Getting Above It All — Ascension

Getting  Above  It  All

Ascension

YouTube  Video

John Gray  and  Alan Hammond   July 17, 1986   World Service Class

John Gray — Here are words that might be spoken by any of us: I love the King. Loving Him, I know His love. And I love His world, my world, heaven and earth—the whole world. This consciousness is at the core of what we call World Service. Usually thoughts of the world center in the earth aspect. We remember that that's not the whole of it; there is heaven as well. Standing in heaven there extends out beneath us, we might say, through the earth, connections with everything and everyone everywhere. These connections are already present. They are subconscious and very real. Coming from heaven into the earth, our own radiance sent out, in a sense, across these connections which already exist, activates various portions of the realm of earthly connection. According to the nature of what is activated and according to the power of the stimulating spiritual expression, there arises an earthly field of service in the momentary sense. Things come to consciousness, feelings arise, opportunities to act present themselves all the time. I love the world into which I have deliberately come.

Not long ago in our Class considerations we were looking at some of the earthly characteristics of various cultures and peoples throughout the world, seeing the necessity at this level for the dissolution of prejudice and bias, attitudes of division that have been present in our own subconscious makeup and have served as a barrier to true service. There are similar attitudes present within the Emissary body. Thankfully there is some lessening of such, you could say, regional prejudices and parochial views. But such still remain. Any fixed attitude, any mindset, perhaps with respect for the moment just to North America—those in the East, for example, are this way and those in the West are that way and those in the middle, who knows? those in the South, those in the North. Without perhaps beings too deliberate about developing such structures, everyone has their share—these views prevent a blending of the substance brought by each one. And the result is that the body perceives itself as incomplete and consequently inadequate. There are whole areas of the ministry of the Son of God on earth, of which many have no awareness at all. It’s not only a matter of having mindsets about certain regions or people, but sometimes it’s a blank. As we’ve been considering recently, it is the devil’s approach to divide and thus control. We are concerned that attitudes of divisiveness pass, so we can be no more convinced of incompleteness and inadequacy.

There is a new heaven of which, when one’s own substance is released in an unstructured way into the larger whole, one becomes aware. And a new earth takes form accordingly, which resembles not at all any prior ideas. We have had, no doubt, views of ourselves, certain internal requirements that we have placed on ourselves for ourselves, thinking that unless I can be this way I can't serve adequately, I can’t do my spiritual job. If I'm going to be a world server well then I need to know all about everything that’s going on. That would hardly be possible, would it? But as we see, in the new heaven, the whole is already whole; it isn’t actually divided. And at the earth level of things everything is connected anyway. Where is the difficulty? From whence stem the feelings of inadequacy, that somehow we are not capable, or not capable yet, of accomplishing our commission? We are very capable, very adequate.

I had an experience recently that demonstrated something to my own consciousness. Pam and I were traveling to the Orient, and the particular flight that we were to depart Los Angeles on en route to Tokyo was postponed by, as it turned out, a day. Various things had been arranged in Tokyo for the following day. They were all set, preparations had been made. As it turned out, we were up for some thirty hours or so and arrived in Tokyo with this series of appointments and meetings that began immediately and went on into the evening, including a dinner and a public meeting. I discovered something about the value of an obedient heart. When there is an adequately trained and obedient subconscious through which spirit may work, there is an autopilot factor which is operational in spite of the fact that in the outer sense the circumstance was perhaps not quite what one would have preferred. I don’t say I talked in my sleep, but it was pretty close! As it turned out, evidently the time spent with various ones, the meeting and dinner and what all, turned out fine. It’s kind of a blur in my memory. There are far more resources present with us already if we relax and trust our own capabilities to move in the current of the spirit.

One aspect of serving in the world as it is, which involves the ability to connect with people where they are, requires being above cultural factors oneself, so that others with whom you come in contact are met, if they are willing to come up above their own cultures, met at that level. And something very worthwhile happens; there is a current, there’s a connection realized in heaven. Sometimes this stimulates something to the conscious level in the person, sometimes not. But without it there is very little likelihood of connecting at all.

We have considered a little bit about the value of language, the use of words, and share an appreciation for the work with language that has been done in this ministry over the years, specifically with English, to bring immense dimension to bear through what previously were very small apertures, very small openings. The meanings of words have expanded and taken on a new heaven. My appreciation for this fact has increased in the past several years through endeavoring to do something in the Spanish-speaking parts of the world. Spanish, while not as flexible a tool as English, is a living language and thus malleable. We have found, in beginning to express spirit by reason of the Spanish word forms, that things had to change. The language structures and forms-themselves needed to be more flexible and more expansive and, in some cases, a few specialized words developed and worked with over time. The translation of On Eagle’s Wings into Spanish at one level shouldn’t have been a difficult task; after all, it’s just a finite number of words. But to convey the spirit accurately requires more than some literal translation. What words would spirit bring to life to embody the central essence of what’s being said? Spanish is beginning to be more malleable in this regard, and the book is finally coming to print.

We have plenty of forms present in our subconscious. Working with them in this similar way, they become malleable and more available, more ample for spirit’s use. All that is necessary to connect with everyone and everything in the world where we are, the world which we love, is already present right with us. It is simply the intensity of one's own current, one’s own love current, extending out through the tools that are already available, already present, that enlarges them and brings them to life and makes them more viable and workable as conveyors of spirit. We have found this magically occurring, no doubt, in the ways we see our own worlds of service during the time that we have spent together. Each of us came, with a certain vision, a certain understanding. We saw ourselves as servers. But now something quite a bit different is seen. There is a far bigger context. We don't hold ourselves so confined as heretofore. This has served as the initiation of a continuing, ongoing process of expansion and enlargement. There is unlimited scope for the service of the body of God on earth. We emerged into the world initially capable of great and wonderful things! A falling away of what has been a barrier, been an obstacle, been a factor of division, whatever, to permitting one’s emergence—these have begun to shrink in consciousness. One cares less and less, until not at all, about all the things that seem to stand in one’s way, because in fact they don’t.

