Shekinah Fire — Differentiations And Focalizations
Carrying forward in the current of our basic theme of Heavenly Magic, we have reached a point where our attention has been introduced to the reality of the Shekinah Fire. You will notice that I carefully worked in the pattern of our services yesterday in the current of our Training Class. And I might mention here something more than I brought out in the meditation last evening, that the original Hebrew word from which this word Shekinah was derived used the “aa” sound—instead of the “i” sound [as in the eye sound]—something after the order of Shekaanah; and bringing this out in relationship to the particular pattern that I suggested from the standpoint of the vibrational factors of the Motherland, the short pronunciation, as it is used, or as I have used it, is really a bit on the inadequate side. There is more of the vowel emphasis if we utilize all of the vibrational factors possible.
You will notice that you can prolong vowel factors, if you have the breath to do it, and the “e” sounds here in the three-syllable word [Shekeenah] concluding with the “ah” sound, provide us with an opportunity to begin to feel the vibratory factors in sound. If you have thought of the vowels primarily simply as letters or particularized sounds utilized merely to convey the sound of a specific word, you need to begin to realize that the vowels, particularly, have the peculiar quality of conveying the current of feeling. Now what is conveyed will depend upon what you are feeling. Assuming that the heart has become attuned to the Divine Source, we have the current of that Divine Source moving through the vowel sounds. You should bear this in mind in your exercising, from the standpoint of speech, in the development of your capacity in breathing, the control of the air which you use in breathing, the proper pattern of inhalation and the proper controlled patterns of exhalation. If you try to get all of your air, while you are speaking, inhaled through your nose, you will not have a good speaking voice. The air must, as mentioned in the record, be received, partially—at least some of it will come in through the nose—but received through the mouth, at the top of the mouth, along the roof of the mouth—the manner which you learn to utilize without interfering with the expression through speech. It is interesting that we have the privilege and the opportunity of beginning to practice these exercises from the standpoint of vowels right at this time when they should be emphasized from the standpoint of our basic meditation, the Shekinah Fire.
One thing we will begin to note as we proceed, and that is that you can come to a certain definite limitation when you are speaking audibly, in the sense of the ordinary vocal expression, but that certain possibilities are present from the standpoint of expression, somewhat audible of course, in what we might call “whispering”. Now there are times when whispering is not considered to be good manners, but the use of the voice conveying sounds vibrationally in what might be conceived to be a whisper is something that is important to our attunement with the powers of reality, and it is important to our ability to convey. You notice that I used these patterns when I introduced to you the mystical significance and expression of the two words commonly spoken as Jesus and Jehovah—the speaking on the breath, in other words. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/shekinah-and-sexhere-i-am-lord.html] Whispering of course suggests the idea, but it is speaking on the breath on a basis which modifies the more harsh aspects of the word and allows the peculiar qualities of the vowels to come into play. And you will find this to be of great importance as we move along.
One of the things that we need to begin to realize from the standpoint of the Shekinah Fire, or the Shekinah Light, is that this must be understood if we are going to begin to comprehend the significance of this text which we have been studying together: “And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man.” Now notice that this is in the midst of the seven candlesticks. The candlesticks give Light, but in the midst of the Cloud there is one like unto the Son of man. Here we have a Biblical description of the Shekinah Fire surrounded by the Light, and in turn surrounded by the Cloud. You will have no doubt thought of the Biblical passages speaking about the “Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven.” It is something which you are now reaching a point where you can begin to understand; for wherever the clouds of heaven are mentioned in the Bible we have a reference to the Shekinah Fire, around which there is the Light, and around which there is the Cloud. The Shekinah Fire always manifests in the midst of a Cloud, and in the midst of the glowing of the Light.
