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==Heading==
===Topic: ''Mythology of Love and Spirituality''===
===Group: [[Costa Rica TeaM]]===
==Facilitators==
===Teacher: [[Legion]], [[Alana]], [[Devina]]===
===TR: [[S. Butterfield]]===
==Session==
===Opening===
Legion : Yes, this is Legion.
David : Welcome, Legion.
===Lesson===
====[[Discipline]]====
Legion : Thank you. We would speak to you more about the [[mythology]] of [[love]] and [[spirituality]]. How wonderful would it be if your [[dreams]] were true: that all would heed the call of love, that all, once given the message, would rapidly [[transform]] into the loving beings of your advertisements, floating across meadows of flowers, smiling, light [[radiating]] from their eyes with the [[knowledge]] of love. What is true for most of you, however, is that this is a step-by-step [[process]] of [[growth]], the [[choice]] to love being necessary in every muscle pull that lifts the foot, one before the other, and chooses to place the foot, one after the other, on the pathway of [[God’s love]].
How wonderful it would be if the single [[burning bush]], the one clap of [[thunder]], the brilliant [[flash]] of light, the one life, the many lives, [[dedicated]] to an understanding that God is love, would have the effect to swiftly transform all human life upon [[your planet]]. But it is true that each individual must discover and [[practice]] the path of their own understanding. Each individual must be willing to choose the [[discipline]] of love, which is the discipline of [[joy]], which is God’s joy in God’s love for you. In the practice of this discipline, each individual mind must choose to open, each [[individual]] heart must choose to open.
For some of you the opening is easy, even as the practice is long. For some of you the opening is an opening into the [[unknown]], a look into a dark [[cave]] of [[fear]], an attempt to open that which you can not remember, Love. Why should you [[fear]] love? It is the [[confusion]] of love with many other things, many not-loves, that creates and sustains fear. Impatient as you may be with the long [[repetitive]] progress of discipline and practice, it is your willingness to choose again and again to practice, to open again and again to practice, to learn and to learn within the greater [[embrace]] of patience to practice, that allows the [[reality]] of God’s love for you to become [[manifest]] in you and to others. You fear to open your hearts to one another no less than you fear opening your [[heart]] to love. You fear the confusion, the misunderstanding, the [[betrayal]]. You fear the pratfall of the rug pulled out from under you, that you should look the [[fool]]. You fear your smallness will be [[revealed]]. You fear loss of [[control]].
Having learned to say No, having learned to protect yourself against the [[unknown]], to protect yourself against that over which you have no control, you fear to say Yes. No [[becomes]] your [[comfort]]. And so you have the idea, the mythological ideal, that love will fill you with the [[fragrance]] of flowers and you will blossom forever more, without struggle, without [[effort]], without practice, without actual learning. And this becomes your favorite [[disappointment]], in yourself, in others, and you say, once again, No to proffered love. You [[retreat]]. You withdraw. You circle around the [[opportunity]] and try to poke holes in it. But we are different here. Yes?
===Dialogue===
David : Hopefully.
Legion : We say Yes to love. Yes?
Group : Yes.
Legion : You understand, this is [[human]], the human conditioning. Even in those [[families]] where love is [[abundant]], there are those experiences which must be embraced with [[sorrow]]. There are those encounters with [[fear]] that must be dissipated with [[courage]]. There are those doubts that rise up before you and must be cancelled with love. So, if you would learn further, engage with me. Shall we [[dialogue]]?
Sandy : Legion, I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you. Things are becoming so much clearer to me now, the [[path]] seems so much straighter. We are really [[grateful]] for these teachings. Thank you.
Legion : Thank you. When you allow the edges of the path to expand, when you embrace your path and all its gravel and skinned knees and potholes, the path becomes clearer and straighter.
Sandy : Right now it looks like a super highway and we are all on it.
Legion : Yes. Sustain this image. In your [[stillness]] blow love upon it, seeing each one and greeting each one with the [[radiance]] of the light in your mind and heart that creates the image. [[Patience]]: saying Yes to love, patiently. Allowing great love to seep, drop by drop, into that tiny opening, drop by drop, to fill. And from the greater well the smaller well is filled, allowing love to seep, drop by drop, into each well of [[relationship]]. Filling each well of relationship and allowing love to seep, drop by drop, into the deep well of yearning that is the human [[cry]] for [[peace]]. Is there another who would speak to me? Or Alana?
David : Yes, Legion. I thought Oliver was going to ask some questions, but he hasn’t responded. He seems to be blissed out over there, so I’ll go ahead and give him time later. You gave me this assignment. I’ve been [[writing]] them up for weeks now. What do you want me to do with them?
Legion : Give them away.
Sandy : Have you been writing David and we don’t know about it?
