[tmtranscripts] Ham on courage

[David Schlundt]

05-25-2003

Ham: Greetings, children, I am Ham and I am very happy that you each 
have come tonight. Let us speak tonight concerning courage.

Valor or courage can be expressed in many ways. Physical courage is one 
type of courage. Overcoming or ignoring fear while in the process of 
carrying forward duty or loyalty in the face of peril is truly a 
tremendous thing to see. Human beings have a large measure of animal 
fear to cope with which is always pulling one away from danger towards 
safetyand fear is not something which can be controlled very well but it 
is something that can be pushed through when a higher calling beckons.

Also, there is courage of a different kind which also draws upon duty 
and loyalty. It is courageous to be loyal to your highest ideals and to 
follow these ideals in the face of social ostracizing or other types of 
failure. The Father values tested loyalty and when you pledge your 
loyalty to him, you can be certain it will be tested. It is also good to 
be loyal to other ideals, ideals about business, ideals about art, 
ideals about brotherhood.

Always in human dealings there are several dimensions occurring at once. 
One is the purely animal level of self-gratification, level of taking 
for self which may make logical sense and be even a guiding idea for 
much of the world's economic basis. Human beings are always want to take 
the best for themselves in any situation.

But there is another dimension also, a dimension of morality. Morality 
can also have levels. There is, of course, a kind of conventional 
morality codified in your justice system which leads to order in 
society. This level is a widely agreed upon basis for behavior.

And then there is a higher morality stemming from loyalty to higher 
truths. For example, polygamysts in the Morman faith are breaking 
conventional rules of morality out of a loyalty to what they believe to 
be a higher law that was revealed to them. The early Christians broke 
the conventional law out of duty to higher law that they believed was 
revealed to them. It requires courage to maintain a loyalty to something 
higher and to flout tradition and even the law.

But real courage comes with loyalty to the highest truth, loyalty to 
living spiritual reality. And, when you walk this path, there may be 
times when people will say you are crazy, that your vision of what you 
want to accomplish is futile and that you can't change what is happening 
now, the best you can do is to swim along. It takes great courage to 
make sacrifices for a higher ideal and it takes greater courage to swim 
against the tide in pursuit of that ideal. When you are completely alone 
in maintaining the rightness of your vision, when your loyalty is such 
that you will sacrifice comfort for the sake of greater truth, that is 
when you are tested and found not wanting. It is easy to jump in when 
others are jumping in, it is easy to advance on a field of battle when 
you are surrounded by your comrades advancing, but it takes courage to 
advance alone.

The Master wisely never valued public acclaim. He was wise enough to 
understand that the test did not lie there. The test of his loyalty to 
God was when he was alone and helpless. Loyalty to living spiritual 
truth, loyalty to love must transcend everything else. This loyalty must 
shape all the loyalties below it rather than the other way around. Human 
beings sometimes confuse loyalty to church, friends, and community with 
loyalty to God. Loyalty to God may someday require leaving behind 
friends, family, and community. This is where your courage will be tested.

It is testing your courage to live by these lessons. My lessons are not 
for the dubious of spirit. Those who would run here and there searching 
for the spiritual balm that just fits there circumstance of the day. It 
is not for those who want public acclaim. It is not for those who want 
some kind of vindication from the world.

No, the Father grants to each person their talents and then he asks that 
these talents be used for his glory and to be used how he sees fit to 
use them. It is tempting for human beings to give lip service to God 
while pursuing their own desires and then when these desires are 
fulfilled, to credit this to God's design. God desires one thing, your 
love, your loyalty, and your spiritual movement toward him. Nothing else 
has value. The circumstances of life will undergo many changes as you 
grow in the spirit. But the thing you must put first, and it requires 
tremendous courage to do so, is those three things - love of God, 
loyalty to him, and movement toward him.

The things that human beings value - wealth, power, and fame - are all 
but partial shadows of reality and very rarely reflect spiritual 
achievement. Let it be that words of goodness spring from you. Let it be 
that gentle consideration of others guides your actions. Let it be that 
love dominates all your thoughts. But let it also be that your loyalty 
is made stronger through testing. Is this helping, does anyone have 
questions?

Q: It is hard to know when you are seeking to fulfill your desires 
rather than the Fathers will even when you say what you want is to 
follow gods will How can we know when we are engaging in this kind of 
self-deception?

