[tmtranscripts] Walk in Beauty (06-05-97.PGH)

[Gerdean]

DATE: June 5, 1997
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R's: Gerdean and Hunnah

Textual Study: Urantia Paper 9: 
"Relationship of The Infinite Spirit to the Universe"
Reading from Part IV: Page 1898 on Divine Forgiveness

TEACHER SESSION
TOMAS, MERIUM and ABRAHAM
Topic: Walk in Beauty 

TOMAS: Hail fellows well met. I am Tomas. How wonderful to be with you this evening.

Group: Good evening. Thank you.

TOMAS: We have been invigorated by your camaraderie this evening and by your guests. Might I prevail upon you, Elizabeth, as our esteemed hostess, to introduce your lady friends to the Teaching Mission?

Elizabeth: Well, this is the lovely Jane M. and this is Wendy W., and they're good friends of each other and I hope they'll continue to be good friends of ours. Jane is a friend of my son, John. I must say I certainly, in this case, have enjoyed his choice of friends.

TOMAS: Jane and Wendy, welcome. I will not make clever remarks about Peter Pan, (group chortle) but you will indeed find that as you ascend in the order of daughtership you will become younger and not older. What a marvel! What a miracle provided by the Trinity. This is not to say that you do not mature, but this meddlesome problem of feeling decrepit and useless is history. Your youth and energy are immediately apparent and appreciated, but even more so is your sincerity and your integrity.

Both of you have worked diligently in your paths in order that you may be here today, not only that you may be here today with us, but that you be here in spirit actuality. Your souls are refreshingly viable. Your approach to your destiny has been solidly dealt with and grasped. The results are the riches that you pour forth into your arena, and this arena this evening has been the recipient of your bountiful and divine deed, thought and word. Welcome.

We also greet Leah back from the United Kingdom. Welcome home, daughter.

Leah: I'm glad to be here.

TOMAS: And, of course, welcome to all my trustworthy and loyal daughters, pupils. We have been attempting to assimilate the concepts as set out in The Urantia Book in terms of your own personal experience and we have had a lengthy and leisurely look at how it is that thought, word and deed operate in your own life -- your own life being a potential microcosm of perfection here in your realm as the Paradise Trinity are perfect in Their realm.

We have paused to consider self-mastery, for in that moment when word and thought connect and you begin to feel activated by the spirit, it will affect your behaviors and your approach -- depending upon your motives -- and so, looking at self-mastery, we have a way of looking at motives; indeed, is the motive to serve and to be a part of the Paradise pattern of perfection? Or is it for self-gain? Or many of those myriad mortal conditionings that flesh is heir to?

For many weeks now we have paused at the threshold to perceive what our motive might be in that moment when we act. The question now is: what kind of act are we talking about? -- Actions that you can undertake as a result of your thought, your word, and now your deed to be a co-creator in this undertaking of kingdom-building and perfection attainment. Most assuredly a guideline is that which is an element of the Father: truth, beauty and goodness. If you are emitting truth, beauty and goodness, you are surely doing His will.

Last week we discussed this same concept and I ended my "lecture" with the sentence: you are giving birth to your soul. It is your soul that is potentially immortal, and as you choose to act for truth, beauty and goodness, your soul is reaffirmed. The soul becomes more real and therefore you become more real. It becomes more and more difficult for you to "backslide" into your more primitive behavior patterns, for your soul has an integrity that precludes error.

Granted, when you are, as they say, "hungry, angry, lonely or tired" you can revert to the lesser way, for the human animal is cantankerous and needs much in the way of self-mastery. And so herein is the value of learning to love yourself, to take appropriate care of yourself, so that you are not ruled by your animal nature, but rather that you can allow your higher nature to run the show, to hold your animal in check.

I hear some of you say, "Well, that doesn't sound like fun!" Au contraire! It is most enjoyable. But it depends a great deal upon what you perceive "fun" as being. Beauty is certainly fun, for it is satisfying and thrilling; it is exciting; it is dazzling; it is soothing, pleasurable, titillating and so forth. Goodness can be construed as abundant and earthy and robust and sensual and hardy and hearty and any number of well-rounded qualities. And truth? Truth is piercing, dynamic, exciting, scintillating. And so these truths truly are fun. More fun, if you think of it, than their earlier, lesser understandings of fun. Now, too, you have an entire galactic community inviting you to join them in their fun.

I know my companion, Merium, is delighted that I have finally come around to having a good time! (Group giggle) Perhaps it is because of these comely lasses, (More giggles) but it is also because of the fact that living a life in accordance with the Father's will is the most enjoyable and satisfying and liberating way of life there is!

