1996-10-03-Undying Hope

Session

Opening

TOMAS: I am Tomas.

Group: Hello! Hi, Tomas. TOMAS: How are you this evening? Group: Full. Wonderful. TOMAS: From my vantage point you all appear to be well. Group: Wound up, too, Tomas. TOMAS: As you might say, "fat and sassy"? Group: (Laughter) Silly!

TOMAS: It gives us pleasure when we see you enjoy yourselves in harmony. Even when you disagree among yourselves and banter about in your various discourses, we are greatly heartened by the manifold work that has allowed your diverse personalities and opinions to prance about and entertain one another in comfort of knowing each other as a child of God, a fellow human being in the ascent.

Once again it gives me sublime pleasure to embrace you, to welcome you to our configuration of focus. We have been assembled here for a period of time in observation of your gathering, your stillness, your socializing and your study of Rodan's fine words. My words to you this evening are a continuance of our more formal study of the fruits of the spirit. I am excited about your growth, individually and as a community, as you take these fruits to heart and advance them in your personal experience.

This evening I would like to call to your attention the fruit of the spirit designated undying hope.

Lesson

Hope

Hope is a quality of life that is a gift of the spirit. And a clear realization of the value of hope is made evident in those situations where there is none.

In your own personal experience it would be possible to call up moments wherein hope was lacking, wherein you had aspired to attain some goal and found at some point that the goal was unattainable. Hope was dashed, and tremendous disappointment followed.

Sometimes as you lose hope, the door opens and the floodgates open, bringing the results of your hope to bear, bringing you to the appreciation of the gift of hope -- the gift of God that gives the results, the rewards that you had hoped for.

Ponder for a moment the immature personality, the individual even who is on the news frequently. Ponder the criminal, the battered wife, the molested child, the drug addict, the alcoholic. Ponder the destitute widow whose husband did not provide for her. Ponder the hungry, the poverty-stricken. Ponder the chronically ill, the cancer victim.

How can they survive, endure, without hope? Many have no hope of hope. They give up the struggle. They perish. Many take others down with them. Lack of hope has caused a blight upon Urantia. Social ills, economic imbalance, disease, are legacies disallowing the fruit of the spirit its own grace, its own space, its own time.

When you, in your spiritual plentitude, pause to give thanks for your Indwelling Adjuster, for the wonders which take place in your life and the lives of your loved ones, when you count the cost and find you have change left over, remember those who have no hope. Why? For a better understanding, if for no other reason, of the value of this gift of the spirit, undying hope.

Now, in order that your hope stay alive and vital, in order that those who have no hope can begin to ascend out of such a hopeless and helpless state of mind and being, consider the merits of undying hope. Where does hope come from? Yes, it comes from the spirit. But what of those who have cut themselves off from the spirit so far that they do not believe that God will speak to them? … that they have fallen so low that they cannot be smiled upon?

This is work not only for the angelic hosts and the Thought Adjusters, but for the soldiers of the circles, to hope in those who have lost it. Undying. Undying hope.

You all have had hope of some thing, some attainment, some acquisition, some radiant manifestation of your worth, or your effort, or your vanity. Oftentimes these hopes are not met. Your expectations are flattened. What went wrong? Are you not taught to have undying hope? Do you not believe that you maintain within your soul a God-given right to have undying hope?

Let us look at undying hope in a pure and spiritual light. It comes to my mind the adage, the mota, that the disappointments hardest to bear are those which never come. (Urantia Book, pg. 557, #19) "The disappointments hardest to bear are those which never come." Perhaps that disappointment, then, is that which you have hoped for but which is not of the spirit, but which is of your own mind, your own desires, and thus you experience disappointment for that which is truly of the spirit, that which is His will, will never disappoint you. It will always be provided. It is always forthcoming.

Ponder undying hope and realize that it is not the same as chronic yearning. Many of you chronically yearn for things, for relationships, for riches, for luck, for automobiles, for good health, for peace on earth, for Republican victory, but these fall short of the fruit of the spirit undying hope which is born of that which can never die.

