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<P>DATE:</B> January 7, 2007<BR><B>LOCATION:</B> Rio Rancho, NM,
USA<BR><B>T/R:</B> Gerdean</P><B>
<P>TEACHER: MERIUM and VIRGIL<BR>TOPIC:</B> "The Nalda
Syndrome"<BR><B><BR>Reference:</B> The Urantia Paper 143: Going Through
Samaria<BR>Section 5. The Woman of Sychar (pg. 1612-1615)</P><B>
<P>Prayer:</B> (Men-O-Pah)</P><I>
<P>Our Father, we thank you for this beautiful day that you have made. We are
privileged to be here together, to walk on this good earth another day. We ask
your presence and your guidance. We know that you have said to us that where two
or three are gathered together in your name that you would be there, so we ask
you to be here with us, to guide our thinking. These things we ask in the name
of our Lord, Jesus. Amen</P></I><B>
<P>Group:</B> Amen. Thank you.</P><B>
<P>Gerdean:</B> Were you going to say something else?</P><B>
<P>Elena:</B> Well, I was hoping that our starting the year off right and that
our starting the year off right includes very much being with Merium and other
helpers that we have, and what better way to start it off right -- with them!
That's mainly what I wanted to say.</P><B>
<P>Gerdean:</B> That's very kind.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> Hello, hello, my lovely friends. This is Merium. </P><B>
<P>Group:</B> Hi, Merium!</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> Let me come in and whisk you away. I know you would sit in the
Master's company all day and we wouldn't get anything accomplished. I know He
will forgive me for pulling you into focus. What shall we do first? Yes, let's
say Happy New Year!</P><B>
<P>Group:</B> Happy New Year!</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> Our Christ is born again in your minds and your hearts. Let our
spirits rejoice in this new awakening, this new time of beginnings. How
wonderful the cycles of nature, provided by our wondrous creator. The dormancy
of winter giving rise to new life after the big sleep into the glorious new day.
Let us all hope that this year brings new days that provide the basic foundation
of the birth itself of God-consciousness, for therein is where we live and move
and have our being. </P>
<P>And let's welcome guests, one and all -- to the Father's table, but to our
gathering, as well. Ronda, how lovely to meet you in our formal fashion. I hope
we don't startle you or embarrass you. It's really a harmless parlor trick that
we devise to amuse ourselves in lieu of other engagements on occasional Sunday
afternoons. We do tend to socialize overmuch; however, we do nourish ourselves
well and have a party such as this with Question and Answer occasionally from
the spirit realm, from those unseen places and persons which are here to help
uplift us in all ways and keep us in good cheer and in good faith. </P>
<P>I think I know what to talk about today but I'm thinking a visitor may supply
the vehicle. I'd like to invite someone in who has not been here; who has not
had this experience, so that he can-- Virgil is his name. -- Virgil can have
this experience with you this afternoon. Virgil would you please come in and
talk to the group about Nalda, the woman at the well?</P><B>
<P>VIRGIL:</B> Good afternoon. Yes, I am pleased to have the opportunity to
experience this co-creative process of introducing a concept through an entity
that you cannot see but must act on faith of its existence and its value. If
there is no value to my expression, then I am very forgettable; if, however,
there is merit to my words in your heart or your soul or your consciousness in
any way that contributes to your enlightenment, then I have become
immemorialized by your awareness of me and through our communication.</P>
<P>What has this to do with Nalda? Well, Nalda is the name of the woman at the
well. You all know the story of the woman at the well. Anyone here have a
passing recognition of the story that would share it?</P><B>
<P>Men-O-Pah:</B> The woman was at this well, I presume was the only water
supply even close. And Jesus came by that well and he asked her for a drink and
she gave him a drink. He said whoever drinks of the living water will never die,
and I can give you that water. And this sort of dumbfounded and amazed the
woman. But that's about all I remember of the story.</P><B>
<P>VIRGIL:</B> Thank you, that is a generous retelling. Many of these parables
are only assimilated in part, but this is the value of the parable: you hear
what you need to hear and later another telling may reveal another meaning
altogether. There are other parts to this story of the woman at the well. Are
there any other remembrances?</P><B>
<P>Men-O-Pah:</B> I should add that Jesus remarked that if you drink of the
living water you will never thirst again, and I can give that water to
you.</P><B>
<P>Paula:</B> Why any of the prophets in those days ever said to people, you
will never die, I can't understand, because of course everybody dies. We're
bound to, of course. We're born and we live and then we die.</P><B>
<P>VIRGIL:</B> There are two different themes here and I have no problem at all
with one overlapping the other, for that obviously offers an area for teaching.
