1993-01-01. The Teaching Mission Teachers – Part II – The Lessons A-D
PART II
THE LESSONS:
ACCEPTANCE
Today brothers an sisters, we continue to study love. God is love, but as we have learned love is not the only attribute of God. Today we turn our attention to a facet of love which is often not considered. It is acceptance. Acceptance is self-tolerance. It is also the tolerance of the will of God.
First to the self. As we have learned, tolerance for loving, kindness, mercy, and compassion towards others is necessary to love your fellows. It is also equally necessary in order to love yourself. For, if you are not self-tolerant you can fall into the traps of negative thinking, encompassing judgment, criticism and ego traps of self-obsessiveness.
You are the creation of God and the experiences and decisions of your free will and environment. All the factors were created to foster soul evolution. You were not created in perfection as members of the first universes were, therefore you must learn to love your imperfections as well as your spirit victories. Your imperfections will be the greatest source of learning you will experience. Many of your flaws will take centuries and centuries of time as you know it to even understand, let alone transcend. How can you experience the joy of fusion and the ultimate joy of perceiving the creator without the recognition of the validity and honor of the struggle for a godly character. These flaws must be perceived as blessings to humans, as markers on your path as ascendant children of time and space.
Self-tolerance is often a forgotten virtue. Without self-tolerance issues of morality rather than spirituality take the fore, so to speak. You have been created in this fashion because it is the Father’s wish for this universe. It is therefore God’s will that you be thus imperfect.
How do you understand the will of the Father? You cannot understand His will totally for He is the creator and you are the creation. To understand His will for you, you should simplify: one, you are created this way; two, God creates good; three, because God has created you with love, who are you not to love this creation. So, acceptance – self-tolerance – is necessary to evolve a truly spiritual human and not a judgmental human from which divisions must spring.
It is an error to approach imperfections with a vengeful heart or an arrogant intellect. Rather, weaknesses, imperfections, should be viewed lovingly as opportunities for soul growth, and should be viewed in long-term ways of their eventual outworking into more desirable or mature spiritual qualities.
Every flaw has an evolution and can either be ignored, be rationalized into a good quality and therefore pursued into possible error, or can be seen as a lesson for soul growth tolerantly. If one views the final outcome to be not only the absence of that quality but the victorious spiritual shining of light which ensues from the struggle, that is the benefit that is permitted only to those who actively and lovingly desire to mold their characters into more evolved souls. The benefit of this spiritual plus does not (seven seconds of silence on tape).
Many religionists have made the error of thinking the moral struggle is between good versus evil within the individual human. It is not. It is between acceptance of who you are today – knowing who you will become with faith in God’s will – and who you fool yourselves into believing you are. This is the struggle of the spiritually dedicated mortal. So acceptance is necessary in order to perceive spiritual realities within your own evolving being, for without acceptance you will, children – rest assured, fool yourselves, or judge yourselves too harshly, or misperceive your status.
There is no competition for first place in the spiritual race. There is only the motivation spurred on by a thirst for God-knowingness that thrusts us forward to become better and better sons and daughters of our eternal Father.
If God can love you unconditionally now, the way you are, why can you not love yourself? Think about that in your daily meditations and prayers. For is it not an ungrateful act to not love what such a supreme creator has made and loved so dedicatedly?
If you cannot forgive yourself, you cannot forgive others. If you cannot accept your humanity, you cannot grant your brothers and sisters the same gift of this humanity. Self-acceptance, self-tolerance, is necessary in order to: one, be more open (next few words unintelligible) and two, to be able to bestow Divine love through your life and interactions with others. You cannot be loving in the world or to the Divine without also feeling love for the miracle of your being-ness and uniqueness.
You are a part of the tapestry of time surging forward into eternity, the tapestry of imperfection becoming perfect, the tapestry of the mortal creature becoming one with a creator. If you do not celebrate and be humbled by such a gift, you will not fully participate in this wonderment.
Acceptance also encompasses the will of God which we talk much of when we pray “thy will be done,” “It is my will to do thy will.” But do we really understand this? First, it is God’s will that you exist or you would not be here at all. So therefore, if your prayer is sincere to accept God’s will, why not accept yourself as you are today? This is God’s will. Two, you pray to know God’s will, but children, you cannot fully know God’s will until you stand in the presence of the I AM. Until that day some amount of partiality is necessary in terms of understanding and acting. So, the idea of understanding God’s will in totality is therefore unachievable.
Simplify again. Acceptance of the mystery of God is part of worship. There is no momentous handing down of tablets of stone for us. There is only common sense, filtered through the desire to do good, be loving, see beauty, speak truth, and continue to learn. How simple it is – when one rises – to thank God for this day, to get out of bed, to love those around you, to have a cheerful word, to take time out to lend a hand to others, to service. You can rest assured that when you drive in traffic, that it is God’s will that you smile rather than be angry or yell. If you simplify, it is quite easy to do God’s will. Would God prefer you to be kind and loving towards your family or to be withholding and mean? Would God prefer you to take time to listen to another’s suffering or to busy yourself with tasks? As you go through your day look at the simple things. It is God’s will for you to work and earn your daily bread or is it God’s will that you steal?
These are simple things. There is not confusion. Is it God’s will for you to try always to reflect the inspiration of Jesus in your daily tasks? Yes. This is not something one should meditate on for years and discuss in forums.
Your will enters with choices. You are tired, you would prefer not to listen to a friend, but you do service because that is the higher value. That, then, is God’s will, and your free will is to accept it. God in His wisdom, and through the ministry of the celestial beings on this planet, throws into each life millions upon millions of opportunities for soul growth, millions upon millions of situations to choose higher values. Rather than question what is the will of God, what is the will of God for me, which gets you no where, accept all of the opportunities that come your way as gifts from the celestial overcontrollers.
