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<DIV><FONT size=2>Bravo! Always enjoy this great sharing. Merium is truly fine
and so are you folks for getting this recorded and shared. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>And am sure glad hedonists are saved too! Lester and
me may go Mansonia bar hopping yet. Bet the drinks are actually good for you
there, and the music is ...... Divine. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>jim</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=gerdean@cableone.net href="mailto:gerdean@cableone.net">Gerdean</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=tmtranscripts@circuit1.teamcircuits.com
href="mailto:tmtranscripts@circuit1.teamcircuits.com">tmtranscripts@circuit1.teamcircuits.com</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, September 14, 2005
5:00 PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [tml] [tmtranscripts]
09-11-05.RR Teacher Merium </DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><B>
<P>DATE:</B> September 11, 2005<BR><B>LOCATION:</B> Rio Rancho, NM
USA<BR><B>T/R:</B> Gerdean</P><B>
<P>TEACHER: MERIUM<BR>This World is Your Starting Place <BR>Doing God's Will
"On-the-Job"<BR>A New Look at Enlightenment<BR>Merium's Character Sketches
</P>
<P>MUSIC:</B> Elena on Piano <BR>(1) "Abide With Me" with Chopin’s Etude
Opus 10 #3; and<BR>(2) "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" with Mozart’s
Alleluia, <BR>from Exultation Jubilate (Music Arrangements by Marilyn
Ham)</P><B>
<P>PRAYER:</B> (Elena) </P>
<P><I>Dear Heavenly Father and Mother and all of the spiritual beings who
grace us with your presence and your help in our lives. We greet you and
welcome you to this place, this afternoon of beauty, the sky and the clouds
and the good weather and the wonderful friends around us. We gather together
to hear what you have to say to us. We seek to do your will in all things
and we seek the guidance that we need to do that better. We are here in
gratitude for one another and for you all, so thank you for your being and
help each one of us to prepare our hearts, our minds and our ears to what
you have for us today. Thank you. Amen.</P></I><B>
<P>Group:</B> Amen.<BR><B>MERIUM:</B> Alleluia! I have died and gone to
heaven!<BR><B>Group:</B> (Laughter)<BR><B></B></P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> This is your friend, Merium, a teacher and baby sitter of
some repute. You may not know me well here but I have garnered myself
somewhat of a reputation in my experiential trek by the attitude I have
bestowed upon those I meet as a result of my mortal conditioning. </P>
<P>You may recall the story in the Urantia Papers that depicts the two
friends, one of whom came from a background which was not an effective means
for him to learn those qualities of character which would render him
dependable as an adult; and his friend, who was by contrast, a product of an
environment which was supportive and encouraging and of such an emotional
character as to render this child of nature able to readily assume those
effects of such causes and be responsible, dependable, reliable, loyal and
cheerful … inherently, almost. </P>
<P>I was fortunate to have come from a world much like that. This early
enculturation into a world, which was virtually settled in light and life,
is such a contrast to those of you who come from Urantia, which is noted as
being a trouble spot - but certainly not a blight on the neighborhood; we
just recognize that those of you who will emerge from this realm of reality
into the morontia worlds (the mansion worlds) will bring with you certain
characteristics as naturally as an immigrant brings his culture or her
culture to the new world. </P>
<P>For some time you will bear the mark of the Urantian, simply because it
is your home base, your starting point. You will develop an odd fraternity
in eternity from having been alumni of this sphere of education. </P>
<P>I don’t want to impart the idea that those of you who come from a world
such as this are poor candidates for future service or that when you ascend
you will be regarded automatically as deficient or retarded in the same
sense that you understand deficiency and retardation in your common culture,
for yours is based on evolved ways and means rather than real enlightenment,
and real enlightenment is that which we have had – we who have come to teach
you, to hold your hand and assure you of your place in the universe. No
matter what cosmic neighborhood you come from, you are one of God’s own, as
you have chosen to be one with him, and we thus are thrust together as
