1995-12-09-UB Textbook, ACIM, White Buffalo
Pittsburgh #4
Contents
• 1 Heading
o 1.1 Topic: UB Textbook, ACIM, White Buffalo
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 Influence
o 3.3 Dialogue
3.3.1 Urantia Book, ACIM
3.3.2 Awakening, Animals
3.3.3 Time
3.3.4 Soul
3.3.5 Christmas
3.3.6 Vision, Correcting Time
3.3.7 Health
3.3.8 Circuits, Presence
3.3.9 Rituals
3.3.10 Human Condition
o 3.4 Closing
Topic: UB Textbook, ACIM, White Buffalo
Group: Pittsburgh TeaM
Facilitators
Teacher: Tomas
TR: Gerdean
Session
Opening
TOMAS: Good afternoon, faithful friends. I am Tomas. I am your teacher, your guide and your companion. It gives me great joy to be harmoniously in the presence of those who share that desire to be at peace and in resonance with reality which is our Source and our goal. Many celestial hosts hover today in honor of you who are here. Welcome you to this format of communication as you have welcomed me.
Lesson
Inasmuch as I am new in your community, that is to say, in your consciousness (for I have been and will be part of your community here on Urantia for some time), I am in process of developing a sensitivity to you as individuals with your unique backgrounds, belief systems, personal experiences, traumas, miracles and conditionings which serve to constitute who you are in your being today. I am developing this sensitivity to you that I might serve you, and in order that in our working together we will create the confidence and strength which will then enable us to move mighty steps forward in faith, and which will subsequently move others in terms of their faith also.
Influence
“How,” you might ask, “can a mere mortal affect the faith of another individual, for is not faith a very personal matter?” Indeed, this is so, but as your faith is founded, well-grounded, shared and amplified, as you develop the sensitivity of which I speak toward other individuals’ backgrounds, including their own range of experience, trauma, miracles, cultural conditioning, etc., you can then instill and foster their own faith in their own reality, much as the more advanced of you have already learned from those sources which have brought forth in your being — that resonance of knowing, that deep core of understanding which says to you, “Yes, this is truth.” “This you know to be true.” And so those many, many mortals who have not yet awakened to the music of the celestial symphony, who still cower in uncertainty, these are individuals you may reach as a ministry to the mission.
A tidal wave of correction is required on Urantia for the waves of truth to wash over all humanity, to cleanse your realm of its many distortions and fallacies, its many scars from betrayal and distrust. Much work is required, and although we radiate the joy of knowing a facet of divinity and celebrate that reality in one another, it is our aim and goal to spread those seeds, to “spread the gospel” which will illuminate all. I have mentioned that I am a worker, and you see now that I am a talker as well. I am, however, truly a gregarious and social being and, in keeping with our camaraderie, I will close my introductory remarks and open this forum up for questions.
Dialogue
Urantia Book, ACIM
Mrs. M: I had a question, Tomas. It’s really a very sincere question. I guess a lot of my questions I just throw out because I’m uncomfortable with silence, but this one has been on my mind for quite some time and that is, when I first got the Urantia Book, I thought it was completely adequate and wonderful, but when the Course in Miracles came along, I thought this completed the Book for me, in a sense, and I like to carry one in one arm and one in the other — and Mrs. McD is our very excellent student of that course – but I began to think, after the Teaching Mission came through, that this in itself could have completed the Book in some way for me.
And so I began to wonder if that was the original plan, to give the Book to our planet and then to have the transmitters enhance what we already supposedly would have learned, and … because there was a warmth and a humanity about it, and there was so much kindness and love that I felt from the Teachers beyond that which we have experienced usually here … so I just wondered if that was part of the original plan. I’ve said this to people who have accepted and not accepted the transmitting, so I’m curious about your answer.
TOMAS: I will respond to your outpouring.
The fifth epochal revelation is that, and as when any great gift is bestowed thus, the time has been planned, the time is auspicious. The textbook, that is The Urantia Book, is more than adequate for your intellectual comprehension of cosmology and history and so forth at this point. Remember, it is only the fifth epochal revelation, not the entire story yet.
