[tmtranscripts] 11-17-01.SPOKANE TEAM

[ZooidODell at aol.com]

DATE: November 17, 2001
LOCATION: Spokane, WA
T/R: Gerdean
TEACHER: Paulo
TOPICS:  Evolution vs Revelation; Christianity vs Islam. 
        "Peace on Earth" vs "On a Clear Day"


PAULO: Paulo here.  I'm here with a "bunch" of personalities from throughout 
the local universe.  There are several morontia companions in attendance.  
They have seen the tenor of your tone, felt it might be a possible connect.  
Tomas is away ~ Andrew is in attendance ~ Aaron is not ~ and we have many 
midwayers standing by.  

The song "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me" is going 
through this mind by rote and we'll applique our way around it ~ and yet it 
would appear to be a theme which needs to be threaded throughout the fabric 
of our afternoon gathering ~ in foresight of our discussions. 

I have in front of me a particular reference to another song from your 
culture.  It's the one about "On a clear day you can see forever." One 
wonders, "What can you see on a day like today but your nose in front of your 
face?"  It's dense in your environment here in this Spokane locale, but a 
[good] day for ruminating, meditating, pondering and deepening your 
appreciation for higher thought, philosophy, and other things interesting to 
those of you who think.  

Thus we see how it is that the focus always shifts between the guardian 
seraphim and the Adjuster.  One is introverted, the other extroverted; one is 
inward-directed, the other is outward directed; one is reflective, one is 
expressive.  Such balance will eventually constitute the dance you do as you 
walk through eternity, stabilizing, constantly stabilizing your Self by and 
through the pendulum swing, along with the pulse of infinity.

What a pleasure to be along for the ride, in your company.  It's an 
experience, I assure you, you cannot completely appreciate ~ for me ~ but you 
will experience it one day in your teacher capacity, when you visit a realm 
which is not your native home, in order to be of service to the inhabitants.  
This is the nature of revelation!  Thus you yourselves are able to become 
living revelation -- even on a dense world such as this -- in preparation for 
greater worlds to come.  

What have you got there, Thoroah, for me this afternoon?  A question? Or a 
dialog?

THOROAH: I do have a topic, and I tried to formulate a question out of this.  
I'll read what I have written.  It concerns Islam.  And I'm right now reading 
about Islam from an associate in the Urantia Book community who has written 
something about the relationship between Islam and the Judaism and 
Christianity, and what I'm curious about --  Are the things that I'm reading 
being taken out of context, in the sense that -- Is this so-called religion 
of Allah, which is Islam, is it purposively designed to be the enemy of the 
Jews and the Christians?  It would be very confusing if that's the case 
because we're trying to further understand Muslim brothers and sisters, 
likewise any of them might be trying to understand us, and this seems to be 
telling me that it's fait accompli, that the characterization of Islam is an 
enemy, and I'm wondering how much of that is worth considering?

PAULO: "Love thine enemy."  Well, my God, it is worth considering.  (But I 
would preface my commentary with the observation that you would challenge me 
to a go around with Ernest!

THOROAH: I didn't try to set it up like that.
PAULO: I will not approach it like that.)

Yes, this is what you have formulated and your question was, "am I to regard 
this as ... " what?

THOROAH:   Basically my question has to do with regarding it at all.  I mean, 
I ...

PAULO: In that case, my response is immediate.  It, of course, should be 
considered for it is intelligently addressed.  It is filled with information 
and insight ~ having his perspective and authority ~ and appreciating the 
character of his manifestation as one would appreciate the unique 
configuration of a brilliant snow flake in a blizzard.  This is not to reduce 
anyone's efforts to minuscule insignificance, no, but to point out that 
everyone has a theory.  If they are fortunate they will have an intelligent 
theory, and the theory that you reviewed has intelligence.

THOROAH: I'd like to say that I agree with you.  I was very impressed with 
what Ernest had written, and I had not thought of some of the things that he 
pointed out, and part of that was that there seems to be natural enmity –  
built-in enmity – that is there, culturally, historically, for whatever 
reason, between Christians, Jews and Muslims.  And it seems that the Muslim 
religion is built on the way it feels about other religions more so than what 
it feels about itself.  And maybe that's what I'm talking about.  Is that a 
good depiction of Islam? I'm thinking that there's probably a lot more to 
learn about Islam, and that's just one way to look at it.

PAULO: This is the nature of evolved religions.   They spring up as a 
response to that reality which impacts, and in this case, the response rises 
to the level of my interest because it reflects the quality of rebellion.  
There have been rebels, religious rebels, throughout the course of history 
on your world, those who break away from the mother church or the prevailing 
belief system, to branch off in favor of a variation on the theme, thus 
bringing into existence the new generation of believers, and in the main, 
these are forward steps.

