1998-11-06. Group Exercise
SE Idaho #13
Topic: Group Exercise
Group: SE Idaho TeaM
Teacher: Daniel, Aaron, Andirondek
TR: Bob Scrieber, Simeon, Cathy
Opening
Daniel: I will begin this evening, my friends. This is Daniel. How comforting it is to see you in this circle reaching out to those of us who have come to assist, opening your minds to whatever we have for you this evening, opening your hearts to the will of the other. It is these behaviors which endear you to us, my children. You are so young and inexperienced, yet you show wisdom far beyond your position. And while we take some credit for this, it clearly is not entirely of our doing. You must recognize how much you have grown and even though you do not see around the corner yet, you are prepared to take that step. This in itself shows much maturity. There are many of us here this evening. Regrettably not all will be able to converse, but we have a long list, so with your permission, we will begin.
Lesson
Aaron: To kiss the face of God is to recognize the dynamic nature of individual interaction and shared vulnerability and intimacy. Where spirit meets the willing personality is in the daring efforts of realizing the commonness between individual wills. This may seem vast in scope, but in reality your comprehension of personal relations with God is greatly amplified in your willingness to interact with other personalities.
Your inward relationship to God cannot sustain you in an empty plane, for the Divine requires your interactions and reactions to your environment for its working in your life. To know God on an island, all alone, holds no torch to the recognition of God in the vast sea of humanity where you must not only interpret your inner leadings, but recognize the outward manifestations of that same source as it is personalized in other individuals.
As a group, you have formed a powerful tool for further comprehension of spiritual realities, for each of you has determined in relationship to the others that you would like to grow and to further know God. No one of you represents this God figure, but as a combined unit you can portray aspects of divinity to one another in your interactions.
You have gone through periods with each other that have been characterized by comfort, by turbulence and disagreement, by sadness and confusion. What has been slowly emerging is a heightened sense of individuality. Even as you gather together now, you are less prone to deferring your desires to the decisions of others. More incline are you to share your desires with others in hopes of understanding and finding a common purpose.
Individuality is necessary for healthy functioning in a group, a system, whichever term you choose. We do intend to further amplify the value of your individuality and I would like to do a short exercise this evening, perhaps betraying who I am, I am Aaron there are yet others who would like to share their thoughts.
If each of you would look to the person on your right and see them encompassed in God’s light, then take a moment to perceive as though you are a family. Although this is perhaps one person’s opinion of another, I would like you to share what it is about this person you observe as distinct and individual that they bring to your common family. So think for a few moments and Cathy, if you would start with Angie I would be greatly appreciative.
Dialogue
Cathy: Angie, what I think you symbolize to me is an incredible role model of a strong woman. I think we need more of that. I am just awestruck when I think about the things that you’ve lived through and how you’ve come through it like this beautiful jewel like you’ve run into all these sharp edges, but the sharp edges only served to carve more beautiful facets in you. I am constantly in awe of you as a person because I don’t think that I would have been strong enough to see the things that you’ve seen and still face each new day seeing beauty like you do. I think you are a very beautiful person.
Angie: Bob (Schreiber), you are an asset to this group and your humor is appreciated. I’m so glad to have you as a member.
BobS: And father Ken… ..Even early in the group when you weren’t sharing much, you had enough to say to individuals that you’ve always been, to my eyes, the father of the group. Must be the gray hair! I really think you’re the father of the group and I’ve appreciated that. I’ve always looked up to you for that reason. So keep up the good work!
Ken: Just remember you’re older than me! . ..Thank you. You are my sister, Lori, and it’s great to have you in our family. I have appreciated your humor, your ability to find laughter, to express it, whether it’s tragic or not, we usually get a great smile from you and you give great hugs. Thank you much.
Lori: Barbara, what you’ve brought to me through this group is incredible wise-ness. To me, you are very wise. You are objective in ways that I can only dream of being. And you have an ability to comprehend things that I really admire. I just think you’re smart. I love to eat your food too…(laughter)…and you have so much love and kindness that I don’t think you’re even aware of.
Barbara: And then there’s BobbyD. Well, the first thought that came into my mind is the incredibly deep caring that you show and that you showed to me even when you didn’t even know me right from day one. And that’s important to me because it comes right from the center of your heart. I know that if I needed something, I could come to you and you’d do everything you could to fix it. I love you, I truly do. Somehow I think you have an old soul that’s wise also.
