2008-05-03. The Greeting
Lightline #167
Topic: The Greeting
Group: Lightline TeaM
Facilitators
Teacher: Tomas
TR: Gerdean
Opening
TOMAS: Good evening, faithful flock. This is Tomas, delighted to have been summoned forth to visit with you this evening. It is always a pleasure to be called into service. I say “always” even though, like you, I would imagine, there are times when you would rather just stay in your comfortable sofa channel surfing, or whatever amuses you, instead of doing that which you are called to do, perhaps by your spouse, or your pet, or your ringing telephone, but it is amazing to see how it is that we all rise to the occasion.
This is one of the effects of sonship, the gift of faith, that when we step out, the words are there, the energy is there, the direction is provided and the message is revealed. Such is the faith walk and how it pleases me to be here with you as we all step forth and see what is revealed in this configuration of believers on this balmy spring day and National Day of Prayer — from the perspective of my T/R, at least, and I trust that her perspective is not so far removed from you that we cannot all join in as one in an attitude of rejoicing and prayer.
Renewal is always something to induce prayer or attitudes of joy. There is such anticipation and excitement in new beginnings, and no matter how many times the adventure begins anew, as long as you are alert and awake to the possibilities, it is always a new experience. There are always new nuances to be seen and appreciated. And new lessons to be learned, not to mention new truths to impart as you pass by.
Lesson
I had thought this evening to spend a couple of moments on the fact of how much we teachers learn from you. I am not sure you understand how it is that we who are allegedly/ supposedly/ reputedly so much further advanced than you here on this dense world would be able to actually enlarge our capacities from simply being here and engaging in this mission to bring Urantia out of the shadows and into the light, but you must realize that most of us have not come from such a world as yours. Many of us in the spirit realms with whom you deal on a regular basis are essentially perfect beings or are far advanced and, in many ways, have forgotten what it’s like to live a mortal life, if indeed they have ever lived one at all, and so this is a key point to remember when you think in terms of how it is that we are learning from our experience with you.
I point this out perhaps because of our association with the Magisterial Son who has been speaking with you in terms of your efforts to gather together Michael’s children and create working harmonious and effective groups of like-minded individuals so that the efforts, the many efforts that will be necessary can be undertaken. You will need to therefore roll up your sleeves and get into the chaos and mayhem of the moment so that you can bring it into order, much as he is doing in this mission of his in coming to this needy orb on the outer rim of space.
I cannot think of an example for you that you could readily pounce upon, but perhaps you can dig around in the recesses of your own mind to identify with this kind of thing. Consider the privileges that you have, say, as an American, where the freedom of speech is acceptable as a way of life (for the most part) and then finding yourself in an environment where you were only allowed to speak when spoken to. How would it be if you were accustomed to your human dignity and modesty, only to find yourself in a situation where you were stripped of your clothing and ridiculed as to your endowments?
These mortifying and undignified moments are somewhat akin to what we observe going on all the time on your world. You are indeed very fortunate. You also have buffered yourselves very well from the rudeness and crudeness of the dense animal kingdom in which you dwell. Your ability to insulate yourself from that which is painful to your sensitivities/ sensibilities, enables you to function with grace and a degree of nobility, but it is made all the more rich by your understanding that just down the road from you there are families who live in poverty and squalor, where incest is a way of life, where battery/ domestic violence is a common occurrence, where debt and poverty weigh heavily and often force the parties to engage in illicit or illegal behaviors in order to make do.
Crime exists in every city; poverty and squalor are your neighbors; and so for you to take upon yourself the task of uplifting your fellows, you might consider what it would be like for you to go into one of those environments and make friends with those people, inveigle your way into their life, establish trust, have compassion, and be able to educate and counsel them as to their emotions and their psychological approaches to their situation.
