Refugees From the World of Unreality
What Price Freedom For Us?
Uranda January 28, 1951
I have been thinking this morning about some of the things we have to be thankful for, and one of these blessings is shelter from the cold. I know what it is to be cold, and to have no place to go for shelter and warmth. Recently the blessings of protection from the cold have been emphasized in Korea where those refugees with their babies have been out on the road, ill-clad in weather worse than we had this morning, children freezing to death, and adults, too. Such are the conditions produced by man's inhumanity to man—war. Those refugees were fleeing from their homes, leaving behind whatever they had that was precious to them, fleeing in subzero weather, rather than come under Communist domination. The misery of such a condition can hardly be portrayed in words, and I doubt if even imagination can give an adequate picture. Some of us have been at times a little cold. I have spent more than one night when I had to keep moving all night long to keep from freezing to death. But that under those conditions!—and they were fleeing from domination by Communists, and that Communistic regime which was at work came really from Red Russia. It may have been in the form of North Koreans or in the form of the Chinese, but it was Moscow back of it. The aggressive, heartless policies of the Moscow regime have been emphasized in many, many ways, but when we have weather like this and think of those refugees, to say nothing of our own boys fighting there in those frozen conditions, living in fox-holes where they dare not have even a little fire to keep them warm lest they pay for that manifestation of fire with their lives, we can appreciate the extent to which human beings will go in this world, under world conditions, to maintain freedom—freedom as men and women, freedom to worship God, freedom to live, freedom from that terrible tyranny that is characteristic of Soviet Russia.
I was thinking of that in relationship to ourselves. Human beings will go to such extremes, live under such conditions to maintain what they call freedom in this world—and I thank God there are those who stand up for freedom—but what of ourselves, and what of this adversary that, in the over-all picture of the whole world, has instituted and maintains the conditions of unreality that make war possible? Freedom, the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God, or that which the Master spoke of when He said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”—that freedom is a greater freedom than anything the world knows. It is more priceless, more valuable, more wonderful, than this freedom for which human beings are even now fighting and dying. It is more precious than that freedom which was jeopardized in the case of those refugees who were going from their homes down frozen roads where they saw their little ones freezing to death, and mothers having to leave babies along the wayside. That was the price they were willing to pay for their freedom, freedom such as the world knows—and yet we have a vision of a greater freedom, a freedom in which we can let the things of God find manifestation on earth, a freedom in which we can allow the Spirit of God to have meaning on earth in the elimination of those conditions which bring such horror and tragedy, such suffering and sorrow, a freedom that gives promise for any man or woman anywhere who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of the Prince of Peace. Regardless of race or color, regardless of what flag from the standpoint of the nations of the world, there is that Kingdom that is open to all—the Kingdom of the Prince of Peace.
We have been moving along the Road. In one sense we might be called refugees from the world of unreality, moving along the Road toward the Promised Land, the Kingdom of the Prince of Peace. We have set forth, leaving behind the things of the outer world that we once knew, the things that could presumably have offered some degree of comfort or station in the world, because we loved freedom, that greater freedom, more than we loved the things that we would leave behind if we sacrificed that freedom and accepted the slavery imposed by the world of unreality. We have come this way not for ourselves alone. That would be small reward. We have come this way to prove that there is an Open Way. We have come this way so that we could arrive, prove that the pathway is there and that it is open and passable—and then to go back, not as we once were, but as individuals who know the Way, the Truth and the Life of the Kingdom, to have a part in making it possible for others to find that Path.
Recently there has been a very definite upsurge in the number of those who are responding to our Ministry; evidences of the effectiveness of this pioneering are increasing day by day, and we thank God—but I sometimes wonder if, under the necessities that confront us as we move along this Path and go through those things necessary to leaving the old world behind and entering into the Kingdom, the vision does not perhaps grow a little bit dim, or if for a little time there is not perhaps a lapse of memory. This freedom toward which we are moving, with respect to which we wish to inspire others, must be something that burns in our souls, our hearts and lives so constantly that we never forget it, that we never lose sight of it for a moment, and that all we think and say and do may be dedicated to the fulfilment envisioned as we think of the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God.
What a gracious LORD and KING we have that He should make it possible for us in this day and age to move under conditions of relative peace without very much interference, more or less as we ourselves may choose, toward this Land of the Living and the Free. We recognize that there have been, back along through the centuries, individuals who have started along that Path, and sought to move in that direction, and they left signposts. There have been those who moved part way and failed, but they left a record, they left indications as to what to do and what not to do. They were refugees too. There have been many of them. But in these nineteen centuries since our Master came and proved that the Way is open all the way through, humanity has failed to take advantage of the opportunity to pass from the slavery of the unreal world into the Liberty of the Christ Kingdom here on earth. We have undertaken to go that last little way. The pathway up to a certain point was fairly well known, and quite a number had gotten so far, but they did not get clear through. In the generations that have passed there were those whose lives revealed that that freedom, that Liberty, was more valuable to them than life itself. Sometimes their sufferings may have been to some degree unnecessary, and yet we cannot but admire that steadfastness of purpose that was made manifest.
