2004-01-11-Cultivating The Soil of Spiritual Growth

Session

Opening

Master Teacher, we come to you today with gratitude and appreciation in our hearts for having new people, a new year, new opportunities and newness of heart and mind that we place before you now, asking that it be fed, watered and nurtured as a flower in a flowerpot would be presented to you, placing ourselves before you, flowers that we are, seeking the nourishment and rays of sun that are necessary for our growth and proclivity.

We place ourselves as such – fragile, vulnerable and subject to what may harm, but with trust and assurance that your protection will not result in such fear.

Putting fear aside, and not letting it have a place in our lives, we stand firm and tall, present before you as our leaves stretch before the sun. That is our trust and faith in you and our heavenly father.

May the teachers today be with us in mind and spirit as we are with them and take whatever we are presented with into the world to make it a better place. After all, that is what the opportunity that we are given is all about.

In appreciation, and for what is in our hearts and our minds that we place before you in trust, we rest assured in you. Amen

Group: Amen.

TOMAS: Good afternoon, beautiful people. My friends, I am Tomas, your teacher, host, companion and friend in these processes of becoming sensitive to the nature of the divine, in appreciation of that which we adore, be it in the spirit realm or as it is reflected in the creations of the Creator.

Flowers, indeed, you are and lovingly we come to water the soil in which you grow, that you might reach deep down into the foundations of your being for fulfillment of all you are intended to be and become, through full consciousness.

Greetings, Reneau, and greetings to our guest and family friend, Maria of Socorro. We are honored by your presence among us and look forward to continuing reflectivity and association in our mutual regard for that which the spirit brings.

We have quite a gathering today, not only in the material sense of your being, but also in the realm of invisible friends. As always, Anatolia and I are in attendance. And we also host today a number of visiting teachers, as well as the retinue of seraphim and other ministering spirits.

We are glad always to find ourselves welcomed into your lives, for this is the watering spout that nurtures your growth: this contact between the human and the divine, this connection between the finite and the infinite, this avenue of exchange between the material and the immaterial.

Lesson

This vision that is reconstituted each time you remember to reconnect with the divine Source reconfirms your higher nature and adds to your faith bank, so that when the vagaries of the material life fail you, you may draw upon the resources and the riches of the spirit to remind you of your on-going nature, and this perspective becomes the overriding reality of your consciousness.

This overriding recognition of your real self is the warrior which enters into the fray of human existence in order to shine the light and bring the peace which surpasses all understanding … (Kitty mewing) … and, yes, of which we sing praise in order to be of good cheer.

The community of believers such as we enjoy today is immense. And we rejoice in the acknowledgement that around the world there are others gathered in like manner in order to pray and give thanks for that citadel of the spirit within each of us which constitutes our godlikeness, our intimate and eternal relationship with the divine, that speaks to the heart and soul of man no matter what language he may have been born into or what culture is her background. The voice of the spirit is germane to all and he who seeks the presence and counsel of the divine is open to it and shall receive it as Jesus testified, “Seek and ye shall find.”

I tell you truly that this is the case, even in your material realm. While many of you enter into the arena of man and find not that reflection of the divine which you seek to nurture, and which also nurtures you, dig deeper. Search further. Pray for the eyes to see and the ears to hear that which will be revealed to you as you truly seek to serve and connect with the immensity, the magnitude of God. For, in truth, he indwells all beings, and your loving inquiry into the godlike aspects of your fellows will, in fact, stir them within such that they will feel drawn from their sleep, awakening into the growth that is their destiny.

As you call forth the souls of your fellows, it is not necessary to disturb their seed in order to simply aerate the soil in which they are imbedded. The disturbance of the seed and its tender germinating shoots of life may bring an adverse reaction. You will not kill the seed, but you may retard its development by jostling it overmuch in its nest. Therefore, when you approach the soul of life, that seed within your fellows, seek not to uproot it abruptly into the light of the spirit, but merely nurture the growth of that soul seed in love of life itself. In love of their life, as that is how they will perceive that you can be trusted, and thus will their spirit smile within them and respond in kind, enlarging that soul’s capacity to receive the goodness that is their birthright.

