[tmtranscripts] Loving Service (10-29-96.BUT)

[Gerdean]

DATE: October 29, 1996
LOCATION: Butler, PA, USA
T/R: Gerdean

TEACHER SESSION:
Loving Service

TOMAS: Greetings, children. I am Tomas.
Group: Good evening. Hello, Tomas.

TOMAS: How wonderful it is to be here with you this evening! I know, I say that often - if not all the time - but truly I am delighted to partake of your fellowship this evening. It is truly as Hunnah says, "My family is here." How much I can identify with the mother hen symbolism, and I do feel as though I have my chicks nestled about me. That bit of homily now digested, I will assume a more serious posture for I realize there is much to do and much to learn and much to enjoy.

I understand there is an aspect of formality to undertake this evening. Hunnah?

Hunnah: This evening in attendance we have Barry or "David" (pronounced Da-veed') and Beryl, "Aurea" or "Hailey" [Ed: Hunnah's son and daughter]. His stopping in was a pleasant surprise and she brought her gift with us this evening to share. A show and tell!

TOMAS: Indeed it is wonderful to have Aurea here, as well as a re-visitation from David. It is good, as I said, to have you all here. I am eagerly looking forward to the gift of song, as brought to us by Aurea, and I will now hush for this divine voice.

Aurea: It's a great privilege to be here and it's a great honor, and I (capital I) greet You (capital Y) in this wonderful space.

Her Song

TOMAS: Truly lovely, and a sincere, gracious offering from the Father, through you, Child. Your service is appreciated. It is always a delight when we behold you manifesting your appreciation of your gift, as you perceive your gift in your realm. Much is spoken of, in the Teaching Mission, about service -- that is, giving what you have received, serving the Father in some capacity of ministry or love -- and we have just enjoyed a service, a gift, a ministry as understood by Aurea.

How much better we feel now, having been served. Some of you have been limited in your perspective of what it means to serve, and yet you serve often and well, for not all service is of the evangelical order. When Jesus washed the feet of his apostles, he served them, for in the gesture of the tradition of the time, he added an element that transcended the washing of the feet from a mere ritual to a gift. He caused his fellows to consider his act, his fellows saw clearly the true message of the gift, and they were served.

Service is not always pleasant, either in the giving or in the receiving, but it is made holy and appreciable by the understanding that it is done in and through love-- and this is a lesson, for sometimes people choose to serve you and you don't appreciate their service. Appreciate instead that they would like to serve and this is how they understand that they are being of service. Their understanding of Father has given them this understanding of how to serve, and so they do.

Sometimes when you serve, you perforce deliver a tough fruit, one with a rhinoceros hide, and someone may say, "What kind of gift is this? You insult me! It is not pretty; it is not tender; it cannot be from the Father". But look you well to that gift, for it may be the gift of truth, and although truth can be difficult, it is a service to receive in love, in the spirit in which love is attended.

Every human being has his or her own understanding of service, and in-as-much as they perform this service for the Father, they have done His will. Whether this service is toil or dance, labor or song, makes no difference. It is error, then, to say that one service is better than another. Look here, for example, at this brother and sister who make music. And yet their voices, their song, their music is diverse to the insensitive ear. The sensitive, however, would easily see that both of these young people are giving their gift of song with integrity, for it is a gift from their soul. How can anyone deny a soul gift?

Your gifts this evening have been abundant and, therefore, your service to one another. Your healing practices engaged you all in the ministry to those you would help through offering a channel for the Father's love and energy to enter and aid in aligning the soul and its energies to the cosmic Source. These are not labors of woe but labors of love. There is no sense of, "Oh, I've got to go do this," for these acts of love are done willingly. 

When your offering is done in love and willingly, it is a manifestation of the First Source and Center, a testimony to your Creator Father who has created you all different and yet all the same, for in the giving and in the receiving is the flow, the dance. And so we have enjoyed your dance this evening, your contribution to the harmony of eternity. Indeed, my little chicks, I draw you to me, to hug you under my wing for a moment, for you have brought great joy.

Hunnah: We accept your thanks.

TOMAS: Well, my little chickadees, have we some discourse we could chew on this evening? I am eager; I have my sleeves rolled up; I am willing. But I did hear some chat earlier about Doc and I have asked him to be "on call" if you were going to follow through with your need for him. I have others in the wings as well, as you know. I will, however, allow you to establish the format for this marvelous and informal gathering this evening.

Hunnah: I don't think that David and Hailey are here to meet Doc, but David has health problems and that's why we brought Doc's name up, and it seemed to me that ... Loreenia has had the good fortune of having Doc's assistance, and we have Leah over here who is recovering from not having anyone in her charge. She's suffering from a little, as they say, "empty nest syndrome."

