1993-03-07-God's Love

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Topic: God's Love

Group: Pocatello TeaM

Facilitators

Teacher: Daniel

TR: Unknown

Session

Opening

Daniel: "Good afternoon, my friends. It is I, Daniel. As with each week I come to you ever ready to serve not only the Father but to aid in helping you, that you, too, may serve Him. It is my greatest wish for you all to come to the realization and the understanding of the Father and His love. This week you were asked to think about the Father's love, and how you can better manifest this love in your own lives.

Lesson

Love

It would appear that because we are a small group tonight, that many did not do their homework!(laughter) Joking, of course. I realize the reasons and know of your brothers and sisters' whereabouts. I will, however, not let you off the hook. As planned, it is important that you come into a knowledge about the Father. As you take the time to sit with Him, this knowledge about Him and His will is made known to you. And so I will now ask for your thoughts regarding the lesson of the Father's love. Is it different from that of the mere mortal? Is it the same? Is it easy to bring about this love into your daily life? Please be willing to share."

Dialogue

V1: "Daniel, I wanted to be first because I'm not sure that anything that I have is original as such. So I wanted to go ahead and say what I was thinking of and read. Throughout the week different thoughts came into my mind. Everything that is, would disappear without God's love. And that was such a..it's not new to me but it simply is amazing that we are upheld by a God of love. I can remember when I first read the Urantia Book and I am reading in that section, again this week. It is on the Thought Adjuster and this morning it actually said the Indwelling Thought Adjuster is the greatest expression of God's love. I know, for me personally, that was such a tremendous load off my back; that I had assumed, because I had been taught and believed that unless that I went out and told everyone, they were condemned. And it is just so wonderful to know that God's love is working in every human. And it is really up to them to respond to that love. It is just a very freeing, wonderful thing for me to know God's love is there; and He has not left it up to mortals."

B3: "Hi, Daniel, this is B3. I must confess I took the first part of the week and thought about faith which I forgot to do last week; but you probably knew that anyway. But I did get around to love. Mouchy[B3's pet name for Scaramouche, his teacher] and I thought about that a lot this week, and I was afraid I couldn't bring up some of his ideas; but then I was reminded that we have been together so long that his ideas and my ideas are together, anyway. So I'm not really sure whose idea this is. But what I want to talk about is the fact that love is one of those things that we know but is very hard to put into words. It is one of those things we understand but have a very difficult time explaining. So when you talked about defining love as truth, beauty, and goodness, I really 'glommed on' to that because I knew what truth, beauty, and goodness was, but I didn't know what love was. And I was happy with that until I read Christ Michael talking about truth, beauty, and love in the Urantia Book. Now I'm not sure I understand those very well, anymore! I still feel good about truth. But I have a lot of questions about beauty and goodness. And I'm hopeful over the next few weeks if you are looking for a topic you might want to elucidate on what beauty and goodness are. But for now I am happy with truth, for seeking after truth, for me, is a very good definition of what love is. Love is seeking the truth where ever it leads you."

B1: "This is B1..I guess I and B3, had the same experience; that I discussed this with Alkon and I heard things from deep within myself. I am going to report on everything I heard because I figure it is legitimate. Like you, V1, I heard about.. that the Father's love is the reason for all of creation. He didn't create this world because He was lonely and self centered. He wanted to express Himself and share. Everything is the result of His love; every personality, every planet, every universe, everything! And His love constantly upholds all reality. I also heard, and this was most remarkable, that the Father loves all of His children, His sons and daughters, you and I, the angels, all the orders of personalities as He loves the Eternal Son. There is a different relationship with the Eternal Son because He is Deity Sonship and Absolute Personality, but the love is the same. And when I heard that, it came with the force of really strong truth. And that was amazing to me. I also discussed, heard, thought about, that He desires to experience His creation and hence He indwells us with the Thought Adjusters; and God the Supreme is the Father's desire to experience things from a finite perspective. That is an aspect of love, again, that He didn't just make, and create and etc., but He also wants to know the experience of all of us.

