master's Harvest Field

Uranda   May 2, 1954  Class

Our purpose here is to be, or to learn to be, servers in our Master's harvest field. As servers it is our responsibility to reach a point in understanding, in capacity, where we may help others to accept and to pass through essential periods of cleansing by which there may be a renewing in body and mind and heart. We realize that if we are to reach a point where we can help others be made new we ourselves must first lead the way in the experience of letting the cleansing be a reality and the process of renewing be a fact in form. As we realize the need for this deeper cleansing, that we may by faith be made every whit whole, we are in position to begin to accept and receive that power of God by which such fulfilment may be known. We have in recent meditation considered something of the reality of Father God and of Mother God. To the end that we may allow the manifestation of God on earth we would in all things so yield that each in his or her appointed place, and according to the divine provision of capacity, do that which is needful to the revelation of God on earth, which is to say, the revelation of Father God and the revelation of Mother God.

As we pause to meditate upon these things, our thoughts turn to the basic application of the One Law by which essential building or creating may appear and by which essential cleansing may be maintained, for as we consider the matter, we realize that God provided a means of cleansing and that that means of cleansing was ordained to function in the ideal state. A certain amount of cleansing is essential at every level of being, in heaven above or in earth beneath. If, as in illness, the cleansing process has not been adequate, and there appears to be a special need for cleansing, the functions of this process must in the sense of that which may be observed in form become dominant; and yet in the sense of actual function, in the sense of that which is actually at work in both the visible and invisible realms, this function of cleansing must never be allowed to become dominant. What do I mean by these words? If the evidence in outer form is distorted and failing to function according to the fulness of life, that which is evident is a dominant need for cleansing; but if we try to achieve this cleansing without regard to the dual function of the Law we will fail, and in this mankind has been most successful, most successful in failing, and it is for us to change the tide.

Let us consider the principle—the Principle of Pulsation. We see this principle at work in our bodies, in the respiratory system. We inhale and we exhale. The inhalation of what is presumed to be pure air provides the body with the needed oxygen, and in the exhalation there is the expulsion that allows for a cleansing away of those things which must not be allowed to accumulate in the body. In a perfectly healthy condition this elimination of matter that ought not to be is constant. We see this pulsation at work in breathing; we see it in the heart, the pulsations by which the life fluids, the lifestream, is caused to move in arteries and veins. We see the provision of that which permits the building, and we see the provision of that which permits the cleansing away of refuse. We see this cycle of pulsation in relationship to the alimentary canal; we eat and we allow the elimination of refuse. The Principle of Pulsation. It is needful that we begin to realize that, regardless of the form, whether from the single-celled amoeba or the complex human being, the application of the One Law in relationship to form, here or anywhere, is on the basis of pulsation. If the ebb and the flow ceases at any point there is the cessation of the manifestation of life in the form at that point.

The working of the Law in any form, at any level, is by reason of pulsation. If there is at any point the positive expanding expression and then the negative form fails to respond thereto, at that point there is death. Whether in the amoeba, in the nucleus, or in the sun, in the solar system, there is the expanding expression of the positive element in radiation in the release of the positive forces of being. But those forces of being do not become power, in the sense of the living of life in form, until there is the response thereto in the negative aspect of the form. It is this pulsation between the positive aspect and the negative aspect that provides the current of life. If there be the positive outflowing and then an inadequate, weak, uncertain response in return, there is weakness, there is illness, and the life forces do not manifest as power in living. Anything which inhibits the response pattern to the positive pulsations inhibits the expression of life in the form. The forms through which the pulsing rhythms move extend from the single cell to the solar system and on beyond, and we are in between.

