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<DIV><B>
<P>DATE:</B> April 24, 1996<BR><B>LOCATION:</B> Pittsburgh, PA,
USA<BR><B>T/R:</B> Gerdean</P><B>
<P>TEXTUAL STUDY:</B> Urantia Paper 91<BR>The Evolution of Prayer</P>
<OL>
<LI>Primitive Prayer</LI>
<LI>Evolving Prayer</LI>
<LI>Prayer and the Alter Ego</LI>
<LI>Ethical Praying</LI></OL><B>
<P>TEACHER SESSION<BR></B>"Good Fortune" (Pearl of Great Price)<BR>"Righteous
Indignation" (Judgment/Assessment)<BR>Assignment: Learn How to Pray</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> Good evening.</P><B>
<P>Group:</B> Good evening, Tomas.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> I ask you: How did you know it was me?</P>
<P>I am glad to be here with you, and glad, too, that you continue to manifest
an interest in matters of the spiritual realms and that you, in your altruism,
grant that we possibly might expand our understanding of our own place in the
universe in terms of our spiritual evolution and ascension with and through our
association and under the guidance of our Creator Michael.</P>
<P>How fascinating your discourses have been this evening. I am certain we will
refer to them again before the evening is out, but I would like to first take a
moment to discuss with you a thing or two, which I have saved up for such a
moment as this. I would like to discuss with you Good Fortune.</P>
<P>In bringing up the phrase "good fortune" it is necessary, certainly, to take
a look at what is fortune, and in a material realm, the reference immediately
falls upon the material abundance available to humankind, the "fortune" as is
indicated in your economic system and your arts and so forth, but I am not
focusing on that fortune. I am focusing on the good fortune of fellowship and
sonship, which indeed is the gospel.</P>
<P>How is it that some of you have had the good fortune to have come upon such
concepts as we share, the good fortune of seeking and finding those who would
share with you such philosophies and ideologies as have been presented in your
social aspects this evening, such as the Hispanic guru, the Miracles maverick
and others? The good fortune of sharing the inner life is a fortune which is the
pearl of great price, for which a man will sell all that he has in order to
acquire this great treasure.</P>
<P>This treasure is where your heart is, and where is your heart in this good
fortune? There are many who are aware of the advanced times and would capitalize
on the advanced movement of spiritual awakening (and to them there is good
fortune, indeed!), but the good fortune of sonship is a treasure which comes to
you not by your intellectual understanding of a philosophy or even of certain
social resonance of acceptance, but that which you hold in your heart as divine
and worthy of the greatest respect, the highest esteem, indeed, the highest
price.</P>
<P>I ask you to examine your good fortune to determine if it is a fortune which
is worth selling everything for its acquisition, or is it a manifestation of a
social more, a social movement? There are many movements afoot which would
capitalize on the aspiring spirit-bound personality. Do not allow yourself to
lead these infants astray by the dazzle of diadems that fall short of the light
of truth.</P>
<P>Are there questions of me this evening?</P><B>
<P>Mrs. M:</B> Well, I'm confused quite a bit by this lesson. My particular
involvement with the Urantia Book is not, certainly, an easy thing, because I've
chosen to be part of the organized church, and so I can't quite put it together
with the fact that -- I thought I understood you to say, Tomas, that some people
are going to capitalize on our good fortune of having the Book. But nobody that
I know is, frankly, interested! Unfortunately!</P><B>
<P>Mrs. P:</B> You interpreted that wrong. </P><B>
<P>Mrs. M:</B> Then please explain it, Tomas.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> Your good fortune, daughter, is that which dwells within you,
which has given you life and given it more abundantly. It is that spark of
divinity which is that which you would not forfeit, which you would not trade,
which you would not sell for it is your own reality. I am speaking beyond books
and philosophies and movements to that Treasure within. Has this helped
clarify?</P><B>
<P>Mrs. M:</B> Yes. Yes, thank you.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. Ml:</B> I know I wouldn't want to return to my fear-filled consciousness
that I have had companioning me for so long that it's -- because it is, I would
say, the last ten years that I feel that I have been able to experience some of
the meaning of the answers to questions that I had, and I would never want to go
back. It is really the pearl of great price. And uh … that doesn't mean that
anybody knows that we feel we found it. There are many people who are not
interested in knowing what makes me smile. It's your personal ... if we care to
tell someone that we think it's a treasure, then it still doesn't make that much
difference externally except, really, to you. Others benefit from your
behavioral change, but it is, indeed, a pearl of great price.</P>
<P>What about price? Price paid for? I hadn't thought of that pearl of great
price. I don't think I've paid a price. I feel just like it was kind of a box
that I could open and a present was there. I don't feel that I was "paying the
price" to obtain it. Unless you look at it from the consciousness of the journey
of all mankind and someone came to you with great experience and wanted to give
you enlightenment.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> I will grasp that and run with it, for indeed, what do you give up
in order to have this pearl, this gem, this diadem of sonship? What have you got
to give before you have It? You have fear and pride and ego and consciousness of
death and prejudice and want. You have all those things which you suffered