David : Yes.
Sandy : Well, I think you were given that assignment so you could [[share]] them with the rest of us.
David : I didn’t know exactly what he wanted me to do with them, but obviously Legion is telling me to give them away. Would these [[students]] be a good group of people to start with in terms of giving them away, Legion?
Legion :These students may be your greatest [[challenge]] in giving them away. (laughter)
David : Well, I must say it has been fun doing it. I don’t know that I know any more than the rest of them. I’ve just been having fun from day to day sitting down at the computer for ten or fifteen minutes knocking out some [[ideas]] and my [[experiences]] with following the discipline of [[joy]]. As a matter of fact, this discipline itself has proved to be quite joyful. I hope my writing shows that I’ve been having fun doing it. Yes, it has been wonderful. A little outrageous, too. Thank you.
Legion : What you do not know, you will learn. Yes? And the [[exercise]] is to allow yourself confidence in the knowledge of your [[practice]] and discipline.
David : Yes, it has been good for me. Because of my whole [[professional]] [[relationship]] to [[religion]] in my background, I don’t want to step up on stage again, or pretend to know things that I don’t really know. I’ve been very reticent for many, many years, so this has been kind of an easy way of getting into [[expressing]] myself. Thank you for the assignment.
Legion : And expressing what you have actually learned.
Sandy : I think we would feel [[privileged]] if you share that with us.
Legion : It would be like a birthday party. You present the [[beautiful]] cake. You put the candles upon it. You flame them. Then all join in to say, Blow them out, Make a wish. All [[participate]] in Cut the cake, and Let us eat. As you work with this group for a fuller [[understanding]], a common understanding, of what you have understood, the [[pleasure]] will expand as the sweetness of the cake upon the taste buds.
It is a wonderful gift you have given to me to [[observe]] and to witness your delight in your learning and in the production of that which I requested. For it is not totally understood that God’s love is for You, and You, and You, and All, to be loved, to [[feel]] love, and to give it away, and in this to feel joy. [[Joy]] is wanted, but feared. Joy is [[criticized]]. Joy is diluted. We would have you know, and be able to give understanding to others, that essential pearl of joy that resides within that is the [[essence]] of God’s love for you. We would have you understand joy as the product of [[discipline]], the discipline of love. Thank you.
David : Are you saying, in effect, that joy is at the [[heart]] of [[existence]]?
Legion : Yes.
David : Are you saying in effect, as well, that joy is of our essence, too?
Legion : Yes. There are those who understand life as essentially sad. If you know God’s love [[embraces]] you, embraces all, and resides within you in the still point of the center of the [[stillness]] within your heart, then you know the [[essence]] is joy. This joy welcomes you each time you are willing to allow love in the [[relationships]] of life, and each time you [[surrender]] your fear and open your heart to the joy that awaits you after [[death]]. Do not fear life. Do not fear death. Do not fear love. Embrace it. Do not suppress joy. Enhance it.
So, how is your practice going, my friends? You practice much, yes?
Sandy : I’m getting better at it. I’m finding that practice can be many different kinds of activity, as long as I [[focus]] on love while I am doing it.
Legion : Yes. We have said, ten minutes a day of [[stillness]] practice. Some have said, practice in the morning and practice in the evening. Others would have you practice in the noonday sun, as well. As you practice, you begin to learn, actually learn, that it is the practice which brings you joy. It is in your willingness to [[surrender]] entirely to the practice of the discipline of love that allows love to permeate and [[saturate]] your whole [[being]], your whole being on this planet, your whole life upon this planet, and so you practice all day long.
Sandy : Can it be considered a kind of practice to let love guide you in what you do on a daily basis?
Legion : Yes. Of course. You would [[discern]] between love without and love within, between the [[guidance]] as a beckoning and the guidance, that having become an integral part of the practice which leads and follows. The practice of the stillness within allows love to fill you, permeate you, saturate you. The practice of the discipline of love allows this permeated status to [[infuse]] your [[behavior]] and you give this love away. So it is in the following of the guidance that pours into your stillness and in the assertion of the [[choice]] to love, to exercise the behavior of love, that your [[footsteps]] become a guidance for others to see, to allow, to follow, and then to give away. Was that useful?
Sandy : Yes. Thank you.
Legion : Is there another who would speak to me?
====[[Spirituality]]====
Oliver : Yes, David was nudging me to see if today is a good day for you to speak on what you meant when you sent a message to me that I was [[infatuated]] by the [[mythology]] of my [[spiritual growth]]. Last week, Alana said something about mythology. Would you explain, or give me an example of my mythology, what I have to look out for, or not to do.
