[tmtranscripts] 4-27-03 Rio Rancho TeaM

[Gerdean O Bowen]

Location: Rio Rancho, New Mexico, USA, at Ann’s house.
Teachers: TOMAS and ANATOLIA
Topics: Perfection Attainment
The Analogy of the Paper Bag
T/R’s: Gerdean (for Tomas); Matthew (for Anatolia)
Music: Dorenda on piano, playing Eric Satie
Prayer: (Matthew) Let us put ourselves in the presence of Jesus the
Christ.
Master Teacher,
We come to you with hearts that are open, tired in some cases, bewildered
perhaps, but not discouraged, not disheartened, only need for momentary
pause and refrain, to once again become aware of who we are in you and
because of you, and because of the love of our Heavenly Father to you and
to us. And to realize that the unity of humanity that we do not often see
is a fact and is one that we can relish and relinquish any concern or
tension over the apparent absence of such unity that we know that it is
because of you as living proof and risen proof. 
We ask for whatever teachers and lessons that you ordain today that will
be of benefit and renew our sense of Self and oneness with you and with
creation as you have seen fit as an Actor within the Father to provide
the availability of life and the experience thereof, we are forever
grateful. And for those concerns that touch each of us personally and
otherwise, we ask for their current and proper addressing. Amen.
TOMAS: Hear me now. This is Tomas. Hear me "tap, tap, tap" on the podium.
(group giggles) I am the conductor of the orchestra of the moment. The
choir is in the balcony. But you are the instruments and I wish to speak
to you about Perfection.
There is so much IMperfection in the world. And how do we know that there
is imperfection?" Because there is such sorrow, such yearning, such need.
These conditions are like the void, which yearns to be filled. There are
many who recite the same litany of experiences again and again because
they have not the wherewithal to change their pattern of pursuit and
begin rather to follow after that reality which will give rise to new
life lessons, new challenges, new accomplishments and new rewards. New
responses. 
This is the advantage that you share, this ability to change, and to go
with the flow of advancement, not only in material terms but in cosmic
terms. I say ‘cosmic’ terms rather than spiritual terms because there are
so many kinds of spiritualism and even spiritual reality but, for the
most part, the collective consciousness of Urantia regards those as
something that is constrained within the orb of the material world they
can see and feel - not with eyes and ears of spirit.
In the pursuit of Perfection there are cycles. Instead of staying static
you have new beginnings and new endings and you begin to enjoy the ride.
You no longer fear change for you know that the Father is looking out for
you, His child, and will lead you through the experience, ‘yea even
though you walk through the valley of death,’ you feel no sorrow for you
know He is with you.
There is much talk and banter, even social acceptance, of the current
social vogue of letting things go. Let go of that relationship that is
holding you back. Let go of that habit that is standing in the way of
your enjoyment of life. Let go of that thinking that is tied to an old
paradigm of reality. Let go of that ambition that is only leading you
down a path to evade your true destiny. Let go of that Old piece of
clothing, that old car, that old item, for the New! – for the Promise of
Abundance and the Golden Egg that Jesus came to give you: ‘Life 
 more
Abundantly.’
Perfection is not particularly found in the material world but it is IN
the material world, certainly. And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to
look out this window and see the Perfect View – to look into this
atmosphere and see the Perfect Climate – to look into each other eyes and
see the Perfect Friend – to sit back and embrace the atmosphere that we
create here and recognize we are enjoying Perfect Harmony.
We have let go of many things that have stood in the way of our growth
and we are enjoying the fruits of our labor. The advancement of
Perfection is a process in which you all contribute and participate in,
maintaining a loyalty to that which enhances and augments your life
experience -- not because it is a practical matter as much as it is
sublime.
Many of you wonder, ‘What would I do with myself if everything were
Perfect?’ And so you justify the continued existence of Imperfection. And
yet by holding so fast to this False Humility, you are depriving yourself
and the Universe of the glory inherent in you – in your life with
divinity. And there are those who have a sense that such superhuman joy
is such an intimidating force they seek to undermine it. And many of you
in your joy to serve, relinquish your Perfection, in the desire to reach
out into the field and embrace your brothers.
