In a few days' time another year in the Emissary ministry will come to us out of the future. This past year has been the first year in a continuing cycle of seven years. It will therefore be the beginning of the eighth period of seven years of this ministry. I am sure you are all aware that eight represents the union of heaven and earth. The eighth creative day would be symbolized by the Fire Force. So we have a period of another six years when the fire force is dominant. The fire of love is the power of transmutation, the power by which what is symbolized by base metal may be transmuted into what is symbolized by gold. Here we see something of what is available in the creative cycles to our experience in these years which are before us. It is easily recognized that something of this transmuting process has already been initiated in a more intensified sense during this last year since September 1981. Changes have occurred quite extensively for most if not all of you. Perhaps the furnace is being heated up. We have seven years—so, seven times hotter by the end of this cycle! You will recall in the story of the burning fiery furnace that, apart from the servants of the king who, following out their orders, drew too close to the furnace, there were no casualties but the bonds with which the three men were bound when they were cast into the furnace. So the purpose is not to produce casualties but to consume the bonds, so that there might be four men, free, walking in the fire, and the fourth like unto the Son of God, the Son of God revealed by reason of the human trinity. This is the transmutation of base metal into gold.
Human beings, ourselves included, have necessarily found themselves programmed into an earthly state which has excluded heaven. All people are thus programmed from the moment of conception. The initial programming may be described as intrinsic. It is present in the very flesh of the fetus, stemming from parents, forebears and the experience of the human race itself out of the past. So it is in human experience. There is this intrinsic program present in each developing form; the music out of the past is there. But as soon as there is conception something else comes into the picture as well as what is intrinsically present at that point. You might call it an extrinsic influence, which is fundamentally the state of the mother; this is imposed upon the developing fetus. So there are these two aspects, the intrinsic and the extrinsic. All people are programmed in this fashion with these two components, intrinsic and extrinsic. We may see that the intrinsic is more basic, deeper, one might say almost untouchable; no one is exempt; it is a carry-forward out of the past. It has been described as original sin, an intrinsic programming coming out of the earthly experience of the past. Superimposed on top of that is the extrinsic programming which subsequently ensues. This is a more surface programming and is capable of being manipulated to a certain extent. All of us have been programmed in this fashion, together with our fellows in this human world; and the state of the world itself of course is simply a reflection of this fact. It is brought forth by reason of the programming of human beings. This programming, the surface aspects of it, can be manipulated and changed somewhat as influences of various kinds are brought to bear, but the total package is hardly changed at all. Certainly the intrinsic aspect is not changed; it sits there in the very flesh of the individual, which includes what are referred to as mind and emotions.
We are all programmed. The intrinsic program—the main part—requires that human beings die. Everybody is programmed to die; that's why everybody dies. As long as that program exists there is apparently no escape, and of course there is whatever leads up to that ultimate point, which may come speedily or more slowly, as the case may be. But the programming is set, and the result is consequently inevitable as long as that program is there. We have become aware of the fact that man was not originally programmed that way. It is something that has been self-induced back along the way. We have to deal with the situation as it is. The original programming, however, could be described as the truth, with the elements of heavenly design and heavenly control. The manifest body and mind and heart, the human soul, is designed to be programmed. So there is nothing wrong with the fact that there is a program in operation. It is necessary that there should be a program. We are obviously aware that the program presently in effect is a substitute one; it is not the right program. You can't tape a new program without obliterating what is on the tape in the first place. So, clearly, there must be some mechanism by which this may occur if human beings are to be programmed once more by the truth. The truth was described—or that program was described—as being made in the image and likeness of God. The reality of God is not made known by man. Something else is made known, and it has been described in various ways: that old serpent, the devil, and satan, great red dragon, what have you—the human state, a destructive experience, because man is in this state programmed to die. If something is programmed to self-destruct it self-destructs, and it is the human soul that has been programmed to self-destruct. Faithfully over the ages this program has been carried out, generation after generation.
The fire represents the means by which one program may be eliminated and another one established. It would be useless just to eliminate the first program, because then there would be a blank, nothing. So we are not concerned with trying to get rid of the first program—our concern has been to allow the real program, which is the truth, to replace the false program, which incidentally must be a lie if it isn't the truth. One could say then that death is a lie, a very popular one apparently. The false program has been much more popular than the real one. It has reached a state where there is no awareness, for the most part, that there is a real one available. If we see these things in terms of programming we recognize that there must be certain facilities available to allow the real program to be reestablished. It doesn't happen by magic, in the ordinary sense at least. It doesn't happen because somebody would like it to happen, because one consciously is desirous of being made new. There has been a very firm and persistent objection to this experience, because it requires the fire; it looks dangerous. The fire does consume the old program, but at the same time there is the availability of the true program, and the fire is not separate from the true program. We have described the spirit of God as being triune in nature: love, truth and life—inseparable. If you have the fire the truth goes along with it and is available for the reprogramming process to be experienced. But the fire is not the first thing to be brought to bear in its intensity. It should remain in the background for a while. Whenever things have started to hot up a bit the human tendency is to duck out, to seek cover somewhere. Well, when the fire comes along, the individual needs to be on hand, not hiding.
