2005-01-16 Personal Growth Review
Rayson011605NOCO-PersonalGrowthReview
Northern Colorado Team, #63
Loveland, Colorado
Teacher: Rayson (TR, Daniel)
Topics: Individual self-assessments of spiritual growth
Earth changes
Time for reflection
Q & A: Differences between soul and aura
Request for personal critique
Exercise for achieving personal growth
January 16, 2005
[Ed. Note: It was a very small group today.]
RAYSON: This is Rayson and I am here.
(Group welcome.)
RAYSON: It is good to be here with you, my friends. We were listening in on your conversation before I began, listening to you talk about the events of your world, the cataclysms of tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, mud slides, rising oceans, and such things as that. These, we wish to assure you, were neither caused directly or immediately by the Creator, nor are they stopped by the Creator. These phenomena, as we have said in times past in our early lessons, are the events, the normal goings on, the rumblings of your planet, as it too moves into maturity and the ages and The Days of Light and Life.
Your planet too, will come to rest eventually in this new era, and its tensions within will be brought into balance as your civilizations come into balance. It is not that one causes the other, but that your planet will be more able to contribute to the advancement of your civilizations and the growth of individuals, when it too is in peace. It will, however, always continue to be an evolutionary world as far as geo-physics are concerned, and it will not be totally stabilized until your solar system and your sun are stabilized in the advanced stages of Light and Life. Until then, my friends, I know the phrase “Be at peace” with these things may ring hollow and does not provide you with much emotional support when you go through these traumas, but we do wish you to be at peace with these events.
Be wise about your life and where you live. Make conscious choices. Because you were born on a fault line does not mean that you must live there all your life. Consider where you live, whether it is on a seacoast, whether it is with a mud mountain behind you and your house, or whether you live in an active volcanic area. Consider where you live. Eventually, many of your cities will move, they will be eliminated and they will move where it is safer.
We do not have a lesson today, as Sondjah provides lessons and they are available to all of you. Today let us speak about your life, where you are and how you grow. We, today, would like a report from you, individually, about how the Teaching Mission has made an impact on your life. Secondly, we would like to have your “take,”—to use a phrase—your “take” on the Correcting Time and how you feel it has made an impact on your life and your community, your state and your nation and your world. Yes, we are putting you on the spot. You can speak briefly or at length—we do wish you to be thorough—take your time and review in your mind as I speak now, what you may say.
We do wish this because the reasons are clear: Sometimes you do not take account of the progress you have made. You do not take into account the progress of your peers, and so if you do not openly compare notes to and with each other, these aspects, these benchmarks, these mile marks, are missing for you. And so, without reference to other peoples’ mile marks, you look back at your life and you may not see any.
I wish to have you put a mile mark in your life ten years ago. I wish you to place yourself at a time and location ten years ago, where you were, and consider your maturity, your spiritual development, your understanding of the wonderful values that Jesus/Christ Michael shared with you. How were you living then, at that time, and how are you doing now with those values? Has his model been of assistance to you? How have the lessons been of assistance to you in your personal life, which has come through the teachers, through the TR’s and to you?
We have urged you on rapidly. If you recall, ten years in this movement is a mighty long time. And if you go back fifteen years, twenty years, the Teaching Mission did not exist, as you know it today. There was evidence of it growing, but these are not visible to you. So, if I may, I would ask you to raise your hand and speak. As this one does not have his eyes open, we wish you to have your eyes open and to say what is on your mind and if you wish to close your eyes during your presentation, you are most welcome to. I may make a comment on your presentation—not as critique, but as to flesh it out for you and for the listeners and readers, or I may not and the next person may begin. Do we have someone who would begin, please?
Student J: If comparing my life from ten years ago, I’d say that the Urantia Book has become more of a guiding light in my life, to use as a steering mechanism—actually, even before that, it was part of the decisions that I’ve made in life—wanting to have a child…that was probably the most monumental thing.
I’ve only been a part of the Teaching Mission for a short while, but I feel as though it has had much the same effect. I’ve become more aware of a global sense of accomplishment; I now have more of a global connection to humanity as a result. I just feel more connected. I have more answers as to why things happen; things are not as mysterious.
