Lloyd Meeker and Martin ExeterAugust 3, 1986 Sunrise Ranch
Lloyd Meeker — During the course of the service this morning I was reminded that the truth is beautiful, that there is no such thing as an ugly truth. There are certainly plenty of ugly external facts of which we are aware, which I won’t list. The truth remains perfect and beautiful. In fact, in one of the early tapes, Uranda said something about the truth being “exquisitely beautiful!”
This gave rise to some consideration about the difference between truth and external fact, the relationship between them, but certainly the attempt of human nature to supplant truth with acquisition of and control over external facts. It’s a pretty pathetic undertaking, considering that right away truth is spirit, cause, and external facts are results, effects. We know how it is impossible to climb back up through the network of results, of external fact, to get to the pure truth. We can explore the external facts and perhaps even dissect them; but ultimately there is nothing there because truth is spirit, unencumbered by external facts and certainly unencumbered by our understanding of them. Certainly human nature has been able to encompass a large—well we think it’s a large—number of external facts. I suspect in actual fact, in truth, it is a very small number of the external facts which are available. But human nature will never encompass truth, for truth is an aspect of the spirit which makes the very existence of human nature possible in the first place.
We’ve considered often recently the pursuit of knowledge, which is, in basic terms, pursuit and collection of external facts. I thought of a game called “Trivial Pursuit.” I am somewhat embarrassed to confess that apparently I am fairly good at this game. It is staggering the number of absolutely useless and unrelated facts which one collects even without trying very hard, and they sit around in the subconscious, in some subterranean barracks, like soldiers in a grade B movie just waiting for the call, and out they pop; and it’s amusing for an hour or so. But it is a trivial pursuit; for the truth, the spirit of truth, floods creation in beauty unattainable so long as we identify with human nature and are addicted to external facts. Part of the problem, I guess, is that external facts always seem to change from time to time. Even when we get them basically organized they tend to shift and squirt out from under our mitts: think of how views of natural science have changed from time to time.
During the Music Conference we saw a film of some cymatics, which has to do with placing substance on a membrane and then introducing the vibration of a certain frequency into the membrane and agitating the substance, which then collects in patterns reflecting the shape of the vibration. All you have to do is change the vibration a little bit and the substance reorganizes in an entirely different pattern. And if you’re a sand collector on this bouncing membrane, trying to organize sand, and somebody upstairs turns the knob, changes the vibration—as always happens in the beautiful variety of truth—just when we thought we had it figured out it all shifts under our feet and away we go again.
The vibration of the Tone does transform external fact. And this is our concern, not the follies of human nature particularly, but how might we more clearly give release to the Tone so that the vibration of truth has meaningful contact with the substance of the earth, heretofore stolen by human nature. As we have gathered and allowed our consciousness to expand somewhat to encompass the vibration of the Tone as we are presently capable, we have seen how it transforms our view of external facts around us. But hasn’t there from time to time been a tendency to begin to see “needs” in the realm of external fact (more acutely perhaps!) and in the pressure of feeling that somehow that need should be filled in a particular way, resorting to our habits of manipulation in order to achieve a certain result, rather than simply sounding the Tone more clearly and steadfastly than ever before? Human nature is never going to be convinced that the Tone is actually sufficient to let the earth be transformed. After all, it’s looking for facts to prove it, external facts. Well there has been no sustained emanation of the Tone for a long time. Perhaps we have thought that if we just gave an occasional bleat of the Tone that that would be enough. But no, the Tone must be sustained. The moment the tone is cut off from this shaking membrane the form in the sand disappears. Truly the means does determine the end. The Tone determines the end. Or if we resort to manipulation, that determines the end result. We know the nature of that end.
External facts, though, are only a part of fact. There are heavenly facts, the purpose behind truth. We say “love”; but the dimensions of that word remain closed to us until we are sufficiently capable of accommodating the Tone that the veil between earthly and heavenly facts parts in our consciousness, so that we begin to understand facts that we are also responsible for in heaven. We know that we can collect external facts until the cows come home, and interpret them any number of ways, but there is no clear direction there because the design and control of truth are missing, and behind them the purposes of love are missing. I suppose the final proof of our ability to accommodate the Tone is the dissolution of disagreement. After all, if the truth is being expressed and therefore known, how can there be disagreement? The truth is true, and the truth is oneness. And that’s a fact!
Lord Exeter — The facts are inclusive of both heaven and earth. If we think of heaven and earth as each being fifty percent, then considering earthly facts is only seeing half the picture. Trying to work merely with earthly facts is excluding half the facts that need to be known. This is one way of looking at it. We have the opportunity of looking at things in various ways. Many analogies have been used. Some of them have persisted over their natural life span, shall we say! Some of these analogies return again to be used at a different level of understanding. If this happens, care needs to be taken that we do not slip back into the understanding that the analogy portrayed before, but let it be new. We are concerned with what is in the present moment. This is our connection with the truth. Whatever it is that is present in the present moment includes both heaven and earth, and also includes the fact of spirit which makes possible heaven and earth. Here is another factor. It isn’t even a matter of fifty percent, is it? There is a transcendent factor, which we may have referred to by using the word “spirit,” from which the creative process proceeds and the vibrational design of truth is established in the heaven.
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The substance of heaven we have referred to by using the coined word pneumaplasm. As we have noted, pneumaplasm has a variety of consistencies. In view of the fact that the heaven is the habitation of antispirit as well as of spirit, the quality of pneumaplasm will reflect the character of either one. If I use an analogy now, don’t get stuck with it. Lloyd was mentioning cymatics and the fact that there is a membrane upon which the physical substance rests, and the vibration is transmitted by reason of the membrane to the physical substance. There might well be a vibration present and the physical substance present, but if there wasn’t a membrane it would have no effect whatsoever on the physical substance. So here we could see an analogy with respect to pneumaplasm. In this case the membrane would represent the pneumaplasm which is required to vibrate according to the invisible vibration that is brought to bear. And when it does so, it in turn transmits that vibration to the physical substance, which stands up in a variety of forms according to the nature of the vibration.
This pneumaplasmic membrane which is present in mankind could be seen as having a rather sticky consistency. It is the quality of pneumaplasm which accommodates antispirit. This sticky pneumaplasm is reflected in sticky substance, substance which is not resilient and capable of revealing the true designs of the vibration of the spirit of truth, because the quality of the pneumaplasm cannot accommodate that refined vibratory level. The pneumaplasm is sticky; the physical substance is sticky. It is held together in this way but more or less immovably, so that the only way that life could move in this state of affairs would be on the basis of a pressure which ultimately shatters the stuck state. Of course when the stuck state does shatter, as occurs in individual experience and as has occurred in the body of mankind over the ages from time to time, the shattered pieces have invariably come together again on the basis of the quality of pneumaplasm that accommodates antispirit, so that there has been an endless repetition.
