2002-11-03-Illusions
Nashville #160
Contents
1Heading
1Topic: Illusions
2Group: Nashville TeaM
2Facilitators
1Teacher: Ham
2TR: Rebecca
3Session
1Opening
2Lesson
2.1Home, Illusion
3Dialogue
3.1Teaching Mission
4Personal Counsel
5Closing
Heading
Topic: Illusions
Group: Nashville TeaM
Facilitators
Teacher: Ham
TR: Rebecca
Session
Opening
Ham: Greetings, children, I am Ham and I am grateful that you all have joined me this evening. Tonight our lesson will concern the spirit as home. The image of homecoming, welcoming, is consistent with the idea of the spirit’s un-judgmental, always welcoming, attitude. The parable of the prodigal son is so powerful that it lives strongly in the modern mind though it was planted two millennia ago. The concept of dying as a homecoming is strong and very prevalent in your society.
Lesson
Home, Illusion
So often human beings spend a lifetime running from themselves, denying their own inner truth and separating themselves from the core spiritual identity which when embraced completes the journey. People in their lives leave their spiritual home to journey in the land of illusion to try on different masks, different ways of being which are not always conducive to happiness though they may seem to be at the time. hen, disillusionment begins, sometimes early, sometimes later in life and this process being disillusioned with the world can continue for some time as well as the personality goes from one illusion to another only to be disillusioned at each step.
The prodigal son loses everything. He becomes disillusioned with the allure of the world outside and then seeks his return. The remarkable thing about his return is the father’s attitude. The father does not censure the wayward son, he does not judge him, he does not require penance. The father has forgiven the boy completely and his attitude is one of celebration. And so it is with your inner spirit, the Father who wait patiently as you disillusion yourselves time after time out in the world.
The Father knows that the child will not return until their disillusionment is completed. The things of the world are fleeting, evaporate, dry up as dust and blow away. Riches take themselves wings and fly off. Youth fades. Everything that is earthly is fickle and fleeting. So, when you set your heart upon it, your hearts are bound to be broken.
The spirit is patient and will wait until finally the child turns his or her face back to the spirit source, that source of original love, complete acceptance, absolute forgiveness. The spirit knows that the child will return. The spirit waits with patience and understanding. The child upon return is secure again. The hopes and dreams, the ambitions truly worthwhile are valued by the spirit and elevated in truth. The child is revered, valued, sheltered, celebrated just as he is. That which the world has rejected, the spirit embraces.
It is up to each person to distinguish what is real from what is illusion. The spirit unfailingly testifies with your spirit to those things which are real. Love is that which is most real. Imagine yourselves as the prodigal child returning to the Father’s hearth and home. The Father removes the old rags which you were wearing, the torn and battered self-esteem. He replaces these with wonderful new robes, garments of the richest fabric. The Father has a great celebration prepared because he has waited so long and is so very happy that his child has returned. In this your spirit celebrates with the Father and feels secure and complete with his love. The hardships of the world are forgotten. The dust of the road is washed away and you are made clean and warm and whole and secure in the Father’s house by the Father’s fire.
Sometimes this revelation of value comes on a death bed and a person realizes they have spent their entire life in toil and trouble over valueless things. For what is it that is real and lasting outside the Father’s love? Nothing. The Father’s gentle love is the source from which you spring and the home to which you will return when your live’s adventure is run. Return home as early, as quickly, as you can. Return home to your true selves. Rejoice in that inner truth which is sometimes lost under layers of self-protection. But these rags are not you. Not at all. What is it that is deepest within your hearts.
You yourselves, your very spirits, your very souls are truly a reflection of the Father’s love in your unique little corner of time and space. The Father is you and you are He. You are one in purpose. Embrace the Father as he reaches out embracing you. Love him as the very source of your being, your Father it truth and in complete, total reality. Allow the Father’s spirit to wash clean the dirt of the world and to remove the humble rags of contrition. The prodigal son was not only reinstated in his proper place in the family, he was reborn, remade. He found in the Father his own completion and the Father found His.
When the world becomes complex, vexing, and difficult – remember your home. Return to it, not later, not when it’s more convenient, do so in the now. Then when you go back out in the world, you go as the Father’s representative and your struggles are also the Father’s struggles. You are He and He is you.
The troubles and difficulties of the world aren’t much when you walk with the Father nor is he overwhelmed by the flood tides of adversity that can break the human spirit alone like a dry trig. The Father is stronger than all these things.