So these are the clouds of heaven, or the heavenly clouds, which the Master used. It was in such a heavenly cloud that He disappeared from the view of man, and it is in relationship to such a Cloud that all things heavenly must appear to men—the clouds of heaven. Until you begin to see this, realize the reality of the Shekinah Fire and the Cloud of Glory, or the Cloud of the Presence—it is expressed in various ways—you cannot understand what the Bible means. And you can see how it is that so many millions of people, failing to recognize the mystical significance of the Bible terminology, have turned their attention to fanciful concepts, imagining that some cloud goes floating around in the sky.
Now, if you begin to see the One in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks as the Centering of the Fire, we can begin to comprehend the nature of the Fire, for it is differentiated. Notice the manner of its differentiation: “... one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot ...” What is the garment? The garment is the Cloud. “... and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow.” In other words, we begin to recognize that the upper vibratory factor, the pattern of that which is seen in the Shekinah Fire, is pure white, and the white is like snow. “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire.” Now here we begin to enter into the Fire Pattern of the Shekinah Fire. “And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword.”
We have recognized that the sword is a symbol of Truth; that means the Voice which has the sound of many waters conveys the expression of Truth, the sharp two-edged sword. You have begun to realize yourselves that the two-edged sword of Truth is in fact very sharp. It is something which cuts away that which ought not to be and allows that which should be to remain. So, “out of his mouth,” clearly indicates the expression of Truth by reason of the Voice. “... out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.”
Now there we have the most remarkable description of the Shekinah Fire, the manifest evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells, that can be found anywhere. We begin to appreciate how it is that we have, in the consideration of this short text, gone into so many different fields so that you could begin to truly appreciate the beauty and the wonder that are contained here. Now with respect to the interpretation: “The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand [that is, the positive hand], and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.”
We have also noted in this connection the Seven Spirits before the Throne of God, and we recognize that that expression means the same thing. Now, there are these seven different vibratory levels. Just as we have the octave in relationship to music, and the eighth being the repetition of the first in a higher or lower scale, so we have the seven vibrational factors in this realm of being of which we are aware. The seven colors of the rainbow gives another illustration.
According to the level to which we relate words, currents of feeling, etc., they will have different forms. Sometimes the word itself will seem to have a very definite change, and other times not. In any case there will be differences of pronunciation, differences of the feeling current released through the words. Now it would hardly be practical to undertake at this time to introduce the vibratory factors of the Motherland Tongue. Perhaps sometime we can consider a little of that, but you have much growing to do spiritually, vibrationally, before that could mean so very much to you. However, we can use intermediate steps, which begin to convey the idea, begin to let you have an opportunity to experience that which is possible to you.
I suppose some of you must have been aware of the Silver Cloud that was in form last night, that was taking form during the service as we considered the mysteries of the Shekinah Fire. And if you couldn't see it, I am sure that you all must have felt it. But surely some could begin to see it, because it was visible for a portion of the time. You are beginning, then, as we study these things, to share the experience of the reality of them. And, as we have noted the different pronunciations possible in relationship to the name or term utilized to signify this Fire, [Shekinah] the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells, you can see something of what I mean with respect to the proper changes in the current of expression, depending upon the levels of the expression—Shekinah, Shekeenah, or Shekaanah, just to illustrate.
Now there are many variations which tend to appear as we work in the current of the spirit, and you will find that while we give reasonable consideration to dictionary patterns of pronunciation and meaning, we cannot abide within the limits so set and allow the limitless to have expression. We have to utilize the factors of a play on words, and a play on the sounds of the words, some variations in the expressions of pronunciation, and certainly some changes in consciousness with respect to the meaning that is expressed by the sounds that are made with the voice.
So we have the seven stars, the seven candlesticks, and the seven spirits that are before the Throne of God, the seven angels of the seven churches, and the seven churches themselves. The churches signify the body of being, the body as it relates physically to the endocrine glands: the pattern of the islets of Langerhans, for instance—all of the little bodies put together provide one church in your body; the thyroid and parathyroid glands combine to provide another church in your body; the substance of the seven distinct glandular patterns, whether you think of it as one gland or several.
