Grace In The Eyes Of The Lord
Martin Cecil June 22, 1980 pm
It is good to be together for another hour this evening. In our meditations this morning we were considering something with respect to a flood—it’s still raining, incidentally—but a different kind of flood. What a very beautiful story it is contained in the 6th chapter of Genesis concerning what is called the flood, because it has such obvious implications relative to this present time. Whatever the facts may have been in those far-distant days, the story itself provides an analogy for us which emphasizes our particular responsibility in these days. This responsibility is not restricted to us here present, but there is a question as to how many have really recognized the reality of it as this applies to their own living now.
We noted this morning [The Ark Made Flesh greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-ark-made-flesh-martin-cecil-22-1980.html] how the flood came and brought considerable changes to the earth and to those who remained in the earth. We see considerable changes occurring now in the world, changes which are occurring because of some very particular cause. The cause of old was water falling from on high and obliterating the earth as it then was. Whatever that occurrence may have been, human beings today could well learn something from it. We ourselves have seen something and have become aware of a spiritual responsibility which is capable of being accepted by those who are willing to do so. Perhaps it might be profitable to read this story of old and see how it applies, and perhaps more clearly what the responsibility is. You will recall that this was a time when men began to multiply on the face of the earth; it seems that this is such a time.
“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
This story is told in a way which has tended to be translated in religious terms rather than being seen for what it is. The behavior of human beings produces effects. We have plenty of effects in these days to observe—many of them might be called shocking. They have been produced by people. The ways of human beings, their attitudes, their motivations, are all involved in this, and the world is now the way it is. As we have often noted, and had personal experience in the field also, there is a tendency for everyone to blame everybody else. This is part of the state in which human beings exist. Criticism and blame are popular attitudes. Somehow it seems to be imagined that by indulging in this, what is wrong will be corrected. But such attitudes are a part of the state in which human beings exist, bringing forth behavior of all kinds which in turn produces the world in which human beings live. That is what is being said here.
“And God saw”—anyone with any clear vision can see—“that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Most people think of themselves as being good. The wickedness is over there somewhere and someone else is blamed. If there is anyone to blame it is the one whom each individual speaks of as “me.” Until there is that factual attitude taken no possible change on earth could come about. The state of human beings is locked into this which is described here most accurately as the wickedness of man. It was great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Here is a description of the state of human consciousness, whether the person thinks of his own state as being good or bad. This is what is being described; and it is the state just as surely today as it was then—a sorry state of affairs.
“And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” What a sad condition: the earth being destroyed by human beings who are intent upon their own desires and designs. The effects arise. In this instance it was a flood of water, very destructive for most people apparently. “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” It was because of Noah in this story that everything was not obliterated from the face of the earth.
“These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” He was perfect in his generations, in what was brought forth by reason of the quality of his character and the quality of his living. He was deemed perfect, something which most human beings deny as being possible, because it is not possible if one is wicked and every imagination of the thoughts of one’s heart is only evil continually. It is a deliberate choice on the part of human beings, and the world suffers in consequence and hovers on the brink of destruction. “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord,” and it was because of Noah that the destruction was not utter. We don’t have to use much imagination these days to see the possibility of utter destruction. But there is something happening in the consciousness of human beings which is analogous to the flood—a different kind of flood. There is this which is pouring into the consciousness of human beings everywhere, mankind as a whole, impelling them to their intensified destructive endeavors. Sometimes those destructive endeavors are thought of as being constructive. “We have to do this to prevent that; we have to be destructive in this way in order that we are not totally destroyed in some other way.” There is a scramble to save this pitiful state of affairs on earth.
I think it is rather apparent that there is in motion already this flood which inevitably destroys, as the original one did, utterly, unless there is what is represented in this story by Noah: one who walks with God, one who walks in attunement with the spirit of God, so that the spirit of God may find expression in that one’s life. Noah is representative of many, rightly. Always there needs to be a starting point of some kind, and it was Noah’s generation that allowed for the ark to be built, the ark which was saved by reason of the flood. We see the same thing occurring in these days. There is a flood. Because it is not of material substance it is not generally recognized as such, but nevertheless it is there. It is a flood in the consciousness of mankind, which is destructive as long as the prior state persists—a state which is characterized by blame and criticism; resentment, hate, anger, all the qualities which characterize human nature. This is the wickedness. Human nature itself is the wickedness, and who can escape human nature? The general view is that we are stuck with it, but there is something else.
It is said of Noah that he walked with God; he didn’t walk after the dictates of his human nature. Recognizing these things, we accept the responsibility of walking with God, of being compelled by the spirit of God rather than by the usual motivations which arise in human nature. We have seen these things clearly enough, but it is not just a matter of seeing them; it is a matter of walking with God. It is a matter of permitting this right expression in our own living so that the government of the world is no longer dominant in experience. Rising up, we may recognize that there is something more to us than earthly heredity. Seeing this, we have concerned ourselves with what is illustrated by Noah. This is a portrayal that is contained in the Old Testament; there is a portrayal contained in the New Testament, many other portrayals in many places, opening the door to a new experience, so that something may be brought into the world which has not been here for a long time.
