David Barnes — This is Shirley’s hour, but she did invite me to introduce her. It's delightful to welcome you all into this company of elders; and I think that's truly what we can call ourselves, not just because of our age, but because of the accumulated wisdom that has gathered over years of paying attention to the things of the spirit which, when they become embodied and lived, create in us an elder presence at some point in our life—with minds clear, hearts open, spirit vibrant and ready to bring something living and transcendent into the world of crazy mixed-up, man. Maybe we at one time felt that we were part of that assembly of crazy, mixed-up man, but something occurred to lift us out of that and bring us through the cycles of growth and development, where we might truly say in this day that I am an elder in the house of the Lord on earth. I think this is a good way to introduce Shirley because she truly is an elder.
I first met the Malin family 50 years ago right now, in April 1972 when I went out to Riverbend Orchard, an organic communal farm in Kamloops that was associated with the central Emissary community [The Lodge] at 100 Mile House; and I went out there to buy goat milk for my young daughter. When I was there I met Shirley's husband, along with some others. It took me a year to go back, and at that time I met Shirley directly. So Shirley and I have first met face-to-face forty-nine years ago—seven times seven—and it seems auspicious that this is your day and hour to be with us Shirley.
Over the months when we have shared Temple of Light services, there has been an emphasis, in a very subtle way, on the emergence of a new quality of man and a new quality of woman on earth, the emergence of divine men and divine women in expression, taking responsibility spiritually, in radiant action, radiant thinking, radiant feeling, here on earth, with emphasis on the fact that this is occurring in our midst, and we can see it unfolding through the lives of others all around the world in this day. A new quality and a new emergence of man and woman. Divine Man, we could say—maybe just say real man, true man, upright man, honourable man; honorable woman, true woman, radiant woman. And I find that this is emphasized today as well, as I introduce Shirley.
One aspect of Divine Woman is Divine Mother, whether she has given birth to physical children or not in Her embodiment on earth—but this sense of mothering something that is to emerge new and fresh through all men and all women who would let that happen; and through men, whether they are physical fathers are not, a sense of fathering the new emergence of sons and daughters, men and women, and caring for and loving what is seen as the emergence of Divine Woman and Divine Mother. In a very particular way, we as men and women coming forth in new ways, have a responsibility, as sons and daughters of God, to represent the Spirit of Mother God, and represent the Spirit of Father God. And one might even say, to represent the spirit of GrandMother and GrandFather, who could be seen as represented in the radiance of the Sun and the focus of Divine Being that we sense is present, and is the source of the great radiance that bathes this whole solar system of which the earth is a part.
We were born to be here on earth in this time, called to remember the fact that we are sons and daughters of God; that we are not part of the body of what has been called in scriptures “the son of perdition”—corruption, destruction, defilement. But we are here as the sons and daughters of love and truth, bringing life in new ways to this planet which has been, over many ages, defiled and, to put it directly, raped, by those who did not know what they were doing. We begin to know what we're doing, as the sons and daughters of God, representing the Father of Love and the Mother of Truth, and bringing a focus of the Spirit of Life through our elder presence as men and women. So it's a particular joy to acknowledge this relative to our friend Shirley who, since she first started to wake up, knew that she was here to be a Divine Woman on earth, and to let that develop and grow into the presence of a true elder, at whatever age that might emerge.
None of us here are particularly expert speakers. We don't look upon ourselves as professionals in that sense; although, as we develop our elder substance, something quite proficient comes through us, though we weren't really trained to be speakers; nonetheless we find we have something to say. We have called it the Word of Spirit expressed in the moment in a living manner— the rhythms of the spirit. But we're here together as friends taking our turn, each one of us, speaking what we have to speak, from our position of an elder in the body of the newly emerging Israel, which is translated as the newly emerging action of the Spirit of God coming through men and women on earth now. Israel—the action of God through men and women on earth. And the elders have been gathered to this extent in this Temple service; and in the world it's happening; and out of this developing body of elder presence comes a point of focus for the expression of spirit that provides a fresh, new exemplification of the government of God.
So Shirley, maybe I have introduced you in a way that might make it seem like that’s a large commission to take on in the few minutes that you have. But I know you have lived your life in this way. And to this hour you and we have been brought together—and it is pure joy to welcome you as a friend, an elder, a Divine Woman and precious colleague. It is good to work together this morning with you. And now we have your words to share with us now— so over to you.
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Shirley Malin — Thank you David. My heart is filled to the brim. Indeed, I'm not here to deliver some grand presentation telling everybody how to go about their lives, but simply to bring something of the substance of my own living. And it is pretty amazing to think that we have come this far, and not necessarily been very much consciously connected with each other's lives; but as with most of us in this Zoom call, we have been in this work together.
Interestingly, it's Easter Day, and in the Christian world they talk about Jesus coming forth from the tomb; but there is the assumption that he died and now he's come back to life. Well, I think we have a sensing that that is a misunderstanding of the truth of what he came to deliver to us, because he never died. He always remained this connected Being to the earthly form, and so he was able to walk out of that tomb. And I believe that this is what we're feeling in this day—we are coming to this rebirth, some people might call it, or coming forth from the tomb. I'm sure that there are a number of us on the line who are parents, and know something about this birthing process, which can be quite uncomfortable in the state that we know now; often lots of pain, and there's a reaching out to get rid of the pain; so we take a medication, or we have someone cut the baby out of our womb; but it's all part of the disaster that's perpetuated what we've known for so long. And we're here now to let the new birth occur because of what I would call the purity of heart. That has been very much my emphasis since I was a child. I didn't have much comprehension of this, but I really related to this service of Martin’s, called Woman, given in August of 1970, which was the year before I met him, and before I became aware of what was happening on earth.
When I was a child, as I look back now, I recall having chosen the two parents that I arranged to be my parents, to steward me through the youthful age, so that there would be enough discipline to experience the truth of love; not just the love that I knew and felt and really wanted to express, but it needed to be under the design and the control of the One who sent me here. And my parents were a wonderful, nurturing, loving couple to provide that beautiful sense of truth, because it wasn't based on the concepts of how one should behave so much, or what you should believe in, but there was the loving discipline, and in those days it was okay to spank a child, and I had my share of that. But it was always done in love, and precisely when it was needed. I've looked back and been so grateful because, as a woman, I’ve never had any trouble attracting men. So this whole thing that is discussed about what women do to create conditions to please themselves wasn't necessarily a big draw for me. It was more about allowing those essences that were attractive to be properly disciplined and stewarded for a greater purpose. I may not have known what that purpose was until I met Martin. Then it began to make sense. But my father had instilled in me this careful, precise stewarding of these essences, because he knew what it was that I needed to work with. And my mother, being in agreement, allowed the whole process to work out.
In this service—I thought maybe I'd read Martin’s words but now I really feel like I need to use a lot of my own words—but from this service called Woman, Martin is saying, “true government emerges on earth as a woman, clothed with the sun—spoken of in the Book of Revelation—through her is brought forth the man child who rules the nations with a rod of iron, the rod of iron representing the absoluteness of divine government.” This is what my father represented to me in the earthly sense; because if I were in need of a spanking, even though he'd just come home from work, and he was so glad to see his family, and wanting to extend his loving arms, if Mom had reported that I'd been cheeky and disrespectful, and I needed a spanking, he was willing to do it—and to me that is so precious.
