Universal Substance

Universal  Substance

YouTube  Audio

Martin Cecil   December 11, 1977

As I greet you once again I am reminded that it is exactly two weeks to Christmas Day, the day decided upon and set apart to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  This particular day was chosen not because it was actually the birth date of Jesus but because it coincided with another celebration popular at the time, so that those who called themselves Christians could celebrate without sticking out like a sore thumb.  However, that other day of celebration coincided, as we have noticed before, with the period of the winter solstice.  Here was a recognition of something of the relatedness which the function of human beings on earth has to larger cosmic events, in this instance the passage of the earth around the sun in its annual orbit.  So, inadvertently there was an acknowledgment on the part of Christians of participation in cosmic events with respect to the One they have claimed as their Savior.  Of course, according to the record, He Himself emphasized the reality of One to whom He referred as His Father, which would indicate relatedness to the larger pattern of things.

The planet Earth is not an isolated speck of dust spinning by chance in its orbit around a rather mediocre star. In our earthly consciousness we are made aware, through our physical senses, of a rather limited range of substance present with us, close at hand and also apparently spread around throughout the whole universe. This substance is largely discernible because it reflects electromagnetic radiation of a certain wavelength. That reflection we call light. Out of the total range of electromagnetic radiation, what is perceptible to us as light is a very small portion; therefore what we can perceive on the basis of sight with respect to what we call substance is small. This is one of the reasons why it seems as though the universe is full of empty space, because very little of the substance that is actually present throughout the whole universe reflects light that we can see. In recent decades human beings have come again to recognize that there is far more substance present in the universe than was first thought.

We had the opportunity of viewing some slides yesterday evening of various designs of substance both in the solar system and beyond in the universe. When the narrow range of visible light was expanded to include the ultraviolet part of the spectrum and the X-radiation part of the spectrum it became possible to observe a vastly increased amount of substance. Of course in order to make it seem comprehensible to the limited state of our earthly consciousness it had to be colored, so that it might be interpreted on the basis of what we think we already know. The point I'm making, however, is the fact that there is an increasing amount of substance made recognizable when the reflection of electromagnetic radiation extends beyond what is seen by the eye as light. If the whole range of electromagnetic radiation were made perceptible by reason of its reflection it would be found that the whole universe is full of substance. As human beings we think there isn't much there, when we look out into the night sky for instance, because all we see is the reflection from a certain level of substance, little pinpoints. We have been informed, of course, that those pinpoints are sometimes of considerable size; but it doesn't seem so, relative to the whole range of universal blankness. Yet it isn't blank; it's full of substance.

Even if we bring it down to the solar system, there is an inclination to think of this as being mostly space. There is a lot of space to be covered apparently, if we happen to go on a trip to Mars. But, as was noted yesterday evening, the so-called corona of the sun includes the whole planetary system, and the planets are in fact a part of the sun. They are not isolated objects floating around in outer space; they are embedded in the substance of the solar entity. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2014/12/from-martin-cecil-october-24-1976-first.html] When we look at the sun—it is wise to look away quickly—we observe a flaming object in the sky, very bright, and also radiating warmth, which we are able to sense. We feel uncomfortable if there is too much of it, and uncomfortable if there is too little of it. But we see the sun as a separate object; the earth is here, the sun is over there, ninety-three million miles away, with apparently nothing in between. Of course we are informed that there are magnetic fields, solar winds, showers of particles, all this. We may observe something of the effect in the northern lights, for instance, but we are still rather convinced that there is a great abyss between the earth and the sun; also between the earth and the other planets. And yet when the reflection of other ranges in the electromagnetic spectrum is made apparent to us we find that the sun extends out a long way and there is quite a bit of stuff around the earth; but even what is observed on the basis of the limited reflection seen from the ultraviolet light, for instance, does not inform us of all the other levels of substance that are actually present. Perhaps it is rather fortunate that in earthly consciousness we do not have the facilities for perceiving the reflection of radiation from the total range of substance; it would likely be very confusing to us. All we see is a very little bit, minute relatively speaking, of the substance that reflects what we call visible light. The vast majority of the radiation is not visible light. The vast majority of the substance that is present all around us is not seen. To all intents and purposes, human beings in general have no awareness that it is present at all.

Sometimes there is a perception of peculiar phenomena which do not seem to be included in the normal range of human observation. We have all sorts of stories about these phenomena, some of them supposed to be somehow supernatural, some of them presumably explained in scientific terms. Most people don't look too closely at these things because they are a little scary, but actually we live in the midst of all the substance there is, whether we are aware of it or not. If we do become aware of something more, then we are keenly conscious of our own ignorance. Most people don't like the idea of being ignorant, so they try to limit their awareness of things to what is immediately perceptible through the physical senses and ignore all the rest. Under the human circumstance perhaps that is wise but it doesn't lead to very intelligent function in our momentary living, because we ignore 99.999 percent of all that is present and we try to function on the basis of the very little bit left capable of our observation. And as the whole range of substance is not separate—it's all one thing, just different vibratory levels of this one thing—if we try to manipulate the substance that we do perceive as though we could successfully govern our experience on this basis, we will at the same time be stirring up all sorts of storms and vortices in the substance that we don't see, and these will be reflected back in the substance that we do see. So, no matter how carefully we govern our actions with respect to what we do see, we find very shortly that everything is out from under control because we never took into account all the substance that we don't see. Of course on the basis of the true design of things it is not the intent that human experience should be governed merely by manipulating what is visible. We have come to recognize that there is a level of understanding available which makes possible right function with respect to the whole range of substance which is present, but the means by which this may occur is not the human intellect, because the human intellect functions—in its present configuration at least—on the basis of what is observable, what we call the environment, on the basis of the substance that is perceptible in that environment. The perception of some people goes a little further than others in this regard, but regardless of how far it goes from the standpoint of the earthly state of consciousness it's not very far, and the vast majority of what is present is utterly ignored. That is the reason for ignorance.

The whole universe is filled with substance, and all substance is one substance, and whatever occurs in one part of that substance will affect all other parts of that substance. How important it is that we as human beings should discover how to live in the midst of all this substance without injecting into it extraneous currents of action, action that doesn't belong, action that is based merely in the observation of the limited range of substance of which we as human beings are aware. It's interesting to note how expertly human beings rationalize what they do. Actually, there is something moving through the substance of the universe which extends creative control at all levels. Let us consider this little planet, which after all isn't merely a little planet, because it is an essential part of the whole solar entity, which in turn is an essential part of the whole galactic entity, which in turn is an essential part of the system of galaxies, and beyond that again, however far you would like to go. The earth that we know is a little range of substance under our feet, a part of a far larger range of substance that occupies the whole space of the solar entity, at the core of which is what we call the sun. But nobody ever saw the sun. It has a garment about it, a garment down to the foot. There is a face which may be said to shine as the sun, an observable face, an observable garment. The garment includes the earth and extends beyond into the uttermost reaches of the solar system. If we took the total quantity of substance that there is present relative to this little piece of substance that we are aware of and call the planet Earth, we would find that it extended a long way beyond that speck of dust.