siblings in this happy, far-flung family of His great grand children.</P>
<P>Any of you are able to rise above your environment sufficiently to serve,
and in faith of your appointment as ambassadors of the divine light of
truth, beauty and goodness to your world, you will always be blessed to have
those opportunities to serve and to praise, to bring peace into troubled
waters, to bring fresh air into the stultifying effects of rigidity and
structure, to bring laughter and silliness to situations which need to
experience the antidote. </P>
<P>Come one, come all, let us play. We cannot be pompous in our business of
representing divine reality. Let us be done with the religions of authority,
which will presume to tell you how to believe, think and worship. Behold the
Child of God who lifts his and her voice to sing praises of life itself and
rejoice in this life through fellowship with other siblings in this family,
be they immediate, surrogate, extended or potential. </P>
<P>It is all a fairyland of love and delight, even as it is occasionally a
vale of tears. Let’s lift off, then, from the vale of tears for a lark in
the realm of light and life. Let us feel the peace that passes all
understanding. Let us laugh in the knowledge of our smallness, in the face
of the greatness surrounding us. Let this cool, refreshing breeze on your
faces remind you of the atmosphere we enjoy in faith of our family, that is
brought to us by and through our Eternal Parents and the many agents that
serve throughout the many worlds of time and space, as I serve in this new
age of opening our windows to the universe and letting the love pour in upon
us, refreshing us and our atmosphere.</P>
<P>We have here in this T/R’s filing cabinet a piece of litter, lying on the
top, that calls my attention to Leonard Skynard’s song about "… that smell.
The smell of death surrounds you." This is all too true. The smell of death
<I>is </I>all around you, but you are blessed today to be able to step
outside that truth to learn to grow in the other dimension, the other realm,
the one in which the resurrection, the rebirth, the re-encircuitment, the
recharging of your spiritual batteries, the remodeling of your construct,
the refashioning of your style of operation as a teacher, as a mentor, as a
babysitter of the many children who have no idea who their parents are or
what "home" must be like</P>
<P>We know what it’s like to be home, don’t we kids? We are at home now<I>.
</P></I>
<P>We are at home in this morontia world, which we have created here in this
atmosphere of acceptance, in our willingness to allow peace to prevail and
love to rule in our hearts. </P>
<P>It delights me to be of the ilk that is allowed to befriend you from my
perspective, and allowed to always return to my original perspective, and
there will come a day when you too will be able to regard your early
experience on this world as something truly priceless. Even though it has
been difficult, even though it may seem you have been ostracized or
alienated in this period of disconnection, you have not lost in this
struggle. You have gained so much, for in time you will have your
perspective as well as that which you learn in your advancement, whereas I
will only be able to know of your experience by and through observation,
since it is not a part of my experience to have known such hardships as you
have here. All the more reason we should have a party and rejoice in the
reality we have attained. No matter what route it took for us to get here,
we are truly "at home" in Him.</P>
<P>I want you to be advised that today we have with us another multitude of
celestial personalities who are hovering around you and rejoicing in your
lights, which are well lit, and as they combine together into one great
light, the beacon goes far and wide, helping to open the floodgates of
divine affection and allowing for greater passage of the spiritual pressures
to fall like rain on the just and the unjust in order to bring a resurgence
of the living water into the world in which you live. </P>
<P>This, indeed, is heaven on earth. Our goal is to allow this state of
being to prevail, to cover the globe like a yellow blanket of grace,
bringing comfort and security of the spirit to you and all you know. Thank
you for your prayer, Elena. Thank you for your presence, each of you. Let’s
wiggle a little in our chairs, then, shall we? And feel our feet on the
ground that we might touch base with the realm in which you live and which
is the arena where you do the work. How are things in your life?</P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> I got my new job! So I have changed my arena, definitely.
