2021-04-22. Curiosity, Courage, Creativity, Inner and Outer Reality
Subject: Lightline Teleconference April 22, 2021 – LLN #616
Teacher: Michael
T/R: Jerry Lane
(Personal spirit & impersonal reality)
(Unique personal spirit & impersonal uniformity)
(Spirit = creative ability)
(Inner and outer reality)
(The Spirit of Adventure)
(You are a spiritual being)
(Facing evil with courage)
(God’s shared creativity = ability to freely respond)
(God’s great gifts = Curiosity, courage, and creativity)
Good evening, everyone. This is Jerry inviting Michael to join us. So, Michael and Mother Spirit, welcome and thank you–thank you dear, sweet parents. Thank you for being a part of our lives and always so close by. Mother Spirit, you are part of us with your Mind/Spirit boosts–the augmentation you give us in experiencing life, then storing these experiences as our own dearest possessions we have earned by living them. You help us understand what is happening to us, and how what we are experiencing today can shed so much light on what happened before. You give us a boost of courage to go beyond what we have already accomplished, by opening ourselves so we can keep growing.
Your Spirit of Counsel helps us share of our lives with each other; then another nudge for us to worship and be thankful for these lives we have, and have known. Finally, there’s your boost of wisdom helping us bring all our previous life experiences to bear on this present moment—wisdom.
Thank you, Mother Spirit; and thank you—Michael–for your Spirit of Truth as a great compass in our lives, always leading us to keep growing by opening ourselves to what is true. Help keep us out of the terrible delusion that we might have actually captured truth. You remind us it’s a big universe, but we have an equally enormous eternity in which to go out and explore it
So thank you–dear sweet parents. Michael, if you would this evening, could you give us a deeper feeling for all that’s behind that word—spirit? What is it? What does it do? Thank you very much. Amen.
Michael: Good evening, this is Michael and, as always, I am delighted to be with you this way, and have my conversations with you. So come forth after my lesson, and we will have some lively back-and-forth here. Mother Spirit and I do enjoy so much when you open your hearts, and minds, and your wonderful curiosity, to ask about things which have meaning in your life.
Yes, I would be happy to delve into both the cosmic realities of spirit, and too your personal spirit, since you are included–whether you are listening to me surrounded by your own home, or maybe out in the woods somewhere, with modern technology letting us be together this way there as well.
(Personal spirit & impersonal reality)
Let’s go back to the start with the first great dichotomy, the division of the personal and the impersonal, for this is how God, our Father, sees fit to project reality. Think of the impersonal as that aspect of reality which is absolutely uniform, out to the furthest galaxies, and down into the sub-subatomic level of matter. It’s the same energy, light, heat, and elements you have here on your earth, on out to a distant star–absolutely uniform throughout all of time and space.
Then, as a wonderful contrast to all that impersonal uniformity, you have the exact opposite—the marvelous uniqueness of each and every personality–no two alike!—any place–in all of time and eternity. They come from the great creative spirit of the single original personality whom the worlds of time and space refer to as the First Source and Center. This personal being—God–goes on to create the other creative personalities on all the different levels of reality, from Paradise down through the Super Universes, and across the galaxies, down to the evolutionary planets like your own, with their trillions of trillions of beings very much like yourselves.
Every unique personality is intrinsically bestowed by the Father, the Eternal Son, or the Infinite Spirit, with mind–the ability to experience, and retain that experience as knowledge. Then comes living understanding as each personality grows in how to handle their life and situation, whether on an evolutionary planet, or an architectural sphere; whether human being, angel, Melchizedek, or archangel. So when we say, “God is Spirit,” we are saying the primal meaning of spirit is this divine, shared ability of creativity.
(Unique personal spirit & impersonal uniformity)
See the primal dichotomy this way: There is something continuing throughout time and space, linking everything together in cause-and-effect. It is absolute. There is nothing—no physical effect—without a necessary and sufficient cause. This includes these living bodies of yours, my children, and you can—and do—count on it. You can explore the bottomless infinity of this continuity with your science, and gather all the knowledge and understanding that flows from this quest.
Yet there is also something else in cosmic reality: personal creative spirit. You—as a personal being endowed with spirit– have what your Urantia Book puts so succinctly as: “the ability to escape the fetters of antecedent causality.” You are not entirely or strictly bound by what comes before. Something new can appear within the universe’s cosmic wide absolute causality. Something new can appear with certain antecedents of course, but not bound by them. Something new can be created.
(Spirit = creative ability)
This is what we call spirit. This is what this little word signifies. There are trillions of trillions of personal beings, and every single one is endowed with creativity. And so, this too is what you see happening, especially on your evolutionary planet, pertaining to all the people you live with. It comes from each individual, up to large nation-states with all their thousands and thousands of different cultures going back in time, and going forward. You are included, right down to your own friends and family, and your own immediate neighborhoods.
