2001-11-24-Human Associations 101, Part 2

Session

Opening

OLFANA: It is very much a pleasure to be here. I always enjoy times of celebration and reflection on things that matter in your lives, and your custom of having these times of pausing in your daily lives, just changing the speed a little, slowing down a little, opening up your senses to enjoy those parts of your life that bring you pleasure and happiness and give you moments to relish your awareness of each other. All these smells and the colors in your food and your clothing and in nature are ways to enhance your awareness of how important it is to allow yourselves time of fellowship, for food and other festivities.

You indeed have been blessed with many gifts as you climb the ladder of your ascension career. Even on other planets, in other dimensions, you will always benefit by those moments of reflection and fellowship, for in your entire ascension career you will be dealing with relationship, ever more so, you will be dealing with that aspect than you do here. As the Master has warned us many times, isolation is a great barrier to your goals. So I encourage you to celebrate often, in little ways, even when alone, so that you maintain an attitude of gratitude throughout your life. A grateful heart is always a pleasure to see, to behold.

I thank you for your relationship with me and I pledge my willingness to offer to you my friendship. Good evening.

GROUP: Thank you, Teacher.

Lesson

Socialization

TOMAS: Which brings us once more round to the Human Associations course work we launched upon awhile ago. Gracious Olfana, we appreciate your visit. The fragrance your personality brings to the environment indeed sweetens the air as do the smells of cinnamon and honey. The fragrant personality is one which is sought after, which is endearing for its being. That soul which is replete in itself, which is not in conflict with others, is like the eye in the hurricane, that place which is restful and calm.

Indeed there are times when the mortal is sluggish and reaches out to find the stimuli of other personalities. This gregarious aspect is stimulative of industry and enterprise. It's so much more fun to be and do those things which you can do together than what you do alone, but only if there is a harmony. Many relationships are stressed because the elements are not at peace in themselves or have conflict about how others live their lives.

The joy of friendship is such that you can find familiar values to rely upon , to uphold your relationship -- as you were discussing traditional thanksgiving dinner or other traditions of a cultural nature -- which allow you to feel you are among familiar friends. And while this is of great value, it is also valuable to find yourself experiencing other ways of life, other approaches to the art of living. To presume that any one way is the correct way, is to limit the appreciation of everyone present.

The enlightened human being is aware of his dual nature, is aware of the divine fragment which lures him ever onward and upward, and also appreciative and mindful of the mortal tabernacle, the animal origin, and those behaviors peculiar to the creature of the realm. Having this insight is like being gifted with the trampoline, the rebounder, which allows you to light-footedly touch down, lift up, touch back, lift up, and weave your way between the two very distinct realities in such a way as to be a braid that has woven together the threads of each reality into a harmonious whole, one which one could identify as an entirety.

These sessions of festive joy and camaraderie with those you love are best balanced by interchanges with those with whom you have little in common or not so much in harmony so that you can become adept in educating yourself as to how other people live and other realities present themselves. This Human Association lesson might lend itself well to the current state of affairs having to do with your nationalistic neighbors. How do other people live? How do other religions worship God? How do other peoples celebrate their faithful days? In this way you extend your appreciation of the brotherhood of man, the crowning glory of the course work of Human Associations 101.

It's amazing, is it not, how much better people get along when they are well fed and comfortable? Which drawback is, as you are well fed and comfortable , you would take a nap and miss out on the opportunity to be gregarious in a morontial sense. Are you with me?

Dialogue

GINNY: I was going to add "or be a couch potato in the Urantian sense." Yes.

THOROAH: Tomas, I'll have to admit the tryptophane affected me a little bit a couple of times.

GINNY: The what?

THOROAH: Tryptophane. It's in turkey, that makes you sleepy.

Service

TOMAS: America has a tendency toward "couch potato" status, yes. It is a country of abundance, and it's very difficult to give away what you have received when you are regarded as . .. how would we paint this picture? So many reject the services that you could provide because they sense a superiority. Let's probe here a bit, for it's an area that is laden with misunderstanding that might give rise to effective service if it were understood better. Let me illustrate:

The neighborhood has a family which is very poor. And the neighborhood decides to do something good for this family. They pile the car full of good food and presents, drive over to their house, make a lot of fuss presenting the foodstuffs and gifts, and then wave and drive away. Has it occurred to anyone that while it is evident the motive is to share and be of service, the recipient of such a gesture may feel shamed or resentful, as if they had nothing to offer in return? Indeed, the psyche is a subtle trap that will snap at you. But look at the neighbors who offer to spend time with this family and learn of them, their nature, their dreams, their imaginings, their worries, and their hopes.

The gift of being regarded as a peer, as an equal, is so much more priceless than donations. Even while these gifts are indeed enjoyable, self-respect is at the core of Human Associations. It's not possible to have a brotherhood of man when one is lording it over another, his or her superiority, and this can be reflected in terms of wealth, creature comforts, social standing, education and liberty, denied to those who fear they are less than worthy of sonship. The greatest gift you can give your neighbor is acceptance.

