1992-04-05-More On Spiritual Growth

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Topic: More On Spiritual Growth

Group: Pocatello TeaM

Facilitators

Teacher: Daniel

TR: Rutha

Session

Opening

Opening Prayer: Prayer of St. Francis

Daniel: "Good evening. I am Daniel. I am your teacher, your guide, your mentor. Where there is darkness, let there be light; part of your prayer each week. It is our wish for you, those with troubled hearts, to realize that out of the struggle, out of the darkness, the light will be made clear. And out of this darkness your struggles, your adversity will bring personal growth. Fear not, for God has all things in his hand. I bring you my love.

Lesson

Growth

Our lesson tonight will be on a continuation of spiritual growth. You see, we have been talking for many weeks about this very concept. It started out with understanding the Father's will, desiring it, wanting to follow it. And in this commitment, this desire, you came to realize your weakness, your frailty. It is this humbling experience that brings you more even more closely aligned to doing His will. For in your understanding of your weaknesses; these being intolerance, lack of understanding, judgmental attitudes, the inability to forgive, the inability to love; these are all on a personal level as well as a social level; and in seeing these weaknesses you have been working to bring them to the positive, the upper, higher road; so that tolerance, understanding, love, forgiveness are what you see, and not visa versa. In line with this, then, is your need to be compliant, your need to be able to be adaptable, to be flexible. For you see, in your spiritual growth these are traits that will bring it to fertilization, to growth. When you are aware of change, when you are open to these things, then you move forward.

Spiritual awareness brings you to truths. Truths are ever ready to be seen in higher light when you are willing to open yourself to it. Once you have moved past your dogmas, your inability to move forward, then you will be on the road for new teachings, new insights to come your way. So my words to you in this regard are this. Do not close down avenues, for you will be cutting off opportunities. So long as you are fine tuned in alignment with the Father, you are on the right road. And when opportunities present themselves, you will be there with clarity, with understanding, with the knowledge that the Father's truths are made known to those who seek it out.

The teaching mission is on its first level. And so if it seems as if the teachings are sounding alike, it is for your own self growth. Understanding on an intellectual level is one thing. Understanding intrinsically within the mortal physical being is something else. And so I come to you weekly with lessons to help you, not only on the intellectual level, but in your physical, your nervous system.

When you look at a child in school and he is given a pencil for the first time, he must be taught how to hold the pencil. The pencil must become an extension of his hand. So he does many things with the pencil before he begins to write. He feels it; he probably tries to eat it more times than not. He rolls it; he puts it behind his ear; he doodles on the paper; and finally he grasps it properly. And through much trial and error, writing becomes a part of his being. He understands that if he does certain things he can make letters just like grownup people. That is his intellectual understanding. It is not until he and the pencil become one that the letters flow, become easy, become part of his skills, part of his being. And so the lessons presented to you are to help you so that you can become. So that the intellectual can become united with your nervous system, your whole being, so that these teachings become how you act, become who you are.

And look to you, the adult, who after many years of writing will not flip the pencil over and erase now and then? You will fall, but you may quickly correct your errors. It takes time to learn to write. It takes time to build your foundation.

The Master has said, 'I have come to give you life, that you may lead it more abundantly'. When you have your foundation built, then will life be lived more abundantly, not in a material sense, but in your being. You will know with confidence that you are a son or daughter of the Father, that you have the greatest treasure of all within you, that what you do in His name will, in the bigger, broader picture be His will. The trials and everyday situations are not important. They are in a sense illusion.

This teaching session is short tonight, but it has some very key important messages. So I admonish you to think on these things. You who have chosen to follow this path will be called upon to act, to be know by your fruits. Nurture your tree so that the fruits that you produce are those which others will want to grab and pull off the branches, will want to feed upon these fruits. Think on this. Think on responsibility and your commitment. I will now accept questions."

Dialogue

Urantia Movement

V1: "Daniel, this is V1. And before any questions I would like to introduce our daughter N1 K9 who is here with us tonight."

Daniel: "Yes, and welcome N1. I am aware of you and know what a truth seeker you really are and welcome."

V1: "Daniel, I had a funny thought this week and I don't know if it was in conversation with B1 or not. Every time I identify myself I feel a little foolish in that if you know us do you want us to keep saying, 'Hello, I am V1 or should we just go ahead. I really don't know how to address you and what you want."

Daniel: "This is not important. I know you, yes. It is not important. Whatever you are comfortable with."

V1: "Thank you Daniel."