There is a great lesson to be learned by those who are wise, in the fact that humanity after twenty thousand years of the fallen state still suffers as it does. The positive pulsations in radiation from God the Center have been rhythmic and certain in all their cycles, large and small, through all these centuries, through all the millennia, but God, with all of His power, could not force humanity to receive and respond adequately. There has been some receiving and a little response or the body of mankind would have perished from the face of the earth, but it has been inadequate receiving, an inadequate response. In desperation human beings would let a little more of the response appear, do a little more receiving, and then again become self-sufficient, self-satisfied, arrogant, self-willed and self-active at a level which was not more than a tenth of what could have been, and in season must be. Man accepted a level, above which he has refused thus far to move, because he has not accepted the pulsing rhythms of being in the working of the Law through his own form, and he has contented himself with barely existing instead of opening to that which is, and permitting himself to know the resurrection and the life by which he might share the full strong rhythms of the heartbeat of the Body of God.

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We realize that the response factor in the Body of God, in the Being of God, belongs to Mother God; the positive radiation factor belongs to Father God; and the pulsations between provide the field of being, the field of living, the field of attainment, achievement, fulfilment, the realm of creation. We realize that we cannot comprehend that which we do not allow to manifest within ourselves in some way. We cannot comprehend anything of any level which is not allowed expression through ourselves. It must appear through form on earth. We have as the body of humanity had that uneasiness, that insecurity, that restlessness, which gave evidence of the absence of Mother God. We have perceived something of the pulsing, positive expression of Being from God but we have allowed so little of the vigorous response thereto to appear in our lives that we could not see or know here on earth that which would have given this realm of creation the spirit and the nature of home, the true expression and manifestation of Mother God. If we are to share in the full, free rhythms of life, we must let the cleansing take place without allowing this dominant need to become the dominant factor in consciousness, for that is where human beings fail.

You who have functioned as servers know full well how it is that human beings allow their consciousness to be so filled with their aches and their pains, their needs and their difficulties, the things they think they do not have, that they have no means of allowing the positive expression of being, which they cannot yet see, have true control in their lives. There is in the sense of the form, the outer evidence, the dominant need for the healing, for the cleansing, for the correction of the ill conditions, but if that dominant need is permitted to become the dominant aspect in consciousness, the healing, the cleansing, cannot take place. This that is the dominant need in the outer form must be relinquished to the control point in an attitude of trust and faith, so that even though it is there, as far as the consciousness of the individual is concerned it becomes a secondary factor. The need for the centering in God, the need for the fulfilment of the whole, the need for rising above all personal and petty limitations, must become the dominant factor in consciousness, otherwise the human capacities of being are not permitted to share and make manifest in form, where they can be perceived, seen and known and experienced, the positive pulsations of God Being by which this need may be cleared. To convince human beings of this one point is the most difficult thing in our whole ministry. The human vision sees the need, is centered there, and the human consciousness becomes so filled with that that it is not aware, and has no means of becoming aware, of anything else. So the ill condition continues and worsens until the form is lost. But recognizing the need for cleansing, or healing, or growth, or development, or fulfilment, for all the things which we recognize as being necessary, seeing them and acknowledging the need, we must let them become completely and utterly secondary.

Now if we deny the need when it is present and try to function from the standpoint of the positive God Being we will fail. We must acknowledge this need. If by reason of human pride we shut our eyes to it, if by reason of concepts of human self-sufficiency we deem ourselves to be sufficient and adequate and we say, “I am not going to let all of these needs bother me; I am going to function from the standpoint of positive God,” what happens? The same old thing that has worked out in human history in various forms over and over again. We have accomplished nothing. We have not risen above the ceiling under which man has been struggling with his ten percent or less of fulfilment. We must see these needs, we must face them, we must accept them, we must acknowledge them. If we try to deny them or imagine that they are not present, or refuse to face them by reason of human pride, we fail. We must face them, we must acknowledge them, we must recognize them, but having done so, we must let them take the secondary position, not the dominant position. Having so acknowledged, we must then set these needs aside, as it were, and let our whole consciousness become centered in that which is dominant—not even our personal need for salvation. If the sense of a personal need of salvation remains dominant, that person remains damned. We must face the need, we must acknowledge it, accept it, we must not in any sense deny it, but having reached that point, we must then take the next step and let our concern for development, progress, personal fulfilment in any way, shape or form, with respect to salvation or fulfilment in any degree or realm, become completely secondary, completely so in relationship to our centering and response for the benefit of the whole, for the fulfilment in any place or time or way by reason of the positive radiation from God, from center, from core, from nucleus, from whatever we wish to say that represents the positive elements of being in action. Then the human mind will not be trying to direct and control the uses of the positive outflow; for as long as the mind, seeing the need, attempts to control and use the positive outflow, for good causes surely, that person is defeated by his own function.

