2020-06-25. Virus Mindset, Open to God’s Influence.
[speaker-mute]
Michael on June 25, 2020. – LLN #574
Michael—T/R-JL
(Mother Nature’s indifference)
(Protecting others from yourself)
(Your general health)
(Loneliness can kill, and does)
(Open to God’s influence)
(Gratitude & Thankfulness)
(Spirit doesn’t demand—it askes, it teases)
(Each situation is as different as the people)
(Offer a mask?)
(Getting too nonchalant)
(The uniqueness of the recent situation)
(What one person’s fun costs someone else)
(Insight, foresight, and planning)
(Courage to face the unknown)
(Keep it real—within & without)
[/speaker-mute]
[speaker]
Dear Michael and Mother Spirit, thank you so much for coming to us this way, making yourself available for our listening ears and our hungry souls. Especially double thank you for being so much a part of our lives.
Michael, I like to think of your Spirit of Truth as a kind of “loving tease” always dangling Reality Itself out in front of us, reminding us we have to seek it with honesty and curiosity in order to keep expanding into it all the time. It helps us keep in mind we have little bits of truth, but Truth Itself–especially your Truth–is an encompassing, something that wraps us up in itself. So you tease us to be focused everywhere outward, and forward, and all around–to wrap up bigger and bigger pieces of it.
You remind us truth is never only to our own benefit, and the search will never ever be over. This is one of your promises. Truth is that which leads us on, forever and ever toward a whole universe out there to explore and encompass.
Mother Spirit, thank you so much for being a part of us. You have your own tease in a way, reminding us we are experiential beings. This is what we are here for–to experience and keep expanding our knowledge and understanding. So you give us a little boost of courage to help us do so. Lately you reminded us that, being hit with this virus and deprived of so many folks’ company we’ve made a part of our everyday lives, we really treasure your Mind/Spirit of Counsel. It’s that creative spirit that helps us provide so much good council and cheer for each other. So thank the two of you so very much. Amen.
Michael. Good evening. This is Michael. Mother Spirit and I, although we have given you some extensive lessons these last two months on this plague you are being challenged with, we would like to say a little bit more tonight.
First of all, if you will permit me, let me reemphasize some points we made before. Keep in mind this plague is the result of another Mother that is quite distinct from Mother Spirit who has a personal relationship with each one of you, and recognizes, welcomes, and cherishes your uniqueness right from God.
(Mother Nature’s indifference).
This other Mother is one you call Mother Nature, and her fullness of expression is the exact opposite and entirely impersonal. This virus-possibility, that has existed since the beginning of life, is completely indifferent. It is such a simple organism it is hardly alive but depends on a living cell to reproduce. Yet it is quite effective in doing this, as you are finding out. This particular one is rather contagious. It can spread quite easily. You are just now developing the testing to get some notion of its extent and how it spreads.
We congratulate your scientists and all the folks involved in your health systems to get a handle on this challenge to you all. We ask that you pay that great price–you pay attention to all the good advice being given you. This is especially true for those of you who are developing symptoms. Even if you have only the slightest inkling that you are catching this virus, you do self-isolate, you do keep some distance between yourself and others.
If you need to go out for something as simple and necessary as your groceries, you have such a wide availability of masks to wear. Though they won’t filter out any virus suspended in the air, their main usefulness is containing any coughing or sneezing little droplets that contain the virus. Now you also have widely available and inexpensive hand sanitizers, so you can apply them liberally. Even then be careful what you touch that other people could come in contact with.
(Protecting others from yourself).
This is your love of your fellow folks–your family and your neighbors; a love of protecting them from yourself. This is especially true now there is a wider spread among younger folks who Mother Spirit mentioned last time. They may not show any symptoms themselves, but they are still highly contagious. This is the trouble of opening your schools for your young folks, which has to be done at some time. It’s the fact they are possible carriers back to their families.
But you are working through these things and developing techniques. The main one is what you call “social distancing” where six feet is a pretty good barrier, except from sneezes or coughs. In circumstances like going into a store, where you cannot avoid being closer to each other, is where your masks come in. And, of course, you have to avoid handshaking that dear old friend when you meet, and be careful with your hugs.
As Mother Spirit said, this is like being quite arbitrarily put in jail. Doing all you can to avoid this virus, you still might get it. So again, this is where a profound love comes in–this consideration, this caring for each other. Right now you have an increase in people catching the virus because people are getting a little too careless. So the worst thing you can be is nonchalant about it all. Take it seriously. Love one another. Take care of one another. Keep in mind this is Mother Nature’s totally indifferent virus, not even quite alive. This is what you are susceptible to.
Hopefully in the near future you will develop some treatments for this virus and a vaccine against it. But keep in mind too, it may become what you call a seasonal flu like one that has been here for years and comes around quite regularly every fall and winter, and itself kills tens of thousands. This too may become something you have to learn to live with, where basic hygiene is so important.
