The Significance of This Season of the Year
from Directions
For The New Day #56
Uranda January 1, 1947
Tonight I am inclined to
think of the significance that was attached to this season of the year in
ancient times, long before our Master came on earth. When man was beginning his
journey up from that low estate to which he was plunged after the submersion of
Atlantis there remained in the consciousness of survivors some of the
principles that had been widely known, and opportunity to gain control of the remnant
of the people through superstition was not overlooked. Among those things that
remained in the world to speak of the Glory that had been, was the Great
Pyramid of Gizeh. There were other evidences in other parts of the world, and
to say that during that period there were no civilizations would hardly be
true. There were surviving peoples who did have great civilizations which
nevertheless passed away and were lost, but when we speak of a great civilization
in that sense it is hardly comparable to what we think of today, using that
term but, strangely, all these civilizations of antiquity had keys which, if
they had been properly understood and properly utilized, would have provided
humanity with the understanding necessary to return to God. When man fell he
was told that the penalty of separating himself from God would be death. Those
civilizations, as they are called, passed away. They paid the price for
refusing to return to God. All of the great civilizations of the past, running
down into recorded history—the empires that have been built—when they refused
to return to God, all passed away. Nations died, civilizations died, just like
the human beings who composed those manifestations of man's self-activity on
earth.
In ancient Egypt, while
the covering of white limestone still remained on the Great Pyramid of Gizeh,
the priesthood undertook, by means of superstition, to gain a complete hold
upon the people and complete control over them. They built a temple somewhere
around, I think, a little short of a hundred miles from that Great Pyramid, the
limestone surface of which was slightly concave, and in the temple they placed
a mirror. Each year, when the days began to shorten, the people were told that
the sun god was going away, that soon there would be no more day—all would be
night—unless the priests succeeded in interceding and preventing the going of
the sun god. The people well knew that if the sun should never rise again they
would soon perish. The thought of everlasting darkness was terrifying. Therefore,
they did whatsoever was commanded them by the priesthood, and the people were
told that if the priests succeeded in their intercession that they would be
given a sign, so that the days shortened and they continued their ceremonies,
and on the shortest day of the year, when it seemed to the people that their
cause was almost hopeless, the tilt of the earth was such that the sun would
shine on the limestone surface of the Great Pyramid and project that ray nearly
a hundred miles to flash on the mirror in the temple. The people had no means
of knowing about the reflection from the Great Pyramid. All they knew was that
once again the priests had succeeded. The sign had been given and all was well,
and as proof of the fulfilment of that intercessory work the days began to grow
longer. There were the feasts and rejoicings and sacrifices, and wonder-working
power of the priesthood was again firmly established in the minds of the
people.
Instead of using those
keys to Reality which were at hand, to benefit humanity, instead of seeking to
bring those who looked to them into a state of Spiritual liberty, the priests
enslaved through fear, thinking to sustain their rule—and it was sustained
through many centuries—but even though Egypt was a great nation for so long in
the history of the world it, too, passed away, and the Egypt of today is of
another nation. But the long line of the Egyptian kings came to an end, the
power of the priesthood vanished away, another civilization died, and the glory
of Egypt as it had been known, was gone.
This season of the year,
through one reason or another, has been recognized down through many thousands
of years as being significant. By the time seven days after the sign had passed
the lengthening of the days was sufficient for the people to begin to perceive
that the days were getting longer. It meant the coming of Spring, another season,
another harvest. Back there, thousands of years ago, even though these principles
of Reality were used wrongly, the people recognized that without the sun they would
perish, without the light and warmth that came each day life would soon cease, but
the minds of the people were kept in darkness and so the people, of themselves,
perished for the lack of that light for which they sold themselves into slavery
under the priesthood of that time.
