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<DIV><B>
<P>DATE:</B> May 19, 1996<BR><B>LOCATION:</B> Pittsburgh, PA, USA<BR><B>T/R:</B>
Gerdean</P><B>
<P>TEXTUAL STUDY:</B> Urantia Paper 20<BR>"Paradise Sons of God"</P>
<OL start=6>
<LI>The Mortal-Bestowal Careers</LI>
<LI>The Trinity Teacher Sons</LI>
<LI>Local Universe Ministry of the Daynals</LI>
<LI>Planetary Service of the Daynals</LI>
<LI>United Ministry of the Paradise Sons</LI></OL>
<P><B>TEACHER SESSION<BR>Authority of Love</P></B>
<P><B>TOMAS:</B> Good evening, my friends.</P><B>
<P>Group: </B>Good evening, Tomas.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> Once again I am glad to be with you, to feel your presence, to
anticipate the union of spirit which will eventuate as we focus our goals and
motives and intents toward our Divine Source and Center. (Brief stillness)
Having attained this degree of trancendency, it pleases me greatly to greet you
on behalf of the many throngs who attend and also enjoy your presence, your
flickering illuminations, for we are legion, indeed, and we find our hearts'
satisfaction in your ascension into realms of spirit light and life.</P>
<P>I encourage you, my friends, in your progress, for I have found great growth
among you individually and as a group, and this growth which has come about by
your own thought adjustments and subsequent behaviors are my reward, for your
strengths, your growing faith, is that foundation which will anchor your
community light that will enflame your part of the cosmic neighborhood with a
steady burning bright light of reality as the millions of flickering lights
around you struggle to maintain that solidarity of spirit reality which will see
them through their growth experiences and their struggles in the good fight of
faith.</P>
<P>How fortunate you are here to have each other, to have a common cosmology, a
common understanding of the nature of the bestowal of the Creator Son, Christ
Michael, on your realm. How fortunate for you to be able to so closely identify
with the ways in which enlightened beings become aware of their true nature and
then take their truth, beauty and goodness into the outerlying wilderness, the
villages, the wastelands, indeed, your realm, in order to foster that reality
which you know to be true in yourself as a result of your kindled and confirmed
faith in true reality, and thus you bring affirmation and confirmation to the
faith of others, to those who have not yet seen the spirit reflected back to
them in eyes to see with the infinite love of the Indwelling Father
Fragment.</P>
<P>Last week I spoke with you regarding authority, regarding the integral
authority invested in you by your own will, your free will which chooses which
reality will be your reality, and this evening I would like to expand that
concept of authority to include the authority of Love as it is invested in us by
the Father and as it is invested by you to your realm. For this authority, this
living love, goes far beyond the realms of theology, cosmology, philosophy and
other "ologies" and "isms."</P>
<P>This Ultimate Authority is a living truth, a living love, which will radiate
in spite of the various nametags you apply to it. The truth is from your eternal
Source, and It knows whereof It speaks, even when you feel you can contribute to
its wisdom by your own interpretations of cosmic understanding. It is as in the
case of not allowing the right hand to know what the left hand is doing, for
when you set out to indoctrinate or proselytize a truth, when you set out to
plant a seed, you have already colored the planting of it by this conscious
intention of service.</P>
<P>Rather, this intention to serve our eternal Source is an ability which is
given through you by your willingness to remain impartial and open to allow your
Adjuster, indeed, to direct your personality such as it may express Its divine
love and wisdom. This is no small order for humankind, and no small assignment
for yourselves, for as we all well know, we all have, each have, our own
authority and, indeed, the strength and authority of each of you in this group
is stalwart and individualized indeed.</P>
<P>Many souls could be won through argument, but it is understood that coercion
is not advisable, for in order for young seedlings to come to their own
fruition, they must grow their own spiritual experience, and this is based in
their own Font of reality, their own appreciation for the authority of Divine
Love. I would like to thank you, as a group of individuals, for your growth.</P>
<P>It may not be readily apparent to you as I say these words that you have
grown, but most affirmatively you have learned deep lessons. You have "behavior
