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<P>Group: Northern Colorado TeaM,
Lesson #17</P>
<DIV>Topic: <STRONG>
</STRONG><B>Self-sustaining, Intentional Communities</B></DIV>
<DIV>
Broader definition of
community</DIV>
<DIV>
Roles of parents and
grandparents</DIV>
<DIV>
Quality versus
quantity</DIV>
<DIV>
Causes of community
disintegration</DIV>
<DIV>
Leadership and selfless
dedication</DIV>
<DIV>
Planning communities
for building individuals</DIV>
<DIV>
Era of flux and
change</DIV>
<DIV>
Addressing individual
differences</DIV>
<DIV>
Teaching of morals,
ethics and values</DIV>
<DIV>
Determination of
individual inherent capacity</DIV>
<DIV>
Ideals of
education</DIV>
<DIV>
Healing the education
system</DIV>
<DIV>
Waste of geniuses</DIV>
<P>Teacher: <STRONG> </STRONG><B>Rayson</B> (T/R
Daniel)</P><B>
<P>May 19, 2002</P></B></FONT><FONT size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<P>Daniel: Let’s hook up to the merkaba individually and as you do this, see
yourself linking up through the merkaba with others here in the group. See the
merkaba and the equatorial line that connects us all, the lines of latitude and
longitude, and the orb of energy that fills a large space outside of us, way
above the house and way below it. Make your statements concerning your
intentions for being here, for making that connection, your sincerity, your
invocation of energy, and your commitment. Also use this time to project healing
energy to those who have healing energy needs for this, for their bodies, for
their minds, for their emotions. [Student makes a request for a 9-year-old
neighbor girl needing a heart transplant. Other students make requests also.]
And for those people whose lives, it appears, are in disarray, send them energy
for Divine Order and Sequence of Developments for their lives, and for them to
be aware of this. It is not just a matter of sending them this, or projecting
order and right sequence of events in their lives, but an "opening of
consciousness" in their minds to see this and accept it. They don’t have to
necessarily be "conscious" of it, but to be "accepting" of the order, the right
order of developments in their lives. Of course it is much more powerful if it
is conscious and they "will" to agree to that. (Pause) Bring your attention back
to center, to the merkaba.</P>
<P>Rayson: Good afternoon, this is Rayson. Welcome, my friends, and as you know,
I am most eager to begin today’s lesson. We will continue our discussion about
community, it building upon the prior lessons and discussions about the inner
healing of your lives. And I hope that you are still working your "sticky
notes," bringing to consciousness those issues you wish to remove, that you
command to remove, and those qualities and values and beliefs you wish to,
command to, be instilled and operant in your mind so that your lives become
expressions of these new beliefs, and that the old beliefs are gone.</P>
<P>Community is the next step above family. Families are the points of issuance
of new individuals, new beings, new souls; individuals who work together with
their Thought Adjusters. Hopefully consciously, as the era of Correcting Time
proceeds, more and more individuals will be working consciously with their
Thought Adjuster. The family and the individual are rather a bit like the
chicken and egg metaphor: Which comes first, do we heal the individual, or do we
help heal the family, so that healed individuals come from the healed family and
live in balance from the first days of their lives? We are very pragmatic in the
Correcting Time and in this Teaching Mission effort, in that we address both. We
have addressed you as individuals in prior sessions, in training and the
experiences that we have had together.</P>
<P>Most of you in this group are past the childbearing age, yet some of you can
still bear children and raise them in a new way. You may still be raising
children, and this new influence will have a positive effect upon them. And we
hope that you would bring to bear upon those children your new beliefs and to
instruct those children who are old enough to discuss these—what works and what
does not work, and why. And of course, what works are those processes in the
family that contribute to the positive, constructive growth of the soul, the
individual personality, the consciousness of the individual to live "in the
moment" with their Thought Adjuster, making conscious decisions for the
direction of their life. </P>
<P>For those of you who are past the childbearing age, your children have gone
on and you may become grandparents. And what a marvelous position you are in as
grandparents, or grandparents-to-be. For you will have a tremendous influence
upon the growth of these new children, your grandchildren, who come into their
family, your family, for you can be a positive influence to the child, a loving
positive influence to the child during those times when you are close to them.
And in their immediate family, mother and father present, there are the ups and
downs, the tugs and pulls, the disciplining, the loving, the caring and the
direction, that is sometimes not easily taken by children. But love perseveres;
and so parents, who give love in greater measure than discipline and direction,
will always find their children present. But for the grandparent, what a
wonderful occasion your lives have, and if you have no grandchildren then take
on some! Whether they are your neighbors or some other children, you may offer
to do daycare for mothers who work and who are not home for those hours after
school. And you can be a positive, passive influence to these children, an
example of right thinking, right acting, and right feeling. And then when they
go home, do not discount that a couple of hours a day is of no consequence, for
some of the most tremendous life changing events can occur in a very brief time.
</P>
<P>And the wonderful water drop of love from grandparents is a smoothing agent
to the rough side of children’s emotions and personalities as they come away
from school and come away from homes that are fraught with difficulties and
contention and competition, much of which is neither wanted nor desired by them.
