There are many events ready to take form — I suppose they could be called emissary events — but I think it seems to many who are associated with this Body that the Body of itself is so small, how could it have any really potent effect in the world of humanity? You have been awakening to a larger vision and a larger awareness of the wherewithal to allow this vision and understanding to accomplish what is necessary in the body of mankind. There has certainly been an expansion of consciousness in this regard through many of you and others; so it might be said that there is at least a world view. No matter how small our particular placement may be in the physical sense, nevertheless there is an awareness that we are in position to provide the essential control for what is transpiring on earth. The mind in its state of separation would be inclined to question this, but we have a certain awareness which transcends such a thimble view of what it is that is really happening.
There is this Body taking form for a purpose—taking form because a window is finished in heaven, so that what would come forth through that window could begin to fill the space where this Body should take form. We ourselves are parts of that Body who have been drawn into position by this radiance coming down from God out of heaven. When I say “we” I am speaking of physical forms with their minds and hearts. We are reaching a point where perhaps we might no longer refer to that as “we.”
Minds and hearts, our own included, have had a recognition of what they imagine that they ought not to do and what they imagine they ought to do. I think we had rather vivid awareness of what we supposed we ought not to do, but as we have proceeded there was rather less awareness, even in imagination, of what it was that we were present to do. This morning we noted that it was important to be still. Those who imagine they know what not to do, or that they know what to do, are not those who are particularly still in mind and heart because minds and hearts are busy trying to stop doing what ought not to be done and to do what ought to be done. This is a human habit. It comes into expression in a variety of ways but it requires a busy mind and also a troubled heart, because there is always fussing going on. One might say, “Stop fussing. Be still.” Be still and provide some space to experience what it is that is rightly emerging through the window finished above.
Here is the point of initiation of the creative process, emerging through the window finished above. In its first emergence it is obviously without form. Spirit is formless in and of itself. It relates to an undimensional space out of which the creative process emerges, the creative process that requires human minds and hearts and bodies in order to come forth. But the initial movement has no form. So the conscious mind can’t get hold of it. It deals in thought forms. There are no thought forms yet, so the conscious mind is at sea. Feeling at sea, it has heretofore gotten busy to try to generate its own thought forms, and that generation was consequent upon what was occurring emotionally speaking.
We have seen quite clearly, even though we may not have experienced adequately as yet, the fact that mind and heart need to be made available to spirit. They can’t be available to spirit as long as they are fussing, as long as they are filled with this turmoil. Be still. Be still, so that what is factually emerging now through this window finished above may begin to have space into which to come. It is coming out of a formless realm, out of an undimensional state, to take form in dimension. This is the reason for the existence of man on earth, that the process may be facilitated. Without man it cannot be focused in a specific way.
Obviously there is some sort of a creative process going on in the larger sense, in the universal sense for instance. It is imagined by the human mind that this involves millions and billions of years—earth years, by the way, or possibly light years, or whatever kind of years the human mind has invented. But we are concerned with our own business I trust. It is the human habit to try to be concerned with everybody else’s business so that one doesn’t have to face oneself. And of course this scientific investigation into far reaches of space is one way of getting away from having to face oneself. It looks so expansive and so important to gain knowledge about this great universal system. But it’s absolutely useless. What is going to be done with the knowledge? Man wasn't designed so as to accumulate knowledge. He was designed so as to facilitate the creative process right here where man is. If he tries to get out into space he is trying to mind someone else’s business, while neglecting his own.
So we have a state of formlessness—we call that spirit, or heaven—out of which the creative process emerges to bring forth what we call form. Of course what we call form is an arbitrary creation, actually produced by our own physical senses. But, in any case, there is a creative process and it is not by chance that there is properly an earth, a planet, on which human beings can dwell—a beautiful earth incidentally, but a far cry from what it originally was, and yet it still is beautiful.
We might consider the importance of beauty. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2021/12/beauty.html] It is a part of the creative process. The human mind wants to get its thought processes going so that it can begin to get something down on paper. It’s going to create a new building. Well it has to make plans, get it out into that much form. This is the way the mind tends to work. It may include a little beauty in the forms that are produced, according to the particular view of that conscious mind as to what would be beautiful. I have seen a lot of structures around that were supposed to be beautiful that were, in my estimation, very ugly. That could be said to be a human opinion—the point is that anything that human beings now produce is not produced on the basis of the truth and therefore, factually, it is not beautiful.
Beauty is a part of the creative process. There is something coming down from God out of heaven. There is something emerging through this window and we have recognized that there needs to be space in our minds and hearts and bodies to receive it. So the necessity for the window above can be clearly understood. Where there is no window above we have corruption and violence which result in destruction. When the window is finished above and something begins to emerge, and there are those on hand to receive it, then what is happening is coming out of heaven. Virtually all human function could be said to come out of the earth. It comes because of a reaction to form. If you consider your conversation you will find that usually it relates to factors of form.
Perhaps you have some dawning perception of what you might define as spiritual understanding, which enables you to perceive some things that most people don’t take into account at all. We perceive qualities, for instance, of human expression, some of which are not very creative and others which are of a more creative nature. We have sought to align ourselves with the more creative aspects, so that we don’t sign up for revolution or terrorism or any of these things. We are more interested in participating in this process which is the way things really work: something emerging out of an invisible realm, a formless realm, to take form because there is someone on hand to let it happen. Heretofore in the world of human beings there has been virtually no one on hand to let it happen. From time to time over the ages, there have been those who have put in an appearance who found themselves in position to let something happen, but for the most part the vast majority of the population of the earth apparently were not interested. Now we come to a point where something is taking form, of which we ourselves are a part, by which this creative process may happen. We have no business fussing with forms. As long as we are fussing with forms we have no space available to receive what it is of spirit that is emerging to take form.
We say that the way things take form by reason of human beings is through thoughts, words and deeds. There is more to it than that but this is one way of bringing it to point. Our thinking needs to be capable of accommodating the emerging spirit, the emerging spirit which has nothing to do with the forms that are already here. We have no idea what the form is going to be. I note people all the time imagining that they know what the form is going to be. Here is something coming through the window finished above and no human mind can know what that is. So we need to come into position to let this process happen. We can’t come into position unless there is space there for it to happen, and we don’t have things structured already in our minds.