The ark needs to be built. This ark was built according to certain measurements, certain substance, of which Noah became aware. It was thought of as being foolish at the time. There is a design for the ark which is essential in these days; and by the way it is not a spaceship; it is not, certainly, a fallout shelter. Even in the days of the original ark, the design of it was first of all brought to the consciousness of Noah. What was required already existed; but it required someone to encompass an understanding of it so that what already existed could be brought forth in form. And so it is now. There is what already exists. Human beings are apparently totally oblivious of this in the general sense.
There is a design, there is a way. But how could this way be known, how could it be experienced, if one is all wrapped up in the usual human nature state based in the usual human nature motivations? Nothing else can be known but that; a person is full of that, and being full of that the results of that are reflected in the environment, and the world is the way it is. Unless a change comes in the realm of human consciousness there is no expectation of anything else but destruction: as you sow, so you reap. As humanity sows, so does humanity reap. We are all part of humanity. We all have a responsibility therefore with respect to the sowing. There is a need then for the sowing of a creative harvest, the harvest that comes down from God out of heaven, the harvest that already exists, the seed of which already exists in the invisible sense but of which human beings are unaware because of their total involvement in what is describable as the human nature state. They cannot see anything else. Everything is looked at in those terms. In that state there are sincere people no doubt who are trying to do the best they know how to prevent this awful slide into oblivion that is obviously occurring. But nothing that anyone does prevents the downward motion. How can this awful state be brought into some sort of order? Great effort is put into this by many people but the confusion only gets worse, the destructiveness becomes more widespread. It is something that every individual on the face of the earth knows something about.
But it is possible to find grace in the eyes of the Lord if anyone is interested. According to this story it only took one man and his generations to make it possible for the continued existence of life on earth—one man who assumed that responsibility. Of course one has to see this before one is likely to do anything about it, but even seeing it, there are not too many who are willing to do anything about it. The very moment one begins to see what is required one has the responsibility, whether one likes it or not, to allow what has heretofore been invisible to take visible form in expression because one lives on earth. And so the ark is built, built of human flesh. It is built according to a very particular design, a design which nobody knows. Isn’t that fortunate? Most people think they know what is required. If they gave up thinking they know what is required it would seem to be impossible to go on living—a recognition that the human nature way is utterly and absolutely futile and ends in disaster. Every generation has proved it out and now the whole of mankind is in jeopardy.
Who has what it takes to face the issue and to accept the responsibility in the quality of one’s own living, in one’s own character?—a character which begins to be a means by which the Lord, the true creative process, can bring forth the ark, which we have designated by reference to the Word, the Word which was in the beginning with God, the Word which is God. [The Word And Its Influence greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-grace-van-duzen-may-20-1987-world.html] There are those of course who say that this book is the Word, the Bible is the Word. Well some words here can have some meaning; we are looking at some this evening; but why do they have meaning? Because there is someone on hand who begins to see what they mean. You can't get the meaning out of these words simply by studying them. The meaning comes because of one’s own expression of living. If that is of the quality of the spirit of God then there is meaning, and meaning begins to be transmitted to everything in the expression of life. If the world has become a meaningless place, which it certainly has—a completely meaningless insane asylum—if it has become a meaningless place, how is it going to be restored to meaning? Because there is someone on hand who gives it meaning.
The meaning comes down from God out of heaven into the earth. That is the way it works. So we have the opportunity, as Noah did, to give meaning. The meaning that is essential now is to provide a means by which what is occurring may prove to be creative rather than totally destructive. This is done by those who walk with God, not in theory, not on the basis of some belief, but in fact, in actual experience, so that what is of God may find expression in the circumstances exactly the way they are. We all have our circumstances. They are brought to us. We don’t have to go out and find them. Circumstances are brought to us every day. What do we do with them? Become embroiled in them, struggling with them, worrying about them? Or do we offer into those circumstances what we are here to offer?
We may be aware that whatever comes to us is very similar to what is coming to millions of other people in the world. We are not so exceptional in that regard. The circumstances come, exactly the way they should come, for each one to handle that circumstance correctly. And yet judgment is usually the first thing that enters into consciousness with respect to something, isn’t it? “Oh, this shouldn’t be happening.” Well whether it should or shouldn’t, it is! It is happening. That is the thing to handle then. There is nothing else to handle rightly on the basis of the expression of the spirit of God, in that quality of character. When that begins to be done, something is being brought into the world of right cause.
