2002-08-02-Problems of Isolation

Session

Opening

Prayer by Daniel: The unity of your hands is the unity of your hearts expressed through touch. You choose to relate to each other and not to draw back into isolation. You choose to do Gods Will]. For it is His will that His universe be united and share the love which created it. I am Daniel, let us pray.

Eternal Father, Infinite Spirit, Eternal Son, one God in three persons. We Your children on the plane of Time and Space, stand in awe of Your creation and of Your great purpose. We look Paradise ward and we wait with great anticipation to one day stand in Your presence, oh great Triune Deity. But while we wait we have You present with us as we progress; and so we do not wait at a distance, but we commune with You now in this holy moment, this sacred time.

May the love I feel for these my brothers and sisters reflect the purity and genuineness of You, the Source of all love. May our eyes follow the Master Son who walks before us, and may our feet fall into step with Him. So be it, Amen. (group: Amen, thank you Daniel)

I am Daniel. I will be the speaker this evening. Greetings my friends, my beloved students. It is an immense pleasure for me to sit here with you in this intimate and easy relationship which you share with each other. When you sit at a table close to each other, as the table provides by virtue of its size, your proximity enhances your intimacy and breaks down the barriers which are always there, ready to re-assemble when the heart is in doubt as to the value of risk of intimate sharing. So you do well to position yourselves so that physical distance does not add to the tendencies to withdraw.

Lesson

Yes, tonight's commentary, or rather I should say meditation, will be on overcoming the natural tendency to isolate. But, you say, is it a natural tendency to isolate? Or is not more natural to associate? On a normal world the natural tendency is to associate, for isolation is the result of fear and hurt. It is a measure of a lack of nurture which has occurred in ones life history. Remember your origins my friends, this is Urantia, one of the isolation planets. The Lucifer rebellion was at its heart a decision to isolate rather than associate with the universe government. The pride of intellect and the seduction of sophistry lead even such a great being as a Lanonandek Son to go astray and to decide to isolate himself and those he could persuade to see reality in like manner to himself to join him in this disastrous, and initially terribly unfortunate, misadventure.

So your planet was cut off from the association with the other planets. Your planetary government was only in association with those other rebels, and this experience of separation altered your history for the last 250,000 years. But the Lucifer rebellion is not the last word. It is the first word, in a sense. But the last word is the life and teaching of our Creator Son. Always His words were an invitation to associate. Always His good news, His gospel, was an announcement about a relationship of Father to son, Father to daughter, brother to sister. Always did He combat and refute the original liar, the one who said that freedom was obtained by self assertion, that liar being none other than Lucifer and his associates.

It is not good that man be alone, or woman for that matter, for it is contrary to the structure of the universe. You were not created Solitary Messengers, but brothers and sisters in one family of God. Michael does not want to see His sheep stray from the flock. In fact, He will leave the 99 to go in search of the one who is lost, and when He brings him over His shoulder He rejoices exceedingly. When Jesus told the story, everybody understood it intuitively. They knew that He was talking about their relationship with their Great Shepherd, their Creator God. Instead of searching for a God who hides himself in wrathful disapproval from the humble sinner, Jesus was telling us the truth, that God is always the one taking the initiative to seek out the isolated one, to bring them back into contact, with not only Himself but with the other members of the flock.

Yes, of course that's why we're here, to bring you all back into the great flock of the universe family. And now having shared our Creator Sovereign's mission, we ask you to bring in the isolate, the lonely, the ones who regards themselves as worthless. I am not saying you should be responsible for another's decisions, of course not. But, share the vision, the imperative, the energy of the Great Shepherd who goes in search of His lost sheep. When there is mention in the words of Jesus about the joy in heaven the angels share over one who is lost and then found, these words are not poetry! They are literally true. For yes, your guardians literally live for the purpose of guiding you mortals towards your true home where the Father dwells.

And so it with the deepest joy that I Daniel, your elder brother, your teacher, your guide, am also your companion. Yes! It is with the deepest joy that I am with you and bringing you with me another step on this radiant pathway to Paradise. Know how much I truly love you; and I feel your love in return. Now if you wish, let us converse. I am finished.

Do you have questions or comments?

Dialogue

LaReen: Just to thank you, Daniel, for being here with us and for your faith in us, and your love.

Daniel: You are most welcome, LaReen. And you do perceive correctly, for I do have faith in you all, as well as love. You all do very well. (Long silence)

Sometimes when there is true intimacy there is no need for words. People can sit in the presence of others and be at peace. I sense something of that feeling tonight with you all.

Virginia: Daniel, it was interesting for me to hear you say that people who choose isolation do so out of fear and lack of nourishing from childhood, lack of support. And certainly as I look see that reality. But I can also see the opposite, in that many times people who fear to be alone and who have lacked nourishment, lacked being nourished in their childhood, emotionally or spiritually, do just the opposite in that they have to go to crowds, because they don't want to be alone. And so I can see both of those as reality in our lives and in our opportunity as we meet our brothers and sisters.

