2003-08-31. Abundance of Sonship
Rio Rancho #68
Topic: Abundance of Sonship
Group: Rio Rancho TeaM
Teachers: Tomas, Anatolia
TR: Gerdean & Matthew
Opening Prayers with music from: Van Morrison’s “In the Garden”
Thoroah: “The fields are always wet with rain After a summer shower When I saw you standing Standing in the garden In the garden wet with rain You wiped the teardrops from your eye in sorrow As we watched the petals fall down to the ground And as I sat beside you I felt the great sadness that day In the garden And then one day you came back home You were a creature all in rapture You had the key to your soul and you did open That day you came back To the garden
The olden summer breeze was blowin’ against your face
The light of God was shinin’ on your countenance divine And you were a violet color As you sat beside your father and your mother In the garden The summer breeze was blowin’ on your face Within your violet you treasure your summery words And as the shiver from my neck down to my spine Ignited me in daylight and nature In the garden And you went into a trance Your childlike vision became so fine And we heard the bell within the church we loved so much And felt the presence of the youth of eternal summers In the garden And as it touched your cheeks so lightly Born again you were and blushed And we touched each other lightly And we felt the presence of the Christ within our hearts In the garden And I turned to you and I said No guru no method no teacher Just you and I and nature and the Father In the garden No guru no method no teacher Just you and I and nature And the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost
In the garden wet with rain No guru no method no teacher Just you and I and nature And the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost In the garden In the garden wet with rain No guru no method no teacher Just you and I and nature and the Father In the garden.”
PRAYER: Matthew: Let us place ourselves in the presence of Jesus, the Christ. Master Teacher, we come before you today, happy and multiplied beyond our usual numbers. The larger the family, the happier. That may not always be the case, but in this case, it seems to be true. We encourage your presence with us today, and not that it isn’t ordinarily, but we are more mindful, more open and receptive to the gifts that you are to us and we pray that we are to you and to our heavenly Parents who have made all of us possible. We cherish the opportunity to become our full and complete selves in you and with you, and rejoice in the fact that we are sons of God, as you so well demonstrated-not in the masculine sense, but in the offspring sense, we are sons of God. We are grateful and look forward to the teachings that, through you, are brought to our awareness and consciousness and are grateful to you for this teaching mission that you have inaugurated and in and with your chieftain, Machiventa Melchizedek, we are grateful and loyal students and look forward to the day when we can spray in the ray of lights that you make present with us and within us. For all time, we are grateful. Amen.
Group: Amen.
TOMAS: Abundance is what we have here. Sheer abundance! Good afternoon, my friends and associates. I am Tomas, in company with my co-worker Anatolia, and a host of heavenly helpers who have come by to witness your spiritual embrace and to be a part of the process of up-stepping the heart and mind to seek truth, beauty, and goodness in all things and in all beings. Welcome, to you all, not only to this new abode, but you who have come from afar to conjoin with this, your extended family. [Don and Deborah visiting from Abraham’s Woods Cross TeaM group near Salt Lake City.
Lesson
I hesitate to introduce myself to you today as your “Teacher” in view of the scribe who brought such profound value to your consciousness in the music of Van Morrison, “No guru no method no teacher. Just us in the garden.” Well, I am a teacher by default, for I am older and therefore (hopefully) wiser. But this is something you understand as well, for you are all relatively mature individuals. You all know that the value of experience compounds with the years. The point from the musical selection which I will take as a springboard to open our conversation, stems from the scribe’s sadness at seeing those who stood in the gray and dreary rain of the garden without understanding the full benefit of the wet rain — which is the Living Water — the sadness on the countenance of he or she who stands virtually outside the garden because they know not the sublime abundance of sonship .
