<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2769" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><B>
<P>DATE:</B> October 16, 2005<BR><B>LOCATION:</B> Rio Rancho, New Mexico,
USA<BR><B>T/R:</B> Gerdean</P>
<P><STRONG>TEACHER: MERIUM<BR>TOPIC: Step Lively on your Faith Path
</STRONG><BR>[Sub-topics: Invitation to a party; discussion on PTSD] </P><B>
<P>PRAYER:</B> </P><I>
<P>Our Father, we thank you for this day that you have made and we rejoice in it
and we praise your holy name. We remember your words where you said if two or
three are gathered together in your name, there shall you be, and so we pray
that you come and sit with us and guide our thoughts. </P>
<P>We ask these things in the name of our Lord, Jesus. Amen.</P></I><B>
<P>Group: </B>Amen. Thank you, Men-O-Pah.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> This is Merium, your friend, coming in to visit, as well as being
a spokesperson for many others who also are here, and who enjoy your light
shining -- the pilot light of your soul, well lit and burning brightly. There
have been many days pass since we last met. It is almost as if I need to refresh
my memory of who you are and you of me, unlike Tomas, who you knew so well. It
was almost as if you could anticipate him and this familiarity is a wonderful
thing to develop and establish and work from, but it is also true that variety
is the spice of life and one must be careful not to become so fashioned as to
overlook the opportunities for variation. </P>
<P>Indeed, this is what I wanted to talk to you about today, and it has to do
with anticipation of what others are going to say and do, based on what they
have said and done before. It has to do with expectations of what one will do,
based on what they have done before, or what they have said, including you who
become creatures of habit to the extent that you say you will do something, you
feel you need to follow through with it even if turns out that you see it is not
a good idea, but to change your mind in mid-stream may be disheartening for
those who expected you to behave in the way you said you would. </P>
<P>Not to get tangled up in expectations, but to continue my focus on stepping
lively on your faith path, I want to address you now as children -- youngsters
on the path set out before you that is as animated as a Walt Disney cartoon,
that is delightfully enlivened by variety instead of consistency and sameness.
There are those of you who dislike surprises because they have often been
unpleasant surprises, or because you are anticipating the way things will be,
based on the way they have been, and this is
finally
coming to the point of
my dissertation, because it really boils down to what is acceptable to you in
terms of change.</P>
<P>"Welcome to Change" were the first words uttered to you in the official
announcement of the inception of the Correcting Time. Since that time, many,
many changes have come about -- in your lives individually and in your lives
globally. Advancement is upon us. And while there are those who feel that much
of the changes are old news recycled, nonetheless it is true that there are many
changes upon us here. And the yearning to return to familiarity of that which
you have known is a part of all those who retain vestiges of the human
condition, which, of course, includes everyone. </P>
<P>The most significant change for you is that which goes on within your own
soul. And so it is understood why one may want to determine in their intellect
what will impact them and what will not, discernment, being the key, since many
changes are merely disruptive and lead nowhere but merely keep the waters
stirred such that stillness is virtually impossible, peace of mind is virtually
unattainable. </P>
<P>This has been discussed by other teachers in other groups -- Abraham
remarking recently about how many people are having emotional responses to what
is going on in the world today and those emotional energies having the nature of
emotions are irrational and unreasonable or illogical, perhaps, but nonetheless
a part and parcel of the human condition. And thus the effort is in your court
as to what you will open your heart to, your mind to, and your spirit to.</P>
<P>If you were walking on landmines, you would have good reason to be cautious,
but you who walk in faith are indeed as little children. Father will not put
landmines in your path. You may frolic and play and enjoy yourselves in this
heavenly kingdom. </P>
<P>You are grownups having a childlike experience. </P>
<P></P>
<P>Thus you can see where and how and why play, reversion, diversion, humor and
light-heartedness is an essential part of your being, and one which is granted
to you for your enjoyment, while you also understand that we have much work to
do on Urantia and the workload does not get any lighter as these troubled times