modified" as a result of paying heed to your own soul's needs. As you continue
to acknowledge the aspect of your identity that is your evolving soul, your
becoming-reality, you may then begin to see in reflection your growth, for
growth is unconscious and even as we speak, this moment, I can feel the earth
move around you as your souls expand into becoming.</P>
<P>Have you questions this evening?</P><B>
<P>Mrs. M: </B>Do you think anybody's making any progress about getting up? In
those early hours? Tomas, have you noticed anything?</P>
<P>T<B>OMAS: </B>I feel rather like I ought not expand overmuch on that
assignment, and that is because all the term papers are not in yet. It is, as I
have said before, not expected that you immediately modify your entire life's
pattern as a result of hearing a lesson or taking one of my assignments to
heart. I can say that your acceptance levels have improved considerably since we
discussed Acceptance months ago, but I do not sense an overwhelming urge to get
up at the crack of dawn to pray just yet, but this is a seed planted and in time
it may grow fruit.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. M:</B> We have some questions that we keep aside and we haven't used
them much and I thought maybe we could use one or two and then if other people
have questions they can pop right in.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. H:</B> Before we do that, I'd just like to give the group and Tomas some
feedback and, depending on the busyness in your house, I found that I could do
the assignment on my way to work because I was in my car, with the talking out
loud, and so I do it then and I really feel just an unbelievable
difference.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> I appreciate your feedback and will respond to commend this
process given the certain constraints of your overriding lifestyle, for as you
set out on your path each day in the context of you as an individual, as a
working woman, as an embodiment of your free will, you take this time to set
your purpose in order. And this is adequate for its purpose; it is not as though
you do not take the time to consider your motives for the day and you will
certainly be beneficial in your progress and in your exposure with other people
because you have taken this conscientious time, and so I commend this for
you.</P>
<P>I will, however, persist in the desirability of taking your bull by the horns
before any circumscribed configuration sets itself in motion, for even in the
routines of breakfasting and brushing teeth and so forth, you are all such
creatures of habit, even your thought processes begin to formulate a reality of
mere conditioning and by the time you have got your shoes on, your umbrella out
the door, you have already set tremendous portions of unreality into
existence.</P>
<P>I certainly qualify that as being relative degrees of "unreality", for to the
extent it has been working for years, it obviously is functionally successful,
but I am always inclined to ask people to look at their habits, for even good
habits can be traps and snares against the adventure of this life and against
the challenge of new approaches to life, new thoughts about life. Not only in
terms of the brand of toothpaste and the wallpaper around the mirror, but those
realities which go on deep within you that are seeking expression on a more
transcendental level.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. M:</B> Well, for some reason or other, I guess I -- does it help if you
move your morning stillness closer to an early hour? I mean, I did think that
dawn sounded pretty nice but I didn't think I was going to be able to achieve
it, but does it help? I imagine it would help, if you move stillness time into
as early time as you can in the morning. Is that what you were saying to
us?</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> I had suggested that you set aside time for contact with spirit
early in the day, before your day gets underway in its customary fashion, so
that your approach to your day is well anchored in your spiritual purpose. If
you do not get up until noon for purposes of employment or whatever, then upon
rising at noon, that is first thing in the morning, you see.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. M:</B> Well, thank you for that. If no one else has a question for the
moment I have these lovely questions that we've been saving. "Dear Tomas. Did we
choose to come here to this planet Urantia?"</P><B>
<P>TOMAS: </B>I have already answered that question.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. M:</B> "Did we come here for the challenge to our spirituality?"</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> I will address a response to the question. The challenge of a
