2006-07-09-To Strengthen Choice, Will
SE Idaho #136
Contents
• 1 Heading
o 1.1 Topic: To Strengthen Choice
o 1.2 Group: SE Idaho TeaM
• 2 Facilitators
o 2.1 Teacher: Daniel
o 2.2 TR: Bob S.
• 3 Session
o 3.1 Opening
o 3.2 Dialogue
o 3.3 Closing
Topic: To Strengthen Choice
Group: SE Idaho TeaM
Facilitators
Teacher: Daniel
TR: Bob S.
Session
Opening
Ken: We Your Children stand in humble reverence to the Greatness of the Universal Father. May the words we hear this evening grow upon our souls as we ascend this path to perfection. We come in the name of Michael, Jesus Christ, and Nebadonia. Amen.
DANIEL: My friends, this is Daniel, your guide during this time of correction. Those of us gathered here this evening have enjoyed your camaraderie, your words, your interactions, to the point where I can say humbly that I am proud to be your teacher. You truly have seen the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more for you to learn that it can be overwhelming.
So, we try to keep our lessons in line with your comfort level but on the forward edge so that those of you who feel you would like to step forward and try something new in your lives, know that you have our support and encouragement.
I understand there are some questions you wish to raise this evening. I am ready to assist you in whatever way I can. And there are many others here who may be asked or may volunteer to step in when they have something they feel is germane to the subject matter before us. So, with those words of introduction who will be the first to ask a question?
Dialogue
Roxie: How can I get more strength?
DANIEL:: Would you please clarify what you mean by strength?
Roxie: The opposite of the profound weakness of will. Maybe it would be defined as… I can feel the strength when I am walking the path. That’s one of the ways that I have of deciding that the path is right, that there is strength. So, I guess I’m asking for ways that I could know that my path is God’s path and the path I am walking on is His.
DANIEL:: My daughter, my friend, your question is most profound. In its simplest terms, strength comes from experience. As one’s experiences amass a pool of knowledge and one is open to growth and change, then those experiences provide the basis for strength to take the next step. One can also say that strength is a by-product of one’s faith, which also is a by-product one’s experiences. All of these matters work together for good, for progress, and as one is improved, grows, it impacts the others.
True wisdom is the last of the seven steps in life’s perfectioning. Your Urantia Book lays them out as they typically are experienced by the human individual. Starting with intuition, and progressing not step by step but in a two step forward, one step back, sort of growth, for the human animal at your stage of social, spiritual and intellectual development must make many mistakes.
Those are expected and are part of the experiences one gains over the course of living. So, as one moves forward, makes a decision, whether a good choice or poor, those experiences are filed and together they build strength, faith, your life pattern. I feel the need to stop at this point and ask for your response to my answer.
Roxie: I think it is clarifying and very true that experience and faith lead me to greater strength. And I like your analogy of the tip of the iceberg. And that has been the source of my strength in the past and so I can hold on to that rope.
DANIEL:: Each individual must seek a balance in their lives, too little or too much of any of these concepts we have discussed throw the personality out of balance. One needs a certain amount of confidence. Too little confidence leads one to be reticent about taking the chance change demands, and too much confidence gives one over to a lack of humility, which is necessary to understand God’s Will in your life.
Hence, balance is what one must seek and that can only be attained by constant internal inspection of how you think your life is going. Yes, you will not always make the correct analysis; but it is only by introspection that one can grow. God has set a life before you. There are a great number of paths open to each of you. One is not necessarily better than the others because every decision you make builds upon your beginning wisdom.
But to be truly wise is a place far in front of all of us, even we your older brothers and sisters have not achieved true and complete wisdom. We too are growing, seeking God’s Will for us, developing that personality we have been given and seeking perfection.
Have I said enough or do you wish to pursue these ideas further?
Roxie: I like the idea of balance. It has seemed to me though that some people are blessed with a very “neat” personality. There have been times in the last year that I have felt personality deficits. So I am wanting to be more outgoing, not isolated so much. And I’ve not achieved that balance that you’re recommending.
DANIEL:: The challenge of balance is before all of us. We are all in a state of imbalance, and seeking to balance those aspects of our lives, which we feel we would like to improve, may not necessarily be the wisest thing for us to do at any particular point in our lives because we do not yet have full wisdom. So, while it is expected the human animal will make many mistakes concomitant that, is the fact that your lives are in a constant state of imbalance. And because balancing is difficult doesn’t mean it’s impossible nor should you stop trying.
Roxie: Thank you for giving me permission to make mistakes.
DANIEL:: I did not give you permission to make mistakes. I am merely stating one of the truths of the universe. For many people growth is greater when they error than when they make the correct decision. Looking back on your own lives I suspect many of you have had that experience, that there have been times when you have made mistakes which led to great leaps forward in your growth. So one should not fear or avoid making mistakes. Those can be the building blocks of immense growth steps.
How shall be proceed next? … … Kenneth, I sense you have something on your mind.
Kenneth: Your words are very good Daniel, and have been stated before, differently, but put in this format has been very good. And I thank you for that. In our discussion before the meeting we talked about all the steps that we are taking, all the lessons that we are getting in this university and realizing that we have, as you have said “seen the tip of the iceberg”, know that these lessons, these relationships, these challenges to grow, will continue throughout our complete ascent and perhaps beyond. But, we get tired of this and as you said we try to self analyze what we have learned and we don’t always properly find the correct answer.