(Your general health).
Another thing it points out most tragically is what we’ve talked about so often, and that is your general health. We have given lessons before that maybe 75-80 percent of what people are coming down with, and so severely effects not only their longevity but the quality of their life, lies within the realm of choice. This virus is pointing out ways which the individual can have some critical influence over it. These are things like obesity, heart disease, or lung disease due to factors each individual can choose.
It is such a conundrum of diet and exercise–eating good, healthy foods that help keep you strong and healthy and your weight down, and being active. This is what this virus is pointing up so severely for such a great percentage of folks of every age. The virus attacks those who are already terribly unhealthy.
(Loneliness can kill, and does).
There is also mental health to consider, the enormous increase of suicides of folks who are suddenly deprived of company and are being killed by loneliness and despair. If you know of anyone in this situation yourself, reach out to them. You have your wonderful telephones, and now your cell phone and computer screens to see and talk to each other in ways which were once only in comic-strips or science-fiction. Loneliness can kill, and does. So reach out to those who are so desperately in need of a friendly voice and face, someone they hug this way.
Another thing is that everybody is now thrown into such a different mode of life living day-to-day. Some of your crimes of robbery and even murder are going up. This virus is definitely hitting what you have always known as a “social contract”–an often unspoken or only semi-conscious kind of behavior of how to be loving and caring for each other. It may be sharing a smile with a stranger you pass on a busy city sidewalk. Now that smile is behind a mask, so it goes to the eyes with maybe a little bounce of the eyebrows.
It is amazing how much love can still be conveyed even while keeping a six foot social distance, so always keep this positive aspect in mind. This is what Mother Spirit talked about last time, your creative flexibility. Keep loose; hang in there. Show with your gestures and use your imagination to come up with ways to love each other, to support each other, to help each other.
This is that deeper social contract that you are all dependent upon. There is this general stress now, this numbing impersonal stress that is hitting everyone. So acknowledge it. Go out of your way to be friendly and stay in contact. Really help each other.
When in your own sphere all alone, practice what Mother Spirit and I have taught so many times, and that is: meditation. Find a way of enjoying being alone because there you will find the two of us. There you will find our Father who is actually part of you. Listen to his small still voice within. Treasure it, and do your best to be in accord with it.
(Open to God’s influence).
Open yourself to his ideals that are being expressed. Almost irrespective if you can follow them or not—be open to them. Constantly ask within yourself, “Dear Father, what should I do next?” Then be open to his bigger suggestions, especially if you are going through some hard times because you have lost your job and your whole financial situation is up in the air. This is how you fight despair. This is how you fight loneliness
For it is a fight. You are being challenged, my dears, so step up it, lean into it. Meditate and ask your Father, for this is his delight. You are his child. Your personality is his creation. In this you are so much like him. You are a personal being with will power and dignity. So open yourself to him. Make that connection.
(Gratitude & Thankfulness).
One final thing I will offer tonight is: no matter what your situation, cherish a feeling of gratitude and thankfulness that fills your heart and soul, and gives you power. This is where your power comes from. This is how you manifest it. This is how you make it real. It’s a thankfulness for being alive, a thankfulness for family and friends, and the folks around you.
It’s an appreciation for the enormous Creation you are part of, as much yours as any other personal being in existence. So claim it. Claim it day by day or even hour by hour, with this body you have, and this mind. Realize your imagination, this creative spirit you have. Honor this soul of yours that is being counter-parted by God himself. It’s one of the reasons for you being here–the experience of your life.
Let the threat of the virus help give you this power, and be undaunted by it. Listen to your health folks. Follow their recommendations. Keep this social distance and be strong enough within yourself to do that. And always, always, always: know you are in Mother Spirit’s and my love. Now if you have any questions or comments, these are my joy.
Student: Sir, what does one say—what would you say to someone who refuses to wear a masks.
(Spirit doesn’t demand—it asks, it teases).
Michael. Well, my son, I would treat this situation in a spiritual way. As your Urantia Book mentions over and over again, one quality of spirit is that it does not demand. It asks—it teases. Fashion the request with respect to whom it is aimed. Take in this whole person while keeping your social distance, even if you have to put out your hand and say, ‘”Stay away,”—if you are in a place where you are penned in. Find that spiritual way of teasing them into behaving, rather than simply demanding they do so.
This is where you have to experiment a bit. Be open-minded. There is no magic bullet to use in this situation. There is no one answer that fits all. It is so much a unique situation because that stubborn person over there is a unique person. So treat them that way. Take them in and see what it is about them. Of course one little tease would be to carry an extra mask with you, and offer it at arm’s length, right? That is about three feet. If they reach out for it that would be your good six feet. This could be one way. Offer them maybe some brightly colored mask.