spiritual life is indeed the great adventure, the great challenge. Unless and
until you understand that this is your origin here as a being of personality
potential, my words will make little sense or have little impact upon you, for
if you persist in believing that you are already a spirit being, then indeed,
this experience makes little sense at all -- except as you might come to be of
service, which, parenthetically, is one of your purposes, but service is a
natural consequence of serving God; it is something you do as a result of who
you are, not necessarily because you set out to be of service.</P>
<P>And so, if we may think in terms of your having begun here, in this
existence, we think first that you have been born into the flesh, through the
ways in which all life is born here, and you, being of normal mind, are
envisited with a fragment of God upon your first moral choice. That instant your
potential [soul] has come into being. As you grow, as you grow up, as a mortal
of the realm and indeed as a spirit-person-in-becoming, you make decisions, you
develop ethics, morals, etc. As you choose consciously to align yourself more
and more with spirit, your potential becomes actualized and this is who you are,
this is who you have become as a result of your decisions.</P>
<P>This is co-creation. This is the ascension plan. For as you continue to make
those decisions which will align you with divinity, you become more and more
real. That way, when you leave this sphere, when you leave the mortal way of
life, and leave your tabernacle of flesh behind, you will have developed a true
reality, your morontial soul, which is thriving and flourishing because you have
already contributed to its development by the decisions you have made. This is
truth.</P>
<P>It is also truth that many individuals in the course of a life, avoid making
those decisions that will enable them to develop a strong and robust spiritized
identity. This does not mean that when their flesh is left behind that they will
die along with their body because they have not developed their Self
consciously, but they will remain in a sleep and waken with the dispensation.
[Ed. note: dispensational roll call]. The Creator is merciful and time is
allowed for those decisions to be made.</P>
<P>If, on the other hand, individuals here in this life make those decisions
which are most obstreperous to spirit, which are embracing evil, which
constitute sin and which border on iniquity, it is possible for such a human
being to deny him or herself the opportunity of continued ascension by the
continuing denial of its true reality.</P>
<P>The choice is yours in many ways, and your sincerity contributes greatly to
your own evolution, your own becoming, for as you choose in sincerity to align
yourself with spirit, you become yourself more like spirit, and you may ignore
this and coast through life and waft along being buffeted here and there by
other peoples' interpretation of reality, and you may give away your own
authority over your own identity and destiny because of fear or because of
laziness, and you will still be loved, but you will have robbed yourself of the
opportunity, the enthralling adventure, of contributing not only to your own
perfection, but to the development of the Supreme.</P>
<P>These things we do because we love the Life. Not the life that we have
wrested by way of self-will and evil, but because we love the Life which has
been invested in us by and through our Divine Parentage. Truly, it is a
challenge, but remember that the real fight is the good fight of faith. As long
as you have faith, living faith, you will prevail. You will be aided and
assisted in those decisions which will align you with spirit, which will align
you also with fellow believers. I have addressed the question.</P><B>
<P>Loreenia: </B>Tomas, this past week, or more, the little things in life have
been able to bother me more than normal. To the unusual actually, because it
seems like that -- I can only say energies. I don't know what else -- but it
seems like I'm more sensitive than I was. Can you explain anything about
that?</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> My dear child, I do not know if I can explain, but please let me
spend a moment talking with you about your concern. You have professed to have
perhaps keener sensitivities than heretofore and I say to you, no, your
sensitivity has always been. But you are developing a keener understanding of
these energies in terms of their configuration as impersonal or personal energy.