Think about the implications of this for your understanding of so much happening to you. In my last lesson I talked about the different societies you are involved in, with their politics and different groups getting together to affect the laws of how your societies are regulated. Because of their spiritual creativity, each unique individual has their own unique take on the shared reality of your world. So think how much your life is influenced by the fact that these others around you–especially your own family and friends–are creative spiritual beings.
We tease you with the idea that you are so creative you can–temporarily anyway, if not for long–create what we call a “bubble of familiarity” to live in. Your own home and circumstances, with a circle of family and friends, can even give you a sensation of boredom—the same-old, terrible same-old of nothing happening. And there you are, perishing for something new. Could there be a greater, and ironic, tribute to your own creativity that, in the midst of change everywhere, especially in these living bodies of yours, and all the social and political things, as well as the advances in your science and technology, you still feel trapped and bored with it all.
Hopefully, blissfully, this is a rare thing because true boredom is very painful. Above all, my dears, your personality thrives on change–if you welcome it and take a part in it! So contribute your part within your immediate society of family and friends. As your Urantia Book says, nothing is more plaguing to your soul–maintained by a presence of God within you—than “nothing happening.”
Your soul has to be continually growing, or it dies. This is a kind of living demand put upon your personality: continue to be creative! And so it helps, above all, to realize, appreciate, and take responsibility for your own incessant creativity. Get a real feel for the wonderful gift God has given you in the ability to have your own, self-created inner world as unique to you as is your own personality, because it is created by your personality.
(Inner and outer reality)
True, you inhabit a world that is–to some degree—both like and unlike everyone else’s. But the extent of that degree is enormous. Your psychology explores this difference between within and without and calls the inner one subjectivity. The inner world can so totally overwhelm a personality with painful notions and bogus realizations, the person chooses to stop living. They even have the spiritual creativity to devise a way to do so.
The far opposite extreme is someone who is open-minded and curious, and realizes the limits of their own subjectivity by constantly, welcomingly, bumping up against the objective reality surrounding them, including their own living body. They delightfully bump up against the limits of their own comprehension, saying, “Wow! Thank you, Father. Thank you for my curiosity, to have discovered this new thing.” It’s what you call the scientific impulse, to explore and discover.
(The Spirit of Adventure)
Here perhaps we are touching on one of the greatest spirits of all, my dear ones–the Spirit of Adventure. One definition of adventure is being in a situation where there is no way of knowing entirely what is going to happen next. It could be hanging by your fingertips on the edge of a ledge while rock climbing. Or it could be going to work in the morning through fast heavy traffic, surrounded by dozens of other drivers with all their various driving abilities and mental conditions. Either way, you welcome and accept the intrinsic fear involved in going out to the very edge of what you can anticipate or know, and peeking over. Be not too terrified of the abyss that yawns in front of you, but treasure this spirit of adventure for the liveliness it adds to your life.
Explore that supra-personal something in you that responds to the unknown immediately staring you in the face. It could be a new avenue of understanding with a dear friend when the two of you decide to explore further what you can both share. It can be an experience of challenging each other, like two runners side-by-side in the final sprint. Both are doing so much more than they are capable of doing alone because there is also someone else right by their side showing what is humanly possible.
My dears, Mother Spirit and I thank our Father for this existential situation in which we live so we too can know his spirit of adventure. We can welcome it in spite of, and maybe even because of, the fear that suggests caution–right? It’s the fear that helps keep us alive and growing through the adventure. We can welcome the adventure and accept the necessary caution as part of it—as a blessing.
When you hear or use that word spirit, think of personal creativity. It is the most personal because, each personality being unique, their creativity is unique. There is no impersonal spirit anywhere abroad in the universe. That notion is just a hold-over from your ancient and primitive men and women surrounded by all kinds of impersonal natural forces now known as chemistry, physics, biology, or simply, weather. To feel some understanding and control, they did the best they could to personalize everything. They did not yet have your understanding of the mystery of living things. They lived in a world with no limits to their terrors because of the really terrible, explicable things happening to them and their loved ones, especially someone dying mysteriously for no apparent cause. They imagined enormous good and evil spirits who were causing all of these things.
Yet there is no impersonal spirit whatsoever. God is personal and omnipresent—everywhere, and omniscient. God is literally experiencing everything right along with us, and the rest of creation. A great meaning for spirt is to be more and more Godlike, to be more and more inclusive. It’s the exact opposite of excluding anything, but to be open-minded and inclusive. Revel in the fact there is no limit to you, my children, in what you can experience, and know, and understand.
This meaning of spirit, of being all-inclusive with the ability to embrace everything–especially the scary unknown–is itself an act of creation. And so, my dears, recognize your own creativity, your own subjectivity. Be aware of how you are projecting that into your outer world, even into your own bodies. Welcome your own, up-to-date understanding that needs to keep growing.
(You are a spiritual being)
With your Spirit of Adventure there will be a bright new tomorrow full of more unknowns, because things are changing all around you, and you too will be changing and growing. There is a great universe out there to explore, with an eternity to do so.. You have an intrinsic ability to meet it and delight in it. You are a spiritual being, my dears. Mother Spirit and I we salute you and welcome you into our universe family of personal beings.