It is said that history repeats itself. It does this because the form which takes place on the basis of this sticky pneumaplasm is subject to this cycle of being built into a structure that is seemingly immovable, but then the pressure of life breaks it down. In more recent times we have the spectacle of what was called the British Empire, a very fancy structure that was composed, or brought into form, by this sticky substance of pneumaplasm on the basis of antispirit. I don’t think the British—I have to look at myself in this—would be inclined to acknowledge this fact. But it’s not just the British Empire; I think the British might acknowledge it with respect to the Spanish empire of old or the French empire or some other empire, and the attitudes of these various empires would be similar to the British attitude, no doubt. History repeats itself.
There can’t be a living form on the basis of this quality of pneumaplasm which permits the working of antispirit. There is a very confused vibratory state which is reflected in the confused physical substance. There are no very beautiful designs appearing on this basis, and we may see easily how futile it is to try to produce anything of a living, and of a consequently lasting, nature on this basis. Empires have come and gone, nations have risen and fallen, civilizations have risen and fallen. And many of those civilizations in the past have been completely obliterated from human memory. At least they cannot be consciously recalled in the ordinary course of events. There is no point in recalling them anyway because what we know now is merely a repetition of what went before.
But there is the refined pneumaplasm which is capable of accommodating the spirit of truth, the design and the control that is present in that, so that the membrane of pneumaplasm can then transmit that to the substance which rests upon the membrane. Remember that pneumaplasm permeates all physical substance, pneumaplasm of one sort or another. I suppose in a way this is merely a method of describing something which the rather limited capacity of the mental apparatus can comprehend. One may be rather assured that this way of describing it is not really the way it is, but it is an interim opportunity to begin to participate in experiencing a larger understanding.
This human state of affairs, which has been in existence for many thousands of years, has in fact been in existence, cosmically speaking, less than the blink of an eye. Human beings involved in the condition put great store by it, but in the overall sense it doesn’t amount to very much. However, there is a reason for the existence of mankind, as we well know, which relates to the cosmic whole; and there is something lacking in the cosmic whole when the reason for the existence of man is ignored, overlooked, forgotten. This being the case, the creative forces which operate throughout the universe will, at the appointed time, bring things to issue so as to eliminate this point of lack, of absence, this little hole in the overall operation. And we find ourselves related to this process—we call it a recreative process.
Now as we well know, there is present an incarnate angel insofar as each of us is concerned—we will look at it from our own immediate standpoint—who is operating already in the design of truth. It’s only human minds and hearts, and consequently bodies, that have been occupied with other things, therefore have not been aware of the working that is already in effect by reason of the presence of the incarnate angel. The mind of man has been almost a total blank insofar as this is concerned, but just because the mind doesn’t know about something doesn’t mean that it isn’t happening. That is the usual arrogant view of human minds, that if they don’t know about it, it can’t really exist. But there is this creative process at work with which the incarnating angel is always aligned, there is an encompassing control with respect to mankind, an encompassing control of which mankind is not at all aware. They think mentally and emotionally that they’re free agents to do whatever they choose to do. We’ve all had that sort of an idea individually, haven’t we? “Well I think I’ll do this or do that.” We seldom realize what it is that is compelling us to make our human decisions. We think that it is the wisdom of our great minds, and the power of our emotions is going to put it into effect, and all this; but really that’s a fantasy, a fantasy in which most people believe.
There is something in operation that completely transcends anything that human beings are doing on earth, and if we have this perspective we may see how insignificant the things that human beings are doing on earth really are. It’s like a little comer of the nursery, so to speak, in which brats are trying to do their thing while the adult world, this cosmic whole, goes on uninterrupted. If the kids get too noisy and obstreperous, sometimes a parental control is thrust into the nursery and human beings are temporarily called to task. Well we can see that in terms of the rise and fall of nations and empires and civilizations. It has never gotten so far out of hand that it could affect the operation of the creative process in the cosmic whole. And there has been a way by which what human beings have been doing has been kept within a certain range, so that there would be the opportunity for what we now call restoration to permit mankind to come out of the state in which it has existed for all these thousands of years. We have become aware of this. Something has penetrated into our rather sticky human minds which has reminded us that there is much more than we usually think about. And there has been the urge on this basis to align ourselves with what it is that is really happening. What it is that is really happening is an aspect of the truth.
There is a living process at work throughout the whole universe, whatever the universe may be. We mentally define it in certain terms, which may not be the way it is at all. We endeavor, in the operation of our minds and hearts, to fit things into the confines of our minds and hearts, then get formulas and different things, and say, “Well this is the way it is.” But the things that we try to fit into our minds and hearts don’t fit. After all, the human heart and mind is a very minuscule thing. You’re going to fit the operation of the whole universe into a little human mind and heart? How ridiculous! It wasn’t designed to be filled with that.
So we have an overshadowing control which has always been present and which has kept human beings from going too far. Of course there has been a certain awareness of this in certain minds and hearts, translated in terms of the God of religion who finally is seen as being a caring and loving God and who therefore would enfold mankind. It’s all very fine to be enfolded by a loving parent, so that one is kept from going too far astray; but if the kids refuse to grow up, they can’t forever be kept within the confines of the nursery, something has to happen, something has to give, and fundamentally I suppose the creative word is, “Grow up.” And not only grow up, but grow up or else! There has been a vast amount of patience exhibited over thousands of years in which brash human beings have rejected, generation after generation, the opportunity to grow up. They want to stay in the nursery, playing with their toys. They have become quite ingenious kids and invented a lot of sophisticated toys. But it’s all in the nursery; it has nothing to do with the adult operation. I suppose you could say that mankind is addicted to the nursery, to this infantile state. Kids often feel that they can do as they please—and a wise parent will allow them a certain leeway—but rightly even in human families it should be “Thus far and no further.” It certainly is in the overall human family. There has been a firm hand which has said, “Thus far and no further.” I suppose that’s been said at stated intervals; when things get too obstreperous, then that’s it.
All this is based in the fact that the quality of pneumaplasmic substance that has been present in the flesh bodies of human beings has been of this very sticky nature which has held things together in clumps. We have, after all, nations and races and communities and families, all held together in clumps. There has been great concern about the dissolution of the family, this particular little clump, because the dissolution of clumps is easily seen to be fatal to human nature because the human nature state is held together by this glue, this pneumaplasmic glue. But the consistency of that glue is so sticky that life can scarcely move in it. Of course this fact is used to advantage because eventually life begins to break up the crystallized form. Ultimately life won’t be prevented from moving. If it can’t appear through this gelled form, well it will appear through another. But for another to appear, substance needs to be broken up in the one that is fixed, the one that is glued together. And we can see this in process.