You say, “I accept the positive current from God"; but you want to determine how it shall be used, what shall be fulfilled in yourself or in another, when and how; and you will fail. This is the breakdown; for human beings have been through the centuries refusing to let the will of God be done in earth as it is in heaven. Having acknowledged the need on earth and seen the condition for what it is, faced the issues honestly and squarely, we then yield to the positive outflow, unconcerned as to whether the fulfilment comes in someone over there, in the clearing of that condition first, in whatever manner whatsoever, through whom, when or how--not demanding one thing for ourselves, not requiring one speck from the standpoint of position or fulfilment or healing, not requiring anything for ourselves but actually rejoicing, in a completely selfless joy, in the response and the outworking, the fulfilment, the manifestation out here, anywhere, at any time, under any circumstances, through any person. If when there begins to be a fulfilment in some person over here we rejoice, then we share; but if we say, “Such and such a person is being put ahead. Such and such a person is receiving such a blessing. I ought to have that blessing. I am hurt,” on the basis of human reaction and pride we stiffen up and cease yielding to the positive power. Then the breach gets wider and wider and wider, and that person who is suffering from human pride becomes more and more meaningless, until he either wakes up and responds anew or passes from the scene of things.

These pulsations are here and we have to learn to recognize and work on the basis of the pulsations. When there is the responding inflow to God the human being tends to remain rigid, unresponsive, and he says in that condition, “I want to feel the positive power of God. I am trying so hard to feel the positive power of God and I can't feel it,” and he passes by the inflowing. And then the cycle of God, the season of God for the outflowing from God comes, and he has this positive pattern—he has failed to yield in the pulsation—and he is pushed a little further away, and a little further away. Two positives repel each other. And the cycle works and the cleansing continues. If we insist on the right to be foreign objects in the body of the amoeba we will be pushed right out sooner or later. This pulsation, whether its rhythm is one second or one year, depending upon the cycle, is beside the point. That pulsing rhythm is there, in some places moving at a very high rate, in others a long, slow pulsation. We might say it takes twenty-four hours for the double cycle of the pulsation to work out in relationship to the tides of the sea. There is the stronger one and the lesser one every twelve hours, but the full cycle, the double pulsation, twenty-four hours. Now if man became rambunctious and said, “These tides ought to run every twenty-four minutes. I don't see why God didn't make them run every twenty-four minutes. I want it that way,” we would say, “How foolish can man be?” The tide is here, this is the rhythm, let us work with it. That is what is meant by working with the Law, that is to say working in and with the pulsations of the Law; not according to the seasons and the times of man's self-determination, but according to the seasons and the times and the cycles of the pulsation as God has already established it.

If we try to change it we may say, “Oh I am trying to apply the One Law,” but it will amount to nothing. You are not going to change the pulsing seasons of God's ordaining. We either accept that and work with it or we fail, struggle as the human being may—and we have twenty thousand years back of us, six or seven thousand years of recorded history full of the evidence that it does not pay to ignore the One Law. But in what way do we ignore the One Law? We ignore it in the patterns of its manifestation through the pulsing cycles of its expression. Work with the Law. Do not try to set the Law up yourself as if you were God. That is what caused the fall in the first place. You are going to be positive, you are going to use the One Law, you are going to initiate the positive pulsations and expect the negative response to appear? You are going to do it? You are going to be as God? It will not work.

