1997-09-11-Mind Arena of Choice

Session

Opening

MERIUM: I am going to open the session this evening because I can just hardly wait to be here! And we are breaking with routine. It is my custom to wait for Tomas to speak so I just thought I would surprise you and come out on the stage first and welcome you to our evening's discussion. I hope that you have your questions and I am going to call upon Tomas now. Are you ready?

TOMAS: I'd better be, huh? (Group laughter) Actually you did well, Merium, to start up. I had a hunch you were chomping at the bit and so I am glad you proceeded. Frankly, my transmitter is still unreliable and it has much to do with her instability in her electro-chemical system as a result of her detoxification. It is not so much a problem for me as it is for her. She does not know where her own mind is, which in some regards is even better, but until she is more comfortable with that lack of control, I am somewhat handicapped.

It is wonderful to be here with you all this evening and to welcome you here in the room and in the environment that watches over the room and your activities and growth strides. Your studies this evening were very fine; your minds were stimulated greatly and we appreciated your integrity in assuming to devour some of those more meaningful mota. Yes, Merium.

Lesson

Honesty, Sincerity

MERIUM: I appreciated the lesson this evening, so therefore I am going to use it as part of my format. It is understood, I hope, by now that we do not come in toting a briefcase with a very elaborate program. We have come to interact with you, not to dictate a lesson, but to waken and stir, in our friendship with you, those areas of yours that are needing a little cultivation. Perhaps you need to develop a little more trust or some courage in a particular aspect of your development, and just by association with us, as we gather together in unity, these areas start to respond. It is as if you brought out all the gardening tools and tended to the place. We do not prop up or tear down and repair or add more. We are allowing what already is to come forth and develop and show itself and it will indeed affect your daily lives.

I would like to take advantage of the lesson this evening because the part that was open to you was appropriate and our guest here is most welcome. We are glad to have you join us, young man, and we appreciate your openness, and openness is partly what I want to make reference to. The segment of being honest. You will hear your mouth parrot the appropriate reply; you will hear your automatic condition come to your defense; and you will find it in the most subtle ways throughout your days' experience.

And therefore I call you to come in closer to the hearth, and with a greater degree of developed sincerity. It is natural not to know what to ask for, but it is always safe to ask for permission to be honest, honest before your Maker, honest from your heart. It's a wonderful thing when you take out the debris that litters up your mindset, and it will help you to know and recognize areas in your own development that need to be nourished.

Coming into the quiet, stilling your mind, affects being effective. It has to be paralleled with a little elbow grease, a little scrubbing, so to speak. Take advantage of your ability to visualize, especially when you are in a situation where you feel as if you are stuck: "I don't know what to say; I don't know how to pray; I don't know how to get started." Imagine that you are taking your bucket of soapy water and you scrub yourself down. You're not in a process of spot removing yourself but it is a form of refreshment, and before you know it, a word will come and will lead you right to an area that is vulnerable and that is ready to be erased so that more clarity can come through for you.

My hostess this evening has had the joy of sitting down and allowing herself to experiment with counsel at her personal computer. It does not need to be a personal computer. That just happens to be where she was. It can be a tablet, it can be a tape recorder; and if you even would allow yourself to talk to yourself, before you know it, you will rise into a state of teacher/student and once again you will feel comfortable and say "Why haven't I done that before? How good it feels to be in this familiar comfort of mighty counsel."

As you spoke on this evening I heard the development of tolerance and respect for the thoughts and feelings for others, for their faith, their delivery, and the manner in which they wear it, from the absence of faith, the absence of knowledge, the absence of knowing that there is something greater than this house. You are seeing the full spectrum of development in your fellow human beings, and you are allowed to take this integrity of non-judgment, get in and mingle with them, allow them to feel comfortable with you. It will not even cross your mind to pass judgment. You will simply be in a state of graceful interaction. You'll find yourself enjoying them where at one time you may have held apart from yourself through the entire conversation.

I am talking about living your truth, only now it will be more effective, and in retrospect you'll think, "Gee that wasn't very hard!" or "I never used to feel comfortable with so-and-so, but that went well." These little clues will tell you that in spite of your doubts of your personal growth, that it is indeed underway.

I hope with this flowing here that I have aroused our friend Gerdean into a place where she really does have a mind, because we do not want to miss a splendid opportunity of Tomas' companionship. It is all right for us to acknowledge her discomfiture. We have another guest here. We have a change in the energy pattern. That, too, is understood. All these can be very distracting when you're not at your best.