The Teaching Mission now, this offshoot of the fifth epochal revelation, is also timely and necessary for the truths in the Urantia Book to become actualized and realized in a framework compatible to the import of the Fifth Epochal Revelation to Urantia. In other words, in some ways the Teaching Mission is the workbook to the textbook.
Now, let me remark, if you will, regarding the gift and the current hunger and popularity regarding “A Course in Miracles” which is a fine and valuable contribution to upliftment of humanity and is very soul-satisfying to the participant, and this is because the Thought Adjuster is acknowledged, the deep core reality of the individual is strummed, and the harmony of the soul is caressed into awakening, and is responding to divinity in a way that, particularly, your Christianity has not induced whereas that the quiet mammoth of the Occident has had to sustain during these many years of quiet evolutionary growth.
Your Christianity has had the Bible but the people of India and other cultures (not exposed to Christian missionaries and Christ and so forth) have had truths and realities that have sustained them, as is normal and right. Now we find in this renaissance of spiritual flowering, this time of the fifth epochal revelation, this time of surging forward in spiritual progress is benefited by the wisdom and insight of those who have not been influenced by, and in some cases sullied by the aspects of Christianity that have not made Christ a personal experience, that have not encouraged the living reality of the individual with a Godhead as a living spiritual reality. This is all part of the progress scheduled for Urantia at this time. And all things certainly are synchronized to augment each other. Have I responded to your inquiry?
Mrs. M: Yes, I appreciate that answer and I’m going to, well, read it over again when we get a transcript for it because that’s very helpful, too. Thank you for your excellent answer.
TOMAS: And for your question.
Awakening, Animals
Mrs. P: Tomas, last night I saw the white buffalo, on the air. And I have heard a little bit about it and I wonder if you can enlighten me concerning this phenomenon that is supposed to be an almost new dispensation on the earth.
TOMAS: I will say that your question is appropriate to the theme that we have been developing for, again, the white buffalo is representational of a culture’s coming into a new surge of spiritual awakening. In many cases these truths, these peoples’ truths, which have sustained them for centuries, are now being shared. The white buffalo has long represented this renaissance, this spiritual surge forward, which is occurring now … (as you may know, because of the reconnecting of the broadcast circuitry, having to do with the adjudication of the Lucifer Rebellion and your being re-connected to your rightful place as a part of the living organism of this superuniverse.) Well! That was quite a parenthetical expression.
The white buffalo is to the Native Americans that symbol which is, in their culture, a great impetus and sign of their value. The Great Spirit, which is the Father of the red race and which, indeed, is our Father also, has given to Its/His/Her children various cultural manifestations of faith. The eagle, which soars at poignant times, bespeaks great messages and mysteries to the individual who is sensitive and respectful of the eagle and what it represents. Likewise, the many, many animals of the realm, which have come to represent certain symbols of courage or pride or stealth, have been honored.
Remember that even the animals of the realm fall under the guidance and protection of the spiritual realms and so why should they not also contribute, in their way, to the mighty song of dance and praise which is being experienced by seekers and believers in all faiths, in our evolutionary trek upward? Is this satisfying to your soul?
Mrs. P: Yes, thank you very much. It augments what I was feeling.
Time
Mrs. M: Tomas, we love to, in our planet, we love to play with these numbers and thinking they mean something, and we experienced what we think was the year 2,000 last year, and it seemed that everything that happened on our planet in a spiritual way that year, was connected with this wonderful beginning of the next millennium, and I just wondered if you would comment on that. It’s not an important issue, of course.
TOMAS: We are into the new millennium, and although your common calendars have not caught up with the truth yet, it will, and it is not so essential that your calendars are all synchronized so much as it is that you recognize that it is chronologically a divine time for change. Even your politicians ring out the need for change. And certainly a millennium is a calendar notice that if all is not well, now is a good time to do something about it for future millennia.
Mrs. M: Thank you very much. That was a very delightful answer from that point of view. Thank you.
Mrs. P: Encouraging for the earth, too. For Urantia.
Soul
TOMAS: I will speak briefly in response to your earlier comment about not being able to endure the quiet between questions, for as I promised earlier, I would have more to say regarding the art of asking questions, and one thing which is an important aspect of your soul-searching is to allow your soul the opportunity to focus on that which is yearning to be filled.
