2003-04-27-Perfection of Attainment

Session

Opening

Music: Dorenda on piano, playing Eric Satie

Prayer: (Matthew) Let us put ourselves in the presence of Jesus the Christ.

Master Teacher, We come to you with hearts that are open, tired in some cases, bewildered perhaps, but not discouraged, not disheartened, only need for momentary pause and refrain, to once again become aware of who we are in you and because of you, and because of the love of our Heavenly Father to you and to us. And to realize that the unity of humanity that we do not often see is a fact and is one that we can relish and relinquish any concern or tension over the apparent absence of such unity that we know that it is because of you as living proof and risen proof.

We ask for whatever teachers and lessons that you ordain today that will be of benefit and renew our sense of Self and oneness with you and with creation as you have seen fit as an Actor within the Father to provide the availability of life and the experience thereof, we are forever grateful. And for those concerns that touch each of us personally and otherwise, we ask for their current and proper addressing. Amen.

Lesson

Perfection

TOMAS: Hear me now. This is Tomas. Hear me "tap, tap, tap" on the podium. (group giggles) I am the conductor of the orchestra of the moment. The choir is in the balcony. But you are the instruments and I wish to speak to you about Perfection. There is so much IM-perfection in the world. And how do we know that there is imperfection?" Because there is such sorrow, such yearning, such need. These conditions are like the void, which yearns to be filled. There are many who recite the same litany of experiences again and again because they have not the wherewithal to change their pattern of pursuit and begin rather to follow after that reality which will give rise to new life lessons, new challenges, new accomplishments and new rewards. New responses.

This is the advantage that you share, this ability to change, and to go with the flow of advancement, not only in material terms but in cosmic terms. I say 'cosmic' terms rather than spiritual terms because there are so many kinds of spiritualism and even spiritual reality but, for the most part, the collective consciousness of Urantia regards those as something that is constrained within the orb of the material world they can see and feel - not with eyes and ears of spirit. In the pursuit of Perfection there are cycles. Instead of staying static you have new beginnings and new endings and you begin to enjoy the ride. You no longer fear change for you know that the Father is looking out for you, His child, and will lead you through the experience, 'yea even though you walk through the valley of death,' you feel no sorrow for you know He is with you. There is much talk and banter, even social acceptance, of the current social vogue of letting things go. Let go of that relationship that is holding you back. Let go of that habit that is standing in the way of your enjoyment of life. Let go of that thinking that is tied to an old paradigm of reality. Let go of that ambition that is only leading you down a path to evade your true destiny. Let go of that Old piece of clothing, that old car, that old item, for the New! - for the Promise of Abundance and the Golden Egg that Jesus came to give you: 'Life . more Abundantly.' Perfection is not particularly found in the material world but it is IN the material world, certainly. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to look out this window and see the Perfect View - to look into this atmosphere and see the Perfect Climate - to look into each other eyes and see the Perfect Friend - to sit back and embrace the atmosphere that we create here and recognize we are enjoying Perfect Harmony. We have let go of many things that have stood in the way of our growth and we are enjoying the fruits of our labor. The advancement of Perfection is a process in which you all contribute and participate in, maintaining a loyalty to that which enhances and augments your life experience -- not because it is a practical matter as much as it is sublime. Many of you wonder, 'What would I do with myself if everything were Perfect?' And so you justify the continued existence of Imperfection. And yet by holding so fast to this False Humility, you are depriving yourself and the Universe of the glory inherent in you - in your life with divinity. And there are those who have a sense that such superhuman joy is such an intimidating force they seek to undermine it. And many of you in your joy to serve, relinquish your Perfection, in the desire to reach out into the field and embrace your brothers.

Elena: Would you say that again?

TOMAS: I am speaking to you as a child of God and I am addressing a number of resistances that you are prone to, in sidestepping the acknowledgment of, and responsibility for, your own Perfection. I cannot repeat what was said for that would compel me to repeat an old thought. (Okay.) Far better for me to reach into my basket of resources and rephrase for you the concept that you are grasping. I look at you and I see your dual nature. I seen the animal with its material aspects, culture, intelligence, instincts, adjutant mind spirits, education, economics, attitudes, language and so forth, and I see that this is you. I also look at you and see the Reality of your Soul - the Immortal aspect of you that is being created as you decide, on a daily basis, to do His Will in your life. In this context I can distinguish the Divine Personality that you reflect through your choices and thus I can call "you" "thou." Thou art God and thou art of God. You, on the other hand, are a working combination of combustible mind and matter that may be altered by your choices, by which you become eternalized, through which your existence becomes actualized, through which your human self becomes perfected. Soon there will be no malice within you. There will be no jealousy, no fear. No negative emotions to mar your view of the Perfection which is yours as a result of your association with the Father, and with the Divine Family that surrounds you and encompasses you. As you give yourself over to the care of God, you are able to see how it is that God cares for you. You resist His Will less and embrace His Ways more. And with each decision, you have increased your Perfection Attainment. There are so many wonderful new philosophies emerging in this new dispensation of life, since we've been working with and on the heels of the Fifth Epochal Revelation to this world. So many wonderful ways that the Spirit is advancing. And all of them are encouraging you to embrace the New that will lead you forward and release that which holds you back. Thus the global movement is growing in Grace and gradually will supercede and overcome that which is holding on to the old realities of life as you have been accustomed in the ways of men.

