[tmtranscripts] N. Colo. TeaM 6/21/02

[James Andrews]

Group:     Northern Colorado TeaM Group, Lesson #19

Topics:     Call for Teachers and Further Instruction on Community
                       Teaching social ethics
                        Infrastructure of belief, ethics and morality
                        Parents as the basic core of ethical conduct
                        Modern children need ethical instruction
                        Strength of character
                        Successful leadership
                        Basic foundation of trust
                        Ethical oversight of adults
                        Creating positive social change
                        Invitation to write a book on parenting
                        Producing successful generations
                        The compassion of Jesus
Teacher:     Rayson (TR Daniel)

June 21, 2002

[Session began with Rayson requesting group members to link-up with the merkaba, spend a long period in Stillness with the Father, followed by sending merkaba energy to those in need.]

Rayson: As you come back to consciousness, please visualize your connection with the merkaba. Feel and be united energetically, consciously, with the group, with the larger consciousness that surrounds you and enfolds you. 

We have two topics tonight to discuss; one is a call for teachers. You may be thinking that we are calling for Celestial Teachers, but that is not the case. We are calling for teachers, individual mortals who are courageous enough to step forward and volunteer, to teach with us, to aid us in our endeavors, just as Daniel does. We are not asking you to start a church or midweek study classes, but simply to be present and available to do this work with us. What would it be like to have a group where you did not have a voice that you could listen to? Think about this, please. We know that you have the "will" to TR, to be a co-creative teacher with us; it is a matter of the courage to try, the courage to feel foolish, courage to appear only to yourself as foolish when you try to TR. The group does not stay the same, but grows and changes, and so too, will this group. You need only to convey your wishes to Michael and Nebadonia, and to myself, if you wish, to let us know that you would like to learn how, and to begin. If you are saying, "I think that is something I could do," then, there very possibly is. I will let this topic rest at this time, but know that it is a constant issue with this group and many other groups, where there is a need for emerging and budding TR's, so that the well of expertise is full and available.

Now, back to our main topic of Community. We gather many of our lessons from practical events that are occurring in your society and your communities and your families, your home, as you speak with others, as you read your newspapers, as you shake your head and think, "this could be better," or, "this is wonderful." And tonight, we will discuss the aspect of teaching ethics, social ethics. This is the infrastructure of moral and ethical belief. In your communications infrastructure of a community, you would have fiber optics, you would have copper wires and you would have microwaves for your cell phones, television cabling and things like that. You would have a supply of water for each house, you would have garbage disposal, highways, streets, public lighting, ambulance services, fire services, police services, things of that sort that hold the community together functionally, operationally, at the material level. Yet, a society with all these things, even advanced technologies in the neighborhood, will all be for naught, if the infrastructure of belief and ethics and morality is not present.

We have spoken to you briefly about this in the past, and we are not on a pulpit, we are not preaching, we are not giving you the "thou shalts," or the "thou shouldst," or the "you shouldn'ts," but simply giving you the dictums for a long-term society, a society filled with thousands of communities and neighborhoods and families that survive intact, rather than falling apart due to lack of internal fortitude on the part of the individual. Once again, the foundation for ethical conduct and indoctrination is in the family, in the home, where the parents are. And that is why parents must learn and have within themselves, the basic core of ethical conduct as a part of their behaviors intrinsic to them on a moment-to-moment, minute to minute basis that is part of their thinking, part of their words and part of their behavior. That it finds expression, each moment in that person, through those three media. 

In a procreative family that is raising children, it is very important that parents take a very directive approach towards indoctrinating ethics, and social conduct in their children. I know that you are aware that your older generations, the ones even that Daniel and the older members of our group were raised in, that you were raised with "shoulds" and "should oughtas" and "should nots" and "thou shalt nots"-those rules which were just given to you to obey. But more is required of parents today of their children, for these children that are coming into your world now, are most enlightened, and most willing to accept these ethical instructions, easily, and to incorporate them willingly. 

