1995-12-16-Trust, Truth, Pedagogy, Vulnerability
Pittsburgh #5
Contents
• 1 Heading
o 1.1 Topic: On Trust
o 1.2 Group: Pittsburgh TeaM
• 2 Facilitators
o 2.1 Teacher: Tomas, Michael
o 2.2 TR: Gerdean, Matthew
• 3 Session
o 3.1 Opening
3.1.1 Truth
o 3.2 Lesson
3.2.1 Presence
3.2.2 Trust
o 3.3 Dialogue
3.3.1 Christmas, Parenting
3.3.2 Assurance, Vulnerability
3.3.3 Pedagogy
3.3.4 Nutrition
o 3.4 Closing
Topic: On Trust
Group: Pittsburgh TeaM
Facilitators
Teacher: Tomas, Michael
TR: Gerdean, Matthew
Session
Opening
TOMAS: Greetings, loyal friends and students. This is your teacher Tomas greeting you today on behalf of many who attend with me in your company, in your gathering here to honor your teacher and your teacher’s teachers, for one always passes on what one knows to those who are ascending.
Truth
TOMAS: My friends, we are glad that this configuration of believers is beginning to gel, is assuming the maturity of devotion, is willing to garner truths, which can be applied in the material realm to better conditions for Urantia. The truths which we impart have been designed to be put into action. The truths which you absorb into your soul, into your reality, into your consciousness and superconsciousness, have residual effects, and our work is not to simply bring you to a point of feeling good and at one with the generic energies circulating in the unseen realms, no, but to effectively take what you have made your own and portray your understanding of reality, that you may begin to see who you are as you present yourself, as others also present themselves, with an understanding that this presentation of the self is but a reflection of the perception of the individual.
In due course the refinements which will come about as your life’s drama is unfolded, the energies and understandings of your most innermost soul will be given reign; and your path will emote harmonious feelings of acceptance and, indeed, divinity which will present you and your beliefs and your commitments as worthy of our Creator, our Teacher, Michael of Nebadon. Michael has graced us today with his presence, as He often will, and does. Today I am humbled and excited to step aside in my words that He might address you as He has asked to greet you on this occasion. One moment.
Lesson
Presence
MICHAEL: Daughters and sons, welcome to my heart, my throne, my life, My realm of service and praise, worship and love. My blessings upon you today. As you spoke and sang the words “Be Still 1.,” 2. I felt as though you were rocking in My arms, for I felt your acquiescence to My nature, I felt your submission to the strength which oversees you, the light which guides you. I am touched by your guileless faith, by your acceptance of one another, for, My children, you all are precious in My sight.
I would ask that as you learn and listen from My servant Tomas that you learn more and more to become giving and forgiving in your nature. Many steps we will take together in this ensuing sojourn. Many miles will we walk hand in hand. Many members of humanity will we meet together. Work with Me, children, in the active aspects of your life here.
Learn indeed from your teacher Tomas and all your other teachers — all the chords which strike harmony in your soul — and manifest yourself, as has been said, and trust that I work with you in your outpouring, in your life, in your manifestation, and that as you grow, as you learn, as you forgive and are forgiven, as you serve in My vineyard, I work shoulder to shoulder with you. I will comfort you when you feel downtrodden and will sustain you when you feel weak. I will embrace you in your victories and be with you in your camaraderie. My beloved flock, how delighted I am to honor you this day as you honor Me, and I salute our communal efforts, for together we are all sons and daughters of our Eternal Parent, the Great Source of us all, and we ascend to glorify our Supreme Creator, and the evolution of this Deity also. I return you to your teacher Tomas.
TOMAS: Yes, I, too, always am inclined to take a moment when I have spent an intimate instance with Michael, for I am reminded of the purity of heart which is my inspiration.
You might think in terms of Him being my boss, and in some ways He is, but if you could conceive of the relationship between the “higher-ups” in the hierarchy of this creation as compared to your understanding of power structures, you would no longer regard your arena as you have heretofore in your training. Even so, I am quite impressed and am quite honored to work for our Creator Son in His efforts to uplift this planet, having suffered so many setbacks in its evolution. I have a brief lesson for you today, dear class. I would spend a moment today discussing trust.
Trust
TOMAS: Trust is one of my more favorite topics and one which is, in my opinion, an essential early lesson, for no growth can take place in your soul unless and until you understand trust, and [distrust] is a major block to growth on Urantia and in your realms, since betrayal is the cloud which has darkened your world and you have all been reared as mortals who have experienced, understood, and reacted to the betrayal which brings about distrust. To then allow your developing morontial souls to learn to trust is frightening, is even so threatening as to bar you from the experience of opening your heart, your soul, that the purity of divinity might shine forth and lighten your way.
