1996-08-07-Sense of Balance, Agondonters
Pittsburgh #31
Contents
• 1 Heading
o 1.1 Topic: Sense of Balance
o 1.2 Group: Pittsburgh TeaM
• 2 Facilitators
o 2.1 Teacher: Tomas
o 2.2 TR: Gerdean
• 3 Session
o 3.1 Opening
o 3.2 Lesson
3.2.1 Balance
o 3.3 Dialogue
3.3.1 Socialization, Agondonters
3.3.2 Rest
o 3.4 Closing
Topic: Sense of Balance
Group: Pittsburgh TeaM
Facilitators
Teacher: Tomas
TR: Gerdean
Session
Opening
TOMAS: I am Tomas. Am I too late for your party? Group: (Laughter) No! It was very nice of you to make it.
TOMAS: It was a struggle, I tell you, for me to break away, for the entertainment was in full sway, but I hastened home for this entertaining group in itself.
Hunnah: Down here we call that a “sacrifice.”
TOMAS: “Sacrifice” is no word for which I have a lesson plan prepared. However, alas, it is a word which one day we will discuss. The word “sacrifice” is not only from the days of Abraham but also from the days to come. I had thought to stay in Flagstaff and contact you by way of the circuitry but Gerdean was non-sensitive and so I have returned. I understand that I have been missed and I will catch up here in due course — and so will you all be brought up to date as to the events in our local universe project when your compatriots return with their enthusiasm from the experience.
Let me also state at the outset that I am very pleased that there will be a TeaM Conference east of the Mississippi. It is part of the tapestry of the brotherhood of kingdom believers that the quilt be pieced together coast-to-coast and this event will certainly add to the dynamic design which we have been stitching upon for some time.
It is good to be back with you. I am not unprepared, for even as I was away I was with my fellow teachers and we had our own opportunities for what you would call seminars and workshops and so forth in terms of our work in our realm, and so I return to this teacher base ready anew to embark upon our configuration, our studies, our developing loyalties and concepts alluring us all into greater spiritual unity and social fragrance.
I have been pleased with the resultant growth, with the stimuli and thought processes, which have been effected of late from some of our discourses having to do with character. A greater sensitivity has been developing among you as a group and has been also developing in you individually. This growth is fulfillment and we are always happy to see fulfillment, for it then presents paths for further growing, further nurturing, further fertilizing for further seeds of growth.
Lesson
Balance
TOMAS: This evening I would like to discuss with you another key element of developing character and that is the inner ability to maintain a sense of balance. We have, you will recall, touched upon the facet of balance in character in terms of the character of the spirit as compared to the character of the unevolved human being, and that the difference is remarkable; and, it is a challenge, certainly, to bring these two facets of character in to a working harmony, an alignment.
It is through your association with spirit that you maintain balance. It is in stillness that you feel the harmony of your cosmic connection and feel the peace which passes all understanding. As you enter into your arena, as you feel the energies around you, it is then easy to become wrapped up in these energies to the exclusion of spirit, and this, in and of itself, has been going on for a long time, and in your own lives also — even when these activities are exciting and productive and valuable, as politics or as scaffolding or as family tradition — but it is born of habit or ambition or tradition without the conjoint cooperation of your spirit.
When and as you bring the spirit into your arena, you bring a new element, one which allows you to act in balance. By the same token, it is probably fair to caution against overmuch spirituality, for it is likewise possible for individuals to “go off the deep end” into spiritual realms and adventures without the true connection to divinity which would disallow such fanaticism.
Balance is necessary for a fruitful and successful life in terms of your own mental composure and your subsequent effect upon your environment and your world. As you have been born of the spirit, as you perceive the ability to commit yourself to the will of God, and to doing these deeds which would indicate that you were born of the spirit, it behooves you to have balance.
It is too easy to get off-balance. All of us become embroiled, ensnared, enwrapped, embraced by and in activities and energies which steal us away. The creative acts, scientific investigation … these are activities which compel you to go further and further, deeper and deeper into the realm of application, and whereas on occasion you may strike upon a new discovery or a flash of genius, even here it is well to remember balance.
I am not promoting mediocrity. I am not promoting a conservative attitude. As you understand balance in your life you can readily see where and when you become off-balance. You can feel the atmospheric conditions alter. When an individual enters your environment who is off-balance, you are vulnerable to also being toppled unless you have your anchor dropped into the well of deity.