As to how to express this love to other people, I got kind of a visual picture when I was meditating and thinking about this. This love of the Father is radiating from Paradise throughout the entire universe of universes; and that the only thing that stops it is blockage in personality, and for me I would have to use the term ego blockage. The emotions of fear and anger are two of the strongest ego blocks and the desire to take credit when it is not necessary or due you. So that thought came to me. To express the Father's love is to unblock yourself and it comes through you just as in the experience of healing. It's just a matter of letting that love through you.

And this morning I had a wonderful visualization. And in it I had this visualization of God the Father throwing me up in the air like a human father might do with a young child, throwing me up in the air while I am screaming with fright, kind of, and then catching that child. And it was the idea that the Father wants me to trust Him, that when it feels like I am up in the air, that underneath are the Everlasting Arms that will always catch me. The Father wants us to trust Him that He is always there for us. I had a marvelous week meditating on this assignment!"

B2: "Well, Daniel, I was a bad boy. I didn't do my assignment per se.(much laughter in the backround) I had a great week and as I look back I thought on a lot of different areas of God's love, reading Alan Cohen's book, 'Dare to be yourself'. It is just magnificent how we are created, and who we really are, and how we gradually, each in our own way, awaken to that and help each other. I am just amazed by how the whole universe works, the more I get the picture. It is just marvelous. I had another experience with two Mormon women that came by this week. And I really enjoyed talking with them. It was clear that they were sincere seekers and they left me my space. It was incredible. We just had a great talk about love, about God and how He reaches to each of us! I don't know. It just seems like it is amazing how love just comes through everything when you allow yourself to be open, like B1 said, you can kind of look back and see what He has done in your life and see the little effects that were definitely promptings or motivations or whatever. That's all I have."

S2: "Well besides, Daniel, the things that were mentioned on love, one example I feel that is here, is the Life Carriers that are around for us and we can use, to help others to make their pains or whatever feel better. I feel that is an example of His love right there, and I greatly appreciate the opportunity to pass that on to other people who need it."

K3: "Where to start, Daniel! There are many things that are on my mind. What is the Father's love? As expressed by yourself and by the teachers that I am reading at this finite level, the Father is hard to understand. He is there for us. He has given us many gifts. One of those gifts is Michael, Who stands beside us and gives us the Spirit of Truth, that we may increase our spirituality, that we may find You, that we may understand You, that we may honor You and do Your will. Reading you, listening to you, I can understand that our concept of love and that word is not adequate by any means in our language to cover what the Father is and what He will be. To express the Father's love to our fellow man, as you have encouraged us to do, is to look at our fellow man as though he was Jesus Christ, or look at him through the eyes of Jesus Christ. And that is what I try to do as I get... (tape fouled up). I thank you for the Teaching Mission and for the guidance and tremendous understanding that you have given us, and to myself, as I read and I have this faith in the Universal Father. Thank you Daniel. I thank everybody involved."

Daniel: "My friends, you have done a great job in your work in this regard! You have in a way that you can understand and comprehend come into a more concrete understanding of the Father's love. This love definitely is one that, as K3 has stated, is very difficult for finite creatures to understand. This love of the Father stretches across the breadth of many universes into many, many areas; and it is truly the Father's Being to be love. If one were to able to attribute one attribute to the Father, love would be that attribute! Of course, this is not possible. However, in this one concept of love does there encompass the greatness and the grandeur of the Father. Indeed, this love to a finite creature is quite abstract. Only as you traverse the eons of time and the experiences that await you, does the understanding of this love become more knowledgeable to you; the more will you be able to comprehend, the more will you be able to accept and to digest what this Father's love is.

