[tmtranscripts] Michael 9.19.05

[JERRY LANE]

Michael—September 19, 2005

Marin TM Group—Mill Valley, California, U.S.A.

MICHAEL—T/R-JL

(The seasons of your soul)
(Pruning away the dead wood in your life)
(The reality of separation)
(Preparing the way for Monjoronson)
(Michael’s and Mother Spirit’s limitations)
(Self-forgetfulness and experience)
(Spiritual healing)
(Letting go into sleep and prayer)


Dear Michael and Mother Spirit,    We thank You for these insights that feed 
and shape our understanding.  We’ve come to understand that our growth in 
spirit is not so much something entirely new--right out of the blue, so to 
speak, but it is seeing familiar things in a new and fresh way.  As the 
spiritual part of our life relates directly to the value we put on things, 
then our growth in spirit must, of necessity, mean a willingness to 
reevaluate all the aspects of our lives.  So we ask You to help us with the 
courage to do this, to let old, disused parts of the past fade away, be 
pruned away from the living tree of our life so that the source of our life 
comes through ever stronger.  Help us remember that spirit is the source.  
Amen.

MICHAEL:  Good evening, My children, this is Michael, your Father and your 
Brother.  I welcome your prayer this evening for it means you are letting 
our lessons impact you and affect your lives.  This is not always easy, this 
process of renewal.  So yes, it does help to think of the various ways the 
plant kingdoms here on Urantia renew themselves, attuned to the seasons--how 
they have their moments of bursting forth and exfoliating wildly in all 
directions in a kind of  glorious springing forth, and then enjoying this 
for a period before the winter sets in.

The frost comes along and nips at the new growth, and the winds begin to 
blow and the pruning away of the dead branches begins.  Now the animals too 
are so attuned to the seasons that they also have their joyous times--of 
mating and expanding, often coinciding with food for the youngsters, giving 
the youngsters time to grow and get a small foothold on the earth, before 
the winter comes to challenge their life.

(The seasons of your soul)

But when you get to human beings, your deeper life is no longer so dependent 
on the seasons.  You speak of a winter of the soul that can be quite 
independent of the month of the year.  And so it is helpful to understand 
what season your spirit and your soul are in.  For you too can know a 
springtime where ideas and notions are sprouting wildly in all directions, 
and you are expanding somewhat haphazardly for the sheer joy of it.  New 
life has come to you and it is altogether fitting that you rejoice and feel 
the pure essence of it coursing through you, renewing you, teasing you out 
of yourself into trying things you never dreamed of before.  This is the 
springtime of your spirit, when you are so busy blossoming there is little 
time to give heed yet to fully evaluating what is happening to you.

And so you go into a kind of summer as this newness settles in and finds its 
place in your soul with what has gone before.  You can glory in the sunshine 
of this new growth and look forward to a harvest of new concepts and 
understandings based on this.  But insofar as you are not a tree or a bush, 
this new growth, these new perceptions can cause your center to shift; and 
you can feel this.  If you do not understand the process, it can be quite 
uncomfortable to feel your center shifting.

Then comes the winter of your soul.  This, if you will, is the economic 
aspect for even your spirit at your current stage of existence is not 
unlimited. This is that re-evaluation of all you have just gone through, for 
as your center shifts to incorporate the new growth, former interests and 
great passions all of a sudden seem to be rather flat or lifeless.  Life has 
flowed to the new growth and now there are dead branches in your day-to-day 
life that, if you are a good spiritual gardener, you know must be pruned 
away.

(Pruning away the dead wood in your life)

These you can think of as the unthinking, repetitious habits of your life 
that are continuing on a physical level--biochemical impulses which are 
quite unhealthy and are robbing you of life, or they can be mental habits, 
habitual ways of thinking and perceiving that this new perspective, this new 
life has enabled you to see lead nowhere, or are simply no longer valid.  
For the world around you is also growing and you need to keep up.  You find 
yourself hesitating half-way through the next step as feelings of 
uncertainty threaten to overwhelm you.  And since, My children, this is what 
you are going through--even more, this is what you are choosing to go 
through, this is what you are welcoming into your life.

We have tried to help you be conscious of when you are uncertain, and not 
fear it, but recognize it as necessary, even enlivening.  For through all 
these processes, as you grow in spirit you are growing towards the source of 
life.  You are re-evaluating what you are doing in terms of what truly feeds 
your soul.