Legion : It is not the mythology of your spiritual growth, for your spiritual growth is very real. There is a mythology of [[spirituality]], the myths of which shape, convince, [[tempt]]. Tempt one to believe, “Aha! Now I have it!” And yes, indeed, in that moment you may indeed “Have it!” But it is our task to bring to you the [[understanding]] that spiritual growth is constant and never ending. For you, on [[your planet]], it is always [[Now]], and Now, and Now. You can not relax in the cleverness of understanding, the [[intellectual]] grasp, nor can you relax in the mass social approval of the mutual affinity in any particular spiritual understanding. You may, yes, [[relax]] in love, relax in the arms of the Mother’s [[embrace]], relax in the full power of [[the Father]]’s love pouring down upon you. But you must practice now, and now, and now, the discipline of allowing love to shape your every behavior, to coat every word upon your tongue, to open your [[minds]] to new discovery of yourself and others.
There is the [[myth]] that if I pray once, and my prayer is answered, that is prayer. Many prayers go unanswered, but they are heard, they are lifted up into the [[power of God]]’s love, the embrace of the Mother’s [[understanding]], and the answers are blowing on the wind of the breath of love.
It is a common myth to believe that because in my stillness I have achieved the greatest experience of comfort and joy, the complete knowledge that I am guided by God’s love, that I am “protected” by the Mother’s embrace, that so it is and it ever shall be without end…and without practice, or without discipline, or without choosing again, and again, and again to love. Once again, “What was it you said, Legion? Strengthen my body?” Yes. “Pracitce the discipline of love?” Yes.
There are those who believe, “Because I understand, because I have such remarkable [[experiences]] in my stillness, therefore I am done, therefore I am good, therefore I have arrived.” [[Goodness]] is living, just as love is living. It must be chosen again and again. It must be nurtured. It must live and grow and [[creatively]] express itself again and again and again. Even your goodness, without [[practice]], without alertness, without returning again and again to the stillness for further [[guidance]], further [[revelation]] about your [[self]] and your goodness, can cause harm, can, in the fever of your “good deeds,” step on another’s toes.
There are those who [[believe]], “I am guided.” And [[think]] no more.You live in a [[jungle]]. You do not walk that jungle blind. You stay alert. You [[practice]] walking carefully, each time you step out. Yes, God’s love is yours. Drink from the fountain of his love. [[Absorb]] the embrace of that [[comforting]] love. But, [[listen]], learn, and do this again, and again, and again.
There are some whose practice has so infused their lives that their lives visibly appear more [[blessed]] than others. There are some whose practice is so constant that their [[words]] lift others up, up, up into the [[light]] of God’s love and they begin to understand. There are some whose lives reveal the [[glorious]] gift of their practice in the form of love given away greatly, vastly. Even they do not relax in the myth that “all is done.” They do not say, “I need not look again.” They do not say, “I am so great I can speak without [[thinking]], write without the patience of allowing love to be my ink.” They [[practice]]. They know their practice is never ending. It is a source of joy. Has this been useful?
Oliver : Yes. That has hit [[home]], so to speak. I was just [[thinking]] during the last part of what you were saying, talking about those who were doing all these loving things. What is it like at your level? Do you have to make a [[decision]], too, now and now again for God’s love? Is this something that is permanent and [[eternal]]?
Legion : [[Love]] is an eternal [[creative]] [[Now]]. Even I, even Alana, learn. In the learning, we give away, and in the giving away, we teach. The spiritual [[journey]] is an interactive and co-operative and [[collaborative]] venture. You do not “go it [[alone]].” Always remain attentive to how, Now, your love bleeds into the love of others; how, Now, your not love bleeds into the love and not love of others. Even I, even Alana, in giving a teaching may fail to attend to the narrower understanding or [[desire]] of the student. So in the teaching is the [[opportunity]] for actual learning for me, for Alana, for the student. The student says, “Ouch!” or “I do not understand.” Or “Help!” And the teacher says, “[[Forgive]] me. This is my love. Forgive me for I would have you understand and I would not have you say Ouch, nor fear I will not help.”
Oliver : Legion, I am most impressed by the incredible [[patience]] that you and Alana and the other teachers have with us. Of course, we often go over the same [[question]] several times, but you invariably and always have patience with us. This is something that I am working on and I am learning, learning, learning how to be patient.
Legion : Yes, there is a mythology of spiritual [[patience]]. I would have you understand, much as with the seemingly endless [[repetition]] of [[discipline]], that it is in patience that rapid [[spiritual growth]] is [[attained]]. It is much like the stillness practice, when observed, one might say, “That fellow is doing nothing.” And yet, the deepest and most profound [[experience]] of all is taking place. So too, impatience would speed up the [[process]], have things happening NOW! But it is in the Now Embrace of Patience that all will come to pass as God has willed it so, that love and only love will become who you are, and who you understand yourself to be, now.
