Steve Ventola — Good morning, everyone. Carol and I have the pleasure of leading our time; and like Stewart did last month, we would like to introduce ourselves. We are on the East Coast and a lot of you are on the West Coast and we haven’t gotten to know many of you yet.
I grew up in New Jersey and my life trajectory was changed when I first heard Dr. Bill Bahan speak on February 9, 1981. From there I went to chiropractic school in Georgia; attended services in Atlanta and participated in classes at Lake Rest and at Green Pastures.
Carol Smith — I grew up in Orlando, Florida, and it was my mother Wardelle Smith who became interested in the Emissaries and took classes at Lake Rest—some of you might have known her. I think she invited every single person who attended to our home in Orlando, as there were lots of visitors. I was always the tour guide to take them to Disney World. I became involved with EDL after meeting all those people and there was a quality about them that was very attractive. I took a one-week class in Atlanta, moved up here right away and have been here ever since.
Steve Ventola — This morning we are going to be focusing our time on the service, “The Kingdoms of This World” given by Uranda on June 7, 1953. We thought we would begin our time by playing an audio clip of Uranda’s words, and then Carol will continue reading from that service transcript.
Uranda — On this Sunday morning, June 7th, 1953, we are privileged once more to gather for an hour of meditation. And when we pause to think of the vastness of truth, the unlimited wonder of God’s love, and the limitless aspects of life, we are caused to realize that our own relatedness to life is as yet very small; that it is not yet manifest in the majestic proportions which God designed for us. When we think of God, the Creator, with any true realization we must perceive, even if it be only through a glass darkly, that God is God because of the fullness of His relatedness to life and all living things. Let us have a moment of devotion.
Our gracious LORD, with humility of spirit we would yield utterly before Thy Throne that we may let Thy Kingdom come and let Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven; that we may no longer, either with malice or inadvertent attitude deny the reality of Thy Kingdom on earth; nor would we in any moment of time prevent the manifestation of Thy Power. With full dedication we would avoid all those things that detract from Thy Glory, and we would let Thy Kingdom and Thy Power and Thy Glory have manifestation and meaning in our lives; that through our relatedness to Thee we may become aware of our relatedness to Life and all living beings and things – now and forever, in the Christ. Aumen.
Carol Smith — We thought it would be great to hear from Uranda— to hear his voice, to start our service today. I am going to read this paper through; it’s about two and a half pages so it’s not very long but it’s chock-full. It’s a paper I’ve read many times in the past and I love the promise of what man can be, should be, as outlined here.
YouTube Video
Uranda — With the coming of our Master to the earth through the body of a babe, the angels, the heavenly beings, sang a song: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” This heavenly song was a heavenly witness to the relatedness of God and man, to the joyous eagerness with which heaven was seeking to release the things of heaven into the world. That heavenly song carries a poignant quality that expresses more than love alone. In it we see the suggestion of the Divine Design of truth, the quality of control by which peace might be established, and the assurance, the promise of life.
But there was more, for in this simple song, as we meditate upon the spirit of it, there was an acknowledgment, a recognition, that the most precious thing in all the heavenly realm had been sent into the earth to be with the children of men. The greatest treasure of heaven, the greatest joy of heaven, the most precious of all heavenly beings and things, had been sent into the world as a gift to man. And as heaven gave this most precious gift, heavenly beings felt a closeness to the earth and to the people of the earth, longing with the intensity of heavenly love to establish a pattern for man, that the children of earth might feel the closeness of heaven, a sense of relatedness—a relatedness to the love which is the atmosphere of heaven; a relatedness to the truth, which is the beauty and the control of the heavenly design; and a relatedness to life, which is the active expression of all things heavenly.
And here we begin to perceive a heavenly secret, for that existence to which man has subjected himself, the existence which leads to death, is seen to embody the expression of the things of hell. As life is the expression of all things heavenly, death is the expression of all things of the unreal realm. The difference between the process of living and the process of dying can here be seen. The process of living leads to life, and the process of dying leads to death, and that which we express with the forces of our being determines the path along which we move. As soon as the consciousness is capable of perceiving and recognizing and acknowledging this basic truth, any man, any woman, any child can with intelligence begin to examine and choose that which shall be expressed by the forces of his being through the capacities within himself.