Someone said that one with God is a majority. It may happen to be true, you know, that when there is that quality of living on earth so that circumstances are handled with this attitude, something is being brought into the world that wasn’t there before and it is going to have an effect. We are here to let just that happen. And something begins to be built: a flesh body of some kind, an ark, a living ark [The Stone Pyramid And The Flesh Body greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2016/01/a-martin-exeter-may-6-1984-those-who.html] which is lifted up by reason of what is happening in the world. Most people are trying to stop what is happening in the world—“Don’t let it happen.” Why? “Because it’s going to clobber me, because I’m going to suffer, and other people are going to suffer too. Stop what is happening in the world.” Why? Let it happen, but make very sure that a cause is provided on earth which will allow the ultimate happening to be creative, rather than utterly destructive if nothing is offered.
We have such a wonderful field in which to operate, a field of beautiful circumstances. Don’t judge them. Don’t say, “Well I don’t like that circumstance.” Who cares whether you like it or not? It’s there. How are you going to behave relative to that circumstance? In a manner that is upright and perfect or, how shall we put it, downright and imperfect?—in other words underneath the circumstance: “Oh I don’t like this circumstance. It’s pushing me around. Poor me. Help me.” What puny people! One with the Lord is a majority. Okay, in that attitude, in that spirit, with that quality of character, anything can be handled as it should be handled, but not in reaction to the circumstance. It doesn’t produce resentment, it doesn’t engender worry; it is just simply handled in the power and spirit of the living God. This is possible to anyone who accepts the challenge and is willing to let it happen. Unless there are those who are so willing it could be said that destruction is inevitable for everyone; it’s on the way.
“But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” How about someone else? How about us, for instance? How about anyone who so chooses to let his generations in living be perfect because they are motivated by the spirit of God and not by reactionary human nature, which is always bothered about something? Peace only comes because there is a peaceful person and because that peaceful person brings peace. It doesn’t come by human nature manipulations, ever.
So we share the recognition of spiritual responsibility, which is the only kind of responsibility that bears creative fruit. Then the creative fruit is brought forth; the right seed is sown; the right harvest comes. It is absolutely sure. We should be convinced, incidentally, about all this because when the wrong thing is done the wrong harvest puts in an appearance; we don’t like it. It’s doing it all the time; the Law works. Let what is right be done, and behold, the world is re-created. This is not to say that there is not likely to be considerable destruction in the process, because so precious few people are willing to let it happen. Anyone who is struggling with his circumstances is unwilling to let happen what should happen, and there is an endeavor to grasp things so as to keep the control, keep things in order, “so that I don’t lose my health, or I don’t lose my money, or I don’t lose whatever it is.” Why not? There is a lot to be lost. At least human beings think it is a lot. It isn’t very much, really. How much more there is to be experienced of the fulness and the richness and the beauty and the glory which is already present, waiting to come forth when someone is on hand to let it happen. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” That is the fact of the matter. Let us let that fact be revealed because of our own quality of living moment by moment by moment.
Let us be willing to accept the responsibility which was portrayed so beautifully in this story by Noah. Then the ark begins to be built, because something is being generated; there is a generation. We know there is a generation. It has brought us and many more together because there has been a generation; not because it is a matter of going around beating the bushes and getting people out. No! Because there is a willingness on the part of some, at least, to recognize the real quality and nature of the Word which may be given expression in words. But it is also given expression in every way that we live, when we are willing to let it happen. It is there, waiting to come forth, but we have so many structured states inside ourselves which we are unwilling to relinquish, so that it can’t get out. And where there isn’t this right cause, how can there be the right effect?
So we see our responsibility, spiritually speaking, and I’m sure that if we have integrity we are willing to accept it and to use all that comes to us rightly—that is righteousness, incidentally—use it rightly to the glory of God for the fulfilment of the true purposes of being, the reason why there is an earth, the reason why there are human beings on earth. This is an unknown quantity at the moment but it is ready to be known when there are those who are willing to know it.
© emissaries of divine light
The One Body Of Spiritual And Material Substance
Martin Exeter August 19, 1984 p.m.
An invitation was extended this morning, as you are all aware, to share the one true identity with me and with each other, so that the human ego could be dealt with. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2022/12/the-one-i-am.html] This is the only way it can be dealt with. Some of those who were present this morning did accept that invitation, so that there was sufficient agreement to do whatever was done.
This is the day the Lord hath made. It could in some measure be termed a red-letter day. This was and is so for those who have actually accepted for themselves this one identity. There was some acceptance of the invitation; others were a few steps away; and some might be said to be afar off. After the service there were those who spoke here in the Dome Chapel, and also in my home. Others wrote notes and letters; a few did both. The majority did neither. Very often those who are present at a service are moved within themselves; something happens for the moment internally, and that seems to have been considered by many to be adequate. Services have been given for many, many years and people have been moved internally for many, many years, and as long as it has remained just that it might be said that there was really nothing happening. If the internal movement causes something to be brought forth, then there begins to be some evidence of accepting the invitation that has been consistently offered over all these years.