(Each situation is as different as the people).
Each situation, my son, is going to be as different as the person you are approaching. So above all, be aware of that. Who is this person? Why are they doing this? Give them a face-saving “out.” It usually doesn’t do any good to rile them up and have them shouting at you. That could be the worst thing of all. Don’t get into an argument. And finally, if nothing else works, just simply avoid them. Don’t put yourself at risk. Does that help?
Student: Oh yes. One sees so many examples of it now, of people finding all manner of excuses for not wearing one. I mean, even to the point of refusing to wear a mask in your name. You dig?
Michael. Well, my son, I’m afraid my name has been used for some really terrible obscene things that one human being has done to another, all through history.
Student: It is happening again. OK—Thank you. You are right: each one is a one-on-one situation indeed.
Michael. For the most part, people who are outside walking around and keeping their distance, masks are nowhere near so critical. In your country almost all indoor spaces where your grocery stores and others are opening up, they have big signs requiring face protection. So that certainly helps. In the aisles of a supermarket you can’t always be six feet apart.
(Offer a mask?).
Other than these examples, I think offering a mask would be one way of handling the situation. Otherwise you can’t physically do anything about it. If you can’t tease them into it, or shame them into it, just keep your distance and make sure you stay safe yourself.
Student: Right. Will do.
Student #2: You read my mind, Michael. I just ordered a couple of boxes of those cheap surgical masks that are available online now. I imagine getting one of those extended grippers that pick things up for people who can’t get out of their chairs. In the grocery store I could just put a mask on the end and handed to people.
(Getting too nonchalant).
Michael. That is good. All over the United States now, and in parts of Europe and the more developed countries, the increase in cases is because people have gotten a little too nonchalant about it all. Hopefully they will go back to being careful. The main thing is distance, and where it cannot be done the masks can prevent spreading sneezes or coughs, because a small amount of virus can remain airborne. It has been noted that masks can’t begin to keep airborne virus out. They are even smaller than bacteria. It is like a chain link fence trying to keep out bees.
While the main reason for masks is for coughing, it is also for those individuals who do have symptoms yet have to get out for groceries. The more other people are wearing masks, it doesn’t mark them as some kind of Typhoid Mary. People with symptoms are more likely to wear a mask if everybody is.So do your part, but when you are alone in your car, or just out walking and no one else around, there is no need for a mask then.
Student #2: Some people–like on Face Book–are very arrogant about it. They have a whole story I’m taking away their freedom, like when they wouldn’t wear a seat belt in the 70’s–all that stuff. Even if they get over that emotional block, they are not going online and buy a $30 mask. You know what I mean? They probably don’t even have one, so if you could just give them one. Try, “Why aren’t you wearing a mask? Don’t you have one? Here—I have one for you. You know…”
Michael. This is where your flexibility and creative spirit come in to find a way out of an impasse like that. Unfortunately, these last couple of weeks and months have brought out an aspect of human nature you call nihilism–just a delight in being against everyone and not doing what is even common sense. This does appeal to a certain kind of personality. We don’t need to go into all the ways a person like this comes about, but they do form a certain element in large protests.
(What one person’s fun costs someone else).
These are not the people who are peacefully protesting. They are not even those who break into a store to steal something. Even looting material things makes some kind of sense, some physical sense. But then why set places on fire? You know why. You see video of people dancing, and yelling, and having a wonderful, delightful time dancing in front of a big store they just set on fire. They’ve no comprehension whatsoever of what this delight of theirs is costing someone else–maybe a whole lifetime’s struggle to get a little business going. Again: these last few weeks have shown that this mean behavior is part of some folks’ human nature.
Student #2: Right–but that is not connected to anything beneath the surface, right?
Michael. This is someone who is definitely not hearing any kind of God’s small still voice within. It’s just getting a temporary delight in destruction. It used to be called, “The killers and the spoilers”–people who enjoy spoiling things for a temporary power of senselessly ruining something for someone else. That is part of some people’s human nature.
That is what you are confronting now the virus is turning lives upside down and a lot of normal social contact has been so limited, these nihilistic, destructive people have been cooped up for a while. It’s feeding a lot of destructive energy into their having been isolated for weeks on end.
Student #2: Yeah. Mob mentality.
Michael. As much as you can, my dear, try to think holistically this way. See the whole picture and all that is involved in it.
Student #2: Well, I always go back to the Lucifer Adjudication, and the rolling out of that on this rebellion planet. That is going to take more than the next decade; maybe a couple hundred years. What would you say is happening now when we are seeing so much of that kind of human nature?
Michael. Oh, my dear, it is well to keep in mind what I said tonight about such an enormous, impersonal force a virus is, and how novel the situation is. Comparisons have been made to the European plagues in the Middle Ages, or the Spanish Flu a hundred years ago. It is all very different now with nihilistic folks getting together on the internet. There are not only individuals but groups of like-minded people getting together to have their terribly perverted fun.