There has to be an introduction to the possibility of true programming—a heavenly programming. It doesn't originate in the past, out of the earth; it originates now, in heaven. To experience it one would have to be in heaven. It is impossible for this spurious self to be in heaven. A great deal of effort and theory has been developed so as to make it seem as though somehow or other this spurious self could be saved. It needs to pass away, and we have become aware of the fact that it does pass away anyway; you can't stop it passing away. But there is the possibility of knowing the truth, of having this real program reestablished. As the real program is reestablished, the self that is known is the real self, the real person, the person who is present in the facility that heretofore was wrongly programmed. There is the necessary period of time for transformation to occur, so that the individual comes to the point where there is a genuine and factual willingness to relinquish the false state of self, the spurious self. Most people are inclined to cling to that till the last gasp. There is terrible fear of losing oneself; that's the fear of death. The son of perdition is lost in any case. That is a false human ego. How much effort is put into the preservation of the ego by most people, thereby ensuring their own demise, because the ego is going to vanish away sooner or later.
There is this reprogramming necessary, and this requires what has been referred to as baptism—water—the symbol of truth with which a person must become acquainted. Four barrels of water poured over, three times: twelve barrels of water. A soaking in the truth, that's baptism. It seems to take a little time to go through the process. We have been considering many, many things in a new and changing light over the years, because it wasn't the truth yet; it was simply varying levels of the symbol of the truth. The symbol of the truth comes in words, for instance; but the truth isn't words. The truth is the real program with which man needs to be associated, so that that is established. And that program provides the basis for the creative expression of the one who now is aware and known on earth, the heavenly one incarnate and in expression on earth once more. So there is water.
I think the first seven periods of seven years in the Emissary ministry related primarily to baptism by water. That is a larger cycle, a forty-nine-year cycle. There is another one which has presumably been initiated now: another seven periods of seven years. We are just moving into the second year of the first period of seven years. On the larger scale this relates more to what is occurring in the world. The second force is air: spirit. Spirit begins to become dominant in the world to the extent that there are those who are letting this program unfold, not merely for themselves. But it needs to unfold in a container, that there may be a sustained focus present, so that it may occur on the larger scale. It has to occur somewhere first on a smaller scale; it must be real somewhere. It was real somewhere, back about two thousand years ago, in one man, and that allowed for everything to be set in motion. But clearly it must expand beyond one person. To allow it to expand doesn't detract from what that one person did, or even who He is, but it certainly would give evidence of taking Him seriously and being willing to allow His life to have some real meaning because we share it.
We allow that life to be our life, and we can only do that because there is a reprogramming. As long as the old program is there we can't let it happen; we keep repeating, repeating and repeating the same old nonsense. I trust we are no longer interested in that repetition but in allowing a new program to be present in ourselves as individuals, which we discover is also a new program present in what we have described as the ministry—that is just simply a way of describing a collective body which is in the process of being reprogrammed. If we stop supporting the old program by giving our life into the expression of it, then there begins to be space for the experience of the new program. The old program is still there; certainly the intrinsic aspect of it is still there. We may have experienced some changes in the extrinsic aspect of that false program, but if we could see the picture as it is we would find that it was really very little. There is a new program to be put on the tape, and it is put on the tape because the old program has faded somewhat by baptism of water. But it takes the fire to reprogram and to, at the same time, dissolve the remnants of the old program all the way through to the intrinsic aspect, all the way through to the factors of earthly heredity, that these may be replaced by the true elements of heavenly heredity. There is a program to go on the tape and it comes with the fire.
We have before us a period of intensifying fire and we have the opportunity of letting it be used to advantage, so that the bonds of the old program are burnt, consumed, enabling us to walk in the fire. The true program is present once more: the truth. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free to walk in the fire, to walk as an angel incarnate and in expression on earth. We discover how to live without feeding that old program with our life force anymore, because we are aware of the right use of our life force in the expression of spirit at the level of which we are now aware. It is all that is necessary, but it is necessary to be true to that and consistent in the expression of it. Stop giving it life force and allow the life force to pour increasingly through your present experience of spirit in action. And you have enough awareness of the truth, you've been dunked enough, to know the quality and nature of that spirit, and incidentally, the quality and nature of the old programming. So we have brought to focus something with respect to another point of transition in the intensifying fire, and I trust that all are happy because of it, are delighted to let the fire burn, to let it be intensified. Stay true to the truth in delighted experience of the intensifying fire, which comes individually, and it comes for all of us collectively also.
We come to our hour of meditation on Saturday evening, September 12th, 1953. Tomorrow is the 13th day of September, and the beginning of our Anniversary Meditation. I suppose most, if not all of you, know that September 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th are of particular significance to us, and I wish to begin to introduce that vibratory pattern tonight. I trust that it will be possible to work out our meditations through this period with particular meaningfulness. It is my suggestion, if it is pleasing to—of course, we will have our regular services tomorrow and Sunday—but in view of these things, if it is pleasing to you, or for those of you to whom it is pleasing, we will have an hour of Meditation Monday evening, Tuesday evening and Wednesday evening. Perhaps we might, for a moment, consider the reasons for this. It marks the beginning, or a recognition of the beginning, of this Ministry in authorized, ordained function on earth. I had been working in a spirit of dedication to service to mankind at an earlier date, beginning in 1929, but it was in 1932 that the ordained pattern of my Ministry began.