But the overall Perfection of Urantia will be made by you who are Friends of the Great Spirit, who have served through your Joy and in your great desire to enfold humanity in the Embrace of the Divine. For in that Embrace all the tears are dried. All the wounds are healed. All the lies are forgotten. And all the Truths are revealed that will make you whole -- whole as individuals and whole as a nation and whole as a world.

This is a process and it begins by your acknowledgment of that Perfection Attainment which you have, by your choices and through your commitment to Divinity, already mastered, already acquired, already attained. Not only is Christ risen - YOU are risen, you who live in the Sonlight of the Spirit. Show forth your Perfection and yield not to the temptation to suppress the Joy of Sonship that is your birthright. Please now turn your focus to the words of our next speaker.

Matthew: Anatolia is here. Group: Greetings. Welcome.

Presence

ANATOLIA: Be of good cheer today, a week after the arisen. He is alive and well. One week and 2000 years, approximately, following the actual event, He has risen and is alive and well. It is within each of your hearts and your souls that the Master continues to preside and to live within your center of being.

You may wonder how this is possible. Where, in this body, could you fit such a concept, let alone such an enormous Spirit - such a grand and sublime Presence. Where was this Presence prior to the resurrection? Where was this Essence prior to your being? The answer, not like the song, is not 'blowing in the wind,' but the Answer is within. It is within this realm - this landscape - this place of being - that the Master shares his worth, his value and His being. Inasmuch as I can physically present and describe what this Presence is like, I will try.

Each of you in your Essence, is as the ancients have referred, prana - or prhana -- Life Force energy. Chi, in the Eastern culture - Soul or Spirit in the Western culture. The Essence - the Value of life. The Presence that takes organic chemistry and places it with Life within. It is as if one were to fill light and subsequent movement and action and animation to a paper bag. If you were to take a paper bag and illumine it, it of course brightens and becomes a Source of diffused light, so bright that, if it were any brighter, would have no use for the bag that contains it! But obviously much brighter than the bag itself permitted.

The bag is substance of the earth formed for the purpose of containing Quality and Quantity. It is this Light Essence then that brings illumination. However, in and of itself, the Light does not animate. It is the God Force within the Light that presents the opportunity for animation, for Life to inhabit that Presence, that object, which prior to the Light was just a paper bag.

So it is that this animated Life Force that always was and always will be, is the Life Force within you. You do not need this form of Light to prove that Life exists. However, in your various stages of consciousness this is the only Life that you know to exist. It's beginnings and its ultimation(?) are unknown to you, because it's as if the Life Force that we are speaking of within the container, of the bag, were to be released, it would no longer be contained within the form that presently is, but would be diffused - becoming part of All that Is.

Know that the subtle containment thereof in your current state of being, is a momentary focusing of Light on a particular point. Much as a magnifying glass, reflecting sunlight onto a spot, where enough heat generated will certainly cause fire. This is what your current containment is: to be able to focus the energy of God-given Life Force, named, personified and presented as You. An opportunity to focus your energy in your current form in the status of the world as you find it today. The opportunity for Light within Light, Presence within Presence, more of the case Knowing within Knowing - is the Presence of the Christ Spirit arisen.

The Spirit of Truth as you know it is both substance and Presence of knowledge and of Presence within you, and so it's as if, again, the Light within the Bag is multiplied, increased. The ultimate of All-That-Is is all the more focused within the bag, to make its effectiveness all the more present. To be Life as it is in Perfection brought to bear in Imperfection. The augmentation of your Light with that of the Spirit of Truth is what makes you an effective Presence of the supernatural with the natural. I think you get the general idea of what I am speaking, that this is more than just concept or an ideal, but is a Force and a Living Presence that shares your being. I only encourage you to make room for that of which you are already a part. One can live in the ignorance of the Spirit of Truth and find forms of effectiveness, even dynamic, ultimately multi talented forms of expression and accomplishment, but without the added feature of an Eternal Presence with you, it leaves one merely in a state of despair, not knowing how such talent, skill and ability can have a presence of being outside of its current containment. This lends reason, hope and justification for the imperfection that you experience today, in your present state of being in the hope that all can be more than the occasional limitations and despair would predict. So I leave you with more than an ounce of Light and Hope. I present you with a Universe of Opportunity: to become who you are, here and now, without having to die to experience what we discussed. For dying is only the next step of nonresistant continuation. The nonresistance can be experienced now but yet demonstrated within this world of limitation. So be convinced that you are more than you see. You share a realm of reality that is well beyond your sight. And it is this sight that enables you to experience that which this world of limitation could fool you into believing is all that there is. I bring you great cheer and joy for the Master has risen and has an eternity of loving and living to be with you now and forever. Peace be with you.