Ruth: A little withdrawal, huh?

Hunnah: Ruth and I had the good fortune of gathering with some Reiki people at a church that seems to be becoming quite liberal and open to the many ways that are of expressions of good will. We had a very nice evening last night. We had a progressive feast this week, so we are happy about that.

TOMAS: You are a good cross-section and well representative of the many activities which are taking place in this Correcting Time. It is good to see you coagulate your energies sufficiently to appreciate your sundry experiences and adventures among you. But also include, if you will, the many engaging occasions that are taking place outside of your intimate circle. I have been apprised of some rather wondrous things happening around your globe, and it is all we can do to keep reading the headlines, much less the small print, for there is so much going on of interest.

I overheard you lament your environment, Hailey, having to do with the, shall we say, backward aspects of Pittsburgh, but ...

Hailey: I'm not worried about it.

TOMAS: Of course not. We always want and urge more, is that not the case? There is always room for growth, for the potential is so great and the rewards are so satisfying. You realize we have been dubbing this group the "Pittsburgh Pumpkins". (Laughter)

Hunnah: We are full of seeds.

TOMAS: Yet to be planted.

Loreenia: He also calls us the rascals.

Hunnah: I hate to tell you what our culture does with pumpkins. They misuse them.

TOMAS: It is not our concern what society will do with these pumpkins, but rather what these pumpkins will do with society.

Group: That's right. (Laughter)

TOMAS: And I trust there is a great jack-o-lantern smile on each of your faces for your light to glow through.

Ruth: Most of our faces are lit. We're sort of ... 
Hunnah: Fed and sleepy.

TOMAS: Well, where was I? I was discussing the actual acceleration of spirit energies, and such are as a result of the opening of the circuits. Even your First Lady is intrigued by the spiritizing of America, at least. I am not here to do a monolog. I am a Teacher. Of course that lesson that I gave earlier could apply to me as well. I don't always have to stand on a platform and hold the chalk. I know there are as many ways to teach as there are many ways to serve, and so drawing pictures of you as pumpkins or as a hen and chicks is also a way of teaching, and so I am not as stuffy as perhaps I fear.

Group: (Laughter) No.

Hunnah: Would you like a question?

TOMAS: Would you like an answer?

Group: (Laughter)

Hunnah: Well, sometimes, not just an answer, but encouragement. But I don't think I should be the one to be asking.

TOMAS: Ask on someone else's behalf.

Hunnah: Oh, all right. In regard to receiving teachers, I understand that Loreenia and Leah were with you and they had some wonderful talks with their teachers?

Leah: Just Loreenia.

Hunnah: And Frank ("Jude") received some wonderful personal coaching, and the question continues to come up: How do I get in contact with my teacher? Not only is it difficult to break the patterns of our daily course of responsibilities, but to sit down -- we here are used to sitting down and pushing a button or dialing a number and getting the party to respond to us -- and we know you want us to communicate, but it doesn't seem to be happening.

TOMAS: In order to have a friend you must prove yourself friendly, and if you are having a friend over to visit with you, the acceptable thing to do would be to turn off the television and sit down and focus your attention on the visitor. The same rudimentary courtesies are required in order to establish your relationship with your personal teacher, or for that matter, Our Father, and in all cases of seeking spirit guidance, it is difficult at first and time-consuming, but once your techniques have been mastered, or once you have an understanding of what is required and what the side-effects are, it is no longer so difficult. 

It is then like riding a bicycle and you can avoid or miss a conversation or a contact for several days and go right back and get in the swing of good quality contact, but unless and until that attainment is reached, it will require application, and I have witnessed you, Hunnah, discuss with your own personal teacher Jasmine that you need to journal. Write letters to her in order that you may begin to experience her responses to you. She can hold the pencil while she is writing and you hold the pencil while you are inquiring of her. It is a pas de deux. Allow that intimacy; allow that quality time together. Insist upon that space, not only from your external duties, responsibilities and fun, but from your own distractions, like your domestic duties and sense of being needed elsewhere.

You need You, and you would benefit by your relationship with your personal teacher. The advantage of companionship is secondary to the value of her skill in helping you to learn how to be yourself and how to be true to yourself and how then to have the faith and courage to open yourself up to be an instrument of that gift which the Father would have you give. It is a way of checking in with yourself, so to speak, on a higher plane.