My children, you must learn to have the ability to keep one part of your heart always in the Father’s house and in this way you are protected from the heartbreaks that devastate so easily and quickly the hopes and dreams of humanity. Take this image with you into your daily lives. Let your hearts be always warming by the Father’s hearth, even while you’re bodies do work and your minds worry in the material world of mankind. And when your day is done, take your mind back there as well and remember how much you love the Father and how much he loves you.
What are your questions at this time?
Dialogue
Q: Is this a normal part of growing as a mortal on an evolutionary planet, this process of losing our illusions or is it particularly bad here?
Ham: I would say it is normal. All mortal beings go through this process in one way or another. The things that make it worse are the selfish natures of mankind. These childish attitudes are very prevalent here. But, life in general is meant to be somewhat harsh in terms of moving the mortal away from an attitude of complete selfishness to one of selfless self-forgetfulness. Of course, there are always those who entrench themselves in selfishness refusing to grow. They are to be pitied rather than despised.
Q: Is it all or nothing, or do we have illusions in degrees? Is this an ongoing process where we have to make our way through these layers of illusion one at a time.
Ham: Yes, correct.
Q: World is full of illusion. People are actively trying to engage us in these illusions. How do we stay engaged in this world without falling victim to its many traps?
Ham: Yes. Well said my son. I will return to the concept of keeping your heart by the fire. When you have a secure place to go home to – a place where truth, beauty, and goodness are the supreme values, a place where you yourself are valued more highly that you can possibly imagine it to be – then the allure of becoming something other than that is very much lessened. You heart’s home is with the Father and so your mind dwells in peace without the fear and worry and stress of perhaps putting your faith in an illusion. Fear, worry and stress are all tied up with the world of illusion. In that world, nothing is secure or real and truths are only partial and fragmentary, beauty is fleeting and goodness is under fire. Return then frequently to the citadel of the spirit where nothing can assail you and no robber may enter. Is this helping?
Q: Even if we have this home, we still have to venture out into the world to work and navigate the mine field of illusions?
Ham: Yes.
Q: These people who are trapped, weren’t they looking for a trap or looking for an escape that turned into a trap?
Ham: You put it succinctly. The ways of the world are filled with these kinds of welcoming trap doors. Many things which can seem to be a way out of the cycle of worry, fear and stress are simply traps in which that cycle is amplified. The intoxication of wealth, the pursuit of physical pleasure, the seeming oblivion of intoxicants, all these things are alluring traps and there are many more besides.
Q: I was just thinking about the affliction of this disinclination to become acquainted with our real selves seems to be the big disease.
Ham: It is a symptom of immaturity, nothing more.
Teaching Mission
Q: I have one more question. The idea that each of us may have a role to play in the teaching mission is not an illusion. However, in many cases our ideas of what these roles might be are probably illusions? Would you care to comment on this?
Ham: Absolutely. Remember the apostles and their illusions. The great roles they were to play in administering the earthly kingdom over which Jesus would reign. Often times the human being who is touched and inspired by the teachings of the spirit, these human beings desire greatly to be instrumental in touching and inspiring other human beings as they have been. But often, the way to becoming that tool of the spirit is much different in reality than they would wish it to be. The way is harder, the successes seem slower, the road, like all human roads, are filled with disappointment and disillusion. That does not mean that they are less effective than the Father would have them be.
The very fact of treading the human road is a testament to the Father’s great loving wisdom which gives all human beings the education they need. Human beings are wont to think that once they are touched by the spirit that they are exempt from mere human realities. They wish to be lifted above their fellows and given supernatural powers. And behind these wishes, is the very human desire for acceptance, love and a place of belonging. Sometimes humans who don’t fit in well in society in general have unreal illusions of being above society in general. This is common, human but it is also dangerous and can border on the psychotic when taken to extremes. Sometimes the more a person finds their illusions rejected by others, the more they will take refuge in these illusions magnifying them even more.
Likewise, those who find acceptance of others for their illusions will also tend to magnify them and to impose them more and more upon others. Human illusions are all destined to crumble before the Father’s harsh realities. The Father does not coddle his children by encouraging such fantasies. He who would be greatest among you must become a servant to all. That is the truth and will always be the way. No man, no matter how mighty, must ever put himself up to be worshiped by other men. All the mighty kings of your past who have done so were brought low eventually. Their kingdoms are no more. The Father, while loving, is not mocked. He does not allow that which is of the earth to stand in place of that which is divine for long.
Personal Counsel
Q: Ham, do you have a personal message for me please?
