2005-12-01. Motivation
Lightline #69
Topic: Motivation
Group: Lightline TeaM
Teacher: Tomas
TR: Gerdean
Opening
TOMAS: GREETING: Beloved company of listeners, I welcome you to another one of our informal gatherings, in order for the bridge to be spanned between your world and the invisible realm, in order for you to realize how fully embraced you are in the great reality of … how can I say? How can I convey how great it is, what this is that you are a part of? Words do not exist. They cannot convey the depth and breadth of the reality that we reduced to symbols when we call them “the Kingdom” or “heaven on earth” or “the Family of God,” but these handicaps must not stand in our way.
It is not so much the words that we want to convey to you anyway. We only need to use the words as tools to trigger in your consciousness that very awareness of your belonging of your being an integral part of this cosmic neighborhood, this galactic association, this fellowship in the spirit, this forward reach into divine reality, this throbbing and joyous condition of life eternal, in all its potential and all its vast array of variety, personality and experience.
TOMAS: I am Tomas. I am here this evening to visit with you and to act as your host. The preliminary words were brought to you by one higher than myself, and I have been given the opportunity now to reach out to you to help convey to you those concepts that will be helpful to you as you make sense of your life and find joy in service.
I thought perhaps this evening I could start us off by discussing a bit about motivation.
Lesson
When you understand your neighbor’s motivations, you can learn to love them. It is true, too, that when you discover your neighbor’s motivations you can find things about them that are loathsome and unlovely, for all evolving life is vulnerable to those animal elements such as self-centeredness, greed, ambition, lust and those qualities which leave much to be desired in terms of beatitudes.
The simple way to step over that handicap is to recognize this too shall pass, this is a part of the temporary, temporal existence; it is a part of the experiential palette. All humans have these animalistic qualities and, to some extent, all animals, including the human animal, perhaps even more particularly the human animal, manifest these qualities.
But underneath them are yet other motivations that are noble and good. If you spend time with the Divine in prayer, in an honest effort to understand your fellows, you will be given enlightenment. You will be shown motivation. You will recognize, through the Spirit of Truth, when the clarity of your reflections has hit home. And eventually, you will find things in this creature to admire and even emulate.
When all is said and done, the family of man is very simple. It is the mind of man that complicates the otherwise simple truth of being. Try to keep it simple. Not to say that you are simple-minded, which would not in itself be a disgrace, but that in keeping it simple, you are not clouding your mind and your emotions with those mental gymnastics that conspire to confound the simple truths of sonship, giving far more energy and importance to the animal estate than is necessary.
Allow your focus, rather, to reach for and remain in the area of affection — divine affection. If you understand the divine motivation, you can see truly that even unlovely mankind would prefer to follow the higher path, and would certainly rather be regarded as being on the higher path than willfully and stubbornly resisting divine guidance and insisting upon the lesser way.
To observe one’s motivation or to try to ascertain another’s is not judgment, nor is it even an assessment of their personality; it is an avenue of trying to understand, and in understanding, affection is allowed to take root and grow, tolerance becomes a means to an end, and friendship develops as an end in itself.
Most people are motivated by the same things. They want to be loved, they want people to think well of them, and they want to do something meaningful while they are here on this plane. And surely these are simple recognitions we can all embrace.
What can I embrace now of yours? What can we look at together? I have a question here. One moment.
Dialogue
Gerdean: This question reads, “Yes, its Felix again with his questions. I hope that you are doing great. I am fine, thank God. I wonder if you have heard something about a future ‘massive visitation’ from our brethren from ‘another of ‘Michael’s flocks.’ I would like to know what Tomas has to say about that. The thing is that things are happening that point to such an event and that it will very soon transpire. I would really like to know what Tomas has to say about this not because I worry or I’m scared, far from it, I am waiting for something like that to happen since it will make our ministry that much easier. At least that is how I see it.”
TOMAS: He would also like to know Gerdean’s thoughts on that but I’ll defer to Gerdean to express her thoughts. I will, however, offer mine.