Mention was made that Uranus and Neptune are quite small planets actually, insofar as mineral substance is concerned in the ordinary sense, but they are encased in an immense amount of ice, which makes them very big planets. Perhaps that illustrates something of what the earth itself is, although it isn't ice in this instance. It is vibrational substance at other levels which extends way out, and even when it extends way out it is all included in the sun substance which fills the whole space of the solar entity. In that sense, it's solid substance everywhere. We live in quite a world, ignorant, for the most part, of it. We just stumble around upon the surface of this visible substance which we call the earth, aware that there is fluid substance also, and gaseous substance, besides what are now called electromagnetic fields, and beyond that again; but here is a whole range of substance, and there are currents of life moving through it. Human beings are always looking for the origination of life—the amoeba must be it!—but the substance of this solar entity is the flesh of life; here's the living entity included in a far vaster living entity. There is no substance in which life is not. These currents of life move through this substance to give it form and meaning. How utterly futile to try to understand the meaning of the universe by simply observing what comes within the range of the reflected radiation of which human beings are aware. Obviously human beings have no awareness of the vast majority of what is present.  You can't take a little bit and find out what the meaning of the whole is. It's a futile endeavor, stumbling around in the dark; the darkness comprehends not the light.

I am mentioning all this this morning partly so as to impress all concerned with their ignorance. Perhaps for those of you who were here present yesterday evening to hear what Hugh had to say and to observe the slides, there was a sense of the insignificance not only of puny human beings but even of this solar entity, and yet a sense of the essential nature of each part. When we become aware of such things there is properly a compulsion to repent in dust and ashes for having given ourselves so much self-importance; and how little human affairs become when seen in this setting; hardly discernible, the affairs of the human race hardly discernible. What then about the affairs of the individuals who compose the human race? Why do we give such importance to human affairs, our own individual personal affairs in particular? It's crazy; it's completely irrational. Human beings are able to rationalize almost anything, failing to realize that what they do is in reaction to this current of life that moves through the substance that is everywhere present.

Because human beings are composed of substance—not only physical substance but all the rest of the substance too—they find life moving, impelling in various ways. People do things and then explain why they do them. Usually the thought is that we have considered the matter ahead of time and so we do this, and it's very rational action. That isn't the way it really works. We do what we do on the basis of being impelled by life but also on the basis of the reaction of our earthly consciousness to that, and it's a very distorted reaction. So we do very irrational things, which we attempt to explain rationally as resulting from our emotional and our intellectual action. Well, emotions and intellect are involved all right. I was thinking of an example, a rather usual example apparently this time of the year, when the postal workers go on strike—it's becoming sort of a habit, and regardless of the intention not to do so it happens. So it has to be explained, and very rational explanations are put forward. Some people were suspended and they shouldn't have been suspended. This is the rational mental explanation of why this phenomenon appears. That has nothing to do with it, whatsoever!

It is the reaction of human beings in particular ways, according to the patterns in which they find themselves, to what is moving through this living substance. That's chaos, increasing chaos, because there is an intensification of the movement of life. There's a reason for this too; not a reason that human beings could fathom, but they merely are aware, indirectly at least, that it is happening. So we find a condition of anarchy increasing. There are even those who suggest that anarchy should be an article of faith. And there are all kinds of different activities with which human beings align themselves, completely ignorant of the fact that what is happening is happening because of the intensifying compulsion of life moving through this total spectrum of substance. The human experience has got off on its own in an isolated pattern of attempted function, as though human beings didn't really belong in the universe, as though they could somehow stand apart from the universe and decide what it is all about. That's like the eye trying to look at itself. So there are these compulsions of movement through the total spectrum of substance present.

The substance which is present here in this particular corner of the total universe embodies a certain specific expression of life. There is immense detail, obviously, in the universe, immense detail in this solar entity, and these details are unique to themselves even though they fit harmoniously in the whole. Human function has been largely in violation of the movement of life through this substance, a violation which has been established because it was imagined that the intellect of man could control the earth, this little planet Earth, while ignoring the substance of the greater entity. Such endeavors, pushing and pulling and manipulating in the world, have caused this chaos which human beings call civilization. An interesting rationalization! The fact of the matter is that it is meaningless chaos, going nowhere. The theory of evolution had to be invented in order to make ignorant people imagine that they really were going somewhere. Well I suppose they were going somewhere, but the somewhere, when they reached it, was found to be nowhere. That is what is called death. That's where we're all heading, isn't it? We don't like to think of it too much. But, all this experience is consequent upon the fact that human beings have been isolating themselves from the real movement of life, trying to make life serve them; and the way this is supposed to happen is by manipulating that very minute range of substance of which they are aware. As I say, any such manipulation is going to have repercussions throughout all the rest of the substance of which human beings are not aware, and those repercussions will come again into the world of which human beings are aware. Then people are inclined to say, “Well I didn't deserve this. I'm being mistreated. I want justice.” Do you, really? Well, you'll get it! The universal system, if we were to call it that, is a just system, absolute. No matter how human beings complain about their undeserved miseries, what is happening is not the way human beings have interpreted it. So there is a hopeless state here as long as there is contention with the movement of life. Most human beings have no realization that they are contending with life but the very endeavor to use life to one's own ends produces that result—one's own end. Many people say, “My life is my own, to do with as I please.” Is it, really? When did you make it? Life is universal. There is the necessity then of being restored to alignment with life.

We have considered this in terms of the angel present, incarnate, in every human form, and in terms of the Archangel collectively. Here is life in expression as it really is throughout the universe, in expression at all levels of substance—insofar as this spot in the universe is concerned, restricted in expression by reason of the attitude of human beings who try to manipulate life to suit themselves, being ignorant of the fact that life has its own purpose. Contending with life is a futile undertaking; we find ourselves increasingly out on a limb and eventually we saw the limb right off, because we become useless in human form—not that the substance is useless; it's still valuable substance; it's still included in the total spectrum of substance. Even when the human body disintegrates that is so, isn't it? The substance is useful. It will be used again in the expression of life one way or another; but if we have diverted that substance to be used in the expression of something that is not true of life—and this is the human condition—then it must pass away. The human condition must pass away, not the substance; the substance remains. Our ability to function in this total spectrum of substance is based in what we have spoken of as the angel; the angel, the reason for the individual's existence. The whole reason for anyone's existence is in the angel, not in the earthly consciousness which assumes roles of various sorts in order to manipulate things to suit itself.