You have noted, I suppose, in your studies, that the pituitary gland, for instance, has different parts; in other words you say it is one gland, but it is not one gland; it is a combination; it has different levels of expression. So we either have divisions within the gland itself or divisions in the formation of the body of the gland. But you have in your body, in relationship to these things, the seven churches, the endocrine system. Somebody spoke about the many systems within the endocrine system, and they form, insofar as you are physically concerned, the seven churches. But you also have a mind, and so there are the seven churches insofar as your mind is concerned. There are the seven churches from the standpoint of the spiritual nature of your being. There are the seven churches, the body of being, in relationship to the focalized function of the heart. But here we find that the seven churches of the heart combine all of the particular patterns of the churches at the other three levels; in other words the seven churches of the heart are simply the three levels of churches, with respect to a specific point, brought to point.
Now perhaps that is not clear. With respect to the physical body, the mind and the spirit we have at the first level, or the first vibrational factor, that which would correlate perhaps with the gonads—a particular pattern at each of three levels. You combine all of those three levels in relationship to the heart and you have, by reason of that combination, the church of the heart in the first vibrational factor, and so on all the way through. Well now, we are not going to be able to go far enough in our consideration of the wonderful workings of the mind and its potentialities to allow us to study extensively the factors of the mind as such, that is, the seven churches; but we will give particularized consideration to this matter from the standpoint of the heart, which will begin to introduce something of these factors as they relate to mind and spirit.
But you, individually, then, have the four patterns of the seven churches in relationship to yourself as an external being. Do you see that? You have the four patterns of the seven churches as they relate to yourself in manifest, external being. Then of course we have the inner reality of the Seven Spirits before the Throne of God, the same principle carried over into the invisible realm of Deity.
But we begin to recognize that the Seven Spirits Before the Throne of God manifest by reason of specific formations, the formations of the stars—(that is, of the angels) and of the candlesticks (that is, the churches). So you have ... are ... what shall we say? We cannot say that you have seven candlesticks. You are seven candlesticks, and the seven stars function inside of you. But this is merely the differentiated individual pattern. We see that the whole pattern carries over to the Body of many members, and it is in relationship to the Body of Many Members that we can more clearly see many of these aspects in function. We should at this point be able to clearly see, comprehend, accept within ourselves, the fact that the Body of many members, which may be spoken of as the Christ Body, must necessarily have these particularized factors in it, even as they are present in your individual physical body. We cannot disregard the principles of life and function as they appear in the individual physical body when we begin to consider the physical formation of the One Christ Body made up of many members.
And anyone who attempts to develop a body of power—as in a church or a philosophy or a pattern of teaching, or anything else, ideology of any sort—any individual or individuals who undertake to produce a unit pattern of function, while disregarding these principles, must surely fail. We have seen it happen in the past; we have recognized it in relationship to the outworkings of history. It is only as we allow these same laws and principles to work in relationship to ourselves as many members of One Unit, One Body, that we can begin to be the means by which the power manifests. This is to say, then, from the standpoint of the Unit Pattern, that there is a particularized manifestation of the Shekinah Fire and Light and Cloud in relationship to each of these Seven Levels of Being. This trinity of the Shekinah Fire, or the Shekinah which signifies the manifest Presence of the One Who Dwells, is something that needs to be clearly comprehended, and how to convey it to you so that you can feel it and know it from deep within yourselves is something of a problem.
The spirit of God as such has virtually no meaning to human beings. The meaning begins to appear as the differentiated aspects of spirit appear. The meaning of God begins to appear to the children of men as the differentiated aspects of God appear through men, because God can have no true meaning to us except as He is revealed through the human form. And as long as you try to comprehend God without regard to the human form, as something above and beyond this realm in which we live and dwell, you will fail. You may develop some fixed concepts about an old man with a long beard sitting on a throne somewhere, but that is not a true comprehension of God—it is merely child's play. So you begin to see that you cannot in any true sense, no matter how you may delude yourself, you cannot comprehend God in reality except as He is made manifest through human beings.
