2000-07-09-Stillness, Study, & Behaviour

Session

Opening

Tomas (Gerdean TR): I greet you this morning on behalf of the teaching corps. I am Tomas and we are many. We are jubilant in your company. Your sharing is filled with opportunities to commend you for your involvement in life, your commitment to that which gives you joy and which in turn gives joy to others.

Lesson

Service

The subject of service is always an interesting subject, for it is different things to different people, even people of differing beliefs. There are those who don't understand the variety of ways in which you may serve and how it is possible that you serve in simply being. The world loves Mother Teresa for her unselfish service to humanity. The youth enjoy Whitney Houston for her service, while we appreciate the faith that you put forth in waking up to commune with our Father. All of these are services because they ease suffering.

Suffering is a relative concept. If we all waited for the audience such as Mother Teresa found, we would not feel that we were being useful to our Father for the poignancy of our service would seem pale by comparison. Easing the suffering of your fellows is much of what service is about, and many of your fellows suffer in peculiar and quiet ways. The comfort and presence of our Father is gentle, caressing, tender, meaningful because His presence alleviates your suffering of being alone in the universe. All you need to do is feel the touch of the Master's hand and know that you are loved and a part of all that is. In many ways your camaraderie is the same as our Father's love and service to you, in that when you are with one another you recognize that you are not alone and that you are loved, and thus you are of service to each other even in your social contact. I have spoken of this in other lessons as to how it is human to judge what one service is over another. Each of you has the capacity and each of you has a path to walk.

In your discourse today it was touched upon that you are all here for your own experiential purposes. Your faith paths are all that you can acknowledge and have authority over. It was discussed that there is very little you can do to determine what another's path will be. Indeed, it is true only the spirit can truly prevail and influence a person's life, and only as that person will allow themselves to be influenced by the spirit will the spirit prevail and be effective. So, in many ways it is for you to gamble on and experience your life as it is presented to you and as you co-create it with our Father.

Jesus' life here was for his own purposes, and yet in the process he was able to be of service to a universe. You in your ways can go about doing good simply because you are being yourself in your sincere and real relationship with our Father. In being joyous in your life, in being of good cheer, in loving graciously as you pass by, you alleviate the suffering of others by your spiritual fragrance. If that is the extent of your ministry, so be it, for who am I to say what your service will be?

Those are my words for today.

Stillness

Elyon (Ginny): Good morning, this is Elyon. It is indeed a pleasure to be here among those who sincerely search for ways to touch truth and to share with your fellow agondonters. As you struggle to define stillness and to refine and improve your understanding of stillness, I would like to participate by adding some thoughts.

It is indeed a good idea for you to organize more strictly your time with our Father as you tend to be so immersed in practical matters every minute of the day. That is a good thing for development of your training. Setting aside a special time is commendable, and you can be assured that we all know what these are and are waiting to help you to reconnect with our Father. Do not forget, however, as Tomas has mentioned about service, that your connections with our Father can take place also in other ways. Each time you connect with your companion, you at that moment also make a connection with our Father. If your intent is indeed to serve and to serve with sincerity and honesty and love, then you do make a connection with our Father who is present in your contacts. You tend to forget that there is connection with our Father through another, not just between you and your spirit... So, think of each service contact as a way of communing with our Father as well as your private time. Service is worship and worship is service.

Thank you for hearing me. There are others waiting.

Study

Malvantra (Jonathan): Greetings this is Malvantra, one of your Melchizedek advisers. Thank you for receiving me. I have a comment to make as an instructor to my students here, that you increase your skills at study.

I do not intend to force you to feel that you must have your head in a book in order to follow my request, but rather to be ever sharpening your ability to observe; to observe not only in the sense of perceiving but to go an extra step and integrate what you observe into what you understand; to note truth, to recognize need, to discern what you can give. Michael studied mankind without ever taking a psychology class, and he grew in wisdom as to how to instruct his fellows in the ways of the kingdom and the path of light.