before giving your life and will to the Father, the great First Source and
Center.</P>
<P>Having attained sonship and awareness of your connection with divinity, you
then weigh moment by moment the temptations which come your way and pay the
price of each moment's decisions, either in assuming your path as before or in
falling prey to a lesser fortune. Many of these lesser fortunes are
experientially valuable, indeed, and you may rest assured that once you have set
upon your path you will be reminded of it and given opportunity to return to it,
and when you have ventured away to the experiential depths and have judged and
found yourself wanting and have returned again to your Source, your fortune is
renewed and you bestow then your wealth of joy and eventual wisdom as you go, as
you pass by, as you learn.</P>
<P>There is an interesting lesson in your text about counting the cost, the cost
of being a disciple, an apostle, or whatever capacity feel you have to offer.
Assuredly, your spiritual reward is in your level of commitment. If you have
committed to the values of family life, you will appreciate and defend and honor
and enjoy those values. If you commit yourself to a cause with your whole heart
and your whole mind and believe that this is your calling, then this is your
treasure and you will give and garner the results of your devotion to this
cause.</P>
<P>Questions?</P><B>
<P>Mrs. M:</B> I have a question about righteous judgment.</P>
<P>(Before you came, Tomas, we used to invite Nero to our readings. Maybe some
evening you'd like to do that. In the course of conversation of our reading we
would ask Nero a question. He was a philosopher, wasn't he? As I recall. Wasn't
he a philosopher? Nero? Anyway, he would assist us with the -- whatever it was
we were reading in the book and if we got to going we would stop everything and
ask Nero to join us and he would comment.)</P>
<P>I was talking about righteous judgment this evening and wondered if you would
be … or is it too large a subject to make a comment about it?</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> Judgement is not a good path. There is no righteousness in
judgment. Assessment is one thing, but reserve your judgments, for they have no
place in the Kingdom.</P>
<P>How did you intend to be righteous in judging? Are you talking about
righteous indignation or what?</P><B>
<P>Mrs. M:</B> I think "righteous indignation" possibly would have been a very
good phrase to use, because we were talking about a human social situation that
was repugnant and "righteous indignation" would be a justifiable response, but,
dwelling upon it and letting your energies stay with it very long, unless you,
like you pointed out, are devoted to a cause of justice or some such version of
that -- I thought that that was a Biblical quote that Jesus was using when he
was teaching. He says, "Judge not ...." and you've just corrected us right
there. He went on to say use righteous judgment, and that was a good reminder
what you just said was to "judge not" but to be sensitive enough and discerning
enough that you might come to a point of understanding of what would be
appropriate behavior when these things come up.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> You described a discourse you had earlier this evening in
discussing an individual who was repugnant, and it is not for individuals to
determine the repugnancy of other individuals. If his acts are repugnant, they
may be discussed and judged according to the dictates of the sovereignty of your
government or your mores -- and I believe the instance you discussed was an
example of your mass consciousness investigating its own mores.</P>
<P>As a follower of Jesus, we are not in a position to judge any individual. It
is wise to assess, but judgment casts a pall upon the accused and causes
separation and boundary. In a discussion such as you referenced, there is no
call for righteous indignation in searching for the motives/intents of your
fellow beings. </P>
<P>This is a very distorted world. I realize that it is tedious, time-consuming
and bothersome to look into the souls of the many, and these individuals who are
on your media whose souls are on parade for the masses to dissect and condemn --
and judge -- are resultant from the evolution as it is at this time.</P>
<P>There are many evolutionary steps coming into being, and the study of the
personality is certainly one of them. As has been said earlier in your
discourse, there will be those who will need to officially take the time, and
study each nuance, in order to render a decision, a law, an action affecting
lives, affecting families, affecting your society, and it is no longer as cut
and dried as it was in the more materialistic age.</P>
<P>Entering a new age, which involves more thinking, more feeling, more
rationalizing, more justifying, more discovery of the human condition,
motivations and so forth, is time-consuming. It is not necessary that everyone
become involved in this on every level, but it is a part of communication as it
is becoming. It is a method of communication that can be turned into
prayer.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. P:</B> Tomas, you were mentioning that we should be very cognizant of
the fact that the effect that we will be having on other people ... something
about the dazzle or something? Could you enlarge on that for us just a little
bit?</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> I would like to remark to the effect that impressionable young
aspiring newborns are tantalized by glamour, for they are still impressed by the
ways of immaturity, and whereas more spiritualized beings have within them
something which the fledgling may not yet be aware, it is cruel to bedazzle them
with personal inflections of some radiant glory to come. It is hard to express.