Now our LORD and KING has given us the task of completing the journey, moving from that which is more or less well known in the world, that last little way to actual entrance into the Kingdom on earth. So many millions have wished for it and longed for it, but they did not believe it possible that they could experience it.
What price freedom for us? When we think of the price that is being paid for the world’s kind of freedom in Korea by our fighting men, by the refugees, and when we think of all that has gone before us, I wonder—can we feel too proud of our own record as refugees or pioneers, whatever term we wish to use? Have there been those times when, for some petty, selfish, self-centered thing, we betrayed the cause of freedom? Have there been those times when, because of some reactionary attitude, we have held back and prevented forward movement toward the Goal? Have there been those times when we have forgotten our Purpose here, when we have failed to remember the conditions which must be met by those who would pass from the world of slavery to the world of freedom to enjoy the Liberty of the Children of God? When we pause to consider it, these petty human things that we have defended so vigorously at times, the so-called right or privilege of reactionary attitude, of contrary function, of petty whim and fancy — how do they weigh up in the balance?
What price freedom? God has been so good to us here in Eden Valley. We may have had some privations, but in actual suffering, severe suffering from the cold and hunger, we have had very little of that. There has been one way or another, shelter and warmth. Perhaps a little discomfort, yes, at times, but real suffering? No. Our function here has not required any real suffering of any one of you. We have been privileged to move along that Path that leads to the Kingdom of the Prince of Peace with a freedom and an opportunity and a provision that has been unknown in the world back through the centuries. Think of the price that was paid by those who started pioneering along that Path! Very often their lives were forfeited. Sufferings and privations such as we have never been called upon to face, they passed, and they made possible the opportunities which we have enjoyed. If those back through the various generations had not done what they did, and had not held the price of freedom cheap, no matter what the cost, we would not have had this opportunity. We could not have been living here, under these remarkably fine conditions in comparison with the pattern of the refugees and the pioneers, except for what they did. The human mind has sometimes been inclined to compare our conditions here with those favored ones in the world who in this time and age have supposedly all the comforts and all the conveniences, etc. That is not the comparison—such foolishness.
What price freedom? Refugees from the world of the unreal, from the slavery of the old world. The only comparison we can possibly make is that between our situation and the situation that has confronted refugees and pioneers in time past, those who pioneered from the time of the Master’s Ministry down through to this day, those who stood for freedom down through the centuries no matter what the cost. Comparing our situation with theirs, how much better it is. How many back along the line have had the privilege of gathering in peace on a Sunday morning such as this, in warmth and comfort, with no hunger present in the physical sense, having eaten good food, no necessity of posting a sentry to watch, no risk of prison or death if caught having our service? So, with thanksgiving to God for protection from the cold, for shelter and warmth, with thanksgiving to God for the excellence of good food—for hunger and cold combined bring a misery that cannot be described—we have not only that food necessary to the sustenance of physical life; we have that food of a Spiritual nature, the feast which our Lord has provided for us, the opportunity to drink of the Living Water, the opportunity to enjoy the warmth of His Love, the protection of His Power, all of those things which are beyond compare. We have these privileges, these provisions made available to us at the cost of untold human suffering in days gone by, and untold numbers of human lives sacrificed, so that we could have this opportunity in this day and time.
How much do we appreciate it? What is our attitude with respect to it? How deep is our thanksgiving, and how easily can our spirit of thanksgiving be turned to a spirit of complaining? How often has some form of self-pity entered in? How often has some form of selfishness controlled, defying the outworking of God’s Will, and making a mockery of all that has gone before to make this possible? Let us not forget to give thanks to God for the multitude of His Blessings, for the provision of shelter and warmth, not just from the physical cold but from the cold of the old world—for we have tasted of that Glorious Liberty of the Children of God. We have received many blessings that come straight from the Kingdom of the Prince of Peace. For ourselves? Oh, no. No. For those who are waiting out in the world, waiting for the word that the Way is clear, waiting for proof that they can get through, waiting for leadership and inspiration to set forth as refugees from the miseries and slaveries of the unreal world, to move along that Path no matter what the cost, until they too shall come to stand before the Gate and enter in as Citizens of a New World. If we let any human, petty thing interfere in any degree with that fulfilment, what a mockery it is, what a shame to us, and what blasphemy to our God!
We are here. Thank God for that. I thank God for each and everyone of you and for all who are working with us wherever they are, but this in which we are engaged is not something that is merely a game, merely something that we can work with if we feel like it, or say, “Well, I do not feel like it today; I do not feel like being true to God; I feel like being irritable; I feel like being contemptible and ornery and contrary; and so I am just going to be what I feel like.” No, no. If such feelings creep in we know what to do with them. We can hand them over to be burned in the Fire, so that they shall be no more. No one needs to be subject to them, and if an individual is subject to them it is because he chooses to be, in defiance of God’s Will and without regard to God’s provision whereby we can be free and share in the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God.
