On this morning of August 24th, 1953 we are scheduled to have our little preliminary business meeting, in conjunction with our convention, and we begin with meditation upon that Divine Formula which has been of such tremendous worth to us and to many others.
The Lord is our Shepherd, we shall not want. He maketh us to lie down in green pastures. He leadth us beside the still waters. He restoreth our soul. He leadth us in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake. Yeah though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil, for the Lord our Shepherd is with us. His Rod and His Staff they comfort us. He prepareth a table before us in the presence of our enemies. He anoints our heads with the Oil of His Love, and the Cup of Life runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives, and we will dwell in the House of the Lord forever. So let it be in the Holy Name of our LORD and KING, to whom we acknowledge the Ownership of the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory, forever.
As we have allowed ourselves to come to a basic pattern of dedication, where we cease wanting for ourselves, where all of our desires and longings and purposes are dedicated to the service of our KING, and the blessing of all those who shall respond, all those who are responding now, we can, being gathered together with one accord in one place, consider the matters before for us in the spirit of wisdom, the sense of the fitness of things, and with the understanding essential to wise action. These matters which I would present to you briefly are essentially one, and yet they divide into two parts—first, the matter of the meaning of Commencement, that which occurs with the completion of this Class; the acknowledgement of you, and your acknowledgement of something. Of what?
Your acknowledgement that you are a part of a Service which is dedicated to the basic principles by which the world can be restored to the Kingdom of our KING. An acceptance of the reality of selflessness, and a recognition that we cannot, in any moment, begin to serve ourselves individually without betraying the pattern of our Loyalty to our KING. We recognize that while there may not be any outer person, in a physical sense, watching or recognizing at the moment, if in any moment we are traitor to the trust, there will be a price to pay; there'll be a distortion in the pattern of our field, our creative field, and those whom we serve will be denied the adequate manifestation of blessing, as well as the devastating effects that appear in the life of the individual. We do not call such things to mind to try to compel remembrance through fear, but merely to face the facts, so that we can with intelligence move forward in that to which we are dedicated.
And in this dedication we recognize that we have the three as aspects of the Spirit of God, and that our Loyalty must be in agreement with these three aspects if we are to be in agreement with our KING. There must be the agreement, in the sense of centering, in God's Love, and we cannot violate that agreement without breaking the whole pattern—the fulfillment of the One Law, of the Two Great Commandments, and if in any moment we betray that centering we betray all. Likewise in the pattern of agreement we must have the agreement with the Spirit of Truth, not only the Spirit of Love but the Spirit of Truth, wherein we find the elements of design and control. We recognize we cannot betray our agreement in relationship to the Spirit of Truth without making whatever centering we have in God's Love to be of no effect, for any violation of that agreement is the acceptance of falsity in the pattern, and that acceptance causes an instantaneous movement from the Shekinah Pattern of Magic to the realm of the unreal in the pattern of black magic. And thirdly, we have the agreement with Life, which is to say we have no agreement with those things which bring an end to Life, a cessation to Life.
And so our pattern of agreement recognizes these three things, and we cannot be in agreement with our KING except as we are in agreement with these three aspects of the One Spirit; and if by reason of any reactionary pattern in ourselves, our own individual attunements in and to and with the Spirit are disturbed, then we do not have true agreement with these three aspects of Spirit.
The serenity, the tranquility, or the crystal clear pattern of our contact with Spirit, which is subject to the emotional patterns of the heart, must be kept clear or our talk about agreement with the Spirit becomes so much talk, so many words, meaningless. And it is because of this point primarily that the power which the Master promised has not appeared. He said, “And ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you”—and that is the only means by which any can have or know real power. So we have the reality of agreement—and that agreement is something greater and more important than any one of us individually, more important than anything on earth, so important that no matter what the loss seems to be, which may appear to arise because we are true to that agreement, we let the loss come. We know that any seeming gain which might appear by the development of some pattern of violation or betrayal, any traitorous conduct in any way, shape or form, would be a false game.
As we near the end of this Class term, those who have been in the Class, and those of you who are here from the field, who might wish to receive a Certificate in recognition of your function in training and service heretofore, come face to face with the necessity of signing something, something which cannot be signed lightly, something which accepts the reality of the dedication to selfless service.
Now, recognizing this, recognizing the High Tone of our determination and the Nobility of our Calling, I think we should give serious consideration to the fact that there has been a tendency—which we might assume to be quite natural, and I am not in any sense finding fault, but pointing to something essential to all of us. There's been a tendency to tend to let our pattern of service conform somewhat to that which is present in the world—we might say in the healing arts of various kinds; it doesn't make any difference which branch of the healing arts. The idea that a person can go to school, learn certain things, pass such and such an examination, and then go out—he may be a member of an organization, a chiropractic association, or a medical association, or an osteopathic association, or something—and while he's a member of the organization he's more or less on his own, as long as he doesn't go too far in violating the pattern of ethics; and he has his own office, he has his own practice, and he is living his own life for whatever goals he may have, and the money he takes in is his in a personal sense, to do with as he pleases, and so on.
Now, we have recognized the basic factor of not charging for our services. That is one element; it is an important element. But if we simply go that far, let each one contribute as he or she may in relationship to our service, and yet in other factors tend to say, “Now, I'm going to establish my service center here, open my office, render my service, and proceed on the pattern that is more or less natural to the world, we have not established a very clear or right pattern of function—at least not in my estimation. If there is, for instance, in recognition of this dedication to Ministry and service, the reality of Ordination, the reality of accepting the responsibilities and privileges of selfless service, then you do not belong to yourself anymore, and you cannot properly go out and establish your Service Center, or do anything else, after the pattern of the world.
My point is that the proper conclusion of this period of training leads—as was indicated—leads to the point of Ordination, what we have classified as “Initial Ordination”, that you become a minister in actual fact, in this outworking, as it is anticipated. You become a minister, not someone who can go out as members of other professions do, merely to live as a member of an organization; that is, on a more or less independent basis. You are not your own. And you have come to the point of recognizing and acknowledging that. If you are not your own, then you belong to God, you belong to the Body by which God is beginning to have the privilege of manifestation, of meaning, of function, of action on earth. And in that pattern of devotion, dedication, if you accept the reality of Ordination, it cannot be done lightly. It is something which is a more sacred bond in acknowledgment, if such a thing can be, than the vows of marriage, for instance. That is sacred. I am not detracting from that, but while the vows of marriage are primarily before God and man, between two human beings, this vow is between yourself and God, and becomes the very center of your life and function forever after.