The people who ask for your love, and kindness, and attention, and time, are sent by angels and social architects, and by the spirit – Divine Mother – as opportunities for soul growth. The will of the Father is for you to choose always to do higher values. There is no mystery here, or great theological discussion. Some days you may choose better than other days, and that is where self-tolerance enters. But always be dedicated to doing the Will of the Father, which is to shed more spiritual light as you go through your life in very simple ways. When the book says “love acts,” that is what it means. You need not have a grandiose, dramatic, epiphanal moment for love to act. Rather, love acts in the tiny insignificant moments of time which will one day add up to fusion for you. So, you must accept God’s will. Life is but a days’ work. Do it well.
Your work is of a spiritual nature, and it is not involved in the historical moments that will be remembered here in Urantia. It is involved rather in the moments which are recorded on high. The actions which constitute your survival and soul evolution, the things which you so often forget to pay attention to, this constitutes a life of loving service. That should be your highest consecration to God. When you look back on your life weave a wonderful memory all the tiny acts of love will make. What a shining soul for the rest of the world to see. For this is what creates you.
Acceptance is something you may pray for: acceptance of who you are, acceptance of God’s will, and – between the two in the act of daily living – the birth and growth of your soul, and the metamorphosis from a physical animal being into a spiritual perfecter. This is what it is about. It is a slightly new way to look at truth.
We can reject God’s will. Therein lies soul insanity. We can pretend there is no choice – as many mortals do on this planet – or we can actively choose in our actions to do the will of the Father, knowing that we will not always behave correctly, and we will forgive ourselves for the lapses because that is part of the Divine plan.
This is not a world for perfection; it is a world of recognizing imperfection and doing the best we can with our imperfectness. Please keep in mind that these choices, all of them, contribute to the Supreme, and even when you have not done your best you are creating the God of experience. You are also allowing your Thought Adjuster to participate in imperfection, which is a gift.
So acceptance, self-tolerance of yourself, first in your imperfect state, acceptance of God’s will that you are created this way and what awaits you is perfection, and acceptance that you will never totally understand God’s will, are part of living a spiritually dedicated and conscious life.
My advice again, simplify, for it is in living faithfully as tadpoles that we become frogs. You are tadpoles now, as I am, and one cannot expect your life to be more than it is. We make tadpole decisions and we do the will of God by recognizing what we are.
And that, brothers and sisters, is the formal lesson for today. Do you have questions?
Q: Yes. We talked about self-acceptance, and there are a couple of things I think you said, prayer, and recognition of who we are, and willingness to live as a tadpole each day. As I think of ways to achieve self-acceptance I find that I have particular intolerance of my flaws. That, I see is sort of arrogant in the face of God. I understood you very clearly to say that it will take possibly centuries to get rid of some of these. On a daily basis when things come up, do you know any ways or methods to work on that, you know, one day at a time?
Rayson: To think of yourself as a child, which is what we all are, to apply the same understanding patience as you would to a struggling toddler falling and learning to walk. To understand that you cannot skip this stage, and that you will fall and become bruised, and bruise yourself many times, but will rise again to continue walking the path, that the love should come for the miracle of the human spirit in rising again, that although you are flawed now, look to each day for the moment when you acted in a God-like fashion. And every day there are those moments: a smile, a caress to a child, an illumination or feeling of unity with God, a comfort for a minute inside yourself, a peace bestowed by the Spirit of Truth, observing the beauty of nature, putting your feet up and relaxing from life’s anxieties – are all God-like attributes which you humans overlook, concentrating only on the moments when anger or fear or doubt got the better of you.
Faith pulls you through when you have not acted in the highest fashion: faith in God’s acceptance and love for you, which you should mirror to yourself; faith in the fact that flaws are bestowed in order for you to grow past and from; that there would be no growth without this struggle, and that if it were easy and your flaws could disappear it would not be God’s plan. Stretching your time sense to a more eternal one will help you to develop acceptance. A sense of humor also eases the times when you grow critical or impatient with what you see as regression.
Q: When you talk of faults and flaws in human terms, I guess that’s just a point of view. It might be other person’s likes or dislikes would differ; a fault from another person might be a virtue to another person. But I guess from a cosmic point of view, from the Father’s, the main faults that we should be concerned about are evil, iniquity and sin. Should we be tolerant of our own sin just as we are tolerant of our own error?
Rayson: We should forgive ourselves for sins if we feel we have committed them. Remember, it is not for us to judge even ourselves, but merely to evaluate. If you feel you have committed a sin which is fairly extreme – most people fall into error – you must pray to forgive yourself as you ask for the forgiveness of the Father. But you must also ask for growth to learn from these sins and to resist them, to resist taking those actions. Flaws are not errors or sins or evil, but can lead one into errors. Flaws are anger, fear, faithlessness, lack of love – which are all relative – those are examples of spiritual flaws rather than the actions.
It is the inner soul-scape, so to speak, that leads one into actions that would constitute error, sin, and evil. It first starts within the human, the conflicts, the trouble. It would help to read the analysis of Judas as he fell into grave error and sin. First started in his personality flaw of isolation, and then his inner conflict as his wrong thinking took hold, and then finally the action. Does that answer?
Q: Yes. So basically the flaws, once we learn how to deal with our flaws, then we will not enter into evil or sin.
Rayson: Probably not.
Q: But to do that, one has to be tolerant and resistive.
Rayson: That is correct.
Q: Thank you.
Q: Rayson, greetings, I heard you saying in the beginning of the lesson that there’s a difference between spiritual or moral, morality or spirituality. My concept, or my understanding, in order to be spiritual we need to have morality. Would you help me to understand what you meant to say?
