Handling Essences—The Highest Art

Handling  Essences  —  The  Highest  Art

Martin Cecil   August 2, 1979   Assembly

Lillian made a comment, when she was speaking this morning, with respect to herself as being responsible for the essences, related to music—but of course her responsibility for essences goes considerably beyond that. There must be those who take responsibility for essences. This Assembly is gathered here to do that, to gain experience in handling the responsibility of essences. Only as there are those who are capable of doing this do we have any ministry, is there the possibility of a living body, a living organism of many people. Somehow the essences must be taken care of.

In the initial stages of this ministry it was a matter of handling both essences and forms, by those concerned, simply because there were so few. We all have some responsibility for handling forms but our primary responsibility is for handling essences. And we cannot handle forms as they should be handled without effectiveness in handling essences. The fact that restoration is possible is so because finally there may be present on earth those who are capable of handling the essential essences by which this occurs. We well know that it doesn’t occur by manipulating forms. It occurs because there are those forms which follow the essences. If there are no essences to follow, the forms are left leaderless. The Master said something about the harvest being ripe, but there were few who were capable of reaping the harvest. Pray that these might put in an appearance, because there could be no harvesting without them. Reference is here made to those who would be capable of assuming responsibility for essences and handling them rightly.

Here is the area of our responsibility, primarily. We all have certain forms which come within the range of our responsibility as well. But as there has been a differentiation of responsibility because there have been more people who have offered themselves for this, then clearly there are those within the developing body who are primarily responsible for essences and those who are primarily responsible for forms. Here is the differentiation—at least in this regard. Whenever we touch upon these things it looks as though, for the moment, there are just two fields: essences and forms. But of course we discover that there is far more than that because the essences themselves have to be handled on a differentiated basis.

We realize that the substance by which the handling of essences is made possible must be generated. We also realize that it is the substance which properly finds its place at all levels. And there are many levels—the level of what we call form is one level of substance but it is only one. We have noted before that it is the smallest area in fact. There is far more substance occupying the space provided by all the other levels. This is so, regardless of us. But within the range of our field of responsibility and within the range of the responsibility of man as a whole there is clearly a very specific design.

We have before noted that we have very specific bodily forms; each one of us has a body. This is very specific. And, while related to each body there is rightly substance of a different nature filling out the wholeness of all levels in the individual sense, we also may recognize that there is this substance present relative to the whole of creation, which has very little to do with human beings. But there is something specific for which we are obviously responsible. And that comes to focus individually in our individual physical forms and expands out from that. We discover that our individual forms are part of a larger physical form which is capable of acting in a coordinated manner by reason of our individual physical forms. We all have something to do at that level, the physical level. But we find that various individuals have specific responsibilities related to other levels, related to essences, as I have called this.

Now these essences are brought to us. We may recognize that there is the substance, for the generation of which we are responsible. This substance, particularly the finer ranges of this substance, plus spirit, may be said to compose essence. Here are the essences which are rightly tools in our hands as incarnate angels. These essences are to be rightly used, and we are responsible for this right use; therefore we are responsible for essences. I am thinking of this in particular relationship to our association in this Assembly. We have to narrow it down a bit, bring it to focus relative to our immediate responsibility. And our immediate responsibility is primarily at the level of essences. We couldn’t handle what is required at the level of those essences if we were not incarnate in physical form. There would be no substance available at the levels required. It is because we are incarnate in physical form that we have a generator, we might say, by which the essential substance of essences may be generated to fill out the whole design—which is our means of handling our responsibilities in a total sense here on earth.

There are some who are primarily responsible at the form end of the spectrum, others who are primarily responsible at the essence end of the spectrum. Now our responsibility relates to the essence end of the spectrum more particularly in this present formation. We always have, of course, some responsibility in this regard in the individual personal sense. But here is something emerging of the Assembly substance, to make it possible for essences to be handled by us. Now this has been going on whether anybody has recognized it specifically or not. Because it has been going on in some measure I am bringing it out now, because there is substance to begin to bring it out. From the standpoint of human nature, the idea might be, "Well why didn’t you bring it out right at the start? Then we could have really got to work." Well I was not exactly waiting but hopeful, shall we say, that you would get to work so that there would be some substance so that it could be brought out. We need to get things the right way around and not, as human nature insists upon doing most of the time, trying to make things work backwards. So we have some substance generated and we can begin to see this in terms of essences.