Something else Martin said, which is beautiful to me, is to think of the woman as clothed with the sun, what we might call radiance. There is this radiant, loving ability to be connected with God, the Creator, the One I came to serve, and to let that light shine forth through me as an invitation and a substance of living that enfolds everybody in my world. Well, these power structures that man has created, they represent the other woman in the Bible called the “great whore,” or Babylon. So, to the degree that anyone of us has been striving for these things that would be pleasing, like marriage, and a nice house, and being raised in good company, we have betrayed our True Purpose. This was my hereditary lifestyle. I was raised in the top 5% of the money-earning people in the world, up in Canada, in Montreal actually. We had lots of standards to live by, but there was a calling to me that went beyond that, and I didn't understand it, but I knew I needed to honor it, whatever it was. And interestingly enough, my father had come to the point of being what you might call agnostic or atheist; because his best friend had been killed by a propeller of an airplane out on the tarmac and that was so devastating to him, he thought, “Well, if there's a God, he couldn't allow that.” So he just dismissed all this religious ideology; but he honored my mother's position to continue in the church and to raise the children with this “Christian” background. So we attended the United Church of Canada. Here we had our childhood religious training until age 13, when we could become a “confirmed” and registered church member. So we had to go through all that. Once completed, my parents turned it over to us, me and my sister actually, and the decision was up to us, which I thought also was a very honorable thing. There wasn't this control pattern, where it's got to be a certain way.
So I went off to university, and there was a longing in me, but I didn't know what it was about. I remember I had this young man at the university who was quite enthralled with me and wanted to marry me. Of course I had been so well trained and I had to have things in proper order. I was a virgin and he was a devout Baptist. He had this passion for his religion, and I just remember feeling, “Oh, my! I long to have that kind of passion, but it won’t be for his religion”. My father helped me through that one. This guy lived 1000 miles away from us; we were in northern Quebec and he lived down in New Brunswick. When I was home on vacation from college one time, this young lad drove 1000 miles to come and see me, and he gave me a call, wanting me to come and meet him at the local hotel. I turned the phone over to my dad and said, “This guy wants to meet me, and you told me I wasn't to see him again for 5 years—give it time”. So he said, “All right, let me take care of it.” And he went over to the hotel to meet this guy, and he was with him for about an hour. Upon his return home he said: “I told him he could come and say ‘hello’, and ‘goodbye’”; and that's what he did, and away he went. And you'd think, oh, my God—I mean how many girls that I knew my age would have been absolutely devastated by this, and rebellious! But I trusted my father. And this to me is that beautiful trust that I have learned to trust in my Heavenly Father, not just my earthly Father.
Now this is something that relates to my love for what we're about here. The group of us that come together in this way—I find us sharing this passion, or I couldn't speak like this—it’s something we're doing together. It's an essence; it's moving through us and I feel very responsible for it, in the womanly sense, because of where I came from, and what I came to do; the job I know I came to do. And I had to spend many years alone doing this work. Yes, indeed, I was married, like David said; but that marriage was temporary. It was a part of the larger design and it was necessary; but it wasn't my reason for being. It wasn't striving to have a certain classification or security in life. It was to fulfill the process that was required at that level of things in my life. So after we parted, for me, it was so important to keep that purity of heart, and love, and respect for the one who had come to be with me for a certain cycle in this development, and then it was time to move on.
And my beautiful children—I wanted to protect them from a difficult upbringing, because their father really did have anger problems, and was very emotionally disruptive in the household. But my honor was to my Father, my heavenly Father. and after I met Martin, he was the one who held that point for me; and I made all my decisions of any import based on his input; and when it came time to separate, dissolve the marriage, I consulted him. And indeed it was appropriate at that time. So any of these major decisions for me, have been coming down from above to be expressed through this form, with the purity of heart that I've known and honored. For me, it's so important to provide this purity of womanhood because Man was created male and female, to represent God on earth. So we're a unit of male and female; and woman, according to the story, was taken from the rib of man; and if we recognize the physiology of the body, that rib is a protective mechanism for the heart and the lungs; and the lungs to me would represent spirit—as one breathes in the spirit and exhales one's own expression of that spirit. And the heart, of course, is the caring, loving purity that we are here to sustain. The female was taken of Adam's rib to protect him, to love him, and to bring forth his seed in the earth. And his seed isn't just physical babies. We seem to have lost connection with the true spiritual substance, and we all turned toward this physical love and lust for things, and one another, and babies, and all kinds of failures. But to me it's time for us as women to honor the true creation, not to follow Babylon the whore anymore. And I have a visual that speaks to me so beautifully—it's a video; it's an active vision that represents what I'm talking about with the relationship between male and female. And if you watch, it actually moves. Does anybody else feel this dynamic?
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It just touches me all the way through; this is the dynamic of the heavenly male bringing his substance into the earth and received by the female; and she's wearing some greenery, which would represent the earth, and the golden crown on her head. It's constantly in motion; it's not a static thing. To me that speaks so much of the love that the male and female can experience together. But it requires being in contact with God through the heart; and it's got to be the pure heart. Man has shut God out of the earth. He's gone about all his own business to create his own world and in so doing we have lost the purity and the function that we were meant to provide. And I feel like somehow we're all sensing this, and we're coming together in this Temple.
As Martin said, there may be all kinds of things that are wrong, unjust, unfair, but all such distorted patterns would very easily evaporate if one didn't support them. I mean, all the things that are going on in the earth now. How do you suppose they have any energy to continue? Where does that force come from? It all comes from the Creator, whether it's for disintegration or integration. It's all from the same source, so what is disrupting it? What's creating the mess? It's the impure heart. It's like a transistor radio seeking to receive the transmission from the Lord, and then there's so much static in it that what comes out is indiscernible; and we have robbed all this beautiful energy that has been provided for us to fill the earth, to replenish the earth, to bless the earth; and we have distorted it because of self-centeredness. What happened to Eve after she and Adam were in the Garden, and the Lord came walking in the Garden in the evening and they were hiding behind trees? Why was that? Because Eve had failed in her commission. She had become embroiled in her feeling realm, and decided that she knew what she needed to really fulfill this beautiful feeling she had. Well, what happened to Adam? He loved her so much; he felt like he couldn't abandon her; so he fell with her; he joined her in this. And when the Lord comes walking in the Garden, they're ashamed, they're fearful. So when we see it from this viewpoint, what is it that's our responsibility now? To come out of the fearful and shameful state.