To try to comprehend the wholeness or the allness of God with the human mind is attempting the impossible. We must recognize that it is the differentiated aspects of God made manifest through human beings which permit us to begin to comprehend God in reality. And as the spirit of God can have no real meaning except as it manifests in its differentiated aspects, we begin to see the Secret of the Shekinah as the Secret of Focalization from heaven into the earth, and differentiation in relationship to the practical aspects of living.
The Shekinah is the point of focus between heaven and earth, that which is of heaven brought to point for its manifestation on earth, and from that point expanding outward again into the patterns of life. At the point of its manifestation of its essence the variations, or the distinctions, the different qualities, cannot be readily recognized. We see it as a Fire. But here, in this portrayal that we are considering in the text, there is the beginning of the manifestation of the differentiations: that which is at the top, the head and the hairs white as snow, and then the eyes like a flame of fire, and the feet like unto fine brass, the garment down to the foot round about, the Cloud, and so on. So you begin to see the differentiations.
Now one of the interesting things that you should always remember, as you either meditate yourself upon the principles of reality or as you work with those who respond to you and receive of your ministry, is that those who begin to approach the Throne of God always see, if they really do see anything, they always see some aspect of differentiation first, of the many aspects of differentiation in manifestation. Each person will tend to see one little aspect here or one little aspect there, and because he or she feels it to be something that is true and real in the Divine expression, he or she will say, “Well now, I know God to be this. I know God to be that. To me God is something else,” and they are all dealing with limited perception of differentiated aspects humanly translated into human concepts. There you have the basis for all the many varied concepts and beliefs on the face of the earth. And they become distorted or remain true depending upon the capacity of the individuals involved to see clearly and translate correctly, and upon their honesty, because some there are who, being dishonest, think to translate on a basis which will let them have extra power over their fellows.
So when you are working with others you will run up against the fact that they have some little concept humanly translated on the basis of an imperfectly perceived aspect of the differentiations of the Central Evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells, and if you undertake to clarify the point for the individual, generally he or she will take the attitude that you are trying to deny God. The person says, “Well I know I have this! I know I have that!” And you say ever so gently and so clearly, “Yes, I know. But you need to see something else too.” No matter how you point it out, how you seek to lead, the moment you turn their attention away from that pet point, they will take the attitude that you are trying to make them deny what they think they know. So they have a basis of resentment and rebellion and every sort of thing.
If you remember this, you will understand the pushings and the pullings and the turnings, and all the foolishness that manifests with respect to human beings; and if they will remain honest and steady in the pattern, you can lead them finally, step-by-step, to a point where they can begin to see other differentiated aspects. They do not have the perceptive ability to see the Shekinah Fire yet. Do not try to get them to. How long did I talk to you before I ever mentioned it? Someone mentioned that I was talking to the group here about this particular point a couple of years ago. I don't recall just how long it was, but that was the statement made, “about two years ago.” In other words it is not something that I just suddenly thought up or discovered or heard about, or something. I have known about this Fire all the way through. I use it all the time, every day; and in actual fact, every time I come before you, in a class or a service, I begin to work on the basis of developing that Cloud and letting you be in it.
To whatever degree your response will permit, you will be in the Cloud, the Cloud of Glory of the Shekinah. You may not see it, but you can reach a point where you can see it, and it is wonderful. Sometimes it may become so dense, shall we say, so thick or full, that it simply blocks out all vision of the people around you; you cannot see the far comer of the room. I have many times known it to be so thick that I could not even see my own hand that far from my eyes—the Cloud. And the Cloud you feel, you sense through feeling to start with. Finally you begin to have the ability to see it, and to hear it; for there is a sound in it. But don't go trying now, because if you try to see it you will not; if you try to hear it you will not. You have to let it appear. And remember well what I pointed out to you last night, and that is that wherever there are vibrations of conflict, resentment, any ill attitudes whatsoever, you keep yourself shut out of the Cloud of the Shekinah and contain yourself in the cloud of darkness.