Sadness for those who gullibly allow themselves to be sidetracked and derailed into other and lesser realities the way that Nalda would have done were it not for the Master, who returned her focus to the point at hand, and that is to return to the garden awakened and reborn and in glory of all that is. The value of prayer is pre-eminent here, for only through prayer are we and you afforded a glimpse of how to proceed — and whether to proceed, in the face of the conditions presented that induce such sadness. It is our good fortune, yes, to know the abundance of sonship, the fellowship of the family of God, and our joy is a testimony to the endurance of that reality for it does not waver, does not flicker with whims and the passing of time.
We would like to safely say that you who surround me here are capable of convening in the spirit garden whether or not you are transplanted into the Edenic environments you have opted to create and assume for yourselves. This need not be a source of gullibility for you, dear ones.
There are many who have not the spirit foundation you have, whose worlds would indeed collapse if something untoward should occur to their paradigm of reality. It is when you can sit in your Garden of Eden no matter where it is, and sense the association of the Father and Mother and allow Christ consciousness to become key to your existence, that you have attained the reality we enjoy and of which Brother Morrison speaks. You have a responsibility now that is incumbent on you to be even more mindful of the sadness that surrounds you in your work in the field. You who have seen the Master, who have known His love, such as we share, now know that without this divine connection the lot of us would stand outside in the dreary rain of isolation, waiting for the door to open – not always understanding that the will to serve and the will to survive are often gatekeepers at the same entrance. Now that you have comprehension of eternal survival, you can have more compassion for those whose view of life is more short-term. You can have a better parental attitude toward the immaturity of your fellows who know not the greatness of this spirit-born association.
You are a light unto the world, my friends. Let us work on that light shining in such a way as to illuminate the darkness and invite the folk into their own garden, where they can return, reborn of their own spirit in Christ, and sit with their father and mother, who is Our Father and Mother, and thus our Family expands. It is correct, it is true. In this place, this sacred place, there is no need for gurus, methods, or teachers, for it is in the primary connection of Parent and child, Source and offspring, that begins all and any other association or relationship, but without that, there can be none.
Dialogue
How is it, Tomas, that you can take such a joyous moment and bring in sadness and talk about it for ten minutes, until we have all lost our connection to the jubilance that we owned only moments ago? I will allow Anatalia to respond.
ANATALIA: Welcome to our venue of choice places, people, and personality. I speak to you in this obscure description, perhaps, only because of the many personalities that go into the creation of any situation that one may encounter. Namely what I am speaking of is the personality of Tomas entering into the description of the garden and its otherwise multiple dimensions or descriptions that one can derive from such a scene. The beauty that may be perceived by one as simple, straightforward and undisguised may mean something more to a more insightful individual.
Not that the first vision is inaccurate or improper, but another individual seeing the same scene may take the scene outside of these windows today, and taking a visual view of it, may be able to take a deeper walk into what that scene symbolizes, so that the scene that you witness outside of the window today, you will each have your own reaction. It would not be typical, nor identical, but if there would be a poll of your views, there would be an overriding theme; however, another given personality and perspective can take a deeper look into such a scene and may remember the day that ones pet dog died, or whatever it may be, therefore taking the obvious to you and turning it into a scene of sorrow and remorse. So for my point of view, I share with you that – to once again use a cliché – “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, for what you see and witness IS based upon your experience and what emotional attachment you bring to that which you witness, in addition to your personality which colors or interprets that which you see.
This is a description which I share with you and bid you to consider it as one of various points of view. If I may change the subject slightly to a more pertinent scene that you see on the walls around you. These scenes are brought to you through personality and perspective, as well as a message to be conveyed when they were portrayed. This is something that each of you do in your daily lives whether you know it or not. For good or for ill, each of you is master of your palette.
