2004-11-28-The Soul’s Increasing Presence
Nashville #214
Contents
• 1 Heading
o 1.1 Topic: The Soul’s Increasing Presence
o 1.2 Group: Nashville TeaM
• 2 Facilitators
o 2.1 Teacher: Ham
o 2.2 TR: Rebecca
• 3 Session
o 3.1 Opening
o 3.2 Lesson
3.2.1 Progress
o 3.3 Dialogue
3.3.1 Morality
o 3.4 Personal Counsel
3.4.1 Persecution
o 3.5 Closing
Topic: The Soul’s Increasing Presence
Group: Nashville TeaM
Facilitators
Teacher: Ham
TR: Rebecca
Session
Opening
HAM: Greetings, children, I am Ham and I am happy to be with you this evening once more. Tonight let us continue our discussion of spiritual progress and increasing love.
Lesson
Progress
HAM: As you grow in the spirit, truly your spiritual presence becomes more real, more evident. The morontia soul grows and becomes evident to others who perceive through their souls the presence of yours as your soul perceives the presence of other souls, indeed, as you perceive my presence without the benefit of a material body. The fact in your experience of knowing me as distinct from any living human becomes a permanent part of your Agondonter status and evolving character. As your souls shine forth from your bodies, more and more you will attract light and love from the souls of others. This knowing is beyond simply rational thought.
It is the knowing of experience, not simply the knowing of the mental process.
The fact of spiritual experience forever separates those truth seeking adventurers from those who seek simply mental certainty. For true religion encompasses total experience and is not simply a rational formula. Rather, the thrill of discovering truth, beauty and goodness for yourselves becomes the greatest spiritual value. This experience cannot be transferred. Each human must embark on his own spiritual quest. Each person must discover for himself those spiritual values and moral certainties born of true spiritual experience.
Society may be stabilized by religious systems, but the individual must discover spirit individually in order to make spiritual progress. Society then can only move forward in the spirit by the movement of each individual religionist finding his own way amid the murky, moral milieu of the modern age. Each generation must rediscover the life of Jesus and must cultivate the seeds planted by his life anew. Restating the gospel is important, but each individual must rediscover his matchless life for himself or herself. You cannot remain trapped in the interpretations of the past. Rather, you must fearlessly examine the meaning and the purpose contained within the Master’s words and deeds every generation.
The values contained within those seeds must be allowed to bloom and to make fruit in the soil of the present day. In this you will find the wisdom of the ages and moral certainty and comfort amid the chaos and moral murkiness which confronts every generation. The seeds of the gospel have sprouted many times and each time civilization has benefitted and morality has moved forward. Though the humanly preserved record is scanty, faulty, and lacking in many respects – the seeds are nonetheless available there for an even greater flowering of true Christianity that will move your spiritual concepts forward as you bequeath this world to generations of the future.
Religionists must constantly keep contact with the living spirit, for the spirit is your only true guidance. Religion, without spirit – that is religion of the mind – is dead. It holds no promise for the future and cannot meaningfully contribute in the present. You my children have been given much and so from you much is required. You will certainly make your way in the spirit and this making of the way will be of great help to others who come after you. You have each dared to find the Master for yourselves.
You have each dared to open your hearts to his spirit and his presence. You are living proof that spiritual advancement brings with it an ever increasing ability to feel the presence of God and to feel this presence at all times. Feeling God’s presence is experiential knowing. It is the peace that passes understanding and this my children is what you are beginning to experience now. Let this peace be a source of strength, comfort, and let your words and actions reflect the peace and comfort you experience thereby giving peace and comfort to others as well. To those certain of our Father’s loving mercy, there is no task too great or problem too difficult to overcome with his help.
Dialogue
Morality
Q: Could you elaborate more on what you meant by religion of the mind? It seems to me that it can come in many forms, from the fear-based fundamentalism, to rule-based moralities, to the Urantia book readers who believe the words but have a hard time taking the leap of faith into real spiritual experience. Can you help me understand that better?
HAM:: Yes my son. The religion of the mind does not escape the realm of philosophy. It may be rational and comprehensive but it cannot find true morality for often such systems replace what is moral with simply what is ethical. The Sanhedrin criticized Christ for healing on the Sabbath day thereby elevating a system of religious rules over human need. Thus the religion of the mind could not escape from rational logic into higher spiritual truths.
