2002-06-30-Service and Stillness

Session

Opening

Coronas (Ginny TR): Good morning, this is Coronas. We have been standing here waiting for this TR to choose to hear one of us.

Lesson

Stillness, Service

As you ponder the plight of your planet and discuss ways of being of service in this time of correction, we would like to remind you of our presence and of our continuous watchcare over you and your environment. You are doing well in choosing to be of service in your little ways, in the little events that come your way, and this is good. You can trust us more to continue what you cannot do at this point in time and at this point in your evolution. You are very correct when you say that we function in different ways; sometimes as the source at your service and sometimes as the embellishers of your service. As Agondonters it is important to develop your faith and your trust to a greater strength so that we can, you and I and all of you, work together to accomplish our Father's will on your planet. Your stillness time is a good time to become acquainted with us, not only with your Adjuster but also with other beings who are in great numbers now on your planet and who are here voluntarily to help you through this correcting time.

I am here to give you confidence and to remind you of our support as you go about your daily ministry. Thank you and good day.

Corlatia (Jonathan): This is Corlatia, I also greet you today. It is a pleasure to attend this meeting, to be inspired by your inquiries into how you can be of service to this world which is in great need. We need more like yourselves asking these questions and seeking the means whereby the answers may come into being and the planet progress. I wish to dwell upon the most important means for preparation you have, and that is stillness.

Let us approach the subject of preparedness for crisis and for readiness for any ordinary ministry by using a tangible form through which to illustrate the importance of stillness, and that is your physical vehicle. A society operates as a cohesive organism because each member contributes skill and talent, training, and collectively the needs that each has are filled by the abilities of others. The well-being of all is increased. No one individual alone is able to fill all factors that make life better. There is not enough time, energy, or even inherent talent in any single individual to do so. Therefore you each wear a uniform, in a sense. To address you as a single individual, throughout your life, even throughout a day, you will change your garment depending upon your function. In order for you to work on your car, you would not prepare to do so by dressing in your Sunday best. You would not attend a wedding ceremony in your beach outfit. The teaching corps upon this world is focusing upon providing guidance that will help you to function more efficiently depending upon your avenue of ministry. We are letting you know what garments are appropriate for what function. You would have great difficulty swimming across a lake in a football uniform. However, setting aside all that we attempt to present to you there is a prime and central importance: your relationship with God. You might say here is where no apparel is needed.

By spending even a small interval of time in stillness, you are experiencing your purity of being. What I mean by "purity of being" is that you are not clouded by appearance. Your functions and the distractions of the elements that support your functions cease. The more deeply you experience this sense of being unencumbered by definition, the more profoundly you will know who you are, who God is, and your relationship. Subsequently you will be better able to don the appropriate apparel and function for the Father, because you will better understand who is filling the shoes and wearing the hat.

Someone who for the very first time suits up in a high pressure diving outfit finds it awkward, needs to understand how the apparatus functions for safety and mobility. Once the skill and the education is attained, the individual can expertly apply the apparatus to reach the desired goal. So training for service has two aspects: Better understanding of the needs to be filled through outreach and ministry, service; the skills you have in order to accomplish such. Secondly, is your relationship to God, for, though one may understand how well to use the apparel they place upon themselves to fulfill a function, there as an inward preparedness. Clean clothes lose their purpose when the body that wears them is not clean itself. By retreating to this primal position of being before God, you reset, you cleanse yourself. You prepare to be able to approach the wardrobe of ministry. This time of eternal importance reveals to you that whatever garment you wear to accomplish whatever task it serves as you wear it, not one is of less value or importance. What is important is the value that God places upon you and upon the other to whom you reach. This is understood from stillness and then applied in service. You can come to the realization of the value of personal relationship with the Father by being the recipient of the outreach of another, but often the outward appearances confuse the original revelation. The cloak of the clergy, the coat of the surgeon, can cause you to stop short of understanding the greatest value of all. So, I conclude by encouraging you to spend time in the most primary of important events you could undertake, and that is in quiet time with the Divine Presence.

Dialogue

Urantia, Unity

Ginny: Concerning the planet in general, are the breakdowns in our society a sign that there is more God consciousness arriving?

Corlatia: This planet is reaching a critical point in its evolution, its knowledge is increasing rapidly; the foundation of spiritual values has not kept apace. Awareness is increasing. Inequalities are more broadly recognized. The orientation of self interest, while present for centuries, is now appearing more obviously as a detriment to all. Structures of society, your economic, military, political arenas have a broader impact and can have a more devastating impact.