You present your feelings and your attitudes through your personality out to and into the world you find yourselves in. It is not a single action activity, mind you, because many times it is what is being acted upon you that you find yourself in reaction to. It is not purely a matter of choice as to how you go about your day trouble free and unencumbered with other individuals’ perspectives presented or forced upon you. All I am saying is that you, nevertheless, even though one may color your world brown, dark gray, or even black at a moment’s notice, it is up to you to use the colors available to you to color and to create that which you wish to do with that as presented. For with the most moribund shade of gray that I can imagine, one can paint a sunrise to overcome the darkness, or a sunset to show the onset of dusk yet the retention of the light prior to its being taken over by the absence thereof. So it is in each of your minds that you have the choice to be happy, content, or to the contrary.
It is up to you to look at a park bench and be grateful for a place to sit and take in the beauty or complain that it’s not a couch inside a home that gives you shelter. Make that which you have before you the cathedral of your heart and mind and there you will find happiness and contentment, regardless of condition. I wish you all songs to be sung and delight within your hearts, now and forever. As the closing scene in many a Walt Disney production .
The little bluebirds flying together with ribbons in their beaks, tying a bow on your heart’s desire. I wish you all that is well and most of all, the love that is deep within each of us. May you know it, live it, and share it wherever you may go. Peace be with you, now and always.
Group: Thank you, Anatalia.
TOMAS: Be of good cheer, and share with us what you have been pondering or experiencing – not to delve overmuch into trivial socializing, but to express our value reach or insight into the living condition. We are open to questions or comments; otherwise, we will leave you “in the garden” to enjoy yourselves, knowing you are in good company.
Dialogue
Elena: Well, you know, Tomas, you said “abundance” and I really feel like “abundant”. That is really the key word for me because I just have so many things to be grateful for, and I feel like there are definitely issues or challenges awaiting me in the next week but I feel like what we’ve been given, it really does give us the ability to deal with individual situations and to try to shed our light. So I really feel grateful for what I get and the lesson was pretty sufficient. Usually I do have comments or questions but I feel like I got everything. Especially, with my family being here and my friends . I’m all happy as a clam.
TOMAS: Yes, indeed. This was apparent! And this is why I directed your attention to the sadness from recognizing those who are not experiencing with you the abundance of life. Jesus himself said he comes to bring you life and bring it more abundantly. That is qualitative and quantitative. I think not so much as “more stuff,” but a greater appreciation of what it is to be a creature of time and space with a divine relationship woven throughout your lives and undertakings. Thus you get to experience the experiential gamut of having a need and setting out to utilize your God-given intelligence to finding the solution to the problem and, having attained that space or acquired that perspective, enjoying a sense of accomplishment, and feeling good about the human and the divine part of that process. Does that individual who is mindful on a daily basis of the inner garden, that very same garden that we have spoken of in terms of the hymn “In the Garden” or the anthem “In the Garden,” remember that those who stand outside its gates are those which we seek to serve?
There is nuance to our messages today that gear you to the philosopher, Rodan of Alexandria, as well as to the theory of the Seven Psychic Circles, for there is little point in attempting to carry on a rapport of any substance with those who have only begun the journey. And this is where you find your best value in your own ranks. This group, for example, enjoys itself so much because you have so many things in common, experientially and philosophically as well as spiritually – even physically, so there is that rapport which you enjoy which is not possible throughout the week with others. But like you say, Elena, having this frame of reference and this “attitude of gratitude” with you as part of your arsenal of spiritual tools, will enable you to effectively work — in the mines of the arena and in the minds of your human associates — that level of Christ-consciousness they are able to absorb.
Which will, perhaps, not bring YOU to fullness of satisfaction, but when you have such satisfaction at heart, it is not YOU who is at issue! And thus it is easier to become self-forgetful in the sense that you concern yourself less and less with your own needs and concern yourself more and more with the true needs of those you serve. We are not surprised at the silence that prevails.
Marian: I didn’t know if you were still talking. Is it okay to say something?
TOMAS: It is okay. Speak!