So, if I ask you how do we find a correct answer, I think you would tell me “stillness, listen to my Thought Adjuster”. So I guess I’m not really asking a question, I probably answered it. I thank you again for your presence here this evening and for your presence in my life. I thank you Daniel… I love you.
DANIEL: Thank you Kenneth. I love each of you in ways which are difficult for you to comprehend. May I add one more idea to your answer to your question?
Kenneth: Add as many ideas as you like Daniel.
DANIEL: Most times there is no right answer; there is no correct answer; there is no perfect answer to the decisions you make. There are usually better and less better ones. As I say, the life you have been given is subject to many paths and some may be better than others, but they all will ultimately lead to the Father, irregardless of how many mistakes you make along the way. As long as you keep trying progress will be made. If you reach a point where you are tired, then the answer is “rest”. Take time to relax. Do something else. Take a vacation. Then when you are rejuvenated, pick up your life where you left off, rejuvenated, reinvigorated and ready to take the bumps that life has in store for you. Does this answer?
Kenneth: It sure helps.
DANIEL: That was my hope.
Roxie: In the book they encourage a sense of humor. I would like to develop more laughter and a sense of humor. And what was it called, the relaxation and, rejuvenation, (ed: diversion, recreation and play) something like that, Jesus and the apostles went to the hills and just forgot everything… a key element to our bearing the stresses it seems like. Can you help us know how to better… a better sense of humor.
DANIEL: Let me say this, humor is important to the human animal because of your state of immaturity spiritually. It is what you might call “a saving grace”. The ability to laugh at yourself and others enables you to deal more effectively with those mistakes that you and others are going to make. The ability to laugh with others and at your own peculiarities as they arise, allows you to move forward.
The gift of humor is present in every human individual. Some have been given more than others as a part of their personality. But it remains present in all of you and can be developed if you wish to. It requires the same work that any project takes. Your science teaches that if you perceive a problem, develop a plan after some creative thought, which you believe will assist you in accomplishing your goal and try the plan out. If your plan works, good! If it doesn’t, go back through the steps again.
Give some creative thought to a way, pick one of them and try it out. Your Thought Adjuster and others will be participating in the creative step and in other ways to assist you toward accomplishing your goals. God wants us all to be happy. And when you perceive something standing in the way, make a plan. Try it out. See how effective your plan was. And if it was, good. If it wasn’t so effective, then try again. The human mind can be most creative and it is at that point where we are allowed some latitude to assist you in your life’s progress. Does this answer help, my friend?
Roxie: Yes, I would like that help in developing… I mean to sit down and actually develop that plan for a better sense of humor because I need to take life less seriously. Thank you very much.
DANIEL: It is my pleasure to assist all of you in any way I am permitted. As you know I am not allowed to make your decisions for you. My purpose is to provide advice and counsel. You all have the intellectual capacity to deal with those avenues of your life you feel need further development. Pat, you have been very quiet tonight. Is there something on your mind.
Pat: I don’t think so Daniel. I have enjoyed the evening and your words of wisdom to us. So, I thank you.
Ken: That was humor-addressing Pat, wasn’t it Daniel?
DANIEL:: I keep trying to understand more fully human wisdom. But my experience was so long ago I have forgotten much of my own human experience. So my attempts at humor often fall flat. I apologize for that, but I know you understand. It is like talking to your six year old. Their thinking is at an entirely different level than yours and it’s often difficult to bridge that gap. But I shall seek to improve my understanding of your humor if you promise to allow me to continue to assist you in ways which you may deem much too serious.
Ken: Welcome Daniel.
DANIEL: Thank you. Are there other question of items of concerns that I or others in our group may help you with tonight?
Ken: We will have to work with you Daniel and see if you can remember your mortal life and the humor that you had then… perhaps.
DANIEL: Thank you Kenneth, I look forward to those experiences. I am afraid I took my human existence much too seriously. Looking back on it, I too would say, upon analysis, I would have been happier had I had more humor in my life. But as one rose through the mansion worlds and beyond the need for humor wanes. And I must say it has waned far from my consciousness. Yet I do enjoy your enjoyment.
When you banter about humorously I sense your feelings and take… how can I characterize that… take delight, I think is the word… in your delight. Is it possible for me to learn something from you? Yes! I have learned many things during my assignment here as your teacher, your group’s teacher following my stint as Barbara’s personal teacher. And I thank you for these experiences. They have added much to my life.
Ken: Excuse me Daniel, you said Barbara. Did you mean Debbie?
DANIEL: Yes!
Ken: Thank you.
DANIEL: I’m trying to blame Bob for that mistake. But I…
Ken: We will. (Bob says it was him.) It was Bob.
DANIEL: … By the way I can report I had communication with Debbie not too long ago and she is doing very well as you can imagine. She was such a mature spiritual person. Her adjustment to morontial life was easy.
Closing
Well, we have gone at some length, are there other questions or comments you wish to make this evening… then in deference to Ken’s need to keep this short, let us stand and close in prayer. Is there someone who wishes to verbalize a prayer this evening?
Roxie: Thank you heavenly Father for this opportunity of gathering and learning and growing and experiencing each other. We love You and we express the love for one another and all the teachers here and between us. Amen
