<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"><FONT SIZE=2>TOMAS: Good afternoon, my loyal friends and neighbors, this is Tomas. I have
<BR>only one remark to make today, in the face of Timothy's words. You have
<BR>heard me in good faith and in good humor assign myself the "handle" of Tomas
<BR>the Opportunist. However, you will find me taking leave of that designation,
<BR>given the nature of this upcoming course. An opportunitist is not always one
<BR>who is opportune on behalf of the highest ideals. In fact, the perception in
<BR>your culture that an opportunist is one who would take undue or unfair
<BR>advantage of a situation. And while in private company I have little concern
<BR>that you would perceive me as attempting to usurp something at someone else's
<BR>expense, in the name of such a quality of lessons as we will address in Human
<BR>Associations 101, it would not behoove me to sport such a handle.
<BR>
<BR>Let's make this course something that can be developed into a practical
<BR>workbook experience. Come to class, if you will, next week, notebook in hand
<BR>and sharpened pencils at the ready. Bring also your professions of desire to
<BR>be useful in the field and any questions or ideas you may have, having to do
<BR>with how to interact effectively and happily with your many peers, be they
<BR>children of rapture or unlovely mankind.
<BR>
<BR>Alright then, if there are no further questions regarding your new class, new
<BR>course in this Teaching Base, are there matters to kick around as one might
<BR>do after class as you wait for the bell to ring?
<BR>
<BR>THOROAH: Yes. I've been thinking about this cultural situation, thanks to
<BR>our mentors Thursday evening talking about the cultural things that we deal
<BR>with and things that we don't realize that are cultural that are just so
<BR>natural for us to do that we don't know why or maybe haven't even thought
<BR>about asking why, and so Human Associations 101 is an excellent course. And
<BR>I think we'll be dealing with that! It's a part of the curriculum, so that's
<BR>good!
<BR>
<BR>TOMAS: Good, yes. You are right to find it fascinating, for it provides
<BR>wisdom in this way: as you understand your fellows you can learn to see their
<BR>motivations and by getting to the root of their needs, they will reveal their
<BR>true essence to you in such a way that you may love them with a divine
<BR>affection, even while their motives may hardly rise to the value standards
<BR>developed in one who has spent many reflective hours in spirit to discern and
<BR>master.
<BR>
<BR>The study of your species has been fascinating from the beginning, but the
<BR>light that has been flooding Urantia recently has added new dimensions and
<BR>perspectives to your conditioning such that the comparison is now able to
<BR>seen. Perhaps you would understand it this way. There is a house, a very
<BR>filthy house with somewhat slovenly while excessively busy people. The dirt
<BR>has piled up in their haste to go from here to there, and they are so seldom
<BR>home to look out the window, the windows are befogged with grime from having
<BR>been neglected. Into this home comes a "clean freak," a Mr. Clean, or
<BR>Scrubbing Bubbles, and begins to attack the place in earnest in one corner
<BR>and is working their way throughout. It is very easy to see then, the
<BR>comparison between that which has been cleaned and that which has been
<BR>neglected.
<BR>
<BR>The part that has been cleaned is beginning to evoke a change in the
<BR>residents. While they are still very busy and still very slovenly on one
<BR>hand and in a certain part of their house, they are becoming more and more
<BR>aware of how appealing it is in the clean area. Indeed, they find themselves
<BR>standing up taller as they pass through that clean part. They have cause now
<BR>to glimpse the view from the clean windows and promise themselves the moment
<BR>to stand and enjoy their view as soon as their busy-ness subsides.
<BR>
<BR>And so it is that we are observing you in this house, going back and forth
<BR>from the old way, through the new way, on your way to light and life. We can
<BR>very clearly see how the light, how the clean, how the scrubbing bubbles are
<BR>affecting you and understand completely how you got so dirty in the first
<BR>place. It's not judgment that gives us the vantage point of our observation,
<BR>but the actuality of perception itself.
<BR>
<BR>Thus when we bring these things to your attention, it's not to remind you of
<BR>how lowly you are, no! It's to remind you of your origins and to help you
<BR>see that you are more and more dwelling in the clean part of the house, and
<BR>the patterns that you were trained and accustomed to living under and with
<BR>were conditions over which you had little control. Now you can see. Now the
<BR>sun is pouring in the window, and the power of the Father is coming through
<BR>everyelectrical outlet. The mother herself is whistling while she works in
<BR>your domain, in her domain. From this non-judgmental assessment of the human
<BR>condition, we have been able to understand you and have come to love you each
<BR>personally because of the conscientious application of attempting to
<BR>understand why you do the things you do, how you do them, to what end, for
<BR>what result, to fulfill what need, to overcome what handicap, to feed what
<BR>hunger. We want to be of service. If we don't know who you are and what
<BR>your needs are, based on conscientious reflection through divinity, how can
<BR>we effectively serve? How can we take this kingdom by spiritual assault? We
<BR>can only let the agents of God in other ... assume the responsibility for
<BR>workmanship, while we pass through life allowing life to pass us by and all
<BR>opportunity to effectively serve through passive acquiescence to that which
<BR>we have not embraced as our assignment in the gospel, in the doing of the
<BR>Father's will, in the sonship connection, in the true character
<BR>representation of the personality of God as it is directed through your will
<BR>to serve in your arena.
<BR>
<BR>Yes, indeed, you are a study!
<BR>
<BR>THOROAH: Thank you for taking the time.
<BR>
<BR>TOMAS: It was given to me to use. I'll see you around campus. Good
<BR>afternoon.
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
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