Ham: That is a wonderful question. Self-deception, self-justification, 
these two go hand in hand and there will always be some murky areas for 
you to pass through. But I would say this, at each place of decision 
look deeply into your hearts. Let the Father's light completely shine 
within your souls illuminating any dark areas and then look at those 
areas with honesty. Each person must maintain a life, you must work for 
your bread, you must manage your resources. You are not required to 
sacrifice yourselves for some noble ideal that may also be deception. 
You are simply required to live fully and to live your lives for God in 
ever greater measure. At each bend in the road, you must ask yourself 
who do I serve, and so long as you answer I serve my Father in all 
things, then he will lead you through the ambiguous areas and you will 
come through without harm. But, when you ask yourself this question, 
even if you cannot honestly know your complete answer, even if you 
cannot know the depths of your own heart, affirm to yourself anyway, I 
serve God. Then, you will be open to his leading. Always does the Father 
lead you in his service. When you pledge your loyalty to him, this is a 
two way contract. The Father desires for your true heart's desires to be 
fulfilled. He desires that you should each bloom and all those inner 
petals should be open to the light. And in this, you will have what you 
need, the Father will not forsake you. Serving God is a supreme delight. 
It is not dreary self-flagellation. The Father means for you to have 
joy, he means for you to have fulfillment, but these things are found 
along the way, they must not be pursued for their own sake. True 
happiness is found in this great ennobling service. Even the mundane 
chores of every day life can be elevated in the service of God. But 
there may be temptations, times when you desire something for yourself 
to the exclusion of what you desire for God. Keep God upmost in your 
mind, keep him at the center of your thoughts, and allow everything else 
to fall into its place. The human heart is always capable of great 
deceit as the Master has said. But you can go a long way towards 
banishing this deceit by constantly affirming your loyalty to the Father.

Q: Ham, may I have a personal message please?

Ham: Certainly my son, you are doing well. Do not fear this struggle 
between loyalties. When a man places his trust in God and gives the 
Father his upmost loyalty, then the Father will send you what is 
necessary for your journey toward him. You have received many lessons on 
this journey, and these were necessary. Remember that you are continuing 
to grow and to learn. Become as a little child with your hand in his, 
allow him to show you the way.

Q: I would like a personal message please Ham?

Ham: Certainly. My daughter, you do very well. You are learning to 
follow the Father in your own way, not as someone else would have you be 
and do. Truly you are coming into your own in many ways. You are growing 
in faith and in your confidence in your fait as well. You are also 
showing a great deal of courage in following this path. You are learning 
very much about who you are and what you really desire in life. Have 
great peace my children, both of you are doing well. Maintain your love 
and respect for each other, but give your ultimate allegiance only to 
the Father. All else will be ordered from that.

Q: Do you have any counsel for me this week Ham?

Ham: Certainly, my son. You do well. You have come very far from the 
rebellious child of old. You are beginning to stand with both feet on 
the ground. It is good for you also to reaffirm you loyalty to the 
Father every day and pray that your actions and relationships will be a 
reflection of his loving mercy. Seek after greater wisdom by treading 
along the lowly places of humble service. Be at ease my son, for you do 
well.

Q: Ham, do you have a personal message for me please?

Ham: Yes my daughter, you do very well. There are many new avenues 
opening for you and you have great courage in that you are following 
your inner guidance and trusting in the Father's gentle voice. You will 
find even more joy and delight in life as you progress along these 
goodly paths. Your balance is much stronger now and this balance will 
serve you well in the coming months ahead. Thank you for your continued 
service to me as well. This service will likely expand. So be at peace 
my daughter, all is as it should be.

Q: Do you have anything for Rebecca?

Ham: Yes, my daughter, you do well. You are beginning to relax and allow 
yourself to be cared for. You are allowing that you deserve to be cared 
for and this is a great step forward for you.

Q: Jarad?

Ham: Certainly my son. You are also learning to relax in the Father's 
gentle embrace. You must remember that you are still becoming, you are 
becoming all that is required to be completely, authentically, yourself. 
You are one-by-one putting down old props, old security blankets that no 
longer serve. You are relaxing into yourself, even loving yourself and 
gaining true self-acceptance and thus self-awareness. These are great 
accomplishments. You have come very far, very fast. Take some time now 
to assimilate, rest, and contemplate without pressure what it is you 
really feel.

Q: Do you have a personal message for Norbert?

Ham: Certainly my son. Gradually you are coming into greater awareness 
of your self and your purpose. Be unafraid of the future, it will entail 
change. Change is always part of life. And do not fear changes within 
yourself. Every person undergoes a certain amount of metamorphosis and 
this metamorphosis entails change in all areas. You do not think the 
same way you did when you were a child. Gradually, your ideas and 
opinions change. There are no set answers for all times and all 
circumstances. But there is a constant and that is the Father's loving 
hand. Cling to this and you will be safe among all change.

Q: Do you have a personal message for Charlie B?

Ham: Yes my son, you are doing well. Be at peace with yourself. Do not 
war one side against the other but be accepting of all the different 
sides of yourself. Be unafraid to accept all these different sides and 
to allow the gradual integration of all these things in the spirit. The 
personality seeks ever toward unity.

Q: Do you have any feedback for me this week?

Ham: Yes my son. You are a person of deep moral strength. But also one 
who is occasionally torn by inner conflicts and conflicting desires. 
Once again, unity is key. The personality desires unification so that 
seemingly conflicting things change into something balanced and steady. 
Do not fear conflict, but embrace it and work toward its unity.

As always, my love and my prayers go with you each. Farewell.

 



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David G. Schlundt, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Vanderbilt University
301 Wilson Hall
Nashville, TN  37203

Phone: (615)322-7800
Fax: (615) 343-8449
Email: David.Schlundt at Vanderbilt.edu
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Beauty is that which attracts the soul,
and that which loves to give and not
to receive

Kahlil Gibran
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