The pulsations are already established. They are already here with respect to every little cycle and every big one. All we have to do is to perceive them and coordinate with them and then we are working with the Law. But if we ignore those pulsations and try to establish our own rhythms we are trying to be as God and we will surely fail. But if we will accept the pulsations that are, little or large, and work with them, then we will be sharing in and with God the expression of God Being, and the proper cycle of response to the positive radiation of Father God will appear through us and we will begin to know Mother God. And knowing Mother God, we will begin to be at home on earth where God has placed us.

So it is that the Kingdom comes. So it is that all fulfilments are possible. Anything that disregards these already established pulsations, which is to say, the control factors, the Kingdom factors—the Kingdom of heaven that is at hand is what? The pulsing rhythms of the operation of the Law in all the cycles of being and creation all around us. We conform with them and we know what it is to share God's creative work. We ignore them, and seek to establish our own, and we fail. It is the Law, and no man can alter or change it. Man can reject it and refuse to work with it and destroy himself. Each must make his own choice. But these pulsing rhythms of being are present everywhere, and we have the responsibility of receiving from God the positive radiation, of responding thereto, and doing what?—and giving it back to God. When children play ball—two little ones playing toss, shall we say—one throws the ball and the other is supposed to return it. If the one who receives it takes it and walks off with it, no ball game. God tosses the ball to you. You receive it and don't toss it back, you walk off with it; you are going to do something, something big; but no ball game, just like that. Or perhaps God tosses it to you and you don't even catch it; you just let it go on by, you ignore it, and you say, “When is God going to throw me the ball? I will stand here. I will be patient. I will keep my eyes shut so I never see God throw it, but I will wait.”

We must be alert. We must begin to perceive, to sense, to feel and to know the pulsations from God and to work with them. That is the secret of life, the secret of fulfilment, and as we feel it coming from God, filling us, do we say, “Well now I am beginning to feel something. I am surely going to have to use this”? What are you going to do with it? Like self-active Peter did so long ago, go out and start using? Or are you going to hold steady and let it fill your being and thrill your being, until you cannot contain it any longer and give it back to God, and then let it come? It begins to appear and fills, becomes higher and higher, until you are filled, and then it goes over the top and back to God. Over and over again, in every little cycle, in every big one, you receive; but you cannot respond in the sense of true expression the minute you begin to receive. You have to let yourself be filled, and then there is the overflow. And what do you do with it? You try to use it here? You try to do that with it? Or do you give it back to God, let it flow back?—receiving and responding. What is responding? Responding is just receiving on an open, yielded pattern until, being filled, you reach the absolute limit of your capacity to receive and you give it back to God—the ebb and the flow, the pulsing working of the Law. And you accept the cycles. You do not try to change them, and you work with them. You do not cut yourself off by human pride or self-activity.

You let the will of God be done in earth as it is in heaven, and you acknowledge the reality that “Thine is the kingdom.” Well where is the Kingdom? Your body, your whole being, with all of its capacities. And “Thine is the power” that fills the Kingdom until it can contain no more. And then, “Thine is the glory,” the wonder and the beauty of the return of that to God. And you have become a part of the ebb and the flow, the pulsation of Life, and in it all things work together to perfection, because those who are in it love and serve the Lord.

© Emissaries of Divine Light

The Communion Of Friendship

Communion  With  Our  Friend

from  The  Communion  of  Friendship

Uranda   May 24, 1953  Class

I thank God for that response in each and every one of you which has brought you to this time and this hour, and tonight I would like to share with you a period of meditation on one of the most significant of the Secrets of Being in the series which we have been sharing together. In our most recent periods of meditation we have recognized certain of the basic factors concerning friendship; something of what friendship signifies; something of the opportunity we have that we may be friends to God even as God is a Friend to us. Once the qualities of friendship, the capacities of friendship, begin to develop in the individual, the relationship so established between God and us makes possible the divinely ordained position for which man was first created. God created man in the image and likeness, the same design, the same principles, the same laws, the same capacities and qualities as are found in God Himself, to the end that man might be the means by which God could reveal Himself in action on earth in relationship to the rest of creation.