As I say, in the initial formation of this ministry Uranda and later I were very much involved not only with essences but with forms because there was no other way of handling things. There was no one else who could take responsibility primarily relative to forms, because those who do take primary responsibility relative to forms must have a sufficient experience of essences to do it. But there are those who have the primary responsibility with respect to essences. And we are it now in this particular formation.

So, in handling these essences we find that essences are brought to us. We might say that our inheritance is essences. Heretofore we have talked about circumstances—the circumstances that are brought to us—because the general view of circumstances has been that they were forms. Now we are beginning to recognize that, while there are forms present, the important aspect of what is brought to us relates to essences. Essences are being brought to us to be handled by us. As long as we were involved with the forms, and reacting to the forms, and emotionally disturbed or whatever by the forms, we were incapable of discerning the essences. So obviously something had to happen relative to our letting go of involvement with the forms.

A balance obviously is essential here, because human nature, which is still on hand, tends to swing to extremes—“Oh, we’ve got to let go of forms”—swing over to the extreme of something else which is unknown at that point anyway, and people do stupid things. This is what has produced the idea that spiritual people are very impractical people, useless in fact in the world. Perhaps in some other world somewhere they may be fine. But I have yet to be aware of what that other world is where they would be fine, because this is the world; it’s here. And if mention is made of the world to come it’s not another world separate and apart from this world. There is just one world in fact, which appears one way in human experience and is another way in reality.

Our concern is to let that reality emerge in human experience. The only way that this can be done is to be aware of the basic elements of the true world. And we may speak of these now as essences, because it is in the handling of these essences that we do what is necessary to allow the real world to emerge through the consciousness and into the experience of human beings. This is what has been happening to you, presumably. But we have a responsibility for others. And so this inheritance is brought to us. Heretofore we have looked upon what was being brought to us as the forms of circumstances. But that isn’t really what is being brought to us. The essences of the circumstances are being brought to us for handling.

Now how do we receive the inheritance? We were looking at this before. Usually the forms are judged and if the forms are pleasing, one may welcome the inheritance with some enthusiasm. But if the forms are not so pleasing then there is some reluctance and probably definite rejection involved with respect to the circumstances. But we are looking beyond the circumstances; we are looking at the essences that are being brought. We have before had an awareness of the importance of running to meet the Lord. And no doubt we have translated that in some fashion in our consciousness. But let us see it with respect to the Lord bringing these essences to us, offering us our inheritance. How enthusiastically do we receive our inheritance?—not merely the forms of it but the essences that are present by reason of those forms, because we see how forms and essences are always associated. After all, the substance which composes the essence was generated out of the form. But to deal effectively with the form we must deal with the essence first. So we need to be alert then. We need to have an adequate spiritual discernement so that we can begin to recognize what the essences are. And we delight to receive that.

Now something else was brought out while Lillian was speaking in musical terms, and that is this matter of dissonance as being an essential part of what we might call the symphony of life. The dissonance needs to be resolved into the harmony. And we see in this something we already understand relative to good and evil—these are a part of the creative process. There is movement through the evol to the point of good. And the point of good is the initiation of a new aspect of the creative cycle, and moves again into evol. If we correlate these two states with dissonance and harmony, then we keep moving from one to the other. And we do not object to the dissonance. It is all part of the creative process.

So when the essences which come to us have dissonant elements in them, we do not object to that. We see that this is part of the unfolding symphony and we have to make use of the dissonant sounds in order to allow a resolution to occur in its proper seasons when there may be the experience of the good, the harmony. But we see that resolution as only being made possible by reason of the dissonance which preceded it. There is the process of resolution and then there is the resolution when that process is complete to that extent. It’s complete to that extent in order to provide a starting point for the next aspect of unfoldment. So let us not fasten our eyes on the forms of circumstances so that we totally ignore the essences of those circumstances which are the inheritance being brought to us.

And we need to welcome the inheritance, portrayed by running to meet the Lord. If you have an honored guest coming you, I’m sure, would not be inclined to say, "Well he’s coming; he has to take potluck with us." You prepare something, don’t you? You put yourself out. You do things perhaps that you otherwise would not be doing. And because it is in anticipation of the arrival of the honored guest you delight to do it. It’s a wonderful experience to work through all the dissonant factors. This is all undertaken with great joy and it brings satisfaction in the doing. Sometimes the satisfaction is more in that than the end result, in the human-nature world, because it may not work out just the way you had hoped; sometimes  honored guests are not all that thoughtful.