What you find in such a situation that you can say “My God! I’ve learned so much by this experience!” is very much what we mean when we say “I am learning so much by this experience of being your teacher, of coming here into your environment, where you are so well insulated against the abuses and the ignorance and the prejudice that is part and parcel of life on an evolving world at this phase of its development. What I am learning is how much I have yet to learn. What I am learning is the magnificence of how amazing you are as creatures, and what Divine Intelligence has gone into your design.
How cleverly you survive. How cleverly you find your way in and out of situations. You justify and rationalize, you cajole and wheedle, you manipulate, you coerce, you praise, you weep, you yearn, you hope, you long, you pine, you lust (and) you love. You are amazing creatures. Amazing creatures! A tremendously rich heritage you have.
It is understandable why you would think much of what you have to endure here is not so “rich” an experience because there are indeed many betrayals, rebukes and other experiences that would seem to only cause pain, but they do indeed reflect the wonder of creation, for not many millennia ago you were simply protozoa, frogs, mid-mammals, and now you are human beings learning how to reason, learning how to want to step up out of materialism into the lofty realms of theosophic thought and merciful ministry.
That which you are learning here, assuming you are learning and not merely surviving, will be a part of your experiential packaging for eternity. The tenacity that is yours now as a result of hanging on to your life and to hanging on to that which means something to you, be it your family, your lover, your house, your means of transportation, your culture — your books, your music — that which means something to you, to which you have tremendous loyalty, that fed you, that has become a value that has a lasting value … not simply for this life but for eternity. You, like we, will now be able to commiserate on those feelings of how difficult it was to attain and yet how we triumphed over insuperable odds, often even when alone.
It is an amazing experience just observing you people. I tell you this not to pump up your ego [although] your egos could use some good pumping. You could use some strokes, as they say, and you have indeed sat at our feet and sucked up our praises and our affirmations of your value and our affection for you, not to mention the divine affection of Michael and Nebadonia that is showered upon you and many of you have wondered Why? Why? What makes me so loveable?
If you could see from my vantage-point — and you will because after this conversation this evening you will take this thought that I have planted as a seed in your mind and you will begin to be aware of those who are less fortunate than you and see them as struggling souls who are grappling with values; you will begin to see them and their aberrant behaviors with compassion. You will begin to perceive their foibles as immature, rather than evil.
This kind of perspective is wisdom. And it is wisdom that will advance your world ever so slowly but oh so surely into the light because your eyes have been opened and when you can see with divine affection that which is so flawed, so imperfect, so crooked and dank … it will add to your understanding of divinity. It will add to your appreciation those qualities of godliness that can love everything and everyone under any circumstances because it is. That’s the way it is. Embrace it ~ and lift it up ~ into the light ~ where we rejoice ~ and where we honor the springtime of a new year and the start of a new adventure, another mission, another opportunity to step forth and prevail as sons of God and daughters of divinity paving the way into light and life.
Dialogue
I’ll pause now and allow you to take a deep breath. We’ll shift gears here. I have a question on my desk that has been presented by our brother Felix. Actually, it is a multi-part question and it has to do with/ stems from discussions hither and yon about the word antichrist. Let me gather that question before me and present it to you.
Can we be given a definition for the “antichrist” term, as understood in general by the Celestials? Where did this concept of the “antichrist” come from originally? Where does the number “666” come from and why is it associated with evil? Is it part of an order number for a fallen Lanonandek son (Lucifer, Satan, etc.) or other disgraced Celestial personality? All right. Those now being on the record, let me apply myself to a response.
Thank you, Felix, for your question. You are a good student. You often ask provocative questions and I can certainly see by the questions you have asked over time a great deal about your background. You have had tremendous cultural conditioning through — I would venture to say Catholicism. Certainly a noble organized religion is at your base. Christianity, certainly, in one form or another, for you to even concern yourself with a word such as “antichrist.”