It is wise if you were to understand that we are not finished yet. None of us have finished growing. We do not finish growing until we reach Paradise and that is a long way off. It is, on one hand, humbling and discouraging to realize that there is so much to learn, but on the other, it is truly exciting that life cannot possibly get dull and prosaic because there is always another opportunity to learn and to apply your new knowledge in new ways, for new experiences and yet new growth.

And so come to your companion willingly and eagerly as you would come to a dear friend, and spend time developing the relationship with her. I am speaking to all of you who want to learn to hear the voice and appreciate the true guidance of your spirit helpers. They will help you clean house arid then help you shine. And so it takes time and application. Begin with Stillness, as everything begins with Stillness, with that time of contact with the Father.

Hunnah: Well, I guess it's just time to try again.

TOMAS: Every day is time to try again. I understand the disciplinary overtones of such a statement, but I have seen it done. I have seen it and I have seen the effects of it. I also see those of you who assiduously side-step some of these critically important endeavors arid yet you still are loved and you still are on the path, and so I can only encourage you to try to be the best that you can be, for- that, after all, is all anyone can do.

Hunnah: When you're with your teacher, is it not also a time of purification?

TOMAS: If that is the approach, certainly, and it is, of course, an aspect of your relationship. The teacher -- personal teacher --is invaluable in helping you correct your thinking processes and, therefore, your behavior processes. It is difficult for me to discuss an actual case because those things are confidential, you see. As a teacher, a group teacher, it is not really my prerogative to invade the personal relationship between one of my students and his or her personal teacher. It would be an invasion of privacy; it would be as if I were to read your personal file, your diary, without your telling me I had permission.

But I understand the nature of their work and often we will discuss you as you often will discuss each other, and so I know how it works and, yes, much of it is involved in helping you to clean up your thinking in order that you might be freer of those conditionings and constraints, those small selfishnesses that stand in the way of your happiness or that stand in the way of your improved communications with those with whom you have relationships.

A personal teacher is truly personal, not like the Thought Adjuster, for a Thought Adjuster is pre-personal, but a personal teacher knows your quirks, your idiosyncrasies, your dirty linen, so to speak, and is adept in helping you to launder it in such a way as you will be proud to embroider your initials on the corner. I don't know if that has been helpful, but it is an offering. 

Hunnah: It is indeed helpful, I hope, for the whole group.

Leah: I was listening to the lesson and I recall that it was-- it seemed like what was said was that you don't even have to like the giving or the receiving as long as its done in love, but . . .

TOMAS: That is not what I said. 
Leah: Okay. If you could clarify.

TOMAS: Let me help you clarify. Sometimes service is wonderful, as it was this evening in doing what you all do naturally and lovingly. You are helping each other by simply being. That was the nature of this evening's harmony and delight, which we all enjoyed, but there are many different kinds of service. Some are not so pleasant. I will take your concern and break it down a couple different ways.

You have been taught and conditioned in some form or another, and it does take up space in your mind that you must serve whether you like it or not, and this is because of your cultural upbringing and your evolutionary status. It is a normal part of an evolutionary creature to have within its framework this understanding that you must do something in order to gain the approval of God or the spirit realms, and so everyone has vestiges of that within them, within their mind.

That is one element, but I was not speaking to that element so much as this other, and that being, that sometimes even as you opt to serve in love, it turns out to be not so pleasant and I will use a very gross example of someone who is dear to you who has halitosis. Someone truly needs to advise the culprit that he has a problem, and a friend would do that service even though it were not a pleasant service, do you see?

Leah: Yes.

TOMAS: It is never a service, however, to do something out of a sense of obligation. That is a mere obligation.

Hunnah: Well, it involves proper timing, too. And if it's going to be a service, isn't it that the opportunity arises? Because it's sort of a hidden agreement? Because the person needs to know and you're willing to say so?

There's a situation in my office where there's a fellow employee who is so stressed that I just anguish over it, her stress. We have others that are probably equally stressed in another way but they have the kind of personality that they will laugh and release some of this tension, and this particular person has anger and does not have that escape mechanism at her fingertips.

And it would be a service to be able to go to her and challenge her to be able to get some assistance, and yet, in the same thing, I'm minding someone else's business. There are cases like that.

TOMAS: Using that precise example, then, you could be of service to her if you were to go up to her and say, "I see that you are angry. I intend to bring your anger forth. Punch me here on the chin and get rid of it!" That way you would be involving yourself in something that may be temporarily unpleasant but it would be providing her with that safety valve that she would be able to release to you and not continue to boil over inside and leak out all over the office; otherwise, you might be in the position of minding someone else's business.