But from our standpoint we know who the honored guest is. Here is the Lord, emerging into His world. And He does so through the inheritance which He provides for us. And so these essences are brought to us to handle. One could see this relative to preparing the way of the Lord and making His paths straight. We do this in the handling of the essences. When Abraham ran to meet the Lord from his tent door he was just delighted, and inquired a little as to what would be pleasing to his guests. Then he hurried away and made sure that his wife and his servants were doing what they should do to provide what was needful. This portrays something magnificently of our momentary experience. So many people have been hung up on forms, hopeful that the forms would change shape so that they would be more pleasing than they were before, but pleasing to oneself. One’s concern with respect to forms is that they should be pleasing to the Lord, and that is pleasing to oneself simply because it is pleasing to the Lord.

But for the forms to be that way, the essences must have been handled rightly first. It seems very few people have recognized that their circumstances carried with them essences which were to be received with delight so that substance might be enthusiastically generated, in whatever it was one was doing. How much there still is of reluctance in this regard: “Let me get through this task,” very often even “so that I may have time for myself.” Who are you? The only person who wants time for himself, in that sense, is the human ego—in other words, an endeavor to escape so that there may be a reversion back into the hog trough.

We do need to have space into which the essences may come and where they may be handled. And we need to see this with respect to others; others need to have space in this regard too. This was brought out relative to the field of music, by Lillian—that those who have some starting point of spiritual essences in their experience need to have space in order that more substance may be generated. Unfortunately, when space is provided for this, human nature says, “Ah, how nice, this is time for myself,” and they go off and do the things that they want to do in human nature and they never use the available space which was there to receive these essences. We need to see this for ourselves, because if we are responsible primarily for essences we are going to need space. If, when the space is offered, we immediately begin to fill it up with the human nature factors, we have ducked out of our responsibility for essences and we become useless.

In one way or another there has on occasion been much of this because fundamentally, while we say there are those who are dominantly responsible for forms and others who are dominantly responsible for essences, in either situation we couldn’t function without the essences. And so those who are doing the tasks that are necessary—there have to be those who work in the office, who work in the kitchen, who do cleaning and the laundry, and the other things, obviously so. Those who are primarily responsible in those particular fields are dealing with forms. But there is the necessity of recognizing that they can’t deal with those forms except through the essences.

That is the way that forms are handled from our standpoint. We are out of the manipulation business. We are going to handle everything through the essences. And what is necessary in form will come through on the basis of this and not because we manipulated it. This is rather an exciting business actually, because the forms reveal things that we didn’t know they were going to reveal. And we see that and we delight in that; we see the changes coming in this way in form. But still we don’t judge it, because we are still concerned with essences. And even if a person is working in the heat of the kitchen and preparing a meal and all this form is right in front of that person, he has to handle it. But the only basis on which he can handle it effectively is because he is conscious of the essences in that particular circumstance. So it is not a matter of just slapping the form around.

One is dealing with the essences in a very artistic way. When we work with essences we find that we necessarily are artists. There are artists in the field of blacksmithing, for instance, even though that might be looked upon as very definitely a form area of function. After all, if one if making horseshoes, you have the iron and you are heating it and hammering, you’re dealing with the form. But if you have ever seen an expert blacksmith there is a rhythm and a dance to it; there is the evidence of artistry. If a person goes into some field of activity such as that, or cooking in the kitchen, or office work—whatever—with the idea that all it is is a matter of manipulating forms, and if the thing won’t work, well you hit it with the largest hammer you have and then it will work, you will destroy a great deal. And you won’t certainly become a blacksmith, or whatever, because one must be aware of the essences, always, first.

One may need to learn some techniques with respect to form but these are only available to translate essences. And this is our concern. Even if one is hammering something with a heavy hammer and it takes a lot of muscle, there is a delicacy to it. You hit it exactly right. It’s not just “Well any old bang will do.” You have to hit it exactly right. Now I use the blacksmith because that is a good illustration of something apparently very forceful in the area of form. But we can see that it never becomes useful as an art until whoever is operating in that field becomes conscious of the essences. And of course, generally speaking, those who do become proficient in such fields are not aware of what is happening but they do become conscious of the essences. There are many people who think of themselves as cooks, who certainly shouldn’t have that title because they have never awakened to the essences of cooking.

