1999-09-24-Contact Outside of TM

Session

Opening

Daniel (Bill): I am Daniel. Greetings to you all, my most beloved friends and students. There are assembled in your midst a number of unseen personalities, both morontial and of spirit natures. We have also in our midst visitors to this planet en route to positions of other responsibility.

Lesson

Celestial Contact

I wish to address and briefly comment on the observations that you were making earlier, that contact from the celestial realm is being perceived and reported outside of the groups which call themselves the Teaching Mission. This, of course, is consistent with what we have been telling you now for a number of years, for, indeed, the current status is that where ever there are individuals who are following their inner guidance there is the potential for this kind of contact.

This is the result of the massive infusion of personalities who have been volunteers to this planet. What began with 50 male and 50 female teachers has now reached numbers which are quite staggering in their size. We will continue to pursue the injunction of our leader Prince Machiventa that every desirous human soul be given this kind of spiritual contact. My friends you have grown accustomed to our presence and that is as it should be. We were quite a phenomenon to you at the beginning, a mixture of "too good to be true" and "woo-woo" kind of fear, but now you are becoming much more like people on a normal planet, and so in contrast the affairs of the world now strike you as quite strange, quite infantile and quite futile. This is a difference in your perspectives as you have re-framed your minds day by day in your walk Godward.

Progress

I wish to comment a little further on this change of perspective. Isaac is reminded of words from the New Testament which he once thought were hopelessly idealistic; where St. Paul advised the Christian believers in Philippi not to dwell in their thinking upon what he termed "worldly things," but rather to have the mind of Christ and to think upon the things which are good, noble and uplifting. What had seemed so utterly strange to my TR friend here as a young man has now become a possibility, that he can indeed embrace the things that are uplifting with greater and greater ease, and think on these things a lot of the time.

I know that this is true for all of you, because your familiarity with the spiritual realm has been greatly advanced by the time that you take, however and whenever you do, to pay attention to the stillness within. Because you share this perspective together your company has an ease to it, an instinctive camaraderie. It is so because you do share the same perspective; this is another way that you share spiritual unity, for it is your perspective that clarifies your goals. It is the mind's function to unify and to coordinate, and this is what you are doing with your new perspectives.

Melchizedek Schools

At this time I would like to address a question to you all. After I indicate the question I will allow for a minute or so of reflection, and then I would appreciate it if you all would share in the answer. I would say that you must not feel compelled to cooperate with me. I merely ask you to share with each other. My question is how has the change of perspective been manifest to you in your experience since you have been under the instruction of the Melchizedek schools.

Dialogue

Virginia: Daniel, our perspective of what, our life, our work, our attitude toward the world? You were talking of our worldliness earlier. I'm not quite sure what your are asking us to focus in on in how our perspective has changed, perspective of what?

Daniel (Bill): You may choose, if you wish, to be as specific as to refer to those various areas. You may choose one area. You are free to frame your answer as you feel it honestly expresses your true feelings. It can be in a general sense or it can be as specific as you wish.

Virginia: Thank you.

Lori: Does the Melchizedek schools mean our personal teachers?

Daniel (Bill): Yes, it includes your personal teachers as well as your participation in the Teaching Mission meetings, and your time in quiet as well. Are you ready? I will offer the first person the choice of beginning. Who wishes to attempt this question for the edification of each other?

Lori: Well, I know that my changing perspective has manifest itself in my behavior in the way that I interact with people. I find I don't react to the surface of the situation or person as much as I try to understand and interact with what may be motivating them to behave in the way they are, or on a deeper level-not as superficial. And in my personal behavior, Teaching Mission and reading the Urantia Book has caused me to take great enjoyment in just being, and living more and more in each and every moment, being there and trying to be conscious of what is going on in each moment, and understanding that the really important things are at first hidden because they are not the superficial things that I was more prone to be caught up in before my experience. And I know that through my quiet time I have learned to ask for help with the basic and constant parts of my life, understanding my children, seeing God's love in their eyes, and trying to understand my husband and my friends on a level that is comfortable and meaningful to me personally. And I feel that when I interact with people now I take away much more than when I used to. I really can feel what they have to give, and that there is something to learn from every hoop I have to just go through, or challenge. I am much nicer when I drive. I don't get irritated in traffic as much.

