2004-09-30-Resiliency During Change
Marin #15
Content
1Heading
1Topic: Resiliency During Change
2Group: Marin TeaM
2Facilitators
1Teacher: Nebadonia
2TR: JL
3Session
1Note
2Opening
3Lesson
4Dialogue
5Closing
Heading
Topic: Resiliency During Change
Group: Marin TeaM
Facilitators
Teacher: Nebadonia
TR: JL
Session
Note
[Dear Folks, Here is another transmission from Mother Spirit given to the Marin TM Group. I hope Her love comes through into your hearts as if you were here to feel Her presence. Jerry]
Opening
Prayer: Dear Michael and Mother Spirit, we gather together again tonight to enjoy each others’ company and give each other spiritual support. We do so in joyful anticipation of once again welcoming You, inviting You to share our lives with us. Help us know, and then live Your truth. For this we are thankful and very happy.
Nebadonia: Good evening, my children, this is Nebadonia who is with you tonight. Breathe deeply of my presence. Let it soak right into your bones. This is my love, and this is Michael’s peace. Feel its expansiveness. Just relax and expand. Open outward like a flower in the sun. Michael and I are all around you, always. You live in Us, and it is Our delight when you invite Us to live in you.
Lesson
Feel yourselves grow. Feel this intrinsic ability you have to encompass whatever you encounter. This is the strength of resiliency I spoke of last week – the deep inner wisdom to know that behind the stretch you feel at times, there’s love. It is in Our love to let you do those things that you do not yet know you are capable of. This is the nature of the adventure you find yourselves right in the middle of. This is the surprise your soul delights in. As Michael said, “This is the river of the Father’s will,” and you are in this river. If you struggle against this river of the Father’s will, you can feel yourselves being swept away. But if you can make the Father’s will your will, if you can align yourself with this greater flow, it can seem at times to slow, to expand, and there is no limit to this expansion. There is no limit to your growth.
The Father’s will is one of infinite wisdom and caring. But We realize that for you to jump in when you are entertaining the illusion of standing on some kind of shore, requires faith and courage. You are in the river, for this river is all of life. So splash around, have fun, and feel its power. It is the movement of a universe, and you are part of it. You were created as part of it. And the great surprise is, it is your very nature. This is yours to discover, and forget, and discover again. The Fathers’ will is always there waiting for you to realize it. Take a moment to feel the power of this onrushing, gigantic cosmic river and breathe deeply of My love and Michaels’ peace. And know that this river is yours.
If you have any questions or comments, I would be happy to hear them.
Dialogue
Student: Yes, Mother, thank You for tonight’s lesson, and last week’s lesson – the idea that, behind the need to stretch, is love. It’s really transforming in a way. So profound. It makes the need for stretching…more palpable? I was wondering why we as a race desire to suffer so much, when all we have to do is swim in this cosmic river? I was mentioning this to someone the other day, but like there’s this ideology that we need to suffer before we know God. It seems so incredulous because God himself knows nothing of suffering. And then I was also thinking that when Jesus was on this planet and He saw people suffer so unnecessarily, did He feel frustrated? Even though He knew the truth and saw the truth, and loved them, and loved the people who perpetuated the suffering, did He feel frustrated at times, and angry? – when He was stretching?
Nebadonia: D, my son, you are face to face with some of the great mysteries from your human point of view. I think it would help if you kept in mind where you all start from. This helps you appreciate all the thousand and one steps you have already taken to get to where you are now.
Think of when you were a child and how things looked, and what affected you – how, at times, you were swept away on rivers of emotion, and only slowly were able to catch your breath again, and breathe, again, and heave a little sigh, as this emotion, which had picked you up and shaken you like a rag doll, slowly ebbed away, letting you have yourself again. You’ve come a long away. And you have an eternity to go.
Now think of the development of human life on this planet: almost a million years now. Think of all the cultures now living in the lives of the men and women living on the planet today, and see this enormous sweep of social development from the most primitive to the most present-day. All these stages of development are still existing today. This is partly what you are asking. Does anyone really desire to suffer, or is it, if you look really closely, you see even what appears to be an acceptance of pain is a desperate stoicism to endure just another day?
This is why our vision must contain mercy. You see, my son, what you are realizing now, in sharing this understanding, that there’s love behind this stretch – a wise parent stands back and, out of love, lets the child try all he or she is capable of. Not everybody knows this. When you stretch a sore muscle, the pain is real. When the circumstances of life require you to stretch yourself, and still love and care right in the adversity, you feel this effort. This is real effort. But this is how you earn your soul. It will be yours forever. Does this help you, my son?
Student: Yes it does. Why does it require so much effort to know…to know God, if this is our true nature, and our true vision? If God is who I am, why can’t I be, in this moment? Maybe that’s the illusion, and I don’t even know it.
Nebadonia: I would say the very intensity of the struggle reassures you that you are! But what you are, and what you will become, is in large part in your hands. God has given you this part to play: who you are, and who you will become. And He is so much Everything that you may miss Him altogether. But I assure you, my son, this game of hide and seek and discover again is largely your own. He is always there.
