Michael - Essence of Change - RecognizingJesus - Oct 03, 2005 - Marin TM; Mill Valley, CA
Michael—October 3, 2005
Marin TM Group—Mill Valley, California
MICHAEL—T/R-JL
Dear Michael and Mother Spirit, We wish to thank You for this whole series of recent lessons, especially for Your introducing us to the kinds of beings that we are. You’ve been assuring us of this greatest gift we have--our own souls--the eternal possession of everything of value that we experience and do. Then beyond ourselves, we have You, our spiritual parents. We feel so blessed that we are able to talk with You this way. So thank You for these blessings, reminding us that our Universal Father, the Father of us all, is as near as our next thought. Amen.
MICHAEL: Good evening, My children, this is Michael. It always gladdens My heart to hear your discussions, and how—essentially--you are beginning to feel the enormous stirrings on Urantia. This is in large part why We have had so many lessons on what it is to be open-minded; to have all the past, all history for a marvelous possession, an enormous realm that you can explore endlessly very profitably; but always keeping in mind the growing and expanding nature of reality.
(Spirit is ever-new)
God is not only the Father of creation in the sense of everything that has brought you right up to this present moment, but He is the source of creativity itself. He does not have to repeat Himself. There is something constantly occurring and appearing within the continuity of all that has gone before. This is such a great aspect of your wisdom to recognize this. You can enjoy the past and delight in history--the continuing discovery of the true story all that has happened with those who have gone before you; but in a very critical way, you do not depend on it.
Beyond the large physical happenings based on the earth going around the sun, and rotating, alongside these gross impersonal happenings is a realm of Spirit that is ever new, ever progressive. As you were wondering in your discussion this evening, yes, Urantia is beginning to witness very large spiritual phenomena and contacts such as this world has never known before. There is no Planetary Prince in residence who might have been here for half a million years creating a continuously evolving culture. There are no Material Son and Daughter on Urantia, who might have been parents for forty thousand years to thousands and thousands of pure violet children amalgamating with the human races; and all along serving as your immediate Planetary Mother and Father.
(Spiritual—religious autonomy)
But now the Correcting Time is getting into full swing. The teachers are coming in greater numbers and, as your dear friend Welmek has informed you, this is truly one of the next large steps that the human race will encounter and embrace. More and more people will have their own spiritual teachers whom they are able to access daily, as often as they wish, and contact the vast realm of spiritual unity. Just consider how much more spiritually united the peoples of the earth can become when thousands and then millions of individuals are tuning in to this universal and profoundly unified realm of Spirit.
Think of this marvelous decentralization of religious authority as more and more individuals realize right within themselves something that supersedes all ecclesiastical authority. The centuries and centuries of people being dependent on someone else to interpret God’s will for them will no longer be necessary. This will pass away as just another phase of mankind’s long and slow but steady evolution towards individual autonomy and spiritual security.
For so many of those in the past and the present, both those in authority and those without it, this vision I just presented you with would appear as chaos for the very reason that they were and still are largely bereft of any deep, soul-satisfying assurance that there is such a thing as a spiritual unity transcending mankind. Coming so much their intellects alone, and in each age basing their reasoning on very spiritually unsound assumptions, they were and are literally adrift, not knowing how to contact spirit. Sadly, so much of what has passed for religion in mankind’s past was merely politics, the massing of purely human power in it’s most elemental form, power over others, whether it was in owning the houses of worship and surrounds, or the exclusive access to peoples’ minds.
You’ve already noted that cynical old maxim, of power corrupting, and absolute power corrupting absolutely, is only political. In the realm of pure spirit, truly absolute power corrupts absolutely no one. Pure spirit cannot be possessed. It can only be had by being a conduit, recognizing the Source and finding real happiness and joy in giving it away. To try to hoard spiritual power would be as silly as hoarding salt water on the shores of the ocean. So once you recognize and understand the nature of spirit, it dispels the anxiety that is at the heart of greediness for power.
For here you are empowered from the Source. You are also filled with Mother Spirit’s Adjutant of Worship in being thankful for the simple, yet profound fact of the existence of God. Once you begin to feel our Fathers embrace as something invigorating within you, you can recognize the gift of this ongoing, stupendous creativity of His bringing you a new moment, every moment. You can further realize that He is helping you discern what you need most of all from time to time: a clear choice that enables you to exercise you freedom. Once you begin to experience Him so, within, He fills all the hollow spots of adolescence so you may step into your full stature.