I remember that Martin used to refer to the ABC’s. How many of you would remember what the ABC’s stand for? They are a result of fear, and judgment; then we have A—accusation, B—blame, C—criticism. And don't we find ourselves doing this to one another? We may not mean to do it, but something in us reacts to something someone may have said, or maybe a different opinion they had. “Well that doesn't make sense!” We're so busy living out of this mental capacity in the self-centered state. The mental capacity was designed to permeate the whole form and bring forth the wisdom of the creative process. But how we distorted it so! And now the call is—on Easter day of all times: “Wake up and come forth into my Garden. Follow me.” And a meaningful description comes to mind:”A man builds a house; but a woman creates a home”. Can we notice that when we walk into somebody's home? Is it just a house with all the beautiful décor, or is it truly a home where there is this love and agreement, and this substance between male and female. It doesn't matter—we don't have to see everything in the same conceptual light as long as we know it in the spiritual purity of heart. And we do release the reactionary parts of our experience, if we love the Lord thy God first.
I remember meeting a young couple at the hot springs one winter when we were travelling. We have this RV and we love to go down to the Southwest when it's cold in Colorado; so we go to Arizona and New Mexico to enjoy the warmth. We were at the hot springs with this young couple whom we had never met before, but here they were. They'd just been married for a year, and their hearts were so open to what it is I had to offer that I couldn't stop talking about what we're talking about now. And they loved it! So I brought to their attention the fact of the triangle that we've spoken about, with the Lord at the apex, and man and woman at each base of that triangle; and the point that the male and female orientation, their polarity, is to the apex, to the Lord God. Then they find themselves functioning together in agreement, in a most beautiful way. Even, like I say, if we don't have the same viewpoint on things. This point is what brings us together, and we begin to make the substance that fills out this triangle, and it's an invitation for others to come to. And when I explained this to this young couple just married one year, they both said, “Wow, that makes so much sense.” They did have a religious background. But you know in this day and age we have what we call spiritual, but not religious—it's a whole subset of the younger generation—‘spiritual but not religious’. And that makes a lot of sense to me, because we're coming out of the confines, the limitations of religion. Let's let it be spirit, knowing, because we're generating this substance.
I must tell you, I know I have a very beautiful young man—I call him young because I'm the mother, so that puts me in the elder position; but here he is, with such an awareness of True Purpose that I have seen his ability—and a lot of you have heard from him; his name is Aaron, and he's online right now with his beautiful wife and their 4 year-old daughter. Nevertheless, this young man has been a point of connection for me with this male-female experience. And if you can see that picture in your head again, you'll see that it's not simply a physical, sexual state. It's something so much more magnificent, with all the essences of heaven blending with the essences of the negative aspect, the woman aspect. Woman—Womb-man—so much comes to us, but it doesn't come only at the physical level. It has to come permeating through the spiritual first. And this young man has been with me since the day he was born; since the day he was conceived, shall we say, and provided something of the maleness, even though he was my child. I never had to correct him as a child; he always wanted to do the right thing, because that's who he is. Can you imagine? I had been through childhood disciplinary spankings myself but I never had to spank this young man. And that's another reason that I felt like I had to protect him, because as big a heart as his father had, he was also tough and angry, and it was very challenging for this young man, this young boy, to deal with these emotions. And I don't say anything disparaging about his father. I hope you understand. I have a great love for him, and the part that he played in bringing forth what we are experiencing together now. Even after we had parted we remained good friends; and he had this amazing family in the Mennonite clan in Kansas, and we would go to Thanksgiving gatherings with this clan of Mennonites every year, year after year, even though we weren't married anymore; and the clan was most welcoming because of the quality of relationship we had. Or I would take him to Canada, to my family up there for a Christmas celebration. It was a part of honoring the Truth of Love, not the human self-centered distortions.
So who should come into my life in 2007? Ron Beard—and I am introducing this most wonderful man that you have seen online with me before. And if you want to talk about the Truth of Love—here's another Man entering into my life. If he weren't so shy and humble he might explain some of these things. But he even came with me and my “ex” to these family gatherings. Now imagine, in the traditional human state, can you imagine a guy going along with that? He had to break out of his own thinking about these things, and take that bold step, to trust, to trust my heart, to trust the female. She would not manipulate. She would not betray. Isn't that what we're about? And I'm so thankful to have all these other women together with me in this, in agreement with Divine Woman.
There is something new being born on earth, and we are bearing this new child. There are pressures. In the state of the world the way it is now, childbirth can be very uncomfortable. So as a world body, we're going to feel this discomfort. But that pressure is the power of God, and as we're aligned with that, can you see the changes that can come? No judgments. We don't pick out who's bad, who's good; this is evil. It's all evolving. We've called it EVOL, that which is evolving in the creative process. So there's nothing wrong with it. It looks miserable according to our eyes of judgment and discomfort and reaction. But when we can find that still, quiet place there's nothing wrong with it. We can steward the power, the love, the glory of it all, and have our eyes wide open. Okay, that's happening; that's okay. We let it go. It's like we have to have a bowel movement every day— we have to let things go. We bring in that beautiful, purifying substance of spirit, and we let the spirit create the seed that’s to come forth.
So here we are together. I see all of us in that still place, without judgment, with love. And I'm so honored to be a part of this. I'm so thankful that David could trust me to do this, because he had no idea what I was going to say, and I didn't either—except that I've been working towards this for many years. So, please, let's be together, love together, and honor our KING in great glory and thanksgiving. And I know there have been some wonderful women who are supporting me in this, working with me in this, to come together for this beautiful moment.
Deborah Starrs — Shirley, I'm so touched by what you've just offered. And it's almost a prayer, and a longing of the heart that came through, that we not only abide in this place, but we continue without ceasing. No manipulation. No betrayal. No accusation, blame, or judgment. That seems like a tall order to the human ego. But for us, in spirit, it's our joy. It's our gift to the world. And I love standing with you in this moment of pure joy and love. Thank you.
Shirley Malin — Thank you dear one. I know your heart, too. And I did want to add something about my beautiful son, having received a wonderful woman into his life after many years of patience; seeking to come out of the constraints that had been put upon him by the earthly affairs. And one day it happened, as he told some of you who may have heard, that he spotted this one woman, he said, “I know she will be my wife”, after many years of sort of giving up the idea of ever being married. And I have come to love this woman so dearly because she loves what we are about—not just Aaron, but Aaron and Mom, and the larger picture that we are bringing to focus.
So I would like to just add a little something that I wrote back in April of 2004. I told you about my continuing relationship with my former husband and his family in Kansas. Well, his mother, my now ex-mother-in-law, was still so much a part of my life, and my heart had so much respect and love for this woman. She was a big part of this ongoing relationship I had with her son. And it just so happens I wrote this thing back on April 20, 2004, and I called it Agreement Between Women:
"As fate would have it, she died within four days of my arrival in Kansas. But her glorious spirit generously imbued the whole circumstance surrounding her process of departure.
"Helen was a wonderful human being who had been living a full and creative life with graceful independence in a small, mid-western town. Just days before her illness, she had been driving herself to the supermarket to shop for food; visiting family and friends; attending the local Mennonite Church; and preparing dinner for whomsoever may come calling.