It has often been said that we do not know what should be. But we are here to create the Garden on earth. What’s that? Anyone here venture an opinion? I hope not. We can find out by creating it, but we have no starting point whatsoever unless there is space in mind and heart for what it is that is emerging to take form, and to have that space requires stillness. Where there is that stillness, where there is that space, the process of thinking can be set in motion. There is something to move the mind: spirit. This facility of mind is still, so that it is in position to accommodate the movement of spirit. The same with the heart. This requires a sanctifiedmind and a pureheart to let it happen; otherwise we are always trying to make it go this way and that way because our impure hearts desire this or desire that, and our arrogant minds then proceed to set it up so that we get it. If you are honest you know that that has been the way you have operated—I hope in times past. But now we have a totally different thing.
“Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?” We have to become aware of them in order that these may be set in the earth. The earth has no business telling us what to do. So we provide the stillness in mind and heart so that something can begin to move and come forth; for one thing, in speech. What sort of conversation goes on? Is it the giving of form to what it is that is coming down from God out of heaven, or is it reiterating the forms that are all around us?
If there is a group of people who are moved by what is coming down out of heaven and give expression to that in words, then that is part of the creative process and we see that words are very important. They are one of the means of creation. At the moment, most of our words are simply produced by a reaction to something that is happening externally. But if we are associated together with what is coming down from heaven, letting it be differentiated through us—we know all about this in theory—then we begin to have a blended expression. One might compare it to a symphony. It requires artists to know how to speak, how to allow this to be a focus of the creative process by which the ordinances of heaven may be set in the earth.
Speech is not the only means of expression that we have. There are those occasions when human beings write out their speeches and deliver the oration for special occasions—public speaking, it's called. There are other occasions when people do other things. They produce music, for instance, a concert. And another group will dance—special occasions. But all this is a very limited, restricted, unnatural experience. The experience comes in living first. We have been recently receiving some musical compositions. What needs to be produced in this regard should come down from God out of heaven—it’s not a human generation—and it can't do so unless there is someone on hand whose words are right, whose movements are right, whose music is right. And there are all sorts of ways we produce music. When we speak there is a musical sound. This is the way by which creation occurs, because something is being introduced into the world. There is a freshness here, something new. This is the good news, the perfect news, when we let it happen. But we tend to get so involved with our world of form. I have noticed some involvement in the world of form.
Here we come to the artistryofliving. It is an art. Every movement should be graceful so that beauty is brought forth. Every word should be beautiful because it comes down from God out of heaven. Beauty may be born through our living—the only way it can be born. Then perhaps those who have particular talents in this field and that field can allow it to find a focus there. But it can’t be done until the individual is permitting his or her expression of living to come down from God out of heaven; otherwise we will have all these structured states that are already present on earth obscuring the spirit which is emerging, and it messes it up.
Living is artistry and we need to be concerned with this. Perhaps in a service such as we have now there is the participation in a process of letting something come down from God out of heaven to be given articulate form, and we all share in this process. Well we have a couple of hours of service on Sunday, a couple of more hours during the week. But what happens in the interim? because the process is a continuous one. It’s not an on-and-off business. So here we have the opportunity of being sufficiently still so that there may be a sensing of the spirit that is moving and an increasing awareness of what it is that should be brought forth, whether in words, in thoughts, in actions. As we let this happen, then we play our part in letting the Garden take form on earth around us, and that Garden is a heavenly Garden and not produced on the basis of earthly desires and earthly ideas. Let us let it happen the way it really happens.
Be still. The state of stillness of mind and heart is almost a lost art. It is impossible to know except as one’s mind and heart are open and yielded to spirit. When that stillness comes, then it may be said that a window is finished above. You may remember this statement as being made when the ark was being built: “A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories.” That’s an interesting construction, isn’t it? The window is finished above first, and then there may be a door to allow entry into the ark, and the second and third stories below emerge. If one takes that literally it would be rather a difficult task to build an ark, but the sequence is accurate nevertheless. There cannot be a door, so that there may be entry into the ark, until the window is finished above, until there is that spiritual or heavenly connection, not only present—it is present as long as life remains—but known.
Be still, that the window may be finished above. This seems always rather impractical to human minds and hearts which are accustomed to following out their own designs: “If you were still, you would be very vulnerable.” This is not so if the window is finished above, because the fact of spiritual expression becomes possible. We have equated spiritual expression with common sense—not so impractical after all. Only when there is spiritual expression can an invitation be extended to come into the ark. The ark, in our own consciousness now, would relate to the spiritual body of which we are aware. This spiritual body has meaning because it has a flesh form—and we are aware of this flesh body with which we are now associated. It has taken form because the window was finished above, to whatever degree this has been true, so that those who compose the ark might participate in spiritual expression, might participate in common sense.
The story of the ark in the Old Testament may have some sort of historical base, but whatever that event of the flood was, insofar as we are concerned now what was there indicated is simply an analogy for us, acquainting us with something of our present experience. Apparently it is not so easy to take present experience on trust that it is what it should be. We need a little confirmation out of some prior scripture or historical experience, which is not really necessary but may be helpful. I have used it this morning, that the present experience might be equated with something that is in the record, while obviously what is now happening is in many ways different to what occurred before. Whatever happened before may be revealing of certain principles, but it doesn’t tell us as to what exactly it is that is happening now. There was indication somewhere that the Lord would not bring up a flood again upon the earth; next time the purging would be by fire. In the consciousness of many people this has seemed to indicate the inevitability of thermonuclear war. We are not so sure ourselves that that is inevitable, to the extent that we are factually providing an alternative. If we, or somebody else, are not providing an alternative, well I suppose that might be inevitable. But we have awakened to some extent to an alternative—something else is happening besides destructiveness on earth.
Before the instructions were given for the building of the ark in days of yore, there was a recognition that the earth was filled with corruption and violence. Well we can recognize something of that sort in the world, even within the range of our own personal experience in some ways. There has been rather a violent state of affairs in India recently. One may wonder a little just how much the violence is magnified by the media. It looks like an appalling thing to have a thousand casualties, but when you consider that the Indian population is 750 million it doesn’t really amount to very much—of course it amounts to something for the casualties. But in the overall view I suspect that there is considerable media magnification. “This is news, after all,” they say. I don’t think it’s news; it’s been going on for millennia.