Out of the hospital and into the streets! So to speak.</P>
<P><B>Elena: </B>What do you mean "into the street"?</P><B>
<P>Reneau:</B> Going into people’s homes. I’ll be driving around from house
to house and visiting people in their homes and nursing rather than the
craziness of the hospital. Yea! So we’re all being like shook and sifted up
into our new places. My other girlfriend Debra has settled into Blue Hill,
Maine, with her mom and her sister and brother-in-law are going to be too,
up in Blue Hill, Maine. They love it. </P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> Well, let’s get back to your new job.</P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> Yes.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> You are going from institutional living to free lance?</P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> From taking care of hospital patients, institutional, yes,
to visiting them in their homes. They want a registered nurses that follows
up on their care at home for whether its medicines or wounds or hospice
or….</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> So you are going out to play.</P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> Yes. Less stress.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> Less structure.</P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> Yes.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM: </B>How good of God to open the windows so that the fresh air
can come into your room. You now have personal ministry instead of public
ministry.</P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> Right. "Ask and ye shall receive!" "Knock and the door
shall be opened unto you." I have put on the apron of service in a whole new
way, and thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Yes, God-made in
heaven, it is.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> Alleluia!</P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> Absolutely. It's wonderful.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> Sing those songs of praise. You will have more intimacy.
You will have an opportunity to be of tremendous personal service.</P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> Yes. In a far less stressful situation.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> For you, perhaps. </P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> Yes. For me.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> For them, however, they may be even more vulnerable to the
real fears that face those who need someone to come to them to help
them.</P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> Well, that's my assignment.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> I know you will do it justice.</P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> I'm sure I will have help along the way, too. And thank
you in advance for that.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> Always invite your entourage to come with you. Not only to
help you find a parking place, but to lead you to those assignments that
will best serve and bring the most satisfaction to all concerned. Having a
good time is not just being irresponsible; it is finding that which pleases
you most and, in my eyes, it is service.</P><B>
<P>Reneau:</B> Um-hum. Yes.</P><B>
<P>Paula:</B> Service has so many different colors, because I remember years
ago that the doctor I was with for so many years was a leading surgeon, an
ophthalmology surgeon. Nobody could top him, but he didn't know how to talk
to people. He just didn't; he just clamed up. He couldn't think of what to
say, and he said, "That's what I've got you for." And so I knew who was
married to who and how many children they had and who was expecting and all
this, and I kept him so busy talking about their families, they forgot to be
scared of what they were facing. And it worked out just fine all those
years, and those people stayed friends of mine long after I stopped working
there.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> That would be because you had a genuine interest in those
people and you were not merely doing the job to supply the boss with the
product he was buying in you, but your genuine interest in their lives
provided a personal ministry and this, indeed, is where you all are the eyes
and ears, the arms and legs, the vessels and vehicles of service into the
material world. There are some who think that being a social butterfly is a
shallow service to provide but where would we be without the flitting
insects and birds and bees that grace the mouths of honeysuckle, corn and
other of Mother's mysteries. </P><B>
<P>Elena: </B>You know, Merium, you mentioned the importance of having a
genuine interest in the people you are serving. I, like Reneau, have
recently had a change in position, one that is much more to my liking, and
yet it is really, horribly difficult. I'm very interested in the wellbeing
of those I supervise, and yet there is a real rough road to, I believe, to
travel before we get to an even playing field. I know that you haven't had
much time to observe us, but any comments that you have that would be
helpful, I'd be just all over it. </P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> I'm going to stop in my desire to respond to your bigger
question, in order to advise you, or tell you, or share with you, or explain
to you, or express to you that I am not inexperienced as a teacher, and so
while I may be new with you, I have been on the job long enough to have
worked with others, and so I have some experience. </P>
<P>But to answer your question, or to respond to your situation, I have to
tell you, express, explain, that your situation is a professional one where
the structure is such that you are a supervisor to these people and in the
capacity of supervisor, you will never have that kind of personal
relationship that will permit social exchanges of the nature that Paula
discussed. As an assistant, her constraints were not the same as yours. You
are not an assistant, you are the boss. And these people need to know who's
the boss but, even there, you are still able to develop such a sensitivity
to one another's work ethic (and so forth) that you will know each other and
work very personally, even though it is not the same kind of "personal" as
knowing about their babies or their husbands' work or their bosses
peccadilloes. You see the difference?</P><B>
<P>Elena: </B>Um-hum.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> Your job may take longer. It may be that your assignment is
to inject spirit reality into the professional world, at least in that
paradigm, as compared to the social paradigm you live in "after hours" but
since that is the one you brought to me, I have to say you will never have
that kind of freedom that is inherent in even Reneau's situation of patient
and nurse, for that kind of doctor-patient relationship has its own intimacy
factor that is appropriate for their relationship. You can only ask about
their family on a cursory level unless they bring it up. And you must not
allow them to become too familiar with you, as you must maintain your
professional stance in order for them to respect your professional
authority.</P><B>
<P>Reneau:</B> Um-hum.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> So don't feel put upon to become chums. You won't. You
shouldn't. You needn't. Your level of intimacy with them will be of a
working nature. And this is exciting in its own right. It is a viable level
of ministry. It is a babysitting job, too, in that you are able to help mold
these individuals, not only to do the job that needs done, but to work
effectively as a part of a team, which, in the farther view, is a family.