Oh yes, we know that there is a difference between individuals and even between the genders of children, but this nurturing ground of ethical, social conduct in the home will be ingrained in these children, (even children who are resistant,) to the point where they will be able to choose accordingly, when they are adults. When parents do not share these guidelines, rules of ethical, social conduct, then the children are left without inner guidance. This is the basis of the "social conscience," what is right and what is wrong. And in today's society, this culture across the world, whether in technologically advanced nations such as this, or in less technologically advanced nations, children are coming into the world who are ready to receive these instructions. The individualism of this society offers a disparate position for the child, for they do not know what may be right or what may be wrong, and most importantly, they would not know why of the difference. Whereas in older generations, you were taught, "obey these things," "do as I say," and you did (or you didn't, and you were punished.) Children today, are easily accepting of explanations of why they must do something and why they must not do something.

I have spoken in generalities about ethical conduct and that is the nature of the discussion tonight. I am not offering you a textbook of this instruction, though one must be prepared soon for advanced families, with children who are enlightened. Social conduct that is productive has inherent in it an "ethical backbone" that gives it strength to endure many ups and downs of social change. When this is absent, your society, a society, will lose its form and will not be able to hold itself erect and move forward in time. It will become dis-eased, morally and ethically. It would be easy to point out many ethical breaches in your society today. Your society is particularly having trouble, difficulty, dealing with financial matters at this time. Whether it is corporate accounting, whether it is corporate profits, whether it is hiding expenses, whether it is spending too much money in the household, or in the nation, of having material goods to "look good" when these goods cannot be paid for. 

When one of the parents goes to work because they feel they have to live in a certain neighborhood and that their children go to certain schools, where it might be most productive if the parent stayed home to raise the children and be there when they came home from school to help guide them during the waking hours and prepare them for the sleeping hours, reading them bedtime stories of ethical/moral natures. Aesop's Fables certainly were good, very simple. They weren't "Game Boy," were they? No, they were very simple, and with these children today, it's not enough just to read the story and say good night, but to have a time of inquiry of examination of those simple stories. What is the moral of the story? Can you remember or see in your mind the pictures of some of those characters in those stories, such as, "The Crow and the Fox," and many more?

A society's ability to endure to move forward as a whole is only as capable as its individuals are morally and ethically able to sustain that. There is a time to teach children to be rugged and individual, but there is a time to teach children to be nurturing and caring and cooperative and supporting of their fellows, of each other. Not everyone is strong and capable of being alone and surviving and doing well. Being strong does not mean making others look small, for the truly strong are those who are like your Creator, Michael, when he came here as Jesus. You know that he was a strong individual and he was able to say, "No, not this way; there is another way." Strength does not emanate from the ability to be calloused, cold, but to be true to character, to be ethical, moral, to exude an inner strength of rightness. Rightness that endures, not rightness by position, religious position or political position, but from the interest of others, for the strong need others to lead, and those who are less strong, need leaders who are strong, to lead them well. What are the ethics of successful leadership? How does one sustain successful leadership? How does one sustain successful parenting? How is one to be an ethical parent? 

And it is not only deciding for yourself what is right, it is not only deciding what is right for your child, but it is also teaching your child to know and to behave and to think in right terms. It is one thing to be "righteous;" it is quite another to be "self-righteous." Right living is always successful. It does not jeopardize the individual or others, but upholds self and upholds the self of others. If I were to give an assignment for the Teaching Mission, to those who publish and those who write, it would be to collect an operational manual for parenting at the ethical level of instruction and indoctrination for children. And it begins-yes, yes, you know where it begins-it begins at the time, at the moment of conception, and proceeds through the era of gestation, to birth, to infancy, to childhood and young adulthood. The basic foundation of the individual consciousness is trust; you must feel safe, first, in order to trust; and you must be able to trust first, before you can love. We offer no reward for this compendium of instruction, other than the shear knowledge and awareness that it is needed, it is timely, and that it has a very good intention and purpose. It need not be longer than a hundred pages. You have read the book by Robert Fulgum, Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten? It's a wonderful book! It has some of those thoughts in it that are very practical and useful.