There are essences behind all forms. Whenever the inheritance of form is brought to us the essences are brought too, if we can discern them. And it is our responsibility to be able to discern them so that we may handle these essences intelligently. If we handle the essences intelligently the form will take care of itself. This is not to say that we don’t need to turn over the eggs. We’re part of the form taking care of itself.

Now here is a secret of which you have been aware for a long time. But I wonder whether you have been aware of it in a practical sense—whether these essences have not been seen in terms of spirit separate from substance. Most human beings look at spirit in that way. They do not see that it is only known by reason of the substance in which it may make itself known. And spirit, making itself known in substance when it is there, we speak of as this matter of essences. We could use other terms I suppose; we could say the Holy Ghost. Here is spirit in oneness with the essential substance. Now we are able to handle essences which are brought to us because of the essences that are present in us. Essence relates to essence.

How beautiful life is! How beautiful the experience of creative work is, the work for which we are responsible. But we need to understand the internal facilities that are available to us, and also how to deal with the external factors that are brought to us. It is because we have internal facilities that we can handle the essences that are brought to us. If we do not have it internally we can’t do anything about it externally. It is because we have generated the substance of connection that the substance of action can spill over into our field of action. And we can begin to handle effectively the essences which are our inheritance. We see these essences as being part of the creative cycle, and there is no need to judge what they are. They are contained within the true evil, and we are not going to eat of the forbidden fruit anymore. We receive what is brought to us.

So all things are made new by reason of essences, not by reason of forms, except insofar as the forms have a part to play in moving with those essences, and in some instances, of course, generating the substance which permits the essence to be present. This is true of our own human forms. So here we are together with perhaps something of a new awareness of what it is we are properly doing and how we may handle it. It may be said that you know all these things—they have been talked about for years. But now they begin to come into an actual experienceable state insofar as we are concerned, because something is being allowed to happen. “Behold, I make all things new.” We are responsible for this. And it can only be done on the basis of these fundamental essences.

And so in this particular configuration you have been drawn together to provide a facility for the handling of essences. It is not first and foremost for the handling of forms, is it? You have some forms to handle; we all do. But our reason for being present in this particular setting, in this particular enfoldment, is to be responsible for essences, to provide space for those essences to be brought to us and to allow the generation of substance in ourselves individually and together so as to provide the internal essences, which is the tool or the handle we use in dealing with the external essences. The blacksmith can deal with iron by using iron. We deal with essences by using essences. And this is indeed the highest art.

Within the range of the body which is developing there are those who are primarily responsible for essences. This may vary. Maybe we will swap places sometime! But you are the ones who are here. So there is a great flexibility and easy movement when we are dealing with essences, but now we have the responsibility. We are here. We are responsible for the essences.

And when we do handle our responsibility for essences rightly and intelligently we will find that we handle forms rightly and intelligently, and they will reflect what it is that is occurring from the standpoint of essences. But still we don’t judge the form. We are looking at the essence. We know why the form is doing that, because we know what is happening in the essences. So there is no reason to judge the form—there is no incentive any more to judge the form. Let it alone; it’s behaving itself. Just be concerned that the essences are right and what they should be in the particular pattern that is unfolding.

And never be afraid of dissonance. Don’t jump immediately to the conclusion that if there seems to be some dissonance in the essences it is somehow wrong, that it has to be manipulated around somehow so as to make it all nice again, comfortable. Human beings like to be comfortable. It is sometimes good to be a little uncomfortable, isn’t it? We do things that are uncomfortable, we do them deliberately. We don’t object. If there are some uncomfortable things from the standpoint of essences, that’s all right. We learn how to recognize what it is that is happening, what it is that is moving. And we are not going to interfere with it. We’re going to let it move, we’re going to enhance that movement in one way or another. This is not to say we’re enhancing dissonance. We are simply enhancing the movement that is occurring, the movement which in fact is passing through the period of resolution, that it may come to the harmonious conclusion of that period. When you get to the harmonious conclusion, that may be a time when you can breathe a sigh, and say “Isn’t that wonderful?” But you wouldn’t want to stay there forever. It gets very uncomfortable. There is something else to do.

And so we keep moving through these cycles of good and evil. We understand what is happening. We’re not in a battle with anything. We begin to find ourselves in the position of authority because we are handling essences. That is the authority. The authority is not trying to impose something on forms but simply to handle the essence. According to the way the essence is handled, so will the form will come along, and you didn’t have to beat it into submission with a hammer.