Islam has arrived in the wake of Christianity, thus it is indeed reacting to 
Christianity, and I will refer you again to the cosmic pulse that which 
weighs reality like the pendulum – the going back and forth to find the fine 
line affinity they share, which is that which will advance the opposing 
factions as eventually a convergence will come about in time as they evolve.  
There is a great blending going on today, but in times past on Urantia, there 
were new religions sprouting up along the way that provided stepping stones 
for the evolving races in order to reach the point where the next epochal 
revelation would become necessary.  

Christianity is a religion about Jesus, created in large part by Peter and 
Paul, but borrowing on many elements of those times.  Notice that Gabriel and 
Michael appeared to Mohammad.  One could speculate, hypothesize, then that 
the gods - the overseers, overcontrol of evolution - may have judged it 
desirable to state for the record that this was not what Jesus came to say 
but this would have been a response to the epochal revelation of Jesus of 
Nazareth as his message was distorted by the evolving religion of 
Christianity.  Thus a pendulum swing was born in the birth of Islamic 
perception.  

Somewhere between Christians and Islam, Gabriel and Michael are the stable 
cosmic realities, the balance point between which these two huge factions of 
belief undulate, as if they were a system of checks and balances, each one 
regarding the other as the infidel.  

THOROAH: From day one, right?  Pretty much?

PAULO: It was born in response to an existing relative reality, so, yes.  As 
each is a result of a response to antecedent causation, there is a balancing 
act, at the end of which is one faith -- one religion, one God, one people.  

Somewhere between the two, and/or outside of them both, is revelation - that 
which descends upon humanity, and it could be said here that the illiterate 
Mohammad had as much if not more going for him in the receiving of his 
messages from Gabriel and Michael as did those who channeled into existence A 
Course in Miracles or, for that matter, the Urantia Papers, whereas the 
existing religion of Christianity has derived not from revelation of Jesus 
but the story of Jesus.  

The spiritual arrogance of any religionist is like a red cape a toreador 
carries in the ring with the bull.  And while one may testify loudly about 
ones innocence and ones humility, it may be as sounding brass and not truth, 
beauty, and goodness at all.  This error, or imperfection, is in line for 
correcting, or growth, and this is what the intelligence factor is, in regard 
to those materials you made reference to.  

The truth cannot be – well it can be; it is, often, but – real Truth cannot 
be manipulated.  Truth of an evolving nature is often distorted and 
personalized in order to reflect that perspective. That is valid, viable 
expression and occasionally is revelatory, even as I am a revelation to 
Urantia and all the Teachers in the Teaching Mission are revelation.  I hear 
you responding/reacting.  What?

THOROAH: I was getting a jolt, a little snicker in my mind about the 
relativity of the term "revelation."  Yes, you are revelation to me and the 
others, but to some, you would have to be a figment of our imagination.  You 
are not revelation at all to them because it doesn't register.

PAULO: This is true.  In time the presence of God will have become so 
pronounced on Urantia that a majority of individuals will have the pleasure 
of being living revelation, of being a revelation of truth, beauty and 
goodness, of revealing the Father in their every moment.  It will then not 
matter what religious theory brought them to that point, except for certain 
cultural loyalty and religious appreciation.  As you therefore come to know 
other religions -- how they think, how they feel, how they've come to be – as 
you perceive this in the bigger picture, as through the text, and modern 
revelation (even revelation of higher thought), you bring about better 
perspective upon which others may also reflect en route to attaining a degree 
of wisdom that will result in global light and life.  

THOROAH: We have developed, in some fashion, to help Father reveal Himself.  
We can assist in this process, I'm assuming.  Probably the best way, as you 
said earlier, is the living of what we believe where it's really at, but we 
can do other little things, too, probably.

PAULO: This is why I acknowledged in the beginning of our session, the melody 
of "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me" on the scale, the 
grid work of this brain, for it can be accomplished only if you have captured 
the integration essential to being stable while being able to identify with 
whatever other perspectives are prevailing.  In this way you can bring 
detachment and discernment to the situation.  If you/one were to attempt to 
make changes in the prevailing philosophies without this inner core of peace, 
it would only exacerbate the difference and create further conflict.  

This was a quality Jesus had mastered in his dealings with his fellow 
mortals.  The evolving mortal inclines toward the perspective of 
political/material with its inherent loyalties and passions, while the mind 
which is "fixed on God" is able to defuse those sparks of passion which would 
render sane conversation impossible.  

