“If you have experienced an increased illumination, if you felt the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, acknowledge it, because only direct acknowledgment permits an expansion of that which is working through you, and permits it to have focalization to those whom you represent. It is this completion of the cycle that is most important to the purpose for which we are working.”
As representatives of those working on your vibration, the important thing in relationship to a period of service in radiation as we have experienced it in our session, is the acknowledgment in yourself, on behalf of yourself and all whom you represent, of the actual fact of that which was experienced to the degree that it was individually experienced—a recognition of whether or not you individually felt the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and an acknowledgment of whatever degree of illumination you actually experienced. That is, in focalized vibration, the essential, in relationship to such response as I invite.
The expression does not have to be long but it needs to be focalized on the vibration. If it moves on to tangents, it tends to produce leaks. I am asking for a response on the vibration of what I have released. That means, basically, acknowledgment of the current that has been working and is working, and a recognition of increased illumination.
It is not just an acknowledgment of it to me; for I am simply a representative. You are acknowledging it to the LORD of Lords. If you have experienced an increased illumination, if you felt the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, acknowledge it, because only direct acknowledgment permits an expansion of that which is working through you, and permits it to have focalization to those whom you represent. It is this completion of the cycle that is most important to the purpose for which we are working.
The admonition has been oft repeated: “In all things give thanks.” We have emphasized the necessity of giving thanks in order to establish and maintain attunement. When an individual has experienced an outflow of the Spirit and an increased clarity of vision which we call illumination, the first spontaneous response should be of thanksgiving to God for it—of giving thanks for it not only on a personal vibration but also on the vibration of all whom you represent.
But it is essential individually. Except you individually give expression to that radiation on the vibration of thanksgiving and acknowledgment, you lose a tremendous part of that current individually as well as from the standpoint of the unified vibration. So the first spontaneous feeling is, properly, of thanksgiving to God that it is so, acknowledgment of what has been experienced, and of what one has felt flowing forth.
Now being careful to keep within the range of vibrations established, harmonized and coordinated with it, I should like you to give your individual expressions of response on the current of this radiation in correct form, basically or in essence.
We are aware that man, male and female, is supposed to be the connecting link between Creator and creation. As we bring this principle to a point of application with respect to ourselves we see that the immediate requirement is that a connecting link should be established between God and man. Long ago mankind stepped out of its true position; before it can come again into that position there must be a connection established between mankind and God. Looking back we may recognize that the LORD Himself came on earth specifically to refocalize this point of connection. At the time He came the children of men were adrift, without any adequate experienced connection with God. This is not to say that there were not in those days many sincere people who were seeking to worship God according to their highest vision. This is not to say that some of them did not find a relationship with God that brought many blessings; we have come to recognize, however, that God does not work on a haphazard basis. There is something very exact about the ways of the LORD. This exactness is evident in many different fields where human beings have the ability to analyze, examine and observe.
The connection, having been lost by mankind, needed to be restored. Our Master came into the world to initiate this means of restoring the connection, and it works according to specific laws and principles and according to a very definite design. The design which permits it to work is God-made, not man-made, and no matter how earnest and sincere human beings may be in their desire to serve God, they still cannot achieve what needs to be done except on the basis of the essential design which is divinely established.
Coming to this day and age, we have recognized something of these principles as they apply to our present field of ministry. Regardless of the sincerity and earnestness of human beings in many places, there is in fact only one way by which this connection with God can be established so that it might provide the means by which mankind could be restored, step by step, back into position so as to provide the complete connection between Creator and creation. The first step is to provide the connection between Creator and man. Until that is done man must remain out of place and there is no connection divinely established between Creator and creation here in the world. So we are very particularly concerned with this connecting point by which Creator and creation, in the sense of man, are connected together again.
Going back before our Master's time we have seen how a previous opportunity in this regard was worked out, coming to focus through the children of Israel. We have noted that this was a physical approach, which did not immediately provide the essential connection, because the essential connection between Creator and creation is at the level of the Spiritual Expression Plane of Being, or the highest level in this outer world. If therefore the need is, in any given cycle, to start at the lowest level—the physical—obviously there has to be a movement from level to level until the point is reached where the door can be opened and the connection made. The door is not opened simply from the standpoint of the physical plane of being. Neither is it opened simply from the standpoint of the mental plane of being. It only opens as we move to the apex of the Spiritual Expression Plane of Being. Then the connection can be made.
