2004-05-30. Living Artistically
Rio Rancho #95
Topic: Living Artistically
Group: Rio Rancho TeaM
Teacher: Tomas, Athena, Singh
TR: Gerdean
Opening
TOMAS: Pretty flowers in the Father’s garden, good afternoon. I am Tomas, your friend and teacher. Anatolia and I are here with you, as well as a number of other celestial entities who, as usual, pause in their activities to take note of the cherubic faces of you flowers, held high to bask in the light of the Spirit Son that shines upon you, the Spirit Son that shines upon all – the just and the unjust. The music of our session will need to be provided by the birds that you hear and, indeed, they are music to the ears of those who have consistent clamor in their environment or in their mind. What a joy is the Stillness, that allows you and encourages you to go within to hear the silence, perhaps enfolding the birdsong, for there you are able to hear the reflections from Paradise that will lead you forth in peace and good cheer. The love of god surrounds us. The power of god protects us. The presence of God watches over us. Wherever we are, He is. And this is artistry –the art of living — as Rodan of Alexandria has taught. Let me invite Athena to join us today to speak of the art of living as seen through the eyes of a celestial artisan. Having on our agenda a fifth Sunday, it is our pleasure to provide this alternative from the pattern. One moment please.
Lesson
ATHENA: I come in to you today to draw you forth, for you are a creator. We know this because within you, at your core, is the Creator of all that is – a part of all that is, is yours. And thus you can identify with the nature of the creator. Every one of you have the Artist Within, that which would practice to attain perfection. As was discussed before we commenced, any mundane chore may be made artistic by raising it up to an art form, be that painting, dancing, playing music or singing, whether that is cooking, story-telling, or putting in a new transmission or replacing the muffler in your car. These are all art forms. And each of you have artistry within you. Thus to hear any of you say you have no talent is to deny the creator within you. This is my point today, that I visit you, so that you each can perceive what it is within you that is of the nature of art and in this you can recognize that you are expressing the Creator through this artistry. How is it that you enjoy expressing yourself? What is it that you like to do? Generally, that will be a clue as to your talent. Reneau, what is it that you enjoy doing that is artistic?
Dialogue
Reneau: I always like yard work, gardening, and keeping the yard looking nice. Housekeeping, of course; keeping things clean. Writing, I think I’m pretty good at that. I think I am more of an appreciator of the arts and music than a participant. I love art and I love music and I can’t really play a musical instrument or draw. I cannot do those things but I certainly appreciate what other people do.
ATHENA: That’s good. Being an appreciator of other’s gifts is a necessary part of the practice of accessing creativity. Otherwise, you spend your life being jealous of what others do and feeling as if you are unable to do anything. But again, I invite you to expand your perception of what art is. You mentioned you enjoy gardening, working in the yard. This is an art form. There are famous gardens — not only on your world but on all the worlds — that have sacred order, and many of them are overseen by various angelic orders, perhaps not for their worshipful theme but for their being a representative of value such as the homey garden in the back yard that may be smiled upon by the angels of the family, or the Memorial Gardens and cemetery grounds that may be overseen by the angels of nations, honoring that which is. There is a new popularized thing out called feng shway, which would ask you to look at your environment as a work of art, and how it can be arranged to be most pleasing for you and your guests as well as functional and comfortable. Home making is indeed an art, and housewives have known that for a long time. Parenting is an art; ask any child who has come of age if their parents were artful in their efforts at rearing their young. Men-O-Pah, how do you reflect the creator within?
Men-O-Pah: Oh, I. I like the garden. I’m very fond of it. I suppose since I was a young boy, since I learned this from my grandmother. We had a big vegetable garden and I said to myself, “this is a survival technique” but I think the tomatoes and the peppers, the red and the green and the squash, the yellow – I love to do that. I love the music. I came from a musical family. When I was a small boy, we spent Sunday afternoon singing. So, as you know, when I was a college boy, singing this English grammar. It was a required course for singers who intended to teach, and this old German lady, a very strict old lady, asked this question from this fellow whose name was Paul Manfordini (and he has since become a very fine dentist). She said to him, “What is it that sets a writer or the poet apart?” and he said, “The thing that sets them apart is that they have the ability to say things well.” That sort of stuck with me all these years. For some of the words, the libretto in the music, they have stuck to me. And I love the great pieces, the great piano music. And some of that I can play. Most of it can’t. But that’s . that’s what I’m about.