So in a way, you have begun to build a community. You as grandparents,
grandparents-to-be are the first elements of an extended family, which is the
beginning of clan, which is a beginning of community. Community, of course,
involves people who are not "family," but you behave towards them as though they
were family, in an open, loving way. (Ironically, in this nation and in many
countries, many cultures, family is often times a difficult and non-supportive
place in which to be – a relationship to escape.)</P>
<P>So in community, new things happen. You have new, broader associations. What
we wish you to do is think upon the community as a larger family of unrelated
individuals, and behave accordingly, as though you were grandparents. Loving,
caring, somewhat distant, but connected. Not aloof, ever, but connected. In
community, this is where you build the processes of a larger society. If the
community is positive, helpful and contributory to the growth of individuals and
families, then you will have growth of more individuals and families that are
positive, constructive and functional. (Of course there are always deviants, and
we will discuss that in the future.) Always keep a positive influence in mind,
thinking not in terms of "what I can get," or "what I can give without return,"
as though you must get your personal regard and love from others for doing
things. No, that would be enmeshment on your part with a larger group of
individuals to pay homage to you and appreciate you and accept you. Give with
the assumption, the appreciation that you will be given back…sometime. As you
have been taught many times in metaphysical churches and situations, you give
sometimes without ever expecting return, for when you give to the universe, it
returns to you. That’s how the universe works, it is continuous. It is "the
flow," and some of you call this the Tao. And there definitely is a Tao of
community and of society. And when cultures have this flow in them, always
individuals giving, then there is always receiving. This is how a larger project
in the community is achieved with the help of families and individuals — you
volunteer. You may be a volunteer fireman; you may be a volunteer home economics
agent, or family development and family operation agent in your community. We
know this may sound foreign to you, but your society had these community action
efforts during the Depression Era to assist individuals, and then was phased out
for economic reasons by your governments. But these aids and supports should
exist, <B>must </B>exist, to help pass on those skills that are inherent in
operant, functional, contributory, constructive families and communities.</P>
<P>As we look upon your society and culture, and your culture now pervades
Europe as well as it is now invading technologically developed Japan, it is in
some ways usurping their older, cultural traditions. There is less and less
functionality towards community and self-sustaining operations within the
community, those agents for indoctrinating or inculcating traditional beliefs
that help communities survive, families prosper, and individuals to grow and
progress, are missing. And as advancing nations grow, they go through an era
where these are stripped away and there is tremendous competition for economic
and financial reasons. Surely, these add to the quantity of life, but they are
very detrimental to the quality of life. And as I see you and visit you in your
families, here and throughout the states, I see you yearning for quality of
life. You have quite a stretch to work on, you reach in one way for quantity of
life and you reach tentatively in the other for quality of life. You have been
sold "a bill of goods," literally, by your economic prosperity in this nation
that having "things" gets you happiness. And if you can’t be happy, you become
numb by watching your television sets. So these lessons are to assist you in
developing quality of life in all regards, for the individual, for the family,
and for your community. </P>
<P>You recall that Machiventa spoke last time about <B>sustaining
communities</B>. This is a subset of a larger community development, which is
<B>intentional communities</B>, and we spoke about intentional communities
through Mor-gan and Daniel years ago. Intentional communities are communities of
individuals and families that have come together, who join in a community for
intentional reasons. A self-sustaining community is only one of many types of
intentional communities. But the broadest intentional community is a community
that sustains life at all levels for the individual and family. Materiality is a
minor element of that. You’ll find that economic and financial and material
prosperity issue from happy individuals, productive families, and cooperative
communities. Doing so, you’ll find there is less competition, no warfare, no
expressions of hostility, with social processes that provide for adjustment of
differences, peacefully.</P>
<P>Let us take this subset, self-sustaining community, a bit further. You
probably have and idea what we mean by this. We mean far more than just material
sustenance: Houses to live in, infrastructures for communications, water,
disposal of waste, garbage pick-up, food, jobs, education. These are only the
meagerest degrees or parts of a self-sustaining community. Surely, you can have
these things already. There are already many self-sustaining communities in
development now in the United States and elsewhere throughout the world. Many
have come and gone, haven’t they? Why is that? Let us look at the errors, the
problems of those communities that have disintegrated. Was it due to lack of
food? Was it due to lack of housing? Was it due to lack of employment,
education, or religion? No, none of those. Why did they disintegrate? As I was
listening in on Daniel and Agatha speaking earlier today, they discerned that
one of the primary reasons for the disintegration of communities in the past has
been due to failure of leadership. Those societies where there is good
leadership have continued. </P>
<P>What is good leadership? Well, there are many answers and you will find them
in <I>the Urantia</I> <I>Book</I>. There is primarily required a <B>selfless
dedication</B> to the larger concerns for the group, past the individual ego
needs of the leader. A secondary cause of community disintegration due to
inadequate leadership exists when there is no oversight for the watch care of
leadership. This means that there is no self-monitoring process within a
successful community for the continued monitoring of leadership, or a process
for receiving grievances or complaints from populous community members about
leadership that deteriorates. You may have a leader who established a community
who did well, had good intentions; and has happened so often, something occurs
in the mind of that leader that deflects them from their original selfless
dedication. Surely they must have become bored, for they seem to have set
themselves upon an agenda of self-destruction, either through power,
aggrandizement, sexual difficulties that violate boundaries of families and
relationships, material gathering at the expense of others, differences in
prerogatives between the leader and members so that there becomes a caste system
between the leader, his family (or her family), and the rest of the population.