roll on. </P>
<P>It seems we have been apart for so long you have forgotten what I've given
you as an assignment. Gerdean, go read the assignment. I will put you on
pause.</P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> I did forget! Ooh. Caught.</P><B>
<P>Gerdean:</B> Well, we may have done it! Let's see what it is.</P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> Well, okay, that's true!</P><B>
<P>Gerdean:</B> Well, I can see here (referring to the transcript)
we should
all go play! Outdoors, in the fresh air, as children. "Don't fall out of the
tree and stay out from under the bluebird of happiness." Okay.</P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> You know, I have done things that are more fun, and
put a little
bit more effort in that. And it's been great! </P><B>
<P>Gerdean:</B> I guess that's what the assignment was. </P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> Well, yahoo! (Laughter) [Letting the dog out.]</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> It is not an easy assignment to those of you who are in the
mindset that you must be adult, you must be responsible, that people look to you
as an example of maturity and stability. In fact, it is a very difficult
assignment for those of you who feel that being childlike is somehow
antithetical to being a spiritual person. </P>
<P>This puppy reminds me of the nature of the beast. The grass is always greener
on the other side. </P><B>
<P>Elena: </B>[Letting the dog in.] Sorry.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> I like pets, myself. I have never had any trouble stopping in the
middle of a chat to play with the animals.</P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> Thank you, Merium.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> Jesus did the same thing with children, and I find any
opportunity -- almost any opportunity -- to divert from that which is serious to
that which is supportive of the playful nature. It is appropriate, if it is done
in love and not merely as an irresponsible indulgence. But that is an assessment
we can undertake at some other time. </P>
<P>Again, I have no intention of coming in and talking all day. It is you and
your growth and your amusement that I am here to cultivate, and so I need to
know from you how you are doing. Tell me stories.</P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> Well, as usual, I'll start. I have been so grateful and so
appreciative of the many blessings that I have in my life: all the people; my
home; my dog; my cat; my family -- and not necessarily in that order by any
means, but I just have really been enjoying where I am
to the extent that I
I don't feel guilty about it, with all the Iraq and everything. Pakistan and all
those things going on. But just really wonderfully enjoying it, and really
liking taking some time on the weekends to do some things that are fun, too, so
I really think that's a wonderful thing, and it was something that I really
needed to do, so I'm grateful. But I also
when you were saying, "step lively
on your spiritual path," I don't know -- I guess just hoping those two are in
concert.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> I am seeing a picture in this filing cabinet of Lucille Ball or
some other amusing character, who finds her niche and it feels so good, she
begins to have a good time in it and gives up thinking about all the
considerations surrounding her in the delight of the moment, only to discover
that perhaps she has danced off the cliff, or into the rain, and only after the
fact discovers that conditions have changed.</P>
<P>This is back to my message about stepping lively. Have a good time, by all
means, but allow the adult to keep an eye out for danger zones or landmines or
lummoxes or Seρor Murphy, for just as soon as you begin to scamper around
mindlessly enjoying yourself, is when the path turns to the left or the right
and you need to bring yourself back into focus. All this is my way of suggesting
mindfulness.</P>
<P>Play is exhilarating to the spirit. It is essential to the human. I cannot
help but notice that your new employment may have contributed to your sense of
well being.</P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> I like that job a lot better than the one I had before, that's for
darned sure. And I'm starting to feel a little bit more comfortable with it,
too, which is really nice, and feel that I have some purpose and some value and
that there's something that I can contribute to it, rather than just being
affected by all the other elements. So that's a really good thing for me.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> Indeed, it's a wonderful thing. I feel you becoming your own
conductor of your own orchestra, making music with the pieces that are your
disposal. Making music is a great deal of fun, as you know, since you play, even