When Hunnah was polishing the microphone before I started to speak, she was using the visualization of having stepped aside and become what you call a stage hand and she is in the wings listening to this dialog that she can't believe is continuing to flow. If Tomas would like to speak, we'd be glad to have him, or answer questions, or we can take a break to see how things are going to develop.

Dialogue

Mind

Elyssia: Well, I thought I'd ask Tomas a question because I'd already talked to him previously, a couple of years ago, about how I'm trying to figure out about mind, because-- I'm so glad that we read "Mind Arena of Choice!" I'm trying to figure out-- In our society we seem to be overcome by the whole sentimentalistic idea of "put your mind on a shelf; don't think, feel, react, if it feels good it's true," all those things, and I was wishing that Tomas might talk about mind a bit. It seemed like something he had started a long time ago, for me.

TOMAS: Thank you, Elyssia, for tuning into an area that indeed allows for my focused energy: mind. Your reading regarding the mind arena of choice is largely about the higher mind, the mind that abuts the morontial levels, the mind that will become spirit-led, but in the material realm, in your human existence, exclusive of your spiritual interests, mind has had a reputation of being analytical and no fun at all.

The Age of Aquarius has said, "Enough of this thinking already!" and has swung the pendulum back and forth a couple of times now regarding "if it feels good do it," even into the pseudo-spiritual realms these days of "if the vibes are right then it must be spiritual". This may or may not be the case, but much of it is a great freedom from the constraints of thought patterns, many of which have constricted your approach to spirituality for literally centuries.

The wonder of mind is that it is far more than a format for facts and figures. Mind is also creative, and able to create spirit reality. You will recall, for example, in your reading regarding prayer, that it is possible to influence your peers through prayer. If you pray for the spiritual development of your friends, they will develop. They will be aided and abetted. The supreme conspiracy will set out to embrace the friend in activation as a result of your prayer. Now this is a correct use of the mind, that it should concern itself with that which you love and direct spiritual energy upon.

A correct use of the mind is to align the mind with the will of God. As your mind is in alignment with divine mind, your thinking processes are better. You can think even materially and factually more clearly. Your logic is improved; your cosmic problem-solving is more enjoyable, your dilemmas and quandaries of societal situations are more enjoyable, more entertaining, because you have the advantage of a clear and clean mind with which to work.

In alignment with The Father, all of life is made more enjoyable. And so mind is, as I said, more than academics, more than statistics, more than left-brain activities. Mind is a bestowed gift, enabling you to live a rich life, allowing you to partake of co-creation even. As you read in "Mind Arena of Choice" it is a vital activity, this utilization of the mind.

Has that been helpful? Has it addressed your issue, your concern?

Decision

Elyssia: Yes. And also I wanted to ask about the part in the paragraph where it said that mind can be also destructive, and so I think that's what I seem to hear in our culture. And I remember that Lucifer had a brilliant mind and . .. The Course in Miracles says when you learn to give names to things you've separated them? And so that was sort of a, I thought, a way of saying that to be using your mind in that way is a way of using it in a way that things aren't joined, so I was wondering about it. I think it's true; I don't know. I was glad you said in our society everywhere one goes one counters anti-intellectualism, even in the schools!

TOMAS: Let me speak to this for a moment, and I will draw upon the biblical reference, the scriptural reference, even the Urantia reference of "get thee behind me" [1] for although Lucifer carries the brunt of the responsibility of many of the ills of your planet, individuals are also capable of the same destructive behaviors because of their free will choice. Just as Lucifer's free will choice was to tune The Father out, so can mortal man in and of his own right and decision making (choose or forsake Him).

Now, if you consider the possibility that putting a label on a negative factor will separate it, then perhaps it would be a useful tactic to recognize envy, for example, and say, "Oh, I am feeling envy. I don't want to feel envy. Get behind me." And so leave those destructive thoughts aside.

You remember the part in the text that discusses the fact that it is unkind to pollute the body, but it is also unkind to pollute the soul with emotions of jealousy and hatred and envy and so forth. As you see these destructive feelings, it is often good to set them behind you and not give them more power than they deserve.

This is not to say that you should not be aware of your emotional palette and your feeling framework, but only as you allow the destructive thought to take root and grow. It needs to be pruned, and you can prune your own branches as we have discussed in the Fruits of the Spirit lessons, and so the destructive aspect of the mind can be anyone's mind.