So in that sense, one can live one’s life completely within the confines of religion and its rules without penetrating the morality behind the rules. You have the freedom to break rules and thus to lay hold of higher morality. When religion interferes with that freedom, religion itself becomes immoral. This is a great human battle that has been fought throughout human history and will continue to be fought for some years to come.
Often when I try to penetrate to the morality underneath the rules, I find that I do not end up in a position of moral certainty. I often end up with questions and doubts.
Of course my son. The thrill of living the truly religious life is not to be had in absolutes. You can only find truth by going through the veil of uncertainty.
Personal Counsel
Q: Ham, may I have a message please.
HAM:: Of course my son, you are doing well. My son, you are doing well. You are finding ever greater peace and spiritual gladness in your heart despite the physical trauma and uncertainty of the body you are experiencing. Your soul will continue to grow and develop in spite of and even because of the difficulties and uncertainty of your health. The pearl of great price is being purchased in your life my son. Be ever willing to pay any price for the eternal life to come is worth any pain, any suffering, and any price.
The pain of earthly existence lasts but a short time while the joys of eternal life are forever. Seek ever after the joy of the spirit through love of your fellows, your family, and your friends. The love of God, as it is tasted in the material life, is but a faint portent of the love you will experience in the worlds to come. Demonstrate your faith through love. Reinforce your faith through love and give of your faith through love. Love is the path of the Master. Follow him and all is well.
Q: Ham, may I have a personal message this evening please?
HAM:: Of course my daughter, you are doing well. As you make your way forward, you will find steps placed before you and as you climb these steps you will find ever greater loving acceptance and ever greater self-acceptance as well. My daughter, you are unique in the universe. You are uniquely loved by God. You are a unique expression of his love. So as you express your self in the world, you are giving something uniquely valuable no one else can give. For each of you, this is so. As you, my dear, grow in the spirit, you grow in your value estimation of that spirit. You cannot do this without growing in your value estimation of your self. Embrace this growing awareness. Be unafraid of who you are and unafraid to give what you have to offer. May our Father’s blessings continue to multiply in your life my dear. Continue to accept those things the Father give you with gratitude, humility, and faith.
Q: Do you have anything for Rebecca?
HAM:: Yes, my daughter, you are doing very well. You are stepping up upon the steps the Master places before you with courage and grace. Be of good cheer as you go about the tasks before you. Have great faith and let your faith multiply as the evidence of things unseen becomes clear. Let your faith be a light in the darkness and let your faith be a comfort for those in distress. Lean ever upon the Master’s arm as he leads you forward upon the path of his choosing. Step-by-step you will arrive at your true destiny and thus be a way-shower of sorts for others. Be at peace my daughter, you are doing well.
Q: Jarad?
HAM:: My son, you are doing well. You also have much before you and must advance step-by-step through each successive level of spiritual awareness. As your spiritual comfort grows, you will find ever increasing realms of action as well. You artistic realm of action continues to grow and expand. You will soon find new voices of influence and new audiences of appreciation as you move forward in your work. You have always been a student of human nature and a great lover of people as they are. This is an immense gift and one filled with great promise for future work and future influence. Be at peace my son, you are doing very well.
Q: Can I have a message please Ham?
HAM:: Of course my son. You are doing well. As you continue striving in the world, always remember the spiritual work must come first for the spiritual work is the engine that will drive everything else. Spiritual progress and advancement creates progress and advancement in all other areas of life. Without the spirit, life grinds to a halt even unknowingly. With the spirit, there is nothing but progress even unto the very end of life and the very final moment. Do not worry my son, for you have before you great adventures of the soul. As the Master used to say, you will be none too ready when the Father calls. Prepare in the spirit and all is well.
Q: Yes Ham, I would like to have a message if possible. I have noticed for the last month now that a lot of fear has been coming, even in the little things, and I wonder if you could help me deal with that.
HAM:: Yes my son, of course. All human beings have fear and a major fear is simply the fear of self-knowledge, the fear of self-discovery. This fear is a great fraud for it is always baseless and yet human beings torment themselves with the fear that if they should tear away the veil of who they really are they would find inadequacy. But the joy in the spirit comes through this self-discovery, through the understanding that you are God’s beloved son not his slave, not his servant, not someone unworthy of his love. Discovering that you are worthy of God’s love comes through the hardships and battles of life and out of the hard lessons of moral decision making.