So we have recognized the reality of the angel incarnate in human form but imprisoned by the earthly consciousness of that form which assumes that it is something all on its own. It discovers eventually that that isn't true, but it doesn't do the human consciousness much good at that point. There is a heavenly state of consciousness available to fill the earthly state of consciousness, as we recognize, and it is through the vibratory levels of heavenly substance that the earthly substance is controlled. So it is only on the basis of the heavenly state of consciousness that things begin to come under control again in the visible substance of which human beings are most keenly aware. That substance is not controlled creatively by manipulation, because, as I say, that sets in motion all sorts of forces at other levels of substance which come back and clobber whatever human beings were trying to do. I am sure you have had that experience. Your intentions were so good, you were so careful in what you did, but look what happened! “It wasn't my fault; somebody else was to blame over there.” So human beings blame each other, criticize each other, condemn each other, and, if that is done sufficiently, work themselves into a frenzy of hate until they start killing each other, as though that is going to solve the problem. The mind gets in there busily rationalizing, “Well what would you do in this situation? I have to protect myself.” Everybody has the attitude that they're the ones who are on the defensive; everybody else is positively hostile. So it is by reason of the angel that the heavenly state of consciousness is present with us in this moment, available to us in this moment, to the extent that we are willing to relinquish our ignorance and stop insisting that mentally speaking and emotionally speaking we are capable of handling what is essential in our own experience of existence. Do you think you can? Oh yes, you've been trained in this and in that and you're very capable, but that is a state of delusion.

The heavenly state of angelic consciousness permits the right use of substance, the right use of heavenly substance initially, the heavenly substance of which earthly consciousness has been completely ignorant. The earthly consciousness says it doesn't exist. The earthly consciousness says, to me now probably, “I don't know what you're talking about.” Of course not! How could it? Only where there is a beginning discernment from the standpoint of heavenly consciousness—spiritual things are spiritually discerned; they are not discerned by the intellect—is there an awareness of levels of substance which are, in this sense, first substance. It is here that the true design is, and that true design needs to come through into the earthly substance because no longer is earthly consciousness in its present state blocking it, blocking it by reason of its own arrogance. So we are concerned, as angels, with our true state of consciousness and with the substance which moves easily under the influence of that true state of consciousness. From level to level that movement is reflected until it includes all levels of substance. That is the restoration. That is the earth restored to its true state. Most people think of the true state as a nice garden growing out here, trees and fruit, and everything's lovely, and the lion is lying down with the lamb, just as though it were merely a little thin layer here on the surface of the planet. That's the view of earthly consciousness, but on this basis human beings don't know what they're doing. “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” They're ignorant. The great sin is a refusal to acknowledge ignorance and to be willing to let it go in favor of the wisdom that is already present. If one insists that ignorance is wisdom then there is no space for wisdom. This is the attitude that human beings have: they know so much, or think they do.

So we come again to the angel, and collectively to the Archangel, that there may be a flesh form which includes all the substance that is already present, not merely this that we call physical substance but the total spectrum of substance. That is wholeness, holiness, making possible righteousness, the right use of all levels of substance according to the true design of life. What has this to do with the ridiculous affairs of human manipulation? Nothing whatsoever. It's a new state, not the old state made over, a new state in which God is glorified because there is an awareness that the glory of God fills the temple of this solar entity, of this universe, and shines round about.

O LORD, we are thankful for the opportunity of sharing increasingly in Heavenly Consciousness, and consequently an awareness of the reality of Universal Substance, thereby revealing the fact of Oneness. How good to be offered the opportunity of rising out of abysmal ignorance into a consciousness of the True Wisdom which enables life to be expressed on earth as it really is, thereby revealing Thy Glory, In the Christ. Aumen.

We are gathered here in this room, apparently a number of individuals. Is there really space between you and your neighbor? Is there really space, vacant space in this room? Or do you sense that the room is full of substance, substance of which we have no mental awareness and can have no awareness but which we may comprehend to the extent that that is necessary to our angelic expression of life in the fulfilment of our creative responsibility? We are not isolated entities, and this fact is known in angelic consciousness.

© emissaries of divine light

Focalizations of Light

Focalizations  of  Light

from  Emissary Concepts or Heavenly Experience

Alan Hammond   September 21, 1989   World Service Class  Sunrise Ranch

There are a couple of services out of which some thoughts have arisen. I will read a paragraph from this one of Martin's (May 3, 1987), entitled In the Beginning Is the Word.

“In the beginning is the Word. In the beginning is the creative process, here, right now. It's moving. It has been moving, apparently, for a long time, here and everywhere else throughout the whole universe. And who knows what that universe is. By accumulating knowledge, digging it up from the bottomless pit, people begin to imagine that they know something about the universe. They then can develop theories about it. We need more knowledge about this, about that, so we can have a better theory about it. One of the theories we know with respect to the universe, was that in the beginning, Big Bang! The universe had to start somewhere, according to the theory. But what if it never started, it just is. The human mind is very limited in its ability to encompass anything that has much meaning. It fills itself up with knowledge, assuming that knowledge will replace the creative process. ‘Now I have the knowledge. I can be as God. I don't need the creative process.’ It should be quite evident to even the meanest intelligence that it doesn't work.”

Well we know from our own experience that human education loves knowledge and loves theoretical knowledge. Our own formal education was the same, and in many ways, Emissary education has been the same. I mean you sit here for hours listening to tapes, and so on. I think there is something to address there about Emissary theoretical education, because after a year or so, most Emissaries, I think, think they know a tremendous amount. But if you examine many Emissaries experience of life it is evident that they don't really know, they are not one with the theories that they've been told.

There is no real substitute for movement in the creative process. This passage I read said, “In the beginning is the Word.” Well in Emissary education, usually it's the words that come first. Lots of them. So one has to be a little realistic and honest I think. Otherwise we shall miss the whole point of life itself if we glaze over and have these theories—wonderful theories coming in and passing out—and yet the experience of life is not heavenly. It is something else. If that is our experience, non-heavenly, then (I'm saying it kindly because it is meant kindly) one is glazed over at certain levels of one's consciousness and is not really letting spirit generate the fine substance through which the true design of being would emerge and thereby bring the true experience of life which is fundamentally ecstatic.

I will mention a couple of very simple examples of Emissary theories which are not really the actual experience of people. Take this matter of light and darkness. In a booklet, Uranda talks about the lunatic who tried to empty darkness out of the room with a bucket. All he had to do was turn on the light! Well now, you see Emissaries struggling around in the dark, thrashing around with their psychological problems, and all they've got to do really is shine the light. To really get serious about it! The answer is this quality of spiritual expression. There are things to look at about the past, but I am talking about people who spend days with their bucket trying to empty out this darkness. The expression of the true spirit of life eliminates this human darkness. There was a theory. But when opportunity comes for misery, lots don't turn on the light. Another example is focalization. Now here's a theory that I'm sure we've all heard. Uranda pointed out that the human state on earth cannot find alignment with the Lord, the focus for this planet, by looking inside. Because inside is so mixed up and messed up that all they get are off-color, distorted impulses which, if acted out, create the hell which is present. What has been required in the recreative process for the body of mankind is the manifestation at the physical, mental, spiritual expression levels of that Tone present. This makes it much easier for human consciousness to relate because it is at those levels, primarily the physical and the mental, that the human consciousness is currently focused. And Uranda and Martin, I think we would all acknowledge, provided that manifestation. And we began to find attunement with the Tone of life, the nature of it, the character of it. We have a challenge in the Body now because those giants aren't present. They were older than everybody else to start with, which is always an advantage to the youngsters coming along. Now I'm serious; there's quite an advantage there. Now you have leadership which is more or less peer. I am going to leave you with this thought though, that without the wise use of the principle of focalization, we may as well pack up. There is a lot to explore in this, actually.