Some might say, “Well I would have spoken here in the Chapel or at your house if there had been sufficient time.” Or, “I would have written if I’d had paper and a pen, and if I had had sufficient time.” I am reminded of an occasion, which was recorded in all the Gospels, but in the one according to Luke something was added. It was when the Master made what has subsequently been called His triumphant entry into Jerusalem. There was a good deal of joy and thanksgiving expressed on that occasion by those who were present, and others who were in the vicinity asked the Master to rebuke those who were expressing themselves in this way. They might cause trouble of some kind, it was supposed. They were probably making too much noise, and it seemed they were making a big deal out of not very much. The Master gave a reply, which you may remember: “I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” The rocks and the trees, all of nature in this valley, cry out. Only unyielding human minds and hardened human hearts can possibly restrain themselves. This should tell us something.
I have had a number of indications from various ones, mostly through letters, that there was a feeling on the part of those who wrote that they were somehow being excluded from certain gatherings at which they felt they had something to offer. It would seem to me that if this attitude was producing a sense of discomfort, or a feeling that there was consequently something wrong, it would certainly be revealing of a persistent human ego. Obviously, if one is sensible, one can recognize that everybody cannot attend every gathering. It is fitting that certain ones should do so in the particular instance, and anyone who is not included should rejoice that there are those available to be included, rather than feeling somehow excluded.
So much weight is given to the realm of form, externals. Oneness does not occur by reason of externals—we know that—it is by reason of spirit, isn’t it? If there is any unification in our experience it is based in spirit, not in form. We are always unified in spirit if we are willing to accept the expression of that spirit. There will always be objections and accusations if there is a refusal to accept that spirit, because without that spirit there is no sense of cohesion, there is no body, there is no evidence of oneness in form. The evidence of oneness in form comes because there is the experience of oneness in spirit first. The experience of oneness in spirit is indescribable in dimensional terms, in terms of form.
Many have interpreted the state of affairs in our Emissary Ministry as hierarchical. Any such interpretation reveals the fact that the individual does not have the experience of spirit in expression in his own living. It is the human ego imposing some structured human concept on what can only be known in spirit, and all these objections to the structures that are supposed to be revealing of the Emissary Ministry are evidence of childish immaturity. Oneness is in spirit. Let us experience that; then we’ll know what it is; otherwise we don’t. If we are constantly judging structures as we see them through our own structured consciousness we are far from spirit; we are afar off.
We have the opportunity of being where we belong: in spirit. There are very, very few thus far among all of those here present and throughout our ministry who can be trusted to abide in spirit. The vast majority keep ducking out by reason of accusation and judgment with respect to form, so that the centering then is in form, in externals. To that extent the centering in spirit is unknown. Yet there is a tendency to justify oneself in the judgment of external forms. This occurs in people who have been associated with this ministry for years—and still the accusation continues, the accusation which is directed at form, at externals. How about experiencing spirit and forget the form, that that substance in which spirit may be accommodated may be present consistently?
I would like to point to something, if I can do so without everybody becoming involved with external forms. I have always been faced with this seeming difficulty, that no matter what I would say, it would almost invariably be misinterpreted to apply to some structured form that the individual had in consciousness. We have heard that all things should be made new, but who is really willing to let it happen? Everything keeps being translated into old structures. We move together as though we had a ball and chain around our legs. It’s unnecessary; we clamp it there ourselves. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2020/09/implications.html]
We know there is no need for judgment, there is no need for accusation, there is no need to object to structures of form. We may be able to observe structured forms around, and certainly such observation will not surely be limited to the supposed structured forms of the Emissary ministry—there are vastly more than that in the world, aren’t there? And the structured forms we see we may be quite sure are a misinterpretation anyway, because if we are in fact judging and accusing and objecting, then certainly what we are observing is our own creation, not what’s there at all. So we might as well quit, that we might be ahead.
We have a certain awareness, and we make certain claims, that there is a supreme focus of spirit. That focus remains unknown to us, just a theoretical idea, until we are associated with the identity of that supreme point, until we are in fact a differentiation of that spirit. We cannot be that without the substance present in ourselves which will accommodate that differentiation. Without that substance we can theorize about it, and we can talk about it no doubt, and some of what we say may be quite convincing to somebody else, but in fact it is idle words until the differentiation is factual; and it is only factual when the substance is there, spiritual substance. That substance can’t be there if accusation, judgment, objection, rebellion, resentment, all these things, are still present internally in ourselves.
We have spoken of the sea of glass clear as crystal. That is exactly what is required: something that can’t be ruffled, that can’t be changed by anything external, something abiding. We see this as something that is present in each of us individually. To the extent that we have some experience of these things we are aware of something greater than ourselves as individuals; we find ourselves associated with something larger. What is it we are associated with? We have glibly talked of a body. Obviously there is some flesh around, quite a bit in the Chapel this evening, and we have some consciousness, theoretical or otherwise, that out of this flesh may be generated the spiritual substance that is needful. It couldn’t be generated if the flesh wasn’t here—none of us would be sitting here, would we? So it requires the flesh for this purpose. That is the primary reason for our flesh, initially at least: to allow for the generation of this spiritual substance. We abide in our physical forms, consistently allowing the heaven to be present. This describes the state of unruffled tranquility, for one thing, but a certain atmosphere within which a certain tone sounds, of which we have at least some awareness. And here is substance made available—if it is made available because we are trustworthy in this—into which spirit may come and be easily, naturally accommodated, the focus of spirit of which we say it is the one I am.