Life is the expression of all things heavenly, and whenever human beings find joy in living they are somehow sharing in the expression of heavenly things. Man, the physical form, was designed and created in the image of God and after His likeness to the end that man might give expression to heavenly things and live.
When man began to express things that were not of heaven but of hell, God warned man that the end thereof was death; but man would not heed, nor would he hearken to the voice of love which called to him from the realms of heaven. And in his self-centeredness, his self-activity, man began to lose his consciousness of relatedness to life. When he beheld the ugly things made manifest in the processes of dying, these ugly things impressed him deeply and he began to have a sense of relatedness to that which was ugly, he began to have a sense of shame, because in the depths of his own being he protested against those things to which he acknowledged relatedness. And the sense of shame, the spirit of shame, cannot be removed from the heart of man until man ceases to have a sense of relatedness to those things which violate the essences of his own being. Because man has in his heart the sense of shame, which arises because of an inner revulsion against those things to which he has acknowledged relatedness, he feels unworthy of relationship with those things to which his soul aspires, and a veil is drawn, causing the human heart to live in a state of acknowledging that against which the soul of man revolts.
And then another veil is drawn by reason of shame, for the human being does not like to look upon the cause of his own shame. Blinding himself to his own inner state, the self-active one begins to weave a robe of self-righteousness. To maintain a sense of his own goodness he begins to rebel against the lack of goodness in others. He begins to resent in others that which he deems to be wrong in them, that he may have the stuff with which to weave his own robe of self-righteousness, that he may seem to be good in his own eyes, and that he may prepare that which shall delude others that he may be good in the eyes of those who do not see with clear vision. And so it is that man has, down through unnumbered centuries, trained himself from birth to his dying day to feel that he was establishing a relatedness with God and all things good by resenting the devil and all things evil. And man at first—when he begins to move toward life, toward the expression of heavenly things—cannot see that all resentment is resentment against God, that all rebellion is rebellion against God, and that by resentment and rebellion the robe of self-righteousness is woven and the relatedness to life is prevented, because the life capacities are given to the expression of those things which are conceived in hell and given birth by self-activity.
“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” Man was created in the image and likeness of God to bring forth on earth the things that are conceived in heaven, that in divine activity they may be given birth into the realm of form.
Man, weaving his robe of self-righteousness, seeking to assuage his sense of shame, seeks to be good by fighting against evil. But by his fighting he acknowledges his relatedness to evil. By his rebellion against evil he acknowledges the power of evil, thereby denying the power of God. By his resentment he acknowledges his subjection to evil, thereby denying his subjection to God. He who fights evil acknowledges the power of evil and denies the power of God. He who resents ugliness, particularly in the lives of others, acknowledges the kingdom of ugliness and denies the reality of the kingdom of beauty. He who acknowledges relatedness to the processes of dying denies his relatedness to the processes of living. Man must express something while his body remains alive, and if he does not express heavenly things he is expressing hellish things.
He who would live must choose to give himself to the expression of heavenly things and stop imagining, in the evil imaginations of his own heart, that there is no pleasure in the expression of heavenly things and that if he would have pleasure he must express the things of hell. He must acknowledge in his own heart that, if there be joy, it must come as a part of the expression of heavenly things, and he will no longer seek the pain of joy in the mixture of the pleasure of sorrow.
He who is aware of his relatedness to life counts his first joy to be his awareness of relatedness to the Source of life, and having acknowledged the Source of life by the expression of heavenly things, he begins to be aware of his relationship to all things living. He has a communion in spirit with the flower, with the tree, with the insects, with the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.
Sometimes man seeks to find his relatedness with created things, seeking to derive peace from them and to enter into their joy, without having first established relatedness to the Creator of these things, and then it is that man's efforts to establish relatedness with living things are motivated by selfishness: seeking to find peace from Mother Nature, seeking to get life from contact with the realms of vegetation and the animal kingdom, seeking to replenish his own meager supply by taking it from the realm of created things.