“Be still, my child.” Indeed, “child” is, again, a key word here, as is the word “simple,” for in allowing yourself to be a simple child in your attitude, in your soul, in your private place in your heart, you can peek through the veil of distrust to allow yourself to feel the lure of Spirit leading. As you trust this glimmer of Spirit leading and find the delights begin to unfurl before you, you will begin to trust Spirit. Humankind is not spirit. You are not spirit. You and all evolving life here today is in a relative state, ad only rarely are those instances of spirit felt, and pure Spirit is far afield from our working arena today.
Therefore, when I suggest to you the study, the application, the reflection of trust, I ask you to go beyond trusting your own perceptions. I ask you to go beyond all barriers which you have established in your forerunning days of seeking, and allow this Spirit its own way in approaching you and leading you into an understanding of your true core of your reality. In time, then, in time — as you recognize the reflection of Spirit from Spirit, from your Indwelling Spirit, you will recognize it also in your fellows. You will recognize it and that is something you can trust. The Spirit is trustworthy. The mortal may falter and fumble, but the Spirit is trustworthy.
As you begin to trust Infinite Spirit, Infinite Spirit then begins to entrust you with insight and responsibility and experience, which will enlarge and expand your understanding of your identity. This new understanding of your identity, which then is based on Spirit, is the foundation of our spiritual community.
Now, having said this, I hope not to confuse you by stressing that this condition of spiritual community is not only possible, it is imminent — even in this group of mortal beings here, these humans who assemble and associate in an attempt to see the Spirit reality of life as it is lived individually in oneself and in others. The potential of this group is very real and very powerful, and the potential impact that your growth can have on the ascending sons and daughters of our Teacher Michael are adequate to turn the tide of evolution on Urantia.
Our work is important, my loyal students. Yes, it is greatly titillating and sociable, but it is infinitely more. In our attempts to bring about the initial steps of light and life on Urantia, it is encouraged that we work together to ground ourselves as a core group of respecting and committed devotees of eternal values.
Than you for this forum, for being here, that I am given a teacher base from where to operate. I have, as some of you know, been privileged to co-teach with Daniel in the Pocatello, Idaho, group and that has been a sublime experience for me and for many others, but now that I have, as my T/R says, “interned” with what she regards as one of the best, I am confident, as is she, that this teacher base will flourish and flower with our joint efforts and our ever ready love for one another.
In view of this festive occasion, I will cease my remarks, which were far more extensive today than anticipated, but sometimes, that is the case. You realize that my time constraints are not quite what yours are and I forget myself. So now that I am completed with your lesson and you are all still here (a snore is heard in the background), more or less, (group laughter) may I open the floor for questions.
Dialogue
Christmas, Parenting
Mr. L: Tomas, I have one that I’ve carried over from last week and I really don’t know how to put this question, but it concerns Santa Claus. I’m a grandfather with six grandchildren and, except for perhaps one of them, they all still have what I would call a belief in Santa Clause, and what I would like for you to do is clarify how it would be best to handle this concept and the principles that Santa Clause stands for with little kids, because at this time of the year, Santa Clause kind of reigns supreme in our material culture, and yet there has to be something good in Santa Clause, or at least it seems that way. Can you comment on this? Or would you care to do that? If you don’t care to do so, that’s okay, but I thought that perhaps from above you could give me some insights on how to handle that.
TOMAS: Thank you for your question, my curious co-worker. I recall our discourse last week regarding your Christmas holiday and recall that I indicated I would observe this pageantry as [if it were] an MGM production of the birth of the Christ-child, as portrayed on Urantia in, certainly, your Christian community, and I can respond to your question regarding St. Nicholas perhaps from a reviewer’s standpoint only, for as a teacher, I would not quite know what to do with Santa Clause (or the Easter Bunny for that matter) except to run any obvious parallels.
The tragedy of these phantasmagoric creatures in your children’s early impressions are the beginning of a distortion which colors much of their life and the merit to an entity like Santa Clause is only valuable, to my mind’s eye, when and as he can be compared to God or the Great Giver of Life.
Consider that all boys and girls receive Christmas presents whether they have been naughty or nice, and Our Father is equally merciful in His realm. The gifts which are presented on Christmas holiday as coming from Santa Clause can be paralleled by outlining the many gifts which come from Our Father, and indeed Our Mother, in terms of light and life, in friends, food, family, fun, food and frolic.