And so, the ideal is to trust that hope which is based on our Father's destiny for you. And when you hope for another, let it be that they, too, will discover the illumination of that Core Reality which provides not only undying hope but eternal assurance.

If you know someone who is scheduled to die of cancer, for example, do not put your hope in the mortal tabernacle which is finite and temporal, but place your hope in that personality, that it will traverse the spheres in life and light, for it is undying.

When you see a battered woman who is covered with bruises and finds herself entrapped in a life of hell out of which she can find no path, instill in her undying hope not that she may live to experience more hell, but that she may live anew in the hope of the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven … as she is loved, as she is respected by the Great Friend Michael and by her true friends, brothers and sisters in Christ.

When you see devastation brought about by drugs, and other substances designed to provide relief and escape from the reality of life as it is found on Urantia -- in some neighborhoods, on some levels of existence -- instill undying hope by sharing your own hope, by sharing that you have known also a feeling of being lost, of being separated from the Divine, of feeling not blessed, of feeling unworthy, of feeling impure and outcast. Instill this undying hope by sharing it with the God fragment that indwells the lowest and most humble of his creatures.

Undying hope is not a passive condition. It is a call to service.

My friends, how may I serve you this evening?

Dialogue

Ruth: Tomas. This is Ruth. Thank you for my name.

TOMAS: Yes, my child. I am so pleased that you have received your true nomenclature. I would like to (1) apologize that it was not given to you in person, but it was ripe for plucking and so it was; and (2) I would like to say that your name acquaints you with/ associates you with a charmed order of women, the Order of Ruth -- those being those similar to the baby sister of Jesus of Nazareth who have always loyally and unquestioningly believed in him, have never needed conversion, have never needed convincing, but have always known, always loved, always believed in the Master. The Order of Ruth is a fine fellowship and it is an honor to have one of that Order in this family of believers. My daughter, I welcome you and bow to your grace.

Ruth: Well, thank you. I hope that I can always continue to live up to those things that are representative. What I would like to talk to you about is (and I think that you are aware of what I am talking about) -- tomorrow I have to make a very heavy decision, and there is a lot of controversy, and I can identify with this person, I can understand exactly, almost, what . .. Almost exactly. I can't understand everything, but I can understand a great amount of what this person has gone through and to some extent why the actions were taken that were done towards another human being. And I need help. We make a decision tomorrow and the effect of our decision will be on this person's life for the rest of this person's life.

TOMAS: Yes.

Ruth: And I really need a lot of help.

TOMAS: Yes.

Counsel, Law

Ruth: So I would request that you help me, and guide me, and guide all of these people that I'm involved with, and help this person regardless of what decision we may . .. and the rest of the family that is involved in this.

TOMAS: I must say at the outset that you have given me far too much power here. I am a teacher and I am pleased to counsel you, my student, but I cannot guide and direct the individuals in the jury nor the defendant in the case. You are correct in your emotional assessments, however, and I will redirect them to higher authority than myself.

The question which you present to your teacher is related to the rules and regulations of your civilization, and you are in an enviable situation. I realize you do not feel that it is, but it is. It is a singularly private experience you are having, in spite of your peers, your fellow jurors. I am going to remind you of Michael's admonition to his apostles having to do with Caesar and with the rules and regulations of the day, of the government.

I will also add, with his approval, that you in this position are in a position to abide by the law. These are the instructions you will be given and as a citizen of your country, entrusted with this responsibility, you can relieve yourself of some distress by abiding by the laws of the country as will be set out in the jury instructions.

If you feel that the laws of the land are infringing upon the laws of God, then we perhaps ought to have another conversation, but for now I will say that you have empathized and sympathized and felt understanding and indeed learned to love in this experience. You are becoming wizened in this process.

Remember that the mature civilization has a duty to uphold its civilization. You have, as a civilization, come far from the days, as you discussed earlier, of cannibalism. Granted your government has a long way to go before we can truly say that it is ruled by the Most Highs in all regards, but as a citizen of the realm, it is your duty and your responsibility and your privilege to uphold your society.