On that remark, I conclude my remarks and allow my colleague to contribute her vantage point.

MERIUM: Good evening. I wish also to welcome our guests. It is as if they are not guests, they are part of our family. We have been in contact with all who are awake. They do not all know it consciously. I feel as if we have a party here and I will place flowers on the table.

My subject this evening will be one that I hold closest to my heart and that is beauty. It does not have to be a tangible beauty; it can be the beauty that we discover when we find ourselves functioning as we hoped one day we would. There is an excitement in this self-discovery of the ability to be far more than we ever hoped or anticipated we ever could. It is beautiful to know that we contain the courage that would be there when we wanted it. It is beauteous that we have the warmth of understanding that we have acted appropriately. It is beauty when we feel ourselves following through instinctively with a generous gesture.

We are living in a day and age of great self-consciousness. There is a self-consciousness of trying to make ourselves what we wish we could be, and there is often an experience of finding that you are allowed to discover that you are becoming what you hoped that you could be. I hope that as I speak to you that there will be a gentle, collective recollection going on in you, as if you were slipping favorite photos from your memory bank. And they are not perhaps the photos of years gone by, but current photos of what is going on in your activities of daily living. 

After you have come to the end of your day, before your evening quiet -- perhaps you have a habit of reflecting about how the day went -- (and it's alright not to beat on yourself if it was not a terrific day or that you did not function at your best), but you have the satisfaction of knowing that tomorrow might come along better. 

In Hunnah's memory she has a little book where she wrote that her purpose was for beauty. There are other words that surround that statement, but that is one of the qualities of our many purposes, for our many goals, for the development of our personal experiences - the enlargement of compassion when someone does not react well with you -- (may it) be so satisfying to you that it too falls in the category of what beauty is.

A loss of self-consciousness is a lightening-up. It allows you to travel into areas where you could not have ever dared enter before. You allow yourself to meet people quite unlike yourself. There is a confidence that allows you to ease into situations that before, with conscious shyness, you would have passed by.

I hope that as you go forward into your week that you will allow yourself to reflect at the end of the day -- not scrutinize; it is not the same. The moments will make themselves known to you and it will be fragrant as a flower, a handful of flowers that you might pick on the walk.

Please do not be hard on yourselves, especially our young ones here. You are now entering the greatest part of your new life and that is a resting in your newborn self-confidence of the reality of your true being, and when you carry this acceptance of this new reality of your true self, you are indeed entering a state of rest. Your learning will expand. It is not a burdensome task. You will dine on the opportunity and it will be brought to the level where you can understand.

We have Hester here who has many years. She has this tremendous mother lode of memories, but she, too, is developing a new sense of what is important; her new moments will teach her. Life is ever new. You do not have to carry a heavy weight of yesterday, but the lightened freshness of the new day.

Hunnah has a very nice memory, and I use it because it is very, very important to her. It is simply (to make a story short) that if three days go by and you cannot share with yourself or another the glory of the living-ness and awareness of this new reality in you, then it's time to get to work. Go home. Climb up on the Father's lap. Let the Mother tend to your needs and bring you back to joyous learning, joyous walking the walk, effortless appreciation and the innocence and openness that is permitted when you know and live as you truly are, a child of the living God.

I've rather enjoyed myself, Tomas. (Group giggle) 

TOMAS: I am glad, Merium. Thank you. We arc having fun now, yes? 

MERIUM: Yes, we are. We are passing the feather back and forth.

TOMAS: Thank you. The floor is now open for questions or commentary.

Elizabeth: Well, I guess I have a question. I get confused when we start examining our motives, because I'm remembering a part in the Book where Jesus was talking about self-examination and I would like you to clarify this for me, if possible. Did I make my...?

TOMAS: Yes. I am aware of your point, and I am familiar with the point of reference, but as you grow, as you reflect upon your learning experiences, as you look at experience and determine that you could have handled it better and that next time you hope to do a better job, this is, in essence, a self-examination. It is another opportunity to be aware of an aspect needing attention toward self-mastery. It goes to your motives.

Granted, you enter the situation desiring to serve, for it is inherent in you as a child of God to want to serve. As you avail yourself of the Father, as you are affected by the Son, as you are activated by the Infinite Spirit, you will act. But if you are aware of what it is you aspire to do, you will act more effectively.