though there are times when you find your fingers on the wrong keys.</P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> Yeah. True.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> But by enjoying the game, by loving to play, by valuing the
experience of making music, you would not think to stop and give up. No. You
would forge ahead with your enthusiastic application to making music and triumph
over those obstacles of learning to play that everyone runs into when they set
out to master a new task. </P>
<P>"Be of good cheer," the Master said. And it is a great testimony to His
loving nature when you are of good cheer, for there is a great difference
between appreciating your life, appropriately loving yourself and enjoying your
existence, than feeling smug or superior and finding some sort of odd and
aberrated enjoyment in submerging others in your own glow. </P>
<P>And what of you, Esmeralda? What have you been doing that has been
fun?</P><B>
<P>Esmeralda:</B> I've been thoroughly enjoying the play-offs in baseball. And
last weekend also the golf championship was really good. Also, one thing this
week, I met a nice lady who was visiting her son and daughter-in-law across the
street, and came over to borrow some powdered sugar, which I had none, and so I
took her to the grocery store and she was just a lovely lady from Texas, New
Braunfels, -- it's close to San Antonio, Texas -- and she was visiting her son
and daughter-in-law, friends of mine who live across the street, and I really
enjoyed meeting a new person and visiting with her. But it's always nice to meet
a new person and to visit with and hear things that the new person says.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> Oh, yes, indeed! This variety is the spice of life -- learning to
love new persons. And this is a vital part of socializing your religion, by
learning to love another person, for you share the joy of living, and this is
where the rubber meets the road. Not in the cosmologies or the philosophies, but
in the actual loving and appreciating life and its players. Good job!</P><B>
<P>Esmeralda:</B> Thank you. I'm sorry I missed the last meeting, and I'm
looking forward to getting to know you a lot better.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> Oh, yes, you missed getting an assessment!</P><B>
<P>Esmeralda:</B> That's true! I did miss that.</P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> Oh, yeah! </P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> I will get around to it.</P><B>
<P>Esmeralda:</B> Oh, good. I do value that, and it's very good to have an
assessment every once in a while.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> I was assessing you in a style appropriate for one such as
myself, rather fantasia-like, and hardly of the order of Abraham, but valuable
none-the-less for my youthful approach. </P>
<P>What of you, two? The tree and the nest of robins? </P><B>
<P>Men-O-Pah:</B> Well, as you know, I was supposed to be away from here working
but when it came time to go, I was physically unable to do it. So I suppose I'm
chomping at the bit a little bit, but I look upon those things as 'that's the
way it's supposed to be' and anyway, I've enjoyed not being there. I've talked
with them several times now on the telephone, but Paula and I have been enjoying
a lot of time together. Every day is precious with us because we know that we
don't have a lot of it yet.</P><B>
<P>Paula:</B> We're getting old, that's what we are!</P><B>
<P>Men-O-Pah:</B> Well,
but we don't care.</P><B>
<P>Paula:</B> We don't?</P><B>
<P>Men-O-Pah:</B> No. I don't.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> You have the right attitude.</P><B>
<P>Men-O-Pah:</B> I don't feel like I'm old and even though -- you've heard that
old, "my mind is making contracts that my body can't keep" so
anyway. This has
been a good time. And that job goes on without me; it's just as well and perhaps
better.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> This is one of the wonderful things about having a childhood as
an adult -- to enjoy knowing that there are responsible persons taking care of
the important things as you lollygag and play. It is very comforting to know
that the universe goes on
with our without our help, and to recognize that we
have a right to play and rest and take our turn at the many aspects of life that
are given. In this way you can enjoy work when you work, enjoy play when you
play, enjoy sleep when you sleep, enjoy company when you have company and enjoy
yourself when you are alone. Thus there is joy in all you do.</P>
<P>Those who are afraid of life, afraid of living, afraid of dying, have no idea
how that feels. You are indeed blessed. And to have each other to share these
precious days is a treasure you will enjoy remembering throughout eternity.