The antichrist is a phrase that comes from the evolved religions. It is not one that we celestials have introduced nor would we use it because it does not serve to denote anything useful as far as our perspective is concerned. If I were to grab a word out of the air that the celestials might use in lieu of antichrist, I would say “boogeyman,” because that which is antichrist is fear.
Christ represents the light. “I am the way, the truth and the light.” Therefore anything was not the way, the truth and the light, could be categorized as anti Christ, but it is not an individual nor is it a belief system; it is simply fear itself and it very likely hails back to your origins, planetary origins of ghost cults and the like, when good and evil were the only two realities: the yin/yang, black and white, good and evil, Christ and antichrist, hope and fear.
Revelations, in the scriptures, may speak to the antichrist in terms of an era or an epoch or an event, but it still boils down to a preponderance of fear. 666 is another leftover from ghost cults and early superstition. It is not a typographical error or a remnant of the number of a fallen angel. It is simply a squiggle in the sand, duplicated as if to say a snake coiled and uncoiled. Many early symbols – hieroglyphics – spoke to the primitive mind and this is simply one of those indicators.
So much of what you are affected by, in terms of your religious programming, is a reflection on those circumstances and conditions I spoke of earlier when I talked about going into the darkness, the density, the primitive conditions of the minds and behaviors of those who live in fear and squalor and spiritual darkness. They grasp at straws. They find meaning in animal entrails and in tea leaves. They look for truth or answers in the most bizarre situations, grasping at straws in their neediness, to have something in which they can place their faith.
The benefit of revelation cannot be under-emphasized. And when I speak of revelation here I speak of epochal revelation, that which Machiventa brought and taught, which spread; that which Adam and Eve brought and taught, and which spread; and that which Jesus provided, which spread and lingers still in the minds of the men and women of Urantia, partially distorted, yes, but your world is much better for having had these visitations.
And now you have the Urantia text, another revelation. Each of you has your own copy. You can hold it in your lap. In many ways it would be like sitting and talking to Jesus or sitting in person and talking to Machiventa, or having dinner with Adam and Eve. You have their attention. You have the capacity to absorb what they would like to tell you if you are willing and open to listen to revelation speak to you.
You then can take it in as you are able and assimilate it according to your spirit of truth, nourish yourself on it, allow your soul to grow therefrom and make it your own. Make it your own revelation, and then you go out and you seed the dark places, the angry people, the lost souls, the ones who love chaos, the ones who run into darkness for fear of the light. You can go on your own magisterial mission and help lift up the lost and the lonely.
Fear is the antichrist. And sometimes that means fear of success. Fear of losing what you’ve got. Fear of losing your creature comforts and your associates. Fear of upsetting things. Fear of being alienated and left out. Fear of not having a retirement situation. Fear of not having a job. Fear of not getting what you want. Fear of not getting your plans made or your dreams come true. These are the antichrist. They stand in the way of your living faith. Not only your living faith but your ability to heed to call, to respond to the flicker of your own faith when it calls you forth. Fear that you will offend someone. Fear that you will say something that will alienate someone and make you look unfriendly or ignorant or unwilling to be like others.
Each of you is the antichrist, and each of you is the Christed one, and the choice is yours every moment of every day. “How will I respond? How will I live my life? How do I choose? When I turn on the light, when I turn on my light of faith, do I simply move the dimmer switch up so that I don’t stumble in the darkness, or do I turn it all the way up so that the chandelier is singing and dancing and they can see my light from afar.” Come in, come in! and open up the doors and spread the table and enjoy the feast. Enjoy the plenty that we have, that we know, that is ours because we are the sons of God. There is nothing to fear. There is nothing to fear in this Kingdom.
And yet of course I know that you all have your fears. All evolving creatures have them. They are simply ignorance. They are simply imperfection, incompletion. And this, too, is why it is possible for you to learn from your experiences, as I am learning from my experiences with you, to have compassion, to have mercy, to be patient, to be tolerant, to see more with the eyes of the divine than through my own limited perspective, and if all I have to work with is my limited perspective, then let it be exalted, as that experience which has been driven by the divine hand.