Elena: Would you say that again?
TOMAS: I am speaking to you as a child of God and I am addressing a
number of resistances that you are prone to, in sidestepping the
acknowledgement of, and responsibility for, your own Perfection. I cannot
repeat what was said for that would compel me to repeat an old thought.
(Okay.) Far better for me to reach into my basket of resources and
rephrase for you the concept that you are grasping.
I look at you and I see your dual nature. I seen the animal with its
material aspects, culture, intelligence, instincts, adjutant mind
spirits, education, economics, attitudes, language and so forth, and I
see that this is you. I also look at you and see the Reality of your Soul
– the Immortal aspect of you that is being created as you decide, on a
daily basis, to do His Will in your life. In this context I can
distinguish the Divine Personality that you reflect through your choices
and thus I can call "you" "thou." Thou art God and thou art of God.
You, on the other hand, are a working combination of combustible mind and
matter that may be altered by your choices, by which you become
eternalized, through which your existence becomes actualized, through
which your human self becomes perfected. Soon there will be no malice
within you. There will be no jealousy, no fear. No negative emotions to
mar your view of the Perfection which is yours as a result of your
association with the Father, and with the Divine Family that surrounds
you and encompasses you. As you give yourself over to the care of God,
you are able to see how it is that God cares for you. You resist His Will
less and embrace His Ways more. And with each decision, you have
increased your Perfection Attainment.
There are so many wonderful new philosophies emerging in this new
dispensation of life, since we’ve been working with and on the heels of
the Fifth Epochal Revelation to this world. So many wonderful ways that
the Spirit is advancing. And all of them are encouraging you to embrace
the New that will lead you forward and release that which holds you back.
Thus the global movement is growing in Grace and gradually will supercede
and overcome that which is holding on to the old realities of life as you
have been accustomed in the ways of men. 
But the overall Perfection of Urantia will be made by you who are Friends
of the Great Spirit, who have served through your Joy and in your great
desire to enfold humanity in the Embrace of the Divine. For in that
Embrace all the tears are dried. All the wounds are healed. All the lies
are forgotten. And all the Truths are revealed that will make you whole
-- whole as individuals and whole as a nation and whole as a world. 
This is a process and it begins by your acknowledgement of that
Perfection Attainment which you have, by your choices and through your
commitment to Divinity, already mastered, already acquired, already
attained. Not only is Christ risen – YOU are risen, you who live in the
Sonlight of the Spirit. Show forth your Perfection and yield not to the
temptation to suppress the Joy of Sonship that is your birthright.
Please now turn your focus to the words of our next speaker.
Matthew: Anatolia is here.
Group: Greetings. Welcome.
ANATOLIA: Be of good cheer today, a week after the arisen. He is alive
and well. One week and 2000 years, approximately, following the actual
event, He has risen and is alive and well. It is within each of your
hearts and your souls that the Master continues to preside and to live
within your center of being. 
You may wonder how this is possible. Where, in this body, could you fit
such a concept, let alone such an enormous Spirit - such a grand and
sublime Presence. Where was this Presence prior to the resurrection?
Where was this Essence prior to your being? The answer, not like the
song, is not ‘blowing in the wind,’ but the Answer is within. It is
within this realm – this landscape – this place of being – that the
Master shares his worth, his value and His being.
Inasmuch as I can physically present and describe what this Presence is
like, I will try. 
Each of you in your Essence, is as the ancients have referred, prana – or
prhana -- Life Force energy. Chi, in the Eastern culture – Soul or Spirit
in the Western culture. The Essence - the Value of life. The Presence
that takes organic chemistry and places it with Life within. It is as if
one were to fill light and subsequent movement and action and animation
to a paper bag. If you were to take a paper bag and illumine it, it of
course brightens and becomes a Source of diffused light, so bright that,
if it were any brighter, would have no use for the bag that contains it!
But obviously much brighter than the bag itself permitted. 
