1997-03-18. Growing In Community
Butler PA #23
Topic: Growing In Community
Group: Butler TeaM
Teacher: Tomas
TR: Gerdean
TOMAS: Good evening, my friends. I trust I am not intruding too terribly on your quiet time this evening. I am jumping in for there are many matters to attend to and many in attendance. Indeed, we have the consideration of the community, at hand.
Lesson
It is such a joy to be a part of this joyous and munificent community of God’s children! The largess of my associates is as an embrace, and you will discover, as you ascend and as you become more and more mindful of the merits of spirit-family connection, that your lives, too, are enriched and ennobled beyond compare by this understanding of being a part of this wondrous eternal heavenly community.
And from this vastness it is necessary to curtail our ambition somewhat in addressing “the group” and the values of community and group, to come all the way down to the understanding and realization that a group comes into existence when there are three.
And so we could say at the top end of the totem pole is the Eternal Trinity and perhaps in good humor, at the bottom of the totem pole are you here this evening. But none-the-less, three constitutes a group, and the same truths that hold for the functioning and compatibility of the one is also true of and for the other.
In our discussion of and understanding of group and community also, I would like to give a broad stroke to what it is that we are discussing in these upcoming lessons and experientials. I will liken the group, the smaller configuration, to a community which has its certain sectarian situations, its things in common, its interests, its values, its goals, its purposes, its costumes, its rituals, to a tribal group and the tribal group as has developed includes your political systems, your organized religions, your family clans and so forth, all of which have value and all of which benefit and edify humanity as humanity evolves into the greater global community concept en route to the concept of cosmic citizenship.
In-as-much as you will be learning how to get along with other individuals and function now and throughout millennia to come, it behooves us to review what it means to be part of a configuration of others who have, as its congealing purpose, similar values, similar goals, similar ideals, that this framework then can be established, for in this framework you then have given yourself a place to grow.
It has been an interesting period of time observing your community take shape, observing your group come into being as a viable community of fellow-believers, and become sufficiently united in your purpose as to actually bring about some beneficial effects. This is only the beginning. Soon these challenges you will take in stride and look back upon your early days of understanding group service, group worship, group effort, much as you now look back on your other early memories of cherished individual value lessons.
Much as the soul begins to grow a life of its own, so does community, and a community must develop in order for it to have lasting value and reality. It is possible to construct a community by the building of structures and garages and thoroughfares and market places, but it is not possible to construct a community spirit which must come from the heart of the individuals comprising the community; like love, it must grow, for it is based on love and what love can do in service.
Each of you who share the core reality of this Teacher Base Urantia group have had a plethora of community concerns thrust upon you recently, and each of you have, in a quality manner, taken your concerns to the Father, to Michael, and to each other in sincere application of those values which we study in the Urantia Book and which we practice in the fruits of the spirit.
As love prevails through your overt cooperation and co-creation, the community of believers is a real and viable reality — not just a conglomeration of individualists, nor a manufactured structure in which to function, but a living organism whose heart throbs / beats by way of the impulse of the First Source and Center.
It is a step in ascension toward Paradise, and I want to thank you each and commend you all for the conscientiousness that you have applied, the courageous loyalty that you have given to your supreme values in this community growth of late. Yet more experiences will be forthcoming, but you know that you can survive them and you have become stronger as a community because of these growth situations.
I am advised that I have gone on enough in a formal way regarding our venture into group / community / teamwork and the like, but I would like to say one more thing, and that is that although we are here as teachers and guides, friends and companions, it is not “our” Master Plan. We are as enthralled and amazed as you are to see His will unfold. It is as much of an adventure for us as it is for you. And we also have our growth struggles, our speculations, and our satisfactions when we see His will prevail.
Dear ones, how are you this evening?
Dialogue
Group: Good. We’ve been busy listening.
TOMAS: I am glad you are attentive.
Hunnah: I registered what you said.