The idea for many of becoming god-conscious is terrifying because religion has been such a disruptive, contentious expression of differences, but the solitary soul seeks association with its Source. Even while the mind may resist the birth of the soul, the soul itself longs to sing. Help the soul sing.

You who have been on this path for some time occasionally would do well to be reminded that the soul needs to grow according to the pace and the capacity of the mortal it indwells. Just as an infant is born and needs to learn to get beyond its own dependence on its parents, the soul needs to learn to become dependent on God and not human sources. This is a process that, in this world, potentially takes a lifetime and more. Be patient with these children, these fear-ridden children. Be gentle with their anxiety about spirit matters.

Even now passions rage, having to do with supposedly religious issues that have brought nations into war with each other. No wonder humans avoid the subject. But those of you who know the spirit and who enjoy these moments of sublime rest within the divine arms, such as we enjoy today, understand the nature of God in such a way as to reveal this poise and peace and joy as a way of being and not so much a way of thinking.

Sometimes, merely being a comforting presence, as is the reality of God a comforting presence, is the most effective way to help your seedlings grow. Smile on your gardens, and let your divine light shine like the sun on their future; let the living waters seep through your soul into the soil of your association with others, so as to render their environment amenable and pliable to stretching their own spirit nature into greater growth.

It is understood that we would all like to see the planet settled in a state of light and life, wherein everyone rejoices in sonship and praises that which is true, beautiful and good, but in order to attain that pinnacle of planetary development, we begin where we are today in this new, mighty dispensation of revelatory growth for this planet. What a privilege it is to be able to provide my consecrated care to the cultivation of the soil that will give rise to a new crop of believers and so we rejoice in the work at hand and in the workers who have already begun the harvest.

Anatolia, is next, I believe.

ANATOLIA: I am Anatolia, happy to be with you again on our Sunday afternoons here in the Land of Enchantment. Welcome to new and extended family who are here on this lovely mid-winter afternoon, and greetings to all who are in the gallery, who you may not be able to see but chances are you have an opportunity to sense, for it is much like you have seen in movies, perhaps, of the gallery observing a surgical procedure -- not that you are subjects or mice on a table, but that all are watching with interest, as in an observatory, so to speak.

For you are being observed –not for your peculiar nature or oddities of character -- but through your faith, for as has been said time and again, your presence here on this planet, as in others that are blessed with the presence of faith, are truly heroes and heroines of your time, as have been more such armies of the faithful that have gone before you and, Christ willing, shall follow after you.

My presentation, or discussion today is based upon that gift of faith. Some of you may remember the story that is in the Urantia Book of the first ascended mortal who had ascended the top of the hill to the first plateau of ascension. As the story goes, it was one fine day in the mansion worlds when out of the clear blue, out of the ordinary, one found a pilgrim mounting the top of a hill, and since it had never been accomplished before, enabled everyone to stop in their tracks and simply stare in disbelief over the first mortal soul who had made their way to the mansion worlds.

Grandfanda is his name. Imagine, if you will, the throngs that have followed since. But more important than that, the vacuum, the silence that would have been there prior. And by hearing that echo of a call that only the soul knows and grace can address, could that have ever happened.

Picture if you will, then, the amazement and the glory that would have been filling that atmosphere that day, as one untold, unexpected, unannounced, pilgrim mounted the crest of that hill. It is in this tradition and in this trek that each of you make your way to the top of this hill, for when it happens for each of you, the cheers, the glory, the gratitude that awaits you, is fully in place and only awaits your completion of the equation.

For faith is what enables you to mount the trek, to keep going when all else tells you, in logic and visual and hearing in your world as you perceive it, that your trek or journey may be foolhardy, that there is really nothing up ahead, only your hope, only what you have been told, and there is little on the physical side of your belief that encourages your trek or your journey but in your heart and in your mind you cannot be fooled, you cannot be told something that is not true or real, for that is where you fully and truly evaluate that which you believe, and that which you make real for it is your belief system that creates your reality.