But getting back to the matter of discipline. As individuals, unless we have availed ourselves or are availing ourselves of alignment (either we did or we do align ourselves) with someone who represented the Tone, and we accepted discipline, guidance, even instruction from that person, we will never actually find attunement with the Tone. And therefore we never come into union with it. So, if you look around the Emissary ministry, I think you'll find that the serious application of that principle is quite thin, actually. I don't think you can push many people when it comes to their personal lives. So what state the body of mankind is in might be judged by this. Uranda pointed out that within the body of mankind, it is virtually impossible for people to find union with the invisible point of focus. And I ask the question “How many are willing to find alignment with visible points of focus, even though it's provided to some extent?” Well, I just leave you to look around and cogitate on that. You see, if there isn't this alignment with the Tone made manifest, then that will inevitably limit the experience of the people.

I am saying this to you because not only does this apply to you upward in the design, but it will apply to people who are going to relate more and more to you for leadership. So this is a comprehensive sphere of consideration here. If people do not actually allow themselves to be disciplined, guided at some stage of their development by someone external so that their own capacities of mind and heart become disciplined by spirit right there with them, they won't find alignment with the Tone. Therefore this will limit their quality of life experience. They will keep on being miserable because they haven't actually allowed their hearts and minds to become subject to spirit external to themselves, and then eventually of course from their own identity. And if the quality of life is limited in certain areas of life, it is going to be limited overall, obviously, since one's whole creative field is one. But then if it is limited and the person has not allowed the creative process to clarify in certain fields, attitudes towards certain people, situations, areas of living—if they haven't allowed the creative process, true spirit, to recondition consciousness, heart, mind, relative to these fields and situations, they're going to be limited in their experience, and therefore more theory is not going to do any good. And that's the danger in a way with the Emissary program. Because the theory runs way ahead of what people have actually allowed to be accomplished in the creative process. Theorizing very far beyond experience of people is dangerous. So you can weigh that in your ministry dealing with people. We're dealing with people. I suppose there are a number of examples we could explore a little to see where we are in the process.

The theory is that the spirit, the Tone, should guide our lives. It is love of quality of character, love of the Lord, we say, and it is called the Lord because that is what should govern—the truth of love. And after the truth of love it would be the purposes being accomplished by the truth of love. We love those. We love the larger body, we say, because we know that spirit is creating a collective body and that body is achieving, working at certain things in the world and we wish our lives, theoretically, to be integrated with the spirit of that body and therefore with the purposes of that body. Our lives are given to that. We love that above all. Now, is it above all? Or do we love our husband more? Or our wives? Or our children? (getting a bit tougher!) Our jobs? Our career? Our mother? In this service, Martin raises the question, and I think it's a good question, because whatever we love controls us. Now if our mother, our parents or our child can cause us to express anything other than the true spirit, for example, then that's our God—an external. And of course we're controlled by externals and we will very quickly find ourselves in hell. That's another principle. If we're controlled by externals, loving externals rather than the expression of what we know to be the finest, the highest that we're aware of, then we create our own hell. Theoretically we know this. A lot of emissaries theoretically know it, but what's the good of theoretically knowing it if we if we tramp our way to death having only experienced purgatory! What's the point? So there's a little something to be brought to focus in our consciousness, otherwise we just spend our whole lives spouting theories, sitting getting bored service after service hearing the same thing. “You're divine. Express divinity.” What isn't emphasized is, if you are expressing divinity you are in heaven! That brings a bit more pressure on then, which is what is needed. The reality of you doesn't need any pressure, we realize that, but there are certain aspects of consciousness within human beings that do need some pressure. Otherwise they'll just sit there, thinking they're good, but they're still in hell and not doing much about it except whining.

Another theory that we hear a lot about is generating fine substance. What for? Well, generating fine substance is a very vital part of the recreative process which will allow the human consciousness to ascend. Maybe we'll deal with this a little later. But it is important to generate fine substance. Basically we know that fine substance is generated in any and every moment. We are either generating fine substance or we're dissipating substance. You can't just take a breather when you're not thinking about it—“I'm holding steady”—now, one is either generating fine substance or dissipating it. It is an organic, creative process, you see. It is going on every second. And fundamentally, as you know, it is the expression of the true creative spirit in the moment which generates substance, and it is the expression of anything else which dissipates it. With the generation of fine substance, that allows the level of the design of the human being in the external sense to take greater detailed form in the invisible levels of substance, and therefore have a more complete experience of being in human form. If there's only coarse substance, then you have a very incomplete experience of being, which is darkness. It is incomplete and distorted in various ways. So we know very easily how to generate fine substance and then everything else is automatic.

But there are concepts about this generation of fine substance. The sacred person is gentle, obviously. He’s usually got a benign smile on his face—that is a sure sign of peace. There is a conceptual, a theoretical view of how people would behave in heaven. They'd be smiling, they'd be gentle, they'd be eternally so-called patient. You can see what a twit someone is who is perpetually patient in the traditional way! Of what use is someone if they will never galvanize anything in their environment because they're so patient and sweet! Now, it has a time and place. There is a time and place, I'm sure to be sweet and patient. A lot of the so-called divine qualities of virtue are actually reflections of incomplete consciousness imagining about the divine. And patience is a darn good example. There are a lot of these theoretical divine virtues. Our theoretical training has given us some thoughts about behavior, conceptual ideas about behavior—physical, mental, emotional, physical. There are mental concepts. Concepts are very sacred to human beings because of the level of substance they have. You see, identity resides in the highest level of substance available to the individual. Most people are identified either at the physical level, just coarse substance, or quite a number have enough mental substance and their identity is in the mental level of substance. So the conceptual world is the highest and that is very important to them. Concepts have to be rigid. You get all the cosmology arranged and concepts must never conflict or contradict each other. This would be very inconsistent. That's not what the Third Sacred School is all about.