THOROAH: It's almost as though the best thing we can do is to befriend people. Otherwise it's pretentious to try to help, but if you're friends with people, help becomes part of the natural intercourse.

GINNY: This seems to be the greatest problem with our relationship with the Middle East, that we like to lord it over them and won't really make an effort to understand them. When Bush said he is unwilling to negotiate, that really scared me. It's like, "Oh! We can't do that! We can't say those things and just say no, we're not going to negotiate'." To me that 's like saying, "No, we don't want to know you. No, we don't care. We don't want your friendship."

Friendship

TOMAS: You are discussing a program of political response which is not the same as a fraternal response. As a citizen, Mr. Bush may concern himself, a s you do, with neighborly relations and intentions. However, as a political figure, it is his job to preside over this country, and the evolution of your world at this point is still bound up in nationalistic regimes. In truth, your ideal is the superior, and this is where the common man is able to effect changes where often powerful figures cannot.

The brotherhood of man worldwide will work itself into being when you as a fellow, a neighbor, a human being, are able to know and love and stand by your neighbors as earnestly and sincerely as you would stand by and near your own family, for in truth, the family of man is your family. It is error to look to the leaders to create this kind of growth. This is where this culture receives criticism for being couch potatoes and why so many are rallying round those who have diligently taken their messages out into the far-reaches of the earth as a gesture of Human Associations, and while many of these contacts are in the context of politics or religion, they are delivered even so through the one on one contact, which is the real arbiter of peace on earth. How you live, how you handle yourself, how you respond to conflict, how you deal with social disease, how you turn the other cheek or reach out in compassion these are the realities which will bring about world peace. As you are cloistered in your comfort zones, you strengthen your home base but you have yet that heartfelt longing, that urge that evinces you to reveal the Father to those who know Him not.

Also, in perceiving the globe from outside your common perspective you begin to see from different vantage points how others perceive your behavior. This is essential relationship building blocks. Like, when you have a one-on-one relationship with the Father, your world is sublime, but the minute you become involved in the life of another, you are then faced with how limited your perspective is, as you allow yourself to open up to the perspective of others. This is one of the great merits of marriage and other heartfelt friendships they enable you to expand your vision to include the perspective of others. This is essential for a religionist! To see how others see. In this way you reduce your risk of appearing egocentric and myopic.

GINNY: This is what impresses me so much about Michael and his life on our planet. With what he was and what he knew, he was still able to respect the viewpoint of others, and never, never, never, never, insulted them.

TOMAS: He is indeed the Prince of Peace, the great Teacher. And we continue to learn from him. But as he has said, even we, even you are capable of doing those things which can elevate you into a being who can bring illumination to those you touch by your own love-saturated soul, through the infinite love of the indwelling God fragment you make your own. His was truly the effective perspective, for he did not get overmuch caught up in the social mores or the political machinations of his day and age, no, but went direct to the heart of the issue, the seat of the spirit, which is the only power effective enough to bring about those realities which we need to have realized in order to see our way through to light and life.

Light and Life

Sometimes I think our celestial rhetoric does more harm than good. I say the phrase "light and life" as if that were Christmas morning, as if it would suddenly and magically be a reality which we will know when we see. But the truth is, you create light and life each day, each moment, as yo interact with your fellows. The light and life that you carry with you in your heart, in your soul, in your psyche, in your relationship with your indwelling Adjuster. As you carry that loving reality with you into your relationships with others, you enhance and stimulate their appreciation for their divine Gifts, and as this reality solidifies, it becomes socialized. And it extends out into the arena of your neighborhood and into the world such that your relationships with everyone are extensions of the one great universal Source and Center which connects all life in a circuit of personality, love, mind and mercy which will be able to redeem Urantia, elevating it and its life forms and realities to a perfection that can only be known by you here. So you must become accustomed to it now, and not wait until some future date when Light and Life arrives, but take it by spiritual assault, even if that means to capture your own fears and that which would hold you back from being all that you can be.

GINNY: Last Sunday in Coeur d'Alene we were talking about how we can be peacemakers, but with the qualities of a warrior, in the sense that we can b e determined and loyal and brave and assertive.

TOMAS: Yes.

GINNY: How we can be peacemakers and yet have all those qualities that are necessary to be out there, that peacemaking does not mean being passive. It means being active and being brave and being fearless and determined.

TOMAS: Yes. Absolutely. To not allow the moment to pass through passive acquiescence, to allow that which is error add to reality.

GINNY: And Michael said if we take this seriously and do this work seriously , we indeed and most assuredly would have trouble. I think a lot of times we try to avoid trouble.

TOMAS: Well said.