Nero has advised me that I am too serious and I need to lighten up. I will take his words under advisement and install a bit of levity for balance. Without meaning to appear facetious, then, I will involve you in this discourse. My friends, how are you? ‘What’s happening?’
Dialogue
Socialization, Agondonters
Iyana: This is Iyana. I just wanted to tell you that I have a wonderful life. I am very happy. I feel fulfilled. I look back on my life and I think that I have forgiven anything that I am guilty of, and I’ve been getting on with it. I think everything is great. And the Teaching Mission has taught me to be more trustful and not to be so suspicious in the world that we live in. And also it has taught me to be more loving. But there is one thing that I would like to know. I don’t feel that I have a very large social life or anything, that I do not seem to contact enough people to do any benefit for them, so I don’t know whether I should just continue like I am or make an extra effort to get out. Would you like to comment, please?
TOMAS: I would like to greet you, Iyana, and tell you that you are indeed great. You are the living example of a child of God, a daughter of holiness, a being who spreads light and life as you pass by. It is indeed a sour shame that your social life is limited, for your personality is and would be a gift to anyone having the courage to be one with you. Your positive attitude and your radiance of spirit are difficult of enduring by mortals who are afraid, who have become accustomed to the darkness. It is difficult for semi-civilized human beings to withstand such good faith and good cheer. This is unfortunate and I am not going to suggest that you put on a false face and adapt to a philosophy of misery in company in order to attain friends, for these are not what you seek as friends.
But I must also say, daughter and sister, that when one has attained such enlightenment, it is indeed an Agondonter lament that you have voiced, for unless and as and until other individuals also edify themselves, clear away the wreckage of the past, heal the wounds, forgive the imperfections, accept life, adjust to circumstances and find God in it, you will be solitary indeed, except for those of us in the spirit realms who keep you steady loyal company, and except for those who, like you, have attained joy, peace, faith and so forth.
You might as well accustom yourself to the fact that most of your dealings with your fellow human beings will be as a teacher. As you teach you become friendly to a point. As you teach friendship with God, you bring about also enlightenment and growth or, alas, you alienate your peer until such time as they are ready again for another dose of your radiant truth, beauty, and goodness.
Do not despair of a lonely life, for you shall not be subjected to such a fate, as you well know. But, as I said, being an Agondonter has its own (ambiguous) rewards. I am glad to see you again, my child. I thank you for staying in touch with me and with your spirit helpers. Thank you also for the questions which you have submitted for your fellow students’ edification as well as your own.
Iyana: Thank you very much. And as far as being lonely, I never feel alone because I know I am not alone.
TOMAS: Indeed.
Iyana: And I look forward to teaching, because I enjoy the Urantia Book and all that it teaches, and I enjoy being with the teachers and learning from them. And thank you very much.
TOMAS: And thank you.
Hunnah: What is the subject this evening?
TOMAS: Balance.
Hunnah: Ooh! We haven’t heard that for a long time. Perhaps you’ll give us a report on that some other time.
TOMAS: Perhaps we will walk a tight rope together.
Hunnah: I hadn’t thought of it that way.
TOMAS: Have you thought about our discourse last week regarding self-respect, self-esteem and self-love?
Hunnah: I have. I’ve been aware of it. I guess it’s been going on only I didn’t label it. But it– in introspection, it surfaces and I’ve been able to identify it within myself, in my workday, and I’m expecting it to have more definition, though. It’s upon reflection that we look at the familiar definition, but because of what we’re doing, I expect a new definition to come about.
TOMAS: Indeed. Cause and effect.
Hunnah: We have a small, quiet group tonight.
Loreenia: Tomas, I had experienced seeing something that I wanted one of, and I was thinking about creating a little box for medicine and Band-Aids to put in the car and stuff like that, and just two days prior to talking about the first aid box, I signed up at the church for a drawing and received a first aid box — and a cup that I hadn’t spoken about but that I had attached in my thinking that I would like to have — and no physical human being knew about that but me. Isn’t it interesting that I received those things just like that?
Hunnah: Do we pick up on it first, that it’s coming, maybe?
Iyana: Tomas? May I ask was Yogananda there at the convention?
TOMAS: Yes.
Hunnah: Oh, my gosh. I didn’t think you’d say that. I painted a picture of him and I enjoyed doing it very much.
