2004-12-18. Why People Don’t Get Along
Rio Rancho #106
Topic: Why People Don’t Get Along
Group: Rio Rancho TeaM
Teacher: Tomas, Anatolia
TR: Gerdean, Matthew
Opening
MUSIC: Elena on Piano: “We All Gather at the River”
PRAYER: Matthew: Let us place ourselves in the presence of Jesus, the Christ. Master Teacher, we come to you today with excitement in our hearts and in our minds in anticipation of a new world to come. Whenever that happens, as you said, this generation shall not pass away until what was described as the end times arrive. We don’t know what that was supposed to mean or if that was accurate, but we wish to live as if we will see light and life in our time. May our steps be directed to the approach of light and life when the millennium of peace and tranquility and love will be here. In our own lives, it is key that it exist prior to whatever being external, so we entrust ourselves to you and to our Heavenly Father, Heavenly Mother, and all of Deity to eventually join in that oneness of being which is now but we only need to become aware.
In appreciation for the Teachers that you have made available to us, we are grateful and ask that their teachings come through clearly and succinct today for our enlightenment and for the accomplishment of the kingdom. For all that is in our hearts that may not be spoken, we place before you as well. Amen.
TOMAS: Good afternoon, precious friends. I am Tomas, your teacher, your companion and guide and host for these festivities. Anatolia and I are joyed to be among you again and to celebrate the largess of our community and the power and strength of our communion today. “The family that prays together, stays together.” The power and strength that comes from such union in communion will enable humanity to overcome all its difficulties, but when we have dissension, even within the Family of God, wherewith shall we be fruitful?
Lesson
This wellspring of living water that we gather at today is light and life, indeed, for we have, figuratively speaking, gathered at the throne of God and rejoice in our sonship stature humbly, with God as our Father, with the Divine Minister/Universal Mind as our Mother, and the Creator and Descending Sons of God as our witness. With this awareness in mind, it is easy to relinquish our hold on the material fetters and philosophies and foibles, which hold us, back from rushing pell-mell into the rushing waters of spirit. This is a delicate balance, a precipitous position for you to be in, but as you well can see it is possible, even as each of you are different, and have your own opinions about many things, there is sufficient commonality in your gathering together, that you can transcend those differences in order to commune here with one another in the Light of the Son. You become like sunlight twinkling on the top of the water, moving, ever moving, coursing through the Stream of Time into infinity.
Why can’t everyone be thus? Why are there fights and disagreements, even among religionists? Why must the various evolved religions separate themselves from one another, as if they would become sullied by association? Why, indeed, do human beings whisper among themselves and keep secret things from each other, as if there were untold enemies at hand to undermine this sacred communion which we are privileged to enjoy when our hearts are laid bare, our minds are wide open, and our souls are fulfilled in this companionship in the Spirit?
A rhetorical question. It is because there has not been enough praying done together. The effort entailed to open up a Vortex of divine light, such that can shine on you and your neighbor, is no respecter of persons, cares not if you are black or white, rich or poor, foreign or native, highborn or low. Under God, all are equal. It is only when the politics of living intervene that there are conflicts, and lest I be mistaken, even individuals within the autonomy of their own unique identity are prone to these same sort of conflicts. Such is the nature of growth.
The fact of conflict is a side effect of growth. I realize that is very peculiar teaching, that you would rather see harmony a result, not conflict, of growth, but in the light of the many differences, different factions, religions, cultures, et cetera, of Urantia, your planet, there is bound to be upheaval, in particular as resistance to breaking down the barriers is put forth as warranted and as individuals are unable to put aside their own prejudices, even in terms of the spirit, and pray with thine enemy.
In the meantime, pray for your enemy, or your perceived enemy, but pray in the knowledge that they are your brother/ sister/ beloved child, but you have not been given the opportunity yet to gather at the river together. In this light, it is apparent that the task at hand is to glorify the river, enhancing it and inviting it to flood the land, enveloping all of humanity in the living water of sonship, such sonship as this that we enjoy today, that transcends the differences, even the differences that are a part of your unique inheritance.
There was discussion before our session commenced, about secrets. Secrets are barriers to the flow of the living water. The example was offered of the town gossip who would think nothing of revealing intimate facts of the denizens of its community, in the hope of expressing a perspective that would provide insight into the character of the being/individual who was being discussed. Have you not often wondered, yourself, what goes on in the heart of another? What motivates their thinking and behaving? Ought not humanity be more open about its motivations and less secretive about its designs?