My friends, often in your world is it necessary to give a concrete picture or some sort of analogy to help you in your understanding of the Father. I will be doing such an analogy in this explanation. First I would like to continue addressing your thoughts. Indeed is the understanding of love based in truth. Indeed as you are able to know truth, do you begin to get glimpses, glimmerings of some understanding of the Father's love. Indeed is it appropriate for you on this plane to see the gift of the Indwelling Spirit as the true gift of love to you, the individual. For the Father to give a part of Himself is truly a labor of love. This is the grandest outward sign that you can know, other than that of allowing you free will choice. For in giving you this choice, does the Father give over to the possibility of losing you as His son or daughter. For it is your choice whether you wish to be with Him at some point. And so these are, indeed, outward signs of this love and these are necessary for you to grasp in order to begin to understand love. Indeed, does Alkon give you correct words, my son, my friend, B1, in stating that the Father's love is for all; the Father's love does not discriminate; the Father's love is, indeed, as great for you, the individual, as it is for the Eternal Son.

And you, B2, do not feel you have been a bad student this week! (laughter) For you have come into many understandings regarding the Father and His love. Being able to speak with these ladies in a loving and open manner is your showing that you are grasping the Father's message. And you are being able to give that love which He has for all. Indeed, many, many that walk various paths understand fully, know completely His love! It is a statement of your coming into knowledge and understanding of this love when you can see its beauty working in others. And to know that, indeed, the Father has within His overcare and control, all of you in loving arms; that, indeed, each must assume their own responsibility of finding and having that experience with the Father in their own life. Each of you has that Indwelling Spirit, that spark that will continue to grow if you but allow and open yourselves up to it and for it. Indeed, is giving loving service in helping another a sign, also, of becoming knowledgeable of the Father's love. When you reach out to help someone, to be a conduit for healing, are you beginning to grasp His love.

All of you have over the last year been willing to open yourselves up, to accept that there can be changes in your life, that there is not stagnation, but further growth. And through your struggles in faith and doubt, in your struggles in coming to terms with the Teaching Mission, have you grown immensely! You have taken those steps necessary to open yourselves to the Father and His love. Once you have opened yourself to this, will you ever be ready and able to serve Him and your fellow brothers and sisters.

The Father is, if you will look upon Him in this analogy, like the most perfect brilliant diamond! His Being not only reflects light off of all of its many facets and angles, but His Being within this diamond is so magnificent that it illuminates all. You, my friends, are like the little rough rocks that can, over time, be chipped and chipped and polished to become a diamond. A diamond in the rough, you are; but know that this chipping away of each little piece is part of the experience of becoming a diamond. As little rough stones, the beauty and potential of what you are is not readily apparent. As diamonds are formed and created within the pressure of the earth, know that you have been formed and created within the goodness and love of the Father. And all that He has, and is, and knows in His universe is within each and everyone one of you, the rough stone! You, who have the Indwelling Spirit within you, will at some time be a diamond that also emits light and love. Each time you are able to have a rough part of your stone chipped away, the experience you glean from this brings you closer and closer to a more perfected state. Each time you are able to polish those aspects of yourself do you become more like the Father. Many leave this plane as a rough rock, with potential, but not yet in a state of change. Those who seek the Father, those who travel the path to Him in this life have already been able to mold and shape their little diamond. Many lose the outer trappings and the polished area is beginning to show. Light can reflect from you, light can emit from you as you become more aware of the Father's love, as you are willing to give the Father's love to your brothers and sisters, as you are willing to serve your brother and sisters, as you are tolerant, as you are forgiving, as you do those things which lead you closer to the Father and His will. Those of you who take the time daily to sit with the Father know His will. It is made known to you!

As our friend T5 has spoken today, and I welcome you, my friend, as you have spoken today that somehow you knew and wanted to follow the Father's will, and in what may seem coincidence, you are led to know His will. All of you daily have these experiences when you open yourself up to them. His will will be made known and through His will known to you, will there be love given, will love be manifested in the outer world. Some day, my friends, you and I will sit together with the Father. He will be the main diamond in the ring. We will be the individual diamonds around. Can you see this glorious setting? It will be! You are fortunate for you are the ones who can make your own potential come true. You, who desire to know and love the Father, will, at some point, be the shining diamond which you are decreed to be. To know the Father's love is to know the gifts of the Spirit and yet this is but a part of it. This is the aspect that you know in this life. Indeed, without the Father's love the universes and all that they entail would not be here.