Whereas at one time they were simply feelings, now they are becoming
identifiable to some extent, and indeed there are human will decisions behind
many of these energy patterns, and this is what is new to you.</P>
<P>It is difficult to find that you are experiencing feelings of distress
because of another individual's energy outpourings. May I suggest that our
lesson on "Cosmic Stamina" is applicable here for you are obviously developing
sufficient cosmic stamina that your vision is being enlarged to behold some
aspects of energy which are not necessarily pleasant, but which obviously you
can use to grow, either in your own development or in the development of the
source of those energies.</P>
<P>The experience of life as a human being on any material world is fraught with
setbacks and difficulties and vicissitudes of life. The natural pangs of birth
and death and parting, the skills of developing communication and teamwork, all
these things of growth are difficult at best and decidedly more difficult when
born alone. It is perhaps a testimony to your reality as part of this
fast-congealing family of spirit friends here in this room that has given you
the support and reflection of your own reality that now enables you to bear
these burdens of existence with good cheer.</P>
<P>I sense you react to my phrase 'good cheer' for they have not been pleasing
experiences, but in truth some of them have been, for I recall your sharing with
us the example of a woman who passed out on the line and the masses flocked to
her aid. That was your positive interpretation of life as you found it. As you
see positive manifestations of life, you will naturally find negative
representations of life as well. It is in how you react to these interpretations
of energy configuration that determines your foundations.</P>
<P>Are your roots buried deeply in that crevice in the earth? Are your roots of
faith firmly planted, that these experiences may come and go and help enrich you
and nurture your spirit reality, or are they winds and gales that will beat upon
you to no purpose?</P>
<P>Be steadfast, daughter, for your reality is becoming and these are part of
your birth pangs. You are beginning to see with eyes to see in your arena, and
it is true that it is hard to love unlovely mankind, and yet this indeed is the
great challenge: to discover the God who dwells within each human being and to
bring them to an understanding of their Divine Source by reflecting back to them
Infinite Love. Yes. That is all.</P><B>
<P>Loreenia:</B> Thank you, Tomas.</P><B>
<P>Leah:</B> I'd like to ask about irritability. Is it just making room for the
new? Is it just a physical thing? Or is it energies that are just generally
around us?</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> Irritability is a physical manifestation of an emotional condition
resultant from a mental point of mind, point of view, which may be based on
something inside yourself or outside yourself which you find intolerable and how
can you end the intolerable situation. This results in irritability, for you
cannot direct any concrete action in any direction until you have ascertained
what it is that needs clarified. Once it is clarified, it then affects the
emotions and then alleviates the physical so that it is gone.</P>
<P>Irritability is a complex condition arid certainly indicates an impasse in
the mind for the mind is not at rest, it has not peace of mind. The answer, as
always, is wrapped up in spiritual communion, for in the lap of God you may
discuss these intimate details of your understanding of who you are and how you
are relating yourself to your life circumstances, including other individuals,
and make those internal adjustments, those thought adjustments which are
necessary in order for the mind to make a sincere spiritual appeal and decision,
whether it be to act, to forgive, or whatever, to then allow your emotional
systems to settle and your physical system also to iron itself out. Do you have
a better understanding of irritability?</P><B>
<P>Leah:</B> The only reason I brought it up was because it seemed to pop up out
of nowhere. It just seemed to come from the idea that something was taking up
space and something had to go. (Not clear) and surely other people are dealing
with it, too. Unless it's something fear-based. I appreciate your attempt to
address it.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> It is certainly a matter of re-establishing priorities, an
instruction you recently were given to establish your priorities and your
authorities, and as you have been fertile soil, as you have pondered that
challenge and invitation, it is highly possible that your processes, spiritual
mental and physical, are now reacting to that fertilization of the seed which
will cause some irritation and irritability as the priorities fall in new
alignment .</P>
<P>It is certainly nothing to get alarmed about. There is always certain
agitation in the mind when faced with growth but you see it need not be fatal,
it need not be painful. It may well be just an irritability, and I will
encourage you this way, that as indeed you proceed down the road of spiritual
evolution, or shall I say up the road of spiritual ascension, these growth
experiences become easier and easier to endure, for you will have already taught
yourself by your own experience, that the results of your own growth, the
effects of your decisions, yield such results as would make the experience of