Until we do our part in proving in this world that our hope is not in vain, until we carry all the way through, until our function is from the standpoint of that freedom, we have not completed the initial phase of our task. Proof? We have moved forward, we have accomplished much, and I thank God—but proof? We still have much to do in providing that proof, in proving that the Freedom of the Christ Kingdom on earth is worth more to us than anything else. It is worth more than any petty human whim or fancy. It is worth more than any personal desire. It is worth more than any contrary spirit or attitude. It is worth more than anything that can be gained by contemptible selfishness in any form. Such things have only gained misery and produced the conditions of slavery in the world. We do not need to increase the misery in the world—there is enough of it. We need to so function that the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God may be a reality, and through us the Healing Balm may reach forth to heal that misery, and through us the Sword of Truth may work to cut the bonds asunder, so that those who were once slaves may arise and stand as Men and Women in Christ. It is not for us to look down upon those who are slaves. Who among us can say, “I was never a slave in that world out there?” No, let no self pride enter in. But for the Grace of God you would be there and someone else would be here. Let your function be as you would want someone else’s function to be if the situation were reversed, if you were waiting out there and that someone else were here. I see no cause, no reason by which any of us could take any human pride in our achievement thus far. I thank God for what has been done, but too often in little things along the Way the price of freedom has seemed too high, and clinging to some petty nothingness, the cause of freedom has been allowed to languish. Let it not be so ever again.
Freedom—we have an opportunity, bought at the price of unnumbered lives and blood and tears, to say nothing of what our Master came and did. Let us use this opportunity, bought at such a price, in a realization, not only of our privilege, but of our responsibility, that we may move forward steadfastly, letting the Christ Spirit have true meaning in our lives here and now, so that we no longer extend weak and futile excuses to our KING for these needless failures, but rather that, as Men and Women in Christ, we remember His Word and follow Him, that as we let the Father do the works and bring forth fruit our LORD may be glorified and His Kingdom revealed as a reality on earth. So, Blessed Ones, these are my meditations this morning, the things I share with you, that we may never forget the reason why we are here and that we may never waver from true allegiance to our KING. Peace be unto you, and through you to all who will receive peace in the Name of the Prince of Peace. O Father, I thank Thee for all who turn to Thee and for all who are willing to pay the price of freedom, that the Truth, Thy Eternal Truth, may make us truly free in Thy Name. Aum-en
© emissaries of divine light
from
The Magic of Thankfulness
Martin Cecil September 30, 1979 a.m.
Only to the extent that we do worship God can we handle our spiritual responsibilities. We have some awareness of what the nature of those responsibilities is, and our handling of them springs from the fact of our worship of God. This worship of God implies a certain experience of unification between ourselves and with God. Anything that human beings may endeavor to generate on their own has little consequence; it produces and multiplies confusion. The world is full of confusion in consequence. It is our responsibility, spiritually speaking, to allow this confusion to be dissolved. We have to use words, and if there is any reality back of the word God then presumably we would need to use the word God. Our concern is not particularly with systems of belief but rather with whatever the reality is which we may experience in our own living day by day and, in a particular sense now, as it comes to focus by reason of this gathering. I trust that all abide in agreement, the agreement that our only meaning, that our only purpose, requires that we worship God.
It is evident that the universe is operational. Things are the way they are in the universe. This little planet upon which we dwell is a part of that greater operational unit. There is a way by which the universe operates. The operation of the universe springs from the fact of that reality indicated by the use of the word God. We need to be very careful that we do not imagine we understand what we’re talking about when we use the word God. We may have a consciousness of the fact of a reality which goes beyond anything that we are capable of observing in the dimensional sense—we are considering an undimensional state when we use the word God. Dimensionlessness is virtually meaningless to the human intellect. Dimensions of some sort are necessary to the experience of what human beings know mentally speaking. Therefore if there is something beyond the dimensional world the human mind doesn’t know anything about it and, incidentally, can’t know anything about it. However there may be a recognition of the necessity of something beyond the dimensional world if the dimensional world is to exist. What that is may be defined by using the word God.
We have recognized that there must be some sort of vibrational substance which allows the connection to be made between the operational universe and what is spoken of as God. Even from the mental standpoint this has been recognized as a requisite. For instance, electromagnetic radiation coming from the sun is thought of, sometimes, in terms of waves. If there are waves there must be a medium through which they can be transmitted. There are waves in the ocean; there couldn’t be waves in the ocean if it wasn’t for the water. There are sound waves in the air; but there couldn’t be sound waves, we couldn’t hear sound, if it wasn’t for the air. By the same token, whatever it is that proceeds from God needs a medium of transmission; at least this is the way it looks to the human mind. The human mind thinks in terms of form, in symbols. It doesn’t really ever see the reality. It may see what symbolizes the reality.