Because this substance has been so scarce in human experience the reality of the one I am has been nothing much more than a figment of fancy, if there was any consideration of it at all in human consciousness, and usually there wasn’t. We have had some consideration of it, and we have had the opportunity to let some substance be generated, so that this differentiated identity might be present individually. Because it was present individually—or at least to the extent it has been—and somewhat in expression, there has been a blending of the substance which is present by reason of the individuals concerned. This is spiritual substance; it is not in any way separate from spiritual substance, it is all one substance now blending in experience. The experience of oneness comes because of the spirit which is being differentiated factually through the substance that has been present.
This has produced what may well be rightly referred to as the Emissary Ministry—a spiritual body, a body of spiritual substance which is one. It is already one; it doesn’t need to be put together somehow. And to the extent that we find ourselves with this substance, differentiating the one spirit, we find ourselves to be one. That’s the fact, that’s what we know. If we’re not letting that happen we don’t know it. So there is what we may well call an Emissary body. The substance of which it is composed was indeed generated out of the flesh of those concerned, but it is spiritual substance. The substance of the Emissary body is spiritual substance, not flesh substance. If you try somehow to manipulate people into coordination in the flesh, obviously there would be failure, and that’s been proven out often enough. But if there is the constant awareness of the inseparability of what we are spiritually now being accommodated in spiritual substance on earth, then because our centering is in spirit and not in form, we are able to so live and associate in spirit that form confirms it. Form will only confirm it when it is a spiritual fact. It is not going to confirm what isn’t so, but it will absolutely, surely, certainly confirm what is the spiritual fact.
Now we have an awareness of something that’s been happening relative to the Emissary Ministry. It has been a rather embryonic thing that has been happening. in the first instance it has been called The Foundation of Universal Unity. Here is a form which can confirm the oneness that is present in spirit [ponder the implications and correlations in 2022]. Those of you who have been to Class will recall how in the initial development of the embryo in the uterus there was a little form there—a little flesh—designed to generate the spiritual substance required to allow spirit to build, on the basis of this spiritual substance, the form that should be. There is initially some flesh for the generation of the spiritual substance, but when the spiritual substance has been generated so that spirit may be present, then a new process proceeds, and form takes shape materially speaking. This happens in the mother’s womb, and it certainly has happened in whatever measure heretofore within the range of our own experience, if we are aware of what it is that is taking place. It certainly is something which transcends what occurs in the mother’s womb—it is something of which nobody yet has very much experience. It has to continue to occur for the experience to come, and only as it comes do we know what it is in that moment; but we do not know what it will be in the next moment and the next and the next.
Let us not lay forms on this which is occurring. It is a living form that is taking shape, and it has taken shape so far, spiritually through the substance of the Emissary Ministry, materially through the substance of The Foundation. It hasn’t stopped at what we have called The Foundation. It keeps on bringing layer upon layer into the picture. But all this is only happening because there is a spiritual body, and it can only take place to the extent that there factually is a spiritual body, and the largeness of that spiritual body. “The Emissary ministry” can be words describing that spiritual body; therefore if anyone has been judging the supposed structures that were present, that person is blind to the fact, which is the spiritual body. One can only know that by being it! And one will not be it as long as external form dominates in one’s considerations and in one’s living.
It is a matter of spirit. Well let’s let it be a matter of spirit, then, instead of constantly injecting form on the basis of our judgments. Let it be what it is! The spirit is present and in expression individually, unified, because the substance which is provided individually is not separate from the substance provided by others: it is all one substance. The spirit is differentiated in the substance, yes, but it is all one substance.
When the substance is truly there and the differentiations can occur, it is immediately found that they have a relatedness to each other. This relatedness is not interpreted according to the human structured concept of hierarchy; the relatedness is based in what needs to be done. If anything is to happen somebody has to take responsibility for it. While we do have many committees these days and people have begun to feel that they are more involved in the processes going on through the Ministry, what needs to happen doesn’t happen because of committees. It happens because those who are present take their particular responsibility according to the differentiation of their particular spirit—and there is always a mutual respect for one another. But in the spiritual sense there are many things which have to be taken care of spiritually. Who is going to do it? Are we going to hold an election? No, just let the spirit differentiate, and each individual will find that he fits on that basis, spiritually speaking.
We have many external tasks, and we have the necessity of assuming focus of responsibility for this, someone else for that, and so on. That is easily done when there is the differentiation of spirit in our own experience. Then we’re not trying to do something that we have no business doing, and we’re not objecting to someone else doing what we have no business doing. We begin to discover the easy yoke. But it can only be known in spirit. When it is known in spirit, and there is a mutual respect, there is mutual trustworthiness and mutual trust in consequence, then everything is taken care of with ease and naturalness.