</P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> That helped, Merium. Merium, let me ask you one other thing,
too, because my first comment about the observation deal? I didn't mean it
in a disrespectful way. But it stems from the fact that, at first I figured
that every one of the spiritual beings that we got to listen to … at first I
thought they knew everything about us, just because they were in the spirit
world? And then I realized, by picking up from some things, "Well, maybe
they don't hear or know everything about us," so my comment there was just
toward … I hadn't had an opportunity to get to know you very well, was what
I kind of meant.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> You are absolutely right. Yes. </P>
<P><B>Elena:</B> So I didn't mean it disrespectfully.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> I didn't assume it was; and I hope my response was not
offensive.</P>
<P><B>Elena:</B> No.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> I did want to interject that I had some experience,
perhaps as an opportunity for you to say, "Oh, really, Merium! Where do you
come from? What is your experience on Urantia?" (Group laughter)</P>
<P><B>Elena: </B>Oh, excuse me. We missed a cue there. Sorry. (Laughter) Do
we get a second opportunity? Okay, all right, backing up. Take two, eh?
Actually, I did kind of wonder about the part where you were saying:
"enlightened." I don't know. Maybe now isn't the time, but in the next week
or the next time we get together, because you said … I'm curious about what
you meant by those of us who had been enlightened, and I'd be interested in
hearing more about that at a later time, if not now.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> I would rather show you what enlightenment is than try to
tell you what it is because I get bogged down in words when I try to explain
things. Because you are looking for answers and your cerebral mind puts
forth the question that you think will satisfy your curiosity but it only
creates more questions,…</P>
<P><B>Elena: </B>Oh, okay.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM: </B>… and therefore you throw in the towel and say, "Oh,
forget it!"</P>
<P><B>Thoroah:</B> We do. We do that. (Laughter)</P>
<P><B>Elena: </B>That's true! We say, "oh, gee, it's boggling my mind. I
don't get it!"</P>
<P><B>Thoroah:</B> But showing us is perfect. Show us.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> If you can see enlightenment, you will have it as a frame of
reference inherently. And already you do. I know you do. I know you have had
many experiences in enlightenment as you are an inherently enlightened
woman! You are intelligent, for starters, and it doesn't take much more than
consciousness to experience enlightenment.</P>
<P>If you get up in the morning and see the sun shining through the blinds
and the dust is dancing on the air currents, you are enlightened. Just by
being able to see, you are enlightened. The fact that you can see is an
aspect of enlightenment. And to the particles of dust in the air, in the
light, add the mountains, add the dimension of sunshine, feel the dimension
of the breeze, listen to the dimension of tonal qualities, touch the
dimension of your tactile senses, taste the dimension of the light in
refreshment and pleasure. It is enlightenment that makes life life. </P>
<P>That's where you begin. You begin with enlightenment, and then be wary of
those who would try to strip your enlightenment away from you, who would
take your natural vision of perfection, your own eye for truth, beauty and
goodness away from you, who would try to conform your perspective to suit
their needs or purposes, who would seek to take away from you that which you
are, a child of God, a daughter of divinity. </P>
<P>This is along the lines of the popular saying that you are a spiritual
being having a material experience, and if you can assume that reality
without assuming any pretensions about your importance in the universe, it
is this consciousness of consciousness that affords you superconsciousness,
which is enlightenment. It is the joy of living, before anyone comes along
and piles on you political correctness or socially acceptable behaviors --
mores. It is you. In this understanding of you, say, "I am." I am. Just to