birth pangs hardly worthy of note.</P>
<P>Any pain is difficult and I am not in any sense decrying the value of your
experiences, I am only encouraging you that as time goes by, you will find that
the experience itself is so valuable for the truth that results, for the
strength that you gain for the expansion of your soul that you acquire, that you
will be willing to run the risk of discomfort in order that you will know more
of your own eternal reality and take part in the actualization of that which was
once only potential. Yes.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. H:</B> We're all sitting here with elevated blood sugars.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> You may all very well have elevated blood sugars for I understood
the angel food cake was divine, but I want to also express that the circuitry is
quite keen this evening. Your largess in terms of numbers and in quality of
attendance here this evening has given quite a lift to those of the celestial
hosts who frequent your neighborhood and observe the development of your
community.</P>
<P>The circuitry has been activated greatly by the combined energies, too, of
two experienced transmitter/receivers. It is yet another circuitry that adds a
degree, a measurable degree of energy to your configuration. It is our thought
that perhaps it may come to pass that these transmitter/receivers will be able
to work in harmony with myself and Andrew or another teacher who may opt to
utilize this platform of teaching as an experiential base for him or herself as
well as the augmented energy of your group, not, of course, to eliminate the
added aspect and attraction of the incredible observation of a "dynamic duo" of
teachers in action. This is yet to be revealed in fact, but our appetites are
whet.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. M:</B> Possibly Andrew might come back as a teacher?</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> Inasmuch as I am a friend of Andrew, I will advise you that I am
in frequent contact with him and that whereas many reports have indicated that
he has gone hence, most assuredly he has been known to stop by and compare notes
with me. Indeed, he has been an inspiration to me in my work here as has Marius
and Nero. I have not had the pleasure, however, of working with Caroline.</P><B>
<P>Ms. S: </B>I have a question about what I've been hearing from other study
groups which was that a couple of study groups seem to be losing the freshness
that used to come through in their transmissions and they are feeling that there
is a loss of something going on and I thought ... They were making some guesses
about it. They said that motives for possible transmitters were to become
famous. That's what one of the transmitters had said, that she would like to
become famous in the movement. Could that cause a loss of freshness in the
transmitting? We can't figure out why the transmissions are sort of dull in this
one study group and so we thought perhaps it was a motivation that was less than
... great. Does that affect transmissions?</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> Of course, it would affect a transmission, depending upon the
transmitter/ receiver. And none of the transmitter/receivers that I have
witnessed or worked with are immune to their own ego, for you are all at only a
certain level of evolution and all of you are subject to the delights of
grandiosity. It is a human condition. </P>
<P>It is also why, by and large, the transmitter/receivers have received
personal instructions from the teachers as to how to comport themselves as a
transmitter/receiver, why I, for example, spent months with Gerdean in her own
development prior to becoming more public, if you will. I have addressed her
regarding certain dangers and it is not applauded by her or by us that the
transmitter/receivers are elevated to a position greater than a simple
acknowledgement of the service they perform. </P>
<P>It is a history on your world to allow self-will to become supreme, and so as
self-will becomes involved, the coloration of the transmitter becomes greater
and the truths of the spirit will become lesser. This, of course, will cloud the
clarity of the sessions since spirituality has taken a back seat to
ambition.</P>
<P>Let me say, too, that it is not to castigate an individual for their
humanness, for anyone who puts forth their spiritual beliefs is subject to
crucifixion or persecution of some sort from some one. It requires tremendous
courage to stand up for what you believe to be true, beautiful and good. And
many times, as I have said earlier this evening, in the growth process it is
difficult and painful, but the value of the experience, after you come out after
the wash, is so valuable that it made the experience worthwhile, and so,
consider that the growth, the spiritual development of this
transmitter/receiver, or these individuals, or in this situation, is a growth
experience which will better that individual's connection to and appreciation
for true spirit or a greater interpretation of spirit.</P>
<P>And so be merciful, be compassionate, be fraternal, and keep to your own
authority as to those things which relate to your relationship between you and
your God and which has to do with your destiny and your work in the field. The
transmitter/receivers are fallible, but it is our job as teachers to remind you
of that, and to always keep your own counsel with your own indwelling God