Do not think that the pruning must necessarily be painful.  If you keep your 
eye on the new growth, and the sturdy core of your being, the pruning is 
actually delightful.  You are so full of the new life that things of little 
value can be allowed to drop away into a warm and happy nostalgia.  Now they 
are simply how and what you once were, and understood as such, pleasant to 
reminisce--but no longer useful.  So look to what is living.  Look to what 
is truly healthy and strengthening.  Keep in touch with how you are growing, 
for wasn’t this the original purpose?  Wasn’t this why you embraced these 
new-found spiritual dimensions?

There is something deep down inside of you, perhaps even My Spirit of 
Truth--telling you that this growth in spirit is the solid stuff.  This is 
ultimately what you are standing on, more secure even than the planet.  For 
this is what you’ll have with you when this planet is but a distant memory.  
Welcome to God’s way.  Grow in Him, grow with Him.  If you’re feeling your 
very center shifting, be not afraid, but realize it must do so to embrace 
this greater life.  Recognize uncertainty when you’re suddenly in the midst 
of it, and it is all around you.  Trust in the upwelling of spirit that 
spontaneously arises to meet the challenge.  Know that you are approaching 
another Springtime.

If you have any questions, My children--or comments, I’m always happy to 
hear them and answer as best I may.

Student:  Father Michael, a friend of mine’s father is in the process of 
dying, which will be anytime now.  I’m wondering what I can tell her to ease 
the pain of that, and how can I pray for her to ease her pain and understand 
what the process actually is?  Another part of the question is: she asked 
twice now if, after he dies, is there any way he can come back to help her 
out?  And I don’t know what to tell her.  I know what goes on--the Urantia 
Book is pretty clear about it.  But I don’t want to disappoint…not 
disappoint; I don’t want to upset her and have her lose faith.

(The reality of separation)

MICHAEL:  Yes C, the loss of someone so dear, especially a parent from whom 
you can feel you have derived your own life, challenges your concept of 
God’s wisdom.  Why did He set up human life this way?  Why is there such a 
thing as separation?  For even if you know in your heart that life does not 
stop, but just undergoes a very—granted--major modification, still there is 
separation.  There is separation right within life, all the more so for your 
highly mobile, modern society.

So ask her to think about it in these terms, and reach within herself for 
her own trust in God, her own trust in His wisdom.  He represents us with 
this necessity to separate even from those we feel to be so much a part of 
us.  Why is this? What does separation ask of us?  And just what is the 
necessity for it?  I think this is the heart of the matter, regardless of 
ones faith that life goes on even greater and much more glorious than what 
you know as a human on Urantia.  Could it be that God wants us to be 
self-reliant and at least somewhat self-sufficient, self-governing and 
distinct; in a word—autonomous, needing fundamentally only our relationship 
with Him to really know, to really experience our completeness?

You remember We had a few lessons on how, though you are still imperfect 
beings, created as such so you may share in creating in your own perfection, 
you are nevertheless complete moment to moment?  Yet pain and suffering and 
separation challenges your experience of this completeness.  You lose 
someone you love and suddenly you feel as if you are only half of who you 
were just the day before, like part of you is missing.

But then you have the opportunity of discovering you are still complete.  
And how else could you experience this--completely real?  Some of your 
philosophers have postulated that God deliberately created separation simply 
for the joy of the reuniting, for there will be a reuniting, and the truth 
of this can sustain your hope.  Hope is, after all, a spiritual strength 
that can help you in your hours of suffering the separation.  But more 
immediately is this challenge to your feeling of being complete, which is 
why you will all experience someday loosing what you know of as life itself, 
to really discover what life actually is beyond death.

So perhaps for this reason the separation of death is rather absolute for 
you until that reuniting.  You are given the opportunity to rediscover who 
you are: evermore alone, evermore needful of your primal Father--God 
himself--for company, yet closer too—to finding Him inside you.   Mother 
Spirit and I are also right with you.  We invite you to rediscover Us.  Does 
that answer your question, My son?

Student:  Yes, it does, Father, it eases my heart quite a bit.  Thank You 
very much.