If you be married—I do not mean just in the sense of what some minister said, the legal aspects of it—but if following the reality of the technical legal aspects, marriage becomes a reality to you, you become married, or joined together by God, then is something which profoundly affects and influences everything in life from there on out. You can't think a thought, speak a word, do anything as if that were not the fact. You are that. It has produced a profound change in you, and in the pattern of your life expression, on a permanent basis; not something that is just for a week, a month, a year, or a few years. It is a permanent thing. Then, if we recognize the reality of this situation, where marriage has become a reality under God, then the same, only more so, is true with respect to this pattern of relationship that is established and acknowledged between you and God.
Just as what the minister may say, at the time of the legal ceremony, simply gives you an opportunity to become married within the scope of our social order, we may say that the Ordination Service, of itself, gives you the opportunity to become, in the absolute sense, what you ought to be as a server, as a minister. And so it too is something that will grow; it too is something that will enlarge, and become more and more meaningful as the days go by. And you live in the pattern of that experience and relationship.
As the man and the woman choose to move together in life, and are joined together legally under the social code, they begin to live twenty-four hours a day under a new pattern, a new relationship, a new situation, and the fact of that situation is something that grows, and increases constantly. It is something that gains momentum. It has its pressure points. It has its various factors that will put the individual to the test, to see whether or no this basic dedication has real meaning. There will be the opportunities to say and do those things which would tend to shatter the vibrational factors. With the man and the woman there will be the opportunities of disagreement and quarrelsomeness, etc. And if they go to sleep, as it were, on their quarrel, they've started the road to ruin. Now, they can turn back, but if they go to sleep on their quarrel they've started on the road to the dissolution of their true relationship. They may live together physically speaking, but they'll never live together in true marriage, unless they change that pattern.
Now, it is understood that in all likelihood there will be some stress patterns; some factors appear which will tend to test your metal, and to see what kind of a man or a woman you may be, how honest, how deep your integrity. But in that pattern, if living in harmony with the reality of that vow, that dedication, that devotion, is the primary thing, in and with and for you, then that always comes first. No matter what else may have to go by the board, even though it might appear to someone else that you are, well, shall we say neglecting your responsibility in some sphere for the moment, first things must come first. And this pattern of relatedness as a member of the Body of God on earth is something which increases with the passage of time, the outworking of experience, and the meeting of these tests with respect to dedication. And he who remains faithful and true—his name shall be called Faithful and True. There's the point!
You know the truth. There will be people who come to you, or write to you, or do a thousand and one things; they'll try to say something to disrupt, or do something to disrupt the pattern, to disturb your belief, your confidence; to upset you in some fashion—all kinds of things people will say and do. And I've seen human beings have the opportunity to know the truth, and then someone comes along with some contemptible lie, and they so respond to it, they're so bothered about it, that they tend to push the truth aside and say, “I'm going to believe this lie.” That is not being faithful and true. When we reach a point where we are faithful and true to the Spirit of Love, faithful and true to the Spirit of Truth, faithful and true to the Spirit of Life, we will be faithful and true to our KING. But you cannot be faithful and true to our KING if you violate the pattern of agreement of being faithful and true to any aspect of any of these three spirits—and that's that! Then this pattern of union, of relatedness, grows and increases and becomes more meaningful with the passage of time, through experience, and you finally know Oneness—as the man and the woman finally begin to know Oneness.
We've recognized that, in relationship to marriage, if the pattern is right and moving toward Oneness, it is exceedingly rare—even if the individuals have full dedication and appreciation, and true love, and all the rest—it's exceedingly rare that they reach a point of union, or what we might call heavenly marriage, under five years. Five to seven years that man and woman must live together before they can expect to begin to know what marriage is, and if that five to seven years is lived on a basis of tending to dissolve the relationship, they'll never get there. Oh, there are millions of legally married couples, but they're not married at all; they don't have any union, they don't have any Oneness. They’re living together physically speaking, for convenience or habit or something. But if there is an absolute pattern of dedication, of real love, and of mutuality of seeking to make that marriage really mean something, it will take five to seven years under the best conditions, before they can begin to know real union, real Oneness. And many couples, in fact most, who live together longer than that still haven't found it. Just the passage of time won't bring it. Correct function under the pattern brings it.
So we begin to see that the same thing applies here—Oneness in this sense with God. Oneness in the Body is not something that manifests by magic in a moment. It is something that appears over a cycle of time, as we remain true to the agreement, faithful and true. And as rapidly as the name Faithful and True can be applied to you, you will begin to find the reality of that Oneness. But if the name Faithful and True cannot be applied to you, you'll never know it. Now there is a key, something to remember, and every time there is a temptation to violate the agreement with respect to one of these three aspects of Spirit, you can remember your marriage vow in relationship to God, our KING. That comes first, above all things else, without any exception—that marriage vow of relatedness to God, first in all things. And as you abide and live, then pass through the experience of the reality of that relatedness, you begin to know what Oneness with the Father means. The marriage ceremony, the Ordination Ceremony on Commencement Day, does not produce the reality of that Oneness. It establishes the opportunity for the development of that Oneness—and the rest depends upon you.
And since this is true, remember that regardless of anything else, if any distortion pattern, any false idea, concept, belief, or anything else that you run into in the world, anything of the unreal which can make you violate that pattern of agreement and relationship with God, so that you are not in that moment faithful and true, so that you begin to flirt with the adversary, so to speak—“Oh I won't have, I won't have union with the adversary; I won't go to bed with him, but I'll just have a little fun with him—it's still a violation. It's still violation. Faithful and True. And so this begins to give you a little idea of what it means to accept Ordination. And unless you accept it in this Spirit and attitude—and if you did try to accept it you would make a lie of the thing to start with, and absolutely establish failure for yourself, and tend to bring your service into disrepute.