These moments of sublime friendship and growing old together
the best is yet
to be. </P>
<P>And what of you, Songbird?</P><B>
<P>Paula:</B> Which bird are you talking about?</P><B>
<P>Group: </B>You! You! You!</P><B>
<P>Paula:</B> Well, I go on from day to day and I enjoy life and it's very full
and I have good friends and we just have a happy life together and I'm grateful
for it.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> You have earned this leisure. In a society that stresses the
importance of striving incessantly, it is refreshing to see those who have the
peace of mind to put their feet up and relax, who have taken time to remember
and to savor and to trust, to appreciate that things come and go but that which
is real remains. </P>
<P>Gerdean, what have you been doing? Have you been having fun?</P><B>
<P>Gerdean:</B> Well, yes, I did have fun putting the-- Well, I didn't do it
physically, but I oversaw putting down the new flagstone threshold at the front
gate, and I did physically pot the new tree, and the rubber tree plant in the
new pot, so I have had fun. </P>
<P>And I have had a world of fun watching my website come to life. I would like
to say I was creating it myself but it's being created for me. Again, I haven't
physically done it, but it's been wonderful to see my ideas come to light
through the skilled hand of Linda Mac/Imara, who has been very generous with her
creativity and time to help, so yes, I have been having fun. </P>
<P>I think the weather cooling has something to do with our attitudes, as
well.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> Yes, well, you think too much. Feeling that the weather change
has enlivened you is evident in your behaviors and in your demeanors. Thinking
is a propensity that comes from being mature and sober and adult, and I am here
to teach you how to be a child. So I urge you not to think overmuch, but rather
sense and intuit your way. I will in fact give you that as an assignment until
the next time we meet -- to ponder what it means to intuit your way on your
faith path, so that you can step lively and proceed in good faith, even making
good time, but allowing yourself the opportunity to lollygag when appropriate
and veer to the left or to the right as intuition directs. </P>
<P>It will be interesting to see if and as your faith paths lead you into areas
of experience that had not occurred to you. If you can remember your assignment.
I have planted the seed. Let us review it when we meet again and see if we are
making any progress.</P>
<P>I point out here that there is an opportunity for a party. The Canossian
Retreat has been rescheduled again this year for the last weekend in February,
and I will be there! I would love for everyone else to come and play with me.
For this is what it is to retreat from the world and the seriousness of the
world's conditions and the intensity of your own integrity, and the faith
struggles that you individually and collectively enjoin. This is not an official
announcement but it is certainly an invitation to come and play with me and
others in the celestial realm in the South Valley of Albuquerque. You know I
wouldn't miss a party!</P><B>
<P>Esmeralda:</B> Well, we'll try not to either.</P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> Well, the last one went pretty well, so I think that this one will
be a good party, too. </P><B>
<P>Esmeralda:</B> And I like the play idea, as well. It sounds if Merium is
going to be there, she sounds like she would enliven it. </P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> Kick up our heels.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> It was rumored that no other group in the history of Canossian's
existence laughed as much as our group.</P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> Oh, really? </P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> "Are you always this happy?" was the remark from Sister
Antoinette. This is a testimony to the joy of sonship. This is my message that I
have been sent to teach. Do you have questions?</P><B>
<P>Group: </B>Not really, no. </P>
<P>I can't think of any right now. </P>
<P>No, I'm actually at a good point, I think. </P>
<P>Of course, being mindful of landmines. </P>
<P>Ooh. Landmines! Oh, okay.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> Let me point out to you, though, dear heart, that as your
intuition is enlivened, it is easy to see them coming.</P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> Okay. </P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> You can assume there will be difficulties because if for no other
reason the imperfection of the world you live in, but they need not be fatal or
even painful if you are simply mindful. There are those who do blunder into
minefields all the time, who have a propensity, as if they gravitated toward
them on purpose! Perhaps they do, for the sympathy they receive, and the charity
forthcoming. </P><B>
<P>Elena: </B>Well, you know, now that you speak of that
I'd ask you
actually, you know, just to comment
my neighbor is going to move and man, she
seems to
you know, the people that she encounters and everything else. It just
the stories that surround her are pretty bleak, it seems like. So I don't
know. I just try to do what I can for her and I do care about how she does and I
just kind of leave it at that. But it does seem that there are those and she is
one that started off rather abysmally but, you know, she just seems to kind of
</P><B>
<P>Esmeralda:</B> Hit a minefield.</P><B>
<P>Elena: </B>There are a lot of minefields in her path.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> She is experiencing and recreating what you call PTSD.</P><B>