If at any time judgment or accusation enters in, the substance of spirit is dissipated and we find ourselves shortly in a hassle of some kind. What is more important than keeping this substance inviolate? never allowing any human ego, our own included, to violate that substance, to cause a sea of glass clear as crystal to be a murky pond. The way it works is the way it works, and you can’t rightly inject, in your own expression and experience, a human ego which functions on the basis of its own ambitions, its own desires, its own intents, its own determinations.
There have been many human egos around who have tried to maneuver their human egoing so that it would somehow relate to what really should be happening, but it can’t be done. Ultimately every individual has to make a choice: Either I’m going to keep my human ego or I am going to accept the truth for myself in living. This choice is becoming more clear-cut in our consciousness, is it not? I trust so—that we may indeed be a spiritual body, which fact is confirmed in various ways by form, confirmed externally.
Now this confirmation comes through The Foundation—that’s what I have indicated as being the primary material body. The material body has more to it than a torso—it has arms and legs, even a head. But we see how this form can be a true form to the extent that the spiritual body is in place, the spirit is in action, and the form which is appearing is centered in that spirit. The form which is appearing will include many who are more or less unconscious of what is happening. But there are those who have some awareness, and those who have an awareness in these various departments that are putting in an appearance must recognize that what is being confirmed is the fact of the oneness of a spiritual body; therefore there is oneness of this material form appearing. It is not a bunch of separate entities going their own way; it is one thing, and it remains one thing only to the extent that that spiritual centering is there because the spiritual body is there and the spirit of that body is present in the substance of the spiritual body. It is all one thing. We know how these things work—surely we should by now. Let us let them work the way they work. And we know they don’t work if there are human egos injecting self-activity into the picture. This is why this morning I was concerned with the disposition of the human ego, because if allowed to remain it can wreck everything. It is useless—worse than useless: corrupt and destructive, no matter how good it may look to the person who has it, or to others.
The line is drawn—actually it has been drawn for a long time, but too many haven’t noticed it. Ultimately it comes to a point where no one can avoid it, but it’s a lot easier to acknowledge what the line is before one is thoroughly bent upon following out the desires of the human ego. That is the way to oblivion. It is the way to the oblivion of the human race. But the Lord has seen things differently and provided what is necessary to let the truth be unveiled unavoidably on earth. I can’t imagine anything more tremendous, anything more wonderful, than to be accounted worthy to participate in this. The material substance that is needed for these forms may be drawn easily into place as that spiritual focus is present and maintained consistently. There is nothing more important than that. Here is the whole meaning of life itself.
© emissaries of divine light
The One I Am!
Martin Exeter August 19, 1984 a.m.
This is the day the Lord hath made, so the song went. Is it?—for us. Each of us individually decide. Again we share these moments together. This day, this hour, this moment may be the moment in our own experience, because of our own attitude, created by the spirit of the living God.
I wonder if I could speak for myself this morning and at the same time speak for each of you. If this can really be done, then we have the experience of oneness. I have a passage in mind from the Bible, which I will read in the first person, trusting that you share this viewpoint and outlook. It is a familiar passage from the early chapters of the book of Genesis.
“And I saw...”I trust these are your words as well as mine. “And I saw that the wickedness of my human ego—to the extent that it still exists, and it surely does—is great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of this human ego’s heart are only evil continually.
“I regret having provided the life force for the continued existence of this human ego. And I am deeply saddened that it is so.
“Therefore I will withdraw my life force from this human ego, so that it may no longer exist on the face of the earth; and all that has been brought forth by reason of this, my human ego, may be dissolved; for I regret having provided the life force for these things to be.
“The world that I have created in this way is corrupt before me; for my own flesh has corrupted its way in the earth. So the end of this human ego state is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through this. And, behold, I will dissolve it from the earth.
"I create a new body, a new state, in which all that is of life, all that is mine, may be preserved.”
These are the words that I speak for myself and for all of you who will receive them as your own. Does the human ego stance persist in experience, so that much of what is seen is seen from this viewpoint? When it is seen from this viewpoint the thoughts, the feelings, the words and the actions spew forth; corruption is paramount; violence and conflict are engendered and increased. What I am saying you know. Or do you? I know it’s true, do you? If so, withdraw life force from the human ego.
Some have thought this would be a big deal. After all, there is so much that we seek humanly to achieve. There are getting on for five billion people on the face of the earth seeking to achieve in this way, and the earth is corrupt and filled with violence through these human egos. This is the reason that the state of mankind is as it is. And yet, arrogant generation after arrogant generation deems it expedient to do exactly the same thing as was done before. “Promote human achievement, my own in particular,” the individual says when identified with the human ego. Again, we know these things, but what is caused to happen by reason of the fact that we know them? Do we merely persist in the old way, imagining that somehow something of great value is going to come from it? Or do we finally reach a point where honesty can penetrate our own human hearts and minds, so that we acknowledge the futility of the human nature way and state? Nothing that can be done in that stance will bear anything but the fruit of corruption and violence. We have the evidence of corruption and violence all around us but have been disinclined, for the most part, to acknowledge the point of origin, which has been in one's own heart and mind. We are, after all, still at the center of our worlds, the worlds which we have created, corrupt and violent. If we are capable of observing corruption and violence out there in the world that surrounds us, where did it come from? Honesty compels an acknowledgment of what we have spoken of as responsibility.