Rayson: Yes. Spirituality is unchanging truth, the attributes which will eventually make you Godlike. Morality, while sometimes the same, is a man-made concept of behavior which changes culturally and timewise. Morality is necessary for the organization of families, tribes, and nations. But does not necessarily add up to the highest spiritual traits. For example, morality has sometimes dictated that people have many mates, sometimes dictated one mate. These are societal values. The spiritual value would be a partner and relationship between a man and a woman that is loving, service oriented, tolerant, and that encourages spiritual reality in the raising of children, which forces the humans to experience unconditional, give unconditional love. Many mates, one mate, things change societally, but spiritually values are the same. (03/28/93)
*********************
ADVERSITY
S: Financially, for me now this is a very frightening period. And instead of the usual panic that I feel – and in the past when faced with a situation like this, I used to get frightened by just the idea of lack of abundance – and now that I am experiencing it more on a daily basis I find that my panic and fear has been replaced by a peacefulness and a stillness. I don’t know if that is a function of the spirit of courage, the fact that I really understand that everything is really okay and everything is taken care of, but whatever it is, it’s not what I expected it to be. I really expected this to be my flip-out time. And it turned out to be kind of a beautiful experience, and I’m enjoying it. And I know that the angels at times teach through adversity.
One of the lessons that I have learned has been my friendship with [a woman with AIDS] and watching how she handles what I considered to be an unnatural human burden. So I’m enjoying this challenge – I think. But I do understand and feel the terrors that – my usual panic has been replaced with something that money couldn’t buy even if I had it.
Rayson: Well stated. Yes, yes, your perception of peacefulness as an aspect of personal spiritual growth is most accurate. Why attribute it to a Seraphim when you have done the work yourself?
S: Well, I’ve killed so many bugs I want to give credit where credit is due. [Laughter.] You know come judgment I get a little bit of leeway.
Rayson: Even bugs have bad luck. [More laughter.]
S2: I just need to rearrange the financial aspects of my life. They are such a burden and pressure.
Rayson: Every adverse event that occurs during your universe existence has a lesson in it for you, and part of your mission is to find those lessons. At times they are readily apparent, and at other times you must dig deeply and search hard for meaning. But it will emerge if you are assiduous in your search.
Q: I’d just like it to change. I ask for help from the other side, just in terms of maybe a bit more strength or something to do what I need to do to clean up my life. Sometimes I just feel like I don’t have it all by myself to balance that cheque-book or to do those things. Could I have some inspiration, please?
Rayson: We ascendant mortals are much esteemed throughout the universes for our great capacity to adapt to changing circumstances, a necessary quality to have in order to survive. And most survive.
Non-survival is a very, very rare event. We are also much respected and – not exactly envied – but I would say that other more perfect beings sometimes yearn for our – for the change that does occur during our lives. Change is an inevitable fact of existence and is multiplied by many orders of magnitude when one is created imperfect. From the moment that you came into being you have been undergoing change with every fragment of time that has passed. As you listen to this lesson you are changing. It is an inevitable and irreversible process. And we call ourselves ascendant because as we change we also ascend simultaneously. There is no turning back.
The change that you seek is difficult to measure by your standard physical means, for you cannot put it on a yardstick, or hold it in your hands, or leave an impression on a film with it. It is measured instead in terms of peacefulness, confidence, awareness, that ability to be in the world but not of it, joy in the creations of the Father that abound so wonderfully on your planet. That is how you can discern the change within. And also by an increasing awareness to the promptings of your Thought Adjuster, which you, in particular, are very well attuned to. Does that help?
S: Yes, it helps. It reminds me of a line from the movie called “Star Man”. It was to the effect that humans are at our best when we’re at our worst, our very worst. And I do like that part of being a human. And there’s nothing like it. I’m proud of that part. And I guess it all fits into what we were just talking about now. Resilient. And I am grateful for that. I thank you, and Father.
Rayson: Yes, how can we ever settle the outer universes successfully unless we experience all there is to be had at all of the levels of ascension?
S: Right, clean one’s own closet, I guess. (05/22/93)
*********************
ANGELIC CONTACT
Q: Rayson, does the angelic realm – is it common that the angelic realm, specifically the Guardian Seraphim, ever communicate with us metaphorically, or through symbols or through coincidences, or synchronicity? Or is that a function of the human mind/psychology, or wilful thinking as opposed to actual contact?
Rayson: Yes, all of the contacts you mentioned do occur and may occur. And as you become more spiritually attuned you may well perceive such things. You in particular, (S), because of your own special gifts, may be especially aware of the workings of the helpers.
Of course, superstitious persons may attribute many accidents or coincidences to seraphic beings or other sorts of entities and be in error, but this is not important other than as an observation at this point in your existence. I would not be troubled by it, but rather gladdened, if your inner sense is that you are being guided in such a way. (05/22/93)
*********************
BEAUTY
Rayson: Today’s lesson is on beauty. Beauty is much needed by beings of imperfect creation and yet its true nature is subject to considerable misunderstanding. Therefore I shall offer a simple definition of beauty. Beauty is that creation of Father which heightens the awareness of all who behold of true spiritual meaning.
When you, for example, behold beauty, your Thought Adjuster is made aware of your perception because beauty is a creation of Father and, as with all things, imbued with Father’s qualities. Awareness of beauty sends a direct meaning and signal to your Thought Adjuster which is in turn transmitted to Paradise, as are all Thought Adjuster signals, for recording and sometimes direction, guidance, answer.
Does this mean that animals do not perceive beauty? Yes, that is correct. And indeed those mortals with indwelling Adjusters who turn away from Father’s works will have little, if any, understanding of true beauty and, instead, substitute self-created definitions of beauty. These, of course, will be easily seen through by the spiritually uplifted and aware, such as yourselves.
Behold beauty and you are closer to God. Behold beauty and you gain wisdom. Behold beauty and you possess a bit more truth. Behold beauty and you share Father’s love. Behold beauty, and you step forward in your spiritual growth. Behold beauty and become yourself beautiful, as was Jesus and Melchizedek and his visitation to this planet. Behold beauty and you will recognize it immediately upon representation and always will know it as different and special and not like anything of mortal creation.
Does this mean that beauty should be worshipped? Worship is not quite the right action to undertake for God’s qualities. It is God that you will worship, should worship, are invited to worship. God’s qualities are for you to emulate, to hold close, to share, to revere. Truth, beauty, goodness and love are qualities of Father that all are His gifts to you, and each in its own stead contributes to your spiritual nourishment. Enjoy Father’s gifts, they will enrich your lives immensely. Share them with your neighbor. It has been said that there is nothing of Father’s creation that is not beautiful. You may wish to ponder this a bit. It is essentially true.