MICHAEL:  You are very welcome.  As in Our lesson on pain and suffering, do 
your best to acknowledge the reality of these difficulties within your life 
so you don’t slight them in some superficial or cavalier way, especially 
when they are challenging someone else.  And be in My peace.

Student:  Dear Michael, several of us are trying to grapple with the idea of 
getting ready for the Magisterial Mission in the sense that we are to be 
tethered to it, and I know this requires a higher ethic.  I know it’s 
similar to, maybe, advanced Mansion World training or some harmonic of that, 
and I’d like some help with the ethics of that, and the expected joy of 
that.  It will help several of us gird our loins, so to speak, to be 
comfortable with being tethered in service with Monjoronson.   Thank You.

(Preparing the way for Monjoronson)

MICHAEL:  Yes V, I would ask you keep one concept supreme when you think of 
My Brother and this very welcome mission of His to Urantia.  The small 
English word for that enormous concept is: mercy.  Mercy is often 
counterpoised with the concept of justice.  Whereas justice implies a kind 
of absolute moral cause-and-effect, a kind of impersonal relationship 
between cause and effect—actions and reward or punishment--so as to be 
absolutely fair in the sense of uniform, uniformly applied to personal 
beings—mercy implies taking cognizance of the uniqueness of each person and 
each situation, which is that other great aspect of God’s creativity. You 
are taught, for example, that the Trinity, acting impersonally in the realms 
of justice, is however superceded by the Father’s love and the Eternal Son’s 
ministry of mercy, coming all the way down to your human lives.  You have 
been taught that justice, or judging is never to be a solitary or individual 
affair.  Think of all the centuries upon centuries of law that you have 
evolved so that justice can be administered by the group.  And so in this 
sense mercy emphasizes the personal, the unique, taking into account the 
special considerations of each situation.

So first of all ask yourself, how can I always be a person to those I come 
in contact with, especially if your relationship is somewhat formalized 
where you are the boss, or the worker, or the parent, or the teacher.  Over 
and above all these roles you play of necessity, and are quite genuine, be a 
person--be personable.  Give this other person someone to relate to.  And of 
course see them the same way, beyond whatever title or position they may be 
holding.  This shared humanity is the heart of mercy.   This is the essence 
of forgiveness.  This is the generosity of spirit with which you give of 
yourself with strength and courage, independent of any expectations of 
result.

I think these things would bring a smile to Monjoronson’s face, don’t you?   
An Avonal Son of Paradise is concerned with seeing such a transformation on 
this rather cynical old world.  Think of all the forgiveness it will take.  
Think of all the generosity it will take, right within your own life, to 
say: the tired, old, negative karma that I encounter everyday stops with me. 
  I will take it in, not denying a speck of it, but then let it go.  And I 
will spring up fresh, and present myself a complete person to the next 
person I meet.  Does that interest you, My son?

Student:  Yes, it does!  I feel I’ll be a better team player, and less 
dangerous to my teammates… (laughter) while I’m tethered.

MICHAEL:  The only tethering here is to this transcendent purpose.  Actually 
it will require you to be rather un-tethered in your creativity, your 
curiosity, and your acceptance.  So be in My peace.

Student:  Michael, I would like to express my joy for the springtime that is 
now upon this planet, for the depth of love and creativity that is in this 
plan of correcting this world.  I am in awe as to what is being offered us 
now.  And I thank You for Your part in this.

(Michael’s and Mother Spirit’s limitations)

MICHAEL:  My son, you are very, very welcome.  If Mother Spirit and I 
sometimes seem to be a bit standoffish, or if We seem reluctant to directly 
help you in what you feel you need to do, We ask--most humbly--for you to 
trust Us! Trust in Our wisdom.  Trust in Our farsightedness, that We may 
know better than you what you are capable of doing.  For this is the only 
thing that limits Us.  We are a Creator Son and Mother Spirit of a Local 
Universe of some millions of worlds at every stage of development, from the 
most primitive to those with cultures millions and millions of years in 
development.  And so We have the power.  Now you must trust that We limit 
ourselves only for the highest good.  And this highest good absolutely 
includes you!

As We have been reminding you, you have never been alone.  You know the part 
that Mother Spirit and I have played in your life, right along with the 
presence of God in your own mind, helping you think those good and necessary 
thoughts in order to take the next step.  Even your guardian angel truly 
guards you, by guarding your ultimate destiny.

