[tmtranscripts] 11-24-01 SPOKANE TEAM

[ZooidODell at aol.com]

DATE: November 24, 2001
LOCATION: Spokane, WA.
T/Rs: Ginny & Gerdean
TEACHERS & TOPICS:
    Greetings from OLFANA;
    TOMAS: Human Associations 101
    NEBADONIA's Prayer.

OLFANA: It is very much a pleasure to be here.  I always enjoy times of 
celebration and reflection on things that matter in your lives, and your 
custom of having these times of pausing in your daily lives, just changing 
the speed a little, slowing down a little, opening up your senses to enjoy 
those parts of your life that bring you pleasure and happiness and give you 
moments to relish your awareness of each other.  All these smells and the 
colors in your food and your clothing and in nature are ways to enhance your 
awareness of how important it is to allow yourselves time of fellowship, for 
food and other festivities.  

You indeed have been blessed with many gifts as you climb the ladder of your 
ascension career.  Even on other planets, in other dimensions, you will 
always benefit by those moments of reflection and fellowship, for in your 
entire ascension career you will be dealing with relationship, ever more so, 
you will be dealing with that aspect than you do here.  As the Master has 
warned us many times, isolation is a great barrier to your goals.  So I 
encourage you to celebrate often, in little ways, even when alone, so that 
you maintain an attitude of gratitude throughout your life. A grateful heart 
is always a pleasure to see, to behold.  

I thank you for your relationship with me and I pledge my willingness to 
offer to you my friendship.  Good evening.

GROUP: Thank you, Teacher.

TOMAS: Which brings us once more round to the Human Associations course work 
we launched upon awhile ago.  Gracious Olfana, we appreciate your visit.  The 
fragrance your personality brings to the environment indeed sweetens the air 
as do the smells of cinnamon and honey.  The fragrant personality is one 
which is sought after, which is endearing for its being.  That soul which is 
replete in itself, which is not in conflict with others, is like the eye in 
the hurricane, that place which is restful and calm.

Indeed there are times when the mortal is sluggish and reaches out to find 
the stimuli of other personalities.  This gregarious aspect is stimulative of 
industry and enterprise.  It's so much more fun to be and do those things 
which you can do together than what you do alone, but only if there is a 
harmony.  Many relationships are stressed because the elements are not at 
peace in themselves or have conflict about how others live their lives.  

The joy of friendship is such that you can find familiar values to rely upon, 
to uphold your relationship -- as you were discussing traditional 
thanksgiving dinner or other traditions of a cultural nature -- which allow 
you to feel you are among familiar friends.  And while this is of great 
value, it is also valuable to find yourself experiencing other ways of life, 
other approaches to the art of living.  To presume that any one way is the 
correct way, is to limit the appreciation of everyone present.

The enlightened human being is aware of his dual nature, is aware of the 
divine fragment which lures him ever onward and upward, and also appreciative 
and mindful of the mortal tabernacle, the animal origin, and those behaviors 
peculiar to the creature of the realm.  Having this insight is like being 
gifted with the trampoline, the rebounder, which allows you to light-footedly 
touch down, lift up, touch back, lift up, and weave your way between the two 
very distinct realities in such a way as to be a braid that has woven 
together the threads of each reality into a harmonious whole, one which one 
could identify as an entirety.  

These sessions of festive joy and camaraderie with those you love are best 
balanced by interchanges with those with whom you have little in common or 
not so much in harmony so that you can become adept in educating yourself as 
to how other people live and other realities present themselves.  This Human 
Association lesson might lend itself well to the current state of affairs 
having to do with your nationalistic neighbors.  How do other people live?  
How do other religions worship God?  How do other peoples celebrate their 
faithful days?  In this way you extend your appreciation of the brotherhood 
of man, the crowning glory of the course work of Human Associations 101.

It's amazing, is it not, how much better people get along when they are well 
fed and comfortable?  Which drawback is, as you are well fed and comfortable, 
you would take a nap and miss out on the opportunity to be gregarious in a 
morontial sense.  Are you with me?