We could go on, but if you examine the belief systems of those individuals, who
once were good leaders, you’ll find they have become corrupted, lazy, and have
lost their selfless dedication and commitment. Now this is not a chastisement I
am giving you; this is simply an analysis of past failures. So, knowing that a
successful community is not dependent totally upon food, housing, employment,
location, geography or so on, realize that the sustaining community is sustained
by something that is unmeasurable and immaterial. Not immaterial in that it does
not affect anything, because it surely does affect all aspects of each
individual, the family and the community as a whole, but it is not a material
aspect that is measurable, quantifiable, or empirically knowable. We are talking
about higher values that must be operant always.</P>
<P>Let’s take this analysis to the farther extreme where a society, a community
has such high ideals, that they become draconian, they become very austere, the
soul and the spirit of individuals shrivel, and creativity and variation among
individuals is stifled. This is not good either. This does not allow for the
expression of the individual for variance of the individual’s growth and
development. So when you think of intentional community, it is a community that
encompasses the broad spectrum of all <B>positive</B> behaviors, thoughts,
beliefs, practices of individuals, and families in the community. </P>
<P>You must think past a <B>planned</B> neighborhood. You have these already.
This house sits in a planned neighborhood, yet it is not an intentional
community in terms of a sustainable community. People live here in this planned
neighborhood because the streets are laid out in an interesting way, houses are
within a certain variance of conformity, all the infrastructure is provided,
it’s clean, it’s quiet, it’s pleasant—it may not be cheerful*—but it is uniform;
and it is planned. This is not an intentional community. The only intention
involved in this was to develop a planned neighborhood for profit motive, to
develop barren land into a livable space, and there is certainly nothing wrong
with that, in fact, it is quite admirable. [<B>*</B>Note: Refers to
a current ego-based leadership conflict in the Home Owner’s Association.] </P>
<P>But let us say that you and others want to develop a sustainable, intentional
community in the broadest spectrum of thought that you can apply towards a
community of let’s say, 100 families, (anywhere from 200-1000 people,) for some
of these families will be extended families. If you were to do so, how would you
prepare this community? Would you say, "Oh, I know someone who has land, let’s
go talk to them and buy it and build houses"? Well great, you’d simply have
another planned neighborhood. And someone else says, "Well, we can use the rest
of the land to grow food, we’ll have community gardens and we’ll have a common
well, a water source, and pretty soon you’re thinking of all the infrastructure
of water filtration, wastewater disposal, garbage, recycling, a clinic—a
physical clinic, and a mental/emotional clinic where people get help—you get the
"physical" things in order.</P>
<P>Let me take you aside a bit and give you perspective of what Michael was up
against. Michael started Nebadon a long time ago. Empty space! He developed the
energy into a system; planets arrived; life was introduced; whole worlds were
occupied by individuals, people. Not just one planet but <B>millions</B> of
planets! How long did he work in the planning and development of his local
universe? Millions of years! So, my friends, when you go about planning an
intentional community, this is no small project of just buying land and building
houses. How do you build individuals? That’s the "business" that Michael is in,
of <B>building individuals</B> <B>of</B> <B>soul survivable quality. </B>Now,
how would you do this? And that is not a facetious question! It’s not a
rhetorical question! It is a very <B>practical</B> question. It is the
<B>fundamental</B> question necessary to ask when you develop sustainable,
intentional communities. How will you build an individual, or grow an
individual, into soul survivable quality, allowing for all the variation of the
individual to express themselves in positive, constructive ways? Well, having
read <I>the Urantia Book</I>, you know that inner structures, spiritual
structures are already existent—the seven Mind Adjutants, the eventually
arriving Thought Adjuster, a guardian angel over one individual or many, and now
you have Celestial Teachers. You have a mind that is clear and not befogged by
misbeliefs, you have a body that is sustainable, has no inherent flaws—and
you’re saying, "Wow, that would be really terrific! What about those genetic,
congenital issues that we have?" Well, in this community, you would not want
them, would you? My friends, in a thousand years, these things will be weeded
out. Not all populations will have advantage of those at that time, but it will
be a known process of how to raise or how to beget new individuals who have no
congenital issues. That’s something for you to work on!</P>
<P>Yes, you will need nutrition, nutrition for the mother as she grows this new
being inside herself, all the right nutrients at the right time for the right
places, to build and sustain and grow this wonderful new creature, and the
elimination of detrimental habits and detrimental intake of chemicals that would
harm this new child. So step aside here again or step back and take a look at
that. You need pure water. <B>Pure water</B>! Not with chlorine in it, but pure
water, available at each house. You need produce that is without detrimental
chemicals, and you have yet to figure that out, both concerning application of
chemicals to plants and to genetically altered gene structures of plants. You
are just at the early, early dawn of discovering the advantages and
disadvantages, the hazards and benefits of genetically altered produce. So you
would have to have farms—truly, you will need farms—to grow good, pure food,
economically, profitably, productively. And the individual that comes into the
family, what about the pre-natal training for the mother and the father? What do
they need to know for their mental well being and for their social well being so
this child is raised in a peaceful womb situation? What kind of diet does a
child need in the first weeks, first years of its life that will tremendously
assist the full capability of development of their minds, their bodies? For
every question, there is an answer; for every question, there is a connection
and a product and a process within the community to provide that. And it may
require the interconnection of hundreds of communities to provide what you need
in each community, an interconnection of <B>healthy</B> communities,
<B>intentional</B> communities. So, for our self-sustaining community,
developing one becomes an awesome, awesome responsibility, tremendous dedication
of many individuals to bring this into existence. </P>
<P>What kind of an education system would you provide for children to grow and
then to become integrated into their community? Not just integrated as workers,
but as parents-to-be, community members-to-be? These are deep questions and we
look forward to those individuals who entertain these questions in the larger
distribution of these teachings, to engage these questions and to strive to
answer them through your group process. And I give you a <I>proviso</I>, not a
<I>caveat</I> but a benefit, that when you do so in a group, make sure you
invite a Celestial Teacher, a Community Planner—one or two or three. They are
available! There is a large cadre existent of community trained individuals, who
are doing what we are doing. This is the Teaching Mission and there is a
Community Mission as well. </P>
<P>Before I change subjects a bit, I wish to strive to answer some of your
questions that you have been asking during the last couple of weeks. The primary
question that you have asked is, "Why the urgency, why the rush?" Well, there
are several answers to that and one is, we are not sitting on our hands,
wondering," Oh my gosh, what is Michael going to do to help us with this?" We
are fully capable ourselves, we have executive qualities of mind to bring things
about, and so we are "pushing your envelopes." We are striving to draw your
edges farther out in front of you, and we are not resting. Machiventa has taken
this on as his own project, not <B>for</B> Michael, but <B>with</B> Michael. And
our Melchizedek corps is active in this. None of us bring these issues to the
table to alarm you, but your nation will not stay the same as it is, it will not
continue as it is. Neither will other nations. Your world is in a tremendous era
of flux and change. If you think this happy era of the prosperous 90’s in
America will continue, well, you have had that dispelled during your recent
recession. Your nation is recovering and will do well. Do you think this
wonderful era of prosperity and abundance for all will continue? No, surely not!