It’s not something new. It’s happened over and over again. What seems to be new about it, or in relationship to it, is the emergence of some pneumaplasmic substance that: is sufficiently resilient to accommodate the spirit of truth. So something is brought into the picture that was never there adequately before. It may be that it required this enormous population on earth to find enough people who would be willing to let this generation of flexible substance take place. That, I suppose it could be said, is speculation, but still it seems a good reason why there is such a mass of population because it has been proven out in times past that a very small percentage of the human race has ever been willing to transcend human nature. I don’t know how many people there were on earth when the Master was here, but insofar as transcending human nature was concerned there was just one person on earth. So maybe it has needed five billion, I don’t know, to have just a few hundred even who would be willing to let this generation of pneumaplasmic substance take place, capable of accommodating the spirit of truth.
As this happens, a new creation can begin to put in an appearance; and the creation that puts in an appearance isn’t a dying structure, it’s a living form. We ourselves can testify, at least in some measure, to the fact of this living form. We may not be too sure as yet, insofar as our conscious minds are concerned, what exactly it is. Some may define it in terms of EDL; others don’t like those letters very much for some reason, so they don’t want to define it that way. Well it doesn’t really matter how you define it; it’s what it is that counts. There is what we call a body and, seeing that we have some consciousness of being alive, it has some evidence of being a living body—a body which takes form how? According to the design of truth, if the fine substance of pneumaplasm is present to let it happen. Heretofore those who begin to permit this to occur have been trapped in the old human nature state of sticky substance. And we have found it, I’m sure, as rather sticky when we were coming out of it. It wanted constantly to pull us back again into the old state. But to the extent that there is this fine substance generated, it is capable of accommodating the spirit of truth and therefore the spirit of life, and the design begins to emerge. We have some indication of the nature of that design on the basis of our own physical forms. Of course they’re not a very good example of it for the most part, because there are so many ills of the flesh around, but there are some principles that are observable at least.
There has been an indication of the nature of that design contained in what we have called the “spiritual blueprint,” namely the Book of Revelation. You may recall that the first thing John became aware of, when he paid attention to the voice behind him, was seven golden candlesticks and One in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. How would you describe the living organization of the collective body which should put in an appearance on the basis of the working of the spirit of truth through the refined pneumplasm? You wouldn’t really have any words, would you? You wouldn’t, to start with, know what it was. But there might be a sensing as to its nature, and that sensing affected the consciousness of this particular man in this way, so that he saw it in terms of seven golden candlesticks and the fact that there was One in the midst of the seven candlesticks, clothed in a certain way, a very bright figure that wasn’t of some strange dragon or ogre or something else but like unto the Son of Man. Surrounding this One were the seven golden candlesticks, and there were seven stars. And, carrying the analogy a little further, the candlesticks became churches and the stars became the angels of the churches. Here we see something of a design putting in an appearance. It’s splendid that it was touched in terms that human beings could hardly take hold of and make something out of them; of course there has been much attempt in that regard.
The point is that, as there is the generation of this substance, the design begins to emerge; and the heretofore uncomprehending conscious human mind may begin to glimpse, in relationship to itself, the nature of the incarnate angel. Human minds usually want to take the glory to themselves: “I’m really going to make something out of myself. I’m going to get all of this education, all of this knowledge, and I’m going to make something out of myself.” And all they make eventually is nothing. But if there is humility in the mind there may be a sensing of the nature of the design of truth emerging through the pneumaplasm which one has generated by one’s own living. If you haven’t done that of course you don’t have any and so there’s no possibility of discerning anything. Those who haven’t done it are inclined to say, “There isn’t anything there.” Well there’s nothing there for them of course.
But letting this be generated, there comes an awareness of the nature of the angelic positioning in the design. I don’t like to use the word “positioning” because it makes it look as though it was some sort of fixed structure. It isn’t that. If you were to become aware of the spirit of truth emerging into your consciousness, that isn’t a structure, is it? It’s an awareness of something that is invisible. But this was described in terms of churches; and I wonder a little bit whether that is an accurate translation of the word as it originally was. I think it is probable that it was translated as “churches” because there was this intent to create a church and to justify that creation; and of course a church was created, the church of Rome. But here were seven vibrational levels; this would be a more accurate way of describing it. We know something about the fact of our own endocrine system, which is related to the figure seven, and perhaps some awareness that these seals, as they have been called, permit certain spiritual vibratory factors to enter into the physical form to establish various levels, or potential levels, of consciousness in the physical form.
Most people are very interested in how that applies to themselves, and they try to figure it all out with respect to themselves, how it should all work. But the description here is not so much with respect to the individual as it is with respect to this body which must take form, if there is to be the basis for the restoration of man. That is the angelic concern. Incidentally there may be a bit of restoration going on in the individual mind and heart and body. Fine, but let’s keep it in perspective. That’s a very small thing relative to what it is that is happening in the overall sense, and each incarnate angel has a task in the overall sense. Here it is described with respect to just seven: seven angels, seven stars, the seven angels of the seven churches. Here is the most elementary part of the emerging design. And there are those who are the angels of the seven churches, the angels of the seven vibratory levels that are contained in the forming body.
I trust that we have reached beyond that self-centered attitude which is inclined to say—and this is the mind speaking again—“Well I’d like to know what my position is,” as though the mind had been appointed to a position. It’s not been appointed to any position; it never could be. All it is capable of doing is allowing the angelic awareness to come forth so that it may know as much as it needs to know. I think that will not be very much, for a while at least, because if the mind gets hold of something it tends to take it to itself and say, “Ah, now this is me; I know how it is now, I know what to do.” And away it goes again, and all is lost. It has to stay humble.
I rejoice to introduce something of this nature so that there may be an awareness of the fact of angelic incarnation in this way, establishing whatever the design is. That is what establishes the design, not what the mind thinks about it or what the heart feels about it. The design is already present, but as there is humility once again, repentance and humility, there is space for the angel to peep through, shall we say. And the mind can become aware of that peeping and, staying humble, can participate in the process by which this design emerges in its natural creative cycles. There are those who do become aware of these things first; then of course somebody else sitting nearby may say, “Are you becoming aware of something? I’m not; therefore you can’t be.” Or if there is an admission that somebody else does know something then perhaps jealousy sets in. We have all these human nature traits which have to be relinquished. We can’t allow them to have any part in what is occurring. And gradually the truth emerges, both consciously and subconsciously. It doesn’t all emerge consciously. That would be utter confusion, wouldn’t it? It emerges consciously one thing at a time, moment by moment by moment, and we are content with that.
We share the expression of the angel and we discover what that really is, the expression of the angel in human form on earth. And we do it collectively in this larger body which accommodates the Archangel, the coordinating point, so that all move together easily and naturally and delightedly, all in love. It’s a wonderful feeling, isn’t it, to be in love. Let us share that wonderful feeling under the hand of the spirit.
Gary Diggins, PenDell Pittman and eight other men offered harmonic chanting
interspersed with George Hanson speaking words from “Let Love Command.”
Filled with glory, we abide
in this blessed place.
Sacred tones our voices sound,
reshaping hallowed space.
Let love command. Let wonders form.
Let heaven’s beauty shine.