Yet man was made in the image and likeness of God, to have dominion over the earth and all the things that are therein, and in his true sense of relatedness to all living things, a sense of relatedness that springs from a consciousness of relatedness to the Source of Life, man beholds the things of the created realm and is aware of his relatedness to the flower, to the tree, to the bird of the air, to the beast of the field. He is aware of them as a god is aware of his creatures—not seeking something from them but giving his own peace to increase the peace that is found in nature, giving of his own love to increase the love that is found in nature, giving of his own truth to increase the beauty and the control in the realms of nature. He beholds these things and, as a god, he gives to them—not seeking to take from them, not acknowledging his weakness by saying to the tree, “Give unto me of your strength,” not acknowledging his turmoil by saying to the lovely valley, “Give unto me of your peace,” but rather, in his giving, he hears the voice of the valley saying, “By reason of your presence my peace is increased.” And there is a whispering in the treetop, for those who have ears to hear, “By reason of your coming my strength is increased.”
And the kingdoms of the earth are filled with rejoicing, for man no longer comes to nature seeking to take for himself that which he has acknowledged he does not have, but he comes to nature as a god, increasing the beauty, the loveliness and the peace wherever he goes. And the kingdoms of this world—the animal kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, the mineral kingdom, the fowls of the air, the fish of the sea—become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.
Man, as God, moves in the kingdoms of this world, giving and causing the increase, until the sense of shame and the sense of fear is cast out of the kingdoms of this world and the sense of relatedness is established between Creator and creation because man has been restored to his heavenly place, wherein he expresses heavenly things into the kingdoms of this world. And in that expression he lives, and the kingdoms of this world share in the living, because they express heavenly things to man, that man in turn may express the heavenly things of earth into the heavenly realms of heaven; for heaven and earth are one. All who will, have come to know that he who expresses heavenly things is living, and he has no relatedness to the realm of dying.
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. Those who arise to share with God the qualities of Godhood extend the Glory of God, the peace and the goodwill, to all the kingdoms of this world—the precious treasures of heaven extended to man, that man, being in heaven, may extend the precious treasures of heaven into the kingdoms of this world.
Steve Ventola — Isn’t it wonderful to share these things; especially during this season, to acknowledge the fact that the most precious Being was given into the world to bring what was needed for all of us to wake up. And as we hold that dear, when we touch upon that point, the awareness of the preciousness of that goes deep into our hearts. As Uranda mentioned, when there is a relatedness to the Source of creation, it allows for a relatedness to all of creation. A little while back in a Tone of Life service Larry Krantz mentioned how our remembrance of such things may be vague at first, but as we hold dear these things, more clarity comes.
Carol Smith — There was such an expectation of victory at that time, a longing for victory. I was thinking how privileged we are to have the understanding that we have. We can look at these things that Uranda outlined that maintain the veil—the shame, self-righteousness, the attempt to be good, resentment, rebellion—all those things. But he did say that anyone with intelligence can choose to take a different path; and it emphasizes to me how important it is to extend the spirit of welcome and enfoldment to whatever comes my way. I didn’t actually volunteer to speak today; I got tapped on the shoulder by David Barnes, and I had to say “Yes” because I couldn’t say “No” to David. But I was thinking, we can meet these things in our own lives and it really opens up the gate for everyone else in our world.
Steve Ventola — It is a matter of saying “Yes”, whether we’re tapped on the shoulder or whether it’s the compulsion within ourselves to say “Yes”. This is the reason why we’ve come. Carol and I realized that everything has conspired to bring us to this point, to say, “Here am I. Here am I to express the things of God on earth.” Let’s open our time for those of you who feel compelled to share why you have come, and what you have to say in this moment now.
Pamela Gray — Carol, I’d like to thank you for your reading, and as you were tapped, you were tapped because of your beautiful spirit, and your humility, and that’s what you spoke about. What struck me in the reading of course, as you said, chock full of so many things, but our responsibility is to bring the increase. Uranda said “to bring the increase.” We can bring the increase when my Father and I are One, and I know that I’m here for that purpose of dominion, to let His Word come forth through me. I was thinking what you were saying with the shame, and the feeling inadequate, and all these things that people feel that are so self-righteous, but it’s putting the Lord’s spirit at a distance. In the Christmas season we heard various tributes and songs, and so on. One was is “at a distance God is watching us”—from a distance. Remember that one? Well that is indication of the human state, of lack of responsibility, personal responsibility. God is there, up there—it’s not the oneness, and it’s a great excuse. But how blessed we are to get together and know these words and know the spirit of our communion, that God has a powerful voice, because of being one with Him, altogether.