So, recognizing the reality of this, as I see it,, and as I anticipate that you will acknowledge it and share it, we have a basis of understanding what we might call the “business aspects” of our problem, or of our pattern of life, service and conduct. We must be about our Father's Business, and anything that pertains to the Father's Business is important to us. We took note a little while ago of the tendency for servers to feel that they can establish a Service Center, like a young doctor after his internship can go out and establish an office—it'll be his.
Now, that is not my view. And the thing that I want to find out this morning, in this preliminary meeting, is to what your view is. I want to present my view, and then find out whether you are in agreement with me. Because to my view, a Service Center—I don't care where it is, or who serves in it—a Service Center does not belong to the person who serves there. The money that comes in does not belong to the person who serves there. The service center belongs to the Service as a Whole, in the recognition of the reality of the Body of God. All of the income belongs, not to the server, but to the Service—and the server there is a steward, a steward in relationship to the uses of that money. Some of it will be used to take care of his or her personal needs, yes; to be used in various ways. But to my mind that Service Center is a part of the Service of our KING. We might say a part of the church—I don't want to put it in the ordinary sense as a part of the church, no—but the Service of our KING, and every penny that comes in there belongs, not to you as a server but to the KING, and you are a steward, to determine how that money should be used, in what relationship. And faithfulness, faithfulness in stewardship, is one of the vital factors.
Now, from the standpoint of the actual facts as they are and should be, in connection with the pattern of our Ministry, and in relationship to our problems of function in the world, if this Ordination is to mean anything, the pattern of our dedication is to mean anything, then it seems to me that there should be a recognition that the Central Agency of Service should be recognized. And that all income, a record of all income at any Service Center, every penny of it, should be reported to that Central Agency. The expenditures—and that every server should be held strictly accountable to the Central Agency of the Service with respect to the uses of those funds. That isn't to say that he won't have some flexibility in those uses, but that it should be reported. If it is a personal income thing to you, out there, and you are doing something that is on the basis of a personal service, say to the sick, then it's one thing. But if you are an Ordained Minister serving God in a Service Center that does not belong to you—you are a representative of the Body of Service, and if the income there does not belong to you, it's not yours—you use certain amount of it, but you report every penny of it to the Central Agency; and it is for the use in the Lord's Service according to that pattern which is according to our dedication and purpose. Then we have an altogether different thing. To my mind that would be a true pattern in the Father's Business in relationship to our dedication, and that anything else, patterned after the ways of the world, violates our dedication and establishes that which is contrary to the thing for which we stand.
Now, these are the things which I wish to bring before you, for your attention. If there is to be any official action with respect to such things at the coming business meeting of the directors and the trustees of the GPC organization, then they will have to act on the official basis. But as I said when I call this meeting, this is something that has meaning to everyone who is a server, everyone who is graduating from this Class.
Is this a matter upon which we have agreement?
And whether you are in position to vote later on or not, I think your attitude, what you feel about it, should be given an opportunity for recognition before we come to that point of official action. But this is the picture as I see it. Now, how do you see it? Is there anyone here that would like to speak on the subject—only class members or servers. George, if you would like to come up here.
George Shears — Friends, I think this is a blessed opportunity for me to say things that have been on my heart for a long time. This is a great challenge, that has been thrown or offered to us this morning. And most of us probably do not, at this moment, begin to realize the importance of this situation. The whole welfare of mankind depends upon this very thing that Uranda has outlined. That's exactly what's been wrong with the world. Mankind thinks that things of the world belong to him—and they never have. So as far as I'm concerned, personally, I accept this challenge one hundred percent. There isn't anything that we have which belongs to us, and I have felt that way for a long, long time. There isn't anything in the world which belongs to anyone in fact, and the only way the New Heaven and the New Earth can ever come is for some group somewhere to accept that and live up to it. It has to start somewhere, and I think it ought to be obvious to us by now that that group has already been formed on earth, to start that process. So I want to wholeheartedly accept this challenge which has been presented to us this morning.
Uranda — Thank you George. Is there anyone else that would like to speak?
Albert Ackerley — I am glad that George spoke first, because I feel that if George can do it we all can do it. If anyone in this room here had any reason to, shall we say, shy at such a proposition, it would be George Shears. He has been in this Service the longest; he has perhaps the nicest Service Center of any others; and it's also revealed that he has as great a Spirit as any others. And I thank God that George spoke first, and set of pattern, reducing this to a simple proposition. It seems to me that if we are to function in the Kingdom, then our job in that Kingdom is to fulfill the One Law, is it not; and it is to attract into that Kingdom that which belongs to God—and that means not only human beings but material things as well. So, anything that comes into that Kingdom belongs to the KING and let us let Him have it.
Uranda — Thank you Albert. Would you like to indicate your agreement—the acceptance of responsibility and privilege—your agreement with that which has been presented, by raising your right hand. I thank God for the hands raised, indicating your acceptance of the reality of the privilege, the opportunity in service.
God Bless you and keep you, that in the acceptance of our vow of relatedness to our KING we may, of the truth, now and forever, Glorify Him and be a Blessing to the children of men; that because you love and serve Him, in actual fact, because you love and serve Him, all things may work out to perfection in and through and for you, to the Glory of God and the blessing of the children of men; that even though some things may not immediately be evident in their nature, as to how they shall be a Blessing, or how they shall Glorify God, that you will remain Faithful and True to your vow and your dedication, to the end that God may cause all things, in the outworkings of the cycles of time, that God the Creator may cause all things without exception, to work together to perfection in and through and for you, now and forever. So let it be. And God bless you.
Heavenly Father, I thank Thee for these Faithful Servants of Thine who have come before Thy Throne in this hour, yielding to the working of Thy Will on earth, even as Thy Will is done in heaven, to this end, that Thy Business on earth may be activated according to Thy Principles and Laws and Desires, according to Thy Purposes. And that these here gathered, upon showing by their lives in service that they are indeed Faithful and True, as servants, may in season be received into that Sacred Pattern of Ordination where they are acknowledged as Friends of the KING—that each may become Thy Friend, and so live on earth that the reality of that friendship may be made evident to the children of men. And I thank Thee for the realization in the heart of each and every one, that as this pattern of service as a Servant is accepted in this hour, that each may be ordained as a Servant, each may know that being Faithful and True, he or she shall be in season acknowledged as a Friend, to Thy Glory and to the Blessing of all who will receive. For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever. in the Christ. Aumen.