This week as you go about your daily business, keep in the forethought of your mind the Father's love. Daily strive, as K3 has said, to see each individual as if you were looking through the eyes of Christ Michael. He taught us so much about God's love. He brought so much of the Father's love to this plane. And now I will accept questions."

Thought Adjusters

V1: "Thank you, Daniel. That was really a beautiful illustration. This is a question that has been on my mind for really many weeks. I'm not sure if it is even necessary to know but I so often hear people say that they can recognize the Thought Adjuster speaking to them. And those are the papers that I am reading again [the Thought Adjuster papers]. I want to know if there is any way specifically to tell the difference between the teacher and the Thought Adjuster, and how do you recognize if it is the Thought Adjuster or your own thoughts, or what?"

Daniel: "These types of questions are always difficult to answer given the fact that each of you is an individual. Each of you has various and different ways of knowing, of understanding, different ways of processing. And because of these various factors it is not easy to give guidelines. Those of you who are becoming experienced with a teacher are working through the troubles of knowing that which is your thought and that which is the teacher's. And as you come into more skill with this you begin to realize that which is the teacher as opposed to that which is your own thoughts. Being able to communicate with the Thought Adjuster is, indeed, one of the highest ideals on this plane for you. And being able to discern this communication is not always understood, not always know even to the individual when it occurs.

I will say that those who are conscious of this happening realize that when this does occur it is quite profound, quite different from that of your teacher, quite different from that of your own thoughts. It emanates from deep within your being and at this point in time many on this plane have received messages from their Indwelling Spirit. This is not an easy subject to discuss. Those who have had the experience will always be able to recognize it again when it occurs, after the first time. Many err in thinking that their Thought Adjuster has spoken. While you are continually being given promptings from your Indwelling Spirit; while you are always being given opportunities to follow His leading, do not think that you are ready to hear personally from Him. You have all experienced the outworking of yourIndwelling Spirit. If you had not, you would not be sitting here today. To state that one has communicated freely as you would with me here today or with your own teacher is difficult, for receiving messages from the Indwelling Spirit requires you to genuinely be in touch with your own inward self, your Higher Self, as the individual spends more and more time in quiet and stillness, as the individual spends more time in desiring to know the Father, to follow Him. As this groundwork is laid preparation is made and given for you to begin to become aware of the Indwelling Spirit's voice within.

It is better to err in thinking that you have not heard, than to err in thinking that you have heard. The communication with the Indwelling Spirit is very, very precious, is not something that should be taken lightly or be something that is surface. This is a very profound experience for the individual. It is one which is brought about through and over time by spending quietness with the Father in prayer and worship. You, my friends, as you take that time, there will undoubtedly be that day when you will have that experience. And once you have had it, it will become that which you will never forget, that which you will recognize always. Is this helping?"

V1: "Yes, Daniel, very much. The book, of course, is what I am basing so much on and it says that we have to be so willing. And maybe I need to deal with motives and a lot of self knowledge as you have mentioned. And I thank you so much for taking the time to answer that question. I thought I could ask it tonight because there are so few here, and I appreciate very much your answer."

Daniel: "Certainly."

B1: "Daniel, V1 and I wanted to introduce our friend T5. You have already spoken to him, but we are really excited that he is here to meet you."

Daniel: "Yes. And again, T5, welcome. I am always happy to have new people. I am of your being. You have been a seeker of truth for many years. You have experienced many things in your life which have been key elements in your reaching out to the Father. Know that you are loved, you are supported, and you are invited to continue walking the path to Him. You are currently in a state of disharmony and unrest, a time when stillness with the Father certainly will behoove you in body, mind, and spirit. My friend, know that in God's care all will be made whole at some point. And, indeed, you must have that faith. Welcome."