No, it is not true that the opportune moment will automatically present itself. You can, indeed, help to bring that moment about, and so, yes, I will agree that timing is important, but sometimes in conjunction with God as a co-creator of our universe, you can, with help, set up a circumstance or situation that is conducive to bringing about the truth, the reality that is so necessary, unpleasant though it may be. These things can be done in and through love, but be careful that you don't manipulate your environment in order to meddle under the guise of being of service. Your Christianity has made an art of that already.

It is sometimes necessary to speak the truth, even though the truth hurts. If you are true to yourself and you know in your heart and in your soul that is your truth, then you are obligated by your own integrity to stand behind that truth. If that truth that you purport -- as part of yourself, part of your make-up, part of your identity, part of your value, part of your reality as you understand it -- is not acceptable to someone else, if they find your reality unpleasant, you have to be true to yourself.

And that is a service to what you believe in whether it pleases someone else or not. That is not always a ''fun" service to perform, but to be yourself as you believe God is having you be, then you must stand behind that. And if you feel that you must say or do something, you must say that, even though it offends. I am cutting through polite society, you see, for the cause of a greater reality.

It is because you nave worked together here, you people in this room, you have worked together already . some of you for a lifetime . to learn each other, to like each other, to loathe each other, to love each other, and to live with each other. It has taken me almost a year in our relationship to get only this far. It takes a great deal of time to create and be part of perfection -- on the whole. And yet we are admonished to be perfect as He is perfect in our realms, and so what do we do? We be perfect according to how we think we be perfect and we err, but we do that because that is how we learn.

That's how you Learn. And, lo and behold, more times than not, your integrity sees you through and you begin to be able to open your mouth and wonderful songs of praise emanate because you are being true to yourself, because you are allowing yourself to be. You have cut through all those closets of conditioning -- cultural, historic, genetic conditioning -- and pushed through to a new level of being. Oh, joy!

Have I answered, Leah, or shall we chat some more?

Leah: Just something was going through my mind. I read the quote by a fairly well-known minister the other day who said you should really try to live your life so that, when you speak, you should do your best and not to embarrass or hurt them, and it seems like that line kept popping up a lot in my mind and I would be tempted to say something to cross that line, but that line always came back to me. I felt like I wanted to say something that was a little more on the distasteful side.

TOMAS: Your conditioning is indeed that Biblical teaching of "turn the other cheek" and it has devolved in your culture today of "people pleasing" and "kowtowing" and losing your own essence for the sake of the mores. Now, I am not here to disagree with the mores. I am not anti-establishment, but I am a teacher of spiritual truth, not a conservator of religions. And yes, of course, you want to be gracious to everyone, as Michael, Jesus, was gracious. We all want to have those fruits of the spirit and those generosities of personality which would enable us to say exactly the right thing to everyone as we pass by, and in time we will, and indeed there are days even now that we do, but as we are in a process of growing, growth involves conflict, and certain struggle cannot be helped.

A relationship between two strangers, even when it is understood that you are each indwelt by God, will require some give and take to understand each other well enough to be together day in day out, to be neighbors. And in the process of settling down to being good friends arid companions, there are those times when you must stand up for yourself. Of course, Jesus would seek for the key wherewith to unlock that door, and that is the ideal, but by the same token, the ideal is not to become so self-effacing as to lose your own integrity and your own identity, and so I say to stand for yourself and to have faith in your own reality.

Leah: I keep on hearing the phrase that I was trying to tune into, that I was "walking on eggshells".

TOMAS: You are trying to please mammon. You cannot serve two masters. If you serve God with your whole heart, your whole mind and your whole soul, you will be given the strength, the character, the insight, the motivation and the fruits necessary to serve humankind. It is all in the understanding of the word service, which, indeed, is what we discussed earlier. Loving service versus subservient service or dutiful service.

[An example was set forth "off the record".]

The example you cite was only one example. The point, however, is that it is not necessary for you to serve out of a sense of obligation, even when your trusted brethren assume upon you. It is for you to hear your own still quiet voice within and stand firm behind that which you are being told by your own soul. Had you stood firm and not tried to live up to their expectations of you, you would not have experienced what you did, but by the same token you would not be learning this lesson that you are learning now.

It is/it was happening for others; it is a growth experience that is on-going. But it is a good example that it is not a service if you don't want to serve and no one should make you feel guilty for not doing something you don't feel you should be doing. Loving service is born of the spirit and should be done through love, if at all; otherwise, as I've said, it is an obligation that you are meeting, a sense of duty, and it is another set of values than your own.