Anyone's mind can take a situation and harbor resentment or vengeance or revenge or can grasp in greed or in covetousness or in envy any of these many, many possible human feelings or "twisted thinking" and some have made a life pattern of it, of twisting their thinking so finally that they have ultimately committed cosmic suicide. That is part of the free will choice.

You can also turn against these destructive thoughts, realizing that they are destructive of peace and harmony of the soul; they are not conducive to growing in Godlikeness, in compatibility with Father's will for you. Here again we return to the mind arena of choice. You may choose to be miserable for as long as you like, or you may choose to do His will and find true and genuine and lasting happiness, even though your short-term goals may be thwarted. This comes-- this understanding comes through experience and maturity.

Progress, Preparation

Elyssia: Well, it was interesting to me that when I got the Urantia Book, as I've often said, you don't have to put your mind on the shelf. You don't just turn into a sentimentalistic blob like some of the churches would guide you to, and some of the ideas in our whole culture are like that, and so you get the idea that mind is being put down.

TOMAS: There are many people who do not like to use their mind. You well understand that the bulk of humanity are followers. Indeed only one percent are leaders and of the one percent it remains to be seen how many are leading for the Master and how many are leading for their own self-interests, and when you see 99% of all humanity following along, most of them willingly, it is probably a good idea that they keep their minds tucked between the pages of a hymn book, for they are at least to that extent not being overtly destructive in their confused state of mind.

Now as they choose to come forward into enlightenment, they will be aided by the angels of progress, the Spirit of Truth, all of the same spirit forces and support that you now enjoy openly because you are willing to think through your destiny. You have grappled with the good fight of faith and won the battle. The victory is yours.

This is one of the reasons you are invaluable to us, why we spend hours and hours developing our friendship and reinforcing our mutual reality, for times are coming when many changes will affect the face of Urantia and it is important that you be well-established in your faith that you may assist in stabilizing spirit reality and in helping move forward those who choose to progress.

Emotion

Elyssia: And yet if we become too -- we have to think about not being shut off from our emotional side, that must be something . .. We don't grow as much if we shut it down.

TOMAS: Certainly your emotional palette is what gives color to your life's experience and emotions are not to be disdained or avoided. The challenge is to be able to appreciate your emotions and allow them to work for you without allowing them to run your life.

Elyssia: Would you give an example of that, perhaps?

TOMAS: Merium?

MERIUM: I had a feeling the shuttlecock was coming back to me. First of all, let me say that we are speaking about them and we are speaking about those who are at the table this evening, and since we are in an ascension mode, I would prefer to make reference to those who are attending this gathering because it is more intimate.

Let us suppose you have had a disappointment. The disappointment can be about something regarding someone very near and dear to you, but it has registered in you as a disappointment. If you are in an ascension mode, you will be aware of your disappointment and you will be aware of the fact that you need to express the emotion, whether it's fear or anger or joy. But you will be aware that this is the emotion and it needs to be expressed, and you will be able to have enough objectivity in that scenario to embrace that emotion and allow it to express itself as an escape hatch. There are those who are living by the authority of their emotions and you, too, will see that more objectively and with less criticism than you have in the past.

I cannot stress to you apparently enough: it will be your observation and your inner teacher that will show you that it's all right. You will become an observer more intensely than ever before. You will not be in the midst of a situation; you will be just a little bit removed, because you are moving into a point where you are learning at every level and all the time. You are not on a holiday from this. You will find yourself wanting to stay with all your situations in a rather impersonal (way) and yet involved and committed to the situation. I hope I'm not confusing you.

Elyssia: No. It reminds me of a book that I suppose I'll decide to pick up, which Mrs. McD has always loved so much, which is called "The Impersonal Life."

MERIUM: There are many teachers in the mental realm who have tried to bring this into the forefront and Hunnah has heard the messages of the truth statements of Edgar Cayce and he has talked about everything from "effortless effort" -- (effortless effort is living in that more impersonal life but it is not a cold impersonal. A lightness develops in you and allows you to be in the action but not pulled into it. If you are pulled into it you will have need discomfort.) Now, if there were 14 people at this table there would be 14 examples of different levels of ability to experience this. For many it would be very inconsistent, they will find joyously that they can have this experience of having experienced impersonalization and there are times when it will be very perplexing because you will want to emote; it would be the social thing to do.

I am pleased that we are talking about this, because you will be observing your daily practices in your daily dialogs now in a new way; and in that new observation there will be a gentle impersonal ability to watch and wait.

TOMAS: Merium?

MERIUM: Yes.