The thing about secrecy, as I see it, is that, like the gossip, there is an intense striving for what can be regarded as intimacy in the practice – in the practice of gossip, in the practice of international intrigue, in the business of government and governing institutions, even in the domestic relations of human association.
“If they know nothing about me, they have nothing to judge” versus “If they know everything about me, they have a chance of perceiving who I am” and knowing who you are will then determine how open you are about who you are and how much you will then come to expect from your fellows as fair exchange for the step advanced toward gathering at the river.
The resistance is part of the baggage. It well may be that resistance seems justified, but the path of least resistance is more effective, for less energy is wasted on piling up all these barriers to open communion with the soul of one another that will result in harmony and peace on earth, for from this vantage point, we wish only good for each other. We love each other. We recognize, like the Ancients of Days, how difficult have been the struggles! We see with the eye of divine mercy.
There is the element of mores that colors everyone. This is a mere microcosm of the politics of your world, which affects everyone, but the goal is every and anon the same — to be in a world which acknowledges the goodness and the greatness of the God of all creation, there to gather and enjoy the fruits of the long upward climb.
Evidently, it will be necessary, then, for you all to learn to pray. On that note, I will conclude my remarks for the afternoon’s message from Tomas and open the podium to my contemporary who will join us and contribute additional food wherewith to sup.
ANATOLIA: This is a fine day in which to meet, on Sunday, here in the Stafford’s home in upper Albuquerque — (Group chuckles)– not to be confused with lower Albuquerque. Point being that in Upper Egypt it was the reverse of what you would think. It was Upper because the water flowed North. In this case, euphemistically, it is a fine day to be here. And besides, you can see the City from the Staffords, so it is literally upward.
And as far as gathering at the river is concerned, it is a fine day to gather at the river whenever there are more than two people to take advantage of what the offering is at the river – whether it be recreational, inspirational or intentional pursuits that bring one to understanding what it is that rests within the hearts of men … or women … meaning that water is a natural analogy that can be a contributory factor for the pronunciation or demonstration of the spirit, for the spirit flows through, past, under and around anything that may appear to be an obstacle. So, too, does water seek its own level. As water is refreshing, nourishing and life sustaining, so it is, too, that life could not be as you know it without spirit.
In fact, one could say the intention of life is to discover spirit. If life were never presented as you know it, it would be as if the shell and nut game would be useless as a demonstration, meaning, if you had full knowledge of who you are before life as you know it began, you would have no reason to ever question, doubt or seek to know that which is not at all evidence. Much as the shell and nut game, if the shell and nut game were never utilized, you would never know the excitement of finding that which you considered to be conspicuous and obvious, for the skilled craftsman who can present the shell and nut game can be thoroughly entertaining, surprising, and baffling.
Such it is, in simplistic terms, that your life has meaning only because you are unaware of its actuality ~ beyond what you know it to be. So if you had never experienced this …what you call life … you would never know faith in its truest sense, for your belief system, as it is, is truly courageous and magnificent. To be able to believe and to know without a doubt that you are eternal is truly the insight into life. It, in itself, is not the key to eternal life, but it is certainly the beginning. If there is a beginning to unlocking the mysteries of life, certainly this is it.
To lose a partner, a family member, a loved one of any sort, you know all of a sudden the sense of loss and truly missing that individual, although you may in your faith belief system know that that individual is part of everything that is and has his or her personality intact, yet you do not see, you do not know of their whereabouts. This gives you an impression and an experience in which to know that life proceeds its physical form, for you know in your heart and mind that that individual exists. Again, without this experience, you might not begin to know that life is the mystery that it is, going through this corkscrew as you do, knowing you have meaning and purpose.
I wish to entertain the idea of questions, if you have any, at this point. Are there any questions pertinent to today or in general that anyone may have?
Dialogue
Paula: Yes, I’ve got a couple. One of them is … different times I’ve heard ministers use the expression and I heard Willie use it this morning, about the Heavenly Mother, and I have never been able to figure that one out because all through the Bible, Jesus talks about his Heavenly Father and the only mother he had was Mary, so who is the Heavenly Mother? Can you explain that?