The bag is substance of the earth formed for the purpose of containing
Quality and Quantity. It is this Light Essence then that brings
illumination. However, in and of itself, the Light does not animate. It
is the God Force within the Light that presents the opportunity for
animation, for Life to inhabit that Presence, that object, which prior to
the Light was just a paper bag. 
So it is that this animated Life Force that always was and always will
be, is the Life Force within you. You do not need this form of Light to
prove that Life exists. However, in your various stages of consciousness
this is the only Life that you know to exist. It’s beginnings and its
ultimation are unknown to you, because it's as if the Life Force that we
are speaking of within the container, of the bag, were to be released, it
would no longer be contained within the form that presently is, but would
be diffused – becoming part of All that Is. 
Know that the subtle containment thereof in your current state of being,
is a momentary focusing of Light on a particular point. Much as a
magnifying glass, reflecting sunlight onto a spot, where enough heat
generated will certainly cause fire. This is what your current
containment is: to be able to focus the energy of God-given Life Force,
named, personified and presented as You. An opportunity to focus your
energy in your current form in the status of the world as you find it
today. The opportunity for Light within Light, Presence within Presence,
more of the case Knowing within Knowing – is the Presence of the Christ
Spirit arisen. 
The Spirit of Truth as you know it is both substance and Presence of
knowledge and of Presence within you, and so it’s as if, again, the Light
within the Bag is multiplied, increased. The ultimate of All-That-Is is
all the more focused within the bag, to make its effectiveness all the
more present. To be Life as it is in Perfection brought to bear in
Imperfection. The augmentation of your Light with that of the Spirit of
Truth is what makes you an effective Presence of the supernatural with
the natural.
I think you get the general idea of what I am speaking, that this is more
than just concept or an ideal, but is a Force and a Living Presence that
shares your being. I only encourage you to make room for that of which
you are already a part. One can live in the ignorance of the Spirit of
Truth and find forms of effectiveness, even dynamic, ultimately multi
talented forms of expression and accomplishment, but without the added
feature of an Eternal Presence with you, it leaves one merely in a state
of despair, not knowing how such talent, skill and ability can have a
presence of being outside of its current containment. This lends reason,
hope and justification for the imperfection that you experience today, in
your present state of being in the hope that all can be more than the
occasional limitations and despair would predict.
So I leave you with more than an ounce of Light and Hope. I present you
with a Universe of Opportunity: to become who you are, here and now,
without having to die to experience what we discussed. For dying is only
the next step of nonresistant continuation. The nonresistance can be
experienced now but yet demonstrated within this world of limitation. So
be convinced that you are more than you see. You share a realm of reality
that is well beyond your sight. And it is this sight that enables you to
experience that which this world of limitation could fool you into
believing is all that there is.
I bring you great cheer and joy for the Master has risen and has an
eternity of loving and living to be with you now and forever. Peace be
with you.
Group: Thank you, Anatolia.
TOMAS: My companion is a light unto my feet. And you, my students, our
students, are as a glow that indeed warms our hearts and gives direction
to those you meet. What have for us today? Are there questions? Comments?
Concerns?
Matthew: I just had a thought this week that was a continuation of the
concepts that were shared a couple of weeks ago about learning to deal
with the way and the shape that the world is in, and basically the
thought that we need to learn to love unconditionally – to love the
apparent sinner because we are certainly that ourselves, apparently. But
that if we can’t – it’s the whole concept of forgiveness and
unconditional love and all of those things that you were speaking of
today, but at least the thought came to mind of, "Okay, I can see that
now in the practicum. And it started to make sense of what Jesus was
talking about – the law of nonresistance – to love your enemies and to
not resist the evildoer. So that, all of a sudden, made great sense and I
could see some clouds parting in terms of both what Jesus was talking
about and what Gandhi had placed his teachings and preachings upon and
then Martin Luther King and others before and since. And that seems to be
so key – that without, to me anyway, actually experiencing this dramatic
point in time – prior to that had been more or less just a theory. But
this has forced me to come to a new point of awakening and to deal with
what otherwise could be a total threatening and totally despairing period
of time, has given light to a whole different way to look at it, so I
Just wanted to share that, that I have had an epiphany, per se, at least
intellectually this week.