We accept and appreciate the parameters of circumstance as they come to us, remembering in whose name we come, and let that royal spirit fill each circumstance and watch the magic that ensues. There is nothing more exciting or fulfilling than to be a member of this spiritual body, playing our unique parts, transforming the world, bringing the King’s world increasingly into attunement with His spirit, letting, as we say, the garden be restored. It is accomplished as we stand with and in the point of spiritual focus on earth, loving the King, knowing His love, loving His world, loving the parts we play, delighted with all that occurs, and having a sense of heavenly perspective about it all. Everything is thus light, easy, fun, no matter how limited the circumstances may appear. We may need to operate on auto-pilot from time to time. That’s quite all right, if one’s auto-pilot mechanism is trustworthy. We may need to serve in circumstances that we might not prefer. Who cares? What a delightful commission we in fact have: the focus of the world body, rendering world service in the name of the One whose world it is.

Alan Hammond — We all loved sharing John’s expression of the One Spirit. I’m sure, as he was emphasizing, we find emerging in our consciousness that as we come to know the KING—and that phrase actually covers a whole multitude of processes—but as we come to know the KING, we find we do love His world. And evidence of that is that we would not wish to exploit or hurt any part of it. On the contrary, we love it and everything in it, and we long to draw forth the fullest divine potential from every element of it—healer, educator, friend to the whole.

John also emphasized as part of the ascending process the purification of the heart, which this ministry is well occupied with. And each of us as individuals find, probably, a fair portion of our time involved in purifying the heart, as it is called—whatever it is actually—because this really must be the first order of business. Something has gone wrong in certain levels of human consciousness. When I say “gone wrong,” the experience of heaven has been excluded and something else is here—or there. And the educational process provided through this organ, EDL, is an unspeakable privilege for those who are invited to participate. Now the focus of that educational process, as it has been called, is the purification of the heart and the orientation of the mind in spirit.

This process can be focalized in what Martin has been emphasizing recently as “stop judging.” That's the focus of it all, really. If we judge something, someone, it invariably pulls us out of the state of heaven. And so to deal with judgments as they arise in consciousness is not just a diligent chore that we have been exhorted to participate in, but actually is one of the most thrilling, re-creative occupations that angels can be involved. It is very thrilling. Most human beings judge without realizing it. They just do it! Moment by moment they’re busy judging, unconsciously. Martin's emphasis on “stop judging” allows, if we will, these unconscious processes of distorted function, namely judging, to become conscious so they can be discarded. And this is very exciting, because you cannot change any shade of attitude or feeling in consciousness about anyone or anything without actually affecting your whole world.

I’d like to explore a little more this matter of the magic of the human consciousness in which we move, live and have our experience. We’re involved in a re-creative process. The re-creative process is using, basically, the same principles as the creative process. The first chapter of Genesis outlines the creative processes. As one comes to know the truth you know there is a tremendous amount contained in this, relative to the creative process. For example, each day of creation does pertain to stages of re-creation in the restoration of the consciousness and experience of man. Just to give an example:

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Well we have become aware of that. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said. Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”

You've heard that. The first thing to realize, really, is that this evening and morning are always the first day. And actually the whole process starts in the dark, which does relate to some unconscious mechanisms. So in our re-creative processes, this matter of working in the night, the unconsciousness, as John was emphasizing, is far more potent than we may have realized. Eventually man was banished from the garden and his true state, and had to start perspiring when he achieved anything. As world servers, we have to be restored to our true place. In our true place we become aware of the mechanisms, the instruments, of action available when we are in true identity in the true place. This does not involve effort in the usual sense.

In our First Day there is just becoming aware of being on earth, really—the entry into time and space, which relates to the First Day. And then the Second Day rehearses about the firmament, the waters above and the waters below. The Second Day we begin to work with consciousness, no doubt relating to the Second Sacred School. And then in the Third Day the dry land appears and all the seeds; the Divine collective body and the mechanisms of activity related to that body are outlined. And then we come to the Fourth Creative Day, which I’m going to read even though some of us may not be directly focused in this level of activity. We may still be sorting out—well, we’re certainly over the First Day, we know we're alive in the dimensional world of time and space. But we may still be sorting out the waters above and the waters below, clarifying the heaven. We all are engaged in that still, to some extent, no doubt. But there are dominances of activity in the individual sense, and in the collective sense. And in the collective sense, although it may not be dominant, I would suggest the Emissary ministry is moving into the Fourth Day, which reads like this:

“And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkenss: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”

Now I don’t want to go into an analysis of that. But an obvious thing is the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night, which could relate to a certain emphasis of masculine function and feminine function. And the “lesser light” doesn’t mean to say it’s a lesser role, because it relates to many unconscious—the lesser light relating to the darkness and the subconscious—many mechanisms of creative function. It’s just where rulership is. But we have divine man and divine woman reemerging consciously in the heaven. And rulership from the heaven is indicated here—communion in heaven.

But anyway, going back, at least connecting up with this matter of clarifying the subconscious. John was pointing that there is a personal clarification that goes on, and this allows one to ascend. There is a feeling of ascension out of involvement in the earth into the heaven. And in that identity there is authority. Now this authority isn’t exercised as human beings have known the exercise of authority, of imposition externally upon this, that and the other. And ascending into heaven, as a star in the firmament of the heaven, one becomes aware, for example, of this oneness. We’ve been speaking about oneness—John emphasized oneness. This isn’t a theory. There is one spirit, one energy, animating everything everywhere. Now that may be a theory, but it’s absolutely obvious. And yet the human consciousness has not been a conscious part of that overall mechanism.