Let ev’ry living breath
sing praise for light divine.
Lord Exeter — As there is pneumaplasmic substance in which sound may initiate a particular vibration, this permits the initiation of a creative process to be brought into the earth. We have shared something of this by reason of this time of chant. It is not separate and apart from what we ourselves release in our living. As this coordinated release occurs, the effect is reflected in external facts. Whatever is done is not merely of that moment—which is already in the past, insofar as this chant is concerned—but is properly sustained because all maintain their awareness of responsibility in this regard.
There has been a sustained vibratory tone sounded over the last fifty or so years. It has been sustained. Various ways have been introduced in form by reason of the Tone, by which is made possible the sustaining of the Tone with respect to the field of the creative process. You are aware how this has occurred. There has been the release, week after week, year after year, of the live expression of the Tone; and that has been complemented by the printed word, more recently by the audio reproduction of the word, and then the video reproduction of the word. These have all been aspects revealing the fact that the Tone has been sustained. It was never allowed to fall to the ground. Consistently over the weeks, the months, the years, it has been sustained.
Now it begins to emerge in a more direct way from the body itself, symbolized particularly by this chant this evening, the responsibility for which was taken by Gary and by the other men. Let us be very sure that each one of us sustains the Tone. This chant is but a small beginning of what shall no doubt be, but it is perfect for now. I am so thankful that Gary particularly has allowed this to be drawn to focus; there are some others with him. No doubt in the days to come it will be allowed to expand, so that the Tone in this way is sustained and increased. It runs parallel to what is happening in our whole release of spirit by reason of this body. What a rich blessing we know, and how much more there is to be known—not in the sense of gaining knowledge but in the sense of letting the truth take form in expression, moment by moment by moment.
Speaking of cycles in the individual life where self-activity shuts the door to fulfilment, we see that the same thing holds true in the world as a whole. From the standpoint of the rise and fall of nations, there is something that is revealed in history which, as far as I know, has never been recognized by anyone outside the Third Sacred School. The phenomena that accompany the decline and disintegration of a nation or an empire, has always included what has been generally classified as immorality. Apparently the direct causes of this situation are unknown as far as the world at large is concerned. A brief review of the basic steps of the rise and fall of any nation in history is sufficient to our immediate purpose.
In one way or another, pioneering—the acquiring of lands and the conquering of peoples—has been involved in the establishment of any great nation, kingdom or empire. As long as the national energies were directed toward such pioneering and expansion, the specific standards which were to hold sway in the nation were so obscure that, from the standpoint of the national expression, there was not a very strong line of demarcation between right and wrong, and many things were tolerated which, at a later time in the national history, would have been considered extremely evil. Gradually with the boundaries established and the development of the nation or empire the primary concern, national standards of what constituted right and wrong became established. Those who fostered the standards given national recognition were convinced that they knew exactly what was right and what was wrong and the war against evil was forthwith under way. Gradually the outlines of expansion for the masses became dim, the modes of life began to be fixed and crystallized, horizons at higher scientific levels were recognized by a certain few, but for the masses the boundaries permitting immediate hope of improvement of conditions became to a high degree fixed.
Various methods have been used at various times in various nations to keep the masses from becoming too unsettled and dissatisfied with their lot, but generally these methods have hinged around warfare in some manner. However, as class distinctions grew and the upper classes and the wealthy began to be self-satisfied and arrogant, giving little heed to the lower classes, the true Creative Urge of the masses became stifled; but by this time the standards of right and wrong which were accepted by the founders of the nation had become more or less fixed nationally in the consciousness of the people and in the laws of the land. Because of the inflexibility of the concepts and the laws concerning right and wrong, and because of the tendencies of such national conditions to smother true creative expression, hypocrisy and evil activities of various kinds always began to flourish under a cloak of self-righteousness.
Such activities have invariably begun to breed an attitude of contempt for law in the minds of the masses so that, to a high degree, the mass mind has been convinced that its only possibilities of true fulfilment and progress were in a range of activity which to some degree violated the fixed laws of the land. Because of this conviction, coupled with the inflexibility of the laws, the rigidity of social standards and concepts, and the widespread hypocrisy of the self-righteous, a certain false halo began to evolve around questionable activities, and since true creative expression was hindered and stultified the mass of individuals began to find their only range of personal satisfactions in pleasure-seeking.
Gradually, with true creative expression denied or made virtually impossible by circumstances, the two illegitimate channels of expression opening before the individual functioning on the basis of the mass consciousness have been liquor and sex; the demoralizing influence of liquor reducing sexual expression to a level of vileness and lust, even when confined between husband and wife. Recognizing the evils of wrong sexual expression, some have tried to combat the situation by denouncing sex itself as being evil. Others have tried to control the situation by more vigorous enforcement of more rigid laws which, in turn, tended to establish a confining, constricting influence upon the inherent urges of self-expression in the masses, so that the ill conditions have only been aggravated and not corrected.
In our own land at the present time some of these principles have been recognized, and some efforts are being made to encourage self-expression in the young through craftsmanship, etc—however, the range of such activities is totally inadequate to the need and falls short of providing a final solution to the problem. The tremendous increase in the use of intoxicating liquors is simply an evidence that the mass of human beings has failed to find adequate self-expression and fulfilment in life. Seeking to combat liquor as if it were in itself the primary evil is and will be futile. The only solution is to open the way, for those who have any self-respect remaining, to begin to find individual and collective fulfilment in self-expression. In order to experience such fulfilment in self-expression the Creative Urges of human beings cannot be ignored.
At this point we might well pose a question. Why has a widespread eruption of sexual demoralization always accompanied the decline of every great empire in the past? A complete answer to this question is impossible within the scope of our present consideration. Briefly it is this: When the boundaries of the empire or nation have been established, and when the progressive steps already outlined have led to a state of crystallization in the conditions of the masses, the main current of creative expression inherent in human beings has not found an adequate channel for release within the scope of the laws, social standards and conditions of the time. When this pent-up urge for creative expression reaches a certain point of pressure through the passage of time it is bound to erupt with destructive results if it is not given a constructive channel of expression. The very fact that this same cycle has worked out so many times in past history should prove to the skeptical that this very eruption of sexual demoralization provides the key to release from the vicious cycles that have, in time past, brought oblivion to every great empire, kingdom or nation.
Instead of trying to repress and control by strict law and regulation, according to outmoded standards and laws, the Creative Urge inherent in the masses, natural adjustments in viewpoint and attitude toward a higher level of life should be opened up in spite of prejudice and selfish interests, so that this force, which has in the past destroyed, might be utilized on a constructive, creative basis to lift the mass to a higher level of life, so that the constricting boundaries in the horizontal sense might not appear to establish limitations in the vertical sense. The mass urges which have heretofore brought destruction could provide the energy necessary to lift the mass to a state of living and consciousness which has heretofore been unknown in the whole scope of recorded history.