Through service you will minister to your fellows' needs. Through stillness the Father will minister to you. You are the integrator of these experiences and your insight will deepen, your horizons will broaden, as you learn to connect and factor into an enlarged vision all your multitudinous experiences of daily life. There is no event which stands as disconnected from other activities that you live through. It is the studious eye that is able integrate these events, to find meaning.

Often study is undertaken to simply acquire information. Helpful as this is, it is my intent to encourage you, not so much to seek for more information, but rather to learn to interconnect that which you already have acquired, to become more keenly observant in the dynamics of your daily situations. To see between the lines . .. objects to fill in with a broad understanding, to draw conclusions, conclusions which are not settled but rather give you a toehold to climb another step higher to see with more clarity, with greater resolve. All the teachers and the angels that hover about you can only be of assistance, but you yourselves are the students. The assignments can be given by another but must be undertaken on your own.

I have used my time this morning, and I will step aside for others who are present.

Change, Behavior

Machiventa (Mark): I greet you as well this day. This is Machiventa. As Malvantra has well stated the power of observation and perception is invaluable to you in your spiritual progression and honing your skills in this arena will culminate in certain spiritual growth on your part. As a result of this spiritual growth and through your efforts you will grow to perceive that certain aspects of your behavior and orientation become outstanding to you as inconsistent with one in a new spiritual orientation. So let us speak for a brief time for those who are ready to accept the challenge that results in spiritual growth of behavioral modification. We will speak practically for a moment about spirit.

Your spiritual pursuits will present to you in due course aspects of your orientation, aspects of your behavior, which stand in need of some corrective modification. As you are practical beings and over-involved in practical matters, you may find it helpful to have some practical tips on how to redirect and reapply yourselves to modify certain undesirable tendencies. The first step, of course, is to realize and fully acknowledge and embrace a condition, a habit, a learned behavior which no longer serves to steady you in your spiritual pursuits, to identify this cause, and to desire to modify this behavior. You must then be of a mind to commit yourself to the altering of this unsuitable behavior, and make it a part of your morning worship session, and ask for assistance in negotiating your way through this pattern you have adopted in your lifestyle. To realize that practically everything you do in your daily existence is a learned behavior offers you the comfort and the strength to know that it may be redirected, altered, and the course changed to a more suitable course as per your level of spiritual understanding. So, to recognize that there is an aspect that you desire to change, to seek guidance, counsel, and assistance which are offered to you, and then to commit yourself to the process of this change are all that is required for change to take place.

This does not mean that instantaneously or without effort change occurs, for, as we know, that is not how it happens on this sphere. But taking the proper practical steps is also required to effectively realign your priorities and therefore your lifestyle and habitual routines. Human beings are all about habit, are all about ritual, and you are beginning to realize that these aspects so deeply a part of your being are within your power to rearrange as you see fit, as your spiritual level increases. When your priorities are rearranged then your lifestyle falls into place; then your habits become more in tune with your priorities, and the change is successfully made.

Do not fear the loss of any aspect of yourself which you deem necessary to give way before the higher and better aspect you wish to adopt. If your higher spiritual self is yearning for change for the positive in your habitual pattern, then follow this leading. You sincerely will be better off in your attempts to maintain the higher path than to stick with purely the familiar, the routine you have established to this point. It was mentioned here earlier, you are co-creators, and this stands as well for your destiny and your pattern which you will travel to your destiny. All aspects of your habitual routine are negotiable, and therefore you are in the great position of power to create the highest, the best, the truest path for your spiritual pursuits. Do not settle for the lesser ways, because you know they are lesser. Do not stand for inferior technique when you know there is a superior technique with which to replace it.

This is your challenge, for those who would hear these words, pick up the gauntlet, study the messages, then follow through with adjusting your path, each one, to be the highest one you know available to you, and great changes will happen before your very eyes and around your very life.

Thank you for hearing my words today.

Closing

Michael (Daniel): If you would truly serve your brothers and sisters, if you would truly serve my children, you must become interested in them. It does not serve for you to go about seeking their interest in you. It serves when you go about finding what is interesting and beautiful and lovable about them. If you would serve me and the Father, my dear ones, you must love, simply love.

Those are my words.