So there is whatever it is that comes from God. We call it the spirit of God—which is essential to the operational fact of the universe. We can think of the spirit of God in terms of waves. There is the necessity then for a medium for the transmission of those waves. Seeing that the universe is operational, that medium must already be in place. We can therefore, using our imagination, recognize that there is the necessity of a substantial medium of some kind, capable of transmitting spiritual waves, capable of operating the universe, capable of producing all that is present in the universe. We have some sort of awareness that things don’t just happen; there is always a reason of some kind. Very often the human mind doesn’t understand or comprehend the reason. When it doesn’t understand or comprehend, it is inclined to deny the existence of whatever it is that it doesn’t understand or comprehend; but of course that is foolishness. It would be foolishness to suppose that human minds are capable of grasping the universe. After all, the human mind is relatively just a thimble; and yet it thinks of itself in rather grandiose terms.
However, we recognize then the necessity of spiritual substance capable of accommodating spirit, substance through which spirit can move with freedom—in an uninhibited manner. This substance then is present in the universe—it fills all space; but it also fills the space that is occupied by what we call physical substance. It is of such a high intensity, necessarily so, that it is capable of permeating everything. This spiritual substance is already present in the universe. The universe is operational; it’s going along quite all right. Things are not quite so happy, quite so under control, quite so as they should be, here on earth within the range of human influence. This would seem to indicate that insofar as human function is concerned human beings have very little within the scope of their own experience of this intense spiritual substance, very little to connect them up with what is present universally speaking.
We can see from this standpoint that human beings have isolated themselves. I think this was described rather accurately as being put out of the garden. This is spoken of in religious circles sometimes as the fall of man, man putting himself out of the garden, disconnecting himself from this universal spiritual substance and endeavoring to operate without it. The result is a multiplying mess which will get messier and messier the longer that human beings continue to try to operate without the substance. We have seen the necessity of generating spiritual substance, generating it at all levels so that it may reach to this highest or most intense level of spiritual substance, thereby connecting us up with the immense mass of spiritual substance that fills the whole universe. There is no shortage of that substance insofar as the universe is concerned. There is a shortage of it insofar as human experience is concerned, and that shortage becomes fatal in due course. Man wasn’t created to die. He has no business dying! Doesn’t that seem a reasonable proposition from the standpoint of God, particularly if man was in fact created in the image and likeness of God? He was created to live.
In order to be in position to generate the required substance, we have recognized that there is a need for certain attitudes to be taken. There are many who have seen this in theory but been a little resistant to the idea of assuming the attitudes that are required. Wouldn’t it be more sensible to undertake to experience what is necessary—because one chooses to do it—in order to generate the substance which permits the connection to be made with what is already present throughout the whole universe? Let us come out of the state of isolation. It has been wise that man should be in isolation, I think, because it’s important that he shouldn’t infect the rest of the universe. So, as it was put, he was cast out of the garden. We recognize that he merely ejected himself, and in doing so he dissipated the substance which would otherwise have kept him in the garden, connected up with the rest of the universe, doing what is required in the universal sense as a part of the whole. But in isolation all that he has done has been virtually meaningless. Our concern now is to allow the generation of the required substance which would permit the connection to be made with the universal substance so that what is true of the spirit of God may emerge within the experience of man, and not only within the experience of the whole universe but including man too.
So here we are, concerned to accept those attitudes which make possible the generation of this substance in our own momentary living. We have to live to generate the substance. If we are dead we’re not generating any substance. So there is the matter of this generation and the attitudes required—which we have considered rather thoroughly and in various ways. But there is one very important attitude which is frequently overlooked in the fact of experience. I’m sure all of you would nod your heads and say you know what this attitude is; but the question is: Does anybody do it? To know about it is one thing but to do it is another thing, to let it happen. And it is a very simple attitude. It has been repeated quite frequently and it is one of the first matters that is considered when anyone begins to draw close to what is offered through this ministry. Do you know what it is? I’m sure you do. Be thankful. Human beings are inclined to argue themselves out of being thankful. They say, “Well you can’t expect me to be thankful in this situation because of this and this and this,” and they proceed to argue themselves out of being thankful. Why go to all that trouble? Why not just be thankful? because it is this matter of thanksgiving that provides the essential means by which substance is generated and the connection is made with the intense medium which permeates the whole universe. It even permeates human beings—obviously if it permeates the whole universe it’s here—but it simply is unknown, particularly as long as a person remains unthankful.