It is far too easy for the social animal to jump in with amenities to cover the awkward moment when a soul is grappling for understanding. But by the same token, in the grappling for understanding, the soul is then given the respect of a safe place in which to grapple. It is not necessary that we fill every hole with a joyful noise! It is equally important that we begin to perceive the deeper voices, the more resounding sounds of the soul at work.
Many times the questions cannot be formulated in a way that is satisfactory to the one seeking. Let me then say to you that one thing which the teachers have been trained to hear is the true depth of your soul searching. We do not respond particularly to the obvious or the secondary or tertiary, but “go for the gold” as you might say, and hear your soul’s inquiry, for that is what we are here to find, foster, develop, encourage and send out, send forth into the arena.
It is your soul that is at issue. It is your soul that is our student. It is your soul which you will become and be in the morontia realms and beyond, and so when you speak what you feel, it is not so much your well-turned phrase that I notice, although I appreciate an orderly mind, it is more your heart’s desires which turn the key to my response to your learning.
Christmas
Mrs. M: We’re coming up on the Christmas holiday and it occurs to me that we’re going to finish the [paper on] Celestial Artisans today, which has been so wonderful, and then we’re going to decide to do some other excellent part of the Book, and Gerdean and I have talked about it and have had some great ideas, I think, and yet because of the season, I was wondering if we should, at least in part, go back to Immanuel’s instructions to Jesus upon his last and seventh bestowal. Some of our group, a very few people, had not been part of the group at that time and have not had the privilege of enjoying that and would probably enjoy doing that in conjunction with this season, so … it would only be a matter of a couple of weeks that the real Christmas season goes on, 12 days.
Twelve days of the real church season, but we were going to … we were talking about some other excellent parts of the Book which others have not seen at all, that the whole group has not seen at all. Moving ahead is great, and yet I was wondering how much we should think about the season.
TOMAS: Very well. The season is insignificant, as I am concerned. It is a holiday, as you know, based on a Mithraic festival and has little to do with why I am here. I am, of course, not unsympathetic with the pull of the various cultural holidays and the effect that these things have on the souls of mortals. In the farther view, I find that the spirit of Christmas is hysteria and emotionality mostly, and that the few relatively since, grateful and devout moments are indeed done in private, often on Christmas Eve, and most often shrouded by deep sadness. The joy and celebratory aspects of the season, however, in and of themselves are quite delightful. It is only when they are intertwined in some aberrated manner that I have to withdraw my support.
In keeping with the local Christian traditions of Advent, it is hoped that you would anticipate the coming of Christ; that you might, in your deep recess, identify that concept and foster it in your soul; that as the onslaught of the holidays come, that the people in their hearts will begin to seek for the birth, not of the baby, but of the new life that He brings in their new life as a reborn entity.
It is very difficult to be an earnest student in this season, for everyone at this time seems to be beside themselves with festivities. I therefore, class, urge you also to frolic and have fun in your cultural ways and not worry too much about a serious study such as the instructions prior to the bestowal. These meaty matters are best absorbed when the holidays have passed and your hunger for knowledge and understanding have been heightened and whet by your abstinence from strenuous exerted thought processes. That is only my opinion and I do not necessarily want you to look to me for direction on each turn, but now you know my sentiments. I would not care to distort Christ Michael’s reason for being here any further with the Mithraic holiday. Understood?
Vision, Correcting Time
Mrs. B: Yes! I was wondering. In one of the transcripts I read that He is here. I thought they were intimating more fully than before. One of the transcripts seemed to say that Christ Michael said, “I am here, my children,” and I thought it meant that. And then His coming, which we talk about after Correcting Time, how can He be here more fully than He is now? Because He says He is here. “I’m here for you. I’m spiritually here for you. I’m beside you! I’m your companion, your friend. Ask me anything, include me in everything.” So I would like to have you comment, if you possibly could, about that, Tomas.
TOMAS: I can and I will. Michael is here present, indeed today in this room. He is present on Urantia in his all pervasiveness. It is possible to behold and walk with the Master ~ in morontia reality. It has been done. It is being done. It will be done . .. even in your life, as you allow it in. The act of appearing to the human eye is not a magic trick but it is impossible for the human eye to see the Master; it must be done with a spiritual eye, a divine eye. It must be with the eye of a child who has complete confidence and faith in the reality of life as it is beyond the flesh. It is possible.