There are those, after all, who are confused, misguided, and are uncertain as to their spiritual future who do not find this path or trek until sometime when they become full believers, for they journey, they wander, they go in circles, they are unfortunately the lost in the desert, much as anyone would be in a sandstorm, fully engulfed, blinded, unable to see and need to hunker down until such time as they can once again regain their bearings.

We encourage each of you to picture wide vistas of avenues open to your quest, for your charted path is in your heart and in your mind. This is where faith truly lives and if needed to be tested would be put to the test which you would pass, for your faith in that which is, yet cannot be seen, is the music of the spheres which is in your heart and in your mind.

So I encourage you to continue on your faith journey, and do not be shaken by anything that is either perceived to be real or even what you see as real, for the matter will pass away, and your reality will survive it. So be true in your belief and pure in your love and all else is a matter of accomplishment. Rejoice and be glad for today you live and tomorrow you will abound in glory with all of those who have gone before.

Peace be with you and may your new year be full of cheer and reinforcement of your goals. May you be forevermore at one. Peace be with you.

Group: Thank you, Anatolia.

TOMAS: Well, now, loyal class of eternal students, what shall we do for the remainder of our time together? Let us stretch the muscles of the mind and body in order to reach into the grab bag of perception that will reveal the nature of your needs today, in terms of enterprising interest. (pause) Let not everyone talk at once!

Dialogue

Elena: I’ll start. I loved the lessons from both of you, Tomas and Anatolia. They were just beautiful today. But what I wanted to hear your comment on Tomas, was you were talking about being gentle with other souls and nurturing them, and I particularly found that helpful to me. As I may have mentioned before, there is a child from a former marriage, who is not my own child physically but, in a sense, related, who has given me a call so … she has her own concerns on a number of different issues that are difficult for her and somehow your comment about just giving a little bit of encouragement or spreading sunshine onto somebody else’s path was reinforcing, because I frequently find myself – well, not frequently, but – when talking to her I feel in a little bit of a quandary about how much to help her. My own family members caution me about getting too much involved and yet you see a problem that somebody has and so … I guess this isn’t a question yet, other than saying thank you for that, and then if you do have any comment on to what extent, how you decide to what extent to help someone, I guess. Is that a clear enough of a question for you to see what I’m driving toward?

TOMAS: Yes, I clearly see you are wrestling with a matter of discernment. What I will suggest you do is revisit the concept of family in this context – remember that Jesus suggested his apostles, his followers, not merely regard one another with brotherly love, but to go the extra mile and approach his people with fatherly affection. In telling me you are not this child’s birth mother but that you have a maternal sense of ministry concerning her, you tell me you are approaching this from the fatherly point of view that we are admonished to maintain. And from this fatherly/motherly pinnacle, all humanity becomes your child. All of humanity is your family. And what opportunities are presented!

The concern about being too much involved is an appropriate [caution] for those who tend to live the Golden Rule from the brotherly love perspective, for many times brotherly love falls short of the divine goal because of the limitations of the sibling point of view. However, from the perspective of parental love, you have the option to use discernment as to whether or not your behavior is enabling the child to remain immature or encouraging the child to grasp a greater concept of life, including its vicissitudes and its wonders. You understand my counsel?

Elena: Except for that last comment. For some reason, I kind of lost that, about …

Reneau: Sometimes life is hard. Is that right, Tomas?

TOMAS: Yes. And sometimes life is a mystery, filled with truth not yet revealed, which would encourage you to let the child live its life based on a premise of faith in tomorrow rather than condemnation and fear of experiential living. The father can do this more readily than the brother, who tends to commiserate and empathize to the extent that there is no counsel given. The parental point of view is able to counsel that human being who is put into your path for you to minister to as you pass by.

Elena: Okay. That makes sense. Thank you.