As an individual you may have feelings -- compassion, passions and so forth -- but these are a personal matter. In the context in which you serve, you are representing your government, your people, your civilization as it has evolved, as you hope to continue to evolve to maintain peace and order for all. The results of your decision are then consolidated with the decisions of your peers and the results will be presented to the judge who will follow the law as it also is presented to him.

When you remove yourself emotionally, as Rodan discussed, and look at the problem facing you for solution, and look at it objectively, according to the law, without the emotional involvement, you will be able to make your decision. As an individual you may utilize all those emotional feelings and apply them in personal prayer, in grieving, in anger, in joy, in service, in many, many capacities. Has this been helpful?

Ruth: Yes, it has. It's been very, very helpful. Before I give up the floor, I would also ask you: I have a client you probably know about. I was talking to him just yesterday evening. And we discussed a number of things from the Book, and he's a professional man. He's come up to a lot of spiritual things and a lot of -- he realizes now there are means of care, and health, and he has problems in his life and I would ask for guidance when we talk so that out of my mouth comes the right things. I gave him some information last night. I'm going to lend him a Book and I would appreciate if you would help me and help him.

TOMAS: Again, my daughter, you give me too many flowers. I feel that your asking me to guide your words is something you should ask Michael to do. It is He Who can speak through you, not me. I can teach you how to open yourself that He may speak through you, even that I could serve in that capacity as a Teacher through a T/R. Are you asking that of me?

Ruth: Yes.

TOMAS: Very well, we will have some conferences in this realm regarding your circuitry. I want you to know that your earnestness and sincerity will not let you down, that you well understand that you have a host of helpers, that we are all on hand for you, and that with your faith you will prevail. Your friend is indeed a lucky man that he is under your ministry in more ways than one. Let us all join in with Ruth's prayer that the words will be provided to stimulate this man's appetite for further truth.

How is your niece?

Ruth: I'm not sure, Tomas. From what I've heard, she's not going to school and she's been staying away from home. I don't know. I've not been in contact with my sister this week because of jury duty, so I'm not quite sure, but she is not behaving herself as I see it.

TOMAS: Do not give up hope.

Ruth: I don't. Are you a father or a parent? I have no idea if you've been a parent.

TOMAS: I had four sons.

Hunnah: He's been tested!

Ruth: Oh. Okay. I think sons are easier than girls.

TOMAS: Perhaps that is why Michael assigned me to this group where I have so many daughters.

Ruth: Well, that might be true. I don't give up hope. But I just keep searching for a way to reach her and I don't feel I've done that yet.

Hunnah: May I ask a question?

TOMAS: Yes, Hunnah.

Hunnah: Oh, you love questions anyway. I was reading that transcript and some of the people in the group here haven't read it yet, where you have counseled Ruth, and I thought it was very good, of course, but I wonder if it would be proper to let this young person read that discourse, because it occurred to me that if it were to be so, you would be honoring the girl's ability to make judgments, even if you were only seeding that.

The counsel said, 'I care about you so much that in my prayer life, I have consulted Jesus,'. And the reply was true. Counsel is never for just one person. Ruth received so much wonderful counsel from that and it helped to objectify the situation, I thought. I benefitted from that, and, once again, we're reminded to trust and to not judge -- she's been concerned for the girl's safety, but even if they get in trouble! It's like that, "If you cut your finger, it bleeds." We'll patch it up later. Yes, you could fall in the hole, yes you could this, this, and this. I thought it was excellent advice and would it be good to have her read it?

TOMAS: I certainly have no objection in distributing our sessions together for I find them (to be) quality communications and (ones which) might induce others to engage in conversations in their own arena, if not with us. I would allow Ruth to make that determination. Since she and I are old pals, if she feels that the transcript would be received by her niece, that is yet another jurisdictional decision she might make.

Hunnah: Well, I was thinking the girl might take it and share it with her friends!

TOMAS: That may be the case . ..

Hunnah: Oh, yes! because they want to be on their own . ..

TOMAS: . .. but

Hunnah: . .. and when they read it . ..

TOMAS: Hunnah.

Hunnah: Yes.