But being actually above the heaven, so that our identity is actually in an undimensional state of qualitative being—that's really what we are. And we can discern the manifestation of that undimensional quality of being throughout the centuries. When we see Jesus, for example, exemplifying qualities of character, we say He expressed the truth, the True Tone. That spirit is my spirit. But that spirit was manifesting two thousand years ago, and yet here it is now, manifesting through these little piles of dust. And this is who I am. Before Jesus was, I am. It’s the same character, the same being.

So our actual identity is in an undimensional level, and we incarnate into the realm of time and space—we say the heaven. And we begin to work in the heaven. Work in the heaven—and there are various ways of working with this, but one way of looking at working in the heaven might be said to be what we have called working in the subconscious. It has been unconscious, anyway, to the human mind, so that when discordant thoughts and feelings arise in consciousness, coming out of this stature and quality of character that I am, I stop judging. Now that’s not enough, just to stop judging, really. Somebody pointed out last night in service, it’s very difficult to just stop judging. The positive side of “not judging” presumably would be acceptance, only that’s a kind of milquetoast state. Love would be the positive expression of nonjudgment. In other word, you know there is somebody that causes you to judge all the time. Or some circumstance that you have been judging for ages is wrong. And that pulls us, always, out of heaven and we’re grappling then, and things are the way they are. But if I ascend above the heaven, to the undimensional quality of being that I am, and I am resolved to exemplify this magnificent quality of divine character, I find a magnanimous inclusion of this jerk, and this situation, because I am above it all. The truth is I am above it all, and the greatest excitement, the greatest fulfilment, is to be—well, initially it seems to be the greatest joy and fulfilment to be above it all. There is more to do, actually, after we get above it all. But getting above it all is a thrilling process. Ascension is thrilling! And, as I say, we begin to accommodate people who have irked us, people who criticize us. That usually throws us for a loop—if they judge us, we judge them. But no, I am immediately anyway divine; and I express from this magnificent being that I am. So that’s more than non-judgment. And we let them be however they are, because they really cannot, they do not have the power, to change who I am and my resolve to be in expression who I am. It's only fear of those people and those things, really, pulling us out of somewhere into hell or purgatory that causes us to react. That’s all involved with human distortion. But anyway, the way to transcend judgment is to be this magnificent spirit and express it—not just to stand there unmoved, but actually to pour something greater of qualitative being into one’s world.

Now I emphasized earlier that the excitement of becoming conscious of areas of judgment in one’s own heart and mind, because you cannot change ever so slightly an attitude—towards someone, let alone circumstances—you cannot change from a destructive quality of attitude towards someone without changing the lines of force emerging through your subconscious mind. And the evening and the morning is the beginning of the next day. If we change a shade of feeling or attitude or thought towards anyone or anything, into greater alignment with the divine expression, we are immediately changing mechanisms within our own subconscious realms, which are far more potent than we have suspected, because it is the lines of radiant force that move out from the mind, including the heart, which actually draw into creative manifestation the world around us as individuals.

Therefore, without going out there to change anything—the throne is within; the throne is the consciousness. As the spiritual KING upon the throne, the conscious KING upon the throne, begins to align every thought and feeling with my being, then I begin to re-create a manifest world—the day comes—and made manifest in that light is a world and an experience consonant with the nature of my radiation, my presence. Therefore there is re-creation and this extends beyond, because where does my world end? The mind sees a certain parameter of vision. But being a star in the firmament of heaven, my dominion extends beyond just this and that. There is a divine technology. The divine technology is referred to in Day Three, with the grasses and the seeds and the tree. The divine technology—you know, grass and trees and birds, they're not just there for visual pleasure. They're part of a divine technology which should be under the control of man’s consciousness. Man, this earth, is the body and the mechanism of the spirit. The consciousness of that spirit is housed in man, man’s consciousness. And all these things we see around us are divine instruments of re-creative and creative influence, actually not only in the earth—there are internal mechanisms, obviously in these forms—but also it relates to the quality of radiation from this planet, this Archangelic Body, the earth, into the larger creative field. So they’re not just cows wandering around out there; they are channels of radiation.

Now ascending again above the heaven, so that we begin to work in the heaven, releasing qualities of divine spirit in every moment, we begin to be aware of many mechanisms that the mind heretofore has been unconscious of, scrabbling around in the earth or the lower levels of heaven. Human consciousness is aware of various, what it thinks of as supernatural powers, like telepathy and telekinesis—moving objects with your mind; never mind trying to move a glass—one can see that this power of telekinesis is actually operational for everyone all the time. One is moving one’s whole world around one all the time by reason of the quality of radiation moving out. And one is drawing things to one and pushing things away all the time, or it appears to be that way—it is somewhat that way. The power of telekinesis is something which, although it is largely unconscious in most people, is an active process nevertheless.

As we ascend into greater awareness of divine identity and our sole concern is not to manipulate anything for ourselves but to play our part in the One Spirit, in the one mechanism, that is accomplishing God’s will. We begin to eliminate, for one thing—if things are moving towards us there isn’t the countermeasure of human concept and anxiety and fear, trying to hold it away. And on the other hand, if somebody or something begins to move away because of the impurities of attachment in the distorted subconscious, we’re not trying to hang on to things or people as they move away either, because we are part of the One. We really are part of the One. And the One is coordinating everything everywhere. Now think of that: The One Spirit is coordinating everything everywhere, and we begin to be consciously one with that movement. This takes all the struggle out of life. The perspiration begins at least to lessen as we ascend.