Marian: Well, I thought you were still going on Elena. I’m ready. I’m used to Abraham saying, “Is this helping?” and then it’s “Yes” and “Let’s move on” so I am ready. Well, I was really intrigued by you saying the gate that you stand at when you’re . let’s see, the will to survive and the will to serve. And I just thought that was fascinating. For me, the will to survive had to come first and then, as I came to sit at the table, then the willingness to serve came in. So I like that. I don’t have to worry about surviving now, so I am willing to serve, and it just crops up all over the place, and whatever it is, I am glad to do it. I don’t – I am not really sad for my fellows. And I don’t mean to sound tacky, but . I mean, I’m full of joy, and I’m groovin’ along, and I know what I do, but back when I was in the total darkness and I didn’t know what I know now, I still came along somehow, you know?
So my hope is that, like you say, if I’ve got some light that can shine and if a hand reaches out, I want to be there to bring them along, the way people brought me along when I was in total darkness. Like . There’s this lady that called me on the phone, just before we left, and you know, Don and I have been through two deaths in the past two months, and we had just had our hands full, but even still we said, “Okay!” It’s like . we know what to do, and we’re giving it, and we’re loving and supportive, and there’s nothing we’ve come up against so far that we can’t get through. But this lady called me out of the blue. She had this miserable surgery and the most wretched darkness, the most miserable place. And I told her once upon a time I had had quite a few surgeries blah-blah and if she ever needed some help or some support to give me a call, so here was the call.
And she was so painted into this negative corner – and I know what it’s like to be in that corner, so all I did was show my experience. So I guess what I’m saying is, when it’s people’s time to get help or reach for light or when they’re getting beams on them, or when they’re desperate in their searching for their beingness, I want to be there ready, willing and able to serve, since I had survived, so . with such help, but I don’t . I mean, everybody will come along when they’re ready and able. You know what I mean? So I don’t feel – I hope that don’t mean I’m a loser person, that I don’t feel really sad for people. I mean, I’m ready to be there if I can help them. What do you think?
TOMAS: The “thought” that comes to me, dear one, is that you have established your appropriate boundaries based on your capacities and you have a method which works for you and which also serves; thus, you are on your way. I wouldn’t worry at all about your perspective nor apologize for it because I have every confidence that your path is spirit-born and God-led and that while you may not be overly sympathetic, you are the heart of soulful compassion.
There are always those instances where a good challenge is the best medicine. If you opt to challenge those who come to you for aid, it is a fair chance that they have recognized in your personality that which you will give them and they are ready to be challenged, perhaps to throw off their cloak of infirmity, to rise up against the seeming injustice, and pick up their bed and walk. But that is a case in point for your personality gifts and skills. Thus everyone would not gravitate to you, but those who recognize your personality modus operandi know that you are a stalwart fountain of faith to which they may appeal if and when they sense their own readiness.
Some might find that unnecessarily callous or seemingly uncaring. “Tough love” is like that. There are other values in what you express. To not be brought down by the weight of the world is good, because if you are under the burden of Atlas, then you are ineffective. But I draw upon the countenance of the Master who, upon returning from Jerusalem and the Passover, paused overlooking the city and wept with compassionate pity for those who lived in darkness. That is a great motivator for some, but not necessarily for all.
This T/R tends toward relieving suffering, but that method also have strengths and drawbacks, which any method will, as any personality can proclaim, “you win some, you lose some.” But certainly my reference to the guardians of the gate, that of survival or service, represent the twin powers of self will and divine will, which is not a problem if it is the self’s will to do the divine will. It only poses difficulty when they are opposed, and this is the case in most mortals. They are not integrated with the divine sufficiently that they would know how to distinguish the level of survival that is intended in the analogy. To those who love the Lord, what does it matter if all things temporal vanish? For in time all things temporal WILL vanish for you, and can you still rejoice in the abundance of your being? Are you still whole and complete as a personality, even without your methods, gurus, and teachers? It is the Father’s will that we serve once survival is assured, but until survival is assured, our service is at work. Is this making sense?
Marian: Oh, yeah! Thank you.