TOMAS: I will tell you, for your information, that there are a host of celestial helpers here this evening, perhaps more than usual. We have with us a number of architects visiting, and an order of angelic beings who do not normally linger in these sessions. I am acknowledging, too, the presence of several midwayers who asked me to call to your attention their contribution regarding community, and you will recall that their motto is (“their” being the Secondary and Primary Midwayers) “Whatever the United Midwayers undertake, the United Midwayers do,” and I am certain you are impressed by the strength that infers.
Whatever they undertake, they accomplish, and this involves two orders of beings — the primary and the secondary orders working in conjoint harmony. Of course, they have been working together for centuries, and I trust they too have had their growth conflicts, but it is wonderful to see the heights they have attained and their unflagging faith that if they have assumed to accomplish a purpose, it will be accomplished forthwith, unequivocally. How many of us can speak with such conviction?
I have perhaps jutted into your musing, your meditation, prematurely, before your cognizance was emergent.
Hunnah: I will just say that you have my attention.
TOMAS: I am glad that I have not caught you at half-mast. I can understand why it is that you may not want to go into detail on several matters that have exhausted you all lately, in terms of your group situations, but surely there are other matters that we could bring up for fun. Anne, how are you faring in the storm of this young community? Are you feeling a part thereof?
Anne: Oh, yeah. I feel right at home. I didn’t realize it was a storm, but . … I’m going with it. I did have a question though. Is there a particular reason why all the extra entities are here?
TOMAS: Always are you attended. Always are these sessions attended, for you are of great and lasting interest and import to many. There are a number of permanently assigned entities who show up as a matter of course, and there are frequent visitors who also come by to observe you in your reaching. Some come to observe the transmitting process, to anticipate that they too will experience this at some point. There are many beings having to do with energy and so forth who are often in the area to, shall we say, stabilize or adjust the circuits as necessary, and you are ever observed by an assembly of the angelic hosts and assisted by the able and eager midwayer cotillion.
Hunnah: That’s a fancy word. I have trouble putting your entourage together in my mind. This is apparently without form, so I cannot appreciate it as much as I would like to, or I cannot appreciate it as much as I would like to.
You implied a greater agenda, while we sit here and haggle with these frivolous problems. I feel far removed from the greatness of the purpose of your being with us. I apologize because it seems to me you deserve better.
TOMAS: My dear child, my precious sheep, you are gracious and humble and you are a delight to my soul, but it is not necessary to apologize or feel over-meek, for your growth is becoming more and more evident and more radiant. It is why I am here, my dear, to enable you as individuals to reach your highest potential. And then, as a community, to reach your highest community potential, that the community then might become a beacon of Christ-consciousness and spirit reality that will establish you and your Revelation as a viable gift of the spirit to humanity.
Indeed, this community is not alone in our agenda. All of the communities, as designated teacher bases, who have long-standing teachers, engage in this kind of growth development. It is part of the curriculum. After the development of the individual, what do we do now? We learn to be healthy individuals in a bonded association of spirit in service to others and in company with ourselves. It is a natural evolutionary step that once you know who you are, that you want to get along with others, and so this is a part of our teaching format. Has that clarified?
Hunnah: I guess it has. I think of the people here and we are really not in a position to influence the community unless it were by the light that we be allowed to develop in our own beings.
TOMAS: Absolutely. And then, as you have the association of fellow believers, you have the strength of that spirit community, your own brothers and sisters in truth, that will reinforce your reality, strengthening not only you and them, but your community, that you might then radiate this community into the greater community as a beacon of community. And so you are not alone, but you have the support and the socialization of other kingdom-builders.
Now, as you develop your arts and techniques of spirit community, you can impart your learning into your other community configurations, such as in your organized churches or your school boards or your political arenas and town meetings and quilting bees and so forth, for once you have grasped a true reality and it has been reinforced, once it has become your modus operandi, your reality, then you affect others by the use of it, by the mere being of it, you see. I have heard you say as much.