David : Legion, we have been very patient for a year and not asked curiosity questions of you. Would one be in order now?
Legion : What would you know?
David : Well, ah, I guess I would just like to know what stage you and Alana are on in the spiritual journey. I know you are mortals on the same [[path]] as we, but you have gone on further. I don’t know, whatever [[information]] you think we could handle.
Legion : We embraced your path and more. We return to fill your hearts with the love that is so difficult for mortals to [[understand]]. We return to fill your hearts with the love that satisfies the [[curiosity]], saturates [[the mind]] so completely that love becomes the only [[joy]], the only [[service]]. We have achieved a standing among our [[peers]] that allows us to represent to you information, given by the [[Most Highs]], that you may overcome your warlike tendencies in [[relationships]]. I am assigned to you and your group. Alana may move about. That will have to do.
===Closing===
David : I wanted to make a comment of thankfulness to you teachers for your [[presence]] with us. I consider it the greatest gift of my life to have this [[experience]] of being guided by your love, and guided by your presence.
Legion : And so we shall look forward to you giving that away.
David : Yes.
Legion : Alana would speak with you now.
Oliver : Thank you, Legion. Thank you very, very much.
Nena, Sandy : Thank you.
Alana : This is Alana.
Oliver : Hello, Alana. Welcome.
Alana : Thank you. Yes, we would have our Mr. Boisterous [[share]] with you the beginnings of his lessons. There will be more, but we have agreed that to put him on the stage, so to speak, before you, will be a very good lesson of learning for him, for yourselves, and for us to observe, and kibbitz, as you say. It will not be an ending. It will be the continued [[practice]] of the [[discipline]] of love, which is the discipline of joy. We look forward to having this [[experience]] the very next meeting.
Sandy : So do we, Alana.
Alana : Thank you.
David : How are we doing as a group?
Alana : Better than ever, my friend.
David : That’s good to hear.
Oliver : Alana, I was very taken when you were explaining last week, and I was made aware of it in my own life, the conditional love that we have, and that even our conditional love is to be given away. That was very freeing for me. Thank you for that lesson of last week.
Alana : Yes, the human [[mythology]], if you will, is that [[practice]] makes [[perfect]]. We would infuse that idea with a little bit of comforting news; it is the practicing that makes perfectioning. Do not be ashamed, ever, if your love looks so tiny in comparison to…. I will leave that open for you to place your favorite “perfect” being. There is no [[competition]], no comparison in love; there is only loving. Thank you. Shall we close for the day, or is there one other?
Sandy : I asked, Alana, some nights ago, if there was any (can’t make out the word) [[evil]] at your level. What I saw was a mountain. What I heard was that from your position on this mountain you can see evil, but it is very, very far away, way down at the bottom. I don’t know why I [[shared]] that, but it is a comforting [[thought]], because we are faced with so much [[fear]] of evil right now.
Alana : Yes. We are on the other side of the mountain, you might say. As will you be. The greatest [[patience]] embraces the greatest evil. You, it can be understood, stagger under even the slightest attempt to be patient and to [[embrace]] evil with [[love]].
Sandy : Yes, that must be our hardest [[challenge]].
Alana : And so you have fear, and sometimes you have [[doubt]], impatient to make the evil go away. Today, as we [[pray]], each one of you, now, embrace the [[heart room]] and allow the heart room to embrace you, and we shall blow love upon the evil that you see. Now.
Open your minds. Open your hearts. I blow love into you. Welcome your loved ones. [[Welcome]] those you see in not-love. We shall blow love upon them. In your [[fear]] and doubt, step into the heart room. We are always there. You can not begin to [[understand]] completely the great love that we bring. Our journey has gone beyond your [[comprehension]] and we return with the love that surpasses your understanding. Build your heart room. Have [[faith]]. We are there. I blow love upon you, all. Thank you.
Devina : This is Devina.
Sandy : A little pull on the heart strings would be nice. Thank you for coming.
Devina : Yes. I pull upon your heart strings, and I would have you feel the pull as you lift the sides of your mouths up. Notice. Joy is here. Yes? I sprinkle joy upon you. As I tug upon your hearts, I send the vibration of my joy into you. Thank you.
Alana : We will close with a prayer of [[gratitude]]. Thank you Father, Mother, Michael, for love. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[[Category: The Teaching Mission: Dialogues]]
[[Category: Costa Rica TeaM]]
[[Category: Legion]]
[[Category: Alana]]
[[Category: Devina]]
[[Category: S. Butterfield]]
[[Category: Devina]]
[[Category: Discipline]]
[[Category: Spirituality]]
[[Category: 2001]]
==Heading==
===Topic: ''Mythology of Love and Spirituality''===
===Group: [[Costa Rica TeaM]]===
==Facilitators==
===Teacher: [[Legion]], [[Alana]], [[Devina]]===
===TR: [[S. Butterfield]]===
==Session==
===Opening===
Legion : Yes, this is Legion.