As far as the Teaching Mission in my life, I’m sensing the bigger picture, a better idea of how things are. This is important to satisfy my mind mechanism. In order to understand things, or in order to function well within a given system, I have to know every piece of it. I have to understand the details. The Correcting Time has illuminated, or brought into focus many of life’s mysteries.
The Teaching Mission is affecting the world and the universe around us. I see a “quickening,” towards the era of light and life. I have had this question about how this can happen so quickly! I never anticipated it would be moving at such a rapid pace. Although part of me doesn’t understand it, the other part says, “Well, this is an experimental world, obviously things happen differently here.” The Urantia Book told us that this was “down the road, a ways,” and I’ve often taken that to heart. The Correcting Time has given me a new understanding of what this means.
The Correcting Time has offered me the opportunity to see through Christ’s eyes and to see things the way that he sees them. I think that will this will prove to have the greatest impact on the earth, I see the positive “effects of the Correcting Time” within other people, even though they don’t understand the reality of what’s happening, I see its outworking within them.
RAYSON: Thank you very much.
Student A: Ten years ago I was still working, and as I look back on my life at that point, I was physically, emotionally, mentally spent. I had a fair amount of anger within me. It was difficult dealing on a daily basis with some of the people that I worked with. When I retired, I wanted a drastic change in my lifestyle. I took a chance on changing nearly every aspect of my life; I moved to a new location, starting everything over in a new way. That has been really helpful to me. I feel like I broke a lot of the restrictions I had on my life. Mostly, I wanted to spend more time working on my spirituality, as I stated in my prayers at that time.
Involvement in the Teaching Mission, four years ago, has added a huge new dimension to my life. It has helped me to put into practice what I learned from the Urantia book—it is more real in my life. I have a closer relationship with Christ Michael now than I had before, even after studying the Urantia Book for three decades. Knowing that there are always spiritual beings around me has been a two-edged “thing”—in the beginning it was kind of worrisome about what will “they think,” “what are my short-comings,” a feeling that I was being studied under glass—but now I am more comfortable with it, as I see them as close friends. I don’t feel like I’m alone, even though I am living alone.
I have a purpose in life. I am committed to seeing the Correcting Time go forward in whatever way I can serve. I thank all the Celestial Teachers and my Universe Parents for making all this possible for me.
RAYSON: Do you feel that you have grown in the last ten years because of these influences, the Urantia Book, Teaching Mission, Correcting Time?
Student A: Absolutely! A huge amount of growth in the spiritual area!
RAYSON: Thank you.
Student M: I would say ten years ago was ’95 and I didn’t even have the Urantia Book. I’m thinking that was about the time that I heard of the Urantia Book, but I hadn’t read it until ’97. Ten years ago, I must say I was spiritually searching and I was called a—I remember one man said, I “read like a mad dog.”—and I think I still do. So I think I read the Urantia Book like that and it confirmed a lot of things that I’d always wanted to know and I had been asking and looking [for], and I felt like I finally had the answers that I had been looking for my whole life. And then, it kind of changed to, “Okay, now that you have the answers, what are you going to do with them?” And I think that I’m still working on that one.
Also, ten years ago, I started working with young women in their late teens and early twenties, and I think that is a big part of my life—it’s kind of a volunteer-type thing—but I think I’ve kind of changed my outlook on that, and I’m leading them now in more spiritual directions than I know I did when I first started working with them, which they probably don’t even realize that that is what I’m doing, but it’s kind of neat to be able to do that.
I guess I always had a sense of fear or sacredness—something like that—that I don’t really have so much [of now] as a result of –not just reading the Urantia Book, but being involved with the Teaching Mission. I would say, that my really true friends are people involved in the Urantia movement. I really don’t have much time or interest for people who aren’t necessarily involved, but at least they have to be spiritually seeking. I find those sorts of people are the people I want to spend time with, and those are the sorts of people that find me. They’re just there and they search me out. They have spiritual ideals and those are the kinds of people I find myself attracted to and I want to be with, and I want to do things with those people. And the other people—I mean you might be in a working environment, and that’s one thing—but I want to spend my time with those [who are spiritually connected.]