(The essence of change)
This is the essence of change. This is what it means to be a changed person. This is what it means to walk along on the earth, yet surrounded by infinity, within and without, marveling at the very un-graspable-ness of the enormity of reality. Recognizing this unfathomable infinity all about you, in every person you meet, in every new day dawning, you simply come home. This is what you were made for, My children, for this is what God has made for you. This unbounded universe is yours for the exploring. All these brothers and sisters, then beyond them, so many celestial personalities exist right now for you to discover. So rejoice and be exceedingly glad. Be of great good cheer. These profound facts are finally being recognized.
A new day is at hand. The Teaching Mission is gong well. And I thank all my steadfast, hard-working and loyal Teachers of every kind. And I thank My human children of Urantia for welcoming Them with such delight. In the words of one of your great philosophers: you ain’t seen nothin’ yet! (group laughs) So keep opening. Keep opening like flowers in a brand new dawn.
If you have any questions or comments, I’m always happy to hear them. It’s always a joy to converse with you this way.
Student: Michael, can I ask You a question? How do I know You are who You’re purported to be--the Earth Christ?
(How do we know this is Michael/Jesus?)
MICHAEL: Yes, My daughter. This is something you will have to decide for yourself. This is ultimately something between you and your soul. It is not something which can always be known immediately. I appreciate your honesty and I commend most highly your self-honesty, your desire for the truth and your willingness to engage it and follow where it leads, and reject and discard that which you know is leading you astray.
So feel Me in your heart, My daughter. This is what is required of you, to be able to recognize any truth. This is a test of faith and spiritual nerve, because you can go through life in a sense crouching behind a wall of disbelief. This is possible; some folks do this. It is right within the realm of your pure freedom that you can choose this. This can be your attitude. But because of this freedom to be in what you call denial, nothing can get in. I’m sure you are all familiar with a form of this called cynicism, where for various reasons a person keeps anticipating the worst possibly scenario--no matter what is happening.
So to suspend your disbelief, to open your heart to the possibility that I am who I say I am, does involve a kind of risk. And this, My daughter, is where you must have courage to open, to be open-minded, and to trust yourself to make the right evaluation. As you will recall, there were many tests that I was given when I was among you as Jesus. And yet, since many of these tests were offered by rather cynical individuals who were not open—even to the possibility I could pass their tests, I generally just ignored them when there was no hope of reaching them.
As many of you know, and were talking about this evening, the whole Teaching Mission is very much in question with some. But fear not; if it is what it claims to be, and since I and Mother Spirit, and My other Sons and Daughters of the Mission are Who We are, we—together-- cannot fail. So take your time, My daughter. There’s no hurry. As with many of My disciples and followers who witnessed no miracles, who just heard Me speaking--much as I’m speaking with you now, their own hearts and souls certified who and what I am. You have within you all you need. So take your time. I only ask you to be open to the possibility at this stage. Does this help you, My daughter?
Student: Yes.
MICHAEL: Good. I welcome your trusting heart. Just be still for a moment and see if you can feel Me within you now. (pause)
Student: I feel peace overcoming me.
MICHAEL: Keep going.
Student: Going?
MICHAEL: Keep going. (a very long pause)
Student: I’m not ready.
MICHAEL: My beloved daughter, there’s no hurry here. You are immersed in Spirit. It’s been all around you all the days of your life. So when you feel ready, Mother Spirit and I will be glad to welcome you. Now We ask you to simply have faith that We are here, that We love you very much. And We salute your courage and self-honesty. Stay true to yourself and in time you will find all of Us that your heart desires. Be true to yourself and all else follows. Now rest in My peace.
MICHAEL: Are there any other questions or comments, My sons?
Student: Yes, Michael, I would like to ask You why is it that we get to be here at this time in the history of this planet; when generation after generation after generation of men and women have walked on the Earth, but we get to be here now in this most extraordinary time? We had no choice in this matter. We just…kind-of…luck of the draw? How is it that we get to experience this, this present generation?
(Luck—and the Teaching Mission in an individual’s life)
MICHAEL: Well, My son, I think perhaps you are closer to it than you realize. For with respect to any one individual, there is an enormous amount of chance involved. Not so much that the historical event is happening--for all of this you know, and I sense this is not what you are asking. In other words, it’s based on the adjudication of the Lucifer Rebellion, and as you meant, it’s been some two hundred thousand years that the human race has suffered under a planetary spiritual quarantine.