David : Welcome, Legion.
===Lesson===
====[[Discipline]]====
Legion : Thank you. We would speak to you more about the [[mythology]] of [[love]] and [[spirituality]]. How wonderful would it be if your [[dreams]] were true: that all would heed the call of love, that all, once given the message, would rapidly [[transform]] into the loving beings of your advertisements, floating across meadows of flowers, smiling, light [[radiating]] from their eyes with the [[knowledge]] of love. What is true for most of you, however, is that this is a step-by-step [[process]] of [[growth]], the [[choice]] to love being necessary in every muscle pull that lifts the foot, one before the other, and chooses to place the foot, one after the other, on the pathway of [[God’s love]].
How wonderful it would be if the single [[burning bush]], the one clap of [[thunder]], the brilliant [[flash]] of light, the one life, the many lives, [[dedicated]] to an understanding that God is love, would have the effect to swiftly transform all human life upon [[your planet]]. But it is true that each individual must discover and [[practice]] the path of their own understanding. Each individual must be willing to choose the [[discipline]] of love, which is the discipline of [[joy]], which is God’s joy in God’s love for you. In the practice of this discipline, each individual mind must choose to open, each [[individual]] heart must choose to open.
For some of you the opening is easy, even as the practice is long. For some of you the opening is an opening into the [[unknown]], a look into a dark [[cave]] of [[fear]], an attempt to open that which you can not remember, Love. Why should you [[fear]] love? It is the [[confusion]] of love with many other things, many not-loves, that creates and sustains fear. Impatient as you may be with the long [[repetitive]] progress of discipline and practice, it is your willingness to choose again and again to practice, to open again and again to practice, to learn and to learn within the greater [[embrace]] of patience to practice, that allows the [[reality]] of God’s love for you to become [[manifest]] in you and to others. You fear to open your hearts to one another no less than you fear opening your [[heart]] to love. You fear the confusion, the misunderstanding, the [[betrayal]]. You fear the pratfall of the rug pulled out from under you, that you should look the [[fool]]. You fear your smallness will be [[revealed]]. You fear loss of [[control]].
Having learned to say No, having learned to protect yourself against the [[unknown]], to protect yourself against that over which you have no control, you fear to say Yes. No [[becomes]] your [[comfort]]. And so you have the idea, the mythological ideal, that love will fill you with the [[fragrance]] of flowers and you will blossom forever more, without struggle, without [[effort]], without practice, without actual learning. And this becomes your favorite [[disappointment]], in yourself, in others, and you say, once again, No to proffered love. You [[retreat]]. You withdraw. You circle around the [[opportunity]] and try to poke holes in it. But we are different here. Yes?
===Dialogue===
David : Hopefully.
Legion : We say Yes to love. Yes?
Group : Yes.
Legion : You understand, this is [[human]], the human conditioning. Even in those [[families]] where love is [[abundant]], there are those experiences which must be embraced with [[sorrow]]. There are those encounters with [[fear]] that must be dissipated with [[courage]]. There are those doubts that rise up before you and must be cancelled with love. So, if you would learn further, engage with me. Shall we [[dialogue]]?
Sandy : Legion, I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you. Things are becoming so much clearer to me now, the [[path]] seems so much straighter. We are really [[grateful]] for these teachings. Thank you.
Legion : Thank you. When you allow the edges of the path to expand, when you embrace your path and all its gravel and skinned knees and potholes, the path becomes clearer and straighter.
Sandy : Right now it looks like a super highway and we are all on it.
Legion : Yes. Sustain this image. In your [[stillness]] blow love upon it, seeing each one and greeting each one with the [[radiance]] of the light in your mind and heart that creates the image. [[Patience]]: saying Yes to love, patiently. Allowing great love to seep, drop by drop, into that tiny opening, drop by drop, to fill. And from the greater well the smaller well is filled, allowing love to seep, drop by drop, into each well of [[relationship]]. Filling each well of relationship and allowing love to seep, drop by drop, into the deep well of yearning that is the human [[cry]] for [[peace]]. Is there another who would speak to me? Or Alana?
David : Yes, Legion. I thought Oliver was going to ask some questions, but he hasn’t responded. He seems to be blissed out over there, so I’ll go ahead and give him time later. You gave me this assignment. I’ve been [[writing]] them up for weeks now. What do you want me to do with them?
Legion : Give them away.
Sandy : Have you been writing David and we don’t know about it?