Robert Kauffman — Thank you Pam, and thank you Steve and Carol—thank you very much. I was slated to speak with my wife Terry today, but life had other plans! And I’ve been taking care of that, for some weeks now. I’m not here to talk about that, I’m here to talk about what a joy it is to know that I am surrounded by a group of friends who are so deeply trustworthy, that yes, I can give way with total confidence. Well, if there be joy, it’s because there are great friends who we’re among. And I give thanks every day, along my healing process, both for the surround that people have afforded, but also just for the fact that of knowing that you are here, I am here, and we are in a world that is coming alive, both in our consciousness, but in the consciousness of the people we reach out to. There’s been extraordinary things happening in this world. It may not make the news but it’s absolutely the most powerful event happening on the earth right now, I would say. I’d just say one other thing. I’ve had a few “Ahah” moments over the past week or two, and with the last one I had, it’s funny, it had to do with being, being quiet, receiving. The only trouble was that if there be joy, I was filled with exuberance and I overdid it. So the next day, down it came. So there’s also a need to be terribly alert, alert to life as it comes through us in every moment, and just be there with things. So Steve and Carol, thank you very much once again.
Linda Bahan — I feel compelled to speak up because we are so blessed—I am so blessed to have known Steve and Carol over many years here living in Atlanta, and I feel the depth of friendship and love that we have for each other in our grouping of primarily the seven of us that are extraordinarily close, and our bond is centred in love. Thank you so much for presenting. I felt they became your words today, Carol, because you have been working with these things in your heart and in your life, as we all do, every day. We are presented with challenges sometimes, and also with the joy of being with one another. I’d like to share a gift that came on Christmas Eve, when Bill and I were invited by Robert to get out and walk. We have a very large river called the Chatahoochie, and surrounding that beautiful river is the Chatahoochie National Park, and there are beautiful trails. We walked with Robert and Terry; it was mid-morning, and all of sudden Terry says, “Stop, be quiet”, and across the road come these beautiful white tailed deer, and the fawns, and they were having the time of their lives, running and jumping for joy. It was the most magnificent sight. We also had the Canada Geese that are on their way south, feeding in the water. We were wrapped in the natural world and their hearts were singing out with joy. So thank you for your presentation today—I felt your presence—because that was what was embodied in out magnificent experience in the Park. Love you all.
Anne Blaney — Thank you so much Carol for your reading. This Christmas has for me been different because it has exemplified the substance that has been built over this past year. There’s been an access to something different this season. I found yesterday to be lovely, serene, meditative day. I was thinking about how we are gardeners, many of us like to garden, and when we have our garden—which I’m looking at right now, and the sap sucker who is eating all my suet, that is something that I’m enfolding. And I say to my garden when it is growing, “I’ve got you. I’m here, and I have you, in me. You are part of me and you are enfolded.” I was thinking of people who are healers. When they are dealing with someone who is requiring healing, they look at them in the way that says, “I’ve got you. You are right here with me, you are part of me now.” What happened for me this Christmas was that I realized that that’s what happened when the LORD came in human form on earth, came into the same level of creation in outer form as we are, and in His Greatness He said, “I’ve got you! You are actually My Body.” It’s an attunement pattern that is being held that is way beyond the mind’s understanding. Here was the Divine One coming down in a equal communication basis, you might say, and saying, “You’re mine! I’ve got you, and I’m saying it right in the way that you can hear and be.” The absolute profundity of the birth of the Master in form on earth was very real to me this season, and I know it’s because of the substance that is available now—that I’m present, present more than ever, to wake up and see, and be an aspect of His Body. Pretty miraculous. Anyway, that’s what I’ve been thinking.