Elizabeth: But I'm still confused about how that is the same as starting to examine your motive. If I'm reviewing the day and I think I'm going to do a better job with something the next time, I-- 

TOMAS: Let me give you an example. Humanly speaking, you are in a situation; you look at it. You aren't completely happy with the results. They did not ring with clarity. They did not reverberate with appropriate harmony. There was not the Spirit of Truth that you had hoped. And so you look and you review the situation, the interaction, the response, the stimuli, the dialog, all the conditions, and you see what you brought with you, and you look to see if perhaps in your motives, there may have been tucked away in some dark corner a small fragment of superiority or a dark shadow of vindication or some imperfection of character.

It is not to say that you are to beat yourself up about it, no, but now that you see that had you not had that motive underlying, it may not have been discolored. We are speaking of the human animal, a highly conditioned human animal that functions in an extremely complex society.

Elizabeth: Well then, what was Jesus saying, then, when he said something about avoiding self-examination. Now, how does that differ? I'm confused about that.

TOMAS: I agree with you, Elizabeth, you make a good point, for the Master himself would say, "Just do it, and don't worry about the results. Let the chips fall where they may, for God has got all things in hand and if your desires are to serve Him, then you are doing fine." It is in our understanding of the desire to do His will on which I am focusing a certain amount of attention, such as the self-mastery aspect.

MERIUM: May I interject?

TOMAS: Yes, Merium. Perhaps you can assist.

MERIUM: When you are observing the personality -- You all have been through this self-examination. I am going to encourage you to do it ever so lightly. In the past I have asked to help, or have hoped I could help you to focus on serving the one Life, the truth of your Being, and it is sort of a tares and wheat principle, that when you focus on the purpose of your being and the qualities of your Godliness, that which is a quality within your developed personality that you do not like or is bewildering to you or you wish it would stay at bay, it will be starved out.

Remember, all of the development of your personality is to reinforce the personality that you interact with on a daily basis. It could be the lingering effects of the teaching of the parents; it could be the demands of the business in which you may find yourself; it could be in the new role perhaps, how a mother should be, how a wife should be; and this could go on endlessly, and you could be like a cat, constantly grooming yourself, pulling out snares and more washing and washing and washing.

What I would like to encourage is this idea of rest. You do not have to dwell upon your progress for the tiresome task of observing the upside when it is the glory that you are tending, like a fire within yourself, and as you interact with people and as you let this develop within yourself, your behavior toward them will be appropriate, and you can literally take no thought. If the force of the external situation is powerful enough that you, in this delicate state of being, back off and perhaps feel fearful or pulled in by the gravity of their powerful personality that is not of your vibrational frequency, you can pull in, like our friend described, and ask for help.

There is too much perfecting and grooming of the external personality that is being greeted to the public because if you look over history, the social way to be is constantly changing. It has gone from stiff and proper and meticulous to excessively casual and coarse, so you have to allow yourself to know Whom you are going to serve, and will you be tending to the fire in your heart or will you be outside polishing new white coating on your exterior to cover the blemishes?

I don't mean to be harsh, but it's a working thing that you have been, a tiresome one, this self-examination. What is going to go will be brought to your attention and how to attend to the challenges in a light way. Has that helped?

Elizabeth: Thank you very much, both of you.

TOMAS: I am reminded of the Master's instructions to teachers and believers, and he admonished that it was necessary to have tact and tolerance and that we must learn to prevail with others. And surely in developing tact and tolerance, indeed in developing and fostering all the fruits of the spirit, you must apply some examination to your own personage. There is not much more that humans like to do than pay attention to themselves, one way or another. It is fruitful to know yourself, that you may be more effective in the field.

Elizabeth: I see. Uh-huh.

TOMAS: Remember, too, that you are speaking to an old cultural anthropologist. I am conditioned also, you see, to study behaviors of peoples, and so this fascinates me. Do not think that I garnered my credentials academically only, no, but by also studying myself. I am not asking you to psychoanalyze yourself, for you are not necessarily becoming a psychologist, but as an active religionist you will be acting (Did you hear that? "Acting") and interacting with other religionists, other individuals who are sons and daughters of the Father, and so you learn to prevail with men and sometimes this means you need to do some examining of yourself in terms of your arena.

It is not necessary for you to examine yourself in terms of your worth for God. You do not need to do penance, do sacrifice, wonder if you are worthy of His love or of eternal survival. This is incorrect examination, for you are not qualified- to make that determination. This kind of self-abasement is damaging. By the same token, the potential exaltation of ego also is unnecessary and undesirable. That is an incorrect examination.

But examining how you react or respond to life, to your culture, to fellow believers, to the matters of life at hand -- this is the stuff that life is made of; this is the meat that feeds the kingdom builder; this is what whets the appetite for the ascent, for with each self-revelation and/or divine revelation comes increased truth, beauty and goodness within yourself and within your realm and within the Father's realm, which is what -- way back in the beginning -- you resolved you wanted to do. Make it so.