Our days are beginning to
get longer. As we consider it aright we are reminded once more that only as we
let an increased expression of the light and warmth of God's Love manifest
through us can we have assurance of the time of harvest. In the darkness, without
the sunlight, there can be no harvest, there can be no time of planting. As the
days grow longer—and our New Year has begun—it seems to me that this phenomenon
of nature that has been so significant down through untold generations should
bring to us a realization of the importance of that to which we are called.
First, because of man's refusal to turn to God, individuals died and passed
away. Then, tribes came to an end, and finally nations. Civilizations rose and
fell. In their growth they seemed indomitable. In their supremacy it appeared
that their glory could not fade, and yet we know from history that they passed
away. Great nations, great empires, great civilizations, came under the
consequences of man's failure to obey the Laws of the Living God.
When we stop and review
these things does it seem strange, as the world has become smaller in the sense
of the time element and transportation and communication, that we should
recognize that unless man returns to God, that which has been true of individuals,
true of tribes, of nations, of civilizations, and of empires, shall in the
final analysis be true of the world of humanity? In those days distances seemed
great. The time of travel from the Orient to the Mediterranean countries was
long, for instance. That which we call the New World was unknown in recorded
history until recently, comparatively speaking. Gradually the world has become
a much smaller place, not in actual miles but in the time required to traverse
those miles. The Laws of God have worked down through the ages, those nations
that thought they could not be destroyed have passed away, those civilizations
that thought they could rule the world forever have crumbled. Why?—because they
neglected to return to God; they neglected to let themselves be removed from
that curse which they brought upon themselves at the time of what we call the
fall of man.
God said that His Spirit
would not always strive with man. At first, the fulfilment of God's Word was only
with respect to the death of individuals. It began, according to the record,
with the death of one man—a righteous man. Gradually the death penalty reached
out until empires and civilizations and nations fell under it. Is the world of
man so arrogant that it cannot see, or that it refuses to see, that now, with
the world shrunk, as it were, into so small a space, the same inexorable Laws
are at work with respect to the world of humanity? God has waited so long for
humanity to return to Him. The whole record proves that His Word was true and
that it is true. Otherwise, some nation, some civilization, some empire, that
refused to return to God would have endured. But can we point to a single one? All
the nations on earth at the present time that can be accounted powers in the
world as far as their governments are concerned, are comparatively young, and
yet already we see the signs of decrepitude creeping in. Already we see the
results of the inexorable working of the Law.
Surely, somewhere, somehow,
through someone, there must be a return to God, or the human race stands in
danger of passing away. To the skeptical, to those who mock, to those who consider
themselves practical in the wisdom of this world, it might seem the height of
presumption or arrogance or perhaps of foolishness, for anyone to seek to
establish the precedent in the return to God that would give a basis of true hope
for salvation to humanity. They say, "But people have always lived and
died, nations and empires have risen and passed away, but humanity goes on
always", but in that record of history, when was the world so united by
means of transportation, communication, when did the whole human family blend
together so completely, in fact, whether in harmony and cooperation or not?
This, to my mind, is the background
of that which we have undertaken. It gives an idea of the significance and of
the importance of that to which we are called. It emphasizes the reason for our
being here. It shows how necessary it is that the keys to Reality that are
placed in our hands should be used, not to enslave but to assist, all who will
respond, into the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God. It emphasizes how
very needful it is that someone, somewhere, somehow, should return to God. Our Great Master's influence on the world,
through His short Life on earth, has profoundly moved the
children of men down through these generations because He opened the Way for a
return to God, because He, Himself, seen as a man in the world, returned to
God. He instructed us to follow Him, which means that we, too, must arise and
go unto our Father's House. We must return to God and it is only as human
beings return to God that they can hope to change the monotonous course of
history, for if it began with one man and continued through tribes and nations
and cities, empires, civilizations, spreading ever outward, reaching to include
all, and now when all are included, it looks to me like something of an
ultimatum—return to God or humanity itself shall pass away.