TOMAS: I appreciate your enthusiasm, but that is a decision that she would make.

Hunnah: Oh, I understood that. I was thinking of the benefit of them, to solve their own problems! They like to think they're on their own and maybe that would certainly give them something to talk about.

Student: They might take the exact opposite attitude if you give this to them. If they pick it up, that's one thing; if you hand it to them, they may . ..

Evangel: They may rebel.

Hunnah: The only reason I said that was because Ruth is taught to trust.

Student: Well, that's all she has to do.

Hunnah: No, no. But it's telling -- when . .. (Let's see if I can say this right, and I think this is very valid.) If I -- it happened to me, even. If you get counsel for someone because you love them, and then you get counsel for both of you, you're saying to that person, "I took a chance and took my fears about you into my prayer..." No, but you're saying to them, "You're all right. You are all right.

Student: But they don't understand it that way always. Remember you're talking to people who are not progressed as far as you are.

Hunnah: I don't know. From the looks of that transcript, this girl is just like everyone else. She has a wonderful Thought Adjuster. Okay. I've talked enough. But this can be applied in so many directions, that's why I was thinking about that.

TOMAS: Thank you, Hunnah.

Student: May I ask? I will not be with you next week because I should be in Orlando, Florida. I'm supposed to leave on Wednesday and return the following Wednesday. Do you see this as a successful trip? I'm flying.

TOMAS: I have to polish up my crystal ball. (Group laughter)

Student: You don't see anything dark around it?

TOMAS: Honey, you are a blazing light. Any darkness near you would be quickly extinguished by your dazzling personality.

Student: Thank you. I appreciate that. I know it's from your heart.

TOMAS: When you are in Florida, some of us will be also away and ministering joyously and so we will reconvene in two weeks in our normal configuration with everyone in attendance and establish our Autumn itinerary and compare notes on holiday activities, travel plans and so forth. When we dance, we dance. When we plow, we plow together.

Frank: Dear Tomas.

TOMAS: Yes, my son.

Frank: I'm the new kid on the block.

TOMAS: Yes, my son.

Frank: And I guess you know that sooner or later you would be hearing from me.

TOMAS: I am glad.

Frank: I've had a problem. I'm under a lot of stress lately, with a move that I plan to make in selling my home and moving into the Pennsylvania area where I can be . .. where I became acquainted with the Urantia Papers and the Urantia readers who have meant a great deal to me, and with the help of Gerdean I've come to love these sessions that we have. What I want to ask is, I wonder if I am going about things the right way in liquidating my home. I don't care about the monetary end of it, but what I want to know is if I am making the right steps and the right moves. Thank you.

TOMAS: Thank you for your confidence, my son. I would like, however, to say that you are not, truly, such a new kid, for I have known you for a long time already and we have done much work together. We have truly been associates, colleagues and comrades in many regards. I appreciate your male presence; I appreciate the companionship and sense of security you have provided for my friend, Gerdean; I appreciate the courage that it has taken for you to set aside your lifetime's conventions in order to seek out and confirm for yourself this reality which has grown in your heart, in your mind and in your soul.

To leave behind that which is familiar and launch into that which is unknown is an exciting experience but one that, unfortunately in the human animal, is highly fear-inducing also. You are well trained in your mind as far as material concerns and so you will not shortchange yourself in that context. Have no fear. Your primary concern is the element of unsurefootedness, and this will pass as you place one foot in front of the other and find, on a daily basis, that you have not fallen, that in fact you have climbed to a Pennsylvania hillside which has offered a farther view than you had believed possible.

We here in this teacher base welcome you and will support your presence among us. I know I speak for all here present and for those of this flock who are meandering the hills this evening. Have no fear, my friend. It is good to see you present yourself to me this way, that we may share our relationship with the others, that you may share your inner life also with them.

How our family burgeons! Your faith is new, but it is determined, as you are determined. I will call you Jude. Welcome.

Ruth: Welcome, Jude.

Jude: Thank you, Tomas. Thank you so very, very much. I'm inspired by all the words that you have told me tonight. I'm very encouraged and it makes me feel stronger to keep pursuing what I'm after now and thank you.