And as you rest in meditation upon this Sacred Step and Holy Vow which is to be consummated on Commencement Day, I suggest that you give voice to that which is in your heart by joining in the Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye Heavenly Host
Praise Father Son and Holy Ghost
Aumen Aumen Aumen
So be it, in you and through you, to the Glory of God and the Blessing of the children of men, now and always.
The setting in which we are gathered has significance. I have emphasized this fact before. The physical setting of this Chapel has significance to the extent that it is filled with a heavenly atmosphere. This heavenly atmosphere is our responsibility as there has been some physical, mental and emotional preparation on the part of each one who is present. There may be a quietness of spirit and an attitude, a concern, that there should be fitting space for the intensification of spirit. In body and mind and heart there may be humility and receptiveness, heavenly space, a place prepared awaiting the coming of the particular focus of spirit which naturally comes forth when there is space for the coming. Into this heavenly atmosphere it may be said, “I am come. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world, because there is space for my coming.”
I understand there was a movie recently, something about the coming of the Jedi. I didn’t see it so I don’t know much about it; but we could paraphrase that. We are concerned with the coming of the foci—the plural of focus. In our own consciousness this might have application to the Seven Spirits which are before the Throne of God—what was represented by Job’s seven sons—the coming of the foci. This is an individual matter and also a collective matter. There is individual emergence of the Seven Spirits into positive expression for each one, and there is representation of those Seven Spirits in the larger groupings of those in whom the heavenly atmosphere is present. There might be an application, for instance, in this grouping this morning. There would be application of these seven points of representation the unit grouping here, on Sunrise Ranch, and in other groupings of those who are concerned to maintain the heavenly atmosphere. There would be application for this whole spiritual body. There is a consistent design present by which spirit may be in action at all levels of expression.
These Seven Spirits are One. There is One Spirit. We could identify that by using the word love. The Spirit of Love is the one primary spirit. It is present because of the one primary substance. The spirit and the substance are both love: heaven and earth are one. The primary substance, which is love, is not substance as substance is known by the human mind, but all substance is love. The spirit and substance of love is differentiated and modified, so that it might be said that there are seven primary spirits and seven primary modifications of substance.
If we consider light as a substance, we are aware of the substance of light particularly when it is differentiated into the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet—seven—and yet you can’t draw a line between the colors in a rainbow. Perhaps children when they draw rainbows in their coloring books make the colors distinct and there is a line between each, but naturally that is not so. Each color blends into the next. It is all one substance. It is known to be one substance when the colors are reassembled and become white light. So is it with the Spirit of Love and the substance of love. There is in fact only One Substance and One Spirit, even though that substance may be modified in various ways and that spirit may be differentiated in various ways; but it all emerges out of the one unified heaven and earth, spirit and substance.
It is not by chance that emphasis has been placed upon love. All is Love—Love is All. It may be and has been that human experience has largely excluded the reality of love. Little dribs and drabs put in an appearance now and again, usually in distorted ways. The reality of love has remained almost entirely beyond the veil—the veil constituted by the impurity of human minds and hearts. But because human beings have had so little awareness and experience of love does not deny the Truth of Love; neither does it deny that Love is All. Love is the positive creative spirit—in love is the power of creation.
It might be said that before substance is, there is what might be called latent substance. This is beyond the activation of love as yet therefore it is nothing, because there is nothing outside of love. Another word for this nothing is latent substance. The activation of latent substance by the power of love brings existent substance. The Spirit of Love and the Substance of Love are one. This is all that is. Described in these words it’s very simple. Really nothing else needs to be known. Of course human beings have not known it. When it’s known nothing else needs to be known. If it is not known human minds at least imagine that they have to discover a lot of things to be known, and we have the collection of knowledge. Human minds collect knowledge because they do not know love. Knowing love, there is no necessity to collect knowledge.
The Spirit of Love and the substance of love are here present this morning—of course—there is no other spirit and no other substance. Most people think of substance in terms of physical substance. If we picture substance in terms of a sphere, a sphere of love substance outside of which there is nothing, then at the very center of that sphere would be quite small one representing physical substance. If we think of these things in terms of the differentiation of spirit and the modification of substance, because there are seven differentiations of spirit, there are seven modifications of substance. And while it may not be an accurate way of describing it, nevertheless it conveys the idea if we were to say that physical substance is one seventh of total substance, something relatively quite small and yet this is what occupies human consciousness as though it was primary. All things tend to be seen in terms of physical substance. In the practical sense most human values are related to physical substance. There may be high-sounding precepts, but the control that has been operative in human experience has stemmed from this little sphere of physical substance. This little sphere of physical substance may be seen in terms of the planet, which is after all a sphere, but we would be inclined to recognize that this little planet is but a speck of virtually invisible dust in the larger picture of the universe. It doesn’t amount to very much, even in the solar system.
Having allowed a consciousness of love to begin to permeate the receptive atmosphere which we have brought individually and together into this Chapel this morning, we are in position to view things from a true and rational perspective. The physical level of things tends to fade away as being relatively insignificant. It has significance but only because it is a modification of the substance of love. It is the substance of love that is important, and the substance of love is inseparable from the Spirit of Love. The Spirit of Love is supreme. Here is the first point of focus which comes, the first of the foci, the Spirit of Love in union with the substance of love. Love is All—All is Love. The power of love is describable as a radiant power, an outgoing power. In that power is the power of differentiation. The essential factor of differentiation by reason of the power of love is what is called Truth. Truth, the Spirit and the Substance of Truth, is simply a differentiation of the Spirit of Love and a modification of the substance of love.
You may recall that in consideration of the Seven Spirits before the Throne of God, the sixth, as we are moving forth from Love, was the Spirit of the Womb. All other differentiations and modifications are encompassed by the Spirit and Substance of the Womb. The womb is the first differentiation and modification of love, and this womb spirit and substance is the Spirit and Substance of Truth within which is contained all further differentiations and modifications. It might be looked upon as the first sphere within a sphere, the first sphere within the Sphere of Love, so that the substance of love is present, unmodified, but also in this initial state of modification. The word womb is rather accurate as to the nature of this differentiation and modification. All else is contained within this. But because of differentiation and modification there is no lessening of love. Love is All—All is Love.