ANATOLIA: I will advise you that the term is used figuratively, in the sense of the Holy Spirit as the lighter side, the feminine side of the Trinity is the essence of what we refer to as the Heavenly Mother, in that, what the Father may actualize in terms of First Source and Center, the first action that flowed and the Eternal Son, who in transpiring progenitor reality, may or may not have preceded the spirit, nevertheless, the Spirit which is the lighter, feminine side of the deity head presents that which we know of as feminine or motherly characteristics.
The combination of these deities and their relative spirit personalities, make up the vast array of the heavenly creation, part and parcel of which you have presented to you in your third dimension reality, but is only a fraction of that which does exist in the breadth, depth and heights of creation. Does this help any?
Paula: Yes, it does, because I never read the Bible from cover to cover. There was too much war and kings killing each other and all that and I got kind of bored with the whole things, so I didn’t bother reading it through, but I was wondering if somewhere in there they were talking about God having a wife up in heaven and that was the Heavenly Mother. But I never heard any ministers talking about it.
Now, my other question is this: why does everybody make such a big deal about saying “the virgin Mary.” Why is it any of our business whether she was a virgin or not? What difference does it make? I think it sounds, again, like a big lot of gossip. (Group chortles)
If she and Joseph got together beforehand, well, that’s not unusual. So he got born a couple months before he was supposed to, but what is the difference? It’s the kind of person he became. Who cares if his mother messed around a little bit ahead of time! It’s not our business! And why should they keep talking about Virgin Mary business. I never could understand that.
ANATOLIA: The question of the Virgin Birth is one that was carefully crafted, if you will, as a means to explain the unique nature and birth of the Christ. After all, to simply allow (in the explanation sense of things) a Son of God, or THE son of God to be born to mere mortals, with every type of frailty – for the construction of a belief system in the early Christian Church, it was seen to be necessary to erect a system whereby the son of God needed to be born to a supernatural situation, that ordinary procreation would have nearly been an insult to the functioning of a God-man among us. Therefore, the woman chosen to deliver such a child had to, in the eyes of the Church fathers, be flawless in every way and above human desire, let alone temptation, so what does this mean in actuality?
The actuality is that the spirit of God was upon Mary and enabled the seed of what we know as Jesus to have been planted. The pre or post marital life of Mary and Joseph were not, nor is it, subject of doctrinal or ecclesiastical purity, but rather the purity of heart that enabled such a function to take part. Therein is the immaculate conception — in the purity of Mary’s heart, it allowed to be a host to such a life. This is the grandeur and the miracle of the virgin birth, euphemistically. Is there anything else in this regard.
Paula: Well, she certainly didn’t stay a virgin, if she was one, because she had other children.
ANATOLIA: Correct. It is immaterial – again, it was a way for the church fathers to give particular homage to Mary and to justify the physical birth of a God-man who, if brought into life in ordinary procreative manner, was perceived to have somehow demeaned his purpose and his deity status. Lest I say that this attempt to glorify and party deify Mary was unnecessary, as much of mystery and somewhat mythical qualities were presented as the Church had an opportunity to construct that which they wished future generations to believe.
If it had been “allowed” to have Jesus born by an ordinary pro-creative means, it would (in their minds) lessen his God-like status. Therefore, it is merely a medium for attempting to demonstrate the unique, divine, and superlative nature of this individual who took it upon himself, in union with our Heavenly Father, to visit such a world at such a time. This is the miracle, and this is the fabulous nature of what was accomplished, sex being immaterial, truly, and unnecessary to explain the pros or the cons of human existence.
I hope that this satisfies the desire to understand this concept. It is not a key factor, but you can rest assured that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was not an ordinary individual. That is, as good as any a vehicle to bring forth the life of the Christ. Rather, she had a pure heart and truly a devoted individual to her God. This made it possible for her to be the host to the Christ. This is what we can celebrate and rejoice and not worry about pre- or post- purity. Is there anything else?
Myra: Yes. About prayer. The statement “where two or more are gathered in my name, there God is” so I would like to know where he is in personal prayer.
ANATOLIA: I would say, in a literal sense, as the statement is made, you can rest assured that by your stating a prayer, placing yourself in a prayerful state, this can be done in any number of means – whether kneeling, standing, sitting, in deep meditation or respectful communication – “Where two or more are gathered, there I am with the God-presence within you” and yourself to acknowledge such presence, the two being there make or create a host opportunity to allow the God force to come forth, to be present.