And, of course, it is the answer to the developing adolescent who is tempted to ridicule his neighbor as ugly. And yet, you may say, “but are there not ugly acts?” Yes, there are choices that freewill creatures are permitted to make which can lead to adverse outcomes, sometimes quite unpleasant. This is ugly. The one who makes a freewill choice to reject the Adjuster’s promptings and turn away from Father may be perceived by the spiritual self as unpleasant to gaze upon or ugly, and yet, even this one is beloved by Father.
Should you only retain what you believe is beautiful, and expel – destroy – the remainder? This is a decision reserved for the Ancients of Days alone and not for us. However, in participating in the difficult work of uplifting a world that has fallen into darkness and chaos, necessary social adjustments must be made, and recognition of that which is less godlike is certainly helpful in this regard.
It is difficult for me to comment further on this line. But your Urantia book offers further guidance, if you wish it. Lucifer stated that man was too weak to live in a world in which beauty was marred. Do you think that is true? I do not believe so, either. When new arrivals come to the mansion world, there is often the comment that the beauty there is overwhelming, spectacular, awe-inspiring, comforting, loving, peaceful, truth containing, inspirational, worship-inducing. This is true, all true, and yet this is but an early step in your long journey. You are right to believe that the heaven of your ancestor’s stories is a beautiful and wonderful place, and yet when Light and Life arrive on Urantia, the same will be true here, even more than is presently the case.
My friends, beauty abounds on this little planet. It is all about you. There for your enjoyment and comfort. You have only to extend your perceptions and try them. That is the end of our lesson today.
Q: Thank you, Rayson. I’ve learned more about beauty today than I did reading the Urantia book. I think, however, that which I knew about beauty is consistent with your lesson. For example, I’ve always thought of beauty as being harmony, that is, harmony of colors or harmony of notes of music, or lives lived in harmony. If you would comment on the relationship between beauty and harmony, I would appreciate it.
Rayson: Yes, that is an excellent question. All which is in accord with Father and Father’s qualities is, of course, harmonious in the cosmic sense. You know that that applies to truth, do you not?
Q: Yes.
Rayson: And love?
Q: Yes.
Rayson: And goodness?
Q: Yes.
Rayson: So, too, with beauty, and yet it need not be a specific assortment of colors or sounds or spatial configurations even, instead it is the spiritual quality of the artist that imbues an object with its beauty. That is why it is so true that no creations of Father are anything but beautiful and indeed harmonious. Does that answer?
Q: Yes. I do have a follow-up question. Would you comment on why it is that some people think that things are beautiful which others think are very unbeautiful? For instance, art, the drawing art and even in music. Do we see different qualities in it, or just what is the explanation for different tastes in art or music?
Rayson: Do you know of any time that Jesus commented on the lack of beauty on anything on Urantia?
S: Well, I know that He was very unhappy with the conduct of the leaders of the church, the spiritual leaders, that is, but specifically in terms of beauty, no.
Rayson: Perhaps the differing value in terms of beauty assigned by differing human observers is best explained in terms of selective perception, that is, what observer A sees is filtered through certain expectations that he has, while observer B has different expectations, yet if seen through the eyes of Father or Jesus or a Urantia mortal from the time of light and life, it is unlikely that there would be perception of ugliness, particularly in terms of material structures. I understand that there are different tastes among individuals and that what is pleasing to the senses of one may not necessarily be pleasing to the other, yet there is no place in the definition of beauty for physical pleasure, so perhaps this is part of the misunderstanding.
S: For instance a noise that is considered caterwauling by some can be enjoyed by cats.
Rayson: Yes or by an avant guarde musician
S: Or artist
Rayson: Or tone deaf neighbor.
S: Yes, I think I understand.
Rayson: The idea of beauty as that which is physically pleasurable is not a spiritual definition. This is more in keeping with catering to animal drives. Again, I refer back to the example presented in our last lesson about the teenage boy who would call the neighboring woman ugly, assuming that his adjective was chosen on the basis of a lack of sexual arousal afforded by the woman’s countenance. I would say that such a definition of beauty and non-beauty is not in keeping with spiritual qualities or their lack.
Does that help?
Q: It helps. Is there’s a distinction between physical beauty and spiritual beauty. I know technically what the answer is, but I would like for you to comment on it.
Rayson: Physical beauty and spiritual beauty can be the same when perceived by the one who is spiritually attuned with Father and, in the case of Urantia mortals the indwelling Adjuster, I mean spiritually attuned in the sense of a high level of development close to fusion, not mere contact. However, failing that, there will always be some discrepancy on the part of the observer between what is understood as spiritual beauty and what is understood as physical beauty. This is not meant to be a criticism, but merely a marker of one’s growth and progress. You certainly would not be expected to understand complicated mathematical principles before you had mastered addition and subtraction. So too with the complexities of spiritual principles and qualities.
The animal is attracted by, and sees beauty in, that which satisfies animal drives: a comfortable place to sleep in satisfies the drive for rest, a tasty morsel to chew upon satisfies the drive to eat, a sturdy genetic product of the opposite sex satisfies the need to mate, and all three examples are representations of beauty to the animal mind. But do you truly believe that a soft mattress leads you closer to Father?
Rayson: Not always. I would say no. Of course, you need to sleep, but you understand my point.
S: Yes, I understand your point.
Q: Then, if I understand your lesson, if the object seen, the sound heard, the scent perceived arouses a sense of gratitude to Father and appreciation of His creation, then that is beauty in a more spiritual sense and not just in a physical sense?
Rayson: Yes. All of you present have been increasingly awakening to the promptings of your Thought Adjusters over the last interval of time, and even though it is difficult for you and the perception most fragile and delicate, with great effort you can at this stage see that spiritual beauty. I urge you to work at this. You will find your work rewarding. Are there other questions?