But luck, as you put it, is mitigated very strongly in two ways by a powerful spiritual determinism. First: through all these millennia of spiritual quarantine, the Father’s Thought Adjusters were quite unhindered. Being the pure essence of God, nothing determines Them but the individual human will which is or is not open to following these inner leadings. And so all through history, men and women of good will have to some degree recognized and enjoyed this leading from within. For in spite of the hardships--the rather incessant warfare, the enormous plagues that would ravage whole nations, still all in all, life has been worthwhile living. And it has always been the prelude to eternal life. All We have taught you about the eternal possession of your souls was as true for them as it is for you today.
In the second place: it is not entirely luck that you find yourself immersed in the Teaching Mission. Although I’m sure when you try to trace back how you got here, it may seem at times pure serendipity. You just happened to be in the right place at the right time when someone mentioned the Urantia book. For it was in the Urantia book community that the first Teachers appeared recently. There was a ready-made context within which They could express certain rather novel ideas and truths. So it was not entirely luck for you yourself, My son. Your curiosity had to be there; perhaps even a sense of irony, from time to time, that something unprecedented like this could just suddenly appear. Then too, as I answered our sister here, day by day you continually evaluate and re-evaluate what this Teaching Mission is. We welcome and encourage you to do so.
Yet, finally, it’s always wise to pay proper respect to the Unqualified aspect of the Absolute, and call it luck--if you wish. (laughter) Does that answer your question, My son?
Student: Yes!--very lovingly, Michel.
Student: Father Michael, given how we’ve fossilized Your teaching when You were here on Earth, it’s very reassuring to hear that the Teaching Mission and the Correcting Time are not going to fail, even though there are divisions within both.
The question is, what role does commitment play in life--in my life? I’ve committed to things, and I haven’t been able to do anything. So I don’t understand what within me is the problem?
(Commitment—to what)
MICHAEL: C, My son, I must ask you to consider a possibility, even if you can entertain it only a little bit right now; but to move forward, to keep growing, you must entertain the radical possibility that there is no problem. You have to at least entertain the possibility that things are going very well.
You fear a lack of commitment, but ask yourself, commitment to what? There was no lack of sincerity with either Lucifer or Caligastia in being committed to their view of things. But when does commitment become stubbornness, narrow- or closed-mindedness?
I think what you are missing right now, My son, is an appreciation of all the distance you’ve traveled, and how you’ve maintained a certain commitment to being open-minded throughout. Else you would not be here. You’ve lost track of all the thousand-and-one little steps, of things you had to try, to glean those morsels of truth that you found in everything--separating the wheat, if you will, the good grain from the chaff. Just keep going, as you have been.
As I am so fond of teasing one of your brothers here, you too are just a tadpole. (laughter) There is so much that you cannot know beforehand because this is the nature of your human condition; and was deliberately set up this way. You must credit that God knows what He’s doing, both in creating you and creating, in large part, your situation. And so you should not live your life "Sunday-morning-quarterbacking," wishing you had done this or that based on the very knowledge that you had to experiment to begin with, in order to have.
(Mankind’s great bugaboo)
>From Our perspective, this is still one of the greatest mental/spiritual bugaboos of the human race that is indulged in so profoundly and so unconsciously in every realm, be it love or politics, business or families. You’re constantly retroactively judging yourselves based on information that you acquired only by trying and experimenting. Somehow you loose the thread of what is positively acquired. You cannot always feel yourself growing by each experiment, each new day’s experience. You risk losing—consciously—what you’ve acquired in your soul by this insecure finding fault with yourselves. And so We can only assure you through your faith and trust in Us, that you do have a soul, and that nothing of value is lost. And the greatest commitment of all is simply to be true to yourself. So continue to stay open, My son. Continue to wonder, as you always have, and give proper thanks and respect to all those younger views you once had—however correct or incorrect they seemed to be later—for they were the steps which got you to here, still wondering, still curious, still open, and still profoundly thankful. Mother and I thank you for your worship, My son, and your love for Us. So let My peace soak deep into your heart, and be glad.
Student: I am glad, Father, and I am reassured, and I do entertain the possibility that my life is going as it should go. It just gets lost in the shuffle every once in awhile, but I have ultimate faith in the Father--that He knows what He’s doing, and You and Mother know what You’re doing. So thank You for the reassurance.