David : Yes.
Sandy : Well, I think you were given that assignment so you could [[share]] them with the rest of us.
David : I didn’t know exactly what he wanted me to do with them, but obviously Legion is telling me to give them away. Would these [[students]] be a good group of people to start with in terms of giving them away, Legion?
Legion :These students may be your greatest [[challenge]] in giving them away. (laughter)
David : Well, I must say it has been fun doing it. I don’t know that I know any more than the rest of them. I’ve just been having fun from day to day sitting down at the computer for ten or fifteen minutes knocking out some [[ideas]] and my [[experiences]] with following the discipline of [[joy]]. As a matter of fact, this discipline itself has proved to be quite joyful. I hope my writing shows that I’ve been having fun doing it. Yes, it has been wonderful. A little outrageous, too. Thank you.
Legion : What you do not know, you will learn. Yes? And the [[exercise]] is to allow yourself confidence in the knowledge of your [[practice]] and discipline.
David : Yes, it has been good for me. Because of my whole [[professional]] [[relationship]] to [[religion]] in my background, I don’t want to step up on stage again, or pretend to know things that I don’t really know. I’ve been very reticent for many, many years, so this has been kind of an easy way of getting into [[expressing]] myself. Thank you for the assignment.
Legion : And expressing what you have actually learned.
Sandy : I think we would feel [[privileged]] if you share that with us.
Legion : It would be like a birthday party. You present the [[beautiful]] cake. You put the candles upon it. You flame them. Then all join in to say, Blow them out, Make a wish. All [[participate]] in Cut the cake, and Let us eat. As you work with this group for a fuller [[understanding]], a common understanding, of what you have understood, the [[pleasure]] will expand as the sweetness of the cake upon the taste buds.
It is a wonderful gift you have given to me to [[observe]] and to witness your delight in your learning and in the production of that which I requested. For it is not totally understood that God’s love is for You, and You, and You, and All, to be loved, to [[feel]] love, and to give it away, and in this to feel joy. [[Joy]] is wanted, but feared. Joy is [[criticized]]. Joy is diluted. We would have you know, and be able to give understanding to others, that essential pearl of joy that resides within that is the [[essence]] of God’s love for you. We would have you understand joy as the product of [[discipline]], the discipline of love. Thank you.
David : Are you saying, in effect, that joy is at the [[heart]] of [[existence]]?
Legion : Yes.
David : Are you saying in effect, as well, that joy is of our essence, too?
Legion : Yes. There are those who understand life as essentially sad. If you know God’s love [[embraces]] you, embraces all, and resides within you in the still point of the center of the [[stillness]] within your heart, then you know the [[essence]] is joy. This joy welcomes you each time you are willing to allow love in the [[relationships]] of life, and each time you [[surrender]] your fear and open your heart to the joy that awaits you after [[death]]. Do not fear life. Do not fear death. Do not fear love. Embrace it. Do not suppress joy. Enhance it.
So, how is your practice going, my friends? You practice much, yes?
Sandy : I’m getting better at it. I’m finding that practice can be many different kinds of activity, as long as I [[focus]] on love while I am doing it.
Legion : Yes. We have said, ten minutes a day of [[stillness]] practice. Some have said, practice in the morning and practice in the evening. Others would have you practice in the noonday sun, as well. As you practice, you begin to learn, actually learn, that it is the practice which brings you joy. It is in your willingness to [[surrender]] entirely to the practice of the discipline of love that allows love to permeate and [[saturate]] your whole [[being]], your whole being on this planet, your whole life upon this planet, and so you practice all day long.
Sandy : Can it be considered a kind of practice to let love guide you in what you do on a daily basis?
Legion : Yes. Of course. You would [[discern]] between love without and love within, between the [[guidance]] as a beckoning and the guidance, that having become an integral part of the practice which leads and follows. The practice of the stillness within allows love to fill you, permeate you, saturate you. The practice of the discipline of love allows this permeated status to [[infuse]] your [[behavior]] and you give this love away. So it is in the following of the guidance that pours into your stillness and in the assertion of the [[choice]] to love, to exercise the behavior of love, that your [[footsteps]] become a guidance for others to see, to allow, to follow, and then to give away. Was that useful?
Sandy : Yes. Thank you.
Legion : Is there another who would speak to me?
====[[Spirituality]]====
Oliver : Yes, David was nudging me to see if today is a good day for you to speak on what you meant when you sent a message to me that I was [[infatuated]] by the [[mythology]] of my [[spiritual growth]]. Last week, Alana said something about mythology. Would you explain, or give me an example of my mythology, what I have to look out for, or not to do.