You know something of what it is to walk in the valley of the shadow where the mind seeks to find answers to seemingly insoluble questions. You know what it is to feel emotional stress, turmoil, questioning of spirit, internal restlessness, a seeking. Very often this inner seeking is not properly translated in consciousness and it causes human beings to do things which they ought not to do. However, I know what it is to go through such seeking and searching for a long period of time. The manifestation of it in relationship to myself was in early youth. I could talk here for hours telling you something of the history of that outworking, but, actually, I think it is not of too much importance. You, yourselves, have had some background natural to yourselves in seeking, and you are here.
But, in that pattern of seeking, searching, and working, in my own case the problem seemed to be an impossible one over a period of a good many years. And finally something worked out on September 13th—in the early morning, about four o' clock. And the next step was carried out on the 14th, also early in the morning, and on the 15th. And September 16th, 1932, marked the beginning of my ordained Ministry on earth in which, or at which time, my outer mind had an awareness, a consciousness, of the task that was before me, a seemingly impossible task, because at that time I was a comparatively young man—not too terribly old yet, perhaps. But I was unknown. What little I had been able to achieve in the world in an outer sense had been wiped out in the early stages of the depression. Without friends, without backing, utterly unknown, even in the city where I had this experience, which was in Nashville, Tennessee. No friends, no one to turn to, no one, seemingly, to help. And yet, the beginning had to be made.
I could talk to you for hours about the steps that have worked out in that interval since. If any of you think you have had any experience in meeting pressures and difficult circumstances, holding the line, remaining true to the Calling, when everything looks to be utterly impossible—well, I know something about it too. But, now, it is 1953. Twenty-one years ago, tomorrow morning, that step by which my outer consciousness began to have a true vision and realization of the reality of the program was taken, something that came in answer to a restlessness of soul, a seeking and a searching over many, many years. And in that period of time I had sought in vain to find a church, or philosophy, or a leader. I was looking for someone whom I could accept as a leader. And I searched diligently. A few times I thought I was beginning to find such a person. But in spite of all the reading, all the searching, all the listening, I could not find that leader anywhere. I was not seeking to be a leader. I was seeking for a leader. But, finally, in that experience which unfolded, beginning on September 13th in the long ago, twenty-one years ago, I came face-to-face with the terrible awareness, the knowledge, that I had the responsibility of being the Leader for whom I sought, for whom I had been seeking.
Can you imagine something of that, of what it would be to be Called of the Lord and given the awareness, given the understanding, the consciousness, yet to be utterly unknown in the world, to have no resources, no money, no material possessions, nothing—for whatever I had had of material possessions had been wiped out in the early depression period—and to be informed that I had the responsibility of finding the people in the world who would work with me, carrying the pattern forward, of being the Leader for others.
You know, I don't look on it particularly as a test. And yet, the human mind tended to search out excuses, or reasons, for turning aside. And yet, there came that Divine Command—a Divine Commission. And, instead of refusing it or saying, “Lord, I can't do it,” I took the attitude that if the Lord asked me to do it, then the Lord would make it possible for me to do it. I realized that any questioning attitude on my part would, in fact, be, not an evidence of humility, but simply a questioning of God, and that if that Divine Commission belonged to me, if God chose to give it to me, then it was for me to accept it and move forward.
I think this twenty-first Anniversary of the beginning of this Ministry has particular significance. It means that there have been three cycles of seven years each, and that tonight the third cycle of seven years comes to a close. Tonight, or tomorrow morning, at about four o'clock, we have the beginning of a new cycle. What does it mean to us? What can it mean to us? You have been drawn out of the world pattern to share this hour tonight. You have been consciously working with me for varying periods of time. But, twenty-one years of Ministry, and we have achieved this much. There have been times when I was hard pressed and difficulties were on every hand, when there was a temptation to think that it was a very slow forward movement, a slow development—and I feel that it could have been more rapid. But we have sought in every way possible to make it a sound development, not a mushroom growth but an oak-tree growth, so that it would be sound in every part, correct and right, and even though the growth might be slow it should be sure.
And when my mind has been tempted to feel that perhaps I would never find those who would hold steady and carry through and do a job and share a deep and constant dedication to our KING, I have been caused to remember our Master on earth. He, after three and a half years of public Ministry, meeting the final crisis, was in a circumstance where only one man and three women stood by. The rest followed afar off or were gone. I have been reminded many, many times that I have had more real love and loyalty shown to me in these twenty-one years than our Master was privileged to know while He walked among men. There have been men and women, who, with more constancy of devotion, have served with me than there were who served with Him. Always, no matter how difficult things might seem at the moment, I have been able to look back and recognize that if I have had difficulties in my Ministry there were greater difficulties in our Master's Ministry. Human beings have been more quick to understand what I have presented than they were to understand what He presented. More human beings have shown a willingness to enter into a selfless Ministry with me than were willing to enter into a selfless Ministry with our LORD and Master Himself when He was on earth.