Instead of decrying the presence of these energies which tend to find expression in spite of the crystallizations of concept, attitude and law, there should be a recognition that herein lies man’s greatest possibility of fulfilment, providing the leaders of the people are willing to see the truth of the matter and catch the current on the crest of the wave, before it is dashed to pieces on the rocks of the shores of time. It is not movement expanding beyond present boundaries that is needed so much as it is movement upward into the unknown levels of life which are open to those who are willing to recognize the true possibilities and opportunities which are afforded in the circumstances which confront the human family at the present time.
International disturbances are primarily focalized in the greed of selfish interests which play upon the mass desire for fulfilment. As long as human beings imagine that the expansion must take place horizontally, conflicts over boundaries will continue; but once the great Creative Urges of the masses are directed to movement upward, within the boundaries reasonably established, the possibilities for fulfilment are absolutely unlimited. Within the scope of such a program the opportunities afforded every man, woman and child on the face of the earth are greater than any human being can possibly imagine. Is it too much to hope that there are enough people in the world who are willing to relinquish prejudice and crystallization of viewpoint and attitude to a point where the Creative Urges of the masses may be allowed to move upward to a level of life expression and fulfilment impossible on the basis of any materialistic plan or program?
Martin Cecil — The part which impressed me was the possibilities with respect to verticalexpansion. Once the vision is taken away from consideration merely of horizontal expansion, the vertical is fundamentally the change of outlook that is required. The solution lies in that direction alone. Nearly every activity from the world standpoint is directed to a consideration of release by some means of horizontal expansion. A teaching or a service which emphasizes the possibilities of release through an expansion in the vertical direction should stand out very vividly and clearly from every other world teaching or service of any kind. That is something that I feel should be taken with respect to our Expansion Program.
Uranda — I like your outline very much, Martin. The problem rests in getting people to look high enough to see the possibilities of vertical expansion. The problem, as it is posed there, is with respect to conditions in the world as a whole now, and with respect to those who are recognized as world leaders, who are virtually without any answer, without solution. We know from the standpoint of past history that human beings, on any scale large enough to be of primary influence in world affairs now, are not going to “lift up their eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh their help.” So as far as world application is concerned, I know of no way of evolving any plan or program or method by which the principles could become effective under a social order or world condition such as we have. The problem is there.
The principles involved in finding a solution are outlined—but a solution in the horizontal sense, getting it started now under these conditions, is highly improbable, to say the least. So what it takes, as you suggest, is recognition from the standpoint of our Expansion Program, which factors we have to take into consideration. But it appears, I think quite rightly, hopeless for us to expect any action with regard to these things, to any degree at least, in any activity older than this that has its goal in the manifestation of the Christ Kingdom. Gradually, as we prove that a vertical expansion is possible, there will be those who will be drawn into it; but from the standpoint of any immediate application on the basis of present world problems, I see no way by which action can be taken.
I was thinking of it in this sense. I was looking at the decline of our own nation. There are a lot of people who do not see that there is a decline here in this country; a lot of people who are pointing to wonderful utopian periods ahead; but the evidences of decay are on every hand and there is a decline. A recognition of these principles on a national scale, with widespread acceptance, could conceivably stop that trend of decline and carry the thing back up. The insoluble part of it, as far as any immediate application of it is concerned, rests in the fact that there is not any way by which you could get a national acceptance that would check the present decline. Therefore, from the standpoint of the outworking historically in the past, the only thing that can be done is to let the decline continue, and continue to establish a focalization that is working on the vertical basis. But after the decline, after things have changed and the decay has worked out to a still greater extent, it may reach a point where those who remain are willing to see the fundamental principles involved and begin to move upward.
I was undertaking to analyze the factors that are at work in the decline of our own country and outline something of the principles that would have to be recognized if that decline were by some means to be checked. We see the same thing at work in the British Empire. From one standpoint it would seem that the United States should not be declining this soon. But the British Empire was working out an expansion of boundaries for a much longer time, over the period of history, than the United States was. The United States came to the end of its boundary expansion much sooner than the British Empire did. Well, the British Empire has found that it could not carry its own load and it is gradually receding, gradually folding back on itself now. The situation here in the United States is different, yet the decline is here and the decay is at work. In both cases the principles are virtually identical. The things that would have to be recognized to stop that decline are indicated here, but how get a sufficient recognition of those principles so that the decline could be checked and movement headed upward?
From our standpoint, on the basis of the recognition of the fulfilment of the Cosmic Plan, we would not be interested in achieving that unless it could be carried far enough upward to begin to open out into the actual expression of the Christ Kingdom principles. But as citizens of the world in an outer sense, because we are living here, we look at the matter and see what might be done if it could be done, to check this decline and cause it to be from this point onward a true evolution into that field of Reality. Again we come to the point that we recognized in the past, that there is no way by which the world as a whole can be caused to move upward far enough to allow the fulfilment of the Cosmic Plan without the destructive processes which the world itself engenders. While we wish we could do something about it in that sense, an analysis of it shows that there is precious little that could be done.
If we became a group of missionaries and went out and tried to drive the thing home, we might get a few hundred thousand people converted to a doctrine, an idea, start a party or something, and it would be comparatively easy, but you would not get far enough to ever stop the decline and make it effective in movement upward. Therefore, there is not any basis evident at the present time that would warrant any action on the basis of outer world procedures. If we could devise some way to utilize outer world procedures in recognition of these principles, so that we might effectively check this decline, hold it and cause it to move upward on the vertical expansion, within the range of the principles of Reality, we would do it. That would be a proposition whereby we would be avoiding all of these cataclysmic, destructive results and causing it to move easily and naturally for the world mass into the better state. I challenge anybody, any of you here or anyone else, to find a means by which, within the range of outer world procedures, we could do anything that would give hope of accomplishing the purpose.
The only thing we can do is to let the outer world go on through its processes of decay as they are at work, and keep on building this from the standpoint of Reality in the world; and then trust that at the proper time there will be enough response in the world to catch the thing before it hits complete bottom—before the annihilation of the human race in other words—and carry it up from that low point. It would be a much more wonderful thing if we could catch it here, without letting it go down, and help raise the whole thing to a higher level. But how can it be done? From the standpoint of past history, from the standpoint of the tendencies of human beings, of all the procedures that are at work in the world, I cannot see any way by which it can be done. We come right back to a centering in the Program as we have been carrying it out.
I felt that it was absolutely essential to examine into the field to see if there might be any way by which action could be taken on an outer basis to check that decline and help it move upward. Here are the principles involved, the causes of the decline, but we are without any method of applying it within the scope of world procedure on a basis that would be effective for the whole. We see these cycles working out in the world—the same principles exactly working out in relationship to the world that we have been considering from the standpoint of ourselves individually and as a Unit. Either the cycles that are constructive and moving upward on the verticalexpansion, or cycles initiated that move into realms of decay, disintegration and downward movement. They are one way or the other. We have been becoming more attuned into the upward moving cycles, learning how to function within them, but here we see the cycles as they are working in the world as a whole, and the factors involved in the basic sense. It is not a question of so-called democracy or so-called communism or something else. These are basic things that get down underneath, and unless these basic things can be dealt with within the scope of outer world procedures we have no means of accomplishing anything from the standpoint of the whole at the present time.