And I am not a doomsayer; this is just reality. For example, if you look back
upon the 20<SUP>th</SUP> Century, your world entered into an economic depression
early in the century, then an awesome world war, exited that into a very
debilitating world-wide depression, followed by another world war, followed by
many wars among nations coming and going, and economic manipulation of nations
by large corporations. These will not halt; these will continue, you know that!
Don’t hide your heads in the sand, children, yet do not be afraid. You have
immense, wonderful tools to do well, and to recover from any minor or major
cataclysm. Of all nations on this planet, this nation and the one to the north
and other nations that are prosperous, well educated, and have established
infrastructures, communications and energy sources will do well. </P>
<P>There is a symbol the Chinese use for chaos, a wonderful symbol. It is also
the symbol of opportunity. Only in chaos will you find opportunity without
bound, whether as economic, cultural, political or social; it’s the old "break
and build" process. It’s what body builders do; break down tissue to build new
tissue, but they also sustain themselves with a good diet, high in protein, lots
of fluids. And for the spirit body, you must have good beliefs—Truth, Beauty and
Goodness—a value system more fully developed and evolved than is existent in
your nation at this time. And where will that value system be sustained, and
then expand itself? In the <B>individual</B>, my friends! <B>You</B>! You lovely
people here, and those who are reading these transcripts, this year, next year,
a hundred years from now and longer! In you! It is such a wondrous thing and
interesting; it boggles us to see what mere individuals can do in your society.
There is what, 275 million, approximately, in this nation? Yet individuals have
a tremendous opportunity to change the course of their nation, in ways that are
unfathomable. We may aid and guide you, but what you do and what you decide
<B>not</B> to do is a powerful influence on your society. So it is most
important, dear ones, that you keep in mind and hold high the values that
sustain you, are meaningful to you. And do not be afraid to share those with
your family, especially new parents, parents who have impressionable children,
children who will still listen, and those who have grandchildren. And you also
must tell them "why" these values and beliefs work, and share that with them,
too. These children are not "dummies!" They are pragmatic; these are hands-on,
"doing things" kids! They want to know "why." "Why does this work,
Grandpop?"</P>
<P>Let me finish this part by saying that there will be changes that occur in
your society, and it is not to anticipate them with fear, but with the prepared,
anticipation of producing something worth while out of what comes about. You
have fire stations—do they go out and set fires so they can put them out to show
their function? No, of course not. They are there for some anticipated tragedy.
They <B>anticipate</B> it. And so, too, you must anticipate opportunity to build
community.</P>
<P>Your archaeologists travel to the old country of Assyria, and they dig
trenches through these tels, mounds of dirt, layers upon layers of a city that
has come and gone, not once or twice, but dozens of times. So, too, you will see
this occur in your nation after you have traveled across the morontial barrier
and look back. How will you have contributed to your new society, your new
community, your new family, to your children and your grandchildren? It is
important to answer that with a positive response, and we hope you do. It is not
that you have to become moral evangels in your educational system, but operate
where you are in the small way that you can, and success will grow.</P>
<P>Okay, Let us begin a new topic that is definitely related to your community
building, and this is the topic of individual differences. This almost assuredly
flies in the face of your social, cultural well-being and status quo at this
time in your nation, but hear me out, please. One thing about the future and the
process of the time is that everyone, who is here, will arrive in the future
<B>with you</B>! You may wish to disregard the uneducated; you may wish to
disregard the materially disenfranchised; you may wish to disregard the opposite
gender, racial, cultural, nationality differences, but children, you are all
going to be there in the future, and those differences will still exist! You
can’t bury these issues, social issues by forgetting about them or not looking
at them. Your nation is in a difficult situation. It has expressed its arrogance
in the world in many ways, at the expense of other people, thinking that, "Well,
we’ll be dominant in the future and we will have control of it then." It’s a
pretty broad assumption.</P>
<P>Let us speak principally to those individuals, and this is on an individual
basis, for this is the only area in which you can positively and constructively
make a tremendous contribution. The big social issues even in your local
community are often times larger than the individual to resolve. So let us deal
with individual differences. Let us once again begin with the child who comes
into the world. Some of these children are uneducable, but they have a certain
capacity for self-maintenance. Yes, there are children who will come into the
world who are uneducable and who are unable to care for themselves, and who, if
not cared for, would die. For those individuals, you will find no Thought
Adjusters, and that is really the qualitative factor that determines who
contributes, and who doesn’t in your society, in the future. Were you to know
who carried the light of the Thought Adjuster and who did not, you could more
easily discern how to provide services to those individuals who do not, and how
to hold those individuals who have Thought Adjusters, responsible, or more
responsible and accountable for their behavior in your society. But you are
unable to see this.</P>
<P>Now, I will just cut through the buckwheat, as you say out here in the west,
and get to the point. And that is, there is <B>in each individual an inherent
capacity</B> for expression of good, for self-maintenance, for contribution to
themselves, to their family, to their community and perhaps, to their society.