Corruption and violence: this brings its own reward. The reward before was a flood; at least it was described that way. We no doubt will discover what the reward is in these times. We see something of it already. The world is certainly filled with corruption and violence, and if that is all there is—no ark—then presumably there is destruction. So in that sense it looks to be somewhat inevitable. But we have an awareness of what may be describable in terms of an ark, a body which has been taking form because there has been the ingredient which is necessary to allow it to happen. The ingredient before was Noah. He may not have stood entirely alone; he had some fellow workers to build the ark presumably, besides his three sons. But there was a starting point, and we are aware that there has been a starting point insofar as our own experience is concerned. And we have allowed ourselves to be drawn into the structure of the ark of this present day. We have called it a body, a body capable of surviving whatever may happen, whatever the destruction may be by reason of the corruption and the violence. There begins to be present something that is capable of surviving; but to what end?
We ourselves have been drawn into this body, together with many others who are not present in person with us this morning, to compose whatever this body should be, because certainly it isn’t constructed according to some human design that any of our brilliant minds thought up and decided it was what the world needed. We are aware of what the world needs, but how that shall be conveyed is something to be discovered. So we associate ourselves together in this process, and for many of us we find that it is an inevitable thing—quite inexorable, in one sense, whether we like it or not, we find ourselves compelled. That compulsion relates to this window finished above.
There is another compulsion which is very prevalent in the world. We recognize the uncontrolled release of energy and violence by reason of the fact that human emotions are uncontrolled. At least that’s one way of seeing it; they are uncontrolled in the sense of spirit. They are not uncontrolled in the sense of their own state, because obviously the release of life through the conditioned consciousness of human beings produces certain effects, and the effects are controlled by the conditioned state of human consciousness. So there is a control there; it is a control which brings inevitable destruction. And so there is a larger range of truth that brings about this destruction, because human beings cannot get away with violating their integrity. The results come because things work the way they work; so everything is under control in that sense. It may not seem to be from the human standpoint at times—at times when there is rioting or when war puts in an appearance; of course there is a certain control from the standpoint of the war-makers—but all this comes about by reason of the conditioned state of human consciousness. Human beings are alive; the life force is present; as it comes out through these conditioned states then the effect will be accordingly. That effect will be corrupt and violent and it will produce destruction in consequence. It’s all very natural, the way things should be.
Things work the way they work. And we have reached a point where we are quite thankful that they work the way they work, because we can let them work in a creative way rather than in a destructive way, so that the results are creative rather than destructive. Obviously that requires that the life force doesn’t come out through the conditioned state of human consciousness. The conditioned state of human consciousness needs to be changed, and as that conditioning is allowed to dissolve then you have the second and third stories putting in an appearance—the sanctified mind and the purified heart, all contained within the ark, within the flesh body. So here we have a rather accurate picture of our own experience.
One of the things that happens is that there is a door. There is door in the side of the ark for people to come in, at the level of the second and third stories. They can’t come in through the window finished above; that is there for another purpose. We ourselves have come in through that door. We found some sort of compatibility mentally and emotionally with what was present in the forming ark; we came in at that level. We only came in at that level because there was a window finished above, and there was the outpouring in consequence of the spirit through that window into the space where the ark was to take form. And we have been willing, not always consciously willing but at least subconsciously willing, to be drawn sufficiently to allow the flesh form of this body to begin to put in an appearance—the ark is in the process of being built. But it all stems from the window finished above, and then from the second and third stories, and finally the ark itself. We begin to move physically speaking, because of the attunement of mind and heart, the extent of the stillness of mind and heart brought to pass by the spirit which is present, shining through the window above. It is all very simple. There is this body, this creative focus, by which something is to be accomplished.
When we see a situation such as has been present in India, at the same time we are aware that from the standpoint of this body there is representation there. There is a class in progress in Chandigarh where there are a number of Indian people attending, some of them Sikhs, some of them Hindus—there may be other backgrounds as well—but the class members are presumably in the process of setting those things aside, at least during the course of the class. Here is a focus, something brought to focus in that vast subcontinent, through which spirit may emerge to whatever extent depending upon all who are present in that class. For the most part I think that those who are present in classes have not realized how much depends on them, how much the human population depends on it—here is an opportunity to provide a stabilizing point of spirit, a window finished above. We recognize that this applies to all of us in relationship to the whole world body.
There is a spiritual focus to provide a stabilizing element in this uncontrolled emotional binge which is the human state. This body, which has been developing as a whole, and as specific parts, offers to maintain a certain measure of balance so that things don’t get entirely out of hand. Why wouldn’t one wish things to get entirely out of hand? If you let them get entirely out of hand then things are going to wind up very quickly! The question then is: What would be left? From your own standpoint, being honest with yourself, would you say that none of those elements that are present in the human nature of the population of the world are not also present in you? In other words it’s not clear yet; the mind is not entirely sanctified and the heart is not entirely purified. So the real reason why the balance should be maintained is to let this sanctification and purification occur; it is related to our own experience, that there may be an ark. That is looked upon in the Old Testament as a trustworthy boat—it didn’t spring a leak, because it was absolutely impervious to the external elements. Isn’t that what we are about too?—to be absolutely trustworthy—unsinkable! The leaks come when we lose that stillness.
The stillness of heart and mind allows heart and mind to be filled with spirit. Spirit is active, but heart and mind are still, in order to allow for the activity of the spirit. Human beings have been conditioned to imagine that nothing gets done unless heart and mind are active. It isn’t heart and mind that need to be active; it’s spirit, occupying heart and mind, that is active. This is such a strange thing insofar as the human view is concerned that it doesn’t understand it. What is it that determines the way you feel and the way you consequently think? We have noted the conditioning of human consciousness, the conditioning which has resulted from the state of separation between human consciousness and spirit. So the conscious mind may imagine that it is quite capable of comprehending what it would be to experience spiritual expression; but it hasn’t a clue! All it knows about is the very peculiar state which has been humanly developed and which comes out on the basis of all this conditioning out of the past. Now we are concerned with stillness, the stillness of mind and heart, so that all that conditioning need no longer determine what happens in the flowing forth of spirit.
