Adding Up Your Blessings

DATE: September 5, 2013

LOCATION: Light Line

T/R: Gerdean O’Dell

TEACHER: TOMAS, with JACK facilitating

TOPIC: Interior Landscape

Prayer: Father God and Mother Spirit and all our wonderful heavenly helpers, we rejoice in knowing you and in knowing you are part of our lives as much as we are part of yours. Getting to know you has been the joy of our life, and the fact that it will continue through eternity is more than we can fathom. Let us rejoice in today and in this format, this forum that has been set up that we so enjoy, in which we can exercise our communication skills and attempt to literally talk with you and those that you have sent to be of service to our learning and growing. Amen

O802-AB Jack here. I’m coming in first to greet you. I am enjoying the liveliness of your group. It is indeed a highly invigorated bunch of young souls and this is pleasing naturally for it requires youth to carry on the work. Notice I said nothing of age. Old people can also be youthful in attitude, so you all qualify. And you all have much to bring to the table and much to give to the task, so let us be about the Father’s business. We have guests this evening that I will be happy to introduce and … I’ll be back

TOMAS: Greetings. I am Tomas, your teacher. I am glad to be here with you and I want to spend a minute with you, in terms of the greater audience, to reiterate that I am a member of the Teacher Corps. These Teachers who have come in this Corps to assist in bringing the light of truth to Urantia have been chosen and well-trained for the task. We are 20 years into the project now, and while it may seem that our mission is waning, it most assuredly is not. It has simply simmered down from the elation of the early days of our first arriving when your faith was so high. Your faith has not lost its vigor but it has settled into itself such that you can emit the quiet glow of knowing as effectively as you could the jubilant dancing of yesteryear and get your message across … that message of good cheer which the Master espoused. Not to say that we don’t enjoy that young jubilance, as Jack has already commented on, but there is a time to settle into your studies and your growth and that is when our kind is called to serve.

Before I go on to give my lesson for the evening, I would like to also acknowledge and commend those other workers in the field who serve on Urantia in myriad other capacities, those from the spirit realm and the morontia realm … the many kinds of spirit persons and powers that assist you and others in the tasks that are necessary to advance our world into light and life -- at least those things that are appropriate for this, the Correcting Time. We will return now to my reason for being here, that being to teach.

Eventually, and as you develop a taste for the quality of these lessons, you too become teachers. You develop a consciousness of a greater reality and sensitivity to the spirit that yearns to elevate the consciousness of all that is, as a natural progressive way of life. Although it is entirely appropriate that you take the time to appreciate your accomplishments and to admire the view, while it is appropriate to take time here and there to pause and reconnoiter, to make sure that when you counted the cost you still have the same calculations as then so that you can proceed, and that the reason that you set out in the first place is still legitimate, is still a heartfelt motivation, and once that is all well-established in your mind, you begin then again to serve and teach as you have been taught.

And thus the baton passes on, not just from one generation to the next but from one epoch to the next, from one individual to another, and even one country to another. I will not engage in a discussion about your global state of affairs in terms of nations rising against nations; that is not particularly my purview. My task is to help you be all that you can be and serve in the most effective ways that you can serve in your life, in your path, in your sphere of influence.

There are arenas/areas of concern over which you have no control, where you have no influence, and so beyond an honest prayer for resolution, your energy is perhaps better served if you focus on those things about which you cando something. And sometimes there is not much you can do even about those things that are in your immediate vicinity -- in particular if and when you are in relationships, be they business, social, fraternal or otherwise, for the other person is always to be considered -- the other people and their purpose, their motives, their agenda. And so, often there is not much you can do there either.

There is always something however you can do with yourself, your -- shall we call it your interior landscape, your mental horizons, the hills and valleys of your emotional condition, your memories, your dreams, your feelings, your prejudices, your reactions, your habits, and how they affect you, therefore those around you. For as those [conditions] that are within you are rectified and directed appropriately, others will gain by your experience, they will learn from your experiential wisdom, and perhaps be inspired to also learn such self mastery as to take it then to heart and apply it in their relationships, eventually and gradually to leak out into all of humanity, even to other nations, even to all the world.