Regardless of the difficulties, I have been in the position of recognizing that our situation has been better every step of the way than it was with Him. And, that being so, I have never had any reason for complaint. Sometimes those who served with me thought they had reason for complaint, but I have never had any reason for complaint to God. And, also, it has seemed to me that if the pattern could work out on a basis that let me have seven years to His one to achieve a goal, I would have a reasonable assurance of getting it done. Three and a half years our Master ministered. I am not suggesting that in three and a half more years from now my Ministry will necessarily come to an end. I am pointing out that it needs to carry through to Victory. This completes twenty-one years, or that which corresponds to the first three years. We have a half a year left, correlating with the three and one half years, the actual length of time our Master ministered.
Now, there may be some difficulties in the interval. I am not suggesting that there will not be. But, that will, without question, be a crisis period, the half a year remaining, or the next three and a half years, the first half of the fourth seven-year cycle. I am not going to undertake to prognosticate as to what will take place. That is not the point. The point is that unless you, here, and all those who are serving with us in the Field, share a deeper dedication with me than we have yet had, we are not going to get the job done. This Anniversary period must take on tremendous significance to you. Unless I can sell that Truth, that fact, we are going to be at a tremendous disadvantage in the days to come, and we will be flirting with failure. I, for one, do not like failure. I have had to face up to many things that looked like failure. But even that which is a temporary failure is not necessarily permanent unless we make it so.
I do not like failure. I do not like to admit that I have failed with any individual, with any human being. I have had to accept that on many occasions. I have seen so many people turn away. I have had to face the fact that, regardless of whatever may have been wrong with them, I failed to sell them on the idea of the Truth. I failed to inspire them to an acceptance of the Way, the Truth and the Life. Yes, I have had to face up to many failures. But I don't like failure, with respect to individuals, or with respect to circumstances, or anything else. We are interested in Victory, and Success. We are interested in successfully discharging our responsibilities and fulfilling our Commission; for the moment you really accept responsibility in Ministry with me, you share, to some degree at least, my Commission, because the Commission that was given to me, individually, twenty-one years ago was not limited to me. It was something in which any number of men and women could share, and it was my job to find men and women in the world who were willing to start sharing the responsibilities of that Commission.
On this twenty-first Anniversary of our Ministry I would like very much, according to your response, to let you really share a deeper vision and understanding, not just of the Commission, but of that which is essential to the fulfilling of the Commission. I cannot do it alone, nor can you. It is only as we work together that it can be done under God. And so, if this twenty-first Anniversary of our Ministry means to us what it should we will be moving into this new Cycle more effectively than we have ever functioned before. And tomorrow, and in the remainder of this Anniversary period, I trust that I shall have the privilege of considering at least part of the factors which are involved.
I wonder—do you know what it is to be so absolutely hungry and thirsty for the Truth that it overshadows everything else—that everything else becomes secondary, that anything else that comes into mind is seen in relationship to that one thing, meditating upon it? Have you ever risen early in the morning to meditate upon it? Have you ever awakened in the night and meditated upon it? Have you ever gone to sleep at night with your mind full of it? Has it been your thought on arising, and as you work through the day, and as you come to the evening hour?—something that absolutely fills your consciousness with an insatiable hunger, with thirst for the Water of Truth. It was something of that which allowed me, in the outer sense, to reach the point of that experience that you have shared the blessings of this Ministry.
You do not have to do what I did. I am not suggesting that. It is not necessary. But it is necessary that these days of the Anniversary period should be dedicated to a deep and constant meditation upon the things of God, a searching for a true centering in polarity, a hunger for God's Love, a thirst for God's Truth. And if you would do your part toward being certain that this Ministry does accomplish that to which God has ordained it, if you would have your part in it, then you need, during the days of this Anniversary, to experience a deep and abiding sense of dedication to the responsibilities and the Calling of that Commission. And I would do what I can, during this period, to help you to realize more of what the Commission is, and what it means.
Our presence here must have a real purpose. If I can sell you on that idea, that fact, that Truth, so that it burns deep into your consciousness, there is not any question but what we will get the job done. In my own mind there is no question but what the job will be done. I trust with your help, for we need the help of each and everyone, and there is room for you and a thousand more whom you represent, and ten thousand more than that, and on and on. There is need for many who are not here. Hundreds and thousands who should be sharing in the Program are gone. They should be here and they are not. We cannot waste time in vain regret, but we must do our part, and it takes a lot of filling in for those who are not here who should have been, who could have been, right here. If we function effectively and correctly, there will be others come in to share the work which must be done, to the Glory of our KING and to the Blessing of the children of men.
Heavenly Father, I thank Thee for those here gathered and for all who are with us in Spirit, that all who will may be drawn with the irresistible Cords of Thy Love to stand upon the Rock Eternal, yielding to the Spirit of Thy Truth and becoming channels for the Spirit of Thy Life, that they may share the Divine Commission and accomplish that whereunto they are sent. I thank Thee, Father, for the privilege of service which Thou hast granted me on earth, for all the multitude of Thy Blessings bestowed upon me, for the Love and the friendship and the loyalty of those who serve with me, that we may, in moving forward, so live that Thy Ministry on earth may increase and carry rich Blessings to all who will receive, IN the Christ. AUM-en.