"Helen had born five children with her husband (a Lutheran minister) who had died thirty-three years earlier. She had never remarried but was very well encompassed by her four sons and one daughter. Her eldest son was the first of her offspring to marry and to this day remains wedded to the same wonderful woman, Jackie. The rest of her children have each experienced divorce at least once (including my former husband).
"In the words of her other precious daughter-in-law, Nancy, '(Helen) was treasured for her incredible ability to truly listen with her heart, to give sage advice if asked, and not notice whether her suggestions were followed'. Her attitude was always one of inclusiveness. She refrained from judgement and was open to newness and adventure. Indeed Helen set the Tone for this wonderful, creative experience of True Womanhood to be known amongst the three daughters-in-law (me being 'the ex').
"During this time together, Nancy, Jackie and I easily assumed our various roles in support of the family structure and dynamics. Our function flowed together like tributaries merging into One River of Love. We shared household duties, nursing shifts, clerical tasks, and provided welcome to visitors and emotional support to family and friends.
"Another 'former wife' was equally, warmly embraced into the celebrations of Helen’s life. To quote a sibling’s classic family humour about this configuration of women: “There is something quite functional about this dysfunctional family!”
"A mutual love and respect for the uniqueness of each woman’s contribution to the whole allowed for a truly uplifting spirit of thanksgiving. At a time of “loss” and “mourning”, we sensed a strong spirit of agreement in Love and appreciation—a kind of spiritual victory for women everywhere—one that proclaims the intelligence, the beauty and the grace of womanhood in action on earth!"
Now, oddly enough, I had this buried somewhere very deep in my files, and came upon it as I was preparing to think what it is that I really wanted to bring to focus here. So I am, again, so thankful for all the women who have come together to do this. We're in the Lord's Temple, preparing the food, ministering unto those who would come calling. Isn't this beautiful?! So again, I'll turn it over to anybody who wants to add something, before I get too excited again.
Luanne Somers — Shirley, I've loved your radiant expression in this hour. Your description of a life well lived, and the control patterns required of the time, and the control pattern of the Lord, and the love for the Lord. Last week I became aware of the name Sophia. I looked up Sophia. Some of you know. I never heard of Sophia—feminine is the term for it, but what I'm going to call “the buried shame pattern that has been missing from the Lord's action on earth.” And this is my interpretation, in the little knowing that I'm working with. So to see somebody who has lived in radiance fully in her life is a joy to behold. And the small video you showed us describes what I'm sensing. And I told someone this morning that the largeness of what I'm sensing that is being restored—I don't have words for it yet. So we're dealing, we as women, with that which has been truly under wraps. So it's wonderful to see this coming forth now, and there's someone so lovely as you Thank you.
Shirley Malin — Thank you, my dear—the woman's heart-to-heart.
Millicent Holliday — Shirley, the words are just precious. As you probably have gathered, you have brought tears to my eyes; tears for the joy that we can live in the day when the evidence of true woman-hood and true response can return to our King. So much more I could say, but the tears will not allow it. I remember a time when I first touched Emissaries of Divine Light at a swimming pool at Fourways in Johannesburg at ten in the evening. I had just touched this ministry and a man said to me, “You will meet the best of the best in the world.” And lo and behold, how true that is! You are one of the shining lights; and what joy to be together with, not only you, but with all the other elders that shine together in the earth in this day. I delight with every ounce my being. Thank you.
Shirley Malin — Thank you, Millie. And I must say I have thoroughly enjoyed reading comments that you've made on the Great Cosmic Story website. Your beautiful heart, your clarity of thinking, it's gorgeous. Thank you.
Laura Fisher —Thank you Shirley, and thank you all. I, like all women, have rejoiced in your bringing forth today; and I would like to read just a little from Proverbs, this verse: “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far beyond rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil when he sits with the elders.” The responsibility of woman on earth was so beautifully brought forth by you, Shirley. We've been friends for a long time, and served in high places. And we all know a husband, we all know a household. The husband may not be in our lives physically at the moment, but we all know the husbandry of bearing this true spirit of the risen Christ today—the living Christ—someone who dies does not come alive again. He lived because of His connection with His Father. It is an undulating, pleasurable thing to be with you, and with all of us in this hour, this time together. Happy Easter and thank you.
Shirley Malin — Thank you. Again I say, my heart is filled to overflowing. I don't ask for anything. I just give my all, and love you all. And thank you for participating in this precious time together. Praise God!
David Barnes — Shirley, I'd like to say a word. I'm reminded, because of the spirit that we're sharing here, that the word that was used in the New Testament, and is called the Christ, means exactly the same as the word that was used in the Old Testament at the time of the children of Israel, at the time of Moses, Shekinah—said to be the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells in the center of all things. And the fire that emanates from that center, the fire of love, the spirit of the Father as it relates to this earth. And the light that glows from the spirit of the Mother; and the light extends in radiance through this holy earth, the body of the Mother. And the cloud of glory that extends from the center of things in this solar system, all the way out through the whole planetary body. In a way, we as sons and daughters of God on earth are that living cloud glory extending from where I am, where you are, as a halo of radiance this morning. All together we've allowed an experience of this, because of the spirit of your sharing with us. Stories, we've all got stories—but you told your story within the radiance of this cloud of glory; and so the essences of it have particular meaning now. We each have a story where that quality of radiant meaning can be articulated as well. And you've opened the door here to something of the spirit of Divine Woman; the spirit of Divine Mother. And also, I would say, to the spirit of Divine Man, to come forth more fully in the days, weeks, months ahead, as we share more, and differently, in the Temple of Light. In 1996 I wrote a poem just a few months before I met Anne. I'm going to read a few lines of it to all of us.
listen
the eternal heartbeat
look
a wondrous woman appearing
clothed with the radiance of the sun
with the full moon in her belly
and twelve nations gathered round
bearing gifts from the past
promises for the future
does she approach from without
or does she approach from within
we journey long and long together
secret-sharing
caring healing nourishing
breathing blessing on a fire well tended
knowing naked pleasure
in this rising springtime season
where the sun stands still inside me now
wonder finds rest inside me now
we journey long and long together
knowing the space within
and the space without
planetary beings in spiral dance
within the living body of the sacred sun
So, as I say, you've opened a door here, and we all know you better than we ever did before; and I think we each know the others who are on the line with us, more too, because of the intimacy, the intimate space that we shared with you. So we will continue to come forth together in one another's presence, and in the presence of the Grand Fathers and the Grand Mothers in the sacred sun which encompasses us all. Thank you so much Shirley. It has been a precious, precious time.
Steve Ventola — Let's close our time with a devotion. O LORD and KING, on this day we acknowledge Divine Manhood and Divine Womanhood, that there may be a blending, with pure hearts, pure hearts in this day and this time, in our hearts, in this world. And as our heart is pure, we know the truth, we are governed by the truth, we allow our feelings to blend with the truth, that Thy Light may shine in our hearts and out through our expression. One expression, thy expression, thy Christ expression. As we're unified in this way, we know our place, our one place individually and together as a whole, for here is our reason for being. Letting Thy Love radiate. In the living Word of Thy Name we abide and hold dear sacred birthright. All for Thy Glory in this day, in Thy Name. Aumen.