John Oshanek — It appears that the best way we can do something for the world is to turn all our energies to the focalization we are working in, and the sooner we give all our response to the focalization of what you are doing now, the sooner we will catch up those who are coming down.
Uranda — We can, perhaps, catch some of them who are coming down. But it is that we will be ready—that when the thing hits bottom and everything cracks, we do not crack. From the outer world standpoint those structures that are of the world are going to crack when they hit bottom. Unless we have something that is so based in Reality that it does not crack under those pressures we are not going to be in one whit better position than anybody else to help carry the thing up from bottom. Apparently there is no way of lifting it from the present point. We have to keep doing what we are doing and then undertake to lift it from bottom. We have to let it go down before we can bring it back up.
Richard Thompson — I remember one of your Summer Session services in which you talked about the pyramid structure in the world, where at a certain point the larger pyramid would disintegrate into smaller pyramids. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2021/01/two-pyramids.html] So with regard to what you said about our standing steady and letting our focalization be so firm that it cannot break, it would then follow that these pyramids, when they come to disintegrate, would have to go through that period in order that we can come to a point where the upward movement can be initiated on a basis according to Reality.
Uranda — Well, above all things then, this emphasizes something that is very important to us. It is interesting to look at the factors that are involved from a world standpoint. It is not much good speculating about things over which we have no control; but it does emphasize the extreme importance of our functioning effectively in the field where we can function now, so that we will be ready to do something when the time comes when we can do something. The mere fact that we cannot do anything from the standpoint of the masses at the present time should not cause us to get sluggish in our function and to become careless in our procedures. Rather, it should encourage us to bend every effort to the point of being ready to do something when the time comes when we can do something. So that is the net result of my primary purpose in bringing this before you, because it relates what we’re doing, to the world, and the conditions and the things that are working out—things that are bound to come—unless we can hold steady ourselves and cause this that we are working in to be stronger than anything else, so that it is constantly moving in the vertical point of expansion regardless of the limitations around us.
You see, we have to prove that. We cannot just expand out horizontally. Regardless of limitations, we have got to prove the principle of expansion vertically. Then if we carry that out properly so that it is something real in the world, the time will come when we can do something. So let us be ready to do something at the point where we can do something in the larger sense. We can do something for a few, all that we can reach now—and we have an Expansion Program in mind. But here is the thing as I see it in relationship to that expansion: all we can hope to do is to keep this focalization growing and developing and becoming stronger until the day when we will be in position to do something effective from the standpoint of the whole.
Martin Cecil — That relates to the necessities of carrying through on the cycles that are set up now in order that we may move forward to the point where, when the time comes, there will be that cycle in perfection ready, because we will have reached that point by carrying through on these intermediate cycles to that point.
Uranda — That is right. Well now, has this helped you to a better basic understanding of our fundamental problems in relationship to the world, and the necessities of our unified endeavor? If we can devise some means of reaching those who recognize that spiritual help must come from somewhere, and begin to give them something to have faith in, a field to move and work in, then we will be doing something. It would be a wonderful thing if some means could be worked out to do that, in order to check this decline quickly enough to keep it from crashing. But looking back at history, there are a lot of people who are genuinely responding and who are genuinely convinced that it must be from spiritual help, but how far are they willing to go in letting spiritual help become a reality? They have got to let their own lives change. They have got to let themselves be moved out of their ruts. While theoretically, and to some degree in fact, they accept that point, when you come to the point of expecting them to really do something about it, it is another thing.
Kathy Meeker — With the Body at the state of development that it is now, even if all the mass of humanity grabbed on for help, I wonder if the Body has reached the maturation point of carrying the momentum.
Uranda — It is a good question. It will come on gradually I think, within a certain range. But there is going to be a certain point somewhere along the line where that load is going to come on suddenly. At the moment I have no means of telling how soon that is going to be. But I do know that unless we are strong by reason of right function according to the principles of Reality, when that load does come, we will give way under it—and then where will we be? We have got to be ready to take the load when it comes, and meanwhile reach out. It is through those who are becoming convinced that spiritual help offers the only hope that we are going to begin to take hold of the situation now, but they will be drawing out of that mass vibration rather than catching it as a mass.
Kathy Meeker — It shows that we must all let individual and collective changes be made in our own lives.
Uranda — So that the focalization in Reality is a truly factual thing on earth. That is the only hope. We have to forget self-interest in the development of the whole, so that we can be a true channel of giving out into the world to those who are ready, to those whom we can reach. I am conscious virtually all the time, in one way or another, of the fact that there are tens of thousands of people in the world who are just as good, just as sincere, just as responsive as those who happen to be emissaries; and if there was some way of reaching them they would pitch in and help do the job. The mere fact that we are conscious of it does not mean that we are the only ones in the world who are ready. It is that problem of contacting them that we have to work out now, and that is the real purpose of our Expansion Program. There are those tens of thousands whose capacity and sincerity and earnestness and longing is equal to anything any of us have ever experienced back along the line. Those are the ones we do not want to keep waiting. Let us not keep them waiting over-long.
The Nature of the Real is to Grow — The Nature of the Unreal is to Decay
Uranda July 23, 1946
You are beginning to realize the value of what I have talked about as “focalizations”.You are beginning to actually experience a specific focalizatlon of reality in the earth. Focalizatlon—the key to all things is to be found in their focalizations. Is it not so? With that—and I will go back and pick up the thread again in a few moments—I would read to you from Ephesians 6-12: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
It is true that rulers could not have become rulers had not those ruled contained within themselves that which corresponds to the qualities of the unreal—but even so, we find that focalizations established in the world begin, sooner or later, if they be maintained, to overlap each other. There may be in a certain place ten thousand people who, by reason of the unreal in them and the situations that cause them to function in the outer, have a focalization of the unreal for some specific purpose, and the focalization exists according to the concepts of needs or the uses of power. As long as those ten thousand people are left alone, anyone looking at them will see little beyond that focalization of the unreal. But when we come along in the spirit and power of the One Christ Body and begin to set up a focalization in that same place, or cause a focalization to overlap into that same place, we find that there are those among the ten thousand who have in them that which responds to our focalization. Then, for a little time, two pyramids stand on the same ground at the same time. Is that not true? Such a situation introduces interesting possibilities.
There is a saying that two things cannot occupy the same place at the same time. So we recognize that the pyramid that we establish in the same place that is already occupied is primarily vibratory—it is not filling all the space as yet, so there is some space for the pyramid of the unreal. But the strange thing is that the unreal, while it can be added to, never grows. You can add to it, but it never grows, does it? It decays. The interesting characteristic about the unreal is that it continually decays. If it were not for the additions all the time, decay would soon wipe evil from the face of the earth. If that which is good, of the Life Current, was not continually added to the form of evil, it would not take very many years for evil to just simply decay; it cannot grow; it cannot add to itself; it would decay and be no more. Is that not right?