Laura Fisher — Thank you very much for everyone who has spoken. I was thinking of this business of God watching us from afar, and has been for many centuries, and I am brought to my knees. That is such a useless thing, that God has been watching from afar; and we can walk along in our human nature, but it’s OK because God is watching us from afar. The fact of the matter is, that power which has always been available, when that power is at work, within my blood vessels, and in my mind, and my body, then it is effective to do that which is needed to clarify in me. If it’s just afar, you can clarify all you want but it never actually comes to peace and rest, and it usually reappears. It’s like if you have little children, and your children are yelling and screaming and hitting each other, you don’t watch them from afar, you get in the middle of them, and you provide adult, loving tenderness to stop the struggle that they’re in, and you bring them into your body, into your chest or your arms, and soothe them so they don’t continue to hurt one another. That has been going on for a very long time and human nature says, “Oh get out of here, I can handle this myself.” But in these days, it’s surely proven that that is not the case. From a human nature standpoint, we’re not handling anything well. I am moved, deeply, to experience a deeper connection this morning, although that connection has always been there with me—the God we know that lives within us and expresses through us is the power in earth these days, a tender, tender power, which is absolute and never fails. This is the power that says thank you to the trees, and to the chickadees that I’m feeding, and to all the snow that has fallen: “Thank you for this beauty, the aspect of having God at work within our bodies, minds and hearts, and which will eventually soothe the whole world.” Thank you so much.
Shirley Malin — I too have been thoroughly enjoying all this, coming back to a natural state, coming back to nature, because I think of that as being my place, in the earth, to hold dear, and to return to the Garden, naked and unashamed. I recall my growing up days, and as a child I lived in Montreal with my family, but we had a beautiful wild island that my grandparents had come into possession through the government, back in the 1920’s—my parents had kind of inherited this ability. We would go up to the island and live there. There was no civilization around us. This lake was like 9 miles long and 3 miles wide and there were 3 more islands in it, 2 of them were inhabited and ours was one. We lived together in this natural world, in a most natural way, because there was no connection with phones and running water and civilization in general. We had the freedom, to run and be unashamed, literally. I feel it really gave me the sense of freedom as a being; and to be able to be with others, without fear, that there’s this power of connectedness. I know some people who’ve been with me and we go out in the public and I’m so open to everybody around me, that there’s a natural call to come and say hello and exchange something with me, and sometimes people find it uncomfortable, but those who respond are loving it. So I’m just loving what we’re sharing here as a group, and feel that this is coming together with a consciousness of this beingness, without the fear, that we can enfold one another in a collective way, to accomplish what we came to do, for our KING, and our shared love for that is what gives meaning and depth and love to our group, and I have a longing to share in a one-on-one with more of you as an opportunity may arise in our travels perhaps. I’ve never been a one to be a tourist. I love to have purpose, and not to just go and look at pretty man-made things. I love this connection that we are sharing in this time. I do want to thank David again for bringing something like this in form, because it seems like this is another step in this direction of encompassing the Body for which we came to offer our love and our substance, the Christ Body, the One I AM, and each one of us has an awareness of this. It’s been so beautiful for the two of you to bring such an openness of heart, an unassuming but genuine presentation of your own beingness in this project. So thank you both.
Debra Starrs — The true gift is the present of presence, the One I AM. Presence has such opportunity in every moment, no matter who’s around or what’s around or even if one’s alone. And I just feel the expansion of the reality of the consciousness of that, and I’m loving it. On that basis, interesting things happen, interesting people show up and the design unfolds so beautifully. We get to rejoice in that expansion, bringing joy, bringing peace, bringing whatever is required, that comes before us, moment by moment, being the One I AM. So I feel these times together just have recently taken wing; that the expansion keeps on going, no more fallback into this separation, or if there is it’s immediately brought up short in oneself, that, “No, I AM That I AM, with purpose in this moment to bring what’s required. Thank you.
Stewart Berger — Steve and Carol, thank you so much for this beautiful time. It’s been wonderful to be with you, and enjoy your beingness, both of you. I sense joy and vitality and also wisdom grounded in reality and true experience, as was also the case with those who have responded. One thing that you mentioned was pleasure, and pleasure is a wonderful thing—earthly pleasure—we’re blessed to be able to experience it; and earthly pleasure is part of the spiritual experience. And I appreciated the mention that for pleasure to be truly known, there must be a connection with Heaven. It reminded me of something that Richard Cable said to me (Richard, who many of you know; he was very close with Uranda; and I was privileged to have Richard as a counsellor at a Class in 100 Mile back in 1981. We were sharing an attunement and I was about to start another job as a radio newsperson, and we were considering the idea of: What if I could open a microphone and say something spiritual to people who were listening. And what he said was “It is your Father’s great pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” That obviously has stuck with me. One thing that says to me, is that you can look at pleasure from the standpoint of God, or Source, as God feeling pleasure, God getting pleasure out of giving us the Kingdom, and affording mankind the opportunity to have the Lord here on earth at that time. I suppose that pleasure can also mean a type of beneficence, givingness, and certainly we know that God or Life is giving all the time. I think it also indicates to me that there’s an obvious reason for this world to exist as part of the greater design; and I think it’s logical that there would be a type of pleasure from the Divine standpoint to know that mankind is taking advantage of his or her life on earth in the fullest way possible. So it’s wonderful to experience part of that now, with both of you, and all of us. Thank you very much.
