1996-09-17-If You Cut Your Finger, It Bleeds

Session

Opening

TOMAS: Good evening, my friends.

Group: Good evening.

TOMAS: I have been basking in your presence and in the relaxed atmosphere that prevails, and I credit this in part, to your atmospheric conditions. I have, for your benefit, pictured you as beetles cuddled under the protection of a toadstool and, for your amusement, I shall be the caterpillar on top.

Truly, the leisure that you allow, to spend in Stillness, is an invaluable application, not really leisure at all but stalwart spirit work, for as you remain alert to spirit leadings, as you set aside the trifles of the day to focus on your Source, it brings you into that alignment which allows you to reach into realms of mota.

Lesson

Morontia Mota

I would like to address mota with you this evening, for a brief moment. Mota, as you know, is that realm which encompasses the higher planes of intellectual thought as bridging the spiritual realms of reality. You have examples of mota listed in your text and we have seen and shared many delightful growing experiences with myriad mortals as they have pondered the meaning of mota in their own minds, how the mota are constructed in simple words yet having deeper meanings, how often one part will balance the other, and so forth. These mota, which have been given to you as examples of what your future learning will entail, are exercises to delight the mind, stimulate the spirit and enhance your soul growth.

It has been asked and answered recently (in another group) that the ascendant sons and daughters on the mansion worlds are also given mota for mastication, and it is not uncommon that they will there (on Mansonia) utilize axioms from the human plane in order to make a point. I would like to present the one to you that was presented to the other group that you might chew on this together for your intellectual satisfaction and your spiritual amusement, that being, "If you cut your finger, it bleeds."

Recently it was discussed among you in my presence that some of you had hurt yourself in the course of your daily affairs and much discourse followed having to do with why it was that the fall, the damage, the injury, the incident took place, and I venture to suggest that it was this mota in effect, exemplified, for if you cut your finger, it bleeds, and indeed it is you, often, who cut your own finger.

I am not giving forth with a long lesson this evening and am not undertaking yet another fruit of the spirit. I will reserve that format for the Pittsburgh gathering, in-as-much as I started it there and will follow the established format. I am willing to begin another format for you if you are inclined to that end, but in the interim it pleases me greatly that you enjoy my companionship for I certainly enjoy your companionship and look forward to many hours of communion and joy and effort together.

Have any of you anything on your minds you would like to discuss or inquire after?

Dialogue

Hunnah: When I was younger, I used to voice for the group (and it got me in trouble!). I was talking with a friend one time and my friend said, "I don't have any questions." It's as if you can't hurry this trip, this awakening, and I know that people in the group have questions but they don't know they have questions. Is there a way that you can suggest that these things can be dislodged? or are we stuck, so to speak?

I will say that I'm glad that Leah and Evangel came tonight because I know they missed a session with you, and we're going to continue to meet here in my home, and I don't want to have this just be a dialog between Hannah and whoever. Is there a parallel project or study that we can take among ourselves here so that we're not interfering with the other group's agenda?

TOMAS: Indeed, which is what I suggested we discuss.

Inquiry, Growth

Hunnah: Is there something you think would be appropriate? I'd like to see -- how can we get "unstuck"? Melt down. (Laughter)

TOMAS: It is not required that you jot off questions as if you were in a classroom environment; I am not seeking that facet of your intellect. I am seeking to address the soul's needs, and many times -- although the soul may have a need to know, a need to be confirmed/affirmed, a need to feel connected, a need to take one step further into their own path, a need to make a decision, a need to dig deeper, and so forth -- the attached mortal is of an animal legacy and the animal mind balks at being weaned from its own habit patterns, its own comfort zones, and so it is always a bit of a conflict in a mortal, for the status quo is comfortable.

Asking questions is a habit that must be developed in order for the soul's questions to be answered. It is entirely possible for the soul to ask these questions of and to the First Source and Center, the Father, and eventually these questions will be answered. They will be answered in the morontia realms of the mind even as they are being asked, and so the mortal has little need to expose its growing process in such a format as we present here with the teacher and so forth.