Let's continue in this way, holding sacred what we've shared. And we look forward to our time in May. Robert Kauffman and I will lead that time. Robert, you have some music for us.
One of the basic problems involved in movement along the way of life is to be found in the processes of rejecting, with a very definite rejection, that which is not of reality and accepting that which is of reality with an eager, enthusiastic, openhearted acceptance. We find even among those who are earnest and sincere a tendency to halfheartedly reject those things which are not of the Divine Pattern and to halfheartedly and lethargically accept those things which are of the truth, which would set them free. The Master said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” He did not suggest at any time that we could by any of our own efforts or determinations free ourselves. He did not suggest at any time that there was any avenue or means by which man might know true freedom other than by knowing the truth. The one and only way, the way which He emphasized over and over again—if man would be free, free to live life abundantly and gloriously as God designed it—was to know the truth and let the truth make us free. The human being must so yield to the truth that he permits himself to be made over or be made new.
As it is put in the inspiring expression in that blueprint which we call the Book of Revelation: “Behold, I make all things new.” And the individual must of necessity accept that in relationship to himself in this present life, in this present hour, if he would know the recreative fulfilment of God's will in himself. We must recognize that man can reject the truth, he can refuse to let the truth make him over, make him new; but he cannot make himself new. Only the truth can do that. But if we would reach a point where we may experience such fulfilment we must of necessity know the truth. It is not enough merely to hear about the truth, not enough merely to believe some idea or concept. It is essential that we come to know the truth; for no human being can experience the liberating power of the truth until he or she begins to know the truth.
The process of knowing is experienced only with the development of a sense of oneness-with, which we call Love. We cannot know any person until we have had an opportunity to experience the relatedness of a normal pattern of life with that person. We may know about many people but there are exceedingly few who ever come to know even one person during a lifetime. When any person has come to truly know another and to accept the relationship that is so established, there is one word which applies: friendship. Those who in a pattern of truth come to know one another become friends, and friendship in the Divinely Ordained patterns of relationship and association is the highest state to which any human being may attain. But such a state of true friendship with another human being is an utter and everlasting impossibility unless one first begins to realize the significance of the privilege we have of being a friend to our LORD and KING and accepting the friendship which He offers. The basis of friendship with God is already established on one side, for He knows you. He does not have to learn to know you. He already knows you. And knowing you, in spite of any limitation which may be inherent in your present manifest expression of life, in spite of anything that may have happened in the past, in spite of any seeming obstacle which may exist, He offers you friendship. A true friend accepts his friend as he is, because of what he is, and is unmoved by any limitation which may for the moment appear.
It is a remarkable and wonderful privilege we have of receiving the friendship of One who knows us already, utterly and completely, so that no thing is hid from Him. And yet, knowing us as we are, regardless of any pretense, regardless of any front which the human being may have developed, knowing us as we are, He extends friendship. And by reason of this very fact we have a most significant indication of that which is required of us if we would accept that friendship and reach a point where He may call us friend. We may now call Him friend, but we must reach a point where He can call us friend. He extends His friendship to us, knowing us as we are, accepting us in the initial stage of the outworking of the cycle of restoration just as we are, without one word of condemnation, without upbraiding, without any of the reservations which human beings ordinarily establish. If, then, we would receive that friendship, we must accept Him as He is, even as He accepts us as we are, for this is the basis of friendship—not to say, “If you will change thus and so, if you will yield to my will thus and so, I will be your friend.” God does not say that to us. Although human minds, with limited concepts, have sought to make it appear that such is the attitude of God, it is not, as the record of Divine inspiration through the ages clearly reveals.
However, by the same token, it becomes necessary for us to take the attitude that we will receive Him as He is without our saying to Him, “If You will change things to be thus and so, if You will please me in such and such a fashion, then I will be your friend.” Consider the attitude of human beings toward Deity. Is it not almost always a fact that the basis of approach is, “Oh, God, if you will do thus and so, if you will arrange this or that, if you will take this thing from me or give me the other thing, then I will be your friend.” But that attitude is completely and utterly out of pattern in relationship to friendship.
We may note in those rare instances where human beings attain to friendship with a fellow human being that, even though the friendship as such does not require anything of the friend, makes no demands, nevertheless those who are friends exert a profound, a deep and a lasting influence upon each other. This profound influence which each friend exerts upon his friend changes and enriches life, brings fulfilment and gives meaning to those things which otherwise would be meaningless. So God does not say to us, “Change in this way or that; do this or that; reach a certain point of fulfilment; grovel in the dust for a while, or some other thing, and I will extend you My friendship.” God says no such thing. He says, “My friendship is great enough to invite you to come just as you are.”
With a friend—and if we see in true realization that He is our friend—with a true friend there is never any need to hide anything, never any need for shame, never any need for excuses; for the quality of friendship is greater than all such things. And inherent in that quality is trust which can be trusted. Therefore, since God invites us to receive such friendship on the basis of true friendship, so that we need feel no shame for anything that has been or is, so that we need make no excuses, so that we need have no reservations, no tendency or necessity of hiding something, since He offers such a pattern of true friendship, we in turn, if we would be His friend, must take the attitude of a friend to God. And as He requires nothing of us, so we should require nothing of Him, for it is not the nature or character of a fiend to demand anything when it is friend-to-friend. There is the offering of the giving without demand or requirement. We need make no demand of God, and if we do we deny the reality of friendship and declare by our actions and attitudes that we are not God's friends, since any human being who imagines that he must demand something of God in order to receive it does not know God nor does he know the truth of God.
It requires only a simple nobility to accept the reality of friendship. But in this world human beings are, and have been for so long, governed by the determination to get something. They are going to get something out of their neighbors, out of their so-called friends, out of their husbands and their wives, their children or their parents; yea, they are even going to get something out of God, and particularly do they hope to get some sort of salvation for the time that shall appear after they are dead. They're always going to get something! But the spirit of “gettingness” is never found in the spirit of friendship. God is not seeking to get something from you; He is not seeking to take something away from you; He has no need to try to enhance His own position or increase His own possessions by taking something away from you. Human beings, because of the spirit of gettingness, try to get something from God; and underlying so many of the concepts about God we find that man has assumed God is trying to get something from the human being. If there is some particular treasure, someone greatly loved, there is a fear that God will take it away, as if God were trying to get something for Himself at your expense and to your damage. He does not increase if you decrease. The only way God can increase is for you to increase, and anything that decreases you decreases God insofar as His Kingdom here on earth is concerned. And so man has assumed something with respect to God that is not true. Instead of assuming that which is false with respect to God, we first begin to know the truth about God, and then, accepting that truth, we begin to know God. In that knowing, the knowing of the Centering of All Truth, of all control and all design—for that is Truth—we begin to know the truth as it relates to ourselves. And beginning to know ourselves, we are in position to begin to know those around us.