B2: "Daniel, this is B1. I had conversations with two people from Coeur D' Alene yesterday, enjoyable conversations. They are really inspired up there and asking, and they were both really pommelling me with questions of how to get a teacher. I just advised them to do the Father's will and said that all it took was asking and I guess having a transmitter/receiver. One of them, G3 asked if I would ask a specific question. Her question was concerning the conflict with the woman doing the computer version, translation of the Urantia Book and she didn't ask anything specific one way or the other. She just wanted to know if you had any feedback concerning the conflict between the Foundation and this woman. If you could answer that, they would appreciate it. Thank you."

Daniel: "At this time I have no comments regarding this. This is again human problems which are sorted out as time goes on, are sorted out when people are seeking one goal, are in tune with and alignment with God consciousness. Again, my mission is for spiritual teachings, spiritual upliftment. It does not behoove us or you to have mortal problems resolved that you can work through yourselves. There are many other more pressing concerns. You are all aware of these things. Please let the Coeur D' Alene group know that their desire has been noted and things are working toward this end for them for a teacher."

B2: "Thank you Daniel. I also wanted to thank you for being present in spirit at our family meeting this week. I think it helped all of us to put a little more energy into being positive and working toward the goals we are setting for ourselves. I really appreciate your guidance. Thank you."

Daniel: "You are most welcome and please continue on this path."

F1: "Daniel, this is F1. I want to thank you for your teaching and I want to ask if the messages I am getting in my meditation periods are from my mind or if they are from what I discussed in my private meeting with you. Can you confirm that please?"

Daniel: "There is confirmation on Gloria, yes. Many other things are from your subconscious. As time goes on you will become better able to discern what is real from what is yours. Continue working."

Turbulence

F1: "Thank you Daniel."

B1: Daniel, this is B1 and the storms that you forecast last week have hit some of us on individual levels and in different ways. We have had a stormy week as you know. How do you think we are doing? Can you give us any feedback about it or any further advice. I know what you said clearly..was to back to the Father for our security and etc."

Daniel: "How do you think you are doing?(laughter, whispers)"

B1: "I personally think that myself and some others that I am aware of are doing all right. We certainly are going up and down but I think we are going to be ok."

Daniel: "Of course storms do bring wind, they do bring inclement weather. This is all part of a storm. Just so long as it is the storm and not the blizzard. And yes, keeping to your prayer sessions, to following the Father's will, keeping focused in this direction will be your best shelter against the storm. You must weather inner storms as well as physical ones. And it is in the turbulence, the tension that is caused from the inner storm that you grow. If there were no inner storms, there would be no growth."

B1: "Thank you Daniel."

Dreams

B5: Daniel, this is B5. Speaking of inner storms, I've had quite a few stresses this week, confusing dreams. I wake up feeling that I should have grasped something from these dreams, but they seem fleeting. I'm confused. Is there something I should be getting from this?"

Daniel: "Dreams are manyfold. They are often like the garbage can of the day, where everything is dumped in, mixed around and does not make much sense. Most dreams are of this nature. There are other dreams which are the result of your inner conflict, inner turmoil, that is in juxtaposition to the outer realm. And the conflict arises when what you are doing in your mortal physical life, your daily life, is in conflict with your values, what is important to you in your inner life. And often your dreams will reflect this. When you look at these dreams, look to see if this is the case. And if so, your dream is telling you that you need to change the things in your outer life to reflect the inner life. And this is also a sign when spiritual growth is accelerated. Your inner life becomes in alignment with the Father. And you see, your inner life has grown, has gone forward and your outer life is not yet caught up. This is the becoming that I spoke of earlier. Becoming who and what you desire in your inner life, that it be reflected in the outer. So I say to you and others who are experiencing dreams, and this goes for D3 as well, to search for the spiritual implications that these dreams are having for you. To D3 especially I wish to say that the experiences of the last two nights stem from fear. Release this fear, for it is unnecessary. To you B5, I say, take time to look at the symbolism of the dream but do not let it rule you. Read from it what you can. Glean from it things that will help you to grow and let it go."

B5: "Thank you."

Daniel: "You're welcome."

Fear

V1: "Daniel, I occasionally at school listen to Tao tapes and here a couple of weeks ago one of his statements that stuck out to me was, well number one you just mentioned fear, and fear is such a real thing in most of our lives, but he, the statement said that fear and hope were both phantoms because it was being concerned with self. Fear we have always felt was negative, but hope has always been a very positive thing to me. And so I am wondering if you would just talk a little bit on this."

