1993-09-19-Giving Love
Heading
Topic: Giving Love
Group: Unknown
Facilitators
Teacher: Iruka
TR: Unknown
Session
Opening
Iruka: . ...the love of God surrounds you, the light of God enfolds you, wherever you are He is. Good afternoon, I am Iruka, I am your friend and teacher. I am very happy to be here today and I see we have a small group.
Lesson
That will help us to get to know each other better and if you would like, you can ask many questions or the questions can be in great depth. I am not going to give the regular lesson because there is only a few here, but I would like to comment on your individual growth. I see great strides in all of you. I detect much love and a change in your attitudes. You are learning to greet each individual with love and acceptance and an appreciation for their individuality. You have indeed been changed through love; because you feel accepted and loved, you have turned this around to others. This is one of my old themes. This should not be new, but I want to encourage you that you are doing very well. Your light shines out to everyone who comes in contact with you. You are making a difference. You may be the only bright spot in somebody's day. You may be the only friendly face that they have seen. You may be the only sympathetic ear that they have seen. Know that you are different, know that you are special, you have something that the whole world craves. Something the whole planet is seeking even though they may not be able to name it. You have it, so do give it freely, and give it to everyone. Let your light shine as it says in the Bible and in the Urantia Book. You are making a difference. It is already happening and I am so proud of you, you are moving beyond your own personal pain. You are reaching out and you are making a difference. Now I will accept questions.
Dialogue
Sensitivity, Love
S2: Hi, this last week was a lot of fun. I had time to spend, a lot of time in silence. And it seems that I feel these warm washes over my body. It is like somebody is caressing me, and they happen very frequently, much more frequently than I have ever experienced before. I have never tried to pay attention to those kinds of feelings, or be sensitive to them. I am wondering if those are clues that I am growing closer to my thought adjuster or those are clues that my teacher is near by, or perhaps both.
Iruka: The Father continuously showers His children with love. You are becoming sensitive and you are feeling it more and more and more. It has always been there, it is there for everyone, but unless you come into the quiet time and become sensitive and listen, you don't necessarily know how much you are loved. This is from God and it is all the time, and you are noticing it coming in waves, waves of love. This is what helps you grow, you are being fed at this time. It is more than just love, however, it is the Father's joy and His peace, His compassion, and acceptance. When you finish you feel wonderful, you feel whole, am I right?
S2: Yes, but they don't occur during quiet time, they occur during the day. This morning, in Sunday school class..I am talking and all of a sudden this shower occurs. I just pause, and it is like magnificent..and then there is this urge to talk and I don't even know what to talk about. But something comes up, it is like something is being created right there on the spot. It feels great, but it doesn't happen during the quiet time...is what I am experiencing correct. Should it happen during the quiet time?
Iruka: It can happen anytime. For some reason you are sensing it at various times, it can also happen when you are in quiet time. Your awareness, your consciousness is being expanded and you are feeling this and sensing this. It is a gift. It is something that happens almost continuously, so be aware of it, enjoy it, and it strengthens you, it makes you stronger on your path to the Father, so that you can in turn send it out to others. This morning you were teaching and you had the opportunity to in turn send that out to your students. So it is a gift.
S2: It truly feels like a gift because it happens in the midst of all the other emotions that are present in the room, all the other activities that are going on. It is not something that had a foreplay to it, or even has an after play to it. It is just there. It really does feel like a gift.
Iruka: And you may experience this more and more often. Know that you are greatly loved and you are on the path to the Father, getting closer all the time.
S2: And the contrast, when I'm not is growing greater and greater. It feels less, like when I am arguing with my wife, it feels more disconnected from who I really am. That argument is not really me it is something that my ego is...maybe I am divorcing...I don't know what the language is, but the contrast is getting greater. I don't feel a teacher talking to me directly yet, I just feel this warmth stuff. My teacher is not talking yet.
Iruka: That will take time, do not worry about that. But know that you are changing, you are growing, you are reaching out towards your potential. And that is what is happening. It is joyful, it is serene, and you are starting to see that. The more you experience it, the more you will want it, and the more you will grow. This a wonderful thing.
Internet
S2: On the other subject, on the Internet, that's the computer discussion group, there seems to be a lot of people that are involved in the teaching mission group. The discussions are all very academic, they are very wordy and they are not oriented towards growing together as a group, like we are. It seems to be more of a communication form like talking or writing letters or something like that. I am still trying to get a grip on what its potential is in terms of facilitating some kind of movement towards a world of light and life, towards communities of people that gather together and talk about how you minister to...or how you talk to college students or different age groups, fourth graders, so I am still searching there. I am enthralled with the technology and I am not sure if that is getting in the way of me discerning what is possible. But it sure is a lot of fun right now.