TOMAS: Yes. Revisit these lessons in your leisure time for the cerebral value, as well as the visceral value you seem to absorb in these meetings, for the lessons on faith that Anatolia spoke of will augment my counsel.

Elena: Thank you.

TOMAS: You are welcome. (long pause)

Elena: Well, if nobody has anything else, I would like to ask you, Tomas, or you Anatolia, or anyone else who would actually have a better feel for this. I have asked Chicoli about this, but other tips would certainly be helpful in getting Tanya and Barney to cohabit easily, or any tips in that area would be appreciated.

TOMAS: I will have no counsel for you there, for it is far beyond my job description (group giggles), but I can bring in someone who perhaps could offer some advice, if that would be amenable to you.

Elena: That would be great! I need some extra tips. I’ve gotten some good tips but I think I can use all I can get.

TOMAS: One moment. {Clock strikes 3:00} Dani is here. Dani is a midwayer.

DANI: Hello, everybody.

Group: Greetings. Hello, Dani!

DANI: I’m much closer to the subject. I’ve met your Barney. He’s quite a fellow. I’ve already been friends with Tanya for awhile and she is quite the lass as well.

Elena: Oh, thank you, Dani.

DANI: You really do have some fine furry friends as companions, and you certainly do have some animal training (coo-coo clock strikes 3:00) at hand, to do.

Remember that your animals are affected by the first five of the seven adjutant mind spirits. Therefore, they have within them the capacity to share with you most of what you know. That is to say, they are able to share consciously the spirit of intuition, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of courage, the spirit of knowledge and the spirit of counsel. The only two they are missing is the spirit of worship and the spirit of wisdom, so you must already know in advance they will never gain wisdom; they will always be critters, pets, but if they can have knowledge, they can get smart enough to learn how to get along,

This is where your challenge lies, then, is drawing on those innate qualities of the Mother Spirit that indwells these animals, and I would suggest that you review the adjutant mind spirits for a greater understanding of how they may benefit you in the task that lays ahead. If you speak to your animals with the spirit of counsel, they will respond by the spirit of understanding. If you caution them, through the spirit of intuition, they will develop, then, the spirit of courage, that will allow them to have, then, the spirit of knowledge that knows “No!”

It is as if you were dealing, in many ways, with little children, who, in their immaturity, have not developed yet the nature of worship and wisdom, and so you just basically have two little kids on your hands and she was there first! She is older than he is, even though he is going to be a lot more energetic and a lot bigger. He is essentially the one who needs to learn his place in this family, and the more you cater to him (as adorable as he is), the more difficult it will be for him to understand that he is not the firstborn. (Oh! Okay.)

Dogs and cats are both very territorial. Therefore it might benefit you to have areas of demarcation which each understand is their turf, their boundary, and when you have your time with Tanya, based on the life you have already lived with her and shared with her for quite a while, he will just have to wait – perhaps in his cage – and watch you having a good time with her, without him being involved, so that he learns, through the spirit of understanding, that he will just have to wait for your attentions and your affections until his turn.

He has the capacity to understand this, to learn this. And if you talk to him intelligently, his spirit of counsel will develop this spirit of understanding, so that he will know, through the spirit of knowledge, what he can and cannot do. By the same token, once Tanya is assured of her place in your heart and in your home – which you must remember is still fairly new to her, and she may still be going through some insecurity because of her newly acquired arena -- a newcomer on the scene may be a little more traumatic than you would think, in particular one as captivating and demanding as Barney.

Barney, however, will need special care because he is a young one and has not got those feline qualities, which seem to almost take care of themselves. In many ways he will be more dependent on you, and it will be a big help if Matthew is able to absorb some of those extra energies and duties that will free you, then, to minister to Tanya, so that she is not feeling that she has lost you, but that she has gained family.

This is not a simple question or a curiosity question. It’s a very real issue and it does call for a spiritual solution, as does everything! It’s simply a matter of determining how the spirit works in your lives, and in the lives of all things, in order for you to manage that energy and those realities to better bring about those conditions which will lead to life and light for all concerned. Is this helpful?