So We thank you for your love and your trust, and remind you, you are 
capable of growing--always capable of being more than you are.  So be at 
peace in your heart, My son.  Let each day be full, then let it be 
sufficient unto itself.  When it comes time to rest, let it all go.  Think 
of it as practicing being extinguished… (laughter) completely, so you can 
marvel that you just…pop up again.  We are all in good hands.  And yes, 
indeed, isn’t it a delight to feel these first stirring warm breezes blowing 
through some of the colder, starkly impersonal aspects of this old world?  
Urantia is very much in need of a Springtime of forgiveness and 
mercy--letting the past be past.  Then you can let tomorrow truly be a new 
day.

Do you have any other concerns my son?

Student:  Michael, at this time I wish simply to be extinguished in Your 
peace. (laughter)

MICHAEL:  Then so be it!  Just remember: you are the one holding on.  You 
are the one who has to let go.  But I’ll be right there with you, always 
offering My peace.

Student:  Yes, Michael, it’s interesting watching the various seasons unfold 
within the personalities of my household.  And seeing, in a sense, the 
Divine Plan being orchestrated within each person, in its own time and its 
own way.  And it’s just really interesting watching the growth that is 
happening within the various humans that I live with, and work with, and 
work for.  And it seems like the more the balance between being full for 
myself, and being empty--the more I empty myself of preconceived ideas and 
notions and expectations I hold for others and for myself--the freer the 
environment is within myself and around me, even for the more resistant in 
my sphere--in my universe.  And ironically, the more I empty myself, the 
more I am filled with Your peace and Your love, and Your joy.  And I feel 
Your heart pulsating within my heart.  And there is a freedom there, that 
You have talked about in the past.  And what You alluded to the last time, 
where I brought up the story of the monk picking up the scorpion and being 
stung; and the monk saying, hoping for the scorpion to trust him: and now I 
no longer wish to do that.  I no longer wish to be wounded in that way by 
other peoples’ values and misperceptions.  I allow them to be themselves, 
and to allow God to work within them in the way that they are able to come 
to grips with, and comprehend, and be open to.  So it’s quite interesting, 
watching all this unfold within myself and within all these people.  And as 
You said before, there is an eternal life.  We are all eternal living 
expressions of life with God.  So there is not hurry.  So I thank You for 
allowing me to be patient, and to grow in this patience.  And I keep being 
patient.  And there’s a process, because I have no idea of what is to happen 
in the coming days or weeks or months.  But I do know, all is good in the 
plans that are happening now and into the future.

(Self-forgetfulness and experience)

MICHAEL:  Yes My son, I think you are finding that unbounded nature that 
Mother Spirit recommended last week.  And it is somewhat ironic, that when 
you give up all notions--even of joy--as to what you are and what you are 
capable of, and you enjoy the spiritual courage of self-forgetfulness, you 
actually experience more.  You’re discovering how this “more” becomes part 
of your soul.  There’s a trust in the process.  In this you are approaching 
the nature of God who has divested Himself, of Himself, as much as is Godly 
possible--absolutely and infinitely--else there would not be this gigantic 
cosmos happening, full of all of us.

It seems strange at first that, as you enjoy more and more 
self-forgetfulness, your awareness increases, because all the essential 
parts of you are still there--and operating very nicely, thank you: your 
curiosity, your imagination, your creativity.  What a delight!

Student:  In a sense, being self-forgetful, like this, allows you to see the 
person in front of you more clearly.  And you treat them with respect and 
with honor for what they are in their own lives.

MICHAEL:  Yes, and then you have them as another possession of your soul.

Student:  I do have one question--and I know it’s getting late--of the idea 
of someone being wounded?  Can a person be healed without having to go back 
to the source of that wound; in a sense, not relive it or re-enact it or 
bring it up into memory?   Because some people have secured a vault around 
the source of their wounds.  Can they be, instead of going through years of 
therapy and counseling, and whatever…other means of healing, can they be 
healed right here and now, without going back to the source of their wounds?