This awareness emerges to the extent that each one may say, “I emerge.” I emerge, not to fortify the human ego from which life force is to be withdrawn but to create, to allow heart and mind to be filled with the spirit of the living God. This is impossible until there is space for it, for one thing, and until there is the necessary substance to accommodate that spirit. We might call that substance spiritual substance. It relates to an internal atmosphere with the nature of the stillness which was spoken of yesterday evening, so that the frenetic activity of the human ego may subside and there may be substance and space for the spirit of the one I am. Thus the truth may be known, the truth of who I am.
We may each use these words to indicate what must be, and we each are capable of being that. I am here on earth to be that. In order for this to have meaning, to be real, to reveal the truth, there must be spiritual substance to accommodate my presence. This spiritual substance has been described as being generated out of material substance. When the attitude is clear in oneself there is adequate space and stillness and a true atmosphere of peace maintained. One of the primary elements by which this occurs is as life force is withdrawn from accusation. We are very familiar with the words, the instruction given long ago, "Judge not.” We are well versed in all the reasons why we shouldn't. Why is it, therefore, that we continue to do it, continue to accuse? This is not what one will do when the truth of oneself is present. But it is what is done when the human ego is present, masquerading as oneself. And so there is accusation. It seems there can develop a block in consciousness which prevents a realization and acknowledgment on the part of human minds and hearts that they continue to function on the basis of accusation. The individual would be inclined to say, “Oh no, I would never do that!” and do it right away.
There is another passage here that might be of interest, familiar also. You know all these things. Now here is something that is finally penetrating the human mind and heart apparently:
“And I heard…” This is not the truth of the person, but the human aspect which has begun to relinquish the control and government of the human ego. “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven,” maybe that could happen this morning, “Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” This is not really, “Once in a while, well we have a little accusation,” but is characteristic of the human ego as long as it exists. And it will exist as long as that characteristic is maintained.
“Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them”—no more accusation. “Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea!” That relates to those who are centered in externals, physical and mental. “For the human ego is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” Well he has a short time, one way or the other. There are two ways, really. One is for the person to be eliminated because life is withdrawn, or the human ego might be eliminated and the person would still be there, living. It is one or the other, inevitably, and, for the most part in human experience, you know which one it has been. The human ego is characterized by this attitude of accusation. It thinks it sees things in others worthy of accusation. Why does it see those things? Because the character of accusation is in the person who is observing, regardless of whether there are things wrong in other people; presumably there are. There certainly are in us, we know that, so why should we exclude other people in that? All right, there are things that are wrong. But there are things that are wrong in us which color our outlook with respect to others, and the things of which we accuse other people are very revealing of what it is that is present in ourselves.
Finally, when the day dawns, we may at last, mentally and in feeling, begin to be aware that this is so; in which case we begin to share in the attitude of the one I am, regretting that this has been allowed to continue because life force has been extracted to keep it going. When we do become aware of ourselves, then finally we can say, with authority: “I withdraw my life force”; and the human ego can go smash! To hell with it! That is where it belongs. Another name for it is the devil. What sort of stance do we take in our momentary living? How do we view what is present with us? What is present with us is present in our own consciousness, and it is conditioned in quality by whatever it is that is present in our consciousness.
There has heretofore been a state characterized by the son of perdition—that’s the conscious outlook of the human ego—and the unholy ghost, the subconscious aspect of the human ego. If we withdraw life force from that, then there is opportunity to begin to experience in mind and heart, consciously and subconsciously, the Son of God and the Holy Ghost, respectively. Having reached a point where we are sufficiently sure of ourselves, the truth of ourselves, we may withdraw life force from the human ego and let it dissolve. Most people of course don’t have what it takes to let that happen because they are still convinced, being identified with the human ego, that if the human ego goes they go. And they are reluctant to go. The human ego is always reluctant to go, but it cannot exist if life force is withdrawn from it. And the only one who can do that is the truth of the person, himself or herself. No one else can do it for another. After all, it’s one’s own life force, the life force that comes to focus in oneself. The authority for the expression of that life force rests in the one I am. Individually speaking over the ages, generation after generation, the heavenly one I am has finally been under the necessity of withdrawing the life force from the human ego which characterized that person. Then there was a great weeping and wailing because of it. What a backwards view of things! The beauty, the strength, the creativity of the one I am, when brought forth in expression through human minds and hearts because the ego is gone, transcends anything that human beings now know.