Growing is a private thing, and some individuals take pride in being self-sufficient and dignified, not realizing that in sharing their growth they are sharing true growth among their brethren, that others may grow along with them. And so the task would be for each student to realize that his own growth or her own growth is not an isolated growth, but a facet of the growth of the whole, of everyone.

Those who do voice their questions are an asset to any configuration of individuals for it allows for sharing. It is true, however, that the depth of character in questions asked are sometimes glossed over for the more socially acceptable format of merely filling up space. We can fill up space for hours but have we grown? Have we truly nourished the soul in its growth needs?

Hunnah: Thank you.

Accidents, Causality

Evangel: I'd like to get back to that cut finger a little bit.

TOMAS: Yes, Evangel.

Evangel: Are you familiar with the sequel to the "Celestine Prophesy," the "Tenth Insight"?

TOMAS: I have heard it referenced. This mortal [the T/R] has not read it; therefore, I cannot draw upon her file.

Evangel: Okay. Well, anyway, in there there's a character -- one's a doctor and one's a guy that falls on some rocks and hurts his ankle, and she's suggesting we hurt ourselves or get sick . .. The way I interpret this is, it's like our ego trying to sabotage our spiritual make-up. Is this like what you're talking about?

TOMAS: Yes, very much. It ties in very well with my discussion earlier and also with what I was telling Hunnah here, in response to her question, and so yes it is a good bridge and indeed it does resonate to the mota, "If you cut your finger, you bleed" for often in the primitive realms we blame the gods for these accidents that we inflict upon ourselves for we do not want to assume the responsibility of our own experience.

Hunnah: I appreciate your asking that question because -- what you're saying then, the accident acts like a decoy? to pull you back away from your higher purpose and ties you up with attention to the problem and it gets attention? "Oh, they broke their ankle," and everybody gathers around and you get a lot of attention and the subject changes, and isn't it really how you use the incident that counts? That if you use the incident as a teaching mechanism . .. I had a friend....

TOMAS: Hunnah? Hunnah: Yes?

TOMAS: You have already put three helpings on my plate. (Group laughter) I do not want to get indigestion.

It is true that many times mortals bring disaster or confusion upon themselves and into their lives so that they can have attention, but it is more often that they create this turmoil so that they do not have to focus on anything, for even focus is difficult. Some actually do not want attention; they may hurt themselves and not tell anyone, but rather suffer in silence. They still are bringing damage to themselves. This is not for attention but for self-inflicted pain. This is an example of how confused your world is, for to rise above pain and into clarity and light sets you apart from your fellows. It allows you to stand alone and to one who is accustomed to being comforted by misery, to stand alone can be frightening.

Hunnah: It's . .. It is a distraction, and if I can identify it as a distraction, I feel I can manage it better. It's more personal to me. This friend of mine who has psychic gifts told me to take care of my feet and that very day I dropped a knife on my foot. I thought it was rather funny and just that one incident and then after that I was having trouble with my feet, but I don't know that it's actually necessary to analyze a particular part. We have labels here for almost everything. We think we know it all.

Leah: Actually, I'd like to address that. There is a woman that some of us are familiar with. Her name is Louise Hay and she's written "Heal Yourself" (indistinguishable) and she is, I believe, a psychologist or a psychiatrist I'm not sure which, but she did --somehow or other she came upon -- that the clients she was dealing with, when they had a complaint, the ones that had similar complaints had similar ailments. Like people who seemed to be full of anger had heart conditions and I'm not saying this is all gospel or anything but she did research. It was rather vast, the research. Of course, I've taken statistics, too, and I know you can manipulate things . .. and she strikes me as being a very sincere-hearted kind and caring person who would like to help people.