say "I am" is being in a state of enlightenment. "I am!" Then, when you
begin to add to it, I am this, I am that, I am cold, I am tired, I am
hungry, I am pink (laughter), you are adding dimensions to yourself that
take away from the inherent "I am."</P>
<P><B>Elena:</B> Are you pink?</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> I am every color, and I am no color. But, you being who
you are, I am blonde, I am pink, I have a ponytail. In fact I used to date
the Fonz. (Laughter) If that helps you ….</P>
<P><B>Elena:</B> Are you serious?</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> Of course not! Have you no imagination?</P>
<P><B>Elena:</B> Well, yeah, but an imagination and belief that you could
have done it!</P>
<P><B>Thoroah:</B> She looks kind of like Olivia Newton John, is what she's
saying.</P>
<P><B>Group:</B> Ooh! How about that!</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> I look like you. I am the same as you.</P>
<P><B>Elena:</B> Well, Merium, I've been looking forward to your being here
and looking forward to this afternoon with you.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> I did, too. I love meeting with my pupils, but I also
enjoy hanging out with the kids.</P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> Um-hum. "The kids."</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> I see you as my children. Not mine personally! I'll let
Nebadonia keep them. I'll just be your Aunt Merium.</P>
<P><B>Group:</B> Yep.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> So if I am 18, I will tell you what I see in you, if you'd
like to hear my play. This one here, to my left, that you know as many
things, many names: Men-O-Pah, Wayawahili, Carl Stafford -- is an oak tree.
His roots go deep into the earth. His arms are massive branches. He is old
and yet there is so much more life for him to live. He is in no danger of
toppling. I see no decay in him. He is healthy, robust.</P>
<P><B>Paula:</B> Super!</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> You like him, too, I see. </P>
<P><B>Paula: </B>(Giggling) More than a little!</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> You are the nest of bluebirds in his hair. Not just one
bluebird … (Laughter) … but a flock of warbling, twittering bluebirds. You
fly out from him, flitting, gathering, dropping your seed, and his, and
returning to the security of the nest he provides. You are a wonderful team.
I cannot say I baby-sit the two of you, but I rest under you and I enjoy
you, and in this way I am not responsible for you nor are you responsible
for me, but we are able to appreciate each other</P>
<P>I will be the pretty girl in the swing. And that fellow over there, with
the curly locks, I'd like for him to be the boy who pushes me. (Group
laughter; much delight) I told you, Gerdean, you would like this fellow.</P>
<P><B>Thoroah:</B> Long before, huh?</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> I suggested they consider celebrating their nuptials in
Vancouver, BC, at the what you call "IC99" thereby planting in their
consciousness and removing from their subconscious, the idea of becoming
partners in the matrimonial union.</P>
<P><B>Thoroah:</B> Yeah, you started it.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> I did. </P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> Merium did?</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> I did. I admit it. </P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> A matchmaker, huh?</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> I confess. And I have been the brunt of Gerdean's fury
more than once.</P>
<P><B>Group:</B> (Laughter)</P>
<P><B>Thoroah:</B> Is that a reflection on me!?! (Laughter)</P>
<P><B>Paula: </B>Well, these men don't really have a chance, you know, once
we decide that's what we want.</P>
<P><B>Thoroah:</B> You're right.</P>
<P><STRONG>Men-O-Pah:</STRONG> Careful. Careful. </P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> I have no such experience. Not because it isn't true, Paula,
but because I have never had a spouse. I was transported from my world when
I was 18, you see. I was never in a position to take courtship seriously or
to follow up with a mature partnership. I never had my own children.