Friendship cannot be one-sided. It may be offered, but it does not become friendship in fact until it is received—and unless we can be a friend to God, God cannot be a friend to us. For those who are not controlled by prejudice and fear there is no difficulty, once the truth is seen, in rejecting any false concept which may have been held in consciousness. This is the basis of honesty; for he who is not controlled by fear, by prejudice, or by human pride but, having seen the truth, accepts it, reveals himself as being honest. And only those who are honest within themselves and toward each other can attain to the state of friendship.
When we have a very dear friend and someone makes an unjust, unkind accusation, we do not immediately assume, “Well now, the accuser must be right.” Is that the attitude of a friend? No, a friend would simply reject, without any qualifications, without any reservations, the condemnation and the sly insinuation directed toward his friend. This is most important to our realization, for attitudes of condemnation and sly insinuation have been, down through the centuries and the millennia, and are now, directed toward God—every sort of insinuation which assumes God to be limited to the limitations of man, to the whims and fancies of the unstable human nature. An attitude of false concept, of condemning God, and of insinuation toward our friend, is something which we know to be totally unfounded, unjustified, the product of a warped and ignorant mind, of an unclean, unstable heart. Man has no right to judge God or condemn God, nor to assume any such thing.
We need to begin to realize that the lies about God, the false concepts and the assumptions that would detract from Him or His nearness, or His power to do something on earth in and through us, are things which we as friends of God reject without any hesitancy or reservation. And once we begin to reach the point where we, as friends of God, reject heartily those things which are not true about our friend, we find that the things which seemed to separate us from our friend, or to prevent us from knowing the reality of His friendship, begin to melt and fade away. The limitations of every sort begin to melt as the ice before the rising sun, and the things which seemed to be so hard and crystallized, so immovable, so destitute of life or the possibilities of life, become liquid. They begin to move, and the conditions essential to living, to growing, to a springtime, begin to appear.
Ye shall know the truth by reason of your Oneness with the truth, and the truth will make you free to live victoriously, fulfilling that Divine Design which God established in you, and you alone, as a specific individual. So if we would know the fulness of the design established for us, and if we would know the control which makes that design have meaning, it is well that we should be a friend to the One who has offered friendship to us for so long. If we would be friends of God, let us remember the basic nature of the spirit of friendship, for friends make no demands one upon the other.
Once the qualities of friendship, the capacities of friendship, begin to develop in the individual, the relationship so established between God and us makes possible the Divinely Ordained position for which man was first created. God created man in the image and likeness, the same design, the same principles, the same laws, the same capacities and qualities as are found in God Himself, to the end that man might be the means by which God could reveal Himself in action on earth in relationship to the rest of creation. Man was supposed to be the connecting link between Creator and creation. But when man violated the basic principles of friendship, he lost the position of being a friend to God and became the missing link, allowing the appearance of separation between Heaven and earth. In that Divine position as the connecting link between Creator and creation man was, before the violation of friendship, a friend to God. God has never ceased being man’s friend; and with patience and love and infinite care He has sought through the generations since that day to reestablish a pattern on earth by which man might receive the friendship of God and become a friend to God.
In the pattern of true friendship—not in the range of so-called fair-weather friends—in the true pattern of friendship there is always, without any exception, to whatever degree it may be experienced between human beings on earth, a particular quality of communion. Those who move toward the state of true friendship—which has been in fact a very rare occurrence—began to experience a state of communion, of vibrational companionship, which might at times use words for the interchange of ideas was not limited to words, for in friendship there is understanding, and there is a communion of spirit which is unknown to those who have never touched the true spirit of friendship, a quality of comprehension of the inner play of the vibratory field of the one who is counted friend. And this quality of communion is one of the crowning marks of friendship.
Once we begin to see that the true state of friendship is the true state of Heaven on earth, the idea of the Kingdom of Heaven being at hand does not seem so vague, so uncertain. Once we begin to glimpse the reality of what friendship means, or what it means to be a friend to God, there is a new vision of Heavenly things made manifest, for we have noted that friends make no demands upon each other. God is our friend and He does not make any demands on us. He offers us something. He invites us to share something. But God makes no demands. We can trust Him. He is not inclined to take something from us. And we learn, in the pattern of friendship, to make no demands upon God; for as long as man makes a demand upon God, whether he thinks it to be in prayer or some other form, he is violating the principles of friendship essential to the correct relationship with God. So, as we begin to comprehend the principles of friendship we make no demands upon God.
Where the state of friendship is established, those who are friends, without making any demands upon each other, at the same time exert a powerful, profound and lasting influence upon each other. Man, in the limited realm, having failed to know the truth and let the truth make him free, could well experience this profound influence from God. But you may say: “What profound and powerful influence can I exert upon God?” friendship is based upon qualities of equality. That is the point! For God first created Man, male and female, in the image and likeness of God, having qualities of equality, and it was never God’s intention that man should be in a limited, dwarfed, subservient, or weak position. It was God’s intention that Man should be made manifest on earth as the image and likeness of God—male and female created He them. The very moment any man or woman has the courage to face the truth, and let the truth make him free, there begins to be a recognition of the basic truth that man was created to be a means by which God could reveal Himself, so that man might be God in action on earth. And we begin to see that friendship with God is possible.
Friendship requires factors of equality, and man has imagined that God wanted him to grovel in the dust. Man has interpreted meekness as weakness, humility as a doormat attitude. Humility is necessary, but only the strong can be humble. Look at a weak person and you will never find humility. The weak person in the first place does not have the capacity for humility while he is weak, and in the second place he is afraid to be humble. He may manufacture an imitation of humility, and pass it off as humility, but it will not be the genuine article. The weak feel that they cannot afford to be humble. Only the strong ever dare to be humble. Moses, one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known, was the meekest of men. Meekness does not properly suggest weakness. Humility and meekness simply suggest that man as such has let go of arrogance wherein he is trying to be superior to God. He is willing, in his attitude, to accept God on the basis of the Divine Design, the qualities of equality. If man were not so insufferably arrogant, if he would begin to be humble and stop trying to act as if he were superior to God, he would begin to enter into the pattern of friendship with God and he would begin to have the privilege of communion with Our Friend, Our LORD and KING. The privilege of communion with Our Friend. That communion does not always require words, although it may utilize words. Communion between friends is not limited by distance or space. Man imagines that God is far, far away. He imagines that He could not possibly produce a state wherein there would be true communion with God. We should begin to learn how to pray; which is to say we should reach a point of communion with Our Friend.
Blessed Ones, we can begin to show forth the qualities of friendship and we can begin to receive the friendship which God offers to us and we can begin to extend friendship to God. And would it not exert a profound influence upon Heaven if Heaven were no longer shut up and denied the opportunity of manifestation on earth? Selfish, self-centered, self-active human beings have kept Heaven shut out of the earth long enough. Would it not exert a profound influence on Heaven if we proved to be the friends of God and let Heaven, the atmosphere of friendship—what is Heaven? Heaven is the Atmosphere of true friendship—if we let Heaven appear on earth. Yes, we can. The way is easy. There is no heavy cross to bear.