The Third Sacred School is related to spiritual expression plane approach. That means it is quality of spirit—it is vibrational Tone that should govern. Then, as that current moves, the appropriate thought is produced in the moment for the task at hand in the moment. This is all at sea for most people. They want their concepts where they can find them all aligned and all facing the same way! Different situations require different mind sets to accomplish what spirit wishes to accomplish. Only spirit knows. Spiritual expression will always do it right but the concepts are very ephemeral. Spirit is the more constant. The concept of emotional behavior is that Emissaries, certainly an angel, would always express kindly spirit. Well that is true, but the appearance of spirit through the emotions—what about anger? Would an Emissary ever express anger? Well, we say yes. Would they ever express grief? I think there are occasions when certain currents move through a person and, if it is in the government of spirit, there is no emotion which on occasion it might not be the creative thing to express. But it is governed by spirit! The emotion isn't in control, it is spiritual expression that is in control. There is always a destructive form of every emotion and there is a creative form of every emotion. Only the presence of true Being will express the creative factor, but they have the full range to work with.

I want to emphasize the matter we were touching on earlier of generation of fine substance. As we generate fine substance, you can be sitting in your armchair developing fine substance, because thinking is an action, and the quality of thinking will generate or dissipate substance. So we can sit in our chair and think about anything, and if we think about anything in a creative current, we will generate finer substance. As we do anything in the current of the finest spirit we can express, finer substance is generated. Identity, the sense of self, ascends. I am very sure that all our sense of self is a different sense of self than it was a couple of years ago. There is a greater sense of I Am—beautiful, honorable. That is because finer substance has been generated, identity has ascended in quality of substance. As we continue this recreative process it comes to what is called the crossover point. That point is where fundamentally the undimensional levels of being meet the dimensional levels of being. And we begin increasingly to know that I Am a quality.

The undimensional levels of being, those levels out of time and space (just using concept to describe something here), the human consciousness is aware of those levels through qualities of character, qualities of spirit. And those qualities of character are known to be eternal; they are out of time and space. You can read history books and you can read about dusty forms that lived a thousand years ago and they discuss qualities of character. The same qualities of character that we know now. The qualities of character, the qualities of spirit, the animating force animating those dusty forms back there, the same spirit of nobility, for example was back there. They're here now through these dusty forms here—the recent arrivals! But the qualities of spirit aren't recently arrived. They were there. Ascension in the fine substance. It is only by the generation of fine substance that this process will transpire. Otherwise we stay down in the coarser levels and it will be a muddled experience. Light and dark. Only moving through the true recreative process, generation of fine substance, can we come into a conscious experience of the undimensional levels of being. That qualitative realm pervades the dimensional levels of substance: spiritual expression, emotion, mind, body, our world. That is the stable quality of character, quality of spirit, quality of identity which begins to be the stable presence. All the other is just dust moving around. Even at the mental level it is just thought forms flitting in and out. The generation of fine substance is what I want to emphasize here because then we begin to know what Jesus was talking about when he said, in so many words, “The kingdom of heaven is within. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In other words, in true identity you are already in heaven.

The real thing is this, you know. If you can get people to even assume that Jesus knew what he was talking about, or Uranda, just assume that they may have known something, which is that we are already in heaven. If one assumes that, no matter what one's external situation is, “This is heaven.” The problem is that the conscious mind is mistranslating input. There is a mistranslation of what is going on. In the dark, the human consciousness doesn't see what's going on. Jesus said, “You are in heaven.” For oneself, one just has to take a moment and say, “Well, OK, I'm in heaven.” Now there is the situation here which is difficult, but being in heaven you'll find that you just express creative spirit towards that situation. It is nothing, actually. You are in heaven and everything is working out perfectly. If you live as if you are in heaven, believe me you generate fine substance fast! You find you are really there. This is the goose out of the bottle business. How can we get this goose out of the bottle? How can I get into heaven? Oh, my God, there are all these problems. How can I solve all these problems, get the goose out of this bottle?

You are in heaven. Live as if you are in heaven and you will express the creative spirit and generate fine substance so fast that it won't take long before you are, in fact, at the crossover point connected with eternal quality of being and seeing that all this process out here is just so much shadow, actually. It is all stuff moving along the lines of force emerging out of Eternal Being. And it will be delightful. Even if it is incomplete here and there it is still delightful because there is a chance to express something into it. It is all delightful whether you have ecstatic forms, complete, or whether they are incomplete, partial. It doesn't matter to the angel. It doesn't matter to Eternal Being. So the answer to all people's problems is really, it is the exact same thing that Zen tries to do. Suddenly, the person awakens. “Hey, this is tremendous! Life is absolutely perfect!” That is the Zen awakening to heaven and what Jesus endeavored to do. Now the Zen awakening won't last, by the way, unless they've generated fine substance. There are no shortcuts. You can have ecstatic days, but to have an ecstatic rest of your life is really what we need. Not for one's own benefit, but because we are part of the whole.

“I am in heaven” is the true starting point. If someone's got any other premise, whatever they do won't be quite right. It is a false premise. If you begin to start with the true premise, “I am an expression of the creative spirit, and I am in heaven already.” You are in heaven, the highest heaven. You begin to bring that highest heaven, eternal joy, eternal being, down into these levels of substance. That is why we're here, to convey it through this instrument into this level of recreative process. That brings us from a consideration of the Third Sacred School, which really is what Uranda established and what has been in process this last 57 years, to the Fourth Sacred School. There is a recreative process underway, a vibrational process underway, and we don't stop off. Uranda initiated the recreative process consciously on earth within the body of mankind at the level of the Third Sacred School, the spiritual expression plane approach. It doesn't end there. That is just part of the recreative process. It should come on up.

Remember, the spiritual expression plane approach is in the dimensional levels of being. There are three levels of being, just conceptually, three levels in the outer triune world, and three planes of being in the internal, undimensional triune world. And there is the quality of Love, that plane, which pervades all six other planes of being. When we speak about physical, mental and spiritual expression plane, those are the three outer levels of substance and being. But as we generate this fine substance we come to the crossover point and we begin to move into identity in the undimensional levels of being. It is present also now in the outer levels of being. This is my body, this is my mind, this is my spiritual expression. But the sense of identity moves into the undimensional levels of being and into Eternal Being, not involved with time and space as far as identity goes. You act in time and space but that is merely a description of levels of substance in which you are working.

That is the emergence into human consciousness of the Fourth Sacred School, where identity and activity is in the undimensional levels of being—the fourth level. In Genesis, there is some useful reference to this. On the fourth creative day we read this: “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night.” That's interesting right off the bat! "Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven (in the invisible levels of being) to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: (working down into the dimensional levels of being, time, space, seasons, days, years): and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.” In the course of the Third Sacred School, but certainly in the Fourth, the lights begin to appear in the heaven on earth. They are visible on earth, these lights in heaven—these focalizations of eternal being. They appear in the heaven on earth. And they are to rule over the day, the greater light. Ruling over the day and the night is the recreative cycle and there are focalizations of light which appear. Now, there is something interesting about this because in the Fourth Sacred School the identity, obviously, as it begins to move into quality of spirit, “I Am this eternal spirit just manifesting now through this form, here and now,” there is an awareness of being identified in what we call the light. It is a certain word we use to describe a radiance of a presence of beauty, power, and so on.