<P>Elena: </B>What's that? Perpetual something?</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> No. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.</P><B>
<P>Group: </B>Oh!</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> It is where you relive the experience again and again and again
and again until you get it right. And if you don't get it right, you just
continue to recycle the same pattern. </P>
<P>Yes, you have heard of warriors who win the battle but come home to
experience nightmares for the rest of their life, waking up screaming and
whatnot.</P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> Yeah.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> This is one dramatic example of a PTSD experience. On a world
such as this, full of landmines, it is not uncommon to run across many who have
blundered onto such a mine and been damaged. They need not return again and
again and again to the "scene of the crime" but many do because they are fixated
on the pain and trauma of that event. It is an aberration, certainly, but it is
a psychic result of experiences that one would not expect to happen in one's
life. </P>
<P>These can be serious or they can be ordinary, but if they have a profound
impact on the experiencer, it can affect their development. When these traumas
occur earlier in life, when they have not developed the ability to reason wisely
as to the cause and effect of such trauma, it will be more difficult for them to
re-experience the trauma as an adult since they are fixated at the age of the
child, and to go back from the consciousness of adulthood to the childhood is
virtually impossible for those who have not been born of the spirit. </P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> Well, I don't think there's anything-- I think I have done
everything I can do to help her, so I just have to leave it at that. I mean, do
you agree?</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> I am sure you have done all you can and probably more than was
required. However much or little that may have been, unless and until she
chooses to move on
</P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> Yeah.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B>
she will not.</P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> True.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> And unfortunately, this is one of the casualties of such a life
on such a planet. The travesty for those of you who are of good cheer and living
relatively wholesome, happy lives, is to disremember an attitude for compassion
for those who suffer. Whether they suffer at their own hand or at the hand of
others is really irrelevant. Whether it seems people suffer because they like it
or not, is nothing you can fix. But when someone wants help badly enough, they
will get help. When the child seeks, God listens. When the child knocks, the
door will be opened. </P>
<P>The idea that such experiences such as war, concentration camp, rape, fatal
traffic accidents, AIDS and other tragedies are simply going to dissolve and not
affect a person is unrealistic. It is a part of the education and this is one
reason why a lot of us are so impressed with all the opportunities available to
serve on a world such as this, and for the experience you get as a result of
living here! You might wonder what on earth would anyone want to experience
hardship for, but there is true heroism in those who triumph over great odds.
Isn't that what agondonters do? </P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> When the going gets tough, the tough get going. </P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> You will -- I know you have been told this and perhaps you don't
understand it, but you will in time be glad of your afflictions, if you aren't
already. Those of you who have mastered the effects of those experiences, who
have assimilated the wisdom that came from that experience, and who are in a
position to now teach others or minister to those who still suffer but who would
like to come forth -- you provide a rich service. If there were no troubles, how
would you serve? You would simply be at a party all the time and where would you
develop character? Where would you learn to withstand defeat? How would you be
able to forestall rebellion? What good could you be in the formulation of
eternity? Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves.</P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> (Laughter) That's a different party! One that we haven't gotten to
yet.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> No, but the lessons you learn here are assimilated into your
consciousness and that which has lasting value will serve throughout eternity.
Thus, the work you do today and the play you enjoy today is a part of the
developing process of your eternal and immortal soul -- the experience of
becoming one with your Indwelling Adjuster, who has reached down from Paradise
to join with you in the momentous task of conjoining wills in order for destiny
to unfurl as we have been promised from our Eternal Parents in Paradise. </P>
<P>Being a child in this world is a full time job, so go on out there and have
fun. That's an order! </P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> Well, we're glad that you're here ordering us around,
Merium.</P><B>
<P>Paula:</B> It helps. </P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> See ya!</P><B>
<P>Group: </B>See ya! </P>
<DIR>
<DIR>
<P>Thank you! </P>
<DIR>
<DIR>
<P>Bye!</P>
<P> </P></DIR></DIR></DIR></DIR>
<P></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>