B2: "Daniel, this is B2(laughter) I just want a little help clarifying how to discern what is God's will and what is just your own pursuit. I know that is probably ten lessons in itself, but maybe knowing my situation now, deciding whether we plan to move or stay, or what reasons for moving and where we plan to go, you could help me a little more specifically."

Daniel: "This is better to discuss in a private meeting. Make arrangements with D3."

B2: "OK. Thank you."

Spirituality

K3: "Good evening again, Daniel. In our discussion earlier in expressing the Father's love I used the word spirituality. Can you help me with that and elaborate a little more on when we get spirituality? It's confusing to me."

Daniel: "As an ascending being you are of dual nature. Already you know of the material existence of which you are. And part of you is, also, the spiritual. In this plane, because you are material, in reality, this is what you can see, feel, and know. And so this is perfectly understood by you in your nature. You have no problem in realizing a material existence. The spiritual is the abstract for you; that which you must hold, accept and take in faith. You are part spirit, you are part material. Whenever you take anything within the spiritual realm on faith, whenever you believe, whenever you do anything that is leading you to the Father, you are at point bringing into reality your spirituality. And to say that one is striving to bring God's reality more into their life is to say you are working to know the Father, His love, His being, His will. And those who work in that direction are said to be working within their spirituality. You are working to bring the divine nature of yourself into more balance with the human aspect of yourself. One must keep a balance within their life. One cannot totally do the human thing and neglect the spiritual part of you. Nor should one neglect the human aspect of your life in search of just pure spiritual. There must be a balance and a wholeness of the humanness and your spiritualness. When you spoke of bringing in the spirituality, in this regard you are speaking of that part of you which strives to know its Source, from which all came, the Source being the Father. And as you come into your knowledge of Him, so, too, does your spirituality increase, that is, your knowledge of Him. Has this helped in any way?"

K3: "Yes. I think with your explanation and I was thinking of my own question. Thank you."

Closing

Daniel: "Certainly. (long pause) It would appear we are coming to a close. This week go forth and think about being love, giving love to all you meet, seeing your brothers and sisters through the eyes of Christ Michael. You, my friends, have done well in this regard. You are growing stronger in this. B3's question earlier on how does one take what is known intellectually and manifest it internally and into the outer realm; as developmental beings that you are, often the first step is in the intellectualizing and knowing. Once this is accomplished and once it is affirmed over and over within the person's mind and thought processes, then can this become a part of you.

Again, let me take you back to an earlier lesson with the child that was learning to write. At first the pencil was but a foreign object in his hand. He had to learn to utilize the pencil to see what it would do. And with practice and with time the child eventually learns to write. The practice was very conscious at first, until there came that day when he could pick up the pencil, and without thinking how to form the letter, his nervous system combined with the knowledge and understanding in his mind, he was able to write very unconsciously. For you all to be able to rectify those traits which are a part of your being, those traits which you wish to get rid of, there must be the intellectual understanding of it. And then there must be the conscious effort when situations arise, to change.

B1's example this week of getting upset in public was, as he stated, an old habit. But when it flared up this time, was viewed in a much different light. You have taken the steps, my friend, to bring this trait under control, and can, if you continue to work, to completely alleviate it. Conscious effort at first, time and time again, will bring about the positive effect of internalizing and eventually at some point you will unconsciously be able to take a situation and not, as B1 would say, 'get mad' as he did. For you to take the first step in identifying a problem, in knowing it, and realizing when it occurs in your life, through conscious effort there can be change brought about. To develop positive attributes likewise will take a conscious effort.

And as you spend time with the Father, as you turn yourself over to following His will, you are dedicating yourself into a positive frame of mind. You are asking the Father every time you ask that His will be yours, you are asking Him to fortify and strengthen you with the gifts of the Spirit. Anything asked that will bring you closer to Him shall be granted! My peace and love to you all this evening. Good night."

Group: "Good night, Daniel."