Disappointment

TOMAS: Let me add at this juncture in support of your individual who has known a great disappointment. From now, from this vantage point that you, Merium, are outlining, you will be able to observe, Elyssia, that disappointment has affected every facet of this woman's life (in reference to your earlier question); she is completely affected by disappointment. Her entire life is a disappointment as a result of that one disappointment which she stumbled upon.

And if you can identify that individual, as an example, whose entire life is affected by an emotional condition, you will see that disappointment permeates everything. Now, disappointment is not the only emotion that captures souls and keeps them captive. There are other feelings, but the example of disappointment is an excellent example, and in the study then, in the objective observation, you will see very clearly that the disappointment has shrouded the individual's possibility for happiness.

You will not become lost in their disappointment. It will make it much more acute for you to see how disappointment has affected everything about them. It may indeed enable you to work more carefully on your prayer regarding the forgiveness that is going to be required in order for that disappointment be rectified and healed. And so you have a keener eye in the exalted state of - what is it, Merium? - "effortless effort"? Yes.

Maturity

MERIUM: We have a whole repertoire of these special statements that you like, that you've stashed in the back of your mind, and they'll come out in conversation and in a metaphor and rescue you when you are trying to explain something to someone.

I spoke of honesty earlier this evening, and with the honesty comes another companion to the rescue and it's called respect. There is a patience and a respect that develops in yourself. Without your having to groom it; it starts to show. You will respect someone's situation and you will be there in patience for them as they go through the cycle of their dilemma and your constancy and your quality will help them to get righted and to come back to their senses, to stabilize, and you will be there to assist them appropriately when the time comes to develop their own perspective of their experience.

Now, Tomas, I never thought this was going to turn into a couch session this evening, but these are your working skills, and you are going to be faced with situations where you will be wanting to maintain your composure, you will represent stabilized thought processes. You may be exposed to community disarray. Someone has to be calm. All of this is going to become part of your developed character as you enter into your quickening development of the truth of your being in your morontia experience.

That definition in the Book this evening was excellent. [[[soul]] = the morontia self; It could not have been more timely. We have been talking about maturity for several sessions now where we have asked you to drop your old dialog of "them and us" so to speak, of the unworthiness, and you want to stay in grade school but you are out of grade school and you have been called to maturity, and it brings great satisfaction to you, and the more you become aware of a new delivery, the more confidence you will have, the more eager you will be to come into your quiet, to be renewed, to be expanded. It will feel good.

I understand that humans like to have their back itched; they like to be massaged; it feels good. This is an emotional massage. This is coaching; you have an inner teacher with a towel around her neck and a bucket, you might say, to rally you, to go back into the arena of your daily experience standing tall and clean and shiny for the next assignment.

I have been encouraging you to see your life experience as being a new and living and vital opportunity, and I want to encourage you so because we see it here on our side, and as you start to catch on to your new poise and your new confidence and behind that discovery is, you know, that it is a gift of living as the Father would want you to. You are indeed an Ambassador and it brings me great pleasure to talk to you and I know that you are developing within yourself, the new self.

The begging bowl and the fix it mantras that have been going on for so long are going to be lost and fading to the sound of glorifying a living God, a living Creator, and you will be joyfully expressing this in your hearts instead of the mass consciousness that is so powerful. You are going to be able to hold this joy in your heart, this private understanding that you are connected and maturing just as you really hoped you would one day.

Times have come and the need to have you developing as you should are quickening, but the staff is here to assist you, and I hope that you would all allow your personal teachers time and attention and I wish you well. Tomas?

Guidance

TOMAS: I am eager to focus a ray of attention on my young gentleman friend here. David, how wonderful to feel your expression, your personality expression. I have long sought a male companion and you have made yourself a cherished compatriot simply by being here this evening. How have you been, my son?

David: I am learning again, and learn every day. It seems in my life I have to go about things the long way and then learn something from it.

TOMAS: It is because you are young and adventurous, and you are perhaps appropriately willful, for you must learn it your way. I believe Frank Sinatra sang a song to that effect, and you are not far removed from his exuberance in the way that you approach your life, and indeed, my son, why should you not plunge into the adventure of life with full gusto?

You have done well thus far in your explorations and see how well you have retained those good qualities of guidance that you were blessed to have been born into, and so you have a wonderful backdrop on which to rely as well as an exciting eternal career in the Father's kingdom in which to play and work and produce. Not a bad outlook, I'd say. Not a bad life by a long shot.