If we were made in the
Image and Likeness of God, regardless of the failures of the past, regardless
of anything which may have happened in days gone by, regardless of the opposition
that might be raised in the world or through the mass consciousness or anything
else, if we are made in the Image and Likeness of God it must surely be possible
for human beings to return to God without waiting till some vague hereafter, without
accepting the penalty of disobedience as being the only means by which human beings
can return to God. Millions of human beings expect to return to God after they
die. Why should we not truly return to God while we live upon earth, for man
was made in the Image and Likeness of God, and it is man, not just some vague
soul, that needs to return to God, that in the light of the lengthening day he
may have the promise of Life and that in the Springtime he may plant with
confidence and in season come to the Harvest where he knows the joy of having returned,
of being restored, of living in the light and the warmth of God's Love forever.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
They Have Taken Away My Lord
from The Passing of Graven Images
Martin
Cecil Dec 21, 1986
I
was thinking a little about our use of that portion of the Bible which
purportedly describes to us the Master's presence and experience on earth. We
have something here which has come alive for us so that it is no longer merely
a story in a book. It has come alive to a certain degree.
Christians
talk about Jesus Christ. We may speak of our King. When it comes right down to
it, what's the difference? There is a character described here in the Gospels.
This is a story. No one really knows where it came from. There has been a
certain amount of effort to find what might be referred to as the historical
Jesus, rather than the Jesus of the Gospels. I think it is fairly safe to say
that no one has been very successful in this. Many ideas have been put forward
as to the nature of the Jesus of the Gospels. Where did this character come
from? Was it a real character?
If
you're trying to make it so by looking at the form of things you will come up
with an image. And human beings, obviously, have come up with an image. I'm
thinking of this particularly in the Christian world; and I suppose most of us
have had some sort of a background of Christianity, certainly from the
standpoint of heredity in many ways, of generations and generations of people
who read this story in the Bible and assumed that it was true and that it had
reference to some certain particular character. However, as I say, when you
start looking for that character, historically speaking, you don't find him.
There
are those who have postulated the idea that the Jesus of the Gospels was
invented out of the characters of certain historical personages, maybe a couple
of them or more. Well, someone was quite bright, evidently, if this was done.
Of course, it is true that the Jesus of the Gospels largely supports the
building of the Christian religion. So presumably the things that are there
were there because they did support this human effort. More recently of course
there have been what are called the Dead Sea Scrolls, which have described
another character. No doubt there has been a suppression back along the way of
certain aspects of what it was that appeared on earth, in order to make
possible the building of the doctrine of Christianity. This is not exceptional,
mind you. You can look into this from the standpoint of other religions too.
All
I am saying here is that, insofar as we are concerned, we have seen Jesus very
largely through the eyes of the Gospels. However we have also seen something
which went beyond that, because there has been some sort of a living
experience, something that we have had in our own experience which transcends
the form. We don't need the form, really, to tell us what the experience is.
It's something that springs forth into expression in our living if we will let
it, let the light shine. The idea has been, in the Christian
world at least, "Look at the light.'' The light was Jesus, Jesus of the
Gospels. The statement has been made a number of times that all history is
fiction. Are we to exclude this?
We
have all, I'm sure, established images in consciousness relative to Jesus—largely based in the story
of the Gospels. "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.'' Some
have painted pictures of the image they had in consciousness. But everybody had
the image in consciousness, in whatever measure and whatever it seemed to be. I
am suggesting that this must be relinquished. It must dissolve.
We
find ourselves in a situation somewhat like what was spoken of in this story
when Mary Magdalene was in the garden—again according to the Gospel—and
couldn't find the body of Jesus. There was someone there whom she questioned:
"They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.''
I would suggest that everybody needs to come to that point.
Here
is an image which people cling to; it's very precious to them. But one cannot
experience the truth if one clings to an image, even the image of Jesus. How
then can the truth be known? Well we are aware of the way. But fundamentally it
is taking the same position in one's own world as Jesus was purported to have
done in His. That's the only way you could find out what the truth is. We don't
need to go back there because all that is real is here now. The truth can be
known now.