Man was supposed to be the connecting link between Creator and creation. But when man violated the basic principles of friendship, he lost the position of being a friend to God and became the missing link, allowing the appearance of separation between Heaven and earth. In that Divine position as the connecting link between Creator and creation man was, before the violation of friendship, a friend to God. God has never ceased being man’s Friend; and with patience and love and infinite care He has sought through the generations since that day to reestablish a pattern on earth by which man might receive the friendship of God and become a friend to God.

In the pattern of true friendship—not in the range of so-called fair-weather friends—in the true pattern of friendship there is always, without any exception, to whatever degree it may be experienced between human beings on earth, a particular quality of communion. Those who move toward the state of true friendship—which has been in fact a very rare occurrence—began to experience a state of communion, of vibrational companionship, which might at times use words for the interchange of ideas but was not limited to words, for in friendship there is understanding, and there is a communion of spirit which is unknown to those who have never touched the true Spirit of friendship, a quality of comprehension of the inner play of the vibratory field of the one who is counted Friend. And this quality of communion is one of the crowning marks of friendship. Once we begin to see that the true state of friendship is the true state of Heaven on earth, the idea of the Kingdom of Heaven being at hand does not seem so vague, so uncertain. Once we begin to glimpse the reality of what friendship means, or what it means to be a friend to God, there is a new vision of Heavenly things made manifest, for we have noted that friends make no demands upon each other. God is our Friend and he does not make any demands on us. He offers us something. He invites us to share something. But God makes no demands. We can trust Him. He is not inclined to take something from us. And we learn, in the pattern of friendship, to make no demands upon God; for as long as man makes a demand upon God, whether he thinks it to be in prayer or some other form, he is violating the principles of friendship essential to the correct relationship with God. So, as we begin to comprehend the principles of friendship we make no demands upon God.

We have recognized in our meditations that where the state of friendship is established, those who are friends, without making any demands upon each other, at the same time exert a powerful, profound and lasting influence upon each other. Man, in the limited realm, having failed to know the truth and let the truth make him free, could well experience this profound influence from God. But you may say: “What profound and powerful influence can I exert upon God?” Friendship is based upon qualities of equality. That is the point! For God first created Man, male and female, in the image and likeness of God, having qualities of equality, and it was never God’s intention that man should be in a limited, dwarfed, subservient, or weak position. It was God’s intention that Man should be made manifest on earth as the image and likeness of God. We remember the Word as it has been written: “And God said, “Let us”—plural—“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” And God did so, “male and female created he them.”

There is, in the limited consciousness of man, a peculiar idea that in what is called Heaven there is a sexless state of things. Angels are supposed to be creatures of neuter gender. This idea, developed out of ignorance and prejudice, has been one of the devil’s chief weapons to keep people from drawing near to the Throne of God, for the suggestion of a sexless state suggests to man, whether he thinks it out or not, that such a state would be a realm without any particular feeling, without any particular joys of being, without any particular productiveness; a realm of virtual meaninglessness. And so the self-active mind of man has maintained a concept that here on earth we could accomplish certain things, have certain pleasures, be productive and creative in various ways, but the moment we get to Heaven there will be a static state, the thing that is supposed to be perfection, as if perfection were something already finished, having reached the ultimate degree of completeness, so that there was nothing more to do, just to float around on a cloud all day and pluck a harp.The popular concept of Heaven portrays a state that would produce boredom, that has absolutely no true appeal to man, a state that seems to man to be senseless and meaningless. Now there are not very many who have perhaps dared to analyze the matter, and some suppose that taking an honest look at the matter is somehow sacrilegious. But here we have one of those points that is vital if we are going to know the Truth and let the Truth make us free, for only the Truth can. And as long as the self-active mind of man can maintain in the consciousness of man this deplorable lie with respect to the Heavenly state, it can be so worked that man will think that the earthly state as it now is is infinitely more desirable than the Heavenly state. The idea of sitting on a cloud and plucking a harp, day after day, year after year, century after century, millennia after millennia: that is the picture of hell!—unmitigated hell, boredom in the nth degree! So, by the very nature of the situation we see that this is a lie about God, that this concept maintains a state of consciousness in man whereby he is not privileged to know God, or to know the true state of things with respect to God. It is only the ignorant mind which could assume that perfection is an ultimate thing that comes to a static state and so remains forever. That very state would not be perfection, for perfection is right function under any given circumstance.