I emphasized yesterday that it was our responsibility individually, and as members of this Assembly, to pose a question to the world. It seems from what someone said in a letter that there was some thought that the question was being posed to us. This would indicate that we have reverted again into the educational situation, so that we classified ourselves amongst those who are being questioned by the Lord. As long as it stays at that level, nothing is being achieved whatsoever yet. Hearing the question of the Lord, as presumably we have in the past, we may have answered, “Yes.” I trust so—otherwise we wouldn't be sitting here—but His concern is that the question should be asked of the world. In order for you to have the opportunity of hearing the question and answering it, someone had to ask it of you. Now it's our turn to ask it of others. We are not here to give the answer but to receive the answer. I suppose it could be said that the answer is made plain, rightly, if we are really asking the question, because the truth is revealed in our living, and that is the answer. We're not laying that on anyone—it's there for them to recognize if they will—but the very fact that the truth is in expression poses the question to others. So we are here to align ourselves with the Lord in the attitude toward all people, “I will demand of thee and answer thou me.” If someone does answer, “Yes”, then moving through the educational cycles they presumably will graduate at some point and participate in the further expansion of the sounding of the Tone or the asking of the question.
I might remind you of some words here: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Behold your house is left unto you desolate, for I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Here was the dissolution of the Second Sacred School. The opportunity that He came to extend to the children of men had been so rejected that there was no door left to open insofar as the Second Sacred School was concerned—and so He was here introducing the Third Sacred School. He said, “Ye shall not see me henceforth until something happens.” He was speaking to those who would be present at any given time when the opportunity for the something to happen was available. He was speaking to the Jews perhaps, particularly in that setting, but He was speaking to all those who were looking for the answer, which is the usual human approach—human beings are looking for the answer. Glibly we say, “You are the answer.” If you are the answer, then you give it. So indication is presented here of what should occur by reason of the opening of another opportunity. The house of the Second Sacred School was left desolate—it wasn't available anymore for human beings.
As we have noted, there is the tendency on the part of human nature to look back and see something that it imagines it could use to advantage, and it has done this with respect to the Second Sacred School, and tried to pick up the pieces and make it work again, without the presence of the One who was capable of making it work—at least without His manifest presence on earth. There's been a tendency to try and get around that and say that He's really with us anyway, in the heavenly sense. But we realize that nothing can work except as there is the fact made manifest of the union of heaven and earth. That was the only basis that the Second Sacred School could have worked. That union was revealed in Jesus, of course. The earth must be on hand, even though the approach may be a heavenly one. The earth must be on hand if there is to be the generation of the substance that is required to make that heaven known. We realize this to be so now. There was some consideration of this, looking at it from the standpoint of the initiation of what is to occur from the standpoint of the first seal, or from the standpoint of the lowest level, from the standpoint very definitely of the earth.
So the Second Sacred School was gone and the Third Sacred School was yet to come. “Ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Well, we can look at this from the standpoint of those who are girding themselves to say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” We were in that classification, I suppose, at one point. There must be he who comes in the name of the Lord for anyone to say, “Blessed is he”—and this is our concern: the he that comes in the name of the Lord. This has reference both to a point of focus in this regard, and also to the identity of the collective expression of that One, because we are looking here at the Body of the Son of God, the Body of the Archangel, however it might be described. But let us see this not merely as a physical body composed of physical flesh; when the word “body” is mentioned, this usually is what flashes first in consciousness, something physical. But there is a spiritual body too, and it is this that is of primary importance. There can be no physical manifestation without a spiritual manifestation. We know that that is even true of our own physical bodies now. We've noted what occurs after conception, and how there must be the pneumaplasmic provision if there is going to be the building of a physical body—and so in this sense the spirit comes first, and then the pneumaplasmic body, and then the physical body.
The spirit must be present to activate and animate what is happening; but it will only activate and animate to the extent that there is the connecting substance of spirit, spiritual substance, pneumaplasm. When that is there, there is activation by reason of this fact, so that the physical substance which is brought, the inheritance which begins to put in an appearance, through the mother's body in this instance, may be incorporated into a form that isn't at all haphazard. It isn't haphazard because of what is present in the spiritual body. So if we speak of the formation of a body, let us not exclude the reason for that formation—namely, the spiritual body composed of spiritual substance. Only when that is so can there be a physical body. But with the tendency in human consciousness to have the treasure on earth rather than in heaven, if the word “body” is mentioned, immediately everybody thinks of a flesh body. A flesh body is very necessary, but it will only be present because there is a spiritual body to allow it to be present. There will only be life because of that spiritual body, because of the spirit which activates and animates the spiritual substance, which is turn activates and animates the physical substance. The physical substance, being activated and animated, then generates more spiritual substance, so that the greater wholeness of spirit may emerge.
