2022-09-22-The Response of Spirit

Session

Opening

Dear Michael and Mother Spirit: Michael, last session Mother Spirit gave us a wonderful lesson on how to best utilize her little boosts--her Mind-/Spirit Adjutants--and the way they help us perceive and think. I was wondering if tonight, Michael--thinking about the triad of human experience the Urantia Book gives us of physical facts, mental meanings or associations, and then spiritual value--the great dimensions of human experience--if you could speak tonight on the spiritual part? Help us e-value-ate much of what is happening now in the political season of our United States where we are handed such a hodgepodge of physical facts and relationships. Could you give us a few pointers on how best to evaluate these so we can be our best citizens, both for ourselves and our community? Thank you, Amen.

Lesson

Michael: Dear Children, this is your father, Michael. As always, I am delighted to be with you this way, as much as I heartily respond to your prayers and your questions deep in your minds, anytime you wish to contact me, or Mother Spirit, or our mutual Father--the presence of God within and surrounding all of us.

(The response of spirit)

This is the response of spirit. It even includes your guardian angels who are also doing their best to give you a full, dynamic, and rewarding life. That is the goal of all of us, and should be too for you yourselves--keeping in mind your question at the opening--how to spiritually evaluate each new day’s adventures of being a human being--especially with respect to what you asked for tonight? How can you best determine the value of the information you are receiving, especially in this election season?

Let me start out by suggesting you don’t get too dismayed and downhearted by the deep polarization taking place, the way a thousand-and-one viewpoints are condensed into just one or two political positions. This has always been the case from the very beginning. Let me tease you with the suggestion you open your Urantia Book--or go on-line--to the chapter on The Origin and Evolution of Government. There you will see, from the very earliest tribal organizations, there was always a polarized hierarchy of social and political power. This was true even in the rare matriarchal societies where political party--especially concerning war-making--was descended from a Queen’s brother to her son. Power went from uncle to nephew by way of a war-chief alongside the Queen and her retinue.

As societies expanded clear through the Middle Ages, political power came to reside in hereditary royal families, while social power was stratified solely by wealth--the so-called Haves and Have-nots. But with the coming of truer electoral democracy--though still with a House of Lords and a House of Commons--very quickly came naturally forming political parties consolidating half-a-dozen different viewpoints, as contrasted to the other partiers. Elections determined the majority, but simple polarities went shifting back and forth. Polarization has always been a matter of your social and political life.

(Evaluating sources of information)

Now when so much of the electorate is dependent upon the television networks for the simple physical facts of what is happening, as well as the mental/meaning part of why it is happening--and what to do about it, you do have the spiritual challenge of how to evaluate what you are receiving. There’s the additional complication of the internet dominated by only a few networks which have been charged--correctly or not, it is up to you to decide--charged with bias and censorship. So more and more it becomes dependent upon you as a citizen and one of the electorate to be able to evaluate what you are being bombarded with.

One concept that Mother Spirit and I have introduced a number of times, is to be aware of and largely discount what we call “Galloping Generalities”—statements so broad and inclusive as to be practically useless. Rather, imagine you are a member of a jury listening to a criminal or civil case. Think of all the Rules of Evidence. How much of the content are the physical facts being presented, along with a whole sliding scale of emotions? Is the commentator producing pictures and different kinds of irrefutable evidence, or is there just a panel of so-called “experts” all agreeing with one emotional judgement and very little to back it up?

In your search for truth we suggest you shop around, and not so much by whole networks--which are notoriously slanted--but by individuals. Get to know the persons over a period of years of being interested in what is happening and keeping up with the news. This way you can build up a repository of assurance in their particular analysis of events.

This is where Mother Spirit’s Adjutant of Wisdom comes in, evaluating what you are presently encountering in light of everything that has come before it. How much has this particular person proved reliable over the years? How great is the variety of different opinions from different guests have they presented? In other words, how broad and comprehensive has been their approach?

(Truth, wisdom, and worship)

Keep in mind what I have taught so often about my Spirit of Truth. You can only truly assess what you are receiving by staying open-minded and curious. Always be humble to the fact that your full truth is like an enormous compassing in concentric spheres centered on you. It’s not so much a possession as a lifetime pursuit--the facts and their meaning, and how you evaluate them. This is the function of wisdom, how you apply your perceptions, your knowledge, and your understanding to the present moment. Here too your appealing worship helps not only your own deepest memories and understanding, but it also aids the spiritual presences right within you--help you stay present and open to what comes next.

Above all, seeking truth requires Mother Spirit’s great Adjutant of Courage. You have to have the nerve to encounter new and greater truth, irrespective of what it might have seemed to be yesterday. Because, my dears--especially with respect to social and political facts, opinions, viewpoints, objects, ambitions and intentions--all of these are changing as the living people themselves--in their social and political situations--change. It takes nerve to constantly let go what you have known before--for all it has cost you in hard mind-and spirit-work--to be open to this present moment that has changed, and is different.

(Political viewpoints of human nature and control)

An example Mother Spirit gave last time: along came a new pandemic, killing folks and challenging different viewpoints on how to handle it. These proposed remedies took on a political cast as they circulated through national, state, and local political parties. How to handle the pandemic differed in the way different political parties assessed human nature. One party’s viewpoint was that people needed a centralized authority to control individual behavior with mandates such as lockdowns and masks, while another viewpoint was to simply issue the known up-to-date facts as they changed, and let individuals be free to determine their own reactions.

(Courage and counsel)

Either way it takes nerve to challenge your own viewpoints and stay open. Here is where Mother Spirit’s Adjutant of Counsel comes in as you discuss things and take counsel with your family and friends. It helps enormously to clarify your mind, to state your own feelings, notions, and understanding, and then be open, and welcoming, and encouraging others to share their wisdom with you.

These are the facets of your mental and spiritual life of wisdom, courage, and counsel. They help you determine even the basic physical facts happening, that both Mother Spirit and I encourage you to approach with a great curiosity of investigation, exploration, and wondering. So this is also where humility comes in.

For being humble to facts--my dears--is what leads to the great triumph of having fun in your search for truth. You find and keep a sense of humor, and joy, and delight in the very struggle itself. You play the game well and enjoy the rewards of discovery. You find folks you can trust, whether they be a close friend, or a reliable commenter on the television.

(The truth you live by—day by day)

This are the rewards for your wisdom, and courage, and counsel. These are the wonders of discovery through correspondence. Now you can be relatively sure--at least for the time being--to have discovered some wonderful truth about something. Because, my dears, this is literally what you are living by--day to day. This open-minded quest is what so greatly determines your happiness and your health. You have the impulse to try new things and, especially, stay open-minded to the results as time goes on.

(What leads to an exciting and rewarding life)

This leads to an exciting and rewarding life of being involved, of experiencing your particular, unique time. As we have teased you with the notion so often: The reality of this universe is--in so many ways--not repeating itself. Each moment, each new day is just that--something different happening, something evolving. Your quest for truth is how you become an active part of it and truly evolve your soul, right along with God’s presence keeping an account of it all for you.

This is how you have a full life and will have known so intimately your time here on the earth. Keep Mother Spirit’s great Spirit/Mind Adjutants in play as you counsel with others. Share the wisdom that comes about and which, in turn, becomes your most wonderful tool. Above all: Have fun. Enjoy it all. Let truth sustain you, not only to survive, but to thrive.

Closing

Now if you have any comments or questions this evening, let them too come from your wisdom, your curiosity, and your courage.

Well, if there are no further comments or questions, this is Michael, bidding you be in my peace. Live, and love, and learn. Good night.