You know that human beings have been enjoined to love one another. They do not do it very well, do they? There may be a little love, usually temporary, between people, but that is graded down all the way to the absence of love, which is called hate. Does this deny the fact that Love is All and All is Love? No, of course not. The fact remains, but excluded from human experience. It’s a sad condition, isn’t it? How little is known of the Truth of Love. How little it is known that Love is All and All is Love. It seems that there is so much discord, conflict, violence in the world, appearing to deny the Truth of Love. But this is a denial which human beings themselves have chosen. It is so just to themselves; it isn’t the truth. On this basis of course it can easily be seen that the truth is not known. In spite of all the acquisition of knowledge that has gone on the truth is not known, and knowledge will never reveal it. The truth is revealed by love, because the truth is a differentiation and modification of love. Without love there is nothing. Without love there is no existence; there may be a latency but no existence yet.
And so this morning we share a very special opportunity of providing setting, a heavenly setting into which the foci may come. We have considered Love, which is All, and Truth, which is the first differentiation of the Spirit of Love and the first modification of the Substance of Love. We may refer to this as the Spirit and the Substance of the Womb. Differentiation of this spirit and the modification of this substance brings Life. Here are, as we know, the three primary aspects of Spirit: Love, Truth and Life. Truth is inseparable from Love; Life is inseparable from Truth and Love. Because of these three aspects of spirit all further differentiation and modification occurs. It’s all under control. It all operates according to design. The evidence of this operation we speak of as Life. Life is a Spirit. There is the Substance of Life too. These three spheres of substance are rich and full, complete and orderly, beautiful and strong, ever present, beyond the reach of impure human minds and hearts.
Here is the character of the One I Am, because each of us is capable of saying, “I Am the one I Am.” This primary focus of spirit may be brought into our receptive hearts and minds and bodies, individually and collectively. Our hearts and minds and bodies are not separate from the hearts and minds and bodies of all human beings. The same substance is present. We all have flesh bodies. We all have minds, and therefore the substance of mind. We all have emotions, and therefore the substance of emotions. We are not separatefrom the standpoint of this particular human design. And all substance, no matter what we call it, is love. There is no other substance. When we function as though there was other substance than love we exclude ourselves increasingly from the substance of Love, from the substance of Truth, from the substance of Life. This is done by human beings in general—but now I Am come, because there is an acknowledgment of the reality of the substance of Love. I am present in the substance of Love. My spirit includes all the differentiations of spirit and all modifications of substance.
I Am come, and because I Am come the creative process emerges into expression because of me. The creative process has always been in operation but it has been hidden and obscure from the experience of human beings. Now it begins to emerge. We begin to be aware of its emergence. Because of this we may know and set the ordinances of heaven in the earth. All that is emerging in our experience through body and mind and heart is part of the creative process. We see it as such. We have no desire to judge anything. We have no preconceptions as to what should be. We do not manipulate but are content with the creative cycle as it is emerging. We are aware that all things do work together to perfection. It is happening within the range of our experience. Whatever it is of which we may become aware within the range of our field of operations is part of this creative cycle. Of course we can’t judge it. We stop vain imagination that it should be some other way. It is the way it is, because I Am come, because we each are aware of the truth of this.
The creative process proceeds as it has always proceeded, and it has effects as it emerges because we are aware of its emergence. If we are aware of its emergence and we see all things working together to perfection, then here is the creative process introduced into human experience. It is the way it is. We are delighted that it is the way it is. Doubtless there are those things which arise within the range of our experience which humanly could well be judged adversely, but we see how ridiculous that is, because human beings have not known the truth. Now we begin to know the truth, and here it is coming forth. The fact of its coming forth is proven by the fact of our knowing that it is coming forth. Part of the effect of the coming forth is that we know it’s coming forth, and we are content with that. We are delighted with that, and we throw no monkey wrenches into the process by judging it. Whatever happens, it’s all right. Everything is under control, as it always has been; but thus far and for a long, long time human beings have not known it.
They thought it wasn’t all right, so that they had to manipulate, they had to judge, they had to indulge in what they thought of as the good and the bad, eating of the forbidden fruit, which is fatal. No more judgment, all is well. All is Love—Love is All. What is there to fuss about? What is there to try to make some other way? Certainly things have been messed up in human consciousness. The truth is not known, and because it’s so messed up it is imagined that it has to be sorted out somehow. Just let it pass away. All human messes pass away sooner or later. From our standpoint, I suppose it could be said, “The sooner the better.” May it be so in our own experience—the mess in our own minds and hearts—that we may know the Truth because we know Love.
The instruction given to love one another is recognized to be a most practical and straightforward requirement, which anyone may accept. Only when we love can we know the truth, and only when we know the truth can we live, and can we bring these points of focus into the heavenly substance for which we are responsible moment by moment. This is not only when we are gathered as we are now in the Chapel in this setting, but we carry our setting with us wherever we are. If it is the heavenly setting, then the Focus of Love is present and in action; the means of action is Truth, and the emergent action itself is Life—the coming of the foci. This coming brings salvation to those who are willing to receive it. Our responsibility is to make very sure that the power and the means of salvation are present, so that salvation is present.
Having just shared Easter Day together, our concern has particularly related to the resurrection in a more specific and practical sense. As angels we have a part to play which has been defined as representing the Creator to the creation and the creation to the Creator, providing a connecting link. To bring it down to our most immediate field of responsibility, as angels we rightly represent God to the people and the people to God.