An
aspect of judgment is this business of setting up an image. Thou shalt not make
unto thee any image or a likeness of anything, even in the heaven above,
certainly not in the earth beneath, though everybody has done that. Everybody
has worshipped their external idols and been largely governed by what is
present in the water under the earth, in other words the subconscious elements
that come out of the past through heredity and in various ways. But there has
been a deliberate setting up of an image of Jesus Christ in the Christian
world, and other images in various ways in other religious doctrines. The view
is: "There is the light''—the
image is the light. One may feel rather self-righteous by reason of the fact
that one may not have externalized one's image, but you still have it. There
are people of course who seek to externalize it in their living. This would
require a very, very good person, if we are considering the Jesus of the
Gospels. It isn't a matter of trying to imitate Jesus according to one's image
of Him. Immense numbers of people have endeavored to do this, to make a
facsimile of Jesus. What blasphemy!
The
only way to discover what the truth is is to be it. You can't be it if you
think it's over there somewhere, even if it's over there simply in
consciousness. So there is something to be relinquished here, simply because
one assumes the responsibility of standing in the place where we have an
awareness that He stood relative to the world.
The image has always been valuable to people
because it helped them to feel right about not
accepting the responsibility. If one can have an image to worship, well,
provided that image is at the very peak—and in the Christian world that would
be Jesus Christ, presumably—then one doesn't need to assume the responsibility
that He, even in the story, suggested that we should. As long as we have an
image, there is something separate from us, and we remain in the identity of
human nature. Human-nature identity is the identity that is separate from the
truth; and if we see an image, obviously we have an identity still which is
separate from the truth. I think it is well due that we should realize that
"they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.''
We don't need to know, because each individual assumes the responsibility of
being the truth.
Nobody
can ever assume that responsibility and identity as long as the human-nature
identity persists. So, clearly, one must come to that point, somewhere along
the line. I think most of us have been sidling up to it a little. But the truth
is now. It's not in the past. It's not in any image that we could create in
consciousness. There are those who have tried desperately to do this. They have
read the Bible with such care and application, seeking to find that truth. Well
of course it isn't there. The truth is here.
The truth is in the individual himself or herself. Only when it comes out can
he know it or she know it. Let the light increase.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
Glory to God in the Highest
KING and QUEEN
from
Instructions For Married Couples
Uranda
October 16, 1939
Since man was created male and female,
in the image and likeness of God, it at once becomes evident that all God
Beings are under the Law of the Positive and the Negative, and so are they male
and female. The Great Master pointed out that there is no marriage in heaven,
neither giving in marriage. He was pointing out that because God Beings are
eternal, they have their eternal cosmic mates. So there could be no cause for
marrying or giving in marriage, because
all those who are in heaven, or are in the inner planes, already have their
cosmic mates; for they are the angels of God in heaven.
The Great Master came into the
outer planes to bring the truths of salvation to mankind, but His place was and
is in the inner planes. He was revealing the Father from the standpoint of the
inner planes. If He had married in the outer planes it would have indicated that
there is marriage in heaven. Therefore He could not marry during His life on
earth, though His cosmic mate incarnated to be with Him during His outer
ministry. Mary of Bethany and the Master Jesus, being cosmic mates, were very
close sweethearts during all of their outer life manifestation.
Let it be
noted that Mary of Bethany was not
Mary Magdalene, and that it was Mary of Bethany, and not Mary Magdalene, who anointed Jesus, as recorded in Matthew
26:6-13; also, that Mary of Bethany was of all women most beautiful, holy and
pure.
So it is that it was necessary for them, under cosmic law, because of
their mission, and because they were and
are our great KING and QUEEN, to wait until after the resurrection and
ascension of the Master for the time when they might properly experience the
completed union. But such a limitation does not, and cannot, apply to any being
other than Jesus, and certainly does not apply to any person living on earth
today.
©Emissaries of Divine Light