Until we begin to let the friendship of God have meaning in our lives, here on earth, so that we can let our friendship for God have meaning in Heaven and stop making of Heaven a prison in refusing to let God and the things of God out of Heaven into the earth we cannot possibly know fulfilment—simply accepting the invitation to be on earth the friends of God, that we may stop believing so many lies about God, stop having false attitudes toward God, and begin to be the friends of God. This is our purpose here.
You know from your own experience that if there is a refusal to accept responsibility you lose your authority. When you accept the responsibility, even though you may feel inadequate in the situation, the authority is still there. The authority goes with the responsibility. Reject the responsibility, you reject the authority; accept the responsibility and move in it, and you have the authority—not because you thought you had it before, perhaps; you may have thought you lacked it because of the sense of inadequacy—but accept the responsibility and you have the authority. And you may handle it, consequently, on the basis of the Tone which you have come to know. You really know what that is, so don’t dither around, sound it. Don’t say to yourself, “Well I am not just sure how the Tone should sound in this situation.” That is rejecting the responsibility. So you don’t have the authority or the experience of the Tone. Accept the responsibility and the Tone sounds, and you know the authority.
A question was asked by one of you: “How big are you?” Insofar as our physical forms are concerned, they are not all that big. In this sense, some are larger than others; some smaller; different shapes. But we realize that there is more even to the external manifestation than the physical form. There is the substance of consciousness which extends beyond the form—fills the form and extends beyond the form. There are the levels of substance in this regard, seven such levels, of which the physical form is one. On this basis I suppose we could say we are seven times bigger than our physical form. There are occasions when a person says, “Well, I just felt ten feet tall. Well, it may be the fact; maybe twenty. ”Are you six feet tall? Multiply it by seven; that would take you up into the forties, wouldn't it? Even from the standpoint of our facilities of incarnation, we are not just as small as we thought. But is that the gauge of our real size, do you think? That gives evidence of the fact that we must be bigger than what we create.
We are able to encompass the creation. Let us not downgrade ourselves by assuming a false humility. If there is the inclination to say in any circumstance, "Well I'm only one person; what can I do about it?"—You are at least one forty-foot person! And if a forty-foot person looms on the scene I am sure everybody would take note and there would be a little hesitancy about contending. So let us be assured in this regard, partly because the facilities of incarnation are a lot bigger than we had previously thought, but also because we who incarnate are any size that is needful, and we are capable of encompassing whatever is required of us—namely our worlds. We encompass our worlds. Let us therefor see our worlds from the standpoint of One who encompasses them, and not from the standpoint of some little human form crouching there, who doesn’t see much beyond the end of his nose. The human form is handy; we need it; but we need all the other levels of our incarnation as well, in order that there may be an adequate capacity of incarnation to accommodate US as Angels.
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We do not accommodate our worlds merely on the basis of our physical forms. Of course not! How could we? But we are able to encompass our worlds because of all the levels of this machinery of incarnation; and because we ourselves as Angels are capable of using these facilities of incarnation—and they are sufficient to do what needs to be done. Let us not accuse the Lord of making us inadequately. That is what happens when a person says, “Well, I am inadequate.” He is saying, “Lord, you should have made me much more than I am.” The Lord made each of us of sufficient magnitude! Insofar as our facilities of incarnation are concerned we can encompass whatever is needful. That’s the fact of the matter—we should acknowledge it, and not try to shrink down into our little physical forms, oh so humbly!
And yet, of course, it is not a matter of arrogance either, is it? It’s not a matter of brashness. There has been a certain amount of this within the scope of our Emissary experience—a foolish brashness. No, we don’t make a display of what we imagine to be our great magnitude; we let the facts speak for themselves—and they do incidentally! And by the way, we don’t need anyone else to blow us up to size. If I am speaking of these things now, it is not because I am trying to operate a bicycle pump and blow you up to size. I am simply speaking of the way things are. We better align ourselves with the way things are, rather than denying the way things are and insisting upon the way things aren’t. This is what most people do. They feel so insignificant that they have constantly to be inflating themselves to make it seem as though they have some significance and some authority. But how quickly the bubble bursts, doesn’t it! Just a little pin-prick will do it.
We have size, magnitude, in the sense of the machinery of incarnation, sufficient to handle the incarnation—and we begin to know these things; we begin to function from the standpoint of this awareness. Most people, when they look at the time when Jesus was arrested and subjected to all the indignities to which He was—most people look at that physical form; that’s all they see. Well, certainly something was happening to the physical form, but was that all that there was to Him? There was something so tremendous standing there, that completely dwarfed the physical form, and what was happening to the physical form in that sense was quite insignificant to the machinery of incarnation, because of this Great Form that was present there, and knows there, by the One who was incarnate. Do you suppose it was so very difficult to permit that physical form to experience what was called resurrection? One could almost say it could be done with one hand tied behind one’s back.
We need to have a consciousness of our real capacity, not merely of that little thimble which is seen by human nature consciousness. We don’t need to boost our egos to make it seem as though we are something which we are not, because the Truth is right there—and we become aware of it as our expression begins to sound the Tone of Life continuously. Then we find that Tone reverberating in far more than our physical form. It reverberates through this vaster form which is actually present, and which is being fleshed out as there is the generation of substance. I commented that there was considerable substance present during the time when you were each speaking here in turn—because each one who came up here brought far more than his physical form. There had been far more substance generated which fills out something much bigger, and we all have a sense of substance, we say—of largeness, really. It isn’t just something hollow. We are not looking at a bigger form—we say, “Oh yes, there are seven levels; that form must be considerable—but if it has no substance, if it’s just hollow, it doesn’t mean much. But because there is the generation of substance, then this form—this larger form—begins to have increasing meaning, and we sense it with each other.
But the One who incarnates is greater than the facility of incarnation. In fact, the facility of incarnation seems to become less—even though it is so great, just simply looking at it from the outer viewpoint. It becomes less as the Angel comes forth through it, because the Angel is so much greater. And we find that individually speaking, we all blend together in the larger form which is vast in the external sense. We think of the numbers of people in the world as being great, and the body of mankind as being vast compared to what it was 500 years ago—but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the True Stature of Man. But that True Stature of Man is absent—there is just a space there where it should be. But as we allow, in this Body, the generation of the substance that fills out the true stature of this Body, then the stature of this Body is far greater than the stature of mankind the way it is now—and because of this we are quite capable of handling whatever needs to be done in this rather small sphere of responsibility.
We are no longer so impressed with numbers. This is what impresses people, isn’t it—numbers—numbers of people, very often numbers of dollars. We are impressed by something different. It isn’t numbers, because as far as we are concerned there is just One—and that is sufficient. That’s all that is needed. We see all these numbers of isolated people in the world, composing what is supposed to be the body of mankind, but that is very small potatoes from the Angelic standpoint, because there is One who is much greater. We are not overly impressed with respect to the numbers participating in this ministry. One of the questions that we are often asked is, “Well, how many are there in your program?” I suppose we have difficulty in answering because the fact of the matter is there is only One—there is only One, and to most people one would not be very impressive. But when that One is seen for Who He is, and when His Body of incarnation is seen for what it is, that is greater and more vast than all the rest of the population of the world put together. Of course, they’re not put together! They are all scattered abroad, and there is very little substance, obviously. The evidence of the substance being present—the True substance—is Oneness. If there isn’t Oneness there is not much substance. Mention was made of the United Nations this morning. There is not much substance there, is there—because there is no cohesiveness. There is no Oneness. It is all separateness; people jockeying for position, jockeying for position as individuals and also in representation of nations. Is that so great to us? We acknowledge the fact that it’s there.