In times past, becoming a little bit aware of this one animating spirit that is coordinating everything, and feeling separate from it, we maybe have realized that we're living our lives down here—this is what most human beings think, and we've thought this: that I live my life down here and I decide to go there, and so on. When we were unconscious, somehow the whole moved us, our bodies, minds and hearts—not the angel's now—but we, who we thought we were, moved us into position to connect up with this body, for example. Now we were virtually unconscious, and yet there was still sufficient attunement with the spirit to be moved by the spirit so that the bodies, the minds and the hearts could be moved around and connect up with the mechanism where it needed to be connected up with. And then in the process we began to realize, well hey, this whole vast process is obviously being controlled by levels of intelligence other than where we are. We’re down here, and yet there were obviously these levels of intelligence and control operational to move us all around—so there were other levels of intelligence coordinating activities going on, on the surface of the earth. And that may be how we viewed it—and there are other focalizations of intelligence, obviously. But as we begin to ascend into the heaven, as on the Fourth Day, we begin to realize that the mind actually begins to have an experience of ascension, not because it goes anywhere but because it begins to yield and move more totally compliantly with the movement of spirit. It begins to harmonize with that and, for example, you begin to have a compulsion within you, a need for something, there’s a longing for something. In the old state those longings could be all sorts of distorted subconscious things. But coming clear, there are longings that move, and there are impulses that move, and it begins to be a clear channel. One begins to let that longing be expressed somehow into one’s world. Coming out of that heaven you express that Tone, not in a wanting way—you don’t want anything. It’s a longing to clothe the spirit, and one just clothes the spirit. And there, for example, is telekinesis at work, because it will be drawing what needs to be drawn to you to play your part in the larger design. It is being drawn—the influence has been extended into the whole, and what is needed is being drawn to you.

Now that is a change of organizing intelligence, actually. You begin to realize that my radiation of my being is radiating out. The mind, down here a little bit, becomes aware of the radiation, which is translated as a longing. And actually the spiritual radiation is going forth to draw what needs to be drawn, so that you can play your part and they, whoever it is or whatever it is, can play their part in the outworking cycle. But, you see, there is an ascension, because it's no longer a “higher level of intelligence” that’s organizing this. You become aware at this level that there is a movement through yourself. Now actually there are levels of higher intelligence, because once you’ve got the Archangelic identity, we are focalizations of the one identity called the Archangelic Spiritual Focus for this planet. But then obviously this identity is part of a much larger pattern, and you might say the fall—what was the fall? Somebody began to judge. There was judgment because what was coming out of the cosmos, factors of radiation that needed to be accommodated and harmonized with, weren’t.

In spirit, each of us—us little tiny things, seemingly—we begin to provide the restoration because we begin to harmonize with whatever vibrational factors come from anywhere. At the moment we see it coming from our wife, or Joe Blow in the office, these discordant factors. But we accommodate all those in the Tone. And in spirit we are re-attuning this earth with the cosmic whole. We are a part of cosmic spirit, cosmic mind and the cosmic body. And in essence, as we harmonize these tiny little things, these vibrational factors that come to us, as we harmonize them in the moment into what we call my divine character—my divine character is me, the earthly Archangelic identity—and beyond that, which my mind hasn't ascended to be able to discuss at this point! because the creative activity is required at the level where we do have consciousness, so that’s fine. There are more and more wonders of experience in man, in his consciousness, yet to emerge. That’s the beauty of the process of ascension. But we are where we are.

And so what more thrilling experience of the expression of our creative genius, our creative beings, is there than letting this spirit come into the consciousness of man and begin to re-attune it with cosmic spirit and cosmic mind—cosmic intelligence. And then, as that attunement is achieved, spirit can move all the way through and the patterns and functions inherent in that substance called spirit is translated in the forms of substance all the way down, and those levels of substance have consciousness of the nature and fundamental activity of that spirit, which I am. So world service is what we're involved in. And as several of you have emphasized in some of your presentations that I’ve heard, we don't have to go anywhere. I am already everywhere. But I am focused in my divine radiant activity into the whole here and now. And I do it by expressing who I am.

Divine Commission —John 17

Divine  Commission — John 17

Uranda   April 5, 1953

As we come to the concluding Service, the hour of meditation at the close of Easter this year of our Lord one thousand, nine hundred, fifty-three, it is well that we consider together those things by reason of which we may share the victory of our LORD and KING, and particularly tonight I would draw your attention to our Divine Commission—the commission which extends to us here in this hour.

First I would remind you that before our Master was called upon to suffer the indignities of the mockery of trial and crucifixion He made the statement. “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world,” This was His statement before the crucifixion, before the resurrection morn. He said, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” He did not say, “I am going to overcome the world. I am almost ready to overcome the world. I an almost ready to prove God's supremacy over the limitations present in the world.” He said, before the beginning of man's attempt to kill God, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” And it is that fact which gives us real cause for hope. It is that fact which makes it possible for us to follow Him in overcoming the limitations of the world. Hunan beings have developed some very peculiar concepts about what it means to overcome the world.

In actual fact it means simply that as we let the Way, the Truth, and the Life have meaning in our lives we overcome the limitations of the world which arise out of self-centeredness and self-activity and, becoming God-centered, we let Deity be made manifest in our lives, according to that particular capacity which God has granted to us, according to the particular purpose for which we came into the world, for we remember that each one is distinctly individual. Each one has a Divine Purpose, ordained on earth to accomplish some certain thing. And unless each one fulfils that to which he is ordained, he cannot know the joy and the satisfaction of truly living. And so, you came into the world to accomplish something special in relationship to God's Plan and Purpose. And it is only as we share the victory which overcomes the limitations of the world, overcomes those things which prevent the manifestation of the things of God, can we truly follow our LORD and Master—and that overcoming must be while we live. That is the true victory.

One of the things which must be recognized and emphasized in relationship to this point is that human beings have for so long imagined that overcoming the world meant some kind of gloomy life in which one could have no joy, no satisfaction, no natural expression in life—which is not the case at all, for the true expression of life brings the real joy and happiness and satisfaction which God intends for His Children. We remember the Master’s word “Fear not little flock. It is my Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom” And He did not add, after you die. Right here on earth in this life, “Fear not little flock. It is my Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” And once we begin to realize that Truth, our whole attitude toward life begins to change.