Are there other questions from the floor this evening? I would love to engage with you. I don’t want to do all the talking. You know I could and would but it is better if you engage with me. The floor is open.
Recca: Well, amen to all of that, Tomas. That is truly a rousing invitation to put away fear, our own fears and invite Christ’s light to shine through us. I like very much the analogy of the dimmer switch and the blazing chandelier. I could see myself in this right away.
TOMAS: Thank you, Recca. You are a bright light yourself.
Recca: Well, I can use strokes today. Thank you! Often I feel ignorant and betrayed and … just in very small things, but during a work day … and I truly appreciate your reminder that I have nothing to fear in those feelings, that when those feelings wash over me they can wash right past me. I can step right into that wave of resentment or fear of feeling foolish or ignorant and just go right on. That’s very, very helpful right – today.
TOMAS: I’m glad. You might consider these feelings as aromas, and as you walk down your daily path you walk through various smells. Sometimes it is unpleasant, like sulfur or fertilizer, and sometimes it is like lilacs or roses, and when you walk through these experiences and have these feelings, allow them entry and exit from you. Go ahead and feel them and let them pass. They are only feelings, they will pass. You need not hold onto them and build a case about them. You need not develop them and cultivate them until they become a full-fledged resentment or a grudge. Just allow them to come and go. Acknowledge them and release them. (Pause) Easier said than done?
Recca: It is becoming easier, with your and the Teachers’ association with us and encouragement. Yes, it’s becoming easier to let those pass through.
TOMAS: It’s helpful to remind yourself of the price you pay to make a federal case of a feeling. Like wanting to buy a new car, it would be great to have one, but do you really want to make the payments for the next four years. It’s part of counting the cost. Is it worth the investment? And only you can decide that based on your growth at the time and your perspectives. Under any circumstances it will be a part of your experiential journey and it’s such a freedom to reach the point where you can say, “I walked through that and it didn’t affect me.”
This reminds me of my earlier lectures on the Everglades [analogizing] the emotions of the Everglades where you can experience these emotions without getting hung up on them and have an ever so interesting excursion through the emotional realms without getting caught in their quicksand or being smitten with swarms of mosquitoes or viruses and other unpleasant aspects of emotion, or even that wonderful sense of soaring through the vines “in love” and so forth.
These are all human experiences, none of which are bad or good, they are simply experiences and you can, over time, discern which ones you have had enough of and recognize them in others so that you can steer clear of them when you see them coming or help them along if that’s how you decide to respond, because everyone is an emotional creature here. Everyone feels.
This is something you have much of than we do. [Which is] not to say that we celestials don’t have feelings, we do, but they are not the kind that would hang us up as much as they do you. You who cannot see tend to put a lot of stock in a lot of lesser reality. You identify feelings with people and loathe the person rather than the feeling. This can be very confusing and it slows down the evolutionary process considerably, so as you become more enlightened and aware, of how you feel and react, you can see it happening in others and be helpful rather than hinder growth.
This is all part of being on the mission, all part of going into the jungles and the side streets and the areas that address the issues that humanity is to face if it is to evolve. Which it will! But I know you want to help. I know you want to participate. I know you want to make your mark on your world of origin.
There is still time. Are there questions? Commentary? (Pause) Are you saturated? Are you confused? Are you replete?
Recca: I don’t think I’m saturated yet. I have a question about using the Light Line encircuitment that we were reminded about last week, to draw down to us from the other members of this light line strength and boosting when we find ourselves fearful. Is that a reasonable reflex to cultivate?
TOMAS: I’m not certain that I understood what you said. I have to confess that Gerdean interfered. She had tried to access Light Line last week and ran into that closed door that comes when the session begins and no one else is allowed in after the set starts and so I have to wade through her recollection of that situation and so, if you would, tell me again what you were saying as to the value of the Light Line configuration.