The Urantia Book and the Teaching Mission has also given me a—I always knew that when we die, we go heaven and we work on what we need to work on—but it’s given me a clearer image of what that entails and I think it’s calmed me in some respect. I’m not sure—it was part of my upbringing where I always had fear—but I don’t think I have that so much anymore, as a result of this. It’s definitely positive; I don’t know that much about the Correcting Time but I could certainly say that from what I’ve seen, the world could certainly use more of it. So, yes, it’s definitely been a positive experience, and in a couple more years, it will be ten years since I started reading the Urantia Book, and I have always said that it has definitely changed my life, even though most people away from here don’t know what that is. That’s about it.
Student D1: It’s hard for me to go back and pinpoint ten years ago, but my life seems to grow in increments of ten years. Forty years ago I started reading spiritual things. Thirty years ago I started trying to develop my psychic abilities, so that I may serve others. Twenty years ago, when I changed careers and got out of City Management and into consulting, I had more time to spend helping municipalities and growing spiritually at the same time.
And I continued my spiritual growth with the Urantia Book, and gained a better understanding of how Christ lived, I found that I had a more meaningful role model I wasn’t able to get out of the Bible. I have a better understanding of how the Disciples lived—they would work and then they would go on their mission and then come back and work. They could support themselves and their families, and still do the work of God. It showed me, in my line of work, I am brought into situations where I can serve God, and can earn money doing it. I can support myself, and then there are quiet times when it is time for study and growth.
I was really in the Correcting Time’s mission, before I knew what it was called. We had a group that was working on the Correcting Times and we still are. And then I was introduced to the Teaching Mission, five or six years ago. I witnessed a group in the Teaching Mission in Texas. These people were really excited about it and encouraged me to get involved. But it wasn’t until I met Jim and Roxanne that I was really strongly invited to participate. When you are a teacher, you have to really know what you’re trying to teach, so you learn and you grow, as you are part of the Teaching Mission.
I’ve got a personal ministry, one-on-one which I do with the Sports Center for the Disabled, and then I’ve got a group ministry, which I do with the Light for Life Foundation and with my organizational development work. I feel that I’m able to understand the guidance that I’m receiving, because I have something to compare it with, values that I gleaned from the Urantia Teachings. To me, it’s made my life—it’s given it a very important purpose—THE important purpose.
Many of my friends are spiritual in nature. They are guided spiritually and are striving to do God’s work. We are told there are a lot of groups around the world that are being guided as we are, and it does seem like we are going through a period of enlightenment, now that we are into the Second Revelation of the Urantia Teachings. We’ll be able to correlate things better, with greater understanding of the way God works, and we will be able to grow. As a society we will be able to help one another enlighten the earth and enhance our values.
I think that we are living in a difficult time. I believe we chose to be here at this time. I think we are all just like one candle—a bunch of them all over the world. By living our lives, as God would have us live, serving mankind, that one candle can bring light to a lot more people and encourage others, just by our example. So I feel that we are blessed; I feel that it is indeed, beneficial for me and my spiritual growth, to be a part of the Teaching Mission and I hope I can carry those benefits to the rest of the world that I serve. A little corner of the world, but it’s all these little corners that add up. I feel I am indeed fortunate to be able to grow, as Christ would have us grow.
RAYSON: Thank you.
Student D2: Well, for myself, the Urantia Book was a tremendous connecting piece for all the questions I had about life and universe. It provided me with a way of making sense of my world, and I loved the part about Christ Michael/Jesus—Jesus Papers—made it so personal. For me the Teaching mission was the point of entry for the Correcting Time in my life and it has been a wonderful lesson, teaching tool, for me to learn a more civilized life, more balanced life, a life of peace. Having the opportunity to be a TR, I am witness to so many lessons that come through and to appreciate them in a way that is two-fold: One, it comes through me and seems to be ingrained in me—though some of it doesn’t catch—and then to listen to it too, as it comes through and then to read it in a transcript. It has had a powerful effect in my life and it has honed my dedication to be an individual of service.
RAYSON: This is Rayson. Thank you for your personal comments. We appreciate them, as they were a personal verification, a validation of your experience with these efforts of Christ Michael to influence you personally. We have made this lesson today in this format as a way of stopping—putting a “stop sign” in front of you—you the readers and those who listen to this—to stop and reflect, to take cognizance, take awareness of your life and where you have been and what you have become. You have arrived here today—this day—and you are you with all these experiences and you are making decisions about how to live your life. And if these efforts of the Urantia Book and the Correcting Time/ Teaching Mission, if they have no effect upon your decisions, your choices for living your life, then they are of no worth.