We see this very specifically relates to what occurs from the standpoint of the Third Sacred School—the spiritual expression plane approach. The First Sacred School, yes, the flesh was about all that anybody could see, or were even interested in. So now we have the spiritual expression plane approach, as we well know, which begins to establish the true orientation. Of course, if the approach had carried through from the First Sacred School to the Second Sacred School, to the Third Sacred School, it would have brought the orientation ultimately on that basis. But as there was failure in the first two schools, then obviously it wasn't being brought forward on that basis. It had to be brought forward for itself, with the spiritual expression plane approach—and we recognize mental and physical implications. Here we come again to this matter of implications. The physical factors and the mental factors are simply implications that we may observe. They're not the first order of business at all. There are implications spiritually speaking with respect to mental function and physical function. We need to discover what those implications are. We cannot receive these implications, we cannot give them to anybody else on this proverbial platter we’ve been talking about, because the First and Second Sacred Schools are no more. That approach cannot be made. So having made the spiritual expression plane approach, we begin to discover that there are implications mentally and physically in this regard; but we need ourselves individually to allow these implications to flood forth into the experience of our living. We need to follow out implications, so that we see from the spiritual standpoint what is necessary mentally speaking and what is necessary physically speaking, because we have observed the implications. We haven't been given a set of rules, “Do this mentally speaking; do that physically speaking.” All that related to the First and Second Sacred Schools. But each individual, with the spiritual approach, must discover those implications for him- or herself.
Various hints or clues have been provided, which there has been an inclination for many, as you well know, to translate, interpret, into physical or mental terms. That's entirely taboo insofar as the Third Sacred School is concerned. That might have been all right, perhaps, if the approach was being made from the physical standpoint or from the mental standpoint. Then there was a code of rules, wasn't there? a Ten Commandments, and all this. But now we need to discern what it is that needs to find expression mentally and physically. We need to discover what the spiritual implications are in this regard, because we become aware of what is true spiritually speaking—then it needs to emerge out into expression; and this presumably is what we've been experiencing in whatever measure, with, however, a tendency to maintain something of a casing around us of the mental and physical factors which require an explanation somehow. We don't know what that explanation is, because we're not making that approach. We live from the spiritual standpoint, allowing the implications of that to flood mind and body. Then we're in position to ask the question, because we ourselves are then revealing the truth. The truth is there, so those of whom we ask the question are not left clueless anymore—there is the living truth. Very few are likely to recognize that fact, but nevertheless the fact that it is there exerts an influence and poses the question. The fact that Jesus was present back along the way certainly posed a question then. It was posed in a little different way because He was initiating the Second Sacred School, and carrying it through as far as was possible—but nevertheless a question was posed. “Will you or will you not acknowledge me?”—fundamentally was His approach from the mental standpoint. He continued to emphasize the works. “If you can't believe me, my own state, look at the works, believe those”—be willing to make a mental acceptance of this. “If you do that, then I’ll carry you through,” is what He was saying in effect.“I’ll carry you through the Second Sacred School, and we'll move on eventually to the Third Sacred School.”
But the answer that He received to that question was so blundering and restricted and uncomprehending that it wasn't worth anything. He reached a point where it was useless to continue in that way, and so we have these words which are an indication of the point that was reached when the shift took place, and He pointed to something that was to come. And we have an awareness of our responsibility to provide what is necessary so that others may say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,” because we ourselves, individually and together, come in the name of the Lord, and we're not answering any more questions. The question has been answered insofar as we are concerned—“I am come in the name of the Lord. Here I am. Because I have answered this question in fact and not in theory only, the spiritual body of the Lord has taken form to this extent.”
“He that cometh in the name of the Lord” refers to that One in whom we all live and move and have our being. “I and my Father are one.” The human mind would be inclined to translate this as though the Master should have said, “Ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is he or she who cometh in the name of the Lord,” or “Blessed are they who come in the name of the Lord.” No, because there's only One in fact—and we know this if we are coming in the name of the Lord. “I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.” And we differentiate that spiritual coming according to our particular roles in the fulfilment of our coming, so that there may be for the world, “He that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
The question is then posed and the answer can then be given. Because it is a collective expression of spirit, there is an entirely different situation to what it was when it was only an individual expression of spirit. It is because of this collective factor—which relates to the Third Sacred School incidentally—because of this collective factor in spirit that the question can be posed and consequently the whole issue brought to point so that the answer must be given. “There shall be no more time.” The line is to be drawn. Every individual has the choice to make an answer one way or the other way—that's open. Possibly it might be argued that there is the imposition of the question, but even that doesn't seem to be an imposition. Sometimes human beings translate it as though it were an imposition because they don't really see the question; but the question is asked simply because there are those present who are in their living asking it—and those presumably include us. That's what we're here in the Assembly for—to allow ourselves to assume the role of the asker of the question.
Now obviously this role is not just one thing, in the sense of all of us being duplicates of each other. We have seen something emerging into form, we say, but if there is an external form of some kind, why is it emerging? Why is it putting in an appearance? Obviously not because there are some brilliant minds on hand who have sat down together and decided, “Well this should be the form and that should be the form,” although there is a tendency, when the form does begin to emerge, for the minds to get in there and interpret the form according to the concepts of the mind. This is the way good Emissary concepts are formed, instead of just leaving it alone, trusting spirit to bring forth its own form. It will bring forth that form step by step—not in a jerky way. You know that if the babe forms in the womb it's a very smooth process. It doesn't just jump from one day to the next. So there is a smooth unfoldment, which tends to be made jerky in some respects because the mind gets in there and tries to crystallize it at some certain point. Well I don't think you'd want a body that was all just one type of cell. There is a vast variety here. And one of the things that prevents the natural unfoldment of what is now occurring is the fact that people observe too much what is happening someplace else, which they think relieves them of the responsibility of letting their own implications be brought forth, to see what those might be, which the spirit was seeking to build in that location. Let us never imagine that we can collectively copy each other, any more than we rightly can individually copy each other. There has been the endeavor to do this individually too, and we have a whole row of the same person almost! What's the use of that? So, certainly, there is a design, and we recognize the reality of the design which needs to emerge out of the Core.