ATHENA: Look at the vegetables that you grow and how much pride you take in them, how much enjoyment you derive from them. The smell, fresh off the vine; the purity of their color in the sunshine; their taste upon your tongue as God intended. Imagine yourself as God, admiring these creations that you’ve created. Yes, of course, you are the meek and you acknowledge the Creator as the Bringer of these good gifts, but if you were to look at your picture from God’s point of view, looking at you as you admire your vegetables, how precious you are to him. How your uniqueness, your color, your character, your texture, resound. As you enjoy looking at what you have created, so does the Father enjoy looking what He has created, and to know that he is watching you – all the time, in all you do – while there are those who would run from such an ‘invasion of privacy’, who would regard it as very threatening because they feel that God is the Judge of all you do, how much they need to develop the perception that the creator enjoys observing his creations. Even when His work is unfinished, He can see its potential before He even starts to work on the canvas, on the manuscript, or on the meal. He knows because He has become proficient at what He does, as you know the element of the creator that goes into that which you do from having done it many times with affection and dedication. If you could see how the father looks at you as you look at your hobbies and your crops, you would bask in the glow of his attention and thrive in the light of his love.
Open yourself to the good grace of the creator that he might help mold you into the creator of truth, beauty and goodness that you are in your own style. There is a parable that speaks of talents. And it is generally construed that these talents are sheckles, dinero, dollars, because they are “invested” and such a world as yours thinks of investing as a profitable occurrence. Such is the way of Caesar. But in terms of the Master, the parable might also represent those things about you, which are unique. How you, Paula, may not have the skills that you professed to paint as your father did. Even so, you are gifted with many talents, one of which is your personality. You can always polish up your personality until it glows and serves as the unique talent that you are, that you have been given, that you may invest in, toward your eternal investment. But there are other types of creativity that extend beyond the obvious. Tell us, Thoroah, about your talents.
Thoroah: I don’t have a vivid idea about any of my talents, other than that I seem to have a talent to get along with people and communicate. I have adopted, with only a one or two time reading of Rodan’s work, the whole concept of the Art of Living as the overall artistic expression. I am trying to be artistic in the way I live my life. Not that I’m trying to paint a fancy picture but I’m trying to be artistic in my own reflection so that it feels like I am living in an artistic way. Paula: Well, there are various things we can do that maybe aren’t artistic, but for instance, in all those years that I worked with Dr. Hague., He was a brilliant man, and people came from all over the East Coast to have him in their surgery, but he didn’t know how to talk to people. He didn’t have, well . bedside manner, I guess you’d call it. But he could explain what the surgery was; what it was going to be. But he would have people who were absolutely terrified and he didn’t quite know how to handle it so he would say, “Well, you go out and talk to Paula and she will tell you about it.” And I did. I learned to talk to them and calm their fears and help them through it, which was really vital to them, because if you go into surgery terrified, it’s not going to give good results, I don’t care how brilliant the surgeon is, and so he said many times over the years that we were working as a team and we did. We did. And it was quite an experience. And I made a lot of friends over the years that way, and they remained friends all the time, besides in the office, because it was something that they needed and something that I was capable of doing for them.
ATHENA: This is ministry, my dear, and this is definitely a talent. The same could be said for your volunteer work at the hospital, but in any case, it is an element of the creator that is a part of the feminine aspects of Deity – the nurturing, care-taking, calming and comforting element of divinity – without which we would not see “the woman’s touch” in so many things she does to enhance mortal life and the art of living. Cooperation is another art. To be able to see what the need is and act upon it intuitively is a talent. To fill in where there is a lack is a talent. As you did with the good doctor. His skills were what they came for, but your skills make it possible for him to have access to their presence. Such teamwork is in itself a talent that is engaged in by more than one, just as group ministry may entail the many engaged together in upholding a value, supporting a cause, activating a ministry, or whatever it has come together to do. The smooth functioning of a unit of individuals who come together with unity of purpose becomes artistry, as the workers work together doing what they do best to honor and exalt that which they believe in. This is the importance of putting your talents to use – to effect something, to enhance, to augment, to contribute. It is your gift to the development of the God of experience, the Supreme Being. To add the dimension of your high art of experiential living made perfect. Your talents, Thoroah, are dimensional. You are capable of being at home in the material environment as well as the ethereal environments you have tapped into.