The point of these lessons, of participation in your lives as teachers and as personal counsels to you, is to assist you in making wiser, more morontially oriented and morontially valued decisions. It is about your life now, contributing to your soul growth and your life contributing to the soul growth of others, as neighbor, as parent, as community leader, as community participant—someone who participates effectively in your life. You are Christ Michael’s representatives in the flesh; you are living your lives in the flesh and it is our mission to assist you to live his “word” through your life. But that is your decision.
Your comments today have been most valuable and we appreciate them greatly. We recognize the value that you have given these years of your experience through your testimony. We recognize too, that you have changed! And we see who you have become. Your wish to emulate your wonderful leader, in the model that he gave you, is so worthy of all your efforts. You have become wonderful beings on your planet. And you will be models for those that come after, as your children, as your partners, as your grandchildren, as your neighbors. You provide a model of peace and understanding and wisdom. These lessons now are yours to live.
These lessons of wisdom are yours to share in your life and in your counsel and advice to your friends and family and business associates. You can make Christ Michael’s word the living word in your life and as you provide service to others. We know that you are making more ethical and moral decisions because of this and it shows. The record that is written in your soul, your aura, is with you now and we see that clearly, what you have become. We wish all of you to pursue this and to give this time to reflect — time to reflect and gain the wisdom of your experiences. Rushing from activity to activity deflects you from reflection and deflects you from wisdom gathering and applying that wisdom to your life. Appreciate who you have become – appreciate the decisions that have formed who you are now. Good day.
Student J: Rayson, I have a question. Is it possible?
RAYSON: Most certainly.
Student J: You made the reference to our soul, our aura. Are these one and the same?
RAYSON: No, they are not.
Student J: Can you explain the differences?
RAYSON: Certainly. Your soul records the record of your moral, ethical decisions, and it also contains your service record, your record of service, that you have provided. These activities of decision and service provide your soul with greater weight. It is your soul record that will go with you to the morontial realm when you are re-constituted. It is your record of mortal accomplishment.
Your aura is that energetic field around yourself that records your history, your self, your achievements, your growth. It will collapse when you pass from this life. You will regain a new aura—you will be given a new aura in the morontial realm when you awaken. It will be “fresh;” it will contain just the very basics of your origins—your planet of origin, your system, your local universe, your Creator Son’s gift to you and your identification in ways which are not recognizable to you now. Does this answer your question?
Student: Yes, pretty much. Thank you.
RAYSON: Are there other questions?
Student A: Is it possible for us to have a critique by you, something that is very honest that can guide us in the growth that we need at this point in time?
RAYSON: Yes, certainly. I wish to give you a time out, a recess, right now, before we continue.
RAYSON: Thank you. This is Rayson. You may continue.
Student A: I was just asking if we/I could have a personal assessment—I know this is done in other groups on occasion. I have a hard time seeing what my weaknesses are, what I need to work on. I wondered if I could have some direction from you on the things that would be the most important for me to work on at this time in my life.
RAYSON: Most certainly. This is a most helpful question to ask of yourself. It is one that you would not ask another, but must originate within one’s self. I wish you to do this: I wish you to think of a model in your life, or past life, in history, or one who is not connected to you directly, but one who you know well. Write down all the traits and characteristics you wish that you had, that they seemed to exude. Can you do this?
Student A: I’ll just have to try it and see what happens, because I have never approached it from that point of view before.
RAYSON: Exactly. We wish you to try a new way. Now, on the other side of the paper, we wish you to write down what you would like to overcome, which may or may not be a reflection of those attributes that you would like to attain in your life. Usually there will be at least one or two or three behaviors and attitudes or deficiencies that you feel you have, which you would like to overcome. Do you think you can do that?
Student: Yes.
RAYSON: Most generally, in your age group and in your society, those things you would like to grow “through” are more easily seen than behaviors and traits you would like to achieve, but we wish you to do both. And by doing both, you will see the other. You may start on the right side of the page, listing those things that you would like to overcome in your life, and then on the left side of the page, you would then have something that would fill its place, the opposite.