Dear Felix, it is good to hear from you again and glad that you reach for me as a friend, as a mentor, in hopes of finding some solace to your concerns. For surely you have a concern, as it is the foundation of your curiosity. The concern is that there is much work to be done, and indeed there is. And as we look at it alone, one singular cell, we are all overwhelmed by the size of the work, if only because of the size of the universe, and that is only counting the universe we know!
Perhaps that universe that we know is our hometown, or our classroom, or our place of employment, or our apartment and our friends. But even here there will be signs of conflict and fear and darkness, and in particular, when those of you who have had your eyes opened to recognize the light of truth, the love of the universe, the love of God, the devotion of the heavenly helpers, and the joy in sonship and in friendship, you will not be still until all the world embraces these wondrous concepts.
Your country is at war. There are many problems afflicting your world. Much ignorance, prejudice, even hatred seem to prevail and thwart the light of truth at every opportunity. Is there a great crowd coming? Is there a massive movement? Is there an influx of assistance? Yes, of course.
It is coming as we speak. It is so much more today than it was last week. And it is even noticeably more today than it was 20, 40 years ago. It is ongoing. And, too, there was a time when contact of this nature or other highborn methods were not encouraged because you were not ready, you were not prepared, but you have been becoming prepared. You have been making those choices, those decisions that open the door.
You have been reaching out and through the grace of infinite mind, infinite spirit have been encountering others who think as you do or similarly, and so you have bonded together and created a movement. Indeed, you have created branches as if truth were an octopus and its many tentacles were the many movements at large in your world. These tentacles are even now reaching out, waving and luring, moving the living waters such that it will grasp yet more and further fish in the sea.
Father is indeed making you fishers of men. You have met your goal. You have surpassed your goal, in many ways, without your even realizing it. You may commend yourself for your steadfastness, for your long-suffering, and for your faith in the face of insuperable odds and difficult challenges. In times of sorrow and grief and suffering, you have prevailed. Not only have you prevailed, you have triumphed.
And as you triumph in the spirit, you open yet another ray of sunshine, another channel of reality that invites the next legion of angels and heavenly helpers to come and pick up where the last left off, for this truly is an advancing and forward moving motion, ascending in consciousness and advancing into light and life.
You are perhaps looking for a response such that, “Is there a fleet of ships hovering? And will they soon land? And will there inhabitants step out upon terra firma and learn to shake hands with mortals?” I cannot answer this question. This is not in my realm of authority. I am a teacher in the Teacher Corps and this is my job: to help you learn spirit truths.
Now, when I say, “I am here to teach you spirit truths, and I cannot address craft landing,” I am not saying that is not truth. I am saying that falls under the purview of others. And this, in a way, reflects back on my lesson about motivation. I am not motivated to discover many things because I know that they are under control. They are under the aegis of others, like myself, who seek to serve in the universe.
I am quite sure that the Magisterial Son is making preparation to arrive, but I am not on that committee. I do what I do because this is what I am assigned to do, and I love it! I get to interact with people like you and see the lights come on in your eyes. I can feel it, all the way across the airwaves. I can feel your Adjusters listening, being tweaked, so that the information that goes into your mind bank can be reviewed at leisure and as you are stimulated, as the days go by, and something may occur and you may recall something from our conversation that your Thought Adjuster will grab and hold onto so that you can look at it and ponder that point and feel fed and your soul thus is nourished.
This is my greatest joy. To me, it is the most important work. But everyone who is devoted to doing the Father’s will in the way that they feel they are personally led ought to have this kind of feeling. They ought to feel that this is the most important thing in the world for them to do, but they should also realize that others have their path to follow also, and they rightfully should have their complete heart wrapped around what it is they do for they do it with love, they do it to serve, they do it in joy. In this way we are all fulfilled and we are all marching in the grand parade.
Does this help?
Felix: Yes. I really appreciate your beautiful and kind words, and you have indeed answered my questions … beyond my expectations. I will just humbly continue God’s work until the rest of my days. You can be assured of that.
TOMAS: Indeed. Indeed. I take great comfort in that, Felix. I look forward to working with you throughout eternity, into infinity.