And now, with respect to that Divine Commission, the means by which we may accomplish that to which we are called, I would draw your attention to the prayer with which our Master concluded His ministry on earth, and this was before the experience in Gethsemane, the mockery of the trial, the atrocities that were brought to a climax in the crucifixion: “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” Now there is the Master’s statement of that which is necessary to eternal life—not the crucifixion, not dying on the cross. “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.”

“I have glorified thee on the earth.” And now notice the next statement. “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” At the point where the Master gave this prayer He said “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” At this point—before Gethsemane. Before the trial and the crucifixion, the Master said, “I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do,” That which He had to endure afterward was something imposed upon Him by man. It was not required of God, and we have the Master's own statement to establish that fact. For if we say that He had not finished the work which God gave Him to do before the trial and the crucifixion, we make of Him a liar and what is He did of no consequence to us in any case. Let us remember that everything which He had to endure, everything He had to work through, after this point, man imposed upon Him, man made necessary—not God. It was not God's will. He merely faced the issue which man imposed upon Him and carried through to victory. We thank God for that victory, but it was not God's will that He should have to endure these things.

In this prayer we read: “I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.” There is a statement from the Master's lips which human beings have forgotten—the Seventh Verse of the Seventeenth Chapter of John. “Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.” Everything that expressed in the Master's life—every word, every fulfilment, was not from the man Jesus but from the Father.

“For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one, as we are.” In exactly the same manner, under exactly the same laws, for exactly the same Divine Purpose—“that they may be one, as we are.”

“While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name; those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

“And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

“I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

“They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.

“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

“As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.”

“As”—in exactly the same manner, with exactly the same opportunity, in relationship to exactly the same power and the same plan, for the same purpose. “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” What is it that sanctifies?

“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

“And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.”

This includes you tonight in this hour as much as it has included anyone, anywhere, at any time—as much as it included any disciple in the Master’s time, or any man or woman since that day, or any man or woman in the world today. This includes you, if you will receive it.

“Neither pray I for these alone.” Therefore every word in this prayer that applies to any human being anywhere at any time applies to you in this hour, if you will receive it. “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all”—without any exception—“that they all”—which includes you—“That they all may be one, as thou, father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them.”

What was the glory God gave Him? The glory of manifesting the reality of the Son of God on earth, the glory of letting the power of God have meaning on earth, the glory of doing the will of God on earth, the glory of revealing Deity on earth, the glory of establishing the reality of the Kingdom of God on earth, the glory of victorious living, the glory of truly serving man on earth.

“And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them.” And that includes you in this hour, if you will but receive it. “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”

“And hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” In exactly the same manner, with the same degree of love, the same fulness of love, applying to you in this hour. The Father is expressing His Love to you in this moment as surely, as fully, as truly as His Love was made manifest for Jesus—not one whit less, according to the Master’s own words. “That the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”

“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am”—not where I am going to be, not where I shall be. He had just said “I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world.” Those who have followed Him have been primarily concerned about God taking them out of the world. And that was not the Master’s prayer or His purpose. “I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world.” It is not the Divine Purpose that you should be taken out of the world. But what does He say? “I will.” Here is our Lord’s will “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.”

Now where was He in that moment? He was on earth. Where was He in that moment? Not in some distant Heaven. He was right here on earth, and He said, “Where I am,” not where I am going to be. And what else? Where was He on earth? Not a geographical location, but the manifestation of the Son of God, the manifestation of God's Power and Authority—a manifestation of Deity. And that is the Divine Commission extended to you, the Divine Invitation, that you should be as a member of the Body on earth, where He was—on earth manifesting the reality of God, the reality of Deity, the reality of God’s Power, working with God’s Laws, fulfilling God’s Will, achieving God's Purpose, fulfilling God's Plan. And this is that to which you are called.

“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them”—that the Body of many members, the Vine of many branches, might be a reality on earth, a means by which the works might be done on earth, an actual accomplishment—not merely a dream of the future, not merely a hope for the hereafter, but the reality of a Divine Purpose in life on earth.

This is the Master’s prayer. This concluded His Divine Ministry on earth. By this means He extended the Mantle of Sonship to all who would follow Him and receive the invitation. And it extends to you in this hour. It is extended to every man, woman and child on the face of the earth who will receive it—but we must receive it on earth while we live. This concluded His Divinely Ordained Ministry on earth, and by this means He conveyed to those who should follow Him, in any generation, in any place on the face of the earth, the same position, the same power, the same ability, the same purpose which He had on earth—not a separate one, not something different, not one thing for our LORD on earth and another thing for you, the same thing. And this is His prayer.

And it was immediately after the conclusion of this prayer that He endured the indignities imposed upon Him by man. He had already finished the work which the Father gave Him to do. God did not require it. But since man imposed it, He established the victory over the worst that man could do. This wonderful prayer contains within it the Divine Commission extended to you—the Divine Commission extended to each and every one, and open to every man, woman and child, without regard to race or color or creed. The question of what earthly church you belong to, or may have belonged to, or that some one else belongs to, is beside the point. The invitation is to every living man or woman or child. We begin to see that only as we yield to a centering in God under the Law, only as we receive forgiveness, can we begin to receive this Divine Commission.

But what does it mean to receive forgiveness? Now, God offers forgiveness to every person without respect to who or where, without respect to what anyone may have done. There is not one single person on the face but what God has offered that person, is offering that person, forgiveness. But what does it mean to receive that forgiveness? It means this—man, functioning with limited understanding of the purpose of his life, functioning without the manifestation of God’s power, functioning without Divine wisdom—the sense of the fitness of things—has done those things which, if allowed to bear their fruit, complete their cycle, will bring disaster, will spoil the pattern of life. To receive forgiveness means that you let God change your future. Your function without this pattern which God has ordained has produced certain conditions which if allowed to come to fulfilment will have certain results.