When our Master was on earth of course the approach at that time was from the level of the mental plane, under His direction; but even so, it had to move up to the spiritual expression plane level before the door could be opened. At this present time we proceed from the standpoint of the Spiritual Expression Plane of Being. In these previous two approaches we may be able to see that it was in some respects easier, because there was a consideration from the standpoint, first of all, of the physical level, where man has most of his experience, and the movement was then gradually, step by step, from the physical through the mental to the spiritual expression. At this present time we necessarily have to make the Spiritual Expression Plane approach without regard to the mental and the physical, in the sense of our approach. The mental and the physical begin to come into the picture to the extent that we have made the Spiritual Expression Plane approach. To the extent that we permit the door to be opened, then something comes through the door into the mental and into the physical. It is not a matter of clambering up the mountain, so to speak; it is a matter of standing on top of the mountain and letting that which comes down from God out of heaven flow down the mountainside. Once the connection has been made the process is easy. The difficulty, if there is one, is to make the connection from the standpoint of the direct approach from the Spiritual Expression Plane of Being. It is far less laborious, incidentally, than the physical plane approach or the mental plane approach, because we do not have to pass through these levels to get to the peak. We can move directly to the peak, to the apex, in order to let the connection be made.
Now in the physical plane approach a physical people was established, taken out of the peoples of the world to compose a nation, and they were supposed to keep moving forward and upward until they could be in position to represent all mankind to God and to represent God to all mankind. Of course they never reached that point. Within the scope of the body of the children of Israel there were Thirteen Tribes. Usually reference is made to the Twelve Tribes, but there was a Thirteenth—the Levites—who were the Priesthood, and the Priesthood permeated all the other Twelve Tribes. They had no specific possession in the promised land in the sense of an area but they were present in relationship to all Twelve Tribes, and the Levites, or the Priesthood, were supposed to represent the Twelve Tribes to God and God to the Twelve Tribes. It is apparent that they did not succeed too well in this responsibility. We could carry it still further and recognize that there was a High Priest who was supposed to represent the Levites to God and God to the Levites. It would seem that this didn't work too well either. In any case, while there was failure nevertheless we can observe the principles involved.
There must be that which represents man to God and that which represents God to man if there is to be the connection established between man and God. Human beings have been inclined to take the attitude that somehow they could make the connection directly, as individuals. Something can be achieved along those lines, and has been, but it is never adequate to restore man to the position of being the connecting link in the overall sense. Now this was the concern of the children of Israel, although they didn't adequately realize it. It was the concern of the disciples in our Master's time, although it is evident that they didn't adequately realize it. It is our concern at this time. The question is as to whether we adequately realize it. We are here to make that provision of connection, and the only way it can be done is from the standpoint of this matter of representation—representing mankind to God and God to mankind. Now perhaps we had better narrow the field down a little. Fundamentally, in the initial stages of the development, if it is the Spiritual Expression Plane approach, we are concerned with the apex pattern of connection and that relates to what might be described as the Priesthood.We have referred to this as the PriesthoodaftertheOrderof Melchizedek.
There are those who have tried to follow out a pattern of this nature, at least using the name, but it is more than using a name. It requires an actual function, an actual experience. It requires that we actually be what is required, that we actually provide the necessary representation. Now the representation, while it ultimately includes all of mankind, may be presently seen as it relates to those whom we speak of as responding ones. Of course, if mankind is to be restored, it will be because of response, but we are concerned with those who are responding, and particularly with those who are reaching a level where they can begin to participate in conscious awareness. There are countless thousands of responding ones on earth who certainly have not reached a level where they could participate in a conscious awareness as yet, but there are others who are emerging, and we may recognize that there is more to it than what appears on the surface. In other words it is not just a matter of what we would call response in a general sense. Let us see if we can begin to bring something to point here.
Supposing there are a hundred people responding at the same level, approximately, to God. Each of those hundred people is the form of manifestation of a God Being. Each of those God Beings has a particular place and part to play in the Divine Design. Now the individual who is to participate, from the standpoint of the God Being involved, in the initial development of the emerging design will be the responding one who has the opportunity, at least, to experience a conscious awareness first. It is true that contact has been made by this ministry with many thousands of people who did not carry through. Some of these no doubt could have played a very valuable part in the development of our Program, because of the God Beings involved. The fact that some particular God Being does have a specific place in the initial stages of the emerging design does not necessarily mean that the human being will let that Divine expression come through adequately so that there may be a filling of the part and place, but the opportunity is provided.