Part of our aim in Correcting Time is to slash away those barriers, which have constrained you from seeing your many friends who are just outside your range of vision. The energy pattern which you sometimes feel and sense can be seen in the morontia form, in the midwayers, in the lights of the angelic orders, and so forth, and in Michael himself, are visible even now to those of you who will see.
That you do not all see Him is not that you are lesser, but that you have not yet learned how to drop the barrier. It is too simple for most people to conceive. Simple, as I referenced last week, is one of the keys to childlike faith. So without getting too far afield, He is present in and on Urantia as is promised time and time again, that where there are two or more together, there he is in their midst. Also, as he has said many times, many times, “call upon me and I will sit with you. Reach out and take my hand which waits to take yours and lead you home.” He is a reality greater than you are accustomed. That does not mean He is not there.
As Urantia evolves, more and more will begin to perceive higher reality and will walk more and more frequently with Michael and the other spirit helpers. Even so, as you evolve and become socially fragrant and more in harmony with your soul’s expression of your true personality, your own self will be so delightful and desirous of being here, it will not be such a preference to seek for the spiritual in lieu of the mortal, for all life is and will be then settled in Light and Life and you will recognize that the physical and emotional and spiritual planes are all in working harmony. This, of course, is not in the immediate future on a grand scale, but it is possible on a small scale in individual groups such as this, as we work together to instill in your soul an understanding of its worth and value and power and potential.
Mrs. M: (Inaudible question).
Health
TOMAS: My dear daughter, as you express yourself there, I hear you say that your Father would push you away and cause you to be ill if you did not believe or behave in a certain way. It is not correct that you experience illness because you have not believed a certain way or followed a certain spiritual directive. Your question is a layered question for there are extremes to that question which is a lead-in to a whole realm of aberrant and addictive behaviors, but those go beyond the bounds of this lesson this afternoon.
When you feel physically poorly, it is not uncommon that you feel farther removed from the spirit because so many of your energies are in the body, are in the fever, are in the distemper or the distress. It is then that you must have faith that you are being nurtured and succored by your ministering spirits, the Mother fragments administering to your health and healing.
Have patience with yourself when you are not at your physical best. Have increasing patience with yourself as you experience life’s processes, as you notice your aches and pains, as you begin to decline as physical specimens. Be gentle with yourselves and know that this is part of the process and appreciate that you are being overseen and cared for throughout. Learn to trust that you may even experience illness and be comforted in that.
Call upon your God or your spirit helpers in times of distress, not only in times of victory and delight. Call upon your Father Brother Michael when you are ill and in pain, and experience the tremendous power of his comfort and strength. Feel how it is to be embraced as a helpless infant, spiritually. Allow yourself this luxury of devotion to your Creator Father.
Allow your weakness, and in your growth you will understand weakness when it appears in others and you will be able to bring your own
Christ-identified strengths, your own Godlike-ness to the weakness, to the many, and I will not go into the far-afield aspects of addictions and aberrant behaviors here either, but this lesson could be easily amplified and magnified to address that entire realm which perhaps we will discuss at another time.
Mrs. M: Thank you very much for your very helpful answer.
Circuits, Presence
Mrs. McD: Tomas, in regards to the presence of Jesus on Urantia. What you said, I understand — correct me if I’m wrong — that Jesus, or Michael — that His all-pervasive-ness, as you put it, has always been here with us on this planet. And the question is — it seemed that what you were saying, that our ability to know this and have intercourse with Him is contingent upon our personal development. He has always been here, but if we are not developed, we are not aware of it. So my question is, Mrs. M was alluding to the fact that He was here in some different way now than he ever had been before. And I didn’t seem to get that from your response. Maybe you could clarify that.
TOMAS: I appreciate your furtherance in this questioning. It is not the case. Michael has not always been here. He was here 2,000 years ago and resurrected to the morontia form, whereupon He ascended and returned home [to Salvington] to receive sovereignty over His local universe. And in the interim, among the many administrative matters which have gone about, the details of the Lucifer Rebellion have been completed and the case is closed; the files have been purged; the issue is no more; and the isolation which your world has experienced, the quarantine which Urantia has undergone since the time of the rebellion has finally played its course. The circuits are open.