But yes, the key word is thirst. It will quench the thirst. What I wanted to
point out about Nalda is that when the Master spoke to her about the living
water, she turned away and looked at yon hill and diverted herself from the
issue of being in the presence of divinity, of drinking the cup that was offered
her by the Master, as compared to the cup of water that she offered him. (Isn't
he brilliant, how he maneuvers his teachings? So creative, in his teaching!) She
looked away, as if not to see, and he called her back, pointing out that many
people do this when faced with the living reality, divert their view, distract
themselves, change the subject, turn the page, for the clarity of the moment is
too acute. </P><B>
<P>Reneau:</B> [indistinguishable] because of her class, or rank or something,
and that after he talked to her and told her things about herself and her life,
he amazed her and she went back into the village to tell all the people about
the marvelous man at the well. That's what I remember. She was at the well and
he spoke to her and changed her life. And so, in essence, too, it doesn't matter
who you are, you are still capable of receiving the Word, whether you are a
woman or with this clan or that clan or whatever.</P><B>
<P>VIRGIL:</B> Let's dwell now on this living water. After we have drunk of it,
what does that mean? How is that perceived? How is that realized? What does that
do to your life? How does that impact your behavior and your approach? Do you
become a teacher and preacher on the street corner? Do you publish works? Or do
you have a mind focused on God? </P>
<P>And then what of this, God? Is this God a formulation of your consciousness?
One like the bearded God who sits in his chair [throne] with a ledger, perhaps
keeping record, keeping score? Or is this God a part of you, such that when you
give of yourself, you are as the living water that quenches the thirst of those
you meet? Do you provide value and substance and meaning to those you meet? </P>
<P>Or like Nalda, do you skirt the issue and change the subject and talk about
the fashion or the weather, politics or religion, and neglect to portray that
peace, poise, graciousness, charm of personality, self-forgetfulness, compassion
and patience as we understand him to have been, and which we ourselves so long
to feel?</P>
<P>God is not in hiding. And yet we often keep Him hidden from others and
ourselves because His affect on your consciousness is such that you feel
estranged from humanity when you put it into effect, and so you release the
connection and relinquish your grasp in order to feel more comfortable with your
peers - peers who in their ignorance are more inclined than not to effect harm
because of their frame of reference for survival, which is that of the animal in
stead of the assurance of eternal life as it has become aware to you through
this living water. </P>
<P>Those who know whereof I speak need not compete for attention, nor strive
with one another, but rather perceive in each other a reflection of the I AM
consciousness that is the fruit of our thirst. How they deprive themselves! They
and you when you succumb to the lesser way when the higher way is so available.
</P>
<P>We in these invisible realms wonder about you sometimes, but we are told by
our teachers who know you better than we, that you do well, that you are indeed
a courageous lot of human beings, able to withstand great cruelty and loss,
disappointment and betrayal, and rally in faith that there is a reason, a lesson
to be learned, a truth to be perceived, wisdom to be won, and righteousness to
prevail as a result of this experience. </P>
<P>That concludes my formal lesson. I have appreciated the opportunity to
practice my learning. I will return you to Merium for her ministrations.