So it’s good to be aware of the true purpose of man, which is not based in the sweat of his face. A little sweat of the face sometimes is all right, keeps the physical form healthy. But in the achievement of our purpose it is not by the sweat of the face. It is by the right use of essences. That’s the way.

© Emissaries of Divine Light

john revill art  johnrevill.com

The Crossover Point

The  Crossover  Point

Martin Cecil   February 3, 1974

There is a principle considered right at the beginning of the month Class. This principle relates to the true position of a person—the place of man—who properly provides the means by which invisible spirit is translated into visible form. This is rightly your position. In illustrating this particular principle, we have used the capital letter X. The X does provide an excellent illustration, formed as it is of two Vs, one of them inverted. The respective points of apex of these two Vs are the same in the letter X, and this certainly portrays the position of man as the crossover point between spirit and form. He is the point, when he is in position, by which the oneness of heaven and earth is made known. If he is not in that position he does not, and cannot, know the truth of this oneness.

The upper part of the letter X is a V, which represents the realm of spirit brought to a particular point of focus in the person at the crossover point where the position of man rightly is. The lower part of the X represents the realm of form. The realm of form also comes to point at that same apex, the place where man belongs, a point which has position but no magnitude. This is where the individual belongs.

The fact of having a body and a mind present indicates that there is the potential of the expression of spirit—the translation of spirit into form—spiritual expression. Besides these capacities in the realm of form there is what is called the heart. There are those who have been inclined to imagine that the heart is the same as the spiritual expression, which is certainly not true. There is the capacity of body and mind and spiritual expression, and permeating these levels of experience there is what we call the heart, or the feeling realm. It is present in the physical body, it is present in mental experience, and it is present in relationship to the experience of spiritual expression. By reason of the heart there is the possibility of coming back to the place where we belong, so that there may be the true experience of self, which is at the crossover point between spirit and form.

This is the point which unifies heaven and earth in balance. Without being there the individual obviously must have an unbalanced experience. The point where the individual belongs, where he may say, “I am”, rightly, is this crossover point between the realm of spirit and the realm of form. Here is the connecting link between heaven and earth. As we have noted, there has been a missing link—man in position has been missing. Man has been missing. Insofar as you as an individual are concerned, your awareness of yourself has been missing. You have had an awareness of a material self, which is not you.

You are neither material nor spiritual in your true position; you are at the point of balance, and that point is the point where you say of yourself, simply, I am. You do not claim a material identity nor do you claim a spiritual identity; you just are. That is the point of being—that is the crossover point, the connecting point between the realm of spirit and the realm of form. Only when a person is in that point does he know himself and is he in position to be a balanced expression of himself. That expression is both in spirit and in form.

In considering how the individual may come again to himself, there has been the recognition of the need to accept the true qualities of being. In that acceptance of the true qualities of being there has tended to be the idea that this was spirit. No—the qualities are simply the means by which spirit may find expression. If the individual is in place at the crossover point, then what is of the realm of spirit may be translated into the realm of form. But what is of the realm of spirit is an unknown, invisible quantity. In order for the translation to be made there must be the facility to contain it, and that facility will include the true qualities of being. Spirit released through that connecting point reveals its nature in form, but you cannot get hold of spirit and measure it or figure out what it is. The realm of spirit is an unknown quantity insofar as the realm of form is concerned. If therefore you find yourself identified with the realm of form, spirit is an unknown quantity, and it remains an unknown quantity until you return to your true position.

The primary aspects of spirit are love, truth and life—using words to describe something unknown. There is the experience at the moment of what is called life. What is it? Certainly it is an unknown quantity. But it's real. You may say of yourself, no doubt, “I am alive.” How do you know? “Well I'm breathing; my heart's beating.” Ah, something in material being, something in the realm of form—this gives evidence of the fact that you are alive. “I can move my hand.” But that does not acquaint us with whatever life is as an aspect of spirit. Where is it? Can you locate it? It's present, presumably, in you or in what you say is you. What you mean is it's in this physical body somehow, and it's in the mind too; the mind is animated sometimes. But where's the mind? “Oh, in my head,” the individual says. Is that so? You have got a brain in there, but is that the mind? Mentally speaking, you can be in many places—that's right, isn't it?