Felix: So do I, thank you.
TOMAS: Thank you. Are there other questions?
Tom: Tomas, our text mentions that you can’t love someone by mere force of will and you also stated that you can love your neighbor when you discover their motivations. Is this the same rule that you would apply to forgiveness, only in the sense that when you love someone they’re neutral towards you, you don’t know them yet, but when you forgive somebody, they have already wronged you in some sense? Are the rules for engaging forgiveness somewhat different?
TOMAS: Well, they are, perhaps, opposite, but the principle is the same. Let us look at that. You cannot love someone by an act of the will. Only in the ideal can you say “I LOVE” as you say “I AM.” I am of God; I am of love. And in the ideal, I have nothing but love to offer. And there in that transcendent space is where we would like to live; however, we are only permanent citizens of that sublime space as our soul is fused in forever faithful consort with the Indwelling Adjuster.
That, of course, is the goal, that we are incessantly in a state of love. And so it is right that we affirm and confirm and reiterate, “I love, I love, I love,” for that is the goal. That is the prize. However, it is also true that it must be actualized by experiential living.
Here it is not possible to be honest and say you love someone when they are hurting you because you are angry, your are deprived of your happiness; you are perhaps in physical pain or emotional pain or inconvenienced or any number of real and human reactions to others behaviors. And to the degree of offense, to that same degree will your love be crippled and handicapped.
When someone kills a loved one out of meanness, when someone rapes a child without good cause, these things are horrible acts that are surely brought about by sub-humans, and these, if you are to be at peace with yourself, will haunt you until you learn forgiveness and, ultimately, love makes that possible.
It is not possible for you to put yourself in a position of identifying so closely with that kind of sinner that you would identify and say, “Yes, I know what it is to murder my friend. Yes, I know what it is to rape a child.” This is not possible. But the principle remains that if you can see that this person has behaved in such a way not consciously, willfully, but because they were sick, they were lost, they were less than what they want to be, they were outside the sanctuary that you call Home, they were disconnected somehow from their Source. Perhaps they never knew their Source. Perhaps they come from such a culture.
But you can see with the eyes of that love that you long for and that you are in your heart of hearts, you can see and you can forgive based on the understanding that they truly do not know what they are doing.
You have to let that go. Otherwise, you will twist your own emotional psyche into knots and make yourself sick as a result of carrying around that burden of anger and angst.
When it is gone, when you give it to God, when you relinquish your tenacious hold on your anger, on your lack of forgiveness, your heart is opened to the light, to the fresh air, to the healing waters. You can let that person go. By not holding it against them any longer, you have forgiven them. To the extent that you need to forgive, just let it go.
And this is possible because you live in love. You cannot love monsters, even if you want to. But you can love, and with that love that you live in and with, you can see more clearly why people act the way they do. Or don’t. And when–
Tom: So you would say that to love, you would discover their motivations and to forgive you discover your own motivations?
TOMAS: Perhaps, although it is not possible to separate yourself from others when you are in this contemplative mode, since others are an extension of yourself. The true act of loving and forgiving is in the Oneness that Love offers. Love is the citadel where you can reside and forgive anything and everything around you because you are washed in love. You have to let go of your hurt and your anger to get into that space, when it has to do with someone who has interfered with your joy. When you forgive others you reap the reward. It is essentially for you and for your peace of mind that you do these things.
You do it all for yourself. The effects, then, later, others benefit from, as you serve, as you pass on what you have learned. This is the existential aspect of reality. It’s all about you. But it’s all about you in terms of your cosmic connection; otherwise, it would all be about you, the ego, and you wouldn’t care if you forgave someone else. You see?
Tom: Thank you.
TOMAS: Yes, brother.
Student: Tomas, what about anger at injustice as a motivation for trying to bring justice to the world?