How thankful are you? This is a question that each one may ask of him- or herself. Let’s not fool ourselves. Let’s not be dishonest about it. Let’s face the fact of the matter. Let’s look at thankfulness and forget about the criticism and all the rest, and be thankful. Why not? Or are we still going to argue ourselves out of it? Here we are together all of us now present, related to this spiritual substance. What are we going to do about it? Are we going to be very thankful that we are immediately in position to generate what is required and be connected up? There’s nothing to stop anyone; and the principal requirement is this matter of thankfulness. Well pause a minute and think about it. Perhaps you can be thankful now; it’s beautiful to be together, isn’t it, sharing these wonderful evidences of the movement of the spirit of God. Beautiful! But how about when you get out of here? What’s going to happen then? You may find that things are going wrong in your experience in some way—or what you think of as going wrong. How do you know? How do you know that it’s wrong? Relinquish all that and be thankful that we are in position in our living, through thankfulness, to generate the substance that connects us with the universal medium of spirit. And the initial spirit is love—the Spirit of Love, the substance of love.
Love emerges when there is a substance through which it can emerge. What human beings think of as love, and call love, is far from the experience of the reality of love, because human beings simply don’t have the substance for it. Here is something beyond the comprehension of human beings who are subject to the spirit of unthankfulness, in other words who find so many things to complain about, sometimes personal things: “Well, you know, it’s this arthritis that bothers me so much; I can’t be thankful for that!” Well no one’s asking you to be immediately thankful for that; be thankful for the spirit of God and the fact that in that thankfulness you can begin to generate the substance which has been missing so that you have arthritis, or whatever it is. All the things that are voids in human experience are simply the absence of the spirit of God. But the spirit of God is not absent actually; it is merely absent from the experience of the human being—absent because there has been no substance to accommodate it. Without that substance the spirit of God is just imagination, but when the substance is there, the waves are there, it begins to come through and there begins to be the experience therefore of what it is that should be finding expression in the moment. And what should be finding expression in the moment is never complaint! It is always characterized by thankfulness.
Think about it. Do any of us really belong on earth? We only belong on earth if we are associated with this substance; and if we’re not thankful, if we’re complaining and criticizing and judging all around, why are we on earth? We don’t belong. That’s why we’ve been in isolation. That’s why the whole human race has been in isolation. We can’t exist at all without the rest of the universe. We certainly couldn’t exist, most obviously so, without this planet; and this planet couldn’t exist if it weren’t a part of the solar system. It wouldn’t be very habitable, would it, if it were just floating around out there in space. But we recognize that it is a beautiful planet; it has been placed in exactly the right position—relative to the sun and relative to the other planets—so that everything is there for what should occur, except the part that human beings should be playing in the whole picture. So, the generation of substance.
It is not as though this is a new idea, is it? Thankfulness: I think it was mentioned a time or two before! And it was mentioned way, way back. Let me read something here: “O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.” How often do you say so? How often do you come out and say, “Praise the Lord. Thank God this is the way it is”? Wouldn’t it be sensible to do that? Finally we’d begin to generate some spiritual substance and get connected up. Or isn’t that worth doing? Let us let it happen because we are willing to let it happen. We’re not constantly arguing ourselves out of it. Stupid, isn’t it? And yet it’s a human habit. Why not let the habit go? You do it by filling your experience with thankfulness and then there isn’t room for anything else. But it is something that has to be deliberately done—you take the responsibility for it. This is taking spiritual responsibility. Why not begin to share the outlook, the vision, the viewpoint, of God through His spirit which is emerging in the substance in our own experience? Then we see the way things actually are and we begin to have some stature. We begin to stand up.
We have recognized that there must be very many levels of this spiritual substance, the supreme one permeating everything else—mention has been made of seven levels in this regard. They’re not seven distinct levels; there’s a whole range of vibratory substance, rightly so. But human beings have had just a little bit right down at the bottom. The vibratory levels are vast. Obviously the highest vibratory level of substance, if it actually permeates the whole universe, is somewhat vast. And yet as human beings we wriggle around in the dust. Man has stature. He was created to have stature, in the image and likeness of God, with all these vibratory levels present so that what is true of God, undimensionally speaking, may be revealed dimensionally speaking. But it requires the whole range of substance to do it. And we’ll never allow the generation of the higher levels of vibratory substance without thankfulness. It can’t be done. Couldn’t we just stop the nonsense and decide to be thankful? so that when something comes up that we would ordinarily complain about and object to—get mad about perhaps, be irritated or whatever it is—we simply give thanks, actually do it and don’t fiddle around with the thing. Somehow this vicious circle needs to be broken.
“O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.” We still have the opportunity! “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so”—if you are beginning to be redeemed you can say so; that is, give thanks—“whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” We might read much more in this Psalm emphasizing this matter of thankfulness: “Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. He sent his word”—His spirit—“and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!”