TOMAS: How marvelous for you and for those you encounter, for now your
countenance will be defined in such a way as to distinguish between the
ways of God and the ways of mammon. And with the Will of God leading your
life, you will better be able to serve those who unconsciously walk in
darkness 
 even while you are able to love them in their ignorance. And
this is a tremendous step forward in your career, in particular, those of
you who have encountered the steeped effects of rebellion against Divine
Will and the subsequent panorama of conditional love that has been your
fare.
You see how the acceptance of the Higher Path promotes Peace, even within
your Soul, such that you will be more effective in your Service to that
which remains meaningful and vital to you in terms of your Service to
Urantia and its people.
Matthew: Thank you.
TOMAS: Yes, my friend, and to you for your willingness to divulge your
growth to those of us who listen well to the strumming of your heart
strings. The orchestration is resounding, in time with the music set
before us. What of you other instruments?
(Group chuckling)
Elena: Well, I’ve been out of tune this week
 (more group chuckling) or
I’ve broken a couple of strings or something. I’ve had some out of tune
moments, let’s say, but I think I’m in relative good shape. I’m tuning up
for the next week and seeing what the repertoire comes up for the
orchestra this next week. Last week was a rough one, and I’m still tired.
But I don’t feel bad about the week. I feel like I did the best I could
with it and I’m ready to keep on and see what’s the next refrain.
TOMAS: You are young and vital in your attitude, daughter, and I so
appreciate your willingness to continue to put one foot in front of the
other in the challenges that you are experiencing. For truly, you are
being -- seemingly -- pulled in two directions: you are being taught the
ways of men, as well as having your Soul responding to the Ways of God.
And there are times in these experiences that are so apparently
two-sided/ dualistic, that you begin to lose your footing and have a
sense of identity crisis, as if a part of your mind is saying, ‘I don’t
know who I am anymore. I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what to
do,’ and you have so many influences pressing upon you. 
But look at you, how, like a Piccolo, you pipe right up! (tickled
chuckling) Chirping! Willing to play. Picking up everyone else with you
as you lure the somber and the staid into those melodies of adventure
that are irresistible to the young at heart. 
And so I commend your youthful spirit and your commitment to go where
ever He leads, to attend the Universities of His choosing, to experience
the growth that is required for you to best serve the realm in which you
live, and thus help bring about the ‘Kingdom on earth as it is in
Heaven.’ Be gentle with yourself in these times of dual effort. The
spirit will prevail. Proceed in faith.
Elena: Thank you, Tomas. Thanks for the pep talk. It comes in handy. 
TOMAS: Encouragement has "courage" at its root. Those of you who are
courageous are entitled to encouragement. It is along the lines of the
analogy that you’ve heard about the Father responding to the slightest
flicker. ‘If you manifest courage as a small flame, I will blow it into a
bonfire.’
What a wonderful illustration that was, Anatolia, about the paper bag. I
will remember it in future, to use for other classes. In this, I invite
you all to enter into a Spirit of Community, stemming from our Divine
Parents who are steadfastly raising us up to be the children they have
deemed we are.
We have today those today who are missing from our midst and we feel
their absence, even as we know the perfection of the configuration as it
is. And so by holding fast to this Family of God it is possible to remain
steadfast in our perfect poise and purpose -- to embrace all of humanity.

I put that forth as an Ideal inasmuch I am unable to draw forth either
Myra or Esmarelda. (group laughter)
Esmarelda: Tomas, my week has been a really very good one. I have enjoyed
good health and I have enjoyed working in the soil. Spring is nice, and
retirement has made it possible for me to spend quite a bit of time
trying to brighten up my little corner. So I have enjoyed the week.
TOMAS: I need not remind you then, of the joys of Perfection, for you
have been enjoying the perfect exercise of will, and that is: nurturing
your own well-being as you nurture the needs of life.