BobD: (To Cathy) I think you bring a few things to the group that I really appreciate. I think you bring a sense of family in your children, because we’re so often a bunch of spiritual souls talking, but having children there can bring a sense of another generation. And we also get to see this desire for unconditional love that you share with people. You know, it’s probably more of a struggle to do with group members than with your kids, but when you try to extend that and try to understand the perspective of other members of the group, you hold a sense of objectivity even when it’s not always there. I’ve seen a balance in you that I appreciate. You know, I can get fired up about things and you tend to cool me down and balance out my thoughts a bit. In a way, it’s hard to divide the friendship we have and what you bring to the group. In our friendship I feel we are very immature (playfully) with each other, but with the group you tend to bring these deep perspectives and relations on ideas that are very mature. And I think you have this contradictory nature about you of being playfully youthful and mature at the same time… and for one who can be as immature as I can, I appreciate having a partner… I really love you and appreciate you.
BobD: And then there are the people not here tonight… I kind of see Bill like the father too…
BobS: I see Bill as a leader type, not so much the father…
BobD: And Virginia has brought a tremendous sense of getting things done making sure the highway is done, taking care of the transcripts and everything… I also see Angie as the Grande dame the one that brings unconditional love.
Barbara: I see Pat as the one with quiet strength, like she’s grounded.
Ken: As I get older, I realize that more and more.
BobD: I was particularly impressed with her insights in the last couple weeks.
Barbara: I think it’s made me aware of how much each person contributes. Each person is so special. You know, when Aaron said to look to the person on the right and see God’s light, a couple of years ago I couldn’t have done that… the critic would have gotten in the way. I can do it almost everyplace now and I have learned that skill in this group. I appreciate that.
Cathy: When Aaron was talking I was getting this really strong visual of each of us being born, like being pushed through this really tight, constricting birth canal. But the focus wasn’t on the pain of the mother, it was on the pain of the child being born and how it’s squeezed and compressed and maybe has some thoughts of, “I can’t do this!” In a sense, this is what each of us has gone through and we’ve all been reborn as individuals. We’re not so much a group anymore as a group of individuals, and I think the exercise tonight was recognizing what about each of us makes us special as individuals.
Ken: One thing that this situation has done is to bring us closer together. A long time ago they told us we we’re going to work on individual relationships and this is what we have done without formal lessons. We have gone back into past lessons and drawn heavily upon them to come to our own personal decision about how to treat this situation, tremendous lessons here. I’m kind of curious on what the next change is going to be.
Aaron: This is Aaron again. I would close with a few thoughts before turning this over to others. Your comfort with one another has been born in part due to your increased capability to be vulnerable and to have that be okay and accepted. Both the comfort and the vulnerability weigh in as factors in the development of soul. Recognize that with vulnerability, this is where you actually grow. But in the comfort where the growth is stabilized and an assurance is born to allow you further risks.
It will become increasingly apparent in a spirit born mortal’s life that the power of God which resides within is the same source which catapults the personality outward from itself in expression of individuality in search of the recognition of this same source as it is reflected in the myriad of personalities and systems. You do well to recognize the value of both comfort and vulnerability in recognizing that one stabilizes and one leads to further development. Neither should be promoted or pursued exclusively. These are my thoughts this evening. I appreciate your willingness to share in this exercise. Good evening.
Closing
Andirondek: This is Andirondek, a Melchizedek who has been in attendance of late these past few months, watching the progress. The curriculum in the weeks to come will indeed focus on development and nurturance of your individual relationship with God. Your progress may be thought of as a tightrope walker progressing along a steady incline of rope. In the beginning you could rely heavily on those around you to support and guide your journey. But the higher you get, the more you are restricted to using your fellow travelers as a balancing stick to make fine corrections on your course. The impetus for your upward mobility boils down to your relationship with yourself personal responsibility for achieving, maintaining, and developing your upward spiritual growth and mobility. Your path to get to this point has been difficult indeed and may continue for some to be difficult. But we on this side are extremely pleased at your progress and will be there to help you every step of the way. There is another who desires to close this evening.
(Unidentified): The purpose of our communications with you is to endeavor to share the wisdom of our experience, to assist you to opening your eyes to see where you are, where you have been, and possibly where you are headed. We do not for a moment attempt to interfere with your wills. We are merely seeking to add information which we deem appropriate to that fount of information you have gleaned via your own experiences. We speak to the end that together we may all grow, for most of us who are in this room with you tonight are ascending mortals and therefore have not yet reached perfected wisdom. Yet part of our role is to share that which we can to assist you in your growth patterns. To that end we are all family, we are all growing together, and it comforts us. I pray you, individually, will feel that comforting feeling yourselves. I now close this meeting, thanking you for your participation and look forward to the next time we can arrive at the same place in time and space. Good evening.