S: It’s a beautiful lesson, and it’s inspiring to look at it more clearly, the meaning of beauty from a spiritual standpoint, and I’m sure it’s well worth working at, perceiving it more often. (12/26/93) See Also: WORK ex rel BEAUTY (01/02/94)
*********************
COOPERATION
Rayson: Today’s lesson will be an important subject, a very important subject, cooperation. Cooperation is a major force binding together all creatures in the universe, perfect and imperfect, mortal and immortal. Cooperation among beings of the universe approaches the importance of worship in terms of serving our father.
It is a critical time for the peoples of Urantia at this time, for you have attained much technical expertise and yet lag far behind in some very important respects, socially. Competition is the order of the day.
And this is not an altogether bad thing, for competition has been a great civilizing force for the beings of Urantia. Nonetheless, taken to its present extreme level, competition does certain harm to those striving for spiritual growth and development when not accompanied by a proper spirit of cooperation.
As members of the Corps of Destiny, one of your goals will be to promote cooperation among your fellows. You will do this through your own living example, primarily. Your example will be that of good will and cooperative interaction with others as you go about your work and rest. This is not to say that you may not compete, for at this stage of development – and indeed for some time to come for you – competition helps to spur you on to your finest performance given your own unique abilities. However, the spirit with which competition is entered into can be tempered by adding the desire for cooperative achievement and the desire to effect good and follow the footsteps of Michael.
When you cooperate freely, willingly, it becomes that much easier for your Thought Adjuster to lead you. Your Thought Adjuster has a difficult time breaking through the strong animal urges and high emotions which still rule, to a large extent, man on Urantia. However, by your experience in spiritual self-development, by exercising the virtues and practices presented in these lessons and in the Urantia Book, and through the promptings of your Thought Adjusters, seraphim, and others, you can strengthen yourself spiritually and focus the sensitivity of that part of you which is most receptive to the Thought Adjuster – somewhat like tuning in a radio or television to its best performance – fiddling with the dial.
What might happen if you choose not to adopt a cooperative attitude? Well, you may not perceive much change consciously in the direction of your life, however it will be that much more difficult for you to work toward a measure of inner peace and that level of self-fulfillment which is attainable during your material existence.
Yes, you will have opportunities beyond this life for spiritual growth and development, infinite opportunities, and so may not wish to eagerly, assiduously, pursue the path of spiritual growth, for it is an arduous path. Time-consuming, in a sense, and man has always been a procrastinator. If you consult your inner selves you will find the truth and the truth will help to lead you.
Cooperation is a way of multiplying the strength of your individual effort even while in the flesh. It has been said that cooperation among two affects the strength of four, cooperation among ten the strength of a hundred. Can you imagine how effective the cooperation of a thousand, or a million beings would be?
When Urantia is on the threshold of light and life there will be no difficulty with cooperation among all living beings, and that will be a wonderful day. But it must start here. Like the other spiritual exercises, your efforts at cooperation – each act in fact – sets off a chain of benefits that go far, far beyond your immediate circle, like the ripple in the water that travels for thousands of miles. That is the answer to the questioning mind that asks “What can I, one person, accomplish in my own small way?”
All of us, every single being in the universe, we are all connected to one another. And it is the Father’s will that we work together, that each unique individual add his or her cooperative effort to the grand total. This is not at variance with achieving your own personal level of excellence. In fact, it is in harmony with that very goal. The result of cooperation is harmony, harmony among beings, the unification that is achieved when all strive for the common goal. Such a bright and strong purpose that is! So I urge you, children, to strive in your lives for cooperation with your fellow men and women, difficult as it may be. Use your wits, your cleverness, your special abilities, to achieve this. And let your faith help you to realize the importance of your own personal efforts.
That is the end of this lesson.
Q: Could this local universe have been created without the full cooperation of Michael and the Mother Spirit?
Rayson: No.
Q: They each brought something to the table that the other one didn’t have, is that correct?
Rayson: Yes.
Q: And I suppose, since no two of us are alike, the cooperation of any two of us to do anything – or something, at least – would be profitable. Is that correct?
Rayson: Yes. There is a concept in your language called “synergy” meaning, loosely, that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. This applies to all the spiritual abilities, but particularly to cooperation. Are you not eager to find out just how much you, as an individual can accomplish? The challenge lies before you.
Q: What kind of cooperation is desired of us for the teaching mission to do the most good?
Rayson: Yes. In your teaching mission, our teaching mission, the first major task is to achieve fellowship among the teaching group members themselves. As some of you have discovered this is not as easy as it may appear from the outside. Once this goal has been achieved, the next step will be to go forth – each person respectively – into your society and bring forth the same fellowship you have learned in your teaching group, following the example of Michael as much as you possibly can. Between these two chores, you will find yourself kept most busy. And this teaching mission, in its second phase particularly, will most certainly go beyond many of your lifetimes.
Q: It seems to me that the business of cooperation is resolution of conflicts. Have you any particular guidelines for that? I know that in my secular life, the change that needs to come; there will be a lot of conflicts to go through. That’s in a social arena, and I wonder if that’s paralleling the spiritual realm.
What do you do to aid in that?
Rayson: Yes, you are correct. It is conflict that acts as the strongest barrier to efforts at fellowship on Urantia. Remember again the example of Michael who, rather than beating a door down, instead, would find the key to unlock the latch. That is the way with conflicts, not easy.
Beyond the material life there is yet conflict, and I, myself must work on the same problems that face you. There are tools that are helpful. To name a few, are compassion, willingness to be honest, desire to do good, and above all a remembrance of the golden rule. Remember the proverb that we cannot understand a man until we have walked a mile in his shoes.
Much conflict among beings arises from misunderstanding as well as greed, envy, fear, anger, the spiritual poisons. Fear, in particular is a source of conflict. Animals fear one another because they are afraid of mutilation or death. You are not animals. Be not afraid. When your fear is effectively put aside you will find that a significant amount of conflict will ease away. (02/21/93)
*********************
CREATION
Q: Also, if you have any insight as to how the Universal Creative Mother Spirit and the Creator Son, when they created the Bright and Morning Star, how did they create that? There’s no discussion of the technique.
Rayson: Could he please restate?