Standing here, looking at you, receiving you all into my consciousness, I can say, “I love you.” I can also say, “I hate the human egos that may be present.” “Oh, one should never hate anything.” But what is hate? The absence of love. I don’t love any of the human egos at all, including my own; and until each one has that attitude nothing will happen. When I say I love you, as I love myself, that has something to do with the second great commandment, doesn’t it? And each one may take that attitude to others. But also there is no truck with the human ego.
It may be that a person who is just beginning to sense something of the truth must be handled rather delicately. I don’t think I need to handle you delicately, do I? If you’re real you can take it, because nothing that is said is any reflection upon what is real. It does call a spade a spade with respect to what is unreal, the human ego, that stinking entity which hangs around. Why does it hang around? Because you yourself give it life force! To the extent that any of us have done that, the human ego has remained on hand ready to betray at any moment. And we may observe betrayals occurring. Does that warrant accusation? “Oh look, that person is betraying!” Maybe. But I love the truth; do you? I hate a lie, which the human ego is. I don’t like you as human egos, at all! Over many years I have tolerated a lot of human egos, simply because I love what is making possible the existence of the human ego, always trusting that finally there would be an awakening in mind and heart to the truth.
Oh, human beings have been searching for the truth for ages. There is no need to search; it is right where one is. All that is required is to withdraw life force from that stinking human ego. Oh the human ego is so nice at times; usually when it wants something. Is it painful at all to consider these things? I think it’s grand. I enjoy it. How about you? (Congregation answered “Yes.”) Human egos are easily hurt. Are you hurt? Do you find that people can do and say things that hurt you? I suppose that is possible, to hurt human egos, minds and hearts that are involved with the human ego, and bodies too. There was One who was hurt worse than any, called Jesus. What injustice! What ingratitude! What physical suffering! Did He claim the hurt?—“Poor me! that I should be made to go through all this.” No, that wasn’t His attitude, because He had, in any case, chosen to go through all that. He was willing to receive what came to Him. Are we? Or do we try to duck out? We want it some other way, in which case of course we will find someone to accuse. “They are treating us badly. Oh what injustice we suffer! Oh what ingratitude! Oh what physical suffering!” Fine. What is wrong with that? It may finally, if we have enough of it, cause the human ego to resign, because mind and heart awaken. Mind you, the human ego never resigns without a battle; it wants to have a battle. You don’t need to give the human ego a battle; it is not worth it. Just withdraw life force and it is gone.
We share the opportunity to allow these things to occur because we are present on earth to do it; whatever our circumstances are, that is the way it should be; that is why we are here. So we accept the circumstances as they are and we do what needs to be done from the heavenly stance, from the stance of the one I am. Then there are no questions or doubts or hurts or any of these things. If we indulge in this sort of thing we have chosen to do it. We don’t need to do it. And it isn’t necessary to go searching around to talk to someone or to have someone get us out of it, or to clarify something. We accept and produce our own confusions. If they are to go away, why are they going to go away? Because you stop accepting and producing them, that’s all. It doesn't need anybody else. I can tell you that now. That is sufficient, done for all time! One must take responsibility for oneself. I do it! I am. I create. And also I dissolve; I withdraw my life force, in particular from the human ego. And when the human ego goes, the world of the human ego goes. Think about that. We have responsibility. We have authority. We have all that is necessary. Be honest enough to acknowledge it.
I made the statement back along the way, “Well we know these things.” If you agree with me, then what are you waiting for? We know these things but we continue so often to deny them. We think Peter behaved badly back along the way when he denied the Master, but we do it all the time. We deny the truth that we know, and we swallow the garbage of the human ego. It is the human ego swallowing its own garbage, not us. I never do that. And each one can say that. I never do that, and I speak the truth. If I say I do it sometimes, I am lying. I am lying because it is a false “I” who is saying that.
Let the unreality pass away. Let the truth prevail, because individually we know. I know. I don’t require you to tell me that it is so. Do you require me to tell you that it is so? If you do, what is wrong with you? So together we agree in the truth. We will never agree as human egos, you see, in a world full of human egos trying to agree, trying to work out agreements. What a waste of time! It just preserves the human ego, makes it seem important. It has to follow out all these lines of endeavor and eventually we’ll get the world into a proper shape. Well, maybe eventually the world will get into a proper shape, but not because of that. The world is full of corruption and violence because of the human ego, because I have not been present and in expression. I have been present but not in expression.
Together we provide a facility because individually we do it. We provide a collective facility by which human egos are dissolved from the face of the earth. That is the restoration, isn’t it? Dissolve the thing that blocks the experience of the oneness of heaven and earth, and the experience of the oneness of heaven and earth is there. Frantic endeavors to bring heaven on earth are futile because it is already here, just obliterated from human consciousness and experience because of the human ego. Dissolve the human ego: restoration. All very simple. Is the accuser cast down in our own experience, honestly cast down? How honest are we in this? How clear in heart and mind? How aware of the one I am?
© emissaries of divine light