Many protests started based on racial considerations, but then this virus hit your whole economy and there were tens of millions of folks out of work, not knowing where their next dollar was coming from. All the levels of government, with both their abilities and inabilities, are involved, and that is why you really have to open your mind to take it all in.
(The uniqueness of the recent situation).
Because what is happening now is very unique. Mother Spirit and I talk so much about the fact that an enormous part of reality is not repeating itself. Every moment is unique, yet sometimes the uniqueness kind-of overwhelms the normally anticipated amount. This is one of those moments. You are really going through an enormous social challenge here. That is why, for your own personal life, your own ability to love, and be flexible, adaptable, and open-minded is so critical. And so absolutely valuable. There is nothing more precious.
Student #2: OK. Thank you, Michael, I forgot that.
Michael. This is why Mother Spirit and I talk to you as individuals. We don’t address too much the wider, social considerations, except tonight to emphasize how unique it is. You have never been here before, and you are literally one-moment-at-a-time feeling your way along in a situation that is intrinsically isolating. The poor folks who commit suicide are so lonely and terribly suffering that putting an end to their life seems like the only way out. They are literally being driven to it–the ultimate “no choice”–the ultimate lack of any kind of free will.
So, my dears, open your hearts, open to not only offering a mask while keeping that six feet distance. You don’t need a mask; there is still your smile. There is still that human to human touch of encouraging each other. That is sometimes hard to know– what your smile might mean to another person, so reach out and touch them in whatever safe way you can.
Student #2: Thank you, Michael.
Michael. Oh, you are welcome, my dear.
Student #3: Michael, I have a question as well. I am going on a road trip 800 miles north with my daughter and my grand-daughter to stay in a safe apartment. Then one afternoon we are going to a Celebration of Life for a dear aunt who has died. It will only be for a couple hours outside with relatives, and not more than ten. I was planning to wear a mask and then go back to that secluded apartment. I’m hoping I’m making the right decision because I’ll use social distancing and everything I need to do, just be in a different place. What do you think?
(Insight, foresight, and planning).
Michael. My daughter, you are thinking this through, that is the main thing. You are really opening your mind and your creative spirit to all the little phases of driving up there and back, and in the situation itself. The social distancing is the most important thing, so any time that is threatened, do put on your mask and ask others to put on theirs. I would even suggest keeping a spare one to offer someone who may need one. Again, don’t demand it, just offer one.
You’ve thought it well through, both going up and coming back, and what you are going to do when you are there. That is the most important thing. This is your foresight.
Student #3: I’ll practice what I’ve been taught–listen to the experts and not take a risk–and still have a trip with my grand-daughter. She’s going to be seventeen and it’ll be her birthday celebration as well. Thank you.
Michael. As I said tonight, it is doing what you can to maintain social distancing and the isolation that this virus has put upon society. Hopefully folks can see that Mother Spirit and I are not being Pollyanna and just seeing things through rose-colored glasses, but see themselves how this event has given most folks a real appreciation of their social contact. It’s how so much of their life is gloriously wrapped up in others. A fundamental aspect of God is this idea of sharing your life with others, as he chooses to share himself with the whole universe he’s created
Student #3: Thank you, Michael. Thank you.
Michael. Be in my peace.
(Courage to face the unknown).
Well, my dears, I hope tonight I’ve given you more courage to face this unknown, this very strange thing that came to you out of nowhere. I’m not talking about the people involved generating and spreading it around for whatever motivation, but just for you individually, the way it has suddenly hit you. Like Mother Spirit said, it’s been like suddenly being thrown in jail, isolated and having to deal with that.
The challenge becomes how to be at one with yourself, and with the most wonderful company available to your consciousness. God is not only surrounding you, his presence is part of you, always offering actual thoughts, actual suggestions of what to do next. Yet his ideas are always your choice to accept or not. He’s a small still voice within that you can learn to recognize. So stay in tune with that. Take notes even. Ask his presence within you, and write down the answers. He is that profound. He is that available.
This is what keeps you grounded in the most broad sense you can think of. The most universal thing you can think of is our Father, who enjoys being a part of you. This is his purpose. This is his desire. So stay in touch.
(Keep it real—within & without).
Stay in touch too with this creative spirit of yours. Call it imagination. Call it problem-solving. Call it courage. This spiritual ground is the most powerful thing for you right now so you don’t just float away with worry. It is all real, so keep it real for yourselves, my dear ones. Keep it real. Welcome your own sense of reality. Open yourself to the complexity of it all, and keep reminding yourself it is all real.
Mother Spirit sends you her love, and I bid you: Be in my Peace. This is where you find it. Right within yourself. Right between you and our Father. Good night.