Each individual does! How to address that? The individual capacity to
contribute, or not, must be considered as part of your intentional community.
Asking and answering this question ties in with the earlier question we asked,
"How do you build an individual of soul survivable capacity?" More to the point,
how can you bring that individual into expression of the maximum potential that
is inherent in them? That’s through your educational system that begins in the
family. In an intentional, self-sustaining community, the educational system
reaches right down to the time the child is born, or preferably, even before the
child is born, just after the child comes into existence in the womb. When the
individual comes into the world as a new baby, oftentimes it is months before
parents realize that their child is "okay," or "not okay" and has some inherent
learning disability. It may be even into the second year before the parents
realize that their child is deaf, and this has occurred. In this intentional
society, the primary goal is to bring the individual to the greatest expression
of potential inherent within them for the development of a survivable soul.
There are only two qualifications: 1) <B>"to develop the inherent
potential;"</B> and 2), <B>"help assure the survivability of</B> <B>the
soul."</B> The first has to do with measuring the individual’s capacities: Do
they see; do they taste; do they touch and feel; do they hear; do they smell? Do
they have all the five senses? Those are necessary for the basic education of an
average individual. An average individual will continue on into a daycare
situation where they will be taught those developmental skills for physical,
social, neural, psychological, and so on, as can be taught to them, to develop
those inherent potentials within them. And this continues on, through their life
until they are separate from the family.</P>
<P>Some children read at age three; some children play Mozart at age four; some
never learn music, some never read. Why? Is it a factor of the system, or is it
a factor of their capacity? In an intentional, self-sustaining community with
these two goals, its chore must be to measure and evaluate and then provide the
resources to develop those inherent potentials. There are some arbitrary reasons
for teaching children to read when they are ten, and some at age five or four.
Some can do numbers very early on. Should they enter an appropriate educational
program, or should they wait due to some arbitrary educational policy? </P>
<P>Let me give you a clear insight, I think you can appreciate, which you may
have not thought of before. You understand sports in your schools, do you not?
You have all the eighth graders try out for baseball. Some have played baseball,
some haven’t. Fifty boys and girls try out for baseball, and the coach has each
one of them throw, catch fly balls and ground balls, play different positions,
understand the different plays, and works with each child to evaluate their
capability. And out of fifty children, he ends up with seven teams and a
manager. Now, do you think he’s going to put the best players with the least
capable? Certainly not. How does he evaluate this? By measuring their skills,
does he not? (Or she?) Certainly. What is their capacity? What is their skill
level? And then assigns them accordingly to the different teams. This way, they
can develop their skills simultaneously with other children who are the same
age, without having to feel less-than, nor more-than other players of the same
team; and therefore, they are able to develop the team working processes much
more easily, rather than having internal strife among the players, let alone win
games against other teams. Now, here’s the catch: Do you do the same thing in
reading or writing, penmanship, history lessons, and mathematics? No! When you
are age six, you go to grade one. When you are age seven, you go to grade two,
whether you can read or write. And this continues on in many of your schools! It
has simply become a process of passing children through without development or
appraisal of skill and assigning them to appropriate levels. We do not
understand why this is so! It would seem appropriate to us, that if you have a
fifteen-year-old who cannot read, he may be best assigned to a grade two level
of reading, where his skills are competent with those who are at that level. It
may be that this same individual, who is fifteen, is mechanically adept to the
point where he may be working with a high school graduate in learning welding or
mechanics. But because he is unable to read the manuals, he cannot develop these
skills to become a master mechanic. This is <I>non sequitur</I> to us! And this
must be healed in your intentional, self-sustaining community, because failing
to do so you have an inherent flaw that causes inherent problems, which are
detrimental to the self-sustaining function of the individual, family,
community, and eventually the society.</P>
<P>You know more about the gene structure of the human genome than you do about
the progression and application of skills for individuals. Oh, I know that’s an
exaggeration, for there are some excellent schools in your nation and
communities which attend to the right development and evaluation of the skills
and the assignment of children to appropriate levels where they can learn these
best. But in the main, your educational system is failing, and so is your
society. (Not your nation, your society.) There are inherent detrimental
processes or lack thereof, for sustaining your societies, let alone your states
and your cities. Look at your cities: These are self-deteriorating,
self-destructive social processes. Many are too large, most have educational
systems that are not beneficial to the maintenance of families, let alone the
growth and prospering of the individuals and their minds and their spirits. So,
dear ones, appraise individuals as they are, assign them to levels of education
and training that is appropriate, and continue through that process of
evaluation, appraisal and assignment. And yes, there will be individuals who
become the age of eighteen who cannot read, who have been given every
opportunity, every advantage by dedicated individuals, teachers, instructors,
and tutors, using outstanding materials, who will not read, who cannot read. If
you can say that all of your community has provided this and the individual is
unable to read, then what will you do with that individual? What will they do?