I might perhaps pause at this point to tell you a little about my own experience, speaking from the outer standpoint, of becoming consciously aware of my life work, receiving from the heavenly realms that ordination by reason of which this ministry manifests and you are here. It was in September of 1932, and I count my official ministry from that time. The fact is that I had been working in this sphere for three or four years before that, in various ways, particularly in relationship to psychology and dietetics, and what have you, in the ordinary course of events—a seeking pattern, but it was also a pattern wherein I was doing some teaching. In any case, it was in conjunction with that that in 1929 I first began the development of the work of attunements—the reason for which you are attending this Class: so that you can be attuned and help other people receive attunements. I gave my first attunement in 1929. In any case there was the outworking of events, which I will not attempt to describe for you, that carried forward to the point of the middle of September 1932.
It was on the morning of September 13. I had been doing some meditating and writing. I was holding classes regularly, and so on, but I had not yet found that exact point of centering and expression and realization for which I longed, speaking from the outer standpoint. I do not recall now what it was, but there was some book that I was reading—it doesn't make any difference; it has no direct significance, no real relationship to it—and I had also been reading the Bible. At that time I was working very long hours. My work in relationship to giving attunements had grown until, down in Nashville, Tennessee, where this took place, the response was almost greater than I could take care of. I would begin giving attunements very often at seven o'clock in the morning in relationship to people before they went to work, continue all through the day, and seldom did my day close before eleven at night, and then very often I would receive telephone calls in the middle of the night to go out and help someone get rid of a terrible headache or something, some difficulty that had arisen. So I was on rather short rations of sleep. But, in any case, I didn't have any trouble sleeping when I had the opportunity, and it was not usual for me to awaken at a particularly early hour. Under the circumstances I felt about six-thirty to seven to be early enough.
On this particular morning, for no reason that my outer mind could distinguish, I woke up at four o'clock in the morning—on September 13, 1932—and I felt restless. For a little bit, I tried to go back to sleep. It was still quite dark at that time of year and it was no good trying to go to sleep, so I got up, looked around, and walked about a bit. I noticed this book, whatever it was that I had been reading. I thought, “Well I'll sit down and read that awhile.” I sat down and tried to read, and the pages were just words in front of me, absolutely nothing, so I set that aside and I thought, “Well I'll read the Bible awhile.” And I undertook to read the Bible and I could not get focalized in it—just words. So I walked back and forth—and as I tell you this, please remember it is in confidence. I do not want you repeating this story to other people. If it needs to be told, let me tell it. I am sharing with you something of the things we are talking about, that we are studying here. I had experienced it in a limited sense before but did not know what it was. In any case, after attempting to read and being unable to focalize attention on anything, I was walking up and down the room quietly—I did not want to waken my wife and baby—and somehow or other, apparently from any outer standpoint by accident, there was a tablet, an ordinary tablet of writing paper, on the table, and there was a pencil there. I suppose probably my wife had been writing a letter or something. She usually wrote with pencil—she didn't like a pen—and she may have left it there. In any case, how it was there I cannot tell you, but it was there. After all this restlessness—and I had even thought about dressing and going out and walking around the street for a little bit, but it was a little chilly out and, well, it didn't seem to be sensible.
Finally my eye hit that tablet and pencil there, and I sat down and relaxed just on the impulse. I had nothing to write, nothing in my mind in the outer sense to warrant any such action, but I did sit down, and as I relaxed, the restlessness began to leave me at once and the room started filling with the silver cloud, the Shekinah Cloud, until the objects of the room were blotted from my sight. I could not see as far as the wall in any direction. I was enfolded in this that looked sort of like a silvery fog. It was very peaceful, pleasant and wonderful. And I began to write, writing out certain things which, as far as my outer consciousness was concerned, were something that I was not equipped to write, shall we say. So I wrote for probably an hour, an hour and a half. My hand began to feel cramped and tired, and I stopped, and gradually the cloud began to fade and I could begin to see the various parts of the room, and I read what had been written and found it very interesting.
