1999-12-14-Paradox & Irony
Butler PA #77
Contents
• 1 Heading
o 1.1 Topic: Paradox & Irony
o 1.2 Group: Butler TeaM
• 2 Facilitators
o 2.1 Teacher: Tomas
o 2.2 TR: Gerdean
• 3 Session
o 3.1 Opening
Topic: Paradox & Irony
Group: Butler TeaM
Facilitators
Teacher: Tomas
TR: Gerdean
Session
Opening
TOMAS: : The circuits are clear; we may proceed. Good evening, my friends. I am Tomas, your Teacher. How are you all this evening?
GROUP: Great, thank you. Very well.
TOMAS: : We proceed in good faith. Your initial reading from the text Pages 51-2 is always stimulative of those circuits which give rise to a recognition of your association with divinity and thus we are more a part of your frame of reference. It would seem, based upon your reading and upon our e-mail inquiry, that our subject this evening again is relating to comparisons of paradox and irony. I will give you the floor, Thoroah, to put the discourse on the record.
THOROAH: Thank you, Tomas. From the e-mail from Sivad:
Tomas, some time back you invited me to ‘sit beside you and contemplate together’ the meaning and relation of paradox and irony. I wanted to let you know that I have enjoyed the fruits of your invitation and would offer you my thoughts and await your comments.
I have observed that when the infinite finds conceptual expression in the realm of the finite, it always wears the clothing of paradox, whereas its concrete action on the mortal stage abounds with irony. In this manner they appear related much as the concept of philosophy and the action of religion.
Was it not the Master himself who spoke in parables often wrapped in paradox, and when we beheld the concrete illustration of his teaching, it appeared as irony? Consider his statement that ‘we must lose our life in order to gain it’ and ‘the last is first and the first is last’ in the context of the meal with prominent Pharisees where Jesus was met with the adoring gratitude of Mary Magdalene. Was not Mary one who had lost her life in this world as far as Jesus’ hosts at dinner were concerned, and yet she was the very one who came nearest to the Master with her humility and adoring appreciation of the mercy and love exhibited in his teaching and countenance while those who would have been expected to appreciate his teaching most were furthest from him? And again, was not the blind man healed of his affliction among the very least in all the land, but his testimony all but challenged the most august of ecclesiastical bodies with his simple eloquence and wit such that they began to feel uncomfortable with the truth he so dramatically proclaimed?
I am not unaware of the pejorative meaning of irony linking it to insincerity as used by the Midwayers in their composition of the narrative of Jesus’ life and teaching when describing the comment of Pilate when he said to Jesus, “What is truth?”,
[UB 185:3.4] as well as the various meanings of irony employed in drama and literature, but what I witness in my own experience and that of others is that this meaning is becoming transformed along with the life of our world to where it is often observed that when we behold the upending of the expected order by the unexpected manifestation of the ‘superior’ often within the form of the ‘inferior’, we say “How ironic!”, not to mock the good and true, but to recognize that God may actually be jesting with our settled presumptions of the same in a loving manner?
Following a different tack, I wish you to know how much I have treasured our sessions together with Gerdean and Thoroah as well as others even if I have known you but briefly, and the thought of your departure along with them has me grieving as I will miss you immensely. Even though I know you may visit from time to time and whisper words of encouragement and counsel, the opportunity for nurturing cosmic friendship within the context of these meetings is one that I can only replace by drawing ever closer to Father. Love, Sivad.”
TOMAS: Thank you, Thoroah, and thank you, Sivad, for your further commentary and study on this most intriguing topic. It is a study indeed in relativity. Your views reveal the eye of the beholder, and therein is the greatest irony, perhaps, that you who can see can see also those that do not. The light side would be along the lines of the remark overheard by Thoroah recently wherein he indicated that the only thing necessary was to turn life inside out. All of this has to do with perception, and those of you who have been born of the spirit have a new perception indeed. The experience of life gives rise to many paradoxical situations even among those who are born of the spirit, in order to further your experiential wisdom, and also in order for you to be an inspiration to others as to how you might endure the irony of the moment.
The experiences, such as are indicated from your reading on page 51 about the inevitabilities of life, learning experiential lessons of value to increase your appreciation of the attributes of God so as to embrace them as your own, is an on-going process. The levels, however, of appreciation for these attainment levels vary according to your commitment to your spiritual path and your ability to withstand the growth experience itself. This is the qualifier whereby many give up the struggle, for they cannot see the love and mercy of God in the seemingly unfair circumstances of experiential life. Be assured, however, that it is not the Father’s sense of humor that enjoys observing you struggle with your growth. Indeed is He in your corner and in support of your on-going decisions with the caring of the supernal Being that He is. It is only the lesser being who finds humor in the foibles and failings of its fellows.
THOROAH: What about when we find humor sincerely in our own failings? Being able to love ourselves enough to find some humor?
TOMAS: : This is altogether different.
THOROAH: Yes.
TOMAS: : For you are the one who has the authority to reveal to yourself with affection your own stumbling blocks en route to your recognition of your own growth, and when your experience is expressed and appreciated by others in mirth then you have rejoiced in kind. This is healthy. It is a result of your acquiescing to an appreciation of the relativity of your perfection.
It is not, obviously, gracious to laugh at others’ difficulties, even though it is common practice to do so. Slapstick comedy is well loved by many, and it is an art form that pokes fun at the human condition, and so there are occasions of enjoying the universality of humanity, enabling you to find humor in your collective condition, in order to appreciate your commonality with humanity, not your superiority over them.
My friend, I would like to remark for a moment regarding your most touching sentiments having to do with our association and the very valuable testimony of the experience of hearing the Teacher or interacting with the Teacher as compared to reading words provided by and through a Teacher. Your emotional content is a supreme example of how it is that our relationship is personal, and I, too, will miss your immediacy and occasional social contact.
Your appetite has been whet, as they say, and I am also, in part, reluctant to vacate this Teacher Base which we have so firmly established here. Were you or anyone inclined to open your own circuitry to my existence, my presence, I would be more than glad to befriend you in this fashion through yourself or through another. I do not belong to Gerdean. I utilize her because she is willing to accommodate me and we work well together, but I am not exclusively attached to her and am most interested in remaining in contact with those individuals that I have had the pleasure and privilege to become acquainted with and to know and love and teach and befriend in my sojourn here in this capacity as your Teacher.
It is my supreme pleasure to allow that there are other Teachers in this quadrant, and there are many, many Teachers in the wings, as it were, awaiting the opportunity to come on-line and teach in just this fashion. Remember the notation that love is the benign virus? Well, the fact of these transmissions, these visitations, is a loving gift to Urantia from Michael, thus we are a part of this benign virus and so I will, in good humor, state/aver that we are also contagious! And as you have been exposed to us, you might just come down with something and begin to feel the effects of the contact.
I thus invite you, Sivad, to embellish your skills in Stillness and sense my presence, for I will come to you when you invite me, and as you become willing to take the leap of faith, I will be happy to be with you and speak through you and teach through you as I know you would enjoy and benefit from. In any case, I am not far from you. I embrace you. I look forward to all of our meetings throughout eternity, in any capacity that we see fit.