I emphasize this point simply because there needs to be a recognition that that which makes possible a connecting link between God and man, His crowning creation, is very specific and exact; it is not a haphazard thing. It is not a matter of extending something into the world which would somehow enlighten all responding ones, so that all of them would immediately become consciously aware of this Program. On that basis there would tend to be a situation which would overwhelm that which was rightly emerging. The emergence must be on the basis of that which makes possible the filling out of the Divine Design, so that the initial formation of this connecting link, which is the Priesthood, or the Body of the Intercessor, may be adequately established. So, from the standpoint of those who have come to a point of conscious awareness, the representation to God is of the responding ones—those who are first of all emerging into conscious awareness, and also responding ones in general. I would make a distinction here also. There are those who have a conscious awareness of this ministry who do not have a conscious awareness of what this ministry is. The fact that some person is associated with this ministry—on the mailing list, we will say, or even in a closer association—does not necessarily mean that that person has a conscious awareness, actually, of what this ministry is. We might ask the question of you here: To what extent do you actually have a conscious awareness of what this ministry is? I have no doubt that all of you would say you think you do, but to what extent is it an awareness of the truth, or to what extent is it an awareness of your own ideas with respect to such truth as you have seen? There is a difference.
We are here, then, to the extent that we do have this awareness of the truth in fact, to provide this dual pattern of representation: representing what we might call the Twelve Tribes to God, and God to the Twelve Tribes—the Twelve Tribes of the responding ones of the earth. This establishes the nature of the proper attitude which we should hold toward the LORD and toward the Twelve Tribes. In our attitude toward the LORD we are, rightly, representing the Twelve Tribes of responding ones; we are representing, in other words, response; we are representing that which is right in attitude, wherever it may be present in human beings, toward the LORD. Now this relates to attitude within the design itself, of which we begin to have a conscious awareness. We can recognize something in this regard with respect to your attitude toward me, and incidentally my attitude toward you. It is my responsibility to represent the LORD to you, and to represent you to the LORD. It is your responsibility to represent responding ones to me, and me to responding ones.
Now in speaking of you and me I have reference to that which is of the Divine Pattern, not simply to the human beings concerned. There are those who have looked at me as a human being—pretty well all they have seen—and perhaps I reminded them of someone they had known back along the way somewhere whom they had either liked or disliked, and their attitude toward me was accordingly. We have noted this tendency on the part of human beings to react on the basis of feeling memory patterns with respect to each other. It has nothing at all to do with the facts, or the truth of the moment, but is something dredged up out of the past. And so there are those who simply consider the outer form, the manifest form, and fail to recognize that it is not that, but that which finds release in expression through the outer form, that is the factor of importance, and it is this which provides the possibility of representation of the LORD to responding ones. It is this in me which makes it possible for me to represent the LORD to you, and your attitude toward me should be based in the fact that you recognize yourselves as representing responding ones, so you represent to me only that which is of the response pattern. You do not represent to me those things which certainly are present in the body of mankind which are of the adversary pattern, or the rebellious pattern, or the rejection pattern. There must be a clear pattern of right representation, and it is this clear pattern of right representation between us that keeps the vibration clear and that makes it possible for you in turn to represent the LORD to each other, and to those who are the responding ones beyond you; and you remember, therefore, in your dealings with each other and in your dealings with other human beings, that you are representing the LORD.
No doubt you have had a recognition of these principles, but this evening I am seeking to bring it down to a point where you begin to accept the principles in relationship to yourselves to a greater degree than heretofore. In other words, that you may recognize that you are in actual fact now, in this present moment, representatives of the LORD to the responding ones, and representatives of the responding ones to the LORD. This is the conscious awareness which you must have if you are to know the truth with respect to this ministry. If you do not have this conscious awareness, only an intellectual recognition of it, you do not know the truth of this ministry. It must be something which you actually experience in your daily function, so that you have an awareness of your own position in this regard, your own place.
Now there are those who have been concerned about place. Well here perhaps you can see something with respect to place that carries a true vibration. It is the conscious awareness of the individual, in his particular position in the pattern of life, of his or her representation of the LORD to the responding ones and of the responding ones to the LORD that causes a person to be in place. In your attitude toward one another, and toward all those with whom you come in contact in the direct sense day by day, it is your responsibility to represent the LORD. Your attitude must be such that it is a conscious representation of the LORD in your dealings with others. To what extent would you at this present time consider this to be true of yourself? It is to some degree. Perhaps there are moments when it is emphasized in your consciousness and other moments when you forget all about it and you behave like a fallen human being.