Continue my son to accept who you are, to accept the strengths as well as the weaknesses and to do this honestly without turning from the truth of what you find and you will find the Master’s yoke and his burden of truth is light and bearable while the burden of denial is unbearable. Put everything on the table. Lay it all out before God and you will find him saying, “come my son, let us reason together. Though your sins may be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow”. You will be reborn into the life of the spirit, a life rich with meaning, challenge, love, and spiritual comfort. Make your leap of faith and you will have all else needful.
Q: Do you have a message for me Ham?
HAM:: Yes my daughter, you are doing very well. Readily you have taken up the tasks the Master has laid before you. You are demonstrating your faith to all who have eyes to see. Be at peace as you make your way forward amid the uncertainties and difficulties of life. Take no step backward, rather move forward in every area. Shake the dust form your feet and allow the past to be past as you move from the present into the future that God has prepared for you. Set down the chains of guilt accepting what was done as done. Release all manner of bondage allowing yourself the freedom of finding who you truly are as you embrace step-by-step where you are going. Let your faith be a source of light for all, but let others accept the light of your faith in their own ways. Do not be concerned with the judgement of others. You have and will have everything needful for this journey. Trust your heart completely to the Master’s care giving his love to others as you have been given his love for yourself. Trust in the Master’s guiding hand. You are doing well.
Q: From Norbert: First: I would like to ask Ham for a message for my friend Irene Bakker.
HAM:: Yes, my daughter, all is well. Do not be afraid to grow in the spirit beyond the place of your friends and family. Place no restrictions on your journey or on your acceptance of the light of the spirit. The lessons of the spirit are often hard for they involve some sacrificing of the ego to be realized. Do not fear this process for all who undertake the spiritual path must lay down their lives in order to be reborn again. You will find that which you need at every step. Be at peace my dear, you are doing just fine.
Q: Second: After the murder of a Dutch writer by an Islamic fundamentalist the country is in an identity crisis. Any words of advice?
Persecution
HAM:: Yes my son, this struggle between the law abiding majority and the minority who wish to impose a different set of laws upon the majority is painful in the extreme. You must not give in to the temptation to return hatred for hatred but in loving your enemy you are not required to submit to him. Your country, indeed all of Euro-American civilization, must indeed take steps to responsibly protect the majority from a determined, unscrupulous, and vicious minority in your midst.
You must not compromise the principles of freedom of expression and you must allow the democratic process full latitude to find recourse for this growing and dangerous problem. Trust in your fellows to find the way. Insist on liberty at all costs. In this way, you will find a way forward. Be of good cheer my friends. Good people have fought for truth, liberty and justice throughout the ages and so you must now do the same. Have peace in your hearts. Trust in God and in your countrymen. All is well.
Q: Marije would like a personal message.
HAM:: Of course my daughter. You are also doing very well. Be not disturbed by the difficulties in finding the Master’s will. The Master showed always great patience with those in confusion, but he did not become confused himself. The Master’s truths are sometimes harsh, for the Master’s truths never compromise with evil. Sometimes, there simply is no middle way. Sometimes, truth must be defended and this is a part of life. Be unafraid my daughter. You will find at every difficult crossroad the Master’s voice saying, this is the way. Trust in this and you will find ever greater measures of peace and tranquility in your heart. Have courage my daughter, you are doing just fine.
Q: Do you have a personal message for Charlie B?
HAM:: Yes my son, you are doing just fine. There is peace on the surface but just below powerful currents are moving. Be aware of this for you have some decisions to make that will change the direction your life is taking. Small those these decisions may seem, turn to the Master for guidance at each step. Demonstrate your faith through these steps forward. Let others be comforted by your firm grasp of truth, and your open expression of love.
Q: Do you have any feedback for me this week Ham?
HAM:: Of course my son. Be at peace. You are doing very well in all areas. You have before you a clear path and you are walking with firm footsteps through each step. Allow the Master ever greater contact in your soul by continually thinking of him and experiencing his presence. Bring him into your decisions and let him lead you as he would lead you forward. Do not worry as you make your way through the moral uncertainties and difficult decisions ahead. Let his arm be about your shoulder and his confident gaze point out your destiny upon the horizon. Have peace my son, for you are doing very well. Find ever greater comfort as your mind is spiritualized through the working of the Master and God’s spirit within. You have all that is needful for this journey. Rest in complete assurance, you will know the way. It will be made plain to you.
Closing
HAM: Until next week, my love and prayers are with you each. Farewell.