This is the time of correction. And it will take a long time for all of the aberrant cause and effect errors of all the centuries to work themselves out. There are ills on this world that go back at least 300,000 years; certainly 200,000 years ago there were issues, the residue of which you are still experiencing today. You cannot go back 200,000 years and make another choice about what transpired in the Caligastia revolt, the Lucifer rebellion, but you can contemplate those meanings and values that were at issue, that were at odds, and make certain that your choices are clear and that your path is well chosen.

These ‘sympathies for the devil’ hold up progress. Tolerance of such evil affects everyone like a poison and just because you learn to live with poison does not mean you are living a healthy way of life; you have simply become accustomed to the poison. Fluoride comes to mind, arsenic, many things that are in the water that you drink that is not enough to kill you but is enough to alter your consciousness and render you less than you could be were you not affected by it, and so the subtleties and the long-range effects of these matters are not to be glossed over.

So many people say, “That was so long ago, I don’t even want to think about it.” Of course you don’t! But do you want to live with the effects of it? Do you want your children to live with the effects of it? This is part of the correcting time. Not just to take it from this moment forward, but to look back at the errors that were made and undertake to undo those errors that you are still making. Understand why these things occur and you have a treasure trove of insight, then, into why people behave the way they do; and when you can understand why your fellows act the way they do, then you can learn to love them. And when you can learn to love them, you can affect them positively. This is a skill, an art. The master had it. You can have it. But it is not born in a day and it is not easy. It takes application. It takes conscientious application.

In the mind of many, this can be equated to recovery, such as is popular in the 12-step programs. Once a closeted reality, now a popular sport, more and more people are comparing notes as to what’s wrong with them. “Oh, I was abused as a child.” “Me, too! How were you abused?” It’s as if they were sharing intimacies as they would share recipes, and this is healthy because it gets it out of the secret places of your heart and soul and puts it out for the sun to shine upon it, taking away the stink and the germs that make it unhealthy. It allows for freedom from dis-ease; it allows for curing and healing.

It’s a process, and there are millions of people undergoing this process of recovery, consciously and willing and happily, people who not only have found succor in drugs or alcohol or sex or those seemingly pleasurable pursuits to excess, people who gamble, spend money, shop; there are also people who find distraction and pleasure in food, in particular kinds of food; there is the sin of pride which is very popular these days, and there is the false pride of abject poverty. Many people do not need to live as poor as they do but they enjoy the pity as well as the assistance. And so it is systemic. You will be hard pressed to find anyone who has not been saturated in the aberrance that began 200,000 years ago and has continued up to today.

Granted, recently much work has been done toward eliminating much of this distasteful and unhealthy pathology. But this is my point, that when you realize that you don’t have all the answers, that God isn’t finished with you yet, that you do not have to be perfect in every regard, you need not hide your flaws or pretend you don’t have any. This is not to say you should flaunt the flaws you have, either, but just accept the fact that everyone has difficulties, personal problems to deal with, and to be mindful of this fact helps people be kind to each other – kinder than they might be if they thought everyone is as perfect as they purport to be.

I go to the lengths I did this evening to discuss all this because it is apparent after 20 years of working with you that there are still many, many areas untouched, unworked, unresolved, even within your own tight circle of friends, within your own families, within your own intimate relationships that are glossed over or end up in a snag, an ineffectual situation where everything comes to a standstill, where there is no progress, where nothing can be done. It comes to an impasse. The flow is virtually stopped. The spirit is virtually strangled by those of you who will not work to get through the problem.

But to get through the problem, you need to acknowledge there is a problem, and then not blame someone else for it but to look to yourself and say, “How am I participating in this mess? What can I do? What have I done? What do I continue to do time after time? Why is my reaction--? Why don’t I respond--? Why do I feel--? Why does that person make me--? What can I do? Show me the way. Help me, God. Help my mind to step outside of its own little box, its own little controlled contrivance to look into the psyche of others to find out. What do you think I might be able to do to bring peace and joy to the situation, to that person who seems to be howling in pain, that child that is demanding attention, that poor thing who is hiding in the closet afraid and shy?” How many victims there are! How many ‘perps,’ as you say. So much dysfunction.