TOMAS: He is a beautiful being. Also there was Martin Luther King, Jr. …
Hunnah: Oh, how nice!
TOMAS: . .. who is part of our merry band of supporters.
Iyana: Imagine that.
Hunnah: That’s wonderful news. Sounds like “Who’s Who”.
TOMAS: It really was. It really is.
Hunnah: Was it well attended? I mean physically?
TOMAS: Oh, indeed.
Hunnah: Good.
TOMAS: The cup runneth over. I will not deprive your peers, however, of the joy of filling you in on the details. I am most excited to have had the opportunity of attending, not only for my own growth experiences with my fellows, not only to see the dynamic spirit in action and en masse, but also, as usual, to work in the spiritual growth and upliftment of many individuals. It was a wonderful opportunity and now I am now making ready to attend a similarly dynamic event in our own immediate neighborhood, as are some of you.
The energy, the love, the reality of life and light are so delightfully portrayed among you and, indeed, among us also. What a party! I am not exhausted, for I have been careful to maintain my balance, my boundaries, and I have been encouraged to probe even further, even deeper, in faith, by my comrades.
This Agondonter business is contagious. How much we learn from you is remarkable! How much, I should say, we appreciate you. How we admire the efforts you make. How we see the backdrop of emotional trepidation and see how you, in your childlike faith, bound forth off again to another adventure in your day. If we could but harness some of that boundless undirected energy, we would make such great strides, but as it is we are encouraged, we are amused and we are deeply touched by those of you who strive. What have I missed while I was away? Talk to me. Ask me questions.
Loreenia: We have read in the book this evening on The Inhabited Worlds about the different kinds of beings, the sub-breathers and super-breathers and so forth and we were contemplating what planet you came from in your mortal existence. What did you do? Were you a sub-breather or whatever? A one-brained? A two-brained? We were discussing that earlier.
TOMAS: Why am I not surprised that you would ask me to compare myself to you in that regard? (Group laughter) I understand your curiosity. If I were to tell you I was a one-brain type, would you think less of me than if I told you I was of the three-brain type?
Evangel: You know all about us!
Hunnah: Did you know Evangel has a beard and lots of curly hair?
Evangel: Two brains that don’t work very well. (Laughter)
TOMAS: It truly serves no purpose to ascertain that I was this or that. I survived. And I, like you, have advanced. I will confess to you that sometimes here in my Siberian outpost teacher base, without benefit of a co-anchor or other transmitter receivers for my friend here, I will confess that it is sometimes a great act of faith and trust to even enter your environment.
You are so vulnerable, my friends, so susceptible, and this process is not perfect. Far be it for me, Teacher Tomas, a “lesser prophet,” to portray information to your minds that would entertain you in the interim but in the long run forestall your growth or the growth of Urantia longer. And so I say it is and does require great faith in you, and even in myself, that I can convey successfully enough truth to sustain you, enough encouragement to lure you, enough guidance to focus you on your own Indwelling God Fragment, and to entertain you enough that you might want to come back for yet more growth in your spirit, in your inner realms.
I will afford you my best, my friends. I compact with you to do my best. But there are times when I feel the need to restrain myself lest the words I use be misused against me or against the Teaching Mission, against truth, beauty, and goodness, out of our mutual ignorance.
Loreenia: Tomas, why do I feel you heavier energy this evening? More heaviness than usual? Is it because you have been to the party? And before you came back the energies were erratic. Even now the strength of the energy transmission . . . (indistinguishable)
Hunnah: I don’t think that was heard on the tape.
Loreenia: That’s okay.
TOMAS: I will respond to what I heard you say, and I appreciate that you hear me as serious, or ponderous…
Loreenia: I use the physical words to describe, but it doesn’t really describe what I feel.
TOMAS: I will convey to you our associate’s words, “I have been to the mountaintop],” and having been to the mountaintop, I am moved. I am mightily moved, and I, like our Sovereign Michael, have a dream, and it is not a trivial trinket. I am enriched, fortified, strengthened, renewed, revitalized and re-dedicated to following the will of our Creator, Our Father, to whatever lengths it takes, to wherever he may lead, to portray the power, love, goodness, mercy, joy, radiance, harmony, energy, dedication, devotion, patience, peace that is asked of me.