But what we see as being great is the One—the One Whom we love above all—not only from the standpoint of what He is, but from the standpoint of His Body of incarnation on earth, because this is fleshing out. Usually when those words are used it is thought of in terms of more people. I am not thinking of it in those terms at the moment—no doubt there will be more people—but more substance, more spiritual substance generated by the people who are present now. This is the important thing. If we have that substance, and there is Oneness of the Body, then the sound of the Tone can reverberate through that Body and it will have effect upon those who are open to be affected.
We have a responsibility for the sounding of this Tone collectively speaking, and this is done in many ways—but one of them is in the extension of the sounding of that Tone in a peripheral sense. Not that we moved anywhere—we stand where we are and sound the Tone, but that Tone will sound right out to the periphery of whatever substance we have, and there are those who will be more responsible on the periphery just as there are those who are more responsible at the Core. But it’s all One Body anyway. You can’t separate the Core from the periphery. If the Core could be separated from the periphery then there would be a corpse, wouldn’t there? That’s what happens in the individual experience. We are interested in the True experience, not in the human nature experience.
It could be said, in one sense, that we believe in the resurrection of the Body. That’s one of the statements in the Christian creed, isn’t it? The resurrection of the Body—we believe in it because we are it. We are not looking at some body over there. It’s right here where we are. This is the Body! This is the blood. This is the living form—not only physical form, with just a few people, but a form composed of substance, far more than flesh substance, and yet it is not separate from the flesh substance—it simply extends through it and beyond it. And in this sense there is a heavenly giant present on earth. We need to have a strong awareness of this so that we never shrink into a state of uselessness. We do not lay claims to anything as individuals, but we honor and respect the Body.
The Body of the Archangel, we have called this Body. We would never, in anything that we do, or say, or think, or feel as individuals detract from that Body. Our concern is that there should be the generation of more and more substance, that it may be filled out at all levels; not merely trying to grab more and more people, as though that was going to make it great. It isn’t that, that makes it great. It is the quality and quantity of substance that makes it great. The stature is vertical more than horizontal. (Even human beings are a little concerned when their stature begins to be more horizontal than vertical.) Let us have a vision of magnitude—the magnitude of what we are in this One Body. It is vast, entirely capable of handling everything that needs to be handled.
The population of the world is incapable of functioning together. Well, we can take advantage of the principle then—divide and conquer—because that which is to be conquered is already divided; we don’t have to divide it. There may be configurations in that body where a certain amount of substance has been developed in various ways to allow that particular configuration to function in a manner that seems to be quite powerful in the human nature world. But how do you think that stacks up against the Body of the Archangel? Obviously, such substance as may be generated beyond the physical substance—it’s mostly physical substance, numbers of people—but such substance as may be generated beyond that only goes to a very limited level, perhaps what we might call the psychological level.
Where does our substance stop? It goes, presumably, to any level, and we are concerned that there should be a sufficiency in this regard at every level. Then it becomes easy to handle these seeming giants in the land, who are pretty dense up here, who have no idea really what they are doing, clumsily maneuvering around, trying to crush opposition by falling on it. That’s about it, isn’t it? Well, we’re nimble on our feet, and if anyone tries to fall on us they may find we’re simply not there. There is great agility in the Body of the Archangel—agility and grace, grace and stature—and capability beyond anything that the human mind ever thought of.
In this sense we see clearly that as the Body is there, as the substance is there, we have it made. Insofar as the Lord is concerned, there is no problem, no problem at all. But let us be convinced in our earthly consciousness in that regard, so that we may share what is present. It has often been said that all the provision essential has already been made. We begin to discover that it is the fact of the matter, not just a nice theory! But of course, all of us as individuals have something to do. “Behold I come quickly”—and this is so when we let that coming be quick, because we function on the basis of the true vision which accepts the true responsibility, and which thereby lets the coming be quick.
If we move quickly, then those who are going to share the movement with us will move quickly too. They don’t have to go through all the rigmarole that may been necessary, for some of us at least, to get us on the road, so to speak. Those old methods don’t apply any more. I was commenting to a few at the table recently, that there are those servers who are continually offering introductory material. Introduction has been made long ago—long, long ago! Why drag that forward? It’s completely unnecessary. It is used by those who do not have confidence in what is moving now. They have confidence in their concept of the past. As I pointed out, there are all kinds of people who come to the services in the Dome Chapel who have never been to a service before. If I reverted every Sunday to introductory material, where would we be! It is introductory material at this level now, and those who have any openness of heart, they’ll move right along with it. They will see what is offered at their own level of experience. Let us all have confidence in this, so that we can move with the Spirit now, with what is current now. Behold I come quickly, like this! That’s the way it works. We don’t have to try to paint everybody with the same brush with which we were painted. We may have been dumb, but why lay that on everybody else? That would be rather a self-centered attitude, wouldn’t it? Anyone who is going to come to the Lord must come through all the rigmarole that we went through. Nonsense! If we’ve done it, that’s enough. We leave all that behind, and come quickly. And as we come quickly, so will others—all on the basis of the sounding of the Tone of Life now, through the Body as it is now.
It is never one individual doing anything. Anything that is done is done by the whole Body, and in fact it is done by the Archangel, who is incarnate, and that isn’t a little thing. That is tremendous, and we need to be assured—because we ourselves accept responsibility in the matter—of the magnitude of that expression. We stay put in the Body of the Archangel and all that is needful to be dealt with will come to us. We handle it intelligently, with dispatch. Behold I come quickly.
So this is the conclusion of these Sessions that we have shared in this particular configuration, but we’re not going anyplace. We stay put. We are all part of the same body, and you each carry that brilliance of Light wherever you may be, and it is this that continues the cycles of resurrection for this Body—transforming the Body, transmuting the Body, so that it may be a whole, adequate instrument for the incarnation of the Archangel and the achievement of the Archangelic purposes. Let us in this moment share a closing devotion.
Our great LORD and KING, we are humbly grateful for the Commission which Thou hast placed in our hands, first by reason of our incarnation on earth, and then by reason of the creative cycles unfolding by which we are enabled to play our part in the fulfillment of Thy purposes on earth. We are aware in this moment of the magnitude of what is present, with which we are ourselves are associated, that the living form of this Body may rise up, assuming responsibility with ease and naturalness, that doing all that needs to be done there is no question but that this shall come to pass, because there is the acceptance in love for Thee, by us and many others, of responsibility, in the assurance of absolute adequacy, by which Thy Will may be done in earth and it is in heaven, and by which Thy Kingdom comes, for Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory, now and forever. Aumen.