Steve Ventola — Thank you Stewart. Before our service we read your transcript that you had given last month, and what stood out was what you emphasized of the love between us, the love we have to share with us.
Bill Bahan — Steve and Carol, I want to thank you for our time together today; lovely to be with everyone. I was thinking of the fact that we all have been tapped, as Carol said, all tapped. Someone said “You, you, and you, I need you here on this time!” Someone has to bring the Garden State. It already exists but mankind has forgotten that it is present. And so we bring the spirit of the Garden on earth and we share it together, and we invite others to know this with us. There’s a statement in the Bible where the LORD God comes walking in the cool of day, and says to man, “Where art thou?”. And of course we know what the answer was from Adam. But our answer is, “I heard Thy voice in the Garden, and I was filled with joy, and I said, “Here I AM”. “Here I AM”, because I’ve come to the awareness that I am present in the Garden, and that I’m here to maintain it, to let it flourish, to let it increase, and to invite others to know this experience as well. So it’s lovely to be in the Garden with you today, to know the Garden state, to have this state of consciousness that we’re in the Garden, and that others can share this with us, because we extend the spirit of the Garden, not only to people, but as Carol was reading, to all the forms of life that are with us, and even with inanimate forms, we extend the Spirit of Life, the enfoldment and the care to all that we touch. So, lovely to be together with all of you today.
Steve Ventola — I love your rephrasing of hearing the voice of the Lord in the Garden and saying “Here AM I, with joy”. What wonderful ways of affirming that. I have a PowerPoint presentation to help bring what we’ve been sharing together; but before I do that, is anyone compelled to share what they have to share at this point?
David Barnes — Thank you all so much. I had a vision as everybody was speaking that the Lord said unto me, his angel, “I need you to go into the earth now, and quell the rebellion.” This is your commission, along with many others, to enter into a body temple and quell the rebellion. As I first began to wake up, I thought the rebellion was all out there in the world, but actually it was taking place in my own soul, and as it dawned on me as being so, I realized that I had to love my creation into submission, even as I would love the natural world with the trees and the flowers and the birds and the song of life. First it had to appear here, and that required a change of polarity and identity, an orientation in Life itself. And I became aware of how much in this world is death-oriented. It’s a totally death-oriented planet, insofar as human experience in consciousness is concerned. And so, to quell the rebellion which continues this death-orientation. Fighting and killing all that is rebellious is not the way. But this change in polarity which allows my own body temple to be my friend, and to experience gradually the awakening joy of being incarnate is the way—being God incarnate. Uranda said something about becoming aware of a relatedness to the kingdoms of this world? They’re all present in me. Nature out there, when true polarity in one’s own consciousness has not been established, nature can be terrifying! The power in the natural world is utterly terrifying in its greatness, its magnificence, until God is present in the flesh. In true polarity, right relationship between me and my body enlarges increasingly. And I see that the One who sent me here, sent me here to bring a polarity in the spirit of Life itself—well, there is no terror in that. It is supreme pleasure, as Stuart was emphasizing—supreme pleasure! The pleasures of the Kingdom of the Spirit are just now beginning to open, now that the rebellion is actually quelled in one’s own soul. My own body temple becomes my friend, through whom I can walk and extend friendship in this world. Coming in that way, other people might look on that and be terrified when God comes walking, and hide. But there are others who are doing the same, extending this true friendship, and we magnify the presence of God in action on earth, and the orientation in death is reversed, and there is a dominant orientation in the Spirit of Life itself. And then I get to say, I have finished the work that has been given to me in this incarnation, to quell the rebellion here; and begin to extend it, with others, further—and that is the Greater Work we have to do. So thank you both. I am amazed, always, at the subtle things that transpire when we are together.