We have these material forms and we are rather thoroughly embedded in them, or have been. Maybe we are moving out a little; maybe we are willing to let something be transcended in this regard, but not very much yet, as we discover if we start to think about it. The true experience is unknown because we're somewhere else than the place where we belong; and the deeper we plunge into the realm of material things the heavier the experience becomes.

Human beings have had an imaginary sense of freedom in their descent through the material realm. And it is a descent, you know; it ends up with a bang strong enough to get a person six feet under. There are some illusionary experiences in the material state which human beings imagine they are enjoying at times. This is what most people do with their time—devise means by which they can enjoy falling and delay the moment of impact.

“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth”

— which made both heaven and earth —

The point where true identity is—the identity which is accurately described by the words I am—is neither in heaven nor in earth but provides the connecting link between. So we lift up our eyes to the hills, we move toward the hills, and we start to climb the mountain; but we cannot do this if we are wrapped up in the false self which is identified by various dualities of false experience. And people do get very wrapped up in that, don't they? It keeps them from the mountain, it keeps them from themselves; it limits them, circumscribes them, maintains a cell-like condition.

Freedom is only known on the mountaintop, because that is where the truth is known, the truth of oneself—the place where spirit is translated accurately into form. If you are not in that place and life still remains for a little while, then spirit is not being translated accurately into form; it isn't getting through, and what does get through comes out in the realm of form on a distorted basis.

We say that life is an aspect of spirit, truth is an aspect of spirit, love is an aspect of spirit. If spirit is not coming through clearly because the individual is not in the place where he belongs, life will not be known, just a semblance of life, a trickle of life coming through. Truth will not be known. If truth isn't known, what is known? Something that's false, obviously, something that's a lie. And if love is not getting through, what is known? Certainly not love, rather the evidence of the absence of love or the distortion of love in some way. Hate is the absence of love, but there are many ramifications of hate: dislike, resentment, fear. Here is the experience of what might be called false spirit, because it is what remains after true spirit has filtered through the place where the individual is, and if the place where the individual is is down in the material realm, not very much spirit is going to get through and what does get through will be distorted.

Human beings in the material condition do not know what life is; all they know is that limited state of existence which remains after most of life has been blocked off. They do not know what the truth is; they haven't the faintest idea what the truth is; all they know is what comes through after most of the spirit of God has been blocked off. And they have no idea what love is. Love is almost completely excluded. Love is not known; truth is not known; life is not known. The reality of spirit cannot be known as long as the individual is involved in material identity.

As long as a person continues to be identified with his form he cannot know the truth; he does not know the truth of life, he does not know the truth of love, he does not know the truth of anything. Oh he may have a brilliant pattern of concepts logically fitted together, and he says, “Well that's the truth.” Nonsense. It's a figment of fancy humanly invented; it isn't the truth at all. The truth is a part of spirit, and if there is no means for spirit to be translated accurately into form the truth cannot be known; it certainly cannot be known by any manipulations of the human mind. It only begins to be known when a person comes back to the place where he belongs, the crossover point, so that he stops being a missing link.

“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills”—I will direct my footsteps toward the foot of the mountain and I will proceed to ascend the mountain. And I know that I cannot ascend the mountain as long as I insist upon a plains identity; it can't be done. But there is a longing in the hearts of human beings—and here the heart comes into the picture—to find something that has not been known. And there are those who become aware of how much the unknown transcends the apparently known. There is a longing to ascend the mountain, to find oneself—not to try to escape from oneself, which is the effort that most people undertake in defiance of the real longings of their hearts. They run away; they run away in every conceivable fashion.

So let us return to that place where we belong, because we begin to recognize how stuck we have been in our material identity, and in the idea of how much meaning something we do in the material sense is going to give to us. We may be acclaimed, and the acclamation of others may boost one's ego; but when it stops coming, what then? You realize you are nothing if your sense of meaning was built upon material things, or even upon supposedly spiritual things. And who are you? The one who properly stands where spirit and form come together.

© Emissaries of Divine Light

From Education To Government

From  Education  to  Government

Martin Cecil   May 11, 1980

No matter what is experienced there is always something to be learned; so education is a factor in all our variety of experiences, if we are open to learn. On the other hand the matter of spiritual government has been largely ignored in human experience for a long time. We have concerned ourselves with this matter. If we have any real reason for being on earth it is to this end: that we might provide the means for spiritual government in this world, not as something exclusive but as something definitely required. No one is being prevented from participating in the processes and cycles of government from the spiritual standpoint.