As was said before, without this gift of life to truly host and to enable your sense of the unknown to become aware to you, how can you know any better than to live a life without total assurance and guaranteed that you are eternal beings, other than to believe truly and become then convinced upon your transmission to the next state of being. In your opportunity for such awareness gathering, it can only be done behind the veil or in the dark, so to speak. In the light terms, for you to be able to give God the opportunity to speak to you, you must be quiet and become the host to allow for that communication to take place. Therefore God is present. Does this help any?
Myra: Yes. Thank you.
Maria: I had a man working for me, Greg. And at the point I met him, I think he was quickly dying of cancer. I did a significant amount of healing work on him and he worked on getting some resolution with people he had left along the way. I encouraged him to get in touch with family and finally he did and he is now back with a family that loves him, and although … — I think the important part is that he is with family – but, I just wondered if maybe he has done enough healing, he will get better. Or maybe he’s just getting done what he needs to before he dies.
ANATOLIA: You can be assured that you have helped tremendously in the opportunity for a soul to find inner peace. The greatest obstacle to his absence from family was to enable himself to finally give in that he does need the love and security of family around him, which is healing in its own right, for inside the physical being is an individual who, partly out of stubbornness, refused to believe that others presented to him in his life had true meaning and placement within him.
It was much like having to find the heart of the onion without stripping off all levels. By facing a critical life challenge, he was able to allow himself to finally allow himself to go to the kernel, or heart of the matter, to allow himself to love himself enough that he was willing to relinquish his apparent need to not need anyone else, but that his self-sufficiency would suffice without the external influence.
Regardless of the amount of physical healing that may be encountered, the healing of his soul and his heart is what truly is at hand, and for self-love to be enabled, he is able to allow others in his life, which is the first step into eternal life. So this is a sign of great relief and healing of which you have been a part.
Maria: Thank you. That helps a lot.
Paula: Oh, and do you think that when Roger– [Editor’s note Earlier in the session there was a telephone call advising the Staffords of Roger’s recent death. A noted curmudgeon, he died peacefully in his sleep.] gets up to heaven, that God will sit down and talk to him? Does he talk to anyone, I wonder, when you get there, and try and straighten him about things?
ANATOLIA: Let me assure you that Heaven as you will know it has any number of possibilities. It is not a central meeting all that everyone goes to, but rather, depending upon your heart and mind, is where you will find yourself. He will eventually meet God, as each and every one of us will, but not until his heart and mind have changed to be able to receive that which he is given. Imagine someone who is of the dark who resists the light, whether it be a cave dweller or what-have-you, but will not go toward the light, to all of a sudden bask in total love and light. The individual could not relate, would not be able to relate, so it is with gradual love that the light is presented, so that the individual can accept it.
This is a case of self-loathing, and as long as the individual loathes him or herself, there is little opportunity for even God himself to convince the individual that they are worthy of love. So, as it is in divine providence, each and every opportunity is presented for the individual, the soul, to gain recognition of love worthiness. And in that union with God as we know our Creator, in concept and in beauty, is made possible. Generations or eons regardless, it is and will be accomplished, provided the individual opens his or her heart accordingly. Is this helpful?
Paula: Yes.
ANATOLIA: I wish to thank each and every one of you for the opportunity to be entrusted with your questions, and to give you my perspective as I see it from my side of the fence. It is, after all, merely a side of the fence that I have perspective broader than your own. I wish to aspire to true wisdom, as is my aspiration. My teaching capabilities are my way of contributing back much of the grace and love which I have been given. It is my pure desire that you, too, may be able to give back as you have been presented. It is the open heart that is willing and able to give as they have been given to. I know each of you to be such individuals and I continue to entrust you with the love that is given to you. So give back all that you are able, and love will hence continue. Peace be with you, until we meet again.
Group Thank you.
Closing
TOMAS: As your host, I insist upon the last word. Thank you, Co-Teacher Anatolia, for your testimony and for your teaching today. It gives Gerdean a chance to be a student and perhaps one day we’ll get her to ask questions. It is in such fearless seeking that the door will be opened.
While I feel the session this afternoon has been replete in every way, I will none-the-less pause to inquire before we go if there are questions. (Pause) Then let us be on our way, prayerfully advancing into light and life.
Elena: Tomas! I do have one question. One of your closing comments on your lesson was that we all need to learn how to pray. In future lessons will more attention on how to pray be provided? Is that an upcoming topic?
TOMAS: Evidently. I will check Machiventa’s roster for your curriculum, but it would seem so. Beautiful children, farewell until next week.