We talk about the fact that there is one spirit and one light. This is a fairly common idea or theory in human consciousness. We begin to see the light coming through many people. Basically everybody has got a little bit of light shining through now and then. We begin to know that I Am One—this same power that is animating this dust is animating all the dust everywhere. We begin to know that, not just intellectually, but just know we're one with the one power that is doing everything. That is a Fourth Sacred School awareness because identity is moved to that which is back of all dimensional experience. This begins to take away all effort. There is no effort required. What would you be trying to do? It is already being done. Everything that needs to be done, is being done everywhere! That is quite a relaxation for the mind and heart. It is perfect! It is all absolutely perfect exactly the way it is.

You know, spiritual groups and gurus often are after more power. “If we're holy, if we really do this, then we'll get more powerful.” That's the idea. That is a fat ego at work! Don't be deceived. Anybody that is trying to drum up more power to do God's will (of course) doesn't know who they are. The one power is already doing everything everywhere. What do you need more power localized for? What do you want to do with it? Change the weather? Isn't the weather under control? You may say “No”, but it is actually. Considering the state of human beings, the weather is perfect. The way human beings are, do you think pollution is out of control? No! Human beings will be meticulously reduced in size when the whole doesn't feel it is fitting for there to be as many as there are now. There's no problem anywhere. Whether they're eliminated by an explosion, a shortage of food, there's a thousand ways for the cosmos to solve these little problems. It is no problem at all, actually. It is all in the creative process, and it's fun once one is identified where one needs to be identified. We don't need any more power. All power is already here and we are part of that. I don't have to think about changing the Chinese or the Indians or the climate or the earth's wobble on its axis. Those are all factors which no doubt will change in the course of eternity. It is the same with the details of our lives as well. It is all working completely, utterly perfectly. It doesn't matter to us what the details are, at all. This is the ecstatic state.

When there are present on earth human beings who are experiencing the Fourth Sacred School, and living and acting out of that, regardless of concepts about what to do, what to say, how to say it, how to do it—all that sort of stuff!—simply being present, then the ecstatic, true state of being is returned to this level. That is then an ingredient in the overall creative process. We don't have to decide mentally then what we should do. Our minds will know what to do moment-by-moment, no problem there either! What life should I live for fulfilment? I was walking up the other day from the Pavilion to my house and it came very vividly then. “I've done this a few times,” I thought. "I could be in New York, London. I'd like that. Or I could be in a cottage on the coast. I'd like doing that." And I knew it was just the way it emerged in thinking. I realized that in Being, it doesn't matter where one is, the quality of the ecstatic state is present not only where I am but everywhere. It doesn't matter the form of my little life. A little life walking around Sunrise Ranch, or being in Norway. They're all exciting places. They've all got their unique little beauties, challenges. They're all interesting, wherever they are. You could say, “But I can't be everywhere.” But actually, I Am everywhere! I could be anywhere. When I arrive there, it would be Being, and it would be delightful. But I am here. You can live a little life, in a little tiny circuit, but it is, as Uranda said, as wide as the cosmos itself. There are a million lives we could have lived. There are million lives we could live if needed. But it doesn't matter to us. We are happy where we are, wherever that is. It is ecstatic wherever we are.

What interesting people should we meet? Where should we go to meet some interesting people? Who are these interesting people? I don't meet them very often. Now does that sound awful? “Oh, there are these people shining the light. They're interesting. Let's rush out and find some people who are shining the light. That would be interesting.” Well it would be, if they were. But actually, I don't have any inclination to go anywhere to meet interesting people. I tried that and it didn't work. They are not very interesting. So-called interesting people, I have found, are boring usually. They are so clever with their paintbrush or with their piano. Who are these interesting people that are so wonderful? How long can you listen to someone play a piano? Where are the people involved in great causes, some important people like government officials, perhaps, negotiating with the Arabs or something. Would they be interesting, do you think? Not after you are with them for five minutes usually. We've met a few. What great cause? Bringing peace to the Middle East. Would that be a wonderful accomplishment? Let them try. Totally futile without knowing what we've been talking about. It doesn't matter what they do. It doesn't matter what great area of accomplishment any person is in. It is peanuts compared with what we are consciously about. It's nothing! It's boring! Futile, actually. Where are the interesting people? The answer is, it better be the ones you are with, since that, in the cosmic scheme of things is where you are. And they are interesting for that reason, actually. But to think there is anyone very interesting somewhere else, forget it! And to imagine that there is any greater cause, or challenge, or accomplishment available to anybody other than what we're about, forget it. It is not only child's play, it is unreal, even though everybody is included in the divine design and the divine processes. We're not excluding the angels.

Every angel that is incarnate is part of the process. We're not disparaging any reality coming through anybody who is anywhere doing anything. It is just a question of bringing to focus at the conscious level in the body of mankind where the real focus of creative activity is. And it is, as it says in here, “The light of conscious awareness appearing again upon the surface of the earth. In heaven, on earth.” That's what we're about. There are others elsewhere, good. But the light is not just an undifferentiated light. It is not just that I am a part of the light and the light is appearing everywhere. In the finer substance, the finer the substance, when we ascend to this point we begin to find that the light is very individual-izedly focused. It is not just a general light in the undimensional levels of being. It is not just a blinding light! It is focalizations of light in heaven. The Eastern religions particularly tend to talk about the light as if it was just a blinding light behind the forms. Just a light. But it isn't that. It is individualized identities which are differentiations of the light. They are unique lights. And when we meet people, they're not just a bland bit of the light. With finer substance we begin to discern the Eternal Reality of Focalizations of Light with which we begin to function in the heaven, together. The times and the seasons of the creative process occurring in these lower dimensional levels of time and space. That is why we're here.

We haven't experienced everything yet. It is not adequate to sit in our Emissary groups and hear what we think are the same concepts flowing over our benighted brains week after week. If we will consciously move with the recreative process in the moment, moment by moment, we will generate finer substance and that begins to open up new dimensions of the sense of identity and function which are not spoken about in classes. There are things which are experienced which aren't spoken about in classes. Why? I've said why. Because it gets confusing. But it is present. The system, the process, is foolproof. Only as the creative process itself generates the fine substance, does the appropriate development allow for appropriate function. It's perfect! Even though we all may remain benighted, relatively speaking, which we all will probably, it doesn't matter. Whatever our level of consciousness is fine as long as we're doing our very best. The angels are doing their very best. That is our place of ministry. What I wanted to emphasize is, there are greater adventures in every aspect of living available now. In fact we have responsibility to let the greater light appear.

© Emissaries of Divine Light

The Contest on Mount Carmel

Behold,  Elijah  Is  Here!

YouTube Audio

The  Contest  on  Mount  Carmel

Uranda  March 21, 1953  Class

Tonight I would like to meditate with you on some of the principles revealed in the story of Elijah at the time of Ahab; this story is from the Eighteenth Chapter of the First Book of Kings.