Paula: You know what I was thinking is that everyone in this room has so much to be thankful for. We all have comfortable homes, good relationships, and I find some of the opposite at my work at the hospital, and it isn’t just the routine everyday thing that you find in any hospital. I found that these people need somebody that they can talk to, and for some reason, they talk to me, and I have heard some of the most intimate things that you can imagine from people that I never knew before! But they feel as if they have got to get it off their minds and out in the open, and it has been something that is very fulfilling to me because I feel I am not there just to do the routine work that you do in a hospital, but that I am there for another purpose, that they need to have somebody they can unload on and tell their troubles to, or their problems, or their joys, and I hear all kinds of things like that, and it’s a very, very fulfilling thing that I do. It’s only one day a week but I enjoy it, for that reason, because anything that is just routine and so forth would bore me to tears, but this is something that I really, really enjoy doing and feel as if I’m there for a purpose.
TOMAS: Yes, your service is an expression of your will in harmony with God’s will. You are a Listener. You have a gift of hearing the hearts of those who come to you to express themselves. This is a divine gift, indeed, one which few people elevate to the high art that it can become. The fact that you work effectively with these people is evidence of the divine will working with you, and this, too, is what brings such tremendous satisfaction to you as a mortal worker in the field. You have lifted up your work to a new dimension of reality, one that draws people to you when they need to be heard.
Each of you, if you think about it, have a method, a personality method unique to you, developed over time, that serves. There is no point in being humble about this; humility has enabled it!
Marian: Can I follow up a little bit? Can’t we trust Father? I don’t mean to say let’s sit in our living room and have people stop at your doorbell and ring it and say, “Oh, Miriam, could you come help me?” And then if I’m willing to serve, I’ll say, “Yeah, but . after supper” or whatever. But, can’t we trust Father that some people might be drawn to me, to seek me out for some help, but there’s lots of people that aren’t, but they would be more attracted to Paula? Do you know what I’m saying? Isn’t that why we’re all here with all of our different personalities, because we all have different experiences and personalities that will be attractive to others, and if we all basically shine Father’s light, that he’ll figure it out – with their participation? Is that too simple?
TOMAS: Yes, it is. You overlook the fact that those who are not working within the divine will, but are working within self will, are erring at a greater rate than you who have opted to try to pursue the path of greater understanding. As you testified, in your dark days you bumbled along and, thanks to God, found your way back to the path. But that is not the case for everyone. Many are lost. Of course, in the eternal perspective, the Adjuster of that mortal will be given another opportunity to fuse with another human personality at some other point in time; however, that particular personality’s opportunity is very largely lost to the vagaries of evolutionary existence. Whatever is of value will be absorbed by the Supreme, but the great gift that you have that you don’t seem to appreciate and realize is that your personality – when conjoined with the divine Indwelling Adjuster – will create that immortal soul which allows you – YOU . Each of You . Personally to survive. With Your Personality. Quirks and all. Not just the God within you, but you yourself. And this is where the importance is in the urge to live and the will to live.
Those who lose the will to live or who get lost from that desire to survive are essentially choosing nothing over something, and the phrase you might appreciate here is that “Nature abhors a vacuum.” We rush to – we flock to – those who have become void, so that they can be filled, so that they can be filled by a greater reality than the one that failed them before. In this you ARE able to assist. It is here that you are called to offer your services on behalf of the Divine. The refinements are preferences. After the will to live is made, it is pretty much a classroom of those who choose to learn and advance and those who would rather just enjoy recess. Everyone enjoys recess; don’t get me wrong. But there are those among you, even, who are your soul companions, who have a tendency, a personality tendency to choose to shirk their responsibilities — their own personality “talents” — that they have been given, to defer to someone else to do for them. While those individuals are not important enough to turn yourself inside out over, inasmuch as they have the Spirit of Truth; it is simply up to them to use it.
