[tmtranscripts] S.E. Idaho transcript 9-20-02

[Bill Kelly]

S.E. Idaho TeaM

9-20-02        


Daniel(Bill):  From a higher perspective, from the perspective of the
Universe, you are all one: biologically, emotionally, mentally, and
spiritually.  Indeed, your hands connect the visible portion of your
oneness; but far greater is the spiritual, emotional, and mental.  So enjoy
this reality, my friends, and know that your war torn, strife ridden world
will someday know this reality.  Be at peace and enjoy your humanity.  I am
Daniel, your teacher.  Let us pray.

Eternal God, we are finite creatures of Your making and sharing Your heart
of love.  May we be so aware of the goodness of the moment, the joy of now
that it may submerge our anxieties and fears, that it may wash away our bad
memories, that it may bolster our self confidence in our inherent
worthiness.  Let these, my friends, enjoy our company together.  Amen.

Once again my greetings, my friends.  I am Daniel, pleased to be among you
and especially with your little one present.  

You have been discussing the reality of faith as it undergirds life. You
have talked of loss of faith and lack of faith due to promises that were
not fulfilled and attempts that were made to explain away those
disappointments.  You have talked of the mantle of living faith that repels
the arrows of doubt, fear, and anxiety.  You have correctly discerned the
difference between the basic trust of a child for its parent and the
promises of hucksters of religion and con artists of culture.  I wish to
talk about how you can improve your truth testing mechanism so that you are
not credulous and subsequently skeptical to the point of cynicism.

First of all I wish to point out the obvious, that skepticism is a virtue,
that the mind who is disciplined in the understanding of the difference
between facts and fancies, between illusion and reality, between lies and
truths is a mind that can make progress in the acquisition of wisdom.  

You live in a world that is fraught with antisocial mechanisms, that is
imbued with a wide spectrum of shades of grey.  The facts of life, the
material facts, are not the greatest problem since for most people they are
fairly well agreed upon.  But the interpretation of the facts, which is in
fact the "truth" of the facts is quite another matter.  Therefore it is
usually true that skepticism of interpretation is the more appropriate
place for skepticism.  For the challenge of the evaluation of others'
interpretations of facts is absolutely necessary to achieve one's own
interpretation of reality and to test the validity of other people's and
culture's conclusions.  So, skepticism as a technique of truth discernment
is essential to any higher functioning search for truth.  

You have a saying, "Don't throw out the baby with the bath water".  This
reflects the need to make a distinction between truth and error while being
careful to not so entwine truth and error together that truth is thrown out
when the error is rejected.  Some people, usually through emotional
devastation, have lost faith in humanity in general and in the possibility
of arriving at a satisfying philosophy of life.  They have, indeed, thrown
out the proverbial baby with the bath water. 

Since Urantia is in recovery from rebellion it has a huge indebtedness in
this direction.  Many, many were the people who trusted the brilliant
Calagastia, your first Planetary Prince.  The majority of angels were led
astray and followed him, only to find out that they had made an enormous
mistake.  So your world has a history of being led astray, of being led
down the primrose path, of being seduced and traumatized.  It is almost,
you could say, the natural state of affairs on this planet which has
inherited this quarter of a million year history of betrayal and bitter
legacy of rebellion.  Do not think that when a Creator Son comes as a
Bestowal Son to a planet, that they usually meet with the reception that
Jesus of Nazareth was party to.  No.  Normal planets welcome their Bestowal
Son with open arms.  Urantia and the other rebellion planets are vastly
different.  So this background explains the tendency to just "en carte
blanc" regard everything as questionable.  It is a struggle, given this
kind of history, to believe that the Universe is different than the way
this planet is ordered.  You have to make the decision (which you have
already made) to believe the words of hope, love, and joy that have been
coming to you from theses sources, from us teachers, from the words that
are still recorded of Michael in your ancient manuscripts and now
especially to believe the words that are recorded in the fifth revelation
to this planet in the Urantia Book.  

But you do not have to make this decision as though you are listening to
two parties debate the politics of a presidential election.  You do not
have to merely make a judgment intellectually.  You have another component,
that is, you have within you the Spirit of Truth which is your internal
"measurement meter" that you can rely on. This "measurement meter" is
partly intellectual but also has the feeling component, the intuitive
aspect as well.  There is a sense of "knowingness" associated with this
truth measurement instrument, the Spirit of Truth that I am referring to
with this mechanical analogy.  You will hear, either in audible words or
strong impressions, "This is the truth". "This is the way, walk in it".  

We teachers fully and completely endorse the scientific method to discover
facts.  We do not endorse scientism, the worship of science.  Scientific
method is a constant search for enhancing truth by understanding how things
fit together.  Scientism goes beyond this to explain why things are and how
they got that way.  When it does so it oversteps its boundaries.  Religion
does talk about the "why".  But when it becomes dogmatic about the "how" it
oversteps its boundaries as well and interferes with the work of science.
So, then, scientific method is something you need to follow to throw out
the superstition, the illusion, the fabrication, the con artist and all of
that sort, the dirty water.  But let the baby of truth grow into a young
child of enlarged truth.  

The second method of truth discernment is within and I have already
attempted to describe how it functions.  It is partially intellectual and
it is partially intuitive and emotional.  Truth always includes a moral
dimension as well.  Indeed, do the adjutants that operate in your mind
instill the hard wired parameters of the "categorical imperative".  

To sum up...when we say you need living faith we do not mean credulity.  We
do not mean intellectual laziness.  We do not mean cynical skepticism
either.  We mean the willingness to commit in your own minds to the highest
truth that you know, to commit in the sense of living it and not merely
thinking about it, putting it into practice in your lives.  Always remember
that you can be dead right about the facts and altogether wrong about the
truth.  Let your interpretation of the facts be guided by your Indwelling
Divine Fragment and then your interpretation will expand and grow and
become more and more unified and satisfying.  I have completed my comments.
 Have you questions or comments to make in reply?  If so, the floor is now
yours.   (Silence)

Hearing no further commentary, perhaps the time constraints are paramount.
If so, I would request that Klarixiska lead in us in prayer to close our
meeting.

Klarixiska(Virginia): Eternal Father, we do thank You that You have made us
as we are.  We thank You that You do not ask us to be fools for You but
rather that we might be intelligent, capable people that know how to
discern that which is Your reality.  Help us to be followers of truth,
beauty, and goodness no matter the path it might take.  We know that those
three things should define our lives and should define how we relate to our
brothers and sisters.  Give us hope.  Give us help as we wait for Your
instruction.  Help us to ask of You and then to listen and not act until we
do.  May Light and Life come to this planet with this realization as we
teachers and our students, one by one, live your love.  In Michael's name.
Amen.