If we recognize this vast sea of spiritual substance, the substance which is capable of accommodating the reality of love, the reality of God, then there also is the essence of everything, the operational design of everything, the power of operation for everything. Nowadays people are all concerned about matters of energy: “We’re running out of energy.” Are we? Probably—we fail to be thankful. The human mind just sees energy in a closed circuit. But if we see energy as relating to this universal substance, the substance is not the energy. The spirit which is accommodated by the substance is the energy. And is there any lack? None whatsoever! The lack is that human beings are disconnected from energy and all they see is a little closed circuit around them; and some of that is running out; it’s all being dissipated. But there is an unlimited source of energy once human beings have been restored to the state of man—connected up with this universal spiritual substance in which the power of spirit is present for right use. It’s not available to human beings to use in their self-centered ways; very little of it is, just the little bit that goes around and around where human beings are. But this is an unlimited source.
There are those who have, from time to time, thought about perpetual motion machines, where you can extract energy from somewhere and the energy is more than is required to operate the machine which extracts the energy. Then of course if you can do that you always have an increasing amount of energy available. There’s something true about this. The universe is a perpetual motion machine; but the idea of a perpetual motion machine which human beings can invent to use for their own purposes is something that cannot happen. There have been some forms of machine that have been invented that have had some properties in this regard, but for one reason or another they never came to anything, simply because they can’t as long as human beings are the way they are, without themselves having any substance of connection with that substance in which the energy is. Also on one occasion, I understand, there was a fellow invented a perpetual motion machine of a sort but it would only operate when he was present. Well that’s right! That’s the way it works. That’s why human beings, or man, is necessary: so that the power that is required to achieve the creative purposes of God may be allowed to appear. And there is no shortage of that! There’s only a shortage of energy for human nature self-centered purposes, that’s all. And of course it looks such a terrible thing; now everything is going to grind to a halt. I doubt if it actually will, but things may get difficult, because human beings insist that any energy they can develop should be used for their own purposes. As long as that is so it’s a leak; it just runs away.
So our concern is to make possible within the body of mankind, and therefore within the consciousness of mankind, a connection with this universal substance, therefore with the creative power, for the achievement of the purposes of God, the creative purposes of the universe, not just of this little planet. But it is related to the whole universe, and as there are those who begin to come into position, having generated this substance, to let this energy emerge, this power find expression, then the way it emerges is for the purposes of God and no longer for human purposes. It’s not fed into human purposes. The fact of unlimited power only becomes known when that power begins to move in the creative design of God. Then there’s no lack. But who is in position, now, to let it so move? Are we, do you think? Are we, if we’re still complaining about this and that and the other thing and not giving thanks? It is the experience that is important, not just the words. Anyone can be thankful in any situation if they put themselves to it, but they have to put themselves to it. That is our responsibility, that we may participate in this realm of creative action, so that the power of God may begin to emerge with increased effectiveness for the purposes of God. The purposes of God we’re not going to judge. If we start judging them we’ll start complaining about them.
So all that is done is done for the glory of God, for the fulfilment of divine purposes, and we do not presume to know how that fulfilment is going to come to pass. We don’t have it set up in our own minds all ready and if it doesn’t come the way we think it should, well we have cause for complaint. Let it come the way it’s going to come. And give thanks for it, because everything that is emerging emerges from this one source in any case and it emerges through whatever the state of consciousness may be insofar as human experience is concerned. Well let’s let that state of consciousness be clear then. Let’s let it be what it should be so that the emergence may be fitting and may create and accomplish whatever it is it should create and accomplish. We let it move in its own natural cycles, willing that it should be to the glory of God and not for our benefit, not to please us, not to make us comfortable and happy. That’s not the point at all. The point is to let the restoration of man take place; and whatever is required to do that, let it be done. Is there anyone on the face of the earth whose human mind can tell them how that’s going to be done? Certainly not! Let’s just let it happen. And we let it happen because we have decided, finally, that we are going to be thankful.
I praise the Lord, now, that we may be thankful now. I see a few happy faces here and there, thankful faces, but I also see some glum ones. Who is going actually to do it? Are we going to wait till next week! We can only do it now; we can’t do it next week. So it is thankfulness now. Praise the Lord! In this spirit of thanksgiving we may all move in oneness to let God’s will be done, to let the creative spirit and power of God emerge in action to achieve what is necessary. How that is to be done is something toward which we excitedly look, because it is done in ways that have never been known in human experience since man has been in isolation. There is always a tendency for the human mind to argue that it is impossible to do thus and so, and it always has good scientific reasons to prove it—but really they’re scientific theories. What is the fact? This we need to discover. Let us not argue ourselves out of what should naturally appear from the standpoint of the spirit of God when there is the substance of connection. Then we begin to be thankful for all the wonderful things that immediately become possible. Let’s let it work that way, to the glory of God.