Daniel: "Yes. And V1, the Tao is of a philosophy that states that the self is not important, that the all of the outer world is not real. So you see you are listening to a philosophy that, while it has many, many truths, many things to help the individual, is different from yours. And these kinds of problems will arise. You are a mortal. You have a dual nature. You have to live life in the outer realm and you need to work on the inner realm, what we do here.

And so yes, hope and fear are in many respects phantoms in that much fear is not real. Many of your worries and anxieties stem from lack of understanding, lack of knowledge, and your own cultural backgrounds. Your environment from which you grew up harbors many fears as well as hopes. And yes, this is true to the extent that you need to rise above this fear so that it does not destroy you, does not hold you back in your life in the physical realm as well as in the spiritual. Real fear is a part of your nature, a part of your electro-chemical makeup. If a car should be coming down the street as you are crossing it, and is about to hit you, this is real fear that you experience. But to refuse to cross the street out of fear, is not real, is a phantom. Do you see?

V1: "I see the contrast there. If I don't react to the real fear then in a sense it is foolish and not real, is that what you are saying?"

Daniel: "Yes. One must know what is real and what isn't. Part of growth . .it is not wise to fret and worry oneself, for it is of no avail, it cannot change situations. So why worry about getting hit by a car, rather seek action. Look before you cross. Be mindful when you are crossing. And should a car appear, don't stop, but try to get out of the way. Fear is helpful to the human nature when it brings about action. But to be fearful mindlessly is not profitable. Does this clarify further?"

Hope

V1: "Yes Daniel, it does as far as fear is concerned. But can I look at hope the same way? Hope is also unreal if placed in the wrong things. I am trying to equate what I heard. Could you mention or talk about hope please."

Daniel: "Yes. And here again hope is often aligned with fear in that many of the things you hope for stem from your fear. Hope is a illusive type of virtue. It is like love, hard to define. Hope is part of the human spirit. Without it you would become apathetic in your own mind. If you could not look to the future with hopefulness, you would often say..why bother? Lets quit now. So hope helps you set forth goals, to help you realize that even though there will be storms, there is also sunshine. Hope cannot be as fear in that fear does elicit a strong chemical reaction within your body. Hope in some ways is rather a mild reaction. But it is necessary for it helps bring you to action as well. It helps give you a sense of peace. It is often used in many instances very lightly. 'Oh I hope my paper doesn't get wet' is not important; it's just more a figure of speech, an easy way of saying things; one that becomes habit. 'I hope for world peace' elicits a different connotation. For in hoping for world peace are you not eliciting a petition to the Father? Does it stir you, the things that help to bring this about? How can there be world peace if there is not inner peace? So when you hope for world peace you can start that action happening right now, today, by bringing the inner peace to light. So you see, hope can be a phantom, cannot be real, if it is used lightly. When it stirs you, when it brings about action, it is real."

Trivia

N1: "Hello Daniel. This is N1. You mentioned in your talk earlier that everyday life experiences are like illusions, or something to that effect. Would you comment on that further please?"

Daniel: "Yes, and a good point, in that as you leave this life what transpired here will not be important. My meaning was to help you to see that many of your daily lives, the activities within it, are not as important as they seem, that you need to see an overall picture and not become too concerned with the little petty things in life. For they are not real in the sense that they do not convey the whole picture. They are, rather, those things that are for you to work through and then let go; not be caught up in them so that you cannot carry on. The joys, the sorrows, the ups and downs of the day fit into a broader scheme. If you allow things to become larger than necessary, then you are bringing illusion to play; something like the fear and hope. Rather live each moment for what it is. Glean from it what you may. Utilize it as opportunity for growth and let it go. Do not let it hamper you or hold you back. Do not let it veil your sense of following the Father's will. Does this help?"

N1: "Yes, Daniel. Thank you." B5: "Daniel, this is B5 again. I would like to ask, uh, if there have been any developments on what I asked about my brother in-law's health two or three weeks ago?"

Daniel: "There are many illnesses which cannot be diagnosed through one test. Often times arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, is not picked up through a blood test. Sternognostic is a word that describes this. This is often hard to diagnose. Auto-immune diseases such as these stem from many factors. Environment and diet are a part. These should be looked to. This is what is known now. This is all the information I have now."

B5: "Thank you Daniel, that helps."

Daniel: "You're welcome."