Those who are truly lost are greatly aided by your conscientious commitment to find them and to introduce them to their own Father who lives within. The rest is social games. Father can take care of his children and work out that relationship once that relationship is established, but unless and until that relationship is established, it is indeed self will running riot and making one poor choice after the other. Well, that should be no surprise to you. Just look around at your world and see how effective it is to live this life without divine guidance – Not Very! What else?
Matthew: I just had the thought of, What kind of faith system did you have on the world that you came from? You talked about your world at one time but I don’t remember from the faith perspective and how was that conveyed to you? In the universal sense? Or pertinent to your world?
TOMAS: We were very isolated in our organism of life. We recognized – much as the twins did in your planetary history – that we would not survive if we stayed with the animalistic tribes from which we stemmed. Thus we isolated ourselves in a mind set that we needed something better, something greater, something higher, and while we did not have a particular religious philosophy, we had a sense that without something greater than what we came from, we would be doomed to experience the same tribal barbarism as was around us. We developed a keen sense of prayer. Everyone, I think it’s safe to say, in our community, our civilization, was devout in that regard.
It was a part of our culture to engage in all manner of prayerful activities, but we had no knowledge of to whom we were addressing our prayers. In my immediate family, for example, with my wife Janus and our children, we engaged in prayer daily and regularly, as if we were of a religious order that paused three, four, five times a day to engage informal prayer. We engaged in a similar indulgence and we did this commonly, throughout our culture, our community. We never developed a formal religion, but we developed a terrible dependency upon something greater than ourselves, and that Something led us into ways of living which were effective for us and which, indeed, kept us from falling into the abyss of barbarism. Does that answer?
Matthew: It does. It’s interesting. Thank you for sharing that.
Elena: I have one more question. I am in just a little bit of a quandary about the – you are talking about the people who are lost and about serving, and I don’t have any problem with figuring out how to serve; there are those opportunities in each day which afford themselves. But, with respect to how active a role you take in that, I guess, that service – because in the past you just said, “Just let your light shine and that really will guide you.” That seems a little bit less .
TOMAS: Relevant?
Elena: . well, yeah. I don’t. yeah. Is that an active enough role what I do or should we be going out there and being crusaders or something. I don’t know. Misguiding people as we go.
TOMAS: You are seeing the reality of your own growth. What was once inspirational truth has diminished to interesting but not complete information. This is the way reality works, and no, of course, you do not suddenly develop the attitude of a crusader for this silly question is already answered in your consciousness by understanding that a crusade is more ineffectual than effectual, but you are also enlivened adequately to recognize a new truth now and again. Perhaps this new truth that you heard today is one that you will foster as worthy of study for its morontial content and thus enhance your own soul as well as the evolution of Urantia’s citizenry. But yes, you are ready for a new perspective and responsibility based on your plateau of acquisition, not only in the material sense but in the psychic sense as well. You don’t want life to become trivial and a piece of cake, as that would foreshorten your eternal career as your beliefs crystallized into nothingness.
Thus you guard against your choices of service or survival as you step out on each new plateau of existence, as you reassess with each new psychic circle. A case in point is, the Father looks upon all creation and sees only those who choose to do his will and those who do not. Do you think he sees those who do not want to do his will? Or does he see only those who choose to do his will? There is a question, a philosophic question for you to ponder throughout the week, much as the question, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” for we stand at the gate, at the forefront of a new era in our very existence here. Yes, in the Rio Rancho TeaM as well as in the Teaching Mission as well as in the greater, global Correcting Time. I believe we are about ready to be about the Father’s business in a new fashion.
Closing
And so, in great gladness and gratitude for the efforts that you have expended on behalf of your own soul and into the hearts and lives of those you touch, let us be on our way. We’ll carry on again soon. Anatalia and I embrace you fondly and wish you well. Walk with God and all his agents as you go about your work in the world this week. Amen.
Farewell.
Group: Thank you.