To you, the Father’s house is filled with rooms and you have the run of the place. Fearlessly, you go from room to room, investigating and discovering that which is in the hearts and minds of other beings, other mortals, other entities. The ability to get outside yourself and find value with others, to acknowledge their value, and to find they fit in the overall framework of reality, is a talent. Not everyone is so magnanimous. Certainly your skills and abilities as a minister are evolving, and this is a talent that is being made perfect through your practice. These are the kinds of talents the Master asks you to find and develop and invest, for they bring you good satisfaction and they do good to others. Maria, tell me about your artistic propensities.
Maria: I have so many, I don’t know if I am able to name them all. I’m very lucky with being able to do pretty much anything I set my mind to, and some of the things I particularly enjoy are costuming and music. I’m learning that I can sculpt. And I like creating things, especially things that I want or need that I don’t have to go buy somebody else’s. I can do wood work and metal work and painting, drawing, photography, just . so many things I don’t know where to focus my attention.
ATHENA: You are abundance personified. You are a gift in giving. Your talent of expression your hello in a gift for your hostess is a talent which has been acknowledged and appreciated by all your friends, and it is simple gestures of just such a nature that are so easily and so well-invested in establishing a bond between you and those you meet. You give of yourself and you give of yourself through gestures, which affirm your abundance. This is art form. This is in keeping with the joy of youth and the pride of discovery. The curiosity that allows you to look at each new thing as a potential activity, in order to express your creative nature yet even more. There is no lack of talents in your closet, my dear. All of you, indeed, are gifted. Gerdean, would you like to contribute your gifts to th is discussion?
Gerdean: Thank you. I like to paint. I like to write. I like to socialize. I am gifted in a couple of other things, too, but they are not as socially acceptable. Even so, I do it anyway.
ATHENA: I know that you are a willful woman. However, it is often the case that willfulness is assertion in the right direction, as compared to passive acquiescence in no direction whatsoever. And so I will work with that. But I do recognize that you are precocious, whereas some others in this garden are domestic, tame, and manageable.
This is another reflection of the Creator admiring His handiwork. The difference between the lilac and the thistle is evident, but they are nonetheless both beautiful. It is simply that the lilac is more fragrant than the thistle, with its thorns. But to deny a thistle its perfection is to deny a certain creation of the Father in the garden. A thistle does not always grow wild, although they grow well in the wild. They will grow also under the hand of a Master Gardener, as does the bonsai tree and other peculiarities of nature. It is easy enough in my estimation, Gerdean, to simply say you are an abstract artist, even though what work I see you do is more surreal than anything. So we have among this gathering here, this small handful of individuals, enough art and talent to fill a gallery, to have a Renaissance fair, to heal the sick, to herd cats. If such abilities lie within this garden in the hearts and minds of each of you, imagine what could be accomplished if you acknowledged your abilities and set out to do something together.
There is no thing on earth that you could not accomplish if you put your minds to it. With that provocation, I will back off and see if Tomas has any other plan for the afternoon. Thank you.
Group: Thank you.
TOMAS: This is Tomas. Yes, I do have another plan for the afternoon. I would like to offer the platform now to another entity, a midwayer, but I am not going to ask your friend Dani to speak to you because he has visited you before and you have a preconceived notion of who he is. This is a fellow you have never met before. One moment.
SINGH: Good afternoon, my friends, cousins, playmates, coworkers, fruits and nuts alike. I am going to take you into your mind, if I may. I am going to call upon that artistic nature you have all acknowledged you have and which has been confirmed to you as having value – as much if not more value than the linear and material methodology that you employ in the art and craft of staying alive and maintaining civilization. I would like for you to look in on my civilization. I would like for you to life up your consciousness to see if you can see into my environment. If you know about the midwayers at all, you know we are just outside your vision. We are related to you by our parentage. It’s not my fault I was born invisible. But I am very much like you. Now, since I am invisible, I live in my own sphere of reality because I have to. Everyone has their own sphere of reality created for them in which to reside. You can’t live in air. Even though I know you all think angels just float around up there and never go anywhere, just float. I assure you they don’t even float! They are quite grounded in the work they do. They are very actual, as I and you are very actual.
Have any of you got the imagination to discern in your mind’s eye what I might be like if you could see me? Would you see me as a little green man, as if I were a Martian? Would you see me as a blue fairy, like Tinkerbell in “Peter Pan”? Would you see me as androgynous, as having asexual aspects? What would you even want to think about such a thing for? you might ask. What possible benefit could it be for me to think about what it’s like in your mind where you live? Well, this is something Thoroah would appreciate since he is such an adventurer. It’s the same as going into other belief systems or other universe concepts of reality, or visiting another man’s church or synagogue, or visiting another culture’s house at dinner time, whether they are having Chinese food, Italian food, or Portuguese. There is such a vast universe, why stay in your little confines all the time where there is such opportunities to visit other realities?