So I suffered from the ear infection on my recent vacation and there is a part of me that's asking, you know, probably on the material level, based on this information, -- and again, I'm not saying it's gospel but I think it's useful -- what is the ear infection . .. Basically her sentence is that I'm not willing to hear. And when I do look at the transcripts I keep on thinking, I really do understand a lot of things that are said to other people, but I can't hear my own stuff. It's probably because I don't want to. I'm sure it has to do with the finger bleeding, because I'm sitting here saying, "What is this all about?" and I know at some level I know it.

But it's interesting to hear yourself voice something. I'm too busy analyzing things to hear it! And I'm glad that there is a comfort level there for myself that Tomas has addressed that you know we get into a so-called meeting and you get in a question answer period and this feels more like a friendly conversation.

Hunnah: Counsel.

Leah: Or like inviting your friend over and talking about these things as opposed to, "Well, you're the authority, you give us the answer," and I know that's not really the way that it is. It's more like, "You are the more experienced; what can you tell us?" So I'm just running my mouth here.

Hunnah: No.

Leah: I was just wondering if you were familiar with the Louise Hay Louise Hay material and if you have any comments about it.

TOMAS: I'm not familiar with the name of the individual but I am somewhat familiar with the nature of her research and am inclined to find merit in her hypothesis for it is often true that the physical distress is a manifestation of an emotional disturbance.

The emotional disturbance is brought about as a result of your thought processes, and your thought processes are often in contradistinction to your spirit strivings and your spirit nature; therefore, the organism of the human being is confused, is twisted, is acting in several directions at once. Without grace and harmony resultant from an integrated personality, it is easy to fall and hurt oneself, which is not to say that the individual consciously brought it on, but it is a result of the imbalance inherent in unfinished growth.

In the case of the ear, if one were to assume that theory, it would be evident that your refusal to listen to something resulted in a weakening of the instrument of hearing. Review not in your mind but in your mota, in your morontial realms, what it is you are refusing to hear, for the mind is tricky and, as has been said, "man can rationalize anything." You can justify your thoughts ad infinitum, but that is not reaching a conclusion that is harmonious with the spirit.

When you include the Spirit of Truth, for example, in your musings, you will allow yourself to hear that which you need to hear, and you will begin then, in grace, to follow the leadings of the still, quiet voice. Many times when individuals think of hearing, they think of hearing from the outside world. They think of the radio and other people's voices when what is called "hearing" stems from your core being yearning for the music of the universes, the cosmic choir.

Hunnah: That sounds very inviting, 'the cosmic choir.'

Leah: I want to make two comments before I forget them. It's also interesting about athlete's foot, and I had some in Hawaii there, it's a "refusal to go forward." (Laughter) Again, I'm not taking this as gospel, but I think there's a message there.

Morontia Mota

I would like to ask also, you were referring to morontia mota. I feel I must have been missing a part, even though I've read it in the Book and I've discussed it in some groups, I was under the impression that that was something that we didn't deal with until we were not on this earthly level. Am I incorrect on that?

TOMAS: It is entirely possible for you to be well-versed in morontia mota, even as you are a mortal in the flesh, if you are aspiring to advance yourself in the kingdom. It was true even before the inception of Correcting Time that wise spirit-led beings walked well in advance of their siblings because of their devotion to spirit reality.

It is very much like those who anticipate the kingdom of heaven and continually put it off to some distant, looked-for, time in the future, when the truth remains that the kingdom of heaven is within you and is alive now. Why should you put off to morontia what you can do today? These are realities that embrace you and enhance your life and the life of others. Stride forward into these wondrous realms and grow. Grow!

Hunnah: May I comment about your talking about Louise Hay? I haven't read her books but I am aware of the fact that she is helping people seek balance in their physicality, in their emotional and physical focus, and that sometimes we develop symptoms simply because the pH of our humanness is out of whack. And when we manage to hydrate our self and eat properly, things fall back in order and we get less colds and our body doesn't give us the trouble it might otherwise, and our whole society is extremely sensitive to the needs of the body right now, whether it is a positive or a negative reason. But that helps me to not have to just relate everything as mental definitions of, "I am sore because I am not meditating. I have a sore throat because I am not taking care of myself better." Or something like that.