The fact that there has been this conditioning has been a denial of the truth; and what has come forth of the spirit—we think of that spirit primarily as love—has either been prevented from coming forth or it has been stopped in various degrees. Here is spirit being prevented from coming forth according to the design and the control of truth. To that extent, then, you have hate, or you have barrenness, or you have death, and all these evidences of the absence of the spirit of love at different levels of experience. We have been interested in allowing these absences to be dissolved by reason of presences, by reason of the fact that coming to know the truth we are capable then of allowing love to come forth in its natural expression at whatever the level may be. If this is complete, so that the individual is trustworthy at every level—he will never let a break come in that—the truth is in control, and love comes forth according to its true nature. But the true nature of love bears very little resemblance to the sort of definition which has been given to love in the conditioned human consciousness. It is something unexperienced. It only comes forth to the extent that the truth is absolute in the individual experience; then love begins to emerge and reveal itself in characteristics natural to each level of its coming forth.
So we share this responsibility of allowing the sanctification of the mind and the purification of the heart to occur by reason of the fact that the truth is established and the spirit of love begins to come forth. It is that coming forth which may be described in terms of fire. Insofar as we are concerned it’s not a destructive fire, it is a creative fire If a balance should rightly be maintained in the world so that things do not get entirely out of hand here, there or anywhere, or everywhere, it is so that this proce ss of sanctification and purification can occur in this body. That places quite a responsibility on us. It isn’t so as to be a blessing to other people, so they are not all going to destroy themselves immediately. It will be a blessing to other people in that sense, but the reason that it is required is to bring forth this body into an absolute state of trustworthiness so that no matter what happens, no matter what anyone else does in the body or outside the body, one is trustworthy oneself, absolutely so.
So we have been concerned to maintain a balance so that we could continue to exist as a body while this process was going on. It isn’t so that it might be a blessing to us particularly, but so that there might be this body on earth, the focus of spirit that is required to allow the clarification to occur in the whole body of mankind. When that is in place then the government is out of the hands of the impure heart and the arrogant mind, and the control of spirit is once more present so things can be brought to issue. And there will be something that remains. What remains is not for the benefit of those who may remain with it, but in order that the purpose of the creation called man might once again be fulfilled, the purpose of being, the universal purpose brought to focus. There is a universal purpose, and that won’t be disrupted by anything that human beings can do—but there was a reason for the creation of man. We have the privilege of discovering what that reason is by allowing this body to take form. We are solely concerned with allowing this actually to happen.
So here we are together, not only in this moment in this place, but consistently, that together with all others who are letting the window be opened above, that the creation of this ark may be completed. We find that to the extent that there is spiritual expression there is a door in the side of the ark. We ourselves came in through it. Others can come in through it—welcome!—but there needs to be a CORE that is absolute. Without that there is really nothing. How amenable are we, in fact, to allow that Core to be absolute? We only allow the Core to be absolute as we let that absoluteness be our own individual experience.
How good to share in an understanding of these things. The understanding hasn’t come because we analyzed the story of the flood. We had the understanding before that, but looking at the story, we can see, yes, there are the principles outlined very beautifully—but we share the present responsibility. Regardless of any prior precedents, there may be the real thing, the genuine article, the absolute experience now. When heart and mind are still, this is the experience of fulfilment for heart and mind. Heart and mind were designed to be filled with spirit. So they must reach a point of stillness, in response to the radiation of spirit that is present for each one. And in that stillness, the filling and flowing of spirit occurs; and that is ultimately fullfilment—probably partial-filment right now.
We have been studying the basic theme of heavenly magic, or the magic of living, and in that pattern we have been giving consideration to Shekinah. Today, in our pattern of meditation, I would like to carry out at least an aspect of the pattern as we approached it in our earlier class this morning, so that we may as rapidly as possible have the blended picture, at least in outline, in relationship to the patterns of living and serving.
Some little time ago I introduced some of the vibratory factors involved in the names of Deity. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-central-secret-of-being-je-ho-vah.html] Also, in our patterns of meditation, we have been recognizing more and more the basic reality of the union of heaven and earth, symbolized by marriage. Marriage cannot be considered properly without regard to sex. True marriage is sex. Without sex there cannot be true marriage, the union of heaven and earth. The Master said, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The reality of the positive control of Being is available to man and to mankind, so that as soon as the pattern of mankind has reached a state of being the Bride, the marriage can take place. Individually, we can experience this while we live on earth. Collectively we can experience it, and this collective experience is called the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is the reality of worship before God. And we come to know, finally, in the outworkings of the divine design, that the highest form of worship before God that can be known is that which is proper in the intimate relationships of husband and wife.
Now sometimes when I touch upon these things there tends to be a little problem of concern with respect to those who are not married, those who are single. I would like to assure you that there need not be any concern, and that the patterns can, and will, work out in the divine design as we hold steady. And I would like particularly to emphasize the fact that you cannot achieve anything of happiness, or success, or fulfilment, by tending to rush somehow into a pattern of marriage. Marriage, in the legal or technical sense, can be a far cry from heaven. It is all too often a state of hell on earth, a grave in which all hopes and aspirations are buried. So let us not be concerned on this point particularly, at the moment. Gradually I hope to lead you into a deeper, larger understanding of all the factors that are involved, but it must be something that is achieved step by step. And remember this: “Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” All too often the human being tends to become impatient and impulsive, and to try to work out something, and always it brings sadness and futility. God has been waiting for man to return for twenty thousand years. We can wait a little. We can afford to wait and let the divine plan find fulfilment through us, so that we do not again break the patterns by arbitrarily injecting something into that divine design.