It is better, shall we say, to impress a fledgling soul with your confidence,
deep awareness and satisfaction, by your calm and sober demeanor than by the
bedazzling flashing eyes of one "who really knows the truth." Beware of those
who flash their insights around like gold sheckles. The pearl of great price has
a deep lustrous sheen that endures. I am having a hard time conveying what I
would like to convey.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. Ml:</B> Would you be speaking about people who are talking about their
faith, how people are going to go to heaven or something?</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> No, but that does tie in. You have broadened the palette for me,
but I do not mean to focus on Christianity exclusively. Anyone who professes to
"know" is suspect, and so I say to you to consider your good fortune and
appreciate this pearl of great price rather than bedazzle your children, do you
see?</P><B>
<P>Leah:</B> When you're speaking of children, do you mean actual physical
children or …?</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> I am speaking of fledgling souls who will be coming forth. The
harvest is great. And as you have within you, each and all, great reservoirs of
strength, inspiration and guidance, in your attempts to proselytize your values,
your truths, you will be more effective if you work quietly and surely than if
you try to promote.</P><B>
<P>Dr. B: </B>What I perceive that you were saying was this treasure ... that
one can actually stop and accept lesser than the highest.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> Indeed.</P><B>
<P>Dr. B:</B> And that wherever one's energy goes, that that's where somehow you
get caught in the glamour which may be okay because later you might get other
chances to return to the highest treasure or to examine where exactly you were
placing your highest treasure. And within the possibility of that ("where your
intent goes or your energy goes"), you can just fall off sometimes; it's not the
highest treasure -- which I thought you were saying is a more subtle thing.</P>
<P>And you asked a question: how did we get here tonight and that more subtle
treasure is this direct relationship with the Father, and to stop off at some
other, whether it's another movement ... you can get off on some other path. Is
that . . .?</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> Very well said. And many of these experiential adventures are
necessary for your own growth and delightful for your partaking and necessary
too for the maintenance of civilization. In this discussion of good fortune, no
matter what approach you take to your spiritual life, it is <I>your</I>
spiritual life and that is <I>your good fortune</I>. As a promoter of your
spiritual life, your spiritual reality, it is wiser to quietly promote your own
values by living and enjoying them than by selling them.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. L:</B> Does this fit into the part where Jesus said don't force by
dramatic pronouncements, that is to believe, that you should not try to convince
them, which is a part of the book that surprised me when I read it since the
church that I was in was always trying to be very forceful in its presentation
and I always had wondered about that, so is that part of what you are referring
to?</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> Yes; I am not singling out, as you well know, the churches.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. L:</B> It was a style that I learned in the church. I mean I was
presented with dramatic ideas about God and Jesus when I was growing up and I --
that was the style that I was accustomed to, so I was quite surprised when I
--</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> Perhaps they were followers of John the Baptist rather than Jesus,
for John was quite vociferous, but Michael was well-balanced and soft-spoken and
his calm understanding of his relationship with his Father enabled him to walk
calmly through great trials and difficulties, enabled him to bring great comfort
and good cheer to multitudes, enabled him to impact and affect adequate numbers
of peoples who kept his message alive for over 2,000 years.</P>
<P>As followers of Jesus, in your attempts to also affect the lives of your
brethren on Urantia and subsequently the evolution of Urantia, I point out these
things that you yourselves may become better teachers and more sincere
believers.</P>
<P>I will share/impart one thing further with you this evening and that is in my
assignment to you, my friends. I want you to begin to pray aloud and
conscientiously. I would like for you to take the plunge and hear your own voice
address Our Father. I would like to hear this in your group session and in your
private lives. Begin to ring out your association with divinity. Allow yourself
to hear your own voice address your God. Acknowledge to others in your society
(in this intimate society of fellow-believers) that you are in communication
with the First Source and Center.</P>
<P>It will add tremendously to your strength. Trust me. We may have time for one
