1996-09-25. Spiritual Poisons, Future Unknown
Nashville #28
Topic: Spiritual Poisons, Future Unknown
Group: Nashville TeaM
Teacher: Rayson, Ham
TR: Rebecca
Opening
Rayson: Greetings, I am Rayson and I am happy that Ham has allowed me to speak today.
Lesson
Speculation
Rayson: There are certain of you who are worried or are wondering about your lives ahead on this planet, Urantia. Are worried about earth changes or are confused concerning the tree of life, or are concerned about the Melchizedek arrival. You shall all know the reality that is existence on your plane carries with it uncertainty and un-knowning-ness concerning future events and you are all speculating we feel too much.
When you are given a tiny bit of information, you expand it and make it more or different that it was intended. I understand that this is normal and natural human being-ness to try to understand everything that you can but you must show more caution and restraint in your own speculations. Remember the apostles listened sometimes with half their ears. They took what they could grasp and expanded on it, and discarded what they thought or unconsciously did not fit with their preconceived ideas.
We want to caution you all in the same way. You know some of the past and rely much on the Urantia book for this understanding, but the past will not repeat. This is a new time. I understand that you try to put things in ways you understand and think in your mind “well this future time will be like this in the Urantia book” or your other reference frames. We are not usually allowed to correct erroneous thinking, specifically. But I do want to caution you all lest you build castles in the air and are disillusioned with the teaching mission when they crumble or fall. That is my message, thank you, farewell, Ham is present.
Ham: Greetings, children, I am Ham and I greet you with much joy. You all are truly making great progress in the spirit, you are moving mountains with your firmness of faith and your trust in the Father.
Power, Trust
Spiritual power comes only to those whose motives, whose soul, whose mental understandings have all been cleansed of the contaminations of fear, pride, of prejudice. Much of your lives are concerned with this cleansing process. Where are your fears, where is your unforgive-ness, where is your sternness or blocks in your attitudes towards others? To gain the power of the spirit, which is all power, all these spiritual poisons must be abandoned.
The Master said, blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. This is his way of saying that the spiritually cleansed are given insight into the heart of the Father. When you see God, do you not see everything? Do you not see his purpose? And can you not align yourself with his will when all things are plain to you?
Spiritual power comes in many ways, it is the power to heal, the power of foresight, the power to see into your brother’s heart, the power to expand your potentials, the power of love itself. Spiritual power trusts, and this trust is the hardest thing to achieve for in trusting you are letting go of your own initiatives, your own plans, your own understandings of every situation.
Trust is not just some vague notion that everything will work out in the end. Actual spiritual trust can be a daily or even an hourly exercise in letting go. But, or course, you must do the work that is given you, it is the outcome that you must leave to the Father. You know that in this world you must toil to earn your bread, and this is the way of this world. So, if you toil, you can trust that the bread will come, and if you toil, doing God’s will, in the very most specific way you can understand it, then there must be a trust that the bread will come.
You cannot plan your futures. You can try, but in the end what you can do is toil and trust. I understand that many of you are planning for your futures in very minute detail and there is nothing wrong with doing this. However, the winds of chance blow across all lives and your well laid plans are blown to dust. This will not make you fearful if you have learned to trust and have exercised your spiritual power.
Children, my greatest advice I have to give you is to exercise your faith, learn to live in faith, learn to toil in absolute trust that your bread will be forthcoming. If you can do that, you will be very far along the road and you will have learned the first lesson of the mansion worlds. Are there any questions at this time?
Dialogue
Anxiety
Q: It seems like I can do that pretty well for a while, then I hit a little bumpy patch and I panic feelings that I have to do something extra and I have to do it now or everything is going to crash and burn. Are those bumpy patches going to be less and less, or is it just that I am impatient?
Ham: Rebecca, you are learning to use some of the spiritual power you actually possess. You are learning to let go of your anxiety little by little. All the anxieties are fear of ridicule and of the unknown. You fear not the failure itself, but the ridicule that failure means. The fact that you are usually successful in your endeavors is somehow lost in the irrational childhood memory fears. This will limit your effectiveness until it is overcome. Therefore, work on these areas by forgiveness and understanding for all who were involved in your childhood, parents, extended family and friends. You took on the role of protector for your parents and stood up to their ridicule as a child trying to shield them. So you still try to put up a wall to others to shield yourself from ridicule. Examine this process and you will make some headway in this area.
Q: You know that Deborah called and wanted to ask some questions. I’ll just read it to you. Don’s left clavicle has a non-union, would healing help?