For instance, let us say that you are intolerant of people who are indecisive—that would be on the right side. On the left side, you would put that you would like to be tolerant, that you would have the ability to be forgiving of those individuals who cannot make decisions quickly, and so on. It is essential that when you remove something from yourself that it be replaced with something positive, something that fills that place so that it does not become filled with the old negative [traits] again.
Speaking to you, individually, I wish not to make that list for you. I think that would be too easy. We wish you to struggle with yourself. We wish this to be an experiential process, one where you reflect upon your life, those difficult situations that may have caused you to have the deficit or the attribute, which you would like to have changed in your life. We wish you to struggle to see, struggle seeing yourself with those positive attributes.
You, dear one, could perhaps use a great deal of confidence in public, to stand up before others and be rightfully proud of your accomplishments and willing to state that to others, knowing that it is not boasting, it is not arrogance, but merely a reiteration of your accomplishments and your growth, as you did today. We wish you then to take the third step, and that is to invite guidance and assistance, which may come from an unknown or unusual source to help you heal these deficits or these difficulties, these lacks of abilities or traits or characteristics that you would like to have to fill out your character, your being and your bearing; and to heal those negative aspects in yourself, which you feel need healing.
As this is an exercise of personal growth, this will be an experiential process. We advise you not to wait in anticipation of your guardian angel to heal you and make you well, or to fill you with those things which you wish to have in yourself, but to grow in your being and your bearing that you will accept these and take them into yourself, so that they are a natural part of who you are, a part of your accomplishment. Do you understand?
Student: Yes.
RAYSON: I will go no farther to answer your question.
Student: Thank you, Rayson.
RAYSON: Each of you may apply this same lesson, these same steps to your own life. There are many wonderful ways of being healed on your world, most of which you are unaware. You will be coming into contact with new ways of healing, which you will want to experience, briefly or at length. Do not be gullible; do not be aloof, but observe and test and measure and weigh. And if it is good, then experience it some more, and if it does not do good for you, then avoid it.
Are there other questions?
Student M: Do you have any more specific things for the rest of us to work on, other than that writing exercise?
RAYSON: I wish not to, as we do not feel this reporting to you is of assistance or service to you. We know that you do not request this often.
[This is Daniel: I don’t get anything else. I’m just kind of paraphrasing what it seems Rayson has said, that he wishes us to make these lists—left and right—and then call in the healing from a source that will come to us.]
RAYSON: We have been at this point before with you, as some of you have asked for this information in years past. We could inundate you with many things that you need to work on, and you would be fairly well devastated…. (Loud guffaws.)
Student D1: (Jokingly.) Then don’t give us a whole bundle; just give us a couple.
RAYSON: We wish you to ask questions or to become aware of your own horizons of growth, both in the overcoming department, and the accepting department, with those attributes. As you clear these away, you will see that you see yourself more clearly, without the bias, without the coloration and the filtering of the eyes that were given to you by your parents or others. It is most helpful to know when you are ready for the next step. Your guardian knows when you are, and you will know when you are as well. Challenge yourself; ask your guardian to help you challenge yourself to overcome those difficulties, which you have with yourself, and those attributes that you so much yearn for.
You are mature enough to accept difficult challenges now. Not life threatening or life-style threatening, but those which challenge you to rethink your erroneous beliefs, your erroneous behaviors, your erroneous habituations in all settings. Do not be surprised—having asked these questions—that you will be presented with challenging situations. Know that these are reviews, that these are programs for your enfoldment. You may wish to make a note, put it on your car mirror, or your bathroom mirror, or someplace where you attend to regularly, so that you know that when these difficulties arrive, that these are lessons, and not to take them personally, though they may be personal in nature, that you become the observer of your life and the healer of your life co-creatively with your guardian, celestial teacher, and Christ Michael. Do not let this roil your life or disturb you greatly. Realize that this is a lesson for growth. Thank you.
We bid you good day. Your lives are made easier inside yourself, in your thinking, as you eradicate fears, as you eradicate the necessity of comparing yourself to others. These are good preparations to have your feet solidly on the ground when the difficulties of life present themselves near or afar. Being centered and confident in yourself, and the source of your wisdom and your growth, and the light before you, will serve you well all your life. Blessings to you; good day.