However, I have never wanted for parental experience, and I have not been
without most constant and most charming male companionship. It's just that
it would be hard for me to assume certain things about the marriage state
from a mortal's perspective since I haven't got that experience. </P>
<P><B>Thoroah:</B> Well, whatever you might assume probably would be wrong.
You can't take anything for granted in marriage.</P>
<P><B>Men-O-Pah:</B> Truer words were never spoken.</P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> Especially about what the other person wants.</P>
<P><B>Paula: </B>Tell me about it! I had two that were terrible. I just keep
going around marrying them until I hit the jackpot. </P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> Trial and error, eh? Well, what other choice is there?</P>
<P><B>Thoroah:</B> That's true.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> Until you learn, you practice. And even then, after you
learn, you practice. It is sometimes referred to as "chop wood, tote water."
</P>
<P><B>Men-O-Pah:</B> Fish or cut bait.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> And this is true in any relationship. It is not limited to
the matrimonial kind. It is true, however, that the intimacy factor of
marriage, or the same could be said for roommates, there are certain aspects
of that kind of intimacy that is not be found in occasional occurrences, as
if having lunch with your lady friend were to provide the same kinds of
intimate contexts as you would find at home in such close contact with
someone in the same environment and breathing the same air, in particular
when the windows are not opened. And yet, occasional or periodic
relationships, such as having lunch, have their own kind of intimacy, just
as Elena's intimacy with her employees will be definite, but based on a
part-time situation; it's not one she lives with night and day. </P>
<P>That's another thing that is different about my experience from yours. I
cannot recall my nuclear family. I have barely any remembrance of my
parents. I remember, however, being the eldest. </P>
<P><B>Elena:</B> Is that just because it's been so long ago that you
forget?</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> I had little contact with my initial and original
parents.</P>
<P><B>Elena:</B> Oh.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> Along the lines of "it takes a village," I was raised by the
village. My parents were not there after I was nurtured. I was a part of the
community at a very early age, and being very gregarious and knowing I was
in a very safe environment, I naturally gravitated to where I could, where I
was always accepted, and thus I grew up with many parents, many aunts and
uncles, many cousins. Nuclear families on my world of nativity were much
more open than the structured, even cloistered, family units that you have
here, or that you feel is the ideal. </P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> It's too bad our children can't go out and play anymore,
or go from house to house. Or stay where they feel more comfortable.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> It's not that they can't do that anymore! They haven't
been able to do that yet!</P>
<P><B>Elena:</B> Good point.</P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> Yeah.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> You are not fallen from grace. That is a mental paradigm
that stems from evolutionary understanding; it is not from enlightenment.
[Silence] I hope you don't feel I chided you. </P>
<P><B>Group:</B> No!</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> I have to be careful. Some of you are so sensitive!</P>
<P><B>Group:</B> (Laughter) Not us!</P>
<P><B>Elena: </B>Well, partly, it's curiosity, too. I mean, wanting to know
more about you and in being curious about what it was like for you.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> You really want to know how it is that you are limited. This
is wonderful. This is, indeed, a socializing process. To find out how other
people live, relieves you of the isolation of self. You can live vicariously
in and through the lives of others. At least for a little while, you can
escape yourself. Getting outside of yourself and your constant frame of
reference is opening the windows and letting in the fresh air. Unless, of
course, Leonard Skynard is singing his song!</P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> Yeah, that was an uplifting thing, wasn't it?!?!?</P><B>
<P>Gerdean:</B> (Cracking up.)</P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> The smell of death! Oh, yeah, well, great! (Laughter) </P><B>
<P>Gerdean:</B> (Laughing) Excuse me.</P><B>
<P>Thoroah:</B> She said that was litter that was hanging around the T/R's
desktop, so…</P><B>
<P>Gerdean:</B> Throw that away, Merium.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> Well, it was me who went into her little pile, wasn't it?