Ham: Healings and prayers always help, certainly.
Q: She had a question, what is my path, how can I help, and she mentioned she was thinking about writing a book about her physical disease, or marketing salsa?
Ham: Deborah, you have many talents. You are very gifted and creative. I will not advise you specifically as to your future work at this time. But you are only just discovering your great potentiality. The overwhelming need to do something will eventually channel itself into what you need in the time frame you are living.
Q: She said, do I have a special guide and if so how can I establish communication?
Ham: It is too early for this question.
Q: Mary Jo is up there tonight, do you have anything to say to Mary Jo?
Ham: Daughter, you are at the beginning of a great adventure in your life. Like jumping off a cliff and finding you can fly, you are leaving the safety of earth and testing your wings. Don’t be afraid to be who you are, child, for you are wonderful and greatly beloved by many human and superhuman beings. The Father looks upon you with great tenderness and love. Expand your awareness to include him always in your life now. Take time to establish your relationship with him, personally, every day. Meditate, talk things over with him, gradually let go of all the busy work and grasp his hand. In order to grasp his hand, you must do so with single minded sincerity that leaves no doubt in your mind of your purpose.
Q: We wondered if you wanted us to go to that Cincinnati meeting?
Ham: It is good to keep in touch with others in the mission calling. It is not required, however. Therefore, use your own judgment concerning this get together.
Q: I would want to ask you for an evaluation and advice at this time, or whatever you would like to tell me.
Ham: Jarad, you are progressing wonderfully. We are very happy with your work. You always follow our instructions and advice and this is paying off, working for you. Fear not the future is expanding. Your role and influence is expanding. There is much promise for you. All is well, stay strong.
Q: I was interested in what you were saying to Rebecca. I was wondering how much of that would apply to me to, you know the fear of ridicule. That sounded like there might be a parallel.
Ham: Yes, there is to some extent. Certainly it is a common pattern for children in alcoholic families to try to shield the parents from the hostile outside world because the home is known and the outsiders are strangers.
Q: To try to shield the parents, in other words the denial thing?
Ham: Yes.
Q: Is that the greatest thing she and I have in common, our upbringing in alcoholic families?
Ham: It is a similarity.
Ritual, Prejudice
Q: Ham, it is interesting that you talked about cleansing. Friday night I attended a Native American Sweat Lodge ceremony. Are activities like this useful in helping us let go, in cleansing ourselves?
Ham: Yes
Q: Can you say more about what way they are useful or what aspect is most useful?
Ham: Ritual symbolism is always useful in preparing the mind for truth. When you are thinking about cleansing, this actual doing of ritual helps to allow your mind the flexibility necessary to accept cleansing of the spirit. You cannot cleanse your heart or your soul if your mind tells you there is no need for it. But if you accept that there is need for it, then the actual cleansing of the spiritual self can begin. Think what are your prejudices? Are you somewhat biased in your feeling of like or dislike about your students that are quick and do well in your classes compared with those who are slow? Prejudice is a subtle thing, it is not so much bigotry or overt clear cut prejudices as the subtle things.
Q: Those are much harder to identify, aren’t they? Yes. But if you decide in your mind, I am in need of cleansing, then you can identify these things. If you say. I am free of prejudice, then how can you identify it in yourself.
Q: Prejudice, that is another way to try to be comfortable isn’t it?
Ham: Yes.
Q: Besides examining prejudices, especially the subtle, are those all the ones that I need to pay attention to cleanse myself spiritually?
Ham: No this is enough for tonight.
Q: Would you care to tell me my main prejudices that stand in the way of me doing my task?
Ham: No, these are for you to identify for yourself.
Q: I thought you might, because I don’t know which ones I am serious about. I have to examine my posture and poses. I feel a need to say something about what Rayson said, and I first thought it would sound defensive. It is just that I, it seems like this group, our curiosity, I am so self-centered that I don’t have much curiosity about anything that does not have to do with my task. It seems like our group, this is just my perception, that we are more free of asking the off the wall stuff than most groups are asking. It seems like we are kind of more, I felt good about our groups being focused on our own improvement to be a help or get better. I know that the things that are given to this group are not just for this group.
Ham: You all have ideas that are more or less erroneous and these more or less erroneous ideas are what cause divisions between people and so we try to discourage speculation when we can.
Q: I remember it says in the book that speculation, although unavoidable, always causes delay.
Ham: It can cause some delay.
Closing
If there are no further questions, I will depart until next week. Farewell and God goes with you.