Where will they work? We visit your grocery stores and we see individuals
working there who were born with Down Syndrome. And these are lovely
individuals, as most are very happy—they understand their situation, and they
love it when you say "hello" to them and call them by name and you acknowledge
them. They feel that they are a part of your society. These individuals are
probably working at the best capacity level of their inherent potential. This is
good! </P>
<P>And my friends, lastly, concerning this topic, the <B>waste of genius</B>.
The waste of genius is just (Heavy sigh) …oh, we are not embarrassed, but I
suppose if we were human, we would be blushing, greatly! For we see genius among
you, and geniuses wasted because there is not the moral fiber, ethical fiber,
the values and beliefs that sustains genius in a positive, constructive way.
Genius that is wasted sometimes goes awry and you will find many geniuses in
prisons, mental hospitals, and as derelicts along the streets. Why did this
occur? Answering these questions is a pragmatic process of developing a
self-sustaining intentional community. And the wonderful thing about this whole
message today is that once you have begun to design a self-sustaining,
intentional community in the broadest parameters, you can replicate it over and
over again, across societies, across cultures. You get down to the basic
ingredients that Michael deals with in building worlds of successful individuals
and surviving souls. You will have a beginning appreciation of the daunting
immensity of his work. And I hope you are not overcome with this, but it is a
wonderful thing to entertain and to appreciate and work on in your lives as you
move forward into more capable positions in your morontial life, as you move
through your Nebadon experience, and move on to Uversa.</P>
<P>As Finaliters, this may be something you will need to think about. And when
the Grand Universe is settled in the Days of Light and Life, and there is, we
suppose, a dispersal of individuals, Finaliters across the broad new universe,
perhaps you will become creators too, and you will be well prepared. Because the
Creator will have developed every possible avenue, every possible, measurable,
capacity within you to the utmost in your ascendant career.</P>
<P>I leave you not in a dour sort of way, but one with hope. Of all individuals,
who could take on this rather large task, people like you who are most capable
of doing this chore of building a new, intentional, self-sustaining community
and world. It’s why you are here. You have self-selected yourselves to be here.
You have chosen the way; it is not easy, and some of you are in what you call
retirement, and some of you will be in retirement, but this my friends is a
<B>glorious time</B> for <B>wonderful work, </B>without constraints of having to
make a daily living. Spend time in constructive ways for yourself and in
association with others, who think as you do. </P>
<P>I won’t cut off the time today as I did previously, but allow you some
moments to think of and speak some questions, if you have them. And I won’t cut
you off—I’ve been chided about that –I will give you some time to think, to
cogitate and to devise questions.</P>
<P>Student: So historic preservation is out, and people preservation is in!</P>
<P>Rayson: Explain.</P>
<P>Student: I was just making a joke about our society that worries more about
saving and preserving old, quaint structures than it sometimes does about saving
people.</P>
<P>Rayson: As buildings replace those that are destroyed, those individuals who
leave will be replaced by new ones and it is most important, and serious
business, that you attend to this education, a moral, ethical, value education
of individuals who come into your lives. It is most unfortunate that your
society, your government, your processes have allowed for the loss of ethical
education of individuals, in the name of religion. These can be taught many ways
without once naming a religion. It is in the best behalf of a society, a
culture, a nation, and a government to sustain all efforts to maintain a
peaceful, law-abiding society.</P>
<P>Student: You were talking about this self-sustaining community, I was
wondering if you were implying that this is something that needs to be built
from the ground up, or if this can be developed within and through where we
already live, in our neighborhoods?</P>
<P>Rayson: Yes, it can be developed now in your existing neighborhoods and
existing communities. All that is required is much like the Waldorf School
participation and other private schools where families intentionally,
consciously join in the standards and beliefs and values of that process. What
is needed in an intentional community is a consensus as a group, hopefully
unanimous—there is almost never unanimity—but a prevailing group of individuals
to have similar beliefs, similar intentions, and have made a conscious decision
and dedication to move forward in this direction. It is best done within a close
geographic area, or even as large as a school district.</P>
<P>Student: So you’re saying that when this becomes, should it become, or when
it does become successful, then that’s when you start with another district and
the other people will be talking to you and there will be commerce because they
will like what you’ve done? Then it will take off in other areas throughout the
country, and that is the way it grows? You couldn’t, for instance, legislate
this sort of thing by government by any stretch of the imagination, anywhere. So
it’s one person at a time, one community at a time?</P>
<P>Rayson: I hear some sniggering, some cynical comments in your minds about
that government involvement. You asked several, multi-layered questions there.
First of all, what we anticipate, and hope for, is a rather spontaneous,
development across the nation or your world, of intentional, self-sustaining
communities, rather than one being successful and then building from there. This
is not the way social evolution usually works. It operates by the "Hundred<SUP>
</SUP>Monkey Process" if you are acquainted with that, (Yes) and particularly in
a technologically developed, communicative world that you have now, it can
happen rather quickly. It can begin even at an academic level, if I might expand
on your question, but there are many principles already known in academic
research of what sustains a community, and what does not, in the terms that we
are speaking of. So there is already an existent base of research, though it is
not perhaps a coherent database yet, but there will be, and this will be
necessary to help support the understanding of why some communities are
successful and why some are not. (Student: Have you any models?) Have we any
models? Definitely, come to Edentia and we will show them to you! (On Earth?)