MICHAEL: You’re very welcome, My son. Ironically, it is because you are living your life so fully, so totally immersed in it, and not just standing aside as a observer, that you really feel the ups and downs of it. This way you will never die of boredom. (laughter) And be in My Peace. (Thank You, Father.)
(Appreciating other people)
Student: Dear Michael, please teach us Your technique--when you were on Earth--to take an interest in other people, just average people, and help us to stay in present time when we are in the presence of another human being with potentially eternal life. I know You were great at it, but I know my mind tends to wander too easily. I would enjoy some of Your technique. Thank You.
MICHAEL: Yes V, this is the spiritual quality and blessing of self-forgetfulness. Your attention is no longer reduced by trying to maintain your focus on yourself, so more of it can be focused on this person in front of you.
The curiosity comes from a further letting go of some anxious need to reassure yourself that you already know who this is, for that can kill your curiosity before it even gets started. This puts you in what you call a same-old, same-old world where you already know everything that might possibly happen. So why be curious?
Ironically, you achieve the goodness of this wonderful, self-forgetful attitude by being inwardly very secure, by having such confidence because in your stillness, your meditation--as you get the courage to let go of yourself more and more, deeper and deeper--you can begin to experience the real power and creativity and tenacity of your essential personality. This is why We’ve called you a little nodule of experience out here in time and space whom God created so much like Himself.
You begin to trust this essential nature of yourself to pop up afresh. And so you can let yourself go. You don’t have to pay such close attention to yourself. You can begin to experience God’s creativity, the living aspect of the present moment that you cannot anticipate. And so your curiosity, your wonder springs up spontaneously to embrace it. And that same-old, same-old boring, repetitive dead world is transformed into something alive.
Quite understandably this can be a little scary at first, to suddenly go from feeling everything is very final and settled, to confronting infinity, uncertainty, a living reality. This is quite a challenge. But it’s the greater truth that leads you step by step across eternity to the greatest truth, your living Father Himself. And not only is it true, it is possible.
As you get a greater and greater ability to forget yourself, so you allow the world and all the folks in it to swell forth. And then what a treasure you find! You begin to welcome infinity. You begin to appreciate not only the creation, but creativity itself coming down like a driving rain. Your orientation shifts from the past, to the present and future. You may even marvel how you could possibly have missed this living creativity all this time. Does this answer you question, My son?
Student: Yes, it’s a wonderful answer! It’s beginning to work already, and I know it will last me, not only for the rest of my life on Earth, certainly all through the Mansion Worlds, all the way through to Salvington, to see You, and beyond. Thank You.
Michael: You’re very welcome. This curiosity was one of the great gifts I enjoyed when I was among you. I was so happy to be able to travel, and meet so many men and women. Every time I sat down and had the children playing around, I could marvel that every one of these lovable creatures was a little infinity all to himself or herself, totally un-self-aware yet of this fantastic estate they were born into; but without fail--if not in this life then in the one to come—they would certainly gain the recognition of God’s creativity.
So thank you for your question, My son. It brings back fond memories. (You’re more than welcome! Thank You.) And be in My Peace.
Student: Yes, Father, this idea of self-forgetfulness is one that I know, in my life, I need to be constantly on guard, or watch for, or discern within my day to day life, and how I interact with others, because I’ve seen, especially over the past two weeks, how I can get in the way. And I can actually feel it viscerally. And it’s not a very comfortable place to be. But I notice how it affects others, and how I am not able to see clearly because of that.
If I’m constantly focusing on how I think and feel things ought to be, how someone else is not living the life that I think or feel they should be living, I’m not doing them any good. And I am not doing myself any good. There’s no free flow of energy or spirit.
There was an advert in a newspaper last week. This reverend was giving a sermon on how self-righteousness is the bane of all relationships. And that stuck with me. And I looked at how I reacted to certain occurrences and stimuli in my life. And it was me--in my reactions. If I got angry because of something, I am the one responsible for my anger. And I needed to look at that and see why I was angry, and then let it go. I had to use that as a positive way to interrelate to another. So it seems like we’re constantly not self-forgetting?
So this morning, as I watched the sun rise, I offered this prayer for certain individuals in my life, that God’s vision that is within them will be opened into their beings, and they can allow His Will to prevail in their lives. And that does more good, has more power and more love than that which comes from a place of my own self-righteousness, or what I think the way it should be.