Hunnah: May I ask permission to take a break?
TOMAS: Permission granted.
[Intermission]
TOMAS: I have enjoyed intermission. I am Tomas, I am back, and I will not keep you late. I know that my words were not light and inspirational, but ponderous and pedantic, but necessary, none-the-less, and timely. I am sure you will agree.
But before I go I want to reference a remark I made last week and follow it up somewhat for it too reflects on community values and concerns and it has to do with my remark regarding my associate Merium and how well she was operating in and through the auspices of Hunnah, and I said that I would not relinquish her entirely, that I indeed was feeling, and admitted to, some sense of possessiveness or jealousy in the context of wanting to hold her to myself for safekeeping.
And now I would like to address that, in that, it would be unseemly of a teacher to admit to having a quality which would be regarded in most cases as a negative and inferior light, but I would like to hold to my statement but point out that a lower and lesser understanding of jealousy has to do with suspicion and resentment and a sense of grasping and it was not in that context that I indicated my jealous regard for Merium, but rather in the sense of protecting a treasure.
I jealously guard my relationship with Merium and indeed I jealously guard my relationship with each of you. I will go so far as to say that as a teacher assigned to this community, I am going to jealously guard the values of our purpose in sublime esteemed light. If I feel, then, that the integrity of the Mission or of the Revelation itself is being compromised, on behalf of you and the Teaching Corps and the Revelators and Machiventa and Michael, I will speak in jealous regard for its sanctity.
I cannot allow the treasure of this Revelation, this gift to this emerald planet of Michael’s bestowal, this place of my assignment, and this arena of your lives, cannot allow it to go by chance into default or disrepair. I will jealously guard it, then, and so I have made my statement.
Hunnah: May I speak?
TOMAS: Yes.
Hunnah: Thank you for that beautiful statement. It’s very comforting and reassuring to know that you hold your mission in such high esteem, because I feel that in our heart we feel the same way, and it is very frustrating for us to be tripping over human disfigured patterns of living and misunderstandings. It’s so disgusting to have to deal with some of the things, the trivialities that hold us down.
Well, I interpret your statement as the song of joy, because you are aware of your mission and the integrity that you hold for it. It is an honor to be associated with somebody who has such pristine values and it gives me hope that the things that have shaken our little forms here, and given us a moment of doubt, I feel that you have dissolved that.
TOMAS: Fear not for my loyalty, and also rest assured that those values that we hold dear are the root of our community purpose. It is in that context that we are in this configuration. Now, as individuals, as we discuss individual paths to the Father, there are, of course, many variations on the theme — scaffolding, if you will, much background material en route, but effective immediately, it may be understood that in terms of our community/ group efforts, the teamwork that will commence has to do with our work in promulgating our understanding of Michael of Nebadon and his goals for us.
I would like to also state for your comfort, Daughter, that although you offer a descriptive adjective of “disgusting” to the human condition, it is not necessary to efface your humanness (yours individually or collectively), for it is understood how frail you are and from what soil you have emerged. As you grow in the spirit and as you understand the tremendous community of assistants you have in the spirit and in the flesh, you will be able to grow beyond your more debilitating handicaps of time and space.
It is a very hopeful threshold that we embark upon/over. In time, indeed very soon, your humble attitude will become a triumphant bugle call of glory and honor in truth for those of us who stand as your aide in your efforts to exalt our Creator Father/Brother and His/our Eternal Parent on High. It is a noble work. It is not for weaklings. It is not for dreamers. It is for stalwart workers in the field, and you do me honor by your testimony.
Closing
And so now, my comrades, let us wind down for the evening for there is still time for you to savor one another’s being and indeed indulge in a little private time with the Father before you go to your rest. Merium joins me in admitting our love for you, our embrace of you, and our best wishes to you in the few next upcoming days. Go in peace. Farewell.