Elena: Extremely. I am so grateful, Dani. Thank you.

DANI: Sure! Anybody else have a problem with their menagerie, or something I can help with while I’m here>

Maria: My cat, who was hostile to my other cats, disappeared recently. Somebody said they thought they saw her a few doors down. Is it appropriate to ask if my cat that disappeared is alive and living with someone else?

DANI: Just a moment. Let me see if I can get a handle on that.

Maria: Lorna is her name.

DANI: Lorna Doone, lost in the dunes. Where are you? Lorna is not well. Lorna has a tumor. She will not live long. Let her go. Animals know these things instinctively, and while they may seem brutal to you who are far more sentimental, there are skills and keynotes in the animal kingdom, many of which you all seem to have forgotten, that contribute to the – what shall we call it? “The balance of nature.” There is purpose in the design of the animal kingdom, including the human animal. And none of these living beings are overlooked in the care of the kingdom in the domain of the overseers. That is to say, you have heard it said, “God knows every hair on your head.” He knows also when the smallest sparrow has fallen to the ground. This is because God is everywhere and Mother nurtures life everywhere. There is nothing to mourn here. Nothing to regret.

This is the nature of the animal existence. The life that has been loved and has given much in its path has returned to the ethers of existence in order to contribute to the cycle of life which will one day reformulate the follicles of existence, the molecules of matter, into another expression of creation, be it animal, vegetable or mineral, in order to supply the world with the demonstration of material life that is required for your existence and sustained life here. As well as those many generations to come.

It’s really quite a marvelous process and even though those who are not mindful of all its intricacies, like to call these things ‘miracles’, there is much about creation that is as natural as “water rolling off a duck’s back” if you just looked more closely and read between the lines.

I have confidence your current cats will keep you company.

Maria: Yes.

DANI: Animals, having the first of the seven adjutant mind spirits, are able to communicate to those who will listen. Remember the movie that was out years ago about the fellow who talked with animals? Well, perhaps by now there are dozens. But those who are sensitive to the animal level of existence are indeed capable of listening and hearing what they have to say. Those of you who are sensitive to your pets already know that they will tell you when and where they want you to respond to their needs, so all of the animal kingdom is like that. It’s just that most people don’t take the time to pay attention, above and beyond their immediate frame of reference.

I guess I have done enough damage for one afternoon. Thank you, Tomas, for the opportunity to meet and greet the group again. I’ll catch you later.

Group: Thank you.

Elena: Thank you so much!

Paula: This turned into an animal thing!

Elena: Well, I sure needed it.

Closing

TOMAS: We cannot overlook the animal nature of our students. Indeed, this is a great deal of what goes into the Correcting Time, for many of you have made decisions, based on your animal nature, which have not served you well and which now must be revisited in terms of your new and divine perspective, so that those paths of conviction you have traversed may be reversed, in order for your soul to find its way out of the maze of your own making and back to the divine design.

Understanding your animal nature is as enlightening and edifying as is any study, and those who become so top-heavy as to spend all their time and energy in the realm of the spirit will find their physical legacy lagging and their intellect sagging, so balance is of the essence. As you grow, grow as a whole person, keeping yourself in step with your own growth by recognizing the necessity of integration.

Integrate the spirit into your existing human life. Integrate an understanding of the animal nature into your theology and your philosophy. Integrate your thought processes in accordance with the divine leading and the animal lures as well, for therein you will make wise choices. What a great existence you have, if you but realized the extent of your potential and your capacity!

I am eager to help you step outside of the limitations of the lives you live in order to assist the Master in his desire for you that you learn to love life and enjoy it more abundantly, because of him. Thus, you will be able to reveal him in your lives as you live your unique existence in this garden of creation.

What a bounty it has been for us this afternoon. How we enjoy the stimuli of new thought, new people, new opportunities and new challenges. Let us ever renew our commitment to life as it is lived in the spirit – vital, dynamic and new, every day, every moment. Amen. Farewell.

Group: Thank you! All of you.