102,843
edits
Changes
From Nordan Symposia
Jump to navigationJump to search1998-11-19-Stillness & Prayer (view source)
Revision as of 20:54, 19 February 2013
, 20:54, 19 February 2013no edit summary
TOMAS: How [[good]] it is to be with you. I am glad that you are all here and in such a celebratory [[humor]]. We are always joyed when we recognize your [[joy]], in particular when it stems from your very substance and not necessarily from your external [[stimuli]], for it is the internal [[value]] that will sustain you and see you through into yet more sustained joy. I would like to speak this evening for a moment about your [[inner life]] -- to his arena within you in which your [[soul]] grows, in which your [[Adjuster]] lives, in which you think and feel and have your very [[Being]]. Let's look at your internal aspects.
TOMAS: How [[good]] it is to be with you. I am glad that you are all here and in such a celebratory [[humor]]. We are always joyed when we recognize your [[joy]], in particular when it stems from your very substance and not necessarily from your external [[stimuli]], for it is the internal [[value]] that will sustain you and see you through into yet more sustained joy. I would like to speak this evening for a moment about your [[inner life]] -- to his arena within you in which your [[soul]] grows, in which your [[Adjuster]] lives, in which you think and feel and have your very [[Being]]. Let's look at your internal aspects.
===Lesson===
===Lesson===
===='''''[[Inner Life]]'''''====
When you turn inward, you do more than [[contemplate]] your navel. You have an active and colorful [[existence]] within you. You have passed the days when you sought [[reality]] outside yourself, for in seeking [[stillness]] you have learned to [[trust]] your inner space, your [[relationship]] with yourself. You have discovered the [[joy]] in being. You have learned, to some extent., to follow the guidelines and direction of your [[Indwelling Spirit]].
When you turn inward, you do more than [[contemplate]] your navel. You have an active and colorful [[existence]] within you. You have passed the days when you sought [[reality]] outside yourself, for in seeking [[stillness]] you have learned to [[trust]] your inner space, your [[relationship]] with yourself. You have discovered the [[joy]] in being. You have learned, to some extent., to follow the guidelines and direction of your [[Indwelling Spirit]].
ELYSSIA: I thought it said that in [[the Book]]! That women are just chemically, bio-chemically, [[electro-chemically]], slightly more [[devout]] in their [[attitude]].
ELYSSIA: I thought it said that in [[the Book]]! That women are just chemically, bio-chemically, [[electro-chemically]], slightly more [[devout]] in their [[attitude]].
TOMAS Insofar as [[our Mother]] is concerned, it is true that her [[adjutant mind spirits]] are intimately interwoven with your [[instincts]], but they are also affecting men.
ELYSSIA Well, John Guest was talking about how many men are down at Three River Stadium [[worshiping]] every Sunday and I thought it was a perfect [[description]] of what I see going on down there. Is that supercilious? Judgmental, maybe?
TOMAS I 'm afraid, Elyssia, you will need to elaborate your prospectus somewhat for those who are unfamiliar with Mr. Guest and what goes on downtown.
ELYSSIA The football game! The Steelers football game. Where tons of men in this city go to [[worship]] on Sunday morning, and some of them start at [[dawn]], like some people are religiously, right? And some of these guys start at dawn.
TOMAS You do the [[spirit]] realm a serious disservice when you elevate an appreciation for sport to the [[plateau]] of [[worship]].
ELYSSIA Oh, I'm doing this with [[irony]], Tomas! Total irony.
TOMAS It is impossible to read irony.
HESTER But there are those who [[worship]] sports, Tomas.
ELYSSIA In our city, it's a [[plague]].
TOMAS I am also a sports fan, but I distinguish between sportsmanship ON the field and sportsmanship IN the field.
ELYSSIA Well, I guess I wanted to say - about my [[question]] - I keep wishing that - I keep struggling. [[The Book]] keeps saying, "[[sincere]]" and then it came up again tonight. The Book says this word sincere ALL the time. And I just can't figure it out. I've asked you before and you've tried to tell me I'd like to know more about that sincere business.
TOMAS We would too! We would like to see more [[sincerity]] [[reflected]] in terms of [[reality]] rather than sincere [[appreciations]] of unreality, and so you are the arbiter yourself of what sincerity might mean. What brand of sincerity do you [[feel will]] further your spirit? For it is in that [[context]] that you heard t he word used. If you intend to be alive and well in [[the Kingdom]], it is [[necessary]] that you [[manifest]] [[sincerity]] in your making of [[decisions]]. What kind of decisions are going to further your spiritual [[reality]]? Is it which team to root for? Is that the sincerity that is at issue? If you are going to look at the word "sincerity," you must look to see what it is modifying. I have said before that it is possible for the human being to be sincerely [[selfish]] and sincerely [[deceitful]]. This is not the sincerity t hat will further you into [[spirit]] [[reality]]. We look once more to your intent, to your motives. How have you [[rationalized]] and justified your human sincerity that it might be construed as [[spirit]]-[[motivated]], or is it truly spirit- motivated?