We will recall, some little time ago in meditation—it was, I think, in the class pattern, as well as in the services—I brought to your consciousness, at least those of you who were here, the point of finding a deeper pattern of relationship with the Lord, or with God, the focalization of Deity, as you find the pattern unfolding within yourself. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2021/02/how-to-meditate_10.html] You do not need to be too much concerned about the clear consciousness of what the Lord is, or who the Lord is, or how the pattern works out, all of the factors that must unfold as we go along. To the degree that you have reached a point where you feel confident and trusting in your attitude toward me, you feel that it is justified, you can let the outer aspects of focalization rest with me and let it move into the higher vibrational factors without too much concern.
However, you will recall that we have used the picture, for instance, as it was at the time of Eli and Samuel. Eli was an old man and he had been a faithful priest and prophet, and the time had come when Samuel, as a young boy, was apprenticed, shall we say, to him, to Eli. He was to live in that environment, to help run errands for Eli and serve in any way that he could; for Samuel was on call day and night. And one night Samuel heard his name called. He thought it was Eli calling, so he went to Eli and asked him what he wanted, and Eli said, “I did not call you. Go back to bed, son.” So Samuel went back to bed on his pallet. And again he heard the call and he went to Eli and said, “What is it? For you did call me.” And Eli said, “No, I did not call you”; but he began to realize that something was happening, and he told Samuel if the voice came calling again to say, “Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.” And so the attitude of “Here I am, Lord,” or “Lord, here I am,” finds expression at various times in various ways. But, in any case, in this instance the call came the third time. “Samuel, Samuel.” And Samuel was young, and the idea that the Lord was calling him rather excited him, and he did not recall clearly just what Eli had told him to say, and he said, “Speak, for Thy servant heareth.” He did not include “Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.” That is understandable, of course, but an interesting point. And so the mantle of the prophet passed to Samuel. Eli knew that the time had come and he made a little prayer in response to the Lord. The only thing that was sustaining him was the feeling that he had to remain alive until the Lord had provided the prophet to take his place, and as soon as he realized that Samuel was indeed the appointed, and the anointed of the Lord—he was sitting on his bench and it didn't have any back—he lost his balance, fell over backwards and broke his neck, left this sphere of things. Well, in any case, here we have something of the outline of how the basic patterns work: ”Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth”—the openhearted response, the willingness, the state of being yielded. And then there is, too, the pattern where one uses the expression: “Here am I, Lord,” or “Lord, here I am,” and variations in many ways that the individual may work out on his or her own vibration.
Now the Father, as the term was used by the Master when He was on earth, included the focalization of Deity, the One Who Dwells, and the Shekinah Pattern also. He sometimes used the word “Father,” or at least it is translated that way, meaning “the One Who Dwells.” But when we use the word, we feel and know the reality of the One Who Dwells and the Shekinah Pattern by which we ourselves have contact through the pneumaplasmic substance. And as the blending in pattern between the Shekinah Cloud and your own pneumaplasm begins to take place you begin to have a sense of the true nearness of God, or of the Father, the One Who Dwells—the reality of contact with God. That blending of the Cloud of Glory and your own pneumaplasmic substance is sex, it is union, oneness: “The Father and I are one.” “That ye may be one, even as we are”—one with God, the reality of the blending of heaven and earth. It is as we realize the reality of this oneness, this union, and accept it, that we can begin to allow the larger fulfilment in our own lives.
Touching this point of sex, or union, oneness—we mean the same thing whatever word we use, don't we? Can we say “oneness” and not mean sex? Can we say “sex” and not mean oneness? Can we say “union” and not mean oneness and sex? It is all the same: oneness of heaven and earth, the oneness of God and man—union. We need to come into a deeper pattern of the realization of union with God, with the Lord, with Deity, with our own focalizations of Deity, and with the primaryfocalization of Deity, if we are to know the patterns as they relate to human beings. If we do not know the pattern of relationship with Deity, how can we know and understand the pattern of our relationships one with another? We may have some semblance of a vibratory pattern but it is not the real fulfilment. However, insofar as this world is concerned, these patterns of relationship that are already established can have a part and a place in that divine design. Actually, as long as there is a true pattern of love and oneness the reality of that pattern that is so established can be absorbed or included in the divine design as it is being made manifest, and it can be something lovely and beautiful and wonderful. So there is this basic need to enter into the pattern of oneness, but the primary need is that we should find that oneness with God before we are too concerned about finding it in relationship to other human beings. How can this fulfilment be experienced? We have recognized in our meditation that it must be under the One Law, the absolute Law. We have recognized that the outer man or woman begins to experience the fulfilment in pattern as the outer being accepts that which is of the pattern of the inner Being. In other words the focalization of Deity in you has accepted a focalization of Deity. If you try to find the focalization of Deity in you without giving heed to the focalization of Deity above, you will fail. The response to our LORD and KING is something which makes it possible for you to begin to share that which is true of your own point of Deity. And once you begin to share that which is of God, the rest works out. It naturally unfolds as you remain centered, faithful and true.
In order to establish the right vibrational pattern for what I wish to suggest a little later on in this class today, I think I shall touch one or two points in relationship to the Master's teaching, to remind you and to clarify for you. In the text, we have the statement attributed to the Master with respect to adultery, for instance. The statement as it is quoted in the Bible is, “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” Now the Master did not say it that way; that is the way it was translated, and we can understand the attitude of the translators when we think of the factors that are at work in the world. The statement as it stands may be true, but it is not what the Master said. He said, “He that looketh on a woman to lust after her in his heart, hath had union with her already.” In other words union is not necessarily adultery, although a forced or unnatural, out-of-vibration pattern of union is, mixing something that does not belong. So, speaking of it simply from the standpoint of the pattern in marriage, for instance, if a husband can look on his wife and not feel any heavenly lust, or desire, a longing for her, body and mind and heart, then they are not married. That would be adultery—no love. So if we were going to quote this statement just as it stands in the Bible we would be saying that the relationship between those who were supposed to be married is adultery.