In the opening of the circuits, Michael’s presence is possible for there are no limitations now upon His being-ness. As the sovereign, He can be anywhere He chooses to be, and, unlike us of a lesser nature, He can be in more than one place at one time. In aspects of His capacity as gracious teacher, infinite beloved, comforter, savior, redeemer, lord Jesus; in many, many ways He appears to many, many people, but not nearly all. Not nearly. And so this ability to appear to us here, you here, is relatively new. And his visibility will be more and more frequent as we work to bring him back, literally and figuratively, if you will. Have I answered? Do you have further questions for…?
Mrs. McD: I understand what you’re saying, but there’s this quote from the Christian Bible, credited to Jesus, where he says, “Lo, I am with you always.” If He said that when He was here in the form of Jesus, I cannot understand that there was a period after His resurrection when He wasn’t here. Or possibly it’s a misunderstood quote. Or possibly it’s more symbolic. When He said, “I am” He was speaking from the “I AM” presence, which would mean that we have our Thought Adjuster. I mean, I’m not sure about that quote, so possibly…?
TOMAS: “Lo, I am with you always in the Spirit of Truth which I leave with you,” and, therefore, the Son of God has been with humanity in the Spirit of Truth.
The I AM aspect is different. It is that God the First Source and Center has been with humanity in the form of the Thought Adjuster and so these many, many, many years of isolation and quarantine, even so, humankind has been attended and accompanied by the indwelling God Fragment, which connects him and her immediately and personally to God, and since Pentecost, humans have been in the company of and with the influence of the Spirit of Truth, which has enabled much spiritual growing to take place.
But only in recent years, since the closure of the adjudication, has Michael and indeed all of us been free to make such liberal contact with this world. The quarantine is lifted, and now we are coming and going at a 5:00 freeway rush-hour traffic rate.
(Group laughter.)
Mrs. McD: Thank you, Tomas. Very much.
Rituals
Mrs. M: Well, I was thinking about … when you were talking about Christmas, Tomas. I’m going to be fortunate enough to hear the “Messiah” tomorrow night. My daughter is singing and I guess I think to myself that’s got to be one of the times when I can really feel that Jesus Christ is born in me. Is that the kind of thing that you were indicating when you were talking about the holiday?
TOMAS: You give me another loaded question. I am delighted you will be experiencing the fine work of Handel and trust that the production will be worthy of its creator’s ideals.
When you hear the choir sing, “Wonderful! Counselor! Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,” see if your heart does not well up with pride at knowing this entity as your personal companion and deliverer and all those wondrous words which fall short of the fullness of your heart at the pondering of your Creator Son Christ Michael, particularly perhaps in view of your having recently read His life’s experience here. How deeply you have come to love the Master.
How deeply you have come to appreciate His kindness, His gentleness, His graciousness, His strength, His fragrance, His wisdom, His depth, His character, His all-perfect sense of devotion His Father, Our Father, and to His sheep. “All we like sheep have gone astray.” Indeed. And “all we like sheep” have been found (“Amazing Grace!”), have been brought home to His flock and are lambs in His fold. Our Master. Our Master. How we adore Our Master.
And as you hear those strains and feel those feelings of divine confidence and humility, think of those who have not even met the Master, those who are in such fear that they have not the courage to knock upon the door, to be given entry into His bosom. Those are the ones, Elyssia. Those are the ones who we come to serve, to feed the light of truth.
Mrs. M: Yes, and then one does think at Christmas time, I guess, of the tragedy of Bosnia because you want to help and as a citizen you feel — I have no have a point of view about this, and yet there are such excellent arguments on both sides of this problem. We see these things on television, the Christmas holidays and then the tragedy, their winter, and people experiencing this war.
Mrs. H: May I comment?
TOMAS: (Nods)
Mrs. H: Tomas, were you going to…?