What is forgiveness? The manifestation of the power of God that changes your future, that nullifies the wrong patterns which you have initiated and brings them to naught and establishes for you the opportunity of fulfilment, the opportunity of accomplishment, the opportunity of sharing in this Divine Commission. As long as the human being refuses to receive forgiveness his future cannot be changed. No one can force a change of the future upon another. Each receives as he sows unless a higher power is allowed to work in the individual life. And that power works not because Jesus was crucified but because human beings allow themselves to become a part of the Christ Body on earth. Because they reach a point where they will let the Truth make them free. And one of the things essential to that state of freedom is a recognition that receiving forgiveness is simply allowing the power of God to so operate in your life that your future may be changed, that the things which would have happened may be nullified, and that the Divine Pattern of Fulfilment may be established on earth for you in this present time.

What did the Master say? “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” What did He instruct His disciples to teach? “Go forth and preach saying. The kingdom of heaven is at hand”—it is available, within reach. You do not have to wait two thousand years, or three thousand, some other number of years. It is available—at hand. But they did not understand. They did not receive it. We do not condemn them. Presumably we should have a better opportunity than they. The centuries have passed. We should be able to look back and know something more than they knew.

In the world of religion man has been content to remain in the ox cart days. He acknowledges progress and understanding and knowledge in all other fields—the field of medicine, all kinds of fields that are classified as scientific, in industrial achievement, in all the other fields of life. But man has continued to sing, “The old time religion is good enough for me.” Our forefathers were supposed to understand everything there was to know about religion, but they did not understand the simple functions of the physical body. They did not understand how to work with the natural laws of life which we are using as commonplace things today. They did not know how to build a radio. They did not know how to build an automobile. They did not know anything about an airplane—and a thousand and one other things which we take for granted now. But they were supposed to have all knowledge and all understanding with respect to religion—the things of God. And so man spiritually, in a religious sense, has remained in the ox cart days. Modern medicine does not condemn the early pioneers in the field of medicine. Those who know the wonders of electronics do not condemn the first clumsy efforts of those who began to experiment with wireless. No. We do not condemn our forefathers because they did not know more. But we cannot excuse ourselves if we fail to understand more fully than they did.

God intended that our pattern of understanding should increase, that our knowledge of the things of God should increase, and the things which used to be a mystery should be a mystery no more—that we should learn to live. Blessed Ones, when we let our future be changed, when we begin to let that which God has established and ordained for us in the future, in the Garden which God planted Eastward in Eden, when we begin to let it come into our life, our lives individually and collectively, so that it may take form, we begin to live, we begin to have a sense of joy and peace and satisfaction—we stop fighting against God.

What did the Master say? "He that gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad." From the Master’s standpoint there was not and is not any halfway point. Either you are gathering with Him to the point of Being on earth, or you are scattering abroad. Either you are serving God or you are opposing Him. There is no halfway point, no middle ground. You are doing one or the other. And if we fight against God, can we hope to have the blessings of God? No. We cannot reject the Head of the Corner and share in the building of the Temple of Being.

And so, recognizing that there are many wonderful secrets contained in this Glorious Prayer which we do not have time to meditate upon specifically tonight, I would like to conclude our meditation on this Easter Day by repeating in the Spirit of God's Love and Truth and Life the words with which our Master concluded His Ministry on earth.

Stewart Berger reading the Gospel of John, Chapter 17

© emissaries of divine light

The Archangel Incarnate In His Collective Unified Body

The  Archangel  Incarnate  In  His  Collective  Unified  Body

Restoration  By  Unified  Action

Martin Cecil  October 26, 1980

Holy, holy, holy, LORD God of Hosts. Thy Name is holy. Holy, holy, holy. Thy Name is Love. Thy Name is wonderful. Holy, holy, holy. Thy Word is Truth. Thy Word is beautiful. Holy, holy, holy. Thy Word is Life. Thy Word is glorious. Holy, holy, holy. Only Thou art holy, LORD God of Hosts.

These words, LORD God of Hosts, may be understood by you as something that is not separate from you at all. The hosts are those who compose the spiritual and flesh Body of the Archangel incarnate on earth. The restoration of man comes by reason of the action of the Archangel through His Body on earth. The fall and failure of man was initiated on an individual basis. The fall would never have occurred if it had remained simply an individual matter. It came to pass because others participated and agreed with those individuals who first failed. The restoration comes as it is initiated individually, but the restoration never occurs unless there are those who associate themselves in agreement with the individuals who initiate the restoration.

What might be called the Plan of Restoration [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/gods-great-plan-1.html] in each of its phases heretofore has been initiated by individuals. Restoration has not occurred, because collectively the essential agreement with the individual initiators was not offered. We know of certain occasions when there was individual initiation of the Plan of Salvation. This initiation came through certain ones, such as Abraham long ago who found agreement in an active sense with the one called Melchizedek. This individual initiation of the Plan of Restoration continued on an individual basis through Isaac and Jacob. Through the sons of Jacob the collective opportunity began to appear, the opportunity for agreement with what had been initiated. To start with there was not all that much agreement, except in a destructive way on the part of the sons of Jacob. In spite of that, Joseph as an individual sustained the initiation of the cycle. He did not judge or blame his brothers but took responsibility for himself. Later there was a proliferation of the tribes of the Israelites in the land of Egypt, so that a collective Body began to take form. It was not yet at all conscious of its own destiny or reason for being until Moses, as an individual, came and proclaimed that destiny. The thirteen tribes of the Israelites were brought forth from the land of Egypt as a Body, a Body destined to be the hosts for the incarnation of the Archangel.