Group: Thank you, Anatolia.

TOMAS: My companion is a light unto my feet. And you, my students, our students, are as a glow that indeed warms our hearts and gives direction to those you meet. What have for us today? Are there questions? Comments? Concerns?

Dialogue

Matthew: I just had a thought this week that was a continuation of the concepts that were shared a couple of weeks ago about learning to deal with the way and the shape that the world is in, and basically the thought that we need to learn to love unconditionally - to love the apparent sinner because we are certainly that ourselves, apparently. But that if we can't - it's the whole concept of forgiveness and unconditional love and all of those things that you were speaking of today, but at least the thought came to mind of, "Okay, I can see that now in the practicum. And it started to make sense of what Jesus was talking about - the law of nonresistance - to love your enemies and to not resist the evildoer. So that, all of a sudden, made great sense and I could see some clouds parting in terms of both what Jesus was talking about and what Gandhi had placed his teachings and preachings upon and then Martin Luther King and others before and since. And that seems to be so key - that without, to me anyway, actually experiencing this dramatic point in time - prior to that had been more or less just a theory. But this has forced me to come to a new point of awakening and to deal with what otherwise could be a total threatening and totally despairing period of time, has given light to a whole different way to look at it, so I Just wanted to share that, that I have had an epiphany, per se, at least intellectually this week.

TOMAS: How marvelous for you and for those you encounter, for now your countenance will be defined in such a way as to distinguish between the ways of God and the ways of mammon. And with the Will of God leading your life, you will better be able to serve those who unconsciously walk in darkness . even while you are able to love them in their ignorance. And this is a tremendous step forward in your career, in particular, those of you who have encountered the steeped effects of rebellion against Divine Will and the subsequent panorama of conditional love that has been your fare. You see how the acceptance of the Higher Path promotes Peace, even within your Soul, such that you will be more effective in your Service to that which remains meaningful and vital to you in terms of your Service to Urantia and its people.

Matthew: Thank you.

TOMAS: Yes, my friend, and to you for your willingness to divulge your growth to those of us who listen well to the strumming of your heart strings. The orchestration is resounding, in time with the music set before us. What of you other instruments? (Group chuckling)

Elena: Well, I've been out of tune this week. (more group chuckling) or I've broken a couple of strings or something. I've had some out of tune moments, let's say, but I think I'm in relative good shape. I'm tuning up for the next week and seeing what the repertoire comes up for the orchestra this next week. Last week was a rough one, and I'm still tired. But I don't feel bad about the week. I feel like I did the best I could with it and I'm ready to keep on and see what's the next refrain.

TOMAS: You are young and vital in your attitude, daughter, and I so appreciate your willingness to continue to put one foot in front of the other in the challenges that you are experiencing. For truly, you are being -- seemingly -- pulled in two directions: you are being taught the ways of men, as well as having your Soul responding to the Ways of God. And there are times in these experiences that are so apparently two-sided/ dualistic, that you begin to lose your footing and have a sense of identity crisis, as if a part of your mind is saying, 'I don't know who I am anymore. I don't know what to think. I don't know what to do,' and you have so many influences pressing upon you.

But look at you, how, like a Piccolo, you pipe right up! (tickled chuckling) Chirping! Willing to play. Picking up everyone else with you as you lure the somber and the staid into those melodies of adventure that are irresistible to the young at heart.

And so I commend your youthful spirit and your commitment to go where ever He leads, to attend the Universities of His choosing, to experience the growth that is required for you to best serve the realm in which you live, and thus help bring about the 'Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.' Be gentle with yourself in these times of dual effort. The spirit will prevail. Proceed in faith.

Elena: Thank you, Tomas. Thanks for the pep talk. It comes in handy.