I invite you to begin with me, since I am so close. I am about the size of Paula. I am “petite”. I have a temperament somewhat like Paula’s as well, for I am spirited. However, I am much, much older than Paula.
Paula: Incorrect.
SINGH: How old are you?
Paula: I never tell.
SINGH: I am 37,000 years old.
Paula: Oh! I can’t beat that.
SINGH: I thought as much.
Paula: You’re cute.
SINGH: I am enduring.
Thoroah: I guess you could say that you are “Old School”.
SINGH: “Well preserved” old school.
Paula: And you got a neat figure.
SINGH: I like it. It has served me well. Thank you. I keep it up by diligent exercise. I am on the go all the time, it seems. I have a hard time sitting still. Unless, of course, I am absorbed in the task at hand — and you know how that is when you get into something you enjoy doing; you become fairly consumed by it, at least temporarily. You have your creative nature in gear, clasped to the heart of the artisan. Although it is a relative thing, really, to discern whether or not your all-consuming task is of lasting value or if it will contribute to lasting value rather than some mere self-gratification or personal amusement. And this I am not qualified to judge. But, like Gerdean, I may have an opinion to offer on such things, which will not meet with your favor. I am outspoken, as are my fellows. Again, I can compare myself with Paula. My name is Singh.
Thoroah: Say that again?
SINGH: Singh.
Reneau: S-i-n-g?
SINGH: S-I-N-G-H.
Thoroah: As in D.J. Singh.
SINGH: It will suffice for our purposes. So now you can see me in different lights: golfing, flitting, arguing, decrepit, shapely. Any number of descriptive adjectives have been planted in your mind as to how I might be perceived. And don’t overlook the fact that I am in my own house, even while I am visiting you in yours. My realm will be to meet you in the mind. And this will be my invitation to you this week: to look for me in your mind and to allow the environment in which I am to fulfill itself sufficiently that you can perceive of me as a real entity, for when you get to the point where you can understand just how real I am, even though you think you are getting there just by your own imagination, you will be of some use to me. Do it quickly, before you croak! That’s the trouble with mortals. They die off so quickly!
You think you have forever. Well, maybe you do, but that’s very selfish of you, you know, to not think of the other guy. I have to throw those digs in every now and then. It’s part of my contract.
Paula: I’m aiming for 100.
SINGH: In that case, you have time to render much damage.
Paula: That’s for sure.
SINGH: I look forward to getting to know you better. Look me up.
Paula: I have so many faults.
SINGH: So what? Who doesn’t?
Thoroah: Amen.
SINGH: I’m not here to judge your faults at all. I’m not into that theme. I let others bigger than me worry about such things as your spiritual growth. I have my own work to do. That isn’t it. My interest is in what we can do with what we’ve got to work with. When you know that all is imperfect, that’s redundant. The point is to take what is worthwhile, that can be shaped up, practiced, and put to good use to enhance the lives of others. Then we’re talking. And I don’t mean just the material life, although that is not excluded. Or the emotional life, which is very important; or the mental life, which is always a gas; but the spiritual life, as it will be rendered by the Creator Himself. I have no business claiming any great capacity in terms of enlightening your consciousness or saving your soul. I’m not concerned about guilt or grief, regret or remorse or any of those things. I’m interested in getting something done. And I have no objection if you sit in your chair all day and work in your mind to do it. It doesn’t require a hammer and nails or fife and drum to work with the midwayer corps. You just have to believe. And that, now, reminds me of Tinkerbell. “Do you believe, children? Do you believe? If you believe, clap your hands!”
Well, there we’ve gotten something done already. We’ve all committed to the fact that we are believers in something that we cannot see. This is a great day for those who smile upon this group of individuals who can believe without seeing, as they are now able to acknowledge you as being on the trail. Well, I guess I’ll get off the podium now and let Tomas have the microphone back. It’s been good to meet you. I hope I get to work with you and see you again in this way but in the meantime, I mean it — I want you to come and visit me in your mind and let’s get to know each other.
Thoroah: Thank you, Singh. G
Group: (Affirmations)
TOMAS: I am glad you’ve been amused by our guests this afternoon. The universe is so filled with wonderful personalities and your own capacities to reach these entities is so enhanced by your advanced perceptions. I am enthused and enthralled by the delight it brings us all and the potential that lies within. This is a way that you can work and play in the fields of the Lord with others in the universe. This is a task and an undertaking that you will do for eternity, and so it gives me great pleasure to be a part of your baby steps into this possibility. Practice, practice. Are there questions?