further question.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. H:</B> I'd like to make a comment. I've been sitting here thinking about
a line of scripture and I was seriously thinking about speaking up about it and
decided not to and you came around and gave it a definition, and the line of
scripture coming to my mind was, "make a joyful noise unto the Lord," and I was
going to ask you to speak about that and you did. And speaking up, perhaps we
should use a tape recorder to get over the shock of trying this. This is a giant
step that you've asked us to take. And I suppose it could be rehearsed in
private and then, spontaneously, it could take place at some other point. Thank
you.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> First, daughter, pray alone aloud, perhaps in the back yard,
perhaps in the car, perhaps in the laundry room. Become accustomed to discussing
things with God. Eventually and in time you will feel comfortable enough with
this process of sharing your inner life with God that you will be able to then
pray and offer thanksgiving in a group setting. It is not a command performance.
It is a gradual growth. But it will impact you. It is not a performance, my
dear. It is a vital life-line of reality for you with your Father.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. H:</B> Doesn't it take the same type of surrender to do that, what
you've described, as it would of willingness to learn to tone? When I first
heard myself tone I was very uncomfortable with the ugly sound that came out of
myself, but I was judging myself. What it was, was a rehearsal. It was something
new so it couldn't come out in its projected -- or I should say anticipated,
future sound, because that would come with rehearsal. There are some people who
don't speak up. This would be a good time to practice.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> Let me say that toning is a prayer, an attitude but without the
words and, although it is perfectly acceptable to the Father to receive prayer
without words - indeed he hears the souls attitude -it is important for you, the
mortal, to utilize words, for as you read this evening, it is a communication,
and you think, at this point, in terms of words and so I will ask you to not
bypass the communication by going directly to toning but to sit down and talk to
your Father who loves you.</P>
<P>As if you were his daughter and he were your earthly father, sit on his lap
and talk to him about your day or your problem or your joy or whatever comes to
mind, for he earnestly seeks to hear you address him. Why else has he splintered
himself into so many personalities and characteristics except to hear the
reflection back to himself of your adoration for him?</P><B>
<P>Mrs. L:</B> Tomas, this just really amazes me. I don't know when this
happened. It must have been within the last month, but I had this exact idea,
that I should say ... I got the idea that I had to say it out loud. I was in my
car. I mean, I did it, and it was really a weird thing to do. In the car. And
now hearing this ... it amazes me that we're now being told to do this.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> The self-consciousness will pass.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. L:</B> I'm excited about the fact that this will be on paper and it will
go out to people who need to see it, who will appreciate seeing it in words,
transcribed.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. P:</B> I didn't know we were going to have THAT part of it done.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. H:</B> My mother's going through this right now. She's been asked to
describe Reiki to a hospice group. She's ... and she ... it says we are given
the words, and so if we're given the words, then we are being encouraged to open
our mouth.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. M:</B> Tomas, is this for everyone? Or is this just for our
group?</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> I am not much in a position to instruct the world, but if you are
my students and you honor your teacher and your own spiritual development, then
you will experiment with my words by abiding with my suggestion. I am not
ordering you, any of you. I am asking you to allow yourself to grow through your
own faith by learning how to pray.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. M:</B> Were you also suggesting that we tape this and have it written
up? I thought that's what you were saying.</P>
<P><STRONG>Mrs. P:</STRONG> No, no.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> I can see that my suggestion has dazzled you (group laughter), so
I will take my quiet dusty pearl back with me to my own realms and leave you to
your own realms for now but I will not go before conveying to you how much
entertainment I receive from my position here with you in your community. </P>
<P>Fascinating, stimulating, challenging, and all the positive adjectives I dare
muster -- as I could not possibly revert to other judgment.</P>
<P>Blessed be art thou, my friends. Good evening.</P>
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