I know. There are you who say, “Oh, Tomas, stop already. You’ve been talking about this for years. We’re sick of hearing about it.” I smile here and say, “I am sick of teaching about it!” But I know what I am dealing with. I know something about the time it takes to work through a problem of this magnitude. I say “something” about a problem of this magnitude, but not all there is to know about a problem of this magnitude because I have never seen one quite like this. That is not to say they don’t exist somewhere else in the superuniverses, but I have never personally had the experience of intimately and conscientiously working with a snaggle (is that the right word?) quite like this one -- the most bizarre conditioning I have ever seen.

The amount of affection, care, patience, tolerance, compassion, empathy, sympathy, concern the universe has for you and each of you is amazing. I myself am often touched to sense the love that is being channeled to you through the myriad heavenly helpers, angels, midwayers, teachers, Melchizedeks, guides -- so many entities. Don’t presume upon divine mercy. Don’t take unholy advantage of this, because there is a lot of work to be done all around the world, and although we cannot perhaps get to all that today or next week, we must get to it soon because there are people who are starving to death and dying miserable deaths that are unnecessary.

Once you have a perception of the compassion of the universe for you, you will be compelled to take your compassion into those areas – if only through prayer – and hope for some day in the future to arrive when those conditions are assuaged, dissolved, resolved, when they are at peace, when the warring factors find peace within themselves and go home to rebuild their nations, their families, their governments, when the world is settled in light and life - which is our distant goal, yes, but there are so many stages, so many steps between now and then. Do not be discouraged that we cannot attain light and life in your lifetime. Rather, be celebratory that we can do something and we are doing something today, in your lifetime, even if it is just you learning how to overcome your one bad habit, your one negative attitude, your one lingering bad dream that reaches out and soils the atmosphere for others.

You have with you and in you and around you the power of God to make this happen. Let us pray and give thanks to our Creator and our God in Paradise for this hope, this challenge, this opportunity to make a difference, a personal poignant difference, and to be a part of the solution.

Dear ones, I am so glad to be a part of this Corps of Teachers that has been invited/enabled to come into your life like this, to come so close to your soul and your mind and seek to affect you by my words and my attitude without causing harm, without causing undue distress. Forgive me if I have meddled. But I feel your love for me, and for those of us, including each other, who are sincere about this mighty effort, this mighty effort to turn on the light of truth, to come out of the shadows of darkness, to leave behind the wages of sin and to uplift our loveliness.

Are there any questions, this evening?

Eva: Hi! Yes. This is Eva, and please, meddle! Meddle away. Everything you said resonated with me, Tomas. And thank you! Thank you for using that word “snaggle.” I learned a new word. Everything you say, Tomas-- and before you, Jack; both of you are very empowering. Everything you say affects me deeply. I drink in every word and I just want to say that I don’t want to soil the atmosphere of others and I give thanks to the Creator for I must do better. I see myself doing that very thing

And my question is about faith. When we know that the Lord is the author and perfector of our faith, can you tell us, is our faith the author of the kingdom, of the good news? I ask because Hindus and Muslims are given the ultimate respect of having their beliefs affirmed when they graduate, when they move on to the mansion worlds. I know that their faith is respected when they die. They are not beaten over the head about our beloved Master. Would you speak on how important our specific faith in Jesus good news is to our eternal career? Because it is going to differ from other types of very beautiful and very strong beliefs in one equal god. Thank you in advance, and I love you both.

TOMAS: Thank you, Eva, for your praise, your encouragement and you question. As to your question, if I understand it correctly, it’s about faith and faith transcends dogma, even the dogma of religion. There are many who think to call their faith Episcopalian or Hindu or Buddhist or Baptist. That is your religion. Faith is something very personal. It is virtually unstructured. It does not require personality, either the personality of Buddha or Allah or Jesus. I daresay it does not even require a god-type personality such as is imagined by many believers. You will recognize that as the judging god, the Jehovah, the jealous god, or the energy that atheists look up to as one might look up to the omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence of deity.