The pure expression of the spiritual government has been conspicuous by its absence. In fact it has hardly been seen as being necessary at all except possibly within the range of the religious approach; but then, for safety’s sake, state and church are kept separate. But the concern is not with this matter of human endeavor, whether based in some religious belief or merely in political belief. What has been lacking in the world is the reality of God’s dominion. However there is very little recognition that we ourselves may have some responsibility in the matter. It is because you have some recognition in this regard that you are here. I can see no other reason for us being here together.

In order that there might be those who are in position to provide what is necessary there must be some spiritual education first. No matter how willing people may be to serve the Lord, as they say, they must know how. There have been countless sincere and earnest people over the centuries who were desirous of serving the Lord but the state of the world indicates that the Lord hasn’t been too well served thus far. He is only served when He is allowed to be present, and it is our business to allow Him to be present. We cannot allow Him to be present as long as the human nature state prevails in our own experience.

In order to emerge out of that state of subjection, that state of bondage, there is a need for the provision of education, provided of course that there are those who are anxious to emerge. As long as nobody wishes to do so there is no point in any education; there's no one to be educated. It requires willingness to move out of the state that has been, into something unknown. Now this is a fearful business for most. The unknown is terrifying, so they say. I think it is the known that is terrifying—that is, if you want to be terrified. But the unknown in a spiritual sense is available to be experienced; it has always been present. The statement was made long ago that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The truth is here; we may know it. It requires a little willingness, yes, and a little courage I suppose, to laugh in the face of human nature, no longer taking the attitude that here is the supremely strong influence from which it is impossible to escape.

Mention is made of the great red dragon in the Book of Revelation. I am sure you know exactly what that figure portrays—human nature. There is no great red dragon that has a life of its own; it is simply what human beings have made. If we can make it, equally we can unmake it. It can be allowed to dissolve. Human nature obviously is closer than breathing and nearer than hands and feet. So we don’t need to try to get at this great red dragon out there somewhere. He is easily found in the immediate vicinity.

We see how it is that the earthly heredity that is present in all of us relates to the means by which human nature retains its hold in human experience. Certainly we inherit something in this regard in the material sense, but this does not deny the fact that we also inherit something in the spiritual sense. However most have been inclined to deny the spiritual inheritance in favor of the material inheritance. The great red dragon is on hand and in the heaven of most people. Here is the controlling element in human behavior—human nature supported by human heredity.

So, on the part of some, there has been a willingness to allow another experience to come because there is not so much faith any more in the great red dragon. How much faith do you, as an individual, have in the power of your earthly heredity, your human character, to dictate as to the way you should behave, what you should think, how you should act, what you should say? So, those who are willing to consider the possibility that there could be another state of experience are considering the matter of letting the great red dragon be cast out of the position of control, so that no longer is there subjection to the human nature state as it comes to particular focus in our own individual experience.

I am sure that all of you have a sensing of something quite remarkable, something rather unlike usual human nature experience. There is a sense of friendship, a realization of what is meant by the word love perhaps, It’s good to be together, not because we necessarily chose each other. There is available a large space in which we may find freedom of easy and natural interaction. This interaction comes because the spirit of God prevails—giving evidence of considerable power. Why not let that power achieve all that it will? There is an inclination to let it go just so far, but beyond that point it's a little scary, beyond that point, “I might lose out. I might lose some of my most precious possessions”—in human nature. Yes, you lose them all! Every last one! But that need not be all that fearful a prospect, because there is something else being introduced, something that might be referred to as treasure in heaven rather than treasure on earth. Where your treasure is, there your heart is also. There you are, so you are present with your treasure—in heaven now instead of on earth; and as the earth reflects whatever it is that is in heaven, well you have the treasure on earth too but not in the same way.

Now there are those who are willing to face up to the situation, to be honest—that we may come clear. And in our own experience of coming clear it is not a dragged-out undertaking. As I say, there is the necessity for some spiritual education, but this shouldn't be too exhausting an experience; it is a delight really, if one really participates in it. It's an absolute delight! One finds the world opening up, a new understanding, a new vision, a new experience. The dominion of the dragon only continues to be a fact as long as he is present in our heaven. The very moment that there is the acceptance of the reality of the spirit of God into one’s own heaven of living the dragon isn’t there—the dragon is cast into the earth. He is in the earth—but he is not in the heaven and we do not need to be subject to his dictates any more. We need to get on with the job. The job is one of spiritual government.