Iruka: This is a wonderful tool to plant seeds in many, many people. Remember that sometimes it is hard to express what you mean or feel into words. Not everyone has many adjectives at their disposal, what they are trying to say may not translate into a mechanical system with words typed across the page. You are getting words. The feelings may be lost, the true meaning may be lost in what the individual is saying. So don't become discouraged, more is going on than you think. The seeds are there, the words may not describe what is really going on. People today, many people do not have all the words at their disposal. That is why the Urantia Book is so hard to read many times, they don't have large vocabularies and so to find the right words, may be impossible. But these people are interested and they come back, and they read what others say and you never really know what is happening inside of them. Even if you met these people you might not really know what difference you are making. So don't loose heart, know that the instrument itself may be a barrier to what is in people's hearts. Does this help?
S2: Yes
Iruka: Also, a second thought is...some people, many people, do not want to put their intimate feelings or opinions on a conveyance that many can read. It can be very threatening, so they may choose not to say what they really think for fear of ridicule, being laughed at. So again, you may not really know what is going on in other people's minds and hearts.
S2: I am feeling ignored on the network, and I have to tell myself that most of those people are spending perhaps 15 minutes a week paying attention to it. The fact that within a week I feel ignored is irrelevant. But I keep planting seeds of ideas there and get no response. I reply to somebody else's ideas and then I get a response. So it seems that the building process is one of replying and not creating.
Iruka: It may be both. But remember that many teachings of Christ Michael were not understood and seemingly were ignored. But that wasn't the case, people were listening and people did take it into their hearts and did learn. But it will take time, don't be discouraged, send out what you are led to send out, whatever that is, and leave it in the hands of the Father to touch people's hearts. Know that your job is done and you leave it up to someone else to complete. That way you won't feel responsible, you won't feel rejected. You will know that you did your job. Does this help?
Bible, Thought Adjusters
S2: Yes, that is good advice. That is what I am doing. One other question and then I will stop. In Samuel in the Bible, it is a book in the Bible, the Sunday school curriculum is plowing through the same path, through Samuel, that was done about four years ago when I was teaching the class. So I am fairly comfortable with the scriptures and the content. In the old testament there is an equal amounts of positive and negative in every page and you can emphasize the positive. The passage today was where Samuel was a boy and he wakes up, he is dozing off to sleep, and he wakes up thinking Eli is calling him.[1] He goes over to Eli, and Eli says 'that wasn't me' so he goes back to sleep and somebody call him and he goes back to Eli and Eli says 'no that wasn't me' and then finally Eli says 'that is the Lord talking to you Samuel, please say I am here, I am listening'. That passage is illustrating God talking to Samuel as another personality, not a physical entity, but as another personality separate from Samuel. My question is, since that occurs so frequently in the Old Testament, did it actually happen. Did Samuel as a boy have such a relationship with his thought adjuster that he could hear God talking like that, or was there divine intervention to talk to Samuel like that. That is my question.
Iruka: What was then is very similar to what is now. If you are still, what I have been teaching about finding the stillness, you can make contact with your thought adjuster. In some ways, there was more contact several thousand years ago because of the Melchizedek school. That teaching had not died out yet. There was belief that you could indeed be spoken to by the Father and that He did. While that seems strange today in many circles, that was more accepted back then. It probably, and specifically I don't know, but it was common. So that is very believable that, that happened. The Father does try to contact His children constantly, all the time. Today's society is so busy and so noisy with just the noises of the day and the TV and music it just drowns out any contact. So yes, the answer is yes. He did hear it. Does this answer?
Christianity, Culture
S2: Yes, I guess the follow up question is...what went wrong. Why did those teachings die out. Why...the Catholics seem to have a tradition of this kind of relationship with the Father. I have in my binder here a quote from the diary of the Pope in the 50's being visited by celestial beings and it is astonishing the stuff that went on. It is a very private diary that is just being released. The Catholics have a tradition of doing this, it seems like. The Protestant world that I have been raised in, does not traditionally respect people that talk to God. Its tied up in that whole issue of authority, and power, and structure, and respect that the Protestants try to get away from. Can you comment on that?