Perfection in heaven would require right function in the heavenly state, and God is a creator. God never ceases creating! As long as human beings imagine that God was a creator for a few hours or a few days, and then He quit and He is going to spend the rest of eternity sitting on His throne and enjoying the obeisance of His creatures, we show that we do not know God. God is a Creator and God could no more stop creating than you could by holding your breath stop breathing—and there is no static state in eternity. We are in eternity. We could not get out of it if we tried to. We are in eternity now, and once we begin to realize with absolute certainty that our God is a creator, that He is continually creating, and we are made in the image and likeness of God, then we too have the capacity to let the creative spirit work through us. Now let no one jump to the conclusion, as some have, that I am suggesting that man is limited to the procreative act in relationship to creativeness. I am talking about a creative life, so that man begins to reach a point where every thought, every word, every act is dedicated, under the control of the spirit of God to creating something lovely, something beautiful, to bringing into manifestation something that carries a blessing to others, or to the creation as a whole.

Made in the image and likeness of God, it is our business to share the creative work of God, and God would like to have men and women on earth share the creative work, right here, to the end that paradise may be restored, to the end that Heaven and earth may be seen as one, which in fact they are. It is only an appearance that makes it seem to man that they are separated. Heaven and earth are one already in fact. They have never been anything else. But man has not permitted Heaven to manifest in relationship to himself, so man has sought to get out of the earth into Heaven instead of recognizing the Divine principle of letting Heaven get out of some invisible realm into the earth through himself. This is another of the basic falsehoods which has kept men bound down through the centuries, a false concept with respect to God, with respect to Heaven; for man has thought that he had to get out of the earth, out of his body, into a Heaven, when God created man with a body as a means by which the invisible Heaven might be made visible in this realm of things, that man, made in the image and likeness of God should share the creative work of God to make that invisible Heaven visible on earth. And the fact that man stopped making Heaven visible does not change the fact that Heaven and earth are one and have always been. As the Master Himself put it, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”—available, within reach, available to you.

Once we begin to see that this quality of friendship with the Lord was supposed to be on a basis of equality, the manifestation of God Himself, we begin to see the basic factor which caused the fall, which caused man to become a missing link; for man tried to be as God. Instead of being the actual revelation of God he wanted to separate himself from God and be as God. There is the difference. And as long as man continues to try to be as God and to accomplish something worthwhile in life without regard to God, man will continue to be a poor, weak, miserable creature. But the very moment any man or woman has the courage to face the Truth, and let the Truth make him free, there begins to be a recognition of the basic truth that man was created to be a means by which God could reveal Himself, so that man might be God in action on earth. And we begin to see that friendship with God is possible.