There are communities on your planet that have many of these qualities, but few,
if any have taken in the total parameter of the necessities of supporting
successful, soul-surviving individuals.</P>
<P>Student: I was researching some Danish ones that were along the lines you are
suggesting, of course they were basically Lutheran in orientation, but it was
all levels of ages and grandparents with children in grade schools and
everything, working together, basically.</P>
<P>Rayson: Yes. I’m glad you mentioned the Lutheran aspect. How would religion
be developed within this intentional, conscious community? What place would
religion have? What inter-faith requirements would be necessary to sustain a
self-sustaining, intentional community? I think you will find that many church
organizations have internal doctrines and beliefs that are antithetical to a
surviving society, which do not allow for variance of beliefs. So, when you come
into an intentional community, and you begin planning for one, you will need to
allow for a larger mind-set of beliefs. You will need to move towards the
Universal Father Church, where beliefs are contributory towards a
self-sustaining intentional community. That is probably shocking to some who are
reading this, if you come from a very denominational sectarian religious base.
What is needed is a stable base of beliefs that contributes to the soul growth
of the individual, that also helps sustain a social structure, is moral and
ethical, does not create a caste system, yet provides for the egalitarian
participation of each individual as they are capable. </P>
<P>You’ll find that the religious aspect will be one of the pivotal issues for
the maintenance or destruction, or eventual demise of a community because some
individuals think that it "ought" to be this way, or "ought" to be that way. And
you will find that in the end, a successful, self-sustaining community has
<B>"the flow"</B> running right through it. And <B>always</B>, whether it is a
religion, or whether it is the waste treatment plant, it is all in agreement, it
all works, it is part of the flow. Even the effluent that comes from your sewage
system has a process of being in the flow, and contributes to the maintenance
and sustenance of the lands around.</P>
<P>Student: Rayson, there is some work being done in our society about using
Charter Schools as a way of boosting the learning climate for the children that
can handle more education. I find that this is very good in a lot of ways, it
benefits the children that are in it, but it seems to leave the normal public
schools with the lower level kids, the ones that are disadvantaged educationally
and socially, and so on. There is also talk about a voucher system that would
make it possible for parents to choose schools for their kids, and that one I
see as being fraught with a lot of religious problems. Do you have any comments
on this?</P>
<P>Rayson: Yes. The voucher system simply pulls children from one school and
puts them in another that is very much like the first. The Charter School system
you speak of is a qualitative difference from the existing school system, and
our interest is more in that direction. You will find a strategic process
involved in our work, and that is we always sustain and work with those projects
that are productive and the bud of something in the future. We assist
individuals in existing situations, whether it is in school or in their work
situation, but your educational system is long overdue for an overhaul. You see
this tearing and pulling in your society and you do not have a long-term
appreciation of what is going on, but it is a separation, a destruction of the
old system, with the new system not yet in place. And there are many questions
involved at this time for individuals who have children and which schools they
should attend. When you see children thrive and grow and learn more quickly, at
the level of their competence, and can move on without restraints due to a grade
system, then you will see a system that will prosper. This system you speak of
has evidence of many issues that are beneficial and superior to the existing
educational process.</P>
<P>Student: I’ve been a student of the Summerhill experiments in England, for
many years. Is that supported by our Celestials and is it a worthwhile endeavor,
for instance as opposed to the Charter School system?</P>
<P>Rayson: I do not wish to get into an analysis of school systems at this time.
This is an overview lesson/training session today, and I’ve given you some broad
brush strokes of what is needed and necessary to sustain a community that is
intentional in design. Are there other questions? </P>
<P>Student: Rayson, you mentioned earlier that very young, disadvantaged
children in the sense that they have basic instructional or mental problems who
are very low in intelligence or low in capability for some reason, to the point
where the Thought Adjuster wouldn’t come to them. Is there some way to
distinguish that?</P>
<P>Rayson: Yes, there is. It is determined by the capacity for moral decision.
It is as simple as that. Thought Adjusters come to individuals when they make
their first moral decision, and if they are unable to make a moral decision,
then the Thought Adjuster does not arrive. Your society does not measure for
this capacity at this time, even through observation. Only through the grossest
observation of whether they come into the net of the criminal justice system, or
not. A greater tragedy, my friend, are those individuals who have tremendous
soul survival capacity, who have an inherent, superior belief system as they
come into life and who, due to circumstance and environment, their growth is
wasted and their lives are misdirected. This is truly a tragedy for any
individual, for any family and any community. And this is one of the major
elements of the community project, is to reach down to each individual at their
level and to assist them to express their potential at the highest level. You
can appreciate that, can you not? Each of you has come from humble
circumstances, compared to many in your society, and through guidance and
opportunity, you have been able to make great of your life, though you know
within yourselves, there is much inherent potential still unexpressed – that
God-like quality to become more, to be curious about yourself and to wonder what
you might become, even in your later years. This is a wonderful thing to wonder
about and it is important to continue to apply yourself to assist others,
volunteering in responsible ways; to aid your community and your family members
is a wonderful thing, and I would encourage this. I will close in a moment, if
you have one more question or two.</P>
<P>Student: Rayson, you mentioned a "point of opportunity" that we would be
experiencing shortly, (Rayson: My critical listener here!) I refer to a point of
opportunity that is the beginning point of putting in place the sustainable
communities that you are speaking of. I’ve been involved in much of this
already, from an observational point of view and I am trying to be more
participatory. Is this point of opportunity something that will encompass only
our society, immediate North America that you spoke of, or is this a global
opportunity?</P>
<P>Rayson: It is opportunity in various places throughout the world, but the
opportunity only exists if you are conscious of that existing. Therefore, you
must have the skills and knowledge inherent already, and be able to reinvent
your community then.</P>
<P>Student: Is it something that will be obvious to us, or is it something that
is going to be really subtle? Are we going to "know" like, "Hey Man, that’s it!"