Evil is absolutely powerless to grow. Had you ever thought about that? All we can do is to keep taking something good and adding it to the form, so that as fast as the form decays we keep building around it with that which is of the good. Generally speaking, the way it works in this world is that, as the form decays in the center—in the altar of Baal—the young people in whom the natural essence of life and goodness is to be found, are just pushed into it at the center—which is decaying. That is the only way that the altar of Baal can be maintained—that is, as the good in which life is, is added to it. The world is sacrificing its sons and daughters unto Baal. The interesting point to me, is that that which is of Reality cannot decay—it always grows. Interesting facts, are they not?
When we have these pyramids, not actually occupying the same space at the same time, but having their foundations overlapping—then, the nature of the unreal is to decay; the nature of the real is to grow. If the focalization is maintained, the base cannot be moved. That is true of both pyramids, isn't it? But in the case of the unreal pyramid the focalization is maintained by pushing that which still has life in at the bottom and forcing it up, so that a pinnacle is maintained arbitrarily, regardless of decay. The focalization of the real does not stand on something forced into it and under it, or something that is forced to stay there until it decays—it is of the current of Life, and through the creative power of Love it draws unto itself its own, and by its nature it grows.
Let us suppose that this is an equal contest—now, there isn't anything of equality in this contest at all—but we might suppose for a minute a condition where it might seem to be somewhat equal, and the focalization of the real is simply maintained. The nature of the real is to grow, and as it grows it finds space around it that was previously occupied by the unreal, but the unreal decays pretty soon, and the space is occupied by that which grows—and there is no space for the unreal. Just that simple process alone, maintained, would in a comparatively short time cleanse the earth of all unrighteousness, would it not? Do you see what I mean?
Even if we had to meet the situation on what we might call equal ground, we should have a sure thing against a certainty of losing on the other side. There is no equality. But we are not limited to that. We have a focalization and when it is maintained the focalization is not concerned about all the good people who are going bad in order to maintain the pyramid of the unreal. We are not concerned about them at all, for the moment at least. We are concerned about that which is at the point of focalization of that pyramid of the unreal, that which is at the point of control. So, if we have a point of control and if we have a pyramid that has an Apex—not just flat on top—then the point of the Apex can begin to deal with that which is at the apex of the pyramids of the unreal.
The most difficult thing in the world for human beings is to find people who can be satisfactory points of apex in their pyramids of the unreal. Isn't that true? Leadership according to world concepts is comparatively rare. There have been times in the past when, by reason of some great leadership, there was a great pyramid. When that leadership goes, and this pyramid settles down and spreads out, it becomes half a pyramid with many points of apex. Then, if they cannot find leaders to maintain it at this level, this gradually settles down, and we get more and more little pyramids—lots of them, not because they are multiplying, but because they are decaying.
In the world as it is today, you do not find very many really big pyramids, do you? To the outer mind, that makes it seem to be a difficult problem. I rather think that it makes the job easier. The fact is that their points of apex are not very solid, and when we deal with these points, one by one, step by step—or maybe getting a lot of them together once in a while—then what happens to the pyramid? So-called leaders may scramble around and find someone whom they can push up to the top and make it hold, but generally the pyramid squashes down. They may manage to make a few little pyramids, but they do not amount to much. The main thing is that, as those points of control of the unreal are removed, as the strength of these pyramid apexes is reduced, and this thing gets scattered out, then the people who were absolutely bound about by the structure of the great pyramid can get out—they can peek out of the little ones and see the daylight. It is turning them loose. We could go out there and hammer against the base of the big pyramid—we might kill out ten thousand from the outside of the pyramid; try to keep them from going to oblivion; just send them to oblivion first—but it would not do any good. So we simply let the thing crumble of its own weight. It is a very simple matter.
The Lord always figures out the easy way to do things. We just let it crumble of its own weight, and then those people who have been bound with bars of iron and gates of brass will have a chance to get out. When they have that chance we want to be sure that they have every opportunity to see that there is a reason for them to come out. We must be sure that they have an opportunity to hear the call: “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sin.” If they are given the correct opportunity, many of them will come out.
We are not so interested in just eliminating all of the evil from the face of the earth. Suppose right now, by some Act of God, I were given power to wipe all evil from the face of the earth immediately. I wonder how many of you would be left. Do you suppose that there would be enough of the unreal left in you that you would be partly destroyed at least. Just wiping evil from the face of the earth would be wiping humanity from the face of the earth, destroying the good with the bad. So that is the reason for letting this work out in the way that it has done, so that every individual on the face of the earth will be given every possible opportunity to obey the call: “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sin.”
When we have so functioned that the Gospel of this Kingdom has been preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and all who will have come and responded and been drawn into the Way, the Truth and the Life, then the residue will constitute no great problem. When they see the manifestation of the real in the earth, their natural reaction will be to feel that the people who have served God are the cause of all of their difficulties. The point is that those who refuse to obey God always have troubles, and they alwaysblame someone else, never themselves, so they jump to the conclusion that the people of God are the cause of their difficulties. That is bound to come as the focalization of the things of God begin to actually appear on the earth—not because we want it so, but we know in advance that that is what is going to happen, and there isn't anything under the sun that will keep it from happening except to eliminate the people of God from the earth. That is, to stop being people of God. That would deny God and put us in a spot that I would not like to share. Since we have a real focalization, it will continue to be so as long as we abide in the Lord and let Him do the works.
Having that focalization of Reality in the earth, the simplest process of all will be taking care of those who undertake to fight against God. The difficult and delicate operation, after the manifestation of the Body, and it is trained to truly function, is to be certain that we have given every one ample opportunity to turn and know the Way. During that time, points of opposition will appear, and we just let it come—not that we wish it—we are not fighting against them; but we just let it come, because a peculiar fact about the Fire is that it will flash out just as easily on a vibration of opposition as it will on a vibration of response. The only thing that does not make it flash is that which is absolutely passive and neutral. Do you see what I mean?
My function previously has been as an individual working to draw together the members who will permit themselves to be the One Christ Body. With the manifestation of the Body in actual function, our job is to Let Love Radiate, and remember that it is the Head, or the properly authorized Member, who deals with the adversary, because the Head may find that there are occasions where the adversary can be dealt with, with the right hand in proper position. On the other hand, various members, under various conditions, might be utilized. But always, if it is going to be effective, the Head has to direct the action.