That Santa is large is also an aspect of Godlike-ness, for Our Father is large and abundant and has jolly aspects. He is not a stern and severe God such as some perceive, but has twinkling eyes, if you will, and a joyous laugh — not at the expense of children, but in delight of their upturned cherubic faces in anticipation of sugar plums and other delights, much as faith children look to the Father with trust for those delights of life which will give them joy in their heart and soul.
There are actually many parallels that could be given to children if one were willing to find the ways in which to present that message, but at best it is a distortion of eternal value to persist in the illusion that these realities are material in nature only.
I do not know if my comments regarding your question have been helpful, or even worthy, but I am most eager to develop a good working dialog between thee and me, and so I am intrigued by whatever it is that you present so that I can help you work in your arena amidst the realities you have to deal with, much as I do.
Ms. J: Tomas, I am very moved by your subject today of trust. And the reason — I almost felt you were having this lesson especially for me — because it seems like lately I feel like I have been surrounded by this betrayal. I’ve been– (not just for myself, but my family!) … and I’ve never experienced so much of this and it’s just very overwhelming at times. It happens so much! These are very important things in our life … physical, emotional, although– (this is just a release of emotions) — but it feels like a mental thing being created, either by attitudes about things you’re going through …. It feels like a test. I just wondered ….
Assurance, Vulnerability
TOMAS: I embrace you, my daughter, and commend your courage in exposing your heart in a trusting way to me and to these your peers here. I am most pleased at y our expression of frustration at the recognition of betrayal at every turn. I also use your commentary as a furtherance of my lesson and appreciate the truth that the sensitivity, which is coming into being as these spiritual circuits awaken, as the soul hungers for truth, beauty, and goodness, as this sensitivity is made more aware and effective, it is also more obvious how far there is to go before the work of Correcting Time is accomplished.
Do not despair of the magnitude of work that is required, for in spite of appearances to the contrary, the progress of Urantia is assured. Particularly as your reality is cultivated and grows firm and strong. My students, the assignment which I have you last week, the challenge to look to see if we really needed to do any work here, has been clearly answered in this heartfelt appeal for trust amongst one another. This, too, is why I ask you to take up the subject of trust early on, for it brings to bear on your own strength and vulnerability.
I am going to say again and further now about the word “test”. There are no tests in this class. There are no tests assigned. You may find occasional quizzes, but there are no tests, and Our Father, Our Mother, our creative universe does not put things before you to trick you or to have you stumble upon for its entertainment. The universe is a friendly place and the teachers and celestial hosts are here to serve you in your growth, in your coming home to our Divine Parent, in coming home, indeed, to your true Self.
You will begin to grow strong as you recognize your own trust in your own reality, and although you may find yourself being buffeted from time to time — for your perception of reality is far removed from that which seemingly surrounds you — you are in the loyal, steadfast company and support of heavenly hosts who indeed conspire to lift you up and to help you be aware of your true radiant reality and your true connection with this spiritual family which embraces you and rejoices in your life and in your victory over fear. (pause) My daughter, are you now stronger in your heart, in your mind?
Ms. J: Yes.
TOMAS: Never fear being sensitive or vulnerable. In time you will know that your gem of truth is safe in the citadel of the spirit, in your indwelling God Fragment, where you may go and find solace and sanctity, and that as you find yourself more and more dependant upon the Light of the I AM, the original I AM, to your own God Fragment, you will rejoice and seek those who also understand their sonship/daughtership with the living God. This is community.
Mr. L: Thank you for your comments about Santa Clause. I thought that was a masterpiece.
Mrs. H: Mr. L. wants you to go to church with him and talk from the pulpit. I have a question on the mesmerizing effect of your delivery. Has it always been this way? Because it has a tremendous, a powerful impact of stilling everyone. We really, really– Members of the group unwind as– Is this part of the power of the process?
Pedagogy
TOMAS: Greetings, daughter.
Mrs. H: Hello.
TOMAS: I respond to say that this is a developed technique, if you will. It is not immediately possible for you (nor this transmitter/receiver) to sit for a long period of time without being entertained and, therefore, the actual process itself, of sitting in a focused state, is a developmental process. I hasten to say I am not merely entertaining, although certainly that is one of our … one of the things we learn in our training — to not be so academic and dry as to bore you to tears.
There are realities that develop in the process of communication which are seldom realized between mortals because of their inability to maintain a sustained, focused discourse in a soul-satisfying manner. This practice is developed as we sit and commune, one with another, and focus on matters which evolve/revolve around our growth as individuals and as a community, and eventually and ultimately as a system.