GINNY: I was going to add  "or be a couch potato in the Urantian sense."  Yes.
THOROAH:    Tomas, I'll have to admit the tryptophane affected me a little 
bit a couple of times.
GINNY: The what?
THOROAH:  Tryptophane.  It's in turkey, that makes you sleepy. 

TOMAS: America has a tendency toward "couch potato" status, yes.  It is a 
country of abundance, and it's very difficult to give away what you have 
received when you are regarded as ... how would we paint this picture?  So 
many reject the services that you could provide because they sense a 
superiority.  Let's probe here a bit, for it's an area that is laden with 
misunderstanding that might give rise to effective service if it were 
understood better.  Let me illustrate:

The neighborhood has a family which is very poor.  And the neighborhood 
decides to do something good for this family.  They pile the car full of good 
food and presents, drive over to their house, make a lot of fuss presenting 
the foodstuffs and gifts, and then wave and drive away.  Has it occurred to 
anyone that while it is evident the motive is to share and be of service, the 
recipient of such a gesture may feel shamed or resentful, as if they had 
nothing to offer in return?  Indeed, the psyche is a subtle trap that will 
snap at you. But look at the neighbors who offer to spend time with this 
family and learn of them, their nature, their dreams, their imaginings, their 
worries, and their hopes.  

The gift of being regarded as a peer, as an equal, is so much more priceless 
than donations.  Even while these gifts are indeed enjoyable, self-respect is 
at the core of Human Associations.   It's not possible to have a brotherhood 
of man when one is lording it over another, his or her superiority, and this 
can be reflected in terms of wealth, creature comforts, social standing, 
education and liberty, denied to those who fear they are less than worthy of 
sonship.  The greatest gift you can give your neighbor is acceptance. 

THOROAH: It's almost as though the best thing we can do is to befriend 
people.  Otherwise it's pretentious to try to help, but if you're friends 
with people, help becomes part of the natural intercourse.

GINNY: This seems to be the greatest problem with our relationship with the 
Middle East, that we like to lord it over them and won't really make an 
effort to understand them.  When Bush said he is unwilling to negotiate, that 
really scared me.  It's like, "Oh!  We can't do that!  We can't say those 
things and just say ‘no, we're not going to negotiate'."  To me that's like 
saying, "No, we don't want to know you.  No, we don't care.  We don't want 
your friendship."  

TOMAS: You are discussing a program of political response which is not the 
same as a fraternal response.  As a citizen, Mr. Bush may concern himself, as 
you do, with neighborly relations and intentions.  However, as a political 
figure, it is his job to preside over this country, and the evolution of your 
world at this point is still bound up in nationalistic regimes.  In truth, 
your ideal is the superior, and this is where the common man is able to 
effect changes where often powerful figures cannot.  

The brotherhood of man worldwide will work itself into being when you as a 
fellow, a neighbor, a human being, are able to know and love and stand by 
your neighbors as earnestly and sincerely as you would stand by and near your 
own family, for in truth, the family of man is your family.  It is error to 
look to the leaders to create this kind of growth.  This is where this 
culture receives criticism for being couch potatoes and why so many are 
rallying round those who have diligently taken their messages out into the 
far-reaches of the earth as a gesture of Human Associations, and while many 
of these contacts are in the context of politics or religion, they are 
delivered even so through the one on one contact, which is the real arbiter 
of peace on earth.  How you live, how you handle yourself, how you respond to 
conflict, how you deal with social disease, how you turn the other cheek or 
reach out in compassion – these are the realities which will bring about 
world peace.  As you are cloistered in your comfort zones, you strengthen 
your home base but you have yet that heartfelt longing, that urge that 
evinces you to reveal the Father to those who know Him not.  

Also, in perceiving the globe from outside your common perspective you begin 
to see from different vantage points how others perceive your behavior.  This 
is essential relationship building blocks. Like, when you have a one-on-one 
relationship with the Father, your world is sublime, but the minute you 
become involved in the life of another, you are then faced with how limited 
your perspective is, as you allow yourself to open up to the perspective of 
others.  This is one of the great merits of marriage and other heartfelt 
friendships – they enable you to expand your vision to include the 
perspective of others.  This is essential for a religionist!  To see how 
others see.  In this way you reduce your risk of appearing egocentric and 
myopic.  