(Self-forgetfulness from the inside-out)
Michael: My son, you have a very clear understanding of the process. Let Me offer a few insights. Part of the difficulty of achieving self-forgetfulness may stem from the way in which Myself and others have expressed it. We were expressing it from an objective viewpoint, but how does it happen from within? How do you experience it? Obviously if you are telling yourself to be self-forgetful, there’s a crazy contradiction here. And so self-forgetfulness--from inside--just happens. The person you are talking to seems to swell forth and achieve a greater reality, a greater depth of character, even of soul. Experiencing self-forgetfulness means that everything that is not you is more enhanced. And from this can follow your appreciation of the depth of this other person, and the complexity--from a human standpoint--of all that’s involved in them--body, mind, spirit, and soul. As I said, this can be scary because you are relinquishing your need to categorize them, even with something so fundamental as sex. She is suddenly not just another woman, another female, but this individual. And experiencing even one other individual—fully--can show you how gross and simple-minded were all of your generalities about different aspects of people. And so you experience self-forgetfulness as individuals emerging from these stereotypes and generalities you once perceived.
This is why it’s such a blessing. The whole cosmos surrounding you can be infinitely appreciated this way. In the most fundamental sense, it can grow in value. And it just happens. You can only make it happen by sincerely looking forward to it. Whenever your attention returns unnecessarily to yourself, don’t set up a complex self-judgment, but simply let it relax. Take care of what inner personal business you need to in stillness, and look outward again. Let yourself go again in the appreciation of the infinity you’re encompassed within. I think you will find this cuts right through what your understanding is telling you is true—the uselessness of your projected judgment of others in terms of what you think they need, or how they are lacking. This judgement is based on a misperception, actually a kind of lacking perception of their totality which, like your own, is known fully only by our Father. So yes, it is true that, when you seek to judge or determine another, you are--however inadvertently--playing God. But only playing Him, for God is a master of relinquishing Himself so the rest of His creation is free. (laughter)
So whenever this happens, My son, just reinvigorate your curiosity. Just let yourself fade away in the rediscovery of the next new moment. Give it a try. Does this resonate within you?
Student: Yes, it does. And now it’s just flashing upon me, the idea that, if I continue to react to, or even see the so-called dysfunction of another human being, then I’m just reinforcing it--instead of bringing a fresh vantage point or fresh view, instead of looking as God sees it, in hope and His creativity. So, I thank You.
MICHAEL: You’re welcome, My son. You’ve put your finger right on it there, when you said "creativity." In a way, everybody is doing the best they can, yet often, because they are not as fully attuned to their own Though Adjuster as they might be, they cannot conceive the next step to take.
Here, if you are creative and generous yourself, you can offer this next step so totally selflessly, they can feel they thought of it themselves. This is the marvelous way of suggesting things lightheartedly, with a little teasing perhaps? It’s leading them to the very edge of that next creative thought, so they cannot help but stumble over it.
So let it be theirs. This is your generosity. If you have a clear perception of what would genuinely help them, just kind-of lovingly point them right at it until they can’t miss it; and let it be theirs. Again, I congratulate you for your curiosity, in the sense of your understanding. This is what builds up within you as a kind of groundwork to accept the good technique when it comes along; to recognize it. In this case, whenever you are overly self-absorbed or -attentive, just let it fade away in the rebirth of this greater perception. And reap the reward! And be in My peace.
(Confronting immaturity)
And so My children, you see how the game goes on. So much of what you are going through, day by day--personally, and what you are surrounded with, with other folks, are just all the various facets of immaturity. You are not yet perfect, but you weren’t created that way!
If you wish to keep growing, you have no other choice but to try. Then once you have learned something by your experience, have a very clear and precise sense of time and sequence so you are not constantly berating yourself for not knowing before you did something, what you only learned by doing it.
Do not despise immaturity, but rather, acknowledge it. Keep in mind that God is constantly creating billions, even trillions of immature beings all the time, upon endless millions of worlds. You all start out from near zero--true enough, with a full heredity and in a universe situation, but even these develop and change with time.
So be at peace where you are. Enjoy your little mini-stillness exercises as often as they occur to you, all through the day. Just relax!--and glory in your existence. Every time you do, you are just one step closer to your Father, and to Mother Spirit and I. Anytime at all: be in My peace. Good evening.
Students: Good evening, Michael.
END