Legion : It is not the mythology of your spiritual growth, for your spiritual growth is very real. There is a mythology of [[spirituality]], the myths of which shape, convince, [[tempt]]. Tempt one to believe, “Aha! Now I have it!” And yes, indeed, in that moment you may indeed “Have it!” But it is our task to bring to you the [[understanding]] that spiritual growth is constant and never ending. For you, on [[your planet]], it is always [[Now]], and Now, and Now. You can not relax in the cleverness of understanding, the [[intellectual]] grasp, nor can you relax in the mass social approval of the mutual affinity in any particular spiritual understanding. You may, yes, [[relax]] in love, relax in the arms of the Mother’s [[embrace]], relax in the full power of [[the Father]]’s love pouring down upon you. But you must practice now, and now, and now, the discipline of allowing love to shape your every behavior, to coat every word upon your tongue, to open your [[minds]] to new discovery of yourself and others.
There is the [[myth]] that if I pray once, and my prayer is answered, that is prayer. Many prayers go unanswered, but they are heard, they are lifted up into the [[power of God]]’s love, the embrace of the Mother’s [[understanding]], and the answers are blowing on the wind of the breath of love.
It is a common myth to believe that because in my stillness I have achieved the greatest experience of comfort and joy, the complete knowledge that I am guided by God’s love, that I am “protected” by the Mother’s embrace, that so it is and it ever shall be without end…and without practice, or without discipline, or without choosing again, and again, and again to love. Once again, “What was it you said, Legion? Strengthen my body?” Yes. “Pracitce the discipline of love?” Yes.
There are those who believe, “Because I understand, because I have such remarkable [[experiences]] in my stillness, therefore I am done, therefore I am good, therefore I have arrived.” [[Goodness]] is living, just as love is living. It must be chosen again and again. It must be nurtured. It must live and grow and [[creatively]] express itself again and again and again. Even your goodness, without [[practice]], without alertness, without returning again and again to the stillness for further [[guidance]], further [[revelation]] about your [[self]] and your goodness, can cause harm, can, in the fever of your “good deeds,” step on another’s toes.
There are those who [[believe]], “I am guided.” And [[think]] no more.You live in a [[jungle]]. You do not walk that jungle blind. You stay alert. You [[practice]] walking carefully, each time you step out. Yes, God’s love is yours. Drink from the fountain of his love. [[Absorb]] the embrace of that [[comforting]] love. But, [[listen]], learn, and do this again, and again, and again.
There are some whose practice has so infused their lives that their lives visibly appear more [[blessed]] than others. There are some whose practice is so constant that their [[words]] lift others up, up, up into the [[light]] of God’s love and they begin to understand. There are some whose lives reveal the [[glorious]] gift of their practice in the form of love given away greatly, vastly. Even they do not relax in the myth that “all is done.” They do not say, “I need not look again.” They do not say, “I am so great I can speak without [[thinking]], write without the patience of allowing love to be my ink.” They [[practice]]. They know their practice is never ending. It is a source of joy. Has this been useful?
Oliver : Yes. That has hit [[home]], so to speak. I was just [[thinking]] during the last part of what you were saying, talking about those who were doing all these loving things. What is it like at your level? Do you have to make a [[decision]], too, now and now again for God’s love? Is this something that is permanent and [[eternal]]?
Legion : [[Love]] is an eternal [[creative]] [[Now]]. Even I, even Alana, learn. In the learning, we give away, and in the giving away, we teach. The spiritual [[journey]] is an interactive and co-operative and [[collaborative]] venture. You do not “go it [[alone]].” Always remain attentive to how, Now, your love bleeds into the love of others; how, Now, your not love bleeds into the love and not love of others. Even I, even Alana, in giving a teaching may fail to attend to the narrower understanding or [[desire]] of the student. So in the teaching is the [[opportunity]] for actual learning for me, for Alana, for the student. The student says, “Ouch!” or “I do not understand.” Or “Help!” And the teacher says, “[[Forgive]] me. This is my love. Forgive me for I would have you understand and I would not have you say Ouch, nor fear I will not help.”
Oliver : Legion, I am most impressed by the incredible [[patience]] that you and Alana and the other teachers have with us. Of course, we often go over the same [[question]] several times, but you invariably and always have patience with us. This is something that I am working on and I am learning, learning, learning how to be patient.
Legion : Yes, there is a mythology of spiritual [[patience]]. I would have you understand, much as with the seemingly endless [[repetition]] of [[discipline]], that it is in patience that rapid [[spiritual growth]] is [[attained]]. It is much like the stillness practice, when observed, one might say, “That fellow is doing nothing.” And yet, the deepest and most profound [[experience]] of all is taking place. So too, impatience would speed up the [[process]], have things happening NOW! But it is in the Now Embrace of Patience that all will come to pass as God has willed it so, that love and only love will become who you are, and who you understand yourself to be, now.