© emissaries of divine light
Glory Of Shekinah
from All-Encompassing Shekinah
Uranda June 18, 1953 Class
Shekinah, in recognizing the vibratory factors carrying over from the Motherland Tongue, is the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells. Our Master spoke of the One Who Dwells as the Father, meaning exactly the same thing. He was speaking the words of the Father; that is, the Word of the Lord, or the One Who Dwells, as He Himself stated, for He spoke not of Himself. And the Presence of the One Who Dwells is revealed in the Old Testament pattern as being manifest by the Fire which appeared in the form of a ball of fire between the cherubims upon the altar, above the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant—the Fire, the Light that Glows, and the Cloud or the Glory, the reality of the expression of the One Who Dwells in life. The Way is the way of Love—the Shekinah Fire is that which we speak of as the Fire of Love in the sense of the Divine Pattern. The Light of Truth must be recognized as being identical with the Light that Glows. And the Cloud that fills the Temple and shines round about is Life in active expression as it is born from the union of Love and Truth. The Way, the Truth and the Life of the Master's Word, the trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit—the Fire of the presence of the One Who Dwells; the Son, the Light that Glows; and the Holy Spirit, the Cloud of the Shekinah—are two particular patterns of wording in Divine revelation revealing identically the same thing.
Conflict patterns, resentments, maintained in any individual exclude that individual from the Shekinah Pattern of Being, no matter how well justified the resentment may seem to be. The fact of resentment, the fact of conflict attitudes, precludes the experience of coming to know the trinity of the Shekinah, the manifest evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells—the actual revelation of the Divine Essences of the trinity of manifestation—that which is revealed through the Cloud, through the Light that Glows, and through the Fire. As we begin to consider the reality of the Shekinah Pattern we realize that all creative function, regardless of the level of life or being, is achieved in relationship to what we speak of, in this world, in relationship to heaven and earth, as Shekinah. All creative activity, the creation of this world and of all the things that are therein, is achieved through the reality of the Shekinah. We must recognize that wherever the Greek word Logos was translated as Word, exactly the same meaning was contained in the Old Testament pattern by Shekinah. “In the beginning was the Word”—in the beginning was the Logos; in the beginning was the Shekinah. “And the Shekinah was with God, and the Shekinah was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Shekinah; and without Shekinah was not any thing made that was made. In the Shekinah was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light [of the Shekinah] shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
What a marvellous portrayal—the first five verses of the Gospel according to John, giving a complete, accurate outline of the basic principles of Shekinah, translated to us as the Word but actually derived from and meaning in significance Shekinah—the Shekinah Trinity—the Fire, the Light that Glows, and the Cloud of Glory. We recognize of course that it was the Shekinah Cloud which enfolded our Master's form so that He ceased to be visible to men—not a cloud up in the sky. He ascended in the Shekinah Cloud. How did Elijah leave this sphere of things? A chariot of fire, or a fiery chariot? What was it? The Shekinah Fire, which was in the center of the Light that Glows, which in turn was in the center of the Cloud of Glory. What is the word that was written with respect to Enoch? “And Enoch talked with God: and he was not; for God took him. Enoch talked—the Word. It was not in New Testament times that the word Word was used to symbolize Shekinah for the first time. It is not in relationship to our translation that the word Word was used to signify Shekinah for the first time. “And Enoch talked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”
Why was the word Word used in Hebraic times to signify Shekinah? Because those who recognized the heavenly magic of the names of God and the name of that which signified God's presence wished to keep those words holy and sacred, that they might be used only where there was understanding and appreciation. And so, what was more natural than to say Word—just Word—and anyone reading with any understanding would recognize that the word Word used in such fashion signified the secret Word, the Word that was not to be spoken by profane lips, the word that was not to be bandied about, the Word that carries special significance and power. And what word was it? What was the word? Shekinah. So even in Old Testament times those who were writing did on occasion use the word Word to signify Shekinah. They used all kinds of evasions. Wherever we find the word Glory in the Bible, if you are aware of the true significance you will read Shekinah. In the conclusion of the Lord's Prayer we have the three divisions of Shekinah indicated by the words kingdom, power, and glory. “For thine is the Shekinah” means exactly the same thing as “Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory.” What is the significance of the text in the closing part of the Book of Revelation, where mention is made warning against taking away from the word of this prophecy or adding to the word of this prophecy? And what is prophecy? Prophecy is the expression of the Word of God; prophecy is the expression of Shekinah. To take away from Shekinah, the revelation Divine, or to add to Shekinah by the self-active function of the mind, brings a penalty. Obviously the author of Revelation knew and understood the principles of Shekinah. He wrote in symbolical language, but he plainly said, “the words of this prophecy,” the Logos, the Shekinah. If the human mind of man attempts to add anything to that which is revealed from God through Shekinah to man it will bring distortion, destruction and failure. If the human mind attempts to take anything away from Shekinah it will lead to destruction. The Word. What word? There is only one word that fits. Shekinah. Once you know the Word, you see how it fits, how it belongs.