TOMAS: Yes, you are welcome. I will remind you that many, many moons ago Teacher Daniel spoke to you and encouraged your persistence in these odd events of the Teaching Mission in this time for Urantia and in your association with Gerdean. He promised you would be exposed to many new adventures and that you would grow from these experiences, and my brother Daniel was "right on" for he knew you well. He had faith in you. He had undying hope that today would come and it has come.

Jude: Thank you, Tomas, once again.

TOMAS: Yes, my son.

Names

Student: Tomas, everybody has a name but me. What's mine?

TOMAS: One moment. You have asked me to reveal to you your name and your name is still in formulation. Your name will change again but I will give you a working name, one which will evolve into a fuller name as you grow into awareness of your potential self. Will that suffice?

Student: Yeah.

TOMAS: Hester.

Group: Oooh! Pretty! Different!

TOMAS: As you are different. (Group laughter)

Student: Does that have any special meaning?

Hester: I don't know.

TOMAS: Your name is spelled H-e-s-t-e-r for now but it will develop that your name will evolve farther. Hester is an ancient Biblical name. I am not inferring that you are ancient, my dear. . . (Outburst of group laughter)

Hester: I am! I am ancient!

TOMAS: . .. but in our group and with sincere respect, you are the ancient one. You are the grandmother, the esteemed and honorable elder. (Group laughter)

Hester: Thank you.

TOMAS: You laugh but you show disrespect in your laughter.

Student: You didn't see what we saw.

TOMAS: My point is that your sojourn here is one which provides the invaluable aspect of experience and those who have experienced much of life have gained wisdom and have attained endurance more than you have yet seen, and so the wise culture is the one which honors the elder. The Native Americans honor the Grandfather, the Grandmother. The Chinese also revere the elderly; their women are respected and not turned out to pasture. Your society's custom of disregarding the strengths of the elderly is a disgrace. The elders have seen, witnessed, suffered, endured, taught more than the average mind can hold, and so it is a privilege to honor Hester.

Hester: Hester for now.

Ruth: We can call her Grandma, can't we?

Hunnah: She'll have us cuttin' her grass.

TOMAS: We are getting to know each other. The thing is we have an external/exterior facade which we show to the public, but the real you underneath is the true you that we will urge to emerge in time. Your own strengths, your own radiant personalities are indeed honorable and respected. It is expected that you learn to love and respect yourself and each other. I am not suggesting that laughter is not important, but laughing at each other or at each other's expense is a paltry and shoddy imitation of genuine affection, unworthy of God-knowing sons and daughters.

Have I put you all in the corner?

Leah: Yes. Yes, we'll be good.

TOMAS: Are there other questions or discourse?

Hunnah: I have a question. Do you recommend that you refer to each other by these names, or think of each other by this name? It's not just our code of acceptance in the gatherings?

TOMAS: It is an identity. It is an understanding of your true self. As anyone knows you and loves you can tell, they know the difference between Bev and Hunnah. Bev is liked, certainly, and silly and fun and a great cook, or at least a great hostess; but Hunnah is abundant and generous and lavish in her affection and mirth. It is a difference, a subtle difference to some, but a significant different to others.

I see you as you are. Sometimes you are your lesser self. Sometimes you are your more evolved self. And as I have said before, I love you both because I know in time you will become your higher self, and so I like the higher self but only if it is acknowledged and honored thus. I do not cater to making light of these names, like we would not call Gabriel, "Hey, Gabey" and I have admonished Gerdean that my favorite form of greeting is not, "Yo, Tomas!" (Group laughter). The baser aspects of you, the more childish aspects, enjoy "Big Mac" yes, but there's a difference between childish and childlike. A child of God honors the magnanimous Machiventa. These are perhaps moot points, but since you asked my opinion, I gave it.

Hunnah: I appreciate it because I was seriously considering asking to be addressed as Hunnah under certain circumstances, simply to keep building that reality, so I think I'll go ahead.