By reason of all this the restoration of mankind could have been accomplished. It would have been accomplished, not by some certain individual in the sense of a human being on earth but by the Archangel incarnate in His unified, collective Body. The opportunity and the training offered to the Israelites was so that this might occur. They were to compose the hosts, spiritually and materially, for the creative action of the Archangel on earth, charged with the responsibility of the restoration of mankind. We are aware that this never occurred. If we see that it might have occurred, then we must acknowledge that there was failure. That acknowledgment came through at least ten of the tribes; they ceased to carry any further identity as a part of that original Body. There was one tribe and part of two others that maintained some sort of identity in a rather futile attempt to turn failure into success. It in fact couldn’t be done, and that attempt has introduced a great deal of conflict and unnecessary suffering in a particular way into the body of mankind.

Again, the Plan of Restoration [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/gods-great-plan-2.html] was individually initiated by reason of the One called Jesus. In the previous design the LORD had always been represented by certain individuals who carried the responsibility for initiating that particular opportunity. It required a number of successive individuals, up to and including Moses, and there were some more subsequently who kept the door open for a little while. But the failure came, and so there was a new initiation under the hand of Jesus, not in representation this time but in person. The same requirement was necessary if man was to be restored, namely that there should be a collective Body for the action of the Archangel. This Body in its core aspects was composed of the twelve disciples.

Love was incarnate on earth through the individual body of Jesus. The Word of Love is Truth. Indeed it is recorded that He said, “Thy word is truth.” His Word was also Life. By reason of Love incarnate and the Word of Truth spoken, Life was a reality in expression on earth. Again He said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” In the Word of Truth is Life, and Life is the Light of men; but the Light has shined in the darkness of fallen human consciousness, which remained uncomprehending. It is only by reason of Life that the restoration may come. Clearly, if Life was absent in human experience nothing whatsoever could happen.

So the Plan of Restoration [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/the-unfolding-divine-plan.html] was initiated by Jesus. It could have no meaning except as there were those who were in agreement with what He initiated, in the recognition that the responsibility for restoration was in the hands of the Archangel to be incarnate on earth through the collective Body, spiritual and material, the substance of which was composed of those who were in agreement and who accepted the responsibility for themselves. Human beings have always looked for some leader, some messiah of whatever nature, religious or secular, to bring them salvation. Salvation is never brought that way.

The fall became a reality because of the collective action of those who agreed with the individuals who initiated it. As I say, if no one had agreed with that, there would have been no fall. By the same token there must be those who agree with the individuals who initiate the restoration; otherwise that initiation remains meaningless, clearly so. However, because of what the One called Jesus did as Love incarnate, regardless of whether there were any in agreement with Him or not, the Word of Truth was spoken on earth and Life was revealed. This was done. There was no shadow of turning in Him. Regardless of what human beings did to Him, Love was incarnate on earth, the Word of Truth was spoken, and Life was revealed. And there wasn’t anything that anyone could do to reverse that fact. It was done. The point of initiation was there on earth in the world of mankind. Those who at the time had opportunity to share the building of the Body for the incarnation of the Archangel on earth did not let it happen. It could have happened while Jesus was still present with them. In such case the Body would have formed, and incarnation through that Body would have occurred, so that the restoration might have happened. Clearly it didn’t.

But the same requirement remains now. The only way by which restoration may occur is as there is a collective Body of agreement permitting the incarnation of the Archangel on earth so that the required action may be taken. It is not taken successfully by one individual; it requires the Body. As I say, human beings are always looking for an individual leader, an individual messiah, to come and do it for them. It does not and cannot happen that way. If it is to happen, it happens because there is a collective, unified Body, a Body which is capable of allowing the unfettered, undistorted action of the Archangel on earth. As long as human ideas, even the very best of them, are maintained as to what should happen and how, the Body which otherwise might form and give free expression to the Archangel will not do so.

Because the Word of Truth was spoken on earth and Life revealed by reason of the One called Jesus, something was initiated at that time which, as we have noted, could not be prevented by those who were on hand then. A creative cycle was initiated. It could not be stopped at the time; it has not been stopped since. In spite of the impositions of human distortion—human ideas, attitudes and beliefs—upon what was initiated, the creative cycle has continued to move. The crust of concept and belief in the field of Christianity, and in the field of all other human religions, has not been capable of preventing what was initiated from working as leaven in the lump, so that the crust begins to break up, to move, and the evidence of what has been working below the surface, initiated nineteen centuries ago, puts in an appearance.

It puts in an appearance in various ways. We ourselves are a product presumably of that working. We wouldn’t be sitting here in the Chapel this morning if it wasn’t so. However we may be aware that it is not a ferment merely designed to bring some very special people together somehow. It will bring some people together—whether they’re very special or not we’re going to find out—but it does many other things too. We see in the world how groups of people have become aware of their power to achieve certain human intentions simply on the basis of collectiveness; this is very evident the world around. Human beings gather themselves together in order to attempt to achieve certain objectives because there are enough of them collectively. Of course this has been done all down through human history but it’s more particularly evident in these days where human beings have their ideas as to what should be done and proceed to bring collective pressure to bear to do them. I’ll leave it to your own awareness to list the multitude of such organizations, of long standing or sometimes spontaneous, by means of which this attempt is being made.

Here is evidence of a dawning awareness in human consciousness, mistranslated and distorted, of the fact that restoration comes by reason of a collective Body. Those who are involved in all these activities see with narrow vision related to their own interests, but the compulsion that is back of all that is the continuing emergence of the creative cycle which was set in motion nineteen centuries ago. It is breaking surface in various ways today. There have been moments during the history of the last nineteen centuries when there was evidence of the working of this creative process, but it is coming to a culmination now. The ferment is obvious everywhere. According to the appearance it looks as though destructiveness is inevitable, because all these collective groups are vying with each other, each seeking to have its own way at the expense of others. It is coming out in this way because of the nature that characterizes fallen human beings.