As you associate with your friends who are adults, who are responsible for their own lives, do not be too reluctant to withhold your comments or inquiry to them about their unethical behavior, or an unethical position they may take on an issue. You need not come from a position of "righteousness" and say they are wrong and they are "less than," but ask them how they came to that position, what is their interest in that. Who provides the ethical oversight to adults? Well surely, innocent children provide the best ethical oversight to any adult, for they are naturally innocent, naturally accepting and loving, yet they are without authority and they are without voice and they are without social position to criticize or question adults. So it must be other adults who ask these questions. There are tactful ways of doing this without being critical, without being self-aggrandizing, without becoming a fundamentalist, without being domineering, but simply offering another perspective to that individual. And it may be a body of individuals; it may be that you are on a school board or a community committee. Surely in this era when there are so many homeowner's associations in communities and neighborhoods, that there is a place for speaking wisely. And do not expect that your words will always be accepted eagerly; and do not anticipate that your wisdom may be endorsed publicly. 

When political interest gives way to community interest, then you will begin to see positive social change. When your bodies of individuals in groups and associations begin to have a social reality, an awareness of what works and what does not work, and then apply that to their area of expertise, then there will be positive change. When the operations, or when the dialogue between individuals, and an individual and a decision making body is transparent, when everything is known to everyone, then decisions can be made more rationally. You will hear us speak about this many times again in the future. The focus is upon the children. It is not that we don't think that you can change your society today, but if you can have a good, positive, constructive influence upon children, they will be more capable of making decisions that are less self-interested, or less centered upon their own needs and are more focused upon the needs of all, upon the community, upon the family. 

This is the time for questions, if you have any. (Long pause.) [Rayson aside: So you see Agatha, when there is this long absence of anyone speaking, and the eyes of this person are closed and I am unable to see responses of individuals, it is hard to know when to close the question asking time!] (Group laughing, including Agatha.)

Student: I have a half-formulated question. Would you like the half?

Rayson: Go ahead and "cook this egg" first!

The offer and the invitation to write a book, a short book on ethical parenting, is needed. We are in no doubt that all of the parts and pieces already exist in various documents, and may even be found within the binding of a single book, at present. What is needed is a research effort to find this, and to identify this, and give it validity/validation, and to title it and to take ownership of it for this Teaching Mission and the Correcting Time. There must be a library of documents that assist individuals in the various stages of their life experience, whether as young adult, whether as fully mature adult, or procreative adult, parent, parent with teenagers, parents with their own parents and grandparents, and finely, as a grandparent. What documents are needed to help guide the life formation of individuals and to families in the communities, and into a society? Think in terms of long-term. Think in terms of societal, family, community sustaining guidance and wisdom. Those truths that are enduring, those living pieces of wisdom that help guide individuals in the formation of their own lives and the lives of their children, and their associations with others. For there are some things in your society, and in all societies respective to each planet, that do not change.

Student: One of the things that some of my colleagues and I have discussed over the years is the absence, particularly in our high schools, of any instruction, any class on parenting and that there really needs to be information given about developmental stages of children and what are realistic expectations at two and at six, fifteen, and so on. The fact that we try to prepare our young people in so many technical, mathematical, scientific ways, but not many in any way in really effective parenting.

Rayson: We agree. There is a need for that, and there is a need for a non-religious way of presenting that material. There are many wrong ways of doing this, but there are several right ways of doing it as well, ones that are productive and honor the individual, honor the individual as needing to know this information. Children, who are able to beget children, need to have this information. We agree. How would you like to proceed?