We were speaking about stature recently, Obviously, in representing God to the people, we acknowledge the reality of our true stature as Angels. It could be said that something large then is being represented to the people. However, when we represent the people to God it is just the reverse, isn't it? Here is something relatively small, as angels even—how large are angels in God? The vastness of God dwarfs the individual angel, of course. It could be asked as to how many angels there are in God. Of course this is utilizing dimensional terms to try to pin something down, which is in fact ultimately undimensional. But I think you can see the point, that as individual angels we are very small relative to God. Representing the people to God, we are also representing something that is quite small to God. There are those for whom we have a certain responsibility, whom we represent directly to God. But this, individually speaking, is only quite a small proportion of the people; and even if we took the whole of mankind, that would be a rather minute representation to God, if we take into account whatever there may be present in the universe as a whole. So our stature is large relative to the people, and our stature is quite small relative to God.
We might take a look for a moment at the large stature relative to the people. As angels, we do not wish to behave in a brash manner. At the same time we should never deny our stature in our dealings and relationships with the people. It seems that very often emissaries have felt at a disadvantage somehow when working with people in the world. Possibly there is some lingering view as to what is meant when it is indicated that one should be spiritual. In the human view this means innocuous, unimportant, unnecessary. The attitude of human nature is that it can get along very well without anything spiritual, except possibly as some sort of an adjunct to human nature. If spiritual things can be used to advantage in what human nature wants to do, well let's include spiritual things. But it is all self‑centered, isn't it?
As angels, we are certainly not at any disadvantage with respect to people. Our stature is vast relative to the stature of any particular human nature. And while this should not make us conceited—it would only make human nature conceited, and this is angelic nature—we certainly would not deny our authority or our ability to handle what needs to be handled as angels. The Master never denied His own reality. Occasionally that seemed to get Him into hot water, but He was able to handle the hot water quite easily—no problem. As there is the greater emergence into expression of the angelic nature, we find ourselves at a considerable advantage in the world and in our dealings with people. We really know what it is that is going on, whereas human beings in the world have very little idea as to what is going on. They see things in a very restricted way. There is a very limited outlook and a great deal of uncertainty. Of course human nature puts on a good front occasionally, but let us not be fooled by that.
It has come to my attention recently in a number of instances where an emissary has had responsibility to work with certain patterns in the human nature state, and finding out how little the experts in that particular pattern, whatever it was, really knew. It was discovered that they were all completely at sea. It was a hopeless sort of situation evident, with perhaps a little hope here and there that it might get better after a while, but now there was scarcely any awareness as to what should be done. In one instance this came up within the school pattern in handling some particular child, which had for various reasons been expanded so that a lot of those who had some relationship to the school system and the psychological aspect of it became aware of this instance. The emissary was herself a teacher, and she was responsible for this child so she was in the middle of the situation, discovering that handling it as an emissary she was far more capable of dealing with things than anyone else in the pattern, even though they had all kinds of letters behind their names—psychologists and psychiatrists and this sort of thing, who really were completely buffaloed by the situation. They would like to do something but they didn't really know what to do.
Well, this is just an example of something to which I am pointing now in a more general sense: that as incarnate angels we are far more capable of handling what needs to be handled than anyone else is, no matter how much of an expert they may be. I'm not speaking particularly of some sort of technical expertise in which we might not be well‑versed. We don't all know what makes the TV go, for instance, or even nowadays, almost, what makes the car go. It's so complicated and abstruse you need a specialist to diagnose the trouble—and usually they can't either. But I am thinking of this more in terms of the handling of human nature, the handling of people. This is particularly evident, for instance, in the field of the handling of children—the educational area. But in all aspects of human nature function where people are concerned, we need to recognize that we ourselves have a far larger vision, a far greater understanding, than human nature people could possibly have. So we don't downgrade ourselves. I think it came as quite a shock, momentarily at least, to this particular lady that she was the one who could handle the situation. After all, there was this panel of experts there to take care of it. They couldn't—they really didn't know the first thing about it. But she knew, and she discovered in that situation that she knew. Let's not put the day off, so that we have to be presented with some particular situation before we will admit that we really do know. Why not admit that we really do know right now?
The pressure of our representation of God to the people—which is what it is—is not particularly in question at the moment, at least not in a specific way in the external sense. But the opportunities will arise certainly in the days to come, where all of you will be handling people and situations in a manner that reveals your capacity to represent God—God isn't silly and God isn't stupid. God understands what the situation is. If we represent Him, that is true of us. We don't need to bog ourselves down in some vast cosmic view and say, “Well I don't understand that.” That's not the point. Why would it be necessary to understand that? The only thing that is necessary is to understand the field of our own responsibility which, much of the time, is seemingly quite small. But occasionally we find ourselves projected into a situation where there are other people who are presumably supposed to be experts, but we find out that they are not, that we know a lot more than they do. They have all the book-learning which we may not have, but we have the understanding—and, consequently we do not take the attitude, “Let it be by the hand of another.” It's not “Let it be by the hand of another,” but “Let it be by the Word of God.” And we are on hand to speak the Word of God.
Now here again human beings have peculiar concepts about the Word of God—a sort of rolling thunder expression. But I don't think you have much acquaintance with the Word of God in that clothing; that only happens in movies, doesn't it, where a disembodied voice, an echoing voice, comes on the scene. That isn't really the way it works. That's fanciful imagination. Man was created with the voice mechanism so that the Word of God could be spoken on earth. And if the voice mechanism of man is not available to be used, the Word of God is not spoken on earth. But we are offering this mechanism for use, and so the Word of God can be spoken on earth because we are here and because we are handling these situations. And we don't have any concept that what we say must sound as though it was God speaking, because that would be pandering to human nature, wouldn't it? And it wouldn't go down very well with human nature either.
No, all that is necessary is to speak the words that are necessary and that are fitting in the situation as it arises, having an awareness that we are the ones to handle it. This doesn't mean either that we go barging in and pushing everybody else aside and say, “Well now I'm going to handle this!” We have no evidence that the Master ever did any such thing. He was quite discreet. However, when He found Himself in a situation, He did not deny His own reality. And He found Himself in a situation very often where the ball was tossed to Him. And we will find ourselves in such situations, partly because people want to test out, but partly also because there is an increasing awareness on the part of many that here is someone who could have the answer. So if the ball is tossed to us we handle it in whatever way may be fitting. We may hold onto the ball and provide what is necessary in a direct way. On the other hand it may be fitting sometimes to toss the ball back. The Master was very expert at this, so that those who were trying to put Him on the spot found themselves put on the spot.