It is a Spiritual Core. It has physical form because the Core needs to be on earth, but it is the spiritual core on earth that is important. The physical aspect of it is only important because it allows the spiritual Core to be on earth. So we do not emphasize the physical aspects. We are concerned to associate ourselves, to experience, the spiritual aspects. One of the characteristics of the Core in its most focused aspects can be described by the words, stillness and quietness. This has been emphasized, hasn't it? “In quietness and in confidence is my strength.” Be still. So there must, collectively speaking, be a still place, out of which springs what is differentiated, spiritually speaking, taking form in a variety of ways.
Now there are those who rightly function more particularly in the Spiritual Core at the point of focus; but if everybody was in that Spiritual Core at the point of focus, there would be precious little connection with the creative field of our responsibility as a body. So there must be those who function at every level. Now the intent is to generate substance so that there may be substance firmly connecting upward and substance available to flood the world. This is the substance of Love. We may call it that without understanding anything because we use those words, necessarily. But our concern is to flood the world with the substance of Love, so that the impact of Truth that is present may bring to pass the essential answering of the question that is thereby being posed.
There is a design in this Body, this facility, this primarily spiritual facility, by which these things are accomplished, and there are those who need to function at all levels in this facility. There has been a tendency on the part of Emissaries very often to think of themselves as all being at the same level. Well, perhaps there's a little peak right at the Center where I stand, and a few others around there—this little peak sticking up out of a broad, flat plane. Everybody else is buddies on this broad, flat plane—“You're not any higher than I am; and you're not any higher than I am.” All these human nature attitudes have absolutely nothing to do with what we are about. There are roles to be played so that the machinery may be operative, and those roles differ. There's a great variety of them. This requires that there be those in manifest human form who are content in human consciousness to play the particular role which becomes obviously their own. Well, they will never find out what it is that is obviously their own if they are trying to compare themselves with everybody else, or trying to pick and choose the role that is going to be played. The role is already established, and no human mind is going to change that—so if we don't like it we'd better learn to lump it, because that's the way it is. Such a statement is quite true, but it hasn't had too much effect on most because there are still so many trying to pick and choose, trying to make it satisfactory to themselves, and vying with each other for position. That's human politics, isn't it? It has nothing to do with what we're about!
There are roles at the very Core of things, obviously. There is that necessity. There are roles in concentric spheres beyond that, all the way out, and no role is more important than any other role, because all of them are necessary. And one finds oneself playing certain roles. Now there are, in the external sense, maybe changes in those roles which work out, but I'm thinking of this from the spiritual standpoint. The whole exercise is designed so that the desolate world may be given an opportunity to say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” We can discern what the implications are with respect to this. We don't just sit there and say, “What does that mean?” Let a little spiritual thinking occur, so that you discover what the implications are. When you do this you'll begin to discover what the implications are for you, and you thereby begin to discover what your spiritual role is, because the spiritual role can never be handed to you—like one might say, “Well, this is your coat. This is the spiritual role. This is the robe you will be wearing now.” The spiritual role must come out of you. It can't be imposed upon you! So we have the responsibility, then, of extending the question to others in a recognition of what is required of others. They are required to answer that question for themselves. Not to sit there adoring us and saying, “Oh, that's wonderful; you are answering all our questions.” Some of you may have had a little experience of that along the way, where someone takes such a stance. That may seem to be a necessary step for some, but finally we lay it on the line spiritually and say, “You answer it. I'm not going to give you any answer. I will reveal the truth, but it is up to you to accept that expression of truth into your own living or reject it in your own living. That's all.” That's fundamentally the question, isn't it?
In order to accept it into one's own living there is an educational process necessary; but it is spiritual education, bringing people to the door, with the objective of going through it, that they may share with us in providing the spiritual expression necessary to pose the question to all people. So there are the spiritual essences at the Core, and then these essences are carried forth into key areas in the world, one way or another—and there are those who have roles to play in that regard. There are those who have roles to play at the very Core of things, there are those who have roles to play at the periphery of the Core, and there are those who have roles to play in between, so that there may be a whole thing and everything may be handled, everything may be encompassed. Obviously this necessitates that those to whom we pose this question should actually relinquish their human nature tendencies, so that they stop vying for position, so that they stop projecting themselves forward as something important all on their own. None of us carry importance all on our own. We're only important to the extent that we are participating in the whole, which is important.