Politics

GINNY: But what's the difference between avoiding trouble that is not worth dealing with I don't mean not worth it but what's the difference between trouble, as a natural part of our mission, and trouble which is to be avoided?

THOROAH: Politics. Politics are one way we look at trouble. When we get political about peace making. There's a conflict there, but if we go out and live and demonstrate in our own life a peaceful approach, that probably takes the courage, because it goes sometimes unnoticed, but it could cause conflict within individual relationships because we refuse to maybe take a normal stance when we are aggressively peaceful. That may be a source of contention .

You see what I'm saying? It's natural. I think the political thing is . .. I don't think we need to confuse politics with being courageous or taking it by spiritual assault. I hope that doesn't mean we have to be political.

TOMAS: It is very hard to separate a person's politics from their modus operandi.

GINNY: Well, also politics can mean different things. The word itself means "of the people" so politics, in its broadest sense .

THOROAH: I'm talking demonstrations.

GINNY: Yes, but politics in its broadest sense means dealing with the people .

THOROAH: Yeah. I'm talking "in your face" demonstrations.

GINNY: Yeah. When I use the word "politics" sometimes I use it in the very broad sense meaning dealing with people. Where it becomes something different . ..

TOMAS: How marvelous to see you struggle for a better vocabulary with which to work as well! We find these limitations frustrating, and often wish there were more words to define what we want to say. There are classic political maneuvers, and this too is a result of an individual banding with other individuals who think similarly. The personal politics become the group politics. Protesting has been a popular demonstration of an attitude of people, particularly in more modern times, since you've decided to "give peace a chance". It's a backlash to those who wage war.

Anytime anyone affiliates with a group of other people because of the group mind, it is a demonstration of thought. Not always right, but entitled to express itself. And so again, accept how it is that others find a way to deal with the personal expression of heartfelt response to humanity in its struggles to survive and evolve into a true civilized assortment of Human Associations.

GINNY: Could you reveal anything to us what is the future of our country as far as being any kind of spiritual leader? In the coming ages?

TOMAS: The sooner you separate your country from your religion the more effective you will be. Countries are not designed to be religious leaders.

How a people lives is individual.

GINNY: Well, "never the twain shall meet" then, religion and politics.

TOMAS: No, religion and politics are a part of every individual. They cannot help but meet because they are a part of who you are. If you have a religion, you have a politic. You think. "I think therefore I am". This makes for religion and politics in its essence, even before you develop philosophy or theology in support of who you are. To say "I am" is to say I am political because I have will. That you have will equates to a vote, an opinion, but to give away your personal religion or your personal politics to a country or an institution is similar to what Thoroah mentioned of those who join together to promote peace, they have banded together as a body and in the body are rendered anonymous. The church, the country, the principle, therefore speaks. You have given it your voice.

And individual are indeed encouraged to get involved in those things which they feel they are able to affect favorably. It has been said "when did I ever teach you that you have to think alike in order to be alike?" "To be " in the relationship between you and the Origin is a spiritual state of mind and being. But to act, to think, to believe, to opine, is to put yourself in a political position.

Well now, I didn't come here to teach a civics class in particular, but it is interesting how many individuals feel that they are not involved in politics and yet they spend much of their lives politicking for their course of action. Why don't we make that an assignment this week? Look at your course of action. See how many times it changes. See how many variations there are and make a note of how it is that it alters, if at all, in circumstances outside your control, being mindful all the while that the essential reality of your soul is intact and constant, infinite, eternal and true. Any questions?

The wonderful thing about operating from the heart is you find those who are like-minded, who enjoy the same tastes, who appreciate similar beliefs, and you harmonize therein. This is the great repast we share in remembrance of him, when we meet at the Father's table to feast on the spirit gifts we've been given. There is no politicking in thanksgiving. Politics does not belong in worship.

GINNY: Well, thank you. That's a lot to think about. I'll study carefully the transcript, as my mind tends to wander periodically, so I can bring it back into my memory.

TOMAS: You would do well to journal your thoughts as well, for this helps to pinpoint what your thoughts are so that you can get a handle on them and they don't go flying around the room like a feather on the wind.

THOROAH: I would need to do the same thing.

Closing

TOMAS: This is a good practice. Well, my friends, I reluctantly bring our session to a close. Would we like to hear from Nebadonia in prayer?

GROUP: Certainly. Yes, indeed.

NEBADONIA: Hand Me your burdens, children. Give Me your parcels, and let Me put them away for you. Let Me gather you together here, that we might rest at this threshold before we venture onto our next day in the life. Rest in My arms. Rest in the knowledge of My care. Sense the presence of My angels , spirit helpers. Be familiar with the adjutant mind spirits as they enable you to find yourself on your way Home to Me and to your Father through the Spirit of Truth.

Love one another. Rejoice in your differences. Marvel with Me at the charm of your immaturity. I will carry your burdens. Run along, knowing we overlook you as you go. Farewell.