There is a service to be rendered by the Priesthood, and this is it. It is only as we begin to have a conscious awareness of it in our function that we begin to understand the nature of the service which is to be rendered. If we forget, lose all consciousness of representing responding ones to the LORD, and the LORD to responding ones, we are at least in a coma, aren't we, from the Divine standpoint—in the tomb, in a coma! Of course this is true of the body of mankind as a whole. They have forgotten all this. This is being called to your remembrance by the spirit of truth, and to the degree that you do remember and consequently function accordingly, you are to that extent experiencing the resurrection from the tomb and you are beginning to move into place. It must be a conscious thing. We must emerge out of the coma, and it must become a constant thing so that at no moment could we be caught sleeping, caught in the state of unconsciousness with respect to this truth as it relates to ourselves, as it relates to actual living, as it relates to what we do and say, what we think and feel. And here is the key point with respect to the reestablishment of the connecting link between Creator and creation at this present time.
Obviously, in order to develop a state of wakefulness there is the necessity of some deliberate action. Did you ever wake up in the morning and you were between sleeping and waking? Perhaps it was rather a pleasant condition, and you were quite content to lie there in that condition, and if you lay there very long you lost consciousness again, didn't you? You went back to sleep. If you were to wake up you had to take some deliberate steps. So it is, also, in emergence from this coma. Sometimes human beings get themselves into states of coma, in the medical sense, and happily stay there, because the individual wants to stay there. It takes some deliberate action in such case for a person to come out of that coma. Now I am not saying there are not occasions when a coma is necessary from the standpoint of physical restoration. The individual may be rightly unconscious for a period of time in order to permit some restoration to take place. I am not speaking of that particularly. I am speaking of those comas into which human beings go sometimes when they are seeking to escape—escape from life. It is very convenient to be able to lie unconscious in a bed and have no responsibility. In such case it takes some deliberate action on the part of the individual to come out of that coma, and it takes deliberate action on our part to come out of this spiritual coma in which fallen man has been existing for so long.
We have to do something, and there is a need then for this awareness of what it is that needs to be done: deliberately to accept the responsibility now, in this moment and in each succeeding moment, for representing responding ones to God and representing God to the responding ones. Of course in fact we represent God to all people; we just simply represent God; but the responding ones are the only ones who will be influenced by our representation. It takes some thought, it takes a deliberate assumption of the right attitude, because no doubt there are many things in the world of man which are clamoring to be represented in us, many things that are wrong, many things that are certainly not of the response pattern. Our responsibility is to represent the response pattern to God, represent only that which is true of that pattern to the LORD, and we have to watch because no doubt there are those things seeking to be represented by us; the adversary is always on hand to try to gain a representative. The mass consciousness of humanity is present. The question is: What are we going to represent out of it? There are elements of response in the mass consciousness of humanity, and it is these that we select to represent, and we ignore the others because we recognize there is no need to bring those before the LORD. There is nothing gained by it. The LORD works through response. We represent response, then, to the LORD; and in our dealings one with another and in our dealings with people and circumstances in general, including everything, we represent the LORD.
We represent the Divine character in what we do, and what we say, and how we act. This is true whether we are alone or whether we are in company with others. We have a constant, conscious awareness of who we are:the Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek, representing man to God and God to man. Let us allow this truth to be emphasized in us tonight, that we may deliberately let it be so in us.
After many days I come again to stand before you and to share an hour with you. There have been three Sundays during this interval of my absence—this time, from the standpoint of my own experience and that of others who were present, could be described as a period of intercession.
Amongst other roles, we have that of the intercessor to play. We might pause again to consider what that means. In the dictionary an intercessor is one who pleads for another. I don’t think we are particularly in the business of pleading for anyone, or to anyone. From the religious standpoint this pleading is usually related to God, a pleading to an intransigent deity on behalf of a miserable sinner. No such plea is necessary. Whatever is meant by the word “God” is not intransigent, but characterized rather by love and consequently mercy. To plead to God for something would indicate that one imagined that He had not already made the provision but it was necessary for a human being to cajole Him into action of some kind. It is all rather ridiculous when one stops to think about it.