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What He said on such occasions has been clothed in a certain type of language, in the King James version of the Bible, which commonly we would not speak nowadays. That has tended to give a sort of aura which is deemed to characterize the words of God, as though we had to speak in Biblical language. No, we speak in the tongue that is now understood. We speak in tongues in this sense, so that those to whom we speak can understand us and can have the opportunity of receiving what it is we offer, without our engendering wrong reactions by what we say or how we say it. We learn to be very diplomatic on many occasions; we also learn to be very forthright on some occasions—whatever is fitting. And as we learn to offer what is spiritually fitting we are speaking the Word of God. This is the way by which what needs to be done on earth in our fields of responsibility may be done. We find that our stature is far greater than human nature stature.
Let us not ever try to inflate ourselves in human nature, blow ourselves up like a frog, because somebody is going to prick the balloon and then there is a sense of being shattered. On that basis one is always on the defensive. We are not on the defensive. We are just offering into every situation what is needed there. But our stature relative to human nature is great. We need to have a consciousness of this as our angelic nature emerges, begins to come forth. We are small before God, but we are large before people. Now, I would stress the fact that being large before people doesn't mean that we stand up and beat our chests. It just means that we reveal that we are capable. We are capable of doing whatever it is that needs to be done. We don't thrust ourselves forward, but when we find the ball is in our hands we carry it, we do with it whatever is necessary. But there needs to be this sense of stature relative to human nature, so that you are never intimidated by human nature. You represent God to the people—and you couldn't do this without being large. So there comes a consciousness of stature. It is enhanced by reason of the fact that one does find out, in various situations, that it really is true, that one has the stature. And, for some at least, there may be a little amazement to find out that one was so much more capable than everybody else in the human nature field. This is not to say that we may not find that there are those in the human nature field still who at the same time have some sensing of the reality of angelic stature. These people you will find work with you. Sometimes it will seem that the most unlikely people are the ones who work with you. The ones you have fingered as being the ones are not the ones at all. You let it prove itself out while retaining your own integrity and your own stature, your own sense of angelic nature.
So there is this largeness in the representation of God in one's own experience but smallness in representing the people to God. There is always humility before God. This obviously is representing the right attitude of the people toward God: you are humble before God, you are very conscious of your insignificance in God. But the fact of insignificance in God, because God is so limitless, in no way denies your stature in the world. We have that stature, we are responsible for it. This is related to the upward view and the downward view. There is another way this is sometimes considered—the inward view and the outward view. Now we can see how this inward view, when people look in, there is a tendency for them to think that they are looking toward something rather small. And when we look out it's this vastness: We live in a big world, and that big world goes on and on and on in a vast universe. We think of the largeness therefore as being external and the smallness internal, which, from our previous consideration, you can see is just the reverse of the fact. The smallness is external, the largeness is internal.
Perhaps we might see this in terms of a diagram that I was drawing before, only instead of starting with the largeness of the substance of love let's start in the middle (drawing) with the smallness of the physical level of things. This is the smallest part of the whole. We have seen this to some extent in the recognition that, when looking into the universe, the physical substance in the universe fills a minute fraction of the total space. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2022/10/trailing-clouds-of-glory.html]In other words the physical substance is the smallest aspect of the universe. Let us look at this little circle here as representing this planet, the earth. (Circles) Relative to that total figure the earth at the center is very small. Now we have seen that the substance of love in its pure essence fills and encompasses the whole dimensional world. We might look at this at any level. At the moment we are looking at it from the standpoint of the planet earth. Or we could look at it at the same time from the standpoint of our own physical bodies, represented by that little core numbered 1.
The outermost circle represents the substance of love—the undifferentiated substance of love that is present—and that is present everywhere from the circumference to the center. Every level illustrated by the circles that I have drawn is back of that first level. In fact all of the levels therefore are present relative to that little circle at the center. That is the place where the substance is richest—all the levels are there. That is the only place where all the levels actually are. Each level permeates the level below it and extends beyond it, and this is illustrated here. So do not let us think of the seventh level, the substance of love, as merely being a little strip around here. It isn't—it's right from here to the center. It's all‑inclusive.
We have noted that the level of the womb, numbered 6, which comes next, could be said—if we are considering the creative process—to be the residue which was of such a nature that it couldn't remain in the pure essence of the substance of love. In the creative process, fire is used as a symbol of what occurs. When a fire burns, ash remains; there is a residue remaining. As the fire burns in the pure substance of love, there is that which naturally falls into the next lower vibratory level, so that each subsequent level, as the fires burn, is the ash relative to the one higher, until we come finally down to the earth itself, which is the residue of everything that has happened in the creative process. We can see something moving, coming down from God in the creative process, but it isn't a one‑way street. There is the working of the creative fires and the residue which results therefrom. But when the whole thing has been done and these various layers of residue are there, is the creative process going to quit? What would be the point? You just have a lump of something. Of course it doesn't work, in any case, merely in one direction even from the very start. There is what is represented by Jacob's ladder, something ascending and descending. It's all going on at the same time. In other words there is a provision for ascension, so that the ash may not remain as ash.
We see something of this from the standpoint of the earth, the planet, if we at the same time consider what is known about some of the other planets. Clearly there is a means here on the surface of the earth, by which some sort of a transmutation is taking place. The mineral substance is being lifted up into what are considered to be animate forms of various sorts. There is an ascending process occurring. Substance is being lifted, the ash of the earth is being lifted into other configurations. And as it is lifted the nature of the flesh of the earth, which was before seemingly an inanimate mineral, now becomes something else, much more resilient and flexible, and the forms into which it is lifted become progressively more complex. Here is some evidence, at the initial level of transmutation, of what may be called ascension, the means by which substance is being resurrected so that it need not remain ash. This cycle of ascension is going on and we have a responsibility in this area.