The first great realization for the members of the Body is to remember that they need not be concerned about meeting these things of the opposition, of the unreal, or things of that nature. Understanding in that realm will come, true enough, but remember that segregated action on the part of a member, self-actively, for no matter how good a purpose, will create division and prevent the function of the Body. In other words, a member might just want so much to double up his fist and sock, but that fist had just better stay put, no matter how much it wants to move, until the Head says to let go. As long as we function as a Unit under the control of a singlepointoffocalization, we are absolutely invincible, but the very moment that the members of the Body try to work out these things according to what they think would be a good idea for the good of the Lord's Service, it is going to lead to trouble and they will probably be the ones to catch it first. If something like that ever does happen, I am going to be sure that you are without excuse.
If we are to function properly, the purpose of function is to Let Love Radiate to all alike—regarding no one as enemy. We must radiate all of the time, as the sun shines, not being concerned about focalizations of evil. If you start looking for them, you will think you find them everywhere; you will start imagining things. The thing to do is to remember that the Body has one job, and that is to Let Love Radiate, and when, on the basis of correct function, under the direction of the Head, we do meet opposition—that is, deal with it—it will be on the basis of Love, because it is the only basis upon which we can act. Most of this might not appear to the human concept as real at the moment but that is beside the point.
Since there is a Christ Body and there is a radiation of the Fire of the Christ Love, those within the scope of our radiation have, automatically, the opportunity to know, and if it were not for that radiation there would not develop a focalization of opposition—therefore, when the focalization of opposition appears, it has already had its opportunity. It would not take form on the basis of opposition unless it had had that opportunity; therefore we deal with it on the basis of its own judgment of itself. That is the Principle involved. So, except as it may be brought out for consideration by the Head, the members of the Body are not to concern themselves about dealing with the dark forces, or opposition, or evil, because if you start thinking about it, meditating upon it, or trying to figure it out, you are going to cease to be a member of the One Christ Body. It can happen awful fast, and I mean awful—full of awe.
Remember always that the basic principles that you have learned all the way through still hold, and except as we give attention to the things of reality we cannot possibly hope to carry through. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” That should mean more to you today than it ever has in the past. That is why I have been emphasizing the spheres of responsibility here. As members of the One Christ Body, unless we are obedient to that Word, it will be as nothing. And that has to be done in really living the Christ Life—not seething inside with resentment. Not just by saying, “I am looking for good things to think about”—and isn't that just about as sensible as the human being is sometimes?
It has to be real. Remember folks, I always know the difference between the real and the counterfeit, whether I make the test right in front of you and show it up or not. And remember that I am not interested in anything that is counterfeit—it does not impress me; it does not help; it is utterly valueless; and sooner or later I will see that it is tossed out into the garbage.
Remember that there is just one type of thing that can be used, and that is the genuine article. Unless it is genuine, it cannot be used very well, and whatever is counterfeit has to be removed. We shall remove it ever so gently and be sure that it is filled with the real if you will let me perform the operation the way I want to do it, but if you insist on trying to work it out according to some concept of yours, you are liable to find on one bright day that with one clean sweep the Sword is likely to lay it right apart, and you can take it or leave it. Unless it is genuine, it is absolutely no good at any time. I tolerate some counterfeit, so that we may not be under the necessity of making spectacles of things, so that we can let these things change gradually and as painlessly as possible, but, sooner or later, that Sword will operate if you insist on trying to do it your way—and that is that.
In my function I actually have drawn the lovely out of each one of you. Everything that is fine and real in you I have been drawing out as rapidly as I could, so that it might be on top, but when there is something unreal inside—and even though you may try to hide it from me, I may let you think you are getting by with it a little while—but you will learn sooner or later that when I look I am not looking with human vision that can be easily deluded. I think you know that already. I have proven it too many times. That does not mean that I am going to arbitrarily reach inside of your heart and yank this or that out. No. I have consistently worked to draw from within you that which is lovely, fine, true, real and noble, that it may manifest effectively. But in that process you find that, willingly or unwillingly, as long as you stay within the range of my responsibility and authority, sooner or later, I insist that the unlovely corners be opened up and that you take a look at them. You may think that you have something tucked away so far and so deep that I shall not know that it is there, or that I cannot find it. I think a few of you could testify that there is no such place to be found.
I have accepted this One Christ Body, in which I have the fullest of love, faith and trust, on the level of its function. I have unified with it as its Head, and I do not think that my love or my faith could be made manifest any more than it has been—but that One Body has a lot of growing to do, and those members who are in it will have to be, sooner or later, fully purified. Any walls that remain will have to be broken down; anything hidden in the depths will have to be brought to the light. It can be done in the light between you and me before God, without the others looking on, if you will let it be so. But if you do not, one bright day I will rip it off where everybody can take a look at it—and I don't mean maybe.
I cannot make you do anything. I am not interested in making you do anything. The only thing that is any good in this One Christ Body is LoveResponse and what you doin Love Response of your own volition, because you want to do that more than anything else in the world. Anything that you do under a feeling of compulsion, or because you think I require it, is counterfeit. Many times I have seemed to accept it for the time, because I wanted to give you every opportunity to grow, but anything that is counterfeit is utterly no good. Only what you do that is right for the pure joy of doing right, without compulsion, because it is what you want to do more than anything else in the world—only that done in Love Response is any good.
There is one sure thing. Remember this. This Body of which I am a member is made up of many members. I will not let any member jeopardize the whole. Our responsibility is not just for the members of this Body, but for the world body of responding ones, and as the One Christ Body—while there is a training period, and while I deal with every matter with all the Love that I can, and you know it—there is that which requires that we follow the groove, that we hew to the line, that we let the work be performed according to the Plan—the Blueprint, if you please—and it will be done that way by this Body as long as I am its Head. You know that. But with respect to the necessities of outworking in this Body, it is necessary that I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, so that you function in that realization. “Behold, I make all things new”—inside and out, up and down and all around, every whit whole.
These are considerations with respect to the work to which we are called, and things with respect to our function in the doing of that work. It is the greatest work on earth. It is the most important thing in all the world. Millions of lives depend on it. I have not seen any sign that anyone else was too seriously considering doing the job. To depend on someone else would be the sheerest folly. I am not taking the attitude that there are not any other people in the world who could do the work if they would. Do you see what I mean? We are not the only good people in the world, not by a long shot. I suspect that if we looked around we might find a group of people who might be called even better, who never heard of the Third Sacred School. We do not have any cause for self-righteousness, nor human pride—and pride goeth before a fall. We do not like falls. We had one thousands of years ago, a pretty big tumble—and there have been several since. There have been so many of them that it seems to me that we ought somehow to stop making them. The world is cluttered up with them; the world needs something else; the world needs something that it has not got. So instead of making another fall we would rather have that open Gateway that lets Heaven come down from God into the earth, that all things may truly for all people be made new.
I should like to read a few words from Revelation 21: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” Have you heard that Voice? The Tabernacle of God is the One Christ Body on earth, in which He dwells, lives, moves and has His Being, and functions to the degree that we let it be purified and made every whit whole. “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” That is the description in Revelation 21:3—the double three, by the way—of the manifestation of the One Christ Body on earth.