Now if the intimate relationships are carried out under the cloak of marriage, without love, without a true pattern of oneness or union developing, it is adultery, and the Master said that adultery is a basic, acceptable reason for divorce. If we were going to go into the question of divorce we would have to look back and examine, more or less extensively, the pattern of things as they were; but I will give you a key for the moment. Women were by and large considered to be chattels at that time, and the whim and fancy of the man might simply say, “I feel attracted toward this girl. She looks nice to me over here. I will just give my wife a bill of divorcement and send her on her way, and I will marry someone down there.” In other words it was something that is altogether different from the usual or general pattern that we have in the world today, or in this country anyway. And yet the Master's statements have been seen as they relate to this situation here, instead of being seen on the basis of the situation about which He was talking. He objected to this business of so lightly taking a wife and then deciding, “Well I'd like this girl over there, or this woman over here. I feel attracted, so I will just give my wife a bill of divorcement and she's gone.” It was something that was completely out of pattern and, well, even though it tends to get in that direction a little bit once in a while with some celebrities perhaps, it actually does not exist here in this country at all, anything comparable to it.
Well now, He said that divorce was acceptable only on the basis of adultery. And that is right. But what is adultery? The narrow-minded bigots who have tried to make arbitrary blue laws, etc, to achieve their own black magic ends, have attempted to take the attitude that once you are married you should stay married, willy-nilly, regardless of how incompatible, how inharmonious, the man and the woman may be. They are just doomed to spend the rest of their days together, or if they separate, unless one of them actually goes out and has physical intimacies with some other person, why they have not had adultery so they cannot get divorced. And then the pattern of the Master's instruction with respect to the woman who was divorced, as it is quoted in the Bible, “Whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery,” is based upon a situation there and then. In other words it was a wife-trading proposition, without regard to the women, without regard to any vibrational harmony, without regard to love. If a man happened to see another man's wife that he particularly liked and he could work out a deal with her husband, why he could give his own wife a bill of divorcement and then he would go and marry the other woman. Well it was that sort of thing that the Master was talking about and not about marrying a woman who happened to have been divorced, where there was love and harmony. The only thing that separates is a lack of harmony, a lack of love, a lack of the basic principles of being.
So the thing the Master was talking about cannot be seen unless we go back to the conditions about which He was speaking. Don't try to project it into the situation as it is in the world today, because here in this country we simply do not have a comparable condition. So there is absolutely nothing wrong, according to the Master's teaching—only a little part of it got into the Bible; His complete statement is not there—according to the Master's teaching there is absolutely nothing wrong with a divorced person marrying if that person is marrying for love and if it is a mutual thing. And the pattern of adultery needs to be seen not from the standpoint of physical intimacy so much as from the standpoint of the vibrational factors of life—not just physical intimacy but mixing those things, or trying to mix those things, that do not mix. So we see innumerable instances where a man and a woman are legally married but they are certainly not vibrationally married. They may have a certain amount of physical intimacy, but there is no love, there is no real harmony, there is no growing expression of union. And that is adultery.
It is legalized adultery. It is prostitution, both ways; men can be prostitutes as well as women, you know. So it is just plain legalized prostitution, and there is a great deal of it in the United States and Canada—legalized prostitution in our good homes of our so-called good people. And some of these self-righteous legal prostitutes get all up in the air—most of them go to church, by the way. They get all up in the air if there is any idea that there is going to be a “red-light district,” as it is called. Well now, there are all kinds of evils in relationship to “red-light districts,” but we have to recognize that there are plenty of girls and women born into the world who have no possibility of becoming anything but a good prostitute, if we use that term—good harlot, I would rather say. In other words it is ridiculous to try to force her into the marriage pattern, if she is going to have any physical relationships with a man, to say, “Well now, you are just going to have to get married here. You are going to have to settle down. You are going to have to be a good wife,” and so on, and so on, and so on. Well, there are a lot of girls—there is nothing wrong with them; it doesn't mean they are evil; it doesn't mean they are sinful; it just means that it is their nature from the standpoint of the vibrational factors of being—that simply do not have it in them to function on that kind of a basis, and they should not be looked down upon; they should not be condemned, or anything else. And while some men may be content to go through life never physically contacting any woman but their own wives, that should not be looked upon as something that was utterly terrible, if a man had some relationship on some occasion with a woman, as long as it is on the right vibrational pattern.
Well, what is the right vibrational pattern? That is a big question, and I do not mean something promiscuous. I do not mean the sort of thing that is generally thought of in that regard at all. I am attempting to point out something, however, that is basic and can be so easily misunderstood. You will recognize that we undertake to carry out a pattern here where actually, from the standpoint of sex, we have had, since our program began here, practically no problem. A few times in the past some little difficulty tended to flare up, but it was brought under control. In other words we cannot have too high an ideal. We are not talking about something that violates the laws of our land. We are not talking about trying to change those laws. But if we are going to be servers we must understand people, and we can't say arbitrarily, “Well now, this girl has come to me. She seems to have this kind of a nature but she should be somebody that could just settle down and be one man's wife and be perfectly content there and perfectly happy. She should make a good mother, she should make this, she should make that, and if she doesn't, she is wrong.” To take that attitude is to fail completely to understand human beings, and if you can't understand human beings you can't help them, because there are some girls who are no more capable of that than they are of hopping over the moon on one foot. And there is nothing wrong with them. They are not evil, they are not sinful, and in the divine design there would be a temple where they could be harlots and it would be perfectly all right. And we need to begin to see that, to recognize that this arbitrary man-made pattern of trying to force people into some kind of an ethical—what shall we say?—design is something that complicates innumerable lives. Now we cannot possibly have anything like that now. We are not interested in trying to. We have to help people meet the situation of life as it is. But we need to understand those things. Not that we go out and talk about them, not that we try to explain that to somebody. If you do, why you are going to be misunderstood and things will be going from bad to worse. That would not do at all. But you are supposed to be servers, and if I come along and say, “Well now, I will teach you to understand yourself and others so that you can be a server,” and I leave this out, I have not done my job. All right, I have to trust you and point to the truth of the matter, regardless of human concepts and beliefs, and trust you simply to see the basic facts of being.