Friendship requires factors of equality, and man has imagined that God wanted him to grovel in the dust. Man has interpreted meekness as weakness, humility as a doormat attitude. Humility is necessary, but only the strong can be humble. Look at a weak person and you will never find humility. The weak person in the first place does not have the capacity for humility while he is weak, and in the second place he is afraid to be humble. He may manufacture an imitation of humility, and pass it off as humility, but it will not be the genuine article. The weak feel that they cannot afford to be humble. Only the strong ever dare to be humble. Moses, one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known, was the meekest of men. Meekness does not properly suggest weakness. Humility and meekness simply suggest that man as such has let go of arrogance wherein he is trying to be superior to God. He is willing, in his attitude, to accept God on the basis of the Divine Design, the qualities of equality; for once you begin to have the courage to face the facts you find that man has been sustaining himself by a spirit of arrogance which in actual fact took the attitude that God was inferior to man, at least insofar as this world was concerned. How many millions of good, so-called Christians are there in the world who take the attitude that the power of God just is not available to us any more. God gave that power to the disciples back there, and they could let some of the power of God manifest to heal people, but it is just a figment of imagination to imagine that God's power could actually heal anybody in this day and age. You know, we have to have the doctors and we have to have the nurses and we have to have antibiotics and a lot of other things. Man in this world is supposed to be superior to God! Look at the facts and you cannot deny it. And it is this arrogance on the part of man which has kept man from beginning to know the friendship which God extends to the children of men. Let us stop trying to be superior to God and let us begin to be willing to be what God intended us to be, and then we can begin to know the fulfilment of life.

Seeing these things and getting away from this insufferable arrogance that man has in his attitude toward God, man begins to reach a point where he is willing to say in his heart, “Perhaps God could do something on earth. Perhaps God could do something in your own life, and you do not have to do it all in your own strength and in your own wisdom until you are dead and go to Heaven. It is just possible that if we begin to see humanity as it is we will see that this insufferable, contemptible arrogance has put man in a position where he denies the possiblity of the true working of the power of God in the lives of men in relationship to daily affairs. The point is that if man were not so insufferably arrogant, if he would begin to be humble and stop trying to act as if he were superior to God, he would begin to enter into the pattern of Friendship with God and he would begin to have the privilege of communion with our Friend, our Lord and King. The privilege of communion with our Friend. That communion does not always require words, although it may utilize words. Communion between friends is not limited by distance or space. Man imagines that God is far, far away. He imagines that He could not possibly produce a state wherein there would be true communion with God.

Some people try to order God about. I have heard many ministers on the pulpit do what they called praying, which in actual fact was a presumptuous, blasphemous attitude in which they were telling God what to do and how he should do it, making all kinds of demands upon God as if the master mind of man was necessary to direct Divine activities in Heaven in relationship to the earth. Such presumption, such blasphemous attitudes, cannot be called prayer. And so man has failed to recognize what true prayer is. Millions of people do what they call praying when in actual fact it is not prayer. It is a blasphemous presumption! And they wonder why God doesn’t answer their prayer. The simple point is they never prayed! They only thought they did. We should begin to learn how to pray; which is to say we should reach a point of communion with our Friend.

When our Master was on earth He gave some very significant words to us. They are ours as surely as if we had heard them spoken. “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are.” Now, what is a hypocrite? A hypocrite is a person who tries to be something he is not, and any man or woman who has not entered into the pattern of true relatedness to God is a hypocrite, anywhere, because he is trying to be something that he is not. Anyone who is not letting the Divine revelation of Being manifest through himself, anyone who is not subject to God's control, anyone who is not letting the Spirit of God have meaning on earth, anyone who is not revealing the things of God in thought and word and deed, anyone who has not entered into a spirit of friendship with God, is a hypocrite. anyone who is not doing what God designed that person to do is a hypocrite for that person is trying to be something which he or she is not. So let us not have the limited concept of hypocrisy which has supposedly been adequate in days gone by.