GINNY: This is what impresses me so much about Michael and his life on our 
planet.  With what he was and what he knew, he was still able to respect the 
viewpoint of others, and never-never-never-never insulted them.  

TOMAS: He is indeed the Prince of Peace, the great Teacher.  And we continue 
to learn from him.  But as he has said, even we, even you are capable of 
doing those things which can elevate you into a being who can bring 
illumination to those you touch by your own love-saturated soul, through the 
infinite love of the indwelling God fragment you make your own.  His was 
truly the effective perspective, for he did not get overmuch caught up in the 
social mores or the political machinations of his day and age, no, but went 
direct to the heart of the issue, the seat of the spirit, which is the only 
power effective enough to bring about those realities which we need to have 
realized in order to see our way through to light and life.  

Sometimes I think our celestial rhetoric does more harm than good.  I say the 
phrase "light and life" as if that were Christmas morning, as if it would 
suddenly and magically be a reality which we will know when we see.  But the 
truth is, you create light and life each day, each moment, as yo interact 
with your fellows.  The light and life that you carry with you in your heart, 
in your soul, in your psyche, in your relationship with your indwelling 
Adjuster.  As you carry that loving reality with you into your relationships 
with others, you enhance and stimulate their appreciation for their divine 
Gifts, and as this reality solidifies, it becomes socialized.  And it extends 
out into the arena of your neighborhood and into the world such that your 
relationships with everyone are extensions of the one great universal Source 
and Center which connects all life in a circuit of personality, love, mind 
and mercy which will be able to redeem Urantia, elevating it and its life 
forms and realities to a perfection that can only be known by you here.  So 
you must become accustomed to it now, and not wait until some future date 
when Light and Life arrives, but take it by spiritual assault, even if that 
means to capture your own fears and that which would hold you back from being 
all that you can be.

GINNY: Last Sunday in Coeur d'Alene we were talking about how we can be 
peacemakers, but with the qualities of a warrior, in the sense that we can be 
determined and loyal and brave and assertive.

TOMAS: Yes. 

GINNY: How we can be peacemakers and yet have all those qualities that are 
necessary to be out there, that peacemaking does not mean being passive.  It 
means being active and being brave and being fearless and determined.

TOMAS: Yes.  Absolutely.  To not allow the moment to pass through passive 
acquiescence, to allow that which is error add to reality.  

GINNY: And Michael said if we take this seriously and do this work seriously, 
we indeed and most assuredly would have trouble. I think a lot of times we 
try to avoid trouble.  

TOMAS: Well said.

GINNY: But what's the difference between avoiding trouble that is not worth 
dealing with – I don't mean ‘not worth it' but – what's the difference 
between trouble, as a natural part of our mission, and trouble which is to be 
avoided?

THOROAH: Politics.  Politics are one way we look at trouble.  When we get 
political about peace making.  There's a conflict there, but if we go out and 
live and demonstrate in our own life a peaceful approach, that probably takes 
the courage, because it goes sometimes unnoticed, but it could cause conflict 
within individual relationships because we refuse to maybe take a normal 
stance when we are aggressively peaceful. That may be a source of contention. 
 You see what I'm saying?  It's natural.  I think the political thing is ... 
I don't think we need to confuse politics with being courageous or taking it 
by spiritual assault.  I hope that doesn't mean we have to be political.  

TOMAS: It is very hard to separate a person's politics from their modus 
operandi.  

GINNY: Well, also politics can mean different things.  The word itself means 
"of the people" so politics, in its broadest sense –

THOROAH: I'm talking demonstrations.
GINNY: Yes, but politics in its broadest sense means dealing with the people.
THOROAH: Yeah.  I'm talking "in your face" demonstrations.

GINNY: Yeah.  When I use the word "politics" sometimes I use it in the very 
broad sense meaning dealing with people.  Where it becomes something 
different ...