Today the world needs to discover unity, and this unity is found on multiple levels. One level of great aid to all cultures is the eventual realization of your biologic similarity, your connectivity as living organisms on a planet. All creatures here have originated here. This is your home, and this home needs to learn peace and to value its siblings.

Another level of this unity that needs greater realization is, as I have spoken of in my lesson, profound relationship of creature to Creator and to do so without any sort of creed or doctrine or institution defining how that relationship ought to be. When once a creature discovers that relationship, that life is changed. With attention to life with that inward experience, actions and goals alter.

Today midst the confusion with many people disconnected from the divine source, and others confused about the nature of the divine source, and the barriers established by many people groups between one another, there is much that is capable of creating destruction and pain and oppression. But the world is no longer as it was, and these conflicts do not fade from the eye of all.

Today the lessons are harsher because mankind can do more damage more quickly. But the lessons are more likely to be retained and preserved if each of you made of primary importance the emphasis to any other individual of their relationship to God and your commonality as a people on one planet. You would begin to work in the direction that would undermine the false structures of selfishness and individual power, even corporate powers, for they would appear empty to anyone who has truly experienced the spiritual transformation on the inside.

I hope this helps.

Stillness, Technique

Tom: This stillness is couched in terms of solemnity and piety. Could it be more attractive; is there a way to make it more fun? Or is that term inappropriate in this context?

Corlatia: I encourage you to pursue any method that is compatible with your personality, for the Father has issued no formal procedures through which you may approach Him. For that matter, the Father seeks variety. Given that you are each unique, that no personality is the same, it would be impossible for any standardized approach to even be successful, for any one personality alters the scheme. Do not obligate yourself to repeating methods others use if they do not suit you. Hang that coat up; put away that scarf. Searching your being, it is revealed to me that you have experienced the ecstasy of communion with God. It is a sublime joy, profoundly jubilant.

May I offer to you an experiment? Take the Father on a guided tour. Express to Him those things that excite you, those sites that are thrilling to behold, the sights and sounds that are uplifting. Treat Him as if He had never seen them before. Share. Share the importance -- and by importance I mean the thrill -- that it gives you. I trust that you will experience the upwelling of His joy.

Devout practices throughout the ages have been helpful to many a soul seeking a divine encounter. These practices were initiated by individuals with a propensity for that method or approach. You may create your own; you may even create a new legacy, a new manner for experiencing God in human life. I hope this has been helpful.

Tom: It sure has. Thanks. We are such a hedonistic society. Everything has to be fun. On other worlds there must be a wealth of different approaches that approximate what I'm asking. The example you gave is one to start with. I would like to check in with you from time to time and perhaps get more ideas on the same line. Thanks very much.

Corlatia: I will add one more comment and that is to underline your comment of society's pleasure seeking and the discipline of stillness. The reason the common forms of contemplation have held their value for many, many years is because those techniques offered an escape from daily life.

Solitude was sought by those who found themselves in congested living arrangements. If you cannot remove yourself physically from others, you remove yourself through inward contemplation. Those sensitive to appropriateness who were repulsed by frivolity would feel strengthened by the austerities, the detachments, that one can acquire through a contemplative lifestyle, and today many would benefit from this approach. But as I have said, this is not a decree from the Father that you must be this way. There are those who, though they appear to be enjoying the leisure, the toys, of your modern life, they are extremely alone. They feel detached. There is an inward austerity, emptiness, that you can offer the filling of by bringing this joy, the rejoicing, for these individuals need to explode from the inside with the realization of their divine Parent. Squelching, traditional forms of militaristic deprivation, as in an order of monks, would not work for this type of individual.

Tom: I can think of nothing I would like better than to bring God a chuckle or two in my life. To view this stillness procedure as a lighthearted game appeals to my structure better and gives me a new outlook. Thank you for the insights.

I'm sure I'm not alone in this feeling. I often feel like in stillness I am going to the corner to sit still, very confining. To see it from 180 degrees is a new light.

Closing

Corlatia: You know the thrill of receiving a drawing from a young child. Each child draws his own picture, and each is delightful in its own way. This is exactly how the Father approaches His encounter with you in stillness. So do feel free to draw your own picture. As scribbly as you may make it, it is still a delight to the divine Parent. I will draw closure. You might even draw a picture of what the corner looks like from your stool.

Farewell.