From the beginning of the Book of Genesis, we read, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” The first pattern portrayed is of motion: “The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” God here is supposed to be translated Shekinah—“Spirit,” the Light that Glows, “moved upon the face of the waters.” The face of the waters? Water is the symbol of truth. The face of the waters is what? The face of the water of truth is Life, is it not? Shekinah. “In the beginning, Shekinah,” shown in the trinity in action, moving, and there is the beginning of creation. “And God said, Let there be light”—God, the center, the Fire; Light, the Light that Glows—“and there was light.” What was the next step, after the evening and the morning were the first day? What about the firmament? The Cloud—the Fire, the Light, the Cloud—and we begin to see the unfolding of the reality of Shekinah. We read in the beginning of the Gospel of our Lord and King on earth, as written by John: “In the beginning was the Shekinah, and the Shekinah was with God, and the Shekinah was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Shekinah; and without Shekinah was not any thing made that was made. In Shekinah was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” We begin to realize, everything of God that man has known has appeared through Shekinah. The Father, Son and Holy Ghost of the New Testament are simply a restatement of the trinity of Shekinah—the Fire, the Light and the Cloud of Glory. If we strip away the shell of Judaism from the Hebraic revelations of Deity, and if we strip away the crystallizations of so-called Christianity from the teachings of Jesus Christ, we find that they are one and the same—no break anywhere, no violation of the basic laws and principles of Being, no controversy, no conflict, no cause for resentment. And when the revelation of Shekinah made manifest by Jesus Christ was rejected by men it was revealed again in the portrayal that comes to us as the Book of Revelation, that man might have no excuse for failing to know Shekinah.
Once we begin to realize that the basic principles of the One Law rest in Shekinah we can begin to accept that Law; once we truly look at the solar system we see that the blinded eyes of human beings have failed to see the revelation of Shekinah, for the solar system is Shekinah—the Fire of Shekinah that is called the sun, the Light that Glows that issues forth from the Fire, which carries out into the Cloud of planets. The design of the solar system is the design of Shekinah, brought forth by Shekinah, a revelation of itself; for the design of the planets and of the sun—of the solar system—is in the image and likeness of Shekinah. And whether we speak of the Word, where God said, “Let us make man in our image,” or whether we recognize the reality of the Elohim, or whether we simply say, “And Shekinah said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, to have dominion over the earth and all of the things that are therein.” And so Shekinah did, “male and female created he them”—the Shekinah Pattern is revealed over and over again in life all around us. Father, mother and child for instance—Shekinah. Within the individual; spirit, mind and body, Shekinah—the trinity of man, a manifestation of Shekinah, a revelation of the Presence of the One Who Dwells. And if the fire goes out of the heart the body decays, the mind ceases to be a light on earth, and the grave receives what is left.
Blessed Ones, we need to begin to realize that until we know the significance, the beauty, the wonder, the magnificence, yea and the Glory, of Shekinah, we really know nothing, for whatever any human being may think he knows, if it be not oriented with and in Shekinah it is nothing—the image and likeness of Shekinah. When you speak and call upon the Name of the Lord, by what means shall your call reach the Lord? No man, no woman, can approach the Lord except through Shekinah. The Lord cannot be found anywhere except by reason of Shekinah. Every true prophet the world has known has been the voice of Shekinah. Moses, in the days of the children of Israel and their deliverance from slavery, was the voice of Shekinah. Other prophets followed—Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel—each manifesting as the voice of Shekinah, to reveal on earth to the children of men the reality of God. And you can share the privilege, the expression of the Word, of Shekinah, when you are centered in the Fire. For can you know God except by the Fire of Love, the Centering of Shekinah? And when you let the Light, the Light that Glows, the symbol of truth, be the design and the control of your life and your words, of heart and mind and deeds, and when you let your life be a revelation of the garment of God, you are sharing in the revelation of Shekinah. Not the Centering of Shekinah, not the center of the whole, but a part of the whole. Our Master came. He revealed the Centering of Shekinah, the revelation of Deity, Shekinah as it relates to the invisible realm and the visible—but there is a Centering of Shekinah relating to the focalization of the outer world.
All cannot be the Central Focalization of the essence of Shekinah, but all can share in the revelation of Shekinah; for you were made in the image and likeness of Shekinah. Whether you look at the atom, which is built in the image of Shekinah, or the solar system, which was made in the image of Shekinah, whether you look at a man or a woman, which were made in the image of Shekinah, you cannot escape from the Pattern; for it is truly true, as it is written, “In the beginning was Shekinah, and Shekinah was with God, and Shekinah was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Shekinah; and without Shekinah was not any thing made that was made. In Shekinah was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” For human beings have lost their contact with Shekinah. But there is a Way, there is the Truth and there is the Life by which you may know Shekinah, for today Shekinah is, and the voice of Shekinah declares the former things of the unreal realm are passing away. “Behold, I make all things new.” And that which will not let itself be made new according to the Shekinah Design, that which will not yield to the Shekinah control, shall be no more. But all which yields and comes under control and accepts the Shekinah Design, centered in the Shekinah Fire, shall be made new in the resurrection and the life, for this is the victory.
© emissaries of divine light