Stillness

It's like we're living on so many levels at once and we're in and out of them like flies! We shoot from one high and up and down and it really is a busy time.

TOMAS: I am reminded of your Rodan of Alexandria who spoke about the art of living and, paraphrased, that if man is so ingenious he must learn anew the art of living, perhaps even each new generation, in order to keep up with the many growth activities of an accelerated, activated race of people. Your realm now is a true whirligig of technological advancement, and speedy in so many ways. It is no wonder that it is necessary for you to consciously stop and let the world go by while you get a grip on yourself.

It would be ludicrous to try to keep up with everything that is going on around you in this whirligig. Thus the value of stillness, and in stillness, it behooves you to check out all of your systems, your spiritual center, your intellectual poise, your emotional well-being and your physical mechanism to ascertain that it is in good working order, that all systems are interrelated, that your own mechanism is in good operation.

It is true that many things can simply be a matter of pH balance, and that can be easily remedied, but in the deeper recesses of the -- [Interrupted by telephone]. You can ascertain that it is a matter of deficiency in one realm, but as you are complex people in a complex world, it is truly advantageous to spend time in stillness and to be patient with yourself if you discover that those whose pH is out of balance is connected to an emotional condition resultant from twisted thinking which can then be made operable by communion with the spirit, and so forth. Balance is the answer.

Hunnah: I find that an on-going challenge for me is to mind my business. And that if I tolerate myself, I can tolerate other people's agonies and ecstasies more effectively. It's almost like a parental thing; it's almost like being obsessed with your children's welfare and even though they're out of your life (I mean your immediate home), you're still extended into their life and you're caught up into the judgments of how they do things. And that goes on in all these directions. Constantly! It is such a challenge for me.

TOMAS: Let me address that. Hunnah: Okay.

TOMAS: This is societal conditioning, Hunnah. It has nothing to do any longer with maternal instinct, which was biologically completed many years ago. It is true that parents care for their children and even their grandchildren, but an inordinate interest in the lives of your children, whether they are your biological children, your social children, or your spiritual children, is a matter of your thought processes. Proceed.

Hunnah: Well, as you talk, I have been reminded I have been up and down with this and I use this as an example, but I found that when I have allowed myself to be faithful to my quiet times, all of this is lessened. It's like turning down the volume on the distraction, and it's like an 'effortless effort.'

TOMAS: It is also a common method that mortals employ to make themselves feel good, and that is to be in a position to oversee the care of others, for as long as you are taking care of someone else, you are, in the main, okay. It is a way of feeling superior. It is a way of detaching yourself from your own sense of neediness. It is another dose of conditioning but one which you have brought upon yourself through needing to be needed, and you first must need the Father to know how it is that He needs you and then He will advise you how you may serve in balance.

When you take your instincts and your humanness into the arena and, coupled with your love want to make it all better, you have made it much worse -- particularly for yourself, for you have given yourself burdens that are not required of you. You have also muddled in the affairs of others by assuring the hapless lads and ladies that you have more authority and influence than is your right to have and, lo and behold, they will look to you for it, thereby underlining your original error.

It is, therefore, wise to return frequently to that place of communion with divinity that your motives, your conditionings, your urges and impulses and so forth are constantly reminded, delineated and synthesized, that you may walk a simple path and live a simple life in joy, in praise and in simple service to your simple brothers and sisters.

Hunnah: I can't see it, but my head's been nodding up and down as you talk. I really appreciate this. This is great. Well, that's one more thing that I wanted to mention. Avoiding your own agenda. And as I reflect, my whole life has been this, and whether it's been a subconscious human reason for attention, like you point out, it certainly is a common enough situation, but it's difficult --once you start to find out that you're allowed to nurture yourself -- is to break away and allow yourself private spaces. You find it's harder to do because you've obligated yourself, you're going to lose face because you want to start gracefully backing up.