Elizabeth: I remember that when we did the fruits of the spirit, it was a kind of an examination itself that was rather different for me, in a sense, because I was striving to achieve those fruits occasionally in my life. I certainly was not able to implement them as much as I would have liked to, but I did achieve that occasionally, and that was why I really was so happy we did that, because that was one way of looking at one's behavior, I felt, in a very positive way -- for me, in any case.

TOMAS: Indeed, for everyone concerned. For as everyone makes strides towards perfection, everyone else benefits. Do not cease your efforts to prune your branches, to fertilize your soil, to reach for the sun(/Son), that you might bear fruit, fruit of the spirit.

Elizabeth: Well, this study of personality seems to be a kind of a looking at oneself, too, because in looking at others and enjoying them, you also then look at your own personality and you enjoy it, which is something rather new in the Christian way of doing things.

TOMAS: I am not particularly affiliated with the Christian way of doing things. Perhaps you would like to educate me.

Elizabeth: Well, of course, it's something we are trying to throw off here. You know, of course, Tomas, how we were brought up with all of this thing about ... original sin, I suppose, ... so much a part of us and our society that, to be released from it is so wonderful!

TOMAS: Surely it must rankle them, then, when they see you walking so tall and filled with the Holy Spirit. 

Hester: If they can see it!

TOMAS: Most assuredly their Thought Adjuster is resonating frantically within.

Hester: True.

TOMAS: I don't know that is true. I don't know that a Thought Adjuster is ever frantic. That was an inaccurate descriptive adjective.

Hester: Well, maybe it was a poor choice of words, but my reaction to my Thought Adjuster is that it is pretty active, and it has a way of slapping me around a little bit on occasion.

TOMAS: It is sometimes necessary, if only to get your attention for your own good. Did we not gloss upon, this evening, a reference to "hammering out" something? Justice?

Elizabeth: I think it was mercy, but I'll look at that part again.

TOMAS: Are there any other questions?

Wendy: A thousand of them, but I didn't write them down.

Elizabeth: Start with one.

TOMAS: I once had a session with a young woman who was very eager to meet with the spirit guides and when I asked for questions, she said, "Well, I had several when I was in the shower." (Laughter) That did me no good, but I know, however, that you are filled with questions and with wonder. It is not unnatural for you to not know quite what question to ask. Even my more advanced students are still stumbling to formulate their own souls' questions. I get lots of curiosity questions and some "intellectual" questions, but the greater, soulful, far-reaching, meaningful questions emerge as a result of our compatible discourses.

This is one of the reasons I have been urging my students to learn to communicate on a more substantial, in-depth level than they are accustomed to, for true communication can take place if it is given the opportunity. Not only does the external personality seek to be seen and heard, but the indwelling Thought Adjuster also needs your personality, so that it may express itself. And this is the basis of the marriage between you and your Thought Adjuster that evolves your own soul. You grasp onto the God Fragment and it works through you for personality expression. How can it express itself if you will not work with it, if you cannot recognize how it feels, what it sounds like, what effect it has on others? Many times our more substantial lessons are gotten to by -- what would you say, Merium? -- coming around to the back door to get in?

MERIUM: In my case, I would like for you to think of the back door as the myriad opportunities to accept any situation and know that at hand there is a proper response. I was thinking -- I should say I was putting up with Hunnah's eavesdropping on this conversation -- and it is, perhaps at her request that she who doubts the validity of my talks sometimes -- because she feels that our personalities are, in some ways, so much alike and wonders if her personality doesn't color my delivery . and it is true that it does happen, just as the personality of Gerdean colors the expression of Tomas' ability to teach . back doors are for neighbors. Back doors are short-cuts for friends.

It is true that there is one way to go and that is through the sincerity of the heart, and once you have made this established journey, there are back doors and side doors and those for your convenience, because you know now where you live! And there is no classic, sworn way that you have to be taught or how you must live within the framework of this discovery of Coming Home.

Every one of our talks involve the new and living way entering a conditioned way, and lofty ideas of truth being applied into the arena of your established habits. It is like bringing home a guest to dinner. The people at the table being your familiar world, and the guest, perhaps, being the Christ of your new intentions that you wish to expand.

And part of you feels divided. You hope this family that you have acquired will like this new fellow or friend and they do not know that you pay such total allegiance to this Christ that you have invited home to dinner, into every aspect of your life, that you are constantly, constantly being influenced by the opinions of your elaborately-woven life-style. And many of these patterns that you have woven, you must keep. So you are hoping that your new friend, this Christ presence, will allow you to keep some of these patterns that you have already woven, and others, weak threads in your pattern, will wither, dry up, and dissolve. They may be relationships or ideas.