TOMAS: Encouragement has "courage" at its root. Those of you who are courageous are entitled to encouragement. It is along the lines of the analogy that you've heard about the Father responding to the slightest flicker. 'If you manifest courage as a small flame, I will blow it into a bonfire.' What a wonderful illustration that was, Anatolia, about the paper bag. I will remember it in future, to use for other classes. In this, I invite you all to enter into a Spirit of Community, stemming from our Divine Parents who are steadfastly raising us up to be the children they have deemed we are. We have today those today who are missing from our midst and we feel their absence, even as we know the perfection of the configuration as it is. And so by holding fast to this Family of God it is possible to remain steadfast in our perfect poise and purpose -- to embrace all of humanity. I put that forth as an Ideal inasmuch I am unable to draw forth either Myra or Esmarelda. (group laughter)

Esmarelda: Tomas, my week has been a really very good one. I have enjoyed good health and I have enjoyed working in the soil. Spring is nice, and retirement has made it possible for me to spend quite a bit of time trying to brighten up my little corner. So I have enjoyed the week.

TOMAS: I need not remind you then, of the joys of Perfection, for you have been enjoying the perfect exercise of will, and that is: nurturing your own well-being as you nurture the needs of life.

Myra: Last but not least (group laughter) I'll tell you about my instrument. I had an unusual week. I would say that I kind of like to play with the instruments, and during my week I would perceive myself as kind of being in the 'tuning' room all week, and yet the reaction of my peers is that I've played a symphony! It is I guess that dichotomy that sometimes is confusing and I was trying to figure out how that fit into Perfection. I didn't come up with any clever way.

TOMAS: The refusal to engage in unjust judgment contributes to Perfection Attainment. When you hold onto judgment, you have limited Perfection Capacity. If you say, for example, 'I would like for this to extend farther but my judgement of the situation, my assessment, acknowledges the probability of limitation, and thus I'll not be disappointed by expecting too much.' You have done this to yourself in attempting to fine-tune. And others have, rather, seen the symphony of your efforts. So you cannot judge yourself any better than you can judge others. Let go of judgement and enter into a New Plateau of Perfection - that which allows for the unexpected and holds hope - for in God all things are possible.

Myra: Thank you.

TOMAS: We'll give you the drum (group laughter) and you can bang on it (more group laughter).

Matthew: That gave me an idea. Maybe it's a subject that you've already spoken on and I don't remember it, but at some point in the future, if I could put in a request to have a teaching on Hope. It seems like there was a discussion on it not too long ago, but to me it's a fascinating subject.

TOMAS: Indeed it is. And a very real reality and a part of the ascension scheme. And so I'll schedule it, and yet I'll not detour too far today off the path that we have enjoyed - that of the Perfection we have as actualized beings infused with Spirit. Our hosts have all exceeded their original plans. Or perhaps I am judging you incorrectly and curtailing your Perfection Expression.

Elena: I don't think so.

TOMAS: I'm glad to hear it.

Elena: I think . what I was thinking about it as you were talking about during the lesson, actually, was how that would be a moving target and using your word ascension and thinking how in the past I have limited myself more than I currently do. So I was recognizing some things I had done in the past that you were discussing. I don't remember what they are right now. And then I'm thinking well, yeah, there's more. So it's nice to be able to recognize some of those limitations that you have broken through, yourself, and as you break through each one I think that does give you more courage and less fear for breaking through others in the future. So I don't think you're limiting us. I think it's very helpful and kind of showing us the way to not let things get in our way or hold us back unnecessarily.

TOMAS: Thank you for revealing this truth in simple terms, as humans understand such simplicity. And I am so far removed in so many ways from your comprehension levels. It is gratifying to me to hear you play back to me my words to you. In this way I am encouraged.

Elena: Good! I have to blurt out, Tomas, you don't feel very far at all right now. You feel very close indeed.

TOMAS: It's probably because you know my sons had fur. (group giggles) I am suddenly more like you.

Elena: Well, that's part of it. That did help. It just goes on, too. Thanks.

TOMAS: Just see how joyous you are! Can you appreciate the bright light that you reveal? Each of you? And how powerful it is when we band together, we who are so appreciative of the life that we live with the Divine. Heaven knows we have imperfections, but those are the messes in our growth that we will learn to leave behind. We will begin to pick up after our spirit selves and go forward, assuming the responsibility of our relative perfection rather than continuing to find creature comfort in our mutual imperfections, which is a song everyone has sung.

Closing

Let us lift our voice now and rejoice in the Light and in the Life that follows. Be of good cheer as you go about your week. Do not forget your Source and your Family in your adventure. Engage eagerly and openly with your mortal associates, in faith that the Father will eventually break through the inertia and reveal Himself as the Reality you have all longed for. And thus we will have done our work for this week, opening up the circuits to Salvington that sustain us all in our efforts in Perfection Attainment for ourselves, for the greater universe, and for the Father Himself.

Amen and farewell.

Group: Until next week! Thank you!