From our standpoint intercession is not that. It might be said to be the means by which a connection is provided between small human affairs and the larger creative cycles established by the pulsations of the spirit of love and truth, throughout the whole universe. These pulsations have been ignored by and large by human beings, so that there has been very little connection between human affairs and cosmic affairs. Yet there has constantly been this creative movement of spirit at work throughout all that is. Nothing is gained by ignoring it, or by trying to substitute other ways of function in the human sense. This of course has been done. The result is quite apparent—quite apparent in the small individual sense and also in the larger affairs of mankind. There is evidently the need for intercession, to provide a facility for reconnecting the affairs of men with the affairs of God, the affairs of earth with the affairs of heaven.
We have some consciousness of responsibility in this regard, that once again the natural rhythms of life may be known in human experience and be reestablished in all the realms for which human beings carry right responsibility. These realms are sometimes described as nature. Nature is usually looked upon as being a pretty savage state. If one stands back from it far enough there is a great deal of beauty of course, but when closer examination is made with respect to what goes on in the field of nature it seems like there is a great deal of savagery. This may be a seeming fact; however much of it may be a wrong interpretation on the part of human minds of what is actually occurring, or it also may be a reflection of the savagery that is present in human minds and hearts. Of course usually nature is blamed for the condition of human beings, in the sense that we are supposed to have evolved out of that savage state. Therefore, having so done, we brought along a good deal of savagery with us. We are all aware that this is somehow backwards. If there is such savagery in nature, it may be largely a reflection of what is in human beings, rather than the cause of what is in human beings.
Because there has been a failure to provide the essential connection in the field of human responsibility, between the creative spirit and that field of human responsibility, then the results which have appeared are consequent upon that failure in human beings. It certainly may be very interesting to discover what might happen if instead of failure there was victory in the reexperience of the true state in human beings. What effect would that have upon nature? We have some sensing perhaps of what that might be, in a very small way, to the extent that we have assumed responsibility for some of the aspects of nature that are up against us, things with which we may deal, day by day, in our living.
I have been noticing the Unit grounds and observing the care with which these things are being taken care of. This is something very small and is really based in a rather low level of handling, shall we say; not that this may not need to be done, at least with things the way they are—we can pick up a shovel, and a rake, or push a mowing machine—but really there are other ways of handling what needs to be handled. In fact we only do pick up our shovels and push our mowing machines because of something that has happened within ourselves; otherwise we would hardly be bothered.
So whatever action is taken, in the physical sense, does originate, increasingly, in the realm of spirit. The realm of spirit however has other connections, than merely physical, with the world around us. The mental connection is included—we have to think a little bit occasionally about what should be done—and there are emotional connections too. But primarily all these areas of connection should reflect what is happening in spirit. We know this. The spirit is that of love and truth, which may easily and rightly and naturally be revealed in living; then things begin to be transformed; the reconnection is made between heaven and earth, between the invisible and the visible, between spirit and form. When there is a true connection in this regard, then the form of things can change very rapidly. It is not so much our concern that the form of things should change rapidly but that the connection should be made with spirit. Then let happen whatever rightly happens, because only when there is that connection established, provided by the intercessor, can the earth be restored to the experience of heaven.
During this period of time over the last four weeks there was considerable concern on the part of all to allow this intercessory connection to be reestablished more firmly. I don’t think the word intercession was used, but this is what it is. This is what we are individually responsible for—and it is primarily an individual matter. We can’t sit on our backsides and expect anything to happen collectively, of any value that is. It would then be mostly disintegration, wouldn’t it? So there is something to be done. “Not by great numbers of people, not certainly by political manipulation, not by force of arms, not by technology, not by money; but by My Spirit in radiance, through My Body, is My Will done,” sayeth the Supreme One who I Am. “Therefore I raise up My Body by the action of My Spirit in the lives of those who are My Servants and My Friends.” Here is a succinct statement, of the truth, as it now may be known and experienced.
YouTube Audio
We discover that there are indeed unique aspects of this One Spirit, to be given expression individually. To the extent that we have experienced this we discover that we are in harmony with, resonating with, all those who likewise are allowing the unique differentiation of this One Spirit to occur. We always have a gauge as to how effective we are in letting this happen, by the quality of our relationships one with another. If there is friction, contention, conflict, whatever, then obviously this One Spirit is not being very effectively differentiated; something else is being superimposed, and we get into our hassles on that basis. I am sure that most of us have become rather bored with that sort of experience but have a yearning for the unified truth of this One Great Spirit in expression. But the only way it can find expression is by reason of our own individual minds and hearts and bodies.