Recca: Certainly. In my responding, or any of us here on Light Line, responding to our personal fears during the day, walking down the street with the aroma of emotions around us — is reaching out to membership in the Light Line encircuitment a bootstrap kind of a response that we can utilize to pull us back into the light?
TOMAS: Yes it is, as is any reach of faith. Any reach of faith will help bring you up from the quagmire and help you through the stench. Just allow your faith to reach out for that which you know provides strength and comfort, and if it is your Light Line connection, as it is for some the group connection, and as it is for others a celestial connection, and as it is for others a telephone call away to a real mortal associate, when you allow your mind to focus in faith on that which can help you over your hurdle, you are reaching out in faith and you will be upheld, whether that is a human friend, a divine friend, or a group of friends. All of these are helpful tools for you to use, certainly.
Recca: Thank you.
TOMAS: Practice that this week, in fact. As you walk around on automatic pilot, remember how it feels to be uplifted in the spirit and then reach out in faith and turn on your switch. Make conscious contact with the friend or the configuration of friends that gives you strength, that supports your growth, that shares your hope, (and) that works with you in your efforts to uplift the world and walk a higher path. By all means, reach out in faith to your group and when you have a chance, reach out literally and call your friends so they can hear your voice and this makes it yet and again even more real and more substantive because you are not simply immaterial, ethereal, imagined, vague voices, but are real and genuine personalities, real people who are having a faith experience here. Or what is the phrase they are commonly using? A spiritual being having a material experience. Reach out to your spiritual peers in the flesh. Call them on the phone and really brighten their day.
Recca: Thanks for that counseling.
TOMAS: Is there a directory available these days? I am not sure that there is a current directory of peers. There once was a phone book. And I suspect there are probably email directories, but have some phone numbers on hand so that when things get bleak you can first lift yourself up through faith, but if and as that fails to give you the oomph you desire, reach out, call someone, and enhance both your faith paths by sharing with them. It is the brotherhood of man in action.
This will also make it easier for when the time comes to form one of these co-creative teams or one of these projects undertaken by like-minded individuals to enhance and augment the circumstances and conditions of the world in which you work/ the realm.
Recca: Actually, I was going to ask about this Light Line group being actually constituted as a co-creative working group.
TOMAS: There is no reason why it cannot be considered a co-creative working group if you all are invested in a project. And it does not necessarily have to be something like raising money to send food to a starving nation or writing a book or cutting a CD, although those are all viable projects. If you can find a project that you can all get behind, then you have already established your rapport and your relative and general faith in one another, so you are not exactly dealing with strangers. That is one of the elemental things about working together, you really must have faith in one another and in the work you are undertaking together. That is where the synergy comes from.
Marty: Teacher Tomas, would it be good idea to plan a Light Line session for working together on projects?
TOMAS: That is an option that is certainly open to you. It would naturally need to be generated by you and we will support your efforts. It is not in my purview to call you together to undertake a project and specify what the project will be but if you do that, as you know, Marty, we are more than happy to consult and advise and encourage and counsel and add pointers and so forth. Indeed as Ham said long ago, “Happy I am to serve you.”
Marty: Thank you. I’ll give that a lot of thought and if it seems like something that would help us, I’ll get it in touch with Gerdean.
Gerdean: That’s sounds fine. And we can bring it to the group.
Closing
TOMAS: That’s fine. I would be happy to entertain it, as well as entertain you, my delightful children. And it seems we have come to the end of our session this evening. I always enjoy seeing a session end on an upward note as this one has – all of you satisfied, rested, wholesome and eager to commence on a project of service to those On High who will help uplift the hoards of humanity who are those we have come to serve.
In the name of the Creator, in honor of the Divine Minister, to the glory of the Father, the Sons and Daughters of time and space, we lift our hearts in prayer and thanksgiving.
Amen and farewell.