Daniel (Bill): My friend, your list of commentary is most moving to me and I remember our Master's parable of the pearl of great price. You remind me of somebody who has found that pearl and has sold everything else to buy the property where that pearl is buried. You life is richly enhanced as you tell this to me and your brothers and sisters. Thank you for sharing.

Lori: You are welcome.

Daniel (Bill): And who will be next?

Cathy: I will go next. Daniel, I feel an increased sense of personal responsibility for solving my own problems. I tend to look more inside than I do outside these days and I get insight on what is going on in my life. I find that the support inside is much greater than what I can access outside. I have stopped looking for great pearls of wisdom out there when just about everything I need is inside. I think that has been the greatest gift this school that we have all been in, that sense of personal responsibility and increased level of confidence in myself that I can make a choice and if it feels right on the inside. I am not anywhere near as worried as I used to be about people's reactions to whatever it is that I have chosen to do or how I have chosen to act.

Daniel (Bill): Indeed. You have diligently, faithfully and intelligently found the resource which everyone unconsciously seeks, that well of water springing up to eternal life within you. Have you not found your relationships with others to lack or to be reduced greatly in dependency, where now you are free to give from your abundance? Does that seem to characterize you?

Cathy: Yes, it does.

Daniel (Bill): Yes. Thank you for your eloquent and thoughtful sharing.

Virginia: Teachers, I am sure I have been affected by what I read this morning in Tomas's Fruits of the Spirit. It was undying hope, and I think in terms of how in my past, religion has been ridiculed as "pie in the sky by and by." And that probably was the religion I had, I don't know. But at the same time I realize that the Teaching Mission has made my relationship to God much more real in my life and has been a real nudge to spend quiet time with my Indwelling Spirit and with God. And I know that it's different because I no longer beat myself up as much as I used to, even though there are those times that I wish my actions to be better. I know that there is forgiveness and relationship and growth and this hope is very real. And I look at the contrast that Tomas made that it is not just the yearning that you have but it is hope for personal life and for this planet and for everyone I love and for everyone that I wish the very, very best for. And one of the greatest insights for me, for someone else it may not be at all, through the teachers or through the inner spirit, I am not sure, but the realization that anyone I pray for, God loves them much more than I could possibly love, and therefore my hope is rooted in something that is going to be a reality, a good reality forever.

Daniel (Bill): My dear, you do well. The "pie in the sky" has come to earth, and you are enjoying the sweet savor of experience that is real, of hope that is not ephemeral, of spiritual growth that has really changed you and radiates from you to those who are willing to have light enter their dark corners. I thank you for sharing, and I say have another piece of pie. (Laughter)

Virginia: With a flaky crust? (Much laughter)

Daniel (Bill): Whatever makes the crust tasty is fine with me. And you see this is the difference between phantasmal religion and real religion. The one is based upon fantasies, wish fulfillment, nebulous philosophy perhaps and is characterized by alienation within the personality, between the mind and the soul and the animal nature. Real religion is the integration of all the aspects of your life into meaningful, real, "rubber meets the road" kind of experience. And so I don't merely joke with you when I talk about eating the pie now. Nor does real religion ignore the needs of the world, for you are rooted in your lives in the matrix of the needs and interactions with others. You are not off in some monastery separated from the world, but you are all engaged at several levels and in different ways with the real world. Who would be next?

Bob: I'll give it a shot. I think Carol, my wife, is probably the best person to explain how I've changed since 1988. It is many small things and perhaps nothing too great. Patience is probably what I've learned the most, probably because that's where I had the furthest to go, and I am still a very impatient person. Things happen all the time which demand patience and I seem to be able to deal with that now much better than before. My religion prior to 1988 was solid. I felt good about that, but now its not so superficial, its more full, its deeper, its has depth to it. It is not just something you can talk about, but I can actually feel it, and I think convey that to other people. That is even more amazing, I think, that you can convey those ideas to others. And now since 1988 I think I have something to say. Before that religion was more than pie in the sky, but not much. It had meaning, but it didn't have the depth. It was just so many words. And now those words seem to have substance. And I am delighted with what's going on in my life, probably for the first time I think I am on the right track. Those things just seem to resound, you seem to know when the light goes on in your head, you seem to know that THAT'S RIGHT! And those experiences were few and far between before. Well, I've said enough.