But amongst the population of the world there are those who are not so entirely self-centered and who cannot excuse their actions because they are going to be “good” for human beings, they think. These therefore find themselves unable to participate in the mistranslations that are being made of this compulsion to collective action. Presumably you have been counted among this number. You couldn’t be entirely fooled anymore by human slogans of various sorts and sensed that there must be something real, which would be a true evidence of Life. Life clearly is a collective thing. No one has a corner on it. We can, as individuals, disassociate ourselves from Life and die. This is the usual human habit. But we have become aware that there is a Body which Life builds when allowed to do so, and we have concerned ourselves with discovering what it is in our own experience that allows this to happen. Certainly it isn’t any concepts we may form, any beliefs we may have, because human beings have had concepts and beliefs from one end of the spectrum of awareness to the other for millennia, and this has achieved nothing more than chaos and destruction. So it is something other than the ideas of the human mind which is required.

We should know that our own individual physical bodies do not have any choice but to reveal what is being imposed upon them. You, through your bright intelligence, cannot add one cubit to your stature, if that is what you thought you wanted to do. Most people are not inclined to try that. They may undertake other physical activities to make their bodies bigger in other ways, sometimes by lifting weights, sometimes by eating excessive meals. There are various methods that may be used to modify the physical organism, but fundamentally the body acts out and reveals what is being imposed upon it, through heredity, through the state of the individual’s consciousness. The body has no choice but to follow along these lines. Consciously we may object sometimes when something shows up that is uncomfortable in our bodies, but we should know that we certainly had a responsibility in letting it happen. There is more to what is being imposed upon the body than what is consciously understood, but the imposition is there nevertheless. If we take a look at this we see that the body really has no choice. It just makes manifest whatever is being imposed upon it. It faithfully does this.

If we look at this collective body then, the body of mankind for instance, we see that exactly the same thing has been happening. If we take a look at the forming Body of the Archangel, we may see that what is of the Archangel may be revealed by reason of this Body if those who compose this Body stop imposing their own concepts, their own beliefs, their own ideas, no matter how good, no matter how well intentioned, upon the individual expression or the expression of the Body as a Whole. It has been assumed, because human beings have become disassociated from the creative action of Life, that if they did not impose their own ideas everything would collapse. It seems that nature has survived without the imposition of the ideas and concepts of human beings; in fact when these begin to be imposed upon nature there is trouble. There is obviously Life present, the Truth of which is capable of allowing for the true expression of itself in the forms of nature. It doesn't require a human being on hand to see that it happens, because the human being doesn’t know what should happen anyway. The same is true of the building of our own individual bodies.

So the Body of the Archangel is for the Archangel’s use, and when permitted to receive the action of the Archangel, that will be reflected in the Life which is thereby revealed. This is such a simple thing that it seems impossible of experience to most people. We’ve all been thoroughly deceived. We are coming out of that deception, I hope, so that this Body of the Archangel may be available for the Archangelic use. But if those who compose this Body, or should be composing this Body, are pulling and hauling within the Body according to their own ideas and concepts, according to the continuing patterns of their own human nature, their own fallen state, then the body is liable to be confused: the Archangel on the one hand offering Life and those who are included in the composition of that Body trying to tear it apart.

There is no salvation, no restoration, without the incarnation of the Archangel in His Body on earth so that there might be complete freedom of expression for the Archangel to do what needs to be done. In a sense I suppose you could say that this is a messiah. It isn't a single person, except in the sense that the Archangel has identity, identity which is revealed through the unified expression of His Living Body, a Living Body composed of those who have revealed the willingness and the capability to let it happen. As individuals we certainly know that we cannot hang on to our own personal lives and let this happen at the same time. To hang on to life, to try to keep one’s own personal life, will ensure that one loses the experience of Life. This is what human beings have been doing and proving out for so long. It’s no different in this generation. Only as one’s own personal life is lost in the Life of the Body of the Archangel do we discover the reality of Life. This was a statement made a long time ago by the One called Jesus; at least it’s come down to us in the record, and it’s true. If there is unwillingness to lose one’s own personal life one will ensure one’s own death. To accept the Life of the Archangel, which permeates His spiritual and flesh Body, of which our spiritual and flesh bodies as individuals may be a part, brings with it the experience of Life as it really is, characterized by Love and Truth.

As human beings we have looked at these things, considering the matter. No doubt the Israelites looked at some of these things and considered them. No doubt those who were present with Jesus on earth looked at what He said and considered it, and there have been millions since that time also doing the same thing. But here is the reality which He initiated, working now and bringing forth according to the works of human beings the world around. The reward is to every man according as his works shall be; not according as his ideas shall be, or his beliefs or his hopes or his expectations, but according as his works shall be, whether they are the works of God or whether they are the works of the devil—that puts it very simply—whether they are self-centered works or whether they are the works which are known in experience by reason of the speaking of the Word of Truth.

This Body of the Archangel is a figment of fancy unless and until there are those who agree and associate themselves with Love’s action, which is Truth, in Living. And Living, you know, is not experienced in dribs and drabs; it is a continuous thing. Fortunately it is a continuous thing. If there were even a momentary interruption, that would be that in our experience. So it is a continuous thing. It has been continuous anyway since we were born on earth. As this continuous experience is characterized by Love’s Word of Truth, then we find ourselves associated with the Archangel in His Body. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/spirit-and-body-of-archangel.html] My concern, as I have indicated before, is for this Body, that the Archangel might incarnate and find expression on earth for the restoration of man. You are the ones, amongst others, who let it happen, who agree that it should happen by reason of you or, on the other hand, say “No”. Without the Archangel incarnate on earth, free to act, restoration is impossible. The fate of the world would seem to be in the hands of those who understand these things.

Holy, holy, holy, LORD God of Hosts.

Thy Name is holy.

Only Thou art holy, LORD God of Hosts.

© emissaries of divine light