(Spiritual healing)

MICHAEL:  Yes.  This is actually what happens in all spiritual healing.  
It’s always now; but this is often unrealized.  The realization—the coming 
into reality of this is the healing.  A person can suddenly discover their 
completeness, even though there may be physical parts of them, or former 
abilities missing.  For this is a spiritual triumph without peer.  But no 
one can say exactly how this will happen, for it is the very essence of 
individuality and uniqueness, in which a person in concert with Myself, and 
Mother Spirit, and God is suddenly able to achieve the present--achieve the 
spontaneity and the creativity of realizing their complete spirit, and 
literally be reborn.  From that moment on they can start to grow 
again--including all the memories of what went before, but are no longer so 
determining their freedom.  The personality suddenly begins to act, and is 
no longer satisfied with just re-acting.

But how this happens, and when it happens, is a mystery within each 
personality.  You can see that this is something each personality is always 
striving for.  For in a way, not one of you--especially on Urantia--is 
completely unwounded or un-afflicted.  This is why your textbook assures you 
that those who have never been challenged this way are not the fortunate 
ones.  It is those who have been severely challenged and yet rose above it 
triumphant, who have been tested, who can subsequently consider the testing 
their most prized possession.   This is that trust in God’s wisdom that we 
looked at with respect to separation, and pain, and suffering.  Does this 
answer you question, My son?

Student:  Yes, it does!  Yes, it does.

MICHAEL:  Then be in My peace.

My daughter, have you any questions for Us this evening?

Student:  Not at this time.

MICHAEL:  I say Us, because I think you’ve gathered that it’s always Mother 
Spirit and I here together.  But We welcome you joining Us.  And you’re 
always encouraged to venture your questions, or even any comments you may 
wish to express or share with Us.

Student (laughing):  Well, I didn’t understand when this other gentleman was 
talking about being extinguished.

(Letting go into sleep and prayer)

MICHAEL:  Here we were talking about a profound trust in God so you do not 
fear letting go of yourself, most commonly when lay yourself down to sleep 
at night, but also in other situations where you simply confess, not only to 
Us, and to your Father, but more importantly to yourself, that you just 
don’t know what to do.  This is being extinguished in prayer--expressing 
your situation or concern as best you can, but then letting that go.  You 
let go all of yourself to be open for the answer that can come.

This is like when you go to sleep at night if you allow yourself to let the 
day close.  It’s past now; let it be past.  It’s there in your memories.  
It’s there in your soul.  But let there be a break in your 
self-consciousness.  Take a break!  Let yourself be extinguished utterly in 
your trust in God so that in your rest, or in the depth of your prayer, your 
Father can renew you.  You can hear what My Spirit of Truth has to offer.  
You can let Mother Spirit’s dimensions of wisdom and worship sustain you.  
You can start again.  The more completely you can be extinguished in 
stillness, the more complete can be this renewal.

Student:  Well, that makes sense now.

MICHAEL:  Well, that is how We meant it.  It is what I mean when I say, rest 
in My peace.  However momentarily, just let go…everything.  Take a deep 
breath, if you want.  Feel your heart beating.  And just let everything go.  
This is My peace!

And so My children, how blessed you are to feel these first warm breezes of 
Urantia’s Springtime of transformation blowing through your souls.

Do not fear the changes that are coming.  We’ve talked about the polarizing 
effect as this world struggles to become one, and peoples are required to 
confront differences of culture.  Welcome the pruning going on within your 
own lives.  Give your energy and determination to stand by this 
re-evaluation going on within you.  Let the dead wood of old habits drop 
away.  Think not so much of revving yourselves up to go forward into battle, 
but rather, calmly offer mercy to all those about you who are already 
wounded and limping back from the front lines of their lives.  Offer hope.  
Always be a person.  Give of yourselves, and find yourselves growing because 
of it.

And be in My peace.  Good evening.


***************************************************************************
To post a message to tmtranscripts send email to: tmtranscripts at circuit1.teamcircuits.com
To unsubscribe send to majordomo at circuit1.teamcircuits.com the message:
unsubscribe tmtranscripts
To subscribe send to majordomo at circuit1.teamcircuits.com the message:
subscribe tmtranscripts
Available on the web at: http://www.teamcircuits.com/tmtranscripts
All rights to the material shared on this forum, past or present, is
reserved by www.teamcircuits.com in the name of the author, including
transmitted material, which authorship is recognized, for these purposes,
as being the product of a co-creative relationship between human receiver
and spiritual transmitter. Further use is by permission only