So if it is excluded from experience at any time, who would be responsible? We recognize that it is not the other fellow, it is not the so-called enemy; who is he? It is one’s own choice, mentally and emotionally. There is One Spirit, so vast that far more than the puny numbers of the human population on earth are required to differentiate it. It is to be differentiated throughout the whole universe. Where is the problem with five billion human beings? It is nothing. Where is the problem with the few human beings who are present here in this room? Each of us is in position, rightly, to differentiate a particular unique expression of that One Spirit, when that is our total concern. If we are concerned with doing other things, of course very little of that differentiation is experienced. And because it is very little, there is much apparently to complain about. But who did it? One was responsible oneself for whatever the state of affairs is.
We have, for a long time, been seeking to take the attitude of responsibility, but all too often we don’t really accept it. We don’t really think it is valid, at least not totally so. There is somebody else somewhere who is producing our troubles, if any. What troubles do we have? What are troubles? That is an interpretation of the human mind and heart, isn’t it? It must be a false interpretation if heaven is the natural state; we wouldn’t impose troubles upon heaven. We might be aware that there is a creative process and that we are concerned with allowing proper integration to occur. We allow this to occur as we ourselves differentiate the One Spirit. Then it is all integrated. That is the way it is integrated. We don’t have to go around trying to integrate things, merely allow this One Spirit to be differentiated in our own experience, moment by moment. As we do this, then there is the power of integration—the fact of integration being made evident. The fact of integration, insofar as human beings are concerned, has been obscured; it has been hidden. By whom? Well, by us. But it is a fact which may be as easily revealed as hidden. It seems rather foolish to hide it, because then we have what we call troubles. If we reveal the fact of it, then nothing that occurs could be defined as trouble. It is all part of the process by which the fact of integration emerges into increased form.
So we stop interpreting things as troubles, just as we stop interpreting the idea of savagery in nature. There is a creative process. We recognize that there is disintegration as well as integration. But disintegration is all right too. Because of human behavior, the necessity for disintegration has come to be out of balance; therefore it appears to be a painful business. If there is an intercessor on hand, there is the facility by which integration more easily occurs, or is brought into form—the fact of it revealed. There is also an ease in the matter of disintegration. There is nothing bad about disintegration; it is a part of the creative process. It has become seemingly bad because human beings have not been on hand to provide the connection with the true creative process.
Disintegration can be an easy experience, and rightly is, when the intercessor is on hand. We all are aware that there are things within our own makeup that rightly should be dissolved; they don’t belong. They are obscuring the fact of integration, the fact of oneness, the fact of love, the fact of beauty. So there is nothing wrong with dissolving these things, or letting them be dissolved. Are we going to make that dissolution tough in our own experience, or are we going to let it be easy? If we let it be easy, then the door is open for it to be easy with other people. If no one lets it be easy, then it is tough for everybody. But once there is the assumption of responsibility on the part of individual people to unveil the truth of oneness, then all that stands in the way of revealing that truth easily dissolves. It is no longer a tough experience.
So let us see this as it relates to our own personal responsibility in handling our affairs. Our concern is with integration, that all things should come together. That happens as the truth is unveiled in our own expression, the beauty of spirit differentiated in our own living. That carries a certain quality, doesn’t it? The quality of character, we might call it. We find ourselves as substantial people, because we have this quality and weight of character. Because of that, because of our very presence, the influence is exerted upon others—an invitation extended—to share this. You will find that as this quality is really there others are quite willing to share it, at least those who come around. We are aware that those who do come around are the ones who presumably should come around. All this is working because of this creative process. It certainly isn’t necessary to go around beating the bushes, so to speak, trying to flush out people. That only seems to be necessary if the integrative factor is not present in our own living. Then it seems that nothing is happening, so we had better get out there and do something. But when the integrative factor is present in our own living, integration occurs. And part of the creative process in this bringing together attracts those who should be participating in the process—presumably everybody eventually. We also recognize disintegration occurs as well. But, for the moment, integration: to make it easy for others to become aware of the fact that their mode of existence heretofore has been hiding the truth, so that they do not know what that is.