TOMAS: How marvelous to see you struggle for a better vocabulary with which 
to work as well!  We find these limitations frustrating, and often wish there 
were more words to define what we want to say.  There are classic political 
maneuvers, and this too is a result of an individual banding with other 
individuals who think similarly.  The personal politics become the group 
politics.  Protesting has been a popular demonstration of an attitude of 
people, particularly in more modern times, since you've decided to "give 
peace a chance".  It's a backlash to those who wage war.

Anytime anyone affiliates with a group of other people because of the group 
mind, it is a demonstration of thought.  Not always right, but entitled to 
express itself.  And so again, accept how it is that others find a way to 
deal with the personal expression of heartfelt response to humanity in its 
struggles to survive and evolve into a true civilized assortment of Human 
Associations.  

GINNY: Could you reveal anything to us what is the future of our country as 
far as being any kind of spiritual leader?  In the coming ages?

TOMAS: The sooner you separate your country from your religion the more 
effective you will be.  Countries are not designed to be religious leaders.  
How a people lives is individual.  

GINNY:  Well, "never the twain shall meet" then, religion and politics.

TOMAS: No, religion and politics are a part of every individual.  They cannot 
help but meet because they are a part of who you are.  If you have a 
religion, you have a politic.  You think.  "I think therefore I am" – this 
makes for religion and politics in its essence, even before you develop 
philosophy or theology in support of who you are.  To say "I am" is to say I 
am political because I have will.  That you have will equates to a vote, an 
opinion, but to give away your personal religion or your personal politics to 
a country or an institution is similar to what Thoroah mentioned of those who 
join together to promote peace, they have banded together as a body and in 
the body are rendered antonymous.  The church, the country, the principle, 
therefore speaks.  You have given it your voice.  

And individual are indeed encouraged to get involved in those things which 
they feel they are able to affect favorably.  It has been said "when did I 
ever teach you that you have to think alike in order to be alike?"    "To be" 
in the relationship between you and the Origin is a spiritual state of mind 
and being.  But to act, to think, to believe, to opine, is to put yourself in 
a political position.  

Well now, I didn't come here to teach a civics class in particular, but it is 
interesting how many individuals feel that they are not involved in politics 
and yet they spend much of their lives politicking for their course of 
action.   Why don't we make that an assignment this week?  Look at your 
course of action.  See how many times it changes.  See how many variations 
there are and make a note of how it is that it alters, if at all, in 
circumstances outside your control, being mindful all the while that the 
essential reality of your soul is intact and constant, infinite, eternal and 
true.  Any questions?

The wonderful thing about operating from the heart is you find those who are 
like-minded, who enjoy the same tastes, who appreciate similar beliefs, and 
you harmonize therein.  This is the great repast we share in remembrance of 
him, when we meet at the Father's table to feast on the spirit gifts we've 
been given.  There is no politicking in thanksgiving.  Politics does not 
belong in worship.  

GINNY: Well, thank you.  That's a lot to think about.  I'll study carefully 
the transcript, as my mind tends to wander periodically, so I can bring it 
back into my memory.

TOMAS: You would do well to journal your thoughts as well, for this helps to 
pinpoint what your thoughts are so that you can get a handle on them and they 
don't go flying around the room like a feather on the wind.  

THOROAH: I would need to do the same thing.  

TOMAS: This is a good practice.  Well, my friends, I reluctantly bring our 
session to a close.  Would we like to hear from Nebadonia in prayer?

GROUP: Certainly.  Yes, indeed.

NEBADONIA: Hand Me your burdens, children.  Give Me your parcels, and let Me 
put them away for you.  Let Me gather you together here, that we might rest 
at this threshold before we venture onto our next day in the life.  Rest in 
My arms.  Rest in the knowledge of My care.  Sense the presence of My angels, 
spirit helpers.  Be familiar with the adjutant mind spirits as they enable 
you to find yourself on your way Home to Me and to your Father through the 
Spirit of Truth.  
Love one another.  Rejoice in your differences.  Marvel with Me at the charm 
of your immaturity.  I will carry your burdens.  Run along, knowing we 
overlook you as you go.  Farewell.



                                        
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