TOMAS: (Shakes head)
Human Condition
Mrs. H: A scripture came to my mind. Maybe it’s not a scripture but it’s called “Turning Away,” and to reach back to something I was taught with it, we are having, with the assistance of someone like Tomas, we are going to learn to live with two worlds, the world that we have come to accept and our new reality, and the way of a false reality, which is of deprivation, which we see everyday. And Tomas is here to strengthen us from being pulled down into a false reality and that when we find ourselves doing that, which you so lovingly feel, Mrs. M, that you can turn to the Christ, you can turn to Tomas and say, please give me a definition. Perhaps at some point, Tomas, you can give us one-on-one sessions. I was thinking about your willingness to answer questions and if maybe during the course of the week a question comes, we could bring it with us. But we don’t have to have questions to attend, do we?
TOMAS: Of course not. But it is more of a participation classroom, rather than lecture hall when you allow yourselves to become involved. I have seen individuals who were drawn out reluctantly, but when they heard their voice resonate within the realities of the moment, soon began to speak more and more and find a facet of themselves that had always remained submerged. It is fun to see a new being flower and make himself or herself known in the verbal realms, and yet it is certainly not required that anyone go beyond their comfort zone if they choose not to.
I am only going to make one clarifying remark regarding your commentary, dear, and that was you used the phrase “false reality” and for those who are bleeding and dying, it is not false whatsoever. It is quite real. And this reality business is a very relative condition. The Reality with a capital R, having to do with Divinity, capital D, and such is certainly an eager aspect of our lives, but the misery and suffering and ‘little r” reality woes of humanity, and the throes of death, destruction, growth, greed, etc. are also quite real. The pangs of childbirth are painful and real, even though the memory of it does not last forever. And, yes, I am amenable to private sessions, question/answer conversations, and I am fortunate to work with a transmitter/receiver who has so freely availed herself to this Mission work, that she is cooperative, so contact Gerdean for a private session.
Mrs. M: I was going to say that I was just really happy when you were repeating those words from the Messiah in your own very special way. I thought it was a very, very special moment for me and so I am inclined to mention that one of the other aspects of Christmas that I try to latch onto are the beautiful children and their faces in innocent trust and love and, I guess I probably would love to hear what you would say about that one, because I love what you said about “The Messiah.”
TOMAS: I will not go on, for my vessel is getting rusty, but I will say that children are very responsive to the stimuli of their parents and peers, and often their jubilation also is borderline hysteria and emotionality, but it is always a delight, of course, to see the cherubic upturned faces with dancing eyes in anticipation of sugarplums and other delights, and it is an ideal time for parents to plant those seeds and nurture … “Christ-consciousness” shall we say — that give real meaning to Christmas.
But so often they are passed over by timid souls who do not take up the challenge to be intimate with their children, to share those soulful aspects which make them together children of God, and gloss over such opportunities with frosting and sentiment. The sweeping impact of this holiday makes it difficult for what I call real work to be done, but in terms of “real” — whether it be capital R or little r — real work for me, Tomas, is in the trenches, in the furrows, in the soil and not in the department stores or in the aisles.
Forgive my mundane approach to life by comparison to others who are more festive, but I also want you to know how I delight in and am first in line to go to such pageants and orchestrations as has been given here and as you will experience in the production of the Messiah. I am quite greedy when it comes to putting up my feet and snoozing through a good aria or a good ballet, so I am going to take that same approach with your holiday here and regard it as an MGM production in living color, of life on Urantia at the celebration of the life of the Christ child.
My loyal students and loyal students of greater truths than even I am privy to, we together are a growing unit, a team of believers and seekers of truth and harmony. How glad I am in my deep heart to have been with you today. I am going to take my leave, for the day grows into the time when many will need to depart, at least stretch and exhale. So, until we gather again in our next configuration, whether it be to apply ourselves in serious scholarly study or to frolic and play in a festive and childlike fashion, or whether it be to greet one another in stillness and in praise and thanksgiving of our devoted Creator, we will be together again, and I look forward to that time. In the meantime, I will give you an assignment for this week. One moment.
Closing
TOMAS: I will give you a challenge this week as you approach your holiday season. As you hear the carols and hear the bells, notice how many people are not really having a good time. How many people are worried about things that have little to do with the birth of the Christ child? Look at the masses — your brothers and sisters — and tell me next week if you think we have any real work to do.
Praise be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. Amen and farewell.