But finally, do not fear to ask these questions. You owe it to yourself. Never fear to explore in all sincerity. This is part of your nature, part of your strength. So be glad you have the courage to question. This is how you know. This is how you earn what you know. And I say again, it will be yours! Keep going, my son. Don’t be daunted by the fact you have only just begun. And be in my love.
Any other questions or comments this evening, my sons?
Student: Thank you, Mother, for your guidance, and for your love, and for your understanding. One of the things I’ve learned this week is that difficulties are my teachers instead of something which caused me problems. And I’ve shifted the whole way I look at life. So it’s much easier to live now than it was when I looked at others’ problems. I really don’t have that many difficulties, but I have enough. So thank you.
Nebadonia: You are most welcome, my son. What a wonderful attitude. There is nothing wrong with welcoming difficulties. Wisdom comes from being able to see which of these difficulties you have a greater part in creating for yourself, and others, and which difficulties you simply encounter because you are surrounded, not only by a physical world, but by the whole world of personal beings like yourself. They can be very unpredictable, by their very nature.
This will always be a great part of your reality, both in this phase of your life and so many phases to come. Your reality is in such large part made up of all the decisions of innumerable kinds of beings. You’ve studied in your textbook how decisions made by planetary administrators two hundred thousand years ago dramatically changed the social evolution ever since. This is always the case, so make room in your philosophy for all these different kinds of personal beings who impact you. And be thankful that, for the most part, they are motivated by love and wisdom. So thank you, my son, for your appreciation. It is coming from an ever more clear vision of what you are engaged in.
Student: You are welcome, Mother.
Nebadonia: And be in my love.
Student: Dear Mother Nebadonia, I would like some general advice on the idea of exchanging minds – taking on the mind of Jesus and You, Mother, as it says in the text, rather than my own mind. How do I exchange Your mind for my mind? That would be a great help and increase my mental efficiency tremendously. I would ask for any advice in that area.
Nebadonia: V, my son, it may help to keep in mind that you are intrinsically creative. You may not be fully aware of just how much of your life you are co-creating with Us, your spiritual Parents, and with the Father of us all.
Your mind is always with you. Trust me when I say this is not a curse, but a blessing. From the standpoint of your consciousness, as it fluctuates from moment to moment, your mind is enormous. And it too surrounds this conscious aspect of you. It is always doing so much that you may only rarely be conscious of, so part of improving its efficiency is to be appreciative of what it’s doing for you, with you, as you. Approach it with genuine curiosity, and avoid the mistake of thinking you know fully what it is. Pay it great respect and it will serve you well.
This is a kind of respect that your creative spirit can give to your mind, and this spiritually uniting, open regard for all that your mind does, is what your mind, in turn, thrives on. The stillness meditation that we have been encouraging is a way of suspending mental habits in order to give all Creative Spirit a chance to introduce something new. But then it is the function and the ability of your mind to integrate this new vision, this precious insight and foresight into your understanding. So feed your mind. Enjoy how it works. But above all, respect it. And be curious as to how it works. Don’t assume you know, and it will continually surprise you. Does this help?
Student: Yes it does, dear Nebadonia, thanks.
Student: Greetings, Mother Nebadonia. It is a pleasure to be able to speak to You again this way. As You know, I have a thousand and one questions about many things, but I won’t entertain those tonight. But I would like to ask of You tonight just simple words of encouragement, words of nourishment to help me move forward. I wish to report to duty for beloved Father Michael. The times are now for bringing in the harvest, and I would like some encouragement to move forward to take this giant step.
Nebadonia: Ah, dear R, my son. If you could only see your own desire as I can. You have already taken the first step – and it is this desire. And it is wonderful to see. What a pure intention you have. But now that you are underway, it might be wise to start a long journey – into forever – with small steps. Start with those around you. Remember Michael’s invitation to love, to send this love and this hope into everyone you meet? Only when you do this and do it for a while, may you begin to realize that this spiritual realm is real. When the sea of faceless humanity passing by you on a city street starts to transform into this person, and then that person, then this person, then that person; when the reality around you starts to transform, you will know you are transforming.
And you will know that these spiritual events are real. They work. They change things. They change you. And they are perceptible. The real trick here is to be truly, truly open: to ask Michael for His truth to help you realize what effect you are having on others. And this is such a gigantic leap, it can only be done in small steps. This is the enormous sacrifice of yourself that is called for. For this openness to what the real effect of your actions is, requires a kind of self-forgetfulness of who you think you might be. Yet it offers the glory of who you can become for others. You are standing in the middle of the field, my son, and here they come towards you. Your intention is pure. Just go to greet them. Does this help you, my son?
Student: Yes, it does, Mother. Thank You, and a heartfelt thanks for all Your beautiful daughters.
Closing
Nebadonia: Ah yes, my son, let us give thanks to their Source. Father, thank You for these, my sons. Aren’t they something? We all give thanks to You for this amazing life, this incomprehensible mystery, this glorious gift that You give us. Thank You all. Good evening.