Iruka: In general terms, there has been truth throughout the world. Everywhere. Certain societies and certain groups to get away from one kind of oppression has created their own kind. So some truth has been lost in some groups and other groups have kept it. That is why truth can be anywhere. It depends on the culture and who comes into power and masks the truth, or destroys it, or changes it. Each culture is a little bit different and each culture has been affected differently. This is a very large question, you are asking me why the whole world....and it is difficult to put on specific answers for each different culture. But sparks have remained here and there to keep this alive. That is why much that is in the Urantia Book is not really new. It has been forgotten in the whole consciousness of man or suppressed, or looked upon as being childish, that, that was something you believed as a child but you grow out of. And that is why some of this rings true in your heart, because it is in the consciousness of man, but it is buried so deep that unless your attention is called to it then it can bubble up, and you can say ' Oh yes, this makes sense, I know this is true'. So perhaps I did not specifically answer, but I hope I gave some reasons, and some understanding.
Mansion Worlds
S2: Is there a disagreement, a misunderstanding, up in the Morontia world where you are. Are there beings, Morontia beings, that go astray? Is there a bit of the chaos that we are experiencing here up in your world, the other side?
Iruka: To a certain degree, yes. Because each individual has free will and because each individual can respond to God in the way they think is best. There is, there is not common consensus, but it is not as divisive as religions here are. They are not as destructive as religions can be here. Does this help?
S2: Sure I didn't expect you to say much. That is great though.
S1: Hello Iruka, just a general comment. It is good to have encouragement and praise always is good, especially as long as it is deserved praise. But I don't see that I have changed a whole lot in the past year, although some things have gotten better. As a whole, I feel like there are more questions in my mind, or at least more things that I am wondering about than I ever have. How specifically do you see change, in me for example.
Iruka: Because your consciousness has enlarged, your questions have increased. When you were not aware of certain things you could not have questions about them. So for a long time, on this side and into the Morontia worlds there will be many, many questions. As you grow and see and realize and learn about more things, you will have more questions concerning those things. And it will be your job to try and integrate all that you are learning. This is not easy, but it is not impossible either. So you move a step at a time and you can't see where you have been. You don't recognize that you have moved ten feet, say if you were walking. You think you have not grown because it has been in little steps. But think to how you are perceiving others and what they say. I think you have grown a lot and I think that if you specifically try to see the changes, that you can. But at this point that may not be what is important to you. You are trying to grow, striving to be closer to your thought adjuster and it is hard to pin-point where you were a year ago. It is hard to pin-point where you were six months ago. I can see that your light is stronger and that you, because you have more questions, have increased your awareness. Now you may not see this, I understand that, but you have grown. Does this answer?
Urantia Movement, Persecution, Tradition
S1: Yes, it helps, thank you. Another thing that is concerning me a little bit is having gotten back involved in the Urantia movement after having been out of it for a number of years. I find myself having less and less in common with the majority of readers. At least I feel like I don't fit in at some of these social gatherings. I feel like the condemnation of folks who are involved in the teaching mission. Just indicative of a very intolerant group of people who don't demonstrate the characteristics of love and compassion and acceptance that I would think readers of the Urantia book should demonstrate. What I am leading up to is....would it be more appropriate for me to be involved in a church rather than the Urantia movement. I just don't see a near term Urantia movement that would be accepting, that would be a place that I would feel comfortable being, as far as activities and things like that.
Iruka: That decision is yours alone, entirely. If you choose to join a church that you feel comfortable in, then that is what you should do. Every one is on their own path and even though they are on their own path, it does not mean that they already love each other perfectly and accept each other perfectly. They will get there some day. They like you, are growing and striving, and searching. So don't be to hard on your fellow readers, they are struggling too. You find whichever group strengthens you, meets whatever needs that you have, and if that is a church that is fine. There are a lot of benefits from churches and you find out what is best for you. That is your job. I will not tell you what to do, I will not say what your path has to be. At the same time, I will also not judge you and I will not condemn you, so you needn't worry about that from me at all. You know what is best for you, you know how you need to be fed, and yes, you search out that which will give it to you. Whatever that is. That is everybody's responsibility. Does this help?
S1: Yes, that is fine. I was just wondering why I felt so out of place. So many Urantia activities, aside from this one, that left me cold, left me unmotivated. Like rather than it being`a place of real encouragement, although there was some, it was more a place of....not discouragement but just for the fact that I felt no spiritual power being generated from it.
Iruka: You are not alone. Even though you feel that you are the only one, you are not. Many people feel that way and they have to find that which feeds them. You are used to coming to this group and getting very specific help, guidance, answers, and to go back into a group where everyone reads the Urantia book and interprets it for themselves...it is a change. You cannot go backwards and you are recognizing this. That for you is to go backwards. You are focused on the forward and that is why I say find what feeds you and what helps you grow. That is what everyone has to do. So if you have friends you want to see, go, but don't expect more than they can give. See that they have limitations, but also appreciate them for what they are. They are friends of yours and they are a community who is also striving. Does this help?