Daniel (Bill): Well spoken, my friend. And as each of you opens up to the guidance that your Indwelling Spirit provides you there is less work that the guardian angel has to do to arrest your attention and divert you from unproductive paths. This does not mean that you are magically removed from the ups and downs of life, but your experience of them changes so that instead of struggle and effort and confusion you experience confidence and patience and a very quick return from error to the truth, and a sense of presence, conscious at times of that Lover of your soul, that Father of your soul who dwells within your very minds. There is no substitute for experience, and there is no refutation of experience. Instead of remaining at the level of "I believe", you can at times move to the level of "I know." I know for I have experienced it. I am very gratified by all of you so far. There are still more who may wish to contribute. I would love to hear what you might have to say.

Angie: My memory is not so good any more. But I can feel a security from having read the Urantia Book. I know that the celestial beings are with me. Even though I've got a lot of changes to go through, that's helpful.

Daniel (Bill): Indeed, there will be assistance, my dear Angie. I will not forget you for I will visit with you. You are still part of this teaching group as far as I am concerned. And Esther will bring us her reports. I sense that these, your brothers and sisters, will not let go of you that easily either, and that the bonds of love with continue to hold you in their embrace. I will personally miss you at these meetings as I know your friends here will also. How excited I am that soon, (by my time measurements), we shall all see each other face to face.

Angie: Thank you.

Daniel (Bill): Marty or Barbara or both, would you like to finish our time together?

Marty: I guess mine would have to be a little bit of several who have already gone before me tonight. The biggest one being God is more real to me now. Before God was there I guess, but it wasn't a close-really feeling that he was a part me or I was a part of him. I guess its kind of angels sitting on a cloud in heaven type thing. It was not anything that was close or real. And it seems to me that through the Urantia Book I feel much closer to him now and there's more reality to it. I don't what other word to use than it seems right. And I have to go with the inside instinct that if it feels right inside, then that's right for me. And that's the way it feels. That's been the biggest improvement in me. The other thing would probably be I think I am more patient with happenings. I can roll with the punches a little better than I used to. I still have long ways to go, but I think I do that a lot better. And I am still working on not letting what other people think rule my life as much as it did. I've still got a ways to go there too. There's times it still crops up. But there are fewer instances of it than what is has been in the past.

Daniel (Bill): You have found the trustworthiness of that inner compass, the knowledge that you know God much more intimately than before, and that this knowledge cannot be discredited by anybody else on the outside. Again like the pearl of great price, it is the most important thing. Thank you for your sharing as well.

Barbara: I guess it's my turn. (Laughter.) I think there's been a tremendous shift on a lot of levels. As I was sitting here listening to everybody, listening to your comments, there's a real internal sense that things have shifted. It is hard to identify what those shifts are. I think that I am more true to what I am. I listen to myself. I'm not doing things because I should, I ought to, I'm supposed to-all of those motivations than you have when you're insecure. I think I am more contented, more satisfied. I have more of a sense of connection with people, with the world, with spirit, with whatever. I just feel very different than I did four years ago. And I know that's kind of general, but there's lots of specific examples. It's almost a sense of being holistic, being together, integrated. The pieces fit. That's about it. Some of the things other people talked about I think I've felt those things too.

Closing

Daniel (Bill): The unification of your life around a sense of peace, a natural unification rather than a struggle to put all things into one place, but rather the falling into natural position of your life, is my perception, Barbara. Your longing for family has been met among these, your brothers and sisters. Yes, for all of you the concept of family has changed. You are beginning to recognize that the universe consists of your true family, only a small part of whom your have met so far. I, Daniel, am highly honored to be among such creative, bright, but most of all spiritually earnest students! I truly love you with a whole heart, as do your personal teachers, and all of us celestials. Your guardian angels hold a special place which will manifest itself much more fully on the morontial spheres. We are indeed the family of God; and this world is coming into that awareness.Go tonight and continue your contacts so that your perspective may not only be sustained, but enhanced. Good evening.