“And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth. And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria.” There had been a famine for about three years. “And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly: For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)”

Now this gives a little indication of the setting at the time, for Jezebel, the Queen, Ahab’s wife, shall we say—to do her particular honor beyond her just dues—was very much against anyone who undertook to serve the Lord. And she had increased the prophets of Baal in the land and had done her best to destroy all the prophets of God. Now this indicates that this servant of Ahab’s, Obadiah, had saved one hundred prophets of that time, and hid them in two caves, fifty in each cave and had fed them bread and water, to save them from Jezebel, the wicked queen. This emphasizes something.

The only Prophet of the time with whom we have any particularized word was Elijah; and yet there is the statement that Obadiah took an hundred prophets and saved them by hiding them in two caves. This emphasizes for our attention the fact that a prophet is not one who necessarily gives concern to foretelling the future. Sometimes the Word of Lord through the prophet’s mouth may say something with respect to future events, but a prophet is one who lets the Word of the Lord be expressed through his lips with respect to the present time, with respect to the living of life. In other words, here at this time there were an hundred prophets, a hundred men who were so dedicated to God, so centered in His spirit, that they were able to let the Word of the Lord appear through their lips. And many of the prophets had been slain. 

“And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts. So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Art thou that my lord Elijah? And he answered him, I am: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.”

Now Obadiah feared, or reverenced, the Lord, and when he met Elijah, whom he hadn’t seen for three years, he fell on his face, bowed to the earth, and gave the greeting, “Art thou my lord Elijah?” And Elijah answered, “I am”—the positive assertion of his Divine position. “Go, tell thy lord” (Ahab the King) that “Elijah is here. And he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me? As the LORD thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not. And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.” Because Ahab had done his best to find Elijah to destroy him.

“Behold Elijah is here. And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the LORD shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the LORD from my youth.” There is an interesting passage. The King and all of his servants, officers of the law we would say, had spent three years searching for Elijah and hadn’t found him; and they’d sent messengers or ambassadors to all the kingdoms round about, and all had been required to swear that they were not harbouring Elijah. And Obadiah’s fear or uncertainty in the matter is clearly expressed. “And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.”

“And it shall come to pass And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the LORD shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the LORD from my youth. Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the LORD, how I hid an hundred men of the LORD'S prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water? And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here: and he shall slay me. And Elijah said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him to day.” Now this gives an inkling of the pattern that was in effect at the time; from the outer standpoint the danger which Elijah was facing.

And when the Lord said to him after many days, “Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth. And Elijah went …” He didn’t stop to argue; he didn’t stop to say, “Well there’s danger here. How am I going to be sure that I’m all right? What’s going to happen? The Lord said to Elijah, “Go, shew thyself unto Ahab”—and Elijah went. There we have an outstanding illustration of the proper way in which we should obey the Word of the Lord. And Elijah said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him to day.” Now notice: Elijah made a positive statement. “As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand.” He knew where he stood. He knew his position in relationship to the Lord; and there was no question. And the positive assertion, “Before whom I stand.” The LORD of Hosts—that is the Old Testament term that carries the same significance as our use of the word, the LORD of Lords—the LORD of Lords or the LORD of Hosts.

“So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him: and Ahab went to meet Elijah. And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” There we have the typical question. Those who are the sinners, those who are violators of the laws of Being, those who have failed to function correctly, are always seeking to lay the blame on someone else for the results of their own ill deeds, and how often are those who serve the Lord accused of being the ones who cause trouble. Now of course, sometimes we run into those situations where human beings imagine that they are serving the Lord and they are simply following after their own fancies, and they are in fact troublemakers. But I am talking about those who truly serve the Lord. And the first question Ahab asked was, “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” And Elijah answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim.” Now there’s an unequivocal stand revealed there, a positive assertion. We do not find, in this particular circumstance, anything of hesitancy on Elijah’s part. He answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim. Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel. And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions?”

There is one of the most significant questions. “How long halt ye between two opinions. if the LORD be God, if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.” They couldn’t, very well, could they, unless they were ready to yield? “And the people answered him not a word.” And so, to whatever degree there has not yet been a full and complete dedication to God, there is that question, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.” Now Baal represents the God of the mind, the human deification of the human being himself; the idea that the human being can with his own mind and his own purposes and his own determinations accomplish whatever he desires; satisfy his own pleasures—and so we must not imagine that the people of the earth have stopped worshipping Baal. There are more prophets of Baal in the United States of America today than there ever were in the land of the children of Israel. The prophets of Baal who say, “By the workings of the mind, by the workings of the will, by the workings of determination, by human design and desire, you can get what you want, you can do what you desire to do.” And there are many who follow Baal today.

“And the people answered him not a word. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men.” And the record didn’t mention here the four hundred priests of the groves that were likewise present, so that there were actually eight-hundred-and-fifty men present among those who were the prophets of Baal, while Elijah was the only prophet of God present. “I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Let them therefore give us two bullocks.” Now we remember that the bullock, or the ox, is a symbol of the human mind. “Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.” The God that answers by fire—the fire of love, the fire that is in manifestation, the flame of life. And the people said, “It is well spoken.” So two bullocks were to be sacrificed.

“And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.” This is a remarkable portrayal here, just from the standpoint of the story, and it contains so very much significance. “And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon.” Now it generally takes, in the world as it is, the first half of a human being’s life—from morning until noon—before he or she begins to realize that calling on Baal for the fire of life, the flame of life, the true expression of life, is a futile thing. And they “called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them”—that is, he became sarcastic. We find that in Divine expression of the Word of the Lord, sarcasm is very often used; and here is one of the most magnificent illustrations of the use of stinging sarcasm. By the way, the Master, when he was on earth, was a Master of the use of stinging sarcasm. If you’ve never stopped to realize that truth, that fact, it may be of interest; perhaps sometime we will consider that together. But, the stinging sarcasm that was in use here is something that is outstanding.

“And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.” And this is typical with respect to the prophets of Baal—it says, “after their manner.” They leaped upon the altar. “They cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.” But you say, “Well, the people here in our enlightened land don’t do that.” Don’t they? Perhaps they don’t use the same kind of knives and lancets, but how about the spilling of their life force, of the life stream, worshipping Baal, trying to get the flame of life into manifestation, the true expression of life to appear, by calling on Baal. Those human beings who sell themselves to the acquisition of power, wealth, who pour out their lifeblood merely to acquire some earthly treasure, are they not calling on Baal? Are they not actually leaping on the altar? Are they not letting their lifeblood, their life stream, their life force, gush out upon them as they labour for a human purpose, a human goal?

We see that while the form of the worship of Baal may be a little different today—it changed form just a little—the pattern is exactly the same. Let us note the nature of this sarcasm which Elijah used. “Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.” That is one of the most beautiful, remarkable portrayals of stinging sarcasm, divinely used in the Word of God, that we have on record; and is it surpassed only by the sarcasm as the Master used it.