“And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are.” Now, could it possibly be that this applies to anyone within the sound of my voice, or must we go into the next county or the next state to find a hypocrite? “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.” Verily, truly, they have their reward, and it does not come from God. “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking,” or for their loud speaking. The Master's definition of the heathen has a strange capacity of fitting a few people right here in United States of America, just a few. I wonder how many here have the courage, the inner stamina, to dare to stop trying to apply these things to neighbor, so-called friend, acquaintance, husband, wife, someone else, and take an honest, personal look at the Truth; for as long as you avoid facing the Truth for yourself you cannot come to know the Truth, and only the Truth can make you free. You cannot make yourself free.

And remember, you cannot use the Truth. Man so often mistakes mere knowledge for Truth and he thinks to use Truth for his own purposes but he never succeeds. He tries to take Truth and make it his own but he never succeeds. Did you ever stand upon the shores of the great Pacific Ocean and watch the waves roll in, and realize that that water extended out for thousands of miles, with a few islands scattered here and there. That water extended out thousands of miles, to some far shore. The Pacific Ocean. Did you ever, standing there, imagine that you could pick that ocean up in your hands and walk off with it? No. It is just as foolish and futile for any human being to imagine that he can pick up the Truth and use it to his own ends. Blessed Ones, if you take a handful of the ocean and try to keep it, it soon runs away or evaporates. There may be a little residue, but it is gone. You can no more take the Truth and use it for yourself than you can take the Pacific Ocean and use it for yourself. You may swim in the ocean but it is the ocean that is holding you up, not you holding the ocean up. Until you begin to realize that you can let the Truth have you, you can give yourself to the Truth—but if you try to take the Truth to yourself it will evaporate or slip away or become stagnant and be gone, useless. You can no more take the Truth to yourself than you can take the oceans of the world to yourself.

And so, trying to use Truth leads into vain endeavor. Now anyone who is dedicated to vain endeavor, to trying to do the impossible, is, according to the Master's Word a heathen. That is what He says here. “But ye, when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do.” All heathen are constantly using vain repetitions, not necessarily limited to the words of the lips—vain repetitions of act, trying to do something but never getting it done, trying to do the impossible in a thousand and one ways, pouring one's life stream down the drain. Those who indulge in vain repetitions of thought or word or deed are heathen. Let us stop these vain repetitions. Did you ever work in vain for a given goal? Did you ever set yourself to some attainment and struggle hard but work in vain? Perhaps you did. Trying to do the impossible. There is not anything that is more in vain than trying to do the impossible. God does not waste His time in such endeavor, and the Master made the plain statement that anyone who wastes his time in vain endeavor is a heathen. Now He spoke of hypocrites and heathen, neither one very gentle words—something very positive and penetrating—and how many of us dare to submit to the measure which the Master offered men?

Blessed Ones, once we submit to this measure and stop being hypocrites and heathen we can begin to show forth the qualities of friendship and we can begin to receive the friendship which God offers to us and we can begin to extend friendship to God. And would it not exert a profound influence upon Heaven if Heaven were no longer shut up and denied the opportunity of manifestation on earth? Selfish, self-centered, self-active human beings have kept Heaven shut out of the earth long enough. Would it not exert a profound influence on Heaven if we proved to be the Friends of God and let Heaven, the atmosphere of friendship—Heaven is the atmosphere of true Friendship—let Heaven appear on earth. Yes, we can. The way is easy.

Until we begin to let the Friendship of God have meaning in our lives, here on earth, so that we can let our Friendship for God have meaning in Heaven and stop making of Heaven a prison in refusing to let God and the things of God out of Heaven into the earth we cannot possibly know fulfilment. When we stop trying to do the impossible and accept the simple, easy task that God has offered to us, the simple process of working with the Positive Laws of Being, the simple process of changing from dying existence to living fulfilment, the simple process of changing from the paths of defeat to the realm of victory, simply accepting the invitation to be on earth the friends of God, that we may stop believing so many lies about God, stop having false attitudes toward God, and begin to be the Friends of God. This is our purpose here.

© Emissaries of Divine Light