I have only myself to blame. And you can hold me responsible. </P>
<P><B>Men-O-Pah: </B>Well, that's the only way you can find out which is
litter and which isn't, is to get in the litter pile.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> Indeed, and much litter has value or it wouldn't still be
hanging around. It would be in the trash already.</P>
<P><B>Men-O-Pah:</B> Yeah, you can compost it.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> I have taught in the Butler group and in the Pittsburgh
group. I have taught at … I put quotes around the word "taught." How can I
teach you anything? I can only share what I know and if you learn from me,
fine, but I am not a teacher in the same way Tomas was a teacher. There is
nothing cerebral or scholastic or academic about me particularly. If so,
it's something I have learned by osmosis and not something inherent. I am
not a student type. Where was I? Oh yes. I have been around. I have taught
at conferences, and I am a part of the Teacher Corps. I am friends with
Lester, the hedonist who I know ...</P><B>
<P>Reneau:</B> (Chuckle) The party animal.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> … and you know as well, yes, the party animal who was allowed
to be a part of the Teacher Corps in order to illustrate that even
pleasure-seekers are accepted into the mansion worlds, that your hedonistic
nature is not sufficient to shut you out of the kingdom, neither is your
gender preference. Just thought I'd add that.</P>
<P><B>Elena:</B> That's a good one, too. But Merium, you stopped … I mean, I
think you stopped on Paula how you see us.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM: </B>Oh, yes, of course! Let me focus on you, then. You!</P>
<P><B>Elena:</B> No, no! You were to Reneau.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> This is the little red-haired girl who is so cute, so
mischievous, so irritating, so bright, so independent and so difficult to
corral. You know what they say about redheads. That's our little darling
here, Reneau.</P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> It's dyed.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> You think? You didn't know your name was Reneau, either,
until someone told you. (Group chuckles) </P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> Pollyanna Clueless is my alias.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> Who gave you such an alias?</P>
<P><B>Elena:</B> Yes, who?</P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> I did.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> That is … </P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> Pollyanna is definitely my middle name.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> … I can't find the words in this filing cabinet. (Don't
worry Gerdean, you won't lose points in Vocabulary.) I will find out what
the phrase is. But it's somehow putting yourself down. It is good-naturedly
intended to…</P>
<P><B>Thoroah:</B> Self-deprecating?</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> Self-deprecating. That's the word, yes. Thank you, my
prince. </P>
<P><B>Paula:</B> You prince. Oh, bless his heart.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> That is a self-deprecating title that you must abandon.
</P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> The Pollyanna?</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> Pollyanna and Clueless. You are hopeful and optimistic!
You have "undying hope"! You appreciate the mysteries of life, and assume
not to control your own Mystery Monitor. Of course you are clueless, because
you are open to the adventure of the eternal existence. You must be happy
within yourself and not feel you need to make excuses for yourself. Think of
yourself as the little red-haired girl. In truth, everyone wants you, but
you can't be had! And so just enjoy that, and be unique and original. You
will have many friends along the way. As you do! And there will always be
those -- in particular the little boys…</P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> Where?</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> … who will sulk and pout because you will always be your
own person. They will never be able to have one over on you. That's why you
don't have one. You don't want one! If you did, you would lure one in within
fifteen minutes.</P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> (Laughter) And then they wander off again.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> Well, it's not like you want them under foot anyway.</P>
<P><B>Reneau:</B> Really. (Chortle, chortle)</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> It is so good to hear your laughter. Gentle laughter is like
the summer breeze. Then we have Elena. </P>
<P>Elena, you are in your pubescent years. You are perhaps 11. You have so