To move toward the point where the experience of spiritual government becomes dominant one must pass through a period when the experience of spiritual education is dominant. As you know, those of you who have been in Class, it is not just a matter of education. There is the matter of experience also—there is an aspect of government as well as an aspect of education. To start with, for spiritual children, it's dominantly education; dominantly, rightly, discipline and all the requirements of control provided for the person until there is sufficient maturity for that control to come from within the person himself. But its only to a very limited extent within a person to start with. Where there are spiritual children there is need for spiritual education and that is provided in one way or another. In the initial stages, spiritual education is dominant and spiritual government is recessive—not there at all to start with but gradually it begins to put in an appearance. And the balance changes until, at the point of what one may call graduation or commencement, the aspect of spiritual government becomes dominant, even though spiritual education is still a factor—one never ceases to learn but one has the responsibility of government nonetheless.

Seeing things from this standpoint, always there is the process of relinquishing the educational requirements in favor of governmental requirements, which are the actual acceptance of spiritual responsibility in one's own living—then there is the concern not with personal things from the human standpoint but with personal things from the Lord's standpoint, from the divine standpoint.

So our concern is that we should all be in the same business, and that business is the business of the spirit of God and not the business of the dragon. I had a letter from somebody bringing up a very excellent point which could apply to this service today: “Now at last Martin will be here and he will tell us this special truth for which we have been waiting all these months and years.” Well what have I been doing in the meantime? Did I never say anything for the past thirty years? The point is that it is all there—it’s been there—it's all been there.

But it's not what I may say that is the point. In fact its what you say, what you say in your own expression of living. That's the only way that you can know the truth. I can give you the keys, which I've been doing for thirty years, and you can accept the keys and open the door if you wish. Anybody could do this; they could have done it from the first point of initiation. We have to admit that the dragon has quite a hold on people—but somewhere along the way there is the necessity of taking responsibility for oneself and not requiring anything else from anyone else. “Well I need a little more help here.” Okay. There's lots of literature; read it. There's the help. If you want more help, do you want someone to come along and bend your ear? I’ve been bending people’s ears for years and also writing letters to people, many of which are now published in booklets and freely available.

People have resisted spiritual education, so much. Why not accept the opportunities that are provided and learn something? Be educated. Spiritual education is offered but not always accepted. Only as it is accepted do people learn; only as there is the spirit of God occupying the heaven of daily expression is the dragon no longer in the heaven. He’s in the earth for the moment; earthly heredity is still around. It is in our own physical forms and in various structure of consciousness perhaps—but these don’t need to be the controlling factors.

When there is a willingness to accept the real quality of living, and be honest about it—snap—just like that, it happens! That’s the only way it ever happens.  As long as there is a long, drawn-out process, nothing is happening—one is still feeding the dragon. In a moment one may acknowledge the truth; and its not as though I, or anyone else, is going to give some great and marvelous truth sometime so that you can say, “Now I have it.”

I've been offering something over many years which is available to be accepted now. It's not going to be any more available in the future. It's going to be more difficult to be accepted in the future. We have the opportunity now. We are sharing in this hour, an hour of what one might call government, spiritual government, something which relates directly to one's own experience. Only on this basis does the Lord come into the world, does the spirit of God have a field of action in the world, because there are those who are experiencing that action. That's government—that's what it is. It's not imposing something upon other people, but it is providing something very positive in living which other people are going to have to say Yes or No to when it comes up against them.  But we need to say Yes if it is to be a reality for anyone else. We can't impose it, rightly; we never make the attempt; but we provide what is necessary and do it with assurance because it is our natural expression.

So I thank God for you and the spirit of agreement that is in you by which we may provide what is necessary on earth, not on the basis of the Emissary ministry as such but on the basis of living, of being what we really are. All we need to be is ourselves, the reality which we are, the truth. Bring the truth. The Emissary ministry is basically an educational requirement, that there may be those who come out of that requirement to be the truth of themselves in living and reveal the unification that is natural between themselves and all others who are letting it happen. Then there is a sense of oneness. We find ourselves out of the land of bondage, in the experience of a freedom that is so natural and right.

© Emissaries of Divine Light

john revill art  johnrevill.com