David: I think that in the last few months, as much as my life has directed me into music, into following what I felt was my calling, I never really felt doubt of what I was doing, but in the last couple months I've had pangs of self-doubt that maybe I wasn't going to make it, maybe, and -- very brief moments -- and thank God they're not very often, because I'm at a stage where I have to trust many people to help me make it to where I'm going, yet I am so dependent upon myself that it's not easy for me to wholeheartedly trust in other people.

TOMAS: You are wise to take all these things into consideration. It is very true and very unnerving that on this sphere it is risky business to trust your fellow men in the ways of the world. Indeed, it is often difficult even to know how to trust yourself when the way is unclear. This is of course why it is important that your ultimate success is bound up in your relationship with The Father. That is where you will meet your true success.

Now, as far as your human companions, it is an exercise in faith, indeed, and as you have idealistic motives for your co-workers and your mentors, for your motives in your work product, all these are greatly enhanced by your desire to do good and to serve. As there are those who are in it for selfish motives that outweigh the service motives, there will be imbalance and difficulty.

And so you may expect to experience some turbulence because of the human condition, but do not falter in your efforts to prevail in your attempts to accomplish your goal. You have long worked for the reward, which is just around the corner. Proceed and follow through with your assignment. As your assignment approaches its apex, it will be revealed what steps you will then take to continue your career into eternity. Assuredly, my son, you are meant to make music, and so you will not fail.

MERIUM: May I comment?

TOMAS: Yes, Merium. As far as I am concerned, you may.

Strength

MERIUM: I would like to impersonalize the fact that we are directing this statement to a particular party and I would like to take your message and move it toward the group.

TOMAS: Yes.

MERIUM: In this regard is the word strength. Tonight we have talked about honesty, sincerity, and now I would like to add a base root structure here of strength. We talked about strength of character. There is another type of strength that will be one of tolerance. The strength of tolerance that will be wrapped in softness.

There is great grooming here going on, young man, and in spite of the fact that your eyes are upon the star of your vocation, your true sight must be focused on the gift toward whom you serve. As you surrender yourself more completely to the Source of your intent, then you will develop in a way and in a manner that you hoped.

You cannot imagine, none of you can imagine (and I dare to use this word that is almost disdained, but it is true now), your potential. There is a beauty of service here that is not to be believed in your human comprehension. You all come from different parts of life. It is a small group but I'm speaking to the entire group. Some are not here, but I am addressing them as well, and they will receive this message, but as you develop this tenderness that is part of your composition in reality, it will bring more and more people towards you. So the human tendency to divide, separate and define will have to be relaxed more and more as this gentle strength rises in each and every one of you, because you will require strength not to go in all of your old patterns.

This is a total experience and a total change. You will catch the light of development here and there in weak moments and it will bring you quiet satisfaction, but I am speaking tonight in this manner because we want you to remember that this is a long-term goal. It is true, we want to deliver the goods now. But it is very distracting to try to turn away from human values, but there is a richness that I am talking about that will allow you to have all the material gain in the way that will come about naturally and without wearying you. It will be attended to.

So I want you to leave this evening as I am here to reassure you that your honesty is going to come forth more strongly, your sincerity will surprise you, and your tender strength will be well defined in the days ahead. You continue to keep single focus; it is indeed a staff for you to hold in your hand, an invisible blaze of light; it will be appropriate for every occasion. Blessings are with you. Come again. We have endless supplies here to rally you and do not hesitate to call upon your inner guidance in the meantime. Thank you.

Elyssia: Thank you, Merium.

TOMAS: Indeed, Merium, thank you for extending the value into the flock. I am sometimes reminded that even though this is our teacher base, it behooves us to remember that we have sheep not of this fold, which helps to enlarge our perspective, lest we become victims of the provincial tendencies of this rural planet Urantia.

Closing

I feel that we have been well fed this evening, that there has been a feast of plenty once more provided by our superb teacher Michael, in his attentions to our nurturance and growth this evening. Always is the Master concerned for our growth and development, for our nurturance and guidance, that we, his children, will grow up to be big and strong, to be a fair representative of him, our Father and elder Brother in truth. Praise be to our Master Michael, Sovereign Lord, and to his many helpers, far and wide, young and old, spirit and mortal.

Go in peace, children, to enjoy your lives this week. Be in contact with your spirit associates for we will certainly be in touch with you. Until we speak again, Merium and I embrace you and bid you farewell.

Group: Farewell. Thank you. Come again.