TOMAS: Well, that’s a good one. That one has a lot of energy. It’s used a lot. But it is like a firecracker that is hot and loud and does a lot of damage and is short-lived. Better to smolder with your anger than to explode with it. Better to find something that makes you angry and develop a progressive and positive plan to eradicate that which makes you angry. And I say this in a positive sense, not in a negative sense. I am not suggesting that you plot to blow up a building because you don’t like the way the proprietor runs his business; this is not my suggestion.
But when you are angry, it is very personal and something is not to your liking. Generally, when enlightened people feel anger, it is because they are offended on behalf of something they value, not themselves. It’s a principle, yes, but it has to do with the community or family values or something bigger than simply the self. This is what motivates many service organizations, and many political positions. Anger at something.
Hatred is also a motivator, and it is tenacious. I say this as one who has studied human nature, so that I can deal more effectively with my students, knowing that you are human and you have the full array of human emotions. Vengeance is another motivator, but all of these are lesser motivators. Yes, they are effective. Yes, you can get things done. But are they positive? Are they enduring? Are they long-lasting? Are they effective for the right reasons?
You can understand why someone would do something that required forgiveness, even if it was in retaliation for a wrong done to him. You can understand this. But that does not make it right. Try to do the right thing. Not just because you are motivated. Does that make sense?
Student: Thank you, Tomas.
Marty: Teacher Tomas, it is Marty here.
TOMAS: Yes, Marty, my friend.
Marty: I just want to thank you for being here with us this evening and thank you for that wonderful spiritual lesson you gave us there this evening. I was reminded of material that I read from the Marin County group in which Christ Michael spoke of mercy, and there was quite a wonderful lesson about mercy and I was reminded of it when you spoke of love and forgiveness this evening. I just feel that this kind of mercy in which we come to understand our differences is a line halfway between love and forgiveness, which you spoke of this evening.
TOMAS: Yes, mercy is the healing balm of a certainty. With all the possibilities and actualities that flesh is heir to, mercy is like a divine intervention. It is the salve that heals the wounds that come about as a result of living the life in all its unpleasantness and difficulty.
Having mercy on one another and on one’s self is the beginning of graciousness, and when you begin to deal with one another graciously, you begin to develop divine affection and you are able then to work with one another in ways that will enable you to prevail. Mercy is not simply making excuses for people; it is a genuine application of yourself, your divine self, in human terms, that reflect a love-saturated soul.
Marty: Yes, I would just like to say that I thought of something today of that fact of it being . ..it’s a gift from God to be able to understand unity of potential in our fellows even though we are earthbound like this and it seems to me that this would be the gift that a teacher could give to their students, is one that you give to us and I think that when I was a schoolteacher, the reason for my success in that work is that I was able to relate to my students in their potential and that is what I feel that mercy is all about.
TOMAS: In many worlds, mercy is not even necessary. However, on a world such as this, where would we be without mercy — kindness, compassion, tolerance, patience and fortitude? Any elder will manifest these qualities to the youth, any teacher to his students, any parent to his child, and this brings me again back to my theme and to my conclusion, about motivation.
If we are motivated by love, and we manifest that through a fatherly affection, we will have mercy on our squabbling children as they learn, as they mature, as they grow. We will have patience as they are cruel to each other, knowing this too shall pass. We will not fall into that brotherly love paradigm which allows for sparring and “he said/she said” as if to get even, or to demand justice, but from the parental motivation you can see the end from the beginning and through love and mercy, He will prevail.
Closing
I take my leave from you my children and loyal students. It has been, again, a privilege to serve, to be with you, to feel your presence and to know that your souls reach for truth. I hope I have been able to provide some food for thought to nurture your soul and to bring joy. Amen and farewell.
Note
Tomas is a Teacher in the Teacher Corps under Machiventa Melchizedek. The LightLine telephonic broadcast is through the auspices of the Association for Light and Life (www.associationforlightandlife.com). Teaching Mission transcripts, including the LightLine transmissions, are archived at www.tmarchives.com. All rights to the material shared on this forum, past or present, is reserved by the Teaching Mission in the name of the author, which authorship is recognized, for these purposes, as being the product of a co-creative relationship between human receiver and spiritual transmitter. Further use is by permission only.