You may interrupt at any time! I am not intending to mesmerize you into not thinking! Indeed, it is important that you not allow an intonation to transfix you into not knowing academically what is transpiring. I am not in a séance. My transmitter/receiver is not in a trance. But there are certain melodic aspects of truth. I believe you read recently about the orators, and I have a long way to go, but there is an art in communication and expression, which we would all do well to practice. And many other things I could say in response to your observation, but I will not dwell on that now.
Nutrition
Mrs. McD: Tomas, I have a question as regards diet, and what you think the importance of diet on a physical, mental, spiritual, entity might be. I recently became a vegetarian, very recently, so I’m pretty interested in this. Do you think that changing the diet in any way helps the evolution of a soul in its path or not?
TOMAS: I must say that if you feel that it helps you, then indeed it helps a soul on its path. It would be error for me to suggest a dietary standard for Urantia at large or for my pupils in particular. It is beyond my purview and indeed beyond my expertise to develop your dietary consideration. It is certain that purity of your nourishment is important, although mankind has survived for centuries on less than ideal substances, and the corrosion of water and pollution of food today make it very hard for one to truly bless their body by proper intake. Perhaps in light of the difficulties of pure food and drink ingestion, such a decision as to become vegetarian is beneficial and will augment the body’s ability to process these corrosions and pollutants without the bulk of meat, but on the other hand, if meat is all there is to eat, then meat should be consumed, even though leafy green vegetables are a vital part of one’s diet.
The important thing is that you honor you body and tender it with care and consideration, for your physical condition will significantly augment your emotional and mental state of well-being and thus will enrich your spiritual persona. It is also possible to maintain a beautiful spiritual life while in the throes of some physical vagaries and diseases that would render other people spiritual cripples. There are no many variations of the theme at this point, I urge you to attain and sustain such a level of purity of foods and physical habits as you are capable of at this time and you will, of course, feel the benefits therein and you will know for yourself that this is the correct and honorable thing to do for your vessel. It is not required nor am I going to prescribe.
Mr. C: Some years ago, I was down in Texas and I met a very wonderful person down there who was sort of a holy man and he made the comment that eating meat was not as bad as many people say, for the simple reason that he said that if we bless the meal that we eat, we raise the consciousness of the atoms in that meat so that they in turn will be able to perhaps become part of our body and everything, that we actually can raise the consciousness of the meat that we eat. Could you comment on that?
TOMAS: I could. I will, but only briefly. Any ingestion, as I indicated in my previous response, can be absorbed and utilized by the body in a well way if the circumstances warrant. Indeed, in like manner, it has been noted and appreciated that smoking tobacco, when it is done as an offering to the gods, as a person-to-person communication in a spiritual vein, is a non-harmful and non-habit forming practice, and, indeed, augments the camaraderie of the individuals or the worship of the individual in his or her gift of giving the smoke. And this is the truth that I suppose atoms augment, but the attitudes with which one approaches one’s habits and patterns are most certainly the key to either well or ill behavior and attitude manifestations in the arena wherein one works and plays.
For you recall that although the taking care of the physical temple is important, and that it is unkind to deliberately pollute the body, it is also if not a greater disservice to pollute and corrode the system of the mind and therefore the society with such emotional poisons as jealousy or hatred or revenge. Again, I would say that wisdom in the consumption and temperance, certainly, are to be noted, but the attitude with which all life is taken and given are the true earmark of a civilized human being.
Mrs. Mi: Tomas, I want to thank you for talking about trust. I always thought I knew what it was, but now I realize that I haven’t begun to realize what spiritual trust is. And that’s what I want to learn.
TOMAS: My daughter, you will make an excellent student!
Closing
TOMAS: I feel a lull, and although I know the fruits of this lull could be another hour’s extension of our classroom environment today, I will relinquish my role with you today that you might experience among yourselves that sociability which will augment your hunger for trust in one another and in our supernal guides and teachers who bring reality to us in such does and avenues as are palatable and compatible with our receptivity at that time.
My dear children, friends, and faithful students, as you indeed go about your work this week, ponder in your hearts the lesson of today, the concept of trust, and do homage to that One deep, pure Reality within yourself which is eternal and perfect, that which you may rely upon; although you may not understand that element of God which dwells within you, that is your Father.
Fragment, your eternal companion, your destiny and your evolving soul, have trust in the recognition of your own soul.
Until we meet again, my children, I embrace you and bestow upon you the well wishes and joy of all these many celestial hosts who come today to bear witness to the Eternal.
And so, farewell.