Faith is something you receive as a gift from god, but once having received your faith, assuming you take it, it is your task then to cultivate it. And I don’t mean to say you tithe or attend services but that you cultivate your spiritual nature. There are many rites and rituals that people go through as an expression of their faith but there are people who go through expressions of faith who have no faith. They have only expressions. That is to say there are people who bow, who kneel, who pray, but it is empty, it is a mere gesture, whereas there are those who incessantly talk to God or what they imagine to be their guiding Light and they have no structured religion at all.

The preciousness of organized religion, or evolutionary religion, even revealed religion, is to mankind’s betterment. Any religious counsel or training or belief is better than none. Having something to believe in allows the believer to focus on something other than himself. It elevates people when they believe in something; sometimes it’s only their mate or their job or their car, but they do things because of that which they might not do otherwise. I’m getting off track here a bit but you did give me a big question there and I’m trying to say that you cannot marry mortals to my Lord and yours any more than a Buddhist can require you to acknowledge his god as the Supreme Being.

But before it’s all over, before we meet in Paradise, we will have met all these entities, including our creator son, now our Master Son Christ Michael, and so we will not get to the Father but through him. We cannot leave the local universe without passing by his desk on our way out. This will be a thrilling moment, but there is also the opportunity somewhere along the way to experience the presence of many other “gods” and religious figures as they have participated in the spiritual development and evolution of the planet you call home.

I am trying to convey (not very well, I’m afraid) that one must be extremely diplomatic in this business of faith when it comes to characters, personality, dogma, doctrine, religion and so forth. The supreme faith is the one that does not involve all those characters and their names because favoritism enters in and favoritism turns people off. You don’t want to turn people off of the Master or the gift of revelation for the sake of evolutionary religion. But you cannot proceed without them -- both revelatory and evolutionary -- and so do what you can to not set one against the other.

Therefore I say to you that faith is a very personal thing and if your faith is weak, ask God to improve your faith, to strengthen your faith, to give you more faith, to show you what faith is, how you depend upon it, how you need it. Ask Him to take it away so you can feel its absence, so that you can ask for it back, so that you can appreciate it in its fullness. Learn to understand your faith inside out, for it is a part of your relationship with God and all that matters. It is more than a simple task or tenet. It is your life itself. Your spiritual life is intimately, integrally tied up with your faith.

Perhaps this is why it has been said if you have faith, have it to yourself, but people of religious faiths want to convert you to theirs, or tell you why theirs is better, or why those are the infidel, or why those don’t count, or why these are ridiculous. This is human talk. Faith transcends human talk. It is extremely personal. And it is as meaningful to you as it is to any other person of faith – IF it is genuine faith and not merely a pretense. Does that help?

Eva: Yes. You know what I just realized? When I’m listening to you, when I’m exploring these thoughts, I feel like I’m expanding my mind. You mentioned earlier going inside your mind and looking out? It feels like that. It’s a different way of thinking and I want to thank you for that. But I do want to tell you that my faith is my life, yes it is my life. I remember though what keeps me from saying to people “Have you faith? Then keep it to yourself” many times is my remembrance of reading how our Lord and the evangelists and the early apostles went out from door to door; because it was the early part of our gospel. They did impart their good news in a way that belies what you just said, but that was an exception.

TOMAS: It was not an exception; it was appropriate for that day and time. What is appropriate for today is not that you go out door to door but that you clear yourself, as we discussed in the lesson, so that when you do go out you are going out with a clean heart and that what you convey is godliness. You give instead of take. You point out the light instead of the darkness.

Eva: Amen, yes. Absolutely. You are the light. And when I have spoken to Hindus and Muslims I have been able to find our common ground and it’s beautiful. It’s absolutely beautiful because you have that give and take sometimes. The real faith comes through; it shines through when you’ve got that faith. Not the dogma, just that faith. It’s just about walking the tightrope. Don’t let distractions make you look down; just keep walking because we’ll walk towards each other and it’s the same God so thank you. Thank you very much.

TOMAS: Thank you, Eva. Namaste.

Eva: Namaste.

JACK: This is Jack and I’m back. We’re running overtime, in case you are still here. I am going to call it a day and thank you for coming. We had a marvelous time, I know Tomas did. So, we’ll “catch you on the futher brother.” Later!

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				*Adding Up Your Blessings*