People have mind-sets. They function in certain ways according to the particular field of their operations. We might say that scientists think in a certain way; politicians think in another way; and all the various classifications of people think, according to their classifications, in certain ways. Most of us have various classifications, and we think in a certain way with respect to this aspect and in another way with respect to that aspect. There is a good deal of mix-up, and it is not surprising that people find themselves confused at times. We are concerned with letting all that dissolve. That is part of the disintegrative process. If one has a certain mind-set, one is wedded to a certain way of looking at things, and it is suggested that perhaps it might be wise to relax one’s grip, the individual may be inclined to grip even more strongly, partly because of fear. This is one of the things that causes a person to have a sense of security: his mind is set; he thinks he knows. It is a habit for human beings to think they know what should be done. That is a resistant element insofar as the unveiling of the process of integration is concerned. And the stronger one’s grip, the more painful it is to have whatever it is one is gripping taken away. It will be taken away. But if you have a grip on it—it is passing away; it is part of the disintegration then—you will go with it.
So we help people to relax. It is one of the factors, isn’t it? It may be that in our associations with people we cannot say things directly. But on the other hand, in these days it is a lot easier to say things directly, and the old fears in this regard can dissolve a little. I think one of the hesitancies in this field has been the idea that one was trying to convert somebody to something and we don’t want to appear to do that. Well we need not appear to do that. What we have to say is just simply sensible in the situation as it is; and the things that human beings have been doing are not very sensible.
One has to be a little careful in approaching something in which a person has had faith for many years—a certain expectation that by working at it one will find the answer. If a person is very much wedded to the process of finding an answer that way there will be a certain reluctance to relinquish it. Very often a person will say, having described what his mind-set is, “What would you do if you were in this situation?” The answer to that is, “I am not in that situation,” and probably, “I would not put myself in that situation! because I know that following out those mind-sets there isn’t any answer. But look at this. Consider.”
We need to be in position to provide, in a context of whatever it is that we are considering with that person, what is necessary to allow participation in the creative process—in other words there is something moving already. We had better be aligned with that. If we are not aligned with that, there is no answer. Ultimately that is the point. One has to approach it delicately. But it doesn’t mean selling some sort of a doctrine. It is just awakening people to a little intelligence. It is a matter of what is sometimes called common sense. It is a practical thing that relates to every sphere of human function. There is no area where we cannot go and provide what is necessary. Did you ever consider that? There is lots of expertise around, but expertise, no matter what it is, will never find an answer. Oh yes, to the little field in which the expertise is being applied, perhaps some so-called problem can seemingly be solved. But the human dilemma remains.
Not by technology, not by money, not by political manipulation, not by numbers of people, not by force of arms… Well you can add to that list considerably if you want to. Whatever it is that comes up—not by that, but by My Spirit, by that awareness of how things work. I think many of those who have had such an awareness, without fully realizing how much, have been reluctant to have faith in it. Faith has customarily been given to the field of human manipulation: We can manipulate ourselves into an improved condition, a better state. But everybody has been consistently manipulating themselves into the grave. That is what actually happens. Oh, this is part of the savagery of nature. Is it really? Or is it a self-imposed death sentence? We have an awareness of these things, of the truth. Let us accept assurance in it, so we don’t have so much faith in the various forms of manipulation. These will wreck us in the end. “The truth is true and all is well, unconquerable life prevails.” That rolls off the tongue rather nicely and easily, doesn’t it? But what is the fact of our own experience?
So we share the opportunity, now in this moment, as in every moment, to participate in the creative process which is at work. It is at work, separating the sheep from the goats, as they say, unveiling what is true, disintegrating what isn’t. It is all coming to point. It is all coming to point because there is a point, because there are those who are letting it come to point individually in their own experience—you amongst them. But it is an individual matter. Only when it is that does it become a collective matter. It is our individual quality and weight of character that counts. Here is substance, the substance which then is revealed as being the substance of something larger than the individual, the substance of a Body. And the creative action that occurs through that Body is then a forceful factor in bringing to pass the integration and the disintegration that enable mankind, and all for which mankind is responsible, to be restored into the ongoing creative process which characterizes the whole universe.
There is no greater delight or joy or satisfaction than to let this happen in one’s own experience, and part of letting it happen is the invitation to others to share in it. We don’t go to others and say, “Well you must share in this.” No, nothing so brash. We just provide what it is that the individual may share in. And we will find that those who are open to share in it will come and share in it. That is all. And we must provide the space; otherwise it won’t happen. But it happens easily that way. Surely we are most thankful for the patient and understanding training that we have all had to allow this to be so. Let us not fail to acknowledge the truth of this in our own living. So may, indeed, all things most easily be made new.