Religion is emotionally charged, and emotional charge gives rise to religious 
war, for there is nothing more passionate than that individual who will die 
for what they believe in.  Many Christians would not consider dying for their 
belief system for it has not touched them except culturally and emotionally.  
There are scant few who have given themselves up to divine rule.  

There were political zealots in existence in Christ's time also, and they 
were destructive of many spirit qualities, but they were not able to 
completely destroy spirit reality - only postpone its flowering, and this is 
rather where we are today. The hostilities of evolving religions are 
political in nature, and thus have very little to do with the real religion 
of Jesus, which, were it understood, would quickly extinguish the fires of 
anger and rain lovingly on all.  

The historic reference is appreciated, in truth, for in truth it is 
impossible to see how you will advance without a full understanding of how 
you got to be where you are. This is the nature of perspective, and that the 
experience of a perpetual now, without yesterday and tomorrow, can be an 
exasperatingly trivial life indeed.  

Thus we acknowledge the efforts of those intelligent individual who choose to 
think, who are learning to think with their higher minds, and have the 
courage of their convictions such that the saga is made more meaningful, 
giving you an opportunity to feel you are a part of the history of your world 
and your religion, rather than a spectator or a disinterested third party. 

Has what I've said made sense to you?  Have I responded to your concern?  

THOROAH: Yes.  More so than I expected, but then I did expect that. Thank you.

PAULO: What? No countermand?

THOROAH: Well, the countermand would only be that we're seeing things, and 
I'm led to believe that I'm not seeing what I'm seeing.  There's more to it 
than meets the eye, and call me a conspiracy theorist if you like but, 
anymore I'm sensing conspiracies going on and they don't have to be aware of 
the fact that they're participating in this conspiracies.  There are some 
things going on that are very positive and uplifting and you could look at it 
as a movement, think of it as a conspiracy, whereas people might not realize 
they are participating in it, but they are with their energies.  

Same thing on the other side, as far as the negative is concerned, and one of 
us looking at the other as thought they were the devil kind of tells me a 
story, you know, that it's basically what we are both seeing and not seeing 
where the problem is, so it's still an enigma, Paulo.  It's, again, back to 
our own personal dealing with it.

PAULO: This may seem like a fine line distinction to many, but I'll call your 
attention to the Paper in the text that reveals the worlds major religions in 
order of their arrival on your world and the impact that it has given and 
note that in Ganid's study of the major religions, to indicate what 
similarities there were, specifically set's aside the religion of Jesus from 
all other religions, including Christianity. It is called "our religion" and 
while Ganid's simple enthusiasm over creating, with his friend Jesus, a new 
religion, while that seems amusing to some, it is actually the kernel of the 
fruit of the living vine that will come to be and prevail, even after Islam 
and Christianity have become mere memories, pages in the book of your early 
religious evolution, influences on your cultures, for the enduring religion 
is that which is born of the spirit as a result of man's yearning to become 
one with his creator - a personal spiritual experience, prompted by the 
loving attentions of the indwelling Adjuster, and not out of retaliation to 
another's belief or in response to religious circumstances of the day and 
age, but born of that hunger which will not be quelled before the realization 
of the living God.  

Those of you who have a cultural background as Christians would do well to 
recognize how it is that you find it hard to see the forest for the trees.  
It is said that there will be a spiritual flowering, that the seed is hidden 
in Christianity.  The seed that is hidden is the Christ who came to provide 
the perspective of his Father and the gospel as it is realized in the lives 
of those of you who have been born again, born of the spirit.  That same seed 
spoke to Mohammad and speaks to all seekers in obedience to the divine 
fragments which seek to instill in you a revelation of the Father so personal 
and so sublime as to live eternally.  Let there be peace on earth and let it 
begin with me.  The Prince of Peace has the ability to clearly discern the 
difference between the reality of the Father and the reality of the material 
world, including the political circumstances of the day and age.  This he 
knew and you too can know from a thorough appreciation of how it is in your 
world in the times of your life and in the association of your own indwelling 
piece/peace of God.

Yes, of course I believe that you can be superhuman!  If we didn't feel you 
have the potential to be superhuman, we wouldn't be devoting so many hours to 
your uplifting.  Jesus still has more faith in you than you have in 
yourselves.  Persistently rely upon that reality which Jesus knows, that 
which is of Him.  Yes.  

I feel peace prevail in the room.  Perhaps you've all gone to sleep!  (No) 
Let's take this moment to offer our Thanksgiving to our creator and our 
elders on high who have embraced us in their love and bestowed on us their 
loving guidance; Thanksgiving to those who guide us, and those who serve us 
in the service of the Father.  Amen.  
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