RACHEL At the clinic, we get children who ask questions. A little girl asked me, "How did you know that you were going to be doing this? How did you get your job?" and in all [[sincerity]], I looked at her and told her, "God showed me what I was to do." And the looks on the faces! I mean, the eyes got very round! My comment was being [[sincere]] in my [[belief]]. And presenting that sincerity that [[resonates]] that truth that you really live it.
TOMAS You will find that children are more inclined to honor your sincerity in that context. Adults, alas, have heard many people say, "God told me to" and sometimes their [[motives]] fall short of the [[ideal]].
RACHEL There are so many [[cliches]] about God and Jesus that have got such bad [[connotations]] on [[this world]].
TOMAS This is true.
RACHEL It's hard to get around that!
ELYSSIA But you're getting through because you yourself said that you were!
RACHEL That was a spirit-led comment. I felt that. I let that go.
TOMAS It is also a viable [[inquiry]], if you will, Rachel, into your [[learning]] to be of further, deeper, greater [[service]], for you are stating that you recognize that you have responded sincerely, but in using a cliche phrase, it is an affirmation - of a dependence on [[spirit]], certainly, and a phrase which is unlikely to [[frighten]] anyone, -- however, it is within you to be effective in your own right. It will require more [[courage]] perhaps, or greater command of yourself, however. You sense your capacities and you [[perceive]] the need, and so you will find yourself having yet more [[opportunities]] wherein you may stand more firmly upon the rock, the [[foundation]] of your [[faith]], and speak those words which will come forth from Father in order to [[witness]] to His [[reality]].
These [[value]] lessons are [[vital]] to those who see in you a [[spark]] of [[truth, beauty and goodness]], and you are given the [[opportunity]] to be sincere in feeding his sheep. These morsels of spiritual food, they [[hunger]] for. If they have had in them a hunger and thirst for [[righteousness]], for answers, and they have com e to you in their [[sincerity]] for [[guidance]] go at once to your inner [[citadel]] and allow your [[spirit guide]] to speak for you and answer simply and purely in words that are not cliches, the [[reality]] of your divine [[guidance]] - that same guidance that is available to ALL children.
RACHEL I rehashed the [[conversation]] in my [[mind]] of what I could have said differently.
TOMAS Yes.
RACHEL [[Beautiful]] things [[flow]] through my mind. Such [[poetry]]! But at the given moment!
TOMAS You perhaps halt in [[fear]].
RACHEL Yeah.
TOMAS It is also possible that you have not given yourself credit for having the inner [[fortitude]] to [[manifest]] such [[reality]]. Perhaps this week's [[exercise]] will enable you to be [[courageous]] in allowing your very [[being]] to come forth with these flowing [[words]] from [[the Father]] for surely this is your Source and [[the Source]] of these concepts, these words that appear in your [[mind]], in [[reflection]]. You are teetering on the brink of walking transmission.
ELYSSIA Frequently when you are working, there are children.
RACHEL Sometimes children; sometimes adult. I like children better! They're so open. Adults just have shut down a lot.
ELYSSIA You are making an impact, I'm sure.
RACHEL I don't know about that!
ELYSSIA You are talking about God to children. They don't hear it too often.
RACHEL Well, you don't hear it seven days a week. You hear it one! so they are lucky.
TOMAS Elyssia has a flock of children in her [[care]] also, and herein is yet another [[opportunity]] to be of [[vital]] [[service]] to these young [[souls]] and to [[the Father]] in introducing one to the other.
ELYSSIA Well, I'd sure be open to a little lesson since you've given me one, and the ones you gave me lasted me for several weeks each.
TOMAS Perhaps, then, you might take our [[discourse]] of this evening into your classroom. And [[weave]] into the format of your lesson plan an element of [[sincerity]] and ask your children to sincerely [[share]] something from their [[life]] that gives them a sense of [[comfort]] in expressing their own [[perspective]], their own real [[feelings]], about what they think. Give them the opportunity to relish their own [[sincerity]] so that they have a feel for it. This is good [[practice]], particularly before they become adept in the art of artificiality.
ELYSSIA Well, I like that very much. Can you say a few more words about it?
TOMAS I will let Merium address this. One moment.
MERIUM: He is such a [[bore]]!
ELYSSIA Hi, Merium! I [[love]] you!
MERIUM I love you too. I also love dear Tomas, but it is almost [[inherent]] in his [[maleness]] that he affords me [[permission]]. I [[joke]] of this because we have [[discussed]] with you that men and women will be [[male]] and [[female]] throughout [[eternity]] and always will we differ and always will we stimulate and so on and so forth. And in His [[perspective]], you see, his male perspective, he offers me the platform - graciously - but in MY perspective, you see, being a woman - we go, "Who gave you permission to give me permission?" (group chuckles) It is a peculiar [[difference]] in the [[genders]] that is more cause for delight than dismay, but I am indeed charmed to be "allowed" to speak to you regarding the [[exercise]] of bringing sincerity to your children in Sunday School.
There are two ways we can go about this Elyssia, -- obviously the [[human]] way and the [[divine]] way, and this human way will be for you - very much the way I do when I address you sometimes, sit down as if I were your nanny and tell you a [[story]]. And this way, I get your [[attention]], you see. This way, I gain your [[trust]]. This way I have put you at ease by [[appealing]] to your [[innocence]], your childlikeness. I get you to like me, to trust me, by being harmless, by telling a fun thing, by giggling with you or [[being]] in such a way as to disarm you.
And then, if you've even noticed, I come in the other door and bring with me my troops, the army of the Lord, and we lay upon you then a blanket of [[reality]] and this is also a [[comfort]] for you, but you have been subdued and now you are willing to hear me out. And so I can give your open, [[eager]] minds something to truly savor and [[experience]] because I have very [[sincerely]] approached you as my dear and loving children. Now I can tell you about [[the Father]]. I can tel l you about our Hero. I can tell you about the [[romance]] and about the [[adventure]].
I can bring all the [[reality]] to bear upon these children that they can [[assimilate]], and even more, for they will take what they can and [[hunger]] for more and yet they are going to be fed by our [[intercourse]], and so I offer you this same teaching [[tool]]. If you incorporate them as your brethren in the flesh, it is easy then for you to incorporate them as your younger brethren in the spirit. And give them such lessons as the spirits give you, when you arrive on higher worlds.
Thank you, Tomas, for your [[gracious]] [[acceptance]] of my undying [[hope]] for our [[relationship]].
ELYSSIA: I have another question.
MERIUM: Oh! Yes. For me?
ELYSSIA: Either one of you, certainly.
MERIUM: I see.
ELYSSIA: It seems to me now I recall that when I was [[reading]] about [[techniques]] in [[drama]] they say just because you feel an [[emotion]], doesn't mean that you will create it in another person. It's totally wrong. You have to think of a way to create the emotion in the person, not by having the emotion yourself, so when I'm trying to talk to my little friends about how much [[Jesus]] means or something, I really am struggling about how to get it across.
MERIUM: Is it [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machiavellianism Machivellian]? Is that the word I'm looking for? [[Method]] acting perhaps? That technique that your [[actors]] use that puts them in the role entirely. If you are going to [[express]] the [[emotion]], you become the emotion.
Therefore you present, you portray, what it is that you are trying to convey, and although they may not be [[experiencing]] it themselves, they can recognize the [[feeling]] because feelings are [[universal]].
ELYSSIA: But sometimes when you're talking about [[religion]], you know these people who get real gushy about it? They turn me off, and that's the [[technique]] I'm talking about. Just because you feel something deeply and you gush about it doesn't mean you're going to get the point across at all. I n fact, it works in the opposite [[direction]].
MERIUM: Oh, you are getting smart, Elyssia!
ELYSSIA: And I'm trying to figure out to put it across about how much you find your [[faith]] a [[comfort]] to you and how much [[Jesus]] means to you and how he walks with you and he helps you.
MERIUM: An elevated [[concept]] of [[love]]! How original!
ELYSSIA: I don't know. I'd like some help on this.
MERIUM: You have [[read]] in [[your text]] how Jesus employed the [[technique]] of capturing the [[attention]] of his hearers with an [[emotional]] thrust, right? But then he elevated the concept from the emotional realm into the spiritual realm, which is precisely what I have just outlined to you. You get them and then you lift them up. Your [[recitation]] there is about those who continue to harangue their hearers emotionally, and this is NOT the [[spirit]], and indeed , this saccharine approach to religion is ineffectual in the long run.
ELYSSIA: Yep. That's exactly what.
MERIUM: You also remember that [[emotions]] are [[exhausting]]. It is one of the reasons why your races today are so tired. They have heard this before and they want something original and alive and they want their [[Jesus]] in it. ( I speak to those of you who work in these realms. It is adaptable to different environments as you need to work with [[different]] fields, but the methodology is basically the same.) Lift them up into [[reality]].