many aspirations. You are so well intended. You are so bright, so sincere,
earnest and yet so terribly serious. You seem to carry with you, in your
psyche at least, a great responsibility, as if you were Atlas. Your
appreciation for play is not daunted by that aspect of your inherent nature,
fortunately, for without your ability to laugh and enjoy that which you
love, life would indeed be a burden of existence. </P>
<P>And thus your enlightenment, darling girl, is in your love for your dog,
your cat, your home, your garden, your things, your mother, your world, as
you must create it. You have created your world. You do not allow your world
to create you. And so you have, oh, … perhaps what they might call "an old
soul" … but you are truly just a pubescent girl who has all the mysteries of
your life ahead of you. And it gives me great joy to be your elder sister in
this passage for you from childhood into adulthood. </P>
<P>I love your music! It is in your music that the depth of you and the
depth of your expression are allowed to come out. Not just your capacity,
your strength and your power, but your joy and your … what's that word? It's
French. </P><B>
<P>Paula: </B>Joie de vivre! </P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> That's it. </P><B>
<P>Thoroah:</B> That's the one.</P><B>
<P>Reneau:</B> The joy of life.</P><B>
<P>Thoroah:</B> My mouth won't go that way.</P><B>
<P>Paula: </B>Four years of French.</P>
<P><B>Elena: </B>Well, I'm glad you are going to be there with me to make
this transition because I appreciate that. Thank you.</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> You would. You're a good girl. You really do love to
please your elders. You love approval. You like to be liked. Your
girlishness in this is not unlike the others here, even Gerdean. </P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> Thank you, Merium. Very much.</P><B>
<P>Paula: </B>This was great. </P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> Yes, well, I've come up to Gerdean and I might find this a
bit of a challenge for her to transmit my impressions of her. Gerdean is not
too difficult. She is a lot like you, Elena. She has a seriousness, and yet
she loves nothing more than being a silly child. To play is her delight.
Taking life seriously all the time is such a bore. But hardly anyone enjoys
the depths of emotional experience more than Gerdean. She loves her emotions
and uses them as her instruments in being her own one-man band. (Laughter)
</P>
<P>I see no reason to focus more on her than that. I am sure you all have
your own appreciation for our fellow-sojourner here. She is well loved and
is loveable, as are you all. It is my preference to think about how loveable
you are as compared to other views I could take. In the jargon of the
Urantia text I could say that when necessary I can go to the Ancients of
Days and ask to have your character reflected to me, that I might see
<I>all</I> of you, but I am not always granted permission for that. I tell
you that because I could suggest you might want to learn from your elders
that you can keep the godly perspective… </P>
<P>(Let me back up. Delete that word "godly." It's too big for you. It's too
big for me, right now. Let's stick with "cheerful.") </P>
<P>… the cheerful approach to your fellows -- that almost naïve appreciation
for their vulnerability and sensitivity that has no doubt been buffeted in
their existence, inasmuch as how could it not have on such a planet as
Urantia? But unless and until I need to know about those things, that would
garner me a deeper look or a necessary perspective for my work as a teacher,
as a mentor, would I go get that information. And you can too, but only as
it is deemed necessary for you to have it. And truly, whether you are mature
enough to handle that information, will it be given to you.</P>
<P>The envelope I just sketched is sometimes stretched, but it will never be
stretched so far as to let me see you naked -- as you are seen by the
Ancients of Days and their reflectors. I cannot judge <B>you</B>; I can only
judge certain perceived qualities, and in that, it behooves me to know
<I>why those qualities are evident</I> before I rule out anything, and so
that I can keep my affirmative approach to our relationship, which is born
of our fraternity in God, otherwise it would not exist. </P>
<P>It would seem Barney [Elena's dog] wants to play. (Laughter)</P>
<P><B>Thoroah:</B> See? He's enlightened!</P>
<P><B>MERIUM:</B> Perhaps we should all go play also, and I mean outdoors in
the fresh air as children. Don't fall out of the tree. And stay out from
under that bluebird of happiness. (Laughter) It has been a pleasure, a joy
and a delight. I'll see you next time. Bye-bye.</P>
<P><B>Group:</B> Thank you. Bye, Merium.</P>
<P> </P>
<P> </P></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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