Student: I've heard of classes in life, parenting where they have a little belly-pack they carry around for the nine months, with the added weight in front of them, and they are taught about childcare-at least that aspect of parenting, becoming a parent. And I believe those classes carry on with a family-what's needed to sustain a family and support them in terms of the ideals, the ethics of family living. We have a friend in our study group who has produced a little manual of marriage and family, the ethics of marriage and family, and perhaps it would be an excellent starting platform for producing the little book that you are talking about.

Rayson: Yes, the beginnings are here, aren't they? It is not that the information is not available, it is a matter of making it concise and perhaps in the form of several small books that are manageable, books that are not intimidating to the individual parent-to-be, or to the child who may pick these up. This is a beginning and we encourage you to pursue this. This is not a mandatory requirement, only an invitation to you. You have the interest; you have the inclination, and the energy to do so. Know that we will be there to assist you and guide you to the new areas where the information is and how to move ahead with this. 

Student: I've often had thoughts about doing something along these lines. I seem to have a little trouble with its starting point.

Rayson: You needn't start at the beginning, you can start in the middle if you wish, or start at the end and work backwards. Open your mind to Divine Mind, Cosmic Mind, the mind of Nebadonia and you will receive a great wealth of guidance. Be accepting of the flexibility of mind, rather than the structure that you may have perceived that exists. It is like a cube of data; you can slice it, you can cut it, you can put it in any different order, but it's all there, and any direction that you put it, you will see it in a new light. So it is not one way of looking at it. Be comfortable with whatever you have, and be accepting of more.

This should be a topic that you will carry with you in your minds on a daily basis. Your society has lost many of its attachments to its roots, the moral and ethical roots. It has changed many of these into political irons to be forged for interests other than families and individuals. Think once again about the past, the origins of your families, the reasons why people came to this country and what processes support successful families. As you visit and speak with your friends and others, find the families that are long enduring, successful, generation after generation. You will find several common elements: 1) Is a successful, self-sustaining enduring gene structure; 2) Healthy minds, a genetic mind consciousness from their family strain which is positive and constructive. You'll find enduring beliefs, an inner ethic, whether it is simply a good work ethic that expands to family ethic, intimate ethic, community ethic, one that is supportive of others without dictating their course in life. You needn't look far for those forces and elements that cause degeneration in families; these are rampant, readily available, and easy to see. If you have children, grandchildren, or are going to have children, think in terms of them being responsible adults and have them begin to emulate those behaviors now, whether it is caring for their younger siblings-which is surely a wonderful foreground-in which they can be active to learn the do's and don'ts and whys of those behaviors. 

One does not learn compassion from books; but one learns compassion from having received compassion, by understanding the compassionate nature of one who cares. Jesus was your example of the compassionate brother, the brother who was also father in his watch care and over care of his siblings. Look past the distortions of the traditional Christian beliefs that are portrayed and given to many, but look to the deeper story of Jesus that is given in depth in the last section of The Urantia Book. The lessons there for children, for young adults, for adults and the elderly, are all there. Pick one that you would like to work on, and then do so. And when you come into situations that require an extra step, an extra effort, a higher ethic, ask yourself, "What would Jesus do?," and then do it. "What would Jesus say?," and then say it. "What would Jesus think about this situation?," and think it. We cannot offer you a truer example of a right living individual in family and in community, and in its relationship to the civil authority, the state. 

We will leave you now, this evening, and wish you well on your way this week. We look forward to being with you in the days of the conference and you can be accepting that we will be eavesdropping on many conversations. We love you, and we appreciate you. We are very grateful and glad that you are here, and we know that you have heard, both with the ear and with the inner ear. Your life is not easy; its lessons are given up not easily, either. But when you think of each moment of your life, and each contact with other individuals, and in your thoughts about yourself, there are lessons there. And review what the Master said in these situations. You do not see us; you do not interact with us often; we do not speak with you or guide you often, unless you ask. And so, the example of Jesus, of Christ Michael in His last bestowal, provides the clearest example of a right living individual, with himself, with his Thought Adjuster, with his family, and with his community. Good night. (Group: Good night and thank you, Teacher Rayson.)

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