David : Legion, we have been very patient for a year and not asked curiosity questions of you. Would one be in order now?
Legion : What would you know?
David : Well, ah, I guess I would just like to know what stage you and Alana are on in the spiritual journey. I know you are mortals on the same [[path]] as we, but you have gone on further. I don’t know, whatever [[information]] you think we could handle.
Legion : We embraced your path and more. We return to fill your hearts with the love that is so difficult for mortals to [[understand]]. We return to fill your hearts with the love that satisfies the [[curiosity]], saturates [[the mind]] so completely that love becomes the only [[joy]], the only [[service]]. We have achieved a standing among our [[peers]] that allows us to represent to you information, given by the [[Most Highs]], that you may overcome your warlike tendencies in [[relationships]]. I am assigned to you and your group. Alana may move about. That will have to do.
===Closing===
David : I wanted to make a comment of thankfulness to you teachers for your [[presence]] with us. I consider it the greatest gift of my life to have this [[experience]] of being guided by your love, and guided by your presence.
Legion : And so we shall look forward to you giving that away.
David : Yes.
Legion : Alana would speak with you now.
Oliver : Thank you, Legion. Thank you very, very much.
Nena, Sandy : Thank you.
Alana : This is Alana.
Oliver : Hello, Alana. Welcome.
Alana : Thank you. Yes, we would have our Mr. Boisterous [[share]] with you the beginnings of his lessons. There will be more, but we have agreed that to put him on the stage, so to speak, before you, will be a very good lesson of learning for him, for yourselves, and for us to observe, and kibbitz, as you say. It will not be an ending. It will be the continued [[practice]] of the [[discipline]] of love, which is the discipline of joy. We look forward to having this [[experience]] the very next meeting.
Sandy : So do we, Alana.
Alana : Thank you.
David : How are we doing as a group?
Alana : Better than ever, my friend.
David : That’s good to hear.
Oliver : Alana, I was very taken when you were explaining last week, and I was made aware of it in my own life, the conditional love that we have, and that even our conditional love is to be given away. That was very freeing for me. Thank you for that lesson of last week.
Alana : Yes, the human [[mythology]], if you will, is that [[practice]] makes [[perfect]]. We would infuse that idea with a little bit of comforting news; it is the practicing that makes perfectioning. Do not be ashamed, ever, if your love looks so tiny in comparison to…. I will leave that open for you to place your favorite “perfect” being. There is no [[competition]], no comparison in love; there is only loving. Thank you. Shall we close for the day, or is there one other?
Sandy : I asked, Alana, some nights ago, if there was any (can’t make out the word) [[evil]] at your level. What I saw was a mountain. What I heard was that from your position on this mountain you can see evil, but it is very, very far away, way down at the bottom. I don’t know why I [[shared]] that, but it is a comforting [[thought]], because we are faced with so much [[fear]] of evil right now.
Alana : Yes. We are on the other side of the mountain, you might say. As will you be. The greatest [[patience]] embraces the greatest evil. You, it can be understood, stagger under even the slightest attempt to be patient and to [[embrace]] evil with [[love]].
Sandy : Yes, that must be our hardest [[challenge]].
Alana : And so you have fear, and sometimes you have [[doubt]], impatient to make the evil go away. Today, as we [[pray]], each one of you, now, embrace the [[heart room]] and allow the heart room to embrace you, and we shall blow love upon the evil that you see. Now.
Open your minds. Open your hearts. I blow love into you. Welcome your loved ones. [[Welcome]] those you see in not-love. We shall blow love upon them. In your [[fear]] and doubt, step into the heart room. We are always there. You can not begin to [[understand]] completely the great love that we bring. Our journey has gone beyond your [[comprehension]] and we return with the love that surpasses your understanding. Build your heart room. Have [[faith]]. We are there. I blow love upon you, all. Thank you.
Devina : This is Devina.
Sandy : A little pull on the heart strings would be nice. Thank you for coming.
Devina : Yes. I pull upon your heart strings, and I would have you feel the pull as you lift the sides of your mouths up. Notice. Joy is here. Yes? I sprinkle joy upon you. As I tug upon your hearts, I send the vibration of my joy into you. Thank you.
Alana : We will close with a prayer of [[gratitude]]. Thank you Father, Mother, Michael, for love. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[[Category: The Teaching Mission: Dialogues]]
[[Category: Costa Rica TeaM]]
[[Category: Legion]]
[[Category: Alana]]
[[Category: Devina]]
[[Category: S. Butterfield]]
[[Category: Devina]]
[[Category: Discipline]]
[[Category: Spirituality]]
[[Category: 2001]]