Or will it be…" a brick in the head"…or something much more subtle? </P>
<P>Rayson: It will be a "brick in the head" in some places, and in others it
will be a process of reinventing, due to the "brick in the head" of others. So
it’s not either one…either/or…but both.</P>
<P>Student: I’m not sure if I know how to frame this question. It’s one thing to
deal with younger children in trying to support the development of their obvious
skills. Would you say it is possible for us human beings with our limited
knowledge and skills, to assist an adult who perhaps excels greatly in one area,
but is grossly lacking in another? As you mentioned before, "wasted
genius"…people who are very developed intellectually, but are perhaps
inadequately developed socially, or in some other important aspect of life? They
usually aren’t very amenable to some other person offering support or
assistance. Can you speak to that?</P>
<P>Rayson: Yes, I understand your quandary. As a grandparent, you may not be
able to do much for your own children. You can only offer assistance when they
are able to express a need, and then provide it judiciously, appropriately in
ways that benefit them. And sometimes children will ask for assistance in ways
that are self-serving. In those situations, you must make a discerning decision
about it. But always offer your assistance to them in the areas where they are
least capable, and speak frankly about that. It is like seeing two cars that
they own, an old Volkswagen bus and a new sports car. You say, "I see you have a
new sports car and it is very capable to go fast, but it doesn’t carry many
people, does it? And you also have and old bus that goes slowly, but has a great
capacity and is dependable." So you speak to them about their deficiencies and
their weaknesses in very candid ways, and you tell them that you love them and
you will assist them to work with this, how best you can, when they ask. </P>
<P>The interfering parent, adult upon adult, is not a welcome partner in the
life’s course, but rather a nettlesome bee in one’s ear that gets slapped at.
Aid your children who are adults, as they ask for assistance; and if not asking
for assistance, tell them that your aid and assistance is always available when
they ask for it. As grandparent, you can best apply your efforts because there
you have the broad playing field of the whole scope of the individual, the
child, who has yet to find their potential, let alone express it. And this is
the wonderful place that grandparents, and hopefully parents, can explore with
their children. Seek to help them explore their potentials and their capacity to
develop positive, good, contributory and excellent behaviors – feed those. Where
they are less skilled, also help them to explore those areas and help develop
them, as they are able. If you have a child who is wonderful at computers and
who is terrible at baking, you would not want to spend equal times upon baking
and science, would you? But to aid them in learning how to bake and cook to
sustain themselves, but to work in computers and technology to help make a
livelihood and integrate that into their lives. Does this answer your question?
(Pretty close.) Last question, please?</P>
<P>Student: It seems like there are optimal times for learning certain things.
(Yes, definitely.) A lot of times if we’ve missed one of those crucial
"deadlines" with our own children, is it still possible to go back and work on
those deficient areas with some Celestial help?</P>
<P>Rayson: As you say, there are optimal times for learning. There are optimal
times for learning foreign languages, or languages in general in a child’s life,
as well as there are times most opportune to learn social skills and to learn
mathematics, for instance, and to learn music. These come at different eras, and
if you pass them, you have passed the opportune era for "imprinting" that
individual to be open to this area of potential, to explore that in larger
parameters later on. We cannot go back in time and re-develop those for
individuals, yet each individual has a capacity to learn and express their
skills in ways they have not discovered or developed before. And this is more
easily done with some individuals than others. You have to see how it works. We
are always glad and able to help, but you cannot put 32 ounces in a 16-ounce
jar. If you are unable to learn calculus now, you will probably be unable to
learn calculus in ten years, though you may strive and you may become competent
at it. Let us close.</P>
<P>Blessings to you, dear ones, this day for we have begun a new era of
instruction, which is most difficult and which could go on for decades. We have
given you a brief—ever so brief—overview of this. As you are capable to
appreciate, we will continue this and to develop it. If you don’t mind, we would
like to use this group and other groups who are also attuned to this training
instruction to develop these lessons, even though you may not incorporate them,
use them or develop them. It would please us if you would discuss this during
your break, afterward. As Michael’s consciousness does pervade this local
universe, and has set upon a plan to guide the development of each world and
each individual, so too, we have taken on this work to bless you with this
instruction. And may you take away from this time something positive that you
can contribute to your own lives and to those around you. Know that in every
effort, every conscious effort you make, or decide not to make, you are blessed,
you are loved, and you are supported. The same elements that we desire to see
developed in children, we also wish to see developed in you and we will strive
to do this till the last breath you take on this world. Our dedication is to
assist you in the development of community in all ways on this planet, and this
is foundational to the Correcting Time. Blessings to you. Know that many have
been present here today and that there is much more to be shared with you. Good
day. (Group: Thank you!)</P></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML>