2003-10-05-Lure of the Father

Session

Opening

Music: Elena on Piano: "Like a River Glorious"

PRAYER: Matthew: Let us place ourselves in the presence of Jesus, the Christ.

Master Teacher, we come to you today with just a few less than usual. For the past several weeks we have had overflowing crowds but we are back to our more intimate size which is a welcomed opportunity as well. Nothing less, just different.

We appreciate the opportunity to share this time with you and our teachers, for the once per week opportunity to become more consciously aware and closer to each other and to you as a result of the gift of this group. Opportunities abound for us to do so on a personal level, for which we take the respective time during the week to do so, but to formalize it is an opportunity for which we are grateful.

We ask for the teachings that you will instruct today and we wish to take our share of responsibility to fulfill that which you instruct today but which is a lifetime and eternal mandate. So, the castle does not have to be built today but to knowing that it is in the process, to be a glorious edifice for your and Our Father’s benefit.

For this and all opportunities to continue to grow, we are forever grateful. Amen.

TOMAS: Amen, little brother. Thank you for your sincere words of prayer for direction and counsel on how to attain greater familiarity with the methods the Master utilized in his sojourn on Urantia, wherein your consciousness of the divine is interwoven throughout your lives, even each day and moment.

This week I had an opportunity to "talk on the telephone" through the experimental practice of "long-distance T/R’ing" as has been initiated through the formulating Association for Light and Life, as an outreach project. The experience was for me an opportunity to convey to you how similar we are, and how similar our work is, for I – when I enter into a communication with you – must set aside my ethereal nature in order to become mechanically connected to the processes which allow our communications to take place, i.e., the midwayers and their invaluable assistance in translating.

For you, the process is similar -- In order to communicate with someone on the telephone, you need to use the device -- but this also goes beyond the obvious and merely technical aspects of outreach, for an important part of the process involved in the two-way communications is the ability to listen.

There is a story in the Urantia text about "The Young Man Who was Afraid" and while he was affronted somewhat that Jesus would speak to him in such a forward manner about what was apparent to Jesus the young man suffered from, it was not at all apparent to the young man that he was afraid. And so he felt this affront at the Master for being so bold as to pinpoint his emotional condition and his needs. Through "longing looks" (and) through his internal yearning he let it be known that he would go farther if he were not afraid, or if he knew how to transcend the difficulty he encountered.

And this is so true of so many of you -- all of you, to one degree or another. There is so much potential within you, so much capacity within each of you that you are not taking advantage of, perhaps because you feel less than Jesus. Perhaps you feel you have not attained adequate circle attainment to invest yourselves so fully. But there is always that extra mile that the conscientious soul will go to in its yearning to please the First Source and Center of its very being.

Lesson

Let us spend a moment on the word "lure" for it is said the Thought Adjuster lures you godward. To be lured by God might hold unimaginable fear for the mortal who does not know God enough to know that whatever God has in mind for you, you will truly cherish. But the animal mind is rightfully threatened by this seeming seduction of tremendous power and personality, for it is certain to change the way the individual goes about doing good, living his life.

The old way would indeed induce fear and even distrust, for that God who has perhaps led you into some experiences that caused you discomfort. There are some who espouse that God knocked them upside the head with a two by four to get their attention. This is certainly not an experience you would repeat willingly. But remember how the Master would go out apart from his fellows and speak to his Father in Heaven and set himself aright as to what the Father was luring him into. And rather than fear His counsel, he adjusted himself accordingly, so that the father’s will was something he was able to embrace with a full heart, a willing mind.

Those of you who have been mislead by authority are inclined to establish a foothold in yourselves, your self, which disallows being lured anywhere or seduced into anything that you do not, through your free will, embrace willingly. And this is your right. Yet I am here to tell you, your reluctance to open yourself to the lure of the Indwelling Adjuster will surely curtail your own potential and thus your own fulfillment – not only as a soul-in-becoming, but also as a practicing human being.

God is the great Enhancer. He is the spice of life. The dull prose of human existence is made wholesome, full-bodied and flavorful as a result of the additive of the divine.

The art of listening is the art that was practiced by Jesus of Nazareth when he went of by himself to commune with God, and then to listen to God’s response. But he was mindful also of the work he had set out to do when and as he returned to the arena in which he lived. It will not be necessary for you when you reach your full potential to regard our gatherings as the one time in which you are replenished and fully realized in the spirit. You will carry the divine with you into the arena luring others by your nature to sup with you at the table our Universal Father provides, lending luminescence to the most prosaic and mundane of all involved in an upward climb toward perfection.

The other lad in the text, John Mark, who would not let go of the basket when Jesus chose to go off by himself to commune with Father, who would not be left behind but who would prevail upon Jesus and be admitted to his presence as he communed with Father, was also influenced to share communion with his fellow. And Jesus spent time with the lad, even while and as he was in conscious contact with his Father in Heaven, as you are also capable of doing.

Just because humanity temporarily chooses not to allow the lure of the Indwelling Adjuster to bring them into the conscious presence of the divine, is no reason for you to honor their ignorance. Reflect the lure of the divine through yourself in order to help them realize the dimension that can be attained and enjoyed as mortals, as aware mortals.

Your earthly parents have conditioned you to attain to be the best you can be in the human sense, to complete your potential as a human being – in your relationships, in your society, in your careers, in your capacities, financially, emotionally – and the good parent sees the potential of the child and encourages that potential, knowing that in time the child will become an adult and appreciate the prodding that was given by the parent in love toward the child’s best interests. And this is true also of our Heavenly Father, who would urge you and lure you into ways of thinking and being that will enable you to be most happy, most fruitful, most effective – not in the limited terms of your initial frame of reference, but in the expansive and glorious terms of the Great.

Like the music you played, Elena, the trickle that becomes the river to eventually flow into the great ocean. This onward advancing surge of living water is the true destiny of you each, and the sooner you find yourself allowing the flow of the river to become your reality, the sooner you will recognize the impact this river has on all the villages and fields in its wake, all the lives it touches, just as you are able to touch every life you encounter, as you have become a part of this great river – the living waters. Listen to the trickle then, and follow that trickle as it leads you to the stream that flows into the river that leads you to Paradise.

Lovely ones, I conclude my remarks, enjoying the stillness of your souls and the opportunity for your spiritual thirst to be quenched in the spirit that prevails.

Let us hear from another.

ANATOLIA: I am back with you once again – not that I have departed, but am back this week as was promised, as has been basically promised from the beginning of time – not that I would be with you, but that the presence of God and Christ Jesus would be will you, as that will be completed in eternity but that we are not in that evolutionary process -- to breed, blend and foretell the perfection that is before us. In the meantime, each and every one of you (myself to a lesser extent) have the worlds of imperfection to behold and to become familiar with yet not detained or spoiled by.

This is a world in which the very lack of perfection breeds contempt and despair, despite the many opportunities for one to seek and to see the wisdom that is provided within imperfection. If you have the eyes to see, the ears to hear, and the heart to perceive, you too will see the wisdom in the imperfect that lends itself to the perfect, for without the contrast of knowing what you do not want, you then know what you prefer and what you desire, so it is in this deployed dual contracting environment, then, that you have the opportunity to perceive what is expected and to experience what can be realized by just a little bit of perfection.

This is a relative term, for perfection leads one to believe that perfect is the total absence of imperfection, yet your world lends itself to beads of rain (if you will) that are elements of perfection in your midst. So it is with evolutionary growth. Your opportunities for perfection are here and can be developed by your acquiescence to the opposite of conflict. The contrast that you see is the opportunity that you have to grab hold of the handles of relative perfection, to increase, to improve and to enhance those opportunities that you encounter that are less than perfect.

I realize that this, while meant to be helpful and instructive, may not be of any help at all. Is there any among you who would like to inquire or wonder of what I am speaking? Any questions currently?

Dialogue

Gerdean: Just to clarify what I think you might be saying, I think in terms of my marriage to Angus, for example, and we are perfect for each other. We balance each other perfectly, even in our imperfection, for if he were completely perfect, totally perfect in every way, I would be made to look sorely imperfect by comparison. But the fact that we are both relatively perfect, relatively imperfect, is perfect for our union because we have, then, balance and understanding of the relativity of relationship. Our flaws are compatible as well as our gifts, so we have a bigger picture as a result of being able to reflect off of each other where our gifts and our imperfections are, and so this is a perfect set-up, even though it is fraught with imperfection. Is this what you were talking about?

ANATOLIA: I am most grateful for your example, for this is a real world example to see the relative perfection that I speak of. It is an opportunity to relish the opportunity to behold that which is less than perfect, is an opportunity or a stair-step toward what is perfect. So, I am grateful for our analogy. One other example of a statement that has great merit is as the Master had said: "to be perfect like your Father in heaven is perfect". This may be troublesome to some, for how can humanity in its relative perfection be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect? It is analogous to "Be brilliant as your solar son is brilliant. Shine as your nearest star can shine." It is to be as you are meant to be, as your Father in heaven would have you be. This, then, is perfect in your realm, as your creator is perfect in his or her realm. This, among the countless other possibilities, may simply mean to be open, loving and capable of meeting opportunities of love where you find them, and to be as relatively perfect as you can possibly be.

I am uncertain of what may be troubling to some of you, but wish to plant this seed as an emerald is planted in the jade tree, for it shines and is brilliant and is luminescent in an eternal type of way. If you need to focus on such a plant that is almost eternally brilliant and breeding of the emerald gem within, consider the jade as a tree of your emulation, for here you will find the perfect solution in the brilliance of a gem, for where does that come from? It is not self-perpetuating; it is not self-generating; it simply is by virtue of its placement in creation. It shines, it focuses, it is the brilliance that it is made to be. So it is with you, my children, that you are the perfection that you were made to be, with fault, with shortcomings, and with imperfect vision, you see as clearly as you see for where you are. And this in itself is perfect.

Be of clear mind, sound purpose and hopeful intent, for all of these go into making life worth while. Be of good cheer and know that I am with you and look forward to our next meeting. Peace be with you.

TOMAS: There is in this configuration today a great weariness. Such is the nature of your existence, that when you expend great amounts of energy taking care of the mortal estate, you deplete yourselves in the process, and in the material sense, rest, relaxation, good nutrition, ultimately leads you to feeling revitalized for another human adventure or series of activities. I have no such qualms about your spirits, as they are generally tireless, and your souls are "fat and sassy". We need not add to the exhaustion by being together in this configuration. Rather, we can rest in the assurance of each other’s comforting presence and bask in the security and safety of divine love.

In this state of being, are there questions?

Dialogue

Matthew: Just to ask the question of whether Tomas would like to address the topic of what we were talking about of the three day translation. Does he have any thoughts on that, and does one need to be well developed before they don’t have to "sleep it off" so to speak? Tomas, do you have any thoughts on that?

TOMAS: My first thought, of course, is how literal minded you are, all of you, in this material world – and rightfully so – but the literal aspects of your consciousness are an incessant interference in comprehension. The process of setting aside the mortal body, allowing your Adjuster an opportunity to return to Divinington to do what it needs to do before assuming its duties once more in a new phase, and the opportunity for your soul to seek repose in the divine sleep, is essential for everyone. In truth, the only difference is how long the sleep lasts, and you who would become so particular about the details of this transition are overlooking the river of life that flows as you study the riverbed in which you are transported.

The idea of three days is to indicate a certain amount of time. As was pointed out earlier by Thoroah, the transition from Friday until Sunday is three days by your calendar. Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It is in the literal interpretation of the 24-hour day that clouds the spirit’s essence. It may take longer for some souls to reach Mansonia, depending on their physical location in the universe! You are on the outer edges of the existing system and so it may take you a little longer to arrive than those worlds that are created closer in, nearer Jerusem.

There is no point in taking up the science of resurrection in these clinical terms. The miracle of the resurrection is the point you need to embrace. For surely, when you pass through the portal of this life into the next, you are not going to be concerned about the riverbed. You are going to give up your consciousness, entrusting the process, whether you like it or not, and you will arrive in the resurrection hall when these processes are completed, not before. There is perhaps an average amount of time that it takes for an Adjuster to return to Divinington and receive further instructions, but those are beyond the bounds of our comprehension. Those take place on Paradise, which is yet another distance from this far-flung planet of Urantia. How long does it take to get to New York City? It depends on whether you drive your car, walk, or fly. These are relative realities, just as perfection and imperfection are relative states of being. But it is true that those of you who are spiritually advanced are not required to sleep until a dispensational roll call awakens you.

The problem now arises in those of you who sit and question your standing as to whether or not you are advanced enough or not to awaken after three days or after a dispensational roll call. As a general rule of thumb, it would be fair to assume that anyone who is asking the question is probably awakened sufficiently to not be delayed in their ascension. Is this helpful?

Matthew: It is. Thank you.

TOMAS: Only in Paradise is there No Time, No Space. All the worlds throughout the seven superuniverses are positioned in time and space, albeit that time and space is relative to the time and space wherein they are. And that is true for those worlds that are already beyond the local universes and those who are still housed within. Not to worry, lad. The concept that the divine knows the end from the beginning is the concept I will put forth here. That you know you are en route, that you have embarked, that you are consciousizing and actualizing as a morontia being – even now – is adequate.

Matthew: That’s helpful. Thank you.

TOMAS: Let not the spirit wear you out this way. The material world has an edge on that. Your clocks, your schedules, your days, your patterns, your work, your need for rest and other requirements of the human existence, put you in a pattern of mindfulness of time. "How long will it take for me to get from this realm to Mansonia" is something a mortal would wonder about because you are always planning and calculating how you are going to be living your life. "Shall I set my alarm clock? Shall I pack a lunch?" While these are material, mortal concerns, they are immaterial as far as the spirit is concerned.

In that context, it is more important that you be mindful of the journey and of your choice to make that journey and to possibly attain as much of the journey as possible, even as you are here, now. Why put off to tomorrow what you can do today? Why procrastinate your own spiritual enhancement? Why not live your mansion world existence as you find it in these material terms? -- thus becoming expert at parenting and at teamwork, becoming infused with the willingness to follow wherever God may lead.

Give your thought processes up to the control of Universal Mind in advance of leaving your mortal mind behind. This kind of dedication can only benefit your world. You pull it along with you as you aspire to your own perfection. You become a lure for others to follow – not you in the ego sense, as we follow the leader, but you in the divine sense, as you are godlike and worthy of note. And that is up to the personal spiritual experience of all of you who opt to have one, and to what extent.

Are there other questions or areas of interest at issue you would like to share or open for consideration?

Men-o-pah: I noticed within your comments about the river of life. There is among the Cherokee people now an initiative of some contemporaries who are still living. They have a song that goes like this: "Is everybody here? Is everybody safe? Is everybody warm inside? Cherokee, you’re part of me. I am wild and deep. Even when you sleep. Cherokee River, flow on down to me."

TOMAS: Yes, son, you speak of the richness of the living water that extends into the barren desert and creates an oasis of life for all that partake. The great ocean that the river of life leads into is the great God consciousness of all, the culmination of the work we do in fostering the spirit, in and through each man, each woman, each child. And the constancy of the flow of this powerful river will not rest, will not cease flowing, until such time as the river is consumed by the ocean and all within, then, swell with the tide -- the whole of humanity, the whole of creation.

This heartfelt yearning for oneness with all of creation is an inborn urge in response to the lure of the Father, and that pull that leads us ever onward into greater areas of perfection attainment. In order for us to have that further degree of light, that further drop of living water that will help to quench the thirst and ease the mind of the fellows we encounter on this great trek, circumnavigating safely through the water of life to the oneness of all.

Closing

We sing a lullaby today, my weary children. Rest in the Mother’s arms. Feel the tranquillity of her embrace. Smell the sweet smell of her breath upon your brow. Know the Father stands beside us, even as we live in relative imperfection, ever luring us forward to greater acknowledgement of that which is eternal, which is true, beautiful and good. We will see you again next week when you are renewed, invigorated by the changing energy patterns which will befall you when you set out once more in faith, agondonters all, on your way home. We will walk with you.

Farewell.