2007-07-23-Nebadonia
Marin #140
Contents
• 1 Heading
o 1.1 Topic: Nebadonia
o 1.2 Group: Marin TeaM
• 2 Facilitators
o 2.1 Teacher: Nebadonia
o 2.2 TR: JL
• 3 Session
o 3.1 Opening
o 3.2 Lesson
Topic: Nebadonia
Group: Marin TeaM
Facilitators
Teacher: Nebadonia
TR: JL
Session
Opening
Dear Mother Spirit and Michael, Welcome. Going by your advice, we try to live our lives avoiding any lazy, laid-back expectations, but we can’t avoid anticipating with great curiosity and wonder what you have for us each time. We never mean to put you on the spot but perhaps, you being our true spiritual parents, you are always there already, and enjoy being so–being always available for us. We happily know you have the spontaneity, the being super-present with an ability to respond to us, that you encourage us to, at least, try to approach having ourselves. So we thank you for your gifts and your gentle reminders. Amen.
NEBADONIA: Good evening, my children, this is your spiritual mother, Nebadonia. I want to thank you for gathering in this evening, this time in the full heat of a midsummer’s evening. Michael and I do appreciate it.
Lesson
You are very correct, we are always present, literally as a part of you, and yet if you are open to another gentle reminder, there is still that sacrosanct, utterly inviolable and reserved part of you that you can give to us. Believe me, my dear children, though this is the way our Father made you—free to choose, we would have it no other way. A wonderful truth of spirit, of which we are wholly and you are partly composed, is the desire to receive from another nothing that is not freely given; and given, not just by pure cosmic happenstance, but as a conscious and highly willful gift. Your giving of yourselves is a hallmark of spiritual generosity, an inner proof, if you will, of the existence of your own spirit. It’s that part of your own nature that I delight so in augmenting–your own intrinsic spiritual value of worship, just the sheer, unadulterated thankfulness to be alive. We assure you, my children, as we are your avenues of approach to the Universal Father and the Eternal Son, through Michael, and the Infinite Spirit, through me, that these Beings at the very center of creation can feel, can experience your love and your thankfulness.
Indeed this is part of the central glow of Paradise. That radiance is not only what intrinsically comes from them, but that the Trinity is also the focal point of all the love of all their children. Spirit is that oneness; spirit is that connection; spirit is that divine radiance that is shared by Creator and creature alike.
(There followed a very long pause)
Isn’t it wonderful to be still–just to enjoy it? You can even forget all the good things it does for you, all that spiritual motivation and ambition, all that drive for perfection, and just be. I will confess that this completeness we have been teasing you with and encouraging you to feel, is a bit of a mystery. But that’s only because it shares so much, is so much of our Father’s nature.
You want to be clear that we are not mystery-mongering here. We are not creating opacity for you to be like some little boy with a new flashlight running around looking for dark places to use it. (laughter) The Father’s very absoluteness and infinity constitutes Him a mystery even to Michael and I, to all subordinate beings outside the Trinity. For even the seven Master Spirits of Paradise are truly differentiated. There is no mistaking them for each does express a unique and only partial reality emerging from the Trinity. And so too, God’s nigh infinite and infinitesimal creation constitutes mystery. A lot of this is expressed in what we call the Unqualified Absolute–if you will, a very real reality, but something there that, for human beings, constitutes a kind of–Thou Shall Not Pass–offered for your understanding as something that is not exactly understandable. It is a true reality and unfathomable mystery that can be acknowledged by humans, but only penetrated with time. Yet, my children, it is part of every moment of your lives, and so we know, as human beings your curiosity will not let it alone.
You often think of the Unqualified Absolute as randomness, or chance, as that part of the unknowable future that cannot be anticipated, even the exact thoughts you will have five minutes from now. You are indeed in an enormous river of cosmic time flowing along. The more you go with the flow, the more still you feel, yet it can appear the banks—everything else–is rushing by. You can be aware of all the infinity about you, and within you–all this unfathomable mystery. So in the midst of all this unable-to-be-qualified, yet absolute reality, God and His will stands out by stark and sheer contrast, and quite a blessing, that He and His creation are knowable. Not entirely, certainly; that’s going to take you a while. That’s going to take you eternity. The upshot of all this mystery and infinity, my children, that I’m dangling in front of you here, and trying to get you to feel and welcome, is because it is real. It really does constitute your day to day life. There is no way as a living, physical creature you cannot try your best to anticipate what’s coming, try to understand the infinitely discernible but bottomless laws of total physical/mental/spiritual cause and effect. I offer you these understandings of mystery so you can recognize it, and feel it, and achieve a kind of psychological balance in your day to day life with it.
Consider how human psychology and philosophy tend towards the extremes Michael spoke of last week. On the one hand people see Universal Reality only as a Oneness–It’s all God, all God’s will–and then have so often in so many historical cultures been logically led to a kind of fatalism, a life of lazily kicking back and letting God do it all. It’s the feeling there’s nothing at stake here, there’s nothing at risk, nothing can be lost: it’s all God. On the other extreme you have those who perceive no spiritual unification of the cosmos or human life. Life is only a dog-eat-dog struggle for existence, power, even meaning itself, in which each individual is truly alone. One can only accept life with a certain amount of stoicism, let alone cynicism, that sees such real qualities as love, respect, helpfulness, generosity—even other people–as means to other ends, rather than as spiritual ends in themselves.
Rather than these extremes, we would point out an achievable balance in your day to day lives between feeling helpless, struggling in the midst of so much mystery and infinity, so much inability to know exactly what’s going to happen; and letting go any self determination to just coast along with a kind of destructive, enervating fatalism, merely to get some relief.
There is a way, my children. There is truly a way to maturity, to hold more and more of these puzzling aspects of reality in your mind and in your heart. You can feel comfortable with them without in any way relinquishing your self determination. Your Urantia book puts it wonderfully as feeling, and then determining—choosing: It is my will that your will, Father, be done. Here is the true non-separation you seek. In that one sentence is the supreme desire to realize both your own absolute existence and gradually developing will, at the same time fully acknowledging the enormity, the infinity of the Father’s will–and choosing the absolute goodness of it for your own.
You are not just kicking back saying. “OK, Father, it’s all in your hands. I can do nothing”–yet avoiding the other pitfall of feeling a desperate existential need to see your will triumph over all, at the expense of anyone else who gets in your way. Think about this, my children. It is your will, your will as an unique individual creation–distinct in the cosmos—by which you orient yourself to discovering, and putting your shoulder behind, the Supreme Reality–the will of the Creator. It’s not for nothing we say: you can actually become more real by doing so.
So: if you will, you give it your best effort. You stay open to the outcome, which will be, in total–God’s. You learn; you don’t worry about it. That’s the balancing act you can feel happening. That’s the completeness you can experience in your stillness and then beyond. That completeness, that spiritual confidence can extend on into your days and all your activities. So welcome the unknown. Lean into it. Feel what we mean by the blessing of all this mystery, all this sublime uncertainty. Let it enliven you and add to your worship, your thankfulness just to be alive.
If you have any questions or comments this evening, I’ve noticed too, my dear children, the enormous respect and love you’ve shown to me, through them, as well. So just step off.
(Questions and answers to follow soon)