Reneau: Just how do the midwayers “flit around”. I know we don’t see them. Are they simply a higher energy level? She says she has a stature that’s small. Does she have a form then, that.
TOMAS: Yes.
Reneau: How does she flit around?
TOMAS: Through a transport vehicle.
Reneau: Vroom, vroom?
TOMAS: A mota cycle. I jest. It is more like a capsule. There are transportation lines built into the universe. Just as you have your highway and route and street systems, other architectural spheres have their own methods of delivering personages from one location to the other. The midwayers function on the midwayers’ circuit. Not only in terms of their voices or their concepts, but literally. While they “flit”, they are rather documented in their flitting. That is to say, it is always possible to find one, if you look, because it is on record where they are going. There was a time when they were not disciplined to reveal their whereabouts. That is when there was much mischief afoot on the planet by those merrymakers. But since they have gotten organized and more responsible, they have developed a pattern of travel that is quite complex, depending upon the task to which they are assigned. They may travel globally, they may stay locally, they may spend hundreds of years in one place, depending on what the focus is of their behavior, their action, their assignment, their choice of undertaking.
Perhaps this is something you can inquire of Singh – to ask if he is on an assignment. If so, where? Is this a new one that he has with you? Why, indeed, did he stop in? If he has an assignment somewhere else, where is it? With whom? What does he do? These are questions you might ask of him if you sit down to find him and spend some time with him in your mind’s eye getting to know him. I know I am saying “him” and it has already been ascertained that “she” has a trim figure. But this is the way it is with midwayers, for they are not really focused on their gender as much as they are taking care of business. They have no genitalia, and so there is not much point in stressing how masculine or feminine they are. That is something that remains mostly in the material realm. Might as well enjoy it while you’ve got it, then. Although the pleasures “beyond the veil” are certainly sufficient to make up for any paucity of experience you may not have known here. Questions?
Maria: There was kind of what sounded like a challenge to me, about us doing something together. Was there a specific goal in mind or just a suggestion that we as a group would be powerful if we so chose?
Closing
TOMAS: That is provocative, is it not? We have always found merit to your gaining experience in teamwork. Teamwork is something that is vital to your success and necessary in order for you to advance, for although your own soul growth is a matter of your engagement with your Indwelling Adjuster, the compliment of that is the effort you expend expressing that which you gain/ garner/ learn from the association with the Divine. Therefore, you go through a period of reflection and inversion, followed by a period of action and expression. During the period of expression, in particular, is when these group activities can benefit more than your own amusement at expressing what you learned from God, in how you invest your talent.
There are times to invest your personal talent, but there are times when your talent and others’ talents are commingled. Your efforts are magnified. There is some talk about having a conference here in the Southwest. That is certainly a project that would benefit from a group approach, as compared to one or even two individuals arranging the entire event. After all, a family reunion is an event for the family, not just Grandma or the Nephew.
That’s a suggestion. If that were workable, you might enjoy working together so much, you will come up with something else you can do together, borrowing on your successes and failures of your first attempt to make perfect your next effort together. Since you asked. Yes, indeed. That would be a great group project that many could benefit from, and your Great Southwest could be enlivened by establishing a new vortex of spiritual energy here in the Land of Enchantment. You might consider that as a group effort of note, but I don’t want to leave you feeling coerced. That is something, too, that you can take into advisement with your inner Creator and feel whether that triggers within you a flutter of energy or a flutter of fear.
Take a look at how you feel about such an undertaking and report your feelings, first to yourself and acknowledge them openly and then to others as they may inquire. In this way you are establishing your paints upon the palette that has been presented. Whether to paint a picture of a person, a group of people, a landscape or a storm is an option. I perceive it is time to break, and, perhaps, have some refreshment, and enjoy the liveliness of the themes from this afternoon. These very creative entities, who are so close to you in your life and in your work, will be such help to you — and you can be of such help to them as we get to know each other better. And we look forward to seeing all of you again next week for a visitation from the celestial realms at Dorenda and Willie’s. Father God, go with these beautiful flowers in your garden, each of them a unique and wondrous bloom. Help them to open their face to your Son, that their countenance may reveal His majesty and joy. And when tares grow up in the midst of these flowers, let those tares be as accent and accompaniment to the garden that You have created. Amen. Farewell.