The next morning I awakened at the same hour. I had no reason that morning to anticipate that I would be awakened at the same hour, but I was—four o'clock. I got up and felt the same restless urge; and so, instead of fighting it as some people do to their sorrow, I yielded to it and began to write again. I did not do any wandering around that second morning, and the room filled almost instantly with the silvery cloud and I began to write. After an hour or so, why that was all for that time. The cloud disappeared once more. That was on the morning of the 14th of September. Then on the morning of the 15th it happened again. And that third morning, at the conclusion, I knew that it was done. I did not expect it to happen another morning, and it never has since that day, not in any such fashion as that.
What I wrote is for you now beside the point. Many points were clarified in my own consciousness. Questions that I had asked over and over and over again were answered. And I received the Heavenly Ordination to the work to which I have since then devoted myself, which makes it possible for you to be here. It is not necessary for me to attempt to outline the pattern of that devotion or ordination, but that was the beginning of my official ministry. September 16, 1932, I count to be the first day of my public, official ministry, after the baptism in the Shekinah Fire. And it is only because of the reality of that that you have been able to hear the things you have heard in these classes; only because of the reality of that that you have been drawn from far places to share this outworking. And because we are studying something of the principles involved, I thought I would introduce you briefly to that ordination experience that worked out on those three mornings in the middle of September in 1932.
Since that time my course has never deviated. Many human beings have tried to force me to change my course but they could not. They chose to part company with me and go their own ways. Some of them I loved very deeply and dearly, but still it did not matter. That course has never been changed or altered, and I do not anticipate that it will be. Every type of force, virtually speaking, that the world could bring to bear has been brought to bear. But when one has gone through the reality of such an experience as that, the things of the unreal world are forever unreal and the things that are real in the realm of heavenly delights are forever real; and one works from the standpoint of the inner through the outer, no longer the outer trying to climb into the inner somehow, or rise up to it. The outer is the means of manifestation. The body is important, and its mind, its various capacities. They are all important. But the Source of that which expresses through them is no longer of the earth, earthy; it is no longer of the outer realm of knowledge and being; it is the revelation of heavenly things through the body into the world, to all who will receive.
This is that which I have been sharing with you, and it is to share it that you are here in training, that you may share the responsibilities of that ministry and carry the promise of Life and Light and Love to all who will yield and respond in the days to come. I thank God for you who are here, and for all the others who are sharing in this outworking according to their response. But remember this, once you set forth upon the path that is established by the Divine Design there is no altering it, and only the foolish try to change it into something else. When we let it be God's Design, the Design of Truth, in the realm of Heavenly Control, that is all that matters, and the ideas and the concepts, the pushings, the pullings, the feelings and everything else, which manifest in relationship to humanity, are seen for what they are, and you are no longer under subjection to them. You may feel them sometimes, but that is beside the point. If in relationship to our heavenly function in the service of our KING there is any pleasure—and there is; heavenly rewards and pleasures which words cannot describe—then, if it be necessary for a little time, in some place or other, under some circumstance or other, to suffer a bit of pain, it means nothing. Why should we object to a little suffering if thereby we can hold the line and let the currents work out and the patterns clear, until all who will may be drawn into the citizenship of the Kingdom of our KING?
So let us serve. And remember that wherever there are resentments, frictions, conflicts, within or without, within the individual or between individuals, you cannot know the beauty and the wonder, the glory and the peace, of the Shekinah, the manifest evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells, everywhere, always. And so we share on earth the things of God and do our part for the fulfilment of the Creative Word: “Behold, I make all things new.”
© emissaries of divine light