Carol Smith — I would just add that this is a short-term assignment. When you think of our living, being here on earth, it’s not a lot of years in the whole spectrum of things and we’re meant to make the most of it. There is a line in the service that I highlighted because it really touched my heart. Uranda says, “Man, as God, moves in the kingdoms of this world, giving and causing the increase, until the sense of shame and the sense of fear is cast out of the kingdoms of this world and the sense of relatedness is established between Creator and creation because man has been restored to his heavenly place, wherein he expresses heavenly things into the kingdoms of this world.” We all know people who have inspired us. There are people who come in and seem to order everything up. And that is what we have to extend into our worlds, that we can help order things up for the Lord, by maintaining a right attitude. The Lord has been looking for a body of people to be in one accord as there has not been one since the Fall of Man. This accord seems to be developing amongst all of us, even though some of us may not know each other very well, still it’s very potent and powerful. I feel like it’s so important to have this place where we can meet and discuss spiritual things, to be together in agreement and accord. It provides something of strength to each one of us in our daily living.
Steve Ventola — Wonderful to share these things. Let me now share my screen, and I think you will enjoy these few PowerPoint slides that I prepared.
PowerPoint Video
“Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth, Peace, Good Will Toward Men.”
We’ve heard that motto out in the world, and for us to actually have an experiential relationship with what those words mean—that’s tremendous. And when you think about it, the challenge has been that we are to be in praise all the time—and that if there is one thing to be kept in our heart it is just Praise, Praise, expressing Heaven: Praise together, Praise to the LORD, Praise in Oneness. But the challenge has been that man was warned when he began not to express Heaven.
Man heeded not, when he was warned, and there was a loss of relatedness to Life, which caused a relatedness to that which is ugly, which in turn caused a twisted acknowledgement where we, as man, started acknowledging things that were ugly and coarse as being the thing to acknowledge, to worship.
And the challenge deepened, where there was an inner revulsion to what settled in one’s heart: the cause of shame, the things that had settled in our heart that our Inner Being revolted against. Which caused the second veil, where one does not like to look upon the cause of one’s own shame, which in turn led to self-righteousness, to maintain a sense of one’s own goodness in one’s own eyes, and in the eyes of others. Consequently, leading to resentment, and the rebellion against the lack of goodness in others. Like, how many times have we driven down the road and someone cuts us off and there is a sense of resentment that rises up—the lack of goodness in others, and how they drive, and how they do things. And causing centuries of fighting evil and the devil.
Regarding the Restorative Movement—Now first off there is the challenge to see that all resentment is a resentment of God. In a recent service that Bill released, Martin talks about dwelling in the Holy Place; citing that any degree of hate—any degree of it, no matter how innocent it may seem is a violation of being. And moving along in the restorative movement, it is vital to take the stance of: “Here am I”—facing the cause of my own or collective shame; to actually face that within myself rather than putting it on someone else. And facing what has settled in our own heart—that is a violation of our own being—to actually see with more and more clarity what actually has settled in our own heart that is a violation of our own being! And “letting what comes to us be handled rightly”—a phrase that Martin had given a while back. And as we see how this applies to us individually where whatever comes to us in our experience, whether it’s actually our own sense of shame or maybe collective shame, to let that be rightly handled. So, remembering what we truly love, letting purification take place—remembering what we truly love.
Let’s take a moment now to pause for a devotion of purification, to actually have an experience of this. With my hand over my heart—you may want to do the same thing—it allows us to access something deeper within ourselves. O LORD, as we bow our heads and recognize in our own hearts our love for Thee, that sometimes before our love for Thee can be experienced we need to recognize what has been in our hearts that has been an interference. And as we see those things in our own hearts, our own experience, that have interfered, we may look upon those things with a sense of shame, a sense of horror that we have harboured those things. But at the same time, as we recognize them in the sense of allowing them to be receptive of Thy love, that purification at Thy hand is touched within our hearts and our minds … that we may come to tears, if need be, to repent and to change. And to affirm that it is not just us changing our hearts, but as we do it we bless each other and bless the world. And as we see what doesn’t belong, and we let it go—we let go of the ties, the entanglements, and we let go of the feeling that “I can’t let that go”, that impossibility, seemingly, with our human mind. And as we upright ourselves in the joy of letting Thy purification take place we open our eyes anew, for a new state to be experienced within our own selves, extending out, including all within our worlds. As we abide in this way, we give thanks, in Thy loving name. Aum-en.