ELYSSIA: I'm not sure I [[understand]].
MERIUM: Pray. I will pray also, for your understanding.
ELYSSIA: I do I'm getting flashes here. Flashes of
MERIUM: Yes?
ELYSSIA: And my friends here are going to help me.
MERIUM: Of course! Your personal teacher Maughm is also [[adept]] at teaching.
ELYSSIA: Yes. I'm looking forward to that.
CELESTE: Tomas.
TOMAS: Yes, dear.
CELESTE: Today I got a letter from [[Jewish]] people in [[Israel]] who are starting to want to follow [[Jesus]] and now they are being overwhelmed with the other Jewish people who don't want this to happen in their country.
TOMAS: Yes.
CELESTE: It's a very interesting letter. And the other Jewish group I h ave really been trying to help, because in Russia, the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Jews#Emigration_to_Israel Russians won't help the Jews get out of Russia and they want to go to Israel], so I send money ever y once in awhile to help those people get to Israel. And now those are probably the very people who are very upset about the Jewish people who are now wanting to know more about [[Jesus]] and to follow him. It's very interesting. I felt really sad when I .
TOMAS: it is [[political]], what you have gotten yourself into and it is also [[wonderful]] that you are finding people who are [[shared]] in a political situation who seek to rise above the trappings of [[politics]] and [[traditions]] in order to feel the [[freedom]] of the spirit. Remember [[Jesus]] came to free the spiritual captives and these people have been captives of traditional religion longer than [[Christianity]] has seen in [[existence]].
It is a wonderful thing to see yearnings of this [[nature]], and it is unfortunate that your sincere [[desire]] to be of service has become complicated by the vagaries of national situations. It is ultimately one reason why [[World Government|we will continue to press for one United World]]. I have no specific solutions for you there, Celeste.
CELESTE: Just pray for them.
TOMAS: Certainly. For them ALL. Indeed. But you might also [[encourage]], as the ultimate answer, the fostering of [[truth]]. Perhaps some of these real complications could be fruitful. There are many people of the Jewish faith who are seeking Jesus. They are not [[alone]]. Indeed, you know there are [[Master Seraphim|angelic orders]] that oversee and affect changes in these circumstances so they too are being of service in these unseen realms. Don't feel then that the burden is entirely on your shoulders. That is all.
CELESTE: It's just so very interesting that all these things are happening.
TOMAS: It is, as we have said many times, a very exciting time to be alive on [[Urantia]]. It is even more exciting than your [[perspective]] allows. It will be ever more interesting for you, I am certain, when you are given the [[opportunity]] to yield to the [[wisdom]] of the archives and see from that [[perspective]] the [[panorama]] of [[Urantia]]'s [[unfolding]]. We are very hpapy for your [[participation]], for your [[earnestness]] and your yearning. These sincere [[desires]] to further the [[peace]] that passes all understanding is our [[goal]].
LEAH: Is this Tomas?
TOMAS: Yes, it is Tomas. Merium has given me back the reigns. LEAH: When you refer to the archives, are you referring to the temples?
TOMAS: No. My inference was vague. It is really more like living records, which is why I used the word yield as [[compared]] to -- in your [[libraries]] you go look up words in a [[book]]; in our libraries, we yield to their [[information]]. It's a [[process]].
HESTER: Do you mean the word the [[information]] conveys?
TOMAS: It is sort of like, Hester, if you go into a tanning salon and get tanned. You don't go looking for the [[sun]], you [[experience]] the [[process]] by yielding to the tanning salon.
LEAH: You spoke earlier, Elyssia, about a John Guest?
ELYSSIA: Rector John Guest. He's an outstanding [[Christian]].
TOMAS: He does not play football?
ELYSSIA: He likes sports a lot, so he speaks as one of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone testosterone]-poisoned people.
HESTER: It takes all kinds to make a world!
TOMAS: He is engaging in his ministry by emotionally capturing his teammates and then, ideally, lifting them up to the Greater Game. Yes, I see his [[technique]].
ELYSSIA: I see that. Very good.
===Closing===
TOMAS: I think we have [[saturated]] ourselves this evening once again with festivities in the range of operation available to us all. It has once again been an esteemed [[pleasure]]. I look forward to your upcoming [[assignment]]. I will stop in and [[visit]] with you throughout this next upcoming period of time in order that you may check in with us about your assignment, and that, again, is to look inward and find your [[greatness]], for it is of God. [[Amen]] and Farewell.
GROUP: Farewell, Tomas. Thank you.
[[Category: The Teaching Mission: Dialogues]]
[[Category: The Teaching Mission: Dialogues]]