Daniel: Yes, some people go to crowds, but they are not intimate (Virginia: You're right). They are isolate in the midst of others.

Virginia: Very good point; thank you Daniel. You can be isolated even in a crowd. And frankly I feel sometimes loneliest in a crowd, whereas I much prefer a small, small group.

Daniel: I should say some more about the other impulse, the more natural one actually, which is alive on your planet but not in the measure of that it is on normal planets. And that is the natural impulse to associate, to be with other people. Because your social structures are so diverse on this planet there is the possibility of true intimacy and normal family relationships which occur many times more frequently in other cultures than this decentralized-individualized culture of the United States of America. Therefor what I have said about the isolation is only part of the picture. There is at the same time significant amounts of togetherness in solid families, especially in cultures who have less material distractions and who are therefor are not dissuaded from the more profound satisfaction of intimacy as experienced in families.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record I must say that materialism has fractured the family to a large measure. People are seeking for the satisfaction of the emptiness within by the accumulation of things instead of the intimacy of true loving relationships. Once again, as we have said before, we think that this materialism will self destruct. It will prove so barren and so unsatisfying that when moments of true intimacy occur, such as resulted from the tragedy of 9/11, once again people will reassess there values. We see this happening to some extent.

It is a difficult world you live on. We shake our heads at the contradictions! You war on each other in order to assert your point of view. You assault your divine natures by your animal propensities. You disregard the sacredness of other people when they are labeled "enemies". You do not respect the right of free will in others. When I say "you", I am not speaking to you as a group here this evening I am saying the forces that move your culture are indeed in contradiction. Affirming love and the value of humanity on the one hand, at the same time you worship the right to force your decisions on other people through the use of violence.

I must remind you that Jesus allowed for the use of force by the state to enforce its good rules. But wise is the culture that does not aggress against others and only uses force to defend itself. In your personal relationships the Master is the model. When He was aggressed against, when He was threatened, He did not return the threatening behavior. When He was criticized, He did not criticize in return, with the exception of His final speech to the Pharisees and Scribes. But that was for a different reason, to make His case clear at the end of His life.

Oh yes! Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. How difficult that is on this planet!

Virginia: Daniel, thank you. I thought that by the time we die we might be as wise as serpents; and then we can't hurt anybody cause our bodies are so limited that we might be as harmless as doves. (laughter) Excuse my humor. :-)

Daniel: Your wisdom is better than that, my dear. (laughter) You are learning the ways of peace which begin with your relationship with yourself, then extend to the most intimate members of your family, meaning those people that you regard as your family.

Virginia: You know, Daniel, I had another thought that's a little more sensible and that is that you teachers are wonderful models of peace. When I start attacking myself Klarixiska can always find a reason why what I have said is not true. And it isn't just an excuse, but it's an opening up of a bigger picture of my circumstances rather than just agreeing that I'm a useless, what ever (laughter).

Daniel: Realize that we have a few thousand years on you, plus most of us did not come from planets as socially retarded as this one. We learned a lot more during our mortal careers (chuckling and Daniel chuckles) than you have been able to learn. However, we are doing our best to upgrade your education. Would you not agree? (Much agreement, definitely)

If Bob S. were here I would reply to him directly, but in his absence I will reply to his mood, in the meeting of last week, where he said that our teachings are not accepted. My reply is, we know that! But that will not stop us from continuing to share them! For, if we to give up and say this planet is hopeless, and your Thought Adjusters were to do like wise, and your guardian angels were to resign, then indeed there would be cause for alarm!! What we want you to do, as we said last week, is to become our flesh and blood, to become our hands; and indeed you are doing this. So rather than bemoan how difficult it is to sow the seeds and how much of the soil is stony, full of weeds, etc., continue to be faithful sowers knowing that it is not your responsibility to bring the rain or the sun. That will be done by those who's job it is.

Virginia: You mean we're not off the hook!

Daniel: Yes, you are not off the hook. You are leaven in the bread. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. These are words of truth!

Closing

Well my friends its been a wonderrful visit with you today. I am always pleased when we can be in intimate formation as we are tonight. Let's holdour hands and conclude.

Please repeat after me: I am a son of God (group: I am a son of God). I have within me a piece of the very Source of all things (I have within me a piece of the very Source of all things). I am of all men and women most fortunate (I am of all men and women most fortunate) because I know this (because I know this). I promise (I promise) to the best of my ability (to the best of my ability) to let this truth be known (to let this truth be known) to all who will hear it (to all who will hear it) and to share love from God ( and to share love from God) to all my brothers and sisters (to all my brothers and sisters). In the name of Christ Michael I intend these thoughts (in the name of Christ Michael I intend these thoughts) and prayers (and prayers). Amen (Amen)