Now does that mean that all women should in some sense be promiscuous? Certainly not. There should not be anything promiscuous at any time, under any circumstance. Promiscuous function in relationship to sex is wrong, period. But there must be a recognition of the basic facts in relationship to human beings, if we are to understand them. We do not necessarily have to explain to them what their primary problem is. We help them to adapt, as best we can, to the circumstances of the situation. But, except in relationship to our society as it stands, marriage hasn't anything to do with the outworking of sex. In other words the pattern of relationship, something that was acknowledged—marriage, in the sense of helping the partners or the proposed partners to be sure that they have found the right vibrational pattern, that they are properly fitted for each other, and that they can be a real help in the outworking of the divine design—was something that was natural in the Motherland. It does not mean that two people could just suddenly decide, “Well now, we are going to live together the rest of our lives.” Or somebody might decide, “Well we'll live together for a year or two, and if we don't like it we can quit.” It was not that way at all. From the standpoint of the nearest thing that we could call marriage in the Motherland, everything, including all factors of government, was under the jurisdiction of the priesthood, and the priesthood was functioning as the true focalization of Deity on earth. And the patterns that were utilized by which young people, or those desiring what we might call marriage, might meet were on a controlled basis and they were never allowed to just rush into it. It was something that had to be shown in a vibrational sense, and developed gradually. And when the pattern finally worked out they were married—not by some kind of a ceremony. There was a ceremony, a celebration, acknowledging the fact, but the marriage was something that was vibrationally achieved.
The way we have it, we have a legal marriage. But remember this: It is not to be expected that any young couple getting married can expect to be married in less than five to eight years thereafter. It takes, generally speaking, even if the conditions are good, at least five to eight years before a young man and a young woman reach a point of being married. Oh, they've got their papers, yes; they are wearing each other's rings probably; but they are not married yet, because marriage is not something that is made by someone saying something, any preacher. I have officiated at many weddings, but while I can establish the legal recognitions, I cannot make any couple be married. That is something that has to work out in the pattern of their own experience. They must be joined together by God. And what is God? God is love. They must be joined together by love, love that makes them gradually reach a state of oneness. And in the world today, if they achieve it under seven or eight years they are really good. Generally speaking they do not. Many go through an entire lifetime and never get married, although the preacher said something; but they never married.
So we need to begin to realize in these things that every human being has a part and a place on the basis of natural capacities of being from God. We must not assume that because it does not fit the arbitrary pattern it is evil. Why should we classify the things of God as being evil? We need to begin to realize that in the divine design every part could be used in its perfect function, in its true expression. We do not have such a pattern; consequently we must assist individuals to be as effective as possible in substitute patterns for the time being. Generally speaking we are not working with the true pattern at all. We can't. We will have to be dealing with substitute patterns in most cases. In the higher focalizations of the vibratory factor, we may be reaching a point where we can clear through into the actual design, but we have to help people do the best that is possible under those substitute conditions. We can't necessarily tell them that they are substitute conditions or we will defeat ourselves, but we must see the fact or we will not be able to serve. And we have to acknowledge that the best thing we can do is help people find alignment and balance as much as possible in substitute conditions for the time being. If the individual has it in him to function correctly in a substitute condition, he or she will be able to carry through into a higher pattern in season. If a person cannot function in a substitute condition, or situation, he or she will never make the grade in the real. Why do I say that?
We have to be adaptable. I have functioned in a thousand and one substitute situations, substitute conditions, all the way from maintaining a vibratory core by working with horses back a few years ago when my human pattern broke and went to pieces. I had to depend on horses for a while, to have any kind of a central-control vibrational pattern. And maintaining it that way it began to work out. Soon I could leave the substitute pattern of the horses behind and move into the higher sphere. Sometimes people wonder why I have a couple of horses out here when we could use the feed to so much better advantage. We could feed a cow or two; we could do this or that. Well I think we can afford to keep a horse or two, because horses saved the day for us. Horses would work with me when human beings refused to. I love horses; I like working with horses. Kick them out just because we could use the pasture? Not while I'm here. So I have functioned in all kinds of substitute situations. In practically everything I do—not all—but in most of the things I do I have to be functioning in some kind of substitute situation. And only as we function correctly in substitute situations can we move to the point where we can get out of them; but never if you say, “Well I don't want to function as a substitute pattern. I want the real thing.” All right, we will get to the real thing if you will function correctly in substitute patterns. Reject substitute patterns and you will never get anywhere; you will always be in them. To reach the real we must always be willing to accept some kind of substitute pattern. Now that doesn't mean that we have to accept things that aren't right particularly. We don't have to lower ourselves in some fashion. I am not suggesting that. But we do have to see clearly, and begin to understand the fact, that the union of heaven and earth is union, and it has its proper place in the pattern of being.
Now in this divine design, as we recognized a little while ago, we need to consider something of really drawing near to God. That is the first step. We do not need to be worried or concerned or troubled about the various aspects of the fulfilment. We can trust God for that, if we function correctly. We can learn to so center, so trust, that we can function in the substitute factors that are necessary to us for the time being, and we can help others to do so with understanding, moving constantly toward the reality of the divine design. And to achieve this we need to draw near unto God. We need to draw near unto God. We recall that the word that is usually spoken “Jehovah” is the name of the Body of God made manifest, in other words God in action on earth. To whatever degree God was able to act on earth in and through the children of Israel there was the manifestation of what is commonly called Jehovah. You note that is not the correct pronunciation of the word, but we use the common word when we do not have the right vibrational factors, or when we are building for the right vibrational factors for the real word; and again, that is a substitute pattern.
All symbols are substitute patterns. The whole pattern of the Bible is dealing with substitute patterns, which we can use correctly in order to reach the real. And here is another, Jehovah. That is a substitute pronunciation in order to avoid using the right pronunciation until the right time. The same is true, as we recall, with the word “Jesus.” Jesus is not the right way to speak the name, but it is a substitute pattern, a very good one, and we use it. Jehovah, then, remember, means not God in the invisible sense but invisible God made manifest through man, in action on earth, whatever that may be. Jehovah is God in manifest action on earth. The manifestation through our LORD when He was on earth was a revelation of Jehovah, in which He invited us to share. We say we want to be members of the Christ Body, or long to be, or are working to be, members of the One Christ Body, members of the Body of Jehovah, Jehovah on earth, made manifest. And so any human being anywhere who actually begins to let Deity manifest is in fact letting the reality of Jehovah be made manifest. Jehovah will not come into full manifestation until all the men and women and children living on earth are a part of the body of God in fact—Jehovah manifest, the body of mankind completely centered, completely activated by God. So when we use the expression “Jehovah,” or the real word, the real name, we are not talking about God in the invisible. We are talking about God in these visible realms, God made manifest through all who serve Him, God brought to focus and given meaning on earth by those who serve Him.