So what I am touching upon here is a total freedom for you, as you evolve and experiment with your conditioned behavior and with the aura and fascination of the new expression within the framework of the old. Hunnah is looking forward to reading this paper. I am looking forward to Hunnah's humbleness. And I want to thank you for inviting me back in, Tomas.

TOMAS: Thank you, Merium . and Hunnah.

Hester: Tomas, I have a question.

TOMAS: Yes, ma'am.

Hester: I'll sort of blurt it out here so I can get it right. In this thing called Correcting Time in which we are supposed to be in at the moment? How long is this pattern or new attitude toward life going to go on, and is there.? In other words, is it to be accomplished rapidly? Or would it be like some experiences that take years to come about?

TOMAS: Thank you for your question, Hester, and I hope I do justice to it, but let me respond this way. The Correcting Time that you are experiencing now is rather like a spiritual renaissance and it will last depending upon how involved you are in it. If you are looking only for the froth and glitter of spiritual scintillation and the net value of angels, you will not last long in Correcting Time, but if you are a worker in the field, you will not cease your efforts until we have begun to realize our goal of Light and Life for Urantia.

The workers are few. We need more workers in the field. There are many who like to find a pied piper and follow him through the fields willy-nilly, playing, but there are a few who will truly work in the Father's vineyard, and these are those who are devoted, day after day, who humbly and earnestly and with deep joy, prepare the feast for the Guest they have invited: the Master, that they may sit at His feet and learn from Him how to experience Him . even more, how to know the Father, how to love their brother.

There is great joy in the kingdom, but it is not glitzy. Those who like the amusement park aspects of this spiritual renaissance are doomed to disappointment when they discover that it takes real guts, it takes real courage, it requires fortitude and stamina; it sometimes requires adversity, for this is how you grow, this is how you learn wisdom. I am not saying that you need to sacrifice or atone for your sins; I am not saying that, no. I am saying that in order for you to become a full-blown tree bearing fruit, you must be diligent in nurturing your soil and pruning away your branches. Not only is that parable true, but many others hold value, for here comes Abraham to discuss his vantage point. One moment.

ABRAHAM: Mark you well, indeed, I have come to sound the trumpet. I have come to shake you up. I have come to give you your orders, my soldiers. Remember my words for I am active, I am a General in the Lord's army. I train my troops to carry the pack that is at once heavy, but in the end is light. Your steps will gain precision, for you will go from being bumbling clods to being lifted up.

The analogies of military service are part of my mannerisms, you could say, for I have had the experience that would befit a military man approach. I always refer to you as soldiers of the circles. I always speak to you as if you were warriors, laboring in the war against fear, in the fight for faith. It is not only that you tend to your tree and do your horticulture well, but that you band with others in this noble march forward. It does require stamina, and yet those of you who begin to feel the precision and the disciplines of following orders (Have you not heard that in due

time you will be led not by a Thought Adjuster but by a Thought Controller?), you will sing to the radiance of those instructions, you will kneel to obey His orders.

I speak as one who knows. I have long fought in the battlefield against darkness. I am victorious, and my men, and my women --those brothers and sisters who do battle with me -- graduate to glory. My friends, be at peace. Gerdean used to fear me, but she has learned that I am just another uncle, and although my uniform has certain connotations, they are of an earlier conditioning. There is no real pain in this God's army. There is no blood spilled. It is a victory from the first moment. Carry on. Shalom.

Group: Thank you for coming, Abraham.

TOMAS: I am Tomas and I will certainly say "At ease." I am going to take my ease, as is Merium. We have had a full repast this evening. You are hungry little monkeys and we have been pleased to delight your palate.

My precious friends, we bid you a fond farewell, ... but not before Abraham prods me and says, "They need something to do!" One moment.

I will join with Merium and ask you this week to walk in beauty, to look at beauty, to recognize your own beauty, to see beauty in others. Behold your personality and recognize those things in it which are of natural beauty and those which are acquired beauty, those which are real beauty. And look at your friends and ascertain of them their beauty, their devotions, their adventures, their mischief, even, in good faith.

See the beauty around you: the physical beauty; see the beauty of relationship; see people interact and see it be beautiful. See the communications that occur between people you know and see how hard it has been to attain this high level of communication art and how they have succeeded. See the beauty in laughter. See the beauty in truth, even when the truth is piercing, even when the truth hurts for a moment. Look beyond that to see the beauty of the lesson learned. There is beauty everywhere! Beauty is part of The Father. Farewell.

Group: Thank you. Farewell.










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