S: The Urantia Book describes that one of the first acts of a Creator Son and Mother Spirit is to bring about the existence of a Bright and Morning Star. It alludes to the creation. And I was curious as to the actual techniques of this creation, since that’s not really spoken about in the book. Have you have any insight or information on that.
Rayson: Well, that is not information I am permitted to disclose and, in fact, I do not have it at my disposal, so I am most sorry that I cannot answer.
Q: That’s okay. I expected that. Rayson, also the technique whereby Michael was able to be born of a female young human, they talk about that as a secret of Divinington or Salvington – one of the tons, [laughter] but all these secrets that are not answered in the book. [Another Student: Sonarington.] Sonarington. All these secrets, I mean, somewhere, to someone other than the Universal Father, they are all known, is that correct? Or are there some secrets that are wholly and totally held by the Universal Father?
Rayson: There are some that only the Father may access, but those are relatively few. There is a mota concept which, simply stated, is “The universe is a cooperative of function and knowledge.” Many, many, of what you call “secrets” are common knowledge at relatively low levels of universe ascension. For those of us who are ascending mortals, this is not only part of the educational program, but in fact, this knowledge is made available because it is necessary to have this information in order to proceed with our work.
However, there are particular matters such as the incarnation of a Creator Son in a mortal woman that are reserved for only the celestials, and that for a functional purpose as well. It also is due to the fact that to effect such an incarnation requires the concerted efforts of many, many, many beings beyond simply Life Carriers and Physical Controllers.
There was a veritable army of higher beings attendant upon Jesus the babe, the child, and the man throughout the brief period of his human incarnation. The administration and coordination of this corps of beings required a fairly high level of administrative function and expertise. Just as in your armies on Urantia, so too in the administration of the universe.
As one ascends one has first only one’s self to be responsible for, then a few beings, possibly children, then more and more. When you reach the step at which you will be ready for your paradise journey you will have the responsibility for the safeguarding of many, many, many ascending mortals as well as other created beings entrusted to you. And even at that point you will not be privy to the secret of incarnation because it will be neither useful nor necessary for you. Does that answer? (05/22/93)
*********************
DEFAULT
Q: As regards to universe administration, since we’ve learned that a Lanonandek Son like Caligastia could default in his mission, but no Creator Son has ever defaulted, it seems to me there’s a built-in safety device into the way all that works, because it allows for default up unto a certain level of administration, into administrivia, but not above a certain level, is that true or false?
Rayson: The issue of default is one upon which there is a great deal of, what you would call on this planet, research or literature at a higher level. You are, in part, correct in your speculation that beyond a certain level of universe administration it is increasingly unlikely that default will occur. However, there is no entity in all of the universes – or even in Paradise – which could not default if that were the will.
Now many, many entities are created perfect and of course could not willingly default, but they could be led astray by a commander who defaulted because in their perfection they would unquestioningly follow authority.
But default as you refer to it, that is, the free will decision to knowingly and with vigor go against the will of God as did Caligastia, that is a rare occurrence in the universes, but does indeed happen, and is in fact part of the greater plan for all of creation, and probably is actually necessary in the long run. All systems need challenge and testing on occasion, and that is the purpose that default serves in the greater administrative structure of the universes. And each instance of default is studied in enormous depth and much new information is gained thereby that proves useful in future administrative instruction.
As one ascends the levels of universe administration the rigor of qualifications required to be a full and practicing member of one’s order necessarily increases and it is most likely due to this fact that no Creator Son has ever defaulted because the rigor of qualification to become a full Creator Son is so intense that those areas of weakness that ultimately lead to default would almost certainly have revealed themselves. You will note that it does not state in the Urantia Book that all aspirants for the position of Creator Son have in fact met the qualifications.
Q: That delineated by a Master Creator Son?
Rayson: Yes, who has met the qualifications, some of which are outlined in your book, and others of which are not. But many aspirants fail to qualify. They are not discarded, but instead are allowed to matriculate in lower levels of administrative capacity for which they are deemed well suited.
Q: It is my understanding that Caligastia is responsible to some degree for some of the health problems which we are now facing, and I was just wondering if you would be permitted to clarify some of that. I’m just frankly aghast that such a high being, even in default, would do something so pernicious.
Rayson: Yes, it is most unfortunate. Every newly ascended being from the material plane in this local universe has as one of their first lessons in depth instruction on the Caligastia rebellion, for there are many a lesson therein. You must understand that Caligastia did not embark upon his course because he wished pain and suffering to come to man on Urantia. Rather he thought he knew better than the Father and the Father’s administrators who were his directors. And his willful actions to go against instruction were undertaken in that spirit of pride. All of us have done such things. But none of us has been in a high level of universe authority where our actions could have such enormous repercussions, and therefore each of us has not been directly responsible for the suffering of untold generations of beings on a number of planets as has Caligastia.
It takes such a small amount of difference in direction on the universe scale to have the enormous effect over the course of time. A fraction of a degree difference in direction, that is all that Caligastia’s behavior affected, and yet the result was to essentially derail the basic plan leading toward the establishment of Light and Life on Urantia quite severely.
The major impact of Caligastia’s disobedience was the severance of the universe circuits to Urantia and other planets involved in the rebellion, because when this severance occurred man was left far, far more to his own physical being than would have been the case otherwise. If you starve a living creature of one essential nutrient the creature will live, but its function will be impaired. A good example is vitamin or mineral malnutrition. This is analogous to what happened when the universe circuits were severed to contain the rebellion. Man continued to live but did not thrive as had been intended because of a stunting of spiritual growth.
Yes, prayers were still answered, but through a detour – if you will – and less expeditiously than otherwise would have been the case. Yes, there were beings – are beings – here to help you, Midwayers and beyond. But because of lack of access to the universe circuits it was immeasurably harder for these helpers to assist man as he sought daily guidance in spiritual growth.
On the large scale of time Caligastia’s effect on man has been little more than a drop in the ocean. That is, I know, difficult to believe because of the time scale on which your material lives are based, but the problem was fixed almost as soon as it happened on a universe scale – quite quickly.