Farewell.</P><B>
<P>Group:</B> Thank you, Virgil. </P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> This is Merium, back again to fluff up your pillows and let the
music play! This furniture arrangement has an odd feng shui. Gerdean feels as if
she is performing instead of performing a service, and so there is a certain
theatrical aspect to the afternoon, which is unnecessary. It is true that all
the universe is looking in, but it doesn't have to be an auditorium. I have no
problem with just sitting around your living room. In fact, if it is too formal
and too stuffy, you know I am not going to put up with it. I'll open the windows
and let the air in. </P>
<P>I have a couple things I'd like to introduce in terms of ways to affect the
group, one of which is when we used to meet in the Butler group, we found that
the sessions benefited if occasionally we took an intermission and as everyone's
minds were stimulated by the foregoing conversation, the level of conversation
stimulated such discussion as to evoke questions relevant to the topic in the
balance of the gathering. I don't know if that would benefit this group or not
but let's give it a shot. We will be in intermission. I'll be back.</P><B>
<P align=center>[Intermission]*</P></B><B>
<P>Gerdean:</B> I have no idea if that gives rise to a lesson or not. Any of
this. Let me see if anybody is still here.</P><B>
<P>MERIUM:</B> Well, of course, we are still here. Where would we go? We had an
appointment! </P>
<P>We have been enjoying your expressions. It is hard to find a lesson in it,
however, since there are so many diffracted lights. Energy is like that. It can
fill up a room, and unless there is a divining rod, it will fill the atmosphere
without providing a grounding effect. </P>
<P>There are many ways that Deity operates in the universe. Your universe here,
the local universe in general but your world in particular (and even
specifically your own personal lives with its conditioning and connections,
culture, language, traditions, mores and so forth), are all representations of
divine reality. But everyone is not aware of the divinity aspect of life, and so
they participate in life but are undirected. Whereas, those who are consciously
engaged in a superconscious appreciation of reality, virtually live in another
dimension, or at least have access to another dimension that relieves the
monotony of the sameness of an architectural sphere of reality comprehension. It
pushes the edges of the envelope so that you have a broader perspective. </P>
<P>From the spiritual perspective, everything is a part of the organism of
divinity. From an unconscious perspective, it is experiential but without that
existential awareness that you see and know and appreciate as religionists in
the sense of the drinkers of the cup. </P>
<P>The dimension that you can enjoy with this compounded perspective, that is
with the eyes of spirit as well as the flesh, provides the abundance that the
Master spoke of when he said, "I came to give you life and to give it more
abundantly." It had nothing to do with more material goods. It had to do with
quality of life, not quantity. And in that context, neither do I mean quality
goods over inferior goods; I don't mean "goods" at all. I mean that reality that
will stop you in your tracks / put you on your knees. Remember who you are in a
cosmic sense. </P>
<P>The marvelous thing is that when you face this reality and realize it within
yourself, you become an active participant in the shaping of destiny. You become
an actor, as compared to a reactor. There is nothing wrong with being a reactor,
except that it takes up so much time that could be more effectively spent. Are
there questions?</P>
<P>So how do you stay connected? You spend time in Stillness. You develop better
habits, habits that will help promote this reality, this "peace which passes all
understanding." In Stillness you find the strength you need to carry on. "From
whence cometh my help"? From the Living Water. "Even now, he is taking in living
water as we give it forth in social service." </P>
<P>Today we have taken time apart from the cares of the world to face our
Creator, to sit by his side, to bask in his presence, to bathe in the living
waters, to commune with Our Father, to know each other as sons and daughters,
brothers and sisters -- siblings all in the divine family. </P>
<P>Savor the greatness of this moment. And return to it in the privacy of your
home, in the morning, in the evening, and throughout the day, as you remember
the greatness … of this moment. And this moment will become every moment,
enabling you to work and play with more effectiveness, more staying power, and
the ability to fill yourselves more quickly with the cup of human kindness. </P>
<P>Are there any other things that we could do while we are together? Are there
things you want to share? Do you have any problems you'd like to talk about? Any
specific issues that need attention? If you want to come away with me or one of
us at another time, that can be arranged. It's free. You needn't worry about
that.</P>
<P>We have quite a menu of persons who minister to the needs of humans. Personal
teachers, group teachers, Melchizedek priests, universe administrators,
companions, artisans, angels, and student visitors -- all of us eager to share
our perspective and insight with you as you learn to walk the path of
consciousness. It is our pleasure to be your companions. </P>
<P>Then let us take this moment into the next setting and return to it as needed
for a continuation of the life as it is lived in spirit awareness. Adieu.
</P><B>
<P>Group:</B> Thank you! Happy New Year!</P>
<P></P>
<P>*[Intermission discussions appended for posterity, but not included for
publication]</P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>