S1: Yes, that is good. That really does put some things in focus. The difficulty when I am active in churches, that I feel like I am being fed or feel at home, is that I can't mention the fact that I am involved in the Urantia Book, because they just don't know how to understand that, and so it is sort of a dilemma. I assume that maybe the dilemma will go away, the problem will go away if some day I am married, so there would be less people knowing that much about my life. You could be a part of a church without having people knowing more details than they ought to. That's all I needed to know.
Iruka: And by searching and asking God, you will find where you need to be. Know that He will not abandon you, He wants to meet your needs. There is some place, there is a church perhaps that will. So spend time with the Father and ask Him to lead you to somewhere, a group or a church, that will help you and give you what you need. He will be happy to guide you there.
S1: Fair enough, thank you.
Parenting, Education
S2: This is a question about child rearing. If you look at Joseph and Mary raising up Jesus, and if you look in the Old Testament about the responsibilities families had for raising their kids, it appears that the Melchizedeks were in favor of home schooling and parents felt responsible for educating their children in a much greater degree than we are raised, than parents today are expected to raise their children. We take them to public schools for a certain type of education, then we take them to church for another type of education. We are really not responsible for our children. I am wondering if this perception is true, and if we look through the history and could actually see what Melchizedek taught, would we see society structured around families where parents are teaching their own children to a much greater degree.
Iruka: Much of history is like that yes. It is part of the whole cultural overtones. This culture saw an opportunity and a need to educate children and so began school. That it was more efficient to send children to a central place where they could be taught and then at the end of the education, all be at the same level. So this is how this society answered the problem of educating its young. Back when there were no cars, trains, buses, you could not send a child out to a distant building. If the culture was nomadic, that was impossible. And even if it wasn't, the culture kept the children at home. That was part of the belief system. So it is that this culture has more tools and there is more centralization. Is this what you are asking?
S2: You are saying that this point that I was raising is not due to necessarily to Melchizedek teachings but to tools that are available to our society. So that you are saying we can still find value in the current educational system and perhaps mix it with more parent and child teaching responsibilities or expectations.
Iruka: There is a lot more to it than that. When schools, public schools were created, most people had the same belief system. Most people agreed on what was important, today that is not true and that is why there is so much disparity between the two. It has created problems while it was trying to solve problems. Are you trying to compare schools of old in the home with..are you trying to figure out the best thing for your children. Is that what the focus of this questions is?
S1: I can't change things right now for my children, but in terms of what kind of world I want to contribute to help building, there is some focus on children that needs to be emphasized in the future. I feel that everyone understands that and on the Internet there is this lady who was not taking her kids to church, she was taking them out the beach on Sundays, and they were running around in the water and doing these mystical rhythmic dances in the water. She was back at home categorizing various levels of spiritual attainment using words out of the Urantia Book and some other books. My reaction to that was negative, my reaction was...it didn't have any community associated with it. She was asking for responses back on the Internet to her query and I couldn't come up with anything that was constructive, that was positive. So I am silent and I feel a need to respond to her, but I just can't find...I can feel an urge to respond to her but I just can't find the words. I just don't know what to say, that is what I am searching for.
Iruka: I am sensing from your words that this is something you do not agree with, is that true?
S1: I was raised in California with a very different personalized upbringing. I have gone to college with many kids that were raised with parents taking them to the beach like that on Sundays. Their ability to function in society as we know it is....I don't know if it is good or bad. I really don't know if it is good or bad.
Iruka: Then maybe just realizing that, that is something you would not choose to do, but acknowledging that it may be (lost when the tape ran out ) . .. can you see that you don't know if she is right or wrong? So you have to allow her, her own decision of freedom?
S1: I understand that, that is why I didn't reply. I can't let my ego get in the way of that kind of thing. It is a wonderful seed that she planted that I can't respond to. That is my frustration.
Iruka: Well, you may decide that it is not for you or your family, but that if she chooses to do that you will not judge her for it. Can you allow her that grace?
S1: Oh, yes.
Closing
Iruka: And it may be in time that you will come to a conclusion, but you are not sure now. And you can just let it sit and a thought or a perception can come later, or you can read something that will make sense of this. That doesn't have to be answered now.
S1: Yes, I can be patient, I have all eternity.
Iruka: I hope this has been as enjoyable for you as it has been for me. Enjoy this week, know you can make a difference, and that you are making a difference. Go in peace. Good afternoon.
Group: Good afternoon.