I bring this attitude and these words to you and place them at your feet. Whatever brain I have is here to serve; whatever breath I breathe is because of my Creator, Our Father. It is this spirit reality which will edify, delight, entertain, correct, grow, foster and further us for the many aeons to come, for the deep-seated work ahead of us — the growth, the development which lays ahead. But again, I digress into a state of seriousness. Let me ask you, daughter, how is it when you are alone in your solitude? Do you feel the ponderousness of the Paradise pull? Do you ever sense an urgency about the conditions on Urantia? Do you ever yearn to spiritually suckle your brothers and sisters? These ponderings are to me deeply joyous, even though they may seem to you heavy and out of balance.
Loreenia: You say heavy. I can feel the weight of your energy, which is a good weight. It’s not a ponderous thing. It gives strength for more energy. The words we have here are not adequate. Yes, I do ponder and have an urgency to help this planet. I find that being at peace and sending out love helps immensely, even if I’m not in the physical presence of others, and I feel the energies around me of the spirit realm and my heart goes out. It almost takes my breath, somehow, but how can I push my brothers and sisters in a direction they don’t want to go?
TOMAS: Indeed, it has been said that effective prayer is a great service, if not the greatest service you can perform.
Loreenia: (Indistinguishable)
TOMAS: Indeed, you have been blessed with a first aid kit and a cup.
Evangel: Pray you don’t have to use it.
Loreenia: My first aid kit? Not physically. And the cup? It’s a white cup. Everything in the kit is white. But the fact that it came without even requesting! On this physical planet, you’re lucky to get anything if you go directly to buy it, much less to just think about it and get it.
TOMAS: Well, what do you suppose I will assign to you this week?
Iyana: To get on with our character study.
TOMAS: To perceive your balance, to ascertain when you determine that you are going too far afield of your pinnacle of your core reality. Even as you become embroiled/involved in things which you love, are you going far afield of the spirit? Or are you conscious of your connection with Our Father, your Indwelling Spirit?
Rest
Hunnah: Tomas, I have had difficulty with my meditations and I’m not able to write. Is this sort of a plateau or a holding pattern? Once there is what I would describe as the pleasure of this communion and it goes away, even though it appears in other forms, it sticks in me that I’m supposed to be doing something and then I’m not able to be connected to do it, so I attend to what I can on a daily level, what comes to me, but I have found it difficult and I sit in quiet and I very nicely go off to sleep. So, if it’s possible to have some help with that, I would appreciate it.
TOMAS: My immediate suggestion, my friend, is to look at your day and look at your life and see if sleep is part of your balance. Are you getting, truly, adequate rest? It is not natural for one who yearns to spend time in prayer and meditation — unless you are truly tired, in which case you should sleep and not berate yourself for not following through with a regimented program. When you are rested and when you have set aside time, you will eagerly and willingly spend time with that which most delights your inner harmony, your Best Friend, your creative Source, your breath of life.
Hunnah: Well, I really miss it.
TOMAS: You will return.
Hunnah: Thank you.
Evangel: I have a question. You’ll notice I don’t ask many questions and I’m sure that it’s because my questions can’t be answered and I’m sure it’s one of those, but I’m going to give it a try. Last week you gave us a story about the well and is there an example you could give us that would be something that we have been, or it’s always been that way on this planet that we get to thinking in a certain area or-thinking a certain thing because it’s always seemed to be that way? You know what I mean? Can you give us an example of that well, kind of, in real life?
TOMAS: I appreciate your question, my son and my friend, and I could not off the cuff glibly respond, but I can take your question into serious consideration in our further study of character, for it is much about the fruits of the spirit which are to be found in the well that have been bypassed in order to gather quickly those eggs, you see, and so all of humanity has suffered from thirst, spiritual thirst. It is intended that our study of character will bring into view those behaviors which satisfy the soul, harmonize the heart, emphasize the fellowship, and delight the gods, that are more in keeping with the original plan for this delightful farm yard. Fair enough?
Evangel: Yes.
Closing
TOMAS: My friends, I feel I need to make my exit. I am not quite finished with many of the, shall we say, administrative aspects of this on-going energy surge in the desert. I and our brothers and sisters are at work and will greet you again soon and anon. My and our love to you all until we meet again next week.
Iyana: Thank you for coming, for your long journey.
Loreenia: We enjoyed it.
Hunnah: Thank you for leaving the party for us.
TOMAS: You are my party, indeed. I love you, and farewell.