However, when you are enthused and moved to do something and you are excited and you feel the spirit move you, by that same token, you cannot set expectations on others that they will be so moved. Just because you feel moved does not mean everyone has to. This is part of the difficulty of coming forth as a new soul, a newborn person. You stand out there by yourself, which is to say, you have left the autonomy of the masses and it takes great courage to know yourself.

It is very exciting to see that you want to know yourSelf, that you, even now as we talk, are struggling for an understanding of the right to be. I commend you, Leah, and your soul's hunger for expression of your own right to be a child of God in the universe, and not a puppet on a string for others' values and others' emotions to pull. That is not the dance that we aspire to do. That is not the pas de deux of the ages.

[Another situation "off the record")

You are a tender child. Indeed, empathetic. Consider that you were in a commercial environment and let it go at that. You do not have to buy any man's product; you do not have to try on every woman's perfume or dress for sale. The commercial environment is there for your needs; you go, you make your purchase, you leave. You do not have to feel obligated to someone on the streets.

Anyone with a pamphlet, with a tin cup, with a picket sign -- they are not anyone you have to deal with. You can pick and choose who you will allow into your world. It is not necessary for you to be so sensitive to the world at large that it gobbles you up. Do not look for your reality in the faces of these strangers. You cannot reinforce their reality when they are in a commercial mode and you are weak.

Know yourself! And then you will be drawn to certain sets of eyes, for you will have a message for them and you will leave your message and go on. You have a lot of conditioning, my dear. You have a lot of "ought to"s and "should be"s. There is a lot of personal work for you to do with your personal teachers. I would suggest that you stop surrounding yourself with other personalities and begin to become your own best friend and develop an understanding of what your needs are, what your strengths are, what your gifts are, who you are. Do not feel guilty, or selfish about this, for you do have a right to live and love and be the best that you can be. Has that been helpful?

Hunnah: When you've got your own agenda -- like he said -- when you get your agenda because you've got your values sorted out, you will be busy with a different version of the Father's business, an interpretation, and you won't have to be buying into . like, I appreciated him putting it into a commercial light. You're used to being drained by everybody else's agenda.

Tomas, something I don't hear from people in the group that I've been meeting with, is -- my interpretation is -- they're becoming a really nice guy, instead of becoming a new being in Christ. And I know that comprehension has to be born of their consciousness, their awareness to it, but I really think that this feeling might be . Christianity . is that they might become this really nice guy until there just isn't enough of you.

I appreciate that talk you had because I remember a teacher talking about, in India the children are taught to beg (and they don't even know why) when they're tiny, teeny; but their little hands go out because they're taught so early and begging becomes most, sophisticated, and we have to learn to interpret.

TOMAS: Yes. Understand why it is that you think the way you do and respond the way you do. The only thing that you can truly trust is your interpretation of the spirit through the Spirit of Truth. Your beliefs are all shatterable, your faiths are undermine-able, until you learn to be strong in your soul, in that which will be eternally you, the real you. Do not be afraid to let down the scaffolding. Do not be afraid to let the unreal die, for in that place what emerges is what is real arid enduring, strong and vital, loving, giving, eternal and godlike.

Leah: This week in our other session, you intimated that we had been luxuriating in the comfort of your presence and we should be thinking about what we ought to be doing, and I can hear in my mind what you're talking about ... I hear the words giving, caring, and the word 'community' is also used . and I was wondering, are you talking about us doing a project? Or were you talking about 'we' as a community, the group as a community? or?

TOMAS: You are doing exactly what I asked you to do, and that is to think about what we might do as individuals or as a group in terms of outward expression, in terms of community service or personal service. It is not a hard and fast assignment. It's just that I wanted to and want to keep you all apprised of the fact that the Master taught his apostles so that they would go out and preach and teach, not to stay in the Upper Chamber with Jesus year after year enjoying his companionship. Please forgive the analogy; I do not equate myself with Jesus, but I do understand the professional student syndrome, and our program, if you will, is that, we all get out there and do something "for the gipper!"

(Laughter)

Also, do not misunderstand. I do not feel that you have all been sitting around in comfort. I know full well that you have all been working very hard. It is very apparent to me that you have all grown as individuals and as a group, as a community. I have said so before; I will say it again as I behold each new plateau of growth, for you have applied yourself well. You have grown, and the effects of your growth are evident and are already outreaching. It is a simple matter of progress as we approach our second year-together in this teacher base.

My friends, I am going to bow out. My transmitter/receiver is more weary than she knows, and you still have some socializing to do before you retire for the night, so I will bid my adieus with deep affection. Tender love for you, my friends. I will see you Thursday if not before. Go in peace. Farewell.

Group: Good night, Tomas.
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