Myra: Last but not least (group laughter) I’ll tell you about my
instrument. I had an unusual week. I would say that I kind of like to
play with the instruments, and during my week I would perceive myself as
kind of being in the ’tuning’ room all week, and yet the reaction of my
peers is that I’ve played a symphony! It is I guess that dichotomy that
sometimes is confusing and I was trying to figure out how that fit into
Perfection. I didn’t come up with any clever way.
TOMAS: The refusal to engage in unjust judgment contributes to Perfection
Attainment. When you hold onto judgment, you have limited Perfection
Capacity. If you say, for example, ‘I would like for this to extend
farther but my judgement of the situation, my assessment, acknowledges
the probability of limitation, and thus I’ll not be disappointed by
expecting too much.’
You have done this to yourself in attempting to fine-tune. And others
have, rather, seen the symphony of your efforts. So you cannot judge
yourself any better than you can judge others. Let go of judgement and
enter into a New Plateau of Perfection - that which allows for the
unexpected and holds hope – for in God all things are possible.
Myra: Thank you.
TOMAS: We’ll give you the drum (group laughter) and you can bang on it
(more group laughter). 
Matthew: That gave me an idea. Maybe it’s a subject that you’ve already
spoken on and I don’t remember it, but at some point in the future, if I
could put in a request to have a teaching on Hope. It seems like there
was a discussion on it not too long ago, but to me it’s a fascinating
subject.
TOMAS: Indeed it is. And a very real reality and a part of the ascension
scheme. And so I’ll schedule it, and yet I’ll not detour too far today
off the path that we have enjoyed – that of the Perfection we have as
actualized beings infused with Spirit. Our hosts have all exceeded their
original plans. Or perhaps I am judging you incorrectly and curtailing
your Perfection Expression.
Elena: I don’t think so.
TOMAS: I’m glad to hear it.
Elena: I think 
 what I was thinking about it as you were talking about
during the lesson, actually, was how that would be a moving target and
using your word ascension
and thinking how in the past I have limited
myself more than I currently do. So I was recognizing some things I had
done in the past that you were discussing. I don’t remember what they are
right now. And then I’m thinking well, yeah, there’s more. So it’s nice
to be able to recognize some of those limitations that you have broken
through, yourself, and as you break through each one I think that does
give you more courage and less fear for breaking through others in the
future. So I don’t think you’re limiting us. I think it’s very helpful
and kind of showing us the way to not let things get in our way or hold
us back unnecessarily.
TOMAS: Thank you for revealing this truth in simple terms, as humans
understand such simplicity. And I am so far removed in so many ways from
your comprehension levels. It is gratifying to me to hear you play back
to me my words to you. In this way I am encouraged.
Elena: Good! I have to blurt out, Tomas, you don’t feel very far at all
right now. You feel very close indeed
TOMAS: It’s probably because you know my sons had fur. (group giggles) I
am suddenly more like you.
Elena: Well, that’s part of it. That did help. It just goes on, too.
Thanks. 
TOMAS: Just see how joyous you are! Can you appreciate the bright light
that you reveal? Each of you? And how powerful it is when we band
together, we who are so appreciative of the life that we live with the
Divine. Heaven knows we have imperfections, but those are the messes in
our growth that we will learn to leave behind. We will begin to pick up
after our spirit selves and go forward, assuming the responsibility of
our relative perfection rather than continuing to find creature comfort
in our mutual imperfections, which is a song everyone has song. 
Let us lift our voice now and rejoice in the Light and in the Life that
follows. Be of good cheer as you go about your week. Do not forget your
Source and your Family in your adventure. Engage eagerly and openly with
your mortal associates, in faith that the Father will eventually break
through the inertia and reveal Himself as the Reality you have all longed
for.  And thus we will have done our work for this week, opening up the
circuits to Salvington that sustain us all in our efforts in Perfection
Attainment for ourselves, for the greater universe, and for the Father
Himself. 
Amen and farewell.
Group: Until next week! Thank you!