Now, if you have any questions or comments, let them come forth right from your own creativity and curiosity.
Student: Can you hear me now? OK, I guess we weren’t muted. Thank you. About inclusiveness? I am not sure, as a human, I can actually do that down here. You know what I mean? There is so much Lucifer Legacy still here. How do I include things I perceive as obviously evil?
(Facing evil with courage)
Michael: Well, my dear, thank you for that question. It points to that wonderful aspect of your character Mother Spirit helps you with–courage. You can know things and not be negatively affected by them, through the power of understanding .Understanding itself—keeping things in the broadest context–gives you the necessary detachment to deal with them. Your own creativity can come up with a better solution for the situation, especially in your own personal life. With courage you avoid getting into denial, because what you don’t know, and refuse to know, really can hurt you.
Student: I certainly see that all around me.
Michael: Yes, so it doesn’t hurt to know these things. It’s essential that you do. At the same time, my dear, your own creative spirit can keep things in proportion. We keep emphasizing that the hallmark of wisdom is a sense of proportion. And you can only get a valid sense of proportion by knowing the extremes–of not only the depravity, but also the glorious love and support that people share.
Student: So you, Michael, did not go around talking about evil. You talked about good.
Michael: Well, it is nice to use your creativity to provide the solution to a difficult situation. One of your greatest contributions is to point out some possible good. No matter what is happening, be able to acknowledge and realize it, and yet not be bound by it. As the Urantia Book says about creativity, you are escaping the determination of something that happened before. That was mainly what I was doing in all those situations you are referring to. I just pointed out to the folks, ”Have you thought about this?”
Student: Yeah, because the past is a trap, but not If you can be in the “now” and rise above it. What gets me is the people who say, “I’m not going to look at that. I’m just going to give it to God, and he’ll straighten it out.” Or, “Jesus is going to take care of it for me when he comes back.” We hear that a lot around here.
Michael: That is a wonderful example of not taking responsibility, and losing their ability to respond. As you intuit, it seldom ends very well that way. God is actually part of them and would like them to be able to respond.
Student #1: Yeah, OK—Good.
(God’s shared creativity = ability to respond)
Michael: That is a good observation, my dear. It is a sad, tragic state of affairs when people are only forced to accept responsibility, based on their limited concept of what God does. God’s great delight is in sharing his creativity, giving you the ability to respond in your own life.
Student: Our challenge is to engage them, you know–create something that inspires them to actually engage in life themselves.
Michael: There is a wonderful sense of the word teasing. There is an old expression that if you love someone, you will tease them. No matter how terrible a situation they have created for themselves, if you can lovingly tease them out of it in a playful way, that’s using the best tool there is..
Student: OK, thank you. I guess I don’t have any power to change anything down here, because mostly what I see has already happened. I wonder: is God big enough to handle all this? Does he set limits on some things and not let them happen? Or does he let humans have free-will everywhere, and do whatever we want? I mean, there are limitations on us, are there not?
Michael: Yes, my dear. First, let me congratulate you being inclusive enough to know these things you’ve mentioned tonight, that plague your soul and worry you. You have had the courage to wonder about them. But yes, obviously no human being is infinite, neither in their abilities, their comprehension, their knowledge, nor their experience. The very nature of being human is a limitation, but not insofar as you can imagine other things.
Look at the history of flight. It started with a mythology of Icarus putting on some wings with wax. The next thing you know, the Wright Brothers are off the ground with a kind of powered kite. Then people are standing on the moon. You can’t grow wings, but you can go zooming around at five times the speed of sound. So yes, you are intrinsically limited, but not so much in your imagination. Human imagination is just another name for creativity.
Student: It helps to think of it that way. We are still children.
Michael: Right. You are each in the very first phase of an eternal life, my dear, and it’s your Spirit of Adventure that really helps you do your part to make it all worthwhile–even moment by moment, sometimes.
Student: OK. Thank you very much for understanding my questions in the first place, and answering them.
(God’s great gifts = Curiosity, courage, and creativity)
Michael: Thank you, my dear. They are nice to encounter. Again, you have your own Spirit of Adventure and Wonder. Sometimes people feel a little cursed by their curiosity because it doesn’t let them rest content. But overall, it keeps you growing, and that is what your soul is all about. The presence of God within you gets a big smile whenever a particularly tender human being of his is off for another adventure. Be in my love, my dear.
Student: Thank you very much.
Michael: Well, folks, the big clock on the wall says it is about time for this session to be ending. I hope I’ve been able this evening to give you a sense of what is actually part of you–your spiritual being, your incessant creativity. Every moment, even in your dreams, you are creating. You are co-creating yourself, and your world. You are in a reality that is partly you, even that chair you may be sitting on, for the way it looks and feels.
Mother Spirit sends her love, and I bid you: Be in my peace. May you find it right in the heart of your next adventure. Good Night.