And so, “They cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.” Now, in this pattern we see the cycle coming to a close, the human beings are nearing the end of life, they are no longer as strong as they once were, they are about worn out; and there has been none to answer, there has been no true fulfillment in life, and Baal has not regarded them, or given them peace or satisfaction, fulfillment; and then, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, which signifies the closing portion of the life cycle, there is finally, with those who have any response at all, a process of turning to God. O, you may say, “But these people have been religious, they’ve gone to church regularly, almost every Sunday; they’ve been good people, they’ve contributed to the church and the community chest, and so on. Yes, they’ve been good people! But they did not truly seek the LORD; they wanted their own patterns, they wanted to have their own life the way they thought they wanted it—the family pattern, the business pattern, everything just according to their own idea, without regard to the Divine Plan for them. And so, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, “there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.”

“And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.” Now, here we see the picture of that with which we must deal in serving the LORD; this pattern of lethargic attitude toward God while there is devotion to serving Baal, the pouring out of the life stream, trying to make a living, trying to get ahead, according to the human desire. As you serve in the world, wherever you may be, you will constantly be confronted with this pattern, with this situation. People will come to you desiring to be relieved of their aches and their pains so that they can go back and serve Baal. They will want you to heal their scars, stop the flow of the life stream in its wasting expression, so that they can go back and serve Baal. Over and over again—I’ve seen it so many, many times, human beings who had great potentiality in the service of the Lord who, if they were willing to dedicate themselves and let themselves be true stewards, could accomplish great things for God—but would they? No. Instead of letting themselves be changed and transformed and redirected in the patterns of life, they would turn to the Lord to be healed, and then return to serve Baal—not to serve God.

Servers have found that there are those people who will come and receive ministry, who never give anything—sometimes they will give a penny. Yes. There have been many people who actually gave a penny. They could have afforded to give much more but they gave a penny in an acknowledgment of an attunement—sometimes a dime, sometimes a quarter, sometimes as much as a dollar—for the healing ministry of God made manifest on earth. Very seldom, comparatively speaking, are there those who are willing to contribute more than a dollar. They set the pattern of worth themselves, and we can see it in such a case. But how about the pattern of living—what is the worth, what is the value? I have known so many people who could have given themselves and their substance in the service of God and render great things. They had asked to receive the blessings of the Lord, and when they were given, when they received something of the healing power they turned again to serve Baal. So this is the sort of thing we face in the service of the Lord today, and it is necessary to repair the altar of the Lord that was broken down. What is the altar of the Lord? It’s your body; or the body of those whom you are going to serve. And those who are going to serve with you, you cannot foretell. I have, in my giving, screened on the basis of their response, tens of thousands of people in order to have you here tonight; and some of you have not yet fully given yourselves to God. But you cannot tell in advance. Those who respond, we serve them, whether they are going to turn again and serve Baal, or whatever they’re going to do—because the altar of the Lord that is broken down must first be repaired, and then we can begin to see who it shall serve God and who is determined to serve Baal.

“And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood. And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.”

Four barrels of water—four—we think of the Four Forces of Being, the Four Creative Forces, and Water, the symbol of the truth. And they did it three times—and we think of the fact that man is a human trinity, and that the Water of Truth in the expression of the Four Forces needs to be released in relationship to the body, in relationship to the mind, and in relationship to the spiritual expression phase of Being. So, three times they filled four barrels of water, until the twelve barrels had been poured over the burnt sacrifice, over the wood, over the stones of the altar, and filled the trench round about the altar.

Now, aside from the fact that each step in this act is a revelation of Divine symbolism, we see here a great psychological factor at work. Elijah had watched the prophets of Baal very closely. He had to. They would have, if they could have, put some fire under it; they would have liked to have started a fire and made it appear like it was coming from Baal. But the people were watching, and Elijah was there—and that makes a difference. And so the psychological factor is that it would be absolutely evident that, with twelve barrels of water poured over the altar, the burnt sacrifice and all, the prophets of Baal would not have any chance to claim that Elijah had played a trick, that he had put fire under. So, it forestalled any false claims on the part of the prophets of Baal. But what is it that forestalls the false claims of the prophets of Baal? Water—the use of the Water of Truth in relationship to all three phases of Being, in harmony with the Four Creative Forces. So if, as we repair the altar of the Lord, and prepare the sacrifice of the Lord, prepare that which is given to the Lord—it’s not really a sacrifice, as we think of the word today—we need to remember that unless our ministry relates to all three levels of Being—body, mind and spirit—it will not be successful; unless it works in the pattern of the Four Forces; unless it is the actual revelation of the truth, it won’t stand, it won’t come to fulfilment. But when we so function, we forestall false claims of the prophets of Baal.

“And the water ran about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day”—let it be known this day—“that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.” Not the mind, the heart. Let us note this remarkable prayer. And “Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day”—not some day in the future—“let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.”

We notice the action of the fire of the Lord which consumed the sacrifice, the wood and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. What is it that the fire of the Lord does to you? You, the self-active human being, trying to be something all by yourself, remain no more. You’ve been received into the pattern of Deity, into the Body of god, when you let the fire of the Lord fill you and receive you into your Divine Place in the Cosmic scheme of things. “And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces”—they bowed down, signifying response, signifying letting go, signifying a yielding to the Divine Pattern of things, signifying repentance and a willingness to be redirected. “And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.” And what a wonderful realization it is, what a wonderful evidence of the working of the spirit of God in the hearts of the children of men when they finally come in such responsive repentance to acknowledge the LORD, not Baal, is the God.

The LORD, He is the God

In the pattern of religion as it is known in the world today, it has been very ingeniously worked out so that most people who think they are serving God are actually serving Baal about six days and twenty-three hours out of the week. The ingenious arrangement, whereby people feel that they can be religious in the pattern of the world as it is and serve God—for man has lost the vision of letting his life in actual fact be dedicated to God, so that the expression of his Being in body and mind and heart, with his whole spirit, shall be to the glory of God, in accordance with the will of God, for the purposes of God. And what a wonderful thing it is when any man or any woman finally comes to the true and vivid realization that, “The LORD, he is the God.”

“And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.” He put all eight hundred and fifty of them to the sword—slew the works. The prophet of the Lord, Elijah, the one who was translated without the necessity of facing what we speak of as death. And after he had slain these prophets, “Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.” He didn’t say, the rain has started falling, but he heard the sound of it coming. “So Ahab went up to eat and to drink, And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.” Seven times, Elijah’s servant went and looked. “And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.”

And so the rain came, ending three years of drought and famine. Seven times, the servant of Elijah went to look and the seventh time he saw a little cloud, like a man’s hand rising out of the sea, and the moment that little cloud appeared Elijah sent word to Ahab to hurry, or he would be caught in the rain; and he was, even so. The fulfillment of the blessings of the LORD. “And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.”

© emissaries of divine light