Ham: Yes my dear, you do very well. It is wonderful to see your spirit blooming, to see you finding happiness and security that have long eluded you. Be ready to accept added responsibilities for the work of the mission. As the years go by, you will be called upon for much service and this is something which will add to your happiness rather than detract from it. You are doing very well my dear. Be at peace.
Q: Ham do you have any thing for Rebecca?
Ham: Yes my dear, the way of returning home to greater truth is one which resonates in your heart. Have complete confidence in the Father’s loving watchcare and know that you are secure as you find your way in the world, step by step. Be at peace. You do well.
Q: Jarad?
Ham: Yes my son, you must also be at peace. You are a person of great character and you must find within that character patience. You are someone who at times becomes impatient to your detriment. Think about patience and how you can incorporate this virtue into your character.
Q: Patience with others and myself?
Ham: Yes. You have come far with this and you have far still to go. You are a man who wants everything now. But, that is the attitude of the child. The mature man knows how to wait, knows how to be patient and to accept small victories in place of big ones. Does this make sense?
Q: Yes it does.
Q: Ham, may I have benefit of your counsel, please?
Ham: Yes my daughter, you do well. You have also come far in overcoming the hobgoblins of immaturity – impatience, intolerance, being demanding, and of course self-righteousness which can undermine the growth of the spirit. All people are plagued by all these things. Some people make an art of enshrining immaturity as eccentricity or the prerogatives of genius and these devices simply put off the day of reckoning when truth must be faced and you, my dear, have been very brave in uncovering these little hobgoblins and facing them down even to the point of being too introspective and too self-critical. Remember that it is wise to heed the Master’s words, judge not lest ye be judged.
Sometimes this tendency to be judgmental of yourself and others is a great source of unhappiness and leads you to be very harsh on yourself not realizing the greats strides you have made and are making in the spirit. Sometimes, love is enough and is worth the troubles and trials. You have to find that place in your heart, who you truly are, and accept what you truly need and let the rest go. It is our great wish for you to find true happiness and for your mind to be accepting of this happiness without limit, without mental rejection. Things are neither as good nor as bad as they seem. Keep this as a rule of thumb and begin to be contented, truly contented.
Q: Do you have a personal message for Norbert?
Ham: Norbert, my son, you have grown very much in spiritual maturing in the past few months. There will be more rough waters ahead, but for now, enjoy the smooth waters temporary as they are. Find peace and hold onto it. The worries of the day will be there when you get back. You do well.
Q: Do you have a personal message for Jeff W?
Ham: Yes, my son, welcome each new day as a gift. Give thanks to the many blessings your receive and in this way put the troubles into perspective. Focus on what you have rather than what you do not have. Be at peace.
Q: Nikki would like to know her spiritual name.
Ham: Well, it sounds somewhat odd putting it into English, Wendaring is the closest approximation. Wendaring or Wendaree. You do well my daughter. You have progressed very far in a short period of time. This is liable to produce some imbalance, some rough days but this is temporary and on the whole you are becoming more well balanced and overall more happy day by day.
Q: Do you have a personal message for Vontiss?
Ham: Yes. Son you also are finding greater balance in your life. You have had many things which were blessings and pursued many things which were not. Remember to come back to your truth, that place of inner self affirmation. Find your self-confidence and be at peace as many things open before you.
Q: Do you have a personal message for Charlie B?
Ham: Yes, my son, life can seem to be confusing and yet it can also seem to be too simple. Somewhere in between lies the truth. Find your inner balance and things will be easily manageable. Balance is key for you.
Q: Do you have any feedback for me this week?
Ham: Yes my son. You have also made great strides in the spirit and sometimes this can leave you feeling very vulnerable and off balance. Overall though, you are a steady climber, one who is determined to make the journey and are undeterred by side streets. You are learning the lessons which are essential right now so be glad for them and patient with their unfolding. Be at peace with yourself and you will automatically be at peace with others.
I would like my closing comments to be made through our new transmitter.
Closing
Ham: Yes my dear ones, my message at this time is simple. I am honored to have been chosen for this assignment and I want you to always be aware of the great blessing this is to me, Ham. I have heard some of you say how much you miss these sessions when you have been unable to attend and when you do return that you are happy to be in the presence of Ham. But know that that happiness is mine also. You willingness to put aside your worldly commitments and to share this time with me is a testament to your search and willingness to seek out teaching, spiritual knowledge, and guidance to enable you to continue on your path of receiving divine guidance which in turn you will be able to use in loving and more generous ways in dealing with your fellows. We are together during these few hours, but I am always connected with each and every one of you. My love is with you.