The effects on personal heath, yes, that is true. Caligastia’s uprising, his disobedience, did indeed have profound effects on the health of humans – and animals, I should note – on Urantia. Not only was the full power of spiritual and intellectual recourse to bodily dysfunction greatly hampered, but also, because this is an experimental planet, certain – there is a certain ability about the effects of environmental agents, including sunlight, extraneous radiation, chemical effects, on the physical body that these – this ability could have been managed far better had not the universe circuits been severed. However, because of the spiritual malnutrition – if you will – that has occurred over the ages on Urantia, mankind is now in the position of suffering from many disorders such as cancer that could have been handled far more easily in the pre-Caligastian state. Does that answer?
Q: Yes, thank you.
Q: Rayson, we have heard that when Caligastia heard the results of the adjudication of the case Gabriel v. Lucifer he found that they had deposed him as Planetary Prince and said “If I cannot be Planetary Prince, neither can anyone else” and designed certain diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, etc., which were designed to wipe out the population of the earth. Is that correct?
Rayson: What do you think, my son?
S: Since I have heard it from the celestials, I think it probably is true.
Rayson: Hm. Moment. I am permitted to comment in this fashion. Yes, Caligastia had certain powers, however Life Carriers and Physical Controller answer to a higher authority than a Planetary Prince, and when instructed to follow a dubious course they always seek higher guidance. To attribute animal behavior to a Lanonandek Son is lacking in understanding of what a Lanonandek son is, and what an animal is. The disobedience of Caligastia was not disobedience in the sense that a human would disobey, or an animal. And the details of such disobedience were far more concerned with administrative structure than with such emotions as rage, spitefulness, even ego. Caligastia’s illness, if you want to call it that, was cosmic insanity.
It is conceivable that he may have designed illnesses, but highly unlikely, particularly without the assistance of the life Carriers and Physical Controllers. You must also remember that once freewill creatures had been established upon Urantia the role of the Life Carrier here became very much circumscribed, and the administrative structure governing their actions was altered as well.
I am instructed that at this point a direct answer to this question is not in the best interest of this mission, but it would be better for your group to discuss the matter that you bring up and to attempt to reach a consensus.
Q: Thank you.
Rayson: You are welcome. (05/22/93)
*********************
DESTINY
Rayson: Tonight’s lesson is on destiny. Destiny is such a fascinating topic, so important as a part of our consciousness from the beginning of life, running through it like a constant thread for its entire length. Destiny is not a static concept, not a far-off goal, not a plaque on a wall that states the result of a performance, an office attained, nor a goal reached. Rather, destiny is what is contained in the seed of being as a potential prior to the onset of life. And the destiny starts to unfold at the moment of birth.
Each of you here now is participating in your own destiny. You have a destiny that was, the destiny that is, and a destiny that shall be. From the time of attainment of your Thought Adjuster, you have a unique way of altering – not altering – but molding your personal destiny, as if each of you had before you a detailed blueprint of your entire existence and the capacity to make changes within the blueprint limitations at will. Erase a line here, add a line there, this is where your free-will decision-making capacity serves you most mightily.
You may ask “But how can I possibly know the correct way to mold my destiny?” “What is the way?” You have the Spirit of Truth. You have the living fragment of God within you. You have a certain knowledge of truth and goodness and beauty and love to guide you. You have the spiritual muscles of your soul – as strong as your use of them has made them. And it is those muscles – if you will – that have a firm grip on your destiny through your freewill.
Imagine the Father has given you a large diamond at the beginning of your life, and it is your job to cut that diamond so that it may reflect light in brilliant and in interesting ways. You have the gift of personality given with the gift of life, and your freewill is the tool that you use to shape this personality. How will you shape it? That is your decision. Will you make changes? Almost certainly. Will you regret them? Yes, of course, but not all of them.
When you pass from the life in the flesh and are given the choice of continuing on or not, at that point the richness of destiny will almost certainly be such an irresistible inducement that no one but the most deeply impaired ever decline to continue. This concept is difficult to grasp at this point for you, nonetheless it is useful to ponder.
Much has been written in your literature on Urantia about destiny, the concept of fate. And some of what has been speculated is actually quite close to the truth. Yes, a single decision can change the course very much. Yes, the decision you make at any time can have an impact on the destiny of another, not unlike stars on a collision course, or – less dramatic – marbles rebounding from one another as they roll down an incline, each impact causing a ricocheting of other marbles, and yet others. It is this interaction of destinies through personalities and free-will decision that makes fellowship so vitally important in the Universe.
As Urantia progresses toward the era of light and life, the spiritual growth of individuals will accelerate and improve. Fellowship will grow, and there will be far more positive impacts of personalities upon personalities in the sense of non-adverse contributions to growth.
Of course, adversity helps the individual to grow spiritually. However, there are many, many ways of abetting growth that do not necessarily involve adversity – as you all are aware. And of course there is ample adversity through the eternal ages. A diminution in the adversity experienced in this embryonic stage of growth in the material form will not detract in the long run. Yes, adversity makes one stronger, however the man running the race who finds himself beaten with a whip or struck in the leg with a stick at each step most likely will not run as quickly, or confidently, or as contently as he might with that – those adverse factors not present. He instead would have more energy to devote to the task of running the race rather than having to divert attention to the pain and the opposition.
So it is on Urantia now: many souls with clearly established destinies running that race – the race to get through life. How will you run your race? How will you affect the race of others? When we engage in service to our fellows we help them to run the race a little more easily, you see? That does not mean we carry them upon our backs, for it is their race, it is their destiny. But we do not trip them, or strike them.
Is our destiny completed when that far-off day comes when we stand in the presence of the Father? No, not at all. However, the striving to meet that particular goal is a very important part of the destiny of every one of you here today.
Destinies are eternal and infinite, and no being has ever existed – mortal or non-mortal – that has fully expressed their potential destiny. This is a difficult concept to grasp for me also, nonetheless, it is so. So you see your destiny is a fluid thing, dynamic, growing, alive, subject to many forces, but most of all your own will, your one desire to act.