Healing

B1: "Daniel, this is B1. Since we are on the subject of medicine..I have a problem now with my feelings about the medical profession in the U.S.A. And I'm having trouble dealing with how to relate myself to the doctors in this community. And I'm not asking for names or anything, but since you have been a doctor as a mortal...part of my problem is that I feel like medicine has sold out to the profit motive, to the prestige, etc. and tends to make fun of alternate forms of healing. I have thought often about you being a doctor in your mortal life and I wondered if you care to comment on this situation in medicine and specifically for people like myself who are not really sure how to relate to the established medical profession and how to go about finding a relationship with a doctor that is comfortable."

Daniel: "As in many areas, the good that is the underlying premise is lost to the personal materialism of many. Healing is a profession. The healing profession goes back to the dawn of time. And it is like all professions, changed with new knowledge, new wisdom. It is kind of like reaching the Father, many roads can be taken, some better than others. The modern medical knowledge now available is by far vastly superior to those techniques used in the past. However, there have been problems stemming from the medical profession today feeling that their way is the only credible method of healing.

Healing must come from the spiritual, it must come from the physical as well. You are of dual nature and this must be taken into account when you are healed or when you are ill. And there are many ways this can be done. Much unnecessary illness could be prevented if the philosophy of the American doctors or the world wide medical doctors would understand that the body is not just a mechanical machine, that in order to effectively bring about healing, you must look at it from the standpoint of a living organism, a spiritual organism and not from one viewpoint.

In this country the medical profession is in the works of being their own undoing. For the true motive is being lost. The service provided is provided not out of love and concern and the brotherhood of man, but out of the material greedy aspects. And I will state that there are many, very many doctors who do not fit this mode who are still the true caretakers of their brothers. And I will state that in healing, in seeking help for the physical body, there are many avenues to look at. The medical doctors do not have all of the answers. If you follow your intuition, you will be led to other areas that will bring about healing help for you. Medical science needs to marry, merge, come together with other types of healing, and especially the spiritual realm. Here again, you see, the scientific is on one end and the spiritual on the other. But between these two ends are many other healing doctors. When this becomes apparent, when there can be this unification of all of these areas, then will medical science, medical technology progress to more permanent unifying healing.

In your own lives you must do what you feel most comfortable with remembering that you are a vessel that houses the Father Fragment. And you must be ever mindful to respect your physical body so that it is able to function to carry out the Father's will. Be mindful of the body in all its requirements: nourishment, soul and physical; exercise, soul and physical. And seek help when there is disharmony: soul, seek the Father; physical, seek other forms of healing besides the soul. Has this helped?"

B1: "Yes, thank you very much. That's a very complete answer and on the edge of the thinking of some people in the medical profession. I hope that they will pursue the wisdom of your advice to remember that man is not a machine, but more than that. So thank you Daniel. And especially since you have been a doctor I know this is an area that you truly are an expert in from you mortal life as well as your other expertise."

Daniel: "You are welcome. Part of the growth of this planet will be in this area as well."

Urantia Book

B2: "Daniel, this is B1 again. I received some literature from the outreach group in Boulder this past week concerning the distribution of the Urantia Book. And they seemed very alarmed with what is happening with the Foundation cutting off the mainline distributors through bookstores. It inspired me to place a book this week, but I really don't know the Foundation's point of view. I was wondering if you feel if we need to be concerned about this or each of us just make our own individual choices. Is it a major concern on your side?"

Daniel: "Knowledge and understanding are your greatest tools. So this is an area you are concerned with, therefor it is wise for you to personally come to an understanding by researching the Foundation's reasoning actions. It is from the knowledge you glean from this that you can come to an understanding in your own being and can take action. Again, mortal concerns in time will be worked out through the concerns of individuals as yourself. So my dear students, in all of your dealings in you daily life, you must do the work. You must be informed. And this is part of the very first step in your growth throughout eternity. For you see, you are starting on a very low level in learning to do research, to find answers. And those of you who make this a part of your life are achieving growth for your morontia world life. You're on the very first level in this growth in seeking understanding, in learning about responsibility. For you are not only a member of this small group here tonight, but members of many things including a whole universe, a whole part of God's plan and the planetary government. And so you need to get used to, so to speak, researching and finding out information so that you can make decisions that are made on knowledge, and not haphazardly formed, haphazardly decided.

Closing

Personally to you B1 I say, when you do your research you will then come to a decision yourself and your nature has been to act, and you will. This is all." I will draw this to a close for D3 is tiring. My dear pupils, come together with open arms, with love and respect and also do this in your quiet moments with your Indwelling Spirit. The Father has, through the Son, given this message: 'Peace I give to you.' Seek comfort in this. I will see you Friday. May you have a good week. Good evening."