So here we move as a spiritual body, in this formation a miniature spiritual body, playing the roles for the moment that are necessary here, seeing that we are providing a spiritual Core, and consequently that everything in our expression, not only while we're sitting here together but everything in our expression throughout the day, may be exactly right as a part of the expression of this Spiritual Core. We have a consciousness of responsibility in this regard—we say. We talk about responsibility, and human nature tends to shy away from it. But spiritual responsibility is something different. It's something that is naturally acceptable to the extent that we have in fact answered Yes to the question. Then, accepting that responsibility, obviously we're in position to ask the question of others. But again, let me emphasize the point that it is not an imposition. In effect, there is the evidence of the truth made manifest, and human beings come up against that. The people with whom we come in physical contact come up against that. And there are others with whom we establish vibrational contact in one way or another, they come up against that—unconsciously for the most part, until they come a lot closer. They sense the question being asked, and unconsciously they begin to answer it; and somewhere along the way they reach a point where it comes out consciously—this happened to all of us—and the answer coming out consciously may come out consciously, Yes; subconsciously, No. Well we're not too concerned even if it's No, because all we are concerned about is that the question should be posed and answered, and each individual is permitted to answer it for him‑ or herself. We make no demands. We do not require anything of anyone, but we know very well that everyone is going to have to make the choice—and we know this for sure to the extent that we participate in the process which asks the question.
“Answer thou me.” The question is asked by our living—but let us not imagine that the true living does not bring something very specific to bear. True living is not just drifting along in some sort of spiritual euphoria. It's very exact, very specific. We are conveying what is coming down from God out of heaven into the earth in this fashion, and those who dwell on earth are deciding for themselves as to whether they are going to participate in the process by which this may continue to emerge into manifestation or whether they are going to exclude themselves from that process. The process is not going to stop! It is going to complete itself somewhere along the line, and those who object to it will not be on hand at that point.
“Ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Have we not seen Him? The human mind may want to pin it down—“Well, we need Him in a particular form now, so that we can really recognize Him”—because the attention is being given to the form and not to the spirit. But we see spiritually, and we see Him. We certainly see Him if we have accepted the responsibility of being in His Name. In His Name is in His spirit, in His Word, in what He is. If we are in that, we see Him. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Not this vast figure that human beings tend to imagine, because they translate everything in terms of form, but the spirit which is present now relative to our own experience, as we allow the focus of it to find expression. That is God—and that which so finds expression is not separate from all that God is, finding expression everywhere; but we do not imagine that something would be gained by having the experience of that. How could we? All we are capable of experiencing is what comes to focus in our own expression. We may rejoice in the glory revealed through others in whom the same thing is happening. Wonderful. But we don't want to possess God, do we, personally—there's old self‑centered human nature again—just to allow the individual expression, which is part of the greater expression. And we have a consciousness of the greater expression. You can't allow your individual expression of spirit to pour forth in your living without having a consciousness of the overall expression. Maybe not in a specific sense, but certainly as it relates to what is close to you; not in a specific sense insofar as the overall expression of God is concerned, but you're aware of the overall expression of God. And you're aware very vividly of what is close to you, and you're aware most vividly of what is pouring out through you—substance—substance flooding our worlds, the substance of Love, in which the question is asked. This is so when we abide in His Name.
The Christian world has got rather hung‑up on this business of “in His name,” without understanding it, apparently, at all. In His Name, in His spirit, a part of His spiritual body in experience, not merely to be honed for one day but in experience now, that there may be an outpouring of spirit because there's an outpouring of substance. We have substantial lives to live, substantial lives in a variety of roles. The roles tend to become more specific as the body fills out. As was noted before, in the beginning there were very few, so everybody had to do everything. Now it begins to be so that the distinctions in roles can be recognized, and we can intelligently associate ourselves in this pattern of distinction. We're not trying to grab anything for ourselves. We find ourselves gently and easily present in the particular role where we need to be; and we're not looking at somebody else, comparing it with somebody else. We are playing our role, and playing our role, we see the implications of that role, and we begin to see the implications as these implications relate to the implications of other people's roles. It all begins to come together because it's coming together through us; it's coming forth through the facilities of expression that we have. And it is one thing coming forth, One Spirit differentiated—a great variety revealed, but One Spirit just the same.
How beautiful to share these things, in this particular setting, with these who are here present playing this role here now. We are all playing a role as Assembly members, but within the Assembly there are particular roles—and it is the overall pattern that is the important thing, because this carries the greatest impact; but the overall pattern is also dependent upon the fact that we assume correctly our individual roles within the whole. To the extent that we are doing this, there is a spiritual impact. The question is being asked more vibrantly in the consciousness of mankind. There are those who will be participating with us in this, in other roles beyond this Core—between this Core and the periphery, way further out—and there will be those at the periphery who, because we are pouring substantial substance into this whole field, will find themselves with that substantial substance out wherever they are, and doing whatever they are doing, so that what is coming from the Core reaches the world of our responsibility. Praise the Lord for the design of Life!
There is the generation of substance now which is part of our responsibility now;but the substance is generated and it's there, and it is poured forth in whatever measure beyond us. But we find that when this particular Assembly pattern is no more that the substance is still there. It is then carried individually but we find that when we go where we're going, it's there too, because of what we've been doing here. And the sense of oneness, then, is not reduced at all by reason of the fact that we may not be associated together in the same direct way as we have been during this Assembly period. It is the spiritual substance which allows for the sense of oneness, and not the physical proximity in fact, although the physical proximity has a purpose for the generation of the substance in this particular configuration. And there will continue to be physical proximities wherever we are in various ways—sometimes smaller, sometimes larger, which still is concerned with the generation of substance.