TOMAS: Yes. It has been observed that when individuals are addressed by their spiritual name, they have a tendency to respond spiritually. This furthers the cause. It reinforces the spirit reality of the individual and their identification with their evolving soul. It helps to elevate the mind from the petty troubles of the day. It adds sensitivity and even romance to an otherwise prosaic experience, rather like the mota. It is a part of you. It is an identification of the real you. Some individuals dislike their spiritual name until they learn to like their Self. Some people hear their spiritual name and it causes them to respond at once, powerfully. Various individuals handle this in various ways. It is a new development, as you know, as part of the Teaching Mission, as part of Correcting Time.

It was not intended that you know your spiritual name until far, far later in your spiritual career, after leaving Urantia, but since the administrators have inducted this accelerated program in order that you might bring yourself up, out of darkness and into light following the adjudication of the Lucifer Rebellion, there were many among you who would respond well in advance of your peers, and so this was one of those inducements to help you identify your greater reality, to give you a sense of actual spiritual solidarity in the work at hand.

You could equate it perhaps to an army that provides titles like Corporal (background giggling) or Major or General, and these are titles which evoke a response and a respect, not that you need to salute each other but that you greet each other as fellow patriots in the work of the kingdom.

I take it I have caused great, amusement among the men at the table. (Group laughter) I must say I am delighted to hear the men laugh.

Hunnah: Us, too!

Leah: I have a question.

TOMAS: Yes, Lean.

Leah: I was wondering if you could give some validation to --well, when I was listening earlier, I kept seeing neon purple, or neon violet little "clouds" in my mind. Sometimes I see a neon green color, and other times -- particularly when I sense that my teacher is around (and I'm sure she's around nearly all the time), I sense a neon pink. I just wondered if you could tell me if there is any significance to this or am I hallucinating here.

TOMAS: I have no idea, except perhaps something has raised a red flag. How it is that you see things in your mind, in terms of color, is a facet of your brain that I am not tapped into. I do understand that there are humanoids that are very impressed with color, with auras, vibrations, sounds and the like. I have heard it said that certain humanoids hear angels sing and, indeed, Gerdean reads words out of her mind which translate to be lessons from Tomas, a teacher in the Teaching Mission, and so how can I confirm or deny those things which I do not experience myself. I know I am real and she reads my words so I must assume that your purple neon lights represent something of significance and potential value to you and to others, but I cannot determine that for you. We have discussed color briefly in former lessons, but I cannot equate your color interpretations to various word phrases.

Leah: Thank you. I was wondering. I know that when humans close their eyes very tightly they sometimes see blood vessels or little lines. It's more like something passing through; just a color but I probably equate it to a cloud, but it's something I never experienced prior to this Teaching Mission; that's all I want to say.

TOMAS: I would also like to know more of it if, as you say, it is new since the circuits opened. If you would keep me apprised of any new developments in it, I would be interested. I would suggest you not press hard upon your eyeballs (Group laughter).

Hester: There is a new color prognosticated, to my knowledge, and has been for several years. What it is I have yet to hear. Maybe you'll be the one to see it.

Ruth: Tomas, do you think sometimes that your little group is a little loose upstairs? (Group laughter)

TOMAS: I must tell you that, yes, I do. (Group laughter) But I knew that in advance of arriving. The truth is: I was chosen to come here . .. (Group laughter)

Loreenia: Because you'd fit right in.

TOMAS: Because I would fit right in. (Group laughter)

Ruth: Well, thank you, Tomas! What a high compliment! You fit right in with us.

Hester: What a delightful sense of humor.

Ruth: What a charming gentleman.

TOMAS: Remember that laughter is the antidote for exaltation of the ego and we have some very wholesome, healthy and colorful egos at the table. It is refreshing to let down our reserve and our facades and laugh and bask in the comfort of knowing each other in the lack of negative judgment we place upon each other and just being divine children together.

Closing

Divine children, I will make my departure. I would like to say in good humor, also, that our Lord Michael is truly a wondrous Creator, for he has such Undying Hope for us. Farewell.

Group: Good night, Tomas. Thank you. It's so much better than watching boring TV.