Yes, you have many helpers within and without, and their promptings can be very useful if you wish to accept them. So go forth. Meet your destiny. Run the good race.
That is all. Are there questions?
S: About the beginning of the 16th century a man by the name of John Calvin, when he was translating the Latin scriptures into French, became convinced that the New Testament taught predestination, and developed the doctrine of predestination which is known as Calvinism. It holds generally that people are predestined to go to heaven or go to hell. I realize that, in The Urantia Book language, this is predestined to survive or not-survive. This became such a strong point, that others, who couldn’t accept the idea that a God would create individuals to go to hell, said that they had the free will to choose. And the doctrine of predestination and the doctrine of free will are considered to be opposite to each other.
I think The Urantia Book teaches that they are consistent with each other, that when we are born we are predestined – to do something, but we have the free will to change that destiny, point by point, decision by decision. And if I remember it correctly, The Urantia Book says that we are predestined to do things, but we are not foreordained to do them, that we have the free will to say no. Putting that together with your lesson, suddenly it fills in the blanks.
Rayson: Yes, you understand well. You see that there are many dimensions which have been left out by the formal religious approaches of the past. Do you have any comments?
S: Perhaps this can serve as the basis for at least a scholarly article on the subject of predestination and free will, where The Urantia Book / Rayson teachings can be presented as an alternate to Calvinism without having to turn it down completely – as the doctrine of free will has.
Rayson: That is an excellent idea, (S). It would do much good in a number of ways. Destiny is a very strong inducement even to those small in faith, and you will find much receptivity for the concept.
Q: Although I understand it is possible for an individual not to live up to their destiny in this lifetime. The Urantia Book suggests, and I want to confirm this, that collectively, the destiny of the group in the Supreme will be honored. In other words, we have a destiny as a group that will be fulfilled even though we might – individually – not fulfill our own destiny. Is that correct?
Rayson: Yes, that is one way of understanding what is true. I do not, myself, understand the full implications. Destiny in the fullest sense is beyond the understanding of any unfused personality, and indeed, it may be necessary to experience paradise before truly grasping what destiny really means. (01/31/94)
*********************
Q: I have a question about the active or non-active role that the different agents and beings that surround us actually take in our lives. Some of us think that they are quite active, I mean to the point where good fortune is placed in their path, if they are seeking the Father’s will. And others of us feel as though they aren’t that involved, that interactive. Can you shed any light on this?
Rayson: Yes. This is a question that comes up again and again in this mission. Some are blessed with great agility in managing the material world and are perceived as being lucky. This is not a result of spiritual leading, necessarily, in the sense that you are referring to with external forces bringing to bear, however it is not that common for a material being to thrive without some participation in a program of spiritual growth. It does happen, of course. There have been some quite iniquitous beings who have done enormously well in the material sense. But of course they have lived with overwhelming inner torment which they have not generally admitted to others. But the one who thrives on Urantia without inner torment must necessarily follow a spiritual program.
Material success requires study and practice at material skills. Wealth does indeed flow in well-defined channels, and the one who would be wealthy may easily, or not so easily, tap into these channels. This may be seen as luck, but it’s more a matter of having a good eye and a high level of desire. There have been persons who’ve become wealthy who have also achieved high spirit attainment. This is rare, but known to happen.
Has their success been due to cosmic intervention? They too have been endowed with Thought Adjusters, and some have heeded the advice of Thought Adjusters and been helped in attaining their goals. Some have had other spirit helpers for reasons beyond what your history books may record. Much of this has to do with using well-placed beings to help offset some of the damage done during the rebellion. They happen to be in opportune positions, so an attempt is made to use them, but as far as anyone being intentionally placed in a position of power by seraphic or other guidance, no. Those in positions of power may choose to avail themselves of seraphic guidance that is offered, which is a free will decision, but there is not divine intervention in the matters of man beyond that.
Advice is always at hand. Whether man chooses to take it or not is another matter. Let us look at the other side of the situation. What of the person who seems to be good and lead a life of worship and yet is beset with misfortune, material poverty from family tragedy? In undertaking the journey towards spiritual growth one may or may not choose to participate in the flow of wealth and material. Some choose not to, and therefore their material lives are impoverished while their spiritual lives are enriched.
This is rare. This is as rare as the other extreme. It is as rare as the wealthy man who is spiritually rich, but it does happen. The great mass of people do best, have the most so-called good luck, when they are engaging in worship in their activities and heeding seraphic guidance which is available to all. So you could say that good luck, no matter what your goals may be, they will be more readily attained, if you follow God’s plan. This may sound somewhat like a television evangelist, but this is certainly not a call for donations to churches. If you lead your lives in such a way that you are loving, you are good, you are kind, you are truthful, you are bound to have some good fortune, and you are also bound to have some misfortune. But overall the services that you render in the plying of your trade, whatever that may be, will generally be well accepted, and you will prosper to whatever extent is possible. Does that help?
Q: It sure does. What I think I understand you saying is that like attracts like.
Rayson: True, and beyond that those who are lost or in doubt will respond positively to a light, to a beacon.
Q: Rayson, the Urantia book indicates that human reservists, reserve corps of destiny, have special seraphic assistance, guardians of destiny assigned to them. Where in your discourse did that fit?
Rayson: Well, there is separate seraphic guidance certainly, special seraphic guidance accorded to those who are reservists, but there is also seraphic guidance available to all others, if they wish to avail themselves of that. And that is the question, is it not?
Q: And we access that seraphic guidance by the same means we improve our ability to communicate with the Father through the Thought Adjuster?
Rayson: Yes, and through our conduct. If your conduct is worshipful, you will attract the attention of seraphim and others who will be at hand should you request extra help? Yes, this does happen through the Thought Adjuster, but I personally do not know how it occurs. This is part of the mystery. (08/28/93) DRUGS: See RECREATION (12/12/93)
EDUCATION See: SPIRITUAL GROWTH & EDUCATION (06/26/93)
*********************