And when we use the name Jesus, what do we mean actually? We mean the centering of the manifest Body of Jehovah—the centering of the manifest Body of Jehovah. Jesus is not in heaven, in the invisible sense. If Jesus, the name of the body of our LORD, is to have any reality it must be here on earth. He had a body on earth. That body ascended. It is not the same body, it is not in the same form. That body was to continue as the body of many members; so the centeringaspectofJehovah has been called JesusChrist. But Jesus in this sense is not in heaven, never was, never will be; that is, separated from the earth. But heaven at hand, on earth, yes; heaven on earth, where there is the union of heaven and earth. Then we have Jesus, that is, the centering of mankind, in the manifestation of Jehovah. So we need to begin to recall and remember clearly the significance of some of these things that we have meditated upon before, and remembering, we will not be trying to make something fit where it doesn't. We will be able to let it be in its proper place. And when we begin to work in this vibrational sphere of drawing near unto God we will not be trying to make ourselves be in something that either doesn't exist or where it will not work—centered in the centering of the body, centered in Jesus, if you want to put it that way—not the name Jesus applied to the body but the true name applied to the Centering of the Body of Jehovah.
And the angel said, “Thou shalt call his name Emmanuel: for he shall save his people from their sins.” Emmanuel—there is another name upon which we have not given meditation before. “For he shall save his people from their sins.” Emmanuel is what, then? It is the savingforce of the Central Pattern of Being, the force which takes unto itself that which belongs to itself, by which we become members of the One Body, not scattered pieces of a body. Sometimes we hear of some gruesome murder or something, where the hands or fingers, arms and various parts of the body were cut off, scattered about. Well it is a gruesome thing; it isn't good. And yet human beings imagine that they can be segregated like that and be a body. They can't. What we are working for is the opposite of that: all parts in place, living, real, vital, beautiful, glorious. We relax, then, in the realization of that which is signified, or the reality of the substitute name Jesus, the centering; the body of the centering, Jehovah; the working power, Emmanuel, Shekinah. What is it that blends all of these things together and allows the reality of Deity to work on earth? “And his name shall be Shekinah: for he shall save his people from their sins,” from their wrong actions, wrong patterns of life, to draw them into the divine design. As we begin to let these things have meaning in ourselves we can begin to use the sacred names, the true names, with understanding and with meaning, with utter reverence; [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2021/05/source-of-life-and-names-of-deity.html] for if God, or the focalization of Deity, is accepting us into His Body, that means we are accepting Him into our body, the wonderful symbolism of the sex organs of the male and the female revealing exactly what must take place in our patterns of relationship with God and how, as God receives us into Himself, we must receive Him into ourselves—union, sex, in the heavenly, divine, sacred sense. And received into that pattern of union, we begin to realize that we must invite it.
Just stop and look for a moment, even in the world in its limited state. If a girl, in this country particularly, or in the so-called free world, doesn't particularly have any attraction, feel any attraction toward a certain man, and she doesn't indicate any interest, she doesn't do anything about it, she more or less tends to keep out of his way and to ignore him, how likely is she to become that man's wife? You ladies know that if a girl is going to get married she has to do something about it. She has to indicate some interest. She may pull a little trick of—well, you know; I don't have to describe it. Maybe I shouldn't describe it! Plenty of little tricks with the female, yes. All right, we mustn't display all of them. Anyway, she is going to do something about it. She is going to be attractive, but maybe not too attractive too fast, if she is dealing with an ordinary male critter of the human race. But she wants to develop it on a basis so that when it does happen she will have the upper thumb, because she doesn't really trust him, she just wants him. Of course that is supposed to be marriage. But in any case, if the female wants to enter into this pattern with some particular male, she has to do something about it, generally speaking. Well now, how much more so should we do something about entering into union with God? If we are going to play coy too hard and too long, play hard to get too often—well, the ladies play hard to get for a while, but not too long, if they are smart, if they want to follow out the world's pattern of marriage. But why should we keep on playing hard to get with God?
You know, we are not dealing with an ordinary man. We are dealing with God. We can trust Him. We can just open our hearts to Him and say, “Lord, hereIam.” Why play hard to get? Why not be honest with Him? In our body here in the outer sense, the body of mankind is supposed to be the bride, and to make herself ready for the bridegroom, ready to receive the positive reality of God into manifestation, into the body. If we are being received by God, then we must receive God into ourselves—union, the reality of union. Once we begin to see that, and accept the beauty and the wonder of God's design on that basis, we do not confuse sex and imagine it is just the physical relationships of physical bodies. The physical relationship, the physical body, can have its part and place, but it is more than that. It is God in action in us. Once we begin to truly reach that point, accepting the reality of union with God, we can use those heavenly names, accepting that which God is giving, answering the love call of our God. And for the centering there is the realization that we are responding, yielding, to Jesu, letting go to the CenteringofJehovah, Jesu, the CenteringonearthofJehovah—until we begin to know the reality of God in action here below, the beauty and the wonder of it.
Did you ever relax in the Secret Place of the Most High and simply say, “Lord, here I am”? If any of you have ever been what is called “being in love,” did you ever get tired of hearing your love say, “I love you”? The word was always new, always fresh. Do you think the Lord is going to get tired of hearing you say, “Lord, I love you”; “Lord, here I am”; “MyLord, Iloveyou”? How about functioning the way a true bride would, and yielding to the LORD our KING? How about drawing near unto Him and receiving Him into ourselves, that we might begin to know the wonder and the beauty and the glory of the divine design on earth, something so sacred, so sweet, so unspeakably glorious, that we cannot paint it in words? We can say something about it, but if we would know it we must yield to it and let it be a reality in us here and now. So let us do something about it. Our LORD has offered His love for so long. Why put it off? Why play hard to get? Why say, “You will have to do all the work, Lord. If you are ever to get me you are sure going to have to work for me”? Why not make it easy? Why not yield to Him and serve Him? Why not be a part of the Body of God on earth?