TOMAS: Face by whom?

Hunnah: Oh, that's just a figure of speech. Your friends think something is wrong with you.

TOMAS: I understand. I wanted to make sure that you understood that you may be giving people more power than they require.

Victimhood

Hunnah: Well, one of the things I've found when I've got my act together is that by acknowledging their, what I call their 'Christ-hood' and that they have the ability to do certain aspects that I was previously interfering with, and that when we honor the Christ of them, it allows them some freedom from their . .. I'm sounding mixed up but in my heart I know what I mean. When you know that somebody has abilities because they are the perfect creation and you're redefining them...

I have redefined the people in my life and in my society now, because I have a new view on what they're about, and it's just a whole new picture, and being the victim is the perfect . .. is being amplified now as to being this crisis. It's important to let people know they don't have to be a victim.

Leah: Are you saying . . . ?

Hunnah: I'm saying you have a choice all the time. Let's use a homeless person as an example. A homeless person can be one level . .. We were talking about the law of cause and effect, or karma. You can look at them from that point of view. You can look at them as being there to bring out the qualities of service in society, so that they will reach out to someone else other than their own needs. And good works come from helping people along the way. Taking off the label. Am I blabbing here?

TOMAS: I would not say you were blabbing. Hunnah: I don't want to get far afield.

TOMAS: I understand that you have somewhat of a philosophy regarding victimization and a distinct distaste for the common usage and the common emotional neediness of alleged victims, many of whom you feel are not true victims but rather victims of being victimized.

Let me state, not in defense of victims, but in reference to that word, that truly Urantia has been a victim of many injustices, that it is part of your historicity, and so victimization is an illness which is being healed. Part of the healing of the victimization of Urantia and its inhabitants is in being "empowered," for in being empowered, something can be done to turn the tide wherein they are victims no more but active participants in their own celebratory destiny.

This is being brought to light in this Correcting Time of which we have spoken. It is being manifested in every level of your society and in every facet of life. It is a natural healing globally that will go on still for some time. It is not necessary that you stay in the global mode, for as you are a forerunner and as you are in the mind frame to approach morontia mota, you are thus enabled to help bring the empowered and the healed forward into the more holy realms of behavior, thinking, acting, responding, loving, enfolding, and so forth that is the birthright of the true sons and daughters of the living God.

Hunnah: I like the way you talk.

Leah: Something that comes to mind, because you spoke of the homeless, in the Urantia Book it talks about the time Jesus spoke with the apostles, and there was a man that, he more or less told them that, he couldn't be dealt with. I don't know. Just because you brought up that homeless thing, it made me think of it. I wish I had a question that I could formulate! I just keep thinking about all these things!

Evangel: You talking about the guy that didn't have a Monitor? Is that what you're talking about?

Leah: I don't even know what I'm talking about, but we started talking about the homeless people and all of a sudden that came into my mind; and I was wondering, like, I was listening to Tomas say that you bring the empowered to healed and . ... It feels unchristian not . .. to give it up!

Hunnah: When you come from a background of Christian service, it can really do a number on you! And you, Leah, are so empathetic! I feel your pain. But you are so sensitive to people's feelings and their needs, that it puts you in a place of frequent pain that you do not really need to carry, because you've allowed yourself to be so sensitive. And I mention that because I see you suffer a lot. You extend yourself with so much empathy and love . .. (Leah sobs) Whoops! There, I've pushed a button. Which may be good. I don't know. But it's not a question that you need to become tough, but that the burden tearing at you be allowed to dissolve.

TOMAS: Remember, too, that Michael was always compassionate, that he never became jaded or hardened by the suffering he saw. He always allowed himself that feeling of compassion for his children. He felt deeply and he suffered on behalf of his children. (I am not speaking of his crucifixion; I am speaking of his daily life.) Remember that he would weep with compassionate pity on those who were blind.