We have been considering the resurrection. The womb may be said to be the means by which life is born. The substance of love was first necessary if there was to be the substance of the womb. There is nothing else but love substance, all the way through—love substance but at different vibratory levels. And the substance of the womb is the heaven in relationship to the life that is to be born. We find at every level there is a heaven involved—a connection. You may remember that the second day of the creative cycle described in Genesis spoke of the firmament, the heaven, the connection between the waters above and the waters below, between the truth above and the truth below—the means by which what is below may be brought forth. The heaven at any level is rightly a state where there is a particular atmosphere and a particular enfoldment and a particular control, by which the creative process may continue. All that indicates the presence of what is called truth. So there is a heaven connecting the substance of love above with the substance of life below. Now let us again not think that merely is this little strip (points to drawing). It is something that is in front of the seven and behind the five, and extending beyond it. There is One Heaven.
We may also see that this total area, including these three external “strips” plus whatever it is that goes to the center as well, is the Triune Heaven relative to this area here—one, two and three—what we have called the Triune Earth. On the other hand there is this four which is the connection between the two. What is above is spirit, present in the dimensional world. These three larger disks, we'll call them, represent spirit in the dimensional world. And the fourth disk, which is the level of the heart, represents the connection, the heaven, between what is above and what is below. What is below is the Triune Earth, the three lowest disks. We could look at them as disks or we could look at them as spheres. Spheres gives them another dimension, one inside the other. The visible earth is at the center. Insofar as physical vision is concerned, that is the only one that is visible. All the others are invisible. And if we were looking at the planet earth we might recognize the fact that it is much larger than the physical ash at the center. It could extend out to about the orbit of the moon. The human view of things, which is based in involvement with externals, always emphasizes the lowest level, so that the earth, the planet, is thought of as being the thing—but it's only one seventh of the thing. I'm not saying that all the various concentric spheres are regularly the same amount bigger than the one inside.
This is merely a diagram of something. But here is a whole. The waters above connected with the waters below by the sphere represented by form, which relates to the substance of the heart—the pure heart, if the creation is as it should be, the pure heart which is the window through which what is above can shine into what is below and therefore be present relative to what is below. It all is there back of what is below—it all permeates what is below, in any case. But if the fourth sphere is dense, cloudy, then the larger spheres are not known relative to the smaller spheres in the middle, relative to the earth and to human nature. So the concern is that the veil should be dissolved, the clouds should be dissolved, so that it all may be known as One. The smallest part of it is the earth. The smallest of us is our physical bodies. There is much greater stature than that. Now we see the earth as quite a large planet in fact, relative to the physical earth—much larger than the physical earth. However even if it is as large as the orbit of the moon in fact, that is very small still relative to the size of the solar system. So here we begin to see the symbol of largeness in one direction and smallness in the other direction.
Now this heaven, which includes the realms of what we call spirit in the dimensional world—seven, six and five—is the cool place, where there is a temperate atmosphere. It's a comfortable place for angels to dwell. And it is a place of control—this is the Kingdom. As the connecting sphere becomes a window through which the nature and quality of heaven may shine, it emerges into the three lowest spheres as the fire of transmutation. In other words, the hot place is the Triune Earth. Here is where the fire is burning in order to transmute the substance, beginning with the physical substance of the earth, into substance of a higher vibratory level. Here is the returning aspect of the cycle—ascension, something moving up. There is the process of transmutation at work in the earth. And this is the primary level of where the transmutation is occurring, so that there may be a movement upward, not as though the earth was going someplace. Now perhaps that might not be the concept with respect to the earth but it could be the concept with respect to the physical body of the individual, and has been, particularly in what is called Christianity. The physical earth is supposed to pop up out of the graves, for instance, and go to heaven someplace.
But there is no movement in fact in this fashion. It is a transmutation of the substance exactly where it is, not someplace else. And what is occurring may be said to refine, it's like a refiner's fire—a symbol that was used by one of the prophets in the Old Testament—a refiner's fire by which the substance is refined and changes its nature. We can see this in a very elementary way, as we have noted: the changing of the nature of the mineral earth as it is lifted into the bodies of living forms, whether vegetable or animal or whatever. The substance of the flesh of your body is different to a model of your body made in marble. It may be a very accurate piece of sculpture, exactly right insofar as your body in that moment was concerned. But there is a vast difference between that mineral structure, that inanimate structure, and your living body. The flesh of your body and all its various parts are composed of entirely different substance—it's a different quality, a different nature. So there has been that much transmutation in the experience of your own physical body from the mineral level—something has been happening.
It is assumed that it is in the nature of a circle: the substance is just lifted up into your physical body, it stays there for a while, and then bang, it collapses down into the mineral kingdom again. This is not exactly the way it works now, in fact, but it certainly is not the way it was designed to work in the original creation. In other words, it isn't a circle. There is a continuing movement upward, and whatever has been sufficiently refined to move to the higher level moves to the higher level. And what is not capable of moving to the higher level drops down to the lower level, so that it may be acted upon again by the creative fires in the refining process, and gradually it is lifted up. There is less and less left in the way of ash and more and more moving in the ascending spiral.
There is a transmutation occurring with respect to this total planet, not just with respect to the earth aspect of it, which is the very smallest aspect. There is something happening with respect to this total planet—a movement upward; an ascending cycle is at work. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2019/10/transformation-and-then-transmutation.html] But since man left his position it has been a very slow and limited process. Everything has been at a standstill virtually. One of the prophets says something about this in the Old Testament—everything is at a standstill. It is not working the way it should, in other words, only partially so. And very little has occurred, since man fell, of the true creative process. It couldn't, because there was no man in place to let it happen.
This outlines something which is incapable of being encompassed by the human mind, and if you have been trying to do that you got kind of sleepy. But it is something that is happening, whatever words may be used to describe the process, of which it is necessary to become increasingly aware. Here is something actually occurring with which we are associated. If we tend to sort of blot it out of our experience with the idea that mentally speaking we can't grasp it, then we certainly can't participate in a way that is going to be of any value in the process itself, for which we carry a very definite responsibility. As angels we carry that responsibility, and we are here to let that responsibility be fulfilled. As we move together these things naturally will clarify themselves to the extent that we are willing to let it be so, willing to let the Word of God be spoken in our own individual and collective experience.
Something is going someplace! It hasn't been going there as easily and as rapidly as it might because we have been in this sluggish condition of what is referred to as the fallen state. But there is the ascending cycle at work, even though it isn't working the way it should work. It is limited and restricted, and a lot more is descending than needs to descend in the true state.