Fragment, your own understanding of the Spirit of Truth, that the truth be kept
alive.</P><B>
<P>Ms. S:</B> Well, it is important, as you have reminded us, to be merciful, of
course, and we definitely will do that, but one of the problems they say that
arises is that the person goes on and on with their transmitting and they are
becoming very dry because of -- probably because of this reason, as you
indicated, that that could be a possible reason. Then somebody probably has to
take steps to remove themselves to being close to this that goes on and on. That
is permissible, I assume.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> You may fire me at any time.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. M:</B> Oh, no! (Group laughter) We're not talking about you, Tomas
.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. H:</B> I was going to say, isn't this like consulting our Source about
something that's going on in someone else's yard? This is really none of our
business.</P><B>
<P>Ms. S: </B>It is. It is our business because ... </P><B>
<P>Mrs. H:</B> It's their problem.</P><B>
<P>Ms. S:</B> ... it's a problem in the Mission as a whole. It happens over and
over again and so, you know, nobody ever expected it to be that way and nobody
really has solved the problem. There are murmurings, but ....</P><B>
<P>Mrs. Ml:</B> Well, that's something you take up in prayer, and apply some of
the things that Tomas has expressed.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. H:</B> I think so.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. M:</B> We could even send a copy of this transcript to that group and
let them see for themselves that it's just like when you're in the family,
there's a problem, you can take it into prayer, you can release it, you can
expand your expression of life. They go into meltdown, you could say; they get
uncomfortable and leave. Where someone in the group develops their own ability
to be a T/R, and it's a shared thing.</P><B>
<P>Loreenia:</B> Part of the problem is that sometimes the transmitters are put
on a pedestal and they leave the consciousness to their own self gain, then they
cut themselves off from clear transmission and the people that are in the group
help that individual do that for the very simple reason that they keep
supporting that behavior.</P>
<P>Mrs. Ml: It sounds like some simple behavior modification could be
applied.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. H:</B> Well, there may be a lesson in that for them that they have to
experience it.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> Various groups go through various growth pangs. It is part of,
again, the human condition; it is part of learning how to work together; it is
part of standing behind your brother even when he makes a fool of himself; it is
standing behind and beside each other in the good fight of faith. For what are
our underlying motives? Only we can ascertain our own motives and I am not
really in a position to ascertain yours except in how you present yourself. The
fruits of the spirit are the way in which I shall recognize you, and vice
versa.</P>
<P>To say that the T/Rs do not grapple with these things in their own minds
would be foolish, and with that note I will invite you all, now, to participate
in the practice of transmitting/receiving the energies alive and well on your
circuit board which is accessible to you now that we have opened up the channels
of communication again between isolated Urantia and the greater cosmic system of
things.</P>
<P>The experience of connecting with spirit life and, indeed, its helpers is not
something that is instantly apparent, is not like a thunderstorm where you hear
thunder and see lightning; it is something you learn as you focus and apply
yourself to that reality which is greater than the material reality with which
you are most familiar, the emotional realms in which you spend most of your
energy, or the mental realms where you have such fun and wage such wars, but in
the spiritual realms which is a wide open playground for your future adventurous
spirits.</P>
<P>Think not that anyone here or anyone in the ranks of ascending sons are going
to do this perfectly. Every being in my social circle is subject to error. I err
and you err, but we love. We learn to love ourselves in spite of the fact that
we are not always as correct as we would hope; we forgive others for that same
aspect of imperfection.</P>
<P>Lest I go on now and be accused of draining all the spiritual energy from the
room, I will begin to wind up my rather lengthy session this evening, but not
before I thank you for your involvement and your appreciation for the growth
which you are indeed obtaining as a result of your application. It is a matter
of encouragement and acknowledgement of your true identity as a beautiful and
precious child of God that seeks to play and grow and embrace its own kind in
the family of man under God that we succeed in anything at all.</P>
<P>It is because of our love for and need for our perfect and glorious Creator,
Who gives us those flickers of reality which lure us ever onward, ever forward,
to find even greater and more soul-satisfying slices of life, greater than we
knew was possible, that we continue on this path, that we struggle, that we meet
the challenges and that we succeed.</P>
<P>My succeeding flock, my dear friends, farewell.</P></DIV></BODY></HTML>