Do not berate our sister. Do not berate yourself, Leah, for your wellspring of feelings, but permit the expression of your sorrow on behalf of your brothers and sisters. Do not feel you must defend the societal stance that they have brought their suffering on by themselves, for no matter how suffering has come to be, suffering is suffering none-the-less and instills compassion in a soul with love at its core.

It is in remembering the resurrection, in the knowledge of spiritual empowerment, it is in undying hope that we manage to prevail in the face of the heartless suffering which Urantia has experienced, and experiences even today. It is true that you who know the joy of the Father find this comfort and light so appealing, that it is difficult then to return your eye and your ear to the ugliness and crying of misery, but it is a calling for many to soothe those physical and emotional wounds, to dress those gaping holes and caress those tortured souls with divine love and tender mercy.

Leah: I'm listening and I'm torn between what you're saying and what was said before about when we help someone -- at the beginning of this discourse -- we just make people more miserable, and . .. I guess the answer is the silence to receive direction.

Service

TOMAS: Are you going to win points for an organization or for your fellow man? or are you going to serve? It is a matter of what master you serve, what kingdom you support. The kingdoms of men permeate the lives of many if not all of my students and has tremendous hold over them. I am not putting down these values for they are the hallmark of civilization: the home, the church, the workplace, and all that is noble and good in an evolving civilization. For them to serve in their arena is good. For those who feel the call to go beyond the traditional, to go into the mayhem, muck and mire of the poor and maimed is also good.

In order to serve in either arena, however, it is necessary that you have your self well prepared for the work at hand. In order for you to not become lost in the ills of those you serve, you must have the strength and stamina of a soldier and you become a soldier by knowing yourself. Knowing yourself, your capacities, your strengths, your weaknesses, it is then possible for you to ascertain your capacity to serve in whatever realm or arena that you feel drawn to serve. We need more workers in the field. Always pray for more workers in the field. Whether it be the pastoral field of wheat and corn next door or the field of mud and rotten potatoes downwind, we need more workers in the field.

Hunnah: You've given us a lot to think about. I have to write down these questions that act like mushrooms here, because as you do talk, many things come to mind and Gerdean's been very patient. It's like opening a whole new area. Let me tell you about a quick example here.

I had an experience on my job where I went out to see somebody who was cardiac, they had diabetes, and they had all these other list of problems underneath. The chart opened up like a book and on the left was all the diagnosis and all the problems. On the right was all the notes from the nurses. This was years ago. And I looked at it one day. I looked at all those diagnosis and I said, "There is nothing I can do about all this," and I closed the chart and I resigned from being a nurse and I decided that all I would do when I went to work was I would be myself, and I would go and I would be with people, and that would be my easy burden, and whenever my job would get me down, it would because I would think I was responsible for removing all the spots that this person was living with, that they had been living with emphysema for many years. I can't do anything about that.

But I could bring the light in me from that morning's time, into my day and because I knew that person was a child of God, in some way, unbeknownst to me, there would be a moment of quiet recognition and it would be a gift like a live ember. Now I can't say that every day I go out it's some great victory, but that experience I had, when it said to me, "I cannot do anything about this. This is a human problem." But I put my new enlightened attitude toward it and what it was, it inadvertently was a gift to myself, and it...

And there's a book Joel . .. it's like you don't do it. You awaken to the fact that you give up that role you've been playing, and see it from new perspective. And I've been very, very grateful for that. That's been like a lifeline for me. And I've looked back at various times in my life and I was surprised that I was able to pull it together tonight for this discussion. Thank you.

Closing

TOMAS: Thank you for your testimony that in walking into the arena as a child of God and in spreading your light by being, you have indeed brought your own God-consciousness to the hungry. I will close the session with a mota: "Life is but a day's work; do it well." Good evening, and farewell, my little beetles.