Let’s continue on in this new state, as we choose to give expression to the things of heaven, experiencing restoration, counting, praising—letting our first joy be our awareness of relatedness to the Source of Life. A little story: My Aunt Lee lived to be in her 90’s, and later in her life in the morning as she would wake up, opening her eyes she would exclaim to herself: “Thank God I am still alive.” In sharing that experience, our first joy is to be our relatedness to the Source of Life; which in turn opens us up to finding relatedness to all the living—sweet communion with the flower or with the tree, and hearing the Voice of the Valley saying to us, “By reason of your presence my peace is increased.” And hearing the whispering in the treetops, “By reason of your coming my strength is increased.” And coming to nature as a God, increasing beauty, loveliness and peace wherever we go. And as Stewart brought out to us in our last Temple of Light service, “For ye shall go out with joy, and be lead forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
Restoration established—Man, as God moves in the kingdoms of this world. Our identity as God. To actually stretch and to acknowledge that—not to cower from it, but to take the identity, I am the Lord Thy God. The sense of shame and fear is cast out individually and collectively, and a relatedness is re-established between Creator and creation—Heaven and Earth in Oneness again, praising Thy Holy Name.
“Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth, Peace, Good Will Toward Men.”
Arno van Haght — Steve, I think the last time that we were together that I think I used these same words, “The LORD is kind to us”. He came as an expression of that kindness so many years ago, born through the womb of truth because we all come, to be incarnate here, in the earth, by reason of the womb; and by reason of the feminine, the woman, centered in the love of the One whose child she carries. And the LORD was kind then, to allow us to experience the reality of Love embodied, to know that it was possible. And He was kind today, when he shared with us that pathway that you just did, so cleanly and so wonderfully, to allow us to know that it doesn’t take us to be an intellectual in order to be intelligent. The wisdom of the movement of Spirit that allowed you to read those words as the daughter of God, the words of the Spirit of Truth as it was incarnate in 1953, is part of that kindness—part of that kindness, part of the intelligence, that the Spirit of Truth is present, this is the Kingdom, this is the design and control that is present here now, that is embodied in the feminine, that is the Body of who we are in response to the LORD. We are indeed feminine, in response to the love of the Lord, we are the Bride of Christ.
And so as you shared that, I was aware of His loving kindness, but also shared through the aspect of the Truth embodied that allowed us to know that while what happened in our consciousness be seen as a miracle, it is actually well within our embodied reach. It is not that it is unavailable to us, not only by reason of what the Master chose to do many years ago, not only what Uranda chose to speak in 1953, but also what you chose to do right now, to allow the barrier to entry to experience the Glory of the LORD to be lowered, without lowering the standard of the expression, the fineness of spirit required, to allow that work to be completed, to allow the joy to be fulfilled, to allow peace to be truly on earth—because you say so, because I say so, because we say so together. This is a good day, this is a very good day, when we can celebrate these things together and know that His yoke is easy and the burden is truly light. It is a good day to celebrate these things with you, and to know that the LORD is present because we are here, and we gathered together because we love Him—because we are one with Him, as Uranda said. The Law—the first aspect of the One Law is fulfilled, the one commandment that He gave us which is to love the LORD above everything, and then we will know our connectedness to all the kingdoms of the world, so that the kingdoms of the world become the Kingdoms of His Christ, and we get the opportunity to do that. What a pleasure to do that together with you and all those gathered, so that these things are real; they’re not imaginary. We have done that so wonderfully in our evening and your morning on this day. Thank you very much Steve, thank you Carol.
Steve Ventola — Thank you Arno, such strong words to complete our time. I’ve appreciated this time very much, and I think there’s a sense of relaxation in the Spirit of the Lord—the kindness of the Lord, that has been emphasized; and the well being of it, for our own capacities as David was saying; and for the well being for each of our capacities for greater healing to take place. As we enfold our time this season, we look forward to our next Temple of Light service on, January 23rd, with Bill and Linda, and Gordon McFarland, and Millicent Holliday. And now we have some music from Robert— “This Is My Father’s World”
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.
